World of Cultivation
Author: Fang Xiang
Date: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: webnovel
Description: Chapters 1-78 Zuo Mo is a zombie faced low level cultivator in a minor sect of a little world. Ever since he was picked up by the sect leader two years ago, he has no memories of his earlier life except a recurring nightmare. Navigating the rigid class structure and intricacies of the cultivation world, as one of the lowest possible of the lowest class, Zuo Mo’s dream is to earn money, and lots of it through being a spiritual plant farmer. A chance occurrence reveals that someone powerful had changed Zuo Mo’s features and erased his mind. The money grubbing zombie decides to set out on a journ

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World of Cultivation!

(Xiuzhen Shijie)

by

Fang Xiang

(方想)

Synopsis

World of Cultivation is the tale of a disgruntled young man and his quest to be the best farmer he can be, at least if it wasn’t for those annoying people who keep getting in the way of his pursuit of agricultural excellence.

Will conspiring forces turn him into a sword cultivator, or will he manage to throw off the shackles of fate and grow the best darn crops in the sect?

Those air-headed cultivators dream of too much nonsense and don’t know how to live properly, they need to get a real job to earn some jingshi for a living like a normal person.

Book 01 - Money Grubbing Madman

Chapter 1 - [Little Art Of Cloud And Rain]

“Don’t forget!”

“Even in death, you must not forget!”

……

A strange yet familiar voice seemed to come from deep in the clouds. Again and again, echoing, layering, relentless.

Who?

Must not forget?

Must not forget what?

He suddenly woke. Just as usual, his entire body was soaked, the clothing sticking to the skin uncomfortably. He sat up, the stars and dark sky above his head reminding him that there was still a long time before morning. A gust of wind blew over, whooshing icily.

This dream again!

Habitually blowing out a long breath.

It was still early, he laid back down going back to sleep.

Before he could walk to the gate of the mountain, Zuo Mo heard someone yelling from far away. “Mo ge, remember to water the fields for me. We made an agreement at the beginning of this month. This year’s harvest is depending on you.”

哥 (ge): brother, could be used as a suffix onto a person’s name. Or as “Hey, bro!”

When he looked over, it was a fifty-something year old man, dark and thin. He was poking around in the field. If he didn’t look closely, he wouldn’t see there was a person there.

The old man’s nickname was Old Black. His real name was unknown. He was the oldest among the outer sect disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

无空剑门: Wu 无 is none空 is empty/air/sky.

Zuo Mo wiped at the sweat on his forehead, replying, “Won’t forget. Don’t worry, tomorrow, it’s your turn!”

Zuo Mo’s body was thin like a stalk of bamboo. The purple robe of the outer sect disciples loosely draped on his body. In contrast to the slipperiness of his speech was his wooden face that looked like a zombie, dark and gloomy.

Zuo Mo’s zombie face was his trademark characteristic. In the beginning, everyone avoided him, but gradually they discovered that other than his face, his temper and personality were both extremely good at which point more people interacted with him. After these two years, he was the most popular among the outer sect disciples.

Old Black’s face lit up in joy, his mouth hurriedly complimenting, “Good good good! Mo ge, your specialty, I, Old Black, has never seen anything else like it.”

Zuo Mo’s [The Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was special. He was the only one in the outer sect disciples to have mastered the third level of [The Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. It was with this that he almost had a monopoly on the contracts of rain-making for all the ling  ields of the sect.

灵: meaning spirit.

[The Little Art of Cloud and Rain] wasn’t a complicated spell, everyone knew how to do it. Its main use was creating rain for the ling fields. One only needed three to five days to learn the first level. The second level, it could be easily accomplished in one or two years. But starting from the third level, it required the ability of comprehension from each individual. In all of the outer sect disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect, only Zuo Mo had successfully comprehended it.

法诀 (fa jue): spells are a general term.

After [The Little Art of Cloud and Rain] reached the third level, its effectiveness increased dramatically and could drastically increase the production of ling grains and ling vegetables. Because of that, after he achieved the third level, his position in the sect rose. His name went from Little Zombie Mo to Mo ge.

Zuo Mo waved his hand to bid farewell to Old Black.

Zuo Mo bared his teeth and shifted the bag on his back. His shoulders ached. On his back was three hundred catties of ling grain which almost broke his thin and weak shoulders.

A thin and weak zombie carried a cloth bag on his back that was many times larger than his body. He moved with difficulty along the mountain path.

Lugging three hundred catties of ling grain, he wheezed his way down to the entrance to the mountain. Just as he passed the mountain gate, he threw the cloth bag on his shoulders to the ground as his entire body collapsed to the ground, his breath racing.

After resting for a short period and he recovered some energy, he stood up and carefully took out a grass yellow paper crane from his bosom.

The paper crane was the size of a palm, folded from yellow grass paper. Drawn on it in cinnabar, were seals.

As he channeled in ling power, the paper crane began to enlarge. It grew slightly larger than a real crane. Thin stalks of bamboo made up the skeleton and a layer of yellow grass paper was pasted on top. Drawn over the entire body were seals that curved like tadpoles. It was evident that the craftsmanship of the crane wasn’t very good. Many places that were pasted together were frayed. The quality of the yellow paper was very low as fragments of grass could be seen throughout on the paper.

Zuo Mo lifted the cloth bag onto the back of the paper crane, from the ground.

Inside the mountain, the outer sect disciples were restricted from flying. During these two years, Zuo Mo had cursed this rule inside countless times.

Clumsily climbing onto the back of the paper crane, the sound of creaking and groaning could be heard as the bamboo rods of the paper crane bent. He paused in his motions. After a while, seeing that the paper crane showed no indication of collapsing, he exhaled in relief.

“Lil’ Yellow, Lil’ Yellow, you can’t break down at this time.”

小黄 (Xiao Huang): literally little yellow. Little is a common prefix used in Chinese for nicknames

Zuo Mo patted the head of the paper crane as it swayed and left the ground.

The creaking of the bamboo and paper sounded once again. It was as though the paper crane was drunk. The flight path was strange, suddenly high, suddenly low, suddenly left before turning right. It wheezed as it followed the mountain road forward.

Zuo Mo had a very steady seat. He was very experienced. This was the lowest quality of flying paper cranes. Its maximum load wasn’t even four hundred catties. The weight right now was extremely dangerous. But this “impotent” paper crane was something that all other outer sect disciples were envious of.

In the outer sect disciples, he was the first one to have a mount. Of course, as to whether a flying paper crane truly counted as a mount wasn’t in the limits of Zuo Mo’s consideration.

In the midst of the creaking and crying, after swerving for ten hours, when Zuo Mo’s zombie face was slightly pale, Dong Fu could be seen far away on the horizon.

In the midst of the clouds, Dong Fu faded in and out.

Once upon a time, Dong Fu zhenren broke off the peak with one sword strike and used the newly formed plateau as the foundation for his base, creating Dong Fu. After five hundred years, Dong Fu had developed into one of the thirteen primary towns of Sky Moon Jie. Three thousand jie of the xiuzhe, Sky Moon Jie couldn’t even be ranked. It was only a minor jie, its history just one thousand and five hundred something years. One thousand and five hundred years ago, Tian Yue xianren found and took control of this jie. She used her own name to name it Sky Moon jie. Tian Yue xianren was one of Kun Lun and so Sky Moon Jie logically became one of the jie that were governed by the realm of Kun Lun.

真人 (zhen ren): spiritual master in Daoist usage.

天月界: 天月 (tian yue) is sky moon界(jie) is scope, boundary and in taxonomic terms, kingdom. In many xuan huan novels, jie is another word for planet or world as in 世界 (shijie)

修者: those who cultivate

仙人: it usually means Daoist immortal in common usage. Used here as title of respect and power similar to “General” or “Governor.”

境(jing): means border, place, boundary, territory. In this novel, jing is a collection of jie which are under the jurisdiction of one power, a realm.

After that, some other zhenren came to Sky Moon Jie to start their own sects and it gradually developed into the present day situation.

The paper crane creaked and groaned as it struggled to fly to the base of Dong Fu Mountain. During the journey, he was able to hear the laughter of other people. A thin zombie, sitting on a similarly thin, drunken paper crane. The scene caused many people to laugh.

Zuo Mo sat in a dignified manner, his expression was natural as though he was the perfect zombie. In reality, on the inside, he was drooling at the other flying mounts that flew over his head – those were true mounts!

This one with the grey body and red beak was a red beaked goose. The back of the goose was wide and soft, sitting on it, one would feel almost no shaking, it was called the greatest experience. The lump under that xiuzhe’s feet was Lucky Magic Cloud, travelling on a cloud was so free and outstanding.  The silver hovering on the back of that xiuzhe was Thunder Wings, the lightning sparked and flew at high speeds like lightning, do you want to experience speed … …

He could recite the slogans smoothly, but he was only able to recite the advertisements.

The thing that shocked everyone the most was a Thousand Wings Boat that slowly sailed above his head. The entire boat was like a mountain as it flew across his head. Zuo Mo only felt his eyes become dark and when he raised his head, the light of the jinzhi at the base of the black bottom were barely detectable.

禁制 (jinzhi): restriction. An energy construct in this world.

The greatest crime of all xiuzhe was extravagance!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help swearing inside, but when he saw the other xiuzhe scatter sorrily, his mood instantly became better.

After flying for another two hours, xiuzhe and crane finally reached the base of Dong Fu Mountain. With Lil’ Yellow’s impotent flying ability that stuck to right above the ground, flying up Dong Fu was just wishful thinking.

He climbed down from the paper crane and loaded off the bag. When he took down the paper crane, cracks could be seen on the surface. Zuo Mo sighed with grief inside. Did he have to buy a new one? This thought made his flesh hurt deeply.

Narrowing his eyes to look at Dong Fu that was over the clouds, and the winding and countless stone steps, and then a look at the bag beside his feet, Zuo Mo’s legs started trembling.

“Brother, do you need help?” A shadow came across Zuo Mo’s eyes.

A man whose half-naked body was steely muscled came over.

“How much?” Zuo Mo asked alertly. His eyes scanned around the surroundings. Receiving encouragement from his look, a few other men sitting at the side stood up.

Noticing that others of his own profession seemed to want to come over, the man’s heart tightened and he hurriedly stated, “Three first grade.”

Three first grade meant three pieces of first-grade jingshi.

晶石(jingshi): crystal rock. A kind of currency.

Zuo Mo exclaimed in shock, “Kill me!” And followed decisively, “Just two. If you’re willing, then do it. If not, never mind.” At this time, if he made out a shocked expression, he would have had both sound and look. The ploy was hopeless for Zuo Mo, because his zombie face didn’t move and the atmosphere instantly became weird.

“Too fake!” The strongman jerked his mouth, but seeing the other people that were restless in the surroundings, he gritted his teeth and crisply nodded, “Fine!”

Finishing, his hand that was as big as a fan reached for the cloth bag on the ground. Zuo Mo shouted, “Wait!”

“What?”

“Make a contract first.” Zuo Mo took out a jade scroll.

“Just two, what contract does it need?” The strong man muttered disapprovingly.

“For safety. Otherwise, with my body, if you run, I can’t catch up with you.” Zuo Mo’s face was still expressionless, and his voice was still carrying a smile.

Helplessly, the strong man could only sign a contract with Zuo Mo. Seeing this, the other people finally left.

Finishing the contract, the man picked up the bag on the ground. The three hundred catty seemed weightless in his arms.

Halfway up the mountain, Zuo Mo struggled to crawl up the mountain, his entire body soaked in sweat. The brawny man said with a face full of disdain, “Your endurance really sucks.” Then he urged, “Can’t you be faster? I still want to complete two more job orders today! At this speed, it’ll be lucky if we get there before dark.”

Zuo Mo felt as though he was a fish out of the water. He felt he was suffocating. He put his butt on the stone stairs and panted roughly, one breath disconnected from the next, “I ……I can’t……”

The man instantly panicked, “It can’t be like this. Are you trying to ruin my business?”

Zuo Mo’s eyes rolled and he stated expressionlessly, “You can see it. I really don’t have any more energy.”

The man furiously ranted, “Taking your business, I really lost a lot today.” Finishing, he grabbed Zuo Mo with one hand and put him under his arm, lengthening his stride and started to jog up the stone stairs.

“You guys who cultivate your body, are really admirable.” Zuo Mo who was taking advantage said heartlessly.

“What’s admirable? Just eating based on physical strength. Right now, I’m at the fifth level of lianqi. Once I get to zhuji, I can take more orders. These days, it’s hard to make a living!” The muscled man couldn’t help but sigh.

炼气 (lianqi): literally refine energy. The first major stage for a xiuzhe.

基期 (zhuji): literally build foundation. The second major stage for a xiuzhe.

“Yeah! Living isn’t easy!” Zuo Mo felt sorrow in his heart. He suddenly remembered that Thousand Wing Boat he saw on the road and couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, what was with that Thousand Wing Boat? I have never seen it before.”

“That’s the moving palace of Chi Ye zhenren. You have to be careful and not provoke him.” The man gave a friendly reminder, “If you see women dressed in white with a veil, you have to respectfully stay away. They are all concubines of Chi Ye zhenren and have terrible tempers. Many people have offended them and they didn’t have good endings!”

The man’s strength was astonishing. One hand holding the three hundred catty bag, the other hand Zuo Mo as he spoke without showing any sign of exhaustion.

“That’s true. For us little people, to offend them is to seek death.” Zuo Mo agreed.

The strides of the man were very big and his speed much faster than Xiao Huang. It only took him an hour to finish climbing up the winding stone stairs.

Zuo Mo crisply paid him two first-grade jingshi. The man took the jingshi before turning to rush down the mountain.

“Living isn’t easy!” Zuo Mo looked at the back of the man and expressionlessly concluded.

Zuo Mo was very familiar with Dong Fu. He took up the bag, and after a few turns he found his destination.

This was a store that specialized in purchasing ling grains. It was a small storefront. Outside the door, there hanged a small flag. On it were two words, Ling Grains. The seal arrangement on the flag guaranteed that the two words could be seen from far away even at night.

Three hundred catties of second-grade ling grain, to this kind of store, it was just a small piece of business. The storekeeper didn’t even bother to come out to give a greeting, only sending a shop assistant.

“Thirty pieces of second-grade jingshi.”

The shop assistant had no intentions of bargaining. Zuo Mo also knew he didn’t have any room to bargain and very crisply nodded.

This price was slightly low but it was the same at any other store unless he could bring ten thousand catties or more of ling grain at one time. Then he would have the right to bargain on the price. Taking away the portion that needed to be given up to the sect, three hundred catties of ling grain was the result of his year of hard effort.

Thirty pieces of second-grade jingshi, for him, was a large sum of money.

Having thirty pieces of second-grade jingshi as he walked on the street, Zuo Mo felt that all the passer-by’s eyes were like daggers.

The streets of Dong Fu were wide. In the sky, many houses of different colors and shapes floated. These were also stores, but that was the high-end district. Without a high-grade mount any xiuzhe who could not fly on a sword couldn’t enter, even if they wanted to. Some high-end stores were small islands floating in the sky, with grass and flowers blooming, and music streaming out.

That was a place that Zuo Mo wouldn’t even dream about. He always only looked at what was in his bowl.

Chapter 2 - Jade Scroll

Blurred like a fantasy with lights floating, Dong Fu was just as beautiful at night as it was in daytime.

The lanterns on the two sides of the street gave off bright and gentle light. From the sky, there were the barks and squeals of the ling beasts, and the lights from flying talismans were more dazzling than a meteor shower. The cool night air didn’t thin the crowds but made it busier. The merchants were all brimming with energy and the shop workers in each store wore uniforms as they stood on either side of the door. One person holding a copper bell, while the other held a Bagua mirror.

The worker holding the copper bell sent out a spell and a clear voice spread out from the copper bell, “This store sells talismans, all kinds of talismans at great prices. Whether or not you are a lianqi apprentice, or a skilled jindan, this store can fulfill your needs……”

金丹(jindan): the fourth major stage of cultivation.

Engraved on the copper bell was a Clear Sound Incantation. The voice was mild and moderate, and wasn’t harsh on the ears. Even if it was heard for a long time, the listener wouldn’t be bothered.

The worker with the Bagua mirror cooperated beautifully and had made out a spell at the same time. The Bagua mirror flashed and above his head, holograms of different illusions began to flash, each illusion moving in realistic patterns. As the sound of the bell changed, the holograms changed as well in unison. This was a mirage spell, producing illusions and tricking others to believing it was real.

Stores lined both sides of the street and it was a frequent sight that  the workers from stores opposite one another would glare at each other. Each pair of workers swung the bells rapidly with the lights of the Bagua mirror flashing.

This scene was occurring all along the street.

“Fifth-grade Secret Paradise. Has one ling spring, five hundred ping, full of ling energy. No matter for raising animals or planting ling grains or grasses, we guarantee you have a good harvest! Two million fifth-grade jingshi. Don’t miss it, this deal it won’t come again!”

坪: one ping is 3.3 square meters.

“This store is selling all kinds of high-grade ling herbs. With a thousand year history , our store’s quality is guaranteed! All of the medicine in our store has been inspected by high-level medicine professors in the Tian Xin School of Medicine! Please don’t worry!”

“Do you want to get into Yi Zi Hui Sword Sect? This training center takes in students all year round, providing training on all kinds of beginner spells, with personal lessons by experienced sword xiu of Yi Zi Hui Sword Sect. Guaranteed to pass the first time! Why are you hesitating? Come try! Those who register now will receive fifteen percent off!”

修: shortened form for xiuzhe

This was the city with no night, the primary town Dong Fu!

Zuo Mo wasn’t unfamiliar with this prosperous primary town, but he wasn’t used to it. He didn’t come often. If he hadn’t brought a flying paper crane, it was hard to even make a trip to Dong Fu.

Even the most beautiful street would have an intersection. Zuo Mo stared dazedly. He was lost.

Damn it, lost again!

He hit his head in frustration.

Helplessly, Zuo Mo walked to a banyan tree and lifted his face. On the branches, he saw many small red birds. The little birds were entirely red and had long crimson tails. When they flew, it was like there was a stream of fire behind them so they were called Flaming Birds.

They were intelligent and psychic. They could understand human speech and were good at learning. Many cities used them as road signs and direction. However, it wasn’t a free service.

Zuo Mo bore the pain as he threw one piece of first-grade jingshi. A flaming bird spread its wings and swooped down from the tree, accurately catching the jingshi and swallowed it into its stomach.

“Free Market.” Zuo Mo shouted.

The flaming bird flew a few circles around his head, and began leading the way.

Zuo Mo hurried to keep up with the bird. The flaming bird didn’t fly very quickly. The long tail feathers threw off red light that glowed brightly in the night.

The red light spread out in the air and quickly disappeared. As he passed through the lantern-lit streets, listening to the calls of peddling, and looking at the holograms changing at the two sides of the street, Zuo Mo became silent and began thinking about how he felt when he had opened his eyes two years ago..

He sighed in his heart and a slightly sorrowful mood pervaded.

The clear call of the flaming bird startled him awake. When he saw the free market not far away, his mood lifted. The flaming bird circled a few times around and turned to leave with a trail of red glowing dots behind. Zuo Mo waved his hand at the leaving flaming bird.

The Free Market was the most common place for low-level xiuzhe. It was called the Free Market because  anyone could put up a stall and sell things. They only had to buy a Mini-Room, and pay some fees before they could freely sell. The price of a Mini-Room was much lower than a store front. Usually when the mini-room was collapsed, it was only palm-sized and easy to transport. Many xiuzhe would buy one to carry around. Then they didn’t have to worry about where to sleep when they went out.

Buying here was much cheaper than normal stores but one had to spend time searching.

The free market was like a gigantic weiqi board, divided into squares. Each square could hold ten Mini-Rooms which were arranged in two back to back rows of five.

Zuo Mo quickly found his goal.

“Oh, Mo ge, you came!” The store owner was a male about twenty seven or twenty eight. He had a pointy head, his two eyes moving rapidly. His name was Fu Jin. His potential was average and he didn’t have much interest in cultivation. Right now, he only was on the third level of lianqi, so he had decided to start a business. He was skilled at managing and had a variety of suppliers. He basically had everything, no matter if it was low-level talismans or some spells. He could get all of them.

Zuo Mo didn’t waste words, “Did what I want arrive yet?”

“Of course, of course!” Fu Jin patted his thin chest and laughed, “What Mo ge wants, I don’t dare not to do my best!”

Finishing his greeting, Fu Jin started to dig through a little pouch at his waist. Zuo Mo looked with red eyes at the small cloth pouch at Fu Jin’s waist. The little cloth bag might be nondescript, but it was a third-grade Thousand Treasure Pouch.

But very quickly, Zuo Mo’s eyes were attracted to the small object held in Fu Jin’s hands. A piece of blue-green jade, about one finger wide and two knuckles long. It was a jade scroll.

“But Mo ge, don’t blame me for not reminding you. This ling plant jade scroll has five kinds of elemental spells. However, not many can learn all of them.” Fu Jin said seriously, “With Mo ge’s third level abilities at [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], why don’t you buy a water spell jade scroll? Don’t be irritated at my chattiness, but I’ve seen a lot over the years and understand that one well trained ability is enough to overcome all.”

Zuo Mo solemnly responded, “Many thanks, Fu ge.”

Fu Jin was looking out for him. He understood that.

Seeing Zuo Mo still resolute, Fu Jin didn’t continue. He handed the jade scroll to him, “Already said the price, twenty pieces of second-grade jingshi.”

Zuo Mo straightforwardly handed over the jingshi.

Twenty pieces of second-grade jingshi was a significant piece of business. Fu Jin’s mood improved and he smiled, teasing, “If Mo ge can learn all of it then you will become a ling plant farmer. At that time, don’t forget to help out this brother then!”

Zuo Mo also chuckled and raised his hands together expressionlessly, “Thanks, Fu ge for the words. To become a ling plant farmer, one has to learn three different types of elemental spells at the third level. It isn’t that easy.”

The two finished their transaction happily.

The majority of the jingshi was spent but Zuo Mo didn’t feel any heartache. He carefully put the jade scroll next to his skin. This was a treasure.

Even though travelling at night was difficult, Zuo Mo prepared to return to the mountain after purchasing the jade scroll, if he stayed overnight at Dong Fu then he would need to spend money again.

Without the weight of the ling grains Lil’ Yellow became lighter and nimbler as it carried Zuo Mo, and continued to wheeze as it flew in the direction of Wu Kong Mountain.

When he returned to his residence at Wu Kong Mountain, it was deep in the night.

Zuo Mo laid on his roof under the stars, with his entire body aching. His fingers grasped the jade scroll. Holding the jade scroll in front of his eyes, his eyes narrowed, and he was unspeakably content.

At this Sword River prefecture, there were many people that farmed. In Wu Kong Sword Sect, about seventy percent of the outer sect disciples would choose to farm when they chose their tasks. The sect would also give out some methods of farming. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was one of them, but these were the most basic spells. Wu Kong Sword Sect was a sect for sword xiu. They had many sword arts, but the number of spells they had on any other arts were pitiful.

Farming was a deep and vast topic. Zuo Mo, who had continued as an outer sect disciple for two years, had a deep understanding of this.

The jade scroll included five types of five element spells. They were all spells relating to farming. One of those included was [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. When he saw this, the stone in his heart landed. Worth it! The elaboration included in the scroll about [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was more comprehensive and profound than what he knew.

Fu Jin wasn’t wrong. Being a master at one thing was more realistic but Zuo Mo had his own plans.

If he could learn all five kinds of the five element spells and if three kinds reached the third level, he could become a ling plant farmer. If [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] hadn’t broke into the third level, then he wouldn’t have had the idea. Now that  he could comprehend the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], that should mean that he had a bit of a talent in spells that belonged to the five elements.

If he had given up all the ling grains to exchange for contribution points from the sect, then he could have received a decent sword manual.

He didn’t do that. What did he need a sword manual for? To chop wood?

In comparison, farming spells were more useful to him. Even if he didn’t learn all of them, the more he learned, the more abilities he had. The sect didn’t have much, but uncultivated ling fields were everywhere. With enough ling fields, he could grow more ling grains, and get more jingshi.

Thinking and thinking, Zuo Mo’s head became clearer and his drowsiness disappeared.

He sat up and reached out with his palm to touch his face. The muscles on his face were solid and hard like wood. This was why he never displayed any expressions.

He didn’t care about beauty. He cared about another matter.

The faint starlight fell in the yard, giving out a slight silver shimmer. Like the night mist which rose, sorrow rose in the eyes of the expressionless Zuo Mo.

Two years ago, when the head of Wu Kong Sword Sect was returning to the sect, he had found an unconscious Zuo Mo and brought him back to the sect. When Zuo Mo woke up, he found that his memory was blank. In the following two years, he made many attempts but couldn’t recall any of his memories from two years ago.

What was even stranger was his face. Frozen like a stone, Zuo Mo could not make any expressions. The sect leader said it possibly could be a rare kind of affliction. Because of this face, he wasn’t accepted by the other disciples at the beginning and had received quite a few wrongs.

But he didn’t dislike this face of his. It was one of the only two links he could find to his past. Maybe one day, this wooden face could remind him.

Who am I……where is my home……

The other link was the dream that always appeared. Whose voice was that? And what must he not forget?

But he forgot everything!

Sighing in his heart, he shook his head as though he was shaking all those thoughts from his head. He carelessly took up the sound tablet beside him and input ling power in.

The sound tablet was one of the most popular talismans in this xiu world. It was made up of a base and a round jade tablet. There were seal arrangements and it could receive sound transmissions from large scale seal arrangements. Zuo Mo’s sound tablet was one of the most basic models. A base made out of cedar wood holding a jade tablet the size of a palm. After channeling in ling power, the surface of the jade tablet shone and flickered through a multitude of colors and a melodious voice came out.

“ Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie once again breaks out in fierce conflict. Twelve xiuzhe camps simultaneously suffered large scale attacks from yaomo with serious casualties.”

妖魔: yao and mo are two different things. Yao could be considered equivalent to spirits, and mo to demons. They are put together as yaomo because they are both enemies of xiuzhe but they are not one entity.

“Zhou Ding Sword Sect has found another new jie. The exploration has already found large amounts of ling veins. According to those familiar with the matter, there are more than fifteen sects that have sent out high-level xiuzhe at the same time. Additionally, as there are a high amount of aboriginals on this jie, industry xiuzhe predict that this could cause the prince of xiu slaves on the market to drastically decrease……”

“After slaying the famous high level Master Xi Mo Da of the yao race, the Western Shang Sword Sect of Western Shang Jie has forged the life feather into a flying sword. Today, the flying sword has finally come out of the forge. It is rumoured the energy of the sword when it came out expanded ten miles. High level experts from forging sects estimate this Gold Feather Sword has reached an astounding seventh-grade~ The Western Shang Sword Sect has a new weapon!”

……

Under the stars, Zuo Mo listened silently. When he had just woken up, this rough sound tablet had helped him gradually understand this world.

Since then, he developed the habit of listening to the sound tablet everyday.

When his mood was bad or jittery, he would open the sound tablet and listen silently. His mood would then calm down.

In the dark sea of the night, the stars shone and a zombie quietly sat on top of the roof and listened to the sound tablet, spellbound.

Chapter 3 - The Little Yard

Making rain for fifty mu was a significant amount of work for even someone like Zuo Mo who had the cultivation of lianqi seventh level.

亩: measurement of area. Approximately one fifteenth of a hectare.

Wiping the sweat on his forehead, Zuo Mo expressionlessly said, “Alright, this is killing me.”

Old Black cheerfully gave a thumbs up, “Mo ge’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] is just as rumoured!” Finishing, he squatted down with a face full of joy to check the growth of the ling grain.

Zuo Mo calmly accepted the flattery. Old Black’s ling grain had been sturdily planted. Based on his observations, this year’s harvest would be good. Adding on the rain he made, it would easily increase the harvest by twenty something percent. For payment, Zuo Mo would take ten percent was a large sum.

For some reason, when Zuo Mo saw the devoutness and joy that Old Black had when he stared at the ling grains, he himself wasn’t happy.

Old Black had been an outer sect disciple at Wu Kong Sword Sect for twenty years. His cultivation was low and he had planted ling grains in the sect for twenty years.

The rent for the ling fields could be paid using ling grains. Each year, one had to give ling grains to the sect and receive contribution points before they were given continual qualifications to stay and be an outer sect disciple in the sect. If one wanted to learn new spells, then they need to keep contributing to the sect.

Roughly calculating, the amount that a farmer would be left with was pitiful. The ling grains were a harvest that Old Black was reluctant to eat.

It wasn’t easy being an outer sect disciple. Zuo Mo knew that better than anyone.

Even under these conditions here were still countless people trying to get into a small sect like the Wu Kong Sword Sect t. Even if it was hard, they could learn something. When they left the sect, they could find a good job. To someone like Old Black who didn’t have any savings, it was a very steady job.

Zuo Mo’s days were much better. He was an outer sect disciple, but he had been taken in by the sect leader. No one dared to bully him. His innate skill and comprehension were high. After comprehending the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] by himself, his days became increasingly comfortable.

Zuo Mo had no great ambitions. There were no clues to his history and birth. Other than living more comfortable days, he didn’t have any other wishes.

After the completing the job, he slowly walked back to his own residence.

There was only Wu Kong Sword Sect on Wu Kong Mountain. There was plenty of space. The entire western peak was sectioned off as the residential area of the outer sect disciples. How extravagantly one wanted to live, outer sect disciples could decide and construct yards for themselves. Most people would choose the yards that former outer sect disciples had left. Even if people hadn’t lived in them for a long time, often all that was  needed was a good cleaning.

Zuo Mo’s yard took up a great amount of space. He might be thin and weak but he liked large things so at the beginning, he had picked the biggest yard on the western peak. It was a seventh entry compound. Half a mu of fish pond, about five mu of ling fields. The shixiong that had built this yard definitely would have been a fanatic about farming. There were no fake mountains, no flowerbeds and courtyard, no other decorations. This shixiong had changed it all to ling fields.

师兄(shixiong): senior male fellow student or apprentice

Other people had no interest in a yard without any sense of beauty, appeal, and incomplete seal formations, but Zuo Mo liked it.

He didn’t raise anything in the fish pond. Just using the pond to bathe in the summer was a refreshing luxury. Ling fields were good. Zuo Mo had calculated well. If you rented ling fields from the sect, you had to pay rent. Zuo Mo didn’t have to pay rent on the ling fields in this yard. There was also a cold spring in the yard.

There were considerations in building a residence. Normally, it was best to build on top of a ling vein. Living constantly in places thick with ling energy would increase the speed of cultivation. That was the reason Secret Paradises with ling veins were so expensive. There weren’t many places with ling veins at all, so how would it be given to the outer sect disciples like him?

But who could have thought that under this neglected yard, there was a ling vein!

When he had moved in, Zuo Mo had searched everywhere for a place to meditate. He found a secluded room. When he pushed open the door, a rotten smell had rushed at him. There were many meditation mats lying on the ground which all had decayed and rotted. There was only one mat that had kept its shape.

After Zuo Mo put in tremendous effort into cleaning up the seclusion room, only the one mat had been left.

When Zuo Mo sat on the mat for the first time, he froze in shock.

In the location of the mat, the ling energy was much thicker than anywhere else!

Zuo Mo, whose heart had been beating frantically, had first thought it was due to the mat. Quickly after, he found the real reason – under the mat there was a small side branch of ling vein! This section of ling veins was extremely small. It couldn’t be detected even one step away from the mat.

At this time, he finally understood why that nameless shixiong had built such a large yard. It was most likely to disguise this little section of ling vein.

This nameless shixiong quickly became Zuo Mo’s idol.

To be able to find this little section of ling vein on the gigantic western peak and to clear an area for ling fields by himself. With such ability, this shixiong didn’t seem like an outer sect disciple.

After finding the secret of the ling vein, Zuo Mo became even more low-key. He knew the logic of not showing off one’s wealth. If this bit of ling vein was found out by anyone else, there would be plots against him. At bes, it would be taken away by the sect.

Zuo Mo prepared and placed thirty something mats on the floor of the seclusion room. In addition, there were seventy or so mats piled in the corners. The colors of the mats varied, and the shapes were all different. All of them were woven by him. This strange habit of Little Zombie Mo, weaving mats, was known throughout the outer sect. Some people, when they wanted to find him to ask for help, they would go out and buy some exquisite mats as gifts. This caused the number of mats to increase and fill the entire seclusion room.

But normally, Zuo Mo persisted in meditating on the old mat that had been preserved. To not rot after such a long period of time, this mat might have a special attribute. Thoughts of that unfathomable nameless shixiong, lead him to be careful with anything that had been preserved in the room. He wouldn’t dare to underestimate anything.

The only thing that Zuo Mo was somewhat regretful about was the ling fields had been fallow for too long. The grade of the field had dropped, and had become first-grade ling fields. It had taken countless efforts from Zuo Mo for the vitality to revive. But to once again reach second-grade, it needed time.

All five mu of the ling fields were planted with ling grains. The ling grains were waist-high, the leaf edges saw-toothed and very sharp. If not careful, it was easy to be cut. The ling grains had been seeded out at the same time so the height was extremely regular. It was a patch of green, extremely delightful.

At night, it seemed very gloomy.

To prevent from thievery, Zuo Mo put down jinzhi all around the yard. These low level jinzhi didn’t have any attack power but if they were set off, they made a loud fuss.

The entire yard was worn down and rotten. Spider webs were everywhere. All the furniture was broken and rotting. The seal arrangements inside the rooms didn’t work due to years of neglect. No one competed for the yard with him.

None of this affected Zuo Mo. He liked sleeping on the roof at night. He meditated in the seclusion room. All the other rooms were kept empty or as storage holding some normal food. For formations, he had someone carve a light seal formation for illumination during the nights. He was too thrifty to spend money on anything else.

Sitting on the prayer mat, the thick ling energy in the surroundings made him so comfortable he almost groaned. Controlled his emotions he refocused and circulated the ling power in his body.

The core scripture he used in his cultivation was [Ten Principle Scripture]. It was a widely circulated second-grade scripture. Its attribute was steadiness and mildness. Basically, there was no worry of accidentally cultivating incorrectly and becoming insane. The majority of the outer sect disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect picked it as their main scripture to cultivate. If they wanted to reach zhuji, then the chances of success were very low. Disciples who had greater ambitions needed to use more contribution points of the sect to exchange for higher level scriptures.

It was as though Zuo Mo entered a void. The ling power slowly moved through fixed paths. After one complete round, the body felt a fraction lighter.

With his cultivation of lianqi seventh level, he could persist in three circuits each time. He could feel as he inhaled and exhaled, that a portion of the ling energy inhaled would merge into the ling power that was moving inside the body. The thicker the ling energy in the surroundings, the more he could inhale each time. In these two years, this section of ling vein was of crucial importance for him going from the third level of lianqi to level seven.

After making three complete circuits, his mind retreated from the void.

His entire body felt rejuvenated. The exhaustion of before was all gone.

He casually ate something to fill his stomach. Before entering zhuji, xuizhe still needed normal food. Normal food couldn’t contribute ling power but it was still essential to xuizhe who were still in the stage of lianqi. Thankfully, the price of normal food was cheap and no one needed to worry about starvation.

He took out the jade stick he had brought yesterday. The jade stick was made from good jade, verdant and glistening. Holding it in his grasp, the material felt cold and heavy.

Floating in his head were mountains of ling grains and him laying contentedly on top of it all.

––Such a desirable life!

In this gloomy room, a thin male with a wooden zombie face gave out a stream of snickers that would raise the hair of anyone present.

After finishing dreaming, Zuo Mo focused attentively on examining the jade stick in his hand.

Channeling in ling power to the jade stick, many words instantly floated into his mind.

The jade stick had five kinds of spells, [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], [Art of Earth Energy], [Art of Aged Gold], [Art of Flora], [Art of Crimson Flame]. Other than [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], Zuo Mo had never learned any of the other four.

Being able to learn new spells, Zuo Mo was extremely happy. He couldn’t help taking a deep breath.

He could guess that from now on he needed to focus most of his attention on the remaining four spells.

The first one he tried was [Art of Aged Gold]. In the five elements, the primary use of the gold element was destruction and killing. Most of the spells related to the gold energy were related to killing. Ling grains had many natural enemies that were extremely troublesome, such as many kinds of aphids. They would burrow into the stalks of ling grains, even hollowing out the stalk. Average planters had no way of dealing with them.

The [Art of Aged Gold] was a sufficient method to deal with these pests. It would let the power of gold element permeate inside the ling plants and kill the pests inside the ling plant stalks. This was the spell that Zuo Mo needed the most presently. Other than the contracts he had signed with the other disciples, he himself had rented fifty mu of ling fields.

The harvest from these fifty mu of ling fields made up a significant amount of his income each year.

He read through [Art of Aged Gold] word by word, not daring to miss a word. The number of spells he had learned were pitifully few. Learning a completely new spell, he instantly felt it was a challenge.

After two hours, he made no progress. No matter how he tried, he could not form the aged gold energy that was mentioned in [Art of Aged Gold].

All the spells in [Art of Aged Gold] were made using the aged gold energy. Being unable to form the aged gold energy, he couldn’t learn any of the spells in [Art of Aged Gold].

The zombie face was wooden but that pair of spirited eyes showed a few hints of fierceness.

Chapter 4 - Absurdity

The light of the sunrise cut through the darkness, the red sun was slowly rising. As the light streamed into the seclusion room through the windows, his thin fingers suddenly emitted a gold colour!

Zuo Mo brought his index finger in front of his reddened eyes.

There seemed to be a golden layer around his index finger. The expressionless Zuo Mo’s eyes were filled with delight. As the beam of sunlight changed direction and left his finger, and revealed the original appearance. A layer of light gold energy was wrapped around Zuo Mo’s index finger.

It was the aged gold energy!

Just at this time, a melodious bell rang five times,  clang clang clang clang clang. The sound echoed through the mountains.

The gold light on the finger shook and the aged gold energy suddenly collapsed.

With a dishevelled appearance, Zuo Mo jumped up from the ground. Damn it! It was already morning. Disregarding his hunger, he ran outside like the wind.

At this time, if one was observing Wu Kong Mountain, then they would see hundreds of figures running out of their yards and heading to the same location.

Zuo Mo once again cursed the rule that outer sect members were not allowed to fly inside the mountain boundaries, his feet moved frantically as he sprinted.

The Hall of Hearing Principles was located at the Cow Horn Peak of Wu Kong Mountain. This mountain peak was named due to its shape.

When Zuo Mo ran into the Hall of Hearing Principles, there were already many people sitting down. He randomly found a mat to sit and gasped for air.

At the front, a young man was sitting. He was about twenty years old, his face was like jade, and his eyes like stars. He was in a dark blue plain robe. Among the dozens of people in the room, he appeared as a crane among chickens.

It was Xu Yi, the third ranked disciple among the inner sect. Usually, he was responsible for teaching the outer sect disciple. He was the disciple of Xin Yan Shishu. He was the most talented at forging among the inner sect disciples. In addition, he had a vast knowledge regarding a variety of miscellaneous topics.

Ding!

On the table, a bell made from jade rang, the sound rose and spreading out. Zuo Mo felt his mind jump and become refreshed, the tiredness from staying up all night was disappearing.

Xu Yi Shixiong’s Green Water Jade Bell Set was one of the talismans that Zuo Mo coveted the most. The rack was made of red copper, and seven green bells were arranged in order of largest to smallest. Carved on each bell were countless miniscule seal characters. They glowed with a green light and it was lovely.

Each bell had a different effect. The effect of bell that had just been struck was [Great Clear Sound Incantation]

Zuo M could only just be envious. This set of green jade bells had taken Xu Yi Shixiong a tremendous amount of time and energy to forge. Even the other shixiong didn’t have a set.

Xu Yue Shixiong was well loved by the outer sect disciples. Would any other shixiong use [Great Clear Sound Incantation] to help disciples clear their minds?

Xu Yi swept his sleeves out and the doors of the Hall of Hearing Principles were loudly closed.

Zuo Mo’s attention was on the desk in front of Shixiong. Other than that set of green jade bells, there were also a variety of knick-knacks.

Forging? Zuo Mo instantly rejoiced inside. He had entered Wu Kong Sword Sect for two years but never heard Third Shixiong talk about forging.

Every so often, Third Shixiong would teach some of the methods of cultivation. It was one of the benefits for outer sect disciples. Many people entered the sect just in order to learn these cultivation methods so when they left the Wu Kong Sword Sect, they could find a good job.

Others, unlike Zuo Mo, couldn’t find many jobs. Zuo Mo only had a cultivation of seventh level lianqi, but with his third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], he could find a decent job in a farm or medicine garden. Sky Moon Jie didn’t have many exports but due to the good climate and abundant ling energy, there were many farms and medicine gardens.

Scriptures increase ling power and cultivation. What was needed was the resources and accumulation. Ling veins, ling medicine, jingshi, they could all increase cultivation. If they were not available, then you could only slowly cultivate over time.

Spells were the usage of ling power. What was needed to learn spells were lessons and personal comprehension. There were geniuses who could comprehend the spell arts on their own, but for normal people receiving lessons was more effective.

In some large sects, before disciples achieved zhuji, they were restricted from learning spell arts. That was because they believed  cultivation was fundamental.

For many xiuzhe, the great pat of enlightenment was just a dream. Ling veins, ling medicine, and jingshi, none of these were things they could even wish for. So, in comparison, learning spells was more realistic. One could find a good job and receive a decent income with spells. Other than guaranteeing a livelihood, they could provide for their descendants so that they wouldn’t find it as difficult to cultivate.

“You have all spent a period of time at this sect. I know how much effort and hardship you have all endured, but you have to keep cultivating and not neglect it. It will help make it easier to find a living in the future. Your efforts will not be wasted. Cultivate through scriptures, so I won’t speak too much on this. There isn’t anything more to say about it. If your scores at the sect assessment are excellent this year, I naturally will pass on high-level scriptures to you.

Today, I am going to be speaking of is how to forge two talismans. The first is Ling Fragmenting Hoe, the second is Needle and Thread Sucking pouch.

The Ling Fragmenting Hoe is an essential talisman for you in the take care of the ling fields. It can excite the ling energy inside the ling fields and help the ling plants absorb ling energy. The Needle and Thread Sucking pouch is used to take in the sap of the ling plants. Remember, you must quickly hand over the sap of the ling plants that are sucked out, otherwise when the ling energy in the sap will dissipate. This will not earn a single contribution point.

Pay close attention. I’ll only say these things once ……”

Xu Yi Shixiong spoke plainly, the vigor in his words that made people trust his lecture.

Zuo Mo listened extremely carefully. This was the first time he touched the topic of forging. He was afraid to miss a single word.

When Xu Yi Shixiong finished his lecture, six hours had passed. Zuo Mo hadn’t ate all night and concentrated for six hours. Zuo Mo’s front chest was touching his back. Quickly returning to his yard, he searched for something to fill his stomach.

Before he could wipe his mouth, a sword light suddenly came from the sky, landing in the yard. The jinzhi around the yard didn’t have any strength to resist before exploding.

A man with an icy expression appeared in front of Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo swallowed the words that had reached his mouth back into his stomach. His heart beat wildly. Why had this death god come?

Before he could make a bow, he heard the other snort, “You are Zuo Mo?”

“Zuo Mo greets Luo Li Shixiong!” Zuo Mo’s voice was respectful as he made a deep bow. Luo Li Shixiong might be ranked fourth among the inner sect disciples but he had the deepest cultivation among this generation of disciples. His personality was cold and he was fanatical about cultivation. His innate talents were outstanding and among the second generation, he was the only disciple that managed to achieve [Empty Sword]. He was widely acknowledged as the person most likely, in the past two hundred years, to achieve the sect’s lost technique, [Void Sword]. [Void Sword] was the sect’s greatest sword art.

Luo Li was famous equally for his innate talents and his moody temper. He was responsible for supervising a mine for the sect. According to rumors, if the xiu slaves who mined there were even the least bit noncompliant, he would kill them with one stroke.

Luo Li was too lazy to talk to Zuo Mo and he appeared suddenly behind Zuo Mo, and flew off, holding Zuo Mo by his collar.

Zuo Mo might have called himself the first one among the outer sect disciples to have a mount, but it was the first time he experienced such flying speed. He only felt the sky and earth were rotating, the oncoming wind made his face hurt and he couldn’t even open his eyes.

When his feet touched the ground, Zuo Mo almost collapsed.

“So it really is a zombie face.”

Zuo Mo, who had just recovered from dizziness, heard this and instantly formed a negative opinion of the speaker.

A young female dressed in green, examined Zuo Mo with interest. Her chin was pointed and her cheekbones slightly high. There was a smile on her face but her eyes lacked warmth.

Her gaze made Zuo Mo very uncomfortable, but he didn’t dare to show any discontent. He respectfully gave a bow, “Greetings to Hao Shijie!”

师姐(shijie): senior female student

Hao Min Shijie and Luo Li Shixiong were the disciples of Yan Le Shishu. Supposedly, Luo Li Shixiong was infatuated with her. That rumor seem to be true.

师叔 (shishu): senior uncle. Male of a sect’s older generation.

“I heard your [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] is at the third level?” Hao Min pierced Zuo Mo with a stare and asked.

“Yes!”

“Very good.” Hao Min said, satisfied, “I’m going out for a period of time. During this  time, the medicine fields will be in your care.”

Zuo Mo was given no time to speak as she threw a jade pendant at him and coldly stated, “This is the jade pendant and go to the medicine fields. Water the field once a day until I return. During this time, you must take care of the medicine fields.”

Her tone instantly became severe, “My temper isn’t very good. We’ll put the ugly words first. If something goes wrong with the medicine fields, then I won’t forgive you when I return!”

Finishing, she didn’t even look at Zuo Mo. Turning to look at Luo Li she wrapped her arm around his arm, her smile like a flower, and her voice gentle as water, “Shixiong, let’s go.”

A few hints of warmth floated on Luo Li’s face. He looked carelessly at Zuo Mo, snorted coldly and the two flew into the air.

Zuo Mo held the jade pendent, frozen to the spot as he watched the two disappear into the sky.

When a person meets misfortune, even drinking water would get stuck in the teeth. He had never thought he would be this unfortunate.

The outer sect disciples didn’t like Hao Min Shijie. She was ruthless and selfish. Being ordered about by her didn’t result in any benefits. Her temper was nasty and she was fickle as Luo Li Shixiong. If one wasn’t careful, it would result in beatings and a scolding.

From beginning to end, the two never even asked for his opinion.

Zuo Mo screamed inside.

From when he opened his eyes two years ago until now, he only interacted with the ling grains. He had never taken care of medicine fields before. Even worse, with his cultivation, he could only do the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] once every day.

Thinking about the contracts he had signed with the other shixiong, his mouth was bitter.

There were three places in Wu Kong Sword Sect for medicine fields. The one that Hao Min shijie was responsible was in Cold Mist Valley. He held the jade pendant, his heart jumping as he walked in the direction of Cold Mist Valley.

Cold Mist Valley was between two mountain peaks and had mist swirling about all year around. The temperature was lower than anywhere else on Wu Kong Mountain and that was how it got its name. It was one of the important areas of the sect. Outer sect disciples had no permission to enter. If Zuo Mo’s [Little Art of Rain and Cloud] had reached the third level, Hao Min definitely wouldn’t have picked him.

On the road, there were old trees and grass everywhere. The smell of the forest emanated from all around him and he was surrounded by life. Sometimes small animals like rabbits and squirrels passed by joyfully jumping. Zuo Mo had no interest in admiring scenery. His heart beat frantically as he held the jade pendant and furtively made his way, while his two legs trembled.

Everywhere on this road were jinzhi. They were in the open or in the shadows. Some strong jinzhi occasionally would release a suffocating and terrifying aura. With his seventh level lianqi abilities, if he accidentally attracted the jinzhi, not a drop of him would remain.

If it wasn’t that he naturally had a zombie face, his face definitely would be pasty white and bloodless.

Chapter 5 - Cold Mist Valley

Using the jade pendant in his hands, Zuo Mo safely reached the entrance to Cold Mist Valley.

The entrance was shrouded in mist, a white curtain of nothing.

Zuo Mo hesitated for a while, and not finding any other roads, he could only stride towards the white mist.

As he approached, as if it recognized him, the white mist parted to reveal a small path. His mind relaxed and he let out a breath. He admired the techniques that the sect had. If one day he could do the same, it would be so refreshing.

His thoughts couldn’t help but wander away.

Following the path he walked half a mile, his field of view suddenly widened.

About five mu of the valley was filled with various kinds of ling medicine. Their colors varied and their shapes were strange. It was as though a colourful carpet had been laid out on the valley. Several dozen rainbow Sparrow-Tailed butterflies flew around. Black-banded Yellow honeybees formed troops and flew to and fro.

There was a silvery waterfall ran down from a cliff to the bottom of the valley, the flowing water roared like thunder. With great force water smashed into a deep pond creating a countless water drops, which formed a fine mist.

Taking a deep breath, Zuo Mo felt unspeakably comfortable. The moisture and the fragrance of all the kinds of ling herbs blended together. He suddenly felt that taking care of the ling fields wasn’t as bad as he had thought.

Remembering that Hao Min shijie warned that he had to water the ling medicine once every day, Zuo Mo hurried and activated [Little Art of Cloud and Rain].

Moisture began to condense from the surroundings, and was visible to the naked eye. It gradually formed a cloud which floated above the medicine fields. The spell on Zuo Mo’s hands rapidly changed and after a series of dazzling movements, the cloud released a fine drizzle into the medicine fields.

This little rain lasted for an hour before the cloud dissipated. Zuo Mo gave a breath of relief. It was very humid here and made it much easier to do [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. He couldn’t help but start to calculate. The situation was better than he had hoped for. If he toiled hard enough, he could barely finish what had been set out in the contracts.

What he had to pray for was that nothing would happen to the medicine fields, and that they would remain safe and compete until Hao Min shijie came back.

Nothing could be solved by him.

If he had any fantasies before, he understood the cruel reality now. He was very sensitive to the density of ling energy. The ling energy of Cold Mist Valley was very plentiful. To have ploughed medicine fields in such a good location, the grade of the ling herbs that were produced wouldn’t be low.

If something really happened on his watch, he would … …

He shuddered.

Even though the path in the mist was layered in jinzhi, there weren’t any in the valley. Zuo Mo went around the entire valley. The pond was so deep the bottom couldn’t be seen. The coldness of the water pierced straight into the bones. The roaring of the waterfall was  thunderous, and echoed throughout the valley.

He crouched in the ling fields, inspecting the ling herbs one by one. He needed to etch the characteristics of each ling herb into his memory. He had only grown ling grains before and had no knowledge of ling herbs, so he could only use this brute method. Right now, he didn’t hope for receiving any rewards, and only hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Any ling herb here, even by selling himself, it would be enough to repay its loss.

He could guarantee he had never focused so hard before.

It was only when the sky began turning dark did he drag his exhausted body back to his yard. When he saw the mess surrounding the yard, the jinzhi that had been ripped to shreds, he wanted to cry.

At this time, he didn’t have the energy to reconstruct the jinzhi. He was so tired that he wanted to die. He didn’t have the strength to even raise his eyelids.

Returning to the seclusion room, he only managed to channel a drop of ling power into the sound tablet before dropping down on the mat and falling asleep.

He woke up in the sound of the sound tablet’s broadcast.

“The twenty third [Sword Test Conference] has finished its qualification rounds. Up until now, four thousand two hundred and fifty three sword xiu have receive qualifications for the competition. This year’s [Sword Test Conference] has plenty of rewards. The top one hundred will receive a fourth-grade flying sword. The top ten will receive a fifth-grade flying sword. The prize for the winner has been confirmed as [Arrowpoint], a seventh-grade flying sword. According to those familiar with the competition, this is the highest grade prize in the history of the [Sword Test Conference]. This has caused the interest of many major sect disciples including those from Wu Shuang Sword Sect, Suo Luo Sword Sect… …”

“Good thing, good thing. I want, I want. No chance, no chance.”

Zuo Mo carelessly climbed up from the mat, and hummed a strange tune.

Walking out of the seclusion room, he started to reconstruct the jinzhi. As to the walls, he would have to  wait and  rebuild them at a later time.

He could see broken bricks everywhere and began to clean the surroundings. Otherwise, he didn’t even have space to set up the jinzhi. With his seventh level lianqi sill, there were many restrictions for him to set up a jinzhi.

Humming a small tune, he cleaned up the broken and ruined walls. This yard had been built long ago and the walls were already in a decrepit state. Now, it was completely destroyed by Luo Li shixiong. Recalling the strong and intimidating Luo Li shixiong as he landed from the sky, Zuo Mo felt his heart palpitate even now.

Ah, Zuo Mo suddenly stopped walking and bent down to pick up something.

It was a little pink paper crane, much smaller than Zuo Mo’s yellow paper crane, and very well made. This was Little Thousand crane, used for passing letters and speech. This was a plaything. It’s speed wasn’t as fast as sending letters with flying swords, especially over long distances. Using it wasn’t very convenient so most of the users were xiuzhe that were lower than jindan.

How did it arrive at his place?

Zuo Mo rudely unfolded the pink Little Thousand crane and suddenly understood. It was a Wishing Little Thousand crane.

Very long ago, when the xiuzhe started to break through the void and search for new jie, they frequently would encounter dangers and become trapped. These trapped xiuzhe found that they couldn’t break free, so they would write their wishes and pleas for help on the Little Thousand Crane and send it away. Since there weren’t any imprints, no one knew where the Little Thousand Cranes would end up, but the life of a xiuzhe was long. If they were lucky, they could survive for a long period of time.

After the first time a Wishing Little Thousand crane was successful in helping rescue a trapped xiuzhe, the Wishing Little Thousand crane became fashionable in the xiuzhe world. As time progressed, this became a game for female xiuzhe to expel their feelings. They would write their emotions on the wishing Little Paper Cranes and send them out. They would also imprint the crane so the one who picked it up could sent the Wishing Little Thousand crane back to owners hands.

What could make a young girl’s heart beat faster than a fate that couldn’t be calculated and was too wonderful for words?

Zuo Mo couldn’t understand it. In his heart, there were only jingshi, ling grains, and cultivation. Romance, this kind of luxury, he didn’t have any of it.

Unfolding the Little Thousand Crane revealed a few rows of beautiful writing.

“Hoping so much

To carry a bag

Go out alone to roam

At a place where there was no one else

Sing

Soak in the sun”

Sentimental nonsense. Zuo Mo snorted coldly inside and responded with the criticism he thought most accurate. It was such a pity to waste such good paper. He didn’t know what paper it was made out of, but it was at least third-grade quality.

To use third-grade paper to make a Little Thousand Crane was a waste that would raise people’s hairs.

Once the paper was used this way, it couldn’t be used again. Such a pity, Zuo Mo thought.

He was preparing to crumple the pink paper into a ball when he suddenly stopped. Expressionlessly, he tilted his head. Thinking, he started to run into his room.

Rushing into the room, he looked around and found what he wanted.

Fresh and thick cinnabar and a weasel bristle brush.

Taking up the brush, dipping deep into the cinnabar, his wrist flowing as he wrote out a word.

– “Dumbass.”

Smugly looking at the bright red colour that stretched across the pink paper, Zuo Mo roared with laughter.

His life was nerve-wracking and full. It was extremely hard and he didn’t have any time to be depressed. He knew very well the difficulty of life. Everyone was putting their lives on the line in order to survive, for their families, and for their descendants, Like Old Black, even if work was hard and exhausting  Zuo Mo didn’t dislike this kind of life. He felt the opposite. This was life.

Sentimental nonsense. Only people who had idle lives and no ambitions would have that. Zuo Mo looked down on those people.

In a cheerful mood, he hummed a tune as he folded the paper again into a Little Thousand Crane.

“Who’s a dumbass, who’s a dumbass. You’re a dumbass, you’re a dumbass……”

Using the imprint that was on the Wishing Little Thousand crane Zuo Mo channeled ling power into the Wishing Little Thousand crane, and threw it up in the air.

The pink Little Thousand Crane flapped its tiny wings and disappeared into the sky.

Zuo Mo’s mood became exceptionally well. He exuberantly cleaned the yard, his steps lighter than usual.

When the jinzhi were finished, it was past noon. He got something to eat before going back to the seclusion room to meditate.

Normal outer sect disciples rarely would spend such a long time on meditation. Compared to learning the spell arts, meditation and cultivation practice wasn’t profitable.

However, Zuo Mo persisted in spending four hours each day on meditation. After he found the ling vein in the seclusion room, he had spent even more time each day in mediation. The cultivation was the foundation; that was a rationale all xiuzhe understood.. What he cultivated with was the most basic scripture but he had the benefit of the ling vein so the results were still outstanding.

Just how rigid the ranks were in the cultivation world, he had a very deep understanding. If he could achieve zhuji, even if he was an outer sect disciple, Hao Min and Luo Li wouldn’t dare to treat him so poorly. Zhuji was a division line. It would directly decide the quality of your life.

To receive a beautiful life. The only way was to continuously increase your own power.

Once he sat down, he began mediating.

Six hours had passed before he opened his eyes again.

His eyes were filled with joy. Lianqi eight level!

Persisting in cultivating, the reward finally came. He made it to the eighth level!

The cultivation of eighth level liangqi, in all of the outer sect disciple of the entire Wu Kong Sword Sect, it definitely could enter the top three.

He spread out his fingers and started to activate a spell. A layer of aged gold energy appeared around his finger. Once his cultivation increased a level, it was much easier activate a spell. An excited Zuo Mo started to activate [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]

He instantly felt the difference. The speed at which the moisture condensed was much faster, and  raindrops fell like they wouldn’t stop. He took the time to savor the new experiences.

Remembering the medicine fields, he stood up and rushed out of his yard.

Running to Cold Mist Valley in one go, not taking the time to recover, he started to activate [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. Only when everything had been watered did the stone in his heart land on the ground.

Chapter 6 – Highly Dangerous

“Shixiong has come.” Fei Yun enthusiastically gave a greeting. He was wearing the light yellow robes of the Everything Pavilion disciples. It was just the front had been rolled up and tucked at the waist.

Zuo Mo’s voice was friendly, “You’re on duty today?”

“Shixiong has to look after me.” Fei Yun chuckled. He was aware that this zombie face was a large account among all the outer sect disciples. Most of his sales came from this person.

Wu Kong Sword Sect was far from Dong Fu, and it was exceedingly troublesome to make a round trip. The Everything Pavilion had been set up to ease the purchase of items for everyone. There wasn’t much higher-level inventory sold at the Everything Pavilion, but for outer sect disciples, it could fulfill most of their needs. Even if the prices were slightly higher than in Dong Fu, it was much more convenient, and everyone had become used to buying what they needed here.

Even for Zuo Mo who owned a flying paper crane, it was troublesome to go to Dong Fu.

The two were familiar, and he wasn’t overly courteous, “Anything good lately?”

“There’s a few first-grade talismans but I’m afraid it isn’t what Shixiong wishes for.” Fei Yun smiled as he answered. Upon familiarity, he had experienced Zuo Mo’s shrewdness. He rarely would buy something that he didn’t need.

“I’ll take a look.” Zuo Mo didn’t refuse.

Fei Yun took out some talismans. Zuo Mo flipped through them one by one.

An orange colored bangle carved from a single piece of fire jade could increase the ability to control flames. Zuo Mo put it to one side. This bangle was useful for those who made medicine. He didn’t need it, and the price of ten pieces of second-grade jingshi was too expensive and not useful enough.

The following few items, he put them down as well.

Only when he saw a yellow copper ring did he examine it for a long time.

“Shixiong is interested in this ring?” Fei Yun saw hope and started his sales pitch, “[Golden Sword Ring], first-grade gold element talisman. Only need to channel gold ling power until it is full and then it can release three sword strikes. The power is astounding and overwhelmingly strong. The best part is, the price is great! Just five pieces of second-grade jingshi. A talisman for five pieces of second-grade jingshi, it’s a deal you won’t find anywhere else.”

Fei Yun ran on, talking up the [Golden Sword Ring]

Zuo Mo didn’t speak. He adjusted his energy and channeled ling power towards the ring. Previously, he couldn’t use the ring, but now that he had learned [Aged Gold Energy] and could turn his ling power into gold ling energy, he could use the ring.

Fei Yun saw the potential for business and quickly closed his mouth to avoid distracting Zuo Mo.

The ling power continued to pour into the ring, the dark yellow copper ring started to glow. Zuo Mo was shocked. No wonder it was a talisman. The majority of the ling power in his body had been used and it had barely managed to fill one third of the ring.

His thoughts focused, he brought together his fingers and pointed at the ground.

Hua!

A gold colored sword strike came out and hit the stone ground. Crack! Fragments of stone sprayed and an extremely thin and deep hole was left in the stone.

The sword strike was so penetrating!

Xiuzhe under the stage of zhuji would have difficulty blocking it. The power behind this talisman was enough. The only flaw was that it could only store three sword strikes. But thinking about it, if it didn’t have this flaw, would the price for the talisman be so low?

Fei Yun came over. “How does shixiong feel?”

Zuo Mo was satisfied inside but nothing showed on his face, “I’ll buy it.”

Fei Yun cheered, “Shixiong has good eyes!”

Zuo Mo handed over a list filled with materials. “Do you have these?”

Fei Yun took the list and scanned it. He said, shocked, “Shixiong wants to make a [Ling Fragmenting Hoe]? Why waste the effort? I have a pretty good quality product. If shixiong wants it, I’ll give Shixiong a reasonable price.”

“I want to make one. It’s a kind of comprehension,” Zuo Mo replied.

Fei Yun paused and then said solemnly, “Shixiong’s words are reasonable. This one is in awe. I have all of these materials. Shixiong, just wait for a moment.”

Coming out of the Everything Pavilion, Zuo Mo had spent most of his jingshi. Buying the [Golden Sword Ring] wasn’t an impulse. When he had achieved the eighth level of lianqi last night, he decided to buy a defensive talisman. To progress from liangqi level three to level eight in two years, with such speed, it would astound people.

Based on what he believed, he had good talent but not to such a terrifying degree. The biggest credit should be that section of ling vein!

His cultivation of lianqi level eight couldn’t be concealed from others. If it was noticed by the eyes of those with knowledge, all kinds of conclusions would form. The existence of the ling vein could not become public.

The common saying was right. It is easy to avoid robbery in the daylight, but hard to defend against arrows from the dark shadows. He was not afraid of thieves stealing, but was afraid of a thief plotting. If the news that he achieved level eight of lianqi spread, there would be many that would be thinking about him.

He resolved to decrease the time he spent out in the following days. He would stay home studying the jade scroll. He had just started on [Art of Aged Gold]. Not to mention the third level, he was still very far from reaching the second level. He also knew that paper couldn’t enclose a flame for long. He couldn’t hide the fact that he achieved level eight lianqi for long.

This [Golden Sword Ring] was to prevent accidents from occurring.

He had never seen an incident of killing and robbery for treasures but he had heard of many incidents. Caution wasn’t a bad thing.

Forging the [Ling Exciting Hoe] was one of his ideas from long ago. When he had first discovered that there was a thing called forging, he was filled with interest for this strange art. He had never had the chance to learn until Xu Yi Shixiong taught them how to make [Ling Fragmenting Hoe] and [Thousand Threads and Needles Pouch], now he could try to start forging.

He brought the materials needed but he didn’t start forging immediately. He just broke into the eight level and his status wasn’t stable. Another way of saying it was that he wasn’t familiar with the ling power he had now. He focused the majority of his time on practicing [Art of Aged Gold]. Other than going to the medicine fields once a day, he basically stayed home the entire time. When he made rain for others, he didn’t use all his effort. Just like before, he would show an exhausted appearance after each time.

After a few days, no one had managed to notice that he reached the eighth level of lianqi.

Zuo Mo’s heart finally settled down. Sometimes he would think, were his fears groundless? But out of prudence, he would spend some time each day using the [Golden Sword Ring], and would always make sure that the ling energy in the ring was full.

Thankfully, everything was calm and no accidents happened.

He squatted in the ling fields of the yard, his right hand on a stalk of ling grain, his eyes closed. The faint gold of [Aged Gold Energy] quietly slipped inside. He could feel the [Aged Gold Energy] effortlessly travelling through the body of the ling grain.

Suddenly, a series of fluctuations came from the [Aged Gold Energy]. Zuo Mo’s mind roused. He found his goal!

It was a crowd of aphids.

The calm [Aged Gold Energy] was like a shark that smelled blood, furiously rushing at the target. Through the information that the [Aged Gold Energy] passed along, Zuo Mo could clearly feel the tyrannical state of the aphids and the intense rejection it had towards the [Aged Gold Energy].

His consciousness meeting another consciousness. Zuo Mo, who had never been attacked, lost control of the [Aged Gold Energy].

Forcing himself to calm down, he didn’t retreat from the furious and tyrannical consciousness of the aphids. A cold light flashed through his eyes. He pressed the [Aged Gold Energy] forward. Already raring to go, the [Aged Gold Energy] leapt towards the aphids!

[Aged Gold Energy] was like numerous grains of tiny sand. They surrounded the aphids and continuously cut tiny wounds on the aphids.

These half-clear aphids might be hard to distinguish with the naked eye, their consciousness was extremely small but they could merge the consciousness of numerous aphids together to form a mind thousands of times larger than an individual mind. Their spirits were filled with brutality, destruction and ruin!

Other than that, they kept on secreting a colloidal solution to heal their wounded body.

This was a great and fierce battle!

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought a trial run of [Aged Gold Energy] would turn out like this!

He completely forgot this was a trial run. His mind was immersed in this battle, immersed in that lump of [Aged Gold Energy]. He put all his effort to sustain the [Aged Gold Energy] and attacked the aphids again and again.

No one else would be as reckless as him, putting their consciousness on the [Aged Gold Energy]. It was just too dangerous.

He had never been in battle, and his consciousness was extremely fragile. Just one slip, and it was easy for his consciousness to be scattered by an even stronger consciousness. Any other person might become insane from doing so. But the brutal consciousness from the merging of the aphids didn’t overcome Zuo Mo’s consciousness but aroused the viciousness in Zuo Mo’s bones. He was like a provoked lion, crazily leaping at the enemy!

In the natural world, the weaker were afraid of the stronger.

When Zuo Mo’s consciousness became even more crazy and fierce, the aphids with their low intelligence instinctively felt fear.

The battle which had been deadlocked quickly leaned towards Zuo Mo.

The [Aged Gold Energy] continued to tear. One by one, the aphids were torn to shreds. Everywhere it passed, it would only leave behind a heap of the powder of the aphids. It was actually very strange. The [Aged Gold Energy] that was extremely damaging to the aphids were gentle and harmless to the ling grains.

When the very last aphid was killed, Zuo Mo finally came out of the desperate killing state. It was like he had been taken out of the water. His entire body was soaked in sweat. He panted heavily, his eyes like an wild animal, glaring viciously.

After a while, the viciousness in his eyes finally left. He couldn’t carry on and sat down on the ground.

At this time, he felt the fear come on.

“No wonder there aren’t many ling plant farmers. If they aren’t careful, they would die easily!” As he panted, Zuo Mo patted his chest. Before, he had assumed that farming was a safe profession. But he didn’t think it would be so dangerous!

He didn’t have any energy left so he sat in the ling fields before he struggled up and moved to the seclusion room.

He needed to replenish ling power. All the ling power in his body had been completely wrung out, without a drop remaining.

He didn’t know if it was that he was exhausted but he very quickly entered a meditative state.

Chapter 7 – Ye’ll Wait For You

爷(ye): means grandfather. At the same time, it can be a way of referring to oneself in third person, usually in an egotistical manner.

Waking up from his meditation, Zuo Mo’s mind and body were both refreshed, his body was light and felt extremely comfortable.

Coming out of the seclusion room, he picked up the sound tablet and jumped onto the roof.

Stretching out his fingers, he willed his mind and the light gold of [Aged Gold Energy] appeared effortlessly. Zuo Mo was gleeful. He didn’t go through all that trouble for nothing. His control of [Aged Gold Energy] had dramatically increased.

The [Aged Gold Energy] around his finger suddenly twisted quickly and stopped. The specks of tiny golden sand shone like stars, and was captivating against the dark sky.

An idea suddenly crossed his mind. Was [Aged Gold Energy] actually an offensive spell?

That minor yet exceptionally vicious fight had lead him to conceive this idea.

From what he understood about ling plant farmers, they were traditionally a non-fighting profession. He had never heard of any ling plant farmer that also excelled at fighting. Also, he wasn’t the only one in the sect that knew [Aged Gold Energy]. Everyone had different talents. If Zuo Mo could learn the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], then naturally there were people good at the other arts.

Of the outer sect disciples, there was a shixiong who achieved the second level of [Aged Gold Energy]. It wasn’t just [Aged Gold Energy], others were practiced in the [Art of Flora], the [Art of Earth Energy], and the [Art of Crimson Flame]; it was just that they had not reached a high level.

Was he wrong about [Aged Gold Energy]?

The question circled in his head and wouldn’t disappear.

But very quickly, he didn’t want to think about the question. He picked up the sound tablet, and channeled some ling power and placed it down next to him.

His head rested on his arms as he looked at the vast sky, and his heart slowly calmed. The night wind blew gently, cold, and was unspeakably pleasant. Hearing the news that continuously streamed out of the sound tablet, Zuo Mo peacefully fell asleep.

The next day, he went to water the medicine fields and made another contract to water fields  for a shixiong before going back to his own yard.

Passing by the ling fields, looking at the neat rows of ling grains, he suddenly thought of his suspicion from last night.

Hesitating for a second, he decided to try once.

His hand touched a ling grain, and the [Aged Gold Energy] soundlessly permeating the stalk. Just like yesterday, Zuo Mo’s consciousness was connected to the [Aged Gold Energy].

Very quickly, the [Aged Gold Energy] found a patch of aphids. Zuo Mo instantly became nervous. Due to the brutality of yesterday’s fight , he still felt trepidation.

However, today’s situation was beyond his expectations. The [Aged Gold Energy] didn’t encounter any resistance. All the aphids were ground to dust in less than fifteen minutes. The entire process was completed in one go without any resistance.

Why was it like this?

He was puzzled. He put his hand on another stalk of ling grain. The same situation occurred. Was it that stalk of ling grain yesterday was different? He shook his head. There were no differences between the two stalks today and the one from yesterday.

Where was it different?

He ran to the spot of the stalk of ling grain from yesterday and checked again. There truly weren’t any differences. However, he found that this stalk of ling grain’s growth was much better than yesterday, the leaves were greener. The powdered remains of the aphids had become nourishment. Based on his two years of farming experience, he estimated that the production of this stalk of ling grain would definitely be greater than before.

Zuo Mo was gleeful. The question of whether [Aged Gold Energy] should be considered offensive or not was dismissed.

What benefit was more realistic than increasing production? Ling grains were jingshi, jingshi were talismans, spells… …

Zuo Mo put all of his effort into the large task of clearing pests from his ling fields. Five mu of ling fields, he wasn’t going to let go of one stalk.

Ten entire days. Other than going to the medicine fields and ling fields to make rain, all his time was spent on the ling grains in his yard. He used [Aged Gold Energy] on one stalk after another. When he had exhausted all of his ling power, he ran to the seclusion room to recover and then returned to his task, repeating it over and over. After a while, his mind was almost numb, mechanically using [Aged Gold Energy].

After the last stalk of ling grain was scanned by the [Aged Gold Energy], he looked at the organized ling fields. The growth was amazing, the ling grains were all green and plump. A strong feeling of accomplishment rose in his heart.

He wasn’t the only one who knew [Aged Gold Energy] but no one would be as extreme as him and  inspect the ling grains one stalk by one. The amount of work required was daunting! They would only use [Aged Gold Energy] whenever they found a sickness in the ling grains.

If it wasn’t for the ling vein in the seclusion room, Zuo Mo wouldn’t dare to do it.

Ten days of continuous toiling. Whether in body or mind, Zuo Mo was extremely exhausted.

He only wanted to do one thing now, and that was to go back to his room and get a good sleep.

Just as he prepared to start walking inside, a pink Little Thousand Crane flew at him straight from far away, stopping right in front of him.

“Whoa!” Zuo Mo felt that it seemed familiar. After thinking for a long time, he finally remembered that the Wishing Little Thousand crane he had picked up ten days ago when he was cleaning the yard was also pink.

That wasn’t right. A Wishing Little Thousand Crane couldn’t localize. For a Little Thousand crane to find its target, it needed an imprint to guide it. Previously, the Little Thousand Crane had its owner’s imprint so if ling power was put in, it would fly to its owner, but he hadn’t left any imprint on it!

Any kind of imprint would contain ling power. To avoid the other finding him, when Zuo Mo wrote the words, he didn’t dare to use any ling power at all.

The first time it flew to him was due to luck, but if it can find him a second time, that couldn’t be explained by luck.

Such a strange event!

Examining the fine Wishing Little Thousand crane floating in front of him, he hesitated. But Zuo Mo still reached out and took it.

Holding the small crane, he went into the seclusion room.

Sitting on the mat, he started to unfold this Little Thousand Crane.

Spreading out the pink paper, there were only two characters, still the same graceful writing of before.

When the two words entered his vision, an unforeseen event occurred!

A kind of icy cold energy surrounded Zuo Mo, the sense of extreme danger made the hair on his entire body straighten! It was like a sharp flying sword was aimed right at his throat. The chill from the blade easily pierced into the skin and quickly spread through his body.

Damn it, he couldn’t move!

On the zombie face was a pair of terrified eyes. Zuo Mo’s entire body was frozen by this cold presence, he couldn’t even move a finger!

The other party’s retribution? A punishment? A joke?

He didn’t have time to think about all that. He was like a trapped beast, the only instinct left was to fight! He fought with his life, trying to take back control of his body. He channeled the ling power inside. No effect. His body wouldn’t move. He froze in his spot.

The icy energy continued to increase. It was like a ruthless beast, mercilessly nearing Zuo Mo, opening its gaping maw. It seemed to be certain that Zuo Mo didn’t have the ability to resist.

Zuo Mo was like a strange candle wax figure. That expressionless face was so still it was funny.

Only the eyes, a pair of eyes filled with terror, full of helplessness, full of rage; that conflicted with his thin and weak body and still face!

His efforts were to no avail. That icy energy that terrified him pushed him to desperate straits and didn’t leave any room to retreat.

The unwillingness and wrath inside his heart suddenly lit up.

Go to hell!

Furiously casting [Aged Gold Energy], all of his ling power, along with all of his consciousness slammed at the icy presence!

This was his only solution.

His only experience that could be considered a battle was the first time he used [Aged Gold Energy] on the ling grain. He still remembered the brutal energy at the time and the rush it gave his consciousness. But that consciousness produced from the merging of thousands of aphids was as weak as an infant compared to this icy energy.

Zuo Mo, at this moment, was like a madman that had raised his sickle and charged at a fully armored enemy.

[Aged Gold Energy] was like a ball of light gold mist. Once it appeared, it aroused the attack of the icy energy.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo seemed to see countless flying swords with bright tails screaming as they flew at him! The sword strikes were bitingly cold, crisscrossing like tree branches in a forest that he couldn’t avoid!

His clear pupils transformed into a roaring sea of flames. The edges of his eyes had widened to the limits and cracked, blood running down his face. On that stiff expressionless face, the blood drew two bright streaks.

He didn’t feel it.

The ling power under his crazy revolutions started to spin out of control. He didn’t stop and continued to speed up his revolutions.

Under this change, the [Aged Gold Energy] seemed to become frenzied. It didn’t retreat and leapt at that icy energy.

If someone walked into Zuo Mo’s room at this time, they would see a strange sight. A faint gold ball of light was twisting furiously as though an invisible force was relentlessly corroding it and was reducing its size.

The faint golden cloud became even more frenzied but closely protected Zuo Mo.

The battle continued to escalate. The [Aged Gold Energy] didn’t retreat and faced the icy energy that threw out the sword strikes. Like facing the consciousness of the aphids, the [Aged Gold Energy] attacked this energy as if it was an extremely large consciousness from a gigantic aphid!

Zuo Mo had no attention to spare for the [Aged Gold Energy]. There was only one thought in his mind – faster, faster!

The ling power was already revolving at a shocking speed. He had never tried to make his ling power revolve so fast. He didn’t dare. But at this time, Zuo Mo, whose eyes were red from battle, only resented that the ling power couldn’t move faster. He continued to speed up his revolutions!

Zuo Mo’s head roared as though something had broken. His consciousness suddenly became shaky.

The ling power rampaged like wild horses, completely free of control. The [Aged Gold Energy] furiously turned and twisted like water boiling. The shape of the [Aged Gold Energy] cloud was extremely unstable. If xiuzhe of higher cultivation saw this scene, they would instantly pale. Loss of control of ling power would lead to the explosion of the body and ultimately death!

Suddenly, a warm stream of energy came from Zuo Mo’s heart and entered his channels.

The violent ling power suddenly came under control. The speed of revolutions didn’t decrease and even increased. The strong shaking of the [Aged Gold Energy] disappeared without warning and had calmed down.

What would amaze others was that icy energy had seemed to detect this strangeness and retreated for the first time.

The peaceful [Aged Gold Energy] ball once again transformed. It quickly shrunk towards its core. The cold energy had transformed as well.

One transformed into  a faintly gold seven segmented awl shaped liked a pagoda; while the other a water-blue crescent shaped flying sword with a small hanging bell!

Floating silently opposite one another. But in the blink of an eye, both started to move.

One awl, one sword, turned to one gold and one blue stream of light and accurately collided together.

Ping!

A clear note like breaking glass. A scattered ball of light exploded in the air. It was like a firework of blue and gold mixing and appeared extremely beautiful.

An unknown amount of time later, Zuo Mo dazedly opened his eyes. His entire body stung, his skin seemed to have cracked. He couldn’t help but groan. This groan made his dizzy mind wake up.

He could move!

That damned energy had disappeared!

He first froze and then a kind of unnameable carefreeness formed. He wanted to laugh but before his mouth could move, the muscles pulled at the wound, and it turned into a screech. Even though he didn’t know what had just happened, but without a doubt, he had won!

He was still holding the pink paper in his hand. On it were written two words.

“Bad Person!”

The writing was still graceful and the tone of speech implied the writer wasn’t very old but Zuo Mo, who was on his last legs, couldn’t help feel a tinge of disgust.

Such a vicious woman! She wanted his life!

The other must have put a spiritual attack on the words. To use the words to release such a terrifying attack, it wasn’t someone he could face. Zuo Mo was very clear about that. The head of the sect and the other elders, he didn’t know if they could do it. But even among the inner sect disciples, there definitely wasn’t anyone who could reach such power.

That meant, the vicious woman’s power surpassed all of his sect’s shixiong.

But having arrived at death’s door once, he wasn’t that scared, not even if the other’s strength surpassed him greatly.

He had heard that some strong xiuzhe were arrogant and indifferent to low-level xiuzhe but had never thought the other person would desire to kill because of a word!

Ge was naïve!

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. The wound that was pulled was extremely painful. He struggled to stand up and bared his teeth as he moved to the desk.

He used the same bright and thick cinnabar, and the same weasel bristle brush. Zuo Mo dabbed viciously a few times.

His entire right hand seemed to have been broken in quite a few pieces. Just the pain from a slight movement ached into the bones. He gritted his teeth and moved the brush. A few drops of red cinnabar dripped from the brush and landed on the pink paper, looking like blood.

Due to pain, Zuo Mo unconsciously sucked in a breath. His right hand holding the brush, he gravely left four crooked words on the pink paper.

“Ye’ll wait for you!”

Throwing the brush in his hand down, he took a few looks and then gave a strange laugh. His right hand didn’t move according to his wishes so it took an hour before he managed to fold the pink paper into a paper crane.

It was a pity. The writing this time wasn’t as good-looking as last time. Zuo Mo was slightly regretful.

As he gasped for breath, he channeled his last bit of ling power into the paper crane.

Watching as the pink Little Thousand Crane disappeared into the horizon, he cursed the vicious woman countless times inside.

When he finished all this, he couldn’t persevere any longer. Dried up, his eyes became dull and like a block of wood, he collapsed to the ground and fainted.

Chapter 8 – Changes

Thin and pale jade-like hands gently pinched a pink piece of paper.

“Haha, so he did pay. No wonder he’s in such a bad mood. I just wanted to scare you. Who told you to be a smart-aleck and try to resist?”

Her face was oval, her skin as smooth and white as porcelain, and with azure eyes like a sapphire which held a hint of mischief. A high nose, a small red mouth. She wore a silvery white top and shorts made from Silver Moon wool. She appeared furry and cute. A daringly exposed stomach and legs which were full of youth. She was like a perfect statue carved from ivory. There were no flaws. A bright red string tied up her hair, adding a hint of allure. On her wrist there was a pair of sky-blue bracelets, with bells attached to them. Her movements would be trailed by a stream of clear chimes.

“But, really such an interesting person.”

“A person you find interesting, then they must be really interesting.” Behind her came a respectful voice.

A bronze skinned xiuzhe with a sandalwood coronet on his head, appearing about forty years old. If anyone saw this person, they would be shocked that the famous Chi Ye zhenren would be so respectful to a little girl.

She had already perceived that someone was behind her and wasn’t surprised. She giggled, “Yes, such an interesting person. He cannot be over zhuji middle level in cultivation, but he could fight through Xian’er’s [Heart Demon Curse] at twenty percent power. He is very strong.”

“Oh.” Chi Ye zhenren’s expression changed. “Really full of potential.” He then muttered, “How about taking him into the sect …”

Xian’er turned her face towards the window, her eyes deep and distant, “On the road of cultivation, other than innate talent luck is even more important. Of the disciples in the sect, there are thousands who have innate talent. Not mentioning the absolute power, but becoming jindan, how many people are there?”

She suddenly stuck out her tongue, naughtily stating, “Rather than that, he should be left to relieve Xian’er’s boredom.”

Chi Ye zhenren chuckled, and with a few hints of indulgement, “Whatever you want! Since you are so interested in him, why don’t we stay here a few days longer?”

Xian’er tilted her head, her blue eyes blinking. She mused and then shook her head. “The task is important. We’ve stayed here long enough. Haha, Xian’er left an imprint on his body. He can’t escape Xian’er’s grasp!”

Chi Ye zhenren saw Xian’er’s adorable manner and couldn’t help roaring in laughter.

———

Zuo Mo slowly woke up, his body sore. He couldn’t help but groan.

Thinking about yesterday, it was like a dream. But the wounds covering his entire body were a constant reminder that the furious battle wasn’t a dream. Even now, he couldn’t quite believe that he defeated that icy energy. He knew there was a length of time when he was dizzy, and it was during that time that he had won.

But what happened at that time?

He had no idea.

After searching his mind and thinking for a while, he didn’t have any leads and pushed the question aside. As to whether the other party would take revenge, Zuo Mo was too lazy to think about it.

Ge is very busy!

He counted it out on his fingers and knew that he had many things to do today. Not just making rain for the medicine fields, he still had to make rain for one of the shixiong. That was an additional one hundred mu of ling fields. The ling herbs in the medicine fields, he didn’t care about how good their state was. But that one hundred mu that he had to water, that was a contract signed long ago, and he couldn’t get out of it.

Gritting his teeth and climbing up, Zuo Mo felt that his skeleton would fall apart anytime.

Walking at a turtle’s speed, he moved to Cold Mist Valley. Looking at the medicine fields over the valley, he cursed the “adulterous couple” of Hao Min and Luo Li countless times.

Cursing was only cursing, but he still had to do it.

Just like normal, he started [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], but the following events made Zuo Mo dumbstruck.

The white mist crazily flowed towards him. In the blink of an eye, it had formed into a ball of clouds. Before the dazed Zuo Mo could react, the cloud quickly expanded and in a short amount of time, completely covered the entire valley.

Bewildered Zuo Mo dazedly reached out into the middle of the white cloud, and strands of cold energy flew through his hands, it was like a dream.

He suddenly shook and woke up. This wasn’t the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]!

His expression became serious.

What had happened? He suddenly had a suspicion that the icy energy yesterday had changed many things. He calmed his mind, closed his eyes, and spread out his arms in the middle of the cloud.

Very quickly, he detected the peculiarity. The cloud ball made of countless streams of moisture was exceptionally lively. They were like a crowd of little creatures that had been woken up.

The cloud this time had an additional and special energy. It was like the green grass that just sprouted, but also like sunlight. Zuo Mo found it difficult to describe. He liked this energy very much because it was extremely comfortable.

He couldn’t help but cheer up.

He had planted ling grains for two years. Even though he didn’t know what this lively energy was, but it definitely would be beneficial for the growth of the ling grains.

His mind moved and the cloud started to rain. Among the raindrops that were like silver threads, the lively energy contained in the raindrops was even thicker than the moisture in the cloud.

He didn’t know if it was just his delusion but he saw some of the leaves of ling herbs spread out as though they were very happy.

A delusion?

Everything that happened yesterday seemed like a dream. What was happening today was even more dream-like.

Was this the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]? He wasn’t sure. The jade scroll he had bought about [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] only described the third level. It had contained information on many aspects that he had never thought about. He envied the disciples of the larger sects. No matter what spell, it required self-comprehension after it reached a certain level. But learning from the experiences of the people that had studied it before them would greatly decrease the detours that they had to take.

He had no one to ask. It was not just the head and all the elders, even the inner sect shixiong, it wasn’t easy to ask any of them for help. He doubted that any shixiong in the inner sect would put the time and effort into  a low-level, non-combat spell like [Little Art of Cloud and Rain].

Wu Kong Sword Sect was a sect that cultivated the sword. It was primarily made of sword xiu. If it wasn’t for the fact that they needed ling grains, they wouldn’t have accepted outer sect disciples like him. In all the xiuzhe, sword xiu were renowned for their attack power. They only cultivated sword scriptures. What they believed was that one sword defeats all.

The five elements made up their own system. It was hard to learn them. Most of the people who cultivated the five elements were roaming xiu. So among the roaming xiu, the majority were ling plant farmers.

After making the rain, he went to the shixiong whom he had the contract with.

After activating [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] twice, the seriously injured Zuo Mo wavered, and frightened the shixiong he was working for into rushing him back to rest.

After finishing all his tasks for the day, Zuo Mo was tired in mind and body but still persisted in meditation after returning to the yard. The bitter experience yesterday made him deeply understand a reality. In the eyes of the strong xiuzhe, low level xiuzhe were like grass.

He didn’t know if it was that his body needed to recover but the time he spent in meditation was twice as long as usual.

His body was like a starving animal, furiously sucking up the ling energy in the surroundings. The little section of ling vein under the mat played a crucial role, continuously providing ling energy. The ling energy that Zuo Mo absorbed wasn’t stored in his channels like usual but permeated everywhere into his body.

It had to be said here that Zuo Mo’s innate talents were very exceptional. [Ten Principle Scripture] wasn’t a high-level scripture. But he deeply knew the importance of “calm and right” so the effect of his cultivation was pretty good.

After revolving the ling power for six circuits, Zuo Mo achieved the record of the most circuits in one sitting since  he began cultivating.

When he came out of meditation, he was amazed to find the wounds on his body had recovered greatly.

He inspected his cultivation. It had increased but not greatly. It still steadily stayed at the eighth level of lianqi. For some reason, he wasn’t disappointed but sighed in relief. If something was strange, then it would be considered the as the devil’s work. There were too many strange things that occurred in these past two days. It seriously taxed his psychological state.

Thinking about yesterday, his mind moved and he released [Art of Aged Gold].

And then, it was the devil.

The aged gold energy happily revolved around his finger, like a golden sand twister, flashing in front of his eyes. The faint gold of the energy was now a true gold, carrying the special lustre that belonged to the metal gold. The gold light flashed entrancingly.

Numerous bits of information poured into his mind; he had never thought of it before and never read it anywhere, but as the aged gold energy circled around his fingers, the information completed itself in his mind.

[Art of Aged Gold] was truly a kind of offensive art.

Zuo Mo had only guessed at it before, but now he was certain.

The specialty of [Art of Aged Gold] revealed itself at the second level. Based on the descriptions in the jade scroll, he was certain that he achieved the second level of [Art of Aged Gold].

In one night, [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] went to the fourth level, [Art of Aged Gold] increased to the second level and made him, a daring person, feel his heart beat frantically. He felt it wasn’t steady.

The increase in power seemed to be an illusion but the high that came with it was real. He didn’t dare hope for this to happen again. Even if he was very stubborn and wrote those words yesterday.

Safety first!

———

After his body recovered, his routine quickly recovered as well. The evil pink Little Thousand crane didn’t appear again. Zuo Mo was very comforted.

On the table, there were a variety of materials, the dark red of the flame metal, an ingot of bronze, about seven feet of pine wood… …

This was a complete set of materials he had bought from Fei Yun to forge a [Ling Fragmenting Hoe].

Forging was one of the major crafts that every xiuzhe had to learn. Everyone would know a little bit. It was these lessons the outer sect disciples looked forward to most. For outer sect disciples, a xiuzhe that was good at forging could easily find a steady job.

While for inner sect disciples, especially sword sects, there were only a few that were good at forging.

Sword xiu habitually used their sword to conquer the world and would use the sword to receive what they wanted or needed.

In his sect tonly the disciples of Master Xin Yan were talented in forging. Xu Yi shixiong was Xin Yan’s best disciple. But for Master Xin Yan among his generation, or Xu Yi shixiong in the second generation, their status wasn’t very high.

But that didn’t have anything to do with Zuo Mo.

At this time, he was excited. The first attempt at forging in his life was about to begin.

Chapter 9 – Forging

Xu Yi Shixiong had explained forging in great detail. The Ling Fragmenting Hoe was the simplest of all talismans. Calling it a talisman was a bit of an exaggeration. It couldn’t even qualify as first-grade. There were still endless problems for Zuo Mo since he had no experience in forging.

For example, the copper ingot had to be hammered into the shape of a hoe. This was a great test of Zuo Mo’s abilities. Thankfully, the copper was soft and after hammering for four hours, he managed to form a hoe blade.

After that was carving formations into the copper hoe. The formation for the Ling Fragmenting Hoe was very simple, [Thunder] of the eight basic formations. Any xiuzhe would be familiar with it. He was familiar with the formation, but there were concerns about how to carve it.

Zuo Mo held the carving knife in his right hand as he cautiously carved out the [Thunder] formation. He had never used a carving knife before and frequently made mistakes. Once a mistake was made, it required erasing everything and starting from the beginning.

After seven or eight attempts, Zuo Mo finally managed to finish carving the formation.

Looking at the formation carved on the surface of the copper hoe, Zuo Mo’s heart was filled with a sense of achievement. His cultivation was too low right now so he could only use the carving knife, the most basic tool. If his cultivation was higher, he could use his heart fire to forge, and shaping would occur according to his thoughts. Similarly, due to his low cultivation, the simplest formation filled the entire hoe. If he had higher cultivation then he could manipulate a flying sword and carve layers of jinzhi and destroy the heavens and become omnipotent!

But for Zuo Mo right now, this was his limit.

He grimaced as he took out a second-grade jingshi and inlaid it in the center of the formation.

The copper hoe suddenly lit up, a wave of light rippling through the body of the hoe. The scarred hoe suddenly became as smooth as in the beginning. By now, Zuo Mo finally took a breath of relief. This Ling Fragmenting Hoe was half completed. At this step, it was still successful.

The copper hoe was too soft and easily bent out of shape, and would destroy the structure of the formation. So the next step was to use fire metal ore to reinforce the structure and increase its hardness. Holding the crimson fire metal ore on his hand, he could clearly feel the warmth that was emitted from it.

Putting the fire metal ore on the copper hoe, Zuo Mo thought back to the forging methods that Xu Yi Shixiong had taught. The crux of this step was to turn the fire metal ore to liquid and let it permeate into the copper hoe. If he had a heart fire, it would be extremely easy to complete this step, but for Zuo Mo had to rely on a few special spells.

The ling power in Zuo Mo’s body revolved, his hands moving like flowers blooming. The ling power changed as it followed the path of his fingers, his hands enveloped in a layer of red light.

“Go!”

His two hands flipped and the red light left, hitting the copper hoe and the fire metal ore.

The fire metal ore became entirely red, the crimson liquid metal began seeping into the copper hoe. The copper hoe was like a sponge. When the liquid metal touched it, it was absorbed, not a drop left. The color of the copper hoe quietly changed, and a few hints of dark red appeared in the copper hoe.

He picked up the hoe blade. The hoe was heavier than before. He reached with a finger to gently tap it. The sound was clear. He could clearly feel the quality had increased a few levels and was exceptionally strong.

Taking the prepared pinewood shaft and attaching it into the hoe, this Ling Fragmenting Hoe was complete.

Joyfully, Zuo Mo immediately rushed into the ling fields in the yard to try out the power of this Ling Fragmenting Hoe.

After digging down, the hoe shuddered slightly. From the head came a strong vibration. Zuo Mo bent down to inspect the field, a happy expression on his face.

The Ling Fragmenting Hoe was definitely an essential talisman for farming!

The ling energy of the soil where the hoe had struck was clearly different from the surroundings. The ling energy in the surroundings was unevenly distributed, in tangles or blocks. In the spot he had just hoed, the ling energy had all been broken up and spread evenly around. Like this kind of free ling energy, the ling grains found it easiest to absorb!

Good thing!

Zuo Mo instantly became motivated and the hoe flew. In one session, he hoed all five mu of ling fields in the yard!

Holding the Ling Fragmenting Hoe, breathing like a bull, his face was pale. He had been too excited, he forgot that the weight of this Ling Fragmenting Hoe wasn’t light. With his little body, it took a lot of strength.

Even half-dead, he still couldn’t disguise the glee in his heart. To successfully make a talisman on the first try, it was hard to describe the kind of exhilaration.

Five mu of ling fields. He used [Art of Aged Gold] to kill pests, used the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to water, and used Ling Fragmenting Hoe to loosen the ling energy in the soil. In the entire sect, no one had taken such meticulous care with the ling grains. He was very curious how much the harvest of these five mu of ling fields would increase this year.

With his cultivation of lianqi eighth level, he was at ease controlling the ling energy. If the production of these five mu increased a lot, he could use these fine and attentive methods to raise the fifty mu of ling fields that he had rented from the sect. Then he would rise and become the wealthiest among all the outer sect disciples!

This made his heart beat fast. Nothing was more real than ling grains and jingshi!

Successfully forging on his first try gave Zuo Mo great encouragement. The unluckiness of the past while seemed to sweep away. He started to familiarize himself with the other three arts, especially [Art of Flora]. The uses of the three arts were completely different. [Art of Crimson Flame] was used to activate seeds, to speed up germination. It also concentrated the essence of the sun and was most suitable for yang- type ling plants. [Art of Earth Energy] could concentrate the energy of the earth and was especially suitable for the growth of some yin-type ling plants.

阳: masculine, positive.

阴: feminine, negative, shady

The [Art of Flora] and the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] were similar, not yin or yang, but the [Art of Flora] was more dominating than the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. It extracted the essence of other plants to nourish the growth of the ling grains. The basic quality of [Art of Flora] was robbery. Robbing the essence of other plants to nourish itself.

He had to be extremely careful when using it. Even though Wu Kong Mountain was covered in trees, but if he wasn’t careful, it was easy for one of the old trees to wither and die.

Zuo Mo was alert and cautious every time he used the [Art of Flora], afraid of ruining the ancient trees in the mountains. It wasn’t easy for ancient trees to grow and live. They all had endured for thousands of years before they could become their present shape. There wasn’t an explicit rule in the sect, but if he caused large sections of ancient trees to die, then what was waiting for him wasn’t anything good.

The sunlight streamed into the woods through the trees, forming a scattering of light and shade. The climate of Wu Kong Mountain was beautiful, dry and delightful. Cold winds blew through the trees without any hint of humidity. The surroundings were all quiet. This place was very far out of the way, with the exception of Zuo Mo no one else would come here.

Zuo Mo calmed down and started to revolve his ling energy, his hands moving rapidly. It was the, still unfamiliar, [Art of Flora].

After the stiffness at the beginning, the movements of his hands quickly became smoother. The fingers flickered like a flower continuously blooming. Each time his fingers flickered out, there was a faint wave of ling energy in the air that rippled out.

Following the ling energy ripples, thin threads of green light flew out of the trees and converged at Zuo Mo’s hands.

After a short while, the green light became even brighter and Zuo Mo stopped the spell. A green bead rolled in his palm. This bead was concentrated from the essence of the plants. He put the bead away and inspected the ancient trees around him. The glow of the leaves was much dimmer and some leaves showed signs of withering.

Zuo Mo took out a jade scroll from his bosom. Recorded in the jade scroll was the general geography of Wu Kong Mountain. It had taken him a lot of time to make it.

Finding the present position in the Wu Kong Mountain depicted in the jade scroll, he made a mark. Next time, he had to change places. This location needed a length of time to recover.

Even Zuo Mo was shocked at the dominance of [Art of Flora]. This was only the first level and it easily stole the vitality of the trees. If it reached any higher levels, what would it look like?

Carefully putting the plant essence bead into his bosom, he prepared to leave.

Within six hours this plant essence bead needed to be released to the ling grains, using the special methods of the [Art of Flora], otherwise it would dissolve.

Coming out of the woods, he followed the mountain trail, heading for his own yard.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a woman crying.

Woman?

He didn’t stop but as he walked forward, the sobbing became even clearer.

Most of the female disciples in the sect were at the stables and responsible for raising ling beasts. Zuo Mo hadn’t had many interactions with them. He didn’t want to cause trouble and prepared to make a detour.

Suddenly, as he heard the female disciple sob, she muttered, “Woo, wooo, Mama … …”

Zuo Mo’s steps stopped. A certain soft place in his heart was viciously jabbed.

Mama… …

That strange familiarity rose again in his heart.

Damn it! He cursed inside. He disliked this feeling. Each time this feeling of strange familiarity appeared, it was like his heart was blocked and he was unspeakably uncomfortable. Cursing was cursing, but the thoughts in his head uncontrollably turned.

Who am I? Where is my home? Who’s my mama… …

He was slightly irritated while his feet unconsciously walked towards the crying.

After he went forward a few steps, he saw a female disciple curled behind a rock. Her apple-shaped face was covered in tears, and appeared extremely pitiful. She was curled into a ball like a cat, her shoulders occasionally jerking.

“Why are you crying? It’s so bothersome!” Zuo Mo scolded ill-temperedly, sitting down on his butt.

The other was liked a frightened cat, shrinking back. When she saw the outer sect uniform on Zuo Mo’s body, the fear in her eyes retreated. In a weeping tone, she timidly said, “Sorry, Shixiong… …”

Hearing the other’s timid voice, Zuo Mo was even more irritated, “Screw sorry. Your crying is none of my business. It’s so irritating.” He noticed that his own attitude was overly vile and tried to suppress the vexation inside, and asked impatiently, “Speak, what is wrong?”

“Nothing … …” The other’s voice was like a mosquito.

The fire in Zuo Mo’s heart rose. He raised his volume and interrupted impatiently, “I told you to say it!”

The little girl was clearly frightened by him. This wooden-faced shixiong was so scary! Her crying instantly subsided and she instinctively answered, “There isn’t enough of the Green Sword grass for A Bao and the others to eat.”

“Who is A Bao?” Zuo Mo glanced at her and asked.

“A Bao… … A Bao is A Bao. He needs to eat Green Sword grass every day. Hoo, hoo, there isn’t enough Green Sword grass… …” As she narrated, she started to cry again.

“Shut up!” Zuo Mo’s furious shout definitely wasn’t friendly. The young girl jumped, her body instinctively shrinking back, a fearful expression on her face. Her sobs instantly stopped.

Looking at this muddle-headed little girl, Zuo Mo rubbed his forehead in pain. Even though he hadn’t been in the stables, but at least he knew the basic protocols. The amount of ling grass the ling animals needed to eat wouldn’t vary too greatly. The sect had special ling fields set aside for growing ling grasses.

Compared to raising ling grains, ling grasses were much easier to grow. So it was taken care of by the female disciples who took care of the animals.

Did something happen to the ling grasses?

“What happened? Be more detailed.”

Chapter 10 – Weeds

This strange shixiong that had appeared out of nowhere, this little girl clearly was a bit afraid him and narrated faithfully, “There’s a strange grass growing in the ling fields. Xiao Guo tried really really hard but it still grew and grew so fast. The Green Sword grass is so pitiful, and it grew slower and slower … …”

Seeing the lower and lower tone of the little girl and the increasingly askew mouth, Zuo Mo interrupted in the nick of time, “Stop!”

The little girl was shocked again. She raised her head with her large misty eyes as she stared in puzzlement at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo stood and patted the dirt off his behind, “Let’s go.”

The little girl’s face was full of question marks. After a while, she timidly asked, “Where?”

The timid expression on the other’s face always made Zuo Mo mad. The mood that had just calmed instantly became agitated again. He said extremely impatiently, “Shuddap! Go where I tell you!”

Have to stay collected, have to be collected. It was too meaningless to argue with a little girl. Zuo Mo told himself.

He softened his voice, trying to make himself look calm, “Let’s go look at your ling fields.”

Wu Kong Sword Sect might be a small sect but even a small sparrow had all of its organs. The stables were at the Eastern Peak of Wu Kong Mountain. Most of the outer sect female disciples lived here.

This was the first time Zuo Mo stepped onto the Eastern Peak. The scenery as he passed made him awed. Compared to the levelness of the Western Peak, the Eastern Peak was steeper, the view better. Adding on that most female disciples lived here, the mountain paths were filled with flowers and grasses. Walking through it relaxed his mind.

The Western Peak and Eastern Peak were very distant from each other. It was extremely rare for male outer sect disciples to come to the Eastern Peak.

In the woods, a small white house came into view. The little girl’s composure settled and she timidly looked at Zuo Mo, pointing at the house, informing, “Shixiong, that’s Xiao Guo’s house.”

Zuo Mo was too lazy to speak and headed straight for the small house.

When he walked in he found that there was a patch of grass beside the little cottage. And there was a golden-horned ox whose body appeared to be made from metal lazily soaking in the sun.

“A Bao, A Bao!” When Xiao Guo saw the copper ox, she happily yelled and ran over without a care.

A Bao… …

Zuo Mo looked at the body of the copper ox that was filled with strength and thought of the adorable name and became speechless.

Then he saw the copper ox intimately use its head to gently bump at Xiao Guo and occasionally reach out to lick Xiao Guo’s hand with its tongue.

That large tongue covered in saliva made Zuo Mo disgusted.

“Where’s the ling field?” He had to interrupt. Otherwise he was suspicious that this person and ox would just keep playing.

In the ling field, Zuo Mo carefully examined the plant in front of his eyes.

This was a grass that he had never seen before. Just this one thing was enough for him to become serious. One had to know, he had grown ling grain for two years. All the grasses that showed up normally in the ling fields, he was very familiar with. But he was certain he had never seen this grass before.

After he inspected the ling fields, his heart became even heavier.

“When was it when you started to find them?”

“About three months ago. Xiao Guo would weed every day, but they grow more and more … …” Xiao Guo’s mouth twisted and the tears looked like they were going to brim over.

Zuo Mo expressionlessly looked at her.

Xiao Guo cowered back a step, her crying instantly disappearing. This shixiong was too scary!

Zuo Mo took back his gaze. He was shocked inside. The reproductive ability of this weed was very strong.

“What about the others?”

“Many of the elder sisters’ ling fields are like this. The sisters couldn’t find any solutions.” She suddenly muttered, “Shixiong, could you help the sisters?”

Zuo Mo was too lazy to respond to her and started to ponder how to deal with this kind of weed. Farming meant confronting many problems. Getting rid of weeds was one of the most frequent problems. If a furiously growing weed appeared in the ling fields, the problem would become extremely serious.

Just simply weeding clearly couldn’t solve the problem. At this time in the ling fields, it was the weeds that were flourishing, and the Green Sword grass was rare.

Zuo Mo’s gaze suddenly landed on the stalk of the weed near the ground. On that stalk, there was a ring of tumor-like growth. His heart moved and he inspected some other stalks of weed. He found that they too had bumps in the same places.

When he saw that, he had a general idea. The little girl didn’t understand. Weeding was just cutting down the portion of the plant above the ground, but this weed was special in that once it was wounded, it would grow even faster. If at the very beginning, proper procedures were taken such as uprooting it completely, nothing like the present situation would have occurred.

But the problem was very serious now. There were patches and patches of weeds. They definitely would have left many seeds in the soil. That was the most troublesome part. If the seeds couldn’t be completely cleaned, then the trouble would continue.

It really had strong vitality! Zuo Mo couldn’t help but praise it inside.

———

Li Ying Feng’s elegant brows furrowed. Her eyes were sharp and there wasn’t any of the nimbleness usually present on her face which was full of worry. She didn’t wear the long dress and gauze clothing that normal female disciples like to wear but a set of tight short-sleeved male battle robes. There was no allure but instead there was an unnameable handsomeness!

“Shijie, we can’t continue like this!” A yellow-clad female disciple beside her couldn’t help saying, “Based on this situation, in two months, we won’t be able to replenish the Green Sword grass.”

A crowd of female disciples circled around her and started to chatter and discuss.

“Stop quarrelling!” Li Ying Feng’s brows rose and she lectured icily.

She had the highest cultivation among the female outer sect disciples. Normally, she was widely respected by everyone. After the shout, the sound instantly stopped.

Li Ying Feng’s heart was also full of worry. The weeds were growing increasingly fast and the living space of the ling grasses was becoming smaller and smaller. If the ling grasses couldn’t be supplied, these ling animals wouldn’t have anything to eat. At that time the sect’s punishment wouldn’t be lacking.

Her cultivation was at the ninth level of lianqi, one step away from zhuji. Supposedly, the elders of the sect had already started to pay attention to her. Once she succeeded at entering zhuji, she would certainly be taken as an inner sect disciple.

For such a big slip-up to occur at such a crucial time, she didn’t have the appetite or desire for sleep these days.

“Shijie, Shijie.” A female disciple panted as she ran over, “Xiao Guo came to Eastern Peak with a male disciple. Xiao Guo seemed to have cried.”

Instantly, they all exploded.

“He dares to bully Xiao Guo!”

“Humph. I want to see who dares to do so. Sisters, we can’t let him off!”

“Right!”

“Definitely!”

……

Li Ying Feng was slightly angry. Xiao Guo deeply received their care and affection. Usually, everyone treated her as a little sister. Hearing a man had made Xiao Guo cry, she unhesitatingly started first for Xiao Guo’s residence in a bold and domineering manner.

Seeing the situation, the others quickly followed.

———

While Zuo Mo was searching for a way to solve the matter of the weeds with their tenacious vitality, Li Ying Feng marched over, leading a crowd of female disciples.

When Li Ying Feng, who had only half-believed it, saw the tear marks on Xiao Guo’s face, her anger rose up inside.

In a  quick dash she rushed in front of Zuo Mo.

“Who are you?” Li Ying Feng asked frigidly.

And then she saw the other expressionlessly answer, “Zuo Mo.”

The cold expression on Li Ying Feng’s face became even heavier. Among the outer sect disciples, she was the Eldest Shijie. In front of her, everyone else was shidi and shimei. She had never seen someone so discourteous. Immediately, without another word, she pointed with her fingers at Zuo Mo.

The blood instantly drained from Xiao Guo’s face but before she could speak, she heard a ripping sound.

An extremely thin green sword energy shot at Zuo Mo,

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrunk. Before he could think, he quickly raised his right hand and at the same time, he retreated abruptly.

A golden sword energy flashed.

Li Ying Feng saw the gold colored sword energy and her expression couldn’t help changing.

The two sword energies met in the air.

Ding!

A blinding light made everyone unconsciously want to close their eyes, green and gold light scattering everywhere.

The two faced each other.

Zuo Mo stared fixedly at the other with wide eyes as an unspeakable anger began to rise up. Being attacked by someone out of the blue and it was such a dangerous attack! If at that moment he hadn’t avoided it, there definitely would be a hole in his body.

The shock that Li Ying Feng received was much stronger than Zuo Mo. She was the most accomplished outer sect disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect. This was the [Wood Spirit Sword Art]. Other than her, no one could use it. It was only when her gaze spotted on the ring on Zuo Mo’s right hand that she understood.

A term jumped into her head – talisman!

This didn’t make her underestimate the other. Things like Ling Fragmenting Hoe could only be considered as a tool, but even the lowest grade talisman came at a great cost for an outer sect disciple. This only expressed that he had some wealth.

What really shocked her was the other’s reaction. The speed of reaction was directly linked to the level of cultivation. Even the best talismans needed cultivation as the foundation. The speed of the other’s reaction was outside her expectations.

This unfamiliar shidi’s cultivation definitely wasn’t lower than lianqi eighth level!

A cultivation of lianqi eighth level was within the top three of the outer sect disciples. According to her knowledge of the outer sect disciples, other than her, only Wei Sheng, who was the present sword servant of Luo Li Shixiong, was above the eighth level of lianqi. She didn’t know this unfamiliar male who should have achieved lianqi eighth level recently.

In Wu Kong Sword Sect, achieving eighth level of lianqi definitely wasn’t a minor event, but she hadn’t heard anything. Then there was only one possibility, that this expressionless male in front of her had concealed this event!

As to why the other would conceal a matter that would elevate him dramatically, she couldn’t guess.

This person was very shrewd!

Looking at the expressionless Zuo Mo, she was slightly regretful of her previous action.

“Shijie, Shijie! Why did you act against Shixiong?” Xiao Guo suddenly rushed between the two, her face pale and frantic.

Li Ying Feng instantly realized something wasn’t right. She couldn’t help ask, “Xiao Guo, didn’t he bully you?”

“Bully?” Xiao Guo paused and then shook her head, “He didn’t! Shixiong is helping Xiao Guo look at the ling fields. Shijie, Shixiong might look scary but he’s a very good person……”

When Zuo Mo heard this, he generally understood what had gone on and couldn’t even gasp at his bad luck. Calming down, he admired the strength of the woman in front of him.

Suddenly remembering the rumors he heard normally, he couldn’t help ask, “Are you Li Ying Feng Shijie?”

“I am Li Ying Feng!” Li Ying Feng answered, her expression apologetic as she bowed, “Just now, I was rash and almost made a big mistake. I’m apologizing to Shidi for it here!”

The other’s generous and sincere attitude aroused good feelings in Zuo Mo who hurriedly responded, “Just a misunderstanding, Shijie doesn’t have to take it seriously!”

Li Ying Feng didn’t pretend and asked solemnly, “Has Shidi found something?”

Chapter 11 - The Money Grubbing Zombie

Before dealing the two blows, Li Ying Feng still had reservations, but now her suspicions greatly lessened. She was sure he was at the top of the outer sect disciples with a cultivation of lianqi eighth level. This shidi should be like the other shidi and chosen to grow ling grains.

Zuo Mo nodded, “The vitality of this kind of weed is tremendous. If I’m correct, it isn’t wise to cut it. The wounds would provoke it to grow more. That is to say, cutting makes it grow faster.”

The female disciples started to chitter and chatter as they discussed.

Li Ying Feng suddenly understood, “So that’s why! No wonder it grew more and more vigorously. If it was uprooted, would that solve it?”

Zuo Mo mused, “If that was done at the beginning, there wouldn’t have been any problems. But right now, there probably are many seeds in the soil. It isn’t easy to uproot it now.”

“Does Shidi have any suggestions?”

“I need to go back and think,” Zuo Mo said.

Li Ying Feng took out a small pouch and handed it to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo received it with puzzlement. When he opened it for a look, he was dumbstruck. There were five pieces of second-grade jingshi inside the bag.

“Having offended Shidi today, I really am regretful. These pieces of jingshi are to compensate for Shidi’s shock. Shidi, don’t blame it for being just this much,” Li Ying Feng said as she stared at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was wildly happy inside but his mouth went, “Shijie is really too polite.” The motion of the hand shoving the bag into his bosom, however, appeared extremely natural.

Xiao Guo jerked her mouth, staring in shock at Zuo Mo. The other female disciples had looks of disdain — this guy was too greedy!

A rock landed in Li Ying Feng’s heart. She didn’t want to end up at odds with such a shidi of great potential due to today’s misunderstanding. Five pieces of second-grade jingshi wasn’t a small sum, but to her whose family was wealthy, it wasn’t too much. To use such a price to solve a misunderstanding, from her perspective, it was a great bargain.

“Shijie, don’t worry too much. The matter of the weeds can be put on Shidi.” It might have been the reason of the five pieces of jingshi but the female disciples all felt that this horrid zombie male in front of them instantly had a fighting spirit.

Li Ying Feng raised her hands together, smiling and accepting, “Then I’ll trouble Shidi.”

She didn’t have high hopes, because if Zuo Mo really had a solution then he wouldn’t say something like he had to go back to think.

Zuo Mo had never expected that he would pay attention to a minor matter today and receive five pieces of second-grade jingshi for free. On one hand, he was moved at how good Li Ying Feng was at building relationships. On the other, he was moved at the extravagance of her spending. Most of the jingshi on his hands had been spent. He didn’t have many left. Just as his funds were becoming tight, wealth came flying. The unexpected surprise had him floating on air.

As to the disdainful stares of the female disciples, he disregarded it as air.

Humming a small tune and carrying a few stalks of weeds, he cheerfully left the Eastern Peak.

“This guy’s skin is so thick. My eyes are sore from glaring but he didn’t even turn red!”

“Look at his move when he took Shijie’s pouch, the vulgarity!”

“Really makes one disgusted… …”

……

Xiao Guo pouted and muttered, “Shixiong is a very good person……” As she spoke, she felt that it wasn’t reliable either and her voice became lower, instantly drowning in the ruckus of discussion.

“Alright!” Li Ying Feng frowned and hollered. The surrounding voices instantly stopped.

She looked at the thin figure that disappeared on the mountain path who she didn’t know what he was thinking. She didn’t reveal Zuo Mo’s real cultivation to these gossiping women. If the other was purposefully concealing it, and she revealed it, she would offend a strong enemy. That wasn’t an intelligent move.

Zuo Mo hurried back to the small yard. After a long time, the plant essence bead would lose effectiveness.

Solemnly standing in the ling fields in his yard, a green bead floated in front of him, adorably rolling. His two hands held together in front, the ten fingers rapidly moving. The ling power ripples once again spreading out in the air.

The plant essence bead gradually dissolved, forming a pooled of green liquid. As Zuo Mo’s ten fingers moved in quick fluid motions, and as the speed increased, the tips of his fingers started to glow. Each time he quickly made a stroke, a glowing stroke would add onto a profound and cryptic design. The green water became thousands of green strands that waved in the air.

“Go!” Zuo Mo gently ordered.

The green strands dissolved into the ling fields like a nymph spreading flowers.

Zuo Mo released a breath and let go of the ling power at his fingertips.

Based on the difficulty of the art, the [Art of Flora] was the most difficult among his five elemental arts. It was not just that the finger motions were extremely intricate, the movements of the ling power had to be much more accurate than the other four elemental arts.

He set aside four hours each day to practice finger motions. It was extremely dull to only practise finger motions. Other than not making any mistakes, the flow and rhythm were the most important.

His skeleton-like fingers had practised to the point they would break, to the point that he wanted to throw up.

However, he still persisted. The first level of the [Art of Flora] wasn’t difficult for him. As to the second level, he had no hopes in the near future.

Cultivating the scripture, practicing the finger motions, caring for the ling and medicine fields. His life was extremely busy. And now he had to add on examining how to get rid of weeds.

Li Ying Feng didn’t have any hopes but Zuo Mo wasn’t only paying lip service. He decided to find the solution to the problem.

It really was a troublesome problem. In the beginning, he had concerned himself with another’s business because he was moved by Xiao Guo’s helpless cry of “mama”. The change came with Li Ying Feng’s five pieces of second-grade jingshi.

Zuo Mo had lots of faults but there was one good quality, that was, if he decided on something, he would put his all in. As to whether it was because of that “mama” or the five pieces of second-grade jingshi from Li Ying Feng, that wasn’t important, was what he thought.

In reality, he only had just two years of experience in growing crops. His knowledge of ling grasses and grains was pitiful.

He knew it wouldn’t be easy but he wasn’t afraid.

———

At the Eastern Peak, Li Ying Feng was listening to a female disciple’s report.

“We went to check at Dong Fu. Recently, the price of the ling grasses have been continually rising. Like Green Sword grass. A while ago, it was five pieces of first-grade jingshi a picul, now it’s risen to eight pieces. The prices of the other ling grasses have increased even more. They are saying that the conflict at Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie has escalated so the prices are increasing everywhere.”

When the female disciple was saying this, she was on the verge of tears. The other female disciples’ faces were also bleak.

Li Ying Feng’s heart stuttered but her expression, she appeared to be calm. Eight first-grade jingshi for a picul. The amount of ling grass that the stables needed every day was astonishing. Even if her family was wealthy, she couldn’t endure such squandering.

These last few days, she had tried to uproot these weeds but the growth of the ling grasses didn’t seem to recover at all and were still withering. In the ling fields, the weeds appeared again with astounding speed. If the situation continued, they would quickly face a situation where they had no supply of ling grass.

“Shijie, the money-grubber from last time has come again!” A female disciple said, full of disdain.

“He still has the face to come?”

“You forgot, when did he have something like face?”

“That’s so true!”

……

Xiao Guo pouted, her adorable apple face wrinkling into a ball as she stared in discontent at the shijie.

Li Ying Feng’s eyes lit up instead and she almost rushed away. Her experience surpassed all the other shimei greatly. If Zuo Mo didn’t have any news, it was normal. But coming to the Eastern Peak, it made Li Ying Feng think about the words that Zuo Mo had said before he left.

Was it……

When Li Ying Feng saw Zuo Mo, she was shocked.

Zuo Mo’s hair was a mess, his eyes filled with blood, his sockets deep in his face. A strange odor emanated from his body. He seemed like a beggar.

Other than Li Ying Feng and Xiao Guo, the other female disciples had a face full of disdain as they stood far away.

“I found a solution.” Zuo Mo’s simple words let Li Ying Feng and Xiao Guo enter into rapture.

Disregarding the disdainful and suspicious gazes of the other female disciples, Zuo Mo headed straight into the ling fields.

He didn’t waste any words. Reaching out with a pair of skeleton-like hands, he rapidly started a spell.

Li Ying Feng stared with large eyes, afraid to miss anything. The familiarity of Zuo Mo’s finger movements and the ease with which he controlled the ling power made her even more certain this shidi hid away deeply.

The glowing fingertips drew an unnamed formation diagram.

“Go!”

A dry voice, harsh and dissonant.

The glowing formation entered the ling field soundlessly.

“That’s all? But nothing changed!” A female disciple shrieked.

That was like a fuse. Instantly, the other female disciples that disliked Zuo Mo found a target.

“Che, just drawing a few characters and want to fool us? Too naïve!”

“Please, be more professional when conning people!”

… …

“All of you shut up!” Li Ying Feng roared angrily. All the voices choked off. They found that at some unknown time, Shijie’s expression had become peerlessly ugly. Her face was icy. They instantly sank into cold terror.

“This kind of weed is yang-type. I researched it. Most of the ling grasses you plant belong to yin. You could use the [Art of Earth Energy] to concentrate the yin of the earth energy. It would nourish the ling grasses and can suppress the weeds. Half the work, twice the effect.”

Finishing, Zuo Mo raised his folded hands towards Li Ying Feng and then left.

———

Returning to the yard, Zuo Mo dropped into slumber.

Thinking that he had finished what he had wanted to do, he was content. After not sleeping or resting for these days, he had already run out of energy.

When he woke up, it was the next day. The morning sunlight made his mood light. He idly ate a few things and just like normal, he started his classes for the day.

The training of his finger motions were one of his prioritized studies at present. Before this, he rarely had practiced finger movements. The finger movements of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] had been very simple.

He had suffered greatly at the [Art of Flora]’s complicated finger motions. Up until now, even though he persisted in practicing every day, he could only just manage to complete the spell. It was far from familiarity. He didn’t dare to relax on the practice of [Art of Aged Gold]. He had just gotten to the second level and needed time to consolidate and stabilize it.

Roughly calculating, he had learned all five kinds of arts at once and had his own conclusions.

The five kinds of arts had their own emphasis. The [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] emphasized the manipulation of ling power, the [Art of Flora] finger movements, the [Art of Aged Gold] used consciousness, the  [Art of Earth Energy] emphasized communication and interaction, and the [Art of Crimson Flame]’s crux was the calmness of mind and endurance.

At this time, Zuo Mo found a unique pattern. On the surface, it appeared as though the five kinds of arts were not related, but in reality they supported each other. His strongest spell was [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], which aided him greatly in learning the other four arts. And the complicated finger movements of the [Art of Flora] greatly increased the skill of his finger movements so he was even more skilled at doing the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain.]

After patrolling the ling fields under his name, he then made rain for the medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley. He didn’t have any news of Hao Min Shijie, and didn’t know where the two people had gone to be free. But he didn’t have any grudges towards this unpaid job now. The only thing he hated was that there was a distance between Cold Mist Valley and his residence and he had to spend a significant amount of time on the road every day.

When he came back from Cold Mist Valley, he was shocked to find two people waiting outside the doorway to his little yard.

Chapter 12 - Art Of Flora

Li Ying Feng took Xiao Guo along with her as she guarded Zuo Mo’s door.

Seeing Zuo Mo, Li Ying Feng visibly released a breath. Xiao Guo’s apple face revealed a bashful expression.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Why did these two come? His mouth smiled and said, “Shijie has the time to come to my humble abode today. Such a surprise! Please come in!”

Finishing, he swung out his sleeve. Underneath, he sent out a spell and the door to the yard soundlessly opened.

Li Ying Feng didn’t decline, frankly responding, “Coming without an invitation, we’ve disturbed you!”

Xiao Guo tightly followed behind Li Ying Feng but her little face was still timid.

Zuo Mo muttered inside, ge doesn’t have much interest in silly little girls.

Entering the yard, Li Ying Feng saw the lush ling grains in the yard and her eyes lit up. She couldn’t help complimenting, “Shixiong is really skilled at farming. This ling grains’ growth is the envy of others and a bountiful harvest is just around the corner!”

“Shijie is too complimentary,” Zuo Mo casually responded. Inside, he started to ponder the reason that Li Ying Feng had come today. Towards this shijie that he hadn’t had many interactions in the past, he felt admiration. Regardless of anything else, just her cultivation of lianqi ninth level, it was enough to be top dog in the outer sect disciples. Her frank and honest conduct was very refreshing to Zuo Mo’s temper.

The three people sat down under a tree next to the pond. The water in the pond ripples. Occasionally, one could see a few fish darting by. When Zuo Mo first moved into the yard, the pond was dry. All the water presently in the pond had been slowly accumulated from him practicing the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. He remembered it very clearly because when the pond became full, his [Little Art of Cloud and Rain coincidentally had reached the third level.

As to those fish, they were captured randomly when he passed by some mountain streams.

Li Ying Feng took the initiative to speak of her purpose in coming, “Coming today, one is to thank Shidi. The method that Shidi suggested, we have used and to great effect. One really needs mastery in a field. Such a troublesome problem, it really needed someone like Shidi who specialized in farming to solve.”

“Yes, yes! It was really effective! Everyone is so happy!” Xiao Guo hurried to agree. But when she saw Zuo Mo’s face turn towards her, she instantly fell silent, her body retreating towards Li Ying Feng.

Zuo Mo took back his gaze and shook his head. “Shijie is too polite. We are from the same sect. There’s no need to keep such a minor matter in mind.”

Li Ying Feng smiled and responded, “Shidi’s words are appreciated. In the future, if Shidi meets a hard problem, feel free to come find me. Wherever this shijie can help, I wouldn’t decline.”

“Many thanks, Shijie,” Zuo Mo unconcernedly brushed it off. Past experiences had told him that normally, these kinds of words can’t be taken seriously.

Li Ying Feng gazed with burning eyes at Zuo Mo, continuing seriously, “Coming today, it’s to ask for Shidi’s help on another matter.”

The meat has finally come!

Zuo Mo said expressionlessly, “What matter?”

In reality, he couldn’t make expressions……

“Shidi’s methods were extremely effective.” Li Ying Feng gave a grimace, “But in our crowd of sisters, only one knows the [Art of Earth Energy]. Shidi, you might not know, because of the weeds previously, there was only a pitiful amount of ling grass that was produced. The amount of ling grass that the animals need is only increasing. Originally, I had planned to go to Dong Fu to buy some to fill the gap, but who knew that the price of ling grass and grains are flying up… …”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. Price increases in ling grains, for him, it was definitely good news.

Not taking into account the fifty mu of ling fields that he rented from the sect, just the five mu of ling grains in his yard, the harvest would be significant.

He really profited this year!

He gleefully calculated in his heart, completely not registering what Li Ying Feng was saying.

Li Ying Feng noticed Zuo Mo’s inattentiveness and couldn’t help thinking about the rumors she found out about Zuo Mo.

The shock to her that came from such a strong shidi who appeared out of nowhere was enormous. After  Zuo Mo’s first visit, she went around for information. She discovered that Zuo Mo had a natural expressionless zombie-face, and achieved the third level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] etc, and she even managed to have a general understanding of his usual habits and conduct.

Deciding not to keep being polite, she threw out the bomb, “Coming today, it’s to ask Shidi to weed for us. This is ten pieces of second-grade jingshi. It is the goodwill of all of us. Shidi, please take it.”

Once again, it was a small pouch that appeared on her hand.

As expected, Zuo Mo shook and instantly focused.

Ten pieces of second-grade jingshi……

His saliva nearly slipped out. When he had sold three hundred catties of ling grains last time, he had just received thirty pieces of second-grade jingshi.

Zuo Mo hesitated, stating, “I’m not skilled at [Art of Earth Energy], so I’m afraid I can’t help much.”

Li Ying Feng assumed that Zuo Mo was being polite. If he wasn’t an expert, why would he have thought of using [Art of Earth Energy] to get rid of the weeds?

This time, she had prepared well. She didn’t panic, smiled and said, ‘Other than these ten pieces of second-grade jingshi, we have also prepared five pieces of second-grade jingshi for Shidi to recover ling energy in hopes that the supply of ling grass could recover in the fastest time.”

Zuo Mo’s brain exploded, completely dizzy due to being hit by Li Ying Feng’s jingshi.

Jingshi was the most important resource in each sect. Other than being used to purchase things, its other important use was for recovering ling power. The density of ling energy in ling veins could not compare at all to what was in jingshi.

In some large sects, those core disciples were completely built up through jingshi. Their job each day was to absorb ling power out of jingshi and increase their cultivation.

Zuo Mo had never tried to extract ling power from jingshi. He was poor. How could he bear it?

The enemy was too strong! He instantly surrendered, promising, “If Shijie has an order, as a shidi, I’ll naturally charge through fire and walk on fire, and will not decline!”

Li Ying Feng smiled. The tactic was successful. She put down the little pouch on the table, looking at Zuo Mo and asking, “When will Shidi go?”

Zuo Mo put the little cloth pouch into his bosom in a flash, his tone solemn as he responded, “The situation is so serious. Naturally, the earlier the better.”

Xiao Guo’s mouth twisted.

Following between the two people, Zuo Mo continued to recall the major points of [Art of Earth Energy]. In the last few days, most of his attention had been on [Art of Aged Gold] and [Art of Flora]. After roughly practicing [Art of Earth Energy], he hadn’t spent much time on it.

He could have never thought that this [Art of Earth Energy] would directly connect to fifteen pieces of second-grade jingshi. Why did he practice spells, wasn’t it for jingshi? He was upset inside. If he knew earlier, he would have practiced more.

Very quickly, they reached the Eastern Peak. The female disciples all silently stood at the side, no one speaking.

Even though Zuo Mo didn’t care about them at all, but the completely different treatment he received this time around made him feel good inside.

“The ling fields infested with weeds are about four hundred and fifty mu. There’s about two hundred and fifty mu that are much more serious,” Li Ying Feng introduced.

Zuo Mo nearly tripped. Two hundred and fifty mu. This number scared him!

[Art of Earth Energy] was different than [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. Its effective range was much smaller, about one mu or so. Also, he tried already. With his first level of [Art of Earth energy], he needed to repeat more than three times in order to effectively stop the growth of the damned weeds.

That was to say, at the least, he needed to perform the [Art of Earth Energy] seven hundred and fifty times.

The answer made his eyes flip and he nearly fainted. This number, it was enough to work him to death.

He had thought he got a cushy job. He didn’t think he agreed to such drudgery! Falling from heaven into hell, the strong contrast nearly made Zuo Mo cry.

Zuo Mo looked at the ling fields under his feet filled with weeds and wanted to cry. There were almost only weeds left in these fields. It was hard to even find a trace of the ling grass. Such strong weeds, with his just introductory level of [Art of Earth Energy], he might have to do it seven or eight times to be effective.

At this time, his mind was clever and a spark flashed though. He suddenly thought of a beautiful idea.

Since these ling fields were almost completely weeds, they could erase everything and plant ling grasses again.

The kind of domineering spell that [Art of Flora] was, wasn’t it just perfect for the situation? [Art of Flora], other than extracting the vitality and essence of the weeds, it wouldn’t even miss the seeds that were in the soil. What it extracted was the essence of plants, not ling energy, so it wouldn’t even harm the ling fields.

The more he thought, the more excited he became so he expressed his thoughts to Li Ying Feng. When Li Ying Feng found out that Zuo Mo also knew [Art of Flora], she was slightly shocked. Inside, she thought that this Zuo Mo Shidi wasn’t an ordinary person.

Increasingly feeling that Zuo Mo wasn’t ordinary, Li Ying Feng naturally didn’t have any objections. Inside, she felt that it was very likely to succeed this time.

This time, she was working against major pressure. Fifteen pieces of second-grade jingshi was almost all the jingshi she had.

Quickly going through it again in his head and checking that no problems should occur, Zuo Mo decided to do it.

The two fists were slightly open, held in front of his chest. The fingertips glowed slightly. Taking a deep breath, the ten fingers moved!

The others only felt threads of light weaving between Zuo Mo’s ten fingers. It was like a drawing, dazzling everyone’s eyes. Only shock was left on everyone’s face.

Only now did they realize the uniqueness of this zombie-like shixiong!

It was a dance of light at the fingertips. That pair of dried up and thin hands, it seemed to have a strange power, and attracted everyone’s gaze.

The diagram that had been drawn was already extremely complicated but the dancing fingers didn’t stop!

Even Li Ying Feng’s face couldn’t help change!

Such complicated finger motions! What spell would require such complicated moves?

She didn’t know that it was due to the complicated nature of the finger movements that [Art of Flora] was the most difficult among the five element spells and the number of people who learned it numbered the fewest.

Countless green threads flew up from the ling fields and wriggled between Zuo Mo’s palms. Unlike the restraint that happened usually, Zuo Mo had no hesitations now. The fear and trepidation that was present completely disappeared. The ten fingers flipped and danced and he pushed forward with all his ling power.

Gradually, a very strange feeling birthed. It seemed that something was slightly throbbing at his heart.

Unconsciously, the movement of his ten fingers became faster. The throbbing at his heart became even stronger. Everything in the surroundings seemed to fall away. Empty and clear, like a void, he looked on silently. The subtle connections between the dancing ten fingers, the rhythm as the ling power changed, it went from barely perceptible to the surface.

It was as though a paper window had been poked open and his vision suddenly became clear.

The rawness of Zuo Mo’s finger motions instantly disappeared. The ten fingers were like they had been dipped in water, abnormally smooth, flowing like the water. Of all the female disciples, Li Ying Feng’s cultivation was the highest and her eyes the most experienced. She was the first to detect the peculiarity. If it was said that she had just been admiring the complicated nature of Zuo Mo’s finger movements, she felt completely different now. The finger movements were still beautiful, yet it didn’t have that feeling of profoundness, but a kind of strange cadence.

Xiao Guo’s eyes widened. On the little apple face, an intoxicated adorable expression appeared.

Threads of green energy floated up from the ling grasses and weeds in the field. The space between Zuo Mo’s ten fingers was like the center of a whirlpool, energetically sucking in the green energy!

More and more of the green energy accumulated on Zuo Mo’s hands. Very quickly, a green and glistening plant essence bead appeared at his fingertip.

The ling fields were turned into a patch of dry yellow, not a hint of green could be found. As a gust of wind blew across, the plants fell down like dust.

In the blink of an eye, a vital and living ling field had become dead ground.

Everyone looked dumbstruck. Their gazes as they looked at Zuo Mo were like looking at a ghost.

Li Ying Feng was incomparably shocked inside. If it was said that the grandiose finger motions made her entranced, then the shocking result in front of her would only made her uncontrollably feel terror!

Was he really in lianqi?

She suddenly found it somewhat suspicious.

Chapter 13 - Success

Leaving the trance state, Zuo Mo mused upon it for a long time. Had that been a moment of enlightenment? He thought with joy and some regret.

As expected, when he cast [Art of Flora] the following few times, the state of emptiness didn’t appear like they did the first time. His finger movements had clearly gone up a step and became much more fluid, especially the cooperation between the ling power and the finger movements. It was as though he found the trick to it. When his fingers moved, the ling power followed and changed, the two tightly connected.

The grandiose finger movements, the terrifying results, it made the female disciples that were still apprehensive docilely close their mouths.

Zuo hadn’t thought the effects would be this strong neither.

The dominance of [Art of Flora] surpassed his predictions. He couldn’t help but become alert inside. When he cast [Art of Flora] in the future, he needed to be careful.

The following matters were much easier. They only needed to plough the ling fields again before planning the ling grasses.

The method the female disciples used to plant ling grass broadened his vision. He saw a female disciple take out a bamboo container from her waist, pluck out the cork and a gold earthworm climbed out. She chanted a spell and the gold earthworm burrowed into the ling fields.

In a short while, the soil rolled and twisted. After twenty minutes when it stopped, the ling fields were completely overturned. What was most amazing was that not one bit of soil had splashed out of the ling fields.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be interested. “What’s this? It’s very convenient!”

Li Ying Feng was both educated and kind. She said knowingly, “We call them Mud Turning Earthworms. It’s isn’t anything high-grade, and is just used to plow the fields. But the results are pretty good. Afterwards, we’ll give some to Shidi. It would be of help in growing ling grains.”

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. “Many thanks Shijie!”

In the newly turned ling fields, the female disciples spread out the ling grass seeds. Growing ling grasses didn’t have as many concerns as growing ling grains. They only had to spread it densely.

After finishing seeding, Zuo Mo saw a female disciple preparing to cast [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], and volunteered, “Does it need rain, I’ll do it.”

He returned favors. It wasn’t good to take another person’s things for free.

Li Ying Feng was overjoyed. “I heard that Shidi’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] reached the third level. Today, I get to have a look!”

[Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was Zuo Mo’s most familiar spell. He almost didn’t need any preparation. Just started the spell and the cloud formed, appearing above the ling fields.

Silver threads gradually entered the ling fields, the air full of vitality. Everyone felt their minds become refreshed.

There were very big differences between the fourth level of the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and the third level. Just when the rain stopped, a rainbow appeared above the ling fields.

Just as everyone was complimenting, one female disciple shouted as she pointed at the ling fields, “Heavens! Look, it’s sprouted!”

At some time, a patch of thin and light green sprouts appeared in the ling fields.

Zuo Mo took out the plant essence bead and cast [Art of Flora] again. It instantly dissolved into countless bunches of green thread and merged into the ling fields.

The light green sprouts in the ling fields instantly became darker, their growth delightful.

“Shidi is just as rumored!” Li Ying Feng complimented sincerely. This unknown shidi seemed to have endless methods, and always could bring her unexpected surprises. She found that no matter which technique that Zuo Mo used, there were major differences with what she had heard.

What was he concealing? Li Ying Feng thought of this question again.

[Art of Flora] combined with [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], the effect was outstanding, the effectiveness increasing. Li Ying Feng didn’t care what methods Zuo Mo used, she only hoped to produce ling grasses quickly.

To increase speed, for a continuous length of time, other than going to Cold Mist Valley to make rain once a day, Zuo Mo spent all his time at the Eastern Peak. This was the first time he received the luxurious treatment of using jingshi to recover ling power.

The body was like a vessel. To contain more ling power, it needed continually increasingly large containers. The simplest way to increase the size of the container was the change the body. Continuously using ling power, the ling power would continuously strength the channels and so more ling power could be stored.

———

The next few days, Zuo Mo continuously repeated [Art of Flora] and [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. All of that was required for more than four hundred mu of ling fields were finished by him alone.

The female disciples finally saw his mania and absorbed nature when he was at work.

Casting a spell, holding a jingshi in meditation, then standing to cast a spell until all of his ling power was used, then began meditation… …

Even as they looked on from the side, they felt exhausted. But Zuo Mo repeated the cycle and didn’t feel any dullness.

Of course Zuo Mo wouldn’t find it dull!

Such luxurious treatment that he had never thought of it even in his dreams. Such a good opportunity, if he didn’t use it, was he stupid?

He didn’t spare any of his ling power. Each time, he would wring the ling power out of his body completely! Then he would take the jingshi and absorb the ling power fanatically.

In these few days, he had gained much. Even if there wasn’t those ten pieces of second-grade jingshi, he definitely would have agreed. His channels, which had never extracted ling power in such a manner, was like the parched ground receiving a surge of rain. In these short few days, the amount of ling power in his body increased by almost one-tenth, his channels had become stronger as well.

Other than that, as he repeated used the [Art of Flora] over and over, his degree of proficiency increased. There were signs he was nearing the second level.

Looking at the green ling fields, all the fields had been replanted with ling grasses. That also meant the job was finished. His heart was full of reluctance.

“At what time would he meet such a good thing like this!”

He sighed deeply in his heart.

In five days, he used up five pieces of second-grade jingshi. No wonder Zuo Mo was still wishing to continue.

But luckily, ten pieces of second-grade jingshi was enough to satisfy the yearning in his heart.

The stone in Li Ying Feng’s heart landed. Even though the price was high, she had managed to solve a troublesome problem. And she had met a strong shidi. She was very satisfied.

Work and relax, that was the right way.

———

Returning to the yard, Zuo Mo’s wallet was bulging and his mood relaxed.

But his studies each day, he never stopped. Even though the efficiency of meditation was far from being able to compare with using jingshi, but Zuo Mo still persisted. The ling power in the jingshi might be pure and easy to absorb but it was slightly strong. It was slower to meditate and absorb ling energy but it was very gentle.

In the long run, it was easy to encounter hidden dangers by relying too much on jingshi. Those sects with strong bases and foundations had many methods to resolve the dangers, but to Zuo Mo, those methods were far out of reach.

Of course, the most important thing was Zuo Mo didn’t have that many jingshi to squander.

Other than that, right now, he was focusing on the [Art of Aged Gold] and the [Art of Flora]. The [Art of Aged Gold] was at the second level, and it wasn’t far before the [Art of Flora] would also break through to the next level. If both of these could reach the third level, and adding in the fourth level of the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], it was enough for him to qualify as a ling plant farmer.

Ha, by that time, the jingshi will roll in ……

Over the next few days, his mood was great.

Each day, he light-heartedly ran over to Cold Mist Valley each day to make rain. The ling herbs in the medicine fields were growing well, the effect of the fourth level of the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was clear. The ling herbs seemed to have more vitality than before. Each time when he stated to make rain, the ling herbs in the fields would neatly follow and sway as though they were rejoicing. Zuo Mo’s mood became cheerful whenever he saw these ling herbs’ “dancing.” To this job that was forced upon him, his unwillingness had decreased.

The medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley were third-grade ling fields. The intelligence in these ling herbs greatly surpassed normal plants.

The misfortunes of the past swept away. His life became bright once again.

Just as usual, he made a round of inspections before leaving. After making sure that nothing happened, he then left Cold Mist Valley.

Not long after he left Cold Mist Valley, he suddenly heard the sound of people talking in the front.

“Old Black is pretty unfortunate. The ling grains are infected with this strange disease. He probably won’t harvest even one grain this year. Next year, he might not even get to plant the ling grains. He has a family of old and young, his days will become hard.”

“Oh, it’s fate! I’m just worried if this strange disease will spread. If we get infected, that would be terrible!”

“So true! Heavens protect us! I’m still depending on this year’s harvest to exchange for a sword scripture!”

“Me too!”

……

Strange disease? Zuo Mo’s heart jumped.

What people who planted ling grains were most afraid of were those unnameable strange diseases. Once it occurred, it basically was a loss for the entire year. These two years, Zuo Mo had personally seen several shixiong, due to bad luck, become unable to even pay the rent for the ling fields to the sect and were thrown out of the sect.

A while ago when he made rain for Old Black, his ling grains were growing well, so why did they suddenly become infected with a strange disease? Zuo Mo felt it a bit strange.

If one had to say who had it the hardest in the sect, it was probably Old Black. He had a family. His son supposedly had some innate talent and had been admitted into a small sword sect. The tribute he needed to give each year to the sect wasn’t a small amount. Adding on the different materials and jingshi needed for cultivation, the cost was enormous.

Old Black had a cultivation of lianqi fifth level. He rented two hundred mu of ling fields. All his time was spent on growing ling grains. In these decades, his cultivation hadn’t increased one bit. But even so, the jingshi he earned was just barely enough.

This year, Old Black was especially hard-working. It was rumoured that his son was at the gate of lianqi seventh level. For his son to push through the big jump of the seventh level, he needed a lot of jingshi.

He needed to offer jingshi to the sect so that the sect elders would give extra tutelage to his son. This was an unwritten rule.

Other than that, Old Black had put hopes on another method.

The amount of ling energy in the air was extremely low in places without ling veins. If he relied on those ling energy to change into the ling power inside his body, it was extremely slow.

Xiuzhe who had wealth usually used two kinds of methods. One was using ling grains for a long period. There weren’t high levels of ling power in the ling grains but the effect was gentle and easily absorbed. The other method was directly extracting ling power from the jingshi. This was also the fastest method. Additionally, using jingshi was especially effective at making breakthroughs.

Old Black thought to use this method for his son to break through the barrier to the seventh level.

Zuo Mo decided to take a look. If it really would spread, then his own fifty mu of ling fields would also be affected.

There were many people surrounding the ling fields at the base of the mountain. Zuo Mo found Old Black in the crowd with one glance. That black face was now so pale there wasn’t a hint of blood, the eyes empty and hopeless.

The ling fields that Zuo Mo recently made rain for was enough to scare him.

The green ling grains were now almost completely withered. The leaves and primary stem were full of a kind of black energy. Anyone who saw the situation would be certain that these ling grains would certainly die. Many shixiong were gathered at the edge of the ling field. They formed groups and discussed in low voices, all their voices full of worry.

“Guo Shixiong’s here! Guo Shixiong’s here!”

Someone cheered from the crowd. A light came into Old Black’s devastated eyes and he suddenly crawled up from the ground.

Guo Lu Shixiong was the person who had the deepest knowledge of [Art of Aged Gold]. A number of years ago, he had reached the second level. The recent news was that he was going to soon enter the third level. Usually, when some strange illness appeared in the ling grains, everyone would recommend Guo Lu Shixiong. And he didn’t disappoint. He had saved the ling grains that everyone thought would die multiple times.

Guo Lu shixiong was barefoot and wearing shorts, his face full of wrinkles like an old farmer. When he saw the swaths of withered ling fields, his face couldn’t help but change before recovering.

The change was extremely subtle but Zuo Mo coincidentally caught it. When he had seen the withered ling fields, he had already had a bad feeling. When he saw the change in expression of Guo Lu Shixiong, the ominous feeling inside became even stronger. As he improved on the [Art of Aged Gold], he understood much more.

If it was normal pests, the withered leaves wouldn’t have been slightly black. This black was like dead ash, and made Zuo Mo’s heart beat frantically.

Old Black almost rushed in front of Guo Lu Shixiong and shouted heart-wrenchingly, “Shixiong, save me!”

Seeing Old Black’s despairing expression, a flush came upon Guo Lu’s face and he gravely said, “As much as I’m capable!”

He walked into the ling fields.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on his body, not a sound of discussion made. Everyone stared fixedly at Guo Shixiong that stepped into the ling fields.

Guo Lu Shixiong’s expression was grave. He walked in front of a withered ling grain stalk and squatted down, attentively examining every part of the ling grain. He also ripped down the withered and slightly black leaves, putting it to the nose for a smell. His inspection was extremely fine. He almost walked around the entire ling field and took more than an hour.

The puzzled expression on his face became even heavier, as though he had encountered something impossible.

He shook his head, his expression still perplexed and his hand landed on a withered ling grain.

Zuo Mo, who also knew [Art of Aged Gold], suddenly became alert. He knew the most crucial time had come.

Chapter 14 - Strange Disease

Reaching out his hand and touching the ling grain, a hint of gold suddenly floated onto Guo Lu Shixiong’s face.

Just this was enough to make Zuo Mo feel admiration. Guo Lu shixiong’s comprehension of the [Art of Aged Gold] was much deeper than his. Even though Zuo Mo’a the [Art of Aged Gold] was at the second level but his experience in usage and level of comprehension, he was much weaker than Guo Lu Shixiong.

Yet something unexpected happened!

Guo Lu Shixiong’s expression changed and he spat out a mouthful of blood, falling to the ground. The disciples spectating instantly paled and rushed forward heading for Guo Lu shixiong.

They only saw that Guo Lu Shixiong’s face was as white as paper, he was barely breathing and had fallen unconscious.

Some of the shixiong who had good relations with Guo Lu Shixiong hurriedly held him up and ran up the mountain. Old Black stayed still in his original place and then started to wail, the sound so mournful listeners also became saddened.

The crowd gradually dissipated, each person’s face filled with worry.

Zuo Mo moved towards the ling fields. Nearing a stalk of ling grain, he closely examined it. He didn’t dare to touch it with his hand. The scene just now had made him extremely wary of these ling grains.

A fishy odor entered his nose. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but frown. In his two years of farming, he had never smelt something like this. Inside, he really was curious about what was inside these ling grains. He thought about the first time he encountered pests. That brutal and dangerous aura was still fresh on his mind. It was only when he had used the [Art of Aged Gold] on his five mu of ling grains that first time that he encountered a similar situation.

When Guo Lu shixiong suddenly spat blood, the first thought in his head was: were there similar yet stronger presences inside these ling grains?

But after seeing the result of Guo Lu shixiong’s attempt, he was not going to be rash and try.

Looking at Old Black, he sighed inside. A problem that even Guo shixiong was unable to solve, he had the desire to help but not the strength.

———

Even when he got back to his small yard, that scene was still replaying in his mind. The seriousness of the issue had increased dramatically due to Guo Lu Shixiong throwing up blood. It was certain that the sect would respond. However, the only one knowledgeable in the sect about farming, Fourth Shigu Shi Feng Rong had left to wander half a year ago and still hadn’t returned. Hao Min Shijie who was responsible for the medicine fields had also left with Luo Li Shixiong.

Hao Min Shijie was going to be out of luck, but Zuo Mo didn’t have much joy.

He had a feeling that the strange disease would spread. When he entered the ling fields he had detected that the withering of the ling grains were clearly different. From that, it could be seen that there was a progress in which the ling grains in the field were infected.

The situation was exactly what he had predicted. In the following days, another two shixiong’s ling grains became infected with this kind of strange disease.

The higher ups of the sect still hadn’t set out any measures. Guo Lu Shixiong was still unconscious.

A layer of dark clouds covered Wu Kong Sword Sect.

There were still about two months before the time to harvest the ling grains. Everyone could only pray that the ling grains in their own fields would escape and endure to harvest.

However, prayers didn’t do anything. This year, the number of outer sect disciples who would be unable to harvest a single grain had quickly increased to ten people.

Zuo Mo’s luck seemed to have been used up. He became one of the ten people. The five mu in the yard was still good, but some withered ling grains started to appear in the fifty mu he rented from the sect.

His heart suddenly became nervous!

At no time had he ever thought he would be forced to leave the sect. Farming wasn’t an easy job but he still lived well. From when he first opened his eyes two years ago, he had lived at Wu Kong Mountain. This was like his home.

But if he couldn’t completely pay the rent for the ling fields this year, he would be exiled from the sect.

This was something he could not accept! Even more, if he left the yard, where would he go to find even the smallest section of ling vein?

Nothing was harder to accept than seeing the ling grains in the fields wither stalk by stalk. Being able to do nothing other than watching the disease spread made people feel despair. The harsh fishy odor wafted off the fields. The rich fields became a pit of mud.

The sect was swarming with victims. The number of outer sect disciples that was infected by the strange disease increased to twenty five people. The remainder was also in danger.

The ling grains had almost entirely dried and wilted. Only at base of the stalks could a hint of green be seen. If they couldn’t find a solution immediately, then the vitality of this ling grains were completely gone and it would be too late.

Just as Zuo Mo was at his wit’s end,  a pink Little Thousand Crane suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

“Damned woman! Making a bother at this time!” Zuo Mo saw this paper crane and couldn’t help starting to swear.

He didn’t have any intentions of picking the crane, sneering and musing to himself, “Humph, ge won’t pay attention to you, go play by yourself.”

After the sound landed, the Little Thousand Crane suddenly opened on its own.

“Ye, where are you waiting for me?”

A sweet and adorable voice wormed into his ears. It was like licking a mouthful of honey, or gently tickled at the heart. A person who was less resolute would have softened to the bones.

Zuo Mo stared at this pink paper that opened up on its own in front of him with an open mouth. On it was written exactly what the voice said.

Automatically unfolding, automatically speaking, and automatically finding people ……

The tiny pink Little Thousand Crane showed so many wonders that let Zuo Mo’s weak soul received an unprecedented battering.

He suddenly had a premonition. He might have provoked big trouble.

“Fine, fine, it’s not good to argue with a woman. Ge won’t play with you!” He said to himself righteously.

“Wanting to use beauty to tempt me? Humph humph!” Zuo Mo sneered, “You’re still tender. Not just a magic voice, but even if it was a peerless naked woman, ge can still calmly, heart as fixed as pine.”

In the ling fields, there was only the sound of Zuo Mo’s duck like voice singing, “I was originally a mirror, yet dust fell upon me, ya yi ya……”

Before his voice stopped, another pink Little Thousand Crane flew in front of him from the sky.

The exquisite pink Little Thousand Crane moved like stripping off clothing, the motions elegant as it automatically unfolded.

“Haha, ye, if you don’t reply, the next Little Thousand Crane, I’ll draw a Flame Exploding Seal.”

“Am I afraid?” Zuo Mo wasn’t scared, “Am I one that will lower his head due to power……”

He suddenly posed, tilting his head and muttering to himself, “Flame Exploding Seal, where did I hear it……”

Before his voice landed, he saw a pink Little Thousand Crane flying over from the corner of his eyes.

He scratched his head. It came again? How did the other find him? This was the part that made him the most curious. He had never heard of a Thousand Paper Crane having such abilities. Unless it was those people that were really powerful. But the powerful people, who would use something as washed-out as Little Thousand Cranes?

Wait, she said she would draw a flame exploding seal this time……

Zuo Mo’s pupils widened and he unhesitatingly lifted his feet and started running.

Boom!

A sound of explosion came from behind him. A strong pressure wave forced Zuo Mo into a tumble, eating the dirt.

Zuo Mo dazed. As a beginner xiuzhe that was only knowledgeable at farming, things like explosions definitely shouldn’t appear in his life.

Struggling to sit up from the dirt, he looked at the large hole that had been exploded behind him, his expression dazed.

From the side, another pink Little Thousand Crane flew in front of him and was elegantly unfolded. But in Zuo Mo’s eyes there wasn’t any elegance, but only the grace that was filled with an empress’ favor.

The special quality of an empress’ favor was that it didn’t care whether you were willing or not.

“Ha ha, ye, in ten minutes, I want to draw a flaming explosion chain seal.”

Zuo Mo’s mind blanked and he jumped up from the ground like his ass was on fire. He grabbed the pink paper floating in front of him and ran in the direction of his residence.

Ten minutes!

Damned woman!

When the familiar yard appeared in his view, his lungs were burning, his throat smoking. Zuo Mo almost cried. Like the wind, he rushed into the yard. Like the wind, he rushed into the room. Like the wind, he found the cinnabar and weasel bristle brush.

“What do you really want?”

There wasn’t any of the ease and boldness of last time. It was so bitter like a weak woman that had a brute rush into her room in the middle of the night.

With the fastest speed, he folded the pink paper and with faster speed, he filled it with ling power and patted his chest in trepidation as he watched it disappear into the horizon.

Zuo Mo felt he was really unlucky. Why had he been so idle as to pick up the paper crane? Why did he reply?

Imagining that a flock of paper cranes flying down from the sky followed  by boom, boom, boom! With him as the center, within three miles, nothing would remain.

Zuo Mo’s mind felt numb.

A short while later, a pink Little Thousand Crane flew in from the window.

“Haha, I just want to chat with ye. Life and philosophy, how interesting!”

Zuo Mo crisply raised a white flag, “I surrender!”

The other disregarded it, “Haha, what’s ye’s dream?”

“Earn jingshi.” Zuo Mo helplessly wrote down, full of humiliation.

“Can jingshi be earned?”

“In any case, I can’t shit it out.” Zuo Mo was just going to throw the broken pot.

……

Before Zuo Mo became numb, he finally understood. The other was only a woman that was raised in deep protection, extremely bored, lonely, unfulfilled, thought of lives as grass, and was abnormally powerful. It was this “abnormally powerful” that easily slayed any intentions of Zuo Mo to resist.

A matter worth celebrating was that this woman had the habit of eating. For the first time, Zuo Mo was grateful for this habit that was gradually disappearing from the world. It rescued this poor lamb that he was.

Temporarily dispatching the woman, Zuo Mo took a breath. From the high nervousness at the beginning to the complete numbness at the end, Zuo Mo managed to completely experience the process of a soul being wounded.

This event had made him feel no more terror towards the ling grains that had injured Guo Shixiong. The experiences this afternoon made him believe, that in this world, there couldn’t be anything scarier than this terrifying woman.

He decided to try to rescue his fifty mu of ling grains.

He didn’t want to leave the sect.

Chapter 15 - Little Yao

The night came and Wu Kong Mountain was tranquil.

Being far from Dong Fu, the mountain was sparsely populated and mountain life was very dull. When night arrived, the outer sect disciples would usually gather together to chat and entertain themselves. The inner sect disciples would spend the majority of time cultivating. From another perspective, the pressure that inner sect disciples faced wasn’t any less than the outer sect disciples. They needed to keep cultivating so they could qualify to participate in the Yao Hunt.

It was commonly known that if in any sword sect, there weren’t any members participating in the Yao Hunt one every ten years, then this indicated the sect was in decline and would soon disappear.

This was a trait of sword sects. They would often rise very quickly, but at the same time, their fall would be even faster. The number of sword sects with long histories could be counted on two hands. All of them were enormous entities.

These matters weren’t related to Zuo Mo. He had no connections to the Yao Hunt.

In the night, he walked along on the mountain path. After generations of care, the wild beasts on Wu Kong Mountains were extinct so Zuo Mo didn’t need to worry for his safety.

Reminiscing on his life from when he opened his eyes until now, the scenes of life flashed through his mind. His eyes became more resolute, his steps faster.

The sect didn’t treat him especially well. However, he was used to the life here. It was somewhat hard, but it was safe.

The only knot in his heart was regarding his origins. That dream that always appeared, the face that never had expression. It seemed to be telling him something. But until now, he didn’t have any clues.

Other than this knot, he was very satisfied with his present life. Yet, he was currently facing the possibility of exile from the sect.

Maybe one day, he would leave here. But not right now.

There was also one other reason that made him so determined. There was an impulse moving restlessly in his heart. He didn’t understand why but after his two previous encounters, the craving for battle seemed to have been activated in his bones.

Zuo Mo didn’t know if this would count as “battle”, but in his heart, this kind of confrontation didn’t make him scared but he actually desired it.

With his eighth level of lianqi, the night was just like day, and his vision wasn’t affected.

He quickly reached his fifty mu of ling fields.

The speed of withering was occurring extremely fast. It was more serious than when he had left this afternoon. Another large patch of ling grains was showing signs of withering.

Walking to the nearest stalk of ling grains and smelling the fishy odor, he suddenly thought about the scene of Guo Lu Shixiong choking up blood and fainting. He hesitated. This hesitation lasted but a moment before fading from his eyes, replaced with a burning light!

An aged gold energy flashed a dazzling gold in the dark,like a ball of fairies.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. His right hand holding the aged gold energy, he placed it on the stem of the ling grain in front of him.

Boom!

It was as though he was suddenly pulled into another world.

Countless black seeds, like dandelion seeds, floated in the void, forming a black sea. This black sea swayed gently. Each time it moved, it released a vast energy.

Each of the seeds was small and weak, but Zuo Mo could not muster the resolve to rebel against the energy that this piece of black sea exuded.

He blankly faced this large black sea, not knowing what to do. The aged gold energy that was usually roiling and violent retreated behind him for the first time.

———

At the same moment in Old Black’s ling fields, there stood three people.

Among the three, one had a square face and a long beard, his expression stern and authoritative. The other was an old man thin but solid like steel, ice in his eyes, his sword essence imposing. The last was a round person, a smile eternally on his face with great cheer.

If a disciple was here, they would jump in fright.

The authoritative one was the head of the sect, Pei Yuan Ran. The thin, steel-like one was Xin Yan Shishu. The smiling fat one was Yan Le. Of the eldest generation of Wu Kong Sword Sect, three of the four were present. If this news spread, then a large commotion would occur in the sect.

“Does the two shidi recognize what this is?” Pei Yuan Ran asked in a deep voice. This time, the strange disease came about so suspiciously without any forewarning and it was ferocious. In just a few days, almost half of the ling fields were damaged.

This meant that the ling grain harvest this year would be significantly damaged, the loss more than half. For a small sect like Wu Kong Sword Sect, this kind of loss was enough to affect their operations.

So when the news reached them, the leader of the sect and the other elders that had never concerned themselves with the ling fields quickly came to look.

The situation was even worse than they had imagined. All three of them were in a terrible mood.

Xin Yan shook his head, “Never seen it, but it can eat ling, so it should be yao. Kill!” The last word was full of murderous intent, bitingly cold!

“Second Shixiong is right.” Even Yan Le, the one known to always be agreeable, had a dark expression, “But yao has never stepped onto Wu Kong Mountain before. How did this small yao come to our Wu Kong Mountain?”

“This matter is fishy.” Pei Yuan Ran mused, a hint of worry in his expression, “Since three thousand years ago, when the two races of yao and mo retreated, nothing has ever been heard about yaomo appearing in the present territory of the Sword Rivers. But yao has appeared here in our sect, it really is a puzzle.”

“Shixiong shouldn’t worry, just kill it.” Xin Yan frigidly replied, “Not just a little yao that hasn’t matured. But even those big yao, humph, those that died under my sword, there were many!”

Yan Le gave a reminiscing expression, smiling and adding, “Thinking about that year when the three of us hunted yao. Second Shixiong’s [Ice Dragon Sword] intimidated all the yaomo, and made them quake!”

螭: it is actually a dragon that doesn’t have any horns. An immature dragon.

The other two also showed expressions of fond reminiscence.

“Let’s sort out this little yao first. Such a good moon, let’s go back and boil tea. It would be an experience,” Pei Yuan Ran smiled as he made his suggestion.

Yan Le smiled and clapped, “That’s good. Second Shixiong, we’ll cover you.”

Xin Yan didn’t decline. The ice in his eyes flashed and he summoned his flying sword.

A snowy white crystal sword appeared in the sky. The clean clarity of the body made the moon seem dull. Soaring in the night sky, it intimated. This was Xin Yan’s famous [Ice Dragon Sword].

“Go!” A clear shout echoed in the surroundings.

The body of the Ice Dragon Sword trembled slightly and turned into a pure white icy dragon. The two eyes flashed viciously. Giving a low bellow, it changed into a flashing light and raced for the ling fields!

When the light was just about to attack the ling fields, something unexpected happened.

A gust of black smoke came out of each stalk of withered ling grain. Those extremely thin black wisps of smoke grew in the wind. In a few blinks of the eye, the ling fields were covered in a layer of inky black smoke. Even the finger of a hand couldn’t be seen in front of the eyes.

The three of Pei Yuan Ran were covered in smoke but were not the least bit panicked.

But they didn’t know that not far away, there was an outer sect disciple that was also covered in the black smoke.

———

Zuo Mo was startled awake by Xin Yan’s shout. But at this time, he found that he couldn’t even remove his consciousness away from this world.

All he could see was still the countess black dandelion seeds flying everywhere!

The clear shout disturbed the peace of the sea. The black dandelion seeds started to surge like waves in a storm.

Fury, contempt, helplessness, and sorrow……

Many different emotions flowed into Zuo Mo’s heart. He was like a puppet, full of countless emotions that didn’t belong to him. These emotions were limitless and restless, raging through Zuo Mo’s consciousness.

But Zuo Mo’s own consciousness was clearer than ever.

What was more tragic than having even his consciousness being controlled?

Something seemed to have been touched in his heart. An unprecedented loathing and hatred suddenly rose!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s body was shaking. Every joint in the entire body shook. The shaking became even stronger, the scene was unsettling.

In the sea of consciousness, he furiously struggled, and furiously shouted!

“Get out!”

A furious shout tore out, like the roar of thunder, and echoed in this borderless black sea.

The raging emotions in his heart suddenly disappeared with his shout. He still could feel the different feelings transferring from the black sea but the emotions didn’t take over his consciousness.

Immediately afterwards, he saw something he would never forget.

A pure white sword streaked through the sky and struck the ground!

Just one sword!

The black sea he thought was vast and limitless was cleaved in two! He could not comprehend the vastness and strength of this sword. Zuo Mo was shocked still. His own sea of consciousness, at this moment, was frozen by this grand sword.

He felt an instinctual terror which dominated every corner of his mind.

Everything seemed to slow down. After the sword strike which had seemed to destroy the heavens, countless small sword essences, like a school of sharks began chaseing those black dandelion seeds. Everywhere they passed, nothing was left.

The black sea gave out the feeling of panic and terror ……

Zuo Mo smiled. When the black sea controlled his emotions, it had infuriated him.

The battle ended very quickly. A second blow didn’t materialize. This one blow was enough to erase the entire black sea. The ling grains returned to normal, except they were heavily damaged and would need time to recover. The control of Zuo Mo’s consciousness returned to him and he left the ling grain. He couldn’t help but wipe off the cold sweat on his forehead.

The danger this night totally surpassed his imagination. Thinking about it now, he couldn’t help but still be fearful.

He laid on the ground, his entire body soft and soaked in sweat. The night wind blew and he shuddered.

He walked soullessly back to his own little yard.

What were those black dandelion seeds inside the ling grains? That sword strike that appeared out of nowhere, whose was it?

That one strike, the shock it gave him was really too strong! Bone-achingly cold, and murderous intent that overflowed, the meaning of the sword was branded in his mind. He suddenly understood why so many people would chose to cultivate the sword. To chase after power, wasn’t it was the natural tendency of people?

Even more, it was such strong and terrifying power!

The fifty mu of ling grains were finally saved. Even though this year’s harvest would dramatically decrease, but he should still earn enough for this year’s rent.

At this point, he heaved a sigh of relief. Sitting down, he started to inspect his own consciousness. He had never gone through something like this experience tonight. He was very worried this would affect him negatively.

As he started his mediation, his face suddenly changed!

In his sea of consciousness, there floated one black dandelion seed!

Chapter 16 - Sword Essence

“Don’t forget!”

……

“Even if you die, you mustn’t forget!”

……

The strange yet familiar voice echoed like a nightmare.

As usual, Zuo Mo was startled awake from his dream. He grimaced as he sat up. Rationally, if he had the same dream this many times, he should be numb against it. But each time he woke up, he would find his body soaked in sweat. Even he felt that it was unimaginable.

The stars in the sky were brightly lit, the starlight shining down. Wu Kong Mountain was peaceful and quiet.

That dangerous scene from last night flashed before his eyes. He remembered that black dandelion seed that was in his sea of consciousness. When he went to inspect his consciousness he found it was still floating there. There wasn’t any movement. He released a breath. No matter what method he used, it didn’t have any effect on this black dandelion seed.

He was somewhat worried. From a glance, it could be seen that this black dandelion seed wasn’t something good. Now that it had invaded into his sea of consciousness, it definitely wasn’t a good thing.

He mused inside, should he wait a while and then go have a doctor examine it?

Waking up in the middle of the night, he wasn’t the slightest bit drowsy. After thinking for a while, the matter of the black dandelion seed was thrown to one side. In this situation where he couldn’t think of any solutions, excessive worry was superfluous.

Limited by his cultivation, his sea of consciousness wasn’t large. Other than that black dandelion seed, it was empty.

As he kept on thinking, he thought about that sword essence that flew over the heavens. The shock that that sword essence gave him was too great, and had deeply ingrained itself in his mind.

He had never learned any sword scriptures but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand anything. Because Wu Kong Sword Sect was a sword sect, many of the outer sect disciples practised sword scriptures. Like Wei Sheng Shixiong, he mainly cultivated the sword, and had once been Luo Li Shixiong’s sword servant.

The so-called sword servants, were the servants of sword xiu. They were responsible for cleaning the battlefield and some supplementary duties.

Wei Sheng Shixiong had the greatest battle strength in the outer sect disciples, and his battle experience was extremely rich. It was rumoured that he had even once killed sword xiu who was in the initial stages of zhuji. He had seen Wei Sheng Shixiong practice the sword before, lights flew and it was very dazzling Compared to that sword essence from last night, Wei Sheng Shixiong’s sword was like a colourful paper bird, if it was given a poke then it would tear.

But the vast sword essence last night that seemed to cleave the heavens, he had never even imagined anything like it. Under that sword strike, everything was forced to bow. He felt he was as tiny as an ant.

Just at this moment, something unexpected occurred!

In his sea of consciousness, an icy and pure white sword essence appeared without a warning!

Zuo Mo’s body froze, his eyes bulging and his breathing stopped.

A beat later, his cold body steadily warmed. His eyes slowly recovered the spirit. He heavily exhaled, shock filling his eyes.

Why was it like this?

The sword essence that had suddenly appeared was the same as that terrifying sword strike last night!

Having no defenses against it, that sword strike almost cleaved his sea of consciousness in half. The pure and cold murderous intent contained in the sword strike had made him stop breathing, all the organs in his body at that moment had stop moving!

He still felt trepidation and didn’t understand what had happened at all.

It wasn’t possible!

Having the black dandelion seed exist in his consciousness was enough to make him terrified, now there was the addition of the sword essence!

No!

When he inspected before, he didn’t find this sword essence!

Leaving his sea of consciousness, he thought back in great detail on how the sword essence had appeared. Then he found, just when the sword essence had appeared, it was exactly when he was in the sea of consciousness facing the black dandelion seed when he remembered the sword essence.

An idea suddenly entered in his mind.

Was it that this sword essence had been released by that black dandelion seed?

This freakish idea, once it came out, it couldn’t be pushed down.

His sea of consciousness turned back into a void. The black dandelion seed floated around alone in the void. Zuo Mo hesitated. That sword essence was too strong. Just right now, the blow to his body and soul were extreme.

But the desire to understand what happened quickly won. He gritted his teeth!

Go for it!

Facing the black dandelion seed, he thought back to that sword essence!

Hiss!

A silvery white sword essence flew out!

Splat!

Zuo Mo’s body froze and he threw up a mouthful of blood.

A second later, “Hahahaha!” The sound of laughter rang out of the little yard. Zuo Mo’s mouth was smeared with blood, frightening to the eye, yet his face was joyous.

It really was that black dandelion seed! The sword essence really was released by it!

Having prepared this time, he saw it clearly. Not just that, he also found that this sword essence was completely different than what he had seen last time. Or, more correctly, it was even clearer! And because of it, its undoubted power was exposed. How could Zuo Mo’s fragile spirit endure the blow of such a strong sword essence? So he was wounded and spat blood.

But even wounded, Zuo Mo couldn’t help roar with laughter.

If he could comprehend this sword essence … …

Before last night, he didn’t have a bit of interest in sword xiu. But that pure and icy sword energy planted a seed in his heart. He was interested in the sword essence’s strength.

But Zuo Mo quickly awaked from his joy. This sword strike was extremely strong, and was not something he could bear.

His head started to ache. After receiving two blows from the stroke strike, his spirit was wounded. Thinking about the pain from his body being completely frozen, and his consciousness easily being split in half, his face slightly paled.

There were many benefits to comprehending this sword essence, but, at the same time, he had to pay a painful price. When the spirit was wounded, it was much harder to heal compared to physical wounds.

The pain at his head made him hiss repeatedly. Grabbing the sound tablet beside him, he channelled in ling power.

“Fierce conflict has once again exploded at Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie……”

The voice inside the sound tablet made Zuo Mo pause. The sound tablet was an essential part of his life. He would listen to the sound tablet each night to go to sleep. In this length of time, there was a clear increase in the news about the conflict at Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

Was it the yaomo were discontent at being suppressed for so long and were starting to counterattack?

He thought humorously, but he quickly threw the question to one side. No matter if it was Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, or yaomo, it was one hundred thousand li away from him, and completely unrelated. He didn’t even think the yaomo would make a ripple. Three thousand years ago, the war between the xiuzhe and yaomo had ended in a complete victory for the xiuzhe. If there wasn’t a Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie stopping the forward progress of the xiuzhe, it was very likely that the yaomo would have already been completely eradicated.

Following that was some news on the Sword Test Conference, but Zuo Mo wasn’t very interested.

His head felt like it was splitting and cracking. Zuo Mo grunted as he cradled his head. His consciousness was wounded.

The greatest pain in a life came when a beautiful woman dropped out of the sky, but there also a dragon guarding the beauty keeping her out of reach.

Even more painful would be when they saw the peerless beauty, and they were kicked by the evil dragon at the weak spot.

Zuo Mo wailed inside. Healing his consciousness was his most important priority right now. However, to a low-level xiuzhe with only the cultivation of lianqi eighth level, healing his consciousness was a problem that was far out of his power.

Pain!

It was like the deepest part of the brain was being lightly carved by someone using a small knife. After just a few moments, Zuo Mo had almost gone insane because of this pain.

Zuo Mo cradled his head as he sat on his roof as his pain filled groans continued.

Zuo Mo wanted to cry. Holding his head, he almost crawled to move to the meditation mat in the seclusion room.

His only hope right now was that meditation could decrease the pain. Very quickly, the cruel reality destroyed his last hope. No matter how he manipulated the ling power, the pain of his spirit didn’t lessen.

His entire person seemed to have been chopped in two, but his body was well.

He held his head, rolling and groaning on the floor. Gradually, the sound of wailing became lower.

Those who were ignorant have no fear. He had only the most pitiful understanding of the spirit. If his cultivation was just a bit deeper, he would understand more and wouldn’t have dared to be so impulsive. Healing the consciousness, even those xiuzhe who had a cultivation of ningmai, didn’t have many solutions. Unless jindan cultivators lent a hand. Only then would healing be easier.

But, if a jindan gave aid, then the price definitely wasn’t a cheap one.

Low-level xiuzhe didn’t dare to touch the spirit. Not even the dhyana xiu who specialized in the consciousness wouldn’t dare before the stage of jindan.

Zuo Mo was just a low-level xiuzhe who had just achieved the eighth level of lianqi. His sea of consciousness had suffered two continuous blows that far surpassed his ability to bear. The fact that he didn’t already die was a miracle.

A wound to the consciousness wouldn’t disappear if there wasn’t an outside power to heal it.

The pitiful Zuo Mo curled completely into a ball. He didn’t have the strength to roll anymore. His breathing was shallow, his awareness fuzzy.

Faintly, he seemed to hear someone was talking.

“Thou wants to live?”

A simple and desolate voice, it was upright and imposing.

“Save me!” Zuo Mo heard his weak answer filled with joy and pleading.

“To abide by my ceremony, to execute my desires, to swear my oath, will thou?”

“Too outrageous!” Zuo Mo, on his last breaths, couldn’t help but wail. He suddenly had the feeling he had been tricked.

“Will thou?” The imposing voice was like thunder, filled with oppression.

“Go to hell!” Zuo Mo unexpectedly raged, “Don’t assume that I don’t know it’s you that tricked……” He stilled wanted to curse, but the pain of his spirit was so extreme he couldn’t help but scream.

“Will thou?”

“Go to hell!” Zuo Mo swore as he screamed. At the same time, he raised his middle finger.

… …

“Will thou?”

“Go to hell!” Zuo Mo didn’t even have the energy to scream, much less raise the middle finger. He could only weakly whine.

… …

“Will thou?”

“Go to hell!” Zuo Mo’s answer was like the whine of a mosquito, the sound thin, like a hair strand.

… …

“Will thou?”

“Go to hell… …”

Zuo Mo’s awareness was a puddle of dizziness as he struggled.

… …

That imposing and authoritative sound finally silenced. At this time, Zuo Mo’s awareness was completely muddled, everything in the surroundings indistinct.

In his dizziness, he didn’t know if it was his delusion. That voice spoke again, no dignity left, only loneliness.

“The ceremony lost, the desire dead, only the oath once taken… …”

The voice seemed further and further away from him. He became unconscious.

In the sea of consciousness of Zuo Mo who was in a coma, that black dandelion seed that had been floating quietly landed.

As it landed, it penetrated into the sea of consciousness, grew roots, germinated, bloomed, bore fruit. Countless black dandelion seeds continuously spilled, floating to every corner of Zuo Mo’s consciousness.

In the blink of an eye, the sea of consciousness became a black sea. The black sea suddenly broke. Countless fragments floated up like black flowers, turning into countless wisps of black smoke.

The black smoke transformed into a figure of a person.

Chapter 17 - Pu

It is pronounced a bit like “poo”. The character used is the same one that is usually used for dandelion.

Zuo Mo slowly woke up. His head was still aching, but it was incomparable to the pain that had cut through his entire body.

Thinking of what had happened before he went unconscious, his face suddenly changed.

He always had been someone with a clear mind. Under the situation where his head was aware and he could think clearly, he quickly organized the cause and result. Without any great need to think, it was definitely that black dandelion seed that was the culprit.

The one that released the sword essence and the one that pressured him was also that black dandelion seed.

Thinking about it, Zuo Mo’s heart burned with anger.

That guy tried to play tricks on his head, he didn’t know what he was getting into!

He suddenly thought that he had said something before he went unconscious, and his face changed. Was it that he didn’t persevere and had capitulated?

Thinking about this, he quickly calmed his mind and entered his consciousness.

When he entered the sea of his consciousness, he was stupefied.

On the undulating hills were groups of large ancient trees. The green grass was like a carpet, spreading out in patches. Fine wildflowers mixed with the grass, adding hints of life.

It was as though he was walking into a forest.

Before, his sea of consciousness was only empty space. This living and breathing scene in front of him… …

Zuo Mo was completely pinned to the ground. The scene in front of his eye far surpassed the limits of his understanding.

He dazedly walked on the grass, feeling the softness of the grass under his feet. The smell of the green grass wafted into his nose. Zuo Mo was dazed. He was only an eighth level lianqi low-level xiuzhe.

When his gaze turned towards a hill devoid of any trees, he was instantly awoken.

He started to frantically run towards that hill.

On the hill, a man dressed in black was sitting on a stele, black clouds swirling around it. One hand was laid on his leg, another propped up his chin, his expression carefree and pleased.

When he neared, Zuo Mo could finally make out the black-clad man’s appearance.

A perfect face!

Zuo Mo had never thought men could be so handsome. An androgynous face, a high nose, the raven back hair covering up the left eye, the right eye as narrow and long as a blade, the serene crimson red pupil was like a bottomless blood pool, and the thin and wide lips eternally held a shallow yet strange curve. A single dark red rhombus shaped crystal was in each earlobe, the wide black clothing soft and smooth, just like his hair, it gave off a black glow as it kept close to his body, full of a strange enticement.

Zuo Mo blanked at his position, not knowing what to say. He was only the most normal disciple of a small sect. When had he ever seen someone so outstanding?

“I am called Pu.” A sweet and beautiful voice. He propped up his chin, looking in interest at Zuo Mo, the curve of his mouth more evident, “What are you called?”

“Zuo Mo,” he replied dumbly. He definitely was dreaming. Pu seemed to be just sitting there but all the light in the sea of consciousness seemed to have been unconsciously sucked away to him. Zuo Mo had seen those female disciples at the Eastern Peak. Not one of them was better looking than Pu.

When a man looked like this, he probably would want to cry.

When this thought came out, Zuo Mo came back to his senses. Pu’s enticing and shocking aura was instantly shattered by this humorous thought.

Seeming to have noticed Zuo Mo returning to his senses, Pu smiled gently, and wasn’t irritated. He still used his melodious voice. “It seems we will have to be in contact for a long time. But I believe we will have delightful interactions. Oh, right, this is for you.”

Pu casually threw a glowing ball at Zuo Mo. On the surface of the ball, countless seals flashed.

“What is it?” Zuo Mo instinctively received the glowing ball.

Boom.

It was as though he was struck by thunder, his body frozen. Countless characters were shoved into him mind, circulating relentlessly.

“[Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation], just a little plaything. It can repair your spirit, count that as a greeting gift.” Pu’s tone was lazy, “Even though I want to live here for free, there’s no other way. Your sea of consciousness is so broken. Fix the sea of consciousness quickly, otherwise I have to find another place again.”

He gracefully waved his hand. Zuo Mo, still unmoving at his spot, felt the space around his body tighten. When he opened his eyes, he found that he had come out of his sea of consciousness.

His heart was suddenly terrified. Pu seemed to be even stronger than he had imagined. A person like this that he couldn’t control was in his consciousness, no wait, controlling his sea of consciousness! He had no joy at receiving [Embryonic breathing Spirit Cultivation]. Terror spread through his body like poison.

Managing to swallow his saliva and suppressing the terror in his heart, he pondered what to do.

Report to the sect?

In these two years, he had only seen the head of the sect once. That was when he had been picked up by the leader and when he opened his eyes. As to the other elders and shishu, he had never even met them.

What he was really worried about was another conjecture.

He was very suspicious, Pu was very likely to be a yaomo!

Such a beautiful yaomo, he almost couldn’t believe it, but for some reason, this suspicion was like a maggot burrowing into the bones, taking root in his mind, unable to be swept away.

Zuo Mo had never seen yaomo, all his ideas about yaomo came from the sound tablet. When it mentioned yaomo, it was killing, it was blood and death. But the relationship between yaomo and xiuzhe was that of natural enemies, he was very clear about that. Destroying yaomo was the duty of each xiuzhe, no matter where.

However, Zuo Mo was a beginner xiuzhe whose cultivation just reached the eighth level of lianqi. Not speaking of destroying yaomo, the yaomo wouldn’t even lower themselves to destroying him.

What he was more worried about was that if someone else knew that a yaomo was in his body, he definitely would be destroyed, ground down until not a trace could be found. In the eyes of those higher level xiuzhe, an eighth level lianqi couldn’t even be considered cannon fodder.

Maybe, they would throw him straight into the dan furnace and he would be refined with the yaomo… …

丹, pill, pellet. Common used as “pills of immortality” by Chinese emperors in search of eternal life. A gaming equivalent would be potions.

He couldn’t help but shudder, his heart beating furiously. He quickly stopped those terrifying thoughts.

———

In a daze, for the next two days, Zuo Mo seemed to not be in this mortal coil.

He naturally had to practise [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Otherwise, before he could be crippled by Pu Yao, he would cripple himself first. Pu Yao, that was the new name Zuo Mo gave Pu. Regardless if he was a yao, just how he looked, he deserved the character of yao.

The effects were very good. After a few days, half of his spirit had recovered. Zuo Mo felt no gratefulness towards Pu Yao, because he remembered the reason that his consciousness was wounded was Pu Yao’s fault.

In these few days, he didn’t go to his sea of consciousness.

If it was said at the first glance the impression Pu Yao left on Zuo Mo was enchanting, now enchanting had changed to wicked!

What did the guy really want?

That was the true cause of the terror.

Zuo Mo quickly found that his life became incomparably terrible. To a xiuzhe whose goal was to become a ling plant farmer, living was the most important matter.

He decided to have a discussion with Pu Yao.

Just like last time, Pu Yao sat on the stele idly, in the same black clothing. Seeing Zuo Mo he smiled. That smile pierced through the thick black smoke revolving around the stele, it made him look full of evil. The conjecture about whether or not Pu was yaomo jumped out again of its own accord.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. He didn’t lack in courage, but when the other was in complete control, he wouldn’t do such a stupid thing as to express bravery. He suddenly noticed the stone stele under Pu’s body. Half a person high, the stone stele was shrouded in black clouds. When he accidentally swept across the surface of the stone stele, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

Grave!

This was a grave!

It wasn’t a stone stele, it was a gravestone!

He instantly was frightened, his heartbeat speeding up.

“What? Wanted to find me for a chat?” A lazy voice. He didn’t know if it was this gravestone at fault but Zuo Mo felt that Pu’s voice was full of a kind of dark coldness that easily seeped into one’s heart.

Zuo Mo calmed his emotions, a fawning smile on his face, “Big Brother, look, my cultivation is this weak, and my body is all bones, there isn’t a few catties of meat, I’m not good to eat.”

“Eat?” Pu suddenly smiled. He opened his dark red right eye, slowly speaking, “Speaking of delicious human meat, oh, that’s so long ago. The best human meat, there’s a lot to consider. The best is sixteen or seventeen year old girls. Tender meat, crunchy bones, yum, yum.”

A scarlet tongue licked the lips, his expression full of reflection.

Zuo Mo’s heart was beating out of his chest. He forced a smile, “Yeah, yeah, see, shouldn’t you change the person?”

“Change the person?” Pu tilted his head, staring at Zuo Mo, “What? You don’t like it? Feeling that I took over your space?”

Being pierced by Pu’s deep red right eyes, cold spread through Zuo Mo’s heart. He hurriedly waved his hand, “No, no! This is my honor! Honor!”

He seemed to be very satisfied with Zuo Mo’s answer. Pu took away his gaze, his right eye closing again, his mouth absent-mindedly asking, “In your generation of disciples, how many are jindan? Ten?”

Zuo Mo shook his head.

“Eight?”

Zuo Mo continued to shake his head.

“Five?”

Zuo Mo finally couldn’t endure it. He felt the other was making fun of him, “Not a single one. In the Shixiong of this generation, the highest cultivation is the last stages of zhuji.”

For the first time, a shocked expression came onto Pu’s face with his closed right eye. This made Zuo Mo feel smug.

After a while, Pu shook his head, sighing, “No wonder you suck so much.”

Zuo Mo almost spat blood.

Pu opened his eye, his gaze once again landing on Zuo Mo’s body. He examined up and down, his hand propping up his chin, murmuring to himself, “Your body is really weak. Hmm?”

Zuo Mo was very irritated at how the other was discussing him like he was examining an object, but Pu’s “hmm” made his heart jump.

“Is something wrong?” He couldn’t ask hurriedly. He knew his body wasn’t normal. The hard zombie-face, and that dream that appeared countless times, it was like a thorn in his heart.

Pu lifted his head, the hair in front of his forehead almost covering the left half of his face. The crimson right eye that wasn’t covered glanced at Zuo Mo’s face, one corner of his mouth lifting, “No problem.”

“Alright, you suck very much, but not to a terminal point.” Pu returned back to his lazy tone of voice.

“I wanted to ask… …” Zuo Mo decided to lay his cards on the table with Pu. He wanted to find out what Pu’s true aims were.

“Oh, right.” Pu interrupted Zuo Mo. His blood-red right eye narrowed, his thin lips lifting upward on an angle, “You started cultivating [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation. How is it, are the effects alright? Almost forgot to tell you, [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] is good, but it has one pesky problem.”

Zuo Mo’s heart beat frantically. He had a bad feeling.

“Once [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] is started, it can’t be stopped. Supposedly, if one can’t get to the first embryonic breath in three months, there would be some minor problems.”

He raised his right hand, spreading his five fingers, the corner of his mouth raising higher, the fresh red of his eye even brighter, “Really, it’s just small pains such as your blood flowing in reverse. Oh, did you know, before I had a very creative friend. He was in charge of the torture prisons.”

Pu seemed to be telling a story, actively narrating.

“One time, he encountered a very hard nut. He tried everything but couldn’t get this guy to talk. He then begged for this method from me. He sent a subordinate to pretend to be a criminal and near this guy. And then, using his subordinate’s mouth, he passed this scripture over to him. Oh, you have to know, I always admired this guy, creative and patient.”

He said with a few hints of glee, “Such a pity that this criminal didn’t have much talent. Three months, he didn’t reach one embryonic breath. Oh, I always felt, it must have been that my friend purposefully left out a few words.”

“And then?” Zuo Mo asked, his voice shaking.

“And then?” The smile on Pu’s face became even brighter, “Cracked on the thirty-first day. But my friend was a soft-hearted one and didn’t kill him. Left him hanging for three months. Each day, he begged my friend to kill him. Listening to the exquisite and mellow wailing, such an experience! Supposedly, when he died, oh, his soul just exploded like a firework, extremely beautiful.”

A bone-aching cold spread over Zuo Mo’s entire body.

His pitiful nerves were like a spring that was pushed to its limits. All the accumulated anger exploded in one instant. He lost his rationality and screamed as he leapt at Pu.

––“You perverse renyao! Ye’ll kill you!”

人妖, Hong Kong slang for Thailand transvestites. It was then adopted as internet slang for males that used female avatars in MMORPGs. It’s also used to describe “girliness” in boys. The literal meaning is human-spirit. In this case here, Pu is really a yao, and he does look androgynous.

Chapter 18 - Soup

In the seclusion room, Zuo Mo mediated with his legs in the lotus position.

He was furiously practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation], the damned [Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation]!

That damned Pu Yao!

He cursed the maniac countless times. After exploding yesterday night, he was brutally oppressed. His consciousness was once again heavily wounded, torn to pieces by Pu Yao. The result of the wounds in his consciousness was heart-wrenching pain. Now, without needing Pu Yao’s urging, he furiously practiced [Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation].

Once his head cooled down, Zuo Mo wanted to cry. That night, he should have never gone to the ling fields. Thinking about Pu Yao, that cunning and coldness that could burrow into the bones, it was like a venomous snake slowly sliding up the leg of his pants. That uncontrollable terror spread through the entire body.

The brutal suppression he suffered last night also made him attain a deep understanding of an insurmountable gap between the power levels of the two of them.

A strong, perverse madman!

Zuo Mo already expected that his future was to be shadowed in darkness.

This guy didn’t have goodwill from the very start. From the black sea in the beginning, the sword energy and his spirit repeatedly wounded, then to [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], step by step, he was a lamb being led to slaughter.

The pitiful him, he had thought that there was only a bad-tempered neighbor living in there, he didn’t think it was a wicked yaomo.

If he was only suspicious before, now he was one hundred percent sure that Pu was yaomo. Other than yaomo, who would be so evil?

Slowly waking up, like the chaos before creation, Zuo Mo opened his eyes and lightly breathed out that breath of air that had been circulating inside his body all this time.

This breath was long and continuous. When it was being exhaled, it was as concise as an arrow.

Zuo Mo felt slightly reassured. This [Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation] was a miracle. The pain in his spirit had lessened greatly and he could clearly feel his spirit stabilizing. When Pu Yao had just flicked his finger last night, his consciousness had almost been completely scattered.

He didn’t know where [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] had originated from. The words were cryptic and hard to understand. The syntax it used was the opposite of the jade stick that Zuo Mo had brought. He had used a lot of energy before he barely managed to understand the first chapter.

He didn’t think to go ask Pu Yao. The lessons in tears and blood taught him, to try to take advantage of that guy, just wait to get tricked.

The first chapter was called [Chapter of Spiritual Concentration], it talked about how to meditate and condense the spirit, stabilizing the consciousness.

This was exactly what Zuo Mo needed at the moment. After continuous injury, his consciousness was almost in shreds. If he couldn’t fix it soon, it was probable that he could enter madness. As to the one breath Pu Yao mentioned, it meant being able to complete a whole embryonic breath.

Embryonic breath was the core of [Embryonic Breath Spiritual Cultivation] and it was the most basic cultivation method. It was also a kind of breathing that Zuo Mo hadn’t even heard of. Supposedly, it originated in the breathing of humans when they were embryos. They didn’t need to use mouth and nose to breath, but required to use the entire body as the opening, take the air as thin strands and suck it in bit by bit before spreading it throughout the body. Hundreds of these tiny streams of air would circulate through the body, merge and then exhaled through the nose and mouth.

The holes and points on the body were like the stars in a galaxy. They couldn’t be measured. The nose and mouth were the biggest, the points on the body were second. The most abundant were those small, unable to be seen tiny holes that spread around the body.

Zuo Mo was very curious how the elder who had created this scripture had thought of such an outlandish method. Like goes with like. The scripture that Pu Yao, that crazy abnormal madman had thrown out, it was just as abnormal as him.

He still couldn’t find a way to finish a whole embryonic breath.

Pu Yao’s words weren’t empty threats. It was clearly written in the [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The last few days, he was really still using his nose and mouth to breath. No matter what, his first priority was stabilizing his spirit. If his spirit was unstable, just the occasional pain was enough to take Zuo Mo’s little life.

But when Zuo Mo’s consciousness managed to slightly stabilize, he would have to face a question. The question of completing a whole embryonic breath. One breath, it was the trademark of the introduction to [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

The deadline of three months was like a storm cloud hanging over his head.

When he thought about the light of insanity in Pu Yao’s eyes when he talked about torture, Zuo Mo was certain if he really couldn’t achieve one breath in the three months’ time and was facing a reversal of blood flow, Pu Yao would be watching in interest from the side at his painful state.

Such a tragic life!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and cursed the renyao inside, the fires of anger burning.

Suddenly, news from the sound tablet beside him aroused his attention.

“This month the price of ling grains once again increases, continuing after the increase last month. The demand for high grade ling grains has greatly increased, causing the price of low-grade ling grains to also increase……”

He shook. The price of ling grains were rising! This was undoubtedly the best news he heard in the last few days.

Pu Yao suddenly came out.  “Such an interesting thing.”

Zuo Mo started with wide eyes. A long pause later, he finally managed to react, pointing at Pu Yao, incoherently asking, “You, you… you ran out?”

Pu Yao blinked his dark red right eye. “Why why why can’t I come out?”

“Don’t you have to stay in the consciousness?” Zuo Mo asked dumbly.

“Who told you that?” Pu Yao turned to him, face baffled, as he asked in return.

Zuo Mo was speechless. Inside, he couldn’t help but wail. It seemed that he didn’t even have the last bit of bargaining power. So the other could really move out ……

Pu Yao listened for a while and yawned. “Oh, looks like a war is starting.”

“War?” Zuo Mo didn’t understand.

Pu Yao didn’t explain. He swept the sound tablet into his grasp, and faintly stated, “This thing is mine now.” Before the voice landed, he disappeared with the sound tablet.

“Damned renyao!” Zuo Mo’s furious shout echoed in empty yard.

At this time, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

Zuo Mo was curious inside. Who could it be? Usually, no one would run to his place here. Running over and opening the door, Xiao Guo pitifully stood outside.

She was holding a clay pot in her hands. Seeing Zuo Mo, her body instantly shrunk back, and timidly greeted, “Shixiong.”

“What’s the problem now?” Zuo Mo rarely had a good mood for this little bit of trouble. For some reason, whenever he saw the timidity on Xiao Guo’s face, he could never control his tone of voice.

“No no!” Xiao Guo shook her head like a rattle-drum, hurriedly explaining, “Xiao Guo has come to give something to Shixiong. Last time when Shixiong helped Xiao Guo, Xiao Guo hadn’t thanked Shixiong.”

As she spoke, her little mouth twisted, and the mist in her eyes rose, with tears in her voice, she muttered, “Xiao Guo doesn’t have jingshi……”

Seeing the direction wasn’t right, Zuo Mo hurriedly shouted, “Stop!”

Xiao Guo was frightened to shrink back even more, but her crying instantly disappeared.

She carefully put the clay pot in front of Zuo Mo and like a rabbit, she jumped back. She timidly looked at Zuo Mo and gathered her courage to say, “This is some soup Xiao Guo made, Shixiong……Shixiong, just take a sip, you just have to take one sip……”

Before she could finish speaking, she descended into incoherency, her face so red due to anxiety it almost bled. She couldn’t control it and covered her face as she turned and ran.

After running a few dozen steps, she suddenly stopped. Hesitating, she turned and yelled, “Shixiong, if it really doesn’t taste good, you ……you should throw it out……”

Zuo Mo watched as Xiao Guo disappeared and then at the clay pot in front of his feet. He bent down and lifted it.

The soup was still warm.

Raising the clay pot, he took a mouthful. The soup was thick and fragrant.

“The taste isn’t bad,” Zuo Mo said to himself. He drained it to the bottom and turned, holding the empty pot, to go back to his room.

Pu Yao suddenly emerged, the crimson snake-like tongue unable to resist licking the lips, his two eyes gazing in the direction Xiao Guo disappeared in. “Such a tender little girl.”

Zuo Mo stared in shock at him.

Pu Yao turned around his peerlessly handsome face. At this time, he seemed like a gluttonous cat, the light flashing in his deep red eye. “Such good luck, this little girl’s meat definitely would be very tender and delicious.”

Zuo Mo suddenly erupted, raising his hand to viciously throw the empty pot in his right hand at Pu Yao.

Bang, the pot cracked, the pieces scattering.

“Get lost!”

———

The Thousand Wings Ship stopped in midair.

Li Xian Er looked at the green moon star outside the window, her fine brows furrowed. “It’s seems that the little yao ran away. Uncle Chi Ye, has there been a reply from the sect?”

Chi Ye Zhenren shook his head. “Miss, there are thousands of yaomo suppressed under the Yao Smelting Tower. And it was a long time ago, there’s nothing to research. Most of them came from the great battle three thousand years ago, captured by our sect’s supreme power. Most of these yaomo are ones of great power, difficult to kill so they were suppressed under the Yao Smelting Power, to be slowly destroyed. I’ve never thought that these yaomo were this tenacious. After three thousand years, yet there were still survivors!”

Li Xian Er revealed a reminiscing expression. “Three thousand years ago, our sect was so strong!”

Chi Ye Zhenren sighed as well. “Not just our sect. Three thousand years ago, each sect in in the cultivation world were far more powerful than they are now. The ten thousand member strong alliance of the yaomo was completely eradicated by the elders. And it was that battle that the xiuzhe established today’s status quo.”

And then he gave an expression full of pity. “However, even though the yaomo were almost completely captured, the xiuzhe were also greatly wounded. Only one in ten of the great powers remained. Many sects fell in that great war, countless scriptures were lost. Three thousand years, and the xiuzhe still cannot recover the prosperity of the past. However, compared to us, the blow the yaomo suffered was even greater. These years, have you seen them ever break through the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie?”

Li Xian Er listened, entranced. Even though it was history she already knew but hearing it each time, it still captured her mind.

“Grandpa is calling me back.” She pouted her little mouth, face full of unwillingness. “It was so hard getting a chance to come out, and this was so short and he’s urging me back. We didn’t even catch the little yao yet. If we return, it should wait after I catch the little yao.”

Chi Ye Zhenren looked at the innocence on her face and a hint of indulgence flashed across his face, but he still urged, “Miss, the sect leader urging Miss to go back, it’s probably due to another matter.”

“What matter could there be?” She lightly snorted. “Probably just another genius of some sect that has come. Grandpa is really obsessed with those sword xiu lately. I really hate the sword xiu, each of them arrogant and disrespectful.”

Chi Ye Zhenren smiled, replying, “These days, didn’t Miss play very happily with a sword xiu?”

“You mean that funny idiot, who said he’s a sword xiu?” Li Xian Er refuted.

“Sky Moon Jie is the territory of sword xiu. Here, nine out of ten people are sword xiu.”

“Maybe he’s just that one,” Li Xian Er objected. She suddenly revealed a distressed expression. “Returning, I won’t have a way to use the little thousand cranes. It was so hard to find an interesting person, but I can’t play anymore.”

Seeing the vexation on her face, Chi Ye Zhenren couldn’t bear it: “If Miss likes it, why don’t I make a transportation formation at Sky MoonJie and get a disciple to guard it. Miss’ Thousand Guide Crane can come through the transportation formation. Once it gets over, the Thousand Guide Crane can automatically find him.”

Li Xian Er was happy. “Uncle Chi Ye is the best! Haha, he probably still assumes that Xian Er’s paper crane is the normal little thousand cranes.”

Chi Ye Zhenren’s heart was comforted, and he smiled, complimenting. “The Thousand Guide Crane that Miss invented, even the elders in the sect praise it.”

Li Xian Er proudly pouted. “Of course!”

Chapter 19 - Shixiong Wei Sheng

The breeze blew coolly. Again and again, Zuo Mo practiced the finger movements. The fingers moved faster and faster, but suddenly, with a crisp sound, the fingers paused and turned into a mess.

This was already the seventh time he was practicing finger motions today, he wasn’t successful once.

Exhaling a long breath, he suppressed the fretfulness in his heart. The finger motions of [The Art of Flora] were complicated. If his mind wasn’t calm, it was easy to make mistakes. But how could Zuo Mo calm down his mind? Two months have passed but he still couldn’t complete one embryonic breath. What made him most discouraged was that he was unable to find the door. Before, no matter if he was studying [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] or the other four spells in the jade stick that he had brought, even if he couldn’t understand it immediately, at the very least he knew in which direction to work in.

But after he fixed his consciousness using [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he couldn’t find the direction. He wanted to spend more time, however, the amount of time spent practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] couldn’t be over four hours every day. The ball of light hadn’t explicitly stated why it couldn’t surpass four hours but Zuo Mo was suspicious it would cause him harm so he didn’t dare to experiment.

According to the directions in the ball, he only needed to stop breathing with the nose and mouth before he would be able to use embryonic breathing.

But not matter how he adjusted his breathing, the instinct for living always made him unconsciously open his mouth. He couldn’t even find the feeling of the embryonic breathing.

In the following two months, other than his consciousness recovering to full health, he hadn’t made any new breakthroughs.

In the rest of the time, he could only practice other spells. What he found unexpected were that the great speeds his ling power and spells improved. Especially his spells. Other than [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and [Art of Aged Gold], in just two short months, he managed to elevate the remaining three spells to the second level.

This kind of speed, even he found it unimaginable.

Other than joy, his heart was also worried. [Embryonic Breathing Spirit Cultivation] hadn’t improved at all. There was only one month left until the three month deadline. Whether or not the reversed flow of blood was as horrifying as Pu Yao said, he wasn’t clear, but any of the feelings he got from the four words were not good ones. He tried to ask for aid from Pu Yao, but Pu Yao’s sneer instantly provoked him.

For some unknown reason, he was easily enraged in front of Pu Yao.

The ling grains had a bountiful harvest. Compared to the other shixiong, the output of his ling grains were clearly higher. Even though his ling grains were affected in the disaster, the situation had been much better than compared to Old Black and the others. After that incident, he basically didn’t try to conceal his abilities. [Art of Flora], [Art of Earth Energy], [Art of Aged Gold] were all used. Only [Art of Crimson Flame], due to the fact that it was opposite the yin attribute of the ling grains, was not used.

Adding on the five mu of ling fields in the yard, the overall output far surpassed his estimates.

Taking out the portion for rent paid to the sect, he kept a portion of the ling grains for his own use before selling all of the rest. His income was sixty two pieces of second-grade jingshi. Adding on the fifteen pieces of second-grade jingshi from last last time from Li Ying Feng, his total assets now totaled seventy seven pieces of second-grade jingshi. The reason that he had profited so much was that the price of ling grains was increasing.

Even Old Black, so seriously affected by the calamity, had enough to pay the sect’s rent. It could be seen just how much the price of ling grains had grown on the market.

Another thing that made Zuo Mo worried was Hao Min Shijie and Luo Li Shixiong. Up until now, those two still hadn’t returned to the sect. In the past few days, he had found that some of the ling herbs in the medicine fields of Cold Mist Valley were showing hints of illness. Taking care of ling herbs was an extremely meticulous job, much more care was needed than taking care of ling grains. His [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] could only guarantee their water intake. From the perspective of the plant, this was just its most basic requirement.

In the short term, nothing could be seen, but as time passed, it was easy for problems to occur.

At present, he was hard pressed. His purse had become the fullest it had ever been yet he didn’t have any joy.

The damned [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]!

The horrid Hao Min Shijie and Luo Li Shixiong!

And the twice-accursed Pu Yao!

Why was it that ge has such a kind heart yet have to face such evil? He wanted to cry.

In the previous few days, other than [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he spent all of his time on [Art of Aged Gold]. In the five arts that a ling plant farmer required, at least three had to reach the third level. Zuo Mo’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] had already reached the fourth level. And in the four remaining arts, the one most likely to reach the third level was [Art of Aged Gold].

Today, he didn’t have the mood to practice [Art of Aged Gold]. He widened his eyes, frantically running over every word in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] in his head. If his face could have expressions, then right now it would be twisted into a ball.

One month!

Only one month left!

Biting the corner of his lip, he carefully thought over every word. Pu Yao was still sneering. This completely aroused the stubbornness in Zuo Mo’s bones.

The damned bastard!

By now, he finally understood why he was easily provoked in front of Pu Yao. Pu Yao could easily tear away a person’s disguise. He would explicitly or implicitly guide the other’s emotions and expose the other’s most basic personality. And once he knew that, to someone of such cunning like Pu Yao, swearing wouldn’t really provoke him, Zuo Mo didn’t try to restrain his own emotions anymore.

If he couldn’t vent, under the damned renyao’s attacks, he felt that he would die!

As to suffering a little, he didn’t care. Even if he was obedient, would Pu Yao be kind to him? That would be clear even if one used a toe to think. It was better to get back verbally, and at least he would feel better.

Ge is a little stalk of grass, no matter how you blow, you can’t blow me down!

Thud thud thud!

A series of urgent knocks sounded.

“Little Mo ge, Mo ge!”

It was Old Black, why did he come?

Zuo Mo controlled his fretful heart and stood to open the door.

Opening the door, as expected, it was Old Black’s wind-blown face, but there was also an unfamiliar male standing beside him.

Seeing Zuo Mo, Old Black released a breath.  “Oh good, you’re here!”

Finishing, he introduced the male beside him, “This is Wei Sheng Shixiong.”

Wei Sheng. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. This male stranger in front of him was the head of the outer sect disciples, Wei Sheng. He couldn’t help staring an examination. Not very tall, thick and broad shoulders, square face, thick brows. He looked extremely honest, but the flickers of light that occasionally came from the pair of eyes made one unable to underestimate him.

“Wei Sheng Shixiong!” Zuo Mo made a greeting. Wei Sheng Shixiong rarely showed his face outside but his reputation within the outer sect disciples was extremely high. To have good relationships with this kind of person, there were only benefits and no drawbacks.

Wei Sheng scrutinized Zuo Mo for a few seconds and returned the greeting, smiling warmly and responding, “Zuo Mo Shidi is really hidden deep.”

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked but he wasn’t too surprised that Shixiong saw through his cultivation. Wei Sheng Shixiong’s cultivation was higher than his. His mouth was humble, “Shixiong over-compliments. Come, let’s come in to talk.”

The three walked into the yard.

Wei Sheng gazed at the surroundings and praised, “Such a big yard!”

And Old Black’s two eyes were rooted to the ling fields in the yard. A beat later, he said, vexed, “Why didn’t I think of this way! Isn’t this exempt from the rent?”

Zuo Mo smiled, saying, “I’m just taking advantage. I don’t know which Shixiong built this yard, and put in five mu of ling fields. But it was a pity that it was barren for two long, the grade dropped one level. First-grade ling fields, at least it’s better than nothing.”

Old Black gave a sorrowful expression. “Such a pity to waste the good ling fields.”

Zuo Mo didn’t speak. He didn’t know if it was that Old Black had farmed for too long but towards ling fields, Old Black had a unique affection.

“Even the yard is all ling fields. Zuo Mo Shidi really lives up to being a farming fanatic. It seems that I found the right person this time,” Wei Sheng added.

The three sat down under the old tree. Zuo Mo quickly boiled a pot of tea. His [Art of Crimson Flame] was only at the first level, and he could only form a small ball of fire which wasn’t very useful. But it was convenient to use to lit fires.

“Shixiong was looking for me?” Zuo Mo didn’t decline and headed straight for the main topic, “Have you encountered something? Shidi might be limited in cultivation, but if I can add in an effort, I will certainly do so.”

Wei Sheng didn’t stand on courtesy, “Coming this time, it really is to trouble Shidi with something.” He carefully took out from his bosom a jade box. Opening the jade box, a flow of extremely thick ling energy wafted out, a stalk of ling herb was inside. This ling herb was about thirty centimeters long, the leaves fire red with a black line running through. Contrasting against the red leaves was a completely green fruit.

If the muscles on his face weren’t paralyzed, Zuo Mo’s expression would have been very rich. The ling plant that he couldn’t name was shockingly thick with ling energy. He cautiously took it up, putting it in front of his eyes for examination. The ling plant seemed to have been carved out of a piece of red fire jade, translucent and glowing.

Definitely third-grade and above!

In this segment of time, as he helped Hao Min Shijie take care of the medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley, his knowledge in the subject of ling herbs broadened greatly. He might not be able to call out its name, but from the appearance and the ling energy it emitted, it was better than most of the ling herbs in Cold Mist Valley.

“This Fire Dragon Grass, its grade is a rare third-grade herb, and was very hard to find.” Wei Sheng’s expression was solemn, “There is still a length of time before I reach zhuji. In this time, I ask for Shidi to help take care of this Fire Dragon Grass for me.”

“Take care?” Zuo Mo was surprised. His response was extremely quick, “Is Shixiong using this Fire Dragon Grass to enter zhuji?”

If Wei Sheng didn’t say this was Fire Dragon Grass, Zuo Mo probably wouldn’t have recognized it. Was it because it was third-grade? This Fire Dragon Grass was very different from the one in Zuo Mo’s memory.

“Yes.” Wei Sheng nodded, his face calm.

At the side, Zuo Mo and Old Black couldn’t help but give an admiring look. There were many ling herbs that were required for zhuji, but only a few of the primary herbs were the crucial ones. Fire Dragon Grass was one of them but not the best choice because it needed to be consumed raw and its effects were violent. Someone without great willpower might not be able to endure the violent nature and cause the ling power of the body to dissipate. These years, there were very few that would use it to finish zhuji.

However, even though Fire Dragon Grass was akin to a poison, if one overcame it, it was extremely beneficial to the cultivation. The effect was much better than normal ling herbs.

But third-grade Fire Dragon Grass, think how violent the effects would be!

In just a few words, Zuo Mo felt respect form for this Shixiong that he just met for the first time. He had heard some of the rumors about Wei Sheng Shixiong. Supposedly, Shixiong had been orphaned from a young age. After he was taken into the sect, he was entranced with cultivating the sword. In order to learn a better sword art, he didn’t even hesitate about going to Luo Li Shixiong’s place to be a sword servant.

Meeting him today, Zuo Mo found that Wei Sheng Shixiong lived up to the rumors.

Chapter 20 - Obsession

He lowered his head to think for a moment before raising his head, “Shidi admires Shixiong’s bravery. But the ling herb is third-grade, if it cannot be planted in third-grade or above ling fields, the ling energy would likely dissipate and the grade will drop.”

Wei Sheng’s expression changed but recovered. He smiled, responding, “If that’s the case, it will mean I won’t have to suffer the pain.”

Compared to the calmness on Wei Sheng’s face, there was heavy worry on Old Black’s face.

His heart considering for a second, Zuo Mo quickly organized his words, “This little brother might have a solution to try.”

“Oh, Shidi, please tell.” Wei Sheng’s mood roused.

“I have been requested by Hao Min Shijie to take care of the medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley. I saw that many of the fields in the valley are empty. We could plant it in the valley. I’m just worried if Hao Min Shijie returns before Shixiong enters zhuji, something will happen.”

Wei Sheng’s expression became joyful. “Shidi doesn’t have to worry. Hao Min Shijie and Luo Li Shixiong won’t come back so quickly.”

Zuo Mo remembered that Wei Sheng Shixiong was Luo Li Shixiong’s sword servant. He probably knew where these two people had gone. He was naturally willing to be able to help Wei Sheng Shixiong, but thinking about the fact that Hao Min Shijie wouldn’t be returning soon, his mood instantly darkened. He was extremely careful every day, fearful that something would go wrong in the medicine fields. It was like a hot potato.

Sorting out his emotions, Zuo Mo smiled, declaring, “Then it’s good. I will first congratulate Shixiong for successfully entering zhuji.”

Wei Sheng waved his hand. “It’s too early to say those things.” Finishing, he took out a jade stick, handing it to Zuo Mo. “Shixiong doesn’t have many possessions and nothing to give out. This is some of the experiences that Shixiong had these years. Hopefully they would help Shidi.”

Zuo Mo was overcome with joy. He had always been alone in learning with no one to discuss things with. Wei Sheng Shixiong’s cultivation was only just a little higher than his, but his experiences and realizations were just what Zuo Mo needed and could use.

He wasn’t courteous and gleefully took it, “Many thanks, Shixiong.”

Afterwards the three chatted for a while, Wei Sheng and Old Black stood and made their farewells.

———

After the two left, Zuo Mo hurriedly took the Fire Dragon Grass to Cold Mist Valley. The medicine fields in Cold Mist Valley were third-grade and Zuo Mo had been drooling after them. He didn’t know much about ling herbs but he knew what the price of third-grade ling grains were!

Finding a patch of empty ground, he carefully planted the Fire Dragon Grass, and then he cast [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. The effect of the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was extremely evident. The Fire Dragon Grass quickly recovered its vitality, the leaves becoming even shiner.

Greedily inhaling the thick ling energy in the air, Zuo Mo exclaimed inside, third-grade was really third-grade!

He made another circle around the medicine fields. Finding no problems, he left.

When he returned home, the sky was already dark. Sitting on the rooftop, Zuo Mo suddenly thought if he couldn’t complete one breath in the one month of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], then wouldn’t he be hampering Wei Sheng Shixiong’s zhuji?

But then he turned it around. If he wasn’t successful, he wouldn’t even have a life left, how could he care about that?

Thinking about Wei Sheng Shixiong, he automatically took out the jade stick that Shixiong gave to him and sent ling power into the jade stick.

Very quickly, he was entranced.

The jade stick described in fine details the realizations and experiences of Wei Sheng’s entire cultivation journey. It was written in an extremely scattered manner in many places. It could be seen that Shixiong would just casually record down whatever he thought.

The rumor that Shixiong was infatuated with the sword wasn’t false. The writings in the jade stick scattered, with no system to be found, but the great majority were about sword xiu.

After reading for a while, Zuo Mo’s heart started to jump uncontrollably.

“Those of sword, enter the grounds of death, find life in death, like a wounded soldier, hold the resolution of death, attacking with full power, nothing is undefeatable!”

“Travelling at night, encountering over twenty Blood Duck Bats, hard battle, injured in twenty one places, all slaughtered.”

“Streamside met Iron Ape, skin like steel, hard to wound with blade, tempted enemy two hundred so miles, wounded eye, no strength to chase.”

……

These phrases were all extremely short, yet the vicious and resolute aura came through the words. Life and death, they were the characters that appeared the most. The Wei Sheng Shixiong in the jade stick and the person he met today were like two people.

What made the biggest impression on Zuo Mo and gave him the greatest shock were these few segments.

“Walked hundred days, finally saw nine rivers falling over sky, gazed from bottom, galloping and rolling, like the godly thunder of heaven, weight like thirty thousand catties, vast and unending, cannot be resisted. My heart follows, if aura of sword can be so, no regrets in death!”

“Sat and gazed three months, thought day and night, but due to dumbness, cannot find the meaning. Stood on top of waterfall seven days, not sleeping, not drinking or eating, suddenly comprehended. Like a fish jumped following the water down, moving among, forgetting life and death, consciousness clear, and finally found essence! Thirteen broken bones, bedridden half year, loss hearing and sight, so practiced in heart……”

Zuo Mo fell into a daze, muttering, “Insane!”

Such insanity, such obsession, it wasn’t anything he had ever thought of.

Under the stars, he sat on the roof, hand holding the jade stick as his thoughts wandered.

In his own world, there wasn’t anything that made him so crazy, so obsessed. He had great talent in the field of the five elements. He easily learned any kind of spells. He didn’t have high expectations for life. He put effort into learning and comprehending the five elements spell, it was only so that he could live a better life.

The obsession that Wei Sheng Shixiong had towards the sword, it gave him an unparalleled blow to his spirit. He could see the sweat and blood behind each character.

Something inside his body seemed to be turning and vibrating, making him feel uncomfortable.

A long time later, his emotions gradually calmed down but he didn’t have any desire for sleep. Under the night sky, he just started to learn the sword motions according to the sword scripture in the jade stick.

There was a set of sword scriptures recorded in the jade stick. It was moves Wei Sheng Shixiong had picked out of the sword scriptures he practiced and read every day. Wei Sheng Shixiong had rich battle experience and these sword moves were extremely useful. There were not beautiful techniques, it was extremely simple to start with. It was a pity he didn’t have a flying sword. After motioning for a while, he could only sit down.

Once he sat down, he started to muse about [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] again.

[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was cryptic, but now he wasn’t discouraged at all, only ashamed. The obsession of Wei Sheng Shixiong deeply provoked him. Compared to Wei Sheng Shixiong, what were the little difficulties that he ran into?

Alright, if Pu Yao wanted to see ge’s humiliation, wait for the next life!

Deeply inhaling a breath, he started to once again investigate this [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] that he couldn’t wrap his head around.

———

The days passed one by one. Other than going once a day to Cold Mist Valley, he didn’t take a step out at any other time.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao sat on the gravestone and leisurely listened to the sound tablet.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth but still went forward, fawningly asking, “Pu, what is really the main point of the first step of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]? I’m stupid, can’t you show a little bit?”

“The first step? Very simple, there’s no main point.” Pu Yao didn’t even raise his eyelids, still listening to the sound tablet.

Looking at the sound tablet that Pu Yao held on his leg, Zuo Mo thought that since asking didn’t work, then it had to be enticement.

He asked, “Pu, this sound tablet isn’t bad, right?”

“Pretty interesting,” Pu Yao inattentively responded.

“Do you want a better one?” Zuo Mo’s voice was like that of a strange uncle that was holding a lollipop to fool little girls.

For the first time, Pu Yao opened his right eye, the deep red pupils expressing interest, “Want.”

Zuo Mo shook his head, “If you help me explain [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation, I’ll buy a better one……”

“I can buy it myself,” Pu Yao said carelessly. He closed his eyes again, listening to the sound tablet.

Zuo Mo stared with an open mouth, “You have jingshi?”

“No.” Pu Yao’s eyes were still closed. With a face full of enjoyment, following the music that the sound tablet broadcasted, his body strangely swayed.

Zuo Mo released a breath, his tone smug again, “If there’s no jingshi, you can’t buy anything.” He suddenly realized, with Pu Yao’s strength, if he tried to snatch one, that wasn’t impossible! Or he could steal one, he definitely wouldn’t leave a trace.

“You have jingshi.” Pu Yao moved his body following the beat of the music.

“Then you have to explain……” Zuo Mo’s heart was comforted, and he continued to emphasize the relationship between jingshi and the sound tablet. Inside, he muttered, thankfully he hadn’t thought to just use brute force.

Pu impatiently interrupted Zuo Mo. Holding out his right hand, he showed a handful of jingshi. “I can take it myself.”

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck, staring at the jingshi on Pu Yao’s hands. So familiar. After a silent moment, he suddenly gave a sky-shaking bellow like a beast in desperate straits.

“Damned renyao! You dare to take ye’s jingshi, ye will kill… …”

———

Beside the pond in Cold Mist Valley, Zuo Mo gazed at the pond water, scared. The pond water was cold to the bone. He had touched it with his hand. Even now, the palm was still stiff.

There was only three days left until the deadline. He still hadn’t made it past the gate of the first breath. Pu Yao still didn’t seem to care. Zuo Mo understood. This guy really didn’t care about his life and death. But in these many days, it wasn’t he hadn’t made any progress. He thought of a method. Right now, he was thinking of trying to find out if this method was right or not.

But… …

The rushing waterfall couldn’t stop the coldness of the pond water from spreading. Just from beside the pond, he still could feel the oppressive coldness.

He nervously licked his lips. He didn’t want to try this method. But seeing that there were only three days left, he had no other choice. He hesitated for a moment, hardened his heart, closed his eyes, and jumped into the pool.

The pond water’s bone-aching iciness seemed to freeze his entire body in an instant. He couldn’t help but shudder. He was like a rock, continuously sinking. The pond water flowed up into his mouth and nose. The outside world seemed to have been blocked off, so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.

After the initial panic, Zuo Mo quickly calmed down. He then followed [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] to move his breath.

He didn’t know if it was the stimulation from the cold pond water but he was abnormally alert, the movement of the breath was abnormally smooth.

After ten minutes, when his breath was almost consumed, the feeling of suffocation became even stronger.

Zuo Mo raised his awareness. He knew. The most crucial time had arrived. Previously, each time, it was at this step that he would unconsciously open his mouth to breathe. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] didn’t have much elaboration on this step, as though in the eyes of the xiuzhe that created this scripture, this was the simplest thing.

Chapter 21 - One Breath

He didn’t know if the [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] scripture was correct. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, with Pu Yao’s cunning, he only had to curl his fingers if he wanted to take this little life. There wasn’t a need to use a half-accurate scripture to fool him. But with Pu Yao’s perverseness and strange sense of humour, finding ways of torturing him was almost certainly the case.

However, Pu Yao was usually quiet. Other than forcing Zuo Mo to cultivate [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he didn’t make any other moves. There wasn’t any tormenting. Zuo Mo couldn’t understand Pu Yao and didn’t know what Pu Yao’s true aims were.

Pu Yao definitely had a goal.

Sometimes, this thought was extremely clear and certain in his mind. However, when he tried to think about it, he found it was as though he was peering into a vast and deep ocean. You never knew what was really hidden at the bottom.

Maybe Pu was really trying to help him. Zuo Mo knew just how difficult it was to heal wounds of the spirit. If it wasn’t for [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], it would still be a question of whether he would be breathing right now.

Blaming Pu Yao seemed unreasonable.

It could only say that Pu’s strangeness and sense of perversion made him instinctively afraid.

The most tragic thing was that no matter what Pu’s goals were, he had no space to rebel. No matter if this was the true [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] scripture or not, no matter what aims Pu Yao had, he had no room to rebel. In front of the kind of great existence that was Pu, he was pitifully weak. The only thing he could do was force himself to charge forward in hopes of finding that glimmer of hope.

If it was really just torture, as one already in the situation, he would sink in Pu Yao’s torment or survive through it.

Damn it! How did he provoke such a calamity!

Time passed, drop by drop, accompanying the strong feeling of suffocation was a terror that uncontrollably rose.

His awareness started to fade. He was completely unaware of the fact his legs were instinctively moving, trying to rise out of the water but he had been sinking the whole time and it was now too far from the surface.

Was he going to die?

Even this thought was incomplete, he was paralyzed, weak as he swam in the limitless ocean.

No!

I can’t die!

He tried to struggle, tried to wake his own awareness.

But all of it was useless. Under the feeling of suffocation, his awareness slowly dissipated, became muddled.

Was he really going to die… …

In a stupor, he seemed to hear someone was yelling.

“Don’t forget!”

… …

“Even in death, you must not forget!”

… …

For some reason, these two phrases that he considered nightmares were like a large hand that had suddenly pulled him back from unconsciousness.

I can’t die!

Zuo Mo used up the last remaining strength in his body, furiously shouting soundlessly inside! His body shook violently like a sieve, the blood vessels under his skin quickly expanding, visible to the naked eye. Raven black and thick veins covering his entire body, twisting and turning like earthworms, unspeakably terrifying.

The breath in his chest had become extremely weak like a dying candle flame which could be easily extinguished.

Yet this weak feeble flame now flared to become a prairie fire that lit up the sea of consciousness –– catching fire like bone dry firewood soaked in oil. Dark red flames, spitting and roaring, followed the ground in the sea of consciousness, rolling forwards. The grasses and woods instantly turned to dust. Nothing could stop it.

———

In the blink of an eye, the consciousness became a burning hell. Endless dark red flames flickering through every corner of the sea of consciousness.

The bright and hot red fire recklessly danced. On the strange black gravestone shrouded in black smoke, there sat a handsome male with a strange cold face, with unforgettably beautiful features.

The sound tablet was on his knee, the concentrated sounds of the zither were like a hurricane that made people unable to breathe!

The red sea of fire burned soundlessly. Under the hair that covered half his face, Pu’s thin blade-like lips imperceptibly rose on one side. Just as usual, it was enchanting yet cold.

———

Zuo Mo curiously examined the surroundings. After achieving one breath, his perception of the surroundings changed dramatically. It was hard to explicitly describe. It was as though the surroundings had been cleaned, changed beyond recognition. This feeling was extremely unique. It took a long time for him to get used to it. The other change was his sea of consciousness. Right now, it had turned into a sea of fire. A sea of fire that might extinguish at some time.

Other than that, he didn’t have any new discoveries. As to whether [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] had any good attributes, he didn’t have any high hopes. He was just a guy that wanted to be a ling plant farmer. What did he need such a strong consciousness for? If he could pass this obstacle, keep his little life, he was content.

The game was too dangerous. Ge won’t play.

Thinking about the danger yesterday, there were still lingering fears.

However, the sharp sword hanging over his head finally disappeared. He could finally release a breath. He resolutely decided that no matter what Pu Yao gave him next time, he wouldn’t take it even if it meant suffering. These painful experiences gave him a hard lesson. To steal benefits from Pu Yao’s hands, that was an action leading to death.

Zuo Mo found his own little life very precious.

Pu Yao didn’t seem to care if he was practising [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. He guarded his new sound tablet every day and was endlessly amused.

Every time Zuo Mo saw the brand-new sound tablet that was higher in quality than the one in his hands, he would feel pain. Ten pieces of second-grade jingshi was wasted. His teeth hurt. His heart would ache, he could only hold in the tears as he took the sound tablet that Pu Yao was preparing to throw away. That was, his old sound tablet that Pu Yao had taken from his hands.

Enamoured with the new, bored with the old. This was another bad habit that he found on Pu Yao’s body.

But coming back to it, did Pu Yao have any good habits?

[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was like a small detour in his life, and Pu Yao seemed to have put away his perverseness, silent as a virgin. It made Zuo Mo feel unaccustomed. But malicious curses like “Renyao is just renyao, do you think if you don’t speak, you can turn into a woman?” naturally weren’t avoidable.

What made him happy was that he sped through the five elements spells. He didn’t know if it was because he completed the one breath. Many of the previously fuzzy parts were abnormally clear now, easily realized.

He became even more motivated.

He didn’t have any interest in something as strange as [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The kind of things like the [Art of Aged Gold] which could get him real benefits like jingshi, and spells were his true love!

He was like a monk, living an extremely dull life each day. Cultivating [Ten Principles Scripture], accumulating ling energy, again and again, practising all kind of spells, finger motions. Just like when he had practised the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], he furiously cultivated.

The one that had the most improvement was the [Art of Aged Gold]. Presently, the aged gold energy was dark gold, the light subdued, changing according to his wishes. And compared to before, there was now an additional hint of imposingness. Even though the change was extremely faint, but in practice, the effects had multiplied and made Zuo Mo gleeful.

It wasn’t strange that the [Art of Aged Gold] improved since the most important aspect of the [Art of Aged Gold] was consciousness. Even though he had just finished one breath in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] but compared to before, his consciousness was much stronger. So it was expected that the [Art of Aged Gold] would improve. What made him surprised was that the [Art of Earth Energy] also improved greatly.

The crucial factor in the [Art of Earth Energy] was communication and perception. Did his consciousness help with communication and perception?

He didn’t know, but since it was a good thing, he went with the flow and didn’t examine it further.

Zuo Mo was in the yard as he practised the [Art of Aged Gold], when suddenly a calm and authoritative voice echoed through Wu Kong Mountain.

“Outer sect disciple Li Ying Feng has continuously practised and broke through to zhuji. From today, she is formally taken into this sect’s inner disciples. Outer sect disciples should take this as an example, and cultivate relentlessly in order to reach the right result!”

This voice wasn’t loud but clear. It rippled through Wu Kong Mountain and reverberated endlessly.

Li Ying Feng managed to successfully zhuji? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but admire and feel happy for Li Ying Feng Shijie. He hadn’t interacted for a long time with Li Ying Feng Shijie, the two of them even had a misunderstanding but he admired this brisk and clever Shijie. This was the role model a shijie should be. In comparison, Hao Min Shijie was greatly lacking.

———

His life wasn’t affected by the news. His interest in zhuji was much smaller than his interest to become a ling plant farmer. Zhuji was the first great step to cultivation, but other than achieving jindan, there wasn’t much of a difference in lifespan compared to a normal person. As to jindan, don’t even think about it, not just outer sect disciples like him, even among those inner sect disciples, how many would achieve jindan?

And if he became a ling plant farmer, that was true and real jingshi.

He continued to bury himself in practising his spells. To something he decided on, he never was remiss in his efforts. Just like practising the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], without anyone to teach him, he could only cast it again and again. He didn’t know how many thousands of times he casted, but he had managed to fill up the large pond in the yard using the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. Just like that, he managed to achieve the third level of the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain].

His cultivation was interrupted by an uninvited guest. The one who came was the one who just became an inner sect disciple, Li Ying Feng Shijie.

“Congratulations, Shijie for successfully achieving zhuji!” Zuo Mo smiled as he congratulated, but his expressionless features made it weird.

“Shidi is too polite.” Li Ying Feng’s face was full of joy as she responded, “It won’t be long before I would probably hear shidi’s good news.” In Li Ying Feng’s heart, this shidi that kept himself concealed in the dark, it wouldn’t be unexpected to her if he completed zhuji. Behind her, there were three other female disciples, Xiao Guo was among them.

Zuo Mo hurriedly said, “It’s still early, still early. Shijie, please.”

Xiao Guo’s adorable and tender apple face was still timid. Zuo Mo suddenly felt this little girl was really bashful. Taking advantage of when Li Ying Feng turned, he blinked his eyes at Xiao Guo. As expected, Xiao Guo’s face flushed red.

After everyone was seated, Li Ying Feng declared her intentions, “Coming this time, it’s to ask for a favour from Shidi.”

Zuo Mo was surprised.

Seeming to have detected Zuo Mo’s puzzlement, before he could ask, Li Ying Feng herself answered the question, lightly sighing, “Entering the inner sect, in the future, I’m afraid I won’t have the time again to care for these sisters. Shidi’s growing skills, no one in the sect can compete, Shijie can only come with a thick face to beg.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly deflected, “Shijie, please tell.” In the future, Li Ying Feng would be an inner sect disciple. As long as Zuo Mo stayed in Wu Kong Sect for one more day, he wouldn’t dare to offend them.

Li Ying Feng took out a small bag, putting it on the stone table, “This is twenty pieces of second-grade jingshi. It’s a little bit of regard from Shijie. Shidi, don’t decline. Shidi, if you are free, spend some time at the Eastern Peak and attend a bit to their matters. Their lives aren’t easy. If something like last time occurred, without Shidi’s help, they would have nobody to ask for aid.”

Beside her, Xiao Guo’s mouth twisted and the rims of her eyes instantly turned red, the other two also had red eyes.

Zuo Mo sighed inside. Compared to Wei Sheng Shixiong the eldest shixiong who only had cultivation on his mind, Li Ying Feng, as the eldest shijie, was undoubtedly more competent. Only now did he understand why her reputation among the female disciples was so high.

Thinking, Zuo Mo pushed the bag back in front of Li Ying Feng, declaring, “Helping each other, it is a part of friendship. Shijie, don’t worry, Shidi will do his best.”

Xiao Guo stared with wide eyes at Zuo Mo. The other two females also had strange expressions on their faces. They couldn’t understand why this money-grubbing zombie changed his personality this time.

Li Ying Feng shook her head and pushed the jingshi again in front of Zuo Mo, “Shidi, don’t decline. The sect has provisions for the inner sect disciples each month. Shijie doesn’t lack for jingshi. But Shidi, you aren’t far from zhuji, so you would most likely need it soon. Having some jingshi, it’s just in case.”

The strange expression on the three female’s faces turned to shock.

Zhuji? This ill-tempered zombie shixiong was going to zhuji soon?

To be called nearing zhuji, at the very least, it had to be eight level of lianqi and above. They were frightened out of their wits by Shijie’s words. Those with a cultivation of lianqi eighth level in the outer sect disciples could be counted on one hand. Even Guo Lu Shixiong was just at lianqi seventh level. And among the female disciples of the outer sect, other than Li Ying Feng who just entered zhuji, the highest person was just lianqi sixth level. In the outer sect disciples, other than Wei Sheng, Zuo Mo’s cultivation was the highest.

This zombie-face, he was actually the second best in the outer sect disciples!

This was something they would have never thought about.

Originally planning to grant a boon to Shijie, Zuo Mo saw the situation and didn’t stand on courtesy, and accepted the jingshi, “Then many thanks, Shijie.”

“It should be me that gives thanks to Shidi.” Li Ying Feng smiled and informed, “After I leave the Eastern Peak, Xiao Guo will be responsible for communicating with Shidi. Her personality is soft and obedient. Shidi, don’t bully her.”

Zuo Mo couldn’t help laugh, “What is Shijie talking about, my temper is the best.”

“That’s good.” Li Ying Feng nodded. On the side, Xiao Guo wrinkled her adorable nose, clearly disagreeing with the words.

She turned to show a dark face and said to the three people, “In the future, if you have any questions, find Zuo Mo Shixiong, he’ll help you solve them. Zuo Mo Shixiong’s words are my words. If someone doesn’t listen, I will personally punish them!”

“Yes! Shijie!” The three females replied.

As expected from the eldest shijie. Just this bearing, no disciples in the younger generation could compete. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but compliment inside

After chatting for a while, Li Ying Feng left with the three other females.

Zuo Mo suddenly didn’t have any interest in cultivation. This was a society with strict classes. Like Li Ying Feng Shijie, after successfully entering zhuji, she had to bid farewell to the life of an outer sect disciple. She had to aim for even higher goals, no matter if it was her own goal or the needs of the sect.

The lifespan of a jindan was about three hundred years. Before that, zhuji, ningmai, and lianqi didn’t have any differences in lifespan.

His own sect was temporarily deficient in manpower and had been for a long time.

Including the leader of the sect, the shishu were all jindan. This was the basic reason that Wu Kong Sword Sect had expanded so well these past years. However, even the youngest shishu, Shi Feng Rong was more than two hundred years old. And among the disciples of the second generation, there wasn’t even a ningmai disciple, much less a jindan. If there wasn’t a successor, Wu Kong Sect which was not a very big sect to begin with, would quickly decline.

No matter which jie, a sect, once it declined, it was harder to rise again than to reach the heavens.

Why did he suddenly become so melancholic? Zuo Mo shook his head. Suddenly, he thought of the third-grade Fire Dragon Grass that Wei Sheng shixiong gave into his care. Li Ying Feng Shijie had already entered zhuji, Wei Sheng Shixiong must be close as well. Thinking about it, the desire to go to Cold Mist Valley formed.

Chapter 22 - Silver Horned Worm

It wasn’t the first time he had come to Cold Mist Valley, but he didn’t know if it was the fact that his consciousness had improved but the jinzhi that he only felt slight pressure from last time, were now like beasts that revealed the tip of its horn. That heavy power was now multiple times stronger, making him feel unable to breathe. Zuo Mo walked with a trembling heart and rushed through the thick mists.

The suddenly open valley was drifting with the fragrance from the herbs. Zuo Mo unconsciously looked with trepidation at the roaring cold pond. Even though he had successfully completed one breath, the feeling of encroaching death was in front of his eyes. He definitely didn’t want to try again.

He should be realistic and become a ling plant farmer, he told himself.

Walking in front of the Fire Dragon Grass, he was instantly shocked. The Fire Dragon Grass was drooping, a hint of death coming from the red leaves. His heart instantly panicked. This Fire Dragon Grass was intimately related to the big event of Wei Sheng Shixiong entering zhuji. If something went wrong, what would happen? He felt great admiration towards Wei Sheng Shixiong, and truly hoped for Wei Sheng Shixiong to successfully zhuji.

He hurriedly bent down to inspect this Fire Dragon Grass.

The soil in the surroundings was still moist. If it wasn’t a problem of under-watering, then what was the problem? His knowledge of ling herbs was pitiful, not to mention for a third-grade Fire Dragon Grass. He ran through his brain, furiously going through his experiences of growing plants in these two years and at what time the symptoms were similar to what the Fire Dragon Grass was experiencing now.

Was it that there was a pest?

He was uncertain but he still put his hand on the Fire Dragon Grass. In any case, [Art of Aged Gold] wouldn’t harm the ling herb so it wouldn’t hurt to try.

The dark gold grains of sand enter the inside of the Fire Dragon Grass from Zuo Mo’s fingers. His consciousness carried with the aged gold energy entered the interior of the grass as well.

The interior of each ling grass was a different world. The inside of ling grains was green. And the interior of the Fire Dragon Grass was completely bright red.

Before he could examine clearly, a dark and icy presence locked onto his consciousness.

Contrary to expectations, Zuo Mo’s heart calmed. What he was most afraid of being ignorant of what was happening. Now that he knew where the problem was, it was much easier.

In any case, ge has the aged gold energy, specializing in killing all kinds of pests!

A crowd of silver-coloured armoured worms slowly climbed around the interior of the Fire Dragon Grass.

Their presence wasn’t very strong, not as vicious as the aphids he met the first time. Zuo Mo felt slightly relieved. His abilities with the [Art of Aged Gold] were limited. If it was some strong worms, it wasn’t just that he would have no solution, he would also be in danger.

He pushed the aged gold energy, sweeping towards the crowd of silver armoured worms.

The silver armoured worms weren’t panicked. They only kept on chewing the plant material in front of them.

The aged gold energy was like a gold cloud, quickly surrounding these silver armoured worms. Zuo Mo’s heart settled. He believed he would quickly finish the battle. The aged gold energy was much stronger than before, and he was full of confidence.

After ten minutes, sweat appeared on Zuo Mo’s forehead.

He had encountered trouble.

No matter how much power he put into the aged gold energy, it was all useless against these silver armoured worms, they were indifferent to his attacks! He could clearly feel the ever-successful aged gold energy be blocked off, unable to move an inch. The aged gold energy, as sharp as steel sand, couldn’t even leave a single mark on the surface of these silver armoured worms.

Such hard shells!

Third-grade was really third grade, even the pests it had were stronger. Zuo Mo wanted to cry.

The [Art of Aged Gold] was his only method of dealing with pests. And the other person in the sect whose the [Art of Aged Gold] was at the second level, Guo Lu Shixiong, was still lying on the sickbed.

What should he do now?

The sweat poured down even more, his heart becoming panicked. Wei Sheng Shixiong was depending on this to zhuji, please don’t let anything happen in his hands!

Just when Zuo Mo had no ideas, Pu Yao suddenly appeared. “Tsk, tsk. Can’t even deal with a little Silver Horned Worm. You actually want to become a ling plant farmer?”

Zuo Mo suspiciously looked at Pu Yao. “You have a way?”

Not waiting for Pu Yao to speak, he rolled his eyes. “Even if you have a solution, I wouldn’t ask you.”

The painful experiences of the past told him to never to even think of trying to take advantage of Pu Yao. It would be a cruel death. But inside, he silently noted down the name, Silver Horned worm. He thought he would go research at some other time to see if he could find Silver Horned worm.

Pu Yao wasn’t angry, a faint curve to his mouth, his crimson right eye slightly narrowed. “Hee hee, the way you are now, it really makes one feel hurt! Oh, that whatshisname shixiong of yours, the jade scroll he gave you, isn’t there some basic sword moves there? You could try to use sword moves with your aged gold energy.”

“That works?” Zuo Mo was puzzled.

“You could try and find out.” Pu Yao left behind before disappearing.

Pu Yao was very strange today! Very strange!

Even though he hadn’t interacted with Pu Yao for a long time, couldn’t see how deep he went, but Zuo Mo was very clear that this guy wasn’t someone good. And suddenly becoming kind today, it wasn’t normal, definitely not normal! However, the only thing he could pick out was the abnormality. As to why he was strange, he couldn’t find a reason regardless of how long he pondered it.

This question was quickly thrown to the side. What was most important at this time was solving these Silver Horned worms. He was half convinced by Pu Yao’s words.

The sword moves recorded in the jade stick that Wei Sheng Shixiong gave him were some of the most basic moves. There wasn’t anything deep about them. Even someone like Zuo Mo who had never practised the sword before could easily understand.

To use sword scripture with aged gold energy?

He sat on the ground, sinking into his thoughts.

A beat later, he suddenly jumped up, the dark gold aged gold energy appearing at his fingertip. The aged gold energy was a cloud that seemed to be composed of gold sand, slowly revolving and extremely pretty. The aged gold energy suddenly restlessly turned, rapidly shrinking. Seconds later, it formed into a dark small sword the size of a grain.

Calling it a small sword was really an overstatement. It was like a thin gold flake that had been flattened from a gold grain.

But Zuo Mo didn’t care. He had only ever seen just a few flying swords in total. In this area, his imagination was nothing to write home about.

He gestured each movement according to the moves in the jade stick. Very quickly, he found the benefits to his consciousness becoming stronger. He could easily manipulate the tiny sword.

It was really just a few moves. He quickly familiarized himself.

Entering the inside of the Fire Dragon Grass again, the Silver Horned worms were still unconcernedly chewing on the inside material of the Fire Dragon Grass. Zuo Mo didn’t send a greeting and directly sent the sword over!

Ding!

The indifferent silver worm shook, sparks flying on the silver armour.

Effective! Zuo Mo was very happy!

One blow after the next, according to the sword moves in Wei Sheng Shixiong’s jade stick, Zuo Mo’s hand wasn’t lenient.

Ding ding ding ding!

The shell of the Silver Horned worm was incomparably hard. The sparks flew but there still weren’t any cracks. But to Zuo Mo, the Silver Horned worms were the best targets. No matter how hard, it was still a target that wouldn’t fight back!

Zuo Mo forgot himself. The rawness and unfamiliarity of sword moves slowly became familiar. The strength of the little aged gold swords gradually started to show itself.

Ding!

The sound was majorly different than before. On the armour of the Silver Horned worm, a crack had been gouged out!

Zuo Mo had originally started to become tired. Using the sword moves to manipulate the aged gold little sword, it used up more ling power than using aged gold energy. And, it required much more from his spirit. If he hadn’t achieved one breath in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] before, his spiritual power wasn’t enough to do this.

Finally breaking through the Silver Horned worm’s defenses, Zuo Mo became motivated and sent out a flurry of blows.

Ding ding ding!

The Silver Horned worm finally couldn’t endure it and with a crack, suddenly exploded.

Fighting with me, serves you right!

Zuo Mo stared with disdain at the corpse of the Silver Horned worm. However, his spirit became unstable and he hurriedly came out of the Fire Dragon Grass. He had used up a lot of his ling power and consciousness. He hurriedly sat cross-legged to recover his ling power.

His ling power recovered very quickly, but the usage of his consciousness hadn’t recovered. To recover his consciousness, the only thing he could think of, the only way, that was [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

Was this Pu Yao’s aim?

He couldn’t help but hesitate. When his gaze landed on the Fire Dragon Grass, he struggled for a second but still decided to first exterminate these Silver Horned worms.

This was the first time he practised [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] after achieving the first breath. It seemed that as soon as he sat down, the breath was circulating in his body. A feeling of numbness that he never felt before spread from inside his bones. His entire person felt like it was flying.

His mind was calm as though it was a void. That was when he found that at some unknown time, in the sky of his sea of consciousness, there appeared a single star. The star wasn’t very bright, it was actually really dark. The flickering bright fire took away its light. Normally, he wouldn’t have even noticed it.

An illusion?

Zuo Mo wasn’t certain.

The addition of a star, his sea of consciousness becoming a sea of fire. All these changes, they didn’t bring many changes to him.

Waking up from his mediation, Zuo Mo’s mind was refreshed. He made an inspection. His spirit seemed to be just a sliver stronger. He was both joyed and worried. It was a good matter for his spirit to be stronger, but the lesson of last time when he reached one breath was still fresh in his mind.

After destroying these Silver Horned worms, he definitely wouldn’t practise it anymore!

He told himself inside. That extremely comfortable feeling just now made him automatically intoxicated and he was deeply alert. The most beautiful things didn’t have to be fish soup, it could be poison. Pu Yao’s abnormality made him feel that the chance it would be poison was extremely large.

The motions gradually becoming fluid, Zuo Mo’s efficiency increased greatly, the sword moves became even more penetrating. The Silver Horned worms that he could do nothing about previously, in just a few strokes, they were taken down!

Zuo Mo felt exhilarated but he was extremely rational and didn’t practice anymore.

The Fire Dragon Grass, once rid of the Silver Horned worms, instantly sent out exuberant vitality. Zuo Mo had found a pattern. If he killed the natural predators inside the plants, the corpses of these natural predators would become the best fertilizers.

In the next few days, he guarded the Fire Dragon Grass, fearful of another accident.

This day, like normal, he came to Cold Mist Valley.

Huh, what was this?

His gaze was on the Fire Dragon Grass. A rice-sized red fruit. Before, this fruit had been green but now it was red. But with his pitiful amount of ling herb knowledge, he couldn’t distinguish if this small fruit was really a fruit or a seed.

However, no matter if it was a fruit or a seed, it still meant that the growth of this Fire Dragon Grass was very good, it was a good event. What he had been most worried about was that this Fire Dragon Grass would be unaccustomed to the soil, or if the grade would drop. Then he wouldn’t have the face to see Wei Sheng Shixiong.

In the next few days, he carefully guarded the Fire Dragon Grass. Fire Dragon Grass was a classical yang oriented grass, appropriate for the [Art of Crimson Flame]. Each day, Zuo Mo didn’t forget to cast it a few times. The leaves became even redder and brighter, and that rice-sized fruit was now about the size of a soybean, the color steadily darkening. Everything was ready for Wei Sheng Shixiong to come to the door.

Chapter 23 - Apparition

Zuo Mo looked in shock at Wei Sheng Shixiong.

The clothing on Wei Sheng Shixiong’s body was ripped to shreds, his entire person was an unsheathed sword, exuding a heavy presence. This felt strange to Zuo Mo. Suddenly the term appeared in his mind—sword essence!

Zuo Mo suddenly realized. “Congratulations Shixiong!”

Hearing this, Wei Sheng smiled. The sword essence surrounding his body seemed to have been pushed by an invisible hand, suddenly vibrating. The small pebbles on the ground were all thrown up in the air, dust rising. In just a few seconds, the ground underneath his feet was cut into a shallow hole by the invisible sword essence.

“My apologies, Shidi. My cultivation is limited and cannot control it.”

“Shixiong needs the Fire Dragon Grass?” Zuo Mo waved his hand, indicating that he didn’t mind. This was the first time he saw someone preparing to zhuji and he was extremely curious.

“Thanks for the trouble, Shidi.” Wei Sheng helplessly moved his feet. The dirt hole under his feet was almost up to his knees.

Understanding that Wei Sheng was at a crucial time, Zuo Mo didn’t waste words. “Shixiong, please come with me.” Finishing, he started to sprint in the direction of Cold Mist Valley.

Behind him came the continuous sound of cracking. Anywhere that Wei Sheng Shixiong passed, there were criss-crosses of fine cuts on the ground, and little pebbles sent flying away.

The two very quickly ran to Cold Mist Valley. Zuo Mo threw out, “Shixiong, please wait a moment.” He then entered the mist and in a short while came back out holding the bright red Fire Dragon Grass. He carefully put the grass on the ground and then quickly jumped to one side.

The fine and scattered sword essences creating a shroud around Shixiong were extremely damaging. His heart had trembled on the way here.

Wei Sheng bent down to grab the Fire Dragon Grass. He saw the Fire Dragon Grass was like a ball of fire, the color even brighter than before.

Joy appeared on Wei Sheng’s face. His expression solemn, he bowed to Zuo Mo. “Many thanks Shidi!”

Finishing, Wei Sheng Shixiong quickly left.

Zuo Mo stared dazedly at Wei Sheng Shixiong’s back. This was the first time he saw a person’s state right before they were going to zhuji. It was completely different from what he had imagined. So when Li Ying Feng Shijie was entering zhuji, was it something like this as well?

Zhuji, it was called the first barrier for xiuzhe. As expected, it really was extraordinary!

———

His mind was slightly distracted all day. The scene of Wei Sheng’s sword essence flying around gave him a tremendous shock. And he still hadn’t heard the voice that had announced last time when Li Ying Feng Shijie had successfully zhuji.

Would it have failed? His heart was full of worry. On its own, Fire Dragon Grass was like a violent poison. Just the slightest misstep and the ling power would collapse. Even more, what Wei Sheng Shixiong had taken was a third-grade Fire Dragon Grass!

He had only met Wei Sheng Shixiong twice but this steel-hearted, indomitable Shixiong made him admire. Before this, he had always felt that he was a very hardworking person, but compared to Shixiong, he wasn’t even worth a mention.

At midnight, Zuo Mo sat on the roof, absent-mindedly listening to the sound of the sound tablet’s broadcast, the worry inside even greater.

Just at this time, an extremely blinding light suddenly ascended from a certain location in the mountain, thrusting up toward the sky.

Clang!

Like a treasure sword being unsheathed, iron and stone striking, resonating in Wu Kong Mountains!

With such a large commotion, the other disciples were all startled awake, each one running out, their faces full of awe as they looked at the sword-like light that seemed to have pierced the heavens.

On the rooftop, Zuo Mo’s expression was also dumbstruck. Inside, he was both happy and surprised. Happy because this presence was Wei Sheng Shixiong! What made him surprised was that this sword-like light gave him tremendous pressure!

He couldn’t help but think of the snow white sword essence that had wounded his sea of consciousness. The two were extremely alike, but while this one wasn’t as vast and icy as the snow white sword essence, Shixiong’s sword essence had an honest and concentrated flavour.

Zuo Mo’s understanding of the sword was pitiful, but in this instant, he was certain that it was Shixiong’s sword essence. He dazedly stared at this sword tip that was thrusting into the clouds, both happy and envious.

There wasn’t much of a sound when Li Ying Feng Shijie had zhuji. The fact that Shixiong’s zhuji had influenced the sky, he was really awesome!

———

Such an apparition, not just Wu Kong Mountain was alerted, but the sects in the surroundings were all alarmed. He could see countless swords flying over like meteors.

No one had noticed that at some unknown time, the sect leader and the other shishu were already waiting in the sky.

“Our sect will rise!” The third shishu Yan Le’s voice was slightly trembling. There wasn’t a hint of the smile that was usually hanging on his face. Just the reverse, there were tears.

The sect leader Pei Yuan Ran also couldn’t bear it. Right there in the sky, he suddenly knelt down, facing the east, his voice choked as he kowtowed three times, “This unworthy disciple thanks our sect’s ancestors for your protection! Protecting our sect’s heritage to continue!”

Raising his head, tears streamed down his face.

Yan Le and Xin Yan also knelt down, kowtowing three times towards the east.

The three stood, each of them smiling from ear to ear, like they were drunk. Even Xin Yan, the one most stern usually, had a slight blush on his face.

“Such a pity Fourth Shimei is still travelling and hasn’t returned. Otherwise, if she saw this scene, I don’t know how gratified she would be.” Pei Yuan Ran’s expression recovered as he sighed ruefully.

Yan Lei felt the same. “To be able to see this, I have no regrets left in this life.”

Pei Yuan Ran berated, “Shidi, don’t speak nonsense. Our sect is going to rise. We need to put in all our effort and nurture Wei Sheng, so that we will not disappoint the expectations our previous teachers have.”

Yan Le nodded. “Shixiong is right.” He suddenly turned his face, brows furrowing and said, slightly displeased. “There are a lot of guests today!”

A cold light flashed through Pei Yuan Ran’s eyes, his voice calm as he ordered, “But tonight isn’t the time to receive them. Second Shidi, do not let them disturb Wei Sheng.”

“Yes!” Xin Yan, who had calmed down, was as stern and grave as iron and stone. Just the one word was full of ice.

No matter if it was the xiuzhe that were flying towards Wu Kong Mountains or the outer sect disciples raising their heads to look, they all felt a snow white light flash across their eyes! Before they could react, a terrifying sword essence spread over their heads, vast and filled with an apocalyptic presence!

Everyone stilled in shock, uncontrollably retreating.

A gigantic snow white dragon, taking over half of the sky, moved its nimble body as it flew in the night sky. That pair of eyes like ice crystals were full of arrogance. From very far away, a cold and fierce presence could be felt.

Only at this time did the people remember, Wu Kong Mountains had four xiuzhe that were jindan!

“Is it [Ice Dragon Sword]?” An ancient sounding voice came from far away.

Xin Yan raised his eyelids, desire for battle flickering through his eyes, as he responded frigidly, “This one is Xin Yan.”

On Wu Kong Mountains, all the outer sect disciples, with raised faces, sighed in shock. Xin Yan Shishu, who usually had a stone face, actually had such a big reputation.

The person from far away didn’t speak.

“It is too late today, and coincidentally, it is the time that this young disciple is zhuji. We really cannot receive everyone and have to disturb you. Please forgive us. Why doesn’t everyone find another day to come? This sect will prepare for your arrival.” Pei Yuan Yan’s authoritative voice could be heard near and far.

“Didn’t think my Dong Fu would have someone as skilled as [Ice Dragon Sword]. Sorry for the discourtesy! Wu Kong Sword Sect will soon prosper, this poor cultivator Tian Song Zi first congratulates you. Today is inconvenient, then I will disturb at some other day!” The voice echoed until it couldn’t be heard any longer.

The cultivators in the surroundings were greatly surprised. They hadn’t thought the person who came was Tian Song Zi. Tian Song Zi was renowned in the entire Dong Fu. He was the descendant of Dong Fu Xianren, and the true ruler of Dong Fu.

Even Pei Yuan Ra was surprised. He hadn’t thought that the disturbance here would startle Tian Song Zi. Tian Song Zi’s reputation was extremely high in Dong Fu, his rumoured cultivation was also astounding.

But he truly was a leader of a sect. He held his composure and shouted, “Take care, Elder!”

The xiuzhe that had wanted to explore saw the situation and tactfully scattered away. Someone that even Tian Song Zi would treat respectfully, they wouldn’t dare be rash. Smart people recognized that Wu Kong Sword Sect’s position would rise in Dong Fu.

Most of them knew that Wu Kong Sword Sect had four jindan xiuzhe. However, normally Wu Kong Mountain rarely conversed with outsiders. The four, other than Yan Le who was mainly in charge of the operations, the other three basically didn’t step outside the doors to the mountain.

Intelligent people decided to go find out more about [Ice Dragon Sword]. Such a strong person, yet silently living in a little mountain, it was really puzzling.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t hear a word of the conversation between the sect leader and Tian Song Zi. He stared, dumbstruck, at the snow white dragon that was swimming in the night sky.

Just like he could conclude that the sword energy that was piercing the sky was due to Wei Sheng Shixiong, he recognized that snow white dragon that was twisting in the sky. It was that sword essence that was in his sea of consciousness. On the outside appearance, the two were greatly different, but for some reason, he was abnormally certain that this dragon and the white sword essence that he had only seen two times weren’t inherently different.

He blanked. So that night, it had been Shishu!

This conclusion made his heart leap.

He suddenly remembered the main culprit was still in his consciousness! This thought instantly made his heart madly shake.

If the sect leader and the others knew that Pu was in his consciousness……

He couldn’t help but shudder, his teeth chattering.

He looked again at the snow dragon in the sky, coldness creeping up his heart. He always had the feeling that this snow dragon could discover Pu Yao at any time and then would unhesitatingly swoop down and tear him to pieces!

This feeling became stronger and stronger. He even felt that the gigantic dragon was always staring at him.

His soul leaping, he couldn’t do anything except frantically escaping down the rooftop and shrinking back into his rooms.

When he returned to the seclusion room, he finally recovered.

After a few seconds, his heartbeat calming, his tongue was dry.

The damned Pu Yao! Zuo Mo couldn’t help but curse again inside.

He suddenly remembered that Pu Yao could come out on his own. This thought made him instantly panicked. Pu Yao, that crazy maniac, don’t create a disturbance now!

He quickly sat, forcing his heart to calm and entered his consciousness.

His sea of consciousness seemed to have a violent wind blowing, the dark red flames furiously dancing, like a crowd of beautiful naga twisting their heart-stopping waists. Pu wasn’t sitting on the gravestone like he normally did, but was standing in front of the gravestone like a spear. The smooth satin-like black clothing flapping in the wind, the black hair flying in front of his forehead but still covering his left eye.

His blood-red right eye was deep as he gazed at the gravestone.

Chapter 24 - Finding A Different Way

After the ruckus last night, no one in Wu Kong Sword Sect got a good night of sleep. In comparison to the other disciples who had gathered together to excitedly discuss, Zuo Mo was awake due to fright. Right now, he was in the same boat as Pu Yao. When he saw the snow dragon, his brain had exploded. Before, he still had a delusion, but now his heart was restless.

His heart was nervous. If he wasn’t extremely fond of this place, he would instantly pack his things and escape without a trace.

After being scared witless for a few days and seeing that nothing had happened, his heart finally landed back above his stomach.

Wei Sheng Shixiong was thrust into the limelight this time. In the area around Dong Fu, the news that a genius of Wu Kong Sword Sect appearing out of the blue, the sword energy piercing the heavens when he entered zhuji instantly made a buzz. As expected, Wei Sheng Shixiong quickly was taken by the sect leader as his disciple, personally bestowing down a fourth grade flying sword [Splitting Rainbow]. Yet  the person teaching him however was Xin Yan Shishu. When the previous inner sect disciples had received their swords, they had all been third-grade flying swords. Even the most talented Luo Li Shixiong wasn’t an exception.

Such favour, it was the first time for Wu Kong Sword sect. And the one who received the sword had been an outer sect disciple previously. When all the outer sect disciples discussed this matter, they all had proud expressions on their faces. But even more was the envy that was unable to be hidden. An outer sect disciple that once was a sword servant skyrocketing to become the most valued second generation disciple, Wei Sheng Shixiong’s experience was almost every outer sect disciple’s dream.

Other than more admiration, Zuo Mo wasn’t shocked. He believed that anyone who had seen that jade scroll that he had would be just as clam as he was.

He admired, but he would not copy Wei Sheng Shixiong. He didn’t have that obsession inside. Fundamentally, he was a lazy person. He was working hard now just so that he could be lazy in the future.

Pu Yao also seemed to have recovered. Just like usual, he sat on the gravestone and listened to the sound tablet.

The sea of consciousness hadn’t changed except that the flames seemed bigger. Zuo Mo didn’t know if it was just his imagination. In any case, it was just a patch of red.

The agitated Wu Kong Mountain finally calmed down. Zuo Mo’s life also calmed down. What he reminisced about the most was the life he had before all the apprehension and worry. His life returning to normal, his heart became much peaceful. However, he met trouble.

A ling plant farmer required three kinds of spells to reach the third level. Zuo Mo’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was at the fourth level. Right now, the one that he had that was most likely to reach the third level was the [Art of Aged Gold].

He even knew how to break through to the third level of the [Art of Aged Gold].

Using sword scriptures to manipulate the aged gold energy was the crucial factor. It was the method that Pu Yao had pointed out that day for him to kill the Silver Horned worms. This road also proved his previous hypothesis that the [Art of Aged Gold] was a certain kind of offensive spell.

But Zuo Mo wasn’t dumb. He detected the fishiness. If he walked down this road, then he needed to strengthen his consciousness. The aged gold sword wasn’t really a sword. If he didn’t have the spiritual power, he couldn’t manipulate it. He experienced that deeply when he exterminated the Silver Horned worms this time. If his spiritual power had been greater, then the power of the little aged gold sword definitely would have multiplied. If it moved according to his wishes, the sword moves also would be able to unleash their full power.

Strengthening his consciousness, then he would have to face a problem, practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]!

No wonder Pu Yao had been so generous. He was waiting there.

Originally Zuo Mo, who had been irritated at not finding a way to elevate the [Art of Aged Gold] was now having a headache because he could not level up.

Hesitating for a long while, in the end he still decided not to level up his [Art of Aged Gold].

Didn’t a ling plants farmer need three kinds of spells to be at the third level? At the very worst, he’ll pick two others from the remaining three spells.

The [Art of Flora], the [Art of Crimson Flame], and the [Art of Earth Energy]. He had practised them all to the second level.

But no matter which two, he had only just arrived at the second level. It was far from entering the third. Originally the [Art of Aged Gold] had been the only one he had the greatest confidence in reaching the third level, but now he had to put it to one side. He really was depressed.

Thankfully he still had jingshi on his hands!

At the worst, he could go search to see if there were any jade scrolls related to this area that were being sold. The jade scroll that he had brought before was just a normal one. It described all five spells but in most places, it just glossed over, and a direction could barely be found. For the majority, it still needed him to comprehend for himself. Most of the jade scrolls that were on the market were this version. The true premium ones were with the large sects. Even when it made it onto the market, it was extremely expensive.

In some of the top sects, before each xiuzhe died, they would use their consciousness to leave behind what they had learned in their lives in the jade scrolls and pass them on. These were the highest grade jade scrolls. The jade scrolls that held the consciousness and understandings of the elders were distributed to the disciples in the sect with the greatest potential.

These young disciples would change themselves in one night, greatly shortening the time they needed to spend cultivating.

But for normal xiuzhe, they didn’t even need to think about these things. It was better to walk step by step. Not just that, it was like they were on a dangerous and misty mountain road, carefully climbing up. As to whether they could walk such an indirect route or fall and be smashed into pieces, one’s fate depended on each individual’s luck.

Adding on the twenty pieces of second-grade jingshi that Li Ying Feng gave, Zuo Mo’s wealth was the greatest it had ever been, even though Pu Yao had spent a large amount. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh, even though everyone was cultivating, but of those that were outstanding, how many didn’t have anything to their name? Li Ying Feng Shijie’s family was wealthy. Giving out tens of second-grade jingshi, her eyes didn’t even blink. Zuo Mo was deeply envious of that kind of mannerism.

His pouch was fat, his cultivation was hindered, and it was natural that Zuo Mo thought about using jingshi to solve the problem. His goal this time was to buy a jade scroll about one spell. There were very few people who could practise all five kinds of spells at the same time. But there should be more people who were skilled in one or two types.

This kind of jade scrolls wouldn’t come cheap. He would probably bleed a lot this time but he had no other choice.

———

Riding the creaking Lil’ Yellow, he slowly made his way to Dong Fu again.

As one of the most important towns of Sky Moon Jie, the development of Dong Fu was very good and had attracted a wave of pretty good xiuzhe. Basically, all the normal requirements could be satisfied here, especially to lianqi cultivators such as Zuo Mo.

In a moderately sized store, Zuo Mo’s body was almost lying on the desk, his eyes unblinking as he stared at the other.

“Bro, I’m saying, just buy another one, it’s really not expensive. If you want to fix it, and add more ling energy, it wouldn’t be cheaper than buying a new one, and it can’t level up.” The person was holding Zuo Mo’s flying paper crane, Lil’ Yellow, as he said in a seasoned tone.

Looking at the visible cracks on the paper crane, Zuo Mo was slightly reluctant. After all, this was his first steed. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Just fix it for me, naturally I wouldn’t give less for the cost.”

The other shrugged indifferently. “Whatever you say.”

He took out all kinds of tools. First he cut out several lengths of green thin bamboo to reinforce the skeleton. Then he glued the cracks in the yellow paper, cutting off the frayed edges. He took out a brush, using cinnabar to carefully mend the seal arrangement before adding in ling energy. Only when the red cinnabar had disappeared from the surface of the paper crane did he repeatedly put on a layer of liquid and the seal that had disappeared appeared once again.

“Alright. I slightly made it stronger. If you’re careful, you can still use it for a while. Three pieces of second-grade jingshi.”

As expected, the price wasn’t different from buying a new one. Zuo Mo’s heart jerked in pain but he still crisply paid.

Walking out of the small store, he started to walk to the free market and found Fu Jin.

Fu Jin saw Zuo Mo and instantly became alert, yelling, “Hey, Mo ge’s here. What do you want this time?” The wily eyes found the copper ring on Zuo Mo’s hand. Instantly he became even more attentive. His eyes were very experienced. That was a talisman. Even if the grade wasn’t high, but it still meant that Zuo Mo definitely still had some jingshi in his hands.

Zuo Mo asked, “Do you have anything about [Art of Flora]? Relating to the third level. [Art of Crimson Flame] or [Art of Earth Energy] would also do.”

“The third level?” Fu Jin grimaced as he shook his head, “Mo ge. You know the market. Whatever spell, once it reaches the third level, it isn’t hard to find. Even if it was available, the price, tsk tsk, at least two pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Two pieces of third-grade jingshi. Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say about the price. Even though he was much wealthier now, but this price was still out of his reach. One piece of third-grade jingshi, it needed one hundred pieces of second-grade jingshi. This was only for low-grade jingshi. As the grade increased, the disparity in the exchange rate would become even greater. Like fourth-grade jingshi, at the very least, it would require five hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Third grade was a dividing line.

If he could make spell work jade scrolls, Zuo Mo would have already been selling jade scrolls. Disregarding everything else, just based on his fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], if he could make jade scrolls, he definitely could sell it for a good price. It was a pity that making a spell work jade scroll wasn’t a simple matter. While Zuo Mo’s [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] might have reached the fourth level, but for the overwhelming majority of the profound parts, he could only grasp, but could not convey.

Like the jade scroll that Wei Sheng shixiong gave him. It only basically recorded some of his experiences and realizations. It couldn’t be considered a spell work jade scroll.

Those that could make spell work jade scrolls, they were usually those of high cultivation. They could stand at a higher spot and penetrate through to the core of the spells.

The spell work jade scrolls that a jindan xiuzhe made, and one that a ningmai made, the price was astronomically different. The ling plant jade scroll that Zuo Mo brought had been made by a ningmai. Many of the part inside were not adequately described.

The most common spell work jade scrolls on the marked were for the stage of zhuji. They frequently could get sold for a pretty good price. Once one entered zhuji, they had some wealth. This was also the reason why the spell work jade scrolls for lianqi cultivators were so rare.

The majority of those in the stage of lianqi were poor bastards.

And Sky Moon Jie, it was a district under the jurisdiction of Kun Lun Region. The majority were sword xiu, so there was a lot fewer spells than in the other areas.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be disappointed.

Even though Zuo Mo’s face was paralyzed, but Fu Jin still sensitively detected his disappointment. He thought before suggesting, “Mo ge could try taking a look at the notice altar.”

Zuo Mo instantly hit his head in frustration. How could he have forgotten that place?

Each sect would always encounter all sorts of problems. Like the strange disease of the ling fields that Wu Kong Sword Sect had encountered this time. If the sect could not solve it, they would post to the boards in hopes of those with extraordinary talent that could aid them through their difficulties. After that, everyone found the convenience inside and more and more people asked for aid at the boards. Consequently, they created a specialized temple to post notices which was called the notice altar. This also became the place many xiuzhe used to find jobs, especially those with a cultivation of lianqi or zhuji.

Of course, posting a message required paying a fee, and the post would clearly state the payment.

Gratefully giving thanks to Fu Jin, Zuo Mo started heading for the notice altar.

Chapter 25 - Fourth Shigu

The notice altar was in the southern part of Dong Fu, and it was also the most prosperous and busiest part of Dong Fu. Because he had already joined a sect, and taking care of the ling fields and cultivation had taken up almost all of his time, Zuo Mo had never been to the notice altar before. This was why he hadn’t thought of this place at the beginning.

Stopping at the notice altar, he couldn’t help but inhale sharply!

Looking out, countless posts made from cloth banners pointed at the sky like a forest, spreading out into the horizon. Under each banner, people’s heads moved. The stream of people also moved slowly. Zuo Mo was in awe at the scene.

Dazedly, he followed the stream and entered the notice altar.

“This sect has a pair of Fiery Gold Eyes Beast pups, requires one zookeeper. Requires cultivation above intermediate level of zhuji, five or more years of experience in animal care, salary generous.”

“This sect is clearing out ling fields, needs large number of body cultivators, above lianqi fifth level. Includes residence and food. Ten pieces of first-grade jingshi each day.

……

In just a quick while, Zuo Mo’s eyes started to blur.

Just at this time, someone came up, “Bro, what, it’s hard to search. I have the complete table of content for the entire notice altar, detailed and accurate. It is updated at the first time. How about it, do you want a copy?”

“How much?” Zuo Mo asked cautiously.

“Not expensive, twenty pieces of first-grade jingshi.” The person said, “Bro, at one look, I can see you are one for doing big things. Time is so precious, wasting it like this is not worthy. Just twenty pieces of first-grade jingshi, it’s really worthwhile!”

“Eight pieces!”

“Bro, look at all these notices. Just me alone, how can I collect all of them? I have to support an entire bunch of people… …”

“Adding on two pieces, I’m very sincere.”

“Bro, we don’t have it easy……”

Zuo Mo turned to leave. The person hurriedly pulled Zuo Mo, “Okay okay okay, I’ll sell it to you at a loss!”

Looking at the directory that he spent ten pieces of first-grade jingshi to buy, Zuo Mo was a sorry figure as he escaped from the notice altar. He found a less busy place nearby and sat down.

That was a really scary place! He looked with trepidation at the bustling notice altar.

Channelling ling power to the jade scroll, there were more than one thousand and five hundred posts in the directory, a huge variety, everything was there. After a long time, Zuo Mo finally found an order and started to look down.

After a full two hours, he finally raised his head, his eyes full of disappointment. It wasn’t that there weren’t related posts that paid with spells, but not one of them was something that he could accomplish. Thinking about it now, Fu Jing was right. When any spell reached the third level, the price also changed drastically.

Discontentedly returning on the flying paper crane, Zuo Mo’s expression was blank.

———

When he returned home and saw Wei Sheng Shixiong standing outside his door, he couldn’t help but blank.

Wei Sheng Shixiong didn’t seem to have changed much from before. Still clad in rough cloth. Even though he still gave others the feeling of being as sharp as a sword, but it was much more restrained than before. It could be seen that Wei Sheng Shixiong’s cultivation was much deeper than before. Even when Zuo Mo was still far away, he already detected it.

“Shidi has really made me wait.” He smiled as he greeted.

Wei Sheng Shixiong’s warmth that was just like before made Zuo Mo very surprised and slightly moved. The attitudes of inner sect disciples towards outer sect disciples were usually extremely bad, and for those of low birth and had an accomplished cultivation, their arrogant manner was the normal state.

“If Shixiong has something, just send a notice, why wait so long outside the door?” Zuo Mo solemnly replied.

Wei Sheng took out a small box from his bosom and handed it to Zuo Mo. “The Fire Dragon Grass seed won’t be of any use in my hands, it is at least third-grade so it would be a pity to throw it out. Shidi is skilled in planting, so this is given to Shidi.”

Zuo Mo was greedy about wealth but facing the little box, he didn’t hold out his hand. The seed of a third-grade Fire Dragon Grass, there wasn’t a question it could be sold for a few dozen pieces of second-grade jingshi.

“Shixiong has successfully zhuji, and there would be many places that would require jingshi in the future……”

Wei Sheng interrupted his words, shoving the wooden box into Zuo Mo’s chest, “Don’t be chatty. I’m telling you to take it. My heart is for the sword, and doesn’t like other things.”

Holding the wooden box, Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say.

“Shidi has outstanding talent and should work hard to not fail to live up to this good will.” He urged, “Very soon I will enter the Sword Cave to study. When I come out, Shidi should have successfully zhuji.”

For some reason, Zuo Mo’s heart warmed and burst out, “I definitely will successfully zhuji!”

“Then I won’t worry anymore. It’s a pity that Shidi isn’t interested in the sword.” There was a hint of pity in Wei Sheng’s expression.

Zuo Mo smiled. “It isn’t bad being a ling plant farmer, jingshi is a very dependable thing.”

“Ha-ha!” Wei Sheng roared with laughter, “That’s so true. I won’t bid farewell. When I come out, us brothers will drink!”

Finishing, he swept away.

Even when Wei Sheng Shixiong had walked a long ways off, Zuo Mo’s heart was still slightly excited.

No matter if Wei Sheng Shixiong was deliberate or not but this bit of solicitude, he would firmly remember.

From when he opened his eyes, what he faced was a completely unfamiliar world. The sect leader that picked him up had asked a few words before he was never seen again. He was like a newborn baby that started to dumbly learn bit by bit everything in the surroundings. His strange zombie face, and the ignorance about the affairs of the world caused him to receive endless mockery and ridicule.

The only thing he was glad about was that the heavens had left behind some assets for him – a cultivation of lianqi fifth level. The setbacks he endured everywhere didn’t make him sink but actually stirred up the stubbornness in his bones. He cultivated day and night, used the rain of the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to fill the dry pond drop by drop. After that, the treatment he received gradually changed. Piling on the insincerity and worldliness, deliberately getting close to the other disciples in the sect, and earning a pretty good reputation.

But that alienation inside gradually deepened with time.

Wei Sheng Shixiong, who he only had met two times before, was the first time he felt a sincere concern.

Before this, he wasn’t interested in zhuji. That astounding sword essence in his sea of consciousness, while it had stirred up some interest in power, but quickly, [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] had completely made him lose interest in power. For him, power was undoubtedly very far away.

But Wei Sheng Shixiong’s exhortations today made him suddenly feel that he needed to zhuji. This feeling was so fierce, from the moment it left his mouth, he felt that, no matter what, he had to complete zhuji!

Zhuji!

Zhuji, it was the first barrier in the long journey of cultivation. For those disciples in the large sects, zhuji was so easy that it was like stepping over a doorstep. But for normal xiuzhe, this would decide their status. Those that were in the stage of zhuji basically had left behind the lowest level of work, their income was enough to cause those as greedy as Zuo Mo to have red eyes. But there was a high degree of difficulty in achieving zhuji, especially to someone like Zuo Mo who only had the kind of mainstream street trash like [Ten Principles Scripture]. To finish zhuji, it needed luck and character. Other than that, the success of zhuji depended on whether the wallet was full or not.

The lingdan and ling herbs that were required for zhuji, not one of them was cheap. And the effects varied greatly.

Normal zhuji dan, it generally was one hundred pieces of second-grade jingshi. But this kind of zhuji dan could only be considered to be barely useable. And if one was willing to spill some blood, two pieces of third-grade jingshi, they could buy the highest grade of zhuji dan, the success rate multiplying. This was also why the disciples of the large sects didn’t care about zhuji. For them, two pieces of third-grade jingshi was really a small amount.

But for Zuo Mo, one hundred pieces of second-grade jingshi was almost his entire wealth. And this was only because his income had been high lately. Before this, did he dare to even think of it?

That was also why he would put his efforts on being ling plant farmer. In reality, the difficulty of becoming a ling plant farmer was much higher than zhuji. This could be seen from how much the salary of a ling plant farmer surpassed a zhuji cultivator. But the difficulty was based on talent. There wasn’t much of a jingshi investment. What other than this was more perfect for a money-grubbing Zuo Mo?

But now he wanted to zhuji!

His brain was occupied with this though as he dumbly walked to Cold Mist Valley.

“Who are you? How dare you enter this sect’s important lands!” Suddenly a cold shout broke through Zuo Mo’s thoughts.

A matron, appearing about forty something years old, was standing in the medicine fields, coldly looking at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo unconsciously raised his head. When he met the other’s eyes, he instantly dropped into ice! The other’s gaze was as sharp as a sword, almost piercing him through.

Zuo Mo shook, as though waking from a dream, his mind whirling quickly, he hurriedly made the bow of a disciple, “This disciple is Zuo Mo. Received Hao Min Shijie’s orders to temporarily care for the medicine fields here.”

“That girl dares! Dares to be lazy!” The green-clad matron’s face was cold, hinting at the anger.

Zuo Mo silently grimaced. Right now, he largely knew the identity of this elder in front of him. Wu Kong Sword Sect hadn’t been big to begin with. The only one that fit the description was the fourth shigu, Shi Feng Rong. Shi Feng Rong spent long periods of time travelling abroad, occasionally returning. Zuo Mo had never had the chance to see her before. Supposedly this shigu didn’t have a good temper, and was hard to be close with. Looking at it now, it was true.

His only hope now was that Fourth Shigu wouldn’t blame him.

Hao Ming Shijie was an inner sect disciple. Even if she was punished, it wouldn’t be heavy. But his status was low. If he was blamed, he wouldn’t have a good ending.

Shi Feng Rong scanned the medicine fields in the surroundings. Seeing the ling herbs were fine, the coldness on her face retreated slightly. She relaxed her tone to ask, “What are you called?”

“Disciple Zuo Mo greets Fourth Shigu.” Zuo Mo answered respectfully.

“Your care isn’t bad.” Glancing at Zuo Mo, her eyes held praise, “Cultivation of lianqi eighth level. En, can be considered ambitious. From today onwards, Cold Mist Valley is under your care. Humph, when Hao Min returns, I will sort her out!”

Temporary worker turning to actual worker, Zuo Mo was a hundred times unwilling but facing Fourth Shigu’s gaze that could cut him up, he perceptively swallowed the words back into his stomach. Inside, he muttered, Fourth Shigu was the same as Xin Yan Shishu, they looked at everyone like the others owed them money.

“This zhuji dan, it is your reward.”

Zuo Mo stared with bright eyes at the zhuji dan in his hands. The hundred times unwilling instantly became one hundred times willing! As expected, it was Shigu that was considerate! He praised Fourth Shigu effusively inside. The most basic zhuji dan was one hundred pieces of second grade jingshi. He had heard that this shigu was skilled at concocting pills, but he didn’t know what grade this zhuji dan was.

“Keep cultivating, and enter zhuji. Your current power , to care for Cold Mist Valley, it isn’t enough.” Fourth Shigu’s icy voice rang in Zuo Mo’s ears.

Zuo Mo, already drowning in joy, hurriedly responded.

Shi Feng Rong was going to leave when her eyes glanced at Zuo Mo’s face. Her steps instantly stopped, an astounded expression floating on her cold face, “Raise your head.”

Chapter 26 - Appearance Changed And Mind Erased

Zuo Mo raised his head.

Shi Feng Rong walked gracefully in front of him. Carefully examining for a few seconds, her brows suddenly furrowed: “You are the child that Sect Leader Shixiong picked up?”

Zuo Mo blanked, nodding and answered: “Yes.”

“You cannot remember anything from before?”

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly started to beat furiously, blood rushing up to his head. He felt that he was trembling, his entire body uncontrollably trembling lightly. He heard his trembling voice answer: “Yes.”

“Oh.” Shi Feng Rong nodded. She hadn’t planned on saying anything, turning to leave.

Zuo Mo almost unconsciously yelled: “Shigu!”

Shi Feng Rong stopped, expression irritated as she looked at him.

Zuo Mo didn’t know where he got the courage to intently stare at Shi Feng Rong, eyes full of terror and hope: “This disciple has nothing left of the previous memories. What this disciple is called, who are the parents, nothing. Thinking about it every time, the heart is grievously sad, and begs for Shigu’s guidance!”

Shi Feng Rong looked at Zuo Mo for a beat and shook her head: “For you, it’s better not to know.”

“Please, shigu, complete this desire!”

Zuo Mo almost used up all the strength in his body.

Shi Feng Rong slightly wrinkled her bows, coldly stating: “Since you want to know so much, then I will tell you. If I hadn’t seen it wrong, you might have been the target of a technique to have your features changed. Someone had changed your appearance.”

“Changed… …” Zuo Mo muttered to himself absent-mindedly.

“As to your previous memories, it should have been erased by someone. I don’t know who has such deep enmity against you.” Finishing, she gave a look deep with meaning at Zuo Mo: “Changing your appearance or erasing a mind, it all needs great cultivation. You should just obediently take care of the ling fields for me.”

It was as though Zuo Mo was struck by lightning and frozen to his spot!

When his mind slowly came back, the sky was dark and Fourth Shigu had left long ago.

Zuo Mo was muddleheaded, his eyes bleak.

Changed appearance… … erased mind……

So his memory had been erased by someone, so his face had been changed … …

So that dream……

Why……

Why was it like this……

He lowered his head, his fists unconsciously cleaning, knuckles cracking, fingertips white. The bamboo-like body was like a dry stalk of grass waving in the wind, small and weak. The temperature of Cold Mist Valley in the night time was extremely low, humidity high. Small tendrils of cold permeated into Zuo Mo’s body, and also into his heart.

The puzzle that had perplexed him finally had been solved at this time, but even more puzzles were lying in front of him.

Who am I……

Who did it… … the messy mind instantly quieted.

Zuo Mo raised his head, his eyes as though they were dyed by blood, a patch of red. He had expected that he would be furious, would shout. But he didn’t. His heart was encased in ice, as though he was an outsider watching from the sidelines.

His heart was an iced body. Under the thick layer of ice, a vague hint could be seen to the undercurrents roiling in the deep.

Fourth Shigu’s words echoed in his ears. Someone that even Fourth Shigu would call of high cultivation, at the very least, one of their hairs would be thicker than his leg. Even if he wanted to settle a score, he couldn’t manage it.

Suddenly everything in these two years, sunlight, ling grains … … it was like a dream and an invisible great hand forcibly squeezed it to dust!

It was gone.

He relaxed his fingers, stepping in the sea of consciousness where the flames were dancing.

Just like normal, Pu Yao was still sitting on the gravestone shrouded in black smoke. Seeing Zuo Mo, the corner of his mouth rose.

“Hahahahahaha!”

Reckless and crazy laughter rang out in the sea of consciousness.

Wei Sheng closely followed behind the sect leader and Xin Yan Shishu as they walked in the back of the mountain. The two elders were both extremely solemn as they silently walked at the front. Wei Sheng was also cautious as he closely followed. This was a forbidden area of the sect. Master and Xin Yan Shishu had cast more than twenty spells on the way here to open the path. It could be seen just how guarded this place was. He had just entered zhuji, his willpower ten times what it had been previously but the pressure that the jinzhi exuded, it still made him feel as though he was suffocating.

So the sect had a place as strong as this!

He felt his blood was gradually warming up, he was full of hopes to the Sword Cave that they were going to arrive at!

After walking for four hours, the three finally stopped in front of the mouth of a cave.

Nervousness came upon both Pei Yuan Ran and Xin Yan’s face. The sect leader Pei Yuan Ran said solemnly: “This Sword Cave, it had been created by this sect’s first leader. It was used for the sect disciples to refine their sword essences. Only disciples below jindan can enter.” Some shame suddenly made its way across his face: “The ancestor’s power was astounding. To open this sword cave, it requires two jindan to simultaneously act. This sect has declined. In the generation above us, there was only one jindan so this sword came was never opened. I and your shishu practised our sword essences by ourselves in Yao Hunt. When we reached jindan, we could not go in. What is actually in this sword cave, we don’t know either. You have to explore for yourself.”

Wei Sheng listened closely, his expression calm.

Pei Yuan Ran looked at his disciple, concern in his eyes: “Every ten days, we will prepare enough ling food for you. Right now, your fourth shigu has returned and you don’t have to worry about herbs and dan. But the sword cave is dangerous and you need to remember your own safety. You have just entered zhuji and your cultivation is low, so in reality, you are not suited to enter the sword cave. But you have immense talent on the sword that we have never seen before. To not hinder you, we have decided to make an exception and let you enter the sword cave. If you encounter any danger, you need to leave the sword cave immediately!”

The last warning, Pei Yuan Ran couldn’t help raising his voice. This sincere and honest disciple in front of him, his talent was astounding and surpassed all of their expectations. He seemed to have been born a sword xiu. Other than his cultivation that needed to steadily progress, any sword scripture that entered his hands would quickly become familiar and flowing.

Even the strongest Xin Yan was shocked at Wei Sheng’s progress. Other than joy, they couldn’t help but be worried. Such a good piece of jade, if they didn’t nurture properly, wouldn’t it disappoint the ancestors?

They had pondered for a long time and in the end, decided to open the sword cave. Other than the legend about the sword cave in the sect, they hoped that Wei Sheng could practise the complete Void Sword. Void Sword was the strongest sword scripture of the sect and the greatest accomplishment of the first ancestral master, Wu Kong zhenren. But when it came to their generation, they didn’t have a complete [Void Sword Scripture]. Like Xin Yan’s [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], it had been created by one of the ancestral masters but was not the strongest sword scripture of the sect.

Before, they had put their hopes on Luo Li who only managed to achieve Empty Sword. Who could have thought that he, who had once been Luo Li’s sword servant, would have even greater talent than Luo Li?

Even more, while Luo Li had outstanding talent but his personality was arrogant. Compared to the honest and humble Wei Sheng, he was quickly defeated.

In their hearts, Wei Sheng was the present and uncontested head of the disciples.

“Disciple understands!” Wei Sheng’s expression was grave.

Pei Yuan Ran and Xin Yan exchanged a lot and nodded their heads. Both started to revolve their ling energy, casting a spell.

Two jindan undertaking a task at the same time, the commotion was extremely alarming! Over their heads, clouds gathered from every direction. In a few blinks of an eye, the small mountain valley was shrouded by roiling black clouds, dark as night. On the outside wall of the mountain cave, countless seals started to light up and flash. The jinzhi in the surroundings also lit up, countless seals floating midair as though they were communicating with the seals that were carved into the mountain.

Feeing the shock and shivering that came from the bones, Wei Sheng’s calm gaze seemed to have been ignited and he excitedly went forward.

Pei Yuan Ran and Xin Yan’s expressions were grave. Both of them simultaneously shouted: “Open!”

The seals turned and the formation changed.

The mountain cave suddenly became dark and deep, as though it was a void. Wei Sheng, who had already prepared, didn’t hesitate and rushed in!

At this time, Pei Yuan Ran and Xin Yan finally gave a breath of relief. The two slowly let go of the spell, dispersing the ling energy on their hands. The seals on the mountain and on the jinzhi slowly faded. The thick clouds overhead spread out, sunlight once again reaching the valley.

“Let’s go, he needs to walk the road himself.” Pei Yuan Ran sighed.

“Of course.” Xin Yan treated words like they were gold.

In the sea of fire, Zuo Mo sat not far away from Pu Yao, listening attentively.

“What is yaomo? There are many ways of distinguishing but the most important is the method of cultivation. Xiuzhe, extract the ling energy of the world to use for themselves. What they cultivate is ling energy. And yao, what they care about is the spirit shaking the sky, primarily cultivating the spirit. And mo? That group of people whose absolute majority is stupid to the point of no return can only cultivate themselves, using their bodies as talismans.”

Zuo Mo seemed to understand but didn’t really understand.

“Oh, all of this is nonsense. Okay, we’ll talk something practical. Your road wasn’t wrong to use sword moves to manipulate the aged gold energy. However, it is a pity that you aren’t your shixiong. Based on your speed, I estimate it would be at least two to three years.” Pu Yao suddenly smiled strangely, revealing half of his crimson tongue: “But I have a quick fix. Do you want to try?”

“Quick fix?” Zuo Mo’s eyes were lit up, his body slightly leaning forward.

Pu Yao’s eyes narrowed even more, his voice full of enticement: “Exactly, very fast! Within one month, you definitely would break to the third level of [Art of Aged Gold].”

“Really?” Zuo Mo was slightly suspicious. Pu Yao’s expression gave him a bad feeling.

“You won’t know until you try.” Pu Yao shrugged his shoulders: “There isn’t a free lunch in the world. To get power, how can you not pay?”

Zuo Mo fell silent.

To find the answers, to find the person that changed him, he needed power, desperately needed power! Pu Yao wasn’t wrong. To get power, it required a certain cost. He was a little xiuzhe who hadn’t even entered zhuji, what could he rely on to find the answer?

The only one he could ask aid from was Pu Yao. He still didn’t know what Pu Yao wanted but did he have a choice?

Choices were a question that only those that were strong would face.

What he was glad about was that Pu Yao was willing to help him. Regardless of Pu Yao’s reasons for doing so, he would accept it.

“Alright.” He stood up.

Pu Yao’s blade-like mouth once again skewed towards one side. He laughed lightly, declaring: “Ha, what is more simpler than sword scriptures? After being sliced a few thousand time, you’ll learn it!”

The words hadn’t landed when a vast snow white sword essence came down from the heavens, easily slicing Zuo Mo’s consciousness in half.

A heart wrenching pain came on. Zuo Mo felt that his body had been cut into two halves.

The pain came on and he straightforwardly fainted!

Chapter 27 - Looking Up In The Darkness

“Shixiong, is your body ill?” Xiao Guo had fought for a long time but couldn’t resist asking.

“It’s nothing.” Zuo Mo’s voice was raspy as he replied and continued to walk forward.

Xiao Guo looked worriedly at Zuo Mo, gathering her courage to state: “Shixiong, if you don’t feel well, we could change to another day.”

“I said it’s fine so it’s fine!” Zuo Mo glared at Xiao Guo.

Xiao Guo couldn’t help but shrink back. She muttered: “But, Shixjie said the body is the most important.”

Zuo Mo decided to shut up himself and not argue with this little girl. He didn’t have the energy. Any one that would have been sliced over and over in half by the sword essence of a jindan definitely wouldn’t have the energy.

Pu Yao was insane. Certifiably insane!

Xin Yan Shishu’s sword essence far surpassed what he could endure. Each time that he faced the vast snow white sword essence, he felt that he was at death’s door. The terror that seemed to come from the deepest part of his heart made him tremble. The difference between the two of them was too large, so large it didn’t have meaning. Even this terror that seemed to happen right before death, Zuo Mo would only have a short instant to feel it before his consciousness would be easily cut in half. His only outcome was fainting.

But he would quickly wake up because of pain! The enormous pain due to his wounded spirit would wake him up.

The only thing he could do was grit his teeth and practise [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Only that thing could heal his spirit and lessen the pain.

Before he could take a breath, another sword essence would drop down from heaven and he would faint again.

Just like that. Slice, faint, wake up due to the pain……continuously repeating. In one day, he would faint a few dozen times. One could imagine, how could his state be good?

If he had the time, he would be suspicious of himself of being able to endure to that day. However, Pu Yao wouldn’t even give that amount of time to him. Later on, the pain turned to numbness.

Only when Xiao Guo came to find him did Pu Yao temporarily let him go.

Xiao Guo came to find him to take a look at the ling grasses. After the weed incident, all the girls on the Eastern Peak were scared. Li Ying Feng became an inner sect disciple, entering Yan Le’s doors. Other than cultivating, she had to follow her Master to learn how to take care of the sect’s assets and had no time to come to the Eastern Peak. But they girls still remembered zombie Shixiong Zuo Mo, and before Li Ying Feng left, she had especially given notice with him in hopes he could help these female disciples.

After a certain amount of time, they would always pull Zuo Mo over to inspect the ling grass.

There weren’t any big problems with the ling grass, other than some problems that would occur due to improper care. For Zuo Mo, who planted ling grains, these were all simple problems. Most of the attention of the female disciples was on the ling beasts. Planting ling grass was only to provide food for the ling beast so they did not put much attention and care into the grass.

Looking at the ling fields being wasted, Zuo Mo felt pain. If all of these ling fields were planted with ling grains, think how much jingshi there would be.

“Shixiong, these little things aren’t worth much but are a token of our thanks. Please accept them.”

A female disciple handed over the gifts that they had prepared beforehand.

He understood the intentions of these female disciples. No matter where, female disciples were always more vulnerable, especially the kind of outer sect female disciples. Li Ying Feng had left, and had no time to spare to look after them. They needed someone with the power to protect them. It wasn’t surprising. Most of the female disciple’s cultivations were around level five or six of lianqi and no one was able to pick up the burden.

Zuo Mo thought for a second but accepted the gifts. Even if this matter was slightly troublesome, but if they really encountered something serious, he believed that Li Ying Feng definitely would get involved.

Seeing Zuo Mo take the gift, the crowd of female disciples gave relieved expressions.

Everyone had a hard time surviving, Zuo Mo thought silently.

Returning home, he opened the gift box. Inside were all kinds of ling worms and ling beasts. Similar to mud turning earthworms, they would even enter a grade. A large majority were first grade, and there were only one or two at the second grade. But it could be seen that they had taken some care with the ling worms and animals. Even if the grade wasn’t high, but they were all quite useful.

Pu Yao suddenly erupted, crouching in front of the ling worms and beasts: “Talking of playing with worms, tsk tsk, us yaomo is the true masters in this area.”

He randomly flipped through the ling worms, extremely disappointed: “All of these are low level, not worth much.”

Zuo Mo was extremely speechless but couldn’t resist objecting: “They are outer sect disciples, where would they get high level ones?”

Pu Yao nipped one up and examined it for a long while. Then he carelessly threw it in front of Zuo Mo: “Here, this one is barely acceptable. Throw out all the others.”

The one Pu Yao picked was a black armored worm, slightly larger than a fingernail. He flipped through the jade stick that they had also given to find out that this black armored worm was called Black Gold Worm, fond of eating gold metal. Its wings could be sold for a pretty good price. Other than that, supposedly it could also be used to find sources of water.

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. To him, the black gold worm didn’t have much use.

Pu Yao’s interests clearly had been evoked by these worms. He excitedly said: “Playing with worms, there’s a lot to attend to. Especially the techniques, they vary by person. Before, I saw one highly skilled with worms, called Blood Mosquito daoren. This guy was very strong. Somehow, he managed to create countless souls, and bound them to a group of blood mosquitoes. And then he travelled through a hundred jie. Every time he reached a jie, he would leave behind a few blood mosquitoes. His enemies had a whole bunch of people and pursued him countless times but still couldn’t kill him.”

“I played with black gold worms before too, but it isn’t this kind of cheap trash. There isn’t much use in the level ones, this thing’s true purpose is to use it to seek out ling veins……”

“Ling veins?” Zuo Mo asked suspiciously: “Isn’t it used to seek out water?”

“Water?” Pu Yao sneered, retorting: “If you don’t know, then don’t pretend. That’s for low level black gold worms. Black gold worms above fourth grade can seek out ling veins, seventh grade is able to find ling sources. Ha, but ninth grade is the truly good stuff. As to tenth grade, I’ve never seen one.”

He continued to explain: “Picking ling worms, definitely have to pick those with good aptitudes. Like this black gold worm of yours, if you raise it correctly, it can enter fourth grade. These other ones, it doesn’t even have the chance to increase to third grade.”

“Then, um, how can this black gold worm raise to grade four?” Zuo Mo consulted with a fawning tone.

Fourth grade black gold worms could find ling veins……this was endlessly tempting to Zuo Mo.

This time, Pu Yao didn’t make it difficult for him. He briskly said: “Very simple. Don’t you have a small section of ling vein in your seclusion room? Put this black gold worm and a piece of pure gold ore in a jade box and bury it in the area surrounding the ling vein. After a month, it should increase to the third level. To get it to the fourth level, it probably would take about three months.”

“Alright, let us continue.” Pu Yao waved his hand and said impatiently.

Before his words landed, a snow white sword essence once again cleaved Zuo Mo’s mind in half. Zuo Mo, who had been memorizing what Pu Yao just said instantly fainted.

After an unknown amount of time, sharp pain once again woke Zuo Mo up. Zuo Mo’s first thought was, did he remember the method of raising the black gold worm to the fourth grade?

Great, he remembered!

So painful! He couldn’t help but start to wail, rolling on the ground.

Why did it become painful?

The tearing pain tortured his fragile nerves. He could only start [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. A ball of air moved continuously through his body, giving out cold stands, seeming to inhale through all the openings in his body and then spreading through the body.

The flames waved in his sea of consciousness. That dim star in the void seemed to have become much brighter, the enchanting sea of flames could not take away its light.

Fainting, waking with pain, fainting again, waking up with pain again……

The amount of time that Zuo Mo had to comprehend was extremely short. After repeating for a few hundred times, he still endured.

“Pain is the tastiest thing in this world. You have to finely savor it, enjoy it, the flavour fresh and sweet as it permeates your marrow. Even your soul is trembling!” Pu Yao stuck out his bright red tongue, licking his lips and slowly said: “Death is like a firework. You can continuously experience the process of blossoming. How lucky you are!

Damned renyao!

Zuo Mo recited in his mouth. However, his eyes were opened to the widest, unwaveringly staring at that lightning fast snow white sword essence!

He knew that the kind of pain that was coming. Just like Pu Yao had said, his soul was trembling. Regardless of how many times he had been cut, but whenever he practised facing that snow white sword essence, he was still terrified, incomparably terrified. When he was clear headed, he didn’t dare to even think about it. He was afraid that any memory would make his fragile psychological barrier instantly collapse.

His trembling bones and flesh was like a blade of grass that was going to break any second in the storm. Maybe the next second, he would fall down.

But his eyes still firmly stared at the front!

The direction that the snowy white sword essence would appear from.

But Xin Yan shishu’s sword essence, was it something he could see clearly?

The difference between the two was like the sky and earth. Xin Yan Shishu was a tried and tested jindan, a sword xiu that even Tian Song Zi admired. And Zuo Mo was only an outer sect disciple with a cultivation of lianqi eighth level; the total amount of time that Xin Yan shishu had spent in the flying sword was over two hundred years, and Zuo Mo hadn’t even learned the most basic sword arts.

On the surface, all of this looked futile.

However, he still trembled as he stared fixedly at the front, his mouth unconsciously cursing “Damned renyao damned renyao.”

Snow white, blindingly bright, flying down from the sky like the Milky Way!

Zuo Mo tried his best to widen his eyes. At this moment, his body stopped trembling, the mutters from his mouth gone. The entire world was a patch of snow white. He needed to strenuously search in this sea of snow white, search for the quintessence of this sword essence.

The time that was given to him was extremely short, not even the blink of an eye.

He was like a crazy gambler, betting on that chance that wasn’t even one in ten thousand.

However, he didn’t have a choice. He didn’t have another road.

His pupils suddenly dilated and it didn’t have the time to recover.

Whoosh, the snowy white sword essence sliced Zuo Mo in two.

After an unknown period of time, it was still the sharp pain that woke Zuo Mo up. Opening his eyes, Zuo Mo wanted to roar with laughter, but when it came up, it became groans and wails.

“Ah! So painful!” “Ah!”

Fighting to climb up, he resisted the great pain and started [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

Strands of coolness entered his body. The pain instantly lessened greatly.

When he opened his eyes again, they were full of ecstasy!

Chapter 28 - The Doorway

Zuo Mo finally found the doorway!

This sword essence appeared to look like snow, but he managed to faintly see countless smaller sword essences. These tiny icicle-like sword essences were enormous in number, and were densely packed together, moving in layers. Each tiny sword essence was like a drop of water. And countless drops of water created the ocean, the movements the tide.

Xin Yan Shishu’s sword essence was like a little tide, a little icicle tide!

For the first time, he forgot the pain from his injured mind.

The scene he had just seen was extremely short but what he had seen was enough for him to think for a long time. Dazzling tiny sword essences like ice crystals, moving like the tide. In the vastness and danger was a certain kind of beauty. Even if it was someone like him that didn’t understand the sword, he couldn’t help but sigh in amazement.

He suddenly realized that the snow dragon that Xin Yan Shishu had released wasn’t a real one. It was also constructed out of countless snow white thin sword essences.

Dazedly standing in the yard, mind enthralled until deep into the night.

Early morning on the second day, Zuo Mo ran over to Cold Mist Valley. Changing from temporary worker to official worker, and adding on a zhuji dan, for the money-grubbing zombie, it hit the key points and he put more care in.

He was clear on the goal that he wanted to find answers but he deeply understood the matter had to be done step by step, especially when it came to the kind of outer sect disciples like him that had nothing.

Compared to before, his workload was much greater now. Fourth Shigu had given him a jade stick. Inside were all the points that needed to be attended to for all kinds of ling herbs. About ninety percent of it were things that he had never known before. For him, it was a completely new challenge.

But luckily he could slowly explore. The ling herbs in the medicine fields looked to be in great condition at the moment.

In the corner of the medicine fields, the fire dragon grass had already sprouted. The seed from the fire dragon grass that Wei Sheng Shixiong had given him had been planted.

Today, he needed to accompany the female disciples to Dong Fu. It was called accompaniment but truthfully, it was more like protection.

Sitting on the flying paper crane, Zuo Mo followed about thirty meters behind the female disciples.

This group of women were really chatty!

The sounds of their chatter could be heard from far away. Hearing it, Zuo Mo felt irritated.

After being fixed and improved, the flying crane was much steadier and comfortable. He thought silently that the three pieces of jingshi that he paid was really worth it. Sitting on the paper crane with nothing to do, he started to once again examine Xin Yan shishu’s sword essence.

Even though he wanted to die each time, but he knew very well how valuable this experience was. A chance to learn from Xin Yan Shishu, other than Wei Sheng Shixiong, for an outer sect disciple like him, he didn’t even need to think about it. He didn’t know why Pu Yao would keep Shishu’s sword essence, but for Zuo Mo, this sword essence was undoubtedly a treasure trove.

It wasn’t likely for him to learn all of it. But just learning a little was enough for him to reap endless benefits.

Just at this time, a clamor came from the front, startling Zuo Mo from his musings.

His heart instantly wasn’t happy.

Several unfamiliar male xiuzhe seemed to be in a tangle with his sect’s female disciples. Zuo Mo sighed. These days, it wasn’t easy to accept gifts!

Taking down the paper crane, he slowly walked forward. This was the main path to Dong Fu. Zuo Mo wasn’t afraid that the other would really do something too outrageous so he was extremely confident.

“Ha, heard that your Li Ying Feng Shijie went into zhuji? Good news, good news.” The male xiuzhe in the front said in a smooth tone.

The other male xiuzhe in the surroundings laughed.

At this time, a male xiuzhe fawningly said: “Shixiong, I wasn’t wrong, the level of these women, they are much tender then the shrews in our sect.”

“True true!” The leader smiled nefariously, warning: “But be careful, if they head what you said, you’ll have a good time.”

“Haha, of course.”

Zuo Mo lightly coughed. The female disciples instantly created a path. Since he had accepted the things, he couldn’t really just stand by.

“What is this? Eeryone? Blocking the road for looks?” Zuo Mo walked out of the crowd, stealing a look at the other, smiling coldly.

This group of people looked like the dregs at a glance, each of them with the head of a deer and the eyes of a mouse. Especially the leader. Looking at that face, Zuo Mo had the impulse to raise his fists and beat him into a bun. Compared to the others in the sect, Zuo Mo’s experience on the outside was much richer, his eyes could be said to be shrewd. This group looked just like the kind that wasn’t mainstream. To deal with this kind of people, the more polite, the more they felt that you were soft and easy to bully.

In reality, the biggest weapon that Zuo Mo relied on was the [Golden Sword Ring] on his hand. There were three sword energies stored inside. To use it to scare people was pretty good.

“So it was a change of owners.” The leader smirked, examining Zuo Mo, the disdain on his face evident: “Just lianqi eighth level and dare to try to be the hero. Really doesn’t know your own abilities. Even if Li Ying Feng is here, she wouldn’t dare talk like this.”

Did this person really have a strong background? Zuo Mo’s heart was uncertain but he didn’t show it on his face: “Such boasting. With such abilities, why don’t you go to our sect’s gate to shout? Running here to bully girls, tsk tsk, really strong, really strong!”

The female disciples in the surroundings covered their mouths and laughed.

The person’s face became ugly. He snorted: “Heard that Wu Kong Sword Sect had a genius? Is it such trash like you? Shixiong today will let you know what is manners!”

His voice landed and a flying sword suddenly appeared in front of him!

Zuo Mo instantly was stupefied. The other actually had a flying sword!

The first word in his mind was zhuji! He hadn’t thought that this mouse-like person was actually zhuji. Those with only lianqi cultivation could not imprint on flying swords. Even Wei Sheng Shixiong, before he entered zhuji, he had never had a flying sword.

Incredibly nervous as he stared at the flying sword floating in front of the other, Zuo Mo swallowed tightly.

This was the first time he saw a flying sword!

Entirely green, about three feet, body narrow, edge sharp, the light gleaming. If the blow landed, a bloody hole would certainly be a result.

The expressions of the female disciples also changed dramatically! They hadn’t thought that they would encounter a zhuji xiuzhe this time! They had originally been full of confidence for Zuo Mo but it instantly evaporated. There was a large chasm between lianqi and zhuji. To have a lianqi face a zhuji, there wasn’t any room at all for resistance.

The power of the flying sword wasn’t something that a sword energy could contend against.

Xiao Guo’s apple-like face was pale in fright, terrified as she looked at the flying sword.

The person laughed darkly: “Let’s get you to have a good taste of ye’s Green Point Sword!”

At the same time, his fingers fused together as they swept through the air. It was as though the flying sword was intelligent as it suddenly sliced toward Zuo Mo!

The instant the other’s flying sword moved, Zuo Mo calmed down. All the nervousness seemed to have disappeared. He stared straight at the flying sword just like how, in these past days, he waited for that snow white sword essence!

The flying sword moved, and his heart instantly became serene.

The green flying sword might have looked scare but this guy’s power was limited and the feeling of danger that it gave him was far below that pure sword essence from Xin Yan Shishu!

Only a beautiful surface!

The sword essence was flimsy and insubstantial. It actually wasn’t condensed into form, simply just unbearable to look at.

The ling energy in his body revolving quickly, he calmly looked at the flying sword speeding closer. In a flash, his fused fingers lifted up and pointed into space.

A gold sword energy ripped out of his hands.

Ping!

A crisp sound, the sword energy accurately hitting a spot three centimeters behind the sword point. The flying sword shook slightly.

“Humph!” The other snorted. The ling energy revolved and the flying sword turned in midair, creating a half circle of light in the air, extremely beautiful.

Ping!

A sound of metal crashing suddenly sounded. The flying sword suddenly stopped, the half circle of light dissolving. It was like a dancing goddess right at the climax when she suddenly sneezed. All the beauty and elegance instantly disappeared.

The other was shocked and angry!

He could see the person in front of him was relying on a talisman. However, being interrupted two times by the other, and the other was still unharmed, he felt it a blight on his reputation. Facing a lianqi disciple, and two of his moves were ineffective. If this passed into the sect, his shixiong would laugh.

The previous two moves had only been with the intentions of teaching a lesson but now, he didn’t care that much and furiously revolved his ling energy!

The worst that could happen was being punished after getting back!

Gathering the ling energy, the power of the flying sword was drastically different.

The flying sword flew on top of Zuo Mo’s head, a skin of faint sword energy appearing on the sword, emitting a whining sound like an excited animal preparing to leap at its prey.

Zuo Mo raised his head. Shining in his narrowed eyes was a hint of excitement and craziness!

Hitting the target two times in a row greatly increased his confidence. He had no experience fighting against anyone else previously. Last time with Li Ying Feng Shijie, it had only been one move. And facing Xin Yan Shishu’s sword essence in his sea of consciousness, he didn’t even have the power to resist. Not just resist, in front of the vast sword essence, he couldn’t even manage to raise a finger.

But facing the flying sword here, he had successfully blocked the other’s two attacks!

Just this kind of battle success, it was enough for him to be proud. But at this time, he was completely caught up in a kind of strange excitement and zealotry.

He suddenly had an insane idea!

Break this flying sword!

He didn’t know why he would suddenly have such a crazy idea, but this idea was extremely intense once it appeared, so intense that he didn’t go to even think if it was realistic.

The time wasn’t enough for him to think. Under the persuasions of this crazy idea, he also gathered up the ling energy in his body.

Narrowing his eyes, he closely followed the green flying sword above his head!

Scenes passed in front of his eyes.

The pure, concentrated, vast and dangerous sword essence of Xin Yan Shishu, as though it was a tide of icicles seemed to be even clearer in front of his eyes. It was like a great entity, slowly moving, and that feeling of cold didn’t lessen in the least.

Every bit of pain when his consciousness was cleaved seemed to become abnormally clear at this time. He didn’t know if it was the stimulation from the pain but his consciousness was extremely clear as though everything in the surroundings had calmed.

The ling energy in his body swelled and rushed towards the golden sword ring.

He raised his right hand, his fingers fused together as they pointed at the air!

Chapter 29 - Sword Essence

“Has Shixiong heard of Wu Kong Sword Sect?”

Two people were on the mountain, each riding on a green bull. The two green bulls were entirely dark green, their hair smooth, the horns on their foreheads pure black, their manner leisurely as they slowly travelled. It was extremely steady, the two people on their backs as though they were statues, not moving a sliver.

“Haha, with such a ruckus made recently, it would be hard to not have heard.” The older man was called Shi Xiang, a disciple in Chi Sword Sect. The other was his shidi, Liang Luo. Chi Sword Sect was slightly famous in the region of Dong Fu. The two’s innate talents were exceptional. Even though they were limited by their age, but they had power and a reputation.

“Ha, yeah, it’s all so unusual and mysterious, I don’t really believe it.” Liang Luo said as he shook his head.

Shi Xiang glanced at his shidi, laughing inside. Everything about Shidi was good except that he was too proud. But he could understand. Shidi was ten complete years younger than him yet their cultivations were almost the same. If Shidi was in a big sect, he most likely would have limitless potential.

“The sword energy that night, I saw as well. It really was an apparition.” He mused: “To be able to cause an apparition in the world, this person’s comprehension of the sword is astounding.”

Liang Luo was unconvinced: “Pity we can’t encounter him and then have a good practice bout, wouldn’t that be a great thing? I have never heard of this Wu Kong Sword Sect before, I wonder what great luck they ran into.”

Shi Xiang said with a mirthless smile: “Wu Kong Sword Sect was only low-key these past years. Four jindan masters at the back. In all of Dong Fu, it definitely is enough to enter the top ranks.”

“Four jindan masters?” Liang Luo was dumbstruck and couldn’t believe it: “Shixiong, are you sure? Our sect only has three jindan masters? That Wu Kong Sword sect can have four?”

“Yes.” The smile left Shi Xiang, his heart heavy. The division of power in Dong Fu’s surroundings had been at equilibrium a long time ago. Such a strong sect suddenly appearing, it would definitely affect this kind of equilibrium. Additionally, Wu Kong Sword Sect had been biding their time, people couldn’t help but think more.

“In the four, the most powerful is Elder Xin Yan. If it wasn’t Elder Tian Song Ji that exposed his identity, who would have thought the honoured [Ice Dragon Sword] was in our Dong Fu. There’s now one more strong entity in Dong Fu.”

Liang Luo couldn’t help ask: “This Ice Dragon Sword is well-known?”

Shi Xiang smiled, replying: “I had never heard it before, but according to the elders, he has some notoriety. He became known in the yao hunt, his death kill is very high. In the past, there were countless yaomo that died under his sword.”

Liang Luo inhaled sharply. To be able to survive yao hunt, then he was already not a simple character. And to gain a reputation in Yao Hunt, it definitely meant the other was a strong one. He knew this kind of common knowledge.

Just at this time, the two suddenly raised their heads, looking forward.

“Such strong sword essence!” Liang Luo’s expression changed and urged the green bull under him. The warm and slow green bull became a blur and then he disappeared.

Shi Xiang was also slightly shocked. He hurriedly pushed the green bull and vanished.

Zuo Mo felt the right hand that was wearing the golden sword ring was thirty thousand catties heavy. Raising one inch would use up all the energy in the body. All the ling energy inside was like a wild stallion off the ropes, uncontrollably and crazily flooding towards the golden sword ring on his right hand.

His consciousness sunk into a strange kind of void and serenity. The dancing flames in his sea of consciousness froze, as though under a Body Paralysis Spell, frozen and quiet.

In the sky of his consciousness, that star suddenly released a blinding light as it slowly revolved.

Sitting on the gravestone, Pu raised his head. Looking at the shining star above his head, he laughed soundlessly.

Zuo Mo had never felt his mind so clear. Everything seemed to be under his control. He just knew that he needed to quickly send out this sword energy, otherwise the sword energy was very likely that it would explode in his body and he would become a mess of blood and flesh. He also knew that on the other’s flying sword, with its uneven sword energy, he could find at least seven holes.

Yes, he couldn’t find any other descriptor. “Holes”, this label, he felt it was just appropriate.

It was much a wondrous feeling!

He was drowning in enjoyment.

Yet in the eyes of Xiao Guo and the others, at this time Shixiong seemed to be a sword exuding coldness! Every gaze that met his eyes felt their hearts shake. The usually warm and peaceful black pupils were entirely gray white, indifferent and empty, like a borderless tundra.

Even Liang Luo and Shi Xiang who just managed to arrive were shocked. Liang Luo couldn’t control his exclamation: “Whoa!”

Shi Xiang was a much steadier person and saw in more detail. But when he found the other just had a cultivation of lianqi eighth level, his expression couldn’t help change slightly.

The flying sword, shrouded in a green light, turned into a stream of light and howled as it shot at Zuo Mo!

Just at this time, Zuo Mo’s slow moving right hand finally pointed.

Hiss!

It was like a strange beast baring its teeth. The two noises made by the energies ripping through air were dissonant and entirely different.

The temperature in the surroundings plummeted.

A white frosted sword energy leapt from Zuo Mo’s fingertips!

Ping!

Two streams of light, one green, one white, furiously slammed together!

There wasn’t the imagined explosion. The white sword energy that Zuo Mo released seemed like a patch of mist, hitting the other’s flying sword.

The other’s flying sword froze, paralyzed in midair.

That person’s expression changed drastically.

Ding, the flying sword landed on the ground, unmoving like a dead fish.

The weakness due to all the strength in the body being pulled out caused his consciousness to blank. That strange feeling was like the tide as it quickly retreated. But before that, he managed to make out his ice frost sword energy had accurately hit the flying sword in a spot near the back!

That was the most serious “hole” that Zuo Mo had found before. He instinctively chose it as his target of attack.

It was a pity that he hadn’t broken it!

Zuo Mo was regretful but his mind swirled and he fainted on the ground.

The female disciples behind him instantly screamed in fear.

That disciple whose expression changed ran over to pick up his flying sword. When he saw the body was full of cracks, he instantly became angry and sad. When he looked at Zuo Mo on the ground, hatred rose up in his head. He couldn’t help roaring at his other fellow disciples: “You group of trash, what are you standing there for? Chop up this damned guy for me!”

The other disciples murmured but didn’t dare to go up. Zuo Mo’s bravery just now had deeply shocked them. And they weren’t dumb. From the looks of it, this incident would get big. Jumping out at this time, wasn’t it seeking death? The sect elders were too lazy to care about the little incidents that occurred everyday, but if they really wounded someone else, and the other’s elders went to the mountain, then they wouldn’t be well.

Seeing his friends not willing, the leader didn’t waste words. His face was twisted as he held up the flying sword and walked towards Zuo Mo!

Xiao Guo sobbed as she leapt over Zuo Mo’s body. Her small apple face was full of fear but she still kept Shixiong behind her. The other female disciples saw the circumstances, exchanged a look and gritted their teeth as they stood up.

“What do you want?”

“In this daytime, you dare commit a crime?”

“I’m telling you, I’ve endured you guys for a long time. Come on, chop me up! If we don’t find your elders this time to discuss everything, I’m telling you, I’m not a woman!”

……

It might have been they got into the swing of things but as one added a sentence here and another there, the vigor of the female disciples increased.

Watching from far away, Liang Luo also found the clue. He said in shock: “He really just has lianqi eighth level in cultivation? How can he have such a pure sword essence?”

“There are so many geniuses in this world.” Shi Xiang couldn’t resist sighing: “Just lianqi and having such pure sword essence, his potential is limitless! And it was originally a gold sword energy but it could transform into such an icy sword energy. Whose sect has such a disciple?”

Liang Luo was still staring in disbelief at Zuo Mo lying on the ground.

Even now, he still couldn’t believe a lianqi disciple could have such a pure sword essence!

For a sword xiu, the most important and the hardest to practice was sword essence! In the beginning, what they learned was all kinds of sword scriptures. After enduring countless battles and training, they would gradually comprehend sword essence. Sword essence was unable to be described in language. It depended on each individual to comprehend. Sword xiu that comprehended a sword essence were the only kind of real sword cultivators. Even if they didn’t have a flying sword, they still were sharp and unstoppable.

Sword scripture as a model, ling energy as the connection, but the true quintessence was sword essence!

Both of them had a cultivation of ningmai, and had only just entered the doorway to sword essence. Suddenly seeing a lianqi disciple having such pure sword essence, how could they not be shocked?

Holding the cracked flying sword, listening to the curses of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s female disciples, the person’s face turned black and then white, harshly yelling: “All of you, get out of my way!”

“Ah!” The female disciples that had just been aggressive instantly screamed and scattered in fear.

Only Xiao Guo remained as she cried and unwaveringly protected Zuo Mo.

That person held the flying sword, a face full of viciousness as he shouted at Xiao Guo: “Get out of the way!”

Xiao Guo whined as she protected Zuo M, furiously shaking her head.

“You bitch!” The other was enraged. Lifting the sword, he made to slice, frightening Xiao Guo to close her eyes.

Bang!

Without a warning, the person suddenly seemed to have been hit by a large hammer. His entire body flew out five yards and didn’t move.

“Committing a crime publically in broad daylight, which sect are you from?” A calm voice suddenly sounded from behind Xiao Guo.

Two xiuzhe slowly came over, riding on green bulls. The one who spoke was Shi Xiang.

With one move, Shi Xiang had intimidated everyone. Even the most idiotic person knew that the other’s power was several levels higher. Fear came onto everyone’s faces but no one spoke.

“En?” Shi Xiang heavily humphed in dissatisfaction: “Didn’t you hear me speak?”

At this time, a xiuzhe trembled as he came out. He gave a bow, responding: “We are the disciples from Dong Qi Sword Sect. Offending Elder, sorry, sorry!”

Dong Qi Sword Sect. Shi Xiang and Liang Luo exchanged a look, and imperceptibly furrowed their brows.

Shi Xiang sneered: “At what time Dong Qi Sword Sect was able to freely harass the female disciples of other sects? I should go ask Zuo Mei Tian, is this how he teaches the disciples?”

The name Zuo Mei Tian instantly caused everyone’s expressions to change drastically, turning into terror.

“Leave! If you do this again, don’t blame me for not being courteous!” Shi Xiang waved his sleeve and ordered for them to leave.

The disciples of Dong Qi Sword Sect hurriedly took their shixiong and ran frantically as they left.

Turning his face, Shi Xiang looked at the crowd of female disciples. In a warm voice, he said: “Don’t worry, this little brother is only suffering from exhaustion of ling energy, nothing major. Which sect are you from?”

Chapter 30 - Schemes

“Greetings to both elders. We are disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect.” A sensible female disciple hurried answered. The other’s cultivation was astounding, and he had helped them out of trouble. He shouldn’t have any enmity.

Wu Kong Sword Sect!

Shi Xiang and Liang Rong’s expressions instantly became strange. They hadn’t thought that right after discussing someone else’s sect, they actually saved the disciples of that sect and it was a whole crowd.

The two’s gazes uncontrollably landed on Zuo Mo’s body.

“This little brother is?” Shi Xiang tried to make his expression seem normal. In reality, his expression was still strange. This disciple lying on the ground only had a cultivation of lianqi eighth level and naturally could not be Wei Sheng.

When did Wu Kong Sword Sect produce another genius?

Shi Xiang was full of surprise. He had personally seen the apparition when Wei Sheng entered zhuji. The picture of the sword energy rising to the heavens was deeply ingrained in his mind. Every time he thought of it, he would be in awe. Originally, he had assumed that all geniuses in the world would be so yet what he saw today shocked him deeply once again.

He had never heard of a lianqi disciple that could comprehend sword essence!

That disciple’ sword essence was not whole. With his experience, he naturally could see at first glance that this disciple had just touched the door to sword essence. His sword essence could only be called in the fledging stage. But this was enough to surprise him. Even more, this lianqi disciple’s sword essence was extremely weak but it was extremely pure.

This quality made him extremely puzzled.

When normal xiuzhe comprehended the sword essence, at the very beginning, it was always extremely heterogeneous. Over time, through the trials of time, the trials of one’s temperament, it would slowly turn to become pure.

Just touching on the sword essence, and having such pure sword essence, it was something completely unimaginable! Thinking about his hard work these years, his heart didn’t feel good.

When did sword essence become something that even lianqi disciples could play with?

Wu Kong Sword Sect!

This unknown sect suddenly became mysterious in Shi Xiang’s eyes.

A Wei Sheng who caused an apparition in zhuji, and now adding on an unknown disciple who could comprehend sword essence in the stage of lianqi!

“This is our shixiong Zuo Mo.” The female disciple said proudly: “Shixiong is the strongest in our outer sect disciples!”

The other female disciples all nodded their heads in agreement.

What had just happened totally changed their impressions of Zuo Mo. Zombie Shixiong might be a bit greedy, but he wasn’t soft in the face of danger and had a sense of responsibility! When Zuo Mo had comprehended the sword essence and released that last blow, that terrifying presence made them feel deeply intimidated.

Outer sect disciple……

A vein throbbed in Liang Luo’s forehead. A genius that could comprehend sword essence in the stage of lianqi was only an outer sect disciple……

He was very suspicious that he heard it wrong.

Shi Xiang’s expression froze as well before quickly returning to normal. The smile on his face became even warmer: “As expected, it really is heroes come from the youth. Oh, I have a Ling Restoring Dan, it’s just perfect for this. Come, I’ll help him use it.”

He took out a jade bottle from his bosom and poured out a dan about the size of a mung bean. He got off the green bull and coming to Zuo Mo’s side, he shoved the ling restoring dan in Zuo Mo’s mouth.

Liang Luo stared with wide eyes at Shixiong’s enthusiasm. Ling restoring dan wasn’t something cheap. One pill was twenty pieces of second-grade jingshi. Even they only were given a specified portion each month. Shixiong actually gave it to a stranger.

He stared dazedly at Shixiong who seemed like a completely different person feed another ling herbs and even aided him in absorbing the ling herbs.

Zuo Mo slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he saw a strange face. He was instantly startled and unconsciously sat up.

“Little brother, don’t be scared. We don’t have malicious aims.” The other said with a smile and flashed to the side.

The befuddled Zuo Mo stood up and suddenly found his body was warm, wisps of ling energy spreading through his body. The previous exhaustion had all been swept away. Seeing him wake up, the female disciples instantly crowded over, talking over each other as they narrated everything that had happened.

It was only now that Zuo Mo knew he had been saved by the other people. He quickly went in front of Shi Xiang and Liang Luo to bow and give thanks: “Many thanks to both elders for your rescue! This junior can’t thank you enough!”

“Little brother Zuo doesn’t have to be so courteous. I felt you familiar at first sight. Just a minor thing, don’t keep it on the mind.” Shi Xiang smiled and responded: “We are from Chi Sword Sect. Actually, Chi Sword Sect and Wu Kong Sword Sect aren’t that far away. Everyone is like one family.”

Liang Luo wanted to roll his eyes hearing that. What was called not that far away? He had never heard that there was a Wu Kong Sword Sect in the surroundings. What was with shixiong today? Why was he so strange?

Zuo Mo said gratefully: “If the two elders hadn’t lent their aid……”

Shi Xiang waved his hands, interrupting Zuo Mo’s words: “We’ll regard each other as the same generation. I’ll call you Little Brother Zuo. Haha, Little Brother Zuo has a limitless future, maybe it is us that are social climbing.”

“Elder is exaggerating.” Zuo Mo couldn’t understand the other’s meaning. This kind of praises made him puzzled: “Junior is only an outer sect disciple, there’s nothing to speak of in terms of future.”

Shi Xiang brushed away his annoyance: “Is it that Little Brother Zuo doesn’t like us two? Elder, elder, it really is irritating.”

“Uh……” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but struggle. In the world of xiuzhe, other than in the same sect, there wasn’t any distinction of age between different sects. And there was no age in cultivation, and it was hard to distinguish from the appearance. Usually, most of it was divided by the cultivation. Those stronger were elders, no matter their age.

Even though he couldn’t detect the other’s cultivation, but to be able to easily make that crowd leave, these two people were more than sufficient to be called elders by him. He was very sensible. Like that little thousand crane. If he hadn’t been certain that the other wouldn’t find him, he wouldn’t have written such a reply.

Right now, facing the others, he was naturally docile.

Just at this time, Shi Xiang smiled and informed: “You can call us da ge. I am Shi Xiang, he is my shidi Liang Luo.”

大哥: eldest brother

Zuo Mo was incomparably obedient and bowed again: “Shi da ge, Liang da ge!”

The female disciples all looked with admiration at Zuo Mo. To have relations with strong xiuzhe, there were naturally many benefits. This elder in front of them clearly was admiring of Zuo Mo shixiong. Shixiong really hit the jackpot!

As expected, they heard Shi Xiang continue: “Since you have called me da ge, as the brother, I naturally have to have a meeting gift. This [Ice Crystal Sword], even if it is third grade, but its attributes lean towards cold and yin. I saw that Brother Zuo’s sword essence leans towards ice and this flying sword is perfect for you.”

Under a crowd of drooling gazes, Zuo Mo dazedly received this flying sword.

The sword was about two feet and seven or so inches. The body was translucent and sparkling as though it was carved from ice, and emitted cold air.

A pie fell down from heaven and hit him unconscious. The appearance of this flying sword wasn’t ordinary, Zuo Mo straightforwardly converted it to jingshi in his mind……

So many jingshi……

Shi Xiang kept giving looks at Liang Luo. Liang Luo helplessly reached into his bosom and after fishing for a while, took out a folded seal paper with some pain. He threw it at Zuo Mo, coldly informing: “Spirit Travelling Seal.”

Zuo Mo was so happy right now he almost fainted!

He wasn’t clear about the price of the flying sword but he had some knowledge of the price of the spirit travelling seal. The conditions for a person to use the spirit travelling seal was not high. It was one of the rare paper seals that a lianqi could use. Putting this seal on the legs, travel a thousand miles without being tired. It was much faster than his flying paper crane.

Carefully taking the spirit travelling seal, he took a look, and determined inside that this was a third grade Spirit Travelling Seal!

Oh!

This two were so generous! However, the suspicions in his heart increased rather than decreased.

There was no such thing as uncalled for love in this word. These two items, any one of them was worth more than his entire wealth. The other had no reason to carelessly give to someone. This was what really puzzled him.

“Today, we still have other matters so farewell! After a few days, we’ll go to Wu Kong Mountain to find you and have a drink!”

Shi Xiang smiled as he bid farewell to Zuo Mo and, along with Liang Luo, rode the green bulls as they quickly disappeared.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. Seeing the two vanish, after a beat, he suddenly said to the female disciples: “Someone pinch me, is this a dream?”

Seven or eight hands simultaneously reached over.

A shriek echoed on the mountain path!

“Shixiong, what were you doing?” Liang Luo was slightly discontent. A Spirit Travelling Seal naturally wasn’t anything big to him but he wasn’t so generous to give it to a stranger. If it wasn’t that he was extremely trusting of shixiong, he wouldn’t have even paid attention.

Sitting on the green bull, Shi Xiang was pleased: “He is an outer sect disciple.”

“What about an outer sect disciple? There are many outer sect disciples in this world.” Liang Luo said unconcernedly.

Shi Xiang glanced at Liang Luo. He asked in return: “What does Shidi feel about Zuo Mo’s talent?”

Liang Luo choked. A moment later, he squeezed out a sentence: “Not bad, better than me.”

“Shidi has no need to undervalue yourself. If you train hard, you will naturally win over him.” Shi Xiang was afraid that his shidi’s confidence would suffer and comforted. He then said solemnly: “However, such talents, no matter in what sect, he should be one of the more important disciples in the sect. But he actually is only an outer sect disciple!”

Liang Luo wasn’t stupid and instantly reacted: “Does Shixiong want to recruit him into our sect?”

“Why can’t I? Such potential, that Wu Kong Sword Sect hasn’t recognized it, wouldn’t it complete us? An outer sect disciple entering another sect, if Wu Kong Sword Sect came up to our door, they wouldn’t have a foot to stand on.”

Liang Luo knew what Shixiong said was true. The turnover rate and mobility of outer sect disciples were extremely high. Those that entered another sect were countless. If they swindled Zuo Mo over, Wu Kong Sword Sect could not move based on this.

“Such potential, are his elders blind? Could it be an elder purposefully putting him in the outer sect disciples to toughen?” Liang Luo voiced a doubt.

Shi Xiang answered: “Haha, remember how he answered when I praise him for his limitless future? What he said proved that the definitely wasn’t put in the outer sect by the elders. Thinking about that, I feel there is another possibility. It is probably that he only just comprehended the sword essence and his sect elders hadn’t found out yet.”

Liang Luo’s mind jumped: “Then why didn’t we just take him with us right now? If he returns to the mountain and something else happened, wouldn’t it be ruined?”

“Don’t panic. I saw that he was very cautious of us, and there were too many people. If we try too hard now, it would be unlikely to succeed. It’s better to back off first and wait for a few days before we go find him. Move with feelings, entice with benefits, I’m confident it will work.” Shi Xiang explained confidently.

Liang Luo realized: “Shixiong is wise!”

The two smiled at each other.

Chapter 31 - Choice

Zuo Mo had come to Dong Fu many times before and would always window-shop. However, to accompany women, especially a crowd of women to window-shop, this required a very strong endurance of the body, probably only those who cultivated the body could endure.

Seeing that they brought everything they needed, Zuo Mo sneaked away.

He first went to buy the gold ore. What Pu Yao had said last time, he remembered it. He also brought a jade stick full of basic seal formations. Even though there were teachings from the sect, but there were only just a few kinds. Seal formations were something that all xiuzhe had to learn. No matter if it was forging or making dan, it all required understanding seal formations.

Zuo Mo brought them to create ling fields in the future, even if it was far away. The jade stick didn’t cost much, the expensive one was the gold ore. Twenty pieces of second grade jingshi was enough for him to suffer in pain for a long time but he still decided to buy it.

His attitude now was different than before. Before, he only looked at jingshi. Even if he still liked jingshi, but he put more importance on the future.

After Fourth Shigu revealed it, he was clear that he couldn’t return to the past. Those simple aspirations were completely shattered. He was walking on a road that he didn’t know the destination of. What was waiting in the front for him? Breaking into pieces? Finding the answer? He didn’t know.

What had seemed fresh and exciting in the past was now dull and tasteless now.

He found a quiet place to sit down and started to think back to the last sword energy he had released. No one taught him. Even Pu Yao only made him experience it for himself. Towards Pu Yao, he only felt grateful. If there wasn’t Pu Yao, he might not even have the chance to seek answers.

Now that he had the chance, how could he not treasure it?

He hadn’t realized his own transformation. He suddenly understood some of what Wei Sheng Shixiong felt. Obsession, unrelenting obsession! Every time he thought about his appearance being changed, his mind erase, his wooden face would burn with pain like it was reminding him there was a pair of hands that wiped away his face, that were was a pair of hands that wiped away his memories. This burning that seeped in his bones made him unable to tolerate himself muddle-headedly living.

He wanted answers!

He was very clear just how low his starting point was. He didn’t want to waste even one second. He thought of all the ways, worked over his minds, used all his cunning to make himself stronger, to let himself have greater power –– he wanted answers!

In the corner of the busy street, he serenely coiled his legs and mused.

In the roaring sea of fire, Pu sat on the gravestone and lazily listened to the sound tablet.

The female disciples finally brought all they needed. Everyone’s faces were brimming with content. Zuo Mo finally released a breath. He was now in a rush to return back. Today’s encounter let him have a taste of power. He desperately and impatiently wanted to keep training.

But in consideration of the safety of these female disciples, he still sat on the flying paper crane and slowly followed them. But he still took grasp of each bit of time.

Returning to the little yard, the first thing Zuo Mo did was put the black gold worm and the gold ore together, dig a small hole near the ling vein and bury them.

After burial, he entered his consciousness. Facing Pu Yao, he said: “Pu, let’s continue!”

Unexpectedly, Pu lazily said: “Continue? Continue what?”

Zuo Mo blanked before quickly recovering his calm: “What conditions do you have?”

“Hee hee, it’s so convenient talking with smart people.” Pu smiled lightly and straightened: “This is correct, where in the world are there free meals? Hee hee, I want souls.”

“Souls?” Zuo Mo jumped in fear.

Pu Yao’s expression was relaxed and his voice carefree as he said: “Souls are good things. The taste fresh, full of vitality. Blood, human meat, they can’t compare.”

Just a few words and Zuo Mo became quite scared. In his mind, he couldn’t help but think of those great monsters, eating raw human meat, pulling tendons, sucking marrow, eating souls. For a xiuzhe whose dream was becoming a ling plant farmer, things like souls were enough to make him jump out of his skin.

“No way!” Zuo Mo resolutely refused. Pu Yao was truly a great monster!

Even though he wanted power, but he definitely didn’t want himself become a servant of power!

“Didn’t you want to learn the sword? Hee hee, other than the sword, I still have many other things to teach you, I have many talismans. Hee hee, as long as you have good souls, I can exchange all of it……” Pu’s crimson tongue licked his lips, voice full of enticement.

“No way!” Zuo Mo suddenly relaxed. He sat down facing Pu Yao, stating: “I’m not interested in killing people.”

“Oh?” Pu Yao raised a thin eyebrow, his eyes narrowing: “You have to think clearly. Other people’s lives, how can they be as valuable as yours? Heehee, it actually is very simple to kill another. Oh, one soul and I will let you have a good comprehension of this sword essence and can teach you many things.”

“I just knew that you didn’t have good intentions.” Zuo Mo glared fixedly at Pu, coldly stating: “Pity you have the wrong plan.”

Pu Yao continued to chuckle.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt his body tighten and couldn’t move.

“I’m wrong?” Pu Yao suddenly raise his voice.

“Hehe, so many years, no one has ever dared to say I’m wrong in front of me!”

He slowly walked in front of the unmovable Zuo Mo, his icy hands touching Zuo Mo’s neck: “Afraid? Hee hee, great! I really tried many kinds and found that terror is the best flavour in all of the souls. Did you know? Souls that died with great terror, it’s like a beautiful wine that fermented perfectly. Just eating it once, ooh, it is unforgettable.”

A cold finger swiped across the blood vessel on Zuo Mo’s neck, Pu Yao’s expression was mirthful, the crimson red eyes flashed with craziness.

Zuo Mo’s body shook. He kept telling himself not to be afraid, but terror was like a spring that couldn’t be plugged, furiously sprouting out. No matter how he tried, his body wouldn’t move.

“Struggle is useless.” Pu Yao was still smiling, his eyes cold: “Your stupidity really makes me disappointed. Didn’t you know, pets need to realize that they are pets?”

He hated this feeling!

Being manipulated, being controlled, his body not in control……

Something in Zuo Mo’s heart seemed to have lit up. Terror was swiftly taken over by anger. His blood seemed to have be burning. He couldn’t help swearing: “Go to hell!”

“Such a stubborn little thing.” Pu Yao shook his head and smiled, his right hand gently squeezing.

“Ah!” Zuo Mo gave a wail. His entire person seemed to be bound by an invisible hand into a strange shape.

The pain in his body was like countless thin needles piercing his body. His awareness started to dull.

Just at that moment, a warm stream suddenly rose up from Zuo Mo’s chest.

“Want to intefere?” Pu Yao seemed to have found a naughty thing and his mouth had a light smile. His entire body suddenly disappeared from his spot and appeared next to Zuo Mo, his right hands easily thrusting into Zuo Mo’s chest!

Easily taking his hand out of Zuo Mo’s chest, a five colored bead appeared between his fingers.

This bead was the size of a mung bean. It looked like a rainbow glass, light swirling inside.

Leisurely examining the small bead for a while, Pu muttered to himself: “So it was this thing.” Finishing, he prepared to crush the bead.

Just at this moment, his hand suddenly stopped moving.

Wisps of black smoke spread from the gravestone, slow and solid. In the blink of an eye, the sky above the sea of flames was covered by black clouds.

The dancing flames seemed to be quite afraid of these misty black clouds. They shrunk down, a rarely seen sight. The star that was in the sky was also robbed of light by the black clouds.

Pu dazedly stood, motionless. An extremely complicated emotion floated in his bloody eye, seemingly sorrowful, seemingly happy, seemingly fond, seemingly furious……

After a long time, he said lightly.

“You really want to choose such a piece of rubbish?”

The black clouds moved, the layers roiling. The roaring sea of fire seemed to be suppressed, almost extinguishing while that star in the sky had almost completely disappeared.

Pu Yao stood like a tree, seeming to not have registered it.

The black clouds became even thicker. The entire sea of consciousness was now a patch of black, nothing could be seen.

He suddenly sneered, the light flashing in his bloody right eye: “You do know that to want to persuade me, it isn’t that simple.”

The surroundings became quiet. The black clouds didn’t give a response and the two sides were deadlocked.

After an unknown length of time, the light in Pu Yao’s bloody right eyes gradually dimmed. He suddenly laughed lightly, and with the burdens of the ages, he shrugged helplessly: “It’s always like this, so boring.”

His finger flicked and the glass bead in his hands entered Zuo Mo’s body.

The black clouds instantly clear without a trace to be found.

The sea of fire that lost its suppressor started to once again burn fiercely. That star in the sky gave off light.

Pu Yao stared at the gravestone for a long time without speaking.

Zuo Mo slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he hurriedly inspected his body. Seeing it uninjured, he finally gave a breath of relief.

What had happened? Why did Pu Yao let go of him?

Just when he was puzzled, Pu Yao suddenly appeared.

“You really took a long time to wake up.” Pu Yao’s expression was full of mockery: “Such a fragile spirit. Originally, I had wanted to play. I hadn’t bargained for a few thousand years. It ruined my fun. But it is normal. A person that doesn’t have his features or mind, his heart naturally is also soft. I’m so pitiful.”

Zuo Mo was silent. His fists uncontrollably tightened.

“Speaking about it, there is a place that has souls and you don’t have to kill anyone. But it is very dangerous. How about it? Are you interested?” Pu Yao’s expression was leisurely.

“What place?” Zuo Mo asked in spite of himself. Just now, Pu Yao’s words pierced his heart.

“Heehee, you don’t need to know now. Don’t worry, you don’t need to kill anyone. You just have to say whether you agree or not. As to payment, when your conditions are enough, I naturally will let you be satisfied.”

“I agree.” He didn’t think about it further. Zuo Mo nodded. As long as he didn’t have to kill anyone, he wasn’t afraid of danger.

He didn’t have anything else to lose.

“Ai, finally finished this transaction. For a few souls, this really wasn’t easy. Business, not doing it for a long time, I really deteriorated.” Pu Yao ruefully said in an experienced tone.

Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say.

Pu Yao turned his face over: “Alright, let’s discuss another transaction.”

“Another transaction?” Zuo Mo was full of wariness and some puzzlement.

“Jingshi, I require jingshi.” Pu Yao chucked: “Want to experience sword essence? Ten pieces of second grade jingshi each time. How about it, isn’t it cheap?”

Zuo Mo stared with a gaping mouth.

Chapter 32 - Refusal

The little dark gold sword cheerfully flew around Zuo Mo’s fingers. It was extremely fast, leaving behind a dash of gold light like a gold colored lightning bolt.

Zuo Mo’s eyes showed happiness.

[Art of Aged Gold] finally reached the third level! After the third level, the aged gold energy also transformed. The once dark gold sands became even finer and shinier, the gold sword that was formed even more exquisite. It was like a narrow fish, nimbly darting and swerving.

The little gold sword was very small. The region it moved in was only his palm and the sword moves were all very simple. There was none of the grand moves. However, if an experienced sword xiu was here, they could be shocked to find that contained in the movements of this little gold sword was a faint strand of sword essence.

Zuo Mo could also feel this small strand of sword essence. Other than joy, he couldn’t help but feel pain.

Returning home, no matter how hard he tried to remember, he still couldn’t find the feeling of that last sword strike that day. With no other solution, he could only spend jingshi at Pu Yao’s to experience sword essence.

Ten pieces of second grade jingshi each time!

He spent all the jingshi he had and finally comprehended a sliver of sword essence! It was this sliver of sword essence that caused his [Art of Aged Gold] to break through to the third level.

Compared to before, the present Pu Yao was a completely unscrupulous businessman that only recognized jingshi and nothing else. He didn’t know what really happened the last time, why did Pu Yao release him in the end? It was clear that Pu Yao’s attitude towards him had changed slightly.

He seemed even more impatient, even hard to communicate with, if there was no matter about him and he was called, he would ignore … …

But for some reason, Zuo Mo felt the present Pu Yao was much safer, even though he needed to spend large amounts of jingshi.

[Art of Aged Gold] reaching the third level meant that he only needed one more spell to reach the third level before he could become a ling plant farmer. If he became a ling plant farmer, his status in the sect would be drastically different. The sect would supply him with large amount of resources and then he could even more quickly increase his strength.

The question he was facing now was what spell to choose to make a breakthrough.

In the end, he chose [Art of Flora]. In the low level spells, [Art of Flora] was renowned for its complicated finger motions. This was also the reason that Zuo Mo chose it. Finger motions, its trace could be found in almost all low level spells. Low level xiuzhe didn’t have enough cultivation and frequently needed the assistance of the finger motions to completely cast. Even though after the stage of jingdan, finger motions would almost completely disappear, but before that, finger motions was a very useful technique.

Just as Zuo Mo was concentrating on practising his finger motions, Pu Yao, sitting on the gravestone in the sea of consciousness, snorted and said to himself: “You just chose this piece of rubbish?

After practicing for a long time, Zuo Mo found that he was stuck at the same level. If he wanted to improve more, it was very difficult. His finger motions were actually very proficient, but it was always lacking flow. Thinking about the special feeling when he used Art of Flora to help Li Ying Feng shiji and the others weed, he guess that was the direction he should work at. But the profound feeling, similar to when he had released the sword at the enemy last time, no matter how he thought, he couldn’t find it.

Asking Pu Yao! It was a pity that Zuo Mo didn’t have any more jingshi.

For the next following days, he still didn’t have any ideas. The stubbornness in Zuo Mo’s bones was aroused.

Wasn’t it just finger motions?

He thought of a way.

He took out a basin of water. Submerging both hands in the water, he started to practice his finger motions underwater.

The feeling under in the water was expectedly different. The resistance was much greater. The finger motions, originally well practiced, instantly became scattered.

Zuo Mo instantly became alert. He felt he found the direction!

What he was most afraid of was not having a direction. If he could find the direction, he could overcome even the biggest problem.

Just at this time, Shi Xiang and Liang Luo came to visit as they promised. The two’s visit was very unexpected to Zuo Mo. He had originally thought the two were insincere and just said it, and never though they would actually really come.

Two ningmai xiuzhe coming to visit a lianqi outer sect disciple. No one would believe it.

“Haha, Little Brother Zuo, it’s only been a few days, and you’ve improved greatly. I think that very soon you would enter zhuji.” Shi Xiang smiled and then with a face full of concern, said: “Have you prepared what you need for zhuji? I have a few zhuji dan here, the grade isn’t bad.”

Zuo Mo was even more cautious. Unreasonable attention, if it wasn’t malicious, it was robbery. The other was way too enthusiastic and he automatically was on the defence.

His mouth hurried replied: “Shi da ge is too kind. Just a while ago, Fourth Shigu bestowed a zhuji dan, it’s enough for me.”

Liang Luo and Shi Xiang quietly exchanged a look but this didn’t escape Zuo Mo’s watch.

Shi Xiang smiled, responding: “That’s good, that’s good!” Inside, he thought that it was not going well. Had Zuo Mo’s elders started to pay attention to his potential?

“Such a genius such as Little Brother Zuo would always attract attention no matter the place. Haha. When are you becoming an inner sect disciple, we can come and celebrate.” He didn’t give up and probed.

Zuo Mo shook his head: “Our sect needs zhuji before it is enough to become an inner sect disciple. It’s still too early.”

Hope rose in Shi Xiang. His face was greatly shocked: “Oh, but such a great talent as Little Brother Zuo also have to be limited by such old fashioned rules?”

He didn’t know what the other wanted. Zuo Mo said cautiously: “Shi da ge is joking, where do I count as a genius?”

At one side, Liang Luo was already impatient. He always liked being straightforward and crisply opened: “Little Brother Zuo, why don’t you come to our Chi Sword Sect. If you are willing to come, you would definitely be a core disciple!”

Shi Xiang looked nervously at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo blanked. After a long beat, he finally reacted and smiled hesitantly: “Both da ge, don’t joke. This brother knows how much I’m worth.”

Shi Xiang said seriously: “We aren’t joking and are inviting you sincerely. Little Brother Zuo’s talents are exceptional, but the hardship in the long journey of cultivation, I’m sure that Little Brother Zuo is very clear. With your talents, you should try to enter zhuji as fast as possible and leave behind the common duties, concentrate on cultivating and be assisted by guidance from elders. I cannot promise that you could reach the top but becoming jindan, the possibility is very great!”

Zuo Mo stared dazedly at the two people.

“If you are always entangled in these common duties, no matter how good your talents are, they would be wasted.” Shi Xiang said earnestly.

They were sincere……

Zuo Mo believed in the two people’s words but suddenly he also felt this was preposterous. At what time did he become exceptionally talented and was invited by others to enter a sect?

Talent? He didn’t have that kind of thing. Otherwise, would the sect leader not have seen it? The sect leader had been the one that brought him back. In the past he would sometimes think that maybe it was that the sect leader didn’t have good enough insight but the presence that night the sect leader and the shishu had exuded made him understand that the shishu that usually didn’t appear were all powerful and extraordinary people.

The two people were only interested him because of Pu Yao. If other people had the same opportunities as him, they would definitely be much stronger than him.

He thought about two years ago, the instant that he opened his eyes……

Thought about him sweating up a storm in the ling fields……

Shi Xiang and Liang Luo didn’t speak. They were quietly waiting for Zuo Mo’s choice. Even though they didn’t understand what he had to hesitate about. They had given sufficient sincerity. This kind of benefits, giving them to a lianqi disciple, it had never happened at Chi Sword Sect.

After a long time, when the lowered head of Zuo Mo rose and the muddled eyes recovered clarity, the two knew that Zuo Mo had made a choice.

Zuo Mo said earnestly: “Many thanks to both da ge for your good will. This brother appreciates it. These years, I’m used to living in Wu Kong Sword Sect. The sect and the elders have been very attentive to me and I have no intentions of leaving!”

The tone wasn’t heavy but it was full of a kind of determination.

In his sea of consciousness, Pu Yao disdainfully spat out a word: “Idiot!”

Disappointed expressions came upon Shi Xiang and Liang Luo’s faces. But they also knew that it wouldn’t be effective to speak more. They didn’t have the interest in chatting and after exchanging a few more words, they bid farewell.

Sending away the two, Zuo Mo returned to his little yard and stared into space. Then he continued to bury his head in practising [Art of Flora].

The time passed by extremely full. Pu Yao didn’t pay attention to Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo was happy to not be disturbed. If the devil didn’t torment him, he thanked the earth and the heavens. Every day, he would travel to Cold Mist Valley, learn to care for all kinds of ling herbs. After [Art of Aged Gold] reached the third level, the power increased greatly. He inspected all the ling herbs in Cold Mist Valley one by one and found some deeply hidden pests. After spending effort to exterminate those pests, his [Art of Aged Gold] became even more proficient.

He still couldn’t imprint on the flying sword so he decided to use the little aged gold sword to practise sword scriptures and ruminate on sword essence.

In the water, he practised [Art of Flora] and reinforced his finger movements.

All the other time, he devoted it all to [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The main use of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was to increase consciousness but Zuo Mo found that it could also increase ling energy. The effects were much better than his mainstream crappy [Ten Principles Scripture]. He basically abandoned [Ten Principles Scripture] and changed to cultivate [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

Everyday, he only rested for four hours. All the other time was put on cultivation, continuous cultivation.

During this period of time, he wanted his [Art of Flora] to reach the third level.

After this little while, the new cycle of planting ling grains would arrive. He would be occupied. In that case, there would be much less time left for cultivation.

In the basin of water, a pair of withered hands, from fingertip to wrist, were all immersed in water. The parts above the wrist were bare in the air.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were closed, exhaling and concentrating.

Suddenly, the ten thin fingers moved, fast as light, creating layers of undercurrents, the movements adding a kind of cold flavour. The speed at which the fingers moved was extremely fast. The surface of the water was like boiling water, countless undercurrents restlessly moving but what was strange was that not even a drop splashed.

The two wrists seemed to be made of copper, not moving a sliver. The nimbleness of the ten fingers were astounding, the dazzling finger movements changing.

The closed eyes didn’t open. Zuo Mo’s breathing unconsciously became heavier.

The movements of his hands became even faster. The fingers under the water were unable to be distinguished. Splashes bloomed like flowers, the speed became faster, the collision between splashes suddenly became vicious.

The water in the basin seemed to have been lifted by an invisible hand. The surface of the water completely raised up two centimeters.

As the speed of the ten fingers became faster, the surface became even higher.

That pair of withered hands seemed to have a strange attraction, sucking the ball of water and holding it in midair.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo opened his eyes!

The ten fingers in the water suddenly became straight. Bang. The ball of water sucked onto the hands broke like a vase, turning into ten bursts of water arrows, slashing out!

Joy made its way onto Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Chapter 33 - The Spring Sprout Jade Medal

Dong Fu.

As one of the thirteen primary towns of Tian Yue Jie, all kinds of authorities were very developed. Even though Tian Yue Jie was governed by Kun Lun Jing, and it was primarily made up of sword sects, but the requirements of sword xiu to need all kinds of resources wasn’t small. So while the core disciples of all the sects cultivated the sword, they would still try very hard to attract other kinds of xiuzhe.

Different xiuzhe received different treatment. The same types of xiuzhe would also receive different treatment based on their cultivation. Due to this, the evaluations of all kinds of professions were extremely important. It would be a very difficult thing to get a sword xiu to determine the skill level of a ling plant farmer. For each xiuzhe, after being professionally licensed, they could quickly find a satisfactory job in every location.

All kinds of cultivators had their own authorities. The ling plant farmers had the Institute of Ling Plants, the beast speakers had the Institute of Beast Language.

“Congratulations, it’s very rare to see such a young ling plants farmer in Dong Fu. And you have comprehended the fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], your future is limitless!” The ling plant farmer responsible for the exam smiled as he gave Zuo Mo a jade medal. Barely visible inside the medal was a small and tender sprout, five elements energy revolving around it.

The jade medals of a ling plant farmer were sorted into four levels. Spring sprout, summer flower, autumn fruit and winter hibernation. There were even finer distinctions at each level but those exams were extremely complicated. Many ling plant farmers only ever did the licensing for the four levels.

Zuo Mo joyfully took the jade medal. To get this jade medal, he really hadn’t wasted all his effort!

The ling plants farmer in Dong Fu only had the authority to give out spring sprout jade medals. To get a higher level jade medal, he needed to go to a more prosperous place. However, in the short term, Zuo Mo completely didn’t have to consider that problem. The levelling up of ling plants farmers was extremely hard. The summer flower jade medal required all five kinds of spells to reach the fifth level. Other than that, they needed to know how to create ling fields above the fourth grade.

After giving thanks to the elder, Zuo Mo decided to leave the institute. Just as he came out of the Institute of Ling Plants, numerous people instantly circled around.

“Mister Zuo, our sect desperately needs a ling plant farmer, is Mister Zuo willing … …”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s only a small sect, can’t give good benefits. Our sect is much more prosperous, you can ask for all the benefits you … …”

“If you are willing to come to our sect… …”

……

The explosions of sound caused Zuo Mo’s head to turn to a mess.

Just at this time, a deep voice suddenly interrupted: “Sorry, excuse me. Everyone, don’t block my shizhi. Sorry, please make way.” The voice wasn’t loud but everyone heard it clearly. A hidden presence spread and the crowd naturally made way. Just this cultivation was enough to make everyone stop talking.

师侄: refers to disciple of a younger generation, 侄 means nephew

Seeing the smiling fat person not far away, Zuo Mo’s heart jumped and he hurriedly went up to bow: “Third Shishu!” And then bowed to Li Ying Feng behind Yan Le: “Shijie!”

The smile on Yan Le’s face was harmonious and affable. He patted Zuo Mo’s shoulder: “Not bad, not bad. Didn’t think a ling plant farmer could come out of our sect. The sect leader will be ecstatic. If it wasn’t that I had something to do in Dong Fu, I’m afraid I wouldn’t even know.”

At this time, Li Ying Feng added: “When Shidi went weeding a short while ago, I knew that our sect would soon have a ling plant farmer. But I didn’t think Shidi would be this fast. Shidi, congratulations!”

“Just a fluke, fluke!” Facing Yan Le Shishu, Zuo Mo was extremely nervous. A great monster was still living in his head.

If Shishu found out … …

He barely kept his composure, his mouth going: “My luck was good recently. Originally, even I thought it would take longer.”

“This clearly says that our sect is soon to rise!” The smile on Yan Le’s face became energetic: “Let’s go, today is a happy occasion. Pick whatever you like, it would be Shishu’s gift to you.”

Li Ying Feng smiled from the side, adding: “Yeah, Shidi made this such an unexpected attack, as a shijie, I didn’t even have time to prepare a present.”

“No, no, Shijie is too polite.” Zuo Mo furiously waved his hand. Standing beside Third Shishu, he was extremely nervous and didn’t dare to even breathe heavily.

But Third Shishu started to talk and pull him at the same time.

Of the wealthiest in the sect, Third Shishu would be the wealthiest. Third Shishu had managed all the assets of the sect for many years and accumulated much wealth. Based on what could be seen now, Yan Le shishu seemed to want to nurture Li Ying Feng shijie into his successor. Zuo Mo felt this was pretty good. Li Ying Feng shijie was straightforward and honest, knew how to conduct herself and had a pretty good relationship with him.

The store that Third Shishu took him to was naturally much higher class than what he normally shopped at. All kinds of talismans dazzled his eyes, a veritable feast.

What he picked most of was jade sticks. For him, the jade sticks that recorded all kinds of scriptures and spells were what he needed the most.

Yan Le also noticed it and his attitude towards Zuo Mo became even more amiable. The fact that Zuo Mo would get the spring sprout jade medal before he entered zhuji was proof of his exceptional talents. After getting the jade medal, he wasn’t greedy and lived it up. What he picked the most were still jade sticks, that meant that he had strong motivations to keep going.

A young disciple that had both of those points, even if they didn’t have good opportunities, they would definitely reach a pretty good height.

There wasn’t an elder that didn’t like this kind of disciples, especially Yan Le who was used to the mediocrity of the disciples in the sect. He knew that there hadn’t been any attention paid to this disciple in the past. If he didn’t rope him in now, then he would be too stupid. Today, he had been coincidentally been at Dong Fu to take care of matters. Hearing that someone had received a jade medal, he had come over to see if he could attract them and hadn’t thought it would be a disciple of his sect.

He couldn’t help picking out a pile of talismans that Zuo Mo could have a use for.

At the side, Li Ying Feng also recognized that even though her zombie shidi hadn’t entered zhuji, but in reality, he had already become one of the core disciples.

Maybe in the Wu Kong Sword Sect of the future, Wei Sheng Shixiong would be in charge of fighting, Zuo Mo Shidi of internal matters, and she would take over her master’s role and be responsible for external matters. Especially since no one could replace her and Zuo Mo in their roles. Looking at it now, Luo Li Shixiong was unable to threaten Wei Sheng Shixiong’s position. Also, Wei Sheng Shixiong’s relationship with Zuo Mo Shidi was extremely good. For the elders, they were naturally happy to see everyone cooperating.

Li Ying Feng, who sorted out her thoughts, was also generous and gave two talismans to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s mind was completely blown. Holding a pile of talismans and jade sticks, his awareness was dizzy. Any item that he was holding now, in the past, was something he dreamed about. Now he was holding a pile in his hands.

The affable smile on Shishu’s face made him think of a previous life. In the past two years, after the first time he met the sect leader when he woke up, he had never spoken to another shishu after that.

And all of this, it was only because he received a jade medal.

The grey beaked goose flew steadily, it’s back broad and soft. It was very comfortable sitting on the top, nothing that Zuo Mo’s impotent flying paper crane could compare to.

“Little Mo doesn’t have a steed yet.” Yan Le said and turned to order Li Ying Feng: “I remember there are still a few more grey beaked geese, send one to Little Mo. Tell the people below to send over ling grass as necessary.”

“Yes.” Li Ying Feng noted it down.

Zuo Mo thought to himself, their sect does have some wealth.

When the three reached the gates of the mountain, the outer sect disciples had already lined up at the gates to welcome them. It was evident that the sect leader had already known of the news that he had received a jade medal.

Their gazes as they looked at him were extremely complicated. Jealousy, admiration, dissatisfaction……

Just a day ago, everyone was the same outer sect disciples. Today, they needed to come out to welcome him. Not many people had been surprised that Wei Sheng shixiong would become an inner sect disciple since he had been the first among the outer sect disciples and established a powerful image in their hearts.

But among them, Zuo Mo hadn’t been exceptional. Other than his [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and that face that never had an expression, there were very few places which he had that people would remember.

Some of the people had caution and fear in their eyes as they looked at Zuo Mo. They had once bullied Zuo Mo and was afraid he was going to get back at them now. Even the most stupid knew that it was certain that Zuo Mo was going to become an inner sect disciple.

Seeing the looks of these people, Zuo Mo’s heart wasn’t comfortable either but felt slightly relieved. He had finally left this group, that meant that he had made progress. For him, any kind of progress right now was incredibly valuable and he didn’t care about the looks of the other outer sect disciples.

The grey beaked goose didn’t slow down but followed the mountain path past the outer sect disciples respectfully standing as it climbed.

Wu Kong Hall was the discussion place of Wu Kong Sword Sect. Many of the main matters of the sect were held here. When Zuo Mo and the others arrived, the sect leader and the other shishu were already waiting in Wu Kong Hall, faint expressions of joy on their faces.

The fact that someone from the sect could qualify for a spring sprout jade medal was definitely an unexpected delight. And such a young disciple, his future would be limitless. First there was Wei Sheng who had such outstanding talent and now there was a disciple in lianqi that could receive a medal. They were completely bowled over by joy!

Facing so many of the shishu for the first time, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be nervous. Xin Yan Shishu’s pair of cold eyes made him feel there was a blade behind his back, his entire body frozen.

Please ……please……Pu Yao don’t make a fuss now!

Just as he was nervous, the sect leader Pei Yuan Ran opened: “At the beginning when I picked you up, I didn’t have too many expectations for you, and didn’t give much care. To be able to achieve all this, it is all your own efforts and extremely rare. To not give up in such a hopeless situation, swimming against the current, very good! In our sect, whatever strength you have determines the level of treatment. You showed your potential and so the sect will treat you better, do not have hate.”

Pei Yuan Ran was very straightforward. The bits of hate in Zuo Mo’s heart had dissipated much upon hearing the sect leader’s words.

“This disciple doesn’t dare.” He said with his head lowered.

Pei Yuan Ran nodded his head and his voice became warmer: “Now that you have a jade medal, you are the only ling plant farmer in our sect. The treatment in the past is naturally not appropriate for you. I heard your Fourth Shigu say that you are responsible for the medicine fields of Cold Mist Valley now. This will depend now on whether you have the interest. From this day onwards, you are formally one of the inner sect disciples of our sect. You will receive the same allowance of jingshi as your other shixiong. Other than that, our sect’s West Wind Valley has a patch of empty third grade ling fields, that will be given to you. The ling energy is thick in the valley, you could move to live inside the valley and try to enter zhuji earlier. If you need anything, you can ask your Third Shishu. As to the ling fields inside the valley, you can plant whatever you want. We will not interfere. You can also use the other empty ling fields in the sect, but at the end you need to give three tenths to the sect.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened, his gaze stupified. He felt that he was going to faint—the sect leader was giving an entire mountain valley to him!

Chapter 34 - Inner Sect Disciple

Pei Yuan Ran looked at Zuo Mo who was stupefied and a mirth filled smirk flashed at the corner of his lips.

“All inner sect disciples must have a master. Since you received the spring sprout jade medal, you should go under your Fourth Shigu’s line. Your Fourth Shigu is skilled at making dan. No one else in the sect can compare to her knowledge of ling herbs. Even in Dong Fu, she is famous for this knowledge. What do you think of becoming her pupil?”

Zuo Mo shook and instantly reacted. Bowing his head to Shi Feng Rong he said: “This disciple greets Master!” Entering Fourth Shigu’s line, it was the best possible outcome for him. His skills laid in farming and that is very beneficial for making dan. The demands of ling herbs in making dan were very large.

“Stand.” Shi Feng Rong said lightly, her voice sounding like her usual iciness.

Zuo Mo obediently stood.

“Shimei, in the future, he’ll be in your care.” Pei Yuan Ran said solemnly.

“Shixiong, don’t worry. I definitely wouldn’t conceal any of my knowledge. But if he isn’t willing to put any effort in, Shixiong cannot blame me.”

Shi Feng Rong’s cold words were like a basin of ice cold water that instantly woke Zuo Mo from his joy. He suddenly had a bad feeling. The implication in Master’s words made him feel apprehensive.

Pei Yuan Ran nodded his head and spoke: “This is good,” Turning to ask Zuo Mo: “Do you have any questions?”

Zuo Mo shook his head rapidly to show he didn’t have any more questions. Originally, he had wanted to ask if he could ask Second Shishu if he had any questions about forging.

He suddenly remembered that the snow white sword essence that tortured him countless times, and made him want to die, that it originated from Xin Yan Shishu? The words that reached his mouth instantly shrunk back. He felt that he was crazy, why would he ever have such a stupid idea?

Wasn’t that walking straight into a trap?

Pu Yao was still in his consciousness.

After his fright dissipated, his brain instantly recovered its clarity. He felt that in the future, he had to be a bit more careful. He might be an inner sect disciple now, but if Pu Yao was exposed, he was certain that the first reaction of Xin Yan Shishu was to cut him up along with Pu Yao!

Subdue yao and exterminate mo!

That was too terrifying!

Even though he was not as terrified as he used to be when facing that sword essence but that was only in his consciousness. In the real world, one blow from Xin Yan Shishu’s sword was enough to tear him into countless pieces. Pu Yao might be arrogant in front of Zuo Mo, but Pu Yao estimated if he had to face Xin Yan Shishu, he would also be killed instantly.

He still remembered the scene when Xin Yan’s sword cleaved the black sea.

Pei Yuan Ran detected Zuo Mo’s nervousness but didn’t put any importance on it. Which disciple in their sect didn’t tremble when they saw the masters? The sect leader and the shishu were all very busy. Even though it was a delight that Zuo Mo became a ling plant farmer, but the Shishu wouldn’t spend too much time on this matter.

The sect leader gave a few more words of encouragement and then left with the other shishu.

Shi Feng Rong moved away gracefully and Zuo Mo hurried to catch up.

Shi Feng Rong didn’t turn her head back and said, seemingly to herself: “I have warned you, but in the end, you choose the road to walk. Since you are now my disciple, I naturally will have my demands. Your private matters, I will not interfere but what I order to be done, you have to complete it.”

Following behind, Zuo Mo’s heart almost jumped out of his chest as he answered: “Yes!”

“Go attend to your own matters. After a few days, I will send someone to find you,” Shi Feng Rong said.

Zuo Mo carefully saw his master away, his heart very depressed. It seemed that his master wasn’t easy to interact with!

Returning to his little yard, he found the outside was full of people. Almost all the outer sect disciples were waiting for him.

“Ai ya ya, Shixiong’s back!

“I had said it before, with Shixiong’s talents, wouldn’t getting an inner sect position be easy?”

“Shixiong, this is a small token of Little Brother’s regard. Not enough to pay respects, shixiong, don’t look down… …”

…….

Zuo Mo’s head swelled up. Originally, he had prepared to reject the gifts, but noticing the worried glances of these people, he accepted the various gifts. As expected, when they saw him accept the gifts, these outer sect disciples all gave expressions of joy. Knowing that they would disturb Zuo Mo, they only gave their congratulations and stayed for a short while before leaving.

The little yard finally returned to its normal silence. Releasing a breath, Zuo Mo held a large pile of various gifts as he walked into the yard and put the gifts down.

This entire day today was so fantastical.

Taking out the spring sprout jade medal, he gently caressed it, feeling the fineness and smoothness of the jade medal.

His body was very tired but his mental state was still excited. The sect leader had divided an entire mountain valley to him. Even though part of it was due to his ling plant farmer profession, but this kind of benefits was still very generous. Other than Wei Sheng Shixiong, it probably would be him that had the best benefits.

Suddenly remembering the jade box that he had buried in the ling vein of the seclusion room, he instantly became alert.

Quickly running to the seclusion room, carefully digging out the jade box, he opened it for a look. The gold ore had disappeared as expected, and the black gold worm had clearly changed. There was a new additional mark on the pure black shell similar to a coin, extremely eye-catching.

Zuo Mo ran into his sea of consciousness. Pu Yao was sitting on the gravestone, listening to the sound tablet. He didn’t even blink an eyelid. Shrouded in the black clouds, the red rhombus shaped jewel was alluring and attractive.

After last time, Pu Yao had continued to maintain this attitude. He seemed like a completely different person than before.

“Pu, has this black good worm reached fourth level?” Zuo Mo tried his best to make his tone as friendly as possible.

“Five pieces of second grade jingshi.” Pu reached out a palm.

As expected……

When did this guy become even more greedy than he was? Zuo Mo didn’t get it. Almost all of his jingshi ended up in Pu Yao’s wallet, yet he hadn’t found Pu Yao using the jingshi for anything. Pu Yao was like a bottomless hole that ate jingshi.

Supposedly yao could eat souls. However, compared to just a lianqi cultivator, yaomo was an insurmountably strong and incredibly distant entity. What function did eating souls have, only ghosts would know. In the future, he should go to the records in the sect where it was possible to find some traces. In any case, now that he was an inner sect disciple, the records in the sect were open to him.

But right now, he could only comply.

“Okay.” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and decided to spend the money.

When his voice landed, five pieces of jingshi disappeared from his wallet. On this point, Pu Yao was much better than before. He would never take extra.

“Yes.” Pu Yao spat out a word.

Glee rose in Zuo Mo’s heart. He remembered that Pu Yao had said that fourth grade black gold worms were able to find ling veins.

“How do I get it to find ling veins?”

“Fifty pieces of second grade jingshi!” Pu Yao made an outrageous demand without even raising an eyelid.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. After a moment, he gave a wail: “You’re killing me!”

This was definitely premeditated. Zuo Mo only had fifty two pieces of jingshi remaining. He hadn’t thought that Pu Yao’s opening quote was his entire wealth.

Pu Yao disregarded Zuo Mo’s struggle: “I increase the amount by ten jingshi every day.”

Zuo Mo almost spat blood, but Pu Yao was at a complete advantage. Zuo Mo had no other choice. Gritting his teeth, he said fiercely: “Fine! If it’s fifty, then fifty it is!”

Clink, clink, clink. The sound of jingshi moving was extremely clear.

Pu Yao was doing it on purpose!

Zuo Mo’s teeth itched in hate but he didn’t have any solution. An enormous benefit was enticing him. If the black gold worm really could find ling veins, it would be nothing less than a long-term benefit for him. Finding ling veins, he could then create high grade ling fields. Adding on his techniques as a ling plant farmer, no matter what he planted, it was certain that there was more profit to be made.

Right now, he was an inner sect disciple. If he could find a new ling vein, other than giving up a portion to the sect, the large majority would still land in his pocket.

Jingshi was one of the factors of strength, especially when he had at his side a money-grubbing yaomo like Pu Yao!

Pu Yao threw a spell fragment at him. This spell allowed him to control ling worms, and it was very short and easy to learn. Zuo Mo easily learnt the spell in a short amount of time.

Zuo Mo treated the worm like treasure.

If his own yard had a small section of ling veins, it was possible there were more ling veins in the Wu Kong Mountains. Every section of ling veins were very valuable, even the thinnest ling vein.

Even though West Wind Valley had been assigned to him, but ling fields, especially high grade ling fields were in short supply. Just his master’s place, it needed large amounts of ling fields to support. The price of high grade materials were just way too expensive.

He had started to try to engage in business. The benefits of a ling plant farmer was pretty good, but it wasn’t as fast at earning jingshi like other kinds of xiuzhe.

The little section of ling vein in the seclusion room had disappeared already. Zuo Mo speculated that it disappeared due to the black gold worm absorbing all of the ling energy. Even though he had meditated there for a long time, the ling veins hadn’t been affected at all. It must have been that he was in lianqi, and the amount of ling energy he absorbed each time he mediated was a pitiful amount so the ling veins hadn’t been affected. In the process of the black gold worm increasing its grade, it needed too much ling energy and in the end, caused the ling vein to disappear.

However, this caused the last regret in Zuo Mo’s heart to disappear. The most valuable thing in this entire yard was this section of ling vein.

He decided to go take a look at West Wind Valley.

West Wind Valley was located between three peaks, but as none of the three peaks were high, the sunlight that streamed into the valley was plentiful. Compared to the coldness and humidity in Cold Mist Valley, this place was much warmer and welcoming.

Holding the copper medal the sect leader had given, Zuo Mo carefully avoided the jinzhi along the road. The jinzhi in this place wasn’t as strict as Cold Mist Valley but far beyond anything that a zhuji cultivator could content, much less the little lianqi cultivator that Zuo Mo was. But his spiritual power just had to be much stronger than the typical lianqi so the pressure he felt from the jinzhi was much stronger than normal xiuzhe.

Carefully passing through the jinzhi, he could see this was much more desolate than Cold Mist Valley.

The geography of the valley was very flat. There was only a patch of about twenty mu of ling fields. Based on the looks, it seemed to be third grade. Even though the weeds were growing all around, but there were still people who came to this twenty mu of ling fields at intervals to take care of it. The grade hadn’t dropped.

Twenty mu of ling fields wasn’t very much but this twenty mu of ling fields was going to become his personal property. The entire West Wind Valley was going to become his private property. In here, he could do whatever he wanted.

This benefit was very generous!

Looking at the ling energy encapsulated in the ling fields, and the enormous mountain valley that belonged to him, a feeling of satisfaction rose. The only regret Zuo Mo had was that there wasn’t a waterfall here. If there was a small waterfall, it would be perfect.

Looking at the old trees and weeds in the surroundings, his heart suddenly moved.

Taking out the black gold worm from his bosom, he casted the spell. The black god worm spread out on the ground and started to slowly crawl.

Since this place belonged to him, then if he explored it, it should be very reasonable!

Honk honk honk!

Zuo Mo’s strange gong-like laugh echoed through West Wind Valley.

Chapter 35 - Discovery

The black gold worm, once it landed on the ground, was motionless. After a while, the antennas started to wave, reaching out in every direction. No wonder it was a fourth grade black gold worm, Zuo Mo praised it silently, this kind of intelligence was not something normal ling worms would have.

The black gold worm raised its head after a while, the two antennas in the front slightly shook as it quickly crawled along the ground. It sometimes stopped or sometimes slowly proceeded. Zuo Mo carefully casted the control spell, tightly following the worm from behind, not daring to relax his watch even slightly.

Other than the ling fields, various weeds dominated all other areas of the valley. This created some difficulties for Zuo Mo. He took out the ice crystal sword that Shi Xiang had given him to cut out a path. Grasping the translucent ice crystal sword in his hand, it gave off a kind of bone-aching cold. The good thing was the blade was extremely sharp and pretty good at cutting up grass and wood.

Suddenly, the black good worm stopped but then went at an even faster speed, it went deep into the grass covered land.

Zuo Mo instantly became alert!

Carrying the icy crystal sword, he followed right after.

The black gold worm stopped in front of a protruding rock. Following closely behind, Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes and started to examine this large piece of rock. The rock was a normal granite, about fifty or sixty feet tall. From the outside, there was nothing special about it. Was the mystery located inside the rock?

In any case, this place was his own private one. It didn’t matter how he played with it. Lifting up the ice crystal sword, he started to dig at the rock.

Granite might be hard but facing a third grade flying sword, it was like tofu. In a short while, Zuo Mo dug out a large hole. As expected, the black gold worm climbed into the hole. This caused Zuo Mo to be even more motivated, his hand moving faster.

This rock was even bigger than he had imagined. When he dug for more than an hour, and it was seventy or eighty feet deep, it still hadn’t reached the bottom. In the end, Zuo Mo wasn’t one of those that cultivated the body. His two arms seemed to be filled with lead, his entire body almost falling apart.

“No way, it’s killing me.” He collapsed on the ground, panting as he looked dispiritedly at the black gold worm lying on the bottom of the hole.

“Bro, you are really obsessed. Ge can’t do it, need to sleep first.” He grimaced at the black gold worm. Finishing, he fell into a deep sleep in the hole he had just dug.

When Zuo Mo opened his eyes, he saw a patch of blackness. Sitting up, the moonlight came in through the opening of the hole. The inside of the hole was slightly illuminated. The black gold worm was still silently motionless at the bottom of the hole, the gold coin on its back releasing a faint gold light in the dark of the rock hole.

It was already night. Zuo Mo drifted off into his thoughts for a while before he took up the ice crystal sword again.

“Brother, let us continue!”

Ding ding, dong dong. The continuous sound of a sword cutting rocks rang inside West Wind Valley.

Zuo Mo continued to dig mechanically straight down until the sky was almost filled with light. Zuo Mo suddenly felt the icy crystal sword in his hand had cut into empty space. His heart instantly jumped, his exhaustion swept away!

Putting power into his hands, he quickly cut out the last thin piece of rock. Behind the rock was a large black hole.

Zuo Mo’s heart couldn’t help but beat wildly!

The black gold worm didn’t hesitate. Fllashing into the black hole, it quickly vanished. Zuo Mo forced himself to swallow his spit and he hesitated for a moment before holding the ice crystal sword and squeezing into the black hole.

The black hole was much deeper than he had imagined. As he went deeper, his heart became heavier. There were clear signs of human cutting in here, but it would have been long ago since there was a strong moldy odor in the cave. Who had made a dwelling here? Was this the tomb of one of the sect’s elders?

This guess made him very excited.

He walked quickly into the deeper regions. There was a thin connection being maintained between him and the black gold worm. He was able to know things about the situation ahead.

Very quickly, he saw the black gold worm. In the darkness, the gold coin mark of the black gold worm could be seen from far away. The black gold worm was spread out over a lump, unwilling to leave.

Zuo Mo scanned the surroundings. This was a very crude stone room. There was a spring in the corner, a stone desk, a stone bed, and nothing else.

When he went closer, Zuo Mo was frightened out of his wits!

The black gold worm was actually on a pile of bones! Zuo Mo’s heartbeat increased. His mouth became dry, he resisted the great terror inside himself and walked for a closer look. He didn’t know whose remains these were. It was spread out on the ground. From the appearance, it seemed to have been a long time ago. He looked around. His eyes suddenly became dumbstruck and then he showed a joyous expression.

This was the death place of one of the sect’s elders!

With the fastest speed possible, he picked up the various jade sticks and talismans on the ground. He seemed like an extremely hungry beggar who suddenly saw bread. There weren’t many talismans, and it had been too long since they were supported with ling energy, their functions were almost entirely gone. In comparison, there were many more jade sticks, about twenty or so.

He explored every corner, not leaving anything behind before Zuo Mo’s eyes once again went back to the pile of bones. The black gold worm was lying on that pile of bones, motionless, but the gold coin mark on the back seemed slightly brighter.

To have died here, it definitely was his sect’s elders. He had received such a big convenience from them. Pondering for a second, Zuo Mo bowed three times to the pile of bones and then lightly buried the bones in a corner.

Moving away the bones, Zuo Mo found that there was actually a prayer mat underneath the bones.

Prayer mat……

He blanked.

This white mat, it was almost the same as the mat that the nameless shixiong had left behind in the seclusion room at Zuo Mo’s little yard.

He hurriedly poured out the jade sticks that he had put away in front of him. One by one, he poured ling energy in. After a while, he managed to generally understand the cause and effect.

This rock room was the death place of an elder in the sect, but this elder was actually an outer sect disciple. What Zuo Mo felt even more unimaginable was that this was the elder who had always been an outer sect disciple but almost managed to enter jindan, who was also the previous owner of Zuo Mo’s little yard!

The matters of the world were just this fantastical.

Zuo Mo dumbly sat there and couldn’t help but sigh. This shixiong, called Wei Nan, was an outer sect disciple from three hundred years ago. He had a special ability. He was naturally sensitive to ling veins. So he could find that weak ling vein, build the little yard and painstakingly cultivator. Even though he had the help of the ling vein, but he didn’t have good talent at cultivating and just barely kept up with the other disciples.

He had great ambitions and didn’t want to live a mediocre life. He racked his brains and thought of all kinds of methods.

In many places, Wei Nan Shixiong was extremely similar to Zuo Mo. Wei Nan also chose ling plant farmer as his best path to riches. However, his talents in the area of the five elements were not as good as Zuo Mo’s, and it took him five long years before he barely became a ling plant farmer. But Wei Nan didn’t tell anyone else. From then on, he started to learn how to make dan, yet his talents in making dan was also average. After spending ten years, he finally managed to make his first fourth grade ling dan.

He developed slowly in cultivation yet his talent developed rapidly. He was even able to detect the ling veins buried deep underground. When he was thirty seven, he found this ling vein.

Afraid that the sect would take it away if they knew, he quietly created this rock room.

Taking advantage of the ling veins, he finally reached ningmai at forty years of age. At this time, he was still an outer sect disciple. Wei Nan was extremely talented at concealment and pretence. No one in the sect managed to find that his cultivation had risen to ningmai. Due to the fact that his potential truly was too average, he was afraid that his ningmai cultivation would cause the elders in the sect to be suspicious and from that, find the sect of the ling veins. He was satisfied with seclusion. After painstaking management through the years, he had some measure of wealth. He continuously purchased all kinds of jade sticks. What he learned was extremely broad and mixed.

He didn’t know what caused it but in that period of time, the progression of his ling energy became faster. He was extremely happy and put even more effort into collecting all kinds of jade sticks. The more odd the jade stick, the more he was obsessed. And no matter how strange the jade stick, he would always try it out. When he had reached fifty years old, the number of spells and scriptures he needed to practise each day reached fifteen kinds.

At that time, he knew he had no hope of entering jindan and killed off his dream. In the following twenty years, he started to organize and study the variety of odd jade sticks and scriptures that he had collected.

His cultivation was limited but his scope of knowledge and spells was very wide. There weren’t many that could compare to him. In addition, he had cultivated many of the unpopular scriptures for a few decades and had many conclusions. Comparing the different scriptures, he finally managed to finish the summary and organization of all the types of scriptures he had collected through his lifetime.

In total, there were twenty sticks. No name, nothing too profound. It was the last thing he left in this world.

Carefully putting away the jade sticks that were on the ground, Zuo Mo was full of respect for this Elder Wei Nan. He lifted the mat, went to the spring and carefully poured water over to wash it. Even though so many years had passed, after a gentle wash, the mat once again recovered its snowy white appearance. This mat wasn’t something ordinary. It was made from Meditation Grass and its effect was to calm the heart. It wouldn’t decay, won’t have worms for hundreds of years. It was much rarer than the mat from the little yard.

He put the mat back in its original spot and sat on it.

A thick ling energy seemed to pour in through his skin!

He quickly entered mediation and became motionless. Beside the mat, the black gold worm was also motionless, abnormally quiet. Only the gold coin mark on the back flashed with a gold light.

When he woke up from meditation, Zuo Mo couldn’t disguise the ecstasy in his eyes. This ling vein, compared to the ling vein in his little yerd, was much greater! If the ling vein in the seclusion room of the little yard could be said to be a small branch, then this ling veins was like the stem!

The abundant ling energy made one unconsciously comfortable.

With such a high quality ling vein, he could quickly enter zhuji. He had decided, in the future, this would be his secluded cultivation room!

When Zuo Mo squeezed out of the rock hole, the blinding sun outside made him unconsciously narrow his eyes. Turning and carefully covering up the hole, he scattered the granite that he had dug out into the weeds. Nothing could be seen.

After finishing , he released a breath.

Just at this time, Li Ying Feng came looking for him with other people. Because there wasn’t any buildings in West Wind Valley, if Zuo Mo was going to live inside the valley, then it required building a house. She was naturally in charge of this kind of matter and personally came to ask about Zuo Mo’s preferences and needs.

After attentively listening to Zuo Mo’s demands, she waved her hands and the other outer sect disciples instantly started to move.

In half a day, a little yard was built. Zuo Mo named it the Little West Wind Yard.

The Little West Wing Yard became his new home.

Chapter 36 - Encounter Again

The Little West Wind Yard became one of the important places in Wu Kong Sword Sect, especially for outer sect disciples. Its importance far surpassed the residences of all other inner sect disciples. The great majority of outer sect disciples farmed and what they were most afraid of were problems in the ling fields. Having a ling plant farmer in the sect, they felt more secure. At least when a problem occurred now, they knew they could find someone.

A brand new yard appeared in the valley. The outside walls were constructed from limestone. The fine patterns and the cool hardness of the limestone added a few hints of serenity and peace. The vines were like a waterfall, the stars in the sky occasionally reflecting, glittering and speckled. The pond in the yard wasn’t the mud pond in his previous residence. First grade Purple Fire Lotus were planted in the pond. The purple lotus flowers were like purple flames that were burning in the water. In the night, they would release a hazy purple light. Between the purple fire lotuses, the silver scissor fish swam happily. It was like countless blades crashing together, dozens of silver lines intersecting, blinding to the eye.

Zuo Mo wasn’t in the mood to admire the beautiful scenery. Just like before, he would go to Cold Mist Valley at the same time every day to make rain and take care of the plants. Now that he was an inner sect disciple, the rule that it was not allowed to fly inside the mountain was not valid for him. Putting on the spirit travelling seal, each of his steps was a small flight. His speed wasn’t slower than those flying steeds. Other than saving a lot of time, he enjoyed the process very much.

These days, during the daytime, he was like normal as he cared for the ling fields. At night, he would quietly run to the ling vein in the rock room to meditate and practise [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

Even though the primary purpose of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was to cultivate the spirit, but the increase in ling energy was also pretty good and much better than [Ten Principle Scripture]. Adding on the help of the ling vein, after a few days, his progress was astounding! Without him detecting it, his cultivation quietly broke through to the ninth level of lianqi.

The ling vein in the rock room became Zuo Mo’s biggest secret other than Pu Yao. He was especially careful. In order to disguise the opening, he just didn’t use a piece of granite to seal the entrance, he also planted large amounts of weeds and shrubs around the opening. From the outside, there was nothing that could be detected. His only worry was that elders like his master or the sect leader would come here so he didn’t dare to put out any jinzhi. With his skill, the jinzhi he would create would be completely ineffective against the sect leader and the other and would arouse their attention instead.

His days were extremely leisurely. Other than the provision of jingshi each month, there was also a provision of ling grains. He had planted ling grains for two years yet had never ate it before.

The ling grains were filled with rich ling energy. And when it was absorbed, it was extremely gentle, unlike the forceful nature of the ling energy absorbed from the jingshi, and used if one had to go to some special places like Bloody Heaven Metropolis Jie. Three thousand years ago, yaomo were defeated. In order to preserve their strength, the last remaining one hundred or so great powers of the yaomo, using their own bodies and blood as the guide, as seven medium jie as the axis, forty nine little jie as the screen to create Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie and stopped the xiuzhe in their steps. Inside Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, all of the ling energy became extremely unrefined and unordered. Xiuzhe basically had no way of absorbing it.

Those that travelled to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, they always needed to bring large amounts of jingshi and ling grains. Jingshi was used to replenish the normal usage of ling energy, but due to the fact that the ling energy in jingshi was extremely strong, relying only on jingshi could easily cause the cultivation to collapse. While the ling energy in the ling grains were not as potent as it was in jingshi, but it was gentle and could help xiuzhe stabilize their cultivation.

The disciples in some large sects would use ling grains everyday to increase the speed of cultivation.

But for a small sect like Wu Kong Sword Sect, they would only provide a certain amount each month. And it was only low grade ling grains. But even just first grade ling grains, Zuo Mo had never eaten any before.

Zuo Mo was presently studying the jade sticks that Elder Wei Nan had left. Even though Elder Wei Nan’s cultivation had been limited but many of the roads he had walked were worthy for Zuo Mo to use as reference, such as farming. Elder Wei Nan had been a ling plant farmer, and had learned how to make dan. How similar was that to Zuo Mo? Zuo Mo hadn’t thought to touch the obscure scriptures yet. How to earn jingshi, it was what he needed to think about right now.

What was easiest to earn jingshi with in lianqi? What to plant?

Finally getting twenty mu of third grade ling fields, Zuo Mo naturally wanted to organize it well. Right now, he had no money, completely wrung dry by Pu Yao. The allowance from the sect each month wasn’t an insignificant amount but for him, it was just a drop in the bucket.

Things like ling veins couldn’t be converted directly to jingshi. But even if it was possible to sell it, Zuo Mo definitely wouldn’t sell it. To surrender long term benefits for short term gains, how would such a shrewd person like him do such a stupid thing?

Thinking of ways to earn jingshi was one of the most important matters of Wei Nan. Actually, for every single xiuzhe, jinshi was a problem that couldn’t be avoided. The amount of jingshi earned directly influenced the speed of cultivation.

Talismans, jade sticks, materials……

What didn’t require jingshi?

Even though Zuo Mo was now an inner sect disciple and the sect would put effort into nurturing him and give him conveniences in each area, but it was limited.

But compared to Zuo Mo’s circumstances, Wei Nan’s past circumstances were much more difficult. The paths that he had explored were extremely worth of reference to Zuo Mo.

Sitting on the grey beaked goose that the sect had given him, Zuo Mo took big and small pouches as he sat idly on the goose’s back. These things, all of them were what others had given him which he couldn’t use. He planned on turning all of it into jingshi. Even though it really wouldn’t be a lot, but right now he had no other way. Hoping that Pu Yao could spit out some jingshi, that was impossible.

Pu Yao always sat with his eyes closed on the gravestone every day. He seemed to be meditating. Did he need to cultivate too? Zuo Mo was very curious.

Right now, he wouldn’t actively interact. Pu Yao’s mood was fickle, ruthless and crazy. Yet his power was extremely deep. This kind of person, you never knew what his next step would be, you never could guess what he was thinking inside, you also never would know what his true aims were.

Zuo Mo felt that Pu Yao was a true devil. He would give you enticements that made your soul shake, and just when you are enjoying it to the limit, you would fall to the lowest level of hell.

The torments Pu Yao gave him, Zuo Mo had hated, had raged, had felt hopeless. But when Master had said that his features had been changed and his mind erased, these emotions that had trouble him dissipated like smoke.

Because he needed power!

Because he needed answers!

These petty torments, what was it really?

He clearly remembered the unfamiliarity he felt when he first woke up two years ago. In these two years, the voice that appeared in his dreams tormented him countless times. He had been afraid, terrified, hesitant, uncertain. He had thought of trying to find answers but had no clues. There was nothing he could do. So he muddled his way through the days and was never happy.

Right now, he was awake.

He only had one thought. He needed to find the answer. Who! Who did all this!

Unable to be forgiven!

On the back of the grey beaked goose, Zuo Mo looked at Dong Fu appearing through the clouds. He tightened his fist.

Dong Fu was the same as usual, people streaming. Zuo Mo headed straight for the free market and found Fu Jin.

Fu Jing’s eyes were extremely sharp. Seeing the spring sprout jade medal on Zuo Mo’s waist, his entire person blanked. After a while, he recovered. Even though shock still remained in his eyes, but he piled a smile on his face: “Congradulations Little Mo Ge, Little Mo Ge! Tsk tsk, such a young ling plant farmer, Little Mo Ge is definitely extraordinary! Come in, come in!”

Zuo Mo didn’t waste pleasantries. With a bang, he threw the large bag at Fu Jin: “Sell these things for me.”

“What things?” Fu Jin asked as his hands rapidly opened the cloth bag. With just one sweep, he could generally determine the value of these things. There were many items but they weren’t valuable. It was actually normal. The lianqi outer sect disciples, they couldn’t give anything valuable.

His brain moved rapidly and quoted a generous price: “Fifty pieces of second grade jinshi. How about it?”

Zuo Mo knew the market. These things definitely wasn’t worth fifty pieces of second grade jingshi. He shook his head: “Too much, thirty pieces is good.”

“Alright.” Fu Jin briskly handed over the jingshi and put away the items. With a smile, he said: “Now that Little Mo Ge has flourished, don’t forget to support this little brother!”

The two chatted a bit more. Zuo Mo listened very carefully. Don’t estimate the kind of small business people like Fu Jin. Their intuition was extremely sensitive. Any movements in the market couldn’t be concealed from their eyes. Between the words, Fu Jin was extremely worries. Recently, the price of the ling grains was continuously rising. This was the first time it had occurred in the recent years. Each year, people would go to Bloody Sky Metropolis to hunt yao, but the price of ling grains had never been as exaggerated as this. Connecting it to the recent rumors about Bloody Sky Metropolis, it made people worried.

According to Fu Jin, it wasn’t just Tian Yue Jie. The price of ling grains in all the other jie were continuously rising. All of this clearly showed that the conflict in Bloody Sky Metropolis was become even more intense.

Was the yaomo starting the counter attack?

After hearing Fu Jin’s words, Zuo Mo’s heart became slightly heavier. For low level xiuzhe, the greatest danger was turmoil If a great war like the one three thousand years ago started, low level xiuzhe was the cannon fodder that would die the quickest.

“Ho, it’s really a small world, fate lets enemies meet.” A strange voice interrupted Zuo Mo’s musing.

He raised his head and a headache started.

The two people in front of him, one of them was the Dong Qi Sword Sect disciple whose flying sword had been cracked by him the last time. The person at the side was very unfamiliar. It probably was his shixiong. His presence was even greater.

Fu Jin was extremely perceptive. Seeing the situation, he instantly felt bitter inside but pushed a smile on his face: “Sirs, come come come. Everyone sit down and drink some tea……”

Pah!

The voice instantly stopped. Fu Jin was thrown flying like a sandbag.

“Trash! Is there space for you to talk here?” The other took away his hand and said icily.

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought the other would start punching right away. He hadn’t managed to react in time. He hurriedly ran over to support Fu Jin. Looking at the hand mark on the face and the blood spilling from the corner of Fu Jing’s mouth, Zuo Mo’s eyes became dark. He carefully helped Fu Jin up and then slowly turned around.

“Who was so stupid and let their dog out?” Zuo Mo stared at the one that had moved, his finger caressing the gold sword ring.

That guy’s face instantly became flushed. In a rage: “You f—……”

The voice suddenly stopped.

一A sword energy, carrying a faint cloud of frost energy, pointed straight at his forehead!

Chapter 37 - Two Blows!

The two xiuzhe from Dong Qi Sword Sect clearly hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo dared to move first!

Especially the one that had moved first. In his perspective, if two ningmai hadn’t suddenly appeared in that previous encounter, Zuo Mo would have been easily dealt with. This lianqi trash, he dared to actively provoke the two?

The sword energy almost reached the Dong Qi disciple’s forehead, the faint cold energy made him abruptly wake up. He instinctively pushed out his flying sword but suddenly remembered that his flying sword had been ruined by this guy in front of him! He didn’t manage to dodge in time and got brushed by the faint mist surrounding the sword energy.

Hiss!

A bloody wound the width of a finger appeared on his forehead. The Dong Qi disciple managed to steady himself, his eyes full of hatred as he stared viciously at Zuo Mo, wanting to cut Zuo Mo to pieces.

This damned guy in front of him. He was clearly only in the stage of lianqi but every time they met, he himself would become extremely sorry. Reaching up to touch the wound on his forehead, he saw the blood on his finger. His viciousness rose and he roared angrily: “You want death! If I don’t kill you today……”

Taking advantage of the time he took to speak, Zuo Mo sent out another blow!

The thin sword energy contained a faint mist as it headed for the other’s open mouth. This sword energy was even stronger than the one before, the white mist shrouding it even thicker. If one listened carefully, they could almost hear a stream of tinkling as the icicles crashed.

The pupils of the Dong Qi disciple that had been spectating from the side suddenly shrunk.

Zuo Mo had been clever in his timing to send out the sword energy, the speed even faster than before. The other’s flying sword had been ruined by Zuo Mo. He had actually come today with his shixiong to help him pick a new flying sword. He hadn’t thought he would meet his enemy. When he detected the sword energy, he suddenly realized that it wasn’t just his flying sword that had been ruined, but he didn’t have any other defensive talisman on his body.

Usually, he amused himself by bullying others and neglected his cultivation. Seeing the sword energy coming near, in his panic, he completely didn’t know what to do.

“Pah!”

The misty sword energy accurately landed on the other’s mouth. The blood instantly flew, two teeth landing on the ground. This string of attacks completely stupefied him. He covered his mouth, looking in disbelief at the two teeth on the ground.

Zuo Mo kept his guard up. Compared to the excitement of the battle last time, he was extremely calm this time.

The only thing he could rely on was the gold sword ring. But the gold sword ring could only store three sword energies. Zuo Mo only had the last sword energy remaining. It was his last and only attack. If the other was only one person, he would unhesitatingly add it on. But he was very clear that the two people’s strength were above him yet he could not just stand by and see Fu Jin be humiliated because of him.

The worst case would be getting beaten up viciously. He already prepared to endure it. He wouldn’t release this last sword energy easily. He wanted to make it a vicious one!

They won’t end well!

Zuo Mo thought viciously.

“Ah!” The other gave a shocking howl, his features twisted and his eyes sprouting fire: “I……”

The voice once again stopped abruptly.

It seemed that an invisible hand was chocking his neck. His entire body slowly rose, leaving the ground. Compared to roaring a second ago, he was now like a fish out of the water, eyes bulging, speaking but unable to make any noise.

Zuo Mo was astounded, his eyes couldn’t help looking towards the side.

A young person dressed in white slowly moved in their direction. He didn’t even look at the Dong Qi disciple hanging in the air: “Dong Fu does not allow fighting, don’t you all know?”

The other Dong Qi disciple furrowed his btows. He suddenly raised a hand. A sword energy shot out of his fingertip, stopped and twisted, like drawing a plum branch. The disciple that had been fighting with Zuo Mo landed with a plop, face deep purple and unconscious.

“Sir, you are too biased. Both sides were fighting yet you only blame one person. It isn’t fair.”

The white-clad youth stared at the other: “Dong Qi Zong Ming Yan?”

“A little humble name. Didn’t think that Sir would have heard it. Honored, honoured.” Zong Ming Yan raised his hands in a greeting, his expression still cold.

“Elder Zuo Mei Tian’s disciple, it naturally rings in my ears.” The white-clad youth said noncommittally.

Zong Ming Yan raised an eyebrow: “Sir is?”

“Yu Bai.” The white-clade young person gave two characters.

“Oh.” Zong Ming Yan responded faintly but his voice then turned sharp: “So it is the honoured disciple of Elder Tian Song Zi. However, can Brother Yu tell me, why only punish my sect’s disciples? Does Brother Yu discriminate against my Dong Qi disciples?”

Yu Bai smiled. He pointed with a finger at the jade medal at Zuo Mo’s waist.

Only now did Zong Ming Yan notice the spring sprout jade stick at Zuo Mo’s waist. He blanked for a second before nodding his head,: “Ling plant farmer, I understand.”

Giving a deep look to Zuo Mo, he turned to leave.

Yu Bai imperceptibly furrowed his brow: “Is Sir not taking your shidi with you?”

Zong Ming Yan didn’t even turn his head, heading forward, leaving behind a sentence.

“A piece of trash that can’t even win over a lianqi ling plant farmer, what’s the use?”

Yu Bai shook his head and didn’t speak. He casually sent out a stream of white light that entered the sky.

Flying sword messages!

Compared to little thousand cranes, flying sword messages were much faster! As expected, in a short while, two xiuzhe flew over and landed, bowing to Yu Bai.

Yu Bai pointed to the unconscious Dong Qi disciple on the ground, stating: “This person broke the prohibitions of Dong Fu, and is now exiled from Dong Fu.”

“Yes.” The two bowed to Yu Bai and lifted the person with them as they flew away.

“If I didn’t see it wrong, you are the disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s Elder Xin Yan.” Yu Bai turned his face and said warmly to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo shook his head: “My master is Shi Feng Rong.”

The time that the other two had fought had been very short but no matter if it was ling energy or the manipulation of spells, they were hundreds of times better than Zuo Mo. And both of them had vast and intimidating presences. Zong Ming Yan was cold and sharp, Yu Bai confident and carefree. They were all outstanding. However, Zuo Mo didn’t feel very comfortable. No matter if it was Zong Ming Yan or Yu Bai, their bodies would unconsciously give an aura of being high up. Zuo Mo disliked the aura very much. Unconsciously, he didn’t want to have deeper relations with Yu Bai.

“Elder Shi Feng Rong?” Yu Bai was slightly surprised at this answer. When the two had started to fight, he had already noticed. He hadn’t detected anything in the first sword energy but had been shocked that a ling plant farmer could send out a sword energy. When he noticed the gold sword ring on Zuo Mo’s hand did he understand.

At that time, he had prepared to wade in. Tian Yue Jie was a classical minor jie primarily composed of sword cultivators. Xiuzhe like ling plant famers were a very rare resource. Not just Dong Fu, but in almost all the primary towns of Tian Yue Jie, there were prohibitions that protected production cultivators like ling plant farmers.

But just at that moment, Zuo Mo sent out the second sword energy.

Yu Bai’s eyes were very skilled and saw it clearly.

The first sword energy only had a little sword energy, not enough to be of significance. But the sword essence in the second sword energy was very similar to Wu Kong Sword Sect’s [Ice Dragon Sword] Xin Yan’s sword essence.

Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sudden rise had attracted everyone’s eyes. And as the true ruler of Dong Fu, Tian Song Zi naturally would pay more attention. Yu Bai was the core disciple of Tian Song Zi and he knew much more about Wu Kong Sword Sect than normal people.

The apparition when Wei Sheng entered zhuji had alerted Tian Song Zi. That night, Yu Bai had accompanied his master to investigate. He had personally seen with his own eyes that sword energy that rose into the heavens at Wei Sheng’s zhuji and had never been so shocked. And the scene when Xin Yan’s sword had turned into a dragon made his mouth wide and unable to forget.

His talents were exceptional and the scope of his eyes far surpassed others in his generation. In the area around Dong Fu, the people who could rank with him could be counted on the fingers. But in one night, two successive blows, it created a great interest in him to the low key sect of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

He couldn’t help closely examining Zuo Mo.

From the beginning, the expression on Zuo Mo’s face had never changed. Yu Bai didn’t mind that. He had met countless unique individuals. Those that had strength always had some unique qualities. What made him shocked was Zuo Mo’s age and cultivation. It wasn’t high, but low.

It was very hard to estimate the age of cultivators but a general decision could be made from the eyes, the manner of speech and conduct. The age of the Wu Kong Sword Sect disciple definitely wasn’t high. Such an age, it was common to see a cultivation of lianqi.

So young, such low cultivation, yet he could comprehend sword essence. This made Yu Bai very surprised.

The sword essence carried in the second sword energy had been in a fledgling stage. The white mist surrounding the sword energy easily confused others. That wasn’t mist that was caused by the coldness of the sword energy. In reality, it was composed of large numbers of even smaller sword essences. These scattered sword essences were far from complete like Xin Yan’s sword essence but this lianqi disciple was able to control them in a certain range.

That wasn’t easy to do!

Yu Bai almost couldn’t believe it. He always had been confident in his own talents, but seeing this zombie-like disciple, he felt that he didn’t know what to say. When he first comprehended sword essence, he had been in the middle stages of zhuji. He had sat quietly in his master’s sword stove for more than thirty days before he had some understandings.

Even more, the jade medal of a ling plant farmer wasn’t easy to get!

Yu Bai had grown up in Dong Fu and knew very well of the difficulty.

Another strong entity had come out of Wu Kong Sword Sect! Even if his cultivation right now wasn’t high, but his future was limitless.

Wu Kong Sword Sect, already mysterious in Yu Bai’s mind, became even more mysterious.

“Give my greetings to Elder Shi Feng Rong.” Yu Bai warmly gave a bow. Noticing the alertness in Zuo Mo’s eyes, he was a proud person, and his desire to form a relationship instantly faded: “Dong Fu might protect ling plant farmers, but you have to be careful and not have bad relationships with others.”

Finishing, he raised his hands and floated away.

Zuo Mo’s heart instantly landed back. He had already prepared to be injured and hadn’t thought he would be safe. Even he found it wondrous.

Fu Jin wasn’t seriously harmed and firmly refused the jingshi that Zuo Mo handed over. This crisis changed the relationship between the two. Zuo Mo didn’t like Yu Bai but was very happy to interact with Fu Jin.

Everyone was little people!

Fu Jin was the local snakehead here. He was clear to what each place was selling. In two hours, he managed to help Zuo Mo buy everything he needed.

It was a giant bag of a variety of seeds of ling herbs and grasses. Thirty pieces of jingshi were completely spent by Zuo Mo.

Taking the things he brought, he bid farewell to Fu Jin and sat on the grey beaked goose straight back to Wu Kong Mountain.

He had decided that he definitely wouldn’t leave the mountain before he entered zhuji. He was still scared about what happened today. He and Dong Qi Sword Sect were now at odds. If he encounted Dong Qi disciples again, it wouldn’t end well for him. To have such good luck as today every time, that was a dream.

Dong Fu wasn’t some safe place!

Chapter 38 - Fragrant Ginger Yard

Zuo Mo needed to carefully plan out the twenty mu of ling fields. He had very little money in his hands and couldn’t buy many of the ling herb seeds. Following the conclusions that Elder Wei Nan had made from his experiences, what he picked were species that had a high quality-price ratio. To guarantee his profits, Zuo Mo had attentively researched the present market before taking all his bags with him to the mountain.

But he couldn’t start seeding it immediately.

Up until now, he only had experience planting ling grains. Any kind of ling plant had different needs and concerns. Thankfully, Elder Wei Nan had detailed descriptions in the jade sticks and he didn’t need to experiment for himself.

Studying the jade sticks, labouring over [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Other than that, he needed to care for the ling fields in Cold Mist Valley. He was extremely busy every day, his feet almost not touching the ground.

When he had studied pretty much all the jade sticks, he started to prepare the initial work. Luckily, they were all somewhat common ling herbs and grasses and didn’t need anything rare or expensive. Otherwise, he could only just stare at it.

“I’m very poor, I’m very poor, I’m very poor poor poor poor poor poor……”

Humming a tune, Zuo Mo directed the mud turning earthworm to plough the ling fields and seeded out the ling herbs and grasses he had brought.

After a few days, some sprouts had appeared in the twenty mu. The tender greens carried Zuo Mo’s hopes.

Zuo Mo could finally slow down. Even he almost couldn’t stand the amount of labor these past days. After planting down all the seeds, the labor required was instantly halved. He finally had the time to cultivate. This was why sword xiu never liked cultivating any kind of livelihood spell. Practicing any spell required large amounts of time and energy. For sword cultivators, they only focused on the sword. This was enough for them to have unrivaled attack strength.

This was also why, in all the xiuzhe, in one-on-one, sword xiu had the greatest power.

Of course, the actual situation would be complicated. There were many factors that could affect the fight between two xiuzhe. It was all tangled and complicated, like cultivation, talismans, seal formations, scriptures etc.

Zuo Mo didn’t need to think about these things. At least, before he entered zhuji, he didn’t need to consider it. For him, what was most important at present was zhuji. After that was the five basic five elements spells. This would directly influences how much he would earn.

He gave up [Ten Principle Scripture]. To try to rely on that to enter zhuji, it was a dream. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] became his only choice. He cultivated it as though it was a ling energy scripture. After zhuji, the sect would pass on new scriptures. By then, he would have more choices.

This period of time was extremely busy, so busy he forgot the existence of Pu Yao. It was only now that he suddenly remembered Pu Yao and decided to take a look in his consciousness.

Entering the sea of consciousness, he stared with wide eyes and mouth.

Compared to before, the area of his consciousness was several times its previous size. This wasn’t surprising to him because his spiritual power had increased greatly. He had already found that whenever his spiritual power increased, the size of his sea of consciousness would increase as well.

What shocked him was a river –– at some unknown time, a new addition of a river had appeared in his consciousness.

A silvery shining river. The surface wasn’t broad but it was abnormally straight. It followed the median line of the consciousness and divided the consciousness in two. When Zuo Mo came near, he was surprised to find that it wasn’t water in the river, but countless large and small icicles. The light reflected through the icicles and created the silvery light. And when the countless icicles reflected the light at the same time, the bright light was enough to make the consciousness brighter. They slowly moved up and down like the movement of the tide. Layers of silver light flashed past like a secluded and deeply asleep ice dragon.

On the two shores were concentrated red flames. These red flames were like a red water plant that grew beside the rivers.

In the sky above his head, that star was even brighter. Neither the roaring flames nor the shining ice river could block its light.

In the sea of flames, on the edge of the river, under the star, a gravestone was shrouded in black clouds and Pu Yao sat silently on it, listening to the sound tablet.

Zuo Mo was completely stunned by the scene.

The sea of consciousness was very calm, only the sound of the sound tablet drifting. The dark red flames danced, like the most seductive dancers twisting their waists. The slowly flowing ice river was like a sword, cold and awe-inspiring. The star was mysterious and profound. All of this created an extremely harmonious picture, and gave him a peerless shock!

A beat later, Zuo Mo’s mind refocused.

He still wasn’t clear what the sea of flames and the star was, but this ice river was like the tidal icicle sword essence that he had comprehended! About this point, he was very certain. Because from what he saw, flowing in the river wasn’t icicles but countless sword essences! This ice river would have formed exactly in this period of time. He felt that there was some faint connection but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t catch it.

The flames and the star had appeared very early. They must be related to [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The time that the star appeared was when he had completed one breath. Did it represent one breath? What about the red flames?

He wanted to ask Pu Yao but he also knew that Pu Yao definitely wouldn’t answer.

Oh, of course, if there was jingshi, that was a whole different matter.

Zuo Mo didn’t disturb Pu Yao and left the consciousness.

When Zuo Mo disappeared from the consciousness, Pu Yao opened his eye. In his blood red eye was panic.

Even though he was at the ninth level of lianqi but there was still a distance before reaching zhuji. The amount of ling energy needed for lianqi ninth level was much greater than the previous levels. Zuo Mo wasn’t impatient. With the help of a high grade ling vein, if he still couldn’t enter zhuji, he didn’t need to cultivate anymore.

He could feel that the increase in his ling energy was very fast.

The fire dragon grass had been moved into Zuo Mo’s own fields. The sunlight in West Wind Valley was abundant and more suitable to the growth of the fire dragon grass.

Just like normal, Zuo Mo stood in front of the fire dragon grass. He cycled his ling energy, his two hands moving quickly. It was [Art of Crimson Flame]. After practising finger movements in the water, the nimbleness of his pair of hands were much stronger than before. The [Art of Crimson Flame], with its simpler hand movements, was much easier for him to cast.

A thin faint gold light dropped from the sky, passed though Zuo Mo’s hands and was guided onto the fire dragon grass.

[Art of Crimson Flame] could concentrate the essence of pure yang. It was very beneficial to plants that were yang.

Zuo Mo didn’t move, appearing like a stone person.

The crucial factors of [Art of Crimson Flame] were endurance and a peaceful mind. This wasn’t a problem for Zuo Mo. After receiving the jade medal, he found that he had walked an indirect road. If he had picked [Art of Crimson Flame] in the beginning, he would have gotten the jade medal earlier. However, there wasn’t a deficiency that was for nothing. Since he could do [Art of Flora], the most difficult of the five spells, the other spells were easily achieved.

Time passed little by little.

The strand of pale gold light that came from the sky turned slightly darker. A layer of light gold appeared on Zuo Mo’s hands as though gold was plated onto them.

The leaves of the fire dragon grass became even brighter and fresher, vitality pouring from the entire plant.

After persisting for an hour, he finally stopped. His two hands moved and that thin gold strand instantly disappeared.

He inspected the fire dragon grass and was very satisfied. [Art of Crimson Flame] was extremely good for yang plants.

All plants were divided into yin or yang. Zuo Mo also divided his own ling fields into two. The parts with more sunlight, he used to plant yang plants. The parts that were shadier and had more moisture, he used to grow yin plants.

Zuo Mo prepared to cast [Art of Earth Energy]. Each day, he would cast a variety of spells on these plants. This was a duty that he had to complete every day. He didn’t know if it was that he had used it too much but [Art of Crimson Flame] and [Art of Earth Energy] quickly entered the third level without any of the difficulty that came with the breakthroughs of the other three spells.

Afterwards, he had thought and then understood. Most of the credit had to go to [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. His spirit was much stronger than before. And no matter if it was the calm mind of [Art of Crimson Flame] or the communication and perception of [Art of Earth Energy], it was all tightly linked to the spirit.

Suddenly a purple light landed beside his hand from the sky.

A purple flying sword the length of his middle finger suddenly appeared next to his hand.

Flying sword message?

Zuo Mo turned to look around. Seeing that no one else was around, he then was certain it was for him. He carefully reached for the flying sword. The moment his finger touched the flying sword, a voice sounded inside his mind.

“Come to Fragrant Ginger Yard at three.”

It was his master Shi Feng Rong’s voice.

Zuo Mo’s heart calmed down. Previously, he had been tortured to death by that pink paper crane and he had finally received a break. The pitiful Zuo Mo, his nerves had become very fragile and suspicious of these kinds of things.

These last few days, his master hadn’t sought him out. It must have been given him time to get settled.

Zuo Mo was very excited. Master’s proficiency in the area of dan-making was very deep, and according to Li Ying Feng Shijie, the dan that Master made, it was always easy to sell. In the previous times that Master had spent travelling outside, the income of the sect had been significantly impacted.

And according to the experiences of Elder Wei Nan recorded in the jade stick, making dan was a faster way to make jingshi than farming.

Exactly at three, Zuo Mo arrived at Fragrant Ginger Yard.

This was the first time he had come to Fragrant Ginger Yard. Entering the gate, he saw many female disciples at work. Some were drying ling herbs, some were sorting, others had ling energy on their hands as they ground up ling herbs. In this large yard, there were more than forty female disciples at work.

Seeing Zuo Mo, all these female disciples all stopped what they were doing.

“Shixiong!”

“Shixiong!”

……

They all bowed in greeting and surreptitiously examined this shixiong. The news that Fourth Shigu had received a male disciple had spread through Fragrant Ginger Yard very early on. This crowd of female disciples already had a good handle on Zuo Mo’s background. What made them feel comforted was that Zuo Mo had once helped the female disciples at the Eastern Peak that were responsible for the animals and wasn’t one to harass others. They were all outer sect female disciples, and couldn’t really count as Shi Feng Rong’s disciples. Compared to Zuo Mo, their status was very far off and didn’t dare offend him.

Zuo Mo frantically gave a bow in return.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s embarrassed state, laughter sounded among the female disciples.

The front female disciple instantly turned her head, looking in dissatisfaction at the female disciples who were laughing. The laughter instantly stopped.

“Come in.”

Master’s voice came from the inner yard, coincidentally releasing Zuo Mo from his predicament. He fled away.

Chapter 39 - Starting Making Dan

“From today onwards, you will learn how to make dan with me. The job this month is very simple. Five Fasting Pills, doesn’t matter what grade they are. Give them to me by the end of the month,” Shi Feng Rong coldly said, “I have prepared ten portions of ingredients for you. If there isn’t enough, buy more yourself. The method to make fasting pills is in the study. You can read all the jade sticks in the study. Those that are over your cultivation, you won’t be able to see. Everything is in the room in the west wing. In the future, that would be your dan making room. Alright, you can go.”

Finishing, Shi Feng Rong turned and entered her dan making room. With a bang, the dan room was shut tightly.

Zuo Mo dumbly stood.

This… … this was called learning dan-making with his master?

He turned to look at the surroundings. Empty. Not a single person.

Zuo Mo grimaced. Why did he only ever encounter these kind of people? It was like this when he learned things from Pu Yao, there were never any explanations. And this master was even more extreme. Not just throwing him to the side, she also stipulated how much he had to make.

When Zuo Mo went into the study, he stared dumbly.

How to find the recipe?

In the study, there floated hundreds of jade sticks in different shapes and colors. They were like a group of mischievous children, drifting to and fro in the study. There was an energy whirlpool of various colors around each jade stick. It was these whirlpools that carried the jade sticks in flight.

“Fasting pill!” After musing for a long moment, Zuo Mo shouted helplessly.

The jade sticks unconcernedly floated about, not responding.

That way wasn’t right! But there wasn’t anything else in the room. Zuo Mo scratched hard at his head, he was at his wits’ end.

Maybe he needed to use his consciousness?

After hesitating for a while, he reached out with his consciousness. When his consciousness touched the energy whirlpool around a jade stick, something instantly flooded into his head.

“Energy diagrams of ling herbs. Authored by Dong Ming sanren of Little Link Jie. Includes more than four hundred ling herb energy diagrams……”

散人: title for a roaming xiu.

Zuo Mo’s mind instantly jumped, his consciousness going to touch all the other jade sticks. The information from each jade stick was released inside his mind. Very quickly, he found inside one jade stick the method to make fasting pills. This jade stick had, in total, the recipe for three different basic dan.

Fasting pill was the most basic dan. Its use was very simple, to satisfy hunger. Using it would guarantee a long time without hunger. It counted as a type of useful dan. His consciousness locked onto this jade stick and the jade stick automatically flew in front of him. Picking up the jade stick, he poured ling energy in and the recipe to make fasting pills was revealed in his mind.

And then, the pitiful Zuo Mo could only stare dumbly again!

“Monarch Pachyma leaves, subject yellow stone, three by three flowing fire, cauldron energy sinking to bottom……”

Zuo Mo recognized every character. However, if he put the characters together, it was like he was in a thick mist, completely lost.

Calm, he had to be calm!

Zuo Mo furiously told his frantic self. He had always assumed that when he became an inner sect disciple, it meant that his hard days had come to an end and his good days were coming! But now he knew, he was wrong, extremely wrong! He had only jumped from one hole to an even deeper hole. He wanted to cry because he had willingly jumped, tried everything to jump in! He had thought his previous days were hard because no one was there to guide him. But now that he became an inner sect disciple, had a master, what was the difference?

After a long moment and then his emotions steadied.

He was completely disregarded by his master, Zuo Mo’s stubbornness came on. Wasn’t it just a fasting pill? Wasn’t it just making dan? Wasn’t it just not being taught?

After half a day’s worth of effort, he had read every single jade stick in the room. The total amount was five hundred and seventeen jade sticks. And what he could see were only twenty one of them.

The twenty one jade sticks that he had picked out were all floating in front of him.

[Fire Cloud Dan Chapter], not what he wanted, thrown to one side.

[Blue Ice Dan Chapter] no, thrown to one side.

[Vaporized Dan Chapter], thrown.

……

Only when he saw [Basics of Making Dan] did Zuo Mo’s mind become alert. He grabbed it and brought it over. This was what he wanted.

As though he was starving, he read [Basics of Making Dan]. He quickly became enraptured. The contents inside the jade stick were extremely new to him, a completely new world for him to explore. There weren’t any complex contents inside [Basics of Making Dan]. Everything was some of the basic fundamentals of making dan, like the matching of herbs, the usage of the cauldron, how to control the fire etc etc.

When he raised his head, he saw that the sky had darkened. Unknowingly, he had stayed for a number of hours in the study.

Exhaling a breath, he stood up and moved his sore neck and legs. His eyes were still slightly dull. He was still thinking. [Basics of Making Dan] wasn’t a high grade jade stick but the details of the contents weren’t anything that could be brought on the market. Having the experiences of being an outer sect disciple, Zuo Mo deeply understood the value in this opportunity.

As to whether his master would teach him, it had been thrown to the back of his head. It was like he had found treasure as he repeatedly started to read again.

The following days, he spent soaking in knowledge at the study. Any jade stick that he could read, he didn’t miss a single one of them. They might be useful in the future. Putting in some effort now, he didn’t need to worry in the future. If he converted these jade sticks into jingshi, it was enough to buy ten Zuo Mo.

If there was one day when he was in poverty, he could sell the contents of the jade sticks for jingshi.

In the study, Zuo Mo snickered.

After memorizing the jade sticks until he was dizzy, Zuo Mo finally managed to remember the entire contents of the twenty one jade sticks. Only now did he remember the dan room in the right wing was going to be for him and excitedly ran into the right wing.

What was most eye-catching in the room was a copper cauldron in the middle of the room. About two people tall, three round bellies protruding out, and several mats laid around it. There were a few tables against the wall with things piled up on it. The ten portions of materials that Master had prepared for him were also there.

Zuo Mo circled around the dan-making cauldron, muttering: “So stingy.”

Don’t just look at the size of the thing but in reality, it was only a first grade cauldron. The most important part of a cauldron was the Li Fire Seal Formation. Beside the body of the cauldron, there was a yinyang eight trigrams plate. Pouring ling energy in that could control the li fire seal formation.

离: One of the Eight Trigrams, li represents fire

Controlling the fire was the most important step in the process of making dan. Like the ‘three by three of flowing fire’. Three by three meant vertical three, horizontal three, and flowing fire was a very special kind of fire. Its main flame would roll along the channels.

Zuo Mo put his hands on the eight trigrams plate and added ling energy. As expected, a ball of fire lit up at the bottom of the cauldron.

According to the method recorded in [Basics of Making Dan], he carefully controlled the li fire seal formation. The li fire seal formation in a first grade cauldron wasn’t some high end thing and only had six transformations. Zuo Mo quickly familiarized himself with the process.

As he played around with the flame, Zuo Mo suddenly felt that the feeling of controlling fire was very similar to him casting [Art of Crimson Flame].

The five basic spells of a ling plant farmer belonged to the five elements and yinyang. Supposedly, ling plant farmers believed that all things in the world were either yin or yang and belonged to the five elements. [Art of Crimson Flame] belonged to fire in the five basic element spells. Speaking from that perspective, the two were connected. However, while the five elements and yinyang had once been a popular path, but as sword cultivators rose, they gradually became a separate system and most practitioners were roaming cultivators.

Whether making dan had similarities to ling plant farmers, Zuo Mo wasn’t clear.

But, if sword essence could merge with [Art of Aged Gold], he wouldn’t be surprised at a connection between controlling fire and [Art of Crimson Flame].

The [Art of Crimson Flame] that he had brought was very rough. Learning it to the third level was already at the extreme limit. There were no instructions for anything further. What he could study were only the first three levels.

Closing his eyes, his two hands were spread on the eight trigrams plate on the wall of the cauldron, he carefully experienced the subtle aspects of the li fire seal formation.

After a long time, he didn’t have any breakthroughs. He had the feeling that those two could be combined together but no matter how he changed it, there was no reaction. With no other solution, he temporarily put the thought to the side. In the area of dan-making, he was the greenest of the green. It was too early to start discussing inventions.

He should obediently make the fasting pills. Otherwise if he couldn’t give out five at the end of the month, he didn’t know how his cold-faced master would punish him.

The method for making fasting pills, he remembered it, but what he was lacking was actual experience.

There were ten portions of materials piled on the table. They had all been treated. One of the jobs of the female disciples in the yard was to simply treat all kinds of medicines. Fasting pills were the most basic dan and naturally didn’t have very complicated preparations.

Carefully putting each type of material in the cauldron according to the ratio, Zuo Mo sat down facing the cauldron. He sorted out his mind, his two hands on the eight trigrams, and sent ling energy in.

A light red light came out of the bottom of the cauldron. Zuo Mo carefully and nervously manipulated the ling energy.

Two hours passed. A fine layer of sweat appeared on Zuo Mo’s forehead.

He felt it was becoming difficult. It was extremely laborious to continuously input in ling energy steadily for a long time. Damn it! Two hours had passed but the ingredients had just seemed to start combining together. Based on the progress, if it didn’t take a few hours, he guessed it was hopeless.

Thinking that he had to continue to maintain this level of ling energy for long hours, Zuo Mo felt that it was going to be trouble.

After another two hours, sweat poured down his back.

Suddenly, his ling energy became unstable.

Poof!

A black wisp of smoke came out of the cauldron. A burnt smell filled the room.

Huff, huff, huff. Having no time to be angry, Zuo Mo took back his ling energy and sat on the floor as he panted. His entire body was soaked in sweat. One factor was exhaustion from long term ling energy output, another was that he was very close to the cauldron. The fire inside the cauldron cooked him like a cooked shrimp, body completely red.

He didn’t immediately start making dan a second time. He struggled up and climbed onto the grey beaked goose to return to West Wind Valley. It was lucky that he was an inner sect disciple and could ride a steed inside the mountain. He hadn’t felt it a moment ago, but lying on the back of the grey beaked goose, he felt weak all over, not willing to raise even a finger.

He had never felt such deep exhaustion like today. Fighting was gathering up all the strength in the body at one and making dan was like spinning silk from cocoons. Bit by bit, until it wrung out the last bit of ling energy from the body. Even if his ling energy wasn’t weak now, but facing such intense ling energy output, he couldn’t bear it. And if he was the slightest bit inattentiveness, all the effort before were completely ruined.

Zuo Mo sighed in grief inside. From his perspective –– as expected, any method that easily earned jingshi, none of them were simple.

Jingshi wasn’t easy to earn!

Chapter 40 - Aid

On top of the mat inside the stone room, Zuo Mo serenely mediated, motionless.

Through the twenty fourth point of the governing, the seventeenth point of the conception and the first point of the kidney vessels, thick ling energy entered his body. It especially entered from the governing vessel point. When the ling energy entered, it had a slightly cool feeling, extremely pleasant. After Zuo Mo had completed one breath, his breathing through the mouth and nose was much less important. Right now, he had only opened three points. If he could reach ten breaths, not only just all three hundred and sixty one points would be opened, all the pores in his body would be unblocked and he would breathe with the world.

Of course, for him at the moment, that was very far away. His consciousness had increased, but up until now, he hadn’t found any uses for spiritual power. What he needed now was ling energy, continuous accumulating ling energy in hopes of entering zhuji soon.

When he woke up from the mediation, Zuo Mo’s breath shot out like an arrow.

How was Shixiong doing in the Sword Cave, the thought popped suddenly into Zuo Mo’s mind.

In reality, he was very envious about the road that Shixiong had picked. It only needed to pay attention to one matter. However, he was clear enough to realize that Shixiong’s road wasn’t suited for him. So he might be envious, but he would keep doing what he needed to do. He always felt that he didn’t have too much talent in the area of the sword. If it wasn’t for Pu Yao’s existence, not just getting a sword essence, but it was impossible to do what Shixiong was doing.

His talents laid in the five elements.

Other than [Art of Aged Gold] which had been helped by Pu Yao, he had learned the other four spells on his own. So he was more enthusiastic about five elements spells. Sometimes he would think, had he once been a roaming xiu before?

Only roaming xiu liked five elements spells.

However, even if he had been a roaming xiu, he must have been a silent and unknown xiu living in the lowest classes.

But if that was the case, why was his appearance changed and mind erased? He unconsciously tightened his fist.

Carefully retreating out of the stone cavern, he walked to the opening. The sunlight outside made his eyes squint. The warm sunlight made Zuo Mo’s mood unintentionally better. Walking to the ling fields and seeing the vigorous ling herbs, his mood became even better. A ling plant farmer was the profession that was the easiest at showing the relationship between work and result. When you paid in effort and worked hard, the joy at the bountiful harvest made life seem full of hope. Even Old Black, who had a harsh life, smiled when it was harvest time .

Zuo Mo calculated the time in his mind. The new cycle of ling grains should be starting soon. His previous yard had been yielded to Old Black. Old Black had been yearning for that five mu of ling fields for a long time. If it hadn’t been for Old Black, he wouldn’t have been introduced to Wei Sheng Shixiong. With that connection there, his friendship with Old Black was naturally different.

With nothing to do, Zuo Mo thought to go see him. However, he didn’t find anyone at the yard. Zuo Mo guess that Old Black had gone to the ling fields and headed to the fields. As expected, he found Old Black in the fields. Also there was Guo Lu. However, the former Guo Lu Shixiong was now the present Guo Lu Shidi. That made him slightly unaccustomed. No matter the age or cultivation, outer sect disciples had to call inner sect disciples shixiong or shijie. This was the same in every sect.

Old Black saw Zuo Mo and made a happy expression: “Little Mo Ge.”

It seemed that Guo Lu’s illness had healed. He wasn’t familiar with Zuo Mo and reservedly gave a bow: “Zuo Shixiong.”

Zuo Mo felt extremely awkward being called shixiong by two people whose ages far surpassed him. Thankfully, his face was frozen and nothing could be detected.

“Old Black’s ling grains are really well grown.” Zuo Mo scanned the ling fields and couldn’t resist praising it. He calmly started a spell, instantly a ball of clouds floated over and the silver strands poured down continuously. Old Black instantly revealed a happy expression. Admiration appeared on Guo Lu’s face. The fourth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], people rarely reached it.

Guo Lu had been recovering on the sickbed in the previous months but the big events that happened in the sect, he had heard them from Old Black.

In one year, three outer sect disciples became inner sect disciples. The sect had never been so flourishing. All the outer sect disciples were greatly encouraged and many of them became even more hard working.

Guo Lu attentively examined this young shixiong. Little Zuo Mo Shixiong was the inner sect disciple with the lowest cultivation in the sect, a lianqi disciple that hadn’t entered zhuji! But the genius of the little shixiong had passed on. To be able to receive a spring sprout jade medal in lianqi, Guo Lu had never heard of it.

His best was [Art of Aged Gold]. He had work hard these years but never could breakthrough to the third level. Looking at the little shixiong who had already become a ling plant farmer, his heart couldn’t help moving.

Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but be envious of Old Black. No matter if it was Wei Sheng Shixiong, or Zuo Mo shixiong, they all had good relationships with Old Black. The waters rose and the boat became high, Old Black was now extremely popular in the outer sect disciples. But Old Black was very down to earth and still planted his ling grains. Because Guo Lu had been wounded last time when he had helped Old Black, and Old Black had taken care of him in the recovery, the two had a great relationship.

“This is two mud turning earthworms. It doesn’t have a great use, but it is useful in plowing fields.” Zuo Mo handed both of them each a small bamboo tube. Sealed inside each tube was a mud turning earthworm. He hadn’t thought that Guo Lu would be present but he had enough mud turning earthworms.

The two hurriedly gave their thanks.

Guo Lu saw Zuo Mo moving to leave and after struggling and hesitating for a second, he couldn’t resist speaking and at the very end: “Little Shixiong, my [Art of Aged Gold] has been stuck at the second level. Please, shixiong, give some advise. Guo Luo would be deeply grateful.”

Zuo Mo was astounded but still stopped in his footsteps. He was respectful of this old farmer-like shixiong who had stood up last time. Right now, his income didn’t depend on things like making rain so the two naturally didn’t have any conflicts in interest. Quite the opposite. If Guo Lu could break into the third level of [Art of Aged Gold], he could take on much of the pest problems in the sect for him.

Thinking through all the possibilities, he decided to help Guo Lu: “Killing worms is still killing. Gold’s main purpose is to kill. This [Art of Aged Gold] belongs to the path of killing. How to kill? There are countless ways in this area. Adding on aged gold energy can transform in many ways, if other methods of killing could be added in, the matter is half solved already.”

Guo Lu listened attentively, afraid of losing even a word. When Zuo Mo finished, he was pinned to his spot, face deep in thought.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo floated away.

Leaving behind the ling fields, he headed for the Eastern Peak. The recent changes made him felt that it was a different lifetime. The female disciples of the Eastern Peak had meant to rely on him, but who would have thought he would become an inner sect disciple. Usually, he wouldn’t be able to care for them anymore. But since he received benefits from them, that the black gold worm had been their present, Zuo Mo decided to help them.

When Xiao Guo saw Zuo Mo, a surprised expression came onto her round apple face. She timidly said: “Shixiong!”

The gold horned copper cow was still leisurely eating ling grass, not paying any attention to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt slightly helpless towards this little girl, especially the always timid expression on her face.

Last time when he had fainted, the little girl had been afraid but still persisted in protecting him. When he had heard of this from the others, he was very moved and felt that he owed her a favour.

“What? Unhappy to see me?” Zuo Mo decided to tease the little girl. His face didn’t have any expression in the first place. Adding on a slightly stern tone, it was quite frightening.

Xiao Guo instantly was frightened, her small head furiously shaking, mist rising in her large yes, her mouth hurriedly explaining: “No, no……”

Zuo Mo instantly realized if he continued, she would really cry. He instantly regretted his action.

Wasn’t this making trouble for himself?

He hurriedly relaxed his tone: “Alright. Coming this time, there’s something to give to you.”

The mist in Xiao Guo’s eyes instantly stopped. She looked in puzzlement at Zuo Mo and asked timidly: “What thing? Shixiong.”

“This is some sword scriptures, you take it and practise and can pass it on to your other shijie and shimei.” He handed two jade sticks over to the little girl. One of the sticks stored some basic sword moves that he had picked out from the jade stick that Wei Sheng shixiong had given him. At the same time, he took off the gold sword ring from his hand and handed that as well to her: “This is gold sword ring. It can store three sword energies. But you first need to learn a gold spell. En, one of the jade sticks has five elements spells inside. After practising the [Art of Aged Gold] for a while, you can use this talisman.”

After explaining all this, Zuo Mo released a breath. This muddle headed little girl always made his head hurt.

The gold sword ring was not of great use to him now. And he had decided that before zhuji, he definitely wouldn’t leave the mountain. After zhuji, if Master didn’t give a flying sword, he could use Ice Crystal Sword. The power would be much greater than gold sword ring. And that jade stick that contained the five elements spells wasn’t useful for him anymore. He hadn’t thought of given Xiao Guo that jade stick at first, but if she didn’t cultivate a gold attributed spell, it wasn’t possible to use the gold sword ring. As though the simple sword moves in Wei Sheng shixiong’s jade stick. They were simple but useful. For lianqi disciples, they were a pretty good method of protection.

Female disciples, especially weaker outer sect female disciples, their circumstances would be harder than male disciples.

Zuo Mo could not spare the attention to take care of them like before, and decided to pass these things onto them. In this case, if they met some xiuzhe who wasn’t too powerful, it wasn’t as though they couldn’t even counterattack. If they met a strong one, he had no solution neither.

Luckily, the Dong Qi Sword Sect disciple from last time had been expelled from Dong Fu. He didn’t need to worry about encountering that guy nearby.

After handing over everything, Zuo Mo flipped up and landed onto the grey beaked goose’s back, he waved his hand at Xiao Guo without turning his head back and floated off.

Looking at the disappearing Zuo Mo, Xiao Guo’s hands as they held the gold sword ring and the jade sticks unconsciously tightened.

Finishing all this, Zuo Mo felt that his body was much more relaxed and headed straight for Fragrant Ginger Yard. He still needed to present five fasting pills at the end of the month. He didn’t dare to offend his cold-faced master. If he didn’t complete it, he would certain receive punishment.

Entering the dan room, he didn’t start moving immediately. The materials were limited. If he really ruined all of the materials, in his penniless state, there was no place for him to buy more.

In theory, with his present cultivation, making fasting pills shouldn’t be hard. It really was the most basic dan.

Thinking for a long time, he felt that last time it was that he hadn’t controlled the input of ling energy properly and wasted a lot of ling energy, causing his ling energy to not be enough.

After thinking for a long time repeatedly and entering mediation, he let the ling energy recover to the best state.

Then he started his second try.

Chapter 41 - Spiritual Power

Bang!

The smell of burnt materials once again rose out of the cauldron, spreading through the room.

Zuo Mo gasped heavily, sweat running down his face like a stream. The second try was still a failure! This time, he had continued for six hours, but still failed. Opening the cauldron and looking at the black remnants inside, Zuo Mo’s mood was terrible. He was as tired as a dead dog right now and could only stare.

He had always thought dan-making was a technical job, not a strength job. If even the fasting pills were this hard, then those high-grade dan, wouldn’t he kill himself in the process?

He had a deeper understanding in the second try than the first. His previous deductions were not wrong. He was still too new to dan-making. In the process of adding ling energy, he would waste too much ling energy. If his cultivation was at zhuji, this fasting pill wouldn’t be hard. There would be plenty of excess ling energy to waste, but to a lianqi ninth level, just the slightest mistake and the ling energy wouldn’t be enough.

According to the method on the jade stick, the entire process only needed ten hours.

That meant that he had to make it through ten hours at minimum. The different between that and the present six hours was very large. Even though there was the ling vein in the stone room, but increases in ling energy was a slow process. It seemed he could only try to work on controlling ling energy.

After a while, Zuo Mo’s breathes gradually steadied and his mind returned to clarity.

He thought carefully. He wasn’t weak in the area of controlling ling energy. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] required a strong control of ling energy. Even though he had strangely made his way onto the fourth level, but in the matter of controlling ling energy, theoretically it shouldn’t be a big problem.

Mulling over it, Zuo Mo felt that he was still too unfamiliar with dan-making. If he had to familiarize himself, then how much material would that take? The ten portions that he had, he didn’t even though if it could last him until he was familiar. He most likely wouldn’t be able to fulfill the quota of five fasting pills by the end of the month.

Supposedly, when the heads took on new subordinates, they would always make a show of strength at the first interaction? Oh, was this the show of strength of his cold-faced master?

He thought humorously.

Returning to the Little West Wind Yard, he wasn’t in the mood to eat. After meditation and recovering ling energy, he climbed onto the roof and continued to ponder the intricacies of dan-making.

The moonlight flowed down like the water, gently illuminating the mountain valley. Beside Zuo Mo, the grey beaked goose silently stood on the roof. Beside Zuo Mo’s feet, the black gold worm climbed around. After reaching the fourth grade, its intelligence had greatly increased and it constantly followed Zuo Mo around.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo felt something was flying close. He couldn’t help raising his head and looked at the mouth of the valley.

A pink little thousand crane spiralled down in the night.

Zuo Mo instantly recovered from his shock at the top of the roof. He felt his skin prickle. Dan-making was tossed far away. There was only one thought in his mind. Damn it, why did this cursed woman come again?

Just like last time, the pink paper crane elegantly unfolded in front of Zuo Mo.

“Ye, have you missed me? Hee hee, I’ve missed ye.”

Looking at the paper floating in front of him, Zuo Mo had a strong impulse to kick it down Wu Kong Mountain!

Calm, he needed to be calm!

Suppressing the devious impulse inside, Zuo Mo spat out a stream of malicious swears in discontent, “Damned woman! You won’t die well! You’re just bored and have nothing to do! You mental case… …”

Swearing for ten minutes, Zuo Mo swore so much his throat was dry. The irritation in his heart decreased slightly. Looking at the pink paper that was still floating in place before him, Zuo Mo, who had a moment ago been full of righteous indignation, instantly became dejected. In helplessness, he grabbed the pink paper and jumped down off the roof. Finding a weasel bristle brush, he dipped it in cinnabar.

“What is it?”

After throwing the brush to one side, Zuo Mo messily folded the paper into a crane and threw it out the window. Even though he got rid of the crane, Zuo Mo still felt depressed.

He really had no solution against the owner of the paper crane. He had never thought someone would be bored to such a degree. This bored crazy woman. But her power was much stronger than him. Just any discomfort and the other would straightforwardly use brute force to suppress it.

When ge become strong, see how ge will sort you out! Zuo Mo bared his teeth.

Very quickly, another pink paper crane flew over.

“Don’t be like this to me! I’m very hurt. Ye, what have you been doing recently?”

What a waste of words, Zuo Mo crisply made an evaluation but still grudgingly picked up the brush.

“Making dan.”

West Wind Valley, the paper cranes flew in and out.

“Ah, dan-making! That’s fun! I’ve never played it before? I only know how to fold paper cranes!”

You only know how to fold cranes? When Zuo Mo saw the words, his face instantly became black. He wrote back with the brush: “Wrong, you also can draw flame exploding seals.”

“Hehe, I’m really not that good at flame exploding seals. What I’m best at is a thirty-six chain flame exploding seal.”

Threats, menace! This definitely was a threat.

Zuo Mo’s fist cracked as it tightened. From his teeth, he forced out: “Ge will endure!”

The reality was cruel. Under the threat of the other’s thirty six chain flame exploding seal, Zuo Mo could only swallow his anger and keep writing.

“Have to be a lady. A female, fighting and killing isn’t good.”

“But I’m very much a lady. Hee hee, I just like watching fireworks. My goal is one hundred and eight chain!”

Fireworks……

Zuo Mo felt depressed. His fragile spirit was viciously struck again.

The whole night, Zuo Mo basically had no time to think about dan-making. The pink paper cranes were like a relentless nightmare, forcing Zuo Mo to keep writing.

Only when the sky lightened was he, under the other’s, “I’m going to be freed.” Zuo Mo had been tormented to crippleness. He felt that it was even more tiring to reply to letters the whole night than making dan the whole night.

Bending to scoop some cold water, he washed his face. Then he came to the ling fields. Different compared to the other spells, making rain was almost required every day. In a state of muddle headedness, he casted [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. The sounds of water falling started. His mind was floating far away. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was his most familiar spell. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still cast it.

The ling energy gathered at both of his hands. There was a connection between the ball of clouds and his two hands.

The rain was very steady and continuous. He instinctively adjusted the ling energy. He was too familiar with the spell. He didn’t need to add ling energy at every single spot.

Wait!

Zuo Mo was startled out of his daze. He realized he had a very important discovery.

He didn’t need to add ling energy to every location!

He indistinctly felt that he found the crucial point and didn’t dare to ignore it. He hurried and continued to think. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was his most skilled and most familiar spell. He was extremely familiar with every segment. He thought carefully. From starting with the finger motions of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], to concentrating the clouds, to the fall of rain, the amount of ling energy for each step was different. Some parts, like the rain falling, it almost didn’t need any ling energy at all, just guidance.

As he thought even further, Zuo Mo became excited, his drowsiness fading.

If the process of dan-making was like casting a spell, then it should also have places that wouldn’t consume ling energy. As he mused to himself, Zuo Mo felt that it was very rational and also felt that his actions of putting in a continuous flow of ling energy was very stupid.

Understanding the direction, then the next step was to find where in the process needed ling energy, and what times could ling energy be saved.

This question sent him back into deep thought. He was very familiar with [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] so he could find what places needed or didn’t need ling energy. However, he was unfamiliar with dan-making. To find the ways to save up ling energy, he needed to become familiar with the entire process. Yet to familiarizing himself with the entire process, that meant using up large amounts of materials.

Unfortunately he didn’t have any jingshi left.

The stone-faced Zuo Mo grimaced inside. The question was once again difficult.

Was the only way increasing ling energy? That wasn’t realistic. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was only a scripture for increasing spiritual power.

Suddenly, his heart jumped. Spiritual power, maybe he could try with spiritual power. As his mind increased in strength, his greatest change was becoming much more sensitive to everything in the surroundings. Like some of the high level jinzhi. Before, when he passed them, he wouldn’t feel anything. But now he could detect the strong killing intent and danger embodied in them.

How to use his consciousness was a question he had been puzzled by. Other than [Art of Aged Gold], he had no knowledge of how to use his consciousness. What [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] cultivated was the spirit. The increase in the ling energy was just a side-effect. After he cultivated [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], the increase in his spirit far surpassed his progress in ling energy.

Maybe he should think about how to use the consciousness. Zuo Mo felt that this might be the breakthrough point.

Zuo Mo spent the whole day casting the five spells in the ling fields.

But today, he didn’t focus on casting the spells, but rather on using the consciousness to detect the entire process of casting.

This method was extremely effective. Zuo Mo was pleasantly surprised by his results!

Each step, the change in flow of ling energy each time, under the scan of the consciousness, it became clear as it never had been before. He could even feel the hair-thin ling energy flowing.

It seemed that he had a treasure mountain but didn’t know! Zuo Mo was irritated. If he had known earlier to use the consciousness, his spells might have entered the third level much earlier.

The soul was peaceful, untainted and serene.

Under the guidance of his consciousness, he focused on making slight changes to each spell. He didn’t let go of any change in the ling energy. How to increase the effect, how to save on ling energy, how to make it flow… …

He was like a stone mason, slowly performing changes on his work, slowly experimenting. He didn’t know that in his sea of consciousness, the star became brighter than it had ever been, standing out in the darkness. The dancing red sea of flames was strangely quiet and motionless. Only the ice river was slowly flowing, unaffected.

On the gravestone shrouded in black clouds, Pu Yao raised his head. The corner of his mouth rose, cold like a blade.

“This is the person you chose? Looking at it now, your eyes are still this crappy.”

He closed his blood eye again, entering meditation.

Chapter 42 - Dan Completed

Zuo Mo held the fasting pill in front of him, his eyes filled with joy.

This was his fourth try and he finally succeeded!

The fasting pill was the size of a longan fruit, its color was an attractive blue-green, with a delicate fragrance being emitted. Just a look make one unable to resist wanting to eat it. Fasting pills were mostly prepared for those cultivators who were in seclusion and who had the money.

He didn’t immediately start making a second one. The success of this fasting pill meant that his direction was correct. With that in the front, what he needed to think about now was the success rate. There were only six portions of ingredients left. At the very least , he needed to make four fasting pills. In other words, he could only fail two more times.

In reality, on the third try, he had almost succeeded. However, he slipped up at a small place and everything failed. His consciousness could help him detect the changes of the herbs inside the cauldron and he could accordingly adjust his ling energy.

Spiritual power was really a good thing! Zuo Mo thought blissfully.

Other than dan-making, after he swept over the other spells with his consciousness and made adjustments, not only did his consumption of ling energy go down, the effects also greatly improved. He did have a few fractions of self-awareness. Even though spiritual power was amazing, but his own experience and knowledge was extremely limited. Even with the help of his spiritual power, the changes he could make were limited. But even those minor changes were very effective.

He mused that he should go to the records of the sect to take a look and see if he could find any jade sticks about this area. He was an inner sect disciple now, it would be dumb if he didn’t seek out some benefits for himself!

Ending up with a cold-faced master who couldn’t be relied upon. It was more realistic to rely on himself.

Sword cultivators might prioritize ling energy and not spiritual power, but Zuo Mo believed what Wu Kong Sword Sect had accumulated over the years definitely surpassed his aimless fumbles. Of course, that was for the future. Right now, he had many things to work on. Other than dan-making, taking care of the ling fields was also an important job.

Even more, for him who had no money at the moment, earning jingshi was the question he must consider at the present. It had been awhile since those ling grass and herbs had been planted. Some were nearing the harvest time. How to sell them off was also a headache for him. Before he entered zhuji, he didn’t want to go outside the gates of the mountain.

Suddenly remembering Master had said if he didn’t have enough materials, he had to use his own jingshi to buy, did that mean that the sect’s materials could be brought? Then did that mean he could sell them?

Zuo Mo walked out of his dan room. In the yard, a crowd of female disciples worked hard at preparing all kinds of herbs. Scanning around, Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on a female disciple. He remembered clearly that the first day he arrived, she was the first to greet him. She seemed to be quite authoritative among this group of female disciples.

She was dressed in cotton cloth and an apron, no makeup on, sweat beading her forehead.

“This Shimei,” Zuo Mo went to greet her. Even though his age was most likely smaller than the other, but due to the rules of the sect, he didn’t dare to overstep.

She saw Zuo Mo and hurriedly stood: “Zuo Shixiong.”

“I’ve just gotten here and do not know many of the rules in the yard. Master is focused on making dan, so I can only trouble Shimei.” Zuo Mo said warmly. But it was a pity that his face was frozen and it looked slightly frightening.

After the initial panic, the female disciples quickly calmed down and said: “Shixiong is too polite. What is Shixiong’s question?”

Zuo Mo asked her his question.

This female disciple brushed away the hair in front of her head and smiled: “Shixiong might not know but all the herbs in this yard belong to the sect. Other than a certain amount that can be withdrawn, all others need people to pay with jingshi. But the price is two tenths lower than the market price. Shixiong is a ling plant farmer. If you have ling plants and grasses, you can sell them to this yard. The purchase price of normal herbs are about two tenths lower than the market price but other than jingshi, Shixiong will receive contribution points to exchange for scriptures and other things. If it is rare and valuable ling herbs and grasses, our sect’s purchase price is the same as the market. In the future when Shixiong becomes accomplished at dan-making, the sect can help sell the dan that Shixiong makes. Our sect’s Yan Le Shishu is skilled at business and usually can sell them for a good price. He only takes two tenths as a commission. But like before, other than jingshi, Shixiong can receive contribution points.”

Finishing, she handed Zuo Mo a jade stick: “The price of ling grasses and herbs will change each month. Yan Le Shishu will order someone to make it into a jade stick. This is the inventory list of the prices for this month of ling herbs.”

Zuo Mo took it and gave his thanks.

“Shixiong doesn’t have to be too polite. Shimei is Xu Qing and the first seat of this yard’s outer sect disciples. In the future, Shixiong, please take care of me. If Shixiong has any questions, come find me. You can also find me if you need to purchase any materials.” Xu Qing said respectfully.

“Thanks, Shimei!” Zuo Mo said gratefully.

Taking the list, Zuo Mo went back to the dan room and studied the list. He calculated and found the cost of the raw materials for the fasting pill was about three pieces of second grade jingshi, and its price was only half a second grade jingshi over the cost of the materials. If the success rate was accounted for, there was basically no profit. As expected, it was basically impossible to rely on low level dan to make money. It really was just practise. But that was normal. If fasting pills were really that profitable, then countless people would be breaking their heads for a chance to learn how to make dan.

In the following days, Zuo Mo continued to make fasting pills. In the process, he had failed once, but as he became more familiar, it took a lot less effort.

Ten portions of materials, it made six fasting pills. This kind of result could only be called just passable. There was nothing that was worth being proud of. Other than leaving behind the five pills, the last one he sold to Xu Qing and received three pieces of second grade jingshi.

Adding on that he would have an allowance of twenty pieces of second grade jingshi, he finally wasn’t penniless.

In the ling fields of West Wind Valley, Zuo Mo carefully examined each stalk of ling herbs and grass. In the jade sticks of Elder Wei Nan, there had been detailed introductions of these herbs and the methods of cultivating them that he had found.

Like Snowy Foxtail Grass, it was snowy white and soft, named for its foxtail-like shape. It’s biggest use was to make a famous kind of paper [Snowy Fox Paper]. Snowy fox paper was soft and pure white, extremely well-suited for making paper seals. Paper was a kind of widespread material. Other than all kinds of paper cranes, it was an essential ingredient in making seal curses and seal soldiers.

But the cultivation of snowy foxtail grass wasn’t easy as its growth was slow. Especially for snowy foxtail grass which was above third grade. The price was never low. Only third grade snowy foxtail grass could be used to manufacture fourth grade snowy fox paper.

Elder Wei Nan had discovered a method for cultivating snowy foxtail grass. The most effective way was to plant it with butterfly grass.

Butterfly grass was an extremely common kind of ling grass. Only the most docile and hardy ling beasts would eat it. Basically, no one would plant it. But if butterfly grass and snowy foxtail grass were planted together, the growth speed of snowy foxtail grass would increase, and the blue-purple butterfly grass would become a rare sky blue.

This sky-blue butterfly grass was deeply favoured by all kinds of ling beasts, especially high grade ling beasts. The price wasn’t low.

Many times, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be in awe of Elder Wei Nan who he had never met. In Elder Wei Nan’s jade sticks, there wasn’t any profound scriptures, but useful techniques like this one were countless. Like the method of growing butterfly grass and snowy foxtail grass together, he felt that even the most experienced and powerful ling plant farmers wouldn’t have thought of it.

Maybe, it was because Elder Wei Nan didn’t have very high cultivation so he would spend so much effort studying those things.

Every day, Zuo Mo would cast the spells of a ling plant farmer on the plants in the ling fields. The amount of work was much greater than he had imagined but he had endured. Over time, he had gotten used to it.

He kept on cultivating [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] each day in the rock room. In the past, he hadn’t know the many uses of spiritual energy and had more or less been inattentive. Now that he had seen the effects, he was much more focused. In a reversal of the past, he actually was not in a hurry to enter zhuji anymore. His spiritual power was much stronger than before but there was a lot of room for him to improve.

With the help of the ling vein, the progress of the ling energy in his body was faster than his estimations.

Zhuji wasn’t far away – he had a premonition.

Dong Fu, Dong Fu Hall.

Dong Fu Hall was the residence of the master of Dong Fu. It had been constructed for Dong Fu xianren and had been used since then. It took up the biggest secret paradise in Dong Fu and it was Dong Fu’s one true secret paradise. The so-called secret paradises that were sold on the market were only places with slightly more abundant ling energy and couldn’t be really considered a secret paradise.

Yu Bai slowly woke up from his meditation, satisfaction gleaming in his warm eyes. The density of ling energy in Dong Fu Hall was multiple times what it was outside. The fact that he could become the leader of the younger generation of Dong Fu was in large part due to this point.

The effects of his daily meditation was two or three times what other people had. After accumulating over the years, this kind of advantage would increasingly become greater.

“Master.” Seeing Master, he hurriedly stood.

“How have you been feeling recently?” Tian Song Zi asked as he smiled harmoniously. Tian Song Zi was wearing the robes of a Daoist, a knot on his head, extremely carefree.

“Relatively stable, but still far from becoming jindan.”

“No hurry, no hurry.” Tian Song Zi waved his hand: “You are still young, don’t rush. Becoming jindan is a process. Did you hear the news about the Sword Test Conference?”

Yu Bai paused: “Does Master want this disciple to attend the Sword Test Conference?”

Even though he had a shining reputation in Dong Fu, but he really have didn’t much confidence in attending the Sword Test Conference which was a large scale completion for the entire Kun Lun Jing. And from what he had seen, Master never really cared about worldly rewards, so why would he suddenly become interested in the Sword Test Conference

Tian Song Zi smiled, answering: “Wait for me to finish. The internal happenings of the Sword Test Conference are layered but we don’t have to touch that dirty water.” His expression became sever, his gaze worried and said solemnly: “I received news that two thirds of Bloody Sky Metropolis has already landed in the hands of yaomo.”

“Ah!” Yu Bai paled in shock: “How could that be so?”

“Yaomo are starting to recover their strength.” Tian Song Zi sighed: “Three thousand years have passed. Yaomo recuperated and have adapted. Would they be satisfied being suppressed?”

Yu Bai’s expression was incomparably bad. He knew what this meant.

“The situation in the future is hard to predict. My Dong Fu needs to prepare early.” Tian Song Zi said heavily: “I will host a Dong Fu Sword Test Conference in hopes of finding some potential talents. When the nest is being attacked, will there be unharmed eggs? I will tell the other sects. Right now, it has to be a united front in order to fight for a chance at survival.”

Yu Bai was silent. A beat later, he said: “I’m afraid Master will put in the effort but not be thanked.”

“Do within the limits, and depend on the heavens.” Tian Song Zi sighed and waved his hand: “Go and create a list of youths that should be taken note of.”

“Yes.” Yu Bai bowed and retreated with a worried expression.

Chapter 43 - First Grade Lingdan

His cold-faced master seemed to have no intentions of wanting to come out of her dan room.

With jingshi on his hands, Zuo Mo decided to start working on his dan-making skills. At the very least, for basic dan like fasting pills, he shouldn’t have problems such as the efficiency rate. Buying the materials from Xu Qing Shimei, Zuo Mo started to furiously practice making fasting pills. His income and costs basically was even. The biggest question Zuo Mo faced was how to avoid failure. Failing once meant losing three pieces of second grade jingshi.

His level of familiarity had greatly increased. The time needed for the process shortened from the previous ten hours to six hours, but the cost was also enormous. His twenty something pieces of second grade jingshi had been completely squandered. It was all due caused by the failures. But thinking about the future, he could only grit his teeth and bear it.

This was the last portion of ingredients for the today. If he could successfully make it, he could just manage to return to Xu Qing Shimei the three pieces of second grade jingshi that he owed her. These days,as he had become familiar with Xu Qing Shimei, he could leave a tab as he brought materials daily.

Zuo Mo didn’t want to owe any debts. After making this fasting pill, he wanted to rest for a time and wait for the ling herbs in the ling fields to mature. Even though there was only a single portion, he wasn’t nervous. After the repeated high-intensity practice of the past days, he was now extremely familiar with the process of making fasting pills. He didn’t know if it was caused by the spiritual power, but his head seemed to be functioning better. He hadn’t been weak before, but it had felt like he was in the clouds and mists. Now, he seemed to have left behind those clouds.

Did cultivating [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] make someone smarter?

This idea was too nonsensical. Even Zuo Mo felt it was extremely absurd and threw it to one side.

Just like normal, Zuo Mo threw the different herbs into the cauldron and put his hands on the eight trigrams plate to start. The consciousness was especially sensitive to changes in ling energy. He occasionally was able to even feel the ling energy changes in the herbs inside the cauldron. Some became excited, some flashed and disappeared, some slowly became weaker… …

Even though he was very familiar with the fasting pill, but the kinds of ling energy transformations, and vibrations between the herbs still attracted his attention.

Unconsciously, his consciousness became muddled. It was like the hands that were controlling the eight trigrams plate suddenly were possessed and abruptly changed their position.

A thin string of gold light dropped from the sky and landed in his hands, then was deflected into the cauldron.

After a while, he slowly became clear headed again. When he saw the gold string, he stared in shock. How did he end up casting [Art of Crimson Flame]?

He shook. Damn it! Don’t ruin the dan! He still owed Xu Qing shimei three pieces of second grade jingshi. If this dan was ruined, then he really had outstanding debts.

His consciousness penetrated through the cauldron. A reaction had not occurred inside. Zuo Mo’s heart jumped and he hurriedly opened the cauldron.

A green dan was lying silently on the bottom. Zuo Mo released a breath. It looked as though that it hadn’t been ruined. He raised the fasting pill and prepared to put it in the pouch when he saw a glitter of gold light from the corner of his eye. He first blanked, and then rushed to hold this fasting pill on his hand in front of his eyes for a closer examination.

Only upon close examination did he find that this fasting pill was different than the fasting pills he had made previously. The color was deep green, not the blue-green. If he looked even more closely, he found that there were extremely thin gold patterns mixed inside. That was the cause of that gold light that Zuo Mo had detected just now. Also, the weight of it was slightly heavier than normal fasting pills.

Was this still a fasting pill? Zuo Mo wasn’t so sure.

Eating it to try it out, Zuo Mo didn’t dare. But he didn’t bear to throw it away. Selling it to Xu Qing Shimei, he was afraid of conning someone else. He knew that the transformation definitely was caused by the [Art of Crimson Flame] that he unconsciously cast when his thoughts had been wandering. Theoretically, [Art of Crimson Flame] was used to gather the essence of the sun. Its base attribute should lean towards fire and logically, the dan shouldn’t be harmful.

Pondering for a while, he still decided to keep this dan. After Master came out of the dan room, he would then ask her.

Master had entered the dan room over ten days ago yet the door to the room was still tightly shut. Sometimes, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but think, was all skilled dan cultivators like this?

He had finished his quota a long time ago, but Master didn’t show any signs of coming out of the dan room. Zuo Mo decided to work on his own cultivation. Under the present circumstances, he had reached his limits with the five spells of a ling plant farmer. To progress, he needed to have jade scrolls about future stages.

Other than practicing finger motions to avoid becoming out of practice, he spent the rest of his time on [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and refining his sword essence.

He didn’t know if refining was the word commonly used but he felt that it was very descriptive. Right now, his sword essence had only formed. It was like a sword embryo that needed continuous hammering and grinding before it could become a true sword. Xin Yan Shishu’s sword essence was deeply engraved in his head. Under that sky-shattering sword essence, he had died countless times.

What he needed to do was to try to mimic Shishu’s sword essence. If he couldn’t get the aura, at the least, he had to form the appearance. Then he could frighten people with it.

He was resolute that unless it was necessary, he wouldn’t show it. Even Yu Bai could clearly see his origins. If it landed in the eyes of Master and the shishu, it would be strange if they weren’t suspicious. Xin Yan Shishu had never taught him. If they pressed, Pu Yao’s existence most likely couldn’t be hidden. Whenever he thought about Yin Xan Shishu’s icy gaze, Zuo Mo felt shivers go up his spine.

No matter the sect, stealing was a great crime.

Zuo Mo was very regretful now about having fought in Dong Fu. Who would have thought that Yu Bai’s eyes were so keen that he could see the origins of his sword essence?

But regret was useless now. In any case, it was dealing with it as it came, the barefoot wasn’t afraid of those wearing shoes. He actually put even more effort in practicing now.

He couldn’t use a flying sword. As a result, he could only work with [Art of Aged Gold]. He faithfully followed the basic sword scriptures that Wei Sheng Shixiong had left behind in the jade sticks. He hadn’t felt it before but after comprehending sword essence, Zuo Mo found that while these basic scriptures might be simple, but every one of them was important. So he turned back and started to practice these most basic scriptures.

Before this, Zuo Mo had never cultivated the sword and really could be considered a blank page in this area. After being sliced countless times by Pu Yao using Xin Yan Shishu’s sword essence, he finally comprehended something. But his fundamentals were really lacking and so even with his comprehension, it was not rooted. If he didn’t steady it, the comprehension would quickly be worn away.

Because of it, he was now turning back to cultivate the most basic of the basic sword scriptures.

These basic scriptures were all gathered from Wei Sheng’s experience of countless battles. They were practical and effective. Zuo Mo, who had a slight comprehension of sword essence, could look from a higher viewpoint to judge these basic scriptures and he learnt extremely quickly. These basic sword scriptures managed to help fill the gaps of Zuo Mo’s fundamentals.

In the Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo solitarily practiced those basic sword scriptures.

The sword scriptures were very simple. It could be learned on the first try. But it was like Zuo Mo was enchanted as he patiently practiced over and over.

Before meeting Pu Yao, before meeting Wei Sheng Shixiong, the spell he was most skilled with, [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], had been refined like this. He never hoped for any kind of enlightenment. In his mind, nothing was more practical than working at something bit by bit.

Behind the most beautiful and exquisite things, was the most dullness and loneliness.

He was very skilled with [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and his ling energy was steadily increasing. In comparison, his spiritual power progressed much faster. He was like a cultivator in seclusion, each day was scheduled to the fullest, and no time was wasted.

What was worth celebrating was that the damned crazy woman hadn’t bothered him recently.

Time passed like this.

A sword energy fly out of the sky. Zuo Mo, who had been practicing sword scriptures in the yard, stopped. Master had come out.

Jumping onto the roof, climbing on to the back of the grey beaked goose, the grey beaked goose gave a clear call and flew up with spread wings. It carried Zuo Mo towards the Fragrant Ginger Yard.

Fragrant Ginger Yard.

There was tiredness on Shi Feng Rong’s face. The dan-making process had been more than a month and it had taken a heavy toll on her. When Zuo Mo arrived, Xu Qing was reporting to her what had happened in the yard during the time.

Seeing Zuo Mo come over, Shi Feng Rong’s face became cold: “Have you made five fasting pills?”

“Completed.” Zuo Mo presented the five fasting pills he had prepared beforehand with a lowered head.

Shi Feng Rong’s expression eased slightly and indicated for Xu Qing to take it. Nodding her head, she said: “Not bad, it seemed that you hadn’t been lazy. You’ve just started dan-making, so if you have any questions, you can ask them now.” At the side, Xu Qing gave an admiring expression. She might be the first seat of Fragrant Ginger Yard’s outer sect disciples, and was very trusted by Shi Feng Rong ,but she could only learn, but didn’t have the right to ask questions. However, she quickly refocused. She hadn’t been thrown out, that meant she was allowed to listen. This was a rare opportunity.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo was overjoyed and asked several questions he had been puzzled by.

Shi Feng Rong answered them one by one.

Zuo Mo suddenly thought about the dan that he had used [Art of Crimson Flame] to make and rushed to take it out: “Master, this is a dan that I accidentally made. It seems to be different from the fasting pill. This disciple doesn’t know what it is. Master, please take a look.”

Shi Feng Rong took the dan and couldn’t help but make a sound as she carefully examined it.

After a while, she asked: “Tell how you made it.”

Zuo Mo narrated the entire process in detail. When he mentioned that he had accidentally cast [Art of Crimson Flame], Shi Feng Rong seemed have understood something.

When Zuo Mo finished, Shi Feng Rong said: “This fasting pill has essence of the sun added in. The effects are extremely yang and can enter the ranks of first grade dan. After consumption, it can make one stimulated, and arouse ling energy. But the side effects afterward would most likely not be minor. I have never seen this kind of dan before. You can name it and find your Yan Le Shishu to sell it and earn some jingshi.”

Zuo Mo asked dumbly: “How much could it sell for?”

Shi Feng Rong’s face turned cold: “Go ask yourself.” Finishing, she started to ignore Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo didn’t know where he had offended his cold-faced Master and could only leave. However, he quickly became happy again. He had accidentally managed to make a lingdan. Fasting pills could only be considered a kind of medicine dan and couldn’t be really called a lingdan, much less enter a grade. Zuo Mo was very clear that any lingdan that could enter the grade, its price wouldn’t be low.

For Zuo Mo, who was in desperate need of jingshi, what would make him even happier than finding a way to earn jingshi?

Countless jingshi were waving their hands at him……

He mused inside, he need to find a time to go see Yan Le Shishu.

Chapter 44 - A Tragedy Caused By One Piece Of Jingshi

Zuo Mo named this lingdan “Great Strength Pill”. It sounded extremely crass but he didn’t care.

He had planned on making a few more to give to Yan Le Shishu to sell for jingshi but very quickly, he could only put this matter to the side. In the ling fields, a batch of ling grasses and herbs were ready for harvest. He had farmed attentively each day. Like [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], [Art of Earth Energy] and [Art of Crimson Flame], he would cast it multiple times each day. And [Art of Flora] and [Art of Aged Gold] would be used once every couple of days.

Zuo Mo had never farmed like this in the past. Due to his diligent care, the growth of the plants in West Wind Valley was extremely outstanding. Some of the ling plants with short growth periods were ready for harvest.

For Zuo Mo whose purse was rusted, this was really a perfectly timed rainstorm. Due to its importance, he even asked for a break from Master.

Inside West Wind Valley, a skeleton bent over the ling fields and sweated.

“Finally all done.” Zuo Mo sat on the ground as he panted. Looking at the small pile of ling plants in front of him, he was filled with satisfaction. Then he turned to look in the corner. The third grade fire dragon grass was almost full grown. A bright fiery red, very beautiful.

He sorted out the ling grasses and herbs by type and then by grade. Then he carefully wrapped them. After all that, Zuo Mo rode the grey beaked goose towards Yan Le Shishu’s residence.

When Yan Le saw Zuo Mo, especially the big bag on Zuo Mo’s back, his eyes instantly lit up: “Did Shizhi grow something good?”

Putting down the large bag, Zuo Mo wiped the sweat on his forehead: “This is a bunch of ling herbs that were just grown. Shibo, please help me sell them.” Letting someone else sell them required given two-tenths to the sect but Zuo Mo still decided to let the sect sell them. Other than the fact that Yan Le Shibo knew more about the market than he did, the sect’s contribution points were very useful. And the more one contributed to the sect , their status within the sect would naturally become higher.

Even though Pu Yao was in his sea of consciousness, but this fickle and perverse renyao could not be relied on. Pu Yao was a completely dangerous factor. If he didn’t have to touch him, it was best not to.

In comparison, Zuo Mo was much more willing to take advantage of the sect’s power. At the very least, the elders of the sect appeared to be normal people. But this way, raising his own status in the sect had become very important.

Cultivation, the higher it went, the more resources it needed. Trying to rely on an individual’s power, it was far less realistic than using the power of the sect. Even roaming cultivators had their own little circles. Cultivators who truly secluded themselves were the rarest of the rare.

Yan Le crouched down and flipped through the ling grasses Zuo Mo had brought, the joy on his face becoming heavier.

“Lots of good stuff! En, en, third grade south wolfberry, third grade seven leaf chrysanthemum, woah, and there’s also daystar grass, also third grade! This can be sold for a pretty good price… …” Yan Le seemed to be very familiar and recognized all of the ling grasses and grains.

Zuo Mo was in awe and hurriedly flattered: “Shibo is really great, you recognize all of these.” Shi Feng Rong was the smallest of the four so Zuo Mo’s address of Yan Le turned from shishu to shibo.

“Haha, in business, you have to recognize those.” Yan Le felt very good about Zuo Mo’s flattery. His originally small eyes became a line and he said amiably: “As expected of a ling plant farmer! To grow something, not just faster than others, but better than others. Shizhi has put thought in. All you planted are things easy to sell and at a good price.”

He didn’t know if it was that he felt guilt,y but Zuo Mo felt that Yan Le’s gaze seemed full of meaning. Did Shibo also know about Elder Wei Nan?

He forced himself to remain calm: “Shibo should also know just how poor this disciple is. If I don’t plant something to sell, I won’t even have the jingshi for learning about dan-making.”

He was very grateful for his zombie face. It really was the best disguise.

Yan Le nodded: “Haha. Without jingshi, you can’t learn anything. You are a ling plant farmer now, don’t worry about jingshi. As long as you keep farming, us elders wouldn’t treat you unfairly.”

“Of course, of course.” Zuo Mo smiled in agreement but his expressionless face truly gave others a strange feeling.

Yan Le randomly picked two plants out: “South wolfberry, and this gold-grain red tulip, don’t sell it, you keep it. In the future, you’ll use it in dan-making. I remember your master had especially asked me to help gather it for her. These two are easily sold but it’s hard to buy.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly put away those two ling herbs.

“Everything else I’ll go help you sell. What the sect needs, I will give to you according to the market price.” Finishing, he took out a piece of jingshi to hand to Zuo Mo: “This is a piece of third grade jingshi. It’s a down payment. Take it. I’ll get your Li Ying Feng Shijie to send over the remainder in a few days.”

Zuo Mo stared dazedly at the third grade jingshi on Yan Le’s hand.

Third grade jingshi! This was the first piece of third grade jingshi that he had ever seen!

Seeing Zuo Mo’s dumb gaze, Yan Le couldn’t help but start to laugh. He threw the jingshi at Zuo Mo: “Arlight, outside, don’t embarrass me like this.”

Zuo Mo’s brain still hadn’t managed to fully recover. Previously, he had thought that this harvest would be of some value but he had never thought that just the down payment was a piece of third grade jingshi! The wealth that dropped down from the sky pounded Zuo Mo into dizziness. He felt that his entire body was floating.

He suddenly remembered another matter. Zuo Mo, who had been walking away, turned back and took out “Great Strength Pill”: “Shibo, can you see how much this lingdan is worth?”

Yan Le took the lingdan and narrowed his eyes for an examination: “You made it? What’s its use?”

Zuo Mo narrated what Master had said.

“Then I’ll try to help you sell it. Everyone takes some time to accept new lingdan, I cannot guarantee how much I can sell this for.” Yan Le said after thinking.

Zuo Mo naturally was very grateful. His purse being the fullest it had ever been, he completely forgot that he had thought of using great strength pill to earn jingshi. Even as he returned to the Little West Wind Yard, he was still muddle headed.

Like a miser, he looked at this third grade jingshi.

The color and intactness of a third grade jingshi far surpassed a second grade jingshi. All the edges were regular and complete, the entire body transparent and glowing without any signs of impurity. It was like a clear crystal. But the ling energy inside was extremely powerful!

He gently caressed the jingshi, a drunken expression in his eyes.

Suddenly, his hand seemed to have been cut by something, and the jingshi in his hands lit up unexpectedly. Zuo Mo stood, paralyzed, as he looked at the glowing jingshi. A strong pounding feeling rose in his heart as through something was going to erupt.

The glow from the jingshi gradually faded, but the pounding in Zuo Mo’s heart became even stronger.

What was going on?

He was slightly panicked.

“Idiot, you are entering zhuji!” Pu Yao suddenly appeared with a mocking smile as he looked at Zuo Mo.

“Zhuji?” Zuo Mo couldn’t attend to the disdain in Pu Yao’s voice and hurriedly asked: “What’s going on? Why am I suddenly going into zhuji?”

Pu Yao shrugged his shoulders: “When there is enough ling energy, naturally it is time for zhuji. You just had been stimulated by the ling energy in the jingshi so the ling energy inside your body, hm, woke up.”

“Woke up? What am I supposed to do?” Zuo Mo didn’t know what to do.

Damn it! He hadn’t thought he would get to zhuji so soon. He hadn’t even make any preparations. He didn’t know what was going to happen next, or what he needed to do. He had always felt that zhuji was far from him.

Right, he could go ask the shibo! Zuo Mo hit his head and prepared to run towards the grey beaked goose.

Under the shadow of the hair in front of Pu Yao’s face, a blade-like curve silently appeared.

“Don’t you want power? I have a method for zhuji, pretty good, guarantee you will successfully zhuji and your cultivation will increase greatly.” Pu Yao’s cool voice was filled with intense enticement.

Zuo Mo’s footsteps stopped.

“What do you want?” Zuo Mo asked between his teeth.

“Hee hee.” Pu Yao pointed to Zuo Mo’s hands with the third grade jingshi.

As expected, this renyao didn’t have good intentions! So he was aiming for his third grade jingshi. Zuo Mo was enraged and snorted: “I should asked Shibo……”

“Hee hee, zhuji, it’s the first gate for a cultivator. But many people don’t know that it’s also one of the most important gates. It would directly influence your future cultivation. Don’t blame me for not warning you. Using those zhuji dan won’t be of any benefit to you~~!”

Pu Yao said leisurely.

The pounding in his heart became even stronger. Zuo Mo felt as though his heart was going to jump out of his chest. Pu Yao’s words landed in his ear but became hazy and intangible.

“Hee hee, those shibo of yours. It’s not that I’m underestimating them but they can’t give you much power. Look at your master, she’s just not the opponent of the person that changed your features and erased your mind. How about it? I’ve never cheated you. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] is useful right, sword essence, oh, you’ve reached the threshold! Me, I’m very trustworthy.”

Pu Yao smiled gently, peerlessly beautiful.

“One piece of third grade jingshi, this is really cheap. Just a piece of third grade jingshi. If you put some effort it, you’ll earn it again. But the benefits you’ll receive would be endless. Is there a business more profitable than this one in this world?”

The pounding inside his heart became even stronger. Everything in his vision seemed to become twisted. Zuo Mo felt that something inside his body seemed to have been lit up.

Thirsty! He licked his lips and swallowed the saliva.

He had a feeling that going to find Master now, there wouldn’t be enough time.

“Here!” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and threw the third grade jingshi hard at Pu Yao. He wanted to smash this renyao.

“Hee hee, the smart choice!” Pu Yao easily caught the jingshi, his thin lips opening: “Hm, take that fire dragon grass to Cold Mist Valley.”

“Fire dragon grass!” Zuo Mo’s eyes widened as he forced the words through his teeth.

This guy… …

Zuo Mo wanted to cry. The kind of terrifying thing that was fire dragon grass, only terrifying people like Shixiong could tolerate it! People like him, there was only one outcome, that was, ling energy collapsing and death.

Pu Yao’s right eye curved into a crescent and reminded Zuo Mo: “There’s not much time left.”

The feeling of burning inside his body became even stronger. Zuo Mo wanted to rip off the clothing. The blood vessels were like burning metal pipes. He was abnormally thirsty, abnormally uncomfortable! There wasn’t much time left!

Unable to care about that much, he took out the spirit travelling seal and pasted it onto his legs. All the ling energy in his body moving, he grabbed the fire dragon grass, and ran towards Cold Misty Valley like a ball of red clouds.

He shouted inside.

–– Pu! You cursed renyao!

Chapter 45 - Struggle

Cold Mist Valley, beside the icy pond.

Zuo Mo looked horrific, his entire body looked like a cooked shrimp, red to the point of dripping blood. Bloody veins filled his eyes, which were extremely shocking.

In the yard, his body had been like a ball of fire. Right now, he felt his entire body was firewood that had been completely dried and then lit up, and was cracking as it burned!

He looked around, slightly dazed. Everything in his vision seemed to have been twisted by the high temperature. His awareness was muddled. Hot! He seemed to be struggling in a sea of fire, the relentless waves of fire suffocating him. At any moment, it seemed he would turn into dust.

“Eat the fire dragon grass.”

A far away voice floated into Zuo Mo’s ears.

Instinctively, Zuo Mo shoved the fire dragon grass in his hand into his mouth. A wave of heat travelled through his mouth into his throat.

Boom!

It was like throwing a pot of hot oil onto fire! In a daze, Zuo Mo felt the sea of fire seemed to have collapsed, and countless fine and scorching flames spread through his organs. The rush of heat was like liquid metal bouncing around in Zuo Mo’s meridians.

“Ah!”

Zuo Mo couldn’t stop himself from screaming. A hot stream rushed into his head. His fragile head seemed to have been branded with hot metal.

Poof! A flame suddenly ran onto his clothing. The fire quickly spread. In the blink of an eye, all the clothing on his body turned to flames. What was strange was the fire didn’t wound Zuo Mo at all.

Zuo Mo was naked in the air, his entire body red like a metal skeleton that just came out of the forge. It was possible to see with the naked eye the waves of hot air that were surrounding his body.

“Ah ah ah ah!”

The howls were deep and rough, like those of a beast. All the blood vessels in Zuo Mo’s body were enlarged, like metal threads that were being burnt as they encompassed his entire body.

“So pleasing to the ears.” Looking on from the side, Pu Yao’s face was intoxicated as he sighed: “Even the soul is in pain. It’s been so long since I’ve heard such an enchanting sound, I really missed it.”

“Ah ah ah!” Zuo Mo completely lost his mind. He was like a wild beast whose entire body was burning, and howled instinctively. The fire didn’t seem content rushing inside his body and burrowed out of his skin, shrouding his body. He became a ball of fire. If Zuo Mo was clear headed at this moment, he would be shocked to find the fire that was burning his body was deep red and alluring, extremely similar to the fire in his sea of consciousness.

Looking at the deep red flames that were furiously dancing on Zuo Mo’s body, Pu Yao’s gaze instantly darkened. The corner of his mouth, however, swept up. It was unknown what he had been reminded of.

The sound of Zuo Mo’s howls became even deeper, even rougher. The flames surrounding him seemed to burn even more ferociously.

Pu Yao’s expression changed. After a while, his gaze returned to normal and he said to himself.

“The person you chose, I’ll give him one chance.”

Finishing, he pointed a finger at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo seemed to have been struck by a large hammer and was sent flying, landing with a splash in the cold pond.

Zuo Mo was like a stone, quickly sinking. Strangely, the deep red flames around his body were not affected in the slightest by the water, and were still furiously waving.

Just at this time, the ice river in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness suddenly started to grind. The icicles crowding in the ice river were pushed by an invisible force and slowly started to flow. The silent and straight ice river, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a river where countless big and small sword energies were moving.

Hiss hiss hiss!

These sword energies followed the surface of the river as they headed for the flames surrounding the river.

As the icy sword essences touched the dancing flames beside the shores, the unexpected happened! The fire grew dramatically. In the sea of consciousness, the fire reached the sky, even the star in the void overhead was almost consumed by the fire. Only the gravestone in the sea of consciousness was still shrouded in the black clouds, not affected in the slightest.

Inside the ice river, the icicles rose up and down even fiercer, the sword essences continuously shooting out with white mist towards the sea of fire.

An astounding change was also appearing on Zuo Mo’s body. A thin layer of ice had appeared on his entirely flushed body. Yet in the blink of an eye, this thin layer would melt and disappear. But after a while, the layer of ice would appear again and repeat.

The cold pond wasn’t deep. Zuo Mo quickly reached the bottom of the pond. The temperature at the bottom of the pond was multiple times colder than the water at the top, no fish or shrimp to be found.

As though it was affected, each time the thin ice appeared, the time it stayed became longer. However, the fires around Zuo Mo’s body wasn’t weakened at all, they were still burning weirdly in the water. A faint light suddenly appeared in Zuo Mo’s chest. This light travelled through Zuo Mo’s channels. Every place it passed through, the flame would become smaller but then very quickly, the red flames would once again continue their dancing.

Zuo Mo seemed to have entered a very strange place. He had completely lost control of his body. Hazily, he felt that he was being burned in a furnace, and then suddenly thrown into the polar regions, but no matter the torment, he didn’t have any room to struggle.

“Don’t forget… …”

“Even in death, you must not forget……”

The voice appeared again. A basin of cold water seemed to have been poured over Zuo Mo’s head. His consciousness recovered clarity for a short moment. Upon clarity, the extreme pain of burning and the bone-aching cold flooded him like the tide.

“Ah……” he couldn’t help opening his mouth. The icy pond water instantly poured into his mouth.

There was nothing that could describe his feelings at this moment. His entire body was furiously burning, the extreme pain from his flesh and bones burning bit by bit almost made him faint. The pond water that had poured in almost froze him to an ice cube. His clear mind instantly became dizzy again.

Was this zhuji?

Was this the power of the fire dragon grass?

That dream… …

In a daze, Zuo Mo’s relaxed hands suddenly turned into fists. His entire body bowed, all the strength in the body gathering at this moment. His eyes widened furiously, bright red.

Who?

Who wanted to control me?

Who changed my face and erased my mind?

Who… … who did it… …

Who f— did it!

From the depths of his mind, countless thoughts uncontrollably streamed through.. From the depths of his body came a pain of his flesh burning and the bone-breaking coldness. Inside his angry eyes, the flames were swallowed by a bloody red tide!

Who did it… … who did it … … who did it… …!

Bastard!

The blood in his chest roared. The anger and grief that came from the deepest part of his heart erupted like a volcano. In an instant, it swallowed the fire and the ice.

Zuo Mo seemed to be cursed. He gathered all the energy in his body and threw out his fist!

Accompanied by the deep red alluring flames, his fist heavily smashed onto the rock side of the pond.

Boom!

With Zuo Mo’s fist as the center, a spiderweb of cracks appeared on the rock face. Scorch marks spread out from the center of the impact.

Boom!

Another punch! Stone fragments flew into the water. A few of them brushed past Zuo Mo’s body, creating a few marks. The fresh blood flowed out, quickly dissolving in the water.

Boom boom boom!

Zuo Mo was completely stuck in a trance. His eyes bright red, the tendons tight, he furiously threw out punches. The silent bottom of the pond turned into a muddy mess.

Beside the pond, Pu Yao detected the vibrations of the ground. Looking at the whirlpool that appeared in the body, his expression was normal as he raised a hand and caught a water droplet that flew out from the waterfall. Opening his hand, the water drop floated above his bond, round and clear as it reflected his blood eye.

“You’re still not giving a hand? Do you still stupidly believe he could suppress the fire of the Sky Yao?” A faint mocking smile appeared on his face as he slowly stated: “You are always like this, never listening to me. Three thousand years have passed yet you are still so stubborn. Do you not know that your choices are forever this idiotic?”

He gently blew and the perfect water droplet floating in his hand turned to a gust of mist and dissipated into the air.

“Your actions, I was sick of them long ago.” Pu Yao patted his hand, his expression indifferent.

The vibrations under his feet stopped, the pond recovered its quiet.

“It’s done.” Pu Yao’s sharp lips rose and he shrugged: “Haha, this only proved once again your idiotic choices.”

He just turned his head when he stopped in his steps.

Wu Kong Mountain, Xian Yan who had been in meditation suddenly opened his eyes. He jumped up, his body disappearing. In the blink of an eye, he appeared at the peak. A few seconds later, Pei Yuan Ran, Yan Le and Shi Feng Rong also flew over and appeared beside him.

The four exchanged looks and with shocked faces, they raised their heads to look at the sky.

Dong Fu, Tian Song Zi was browsing the list that Yu Bai had written.

“This Zong Ming Yan is Zuo Mei Tian’s disciple.” Tian Song Zi nodded as he remarked: “In Dong Fu, if we’re talking about strength, it’s between Zuo Mei Tian and Xin Yan. Zuo Mei Tian had been very fierce in the past, a person everyone was afraid off. This point was very similar to Xin Yan. But I wonder what his disciple is like.”

Yu Bai said respectfully: “This disciple had met that Zong Ming Yan once. Even though we didn’t fight, but this disciple gathers from his composure that he most likely isn’t weak.”

“Haha, there’s isn’t many youths that you call not weak. I heard that Zuo Mei Tian had put in a lot of blood on this disciple. It’s natural he wouldn’t be weak.” Tian Song Zi chuckled: “In the future, Dong Fu is probably yours, Zong Ming Yan and Wu Kong Sword Sect’s Wei Sheng’s world.”

“This disciple will not disappoint Master’s hopes.” Yu Bai responded respectfully.

Tian Song Zi waved his hands: “Don’t care too much about things like reputation. I only hope you can protect yourself in troubled times. This estate, I might not bear to part with it, but your safety is even more important.”

Yu Bai was moved and responded: “Yes!”

Seeing Yu Bai’s face was full of worry, Tian Song Zi couldn’t help but comfort: “This master is only planning ahead. Don’t worry too much. If something really happens, haha, us old people will be at the front.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a name on the list and was slightly shocked: “Hm, when was there a Zuo Mo out of Wu Kong Sword Sect? How is he special?”

“The first time this disciple heard this name, he had been in a conflict with Zong Ming Yan and another Dong Qi disciples. Because he is a ling plant farmer, this disciple had been planning on resolving it. I did not expect that he managed to comprehend sword essence!” Yu Bai added another sentence: “He has not entered zhuji.”

“Oh!” Tian Song Zi’s expression changed: “Another dangerous character in Wu Kong Sword Sect? Comprehending sword essence before entering zhuji. This kind of sword talent, it’s very rare! The heavens really have blessed Wu Kong Sword Sect!”

Between his words, he was slightly envious.

Just at this time, his expression suddenly changed and flew out the window. Yu Bai paused before hurriedly following.

He only saw Tian Song Zi staring in a daze at the sky above.

At the same time, on the highest plum peak of Dong Qi Sword Sect, a long haired black-robed man stood against the wind. With a shocked face, he raised his head to look at the sky.

Chapter 46 - Zhuji

Notes: There has been two big terminology changes. I still don’t understand how I didn’t translate “jade sticks” properly and it didn’t click for this long. It is now “jade scroll” which is better and easier to understand. Also, Tian Yue Jie is now Sky Moon Jie. I might slip up sometimes but that’s the general gist of it.

The peak of daytime, the sky was blue and clear, yet what raised people’s hairs was that the blue sky was filled with blazing stars!

“Stars in daytime… …” Pei Yuan Ran muttered to himself. The other three’s expressions all changed.

“Shixiong.” Shi Feng Rong’s voice was slightly trembling: “What is happening here?”

“I don’t know.” Pei Yuan Ran’s expression was heavy as he shook his head: “The apparition of stars appearing in daytime, it happens once every few thousand years. I’ve only seen it in some records. But it doesn’t seem to be a good omen.”

Even though the four were all jindan, looking at the strange scene in front of them, their hearts couldn’t help but feel cold.

In Dong Fu, Yu Bai stared with wide eyes at the stars dotting the sky and that proud sun hanging high up in the sky. Fear rose up from the deepest part of his heart and spread through his body.

Tian Song Zi muttered: “Stars in daytime… …”

The Plum Peak of Dong Qi, light erupted from Zuo Mei Tian’s eyes as he murmured: “Stars in daytime… …”

In the entire Sky Moon Jie, countless strong people were all alarmed. Looking up at the sky over the thirteen primary towns of Sky Moon Jie, it was completely filled with cultivators. In the wilderness, on the mountaintops, no matter what the xiuzhe were doing, they all stopped their hands and floated in midair. All of the cultivator’s gazes, they were completely focuses on this sky that they were so familiar with.

No matter their cultivation, shock was on everyone’s face.

In Cold Mist Valley, Pu Yao’s pupils shrunk. He gazed at the pond before him. In his blood red vision, he could clearly see a pillar of light that glittered as it came down from the sky and entered the pond. If one used a normal vision, where could they even see a pillar? No ling energy, no vibrations. Only through his blood eye could this intangible pillar of light be seen.

“Do you think you had wagered correctly?” Pu Yao said coldly, murderous intent in his right blood eye.

When the sound landed, the clear pond suddenly became as dark as ink. The sound of the waterfall disappeared without a trace. The waterfall was like a broken mustang, docilely flowing into the pond without a splash.

The valley fell into a strange silence.

Looking at the black water pond, Pu Yao wasn’t afraid. He took a strong stride forward, pressing: “For this trash, you decide to fight me?”

The black water pond was silent and motionless as though it was dead.

A yao, a pond. They confronted each other like this.

Time slipped away.

Pu Yao suddenly took back the leg he had stepped with, his expression returning to normal. A kind of disdain was at the corner of his mouth: “Stars in daylight, hei hei, do you really think this is still three thousand years ago? You made it too big.” He was somewhat rejoicing at the calamity.

The black water pond wasn’t affected.

Pu Yao shrugged: “So what if its stars in daylight? Can it extinguish Sky Yao Fire? The sky yao fire even you can’t extinguish?”

The black water pond suddenly started to flip as though it was boiling. Explosive sounds came out of the inky black water.

Pu Yao raised his head to look at the sky and lightly said a sentence that instantly made the pond water quite.

“Oh, it seems everyone wants to see.”

In the blink of an eye, the pond regained its clarity. The obedient waterfall resumed its ferocity and roared, the water splashing.

Pu Yao gave a light laugh and disappeared.

An extremely strong consciousness scanned over Cold Mist Valley.

When Zuo Mo opened his eyes, he instantly shuddered. So cold! The coldness of the water told him where he was situated. The cold pond of Cold Mist Valley. Last time, it had been here where he had broken through to one breath. He was very familiar with this situation. But after he had achieved one breath, he had never felt suffocated in the water. In the past, Zuo Mo had actually been suspicious that he might turn into a fish.

Ouch!

Zuo Mo bared his teeth. So painful! Any movement and a heart wrenching pain would come from all over his body. His features instantly twisted.

Thankfully, he wasn’t dead!

What he could remember up until was when that hazy voice told him to eat the fire dragon grass. What happened after, he didn’t know at all. But right now, he wasn’t willing to think, too lazy to move, his entire body was hurting and very quickly, he found he wasn’t wearing a scrap of clothing.

How would he get out?

He wanted to laugh but couldn’t. Right now, he didn’t want to think about anything. He just wanted to go to sleep. But the pond water was really too cold, so cold it reached his heart. This wasn’t a good place to sleep.

Why was it that every time, he would torment himself so much……

Forcing himself alert, he gritted his teeth and entered mediation. He wanted to know what his situation really was like.

The ling energy in his body abruptly appeared in front of him. He was first struck dumb and then was overjoyed! Zhujii! He had completed zhuji!

Internal vision, this was internal vision! In a trance, he “saw” the three dimensional diagram of the ling energy moving through his body. Each strand of ling energy was so clear for him to “see”. He felt as though he could see all objects, his mind becoming clear.

Zuo Mo didn’t know how long it was until his thoughts refocused. He hurriedly inspected his ling energy again and to his surprise, he found his ling energy was three times what it had been originally been.

No wonder the distance between the tenth level of lianqi and zhuji was a great canyon. It really was a canyon. He had just entered zhuji and his cultivation had increased three times. Think of the power disparity!

It might have been cause by excess happiness, but the pain from his body seemed to lessen greatly. Zuo Mo struggled out of the bottom of the pond and floated towards the top. When his head came out of the water, he couldn’t help sucking in a breath!

He hadn’t thought that he would really make it through the fire dragon grass.

Even now, he was still somewhat in disbelief. Fire dragon grass was something that only terrifying and abnormal people like Shixiong could endure! But he actually made it through! But he still had lingering fears. The danger involved could be deduced from the pain of his entire body.

But, he finally made it through!

He opened his mouth and wanted to laugh but found that his throat was dry and painful, unable to make a sound. His hands pushed against the side of the pond, trying to climb out. His body shuddered in great pain and almost made him faint. With no other solution, he could only use his hands to grab a rock beside the pond, his body soaking in the water.

The joy after surviving a calamity made everything seem so beautiful.

After a long time, the pain lessened slightly and his strength had slightly recovered. Struggling to climb out of the pond, he found the jade scrolls and other times scattered on the ground. He carefully picked them all up. What really made him feel pain was that third grade spirit travelling seal. It had burnt down to only a small scrap.

Did his body really combust?

He still remembered the strong feeling of burning before he became unconscious but that was all he remembered. Thankfully, most of his belongings, like talismans and jade sticks, were still undamaged. But since the spirit travelling seal was gone, and he was naked, how would he get back to West Wind Valley?

Suddenly, he had an idea. Casting [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], he saw a white ball of clouds appear in front of him.

He snickered, his hands maintaining the spell as his body sneaked into the cloud. Oh, cold, very comfortable. Very quickly, he found that the pain in his body seemed to have lessened slightly. Did [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] have healing properties? But this wasn’t the time to study it. He should think of a way to get back.

Old Black had finished his work in the fields and was preparing to return home.

Walking on the road, he couldn’t help but ponder what he had just seen. Thinking about it now, he felt his heart tremble. Stars appearing during daytime. There were many strange things in the world, natural abnormalities. Was this a bad omen?

He couldn’t help but raise his head. In the blue sky, other than the sun, there was nothing else.

Old Black exhaled. Normal was good, normal was good. Normality was the best. Please don’t have any change. As he thought aimlessly, he walked back towards his residence. Where he was living now was the big yard that Zuo Mo had lived in previously.

Detecting that someone was coming opposite him, he raised his head. At a glance, he was pinned to the ground, his expression dumbstruck.

After a pause, he recovered and stammered: “Little Mo ge, you, you are… …”

Zuo Mo was completely shrouded in a white cloud. Only his head was left sticking out. Looking down, Old Black could barely make out a pair of bare feet.

Old Black felt this white cloud seemed familiar. He suddenly realized, wasn’t this the cloud from [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]?

Was he taking a bath?

Thinking about the rain of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], Old Black felt that this creativity was pretty good.

But… … he didn’t need to bathe on the mountain road… … and wash as he kept on walking……

Zuo Mo was extremely embarrassed and wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide himself. But due to his zombie face, there wasn’t any bashfulness, no embarrassment. He seemed very at ease. His entire body was in pain. Any movement, and the pain would pierce his heart. He could only laboriously move his feet step by step.

Old Black decided to give a compliment. He reached out with his thumb: “Little Mo ge, this trick is great!”

Zuo Mo felt that there weren’t any words that could describe his feelings right now. He could only nod his head solemnly in acknowledgement and then slowly walk down the path!

Looking at the back of the white ball slowly moving, even Old Black couldn’t help but feel that Little Mo ge’s bearing had really improved.

What made Zuo Mo feel hopeless was that he had encountered quite a few outer sect disciples as he made his way. Their strange gazes made Zuo Mo’s hair stand up. When he reached West Wind Valley, he almost wept tears of joy. But when he appeared at the gates of his own little yard, the gray beaked goose at the rooftop was suddenly alarmed and quickly used its wings to cover its eyes. Zuo Mo’s heart instantly shattered into countless pieces, landing on the ground.

So this grey bird was female……

What made Zuo Mo feel depressed was that this female bird sneakily created a small opening through her wings and peeped through from behind. And what made his teeth itch even more was that this female bird’s gaze turned from curious to disdainful!

Damned bird!

Humiliated, Zuo Mo angrily sent out a sword energy.

Honk!

The grey beaked goose shouted in alarm and nimbly dodged. It flew into the air and then suddenly extended its neck, full of disdain as it spat at the ground.

Zuo Mo almost fainted in anger. He throughout hatefully, you are a dead bird, just wait!

What he was thankful for was that he hadn’t encountered an elder on his way. If Master saw his state, she would beat him halfway to death and throw him down the mountain to feed the dogs.

Laboriously moving into the room, he collapsed on the bed. He didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to think, didn’t want to move a fingertip. He was exhausted. Very quickly, he slipped into a deep sleep.

Before sleeping, he lightly muttered: “Zhuji!”

Chapter 47 - Seven Shixiong Xu Yi

Waking up, Zuo Mo almost couldn’t open his eyes in the bright sunlight.

He gave a comfortable groan. The soreness made his entire body feel relaxed. He wanted to keep sleeping. After struggling for a moment, he still decided to get up. In zhuji, there really wasn’t any need for sleep. But other than to recover strength, sleep’s most important purpose was to let the mind rest.

In the sunlight, he stretched out his spine, his entire skeleton cracking like popcorn. Zuo Mo instantly was frightened and quickly inspected his body. Not finding any problems, his heart was then reassured.

He always felt that he muddled through all his breakthroughs. He never had the knowledge of what happened. Like [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] going to the fourth level, [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] breaking into One Breath, it was all like this. This time wasn’t an exception. Other than these crisp sounds, and the increase in cultivation, he had not found any other benefits that zhuji had brought.

He was too greedy. Zuo Mo laughed at himself. Just in the increase in cultivation was enough for him to receive countless benefits.

Walking out of the room, Zuo Mo, after the calamity, felt that the warm sunlight was all the more precious. Even the damn bird on the rooftop wasn’t as terrible in his eyes as yesterday.

Suddenly stopping, he took a deep breath. The slightly spread ten fingers suddenly moved, creating an afterimage. His gaze was focus, his ten fingers coming alive, darting quickly. The complicated transformations would dazzle a person’s eyes. After learning [Art of Flora], a spell that prioritized finger movements, this almost became one of his most practiced spells.

There wasn’t too many spells to practice in lianqi involving manipulation of ling energy. Like [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], Zuo Mo had almost practiced it to the limits of what a lianqi cultivator could do. And how to use spiritual power, he didn’t have one word of instruction, and couldn’t even touch the doorway. The only thing that time could be spent upon, and that he felt useful, were finger movements. Therefore, [Art of Flora] that used finger movements was his only choice.

The increase in cultivation didn’t cause an evident increase in the finger movements. This point raised Zuo Mo’s attention. Zhuji was only the first stage in the journey of cultivation. The dangers of the road ahead, only trying it personally could lead to understanding.

His goal, from a long time ago, it wasn’t earning jingshi or just living anymore.

To search for the answer, then what was required was sufficient strength. Even Master, a jindan, was cautious when speaking of the guy that had changed his features and erased his mind. How powerful the other’s power must be! In other words, at the least, he needed power that surpassed his master.

Master was a jindan……

Zuo Mo took a deep breath, raised his expressionless face, and the hands that had been at his side silently turned to fists.

It was very far, far enough to make him feel it was impossible. There were countless cultivators, how many would become jindan? To say of nothing else, but in the second generation of the entire sect, the only one that had hopes of becoming jindan was Wei Sheng Shixiong. Himself? A guy that only had some talent in the area of five elements… …

If it was becoming a strong ling plant farmer, Zuo Mo didn’t have any doubts of whether he could achieve it. But achieving jindan, his most optimistic prediction was only just a hope of one in ten thousand.

After he learned of his changed features and erased mind, he had continuously asked himself, was it really worth it to pursue after such an illusory and distance goal? Right now, as a ling plant farmer, his life would become better and better. If he formed a relationship with someone, his own descendants would have a pretty good life. But this, gambling his living, his life, to pursue that goal that had almost no chance of winning, was it worth it?

Whenever he started to sway, he would always think of that dream that frequently appeared, that kept on repeating “Even in death, you must not forget.” Every time he would ask himself, what was it that he could not forget even if he died?

He didn’t know.

He was a cowardly person. In order to live, he could flatter, could bow his spine, but … …

He wanted to know.

The change in his frame of mind caused the change in his attitude to his cultivation to change completely. He worked more, worked harder. He knew just how low his starting point was. He also knew that his own innate talents were not good. But he also knew he had his own advantages.

Pu, even though he had cursed this damned perverse renyao countless times, but Zuo Mo still needed to thank him. Without Pu Yao, he couldn’t even see a hint of sunlight. For this sliver of light, even if he had to pay some things, he was still willing.

This time, zhuji had been a painful odeal for him. But for some reason, his mental state became calmer, his thoughts clearer. Being a ling plant farmer could dramatically increase his position in the sect, but clearly, a ling plant farmer could not help him complete his goal. What he could rely on in this area was still sword scriptures. Ling plant farming, in the future, it was an important technique to earn jingshi but not his main path of development.

There were many paths to increase attack power but of the many types of cultivation, the one with strongest attack power were sword cultivators. Even more, he was situated in a sword sect and naturally wouldn’t abandon what was near to reach for the far. He might not have much talent with the sword but he just needed to work harder.

Thinking about sword cultivation, he remembered that after zhuji, he could imprint a flying sword. Very quickly, he ran into difficulties. He didn’t have a scripture for imprinting a flying sword.

In Fragrant Ginger Yard, Shi Feng Rong was shocked when she saw Zuo Mo but instantly recovered: “Even with zhuji, you cannot be lazy. Go to the records room. You will be able to read some of the jade sticks. Coming out next time, I will personally test you. If you were lazy, there will be a heavy punishment.” The last few words were extremely threatening.

Zuo Mo cowered under Master’s scolding, and could only murmur in affirmation. Inside, he wailed at his misfortune. It seemed he had hit Master’s sore point somehow and couldn’t help but wonder who had irritated Master.

Only when Master’s anger had decreased some did he cautiously open: “Master, this disciple wants to request a scripture for impressing a flying sword.”

“Impressing a flying sword?” Shi Feng Rong couldn’t help but frown and said with some dissatisfaction: “Your priority should be ling farming and dan-making. Don’t be greedy. Too greedy and you cannot digest It all. Don’t you understand that?”

Zuo Mo heard this and grimaced. He just knew he wouldn’t receive a good scripture. His mouth went: “This disciple understands. But our Wu Kong Sect is a sword sect. If this disciple doesn’t know how to even impress a flying sword. Walking out, wouldn’t it shame the sect?”

“That’s true.” Hearing this, Shi Feng Rong thought it was reasonable: “You can go see your shixiong Xu Yi and find a scripture to practice. Do not spend too much effort.”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo agreed docilely.

“Go.” Shi Feng Rong discourteously sent him away. The stars in daytime that had appeared yesterday caused his mood to be bad to the extreme. She had heard some of the rumors about stars in daytime. There were all kinds of strange ones but one point was unusually unanimous. That was, it wasn’t a good thing. If this kind of incident had happened in one of the other jie, she could go spectate but since it happened in Tian Yue jie, her mood became bad. Especially when she saw the worry in her sect leader shixiong’s eyes, her mood became worse.

She knew Sect Leader Shixiong very well. Sect Leader Shixiong never was panicked. Since even he was worried this time, the situation probably was worse than she had imagined!

If this lady knew who was the one behind all this, humph humph! Murderous intent flashed through her eyes, causing Xu Qing at the side to jump in fright.

Even as he left Fragrant Ginger Yard, Zuo Mo felt that his chest was heavy. He knew that Master was looking out for him but he could not tell his reasons to Master. It seemed that he had thought too simply. Zuo Mo grimaced inside. Originally, he had assumed that if his contribution to the sect was large, the sect would naturally increase his benefits and he wouldn’t have to worry about things like scriptures. Now he knew that he had expected too much. His benefits would naturally increase but benefits were also sorted into areas. Things like spells were the very core of a sect. Would they easily give it to others?

Right now, he could only hope for Wei Sheng Shixiong to come out of the Sword Cave and teach him some moves.

He still decided to take a trip to Xu Yi Shixiong’s place. He might not get a good spell but he could seek a substitute. He’ll take an average one. He had nothing in terms of sword scriptures. He was a page of white. Learning something would help his fundamentals.

Humph, if the sect won’t give, then he’ll just buy it.

If the jingshi that he threw out was numerous enough, he would naturally be able to buy a pretty good sword scripture.

Ge is a ling plant farmer, am I someone that would lack for jingshi? He completely forgot that his last piece of jingshi had been extracted by Pu Yao.

In the sea of consciousness, the sea of fire roared. If Zuo Mo came in, he would certainly be in for a fright. The dancing deep red flames had grown a section higher. The temperature of the ice river seemed to have decreased. And the biggest change was the star in the sky.

Bright as a diamond, magnificent and dazzling.

On the gravestone shrouded in the black clouds, Pu Yao lazily used his hand to support his perfect and flawless chin, the other hand rubbing a pile of powder, muttering to himself: “Used up all the jingshi , ah. This guy is really a piece of trash, even getting a jingshi requires almost killing himself.”

He said to the air: “If I knew earlier, I’d have gone myself. Now it’s great, you made the incident big, so many powerful guys have arrived from outside. Even dead, you’re still making trouble for me. It really is inflexible to the death.”

The white powder dribbled from the cracks in his hands.

A lonely yao sat on the gravestone and said ruefully: “The landlord doesn’t have any surplus either!”

In the Hall of Hearing Principles, Xu Yi was slightly shocked when he saw Zuo Mo but quickly recovered his composure. He smiled opening: “It’s a rare occasion for Shidi to come. Come come come, sit.”

Zuo Mo looked at Xu Yi Shixiong. The other was a person that he had admired very much when he had been an outer sect disciple. He had never thought that he could sit on equal ground with him now. The affairs of the world, it really was fickle. He couldn’t help but sigh.

“Zuo Mo has to thank Shixiong for guidance in the past.” He sincerely gave a bow.

Xu Yi blanked and then hurried to help Zuo Mo up: “Shidi doesn’t have to be so courteous. That was just my duty.”

After this exchange of words, both felt that they were much closer to each other.

“It’s rare for Shidi to come, have a taste of my tea.” Xu Yi’s hands twisted a set of tea equipment appeared in front of him. A yellow bamboo tea tray carved with two clouds. Simple and humble. On top was a purple clay teapot. The light flashed across the purple clay teapot, formations clearly were carved on it. Seven small cups like the seven stars of the Northern Dipper.

Xu Yi took out a square jade box. When it was opened, Zuo Mo felt a fragrance spread towards him. The box was half full with ling tea. The ling tea was as green and bright as jade, it was a branch with three leaves clustered at the end, tender and glistening.

“This is Fragrance Tea.” Xu Yi introduced: “Produced by the Ivy Aromatic Shop. It took a lot of effort to buy this.” Then he gave a smile: “I don’t have any other indulgences, just this one.”

Xu Yi Shixiong’s eyes were focused as his hands skillfully started to wash the pot and cups. When had Zuo Mo ever seen such things? His eyes widened, unblinking.

He saw Xu Yi Shixiong first take out a small amount of tea leaves to put into the purple clay pot, pour in cold spring water and then the thumb and index finger of the right hand gently pinched. A red flame floated in front of him. The movements of Shixiong’s long and white fingers were extremely gentle as he gently placed this red flame inside the purple clay pot.

Hiss splat, hiss splat!

Inside the purple clay pot, countless water droplets exploded. The spring water inside the pot became a ball of green mist yet not a drop spilled. Xu Yi Shixiong quickly lifted the teapot and a rush of green tea poured into the teacup.

Inside the teacup, the tea soup was green and enticing. A fragrance completely different than the one before wafted out.

“Drink quickly, the effect wouldn’t be as good if it’s cold.” Xu Yi Shixiong’s expression was solemn. He directly held up a cup and put it to his mouth.

Copying Shixiong, Zuo Mo also picked up a cup. Mimicking Shixiong whose expression was intoxicated as he sipped, he also took a drink!

Boom!

It was impossible to describe the feeling that occurred the instant the tea soup touched the tongue. It was as though countless flavors had gathered and exploded at once inside the mouth. At the same time, Zuo Mo’s tears and snot streamed out.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s sorry state, Xu Yi almost choked on a sip of tea and then grinned widely.

Zuo Mo couldn’t care about Shixiong’s laughter. All of his attention was on pondering this strange feeling. A rush of coolness spread through his limbs, his body unspeakably light. All the pores seemed to have opened, so comfortable he could groan.

“This tea soup has dense ling energy. You just entered zhuji, this is good to stabilize your level.” Xu Yi reminded.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo hurriedly swallowed the remaining tea soup, got into lotus position and entered meditation.

Looking at Zuo Mo’s gulps, Xu Yi Shixiong only shook his head, seemingly dissatisfied with Zuo Mo wasting such a good thing. With a small mouthful after another, a face full of pleasure, he slowly drank.

When Zuo Mo woke up from mediation, he felt his body refreshed and unspeakably comfortable. He didn’t waste words and raised his hands to Xu Yi Shixiong: “Many thanks, Shixiong.”

Xu Yi Waved his hand: “Just invited Shidi to drink tea. Coming this time, Shidi must have a matter.”

Zuo Mo narrated how he had requested a spell for impressing a flying sword from his master. Hearing this, Xu Yi nodded: “I understand. I hadn’t thought that since Shidi had received the jade medal, you still want to cultivate the sword.”

“I’m just playing around.” Zuo Mo hurriedly replied. After being cracked down by Master, he felt it was better not to say anything.

“Haha, a man wanting to improve the sword, it isn’t something embarrassing. Wielding a sword in the world, kill yao and exterminate mo, it is amazing! He he, Shixiong had been like this before, but later, found that my talents were average and hard to achieve anything so turned to learning forging.” Xu Yi first laughed at himself and then said seriously: “Since Shidi is interested in the sword, Shixiong has spent some more time in the sect so knows a bit more, and can chat about it with Shidi.”

When Zuo Mo heard “Kill yao and exterminate mo”, he couldn’t help but grimace bitterly inside. Thinking about the perverse renyao, he felt it was more likely that he would be killed and exterminated.

But he still said solemnly: “Thank you Shixiong.

Chapter 48 - Eight The Black Hearted Records Room

“Our sect is a sword sect, our strongest sword scripture is the [Void Sword Scripture] that our founder created. But our sect had gradually declined. This sword scripture that had been ranked sixth grade could not be learned by anyone in the sect. Somehow, after that, it was split into [Shapeless Sword Scripture] and [Empty Sword Scripture]. The one that Luo Li Shidi practices is [Empty Sword Scripture]. But these two scriptures that were split only reached third grade. Other than this, the other one of importance is Master’s [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture]. This sword scripture is a fourth grade sword scripture. In the hands of Master, it blossomed and managed to enter the ranks of fifth grade. In the past, it was with this sword scripture that Master had killed countless yaomo in Yao Hunt and received the title of Ice Dragon Sword.

As he talked about his master Xin Yan, Xu Yi wandered away in his thoughts.

A fourth grade sword scripture that was able to elevate into fifth grade, it was enough to show that Xin Yan Shishu’s abilities with [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] didn’t just reach deeply, but that he had improved this sword scripture. No one who was able to do this was ordinary.

“Other than this, the ancestors of our sect were also skilled. [Cloud Sword Scripture], [Red Flame Sword Scripture], [Emerald Sword Scripture], they are all fourth grade. Haha, Shidi, don’t just think that our sect doesn’t have any reputation in Dong Fu. But in Dong Fu, other than Dong Fu Hall, only we have a sixth grade sword scripture. Even fourth grade scriptures, not just any sect in Dong Fu has one.

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened. He had never thought that the sect was so strong.

Xu Yi noticed Zuo Mo’s eyes and smiled: “Shidi, don’t think too optimistically. Sword Scriptures above fourth level, the sect wouldn’t easily pass it on to the disciples. What the sect leader and the shishu believe is better to have nothing than accept a shoddy choice. In the past, Luo Li Shidi was unparalleled in the second generation but even so, he was only passed on the third grade sword scripture [Empty Sword Scripture].”

Seeing the disappointment in Zuo Mo’s eyes, he comforted: “Shidi, don’t be too disappointed. There are very fine ones among the third grade sword scriptures. Like the [Empty Sword Scripture] that Luo Li Shidi learnt, and that [Shapeless Sword Scripture] that also came from [Void Sword Scripture], they are the extreme best among third grade sword sects. Shidi, you have to pay attention. They might all be third grade sword scriptures, but there are still differences.”

Zuo Mo instantly raised his ears. It was too hard to pursue those good ones, but he shouldn’t pick the worst ones. He was very practical. The item less a bit, but the jingshi difference wouldn’t just be a bit.

“Usually, five elements sword scriptures are the worst. Shidi is a ling plant farmer and your understanding of the five elements definitely is deeper than mine. The five elements encompass millions of changes yet lose their purity. To cultivate the sword, what cannot be lost is purity. But the five elements birth and defeat each other, and are difficult to make pure. I had never heard of a five elements sword scripture that went above third grade. Shidi, don’t try to pick this kind of sword scripture. The other sword scriptures, they all have their attributes. Some are fierce and powerful, good for killing and battle, some are strange and unpredictable, good for ambushing, some nurture the mind and increase cultivation.”

“Nurture the mind? Aren’t sword scriptures primarily for killing? How can it nurture the mind?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help asking.

“Ha ha, cultivation is long and difficult. If there isn’t a strong and resolute heart, how can one achieve the path? To use the sword to nurture the heart, to harden the core. Many people practice this kind of sword scripture. Like me, I have [Heaven Heart Sword Scripture]. This kind of sword scripture, it doesn’t have much power but to nurture and fix the mind, it’s pretty good.” Xu Yi smiled as he explained.

“The sect records at River Sight Peak. You are an inner sect disciple now and can go in to read. But it requires contribution points each time. If Shidi has spare time, remember to earn more sect contribution points. In the future, you’ll need to use them.” Xu Yi emphasized.

Bidding farewell to Xu Yi Shixiong, Zuo Mo headed straight for River Sight Peak. There was a river below River Sight Peak, the mountain was steep and so the records room was built against the cliff. It wasn’t big, just a small compound. There were some thin bamboo stalks planted beside the walls, the outer wall slightly crumbling. Zuo Mo was somewhat disappointed. He had never been here before. This place was only open to inner sect disciples.

The person guarding the door was an old one. At the beginning, Zuo Mo fantasized that the other was some high master but he was quickly disappointed. This old man guarding the door only had a cultivation of lianqi ninth level. However, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to disrespect him. The common saying was good, the existing official wasn’t as good as the existing manager. Don’t just look at how bad the old man’s cultivation was but he guarded the records room. If he wanted to make trouble, it was a very easy thing to do.

Respectfully handing over his medal, the old man scanned it and lowered down his face, saying: “Two hours on the first level is two contribution points, two hours on the second floor is four contribution points. The jade scrolls in the first level can be copied. The second level is restricted from copying. Go in.” He threw the medal back to Zuo Mo.

So black!

Zuo Mo swore inside. The contribution points of inner sect disciples were not the same as outer sect disciples and they could not be converted. Zuo Mo only had in total ten contribution points. Five of them had been the reward the sect leader gave him for receiving the jade medal. The other five were from last time when he let Yan Le Shishu sell his plants.

Ten contribution points. It was enough for him to stay ten hours on the first floor and five on the second.

If it was copying a jade scroll, even the most basic would be two or so hours. And if it couldn’t be copied then it had to be memorized. That wasn’t something that could be accomplished in a few hours.

Now he understood why Xu Yi Shixiong reminded him to earn more contribution points. So the big cost was here! He was suddenly grateful that the dan-making records room of his Master didn’t require contribution points. Otherwise, he could only cry. Zuo Mo guessed that Xin Yan Shishu definitely would have a private forging records room. Otherwise, Xu Yi Shixiong would be in a terrible bind.

Time was tight, and didn’t allow Zuo Mo to think. He ran straight into the first floor.

He saw rows of jade scrolls, organized neatly. Zuo Mo couldn’t help twist his mouth. From what he saw, this was much worse than Master’s records room. A layer of dust had accumulated on the wooden boards. It looked like there usually weren’t many people. Even though it lacked care, but the arrangement of the jade scrolls was easy to follow.

There were all kinds of jade scrolls. Sword scriptures, five elements, cultivation scriptures, forging. These were the jade scrolls that the elders of the sect that searched and gathered over the generations. The grade of these jade scrolls weren’t high, didn’t have much practical value but it would have been a pity to throw them out so the sect had created a records room to support the inner sect members to study. This kind of jade scrolls were only useful to those who had just become an inner sect disciple. As they spent longer with their Master, the worth of these jade scrolls would decrease.

It had been a long time since Wu Kong Sword Sect had new inner sect disciples come in. After Li Ying Feng became an inner sect disciple, she spent each day with Yan Le Shishu taking care of all the different business. And after Wei Sheng Shixiong became an inner sect disciple, he received Xin Yan Shishu’s meticulous teachings and then entered the sword cave, therefore, he naturally didn’t come here.

So when Zuo Mo came in, he saw this dusty scene.

Even though there wasn’t high level spells but the roomful of jade scrolls still made Zuo Mo’s eyes turn dizzy and drool. Don’t just think that these jade scrolls weren’t important. If they were thrown onto the market, each one could be sold for a pretty good price. For lianqi disciples, each jade scroll would be a treasure.

Zuo Mo headed straight for the sword scriptures. It was also the largest topic on the first floor. Wu Kong Sword Sect was a sword sect, so naturally, it would put all possible effort into gathering sword scriptures. There were large numbers of second and third grade sword scriptures on the first floor. Naturally, they weren’t of high quality. After making a cursory examination, he quickly put them down. As expected, there was nothing really good. It wasn’t bad as a reference but for a primary method, it wasn’t really good.

Looking at the stars for the second floor, he hesitated a second and then decided to go up to see.

The second floor was slightly smaller and there was a dramatically smaller number of jade scroll. But the scene was very similar to Master’s records room. The jade scrolls were all floating in midair, each jade scroll surrounding by differently colored whirlpools.

Having had a similar experience, Zuo Mo naturally knew what to do.

He scanned through the jade scrolls about sword scriptures one by one. Even now, he still hadn’t decided what kind of sword scripture to cultivate. If it had been before, he might have chosen to be like Xu Yi Shixiong and practice something like [Sky Heart Sword Scripture]. This kind of sword scripture cultivated the resolve of the cultivator, something that was crucial. However, for him that was pursuing strength, finding those sword scriptures that had greater power was more realistic.

Undecided, Zuo Mo flipped and read through them one by one.

He had never seen so many jade scrolls at the same time. The jade scrolls from the second level, if it had been in the past, they would all have been treasures that he would have dreamed about. He couldn’t help but feel as though he was in a dream.

As expected, the sword scriptures that Xu Yi Shixiong had mentioned were all absent. The second floor were entirely third grade sword scriptures but were distinctively of higher quality than the jade scrolls downstairs. They should be the finest of the third grade.

There was a set of [Wind and Thunder Sword Scripture]. After cultivating it, one would float like the wind, power like thunder, the effectiveness shocking. Supposedly it had originally been a fifth grade sword scripture but after continuous loss over thousands of years, its power declined and it was demoted to third grade.

And another even stranger was [Autumn Rain Sword Scripture]. It required a set of one hundred and eight swords. The moves were like rain, extremely difficult to block. But just like [Wind and Thunder Sword Scripture], much of its contents had been lost, especially the method of making the swords. The power of each individual sword dropped dramatically and it entered an awkward state. But its manipulations were very exquisite so it was put on the second floor.

Each sword scripture had its unique strengths but similarly, they all had a great flaw.

Seeing that the jade scrolls he hadn’t read become less and less, Zuo Mo started to become panicked.

Was he unable to find an appropriate sword scripture for himself?

He completely forgot that time was flowing away. As the number of the jade scrolls decreased one by one, his heart started to sink to the bottom bit by bit.

At last, he was facing the last jade scroll.

[Li Water Sword Scripture]. Li Water, these two characters clearly connected to the five elements caused Zuo Mo’s heart to jump.

Xu Yi Shixiong’s words were by his hears. Shixiong had kept reminding him of the weak nature of five element sword scriptures.

Zuo Mo, who had a rough understanding of the five elements, was very clear just how correct Shixiong was. The five elements had many transformations but it was hard to purify. If the sword essence was not pure, then the power would decrease.

Completely disheartened, Zuo Mo unconsciously read [Li Water Sword Scripture].

“Eh!” He suddenly found something and his mind roused itself. Just as he wanted to take a closer look, his eyes suddenly flashed and then he found himself standing in the yard.

“Time has ended. You have used all your contribution points.” The old man’s eyelids didn’t even raise as he gave a dismissal.

Zuo Mo wanted to cry.

Chapter 49 - Nine Purchase Order

Spending ten contribution points but not a spell to show for it, Zuo Mo felt like a fool.

Enraged, Zuo Mo raised his head to look at the decrepit building before marching away without a second glance. Humph, when ye has contribution points, ye will lie down on the first floor, lie down on the second, sleep every day here! Zuo Mo didn’t feel good but was helpless. Very quickly, his brain turned to how to earn jingshi.

The contribution points of inner sect disciples were not easy to earn. Previously, when he had been an outer sect disciple, he had never been troubled by contribution points. But then he turned around his thinking. The contribution points of inner sect disciples were much more valuable than outer sect disciples. Before, no matter which jade scroll from the second level, he would treat it like a treasure. When would he be so picky?

There were many ways to earn contribution points. Just the ling grasses and herbs that Zuo Mo planted, and then if the sect sold them, they all would have contribution points. However, rules like the records room, Zuo Mo guessed, were common and there would be other places that would need to use contribution points. This question was very important and he needed to be clear.

He ran to the Hall of Hearing Principles and found Xu Yi Shixiong.

After hearing Zuo Mo’s words, Xu Yi Shixiong explained: “Shidi thought correctly. Contribution points are more useful than jingshi in the sect. Other than [Void Sword Scripture], all the other spells in the sect, including Master’s [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], and the other fourth grade sword scriptures can all be exchanged using contribution points. Of course, the amount of contribution points needed is astonishing. Other than spells, some high quality items, like flying swords and talismans, can also be exchanged using contribution points. You can even use your contribution points to get my Master to teach you the sword or forging. I can also pay using contribution points to let Shi Shigu teach me dan-making. Basically, contribution points are omnipotent in the sect.

“Then how does Shixiong earn contribution points?” Zuo Mo asked.

“He he, I usually make some talismans for the sect for Yan Le Shishu to sell. Or I forge talismans for the other shidi in exchange for some contribution points. If Shidi needs some talisman in the future, come find me. My price is much lower than the sect.” Xu Yi didn’t give up a change to promote his own talismans and continued: “Like shidi, if you become skilled at dan-making in the future, it would be very fast to earn contribution points. For other people, Luo Li Shidi might only be zhuji but he has achieved [Empty Sword] and his attack power can compare to a cultivator in the initial stages of ningmai. Most of his time is spent in the mines guarding the xiu slaves. Underground is dark and uncomfortable, extremely dull. Other than Luo Li Shidi, no one is willing to go so the contribution point that the sect gives him is extremely high.”

When Xu Yi Shixiong mentioned Luo Li, Zuo Mo remembered something: “In the second floor of the records room, I didn’t see [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture].”

“He he, Shidi is in too much of a rush. These two sword scriptures, while they are third grade, but they are the finest among the third grade. It is also possible to find the shadow of [Void Sword Scripture] from those two. The sect naturally is very cautious. When Shidi has spent more time in the sect, naturally you will be able to exchange for it.”

Zuo Mo understood.

Leaving Xu Yi Shixiong’s place, Zuo Mo had a general idea of what he needed to do. It wasn’t easy receiving contribution points in the sect. It seemed that his only realistic method right now was relying on planting ling plants.

When he got to the entrance to the valley, he saw Li Ying Feng Shijie. He hurriedly greeted: “Why hasn’t Shijie gone in?”

“The jinzhi on Shidi’s valley is very heavy. Shijie doesn’t want to be too presumptuous.” Li Ying Feng joked.

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. Due to the fact that there was a ling vein beneath the rock room, he was very cautious and had set down layers of jinzhi at the mouth of the valley. Looking at it now, it seemed very risky as it caught people’s attention.

He forced himself to calm, responding: “There are many ling grasses growing inside the valley. I’m afraid that some animals like rabbits and foxes would get it and damage the grasses. Then this little brother won’t even have the time to cry.”

“That’s true.” Li Ying Feng nodded: “If ling grasses are ruined by those little animals, they wouldn’t be worth anything. I actually have a jade scroll right now about jinzhi. I’ll sent it over to Shidi since you can use it.”

Zuo Mo was overjoyed and gave a deep bow: “Many thanks, Shijie!”

“Shidi is too polite.” She replied: “You and I both came up from the outer sect. It’s rational for us to give mutual support.”

“Of course.” Zuo Mo agreed. Both of them were clever people. This conversation quickly set down their relationship as allies.

It might appear that everyone was good to him on the surface but inner sect disciples that came from outer sect disciples usually would be pushed aside by the other inner sect disciples. Not just Wu Kong Sword Sect, almost all sects were like this. There weren’t many second generation disciples in Wu Kong Sword Sect and most of them were outside. Other than Luo Li and Hao Min, Eldest Shixiong Qin Cheng, Eldest Shijie Gong Sun Qing and Third Shijie Xu Yi Xia were all not in the sect.

The battle over Eldest Shixiong between Wei Sheng and Qin Cheng was undoubtedly the focal point.

If nothing unexpected happened, it was almost set in stone that Wei Sheng would supplant Qin Cheng as Eldest Shixiong. But Qin Cheng was also a disciple of the sect leader, and after being Eldest Shixiong for this many years, he was well loved by the other second generation disciples.

Eldest Shijie Gong Sun Qing supposedly was engaged to a disciple in a certain large sect. She wouldn’t be spending too much time in the sect but her influence in the sect was the greatest among all second generation disciples. She could even influence the sect leader. This was probably due to her fiancé.

Third Shijie Xu Yi Xia was deeply loved by all the shishu. Yan Le Shishu had meant for her to take over his work. However, her personality was lively and carefree, uninterested in business.

Zuo Mo sighed ruefully. No place was spared from conflict. Many times, it wasn’t a question of whether you fought or not. He and Li Ying Feng weren’t unfamiliar with these matters. The outer sect disciples fought even more viciously, the little groups as plentiful as trees in a forest. Both of them were experienced. Zuo Mo had went from being bullied by all at the beginning to the end where everyone flattered him. From an outsider perspective, his experiences went deep. And Li Ying Feng, to become the top dog of the Eastern Peak female disciples, there were no doubts to her abilities.

Zuo Mo saw it very clearly. Wei Sheng Shixiong might be the leader of the three of them but on these matters, Shixiong wouldn’t pay attention. Other than the sword, Shixiong was indifferent and unconcerned with other matters. Zuo Mo was certain that Shixiong would be happy not to be Eldest Shixiong. That way, he could concentrate on cultivation.

Shixiong might not have to consider these things, but he couldn’t not consider. Shixiong’s talents and power was displayed there. Even Qin Cheng would treat Shixiong with the utmost respect. But Li Ying Feng and his circumstances would be much trickier. There was a large difference between good and bad.

Li Ying Feng was also very satisfied with the tacit understanding between the two of them and thought inside, this Zuo Mo Shidi’s appearance might be frightening, but he had a clever heart. A clever companion was much better than a stupid one.

Some things only need to be touched upon. She changed the topic: “Coming this time, it’s to deliver jingshi to Shidi.”

This was undoubtedly the words that Zuo Mo liked to hear the most. He instantly became alert: “Oh, how much?”

“This is seventy six second grade jingshi. That’s after taking away the down payment.” Li Ying Feng handed Zuo Mo a jade scroll: “This has the detailed accounts. Shidi can take it back for a look.”

Zuo Mo took the jade scroll, his happiness unrivalled. The profit this time far surpassed his expectations.

Suddenly remembering a matter, Li Ying Feng asked: “Does Shidi still have some of the Great Strength Pill?”

Great Strength Pill…….

If LI Ying Feng hadn’t mentioned it, Zuo Mo had almost forgotten that lingdan.

“Last time, a cultivator had brought it. Two days ago, he came asking if there was any more. He wants to by another ten. Each one twenty pieces of second grade jingshi.” Li Ying Feng said.

Ten pills! Each one twenty pieces of second grade jingshi. In total, two hundred pieces of second grade jingshi . That was, two third grade jingshi !

Zuo Mo seemed to see countless jingshi flying towards him. This was the biggest order he had received up until now. Two pieces of third grade jingshi! The raw materials for Great Strength Pill were only three pieces of second grade jingshi. With twenty pieces of second grade jingshi as the sale price, the profit from one pellet reached seventeen pieces of second grade jingshi. No wonder his heart was beating so frantically.

His only worry right now was the success rate. He had accidentally made Great Strength Pill. He wasn’t certain that he could successfully make it.

“I’ll try first.” He was still very cautious.

“En, okay. If Shidi gets results, tell me anytime.” Finishing, Li Ying Feng left.

Seeing Shijie leave, Zuo Mo instantly rushed into the valley, flipped onto the grey beaked goose to rush for Fragrant Ginger Yard. One pill was twenty pieces of second grade jingshi! This was almost half of his income every year in the past.

Entering Fragrant Ginger Yard, he brought a pile of materials to make the Great Strength Pill from Xu Qing Shijie, and then burrowed into the dan room.

Nothing would make him more enthusiastic than jingshi.

He didn’t start the process immediately but sat down first and thought back to every action that occurred last time. When his emotions had calmed down, he then folded his legs to enter meditation and started [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

Four hours later, he woke up from meditation. The face was frozen like it was dead, but the eyes were clear and serene.

Zuo Mo’s mind was peaceful, completely absent of the glee he had before. His consciousness, mind and ling energy were all at their best. Putting the raw materials for Great Strength Pill into the cauldron, Zuo Mo’s hands touched the eight trigrams plate and his consciousness silently spread out.

Adding in ling energy, the li fire seal formation on the dan-making cauldron suddenly started, the ling energy inside the cauldron twisting and turning.

In the middle of the process, Zuo Mo’s spell changed and [Art of Crimson Flame] was cast at full force.

A gold line dropped into his hands from the sky. Then its direction was deflected and it entered the cauldron.

Up until now, nothing was different compared to last time. Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed slightly. Just before, when he had thought back to every action in great detail but last time, it had basically been an accident that had created this strange lingdan. He was muddled about many places and didn’t remember clearly.

Suddenly, his heart jumped and he cried misfortune. The ling energy inside the cauldron was vibrating abnormally.

As expected, a sharp and burnt smell spread through the dan room.

Zuo Mo had made enough mental preparations. It wasn’t too difficult to accidentally make a new kind of lingdan. What that needed was luck. But to actually grasp the method for making the ling dan, that was knowledge. Anything that required study, it had to be built from the ground up, there were no tricks.

He knew the general idea, the basic steps, and the raw materials. There was also enough profit. Was there anything other than this that was more appropriate for a greenhorn like Zuo Mo?

As to the difficulties involved, Zuo Mo wasn’t afraid.

In this world, was there something good that would earn jingshi without any difficulty?

Chapter 50 - Finding The Way

After three continuous failures, Zuo Mo had to stop experimenting.

Even though he had sufficient wealth at this point, but it wasn’t enough for him to squander it. He had to plan it out and spend wisely. Three continuous failures. That meant there was a crucial step that he had missed.

He entered into deep thought.

What he didn’t know was that the difficulty of this matter far surpassed the limits of what he could cope with. He had swallowed down some records, but in the area of dan-making, he was the newest of the new, his experience was almost zero. Going through speculations to find the basic changes in a certain part of the dan-making process, many cultivators that were far more experiences may not be able to do it.

But no one had told Zuo Mo this point.

If Zuo Mo knew this, he most likely would have thrown the matter to the side. Why was he making Great Strength Pill? It was for jingshi. If it was too difficult, the risk too high, it wasn’t profitable. Then he should go to find a more realistic method. He wasn’t afraid of difficulty, he was afraid that his ignorance and those questions that were far out of his level would be tangled together. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, that was an unprofitable business.

But Zuo Mo hadn’t realized that the problem he was facing was out of his range. He twisted his brain as he thought in the dan room.

In the Sword Cave, not even the fingers on a hand could be made out. The rock underneath the feet was ice-cold, the blood river not far away roiled relentlessly. Wei Sheng panted heavily and couldn’t persevere any longer, falling to the ground to enter mediation.

The exhaustion between his brows were unable to be disguised. He made a sorry figure, half naked, about ten or so scars criss-crossing, alarming to the eye. On his lower half, there was only a short length of pants. He quickly entered mediation, almost immediately after sitting down. In meditation, Wei Sheng’s spine was as straight as a sword, a few hints of dignity and imposingness faintly appearing through his serene appearance.

Time slipped away yet he remained motionless.

A black shadow quietly neared Wei Sheng. In mediation, Wei Sheng did not detect it. Suddenly, the black shadow leapt at Wei Sheng!

In mediation, Wei Sheng unexpectedly opened his eyes. With an unknown move, a green sword energy flashed in the dark and the shadow was split in half.

Squeak!

The scream the black shadow gave was dissonant as it turned into black smoke and disappeared without a trace.

Wei Sheng stood up from the cold rock ground, his face unaffected. In his eyes were an eternal resolve. Barely visible was sword essence roiling behind. In the silence and darkness, he raised his bare foot, following the blood river, as he slowly and steadily headed deeper.

In a place extremely far away from Tian Yue Jie.

“Stars in daytime… …”

“Yes. This matter has alarmed many people. There are already many that are rushing to investigate in Tian Yue Jie. Some people say that stars in daytime is a great treasure appearing!”

“Great treasure appearing?” The person who spoke had heavy disdain,“People die for wealth, bird die for food. This rationale is unchanging.”

“Then we……”

“Send someone! Pay attention to this matter!” The person who spoke gave an unquestionable order.

“Yes.”

In the Fragrant Ginger Yard of Wu Kong Mountains, seeing Shi Feng Rong come out of the dan room, Xu Qing hurriedly followed. She could become the first seat of the outer sect disciples of Fragrant Ginger yard, one point was she was obedient and could listen, and she was reliable at her job. The other important reason was that she could tolerate Shi Feng Rong’s strange temper.

Shi Feng Rong looked at the surroundings and furrowed her brows,“Where’s your Shixiong?”

Xu Qing hurried responded,“After Shixiong entered the dan room a few days ago, he hasn’t come out.”

“Dan room? What dan is he making?” Shi Feng Rong’s brow smoothed as she asked casually. It seemed that Zuo Mo was really focused on dan-making. She was very satisfied.

“It’s probably fasting pills. Shixiong had bought some materials for fasting pills from me a few days ago.” Xu Qing answered. She had been at Fragrant Ginger Yard for a long time and her experience in the area of dan was much deeper than Zuo Mo.

“Fasting pills!” Shi Feng Rong’s brows furrowed again as she said discontent, “Why is he still making fasting pills now? How can he improve that way?” Fasting pills were the most basic dan. It couldn’t even be considered a lingdan. As a zhuji cultivator, it was a very comical thing to spend effort on that.

Xu Qing’s heart jumped and she regretted what she had just said. If Shixiong was punished by Shishu because of what she said, it would be bad for her.

As she spoke, Shi Feng Rong moved in front of the door to Zuo Mo’s dan room. Without knocking, she pushed open the door.

Once the door was open, a thick and choking burning smell rushed out. Shi Feng Rong’s expression became even uglier. Failure at making fasting pills? Was it that the five fasting pills last time had been brought to deceive her? Her expression became dark.

Zuo Mo was like a puppet, blankly sitting on the ground. He didn’t even notice Shi Feng Rong and Xu Qing entering.

She Feng Rong noticed that Zuo Mo’s empty eyes were full of blood and the rage inside slightly decreased. She could see that Zuo Mo was deep in thought. Suppressing the fire inside, she didn’t disturb Zuo Mo, walking straight to the waste piled beside the cauldron. It really was the materials for fasting pills. She was sure after one look. The rage inside instantly shot up again. She decided that later she would have Zuo Mo make one in front of her.

Her gaze was just going to move away from the waste when it suddenly stopped. She bent down and started to flip through the waste, and occasionally took up a bit to examine carefully.

Xu Qing was so envious. She sighed. Inner sect disciples were really inner sect disciples. She had spent so many years at Fragrant Ginger Yard, but had never seen Shishu been this concerned for another disciple.

Zuo Mo only managed to wake up at this time. Seeing that two more people were in his dan room, the fire that had formed due to his struggles shot up. It was common knowledge that the dan room wasn’t a place that others were allowed to enter, especially when making dan. That could easily cause the dan to fail.

But when he saw who the person was, the curses that had reached his mouth instantly shrunk back into his stomach.

Danger!

It’s a catastrophe… …

He hurriedly stood up and respectfully gave a bow to Shi Feng Rong: “Master.”

“You are making that lingdan from last time?” Shi Feng Rong’s head didn’t even rise as she unconcernedly crouched by the waste.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo obediently answered: “But I haven’t succeed once yet.”

Shi Feng Rong threw away the waste in her hands and stood up, the expression on her face cold: “When you don’t know how to walk, you want to run?”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo sweated, and said: “Please, Master, give me guidance.”

“In the path of dan-making, the amount of ways to change the recipes involved, there are too many that cannot be passed on through just words. You should first follow the records. form a good foundation before considering these matters.” Finishing, Shi Feng Rong left with a cold face.

Returning to the Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo was extremely disheartened. He had thought that he had a method for earning lots of jingshi but it was really just a mirage, unable to be touched. In the next few days, Zuo Mo was somewhat dispirited. There were no jingshi that could be earned, no contribution points that could be earned, no sword scriptures that could be practiced. With no other choice, Zuo Mo could only practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

Sitting above the ling vein in the rock room, Zuo Mo woke up from meditation. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] which had always progressed rapidly had started to slow down recently. This was the first time that Zuo Mo had encountered something like this after breaking through one breath. Was he going to break through two breath?

According to the records in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], after one breath was two breath. If one could achieve two breath, not only would the entire body’s points be able to breathe but at that time, his presence could be restrained. Many people that had higher cultivations wouldn’t be able to detect it.

This spell was much better than those concealing spells recorded in Elder Wei Nan’s jade sticks.

Thinking about that, Zuo Mo suddenly remembered that Elder Wei Nan had made dan and was a ling plant farmer. Would he have met similar problems? Once the idea was seeded, he hurriedly took out the jade sticks and looked carefully.

As expected, he quickly made a discovery.

In Elder Wei Nan’s dan-making experiences, Zuo Mo found a similar method. But what Elder Wei Nan used wasn’t a fire method, but a rarely found water method.

There were many methods to make lingdan and they all couldn’t be counted. The most mainstream one right now was naturally using a cauldron, which was the fire method. The core of the fire method was using the power of the fire to stimulate the ling energy in the materials. Then the ling energy of different attributes would be merged together to form a lingdan. However, many ling herbs and grasses were of the yin attribute, like those ling grasses grown in water. If fire was used, it would ruin their effects. At this time, it required a different method such as the water method. Other than water and fire, there were still countless other methods of dan making.

Water was warm and gentle, far from the fierceness and power of fire. So most water methods required a longer time to form dan. The path it walked was nurturing the dan.

Only now did Zuo Mo know that the cold spring in the rock room had such a purpose. Before, he had completely dismissed the ling spring. He had wondered why Elder Wei Nan had made a spring in the rock room since after cultivators reached zhuji, they almost didn’t need to consume anything.

The jade stick recorded a method that Elder Wei Nan used with [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to make [Moisture Dan]. [Moisture Dan] was a kind of dan that couldn’t enter the grade. It’s use was even more frivolous. It could change a person’s appearance and skin but it was only effective for cultivators with lianqi third level or below.

This kind of dan that Zuo Mo felt had no use at all, after Elder Wei Nan used [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to make it, it entered the rank of first grade. Its effectiveness had greatly improved. It could improve the features of cultivators that did not go above zhuji. According to what the jade stick said, this became one of the important ways Elder Wei Nan made wealth. But due to the fact the time used in the water method, Elder Wei Nan only used this method for a period of time before switching to a different method.

Different from Zuo Mo’s accident, Elder Wei Nan’s investigations were extremely thorough and were recorded very clearly.

Elder Wei Nan though that the reason that those two could combine was due mostly to water. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was the classic water element spell. It was naturally constructive when paired with the water method. There were also large amounts of records on his analysis of the reasons he failed.

Zuo Mo pondered each character as he kept on reading, his thoughts becoming clearer. No wonder he could make Great Strength Pill. [Art of Crimson Flame] belonged to fire, and the method the fasting pill used was the fire method. Using [Art of Crimson Flame] to collect the essence of the sun into the fasting pill, that became the Great Strength Pill.

There was only one crucial point.

– Fire!

Chapter 51 - Attack

Fire!

The essence of [Art of Crimson Flame] was fire, and inside the cauldron was the Li Fire seal formation. This was the reason that Zuo Mo could make Great Strength Pill. However, what [Art of Crimson Flame] condensed was essence of the sun and unfortunately the fire that the Li fire seal formation inside the cauldron provided was too low grade. Originally in the process, the Li fire seal formation should have been the primary flame and the essence of the sun that [Art of Crimson Fire] concentrated should have been the auxiliary. Right now, the sun essence was stronger than the Li Fire seal formation, so naturally problems would occur.

He recognized where the problem was, Zuo Mo instantly had several ideas on how to solve it. The most feasible method was to lessen the sun essence concentrated by [Art of Crimson Flame], the least feasible was changing the cauldron to a cauldron with a much higher grade Li Fire seal formation. And the boldest method was to change the relationship between primary and auxiliary, to have [Art of Crimson Flame] as primary, Li Fire seal formation as auxiliary.

Zuo Mo chose the first option. He felt the possibility of success with the first one the highest.

After thinking it through, he started to prepare.

What he needed to do first was to be able to precisely control [Art of Crimson Flame]. Before this, he had never thought about accurately controlling [Art of Crimson Flame]. For Zuo Mo, if the sun essence concentrated by [Art of Crimson Flame] was used on the ling plants, naturally, the more the better. In reality, it also seemed so. Zuo Mo had never found a situation where [Art of Crimson Flame] was overused. Why would he have thought about how to precisely control [Art of Crimson Flame]?

For him, this was a new experience.

Thankfully, compared to the other spells, the five basic spells of a ling plant farmer were his most familiar ones. In a short period of time, he grasped the basics of condensing essence of the sun.

But when Zuo Mo once again tried to buy the raw materials of fasting pills from Xu Qing, Xu Qing’s eyes as they stared at him were slightly weird. Buying a large pile of fasting pill ingredients, Zuo Mo secluded himself in the dan room and started his new experiment.

Failure!

Still failure!

Failure!

……

……

Zuo Mo wasn’t panicked because of his failures, instead he was very steady and calm. He could feel that he was getting closer to success! This feeling was so strong that quite a few times, he had assumed he would succeed next time.

The ninth time!

Even as the last step was completed, there was no burning smell! Zuo Mo’s heart beat quickened, he swallowed his saliva and nervously opened the cauldron.

A fasting pill with glimmers of gold quietly laid at the bottom of the cauldron.

There wasn’t any cheering or jumping. Zuo Mo’s face was expressionless, he stared dumbly as he muttered, “Ge can finally become rich!”

Finishing, his eyes turned dark and with a bang, he fell onto the floor in a dead sleep.

So tiring!

In Wu Kong Hall, Pei Yuan Ran’s face was ashen as he looked at the two kneeling below.

Luo Li and Hao Min were frightened.

Seated above, Shi Feng Rong’s expression was full of angeragain. She had always put great importance on the medicinal fields of Cold Mist Valley which was why she had given them over for Hao Min to care for. She hadn’t thought that Hao Min would so seriously neglect her duty. The expression on Yan Le and Xin Yan’s faces weren’t much better. Wu Kong Sword Sect might only be a small sect but their rules had always been strict.

It wasn’t alarming that the others had left but both had duties yet they had sneaked out to travel for such a long time so they were certainly going to get heavily punished.

Zuo Mo woke up and found that he was still in the dan room. He hurried climbed up and looked at the Great Strength Pill he had made before releasing a breath. So he hadn’t been dreaming.

He was too lazy to go back to the rock room. He decided to sit in the dan room and meditate to recover ling energy.

When his ling energy had recovered, he started to make great strength pill again. He didn’t know if it was that he had failed too many times before but the next attempts, he didn’t fail once.

Feeling slightly tired, Zuo Mo stood up. After searching for methods for a few days, his body and heart were really very tired and needed rest. Meditation could recover ling energy but could not substitute for rest.

Pushing open the door to leave the dan room, the sunlight stabbed Zuo Mo’s eyes. He raised a hand to cover them.

However, the feeling of the sun landing on his body was really good. Successfully making a dan, Zuo Mo’s mood was very good. Suddenly, he saw the person walking towards him and blanked. Wasn’t that Hao Min Shijie?

She and Luo Li Shixiong had returned?

Thoughts swirled in Zuo Mo’s brain and he decided to give a greeting, “Hao Min Shi……”

Only when he walked closer did he find it was not good. Hao Min’s eyes were red, clearly having cried.

Just having been scolded, Hao Min saw Zuo Mo and suddenly remembered that Cold Mist Valley had been given to this zombie face to care for. When she suddenly thought of the scolding and sternness of the sect leader and Master, her anger rose. It had to be this guy who did it. Otherwise, how would Master have known about Cold Mist Valley? Once the idea emerged, she felt that this zombie face was hateful and resentment rose.

An outer sect disciples dared to trick this lady?

Her brow raised, without a word, she raised her hand, heading for Zuo Mo’s face?

Zuo Mo, who had remained alert, reacted very quickly and grabbed Hao Min’s wrist, asking in a deep voice, “Shijie, what are you doing?”

The anger in Zuo Mo’s heart rose up as well. Before, he wouldn’t have any choice when he encountered something like this but now, the two of them were on equal ground. He wouldn’t act first, but he didn’t have to swallow and bear it.

“You dare!” Hao Min ground her teeth, extremely enraged,“Even a trash like you dare to offend me!” Before her words landed, her free left hand headed for Zuo Mo’s face, not giving Zuo Mo the chance to speak.

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrank, his eyes becoming frigid. The right hand that had practiced countless finger movements was extremely fast and nimble. Before Hao Min’s hand could reach Zuo Mo’s face, she suddenly felt her eyes blur and pah, a slap landed on her face!

Hao Min blanked after the slap. Her face was burning in pain. She looked in disbelief at Zuo Mo.

Xu Qing, who had coincidentally just left the yard saw this scene and almost screamed out in shock. Her reaction was very quick as she used her hands to cover her mouth.

Zuo Mo looked coldly at Hao Min, his voice frigid, “Has Shijie woken up?”

Giving a penetrating look at Hao Min, he released Hao Min’s wrist and took a step back. For some reason, when Hao Min met Zuo Mo’s gaze, it was like she was completely frozen, her body cold. She shuddered all over, her face going green and red. Terror, embarrassment, anger, it was all mixed together. She actually forgot to speak.

“Oh, right. Shijie just returned and might not know the latest news.” Zuo Mo, who had turned around, stopped and said coldly, “This little brother was lucky and was taken into the inner sect, and I am now under Master to learn dan-making.”

He turned around his zombie face, showing off two rows of eerie white teeth, “Shijie, please take care of me.”

Xu Qing stared with wide eyes as Zuo Mo left. The blow the scene gave her was too big. Before Zuo Mo, Hao Ming was the only inner sect disciples in Fragrant Ginger Yard, she had been arrogant and despotic to the extreme. Everyone had feared her. For some reason, when Xu Qing saw the five fingered hand-print on Hao Min’s face, she felt unspeakably exhilarated!

Glancing at Hao Min who was still dazedly standing in her original spot, Xu Qing decided to quietly leave. If Hao Min Shijie knew that she had seen this incident, then she would be in a miserable situation.

Retreating, Xu Qing still felt some disbelief. Awe for Zuo Mo formed. Zuo Shixiong who had been so agreeable usually actually had a time when he was this scary!

Zuo Mo walked out of Fragrant Ginger Yard, his hand imperceptibly trembling.

His heart was full of terror. It wasn’t terror due to Hao Min but terror of himself! Just then, in his anger, there seemed to have been a voice saying to him, “Kill her! Kill her!” That impulse was so strong and clear, so strong that what he had given wasn’t a slap but sword energy!

At what time had he become so ruthless? This discovery made him very nervous.

In the stories, all the yaomo were terrible and evil, villains who killed like it was their life! Was the cause practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] causing his personality had been secretly influenced? Or was it Pu Yao that was behind it?

He stopped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling. All the negative emotions seemed to have been vented out in this breath. When he opened his eyes, his gaze resumed its clarity, his hands resumed steadiness.

It was probably that he was too tired this little while.

Zuo Mo hadn’t practiced [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] for a short period of time. This had never happened before. As to Pu Yao, the guy was a perverse one but he was definitely a cautious perverse. He would never actively stir up trouble. Zuo Mo found that Pu Yao was still extremely wary of his elders, especially Xin Yan Shishu.

Returning to Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo decided to not think at all and rest for a time. He put himself on the guard, reminding himself to be careful and attentive.

For a whole day, he did nothing except sleep.

He was woken up by the pink paper crane.

“Ye, heard that there were stars appearing during the day? Was it fun?” It was still the graceful writing that Zuo Mo was familiar with.

“Never heard of it.” Zuo Mo answered confidently. Stars appearing during the day, how was it possible? In any case, he was certain that he had never seen such an abnormal thing.

“Ah, but the news I heard was really like that. Ye has to be careful. Stars appearing during the day is an ill omen. It’s possibly yaomo.”

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. Yaomo!

“Such a familiar smell.” Pu Yao had crept up beside Zuo Mo. He stared at the pink paper in Zuo Mo’s hands and then smiled, “So it’s that little girl.”

Zuo Mo felt that Pu Yao’s smile was very cold.

“You recognize her?” He asked carefully.

“Recognize?” Pu Yao’s bloody right eye narrowed into a line as he smiled happily, “Of course I recognize her.” His gaze landed on the paper in Zuo Mo’s hands and snickered, “Yaomo? This little girl is interesting, I like her.”

Leaving behind a stream of meaningful laughter, Pu Yao disappeared, leaving behind Zuo Mo with a head full of confusion.

Zuo Mo really didn’t have good feelings towards the owner of this paper crane. Any thing, once it was forced, the feeling would be very bad. Chatting was also the same. However, it really had been him that brought it upon himself. Zuo Mo could do nothing about it. His own actions, he had to take responsibility!

In the following days, after Zuo Mo felt he had rested enough, he returned back to his glorious mission of earning jingshi. In one go, he made twenty Great Strength Pills, and gave them all to Li Ying Feng.

Li Ying Feng also gave the jinzhi jade stick that she had mentioned last time to him and reminded him that his conflict with Hao Min had spread through the entire sect and he should be careful.

When Zuo Mo heard this, he knew it was going to be bad. But he quickly composed himself after some thought. This kind of thing, dodging it wasn’t effective.

But when he returned to the mouth of West Wing Valley, he saw the ruins of the jinzhi and the arrogantly standing Luo Li Shixiong.

Zuo Mo stopped in his steps.

Chapter 52 - All In!

“I hadn’t thought that even you could become an inner sect disciple.” Luo Li’s face was expressionless, his voice cold.

Zuo Mo looked inside the valley and he was slightly relieved. Luo Li had only tore down the jinzhi at the mouth but didn’t go in. He clearly came prepared. Luo Li might be doted upon by all the elders but he didn’t dare to act too brashly. If the ling grasses and herbs inside the valley were damaged, the elders in the sect wouldn’t let him off.

Machinations in the shadows, Zuo Mo was clear the other didn’t dare use them on him. The kind of identity that a ling plant farmer had, it meant that he would receive the sect’s protection. What the other could use was an open and public attack.

Looking at the mess and the completely ruined jinzhi, even though Zuo Mo knew the other was just venting, but his anger still rose. The other had definitely come because of Hao Min Shijie. Zuo Mo wasn’t scared. He had reason on his side. Even if it got brought up to the sect leader, no one would say that he was wrong.

Zuo Mo controlled the anger, his voice mocking, “Shixiong’s sword is so sharp. A pity to waste these flowers and grasses.”

Luo Li looked coldly at Zuo Mo, his eyes filled with disdain and contempt, “Whether my sword is sharp or not, you will know. You dare to touch my woman.”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo brushed it off. He looked at his right hand and said unconcernedly, “So what if I touched her?”

If there hadn’t been the previous incident with Hao Min, these two were people that he would have tried to curry favor with. But since it had proceeded to this step, both sides like water and fire, there was no possibility of peace. Zuo Mo’s stubbornness came out. Rather than be bullied, he would rather rebel. Even if it might end terribly for him, he wouldn’t let the other off easily. If he didn’t have some viciousness, with his origins as an outer sect disciple, he would be greatly bullied in the future.

Luo Li’s pupils shrunk, the indifferent expression on his face finally changing, “Three months, the assessment of the sect, I’ll wait for you.”

“You said wait, so you’ll wait?” Zuo Mo smiled coldly, and gasped, “Shixiong’s face is so big!”

Luo Li’s expression twisted. His eyes sprouted fire as he looked at Zuo Mo. He barely managed to control himself and snorted angrily, “Hm, let’s see if your mouth is still that hard then!” Finishing, he flew off.

“Who does he think he is?” Zuo Mo snorted coldly. He turned to walk inside the valley. Everything in the valley was undisturbed. Luo Li basically didn’t come in. Luo Li might be arrogant but he wasn’t dumb. He controlled his behaviour. Ruining the jinzhi of West Wind Valley but not touching the ling grasses in the valley, the elders of the sect would let it go.

They forbid fighting in the sect. Every sect would have this kind of rules. But fighting inside the sect would always happen. There were many reasons but one of the most important ones was undoubtedly the implicit permission of the elders in the sect. What a sect was afraid of was not having a competitive environment. The occasional skirmish was more beneficial than harmful in the eyes of elders. In most cases, they held a permissive attitude.

But Zuo Mo felt that these things didn’t have too much to do with him. He didn’t believe that Luo Li would dare come into West Wind Valley. His West Wind Valley was one of the important areas of the sect, possibly even more important than Cold Mist Valley.

Just like normal, he continued to make dan, right up until Li Ying Feng Shijie came.

“What?” Zuo Mo cried out, “What kind of rule is that?”

Li Ying Feng explained, “It’s really like this. Supposedly, because the sect forbid the disciples from fighting so they made the sect assessment the place for resolving conflicts. He can challenge you at that time and you must take it up. If you don’t, you have to give the other fifty contribution points.”

“But I am a ling plant farmer! I, a ling plant farmer, do you want me to grab a flying sword and start fighting with him?” Zuo Mo was indignant.

“You can ask someone.” Li Ying Feng was also helpless, “That doesn’t break the rules. Production cultivators like you can use the dan you make or what you’ve planted to hire others. But you can only ask the other shixiong in the sect, not anyone from other sects.”

“The other shixiong in the sect? Wei Sheng Shixiong hasn’t come out, who else can I invite?” Zuo Mo felt that he was going crazy. The only person in the sect that could win over Luo Li was Wei Sheng Shixiong. But Wei Sheng Shixiong was in the Sword Cave and won’t be coming out soon.

“The rules are like this.” Li Ying Feng suggested, “You could go buy some powerful talismans.”

Zuo Mo felt that he was going to faint. Buy talismans? He was so poor he only had the dregs. Buying talismans! Only now did Zuo Mo understand what Luo Li had meant in his last word that day. His mood instantly became terrible.

Damn it! It was going to be big trouble!

Facing Luo Li outside the valley, he wasn’t afraid because he had been confident that Luo Li didn’t dare to do anything to him. When he knew that the inner sect had this rule, he instantly blanked. Things like sword energy, it was fine to use to frighten people. Facing Luo Li who practiced [Empty Sword], he, someone who didn’t even have a sword scripture, wouldn’t even know how he died.

The elders in the sect, of course, wouldn’t let Luo Li really injure him, but humiliation wouldn’t be avoided. Fifty contribution points, that was a very large amount of wealth. If he sold himself, he wouldn’t get fifty contribution points. Thinking about it, Zuo Mo became even more depressed.

Li Ying Feng looked in sympathy at Zuo Mo. She wanted to help but had no way. She could only take the Great Strength Pills that Zuo Mo had prepared and left.

The news that Luo Li had sent out a challenge to Zuo Mo was instantly spread to everyone in the sect. These days when Hao Min saw Zuo Mo, she instantly became high and mighty. Zuo Mo wanted to slap her again. The gazes of everyone else when they saw Zuo Mo was extremely strange. Of course, there wasn’t a lack of others who were laughing at Zuo Mo. No one thought that Zuo Mo was going to have a good outcome.

“I heard that your Luo Li Shixiong sent a challenge to you?” Shi Feng Rong calmly asked Zuo Mo.

Even Master knew……

Zuo Mo could only reply, “Yes.”

“En. The matter between you and your Hao Min Shijie, I won’t interfere.” Shi Feng Rong said coldly, “But the assessment in the sect, I don’t care what method you use, but you will not lose. If you lose, hmm……”

The implication in the last sound made Zuo Mo’s already withered heart dry up like a flower petal and scatter to the ground.

“This disciple is only a ling plant farmer……” Zuo Mo couldn’t help reminding Master.

“So what if you are a ling plant farmer?” Shi Feng Rong’s voice went up, her eyes resolute, “My disciple cannot lose!”

“But……”

“I don’t care what method you use.” Shi Feng Rong impatiently interrupted Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s heart turned and he said, “Master is so confident in this disciple, this disciple naturally doesn’t want to fail. This disciple has nothing to request except to pick a sword scripture from the records room.” Since Master wanted him not to lose, than it would be dumb if he didn’t ask for a bit of help. He thought of the [Li Water Sword Scripture] in the records room.

“It’s too late for you to start practicing the sword now.” Shi Feng Rong furrowed her brow.

“This disciple only has this one request.” Zuo Mo saw that it might be possible and his heart lightened as he hurried responded.

“If that’s the case, I can agree.” She looked at Zuo Mo and her voice was stern as she said, “But if you lose, I won’t let you off lightly.”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo resolutely promised.

“Take this tile. You can pick a sword scripture from the records room.” Shi Feng Rong’s expression was icy as she stated.

Three months. Right now, Zuo Mo was only grateful the sect assessment was three months in the future. He still had a hint of life!

With the quickest possible speed, he picked [Li Water Sword Scripture] and ran for the Little West Wind Yard.

He was clear what Luo Li was planning on. The whole sect ,everyone felt that he didn’t have a chance of winning but Zuo Mo didn’t want to admit defeat like this. Whenever he thought of Luo Li and Hao Min’s faces, the anger in his chest rose. And this would directly decide his future status in the sect. To say of nothing else, Master’s warning was in his ears.

Wasn’t it just a sword scripture?

What was simpler than sword scripture? After getting sliced a few thousand times, would he get it?

Zuo Mo thought hatefully.

There was no possibility of winning if he relied on normal methods. His gamble was all on Pu Yao. But gambling on Pu Yao meant countless jingshi.

“You want help? Alright, as long as you can pay the jingshi. Anything can be discussed.” Pu Yao said interestedly, “If the price you pay is high enough, oh, I can go sort Luo Li out immediately. Guarantee no one would find out.”

As expected……

As Zuo Mo expected, Pu Yao started his extortion.

“What? It’s higher than the previous price? Of course, this is called reacting to the market!” The smile on Pu Yao’s face was enchanting, “You have to consider it well. The price tomorrow would be even higher.”

Zuo Mo went to find Li Ying Feng.

“Shijie, how much jingshi can you lend me?” Zuo Mo’s eyes were red, his throat rough.

Li Ying Feng didn’t hesitate, “I can lend it all, three third grade!”

“Many thanks, Shijie!” Zuo Mo didn’t waste words. There was only gratefulness in his heart. It was only at the crucial time that it could be seen if a person was worthy.

Old Black, and Guo Lu also unhesitatingly gave all the jingshi they had to Zuo Mo. Even Xu Qing secretly gave Zuo Mo fifty pieces of second grade jingshi. The whole sect knew that Zuo Mo was borrowing jingshi. Many people were looking at it as a joke.

“Did he ask you yet?”

“Ha, I don’t dare to lend to him.”

“Exactly. Just became an inner sect disciple and dare to offend Hao Min Shijie, he really thinks he’s someone!”

“Oh, I remember that Xiao Mo was a pretty steady person, why would he do something so dumb?”

“When a little person enjoys success, they become arrogant!”

……

……

Zuo Mo sold all of the mature ling herbs and grasses in his ling fields and received one piece of third grade jingshi.

Roughly calculating, Zuo Mo had about six pieces of third grade jingshi on his hands.

This was a huge sum, a sum that Zuo Mo had never even thought about. Not long ago, his yearly income was twenty or so second grade jingshi. The six pieces of third grade jingshi gave off an enticing shine and a strong ling energy vibration.

“This is everything I gathered, give it all to you.”

Zuo Mo threw the six pieces of third grade jingshi to Pu Yao.

Pu Yao grinned as he took the jingshi. He played with one with his right hand, gently throwing it up and then gently catching it. His expression was intoxicated as he said, “Such a moving sound, jingshi is really the most reliable thing in this world.”

“Teach me this!”

Zuo Mo took out the jade stick for [Li Water Sword Scripture], his voice resolute.

His expression was slightly tired, the zombie face slightly gray but the pair of eyes were like two balls of jumping flames, hot and vicious.

–– All in!

Chapter 53 - Great Strength Pill

Dong Fu.

“Master Yan, if there is snow foxtail grass next time, don’t forget to notify me.” An old person dressed grandly kept on adding.

Yan Le’s round face was full of smiles: “Of course, of course. Master Wang, don’t worry. I’ll certainly leave it for you.”

“That’s good.” Master Wang nodded in satisfaction and then said enviously: “Your sect really has many great talents. You even have a ling plant farmer now. In the future, you’ll have more support!”

Yan Le was smug inside but didn’t show it. He repeatedly shook his hands: “Master Wang exaggerates, our sect still needs your guidance.”

The two exchanged a few more courtesies before Yan Le saw Master Wang out the door.

“Ling plant farmers are really ling plant farmers.” Returning to the store, Yan Le sighed in satisfaction. He was extremely grateful that he had coincidentally encountered Zuo Mo that day. Otherwise, he might have been snatched away by another sect. If this kept on going, then the sect will have an additional source of wealth. More importantly, the sect’s influence in Dong Fu will increase dramatically. In the future, Wu Kong Sword Sect would have an astonishing genius like Wei Sheng, a ling plant farmer like Zuo Mo and someone skilled at business like Li Ying Feng. The sect would pass on very well into their hands.

Li Ying Feng took in everything. Taking advantage of Master’s good mood, she opened her mouth to help Zuo Mo: “Yes, Master, look, our business is much better than before. Zuo Mo Shixiong was a large part.”

Yan Le was clever and understood what his disciple was saying. He chuckled: “You don’t have to say things for your Zuo Shixiong. I know you two have a good relationship.”

He said unconcernedly: “Young people, dampening the spirit, it isn’t a bad thing. Your Zuo Shixiong looks easy to speak to, but in his bones, he is a very stubborn person. And he had to end up with an extremely competitive Master. Haha, it’s so funny.”

Yan Le thought of something and roared with laughter.

Li Ying Feng said furiously: “But Shixiong is a ling plant farmer. The sect assessment only tests the sword, why not [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]? Isn’t this to bully people?”

“Haha, Disciple, don’t be angry. Our sect is a sword sect. If we don’t test the sword, what do we test? Don’t worry, we’re going to be there. Naturally, we wouldn’t let him be humiliated too much. But if he isn’t as good as others, it’s hard to avoid suffering a bit.” Yan Le’s expression became stern: “Us sword cultivators, what we pursue is our hearts like a sword. What is a sword? That is win or lose, that’s life or death, that’s death if one does not advance! You have to remember, what sword cultivators walk is going against the heavens! He is a ling plant farmer but since he is in a sword sect, he needs to understand this.”

Li Ying Feng was entranced by the words and became speechless, standing still at her spot. Seeing this, Yan Le smiled and didn’t disturb her, heading inside the hall.

Suddenly, someone pushed open the door to enter.

“The great strength pill I wanted, is there any?” The person asked straightaway.

Li Ying Feng instantly shook and her thoughts returned. She hurriedly responded: “Yes, yes.”

The other gave a joyful expression, asking: “How many?”

“Twenty.”

“Great! I’ll take all of them!” The other instantly said.

Li Ying Feng reacted very quickly. She cleverly shook her head: “I can only sell fifteen to you.”

The other asked dissatisfied: “Why can’t you sell all of it to me?”

Li Ying Feng’s expression was calm as she lied: “Someone reserved five.”

“Alright.” The other was helpless. He had only ordered ten in the beginning: “Then sell fifteen to me.” He crisply paid the jingshi, took the great strength pill and rushed away.

Li Ying Feng looked at the remaining five great strength pills, her mind turning furiously. This person had put so much importance on this great strength pill, this great strength pill definitely had something that wasn’t normal. If she could find what was unique, then the way to sell this great strength pill would open. Otherwise, she could only sell to this one person.

She decided to send the great strength pill to the Medical Institute to have an expert examination. Even though it needed a significant payment, she could finally figure out the use of this great strength pill that Shidi had made.

Wu Ming held the great strength pill he had just brought, his heart joyful.

He didn’t know who made the name but it really wasn’t pleasing. Such a good dan, but such a country bumpkin name. It really ruined the dan. He was smug inside. It was lucky that he was sensitive to fire-oriented ling energy. Otherwise last time, he would have brushed right past this dan.

Last time, he had accidentally found that this dan that was being sold had a faint flavor of fire. He had been born sensitive to the fire element. The fire element in this dan might be faint but it was extremely pure so he had unhesitatingly brought it.

After using it, to his joy and surprise, he found that fire energy in the dan was actually sun essence.

Fire, one of the five elements. In Sky Moon Jie, those that cultivated fire far surpassed the number of those that cultivated the four other elements added together. No matter if it was forging, or dan-making, or food-refining, it couldn’t leave fire. The most common seen was Li Fire. It was also the most normal kind of fire. And what was chased after were all kinds of strange fire sources. Producing using high grade fire sources meant that the process was half done and what was created was even more pure.

Originating from the sun, Golden Crow Fire, it was a fire source of fourth grade!

Of course, golden crow fire came from the sun but how to assimilate it, how to nurture it, only a rare few of the biggest sects knew of the method. And it was always passed on secretly. Even more, the fourth grade golden crow fire was fiery and hard to control. It was easy to harm the body. So the people that could use golden crow fire were very rare.

So that was why Wu Ming was so happy when he found that strand of essence of the sun in this Great Strength Pill. What made him even more exhilarated was that this essence of the sun was extremely yang, but warm and harmless. Nurturing it inside the body, he actually didn’t feel any ill effects.

Like a treasure, he grew this strand of sun essence in his body. Even though it was an extremely thin strand and very far from becoming golden crow fire, but if he could buy more great strength pills, and as the sun essence accumulated, there would be hope of the golden crow fire. Even if it would not form golden crow fire, this extremely pure and yang sun essence could increase the grade of other fire sources if it was merged.

Golden crow fire wasn’t something that could be bought with jingshi.

His mood was very good after buying fifteen great strength pills. After absorbing all fifteen, the sun essence in his body would dramatically increase. It was still very far from forming golden crow energy but it was a start. Right now, he was hoping that no one else had found the benefit of this great strength pill

However, he knew his thoughts were slightly unrealistic. Other people weren’t dumb. Great strength pill should be a new kind of dan that just came out. As a result, he got a bargain. But he guessed that other people would quickly ascertain its effects. If he wanted to buy it in the future, it wouldn’t be at this price.

That strand of sun essence, it was worth far more than its present price.

But he was already walking in front of everyone else. Adding on that his financial situation was well-off, he wasn’t afraid.

Zuo Mo felt his sea of consciousness was slightly unfamiliar. He hadn’t come for a certain period of time and the changes inside were pretty big. The area of the consciousness of much larger than before. The alluring deep red fire was like a furiously growing weed, now a section taller. The star in the void seemed even further away but it was even more brighter. The temperature of the ice river was even lower, the icicles inside were even finer, the movement of the tides more powerful than before.

“Well, at least you weren’t dumb to the end and picked a sword scripture suited to you.” Pu Yao said lazily.

Zuo Mo listened extremely attentively.

“Honestly speaking, your talents at cultivating the sword really aren’t anything. If it was your Shixiong, if he had been sliced ten times by sword essence, he probably would have comprehended it. Twenty times, he could reach where you are now. You were sliced thousands of times to reach this progress, hee hee.” Pu Yao wasn’t courteous.

Zuo Mo wasn’t moved.

“However, your talents with the five elements are not bad.” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly became distant and deep: “In this word, there is only appropriate or not, never the strongest.”

“This [Li Water Sword Scripture] can’t be considered anything good but it is appropriate for you.” Pu Yao gave a rare compliment.

Zuo Mo opened his ears, fearful of losing a word. Every word that Pu Yao said was automatically converted by him into jingshi.

“Li, in the eight trigrams, it belongs to fire, creating the saying Li Fire. Anything in the world is sorted into yin and yang. Yang as fire, yin as water. Li Water, the person who made this sword scripture is an interesting one.” It was probably because he had received enough jingshi that Pu Yao showed patience he never had before.

“This sword scripture, it still goes along the road of water. However, manipulate water as fire.” Pu Yao evaluated: “The idea isn’t bad but it’s pretty unprofessional. No wonder it’s only third grade.”

Then Pu Yao raised his head and glanced at Zuo Mo, adding: “But for you to learn, it’s more than enough.”

Very quickly, Zuo Mo felt that the six pieces of third grade jingshi were worth it.

This profound and cryptic sword scripture, under Pu Yao’s explanations, became clear and easy to understand.

Two hours later, Pu Yao started his conclusions: “Alright, this is about it. All that’s needed to be said has been said. If you still can’t learn it, then it’s you who’s too dumb.”

“This is the end?” Zuo Mo who was entranced asked unconsciously.

“Finished.”

“Didn’t you say that it had many flaws?” Zuo Mo persistently asked.

Pu Yao gave his enchanting smile: “The service of changing the sword scripture, you need to pay otherwise. Looking on the fact that we are familiar, I’ll give you a discount. Only one hundred pieces of third grade jingshi. I’ll change it to fourth grade. Fifth grade, one thousand pieces of third grade jingshi.”

One hundred pieces of third grade jingshi……

Zuo Mo unhesitatingly turned and left the sea of consciousness. Behind him, Pu Yao laughed cheerfully.

Leaving the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo found an empty space in the mountain valley. He took care to pick a place far from the ling fields.

Pu Yao had clearly stated the rationale. In conclusion, it was one sentence: manipulate water like fire. Basically, it was using the methods for manipulating fire to control water. Zuo Mo increasingly found that this sword scripture was suited for him. His only flying sword was the third grade ice crystal sword. Ice, the basic attribute was water. The sword essence he comprehended, it was the tidal sword essence of Xin Yan Shishu, that was also related to water.

And the core of this [Li Water Sword Scripture] was also water!

Was it even the heavens found Luo Li an eyesore?

Zuo Mo snickered darkly.

He quickly took himself out of his thoughts. No matter how much of the rationale he understood, sword scriptures had to be practiced. How to manipulate water like fire, he didn’t know.

Three months!

He only had a time of three months!

The vision of Hao Min’s arrogant attitude and Luo Li’s disdainful gaze floated up in his head. Zuo Mo unconsciousness tightened his fist!

If he couldn’t overcome this step, how could he pursue the answers?

Chapter 54 - Fire

“One grade lingdan, contains a small amount of essence of the sun, effects warm, suited for long term consumption, a certain possibility of forming Golden Crow Fire. Those who consume it can become excited in the short term and can be used for emergencies.”

When Li Ying Feng received this appraisal, she was shocked. There wasn’t much about the other effects, but she was shocked still by “a certain possibility of forming Golden Crow Fire.” After the appraisal, there was also an order form. The Medicine Institute was hoping to buy one hundred pills, price able to be discussed. The Medicine Institute also suggested changing the same to “Golden Crow Pill.”

Clearly, everyone hated the bumpkin name that was Great Strength Pill.

Immediately, Li Ying Feng gave the appraisal to her Master.

Seeing the three words “Golden Crow Fire”, Yan Le was shocked still. He took the appraisal, throwing down a : “I’m going out,” before flying into the sky, heading straight for Wu Kong Mountain.

In Wu Kong Hall, all four elders of the Wu Kong Sword Sect were present.

Pei Yan Ran looked at the appraisal on his hand and had a serious expression. He said in a deep voice: “Golden Crow Fire, this is a fourth grade fire seed.”

Xin Yan nodded: “Exactly, my Green Mulberry Fire, Shimei’s Violet Flora Fire, they are all fourth grade. I had heard of this Golden Crow Fire before, it comes from the sun, extremely yang, extremely strong. It cannot be merged. In the fourth grade, it is a rare fine fire source.”

Pei Yuan Ran smiled at Shi Feng Rong: “Shimei is really great. Zuo Mo had just studied with you and could make such a good thing as this.”

Shi Feng Rong had a cold face: “This has nothing to do with me.”

Pei Yuan Ran smiled, not minding. He lowered his head to think. The other people were also silent. Golden Crow Fire, fourth grade fire source. This caused this little dan’s price to fly into the sky.

“Shixiong.” Yan Le couldn’t resist stating: “If it can form Golden Crow Fire, then its use for the sect would be gigantic. Doesn’t Xu Yi still lack a good fire seed? And Zuo Mo himself, if he’s learning dan-making, how can he not have a fire seed?”

What he was implying was that he wasn’t very willing to sell it.

Pei Yuan Ran raised his head, responding: “I understand what you mean. That child, Xu Yi, I like him as well. And the forging branch of this sect would likely be passed on through him. He really does need Golden Crow Fire. But we still have to sell some. Right now, the outside probably has heard the news about this dan. If we don’t sell any, it would enrage the public. That would only harm the sect without any benefit.”

“Then Shixiong means……” Yan Le was hesitant.

“Just sell a small portion, we’ll use the majority ourselves.” Pei Yuan Ran gave a slight smile: “We’ll give the market price to Zuo Mo, not one piece less.”

“Market price?”

“Yes. Paper cannot hide fire. There are only just that many people in our Wu Kong Sword Sect that can make dan. There’s no need to cause Zuo Mo to hate us in secret because of a few pieces of jingshi.”

“Zuo Mo’s past is unclear. There may be trouble in the future.” Shi Feng Rong who had kept her cold face suddenly opened.

Wu Kong Hall became silent.

Zuo Mo’s identity and origins was a question that everyone had been having a headache about. Before, Zuo Mo had only been an outer sect disciple. His origin hadn’t been a big problem. But right now, he wasn’t just an inner sect disciple. Based on the direction, he would certainly become one of the core members of the next generation of Wu Kong Sword Sect. His identity and origins became a problem that Pei Yuan Ran and the others had to face.

“His origins might not be a problem……” Yan Le said unconfidently.

Pei Yuan Ran waved his hand: “Since we don’t know anything, then don’t think too much about it. Regardless, just the fact that he is a ling plant farmer, that’s enough that we cannot give him up. Even more, there’s now this lingdan that could make Golden Crow Fire.”

Hearing this, everyone didn’t speak anymore. They all knew that sect leader Shixiong was right. If they suddenly expelled Zuo Mo right now out of the sect, it would be what countless people wanted.

Xin Yan suddenly asked: “Can Shimei make this kind of dan?”

“I don’t know [Art of Crimson Flame].” Shi Feng Rong said coolly: “This dan needs to use [Art of Crimson Flame].”

Manipulate water like fire. It was easy to say, but for a ling plant farmer, it was very difficult, especially when it was in a sword scripture.

There were, in total, seven moves in [Li Water Sword Scripture]. Manipulate water like fire was the core but it was too far right now for Zuo Mo. What he needed to do was familiarize himself with the sword moves. Each move would always have a few dozens of transformations. And each transformation needed to be controlled by ling energy. Even more, the entire process had to be completed in a thought.

Based on the complexity of ling energy manipulation, these sword moves weren’t as complex as [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], but they needed to be finished in a very short amount of time so the difficulty actually increased. When making the move, the attention needed to be focused. That was even truer during battle. The other usually wouldn’t give you the chance to think. You needed to instinctively finish the complete move.

This was also why sword cultivators liked pure things. The purer something was, the less the disturbance it had.

Zuo Mo finally could use that ice crystal sword. It was certainly a painful thing to look at a good item yet be unable to use it.

The ice crystal sword turned into a flashing white light as it flew around Zuo Mo, coldness seeping out. It was silent, yet it gave the feeling of being able to explode.

[Li Water Sword Scripture] wasn’t a sword scripture that used sword moves to win. It only had seven sword moves and they were relatively simple. As he practiced, Zuo Mo increasingly felt that the person who created this sword scripture probably was a ling plant farmer. Many of the ways that the ling energy moved in the scripture was similar to the five element spells of a ling plant farmer.

Receiving the benefit of that, Zuo Mo quickly familiarized himself with the sword moves.

But familiarity was familiarity, so when he moved, there was still a feeling of rawness. Even Zuo Mo could see that his sword moves only had the appearance but not the substance of the move. But he had no solution for that. He might have comprehended a bit of sword essence but he didn’t know at all how to merge sword essence with sword moves.

Right now, he was just swallowing it all and hoping to digest some. The manipulation of water like fire that Pu Yao had said, Zuo Mo couldn’t make heads or tails of it. According to Pu Yao, the power of this [Li Water Sword Scripture] wasn’t strong originally. If he couldn’t manipulate water like fire, this sword scripture didn’t have any value.

Manipulate water like fire!

Damn it, how could he manipulate water like fire?

His fundamentals were really too weak despite that he had touched the door to sword essence. Wei Sheng was obsessed with the sword, the number of sword scriptures and research that he had encountered couldn’t be counted. Even though it wasn’t anything high quality, but he had already killed and with his wealthy battle experience, his fundamentals were extremely deep and no average sect disciple could compare. And inner sect disciples like Luo Li, they were taught from little by their Master, they could read everything in the records. In comparison, their fundamentals were much thicker than Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo, he barely managed to get a Master, but she only taught him dan-making. When he had been lianqi, he had only roughly studied those basic sword scriptures that Wei Sheng had given him. He truly had a weak base.

Pu Yao had lectured for two hours but it was all theoretical guidance, none of it practical.

But the time Zuo Mo had was only three months, how could he not be panicked?

Inside, he cursed the adulterous couple of Luo Li and Hao Min countless times. Zuo Mo tried to remain calm. He had practiced [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to the fourth level, but had never found anything that connected it to fire.

Don’t panic, don’t panic……

Closing his eyes, Zuo Mo recited to himself over and over.

When he opened his eyes again, his gaze had recovered its clarity, but deeply hidden was a touch of stubbornness.

Pu Yao said, wasn’t it just sword essence? Sliced a few thousand times, naturally you will learn.

Zuo Mo said to himself, wasn’t it just a sword scripture? Ge will slice it ten thousand times, if it fails, then a few dozen more, don’t believe it won’t work! If it doesn’t, then slice one million times! Slice until it works!

Having decided, Zuo Mo wasn’t panicked anymore and raised up his sword.

I slice!

Little West Wind Yard, the sword energy flew, coldness spread!

A storefront on the West Street of Dong Fu, many people had already gathered. These people gathered together and chattered and argued.

“Why hasn’t it opened yet? I’ve already waited an entire night.” Someone grouched.

“What’s a night? I’ve been guarding for two days and nights.” A person on the side followed up.

“Is this store going to open? Are they playing with us?”

“What can we do? It’s their dan, if they want to sell, they sell, if they don’t, you don’t have a choice.”

“That’s true. Do you really think that Golden Crow Pill can really form Golden Crow Fire?” Someone couldn’t resist asking: “Fourth grade Golden Crow Fire, does anyone in Dong Fu have it?”

“Haven’t heard that anyone had it. But it was an appraisal from the Medicine Institute so it shouldn’t be far off. Nothing else, essence of the sun, it would be beneficial if it’s added to a fire source.” The person who spoke was brawny and tall with a square face and large ears. He sighed: “The kind of thing that is fire seed, especially good fire source, is it something people like us can buy?”

“Bro, what do you do?”

“Me?” The square faced man said: “I make food.”

At this time, an old man suddenly greeted him: “Hey, Master Shao, you came too!”

The crowd suddenly stirred. The person who had been speaking with the square faced man instantly had a very interesting expression. No one would have thought that this large and brawny man was actually the best ling food chef in Dong Fu. The Food Pavilion of Master Shao, it was the most famous ling food restaurant in Dong Fu. He was especially skilled at making marvelous combinations of all kinds of ling food. The ling food he made, it didn’t only increased cultivation but the flavor was incomparable. Just ling grains, he could make over thirty six dishes.

The square faced man raised his hands: “Shopkeeper Wang, are you also here for the golden crow pill?”

The crowd stirred again. Some people had already guessed the old man’s origins. Master Shao’s Food Pavilion, Wang Sou Wine. The food pavilion sold all kinds of ling food, and Old Man Wang was skilled at fermenting all kinds of ling wine.

“Exactly.” The person was a thin old man, his spine slightly bent but his beady eyes were extremely bright. His expression was slightly helpless: “I’m here for my precious granddaughter.”

Master Shao chucked: “What’s the little girl learning?”

“Forging.” Old Man Wang was clearly unsatisfied with his granddaughter choosing to learn forging. He couldn’t help complaining; “My son learnt dan-making, my granddaughter learns forging. My handicraft, it seems I’m taking it into the ground.

“Don’t panic, don’t panic. If you ask for disciples, there would be countless people trying to get in.” Master Shao hurriedly comforted.

“Oh!” Evidently having thought of something, Old Man Wang sighed. He looked at the surroundings. Seeing that more and more people were coming, his brow furrowed: “This Wu Kong Sword Sect looks like it’s going to rise.”

“En” Master Shao agreed: “But they do have the ability.”

“Yes.”

At this time, the tightly closed store door suddenly opened.

Chapter 55 - Going To Get Rich?

Li Ying Feng was slightly drowsy as she opened the store door. After Master had rushed back to Wu Kong Mountain a few days ago, he still hadn’t returned. These two days, because Master wasn’t here, she had kept the store closed. In any case, the recent inventory had pretty much all been sold. The next batch of ling dan from Fourth Shigu still hadn’t left the cauldron and there wasn’t much else to sell in the store.

Wu Kong Sword Sect was only a small sect and didn’t have much produce. In Dong Fu, they only had this small store. Most of what they sold were the lingdan that Fourth Shigu made and the talismans that Second Shishu forged. If nothing was happening, she would sleep. After entering zhuji, there wasn’t much need for sleep. However, for women sleep wasn’t just a requirement, it was a form of relaxation. On this point, Li Ying Feng wasn’t an exception. She frequently slept until her eyes rolled and became muddle-headed. It was completely different from her usual cleverness and generosity.

Huh.

Muddle-headed, Li Ying Feng seemed to see that there were many people outside the door. She suddenly became alert, her drowsiness completely vanished. Looking at the dense field of people, her entire body became numb.

So many people… … what had happened……

“It’s open!”

“Finally open!”

“Hey, boss, I want to buy……”

……

……

Pushing open the store door was like the spark that lit the fire. The originally quiet situation suddenly became noisy and messy. Looking at the sea of heads outside, Li Ying Feng was like a statue, pinned to the door entrance.

In the West Wind Valley, Zuo Mo felt that his entire body was numb, not one place wasn’t sore.

Barely controlling the ling energy in his body, the ice crystal sword was wobbling in mid air. His eyes glared furiously as he tried to control the last remaining bit of ling energy in his body.

“Go!”

The voice was rough and dissonant.

The wobbling ice crystal sword turned to a flash of white light, leaving behind a faint cold mist in the air.

Pah!

The white light hit the wooden target ten feet away. There was a figure drawn on the target. It was the person who Zuo Mo cursed countless times everyday, Luo Li.

The wooden target instantly shattered. Each fragment was coated with a thin layer of ice.

“Fighting with ge! Kill you!”

……

……

Opening his eyes, Zuo Mo couldn’t resist groaning. So painful! As he was struggling up, when he saw where he was, he finally remembered that he had fainted when practicing [Li Water Sword Scripture] as his ling energy ran out. First seeing that he was covered in mud. Then thinking about how in his dream, he had demolished the wooden target that had Luo Li drawn on it, he couldn’t help laughing. That was really absurd!

One thousand and six!

That was the number of attacks he remembered before fainting. The ling energy in his body was at a dangerously low level. Before fainting, he had used up the ling energy too much. He decided to go to the rock room to recover his ling energy. The soreness over his body meant that each step was extremely painful. Like a turtle, he moved slowly towards the opening, his mouth giving groans along the way.

“Shidi, Shidi!”

Zuo Mo suddenly heard someone yelling from outside the valley. It was somewhat familiar. He stopped walking. He was secretly grateful that he hadn’t entered the stone room.

He saw Xu Yi Shixiong fly in. When he saw Zuo Mo’s sorry state, he first blanked and then smiled, “How did Shidi get like this?”

Zuo Mo grimaced, “I wasn’t careful when practicing the sword and tripped.”

“Shidi really is hard working!” Xu Yi praised, and then sighed, “The matter between Shidi and Luo Li Shixiong, I can’t really do anything. I heard that Shidi was lacking in jingshi, I still have some and can relieve Shidi’s need.” Finishing, he took out two pieces of third grade jingshi.

Zuo Mo blanked. He had a good impression of Xu Yi but didn’t have a deep relationship. He had never thought that Xu Yi Shixiong would stand on his side on this matter. The other coming of his own initiative to shove jingshi at him, it was too strange.

And Zuo Mo was even more surprised by Xu Yi Shixiong’s next move.

He saw Xu Yi Shixiong take out a silver bracelet and hand it to Zuo Mo, “This is the Star Silver Vambrace. It is a defensive talisman I forged. Second grade, able to block three attacks from a ningmai cultivator.” Finishing his explanation, he shoved it into Zuo Mo’s chest.

Zuo Mo was confused, and he completely did not understand the situation.

“Right, does Shidi still have any more of the great strength pill?” Xu Yi asked warmly.

“Great Strength Pill?” He didn’t know how Xu Yi Shixiong knew about the great strength pill. Looking at the two pieces of third grade jingshi and the shining vambrace on his hands, Zuo Mo was almost knocked unconscious by the meat pie from the sky. He replied instinctively, “Nothing left.”

“Then I want to order one hundred from Shidi, each one fifty pieces of second grade jingshi, how about it?” Xu Yi stared at Zuo Mo as he asked.

Fifty second grade jingshi each one, one hundred……

Was he dreaming? He still hasn’t woken up? He looked dumbly at a place not far away –– there wasn’t the wooden target that Luo Li was drawn on!

Wasn’t dreaming……

“One hundred pills…… each one fifty pieces of second grade jingshi……” He muttered to himself.

“Right, what does Shidi think?” Xu Yi was slightly nervous.

Had the world gone crazy?

Zuo Mo looked at Xu Yi Shixiong staring at him and thought dumbly.

“Does Shidi have some problems?” Xu Yi saw that Zuo Mo hadn’t reacted for a long time and couldn’t resist asking.

“No problem,” Zuo Mo’s voice was slightly weak. For some reason, he didn’t feel any joy. It might be that it felt too unrealistic!

“Amazing! I just knew that Shidi would definitely help,” Xu Yi grinned. He took out five pieces of third grade jingshi and shoved it onto Zuo Mo’s hand, “These five pieces of third grade jingshi can be the down payment. Shidi’s body is the first priority, don’t tire yourself. Shidi doesn’t have to send all one hundred pills at the same time. Oh, after the sect assessment, don’t rush.”

Zuo Mo dumbly agreed.

Seeing Xu Yi Shixiong contentedly leave, he still held a dumb expression. He hadn’t managed to absorb what just happened.

Who could tell him what was going on?

Maybe it was really a dream, Zuo Mo thought inside. Maybe in the next instant, he would wake up. And the things on his hands would disappear in a blink.

“Is Shizhi here?”

Yan Le Shishu’s voice sounded from outside the valley. Before Zuo Mo could reply, Yan Le Shibo flew in.

When Yan Le saw Zuo Mo’s state, he first stilled and then smiled, “Oh, Shizi really is hardworking! It really seemed that there was great hope for this year’s sect assessment.”

“Shibo!” Zuo Mo didn’t dare offend him. Even if his entire body was sore, he still bowed.

Yan Le Shibo saw the things in Zuo Mo’s arms and then thought of Xu Yi who he encountered outside the valley. He couldn’t help but curse inside. Xu Yi might be collected and calm usually but his feet were really quick.

“Just now, I encountered your Xu Yi Shixiong. He should have already ordered great strength pill from you.” Yan Le said smilingly.

“Huh, how does Shibo know?” In the elders, Zuo Mo felt the most harmonious was Yan Le Shibo.

“Haha, how many did he order?” Yan Le asked in response.

“One hundred pills.”

As expected, the same as Second Shixiong, a single move was this vicious! Yan Le swore inside but the smile on his face became even more harmonious, “Shibo has come this time for great strength pill as well.”

Zuo Mo, whose thoughts had just returned, suddenly stilled.

“Does Shizhi’s great strength pill contain sun essence?” Yan Le stared at Zuo Mo as he asked.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo woodenly nodded.

Yan Le clapped his hands and praised, “As expected!” Zuo Mo was frightened. With a head full of confusion, Zuo Mo finally couldn’t bear it and asked, “Even now, this disciple doesn’t understand. Shibo, what is going on?”

“He he, Shizhi don’t rush, I will tell you all.” Only now did Yan Le tell the result of the appraisal of great strength pill to Zuo Mo.

Fire source?

Zuo Mo had seen it before on the records. No matter if it was forging or dan-making, as long as it was using the fire method, a fire source was something necessary. The more rare and precious high quality the fire source was, the greater its aid in the process. Especially for those experts in dan and forging, fire source was especially important.

Zuo Mo finally understood.

What Golden Crow Fire exactly was, Zuo Mo wasn’t clear, but if it really was a fine one among the fourth grade fire source like Yan Le Shibo said… He instantly understood the value of the dan he made. Golden Crow Fire was the object of the dreams of the dan and forging cultivators!

Yan Le was secretly observing Zuo Mo’s eyes. It was a pity that Zuo Mo had a zombie face and nothing could be observed.

“The sect leader hopes that only we could receive the selling rights of the great strength pill from Shizhi. As to the price, don’t worry, Shizhi, we will use the market price.” Yan Le stared at Zuo Mo as he slowly explained.

Only selling rights?

Zuo Mo unhesitatingly nodded, “That isn’t a problem.” For him, it was the same whoever he sold it to but his roots were in the sect. If he gave the only selling rights to the sect, the sect naturally had to give him an equivalent repayment. The sect leader had always been fair. Zuo Mo was very confident on this point.

Yan Le was very satisfied with Zuo Mo’s answer. He thought inside, Zuo Mo’s identity and past might not be clear but he was very loyal to the sect.

His expression became even more harmonious, “Good, don’t worry, we won’t treat you unfairly. Other than the market price, the contribution point for each great strength pill will be double. If you are interested in cultivating the sword, in the future, the sect’s [Shapeless Sword Scripture], [Empty Sword Scripture], and the other fourth grade sword scriptures can all be passed to you. Don’t fail the hopes that the sect has in you. Right, the name great strength pill is too unpleasant, in the future, it will be changed to Golden Crow Pill.”

Finishing, he took out a blue vest to hand to Zuo Mo, “This is a second grade Immortal Water Ling Armor. It’s a piece of Shibo’s good will. If you wear it, it will add a bit more protection.”

Zuo Mo hurried to thank him.

“Shizhi needs to make some soon.” Yan Le gave a troubled expression, “Right now, your Shijie is being surrounded by people and can’t get out. Only selling some dan can calm them down.”

He couldn’t help but admire Sect Leader Shixiong’s eyes. If they really didn’t sell, it was likely that the sect’s little store in Dong Fu would have been torn down. Wu Kong Sword Sect would have become known to everyone. At that time, it was hard to say if they could still keep Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was stunned. He hadn’t thought that the matter would be like that. He instantly said, “Don’t worry, Shibo, this disciple will immediately make a batch.” To say nothing of anything else, if Li Ying Feng Shijie was in trouble he could not ignore it.

Yan Le nodded contentedly and after exhorting Zuo Mo again, he finally left.

Zuo Mo finally reacted, his eyes large as he became excited!

Curiously examining the immortal water ling armor in his hand, this was the first time he had seen ling armor. In curiosity, he added in ling energy. The immortal water ling armor suddenly turned into a ball of blue water and climbed up his arm, quickly covering his body. He could clearly feel the connection between this ling armor and him.

Was he really going to get rich?

He stared dumbly at the immortal water ling armor on his body. There were still hints of disbelief in his eyes.

Chapter 56 - Determination

Great strength pill, no, golden crow pill, the change it caused to Zuo Mo’s circumstances was very evident, especially in resolving his financial situation. But no matter if it was Xu Yi Shixiong or Yan Le Shibo, they all seemed to think Zuo Mo didn’t have a chance. This could be seen from the talismans they gave. One gave a vambrace, the other ling armor. They was all defensive.Clearly, the two were only trying to make it a less ugly ordeal for Zuo Mo.

Right now, the problem in front of Zuo Mo was very serious.

One was earning jingshi, the other was practicing sword scripture.

Presently, he was in debt. Earning jingshi was undoubtedly the most pressing. No matter what time, earning jingshi was the greatest problem he had to face. And cultivating sword scripture, in a very large way, it would decide his outcome when he faced Luo Li’s challenge in the sect assessment.

This two matters all dragged in a question. Time. If he made dan, then the time he had to practice sword scripture would drastically shorten. Originally, he didn’t have much of a chance at winning. Calculating it that way, Zuo Mo felt his rate of winning was basically zero.

In the end, did he want jingshi or to fight for his honor?

Zuo Mo became trapped in a dilemma.

“Ye, what have you been up to recently?” The pink paper crane flew in, the same graceful writing.

“Practicing the sword!”

“Oh, when did ye become so vigorous? I’m not very used to it.”

“Going up against a cold and perverted man!”

“Hee hee, what happened?”

“His woman flirted with me, got slapped. He came to get back.” Zuo Mo gave it a bit of “improvement”. Oh, it could be considered flirtation, Zuo Mo thought.

“Chop him!” A strong bandit aura came through the two graceful words. Zuo Mo, a man, blushed with shame.

“But right now there’s a really good chance to earn lots of jingshi.” Zuo Mo, for some strange reason, wrote down his dilemma.

“Gentlemen can be killed, but cannot be humiliated. Just measly jingshi. Do not let me look down on ye.”

Just measly jingshi. As expected from those that didn’t know hunger and thirst. Zuo Mo was reflecting. Why did he ask such an unreliable person? He disdainfully replied: “Woman, what gentleman are you?” His gaze uncontrollably stopped for a while on the “gentlemen can be killed but cannot be humiliated.”

“Hee hee, I only hope for ye to display his masculinity!”

“Ye’s going to work. Don’t reply.” Zuo Mo returned the words and threw the brush to one side.

Zuo Mo spent one day working hard in the dan room. He gave all the golden crow pills he made to Yan Le Shibo to free Li Ying Feng Shijie from her predicament.

Before the sect assessment, Zuo Mo decided not to make anymore. He decided to put all his time on practicing the sword. Whenever he thought about Luo Li and Hao Min’s face, his entire body was filled with the urge to fight. Why did he earn jingshi? Wasn’t it to become strong, wasn’t it to become strong and be able to find the answer?

After thinking it through, he didn’t hesitate any longer.

Hesitance, indecisiveness, it was all brushed away. Zuo Mo felt the world suddenly became light, his mind clear, unspeakably comfortable.

Returning to West Wind Valley, he took up Ice Crystal Sword and started to practice [Li Water Sword Scripture] over and over.

He closed off the valley and he had hanged up a sign saying: “In seclusion, do not disturb.”

This quickly became a joke in Wu Kong Sword Sect. Zuo Mo had come out of the outer sect disciples, the incident with Hao Min made others feel he was too arrogant. Adding on the hot sales of golden crow pill, there were many that were jealous. Many people were looking to see his joke.

This was the difference. Luo Li’s attitude was cold and arrogant but people were only in awe and found it matter of fact. And Zuo Mo slapping Hao Min, even though it was first Hao Min’s fault, but people didn’t like seeing it.

Just at this time, Qin Cheng Shixiong came back. Qin Cheng Shixiong was the student of the sect leader. His cultivation wasn’t the highest, nor was his attack power. But he was born authoritative, deeply trusted by others and had a high reputation.

Luo Li and Qin Cheng sat facing each other. Qin Cheng had a square face and thick brows. His clothes were dusty, the exhaustion in his brows unable to be covered. But sitting there, he naturally gave off an aura of authority.

Qin Cheng lectured: “You were too brash. Taking Hao Min Shijie for this long and not returning, no wonder Sect Leader was angry.”

Facing Qin Cheng, the iciness on Luo Li’s face dissolved slightly. He was unconcerned: “As long as she’s happy.”

Facing his Shidi, Qin Cheng was helpless. How his shimei Hao Min’s personality was, he knew very well. He could only change the topic: “Have you improved recently?”

Luo Li said proudly: “Fifth level.”

Qin Cheng gave a comforted expression. He took out a jade scroll: “This is [Shapeless Sword Scripture]. Take it and study it well.”

When Luo Li heard the words [Shapeless Sword Scripture], the light in his eyes brightened.

“Wei Sheng has entered the Sword Cave, the sect leader and others have high hopes for him and must be hoping that he could recover [Void Sword Scripture].” Qin Cheng glanced at Luo Li: “He once was your sword servant, you cannot lose to him.”

Luo Li’s expression was abnormally ugly, his fists clenching, unfeeling of the nails biting into his flesh. This matter, it had been a thorn in his heart. That pathetic person that he had ordered around before, the attentions paid to him now in the sect far surpassed himself. Whenever he thought about it, it was like there were worms chewing on his heart.

“In the past, [Void Sword] was split into [Shapeless Sword Scripture] and [Empty Sword Scripture]. If the sword scripture could be split, it can be merged again. Wei Sheng might have outstanding your talent, but I’ve always been confident in Shidi’s talents.” Qin Cheng said slowly: “I hope that this can recover the glory of the founder on Shidi’s hands.”

Luo Li’s breathing became rushed. He stared at the jade scroll on his hand, his expression changing.

[Void Sword Scripture], this name that he had dreamed countless times about. The highest skill that the founder of the sect had created! In the countless techniques of the world, it ranked sixth grade, immensely powerful!

Recover the founder’s glory……

Shixiong’s words were like thunder from the heavens, echoing by his ears. The blood in his body seemed to have been light up. He seemed to see himself standing in the clouds, looking down at the world!

Barely suppressing the excitement in his heart, he put away the jade stick and bowed slightly, stating seriously: “Shidi will try the best!”

Wu Kong Hall, Pei Yuan Ran and Xin Yan were drinking tea. After killing yao last time in the ling fields, when they had the free time, they would gather to drink tea and chat.

“It’s a pity that Third Shidi isn’t here, otherwise we three would have gathered again.” Pei Yuan Ran smiled: “He’s probably going to be busy for a while.”

Xin Yan drank his tea. He was different in the way he drank, completely lacking the grace and idleness that other people had. Whenever Pei Yuan Ran would pour it full for him, he would raise it and drink to the bottom. Clean and crisp. After that, he poured it for himself, drinking cup after cup.

“Drinking like you, it really is wasting my ling tea.” Pei Yuan Ran was in pain.

Xin Yan didn’t even look at him, not stopping. He asked: “What Tian Song Zi said, how about it?”

Pei Yuan Ran’s face became serious: “It’s not unreasonable. Third Shidi had been complaining a while ago that the price of ling grains had risen astronomically. It is a little hint. How do you feel?”

Xin Yan stopped for the first time. He nodded his head: “I feel it’s true.”

“Why?”

“Hunting yao is getting harder and harder.” Xin yan said: “On the market, the number of yao inner cores have become less and the price as multiplied.”

“I forgot that you also forge.” Pei Yuan Ran nodded in agreement: “It’s true that there are less people willing to hunt yao. Even those big sects, they put their direction onto searching for new jie.”

The words of the two were filled with worry. Three thousand years, the xiuzhe had defeated the yaomo. The remaining strong yaomo had used their own bodies and blood as the guide, seven medium jie as the axis, forty nine little jie as the screen to create Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. Ling energy in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was extremely lacking, extremely disadvantageous for xiuzhe. Yaomo, on the other hand, were not affected. This meant that Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie became the yaomo’s most trusted defensive line.

But in these three thousand years, the attacks of xiuzhe against Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had never stopped. Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had become a constant battlefield. Countless cultivators had become famous there.

Many things on the body of yaomo were rare materials for xiuzhe. Forging, dan-making, food, it was all useful. The stronger the yaomo, the higher the value. Therefore, many people went for the yaomo and then this exercise had its own name: Yao Hunt.

However, in the recent long period, there were less and less people going to Yao Hunt. The continuously appearing yaomo strong masters caused the casualty rate of the cultivators in Yao Hunt to be extremely high. The risk was too high ,the profits shrunk and caused the number of cultivators in Yao Hunt to decrease dramatically.

And in the last few years, the active area of cultivators in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie kept retreating. Incidents where yaomo actively attacked xiuzhe had occurred. Everything was hinting that the yaomo had recovered.

All the cultivators who had at least some foresight were full of worry.

If yaomo could push the xiuzhe out of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, that meant that they could start an attack on xiuzhe at any time!

There wasn’t any room for diplomacy between xiuzhe and yaomo. Three thousand years ago, the xiuzhe almost exterminated all yaomo. Only now have they recovered, and the hatred between them were as deep as the sea.

If another great war like the one that occurred three thousand years ago happened again, not one xiuzhe would be unaffected.

“He wants to host a Dong Fu Sword Test Conference? Why would Tian Song Zi mention Zuo Mo’s name?” Xin Yan asked: “He is only a ling plant farmer.”

In the letter Tian Song Zi gave Pei Yuan Ran, he said he would host a sword test conference. Inside, he had specifically mentioned Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo’s names.

“Don’t know.” Pei Yuan Ran grimaced: “Probably that the incident with golden crow pill had been too big and attracted Tian Song Zi’s attention. Right, who do you feel about that youth, Yu Bai?”

“Not bad, stronger than Luo Li.”

“Wei Sheng?”

“Hard to say.”

“It seems that Tian Song Zi’s branch will have a successor.” Pei Yuan Ran drawled: “Zuo Mei Tian’s disciple supposedly isn’t bad. If there really is a Dong Fu Sword Test Conference, it would be a bit interesting.”

Xin Yan didn’t speak and started to drink another cup of tea. After a while, he raised his head: “You agreed?”

“No rush, have to wait for Wei Sheng to come out of the Sword cave. Even more, the sect assessment is starting.” Pei Yuan Ran smiled: “Have you heard about the matter between Luo Li and Zuo Mo?”

“Winning dishonorably.” Xin Yan spat out.

“Haha, that’s true.” Pei Yuan Ran laughed. A beat later, he said: “Luo Li’s talents isn’t bad, but his personality is a bit lacking. If he’s like Wei Sheng……”

Xin Yan rolled his eyes: “Don’t be greedy.”

“Haha……” Pei Yuan Ran laughed again.

Chapter 57 - Like Fire

Five thousand nine hundred and twenty three!

Zuo Mo’s mouth was wide as he panted heavily, his eyes bulging like a fish before death as he stared at the ice crystal sword floating in front of him. He was like a bamboo stalk swaying in the wind, his body trembling. The clothing was soaked, pasted to his body and revealing his thin stature.

Bam, he fell down. He lost control of the ice crystal sword in midair and with a clang, it dropped to the ground.

Weakly looking at the sky, Zuo Mo’s brain was ringing. The last bit of ling energy had been cleanly wrung out.

Five thousand nine hundred and twenty three times!

If he sliced four thousand more times, he would reach ten thousand……

He hadn’t wasted his time slicing five thousand nine hundred and twenty three times. Any move in [Li Water Sword Scripture], right now, he could unthinkingly complete it in one breath, with no pauses or raw spots. But it was only the sword moves.

The sword moves were the appearance, the sword essence was the bones.

Sword moves without sword essence, it was like a paper tiger, only appearing frightening.

Each sword scripture, the sword essence they had was different. Even in the same sword scripture, different cultivators would form different sword essences. What Zuo Mo had comprehended was Xin Yan Shishu’s tidal sword essence and not Li Water sword essence!

Only a matching sword essence could merge with the sword moves into one.

When he had sliced four thousand times, Zuo Mo realized this rule. The tidal sword essence he had secretly learned from Xin Yan Shibo, it would only have the greatest effect with its matching sword moves. He might have used the sword energy from the golden sword ring to form it one, but Zuo Mo postulated, it was either because the sword energy of the gold ring sword was too low or that he had performed abnormally well that time.

He had tried countless times but was still unable to merge the tidal sword essence into the sword moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture]. The two were like two completely different entities, unable to tolerate each other.

If Zuo Mo hadn’t comprehended a sword essence, he wouldn’t be facing this problem. But after personally experiencing being sliced so many times, the power and greatness of sword essence had already been struck into his heart. A power that easily could slice a soul. Compared to that, the beautiful and grand sword moves were only pretty but not practical.

Sword essence, this was undoubtedly the question he cared about the most.

There wasn’t much time. He had no method to rely on himself to find it so he could only go find Pu Yao.

“Hee hee, want to know? Uh-huh.” Pu Yao gave an intoxicating smile.

Zuo Mo proactively threw the jingshi that he gained from making the golden crow pills to Pu Yao.

“It seems that we have connected on a deeper level now.” Pu Yao gave a light laugh and then said absent-mindedly: “Of course the sword essence from each sword scripture is different, do you need to think about such an idiotic question? Go comprehend Li Water sword essence. Just find a river, go look, what is water. Oh, as to fire, there it is!”

Zuo Mo scanned the surroundings. The deep red flames seemed leap to attention, the flames sprouting higher.

“Open your eyes and take a good look. It won’t be free next time.” Pu Yao voice came out from the sea of fire.

The consciousness was entirely fiery red, the flames dancing rapidly. Countless deep red flames slowly started to rise. It was like countless red flowers blooming in the sky. Each ball of flame was jumping at a certain rhythm. The outer red flames were like the tongues of snakes, spitting randomly.

The whole sky was filled with balls of flames. Suddenly, they all started to head for the center. The entire process was done without a sound, like water flowing into the ocean, not a ripple was made.

An enormous flame rose in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. It exchanged light with the star in the void. It burned quietly. None of the flame flowers could be seen. What could be seen was a red-black sun. A pure red color, as though it was made from crimson metal liquid. Some places were so red it was black. On the surface of the ball, dense flames spit and spat.

“Hot.” Zuo Mo felt as if he was in a stove. A wave of heat rushed over. His entire body seemed to be roasting over a fire. He actually felt a strong burning pain.

He was stunned.

Everything in the sea of consciousness wasn’t material. Even he was just a bit of spirit. Like these flames, in the past, no matter if they took over the consciousness, Zuo Mo hadn’t felt any heat. But this time, this red ball so hot it was almost black, it made him frightened.

The ball of fire serenely floated in midair, burning quietly. But this quiet held agitation and danger. It made Zuo Mo feel awe. The quiet here was like a thin layer of eggshell, able to break at any time.

Just at this time, the ball of flame exploded without a warning!

Zuo Mo saw an extremely awe-inspiriting picture!

Countless red-black flames flowed like a volcano’s lava flows, heading in all directions. The flames were like rain. Everything that Zuo Mo could see was dyed red!

The countless flames colored the black sky crimson red!

Big and small flames, after the shock of the initial high-speed impact, their speeds slowed down.

A sky full of fire flowers, they floated slowly like red dandelion seeds blown by the wind, travelling where the wind blew. The scorching heat caused the air to warp, making the scene seem unrealistic.

Zuo Mo stood dumbstruck in his spot. Suddenly, he remembered that black sea, the picture of the countless black dandelion seeds flying.

The dark red flames jumping in air finally landed on the ground. Once they landed, it was like they grew roots and quickly spread. In the blink of an eye, Zuo Mo was surrounded by a sea of fire. Everything returned to normal. But this sea of fire didn’t give off a feeling of burning. He dazedly reached out a hand, and like it didn’t exist, the hand traveled through the flames.

Was this fire……

What he had just seen gave him a shock that he had never had before!

In the next few days, Zuo Mo’s mind was in a trance. The scene in the sea of consciousness continuously repeated in front of his eyes. Like a puppet, he lost his soul, muddled.

The bewitching scene full of power, every detail, it was like it was burned into his mind.

Like fire……

Xiao Guo wiped her sweat. Seeing that mark on the wooden board in front of her, a happy expression appeared on her naive and adorable apple face.

She could send out a sword energy now!

Also, this was not relying on the aid of the golden sword ring that Zuo Mo Shixiong had given her, but a sword energy she had made based on her own cultivation. She had persisted in practicing the jade scroll that Zuo Mo had given her last time. She didn’t know how she had come through this time. The things in the jade stick were not complicated, but to a girl who had stayed in the zoo from very little, the difficulty was like trying to ascend the heavens.

Sweat, tiredness, pain, incorrect, not understanding, lost…….

In secret, she had cried so many times that even she didn’t know. Cried until her eyes were like peaches. But after crying each time, she would start practicing again. Pain, tiredness, and then cry, and then start practicing……

That pair of soft and tender hands, right now, it had a bit of strength and power.

Shijie became an inner sect disciple, Shixiong also became an inner sect disciple……

Her pink fists tightened, that pair of bright eyes full of resolve –– Xiao Guo will definitely become an inner sect disciple!

Before, there had been Shijie protecting her, after, it had been Shixiong. Even though Shixiong was a bit ugly, and his temper wasn’t good, but, unknowingly, Xiao Guo felt that this Shixiong that she was slightly afraid off became her role model. Especially when Shixiong gave the jade scrolls to her and told her to practice hard and protect everyone else, Xiao Guo made a decision, she would do her best!

Tilting her head, she thought innocently.

“Xiao Guo, Xiao Guo.” Someone was calling her.

“Hey.” She hurriedly responded.

A few of the shijie ran over and said: “Let’s go together to Dong Fu, it’s been so long since we went.”

“Come with us.”

No one knew she was practicing sword scriptures. She would always sneak away to practice every day by herself.

She really didn’t want to go. She still hadn’t finished her practice for today. When she was going to decline, she suddenly remembered that Shixiong said to her to protect everyone. When the word reached her mouth, it became: “En, okay!”

Dong Fu Hall, Yu Bai was reporting to Tian Song Zi: “The letters and invitations have all been sent out. Wu Kong Sword Sect and Dong Qi Sword Sect, it had been this disciple personally delivering them.”

“En, it was hard for you.” Tian Song Zi nodded in praise. He suddenly remembered something and ordered: “For the next while, make sure to control the people in the city. Pay attention that nothing will happen.”

“Is something going to happen?” Yu Bai hurriedly asked.

“Still remember the stars in daytime?”

“Remember. Has there been any discoveries?” Yu Bai’s heart shook. That strange and odd marvel, he probably wouldn’t forget it in his lifetime. The apparition of Wei Sheng’s zhuji had been sword energy reaching the heavens, stunning him greatly. But in comparison, that quietly appearing, stars that appeared without a sign in the sky, what he felt was a bone-aching cold.

Tian Song Zi shook his head: “Nothing. The Jie Master had scanned the entire jie with his mind and hadn’t found any abnormalities. But, when Jie Master asked for help from his sect, he found that stars in daytime are related to yaomo.”

“Yaomo?” Yu Bai cried out.

“Right. But, even in the oldest texts, the records about it are very vague. They only say that it is related to yaomo.” Tian Song Zi’s face was heavy, and he said in a deep voice: “Most importantly, it is a great ominous omen!”

“Ominous omen!” Yu Bai’s face slightly paled.

Apparitions, even though they weren’t common, but they would occasionally appear. When a treasure came out of the ground, when someone had a breakthrough in cultivation, forging or dan-making, they all could create apparitions. But of the apparitions that could be called an ominous omen, Yu Bai only knew a few of them. And each one of them all meant the sky and earth changing, blood flowing in rivers. Like when a jie was going to shatter, the land would crack, water would flow in the sky, that was an ominous omen. Under such circumstances, even those of the highest cultivation could not escape. They would be destroyed with the jie, turned to nothing.

Tian Song Zi sighed: “The world is going to have an upheaval! Yaomo is going to rise!” He glanced at Yu Bai and then said: “Do not worry too much. Yaomo is the natural enemies of all xiuzhe. On this point, no matter which sect, they would not retreat. This time, Sky Guard Jie has sent quite a few strong people who will soon arrive at Sky Moon Jie to investigate this matter. The cultivators all have high cultivation. To avoid conflict, you need to put effort into restricting the people. Don’t create a disorder. Remember to notify all the sects.”

“Yes!” Yu Bai hurried complied.

“Hopefully they will resolve it.” Tian Song Zi muttered to himself.

Yu Bai was silent. He didn’t know how to comfort Master.

Chapter 58 - Terror

Nine thousand four hundred and eleven!

After dazing around for three days, Zuo Mo started to furiously practice sword moves again. The picture in his sea of consciousness gave an unparalleled shock. He seemed to have understood something, but couldn’t grasp it. Three days later, he suddenly woke and understood.

All kinds of comprehension, it wasn’t a building in the sky. Without a solid base, even if you understood it, you could not produce it. Even more, Zuo Mo didn’t understand sword essence completely. Wei Sheng Shixiong had sat in front of the waterfall for months, battled lots of times, before he had comprehended just those basic things. His talent at the sword was far from Wei Sheng Shixiong. How could it be so easy?

Finally knowing where the problem was, Zuo Mo controlled his panicking heart and started to practice the sword moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture].

When he was tired to his limits, his ling energy used up, he would meditate in the rock room.

Recovering, he would start again. Just like this, without a break in between.

Nineteen thousand and twenty two!

Zuo Mo’s clothing was torn, his body a mess, his eyes sunk deep. Only that pair of eyes were lit up like a fire, burning relentlessly.

Seven moves. Each detail of each move, he had thought it over countless times. He was so familiar to a point that he couldn’t even believe it. The ice crystal sword was like a part of his body. He could easily control it to do any move. That bit of consciousness, it was like a strong spider silk threat that held on to the sword.

In the air, the ice crystal sword slowly wavered like a fish waving its tail as it swam against the current. The rate at which the ice crystal sword wavered continuously increased. With the ice crystal sword as the center, large circles of transparent ripples appeared in the air.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were slightly closed as he tasted the tiniest changes on the ice crystal sword.

Without a sound, the ice crystal sword suddenly disappeared from its spot, only leaving behind transparent ripples that shook in the air.

Ding!

A sound that was the lightest possible!

The ice crystal sword entered into the rock face of the valley, leaving behind a small hole. After a while, the rock surrounding the tiny hole became covered in a dense yet thin layer of ice.

The sword was like water, illusory and shapeless.

Zuo Mo closed his eyes, reminiscing on the entire process. The path the ice crystal sword had taken was actually a curve. Like water flowing down a mountain, extremely natural and smooth. This move [Flowing Water], according to the words of [Li Water Sword Scripture], it was a small progress. But Zuo Mo was very dissatisfied. If this move had sword essence, the sword would have gone beyond the three feet into the rock.

There was someone in the valley. Zuo Mo felt it in his heart. In this amount of time, other than practice sword scripture, all his other time was put onto meditation. Other than the improvement of his sword scripture, his cultivation had increased ferociously!

“Shijie.” Zuo Mo saw it was Li Ying Feng and got off his guard.

Li Ying Feng saw Zuo Mo’s state and jumped. Then she frowned: “Shidi, fighting is important, but speed isn’t everything. If you are too exhausted, it would have the opposite effect.”

Zuo Mo: “I’m fine.”

“For you.” Li Ying Feng couldn’t deal with Zuo Mo and handed over a jade scroll: “Xu Yi Xia Shijie came back. This is a jade scroll that she gave me. Recorded inside is one of the times that Luo Li Shixiong was fighting. If you have the time, you could take a look.”

Zuo Mo stilled. He hadn’t thought that there was this matter and couldn’t help but be curious. Before Wei Sheng Shixiong had zhuji, Luo Li Shixiong had always been the genius of the sect. Even Wei Sheng Shixiong was just his sword servant. Zuo Mo was very curious what level he really was at. Looking at Li Ying Feng Shijie who looked slightly tired, he was grateful, and raised his hands. He said: “Many thanks, Shijie.”

“It was just a coincidence that Xu Yi Xia Shijie returned.” Li Ying Feng said: “Shidi needs to work hard. Not just Xu Yi Xia Shijie has returned. Supposedly, Eldest Shijie is also returning soon.”

“En, I will!” Zuo Mo said resolutely.

Li Ying Feng added a few more cautions before leaving.

Returning to the valley, Zuo Mo impatiently added ling energy to the jade scroll.

It looked like the battlefield was a mine underground. The light was poor, and it was very dark. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but furrow his brows. He didn’t know if it was that he was used to sunlight but he really didn’t like this kind of dark underground place. Suppressing the dislike inside, his head turned quickly.

This should be the mine that Luo Li governed.

Luo Li Shixiong’s personality was cold and his relationship with the other shixiong wasn’t very good. Supervising a sect was a hard duty. It was long term underground, dull and harsh. Other than Luo Li Shixiong, no one was willing to go.

Zuo Mo looked extremely carefully, afraid of missing a detail.

He saw a crowd of people facing Luo Li Shixiong.

“Brothers, since we can’t even get full, it’s just a death. Rather than starve to death, we should rather fight against him!” Someone shouted. But his shaking legs clearly betrayed the terror in his heart. The other people shook all over as well but their eyes were red.

Zuo Mo remembered that he had heard of xiu slaves from the sound tablet. These people should be xiu slaves.

Seeing these people’s eyes, Zuo Mo suddenly thought, when a wild animal was in desperate straits, were they like this as well?

“Huang Ze, I promoted you to head, and you repay me like this?” Luo Li said coldly.

“Head?” The leader of the crowd smiled bitterly: “Can’t even live, what’s the use in being the head? The jingshi under is becoming rare, the rules didn’t chance. One piece of jingshi exchanged for that little bit of food. We’ve continuous to dig down. The corrosion from the earth energy is even stronger. The month before last, ten of us died. Last month, thirty of us died! It’s only been half of this month, but thirty five have already died!”

The crowd was very excited. The people that had been trembling were not trembling any longer. Their eyes didn’t have any more terror, only rage!

Luo Li looked indifferently at these people

“Hope! Since there isn’t a f—ing hope!” The person’s eyes were bloodshot as he howled: “We’ll just ask for an enjoyment!”

“Enjoyment?” Luo Li suddenly opened coldly: “Then I will give you enjoyment!”

As his words landed, without a warning, a blood line appeared on the people’s necks. The excited and uncontrolled people didn’t detect it.

Pew pew pew!

Blood sprayed out from their neck. Dozens of blood pillars sprayed at the same time, the warm blood being sprayed everywhere onto the top and sides of the cavern. Large sections of red, alarming to the eye.

Between the sounds of blood spraying, there was the sound of rolling. The heads of these xiu slaves rolled beside the feet of their corpses. Dozens of corpses were standing as they sprayed blood. The heads by the feet were perfect and untouched, the features clear. It was even possible to see the expression and large eyes of these xiu slaves before their death. After a while, these headless corpses finally fell down.

“Argh……” Seeing this, Zuo Mo’s chest started to roil. He couldn’t contain it and crouching on the ground, he started to throw up.

He had never thought that one day, he would see such a terrifying and bloody picture!

His body tightened. Was that person, like a monster, uncaring of other people’s live, was that Luo Li Shixiong? A long time ago, he had heard that Luo Li Shixiong’s temper wasn’t good but now he understood that Luo Li Shixiong’s “bad temper” was very different than the one he understood.

Xiu slaves, were they xiu slaves? But why did xiu slaves seem no different than him?

This thought only flashed in his mind. Zuo Mo had never thought he was a person that bemoaned the state of the universe and pitied others. In his perspective, he had no qualification to pity others. He himself was struggling at the lowest level of society. Even though he was now an inner sect disciple, a ling plant farmer, but he was still only a little person.

His gaze landed on those corpses, the heads and the fresh blood that had sprayed everywhere……

Shixiong’s gave was cold, indifferent. The picture in front of his eyes, it seemed to be a very normal thing in the eyes of Shixiong.

Zuo Mo felt that he was shuddering, trembling, unable to control his fear.

In these two years, he spent every day in the ling fields. He had never thought that one day, he would face fresh blood and corpses.

Would Luo Li, during the sect assessment, kill him off?

Or take off one of his limbs?

Zuo Mo’s brain turned to a mess. Terror spread through his entire body like the red-black fire in his sea of consciousness. He was afraid……

Heavy Sword Hall was the place that Qin Cheng resided in normally. Even though he had left for a time, but someone still had taken care of it. Inside the hall, everyone was in a pile, extremely lively.

Qin Cheng smiled,: “Us brothers, it’s been so long since we gathered. Being able to gather today, we should drink.”

Xu Yi hurriedly waved his hand: “Tea, tea, we’re not drinking wine.”

A green-clad female sat beside Xu Yi, delicate and adorable. She was Xu Yi Xia. She mischievously poked out her tongue: “Second Shixiong is still this weak, no improvement!”

Xu Yi was helpless against his shimei. Xu Yie Xia was naughty and adorable, her personality cheerful, and understood how to gain the affections of the elders. She was the most favored one of the disciples. Xu Yi had suffered on her hands and could only grimace.

Luo Li sat on the side, unconcernedly drinking tea, his face cold. Hao Min sat beside him. At this time, she couldn’t help say: “It’s great that everyone has returned. If you haven’t returned, those bastards would have climbed onto our heads!”

Hearing Hao Min’s unpleasant words, Xu Yi and Xu Yi Xia’s expression became slightly irritated.

“Shimei shall not speak nonsense. We are all disciples of the same sect. If the sect leader heard, you will be punished again.” Qin Cheng berated. He had always been authoritative. Hearing this, Hao Min could only stay quiet.

“However,” Qin Cheng’s tone turned as he looked at everyone else: “we know each other and grew up together, We are like brothers. Helping each other, that’s reasonable.” He continued: “The elders have their own ideas, but we have our own feelings.”

Everyone nodded. They had grown up together from little. Having someone else entering, they naturally were unwilling.

“Hee hee.” Xu Yie Xia said naughtily: “Exactly. Even though Luo Li Shixiong has a cold face all the time, but I will still help you. I gave that jade stick where Shixiong killed thirty xiu slaves with one sword to Li Ying Feng. It must be on the little zombie’s hands by now.”

“How can you reveal your Shixiong’s sword moves!” Hearing this, Hao Min was enraged.

Xu Yi Xia wasn’t scared of Hao Min at all. She helplessly rolled her eyes: “This is called a mental attack! That little zombie, he just farms, where would he have seen something like that? Even I was scared half to death seeing it! I’m guessing that he’ll just faint! Putting down a seed of fear in his hear, he will……”

Luo Li suddenly stood up. His face dark, he said in a cold voice: “Against a ling plant farmer, do I, Luo Li, need such cheap tricks?”

Finishing, his head not turning back, he left.

Chapter 59 - Practicing Sword In The Water

Zuo Mo was stunned. The picture inside the jade scroll gave him an earth-shattering shock!

The following days, he would wake up at night. The bloody and terrifying scene tormented him like a nightmare.

In the ling fields, he dazedly sat, his mind unfocused, his complexion extremely poor. Looking at the ling grasses and herbs that were growing well in the fields, he suddenly felt that his life had changed a lot, completely different than before.

Why was it like that?

He asked himself.

He suddenly remembered that strange dream that had puzzled him for two years. The slightly familiar voice in the dream. Unconsciously, he couldn’t help compare the nightmare of the last two days to the frequently repeating dream. Compared to the nightmare of the last few days, the usual dream didn’t have a bit of blood. But whenever he was shocked awake, it was like he had been lifted out of the water, his entire body soaked.

It clearly wasn’t a bloody and scary dream but it always made him so nervous, terrified. Yes, terrified. When he woke, other than sweat, there was also his stiff body. He didn’t know when he was dreaming, what his sleeping body was like. But undoubtedly, he was definitely afraid. But he didn’t know what he was afraid of.

That dream, it was the reason that he was pursuing power. He believed that there was really something behind the dream.

That “You must not forget even in death,” damn it, what is it!

Suddenly the blood and the headless corpses became less scary in Zuo Mo’s eyes. For some reason, the frequent yet not scary dream, the terror that it brought Zuo Mo far outweighed those bloody scenes.

What was he doing?

Zuo Mo suddenly seemed to have woken up. He hit his head heavily.

Why did he get scared by just that scene? To search for the answer, wasn’t he willing to put his life on the line?

This world, what was more frightening than having the same dream repeating each night? This world, what was more frightening than clearly knowing you had something important you shouldn’t forget but could not remember? What was more frightening than have your features changed and mind erased but you were still safe?

Zuo Mo’s blank eyes slowly focused, his eyes resuming clarity and brightness.

What was he afraid of?

Wasn’t it just his life?

He told himself inside. If he wanted to search for answer, he would definitely encounter people countless times more dangerous, and more powerful. If he couldn’t get through this barrier, if he retreated from this step, how could he search for answers?

The person who changed his features and erased his mind was a powerful person who even Master was wary of!

Zuo Mo stood up. After thinking it through, his mind became clear. Unknowingly, his mental state and cultivation improved hugely. He had comprehended something. Cultivation, it was to have a steady heart, and not waver!

Once again, he took up the ice crystal sword, once again starting to practice. There wasn’t loss, there wasn’t confusion. He was even more hard-working than before. He needed to catch up all the time he had wasted previously.

In the time of two months, Zuo Mo didn’t leave the mountain valley. Seeing that there was only one month until the sect assessment, Zuo Mo still didn’t have any hint of the Li Water sword essence.

Twenty thousand and one!

The familiarity of the sword moves had progressed to an abnormal level. Zuo Mo was suspicious that even the person who made this sword scripture wasn’t as familiar as him on the sword moves. Seven sword moves. He had changed it twelve times. Countless practice allowed him to know every detail of the sword moves like the back of his hand. The places where he made alterations, it was places that he thought the sword move would become more logical and effective.

Even though he was very uncertain, he still made the change. He was extremely cautious and prudent about the twelve changes. Each change, he had spent large amounts of effort. Practicing over and over to confirm before finally clinching it.

On the sword moves, there wasn’t any more possible progress.

When he realized this, there was only one month until the sect assessment.

He decided to do something different.

There was a large river below Wu Kong Mountain. The records room of Wu Kong Mountain had been build beside the cliff. This river couldn’t be considered wide but it ran fast. The locals called it Sky Shaking River

Zuo Mo came to the shore. Looking at the rushing water, he gritted his teeth, and carrying the ice crystal sword, he jumped into the river.

Entering the river, he felt the surroundings become quiet. The rapid river water almost swept him off his feet. He forced himself to steady and started to do the sword moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture] in the water.

This was the solution he had thought off.

Just when he didn’t know what to do, he suddenly remembered a sentence that Pu Yao had said. Pu Yao said for him to find a river and see what water was like. Because what he had seen in his sea of consciousness had been too shocking, he had simply forgotten Pu Yao’s words. Only yesterday did he remember. In the past, practicing finger motions in the water was also this method and it allowed his finger motions improve rapidly.

Actually, where he wanted to go was the large waterfall that Wei Sheng Shixiong had written about but there wasn’t enough time.

With no other alternative, he could only choose the Sky Shaking River under the mountain to cultivate.

The Sky Shaking River, while not as large as the large waterfall, the currents were extremely rapid. And because there was a dense layer of rock on the riverbed, there were countless whirlpools in the undercurrent. If he wasn’t careful, it was extremely easy to be washed away by the water. Zuo Mo cultivated [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and his breathing was unique compared to normal people. This allowed him to be able to stay under the water for a longer period of time.

If one hadn’t practiced spells like [Art of Water Manipulation], they couldn’t stay long in the water. Of course, if they had talismans such as a Water Bubble, then it was a whole other discussion.

Zuo Mo had broken through to one breath in the cold pond and wasn’t afraid of water. But the restless river water and the silent and icy pond water gave Zuo Mo completely different feelings.

The cold pond in Cold Mist Valley was like a bottomless hole. Sinking down, it was like entering a silent world, everything on the outside blocked off. There were no currents, no whirlpools. The further down, the more the coldness could be felt. It just silently released its will.

And Sky Shaking River, jumping in, Zuo Mo felt he went from a noisy world into another noisy world. The slapping of the current, the sound of the foams, the innumerable undercurrents and eddies deep down, it pull on everything in the river. It was like a wild stallion, violent and mad, completely lacking the serenity of water. It was continuously roaring, surging endlessly.

He quickly felt it a strain.

The so-called manipulation of sword, it meant using a strand of spirit to control the flying sword. A sword that had been impressed would have the unique impression of the owner’s spirit. And the owner only needed to maneuver one strand of spirit to control the flying sword. They also didn’t have to worry that their sword would be controlled by someone else.

But in the water, using the spirit to maneuver the sword became much more difficult. Especially since the flow of ling energy was also affected.

It wasn’t easy in the first place to get to a calm mind. Due to the undercurrents at the bottom of the river, the water flowed quickly. No matter if the body was controlled in the water, there was still the feeling of countless hands pulling at the body. This effect of this outside force easily distracted cultivators. And any change in the ling energy would create a huge perturbation for the flying sword.

The smooth sword moves that were so familiar on land, not one of them could be completed in Sky Shaking River!

Zuo Mo’s eyes couldn’t help but light up. What he was afraid of was he would not know how to continue. Just like someone who wanted to dig a mountain road. What he was most afraid of being ignorant of which direction to dig, not knowing his own location. And if he knew where he was, even if there was a mountain blocking, Zuo Mo wasn’t afraid.

He had a feeling he found the right path. He started to faithfully practice his [Li Water Sword Scripture].

Li Water Sword Scripture was a water element sword scripture. When it was done on the ground, it would have a faint water vapor. But in the water, the power of [Li Water Sword Scripture] increased exponentially. It didn’t need much ling energy to have multiple shapeless water swords spreading out in the water. Zuo Mo felt that it was like he was an infant holding an ax. One careless mistake, if it wasn’t too much strength, it was a wrong direction. Adding on the battering of the river water, the disturbance of the currents and eddies, his sword moves were hurtful to the eyes.

But he wasn’t discouraged. He started to scrupulously practice [Li Water Sword Scripture].

After a few days, what Zuo Mo felt most profoundly about, wasn’t his sword moves, but the imprinting method of [Li Water Sword Scripture]. The [Li Water Sword Scripture]’s imprinting method for the sword was to nurture one drop of water essence in the flying sword. It could respond to the [Li Water Sword Scripture] not just aiding in the manipulation, the strength also increased.

How could the humidity on the land be as plentiful as in the river? Zuo Mo had practiced for so long in the yard but the amount of water essence he had accumulated was far less than what he got these few days. Before, the water crystal in the ice crystal sword was the size of a mung bean. It was now the size of a soybean.

And the appearance of that water essence droplet in the ice crystal sword was different at the core. The previous water essence droplet, it had been created from the water from the valley. There were large amounts of ling grasses and herbs growing in the valley that affected the water vapor in the valley. The water essence formed before was gentle and full of vitality. But the enlarged water essence was created by extracting the essence from the Sky Shaking River. It held some of the attributes of the Sky Shaking River. The warm quality had vanished and it became hyperactive.

This change was both good and bad. The good was that it was much stronger than before. The bad was the ease of manipulation wasn’t as good as before.

Evaluating it, Zuo Mo still felt the present state wasn’t bad. The water essence droplet had gotten much larger. As to purity, it needed to be refined slowly.

The next seven days, Zuo Mo was almost always practicing in the water. He could stay for a long time in the water, but due to the fact that the ling energy used underwater was multiple times what was used on land, after practicing for a length of time, he had to meditate to recover ling energy.

But the river was very far from the rock room and it would be extremely eye-catching to travel back. Zuo Mo decided to meditate in the river.

Zuo Mo had never tried before to meditate in the river, much less such a strong river.

Quite a few times, he wasn’t successful. After failing over ten times, he finally managed to grasp the trick and started to meditate in the water. He didn’t know that staying in such a special environment in the water was extremely helpful for his [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Unknowingly, his [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] broke into second breath.

In his sea of consciousness, another star appeared. But this star was dull and colorless, far less blinding than the other one.

Chapter 60 - Comprehension

The rushing river water roared thunderously, creating large patches of snow white foam. Occasionally, leaves and wood would be pulled in and disappear in the blink of an eye.

Under the roaring surface, Zuo Mo, half-naked, had a serious expression on his face. In front of him, several water swords intersected and wove in the water. When fish and shrimp were thrown into this, they were killed without a mark.

Zuo Mo didn’t rest or sleep. Without pausing, he furiously practiced the sword

Thirty three thousand and six hundred!

The ice crystal sword was like the nimblest of fish, cheerfully swimming easily in the water. The speed was fast like lightning, shaming those fish that were renowned for speed.

Zuo Mo stopped.

He might be exhausted, and his mind was pretty much at its limits but he didn’t slack off in the slightest. His eyes were full of tiredness but he tried to widen time, almost as though he was afraid if his eyes accidentally would close. Tired.

He knew he had reached a barrier. The seven moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture], the first six moves, he didn’t have any problems. The problem came on the seventh move.

The first six moves, it flowed, or turned like a whirlpool. It mimicked the uniqueness of water, each move having a unique attribute. Zuo Mo was able to understand that. However, even now, Zuo Mo did not get the seventh move. Before, on land, he had felt that he was extremely familiar with the seventh move, but when he got into the water, he felt that it was incorrect.

The name of the seventh move was slightly scary. It was called [Li Water Burning Heavens]. Zuo Mo felt that if the name was changed to [Li Fire Burning Heavens], he could still understand. But li water, that was still water, how could it burn the heavens?

This move was one that wounded both sides. It required putting all the ling energy into the flying sword, stimulating that drop of water essence in the flying sword, the sword presence would reverse against the current and attack the enemy.

This move had many difficult places. Like putting in all the ling energy at one moment into the flying sword. This was a test of a person’s control of ling energy. And stimulating that water essence drop in the flying sword, Zuo Mo didn’t dare test it rashly. It had been hard to form this one drop in the first place. If it exploded, Zuo Mo wouldn’t just have to reform this water essence drop but even the inner formations of the ice crystal sword might be damaged.

And what Zuo Mo felt the least logical was the presence of this last move.

The presence of the previous six moves, it flowed, it curved, it spun. But only this last one, Zuo Mo couldn’t understand. Going against the current! How could water go against the current?

What this [Li Water Sword Scripture] mimicked was water. Zuo Mo understood what kind of water was li water but at the end, it was still water. As long as it was water, how could it flow from low places to high places? How could it go against the current and up?

But [Li Water Sword Scripture] just had to have this move, and it had to be the last move.

When Zuo Mo had been practicing on land, he hadn’t felt it. In that case, the water essence drop in the sword had been as light as air. It really couldn’t be felt when the sword was swung. But practicing in the water, the water pressure caused the presence of the sword to become heavy as well. The problem that couldn’t be seen was magnified.

No matter how hard Zuo Mo tried, he just couldn’t complete this final move!

Whenever he was halfway, he would feel the presence of the sword suddenly falter and could not continue. Adding on that Zuo Mo didn’t dare to rashly force the water essence drop in the sword to explode, this sword was even more difficult. Since it was so difficult even in practice, like this, Zuo Mo was stuck on this last move.

He could only continue to practice the first six moves. As he became more familiar with the first six moves, his feeling in the water, especially his feeling of “water” became much clearer. The first six moves became increasingly smooth. Zuo Mo gradually comprehended it. This feeling was wondrous beyond imagining, it was like looking through a paper window to see the people inside the room. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not poke through that thin paper.

Zuo Mo knew, the more it was like this, the more he couldn’t rush. This was a sign of a breakthrough.

But looking at time slipping away, as it neared the time of the set assessment, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but become panicked.

He was very clear. His first six moves were very familiar but to use these six moves to defeat Luo Li Shixiong, that was just a dream. Sword moves, cultivation, battle experience, both sides weren’t on the same level. It wasn’t just ten thousand miles that Zuo Mo was behind the other! The only possible way to defeat Luo Li Shixiong was to comprehend the sword essence of [Li Water Sword Scripture]!

Because he knew that Luo Li Shixiong hadn’t comprehended sword essence yet. This was the only place he could use!

This was also the only place that he won over Luo Li. He had once comprehended sword essence!

This was the place that he had gambled everything on!

Sword essence, it was hard to describe, intangible but it became the last trick that Zuo Mo was relying on. If he could not comprehend sword essence, everything else was just a waste, he definitely would lose.

Did he really need to use the last move?

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but hesitate. There was only seven days until the sect assessment. If he really exploded the water essence this time, and an accident happened, then he wouldn’t even have the time to attempt a rescue.

The time of seven days, Zuo Mo wasn’t certain if he could still form another whole water essence drop.

But quickly, Zuo Mo became stubborn. If he couldn’t comprehend li water sword essence before the sect assessment, then there was no hope of winning over Luo Li Shixiong. Then he would only have one outcome, loss.

Taking a risk and failing, it was a loss. Not risking it, it also would be a loss.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. In any case, the barefoot weren’t afraid then those wearing shoes. If he really lost, he wouldn’t say anything. He just wasn’t as good as the other. He’ll just have to pay some contribution points. But that was better than not even having the courage to try, and admitting defeat! In any case, the barefoot wasn’t afraid of those wearing shoes.

At this point, Zuo Mo’s emotions about Luo Li had become faint. This barrier, it was more like a test for himself.

And he chose to gamble!

He didn’t start immediately but entered mediation to recover ling energy. He decided to be in the best state possible when he tried the move.

Six hours later, Zuo Mo opened his eyes, the light flashing deep in the pupils, serene and steady. He didn’t know if it was the fact that he had made a decision but the effect of the mediation this time was very good. Not only did his ling energy recover, but the exhaustion of the past days had been swept away.

Recovering the best possible state, Zuo Mo stretched out his body. This time, he didn’t use his consciousness to control the sword. Rather, he gripped the ice crystal sword with his hand.

The ice crystal sword was icy when it entered his hand, like he was gripping an icicle. This bit of coldness followed Zuo Mo’s hand and quickly entered Zuo Mo’s body. He felt his mind clear. So this sword had such an ability! Zuo Mo couldn’t help regret not examining this sword a bit more in the past.

But quickly, he calmed his mind. These questions were for the future.

Closing his eyes as he gripped the sword and focused, his feet were floating as he stood in the water. The rushing water currents could not affect his body. It was like a piece of wood standing straight in the rushing water, motionless, unspeakably strange.

Remembering every detail of practicing these past days, savoring the feeling of the water rushing past the body, felling the presence of the water essence drop in the flying sword, Zuo Mo relaxed his mind.

When everything, all the memories, all the feelings, gathered together, it seemed like a certain nerve in Zuo Mo’s head was suddenly plucked by an invisible hand.

Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes!

“Li!”

A deep thunderous sound came out of his chest, the rushing river suddenly stopped.

No current, no eddies, the water around Zuo Mo’s body seemed to have quieted all of a sudden, motionless.

Just at this time, the ice crystal sword that Zuo Mo had been grasping slowly rose up.

Zuo Mo’s expression looked extremely laborious. The tendons in his forehead were bulging, his eyes angry and wide, his hair standing on end. The ice crystal sword on his hand seemed to weight a thousand catties. Just raising it up a bit became extremely hard.

What Zuo Mo saw was another picture.

When the ling energy in his entire body flowed like a flood into the ice crystal sword, that water drop which usually was lively, suddenly exploded open!

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s mind shook!

He seemed to see that soybean sized water essence explode into countless water droplets like a mist!

Suddenly, Zuo Mo remembered what he had seen in his consciousness, that crimson red fireball floating in the sky and suddenly exploding. That was so similar to this right now!

Manipulate water like fire!

This phrase that he had never understood, like lightning, it pierced into his soul.

Suddenly, he understood. That thin white paper that had been blocking him all this time was gently broken. A brand new world floated in front of him.

In his eyes, those water droplets that formed a mist turned into flames. These flames, it wasn’t the red-black flames in his consciousness, but transparent water flames. Flowering, transparent, flames composed out of water. They slowly jumped, clear and colorless. Not as wild and enchanting like the dark red flames in the consciousness. These clear water flames were as serene as the noblewomen in their chambers. They covered the entire body of the ice crystal sword.

Zuo Mo’s hand that held the ice crystal sword slowly rose. All the river water in the surroundings furiously flowed towards the ice crystal sword, seeming to form a gigantic water “flame”!

Once the strange water flame formed, Zuo Mo’s trembling and tired arm quickly became abnormally steady!

The sword presence seemed to have lost its reticence and suddenly sped up!

Boom!

The little ice crystal sword, carrying countless water flames made up of the river water, sliced towards the sky!

At the same time, on Wu Kong Mountain, Xin Yan suddenly opened his eyes. His body flashed, disappearing from his spot and appearing on the cliff of the records room!

He looked dazedly at the Sky Shaking River below.

A flow of water that seemed to form a gigantic flame roared as it flowed up against the sky. The impure river flame, at this time, it was spitting like water, burning and explosive!

Who was practicing?

To be able to form sword essence, the talent wasn’t bad! And such an unique sword essence, he had never seen it before. He could see it clearly. This gigantic water flame, it was restrained by countless sword essences because it was an explosive water bomb!

Suddenly, he thought of a certain sword scripture in the records room and his expression changed.

Was it a disciple of the sect?

Just as he paused, the water flame that had flew up suddenly exploded!

At the bottom, Zuo Mo saw the beautiful water flame in the sky. He wanted to laugh, but he had used up all the ling energy in his body. His eyes suddenly became unfocused. Boom, the water flame exploded in the sky, thousands of catties of water pouring down. Zuo Mo didn’t manage to anchor himself and in the blink of an eyes, was flushed away!

Chapter 61 - Planning

Zuo Mo wiped river water off his face, his steps uneven as he climbed up the shores of the river. He hadn’t thought that [Li Water Burning Heavens] would form into a flood and carry him, who had been in a weak state, a few hundred miles away. One [Li Water Burning Heaven], it had wrung out all the ling energy in his body. At that time, he didn’t even have the energy to breathe, much less get out of the flood. He could only be like a piece of wood and try to stay afloat.

Rocks were dense along this Sky Shaking River. Zuo Mo had suffered much as he kept on banging into those stones. Not one part of his body was unharmed.

A few hundred miles. In terms of distance, it wasn’t that far. But Zuo Mo didn’t even have a paper crane. As to the female grey beaked goose, she couldn’t be depended on. And his entire body, he only had his pants and no money at all.

Collapsing on a rock beside the shore, Zuo Mo weakly panted. But there was joy in his eyes.

Sword essence, Li water sword essence! He finally formed Li Water sword essence!

Even if he only just touched the surface of sword essence and wasn’t in any way profound, but as long as he persisted, his skill with this sword scripture would naturally deepen with time.

What was even more of a joy to him was the water essence drop inside the ice crystal sword didn’t disappear but actually became slightly bigger. It was now about the size of a pinky.

He didn’t hesitate, struggling up, coiling his legs to meditate.

Four hours later, he opened his eyes and jumped up from the ground.

Controlling the ice crystal sword, he started to go through the moves of [Li Water Sword Scripture]. Previously, his moves had been smooth and connected, right now it seemed traceless. Yet a faint fire-like sword essence spread out, the temperature of the surroundings leaping up.

A new world was in front of him.

One move after another. His expression solemn, his moves following his thoughts. He could feel that with each move, with the ice crystal sword as the center, a faint water presence would spread. If one looked closely, they would find this water presence was formed from blossoms of extremely tiny water-like flames.

In Zuo Mo’s consciousness, that ruler-straight ice river had completely transformed. The middle of the river split the river in half, one side full of icicles moving relentlessly, and the other side was countless water flames, silently burning.

Zuo Mo felt that he had improved. The Li Water sword essence he comprehended this time was completely different than the tidal sword essence he had comprehended before. With the tidal sword essence, rather than saying comprehension, it was more like mimicking. And for Li water sword essence, even though there was Pu Yao’s guidance and advice, but he had gone through the entire process by himself bit by bit. The benefits he had received were much more than before.

The ice crystal sword flipped and flew, its trajectory traceless, the fire-like sword essence burning.

But gradually, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but furrow his brows. The Li water sword essence was like fire. The heat that was released would logically increase the power of his sword moves but to the ice crystal sword, it was a kind of damage.

The ice crystal sword was yin and cold. It originally was very suited to water element sword scriptures. But what Zuo Mo picked had to be [Li Water Sword Scripture], which called for manipulating water like fire. Over time, the grade of this flying sword would probably drop.

It looked like that he needed a flying sword suited for him, Zuo Mo muttered inside. He quickly threw the problem to one side. Flying swords were expensive. They weren’t something he could buy now. But now that he had comprehended sword essence, the sect, in any case, should give him a flying sword. With the sect’s stores, to pick a flying sword suited for him, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Manipulating the sword, Zuo Mo didn’t feel any tiredness at all but rather extremely refreshed. Even though he was bony and was just wearing some pants, but standing there, he did seem somewhat intimidating. However, the most pressing problem he faced was getting back to the sect. Luckily, it wasn’t that far. Even if he had to walk, just a day was enough.

Wu Kong Sword Sect was a mess. In Wu Kong Hall, people came in and out, everyone was preparing for the sect assessment that was coming in a few days.

Inside Wu Kong Hall, Shi Feng Rong faced Xin Yan angrily: “You actually watched as he was swept away?”

There was none of the usual coldness on Xin Yan’s face. He carefully said: “The circumstances at that time were outside my expectations. I didn’t think he would be swept away by the water. When I managed to react, he was already gone.”

“He’s a ling plant farmer. If something happened… … humph!” Shi Feng Rong’s anger didn’t decrease as she snorted icily.

“Shimei, don’t worry too much.” Xin Yan smiled as he comforted; “Now that he has comprehended sword essence, in this area around Dong Fu, where would there be any problems?”

Hearing this, Shi Feng Rong’s anger finally decreased. She turned around: “Did he really comprehend sword essence? Three months, that’s not bad. Which sword scripture did he choose? [Empty Sword Scripture] or [Shapeless Sword Scripture?]”

Xin Yan saw Shi Feng Rong’s face relaxed and released a breath inside. Smiling, he responded: “He just entered the inner sect, how could he pick [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture]? What he picked was [Li Water Sword Scripture]. I actually hadn’t recognized it in the beginning.”

Hearing this, Shi Feng Rong’s features tensed again: “So what if he just entered the inner sect? How long has Wei Sheng entered the inner sect? Humph, Wei Sheng is able to enter the sword cave, why can’t he choose [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture]?”

Xin Yan grimaced inside but his mouth went: “Wei Sheng has outstanding talent……”

Shi Feng Rong broke through: “And Zuo Mo’s talent isn’t enough? Not good enough talent, in three months with no guidance and is able to comprehend sword essence? Go see if anyone else can do it. Even now, Luo Li hasn’t comprehended sword essence!”

“Yes yes yes!” Xin Yan was so regretful his intestines were green.

Suddenly, the two heard someone come near and they resumed their usual cold composure.

Pei Yuan Ran walked in. Seeing the two, the corners of his mouth rose slightly but then resumed normal. He said: “What are Second Shidi and Shimei discussing here?”

“Nothing, Shimei’s disciple Zuo Mo just comprehended sword essence.” Xin Yan’s face was cool as he replied, no trace remaining of his carefulness just a moment ago.

“Oh.” Pei Yuan Ran was slightly surprised: “He comprehended sword essence? I didn’t think he had talent for cultivating the sword. Not bad, not bad. Where is he now? This should be rewarded.”

“He was practicing in the river. When he comprehended sword essence, he was swept away by the water. I didn’t pay attention and couldn’t rescue him.” Xin Yan said.

“That’s fine. If Zuo Mo could comprehend sword essence then he doesn’t need to worry about safety around Dong Fu.” Pei Yuan Ran mused and then said: “En, arrange for some outer sect disciples to search along the river. Make sure he doesn’t miss the time of the sect assessment.”

“Yes.” Xin Yan answered.

“Sect Leader Shixiong.” Shi Feng Rong opened coolly.

“What?” Pei Yuan Ran smiled.

“Zuo Mo could comprehend sword essence in three months, it’s enough to show he has talent in the sword. “ Shi Feng Rong said as she stared at Pei Yaun Ran: “If that’s the case, the sect should pass on a higher grade sword scripture.”

Pei Yuan Ran said: “There’s no rush, let’s discuss this later.”

“Why?” Shi Feng Rong took a step forwards, demanding.

At the side, Xin Yan saw Pei Yuan Ran being pressured and sympathy formed in his eyes.

“Um.” Pei Yuan Ran said helplessly: “Wasn’t Shimei also worried about his birth?”

Shi Feng Rong was silent for a beat. Then she raised her head, saying: “When he was entering the inner sect, I was worried about his birth and history. But he is now my disciple. No matter how he was before, I would do my best to guide him.”

Pei Yuan Ran and Xin Yan exchanged a look. Both of them were very helpless.

“Shimei is reasonable.” Pei Yuan Ran said: “But this is really not the time to discuss this matter. I came today to find Shidi and Shimei for another matter to discuss.”

Shi Feng Rong and Xin Yan waited for him to continue.

“You have already been informed about the matter of the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference.” Pei Yuan Ran’s face was grave: “This is one point. I hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would do well before but now that he has comprehended sword essence, we should nurture him well. The other matter, Tian Song Zi has sent a message. A group of strong cultivators are coming to our jie to investigate the stars in daytime. Dong Fu is one of the thirteen primary towns of Sky Moon. We cannot avoid people coming to investigate. We have to control our sect and stop them from getting into trouble in the next while.”

“How many are coming?” XIn Yan heard that there were strong people and his pupils shrunk to a needlepoint, his sword essence vibrating.

“Shidi, don’t make a mess. This group is coming down from the upper levels.” Pei Yuan Ran said solemnly.

Xin Yan’s features moved: “Coming from the upper levels?” He then grimaced: “Looks like this matter has made a really big furor.”

“Everyone knows what’s going on.” Pei Yuan Ran said: “What Tian Song Zi can see, many other people can also clearly see. But right now, the yaomo are rising. Who touches first, that’s the one that’s unfortunate.” Speaking, his tone became cold.

Luo Li’s expression was calm as he stood. In front of him, Qin Cheng’s face as serious: “Shidi, careful.”

As the words landed, he swept his hand and a dark light shot towards Luo Li. There was a sliver of lightning contained in the dark light, the aura extremely intimidating, with the sound of thunder! What Qin Cheng practiced was [Wind and Thunder Sword Scripture]. The sword was like wind and thunder, the power frightening. He didn’t have as outstanding a talent as Luo Li but after practicing for a long time, he was extremely solid. When he attacked, the wind and thunder formed!

His flying sword was a third grade black thunder sword. The sword body was thick, containing thunder ore, extremely suited for [Wind and Thunder Sword Scripture]. Due to the weight of the flying sword, Qin Cheng’s [Wind and Thunder Sword Scripture] lost a bit of nimbleness and had an additional kind of weight and heaviness. Adding on the lightning flickering, the power actually increased.

Luo Li stared at the black light, not dodging and then the light in his eyes flashed.

Ding!

A clear sound. The thousand cattie heavy black thunder sword actually stopped right in the air!

Without any warning, without any decrease in speed, it was like that someone suddenly cast a body paralysis curse on the black thunder sword, pinning it in the air!

Qin Cheng’s expression changed. He snorted coldly and the paralyzed black thunder sword suddenly jumped, like a fish leaping out of the water. The lightning that had been on the surface of the sword suddenly gathered into a ball and left the sword. As it left the black thunder sword, it turned into a lightning sword. The lightning sword suddenly grew in size in the air, transforming into a gigantic lightning sword that was several feet as it sliced towards Luo LI!

Luo Li’s expression was serene as he pointed with a finger and swiped gently at the air.

Right in front of the gigantic lightning sword, a crack suddenly appeared. It was as though Luo Li’s action had broken through space! Without any time for adjustments, the lightning sword ran into the crack. Qin Cheng’s face suddenly changed. He lost his connection with the gigantic lightning sword!

He was dumbstruck for a few moments. Refocusing, he could not keep his usual calm composure and asked in a trembling voice: “Void Sword Scripture… … this … … this is void sword scripture?”

Chapter 62 - Lin Qian

Luo Li was both proud and regretful as he shook his head: “This isn’t the real Void Sword Scripture. Reconstructing Void Sword Scipture, how can it be this easy?”

Qin Cheng quickly recovered and sighed: “So strong even when it is incomplete. How strong would the complete [Void Sword Scripture] be?” He couldn’t help but look at the place where the lightning had disappeared. That crack and the lightning had both disappeared without a trace.

“The founder was mysterious and strong.” Even one as proud as Luo Li was in awe of the sect’s founder.

“Shidi shouldn’t underestimate yourself. Just three months, for Shidi to accomplish so much, Shixiong really hadn’t got the wrong person.” Qin Cheng’s eyes were full of satisfaction: “Really makes one want to see! If Shidi has to face Wei Sheng, how much is the chance of winning?”

Luo Li’s hands unconsciously tightened into fists, flames barely perceptible burning in his cold eyes: “Just a sword servant that wants to climb on top of my head. He doesn’t know what he’s getting into!”

“Ha ha, after another few days, it would be the sect assessment. Shidi, get justice for Shimei. I saw that Shimei’s mood these days hasn’t been good.” Qin Cheng said: “Pity that Wei Sheng can’t catch the sect assessment. Otherwise, it would be spectacular.”

Luo Li had never paid attention to Zuo Mo. His goal was Wei Sheng. He said frigidly: “In the end, he has to come out.”

Qin Cheng contentedly left Luo Li’s place. When he was returning to his own residence, he saw many outer sect disciples with different expressions. When those outer sect disciples saw Qin Cheng, they hurriedly stopped and bowed: “Eldest Shixiong!”

“What matter has you all so busy?” Qin Cheng asked.

The outer sect disciples exchanged looks. A moment later, one person said: “Zuo Mo Shixiong was practicing in the river and accidentally was swept away by the water. The sect leader ordered us to search along the river.”

Hearing this, Qin Cheng laughed. He waved his hand: “En, do what you need to do.”

It was as though these outer sect disciples had been pardoned from execution as they hurriedly left. They weren’t dumb. They didn’t want to get involved in the battle between the inner sect disciples.

Qin Cheng leisurely walked along, finding it increasingly humorous. To get swept away by the water when practicing in the river, such a humorous thing. He had never heard something like that before. This Zuo Mo was really amusing! He unconcernedly threw the incident to the back of his mind. Zuo Mo didn’t have any position in his mind. In his mind, ling plant farmers might be important but in this era of sword cultivators dominating, only those without ambition would go farm.

The person he was truly concerned with was Wei Sheng! Only this person would affect his position!

Before Wei Sheng had appeared, his position was rock steady. From a long time ago, he had thought himself the next sect leader of Wu Kong Sword Sect. But he would have never thought that along the way, a Wei Sheng would appear out of nowhere and be so strong as to easily threaten his position.

He was extremely cunning and experienced. He knew that there would be someone other than him that would not like Wei Sheng to prosper even more. That was Luo Li. For someone as proud as Luo Li Shidi, how could he tolerate someone who had previously been his sword servant suddenly climb on top of his head? That was even more uncomfortable than killing him.

A cold smile floated on top of Qin Cheng’s face. He wasn’t one person. These inner sect disciples that had climbed up from the outer sect directly affected the privileges of the original inner sect disciples. It wasn’t just him that had an opinion.

Even the sect leader had to take their opinions into account.

Zuo Mo walked along the major road. His upper half was bare, a pant was the only thing left on his lower half, his foot also bare. When the people on the road saw him, they all had strange expressions. But seeing the ice crystal sword he held in his hand, no one dared to laugh.

Zuo Mo didn’t know where this place was. Only after he asked someone did he know that there was about five hundred miles from here to Dong Fu. Zuo Mo grimaced inside. He hadn’t thought that he would be swept five hundred miles by the river water. Thankfully, five hundred miles wasn’t that far for him. Now that his cultivation had increased, the speed he travelled at had increased as well.

He decided that, when he reached the fifth level of zhuji, he would go learn a flying spell. If he met similar circumstances in the future, he wouldn’t have to rely on his two legs.

But he wasn’t in a rush. He had asked a few people and all of them said as long as he followed the road forward, he would reach Dong Fu. When he reached Dong Fu, then it wouldn’t be far from Wu Kong Mountain.

As he walked, he thought about what he had learned these days. He didn’t feel tired. He had just made a breakthrough. It was still indistinct in many places There were many things that he needed to get used to. Even though he travelled along, Zuo Mo didn’t find it dull.

“This brother, sorry to disturb. May I ask what is in this direction?”

Zuo Mo, deep in his thoughts, was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. He was slightly discontent as he raised his head.

When he raised his head, he instantly was dumbstruck.

How in this damned world is there a man more handsome than ge?

This thought came out instinctively.

Handsome, too handsome!

This male was of similar height to him, a strong brow and sharp eyes, extremely masculine. Clad in white, he seemed ethereal and casual. If Pu Yao’s handsomeness was androgynous, than this male’s handsomeness was overwhelmingly male. This was the first time that Zuo Mo saw someone who could compare to Pu Yao in the area of beauty.

He looked at himself. A skeletal body, ripped pants, zombie face.

Zuo Mo was uncomfortable, very uncomfortable!

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Zuo Mo dragged out his voice, glancing at the other out of the corner of his eye as though this place was his backyard.

The other raised his hands in a fist, bowing: “This little brother is Lin Qian. Having sightseen to this place but doesn’t know the location. Please, brother, tell me.”

Lin Qian? Definitely a fake gentleman! Zuo Mo slandered inside.

“Sightseeing?” Zuo Mo examined the other and then reached out with his right hand, rubbing his thumb and middle finger. That eternally unchanging zombie face actually had a “you understand” expression.”

Lin Qian paused. Looking at Zuo Mo’s fingers, he asked in puzzlement: “What’s wrong with brother’s hand?”

Zuo Mo almost spat blood. He said irritably: “Even the guiding flaming birds need jingshi, asking for directions is a paid service, understand?”

“Oh.” Lin Qian made a sound and then obediently took out a piece of jingshi to hand to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened and, lightning fast, took the jingshi.

Oh ooh! Third grade jingshi! What this guy took out was a piece of third grade jingshi!

Rich person! Fat sheep!

Zuo Mo instantly labeled Lin Qian. Taking out a third grade jingshi to ask for directions, only those rich young masters who don’t understand the world would do such a stupid thing. The thoughts inside his head moved rapidly. Zuo Mo’s voice quickly became very warm: “Oh, oh! Helping others is the duty of my generation. Brother Lin, don’t worry, I’m very familiar with this area.”

“Oh.” Lin Qian seemed to understand as he nodded his head, his face showing a relieved expression.

“Here, walking forward, it’s Dong Fu.” Zuo Mo displayed everything he knew, and then pretended to ask mysteriously: “Does Brother Lin know what place Dong Fu is?”

“Don’t know.” Lin Qian asked with an interested expression.

Truly a young master! Zuo Mo was both jealous and disdainful. These days, other than those rich young masters, who had the leisure to sightsee everywhere?

Slandering inside, his mouth went: “This Dong Fu, it is one of our Sky Moon Jie’s primary towns. There is … …” Suddenly realizing that this young master probably came from a larger place, and these things wouldn’t arouse the other’s interest, his direction changed: “Speaking of Dong Fu, it was Dong Fu xianren who cleaved Dong Fu with one sword blow and used the bottom half of the mountain to build the town.”

“Impressive, impressive!” Lin Qian praised, his expression focused.

He seemed like a useless young master!

Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed slightly and he continued: “If Brother Lin wants to sightsee, there is a few places to go to in Dong Fu.”

“Please, Brother, guide me.”

Zuo Mo pieced together what he had heard usually randomly and said: “If for views, the best views are from the Plum Peak in Dong Qi Sword Sect. If it’s water, Sky Shaking River is a good place, the river is fast and the scene on both sides is very inspiring……”

He spoke nonsense but Lin Qian listened extremely carefully.

“Dong Fu might be a bit out of the way, but there are some strong people. A few days ago, I saw a thousand wing ship. Tsk tsk, really frightening!”

“Thousand wing ship?” Lin Qian suddenly asked.

“Yes, Chi Ye zhenren’s travelling palace.”

Since they were going in the same direction, the two travelled together. Earning a piece of third grade jingshi, Zuo Mo was satisfied. This Lin Qian’s cultivation wasn’t high, just slightly above Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo wasn’t afraid he would do anything.

For cultivators, day and night were not very different. Even as the night came, the two didn’t stop. Even if he couldn’t ruminate on sword scripture, it wasn’t boring having someone to talk to. That little bit of ink in Zuo Mo’s stomach was quickly all used up and it switched to Lin Qian to talk.

Only now did Zuo Mo find that this young master that seemed like a fat sheep was extremely knowledgeable. As he listened, admiration rose. It was the first time he met someone who had such broad knowledge. Around him, if it wasn’t those that cultivated the sword, it was being busy with common jobs. He had never seen someone like Lin Qian that knew something about everything under the sky.

It might have been that Lin Qian finally encountered someone that was willing to listen to him, but Lin Qian interestedly talked and drew Zuo Mo in.

The two didn’t travel slowly and quickly neared Dong Fu.

“Zuo Shixiong! Zuo Shixiong!”

Zuo Mo heard someone yelling at him and raised his head. He saw a few outer sect disciples. These outer sect disciples also released a breath: “Finally found Shixiong! The sect leader was very worried about Shixiong and especially ordered us to search for Shixiong!”

Finishing, their expressions became slightly strange. In front of them, Zuo Mo and Lin Qian made for a strong comparison. Beside an extremely handsome man, there stood a half-naked skeleton with a sword. This picture, it really was……

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to the looks of these outer sect disciples. He turned around, his hand presenting the third grade jingshi in front of Lin Qian, his voice serious as he said: “Brother Lin’s knowledge is deep like the sea. Zuo Mo admires very much. This jingshi, this one doesn’t dare to accept. This day and night, this little brother has learned much, it’s more than enough for acting as a guide. But it’s a pity that this little brother has a sect assessment immediately and has no time to sightsee with Brother Lin. Brother Lin, have a good trip!”

Finishing, he shoved the third grade jingshi into Lin Qian’s hand

At the side, the outer sect disciples stared with wide eyes dumbly at the third grade jingshi.

Waving his hand at Lin Qian, Zuo Mo started running in the direction of Wu Kong Mountain. The outer sect disciples returned to their bodies and hurriedly followed.

Chapter 63 - The Sect Assessment

Returning to the mountain, Zuo Mo was called over to Shi Feng Rong immediately and was severely scolded. Zuo Mo knew that his master was worried for him and he was very agreeable. Inside, his heart felt warm. Master might not have a good temper, her personality might be a bit cold, but she was still not bad for a master.

After he was scolded over by Master, he returned to the little yard. He had too many things to digest. These few days, he needed to relax. After heavy practice the past three months, his mind had reached its limits. The few days until the sect assessment were perfect for him to rest. He needed to organize the things he had comprehended.

Just as Zuo Mo was resting in the Little West Wind Yard, a white clothed male was standing on a mountain peak not far from Wu Kong Mountain. He muttered: “Should be around here.”

If Zuo Mo saw this person, he would be shocked. This white clothed male, it was the person he met on the road, Lin Qian!

Lin Qian’s face was solemn. On that peerlessly handsome face, he looked up at the sky, muttering softly: “Stars in daytime……”

As the sect assessment neared, the entire Wu Kong Sword Sect started to become busy. The annual sect assessment was the most important matter for all disciples. It was directly connected to each person’s benefits in the upcoming year.

The exams were very broad. For example, Zuo Mo was one of the examiners, he was testing the outer sect disciples on their skill with the five element spells.

But the most important test of the sect was sword scriptures!

The disciples that shone brightly in the assessment, their position and benefits in the sect would improve afterwards. Every disciple, no matter inner or outer sect, had practiced with all their power for the sect assessment.

Compared to past years, this year’s sect assessment was more interesting. Like the disagreement between Luo Li Shixiong and Zuo Mo Shixiong. And what everyone really wanted to see was if Wei Sheng Shixiong was going to come out of the Sword Cave before the sect assessment. If Wei Sheng Shixiong could get out in time, he would definitely attend the assessment. Wei Sheng Shixiong and Zuo Mo Shixiong had a good relationship, and he certainly wouldn’t watch. Then it would be interesting.

As to the fight between Luo Li and Zuo Mo, in the eyes of everyone, it was a fight with a pre-determined outcome. The value in its existence was to lure out Wei Sheng Shixiong. Now that it seemed that Wei Sheng Shixiong wasn’t going to come, the value of the fight was much smaller. Everyone was guessing how Luo Li Shixiong would humiliate Zuo Mo.

The annual sect assessment of Wu Kong Sword Sect finally started.

All the disciples were gathered at the plaza outside Wu Kong Hall.

Pei Yuan Ran stood at the very front. Looking at the outer sect disciples and inner sect disciples below him, he couldn’t help but sigh. This year, it was especially important for Wu Kong Sword Sect. A ling plant farmer like Zuo Mo had appeared and also a genius sword cultivator like Wei Sheng!

“Shixiong, let’s start.” Yan Le reminded Pei Yuan Ran. For the sect assessment, he had especially rushed back from Dong Fu.

Pei Yuan Ran came back from his wanderings and nodded his head. Facing everyone else, he slowly opened: “This year, the sect has had many outstanding people. I am very comforted. Cultivation is like swimming against the current. If one doesn’t progress, it is falling behind. You can’t slack off.”

“Yes!” The disciples under answered synchronously.

“Start the assessment!”

The first to undergo the tests were the sect’s outer sect disciples. And the ones responsible for testing them were all the inner sect disciples. Zuo Mo was responsible for ling farming. Xu Yi was responsible for forging. Like so, everyone was responsible for a certain area. This was the first time that Zuo Mo saw the Eldest Shijie, Gongsun Qing.

Eldest Shijie’s appearance was proper, mature and extremely dignified. She didn’t say very much. Most of her words were gentle and tactful, but everyone was still very respectful of her. Supposedly, Eldest Shijie was going to marry soon. Her fiancé was a disciple from a large sect. She was the only one of the inner sect disciples that wasn’t responsible for an exam. Her duty was to patrol the entire location. From this, it could be seen the trust the sect leader and the other shishu had in her.

Seeing the familiar faces now filled with awe, Zuo Mo was reminded of himself. Last year’s sect assessment, he was still among them. Now, he was their examiner. His heart felt slightly strange.

Compared to the other disciples, Zuo Mo was much more familiar with these outer sect disciples. He was clear to each one’s cultivation. As a result, he was very efficient.

He was the first inner sect disciple to finish his examination.

Carefully sealing the results in a jade scroll, he then handed it to the sect leader.

“Oh, Little Mo’s speed is very quick.” The sect leader smiled at Zuo Mo as he took the jade scroll.

“This disciple is very familiar with all the shidi so it was a bit faster.” Zuo Mo carefully answered.

“En, not bad.” The sect leader scanned the results and then nodded in confirmation. He turned and gave the jade stick to Yan Le who was at the side and smiled at Zuo Mo: “Little Mo, I heard you were swept away by the river when you were practicing?”

If Zuo Mo didn’t have a zombie face, he would certainly have been very red at the moment. Being asked by the sect leader in front of the shishu, even though Zuo Mo’s skin was thick, he still found it hard to deal with.

“This disciple wasn’t attentive and will be careful next time.” Zuo Mo could only answer.

“En. Pay attention, otherwise, your master will worry.” The sect leader said.

“Have a clean death.” Shi Feng Rong coldly took over.

Zuo Mo knew what kind of temper his master had and wasn’t concerned.

After that, the other exams were also completed, the seal jade sticks handed over to the sect leader. Here, the sect assessment was put on hold. All the disciples were quietly waiting for the sect leader to announce the rewards. The first three of each year’s sect assessment would always get prizes.

The sect leader scanned all the jade scrolls before raising his head.

“Not bad, everyone improved this year. I’m very comforted.” The sect leader’s voice wasn’t loud but could be heard across the plaza.

“The person that improved the most this year really surprised me, Yu Xiao Guo!” As the sect leader announced it, the female disciples of the Eastern Peak cheered.

Zuo Mo was surprised. He hadn’t thought that Xiao Guo would make such big improvement. His eyes found Xiao Guo in the crowd. Xiao Guo didn’t seem to have thought that she would be first in the sect assessment this year. Her face instantly turned red like an apple, her head almost touching her chest. The female disciples surrounding her were very excited.

A happy expression also came onto Li Ying Feng’s face. She had always liked Xiao Guo.

Xiao Guo suddenly raised her flushed face, her eyes searching among the inner sect disciples on the stage. When she saw Li Ying Feng smiling at her, the smile on her own face became even brighter. When her gaze swept towards Zuo Mo, and saw Zuo Mo Shixiong give her a thumbs up, her nose suddenly went sour, her eyes misty. At this crucial time, she actually started to cry!

Zuo Mo’s thumbs-up was paralyzed. He hadn’t thought that his action would make Xiao Guo cry. This little girl, she really was a headache! Zuo Mo muttered inside.

Second place was Guo Lu. After he had recovered, he had rapidly improved. The third place was a disciple that Zuo Mo had never heard of before. He was called Zhu Peng.

These three people were going to receive a heavy reward from the sect.

Some were disappointed, some were happy. All the possible expressions of people could be seen.

For the outer sect disciples, the annual sect assessment had passed. No matter the outcome, it was like a load off their chests. Thinking of the inner sect disciple assessment that was next, they instantly became excited. Each year’s inner sect disciple assessment was always spectacular.

There were the fights between the shixiong and the explanations from the sect’s shishu. Usually, this was something they couldn’t see or hear. If they could digest even a bit, it was more than enough for them to benefit.

And this year, they had something else to look forward to – how would Luo Li Shixiong torment Zuo Mo?

The outer sect disciples instinctively stepped back, empting out the plaza for the inner sect disciple battle and waited for the fireworks.

“Alright, usual rules.” The sect leader didn’t waste words: “Start.”

Luo Li was the first to stand out. Entering the sect, he faced Zuo Mo and said coldly: “Zuo Mo Shidi should have prepared already.”

As expected, what was supposed to come did come!

Zuo Mo wasn’t timid. He stood up and entered the plaza, his mouth not showing weakness: “Shixiong is still as chatty as usual!”

The people below instantly started to murmur.

Zuo Mo and Luo Li’s power completely were on different levels. Yet Zuo Mo was still so arrogant. Wasn’t he just asking for Luo Li Shixiong to humiliate him?

Luo Li’s face instantly turned green. Having been taunted by Zuo Mo in front of this many people, he laughed angrily: “I hope that Shidi’s sword is half as sharp as your words!”

“Shixiong will know if he tries.” Zuo Mo found that he wasn’t nervous at all.

“Humph!” Luo Li said: “You first.”

Zuo Mo was eager for Luo Li to underestimate him. It fit his desire that the other let him attack first. Without hesitation, the ice crystal sword disappeared in front of him, leaving behind a clear ripple.

[Flowing Water]!

The crux of this move was for the sword to act as though it was falling like water from a high altitude, the water essence was smooth without a hint of presence!

“It seems that Shidi has worked hard recently!” Luo LI smirked. Since he was planning to humiliate Zuo Mo, naturally, he wouldn’t let this battle end so quickly. He wanted Zuo Mo to understand just how great the gap was between them. He wanted Zuo Mo to realize that the two wasn’t on the same level, that he could kill Zuo Mo as easily as killing an ant!

Ding!

The sound of impact was as clear as glass.

Ten steps in front of Luo Li, invisible vibrations spread out!

Luo Li acted as though no one was present as he started to walk towards Zuo Mo. His face smiling coldly: “What? Does Shidi only have these little moves?”

Zuo Mo’s entire mind was on controlling the ice crystal sword and didn’t hear the words.

The sword suddenly changed as though it became countless little flows, wrapping around in layers as dense as cloth. The little flows spun quicker and quick, producing soft hissing sounds. Just two steps from Luo Li, these revolving small flows multiplied in size and started to ring!

Seven whirlpools suddenly appeared around Luo Li!

The sword was soft yet sticky, the seven whirlpools trapping Luo Li in the middle like a cage made out of whirlpools. Luo Li had no place to escape! Each whirlpool was made up of countless tiny sword energies. These hair-thin, weak looking sword energies were full of a silent danger!

[Li Water Sword Scripture]’s [Seven Whirlpools]!

Chapter 64 - Caught it!

[Seven Whirlpools]!

The outer sect disciples simultaneously sighed in shock. Those that had been spectating instantly became alert. Zuo Mo Shixiong really had concealed himself deeply!

Yan Le was slightly surprised as he looked at the plaza: “Little Mo has something like this?” he had just returned and didn’t know what had happened with Zuo Mo. Seeing Zuo Mo releasing such an exquisite attack, he was very shocked.

Pei Yuan Ran said: “Don’t rush. There might be even bigger surprises later.”

The situation suddenly changed. Zuo Mo, who had been thought as destined to lose, suddenly revealed a very strong sword move and also raised everyone’s interest.

Trapped between seven sword energy whirlpools, Luo Li’s face was still indifferent. He didn’t seem to make a motion, but the seven roaring sword energy whirlpools suddenly paused, the strands of sword energy flailing chaotically but not one sword energy could enter the area five paces from Luo Li.

“Luo Li didn’t slack off either.” Pei Yuan Ran had a satisfied expression. Turning, he asked Xin Yan: “This move [Extinguish], what level?”

“The fifth.” Xin Yan said.

“En. Luo Li’s talent isn’t bad, but it’s a pity he met Wei Sheng.” Yan Le said aimlessly.

The others all had a slightly discomforted expression. Wei Sheng’s talents was much greater than Luo Li. Based on the perspective of the sect, the unequal treatment was natural. But the time that Luo Li spent with them was much longer than Wei Sheng, and much closer in terms of feelings.

Pei Yuan Ran said: “This isn’t something that can be dealt with. We, as sword xiu, uphold the rule of the strong and weak. Ambition is good, but what is needed is to understand one’s own abilities.”

“Qin Cheng asked for [Shapeless Sword Scripture] from me.” Xin Yan said.

“Must be for Luo Li.” Yan Le was extremely intelligent and said with a smile: “[Shapeless Sword Scripture] and [Empty Sword Scripture] come from the same origin. Qin Cheng’s conduct, it’s very interesting.”

Shi Feng Rong’s brows furrowed as she said: “Isn’t that making the situation worse?”

Pei Yuan Ran said: “Shimei, don’t worry. Competition is a good thing. They are still very young. We can look over them and slowly polish away. Maybe one or two of them will become accomplished and we will not fail our masters.”

Hearing this, the other three nodded their heads in agreement.

The fight between Zuo Mo and Luo Li intensified.

Luo Li was very shocked inside. Three months to reach this level of skill, his talent wasn’t weaker than his own. Thinking about it, his heart felt like it was bursting, as though a fire had been lit. In the last decade, he was the most favoured, most talented disciple in Wu Kong Sword Sect! But there suddenly was a Wei Sheng who had an apparition at zhuji. To nurture him, the sect elders had actually opened the sword cave.

That was a benefit that he didn’t even dare to think about.

One Wei Sheng came out, and now there was a Zuo Mo!

He had never heard that the sect had such a fine water sword scripture. Did the Shishu pass on a new sword scripture? Once the thought formed, his heart felt like it was bit by a snake, his eyes dark!

Zuo Mo couldn’t attend to Luo Li’s mood. All of his attention was on controlling the sword.

[Li Water Sword Scripture]’s first six sword moves, he had practiced numerous times. The person who had created this sword scripture might not be as familiar as he was. After he comprehended the sword essence, he had done some minor adjustments to the sword moves again. The method he used for adjustment was extremely simple. Wherever the sword essence would pause, he would fearlessly change it, change it until the sword essence would move as he wished without any blockage.

This sword scripture, it had been transformed a long time ago!

If it had been someone else, would they have dared to adjust like so? But Zuo Mo didn’t have any restraints. In the area of the sword, he had no fundamentals, and naturally wouldn’t be restained. When he had been learning the five element spells of a ling plant farmer, due to the fact that much of the contents in the jade stick had not been detailed, it had required him to speculate on his own. Over time, he was used to making adjustments to spells and had his own method.

To use the sword essence as the model to change sword moves. If Xin Yan knew of the idea, he would certainly have praised it.

He had seen Luo Li kill people in the jade scroll. It was mysterious and hard to detect. Up until now, he basically hadn’t seen Luo Li Shixiong’s flying sword.

[Empty Sword Scripture] was truly amazing!

Xu Yi Shixiong had once said that [Empty Sword Scripture] was the finest in the third grade sword scriptures. From what he had seen today, it really was powerful!

Couldn’t see the flying sword, couldn’t see the sword energy, you never knew where the other’s attack would come from. Couldn’t defend, couldn’t see, couldn’t guess, that kind of things were the ones that most easily created terror.

Zuo Mo was slightly frightened.

Compared to Luo Li’s untouched and leisurely state, Zuo Mo was increasingly nervous. Zuo Mo’s battle experience was pitifully thin. After two continuous sword moves were deflected, it was a heavy blow to his confidence.

However, he didn’t want to admit defeat like this.

Gritting his teeth, he released the third move!

Countless sword energies formed a dense curtain of swords like a tide. Gleaming with the shine of water, it swayed like the waves!

The third move, [Layered Tide]!

The first move [Flowing Water] was light and clean, like sheep climbing a cliff, untraceable. The second move [Seven Whirlpools], dense and sticky with hidden danger.

And this move [Layered Tide] was continuous, becoming stronger as it continued. The layers of sword energy were like waves, layers of little waves merging together. The curtain made of swords, which had been like a drizzle of rain, suddenly became fierce and turbulent!

Luo Li seemed to be right next to the water, the giant turbulence about to swallow him.

Shocked gasps came from the surroundings. The past two moves might have surprised people but it wasn’t as intimidating as [Layered Tide]! In their eyes, a giant wave came down from the sky, unable to be dodged. Those outer sect disciples at odds with Zuo Mo paled in fright, their legs weak!

This giant wave wasn’t water, but composed of layers of countless sword energies. Once one was swallowed, then they should wait to be cut up into pieces!

It seemed that he had truly understood this sword scripture!

Luo Li’s eyes became even darker. Staring at the sword curtain as it came down, killing intent flashed through his eyes. He decided to give the zombie a blow, a blow that would completely destroy the other’s confidence!

He faced the sword curtain full of danger and turbulence and stepped forward!

Another step! A third step!

“Break!”

The voice rang out over the entire plaza. Everyone felt their chests compress and then shock came onto their faces.

Hiss!

Like a small knife cutting cloth, not dissonant but a clear sound.

The giant sword energy wave was cut in half!

Seeing the sword curtain forcefully broken in two, Zuo Mo jumped in fright. Just as he was about to change moves, he suddenly detected a hint of danger. His heart alarmed, he didn’t have time to think as his body fell down to the left.

Even though he hadn’t seen anything, but Zuo Mo could clearly feel something brush tightly next to him! He was like a frightened cat, all the hair on his body standing up!

Zuo Mo, having dropped to the floor, couldn’t care about the pain on his body, and scrambled to distance himself from Luo Li.

“Oh my, my heart almost jumped out! It seems that Zuo Mo Shixiong isn’t weak. Pity that he encountered Luo Li Shixiong.” One of the surrounding disciples couldn’t help stating.

“That’s right! Look at Luo Li Shixiong, that’s the composure of a strong person! That stride, that expression, Zuo Mo Shixiong is still a bit weak!” Someone else in the surrounding followed.

“Yes. If Wei Sheng Shixiong could come out, then it might be enough.”

“Ha ha, don’t be impatient. In any case, the battle between the two will happen.”

“Really?”

“Think about it, can one mountain have two tigers……”

Zuo Mo couldn’t hear any sound. He could only hear the beat of his heart. He furiously panted, his chest a heaving bellows. He stared with wide eyes at Luo Li, his mouth dry!

So risky!

Just that little bit!

Just now, Zuo Mo’s brain had even turned white for a second. This was the first time he had met such danger. The zombie face was full of dust, his entire body was muddy and formed a sorry figure.

His actions were that of a true greenhorn, emphasizing Luo Li’s strong composure.

After a long while, Zuo Mo gradually recovered his calm. Luo Li wasn’t far away, smirking as he looked at him.

Luo Li suddenly found that this way was very good. His intention had been to embarrass Zuo Mo. In front of the sect leader, he naturally couldn’t injure Zuo Mo. So let him completely humiliate Zuo Mo!

The gap between you and I, it’s much larger than you think!

Having made a decision, Luo Li smiled coldly as he looked at Zuo Mo. He wasn’t in a rush to attack. It was like a cat playing catch with a mouse.

Hao Min’s face was smug. If it wasn’t that the elders were at the side, she would have definitely been laughing. Hatred flashed across her eyes. Dare to fight with this lady, you scum, today, you’ll play until you die!

Luo Li casually walked forward.

Zuo Mo unconsciously shrunk back. That action, it was very similar to a startled bird!

Laughter roared through the surroundings. On the stage, Shi Feng Rong’s face was black.

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened as he stared unblinkingly at Luo Li. He didn’t hear the laughter from the surroundings. No one knew the feelings under that zombie face of his, just like no one knew what he was thinking. The strong terror actually made him even more focused!

“Shidi isn’t attacking?” Luo Li’s voice was full of mockery as it spread. It was like a cat teasing a mouse. The scattered laughter made Luo Li feel smug. He even had the leisure to look at Hao Min.

Hao Min saw Luo Li look at her and instantly sent a flirtatious look back.

Luo Li was greatly encouraged and resolved to torment this distasteful little zombie today!

Zuo Mo didn’t speak. His eyes were wide as they stared at Luo Li.

Just having tasted the power of [Empty Sword Scripture], he didn’t dare to slip up.

“Since Shidi isn’t attacking, than I won’t be courteous.” Luo Li smiled at Hao Min and drawled.

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrunk. Like a grasshopper, he suddenly leapt towards the right!

Hiss!

Zuo Mo felt his left arm become cold. A piece of fabric flew into the sky. A cold and intimidating sword energy passed right next to his skin!

Ping!

Zuo Mo had leapt with too much power and hit the granite stoned ground. He instantly bared his teeth in pain. Not having the time to care about the pain, he rolled and climbed up. His hair was loose, his clothing dishevelled, a large hole at his shoulder.

“Where are Shidi’s sword moves?” Luo Li’s cold voice had a hint of mockery.

Hiss!

Zuo Mo didn’t have time to think and jumped sideways again! At the same time, the right hand sleeve floated into the sky!

Ping, pain!

Climbing up, he stared at Luo Li. The laughter from the surroundings, he didn’t hear it!

Luo Li didn’t give Zuo Mo any time to rest, the sword energies coming one after the other!

Piece by piece, cloth flew into the sky!

Zuo Mo’s clothing almost became strips of cloth. His entire body was covered in dust and dirt. Some parts of the skin were bleeding. He was like a beggar!

No one was laughing anymore. The entire plaza was unusually silent. Many outer sect disciples didn’t want to look. Xiao Guo bit her lips, unaware that her tears had fallen down. Li Ying Feng’s eyes were about to spit fire.

Half crouching on the ground, Zuo Mo panted heavily. His wide eyes were staring fixedly at Luo Li!

His ears still didn’t hear any sound. He was breathing fast, his throat dry and burning. He didn’t notice it, just like no one noticed excitement flash and then hide in his eyes.

–– Caught it!

Chapter 65 - Li Water Burning Heavens

“Should we call for an end?” Yan Le said with slight dissatisfaction, his brows furrowed as he looked at the sorry figure of Zuo Mo in the plaza. Before, he had felt that even though Luo Li had been somewhat arrogant, but overall, he had been very good. Today’s battle had changed his impression of Luo Li to an extremely terrible one. He might not be as strong as Xin Yan but he was still a jindan xiuzhe. How could he not see? Luo Li clearly had the advantage, but like a cat catching a mouse, he was playing with the other.

The two were still disciples of the same sect, regardless of how serious the conflict. What was happening now was somewhat over the top.

Inside, he blamed Zuo Mo for trying to be brave. He had clearly given Zuo Mo a ling armour but Zuo Mo didn’t wear it. What he didn’t know was that when Zuo Mo had been practising in the river, he naturally had taken the armor off. After he returned, he forgot to put it on.

Glancing at the dark face of Shi Feng Rong, Pei Yuan Ran smiled, “No rush, no rush.” Then he said in a heavy tone, “In the future, the rules need to be adjusted.”

“Of course.” Yan Le agreed, “In the past, the feelings between the disciples had been pretty good and nothing like this had happened. Right now, the situation in the sect is complicated. It’s better to change the rules.”

In the battlefield, Zuo Mo panted heavily. He blocked off all the outside noise. He stared fixedly at Luo Li only ten steps away from him.

He caught it!

Caught the barely perceptible ripple!

[Empty Sword Scripture] was like travelling through the void and that made it hard to detect the sword.

However, to humiliate Zuo Mo, Luo Li had purposefully let out a small flaw to give Zuo Mo time to dodge. He definitely wouldn’t have thought that this flaw that he purposefully left behind let Zuo Mo find an unique characteristic of [Empty Sword Scripture]!

It had to be said that [Empty Sword Scripture] deserved to be the finest among the third grade sword scriptures. Up until now, Zuo Mo hadn’t found Luo Li’s flying sword. This was the speciality of [Empty Sword Scripture]. The flying sword could travel through space and pierce through it to wound others, giving others the feeling that it was non-existent.

However, Luo Li was far from the level of his sword essence becoming non-existent.

It was an extremely small ripple. Just before the flying sword would appear, there would be a very small ling energy ripple. This ling energy ripple, in the midst of the unsteady surroundings, could be easily overlooked.

However, as Luo Li repeatedly played, Zuo Mo who had been highly alert caught this sign!

Zuo Mo’s cultivation was far from Luo Li, but his spiritual power was far above Luo Li. This was also the reason he could catch this small fluctuation.

As long as he could catch the fluctuation, Empty Sword, it wasn’t untraceable any longer!

On a zombie face smeared with dirt and sweat, it seemed that there were two deep red flames jumping deep in his eyes!

The smugness on Luo Li’s face gradually disappeared. Previously, every time he made a blow, Zuo Mo’s sorry state caused a lot of laughter. But afterwards, the laughter decreased in number. Presently, the entire plaza was dead silent. No matter how dishevelled a figure Zuo Mo was, there wasn’t any more noise.

This made Luo Li feel very uncomfortable. He decided to end this boring battle using the move he had just comprehended.

The mockery on his face disappeared. His expression turned grave, all the ling energy in his body moved.

The air seemed to have solidified, silent and deadly. The disciples that were spectating felt a heavy pressure form as though it was tangible and their expressions all changed. They could not dodge it!

Luo Li Shixiong, had he reached this kind of level?

Even those inner sect disciples couldn’t help but show shock on their faces. Luo Li Shixiong’s cultivation was stronger than them but they had not thought that Luo Li Shixiong would be this strong!

“Yi!” Light flashed through Yan Le’s eyes. The others also looked down with solemn expressions.

“Shidi, pay attention, and get ready to interfere,” Pei Yuan Ran said firmly to Xin Yan. His eyes were tightly locked on Luo Li, seemingly excited. With his experience, how could he not see that this was a move that combined [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture]?

[Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture] were born from the same root. In the past, [Void Sword Scripture] was broken into two sword scriptures, [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture]. All these years, many people had wanted to put the two sword scriptures back together but no one had succeeded.

In the past, if Xin Yan hadn’t cultivated [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], he would have certainly done this. Basically, any disciple of the sect that practised one of the two sword scriptures would try their best to combine the two sword scriptures.

So when they saw Luo Li’s move, Pei Yuan Ran and the other three were instantly absorbed.

No one knew how to learn [Void Sword Scripture] but there were many records about this sword scripture. All the records would always have one word, “Essence moves and rises.”

With Luo Li’s cultivation, he wouldn’t be able to exude this kind of presence unless he comprehended sword essence. Yet, in the eyes of experts like Xin Yan, whether Luo Li had comprehended sword essence or not could be seen with a glance. Then there was only one possibility – combining the sword scriptures!

How could they not be excited?

Zuo Mo didn’t know any of this. In his eyes, there was only Luo Li, only that ripple! Luo Li’s presence was extremely shocking, but in Zuo Mo’s eyes, it was far less frightening than before –– the fluctuation was too strong!

He almost didn’t need to try to locate the relative position of this ling energy fluctuation. It was clearer than any previous time.

The previous sword moves might not have been as strong in terms of presence but that fluctuation was extremely small. If it wasn’t that Zuo Mo’s consciousness was strong, he wouldn’t have been able to detect it.

Come!

Laboriously waiting for a chance, Zuo Mo’s pupils shrunk and the ice crystal sword that had been floating landed in his hand.

Stepping forward in a half crouch, his body slightly bent, the sword tip pointing to the ground, the eyes half closed. All the fire, all the desire for battle, all the resolve, all of it started to retreat inside.

Zuo Mo was like a dirty stone statue, motionless.

Luo Li saw Zuo Mo’s posture and a faint icy smile floated on the corner of his mouth.

In front of absolute power, any kind of rebellion was useless! He wanted the sect leader and the others to see his potential, see that he was more exceptional than Wei Sheng. He needed to take back what belonged to him!

He didn’t notice that at this time, Xin Yan Shishu’s attention moved from his body to Zuo Mo’s body. Xin Yan’s usually stone-cold face was in a rare state of surprise.

Luo Li didn’t notice. If he had noticed, maybe he would think of what was behind it.

He raised his right hand, his fingers forming a sword, the ling energy revolving!

Some meticulous outer sect disciples instantly noticed that a layer of faint white mist had formed and surrounded Zuo Mo’s lowered ice crystal sword. It looked like Zuo Mo was holding a ball of mist.

Luo Li felt that the time was right, without hesitation, he attacked, his fingers lightly swiping at Zuo Mo!

All the accumulated anger, it seemed to have found a place to vent and furiously flooded following Luo Li’s fingers.

Just at this moment, Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes!

It was like a dead motionless statue had suddenly come alive. Zuo Mo’s clear bright eyes were entirely red like bloody eyes, but also like a roaring fire, burning like his desire to fight and his resolve! The moment he opened his eyes, all the energy that had retreated suddenly exploded.

Using all the power in his body, he swung the sword against the current viciously upwards!

“Li!”

The raspy voice was explosive, like a fireball suddenly exploding!

Biding his time for so long, it was all for this move. All the ling energy, all the spiritual energy, Zuo Mo didn’t keep any of it back. All of it was poured into this [Li Water Burning Heavens]!

His eyes glared furiously almost as though they were going to pop out. That zombie face that was eternally expressionless was twisted like a dancing flame!

Luo Li’s expression changed. What was that?

He clearly saw countless jumping flames, countless flames filled with explosiveness, but why? They clearly were just water!

Impossible!

That was impossible!

That damned zombie had clearly been using a water element sword scripture! How could it transform into fire?

It had to be said that [Li Water Sword Scripture] was a very unique sword scripture. The uniqueness wasn’t just found in manipulating water like fire. Even its sword moves were very unique. In the seven moves, the first six moves, they were all classical water element sword moves, they walked the path of water. Anyone who encountered it would naturally classify it as a classical water element sword scripture, But only up till the very last move. That one took a huge curve. Manipulate water like fire.

Without having learned the last move [Li Water Burning Heavens], it wasn’t possible to really comprehend [Li Water Sword Scripture]. All the essence of [Li Water Sword Scripture] was in this final move. Even the people who practiced it had a hard time finding it, to say nothing of the people facing it.

Additionally, while the sword moves that Zuo Mo had previously used were skilled and smooth, but in each move, not one bit of sword essence was revealed.

Zuo Mo had thought it through. Sword essence was the only place that he could win. If the other was alert against it, he didn’t even have the tiniest bit of hope. So in the beginning, no matter if it was [Flowing Water], [Seven Whirlpools] or [Layered Tides], he didn’t use sword essence.

Only now!

In front of Zuo Mo, a crack suddenly appeared. It gave off a terrifying presence like an ancient monster that would eat people!

Joy made its way onto the faces of Pei Yuan Ran and the others. Only Xin Yan’s gaze was tightly locked on Zuo Mo.

What was going to come out of the crack? The flying sword!

Zuo Mo seemed to be combusting. His eyes were blood red and he roared, not dodging in the slightest. The ice crystal sword, swung with all his power, went up against the flow as a layer of strange and clear water flames appeared.

All the disciples, no matter inner sect or outer, no one could keep their composure! Even the steady Qin Cheng’s expression changed dramatically!

Sword essence!

That was sword essence!

In their eyes, Zuo Mo was like a ball of fire, a strange and clear water flame!

Presence! A vicious and brutal presence suddenly spread out with Zuo Mo as the center.

Luo Li finally was shocked. Not caring about anything else, all the ling energy in his body started to revolve!

The ice crystal sword suddenly lightened. The strange water flame left the sword, transforming into a silently burning fire sword formed out of water, accurately hitting that crack!

Everyone could only see a patch of white and nothing else. Their ears rang, they couldn’t hear anything. The disciples that had been closer felt that someone had pushed them heavily, forcing them to move six or seven steps behind before they could steady themselves.

Only a long while later did everyone’s eyes recovered. When they looked at the battlefield, everyone truly was dumbstruck.

There was a gigantic and deep hole in the plaza. Inside the plaza, Zuo Mo’s upper half was naked, his clothing having disappeared. He was still locked in his position of swinging the sword. The light in his eyes retreated. He was like a statue.

At the edge of the deep pit, blood seeped out of the corner of Luo Li Shixiong’s mouth. His hair was a mess, not much of his clothing had remained. His eyes were fixed on Zuo Mo.

Phew!

Luo Li Shixiong suddenly spat out blood and fell down backwards!

At the same time, Zuo Mo still maintained his attack position as he silently dropped to the ground.

Chapter 66 - Awakening

Zuo Mo slowly opened his eyes and couldn’t help but groan because of his sore body.

“Shixiong, you’re awake.” An unfamiliar female stood beside the bed, her expression respectful. Zuo Mo noticed a hint of awe in her eyes. Based on her clothing, she should be an outer sect female disciple, but Zuo Mo didn’t know her.

“Where is this?” Zuo Mo struggled to sit up.

“This is Fragrant Ginger Yard. Because you were injured, the mistress took you here.” The female outer sect disciple answered hurriedly.

Zuo Mo relaxed and thought, Oh, so it had been Master. Feeling the hunger in his stomach, he raised his head to ask, “Is there something to eat?”

The outer sect female disciple nodded, “Please wait.” She then turned and left. After a while, she carried a bowl of rice and several dishes in.

Smelling the dense ling energy coming from the food, Zuo Mo felt his mind become alert, and felt even more hungry. Without a second wasted, he started to feast. The rice in the bowl wasn’t the normal rice that he usually ate but rather cooked with ling grains. The small dishes were all prepared using ling vegetables. The ling energy was abundant. Thus extremely appropriate for people like Zuo Mo who had just been wounded to recover.

To someone poor like Zuo Mo, when had he ever eaten such food? He had a ration of ling grains each month, but he didn’t know how to prepare it.

The preparation of ling food needed extremely specialized techniques. This process was called food cultivation. All kinds of raw ingredients filled with rich ling energy, after being especially paired, and then meticulously prepared, the ling energy in the food would be completely released and it was very easy to absorb. Absorbing ling energy from ling food was much gentler than absorbing it from jingshi.

However, that was something only those who had enough jingshi could experience.

Compared to other high level ling foods, ling grains were the most basic and widespread ling food. However, Zuo Mo sold the ling grains he received each month to turn it into jingshi . Having the ling vein in the stone room, the effect of ling grains were not major for him.

This was the first time he was able to experience such luxury. The skill of the person who cooked was high and the ling energy thick. Just smelling it, Zuo Mo felt his mind lighten. When the food entered his mouth, he almost swallowed his tongue as well.

Like a storm, the ling food on the table was swept clean, not a speck remaining.

Zuo Mo stretched, still wanting more. At this time, the female outer sect disciple reminded him, “Shixiong can meditate which will help in the absorption of ling energy.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo rushed into the lotus position to meditate.

Seeing this, the female disciple quietly cleaned up the dishes and then closed the door as she left.

Waking up from the meditation, Zuo Mo felt his mind was completely refreshed and unspeakably comfortable. Thinking about the ling food he had just eaten, he couldn’t help but sigh at the effect of the meal which was even more effective than meditating for four hours in the stone room. But the ling vein in the stone room was completely free and while there hadn’t been that much food, the price of the ling food definitely wasn’t cheap. If it wasn’t a reward from the sect, he certainly couldn’t afford it.

Pushing open the door, he walked outside the room.

It was a small yard outside the door. At this time, Zuo Mo knew where he was. This place was a small out of the way yard in Fragrant Ginger Yard. He would pass by this place everyday. It seemed familiar upon further observation.

He decided to go see his master.

Walking out of the little yard, he saw quite a few female outer sect disciples along his way.

Zuo Mo instantly felt the completely different change in their attitude.

Previously, they had been respectful of him. Now, there was a hint of awe in this respect. This awe that came from the heart, it caused their spines to bend more, their attitude more careful and respectful. Zuo Mo wasn’t used to it.

Xu Qing saw Zuo Mo and hurried to bow, Shixiong! Master is waiting for you !”

[tl: 您, formal way of saying “you”. The pinyin is nin as opposed to the informal you “ni”. ]

Even Xu Qing was using the formal “you.” Zuo Mo felt very uncomfortable. He shook his head and said, “It’s not good that Shimei calls me this, it’s too formal!”

“Shixiong is right, Xu Qing was wrong!” Xu Qing smiled warmly.

Previously, she had helped Zuo Mo but she didn’t think he would end up doing so well. Who could have known that Zuo Mo could fight to a standstill with Luo Li Shixiong. When she had seen it, she was dumbstruck. Even now, she still felt disbelief. This incident caused the entire Fragrant Ginger Yard to take a new look at this zombie Shixiong. Xu Qing was smart and knew that this fight had completely decided Shixiong’s position in Fragrant Ginger Yard and the sect.

Before, Hao Min Shijie had been arrogant and despotic in Fragrant Ginger Yard. In the future, she would definitely be more restrained. If she still didn’t control herself, then she would be too stupid. Zuo Mo Shixiong might look slow but no matter if it was cunning, power, or talent, he surpassed Hao Min.

Xu Qing knew of the battle between the inner sect disciples. As an outer sect disciple, she naturally felt closer to Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo who had once been outer sect disciples as well.

However, Xu Qing was still careful and aware of herself. Many people, when they prospered, their temper and personality became drastically different. Prudence would never be a mistake. However, Zuo Mo Shixiong’s personality seemed much better than she had imagined.

Zuo Mo’s zombie face still was expressionless. He nodded at Xu Qing and then walked towards Master’s dan room.

Pushing open the door to enter, he saw Master Shi Feng Rong.

“Now you know to act brave!”When Shi Feng Rong saw him, she discourteously started scolding, “Just admit defeat earlier next time. Did you have to injure yourself like that?” She completely forgot she had sent a death order for Zuo Mo to not lose.

Zuo Mo perceptively didn’t mention it and muttered in compliance. To argue with this person, he didn’t have the guts.

Shi Feng Rong’s tone relaxed, “But, you didn’t lose face for me. Very good.” Zuo Mo heard this and rolled his eyes inside. This is probably what you really thought inside.

Shi Feng Rong was very satisfied with this disciple. Even though he had only been a ling plant farmer, but she had been shocked at his talent at dan-making. He could make the golden crow pill even when he just started to learn dan-making. The first time Zuo Mo made the golden crow pill, it could be explained by luck. Afterwards, when he found the basic method, she hadn’t said anything, but she had been very shocked inside. This wasn’t something that could be accomplished by luck. Seeing his exceptional talent, Shi Feng Rong had made even stricter demands of him.

She didn’t have any hope for the fight between Zuo Mo and Luo Li. Regardless that she had ordered that he could not lose, she was clear that the two weren’t on the same power level. Yet Zuo Mo once again gave her a surprise. Even though he didn’t win, but he truly didn’t lose.

In a short three months, he was able to comprehend sword essence! This kind of sword talent, even the cold Second Shixiong was surprised. The sect leader and Third Shixiong had gaped. She had been very smug inside.

“Three months, and you were able to comprehend sword essence. Your talent at the sword isn’t weak. If it was buried, it would be a pity.” Shi Feng Rong slowly said, “In the future, you can go to your Second Shibo to learn about the sword. I’m telling you, if you go to your Second Shibo, don’t dishonour me. If I learn that you are slacking, humph!” The snort was very cold.

Zuo Mo silently grimaced. To go to Second Shibo’s place to learn the sword, this treatment, it was extremely high in Wu Kong Sword Sect. It was something that every disciple dreamed about. If it was in the past, Zuo Mo would have nodded and agreed but now……

He thought that there was still an idle and steady Pu Yao in his consciousness, and then thought about Second Shibo’s sword-like gaze……

Zuo Mo felt he had dropped into ice.

He still remembered the snow white sword essence of Second Shibo slicing through the black sea the night he met Pu Yao for the first time! Even the kind of strong yaomo that was Pu Yao, he still wasn’t Second Shibo’s opponent. If Second Shibo found Pu Yao in his consciousness, his own ending would be of the utmost miserable!

What was a reward in other people’s eyes, Zuo Mo wanted to avoid it.

“This disciple just wants to learn dan-making from Master……”

Before Zuo Mo could finish, Shi Feng Rong interrupted, “Dan-making is dan-making. Cultivating the sword is cultivating the sword. No one said that making dan means not being able to cultivate the sword! Stop talking and go where I tell you!”

“But……”

“Hm!” Shi Feng Rong looked suspiciously at Zuo Mo, “You have a question?”

Being pierced with Master’s gaze, Zuo Mo’s heart jumped rapidly. Don’t let Master see anything fishy! He hurriedly shook his head, “No! No!”

“If you don’t have any, then go!” Shi Feng Rong impatiently waved her hand to rush Zuo Mo out.

Coming out of Master’s dan room, Zuo Mo felt very uncertain. Of the four elders, the one he was most afraid of meeting was Xin Yan Shibo. Whenever Xin Yan Shibo looked at him, Zuo Mo felt that the other could see him clearly, and that all secrets were revealed in Second Shibo’s eyes.

But this obstacle could not be avoided.

Zuo Mo cautiously went to Second Shibo’s residence. Second Shibo was skilled in two areas. One was cultivating the sword. The other was forging. Wei Sheng Shixiong had personally been taught by him. Luo Li had once received his teachings. Other than that, Xu Yi Shixiong was the only disciple of Second Shibo and learned forging from him.

Zuo Mo could only walk towards Second Shibo’s residence.

Second Shibo resided alone at Sun Lookout Peak. This was a place that Zuo Mo had never stepped in before. Following the winding mountain road, Zuo Mo was extremely careful and furtive. When he reached the peak of Sun Lookout Peak, he was shocked still.

The peak was very large but there was only a small grass hut. Other than that, no other living thing was on the ground.

Zuo Mo was about one hundred and fifty steps from the grass hut. These one hundred and fifty steps, he walked with his heart beating fast. A few times, he almost turned and ran away.

Under his feet, not one foot of ground was whole. Actually, not just under his feet but the entire top of Sun Lookout Peak, there wasn’t a whole piece of ground. There were intersecting cracks. The ground of Sun Lookout Peak seemed to have been heavily ploughed countless times.

When he stepped on the upturned soil, Zuo Mo’s heart shrunk!

Sword essence!

The broken soil on the upturned ground under his feet contained extremely strong sword essence! They followed out as though they wanted to cut off Zuo Mo’s legs, or as though they wanted to burrow inside his body from the soles of his feet. The cold killing intent made Zuo Mo’s hairs stand on end.

He unconsciously swallowed, controlling his impulse to take out the ice crystal sword and gritted his teeth as he walked forward.

One step one step!

It was like his feet were stepping on countless sword tips. Each step was extremely careful.

Zuo Mo felt the impulse countless times to take out ice crystal sword. It was an instinctive response, but each time, he would stop it!

This patch of broken ground concealed countless sword essences. If he really summoned the ice crystal sword, that was really poking the hornet’s nest! Those hidden sword essences would swarm and rip him to shreds.

Damn it!

This ghastly place!

Chapter 67 - Questions And Answers

Zuo Mo was like a tense string as he carefully moved in front of the door to the grass hut. Just the slightest bit of outside force and he would move.

He took a deep breath. Even though he had broken through to the second breath of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and didn’t need to use his nose and mouth to breathe, but when he was nervous, he still unconsciously followed the familiar pattern of breathing to calm his emotions. Letting his mind settle, he gave a deep bow to the wooden door of the grass hut, “Disciple Zuo Mo greets Shibo!”

“Come in!” Xin Yan Shibo’s icy voice came out of the grass hut.

The wooden door opened silently. The inside of the hut was a patch of darkness. Zuo Mo’s heart couldn’t help but tense up once again. He gathered his courage and walked in.

The interior of the grass hut was extremely crude. There was only a meditation mat, other than that, there was nothing else. Xin Yan Shibo was sitting on the meditation mat, a small stream of sunlight entering the grass hut and falling onto Xin Yan Shibo’s body. Shibo’s body was under the sun but his face was shadowed by the hair in front of his forehead and couldn’t be seen clearly until he opened his eyes.

In the shadow, two dots of ice suddenly lit up. For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo felt a bone-aching cold flow from the tail of spine upwards, all the muscles in his body paralyzed.

“You are a surprise to me.” Xin Yan’s voice was like a cold mist, permeating through Zuo Mo’s skin into his heart, so cold that he almost couldn’t move.

“You don’t have any talent at the sword.” Xin Yan said calmly.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly tensed. He felt that he almost forgot to breathe at this instant. Terror, like the flood overcoming the dam, instantly broke through Zuo Mo’s psychological defenses. Did Shibo find out?

“You could comprehend sword essence in three months, that surprised me.” Xin Yan didn’t look at Zuo Mo. He slowly closed his eyes, the two dots of ice disappearing into the shadows, “I’m not concerned with what fortuitous encounters you had, but you have to remember, if you do anything against the sect in the future, I will kill you with my sword.”

The tone was calm, as though it was narrating a simple matter.

It was like Zuo Mo suddenly rose from hell into heaven. This joyful surprise stunned him for a moment. He had already prepared to stretch out his neck to be killed. He had assumed that Second Shibo had already seen through him, and seen that Pu Yao was in his consciousness.

The tense muscles on his body instantly relaxed. Zuo Mo felt his body was weak, the lingering fears in his heart like a flood, almost swallowing him. His feet were sore and weak.

“Yes!” Zuo Mo hurriedly answered, his mind slightly steadier.

“The [Li Water Sword Scripture] that you cultivate is unique but is limited by the knowledge of the author and it would be hard for it to improve further in the future.” Xin Yan didn’t open his eyes as he said calmly, “And your fundamentals are too weak. Several places need to be changed. However, the places that you changed yourself, they weren’t bad.”

Afterwards, Xin Yan pointed out a few spots. Zuo Mo, now having calmed down, was delighted and willing. The places that Shibo pointed out, it was exactly the places that he felt were uncomfortable and didn’t flow properly, but he hadn’t known how to change it. Hearing Shibo’s advice, he instantly understood.

After that, Xin Yan Shibo threw a jade scroll to Zuo Mo, “These are some basic sword scriptures. Practice them more.” Pausing, he said with a hint of regret, “Your primary focus is dan-making, and you’re also a ling plant farmer. You are not suited to cultivate the sword. For sword xiu, what is important is not to be distracted by other matters, the clear heart sword. You, try to do your best.”

Bidding farewell to Shibo, when Zuo Mo passed over the mud in front of the grass hut, he didn’t feel any of the sword essence that had been there previously. Just like those sword essences knew him and hid themselves.

On the road from Sun Lookout Peak to Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo had been pondering Shibo’s words. Shibo’s meaning was extremely clear. If he wanted to progress another step on the road of the sword xiu, and really accomplish something, he must abandon being a ling plant farmer and dan-making, and only practice the sword. Otherwise, he would find it hard to progress further on the sword.

Shibo’s words were as clear as they could be, but Zuo Mo knew what he was worth.

If he was like Wei Sheng Shixiong, he might abandon everything and be a pure sword xiu but he wasn’t. He knew just how much talent he had. If he didn’t have Pu Yao, he basically couldn’t have been able to comprehend sword essence. He had been sliced several thousand times before he had comprehended Shibo’s tidal sword essence. If it had been Wei Sheng Shixiong, he would have needed only a few dozen before he could have comprehended it.

If he didn’t have the experience of comprehending the tidal sword essence, he certainly wouldn’t have been able to comprehend the li water sword essence in three months.

He was fated to not walk Wei Sheng Shixiong’s path!

As he walked with the wind blowing gently in his face, Zuo Mo’s mood rose. The road each person walked was different. Even more, the progress he had made was something he didn’t dare to even think of before. Yet now, he had made it.

His mood recovered quickly. After the rise and fall in his emotions today, his body felt slightly exhausted. He needed rest.

However, when he walked to the mouth of the West Wind Valley, his feet stopped and he paused on this spot.

“Ai ya! Zuo Mo Shixiong, you finally came! Shixiong was so strong in the sect assessment, Shidi has come to especially give congratulations, just a humble gift… …”

“Does Shixiong still remember me? That year, if it wasn’t for your [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], I would have been homeless. This little brother still remembers it… …”

“Shixiong Shixiong, this little brother cultivates the sword, but doesn’t have a master… …”

“Shixiong, us sisters from the Eastern Peak… …”

Looking at the dense mass of people, Zuo Mo’s head rang.

The entrance of West Wind Valley was filled to the limit. This scene, it was even busier than the last time when Zuo Mo had been promoted to an inner sect disciple. Even the gifts they had prepared were higher quality than last time. Some outer sect disciples that had good family backgrounds had really spent a lot.

Desperately needing rest, Zuo Mo felt his head was going to explode.

“Stop the noise!” Suddenly, a voice passed over, and everyone instantly quieted.

Xu Yi had accompanied two females over. Zuo Mo saw clearly that it was Eldest Shijie Gong Sun Qing and Xu Yi Xia Shijie. The one that had spoken was Xu Yi Shixiong. Xu Yi waved his hand, “Leave.”

Seeing the situation, the outer sect disciples scattered like birds.

Xu Yi bowed to Zuo Mo and said, “Shidi, don’t blame me for overstepping. It really is too noisy with all these people here.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly returned the bow, “Many thanks, Shixiong. This little brother’s eyes are already dizzy. If Shixiong had been just a moment late, this little brother would have been dead right here.” Then he bowed towards Gong Sun Qing and Xu Yi Xia, “Eldest Shijie, Yi Xia Shijie!”

“Hee! You are actually somewhat interesting~a!” A green-clad Xu Yi Xia laughed.

Zuo Mo was deeply cautious and alert towards this innocent-looking girl. Li Ying Feng Shijie said that the jade scroll had been from Xu Yi Xia Shijie. What the intentions were at that time of giving him that jade scroll were hard to tell.

Gong Sun Qing smiled warmly, responding, “Shidi looks very tired. Why don’t we come another day?”

“What is Shijie saying, come come come. Everyone come in and have some tea.” Zuo Mo hurriedly said and then made a joke, “But I don’t have Shixiong’s ling tea. Please don’t blame me.”

Everyone started moving towards the valley. Each person made with a pondering expression as their eyes encountered the ruined jinzhi scattered on the ground,. They had heard earlier on that Luo Li had gone to challenge Zuo Mo at the valley, the news was passed furiously through Wu Kong Sword Sect. Thinking about the match that neither of the two had won, all three of them had their own thoughts.

Zuo Mo didn’t have any expression. In fact, he couldn’t make expressions. That zombie face couldn’t hold any expressions.

Entering the West Wind Yard and seeing Zuo Mo return, the grey beaked goose on the roof made a call as though she was giving a greeting. Just having escaped death, Zuo Mo’s mood was very good and he waved his hand in greeting to the female bird.

Gong Sun Qing saw Zuo Mo’s youthful actions and couldn’t help but grin.

Xu Yi Xia only took a glance. Seeing it was only just a normal grey beaked goose, she looked away with a hint of disdain in her eyes. Her steed was a third grade golden fire pupil beast. Extremely intimidating and dominant. In her eyes, a grey beaked goose was for country bumpkins only.

The group of four sat down. Zuo Mo made a pot of tea. The three touched it with their lips before setting it down. Zuo Mo didn’t care. What he had was just normal tea. It was a bit cheap. Normally, even he didn’t drink it.

“It really shocked me that Shidi comprehended sword essence in three months. Shidi is really too mean to not have slipped any hint and make me worry.” Xu Yi said with a smile.

Zuo Mo quickly answered, “It isn’t that this little brother deliberately concealed it. Even this little brother hadn’t thought it would be possible.Afraid of saying it and being embarrassed, this little brother had been practising in the river and had been swept a few hundred miles away by the water. Even the sect leader had to send someone to search.”

The other three people’s expressions instantly became slightly strange. They had already used the incident of Zuo Mo being swept away by the river as a joke. The three had mocked or disdained it. Now that Zuo Mo mentioned it in self-mockery, the three instantly didn’t feel good inside.

Zuo Mo had comprehended sword essence and was walking far in front of them. Previously mocking Zuo Mo, it clearly showed their ignorance and stupidity.

“What sword scripture is Shidi practicing?” Xu Yi Xia asked with a face of innocence.

“Li Water Sword Scripture.” Zuo Mo didn’t deny it. If they wanted to know, they naturally could find out, “It is a third grade five elements sword scripture. Pity that Shibo said that it would be difficult for it to progress more.”

Hearing this Xu Yi Xia’s cunning eyes couldn’t help but reveal delight.

Zuo Mo coincidentally caught it. He couldn’t resist sneering inside. This brat definitely didn’t have a good heart!

“Shidi, don’t be discouraged.” Gong Sun Qing comforted, “Your talents are so outstanding, Shibo and Sect Leader wouldn’t waste your talents.”

“Shijie is right.” Feeling the concern of the other, Zuo Mo felt goodwill for her and bowed towards Gong Sun Qing. It might have been that she would be marrying soon but she didn’t walk closely with Qin Cheng’s group. It seemed like that she didn’t want to involve herself in the battle between the two sides.

“This time, it is me that is searching for Shidi.” The Eldest Shijie smiled, her tone gentle, “These two have been taken along to keep me company. I heard that Shidi can make a kind of lingdan called Golden Crow Pill which has a probability of making Golden Crow Fire. Is that true?”

“The appraisal says so. In reality, this little brother has not tried.” Zuo Mo said cautiously.

“That’s good.” Gong Sun Qing smiled and took out a jade box, “I want to use this time to exchange with Shidi for one hundred Golden Crow Pills. Shidi, take a look.”

Finishing, her slender fingers pushed the jade box in front of Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled as he opened the jade box. The moment he opened the jade box, his pupils suddenly expanded, glee was unable to be disguised in his eyes!

Chapter 68 - A Rare Leisure

There was a pale blue third grade water grass lying in the jade box. Light flickered across the plant and it exuded a faint coldness.

Icy Cloud Grass. It was a very rare water element ling grass. Its shadow could be found in many kinds of high level dan recipes. To say nothing else, Zuo Mo knew that even Master didn’t have ice cloud grass in her fields. Ice cloud grass grew in the coldest of climates, it wasn’t easily grown and was hard to find.

It probably wasn’t possible to buy such a high quality ice cloud grass in Dong Fu, and showed just how valuable it was.

“This is too valuable.” Zuo Mo strongly controlled the greed in his heart and pushed the jade box back in front of the Eldest Shijie.

A flicker of admiration ran through Gong Sun Qing’s eyes. She once again pushed the jade box to Zuo Mo. “Don’t refuse, Shidi. This ice cloud grass, it leans towards the cold and the water element. The dan that can be made from this would certainly be lingdan of the ice and water elements. In this sect, other than Shidi, no one is appropriate for this.”

Zuo Mo thought and then said: “Two hundred. The other one hundred would be a token of Shidi’s goodwill.”

Gong Sun Qing didn’t refuse and smiled broadly: “Many thanks, Shidi.”

Everyone talked for a bit longer, but their interests didn’t match. Zuo Mo felt especially negative towards Xu Yi Xia. The three stood up and left. Zuo Mo walked with them to the mouth of the valley. Before leaving, Xu Yi couldn’t resist reminding Zuo Mo of the golden crow pills he had already ordered. Zuo Mo nodded.

Zuo Mo could finally take a breath. Returning to his little yard, he didn’t want to do anything. Today’s ups and downs, it was enough to tire him out.

But he still moved the ice cloud grass into the ling spring of the rock room first. That ling spring was near the ling vein and the ling energy was extremely thick, and suited for the growth of the ice cloud grass. The reason he had been so happy seeing the ice cloud grass wasn’t completely due to its value, but because the jade scrolls of Elder Wei Nan recorded a kind of water method to make a lingdan. Its main ingredient was ice cloud grass. This lingdan was called ice cloud dan. It could dramatically increase a cultivator’s power over water.

The jade scroll hadn’t recorded just how great the increase was. However, for Zuo Mo, it still would be very beneficial. He wasn’t a sword xiu and didn’t need to consider the problem of the chaos of the five elements. Any element in the five elements was extremely useful for him. If his water power grew, the power of his [Li Water Sword Scripture] would be even greater, and easier for him to manipulate.

But temporarily, he didn’t have the time to make the ice cloud dan. He was in deep debt!

Golden Crow pill……

Whenever he thought about the enormous amount of golden crow pills, Zuo Mo had the impulse to faint.

But today, it wouldn’t be today. He buried his head and slept.

The next morning, Zuo Mo woke up and started his crazy dan-making days. Xu Qing seemed to know of the matter and had prepared large amounts of the ingredients for the fasting pill beforehand.

Looking at the mountain of raw materials in front of him, Zuo Mo wanted to cry. He forced himself to start!

A crowd of people appeared in a mountain valley not far from Dong Fu. Their clothing was different and so was their expression.

“It’s nearby.” One of the people said. His face was serious: “But it’s hard to find the exact location.”

“I think that it’s here.” Another yellow-clad cultivator snorted coldly and followed: “We’ve gone through the other twelve towns. Other than here, where else?”

The other people looked at the silver-clad man that seemed to be the leader. The expression on this male’s face was extremely faint. The long robes on his body seemed to have been woven from silver thread, the light gleaming. In the crowd, he was extremely eyecatching.

The silver-clad man mused for a beat before opening: “Settle down first and then search.”

The crowd flew in the direction of Dong Fu.

Four hours later, at the same location that the crowd of people had gathered, light flashed, and a crowd of black-clad people appeared. They were all wearing copper masks, the patterns on the masks extremely fierce and only revealing the eyes.

“Just in this area. Still not clear about the exact location.” A black clad person said. Then he made a sound of surprise: “There were people just here, not an insignificant number.”

The leader of the crowd didn’t say anything. He lightly waved his hand and the crowd of black-clad people disappeared into the air.

A while later, a white-clad male appeared. If Zuo Mo could see it, he would be shocked to find that it was the person he had thought was a rich young master, Lin Qian. He only took a glance before disappearing.

Zuo Mo’s display in the sect assessment really shocked everyone. The next few days, there were continuous visitors. With no other solution, Zuo Mo could only hang up a sign of seclusion at the mouth of the valley. These few days, he had made dan to the point he almost threw up. For Eldest Shijie, for Xu Yi Shixiong, to give to Li Ying Feng Shijie to sell. Only later did he remember that he didn’t have any fire seeds himself. Fourth grade fire source! If he didn’t have one himself, why would he keep on making it?

According to the appraisal, there was a probability that it could form golden crow fire. He speculated it was related to the number. Steeling his heart, Zuo Mo decided to make five hundred for himself. In any case, it wasn’t as though eating too much would kill him. If he could really form golden crow fire, then he really would have struck gold. Fourth grade fire source. The grade of the lingdan that he made would increase a grade.

Thinking of the possibility, he decided to just stay inside the dan room.

Xu Qing was one of the busiest people around. She could almost be considered Zuo Mo’s spokesperson. Each day, she needed to give Zuo Mo the dan ingredients that had been prepared, and then had to help him distribute the golden crow pill. There wasn’t much variance in the amount of golden crow pill that would be made each day, but who would get them? That was a major question. Zuo Mo, finding it a giant headache, threw the question to Xu Qing. Previously, he owed her a favor. Zuo Mo was very willing to help her.

The result of this action was that Xu Qing’s status in the sect instantly rose.

She had been the first seat of the Fragrant Ginger Yard’s outer sect disciples for a significant amount of time and was extremely good at managing different personal relations and knew how to observe expressions. This kind of person, who would easily offend her? And now that she had the power to divide the golden crow pill, everyone wouldn’t dare to offend her at this time. The temptation of a fourth grade fire seed was too much. The only exception was Hao Min. Because of Zuo Mo, she found Xu Qing even more of an eyesore. But when she thought about the strength he had shown in the sect assessment, she didn’t dare to do anything.

Zuo Mo had dared to slap her the previous time. If she provoked him, Zuo Mo definitely dared to slap her again.

How could Xu Qing not know that Zuo Mo was helping her? She was grateful inside and tried her best to finish everything beautifully. She had been shocked at Zuo Mo Shixiong’s performance in the sect assessment but what she really respected was Shixiong’s craziness as he made dan.

She was very clear how much ingredients she would send in.

Maybe, for outer sect disciples, talent was something that couldn’t be found everywhere. But painstaking effort was something everyone could do and was more worthy of respect!

Not just her, the entire Fragrant Ginger Yard had been frightened by Zuo Mo’s frenzy. Even Shi Feng Rong had, on multiple occasions, called Xu Qing in to ask about the situation. And Xu Qing, within the limits of her power, gave Shixiong all the help she could give. Like when people asking for golden crow pills would give something like ling grains or vegetables, Xu Qing would especially get a shimei skilled in making food to make ling food and send it to Zuo Mo.

And then, she quickly found, that Zuo Mo would make a few more extra golden crow pills. She knew that helping her out.

For the first time in almost twenty days, Zuo Mo walked out of the dan room. Pushing open the door, he narrowed his eyes instinctively against the sun.

Xu Qing, rushing about in the yard preparing ingredients, saw the situation and ran over: “Shixiong.”

“Its nothing. I’m coming out to take a breather.” Zuo Mo motioned for her to do what she needed.

After furiously making dan for almost twenty days, he finally completed the majority of his debts and could take a breath. The sun splashing on his body was warm. Zuo Mo felt extremely comfortable. He ran over to ask Xu Qing: “Do you have a sound tablet?”

Xu Qing was slightly puzzled but still ran to a room and took out a sound tablet to give to Zuo Mo.

Taking the tablet, he disregarded the surprised expressions of the shimei and jumped onto the roof. Adding ling energy into the sound tablet, he set it by his side and then laid down, sunning himself and humming a tune.

It had been so long since he was this free. Zuo Mo was extremely relaxed.

Just as he relaxed, it suddenly darkened. Stopping his humming, Zuo Mo opened his eyes. In the sky overhead, a gigantic ship slowly flew past. The size of the large boat was about the same as the thousand wing ship that Zuo Mo had seen before. But the bow was even more sharp, the main body of the ship surrounded by a crowd of beautifully colored birds.

Hm. Zuo Mo sat up. Face tilted upward to look at the large ship, he searched for what possible large personage that had come to Dong Fu.

This large ship had alarmed many people. The female disciples in the yard stopped what they were doing and held a discussion.

Coincidentally coming out, Shi Feng Rong noticed the large ship and a strange flicker flashed across her eyes. Her mouth scolded: “Stop being noisy!”

Hearing Shi Feng Rong’s reproach, everyone instantly became silent and started their work again. Shi Feng Rong then scolded Zuo Mo who was on the roof: “Go make dan!” Finishing, she left in the direction of Wu Kong Hall. Zuo Mo didn’t care about being scolded. Inside, he was speculating, did the big ship have a relation with the sect?

He felt that Master’s expression today wasn’t normal. There definitely was something!

Of course, he could only speculate. Don’t think that Master was just a woman. With her cultivation of jindan, in Dong Fu, that was definitely in the first class people.

Even if something had happened, he couldn’t do anything to help. It was good if he didn’t make trouble. Thinking about it, Zuo Mo strolled back to his own little yard.

He first went to inspect the ice cloud grass. Seeing vigorous growth, he meditated for four hours in the rock room. Due to the ling vein in the rock room and the ling food Xu Qing had provided, the increase in Zuo Mo’s cultivation recently was extremely clear. It would just be a while before he would reach the second level of zhuji.

Because he had been busy with making dan, he hadn’t read the jade scroll that Xin Yan Shibo had given him. The ling grasses and herbs in the ling fields had also been neglected recently. The jinzhi outside the valley needed to be set up again. He still needed to keep making golden crow pills. He yearned very much for the fourth level golden crow fire.

Busy, busy!

He liked this kind of busyness. His life was very full.

He suddenly thought that it had been a long time since he went into his consciousness to see Pu Yao. He didn’t know what the other had been doing.

Entering the sea of consciousness, it still looked normal. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but release a breath. What he was most afraid of was that there would be changes every time he came here. And no matter what changed, he wouldn’t understand.

But when he saw Pu Yao’s state, he was alarmed.

Chapter 69 - Zuo Mo Drooling

At an inconspicuous residence within Dong Fu.

“Stars in Daytime is caused by the most powerful yaomo. It is used to ease their absorption of star power during the day by forcing the world to twist, and give them access to energy from the stars.” The one who spoke was the silver clad man. He continued in a grave tone, “Only when they have no choice would a yaomo do such a thing. It seems the situation of this yaomo isn’t good, it is very possible they are seriously wounded and need star power to recover, so they were forced to twist the world.”

As he spoke, his voice relaxed and the others relaxed their expressions.

“A yaomo able to create Stars in Daytime, they definitely are one of the strongest yaomo. They’ve only ever appeared in the war three thousand years ago. I hadn’t thought that there would be such a powerful yaomo hidden away here.” He sighed.

“So what if he’s powerful? Isn’t he still going to end up in our hands?” The yellow-robed Taoist said in a screeching voice, “He he, the heart of a sky yao or black mo, if it is added into the sword, my flying sword would increase quite a few levels!”

“Haha, the eyes of this yaomo is very rare. It naturally can see through anything.”

… …

The crowd instantly became excited as though they had already caught that amazing yaomo.

For xiuzhe, a high level yaomo’s body was a treasure. Almost all the body parts could be used for forging or dan-making and were all rare items. This group had gathered together for this yaomo. A powerful yao who was seriously wounded was a prey that they all coveted.

Seeing everyone’s mood, the silver-clad man cautioned, “Everyone, we shouldn’t rejoice pre-emptively. Haven’t you realized that there are many other people after it as well?”

“So what if there are others? Who dares to compete with us?” The yellow-robed cultivator said irritably in a high voice, murderous intent thick in his eyes. Viciousness flashed in the eyes of the other people.

The silver-clad man said, “Everyone should have seen that ship today. A sixth grade treasure ship, it is a rare talisman. If anyone had taken a close look at the tail of the wing boat, you should have seen their emblem.”

“Whose emblem?” The yellow-robed Taoist said suspiciously. When he saw that winged boat today, even he had been slightly shocked.

“The Master of Bright Wave Jie.” The silver-clad male said slowly. Everyone instantly became silent as terror made its way across many of their faces.

The expression of the yellow-robed Taoist also changed slightly but he quickly recovered and shrieked, “Don’t speak nonsense. The Master of Bright Wave Jie had been in seclusion for over sixty years. How could he come to a little place like Sky Moon Jie?”

“I only saw the emblem. In the past, I had spent some time in Bright Wave Jie and remember the emblem.” The silver-clad male said calmly.

Seeing the terror on everyone’s faces, he said with a smile, “Everyone, don’t worry too much. The Master of Bright Wave Jie has not involved himself in common affairs for many years. It’s unlikely that he came. Most likely it is his disciple or subordinate.”

The faces of everyone else relaxed. One of them said, “As long as it isn’t the Master of Bright Wave Jie, I’m not afraid.”

“Yes, yes!” The other people agreed.

“Why would Bright Wave Jie interfere in this matter?” The yellow robed cultivator’s brow furrowed.

“Elder, don’t forget, Sky Moon Jie is under the jurisdiction of Bright Wave Jie. This little brother knows that Stars in Daytime occurred, then it isn’t strange that they would also know.” The silver clad male said.

Suddenly the faces of the yellow robed Taoist and the silver clad male changed slightly and they yelled simultaneously, “Who!”

The two rushed outside like a sword. There was nothing outside in the yard. The yellow robed Taoist flew into the sky and scanned the surroundings before returning. He shook his head at the silver clad male. Both of them had serious and solemn expressions, nothing remained of their previous ease.

The other people all ran out to ask about the situation. By now, the two had resumed their normal expressions. The silver clad male said, “Nothing, nothing, just a false alarm.”

Hearing this, the people released a breath and conversed as they walked back into the room. The yellow robed Taoist followed last. Before re-entering, he glanced back before following.

A moment later, in a shadowed corner, a figure silently appeared. It was the white-clothed Lin Qian.

He revealed a pondering expression before disappearing.

——————

In the Dong Fu Hall, everyone had gathered together. Tian Song Zi, as the local leader, sat at the head with Yu Bai standing by his side. Below him, six people sat and leisurely drank tea.

“This time, we are really troubling you.” The one that spoke was a beautiful matron. Clear eyes, white teeth, and extremely graceful. On her shoulder, there was a little light yellow bird that curiously examined the others.

“Yun Xia xianzi is too courteous.” Tian Song Zi said with a laugh, “To have so many fellow experts come to my humble place, this one is very honoured. It is a little place. If there is something that we cannot fulfill well, everyone, please forgive us.”

云霞: Yun is cloud, xia is red cloud

仙子: immortal, goddess. Misogyny in xianxia – the titles of females are usually xianzi, while males get daoren, zhenren, etc.

“It will be fine.” Everyone raised their hands in a greeting.

Tian Song Zi’s expression was worried as he continued, “I’m not going to conceal it from everyone. Since the appearance of Stars in Daytime, my heart hasn’t felt steady. I may be inexperienced, but I do know that this isn’t any kind of a good omen. I feel much more secure now that everyone has come today.”

“You don’t need to worry.” Yun Xia xianzi comforted, “Master Yuan is skilled at detecting presences and is very sensitive to yaomo. He will definitely find where the yaomo is hiding.”

At this point, Master Yuan hurriedly said, “Yun Xia xianzi is too complimentary.”

While respectfully standing to side, Yu Bai was very shocked inside. The people sitting here all had significant cultivation. The one that attracted his attention the most was the little girl who had been sitting with a bowed head at the end. Her age appeared almost the same as his, but her cultivation was indecipherable to him. He who had always been proud of his accomplishments felt uncomfortable inside. There were too many geniuses in this world!

—————–

Pu Yao looked extremely poor.

He sat on the gravestone, his face was pale and appeared to be exhausted like a flickering lamp. Zuo Mo instantly was scared. The invincible Pu Yao, why was he suddenly in this state?

Zuo Mo carefully went closer, “Pu, what’s going on?”

Pu Yao opened his eye to look at Zuo Mo. His voice was very calm, and just as confident as usually and asked in exchange, “What what?” Zuo Mo noticed that Pu Yao’s alluring crimson blood eye was much fainter than usual, and even his voice seemed weaker.

But for some reason, when he heard Pu Yao’s confident voice, Zuo Mo felt safe.

“Is it that you don’t have enough jingshi?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask in concern. He didn’t know why he was so concerned about Pu Yao. Logically, the other was a yaomo. The earlier he died the better, but seeing Pu Yao’s state, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask in concern.

Looking at Zuo Mo again, Pu Yao seemed to be surprised by Zuo Mo’s question.

“Want to help me?” Pu Yao’s eyebrow rose.

“Hm.” Zuo Mo muddled a response noncommittally. He had learned.

Pu Yao suddenly smiled, “I’ll take you to a place.”

Pu Yao proceeded to take out a few pieces of jingshi. On the ground, he began to make a seal formation that Zuo Mo had never seen before.

Zuo Mo might have never seen the seal formation, but this jingshi, he was familiar with, wasn’t it……

He touched his body and his expression changed. This damned renyao, he took my jingshi again! Before he could speak, light suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. He couldn’t help but close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he was dumbstruck.

“Pu, where is this?” He stammered his question.

It was dark and shadowy in front of him. He could feel cold granite under his feet. What was flowing in a nearby stream was fresh red blood. Was this Hell? Zuo Mo forced himself to swallow, his mind tense as he looked at the surroundings.

Pu Yao groaned in pleasure. He spread out his arms, his face intoxicated, completely void of his previous exhaustion.

“Sword cave.” Pu Yao returned to his lazy state. He stuck out his bright red tongue, his eyes bright as he licked his lips, “There are many souls here. Such delicious souls!”

“Sword cave?” Zuo Mo blanked. He had lived in Wu Kong Sword Sect for two years and he had heard of the sword cave before. Wasn’t Wei Sheng Shixiong in the sword cave?

He wasn’t afraid anymore and curiously looked at the surroundings. He asked Pu Yao worriedly, “Wei Sheng Shixiong is also in the sword cave. Would he encounter us?” If he encountered Shixiong, he couldn’t even protest his innocence.

“This sword cave has eighteen levels.” Pu Yao was full of disdain as he looked at Zuo Mo, “Your Wei Shixiong has already descended to the sixteenth level. If you had half the ability of your shixiong, would I be in this sorry state?” As he spoke, he became angry, “I, a Sky Yao, falling to such a level. So embarrassing!”

Seeing Pu Yao acting like normal, for some reason, Zuo Mo relaxed significantly. He instantly went at it with Pu Yao, sneering, “None of my business! What Sky Yao, weren’t you wounded by my Shibo? Aren’t you only able to bully the greenhorn zhuji cultivators like me.” He quickly corrected, “Wrong, ge was only lianqi at the time! And you dare to speak of it!”

Pu Yao wasn’t angry and laughed, “This place is good. There’s a lot of yin energy, and it’s so comfortable! There are even souls. Although they are incomplete souls, but it’s better than nothing.”

“How did you find this place?” Zuo Mo was very curious. This sword cave was kept secret. He had stayed here for two years but didn’t know where it was, yet Pu Yao was able to find it. He had heard that it required two jindan cooperating to open the sword cave. Pu Yao was able to easily enter. This guy still has some ability, Zuo Mo thought.

Pu Yao said disdainfully, “In just this tiny Wu Kong Sword Sect I knew after taking a single look.” He then said to Zuo Mo, “In the future, we will come visit this place occasionally.”

“Come here?” Zuo Mo’s eyes widened. He shook his head without any hesitation, “No way, do you know how much jingshi you spent today? Four pieces of third grade jingshi! Four pieces! Do you know how many golden crow pills I need to make to earn four pieces of third grade jingshi? You spent it so easily……”

Pu Yao was full of disdain, “That only shows you are trash. Earning jingshi like you’re giving birth. Meeting such a trash like you……”

Zuo Mo didn’t hesitate to interrupt, also full of disdain as he said, “If you can do it, you go earn it! Aren’t you a Sky yao? What? A Sky yao but you have to extract jingshi from me, like that’s something to be proud of!” As he spoke, it was like the accumulated anger had suddenly erupted, “Ge had worked so hard to earn the jingshi with sweat and blood. Good for you, you just swiped it all away without a sound! You’re freeloading… Ge hasn’t even asked you for rent and you charged me for each lesson. You even started to take jingshi for each experience of sword essence, aren’t you embarrassed??”

Zuo Mo righteously listed Pu Yao’s offences.

Pu Yao was dumbstruck. The reality proved it. Even the most powerful yaomo, facing the even stronger tongue, they would also become dumbfounded.

After Zuo Mo ranted for five minutes he then stopped in satisfaction. That felt good!

After a long while, Pu Yao finally recovered. He tilted his head in thought and said, “Alright then, I’ll teach you a little technique that can earn jingshi.”

Zuo Mo’s mind instantly became alert and he went over, “What technique?”

Chapter 70 - The Yin Bead

Zou Mo concentrated as his hands moved according to Pu Yao’s instructions, his hands moved like fluttering butterflies and activated the spell. The benefits of consistently practicing [Art of Flora] was evident in the fluid motions of his fingers. This spell, which Pu Yao, called [Art of Concentrating Yin] was complicated but it wasn’t too difficult for Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt the yin energy in the surroundings stir. The energy was saturated with a dark and cold presence causing all the hair on his body to stand on end, but he gritted his teeth and persisted. The yin energy continued to gather in his hands.

After the last movement was completed, a grey-white bead condensed in Zuo Mo’s hands.

Zuo Mo curiously examined the bead, “Pu, what is this?” The bead was a dirty white color, extremely plain, and felt cool in his hands.

“This is a yin bead, created through concentrating yin energy. It can be used in dan-making or forging. The effect is especially beneficial for yin attribute talismans,” Pu Yao’s expression was smug as he glanced at Zuo Mo disdainfully, “The yin energy in this place is very abundant. As long as you do not slack off, and make a few more each day, jingshi will naturally roll in. What I think is you should change your sect. I have never seen such a poor sect. In your sect, other than that shixiong of yours, everyone is just trash,”

Zuo Mo volleyed back, “You, a so-called Sky Yao that was wounded by my Second Shibo, you have the face to say this?”

Pu Yao snorted icily, ‘If I hadn’t been forged under the tower for three thousand years and my spirit terribly wounded, how could a jindan trash cut me?” He was extremely disgruntled.

Zuo Mo followed with an icy snort, “I finally understand how you became a Sky Yao,”

Pu Yao blanked, “How?”

“You boasted about it,” Zuo Mo couldn’t resist and roared with laughter, pointing first at Pu Yao and then pointing at the sky, “A yao, blowing up into the sky, becomes a Sky Yao! Ha ha ha ha!”

吹: chui is used as boasting, but also means being blown as in blown away by the wind.

“I’m too lazy to even pay attention to you,” Pu Yao wasn’t angry. He spread his arms, and there wasn’t any movement but the yin energy suddenly started to move. He was like the eye of a horrifying whirlpool, the yin energy in the surroundings to rushed toward him.

“Are you sure that this thing is really worth money?” Not paying attention to Pu Yao, Zuo Mo started at the yin bead on his hand and asked with uncertainty.

Pu Yao, who had been enjoying the experience of absorbing yin energy, felt a vein in his forehead start to throb. His movements suddenly stopped and he almost choked in annoyance.

Since Pu Yao said that the yin bead was very valuable, Zuo Mo held a trustful attitude. He decided to make a few more, but he found that all the yin energy in this area was all pulled towards Pu Yao. He couldn’t manage to form a yin bead and had to move to another location further away.

Luckily, there was only one path in the sword cave. Zuo Mo didn’t need to worry about getting lost. After walking for a while, finding that he wasn’t affected by Pu Yao any longer, he started to make yin beads. It wasn’t too difficult to make yin beads. The finger motions were slightly complicated, but to Zuo Mo it wasn’t a problem. In one go, he made about twenty beads before he stopped.

After making the yin beads, Zuo Mo started to examine the surroundings. What aroused his curiosity the most was the blood river not far away. The river seemed to be composed of a sticky blood. There wasn’t any sound of flowing. For some reason, Zuo Mo felt his heart tremble whenever he saw this silent river of blood.

He picked up a rock from the ground and threw it into the blood river. It was as though the rock had landed in quicksand. It did not make a “splash,” it slowly sunk into the river.

“For your sake, don’t touch it. It’s blood fiends,” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly came from behind. He said with some regret, “Pity I’m not a blood yao, otherwise this would be very beneficial,”

“What are blood fiends?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help asking.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you,” Pu Yao never let a chance to mock Zuo Mo slip by. He scanned the surroundings and made a sound of surprise, “Rationally, such a cruel place, there would be some malicious spirits like devilings. Why is it so clean?”

“What are devilings?” Zuo Mo asked again.

“Delicious things,” Pu Yao’s bright red tongue couldn’t help run across his lips, while an expression of yearning flashed across his face. After searching for a long time, he was slightly dazed and sighed, “Your shixiong is really too honest of a person. He actually didn’t even spare one of them. It looks like it needs to a while to recover,”

Refreshed, Pu Yao waved his hand at Zuo Mo, “Let’s go,”

Finishing, he threw out four pieces of jingshi!

Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically again. This time, he didn’t even need to check his pocket as he wailed grievously, “Pu Yao……”

The white light rose and his voice stopped.

Returning to the Little West Wind yard, Zuo Mo wanted to cry. Eight pieces of third-grade jingshi! Going there and back, so much was gone. Just like that half of all the jingshi he had earned by furiously making dan was gone.

“Don’t look that sad,” Pu Yao unconcernedly said with a face full of disdain, “When you sell the yin beads, you’ll get your costs back with profit. You really are trash. Just eight pieces of jingshi, and you are this distraught. You really are making a profit. Entering the sword cave once, it requires two jindan trash to both be present. Using eight pieces of third-grade jingshi to invite two jindan trash, can you get a better bargain than that?”

Zuo Mo could do nothing. He could only pray that the twenty yin beads he had made would sell for a good price. He knew that the yin beads could not be sold through the sect. The origins of the yin beads wasn’t clear. If he aroused the suspicions of the shibo then no matter how many lives he had, he would still die.

He decided to go sell them himself in Dong Fu.

To not attract attention, he didn’t ride the grey beaked goose; rather, he silently left the mountain. As he arrived at the outskirts of the mountain, he darted into the forest. When he came out, he appeared completely different. He had turned into a weak looking man with a waxy complexion. In Elder Wei Nan’s jade scrolls, there were endless methods of changing appearances and concealing one’s tracks. Zuo Mo had picked a method that wasn’t very difficult.

This was the first time Zuo Mo put on a disguise. He was very curious and found it strange.

Right now, he was regretful that the Spirit Traveling seal had been burnt. If he had the Spirit Traveling seal, he could saved some time. His flying paper crane was too eye-catching so he could only walk.

——

Even though his cultivation had increased greatly, his body was still very weak. Exhausted, he arrived at Dong Fu, after walking over the mountains and rivers. However, his thirst for jingshi and his enthusiasm won over his weariness. Almost crawling, he stumbled into the free market.

With great pain, he rented a mini-room. Zuo Mo set up a shop.

Zuo Mo had been to the Free Market many times but it was the first time that he was selling something. He didn’t think about earning a profit, he would be grateful if he could just earn back the eight pieces of third-grade jingshi. He put out a price of half a third-grade jingshi for each yin bead. He was very worried. He thought about how Pu Yao had boasted how good this thing was, at the very least it must be worth half a third-grade jingshi.

Of course, Pu Yao was full of disdain towards Zuo Mo’s conduct. He snorted coldly, “The honored yin bead……” The meaning was implicit.

After six hours had passed. The last golden rays of sunlight shone on Zuo Mo’s face.

“This is the jingshi rolling in? This is the thing you said was good? This is getting back profits along with cost? Honored yin bead!” Zuo Mo was grieving as he demanded answers from Pu Yao. A whole entire afternoon, no one had even stopped in front of his mini-room. Up until now, Zuo Mo hadn’t even sold one yin bead. He still had to pay the rent for the mini-room as well.

Pu Yao also stared blanky. He muttered for a while, not knowing what to say.

After a long time, his face was full of disbelief. He suddenly threw his hands up in exasperation, “How is that possible? This is the yin bead! Yin bead! After three thousand years, how can people not even want a yin bead?”

Seeing Pu Yao lose his composure, Zuo Mo didn’t feel the heartache as much anymore. He had already started to accept this cruel reality. He snorted coldly, “In the future, stop posturing like a Sky Yao. Look at the era, Sky Yao! Three thousand years, your things, they are relics, they have become obsolete! Understand? You made me excited for nothing. Hmm. After a while, ge will give it to the children to use as marbles,”

Pu Yao’s expression was subdued. It was clear that this incident had dealt a harsh blow to him.

At this time, a little girl passed by Zuo Mo’s mini-room and suddenly stopped. Zuo Mo, who had been preparing to start criticizing Pu Yao again, suddenly stopped talking, and enthusiastically said, “Miss, do you want to buy? This is a good thing, yin bead, completely formed from pure yin energy. Can be taken anywhere. Cool in the summer, and has the effect of beautifying the complexion……”

The little girl looked like a maid. Hearing this, she laughed lightly, “You really know how to advertise,” Her brow suddenly creased, “But these beads are too ugly. If it was rainbow colored, Miss Huang would definitely like it,”

黄:huang also means yellow.

“Miss, don’t just look at the outward appearance. The quality is very fine, look how round and heavy it is……” In order to make his very first transaction, Zuo Mo completely had no shame.

Seeing Zuo Mo actually promoting the yin beads like marbles, Pu Yao stared with a wide mouth, his gaze dull.

“Ha, since you’ve said so much. I’ll buy one,” The little girl covered her mouth and laughed. She took out the jingshi and bought one. Before she left, she urged him kindly, “I see you are a honest person. In the future, you should sell reliable things. These grey beads, no one would buy them,”

Finishing, she turned and left.

Zuo Mo collapsed to the ground. He had finally sold one, and it wasn’t easy. Compared to him, Pu Yao’s soul had been mortally wounded. His expression was dull, his complexion was grey.

Seeing Pu Yao’s state, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but urge, “It’s nothing. Just business. Next time, we’ll sell something else. At the least, making golden crow pills isn’t bad. Three thousand years have passed, you need to adapt,”

One person and one yao snuck back to the mountain.

——–

In a small yard in Dong Fu Hall.

“Miss, I’m back,” A cheerful voice passed out from the door. Yun Xia xianzi’s little yellow bird flew up and rushed at the door.

Yun Xia xianzi was embroidering a handkerchief and made a sound of acknowledgement, her head not raising from her work, “You brat, we just arrived and you instantly disappeared,”

“Haha,” A figure rushed in. It was the smiling and adorable little girl. The yellow bird flew around the little girl, chirping. The little girl said with a face full of helplessness to the yellow bird, “Okay okay, Miss Yellow (Huang) , I got you something good to eat,”

If Zuo Mo heard this, he would definitely have spat up blood. The “Miss Huang” was really just a bird… …

Finishing, she took out a large pile of things and narrated, “There is the five flower cake from the Food Pavilion, the lotus and lily crisps, thirteen flavored sweets. This is the famous Old Wang liquor. Don’t drink too much, otherwise Miss will discipline you again……,”

The yellow bird’s eyes were gleaming. Suddenly, it saw a grey bead. Like an arrow, it rushed into the pile and picked up the grey bead.

“Huh, you like this bead?” The little girl was very surprised.

The yellow bird picked up the bead with its beak and flew ito Yun Xia xianzi, placing the bead onto her handkerchief.

When Yun Xia xianzi’s eyes spotted on the bead, she exclaimed in surprise and she stopped what she was doing. Picking up the bead for a closer inspection, her expression couldn’t help but change slightly, “Xiao Yuan, where did the bead come from?”

Chapter 71 - A New Experiment

“Bought … … bought it,” Yun Xia xianzi’s grave tone scared Xiao Huan. She stammered, “I bought it for half a third-grade jingshi. At the free market. I felt the seller was very pitiful and bought one.”

“Pitiful?” Yun Xia xianzi’s brow furrowed, “Half a third grade jingshi?”

“Yes,” Xiao Huan hurriedly nodded her head, “That person was so sad. A whole afternoon and he didn’t even sell one. When he was promoting it to me, he really was so pitiful so I bought one for Miss Yellow to play with. Miss, what is it?”

“This is a yin bead.” Yun Xia xianzi’s face was grave as she explained, “Yin beads are made from yin energy and are very rare. The method to form yin beads is very unique. It has been lost for a long time. There are many uses for this yin bead. I know of one method to forge this into a yin thunder bead. It would be very powerful.”

“That strong?” Xiao Huan almost couldn’t believe it, “But I felt that person was very sad. If yin beads are that powerful, why couldn’t he sell it for half a third-grade of jingshi.”

“Haha. Therefore, you got a bargain,” Yun Xia xianzi said, “In this world, there are always some eccentric people that enjoyed tricking the world for amusement,” but her tone was not confident.

“Miss, why don’t you go with me to find the person again? I remember where he was!” Xiao Huan hurriedly said, “This way, Miss might be able to request the method to form the yin bead. If not, you could still buy all the yin beads!”

“En!” hearing this, Yun Xia xianzi quickly stood.

———

After returning to the mountain, Zuo Mo started his dan-making job once again. The yin bead was just a little detour. He just mourned the loss of eight pieces of third-grade jingshi for a while. But the effect of this incident was even greater to Pu Yao. Pu Yao was silent for quite a few days, but he didn’t have a solution. After three thousand years, things would have changed. At least, that was what Zuo Mo thought.

Zuo Mo temporarily didn’t have time to investigate the use of the yin beads. He had too many things he needed to do. The sales of the Golden Crow pills was very good, but that also meant he needed to spend more time on dan-making. Especially in this situation where he needed jingshi. Even more, the temptation of the fourth-grade fire seed wasn’t just for others. It was a temptation even for him as well.

But after swallowing fifty Golden Crow pills, Zuo Mo didn’t form Golden Crow fire. Each time, he could feel a sliver of heat absorbed into his body, and just as quickly, the heat was like melting ice, gone in the blink of an eye.

This made him very suspicious of the effectiveness of the Golden Crow pill. Even though it was a lingdan that he made, but about its effectiveness, he wasn’t confident at all.

Fifty Golden Crow pills. Converting that to jingshi, it wasn’t a small amount. His heart hurt slightly and he was puzzled.

Was it that the sun essence inside the Golden Crow pill too little?

The reason that the Golden Crow pill had been judged to be able to form Golden Crow fire was that it contained essence of the sun, but the amount was extremely small. If he wanted to rely on the pill to form Golden Crow fire, he didn’t know how many he had to use.

Suddenly, he was reminded of an idea he once had when he had been making the Golden Crow pills.

If he used [Art Of Crimson Flame] as the primary and the li fire seal formation as the auxiliary, what would the lingdan he made be like? At the time, he had three different choices. This had been one of them.

At the beginning, he had abandoned this plan of action because it changed the relationship between the primary and auxiliary fires which would affect many other things. But now, he had enough time to think about resolving the problems. Also, after making Golden Crow pills all this while, he had accumulated rich experience. If he used that method to make lingdan, the amount of essence of the sun definitely wouldn’t be small!

He decided to try even though the chance of failure was very large. The creation of the first Golden Crow pill had been accidental. In the middle, he had experienced numerous failures, but the Golden Crow pill had also given him enormous profits. He had gotten a good taste.

Deciding to move immediately, he went back into his dan room.

Without any doubt, his first time was a failure. Zuo Mo once again smelt the familiar burnt smell. He wasn’t downcast. Failure was within his expectations. And compared to last time, he was much richer. The ingredients of the fasting pill were all open for him to access.

To use [Art of Crimson Flame] as the primary flame and the li fire seal formation as the auxiliary flame. It appeared to be a simple change but it resulted in extremely complicated changes. First, the balance in strength of [Art of Crimson Flame] and li fire seal formation had to be adjusted. Also, it was unknown if the ingredients of the original recipe were strong enough to tolerate a larger amount of sun essence.

Of the two, he was more concerned about the second point. How to pair ingredients and the ratios was a field of extremely deep study. Even his master didn’t have a good grasp. He was worried that if the ratio had to be changed and it required higher level ling grasses, then would he be able to support it. Even with his steadily increasing wealth, if he went to buy the ingredients for dan-making, especially those high level ingredients, then he could only be able to window-shop.

He began his dull experiments. He had a jade scroll by his hands that recorded down the general conditions of each of his attempts. He knew that he didn’t have as much knowledge and experiences as his Master. The only thing he could do was advance little by little, trying again and again.

In the eyes of many others, this was certainly the dumbest method, but it was the only choice Zuo Mo had.

Just as Zuo Mo was trying to make a new lingdan, Yun Xia xianzi and her maid, Xiao Huan were scouring the free market daily, trying to find that waxy-faced man who was selling “marbles.”

———

In the following days, Zuo Mo didn’t make any progress. Pu Yao suddenly, of his own accord, said to Zuo Mo, “I’ll teach you to use the yin beads to forge something. Go sell it, it would definitely sell for a good price!”

“What?” Zuo Mo asked inattentively. Right now, his head was entirely filled with how to make a new lingdan.

“Yin Thunder Bead!” Pu Yao said confidently, “People may not recognize yin beads but yin thunder beads, people would definitely recognize it.”

“Pu!” Zuo Mo decided to communicate with Pu Yao, “Three thousand years. Your things, are the things from three thousand years ago! No one knows of them now! If they don’t know then they won’t buy it, and no one buying it means no jingshi.”

Pu Yao said, unsatisfied, “Do you think everyone is as ignorant and shut off as you? And have you not heard of yin thunder beads before?”

Looking at the stubborn Pu Yao who still wasn’t accepting reality, Zuo Mo shook his head, “Don’t waste my time.”

Pu Yao raged, “I……”

“Stop!” Zuo Mo turned around, “Don’t say you’re a Sky Yao!”

Pu Yao almost choked on air.

Looking at Pu Yao’s depressed expression, for some reason, Zuo Mo felt good. The tiredness of the last few days seemed to have disappeared. He was smug as he went back into the dan room and started a new round of experiments. After going to the sword cave once, Zuo Mo’s fear of Pu Yao seemed to have flown away in the span of one night. This kind of joke, he wouldn’t have dared to make it before.

After the sect assessment, Zuo Mo seemed to have spent all his time on making Golden Crow pills. This directly caused the skill of his [Art of Crimson Flame] to have increased dramatically. It was a pity that without the jade scrolls of the next level, he still couldn’t breakthrough to the next level. Right now, he was able to easily manipulate the strength of the [Art of Crimson Flame].

As the reputation of the Golden Crow pill increased in Dong Fu, it quickly became the trademark lingdan of Wu Kong Sword Sect. To help Zuo Mo in making Golden Crow pills, Yan Le Shibo had specially bought a second-grade dan cauldron for Zuo Mo. He was the envy of many other people.

During the sect assessment, Zuo Mo’s reputation had increased with his spectacular performance. His opponent Luo Li, had been wounded too, but he didn’t have a master that could make dan. Shi Feng Rong was angry at Luo Li for going too far, and she treated him as though he was air. As a result, it took Luo Li’s wounds a month to heal.

When the news that Eldest Shijie Gong Sun Qing, Xu Yi, and Xu Yi Xia went to see Zuo Mo passed into his ears, Luo Li almost spat blood. The energies became unbalanced and his recovery was delayed for ten days. During the time that Luo Li had been recuperating, other than the first few days, Hao Min didn’t visit him or ask about him.

The sect leader had visited him once which had greatly moved Luo Li.

After recovering, Luo Li instantly entered seclusion. He seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Everyone had discussed for a while before getting tired of it. Undoubtedly, other people’s impressions of zombie Zuo Mo Shixiong improved greatly.

———

In Dong Fu Hall, everyone had gathered together. However, no one’s expression was good.

Many days had passed but they still hadn’t found anything. There were very few traces left from the Stars in Daytime. They couldn’t detect the general location, and as time passed the traces that were left would decrease. Therefore, the chance that they would find the wounded yaomo would decrease as well.

“Dong Fu is really too popular. There are too many energies that are moving through. The marks left from the event have dissipated,” Yuan Li grimaced.

He was the individual most skilled with detecting energies in this group. Everyone had high hopes pinned on him. But up until now, he wasn’t able to even find a trace, and he felt embarrassed.

Yun Xia xianzi comforted, “Mister Yuan, don’t rush. We are here to do our best and the rest is up to fate,”

“Have you all noticed that, other than us, there seems to be another group that is trying to find the yaomo,” A silver-coroneted cultivator said.

“Oh, has Wen Tie sanren found something?” Yun Xia xianzi couldn’t help ask.

“I keep on feeling that someone is following us in the dark. Has anyone else felt it?” Wen Tie sanren said worriedly.

“I have also had this feeling,” Yuan Li nodded.

Yun Xia xianzi’s beautiful eyes scanned the surroundings. Seeing the assorted expressions, she couldn’t help but sigh inside. If the Jie Master was here, would they be like this? Everyone was about equal in their cultivation and they were all proud people. They usually cultivated alone. Coming here this time, most people were doing it out of obligation. Without a strong person to lead, they were like a pile of sand.

“Old He, can you not just stare at the lingdan, have you found anything?” Yun Xia xianzi said with a smile.

“Found? No,” The one called Old He was an old man. His hair and beard were white, his skin wrinkled. He was skilled in the art of dan-making. He had been invited to come but he usually didn’t speak. However, he was of profound and unknown cultivation and no one dared to underestimate him. He suddenly sighed, “Dong Fu might be a small place but it still has some pearls. This Golden Crow pill, the maker was able to think of adding essence of the sun into the dan. This old one admires them,”

“What’s the use?” Yun Li’s brows furrowed and he asked unconcernedly.

“It may be possible to form fourth-grade Golden Crow fire,” Old He slowly drawled.

Hearing this, everyone instantly quieted.

Chapter 72 - Seeing Guests

“Fourth-grade Golden Crow fire?” Wen Tie sanren looked with disbelief at the little lingdan in Old He’s hands, “I see that there isn’t much ling energy in this lingdan. It can’t even enter second-grade. Can this really make Golden Crow fire?”

The other people also had varying levels of disbelief on their faces.

A first or second-grade lingdan that was able to create a fourth-grade Golden Crow fire sounded delusional. Fourth-grade Golden Crow fire was a rare fire seed that people dreamed of. Other than a few sects who had the methods of creating and capturing it, there basically was no other method of obtaining it. If a person could obtain fourth-grade Golden Crow fire through consuming just one kind of lingdan, even if this lingdan was fourth-grade, there would be countless people wanting to buy it.

The people present were all jindan xiu. They knew very well that the gap between lower and higher grades wasn’t something overcome through sheer numbers. This was also why the price difference between lower and higher grade items was enormous.

But now they were hearing that a lingdan that didn’t surpass second-grade lingdan, it could make Golden Crow fire. It was like hearing a joke. If the person who said it wasn’t Old He, the most skilled in dan-making among them, everyone would have thought that he was insane.

“This is a first-grade lingdan,” Old He wasn’t rushed and slowly said, “It contains a sliver of essence of the sun. This essence of the sun, after the dan was made, is warm and easy to manipulate. Theoretically, it has a possibility of forming Golden Crow fire. Of course, only theoretically.”

Only now did everyone release a breath, and they gave “it ought to be so” expressions.

“This amount, of sun essence, is too little. To form Golden Crow fire, if there wasn’t tens of thousands of pills, it probably wouldn’t happen. But even if this sun essence cannot form Golden Crow fire, but it is extremely yang and pure. It is perfect for adding into other fire seeds. Everyone here naturally doesn’t need it, but it is a very good present for the next generation,” Old He said with a smile.

Hearing this, everyone nodded. Without an exception, they were all jindan. If this could make Golden Crow fire, they would be interested. But if it was just essence of the sun, it wasn’t very attractive to them. Those seated here were not roaming xiu and they had many disciples, even if they were roaming xiu they would still have disciples. The grade of Golden Crow pill was low, but that bit of sun essence, it could be added to all kinds of fire seed and elevate the grade of those fires. It is a very useful lingdan, and would be perfect to use in rewarding disciples.

“With Old He’s words, this is pretty good. Where can we buy this Golden Crow pill?” Hearing that the lingdan contained a sliver of essence of the sun, she couldn’t help but ask. The other people also waited to hear expectantly.

“Ha ha, it’s a little sect called Wu Kong Sword Sect,” Old He turned to ask Tian Song Zi, “Are you familiar with the sect?”

Tian Song Zi was surprised to hear about Wu Kong Sword Sect. Hearing Old He’s question, he hurriedly answered, “Wu Kong Sword Sect is usually low-key. If it wasn’t for a recent incident, I wouldn’t have noticed that there is a local sect this strong.”

“How so?” Yuan Li asked curiously. As a jindan xiuzhe, Tian Song Zi’s cultivation wasn’t weaker than them. And his branch had always held power in Dong Fu. To be called a strong sect by him, the sect’s power couldn’t be underestimated.

Seeing everyone show curiosity, Tian Song Zi slowly narrated, “Speaking of Wu Kong Sword Sect, we have to mention the recent apparition. In this generation of Wu Kong Sword Sect, there is an amazing genius called Wei Sheng. This person is of low birth but is obsessed with the sword. To be able to cultivate the sword, he was willing to be a sword servant. After working and studying hard, he finally reached zhuji. In his zhuji, the sword essence flew into the heavens and rang into the surroundings. I personally saw it and went to look in the deep of the night. Only then did I discover that this Wu Kong Sword Sect merits great fame. Has anyone heard of [Ice Dragon Sword]?”

Wen Tie sanren’s expression changed, “The [Ice Dragon Sword] that shocked all of Yao Hunt in the past?”

The others also gave shocked expressions.

“Just the person,” Tian Song Zi nodded, “I’m ashamed to admit it. If it wasn’t that there had been an apparition when Wei Sheng entered zhuji, I wouldn’t have known such an able person was in our Dong Fu. The Golden Crow pill that Old He is speaking about was made by Wu Kong Sword Sect’s Shi Feng Rong. She is of jindan cultivation, and the most skilled in dan-making of Wu Kong Sword Sects four jindan .”

Yu Bai was better informed on the topic than Tian Song Zi, and he immediately followed, “Master might not know, this Golden Crow pill wasn’t made by Elder Shi, but her disciple Zuo Mo. Supposedly, it was an accident when he was just starting to learn.”

“This disciple has pretty good talent in dan-making.” Old He couldn’t help but praise.

Tian Song Zi’s expression couldn’t help but change and suddenly blurted, “This Wu Kong Sword Sect is really going to rise!”

Seeing the other people look at him, he explained, “Everyone may not know, this Zuo Mo was unknown before but he managed to achieve a spring sprout jade medal with lianqi cultivation, his talent is astounding. And in lianqi, he also managed to comprehend sword essence. This talent is exceptionally amazing. I hadn’t thought he would be so talented in dan-making. The heavens have really blessed Wu Kong Sword Sect!”

The other people also had expressions of agreement on their face. Of the three points that Tian Song Zi mentioned, just one was enough for a person to be considered exceptional, but to have all three qualities in one person? That definitely was a once-in-a-hundred-years genius. Wu Kong Sword Sect, with an accomplished master like Ice Dragon Sword and geniuses like Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo in the next generation, it was almost certain to have a hundred years of prosperity.

The people seated thought of their own sects and had different thoughts.

“Since Ice Dragon Sword is actually in Dong Fu, why don’t we pay a him visit and order a batch of Golden Crow pills while we are at it, ha ha. What does everyone think?” Old He said. In this group of people, he had the greatest interest in Wu Kong Sword Sect.

The others all agreed. Everyone seated here was cunning. To build good relations with a sect that was going to prosper, the benefits in the future didn’t need to be stated.

———

Zuo Mo was seated in front of the dan cauldron with his two hands on the eight-trigrams plate. His expression was focused. A clear gold colored light came down and landed in his hand before deflecting towards the dan cauldron.

He had reached the limits of what he could do with [Art of Crimson Flame], and he reduced the li fire seal formation to the smallest it could get. Inside the cauldron, a ball of medicine was enveloped by the golden light, boiling relentlessly as it floated in the air. The li fire seal formation below released heat.

Feeling the essence of the sun slowly merge into the liquid, Zuo Mo suddenly increased his awareness. He knew that the most crucial time had come.

The speed that the sun essence merged at was extremely slow at the beginning, but after entering the liquid, it would suddenly increase. It was important to carefully control the power of [Art of Crimson Flame]. If he wasn’t careful, he would lose everything. Zuo Mo had failed many times at this crucial juncture.

Poof!

A grey smoke suddenly appeared out of the boiling liquid.

Zuo Mo mentally thought it was going wrong but before he could react, the liquid turned into a ball of ash.

“Damn it!”

Zuo Mo sat dispiritedly. After continuously making dan, his ling energy was almost exhausted. His eyes were bloodshot and his expression tired. The dan room was filled with the remnants of failed dan, the smell was nasty.

Up until now, he hadn’t succeeded once.

However, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t learned anything. Today, just in this last attempt, he finally found the problem.

In the various kinds of materials for the fasting pill, there was one material that couldn’t tolerate such a high intensity of sun essence. Sun essence might look light and small, but it was much stronger than the li fire seal formation. This ling grass called Thousand Jade Grass, it couldn’t endure being processed by such a strong flame.

He needed to find a ling grass that could endure the increase in the essence of the sun, with similar attributes to Thousand Jade grass. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but have a headache. This was the problem that he was most worried about encountering. When it came to the attributes and the theory of the medicine, he was totally blind.

He gave a sigh. It seemed that his idea would have to be realized in the future, but he was still unsatisfied inside. He decided to take a good look in Master’s record room to see if he could find a ling grass similar in effect as thousand jade grass.

As he pondered, he walked out of the dan room.

“Shixiong!” Xu Qing saw Zuo Mo walk out of the dan room and her eyes brightened. She hurriedly came over, “That big ship has come to our sect!”

“Big ship? What big ship?” Zuo Mo’s mind was scattered and asked instinctively.

“Doesn’t Shixiong remember? The big ship that had flew above us before!” Xu Qing reminded.

“The big ship that flew over!” Zuo Mo suddenly shook and was startled away. That extremely intimidating ship had left a big impression on him. He hurriedly asked, “What’s the ship doing here?”

“Don’t know,” Xu Qing shook her head, “They seemed to be conversing very well with the shibo, but I heard that they were here investigating the Stars in Daytime.”

“Stars in Daytime?” Zuo Mo felt his throat tighten. He suddenly thought of this term that the pink paper crane had also said to him. For some reason, he seemed to feel that this Stars in Daytime was connected to him.

“Did Shixiong forget? Oh, right, I remember! Shixiong had been in zhuji that day!” In a piteous tone, she said, “Pity that Shixiong hadn’t seen it. Stars coming out in daylight, it’s very rare!”

Zuo Mo felt that his body was slightly cold. If before, he had just felt that it was connected to him, then now he was certain that this Stars in Daytime was definitely connected to him! How could there be such a coincidence?

Just him, he definitely wouldn’t connect the apparition with himself.

He couldn’t, but Pu Yao could!

Thinking about it, he left Xu Qing and quickly went back into the dan room.

Entering the dan room, Zuo Mo entered his sea of consciousness. Pu Yao was idly listening to the sound tablet.

“Pu, that Stars in Daytime, did you cause it?” Zuo Mo felt his voice was trembling.

“Me?” Pu Yao didn’t even blink and crisply shook his head, “No!”

Zuo Mo instantly released a breath. Pu Yao might have many flaws but he never refused to admit what he did.

But Pu Yao’s following words frightened Zuo Mo half to death, “Not me, it was you!”

“Me?” Zuo Mo pointed at his own nose and asked dumbly.

“Humph, a certain dead ghost needed star energy and borrowed your body,” Pu Yao was clearly laughing at his misfortunes, “At that time, I already said, he went way over.”

Zuo Mo’s head was in the clouds. He stammered, “You mean, there’s someone else here?”

Before Pu Yao could reply, Zuo Mo heard someone knocking on the door, “Shixiong, the sect leader is requesting for you to go to Wu Kong Hall, there are guests that want to meet you!”

Chapter 73 - Inspiration In An Emergency

Zuo Mo, finding inspiration in an emergency, gave a horrific wail and then collapsed on the ground.

Outside the dan room, the disciple heard Zuo Mo’s wail and asked panicked: “Shixiong! Shixiong! Are you alright?” There wasn’t a response. Xu Qing, who had been paying attention to the situation, hurriedly ran over and yelled across the door: “Shixiong! What is it? Are you alright?”

There still wasn’t a response from inside. Xu Qing instantly became extremely worried and, disregarding that she might be scolded, opened the dan room and saw Zuo Mo unconscious on the ground.

Xu Qing was shocked but didn’t mess up. She crisply yelled at the disciple who had come to ask for Zuo Mo: “Go tell the sect leader!” That disciple, frightened out of his wits, ran outside.

In Wu Kong Hall, Pei Yuan Ran and the others were attending to Yun Xia xianzi’s group. This group coming to visit Wu Kong Sword Sect really was giving face to Pei Yuan Ran and the others. Naturally, Pei Yuan Ran and the others were courteous and warm. Both guest and host were extremely amiable. So many jindan xiuzhe, not just in Dong Fu, but even in Sky Moon Jie, it was an extremely grand group of people.

For the disciples that were serving at the side, other than staring with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, they felt extremely honored. Before Wei Sheng had zhuji, Wu Kong Sword Sect hadn’t been known in Dong Fu. Now, even a group of the strong masters of Bright Wave Jie had lowered themselves to visit the sect. No other sect had received such honor in Dong Fu.

Maybe, in all of Kun Lun Jing, Bright Wave Jie wasn’t anything. But it governed thirty one small jie, including Sky Moon Jie. Even the strong masters from Bright Wave Jie were so respectful to Xin Yan Shishu. Only now did the disciples know the cold and taciturn Xin Yan Shishu was so strong. In their eyes, their sect became even more mysterious.

Conversation flowed across Wu Kong Sword Sect. After confirming Xin Yan’s identity, Yun Xia xianzi and the others deliberately started to attempt to win him over. They were very disappointed that Wei Sheng was unable to come out of the sword cave. Not being able to meet Wei Sheng, the one rumored to have created an apparition on zhuji, it still wasn’t a waste of time if they could meet the Zuo Mo who had so many talents. For some people, like Old He, their interest in Zuo Mo far surpassed their interest in Wei Sheng.

At this time, the disciple that had gone to call Zuo Mo scrambled in: “Oh no, oh no……”

Pei Yuan Ran’s brows furrowed in dissatisfaction. He asked in a deep voice: “What are you panicked about?”

Seeing the displeasure of the sect leader, the disciple was even more nervous and stammered: “Sect leader! Zuo Mo Shixiong……Shixiong fainted!”

Hearing this, Shi Feng Rong suddenly stood up.

“What happened? Say it slowly!” Pei Yuan Ran shouted. His voice carried “Clear Sound Incantation.” Everyone felt their minds become clear and couldn’t help but mentally compliment Pei Yuan Ran on his cultivation.

Suffering the shout, the mind of the outer sect disciple suddenly cleared up. His voice became clear and words simple: “Zuo Mo Shixiong had been dan-making for a few days without rest and his mind was fragile. When this disciple was reporting to Shixiong, this disciple suddenly heard a shout from the dan room. There wasn’t a response when this disciple asked the next few times. Xu Qing Shijie opened the door and found Shixiong unconscious on the ground. When this disciple saw him, Shixiong’s complexion was terribly unwell. It must have been many days since he came out of the dan-room.”

Hearing this, Shi Feng Rong stood: “Everyone, please excuse me.” Finishing, she started to hurry towards Fragrant Ginger Yard.

At this time, Pei Yuan Ran raised his hands in an apology: “This one’s shimei is worried about her disciple and lost her composure. Please, excuse her!”

“Sect Leader Pei is too serious. If our sect had such geniuses, as elders, we would be the same.” Old He said. The others nodded in agreement.

“Yes, your sect really has good fortune! In my sect, the disciples are average and have no great accomplishment. Every time I think of it, I cannot sit still and fears that the fires of the sect will extinguish with my generation. Then it would truly be an unpardonable crime.” Yuan Li couldn’t help but add.

Everyone felt great empathy with Yuan Li’s words. Pei Yuan Ran had a joyful expression. In the beginning, he and the others had felt the same as Yuan Li.

“Sect Leader Pei.” Old He picked his words and said: “To be able to make Golden Crow pills just as he has started to learn dan-making, your sect’s disciple has great talent in dan-making. This old man has rarely seen anything like it in these many years.” He then sighed: “These many years, this old man has seen many outstanding talents. Growing older, this one has found that all things are the same. With talent, one always tried to extract things from it, and this causes many geniuses to falter and die early, their progress is troubled. Sect Leader Pei needs to take great care. I had to speak my mind. If I have offended, Sect Leader Pei, please bear with me.”

Hearing this, Pei Yuan Ran was shocked. He stood and gave a deep bow to Old He: “The concerned words of Old He, how can this one not know? This one will remember deep in the heart!”

Xin Yan and Yan Le also gravely stood and made a bow towards Old He.

The mood of Wu Kong Hall became tense. Old He’s worlds had stirred the thoughts of many people. Every sect would have some outstanding disciples, but just like Old He had said, these talented disciples all had troubled fates.

After such an incident had occurred, everyone didn’t have the interest in conversing and after ordering a batch of Golden Crow pills, they made their farewells.

When Shi Feng Rong rushed back to Fragrant Ginger Yard and saw Zuo Mo’s pitiful state, she forcefully swallowed back the words of rage that had reached her mouth. But there was still barely disguised fury in her voice: “From today, for one month, you are not allowed to enter the dan room!”

Zuo Mo grimaced inside. Not being allowed to enter the dan room for a month meant that, for a month, he didn’t have any source of income. Almost all of his income right now came from making golden crow pills. The ling grasses and herbs in the ling fields, other than the kind of plants like snowy foxtail grass that could not be used in dan-making, he had planned on leaving the rest of the plants for him to use.

But thinking that he had temporarily managed to keep his life, Zuo Mo felt glad inside. Facing the furious master, Zuo Mo was very unconfident and could only mutter in agreement.

Coldly glancing over Zuo Mo, Shi Feng Rong left behind a few restorative lingdan before leaving. Zuo Mo was very moved. Master might be of many cold words and faces, but she really was concerned about him. Before, he had felt unfortunate that he had such a foul-tempered master, but he now felt that his luck wasn’t so bad.

When Shi Feng Rong rushed back to Wu Kong Hall, the guests had left. Pei Yuan Ran and the other two were sitting silently in Wu Kong Hall.

Having been waiting for Shi Feng Rong, Pei Yuan Ran repeated Old He’s words to her. Shi Feng Rong also had a worried expression.

“If it wasn’t for Old He’s reminder today, we have all missed this problem.” Pei Yuan Ran said gravely: “Thinking about it now, we were truly too impatient. It was the same for Wei Sheng entering the sword cave. And it happened for Zuo Mo’s dan-making.”

“I have already restricted him from dan-making for a month.” Shi Feng Rong suddenly said: “This matter, it was my fault for missing it.”

Pei Yuan Ran waved his hand: “We were all at fault.”

“Yes!” Yan Le had a regretful expression: “The sales of golden crow pill were too good. I got impatient because they were urging me and went to rush him. Thinking about it now, earning jingshi is for the continued existence of the sect. If something happened to Zuo Mo because of this matter, it really is a loss. We’d have lost a lot!”

“It’s good to restrict him from dan-making.” Pei Yuan Ran said solemnly: “Shidi, supervise him in this time to practice the sword. We aren’t going to hope that he would make any accomplishment on the sword. His talent isn’t bad in the sword but he has too many likes, and it’s hard for him to be faithful to one. If there aren’t any surprises, his achievements in the sword wouldn’t be as good as Wei Sheng.”

Everyone had achieved jindan and could easily see this. Even Shi Feng Rong nodded her head slightly. Zuo Mo started out as a ling plant farmer. Then he learned dan-making followed by the sword. What he had learned was extremely broad. He wasn’t willing to throw away any of it so his achievements on the sword would most likely be very limited.

“But Zuo Mo’s other talents are truly outstanding. If he isn’t learning dan-making with Shimei, his talent in dan-making would be lost. We won’t hope for him to cultivate the sword. We could nurture his interest in other areas, like Second Shidi’s forging, we could try.” Pei Yuan Ran continued: “But Old He’s words reminded me today. Zuo Mo’s body is too weak. We might not put expectations on his sword skills but we could strengthen his body and prevent something like becoming unconscious in the future. Before his body is strong, don’t let him sink back into dan-making. Second Shidi, this will have to rely on you.”

“Yes!” Xin Yan spat out a word. In the half-lidded eyes, two dots of cold light flashed.

No one had any opinions about Pei Yuan Ran’s arrangements. Even Shi Feng Rong felt that not letting Zuo Mo sink into dan-making temporarily was a correct choice.

After everyone had left, a hint of worry came onto Pei Yuan Ran’s face. Zuo Mo had a problem, then Wei Sheng? He was slightly regretful now of sending Wei Sheng into the sword cave so early.

In the dark and gloomy sword cave, Wei Sheng’s clothes were dyed with blood, blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. His upper half was bare, large and small marks crisscrossing, alarming to see. Opposite to his dim and tired mental state, Splitting Rainbow was glowing and flashing on his hands. It was like the rainbow after the rain, the color vibrant and fresh.

Wei Sheng affectionately caressed the body of the sword. The seven colored sword hummed lightly, as though it was responding to him.

In total, there were eighteen levels in the sword cave. Starting from the first level, he had fought his way down step by step. The devilings along the way, he hadn’t let go of even one. There wasn’t any slacking or tricks. Even though he already knew that [Void Sword Scripture] was on the eighteenth level, if he could reach the eighteenth level, he would be able to see the greatest art the sect founder had left behind, [Void Sword Scripture].

But he controlled the impulse in his heart. Steady step by steady step, one deviling after the next, he forged his sword essence!

He was the very first second generation disciple in Wu Kong Sword Sect to comprehend sword essence, even earlier than Zuo Mo. He had naturally comprehended it at zhuji. The sword essence he had comprehended by himself, it wasn’t from any kind of sword scripture, but from his daily continuous fights, his own understandings which formed his own sword essence!

His sword essence, it wasn’t an understanding of the sword scriptures, but an understanding of the sword!

This was also why Xin Yan found it troublesome and hard to teach him. This was also why, no matter if it was the stubborn Xin Yan or the steady Pei Yuan Ran, they were all in favor of sending him to the sword cave.

They had high expectations of him!

Wei Sheng, who had his own sword essence, he wasn’t just the person in the sect most likely to grasp [Void Sword Scripture], but the only one with hopes of reaching the level that the founder had attained. Even though Zuo Mo had comprehended sword essence, but in the hearts of the elders, Wei Sheng’s talents at the sword was much higher than him!

Wei Sheng gently caressed the sword, his eyes resolute. His cultivation had rose furiously and in a short amount of time, reached the eighth level of zhuji. But what he didn’t know was that, of the past disciples that entered the sword cave, those that could enter the eighth level, none of them were below ningmai.

And him, just with his zhuji cultivation, fought and killed his way to the sixteenth level!

Starting from the thirteenth level, every step that he took, he needed to pay a price.

But he didn’t become afraid and retreat. His sword, there was no retreat, there was no hesitation.

Chapter 74 - Nightmare

Zuo Mo wasn’t get upset when he was restricted from dan-making for a month . To escape from imminent life threatening danger or to make dan for a month, it wasn’t a difficult choice to make; however, when informed that his ban would be endlessly extended by his Master until he satisfactorily completed Xin Yan Shibo’s exercise training, Zuo Mo became dumbstruck.

To meet with the visiting jindan masters was a calamity, and to receive Xin Yan Shibo’s “torture” was another calamity. If Zuo Mo had a choice, he would unhesitatingly choose the first calamity. He didn’t know the strength of those jindan masters, but he had directly experienced Xin Yan Shibo’s strength.

He now knew what being too smart for your own good was.

Master, who had always pushed him to make dan, had suddenly reversed her position and sent down a strict order for him to go to Xin Yan Shibo for “special training.” Before she left, she had sternly warned him, if he dishonored her in front of Xin Yan Shibo, when she came back, it was “humph humph.”

Master’s “Humph humph” was almost as scary as Second Shibo’s terrifying stare. Master had never explained what her “humph humph” really was, but the smile that accompanied each “humph humph” caused Zuo Mo to shiver and his hair raise up.

Certain that he was marching into the jaws of death, Zuo Mo went to Xin Yan Shibo’s grass hut. On the way there, he warned Pu Yao countless times. Pu Yao definitely was one to hold grudges. Second Shibo had attacked him, with this guy’s ungenerous attitude, he was definitely thinking of getting revenge. Pu Yao was arrogant and wanted to reclaim his honor, saying that it was because he had been previously wounded that he had been defeated by Second Shibo. Zuo Mo was celebrating the fact that Pu Yao hadn’t recovered from his wounds yet, otherwise, he definitely would be making another mess.

Didn’t he know that this was a different era?

After the incident with the yin bead, Zuo Mo had no fear of Pu Yao anymore. What Sky Yao, it was clearly an old antique that was still living in the time three thousand years ago, and completely cut off from the present!

So pitiful!

Sometimes, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but pity Pu Yao. From what he saw, Pu Yao was clearly still living in the illusions of the past, and didn’t want to face the cruel reality. Anyone who had been imprisoned for three thousand years, they would probably behave the same way when they came out. Zuo Mo thought that the incident of the yin beads had dealt a great blow to Pu Yao. This renyao had been dispirited for quite a few days. Afterwards, Pu Yao had offered many other things that could be used to make money, but Zuo Mo had sympathetically yet resolutely rejected them.

Regardless of sympathy, in order to avoid trouble, Zuo Mo sternly warned Pu Yao. Zuo Mo had initially used Second Shibo to threaten him, but seeing that there wasn’t an effect, he immediately changed to using the threat of jingshi. That was instantly effective. Pu Yao was a great consumer of jingshi. Zuo Mo didn’t know how Pu Yao could use up so much jingshi. But clearly, Pu Yao had at least one an additional source of consumption – going to the sword cave. Pu Yao was extremely desirous of yin energy, and in this area, only the sword cave had it.

Zuo Mo found that he had the feeling that he was raising a pet.

Coming to the Sunset Lookout Peak for the second time, the sword essences in the ground surrounding the grass hut seemed to recognize him and had completely disappeared.

“Second Shibo.” He shouted.

“Come in.” Second Shibo’s icy words came out from behind the wooden door.

Zuo Mo seemed to see, behind the wooden door, Second Shibo sitting in the lotus position, his body as large as a mountain, casting a shadow over him. Feeling weak and fragile, he barely raised his head and was only being able to see a pair of indifferent and frigid eyes staring at him.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shudder. He forced himself to throw away his delusions and calmed his mind. He pushed open the door and gathered his bravery to walk in.

“Sit.” Second Shibo didn’t open his eyes. Just like last time, he was sitting on a meditation mat. The sunlight came in through a hole in the roof and landed on his body.

Zuo Mo saw the meditation mat in front of Second Shibo and carefully sat down, lowering his head and listening hard.

“Starting from today, I will teach you.” Xin Yan Shibo’s body was thin and withered, but sitting there with closed eyes, he seemed to weigh a thousand catties, suppressing Zuo Mo so much he almost couldn’t breathe. He didn’t speak in a loud voice but when it landed in Zuo Mo’s ears, it was like thunder.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo weakly responded. Even now, he didn’t understand why Master and the sect leader suddenly thought of throwing him to Second Shibo.

“Our sect cultivates the sword, and doesn’t put importance on the body. But your natural body is weak and lacking. So you must start from the physical body.” Xin Yan Shibo didn’t open his eyes yet a strong presence was carried with his light words. It announced the beginning of Zuo Mo’s tragic life.

———

The mountain slopes of Wu Kong Mountain wasn’t steep but because of the winding mountain path, it took almost six hours to climb up on foot.

The outer sect disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect had suddenly found that Zuo Mo Shixiong would walk on the mountain path, panting heavily, sweat running down his back, as he went up and down. A few days later, a backpack appeared on Zuo Mo Shixiong’s back. It was still up and down. Looking at Shixiong struggling up the mountain path, some outer sect disciples wanted to help but were sworn at by Zuo Mo Shixiong. All the outer sect disciples were puzzled. Was Shixiong masochistic?

Each day, Zuo Mo wanted to cry. He didn’t have the patience to treat others politely.

Far away standing at the highest point on the mountain, Xin Yan Shixiong was supervising him. Zuo Mo didn’t dare to slack off even the slightest bit.

“Such a stupid method, your trash of a shibo is actually using such a dumb method.” Pu Yao laughed continuously at his misfortunes.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and raised his legs. His entire body was covered in sweat. Every time his bare foot touched the stone stairs, it would leave behind a wet footprint. He didn’t pay attention to Pu Yao. He wasn’t afraid that Second Shibo would find out but because he didn’t have the energy to talk. Now that he was thinking of those body cultivators, he asked himself, why didn’t he think of cultivating the body? Each step he took, he could barely make it. If he stopped to rested at all it meant that this round was wasted, and that he would face a multiplied punishment.

Second Shibo’s eyes were really terrifying, to be able to see so clearly from that far away. Every time he thought about it, he would wail inside. Second Shibo, do you really have the free time to guarding a little character like me every day, isn’t it unprofitable?

Don’t you need to meditate… … cultivate the sword… … forge something……

“Do you want me to teach you a body cultivation art?” Pu Yao snickered, “Speaking of body cultivation, mo are the true masters. Those in your xiuzhe that cultivate the body, you all learned it completely from the mo, but you really didn’t copy it well. Haha, as the true allies of the mo, I have a profound inheritance of body cultivation. Includes teaching and learning, would be beneficial for a lifetime, definitely without side effects……”

Zuo Mo was too lazy to respond to him. He bared his teeth, used all the energy in his body to move upwards step by step.

Pu Yao laughed even more merrily.

At the top of the Eastern Peak, Xiao Guo watched Zuo Mo Shixiong struggle up the winding mountain path. Her heart was deeply moved. She tightened her pink fists, determination written on her apple face.

Shixiong is so strong yet so hardworking, Xiao Guo needs to work harder!

She turned and left, deciding to multiply her practice time today!

If Zuo Mo knew of Xiao Guo’s thoughts, he would definitely wail to the heavens, “Ge is being forced!”

In reality, his mind was entirely blank. After the energy was used up, a person’s reaction times and thoughts would become slower. The second half of the ascent, it was completely instinctive. Zuo Mo couldn’t even distinguish what Pu Yao was saying.

When he finally reached the mountaintop, without a word, Second Shibo picked him up and flew to Fragrant Ginger Yard.

In the yard, a large wooden tub had been set up over a large metal pot. The wooden tub was filled with a black liquid, the smell of herbs could be detected a long way off. Xu Qing was standing next to the wooden tub. Seeing Second Shibo holding Zuo Mo, she hurriedly lit the fire.

Without a word, Xin Yan Shibo threw Zuo Mo carelessly into the wooden tub before floating away.

Splash. Like a ball of mud, Zuo Mo accurately landed in the wooden tub. The hot medicine bath made his pupils shrink and he inhaled sharply. At the side, Xu Qing’s face reddened slightly and then she said sympathetically to Zuo Mo, “Shixiong, today’s medicine bath costs one piece of third grade jingshi. The master said that it will be put on the accounts and for you to pay back in time.”

Zuo Mo’s expression was fierce and twisted as he nodded – it really was too hot!

He needed to pay for the medicine bath each day. They were really too miserly. Wasn’t this forcing him to owe debts? But after the last few days, Zuo Mo knew it was useless to rebel and could only grit his teeth and accept it. Additionally, the effect of these medicine baths were extremely evident. If he didn’t have it, Zuo Mo certainly couldn’t finish the amount of training that Second Shibo assigned. Then he would have to face a even more terrifying punishment.

Sometimes, Zuo Mo had the feeling that Second Shibo and Master were in cahoots……

Xu Qing was even more sympathetic as she reminded Zuo Mo, ”Shixiong, I need to increase the fire!”

A short while later, wails like pigs being slaughtered echoed through Fragrant Ginger Yard. The female disciples that were working at the front of the yard all sympathetically turned to look and exchanged glances before sighing, “Really pitiful!” Then they buried their heads to continue their own work.

After the medicine bath, Zuo Mo seemed to sleep-walk back to the Little West Wind Yard. The nightmare of the day finally ended.

He wanted to drop and sleep. The bones in his body seemed to want to collapse but he still forced himself to meditate in the rock room. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] didn’t do anything special for the recovery of his body, but for nurturing the mind, it was very effective.

Zuo Mo was suspicious, if he didn’t have [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he might not die from exhaustion, but he would first go insane from exhaustion.

He entered meditation extremely quickly. Time also flew quickly. When he opened his eyes, his body was still sore, but the feeling that his mind was blank had disappeared. It felt that he could control his body again. The medicine bath had been prepared by Master. Supposedly, the more exhausted he was, the more effectively the medicine would nurture the muscles.

With a hint of reluctance and helplessness, he stood. What he needed to do now was get to Sunset Lookout peak before sunrise. If he was late, it would be very bad. At this time, the sky hadn’t lightened, and was a patch of black. The mountain paths were still cold.

The night sky above his head, Zuo Mo flew towards Sunset Lookout Peak, the stars above him mischievously shining.

Sprinting in the wind, Zuo Mo only had one thought, this nightmare, please end quickly! He wanted to go back to his previous life of farming and dan-making. Even practicing the sword in the river was much better than this. Right now, he was counting the days on his hand. And what made him despair the most was what Master had said before leaving, only when Second Shibo was satisfied……

Second Shibo satisfied……

He had countless reasons to believe, in the eyes of the terrifying Second Shibo, this was just the beginning.

Just as Zuo Mo was living through a tragic life, a shocking incident happened in Dong Fu and Dong Fu shook!

Chapter 75 - Haze

The atmosphere was tense and heavy in Dong Fu Hall, each person’s face black. Wounds could be seen on some people.

In front of them silently laid the corpse of Yuan Li. It was a strange gray-green color.

Yun Xia xianzi’s eyes showed extreme sorrow. She, who was usually steady, couldn’t help but feel trepidation. To search for the traces of the yaomo who could force the Stars in Daytime, they had taken turns searching in Dong Fu. Yet no one could have thought that they would encounter an ambush today.

This definitely had been an extremely well-planned ambush. The enemy’s target was Yuan Li. There were many of them, all of them masked, and with astounding cultivation. Their cooperation was also extremely tight. Yun Li was almost killed instantly. At that time, Yun Xia xianzi had been extremely close to Yun Li. If she had hesitated in throwing out the yin thunder bead that she had just forged, she would also have been affected by the other’s attack. It was only by relying on the yin thunder bead, that she had barely avoided an ordeal.

“Who were those people?” Tian Song Zi’s face was black. As the true ruler of Dong Fu, to have someone publicly attack his allies in his lands was undoubtedly a provocation to him.

Yun Xia xianzi calmed down her mind and said, with lingering fears, “I don’t know. They didn’t use flying swords. All they used was five elemental smoke. In combination with their formations, it was extremely powerful.”

“Five Element smoke?” Old He raised his head in slight shock. He hadn’t gone today. He said gravely, “Most of the people who use Five Elemental smoke are roaming xiu, and it’s not easy to collect such a thing……”

“That might not be true.” At this time, Wen Tie sanren said heavily, “It might be that they are trying to misleading us. It might not be easy to collect Five Elemental smoke but it can occasionally be bought on the market. If someone really tried, it’s not impossible. Their target was Mister Yuan! So we have to determine their motives. Why would they target Mister Yuan!”

Everyone who sat here was a veteran and their thoughts fell along the same lines. Tian Song Zi instantly realized and followed up, “They don’t want us to keep investigating the Stars in Daytime!”

“Yes. This point needs to be pondered.” Old He opened, “If they were here to pick up some benefits, stir the waters up, and then steal it away, then they would hope that we could find that yaomo. Who wouldn’t want us to find that yaomo?”

“That yaomo?” Yun Xia xianzi suddenly became alert, “Or the associates of the yaomo!”

The others stared at one another, their faces instantly dark. The people that had attacked them had clearly been part of the same group and clearly couldn’t be that wounded yaomo. It was very likely that they were associates of the yaomo. Before, they had assumed that it was only one wounded yaomo so no one had treated it seriously. With the power of so many jindan masters, wouldn’t it have been easy to exterminate one injured yaomo?

No one could have predicted that the situation would have changed so quickly. It was basically impossible to conceal the matter of the Stars in Daytime. Large numbers of xiuzhe had hoped to hunt and kill the yaomo and had furiously gathered in Sky Moon Jie.

A wounded high-grade yaomo meant countless jingshi and countless talismans!

“There are actually xiuzhe that have allied with the yaomo!” Wen Tie sanren was furious.

Old He raised his head and said, “Why couldn’t it be a group of yaomo?”

Once the words came out, the enormous Dong Fu hall fell silent.

Yun Xia xianzi tiredly went back to her residence. Xiao Huan, seeing her mistress’ expression, said with concern and terror, “Miss, why don’t we leave? The matters here are very frightening!”

Yun Xia grimaced, “How can we leave now? If we don’t conclude this matter, we will let down the deceased Mister Yuan.”

Xiao Huan bit her lips and said resolutely, “Then I will go find yin beads for Miss! If Miss has a few more yin thunder beads, then there’s no need to fear them!”

“Silly girl!” Yun Xia patted Xiao Hun’s head and said affectionately, “Getting a bargain the first one, how can you think you will get the bargain every time?”

“In any case, I can’t help Miss otherwise!” Xiao Huan’s eyes became misty. The two might formally be master and servant, but in reality they were like sisters.

“Your Miss isn’t that weak. At the least, I’m a jindan!” Yun Xia hurriedly comforted Xiao Huan but she was unconfident inside. Old He’s words circled in her heart. She knew that the situation in Blood Sky Metropolis Jie was worsening,but didn’t know how bad it actually was. If the yaomo had really infiltrated Sky Moon Jie, then how bad was the situation in Blood Sky Metropolis Jie?

At some unknown time, a drizzle of rain had started falling outside the room. Looking at the far-away mountains enveloped in the rain, the haze in Yun Xia xianzi’s heart was just as heavy.

———

Zuo Mo had been correct. His tragic life had just started. Old He’s good-intentioned reminder combined with Zuo Mo’s clever fainting, it had alarmed Pei Yuan Ran and the others. Only geniuses who were alive were able to become true masters. In the eyes of Pei Yuan, Shi Feng Rong and the others, Zuo Mo didn’t lack for talent. More so, they thought that Zuo Mo still had hidden talents that were waiting to be discovered. However, his fragile body limited his development. Dying prematurely was something that was likely to befall him.

In comparison, Wei Sheng was almost too strong in this area and didn’t need their concern at all.

Pei Yuan Ran and the others, after being advised, found that their initial thoughts were incorrect. For someone as multi-talented as Zuo Mo, it wasn’t important to cultivate the sword, it was important for him to keep his life. Rather than nurture him into an average sword cultivator, it was much better to make him an extremely healthy turtle. The upper levels of Wu Kong Sword Sect sank into simultaneous reflection. Consequently, Xin Yan personally stepped forward.

From this, it was possible to see how important Wu Kong Sword Sect thought Zuo Mo was!

After the nightmarish cultivation, Zuo Mo’s body had improved. Even though it still appeared thin, but there was some more muscles on his bones. Under the double influence of intense training and the medicinal liquid, he had gradually gotten used to the body cultivation.

It was a pity that Zuo Mo didn’t understand what his Master and the other shibo were thinking. Xin Yan Shibo personally teaching him, shocked and pained him at the same time! In all the elders, Xin Yan was the strictest and the one Zuo Mo was afraid of the most.

How good would it be if it had been Yan Le Shibo? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but fantasize sometimes.

In the grass hut, Xin Yan threw a jade scroll at Zuo Mo and led him to a valley in the back of the mountain. Zuo Mo had came to this valley before. It evidently had just been flattened and there was an eye-catching seal formation at the bottom of the valley. Without a second word, he threw Zuo Mo into the seal formation.

“Shibo, what… … what is this?” Zuo Mo asked, slightly panicked.

Xin Yan Shibo didn’t pay attention to him and floated away.

Zuo Mo looked in alarm at the surroundings. However, as nothing happened, his heart slowly calmed. Was this some body strengthening seal formation? Such a good thing, why didn’t they take it out earlier?

For a while, nothing happened. However, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to run out of the seal formation of his own accord. Shibo had thrown him in, if he ran out, the outcome would be bad. So he started to look at the jade scroll that Shibo gave him.

There was a body-cultivation scripture in the jade scroll. It was called [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. From the name, it didn’t look like one of the sect’s scriptures, but more like the scriptures of Dhyana cultivators. Where did Shibo get this? During his two years in the outer sect, he suffered through hardships trying to gather jade scrolls. Zuo mo held a special fondness for jade schools that recorded new things. This time he didn’t need to spend contribution points to get this scroll. Zuo Mo finally felt that he hadn’t suffered for nothing.

Curious, he kept on reading.

As expected, it was a Dhyana xiu scripture. The scriptures of Dhyana xiu were mostly simple and their demands on personal talent were the lowest. However, what they demanded of determination and personality was much higher. This scripture was the same. There wasn’t many complex parts but what it needed was constancy. If this would be constantly cultivated, the body would be like gold metal, and if one could comprehend, the final level would be forming the Vajrapani’s indestructible body.

Of course, Zuo Mo snorted at that. These days, no matter what jade scroll, they would always talk about how strong they were. It was the same as Pu Yao always labeling himself a Sky Yao.

However, what Zuo Mo found interesting was [Vajra Profound Sutra] mentioned that the body would not be easily wounded. No matter what the circumstances, the most important was to stay alive. If it would be somewhat mastered yaomo would be unable to approach near him, and nothing evil would be able to infiltrate. Zuo Mo suddenly found, what he was learning was more and more varied.

“This kind of second-hand item, he’s not ashamed to take it out.” Pu Yao somehow came out and said with a face full of disdain.

“Second-hand?” Zuo Mo raised the jade scroll in his hand, “Do you have it?”

“I only keep the finest!” Pu Yao said proudly.

“Like the yin bead?” Zuo Mo smirked.

Pu Yao was like a deflated balloon. The incident of the yin beads had become Zuo Mo’s most effective weapon. Pu Yao didn’t have any room to argue. But when he looked at the seal formation surrounding them, he started to snicker.

Zuo Mo’s heart started to feel unconfident and couldn’t resist asking, “What are you laughing about?”

Pu Yao’s crimson red eye held a strange laughter at Zuo Mo’s misfortunes. Zuo Mo was very familiar with this expression. He had seen this expression too many times recently. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel something was wrong.

“Have a good time.” Pu Yao was full of smugness as he went back into Zuo Mo’s consciousness.

Zuo Mo felt even more unconfident. Looking at the seals surrounding him, his heart trembled. Maybe this seal formation wasn’t a body strengthening seal formation?

At this time, suddenly a faint mist formed in the surroundings. Zuo Mo saw it clearly. The mist had been created by the seal formation. He instantly became nervous. Was it about to begin?

The mist quickly spread. He couldn’t see in front of him and became even more cautious.

Hiss!

A sword energy suddenly came out of the mist and shot at him.

Zuo Mo, already on the defense, sliced out with his hand, a sword energy leaving and accurately hitting the sword energy that was flying at him.

Ping!

A light flashed and the two sword energies destroyed each other.

Before Zuo Mo could react, hiss hiss, two other sword energies came out of the mist!

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to drop his defenses and flung out two sword energies.

Hiss hiss hiss hiss!

Four sword energies came at him from different directions.

He dodged left and weaved right, an extremely sorry figure.

The sword energies increased in number at an astounding speed, so fast that Zuo Mo couldn’t react.

When the sword energy entered his body, the needling pain caused Zuo Mo to howl. Zuo Mo finally understood what this damned seal formation was!

Chapter 76 - Body Cultivating Sword Formation

A sword formation!

This was actually a sword formation! Damn it, why did Shibo throw him into a sword formation? Zuo Mo suddenly thought of the jade scroll in his hand. If the muscles on his face weren’t paralyzed, his expression right now would be deathly pale!

Body cultivation!

To use a sword formation to cultivate the body, which bastard thought of this idea? Zuo Mo wanted to kill them. He wasn’t dumb. Actually, when he had thought of the [Vajra Profound Sutra] on his hands, he instantly understood. These sword energies were extremely small and non-fatal, but they were exceptionally painful when they hit him.

Hard for a normal flying sword to wound… …

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of the phrase and his little heart shook. Was it necessary to first be pierced by countless flying swords to create a thick skin and then cultivate the “hard to be wounded by flying swords”? He almost fainted at the idea. However, he felt that this idea was probably the truth.

In the first wave of swords, Zuo Mo had been struck seven times. It was so painful he howled.

Thankfully, the sword formation gave him time to breathe. The mist gradually dissipated yet Zuo Mo didn’t relax at all. He quickly took out [Vajra Profound Sutra]. If he didn’t guess wrong, the next storm of swords would be coming in a short while. Xin Yan Shibo’s habits were like his sword, he wouldn’t give people time to rest.

Unfortunately, Zuo Mo had guessed right!

Just as he read a bit of the contents, the second storm of swords started.

With no attention to spare for anything else, he suddenly jumped up and the sword energies left continuously from his hand.

Even though he had comprehended sword essence, he was still struck twelve times during the second wave.

This time, he didn’t make a sound. Inside, he repeatedly cursed Shibo and unhesitatingly started [Vajra Profound Sutra]. If he didn’t successfully do one round of [Vajra Profound Sutra] before the third sword storm came, he would just be ripe pickings. He almost couldn’t deal with the second wave of swords. Twelve strikes. The pain reached his bones.

Thankfully, the language of [Vajra Profound Sutra] was straightforward and simple to practice. Before the third wave arrived, Zuo Mo finally completed one round of the [Vajra Profound Sutra]. A faint gold color appeared on his skin. Before he could admire himself, the third wave of swords silently arrived.

Like the rain hitting the leaves, the “pia-pia” rang out in his ears. As expected, the pain lessened. However, this wave of swords were much denser than the last two waves. Zuo Mo might have the vajra scripture but was still dumbstruck.

He didn’t know how many times he was hit. In a daze, he could only hear Pu Yao’s extremely happy roars of laughter.

When Xin Yan Shibo carried a swollen Zuo Mo back to the Little West Wind Yard, the outer sect disciples along the way that saw the scene all had the same expression –– Zuo Mo Shixiong is very pitiful! After they had seen Zuo Mo abuse himself on the mountain roads every day, they didn’t find it strange anymore.

Of course, there were still rumors. Like Zuo Mo Shixiong had offended Xin Yan Shishu so Xin Yan Shishu was exceptionally angry and was personally administering punishment. Or that Zuo Mo Shixiong was practicing a kind of legendary art. This legendary art was exceptionally cruel and that the female disciples in Fragrant Ginger Yard could prove it.

When Zuo Mo had finally recovered in his own little yard, what welcomed him was the sympathetic gaze of the Grey Beaked goose on the rooftop. Zuo Mo climbed up self-mockingly. He finally could rest for a few days. Before leaving, Shibo had said that he would come back in five days. Clearly, the sword formation was not suited to being used every day. He also needed time to practice [Vajra Profound Sutra]. If he didn’t improve before next time, he would die a terrible death.

[Vajra Profound Sutra] had a slight healing effect. After practicing it for a little while, Zuo Mo felt his entire body had become warm. This shocked him slightly. In the scriptures he had practiced before, the most comfortable was [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. It was hard to describe the feeling of void. The feelings this time wasn’t as enchanting as cultivating [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], but for Zuo Mo who was presently wounded, the warm feeling was actually more appropriate.

Also, because it was easier to learn, there were no bottlenecks in [Vajra Profound Sutra]. It wasn’t like [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] which always made him spit blood.

After practicing for four hours, Zuo Mo’s entire body was amazingly relaxed, the marks on his body had also faded. Zuo Mo was overjoyed.

He went to the ling fields inside the valley and felt heartache as he looked at the ling grasses in the fields. He hadn’t taken care of the fields for quite a few days. Some of the more sensitive plants seemed slightly wilted. Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and harvested all those ling grasses that were sensitive and near maturity. He decided to sell all of them. The remaining ling grasses were hardier plants.

It was rare for Shibo to have mercy. With a vacation of five days, Zuo Mo could finally take a breath. Even though he knew that the reprieve was temporary and he would once again enter the nightmare after five days, he still planned on enjoying these five days.

Listening to the sound tablet, Zuo Mo hummed a little tune, his head on his arms as he looked at the jade scrolls that Elder Wei Nan had left.

As soon as he relaxed, he couldn’t help but think of making jingshi! There was no way around it. After soaking in the medicine baths every day, he was in the midst of a great amount of debt and owed Master a lot of jingshi. And now that he was restricted from the dan room, he couldn’t make the Golden Crow pill and had no income. Not only that, he also couldn’t make any progress on the new lingdan.

He suddenly thought of the water method that had been mentioned in Elder Wei Nan’s jade scrolls.

The number of ways to make dan in the world could not be counted. The fire method was the most widespread, and methods involving water and wood were more esoteric. Elder Wei Nan’s knowledge was broad and he was extremely skilled at using whatever was available in the environment to create the greatest value. Zuo Mo admired this very much. In many cases, a person’s circumstances would have all kinds of limitations, and those limits could not be changed. To use disadvantageous circumstances to create good results was undoubtedly an area worthy of deep study.

There was a cold spring in the rock room. It was acceptable for the water method. Most of the dan that could be made by the water method leaned towards the yin and the cold. This was a limit of the water method. But for Zuo Mo, he didn’t have any other choice.

There were many dan recipes involving the water method in the scrolls of Elder Wei Nan. Zuo Mo scanned through and picked a few dan that he could make now, noting down what was needed.

It seemed that he needed to go to Dong Fu.

Even though he had heavy debts, but he didn’t need to pay them off immediately so Zuo Mo still had some jingshi in his pocket. If he sold the ling grasses, which he wasn’t planning on letting the sect sell for him, he would get some more jingshi. He only had five days of vacation. It would take too long if the sect sold it, and no one could know that he had gone to Dong Fu to buy materials. If Master knew he was secretly making dan, Master’s “humph humph” would probably start taking effect. As to the outcome, he didn’t need to even think about it.

Disguising his appearance and concealing his tracks, Zuo Mo had become familiar with doing both.

The effects of the recent training were extremely evident. Zuo Mo flew as he walked, and no longer resembled the weak zombie of the past. He changed his appearance this time to a mundane looking man.

He was very familiar with Dong Fu. The quality of the ling grasses he had wasn’t the best but since he was a ling plant farmer, it was still much better than what normal cultivators could grow so they sold very quickly. He then brought some of the raw materials for the water method.

After finishing what he needed to do, his mind relaxed as he started to wander around.

———

Xiao Huan’s expression was panicked. She spent everyday guarding the Free Market, waiting for the person that had sold her the yin beads. After some time, she rented a stall and after paying a high price, she hung up a sign “Purchasing yin beads at high prices”. She believed, if that waxy-looking man saw the sign, he would come find her.

She had been frightened by Miss encountering dangers. When she found out that Miss had only survived due to the yin bead that she had brought the last time, she knew how to help Miss. If she could buy a few more yin beads, and Miss could forge more yin thunder beads, then she wouldn’t have to worry so much. She regretted very much that she hadn’t brought more the first time.

She stood guard everyday but she never encountered the yellow-skinned man.

She couldn’t help but look at a nearby stall. The stall owner was a youth. His sign was also “Buying yin beads at high price”. Xiao Huan was irritated. She recognized the youth. He was a disciple of Wen Tie sanren.

Many people had seen Miss use the yin thunder bead, and the origins of the yin bead wasn’t a secret.

It wasn’t just Yun Xia that knew how to make yin thunder beads. The method of making yin beads had been lost long ago but the method of making yin thunder beads wasn’t hard to find. Additionally, yin beads wasn’t just limited to making yin thunder beads.

Three thousand years ago, there had been a sect called Devilings Sect which had specialized in making yin beads. Of the various beads that could be made from yin beads, there were also yin thunder beads and yin fire beads as well as others. But the most famous of the Devilings Sect was the Nine Heaven Devilings Formation. The Nine Heaven Devilings Formation, it was formed using three thousand and six hundred beads of various kinds to form the formation. This was a terrifying formation that could even kill fanxu cultivators.

In the past, other than selling yin beads, the Devilings Sect would also sell already made beads as well as simple spells to make them. So things like the yin thunder bead had spread out. Due to the power of the yin thunder bead, and the ease of making them, many xiuzhe would always have some.

In the great battle three thousand years ago, the entire Devilings Sect had nearly been exterminated. The method of making the yin beads had been lost, but the method of making the yin thunder bead had been passed on.

In reality, other than Wen Tei sanren, the others were also trying to buy yin beads. But the others were not as straightforward as Wen Tie sanren. They hired locals to buy yin beads.

Xiao Huan was especially irritated when she saw Wen Tie sanren’s disciple’s disdainful attitude towards her.

“Shameless!” She cursed for the n-th time, but because the other’s cultivation was higher than her, she couldn’t do anything.

It naturally aroused the attentions of all the powers in the free market when a large group of people who wanted to buy yin beads appeared. No matter how much they asked, they still didn’t know what yin beads were. Some brave fellows took some beads to make forgeries of yin beads. The result was they were beaten until they were crippled.

After a few days, the local snakeheads knew that this group wasn’t easy to deal with and so no one tried again.

So when Zuo Mo wandered to the free market, and saw a continuous forest of signs saying “Buying yin beads at high prices”, he was instantly dumbstruck.

Chapter 77 - Plot

Zuo Mo stared dazedly at the patches of signs in the free market.

Pu Yao’s countenance was extremely smug and arrogant. The depression over the recent failure sweeping away as he said, “See, I said so. Yin beads are very valuable!”

Clarification: the yin bead is not a dan. It’s a condensation of energy, similar to the water crystal in Zuo Mo’s sword (but much more powerful and valuable).

Zuo Mo gradually regained his focus. As he swept his gaze across the market, he saw the little girl that had brought yin beads from him the previously. The little girl seemed quite panicked. Did she need the yin beads desperately? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but speculate inside. The little girl had been very kind so Zuo Mo had a good impression of her.

It appeared that the yin beads were useful. Last time, when the little girl had come, she had only brought one out of kindness. At that time, she probably didn’t recognize yin beads. Zuo Mo ruminated about selling them.

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to Pu Yao. Walking in front of the little girl, he said, “You’re buying yin beads? How many?”

Just at this time, Pu Yao suddenly said in a grave tone, “Run!”

Zuo Mo paused.

“Who would have thought that this little town of Dong Fu was concealing so much. Even something that has been lost for so long, like yin beads, also appeared,” A slightly piercing voice said reflectively. The person who spoke was the yellow robed Taoist.

“Yes. I was also very surprised when I learned about it,” The silver clad man said, a flash of puzzlement running through his eyes, “The Devilings Sect has been dead for so many years, how can a successor have appeared?”

“It’s not easy guessing about a sect’s succession,” The yellow robed Taoist’s eyes followed the silver-clad male closely, “Why do you not find someone else?”

The silver-clad male’s expression was normal, “The others? They can’t do it,”

The yellow robed Taoist smiled smugly, “Exactly. Except for you and I, the others are only average. They cannot do anything and will ruin things! Are you sure that the person who is selling the yin beads will definitely appear?”

“I am not sure,” The silver-clad male shook his head.

The yellow robbed Taoist’s expression changed, his pupils suddenly shrank, “You are making fun of me?”

The silver-clad male was not affected, “I’ve shared the information with you. If you do not find it useful, you can leave. The method of making the yin beads, it is worthy of you waiting a while,”

The yellow robed Taoist stared at the silver clad male for a long while before suddenly laughing, “You’re right! The Devilings Sect was so famous in the past, what they relied on wasn’t just the way to make yin beads. Ha ha, if I can find this person, all of the techniques of the Devilings Sect would land in our hands,”

“Don’t be happy this early,” The silver clad male said, “There are probably many that have the same idea as us.”

“Humph. They dare to steal from me, the are courting death!” The yellow robed Taoist icily said.

“It’s best to be careful. Even those people from Bright Wave Jie were ambushed and one was killed,” The brow of the silver clad male furrowed. He felt extremely puzzled by that incident. Even though he had said clever words, but he was still extremely wary of the group from Bright Wave Jie. Additionally, he had needed Yuan Li to find the yaomo. He was very clear about Yuan Li’s abilities but no one could have thought that Yuan Li would die in an ambush!

That had ruined his arrangements.

Who was it that had killed Yuan Li?

This ambush which had a clearly targeted Yuan Li, had instantly turned everything into a mess. Now that Yuan Li had been killed, his sect definitely would be angry. The branch of the Master of Bright Wave Jie would not tolerate this kind of action. If this situation dragged on, there would definitely be large numbers of high level xiuzhe that would arrive and complicate the situation.

If that happened, then he would lose the chance to benefit from this incident.

He had reacted extremely quickly and changed direction when he had seen a shift. The news that Yun Xia xianzi had relied on a yin thunder bead to escape the ambush had spread through Dong Fu. The attentions of many people had been aroused, including himself.

Just at this time, he made a sound, and his eyes were looking at a male standing in front of a stall.

“What?” The yellow robed Taoist became alert, “Did you find something?”

“He seems to have arrived,” The silver clad male stared at the average-looking man.

“Him?” Following the eyes of the silver clad male, the yellow robed Taoist also looked at Zuo Mo that was in front of Xiao Huan’s stall, “A little guy with a cultivation of zhuji, that’s not likely,”

The gaze of the silver clad male didn’t move, as he informed, “That little girl is the maid of Yun Xia xianzi. Last time, it was her that bought the yin beads. There are so many stalls in the market but that person didn’t go to any one else but straight to her’s. It’s suspicious,”

“It really is suspicious,” By this time, the yellow robed Taoist also understood and the glimmer of greed flashed in his eyes.

It wasn’t just the two of them that had noticed this.

Just as Zuo Mo went to leave, a young person appeared behind him, “Do you want to sell yin beads? Why don’t you sell to me and we can negotiate the price,”

Zuo Mo, who had received Pu Yao’s warning, instantly noticed the many gazes that had gathered on his person. He became alarmed and knew that the situation was dangerous. It was a good thing that the yin beads could be sold for a good price, but if he had to pay with his life in the process, then he wasn’t willing.

“I don’t have yin beads,” Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo quickly pretended to be ignorant, “I just noticed that you guys have been putting up stalls here for many days and was curious. What sort of treasure is this yin bead? How much is it worth? Do you have an example? Can you let me take a look? If I encounter it, I wouldn’t pass on a chance to get rich,”

“Really?” The young person smiled coldly, “Then why didn’t you come ask me, but went straight to her?”

Xiao Huan couldn’t resist anymore. Her brows raising, she said angrily, “The one named Xue, what do you mean? Why can’t he come to this lady’s stall?” This youth was Wen Tie sanren’s disciple. He was called Xue Yun. Xiao Huan always found him to be an eyesore.

“This one doesn’t mean to suggest anything,” Xue Yun smirked icily, “This one is only working on behalf of my Master. Something as good as yin beads, they can’t all go to one person,”

Zuo Mo gave a smile, “You must have misunderstood. I don’t have yin beads,” The young man had a cultivation of ningmai and wasn’t someone that a little zhuji cultivator could battle against. Zuo Mo wasn’t dumb. He understood that, if he really took out the yin beads right now then he really would die. He definitely wouldn’t get yin beads, and the other certainly would try to force out the spell to form yin beads. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be let go.

“Don’t have yin beads?” Xue Yun snorted, “That will have to be determined after I search you,”

Xiao Huan stood resolutely in front of Zuo Mo and said angrily, “You dare!” She wasn’t stupid. If Xue Yun hadn’t come, she might not have recognized Zuo Mo, but Xue Yun’s behaviour made her look closely. She found that, while this person’s appearance was different, but his figure was similar to the person from last time.

Xue Yun looked disdainfully at Xiao Huan, “You’re just a maid. Do you think yourself important!”

Finishing, he didn’t look at Xiao Huan and strode towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo saw that the situation could not be resolved, and thought that with his pitiful and weak speed even if he were to run he would most likely be unsuccessful. He really had bad luck today! Zuo Mo grimaced inside. As expected, it was risky trying to make jingshi like this and he needed to be cautious! Looking at Xue Yun who seemed extremely certain, Zuo Mo’s eyes darkened, murderous intent was rising inside. The other’s cultivation far surpassed his and he didn’t think he could win even with trickery. Noticing the confidence on the young man’s face, he decided to give the other a little surprise.

His eyes staring fixedly at Xue Yun, the ling energy in his body moved furiously. He was waiting for Xue Yun to come near and what would welcome Xu Yue would be Zuo Mo’s strongest sword attack – [Li Water Burning Heavens]!

Just at this time, suddenly someone interrupted, “Ha ha, no wonder Wen Tie sanren isn’t respected. It can be understood from seeing his disciple,”

Xue Yun’s expression instantly changed. His eyes darkened, he stopped in his steps and shouted loudly, ‘Who is this? Your word are really frightening! Why do you hide? Do you not dare to come out?”

“Just someone like you, are you enough for Ye to come out?”

The voice was faint and one could not locate the source. Xue Yun’s expression finally changed, and there was shock in his eyes. He had focused on listening just now but still couldn’t find where the voice came from. This meant that the other’s cultivation was much higher than his.

While Xue Yun was in shock, a figure suddenly leapt at Zuo Mo.

“You dare!” Several shouts sounded out simultaneously.

Swords flashed and several bright lights could be seen as flying swords flew at the figure!

All of these people were all highly skilled. Although their target wasn’t him, the sharp sword essence inside the sword energy was enough to make Zuo Mo’s skin hurt. He was extremely shocked inside. Only now did he realize that the non-descript yin bead had such a shockingly high value!

Pu Yao did have something valuable in his possession. At such a dangerous time, such a nonsensical thought had floated through Zuo Mo’s mind.

There were thousands of sword energies that formed a net but they didn’t harm Zuo Mo one bit.

The cultivation of the figure wasn’t normal either. A faint green flying sword flashed and formed a net of light in front of him, barely stopping the other flying swords. The figure suddenly disappeared from his spot. Being alone, he naturally wasn’t a match for a the group.

Just as everyone was attacking this person, a dark red rope was silently nearing Zuo Mo.

The silver clad male was the first to find it. He snorted icily, “Wanting to take advantage of the fight, it won’t be that easy!” He pointed with a hand and a silver light struck the dark red rope. The dark red rope wasn’t an average grade talisman. Like a wave, the dark red rope fluttered and then dissipated the silver light.

The silver clad male didn’t waste words. His silver hooked sword turned into an extremely thin silver light, and like a snake climbing a tree, circled and constricted around the dark red rope.

The yellow robed Taoist and the figure who had leapt at Zuo Mo were engaged in battle with each other. The figure seemed to be shrouded in a ball of smoke. No one could clearly see his appearance. The shape of his body changed rapidly. The yellow robed Taoist evidently was taking the fight seriously. The yellow gold flying sword was like a sun streaking in the sky, the light radiating from it was blinding. Each move was large and vast, extremely powerful!

No one was able to approach near Zuo Mo and Xiao Huan. The pitiful Xue Yun had, instantly been sliced by these swords into minced meat.

Xiao Huan’s face was pale and she was dazed as she looked at the sky. Those sword energies and talismans, she almost couldn’t stand under their presence.

At this time, she suddenly thought that the person who was standing beside her had a lower cultivation than her. Even she was having a hard time, would he be able to bear it? Xiao Huan was certain that this was the person who had sold her the yin beads the last time. Thinking that she had pulled someone else into this terrible situation, she couldn’t help but feel guilty.

As her pale face turned back she saw the person behind her standing with a bowed head with his hands covered by his sleeves.

Seemingly having noticed her gaze, the other suddenly raised his head and smiled at her.

A smile that was as cold as the edge of a blade appeared strangely. Xiao Huan felt a gust of cold air suddenly rise from the bottom of her feet.

Just at this time, a hand appeared without warning on Zuo Mo’s shoulder.

Chapter 78 - Making A Move

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Wen Tie sanren had his disciple in the light purchasing the yin beads, while he himself was concealed in the darkness.

When he saw that Yun Xia xianzi had yin thunder beads, it was like he was struck by lightning.

The many uses of yin beads were known to all the sects. Many people know, but there were not many people that would know more than Wen Tie sanren. In the eyes of the world, Wen Tie sanren’s origins were very mysterious. Everyone knew that he came from a small sect called Sky Fiend Sect, but it was not known thatthe little minor sect of Sky Fiend Sect was a branch sect which had survived the collapse of the Devilings Sect.

The Devilings Sect was a famous sect three thousand years ago. There had been many disciples and many branch sects. The Devilings Sect had all died in the great battle against the yaomo three thousand years ago but many of these branch sects had luckily survived; however, without the yin beads, the various spells they had learned from the Devilings Sect were useless. This caused some branches to decline and eventually die out. Some branches, of their own initiative, learned spells from other sects and managed to survive.

The Sky Fiend Sect that Wen Tie sanren came from was one of the surviving branch sects.

Sky Fiend Sect was a very small sect. As it passed down to his generation, only he was left. However, Wen Tie sanren was exceptionally talented. Even though the scriptures of the Sky Fiend sect weren’t anything special, he had managed to cultivate to jindan; however, he had reached a dead end in his cultivation and it would be hard to make progress relying on these scriptures.

So, it could be understood just how joyful he was when he saw the yin thunder bead in Yun Xia xianzi’s hands. He knew where his sect’s scriptures had originated from, the sect records had many spells relating to the yin beads. Those strange scriptures and spells, they were hundreds of times better than the scriptures was currently using. If he could find the method to make yin beads, he had hopes that he could breakthrough to yuanying.

For xiuzhe, the strength of cultivation directly determined their lifespan. Jindan was the first division. Before reaching jindan their lifespan wouldn’t surpass one hundred and fifty years, but once they broke into jindan they would have a lifespan of three hundred years. Yuanying xiuzhe would have a lifespan of five hundred years. The lifespan of a fanxu xiuzhe could reach seven hundred years, and the life span of a dacheng xiuzhe was a thousand years.

On the surface, Wen Tie sanren didn’t seem any different than any other middle-aged person, but he was already two hundred and thirty two years old. He didn’t have much time left. So when he learned that someone knew how to make yin beads, how could he not be excited?

He quickly found out the history of the yin thunder bead that Yun Xia xianzi had, and he had sent Xue Yun to bravely go to the free market to search for the yin beads, while he would hide in the shadows.

For the temptation of the yin beads, he was willing to not just cut ties with Yun Xia’s group, but if he had to pay with his life, he had to grab it.

When Zuo Mo had appeared, he was excited but kept his composure. He was clear that the news of the yin beads had spread out long ago. There were many people who wanted it. He was like an experienced hunter, patiently waiting. To be able to use a normal scripture to break into jindan, Wen Tie sanren wasn’t the average cultivator.

The situation quickly progressed according to his plans, everyone attacking in a melee battle.

As the heated battle reached its climax, he finally made a move!

Using his most skilled and hidden movement method, he silently appeared behind Zuo Mo. When his hand touched Zuo Mo’s shoulder, even if he was an experienced hunter, he couldn’t help but be excited!

Wen Tie sanren had fortuitous encounters before. When he had been a ningmai, he had discovered an earth based concealment method that was extremely unique. Relying on this, he had escaped life threatening situations multiple times.

He knew he had succeeded!

“Damn you!” The yellow robed Taoist was the first person to detect Wen Tie sanren and instantly yelled. He didn’t attend to his fight with the other xiuzhe and threw out a round gold shuttle. Once the round gold shuttle left his hand, it turned into a streak of gold light and hummed as it moved.

The silver clad male snorted and tossed a handful of silver sand, which shone like the stars, towards Wen Tie sanren.

The dark red rope moved like it was alive. A nimble turn and then it streaked towards Wen Tie sanren, shooting like a sharp arrow, howling through the air!

The other person also seemed rushed. The pale green flying sword brightened and with a clear hum, sliced at Wen Tie sanren!

Four jindan masters attacking at the same time, the resulting commotion was enough to make the sky turn dark.

Wen Tie sanren wasn’t panicked. A smug smile appeared at the corners of his lips. Grabbing Zuo Mo’s shoulder he was going to cast his greatest escape spell, an earth concealment spell, when his face suddenly changed. With a painful shout, he suddenly tore his body away and retreated!

On his palm, at some unknown time, a dark red flame had appeared.

The flame wasn’t large as it burned silently, but just in an instant, Wen Tie sanren’s right hand had turned to white bone.

Ah ah ah!

Sharp yells rang over Dong Fu. Wen Tie sanren’s pupils were dilated, his features horrific and twisted as he curled into a ball, continuously rolling on the ground.

This sudden change also shocked everyone else.

Zuo Mo raised his head and reached out with his right hand, a finger gently pointing into the empty air. A strand of crimson flame silently floated in front of him.

The round gold shuttle of the yellow robed Taoist, the silver sand of the silver clad male, the dark red rope, and the pale green flying sword all headed towards the dark red flame, like moths attracted to a flame.

The expressions of the four people changed drastically!

Just now, they had felt their talismans and flying sword had suddenly been affected by the pull of a very strong power and headed towards the silently burning crimson flame.

The state of Wen Tie sanren who was rolling on the ground as he wailed piteously also shocked everyone. The expression of the yellow robed Taoist changed as he rapidly cast a spell, wanting to retrieve the round gold shuttle, but the gold shuttle only wavered slightly but still flew towards the flame. The silver clad male was much smarter. Without another word, he retreated out of the battle . The mysterious master who had been using the dark red rope also had a good response. The rope, which had been like an arrow, suddenly slowed.

Only the flying sword glowing with green light increased its presence as it sped up rather than slow down. The sword essence was thick, full of the resolution to not return.

The gold shuttle and the silver sand, when they came into contact with the flame, was like mud entering the ocean, and disappeared without a sound in the fire.

The cultivator who had been controlling the dark red robe tried with all his power and finally stopped the rope from moving forward, yet. the tip of the rope still came into contact with the flame.

Snap-hiss!

A string of sparks, with astounding speed, leapt on the rope and headed to the other end!

The cultivator who had been hiding in the shadows was alarmed. Abandoning his rope talisman, he released it and retreated. Turning into a streak of light, he fled away!

When the sparks lit up the other end of the rope, bang, the dark red rope turned to ash, scattering in the wind.

The green flying sword, with its murderous sword essence, accurately struck the flame in front of Zuo Mo’s chest. There wasn’t any resistance. The flying sword split the flame into two! But at the same moment, the xiuzhe who had been glaring angrily in the sky suddenly spat out a ball of fresh blood, and in alarm, turned and retreated!

The sword essence on the green flying sword had completely disappeared. The body of the sword had broken into tiny segments and turned to countless fragments!

The yellow robed Taoist finally lost his composure. Without being able to care for anything else, he fled in a panic.

The sudden change in the situation caused all the xiuzhe in the free market, visible or hidden, to gape in shock. Wen Tie sanren, who had been rolling on the ground, had turned into a pile of dust with nothing remaining. In a short encounter, five jindan masters, one dead, one wounded, three fleeing, how much power would this take?

Everyone’s eyes as they looked at Zuo Mo all changed. The people who had been tempted by the yin beads all felt relieved that they hadn’t also attacked.

The enormous free market was completely silent. There was only a crimson flame burning in front of Zuo Mo’s chest.

Zuo Mo reached out with a finger. The flame turned into a string and burrowed into his finger.

Xiao Huan’s complexion was deathly pale, her mind dazed as she stood. Her mind was completely blank. She didn’t even register Zuo Mo’s departure. Only after a long time, when her mind finally refocused, she saw Miss’ pale face, and couldn’t resist anymore but fall into Miss’ embrace and started crying.

Just at this time, two yin beads dropped to the ground.

Mistress and servant couldn’t help but be shocked.

Zuo Mo flew forward quickly. His eyes were dark, even the blade-like smile on his face seemed to have become weak. He had leapt and flew away without anyone daring to stop him. Not one person dared to pursue him… … hm, that wasn’t right… ….

He suddenly stopped.

A white-clothed Lin Qian appeared behind him. At this time, Lin Qian didn’t seem as casual and harmless as when Zuo Mo had first encountered him. All the ling energy in his body was moving. He was like an unsheathed sword, the sword essence spreading out! His expression was grave. He didn’t dare to relax as he stared fixedly at the figure that he couldn’t really make out.

Zuo Mo gave a light laugh, “Ha ha, you’re pretty brave.”

The voice was icy. Even though it was a laugh, it didn’t have a hint of emotion. If Zuo Mo was conscious, he definitely would identify it as Pu Yao’s voice. Pitiful Zuo Mo. In the near-death situation just now, Pu Yao finally couldn’t help but interfere.

Lin Qian’s position didn’t change. His expression was defensive, positioned so he could release his strongest attack at any time. In a deep voice, he asked, “Elder’s cultivation is astounding. But why would you not let others see your true face?”

Pu Yao stared at Lin Qian, the mirth on his face even thicker, “Little friend, I don’t have time to play with you today. But don’t worry, we will meet if there is a chance in the future.” Nonsensically, he threw down, “So interesting! Ha ha!”

Before the words landed, a ball of flame rose from his feet.

Lin Qian was first taken back and then shouted, “Elder, wait!”

Disdain appeared in Pu Yao’s eyes. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared in the air.

It was like Lin Qian was released from a heavy weight. He stood in his original spot. Only now did he realize, that without noticing, his back was wet with sweat. How long has it been since he had been as nervous as this?

Suddenly, his expression flickered and he disappeared in the wind.

Just after Lin Qian disappeared, a group of people arrived at the location. It was a group clothed in black wearing masks. The person at the front suddenly came to the spot that Pu Yao had been standing and touched the ground with his hand, the patch of ground didn’t seem different at all, “We’re not wrong!”

The short words were filled with joy. But then he said in irritation, “It is a pity we’re late!”

The crowd of black clothed people shifted in response but no one spoke.

“This one has always been curious. What are you searching for?”

A light voice landed in the ears of this crowd of black clothed people like lightning on a clear day. The expression of all those people changed as they turned quickly.

A white clothed Lin Qian raised his feet and, step by step, neared them, “Can you tell me, who the elder that was just here really is?”

His expression was indifferent, but between his brows, the sword essence was thick.

Book 02 - A Problematic Youth

Chapter 79: Zuo Mo’s Decision

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and instantly let out a wail of pain. His body felt like someone had taken a short blade and scraped all over. It was excruciatingly painful. Was he at home? What time was it? Zuo Mo struggled up while shaking his dizzy head.

He had gone to Dong Fu, and bought a lot of things. His gaze landed on the hundred treasures pouch. Right, and then after that? He had gone to the free market… …

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrunk. He remembered!

Yin beads! It was yin beads… … those horrifyingly strong xiuzhe… …

Zuo Mo reflexively touched himself. Even though his entire body was in pain, he was completely unharmed and wasn’t lacking any arms or legs. He was still alive! He remembered he had suddenly fainted. What happened after that? How did he return to the Little West Wind Yard?

He didn’t know. Did someone rescue him? This was the first idea that appeared in his head.

Even though he didn’t know much, but he wasn’t dumb. The forest of signs in the free market was enough to make him realize the value of the yin bead was much larger than he had imagined. Those people would have no reason to let him free. He hurried to flip through his hundred treasures pouch. When he saw the yin beads were still there, he was even more confused. He took a count and found that there were two less.

Whichever way he looked at it, it seemed strange.

He suddenly realized he could ask Pu Yao. That guy definitely would know what had happened.

When Zuo Mo entered the sea of consciousness, he was instantly shocked. The furiously dancing sea of flames of the past was now withered, the flames extremely weak like the embers left after a fire and could extinguish at any time. The two stars were unchanged, hanging like diamonds in the void. The sword river didn’t change either, same as usual, half of it icicles moving, half of it burning with water flames.

Why would it be like this?

Restraining the terror in his heart, Zuo Mo started to sprint in the direction that Pu Yao was usually at. He had a strong feeling inside that something major had definitely happened!

When he reached the stele and saw Pu Yao on top of the stele, he was dumbstruck. Pu Yao’s face was without any color. He was like a statue as he sat, legs coiled, on the stele, motionless. Black clouds moved around his body.

“Pu!” Zuo Mo tried to control the terror inside and called out.

Pu Yao didn’t respond. He was like a stone statue carved out of white marble.

Zuo Mo called a few more time. Pu Yao didn’t seem to hear it.

Something definitely had happened!

Zuo Mo forced himself to calm down. He carefully thought back to what happened that day. Yin beads. And then he connected it to Pu Yao’s present state. What happened that day, it was obvious… …

In the eyes of high level xiuzhe, low level xiuzhe was like grass. When he had saw Xue Yun, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to resolve it and that was why he decided to go all in. People would kill for even a low level talisman, how about the mysterious yin bead? Most of the yin beads he had were still present. That meant that those people hadn’t got them.

Had it really been Pu Yao who saved him?

Zuo Mo almost couldn’t believe it. Would Pu Yao be that kind? Yet this guess seemed to be the most reasonable one.

As to Pu Yao’s sorry state right now, Zuo Mo wasn’t certain. Was he wounded?

It seemed that it was quite serious… …

Even that time Pu Yao had been wounded by Xin Yan Shibo, he hadn’t been this weak. Looking dazedly at Pu Yao, who was completely lifeless, Zuo Mo suddenly thought, would Pu Yao just die like this? But for some unknown reason, he pushed down the idea. This thought made him feel slightly terrified. Terrified that Pu Yao would disappear like this? Wasn’t that what he had been hoping all this time?

Looking at the lifeless Pu Yao, Zuo Mo’s eyes became murky.

He closed his eyes. A beat later, he opened them again.

Ge wouldn’t owe anyone!

He was only paying back the other for saving his life, Zuo Mo told himself.

For some unknown reason, when he made this decision, the terror inside suddenly stopped.

Raising his head to glance at the statue-like Pu Yao, Zuo Mo took a deep breath. He started to think back to every detail of his interactions with Pu Yao, hoping to find a way to help him.

The first thing he thought about was [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Pu Yao had been constantly tempting or forcing him to practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Zuo Mo remembered very clearly, it had been when he had broken through to one breath that the flame sea in his consciousness had become vigorous. Looking at the weak flames that were so weak now that it seemed as though they would extinguish at any time, Zuo Mo felt these crimson flames should have a very close relationship with Pu Yao.

The second was jingshi. Pu Yao always needed a lot of jingshi. The great majority of Zuo Mo’s jingshi would end up in Pu Yao’s hands. Zuo Mo had always been slightly amazed by the great appetite Pu Yao had towards jingshi. Even though Zuo Mo didn’t know where Pu Yao spent the jingshi but it was clear that jingshi was very important to Pu Yao. Maybe it helped Pu Yao somehow.

And then it was yin energy. Zuo Mo could still see the picture of Pu Yao furiously taking in yin energy on that trip to the sword cave. Zuo Mo felt that, for Pu Yao, yin energy was something enriching and should help him.

After a long time, Zuo Mo concluded these three points. In these three, the most difficult was yin energy. To take in yin energy, that needed going into the sword cave. When Pu Yao was conscious, entering the sword cave was just a matter of jingshi. But relying just on Zuo Mo, the difficulty of entering the sword cave was very high, and basically hopeless. Up until now, only Wei Sheng Shixiong had been allowed by the sect into the sword cave. For everyone else, even though Zuo Mo had comprehended the Li water sword essence and showed his talent, the elders in the sect didn’t even mention it.

Zuo Mo put his attention on the first two points. In his perspective, those two were more practical.

He decided to go to the rock room to meditate and practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Just as he was preparing to leave, he saw from the mirror that he hadn’t changed his appearance back. He hurriedly washed away the disguise on his face. If someone came in right now, that would be bad.

It had been a very long time since Zuo Mo had been so focused when he was practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Even though he still persisted in practicing it everyday, but he didn’t put much thought into it. Now that he really paid attention, he instantly found many places he was unclear about but had dismissed usually. He couldn’t help but feel guilty and reflect on himself. It was like he had gone back to the time before he had broken through to one breath as he furiously started to study this cryptic and dull scripture.

People were always like this. When they needed time, they would find that time was abnormally slippery. If one wasn’t careful, it would slip away.

Coming out of his meditation state, the sky was already dark. Zuo Mo went to take a look at the sea of consciousness. The flames were still very weak and didn’t seem to have visibly changed. It seemed that it needed a long-term effort, he thought inside.

Leaving the consciousness, he started to sort out the ling herbs that he had bought in Dong Fu. These raw materials had been for him to experiment with the water method and to earn some jingshi. He hadn’t thought that they would be useful so early. Before, Zuo Mo had only wanted to experiment with making dan using the water method. But he was now abnormally serious. In his speculations, jingshi was one of the most important. He didn’t know what help jingshi gave Pu Yao but it was one of the few things he could do.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but grimace. It seemed that in his life, making jingshi was an eternal problem!

Throwing away that thought, he started to follow the instructions on Elder Wei Nan’s jade scrolls and prepare the ingredients.

The water method and the fire method were as different as the earth and sky. It was the first time Zuo Mo had come into contact with many of these things. But luckily, he had some dan-making experience now. Before, the experience of making so many golden crow pills had also given him a lot of experience. The language that Elder Wei Nan’s jade scroll was written in was straight and clear, without any flourishes. It wasn’t hard for Zuo Mo to understand.

This was also why Zuo Mo would always feel his mind expand and be entrance when he browsed Elder Wei Nan’s jade scrolls, yet when he read [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], it was like his intestines were turned inside out and he felt that death would be welcome.

Zuo Mo studied the basic steps in the water method many times. Even though he wasn’t totally familiar, he wasn’t unfamiliar with it. The uniqueness of the water method laid in that it required making a “dan embryo”. The lingdan would be raised in the dan embryo. The process was like people during pregnancy, extremely miraculous.

The most important step of the water method was to use spells and ling energy as channels, all kinds of materials and ling grasses as the flesh in order to form a dan embryo. It would not just directly decide whether a dan would form, but any little difference could cause the dan that would be formed to be completely different.

This was one of the important reasons that the water method wasn’t as popular as the fire method. It was even hard to grasp the patterns and trends involved.

For Zuo Mo, this was undoubted a new challenge. Luckily, his present cultivation was much higher than Elder Wei Nan when he had first tried the water method. The writings of Elder Wei Nan was extremely detailed. Many important parts, he had repeated and narrated it over. And Zuo Mo had one advantage that Elder Wei Nan didn’t have. Zuo Mo had spiritual power. His consciousness, not just Elder Wei Nan, but the shixiong in the sect wouldn’t be as strong as him. The benefits of using his consciousness had been crucial when he had been using the fire method.

Taking the ling grasses and herbs he had prepared, he went next to the ling spring in the rock room. The ling spring was extremely cold and was near the ling vein. After so many years, the ling energy in the spring was extremely dense. Along the way, Zuo Mo inspected the ice cloud grass that was being grown in it. Seeing that its growth was very good, he put it to the side.

Focusing, Zuo Mo’s hands was like snowflakes flying in the air.

Some strangely shaped character seals that glowed slightly flew out of his hands and entered the ling spring. When those glowing character seals entered the ling spring, it was like there was a natural attraction between them and they slowly crowded together.

Zuo Mo stared with wide eyes unblinkingly, the speed of his hands not slowing down.

As Zuo Mo’s finger motions changed, the glowing character seals in the ling spring slowly moved. Like putting together puzzle pieces, the character seals slowly combined together.

Two whole hours, and Zuo Mo was soaked in sweat, mist coming off his body. His eyes didn’t dare to move away. With the finger motions that kept on changing, Zuo Mo’s fingers were extremely sore. But he could only grit his teeth and bear it. If he was the slightest bit lacking in attention, it meant that all his effort would be wasted.

When the last glowing character seal went in, a steady “embryo frame” took form. A light blue light suddenly appeared and flashed around the surface of the seal characters!

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to hesitate. Without any time to wipe away the sweat, he used a specialized spell to add in the pre-prepared materials.

A while later, a light blue spherical dan embryo quietly floated in the ling spring.

Chapter 80: A Transformation On The Gravestone

Five days of rest passed in the blink of an eye.

Waiting for Xin Yan Shibo’s harsh training, Zuo Mo accidentally found out that Shibo had left on other matters and his training would be temporarily halted. Without anything else to do Zuo Mo could only go to find Master, but strangely, she was also absent. He quickly discovered that the sect leader was not present, and neither was Yan Le shibo.

What had happened?

Of course, Zuo Mo didn’t know that Pu Yao’s exceptionally strong display completely shocked Sky Moon Jie. One encounter, five jindan masters, one dead, one wounded, and three fled. Such terrifying strength, it was shocking to hear about. Jindan level xiuzhe, in Sky Moon Jie they were high level masters that could be ranked and counted, but they were so weak against that person. This incident also was connected to many sensitive matters. Bright Wave Jie quickly responded. Almost all the high level xiuzhe in Sky Moon Jie cooperated fully, and Wu Kong Sword Sect naturally couldn’t stay out of it.

Even without Xin Yan Shibo’s supervision, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to relax. If he didn’t practice [Vajra Profound Sutra], the one who would suffer would be him.

He decided to stay in the Little West Wind Yard and focus on cultivating.

Pu Yao was still a statue, motionless. The flames in the sea of consciousness were still very weak, as though they would extinguish at any time.

Only a few days later did Zuo Mo, from the sound tablet, learn that Dong Fu had almost been flipped on its head, and learn what Pu Yao really did. When he heard of the dark red flame, he knew undoubtedly that it was Pu Yao. This guy didn’t even inform him before taking control of his body! Zuo Mo felt hatred. And Pu Yao’s glorious victory of one against five made his jaw drop.

Stars in Daylight, a strong and mysterious fire xiu, the long-lost yin bead… …

A string of complex incidents made Sky Moon Jie abnormally lively.

But these didn’t have much to do with Zuo Mo now. Right now, he didn’t dare to run out. If someone accidentally found out… … he shuddered at this thought. He docilely stayed in the little yard, working hard on [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Compared to profound and cryptic [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], [Vajra Profound Sutra] progressed much more quickly. Zuo Mo could clearly feel his body was much stronger than before, even though he still looked thin and weak on the surface.

There wasn’t any movement from the dan embryo in the ling spring. Master’s ban hadn’t been raised so he could not go to the dan room of Fragrant Ginger Yard to make dan.

But, all things considered, it was actually good. He could sort out and reflect on everything that happened recently. He hadn’t had the time to look at the jade scroll that Li Ying Feng Shijie had given him before about jinzhi. He could take the time now to study it. The jinzhi in West Wind Valley needed to be constructed again. Otherwise, if the rock cave was accidentally discovered, it would be a huge blow to him.

To learn jinzhi, that required learning formations. Formations was something every cultivator had to learn. Forging, dan-making, seal writing etc etc. All of those were related to formations. The disciples of the large sects would start learning formations in lianqi in order to form a strong foundation for their road of cultivation. But for small sects, it was basically very hard to accomplish this, Wu Kong Sword Sect included.

After experimenting for a few days, Zuo Mo raised the jinzhi again.

After he just finished constructing the jinzhi, he saw a pink paper crane flying out of the sky.

“Ye, I’ve been very bored recently.”

“You need to find something to do.”

“But I don’t know what to find to do. What does ye do every day?”

“Cultivate.”

“Cultivating every day, how boring must that be. Other than cultivation? What else does ye do every day?”

Other than cultivation? Zuo Mo was stuck. Other than cultivating, what else did he do? He thought for a second and then wrote “Make dan.”

“Ye is so boring.”

Zuo Mo suddenly was slightly irritated. Barely restraining the irritation, he wrote three words “Yes, very boring.”

After a while, there finally wasn’t any paper crane that was flying over. Zuo Mo released a breath. It seemed the other person had been adequately blown away by his bland response. He returned to the stone room and started his boring cultivation.

In the rock room, Zuo Mo opened his eyes. His progress in [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was extremely slow recently. It still seemed very far away from reaching third breath.

He entered the sea of consciousness, wanting to check on Pu Yao. Pu Yao was still motionless like a statue. Zuo Mo didn’t know what to do. His own strength was extremely small. He wanted to help but had no method of helping.

He was preparing to leave when he suddenly stopped in his steps.

He abruptly turned and stared in disbelief at the gravestone under Pu Yao – there were words on the gravestone!

There were words on the gravestone, before, he could only barely make it out, but never had he seen it clearly. But this time, he saw it clearly! He hurriedly went closer, inspecting the words on the gravestone. But after a few seconds, he was struck dumb.

What was written on the gravestone was none other than [Vajra Profound Sutra]. After practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra] these recent days, he was extremely familiar with the entire scripture. After reading a few lines, he realized what it was.

Why would [Vajra Profound Sutra] be on this?

Zuo Mo found it very strange. If it had been some cryptic and profound scripture carved on here, he wouldn’t be shocked. [Vajra Profound Sutra] wasn’t some high level scripture. Zuo Mo himself guessed that it would be third grade. Such a mysterious gravestone having [Vajra Profound Sutra] on it really was a strange and puzzling thing.

Pushing down on the curiosity inside, he read it down character by character.

Quickly, he discovered something. This [Vajra Profound Sutra] was slightly different from the [Vajra Profound Sutra] that he was practicing right now. Some places, there were additions, some places, some things were changed.

Was this the true [Vajra Profound Sutra]?

Zuo Mo couldn’t understand. [Vajra Profound Sutra] wasn’t a high level scripture. Even if it was modified, it couldn’t possibly become a high level scripture.

As he thought, Zuo Mo smiled self-mockingly. He was really too greedy. For a long time, the gravestone had been mysterious in Zuo Mo’s eyes. He had unconsciously assumed that if this gravestone was connected to a scripture, it would certainly be a strong and profound scripture. So when he saw [Vajra Profound Sutra] on it, he was shocked.

Thinking about it, he decided to memorize the [Vajra Profound Sutra] on the gravestone.

When he finished memorizing the text, a scene that made him gape in shock occurred. The characters on the gravestone suddenly disappeared. The black clouds that had dissipated quietly gathered again and once again shrouded the gravestone.

Was it… … this gravestone was telling him that he was practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra] wrong? He shook his head hard and threw such the strange notion to the back of his head. In any case, it was normal for anything related to Pu Yao to be strange.

Leaving the sea of consciousness, it was like Zuo Mo was enchanted as he started to study the two different [Vajra Profound Sutra].

The gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] was only different in five places from his previous version. Just five places. These five places, he studied for a long time, and made a very startling conclusion. The difference in these five sentences, it let this [Vajra Profound Sutra] walk onto two different roads.

Other than shock, Zuo Mo felt it was expected. If there wasn’t a difference, he would actually find it strange.

But after a deeper examination, Zuo Mo was shocked once again.

Because he found, the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] wasn’t as good as the [Vajra Profound Sutra] that he was practicing!

Zuo Mo was slightly unable to accept this conclusion.

Pu Yao was an antique, but what he gave, like [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], it could be seen it was a high level thing. The gravestone that appeared together with him, how can it give a [Vajra Profound Sutra] that wasn’t good as the normal version?

Zuo Mo didn’t believe it. He continued his examination.

There wasn’t much complex content in [Vajra Profound Sutra]. The main focus of the entire text was to cultivate the body. The method of the [Vajra Profound Sutra] Zuo Mo practiced wasn’t complicated. It was using the ling energy inside the body to temper the body. And the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] was using the ling energy that was in the world to nurture the body.

Undoubtedly, the [Vajra Profound Sutra] that Zuo Mo was practicing was much more effective. Even in the rock room with the ling vein, the ling energy in the air was far from being able to compare to the pure ling energy in Zuo Mo’s body. Even more, strengthening was much more effective than nurturing. And the strength of the body that was produced by tempering was much better than a body that was nurtured.

What was this!

Zuo Mo felt that this was a joke. Was the gravestone joking with him? As he thought, he felt it was more and more likely. Otherwise, how would there be such a coincidence? He had just practiced [Vajra Profound Sutra] and then the gravestone showed [Vajra Profound Sutra]? Was it that Pu Yao wasn’t as seriously wounded as he thought and was toying with him? Or Pu Yao was lying under the gravestone already? With Pu Yao’s sense of humor, Zuo Mo wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t do anything strange and preposterous.

Zuo Mo threw the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] to one side. Such an ineffective method, it was wasting time.

But the change in the gravestone aroused Zuo Mo’s attention. Every day, he would go into the sea of consciousness multiple times to see if the gravestone had any new changes.

What he felt regretful about was, after that, the gravestone didn’t change.

A quiet gravestone, a quiet Pu Yao… …

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed, but still persisted in practicing every day.

But every time he would practice [Vajra Profound Sutra], he would always unconsciously think about the five places that were different. Those five unfamiliar sentences were like a ghost haunting him, appearing in Zuo Mo’s mind. Quite a few times, he had almost practiced the gravestone version but managed to stop himself.

Time was valuable. He couldn’t deliberately waste it, Zuo Mo thought.

Practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] finally showed hope for Zuo Mo. He had almost completely disregarded the furious increase in his cultivation in the recent days. Looking at the slightly more vigorous flames in his consciousness, his mind lightened.

It seemed he hadn’t guessed wrong! He believed, as long as he persisted in practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], there would be a day that Pu Yao would wake up!

In the recent days, all the elders of the sect were absent. Zuo Mo received a rare time of idleness. Each day, he cultivated and worked hard, time full and free.

After a few days, the lingdan in the ling spring would be complete. Zuo Mo now had a deep experience of how slow the water method was.

Suddenly, he heard someone yelling loudly outside the valley: “Zuo Shixiong, Zuo Shixiong!”

The voice was extremely frantic. Zuo Mo felt it was slightly unfamiliar. It should be one of the outer sect disciples.

His body flashed and he appeared at the mouth of the valley.

The heads of the outer sect disciples were pouring with sweat as they panted, expressions frantic. Seeing Zuo Mo, they instantly had a joyous expression.

“Shixiong! People have come to the sect to make a disturbance, and they wounded a few of the shidi!”

Chapter 81: Ling Ying Sect

When Zuo Mo rushed to the entrance of the mountain, he found the situation was much more serious than he had initially thought.

Two distinct groups of people surrounded the mountain gate. Zuo Mo’s gaze swept across the crowd of people that caused the disturbance. The ones who aroused Zuo Mo’s attention was one female and two males. The clothing and composure of those three were clearly different than the people behind them. When Zuo Mo saw Old Black had been wounded, the anger in his heart shot up.

In a stride, his body flashed and he appeared next to Old Black.

Blood was seeping out of the corners of Old Black’s mouth, his expression was withered. When he saw Zuo Mo, joy made its way across his face.

“What happened?” Zuo Mo asked in a heavy voice.

The spirits of the Wu Kong Sword Sect’s disciples rose when Zuo Mo appeared.

“Oh, finally, there’s one that is willing to stand up,” One of the two males among the trio who was wearing a grandiose blue ling armor said in a strange tone, “I had assumed that the inner sect disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect, are a group of turtles. Hey, kid, give us your name. Where’s Wei Sheng, why hasn’t he come out?”

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to him, only looking at Old Black.

Old Black’s face was full of bitterness, “They said they wanted to find Wei Sheng Shixiong to spar, but how can Wei Sheng come out? So they started making a ruckus. They said if Wei Sheng Shixiong isn’t going to come out, they would ruin the ling fields here. Think about it, how could I let them ruin my ling fields?”

Zuo Mo took out a medicine pill from his clothesand shoved it to Old Black. He was a pupil of Shi Feng Rong, at the very least, he didn’t lack medicine. The surrounding disciples all had admiring expressions. Putting Old Black into the care of the outer sect disciples behind him, Zuo Mo turned around.

“So it’s a zombie face. Hey, you’re that Zuo Mo,” The male wearing the blue ling armor arrogantly wave a finger and said, “I heard that you are skilled at making dan. You won’t be enough, go find Wei Sheng. The first genius of Dong Fu, hiding? He really isn’t anything. Isn’t there also someone that was called something like Luo Li?”

“Which sect are you from? Zuo Mo calmly asked.

“Hee hee, we are from the Ling Ying Sect,” The one who answered was the only female among the three. She wore pink peach blossom armor. Her body was extremely graceful, sweet and youthful, lights flashing in her eyes. Almost all of the gazes of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s outer sect disciples were greedily locked on her. She wasn’t embarrassed, instead she was covered in smiles.

Zuo Mo had heard of the Ling Ying sect before, it was the wealthiest sect in Dong Fu. The sect had numerous enterprises, and the disciples they admitted were mostly those of wealthy families. Unlike Wu Kong Sword Sect, they had an astounding number of disciples. Just the number of zhuji disciples in Ling Ying Sect was over eighty people. This number threw Wu Kong Sword Sect far behind them. They were first among Dong Fu. However, the reputation of the zhuji disciples of Ling Ying Sect were extremely bad. What they liked to do the most was causing trouble. Many of them had a strong family background and would cause trouble in other sects yet the other sects could only bear it.

They formed groups and made trouble everywhere. Because they consumed ling medicines from childhood, the progression of their cultivation was much faster than normal disciples. And because they were covered in talismans, if fighting occurred and they threw it down, how could normal disciples win? And if the other was stronger than them, then they would attack at once. After a while, lower level xiuzhe would walk around them.

But they were also smart and would never provoke those truly strong people such as Yu Bai.

They had heard that a strong person had come out of Wu Kong Sword sect called Wei Sheng. He had been labeled by many as a once in a hundred years genius. They naturally wouldn’t dare to cause trouble at large sects such as Dong Fu Hall and Dong Qi Sword Sect. But this Wu Kong Sword Sect, they had never heard of it before. A small sect like this, they weren’t afraid at all. Due to the fact that Dong Fu had been very lively this recent while, the elders of all the sects had almost all left. Such a good chance, how could they give it up?

Before coming, they had especially done research. In this generation of Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples, the most famous was two people. The first was Wei Sheng, the second was Zuo Mo, who was skilled in dan-making. But no one had ever seen how strong Wei Sheng was. This made them even more certain that Wei Sheng only had an inflated reputation. As to Zuo Mo, a dan-maker, what waves could he make? Other than that, there was someone called Luo Li, but he was supposedly average.

There were three people, the one wearing the blue ling armor was called Yan Ming Zi. The other wearing an eye-catching bright red ling armor was called Hu Shan. The name of the female wearing the pink peach blossom ling armor was called Tao Zhu Er.

“Oh,” Zuo Mo expressionlessly responded. He then turned to ask Old Black, “Who wounded you?”

“Haha, there’s no need to ask, ye did it,” Yan Ming Zi said disdainfully, “You should go get Wei Sheng to come out. You only make dan, ye is almost embarrassed… …”

The voice suddenly stopped.

Yan Ming Zi stared with slight shock at Zuo Mo. In his eyes, this little zombie in front of him seemed to suddenly change into a completely different person. That feeling… … it was like a sword that was now unsheathed… …

It wasn’t the first time that Yan Ming Zi fought and caused trouble. He was very experienced.

He dropped his mirthful expression, and said somewhat seriously, “Hadn’t thought that I would not see clearly. You are actually a master!” The other two were also surprised. The presence Zuo Mo exuded definitely didn’t seem like a cultivator who was obsessed with dan-making would have. But the two weren’t very worried. They had hung out on the streets for this long and the number of hard bones they had encountered couldn’t be counted. Many people were more powerful than them, but weren’t they all defeated in the end? Even more, this little zombie had lower cultivation than them.

Zuo Mo didn’t waste words and raised his ice crystal sword.

“Ha! You are really poor!” Yan Ming Zi roared with laughter and said with a smug face, “Take a look at ye’s flying sword!”

The sword was three feet, shaped like an elongated water droplet. The body of the sword was like the surface of a pond, dark and the bottom unfathomable. Occasionally, a streak of light would flash past and display the extravagance.

“The sword’s name is Water Drop, third-grade, and the highest quality of water element flying sword,” He examined Zuo Mo and shook his head, “Everything on your body isn’t even worth a fraction of this flying sword,”

Zuo Mo completely lost the desire to converse with the other. Without another word, he attacked first.

[Flowing Water] of [Li Water Sword Scripture]!

An invisible ripple spread out in front of Zuo Mo. The ice crystal sword seemed to disappear and then appeared out of nowhere in front of Yan Ming Zi.

Yan Ming Zi only seemed to see a blur before the other’s flying sword suddenly was in front of him. The sword essence contained in the tip of the sword was so sharp he almost couldn’t keep his eyes open. He jumped in fright. He hurriedly manipulated his flying sword to parry. The other’s flying sword seemed abnormal slippery and with a smooth curve, it nimbly avoided his flying sword and came straight at him.

Yan Ming Zi was in a panic but his battle experience was much richer. He knew that the other’s flying sword wasn’t as good as his and decided to go for a frontal encounter.

Zuo Mo snorted coldly. It might have been that he had interacted for too long with Pu Yao that his snort was very similar. He knew what the other was thinking. However, the quality of his ice crystal sword was far lesser than the other. If the two hit, the one who would suffer would be him. He only had this flying sword. If it was damaged here, the sect definitely wouldn’t give him another one for free.

But Zuo Mo’s skill with [Li Water Sword Scripture] was far better than in the past. The teachings of Xin Yan Shibo had covered many of his shortcomings. The [Li Water Sword Scripture] that he casted now was smooth and flowing, almost traceless.

The sword scripture that the other used was also abnormally special but it was clear that the other hadn’t focused on practicing it. He wasn’t able to capture the essence of many of the details. Based on the details, the other’s sword scripture was slightly above [Li Water Sword Scripture]. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shake his head. Such a good sword scripture, but the other didn’t know to treasure it. He was also extremely tempted by the other’s flying sword. In comparison, his ice crystal sword was extremely cheap. In reality, what Zuo Mo minded the most was the other’s water drop sword was just perfect for [Li Water Sword Scripture].

His ice crystal sword was appropriate for Xin Yan Shibo’s sword essence but wasn’t suited for [Li Water Sword Scripture]. Zuo Mo had been thinking for a long time about obtaining a flying sword suited for [Li Water Sword Scripture].

His heart moved and he couldn’t help but have an idea.

The ice crystal sword became even harder to follow. His sword moves still followed the path of entangling and intricacies. But in all of this, there was a slight hint of explosiveness, and was full of murderous intent. This little bit of explosiveness caused Yan Ming Zi to feel the pressure had increased greatly. This dissonant feeling made him extremely uncomfortable!

Hu Shan and Tao Zhu Er’s faces were full of surprise. Yan Ming Zi was in a disadvantageous position.

They had to reexamine Zuo Mo.

“This Zuo Mo is pretty strong,” Tao Zhu Er’s voice held surprise, “Different than the rumors. Didn’t they say he was skilled in dan-making?”

“The information on Wu Kong Sword Sect is already very pitifully little. How could we have researched that clearly?” Hu Shan said unconcernedly. Even though he was surprised, but he was only just surprised.

“If Zuo Mo could have this kind of strength, then how strong would Wei Sheng be?” Tao Zhu Er wondered.

Hu Shan smirked, “It doesn’t matter how strong they are. They have become too well-known recently. Many of the shixiong and shijie have noticed them. Supposedly, the shishu also do not have good feelings about Wu Kong Sword Sect,”

Tao Zhu Er smiled, “Yes, Dong Fu is only this big. A new one that is coming to divide it, how could the miserly shishu of the sect be willing?”

Hu Shan said indifferently, “In any case, it isn’t our problem. But I heard that their elders are pretty strong,”

“They’re strong, but are they as strong as jingshi?” Tao Zhu Er gave a light laugh.

“Haha, right!” Hu Shan laughed.

As the two talked, the battle situation changed.

Yan Ming Zi suddenly didn’t dodge anymore. The ice crystal sword pierced his ling armor. It gave a clear ring but didn’t leave a mark on the ling arm. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but pause. During his period of distraction, Yan Ming Zi’s water drop sword suddenly attacked.

It was like an icy water sword. Zuo Mo hurriedly turned his body. He felt a gust of coldness brush past his arm!

“Haha! Just a second grade flying sword, how can it break through my black water ling armor?” Yan Ming Zi laughed smugly, his sword presence become even more bold!

Tao Zhu Er didn’t seem surprised at the scene occurring and felt it was boring. She couldn’t help but say, “Only knowing to use status to bully others, it’s so boring,” As she talked, she organized the petals on her peach blossom ling armor.

A smirk was on Hu Shan’s face as he watched the ice crystal sword strike Yan Ming Zi’s ling armor again.

It was useless, don’t you understand? If you want to blame someone, just blame it on the fact you weren’t born into a good family. He looked with some sympathy at Zuo Mo.

Yan Ming Zi didn’t seemed to have any hint of dodging. He was very confident in the ling armor he was wearing.

But when the soft and weak ice crystal sword just touched the black water ling armor, a change suddenly happened!

Chapter 82: If People Don’t Get Ill-Gotten Gains, They Won’t Be Rich!

A burst of dense sword essence flowed into the ling armor and silently snuck into Yan Ming Zi’s body.

Yan Ming Zi only felt an extremely cold needle suddenly burrow into his body. His body instantly froze.

Light flashed in Zuo Mo’s eyes as he found the opportunity he had been waiting for. With a short bark, he started [Vajra Profound Sutra] silently. A faint layer of gold suddenly floated on his sky. His legs suddenly pushed and like an arrow, his body shot out!

Yan Ming Zi’s expression suddenly changed. But his body was still frozen. What spell was this?

Zuo Mo’s goal wasn’t Yan Ming Zi but the now uncontrolled water drop sword that was floating mid-air!

It really was a good sword!

The gold glowing right hand grasped the handle of the water drop sword and the ling energy inside his body flooded inside the water drop sword.

As expected! Joy made its way inside Zuo Mo’s heart.

The other hadn’t put much effort into imprinting the sword. The bit of consciousness inside the water drop sword was pitifully weak. Zuo Mo easily erased it. The water drop sword shook two times in Zuo Mo’s hand before becoming motionless. It took a lot of time and countless effort to slowly imprint a flying sword before it would be easily controlled, and also, to not be easily stolen by others. Some strong people would construct layers of jinzhi inside the sword. If a person would try to steal the sword like Zuo Mo did, they would be wounded instead.

But Zuo Mo had guessed that this person wouldn’t spend a lot of time imprinting the flying sword. He had guessed correctly.

This change occurred very quickly, so quickly everyone gaped, the surroundings deadly silent.

Yan Ming Zi was dumbstruck. He had never thought that the other person was targeting his water drop sword! When he felt the connection he had to the water drop sword disappear, his expression changed dramatically.

Zuo Mo contently put the water drop sword in the hundred treasures pouch at his waist. His mood was great. He assumed a proper composure as he said to Yan Ming Zi, “This sword, it will count as the price you pay for offending our sect. Next time, don’t do something as silly as this.” What he had just used was the tidal sword essence of Xin Yan Shibo, extremely yin and extremely cold. Without any defenses, Yan Ming Zi had taken a huge blow.

“You you you… …” Yan Ming Zi’s finger shook as he pointed at Zuo Mo, his face pale, so angry he couldn’t talk. But he didn’t have the water drop sword anymore and couldn’t do anything to Zuo Mo.

“Haha! This is so funny!” Hu Shan laughed heartlessly, covering his stomach. He was laughing so hard he almost couldn’t breathe, “Old Yan, haha, it’s so funny! Even your sword was stolen, Old Yan, you’re definitely the first in our sect!”

“Hee hee! Brother Yan, you’re too amusing!” Tao Zhu Er laughed, looking like a flower and unable to stop.

“I I I… …” Yan Ming Zi didn’t know what to say. But when he saw Zuo Mo’s eyes sweep across the ling armor on his body over and over, his heart jumped and he hurried back a few steps. He had lost in a muddle. Even now, he didn’t understand why he had suddenly froze. What spell had the other used?

Today, he really had been humiliated. Yan Ming Zi’s heart bled blood. The sound of Hu Shan and Tao Zhu Er’s laughter was abnormally dissonant. He had lost great face. Even if they would defeat Zuo Mo together and he would take back the water drop sword, when they returned, Hu Shan and Tao Zhu Er would certainly spread this incident far and wide.

If the sword was lost, then it was lost. But if this incident passed back to the sect, he wouldn’t be able to keep his head up ever again.

He wasn’t someone kind. He was angrier at Hu Shan and Tao Zhu Er than at Zuo Mo. He was very shocked at Zuo Mo’s skills. He couldn’t understand at all. He looked at the two people who were bent over in laughter and smirked inside. Those two definitely wouldn’t have detected what had happened. The paralysis just now, it was completely silent, without a hint of warning.

After thinking it through, he calmed down. He purposefully said in an enraged voice, “Hu Shan, haven’t you been yearning for my blue three-eyed python? If you take back water drop sword for me, I’ll give it to you!”

Hu Shan didn’t laugh anymore. He tilted his head, and seriously looked at Yan Ming Zi, “Really?”

Yan Ming Zi smirked inside. On the surface, he nodded rapidly, “Of course, with Tao Zhu Er as witness, will I not pay up?”

“Okay!” Hu Shan’s face was happy as he sniffed, “Old Yan, you couldn’t even beat trash like this, you have really deteriorated. You have to practice more. Otherwise, when I bring you out to make trouble, wouldn’t you lose the face of our Ling Ying Sect?”

Yan Ming Zi hated Hu Shan for saying such ugly words. Inside, he hoped for Zuo Mo to turn Hu Shan to minced meat. His mouth went, “Wait until you get water drop sword back before you waste words.”

Hu Shan took a step out and smiled widely at Zuo Mo, “You’re an interesting guy! If you obediently give up the water drop sword, I’ll let you go once!”

The meat that reached his mouth, there wasn’t a reason to spit it out. Zuo Mo was too lazy to responded to him. He examined Hu Shan. He suddenly discovered this was a glittering golden road to becoming rich! That water drop sword, it was extremely expensive. Don’t think that Zuo Mo had more money after learning to make dan, but if this water drop sword was in the talismans stores of Dong Fu, Zuo Mo could only look at it. He definitely couldn’t afford it!

Now, it had landed in his wallet. If he converted it to jingshi… …

He suddenly realized, what was faster than taking something? What was more enjoyable than justifiably stealing something?

Zuo Mo reached out with a hand. The ice crystal sword once again came in front of him. He said in a righteous voice, “You dare to bully us Wu Kong! One on one, your Ling Ying Sect, ge really isn’t afraid.” The disciples behind Zuo Mo looked with admiration at him.

As expected, when he provoked them, Hu Shan’s expression wasn’t happy, “Humph, the bottom of the barrel and really think you are something! I had originally thought to let you off, but since you didn’t realize … …”

A dash of silver light flash in the air and landed in front of Hu Shan.

“Coward! Dare to use an ambush!” Hu Shan was both shocked and angry. A Blazing Sabre appeared in his hand!

Flames danced wildly along the long blade of the sabre, burning fiercely. Even far away, Zuo Mo felt the incoming heat.

It was another good talisman!

Zuo Mo’s eyes turned red. This blazing sabre, it definitely was the highest quality of the third grade and wasn’t lower than the water drop sword he had just taken. He hurriedly moved the ice crystal sword away. Water and fire opposed each other and depended on which was stronger. Zuo Mo was certain that if he wasn’t careful and was trapped by the other’s flame, the ice crystal sword would probably melt into a puddle of water.

He had heard before that the scriptures of Ling Ying Sect was extremely broad. He hadn’t thought that they would have something as rare as a sabre scripture. The great majority of the sects in Sky Moon Jie were based primarily on cultivating the sword. It was very rare to find xiuzhe that practiced the sabre.

The other’s blazing sabre carelessly swiped, and there would be a burst of hot flame and air that opposed him. The road that [Li Water Sword Scripture]walked was the one of lightness and careful intricacies. However, the difference between the two talismans was too great. The ice crystal sword basically couldn’t go near the other and so the sword scripture naturally wasn’t effective.

The ling armor on the other’s body was also unordinary. Red light flashed, and made Hu Shan look like a god in a mortal world.

“Ha ha! Weren’t you acting brave just now? Be brave!” Hu Shan laughed, extremely pleased. The sabre presence on his hand roiled and waves of flames chased after Zuo Mo as he jumped and dodged.

Shock was on the faces of all the Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples and they all retreated. The fire wave from Hu Shan’s blazing sabre was extremely hot. Everywhere it went, it left behind scorch marks.

As they said, people died for wealth, birds died for food! Zuo Mo tragically thought as his brain calculated rapidly. The other’s sabre scripture was clearly less than Yan Ming Zi’s sword scripture, but in cooperation with this high quality blazing sabre, the power was astounding!

Good sabre, good sabre!

Zuo Mo’s eyes was so red fire could shoot out as he made a sorry figure dodging about.

The other’s sabre presence wasn’t fierce enough. Otherwise, the fire waves could continuously come and Zuo Mo wouldn’t be able to avoid it.

It wasn’t that Zuo Mo didn’t have a solution, but that solution… …

Gritting his teeth, he decided to go through with it! But, even if he was going all in, he had to earn back his cost. As he jumped and dodged, his eyes scanned the other’s body, looking for a target. When his eyes landed on the jade pendant that was hanging from the other’s ways, his eyes couldn’t help but light up!

Good talisman!

The jade pendant was of an old style of construction, the entire body constructed by a kind of red jade. There wasn’t any impurities in the red. A black bead was encrusted in the middle. There were a few formations carved on the jade pendant. Zuo Mo recognized one of them. It was called a streaming fire core management formation. This was a formation that could increase the wearer’s sensitivity to fire, and also increase their control over fire. The streaming fire core management formation was extremely useful. For low level xiuzhe, it was something out of their dreams. However, the requirements for making the streaming fire core management formation were extremely strict. Zuo Mo couldn’t bear to use it on a regular basis. This jade pendant was able to have a streaming fire core management formation, it’s quality wasn’t ordinary!

Zuo Mo deeply realized a phrase—when the profit was large enough, it was enough for people to risk it!

All in!

Zuo Mo made the decision and quickly calmed down. He needed to find a chance to knock out his opponent in one blow.

The waves of fire turned. The flames on the body of the sabre didn’t seem as though they would become weaker. Hu Shan was completely protected by layers of flames. Zuo Mo couldn’t get near.

Zuo Mo was extremely sneaky. The waves of fire didn’t even touch his hair. Hu Shan became slightly fidgety and the sabre presence was even more rushed!

This group of people, they really were wasting good things!

Zuo Mo’s heart was full of scorn. Such a good sabre, landing in the hands of these people, it was a pearl in the hands of swine. The other’s sabre presence sped up. It seemed more dangerous but Zuo Mo could detected that the other wasn’t able to control all of it. After Zuo Mo had comprehended Xin Yan Shibo’s tidal sword essence, his perception of presence had become extremely sensitive. Due to his long term practice of comprehending li water sword essence, it had deepened his understanding of presence.

It was the same rationale for sword and sabre essence. What they were after was strength used appropriately. It wasn’t the energy used was more, the presence stronger, and so the power would always be greater.

This was a chance!

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrunk. He accurately caught the other’s minor weakness. Having waited for a long time, he instantly acted!

The ice crystal sword that had been swimming beside him like a fish gave out a light sound. Travelling along the spot where the layers of fire were the thinnest, it pushed in strongly.

Halfway, the ice crystal sword turned into an extremely cold stream of water. This wasn’t due to being melted by the fire but the result of Zuo Mo actively and furiously pushing ling energy in — metamorphosis! Metamorphosis was an upper level trick of sword scriptures. Xin Yan Shibo’s ice dragon was a high level metamorphosis of his sword.

Zuo Mo’s power right now wasn’t enough for metamorphosis. Just having touched sword essence, he could only use the dumbest and the simplest way. That was, putting large amounts of ling energy into the flying sword, pushing it to turn back to its original form and stimulating the power of its origins. It could only count as the lowest type of metamorphosis.

Basically, no one would use this kind of metamorphosis, because after doing it, the flying sword was ruined. This was also why Zuo Mo had hesitated for so long.

But after balancing the benefits and costs, he still decided to use this move.

After making the decision, he didn’t have any hesitations, no pauses.

He had been preparing for a long time, acting it out repeatedly inside. How could he not have any chance of success?

The ice crystal sword, now a stream of cold water, pushed through the layers of fire as its power increased. The cold energy was enough to freeze the surrounding flames.

Hu Shan’s face paled. He furiously moved the blazing sword, waves of fire continuously forming in hopes that they would block this extremely cold water.

However, Zuo Mo had planned for such a long time, had even paid the price of ruining the ice crystal sword, how could he stop there?

Chapter 83: Brute Force

Just as Hu Shan was furiously waving the blazing sabre, the cold water that had pierced the flames suddenly exploded, turning into seven streams and landing around Hu Shan. The seven streams were thin, filled with a white cold energy. They revolved rapidly, hissing as they moved.

[Seven Whirlpools]!

Seven bunches of cold energy and sword energy formed whirlpools. They were like the pillars of a cage, imprisoning Hu Shan.

The whirlpools were moving shocking fast, like a miniature tornado. It had a strong suction power. Everywhere it went, the layers of flames were consumed so nothing was left.

Shock appeared on Tao Zhu Er and Yan Ming Zi’s faces as they stared in disbelief at the battle. The other sect disciples who were behind Zuo Mo were extremely excited and were intoxicated by the fight.

Terror made its way onto Hu Shan’s face!

Surrounding him, seven groups of water and fire entwined to become long whirlpools. They were like seven thin pillars that securely trapped him. The bang and hiss of water and fire meeting signaled just how unstable it was and expressed the terrifying power that was in them!

“No!”

Hu Shan shouted in hopelessness, his left hand quickly going into the hundred treasures pouch at his waist!

Boom!

The seven fire and water whirlpools exploded at the same time. The pitiful Hu Shan, who just had taken out an armor seal, was swallowed by countless flames and tiny icicles!

The explosion dissipated, leaving behind smoke which faded as people made out Hu Shan’s state. That grandiose red ling armor was now dim and dirty, a layer of ash over the top. There were many small marks on the surface of the ling armor. Hu Shan’s tied up hair had been blown into a bird’s nest, his face ashy and black. Some strands of lingering smoke rose up from his face and head. The flame had completely disappeared from the blazing sabre on his hand, nothing remaining of the presence it previously had. His right hand holding the bottom half of an armor seal that he didn’t have the time to use.

His entire person was charred like burnt wood.

The jade pendant actually hadn’t been damaged at all!

Zuo Mo released a breath. He silently started [Vajra Profound Sutra] and cautiously walked in front of Hu Shan. Glancing at Hu Shan and seeing that the other didn’t seem to have responded, Zuo Mo wasn’t courteous is taking off the red jade pendant at Hu Shan’s face. After taking it, he looked with some regret at the blazing sabre on Hu Shan’s hand and the ling armor on his body. Those two were also good things! However, Zuo Mo knew that people couldn’t go over the line. Right now, he took the jade pendant. That was his prize for winning. It wasn’t outrageous. However, if he cleaned off the other person, then he could just wait for them to come back and kill him.

Also, Zuo Mo didn’t let down his defenses. His left hand had always been inside his own hundred treasure pouch, touching the water drop sword that he had just obtained. He hurriedly left behind his own imprint. Even though, in this short amount of time, he couldn’t imprint the sword and could only leave behind the simplest impression, but the ice crystal sword had been destroyed and he had no weapon. The other was also not just one person.

“Ha ha!” Yan Ming Zi saw that Zuo Mo had taken Hu Shan’s jade pendant and couldn’t stop himself from laughing smugly. He was very clear just how much Hu Shan treasured his jade pendant! Seeing Hu Shan had lost more than time, his damage even greater, Yan Ming Zi recovered his sense of equilibrium. He didn’t seem to find it so painful any more at losing the water drop sword.

Looking at Hu Shan’s sorry state, Tao Zhu Er also couldn’t stop herself from giggling. But her eyes as she looked at Zuo Mo had some more shock and curiosity.

Hu Shan slowly came back. Seeing Zuo Mo right in front of him, hatred rose, and with a hateful shout, the raised the sabre to cleave the other in half.

Zuo Mo, who had already had his defenses up, attacked even more quickly. Light lightning, he reached out with his gold glowing right hand, and accurately grabbed Hu Shan’s neck. Then he gave a hard pull… …

Crack!

A muffled sound like a head hitting a rock.

Hiss, the sound of inhales rose in the surroundings. Everyone looked dazedly at Zuo Mo. Their mouths were wide. They had completely lost the ability to speak.

Still a little bit painful! Zuo Mo bared his teeth and then threw the unconscious Hu Shan on the ground. His right hand rubbed hard at his forehead. His forehead was perfectly unharmed, and on Hu Shan’s forehead, a bloody flower was blooming.

How hard would he need to be before a flying sword couldn’t wound him? Zuo Mo thought as he rubbed his glittering forehead. But he was quite satisfied. He hadn’t wasted the pain and effort he put into training his body.

“Still want to fight?” He asked Tao Zhu Er.

In reality, when he asked this, he was not very confident. But his zombie face that could not show any emotion was like that of a skilled master. Additionally, Tao Zhu Er had completely been amazed by Zuo Mo’s abnormal attack. At this time, she didn’t know what to answer with.

“If you don’t want to fight, take him away. Ge is very busy.” Zuo Mo took the opportunity to stop the other’s words. He waved his hand, turned and made to leave.

“Wait!” Tao Zhu Er suddenly called him.

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. Did she still want to fight? Right now, his flying sword had been destroyed. If he wanted to control the water drop sword as he wished, it couldn’t be done in such a short amount of time as this. He had also used up the majority of ling energy in his body.

“What else do you want?” He turned and pretended to ask discontentedly.

“Wu Kong Sword Sect, as expected, is strong. But since you have put down a challenge of one on one, us Ling Ying Sect disciples will naturally battle to the end. In the future when we ask for guidance, please do not avoid.” Tao Zhu Er stared at Zuo Mo and stated.

She had to admit they had been caught off guard today and lost to the other. But Zuo Mo’s expression, which looked as though he didn’t think anything of them, how could these arrogant and brash wastrels swallow it? However, if she had to go up, she didn’t dare to. This person in front of her, she couldn’t seem to see him clearly.

Especially Zuo Mo’s last head attack… …

Humph, humph, such a fun thing, how can it be just the three of them that played? Tao Zhu Er thought cunningly. She believed that many people in the sect would be interested.

At this time, Zuo Mo couldn’t wait for those people to leave immediately. He didn’t even think, waved his hand to send them away: “Fine!”

Finishing, he turned around. With the admiring gazes of the outer sect disciples behind him, he floated away. This time, he didn’t hear Tao Zhu Er speak again. Zuo Mo finally released a breath.

Tao Zhu Er bit her lips. She had never been dismissed like this, had never been hurried away like this! Sometimes, the hatred of a woman would germinate from a very small detail.

Just wait! She thought hatefully.

Zuo Mo returned to the Little West Wind Yard and caressed the two talismans he took. They were really good things! The more he looked, the more he liked it. He really profited today! As to the consequences, they were completely thrown to the back of his head. In his mind, these two fine third grade talismans, they were worth anything!

After recovering his ling energy in the stone room, Zuo Mo started to imprint the water drop sword.

As he carried out the imprinting, he discovered that the water drop sword lived up to being the finest among the third grade flying swords! The body of the water drop sword was extremely soft and could curve in any direction. It also contained an extremely large amount of black water. In reality, it was a water sword! The ling energy could reach every part of the sword, and due to its softness, Zuo Mo was able to, through manipulating ling energy, change the shape of the flying sword.

It was as though it had been custom made for [Li Water Sword Scripture].

From the time he got it, other than imprinting it, Zuo Mo put it in the ling spring in the rock rome. The ling energy of the ling spring was lively and rich. To put it in there and slowly nurture it, it was especially helpful for increasing the nimbleness of the water drop sword.

As for the jade pendant, Zuo Mo wore it every day. He finally understood the formations on the jade pendant. The jade pendant had three formations. Other than [Flowing Fire Core Management Formation], there was also [Clear Heart Incantation] and [Ling Gathering Formation]. Nothing needed to be said more about [Streaming Fire Core Management Formation]. [Clear Heart Incantation] nurtured the mind and [Ling Gathering Formation] could gather the ling energy in the surroundings and was very practical.

If Zuo Mo didn’t have the ling vein in the rock room, [Ling Gathering Formation] would definitely be one of the formations he wanted to get the most. The [Ling Gathering Formation] on the jade pendant was just the most basic ling gathering formation but the effects were extremely evident.

When Zuo Mo wore the jade pendant as he meditated in the rock room, the efficiency would increase by one tenth!

Don’t underestimate the one tenth. Accumulating over time, the gap it caused was extremely large. Ling gathering formations were one of the most well studied formations. At the same time, it was also called the formation that was created through jingshi. It consumed large amounts of jingshi. So for the simpler [Ling Gathering Formation], it wasn’t as practical as taking ling energy from the jingshi. But if it had to be constructed on the jade pendant, other than needing the forger to be knowledgeable about the ling gathering formation, but the material it was constructed on had to be able to gather ling energy already. Materials that could gather ling energy as one of its attributes, all of them were extremely expensive.

On this jade pendant, the most valuable was this non-descript [Ling Gathering Formation]. It was even more valuable than the [Streaming Fire Core Management Formation]. Just this [Ling Gathering Formation], it was enough to elevate this jade pendant into third grade.

If was a pity that he couldn’t make dan right now. Otherwise, he really wanted to try out the effects of the [Streaming Fire Core Management Formation].

Zuo Mo probably wouldn’t have thought the incident of him defeating the trouble-makers of Ling Ying sect would have more of an effect with the outer sect disciples than his battle with Luo Li in the sect assessment. For outer sect disciples, the person who was stronger would make them respect him, but the shixiong who was willing to protect them and their profits, he would be more loved by them.

This battle, Zuo Mo had received great experience.

Actually, based on cultivation, he didn’t have much of a difference than Hu Shan and Yan Ming Zi. He was even slightly weaker than them. The reason that he could win came from the fact that he had comprehended sword essence. Regardless of whether it was Xin Yan Shibo’s tidal sword essence or the Li water sword essence, his understanding of the sword scripture, of presence, far surpassed the others. Combined with the other’s underestimation of him, that was how he had so easily won.

Otherwise, the person who would have lost would have probably been him, especially if Hu Shan had used the armor seal just a step earlier.

Thinking about it, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but rage. Was this group of people fighting? They were just throwing jingshi!

He pretty much was drooling at the grandiose talismans. They could carelessly use things like an armor seal. He felt pain on their behalf! Squanderer! They were truly squandering everything!

What also caught Zuo Mo’s attention was [Vajra Profound Sutra]. No matter if it was against Yan Ming Zi or Hu Shan, [Vajra Profound Sutra] had been very effective and pivotal in battle. It seemed that he had to put more time into [Vajra Profound Sutra]. This thing wouldn’t just save his life. It seemed to have other effects as well.

But when he thought about [Vajra Profound Sutra], he remembered the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra].

The five bits that had been modified haunted his mind and would pop up occasionally. Especially when he was practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra], he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the five different parts. It drastically impacted the efficiency of his practice.

Why don’t I try it? Zuo Mo thought hesitantly.

Chapter 84: For Jingshi

Looking at the dark gold skin covering his entire body, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but give a pinch.

As expected, the mechanism of the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] and the [Vajra Profound Sutra] that he had practiced before were completely different. With the previous version of [Vajra Profound Sutra], his skin had glowed with a bright gold shine. Right now, his skin was dark gold. The bright gold skin had been as hard as steel when pinched while the dark gold skin was like a metallic leather, softness within the hardness.

The [Ling Gathering Formation] on the jade pendant had been of great benefit to Zuo Mo. It caused the density of ling energy in the surroundings to increase significantly, and was very beneficial for practicing the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra].

Feeling the difference between the two, Zuo Mo decided to practice the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] for a longer length of time before examining the differences. He had a feeling that the mysterious gravestone wasn’t so simple.

In his sea of consciousness, Pu Yao was still motionless. The gravestone was also deadly silent, and the flames were weak.

However, what kept most of Zuo Mo’s attention recently was the lingdan in the ling spring which was almost completely formed. This Moisture Dan was the first time Zuo Mo had tried dan-making using the water method. Naturally, he was slightly nervous. Luckily, nothing unexpected had happened during the process. The moisture dan was successfully made.

He carefully examined the moisture dan. The lingdan was like a pink pearl, extremely adorable. This moisture dan, it was the lingdan of countless woman’s dreams. Zuo Mo had asked about the price. A first grade moisture dan like the one in his hand, one of them was worth one third grade jingshi.

This price far surpassed many normal first grade lingdan.

However, this time wasn’t the best opportunity to sell the moisture dan. He was still afraid when he thought about what occurred with the yin bead. He guessed that this fear wouldn’t be disappearing anytime soon. It was hard for this terror to be shaken off. Considering how loud the incident in Dong Fu had been, he was worried that some people would have tracked the purchases he had made. It would be very dangerous to sell the moisture dan right now.

His own strength was still very weak.

In any case, making the moisture dan was practice. Dan-making was a topic of study that required large amounts of practical experience.

The sound tablet was continuously broadcasting the news of Sky Moon Jie. The incident of Dong Fu had ended. There was news that the xiuzhe from Bright Wave Jie were gradually leaving because they had investigated for a while and hadn’t found any traces. In this recent period, several fierce conflicts had occurred in the surroundings of Dong Fu, and the mortality rate had been extremely high. After those sudden conflicts, the chaos of Dong Fu finally calmed down. Zuo Mo couldn’t help thinking that there was something going on behind the scenes.

However, it was clearly not something a zhuji cultivator like him could understand.

Listening to the sound tablet, other than it being a habit, he paid close attention to the changes in the prices of goods. Recently, the price of all kinds of ling grasses and herbs on the market had been constantly increasing. This had caused the price of all lingdan to increase as well.

Before, Zuo Mo certainly would have been very happy. This was the time that ling plant farmers could show their value.

As a ling plant farmer, his advantages in the area of ling plant farming was extremely visible, especially after he entered zhuji. Right now, as one person, the ling fields that he could take care of were more than the total of twenty outer sect disciples. Additionally, the two were not even on the same level when it came to output. On the other hand, he could pursue more attention-intensive farming and plant ling plants of higher grades.

However, the reality was, no matter in which area, he was stuck in a very awkward position.

First was the ling fields. Wu Kong Sword Sect did not have many low grade ling fields and had basically been divided by the outer sect disciples. If Zuo Mo wanted to rent them, it required squeezing out many outer sect disciples. Having deeply experienced the harsh life of an outer sect disciple, Zuo Mo was naturally unwilling to do that.

And all the ling fields of slightly higher grades, the sect had given to Fragrant Ginger Yard. Could Zuo Mo try to take ling fields from the hands of his master?

Twenty mu of third grade ling fields. In the past, Zuo Mo would have felt that it was a lot, but right now, he felt that there wasn’t enough. Yet there were just these many ling fields in the sect. There was no way around it. Wu Kong Sword Sect wasn’t a sect that was famous for its farming. Pei Yuan Ran and the others had never thought that the sect would have a ling plant farmer.

Zuo Mo saw enormous profit in the ever-increasing prices of all materials in the market. It was all jingshi!

But “a clever wife would be tripped by no rice”. Without ling fields, he didn’t have anything. His skills could not be used.

He needed to find some ling fields, Zuo Mo decided.

For some unknown reason, he kept on having a feeling of doom. It might have been that Pu Yao had once said “a war is starting”, or maybe he was thinking too much. Pu Yao, that old antique, it wasn’t the first time he had spoken nonsense. Out of caution, he still decided to try to increase his cultivation.

Before, due to the existence of the ling vein in the rock room, Zuo Mo had never thought of using other methods of increasing his cultivation. He had even sold the ling grains that the sect gave him each month for jingshi. He had also never thought of making lingdan that would be of benefit for his cultivation. He would always choose lingdan that was the easiest to sell and had the greatest profit margins.

Coming back to it, he hadn’t learned dan-making long ago. This question was quite difficult for him. When he had the free time, he needed to study it, Zuo Mo thought.

He was struggling with a problem, jingshi. He desperately needed jingshi!

On one hand, he hoped to help Pu Yao. On the other hand, what was more painful than watching a good business opportunity slip away in front of his eyes? This was like staring at a neatly ordered army of jingshi boldly march past him.

Master’s ban still rang in his ears. However, Zuo Mo still bore up against the pressure and went to Fragrant Ginger Yard. He disregarded the astonished gazes of Xu Qing and the other female disciples. At least, Zuo Mo didn’t show any timidness on the surface. Right now, he was the first ranked person in Fragrant Ginger Yard other than Master. Naturally, no one dared to stop him.

He would accept being punished!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were teary as he started to make golden crow pills.

Right now, his cultivation had increased, and adding on the [Streaming Fire Core Manipulation Formation], his efficiency at making golden crow pill was astonishing!

When Zuo Mo, eyes full of enlarged blood vessels, took a large batch of golden crow pills and found Li Ying Feng, Li Ying Feng was dumbstruck. She hesitated for a beat and asked, “Shidi, weren’t you banned from dan-making by Shigu?”

Zuo Mo had a grimace as he said, “I lack jingshi!”

Realization appeared on Li Ying Feng’s face. She didn’t ask any further, nodding her head and said, “This batch of golden crow pills will sell easily. I can give you a down payment of jingshi to you first.”

“Many thanks, Shijie!” Zuo Mo was very grateful.

Li Ying Feng smiled, “But when Shigu comes back, you won’t be able to escape being punished.”

Zuo Mo spread his hands helplessly, “There’s no way around it!” After thinking for a second, he decided to remind Shijie, “Shijie could try to buy some raw materials about now.”

Li Ying Feng looked in shock at Zuo Mo and then suddenly smiled, “Didn’t think that Shidi is also concerned about business. En, Shidi, don’t worry too much. The sect has already hoarded enough materials. Especially dan-making materials. Master had started hoarding a long time ago.”

Zuo Mo was relieved. That seemed correct. A problem that even he could see, someone as clever as Yan Le Shibo, how could he not see it?

Zuo Mo’s heart was steadied by the sect’s proactive approach.

He was paid twenty pieces of third grade jingshi from Li Ying Feng. Taking this enormous sum of wealth, Zuo Mo didn’t feel very happy. He only felt that time was even tighter. The market prices had risen again! This was undoubtedly a strong signal.

Give it to Pu Yao? Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. Okay. But then, he paused. How would he give it to Pu Yao?

Usually, Pu Yao would do it himself, and rob him of jingshi. Zuo Mo didn’t have any way to take jingshi into his consciousness.

Pu Yao, it’s not that ge doesn’t want you to use it… …

Zuo Mo, mind at peace, put away the jingshi. After some thought, he decided to rent a ling garden.

Due to the climate of Sky Moon Jie, it was very suited for farming so there were many ling gardens. But many of the ling gardens, especially those with ling fields above third grade, they always lacked people to farm them. For ling fields of third grade and above, it needed somewhat professional xiuzhe to farm them. Otherwise, it was too much of a waste of resources. Normal xiuzhe were not able to pay the huge rent. Sky Moon Jie was primarily sword xiu, and the number of ling plant farmers were pitiful so there were many empty ling gardens.

The owner of the ling garden in front of him was chattering on, “Don’t worry, I won’t cheat you. This ling garden isn’t big but the ling energy is dense and it is all third grade ling fields. The air is very humid and sun exposure is appropriate. It is suited to farming all kinds of ling grasses and herbs. It would be a pity to just farm ling grains.”

“How much for a year?” Zuo Mo asked straightforwardly.

“Fifteen pieces of third grade jingshi.” The other answered resolutely.

“Accepted!” Zuo Mo, whose wallet had just bulged, responded briskly. He was trying to steal time right now.

Two hundred mu of third grade ling fields, it was enough for him to work with! Now that the ling fields had been rented, it was a question of what to plant. Since it was two hundred mu of ling fields, he couldn’t pay as much attention and care as he did for the ling fields of West Wind Valley. Luckily, this ling garden was not far from Wu Kong Sword Sect.

He needed time… …

Zuo Mo’s eyes were entirely red and extremely motivated.

In the end, Zuo Mo picked a ling grass called Fiery Red Flower that was used very commonly in many healing lingdan. It also grew extremely quickly. The turnover was very quick and easy to sell, it was just perfect.

Zuo Mo planted a whole one hundred and eighty mu of fiery red flowers!

The remaining twenty mu, he planted three kinds of slightly rare ling herbs. This twenty mu was to increase his cultivation speed.

Speaking of how to speed up increasing cultivation, there were many methods, but the majority was related to jingshi. Of the ways, the best was to just take in the ling energy inside jingshi. This could dramatically increase the speed of cultivation. However, it require special methods to resolve the domineering nature of the ling energy of the jingshi. In comparison, Zuo Mo felt that it was more practical to find a way in dan-making.

Most of what he could make presently were first and second grade lingdan. His success rate with first grade lingdan was relatively high. It was hard to say about the success rate of second grade lingdan.

There were very little low level lingdan that could directly increase cultivation. As the ling grasses and herbs in low level lingdan were also low grade, their effects were very limited. Zuo Mo had been able to find a few that he needed in the records room of Fragrant Ginger Yard, like the [Bone Tempering Dan] to change the flesh, the [Evil Removing Dan] for removing impurities of the body. The effects of these obscure lingdan were not major, and the effects were all those that were not prioritized by sword xiu.

Zuo Mo didn’t have any room to choose.

[Bone Tempering Dan] and [Evil Removing Dan] didn’t have great effects, but he thought that if it was used together with [Vajra Profound Sutra], it would have some effect. The other than that what he placed importance on was [Spirit Increasing Dan]. Its effect was also obscure. It could increase the consciousness of xiuzhe. Zuo Mo decided to use it in combination with [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. He didn’t know if it would help.

These obscure lingdan, there wasn’t any place that sold it in Dong Fu.

It was a pity that couldn’t find lingdan that could directly increase the speed of cultivation. Upon further thought, he found it normal. If those lingdan were easily made, one could just eat dan all day… …

However, Zuo Mo depressedly found that the three lingdan he had put so much effort into picking, had three kinds of rare ingredients that he couldn’t buy.

Luckily, he managed to buy the seeds and had planted down twenty mu.

Chapter 85: Coming Up To The Door

Zuo Mo had just finished sorting out his just rented ling garden and dragged his exhausted body back to the Little West Wind Yard. But when he saw the pink little thousand crane, he wanted to faint.

Could she not torment him… …

Zuo Mo wanted to cry. But this situation wouldn’t change based on his wishes, he could only adjust to it.

“Ye, it’s so boring, let’s play a game!”

Zuo Mo wanted to reply with: “Ge really really isn’t bored.” But taking into account the other’s strange fondness for “fireworks”, Zuo Mo was extremely calm and intelligent in returning “I don’t know how to play games.”

He felt he wasn’t lying to the other. He really didn’t know how to play games. Games, to him, it was so strange that it was like he didn’t even know the word. His life, from the moment he opened his eyes, it was determined that he couldn’t leisurely play games and live a life.

But the other was very kind in not looking down at him and said: “That’s alright, I’ll teach ye.”

Zuo Mo gave his last struggles: “I’m dumb and can’t be taught.”

But, just like previous times, the other didn’t give him any room to rebel. Consequently, Zuo Mo saw a string of about eight thousand characters of game rules. This time, Zuo Mo really fainted. Such difficulty, for someone like him who didn’t like games, it really wasn’t something he could complete. He only read a few words before deciding to give up. He persisted: “I’m really stupid!”

But considering that the probability of enraging the other was too high, he weakly added another sentence: “How about you find the simplest game?”

This time, what reached his hand was a set of game instructions about two hundred characters

Hm, Zuo Mo’s mind couldn’t help but jump. Wasn’t this a formation problem? He read it thoroughly again and finally was certain that this was really a formation problem.

Formations was an area of systematic study. Zuo Mo, located in a small sect, naturally didn’t have any experience. However, in some large sects, the disciples would learn formations. From the simplest Simple Ling Formation, to Yin Yang Formation, Compound formations and gradually increasing the difficulty. This was an extremely long process of study. To help disciples with learning, some xiuzhe skilled in formations had created a set of methods to learn formations. Included in the methods were all kinds of formation problems.

Like corrections, fill in the blanks, optimization etc. There were many kinds. Over time, some xiuzhe enjoyed the process and were infatuated, creating even harder formation problems. Between many disciples, they used them as games.

Zuo Mo had never played this before and felt it was very interesting. The formations that were used were not complicated. Zuo Mo had learned them before. However, the problem was extremely tricky. He couldn’t help but fall into thinking. The other seemed to know that he was thinking and didn’t hurry him.

Thinking for a long time, he didn’t figure out anything.

Zuo Mo shook his head hard and recovered some clarity. He couldn’t help but gape inside. Did those large sect disciples play like this? He couldn’t help but admire them. No wonder they were so strong. Even the things they played with were this powerful.

However, he decided to put this game down first. There were many things he still had to do. Games, it was fine to play when he had free time. In any case, that damned woman hadn’t hurried him.

Zuo Mo went into the stone room to practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra].

After cultivation, he took out the Water Drop sword from the ling spring. With the nourishment from the ling spring, its sheen was clearer than before. Zuo Mo caressed the Water Drop sword and then started to imprint it.

One flying sword, it needed a long time to imprint it before it could move like a part of the body. And to have it move according to one’s thoughts, the time needed was even longer. The flying sword was like a sword xiu’s partner. The longer they were together, the more chemistry they had. Sword xiu wouldn’t easily change a flying sword. This point, especially after reaching jindan, it was even more evident.

These days that were spent imprinting it, he didn’t waste his efforts. Right now, Zuo Mo could move the sword like it was a part of his body. It was of a higher grade than ice crystal sword and was even more nimble.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved and the Water Drop sword in his hand jumped into midair. At the same time, he gave a shout and jumped up from the ground.

The sword flashed and moved easily.

In mid air, a flame that seemed to be made out of water gave off a faint light. The places the sword passed, a stream of water flames burned silently.

Zuo Mo seemed to be drunk. Using the Water Drop sword to practice [Li Water Sword Scripture] , it was truly an experience. When he reached the peak of his enjoyment, Zuo Mo didn’t follow the sword scripture anymore. The sword couldn’t be detected as he moved, and the sword seemed to carry a few hints of the explosive li water sword essence in the calm, and it still spread like waves.

The sword essence which had been light and wave-like, gradually turned heavier and pressuring. When it moved, it moved with great force. The explosiveness which had been barely perceivable started to burn like fire in the wind.

Still as cool as before but containing a strong explosiveness. Those two conflicting feelings gathered together but Zuo Mo didn’t seem to feel it and wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

On the Water Drop sword, the light fire-like sword energy gradually started to retreat inside.

When Zuo Mo woke up from his epiphany, he finally realized, without him noticing, his [Li Water Sword Scripture] had went up a level.

There wasn’t much joy. He stood there silently, finely savoring it.

He wasn’t clear himself what level his [Li Water Sword Scripture]was at now. [Li Water Sword Scripture]wasn’t some high level and profound scripture. Even its creator wasn’t some powerful sword xiu. It was quite unusual that Zuo Mo could master a sword scripture like this to this level. However, Zuo Mo needed to explore the road ahead by himself, because the [Li Water Sword Scripture]that he had practiced ended here. Even though the creator had written some of his speculations and frameworks for the future, many of those had been rejected by Pu Yao.

Based on profoundness, li water sword essence was far from the tidal sword essence Zuo Mo had secretly learned. However, this was Zuo Mo’s own comprehension and the sword essence he had the greatest grasp on! His understanding of li water sword essence far surpassed tidal sword essence.

Maybe, he could look and study tidal sword essence and change [Li Water Sword Scripture]. Zuo Mo’s heart moved.

But he only thought about it. He wasn’t so proud to the point of changing a sword scripture. Also, his understanding of tidal sword essence was just a hair.

At this time, he suddenly detected that someone was outside the valley. The person who was there was very docile and hadn’t set off the jinzhi.

Mouth of West Wind Valley.

“Shixiong, Ling Ying Sect’s people came again!” The messenger was still the outer sect disciple that had come last time. However, there wasn’t any of the fear that had been on his face last time, but excitement.

“They came again?” Zuo Mo was dazed.

“Yes!” The disciple said respectfully. He couldn’t disguise his excitement: “This time, five people came!”

Zuo Mo instantly felt his scalp prickle.

Five people… …

Last time, three had come. Now this time, five people!

Zuo Mo wanted to turn and run.

“They hadn’t given up, and called to spar with Shixiong!” This outer sect disciple completely didn’t notice Zuo Mo’s shift and said excitedly: “This group really doesn’t know their own weight!”

“Cough.” Zuo Mo forced himself to come and swallowed. He asked: “Who came this time?”

“The three from last time are all here, and two that I don’t recognize.”

Zuo Mo’s heart calmed down lightly. Good, good, at least, it wasn’t that all five were people he didn’t know. Two people who had lost to him. Hm, he had completely reason to disregard them. The woman, she hadn’t dared to fight that day, so this time, she definitely wouldn’t act rashly. The headache was those two that he didn’t know. Since the others had come to settle the score, they certainly would be stronger than the last two.

His mind turned quickly. Inside, he was very hesitant. Should he go or not? He was slightly regretful that he had said too much previously. He asked: “Where’s the other shixiong? You can’t bother just me every time with this kind of matter.”

“Eldest Shixiong and Shijie are all outside. Luo Li Shixiong is in seclusion. Xu Yi Shixiong is forging and has ordered not to bother him. Hao Min Shijie is being punished. Only Xu Yi Xia Shijie is free. Should I notify her?”

That woman?

Dislike instantly rose in his heart. Never mind. If she was notified, the probability that this woman would do something behind his back was very high.

Fine! Thinking about the new comprehension he just got from [Li Water Sword Scripture], Zuo Mo was instantly full of confidence. He had just learned something, and some people just came over for him to test it on. This Ling Ying Sect really was full of good people!

After thinking it through, Zuo Mo didn’t retreat anymore. He nodded and said with great composure: “Go.”

This outer sect disciple was instantly excited and hurried forward to led the way.

When they reached the mountain gate, Zuo Mo instantly staggered when he saw the dense crowd.

“Why are there so many people?”

This outer sect disciple was extremely excited: “Everyone heard that Ling Ying Sect had come and all ran over to personally see Shixiong win and teach a lesson to Ling Ying Sect’s new money!”

“Uh, but why are there female disciples as well?” Zuo Mo asked speechlessly.

“Must be coming to admire Shixiong’s elegant demeanor!”

Goosebumps instantly rose over Zuo Mo’s entire body.

Seeing Zuo Mo come out, the crowd of female disciples shrieked. Zuo Mo almost tripped.

“Wow! Shixiong is so handsome!”

“Please! It’s called cool!”

“When Shixiong was in the outer sect, I knew then that Shixiong wasn’t an average person!”

“Really want to seduce him… …”

“I will kill you!”

… …

Large black lines fell over Zuo Mo’s expressionless face. He decided to stay a bit further away from this crowd of crazy women.

When Zuo Mo started walking towards the side with male disciples, the male disciples also expressed their emotions.

“Shixiong, kill them!”

“Chop them!”

“Chop into eight pieces, cut of their hands and feet, pluck their tendons, break their channels, cut them up… …”

“So uncreative! Have to sunflower… …”

… …

Zuo Mo rapidly distanced himself from these people that were completely sunk in fighting spirit.

In the short journey of travelling through the female and male disciples, Zuo Mo, who had been full of fighting spirit, almost became completely lacking in the desire to fight.

Of course, in the eyes of everyone else, Zuo Mo Shixiong was stepping resolutely, with a cool expression, and extremely elegantly passing from their side.

But when Zuo Mo saw the even worse expressions on the faces of the five people from Ling Ying Sect, his mood instantly became better.

Chapter 86: Wen Fei

“Good day everyone,” Zuo Mo raised his hands in a greeting.

Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan’s expressions instantly became slightly uglier. Good? Good? After they returned to the sect, they had been greeted with scorn and mockery. Tao Zhu Er covered her mouth and giggled. Mirth appeared on the faces of the two Ling Ying Sect disciples, but the two managed to restrain themselves.

Ling Ying Sect had the largest number of inner sect disciples in Dong Fu. At the same time, because they lacked a strong leader, the disciples fell into factions and the complexity of the inner sect was also the first in Dong Fu.

Tao Zhu Er moved gracefully, her beautiful features instantly attracting everyone’s eyes.

Wu Kong Sword Sect’s outer sect disciples quickly divided into two camps. The male disciples stared, some of them dazed, as they drooled. Jealousy rose up in the female disciple camp, shouts of “whores” and “fox demon” came out.

Tao Zhu Er gave a beautiful smile, “This little sister admires Zuo Shixiong’s demeanor last time. However, as a disciple of Ling Ying Sect, I cannot watch as our sect’s reputation is injured and have come today to specially visit Zuo Shixiong.

The other said it so nobly but Zuo Mo sneered inside. This female might have a good appearance but she was as poisonous as a scorpion. If one wasn’t careful, they would fall into her hands. Zuo Mo, having seen her laugh so heartlessly when her fellow disciples were defeated, didn’t have a good impression of her.

“Oh,” Nothing changed on Zuo Mo’s face. Adding on that his face was tilted down, it was even harder for others to guess his thoughts.

Tao Zhu Er instantly felt that her fist had hit cotton. Such an indifferent response, she didn’t know what to say.

But she wasn’t a simple person. She took a step back and revealed the two other shixiong, stating, “Wen Fei Shixiong and Ming Dao Shixiong are truly skilled disciples of our Ling Ying Sect, and are people this little sister admire very much. Coming this time… …”

Hearing this, Wen Shan and Ming Dao instantly couldn’t help themselves from raising their head proudly and pushing out their chests, evidently they were very smug.

“If you want a fight, then let’s fight,” Zuo Mo suddenly opened, interrupting her, “However, our Wu Kong Mountain isn’t a place you can come and go whenever you want. Let’s say the ugly matters first. Who ever loses to me, I will take a talisman from them to prove our sect’s reputation.”

The words were said righteously. The Wu Kong Sword Sect outer sect disciples all cheered.

Hearing this, the two people’s expressions became discontent.

Wen Fei was clothed in green and white. a green soft cloth tied on his head. This made him look extremely elegant, as though he would leave with the wind at any time, almost like an immortal. He wasn’t satisfied to be on the weak side and smirked, “Fine, fine. If you have the ability, this one naturally will recognize the loss.”

Wearing blue ling armor, and hair tied with a gold coronet, Ming Dao also spoke, “If you lose, I will also take a talisman from you.”

Tao Zhu Er stood in the back. Seeing the two sides about to fight, a smug smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan’s eyes were blood red as they stared at Zuo Mo. They looked as though they wanted to eat him alive.

“Who is first?”

Zuo Mo asked as he stepped out a step, his presence soaring.

It might have been that he had just practiced the sword. He felt his entire body was hot, his blood on fire, as though he was being roasted. The desire for battle suddenly erupted, moving restlessly as though it wanted to burst out of his body.

Like a keen sword unsheathed, the sharp edge flashed into view! One step, and it was as though Zuo Mo had changed into a whole other person. The dullness that was on the surface and the slyness inside his bones seemed to have completely flown away. Desire for battle flowed on his body it was tangible, so pure that others could not disregard it.

Tao Zhu Er looked dazedly at Zuo Mo. The expression on her beautiful face was like she had seen a ghost.

How was this possible?

Was this still that vulgar and greedy zombie?

In her mind, Zuo Mo had a greedy and cheap character. Otherwise, who else would target someone else’s flying sword in the middle of battle?

Being defeated last time, especially by a little person like him, this was why Tao Zhu Er was so persistent. Getting tripped up by an opponent that she looked down on, how could she accept it?

But, the Zuo Mo in front of her… …

Seriousness made its way into Wen Shan’s eyes. The presence that the other exuded surprised him. However, he wasn’t the kind of wastrel that Hu Shan and Yan Ming Zi were. His family might be rich, but he was very hard-working and did have some true abilities.

He was shocked but not afraid. Taking a step forward, he declared, “I’ll fight!”

Wen Fei revealed his talisman. A light green jade fan. The skeleton was made out of jade, the cloth of the fan clearly wasn’t some common material. Green light could be seen moving on the surface. A painting of mountains and water was depicted on the surface of the fan. If someone looked closely, they would discover that the river stream between the mountains was actually slowly flowing.

Sky River Fan, third grade.

Water Drop sword, third grade.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh again at the variety of scriptures that Ling Ying Sect had. They even used fans.

When Yan Ming Zi saw his Water Drop sword, his expression became ugly. However, he liked to collect all kinds of talismans and his eyes were very experienced. He instantly noticed that the quality of the Water Drop sword was slightly better than when he had been in possession of it. He became slightly depressed. Did flying swords selectively pick people as well?

“Please!” Wen Fei shouted elegantly.

The Water Drop sword moved before the word ended,!

[Flowing Water]!

Zuo Mo’s favorite starting move. This move was like a sheep climbing a cliff, traceless.

The move he released right now was very different from before. Before, it had been light and faint. Right now, it was still quiet, but there was a hint of fire. It was like a white flame, burning without a sound.

Wen Fei smirked and gently waved Sky River Fan.

Zuo Mo felt his eyes blur and an incredibly thick pillar of water came from the sky like a water dragon, heading towards him.

[Water Dragon Roar]!

Attack against attack!

No one would have thought that Wen Fei, such a warm and elegant person, would fight so brutally. The two were competing to see whose attack would reach the other first.

Zuo Mo snorted. His sword presence didn’t change. The ling energy in his legs moving, he suddenly flashed towards the left. It was as though there were springs under his feet. His speed was extremely fast and dodged the water dragon.

Competing in attacks?

Zuo Mo wasn’t afraid. Based on speed, nothing could compare to flying swords. He gathered his ling energy and the Water Drop sword gave a slight hum. The sword turned into a stream of light, it was as fast as lightning!

A thin water curtain suddenly appeared in front of Wen Fei. The Water Drop sword crashed heavily against the water curtain. The water curtain shook fiercely. Wen Fei’s expression behind the water curtain changed slightly. However, the curtain shook, but still managed to stop the Water Drop sword!

Zuo Mo was also surprised. This water curtain seemed to be a thin layer and he hadn’t thought it could stop the Water Drop sword. It was much stronger than he had predicted. However, he could also see this water curtain had just managed to stop it. If he put in a bit more effort, it would certainly break.

He was going to channel his ling energy and hadn’t thought the thick water dragon would act as if it was alive, turning nimbly and reversing back in his direction.

In the blink of an eye, the water dragon rushed in front of him. When this water dragon appeared in front of him, he finally realized just how enormous it was! It was like a large river, roaring as it headed for his head, the presence extremely shocking!

Zuo Mo didn’t even think as the Water Drop sword turned into a dash of light and appeared between him and the water dragon.

A cold light flashed in his eyes, and the Water Drop sword rose.

[Water Fall]!

Everyone felt the landscape suddenly flash and a waterfall seemed to have appeared in front of Zuo Mo. It was a waterfall composed of countless sword energies. As they flowed, they accurately hit the head of the water dragon!

Boom!

The head of the water dragon suddenly exploded, water splashing everywhere. The disciples that had been watching were instantly soaked but no one moved their eyes away. Such a spectacular fight, if they missed something, it would be such a pity.

The water dragon continued to flow, as though it didn’t have an end. The waterfall that was floating in the sky also seemed endless.

“Amazing!” Yan Ming Zi said, his mouth gaping. He was completely convinced now. The other was so powerful, winning last time, it wasn’t due to trickery.

Hu Shan didn’t dare to blink and nodded in empathy, “I had heard before that Wen Fei Shixiong’s Sky River Fan can enter the top three of our generation of disciples. It really lives up to the rumors!”

Yan Ming Zi said, sharing in the pride, “Right. But my Water Drop sword isn’t mediocre. To be able to keep up with Sky River Fan, it isn’t of average quality. I have really good eyes.”

“That’s because Zuo Mo’s strong.” Hu Shan wasn’t polite, “In your hands, it would be great if you could even block five of Wen Shixiong’s moves.”

Yan Ming Zi wasn’t angry, “I’m not good as others in fighting. However, in buying talismans, which one of you is my match?”

Hu Shan choked, not knowing what to say.

Waves also spread in Tao Zhu Er’s heart. She would have never thought that Zuo Mo could keep up with Wen Fei Shixiong because she knew just how strong Wen Fei Shixiong was.

Wen Fei Shixiong wasn’t famous outside the sect, but in this generation of Ling Ying Sect disciples, he was a truly strong person. He was deeply loved by the elders. That Sky River Fan had been made specially for him by the sect elders and was the envy of countless people. Wen Fei Shixiong didn’t fail to live up to expectations. His talent was exceptional and he was hard-working. Adding on the nourishment from countless lingdan, his power was extremely deep. However, he rarely fought. Even the other disciples in the sect didn’t know just how strong he was. Tao Zhu Er had accidentally saw Wen Fei Shixiong cultivating and had been shocked. It had left a deep impression. That was why she had requested Wen Fei Shixiong. She wanted to beat down Zuo Mo’s bravado.

Also, Tao Zhu Er knew that the elders were planning for Wen Fei Shixiong to make a display in the upcoming Dong Fu Sword Test Conference.

This horrid zombie was actually able to fight to a standstill with Wen Fei Shixiong?

How was this possible?

Tao Zhu Er felt that her brains couldn’t process it.

The outer sect disciples stared with wide eyes, completely silent. Zuo Mo didn’t notice, in the female disciples, an adorable and pink apple face was extremely nervous. Even her little fists couldn’t help but tighten.

The two exchanged blows like lightning. The two moves passed in the blink of an eye. Right now, it had moved into a standstill period. Everyone was able to release a breath. Recalling what happened, they cheered.

But the two that were facing off were not so relaxed.

The disdain that Wen Fei had initially had disappeared completely. What took over was seriousness. He, who had been desiring to show himself at the Sword Sect Conference, hadn’t thought that he would meet such a strong opponent here!

And Zuo Mo, two balls of fire furiously jumped in his eyes, his desire for battle in full swing!

A standstill was disadvantageous for him. There was still another person. If he didn’t quickly end the fight, then he basically had no hope of victory for the next battle.

His thoughts swirling, he gave a long howl and decided to attack with all his power!

Chapter 87: Strong Attack Vs Strong Attack

At the highest point of the waterfall, a flame suddenly appeared.

This flame wasn’t eye-catching, extremely faint, almost invisible as it burned silently. However, it was like the flame was dropped into oil, not water. Flames quickly spread across the top of the waterfall.

On the top half of the waterfall, a cool flame flickered its crystal clear tongues.

The waterfall was instantly lit up by the cool flame. Each water-like sword energy became shrouded in a ball of fire.

Li water was like fire as it fell down.

The first sword energy shrouded in fire quickly landed in the water.

Boom!

A clear sound of explosion! A large section of the water dragon instantly was destroyed, water spraying everywhere.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

The stream of explosions were like fireworks, ringing endlessly.

Wen Fei’s expression changed. What sword move was this? Didn’t the other practice a water element sword scripture? Why would there be fire? At this moment, he didn’t have the leisure to think. In the blink of an eye, only a small half of the water dragon remained after the explosions. The other’s sword energies had increased in power due to those harmless looking clear flames.

Suppressing the uncertainty inside, the last bit of underestimation in his heart dissipated. He now saw Zuo Mo as the greatest opponent he had ever faced.

Wen Fei gritted his teeth, his ling energy flowed furiously, the Sky River Fan suddenly snapped shut and he pointed the fan gently at Zuo Mo.

[Sky River Prison]!

A spark of blue light came out of the fan and seemed to slowly fly towards Zuo Mo.

A strong feeling of danger suddenly rose in Zuo Mo. This bit of blue light, the pressure it gave him far surpassed any of the previous moves. He didn’t dare to be inattentive. His mind moved and the cold waterfall floating in the air instantly responded, leaping towards the blue light.

Balls of clear fire. Inside were sword essences each as gentle as water.

The rain of fire from the waterfall seemed to cover the blue light.

Suddenly, Wen Fei opened the sky river fan, and shouted: “Open!”

That blue light was suddenly like a large net, aimed directly at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo wasn’t able to dodge in time and instantly was trapped.

Zuo Mo only felt the blue light suddenly grow in front of his eyes. In the blink of an eye, waves filled his vision. His surroundings were a blur!

Zuo Mo was very familiar with this kind of scenery! He had once practiced the sword in the river, and naturally was extremely familiar. Right now, he was in a air bubble. Who would have thought that the speck of blue light would contain such thick water energy? Those clear flames, when they entered the water, created explosions. However, there was too much water, and those little clear li water sword energies were ineffective and instead exploded on Zuo Mo. The pressure came in on all sides and the bubble was slowly being squeezed.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath solemnly. This was the other’s final attack!

Instantly, his fighting spirit burst forward. He might not be able to compare to Wei Sheng Shixiong, but he wasn’t putty that these wastrels could manipulate as they willed.

Zuo Mo didn’t detect that after practicing the sword, he had went from the initial fear of of battle to quickly not fearing battle and his desire for fighting was increasing.

He was like that now. He became more excited the more he fought. Right now, especially when he saw Wen Fei’s ultimate move, his fighting spirit had reached its peak!

Come!

He widened his eyes, shouting soundlessly inside!

The waterfall which had been raging fire disappeared. The Water Drop sword turned into a streak of light and returned to Zuo Mo’s hands.

Seeming to have felt Zuo Mo’s desire to fight, the body of the Water Drop sword vibrated, like ripples in water. The clear hum it gave made Zuo Mo even more excited. He closed his eyes, caressing the sword like he was caressing a lover.

Without the support of the waterfall, the water which had been coming in at all sides didn’t have any resistance and instantly went in. The air bubble shattered and Zuo Mo was swept into the water.

Wen Fei couldn’t disguise the joy on his face! If you were in the water, weren’t you just a fish waiting for me to slice you?

He shouted: “Up!”

The ball of water containing Zuo Mo slowly flew into the sky. The ball was enormous, like a small pond.

Zuo Mo was the wild beast in the cage. No matter how he struggled, he wouldn’t be able to break free. Wen Fei was smug inside. This prison of water, it was much more secure than one made of steel.

The faces of the Wu Kong Sword Sect outer sect disciples whitened. They were terrified as they looked at the large shadow cast by the ball of water as it flew higher. Zuo Mo’s figure inside the water became more indistinct and could barely be made out.

To say nothing else, just being smashed from such a height, it would definitely lead to internal injury!

Determination suddenly appeared on Xiao Guo’s pale face. She suddenly rushed out of the crowd, heading for Wen Fei.

“Little girl, what do you think you are doing?” A graceful figure blocked Xiao Guo’s path. Tao Zhu Er’s face was cheerful as she looked at Xiao Guo.

“Move aside!” Xiao Guo was angry and panicked. However, her anger was like a little kitten baring its teeth and scratching, extremely adorable.

“Hm” Ming Dao’s tense heart relaxed. Seeing Xiao Guo’s innocence, his eyes instantly lit up: “This girl isn’t bad. What are you called?”

“Move aside!” Xiao Guo was almost crying.

Hints of cruelty flashed through Wen Fei’s eyes. Looking at the ball of water in the air, he smirked smugly: “Have a good taste of my [Sky River Prison].” Finishing, he reached out with his left hand, and swiped towards the ball of water.

The ball of water in the sky transformed. In the water ball, an enormous hand headed for Zuo Mo. This guy had made him look so bad, Wen Fei didn’t want to let him off that easily. It was very interesting to play like a cat with a mouse!

The Wu Kong disciples couldn’t help but gasp in shock, not wanting to look.

Hopelessness made its way onto Xiao Guo’s face. She knew she wasn’t a match for the two, but… …

A rare determination flashed through her teary eyes.

Just at this time, inside the water cage, the sword pointed downwards, Zuo Mo suddenly opened his closed eyes.

For some reason, he thought about the day he had comprehended li water sword essence, saw the enormous hand that was about to catch him. From the corner of his eye, he could see the figures beneath. He could imagine now smug the other person was at this time, how excited.

But, my sword scripture… …

It’s [Li Water Sword Scripture]!

The light exploded in Zuo Mo’s eyes. It was like his eyes were suddenly void of all emotion, cold like the clear flames! His two hands grasping the Water Drop sword, the slanted sword unhesitatingly made an upward slash against the current!

[Li Water Burning Heavens]!

The gigantic hand shattered.

On the ground, Wen Fei’s expression changed! How was it possible! How could he still counterattack in the water cage!

He gritted his teeth and wanted to change his technique, but his face suddenly became empty of color. He discovered that he had completely lost control of the water cage!

How was it possible!

At this time, other people had detected the change in the sky and all lifted their heads!

The ball of water was rapidly collapsing into itself as if there was a deep bottomless pit inside it.

And when Zuo Mo’s body was revealed, everyone couldn’t help but inhale. In mid air, the water cage had disappeared, leaving behind Zuo Mo’s hands holding the sword.

Shock was on Ming Dao and Tao Zhu Er’s face. They looked in disbelief at the sword in Zuo Mo’s hands.

Around the three chi long sword, a ten chi long blade of blue flame slowly and silently burned. This blue flame was completely composed of water. Heavens, he had absorbed all of Wen Fei Shixiong’s Sky River Prison, and turned it into his own weapon!

This world, how could there be such a fantastical thing?

This guy, was he really only zhuji level?

Looking at Xiao Guo, Tao Zhu Er, and Ming Dao below, Zuo Mo instantly understood what had happened. A flash of anger floated in his eyes.

His two hands holding the sword, he lifted it up. The water flame on the sword was like an enormous blooming flower, soundlessly opening.

“Die!”

An angry bellow like thunder on a clear day.

Containing all his anger, all his fighting spirit, all his ling energy, Zuo Mo was like a flash of light as he chopped downwards!

A ruler-straight blue light suddenly appeared in midair, so bright one couldn’t look directly at it.

Below, the faces of Wen Fei and the others changed dramatically. This guy was crazy!

His sword presence, it managed to wrap all three of them inside at once!

At this time, the three couldn’t attend to anything else. They all took out their final defenses.

A water curtain appeared around Wen Fei, even thicker than last time. The Peach Blossom ling armor on Tao Zhu Er’s body glowed brightly, peach blossoms flying in the air and shielding her inside. Ming Dao angrily took out a copper bell. The bell grew as it came into the open, firmly covering Ming Dao inside.

At this time, Zuo Mo forgot everything. In his eyes, there was only the three people below. He was doing one thing only. That was, channeling ling energy, furiously, insanely pushing out ling energy!

The straight and cold light landed from the sky with a strong and fierce presence, heavily smashing the three from above .

The most commonly used sword attacks were stab and slice. Even chopping was rarely used. And people could never have thought that a sword could be used to smash. What Zuo Mo used was a smash. Like what he had raised wasn’t a flying sword but a heavy hammer!

Boom!

The blue light flashed and swallowed the three people on the ground.

After the ear-shattering explosion was a deathly silence.

Zuo Mo’s legs weakened and he sat down on the ground, panting for his life.

[Li Water Burning Heavens] was too strong for him, after he completed it he basically had no offensive power left.

However… …

He gritted his teeth as he used the Water Drop sword to stand up. Looking at the deep pit over thirty feet deep, he only had one word—great!

In the large hole, Wen Fei and the others were unconscious from the explosion. Wen Fei’s clothing was in tatters. The ling armor on Tao Zhu Er’s body was almost shattered and Ming Dao’s copper bell had broken into countless pieces.

Zuo Mo sighed. The terrifying power of this [Li Water Burning Heaven] had to be credited to Wen Fei’s water cage. If there hadn’t been so much water, it definitely wouldn’t reach such a terrifying result. If countless liters of water were dropped, this was already very scary.

It was time to take his spoils. Zuo Mo instantly became excited, completely disregarding any kind of manners. He was like a cat that smelt food, limping as he skipped towards the deep hole.

Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan were so frightened dumb that they forgot to stop him.

They were really rich! Zuo Mo sighed inside. He wasn’t easy going at all.

He took a water-blue ring from Wen Fei’s hands. In reality, the best thing on his body was the Sky River Fan. However, what Zuo Mo cultivated was the flying sword. This Sky River Fan was good, but it wasn’t suited to him. This ring wasn’t normal. It definitely was the finest of the third grade. It could increase the ability to control water. However, he still needed to experiment to find the specific effects.

He took a thousand year Peach Wood hairpin from Tao Zhu Er’s head. Slurp slurp. There were three formations on it. [Evil Removing], [Nourishing], [Focus]. Good things, good things!

From Ming Dao’s body, Zuo Mo wasn’t courteous in taking off the other’s pair of boots. Third grade Wind Passing boots. Zuo Mo was very knowledgeable. There were [Wind Travel] and [Movement] formations on the boots and were very practical.

“Vicious!” Yan Ming Zi looked at the three things that Zuo Mo picked. He couldn’t help but inhale. He both hurt and admired it.

Hu Shan was like a statue. When he saw Zuo Mo’s wolf-like and greedy gaze, he couldn’t help but shudder.

At this moment, he decided he didn’t want the jade pendant anymore!

Chapter 88: The Scalping Zombie

Everyone was dumbstruck where they stood, their minds blank.

To say nothing of victory and defeat, but what the people had expected was fierce combat, exchanging blows back and forth, a tense situation, and end with a barely achieved victory. The result was three people were defeated by a single move. This result made everyone’s jaws drop to the ground. Even the Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples who had been full of confidence in Zuo Mo had lost their ability to speak.

Xiao Guo stared dazedly at Zuo Mo.

How Shixiong looked when he had been plundering from their bodies… …

Oh, why would she have used “plundering”? No, no, Shixiong was appropriating his spoils! Xiao Guo unconsciously defended Shixiong.

“For you,” Zuo Mo threw the thousand year Peach Wood hairpin that he took from Tao Zhu Er’s head to Xiao Guo.

Xiao Guo instinctively caught it. Inhales suddenly sounded among the female disciples. Their eyes suddenly became red as they looked at the Peach Wood hairpin on Xiao Guo’s hands. They were like a herd of rabbits locked onto one single carrot.

“It’s a pity that her ling armor is shattered. Otherwise, removing it to give to you would be nice.” Zuo Mo muttered regretfully. He completely hadn’t thought about just how inappropriate it was to take off a female xiuzhe’s armor in public.

A moment later, Xiao Guo refocused. Looking at the Peach Wood hairpin on her hand, her hand shook as though it had shocked her and almost threw it away, “Shixiong, this is too valuable!”

She might not recognize how good this Peach Wood hairpin was, but holding it in her hands, she could feel the extraordinariness of it. This Peach Wood hairpin, it was too valuable!

This kind of thing, Shixiong should keep it for himself! She thought.

Zuo Mo’s eyes scanned the unconscious three people, impatiently saying, “Just take it, and stop nagging.”

What Xiao Guo was most afraid of was Zuo Mo’s impatience. She instantly became timid and afraid of speaking.

Zuo Mo strongly controlled his impulse to plunder everything from the three people that were unconscious. He turned his face to look at Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan.

“Do you guys want to fight again?” That voice, it was as warm as the wolf-grandmother.

Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan both shuddered, their heads shaking like a rattle-drum.

“Really, neither of you wants to fight?”

The two then nodded quickly like a chicken eating rice, their hands over their chests and their feet unconsciously moved back two paces. In their eyes, Zuo Mo had completely transformed into the most terrifying demon.

“Such a disappointment,” When Zuo Mo expressionlessly said this sentence, his words were full of regret. Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan’s hearts couldn’t help but jump furiously. Zuo Mo waved his hand, “Take them away. Do not bother me in the future.”

It was like they had been pardoned from death. Exchanging a look, the two hurriedly picked up the three who were unconscious and ran away. They looked like they hated that their parents didn’t give birth to them with two more legs.

After their figures disappeared, Zuo Mo couldn’t hold up any longer and crashed to the ground. Seeing the situation, Xiao Guo instantly was shocked and ran over to ask in panic, “Shixiong, are you wounded?”

Seeing the apple face full of concern, Zuo Mo’s heart warmed.

“Oh, nothing. Just a bit tired.” Zuo Mo waved his hand, pretending it was nothing. He then took out a dan from his bosom, and shoved it into his mouth. Folding his legs, he started to meditate.

Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan only stopped when they couldn’t see Wu Kong Mountain anymore. The two panted.

“Is that guy even human?” Yan Ming Zi said breathlessly, “The difference here with our information is too big.”

“Lucky that we ran fast enough.” Hu Shan’s face was relieved.

Yan Ming Zi still had lingering fears, “Exactly! Didn’t you see his eyes as he looked at us? He wanted to strip us bare!”

The two couldn’t help but think of Zuo Mo’s eyes. As though they didn’t wear clothing on a snowy day, they shivered again and said at the same time, “So scary!”

After a while, the two gradually walked out from Zuo Mo’s shadow. Yan Ming Zi pointed at the three unconscious people, “What to do with them?”

Hu Shan thought about how he would have to carry them to the sect and gritted his teeth, “Wake them up.”

After a while, three extremely tragic howls passed out.

“Zuo Mo, I will never forgive you!”

“Return my shoes… …”

“This girl will kill you!”

……

Zuo Mo was extremely smug. He had completely changed his attire.

His hand held the Water Drop sword, the Streaming Fire ling gathering pendant at his waist, a Black Blue Water ring on his finger, and on his feet were the wind travel boots. Extremely dandyish.

This new set of attire, even Xu Yi Xia, who was famous for the wealth of her family in the sect, was gaping when she saw it. She wondered inside, did Zuo Mo Shidi rob a talisman shop?

While smug, he still had to live out his days. Zuo Mo needed to spend time caring for the ling garden that he rented. Other than that, he couldn’t stop his daily cultivation. His days were very full. However, Zuo Mo was very disappointed that for the next few days, no one came up to challenge him.

These days nothing was as fast as plundering, not even ling farming or dan-making,. This was a no investment, great profit, a sleight of hand! Zuo Mo was regretful. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have beaten all of them into unconsciousness that day. A small continuous flow was the best!

He was unaware that, due to his strong performance, all of Ling Ying Sect had been shocked. Especially his demeanor when he had been “receiving” his trophies. Under the effort of Yan Ming Zi and Hu Shan’s story-telling, it reached all of Ling Ying Sect.

The nickname of “the Scalping Zombie” was created.

The Scalping Zombie was undoubtedly the opponent that the wastrels didn’t want to touch the most. Wastrels usually relied on expensive talismans and countless jingshi to battle. However, if they went to provoke the Scalping Zombie, wasn’t it giving money to the other? If they took great talismans, and they lost, then it would be hard to keep possession of the talisman. According to the detailed description from the talisman expert Yan Ming Zi and the comparison to the talismans the five people had lost, it proved that the Scalping Zombie’s eyes were extremely experienced. If they lost, what they would lose was definitely the most valuable and expensive talisman they had!

But if they wore only trash to go make a challenge, the already low chance of winning would head towards zero.

The wastrels of Ling Ying Sect were all smart and perceptive. No one dared to go provoke this “Scalping Zombie.”

The elders of Wu Kong Sword Sect were all absent. Zuo Mo had an extremely enjoyable life. Especially because no one cared about him making dan.

He would make a batch of Golden Crow pills every day. This was a very steady source of income. However, he didn’t want to spend too much effort on it. Golden Crow pills might be profitable but it was still a first-grade lingdan, and the profits were limited. Zuo Mo’s eyes had been spoiled by the fine talismans on his body. If he only relied on making Golden Crow pills, he would need at least half a year to be able to buy just any of the talismans he was wearing right now.

The price of normal third-grade talismans were not expensive and Zuo Mo could afford it. However, for the fine specimens like this one, the price would reach an incredible height.

Zuo Mo once again took up his previous experiment to use the essence of the sun as the primary and the li fire seal formation as the auxiliary fire, to make a new kind of lingdan.

Taking up this eternally failing experiment wasn’t completely for jingshi.

He was going for a Golden Crow fire!

Golden Crow fire was a fourth-grade fire seed. If he had it, the low-grade lingdan he made would automatically increase a level. Also, Golden Crow fire was one of the originators of all the fires in the world. It could merge with many other fire seeds. In the future, if he encountered better fire sources, he could merge it into the other fire.

Of course, for Zuo Mo at this time, Golden Crow fire was already the best fire in the world! Even more, there was a possibility he could achieve Golden Crow fire through his own power. What would fill him more full of energy and fighting spirit other than this?

He burrowed into Master’s records room and started to research for ling grasses that could endure the essence of the sun and other dominant forces.

Just as Zuo Mo prepared to focus and enter seclusion, the pink paper crane landed from the sky.

“Ye, what’s the answer from last time’s game?”

Zuo Mo hit his head, and wailed misfortune. These days, he had been enchanted in dan-making and threw that so-called game into the back of his head. Without any other way, he could only harden his head and reply, “Apologies, I was busy these days.”

“Ye doesn’t place importance on me. I’m very hurt.”,

Zuo Mo felt his head swell. Threat. This definitely was a threat.

“How about another two days?” Zuo Mo decided that in these two days, even if he had to not eat or sleep, he would definitely solve this game. He knew just how ruthless and vicious this paper crane girl was!

However, he once again underestimated the paper crane girl’s ruthlessness and viciousness.

Just as Zuo Mo warily unfolded the pink paper crane that just flew over, he felt his eyes blur and the surroundings instantly changed.

“Damned woman!” Zuo Mo swore angrily!

It wasn’t the first time that he encountered such a situation. It also wasn’t the first time the damned woman used this trick.

“Hee hee, ye don’t scold me. Who made it that you didn’t put importance on me? Ye doesn’t want to play with me, I just have to find ways to amuse myself. Hee hee, this is a maze that I learned when I was seven. It’s very fun. Ye, slowly enjoy it.”

A sweet to the bones voice came out of the air, carrying a hint of laziness and indifference.

“Damned woman!” Zuo Mo forced the words through his teeth. If the other was in front of him, he would definitely leap over and use the Water Drop sword to chop her into mulch. This damned uncaring, bored, and inane woman!

His swearing didn’t receive any reply. Zuo Mo slowly calmed down from the anger burning inside.

Maze?

He scanned the surroundings. Strangely, he was slightly panicked. Under his feet was a checkerboard. Each square was one foot squared, either black or white, alternating as it spread to the edge of the horizon.

Illusion, this was an illusion! Zuo Mo told himself.

If the other said that this was a maze formation, then it was certainly an illusion.

However, all of this seemed so real. Zuo Mo could even feel the hardness of the tiles under his feet. It was completely empty. Zuo Mo seemed to be standing in the middle of nowhere, alone and without aid.

Luckily, there wasn’t anything dangerous. Zuo Mo was slightly comforted.

He started to ponder how he would walk out of this maze formation. The formations that he knew were pitifully few and the maze formation in front of him clearly wasn’t one of those. A maze formation that damned woman knew at seven years old… …

Zuo Mo started to grit his teeth again.

Suddenly, a ball of mist floated out of nowhere.

But the mist came quickly and left quickly.

However, when the mist faded, Zuo Mo was dumbstruck as he looked at the scene in front of him.

Chapter 89: Silly Yao

The mist faded and a hot spring had appeared. In the steam that rose up, a crowd of beautiful women who were bathing could be barely made out. Their eyes were alluring and extremely seductive. The smooth and silky skin seemed to have magnetism, securely holding Zuo Mo’s eyes.

The beauties played and laughed, disregarding Zuo Mo as empty air.

When had the pitiful Zuo Mo ever seen something like this? It was like he had been struck by lightning, dumbstruck. The laughter and breathing of the women burrowed into his ear. He felt his throat was dry, his entire body hot. Something inside his body seemed to be moving.

What spell was this?

Zuo Mo felt his heart beat faster and faster until it felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest, uncontrollably beating.

He used all the energy in his body to struggle to swallow. He detected that his entire body wasn’t normal, definitely not normal! He started to channel ling power. It didn’t have an effect. He couldn’t help but be shocked.

— Such a strong spell! Such a strong maze formation!

Calm! Calm!

It was fake! Fake!

Zuo Mo told himself. At this time, he should close his eyes, but for some reason, his eyelids today didn’t listen to him. It seemed that there was a mysterious world in that hot spring that uncontrollably attracted his eyes. If he didn’t restrain himself forcefully, his legs would unconsciously walk towards the hotspring.

Tracelessly capturing a person’s mind and soul. Imperceptibly controlling a person’s body. Zuo Mo’s last bit of rationality concluded, this group of beauties were in reality a high grade maze formation!

Fourth-grade or even fifth-grade?

The person trapped would feel hot, the rhythm of breathing lost, the mind disturbed, ling power channeling would be obstructed… …

He reflexively swallowed again. Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s pupils expanded.

The hot steam suddenly disappeared. Those beautiful women, without an exception, their heart-startling faces, their amazing bodies, the porcelain skin and … …

A blow like no other before attacked Zuo Mo like a stream of lightning. His breathing stopped, his heart stopped at this moment as well.

Was this the final attack… …

All the beauties suddenly stopped moving like they were under a paralyzing spell. After that, with speed visible to the naked eye, they started to age and wither. The healthy and alluring skin lost the glow, the tightness, became wrinkled like the bark of a tree. Their beautiful appearance quickly withered and lost vitality.

The skin turned bad, rotted and revealed the white bones inside.

In the flick of a finger, a crowd of beautiful women became a crowd of skeletons.

His chest heaving, Zuo Mo felt like he had ate countless mosquitoes and wanted to throw up! This reversal of events, all the blood in his body seemed to reverse flow and he almost spat out blood.

The viciousness of this final attack… …

Zuo Mo was extremely shocked. The person who created this maze formation was really strong! He hadn’t felt even a bit of ling power. This was a traceless attack. At this time, a tearing sound occurred next to his ear. The scene in front of him suddenly twisted as though it was being sucked away by something.

Beautiful women, skeleton, the black and white checkerboard, it completely disappeared.

He saw Pu Yao opening his mouth and a wisp of smoke was sucked inside. His state seemed comfortable and satisfied. When did Pu Yao recover? Did he just ruin the maze formation right now?

Pu Yao closed his mouth and turned to look at Zuo Mo, lightly throwing down, “You have a nosebleed.”

Zuo Mo dazed and hurried to touch his nose. As expected, it was red!

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha … …” Pu Yao laughed carefree, his face mischievous as he looked at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo didn’t understand at all.

Bleeding proved that the other’s maze formation was really too strong. He had actually been wounded and bled without him noticing. But why was Pu Yao laughing?

He felt that Pu Yao’s laugh was slightly strange. Even now, his chest felt unspeakably uncomfortable. The last ultimate attack, the power was too amazing. The feeling of disgust lingered in his heart.

Barely managing to calm down, Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo and started snickering again. He swept across the pink colored paper on Zuo Mo’s hands and snatched it over, shoving it into his mouth. He chew two times and swallowed it down. For the second time, he had a satisfied expression.

“You… … you eat paper?” Zuo Mo pointed at Pu Yao, face full of disbelief as he asked.

“Such pure yin energy, it would be a pity to waste it.” Pu Yao thrust out a blood red tongue and licked his lips, still hungering.

“When did you wake up?” Zuo Mo asked dumbly.

“When this maze formation started.” Pu Yao snickered. However, Zuo Mo felt that the other’s eyes as they looked at him were slightly weird.

“You’ve recovered?” Zuo Mo still decided to have some concern for Pu Yao.

“Not that easy.” Pu Yao stretched and said lazily, “The injury this time was too much. Recovering isn’t that easy.” From his expression, he didn’t seem to be that concerned with his injury.

It seemed the situation was better than he had thought. Zuo Mo felt slightly safer. He thought about the beautiful women he had just seen. He hurriedly asked, “What maze formation was it just now? Too strong! I was injured without me noticing!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha … …” Pu Yao couldn’t resist and started howling with laughter again, holding his stomach. Laughing to the point of not being able to stand up.

Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled. He didn’t know why Pu Yao was responding like this.

This maze formation really was powerful… …

At a place far away from Sky Moon Jie.

“Hm, why hasn’t there been a response? Is he really not tempted by beauty? Hee Hee, has he surrendered?”

A girl propped up her chin and talked to herself.

A while later. Still nothing. Her face was suspicious.

“There’s no reason. As long as he isn’t a playboy, he shouldn’t be able to resist! Is he really experienced? He didn’t seem like it! Did I look wrong? This miss dislikes that kind of men the most!”

She completely did not know her tempting maze formation had been altered by Pu Yao and its effect had moved from one extreme to another extreme.

She wasn’t satisfied.

In Little West Wind Yard.

“Do you understand women?” Pu Yao asked.

“Of course.” Zuo Mo looked strangely at Pu Yao. This question was so dumb and idiotic. Had Pu Yao’s mind been wounded? His mind was now unclear? He reminded in goodwill, “Li Ying Feng Shijie, Xiao Guo, Master. They are all women.”

No. No. Pu Yao had previously been an old antique of three thousand years ago but, at least, he had been somewhat normal. But now, his mind had been wounded and become dumb. Zuo Mo looked slightly sympathetically at Pu Yao. So pitiful. A Sky Yao becoming a dumb yao.

Meeting Zuo Mo’s gaze, Pu Yao snickered, “Have you been close with a woman?”

Zuo Mo looked with even more sympathy at Pu Yao, “I’m close to all of them.”

Pu Yao’s snickers suddenly stopped, like he had choked. He suddenly found that it was very difficult to explain this matter to Zuo Mo.

“When you see them, do you have any strange thoughts in your head?” Pu Yao made a last effort.

“Uh, strange thoughts?” Zuo Mo struggled, and then nodded, “I have.”

“So you really do have some thoughts!” Pu Yao became excited. He continued in leading, “What thoughts?”

“Selling medicine.” Zuo Mo bashfully and obediently answered.

Pu Yao was dumbstruck.

Zuo Mo counted on his fingers as he said, “But it’s a pity that Xiao Guo is still too poor right now. Master, she won’t buy the dan that I make. Usually, only Li Ying Feng Shijie would buy. However, Xu Qing Shijie also would buy. Oh, after some more time, I would advertise moisture dan to them. And there must also be Xu Yi Xia Shijie. Oh, Hao Min might be lacking, but I won’t say no to jingshi… … in the future, I will make lots and lots of dan. Elder Wei Nan’s jade scrolls said that women are the best people to sell to… …”

Pu Yao sprayed out blood and collapsed. After a while, his limbs twitched and he struggled up. He said, refusing to give up, “Didn’t you just see those naked women? Didn’t you feel something?”

If before, Zuo Mo had been using a look reserved for silly yao, then now Zuo Mo’s gaze as he looked at Pu Yao was like if he was looking at an idiot. Full of pity, he said, “Pu Yao, that’s the seal formation!”

Gurgle gurgle. Pu Yao once again fell down, fresh blood furiously flowing out from his mouth like a spring.

So pitiful!

Zuo Mo looked sympathetically at Pu Yao who had been heavily affected.

However, Zuo Mo quickly didn’t have the time to sympathize with Pu Yao. The sect leader and the others all returned to the mountain. When Zuo Mo saw the deep exhaustion in the expression of the elders, he perceptively didn’t say anything. The sect leader didn’t say any words, only waved his hands to signal for the disciples to leave.

“This time, the incident really is too big.” Pei Yuan Ran sighed deeply, “Sky Moon Jie would not be peaceful.”

The others were silent. Yan Le’s face was worried, “We have to take precautions. Wei Sheng’s talents are so outstanding, one in a hundred years. We need to think of ways for him to reach jindan early, otherwise… …”

Everyone understood the rest. A genius, no matter the talent, before they matured, they were all very fragile. Killing an exceptional zhuji xiuzhe only required an average ningmai. They only needed a seal, a talisman… …

“Oh, I wanted Wei Sheng to have a strong foundation. Looking at it now, time doesn’t wait for me.” Pei Yuan Ran gave a deep sigh. He thought for a moment and said resolutely, “In abnormal times, we have to act abnormally. Everyone, gather all your power to help Wei Sheng.”

Xin Yan and Yan Le nodded at the same time. Shi Feng Rong hesitated for a second and said, “What about Zuo Mo?”

Pei Yuan Ran said helplessly, “Zuo Mo’s talent might be outstanding. In another sect, they naturally would take care and nurture. But our assets, Shimei, you know it as well. If we need to put all our energy into nurturing, we could barely just nurture Wei Sheng.”

“Yes! Shimei, I only have that much in my stores. I don’t even know if there is enough for just Wei Sheng.” Yan Le urged.

Shi Feng Rong knew that what the shixiong said was the truth. Wu Kong Sword Sect wasn’t some large sect and didn’t have much wealth. How were young experts made? Made from countless jingshi and lingdan! Wei Sheng was the undisputed successor of the sect. Shi Feng Rong knew very well.

However, Zuo Mo was her disciple. She gritted her teeth, “I do not have objections on nurturing Wei Sheng. But since Zuo Mo won’t have a share of the resources, then we should reimburse him in other areas. If I need to make dan for Wei Sheng, in the future, I won’t have time to teach him and will have to leave him to his own devices.” Speaking of it, she was slightly sorrowful and then raised her head, “I only have a request. Other than some special jade scrolls, all the jade scrolls in the sect should be open for him.”

“This… …” Pei Yuan Ran was slightly hesitant. Shi Feng Rong’s request was against the sect’s rules. But when he saw the determination on Shi Feng Rong’s face, he still nodded, “Yes, I agree.” Nurturing Wei Sheng. The most important part was the supply of lingdan. On this point, Shi Feng Rong was extremely important.

Pei Yuan Ran was a charismatic person. He thought and then stood, “Since the situation is this bad, the jade scrolls would be garbage if they are in the pavilion. From today onwards, all the jade scrolls in the sect will be open to all inner sect disciples.”

And then the whole of Wu Kong Sword Sect shook!

Translator Rambling: So slightly major business first. I changed the term.

Second, I know and agree it totally sucks that the elders want to focus on Wei Sheng. Pei Yuan Ran is bribing Shi Feng Rong, who really is trying her best within her limits since the other is her sect leader/boss. I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say Pei Yuan Ran is investing in what looks to be the most profitable venture.

On the other hand, the elders are terrible at making money!

Chapter 90: Pu Yao’s Counterattack

From any angle, Zuo Mo wasn’t a slow person. Of course, Pu Yao might have his own opinions about this point.

The changes in the sect allowed Zuo Mo to smell a strange flavor. Master had sternly told him to work hard and not slack off. She also said the jade scrolls in the sect, including all the scrolls in Fragrant Ginger Yard, were all open to him and he did not need to spend a single contribution point.

A benefit that Zuo Mo could have only dreamed about in the past was placed in front of him, but he wasn’t happy at all.

The sect leader and the other shibo had announced these measures immediately after coming back. This meant that something had definitely happened or was going to happen. After the experiences of these two years, he knew this very well – spells were jingshi! No matter which sect or organization, they wouldn’t freely pass spells to people. In the past, it was normal that the sect required contribution points for spells. Contribution points were effectively jingshi. But the sect leader suddenly said that spells didn’t need contribution points anymore. This clearly meant there was a problem.

Something was going to happen!

Zuo Mo felt out the situation by asking if he needed to go train his body under Xin Yan Shibo. Master’s answer once again proved his guess. He didn’t need to go. Xin Yan Shibo was going into seclusion to forge. After that, Master told him that she was going into seclusion to make dan and didn’t have time to teach him so he needed to study hard on his own.

The conversation between him and Master lasted for a whole four hours. How to study and everything else, as though she needed to make everything clear.

The bad feeling Zuo Mo felt became even heavier.

In the end, Master had hesitated and urged him to spend more time practicing the sword, it was fine if he was slowing in dan-making. If, at this time, Zuo Mo still didn’t know that there was a problem, then he was truly an idiot. Master waved her hand to send him away. When he had stepped outside the door to the dan room, the weak sigh that Master had given, Zuo Mo had heard it extremely clearly.

Returning to the West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo’s mood wasn’t good, as though he was suffocating.

This day, he didn’t cultivate.

At night, lying on the roof, his head pillowed on his arms, he looked at the stars in the sky in a daze. The sound tablet by his side quietly broadcasted all kinds of news.

“What are you worried about?” Pu Yao had come out at some unknown time.

“I feel that something is going to happen.” Zuo Mo said as he looked at the stars.

“Something is going to happen?”

“En. Two years ago when I opened my eyes, all I thought of was surviving in the sect. At that time, I didn’t have any ideas and never thought about the future. I got used to staying here, used to this mountain. After, Master was very good to me, even though her temper might not be good. And Wei Sheng Shixiong, Old Black, Li Ying Feng Shijie, Xiao Guo… …”

“Even if something is going to happen, you can’t do anything about it.” Pu Yao said unconcernedly.

“I know.” Zuo Mo’s eyes were slightly dark, “My power is so weak. If something was really going to happen, I can’t help.”

“Then isn’t that all?” Pu Yao asked strangely.

“But I don’t want… …” Gazing at the faraway stars, Zuo Mo lightly muttered.

Pu Yao became silent. He seemed to have remembered something.

———

The second day, early in the morning, Zuo Mo ran to the rented ling garden and did a round of maintenance. He was just preparing to leave when someone came searching for him.

Could you be Mister Zuo, Ling Plant Farmer Zuo Mo?” The person asked politely, his face intelligent.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised, “That’s me.”

“This one has long heard of your name.” A hint of joy came across the person’s face but he still showed extreme control, “This one is He Rong and has a little shop. I heard that Mister Zuo Mo has planted a lot of Fiery Red flower. This one came to ask if Mister Zuo Mo is willing to sell.”

Zuo Mo nodded, “I did plant a lot of fiery red flower. However, there’s still some time until they mature.”

He Rong smiled and said, “This one wants to reserve it first.”

“Oh. What kind of reserve?”” Zuo Mo hadn’t thought that the market had such high demand. His fiery red flowers hadn’t matured and there were actually people that were coming up to reserve them. Since he had planted this batch of fiery red flowers to sell, it was naturally better that people were finding him.

“How much has Mister Zuo Mo planted?” He Rong asked.

“Eighty mu.”

He Rong mused for a beat and then said, “Right now, the market price of fiery red flower is about two pieces of third grade jingshi per tael. How much does Mister Zuo Mo think the harvest will be?”

“About twenty catties.” Zuo Mo gave a conservative number.

“As expected of a ling plant farmer, the yield is astonishing.” He Rong praised. He then followed up, “I’m willing to first give sixty pieces of third grade jingshi as a down payment. If the market price in the future is lower than two pieces of third grade jingshi per tael, I will buy at this price and add the remainder. If it is higher than this price, then I will pay according to the market price. What does Mister Zuo think?”

This price was already very good. Zuo Mo thought for a second before nodding, “Good.”

He suddenly asked, “What’s the price of second-grade fiery red flower?” His ling fields would produce some second-grade fiery red flower but there wouldn’t be too much.

“Fifty pieces of third-grade jingshi per tael.” He Rong was slightly shocked. When he thought about the fact the other was a ling plant farmer, he then added, “If there is second-grade fiery red flower, this one is willing to take as much as there is.”

“En.”

Zuo Mo then asked about the market for all kinds of herbs and medicines. He Rong was clearly experienced. He could almost unhesitatingly report the prices of all herbs. After that, the two created an agreement and exchanged imprints. The imprints, it was to leave behind one’s spiritual imprint on a blank jade scroll. This way, it was easier for the two to communicate. With imprints, the paper cranes could easily find the other for convenient communication.

Zuo Mo could not do flying sword messages. He could only use paper cranes.

Previously, other than the pink paper crane woman, Zuo Mo basically never used paper cranes. Paper cranes cost money. In the past, with his situation, he wouldn’t bear it.

Sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi, for Zuo Mo, it was a gigantic sum of money.

Maybe he should buy a suit of ling armor. The ling armor he was wearing now was the second-grade ling armor that Yan Le Shibo had given him. It really didn’t match with the fine third-grade talismans such as Water Drop sword. However, he only thought about it. It was naturally possible to buy a third-grade ling armor with sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi but what that amount could buy was normal third grade ling armor. It wasn’t enough for the finest armors.

After thinking, he decided to temporarily not spend the jingshi. He remembered his body still contained the great consumer of jingshi, Pu Yao.

As expected, when he returned to Little West Wind Yard, Pu Yao came out.

“I want the jingshi, Say, what do you want to exchange it for?” Pu Yao’s words were very proud but he then reminded Zuo Mo, “However, this little bit of jingshi, you won’t get much of a good thing in return.”

“What can I exchange it for?” Zuo Mo wasn’t dumb and tested the waters.

Even though Pu Yao’s intelligence was a bit low right now, but this person’s history was marked. He had forced through a lot of transactions.

“Hm, I hadn’t thought that you would have learnt.” Pu Yan scanned Zuo Mo a few times and then smiled cunningly, “But this is better, a fair business transaction. Just sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi, what you can exchange for is a little trick using the consciousness. How about it? Or you can first make a payment, learn a section, then pay to learn another section.”

“It’s better to pay all at the same time.” Zuo Mo understood Pu Yao’s character very well. If it was making regular payments, this guy would raise the price sky high. If he was stuck in the middle, he would definitely be in trouble.

“He he. Up to you. How about it? Do you want to learn this little trick?” Pu Yao smiled darkly, the blood eye was like it was looking at prey. Zuo Mo felt his hairs stand up.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, “Learn!”

He had kept on practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and his consciousness far surpassed the average person. However, he didn’t know how to use it. His only use of his consciousness was when he was monitoring the lingdan during dan-making.

“Ha ha!” Pu Yao smiled, satisfied. Ding ding dong dong. A stream of sounds from jingshi hitting each other, and made Zuo Mo’s heart ache.

Sixty pieces of third grade jingshi!

“Hm, here.” Pu yao threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo, throwing down a, “We’re clear!” Before disappearing.

Having had a previous experience, Zuo Mo took the ball of light. The moment the light ball touched his hand, it turned to countless characters that floated in his mind.

[Fragrance Knowledge]. Using the consciousness, able to remember the attributes of any female and never forget. Also, as long as the other was in a radius of five hundred li from the user, the user could detect the other’s position and find them. When the user was skilled, if they used this scripture, even if the other was thousands of miles away, the user could easily find them. Also, this scripture could detect the quality of the ling potential females had. At the very end, Zuo Mo saw a final sentence in conclusion, this scripture is the essential scripture for every pervert who wants to do paired cultivation!

Zuo Mo wanted to spit up blood.

“Pu Yao! Ye will kill you! Return ye’s jingshi… …”

In the Little West Wing Yard, a heart wrenching howl echoed!

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao sat on the gravestone, extremely smug and cunning, saying, “Ha ha ha ha, maze formation… … humph humph, in the future, if anyone discuss formations with me, I’ll discuss women with them! Ahaha… …”

Pu Yao still held a grudge against Zuo Mo’s answer from last time. He was extremely exhilarated about this counterattack!

The next few days, Zuo Mo didn’t not recover from this painful blow. Sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi exchanged for such an useless scripture, Zuo Mo wanted to tear Pu Yao to pieces and feed him to the dogs!

Deeply impacted, Zuo Mo decided to make Golden Crow pills to recover his losses.

Sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi! That was three hundred Golden Crow pills! Last time, he had made a few hundred Golden Crow pills and it almost killed him.

Carrying grief and motivation, Zuo Mo raced for Fragrant Ginger Yard, aspiring to furiously make Golden Crow pills. But quickly, he heard an unlucky news. Xu Qing told him that the ingredients in the sect for the fasting pill had been used up.

He hurried to ask Li Ying Feng Shijie and the news he received was like lightning on a clear day.

A certain ingredient was not being supplied anymore on the market!

According to Shijie’s speculations, there was someone maliciously hoarding the ingredients. The use of this ingredient was extremely widespread. Many lingdan required it. One of his avenues of wealth now cut off, it was like a stick to Zuo Mo’s head!

Accordingly, his hatred of Pu Yao quickly rose! Sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi, it only bought a scripture that didn’t have any use, especially when he didn’t have much money in the first place!

He could not bear it!

Zuo Mo murderously went to find Pu Yao.

Chapter 91: Merging Sword Essences

When Pu Yao saw Zuo Mo, he smiled.

“Pu Yao, I don’t want this garbage scripture. Either you return the jingshi, or exchange it for another scripture!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were red, like a furious thin zombie, hatefully staring at Pu Yao.

“Hee.” Pu Yao’s light laugh was like the hiss of a snake. He slowly drawled, “There’s no such thing as refunds and exchanges here.”

“In the future, don’t think about getting jingshi!” Zuo Mo hatefully said.

Pu Yao wasn’t affected. He propped up his chin, his peerlessly beautiful face full of mockery, relaxed and carefree, “I don’t need your permission anyway.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo stopped breathing. Finally, he remembered that he didn’t seem to have any ways of stopping this guy.

He wasn’t satisfied, wasn’t satisfied!

Zuo Mo hated so much that his teeth ached but didn’t know what to do.

Being shut down by Pu Yao wasn’t a surprise. If he could have gotten something off Pu Yao, then it would be an amazing matter.

The making of Golden Crow pills was stuck, the Fiery Red flowers in the ling gardens hadn’t matured, Zuo Mo instantly lost all avenues of income. Especially right now when he was penniless. Without jingshi, he couldn’t do anything.

Zuo Mo could only stay in the little yard and cultivate, go to the ling garden. Any other times, he would go to Fragrant Ginger Yard to practice dan-making. He couldn’t make Golden Crow pills but the other dan medicines were not affected. It was lucky that his reputation was now great, and since Master was in seclusion to make dan, his tab with Xu Qing could be greater.

It was a pity that he couldn’t find a dan that was as easy to sell and as profitable as Golden Crow pill. From the accounts, he was more in debt. Xu Qing wasn’t concerned. This was normal. If people would earn jingshi from the moment they started learning dan-making, then everyone would be learning dan-making.

Zuo Mo remembered what Master had said to him, spend more time practicing the sword!

This sentence, he remembered it very clearly. The meaning behind these words didn’t need to be said.

Okay, since he couldn’t make jingshi, then he will practice the sword. He had already reached a pretty good level with [Li Water Sword Scripture] but he had reached a barrier. He didn’t have any idea of how to develop it further. What he could think about now was to see if he could merge Xin Yan Shibo’s tidal sword essence and Li water sword essence together.

This idea had sprouted when he had seen the sword river in his consciousness that was divided in two.

However, merging two different sword essences was an extremely difficult matter. Luckily, almost all the jade scrolls in the sect were open, including Xin Yan Shibo’s [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture].

This time, the effect of opening the jade scrolls to the disciples wasn’t large. Wei Sheng Shixiong was in the sword cave, Xu Yi Shixiong was obsessed with forging, Gong Sun Qing Shijie was packing up to travel to her betrothed, Luo Li Shixiong was still in seclusion, Xu Yi Xia and Hao Min didn’t have much interest in the sword. Eldest Shixiong Qin Cheng was on a trip to manage affairs.

Overall, the person most interested in these sword scripture scrolls was Zuo Mo. What Zuo Mo was most interested in was [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture]. In reality, this was the jade scroll he was most surprised about when the scrolls had been released this time. They even let this one out?

The sect’s strongest was [Void Sword Scripture], but in Zuo Mo’s heart, [Ice Dragon Scripture] was the strongest sword scripture. He had never seen how powerful [Void Sword Scripture] was but he had personally experienced Xin Yan Shibo’s terrifying sword essence many times and it had left a deep impression on him.

To be able to see the entirety of [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], it was a matter that Zuo Mo was overjoyed about.

However, he quickly found that [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] was like some of the jade scrolls in Fragrant Ginger Yard. The contents you were able to see were appropriate for the cultivation you had. If the cultivation wasn’t high enough, you couldn’t see the contents. This was to stop people who didn’t have the cultivation but forced themselves to practice from damaging themselves.

Zuo Mo couldn’t see much of the contents, just the impression method of the flying sword and some of the shallower contents. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but sigh. Water Drop sword might be much higher in grade than ice crystal sword but it wasn’t as suited as ice crystal sword for practicing [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture]. This firmed Zuo Mo’s determination to merge the two sword essence. If for nothing else, it was worth it just for the Water Drop sword.

The language of [Ice Dragon Sword] was extremely profound and cryptic. But since Zuo Mo had a rough understanding of Ice Dragon sword essence, using it as a reference, he was actually able to understand the majority of the contents. After reading what was available to him, Zuo Mo put down the scroll and fell into contemplation.

This deep contemplation of his was ten days long!

He did not eat, drink, nor sleep, and did not rest for ten days!

On the tenth day, Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes and raised his hand to form a sword energy!

Poof!

A streak of cool yet fiery light, containing the sharpness of a sword, hit the ground. It left behind a deep hole. On the edges of the hole, there were many traces of ice.

It was a pity he could only force the two together like this. There were still many places in the new sword essence that Zuo Mo felt were very vague. It could only wait until Zuo Mo had a deeper understanding of [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] and continuous battle for comprehension before he would become familiar.

The new sword essence was with the li water sword essence as the primary and the Ice Dragon sword essence as the auxiliary. Originally, Ice Dragon sword essence was of higher grade than li water sword essence and it should have been Ice Dragon sword essence as primary and li water sword essence as auxiliary. But Zuo Mo’s understanding of li water sword essences was far deeper than his understanding of Ice Dragon sword essence.

After the two were merged, the power of the sword energy increased dramatically!

In comparison, the merging of sword moves was much easier than merging sword essences. No matter if it was [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] or [Li Water Sword Scripture], they didn’t have complex or long moves.

It was a pity no one came for him to test his sword with. Zuo Mo suddenly started to miss those people from Ling Ying Sect. If, once in awhile, someone came for him to test his sword with, and also came with a fine talisman, how great would that be!

When Zuo Mo found out that his thinking had took ten days, he instantly jumped. Uncaring of anything else, he rode the grey beaked goose towards the ling garden. What he could celebrate was that the state of the Fiery Red flower and the other herbs in the ling garden were very good and there wasn’t much change. He could finally release a breath.

Extremely tired, he simply laid down on the grass in the ling garden and fell asleep.

——–

Dong Fu had recovered from the previous chaotic situation. This place had once again become a gathering ground for low level xiuzhe. Without those high level xiuzhe, the pressure that had been in the hearts of the low level xiuzhe instantly was swept away. The city became lively once again.

“Did you hear? The Dong Fu Sword Test Conference is going to begin!”

“I heard. You can go as long as you are zhuji. The qualification is really low this time!”

“Dong Fu Hall has really put in a lot of resources this time. So many prizes, they are really generous.”

“Che, so what? In the end, it would be Yu Bai who gets it. Just moving from the left pocket to the right.”

“That’s not so certain. Didn’t Wu Kong Sword Sect have a genius called Wei Sheng? I feel he could be a dark horse!”

“Wei Sheng? I also heard about him. Supposedly, Wu Kong Sword Sect also has a guy called the Scalping Zombie, extremely vicious!”

“Who isn’t vicious? It’s only us that aren’t vicious. Yu Bai, Zong Ming Yan, they are all vicious!”

“That’s so true… …”

… …

The news that the time for the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference was quickly approaching became the hottest topic in Dong Fu. The number and quality of prizes offered this time was enough to make everyone gape. No one understood what was going on in Tian Song Zi’s head that he would pay such a great price to hold a sword test conference.

Fourth-grade Green Pine sword, fourth-grade Hundred Desolation Lucky Beast belt, fourth-grade Fragmented Gold coronet, third-grade Rowan sleeve, third-grade Sky shirt, third grade Icy Cobra ling armor… …

It had to be said that this move was extremely effective. The generous prizes greatly stirred the excitement of young xiuzhe, especially the poor disciples of those small sects. Where would they have the jingshi to buy talismans? They all drooled as they looked at the prizes.

Once the news was announced, the people who registered were numerous. Since it didn’t cost anything to register, it would be stupid not to. If they were lucky, they might be able to scoop up a talisman. They wouldn’t lose anything if they lost. However, they had to start from the Preliminary Sword Test Conference and go through several rounds before entering the Sword Test Conference.

The more significant sects in Dong Fu had an allotment of slots. They could directly attend the Sword Test Conference without first going through the Preliminary Sword Test Conference.

Even though the treatment was different, the attendees didn’t have many angry words. The lower the level of the xiuzhe, the more they understood the realities of the world. If the world was like this, what could they be angry about?

Other than the xiuzhe in Dong Fu’s surroundings, the Sword Test Conference this time had attracted large numbers of skilled people from the other twelve primary towns!

Under the lure of a heavy reward, there would be courageous people!

Due to holding a sword test conference, Dong Fu became abnormally busy.

It was the second day when Zuo Mo woke up. The blinding sunlight woke him from a deep sleep.

With his body fully rested, he became as vigorous and energetic as usual. When he returned to the Little West Wind Yard, he went to clean out the ling fields, sorting out the ling grasses which had matured. He was planning on going to Dong Fu at some time. These ling grasses could be exchanged for some jingshi.

Just like normal, he burrowed into the stone room and started to practice [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and [Vajra Profound Sutra].

Four hours later, he opened his eyes, revealing joy. Just now, his cultivation had broken through to the fourth level of zhuji. Different from his consciousness which had kept on stopping before reaching third breath, the increase in his ling power was very quick. In a very short amount of time, he had broken through to zhuji fourth level. This speed could be called terrifying.

Of course, the ling vein had played a crucial role. If it wasn’t for this ling vein, he would probably still be at the second level.

Based on this speed, he would quickly break through to ningmai! By that time, he would finally have some measure of self-protection.

In Sky Moon Jie, jindan was undoubtedly the highest level of existence. The next level down was ningmai. However, the difference in power between different ningmai xiuzhe was very big but no matter what, if he reached ningmai, he would finally leave behind the ranks of low level xiuzhe.

If one didn’t have much ambition, ningmai xiuzhe could live a pretty good life in Sky Moon Jie. The benefits and tribute a ningmai xiuzhe received wasn’t on the same level as a zhuji xiuzhe.

After practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], Zuo Mo started [Vajra Profound Sutra]. As to [Fragrance Knowledge], he threw the scripture to one side.

Studying women, it was better to study maze formations!

The version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] Zuo Mo practiced was the gravestone version. After practicing it for a length of time, he discovered the difference between the two versions was increasingly greater.

In meditation, Zuo Mo sat upright, his entire body was like a statue forged from dark gold.

Suddenly, his entire body started to tremble furiously.

Chapter 92: Yin Fire Bead Chapter

Zuo Mo’s body shook like dice. The tendons in his forehead and shoulders were thick like earthworms, they were extremely horrifying.

Pu Yao had come out at some time. Seeing Zuo Mo’s state, he seemed slightly startled.

Zuo Mo’s body continued to tremble for almost an hour before ceasing.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and heavily exhaled. His eyes looked slightly uncertain. Just now, he felt that his body seemed to have changed slightly, but as to what had changed, he didn’t know. He lowered his head to inspect himself and didn’t make any discoveries.

There wasn’t any problems with the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra], right? His heart jumped.

“Who taught you this?” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. Turning, he released a breath upon seeing it was Pu Yao, “When you were wounded, it was written on the gravestone.”

Pu Yao didn’t seem surprised. He only nodded his head: “En. Keep practicing.”

Zuo Mo’s heart finally settled. Since Pu Yao said for him to keep practicing, then there shouldn’t be a problem. Even though he had encountered great pain when breaking through one breath with [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], but he had to admit that [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was a good thing. Up until now, Zuo Mo hadn’t found a scripture higher in level than [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

“[Fragrance Knowledge] truly isn’t suited for you.” Pu Yao said something that surprised Zuo Mo enormously. He followed up, “I’ll teach you another way to use your consciousness.”

Zuo Mo stared at Pu Yao for a long beat. In the end, he couldn’t resist asking, “Pu Yao, are you okay?”

Pu Yao didn’t pay attention to him, stating, “You still have a dozen or so of yin beads. Your control of fire isn’t bad. I’ll teach you how to make yin fire beads.”

Uh oh, Pu Yao really had been wounded in the head this time! The previous Pu Yao definitely wouldn’t do something like this. Zuo Mo looked sympathetically at Pu Yao. Of course, he didn’t say anything. If there was something to be gained freely and he didn’t take it, then he would be stupid. Pu Yao was now acting stupid, but did he have to follow in stupidity?

He listened extremely carefully, afraid of missing a word.

Last time, yin beads had caused a great disaster in Dong Fu. However, that had also informed Zuo Mo of just how valuable yin beads were. Without a doubt, yin beads were good things! Valuable things! Something that even those jindan experts were fighting over, how could it not be a good thing?

The method of making yin fire beads wasn’t complicated but the contents were extremely lengthy. After a while, Pu Yao was impatient and threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo, letting him read the entire [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] by himself.

To make yin fire beads, there were three requirements. The first was yin beads, the second was fire, and the third was spiritual power. The more pure and dense the yin bead was, the higher grade the fire was, the stronger the consciousness was, the greater the power of the yin fire bead produced. The entire chapter was completely about these three points. The density and formation of yin beads were related to the level of cultivation. The manipulation of spiritual power had a crucial effect during the creation of the yin fired bead. But in the entire chapter, most of the contents were descriptions of all kinds of fire seeds and flames.

In this chapter, the descriptions of fire seeds and flames were extremely detailed. It seemed to have ranked all of the fire seeds and flames that could be used to make yin fire beads. One of them was the fire that Zuo Mo dreamed of, Golden Crow fire. Due to the differences in fires, the effects of the yin fire beads made were different. All kinds of rare and strange flames broadened Zuo Mo’s knowledge and amazed him.

Until he finished, he was still hungry for more. He had never thought that there would be so many kinds of flame in the world. There were even many strange and relatively unknown flames in low grade flames.

This was also the most detailed and complete scripture that he had encountered up until now. He didn’t know which sect the scripture came from. To be able to study fire to this depth, they were really skilled!

As he thought, his heart started to itch and he now wanted to make a few yin fire beads. According to the records in the scripture, as long as he could find a suitable fire, the yin fire beads that he could make would be something that even ningmai wouldn’t easily meet head-on. Yin beads, this thing was really too sensitive. Even if he did make yin fire beads, Zuo Mo wouldn’t easily use them. However, if he had this as one of his hidden cards, if it was a matter of life or death, it maybe could save him.

Thinking about it, Zuo Mo was even more tempted.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao stood in front of the gravestone, smirking, “You finally couldn’t bear it anymore! Three thousand years, your patience finally reached its limits? A guy who isn’t willing to abide by your rules, even as old-fashioned as you, you actually compromised?”

The gravestone was silent.

Pu Yao suddenly became excited, sharpness in his blood eye, shouting, “Then why weren’t you willing to compromise before?”

The gravestone was still silent.

Pu Yao closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was so calm that he seemed like another person. His alluring and handsome face had faint disdain, “You’re dead yet you still want to leave behind your will. When did you become this stupid!” He raised his chin, coldly gazing at the gravestone, “Also, how can I let you do as you please? Dead, then you shouldn’t leave anything behind! Hee, such an interesting game… …”

The gravestone was silent as usual.

Zuo Mo wiped the sweat off his face. He cut a sorry figure, his body covered in dirt and dry leaves. Wu Kong Mountain was situated among a vast stretch of mountains. The places that had some density of ling energy naturally were already occupied. What was abundant was a desolate landscape. Xiuzhe weren’t interested in lands that had no ling energy. They also didn’t have any use for normal lumber. Other than yao beasts, normal wild beasts were just a lump of meat in the eyes of xiuzhe. Now that every sect raised their own ling beasts, there naturally wasn’t anyone who hunted these animals. The woods that were lacking in ling energy, no one usually cared for them.

Zuo Mo was in a poor backwater location now. It was a mountain valley, trees were growing in every direction, most of them were covered in ivy. The high mountain peak blocked the sunlight. This place never saw the sun. The air was filled with a rotting stench. It had been many years since someone had came to this mountain valley. The leaves covering the ground were extremely thick. This kind of place was a breeding ground for miasma but Zuo Mo had prepared and made some first-grade Detoxification Dan.

Over the last few days, he had been making his way through this vast forest. Right now, the elders of the sect were either out on errands or in seclusion. No one was looking over him. He was free and unrestrained. After he had seen the complete method to make yin fire beads, he had the idea of searching for a fire seed.

What he wanted the most was Golden Crow fire. [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] had a high opinion of Golden Crow fire. The yin fire bead that was created with Golden Crow fire would be extremely yang and extremely masculine, astoundingly powerful. But in the short term, he could only think about Golden Crow fire. Before he could find a substitute herb, he couldn’t do anything. Even if he found an herb that could work as a substitute, he wasn’t very confident that it was possible. It was better that he would first find a low grade fire seed. Anything would be better than the Streaming Fire seal formation in the dan cauldron. If he had a fire seed, he could naturally form flames and create some yin fire beads.

There were many low grade fire seeds that were introduced in the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. Zuo Mo was extremely motivated.

However, any place that could form fire seeds, it must be a place with plentiful ling energy. If this was in the past, he definitely wouldn’t have any way. But now, he had a fourth-grade black gold worm. Even though this method seemed stupid, but Zuo Mo felt it was very plausible. He was full of confidence in this black gold worm. It could even find a place as hidden as the rock room. If there really was a ling vein, it definitely could find it.

But his luck wasn’t that good. He specially picked backwater places. After searching in the mountains for a week, he still hadn’t discovered anything. Each day, he would start as soon as the sun rose. Occasionally, he would be harassed by animals, yet his hands were empty. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t demotivated. But when he thought of Wei Sheng Shixiong, Zuo Mo felt that this little bit of trouble really wasn’t anything. He relaxed even more when he thought about it. If it could be easily felt, then he wouldn’t have a chance at it.

Looking at the surrounding geography, he decided to try. Taking down a bamboo cylinder slightly thicker than a thumb from his waist, he uncorked it and cast a spell.

The black gold worm climbed out of the cylinder, its antenna nimbly moving and then started crawling deeper into a mountain valley.

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert!

There was something!

This was the first time the black gold worm had reacted like this. He had already become suspicious that this gold black worm had degenerated.

He hurried behind the black gold worm, limping as he sprinted. The Water Drop sword quickly chopped in the front. Anywhere it passed, all the branches and ivy turned to pieces and cleared out a road.

Sprinting until he reached the bottom of a cliff, Zuo Mo saw a cave about half a person high. Weeds were growing over the opening. If he didn’t look closely, it would be hard to find. Zuo Mo only hesitated a while before bending down and pushing in. The inside of the cave was actually large and vast. The cold wind blew Zuo Mo’s hairs on end. He scanned the surroundings. Entering his eyes was stalactites and stalagmites that had formed over thousands of years. The drip drop of water was abnormally clear in the quiet cave.

Zuo Mo quickly found the black gold worm. It had stopped over a non-descript stalagmite.

Compared to those wondrously shaped stalagmites, this stalagmite was only half a person tall, and didn’t have anything that could attract a person’s eye.

Zuo Mo suddenly remembered a part of the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] and instantly became excited. He slowly inhaled, calming down his excitement before walking towards the stalagmite.

Under his control, the black gold worm reluctantly climbed down the stalagmite and moved to the side.

Zuo Mo raised the Water Drop sword, and following the top of the stalagmite, gently stabbed in.

The Water Drop sword easily entered. Zuo Mo suddenly had a joyous expression.

Raising the Water Drop sword, a milky-white flame suddenly shot out of the cut!

Second-grade rare fire seed, Stalagmite fire!

Greedily looking at this quietly burning milky-white flame, Zuo Mo restrained the excitement and joy inside. Gathering ling power on his hands, he reached towards the Stalagmite fire!

The spells to gather fire seeds were detailed in [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], even better than the spells Zuo Mo saw in Master’s records room. Silently channeling ling power, his hands suddenly became attractive and with a hiss, this Stalagmite fire entered his body.

His expression suddenly became even more serious. Sucking the fire seed into his body didn’t mean that he could celebrate. The next step was the truly important one!

Only by taming the fire seed could the fire seed be used.

But even though this Stalagmite fire was just second-grade, but it had passed through countless months, absorbed countless amounts of ling energy, in order to form and grow to this large.

How could it easily surrender?

Chapter 93: Stalagmite Fire

The milky-white stalagmite fire was born in the stalagmites of yin caves, and was a kind of cold fire.

Sucking it into his body, Zuo Mo felt a cold energy quickly spread through the channels in his body. Even though he had prepared before, his body couldn’t help but shake, the ling power almost slipping out of control. Pushing aside his surprise, he tried to control the movement of ling power to surround this Stalagmite fire. This ball of Stalagmite fire was provoked, the cold energy increasing. The milky-white flame gave off a strong coldness. The coldness was also extremely humid. What was even more shocking was that, in such a freezing energy, the moisture hadn’t been frozen into ice, but still existed as vapor.

Quickly, Zuo Mo felt the effect of the icy moisture! The unparalleled icy moisture, following the spitting of the flame, spread out in waves. The cold energy they contained was even more dense. Wherever they touched the channels, the channels would be damaged. They were like an extremely corrosive mist, leaving behind patches of frozen white wherever it passed.

The numbness of the channels was extremely uncomfortable. Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, continuing to control his ling power to suppress this Stalagmite fire.

The Stalagmite fire was like a trapped beast, furiously fighting, the flame spitting.

The freezing moisture was like the deadly energy that this white beast spat out, trying its best to damage Zuo Mo’s channels.

Zuo Mo felt pain inside. He could only follow the method of taming fire seeds from the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], furiously channeling ling power. The ling power in his body suddenly changed, quickly enveloping the Stalagmite fire tightly.

The Stalagmite fire seemed to have detected the change as it was covered by ling power, becoming more agitated than ever, furiously fighting.

Zuo Mo’s ling power flowed away quickly.

The stronger the struggles of the Stalagmite fire became, the faster the ling power in his body would be used up.

Zuo Mo became slightly panicked. If this speed continued, his ling power would quickly reach the bottom. Damn it! By now, this wasn’t a question of whether or not he could tame this fire, but whether or not he could keep his life. If the Stalagmite fire lost the suppression from ling power, it would start burning from inside his body until he was burnt into a pile of ice.

Who would have thought assimilating a second-grade fire seed would be so difficult?

This wasn’t going to work!

At this time, Zuo Mo couldn’t attend to anything else. He was like a gambler that was on the precipice of death, eyes red from losing! The step behind them was the fall off a thousand foot high cliff, there was no place to retreat! Since he could not retreat, then he would bet everything he had!

You’re just a second-grade Stalagmite fire, you dare to fight with ge!

You don’t know what you’ve done!

Strangely, the anger inside Zuo Mo suddenly erupted after he was pushed to death’s door. At this time, he didn’t use [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. In his eyes, this Stalagmite fire was just a large pest that had burrowed into his body!

All of his spiritual power were gathered, and he unhesitatingly cast [Art of Aged Gold]!

Zuo Mo didn’t have any remaining thought of taming it. He only had one thought. Kill it!

A handful of golden mist transformed into a little gold sword!

It was instinct after practicing the sword for so long. Without any need to think, the sword essence erupted!

The robust sword essence released itself through the little sword!

A golden light flashed on the little sword and it quickly melted, the golden liquid flowing and twisting. In the flick of a finger, a miniature golden Water Drop sword appeared inside Zuo Mo’s body!

As the golden sword took shape, the robust sword essence quickly became murderous and cold! The coldness of the Stalagmite fire was like the heart-piercing cold in the deep of the cold spring, and the icy sword essence exuded by the little Water Drop sword was like the endless cold wind of the tundra, carrying ice, sharp as a knife!

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought that, just at this time, [Art of Aged Gold] suddenly broke through to the fourth level!

Surrounded by ling power, the struggling Stalagmite fire suddenly stopped, motionless!

Zuo Mo’s murderous intent, carried by the sword essence, was passed onto the stalagmite fire without any hindrance.

If you keep moving, I’ll kill you!

If this Stalagmite fire still didn’t listen, then the Water Drop sword would cut it into pieces. He was prepared to give up this Stalagmite fire. For a second-grade Stalagmite fire, to pay with his life, it wasn’t profitable.

But the next scene struck Zuo Mo dumb.

The milky-white Stalagmite fire shrunk into a small ball, like a little kid holding his legs in a ball, shaking. This action was so like what a person could do that Zuo Mo’s rage decreased slightly.

So weird, these days, even fire seeds bullied the weak and were afraid of the strong! Muttering in his heart, he didn’t dare let down his guard. This time, the Stalagmite fire didn’t stop Zuo Mo’s consciousness from seeping in.

What Zuo Mo didn’t know was that this Stalagmite fire, formed after countless years, had a basic intelligence.

Two hours later, Zuo Mo opened his eyes, giving a long exhale. He pointed out his index finger and a milky-white flame suddenly rose from his finger, silently burning. Thinking about the danger that had just passed, Zuo Mo still had lingering fears. He had been yearning for a flame for a long time, but he was entirely ignorant about the process of assimilating a flame. Based on his cultivation, he would have had a difficult time taming this Stalagmite fire. If he just barely tamed it, he would only end up burning himself to death.

Thankfully, he had been inspired to use [Art of Aged Gold] and sword essence together to brutally suppress the Stalagmite fire.

However, Zuo Mo was completely ignorant of the fact that taming a fire seed was related to cultivation.

It was really dangerous. Having made a trip to death’s doors and come back, Zuo Mo wiped the sweat off his forehead. Thinking about the simple description on [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], and his own dangerous encounter, he muttered, it seemed like he couldn’t completely believe [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. If he just followed the instructions, his little life would be gone.

In the end, it was still that the things that Pu Yao gave weren’t reliable!

But upon further thought, he understood. Pu was a three thousand year old antique. The stuff he had naturally was the old things from three thousand years ago. Those things were so old their teeth would be falling out. How could there not be a problem?

Would antiques understand going with the times?!

Zuo Mo continued to rant, swearing at Pu Yao as though this was what he needed to comfort his wounded soul. Of course, he could only rant. He was still afraid. It was very lucky that he hadn’t made Golden Crow fire before. The second-grade Stalagmite fire almost took his little life. The fourth-grade Golden Crow fire, he wouldn’t even be able to stop it and would just burn to ash.

However, in all, Zuo Mo was still very satisfied. This Stalagmite fire was a second-grade rare fire seed as ranked in [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], extremely uncommon.

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly shifted. Holding the Water Drop sword, he slowly cut away at the stone stalagmite. The inside of the stalagmite was hollow. When Zuo Mo saw a thin layer of milk-like liquid at the bottom of the stalagmite, he couldn’t help but be overjoyed. This milky-white liquid was called stone milk. It was an extremely rare material for dan-making. He hurriedly took out a small jade bottle from his bosom and carefully gathered all of the stone milk, not leaving behind one drop.

When he saw the black gold worm that was turning on its spot restlessly, he first paused before laughing. He took out three drops of stone milk from the jade bottle and dropped it onto the body of the black gold wom,

“Ha ha, ge eats meat, you drink soup!”

As the white stone milk touched the shell of the black gold worm, it was like water touching sand, quickly being absorbed into the black gold worm. The sheen of the black gold worm’s shell became even finer and shiny. The black gold worm seemed to be full, becoming motionless on the ground.

Zuo Mo knew that it was absorbing the stone milk. He took out the bamboo cylinder and put it back in.

Having gained the Stalagmite fire and stone milk, Zuo Mo was impatient to return to Wu Kong Mountain.

When the disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect saw Zuo Mo’s sorry state, they were all shocked. Zuo Mo was focused on his goal, waving his hand at them, and like a burst of wind, headed straight for his own valley.

Returning to the Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo instantly started to examine the Stalagmite fire.

Stalagmite fire was a rare kind of second-grade fire seed, and naturally had its own unique attributes. It belonged to the ranks of cold fire. Just this, it was extremely rare in low grade fire seeds. Other than that, because it had been born in the humid, dark and cold of the cave stalagmites, it was both full of water and cold. Its flames would naturally give out cold moisture. In other words, it combined the two opposite qualities of water and fire in one entity. This attribute, it was even more rare in low grade fire seeds.

In the five elements, water and fire opposed each other. However, in the natural world, there were many strange entities that could perfectly merge these two completely opposing attributes together.

The [Li Water Sword Scripture] that Zuo Mo practiced was to manipulate water like fire. From a certain perspective, it also contained attributes of water and fire. This was also the best and trickiest bit of the sword scripture. However, while [Li Water Sword Scripture] had the qualities of water and fire, but it was far from the wonders of something natural like the Stalagmite fire.

Manipulate water like fire. It was still water in the end. It just borrowed the shape of fire.

Stalagmite fire was truly something that had both fire and water. However, fire was definitely its primary attribute so it was ranked into the ranks of fire seeds.

There were many kinds of fire, but it was sorted according to the attributes. Generally, there were four major categories of hot fire, yang fire, yin fire and cold fire. Hot fire was the most commonly seen fire. Its most important quality was its high temperature. The Streaming fire from the Streaming fire seal formation was a classical hot fire. Yang fire were sorted based on being masculine and yang. The Golden Crow fire that Zuo Mo dreamed about was the epitome of yang fire. Yin fires, which were commonly also called ghost fire, were born from yin energy, such as Shura fire. Cold fire was also called Icy flame. Its unique quality was cold and icy. They usually were born in extremely dark and cold places.

There were also some strange and weird flames that were hard to sort. Those flames, they were usually the finest of flames and were treasures that every xiuzhe dreamed about.

But no matter the type of flame, they would have the basic quality of fire, melting. This was also one of the reasons why the fire method was the most mainstream methods for dan-making.

In the next few days, Zuo Mo studied the stalagmite fire. The present Stalagmite fire was extremely tame. If he sent it east, it definitely wouldn’t go west. Controlling fire depended on the consciousness. Zuo Mo’s consciousness was his strong suit and he could control it with ease. He could even use some complex manipulations.

After playing for a few days until he was familiar, Zuo Mo thought about making yin fire beads.

Yin fire beads was only a general name. In reality, the yin fire beads that were made with different flames would all be different. Even the author of [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], who detailed so many fire seeds, he didn’t have all of the fire seeds.

There were hundreds of fire seeds recorded in the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. Only sixty eight had a description of the related yin fire bead, There was nothing on what was the effect of the yin fire beads that would be created with the remaining fires. Stalagmite fire was one of the remainder.

Zuo Mo himself was extremely curious. What kind of yin fire bead would be created using such a special fire as Stalagmite fire?

He started to make his first yin fire bead.

Chapter 94: Why Do My Eyes Always Have Tears

In the stone room, Zuo Mo’s eyes were closed, his legs coiled up. A ball of Stalagmite fire was floating in front of him. Between the milky-white flames, a yin bead could be seen.

His hands continuously formed the spell. Following the changes in his fingers, bursts of ling power were sent into the flame.

The important part of making an yin firebead wasn’t ling power but spiritual power. His consciousness carefully controlled the fire. The spell was extremely complicated and Zuo Mo instantly felt a heavy burden, especially when he needed to endure these conditions for about an hour. The pitiful Zuo Mo didn’t know that usually making yin fire beads wasn’t something a zhuji xiuzhe could accomplish.

No one had told him. Pu Yao didn’t tell him. The [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] didn’t write of it.

If he knew, he certainly wouldn’t have tried.

Sometimes, the ignorant had no fear. Zuo Mo, who had no knowledge, never even considered if his cultivation was enough to make the yin fire beads. Faithfully following the instructions on the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], he carefully worked at making the yin fire bead.

One by one, mysterious light characters were sent into the Stalagmite fire and burrowed into the yin bead. However, there was no change on the Stalagmite fire or the yin bead.

Time slipped away. Sweat gradually formed on Zuo Mo’s forehead.

Ling power was being used up too quickly!

Based on this speed, the ling power inside his body would quickly run dry. If his ling power couldn’t be maintained, the yin bead would be ruined.

When he thought about it, the picture of the forest of signs in the Free Market proclaiming [Purchasing Yin Beads At High Prices] floated up in Zuo Mo’s mind. Something that even jindan were willing to pay high prices to buy, think of the price! The more he thought, the greater his flesh hurt. He seemed to see countless jingshi waving their hands at him and flying further and further away.

Damn it!

As expected, Pu Yao’s things weren’t reliable! What [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], it was a mistake chapter! What situation was this?

Zuo Mo was panicked, angry and unwilling!

Even though his own life wasn’t in danger right now, but so many jingshi waving goodbye to him wasn’t any different from being repeatedly stabbed by daggers. If he wasn’t still in the process of forging, Zuo Mo probably would have ran over to Pu Yao to start arguing.

Just at this time, in his sea of consciousness, Pu Yao unconcernedly raised his head: “Forging this early? Young people are really full of motivation!” Finishing, he closed his eyes, mind at ease, and listened to his sound tablet.

If Zuo Mo heard this, he would be spitting pints of blood. He was very pitiful, still ignorant of the situation. The only thing he was certain of right now was that he hadn’t missed one word.

Yet the situation in front of his eyes was completely different from the description in the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. According to the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], he only needed to maintain it for an hour. Right now though, his ling power was almost empty. Was his cultivation not enough? Zuo Mo finally realized the problem, but his realization had come too late.

In the end, he couldn’t bear to give up this yin bead, gritting his teeth and persisting. He’ll keep going as long as he was able! He couldn’t just stand by and watch as the yin bead was wasted. He suddenly thought about how he used his consciousness to monitor the dan during dan-making. He took out a small portion of consciousness to carefully skimp and control the ling power in his body.

The usage of ling power instantly lessened. However, if it kept on going like this, he still couldn’t make it!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and divided out another portion of his consciousness to carefully control a small ball of ling power. To avoid conflict with the continuously changing finger motions on his hands, Zuo Mo led the burst of ling power to the Gushing Spring point on the bottom of his feet. If he didn’t have this little sliver of consciousness, Zuo Mo basically didn’t have the attention to spare to control the ling power. Just the finger motions that could not be stopped were enough for him to deal with. But since he divided his consciousness, he could do three things as once.

The feeling of his head being divided into three was extremely uncomfortable. Just a little while, and Zuo Mo felt his head start to hurt.

This was an extremely familiar feeling!

Previously, when Xin Yan Shibo’s sword essence had wounded his consciousness, it had been this feeling. It was that time that he had landed in Pu Yao’s trap of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

But for jingshi! For yin beads!

Zuo Mo endured!

Using all his power, he channeled the little bit of ling power towards the Gushing Spring point. He started to continuously revolve the ling power faster. The ling power started to revolve faster and gradually, it formed into a little whirlpool. There seemed to be suction force coming from the bottom of his feet. The ling energy in the surroundings seemed to slowly move towards the little whirlpool.

This was something Zuo Mo had never tried before. But for jingshi, Zuo Mo didn’t care about it that much. Speaking of it, the inspiration for this came from the [Li Water Sword Scripture]’s [Seven Whirlpools]. If this was the speed at which he usually absorbed ling energy, then he would have run out. Without any other solution, Zuo Mo thought of this risky way.

The ling power on his feet quickened and ling energy gradually was suctioned in.

As the ling energy that was sucked in entered the little whirlpool, the whirlpool started to grow, the speed increasing. The ling energy in the surroundings seemed to be pulled, great amounts pouring towards the whirlpool in Zuo Mo’s feet.

Hiss!

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply, the Stalagmite fire floating in front of his chest trembling, almost collapsing.

He felt like there were nails coming out of the ground, continuously being hammered into his foot. The Gushing Spring point might be one of the major points in the body, but Zuo Mo had never used it to absorb ling energy before. Using it so heavily right now, it would be strange if it didn’t hurt!

But, for jingshi, ge will bear it!

Zuo Mo tragically and furiously continued to channel ling power, speeding up the rate of ling energy absorption. The ling energy from the air, when it was absorbed into the body, needed to go through a process of refining before it can be turned into cultivation. The purer the ling energy, the stronger the power, the more easily it could be controlled and would not influence the mind. Zuo Mo couldn’t care that much right now. Impure ling power was still ling power. At least, it could work in a pinch. Right now, he was like a starving man who hadn’t eaten in ten years. Any bit of ling energy, he would ravenously pull it in.

With the supply of new ling power, Zuo Mo could finally relax.

The quality of the yin fire bead that would be forged wasn’t something Zuo Mo was going to consider at this point. He would thank the heavens and earth if he could just finish.

Ge’s life is always so tragic! Zuo Mo was tragically angry. Absorbing the Stalagmite fire, he had almost lost his little life. Forging the yin fire bead, he was in great pain. The piercing pain from his feet, the jerking pain from his consciousness being split in three, the tearing pain from the impure ling power moving in his channels… …

Why do my eyes always contain tears, because I love the jingshi so deeply… …

— Still painful!

Zuo Mo was shocked that he had the time for such nonsensical thoughts at this time, but he quickly didn’t have the attention. Ling energy, not having been purified, it was much harder to control. The spells that he could easily complete before now became extremely difficult. The interior of his body was at a precarious equilibrium. The slightest shift and the balance would be broken, leading to a complete loss.

Therefore, he bore the pain and the tears, carefully maintaining the equilibrium inside his body.

In the rock room, Zuo Mo was like a whirlpool, the ling energy surrounding him flooding in.

As the ling energy entered his body, the Stalagmite fire in front of him grew.

Zuo Mo’s clothes moved despite the lack of wind, flapping around. The sweat on his forehead continuously poured down. Even the dense ling energy in the rock room couldn’t endure the ferocity of Zuo Mo’s absorption and emptied out. Only the ling energy from the ling vein continuously entered the bottom of Zuo Mo’s feet.

The bottom of Zuo Mo’s feet were now bright red, like heated metal. If one looked closely, they would discover the rock-hard leg now seemed as though it had epilepsy, contorting and jerking.

When the last spell was cast into the Stalagmite fire, Zuo Mo couldn’t stand up anymore, collapsing to the ground.

He was so tired he didn’t even want to move a finger. His entire body was like a toad that had been de-sinewed, his limbs doing strange convulsing motions.

Pain!

As he lied down, he instantly started to wail. The tearing pain of his channels, the throbbing pain from his wounded consciousness, and the piercing pain from the bottom of his feet. They all reminded him how bad his state was.

After wailing for a while, Zuo Mo struggled up and crawled to pick up the yin fire bead.

The grey yin bead now seemed like clear glass. There were strands of white patterns inside, like clouds floating on a blue sky.

So beautiful!

Zuo Mo’s eyes became intoxicated. He felt that the pain he had just suffered through was worth it. He didn’t know how powerful this yin fire bead was but looking at such a beautiful bead, and thinking about how hard it had been to make it, did he bear to use it to test its power?

Like it was a treasure, he carefully put it away.

He struggled to stand and instantly shouted in pain. At some unknown time, his right foot had swollen into a ball. Just the slightest touch, much less walking, would result in a sharp needle like pain.

It really was people die for wealth, animals die for food!

Zuo Mo thought as he maintained a strange posture as he jumped on one leg out of the rock room.

For this yin fire bead, he had paid a serious price. It was relatively easy to deal with the wound in his consciousness. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was specifically for healing consciousness wounds. What was more serious was the damage in his channels. He had to run to Fragrant Ginger Yard to find Xu Qing for a few medical dan in order to slowly heal him. Thankfully, for xiuzhe, channel damage might not be usual but it was one of the most common situations so the sect didn’t lack for treatments.

When Xu Qing saw Zuo Mo’s sorry state, she was very shocked.

Zuo Mo Shixiong’s name was now known far and wide. At least, the name of the Scalping Zombie was known in the area around Wu Kong Sword Sect. The wastrels from Ling Ying Sect, it had been quite a few days since they came to harass the sect. Who had beaten Shixiong this badly?

However, it wasn’t her place to ask. She hurriedly took out five medical dan, handing them to Zuo Mo. Seeing Zuo Mo take them and turn around, she hesitated, and then weakly added: “Shixiong, it’s one piece of third-grade jingshi for each dan. In total, it’s five third-grade jingshi.’

The one-legged Zuo Mo’s body shook. He almost fell down. He really made a great loss! And right now, he didn’t have one jingshi left. He could only wave his hand, deferring: “On the tab!”

One piece of jingshi stumped heroes!

“Oh.” Xu Qing nodded and then reminded Zuo Mo: “Shixiong, the payment deadline is in ten days, don’t forget! Shixiong is owing, let me see.” Finishing, she took out a little book and flipped two pages, reciting: “The materials that Shixiong had been using for dan-making hadn’t been cleared yet. Adding on today, in total, it is thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi!”

Zuo Mo felt everything darken… …

Chapter 95: A Method Forced Out

Thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi!

If this was not long ago, he wouldn’t feel it was anything major, but for him at the present, this was undoubtedly a large debt. He could not make Golden Crow pills so his most important income source was cut off. He did have a lot of yin beads but he didn’t dare to sell them. It had caused such a ruckus recently and he had almost lost his little life. If someone found out that he had yin beads, no, if someone knew that the person who was selling yin beads last time was him, then his little life was definitely not going to survive.

Jingshi was valuable but his life was even more precious.

There was still some time until the Fiery Red flower in the ling gardens would mature, and he couldn’t exchange for jingshi right now. He could risk it and sell the Moisture dan. But right now, he only had three Moisture dan. The efficiency of the water method really made people speechless. He could sell the Icy Cloud grass for a pretty good price, but for ling grasses this rare, if he sold it, it would be hard to buy in the future.

Gather together thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi in ten days. These recent days, it kept on circling in his head. Even when he was nourishing his channels, he was still pondering it. But as time passed away, and the deadline of ten days was coming closer, Zuo Mo still didn’t have a solution.

Did he have to go sell some of the talismans?

His gaze landed on the talismans on his own body and ached in pain. These were all the finest of the third-grade talismans. It would be a pity to sell them. As to the vambrace and ling armor Xu Yi Shixiong and Yan Le Shibo sold him, the quality was so-so and wouldn’t sell for a high price.

Why haven’t the people from Ling Ying Sect come even once these days?

If a few more came, wouldn’t this problem be solved? Not just thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi, even if it was double that, it wouldn’t be a problem. The people from Ling Ying Sect didn’t have one cheap item on their body.

Those days were dangerous but he had suddenly became rich. Zuo Mo yearned for those days, the satisfaction and happiness that had risen.

Suddenly, his mind moved. They weren’t coming to find ge, ge could go find them!

Once this idea popped out, Zuo Mo instantly became excited. He jumped up from the floor, limping as he paced back and forth, his mouth muttering.

The first reaction he had was: it was plausible!

However, he restrained the joy inside and started to ponder the problems involved. Being challenged and going to challenge was completely different things. If he went to challenge at someone else’s territory, if he wasn’t careful, he would be swarmed. He needed to make sure the other side would respond, yet wouldn’t enrage the other side so they would swarm him, and he couldn’t alarm the elders of Ling Ying Sect… …

He needed to think about this, make a good plan… …

In the dark room, Zuo Mo rubbed his chin, his zombie face expressionless. Only that pair of eyes flashed with the light of jingshi.

———

The Dong Fu Sword Test Conference was an extremely hot topic. From the size and the influence, the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference naturally couldn’t compare to the Sword Test Conference of the entire Kun Lun Realm. However, the generous prizes attracted many young experts who didn’t have much wealth, dramatically increasing the skill level of the Sword Test Conference. As the skill level of the conference increased, some young experts who were not tempted by the prizes into attending left their sects to travel to Dong Fu. This was a rare chance to spar with other sects. They didn’t care about the prizes, but such a great chance to gain experience, it would be too much of a pity to miss it.

For these non-local experts, if they wanted to attend the Sword Test Conference, they needed to start from the Preliminary Sword Test Conference. Consequently, even the preliminary conference became a very popular spectacle, lots of experts and a great viewing experience.

Gu Rong Ping, coming from one of the thirteen primary towns of Dong Fu, Clear Sky Lake, his [Heart Lake Sword] was untraceable. From the first round of the prelims, he was undefeated for all thirteen rounds. His appearance was extremely dignified and handsome, his conduct elegant, quickly becoming the best cultivation partner in the eyes of Dong Fu’s females! Every one of his battles would be extremely noisy, the screams of the females ringing in the years. Starting from the fifth round, those women had formed groups to seek information, and do all kinds of things to disturb the opponent. Gu Rong Ping quickly became the opponent others didn’t want to encounter the most.

Coming from another primary town, Gui Feng was the most eye-catching young talent. His [Little Ghost Sword] was strange and hard to predict, the power was astounding. Adding on his unpredictable footwork, he was labeled the hardest opponent to fight with.

Coming out of poverty, no sect, no family, Nan Men Yang brightened everyone’s eyes. His talent was strange, extreme strength. The second-grade [Vajra Chant] was used with his [Mountain Breaker Sword] for an extremely offensive and powerful style, the broadsword moves strong like they could break a mountain. He attracted the eyes of many sects. Such a great piece of jade, if they would take him in, they would only profit.

Other young experts like Nan Men Yang who didn’t have a sect or family started to come out and display their talents. The Dong Fu Sword Test Conference attracted the eyes of all the powers. Each sect was always hungry for talented disciples. No one who be bothered by having too many geniuses in their sect. A sect’s prosperity and continuation wasn’t dependent on one person.

Sky Moon Jie’s well-known sects, other than sending their disciples for experience, also sent out their elders to discover those youths of great potential. The little sects hoped to rope in those disciples with no family or sect. The bigger sects even dared to go after the geniuses of the small sects.

Persuasion, prices, promises… …

Even the cause of it all, Tian Song Zi, had never thought that his action of holding the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference would actually cause a shuffling of the powers in Sky Moon Jie.

———

In the stone room, Zuo Mo stretched out, his bones cracking. He expressionlessly opened his eyes, his eyes glowing with a light like that of a wolf.

The damaged channels in his body had fully recovered. His consciousness had also recovered. These recent days, he had cultivated very hard. The progression of [Vajra Profound Sutra] was a surprise to him. He had originally assumed that the gravestone version would be significantly slower. Yet after the initial slow period, Zuo Mo’s progression was extremely quick. However, the unexpected speed of improvement made him insecure. Many times, he had been doubting himself, suspicious that he was cultivating it incorrectly.

Recently, due to the string of incidents that he encountered in cultivation, it made Zuo Mo suspicious of anything to do with Pu Yao. Even though this [Vajra Profound Sutra] didn’t come from Pu Yao, but the gravestone under Pu Yao’s butt.

Other than healing, Zuo Mo spent all his time cultivating.

There were still three days until the deadline. Fully recovered and ready, Zuo Mo decided to set out. He had prepared very well already. Like the lingdan that could restore ling power, even if it was two pieces of third-grade jingshi, Zuo Mo still gritted his teeth and put five on the tab.

Ling Ying Sect was located at Ling Ying Mountain.

Coming to the mountain gate of Ling Ying Mountain, looking at the magnificent gate entirely made out of jade, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh at the wealth of Ling Ying Sect. Ling Ying Sect had nineteen peaks, the area they occupied was more than seven times the area of Wu Kong Sword Sect. Supposedly, Ling Ying Sect had started out with one peak, but the sect leaders had been skilled at management and the other eighteen peaks had all been bought by the sect leaders with jingshi.

Ling Ying Sect’s main gate faced the road, and could be reached by rock stairs. The location was extremely advantageous and many people passed by.

In reality, Zuo Mo’s heart was beating hard. In Dong Fu, Ling Ying Sect’s reputation was much more famous than Wu Kong Sword Sect. Ling Ying Sect had more than a few dozen disciples that were in zhuji alone. No matter how strong you were, if they all attacked you, you couldn’t make it.

But thinking about the three days until the deadline, Zuo Mo felt a burst of courage. Looking at the mountain gates that were carved out of jade, Zuo Mo wanted to tear it down and lug it home, then sell it for jingshi!

Calm! He needed to be calm! Zuo Mo repeatedly told himself.

Thinking about the plan he had made earlier… …

The disciples from Ling Ying Sect had noticed this stranger very early on.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” A Ling Ying Sect disciple shouted as his brows furrowed, “Don’t you know this is Ling Ying sect?” He scanned Zuo Mo and said scornfully, “Our sect’s rules, those improperly dressed cannot enter!”

The other Ling Ying Sect disciple said discontentedly, “Shidi, don’t waste words with him. Just throw him out!”

This crowd of little minions, Zuo Mo naturally didn’t take them seriously. To say nothing else, but the fact that these two didn’t have much on their body was enough for Zuo Mo to disregard them. He was too lazy to pay attention to them, unconcernedly stating, “Call Wen Fei out!”

The expressions of the two Ling Ying Sect disciples changed. One of them lectured, “You dare to call Wen Shixiong… …”

“I am Zuo Mo of Wu Kong Sword Sect.” Zuo Mo lazily interrupted.

The lecturing voice suddenly stopped, the faces of the two people changing.

“The Scalping Zombie… …” The two looked at each other, and the person who had been speaking shuddered. The other person instantly ran towards the mountain.

Seeing the reactions, Zuo Mo was very smug. It seemed that ge did have a reputation. But then he became slightly discontent. This nickname was really not pleasing to the ear!

A short while later, Wen Fei and a group of people dressed in a multitude of colors appeared in Zuo Mo’s vision. Zuo Mo’s mind became alert, the light in his eyes increasing. They were like that of a wolf, having just seen a herd of fat sheep.

Each motion this crowd of people made, Zuo Mo seemed to see human-like structures composed of countless jingshi moving… …

When Wen Fei saw Zuo Mo, his face instantly became dark. The old hate and the new hate collided and rose. He said coldly, “Brother Zuo coming here today, is it to return the talismans you have borrowed from me and my brothers?”

Zuo Mo silently thought that this person was cunning and really wasn’t a friendly person. He snickered, “Borrow? Is Brother Wen joking? Our sect’s rules, anyone that comes to challenge mush leave behind a talisman to show the result. If this one lost, Brother Wen can also pick a talisman from this one’s body to serve as a memento. This is our sect’s rules, one battle, one talisman! It’s a pity that Brother Wen’s luck wasn’t very good and lost to this one. If Brother Wen wants to take it back, you can challenge me again at any time. However, if Brother Wen loses, you have to pay another talisman~”

Zuo Mo bullshitted.

Having his defeat being mentioned in front of the public, Wen Fei’s face was dark but he could not argue.

Tao Zhu Er saw Wen Fei was on the edge of losing control and thought the little rat was horrid. She could only stand out, “Then why has Brother Zuo come this time? To show off in front of our sect?”

Zuo Mo’s spine straightened, standing taller, the light in his eyes increasing, his two hands fisted as he bowed in the direction of Wu Kong Mountains, his voice deep and grave.

“Miss Tao is joking. There were five shixiong from Ling Ying Sect who came overall to challenge our sect. Our sect leaders have sternly taught us, our Wu Kong Sword Sect may be small, but needs to maintain our reputation. And has also said that matters between disciples should be resolved by disciples. This matter had started because of me and naturally cannot be given to someone else. I have not come with discourtesy but to ask for guidance from five of the Ling Ying Sect shixiong, one by one. After these five fights, no matter win or loss, this matter will be resolved! I heard that the shixiong of Ling Ying Sect have always been magnanimous and the sect’s conduct is just. To be able to spar with five of the shixiong, one by one, this little disciple would be happy even if I didn’t win. Please, help guide me!”

The passer-bys only saw that at the gate of Ling Ying Sect, a thin youth was facing the wealthy experts of Ling Ying Sect, dignified and calm, not afraid, and all stopped in their steps.

The words were loud and clear, extremely resolute. Passing through the air, the listeners felt their blood boil!

Chapter 96: A Cold Light

Zuo Mo made a very detailed plan.

First, he had to declare his intentions. This seemingly useless action was in reality very important. It could effectively stop the incident from running out of control. If the two sides really ended up having a major disagreement, the ones who would lose would definitely be Wu Kong Sword Sect who had less people.

The second effect was to not alert the elders of the sect. Originally, Zuo Mo had thought of making an even bigger spectacle so the chances they would all attack him together would be smaller. But if too many people watched, the face of Ling Ying Sect would be damaged, and the elders of the sect would quickly find his elders. The sect leader definitely wouldn’t forgive him. Even more, Zuo Mo had deliberately flattered them. What “disciples have always been magnanimous and the sect’s conduct is just.” It was all to push the other onto the rack to roast.

How could he make the other accept an one-on-one challenge? He needed to make sure they saw hope of victory. As long as the others felt they could win, they definitely wouldn’t retreat. Especially when they were being challenged. Due to their confidence, their face, they would accept it.

Consequently, Zuo Mo challenged to fight five people one after the other. In his words, he had emphasized “one by one” twice.

The one that was at a disadvantage in this plan was Zuo Mo.

His core idea was very simple. He would first place himself in a disadvantageous position. The disciples of Ling Ying Sect, no matter if it was confidence, or face, it wouldn’t be good for them to go over the line.

One person battling five in a row. If it was like this and Ling Ying Sect still lost, these people could only suck it up. Their elders would have nothing to say and wouldn’t have the face to go to Wu Kong Mountain to make trouble for Zuo Mo. They couldn’t afford the embarrassment.

Of course, one person fighting five in a row was extremely disadvantageous for Zuo Mo. He wasn’t so confident to the point he believed he could win over all five. But he didn’t need to win all the fights. He had come for the jingshi. Everything was fine as long as he made a profit.

In other words, if he could win three out of the five fights, he would make a profit! Of course, the prerequisite was that the talismans on the losers didn’t suck.

The level of difficulty in winning five fights was too high. Zuo Mo had never thought about it. Winning three battles, Zuo Mo felt that it might be risky but it was possible. In the last little while, his cultivation had increased greatly and the initial merging between Li Water sword essence and tidal sword essence had increased his confidence.

So after thinking it over, the large debts caused Zuo Mo to make a decision and come.

He had been very cunning with his virtuous words. When he saw the value of what this group of people was wearing, Zuo Mo’s desire for battle rose. Luxury was a crime! Each of them had at least a few talismans that were not lower in value than what Zuo Mo had taken.

He wouldn’t be making a loss today!

As to the one battle, one talisman, he had just made it up. In any case, no one would run to the sect leader to ask for proof.

“Great! This one admires Brother Zuo’s bravery very much! Brother Zuo is right, disciples have a responsibility to the reputation of their sect. Since Brother Zuo has made a challenge, we will naturally receive it. Count me in!” One person walked out of the crowd of Ling Ying Sect disciples.

This person was the Eldest Disciple of Ling Ying Sect, Lin Yuan. His face was proud as he looked at Zuo Mo with a raised chin. Lin Yuan was the Eldest Disciple in Ling Ying Sect. He had strong connections to Ling Ying Sect, his family was a famous merchant clan in Sky Moon Jie, and his wealth was the greatest among all of the disciples. Due to the fact that his family’s business provided great aid to Ling Ying sect, it caused his status in Ling Ying Sect to be very special.

Tao Zhu Er looked in sympathy at Eldest Shixiong, but tightly closed her mouth, not saying a word.

Eldest Shixiong usually was very conceited, and in Ling Ying Sect, where everyone competed on background and family, no one dared to go against him, gradually forming his conceited and arrogant temper.

Yan Ming Zi hid in the back, mockery in his eyes. Perhaps, out of all these people, he was the one who most accurately guessed Zuo Mo’s aim. For some reason, when he saw Zuo Mo, he would think of the other’s greedy expression when he was plundering.

Hu Shan and the others had tasted defeat at Zuo Mo’s hands and smirked in the shadows. There were many disciples in Ling Ying Sect, constantly fighting, and their relationships were very complicated. They naturally were willing to see others trip up. That way, no one would mock them about this incident again.

They had spread the name of the Scalping Zombie far and wide but the great majority of people hadn’t seen it for themselves. How could they believe it? Especially when it was the conceited and arrogant disciples of Ling Ying Sect. They only felt that Hu Shan and the others weren’t strong enough. They didn’t even pay attention when Wen Fei was defeated. Rather, they scorned Wen Fei.

So Wen Fei Shixiong who was the focus of the elders also had an inflated reputation! Even a guy from a little sect like Wu Kong Sword Sect whose main profession was making medicine could defeat him. If that wasn’t an inflated reputation, then what was?

Wen Fei kept on feeling that there was smugness hidden deep in Zuo Mo’s eyes. The two had fought before. He didn’t believe one bit the words that had come out of Zuo Mo’s mouth. When he saw Eldest Shixiong Lin Yuan step out, he instantly knew that it was bad. He was very clear what Eldest Shixiong’s true power was. Even he had been defeated, how would Eldest Shixiong even be a match?

At this time, the cheers of the disciples caused the shadow over his heart to darken.

“Eldest Shixiong is mighty!”

“As expected from Eldest Shixiong! This composure, take a look at it. What’s called being a role model, this is called a role model!”

“Eldest Shixiong, let him have a taste of how powerful our Ling Ying Sect is! What Scalping Zombie, when he comes here, he’s the only one getting scalped!”

The flattery flowed like a flood.

The light on Lin Yuan’s face as he stepped out was even brighter. The head was raised high, like an arrogant and smug rooster!

Such honor, would they let Eldest Shixiong take it all?

Some opponents of Lin Yuan who were in secret conflict with him couldn’t restrain themselves and stood out as well.

“Count me in!”

“I’ll come.”

“Dare to bully our Ling Yin Sect. Humph, this one will see just how good you are!”

Another three people came out, all of them heads of various factions in Ling Ying Sect. If they didn’t stand up now, it would be hard to maintain power in their factions! As expected, when the three came out, their faction members became excited and felt it was a great honor, calling out flattery.

Wen Fei grimaced inside. He glanced at Zuo Mo out of the corner of his eyes. He felt that under the expressionless visage, the other would definitely be laughing! The people who step out, if it was machinations and scheming, partisan politics, they were very good. But if it was the sword… …

He saw a few more people wanting to join in and could only push hard at the shixiong beside him and shout loudly.

“Chang Shixiong at the end!”

Chang Shixiong, who had been pushed out, looked with slight surprise at Wen Fei, and said, “I had assumed you would have another fight. Why push me out?”

“Please, Shixiong, help me take back my ring.” Wen Fei had a pleading expression.

A surprised expression made its way onto Chang Shixiong’s face. Wen Fei’s actions directly admitted that he wasn’t a match. He looked in interest at Zuo Mo. He turned his face to smile at Wen Fei, “Alright.”

After Wen Fei shouted, all the voices suddenly stopped. The people who had been tempted all shrunk back. The mood became slightly strange. The fiery atmosphere suddenly became silent, completely silent. The expressions of the three who had said they would fight became slightly unnatural. There wasn’t much change in Lin Yuan’s expression, but the uncontrollable wariness in his eyes made Zuo Mo pay special attention to this Chang Shixiong.

It seemed this person was strong!

Tao Zhu Er, and the others, after hearing Wen Fei yell “Chang Shixiong at the end”, they first paused and then became joyous.

“Ho, now that’s something to see!” Hu Shan said in a quiet voice, unable to suppress the excitement in his voice.

“That’s so true. After Chang Shixiong fought two years ago, until now, I’ve never seen Chang Shixiong fight again.” Yan Ming Zi was extremely excited.

“Chang Shixiong has been resting his body and mind… …” Hu Shan said.

“Che, only ghosts believe that!” Yan Ming Zi said disdainfully.

Tao Zhu Er suddenly turned around and added, “Even ghosts don’t believe it.”

Lin Yuan was dissatisfied with the present mood. This damned guy called Chang, nothing good happened whenever he came out! He spoke to break the suffocating silence, “Alright. However, we’ll say it first. If you lose, I can take a talisman from you.”

“Naturally.” There was still no expression on Zuo Mo’s zombie face. No one could see what he was thinking. He weakly added, “But if you want this Water Drop sword, you have to wait until after the five fights for me to give you. I don’t have a substitute flying sword.”

“No problem.” Lin Yuan generously said. He looked like he was already the victor.

Lin Yuan’s supporters became excited again. They widened their eyes, afraid of missing a detail. Thinking about the picture of Eldest Shixiong beating this horrid zombie up, it would be very interesting!

The Water Drop sword floated in front of Zuo Mo’s chest like a leaf floating in water.

Chang Shixiong’s eyes focused. His eyes were very experienced. The Water Drop sword looked like it was quietly floating but in reality, it was making extremely small movements. It was like a snake that had already found its target and was waiting for a chance!

This was an extremely tiny detail. However, he had to re-judge the strength of this weak-looking youth.

In comparison, Wen Fei’s response was much faster and his face much uglier. He had fought with Zuo Mo before and he had a direct understanding of the other’s strength. Right now, this opening move gave him great pressure, pressure that hadn’t appeared when they had fought last time!

There was only one explanation. In this interval of time, Zuo Mo had become stronger!

Zuo Mo’s legs were naturally spread out, his face slightly lowered, his eyes looking down like an old monk in meditation.

Lin Yuan smirked and took out his flying sword. This was a flying sword that was entirely gold, countless seals carved on it. Between the seals, golden light flashed like ripples of water.

“[Yang Emperor Sword], fourth-grade!” he said proudly.

Hiss, the xiuzhe in the surroundings inhaled sharply, their eyes hot as they looked at the sparkling gold sword. A fourth-grade flying sword was very rare in Sky Moon Jie.

Enjoying the envious and admiring glances of everyone else, Lin Yuan’s mood was very good. He postured, “You are a guest. This one will let you have three moves!”

Zuo Mo didn’t move. It was like he didn’t hear it.

Seeing the situation, Lin Yuan was dissatisfied with Zuo Mo’s lack of cooperation and snorted, “If you are looking for death, then don’t blame this one! Attack!”

The sound feel and Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes!

It was impossible to describe the cold light that flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. It was like an extremely sharp and vicious sword energy, and also like a poisonous snake that had been hiding in the shadows who suddenly bared its fangs!

The Water Drop sword that had been quietly floating in front of his chest disappeared.

It suddenly appeared at Lin Yuan’s neck, the sword point slightly spilling out a sword energy, just barely grazing Lin Yuan’s neck.

Lin Yuan’s expression was dumb as he stood, maintaining his posture. He was afraid to move. On his well-maintained and lily-white neck, a drop of blood was very bright.

The mountain gate of Ling Ying Sect was deathly silent!

Chapter 97: Lin Yuan’s Plotting

Lin Yuan’s entire body was still, beads of sweat sliding off his face, his eyes filled with terror. He could clearly feel the bone-aching coldness from the sword energy that was just touching his skin. All the hairs on his body were raised. He didn’t tremble. It wasn’t that he was bolstered by his bravery, but that he didn’t dare to. He did his best to maintain his posture, afraid that the slightest bit of movement would cause the sword energy to move.

For some unknown reason, he kept on feeling that if there was an accident, the sword energy at the tip of the flying sword would unhesitatingly cut into his neck.

Maybe it was the steadiness of the flying sword, maybe it was Zuo Mo’s eyes, maybe… …

It didn’t matter that he knew Zuo Mo didn’t dare to kill him but he didn’t dare to gamble.

“I surrender.” Lin Yuan’s voice was dry and raspy, nothing remaining of the past conceit and proudness. It echoed in a patch of silence and could be heard clearly.

The coldness disappeared from his neck without any warning.

Lin Yuan’s heart finally settled down. He swallowed, looking in terror at Zuo Mo and the Water Drop sword that was peacefully floating in front of his chest. There was only one thought in his head. This person couldn’t be provoked!

The spectators finally managed to react, dissolving into noise. Disbelief was on everyone’s faces. No one could have thought that the entire battle would finish so quickly! When Lin Yuan took out the fourth-grade [Yang Emperor Sword], the great majority had already assumed his victory.

The gap between fourth-grade and third-grade flying swords was an extremely large one!

But, one move, and Lin Yuan lost.

In the crowd of spectators, a cold light flashed through a pair of eyes hidden in the shadows.

Lin Yuan focused. He pretended to be generous and opened, “I lost. You can take down any of the talismans on my body.” People like him, what they were afraid of losing was both the fight and their honor. Losing in battle wasn’t major. He hadn’t created his power based using physical power. But if he lost his reputation, then it was really sweeping the floor.

His heart was still beating heavily. Please do not pick… …

“Then the ling armor on Brother Lin’s body.” Zuo Mo said.

“Alright!” Lin Yuan rushed to answer, afraid Zuo Mo would take it back. He had been afraid that Zuo Mo would pick the fourth-grade [Yang Emperor Sword]. The [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor] might be a fine third-grade ling armor, and he had put a lot of effort into getting it, but it couldn’t compare to [Yang Emperor Sword]. [Yang Emperor Sword] had been bestowed down by the sect leader. If it was lost, it would be bad for him.

Lin Yuan rapidly took the ling armor off his body, throwing it to Zuo Mo, deliberately pretending to be forthright, “Brother Zuo really is skilled, Lin Yuan has no compunctions about losing. I’ll take Brother Zuo as my friend. In the future if you need any help, please speak!”

Zuo Mo raised his hands in a greeting, “Brother Lin’s demeanor is extraordinary, this little brother admires it. To be able to interact with people like Brother Lin, this little brother feels very honored!” His hands, however, were extremely fast and impolite in putting the [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor] onto his body.

The [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor] was entirely black, constructed of thirty six black turtle shells, and forged with essence of moonwater. It was extremely durable. Zuo Mo could tell as he put the armor on that this was far better than the ling armor that Yan Le Shibo had given him. It was both comfortable and breathable, and the ling energy inside the Black Turtle armor slowly seeped into Zuo Mo’s body, extremely pleasurable.

Zuo Mo felt extremely good inside, disregarding the sighs that came from the surroundings. Of course, he knew that, based on just the price, the fourth-grade [Yang Emperor Sword] that Lin Yuan had far surpassed this [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor]. However, this was also where he was the smartest. If he demanded the [Yang Emperor Sword], even though Lin Yuan would give the [Yang Emperor Sword] to him due to face, but that way, this incident would increase in severity. A fourth-grade flying sword, there wasn’t many of those in Wu Kong Sword Sect. In all of the disciples, only Wei Sheng Shixiong’s [Splitting Rainbow] was fourth-grade.

Coveting this flying sword, that was waiting for the other’s elders to come find him!

Not just that, he would also enter into an unsolvable disagreement with Lin Yuan. The other would certainly hate him! Also, [Yang Emperor Sword] wasn’t suited for Zuo Mo. At most, he could sell it for some jingshi. But [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor], he could use it right now. Wearing it on his body, his defensive power would increase dramatically. He would have more confidence in making a profit this time.

On someone else’s territory, being too arrogant meant a terrible death!

Zuo Mo got a bargain and gave Lin Yuan enough face. Lin Yuan managed to keep possession of [Yang Emperor Sword] and got face, his mood instantly rose. As for the [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor], just a third-grade talisman, he didn’t care that much.

Lin Yuan threw a jade scroll at Zuo Mo, generously saying, “This jade scroll has the directions to use this [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor]. For this armor to land in the hands of a hero like Brother Zuo, this little brother is very honored.” He then scanned the surroundings, and said clearly, “Brother Zuo is one against five. Everyone should admire his courage. However, is our Ling Ying Sect those that take advantage of others? This unskilled one suggests that, after each of Brother Zuo’s fights, he can rest for an hour to recover his ling energy, and be fair. How does everyone feel?”

Lin Yuan’s actions instantly aroused the agreement of many people.

“Lin Shixiong is really a honest person!”

“Didn’t think that a disciple of Ling Ying Sect could have a demeanor like this. It really isn’t easy, isn’t easy!”

No matter if it was the disciples of Ling Ying Sect or the other spectators, they all spoke praises.

Zuo Mo took the jade scroll, praising, “Brother Lin is really a genuine person!”

However, the faces of the three people who were going to fight next were extremely bad, their eyes hateful as they glared at Lin Yuan. Chang Shixiong, however, was staring at Zuo Mo, his expression pondering.

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought that the situation would change to be like this. Looking at the eyes of the other three people, Zuo Mo’s heart was like a mirror. He he, this Lin Yuan really helped him out!

With this jade scroll, he didn’t need to search on his own. One hour, it was enough for him to broadly grasp how to use this ling armor. As to recovering ling energy, the previous fight had been so quick he basically hadn’t used any ling energy at all.

Lin Yuan bowed with his hands at Zuo Mo and proudly went back to his troop. That demeanor, there was nothing remaining of his expression when he had just lost. The shidi that were dependent on him gave a flood of praise for Lin Yuan’s generosity. Lin Yuan pretended to calmly wave his hand, smirking inside. He didn’t have good intentions in giving the instructions to the [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor] to Zuo Mo. He had gone first and lost. If his competitors won, then no matter how successful his performance was, it wouldn’t make a difference.

He had been generous in giving the [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor] to Zuo Mo and suggested that Zuo Mo could rest for an hour between each fight so to undermine the people after him. Increasing Zuo Mo’s power was attacking his opponents. If those people also lost, he would have lost honorably. If the other people wanted to copy him, it definitely wouldn’t have the same effect.

The other people were not able to object to Lin Yuan’s “reasonable” suggestions. They could only stare with dark faces at Zuo Mo sitting cross legged on the ground.

An hour later, Zuo Mo finally opened his eyes. He was extremely happy inside. As expected, this [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor] was very good. There were natural seal formations on the shells of black turtles. When they were used, flying swords would have a hard time breaking through.

The second Ling Ying Sect disciple had been impatiently waiting long ago. When Zuo Mo opened his eyes, he walked out.

He threw the bright red cape off his body, revealing the tight clothes underneath.

When the other tore off the cape, Zuo Mo’s eyes became straight.

This guy… …

Disregarding the glowing ling armor on his body, not saying anything of the finest third-grade vambrace, Zuo Mo wouldn’t even look at the bright red [Crimson Blood Bull Boots], his eyes were staring fixedly at the other’s waist, wrist and chest… …

On the belt, there was a miscellany of paper seals, oh no, a collection of paper seals that would make someone think this guy sold seals for a living. Second-grade [Turtle Shell Seal], second-grade [Multiple Ghost Shadows], second-grade [Domineering Five Thunder Seal].

On the wrists, a circle of one-use talismans were tied, second-grade [Sharp-headed Prickly Snake Shuttle], second-grade [One Star Galaxy], second grade [Light Rain Twin Sparrows]… …

There were a few pouches hanging on his chest, the smell of medicine wafting out. To Zuo Mo whose main profession was dan and medicine, he was too familiar with this smell. [Ling Returning Dan] that was used to recover ling energy, definitely not lower than second-grade; [Red Flower Dan] used to stem bleeding, also not lower than second-grade; the [Plum Colored Dan] that had a special smell, second-grade miasma… …

On the outside of his legs, hanging on one of them was a second-grade [Great Sun Moon Wheel], the other a second-grade [Sky Net].

… …

Not just Zuo Mo, all the spectators were completely dumbstruck.

Yan Ming Zi snickered, “It looks like Wang Shixiong is going all out. Using his ultimate medicine-seal-style from the start.”

Hu Shan looked with fear at Wang Shixiong who was standing fully armored, “Only upon personal experience can one know the power of Wang Shixiong’s medicine-seal-style!” He had once fought against Wang Shixiong, and had been completely suppressed for the entire battle, almost to the point he couldn’t raise his head.

Yan Ming Zi nodded sympathetically, “The shixiong that use medicine and seals in our sect cannot be counted, but to be like Wang Shixiong, to use the medicine-seal-style to such a degree, it had never happened before.”

Hu Shan, “Wang Shixiong does have some real skill.”

Yan Ming Zi added, “His wealth is really abundant!”

The two couldn’t help but fall silent. The disciples of Ling Ying Sect might all have wealthy families, but there were still very drastic differences between them. Like Wang Shixiong, who dared to use seals and medicine to such a degree, if he didn’t have the wealth to back it up, he wouldn’t dare to do so. Everyone could understand the core philosophy of the medicine-seal-style – to use jingshi to win. While everyone could understand the concept, but it was another matter if they could do it.

Wang Shixiong’s seal-medicine-style once again proved a truth that had existed for countless years, this world, when you throw enough jingshi at someone, the great majority of the time, you could win.

Maybe, as a person, Wang Shixiong was not as personable as Lin Yuan but his seal-medicine-style was still very famous in Ling Ying Sect. When he tore off the cape and revealed all he owned, all of the Ling Ying Sect disciples suddenly became excited. That was because, in Ling Ying Sect, the absolute majority of disciples believed deeply in one truth, the person with the most jingshi was the one that was right!

To the xiuzhe that were passing by, this scene was an extremely heavy blow.

These days, there was someone who could armor himself to such a frightening degree?

Chapter 98: Zuo Mo’s Fury And Heartache

After a long while, Zuo Mo’s soul finally returned to his body.

Even though his own attire had improved dramatically over the past, but seeing the other armed to the teeth, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but lose his soul. Of course, this wasn’t due to shock at the other’s power, but shock at so many talismans, paper seals, and lingdan.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were bloody red. He looked as though he wanted to strip the other bare.

When ge is penniless, you … …

Zuo Mo, who had come to fight for thirty pieces of second-grade jingshi, felt a burst of anger leave his chest and rush upwards. He was completely infuriated.

“Come!” Wang Shixiong shouted confidently, and moved first!

He was extremely wary of the [Flowing Water] that Zuo Mo had sent out. Untraceable and fast, he didn’t have a grasp on whether he would be able to combat it. Learning a lesson from Lin Yuan’s fight, he decided to attack first so after he spoke, he attacked.

The [Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal] that had already been gripped on both his hands beforehand made a light bang. Everyone felt their eyes blur and then five Wang Shixiong suddenly appeared on the battlefield!

“As expected, it is still this unrivalled and wretched starting move!” Hu Shan sighed.

Second-grade [Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal]. It could make two fake illusions that were exactly the same as the user. Using two of them simultaneously, there were instantly four illusions. Adding on the real one, it was hard to detect the real Wang Shixiong. This [Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal] evidently had been made well. It was extremely detailed to confuse the fakes with the real one. Other than cultivating a spell like [Sky Eyes] [Ghost Eyes] or [Yinyang Eyes], it was basically impossible to tell.

Zuo Mo hadn’t practiced a spell like that. He also hadn’t thought that the other would use up two second-grade [Multiple Ghost Shadow Seal] at once. This expenditure, it was frightening! One second-grade [Multiple Ghost Shadow Seal] would require at least twenty pieces of third-grade jingshi. Two of them was forty pieces of third-grade jingshi!

Ge was aching to hit someone like you!

Zuo, a poor guy, Mo’s fighting spirit started to burn like a prairie fire, almost lighting up all the blood in his body.

Since there are five of you, then all of you can accept it!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, raising his hand for [Seven Whirlpools], and it completely surrounded all five figures. This move was an extremely wide-range attack, perfectly suited for dealing with [Multiple Ghost Shadow Seal]. The fake ones were, in the end, fake. When they were torn by the sword energies, they instantly broke.

It evidently was not the first time Wang Shixiong had encountered this situation. He wasn’t panicked, his two hands blurring, whoosh whoosh whoosh, three paper seals leapt from his hand.

[Turtle Seal], [Vajrapani Seal,] [Empty Explosion Seal]!

Two layers of protection were added to Wang Shixiong’s body. The inner green one was [Turtle Seal], the outer one was [Vajrapani Seal]. The moment the [Empty Explosion Seal] was thrown out, it exploded with a bang.

A large shock occurred on the battlefield, an invisible high speed air wave viciously spread out. The [Seven Whirlpools] that had just destroyed the fake illusions instantly were smashed to pieces by this explosive air wave. At the center of the explosion, Wang Shixiong was not afraid. He had just put on two defensive paper seals on his body. The effect was evident at this time. The [Empty Explosion Seal] was astoundingly powerful, but it still could not break through the two layers of protective armor. He was untouched.

The spectators jumped in fright. Such an unreasonable way of battle, this was the first time they had seen it.

The blood of the Ling Ying Sect disciples were all boiling. They all knew that once Wang Shixiong was at an advantage, just wait for the storm to arrive!

Zuo Mo was both sorrowful and furious.

Second-grade [Turtle Seal] fifteen pieces of third-grade jingshi, second-grade [Vajrapani Seal] fifteen pieces of third-grade jingshi, second-grade [Empty Explosion Seal] thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi.

This string of numbers flowed across Zuo Mo’s heart… …

Wang Shixiong’s practiced response allowed him to take the initiative. He unhesitatingly started his attack.

[Sharp-headed Prickle Snake Shuttle], [One Star Galaxy], and [Light Rain Double Sparrow] were like a pack of wolves that smelt blood, murderously howling as they leapt at Zuo Mo.

The howl of the [Sharp-headed Prickly Snake Shuttle] was able to shock a person’s soul. The three cun snake shuttle suddenly transformed in midair into a thin black snake. Like a streak of black lightning, it displayed its vicious and sharp fangs!

[One Star Galaxy] was seven dots of blue light, like a galaxy. It seemed extremely beautiful, without any killing intent.

When [Light Rain Double Sparrow] flew into the air, it turned into two blue fork-tailed sparrow. With simultaneous calls, they flew a strange shape and headed straight for Zuo Mo.

Wang Shixiong’s move this time was extremely beautiful. All of Zuo Mo’s retreats had been sealed shut. He had no place to escape.

These one-use talismans were much more expensive than paper seals! Thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi, forty pieces of third-grade jingshi, thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi, another string of numbers flew past Zuo Mo’s heart.

Every time a number flowed past, Zuo Mo’s heart felt pain. Up until now, he had successively felt pain eight times. Any person, who was in pain for eight times, if they still seemed normal, then they were very skilled. But clearly, Zuo Mo wasn’t! After his heart broke for the eighth time, the anger in his chest instantly reached a climax.

If fire was used to describe someone’s anger, than Zuo Mo was composed entirely of fire, blood-red flames streaming out of his body and into the sky!

If he could tolerate this, what else couldn’t he tolerate?

No one could tolerate this!

All the anger gathered and compressed at this instant. His eyes widened angrily, his hands moving as though he was throwing a large ball, crouching forward. The Water Drop sword gave a clear ring and flew into the sky.

The fifth move of [Li Water Sword Scripture] – [Banana Rain]!

Wang Shixiong felt the sky above him darken and reflexively raised his head. His pupils suddenly widened, his expression changing!

Not paying anymore attention to the talismans that had left his hand, he raised his hand and threw out two [Domineering Five Thunder Seal], and then whipped his hand to throw out a little red umbrella.

The little umbrella was extremely small, about half the size of a pen. When it was sent out, it started to grow, flying above his head and protecting him. This was a one-use second-grade talisman [Sleeve Umbrella]. Even though it was a one-use talisman, it was extremely expensive! Even Wang Shixiong, when it wasn’t a crucial time, didn’t bear to use it. However, the present situation was dangerous and he had no hesitations about using this card!

Once the two [Domineering Five Thunder Seals] left, it turned into two strings of five interconnected thunder exploding in the air.

The [Banana Rain] referred to the rain hitting the banana plant. Other than this, there was another meaning. It was rumored, in the ancient era, there was an eighth-grade talisman called the Banana Fan. A gentle wave of this fan would create endless flames. Many heroes had been killed with this little Banana Fan. It had then became one of the most famous five attributed talismans. The banana of [Banana Rain] had the meaning of fire.

The rain was a rain of fire, the fire was a snowy-white cold fire.

The area of Ling Ying Sect suddenly became cold. Even the completely jade mountain gate had a thin layer of frost. The fire had not arrived, but the coldness had explosively started to spread.

Having merged in the Tidal Sword essence composed of countless icicles, the li water sword essence had been completely changed. Originally, it had been a clear fire shape of water, right now, it seemed slightly similar to Zuo Mo’s icy Stalagmite fire.

The fire rain which was white and cold gave off the feeling that it was snowing instead.

However, no one was entranced by this beautiful scene. They were all shocked by the fatal murderous intent. In the white fire rain, sword essence criss-crossed, cold and icy, sharp, unable to be broken, endless!

The five interconnected thunder crackled and howled as it rushed towards the slowly descending rain of fire in the sky.

Many people silently praised the quickness of Wang Shixiong’s reaction. The two [Domineering Five Thunder Seal] were very powerful. If it could block for a while, the three one-use talismans he had put out earlier could successfully attack Zuo Mo.

The white fire rain that seemed to be slowly moving met the five thunder.

Crack crack crack!

Like the sound of electricity flashing in the water, the two strings of five interconnected thunder didn’t even last for a second before strangely vanishing.

Everyone who was watching all were shocked. In the middle of it all, deeply feeling the power in Zuo Mo’s move, Wang Shixiong wasn’t just shocked. This time, his face was slightly pale!

He was praying that the [Sleeve Umbrella] would be effective. As an afterthought, he quickly threw out the [Great Sun Moon Wheel] and [Sky Net]. Between protecting his life and killing the enemy, he chose to protect his life.

Facing the three talismans that were gearing for him, Zuo Mo didn’t dodge. He activated the [Moonwater Black Turtle Armor]. A blue light suddenly erupted from the black armor. A circle of light that was like water waves suddenly appeared around Zuo Mo. To be secure, he also started [Vajra Profound Sutra]. A layer of dark gold quickly appeared on the arms, head, and other parts that were exposed to the outside.

Between protecting his life and killing the enemy, Zuo Mo chose to kill the enemy!

He was gambling. Gambling that the other would choose to protect himself! He had won his gamble. The three one-use talismans that didn’t have a person controlling them seemed powerful, when they hit the water-like blue light around Zuo Mo, the circle of light did shudder fiercely, and Zuo Mo’s insides were affected and took a few steps back.

However, these three one-use talismans had no lasting power, and turned to light, disappearing into the air.

Zuo Mo had blocked these three one-use talismans, that meant that his risky endeavor had been successful and had taken the initiative. Right now, he could easily control the [Banana Rain]. Anger boiling, Zuo Mo smirked coldly. This move had just begun!

The [Sleeve Umbrella] managed to stop the fire rain for a while. Even though the sword energies in the fire rain created cracks when they hit the umbrella, but this talisman that he had spent so much jingshi to buy now showed it was worth that many jingshi, managing to block off the fire rain.

However, he couldn’t be on the defense, that would mean defeat!

Wang Shixiong was an extremely experienced fighter. Looking at the seemingly untouched Zuo Mo nearby, he gritted his teeth. But when he saw the light coming off the other’s armor, his hate towards Lin Yuan was even greater! However, he didn’t become dumb due to anger. He knew, if he won this match, that was slapping Lin Yuan’s face in front of everyone. The acting that Lin Yuan had done beforehand would be completely wasted!

Only he could be the hero!

His hands reached for his waist.

Seeing the other take out a stack of red and green paper seals from his waist, Zuo Mo, anger burning up his body, seemed to see rows of numbers flying past his eyes, his heart also seeming to feel throbbing pain.

Wastrel! Shameless!

Zuo Mo bared his teeth, the furious anger that covered his body exploding, his anger reaching its maximum. He unhesitatingly sent out the killing move that he had been readying for a long time!

Chapter 99: Seal Soldier

[Layered Wave]!

The white fire rain that was covering the sky gradually started to gather, merging into a white pillar of rain. The rain pillar shook, creating sprays, one wave after another, like an enormous white snake shaking in the sky, continuously shaking its body to attack that red umbrella. The power kept on gathering, kept on increasing!

If it was said that it had been the rain hitting idly the banana leaf before, now it was a storm, the intensity having multiplied.

[Sleeve Umbrella] was still a one-use talisman in the end. It had not been nurtured for a long time. At this time, it couldn’t bear the attack anymore and scattered with a boom. [Great Sun Moon Wheel] wasn’t a defensive talisman in the first place and was even weaker, basically torn to pieces. The [Sky Net] was also shredded by countless sword energies.

The questions relating to the power of talismans were extremely complex. Other than their grade, it was also connected to the time the xiuzhe spent imprinting on the talisman. Usually, the longer they spent imprinting on it, the talisman would be more nimble and easier to control. The power would also be greater. This was why talismans had to be “nourished”. Other than this, some xiuzhe who were skilled in seal formations, as their cultivation increased, they would forge the seal formations inside the talisman.

Like Zuo Mo’s Water Drop sword, if it landed on Xin Yan Shibo’s hands, and was reforged, it could easily rise to fourth or fifth-grade. But with Zuo Mo’s pitiful cultivation, he didn’t have the power to control it if it was fourth-grade.

It wasn’t always, the higher the grade, the better the talisman. It depended on whether or not the talisman was suitable. The fourth-grade [Yang Emperor Sword] that Lin Yuan had was able to be controlled by zhuji cultivators and was a very rare specimen.

The benefit of a one-use talisman was that it did not need to be imprinted to be used. However, its power was far from the same grade talismans that had been “nourished” for a long time.

People only had limited amounts of time and energy. The more talismans they had, the less they could spend imprinting on each talismans. Consequently, a true expert wouldn’t have an abundance of talismans. They would only focus on imprinting a few and rely on those for most of their fights. If they could not easily manipulate their talismans in battle, it was an easy opportunity for their opponents.

Talismans could aid or subdue each other. There were many patterns involved, and it was hard for people to predict all the situations encountered in battle. If they could stock up on a few one-use talismans that did not need to be imprinted, they would get a few more choices. It was the same rationale with paper seals.

However, it was extremely rare for someone to use talismans and paper seals to such an extreme as Wang Shixiong. In the eyes of truly powerful experts, one-use talismans could work in an emergency, but it was too weak. In the lower level fights, this kind of expendable strategy would almost always win.

It was a pity that he had encountered Zuo Mo who had comprehended sword essence!

Sword moves that had sword essence as the core, the power would increase and would surpass the cultivator of the same power level.

Only now did Wang Shixiong suddenly realize in shock that the white flame falling from the sky was not fire, nor rain, but sword energies!

He almost could not believe this discovery. A guy in zhuji, how could he give such a terrifying sword move? But in front of this many people, would Wang Shixiong be content with surrendering like this?

He had his own pride. Red flashed through his eyes. He gritted his teeth. All in!

A gold paper seal instantly appeared on his hand.

“Seal soldier!” Someone from Ling Ying Sword Sect who had been spectating shouted in shock, causing the crowd to rumble. Everyone’s eyes were instantly attracted by the little gold paper seal. For the first time, Chang Shixiong had a serious expression. Among the crows, there was also a pair of eyes which suddenly became bright in the shadows.

Chang Shixiong seemed to have perceived it, turning to glance over the crowd.

Yan Ming Zi muttered dazedly, “This is a seal soldier?”

Hu Shan gaped, speechless.

The families of most Ling Ying Set disciples were wealthy. Their experiences and knowledge wasn’t something a poor guy like Zuo Mo could compare with. Zuo Mo might not recognize what this seal soldier was, but listening to the shocked murmurs of the crowd, he also knew that it was something magnificently powerful.

However, at this time, his chest was filled with the sharp sword essence and he could not retreat!

Wang Shixiong’s face was solemn, his fingers moving, and his mouth quickly recited, “Powerful Warrior Protects Master!”

As he finished speaking, a golden-armored soldier three zhang tall appeared beside him.

The features of the golden armored soldier were not clear. His entire body was enveloped inside the golden armor. He was standing without a weapon, but a heavy killing aura swept the whole field, and people couldn’t not help but be in awe. The golden armored soldier, as it appeared, turned his head up towards the white rain snake in the sky, his hand pushing up, and boomed,“Ha!”

Everyone felt their ears ring, like someone had taken a hammer and gave a blow to them. Everyone was shocked! Even Chang Shixiong who had been calm all this while slightly changed his expression.

It was like the mighty white water pillar met an invisible barrier and splashed in all directions. Wang Shixiong, who was positioned underneath it, was untouched.

Zuo Mo’s chest felt like it was hit. He grunted. A sweet fishy taste spread out in his mouth. He could help but be aghast. What was this?

At this time, he could not retreat. He refocused and once again attacked.

Pew!

Wang Shixiong, who had been standing underneath the golden armor soldier suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. The golden armored soldier towering over him wavered and then vanished like it was an illusion.

“I lost.”

Wang Shixiong’s face was as pale as powder. He clearly had been wounded. He staggered as though he could collapse at any time.

Zuo Mo finally released a breath. This fight had been really dangerous. If the other had used the paper seal at the start, he would have been the one to lose. His eyes couldn’t help but look at the gold paper seal that had landed in front of Wang Shixiong. The gold of the paper seal was much duller than before.

“This seal soldier can only be used one more time.” Knowing what Zuo Mo was thinking, Wang Shixiong said.

“Then I’ll take it!” Zuo Mo said unhesitatingly. Even though he didn’t want to have a grudge with the other, but the impression that this seal soldier gave him was too deep. He had never seen such a powerful, terrifying paper seal!

Wang Shixiong didn’t waste words. He threw the seal soldier to Zuo Mo and then a jade scroll. “This is the spell for the seal soldier.”

Zuo Mo carefully took the seal soldier and jade scroll. This seal soldier was something that could protect his life. Jingshi was important, but his little life was even more important. Something that could protect his life, the more he had, the better. This guy called Wang might be a bit of a prodigal son, and was of few words, but Zuo Mo felt he was much easier on the eyes than Lin Yuan.

Wang Shixiong walked back among the disciples. He didn’t have the energy to mind anything else, dropping to the ground, and sat cross-legged. His wounds were not insignificant.

This battle had really been a series of up and downs. The people who had watched were also alarmed and shocked. Wang Shixiong’s loss had caused many of the Ling Ying Sect disciples’ faces to turn ugly, especially the two that were up next, whose faces were like dirt. They were far from being as strong as Wang Shixiong, and had less jingshi than him.

Just at this time, Chang Shixiong, who had been placed at the end, walked out. The Ling Ying Sect disciples who had been making a commotion instantly quieted, their eyes looking straight at Chang Shixiong.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. He just had received light internal injuries. This guy named Chang, it could be seen he wasn’t a simple character. Was it that he couldn’t wait any longer?

Chang Shixiong suddenly turned, beckoning at the two who were up next, “Come here.”

The two exchanged a look, hesitated but still forced themselves to walk over.

“You two do not have to fight, you aren’t a match.” Chang Shixiong said serenely. Turning, he said to Zuo Mo, “Pick two items.”

Zuo Mo was in a daze. Looking at the two people, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

Chang Shixiong turned his face back, his eyes landing on the two. The two were like frightened rabbits, hurriedly saying, “Chang Shixiong can make the decision!”

Zuo Mo was not polite in demanding a belt and a pair of vambraces from the two. They were pretty good among third-grade items. The two did have pain on their faces, but obediently took it down, handing it off to Zuo Mo.

When Zuo Mo took them, Chang Shixiong said to Lin Yuan, “One [Red Flower Dan], third grade.”

Lin Yuan grimaced. Without a second word, he took out a third-grade [Red Flower Dan], throwing it to Chang Shixiong. Chang Shixiong then threw the third-grade [Red Flower Dan] to Zuo Mo. “Heal yourself first.”

Finishing, he sat down himself to rest.

Zuo Mo wasn’t sanctimonious and shoved the [Red Flower Dan] into his mouth. Up to now, this third-grade [Red Flower Pill] was the highest grade lingdan that he had ever consumed. It turned into a hot stream, spreading through his organs, extremely comfortable. He didn’t dare to slack off, channeling ling power to dissolve the power of the medicine.

There was a strange silence. It was like the peace before the storm, making people feel suffocated.

Yan Ming Zi said in a low voice, “Let’s move back a bit.”

Hearing this, Hu Shan and Tao Zhu Er also were startled awake, hurriedly falling back about seven zhang. There were many people who also had the same idea as them. All the Ling Ying Sect disciples seemed to understand each other and all moved back. The only people standing in their original spots were Wen Fei and a few others.

The surrounding xiuzhe watched this migration. However, they did not move. They felt that the distance right now was enough to be safe.

“Ha, they’ll regret it later.” Yan Ming Zi mocked.

“Yes, the horror of Chang Shixiong, you would only believe it after you experience it personally!” Hu Shan said empathetically.

“Who do you think will win?” Tao Zhu Er asked.

“Do we need to even discuss it? The Scalping Zombie might have some skill but can he compare to Chang Shixiong? Let’s hope that there won’t be any blood, there isn’t anyone here that could stop him… …” Terror filled Yan Ming Zi’s eyes.

“Should we back up a bit more?” Yan Ming Zi shuddered and couldn’t help saying.

“That’s true,” Yan Ming Zi nodded. “Do you have the Spirit Travelling seal?”

“I have two.” Hu Shan took out two Spirit Travelling seals.

“Give me one.” Yan Ming Zi hurriedly snatched one, holding it in a death grip.

At the side, one person couldn’t stop himself, “Do you have to exaggerate so much? Hasn’t Chang Shixiong been relaxing and cultivating his personality?”

Yang Ming Zi, Hu Shan, and Tao Zhu Er first paused and then all had sympathy on their faces as they looked at the person.

The person couldn’t bear the three’s gaze, his face flushing. “Chang Shixiong is always writing sutras everyday. I’ve seen it myself. He also raises ling beasts… …”

“So dumb.” Yan Ming Zi shook his head.

“Idiot.” Hu Shan rolled his eyes and spat out.

“Let’s move back a bit more.” Tao Zhu Er directly disregarded the person and said to the other two.

At this time, Zuo Mo finally stood up.

Chapter 100: Bloody Chang Heng

The moment Zuo Mo stood up, Chang Shixiong opened his eyes and also stood.

“I am Chang Heng.” Chang Heng made a simple introduction. It looked as though he was talking of daily life with a friend.

“I am Zuo Mo,” Zuo Mo warily answered. For some reason, this Chang Heng that didn’t show any signs of power made him feel pressure. A kind of pressure that he had only felt from Wei Sheng Shixiong. Taking the chance, he closely examined the other. A short pale green and grey robe that had faded from washing. It was abnormally different among the magnificent brocades of the Ling Ying Sect disciples. A round face, short hair, the hair like wires, each strand sticking up.

“You surprised me,” Chang Heng continued,“I heard that your Shixiong Wei Sheng had comprehended sword essence but hadn’t thought that you also had comprehended sword essence.”

A rumble instantly sounded from the surroundings!

They might have inexperienced eyes and did not see Zuo Mo’s true power, but everyone knew what comprehending sword essence meant. The faces of Lin Yuan and the others relaxed. To say nothing of anything eyes, it wasn’t an embarrassment to lose to a genius who had comprehended sword essence. Even Wang Shixiong who was sitting on the ground couldn’t help but shake his head with a bitter smile. If he knew that Zuo Mo had comprehended sword essence, he definitely wouldn’t have stepped out to fight.

Everyone’s eyes as they looked at Zuo Mo were completely different, full of awe and respect. Of course, there was also some jealousy and envy among those.

Zuo Mo shook his head,“I can’t compare to Shixiong,” He was extremely shocked inside. Chang Heng could tell his power level with a look. His own cultivation definitely wasn’t weak.

“You do not have to be too modest.” Chang Heng carelessly waved his hand,“I will find Wei Sheng in the future.”

Seeing the other speak so carelessly of Wei Sheng Shixiong, Zuo Mo was very uncomfortable inside,and snorted,“Let’s compete first before saying so.”

Chang Heng shook his head,“You are not a match for me.”

“How would you know before we try?” Zuo Mo said, discontent.

“I’m on the verge of becoming ningmai.” Chang Heng’s light words made Zuo Mo speechless. Zuo Mo had to admit that Chang Heng was right. The cultivation between them differed too much. His cultivation had grown furiously but it was only the fourth level of zhuji right now. The other was on the verge of ningmai which was the tenth level of zhuji.

Even though he had once won against a zhuji xiuzhe when he was a lianqi, but he was very clear that half of the reason could be attributed to his opponent.

His opponent now was Chang Heng. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but glance at the other. The steadiness of the other’s attitude, and the oppressing pressure made him believe the other was very strong. Zuo Mo’s battle experience was now extremely rich. What people he could fight, what people he should avoid, Zuo Mo was very clear.

“I surrender! Which item do you want?” Zuo Mo blurted out very quickly.. He had come for wealth. Now that he had made so much, even if he surrendered this one, he had already won four. Such rich prizes, he was already content.

From a glance, it could be seen that he wasn’t on the same level as Chang Heng and definitely had no chance of victory. It would be better to admit defeat. If he was wounded by the other, then he would have a deficit. As a businessperson, a sense of when to retreat was essential. Zuo Mo comforted himself.

Chang Heng started at Zuo Mo for a beat and smiled,“You are a smart person.”

“I just know my limits,” Zuo Mo said as he raised his hands. He wanted to leave very badly. The longer he stayed, the more he felt this mediocre looking man was dangerous. “Chang Shixiong can pick whatever item you want. This little brother will present it with both hands.”

Chang Heng was not moved, his eyes looking in the distance, indifferently saying,“If you can survive one of my moves, then leave with the things. If you can’t receive it, then leave behind everything.”

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. The easier Chang Heng talked, the more unsafe he felt,“Chang Shixiong, this little brother… …”

“The place I stand, you have to abide by my rules.” Chang Heng didn’t turn his eyes.

The surrounding crowd were silent. Even the air seemed to become dense and murderous. Everyone couldn’t help but stop breathing. They all knew that the most spectacular part of the day had arrived. All of the Ling Ying Sect disciples were excited .The dominance that Chang Heng Shixiong displayed totally conquered them. Even Tao Zhu Er’s large eyes didn’t want to leave Chang Heng Shixiong’s body for an instant.

Up until now, Chang Heng hadn’t displayed any power, and didn’t make any motions. However, he was like the owner of the land, extremely matter of fact, and unable to be doubted.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. He realized that he could not avoid this fight.

The request the other gave was not outrageous. He only had to endure one of the other’s moves, and it would count as Zuo Mo’s victory. If he didn’t agree, then all the victories he had today would instantly turn to dust. The other had enough reason to surrounding him. The move that Chang Heng used was the one that Zuo Mo used before. He first put himself at a disadvantageous position, and then forced the other to walk the path he picked.

This feeling, it really was bad! Zuo Mo shook his head, and threw these distracting thoughts to the back of his head.

Today’s battle, it was all on this one move!

However… … even a ningmai cultivator, they shouldn’t be able to say they could get rid of him in one move. Since he could not avoid it, then come!

Thinking it through, Zuo Mo adjusted himself into position and said calmly,“As Shixiong wishes!”

“Not bad. I like you,” Chang Heng nodded in praise.

He then opened his clothes, revealing a bare upper half. In between his clavicles, there was a copper ring.

What was that for?

The xiuzhe in the surroundings were also puzzled. They began putting their heads together and discussing it. It was the complete opposite of the Ling Ying Sect disciples. Excitement was on all of their faces, each one arching their necks, staring tightly at Chang Shixiong as though some exciting thing was going to happen.

Zuo Mo was also slightly puzzled but he kept his guard up, not daring to slack off.

Chang Heng closed his eyes, his right hand touching the copper ring between his clavicles. Then he did a move that shocked everyone – he slowly pulled on the copper ring!

Hiss!

Connected below the copper ring was a blood red blade. It was slowly pulled out of the flesh of Chang Heng’s chest.

There wasn’t any pain on Chang Heng’s body. Quite the opposite, his expression was slightly warm and intoxicated.

Zuo Mo’s hairs stood as he looked at the weird and bloody picture in front of him. Not just Zuo Mo, but almost everyone in the surroundings had a terrified expression. Some that were less brave already had run to the side and started to heave.

“Too… … savage… …” Yan Ming Zi trembled, saying with excitement.

When this blood red sword was completely pulled out of Chang Heng’s body, the terror reached the bones of every single person. This was a very strange sword. The sword was not long, about one chi long, two fingers wide. The body was entirely blood red. There was no sword guard or grip. The blood red blade connected directly to the copper ring. The width of the ring was just enough to be worn on the fingers.

What was strange was that there was no wound on Chang Heng’s body, the spot between his clavicles was smooth and markless.

The scene was just a man holding a slightly strange red flying sword, but anyone who had seen what had preceded it definitely would not be able to forget it. Such a weird and bloody scene.

Chang Heng opened his eyes, his expression normal. His voice hadn’t changed at all compared to before. “This ring sword is called [Blood Spider].”

Zuo Mo felt his skin prickle. As though he was facing a great enemy, his hands as they held the sword couldn’t help but start sweating.

If the pressure that Chang Heng had given him before could be said to be faint but omnipresent. Then the Chang Heng with [Blood Spider] on his hand gave him an ocean of pressure, without any place for him to escape! The sudden change in pressure could cause those who had weak minds to collapse in that instant. Zuo Mo had a feeling that everyone in front of his eyes gradually became dyed with a layer of blood red.

Zuo Mo reflexively tightened his grip on the Water Drop sword. The sword suddenly passed him a warm and serene water essence. Even though it was extremely faint, at this time, it dramatically decreased his nervousness.

No! If this kept on going, he would lose without even fighting!

Zuo Mo closed his eyes and stopped his breathing.

Then he started using [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The ling power in his body started to move, and his consciousness started to become lively.

Gradually, the terror in Zuo Mo’s heart started to decrease. His fretful heart gradually became serene.

At some time, a blood line appeared in Chang Heng’s eyes. He gave a praising glance at Zuo Mo. In the eyes of other people, this look caused a coldness to spread from the bottom of their hearts, like a savage blood spider coldly focusing on his prey.

He lightly swung his finger. The [Bloody Spider Sword] on his finger spun rapidly, creating a bloody red circle of light.

As the [Blood Spider Sword] spun faster, it started to ring. Gradually, the ringing became an extremely icy hiss. An extremely domineering and savage presence, with Chang Heng at the center, appeared!

At this time, the spectators nearby had pale faces. They all wanted to turn and escape. However, they found that their legs were wobbly. Crash, crash, they all fell to the ground.

There was only someone wearing a black gauze hat standing at his original spot. His clothes flapped in the wind, but the gauze in front of face didn’t move at all. What could be barely made out through the gauze was a pair of narrow and knife-sharp eyes.

Zuo Mo felt that he was in a sea of blood. Enormous blood waves roiling and howling, smashing against each other, blocking out the sun. He was like a little boat, extremely small, floating uncertainly as though he would be swallowed by the gigantic waves at any instant.

Suddenly, a blood wave rose in front of him, transforming into an extremely ugly blood beast, opening his jaws and howled as it leapt at him.

Gripping the Water Drop sword, having stopped his breathing and closed his eyes, all of Zuo Mo’s ling power had all been sent into the Water Drop sword. The Water Drop sword was like a little river, waves rippling, changing constantly.

As the gigantic mouth was going to swallow him, he slowly raised the little river in his hand!

The little river that had been the Water Drop sword suddenly changed. Flames rose out of the water, spreading a shocking cold. The short little river moved and swayed like the tide. If Zuo Mo could see it, he would find that the present appearance of the Water Drop sword was the same as the sword river in his consciousness.

Blossoms of water-shaped flames, as they spat, they would also create countless icicle-like sword energies. The movement of the tide continuously became larger, the water-shaped flames burning fiercely, the icy energy rising!

It was as though Zuo Mo was holding a ball of flame in his hand. All the clothing on his body turned to pieces. With an angry shout, using all the energy in his body, from the bottom rising against the current up, he forcefully sliced!

The first time after he merged the sword essences – [Li Water Burning Heavens!]

Chapter 101: All In!

A handful of glowing water jumped like a fire, the fire turning from clear to a deep blue, a faint mist surrounded the flame, shooting upwards.

Chang Heng gently threw out the blood wheel that was rotating on his hand. The moment the blood wheel left, everyone felt their eyes darken. The blood wheel turned into a ball of blood mist, heading for Zuo Mo’s head. The blood mist that boiled restlessly was like a strange beast, occasionally giving a low howl, like there were countless ghosts shrieking and screaming, shaking the souls of listeners.

The blue fire carrying mist and the blood mist smashed together.

Ding!

A crisp sound like that of an icicle rang out. Immediately after, countless howls and screams came out of the blood mist. The spectators felt their eardrums hurt. The people who were close had blood streaming out of their ears.

Pew pew pew! The blue flame continuously released countless tiny sword essences. Anytime the blood mist neared, it would be frozen by the icy and sharp sword essences into tiny red ice drops.

The sword energies of the blue flame seemed to be endless. Having been wounded, the restless blood mist was like a provoked beast, even more furiously boiling. The shrieks coming out of the blood mist even more piercing and furious.

The center of the blood mist seemed to suddenly collapse. The blood-colored mist started retreating at an astounding speed. In the blink of an eyes, the ten zhang wide blood mist had disappeared. On the empty ground, there was a blood-colored spider. The spider was slightly taller than Zuo Mo, and had numerous black patterns all over its body, which seemed like character seals. Big and small reverse hooks covered the spider’s legs, gleaming with a cold light. Anyone who saw them did not doubt that if they were caught, flesh would be easily ripped out. The eyes of the spider, each the size of two fists, stared emotionlessly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s heart was shocked. The blood spider in front of him didn’t have the powerful presence of the blood mist before it, but it made him even more wary.

However, at this time, his heart was completely filled with sword essence. Even if he was facing a terrifying blood spider that he had never seen before, his mind had never wavered!

Seemingly feeling the resolve in Zuo Mo’s heart, the blue flame, carrying along its mist, turned into a stream of light, shooting at the blood spider.

The blood spider suddenly lifted its head, and opened its mouth.

A piercing and dissonant shriek flooded from its mouth. With it as the center, the air seemed to have been pulled, and rippled, visible to the naked eye.

The flame that had turned to a stream of light suddenly brightened. The mist that surrounded it became denser, speeding up even more. With the flame as the center, countless tiny sword essences criss-crossed, forming a shapeless sword essence net!

Zuo Mo’s body slightly wavered, shocked inside. The shout from the blood spider actually could harm his spirit! If his spirit wasn’t much more powerful than normal xiuzhe, he would have been greatly wounded by that.

The surrounding xiuzhe were much worse off. Most of the xiuzhe that had been lying on the ground paled. Their consciousness were greatly wounded. Only the xiuzhe that was wearing a hat was not moved, seemingly unaffected.

“Lucky we went back far enough!” The Ling Ying Sect disciple that had been objecting to Yang Ming Zi and the others was full of relief. Even though they were far enough away, but he still was affected. His chest seemed to be roiling and wanting to throw up. His eyes as they looked at Chang Shixiong instantly filled with awe.

No one paid attention to him.

Yan Ming Zi gaped. Pointing at Chang Heng, he suddenly turned his face to ask,“Who said Chang Shixiong was relaxing and cultivating his mind?”

Hu Shan and Tao Zhu Er looked in shock at each other. Chang Shixiong’s power, compared to a few years ago, was even more terrifying.

The battle had reached the climax.

The blood spider didn’t dodge. Instead it raised its head and reached with its forelimbs to slice at the Water Drop sword!

The stream of blue flame that was the Water Drop sword accurately hit the blood spider’s forelimbs.

The moment the two impacted, a thick bloody light rose around the blood spider, sheltering it.

The blue flame’s sword essences hit the blood light around the blood spider, icy spraying but basically unable to break its defense.

Boom!

The true body of the blue flame directly hit the blood light.

The blood light, which hadn’t moved at all before, suddenly started to shake. The bloody light moved relentlessly as though it could shatter at any time.

Argh! The blood spider gave a sky-shaking howl, it’s voice filled with fury!

The blood light around its body suddenly increase, the thick blood light seeming composed of countless amounts of fresh blood, so congealed it seemed real.

Zuo Mo instantly felt the pressure increase. The pressure in front of the Water Drop sword was so great that he had never felt it before. It was like murderous intent was hitting in from all directions. The Water Drop sword was like a fish caught in a net.

At this time, Zuo Mo didn’t have any other thoughts. Jingshi, talismans, they were all thrown out of his head. In his eyes, there was only the blood spider and the Water Drop sword!

The ling power furiously moved. He didn’t need any benefit or simulation. The blood spider gave Zuo Mo a pressure of death that he had never felt before, forcing him instinctively to use his full power!

He forgot this was a spar, forgot the agreement of one move.

All the ling power in his body was channeled into the Water Drop sword. The flood of battle spirit, and the terror of death at the bottom of his heart, entwined like twins, deeply provoked Zuo Mo. All of his calmness, all of his intelligence turned to dust at this time. What remained was the most basic instincts, the instinct to fight, the instinct to live!

At some unknown time, Zuo Mo suddenly floated into the sky.

The next scene struck everyone completely dumb.

“What… … what is that?” Yang Ming Zi stammered to ask.

Hu Shan’s face was full of shock, unconsciously muttering,“It isn’t possible… … this isn’t possible… …”

Tao Zhu Er’s face paled like paper. Wang Shixiong who had been sitting suddenly jumped up, looking in disbelief at Zuo Mo. The expression on Wen Fei, who had been watching attentively, suddenly changed. Lin Yuan, not far away, also stared in shock. The black gauze of the hat-wearing xiuzhe who had been standing steadily rippled fiercely, like a furious wind blew past.

Even Chang Heng who was coldly standing behind the blood spider showed shock.

The ling energy surrounding Zuo Mo as he floated in mid-air, headed for Zuo Mo at terrifying speeds. He was like a whirlpool, crazily absorbing the surrounding ling energy.

In reality, the ling energy at the gates of Ling Ying Sword Sect wasn’t dense. However, the suction inside Zuo Mo’s body was too powerful. After he sucked in the ling energies in the surroundings, he started to pull on ling energy from further away. This kind of rough suction of ling energy, no one had seen it before. Even more, this was sucking in ling energy as he fought.

This… … this was too fantastical!

Zuo Mo didn’t know the shock he gave others. Right now, he was like a beast at death’s edge, all of his attention on the blood spider in front of him. He put all the ideas he could think of into use.

Gambling everything!

He completely disregarded the tearing pain from his channels. Without calculating the consequences, he furiously took in the surrounding ling energy.

The blue flame became even brighter. As the impure ling energy was sent in, it didn’t burn quietly anymore, but with crackles and bangs! If the blue flame had previously been as quiet as a virgin, then the present flame was like an infuriated brawny man!

A sliver of fear came through the blood spider’s eyes but it quickly became even more furious. This average little boy in front of it dared to repeatedly challenge its dominance. It had even been, for one moment, afraid of him. He was completely infuriated!

Awroooooooooooooooo!

The size of the blood spider exploded. In the blink of an eye, it had increased multiple times. Standing there, it was like a little mountain. The blood light on its body turned from light to dark. It was like there was a thick layer of congealed blood covering its entire body. Occasionally, dark red blood would drip to the ground, sending up wisps of green smoke, a burnt hole appearing on the ground.

Everyone knew that the battle had reached the most crucial time.

Suddenly, one red light and one blue light moved at the same time! They chose to use the most straightforward and brutal way, like two raging bulls, crashing together.

Boom!

Everyone felt a blinding light and couldn’t not see anything else. The ground under their feet shook. Other than feeling fear, they hurried to steady themselves.

Before they could open their eyes, they heard Zuo Mo’s voice come out of the air.

“Chang Shixiong’s teachings, this little brother has managed to pass and will bid farewell now. See you in the future!”

When everyone opened their eyes, where could they find Zuo Mo’s figure? The last round just now had been too amazing. Almost everyone had lost focus, dumb where they stood. When they regained their minds, and looked towards the field, the blood spider seemed depressed. The several cun deep marks on the two forelimbs were alarming to see. There was nothing remaining of the bravado and fierceness just before.

Chang Heng Shixiong was standing, eyes closed, his legs buried in the rock floor up to his knees. He was motionless. No one dared to go closer.

A moment later, a sword light landed from the sky. It was an elder of Ling Ying Sect. He scanned the surroundings. Noticing the wounded and dejected blood spider, his face slightly changed and sternly shouted,“What just happened?”

The disciples murmured. Lin Yuan saw the eyes turn towards him and could only go forward to give a simple narration.

“Hmph, Wu Kong Sword Sect is too bold!” The light in this Ling Ying Sect elder’s eyes grew as he snorted coldly. When his eyes moved towards Chang Heng that was still motionless with closed eyes, joy suddenly came into his eyes.

Just at this time, Chang Heng opened his eyes, a flash of blood red flashing and disappearing from his eyes!

He raised his head and howled to the sky!

Wen Fei first paused and then had a gleeful expression.

Chang Heng was extremely refreshed. He had managed to smoothly break through the barrier that he had been stuck at for a long time. Today, he finally entered ningmai! After a while, he looked in the direction that Zuo Mo had disappeared in, an amused expression on his face.

The xiuzhe wearing the hat looked for a moment at Chang Heng and turned to leave.

On the grey-beaked goose, Zuo Mo’s face was grey. His clothes were covered with blood. He had been gravely wounded in the last round, and had spat blood multiple times. In order to leave earlier, he had forced his ling power out and relied on it to head straight towards the place he had put the grey-beaked goose. This was why his wounds had been worsened. He only had one thought in his head, to get back even quickly to the sect.

Heavily wounded, Zuo Mo felt his body was increasingly heavy. He motionlessly laid on the back of the grey-beaked goose and became unconscious.

The grey-beaked goose seemed to know that the situation was grave, powerfully waving the wings and furiously flying in the direction of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Suddenly, a five-colored light lit up on Zuo Mo’s chest. Inside the five-colored light, lines of green colored energy came out and, following the channels in the body, spread into Zuo Mo’s limbs and organs.

In the consciousness, Pu Yao was looking in interest at this scene.

“So interesting, I really want to crack it open… …”

Chapter 102: Couldn’t Understand

Zuo Mo slowly woke up. His face was pasted to the ground, dirt in his mouth. He felt slightly secure once he realized he was in his little yard.

When he inspected his body, his heart finally relaxed. The situation was better than he had expected. Even though his injuries were serious, especially in his channels, but it was much better than he had imagined. What he was most afraid of was damaging his basic vitality. That was a fatal wound that even jindan xiuzhe could not save him from.

Still alright, alright… …

He struggled up from the dirt floor. He was used to the soreness of his entire body. Thinking about it now, he always ended up causing his own sorry state. If it happened multiple times, then one would get used to it. Even something like enduring pain was like that.

However, when he saw the grey-beaked goose splattered like mud lying nearby, he was very shocked. He hurriedly stumbled over. It definitely was this female bird’s labor that he could come back. If he didn’t have it, he would have been very badly off! Coming to the grey-beaked goose, he carefully inspected her before his heart settled down. This female bird was just exhausted. Zuo Mo was very moved.

Running to the stone room, and taking out the stone milk that he treasured so much, he dropped three drops to the grey-beaked goose.

“Silly Bird, Silly Bird, ge is pretty good to you!” Zuo Mo said to himself.

For xiuzhe, using stone milk by itself didn’t have much of a beneficial effect, but for ling beasts, this was a natural treasure. Other than Zuo Mo, no one would feed three drops of stone milk to a second-grade grey-beaked goose. From the perspective of jingshi, three drops of stone milk was much more valuable than a second-grade grey-beaked goose. However, this person and bird had great camaraderie. Even though this female bird had once taunted him, but ge is generous, and won’t hold a grudge with you silly bird, Zuo Mo thought.

The effect of the stone milk was, as expected, extremely clear.

Just seconds later, the grey-beaked goose stood up again, but … …

Looking at the grey-beaked goose, like a person, her wings tucked behind her back, puffing up her chest, walking the steps, Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. But it didn’t manage to maintain it for very long before it became fretful, jumping about in the yard, jumping up and down. Zuo Mo gaped with wide eyes. But after a while, even jumping would not satisfy it. That pair of wings started to endlessly make strange movements. It looked like a convulsing strange bird dancing.

It was really too horrible to look at, no sense of beauty at all… …

Zuo Mo could only give this cruel review.

After thinking slightly, he understood what had happened. He had given too much stone milk to the grey-beaked goose. The potential of the grey-beaked goose was very average, and was not able to tolerate such a large amount of stone milk. Too much of the medicinal power was unable to be absorbed and caused it to act so crazily.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo paled. This silly bird was running towards the ling fields!

“Stop!” Zuo Mo couldn’t resist and swore, “If you ruin my fields, I’ll break your legs!”

Frightened by Zuo Mo, the grey-beaked goose rushed to a stop and its head plunged into the ground, head down and tail up. It was still slightly frightened of Zuo Mo. When it swayed as it pulled its head out of the ground. Zuo Mo saw the situation was bad and yelled,“Are you dumb? Go fly into the sky!”

The grey-beaked goose used its wings to hit its head, its face giving an expression of realization. Then it shook its head drunkenly, flapping its wings and staggered as it shot into the air.

Zuo Mo patted his chest in fear. These days, even birds were this strong!

Having managed to stabilize the silly bird, Zuo Mo dragged his half-crippled body into the stone room. Once he crawled in, he entered meditation.

He spent much longer in meditation than before, a full twenty hours before he woke up. Even though he hadn’t been wounded too severely, but the wounds in the channels inside his body were not insignificant. The damaging power of the impure ling energy was extremely serious. At that time, he really had been crazy. For jingshi, to not even care for his life? However, thinking back to it, he felt that it wasn’t right. Why had he been so reckless? He couldn’t pin down a reason.

That last attack, there were many places for him to savor.

He and Chang Heng were not on the same level of power. It could be seen from the fact the other had forced him to the precipice with one move. Thinking about it now, Zuo Mo still felt fear. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about Chang Heng’s level of power, but he hadn’t thought he would have struggle so much to stand up under just one of Chang Heng’s moves. It really was a miracle that he was only wounded this little.

He wasn’t dejected. From level of cultivation, there was too much of a difference. Chang Heng was at the peak of zhuji, someone heading for ningmai. Zuo Mo was only the fourth level of zhuji.

However, he was now at the fifth level. Just now, after a meditation of twenty hours, he had accidentally entered the fifth level. This wasn’t all of the gains from the battle. That was why Zuo Mo wasn’t leaving after he woke up, but sitting, savoring the entire battle.

The battle had been extremely short, just one move, yet the changes involved were not simple. Quite the opposite, there were many changes that Zuo Mo had never even thought about before. He had even done something as damaging to himself as sucking ling energy into his body to just barely make it through one of the other’s moves. There were too many actions of Chang Heng that were worth learning from. The precision of ling energy usage, the attack on the consciousness, the usage of presence and pressure… …

This meditation was another ten hours.

When he truly finished, he felt that he was extremely hungry. Running to the stores, he found some ling grains. Not caring about his cooking skill, he personally made a ling grain meal. The terrible cooking skills caused the taste of the meal to be rather bad. Zuo Mo did swallow up every bit of it. The ling energy contained in the ling grains was extremely useful.

After filling his hunger, he started to inspect his spoils of war.

When he put all the trophies out, he instantly became excited.

[Moonwater Black Turtle Armor], [Seal Soldier], one third-grade belt, and a pair of third-grade vambraces.

He was familiar with the attributes of Moonwater Black Turtle armor. The seal soldier could be used only one more time. That was something to use to save his life at a crucial time. Zuo Mo naturally wouldn’t be so dumb as to try it out. After memorizing the spell, he carefully put away the seal soldier.

The important ones were the belt and the vambraces. Zuo Mo had to admit that he had slipped up on the belt. The gold glittering belt only had one formation: Martial Bearing. Zuo Mo thought this was a formation that had no use at all. Its purpose was to make the presence of the wearer more outstanding, and look stronger and magnificent.

In other word, this was a decorative formation. Zuo Mo wanted to spit blood. He felt that it could be understandable that women would wear talismans of this type, but a guy, wearing a belt carved with [Martial Bearing] formation in broad daylight, they were too much of a showoff. The belt was made up of soft Gold Sky silk. The quality was outstanding. Such good material carved with a formation that had no real use, what a waste!

Zuo Mo was extremely frustrated. Why did he pick such a useless item?

However, what could be celebrated was that the vambraces did not disappoint him. There were two formations on it: [Thirty Thousand Catty] and [Nimble Fingers]. [Thirty Thousand Catty] was able to greatly increase his power. In the eyes of other xiuzhe, especially sword xiu, this might be a useless formation, but Zuo Mo liked it very much.

Wasn’t it just perfect to match with [Vajra Profound Sutra]?

Thinking about having a pair of dark gold hands with the power of a thousand catties, unable to be destroyed, easily breaking down other people’s flying sword, Zuo Mo’s heart jumped in excitement. Of course, this was just a fantasy. No one would let their flying sword get caught by another person’s hand. However, as a trap, this was still one that people could not defend against.

[Nimble Fingers] was a formation that was widely used. Its attribute was to increase the nimbleness of fingers. However, this was not that useful for Zuo Mo. In low-level xiuzhe, his finger motions was already very strong. The increase it would give him was almost nothing. [Nimble Fingers] was more effective the less familiar a xiuzhe was with finger motions. Those that were familiar, there wasn’t much of an effect.

Okay, people shouldn’t be too greedy. Zuo Mo muttered inside. He needed to go to Dong Fu right now, and sell a talisman to gather up the jingshi needed to clear his debts. The belt probably couldn’t sell for much jingshi. If it really wasn’t enough, he had to sell this pair of vambraces as well. He was slightly reluctant. Vambraces that had [Nimble Fingers] on it were easy to buy. What he was reluctant to sell was the [Thirty Thousand Catty] formation.

But he was poor, Zuo Mo had no way around it.

The grey-beaked goose had flown away, so Zuo Mo could only flip out his flying paper crane.

“Lil’ Yellow, Lil’Yellow, it’s time for you to perform!”

Sitting on the paper crane, Zuo Mo swayed and staggered his way to Dong Fu. The outer sect disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect, when they saw Zuo Mo riding a paper crane, first paused, and then their faces were full of admiration as they bowed to Zuo Mo.

“Did you hear? Shixiong went alone to challenge Ling Ying Sect! One against five and managed to beat all of them! All of Dong Fu has heard it!”

On the paper crane, Zuo Mo’s body froze and he started to sweat. This rumor… …

“Yes, yes! Such a stunning incident, how could I not have? I heard that there was a ten zhang tall spider, whose gigantic mouth could swallow a bull whole, Zuo Shixiong used only one move to beat it until it begged for mercy… …”

Sitting on the paper crane, Zuo Mo almost dropped off. It was more like he had almost begged for mercy… …

“So strong! Look at Zuo Shixiong, such a powerful person, and is riding a first-grade paper crane. What is called living frugally? What is inscrutable? This is!”

“Yes yes!”

Zuo Mo finally couldn’t bear it any longer and fled.

—–

An extremely well attired middle aged person was repeatedly examining a soft gold belt, expression excited and heated.

“Good thing! Really a good thing! Tsk tsk, look, this weaving, seventy two joyful crane technique, isn’t something any master can knit out. Look at the style, the two words, extremely noble! Very classic form, won’t go out of style for at least fifty years. Soft gold silk is a good material. Gold yet not blinding, bright but not crass. Only this kind of fine material can display it to the best advantage. If it something lesser, it would be too cheap, and the comfort would be less. Someone who can buy something like this, who would buy it if it wasn’t comfortable? See this lucky knot, skilled. Using lucky knots to lock the edge, I’ve never seen something like it. This time, I’ve really broadened my visions. This [Martial Bearing] formation has had great care in it. This position, it perfectly covers the entire body. Wearing it, if you don’t look elegant and grand, it must be the base material is terrible… …”

Zuo Mo dazedly came out of the store, the hundred treasures pouch at his waist full and bulging. He felt like he was in a dream.

A soft gold belt carved with a martial bearing formation was actually the most expensive of all these talismans.

These days, was it him that was crazy, or them that was crazy… …

He couldn’t understand, couldn’t understand!

Chapter 103: Inspiration

Zuo Mo had felt before that he had a very good understanding of the world over that last two years. At least, he knew the area of Dong Fu very well. But when a decorative belt carved with [Martial Bearing] sold for such a price, he suddenly felt that there were still many things he did not understand.

He quickly recovered from the blow that jingshi had dealt him.

Refocusing, Zuo Mo found that there were many more people on the street than before. Strangely and exotically dressed people passed him by, and were clearly not locals.

“Bro, there’s so many people. Is something big happening in Dong Fu recently?” Zuo Mo found a shopkeeper that was waving a bell outside.

This shopkeeper discreetly swept across the talismans on Zuo Mo’s body and pushed out a smile, respectfully answering, “Elder may not know. These people have all come for the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference. This sword conference has really shook Sky Moon Jie. For the last half year, almost all of the young experts have gathered in Dong Fu,” He then made a little flattery, and earnestly said, “This one sees that Elder is young but is powerful. If you go to try, you certainly come out on top.”

Zuo Mo finally understood. So it was the sword test conference. He had heard that Dong Fu was planning on holding a sword test conference but hadn’t thought that it would be an event of such magnitude. He was very surprised.

Having understood the situation, Zuo Mo didn’t have much interest left. Something like a sword test conference, it didn’t have too much to do with him. A place where all the experts will gather, since he was only a zhuji there was nothing for him to do there. If Wei Sheng Shixiong was attending, he would go watch. Other than that, he didn’t have any interest.

It was more practical to earn jingshi, and cultivate. He hummed a little tune, sitting on the paper crane and swaying as he flew back to Wu Kong Mountain.

Walking into the Little West Wind Yard, he was struck dumb.

A snow-white big bird was standing on his rooftop, posturing. The proudness of the aura, it was like a princess high up, dressing up in front of a mirror.

These days, when did birds become show-offs?

He seemed to feel that this white bird was somewhat familiar, but no matter how hard he thought, he didn’t remember who in the sect would have such an extraordinary looking big bird. This big bird was entirely snow white without one feather discolored. The beak was a pure clean sky blue. It looked extremely anthropomorphic, and intelligent. This mount, it definitely would be expensive.

Who lost their mount? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but wonder.

The snowy bird that had been posturing saw Zuo Mo standing at the door out of the corner of its eyes, and its body froze.

Zuo Mo caught this little movement. He first paused, and then unhesitatingly swore, “Silly Bird, get down!”

So this was his grey-beaked goose. But, why did it change to look like this? Zuo Mo wondered inside. Was this the effect of the stone milk?

The snowy bird bashfully came down from the roof, running on front of Zuo Mo and rubbed fawningly against him.

The hairs on Zuo Mo’s body stood up, “Stay away from me, female bird!”

The snowy bird seemed to hurtfully lower its head.

“Ah, so the feathers changed. Oh, your body got slightly larger,” Zuo Mo made two circles around the snowy bird. Seeing Zuo Mo examining her, the snowy bird instantly puffed up its chest, exuding a proud demeanor.

Seeing the snowy bird act like this, Zuo Mo was infuriated. He slapped the snowy bird’s head, angrily saying, “You almost ruined ge’s ling fields, did you know that? Ah! I’m telling you, if you dare to damage the ling fields one bit, ge will pluck your feathers and cook you!”

Hearing Zuo Mo say “pluck”, the snowy bird was aghast, its pair of wings securely blocking its chest as it stumbled back a few steps.

Seeing the anthropomorphic move of the snowy bird, Zuo Mo grinned. He really didn’t have to argue with a silly bird.

“Just go somewhere else.”

Zuo Mo threw down these words and then went into his rooms.

His life had finally returned to normal. After clearing his debts, the remaining jingshi had been silently taken away by Pu Yao. Zuo Mo could not do anything. Pu Yao was just too skilled. He didn’t need Zuo Mo’s agreement, and it didn’t matter where Zuo Mo hid it, he could always find it easily, and then unceremoniously take all of it.

When Zuo Mo found out, the jingshi had disappeared for a few days. With fury, Zuo Mo ran over to talk with Pu Yao. Each time, he was defeated by Pu Yao’s indifference.

To go from wealthy to penniless in the blink of an eye, Zuo Mo wanted to spit blood.

However, what comforted him was that, perhaps it was the effect of the jingshi, the sea of flames inside his consciousness had recovered greatly.

Without jingshi, he couldn’t do anything. Zuo Mo could only live.

The growth of the Fiery Red flower in the ling garden was very good. They would be ready for harvest soon. In comparison, the ling grasses that he had planted in the ling gardens matured first. This made him very excited. All of these ling grasses had been planted in preparation for him to make new dan. He hadn’t planned on selling those.

Twenty mu of ling grasses, it was enough for his own use. After harvesting all the ling grasses and processing them, he gained such a large amount of ling grasses that he had to set aside a room specifically to store it.

He did not need to go to the dan-room to make dan anymore. With the Stalagmite fire, he could make dan anywhere. This was also why every person who did dan-making or forging dreamed of having a fire of their own. Adding on the Streaming Fire core management formation on the jade pendant, the biggest barrier to making lingdan for him was his cultivation. The highest dan medicine that a zhuji xiuzhe could make was second grade. If he wanted to make third-grade lingdan, he must have a cultivation of ningmai.

Without jingshi, Zuo Mo had great motivation. He decided to not leave his rooms, furiously making dan every day.

Bone tempering dan, evil removing dan, and spirit increasing dan. Under his furious efforts, the number quickly increased. The effect of these low level lingdan was not outstanding in anyway, but Zuo Mo planned on using quantity to overcome quality. Without heed to anything else, he just used up all his materials.

Two hundred bone tempering dan, two hundred evil removing dan, and two hundred spirit increasing dan. Zuo Mo used three gourds to store these dan-medicine separately.

What amazed Zuo Mo was that he had accidentally made ten second-grade bone tempering dan, eight second-grade evil removing dan, and ten second-grade spirit increasing dan. First-grade was worthless, but second-grade could sell for a pretty good price. However, Zuo Mo didn’t plan on selling even one of them. The jingshi he would get would all be taken away by Pu Yao.

Consuming a bone tempering dan, Zuo Mo started to channel the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra]. As expected, a burst of medicinal energy entered his body. Each time that he used an evil removing dan first before cultivating, some black stains would appear on his body. The effect of consuming spirit increasing dan was the most evident. Eating it and then practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], he could clearly feel the medicinal energy entering his mind.

Seeing that this method was effective, and having so much of the lingdan, Zuo Mo furiously shoved lingdan in his mouth each time before he cultivated.

After more than ten days, there was significant progress with [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Golden patterns appeared on his chest. If he channeled ling energy, the Water Drop sword could not wound him. The progress of his spirit was even more apparent, without him detecting it, he had reached fourth breath. In the void of his sea of consciousness, four stars lined up in a row.

This was all from eating dan. He had ate several dozen of the first-grade ling dan but no dan had much of an effect. So he could only eat the second-grade lingdan. After eating the second grade lingdan, he experienced the gigantic gap between grades. The effect of the second-grade lingdan was more than ten times the first-grade lingdan!

There was about one hundred pieces of each type of ling dan. They wouldn’t sell for much jingshi if he sold it. It was both obscure and low level, there was no market.

He decided to feed the rest of the lingdan to the silly bird and the Black Gold worm.

The Black Gold worm ate lingdan like thin crisps, crunch, crunch crunch. The lingdan would visibly shrink. Silly Bird ate lingdan more like it was eating beans, ga-bang ga-bang. Seeing them enjoy eating so much, Zuo Mo would become hungry as well, and ate them as snacks, chewing on them once in awhile.

After Silly Bird transformed, Zuo Mo had pulled it to be assessed. Right now, it was a third-grade blue-beaked snowy bird. The value of it had increased exponentially. Right there, someone had asked Zuo Mo whether he would sell it, and was willing to pay two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. Zuo Mo was extremely tempted. Seeing the situation, Silly Bird hurriedly ran in front of him and pretended to be pitiful. It even used that pair of wings to pretend to wipe tears. Zuo Mo didn’t know to laugh or cry. The people in the surroundings were amazed, and thought this bird was extremely intelligent. The price instantly flew to five hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Zuo Mo still refused. He looked at the smug face of Silly Bird and thought to himself. Oh, it wasn’t that ge didn’t bear to part with the bird, but if he had jingshi, it would only fall into Pu Yao’s hands.

All of his attention was on cultivation. At the beginning, he had used the “whirlpool ling sucking method” to make the yin fire beads and found it very useful. The amount of ling energy taken in was much more efficient than any other scripture. However, the impurities in the ling energy taken in this way was extremely high. If he could think of a way to get rid of the impurities in the ling energy, then his cultivation would increase extremely quickly.

He suddenly thought about the process of using the Stalagmite fire to make dan. The Stalagmite fire could burn away the unnecessary impurities and provide what he needed.

Maybe, he could use the Stalagmite fire to get rid of the impurities in the ling energy.

The more he thought, the more plausible he found the idea.

Without anything else to do, he started to experiment with this strange idea. Zuo Mo was never afraid of trying out new things. Like the Golden Crow pill, like the whirlpool ling suction method, like merging sword essences. No one told him what was possible so he had to try for himself.

In any case, his cultivation was low. Even if he was injured, it wouldn’t be too major, he frequently comforted himself with this.

There were too many problems involved. Like how to use the Stalagmite fire to purify, no jade scroll had ever mentioned that it was possible to use fire seeds to burn ling energy. This process also had to be carried out inside his body. After ling energy was taken into the body, it would pass through the channels. In other words, the setting to forge the ling energy had to be in his channels. Zuo Mo was very doubtful and felt that this was extremely unlikely that his fragile channels could contain something as terrifying as the Stalagmite fire.

Then that led to another problem he had to overcome, he needed to strengthen his channels, making sure the Stalagmite fire would not damage his channels.

A stream of complex questions gave Zuo Mo a headache. He felt that he had no place to start.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of Chang Heng who had beaten him so terribly. The dejection that had come into his heart was replaced by motivation.

He gritted his teeth, saying to himself, “Ge holds grudges!”

Chapter 104: Hesitation

The first problem was strengthening his channels.

Only stronger channels could tolerate the Stalagmite fire. Otherwise Zuo Mo would be frozen into a popsicle by the Stalagmite fire. This first problem was enough to trip Zuo Mo up. The only scripture that he had related to strengthening the body was [Vajra Profound Sutra]. The effects of the [Vajra Profound Sutra] didn’t look very bad right now, and Zuo Mo tried to find a section on it relating to strengthening channels.

He was quickly disappointed.

There wasn’t too much in [Vajra Profound Sutra] on strengthening channels. Zuo Mo, unsatisfied, ran to the records room, searching everywhere for scriptures that could strengthen his channels. He quickly found related content from some of the body cultivation jade schools. However, he was even further disappointed. Each of the jade scrolls clearly wrote that strengthening channels was a very profound field.

Body cultivation first trained the flesh, then the tendons, and then the bones before the channels.

With his weak zhuji cultivation, he couldn’t even start to think about it.

Zuo Mo was not discouraged. This was not the first time he had encountered an obstacle like this. The jade scrolls that he had struggled so much to obtain were unclear in many places. That required him to think about it himself. If one path did not work, he would change to another. He could always find a workable solution.

Since it was not possible to strengthen his channels, that meant that he could not carry out his idea of purifying ling energy in his channels.

What about on the outside? If he could purify the ling energy outside the channels, then the ling energy he would absorb into his body would become pure ling power. Zuo Mo sank into deep thought. How could he purify ling energy outside the body to turn it into ling power? Inside the body, ling energy was invisible and non-tangible. How could he purify it?

Each question seemed to be beyond his limits, but he did not plan on giving up.

—

“ For this sword test conference, who are we sending?” Yan Le looked at Sect Leader Pei Yuan Ran. There was only the two of them in Wu Kong Hall. Xin Yan was in seclusion forging. Shi Feng Rong was in seclusion making dan.

“Naturally, Wei Sheng will have to go. I just don’t know if he’ll come out in time,” Sect Leader said,“Zuo Mo can also go.”

“Ha ha, the little guy ran to make a fuss at Ling Ying Sect. I heard he was extremely impressive,” Yan Le smiled. The Ling Ying Sect, just by relying on their wealth had always been extremely arrogant towards the other sects of Dong Fu. There were many that thought them an eyesore.

“En, Zuo Mo’s talent is not bad. It’s a pity he cannot focus on the sword,” Sect Leader said with regret,“It could be considered an honorable defeat, that he lost on Chang Heng’s hands.”

Yan Le shrugged carelessly, “It’s good even if he does not focus on the sword. In the future, the sect needs people like Zuo Mo.”

Sect Leader nodded and did not say anything. He turned to say, “You can go take a look at Luo Li. The incident last time really shocked him. He should have improved.”

“Just these three?” Yan Le asked.

“En, just these three,” The sect leader added, “there’s no rush. There’s still time until the preliminary sword test conference.”

Yan Le excitedly clenched his hands, “I’m looking forward to it. If Wei Sheng gets out in time, he will definitely shock everyone.”

The sect leader gave a light smile. Even though he did not say anything, but the flash of light in his eyes revealed his thoughts.

—

The great harvest of Fiery Red flower once again bloated Zuo Mo’s purse. The price of Fiery Red flower had risen again during this time, to now two and a half third-grade jingshi per tael. The eighty mu of ling garden had, in total, produced twenty two catties of first grade Fiery Red flower. Other than that, there was almost one catty of second-grade Fiery Red flower. The price of second-grade Fiery Red flower had grown to sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi per tael. Taking off the previous payment of sixty pieces of third-grade jingshi, in total, Zuo Mo’s income was one thousand and ninety pieces of third-grade jingshi.

This was his biggest payout of jingshi yet.

To stop Pu Yao from secretly taking it like usual, Zuo Mo decided to attack first. Based on income, Zuo Mo definitely was in the high ranks of Dong Fu, but all of his jingshi was stolen by Pu Yao before they even got warm in his purse.

Pu Yao saw Zuo Mo’s nervousness, and mocked, “Just one thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi, it’s just two pieces of fourth-grade jingshi, do you have to be like this?”

Zuo Mo was completely unaffected. “I’ll exchange it for something.” He then added: “That I can use.”

Pu Yao said slowly, “Haven’t you been looking for a way to purify ling energy recently?”

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. “Yes! Do you know how?”

“There’s nothing wrong with your idea.” Pu Yao snickered, “But you know too little. Even if you have a good idea, you cannot solve it.”

“I’ll exchange for this!” Zuo Mo unhesitatingly said.

“Hee hee.” Pu Yao lightly swept his sleeve. A stream of clinks of jingshi hitting each other sounded, but Zuo Mo did not feel pain this time. He only stared at Pu Yao, waiting for him to keep talking.

“Then I will teach you. In reality, this is a very simple method.” Pu Yao’s face resumed its habitual indifference. “Tsk tsk. Even though your idea is only superficial, but to think of it with your skill level isn’t easy.” Pu Yao’s indifference gradually disappeared without him noticing, his voice becoming serious.

“Xiuzhe, yao, mo, the three of them, the one that has the hardest time to create ling power is xiuzhe,” Seeing Zuo Mo’s surprised eyes, Pu Yao laughed lightly, “You must find it weird, that the xiuzhe who focus on ling poweras their primary have the hardest time with ling power. No matter if it is yao or mo, they are born with the ability to communicate with nature. Like us yao, once we are born, we can manipulate ling energy of the world. Mo, their bodies can automatically absorb the ling energy of the world, and naturally get rid of impurities, that they use to temper their body. They do not need to do anything for their blood and flesh to be filled with ling energy. Based on natural talent, xiuzhe cannot be compared to us. However, they are very good at learning. You have practiced many scriptures now. Do you know what is the core of scriptures?”

“What is it?” Zuo Mo, entranced, asked reflexively.

“Formations,” Pu Yao’s eyes became extremely deep, as though he was looking through the ages, “Each scripture is a kind of formation. Scriptures, most of them are divided into parts. The first is absorption. If it cannot take in ling energy of the world, then the scripture is useless. Then it is forging. If it cannot purify the ling energy, then it is not useful, and would harm the user. After that, it is storage. If it cannot store the power, it’s useless no matter how much is absorbed and purified.”

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. No one had broken down scriptures like this before. Pu Yao stated it so simply, without any part that was difficult to comprehend. Zuo Mo finely pondered it, and instantly understood. It really was so!

“Good scriptures, the efficiency of taking ling energy is higher, the purification is faster, and it can store more ling power. Hm, it’s just this simple.” Pu Yao sighed. “You must be wondering why us yaomo can naturally absorb ling energy? That is because us yaomo have natural formations in our body. This is a blessing from nature! It is a pity that our intelligence is not as great as xiuzhe, ignorant of the treasure in our possession. Millions of years, we only knew to act according to our instinct, never thinking of the mechanisms behind it. Only when xiuzhe started to rise did we start to study, but by that time, we were too far behind xiuzhe and could only develop in two other directions.”

“Oh, that’s off topic.” Pu Yao suddenly gave a smile. “Let us return to your question. Your problem is easy to solve for all time. How about it, do you want to try?”

Pu Yao was already extraordinarily beautiful. That smile, it seemed to light up the sea of consciousness. Even Zuo Mo was shocked. He was suspicious that, if Pu Yao appeared in Dong Fu, there wouldn’t be a woman in Dong Fu that would be able to resist his spell. But, a male growing up to look like this, it really was a crime!

“What method?” Zuo Mo asked, slightly hesitant. You had to reverse Pu Yao’s words. If he said something like it would be solved forever, then it most likely would be continuously troublesome in the future.

“Your luck isn’t bad. You encountered me” Pu Yao resumed his lazy expression, “Didn’t I already say to you just now, yaomo can naturally gather ling energy and purify it. Coincidentally, this kind of natural seal formation, I have a little knowledge.”

“Such a thing as good as this, how could those experts give up on it?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe it. The yaomo that xiuzhe had captured could not be counted. If there really was some secret on the bodies of yaomo, it should have been discovered long ago.

“Ha!” Pu Yao smiled mockingly, “They’ve been angling for this thing for a long time. Pity, nature blessed us Yao with this just so yaomo will not go extinct! How about it, want to try?”

“How high can it increase? Is there any side effects? Would it conflict with practicing scriptures?” Zuo Mo asked a string of questions.

“Hee hee, how much can it increase, this depends on your body. At least, it would be multiple times what it is now. Side effects? Of course there would some. In this world, is there anything that is only beneficial? Losses and gains, I shouldn’t have to teach you such a simple tenet. As to cultivating scriptures, it wouldn’t affect it, definitely wouldn’t affect it.” Pu Yao resolutely said.

Zuo Mo lowered his head, sinking into his thoughts. Pu Yao did not hurry him, idly sitting on the gravestone.

For some reason, Zuo Mo had a feeling that the following decision would change and influence his entire life. He did not know why he would have such a feeling. He had learned many things from Pu Yao, but never had a feeling like this before. This feeling was so strong, so clear.

He was hesitant.

He had been very happy these recent days. Even though he was still worried about jingshi, but everything was developing so well. He had improved step by step. Each day was very full. If he kept going like this, he definitely wouldn’t have to worry about jingshi in the future, and could live a very good life. In the sect, he would also have a pretty good position.

He could study ling plants, could study dan-making, could study… …

But that repeated dream, like fate, it always seemed to accidentally guide him towards another direction. Changing features and erasing the mind, his body was still carrying a past of unknown hardship and cruelty… …

Head down, Zuo Mo’s hands fisted unconsciously, his entire body minutely trembling.

What was it that he wanted?

What was it that he could not avoid?

Chapter 105: Mo Matrix And Yao Seed

Zuo Mo looked slightly scared at the variety of ling grasses and strange knick-knacks placed in front of him, like three sticks of incense made from the ashes of burnt Sky Net Yao hair, a small bottle of Bitter Dove Mo blood, a nauseatingly smelly Ferret Mo gallbladder… …

He had bought all those things according to Pu Yao’s orders. He ran all over Dong Fu, and made a trip to see He Rong before he managed to gather all of it. These weird things were all extremely expensive. He spent all of the thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi. Pu Yao was strangely generous this time, proactively taking out the jingshi.

These strange materials, there were all parts of some yaomo’s body. The corpses of yaomo killed in the Yao Hunt would be speedily be broken down by skilled professional butchers to useful parts. The bodies of yaomo were rich in ling energy, and had many wondrous effects so they were used in great amounts in dan-making and forging. The organs and flesh of yaomo can be added to dan, the hides of yaomo were usually abnormally strong and good materials to make ling armor. Their teeth and claws could be forged into high-grade flying swords and talismans.

In thousands of years, the practice of the Yao Hunt had never stopped. Other than revenge, it was mostly motivated by profit.

However, the dangers in the Yao Hunt were too high and the gains were not much. Therefore, raising ling beasts had become popular. The attributes of ling beasts could not compare to the yaomo, and the raw materials after killing the beasts were not as high-grade. It competed on the numbers and the low cost. Even a small sect like Wu Kong Sword Sect had its own specialized stables. It could be seen just how widespread raising ling beast livestock was.

Pu Yao had high demands for these materials. They had to come from yaomo and not ling beasts. This was also why it was so expensive. Any material relating to yaomo were not cheap.

But… …

Zuo Mo looked at the strange things on the table and his heart shook. He felt that it seemed like they were going to hold a dark ritual, and these strange fleshy organs were the tribute. He usually studied formations and scriptures, and it was not as terrifying as this.

“There’s nothing really good. We can only just compromise.” Pu Yao said, slightly helplessly. ”These things, they can just barely create the lowest kind of mo matrix.”

“Mo matrix? What is that?” Zuo Mo pushed down the terror in his heart to ask.

“This is very complicated to explain.” Pu Yao picked up the materials and inspected as he talked, “You can think of them as a kind of formation, a natural formation. It is a formation made out of blood, fur, feathers, and vitality. Hmph hmph, xiuzhe always want to decode the mystery of this, but the mechanisms in here, it’s not so easy to crack.”

“Then what are we doing now?”

“Don’t be dumb, do you have to ask me such a simple question?” Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo like he was an idiot. “Of course it is to make you a mo matrix.”

“Make a matrix? Mo matrixes can be made? Didn’t you say no one has cracked it?” Zuo Mo was very shocked.

“They cannot, that does not mean that I cannot.” Pu Yao snorted, and said conceitedly, “Before… …” He suddenly seemed to have realized something and closed his mouth.

Pu Yao didn’t want to say it. Zuo Mo was curious but he didn’t ask. Pointing at another pile of ling grasses, he asked, “These ling grasses? Also for the mo matrix?” The materials on the table had been clearly divided into two piles, one of ling grasses, another of yaomo parts.

“That is to add something else to you.” Pu Yao snickered, “A very interesting thing.”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo nodded, not understanding. Suddenly, he felt his eyelids became heavy, he was so sleepy… …

“Don’t forget!”

“Even in death, you must not forget!”

He was having a dream again. Zuo Mo sighed. He was like an indifferent spectator watching his own dream. He knew that it was useless whatever he said, no one would reply to him, or rather, this dream just wanted to give him a question.

He was waiting to wake up.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Pu Yao’s handsome and enchanting face.

“Welcome back!” Pu Yao said smugly and with deep meaning.

Zuo Mo sat up and instantly felt pain. There seemed to be wounds over every part of his body. He could smell the thick scent of blood in the air.

“Was it successful?” Zuo Mo was frightened by his own voice. It was completely dry.

“Success? I’m ashamed to use such good words for this kind of trash. But there’s no way around it. You are too poor. What you used were my funds. You have to pay me back soon.” Pu Yao said, slightly disdainful.

Seeing Zuo Mo grit his teeth in pain, Pu Yao seemed very happy. “I added a very simple mo matrix to your body. Oh, this matrix, I found it on the body of a Copper rhino. It’s very primitive and simple. It can automatically absorb in the ling energies from the surroundings and strengthen your body. Your body will appear copper colored. Since you have been practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra], you can use it as a disguise and no one would be able to see it.”

Zuo Mo struggled up and instantly became alarmed. Two thick red lines went from the center of his palms, following his arms to his chest and intersecting there. From the chest, they separated again downwards, following his legs to the center of his feet. The intersection at his chest was like the two red lines had made a knot.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s wariness, Pu Yao said unconcernedly, “Don’t worry, after two days, these lines will merge into your flesh. Even if someone has something like Sky Eyes, they can’t see it.”

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh. If he went about with such an alarming tattoos like this, he wouldn’t have good days to live.

“This mo matrix is relatively simple so don’t expect it to have many abilities.” Pu Yao said irresponsibly. “You are just too poor. Without jingshi, there naturally isn’t anything good.”

Zuo Mo felt the space between his brows hurt and couldn’t help but reach up. When his hand touched his forehead, his fingers seemed to have encountered something abnormal.

“What is that?” Zuo Mo suddenly remembered that Pu Yao said he was adding something else.

“Hee hee, a yao seed.” Pu Yao was extremely smug. “This thing cannot compare to a true yao seed but for you, it’s more than enough.”

Zuo Mo knew about yao seeds. Yao had yao seeds, mo had mo cores. This was the standard to judge the importance of yaomo. Xiuzhe would also form gold cores, but this gold core was made from ling energy and was not some tangible object. It would automatically dissipate after death. Yao seeds and mo cores, they were tangible objects that grew in the body and were an extremely important material. He had only heard of it before, but had never seen it.

“Yao seeds?” Zuo Mo asked in alarm. “What does it do?”

“Just try and see.” Pu Yao said.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo hurriedly started [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation].

As it started, he instantly detected the difference. The ling energy in the surroundings competed to rush into him. All the openings in his body naturally opened, the ling energy easily slipping into his body. His flesh was like a wondrous filter net, easily filtering out the impurities of the ling energy which turned to sparks of light that then entered his flesh and bones.

Zuo Mo was slightly dumbstruck. It really was as Pu Yao said—just as easy as breathing. There was none of the usual struggle. The ling energy seemed very close and intimate with him.

He was exhilarated!

With the mo matrix, the speed of his cultivation would multiply.

He thought about the yao seed that Pu Yao mentioned. Even though he did not know what a yao seed looked like, but it definitely was related to the consciousness. As expected, he quickly found the yao core on his forehead. It was a blood red crystal, a bit like the blood crystals on Pu Yao’s ears, but in terms of brightness and clarity, it was far worse.

What Zuo Mo found extremely wonderful was that, with a yao seed, the shape of his spirit had transformed.

His consciousness had been like a ball of mist before. Now, his consciousness was like a jellyfish, having lots of thin slender tentacles with the yao seed at the very center. These thin spiritual tentacles, with Zuo Mo as the center, floated in the surroundings. Everything in the surroundings was clearly mirrored in his mind. After he started cultivating his spirit, his sixth sense had become extremely sensitive. With the yao seed, this sensitivity had multiplied.

His mind moved and those spiritual tentacles nimbly danced around him according to his wishes.

Having been worried beforehand, Zuo Mo finally could not disguise the glee inside. To say of nothing else, just dan-making, his success rate would definitely improve dramatically.

The benefit from these two things, even if he had to pay a price, it was worth it!

With the mo matrix and the yao seed, the speed of his cultivation would increase multiple times.

Just as Zuo Mo was celebrating, Pu Yao broke in, “Don’t be happy too early. I’ve never done this mo matrix and yao seed to anyone before. If there’s any side effects, you just have to deal with it yourself. You need to study formations now. The speed of taking in ling energy is faster, but if you cannot store it, it’s all useless.”

Zuo Mo gradually calmed down from his joy.

Pu Yao was right. Right now, the rate of taking in ling energy was multiple times what it had been, but if he could not solve the problem of storing it, it truly was useless.

“Learn formations.” Pu Yao said with a rare seriousness. “Right now, you only need to study formations.”

“Only study formations?” Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled. He felt Pu Yao’s worlds were too definite.

“Yes.” Pu Yao explained. “No matter if it is dan-making, or sword scripture, they are formations in the end. You have to learn on your own. The formations of xiuzhe are too complex and broad, yet completely different from the understanding of us yao. We have a hard time understanding many things.”

“You cannot understand them?” Zuo Mo didn’t believe it. Even though he felt Pu Yao was just a dumb yao, but in the matters of cultivation, one Pu Yao was worth a hundred of him. Something that even Pu Yao could not understand, how could he understand it?”

Extremely rarely, Pu Yao had a grave expression. He said something that Zuo Mo did not understand, “It has nothing to do with methods, it has to do with belief.”

Even though he could not understand it, but Zuo Mo felt that Pu Yao was extremely serious when he said this. It should be the most serious thing that Pu Yao had said up until now. He silently memorized this sentence.

“Then dan-making? Sword scriptures?” Zuo Mo was still slightly hesitant.

Pu Yao had finally reached the end of his patience with Zuo Mo. “Idiot, they are also formations. Don’t be tricked by appearances. In any case, just concentrate on formations.”

“I don’t have jade scrolls… …” Zuo Mo weakly said.

Pu Yao irresponsibly spread out his hands. “I don’t have a way either.”

Suddenly, Pu Yao smiled darkly. Zuo Mo’s heart couldn’t help but have a bad feeling. As expected, he heard Pu Yao formally say, “Alright. I feel there is a need to discuss the matter of my payment.”

Chapter 106: The Half-Finished Product Processing Maniac

“You know I do not have jingshi.” Zuo Mo could only say.

“Oh, you can just owe me.” Pu Yao said unconcernedly, “This time, you spent two pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Oh, adding on my wages, seeing that everyone is so familiar, let’s give a discount, just eight pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. In total, ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Oh, repay it in three months. One month over, it will be two times the number.”

Zuo Mo’s limbs felt cold, “Pu, this price is too outrageous… …”

“Oh, no no no, I’m a Sky Yao, my appearance fee is very expensive!” Pu Yao shamelessly said.

Ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi, that was five thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi… … three months… …

Zuo Mo felt dizzy. He made one last effort, “This is impossible to complete!”

“Oh, don’t worry, I like interest!” Pu Yao gave an intoxicating smile.

In Dong Fu, Zuo Mo sat in the store, all his attention on controlling the Stalagmite fire. In that ball of white flame, there was a glowing liquid boiling. A xiuzhe was standing at the side, not daring to breathe, as he stared nervously at the milky white ball of flame.

Suddenly, the Stalagmite fire disappeared, a clear medicinal fluid floated silently in front of Zuo Mo. A fragrance instantly spread out in the air. Zuo Mo skillfully urged the medicinal fluid into the already prepared jade bottle. When the fluid entered the bottle, he instantly shoved a cork in.

“Your Bell grass fluid, twenty pieces of third-grade jingshi.” Zuo Mo expressionlessly said.

“Bro, can you be a bit cheaper? This is the ninth time I’ve come here!” The xiuzhe pleaded.

Zuo Mo raised his expressionless face, “My appearance fee is very expensive.”

The other was speechless and could only painfully take out twenty-pieces of third-grade jingshi. Zuo Mo didn’t even look, just shoved it into the Hundred Treasures pouch at his waist before closing his eyes to recover ling energy. After a while, he opened his eyes, “Next one.”

Li Ying Feng hurriedly let another person in. Ever since Zuo Mo had come to the store, she was shocked at the popularity of the business. Zuo Mo Shidi had gotten a strange white fire from somewhere that was extremely icy. Zuo Mo Shidi had also displayed his business skills. He received all kinds of weird jobs, like purifying and making medicinal fluids, forging certain raw materials. These jobs that she had never heard of before, Zuo Mo Shidi could do all of them.

She quickly found that all the jobs that Zuo Mo Shidi provided were middle-men jobs such as purification. He actually did not take requests for dan-making. She had once been extremely puzzled at this. Zuo Mo Shidi was most skilled in dan-making! Only later did she understand the meaning of it. That was efficiency. Just making the intermediate product, with Zuo Mo Shidi’s terrifying recovery rate, the efficiency was shockingly high.

He was like a human-shaped stove, not knowing exhaustion.

In comparison, Shidi’s terrifying control of fire did not shock her too much!

Up until now, Zuo Mo Shidi had not failed once. Li Ying Feng was amazed but not shocked. Zuo Mo Shidi was a genius at dan-making. It was normal for him to be skilled at controlling fire. His terrifying success rate quickly became famous in Dong Fu. Everyone knew that Dong Fu had a store called the Wu Kong Grocery store that had a zombie-like guy who had godly talents at controlling fire, and even rarer, it was a white cold fire. The grade of that white cold fire was not high, but it was extremely powerful. The processed products that were created were all of high quality.

Cold fire was hard to find in the first place, and the number of xiuzhe that had cold fire was pitifully few. Usually, a xiuzhe that had a fire was either skilled in dan-making, cooking, or forging. Who was willing to work on intermediate products? A xiuzhe that only made intermediate products suddenly appearing out of nowhere, the xiuzhe that had a need instantly flowed in.

This person was wearing a hat. When he saw Zuo Mo, his steps paused.

“What do you want me to forge?” Zuo Mo said, not even raising his head.

“Fourth-grade Cold Magnet.” The other said.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. He raised his head to glance at the other and shook his head, “I can only process third-grade. Fourth-grade is out of my limits. Please find someone else.”

Stalagmite fire was only a second-grade fire seed. If it wasn’t that his consciousness was strong, and his ability to control fire was high, he could only process second-grade items. Even so, third-grade was Zuo Mo’s present limit. He didn’t even need to think about the fourth-grade Cold Magnet.

The other said in a deep voice, “Can you cut this fourth-grade cold magnet into four pieces?”

Cut? Zuo Mo thought and then said, “I can try.”

The other took out a black stone. Embedded in the rock was dots of blue ice. He handed it to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo didn’t take it, “The payment will be two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi.”

“Okay.” The other replied simply.

Rich person! Zuo Mo’s heart was full of disdain but his hand quickly took this fourth-grade cold magnet.

The reason that he had thought of making intermediate products was that he had been forced by the demand for jingshi. After taking on the huge debt of five thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi, Zuo Mo had to work his mind to find ways of earning jingshi. Planting Fiery Red flower was a pretty good method, but that meant that he had to rent a ling garden five times what he had rented before. What he felt helpless about that was, even if he used all the ling farmer spells he had, the growing period of the Fiery Red flower wouldn’t be shorter than five months!

He unhesitatingly dismissed this plan. If it went over a month, it would multiply. Five months meant that Zuo Mo needed to pay back twenty thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Without any other way, he could only plan around the Stalagmite fire.

Hoping that he could earn five thousand third-grade jingshi by selling dan in three months was not realistic. After he finished learning, it would have been too late. An idea had suddenly sparked and he thought of making intermediate products. He was extremely practiced at purifying and concentrating ling grasses right now. The purification and tempering of forging was not hard to learn.

Stalagmite fire was a rare cold fire, extremely suited for processing those yin and cold attributed ling materials and ling grasses. The number of xiuzhe that had fire seeds was pitifully small, those that had cold fire was even less, and Zuo Mo was the only one willing to make intermediate products!

Originally, this business was not very profitable since it was just for intermediate profits and he could only take the processing fee. However, after getting the yao seed, Zuo Mo’s control of fire increased dramatically. The Stalagmite fire was almost alive in his hands and the efficiency was astonishing. With the mo matrix, his ling energy recovery rate was extremely high. After meditating for a little while, he would be back at full power.

Zuo Mo had not solved the problem of storing ling power. Even though his absorption rate of ling energy had increased and the effects showed in tempering his body, but the increase in his cultivation had been limited. Due to this problem, he had gone to discuss it with Pu Yao many times. There was too much of a difference in the mo matrix from what Pu Yao had advertised and the reality. Zuo Mo had requested a reduction in his debt.

In the face of reality, Pu Yao could only admit it and reduce Zuo Mo’s debt by one thousand third-grade jingshi.

The debts of four thousand third-grade jingshi caused Zuo Mo to take a breath of relief. He quickly found the most effective method of using the mo matrix. Since its ability was to increase the speed of taking in ling energy, then he would rapidly use up the ling energy, then quickly replenish it. If he repeated it like that, wouldn’t it work?

He quickly found that the yao seed with the Stalagmite fire was the perfect combination with the mo matrix!

Other than the business being average the first few days, the following days, the business was extremely hot because xiuzhe were coming in to Dong Fu from the outside to attend the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference. Zuo Mo’s processing fee was not cheap. Basically, it started from twenty pieces of third-grade jingshi. If it was something good, it would immediately jump to forty pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Yelling two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi was just him being outrageous, and he had not thought that the other would unhesitatingly agree.

According to his normal income, he would take in, on average, two hundred pieces of jingshi per day. According to this speed, he would quickly pay off his debts. This kind of business depended on the time. If this wasn’t the time of the Dong Fu Sword Test, just with the local Dong Fu xiuzhe, it would have been good if he could earn forty piece of jingshi every day.

However, he had gained quite a lot from this kind of furious labor.

He managed to learn and arrange the Stalagmite fire into a Three-Turn fire formation which could greatly increase the effect of the fire to the point of being able to melt some fourth-grade ling grasses. However, he did not easily take jobs involving fourth-grade materials. The main reason was the risk was too high. If he accidentally ruined someone’s material, then he couldn’t even pay them back.

The price of fourth-grade materials, it was sky high.

This time, the other only asked him to cut the Cold Magnet. Zuo Mo felt the risk was not that high. Since the other had not even negotiated on his opening price of two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, he felt the profit was extremely high.

Speaking of sharpness, nothing was as sharp as flying swords. However, some materials could not be cut with flying swords because it would ruin the material. Cold Magnet was one of those materials. There were many considerations in cutting a Cold Magnet. The magnetism was not evenly distributed. It was extremely complicated to try to preserve the magnetism of each piece.

However, this was not too hard for Zuo Mo. The yao seed seemed to have been born for [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. Even he felt afraid at the speed of improvement in his spirit. After his consciousness became stronger, it didn’t require much effort to inspect third-grade materials. It was not that easy for fourth-grade material, but if he used those spiritual tentacles, he could quickly finish it. Other than increasing his control fire, it allowed him to study the material very well, and made him much more efficient at processing it.

Since it involved two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, Zuo Mo was extremely careful. Each time he worked on a fourth-grade material, it was a rare experience.

Closing his eyes, he inspected this middle-sized Cold Magnet multiple times with his spiritual tentacles. After he was completely certain of the magnet location, he opened his eyes.

The black-gauze hat wearing customer only saw Zuo Mo holding the cold magnet and resting for a long time before suddenly opening his eyes.

The Cold Magnet in Zuo Mo’s hand slowly floated into the air. At the same time, a milky white flame quietly appeared, the surroundings becoming cold.

Behind the black gauze, a surprised expression flashed in the eyes.

Zuo Mo sat calmly, no expression on his face. Only that pair of eyes could make others feel his concentration.

The pair of hands half resting before his chest started to move and change, stirring a string of afterimages.

The Stalagmite fire floating in the air turned into an extremely thin white flame thread, swimming around the cold magnet like an extremely slender white snake.

Suddenly, the snaking fire thread speeded up. The black gauze hat wearing customer felt the white fire was like lightning, circling around, the head reaching the tail!

A Three-Turn fire formation suddenly formed!

Chapter 107: Seeing Shixiong Again

With the Three-Turn fire formation forming, the temperature of the room became cold.

Even the hat-wearing customer couldn’t help but move back a step. The coldness exuded from the roiling fire formation seeped into the bones.

Three-Turn fire formation was not a complex seal formation. It could increase the power of fire seeds, regardless of if it was cold or hot fire. Each extra turn would double the power. The most Zuo Mo could complete right now was three turns. Four times the power for him was completely enough.

His eyes focused, all of Zuo Mo’s consciousness was awakened. Even though he had a yao core now, and his spiritual control had increased, but the difficulty of a Three-Turn fire was still high for him. Using his consciousness to carefully control the Stalagmite fire, he felt the ling power inside his body disappear at an alarming speed and the exhaustion that accompanied it.

Zuo Mo suppressed it, carefully controlling his consciousness.

With a light hiss, the Cold Magnet fell down in four pieces.

Zuo Mo released a breath. Two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. Speaking of it, a person’s limits was a very scary thing. Not long ago, his yearly income was just a few dozen second-grade jingshi. In the turn of an eye, his one-time income was two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. Just based on income, Zuo Mo definitely had entered the levels of high-earners in Dong Fu, but he had never felt that he was wealthy. Quite the opposite. He found that he seemed to have sunk into a strange cycle of lacking money more and more! He obviously was earning increasingly more jingshi but he was eternally penniless. It was better even now, he had shoulder huge debts.

However, he quickly released it. These days, what things were free? He had already gotten a cheap bargain. If there wasn’t Pu Yao, he might not have these debts, but he would not have [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], no yin fire bead, no Stalagmite fire. He might not even have successfully entered zhuji.

“Success.” Zuo Mo handed the four pieces of cold magnet to the customer.

The hat-wearing person took the cold magnet and praised, “Brother Zuo’s control of fire is truly amazing!” He then crisply paid two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi.

“You are too complimentary.” The majority of Zuo Mo’s attention was on the two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, and he responded absentmindedly.

“Is Brother Zuo going to register for the sword test conference?” The other seemed to want to have a discussion with Zuo Mo.

“No.” Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to talk with the other. The Three-Turn fire formation had almost cleaned out all of his ling energy just now. Even though the mo matrix was continuously strengthening his body, he still felt uncomfortable.

After getting the mo matrix, [Vajra Profound Sutra] had improved the fastest. In a short period of time, Zuo Mo had reached the third level of [Vajra Profound Sutra]. When he channeled it, even the flesh under his skin started to have dots of gold. This was the “Golden Flesh Clothing”.

[Vajra Profound Sutra] was not a quick scripture. According to what was written, people usually had to practice for five or six years in order to reach the third level of “Golden Flesh Clothing.” The fourth level, “Red Lotus Flowing Gold” needed ten years. After reaching “Golden Clothing of Flesh”, the defense strength rose. The entire body would be like a piece of gold, very hard to cut with a normal flying sword.

Zuo Mo’s body was much stronger than before. But for some strange reason, his physique was still thin and weak. Adding on his trademark zombie face, he was easy to recognize.

The ling power that the Three-Turn fire formation had taken was too much. He desperately needed to recover now. Seeing the other did not seem to want to leave, he had to raise his head, “Do you have something else?”

“Haha, I’ll come find Brother Zuo in a few days.” The other laughed before leaving.

Zuo Mo was too lazy to pay attention, closing his eyes to start [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. A while later, his mind had recovered. At the side, Li Ying Feng saw his state and hurriedly yelled, “Next one.”

Other than jingshi, Zuo Mo gained many other things. The requirements of each customer were different. The things he needed to process and make were different. On average, he would have to process around ten strange things each day. Some were ling grasses, some were ores, someone had even taken out a Snow Bear yao gallbladder.

Just ling grasses, he had processed no less than a few hundred types these few days. His experience had grown and it would be great help for him in dan-making. He celebrated making the decision before. If he was in the sect, he wouldn’t have seen so many ling grasses, much less the rarer specimens.

It was a pity that the Stalagmite fire was a cold fire, and could not process many things. Most of the materials he encountered were yin and cold.

“What? You can’t make it? If you can’t make it, why are you opening shop?” A man was holding a third-grade fire jade, swearing.

“I have a cold fire. It is not suited for fire and yang materials.” Zuo Mo said calmly.

“Damn, you wasted my time, you have to pay me for my losses… …”

The other’s voice suddenly stopped. He looked at Zuo Mo with a face full of terror, frozen to his spot, not daring to move.

Zuo Mo serenely took back his sword essence, “I’m sorry. Why don’t we both pardon each other?” It was not the first time something like this had happened. Zuo Mo was more experienced now.

The man didn’t say anything before leaving, crestfallen.

Time was important!

Zuo Mo could deeply feel the importance of time. An inch of light was an inch of gold, there was nothing more true than this!

Fragrant Fall leaves, Lotus Texture branch, Lapis Lapuzi Light stone, Eternal River stone… …

After a whole day, Zuo Mo worked until his mind was numb. He finally couldn’t persist anymore, yelling, “Everyone, come tomorrow.”

According to the line, Li Ying Feng gave each person a wooden card carved with a number. The lineup tomorrow would start according to the number on the card. Zuo Mo released a breath. He really made a profit today. A gigantic order worth two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, it was a whole day worth of work.

As usual, he gave Li Ying Feng a third-grade jingshi. This was for the sect since he was borrowing the shop from the sect. After seven or eight days, he would be able to clear this enormous debt. That made him feel much better.

Just going to rest, Zuo Mo heard a call from behind him, “Shidi!”

Zuo Mo stopped in his steps. Turning, he saw Wei Sheng Shixiong standing outside the doorway to the store.

“Shixiong!” Zuo Mo happily ran out. Wei Sheng seemed a totally different person than when he had bid farewell last time. Even though he was still wearing a short worn tunic like before, but the sharp sword essence that swarmed restlessly around his body last time had completely disappeared. Wei Sheng Shixiong’s appearance was average in the first place. With this attire, he didn’t have any presence. His entire person seemed like an extremely normal low-level xiuzhe.

From this, it could be seen that Wei Sheng Shixiong’s cultivation had increased greatly!

Very quickly, Zuo Mo became even more shocked. Wei Sheng Shixiong had broken through to ningmai! His consciousness was extremely sensitive and he had fought with Chang Heng who had been on the verge of ningmai, causing him to instantly detect it.

How… … how was this possible?

When Shixiong had gone into the sword cave, now he had successfully entered ningmai!

Zuo Mo had thought that his own progression could be considered monstrous and that had been because Pu Yao was there. But Shixiong, when Zuo Mo had gone to the sword cave with Pu Yao before, he hadn’t found anything special about it.

Shixiong was a true genius!

Zuo Mo had heard all kinds of praises these days and became alert now. He only had happiness in his heart. He felt that Shixiong’s achievement was extremely natural. If a person like Shixiong was buried and unknown, then it would be strange.

“When did Shixiong come out?” Zuo Mo asked dumbly. He suddenly thought of something, “Shixiong, I entered zhuji!”

Li Ying Feng heard the noise and ran out. Seeing Wei Sheng, a happy expression came onto her face, “Shixiong!”

Wei Sheng first greeted Li Ying Feng before his eyes landed on Zuo Mo and forthrightly laughed, “Let’s go drink! Us brothers will drink until we are drunk!”

The night was like water, dots of starlight scattering.

Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo were sitting on the rooftop, the wind blowing as they gulped down alcohol.

“This isn’t bad! Where did Shidi get this?” Wei Sheng could help but take a few more mouthfuls.

Zuo Mo was already slightly tipsy, “He he, this is Wang Shao’s alcohol. Wang Shao wanted to buy Golden Crow pills. Since Shixiong came, how can there be no alcohol? I went to get some from him.”

“Ha ha! This is nice, nice!” Wei Sheng leaned back and swallowed.

In the yard underneath, Li Ying Feng kept on shaking her head. Wei Sheng Shixiong who was usually so calm, and Zuo Mo Shidi who usually was so wooden and indifferent, once they drank alcohol, they seemed to be completely different people.

“Shixiong managed to be in time for the sword test conference. There’s so many people this year. I saw many strong people these days.” Zuo Mo slanted his eyes and drunkenly said, “However, Shixiong needs to beat them all, beat them into the ground!”

Looking at the charmingly pleasant Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng roared with laughter, “Yes! Beat all of them!”

Zuo Mo snickered and swallowed some more alcohol. Holding the jar, he suddenly became silent.

Detecting Zuo Mo’s abnormality, Wei Sheng asked concernedly, “Shidi has something on your mind?”

“Shixiong, what do you think people live for?” Zuo Mo asked after a beat.

“What do people live for?” Wei Sheng automatically straightened his spine, his eyes looking into the distance, “I do not know what other people live for. My thoughts are very simple. I want to see what this sword, when it reaches the extreme, looks like.”

“Sword at the extreme?” Zuo Mo muttered. His eyes also looked into the distance. Sitting on the rooftop, they could see the night scenery of Dong Fu, the distant lights, and the barely perceptible calls. He shook his head, “Before, I wanted to live better so I studied ling farming. But now, I want to become strong.”

“Become strong?” Wei Sheng turned his head and said in surprise, “Why?”

There was bitterness in Zuo Mo’s voice, “To find what I have lost and cannot forget.” He didn’t tell Shixiong that his features had been changed and his mind erased. If Shixiong knew, he would be furious. There was no need to make Shixiong also unhappy over his own personal matters.

Wei Sheng comforted him, “Don’t rush, Shidi. You will eventually remember your past.” Everyone in Wu Kong Sword Sect knew that Zuo Mo had amnesia. Wei Sheng assumed that Zuo Mo was depressed over that today.

“Ha ha. Yes, what would come will always come! Today, it is the reunion of us brothers. I really shouldn’t say such depressing things! Let’s keep drinking!” Zuo Mo raised the alcohol jar and swallowed.

“Haha!” Wei Sheng also gave a wide smile and raise the alcohol jar, “Drink!”

Chapter 108: Two Paths

Wei Sheng Shixiong left Dong Fu early in the morning.

Zuo Mo resumed his furious life of making jingshi.

“It really exceeded my expectations. You actually managed to repay all of it in such a short amount of time.” Pu Yao said with slight regret.

Zuo Mo felt his entire body was light. The enormous debt had given him great pressure these past days. He asked about another problem, “Pu, has there been any new developments about storing ling power?”

Pu Yao shrugged, “Nope.”

The rate that Zuo Mo absorbed ling energy was multiple times after than before, but strangely, if the ling energy that was absorbed was not quickly used, they would gradually dissipate, and could not be stored inside. For any xiuzhe, the amount of ling power represented their cultivation. If they didn’t have ling power, basically, they could not cast more than seventy percent of all spells. The higher the spell, the more ling power it required.

He was very suspicious it was caused by the mo matrix that Pu Yao had carved into his body. He could clearly feel the difference of progression in his cultivation after the mo matrix was carved. He was extremely worried.

“Pu Yao, if I cannot store ling power, it’s hard for my cultivation to increase. If my cultivation cannot increase… …” He wanted Pu Yao to recognize that this was a serious problem.

Pu Yao was unconcerned, “What does that have to do with me? I delivered the product.”

“You renyao!” Zuo Mo instantly exploded due to Pu Yao’s terrible attitude and started swearing, “Lying to me about this mo matrix and yao seed. Now, you put out this disgusting demeanor of not caring! In the future, don’t think about getting one piece of jingshi from ye!”

“I can take it myself.” Pu Yao was not angry and giggled.

Zuo Mo smiled angrily, “From today, ye won’t take one jingshi, only items, jade scrolls! Go take it! Ye will see where you take it from!”

“Oh.” Pu Yao rubbed his chin as he talked to himself, “That is a problem.”

Zuo Mo smiled coldly as he looked at Pu Yao, wanting to chop this androgynous guy into meat dross! This dross! False profit! Greedy, dishonest, amoral, evil pervert!

Pu Yao innocently spread his hands, “I hadn’t thought this would happen either. Things like formations, they are too complex for us yaomo. However, there isn’t anything that cannot be solved in this world. I can help give you ideas. Hee hee, it can be free this time!”

Zuo Mo suppressed the impulse to tear apart this guy, asking, “Keep going.”

“Look, since the growth of your ling power is slow now, you can work from two different areas.” Pu Yao’s thin lips bent into a curve, “One is to work at the root. Your body is like a complete formation. If one attribute has changed, then it is definitely that a part of the formation has changed. You only need to find the cause of the change to be able to correct the formation and the cause will be resolved easily.”

“How can I find it?” Zuo Mo had to admit that what Pu Yao said was very reasonable.

“I can’t help you there. In any case, you have to work through seal formations. You xiuzhe are much better than us yaomo at formations.” Pu Yao said, shaking his head.

After all this, he just spoke useless words! The rage inside suddenly shot up!

“Rather than wasting your time complaining about things that have already happened, it would be better to start studying early.” Pu Yao snickered.

These words instantly extinguished Zuo Mo’s rage. Pu Yao was right. Since it was like this already, then complaining about something that had already happened was just wasting time. He raised his head, “And the other area?”

“Oh, that one’s much easier. Since your cultivation is growing slowly now, why don’t you increase your control over ling power?” Smugness flashed through Pu Yao’s eyes, “If you can precisely control every strand of ling power, the same amount of ling power, you can use it to cast more spells. Don’t envy other people for having more jingshi, you just have to use each jingshi on the edge of the blade.”

“Precise control?” Zuo Mo instantly understood. When he had been in lianqi, this had been a question that he would frequently ponder because he needed to cast [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] for many ling fields. Just like Pu Yao had said, he needed to use every single drop of ling power effectively. However, after he entered zhuji, his life had quickly become wealthy and he had gradually lost sight of this problem.

“Right! Like the processing and purification you have done these days. You need to be sparse in using ling power. Something that can be done with one strand of ling power, you should not use two. When you can precisely control every strand of ling power, you will find that you only need a tiny bit of ling power to cast a spell that you used to need lots of ling power to do.” Pu Yao added, “Most wealthy tycoons, when they started, they were like this too.”

The previous length of words, Zuo Mo had uncontrollably been enhancedenchanged. Pu Yao’s figure suddenly seemed much larger. But with the words he added after, he instantly shrunk back.

Puh! This scum!

As the victim, Zuo Mo was seething with righteous fury. His mind, however, kept on pondering what Pu Yao had said.

Li Ying Feng found that Zuo Mo Shidi’s situation these past days was not normal. The speed he worked clearly had slowed down, and after each job, he would sit there in a daze. He was like a completely different person than before. Was it that he had made enough jingshi? She couldn’t help but think. Shidi should take a rest. These few days, no one was clearer than her just how much jingshi Shidi had earned.

Even now, she almost couldn’t believe that this wooden and cold Shidi had such a terrifying ability to make jingshi. The jingshi he had made by himself was worth five months of the gross income for the store she was managing. This was an extremely shocking number. If Shidi was in ningmai, she wouldn’t find it so strange. But he was only zhuji. She had never heard of a zhuji disciple that could earn so much.

Maybe, Shidi was a genius too.

Very quickly, her thought seemed to have been proven. Shidi still took business, but he did not accept jingshi, only jade scrolls for payment. However, what she found strange was that Shidi seemed like any other jade scroll collector, accepting all kinds of jade scrolls, as long as he had never seen it before. After observing for a few days, she found that the jade scrolls that Shidi liked best were formations.

Shidi was really smart! She praised silently. Their sect was a sword xiu sect. The most they had were sword scriptures, and the rest were pitifully little. With Shidi’s intelligence, he was suited for studying formations. It would be of great benefit to his dan-making in the future. She had a feeling that Fourth Shigu may not be able to teach Zuo Mo Shidi anything in the future. At Zuo Mo Shidi’s age, Fourth Shigu wasn’t this strong!

Formations was necessary knowledge for all cultivators. It was the most basic of all basics. Dan-making, forging, jinzhi, all of them were connected to formations. This was something everyone knew, but even if they knew, if they didn’t have the conditions, they could not learn it. Wu Kong Sword Sect was not some rich sect. Where would they get the wealth to collect these jade scrolls?

She suddenly felt it a bit pitiful. If Shidi was in a large sect, he might be even stronger!

“Sky Fragrance liquid. This is the limit of what I can process it.” Zuo Mo tiredly handed a small jade bottle to the customer.

The customer hurriedly took it. Taking out the cork, a expression of joy made its way onto his face, and he praised, “Master Zuo’s spell is really amazing! Spectacular!” He carefully put the jade bottle away and then bid farewell before rushing away.

Zuo Mo did not stand, but took out the jade scroll that he had just received. He couldn’t help but feel slightly uplifted.

To process that sky fragrance liquid, he had really done everything he could to barely process it and received this jade scroll in payment. He did not know which sect had passed down this jade scroll. It seemed quite old. There were three formations inside, all of them extremely special.

Pu Yao came out. He was extremely dissatisfied with Zuo Mo’s recent actions,“ I told you two paths. You aren’t following the rules!”

“Really?” To have tripped Pu Yao up, Zuo Mo felt extremely good. He slowly put the jade scroll away and glanced at Pu Yao, saying, “Did we have an agreement? I am going according to what you pointed out! You told me to study formations, but you don’t have any formations jade scrolls. So I have to get them myself!”

Pu Yao paused. He finally remembered that they really didn’t have an agreement last time. He suddenly raised his head to smile, “Right, right, hee hee… …”

Looking at Pu Yao’s dark smile, a cold feeling rose in Zuo Mo’s heart.

Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid! To get one over this renyao, it’s worth it even if ge will suffer a bit! Zuo Mo hurriedly comforted himself.

After Pu Yao disappeared, Zuo Mo quickly sank back into his work.

In this period of time, his control of ling power had increased quickly. After Pu Yao pointed out the problem, he started to pay attention to his technique in this area, becoming even more “miserly” in using ling power to process materials. However, even though he progressed quickly, he was still unsatisfied. It was still hard to avoid wasting ling power in unnecessary places.

He quickly found the crux of the problem. To be able to perfectly use ling power, it was impossible to achieve it just by relying on the precision of using ling power. It also required having a deep understanding of the formations used. Only when the two were both present would the use of ling power be most efficient.

Because he only took jade scrolls in payment, Zuo Mo’s business received a bit of side-effects.

But the people who came to him were mostly zhuji xiuzhe of some skill. They usually would have one or two pretty good jade scrolls. Quickly, the customers knew that Zuo Mo preferred formation jade scrolls. They would try to pick one or two quality jade scrolls. Zuo Mo’s actions were not strange. The stronger the xiuzhe, especially xiuzhe in non-combat professions, when their skills grew, their need for jingshi would increasingly become smaller.

These kinds of skilled craftsmen, they usually would have many weird and strange demands. Demands like jade scrolls or rare materials were actually the most common.

Even though he took fewer jobs than before, but the number of jade scrolls that Zuo Mo possessed grew at an astonishing rate.

These jade scrolls came from all areas. The great majority were normal things, but there were a few of high quality. The jade scroll he had just received was one of those.

Suddenly, Li Ying Feng walked to Zuo Mo’s side with a weird expression and whispered a few words to him.

Chapter 109: Inky Black Lotus Seed

“Three ningmai xiuzhe have come.” Li Ying Feng’s words made Zuo Mo pause.

Three ningmai… …

Since Zuo Mo had started this business, it wasn’t that there wasn’t ningmai who had come. The hat-wearing person who needed the Cold Magnet cut last time should have been a ningmai. Zuo Mo loved it and hated it when ningmai came to him. What he loved was that the payment they could give was far higher than normal people. What he hated was the things they needed him to process would be of high difficulty. High difficulty meant high risk. If it failed, Zuo Mo could not afford to pay his debts. As to not paying? He didn’t even need to think about it. The other’s power was much higher than him. If a conflict happened, the one that would lose would be him.

Now three had come together!

“Hmph, a zhuji guy dare to posture in front of us! Provoke me, I’ll burn this place down!”

“Third Brother, don’t speak nonsense!”

The voices passed clearly from the door. Clearly, the three people were starting to be dissatisfied. Zuo Mo felt the start of a headache. He could only pass, “Please come in!”

The three people walked in. The one at the front was a red-robed male, striding confidently and projecting an aura of power. At his left was an eagle-nosed male, expression dark. It could be seen with a glance that he wasn’t an easy-going person. On the right of the red-robed male was a brawny man whose face was set in a snarl. His body was like a mountain of meat. When he came in, he started to look everywhere.

“Greetings to Master Zuo.” The red-robed leader had a slight smile as he saluted with folded hands to Zuo Mo in a bow.

“Greetings to the three Elders!” Zuo Mo didn’t dare to posture, standing and raising his folded hands to return the greeting. Seniority among xiuzhe was extremely complex and hard to manage so most of the time, everyone measured according to cultivation. Zuo Mo’s cultivation was one stage lower than the other, so he was naturally a junior.

The three seemed to be extremely satisfied with Zuo Mo’s attitude. Even the dark face of the eagle-nosed man relaxed slightly.

“Master Zuo is too courteous.” The red-robed male smiled, stating his purpose, “Coming here, it’s because we have something to ask.” Following, he took out a lotus seed that was entirely black. “This fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus seed has an extremely hard outer coat and cannot be cut open by flying sword. Coming this time, it’s asking Master Zuo to take off the outer coat. We have heard about Master Zuo’s rules and this jade scroll is a complete set of [Skyring Moon Sound Formation]. This formation is the finest among fourth-grade formations and has many special attributes. We heard that Master Zuo likes formations. This [Skyring Moon Sound Formation] will be payment.”

“But I’ll say the ugly first. If you ruin it, I won’t forgive you!” The snarling man rumbled.

“Third Brother, don’t speak nonsense!” The red-robed man reproached. He turned to say to Zuo Mo, “Master Zuo, don’t listen to him. You just have to focus on processing it.”

Looking at the three, Zuo Mo’s back had already been soaked in sweat at some unknown time. These three were all very powerful. Zuo Mo wouldn’t be a match for even one of them. The three of them together, he wouldn’t even have the chance to escape. Having climbed up from an outer sect disciple, he was very good at perception and knew that none of these three were good people. Don’t see that the red-robed man spoke so friendly, but if he really ruined the Inky Black Lotus seed, he definitely wouldn’t have a good ending.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was above other people. There was an energy of blood fiends surrounding the three. Even though it was not as terrifying as the blood fiends he saw in the sword cave, but they exuded an extremely faint viciousness. The three used some unknown method to disguise the energy of the blood fiends but how could they conceal it from Zuo Mo’s consciousness?

This business was not an easy one to take! This was Zuo Mo’s first response.

He shook his head, “My sincere apologies for having the three elders come here for nothing. This one is only in zhuji, and my fire seed is only second-grade. The fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus seed really is not in my abilities!” His words were sincere. He was not afraid that the three would inspect his cultivation and fire seed so he was extremely honest.

The red-robed man smiled slightly but did not speak. The eagle-nosed man beside him said darkly, “If you can process fourth-grade cold magnet, how come you cannot do a fourth-grade lotus seed?”

The snarling large man widened his bell-sized eyes, unreasonably stating, “I’m telling you, if you are working, you have to take it, if you are not working, you still have to take it! Otherwise, I’ll tear down your little shop!”

The red-robed male chuckled and presented the jade scroll on his hands to Zuo Mo, “Master Zuo, do not refuse yet. Take a look at the formation inside this jade scroll.” Finishing, he raised his head to look at Li Ying Feng who was behind Zuo Mo, saying warmly, “Miss, why don’t you put down the messenger seal in your sleeve? Let’s not have a disagreement.”

Zuo Mo silently thought the other was good. The three, with just a few words, used all kinds of attacks. He instantly could not bear it anymore. Motioning for Li Ying Feng not to be impulsive, he bore the pressure to say, “Elder might have had mistaken information. This one had once taken a job of fourth-grade Cold Magnet, but it was only cutting, not processing.”

The red-robed man’s face became slightly dark, saying discontentedly, “Is Master Zuo not giving face?”

Zuo Mo instantly felt his body freeze, as though he was constrained by something, unable to move. At the side, Li Ying Feng’s face was bloodless, staring in shock at the three.

“Fine! I’ll take it!” Zuo Mo saw the situation was worsening and could only grit his teeth and agree.

“Ha ha, Master Zuo is a smart person. Don’t worry, if you can successfully process it, this jade scroll, us three people won’t let Master Zuo make a loss.” The red-robed male laughed as though nothing had happened.

The pressure around Zuo Mo’s body instantly decreased. Looking at this red-robed male, his heart was cold. This person looked warm but, in reality, he was vicious. If he did not successfully process it today, he would have a very bad ending. Wu Kong Sword Sect was very far from here. If something really did happen, the shishu from the sect won’t get here in time.

He didn’t go to take the jade scroll, but took the Inky Black Lotus seed. He was not concerned with the jade scroll anymore. It would be lucky if he kept his little life this time.

A hint of approval made its way onto the red-robe male’s face. The three moved to one side. The eagle-nosed man glanced at Li Ying Feng, his warning implicit.

Zuo Mo did not waste words, and started to inspect this Inky Black Lotus seed.

The Inky Black Lotus seed was the fruit of the Inky Black Lotus flower after it bloomed. Inky Black Lotus was an extremely uncommon ling grass. It usually grew in extremely evil places, like the miasma filled bogs. After accumulating and absorbing all kinds of poisons over time, its leaves were a rotten white, and the flower was as black as ink. The most valuable was the Inky Black Lotus seed it produced.

The Inky Black Lotus would absorb all kinds of poisons that would mix inside its body and produce a new kind of poison. When the lotus produced its seed, all the strong poisons inside its body would gather in this little Inky Black Lotus seed. The lotus seed would land in the peat and once again germinate and grow into a new lotus flower. It would continuously absorb the miasma and poison, forming a new Inky Black Lotus seed. The grade of the inky black seed was determined by the number of cycles it went through.

The Inky Black Lotus seed in front of him was fourth-grade. That meant that it had gone through four cycles of rebirth. That was extremely valuable and rare. The poison inside the lotus seed must be extremely strong!

Holding the Inky Black Lotus seed, Zuo Mo’s mouth became dry. This was the first time he was processing such a poisonous ling grass. It would be false to say he was not nervous. The outer coat of the Inky Black Lotus seed was extremely hard. It was also due to this coat which could not be easily broken by flying swords that the poison inside did not leak out. Otherwise, Zuo Mo’s fingers would quickly rot and die, the poison would quickly spread and, in a short period of time, he would turn into a pile of bones.

Even third-grade detoxification dan could not stop the toxins of the Inky Black Lotus seed. Also, Zuo Mo’s detoxification dan was only second-grade.

Li Ying Feng usually took care of the store and naturally had heard of the infamy of the Inky Black Lotus seed. Her face was pale, looking in nervousness at Zuo Mo. She had let go of the messenger seal inside her sleeve. The eagle-nosed male was staring at her all this time, not disguising the viciousness in his eyes. If she tried to rebel one bit, these people would most likely attack.

A criminal that had come out of nowhere! They dared to be so brash in Dong Fu!

Li Ying Feng gently bit her lips, full of worry as she looked at Zuo Mo Shidi. The Inky Black Lotus seed was far out of Zuo Mo Shidi’s abilities. Last time, he had struggled to cut the fourth-grade cold magnet. Processing was much harder than cutting. Even more so, it was an extremely poisonous item. If he was not careful, he would be infected by the poison and die. She noticed that sweat had soaked Shidi’s back and her heart reached her throat.

If Master was here… …

Her heart was extremely panicked. If Master could rush over, with his jindan cultivation, that would be more than enough to deal with three ningmai xiuzhe!

Zuo Mo had the same idea as Li Ying Feng. However, after delaying for a while, noticing the unfriendly glare of the snarling man, Zuo Mo knew he could not delay any longer.

Flipping his hand, the Stalagmite fire quickly wrapped around the Inky Black Lotus seed. The enmity in the three people’s eyes finally faded. They were slightly nervous as they stared at Zuo Mo, their feet unconsciously moving towards the doorway.

Zuo Mo knew that they were afraid of the poisonous nature of the Inky Black Lotus seed. The toxicity of a fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus seed was such that even though the three were ningmai, they could not easily deal with it. Zuo Mo also wanted to throw the Inky Black Lotus seed as far away as possible but the situation did not permit him to do so.

If he could not process this Inky Black Lotus seed today, he might… …

The milky white flame surrounded the Inky Black Lotus seed, like there was a black core inside the white fire. It looked slightly strange.

Zuo Mo steeled his heart, throwing away all his thoughts. He did not have an escape route and should not think of anything else.

He focused all his consciousness. His other hand took out five pieces of third-grade jingshi, creating a formation under his body.

The snarling man looked at the red-robed male. The red-robed male waved his hand. He recognized this formation. It was to replenish ling power for xiuzhe. Seeing Zuo Mo act as though he was facing a great enemy, and his movements were practice and smooth, an expectant expression uncontrollably came over his face.

Quickly putting down a five primary ling replenishing formation, Zuo Mo put down his left hand on his knees, his entire body relaxed, his eyes never wavering from the Stalagmite fire.

The milky-white flame, spreading a pressuring cold, surrounded a pure black lotus seed as it bounced quickly.

The sweat on his back dried up. After entering the mood, Zuo Mo was not nervous anymore. There was only one thought in his head. How to process this Inky Black Lotus seed?

He quickly made a decision because he did not have too many choices.

The only method he could think about right now.

— There was only the Four-Turn fire formation that he had just barely touched!

Chapter 110: Four-Turn Fire Formation!

Three-Turn fire formation, that was the formation Zuo Mo had used last time to cut the Cold Magnet.

He hated gossip very much right now. It had clearly just been cutting the Cold Magnet, but it had spread to becoming processing the Cold Magnet and caused a calamity for him. Zuo Mo grimaced inside. Without breaking into the stage of ningmai, to process rare materials like Cold Magnet and Inky Black Lotus seeds was like a delusion.

Even with the Three-Turn fire formation, he would not be able to process the fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus seed. He closed his eyes, carefully inspecting any change in the Inky Black Lotus seed inside the Stalagmite fire. He quickly was disappointed. Shrouded by the Stalagmite fire, there was nothing happening on the outer coat of the Inky Black Lotus seed.

Taking a deep breath, Zuo Mo’s fingers started to flick, smoothly flowing and creating countless afterimages.

For the first time, the red-robed male had a shocked expression. The public saw the spectacle, the experts the technique. This string of finger movements was not some complicated finger motions but it was extremely quick, reaching the stage of “Fingers Evolving Into Shadows”. The “Fingers Evolving Into Shadows” referred to the fact that fast fingers would create dense afterimages, which would be so dense that they would stop for a while in the air, but since the finger movements would not have stopped, before the old afterimages would disappear, new afterimages would form, creating a series of connected afterimages. This was “Fingers Evolving Into Shadows.”

Before reaching the stage of jindan, finger motions were an extremely useful technique. Everyone would know it but the skill would vary. Unless people cultivated the body, there wouldn’t be much of a difference in the strength, flexibility and power of the fingers. In other words, ningmai xiuzhe would have an advantage in terms of ling power but not in finger motions.

Unless there were specialized techniques for finger motions, the only way to increase skill was to keep practicing.

The cultivation of this zombie-like youth was extremely average but his finger movements were amazing.

Not just the red-robed male. The other two were also shocked. They exchanged a look, seeing the joy in each other’s eyes. Just this string of finger movements was enough for their confidence in Zuo Mo to increase.

Zuo Mo’s mind was blank, his concentration completely gathered. In his eyes, there was only that milky-white Stalagmite fire, and the Inky Black Lotus seed inside the fire.

His fingers became faster. Hiss, it was like an invisible hand had pushed the spitting Stalagmite fire, a string of white fire flying out of the Stalagmite fire. The Stalagmite fire was like a ball of thread and this fire thread was the beginning of the thread. White thread was continuously pull out of the fire.

The white fire thread continued to grow longer, the other end always connected to the Stalagmite fire. The fire thread started to dance around the Inky Black Lotus seed.

The ball of Stalagmite fire quickly became smaller. When the last bit of flame turned to become part of the fire thread, the Inky Black Lotus seed was exposed to the air. The white thread of fire was like a nimble white snake, swimming around the Inky Black Lotus seed floating in the air.

Zuo Mo’s finger movements suddenly changed. It had been lightning fast before. Now it was as though weights had been ties to his fingers, extremely slow and heavy.

The white fire thread broke in the middle, creating two threads. The two threads of fire were like two little white snakes, swimming around the Inky Black Lotus seed. The speed at which the two fire threads moved was twice as fast as before. Strangely, the two fire threads created two intersecting circles but would never touch each other.

One-Turn fire-formation!

The Inky Black Lotus seed inside the fire formation was like a rock, with no signs of movement.

There was no change in Zuo Mo’s eyes. His ten fingers continued to change.

Two divided into four! Four threads of fire that were smaller than before formed for even smaller criss-crossing fire rings.

Two-Turn fire formation!

The Inky Black Lotus seed was slightly vibrating.

Zuo Mo nervously stared at the Inky Black Lotus seed in the middle of the fire formation, not daring to slip up the tiniest bit. He was not surprised at the situation in front of him.

The change in his finger movements became even slower. Opposite that, the speed that the ling power circuited through his body sped up.

Eight threads of fire circled around the Inky Black Lotus seed at astonishing speed, creating a white cage of fire.

Three-Turn fire formation.

Compared to the previous time that he cut the Cold Magnet, Zuo Mo’s control of the Three-Turn fire formation was much better than before. After listening to Pu Yao’s advice, Zuo Mo had started to consciously practice his control of ling power. Since he had many opportunities to practice everyday, he had progressed quickly. The Three-Turn fire formation that he had struggled with so much previously was now controlled with ease.

Inside the fire formation, the Inky Black Lotus seed was trembling fiercely as though it would jump out of the fire formation at any second!

All the people were holding their breath as they stared with serious expressions at the white cage of fire suspended in the air. They all knew what was happening next was the most important step. The coldness of the fire formation had reached an astonishing depth. Eight times the usual temperature of the Stalagmite fire! Cold fire was cold, hot fires were hot, but as long as they were fire, they all had one attribute “melt”! The melting ability of cold fires would increase the colder it became, the melting ability of the hot fires would become stronger the higher the temperature.

The Three-Turn fire formation cause the coldness of the Stalagmite fire to be eight times its usual, and its melting ability had also increased by eight times!

Under the eight-times melting ability, the previously unaffected Inky Black Lotus seed finally had a slight change. Small pits started to form on its coat. This was a sign that it was finally melting but if it was only at this intensity, to process this Inky Black Lotus seed, it would take years.

Using the yao seed, Zuo Mo’s consciousness was extremely cooperative. No one noticed that his body was soft and relaxed as it never had been before. The more relaxed the body, the better the effect of the mo matrix, and the faster the rate that ling power would be absorbed.

The effect of Zuo Mo controlling his ling power in the recent period of time was extremely evident. Forming the Three-Turn fire formation only took half of his ling power. Feeling the ling power coming from the ling replenishing formation, Zuo Mo released a small breath. He had never worked at the same time that he was using a ling replenishing formation. Based on what he saw, the situation was good.

There was a certain level of impurities in the ling power of the jingshi. This was not a problem for Zuo Mo. The mo matrix could automatically filter out the impurities from the ling power. The ling power passed on from the ling replenishing formation was a steady flow. The ling power inside Zuo Mo’s body quickly increased.

He closed his eyes, maintaining the Three-Turn fire formation, motionless as he waited for his ling power to be replenished to capacity. In the few times he had attempted the Four-Turn fire formation, the use of ling power was astonishing.

The red-robed male and his compatriots couldn’t help but be nervous at this time as well. They could naturally see that Zuo Mo was biding his time and gather his energy. It was like the calm before the storm. The calmer it got, the more suffocating it became.

The instant that the ling power in his body reached its maximum, Zuo Mo opened his eyes.

It was like there was a thousand catty weight on his fingers as they slowly moved! His weak shoulders shuddered in effort but the slowly moving fingers were strangely steady.

Everyone felt the white light brighten!

The cage of fire became even more dense like a white cocoon of fire! Sixteen threads of fire, with speeds almost undetectable by the naked eye, circled quickly around the Inky Black Lotus seed.

Four-Turn fire formation!

The ling power in Zuo Mo’s body furiously was used up. Just forming the Four-Turn fire formation, the full ling power had almost became empty. He couldn’t attend to anything else but furiously start to suck in the ling power from the ling replenishing formation. Large amounts of ling power started to stream towards Zuo Mo. He was like a thirsty traveller in the desert, greedily sucking every drop of ling power.

Under the power of melting multiplied by sixteen, the hard coat of the Inky Black Lotus seed finally started to melt!

All of Zuo Mo’s consciousness started to furiously move. Sixteen times the melting power. That required that he needed to be extremely precise with his ling power. Any slack in precision, once it was multiplied by sixteen, could cause the fire formation to collapse!

The three males and Li Ying Feng was so nervous they did not dare to breathe. Inside the store, there was a suffocating silence. These was no sound from the Four-Turn formation but the white fire cocoon would occasionally tremble lightly. Each tremble would cause the four people’s hearts to tremble. They knew that the tremble was Zuo Mo having problems controlling the Four-Turn fire formation and could not make it do as he wished easily.

No one could spare the attention to this point at the moment.

On their faces, other than nervousness, there was only shock! Deep shock!

A xiuzhe in the stage of zhuji was actually able to start a Four-Turn fire formation. If it spread out, it would shake all of Dong Fu, no, all of Sky Moon Jie! It was basically hard for a zhuji to complete a Three-Turn fire formation. A Four-Turn fire formation, that was basically impossible to complete.

But this extremely average-looking youth could actually form a Four-Turn fire formation. Looking at the dense white cocoon of fire, it was undoubtedly a Four-Turn fire formation!

They had come when they had heard the news of the Cold Magnet with an attitude to try. Truthfully, when they had saw Zuo Mo was only in zhuji, they had been very disappointed and still had a last hope to try, since ruining a fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus seed was not an easy thing to do! When Zuo Mo had taken this job in the end, they had wondered what method Zuo Mo would use, but no matter what, they had never thought that Zuo Mo would choose the Four-Turn fire formation!

Four-Turn was not a secret formation. It was extremely common. Many people understood it. Even if they understood, there were very few that could use it. The higher the level, the more the required control over ling power and cultivation would multiply.

This kind of increase could only be broken by increases in cultivation stages! To use the Three-Turn fire formation as an example, if some zhuji xiuzhe occasionally managed to complete it, then they definitely could not complete a Four-Turn fire formation. That was because the requirement it had for control of ling power and cultivation was double what a Three-Turn fire formation demanded. Only after breaking through to the stage of ningmai would a person fulfill the requirements.

Yet, something that they assumed could not happen was happening right in front of them.

The white fire cocoon occasionally trembled and became unsteady but it definitely was a Four-Turn fire formation!

The three’s eyes as they looked at Zuo Mo was like looking at a monster.

Zuo Mo did not know it. Right now, he did not have a bit of attention to spare for anything. His world was only this formation!

The little pits on the surface of the Inky Black Lotus seed started to grow larger and deeper, revealing the lotus seed underneath.

At this time, Zuo Mo did not dare to slack off even more. This was a glowing and adorable lotus seed, such a beautiful and tempting thing, but it contained terrifying poison. Just touching the tiniest bit, he would die.

Suppressing the terror inside, he tried to steady his ling power. He didn’t dare to think of the consequences of the smallest mistake right now.

Seeing the glowing and tender lotus seed, the three people back up even more, their expressions filled with wariness and terror.

The dangers of the Inky Black Lotus seed was infamous!

Chapter 111: For Tasty Food

The ling replenishing formation made from five pieces of third-grade jingshi continuously supplied ling power but the ling energy in Zuo Mo’s body dropped quickly. The rate of replenishment clearly could not keep up with the speed of use. There was more than one way to form a ling replenishing formation, but the five element ling replenishing formation was the best he could make.

The ling power entered furiously, and the channels felt a tearing pain. The ling power that had just entered the channels would be emptied out at double the rate. What followed was a strong feeling of weakness. Tearing and weakness interchanging, even though the mo matrix had been strengthening his channel, Zuo Mo was almost driven crazy.

He knew he could not go crazy, he could not even move a bit. Any tiny movement could cause the fragile Four-Turn fire formation to collapse.

At that time, the glowing and tender lotus seed would lose all its restrains. A colorless and invisible poison would not let go of any person in the room. As the person closest, he naturally would not be immune.

Gritting his teeth, a flow of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth silently.

Zuo Mo did not detect it. His eyes were widened round as he fixed on the fire cocoon, and the glowing lotus that was revealing its true appearance inside!

A light cocoon made up from the criss-cross of sixteen threads of fire. They released an extremely cold energy, suppressing the toxins of the lotus seed, not letting them escape. As the coat on the lotus seed decreased, the three males on the side became even more nervous and their breathing sped up.

Poof!

The five pieces of jingshi that made up the five elements ling replenishing formation simultaneously turned to five blooms of dust! Everyone’s expression changed. Had it failed?

Amid the stone dust, Zuo Mo gave a shout with all his strength, “Argh!”

The moment the fire cocon disappeared, the glowing and tender lotus seed accurately landed into the jade bottle that had appeared at some unknown time in his left hand, his right hand lightning fast as he plugged the top.

The mist of dust faded, revealing the sorry figure of Zuo Mo. His hair, face, and body were covered by stone dust. The stream of blood from his mouth, mixed with the stone dust, looked extremely frightening.

“Success.”

Zuo Mo’s right hand put the jade bottle on the ground in front of him. His voice was raspy and thin, revealing just how weak he was!

The red-robed male reached out with a hand and the jade bottle flew to him. After inspecting inside, glee made its way onto his face. He quickly adjusted his expression, first bowing to Zuo Mo, “Master Zuo is really skilled!” Finishing, he put the jade scroll in front of Zuo Mo. He thought for a second, and then tilted his head to look at the eagle-nosed male, “Do you have the [Gold Forging Chapter Remnant] from last time?”

The eagle-nosed male nodded, “Yes.” Finishing, he took out a jade scroll from the hundred treasures pouch at his waist, passing it to the red-robed male.

The red-robed male also put the [Gold Forging Chapter Remnant] in front of Zuo Mo, voice sincere as he said, “The discourtesy before, I ask Master Zuo to be generous and forgive us. Us brothers had accidentally came into possession of this jade scroll and it will be our apology! In the future, if we have to trouble Master Zuo, please help us!”

This person was skilled!

Zuo Mo thought. The other had made a beautiful move. Even though he had anger inside, but just hearing the name of the jade scroll, Zuo Mo knew he could not resist it. He could only grimace, “As long as it’s not so dangerous as today.”

“Ha ha! Master Zuo is joking. This time, it really was us that was brash! But if we were not so, we would not have seen Master Zuo’s astonishing skills!” The red-robed male laughed forthrightly. Finishing, he raised his hands in a bow to bid farewell, “Have a good rest, Master Zuo! We won’t disturb you any longer!”

After the three left, Zuo Mo finally took a breath at the departure of the calamity. The left hand that was hidden in the sleeve released the seal soldier.

This time, he really had enormous damage!

However, looking at the two jade scrolls in front of him, he felt that it was not for nothing. Li Ying Feng, who was frightened to death, hurriedly took out a pile of lingdan, urging Zuo Mo to go back to Wu Kong Mountain. This business was too dangerous.

The second day, when Li Ying Feng saw Zuo Mo, who had been on his last breath yesterday, was jumping around like usual, she was dumbstruck.

Shidi looked so weak. Was he just weak on the outside, strong on the inside?

The internal injuries were much better than Zuo Mo had thought. The mo matrix on his body greatly aided his recovery. He had assumed that he needed to rest for half a month, and had not expected that he would be more than half healed by the second day. Of course, he was still a few days away from complete recovery.

Before recovering to his best, he decided to return to the mountain. The tempers of those ningmai xiuzhe were not very good. If another ningmai came to the door, it would be terrible.

———

Riding Silly Bird, Zuo Mo quickly returned to his little yard.

Back at Wu Kong Mountain, his heart finally landed. Wu Kong Mountain might be small, but no one dared to come to the mountain to make trouble when the sect leader and others were present. He still had a deep memory of the night that Wei Sheng Shixiong had entered zhuji and the one sword stroke of Xin Yan Shibo that had shocked countless people. A sect that had four jindan at the same time, there were not many of those in Dong Fu.

It was a pity that Wei Sheng Shixiong was not in the sect. He felt it was a pity.

Finally rid of his enormous debt, and having obtained a large number of jade scrolls, for him, this was a really leisurely time. As he recovered from his injuries, he studied the jade scrolls in his possession.

He had a variety of jade scrolls for all topics, but not many of them were high quality.

Actually, he did not lack for jade scrolls at the moment. All the jade scrolls in the sect were open for inner sect disciples. Zuo Mo could go see Master’s records room at any time. Just those jade scrolls, they would take up large amounts of Zuo Mo’s time. However, the only thing the sect lacked was the formation jade scrolls that Zuo Mo needed, so he had to use this method to collect formation jade scrolls. He had gathered many jade scrolls on formations, but they were very disconnected, and not systematic.

Zuo Mo was not a very picky person. Having so many jade scrolls to learn from, he was already very satisfied.

In the high quality jade scrolls, there was a sword scripture called [Blue Flower]. It was extremely fine, but too yin and soft, suited for females. It was useless in his hands, so Zuo Mo decided to give this sword scripture to Xiao Guo. Li Ying Feng Shijie was not practicing sword scriptures now, busy everyday with managing business.

But when Zuo Mo ran to the Eastern Peak, he found out that Xiao Guo had successfully entered zhuji, becoming an inner sect disciple, and also entered Shi Feng Rong’s branch.

He hadn’t thought the little girl would become his shimei.

When Zuo Mo found a mountain valley, seeing the apple shaped wooden sign with “Xiao Guo’s Home” written on it, he instantly smiled.

There were no jinzhi on Xiao Guo’s mountain valley. Zuo Mo easily walked in.

When Xiao Guo, who had been practicing her sword, saw Zuo Mo, she first paused and then had a happy expression. Following that, she timidly said, “Shixiong.”

“Hm, pretty good.” Zuo Mo praised. In reality, from what he saw, Xiao Guo’s sword scripture was full of holes, just a pretty appearance. He gave the [Blue Flower] sword scriptures to Xiao Guo, “Here, this is for you. You can study it.”

He asked a few more things and instantly understood. Master was still in seclusion, making dan, and had no time to teach her.

Seeing the sweat on the apple face, Zuo Mo felt he needed to fulfilled the duty of a shixiong and started to point things out. He had practiced sword scriptures for a long time. Even though he was not as skilled as Wei Sheng Shixiong but he had comprehended two types of sword essences, and his eyes were much better than people like Qin Cheng.

“Your basics are lacking too much.” When Zuo Mo said this, tears instantly flooded Xiao Guo’s eyes, but she managed to not cry.

“Oh, in the future, you can come to my valley to practice the sword. If I have time, I can look.” Zuo Mo’s next words made Xiao Guo smile.

In the Little West Wind Yard, Zuo Mo was sunbathing, eyes closed as he leisurely sat on the chair, swaying as he pondered the jade scroll he memorized in his mind. Not far away from him, Xiao Guo silently practiced the sword, her apple face covered in sweat. On the roof, Silly Bird stood proudly, occasionally using her blue beak to arrange her snowy white feathers.

Zuo Mo, having encountered a problem, had a bad mood, opened his eyes, and saw Silly Bird’s smug appearance. His mood instantly worsened. Picking up a stone from the floor, he flickered his hand to throw at Silly Bird.

“Show off!”

Silly Bird gave a shriek, hurriedly flapping her wings to dodge the pebble, eyes full of disdain towards Zuo Mo.

Xiao Guo was startled. When she saw Zuo Mo pointing and swearing at the blue beaked snow goose, her large eyes became crescents.

Noticing the mirth on Xiao Guo’s face, Zuo Mo gave a cough. He decided to fix the impression of Shixiong and paced along side to Xiao Guo.

“You cannot be distracted when practicing the sword. You have to concentrate to be able… …”

At the side, Xiao Guo wanted to laugh but did not dare, her expression instantly becoming strange. Zuo Mo did not notice. He shook his head, mimicking Pu Yao’s tone as he concluded, “What is more simple than sword scripture? If… … oh, if you practice a few thousand times, you’ll know it!”

Finishing, he waved his hand, “Keep practicing. I’m going for a walk.” He then stepped out of the West Wind Valley.

After Xiao Guo came everyday to Zuo Mo’s place to practice the sword, Zuo Mo’s meals quickly increased in quality. The meat soup simmered, the ling foods full of ling energy that increased Zuo Mo’s appetite. The only thing he felt irritating was that Silly Bird would partake as well each time. Especially when Silly Bird found it effective to pretend to be pitiful in front of Xiao Guo. Zuo Mo could not do anything about it.

“Tsk tsk, her taste certainly must be tender!” Walking out of the mountain valley, Pu Yao came out. He licked his lips, looking with some yearning at the interior of the valley.

Zuo Mo was used to the expression that Pu Yao had, “Hmph, there’s lots of people that want to exterminate yaomo on this mountain. If you aren’t afraid of death, go ahead!”

“They can’t find me.” Pu Yao was confident.

“You eat her, I don’t have anything to eat, so let’s both die.” Zuo Mo also licked his lips. Xiao Guo’s skills were really good.

“Hmph, won’t eat her. But you can’t keep me starving.” Pu Yao snorted, “I need souls!”

“Didn’t you say that the yin fiends in the sword cave need time to form?” Zuo Mo copied Pu Yao in shrugging his shoulders.

Pu Yao once again gave a yearning expression, “It should be about time today. Let’s go hunt a few, and satisfy my craving!”

Finishing, he did not wait for Zuo Mo to speak before throwing down a few jingshi. The light flashed and Zuo Mo disappeared.

Chapter 112: Yin Fiends

It was not the first time that Zuo Mo came to the sword cave, but every time that he came, he would sigh with awe. Who would have thought that inside a mountain cave, there would be such a wondrous world, a fantastical place completely different than the outside.

As Pu Yao entered the sword cave, he completely disregarded Zuo Mo, going off by himself to furiously absorb yin energy. Looking at Pu Yao’s intoxicated state, Zuo Mo felt that yao and people were really different.

It wasn’t easy to make a trip to the sword cave. Zuo Mo decided to make some more yin beads. One was that this thing was worth jingshi, the second was that it was needed to make yin fire beads. Even though he had not tested the power of the yin fire beads, but Zuo Mo was confident in its power. Something that was so difficult to make, it wouldn’t make sense if it didn’t have any power!

He found a place that had relatively denser yin energy and was not disturbed by Pu Yao before starting to form yin beads.

Ever since Pu Yao said that all spells were formations, Zuo Mo started to deliberately think in that direction. However, reality was always more complex than theory. Even the simplest spell would have many changes. If the true nature of a spell was really formations, then the difficulty of finding the formation within such numerous and complex changes would be unthinkable.

He quickly sunk into the world of exploration. His hands moved erratically, sometimes slow, then fast, without any rhyme or reason. There still was not any expression on his face, his eyes dazed and absent as though his mind was wandering.

The yin energy gathered around his hands would suddenly gather and then spread out, or occasionally collapse. He seemed to not have detected it, his ten fingers continuously changing like he was bespelled.

Pu Yao opened his eyes, and noticed Zuo Mo’s state. The yin energy that was frantically flooding towards his body suddenly paused. He closed his eyes again, the yin energy in the surroundings moving at even faster speeds towards him.

The movements on Zuo Mo’s hands slowly started to become ordered. The speed that the yin energy moved towards his hands started to increase and a yin bead started to form. When the yin bead on his hand was fully created, Zuo Mo’s soul came back into his body. He put the yin bead he had just made in front of his eyes, and couldn’t help but be disappointed. The yin bead he had made did not seem different than the yin beads he had made before. The only difference was that he was the tiniest bit faster this time.

It was extremely minuscule. If Zuo Mo hadn’t paid close attention, he wouldn’t have felt anything. Even though it was an insignificant progress, but it was great motivation for Zuo Mo. He was slightly disappointed but he knew that for him, studying formations was very difficult for him. At least, this meant that he was working in the right direction. As long as his direction was not wrong, if he slowly walked down this road, he would definitely improve,

He had just did an extremely daring but tiny adjustment. It was this adjustment that he didn’t even understand himself that had just slightly shortened the time it took for the yin bead to form.

Maybe when my skill at formations is higher, it wouldn’t be so difficult, Zuo Mo comforted himself.

After this, he didn’t spend time on experimenting but focused on forming yin beads. In one go, he made thirty yin beads before he stopped.

Full of yin energy, Pu Yao’s complexion seemed to be glowing, and he looked extremely satisfied. He floated next to Zuo Mo, “Go hunt a few yin fiends!”

He looked like an extremely greedy child wanting to eat meat.

“You can go hunt yourself.” Zuo Mo asked, slightly puzzled. Pu Yao was much stronger than he was. There was not any reason that he was asking for help.

Pu Yao twisted his mouth and said slightly helplessly, “If I do it, the taste of the yin fiends won’t be good.”

“Really?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe it.

Pu Yao shrugged his shoulders, not explaining.

Zuo Mo pondered it. It was better not to offend this renyao too much. He was extremely clear how much Pu Yao yearned for souls. Hunting yin fiends was much better than him going out and killing people for their souls.

“Alright, but you know my strength.” Zuo Mo reminded Pu Yao.

Pu Yao was very excited, “It’s enough. This crappy place, how strong of a yin fiend can it produce? Tsk tsk, if we managed to get here before your shixiong came, there might be some good ones.”

“Why?” Zuo Mo asked in puzzlement.

Maybe it was that Zuo Mo was going to work, but Pu Yao did not show impatience this time, and explained in great detail, “Yin fiends mostly originate from places with dense yin energy. They are born of yin energy, and gradually attain a basic intelligence. After continuously absorbing the yin energy in the surroundings, their intelligence would continuously increase. When they become intelligent, they would naturally have the ability to cultivate, and would continuously purify and cultivate their body. Oh, some strong yin fiends, in the end, they can cultivate to become yao. Since they were yin fiends that cultivated into yao, since they have natural bodies of pure yin, they are very difficult to deal with.”

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Difficult to deal with, it was very hard to hear something like that from Pu Yao’s mouth.

Pu Yao continued, “However, yin fiends, since they are born of yin energy, they need a certain amount of time. Your shixiong just cleaned out this sword cave. He really is a monster. He didn’t leave even one behind! If it wasn’t that this sword cave has blood fiends and malicious energies, in addition to yin energy, yin fiends wouldn’t form this easily.” Then he said regretfully, “But the time is too short. There wouldn’t be anything good. Oh, life is so difficult!”

Zuo Mo felt strange at Pu Yao’s regret. He decided to remind Pu Yao, “Pu, you aren’t a person, you do not have life.”

The pun here is that life is人生 in Chinese which is literally “human(person) birth.” Pu Yao is a yao, not a human and so he does not have “life.”

One person and one yao started to travel into the depths of the sword cave.

The deeper they went, the denser the yin energy, and the more pleasure there was in Pu Yao’s expression. But landing in Zuo Mo’s eyes, it seemed very strange. As expected, yao and people were not the same. The deeper they went, the more Zuo Mo’s heart shook. The surrounding scenery became even darker and terrifying. Since Zuo Mo’s consciousness was now stronger, he felt it even more clearly. The coldness that made a person’s hair raise up was like countless little worms, burrowing into Zuo Mo’s body.

The blood fiends that flowed beside his feet were even more vibrant and sticky than the outside. Countless malicious thoughts were spread from it. Zuo Mo’s consciousness had to avoid these malicious thoughts. Thinking that he had almost used his fingers to touch these blood-like liquid, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel fear. Now that he could feel the power of the blood fiends, he found it was definitely something he could not touch presently.

“Where’s the yin fiend?” Zuo Mo’s voice was slightly trembling.

Pu Yao stopped and looked around. He suddenly pointed in one direction, and said excitedly, “There, one up ahead.” Finishing, he floated ahead. Pu Yao’s entire body was eternally floating in the air like a ghost.

Zuo Mo could only follow behind.

A ball of black mist was restlessly turning in the corner.

“This is the yin fiend?” Zuo Mo pointed at the black mist, and asked dumbly. He had heard Pu Yao speak of how terrifying it was, so he hadn’t thought it would be a ball of black mist that would look harmless.

“All yin fiends that just have formed are like this. It still hasn’t formed intelligence. When it has intelligence, the yin energy around it would solidify.” Pu Yao shrugged, “The shapes that yin fiends take the form of will vary, anything is possible. You won’t find it strange if you see more.”

“It would be best if I didn’t have to see any.” Zuo Mo uttered. Looking at the constantly changing black ball of mist, he instantly felt it hard to handle, “How do I hunt it?”

“Very simple. Just wound it.” Pu Yao’s eyes were bright, and he expectantly added, “Serious wound!”

Zuo Mo summoned out the Water Drop sword. The Water Drop sword had become even more glowing and soft like a water drop after being continuously nurtured in the ling spring. After motioning for a bit, he decided to attack!

[Flowing Water]!

In front of Zuo Mo, a semi-clear ripple quietly spread out. The Water Drop sword thrust straight into the yin fiend, its sharp point seemed to have thrusted into water. He could clearly feel the resistance coming from the tip of the sword.

Hiss!

The yin fiends suddenly started to move restlessly.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt his head hurt, like a needle piercing his mind. The Water Drop sword instantly became disorganized.

“This is the weakest of yin fiends. It only knows one move, consciousness stab. It is as weak as it gets.” Pu Yao mocked from the side, “Are you not able to even get this one down?”

Just at this time, a second consciousness stab came. Zuo Mo’s sword instantly became a mess.

His consciousness might have formed but how to use his consciousness was a problem he had always had a headache about. He had so much spiritual power, but he didn’t know how to use it, it really was a waste, to say nothing of using his consciousness to attack or defend.

It seemed like someone had forcefully pierced his head twice, his head instantly in throbbing pain.

But the attack of the yin fiend was invisible and intangible. When his consciousness detected it, the other’s attack would have arrived. He basically could not dodge it. Anything related to Pu Yao, it was never anything good, Zuo Mo wailed inside.

The yin fiend was relying on its instincts. It had been provoked by the Water Drop sword. Other than the consciousness stab, it was like an infuriated beast, leaping at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt the temperature of the surroundings dramatically increasing, the yin energy almost tangible as it surrounded him as though it wanted to burrow through his pores inside his body! Zuo Mo felt countless needle were pricking his body. He couldn’t help but howl.

“You’re really trashy. This kind of yin fiend, your crappy shixiong only needs one sword blow to defeat them.” Pu Yao mocked heartlessly from the side.

Zuo Mo didn’t have the attention to argue with Pu Yao now. The Water Drop sword came back to his hand. This time, he did not hesitate. Using all his ling power, he prepared to give a blow with all his power!

However, he was instantly frightened!

He suddenly lost control of the ling power inside his body! The black mist which tightly enclosed his body was like a sponge, furiously absorbing the ling power inside Zuo Mo’s body.

Why was it like this?

At this rate, his ling power would quickly be sucked dry by the yin fiend!

“Consuming ling . All yao know how to do it. Oh, this little yin fiend doesn’t count as a yao yet.” Pu Yao’s words really came at a good time, but it was full of disdain towards this yin fiend.

Zuo Mo heard Pu Yao’s words and his heart jumped. Consuming ling ! Based on the term, it would be consuming ling power. For some reason, he suddenly thought of [Vajra Profound Sutra]. At this time, he had no option but to instantly start channeling [Vajra Profound Sutra].

A golden light suddenly flashed inside the black mist. It was as though a layer of dark gold was layered on Zuo Mo’s entire body.

It had an effect!

Zuo Mo clearly felt the loss of ling power inside his body slow down. The dark golden skin was like a layer of protection, it could stop the loss of his ling power. Holding the Water Drop sword, Zuo Mo did not hesitate any longer, attacking with all his power!

[Layered Wave]!

The sword rose up, like the start of the tide. As it moved, the waves rose in layers, forming a raging wave!

Just at this time, the coldness that had gathered for a long time was like a landslide, erupting out, and crashing!

The pressure around Zuo Mo’s body instantly lessened. Holding the sword, with him as the center, there was a circle of light blue icicles.

Chapter 113: Formation Disks

“You’ve beaten it to this, how can I eat it?” Pu Yao said in dissatisfaction.

Zuo Mo panted, not having the energy to pay attention to him. After a while, his breaths evened. Thinking about the danger that had just passed, he suddenly erupted, “You damned renyao! Why didn’t you tell me before that yin fiends could attack?”

Pu Yao’s face was matter-of-fact, “I thought you knew. Such a simple thing, you should know that.”

Silly yao, you aren’t seeing the situation clearly! Zuo Mo smirked, “Such a simple thing, ge doesn’t want to lower myself to do it! You can do it yourself.” Finishing, he turned to leave.

Pu Yao was dumbstruck.

Silly yao! Fighting with ge, I’ll let you know how to die! Zuo Mo raged inside, his anger remaining.

“This is a misunderstanding.” Pu Yao caught up and said solemnly, “Actually, I wanted to teach you how to deal with yin fiends, but you know, this needs you to personally experience it so you have a better impression.”

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to him.

Pu Yao glanced at him, and kept on speaking, “Look, with your power, it doesn’t take much energy to destroy yin fiends that have just formed. But do you have any way of injuring them but not destroying them?”

Zuo Mo didn’t even blink an eyelid, “Why do I have to injure them but not destroy them?”

Pu Yao said sternly, “Oh, it is not right to think that way. For example, your master told you to capture a yao beast, alive. What will you do? You make medicine as well, and you should know that many yao beast material need alive beasts to be effective.”

Zuo Mo still didn’t pay attention to him.

“However, taking into account your present cultivation, it was pretty good that you managed to destroy it. But you cannot stay forever in Wu Kong Mountain, and Sky Moon Jie. Oh, you still have to go find your identity and history… …”

Zuo Mo’s steps stopped. He rudely interrupted Pu Yao, “Pu, what do you really want to say?”

Pu shrugged his shoulders, “I just want to teach you some methods of dealing with similar situations.”

“What methods?” Zuo Mo asked.

“There are many.” Pu Yao rubbed his chin, “But with your present power, the best methods is formations.”

Formations? Zuo Mo first paused and then some interest rose, “Formations, how to use formations? The enemy will let me set up a formation?”

Smugness rose in Pu Yao’s bloody pupil and then disappeared, “Your understanding of formations is still too shallow. I have seen strong xiuzhe. Their minds would just move and they could make a big formation. They have endless tricks. I once encountered a sword xiu. He had twelve flying swords, and he could set up a powerful formation in the blink of an eye, extremely strong.”

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed, “You’re just wasting your words.” Recently, he had been studying formations, but he had just started. He needed a lot of time to set up a slightly complex formation, much less using his mind to set up a large formation.

“It seems your basic knowledge is too weak.” Pu Yao was not gentle in mocking Zuo Mo. He continued, “There is something called formation disks in this world.”

“Formation disks?” Zuo Mo paused and then became joyous, “You know how to make formation disks?” Many of the formation jade scrolls he had gathered would mention the thing called “formation disks” but not one of the jade scrolls mentioned how to make formation disks. He had planned on searching in Dong Fu to see if he could buy a jade scroll about formation disks. However, after the incident with the Inky Black Lotus seed occurred, he didn’t have time to go search before he sneaked back to the mountain.

“I don’t have any interest in trash like formation disks.” Pu Yao’s words were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. Zuo Mo’s heart that had just heated slightly instantly cooled down.

He looked in extreme dissatisfaction at Pu Yao.

Pu Yao shrugged, “Even though I don’t understand, but I know where to find the instructions.”

“Where?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, I feel we need to make an agreement.” Pu Yao said slowly.

Zuo Mo first stilled and then understood what Pu Yao meant. He asked, “What agreement?”

“I’ll tell you where it is. You need to give me fifty yin fiends, alive.” Pu Yao’s bright red tongue licked his lips, extremely alluring.

“Ok.” Zuo Mo agreed without any hesitations.

“Hee hee, your sect’s records room has it.” Pu Yao smirked at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was speechless.

The records room of Wu Kong Sword Sect was open to all inner sect disciples and did not require any contribution points. When the sect leader had announced this, Zuo Mo had been suspicious that he had heard it wrong. He felt none of the elders were charitable people, so why would they announce such a strange rule?

However, Zuo Mo definitely approved of it. The only shortcoming was that the sect primarily focused on sword scriptures and had pitiful amounts of other jade scrolls. There were very few that were good ones. This was also why Zuo Mo hadn’t thought of the sect’s records room in the first place.

Zuo Mo suddenly stopped in his steps. He saw a familiar figure.

Luo Li Shixiong!

Wasn’t he in seclusion? Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. He looked a few more times. Luo Li Shixiong seemed engrossed in his reading, and hadn’t noticed his arrival at all.

Zuo Mo didn’t have any good feelings for Luo Li Shixiong. The conflict between the two of them basically could not be resolved. Zuo Mo didn’t want to have a conflict happen the in the records room so he lightened his steps and started searching in the records room.

He quickly found the jade scroll on formation disks and was overjoyed. Pu Yao hadn’t lied to him.

Holding the jade scroll, Zuo Mo quickly sunk into the world of the jade scroll, completely forgetting the passage of time.

Formation disks was putting already prepared formations inside a jade disk so that when it was needed, it could quickly be released. It was an extremely practical technique. The majority of formations could be made into formation disks for easy use. However, the power of formation disks was slightly weaker than the formations that were set up using talismans, so it was preferred by low level xiuzhe below jindan.

In all the xiuzhe, the ones skilled in using formation disks were roaming xiu. Zuo Mo found that he seemed to be extremely similar to roaming xiu. The spells that he had primarily focused on in the area of ling farming were also one of the areas roaming xiu were skilled in.

The difficulty of creating formation disks was directly related to the difficulty of the formation. It had to be said that Zuo Mo’s days which he spend in Dong Fu processing all kinds of materials had given him large amounts of experience. Under his attentive studying, he gradually learned how to make formation disks.

Before this, he studied formations because he wanted to increase his skill at forging and dan-making. He had never thought about using formations against enemies. Only when he started learning how to make formation disks did he find that formations could be used against enemies.

When he left the records room, the sky was already dark. Luo Li Shixiong had disappeared. Zuo Mo guessed that he had left.

Returning to the Little West Wind Yard, Xiao Guo had already left. Only Silly Bird was standing on the rooftop, untiringly preening her own feathers again and again.

Finding a jade board in the room, Zuo Mo gathered his mind to think and started to create his first formation disk.

He cut out a piece of jade that was palm-sized and the thickness of a finger. There was no need to wonder about the shape of the formation disk. Zuo Mo used the Water Drop sword to cut it into a rough circular shape. The important part was to seal the formation into the jade disk. What formation should he seal?

Since it was his first try, Zuo Mo decided to pick a formation of little difficulty – Three Talent Water formation.

The only purpose of this formation was to greatly increase the water content inside a certain area to increase the power of water element spells. There were many things that had to be taken care of when setting up a formation, and the most important one of them was the formation talisman. The formation talisman was just a talisman that could act as the intermediary for the formation.

Some xiuzhe would create some little flags and use them to make the formation. Others would make a beaded bracelet for the formation. The xiuzhe were different, and the formation talismans that could be used were endless and varied. However, if they were formation talismans, they would have some similarities, such as number.

The more powerful the formation, the more complex it usually was, and the more formation talismans was needed to create the formation.

However, to Zuo Mo, formation talismans was something he could only dream about. He didn’t have the power presently to create a good formation talisman. Thankfully, the Three Talent Water formation did not need any good materials. Zuo Mo just randomly found three pieces of first-grade Greenwood, cut it up to half a cun wide, and three cun long pieces, before starting to carve the formation on them.

Due to the formation itself being simple, three crude formation talismans were quickly completed.

Zuo Mo started to set up the Three Talent Water formation. The three pieces of Greenwood were placed in the positions of sky, earth, and person. Two jingshi were placed according to the positions of sun and moon. After setting it up, Zuo Mo started a spell.

A layer of misty water quickly covered the Little West Wind Yard. Silly Bird shrieked in shock from the roof, and hurriedly flapped her wings to fly into the sky.

At this time, Zuo Mo had taken out the jade disk he had prepared before, and cast a spell to seal the formation.

All the water and the Three Talent Water formation were completely taken into the jade disk. There was nothing left on the ground, and on the jade disk, there was a green water shaped sigil.

Zuo Mo found it extremely interesting. He quickly cast a spell for the formation disk. Light flashed across the surface of the formation disk, and a three talent water formation appeared on the ground again, continuously producing water. However, the rate of water that it produced in the air was slightly slower than before.

So interesting!

Zuo Mo, interested, started to make all kinds of formation disks. Even though it was the simplest materials, but he was extremely interested and toyed around gleefully.

He only stopped when all the ling power in his body was used up. He had about a dozen of all kinds of formation disks. Extremely exhausted, he collapsed into sleep. Moments later, his snores were like thunder.

———

Zuo Mo was called up by Xiao Guo.

“Shixiong.” Xiao Guo timidly called.

“Hm.” Zuo Mo barely managed to open his eyes and muttered indistinctly. It had been a time since he had such a good sleep.

“Sect Leader tells you to go to Wu Kong Hall.”

“Wu Kong Hall… … don’t bother me… …” Just having opened his eyes, Zuo Mo’s mind was still fuzzy. After a while, his mind focused and he instantly sat up, nervously asking Xiao Guo, “Where did you just say Sect Leader wanted me to go?”

“Sect Leader said for you to go to Wu Kong Hall… …” Xiao Guo timidly said.

Without another word, he jumped up, and rushed out of the West Wind Valley like a burst of wind.

She was joking!

If Sect Leader said for him to go to Wu Kong Hall, then that definitely meant he had something important to announce!

On the way there, he kept on pondering what important matter did the sect leader have to announce this time?

Chapter 114: Sword Test Conference?

When Zuo Mo hurried to Wu Kong Hall, he was surprised to find Luo Li Shixiong was also there. He bowed to the sect leader seated at the front before standing to one side. Scanning the surroundings, he saw the other shibo and Master had not come. There was only the three of them in Wu Kong Hall.

“Luo Li, Zuo Mo, you two need to prepare. One month later, you and your Wei Sheng Shixiong will represent our sect at Dong Fu Sword Test Conference. You have to cultivate well, and not slack off.” The sect leader concisely announced this news.

The status of Wei Sheng as Eldest Shixiong had become unshakable after he came out of the sword cave. Supposedly, the sect leader had announced it on the spot.

Luo Li did not say a word, just bowed.

Zuo Mo, who did not have any mental preparations, was dumb on his spot. Sword Test Conference? He was going to attend the Sword Test Conference?

After a while, he regained his focus and said, panicked, “Sect leader, this… … isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”

“How is it inappropriate?” Pei Yuan Ran hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would say it was inappropriate.

Seeing the sect leader’s gaze land on him, Zuo Mo could only keep going, “This disciple might not be able to take the duty. It is enough for our sect to have Wei Sheng Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong, this disciple’s power is weak… …”

Before he even finished, even Luo Li’s eyes as they looked at him were slightly strange.

Pei Yuan Ran chuckled, “Ha ha. You don’t look anything like your Scalping Zombie nickname.” He narrowed his eyes slightly, and said warmly, “The reputation of the sect, when it’s time to use it, it should naturally be used well. However, when the sect needs your service, you cannot retreat.”

Zuo Mo’s heart dropped.

It was over! The sect leader definitely knew that he had gone to Ling Ying Sect!

The sect leader’s warm gaze right now was like a knife. Zuo Mo felt extremely uncomfortable, the words that had reached his mouth shrinking back. He hurriedly said, “Yes yes yes! This disciple was muddle-minded! To earn honor for the sect, it is the duty of our generation. This disciple will extinguish volcanoes and upset seas if necessary.”

The sect leader laughed, “We don’t need you to go through anything. Just try at the competition. It will be good for you personally.”

Zuo Mo instantly was embarrassed. It was lucky that there was no expression on his face and nothing could be seen. The reason that he didn’t want to attend the Sword Test Conference was that he didn’t want to divide his attention. He suddenly asked curiously, “Sect Leader, hasn’t the Sword Test Conference been going on for a while? Disciple had thought it was going to finish soon.”

“Ha ha, the local sects would always have a few slots. You can directly attend the Sword Test Conference, and do not have to start from the preliminary Sword Test Conference. Alright, if you have any more questions, you can ask your Li Ying Feng shijie. I have put her in charge of the logistics for this conference.” Pei Yuan Ran waved his hands, signaling for the two to leave.

From beginning to end, Luo Li did not say a word, standing there like a block of wood. Zuo Mo didn’t exchange pleasantries with him and they left on their own paths.

Walking to the West Wind Valley, Zuo Mo still hadn’t managed to react yet. He had never thought about attending the Sword Test Conference. Even though he was tempted of the prizes, but he knew how much he was really worth. He had heard things when he had been processing materials in Dong Fu. Supposedly, this Sword Test Conference was the biggest Sky Moon Jie ever held, and had the highest attendance in history.

He might have been bold and victorious at Ling Ying Sect, and gotten a lot of gains, but there was a lot of luck involved. In the many young disciples of Sky Moon Jie, the first-class ones were those young people who had already reached the stage of ningmai, like Wei Sheng Shixiong. Ningmai was like a doorway. If they could not step over it before thirty years old, they wouldn’t make any great achievements.

Zuo Mo was full of confidence in Wei Sheng Shixiong, but placed in the context of the entire Sky Moon Jie, this confidence would have to discounted. Dong Fu was just one of the thirteen primary towns of Sky Moon Jie, and there were countless families of various sizes spread out across the wild.

In Sky Moon Jie, other sects of various sizes, the next numerous group were all kinds of families. These families had generations of cultivators, and there were not many differences compared to sects, except that they were even more traditional and conservative. They did not accept xiuzhe from the outside.

Compared to sects, the resources that the families had were much less, and they were less scriptures and spells. However, they had their own method of surviving. They might not have many spells, but after being refined and corrected by generations of disciples, as long as it had managed to pass down, it would have its unique traits. The disciples that came from sects, they would have stronger foundations in areas. The disciples that came from families, they would always have one or two spectacular spells. Each had their specialties.

If a talented disciple came out of a cultivation family, the tilt in the resources would be even greater than a sect.

So many powerful experts, he, with his zhuji cultivation, what would he do there? Zuo Mo twisted his mouth.

In reality, even Luo Li Shixiong didn’t have a hope in his eyes. If someone had a chance from the sect, it would only be Wei Sheng Shixiong. When he thought of Wei Sheng Shixiong, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel expectant. Shixiong, who had killed his way step by step in the cave, and broken through to the stage of ningmai, what kind of display would he put up? This was the only part of the Sword Test Conference that Zuo Mo was interested in.

The yin fiends in the sword cave had all been wiped out by Shixiong. Even, Pu Yao, when speak of Shixiong, would occasionally show hints of praise.

Okay, since he was just going there to show his face, Zuo Mo decided, of course, he would display his effort to avoid being punished by the sect leader. Zuo Mo then decided to throw the problem to one side and keep doing what he was doing.

In the little yard, Xiao Guo was still practicing the sword, sweating heavily, extremely focused. Zuo Mo did not disturb her, only standing and looking silently from the side. After a short while, he nodded. Xiao Guo had improved very quickly, and the [Blue Flower] sword scripture had formed. In reality, Xiao Guo’s talents in the sword could only count as average. Zuo Mo had only taught her to fulfill the duty of a shixiong.

But as Xiao Guo continuously improved, especially the effort that almost surpassed Zuo Mo’s imagination, his attitude started to gradually change and he taught more seriously.

[Blue Flower] sword scripture, killing intent hidden within the gentleness. The navy sword light was sometimes thin and dense, layers of circles like the fine brush paintings, sometimes the sword leapt like the crazed ink writing.

Presently, Xiao Guo’s [Blue Flower] still lacked killing intent, but on soft, yin, and entangling, it was exceptional. What Zuo Mo felt astounded by was the “tenacity” that was barely perceivable in her sword presence. She was like a timid and silent spider hiding in the white porcelain vase, spitting out countless thin navy strands, quietly forming a dense and strong blue net, trapping her opponent.

This [Blue Flower] was really suited for her!

Zuo Mo praised inside and felt happy for her. In the future, Xiao Guo definitely could become a pretty strong sword xiu.

There was another transformation in [Blue Flower], drawing essence. Zuo Mo felt that he couldn’t demand so much.

This thing was related to one’s personality. Xiao Guo wasn’t that kind of forthright and lively person. He guess it would be hard for her to comprehend that level of sword essence. Zuo Mo wasn’t a person stuck on transformations. He felt that if Xiao Guo kept developing like this, she would definitely carve out a road for herself.

Thinking about it, Zuo Mo gathered all the jade scrolls that he felt could give Xiao Guo help. Most of them were yin and soft sword scriptures.

At this time, Xiao Guo had completed one round of practice. When she raised her head and saw Zuo Mo watching on from the side, she timidly said, “Shixiong… …”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo responded. He took out a few jade scrolls out of his hundred treasures pouch to give to Xiao Guo, “Take this and have a look. Don’t just practice, take a look at other things, learn some knowledge, it can be inspiration for you.”

Seeing mist rise in Xiao Guo’s eyes, Zuo Mo instantly had a headache. He hurriedly stuffed the jade scrolls into Xiao Guo’s hands, and said in a deliberately stern tone, “This is homework! I will inspect it! Don’t slack off! Keep practicing!”

Finishing, he fled, heading towards his house.

Everything about this little girl was good, except she liked crying too much. Zuo Mo shook his head. He could do nothing for Xiao Guo there. Oh, she can practice by herself since she had been pretty good right now. Zuo Mo said extremely irresponsibly.

He quickly threw the question to one side, and started his daily cultivation.

His cultivation was extremely unequal right now. The great majority of his time was on scriptures. Both [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and [Vajra Profound Sutra] needed large amounts of time. In comparison, the time he spent on spells was lamentable. Due to not having the next section on the five element spells of ling plant farmers, he could only work on the finger motions to stop them from becoming unfamiliar. [Li Water Sword Scripture] after he merged the sword essences, he found that he had greatly diverged from the contents of the jade scrolls. The content in the jade scrolls was not suited to the newly hybrid sword essence. The problem was while it was hard to merge together the sword essences, it was even harder to split them apart again.

The only thing Zuo Mo felt happy about was the new sword essence was much more powerful than before.

The remaining time was on the spells for dan-making and forging. Shi Feng Rong felt that she didn’t have time to teach him dan-making so she let him read all the jade scrolls relating to dan-making. She had even wiped away the jinzhi on the jade scrolls that required an appropriate cultivation for Zuo Mo to read.

It had to be said that this was very beneficial for Zuo Mo. His control over the Stalagmite fire was much stronger than before. He could comprehend many of the intricacies. Even though he could not understand many parts due to his cultivation, but his thinking and knowledge was far above the past.

In the area of forging, he could only be considered to be dabbling. The only thing he was good at was processing materials. Other things, he was extremely weak. However, he felt that forging was a pretty good direction, especially when he had a fire seed. When he had free time, he would flip through Second Shibo’s jade scrolls on forging.

From this, it could be seen just how little spells he had!

However, he didn’t have any better methods. He definitely couldn’t talk about it with Sect Leader and the shibo, otherwise, he would be lectured. The elders would certainly sternly lecture him to practice the sword, and not bite off more than he can chew.

One sword breaks all moves was the confidence of sword xiu experts.

It was a pity that Zuo Mo was not an expert and did not have much time recently to put on the sword. He was a pure pragmatist. His development was completely due to needs and motivations. After he had nearly tripped up at Ling Ying Sect, he had become highly alert that he could not do it again.

Earning jingshi, it was better to be safe and steady.

Before, he had spent large amounts of time on formations, but since he had been lacking for effective methods, he had studied, but didn’t have great interest.

But now that he had the formation disks, this had undoubtedly opened a window for Zuo Mo.

On the other side of the window was a completely new world.

Chapter 115: Exploring the Sword Cave Again

Zuo Mo opened his eyes, the dark gold covering his entire body slowly fading.

If one was to slice peel away Zuo Mo’s skin, they would see that the flesh under the skin would appear have countless slivers of gold embedded in it. The third level of [Vajra Profound Sutra], “Golden Clothing of Flesh”, became deeper each day. The mo matrix seemed to have the greatest pairing with [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Even Zuo Mo was shocked at the progression speed of [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Originally, he had assumed that the gravestone version of [Vajra Profound Sutra] would be slow and steady. Who knew that with the addition of a mo matrix, it dramatically transformed.

Based on this speed, he would soon reach the fourth level of “Red Lotus Flowing Gold”. It was a pity that other than body cultivation, Zuo Mo didn’t know how to use it.

Even though his body was “golden clothing of flesh” and was not easily injured by normal flying sword. But the sorry state he was in when he had encountered the yin fiends last time made him understand that even though his body could not be destroyed, he could do nothing against spiritual attacks.

Zuo Mo felt he was a complete tragedy. He had a gigantic consciousness but didn’t know how to use it; he had cultivated his body to “Golden Clothing of Flesh”, but similarly, he didn’t know how to use it; he knew the attributes of countless materials, but could not forge an acceptable talisman… …

The only thing he felt fortunate about was that he knew how to make formations disks now. He could now use the formations he had learned!

Pu Yao, who had become impatient long ago, nagged, “Start working! Start working!”

He didn’t wait for Zuo Mo to speak up. Throwing out the jingshi a blur, of light, and one person, and one yao disappeared from their spots.

“We agreed. Fifty seriously injured yin fiends,” Pu Yao emphasized, “Alive!”

“I know,” Zuo Mo was extremely conscious that he had to pay what he owed. Even more, he owed Pu Yao. It wasn’t easy to take advantage of Pu Yao.

These past few days, he had made large amounts of all kinds of formation disks and wanted to try their abilities.

“There’s one there,” Pu Yao instantly became excited as he floated towards one corner. Zuo Mo followed in a hurry.

As expected, a yin fiend was silently floating in the corner. Zuo Mo noticed the mist around the body of this yin fiend was denser than last time.

“What’s this? It looks harder to deal with than last time,” He asked Pu Yao.

Pu Yao stared fixedly at this yin fiend with his eyes bright. The only thing lacking was him drooling. Without turning his head he said, “What place is this? The yin fiends absorbed yin energy every day. It’s natural that they grow quickly.”

Zuo Mo muttered in responded, “So that was why.”

This yin fiend was stronger than the last one. It quickly found Zuo Mo, gave a dissonant sound, and then leapt at Zuo Mo.

At the same time a consciousness stab came. However, Zuo Mo was prepared the time. With a snicker he flipped his hand, and he lightly threw out a formation disk!

The formation disk was like it was thrown into the water. The air vibrated and the formation disk disappeared.

The air next to Zuo Mo’s ears shook. The consciousness stab brushed passed him. His heart was joyful. The formation was already effective!

The yin fiend that had travelled not far away from Zuo Mo suddenly stopped in its place, seemingly confused. Due to desiring to see the effect of the formation, Zuo Mo wasn’t in a hurry to attack and circled around the yin fiend. The yin fiend inside the formation didn’t respond at all, and was just turning in circles.

As expected, joy could barely be disguised in Zuo Mo’s eyes, I hadn’t guessed wrong!

Pu Yao had told him the requirements for yin fiends to form. Adding on the attack of the consciousness stabs that the yin fiend had used last time, Zuo Mo had deduced that yin fiends were vulnerable to illusory formations. Yin fiends were born from yin energies. Even though they knew how to use consciousness stabs, however their intelligence was low and were easily prey to illusory formations.

The formation he threw out was called [Path Confusion Formation]. It was one of the simplest illusory formations. Its effect was to make others lose track of their position.

Due to the limited materials, Zuo Mo was not able to create a more complex Path Confusion Formation. In real battles, a second-grade Path Confusion Formation wouldn’t be very effective. It basically was not effective against any xiuzhe above the stage of zhuji. Even more so, the Path Confusion Formation released by the formation disk was less powerful.

However, this little and mostly useless Path Confusion Formation successfully trapped a yin fiend.

In an instant, Zuo Mo’s heart was filled with the feeling of accomplishment!

After Pu Yao had said that if he could not increase the storage of ling power, then he should decrease the use of ling power to increase the efficiency of ling power, it had given him great inspiration. What he understood and was skilled at were all low-level spells. Right now, the improvement in his cultivation was extremely slow, and those high level spells and formations all had high demands on ling power. He had been disappointed for a long time, but the mo matrix and yao seed could not be removed. He could not solve the problem of storing ling power, that meant he was destined to work with only low-level spells.

Without any other method, he could only rely on these low level spells and formations. He had a feeling, if he could use them well, low level spells and formations could also release a significant power

Reality proved that he was correct!

As long as the direction was right, a second-grade formation could trap a yin fiend.

It was great motivation that he had been right. This caused him to completely forget Pu Yao. All of his attention was on the trapped yin fiend. He wanted to see how long this Path Confusion Formation that was not even second-grade could trap this yin fiend? This yin fiend, what counterattack would it have?

Seeing Zuo Mo not moving, Pu Yao was slightly dissatisfied, but he suppressed it. He also wanted to see what Zuo Mo wanted to do.

The yin fiend inside the formation gradually became irritable. It could be seen from the boiling yin energy around it. From the time it had been trapped, the yin fiend had released five consciousness stabs, all of them failing to hit anything, and in all directions. This was evidence that the yin fiend had completely lost its sense of direction.

Squeak!

The yin fiend suddenly gave an extremely piercing yell, and from the restless yin energy, there were five grey thin splinters that suddenly shot out!

Bam, a light sound, and the Path Confusion Formation instantly broke. The five grey splinters were not hampered and continued to travel in their path.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. One of the grey splinters was shooting towards him!

Hurriedly casting a spell, the Moonwater Black Turtle armor’s formation started up. A semi-clear turtle shell shield appeared in front of him. Pew! The turtle shield shook, the light fading but it managed to stop it.

Zuo Mo was shocked. This grey splinter was this powerful! He was extremely clear just how strong the turtle shell defense that the Moonwater Black Turtle armor put out. It had almost been broken. If that had landed on his body, it definitely would have left a bloody hole!

Gritting his teeth, another formation disk appeared on his hand – Dragon Tying formation!

When the formation disk left his hand, it turned to three thin blue chains, and headed for the yin fiend. The five grey splinters seemed to have been harmful to the yin fiend as well. It was drooping at its spot, unable to dodge in time. The three blue chains were like three blue snakes, securely tying it up. Speaking of it, it was strange. This yin fiend was completely made up of yin energy, but these blue chains could tie it like it was tangible, tying it so that it could not move.

Only now did Zuo Mo release a breath.

This [Dragon Tying Formation] was one of the fine formations in the jade scrolls that he had earned. To make this Dragon Tying Formation, he had used up a lot of materials. This was one of the biggest insurances he had this time. He hadn’t thought he would use it so early.

“Do you need be to help?” Zuo Mo calmed down and turned to ask Pu Yao.

“No need,” Pu Yao licked the corner of his mouth and walked towards the yin fiend that was tied up. The yin fiend seemed to be extremely terrified of Pu Yao, furiously squeaking.

Pu Yao was not moved. Walking in front of the yin fiend, he reached with his hand into the yin energy.

There didn’t seem to be any movement but the squeaks of the yin fiend gradually became smaller. The grey yin energy covering the body of the yin fiend was sucked into Pu Yao’s palm at a speed visible to the naked eye. Pu Yao revealed an intoxicated expression, “So long since I tasted something this delicious!”

In the blink of an eye, he had sucked the yin fiend dry.

The three blue chains vanished into the air without a support.

“Oh, there’s still forty nine more!” There seemed to be a new glow on Pu Yao’s face, the smile at the corner of his mouth even more enchanting.

Luckily, Zuo Mo had prepared large amounts of formation disks for this trip to the sword cave. The Dragon Tying Formation was just one of them.

Gradually, Zuo Mo became familiar with the specialties of the yin fiends. The grey splinters was the last life-saving move of the yin fiends. After they used it, they would shrink and become weak. The illusory formations were one hundred percent successful against the yin fiends. Zuo Mo had to sigh that it was wondrous how things in the world would have their weaknesses.

As Zuo Mo became familiar with the yin fiends, his moves became much more skilled.

He spent more time now examining how the yin fiends used the consciousness. Yin fiends were extremely primitive and crude in their use of consciousness, but to Zuo Mo who didn’t know how to use his consciousness at all, it was an extremely valuable experience. When he encountered the tenth yin fiend, Zuo Mo could form a consciousness stab after trying a few times to condense the yin energy into needles. Zuo Mo could skillfully use it after practicing a few times, but he was not very satisfied with the power.

This move could be used as an ambush, but if the other person was prepared, it basically didn’t have any use. The first time, Zuo Mo had been unprepared and that had caused his sorry state.

Pu Yao expressed his usual disdain and mockery.

Zuo Mo then put his attention on the grey splinters the yin fiends released because he found the grey splinters were much stronger than the consciousness stab. Every time, he would push the yin fiend to the limit to get the yin fiend to release the grey splinter for him to inspect. His consciousness was much stronger and larger than the yin fiend. After repeated inspections, he finally understood the gist.

The center of the grey splinter was consciousness, and the outer layer was a dense skin of yin energy. The grey splinter was much more skilled than the consciousness stab. It would use less spiritual power than the consciousness stab but the consciousness stab couldn’t compare to it in power.

Pu Yao’s mood was extremely good. He had ate more than ten yin fiends in a row. There was an additional glow on his face, even the red pupil and the red crystal on his ears became bright and luminous.

In opposition to Pu Yao, Zuo Mo’s mood was terrible.

He spent so much effort to understand what the grey splinter was but he could not use it. Was there anything that would make someone more depressed?

He felt it was not very hard to control his consciousness, but he wasn’t a yin fiend, where would he get such dense and pure yin energy?

The grey splinters must include yin energy for them to be used. Without the available materials, without yin energy, Zuo Mo couldn’t do it.

Wait!

Zuo Mo, who had been following with his head down beside Pu Yao, suddenly felt a light flash across his mind. His feet couldn’t help but stop.

Floating at the front, Pu Yao was slightly surprised. He also stopped and looked back in slight puzzlement.

He coincidentally saw Zuo Mo’s raised eyes, and the glee that could not be disguised!

Chapter 116: Yin Splinter

Zuo Mo thought of the yin beads.

‘Aren’t the yin beads made of yin energy? The yin energy in the yin beads was even more condensed than the yin energy of the yin fiends.’ Zuo Mo became more excited the more he thought about it. He took out a yin bead and started to study it.

Consciousness was extremely sensitive to other consciousness. When Zuo Mo inspected it before, he had clearly understood the consciousness inside the grey yin splinter. However, the yin bead was different than the yin energy surrounding the yin fiend. The condensation of the yin energy in the yin bead far surpassed the yin energy surrounding the yin fiend. He still needed to slowly figure out how to use his consciousness.

He referred to this grey splinter as yin splinter.

Zuo Mo sunk into his thoughts. He wasn’t afraid of finding things out. What he was afraid of was not finding a direction. Now that he found a direction, he was halfway there.

Pu Yao curiously looked at Zuo Mo thoughtfully as he silently floated forward. Zuo Mo unconsciously followed him.

Zuo Mo didn’t notice that the road under his feet was heading down.

A dark smile came onto the corner of Pu Yao’s mouth.

Squeak!

Zuo Mo was suddenly shaken and was frightened out of his thoughts. He raised his head and saw a yin fiend heading towards him!

He was familiar with the routine and did not panic, He threw out a formation disk with Path Confusion Formation inscribed in it. It was easy to make a Path Confusion Formation, and it didn’t need much in terms of quality of the materials. So Zuo Mo had made more of them than anything else. The hundred treasure pouch at his waist was extremely heavy, completely filled with all kinds of low level formation disks. If it wasn’t that his [Vajra Profound Sutra] had reached the level of golden flesh clothing, and his strength had improved, just the formation disks would be enough to crush him.

As expected, the yin fiend stopped in its steps.

But quickly, the yin fiend surprised Zuo Mo greatly. The yin energy surrounding the yin fiend moved restlessly and three grey yin splinters suddenly shot into the surroundings. The Path Confusion Formation that had just formed was like a wet piece of paper and was torn to pieces.

Only now did Zuo Mo notice the yin energy surrounding this yin fiend was thicker than the previous yin fiends. As the yin energy was extremely condensed, the grey yin energy looked black.

Damn it! This yin fiend wasn’t a normal one!

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Pu Yao had retreated to one side, a smirk on his face. Zuo Mo didn’t have to think to know that it was Pu Yao’s fault!

But there was no time to think about it now. After this yin fiend shot out three yin splinters, it actually was not affected. It was completely immune to the weakening that the other yin fiends had when they shot out yin splinters. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but have a bad feeling! There was only things like Path Confusion formations left in the hundred treasures pouch. He had completely used up the good formation disks like the Dragon Tying formation.

Responding panickedly, Zuo Mo barely managed to dodge the yin fiend. The cold wind stirred by the yin fiend brushing past made his hair stand on end.

Before he could distance himself, shoo shoo shoo, three yin splinters suddenly shot out of the yin fiend!

Too close!

Unable to dodge in time, Zuo Mo could only start up the turtle shell shield of the Moonwater Black Turtle armor!

Pew!

The hard turtle shield was like a fragile bubble, dying at the same time as one of the yin splinters. The other two yin splinters directly headed for his face and vital areas.

Zuo Mo’s soul fled. At the time of life and death, he focused all his attention, all his ling power was channeled, all of his consciousness was furiously moving!

He didn’t have the time to summon his flying sword!

Didn’t have the time to take out the seal soldier!

Didn’t have the time to take out the yin fire bead!

Right now, three was only one thing he could use

–– [Vajra Profound Sutra]!

“Hai!” Zuo Mo shouted. Golden light flashed across his entire body and then suddenly dimmed. The light came fast and left even faster, as though it flashed by. After the golden light, Zuo Mo’s entire body seemed to be made from dark gold. His eyes were widened angrily, but there was no expression on his face. He seemed like the Vajrapani coming down to the earth, angry yet indifferent!

Without any attention to spare, Zuo Mo reached out with his two dark gold palms, swiping at the two yin splinters!

What one would find strange was that his hands moved extremely slowly, but a feeling of pressure formed. The formation on the vambraces: Thousand Catty!

At the same time, the third-grade Wind Travel boots silently glowed.

Zuo Mo’s hands caught the yin splinters.

Slap slap. Two clear explosions. The yin splinters seemed to have been hammered, exploding into yin energy, and spreading out. Zuo Mo didn’t end up well either, his hands trembling, his fingers in heart rending pain. The [Vajra Profound Sutra] in his body almost collapsed, but he knew this was not the time to take a break and gritted his teeth to persist!

The third-grade Wind Travel boots lit up. [Wind Travel] and [Movement] both started. Zuo Mo was like a ghost. After a string of turns, he distanced himself from the yin fiend!

Panting heavily, Zuo Mo stared fixedly at the yin fiend in front of him!

The dangerous changes that had just occurred frightened him. He didn’t even know how he managed to get through it. His heart was beating hard like a heavy drum. He had been too nervous before, and there hadn’t been time for him to be afraid. Now that he had the attention to spare, he had enormous fear, and terror once again took over his body.

Such a strong yin fiend!

The yin fiend seemed to have detected Zuo Mo’s power. This time, it didn’t charge at him, and maintained the standoff with Zuo Mo. The yin energy that had been moving around its body stopped, motionless. Zuo Mo didn’t dare to slack off now. The yin fiend in front of his eyes was like a fully drawn bow. Just the slightest bit of outside force would cause it to attack!

Zuo Mo’s hand touched the Water Drop sword, the terror inside instantly decreasing by a lot. His heart slowly resumed calm.

He suddenly understood a little bit the meaning of the flying sword for sword xiu.

However, this was not the time to think about those things. He needed to first kill of this damned yin fiend in front of him!

With his flying sword in hand, Zuo Mo’s confidence instantly rose. He didn’t hesitate, and didn’t hold anything back as he attacked.

“Seven Whirlpools!”

Seven whirlpools was made up of countless sword energies and securely surrounded the yin fiend. The cold energy brimming as the sword energies crisscrossed!

The yin fiend that had been preparing started its attack.

Inside the yin energy it had condensed, a circle of yin splinters shot out at the surroundings with it at the center like a grey flower blooming.

The yin splinters and “Seven Whirlpools” smashed into each other.

Bam bam bam!

A string of explosions sounded like fireworks lit up, ringing in the ears.

The seven sword energies whirlpools were destroyed in an instant, but after the whirlpools that had been made up of those sword energy was torn apart, the power actually increased instead! After the seven sword energy whirlpools broke, the area that they surrounded instantly turned into a mess, extremely disordered and chaotic. In the chaos, countless pieces made out of sword energies flew up and down like countless blades, furiously cutting and slicing!

The pitiful yin fiend was in the center of the chaos and instantly was cut by the countless sword energies.

Zuo Mo was joyful. He hadn’t thought that [Seven Whirlpools] would increase in power after being broken.

The yin energy around this yin fiend was extremely dense, and the wounds inflicted by the sword energies were more serious. Looking at the yin fiends struggling in the disorder, Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed slightly. Only now was he at an advantage. This yin fiend was really strong!

The yin fiend that he had destroyed with one sword blow and the yin fiend in front of him now was not on the same level.

Suddenly, the yin fiend gave a piercing yell. The yin energy surrounding its body suddenly shrunk inward and started to gather.

Zuo Mo was shocked.

The power of the chaos had started to falter. Even those broken sword energies had lost their sharpness. The yin energy surrounding the yin fiend shrunk, its body becoming even more concentrated. The sword energies, when they sliced it, gave cracking sounds as though they were cutting leather.

It knew a move like this!

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck at the endless moves this yin fiend had. He couldn’t help but think it was bad. Even though he didn’t know what the yin fiend would do next, he decided to attack first
using another [Seven Whirlpools]!

Seven sword energy whirlpools once again appeared surrounding the yin fiend. The fragments of sword energy that had lost power were instantly sucked in by the seven whirlpools. The seven whirlpools instantly grew to twice its size. Under the high speed of revolution, the hissing became even more clear, shocking to the soul.

Between the seven whirlpools, the yin fiend was still compressing yin energy, not paying attention to anything else. At this time, its body was the size of a bamboo basket, entirely grey black like a soft ball of ink.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and forcefully revered his ling force!

“Break!”

Boom!

Seven gigantic whirlpools simultaneously exploded, countless pieces of sword energies shooting into the surroundings!

The place that the yin fiend was at was the densest place of sword energy fragments, and the place most severely affected. In that instant, hundreds of sword energy fragments bombed the yin fiend’s body.

Pew pew pew!

Countless ripples appeared on the yin fiend’s inky black body, the yin fiend’s body shuddered.

A stream of blood came out of the corner of Zuo Mo’s mouth. When he had reversed the flow of his ling power, he had injured his channels. However, his eyes were excited. This seven whirlpools, it was definitely the strongest seven whirlpools he had ever done!

So there were times where the breaking of a sword move could increase its power. He seemed to understand something.

The harm the second round of [Seven Whirlpools] was great to the yin fiend. It could be seen from the stability of its body. Before, its compressed body had been like a ball of sticky ink, floating steadily in the iar. After enduring a storm of countless sword energy fragments, its inky body seemed to show signs of instability. Occasionally, a yin energy drop would drip down from its body like ink. However, before the droplet landed on the flow, the yin energy would dissipate in the air.

The yin fiend was completely infuriated this time!

Zuo Mo could clearly feel its anger, the anger passed on by its consciousness!

At this moment, a little ball of inky yin energy left the body of the yin fiend. What surprised Zuo Mo was that this little ball of yin energy did not dissipate in the air after it separated.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s heart jumped!

He could feel the consciousness of the yin fiend was burrowing into this little ball of yin energy!

Yin splinter!

Thinking about the great power of the previous yin splinters, and looking at the inky black ball of yin energy, if the yin splinter was made from such dense yin energy, the power… …

Zuo Mo shuddered in fear!

What should he use? Li Water Burning Heavens? Or seal soldiers? Or yin fire bead?

Yin fire bead… … Zuo Mo suddenly thought that he had been thinking about using the yin energy of the yin bead to create a yin splinter. Hadn’t he been just having a headache over the yin energy of the yin bead being too dense and hard to control with his consciousness?

He stared at the thick yin energy ball that was floating in front of the yin fiend, concentrating on feeling the transformation it was undergoing.

Zuo Mo suddenly had a feeling. The yin fiend in front of him was the best teacher, teaching him how to use the yin energy and consciousness to make a yin splinter step by step.

He took out a yin bead, copied the yin fiend and started to slowly feed his consciousness into the yin bead.

Watching from the side, Pu Yao was stunned as he gaped at Zuo Mo.

Chapter 117: What Happened

Even though it was the first time he was using his consciousness in this way, but Zuo Mo’s spiritual control was much stronger than this yin fiend. He hadn’t processed all those materials for nothing. His spirit was much stronger than the yin fiend in the first place, and his control was the same. It was just that he hadn’t know how to use it. Seeing how the yin fiend in front of him was using its consciousness, Zuo Mo felt that the paper on the window easily broke.

One burst of consciousness, shaped like a needle, burrowed into the yin bead.

But the yin energy inside the yin bead was too dense. This bit of consciousness was too weak. Zuo Mo wasn’t someone that stuck to rote. He quickly separated a few more strands of consciousness and merged them together before it was just able to enter the yin bead!

Once his consciousness entered the yin bead, Zuo Mo immediately felt an astounding change!

He seemed to be situated in a grey world. Dense yin energy was floating all around him, cold, and strange.

Zuo Mo’s mind became blurred. Only when he felt the hardness coming from his feet did he suddenly wake!

The consciousness that had entered the yin bead had come from him. The feelings that it transferred back had conflicted with his own consciousness, and created this momentary daze suddenly.

It was complicated to describe but it was only the flick of a finger.

A inky black yin splinter appeared in front of the yin fiend. As his the yin splinter also formed, Zuo Mo felt a terrifying presence and became wary. Luckily, his own ”yin splinter” had formed at the same time. It was strange but the yin fiend still kept its original shape. However, it turned from grey to crystal clear without any imperfections.

Even though he had copied everything the yin fiend had done, but Zuo Mo still was not very confident. He emboldened his heart and threw out this clear crystal bead

The yin fiend sent out the yin splinter at the exact same time.

The inky black yin splinter moved, and howls started. It was like the crying of infants, the yin energy rippling!

Seeing such a strong presence, Zuo Mo became even less confident. His right hand holding the Water Drop sword, he forced himself to remain calm. He decided, the moment it turned bad, he would definitely use Li Water Burning Heavens even if it meant he would be wounded! He had already been injured before when he had reversed channeled his ling power. If he did Li Water Burning Heavens, his injuries would worsen but he didn’t have any better choices.

Only now did he realize that what he trusted the most was [Li Water Burning Heavens]. Pu Yao had spoke of the grand power of the yin fire bead but he had never used it before, and he had almost failed in the process of making the yin bead. Zuo Mo didn’t know if its power would be weakened due to that.

He had personally experienced the power of the seal soldier, and it was a good thing, but it took time to recite the spell for this thing, and to cast a spell. If he met an emergency, he wouldn’t have the time to use it.

There was only [Li Water Burning Heavens]. As long as he had the Water Drop sword, he could cast it at any time.

He couldn’t help but grimace. It was not hard to cast [Li Water Burning Heavens] but it was limited by his cultivation. If he was the least bit uncareful, he could be wounded. He decided that after he returned, he would definitely study some more life-saving moves.

Readying himself, Zuo Mo threw all his thoughts to the back of his mind, all of his attention fixed on the inky black yin splinter.

The clear crystal bead soundlessly drew the most normal projectile curve. There was no sound, no presence. The presence of the black yin splinter was astounding. All the yin energy in the surroundings seemed to be attracted, a cold wind blowing, causing Zuo Mo’s clothes to flap. It also cooled down Zuo Mo’s heart. The howls that came from every direction, the dark and coldness that entered from every pore. If it was a person with a weaker mental state, they probably wouldn’t even have the thought of fighting under this presence.

In the corner, Pu Yao watched, stunned, as the bead and splinter hit.

Poof!

There wasn’t the imagined explosion. There was no light. There was only a clear sound like a bubble popping.

But with this clear sound, the ever present howls instantly stopped. That bone-aching dark cold suddenly dissipated.

Holding the Water Drop sword, already prepared to fight for his life, Zuo Mo was stunned in his spot.

After the hit, the crystal bead had turned into a clear ball of light, and that astoundingly powerful black yin splinter had actually been melted by this clear light, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The still-glowing ball headed for the yin fiend. It was like the yin fiend was paralyzed, not moving as it allowed the ball of light to hit its body.

The yin fiend didn’t make a sound as it was hit. It quickly melted and disappeared like a snowman, along with the ball of light. There was nothing remaining.

The instant the ball of light disappeared, Zuo Mo’s mind blanked.

After a while, Zuo Mo focused as he looked dumbly at the empty ground.

What… … what had happened?

The instant the ball of light and the yin fiend had disappeared at the same time, Pu Yao’s pupil had suddenly shrunk from behind Zuo Mo but it quickly recovered.

“Pu, this… … what is this?” Zuo Mo turned around and stammered a question. He had thought of many different results but what happened had definitely not been one of them.

Pu Yao said disdainfully, “Blind cat bumping into a dead mouse.”

Zuo Mo definitely wouldn’t accept such an irresponsible explanation from Pu Yao. He took out another yin bead, added a bit of consciousness to it. After the yin bead became a crystal bead again, he threw it out.

Poof. The crystal bead hit the ground, a light flashed, and then it disappeared, not even leaving a hole on the ground.

Other than his mind blanking for an instantly, there was no response. Zuo Mo was dumbstruck.

“Haha!” Pu Yao roared with laughter.

Was it really just luck? Zuo Mo didn’t believe it. Or did this thing only have an effect against yin fiends?

“We finally managed to encountered a somewhat good yin fiend and you got rid of it,” Pu Yao seemed to be disinterested and threw out a few jingshi. Zuo Mo felt the scene in front of his eyes flash and they were back in the stone room.

After returning, Pu Yao went back into the sea of consciousness. He sat down again on the gravestone and closed his eye. Zuo Mo felt that this guy was probably full and was now digesting it all.

Only after returning to the familiar stone room did Zuo Mo feel the heavy exhaustion. He had spent a whole day with his mind on high alert, especially when he had encountered the last few yin fiends. He had spent a lot of energy. Not caring that the ground was cold and wet, he fell asleep on the rock.

“Don’t forget!”

“Even in death, you must not forget!”

… …

As Zuo Mo dreamed, a warm green light rose at his chest, turning into a thin stream and spread into his limbs and organs.

Pu Yao sat on the gravestone, coldly staring at the faraway space.

The Sword Test Conference was full of excitement. Young experts that lit up the eyes of the audience continuously appeared. The special energy that young expert had caused this Sword Test Conference to be full of emotion. Most of the young cultivators were heavy on the offense and light on the defense. A common scene of the Sword Test Conference was flames and light spreading all around.

This was just the preliminary Sword Test Conference. More and more young xiuzhe were rushing to get to Dong Fu.

One by one, unfamiliar and unknown names quickly became familiar.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and climbed up from the wet and cold ground. He stretched out his limbs and felt that his strength had recovered. He looked at the surroundings. The stone room was cold and silent. Without him noticing, he had lost his dependence on the ling vein in the rock room. The vein was now used to make dan, one, because it was quite enough and no one would disturb him, and two, was the ling spring was a very good place for the water method.

He glanced at the lingdan in the ling spring and put the Water Drop sword into the ling spring to nurture it. This method didn’t produce any visible effects but it could change the quality of the Water Drop sword from the ground up.

After finishing this, he coiled his legs and sat down, sinking into his thoughts.

He had gained a lot from his trip to the sword cave.

How to use the formation disks, the effects of each formation disk, stealing how to use the yin splinter from the yin fiends. Even though he didn’t really understand the result of what he had copied using the yin bead, but he knew that it worked. It was just that he didn’t understand it. Other than that, his biggest discovery was that he found he was lacking life-saving measures. The coordination of low level moves could have power, but the premise was that it required preparations for many situations. If he suddenly encountered danger, he basically had no time to consider how to group together those spells.

Other than that, the seal soldier could only be used once and it took a long time for it to activate. That meant it was fated not to be useful in emergencies.

The only thing he could rely upon was the Water Drop sword. However, just relying on the Water Drop sword, he was not secure.

A true sword xiu would have absolute confidence in their flying sword and sword scripture, like Wei Sheng Shixiong. But this definitely did not include Zuo Mo. He never thought of himself as a pure sword xiu and had no basis for such self confidence.

His gaze landed on the yin fire bead.

He had endured great hardship and trouble the last time when he made the yin fire bead. He naturally didn’t bear to use up the one yin fire bead that he had gone to great trouble to make. He had never been clear about the power of the yin fire bead. After he had processed so many materials in Dong Fu, his control of the Stalagmite fire had gone up a level. Adding on the aid of the fire formation, he had the confidence to make a finished yin fire bead. It was just that he hadn’t thought about this at all. In this trip to the sword cave, after the dangers he had encountered, he deeply felt the importance of life-saving measures. At a crucial time, if he had one or two tricks up his sleeve, it would be a completely different outcome.

Zuo Mo went to an unpopulated mountain valley. This pace was more than a hundred kilometers from Wu Kong Mountain. The old trees in the mountain valley reached for the sky, giving him a great covering.

The yin bead had put him in extreme danger. He knew deeply that this item could not be seen and was even more careful.

After finding a position to stand, he took out the yin fire bead. The cloud like patterns on the bead was extremely beautiful.

In the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], there were all kinds of strange and weird ways to use the yin fire bead. Because he hadn’t had the yin fire bead before, Zuo Mo hadn’t really studied them. This time, he decided to really take a good look. He quickly picked out a finger spell called [Finger Throw]. It fulfilled Zuo Mo’s demands: simple finger moves, and pretty good power.

Alone, he stayed in the mountain valley and practiced [Finger Throw].

[Finger Throw] was not complicated. It was constructed out of five finger motions. However, the ling power manipulations related to it was slightly complex. Thankfully, even though Zuo Mo’s cultivation was limited, but his control of ling power was extremely outstanding. The degree of difficulty was just a minor problem for him.

After two hours, he had pretty much grasped the finger throw. Four hours later, he was extremely familiar.

Feeling that it was enough, he stopped his practice.

He was extremely curious, using the finger throw to cast the yin fire bead, what would the power be?

Chapter 118: Between Happiness And Grief

The yin fire bead flew forward from Zuo Mo’s hand, turning into a milky white thread of fire, and hit a broad tree that would need seven or eight people to circle it.

The milky white flame spread on the ancient tree at an astounding speed. In a few seconds, the milky white flame had covered the entire tree, not even leaving behind a leaf. The tree, which had been bursting with vitality just seconds ago, was now lifeless. As the milky white flame passed, the green leaves instantly turned a chilling white. Quickly, the entire tree was white, and not a bit of green to be seen. The white old tree spread a pressuring chill. Snowflakes started to stir up around the surroundings.

The white leaves started to break off from the tip, like it was being weathered, falling down.

A burst of wind blew, the snowflakes danced, and countless white fragments left the old tree, carried by the wind.

The enormous ancient tree, in front of Zuo Mo, turned to a cloud of white dust and disappeared in the wind.

Zuo Mo was deeply shocked by what happened in front of him.

Returning to the little yard, his mind was still slightly dazed. The yin fire bead was astoundingly powerful, as expected. If it had hit a person, Zuo Mo guessed that even those ningmai xiuzhe wouldn’t be able to block it.

For a last resort life-saving measure, the more powerful it was the better!

After that, he put all his energy into creating yin fire beads. With the aid of the Three-Turn fire formation, the process of making yin fire beads was extremely smooth. The yin fire beads that were created this time were different from last time. The entire bead was pure white and flawless, without any trace remaining of the yin bead. However, after Zuo Mo processed one yin bead, he needed to meditate to recover.The ling power and mental power used to create it was astounding; no wonder it was a weapon of great destruction.

Looking at the twenty yin fire beads in his hands, Zuo Mo felt very confident.

He occasionally would dream, if he threw these twenty yin fire beads out at once, what would it look like?

Having yin fire beads, Zuo Mo didn’t care about not mastering the yin splinter. Strangely, Pu Yao seemed to have forgotten that he still owed him many yin fiends and didn’t urge him to go to the sword cave.

Zuo Mo was happy to be idle but before he could enjoy the pleasure from having made the yin fire beads, after he inspected his ling power, his mood instantly dived down a cliff.

Damn it!

His cultivation actually stopped growing!

Why was it like this? The sudden blow was like lightning on a clear day, striking him dumb, his head ringing. After the mo matrix had been carved, the rate of his cultivation progress had dramatically slowed. He had been worried, but had maintained his calm because his cultivation still had been growing.

But if his cultivation stopped growing… …

He didn’t dare to imagine it!

After Pu Yao’s advice from before, Zuo Mo was extremely miserly with each bit of ling power inside his body. This had caused him to be extremely sensitive to ling power changes inside his body. He could find the slightest change.

He was only in zhuji stage, it was the stage that cultivation should increase the fastest. He had spend large amounts of time everyday on practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] in hopes that he could make it up. It was good if he just increased a little bit of ling power. It had been like he imaged before. Due to the mo matrix, the increase in ling power had been slow but his cultivation had still been tenaciously growing. However, for five continuous days, there hadn’t been one iota of change in his ling energy. He had never encountered a situation like this!

Zuo Mo was nervous like he had never been before!

If his ling power stopped growing, his cultivation would forever stop in zhuji! Terror spread through his heart. He ran into the sea of consciousness. Pu Yao was sitting on the gravestone with his eyes closed. No matter how Zuo Mo called him, he didn’t move. He was like a statue. Pu Yao was meditating. It wasn’t like he could ask the sect leader and the elders about this. He wouldn’t optimistically hope that Second Shibo and the others, who had become famous in the Yao Hunt, wouldn’t recognize the mo matrix.

His cultivation paused in the stage of zhuji… …

What about the dream? What would he use to search for the person that changed his features and erased his mind?

It was like Zuo Mo had been robbed of all his strength, and collapsed on the ground. Ever since he learned his features had been changed and mind erased, he had continuously told himself to search for the answer to his dream, to search for the answer to why his mind and features had been altered. But when the conviction that had pushed him forward had been broken from its foundation, he didn’t know what to do.

The sky was dark. He was lying on the rooftop, the sound tablet broadcasting beside him. His head was pillowed on his arms as he looked dazedly at the sky.

His thoughts had floated far away. How long had it been since he had laid like this? After he had decided to search for answer, the times that he had just laid on the roof to listen to the sound tablet had decreased. Each day was filled with countless scriptures and spells that had to be practiced. Each day, he needed to tell himself repeatedly, he needed to work harder… …

In the dark night, the stars were like an ocean.

Exhausted, Zuo Mo was like a child, coiled into a ball, falling deeply asleep with the sound tablet broadcasting.

There were no dreams.

———

The next day, the warm sunshine shone on his body.

Opening his eyes, Zuo Mo felt his body was unspeakably relaxed. The depression of yesterday had been swept away. Thinking of his tragic perspective yesterday, he felt it was humorous. It was fine if his cultivation was not growing. As long as he tried, he would find the root of the problem. Having slept, his body was now filled with energy, filled with motivation.

Without ling power, he still had spiritual power, formations, ling farming, dan-making, and forging!

He inspected the ling power inside his body. As expected, it hadn’t changed at all. However, he didn’t have a tragic outlook now, but was extremely calm. After coming out of meditation, he slowly pondered and felt that he needed to determine the direction that he would take.

After spending a short amount of time, he decided what he would focus on primarily – formations!

To him, whose cultivation had stopped growing, the importance of formations had rose to an incomparable height. To solve the problem of the pause in his cultivation, he could not avoid formations. Now that he knew how to make formation disks, he could also use those attacking formation disks. Formations were also great aids to dan-making and forging. No matter what road he chose, it would need jingshi. How to make jingshi, it was a problem that Zuo Mo could not avoid.

His spiritual power was different than his ling power and its progress hadn’t been affected at all, still increasing at a pretty good pace. It was a pity that he had such a treasure but didn’t know how to use it. The only uses he knew involving the consciousness was the consciousness stab and yin splinter. The power of the consciousness stab was too small. The power of the yin splinter was good but Zuo Mo gave up on it. The yin splinter required pure and dense yin energy. The only way that Zuo Mo could think of was using the yin bead. However, the yin bead was too outstanding and would easily bring a disaster down on him. As a life-saving measure, the yin splinter wasn’t as powerful and convenient as the yin fire bead.

Other than that, he could still expect more from [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Zuo Mo decided to find a few spells that body xiu used to see if he could use something. He might be able to put some brainpower on formations. Last time the “Golden Flesh Clothing” coordinated with “Thirty Thousand Catty” had managed to stop two yin splinters directly.

Hue hue, he could also consider using the “medicine-seal-style”! He could make the lingdan himself, he could also forge the talismans. As to the paper seals, he wouldn’t object to learning seal writing.

The more Zuo Mo thought and clarified his thoughts, the more excited he got.

The heavens would not shut off all roads. Without ling power, he still had many other paths.

Reality proved that when a person was pushed to the edge of the cliff, they could also explode with potential.

In the morning, Li Ying Feng opened the store door. Seeing Zuo Mo outside the door, she stopped and asked instinctively, “Shidi, why are you here again?”

Zuo Mo made a sound, not knowing what to say. It looked like Li Ying Feng Shijie had really been frightened by the Inky Black Lotus seed incident from last time.

Li Ying Feng instantly realized how inappropriate her words were and added, “Aren’t you attending the Sword Test Conference? Shouldn’t you be preparing for battle right now?”

Zuo Mo spread his hands. “Our sect will have to depend on Eldest Shixiong. My bit of power isn’t enough.”

Hearing this, Li Ying Feng frowned and said seriously, “Shidi, don’t underestimate yourself. Shidi had comprehended sword essence in zhuji. This kind of talent, other than Eldest Shixiong, no one in the sect can compare. Shidi cannot let yourself go, and not think about improvement.”

Zuo Mo sweated. He knew Shijie was looking out for him but didn’t know how to explain. He could only say, “This brother isn’t slacking off, but a bit tight on the funds right now.”

Li Ying Feng’s face was shocked. “Where did you spend your jingshi? You earned so much jingshi just recently, you used it all? How did you use it up?”

Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t tell Shijie that there was a bottomless hole hiding away in his consciousness that “ate” jingshi. Rationally, several thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi was an enormous sum for a zhuji xiuzhe. If this was in the past, he wouldn’t have even thought of it. Even in Dong Fu, it was an shocking sum. Right now, Zuo Mo was telling her that he spent all the jingshi. How could Li Ying Feng not be shocked?

“Jingshi is never enough to spend.” Zuo Mo deflected as he widened his eyes to stare at his shijie.

Unable to resist Zuo Mo’s nagging, Li Ying Feng consented to Zuo Mo’s request to open up for business again. Due to the reputation he had accumulated in the past, once Zuo Mo opened, many xiuzhe heard and came.

Zuo Mo didn’t know that he had a small reputation with the production xiuzhe of Dong Fu. Especially when he had successfully cut the fourth-grade cold manget, and then the bomb of successfully processing the fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus seed. Zuo Mo’s control of fire had been exaggerated to the extreme.

This time, Zuo Mo was open to payment through jingshi, talismans, and jade scrolls. Everyone welcomed it, and his business was busy.

After a day, Zuo Mo didn’t look as exhausted as he once would have. He handed a jade scroll to Li Ying Feng. “Shijie, could you help me see how much jingshi for all these materials?”

Li Ying Feng took the jade scroll and scanned it quickly. “About fifty pieces of third-grade jingshi. Hm, Shidi, you are interested in formations now?” There wasn’t anything high-grade on the list Zuo Mo provided. It was all first-grade materials. Fifty pieces of third-grade jingshi, it was enough to fill half of the yard. Li Ying Feng became even more curious how Shidi had spent the thousands pieces of third-grade jingshi from last time.

“En, yes, formations are very interesting. This is fifty pieces of third-grade jingshi. Shijie, please help prepare it for me.”

“No problem.” Li Ying Feng crisply took the jingshi. She knew the shops in Dong Fu almost as well as her palm. It wouldn’t take much effort to buy and gather those materials. As to cultivating, Shidi was more talented than her and certainly had his own plans.

Chapter 119: Intelligence

Zuo Mo opened his eyes as he came out of meditation. He shook his head. There still hadn’t been any change in his cultivation. This was the fifteen day that his cultivation hadn’t moved. Pu Yao was still in meditation and he didn’t know when the guy would wake up.

He forcefully shook his head, throwing all those thoughts out of his mind. His eyes once again landed in the yard. The yard was the backyard of the store, and naturally couldn’t compare to his little yard in the West Wind Valley. The little yard was filled with all kinds of materials, jade stones, gold thread, and jadeite bamboos etc. Most of the materials were all cheap first and second-grade materials, but the sheer volume was amazing.

Zuo Mo started to flip through the materials, occasionally summoning the Stalagmite fire to process some materials. Sometimes, he would take out a little knife to shape the material into the form required. He would sometimes suddenly stop, and sink into his thoughts. The materials flowed like water through his hands. He carefully placed some of them in the corner, and threw some of them to the ground carelessly.

After laboring for four hours, when the sound tablet announced the time, he finally woke up from his work.

It was time to work and earn jingshi. He reluctantly rose up. Before, he hadn’t been interested in formations and felt it hard to learn. Now that he was concentrating on it, he actually found that there were many interesting places.

Things like sword scriptures and spells would frequently have places where the descriptions would be lacking, and promoted comprehension. Only formations focused on transformations of yinyang and the five elements. Even though it was incomparably complex, but after careful study, Zuo Mo was able to understand the main concepts.

Only after Zuo Mo left did Li Ying Feng come over to clean up the yard.

As she cleaned, she sighed. No wonder Shidi felt he didn’t have enough jingshi to spend. Spending like this, how could it be enough? Li Ying Feng was responsible for buying all the materials that Zuo Mo needed. She was clear to Zuo Mo’s daily expenses. Shidi would spend from a minimum of thirty pieces of third-grade jingshi, to over a hundred third-grade jingshi on materials everyday. This was just because Shidi wanted low-grade materials. If he used middle-grade materials, then the expenses would fly to an intimidating step.

She had never heard of anyone who learned formations like this.

However, Shidi was a weird person. He didn’t learn like other people, and he didn’t make jingshi like other people. Quite a few times, she had wanted to urge Shidi to be more frugal, but when she thought about the jingshi that Shidi made every day, the words that reached her mouth went away.

Shidi only spent six hours taking jobs each day. All of his other time was completely spend on the mountain of materials piled up in the yard.

She stopped walking, her gaze landing on a formation disk beside her feet. The initial days, formation disks were what Shidi had made the most. However, after that, the number of formation disks that Shidi made decreased. It had been a few days since Shidi had made a formation disk.

Why was he making formation disks again? Was he preparing for the Sword Test Conference?

Li Ying Feng picked the formation disk up from the ground. Closely examining it, she found that she didn’t understand what was written on the disk at all.

She laughed. Wei Sheng Shixiong and Zuo Mo Shixiong were both genius. How could normal people understand the mind of geniuses. Before Zuo Mo Shidi, Li Ying Feng had never seen formation disks before. She carefully put the formation disk in the corner. After cleaning up fro Zuo Mo for this many days, she could easily sort out what was useful and what was trash.

Zuo Mo’s business was average today. Since a few days ago, his business had declined. He knew that it couldn’t be avoid. There were only so many xiuzhe that need his services. It was due to the Sword Test Conference that he had earned so much. The people that could exchange and pay valuable goods were not local xiuzhe.

Cultivation was piled up with jingshi. Zuo Mo knew this from a long time ago, but only after studying formations did he truly have an understanding of the phrase. Formations were completely built up with jingshi!

Seeing that his stream of income was not long-lasting, his own studies would probably also pause soon.

However, in a short amount of time, it would be his turn to attend the Sword Test Conference. At this time, he was too lazy to care about earning jingshi. It would wait until after the Sword Test Conference.

When Zuo Mo cleaned up for the day, Li Ying Feng handed him a jade scroll.

“What is this?” Zuo Mo asked strangely.

“The information on a few attendees of the Sword Test Conference.” Li Ying Feng saw that Zuo Mo was looking strangely at her and explained, “The sect leader left me in charge of the logistics. I have to do something. Oh, and some information about the Sword Test Conference.”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo took it and asked, “Did you send it to Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li?”

Li Ying Feng was angry, the tendons in her forehead jumping. It would have been fine if Zuo Mo hadn’t mentioned it but since he did, she was extremely displeased. After the sect leader put her in charge of logistics, she had especially gathered the informations and given it to Wei Sheng Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong. Wei Sheng Shixiong had disappeared without a trance, and Luo Li Shixiong had looked at her in puzzlement and asked, “What’s the use in this?”

She had almost died from anger.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s unconcerned attitude, her displeasure reached a peak and she gave a cold snort, turned and left. Zuo Mo rubbed his head in puzzlement, ignorant of what had set Shijie off.

Returning to his room, he took the jade scroll and started to browse through.

There was a lot of information inside the jade scroll, especially for those powerful experts. It seemed that Shijie had put a lot of effort. As he read, Zuo Mo started to get interested.

Gu Rong Ping, from Clear Sky Lake, called the strongest among the younger generation of Clear Sky Lake. He might be warm and gentle, but his title of the strongest of Clear Sky Lake was based in his battles. From two years ago, he fought sect after sect without one loss. That had created his strongest in Clear Sky Lake title.

Clear Sky Lake had beautiful scenery and dense ling energy. It was much more prosperous than Dong Fu, and the sects there outnumbered Dong Fu. The title of strongest, it really had some substance to it.

Finishing off Gu Rong Ping’s information, Zuo Mo had a feeling that this Gu Rong Ping would be Eldest Shixiong’s enemy. As to himself, he didn’t have any thought. If it wasn’t for the order of the sect leader, he definitely wouldn’t attend something like this Sword Test Conference.

With that time, he would rather earn jingshi, Zuo Mo muttered.

He kept on reading. Nan Men Yang, Gui Feng etc. None of them were simple people. Zuo Mo also saw quite a few that he was familiar with. Dong Fu Hall’s Yu Bai, Ling Ying Sect’s Chang Heng, Dong Qi Sword Sect’s Zong Ming Yan etc were all included. He even saw a person that he had met a long time ago, Chi Sword Sect’s Liang Luo. However, the other person, Shi Xiang, who had given him the Ice Crystal sword was not on the list.

Hmm.

Zuo Mo’s gaze suddenly landed on the picture of one of the people in the jade scroll. The person was wearing a black veiled hat. Wasn’t this the person that came to him to cut the cold magnet? So this guy was also attending the competition!

He didn’t know anyone else on the list.

However, when he saw their cultivation level, he was instantly speechless.

Ningmai, ningmai, ningmai… … all ningmai! All the xiuzhe that were not local who had passed through the preliminary Sword Test Conference were all ningmai. Zuo Mo didn’t have any thoughts of struggling at all. What he was pondering now was surrendering immediately when he was called up. When the warm and harmonious smile of the sect leader flashed through his head, he instantly shook, and cleared his head, brushing away the thought.

Being injured was a minor matter. If the sect leader was thinking about ge, then ge wouldn’t have good days in the future!

Seeing this list that could really be considered grand, he felt, in his sect, only Eldest Shixiong had any hope of victory. Even Luo Li Shixiong wasn’t anything to look at.

Luckily, there were no jindan xiuzhe. Otherwise, Zuo Mo felt his heart couldn’t bear it.

Following that was the rules for this year’s Sword Test Conference. Li Ying Feng Shijie probably had guessed that the three of them would have been concerned about this so she had completely listed everything. There wasn’t anything unclear in the rules. After the preliminary Sword Test Conference was the true Sword Test Conference.

The first two rounds were random one on one matches, followed by a competition without any rules! At that time, Elder Tian Song Zi would open the Great Pine Pavilion of Dong Fu Hall for all the attendees to enter. Inside Dong Fu Hall’s Great Pine Pavilion, any contestant could attack any other person until the other lost the ability to battle. In the end, the last ten remaining people would become the winners of this competition. To guarantee that there wouldn’t be any fatalities among the contestants, there would be ten or so jindan judges that would be present the entire time. The ranking of the ten people would also be decided by the jindan experts.

Tsk tsk, even jindan experts were coming out to be judges. Ten at a time, this would really be spectacular!

Zuo Mo hadn’t understood this Sword Test Conference at all. Such a public rousing, and cost intensive Sword Test Conference, there wasn’t any use.

Oh, maybe the elders had their own thoughts. Zuo Mo kept on reading and his mind jumped.

What was after were the prizes for this Sword Test Conference.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright as he looked at the rows of prizes, drooling.

Fourth-grade Pine Green Peak sword, fourth-grade Hundred Desolate Lucky Beast belt, fourth-grade Scattered Gold coronet, third-grade Elemental Cloud Water sleeve, third-grade Sky Woven clothing, third-grade Ice Snake Ling armor… …

There were ten high-quality talismans. The order to pick was based on the ranking received in the competition. Only now did Zuo Mo understand why so many xiuzhe had come to Dong Fu to attend the Sword Test Conference.

As they said, people die for wealth, birds die for food! He gritted his teeth and thought in fury. When his gaze swept across one of the prizes, countless ripples started in his heart. He was extremely tempted. At this time, he only hated how low his strength was.

Without an exception, the first ten talismans were the finest of the finest. They were even a few ranks above the talismans he had taken from the wastrels of Ling Ying sect. For some of the prizes, Zuo Mo wanted to sell himself, and exchange for the talisman.

After greedily looking through the first ten prizes, Zuo Mo gluttonously looked down.

There were also third-grade talismans in the lower ranks, but were clearly lower in quality than the first ten. Zuo Mo had read with great interest. Okay, even if ge wouldn’t get one, he could still enjoy looking at them, Zuo Mo comforted himself. These few days, he had been sunk in the world of formations, spending great mental effort. Relaxing now, he felt light.

Just as he browsed randomly through the prizes and occasionally calculating the prices, as he drooled.

Suddenly, when his gaze reached one of the prizes, he first stilled and then suddenly stood up!

Chapter 120: An Irresistible Temptation!

Zuo Mo’s gaze was fixed on this jade scroll. His eyes did not leave it for even a moment.

[Elementary Formations]. In the list of the prizes, it was ranked fifty-sixth, as a second-grade prize. The description of this jade scroll was very simple: A jade scroll about the elementary formations, suited for beginners.

But what attracted Zuo Mo’s gaze was the two characters that labeled the origins of this jade stick – Kun Lun!

He suddenly became excited!

Kun Lun! This jade scroll was from Kun Lun!

These two words, it was like they had magic, they made Zuo Mo’s heart beat rapidly. It had to be said that the ground under his feet, the Sky Moon Jie he lived in, even the bigger jie that the jindan experts had come from, they all belonged to one name: Kun Lun!

In the heart of any sword xiu, Kun Lun was the ultimate existence. It meant strength, it meant domination, it meant ultimate power, it meant the strongest sword xiu. It was the true master of Kun Lun realm, and the leader of the cultivation world.

There were not many stories about Kun Lun. For the great majority of xiuzhe, Kun Lun was distant and high up, an extremely mysterious place.

In reality, when Zuo Mo first saw the two characters, he had blanked for a little while. For a normal disciple of a little sect in Sky Moon Jie, these two words were too distant and unfamiliar. However, when he managed to react, he could not control his excitement.

The bigger the sect, the more the importance they placed on the education of the disciples that had just entered the sect. They would create some jade scrolls for the beginner disciples to study. These beginner jade scrolls would usually be extremely expansive and would contain all kinds of basic spells.

Because the beginner scrolls required a specialist to make, the number produced each year was limited. There wouldn’t be many left over and there were even fewer that spread out.

The beginner jade scrolls of each sect were different. They would be written according to the specialties of the sect. Even in the same sect, as the xiuzhe responsible for writing them each year was different, there would be different versions.

Of course, for small sects like Wu Kong Sword Sect, there naturally wouldn’t be any beginner jade scrolls. There were many new disciples that entered large sect annually, and there was high demand. Since there were many experts, they had the manpower and the wealth to make them. In small sects, the elders would pass on knowledge through speech to their own disciples.

The beginner formation jade scroll of Kun Lun, it was something that Zuo Mo didn’t even dare to dream about.

Even though it came out of Kun Lun, but it was still only a beginner jade scroll, so it was ranked fifty-sixth in the prizes. Those that attended the Sword Test Conference were mostly ningmai xiuzhe. For them, a beginners scroll was not of much use, much less a formations jade scroll. If it was a beginner sword jade scroll, there probably would be many that would want it.

Kun Lun’s sword scripture… …

The temptation that this jade scroll was to Zuo Mo was incomparable.Wu Kong Sword Sect didn’t have systematic formation jade scrolls. He had to piece together everything he had learned from bits and pieces. This caused him to feel extremely frustrated and left him stuck frequently. If he had such a jade scroll, he would probably walk into a lot fewer detours.

Without even thinking about it, he made a decision, he needed to get this jade scroll!

But when he gradually calmed down, he started to ponder the probability of success. In the prizes for this Sword Test Conference, this jade scroll was not attractive. The participants from the list should not have much interest in this jade scroll. But no matter what, if he wanted to get a chance to pick this jade scroll, it was necessary for him to pass through the first two rounds.

Thinking about the numerous ningmai on the list, Zuo Mo felt a prickle on his head. But if he had to watch as this jade scroll brushed past him, he was not willing, not willing!

After thinking about it, he made a decision. No matter what, he had to try!

This beginner scroll completely turned around the attitude Zuo Mo held towards the Sword Test Conference. He felt he needed to make some preparations.

The xiuzhe population in Dong Fu kept on growing. The preliminary Sword Test Conference had just finished yesterday. After five more days, this year’s Dong Fu Sword Test Conference would finally arrive at the beginning of its peak. Dong Fu’s order had not been disturbed as the non-local xiuzhe came in. With more than ten jindan present, this place was the most orderly in Dong Fu.

“Do you want one? The match list for the Sword Test Conference that just came out. With this list, don’t worry about what to attend!”

“Exclusively selling in depth information on the fighters of this year’s Sword Test Conference. The ranking produced by the composite reviews of countless high experts. Exclusive! Definitely exclusive! It will become your most trusted partner when you make a bet!”

… …

Zuo Mo, walking in the notice altar, felt a bit of interest as he heard the advertisements. He wasn’t interested in the match list which had just been announced two days ago. But this ranking was slightly interesting. After walking a few more step, he heard calls again. It was also a power-based ranking, but another version. In a few strides, Zuo Mo heard at least four versions of the ranking. The price was actually the same, each one a piece of third-grade jingshi.

Only later did he realized that the betting houses of Dong Fu had all been opened. Not including those who had a habit of gambling, even the normal people would make a few bets just out of interest. If there was demand, there naturally would be supply.

Zuo Mo had been thinking about studying his opponent so he bought a copy of every ranking.

He took a close look. These rankings did have some substance.

The person ranked first was Gu Rong Ping, the participant that still had not lost up until now. Gu Rong Ping was placed first on almost all of the rankings, and there seemed to be consensus. Starting from the second person, each version would have different choices. However, in the first ten, some people appeared very frequently.

However, what Zuo Mo felt strange was that the local fighters rarely appeared in the top ten. Only Yu Bai had appeared in a few of the rankings. The reason they gave was universal. The disciple of Tian Zong Zi, has a definite local advantage!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but get angry!

What type of trash had made these rankings! Eldest Shixiong was in the twenty and thirties! In his heart, Eldest Shixiong might not get first, but he definitely would be in the top ten!

Suddenly, he thought about himself. Oh, what would his ranking be?

His gaze when down the rankings. Nothing, still nothing, still nothing… …

When his gaze landed on the last name on the ranking, he saw his own name. At the side, it gave a reason. The only zhuji xiuzhe in this year’s Sword Test Conference. Zuo Mo first blanked, and then became furious! He looked at another ranking, his name was still at the end. The reason was the same.

That wasn’t right. Luo Li Shixiong was also in zhuji, why did they say he was the only zhuji participant? Zuo Mo felt it was extremely unfair. He quickly scanned the ranking and found Luo Li Shixiong’s name.

Ningmai!

Zuo Mo instantly blanked.

When did Luo Li Shixiong enter ningmai? What sort of trash ranking was it, it was all nonsense!

Zuo Mo decided to not pay attention to these rankings. He had a clear goal for coming out today.

In the Free Market, Fu Jin blanked when he saw Zuo Mo, and then enthusiastically came over, “Mo ge, how come you have the time to cove over? Don’t you need to attend the Sword Test Conference?” Those beady eyes, however, could not disguise the mirth within.

Zuo Mo saw Fu Jin’s expression and said irritably, “What, do you have an opinion?”

“No, no!” Fu Jin waved his hands, and said fawningly, “Mo ge, if you come out, even Gu Rong Ping isn’t a match for you. If you want him to break one leg, he wouldn’t dare to break the other leg… …”

“Okay, okay!” Even Zuo Mo felt that Fu Jin’s words were too fake. One Gu Rong Ping by himself was more than enough to defeat ten Zuo Mo’s. He reached out, “Did you prepare the stuff?”

Fu Jin snickered and took out a jade scroll from his bosom, putting it in Zuo Mo’s hand, “When your opponent was announced, I started searching! This has all the records of the matches that Chao An has participated in, and some stuff gathered from other avenues.”

Zuo Mo was moved. He knew that Fu Jin had put enormous effort on this little jade scroll. Chao An was Zuo Mo’s upcoming opponent. Zuo Mo had asked Fu Jin to search for all the information on his opponent in the past. Li Ying Feng Shijie might work hard, but she only had to manage a little shop. In this area, she was not as skilled as a snakehead like Fu Jin.

Zuo Mo shoved a bag at Fu Jin.

The moment Fu Jin held it, he knew how much jingshi was in the bag. He was not happy at all, and said expressionlessly as he stared at Zuo Mo, “What is this for?”

Zuo Mo shook his head, “Not for you, for you to pay out. I’m still hoping that you could help me prepare the information for my opponent for the next round!”

Fu Jin’s face finally turned from cloudy to sunny and snickered, “That’s great. I’ve bet quite a little sum on you. Don’t let me lose!”

“Oh, then pray for me to win!” Zuo Mo spread his hands.

The other was in ningmai. There was a gigantic gap between the two of them. Even Zuo Mo didn’t have that much confidence in himself. He just wanted to try his best. In reality, he could not overcome the temptation of that Kun Lun beginner formations jade scroll. As the person of the lowest cultivation attending the competition, it was rational that the odds were against him. This was also why his match was the first of the conference.

The first match. If he became an embarrassment, it would be a good one! He definitely would not have a good time when he returned.

Zuo Mo had cursed the person who had arranged the matches countless times.

———

Wu Kong Hall.

Yan Le’s expression was slightly strange, “Little Mo actually got arranged to be the first match.”

Pei Yuan Ran laughed, “Probably Ling Ying Sect. Little Mo really made them lose face last time. It’s rational, rational.”

Shi Feng Rong was infuriated, “Rational my ass! Dare to harass my disciple, they don’t want to live! The Thousand Flower hundred poison miasma that I just finished making hasn’t had a place to experiment yet… …”

The other three instantly felt their heads inflate. They hurriedly stopped Shi Feng Rong who had almost exploded and comforted her.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. Little Mo is very slippery, won’t really get in trouble.” Pei Yuan Ran comforted, “Even more, it would be good for him to get some experience. As to face, us old people don’t care about that.”

Yan Le smiled from the side. Shi Feng Rong sat angrily on the chair. A cold light flash through Xin Yan’s eyes.

“I hadn’t thought that Luo Li would enter ningmai this quickly. It seems like that his fight with Little Mo last time had been of great benefit,” Yan Le said.

“Luo Li doesn’t lack talent. It was just his mentality that stopped him from progressing. Now that he has been reborn, our sect has another great warrior,” Pei Yuan Ran said, nodding. The joy in his voice was extremely evident.

Shi Feng Rong looked in the surroundings and her brows furrowed, “Where’s Wei Sheng?”

Chapter 121: Wager

In an empty patch of wilderness.

Wei Sheng and a white-clothed male were facing off.

“Who are you? Why are you entering Wu Kong Mountain? What do you want to do?” Wei Sheng said in a heavy voice, his Splitting Rainbow sword was ready to attack. This person of unknown origins had snuck into Wu Kong Mountain. He had accidentally discovered him. The other’s cultivation was slightly above him. He had just come out of the sword formation. After fighting for a long time and having just broken through into ningmai, his mentality was at the highest level. His perception was more sensitive than it ever had been. If this was before, he definitely wouldn’t have detected the other person. The other was so strong, he was in awe!

He had pursued the other for three hundred kilometers and had almost lost them a few times. What he had given him an even worse feeling was the other person seemed to have had not used his full power.

Wei Sheng’s personality was courageous. Even though he knew the other was strong, he didn’t have any thoughts to retreat. The desire for battle rose in his eyes.

“I heard that Young Master Wei had caused a natural apparition when entering zhuji, the sword energy reaching to the skies. Seeing you today, you really have lived up to your reputation. After entering the sword cave, Young Master seems to have learned a lot. Your sect’s [Void Sword] finally has been uncovered. It really is auspicious.” The white-clothed male’s voice was warm and gentle, like a clear spring. Paired with his extremely handsome appearance, he appeared to be a graceful and learned young man, someone that people would have a hard time finding dislike for.

Wei Sheng was even more wary. Other than the sect’s disciple, no one else knew that he had entered the sword cave. This person was so clear about the sword cave. If previously, he hadn’t been certain if the other had deliberately snuck into Wu Kong Mountain, he was now certain that this person had been secretly gathering information about the sect, and had malicious aims.

“If you are not willing to give your name, there is nothing to say,” His tiger-like eyes brightened, and he shouted. The air around him moved, yet there was no wind, and slowly started to circle around him. The Splitting Rainbow sword appeared his hand, pointed at the white-clad male.

The white-clad male found his surroundings darken as though he was situated in a void.

An empty and murderous nothingness.

An abnormal light flashed through the white-clothed male’s eyes as he praised, “Young Master Wei is as talented as expected. [Void Sword] will definitely be spectacular in Young Master’s hands!”

As he spoke, the figure of the white-clothed male that was standing still slowly faded. When he said the last word, his figure vanished at the same time, only leaving behind his voice.

Shock finally came into Wei Sheng’s eyes!

His consciousness repeatedly scanned the surroundings. There were no traces. The other had left. Under the lock of his sword essence, he had disappeared into thin air! He made a thoughtful sound, stepped on the Splitting Rainbow sword, turned into a red light and flew in the direction of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

When his figure disappeared on the horizon, on the spot the white-clothed male had disappeared, a figure slowly appeared.

“Is it him?” He gazed at the sky as he said to himself.

———

Sky Moon House was the best dwelling in Dong Fu. It was halfway up the mountain, constructed on top of a ling vein. There were forty seven suites in total, all with the necessary talismans. The ling energy inside the rooms was extremely thick. The xiuzhe that passed through enjoyed resting at this place, but its price was extremely high. Ten pieces of third-grade jingshi per day. Zuo Mo might have earned a fair bit each day, but if he had to live in Sky Moon House, he would barely manage to pay the rent for each day, much less any other service.

Sky Moon House, which was usually half-filled, was entirely filled today. The rent each day jumped from ten pieces of third-grade jingshi to fifty pieces of third-grade jingshi. Even so, there were no vacancies. All the experts that came from different parts of Sky Moon Jie were living here.

The alcohol of Sky Moon House was Old Wang Alcohol. The ling food came from Master Shao’s Food Pavilion.

The Star Pavilion, the gathering place of Sky Moon House, had numerous day stones and broken crystals embedded in the ceiling, creating a roof of stars. In the rooms inside the Star Pavilion, the Serene Blue Ivy climbed all over the place, the blue fluorescence adding hints of mystery.

“Brother Chao is really lucky!” Beside the stone table, a person couldn’t help stating.

The people seats were all attendees of the competition. Each person’s face was full of envy. Without a doubt, Chao An had been the luckiest in his draw of all of them.

Chao An was smug inside, but said, “I’m actually envious of everyone else. You can all have a good fight. For me, even if I won, I won’t be praised,” He came from Fort Chao, cultivated the extremely obscure Fiery Polaris Hammer, extremely strong and exquisite.

“Brother Chao is getting an advantage and playing humble,” One of the other people smiled and said, “Ask anyone else here, who doesn’t want to switch with Brother Chao? Reputation is intangible, but the prize is real.”

The people seated all agreed.

Chao An could only beg for forgiveness. In the end, only after he promised to pay for the meal did the others stop.

In the little pavilion covered with light gauze, the figures of two people could be barely made out from the outside. If the gauze was lifted, anyone would instantly see it was the pick to win the competition, Gu Rong Ping, and opposite, him was a silent person wearing a black gauze veil.

“I had wanted to find a quiet place. But I didn’t expect to see these kind of people,” Gu Rong Ping frowned, and said discontentedly. His eyes landed on the black gauze of the person sitting opposite him, his voice warm as he said, “I hadn’t thought I would encounter Shimei here. I had thought it would take another five years before seeing Shimei here.”

He didn’t disguise the heart. No one would have guessed the person wearing the black hat, mysterious and strong xiuzhe called Su was actually female.

Her glowing wrist reached out and picked up the ling tea in front of her. Gently lifting the corner of the black guaze, the moist and red lips touched the white and glowing porcelain cup. Gu Rong Ping’s eyes instantly turned as hot as fire.

“Shimei will even refuse to let me see your visage?” Gu Rong Ping gazed at Su, and said sedately. But the excitement in his tone naturally spilled out.

“Shixiong’s heart has become disordered,” Su said gently, the black gauze not rippling at all, “If the heart is disordered, where is the Heart Lake Sword?”

Gu Rong Ping’s eyes flashed angrily. He didn’t continue, and suddenly closed his eyes. A while later, he opened them, his eyes clear, “Shimei is correct. After the Sword Test Conference ends, where is Shimei planning to go?”

“Forge a sword.”

“Oh,” Surprise came onto Gu Rong Ping’s eyes, “Shimei found some cold magnets?”

Su’s peaceful voice finally showed some emotion, “En, it’s already been cut. Four pieces.”

“Congratulations Shimei!” Gu Rong Ping’s heart was even more fretful. If Shimei went to forge a sword, she probably won’t come out in five years. His heart suddenly moved, “If this brother hasn’t remembered it wrong, if the cold magnet is made into a sword, it has to first be made into a sword billet. But this processing… …”

“I’ve already found someone,” Su’s voice returned to its usual faintness, “No need for Shixiong to worry.”

At this time, Chao An’s table erupted in laughter again.

“Ah, need to prepare for the match soon!”

“Yes, only Brother Chao can slack off.”

“A zhuji guy. If Brother Chao uses more than three moves, this one will disdain you.”

“Why don’t we make a wager? Wager on how many moves it will take Brother Chao to finish.”

“This is good. I bet three moves!”

“I wager one!”

“Okay okay. Be generous and stop mocking me,” Chao An bowed, “I just said it. Look, even if I win, I won’t get any benefits.”

The people jeered again.

Gu Rong Ping had just hit a soft nail with Shimei and was angry. Hearing the crow chat, he was even more furious. A cold light flashed through his eyes. He was young, of extraordinary cultivation, and famed. He was usually favored in the sect. No one usually dared to be so outrageous in front of him. His face was instantly dark.

He had just thought of standing up to teach this crowd a lesson when his eyes blurred. At some unknown time, Shimei had stood up.

What did she want to do?

“I bet ten moves,” Behind the light gauze, Su said faintly as she faced Chao An and the others. Her voice was not loud, but easily passed through the light gauze. This light gauze had isolation formations but they were not effective right now.

The table instantly became silent. Chao An’s face was frighteningly dark.

“Who, sir, are you? Please give a name,” Chao An smiled insincerely as he raised his hands in a greeting. Being slapped in front of his friends, could Chao An tolerate it? Because there were isolation formations on the light gauze, they could only see that there were two people inside. However, they could not see or hear their appearance or the content of their words.

“You do not have to know who I am. Bet, or no bet?” Su said, unaffected.

Gu Rong Ping was slightly surprised. Shimei was cold and indifferent. No one could be more clear about that than he was. She should not be interested in this kind of matter! But she was now wagering for someone else, this… …

What relationship did Shimei have with that person? Light rose in Gu Rong Ping’s eyes, his expression was slightly interested.

In front of so many people, if he didn’t accept this bet, then Chao An’s reputation would really sweep the floor. Couldn’t defeat a zhuji with ten moves? The other was clearly trying to humiliate him!

Chao An was extremely angry, but his voice was steady as he said, “Since Sire has said it, then this one will accept it. What to bet?”

“Anything,” A faint voice came out of the light gauze pavilion.

Chao An became even more certain the other was mocking him. A cold smile came out of his face. He took out a jade bottle and opened the stopper. Ling energy and a fragrant medicinal smell instantly spread in the air.

The people in the surroundings felt their minds jump. Some that understood lingdan became restless.

“Third-grade Intense Fire Dan. There are thirty six of them,” Intense Fire Dan was a lingdan that was a specialty of Fort Chao. The fire it contained was extremely domineering. It was a famous fire-type lingdan in Sky Moon Jie.

An item flew out of the pavilion. Chao An’s eyes focused and caught it.

“Dying Flowing Moon, third-grade.”

The people seated couldn’t keep still, and stood up, each one stretching their necks to look at the crystal bottle in Chao An’s hands. The crystal bottle was clear and flawless. The bottle itself was not cheap. Inside the crystal bottle, there was a fingernail sized ball of faint misty fluid.

Dying Flowing Moon. Supposedly, every ten years, there would be an extremely bright mid-autumn moon. Dying Flowing Moon was made from the moon light of that night. It was extremely valuable and rare!

Just this little bottle of Dying Flowing Moon, its value far surpassed Chao An’s Intense Fire Dan.

Chao An’s face was black.

Chapter 122: Bet

Tao Zu Er, Yan Ming Zi, and Hu Shan were walking on the streets of Dong Fu. They liked being in busy places, and right now, what place in Sky Moon Jie was more busy than Dong Fu?

Hu Shan rubbed his hands, and said with an excited expression, “Excellent. I’ve waited for so long. The stupid preliminary Sword Test Conference finally finished! Only the true competition is worth seeing!”

Tao Zhu Er’s eyes were dazed, “Yes. Gu Rong Ping is too handsome! I think, in Sky Moon Jie, there isn’t a man more outstanding than him! I really like him!”

Hu Shan stared at Tao Zhu Er inside for being a fangirl. He suddenly noticed that Yan Ming Zi seemed unfocused.

“Old Yan, what are you thinking about?”

Yan Ming Zi raised his head and focused. He gave a grimace. “I’m thinking about making jingshi!”

“Making jingshi? You’re lacking for jingshi right now? I’ve got some right now. Do you want some?” Hu Shan said forthrightly. The three, because they had the same battle experience, became close friends.

Yan Ming Zi shook his head, “Just bought a new flying sword. I’ve nearly spent all my jingshi. No rush, I can slowly make more. I’ll find you if I really can’t find a way.”

“Oh, you bought a new flying sword? Quick, let us see,” said Tao Zhu Er, as she was instantly interested in the new sword.

Yan Ming Zi took out a dark blue flying sword, “The Sword’s name is [Deep Ocean], it’s third-grade.”

Hu Shan looked and then shook his head. “It can’t compare to your previous Water Drop sword.”

“You’re just wasting words!” Yan Ming Zi rolled his eyes in exasperation. Hu Shan’s words stirred up the three’s hurt.

Seeing the situation, Tao Zhu Er quickly changed the topic, “So what way did you think of making jingshi?” Of the three, Yan Ming Zi was of average power but the best at business.

As expected, this question was Yan Ming Zi’s true love. He came the focus of attention, “Of course, it is the Sword Test Conference!”

“Sword Test Conference? How do you make jingshi from that?” Hu Shan asked strangely.

Yan Ming Zi patiently explained, “We can’t meddle in other business, but if we have spare money, and make a small bet, it wouldn’t be bad.”

Hu Shan instantly became disinterested, and said scornfully, “You mean gambling, that’s not interesting.”

Tao Zhu Er was actually interested. “Old Yan, don’t pay attention to him. Tell me more.”

Yan Ming Zi became even more excited. “Gambling naturally is not anything good. But the Sword Test Conference is different from other gambling.”

“How so?”

“There might be luck in this Sword Test Conference, but the true determinant is power. There are patterns that can be found in this. A person’s strength, in a short period of time, wouldn’t change very much. Considering the conflict between different spells, the quality of the talismans, even though it is impossible to accurately decide the result of the match, but one can determine the general direction.”

Hu Shan laughed, “Then how will you know other people’s strength? And their talismans?”

Yan Ming Zi nodded, “This is the crux of the problem. It is very hard to determine power, but the non-local competitors have already fought a few times, and general guesses can be made. As to talismans,” he said proudly, “in this area, I have some experience.”

“That’s true. Old Yan, you’re always good at picking talismans,” said Hu Shan. He admired Yan Ming Zi very much on this skill.

“Hue hue,” Yan Ming Zi said smugly, “there are many kinds of wagers. Like the first match that’s been spread around so much, Zuo Mo versus Chao An.”

“What’s there to gamble there? Of course Chao An wins!” Hu Shan said unconcernedly, “The Scalping Zombie might be strong, but his cultivation is just that. He definitely cannot win over ningmai experts!”

“Exactly!” Yan Ming Zi agreed, but his direction changed, “But right now, what’s spread the most is this wager. Everyone is betting how many moves that Zuo Mo can take from Chao An.”

“This bet works?” Hu Shan gaped.

“Ha, the odds for three moves and under are pretty normal. After three moves, the odds explode,” Yan Ming Zi said.

“Did you bet?” Hu Shan asked.

“Oh, I put down for seven moves,” Yan Ming Zi said smugly, “the odds are one to sixteen.”

“You feel he can endure seven of Chao An’s moves?” Hu Shan’s face was full of shock, “Chao An isn’t some little character. He’s the strongest disciple of Fort Chao. You have too much confidence in the Scalping Zombie!”

Yan Ming Zi said in a deep voice, “How do you think Chao An compares to Chang Heng Shixiong?”

“Naturally he cannot compare!” Hu Shan didn’t need to think before saying unhesitatingly, “Chang Heng Shixiong is very strong! Before, when he was in zhuji, he had defeated people in ningmai.”

“Ah!” Yan Ming Zi was slightly shocked at the last part, “How come I didn’t know this?”

Hu Shan unconsciously lowered his voice, “Not many people know this. Shixiong’s Blood Spider sword was obtained by killing someone! That’s why he was punished by the sect leader.”

The other two instantly felt fearful shock.

“It seems my jingshi won’t be wasted,” Yan Ming spoke. The first thing Yan Ming Zi thought about was his jingshi. He smiled and said, “Originally, the betting shouldn’t be this popular. However, Chao An was confronted with a wager. The other wagered a bottle of Dying Flowing Moon for Zuo Mo to make it through ten moves. That was what stirred everything up.”

“Dying Flowing Moon… …,” Hu Shan’s expression was dazed as he muttered, “That’s such a waste… …”

Tao Zhu Er, who hadn’t spoke, suddenly asked, “What’s the odds for Zuo Mo to win?”

Yan Ming Zi jerked. “About one to three hundred,” He looked in shock at Tao Zhu Er. “You want to bet he’ll win? That’s not possible!”

“Why not?” Tao Zhu Er said unconcernedly, “In any case, I’ll just wager a few jingshi. It will be an amusement. If Chang Heng Shixiong was in zhuji and could be defeated… …”

Her words suddenly stopped, her eyes were focused. The other two people saw she didn’t continue and found it strange. When they saw her frozen expression and dazed eyes, they couldn’t help but follow her gaze. Then the two also froze.

A person was walking towards them.

Li Ying Feng looked at her shidi who was in the yard and shook her head. It hadn’t been anything important when Shidi had been arranged to fight first. She had felt that the sect leader had wanted Zuo Mo to gain some experience. But the bet about how long Zuo Mo could stay in the fight had suddenly spread everywhere.

A person of unknown origins had publicly threw out a bottle of Dying Flowing Moon, wagering that Shidi could make it through ten of Chao An’s moves. It instantly caused a furor. Originally, no one had been interested in the match. But now, this match had become the most talked out and attractive match.

Wasn’t that putting Shidi onto a fire to roast?

Shidi had shut himself in the yard the past few days, and was working on something she didn’t know. She was extremely worried. Shidi should be practicing the sword some more, honing himself before the fight, even if it wasn’t effective, at least it would look good!

In the time that Shidi had stayed at the store, she had never seen him practice the sword.

Did he think he could win with those useless low grade formations? She naturally was not opposed to Shidi studying formations, but formations were more likely used in dan-making and forging. They were not very effective in fighting.

At this time, he shouldn’t be working on formations!

Wei Sheng travelled on the Splitting Rainbow as he landed in Dong Fu. He had gone back to Wu Kong Mountain and reported to the sect leader about the white-clothed male before rushing towards Dong Fu. Zuo Mo was in the first match. If he came late, he would miss Shidi’s match.

As he entered Dong Fu, the bustling crowds on the street was a small surprise to Wei Sheng.

Differing from Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng was full of interest towards the Sword Test Conference. A chance to spar with different kinds of experts, it was really rare. Just thinking about it, he felt his blood boil, and his desire for battle rise.

He suddenly thought of Zuo Mo and couldn’t help but smile. With Shidi’s lazy personality, he definitely wouldn’t be interested in the Sword Test Conference. When he thought about Shidi’s unwillingness to compete, and his helplessness against the sect leader’s order, he felt it was extremely humorous.

Shidi was very talented. It was a pity he was not interested in the sword. If this time, it could force him, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Wei Sheng was an exceptionally pure sword xiu. When Zuo Mo had been focusing on ling farming in the beginning, he hadn’t felt anything. But when Zuo Mo’s talent in cultivating the sword was revealed, but he was obsessed with other things, Wei Sheng felt it was a great pity.

Suddenly, he heard words from the surroundings.

“How many moves did you bet?”

“Three moves. Zhuji against ningmai. If he could make it through three, it will be the max.”

“Oh, I don’t know what Wu Kong Sword Sect was thinking, sending a little zhuji guy to embarrass themselves.”

“Yeah. I heard his main focus is dan-making. He shouldn’t be coming here!”

A person argued, “It’s not certain he’ll embarrass himself. Dying Flowing Moon, who has it? A person that has Dying Flowing Moon, would they not have good eyes? From what I see, this Zuo Mo definitely has real skill!”

“Real skill? Ha! Even if he has skill, he’s only in zhuji!”

… …

Wei Sheng’s expression became very ugly. He barely suppressed the impulse to beat up those people.

Along the way, he heard many similar discussions.

He strode to the doorway of a casino.

“Hey, Mister, do you want to try out your luck? Dong Fu’s hottest betting match, wagering how many moves, extremely interesting… …”

Wei Sheng prepared to speak when a voice came from behind him.

“Take out all the jingshi you have right now.”

Robbery? Wei Sheng paused and couldn’t help but turn around.

The person speaking was a round faced man. There were two males and one female standing in front of him. The three of them seemed extremely frightened of the round-faced man, seem to be very timid in front of him. When the round-face man spoke, the three hurriedly took out all the jingshi they had.

“Wager Zuo Mo wins,” The round-faced man said briskly.

Yan Ming Zi couldn’t resist, “Chang Shixiong, this Zuo Mo… …”

“En?” The round-faced man glanced at Yan Ming Zi. Yan Ming Zi’s heart jumped and the words that reached his mouth shrunk back. Hu Shan and Tao Zhu er were docilely standing with their heads down at the side. The two of them were cursing Yan Ming Zi inside.

Old Yan, you dumbass. You don’t want to live, but don’t pull us along… …

Wei Sheng looked with slight surprise at the round-faced man. This was the first he had heard that someone was betting Shidi would win. He noticed the clothing of the three people behind the round-faced man had the symbol of Ling Ying Sect. Didn’t Ling Ying Sect have a grudge against Shidi?

Chang Shixiong… … Wei Sheng seemed to understand.

The worker that was guarding the door looked at the four like he was looking at idiots. Seeing the jingshi in Yan Ming Zi’s hands, he couldn’t help but drool. He cursed inside. This group was really wastrels. If they had that much jingshi, give it to him, don’t throw it in the water!

Of course, none of it showed on his face. He praised, “Sire’s eyes are very unique!” But he still hesitated, “All on Zuo Mo winning?”

“Bet,” The round-faced man said.

Taking the receipt, the round-faced male turned and left. Yan Ming Zi and the others exchanged a look and could only dispiritedly follow behind.

“Really wastrels!” Once the round-faced man left, the worker of the casino seemed to have opened a flood, continuously talking to Wei Sheng, “Just look. Aren’t those people mental? From the time the betting started, no one has bet on Zuo Mo winning! They just aren’t thinking of jingshi as jingshi. What do you say, a zhuji defeating a ningmai, is there anything as hilarious as this? Wastrels, really terrible wastrels… …”

He shook his head, saliva flying.

“Fifty pieces of third-grade jingshi.” Wei Sheng smiled and handed over the jingshi.

“Great. How many moves are you betting? Look here, this is the odds for each move… …”

“Bet on Zuo Mo winning.” Wei Sheng kept on smiling gently.

The worker was dumbstruck.

Chapter 123: Battle Start

Chao An was extremely furious.

In this period of time, the wagers on his and Zuo Mo’s match had become the hottest topic in Dong Fu. Based on what he saw, this was clearly mocking him. At what time was he ever mentioned on the same level as a zhuji greenhorn?

What waves could a zhuji xiuzhe make? He didn’t believe it.

However, he was not a rash person. That mysterious expert could take out a treasure as Dying Flowing Moon, then it definitely was not a joke. But when he made a search, he wanted to laugh and cry.

Zuo Mo actually was a xiuzhe whose main profession was dan-making.

Look at what Chao An had found out in relation to Zuo Mo, ling plant farmer, Golden Crow pill, processing… …

Such a zhuji person wanted to make it through ten moves by him, it really was a great joke! Thinking about it, Chao An unconsciously fisted his hands. If Zuo Mo really did block ten of his moves, then he would become this year’s Sword Test Conference, no, the entire Sky Moon Jie’s joke! He would become the target of mockery by countless people at a meal. When they mentioned him, they would never say that he was the most talented disciples of Fort Chao, but garbage that couldn’t even defeated a zhuji greenhorn!

He definitely couldn’t let himself become a joke!

Definitely!

Two balls of fire jumped in Chao An’s eyes.

———

“What?” Li Ying Feng stared dazedly at the jingshi that Zuo Mo shoved over, “You want to bet on you winning? Are you crazy?”

What Zuo Mo handed over was three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi.

“Haha! Shidi has great daring!” A forthright laugh suddenly passed into the store from outside. Wei Sheng strode in and scanned Zuo Mo. He smiled and said, “It seems that Shidi is full of confidence for the fight! I’m not worried any more. I put all my money on you winning. If you lose, I won’t get anything back! Haha!”

Li Ying Feng looked at Zuo Mo and Eldest Shixiong like she was looking at insane people.

Were they crazy… …

Zuo Mo heard Shixiong’s words and his heart warmed. Everyone thought that he would lose, only Shixiong believed he would win! He suppressed the movement in his heart and smiled, “I’ve done a lot of work and will give Chao An a surprise.”

The eyes on that zombie face flashed with a strange light.

“Haha! Shidi will always give people surprises. I’m looking forward to it!” Wei Sheng roared with laughter.

They were really crazy… …

Li Ying Feng shook her head as she walked out the door. She’ll bet it. In any case, it wasn’t her jingshi.

The Dong Fu Sword Test Conference finally was going to start. Originally, no one had been interested in the first match, but the wagering had gotten so popular that the number of people that came to watch was astounding. This match were the strength was so unbalanced, the amount of jingshi that was connected to it reached a terrifying number. This had furthered everyone’s interest in the match.

Anyone that heard about the wagering on how many moves it would take couldn’t help but be curious how many moves Zuo Mo could go through.

How many moves?

Which one would it be?

The Sword Test Conference was called the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference. No one had thought that this competition would attract of more than half of the young experts of Sky Moon Jie. It could almost be called the Sky Moon Jie Sword Test Conference. There were some doubts about the sword test conference, and especially about the strength of the local xiuzhe. The non-local xiuzhe had used spectacular performances to prove their strength. But Dong Fu’s xiuzhe had not fought up until now. This was also why, in all the rankings, the Dong Fu xiuzhe didn’t rank high.

There was a quota of local xiuzhe who did not need to pass through the preliminary Sword Test Conference. Consequently, the zhuji xiuzhe that appeared in the true competition was a farce in the eyes of many people.

As a result, from the start of the competition, the arguments about the Sword Test Conference had not stopped. The unfairness between the local and non-local xiuzhe etc etc… …

But the host Tian Song Zi had used a very short sentence to shut everyone up, “This Sword Test Conference is Dong Fu Sword Test Conference.” The implicit meaning was that this was us holding a competition for ourselves. It’s generous of us to let you attend.

Non-local xiuzhe had nothing to say, but their rage hadn’t disappeared. Zuo Mo was the only zhuji xiuzhe in this Sword Test Conference and became infamous.

Many people wanted to see him get embarrassed. The wagering on how many moves it would take was primarily due to the machinations of those people.

“There’s a lot of people.” Zuo Mo looked at the dense crowds in the surroundings and asked heartlessly, “Shijie, did you bet the jingshi?”

Li Ying Feng wanted to turn and leave. Look what time it was, Shidi was still thinking about jingshi… …

She manage to suppress the impulse to explode and said irritably, “I bet it! According to your request, I spread it out.”

“Oh, then I’m not worried. Hee hee!” Zuo Mo gave an extremely perverse laugh with an expressionless face. It was extremely strange to see.

Heavens! Why did she come out with this weirdo? It was really embarrassing!

She was extremely regretful. Why hadn’t she just turned and left earlier?

“Brother Chao, really, your opponent is someone like that?” One of Chao An’s people said in an exaggerated voice.

Chao An’s expression was extremely angry, his hands cracking as they became fists.

The sect leaders and elders of the various large sects were sitting on a Lucky Cloud far away. Wu Kong Sword Sect’s Pei Yuan Ran was also one of them. The Lucky Cloud was extremely large, multiple mu in area. On it, chairs and tables were provided as well as ling fruits and tea. The disciples of each sect were standing heads down at the side.

“Your sect’s Zuo Mo is very interesting! As expected, truly a money-grubber. Are all your disciples like this?” Ling Yin Sect’s sect leader roared with laughter.

Their cultivations were all astonishing and they could easily catch what was happening below. Zuo Mo and Li Ying Feng’s conversation had entered their ears.

Shi Feng Rong’s eyelid flickered, anger barely hidden. Pei Yuan Ran’s expression was as usual. “Zuo Mo’s personality is straightforward and whimsical, extremely interesting. Money-grubber? Our sect, including me, the sect leader, are all money-grubbers. Your sect is very wealthy and do not know the troubles of us poor people. Ha ha!”

“That’s right, this one had heard something before. Do not talk about jingshi in front of Ling Ying Sect.” Someone couldn’t help but say sourly, “To us poor people, scrimping and saving is very normal.”

Ling Ying Sect was so rich it came out of their pores. Many people were jealous. Adding in that they were usually proud and domineering, they didn’t have many friendly relationships. Pei Yuan Ran’s light words threw Ling Ying Sect on the opposite side of everyone else.

The sect leader of Ling Ying Sect was not stupid. Seeing the unfriendly gazes of the people around him, he understood.

His expression did not change. He smiled, saying, “Each family has their own problems. The wagering has been pretty hot recently, how many moves it would take. Sect Leader Pei should be most familiar with your sect’s disciples. How many moves does Sect Leader Pei think Zuo Mo could go through? I had bet three!” He then twisted his mouth and said, “Could Sect Leader Pei give some insider information? Three moves shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Shi Feng Rong’s eyelids and eyebrows simultaneously went up. She was about to act when Xin Yan put out a hand to stop her.

Hearing this, Pei Yuan Ran pretended to be shocked and said, “Insider information? You don’t know? If I remember correctly, the last time Zuo Mo went to visit your sect, he had sparred with five of your disciples. Did your disciples not report that to you?”

“Oh, something like that had happened?” At the side, Tian Song Zi heard this, and couldn’t help but be interested, “What was the result?”

Pei Yuan Ran said regretfully, “Lost to Chang Heng.”

Ling Ying Sect’s leader’s face was horrifically black. He had wanted to take the chance to mock Pei Yuan Ran and the others. He hadn’t thought that Pei Yuan Ran would push a fire onto him.

No matter the time, there were always people willing to add insult to injury.

The leader of Chi Sword Sect said, deliberately pretending to be ignorant, “So that means four wins and one loss? Oh, Chang Heng had already broken through to ningmai, how can he fight with a zhuji?”

“Hearing you guys say this, I’m full of interest in Zuo Mo now.” Another sect leader opened.

“It was luck, just luck!” Pei Yuan Ran deflected.

The leader of Ling Ying Sect was regretful now. But he could not explain that Chang Heng hadn’t broken through to ningmai at that time. Such a inglourious matter, the more that was said, the more embarrassing it was. He could only swallow the bitterness.

Zuo Mo walked onto the battlefield. Chao An was waiting for him.

Chao An saw Zuo Mo sedately swing as he walked onto the field and his expression became even uglier. The longer this guy stood in front of him, the more he would be laughed at. He wanted the elder responsible for judging the match to announce the start of the fight, and he would hammer this damned guy into paste!

Since it was the first match, to show its importance, the judge responsible for the fight was a jindan.

His eyes coldly glanced across the two. In his eyes, there was no difference between ningmai and zhuji. The warning glance moved past the two people who couldn’t help but shudder. The anger in Chao An’s eyes disappeared, and Zuo Mo’s swaying body stopped.

“You can use any move other than ling beasts. If someone admits loss, you cannot attack. If someone is unconscious, it is instantly judged a loss, the other cannot continue to attack… …”

Chao An told himself. Be calm, I need to be calm.

But he kept on feeling the dense crowds of spectators were all looking at him with ridicule in their eyes like they were looking at a clown. Facing the judge, he didn’t dare to make any moves. He lowered his head, suppressing the anger that had accumulated in his chest.

The judge finally finished announcing the rules, both of his hands making a cut down, “Battle start!”

Chao An raised his head, his eyes filled with a stormy fury. He was like an infuriated lion, terrifying!

The Intense Fire Hammer in his hand turned with a boom into a ball of fire the size of a house and floated beside his body. The deep red flames spit and spat on the outside of the ball of fire. The heat that the fireball released could be clearly felt by spectators one hundred zhang away. Chao An seemed minuscule compared to the fireball beside him.

The light of the flickering fire reflected on Chao An’s face. His face was full of murderous intent!

Taking the chance, Zuo Mo’s hand flipped and threw out a jade disk.

Those with keen eyes instantly recognized it as a formation disk!

Once the formation disk was thrown out, it turned to several streams of light and disappeared into the air.

Many of the spectators either gave a disdainful expression or a disappointed one.

Just a second-grade Path Confusion Formation. What effect could it have on a ningmai xiuzhe?

Feeling the anger boiling in his chest, seeing the other’s poor performance, Chao An looked on with ridicule and disdain and deep anger!

Just this kind of person, he could make it through ten of his moves?

Chapter 124: Multiple Shadows and Intense Fire

A second-grade Path Confusion formation posed no risk to Chao An who was in the stage of ningmai.

Poof.

Like a bubble bursting, the light sound didn’t cause a ripple. The light surrounding Chao An changed slightly. The Path Confusion Formation couldn’t even endure the presence of the fireball beside Chao An and was instantly torn to bits.

However, in that period of time, in front of Chao An, Zuo Mo had turned from one to five.

“Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal!”

Watching from the side, Yan Ming Zi and the others gaped and turned to look at each other.

“Isn’t this Wang Shixiong’s medicine-seal-style?”

“Such a wretched opening move!”

“The core of the medicine-seal-style!”

Standing beside the three people was Wang Shixiong. At this time, he was gaping with wide eyes, not knowing what to say. Last time, Zuo Mo had defeated him. Adding in the fact the wagering had been extra hot in Dong Fu, he had great interest about the scalping Zombie’s match, and had especially came to watch. Not just him, nearly all the disciples of Ling Ying Sect had come out, wanting to personally see the sorry outcome of the Scalping Zombie.

It had always been Ling Ying Sect running to other sects and bullying other people. To be harassed at their own doors, and losing, Zuo Mo was the first one.

It was an embarrassment, embarrassment!

The Ling Ying Sect disciple gritted their teeth, wanting to go up, skin and strip the damned zombie, especially when they saw Zuo Mo was using Wang Shixiong’s medicine-seal-style. Instantly, the new hate and the old grudges merged.

The spectators all shook their heads. Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal was very useful in the battles between low level xiuzhe, but facing a person higher than the user like Chao An, this move was not effective.

Four illusions, one real person. The illusions had to be controlled by the real person. This was why the Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal was not used in higher level battles. Controlling the illusions meant that one had to split their attention and the difficulty of manipulation would increase. Those illusions were only useful for confusion others but did not do anything else.

On the field, five Zuo Mo spread out.

“Whoa!” A light suddenly rose in the eyes of Wang Shixiong.

He was the creator of medicine-seal-style, and the Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal was his trademark opening move. He was way too familiar with this move! But with his eyes, he actually could not detect which of the five Zuo Mo was the real one!

The movements of the five Zuo Mos were extremely synchronized. They continuously took out formation disks from the hundred treasures pouch at the waist and then furiously threw them into the field.

In a second, the formation disks flew like rain into the field.

How… … was it possible… …

In a second, his expression froze. His mouth slowly dropped further but he didn’t realize it.

He couldn’t tell… … still couldn’t tell… …

Each Zuo Mo moved just the same as the real one. There was no stiffness, no place that they seemed fake. The other disciples might not understand the difference, but Wang Shixiong, who was so familiar with the Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal, how could he not understand the difficulty involved?

The illusions created by the Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal would not move on their own. If they had to move, it must be controlled by the mind. With his skill, he could just control one illusion, and he had to leave the other three alone. The one illusion that he could control would definitely not be as realistic and detailed as what was happening now.

Controlling four illusions at the same time, and could fight with such ease, how terrifying must his consciousness be?

Unknowingly, sweat started to flow down his back and silently dripped down. He suddenly had a strong feeling this fight wouldn’t peacefully and easily finish.

In Sky Moon Jie that was dominated by sword xiu, aids like the Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal were things that people ridiculed. But Wang Shixiong who had a deep knowledge of the Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal was very clear, if the user could accurately control every illusion, the useless Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal would become full of danger.

No, it was actually terrifyingly dangerous!

When it was impossible to distinguish the illusions using the naked eye, one had to use their consciousness to detect it. However, would the consciousness of a person who could control four illusions be weak?

If one could not tell the true from the illusions and their spirit was not strong enough, then there was only one way… …

This fight had attracted countless pairs of eyes, experts gathering around. They may not be as familiar with the Multiple Ghost Shadows seal as Wang Shixoing but their understanding of battle helped them see some clues. The underestimation on many people’s faces were swept away. They started to think, if they were facing an opponent who had five bodies, real and illusory, how could they deal with it?

On the Lucky Cloud, Tian Song Zi saw Zuo Mo’s move and couldn’t help but praise, “Your sect’s Zuo Mo is really a good one. I heard Yu Bai say that he had comprehended sword essence when he was in lianqi. I hadn’t quite believed it, but seeing him now, he really is exceptionally talented!”

Comprehended sword essence in lianqi? Once the words were spoken, the sect leaders on the Lucky Cloud all had shocked expressions!

The heavens really loved Wu Kong Sword Sect too much! Having a genius that had an apparition when he entered zhuji, and hiding a genius that comprehended sword essence when he was in lianqi! Other than sighing, they couldn’t help but feel admiration and envy. Each of them had their own thoughts. The face of the Ling Ying Sect leader was extremely poor.

Comprehended sword essence in lianqi? Shi Feng Rong, Xin Yan and the others stared at each other, their eyes filled with shock and surprise. They found that they hadn’t had a clue at all.

Great, see how I’ll sort you out when we get back! The light jumped in Shi Feng Rong’s eyes and she burned with anger.

Chao An could not distinguish the real Zuo Mo from the fake illusions.

In the scriptures that he had practiced in Fort Chao, the spirit was the area that was the least important.

Looking at the five Zuo Mo thrown formation disks into the field, he felt joy instead of anger. The more Zuo Mo showed he was strong, after he won, the better he would look.

In reality, the strength that Zuo Mo was displaying now could be considered the top of zhuji xiuzhe.

But, what you are facing is a ningmai xiuzhe. The distance between you and I is much bigger than you have imagined!

Chao An gave a dark smile.

It was true. He could not find which Zuo Mo was the real one. But, did he need to know which one was real?

All the anger and humiliation that had accumulated in his heart was like molten lava flowing inside his body, burning his body, pain covering his entire body! His body became a strange red color as though he was made from boiling red metal. The specialty of Fort Chao, [Fiery Scripture], had reached its maximum.

He wanted to use a method that no one could have any doubts about to win this battle. He wanted everyone to shut their mouths!

His legs spread out slightly. Lowering his head, the gigantic fireball that was burning as it floated beside him suddenly bounced towards the sky.

The spectators couldn’t help but raise their heads, their eyes tightly fixed on the soaring fireball. They all knew what was coming was Chao Ao’s full frontal attack!

Seriousness came onto Wei Sheng’s face. He could feel the astounding power contained in that fireball. At his side, Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng paled. Before, they had thought about the gap in power between the two people, but the confidence that Zuo Mo had displayed had made them feel that the gap was not as big as they thought. But now, they found that the gap was even bigger than they had imagined.

In the sky far away, two people silently floated in the air and watched the fight.

“Shimei is that confident in Zuo Mo?” Gu Rong Ping looked at the match and said slowly, “Fort Chao’s Fiery Hammer, strong on the offensive and weak on the defence but the power isn’t bad. If he gets to complete it, even I would have some trouble.”

Su was floating beside him and said faintly, “We’ll know when they finish.”

Gu Rong Ping gave a light chuckle, “It seems that Shimei has a lot of confidence in him. Oh, then I can have high expectations.”

Su didn’t respond.

Yan Ming Zi and the others were very nervous right now. Hu Shan directly asked Wang Shixiong, “Shixiong, what’s the situation?”

Before he finished, Chao An shouted. Boom. His fisted hands suddenly crashed together in front of his chest.

As his fists hit each other, the fireball in the sky suddenly exploded, turning into countless fist-sized fireballs, howling as they started falling down!

The “Fire Rain Hammer” of [Fiery Hammer]!

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

From nothingness, from low to high, the howls swept the field like a flood. Even the ground was trembling slightly. The xiuzhe that had been looking at Chao An like they were looking like a jade suddenly changed expressions!

The light in Wei Sheng’s eyes grew as he stared at the field, the tendons in his hand protruding uncontrollably.

The sect leaders on the Lucky Cloud didn’t have the attention to talk now, their eyes locked on the field. Shi Feng Rong’s expression changed slightly. Zuo Mo should not meet this move head on! A hint of remorse flashed through Pei Yuan Ran’s eyes. His original intention had been for Zuo Mo to have some experience. He hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would land in such a dangerous situation. They had only thought that Zuo Mo had comprehended sword essence when he had been in zhuji so they hadn’t opposed him when Zuo Mo went to practice things like ling farming and dan-making.

If they had known that this guy had comprehended sword essence when he was in lianqi… …

If such a good sprout like this one was ruined on his hands, how could he face the ancestral masters? Pei Yuan Ran’s expression couldn’t help but change slightly. The faces of the others were also abnormally ugly. A cold light flashed through Xin Yan’s eyes. His right hand hidden in his sleeve, at some unknown time, was gripping a little sword.

Only the sect leader of Ling Ying Sect had a joyful expression.

Just as everyone was intimidated by Chao An’s “Fire Rain Hammer”, and lost their ability to talk, Wang Shixiong suddenly raised his head, the light in his eyes shining, as he couldn’t stop himself from shouting, “That’s not right… …”

Yan Ming Zi and the others were startled awake by Wang Shixiong’s shout but didn’t have the attention to spare to ask. Their eyes couldn’t bear to move aside.

At some unknown time, a patch of faint golden mist had rose. Those lights that were like golden sand, under the explosive rain of fire that was like a volcanic explosion, was so weak and inconspicuous.

Gold Surge Formation!

The mist that was like golden sand was all pure golden energy. Gold Surge Formation was a commonly seen gold element formation. It could nurture the vigorous gold energy. These vigorous gold energies didn’t have much power. Most of the time, it was activated before casting a gold element spell. It could increase the power of a gold element spell.

Did he want to use a gold element spell? The spectators couldn’t help but shake their heads. The attributes of gold were vigor, strength and breakage. Along with fire, it could deal the greatest damage out of the five elements. But of the gold element spells that a zhuji could use, they really couldn’t think of one that could stop Chao An’s “Fire Rain Hammer.”

Some perceptive xiuzhe that were also knowledgeable in formations found an abnormality. Was this Gold Surge Formation second or third-grade? Such a big patch of golden mist, it didn’t seem like something a second-grade Gold Surge Formation could form. But if it was a third-grade Gold Surge Formation, it could not form in such a short amount of time.

Seeing the fire hammer in the sky about to land, this patch of golden mist changed again.

At this time, no one was concerned with the change in the gold mist. Everyone was closely watching the five Zuo Mo on the field. They wanted to see how Zuo Mo would respond!

“That’s not correct… …” Wang Shixiong’s expression was frozen as he stared at the field, unconsciously muttering. Without noticing, his face was full of sweat and his eyes were full of deep disbelief!

Chapter 125: Final Kill

One, two, three, four… …

How many formation disks had Zuo Mo thrown out?

Everyone only saw the sky filled with formation disks like rain. Only Wang Shixiong had been silently counting inside. The five Zuo Mo had been furiously throwing formation disks at an astounding rate but an illusion was just an illusion. The illusions created with a Multiple Ghost Shadows Seal below fifth-grade were intangible. They were just a ball of light.

Therefore, only the formation disks thrown out by the real person were real formation disks.

Wang Shixiong, face full of sweat, was full of admiration towards Zuo Mo to the point of kneeling. It was rare that the illusions were so realistic, but to have illusions that could throw out formation disks, the person’s consciousness was terrifying!

Wang Shixiong could not count how many formation disks had been truly thrown out. The rate at which each Zuo Mo had been throwing formation disks was different. He couldn’t tell which one was the real one. But he knew that Zuo Mo had at least thrown out seven formation disks!

The fight had reached its climax, and Wang Shixiong felt that hiding under that expressionless zombie face was an extremely terrifying cunning!

The spherical ball of fire that was howling as it came down quickly changed.

“Hammer Metamorphosis”!

This was an extremely important transformation of the fiery hammer. Almost every move needed to undergo “hammer metamorphosis” After the fire turned into a hammer, the power would greatly increase. In normal moves, the time it took to complete the change was extremely short and hard to detect. It was only for powerful moves like “Fire Rain Hammer” that the metamorphosis of the hammer was clear enough for people to detect.

When the howling fireball all turned into the fire hammer, the entire battleground would be flattened!

At this moment a change suddenly occurred!

Three blue chains suddenly leapt around the red Chao An’s feet, like three blue snakes that had been waiting for a long time, and tangled around Chao An.

Unable to defend, Chao An was tightly tied.

Third-grade [Dragon Tying Formation]!

Shocked shouts instantly sounded in the crowd. This change had been too sudden without a hint of warning!

However, many people were still shaking their head. Was this what Zuo Mo had been doing?

The [Dragon Tying Formation] had been one of the finer formations that Zuo Mo had purchased. Not many people recognized it. But in the eyes of these ningmai, they could roughly detect the power of this [Dragon Tying Formation]. From what they saw, the power of the [Dragon Tying Formation] was good, but it was impossible to tie down Chao An with this. It would only take Chao An a few breaths to break free!

Crack crack, Wang Shixiong couldn’t help but fist his hands. A blush came onto his sweaty face. Only he guessed that Zuo Mo’s counterattack was starting!

Chao An was enraged!

Under the eyes of everyone, he had actually been tied down by a zhuji xiuzhe!

His head rang. The fire inside his chest could not be suppressed. His hair stood on end, his eyes widening angrily, his expression extremely twisted!

“Go die!”

All the ling power in his body furiously headed for the three blue chains on his body. A bright red fire appeared on his body, and he truly became a fire person!

The deep red fire fiercely burned the blue chains on his body. The blue chains, at a speed visible to the naked eye, dramatically shrunk.

The spectators couldn’t help but sigh. The difference in power was too great! For zhuji cultivators, the power of the [Dragon Tying Formation] was very strong, but it was not enough for a ningmai. It might have tied Chao An down for a while, but Zuo Mo lacked a move that could finish him off! He basically could not do anything to Chao An. Zuo Mo couldn’t even near the flame that was on Chao An’s body.

Only Wang Shixiong believed this was the horn of counterattack. There definitely was a change hidden in here!

But where was that change?

He suddenly found that in that great patch of golden sand, at some unknown time, there was the addition of countless water energies! A ball of faint water mist, carrying countless sparkling golden lights. It was extremely beautiful.

Such thick water energy!

Such an evident change obviously could not be missed by the spectators. Those that were familiar with formations instantly recognized it as the [Water Gathering Formation]. But the water energy that had been gathered far surpassed a second-grade water gathering formation!

Those xiuzhe that had deeper knowledge of formations instantly reacted!

“Gold births water! His Gold Surge Formation is aiding the Water Gathering Formation! It’s a chain formation!”

“No! There must have been an earth formation before. Earth aids the gold formation! It’s a three chain formation!”

“Heavens! Three chain formation!”

“Three chain formation! He knows how to do a three chain formation!”

… …

Gasps of shock instantly sounded among the crowd. This was the first time, up until now, that some many people gasped with shock at Zuo Mo!

Wang Shixiong silently fisted his hands even more. He didn’t feel happy that his guess had been right at this moment. His eyes were full of panic.

Faster… … faster… …

The howling fireball rain had just reached Zuo Mo’s head. No matter how much assistance and traps he had put down before, he could not dodge this move!

“A pity for the three chain… …”

Someone said that, and the surroundings instantly became silent.

With Zuo Mo’s cultivation, no matter what, they could not stop this “Fire Rain Hammer”!

Suddenly, all five Zuo Mo stopped and simultaneously looked at the sky.

Zuo Mo’s vision instantly darkened. The fireball descended from the sky, carrying an intimidating presence, unable to be dodged.

Li Ying Feng and Xiao Guo’s faces were bloodless. When the fireball flew closer, that terrifying presence made one unable to find the courage to face it.

Shixiong… …

Xiao Guo’s body uncontrollably trembled.

“Hm!” Wei Sheng’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Eh!” Chang Heng suddenly straightened his body.

“Oh!” Gu Rong Ping was slightly surprised, “Little bit interesting.”

… …

A light flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. His eyes were tightly fixed on the nearing fire rain covering the sky.

The fireball grew larger in front of his eyes with astounding speed. He didn’t move at all. He stood with his face looking at the sky, not moving a sliver.

The fireball had a long tail, just like a meteor!

But… … they were still shaped spherically.

–– It hadn’t turned into a hammer!

Golden light suddenly rose inside the field. A gigantic formation suddenly appeared. Zuo Mo was at the center of the formation. At the same time, the jade pendant at his waist suddenly lit up.

Two formations, big and small, but completely the same, appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.

Double chain Streaming Fire Core Manipulation!

The hands of the five Zuo Mo in the field suddenly moved simultaneously.

Zuo Mo was under great pressure at the center of the formation. He could feel all the power and changes that were happening in the formation. He had never felt it was so easy before. It was like his hands were greased. He didn’t need to especially control it and those incomparably complex finger motions streamed out of his hands!

Opposite the flow of his finger movements, his body clearly was struggling like he was weighed down with something heavy, slightly trembling!

Poof poof poof poof!

The four illusions disappeared. At this time, Zuo Mo had no more concentration to control those four illusions.

He was enduring pressure that he had never endured before. From far away, one could clearly see the tendons in Zuo Mo’s forehead bulging like earthworms.

Control fire!

He was using the most normal method to control fire!

Taking advantage of Chao An being tied up and having weakened his control of the Fire Rain Hammer, before the fireballs could turn to a hammer, taking advantage of the double chained Streaming Fire Core Manipulation Formation to increase his control over fire, to resolve this move!

“Such a smart child!” Tian Song Zi praised from the lucky cloud.

The faces of the other sect leaders were full of jealousy. At this time, Pei Yuan Ran and the others did not have time to be smug. They were nervously looking at the battle.

All of the spectators were dumbstruck!

No one had thought Zuo Mo would use such an incredible method to resolve a move that others thought was far out of his limits.

It was just the most common fire… …

Zuo Mo locked his jaw and told himself repeatedly. His consciousness was reaching into every corner, crawling around the fireballs above his head. The finger motions changed according to the feelings passed on through his consciousness.

Even though he had the Streaming Fire Core Manipulation Formation to help him, even though Chao An’s control over the rain of fire was weakened, even though it had not metamorphosed into the hammer, but it still was not something that Zuo Mo could control.

However, Zuo Mo didn’t want to control it at all… …

“Open!” Zuo Mo bellowed. His voice seemed to have come out of his chest, suffocated yet deep.

The rain of fire above his head suddenly moved towards two sides, revealing a slim crack! The sunlight streamed down through the crack. On the shaded ground, a path of light suddenly appeared.

A ruler-straight path of light.

At this end of the path was Zuo Mo. At the other end, it was Chao an. And in the middle was that dense water energy that carried dots of gold light.

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, when this path of light appeared, everyone that was watching had one thought, the final move! All the set up, all the traps, they followed and intercrossed and were so surprising. After such careful setup for the move, how could it not be the final kill?

Zuo Mo’s finger movements changed. That ball of water energy in the middle suddenly started to pour with rain.

[Little Art of Cloud and Rain]!

Little Art of Cloud and Rain… …

The people that had been waiting for an ultimate attack were dazed. Though many people hadn’t recognized the finger motions and formations that had came up previously, there was no one who did not recognize the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] that Zuo Mo had just cast. No one noticed that Zuo Mo had cast [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] in such a short amount of time. Everyone’s first response was, why was it Little Art of Cloud and Rain?

Just as everyone was shocked, the Water Drop sword appeared in Zuo Mo’s hands.

All the noise of the surroundings completely disappeared. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, there was only that ball of Cloud and Rain. Under his feet was the Five Primary Ling Replenishing Formation. It had just barely managed to top up the ling power in his body.

Charge!

In his heart, Zuo Mo shouted to himself.

The Water Drop sword was tilted downward at his waist. Trotting in little steps, as the Wind Travel boots lit up, as he brushed past the fire rain beside him, he slowly sped up. All the ling power in his body were flooding towards the Water Drop sword.

Chao An was very angry, more angry than he had ever been before.

Originally, he had hoped to use a grand and explosive move to end this farce, and to prove his power!

But everything was ruined!

Now, even if he won, this damned zombie’s performance was enough for people to talk about. The center of the conversation would be this zombie, and him… …

The flames on his body became even hotter. The blue chains that had been struggling finally could not endure it anymore and turned to dust.

He raised his bright red eyes. There was one voice inside his heart.

–– Die!

In front of him, the cloud that was raining seemed to be changing.

Immediately after, a figure rushed through the mist. The moment he came out, the white mist turned back to gold. All the water energy had disappeared.

When he saw the person that rushed out was Zuo Mo, Chao An had a fierce smile. But when his eyes landed on Zuo Mo’s waist, his eyes suddenly widened.

The Water Drop sword that Zuo Mo was holding on his side had turned into a water sword, a gigantic water sword that was one zhang long like a flame!

When he had passed by the cloud, all of the water energy had been absorbed onto the sword.

In the midst of the fire rain, a transparent sword of water. That was Zuo Mo’s final and ultimate kill.

–– [Li Water Burning Heavens]!

Chapter 126: Cross-Examination

Boom boom boom!

The sound of explosions rang out. The battlefield turned into a sea of fire.

The deep red flames were several zhang high as they spat and danced. The two people that were enveloped in the fire could not be seen.

Suddenly, in the middle of the sea of fire, several snowflakes floated out.

A blurry figure appeared out of the sea of fire. He walked step by step out. The blurry figure became more solid.

Who was it?

Everyone couldn’t help but stretch their necks, and stop breathing. Even the dumbest person knew the one walking out was the winner of the battle.

The rain of fire that had landed at the end had blocked everyone’s vision. The image that had been burned in their eyes had been that gigantic flame-like sword made out of water, moving from bottom to top, slicing towards Chao An!

Did he hit it? What was the result?

It seemed to be time for everything to be revealed.

The black figure coming out of the sea of fire was even more solid. He finally reached the border of the sea of fire. He didn’t stop and stepped forward.

A dark golden bare footed figure, slightly burnt black, stepped out of the sea of fire.

———

The sky was clear and the warm sunlight reached the ground. The weather of Sky Moon Jie was pleasant. Even though the rain was plentiful, but sunny days were the majority in the year. Dong Fu, located on the mountain was abnormally busy. The xiuzhe were coming and going, on swords or flying, or riding ling beasts, or controlling talismans as they gathered here from all around.

At Wu Kong Mountain not far away from Dong Fu.

Completely bare, Zuo Mo was soaking in the medicinal tub, only his head let out. He occasionally would hiss and inhale. Even though he had won this time, but he had been seriously injured. When he had walked out of the sea of fire, he had fainted. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was soaking in the medicinal liquid. Beside the tub, a sound tablet was placed. The light flowed on the jade disk of the sound tablet. This was something Zuo Mo had begged Xiao Guo to find for him.

He was quickly pulled to the content of the sound tablet broadcast.

“Even though the matches of the past two days were extremely good, but it had to be said that they cannot compare to the first match! It really makes me unable to have interest. Master Xu, what do you think?”

“True. I feel the same. The spells of the past two days were varied, but there was nothing as astounding as Zuo Mo’s display in the first match. However, after analyzing it, there are many reasons why everyone has such a deep impression of Zuo Mo and Chao An’s fight.”

“Exactly. A classic fight naturally needs some reasons it could be called classic. Like the gigantic difference in the two’s power, and the unique use of formation disks and formations by Zuo Mo etcetera, they are all reasons this fight will be classic. In this fight, Zuo Mo’s accomplishments with formations and formation disks is the topic that everyone has discussed the most. The professions see the technique, the amateurs the spectacle. I don’t know anything about formations at all. Master Xu, you are an expert in this field and definitely saw more than I did. Come, explain it to me.”

“I’m really not that skilled. In reality, I was present at the fight and it gave me a great shock. It might be because I’m very interested in formations. I was greatly stimulated by how Zuo Mo used formations and formation disks. Many people are asking the same question, how many formation disks did Zuo Mo really throw out?”

“Yes! I’ve been wanting to ask this question.”

“If I hadn’t seen it wrong, it should be eleven formation disks!”

“That many?”

“The first one he threw out was the Path Confusion formation disk. After that, the formation disks he threw out included the Earth Ling Formation, the Gold Surge Formation, the Water Gathering Formation. Those three formed a three chain formation. Everyone should still remember the three blue chains that tied up Chao An. I checked afterwards. It is the Dragon Tying Formation. Not a bad formation. The gold formation that appeared last was the Streaming Fire Core Manipulation Formation. It formed a double chain with the Streaming Fire Core Manipulation formation on Zuo Mo’s jade pendant at his waist.”

“That was just six formation disks!”

“Haha, those six disks had been meticulously planned. But where Zuo Mo was smart was not just that. He had five formation disks with Five Primary Ling Replenishing Formations!”

“Five Five Primary Ling Replenishing Formations!”

“Right. Zuo Mo only has zhuji cultivation in the end. His ling power is not as deep as Chao An by far so he needed to replenish ling power. What everyone should admire is that he had thrown the five formation disks into very specific places. Basically, any place that he could step into, is within the area of the five primary ling replenishing formation… …”

Inside the medicinal tub, Zuo Mo was full of admiration. He didn’t know who this Master Xu was, but all his arrangements had been clearly seen by this person. He couldn’t help but be a little smug. To hear someone praise him from the sound tablet, that feeling, it wasn’t just good!

The pain from the medicinal fluid burrowing into his body seemed to lessen. When he thought of the jingshi that he had made this time, his soul was flying… …

“You are very smug!” Shi Feng Rong said icily, face cold

Inside the tub, Zuo Mo shrunk his head. He had almost forgotten that he was being cross-examined right now. The sect leader, Xin Yan Shibo, Yan Le Shibo, and Master, were standing in a row in front of his medicinal tub and were staring at him.

“This disciple doesn’t dare!” he said carefully.

“Doesn’t dare? What don’t you dare do?” Shi Feng Rong’s voice suddenly rose as she demanded, “Say, what don’t you dare do?”

Zuo Mo saw the situation was bad. Master was truly angry but he didn’t know where he had done something wrong so he could only make noises.

Seeing Zuo Mo making noise, the fire in Shi Feng Rong’s heart rose, “Look how docile you appear. You are the slipperiest and ruffian-like person in all the disciples! If I don’t sort you out, as your Master, I’ll get lead around in circles by you… …”

Zuo Mo didn’t understand anything at all. Inside, he was even more certain he had done something wrong. But there were too many things that he had done that was not allowed. His master was pointing at his nose and scolding, but he didn’t know which one it was.

To have provoked the stoic Master into scolding like this, what he had done was probably major!

Li Ying Feng and Xiao Guo didn’t dare to breathe from the side. However, by the end, they were suppressing their laughter.

“Cough.” Only when Shi Feng Rong had pretty much vented did Pei Yuan Ran stand out.

“Xiao Mo, you had comprehended sword essence in lianqi, but why didn’t you tell us?” The sect leader’s voice was gentle and friendly, extremely warm, but soaking in the boiling medicinal fluid, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shudder.

Truthfully, Zuo Mo wasn’t that afraid of Master. Master had a cold face but a warm heart. Even though she had been sternly scolding him, but she was truly concerned for him. Out of the four elders, the one Zuo Mo was frightened of the most was the sect leader. The sect leader always spoke moderately, was friendly and warm, but for some reason, Zuo Mo was always terrified of the sect leader that had brought him back.

So it was comprehending sword essence when he was in lianqi. Zuo Mo relaxed slightly. There shouldn’t be a problem with that matter.

“This disciple felt at the time that since the sword essence couldn’t make jingshi, it wasn’t as practical as being a ling plant farmer… …” Zuo Mo deliberately stammered out.

The enormous yard was completely silent.

Hearing Zuo Mo’s answer, even though the four had cultivations of jindan, they were completely dumbstruck. The four stared at each other, not knowing to laugh or cry. Xiao Guo, Li Ying Feng and the others were trying their best to not laugh so much that their bodies were shuddering.

Actually, for a long time, that had been Zuo Mo’s true thoughts. So he was extremely natural when he said it.

Everyone knew what Zuo Mo was normally like. A person that dared to risk death to go to Ling Ying Sect to steal talismans. It was normal for him to say something like this.

“Make jingshi! You only know how to make jingshi! One day, you’ll be smashed to death by jingshi… …” Hearing that Zuo Mo had wasted his talents for such a ridiculous reason, Shi Feng Rong was furious!

“It’ll be worth it to be smashed by jingshi… …” Zuo Mo reflexively muttered. The moment it came out, he knew it was bad. Master and the others had very keen hearing. Wasn’t he finding trouble for himself?

Once one was injured, their self-control was lowered!

Shi Feng Rong was so angered by Zuo Mo that her entire body shook, the finger that she pointed at him shaking.

Yan Le’s face was full of helplessness. Such a money-obsessed disciple, but his talent was so good… …

Only Pei Yuan Ran’s expression was normal. His tone was still very warm, “Oh, if I remember correctly, you only learned Li Water Sword Scripture after you entered zhuji. Then, before that, what sword essence had you comprehended?”

Zuo Mo instantly was alarmed!

Damn it! How did he forget that!

Li Water Sword Scripture was a scripture that he had gone to the records room to get after he entered zhuji. He hadn’t thought that the sect leader, who usually did not act, would have noticed him so much that he was clear when he had cultivated the Li Water Sword Scripture.

If the sect leader found Pu Yao… …

Zuo Mo was extremely panicked. He felt more nervous than he had ever been before, his heart up to his throat.

He swallowed and said hesitantly, “It’s Shibo’s Ice Dragon Sword Essence… …”

This was something he certainly would not be able to conceal. If he lied, and the sect leader made him show it, he would definitely slip up.

Two dots of cold light suddenly lit up in Xin Yan’s half-lidded eyes. The other three had not expected Zuo Mo’s answer. Even Pei Yuan Ran stilled in shock.

“Oh, take it out for your Shibo to see.” Yan Le said hurriedly.

As expected… …

Zuo Mo suppressed the terror in his heart and sent out a Tidal Sword essence. It was extremely weak, but the iciness contained in it was undoubtedly the Ice Dragon Sword Essence.

“Where did you learn it?” Sect Leader Pei Yuan Ran stared with blazing eyes at Zuo Mo.

The other three had reacted by now. Xin Yan had never taught Zuo Mo the Ice Dragon Sword Essence and the records had only been opened not long ago. How did Zuo Mo encounter the Ice Dragon Sword Scripture when he was in lianqi.

The four people’s eyes were blinding. Zuo Mo felt cold up his spine, his limbs freezing.

Damn it, how could he perfect this lie?

Zuo Mo’s silence made the other four people’s faces ugly.

The tense atmosphere made Li Ying Feng and the others pale. Secretly stealing and learning a spell, it was a crime punished by death in all sects! No one would have mercy for someone that did so.

Just as Zuo Mo felt he had reached the end of the road and it was helpless, he was suddenly inspired.

He stammered, “It was… … the night that Eldest Shixiong entered zhuji… … I … … I saw Shibo’s ice dragon… …”

Shock appeared on the four people’s faces, chasing away the darkness before. Only now did they remember that, on that night, in order to turn away the xiuzhe that came to watch, Xin Yan had revealed his famed Ice Dragon Sword Scripture!

“You comprehended it after one look that night?” The usually calm Xin Yan finally couldn’t stop himself.

“Yes… … yes… …” Zuo Mo only felt relief as he escaped from death. He shook as he spoke.

Joy and slight guilt came onto Shi Feng Rong’s face. There was only shock on the other three people’s faces, deep shock! Even the usually calm sect leader was so shocked he was speechless.

Just one look, and he comprehended the sword essence. That talent at cultivating the sword… …

Chapter 127: Everyone Is Troubled

Wu Kong Hall.

“What do all of you think?” Pei Yuan Ran asked the other people.

Shi Feng Rong was the first to speak, “Other than Second Shixiong, no one else knows [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture]. The jade scroll had not been released before. With Zuo Mo’s cultivation, even if he got it, he could not have read it,” She said. She was the first person to speak up for Zuo Mo, her protective intentions were evident.

Pei Yuan Ran smiled and said, “Shimei, don’t be nervous. You can’t just steal and learn [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture] even if you wanted to. I just saw that the boy was not obedient and wanted to scare him.”

Xin Yan suddenly said, “It’s a pity.”

Yan Le hurriedly asked, “What’s a pity?” The other two elders also looked at Xin Yan.

“He must have comprehended the sword essence on his own. It has the beginnings of the tide. If he had kept going like that, it would not be hard to reach the creation of the dragon. It is a pity that he merged the Li Water sword essence with it. It looks like there is more transformations, but in reality, it has caused the sword essence to become impure,” It was rare that Xin Yan spoke so much.

The expressions of the three people changed dramatically.

“Shidi means that Zuo Mo has ruined it?” Pei Yuan Ran, who never showed his emotions, had a terrible expression had the moment. In reality, he knew that he didn’t need to ask that question. They were all sword xiu and understood the result of an impure sword essence.

Xin Yan didn’t speak, but the three people that were familiar with him understood. The three of them became silent.

All four of them were in a terrible mood. It would have been alright if they didn’t know Zuo Mo’s potential, but Zuo Mo’s talent was so amazing, yet he would not be able to progress further on the Ice Dragon Sword Scripture. For the four people who placed heavy importance on the legacy of the sect, it was a heavy blow.

Pei Yuan Ran said dejectedly, “This is my fault. I was remiss in paying attention to him.”

The hearts of the other three were also unwell. Of the four, Shi Feng Rong felt the worst. She had just been happy about Zuo Mo’s talent, but in the turn of an eye, she was informed that Zuo Mo would not progress further on the [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture].

“Shixiong, is there really no way?” She bit her lips and looked at Xin Yan.

“Unless he could remake his sword essence to purify it. However, what he would receive would be a new sword essence, not Li Water sword essence, nor Ice Dragon. How to progress that, we cannot teach him,” Xin Yan said heavily.

Wu Kong Hall descended into silence.

Just as everyone was blaming themselves, Xin Yan suddenly opened, “Since he could comprehend Ice Dragon sword essence on his own, he is very talented. It is not out of the question that he could remake his sword essence.”

Shi Feng Rong suddenly lifted her head, eyes lighting up as the disappointment left her face, “Does Shixiong have a way?”

Pei Yuan Ran and Yan Le were also uplifted. They all knew that Xin Yan was not talkative usually, but if he spoke of his own initiative, he would definitely have a way. Their eyes looked towards Xin Yan, waiting for him to continue.

“If he could understand more sword scriptures, with his talent, it should not be difficult for him to remake his sword essence. He just needs to be taught more sword scriptures,” Xin Yan said solemnly, “However… …”

“What is it?” Yan Le couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“He doesn’t seem to be interested in cultivating the sword,” Xin Yan said.

The three people stared at each other. They had been concerned about the problem of Zuo Mo’s talent and had missed the most important question. Zuo Mo was exceptionally talented, but he was the epitome of the frivolous disciple. His only habit was making jingshi. As to cultivating the sword… …

When had he ever taken the sword seriously?

But this person with no ambitions about the sword had a talent others would admire!

Xin Yan’s words struck the other three elders dumb. If Zuo Mo didn’t want to practice the sword, they were concerned for no reason. The four of them were all sword xiu and knew very well how hard it was to cultivate the sword. At higher levels, other than difficulty, there was also danger. If the person’s own resolve was not strong enough, they basically could not achieve anything. In other words, unless Zuo Mo wanted to learn the sword himself, they could not force him to.

The three couldn’t help but thinking how Zuo Mo saying he wanted to be smashed to death by jingshi.

Pei Yuan Ran suddenly felt a headache come up.

What a troublesome youth… …

———

Of course, Zuo Mo didn’t know that the sect leader was having a headache over him. He was soaking in the medicinal tub, celebrating for having overcome a calamity. The mo matrix on his body had not attracted the attention of the elders. He felt surprised and extremely lucky. When he inspected the mo matrix on his body, he was shocked to find that, at some unknown time, the mo matrix had hidden away under his skin.

It was alright, alright… …

The mo matrix hidden underneath his skin greedily absorbed the medicinal power, quickly fixing Zuo Mo’s body. He found that a benefit of the mo matrix was that it could quickly absorb ling power and medicinal power, and continuously strengthen his body. The fact that his [Vajra Profound Sutra] progressed so quickly was directly connected to his mo matrix.

After soaking for a few days in the medicine, Zuo Mo found that his benefits in the sect had risen greatly. He was familiar with dan-making now and could recognize the general components of the medicinal fluid. He found the medicinal liquid he was soaked in contained many precious ling medicines.

Zuo Mo’s mind automatically converted it to jingshi and jumped in fright. Each basin was really expensive!

This didn’t seem like the style of the sect!

Zuo Mo muttered inside but he quickly threw the question to the back of his mind because he thought about jingshi. This time, he had earned a lot. For him, three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi was not a small sum. He had dared to put down so much, not because he had enough confidence, but because he had decided to spend all the jingshi before Pu Yao woke up.

If Pu Yao woke up, he wouldn’t get one piece of jingshi no matter how much he had.

The odds of Zuo Mo winning had been one to three hundred. Zuo Mo had wagered three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. In other words, his earnings was ninety thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Holy f***!

Zuo Mo felt countless jingshi were floating above his head. His soul was floating.

Ninety thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi. One fourth-grade jingshi was worth five hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, then it was one hundred and eighty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!

Heavens!

This was a gigantic sum!

Supposedly, when Li Ying Feng had gone to take out this enormous sum, she had asked Eldest Shixiong to protect her the whole way. Luckily, Zuo Mo had told her to spread the wagers out, so no one had been plotting after it. But the worker at the casino that Wei Sheng had gone to wager at had a special expression when he saw Wei Sheng.

When Li Ying Feng handed the jingshi to Zuo Mo, her hands were shaking.

What Kun Lun introductory jade scrolls? All of that was thrown to the back of Zuo Mo’s mind. One hundred and eighty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. What couldn’t he buy? Holding such a great sum, Zuo Mo did not need to fight at all. Wasn’t it just the Kun Lun introductory jade scroll? He only needed to notice who had picked this jade scroll and buy it from him.

One hundred and eighty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Not just the Kun Lun beginner jade scroll. Zuo Mo felt that even if it was a normal Kun Lun fourth-grade spell, he could buy it.

He made a lot! A lot!

He had never been so wealthy before. At this time, Zuo Mo had just become an upstart, wanting to run to Dong Fu immediately to start shopping. Possessing such a great sum, he could almost sweep clean all the talisman and material shops in Dong Fu. Along with him, the casinos had also earned a lot. They were wishing that a battle like that would occur a few times each day.

———

In Wu Kong Hall, a cloud had formed.

“It’s over!” Yan Le’s face was full of helplessness, “Now the boy has made such a big amount of jingshi. Not just cultivating the sword, I’m suspicious that he would just start eating and waiting for death from now on.”

“How about we take the jingshi from him?” Shi Feng Rong said hatefully. She hated Zuo Mo’s lack of ambition and grieved over her unluckiness!

“That’s not proper!” Pei Yuan Ran shook his head, “He earned it properly. If we take it away, how would we be different from robbers? By that time, we might force him into another sect.”

The three were frightened.

Right, any sect would compete for a disciple that was as talented as Zuo Mo. If nothing else, if they crossed the line, it would be reasonable that they could force Zuo Mo away. Even a strong person like Tian Song Zi who was on good relations with Wu Kong Sword Sect wouldn’t give up on him.

“What should we do now?” Shi Feng Rong’s face was full of worry. Before, they had been discussing the possibility of bribing Zuo Mo since he was so miserly. But Zuo Mo had received such a fortune. Even Pei Yuan Ran and the others were jealous of such a large amount of jingshi.

Without a doubt, Zuo Mo had become the richest person in Wu Kong Sword Sect!

To bribe him with Wu Kong Sword Sect’s thin assets, it was not possible.

Pei Yuan Ran couldn’t help but start rubbing his throbbing brow again.

In the next few days, Zuo Mo floated as he walked. It was like he was stepping in cotton. There was only one question in his mind.

How to spend this much jingshi?

However, he didn’t have time to consider that problem anymore because it was time for Wei Sheng Shixiong’s match. Wei Sheng Shixiong’s opponent was a sword xiu called Zuo Lin. He was a strong sword xiu, halfway up in the various rankings.

Having had a taste of gambling, Zuo Mo wanted to pull Li Ying Feng along to make some bets. But a frightened Li Ying Feng shook her head. She felt that her heart couldn’t tolerate wagering like this. Without any other way, Zuo Mo could only take Xiao Guo along to go bet at the big casinos.

Zuo Mo had become famous in Dong Fu. The employees at the casino instantly recognized him.

After going to two casinos, Zuo Mo could only let Xiao Guo go make the bets.

If Zuo Mo was asked who he was most confident in, then it definitely would be Wei Sheng Shixiong! So he did not hesitate in his wagering. To avoid being detected, he was very subdued. However, he pulled Xiao Guo along to bet at every casino in Dong Fu, all for Wei Sheng Shixiong winning.

However, the payout rate at every casino for Wei Sheng to win was very low. Everyone felt that Wei Sheng would win. Since the casinos were opened by those local factions, they all knew that Wei Sheng had caused an apparition when he entered zhuji.

As expected, Wei Sheng Shixiong crisply defeated Zuo Lin and won.

In this match, people had noticed that Wei Sheng was clearly more powerful than his opponent. After this fight, Wei Sheng was rocketed up in the rankings, easily getting into the top ten and became a candidate for winning.

Even though the payout was not high, Zuo Mo had invested a lot. In this match, he had made a little profit of ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi.

As expected, if one had jingshi, it was easier to make jingshi. Zuo Mo sighed.

Wei Sheng Shixiong had won and he had no further interest in the following matches.

Even though his wounds had not fully healed, he was still trying to think of ways to spend the jingshi!

Chapter 128: The Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion

For Zuo Mo, the question in front of him was an extremely serious one ––– to spend this enormous amount of jingshi.

In his perspective, it was not outrageous to label it a serious problem. If he hadn’t spent all of the jingshi before Pu Yao woke up, then he definitely wouldn’t get a single piece. His original intentions when he had bet the original amount was because he didn’t want the three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi to land in Pu Yao’s hand. This was great now. The situation hadn’t changed and he needed to find a way to spend even more jingshi.

He definitely had to spend it! Before Pu Yao woke up!

If such a large sum of jingshi ended up in Pu Yao’s hands, Zuo Mo felt that he would go crazy. To avoid the worst case scenario, Zuo Mo decided to act immediately.

However, before he could leave the mountain gates, he was called by the sect leader to Wu Kong Hall.

Recently, he had been too flashy. It was better to be a bit more careful. Zuo Mo decided to be more low-key. If he angered the sect leader and the others, he wouldn’t have easy days.

“Xiao Mo.” The sect leader raised a tea cup and took a sip, saying slowly, “I heard you do not want to attend the next fight?”

“Sect Leader, it’s not that this disciple doesn’t want to, but is unable to. See, this disciple’s wounds have not healed. Even though the next opponent is unknown but it will definitely be a ningmai expert, and the match will be unwinnable. My wounds would be aggrieved, and leave behind hidden weaknesses for future cultivation. This disciple feels that the Sword Test Conference is just to gain some experience. This disciple has learned a lot this time. If this disciple gets hurt in order to win, and damages the base, wouldn’t that be doing more harm than good?” Zuo Mo said with a thick face.

The sect leader had a smiling expression as he looked at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo instantly had a bad feeling.

“You have thought about the situation. Not bad, not bad. However, things have changed. One competitor had left due to an emergency so there will be one person who will draw a bye. Elder Tian Song Zi admired your performance last time very much and has decided to give the bye to you. You have to perform well to not fail the hopes of Elder Tian Song Zi. As to the wounds you have, don’t worry, your master wouldn’t bear for you to fight with wounds.”

Zuo Mo instantly froze. He still needed to attend the competition?

Wasn’t it already known to be a loss?

Other people only saw his dazzle and success in his match with Chao An.

What they didn’t know was how much he had prepared for that. Even his luck had been extremely good in order for him to achieve victory. Through the information that Fu Jin had found on Chao An before the match, he had found Chao An’s weakness. He also fully used the wagering to place enormous pressure on Chao An. He had used everything he could think about, he had really put all his effort into scheming, just so he could barely make the victory.

The gap between zhuji and ningmai was still gigantic. If it was any other competitor, he would have lost. Other than the killing moves like the yin fire bead which was not suited to being used in public, he had done everything that he could.

The sect leader wanted him to keep attending the competition? What did he have left to use to compete?

He felt his mind was a bit stuck. Did the sect leader really think that he could defeat ningmai like he was cutting vegetables? He shouldn’t! Zuo Mo raised his head slightly to glance at the sect leader and instantly shook his head inside. Not in any way did the sect leader seem like such an idiot.

Just as he was thinking, he heard the sect leader say with a smile, “Go prepare well.”

Zuo Mo dejectedly left Wu Kong Hall. For a long while, he couldn’t focus. A bye? This kind of thing happened?

Just as he was dazing away on Silly Bird’s back, he suddenly heard Pu Yao’s voice, “Give me five yin beads.”

This was definitely the voice that Zuo Mo didn’t want to hear the most. Consequently, his body suddenly froze when he heard it. When did this guy wake up?

However, he quickly responded. Pu Yao’s voice was very rushed. He clearly was in desperate need of the yin beads. Without a second word, he took out five yin beads to shove to Pu Yao. Pu Yao, having obtained the yin beads, instantly disappeared.

Only now did Zuo Mo feel his heart pumping hard. Damn It, Pu Yao was going to wake soon!

No way! He needed to be quicker!

Zuo Mo felt as though there was a fire below his butt as he frantically urged Silly Bird to move. He could feel his heartbeat continuously increasing in speed, his mouth dry. One hundred and ninety pieces of fourth-grade jingshi! Before the competition, he had never even seen a fourth-grade jingshi before, much less one hundred and ninety pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. When he thought that this gigantic fortune might not belong to him, Zuo Mo felt terrible.

With a stronger desire to spend the jingshi, Zuo Mo came to Dong Fu again.

This time, he didn’t wander around on the ground. He headed straight for the finest floating market in Dong Fu, the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion.

The Hundred Treasures Island was the finest market in Dong Fu and what it sold was the most expensive and highest-quality items that could be bought in Dong Fu. Every talisman that was sold here was the finest of the finest. The raw materials that it sold were all rare items. The Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion was forged from a small mountain peak. The reason that it could always float in the air and never needed to land was due to the jinzhi that were on it. There had never been anyone that made trouble at the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion, not even jindan experts.

This was the first time Zuo Mo came to the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion. If he didn’t have one hundred and ninety pieces of fourth-grade jingshi on him, he definitely wouldn’t have the bravery to come to such a high-end store.

The mountain was not big, only about seventy or so mu. It was extremely beautiful, all kinds of ling grasses and flowers planted, as the ling music flowed. Zuo Mo didn’t really know much about the ling music, but the ling grasses and flowers really frightened him, who was familiar with dan-making.

F***!

Any stalk of ling grass and flower in here was a rare specimen that Zuo Mo had only seen on the jade scrolls.

Fourth-grade Antennaria Reed, fourth-grade Nightmare Mushroom, fourth-grade Red Fire Lotus… …

They didn’t need to put on any airs. Those fourth and fifth-grade ling plants were just planted there. If the customers that came in did not have full purses, they would have to be careful when they lifted their feet in fears of stepping on a plant. They couldn’t afford to pay the price.

A place like the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion never had to worry it would be too crowded. When Zuo Mo arrived, there was only one guest inside.

The person that received Zuo Mo was a storekeeper wearing a gold-embroidered black robe. His eyes were very keen. When he saw Zuo Mo, he enthusiastically came over, “Hey, isn’t this Mister Zuo? Such an honor to have you as a customer! Mister Zuo, your match really helped us Dong Fu gain some honor! That was a good fight. Tsk tsk, three chain, I was really shocked when I saw it. Receiving you today, it is this one’s good fortune!”

The storekeeper’s voice was warm but not fawning. His words touched Zuo Mo’s pride but didn’t exaggerate. Even the volume was controlled at an appropriate level, and wouldn’t disturb the customer that was browsing through the talismans not far away. What shocked Zuo Mo even more was that this friendly-looking storekeeper was a ningmai!

At this time, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but look at the other shopkeeper. As expected, also in ningmai! There wasn’t just the two shopkeepers. There were two more shopkeepers waiting by the side, also ningmai cultivation.

Ningmai cultivators used as shopkeepers, this was enough to shock Zuo Mo!

He thought about the matches going on below, the ningmai xiuzhe fighting back and forth, extremely grand. Yet on the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion, the same ningmai level xiuzhe were only shopkeepers.

He wondered who was the owner of the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion. The other must have a very big background.

There was one benefit to Zuo Mo’s zombie face. No matter what he was thinking inside, it would never show on the surface.

“I came to see if there was something suited for me.” Due to the other’s cultivation, Zuo Mo was also very polite.

“Oh, then look around. If you see something you like, this one can explain more.” The shopkeeper smiled as he said. He was not too warm but not cold.

With just a look, Zuo Mo’s eyes blurred.

Right now, he did own many good things, but other than the jade scroll at his waist that could barely be put in the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion, none of the other things were comparable. These were all good things! Good things! Zuo Mo swallowed continuously, his eyes lit up, wanting to sweep all the talismans on the shelves into his purse. However, when he saw the prices marked on the items, it was like a bucket of cold water was poured over his head.

“This flying sword uses the Deep Ocean Water Soul Crystals from ten thousand miles under the surface. Each Water Soul Crystal is above fourth-grade and was made by a famous master. This flying sword is made from seven swords and can be arranged in many ways. The [Big Dipper] on the body of the swords can easily set the swords to become the Big Dipper Sword Formation. If it is in the hands of those who are skilled in formations such as you, Mister Zuo, it would become even more powerful!”

Zuo Mo looked at the price, Six hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. His little heart trembled and he hurriedly looked at another item.

“This is a Sky Cotton Woven Robe. It is woven out of sixteen thousand strands of complete Ice Sky Silk. The Ice Sky Silk is extremely strong and hard to break with a flying sword, and it can automatically absorb ling energy from the surroundings. There are seven formations on there, each with different effects, all of them useful. Also, this Sky Cotton Woven Robe is extremely strong in defense. We have done specialized testing… …”

Price, five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi! Zuo Mo left without raising his head.

Zuo Mo walked around the different shelves as he scanned through superficially. Each talisman was so good, but the price of each talisman made him feel hopeless. By the end, he was completely numb, and just looked at the price first.

The shopkeeper did not hurry him and was not impatient. He showed extreme professionalism.

Zuo Mo suddenly saw an item priced at one hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. He couldn’t help but stop in his stride.

A ring that was like a circle of metal laid there silently.

Noticing Zuo Mo’s gaze, the shopkeeper introduced dutifully, “This dimensional ring is half a failure. The forger had originally wanted to forge a fourth-grade dimensional ring but failed in the end. This dimensional ring is slightly bigger than normal third-grade dimensional rings, but it is smaller than fourth-grade dimensional rings. Because the owner is familiar with the forger, this dimensional ring was placed to sell here.”

Dimensional ring!

Glee rushed out of Zuo Mo’s heart! He hadn’t thought that the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion would sell dimensional rings!

The so-called dimensional rings were storage talismans. The hundred treasure pouch at his waist was a similar talisman that could store and transport items. However, the dimensional ring was a higher level storage talisman than the hundred treasure pouch. It wasn’t just that it could contain more items, but the items stored would not increase the weight. That was where it was much better than a hundred treasure pouch. However, it was much harder to make a dimensional ring than a hundred treasure pouch. It was hard to find one on the market and the price never dropped. If it wasn’t for his unexpected windfall, Zuo Mo didn’t know how long it would take before he could afford a dimensional ring.

The dimensional ring was an extremely useful talisman. Zuo Mo almost didn’t need to think and took out the jingshi, “I’ll buy it!”

Chapter 129: Five Colored Pagoda

Zuo Mo couldn’t let go of the dimensional ring once he had it in his hands.

“Mister Zuo really has good eyes. The space inside this dimensional ring is nine square zhang, more than two times the area of a normal third-grade dimensional ring, but the price is only thirty percent more expensive than a third-grade dimensional ring. Stored inside the dimensional ring, there’s no rotting or decay. It will be as fresh as it was even one hundred years later. It is easy to take items out. The mind only has to move, and it will enter the palm.” The shopkeeper praised and then handed Zuo Mo a jade scroll, “This jade scroll has some of the special jinzhi for dimensional rings. This shop gives them for free. Mister Zuo is really a promising youth. This store has opened for a long time yet Mister Zuo is the first customer to have a dimensional ring in zhuji.”

It really was a good item!

Zuo Mo threw everything from the hundred treasures pouch into the dimensional ring, and felt his body become light. His hundred treasures pouch had been holding a huge mountain of items. If it wasn’t that he had made slight progress with the [Vajra Profound Sutra], he would have been crushed under the weight of the items. Now that it was all in the dimensional ring, he couldn’t feel any weight. The feeling was too good! A nine square zhang area was empty. His large pile of items only took up an extremely small corner. The gigantic space was enough to put countless formation disks.

What medicine-seal-style? With the dimensional ring, then it would be the true medicine-seal-style!

Even though he had known before, but he still sighed at the contrast between the dimensional ring and the hundred treasures pouch. No wonder it was so expensive. One piece of jingshi, one kind of item. What Zuo Mo was especially satisfied with was the appearance of this dimensional ring was plain. It looked like a normal metal circle and was unattractive to the eye. If one didn’t already know, they wouldn’t ever think that this non-descript metal circle was a dimensional ring worth one hundred fourth-grade jingshi.

Zuo Mo knew that his cultivation was low. If he was too flashy, then that was no different than asking for death. Dong Fu might look orderly on the surface, but things like killing people for their treasures, and people suddenly disappearing were common occurrences. People were moved by wealth, people died for wealth, birds died for food. This was the same no matter the place. He didn’t want to lose his little life for a dimensional ring. The plain appearance of the dimensional ring was well suited to his mentality.

It was worth spending one hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi.

Extremely satisfied, Zuo Mo thought about the remaining ninety pieces of jingshi.

Let’s continue!

The shopkeeper was slightly surprised at the wealth Zuo Mo had. This was the first time he had seen a zhuji xiuzhe spend one hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi without batting an eye. He didn’t know that Zuo Mo was racing against time with Pu Yao. If Pu Yao didn’t exist, he would have tightly gripped onto the one hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi and certainly couldn’t bear to buy the dimensional ring.

But right now, the jingshi would only be his if he spent it.

Even though Pu Yao would always offer things like spells in what he called an exchange, but thinking about the things that Pu Yao gave, Zuo Mo was so upset he wanted to spit blood. No matter if it was the [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] of the first time, or the mo matrix, and yao seed later, all of them had side effects. As for things like [Fragrance Knowledge], he wanted to kill someone.

It wasn’t a crime to spend. If he didn’t spend, he definitely would cry.

Zuo Mo kept walking forward. His eyes landed on a five colored pagoda. This five colored pagoda was made up of five levels, each level a different color. Familiar with the five elements, Zuo Mo instantly recognized it as a five element talisman. Each level represented an element of the five elements.

“This Five Element Pagoda was made by a roaming xiu. Originally, this roaming xiu had intended to make a talisman that could increase control over the five elements, but his cultivation went astray and his spirit was extinguished. This unfinished talisman was sold to this store by his family. The thought behind this Five Element Pagoda is extremely clever. The five levels of the tower might not be made from the best materials, but it would have been hard to gather all five. It is a pity that Dong Fu is dominated by sword xiu and not many cultivate the five elements which is why none have asked about this talisman. I heart that Mister Zuo has a side profession of ling farming. This Five Color Pagoda is very suited for you. If you are willing, this store would also give to you the spells to forge the Five Color Pagoda for free. It is the jade scroll that the original owner of the Five Color Pagoda left.”

Zuo Mo looked at the price, fifty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. He couldn’t help but be tempted, “The item is good, but the price… …”

Hearing this, the shopkeeper said apologetically, “I’m sorry. It’s not that this one is unwilling, but the store does not bargain.”

The other might have said it politely but the tone was resolute. It looked like he really couldn’t bargain, Zuo Mo muttered inside. But he was greatly tempted by the Five Colored Pagoda. He could only say, “Could you take it out for me to see.”

“No problem.” The shopkeeper crisply took out the Five Colored Pagoda and handed it to Zuo Mo.

Once the Five Colored Pagoda came into Zuo Mo’s hands, he felt the lively five element energies. He started out as a ling plant farmer and was extremely sensitive to the five elements. Even the sword scriptures that he had practiced afterwards had clear inclinations towards the five elements. The levels arranged from the top of the pagoda to the base were gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. When ling power was channeled into the pagoda, the pagoda instantly shone with five colored light. Zuo Mo felt as though he was holding an extremely pure ball of five element energy. His mind moved as he silently casted Little Art of Cloud and Rain. Then he felt the moisture surrounding him gather in his hand.

So quick!

Zuo Mo was very shocked!

It was twice as fast as when he casted the Little Art of Cloud and Rain by himself.

Such a powerful talisman!

Zuo Mo instantly realized the value of this talisman. Maybe, in the hands of another person, this talisman would not be very useful, but in his hands, it would be very effective.

“This Five Colored Pagoda is suited to you.” A voice suddenly came from behind him.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo turned around. At some unknown time, someone had been standing behind him without his knowledge.

It was him! Zuo Mo couldn’t help but still.

In front of him was a person wearing a black gauze hat. It was the guy that had came to him to cut the cold magnet. This person called Su had mysterious origins. He was very strong and had easily won in the last few matches. He was ranked in the top ten of all the rankings. He had also made a wager with Chao An, which pushed Chao An into dangerous straits. He could be considered to have helped Zuo Mo out.

Of course, Zuo Mo didn’t have any relationship with him, so Zuo Mo had no reason to think the other had wagered just to help him out.

“I’ll buy it for you.” Su said shortly, “You just have to help me with something.”

The shopkeeper beside them perceptively moved to one side, not disturbing their conversation.

Zuo Mo was extremely wary. He shook his head, saying, “No need, I can buy it myself.” Fifty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi was not a small amount. Converted, it was twenty five thousand third-grade jingshi. A favor whose payment reached fifty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Even thinking with his feet, Zuo Mo knew the favor wasn’t an easy one.

“Adding on this.” Su took out a jade bottle, “Fort Chao’s Intense Fire Dan.Thirty six of them. Help me forge something.”

Forge something?

Zuo Mo’s heart rested slightly. What ge is most afraid of is fighting and killing. Oh, wait, thinking about his history of almost getting killed when he had processed the Inky Black Lotus seed, he hurriedly asked, “Forge what?”

“Forge the cold magnet into sword billets.” Su said.

“That’s not possible.” Zuo Mo said decisively, “That thing is fourth grade. It took all my power just to cut it. I don’t have the power to forge it into sword billets.”

“You can do it.” Su’s voice still was unaffected, “You could process the Inky Black Lotus seed. Adding on this Five Colored Pagoda, you can forge it.”

It would have been better if Su hadn’t mentioned the Inky Black Lotus seed. Once it was mentioned, the anger in Zuo Mo’s heart erupted. If this bastard in front of him hadn’t spread the information, then that business wouldn’t have come looking for him. Ge had almost lost his little life!

“I will also help you get into the top ten.”

Su’s light words instantly dissipated the fire in Zuo Mo’s heart.

Zuo Mo’s heart moved. He felt out with a question, “Then what do I do for the second round?”

“You’re the bye for the second round.” Su said.

Zuo Mo was secretly shocked. This guy did have some skill to be able to know such secret information. He had just found out from the sect leader that he was the bye and this person in front of him actually knew as well.

The other’s offer tempted him. Pu Yao was most likely going to wake up soon. If Pu Yao woke up, the jingshi would instantly change possession, then his idea of buying the Kun Lun Preliminary Formation jade scroll was not realistic. If he wanted to get that jade scroll, then he had to go through the competition. There would be one hundred people that would attend the last no-rules competition. Even though all one hundred people would get a prize, but the further back he was ranked, the less the chance he would get the jade scroll.

But Zuo Mo kept on feeling the other’s offer was not so simple.

“Tell me how to forge the sword billets?” He first decided to find out more.

“Carve a formation on each billet with Dying Flowing Moon. There are four formations in total.” Su said.

Dying Flowing Moon… …

Zuo Mo’s head shook like a rattledrum, “Not possible, not possible! Dying flowing moon isn’t a material I can use at this moment.” He was not being humble. Even though Dying Flowing Moon was a third grade material, but it was a rare one. It had extremely special properties and was truly a high-end material.

They might all be third-grade, but there would be great differences.

The so-called grades were, in reality, an extremely vague concept. Sometimes, it referred to the a horizontal ranking, while other times a a vertical ranking. This vague categorization system was not because cultivators were not rigorous but due to the complexity of the attributes of many materials.

For example, the Stalagmite fire. His was a second-grade fire seed. This was the horizontal ranking, because it held the attributes of a fire seed. There were many types of stalagmite fire, if it was nurtured for a long period of time in a place with denser ling energy, it would transform into another kind of fire – Cold Purple Fire, and if it kept on going, it would form yet another fire – Yin Wave Fire.

The Stalagmite fire was second-grade, the Cold Purple Fire was third-grade, the Yin Wave Fire was fourth-grade.

Cultivators would see them as a wholly different species, because they were of different grades, and they would have different attributes, but were in fact the same fire source.

Some materials would increase in quality but keep its appearance and fall under the vertical rankings. For example fire dragon grass. Third-grade fire dragon grass and fourth-grade fire dragon grass might be different in terms of the ling energy it contained and the color of its fruit, but it was still very easy to identify it as a fire dragon grass.

Dying Flowing Moon belonged to the second type. The so-called third-grade Dying Flowing Moon referred to, how in all of the Dying Flowing Moon, it was ranked in the third to last species.

In reality, the second situation occurred far more frequently than the first situation.

This kind of categorization had formed over thousands of years, according to convention.

Dying Flowing Moon was a truly high-end material. It was extremely difficult to gather and to process. It certainly wasn’t something a zhuji xiuzhe like Zuo Mo could forge. Zuo Mo suspected that he couldn’t even process first and second-grade Dying Flowing Moon, much less the third-grade Dying Flowing Moon.

He couldn’t take the business!

Chapter 130: Seeing Lin Qian Again

No matter if it was dan-making or forging, it all carried risks. This risk didn’t just mean the risk of failure, but danger as well!

The loss of all ling power, souls being torn out, ling power reversing, and being poisoned… …

The lightest would be serious bodily harm, the most severe would be the destruction of the soul. If one was processing something that was far beyond their abilities, the dangers would increase several times over.

Yao beasts needed cultivators to kill them, and those ling grasses and medicine that had lived for hundreds and thousands of years, would they let others kill them easily? All beings in the world naturally had their own defenses. Those weak looking entities, the viciousness and dangers contained in their weak bodies could easily kill a person.

Zuo Mo might frequently do some risky things, but at the core, he was an extremely cautious person. It was only when he didn’t have enough assets and he had no choice that he took these risks. The lowest level cultivators, if they didn’t bet with their life, what could they bet with?

But right now, his needs and the other’s offer hadn’t reached the point that needed him to risk so much.

“I’m sorry, I’m very busy right now.” Zuo Mo said expressionlessly.

“Brother Zuo.” Suddenly, a slightly familiar voice came from behind him. Zuo Mo stilled and turned around. Sometime unknown to him, a white-clothed male was standing behind him. His features seemed slightly familiar, where had he seen them?

Huh, wasn’t this Lin Qian? Zuo Mo quickly remembered where he had seen this person, especially when there were not many that were as handsome as this.

The rich young master, the fat sheep? This guy hadn’t left?

“Lin Qian, you haven’t left yet?” Zuo Mo had a pretty good impression of this handsome guy. Meeting him again, he was quite happy.

“Haha, the Sword Test Conference is such an interesting event. If I left, and didn’t see Brother Zuo’s spectacular performance, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.” Lin Qian smiled as he said, his tone warm and humble, subtly closing the distance between the two.

Zuo Mo was slightly embarrassed by Lin Qian’s words, and said, “I was just lucky.” Lin Qian’s knowledge far exceeded him. His little tricks were slightly clever, but that depended on who he was using them on.

However, his zombie face could not blush.

“Luck is a kind of strength.” Lin Qian laughed as he stated in a forthright manner. He turned towards the black gauze hat-wearing Su, and said with a slight smile, “Didn’t think I would meet Su Shimei here. Please send my greetings to Wen Zhenren.”

“Who are you?” Su’s voice was cold, a flash of ice streaking through her eyes behind the black gauze. The light robes billowed as though she was going to attack at any moment. Suddenly being called out by name by a stranger, she was shocked and angry. The expressions of the surrounding shopkeepers changed.

Zuo Mo felt the temperature around him drop and was shocked. Su, who had been already mysterious in his eyes, became even more powerful and mysterious.

Lin Qian was not affected at all, smiling, and stating, “Shimei has never seen me before and naturally would not recognize me.”

He didn’t seem to want to keep going with the question. He smiled at Zuo Mo, saying, “Brother Zuo, why are you not interested in Su Shimei’s suggestion? According to my knowledge, other than the prizes, for the first ten people, if they are local disciples, there are also other benefits.”

“Other benefits?” Zuo Mo stilled and scratched his head, “How come I haven’t heard of this?”

“Ha ha, destiny cannot be revealed.” Lin Qian smiled.

“Even with the greatest benefits, one needs to be alive to enjoy it.” Zuo Mo shrugged his shoulders uncaringly. He could barely manage to process the fourth-grade cold magnet, but to carve formations onto the sword billets and to use Dying Flowing Moon in the process, it was far beyond of his abilities. The two of them had met before, and Zuo Mo was much more casual.

Lin Qian liked Zuo Mo’s casual attitude as well. Hearing this, he laughed, “Brother Zuo is not confident?”

As Zuo Mo and Lin Qian talked, Su maintained her silence. She wasn’t dumb and could see that Lin Qian was helping her. From that, it could be seen that Lin Qian did not have ill intentions.

Zuo Mo snickered, “No way about it. I’m only in zhuji. If I’m in ningmai, if you come find me, as long as the price is right, there’s no problem.”

The black gauze of Su’s hat rippled. When Zuo Mo was in ningmai, how long did she have to wait? There were too many uncertainties in cultivation. No one could guarantee that they would reach a certain stage in an amount of time. In the process of cultivation, there were way too many strange occurrences that even the greatest geniuses could not avoid.

“So Brother Zuo is worried about this problem. I actually know a way that might solve it.” Lin Qian said in a heavy voice.

“Let’s hear it.” Zuo Mo said. Lin Qian might have vast amounts of knowledge, but the problem of cultivation was not something that could be solved easily.

“Brother Zuo’s spirit is exceptionally strong. Why don’t you consider a double-chained Four Turn Fire formation?”

Lin Qian’s words were like a streak of lightning that crossed the sky. It was like someone had cast a paralysis spell on him. He was struck dumb.

“Double-chained Four Turn Fire formation… … double-chained Four Turn Fire formation… …”

Zuo Mo’s eyes were unfocused like he was going crazy as he muttered to himself. He dropped to the floor, a few jingshi in his hands as he started to set up a formation on the ground.

Lin Qian waved his hand at one of the shopkeepers who instantly understood and closed the doors to the store. Su started with slight shock at Lin Qian but maintained her silence. She knew that Zuo Mo was in the middle of an epiphany. Epiphanies were states that could only be encountered through luck but never through skill. If it was interrupted, it was hard for the person to regain that wonderful state.

Lin Qian suddenly beckoned with his hand at Su and turned to walk to another room.

Su hesitated for a beat but still followed.

When Su walked into the room, the light in the room suddenly flashed, and the sounds from the outside instantly disappeared. She was very shocked. The cultivation of the person in front of her was unfathomably deep.

“Su Shimei, don’t worry. This is just a sound blocking jinzhi.” Lin Qian smiled as he said, “Is shimei still suspicious about my identity?” Finishing, he took out a jade pendant, “Does Shimei recognize this item?”

Su’s gaze landed on the jade pendant in Lin Qian’s hands, and her body trembled. She could not maintain her composure, “A Heart Lake Pendant!”

Lin Qian smiled and generously handed the jade pendant in his hands to Su.

Su took over the jade pendant. The little lake on the jade pendant was like a living entity, constantly changing. Occasionally, the wind would cause ripples, or the surface would be as smooth as a mirror. Feeling the familiar presences coming from the jade pendant as well as the jinzhi unique to her sect, she instantly knew that the jade pendant in her hand was the token of the sect, a Heart Lake Pendant!

But, she had never heard of another elder in the sect that still had a disciple. Yet this Heart Lake Pendant was real! Those that possessed a Heart Lake Pendant were all core elders of the sect. Her master had one. But even the best disciples of the sect, her and Gu Rong Ping, did not have a Heart Lake Pendant. The sect had a rule, seeing the jade pendant was as seeing the zhenren.

Su bowed, and made a greeting again, “Shishu!”

“Shimei is polite.” Lin Qian returned the greeting and said, “Shimei and I are about the same age. It’s better for us to refer to each other this way. I have not returned to the sect, so there is no basis to call me Shishu.”

Su didn’t know what to say and kept her silence. She was still in the middle of a deep shock. From when Lin Shixiong had appeared until now, she still was not able to see Shixiong’s true power. The more hidden it was, the more awed she was. This meant that Lin Shixiong’s strength was at least two levels above her.

She wondered which elder had raised such a terrifying person!

She suddenly felt lucky that Lin Shixiong was a disciple of her sect!

The shopkeepers saw the light flashing outside the room, and perceptively moved their eyes away.

When Zuo Mo opened his eyes, Su and Lin Qian entered his vision.

“Congratulations, Brother Zuo!” Lin Qian smiled and said, “After today, Brother Zuo’s road to wealth has become even wider.”

Zuo Mo, who had just gathered his thoughts, was happy when he heard Lin Qian’s words. He raised his hands in a greeting, “I have to thank Brother Lin. Without Brother Lin’s guidance, I wouldn’t have thought about this method at all.”

“This is Brother Zuo’s own skill. I just said some things, and hadn’t thought that Brother Zuo could really make them into reality. I’m very shocked.” Lin Qian smiled as he shook his head.

Zuo Mo didn’t say anymore. He lowered his head as he savored the wonderful state he had been in. It was very hard for him to describe the state he had been in. At the same time, he found it hard to remember what he had realized, but he felt that a little thin paper window had been broken. Many places that he hadn’t noticed before, and were ambiguous were now evident.

This feeling was really too great!

He stood there, slowly savoring it. It was only when his mind had calmed down that he raised his head again.

At this time, he suddenly found that, without him noticing, it had been more than four hours. Looking at the jingshi fragments on the ground, he was slightly embarrassed. He had experimented with formations in someone else’s store and actually hadn’t been thrown out. This store was really easy going. When he glanced past the shut door to the store, he was slightly shocked. Then he saw Lin Qian wave a hand for the shopkeeper to open the door, and he understood.

He became even more curious about Lin Qian’s origins.

From the words that Lin Qian said, he knew that this fat sheep definitely had a high background, but looking at it now, it was much stronger than he had imagined. Looking at the respectful demeanor the shopkeepers had towards Lin Qian, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but speculate. Was Lin Qian the owner of the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion? But the first time that he had encountered Lin Qian, Lin Qian hadn’t appeared to have ever come to Dong Fu.

Noticing Zuo Mo’s gaze, Lin Qian smiled easily and said, “Does Brother Zuo have some chance now at forging? If Brother Zuo agrees, this Five Colored Pagoda can be considered one part of the payment for Brother Zuo. Other than what Shimei has promised Brother Zuo, I can add some more. In the future if Brother Zuo comes here, every purchase will be twenty percent off. How about it, is Brother Zuo satisfied now?”

Very rich benefits! Disregarding the value of the Five Colored Pagoda, just this twenty percent off was extremely valuable.

Just as everyone thought that these were enough to move Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo shook his head.

“Oh, If Brother Zuo has some other request, please state it.” Lin Qian made a gesture of request.

“I’ll take the job.” Zuo Mo surprised everyone once again, “’As to payment, Brother Lin just paid it right now.”

Just as everyone was dazed, Zuo Mo pointed at the Five Colored Pagoda, “I’ll buy the Five Colored Pagoda.”

Finishing, he took out a heap of jingshi.

Everyone’s faces changed simultaneously. Of low cultivation, with a face of a zombie, Zuo Mo suddenly became honest and good in their eyes. Behind the gauze, a strange expression came onto Su’s face. The Zuo Mo in front of her was like another person compared to what she knew before.

At this time, nothing could be seen of Zuo Mo’s wretchedness or greed.

Was this the guy’s true personality? As expected, Master was not wrong. You could not judge a person by their appearance.

Just as she was pondering it, she suddenly heard Zuo Mo hurriedly add with heartache.

“Remember the discount!”

Chapter 131: The Wondrous Abilities Of The Five Colored Pagoda

Zuo Mo left with a heap of items.

Other than the Five Colored Pagoda, he had a large pile of various materials. He had spent all the jingshi he had. Now that he had the dimensional ring, he completely didn’t have to worry about the problem of weight. The materials of the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion was extremely high-quality. Other than here, Zuo Mo couldn’t think he could have brought what he did anywhere else in Dong Fu. In his mind, after this visit, it would be a long time before he could come to the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion again.

In any case, he could use the materials, so he wasn’t wasting anything.

Looking at the piles of materials in the dimensional ring, Zuo Mo’s heart was very content, and it washed away the heartache from spending all his jingshi. He also released a long breath. He was not worried anymore. Hee hee, Pu, I’ll let you understand what it was to be penniless.

He also had four pieces of fourth-grade cold magnet, one bottle of Intense Fire Dan, one bottle of Dying Flowing Moon, and a jade scroll. The Intense Fire Dan was a payment, the jade scroll recorded the formations that needed to be carved onto the four sword billets.

The moment Zuo Mo left the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion, he heard Pu ask urgently: “Do you have jingshi?”

“Ha ha ha ha… …” Zuo Mo couldn’t stop himself from roaring with laughter.

“What are you laughing about? Pu Yao who had just woke up was evidently a beat slower.

“No… … no more… …” Zuo Mo tried very hard to stop laughing and said deliberately seriously: “Why didn’t you say it earlier? I just bought some things, and spent all the jingshi.”

“Not even one left?” Pu Yao asked dumbly.

“Not even one left.” Zuo Mo replied certainly.

Zuo Mo was extremely happy and smug to be able to get one over Pu Yao. Sitting on Silly Bird, he hummed a weird tune. As Silly Bird moved her wings, she rolled her eyes. After a while, she couldn’t bear it anymore, and started to honk, trying to suppress Zuo Mo’s voice.

In a good mood, Zuo Mo suddenly became angry, throwing a punch to Silly Bird’s head.

“What are you honking about, can’t you hear ge is singing?”

Silly Bird became dizzy and it took a while to recover. Her head low, she flew on weakly. Zuo Mo continued to howl at the top of this throat. Once they managed to reach the Little West Wind Yard, the moment they landed, Silly Bird stumbled over to the water to throw up.

Zuo Mo glanced at Silly Bird, humming: “Not able to see ge’s beauty, it is your greatest crime… …”

Returning to his own little house, and pondering over everything that happened today, Zuo Mo sank into thought.

There were many suspicious things about this incident. Like Lin Qian’s identity. The first time he met Lin Qian, Lin Qian had appeared to be a person that was not familiar with Dong Fu at all. But looking at it today, he seemed to be very close with the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion’s owner. What surprised Zuo Mo was that Lin Qian had referred to Su as shimei but Su didn’t seem to recognize him.

Su’s origin was a mystery. Adding on an even more mysterious Lin Qian, Zuo Mo suddenly felt that the incident today was even more bewildering.

Su was slightly better, but Zuo Mo could not clearly see through the constantly smiling Lin Qian, not one bit. Behind the warm smile, there was something that Zuo Mo was instinctively wary of. That was why he had persisted in buying the Five Colored Pagoda by himself. Even though he had spent jingshi, but he wanted to feel comfortable. It was a very bad feeling to owe someone a favor, and especially owe someone that he didn’t know anything about. That was just not discourteous, but very dangerous.

I still have many things to do. I still have to find answers!

Zuo Mo said to himself.

His attention turned to the Five Colored Pagoda that he bought today. This was an incompletely forged five element talisman. No wonder it couldn’t be sold in Dong Fu. Zuo Mo understood when he thought about it. Dong Fu was dominated by sword xiu. Most xiuzhe of the five elements were dan-makers and forgers. Dong Fu didn’t have any dan-making and forging xiuzhe that were wealthy enough to go to the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion to spend fifty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi to by a talisman.

A half-forged talisman that could sell for fifty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi, it was enough to prove it was not ordinary.

Zuo Mo could only celebrate his good luck. If this Five Colored Pagoda was complete, with his pitiful cultivation, he wouldn’t be able to control it.

He studied the jade scroll that roaming xiu had left behind. Zuo Mo managed to get the general gist of the roaming xiu’s intentions. He had to sigh with amazement. This roaming xiu had such great ambitions!

This roaming xiu wanted to create a complete five element world inside the Five Colored Pagoda. Inside the world, five balls of five element energy would be continuously processed, and, in the end, form a base source of five elements. They would birth and subdue each other inside the pagoda, forming a small world at equilibrium. The essence of five element energies would freely change within the pagoda. As to what this five element would transform into, even the roaming xiu that was the creator couldn’t predict.

Of course, that was just the final goal. That roaming xiu was not an impractical person. Before this talisman met its final goal, the pagoda still had many uses. The Five Colored Pagoda was a very unique container. Anything that was put in would be quickly separated into its component elemental energies. Of course, if what was put in was higher grade than the grade of the Five Colored Pagoda, it naturally was not possible.

Also, if it was used to cast a spell from the five elements, the effect would multiply.

The Five Color Pagoda was an experimental talisman, so in the jade scroll, there were many speculations the creator had made, but that did not have much to do with Zuo Mo right now. The talisman was not something he could complete at the moment. Zuo Mo was doubtful that he could even complete it when he was in ningmai.

But it was fine if he did not complete it. The maker had already set up the basic skeleton. For Zuo Mo, what he needed to do was simple. He had to put in five element materials.

Tilting his head to think for a second, Zuo Mo suddenly flicked his finger. A strand of milky-white flame flew from his finger and entered the Five Colored Pagoda.

The bright red middle level of the Five Colored Pagoda suddenly lit up. As the Stalagmite fire entered, it was quickly deconstructed into fire energy that circled around the second level of the five element pagoda. Gold, wood, water, fire, earth. The tip of the tower was gold, the base was earth. Zuo Mo could clearly feel that the fire element energy inside the Five Colored Pagoda was a few fractions stronger than before. The red light around the pagoda dissipated, but the red level was more red than before.

Zuo Mo had expected this but was still surprised. It was not surprising that the Stalagmite fire could increase the amount of fire element energy. However, the Stalagmite fire was a cold fire. This didn’t seem to change the effect on the pagoda.

He couldn’t understand after thinking it over. Zuo Mo decided to not think about it, and continuously threw materials into the pagoda. As the materials were put into the pagoda, they would quickly broken down into five element energy, but the color of the pagoda did not change.

Was it that the grade was not high enough?

Zuo Mo sensitively caught the crux of the matter. What he had thrown in had been first-grade materials so the Five Colored Pagoda did not respond. Hesitating for a second, he gritted his teeth and threw in a third-grade Green Fragrant Wood. The moment the Green Fragrant Wood was thrown in, the green light of the wood level suddenly lit up. The wood elemental energy inside instantly grew bigger.

Having proved what he had suspected, Zuo Mo was not very happy, but sucked in a cold breath.

Woah-oh!

He had thrown in a third-grade Green Fragrant Wood, but the wood element energy inside the pagoda had just increased just that little bit. How many high level materials would he have to add in to fill it? Even more importantly, it needed good materials. Zuo Mo guessed that when the five element energy inside reached a certain level, it would not be satisfied with third-grade materials. By that time, it would require fourth-level, fifth-level… …

It was like a bucket of cold water had been poured on his head. Zuo Mo’s excitement instantly cooled greatly. He was in poverty right now. He definitely could not use expensive materials to fill this bottomless hole.

His idea of continuing to process it was quickly killed in its infancy. He started to study the other uses of the Five Colored Pagoda.

As he studied the jade scroll, and examined the Five Colored Pagoda, Zuo Mo did find a very practical use.

Zuo Mo found the five element energies inside the Five Colored Pagoda could be taken out for his use!

This discovery made him exhilarated.

Xiuzhe of the five elements usually needed to form their own five element energies. For example, xiuzhe that specialized in fire would use scriptures from the very beginning to turn the ling power inside the body into fire ling power to release fire oriented spells. As the person’s cultivation deepened, the ling power inside the body would automatically become fire element energies. Fire element energy was purer than fire oriented ling power, and after continuous processing, it would become even more pure. At the end, it would form a fire element source that would emanate from his entire body.

Zuo Mo was still at the stage that he could only turn ling power into five element ling power.

But as long as there was five element energy inside the Five Colored Pagoda, he could take it out and easily cast many kinds of five element spells. The power of these spells would far surpass the power of spells he could cast by himself.

The only thing he found pitiful was that the five element energies in the Five Colored Pagoda did not replenish after use. It needed him to continuously replenish it. Only after it was completed and could form the five element sources would it naturally produce five element energies. That was as far away from Zuo Mo like the stars in the sky.

Zuo Mo’s calculations were extremely abnormal.

He was calculating how much five element energy a spell would require, then he would turn the equivalent of the amount of five element energy into third-grade ling grass, then the ling grass into jingshi… …

F***! So expensive!

Zuo Mo’s hand shook from heartache. He instantly decided that he would not use the five element energies inside the pagoda unless he really had to.

These days, even good talismans were this expensive! He could afford to buy it, but not use it.

But even so, the Five Colored Pagoda was very useful for Zuo Mo. He could use it to increase his control over the five elements. It could be used in ling farming, dan-making, forging and formations.

“A pretty good little thing.” Pu Yao suddenly sneaked out. Looking at the Five Colored Pagoda in Zuo Mo’s hands, his expression was not good.

“He he … …” Zuo Mo’s hairs stood as Pu Yao looked at him, shamefaced. However, his hands were not slow and threw the pagoda into the dimensional ring.

“Not bad, you even have a dimensional ring now.” Pu Yao’s tone became even more unfriendly. He finally realized why there was no more jingshi.

“This is an investment for making jingshi in the future. Without investments, how will anything be produced!” Zuo Mo blathered on, his heart having a bad feeling.

“It seemed you are very unsatisfied with me.” Pu Yao’s face suddenly calmed down and he started to slowly pick at his fingernails.

Those barefoot were not afraid of those wearing shoes… …

The penniless Zuo Mo told himself this and his courage rose: “It’s because what you give me each time sucks!”

“Sucks?” Pu Yao’s expression was spectacular, and dumbstruck.

It would have been better not to mention it. Once the topic came up, the more Zuo Mo thought, the angrier he got. He jumped up and started cursing as he pointed at Pu Yao’s nose: “You even have the face to mention it? When did you give something good? [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] almost cause ge to lose my little life! What yao seed and mo matrix, it caused ge’s ling power to not grow anymore! [Fragrance Knowledge], knowledge my ass! That yin bead, a bunch of jindan almost skinned ge, and cooked ge’s bones into soup! You are a fraudulent merchant! Your goods are crap… …”

Pu Yao stared, dumbstruck, at the infuriated Zuo Mo.

Chapter 132: Healing Wounds

As Zuo Mo stormed and raged and swore, Pu Yao was left completely struck dumb.

“They aren’t crap… …” Pu Yao dumbly wanted to explain.

“If they aren’t crap, then what are they?” Zuo Mo glared.

Realizing that he had been suppressed by Zuo Mo’s presence, Pu Yao instantly became irritated. His right eye narrowed, revealing an extremely long red blade. In a cold voice, he said, “Oh, what do you want to say?”

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but stop breathing. Meeting Pu Yao’s cold and strange gaze, he instantly shrunk back, “I… … I just meant… … you have to give me… … things that don’t have side effects… …”

“I am yao.” Pu Yao said faintly, “The road that I understand is different from you xiuzhe. It is normal to have side effects.”

Pu Yao’s meaning was extremely clear. He could not be blamed for the side effects. He was also stating that the things he would give in the future will also have side effects.

If Pu Yao decided to be unreasonable, Zuo Mo could do nothing about it. The two were vastly different in power and, naturally, their right to speak was not equal.

Zuo Mo could only choose to remain silently defiant.

Pu Yao’s gaze became even more unfriendly. Zuo Mo could only bear it. He knew that if he capitulated each time, his position in Pu Yao’s eyes would fall, and his outcome would become even worse. Power was something that had to be fought for. This could not be avoided, he had to take a certain degree of risk,.

Facing Zuo Mo’s stubborn silence, Pu Yao started to have a headache.

To get a horse to run, you had to feed the horse. Zuo Mo, this guy who only had jingshi in his eyes, and was becoming wiser. It was not possible to trick him like before.

But the time he had… …

Thinking about that, Pu Yao’s mood instantly became irritated. Looking at the person making trouble for him, he wanted to smash Zuo Mo into smithereens. But he suppressed the impulse in his heart. His temperament was not good, but he was not dumb.

“The scriptures of yaomo, it is not strange that humans would have problems practicing it.” The viciousness in Pu Yao’s eyes gradually faded, and his tone resumed its habitual peace. “However, I do have some xiuzhe scriptures in my possession. In the future, the rewards will be for these scriptures. You cannot blame me if there are side-effects then.”

Zuo Mo was happy, but he still corrected, “It’s transactions!” Transactions and rewards were two completely different concepts. A transaction meant that he was owed something, but if it was a reward then the meaning was different.

“Up to you.” Pu Yao’s face was unconcerned. Inside, his head hurt even more. Zuo Mo was becoming harder to deal with.

“However, you need to be quicker!” Pu Yao’s tone became extremely dissatisfied, “The speed you make jingshi is too slow. I need more jingshi!”

“I am a zhuji cultivator.” Zuo Mo had to emphasize reality.

Pu Yao choked on Zuo Mo’s words. He knew that Zuo Mo had been bothered by the fact his cultivation was not increasing. What Zuo Mo said was the truth. In the ranks of zhuji xiuzhe, there would not be many that could make more jingshi than he did.

This guy that was so enthusiastic about making jingshi, but was also stubborn in his bones, Pu Yao didn’t know what to do. If he switched to another person, truthfully, Pu Yao felt that they wouldn’t be better than him. This guy was a natural at making jingshi. Pu Yao found that Zuo Mo was extremely sensitive to everything related to him. Zuo Mo knew when to fight for himself but not enrage the other party, he knew when to compromise. He was a smart individual.

Oh, even among the yao, there were not many as smart as him.

The potential that Zuo Mo had displayed was gradually changing Pu Yao’s opinion. He suddenly remembered that a certain person had selected Zuo Mo from the beginning and his mood dropped like he had eaten a mosquito.

Giving a cold snort, he disappeared.

Zuo Mo was not puzzled by Pu Yao’s sudden appearance and disappearance. Zuo Mo sighed in relief. It was extremely dangerous to negotiate with Pu Yao. The majority of the time, Pu Yao was normal, but his temperament was fickle. If Zuo Mowas not careful, his outcome would be very bad.

Luckily, the result this time was pretty good. He was very satisfied.

However, he temporarily did not need to consider the problem of making jingshi, because he was penniless. And in front of him, there was still the last round of the Sword Test Conference.

He needed to get Kun Lun’s beginner formation jade scroll. Even though he had Su’s guarantee, but Zuo Mo still didn’t feel secure. There would be one hundred competitors in the last round, and only ten would pass. It could be seen just how cruel the competition was going to be. Su’s power might be deep, and she would definitely have no problem protecting herself, but if she was protecting him as well, then it was hard to predict.

It was safer to rely on himself.

He had a general plan in his head. As he thought of this plan, he was full of excitement and expectancy!

However, right now, he had to suppress the excitement inside and throw the plan to one side. There was an immediate problem he faced, recovering from his wounds.

In the last match with Chao An, he had won even with a disadvantage, but he had received serious injuries. After his Master’s emergency healing, he had managed to recover greatly. Originally, Zuo Mo had planned to slowly recover, but who would have thought that the sect leader suddenly wanted him to attend the free for all round. Now with the jade scroll as an extra reason, he had to focus on the problem of healing.

His cultivation was far lower than the competition. If his body was not healed, even if Su was helping, he would not manage to make it to the end.

Of course, the most important part was healing didn’t need him to cost any jingshi… …

———

Fragrant Ginger Yard, Shi Feng Rong had a cold expression as she stood in front of the medicinal tub. Zuo Mo’s entire body was soaked in the medicinal fluid, only his head could be seen.

The black medicinal fluid exuded a noxious odour. Sitting in the tub Zuo Mo naturally received the brunt of it and became dizzy, “Master, what’s in here? Why does it smell so bad?”

“Don’t waste your words.” Shi Feng Rong said shortly, “Channel your ling power.” Whenever she saw Zuo Mo, her anger would well up and couldn’t be suppressed. He had such talent, but didn’t like cultivating the sword, and only concentrated on making jingshi! How did she end up taking such a degenerate and greedy disciple?

Zuo Mo heard the thick dissatisfaction in his Master’s voice and instantly became much more docile.

In reality, he could feel the power in the tub of medicinal fluid. The thick and lively medicinal power was like countless little worms burrowing into his body. However, this process was not pleasant. Zuo Mo felt as though he was being pricked by countless needles.

Hearing Master telling him to channel ling power, he slightly paused. Should he start [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] or [Vajra Profound Sutra]? The thought circled through his head and he decided on [Vajra Profound Sutra]. The origins of the [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] technique was unclear. It wouldn’t be good if his Master detected it. He was not afraid of using [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Xin Yan Shibo had given it to him. Even though the [Vajra Profound Sutra] he was practicing now was the gravestone version, the difference between the two was only the five phrases.

Once he started [Vajra Profound Sutra], Zuo Mo instantly felt it was different than usual.

The countless tiny medicinal powers seemed to have been attracted by a magnet, turning into several dozen streams as they moved through the large meridians on Zuo Mo’s body, and quickly entered the flow of ling power moving in the channels.

A short time later, Zuo Mo felt all the channels in his body were congested. He was frightened. He had never encountered a situation like this.

Whoa!

What medicinal fluid was this? It had such a strong power!

Zuo Mo couldn’t attend to anything else other than furiously using [Vajra Profound Sutra], doing his best to spread the remaining medicinal power into the rest of his body. As the medicinal power spread through the body, it continuously healed Zuo Mo’s wounds. It was like a large rainstorm, soaking the dry earth. His wounds greedily absorbed the medicinal power.

Outside the tub, Shi Feng Rong had a concerned expression. Zuo Mo’s entire face was dark gold, as though he was painted in gold. At some unknown time, Pei Yuan Ran, Xin Yan and Yan Le had appeared next to her.

“This boy is really strong.” Yan Le said in shock, “His body cultivation is this strong? Isn’t this the Golden Flesh Clothing?”

Xin Yan snorted coldly, “He just doesn’t like cultivating the sword!”

The expression of the others had become instantly ugly.

If Zuo Mo’s cultivation talent was average, they wouldn’t feel this terrible, but he clearly was extremely talented at cultivation .Anything he practiced, he would progress at lightning speed. Even the [Vajra Profound Sutra] that had been given to him carelessly, he could silently cultivate it to the step of Golden Flesh Clothing. But he just had to be uninterested in cultivating the sect’s sword. The numerous powerful sword scriptures of the sect were all open to him, but this guy, after going to look once in the beginning, he hasn’t gone back.

How could Pei Yuan Ran and the others feel good?

“I’m insisting in having him participate in the next round of the Sword Test Conference. This is to let him understand the true power of sword xiu.” Even though Pei Yuan Ran was experienced in keeping his composure, he was extremely infuriated by Zuo Mo, “I’ve already told Wei Sheng to do his best at the conference. Humph, Zuo Mo needs to see what a sword xiu is, and why sword xiu are the strongest xiuzhe in the world!”

“Yes! The sect’s disciple that is not interested in the sect’s scriptures. If this fact got out, even if our ancestral masters knew, we would lose face!” Yan Le, who usually had a smile on his face, had a face full of anger.

“This cannot be tolerated!” Xin Yan’s face was full of murderous intent.

Shi Feng Rong who had been concerned before said discontentedly, “This guy needs to be taught!”

Zuo Mo’s terrible conduct had caused the upper echelons of Wu Kong Sword Sect to come to a consensus.

Being focused on channeling ling power, Zuo Mo paid attention to nothing else. He had no idea of what was being said in front of him. His entire consciousness, all the ling power, they were completely concentrated on controlling the medicinal power. He didn’t know what ling grass Master had added into the medicinal tub this time, but the medicinal power was domineering. He felt he was going to explode from the medicinal power flooding in!

The speed he tamed the medicinal power was far slower than the speed he was absorbing it.

He gritted his teeth. He knew if he could endure through this little while, he would receive great profit. He was very familiar with making medicine, he understood that the medicinal power contained in the ling medicine was limited. As long as he could make it through, he could slowly absorb the medicinal power inside his body. As the medicinal power burrowed into his body, it quickly turned to gold dots of light and entered his flesh. Right now, his tendons and flesh were all gleaming with gold light. The dots of gold light embedded in his flesh became even more populous.

But the rate that the gold light increased was far slower than the rate of increase in the medicinal power.

What Zuo Mo felt panicked about was that the medicinal power did not show any signs of slowing down, and was as still domineering as before!

The medicinal power was like a flood, furiously flowing into his body.

His channels were filled to the brim, but the medicinal power was still pouring into his body uncontrollably. His channels enlarged, the change obvious to the naked eye.

What Zuo Mo felt fear about was that he could not stop!

The flowing ling power and the medicinal power mixed together and was like a wild horse that went off its reins. It couldn’t be stopped!

Damn it!

Chapter 133: Pei Yuan Ran’s Bad Mood

“He’s actually making another breakthrough?” Yan Le gaped at Zuo Mo sitting in the medicinal tub. Then he said to himself, tilting his head, “Hmm, why did I use another?”

No one minded him. Everyone’s face was heavy as they looked at Zuo Mo.

The gold light on Zuo Mo’s gold face was even brighter. The light rippled in layers like waves. Starting from the roots, his hair started to turn gold. His body was slightly trembling, as though he was under great pain. The dissatisfaction on Shi Feng Rong’s face flew away. What took over it was generous concern.

“What stage is after Golden Flesh Clothing in [Vajra Profound Sutra]?” Pei Yuan Ran asked.

Xin Yan wielded his words like gold, “Red Lotus Flowing Gold.”

“Body cultivation… …” Pei Yuan Ran seemed to be recalling something, “Which level can it naturally form abhinna?”

“Fifth.” Xin Yan answered.

“So the fifth level.” Pei Yuan Ran nodded, indicating he understood.

“With his speed, it won’t be long before he reaches the fifth level.” Yan Le inserted. “I’m very curious if this boy reaches the fifth level, what kind of abhinna he will form.”

The others did not say anything. They were all unfamiliar with body cultivation.

The entire realm of Kun Lun was the dominion of sword xiu. Sword xiu only cultivated the sword, and did not ask about anything else. Those skilled in body cultivation were the Dhyana, and the realm of Xuan Kong was the holy ground of the Dhyanathe.

The Dhyana xiu was another major kind of xiuzhe. Their main focus was on cultivating the body, emphasizing their sense of self. In terms of progression difficulty, the most difficult would probably be the Dhyana xiu. However, the scriptures of the Dhyana were clear and simple, and was extremely easy for beginners to learn. As long as they had the perseverance, the majority would accomplish something. However, the tradeoff was that even though it was easy in the beginning but it become harder to progress. The further along in cultivation one went, the harder it was to cultivate, and more perseverance and comprehension was required to achieve greater things.

But to be able to cultivate to the fourth level as fast as Zuo Mo did, that kind of talent was very rare.

What made people most wary about the Dhyana were the abhinna. The abhinna were abilities that naturally formed after one cultivated to a certain level. Other xiu admired and envied this attribute very much. As long as the level was reached, they would always receive an abhinna. However, this abhinna would differ between people. Some had tried to find patterns in the abhinna, but up until now, no one had managed to predict the mechanisms.

But even if Zuo Mo could cultivate to the fifth level of [Vajra Profound Sutra], and form an abhinna, Pei Yuan Ran and the others wouldn’t be happy.

They were sword xiu!

If the Dhyana could be described as peaceful, then sword xiu were mostly haughty and puritan. They only believed in their sword. As the xiuzhe who had the greatest attack power, the sword xiu did have the capital to be proud. The bigger and more known sects, the clearly this attribute could be seen.

Wu Kong Sword Sect might only be a little minor sect right now, but the ancestral master had been renowned. There was still quite a difference compared to the normal minor sects. Pei Yuan Ran and the others didn’t even put any importance on other sects, how could they not look down at any cultivation method other than cultivating the sword?

The more Zuo Mo achieved in body cultivation, the worse they felt.

The black medicinal fluid gradually became clear. Zuo Mo gradually stopped trembling, his dark golden face now seemed more solid. Before, it had seemed like there had been a layer of dark gold plated onto his face, but now, it was like his face was made out of dark gold.

It was still that expressionless face, but there was now an unspeakable dignity.

Pei Yuan Ran and the other’s expressions became even uglier. If it wasn’t that Zuo Mo’s talent was exceptional, and he was also the sect’s disciple, they would have already kicked him off the mountain.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and saw the four elders standing in a row in front of him, their eyes unfriendly as they looked at him. The joy from breaking through to the four level of [Vajra Profound Sutra] was still in his chest, but the ugly expressions of the four elders pulled him back to reality.

He didn’t know how he had enraged the sect leader and the others, but he knew he shouldn’t pour oil into the fire. The less said, the less the wrong, if he didn’t say anything, he could not commit any wrongs. He perceptively closed his mouth.

“Arlight, your wounds have pretty much healed. For you, your master had spent a lot of effort. You need to perform well, and not fail the expectations your master has of you. This Sword Test Conference, if you do not enter the top ten, you can go to your Second Shibo to be punished.” The sect leader humphed and threw down the sentence before striding off.

Second Shibo… … punishment… …

Zuo Mo’s gaze couldn’t help but turn to Second Shibo. Seeing the cold light flickering in Second Shibo’s eyes, even though he was in the boiling hot medicinal water, he felt as though he was freezing.

Even Master and Yan Le Shibo left without a word.

Zuo Mo didn’t understand. What had happened?

But no matter how much he thought, he could not figure out what had happened. He quickly pushed the question to one side because he suddenly remembered the last words the sect leader had left.

The top ten… …

Was the sect leader drunk? Or had he heard it wrong? Zuo Mo sat dazedly in the tub, unable to react for a long time.

———

Dong Fu, the night was coming. The multi-colored light of the lanterns seemed to fill every corner of Dong Fu. The Dong Fu that had become prosperous like it never had before due to the Sword Test Conference had not calmed down as the night came. It was still lively as ever. The cries and slogans mixed together. The light of swords and talismans flew above the sky, and the howls of some ling beasts passed into the ears of those near.

“Why has Sir stopped me?” A plainly dressed xiuzhe asked sternly of a white-clothed male in front of him.

The white-clothed male faintly responded, “You are not Wei Ping.” It was the Lin Qian that Zuo Mo had encountered at the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion.

This xiuzhe suddenly smiled, “Sir really is funny. Who am I if not Wei Ping?”

“You have to ask my sword.” Lin Qian lightly sighed.

Wei Ping’s expression changed dramatically, revealing a viciousness. A faint purple elemental smoke appeared on his hands suddenly which shot towards Lin Qian.

A streak of sword light!

The sharp sword light moved like it did not encounter any resistance, easily cutting the light purple elemental smoke in half and headed for Wei Ping.

Argh!

Wei Ping’s eyes widened angrily, given an in-human howl. His body suddenly expanded in size!

Pew!

The sword light suddenly accelerated. Wei Ping’s eyes bulged and then the howls suddenly stopped.

On his chest, there was a small hole. What was weird was that not a drop of blood had flowed out.

“The tenth one.” Lin Qian said lightly, his gaze full of worry.

———

A residence in Dong Fu.

“Old Luo is dead.”

“Have we found who did it?”

“Same as before, killed by a single sword stroke. It should be the same person. Someone has locked onto us.”

“That’s not strange. The noise from the Stars in Daytime was too large, it could not be concealed. Have our affairs made any progress?”

“Nothing. If it really is a certain personage, they would certainly be thinking of ways to contact us. Could it be… …”

“Don’t think nonsense. The Stars in Daytime cannot be faked. Even though I do not know what the personage is thinking, but we need to fulfill our duty.”

“Yes.”

“Continue to pay attention. You guys need to carefully conceal yourself. Only you few have been able to sneak in. It will take a few months until the next group will arrive. Right now, the situation in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie is shifting. We need to find this personage quickly!”

“Yes!”

———

In a little store, Zuo Mo was in discussion with Su. Since Su was promising that he could enter the top ten, it would really be disadvantageous for himself if he didn’t use it. But when they entered the Great Pine Pavilion, their starting position would be random. No one knew where they would end up.

This information had been provided to Zuo Mo by Su. It was very clear that she felt that, as long as she gave Zuo Mo enough information, Zuo Mo would be able to find a way to resolve this. The match between Zuo Mo and Chao An had fully proven his abilities in this area.

Zuo Mo went over all the questions about the Great Pine Pavilion in great detail. Because he had not been concerned with the Sword Test Conference in the beginning, he didn’t even have the most basic information, and he was very attentive.

It had to be said that Zuo Mo was a very practical person. Once he was certain that he needed to fight for victory, he would think of all the possible ways.

“It is very simple to communicate. We only need to make two paper cranes, one for each of use. We can carve a yin and yang guiding formation on the paper for the crane, and that will allow us to quickly find each other’s position.” Zuo Mo said shamelessly, “Once we enter, I will stay at my position. You need to find me with the quickest possible speed.”

“Alight.” Su did not hesitate at all, nodding in agreement. However, she was still struck by Zuo Mo’s shamelessness. Normal men, including her Shixiong Gu Rong Ping, were full of the desire to perform in front of her. But Zuo Mo, he was completely shameless in doing nothing, and he didn’t show any unnaturalness when doing it.

After the two finalized the details of communication, Zuo Mo left.

Right after Zuo Mo left, Gu Rong Ping walked out from the back.

“Even if you help him, he can’t enter the top ten.” Gu Rong Ping said with certainty.

“You want to be enemies with me?” Su said icily.

“How could I?” Gu Rong Ping said with a smile. He gave a light laugh, “This Sword Test Conference, the young experts of all of Sky Moon Jie is gathered here. He might be talented, but he does not have enough power.”

“So what?” Su’s voice was still cold. However, she did know she was being stubborn. She also knew that Shixiong was waiting for her to beg him.

She stayed silent.

Gu Rong Ping glanced at her before standing and leaving.

Even with Su’s help, Zuo Mo was certain his chances of entering the top ten were still minuscule. He was the weakest person of the competitors entering the Great Pine Pavilion. Any competitor that saw him was not going to be nice.

He was like the fat little sheep that entered crossed paths with pride of the lions!

However, when he thought about his plan… …

Zuo Mo was full of anticipation!

———

Wu Kong Mountain.

“Did you hear? The sect leader ordered Zuo Shixiong to enter the top ten! Otherwise, he needs to go Xin Yan Shishu to get punished!”

“Heavens! Xin Yan Shishu? Is the sect leader finding Zuo Shixiong an eyesore recently? It would be better if he sent a direct punishment.”

“Right. That is too unrealistic.”

“Oh, offending the sect leader. Zuo Shixiong will not have good days.”

… …

When Xiao Guo heard the gossip, it was as though something was blocked inside her heart. It had been quite a few days since she had seen Zuo Shixiong. Ever since Zuo Shixiong came back from the outside last time, he had shut himself in the valley and hadn’t come out since.

A hint of worry flashed through her eyes.

What she was worried about was not that Shixiong would be punished. She was an inner sect disciple and clearly understood to the position that Shixiong had with the sect leader. The punishment would not be major. What she was worried about was the Shixiong would risk his life for this. She knew that Shixiong looked as though he only cared about making jingshi, but if he really wanted to do something, he would put in all his effort.

A serious Shixiong was very scary… … but if he was injured due to it… …

Xiao Guo bit her lips.

Chapter 134: Before The Battle

After two rounds of competition, with the exception of Zuo Mo, all the remaining participants were crowd favorites and were highly ranked in the power rankings. The experts that everyone favored all easily defeated the competition. Those matches might have been good, but they didn’t excite the audience.

Everyone’s focus was on the last round of competition, the free for all round.

Of one hundred xiuzhe, only ten would win. There were no rules, or protocols. The Great Pine Pavilion would become a frenzied battlefield. Only ten would luckily survive.

The fierceness could be predicted, the powerful encounters could not be avoided, and there were many environmental factors that could be used… …

How could people not look forward to this competition?

A few days before the final round, Elder Tian Song Zi announced that he was going to set up a [Mirage Illusion Formation] around the Great Ping Pavilion. When it was time, all the battles inside the Great Pine Pavilion would be viewed in front of everyone like a mirage.

Once this was announced, all of Dong Fu shook.

A no-rules battle previously had only been the concern of the gamblers because many people couldn’t view it. The most spectacular battle was not interesting if people could not see it, but Tian Song Zi’s action quickly attracted every xiuzhe’s attention. The news was broadcast through the sound tablet, and the news quickly spread.

Dong Fu suddenly became the center of the entire Sky Moon Jie. Countless xiuzhe, regardless of cultivation level, travelled day and night, forming lines, as they gathered in Dong Fu.

This, was where the strongest youths of Sky Moon were fighting! This, was the gathering place of the greatest geniuses of Sky Moon Jie. This, would have Sky Moon Jie’s grandest spells! This, would show Sky Moon Jie’s most cruel and fierce combat!

Such a grand event, how could they miss it? It was such a rare chance to personally see it.

Dong Fu was busier and more prosperous than it ever had been before. All the large sects sent their disciples to spectate. They might not have the chance to enter the Sword Test Conference, but it was very beneficial to view the battles and observe how the best of their generation wielded spells. When xiuzhe faced their enemies, they usually hid everything. To be able to examine and see it in real-life, no one wanted to miss the opportunity.

The illusory jade scroll of Zuo Mo’s match with Chao An was now priced at one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. The market had sold out. Many people regretted that they hadn’t made some more illusory jade scrolls at the time. They would have gotten rich! The illusory jade scrolls of the match had mostly been bought by the larger sects. They were planning to give the jade scrolls to their disciples that were skilled in formations. It had to be said that the larger sects were much more sensible.

While the number of illusory scrolls of the following matches were more plentiful, the demand could not be compared to Zuo Mo’s match.

The little Dong Fu was filled with all kinds of xiuzhe. Many xiuzhe saw the opportunity and started to do business. Some put out the talismans and materials they did not need to exchange or sell. Some started a business of buying low and selling high. Dong Fu had over night, become the biggest and most prosperous market in Sky Moon Jie.

———

Wu Kong Hall, Wei Sheng and the sect leader sat across from each other.

“How is it?” The sect leader said with a small smile, “You didn’t meet a strong opponent for your first two matches, are you disappointed? You must be looking forward to the next round very much.”

“This disciple is looking forward to it.” Wei Sheng said honestly, he was unable to hide the excitement in his eyes, “To be able to fight with so many experts, it really makes my blood boil!”

The sect leader nodded in praise. In the eyes of the elders of Wu Kong Sword Sect, Wei Sheng had almost all the good attributes that a sword xiu should have. His personality was steady and determined, he worked hard at his cultivation, and his mind and heart were pure. He was completely dedicated towards the sword. Almost no one could compare to his talent with the sword. Facing this battle, Wei Sheng was full of the desire for battle, not afraid in the least. He did not hide from anything, and did not panic at obstacles.

Thinking about talent, Pei Yuan Ran couldn’t help but think of Zuo Mo. In all the disciples of the sect, the only person that could match Wei Sheng in talent would probably only be Zuo Mo. But when he thought of this problematic youth, his brow unconsciously furrowed.

Detecting his Master’s vexation, Wei Sheng couldn’t help but ask in curiosity, “Has Master encountered something?” Even though in the elders of the sect, the one with the deepest cultivation had to be Xin Yan Shishu, but Master’s power was also incomprehensibly deep. Wei Sheng’s cultivation was far stronger than before. Whenever he felt the strong presence that Master occasionally exuded, he felt afraid.

Something that even Master found difficult, what could that be?

Noticing his loss of composure, Pei Yuan Ran waved his hand. “Nothing.” Afterwards, he deliberated and softly said, “That boy, Zuo Mo, he must be cursing me inside. I sent a death order demanding he enter the top ten.” He suddenly thought of something, and said teasingly, “I heard that there are many people in Dong Fu right now. Ying Feng hasn’t been able to rest at all. All the inventory in the shop has been sold out. If the boy knew that he missed such a good opportunity to make jingshi, he would probably spit blood.”

Hearing Master’s light teasing, Wei Sheng relaxed. When he thought about his shidi’s obsession with money, he laughed, “This disciple feels the latter is a heavier blow to Shidi.”

“Haha!” Thinking about the problem that Zuo Mo had given him recently, now that he got one over the boy, Pei Yuan Ran felt extremely good. “Your shidi, he might have good talent, but his personality is too lazy. If he landed in jingshi, he will not come out and he has no interest in cultivating the sword.”

“Shidi will definitely understand the efforts of Master and the shishu.” Wei Sheng said. He was helpless against his shidi as well. He knew that Zuo Mo’s personality was so, and he could not force it.

“Your Xin Yan Shibo has prepared an entire regimen of punishment and is just waiting for the boy to come.” Thinking about it, Pei Yuan Ran couldn’t help but be slightly smug.

Based on cultivation, Zuo Mo could not enter the top ten no matter what he did. However, in this world, strength was not everything, and Wei Sheng knew very well that this shidi of his was cunning and would have many tricks up his sleeve. He understood Shidi better than his master and the others. Shidi might seem lazy on the surface, but he was abnormally stubborn in his bones, which bordered on insanity. The other people only saw Shidi’s talent, but only he suspected the amount of effort Shidi’s Little Art of Cloud and Rain had required to reach the fourth level.

The practice of any spell was not just possible with talent.

However, this was only his gut instinct. If he said so to Master, there was no proof and it would not be effective. He was also curious how his Shidi, when forced into the corner, would react? From the fact that Shidi had been in seclusion since Wei Sheng came back, he knew that Shidi was serious.

Shidi was like a slack and loose spring. The more he was compressed, the stronger the explosive power. A serious Shidi could not be underestimated.

Suddenly, he felt another kind of expectation towards the upcoming Sword Test Conference.

Noticing the anticipation in Wei Sheng’s eyes, Pei Yuan Ran mistakenly assumed Wei Sheng was thinking of the Sword Test Conference. Thinking about the things he and his shidi had done when young, he started to reminisce. He refocused, and asked gravely, “Who do you plan to find to be your opponent?”

Hearing this, light flashed through Wei Sheng’s eyes. He unconsciously sat straighter, heavily stating three words.

“Gu Rong Ping!”

———

The Little West Wind Yard.

Zuo Mo’s hair was a mess as he sat on the ground, his eyes bloodshot as they stared fixedly in front of him.

“Not right… …”

“Still not right… …”

… …

His mouth unconsciously muttered to himself. Materials were scattered as they laid before him, yet those materials seemed to have an unspeakable magnetism, attracting his gaze.

Under the tangle of hair, that pair of bloodshot eyes flashed with a nimble light.

“Hmm… …”

Suddenly, his eyes lit up!

———

Luo Li sat on the mountain peak, looking at the bright moon as his thoughts wandered.

“Shidi, you are still angry at me?” Hao Min bit her lips and said pitifully.

Luo Li did not turn his head, saying lightly, “Shijie exaggerates. My heart only has the sword, no anger.”

Hao Min’s breathing stopped. She didn’t know what to say. After Luo Li had been wounded by Zuo Mo, she had not even visited once. But who could know that Luo Li had seemed to be reborn, fighting his way into the last round of the Sword Test Conference. The entire Wu Kong Sword Sect was looking at him again. Hao Min had been reminded of his good qualities from the past, and wanted to get together again, but Luo Li looked at her like he was looking at a stranger.

“Shidi truly does not care about our past feelings?” Hao Min made a last effort.

“There had been no feelings before.” Luo Li’s answer was straightforward and crisp without any disguise, ‘It’s late. Shijie, please return.”

Hearing Hao Min cry as she left, under the moonlight, Luo Li started to practice the sword.

Under the moonlight, the sword light seemed to contain a faint sorrow.

———

Dong Fu Hall, Tian Song Zi looked at his beloved disciple, slight comfort and satisfaction in his eyes. He said warmly, “The rank is not important, it is intangible. What is most important is comprehension, of fighting with different people, of facing different spells, of ambushes, and of melee fighting. You will encounter them in the future, and also in this competition.”

“Yes.” Yu Bai respectfully answered with his head down.

“Do you have a potential opponent?” Tian Song Zi asked.

“This disciple wants to spar with Zong Ming Yan.”

Tian Song Zi suddenly furrowed his brows, and said irritably in a deep voice, “This is not a spar, it is a fight, it is a battle!”

He didn’t know why his Master was suddenly so angry. Yu Bai said slightly fearful, “Yes.”

Tian Song Zi waved his hand. “Go, prepare well. Zong Ming Yan could receive Zuo Mei Tian’s true teachings, he will not be weak.”

“Yes.” Yu Bai hesitated before leaving.

Looking at his most loved disciple, Tian Song Zi suddenly sighed silently, a deep worry floating up in his eyes.

———

Ling Ying Sect.

The sect leader looked at Chang Heng standing in front of him. He was slightly irritated. Chang Heng’s temper was rebellious. Looking at him carelessly standing, without any of the required respect, the dislike in the sect leader’s heart became stronger.

Chang Heng might be the most outstanding of the Ling Ying Sect disciples, but he was never liked by the elders.

“Humph, Chang Heng, if you meet Wu Kong Sword Sect’s Zuo Mo this time, do not let him go.” The sect leader said hatefully, “This boy has embarrassed the sect many times, you cannot release him!”

Chang Heng was not affected. His eyes were half-lidded. He actually was sleeping in the hall.

Seeing Chang Heng act like this, the sect leader was even angrier. He raised his volume, “Chang Heng! Have you heard me?”

Chang Heng slowly opened his eyes. He glanced at the sect leader, throwing down, “Nag! I’ll fight whoever I encounter, there’s no trouble.”

Finishing, he didn’t care about the petrified disciples and the exploding sect leader, freely leaving.

Chapter 135: Great Pine Pavilion

Dong Fu Hall was the residence that the Dong Fu Xianren had left behind. It was the most complete and best residence in Dong Fu. Other than the dense ling energy, there were many marvelous features to the residence itself, like the Great Pine Pavilion. The Great Pine Pavilion was similar to Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sword cave, it was a whole other world. When compared to the tightly held secret of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sword cave, Dong Fu Hall’s Great Pine Pavilion was famous.

The world inside the Great Pine Pavilion was high and steep, full of mountainous peaks. The area was extremely large. Ling beasts were raised by the master of Dong Fu, and it had been this way in every generation. Most of these were vicious and wild beasts. The disciples of each generation, after they reached ningmai, would be allowed to gain experience in the Great Pine Pavilion. This was why in all the casinos, the wagering favored Yu Bai so much. While other people the Great Pine Pavilion was unfamiliar, to Yu Bai it was his backyard.

A Secret Paradise talisman like the Great Pine Pavilion needed great power to create. Almost all large sects that had some foundation, when their founders created the sect they would spend great amounts of power to create a secret world to become the base of their sect. Inside the Great Pine Pavilion, any battles by xiuzhe under jindan stage, no matter how they fought, there would cause no damage. Of course, the ling beasts that were being raised there were not immune.

In all of Dong Fu, only Dong Fu Hall and Wu Kong Sword Sect had a Secret Paradise talisman, but almost none knew about the sword cave of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

The elders and sect leaders of the other sects could only stare with jealous eyes as Tian Song Zi opened the Great Pine Pavilion. Among them, the sect leader of Ling Ying Sect was especially jealous. This was an indicator of how deep a sect’s foundation was. No matter how wealthy Ling Ying Sect was currently, in the eyes of those slightly high-level xiuzhe, they were just a nouveau riche sect.

A Secret Paradise talisman was not something that could be bought with jingshi. Other than the great power it took to create the talisman, it cost a large price. Other than making them for their own sects, no one would ever make a Secret Paradise talisman to sell.

Pei Yuan Ran and the others were very calm. The secrets of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sword cave was comparable or even better than Great Pine Pavilion. Even when they themselves discussed the sword cave, they would sigh at the great power of the ancestral founder. The four of them may be in the stage of jindan and rank among the top experts of Sky Moon Jie, but they did not have the power to make a Secret Paradise talisman.

The one hundred competitors attending the last round stood there silently, but curiosity came onto many of their faces. Many of them had never entered a Secret Paradise talisman before, and were extremely curious. The disciples of larger sects, like Gu Rong Ping, either had a calm face or were looking arrogantly at the other people, feeling superior to the others.

———

Around the Great Pine Pavilion, the [Mirage Illusion Formation] slowly activated, the seven colored light swimming around like countless fishes flying. Slowly, above the Great Pine Pavilion, a faint image appeared.

The image quickly grew larger and became clear until it covered all of the sky above Dong Fu. Presented in front of everyone was a serene and peaceful world.

Row after row of mountain peaks with steep slopes that were so elegant as though they were drawn. Between the mountains, ling beasts could be seen moving.

Such a clear and gigantic illusion, it was very rare to see. Many people sighed in amazement. The xiuzhe who had come from long off were celebrating that they had made the journey. It was very rare to see such a spectacular event.

No matter if the people were floating in the sky or on the ground, they could easily see this gigantic mirage.

At this time, Dong Fu formed an extremely strange spectacle. Countless xiuzhe had packed in the sky, low and high, some flying around as they adjusted their angle, and sigh with wonder. On the ground, people took out recliners, some crouched on the rooftops, as they raised their heads to look at the enormous mirage in the sky.

They were all xiuzhe!

Tens of thousands of xiuzhe were gathered in Dong Fu. Looking from a distance, they appeared to be packed densely like ants.

“Such a grand picture!” A non-local elder of a sect couldn’t help but praise, “Spectacular!”

“Tian Song Zi really has the breadth of spirit, no wonder he is the master of Dong Fu.” An elder beside him said, “Such a grand event. If this was held every few years, it would be a beneficial matter!”

“That’s hard! The number of sects in Sky Moon Jie that have a Secret Paradise talisman can be counted on the hands. Even if they had one, who would be like Tian Song Zi and bear to let it be used for a competition?”

“Exactly! Who doesn’t hide the Secret Paradise as deep as they can? It really is the first time someone has acted this way. I wonder what he is thinking?”

“I’ve seen Tian Song Zi before. He’s not stupid. He definitely has his own thoughts.”

… …

As they discussed, the topic of the elder’s discussion veered off-topic.

“Who do you feel is going to win?” One of the elders suddenly asked.

“Gu Rong Ping!”

“Gu Rong Ping!”

“Naturally, it is Gu Rong Ping. Heart Lake Sect has deep foundations and is one of the top sects in Sky Moon Jie. Gu Rong Ping is one of those genius seen every hundred years. It would be hard to find someone that could be comparable to him.”

Everyone was in consensus on this point.

“Other than Gu Rong Ping?” An elder who rarely spoke suddenly opened.

“That Su is very mysterious and pretty powerful.”

“Gu Feng’s [Little Ghost Sword] is extremely experienced. I favor him.”

“Wei Sheng’s two battles were clean and quick. But I haven’t heard of this Wu Kong Sword Sect. It’s probably a small sect.” An elder said hesitantly.

“Speaking of this Wu Kong Sword Sect, it should not be underestimated. The three disciples it has attending the competition all entered the last round.”

Hearing this, the elder who was favoring Su sneered, “We shouldn’t even speak of this matter. That guy that looks like a zombie had a bye to get into the last round. We can only say this Wu Kong Sword Sect is on pretty good terms with Tian Song Zi.”

Another elder instantly objected, “Even though this guy’s cultivation is a bit low, but he’s still skilled.”

The elder that favored Su asked in response, “Do you favor him?”

“Not possible!” The elder shook his head. “The gap between the stages of ningmai and zhuji is too large. There is also Chao An as the precedent. When his opponents see him, they would not be light on their guard. He’s just a zhuji, how many skills can he have? He probably has used up most of them. His elders must be wanting him to get some experience.”

“Does someone favor him?” The elder that favored Su asked the other people.

“Ha ha! If someone favors him, then I would really admire the person!”

“Ha ha… …”

… …

The crowd of elders discussed interestedly. The ones of the same sect would communicate and see if there were suitable seedlings.

———

Between the xiuzhe, Zuo Mo turned his head around and looked. Even though his zombie face was expressionless, but curiosity flashed in his eyes.

Privately, he was conversing with Pu Yao.

“Pu, if you compare this Great Pine Pavilion to the sword cave, which one is better?”

“All trash.” Pu Yao’s voice was full of disdain.

Zuo Mo instantly was speechless and rolled his eyes. With the same tone, he shot back, “Aren’t you a Sky Yao? Can you make one?”

Pu Yao did not know shame. “I play with things that should not be played with. This is not interesting.”

Zuo Mo finally knew why he was only a zhuji xiuzhe and Pu Yao was a Sky Yao. This was a direct ratio to the thickness of the face.

Hmm, he suddenly noticed that Gu Rong Ping seemed to have swept a look in his direction. Even though Gu Rong Ping had disguised it well, but Zuo Mo sensitively caught the strange emotions contained in that look.

No way!

Such a little person as him was not worthy of Gu Rong Ping’s interest. It must have been that he sensed it wrong.

“Careful!” Pu Yao suddenly said heavily.

Zuo Mo paused. “What is it?”

“Just now, someone used a detection spell.”

“Detection spell?” Zuo Mo was dumb, and then said in shock. “No way!”

He was preparing to look around when Pu Yao immediately shouted, “Don’t look!”

Zuo Mo instantly didn’t dare to move, obediently standing on his spot. He rarely saw Pu Yao this nervous, as though he was facing a great enemy.

Someone had used a detection spell. He deliberately pretended to casually sweep across the surroundings. No one seemed to be behaving strangely. Even Gu Rong Ping didn’t seem to detect that someone had just used a detection spell.

Zuo Mo was shocked. To be able to use a detection spell on this many people, but no one had discovered it, the caster’s cultivation must be terrifying!

“Humph, it seems someone is targeting me.” Pu Yao snorted coldly, but there was no fear in his words.

“How do you know it is to catch you?” Zuo Mo reflexively followed up.

“Isn’t it just the [Fire Eye]? I’ve encountered it a few times before.” Pu Yao’s tone turned colder, filled with dislike. “It’s just as bothersome as the Dhyana’s [Sky Eye] abhinna!”

Hearing such hate filled words, then thinking of Pu Yao’s tendency to want to get even, Zuo Mo didn’t even need to think to know that Pu Yao had definitely suffered before due to this spell. He instantly became nervous. “Has the other found you?”

Hearing this, Pu Yao instantly became smug. He snickered, “That person would never think that I am in your sea of consciousness. This fire eye might be powerful, but it can only detect the energy of yaomo. Don’t worry, as long as you act normal, the other would never think of it.”

“That’s good.” Zuo Mo’s heart landed.

Just at this time, Tian Song Zi stood up. All the eyes gathered on his body.

Tian Song Zi was very good at keeping his composure. He didn’t seem to notice as he said calmly, “Prepare now. I will now send you into the Great Pine Pavilion.”

Finishing, he started to cast a spell. His legs stood steadily, ling power spraying out of his lightly moving palms.

Everyone suddenly found the average looking figure of Tian Song Zi suddenly became towering figure, like a millennia old pine tree, weathered yet strong. His legs seemed to reach deep into the ground like countless roots, steady as a rock, unmoved by wind or rain. The rippling pressure almost covered all of Dong Fu.

Other than the jindan xiuzhe that were calm, the xiuzhe under the stage of jindan, even Gu Rong Ping who really conducted himself elegantly, changed expression. Yu Bai looked with a hot expression at Master, his heart filled with pride. Wei Sheng seemed to be affected. There was no retreat on his face. He raised his head, the light in his eyes bursting, the two hands by his side unconsciously turning to fists.

Wow, such a powerful old man! Zuo Mo gaped inside. But comparing Tian Song Zi and Second Shibo, he still felt that Second Shibo was more scary.

“Ho!”

Tian Song Zi bellowed.

Countless lights rose up under the feet of the one hundred xiuzhe. The light flashed, and they disappeared.

Chapter 136: Heart Turn Sword Essence

Zuo Mo felt his vision blur, a strong feeling of dizziness making him almost unable to keep upright.

A gust of cold wind blew into his face. He quickly refocused. Of course, he couldn’t help but complain inside that the comfort of Tian Song Zi’s transportation spell was lacking compared to Pu Yao’s transportation formation. He glanced at the surroundings. What entered his eyes were all old trees. Occasionally, the wind would blow past, and he could smell water.

There was a source of water nearby!

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. The power of water was strong near water sources. It was extremely useful for him.

After Zuo Mo cast a hiding spell, he carefully walked in the direction of water. The spells in the jade scrolls of Elder Wei Nan proved to be useful. Like this spell that concealed his figure, it was very effective. If ningmai xiuzhe didn’t pay close attention, they would have a difficult time detecting him.

In all of the five element spells, Zuo Mo’s skill was the best with the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and he was most sensitive to the power of water. After walking about fifty paces, he found the source of water.

A water pond about half a mu large with weeds growing along the edges. The excrement of ling beasts could be seen everywhere.

Zuo Mo carefully inspected the surroundings. He was very satisfied. It seemed that his luck had been very good this time. But he still warily scanned the surroundings with his consciousness. He didn’t put out the paper crane immediately to report his location to Su.

“Strong Warrior Protect Master!”

The figure of a golden giant started to appear behind Zuo Mo. The golden shadow quickly became tangible. A gigantic soldier wearing golden armor stood proudly.

Only now did Zuo Mo release a breath.

With this seal soldier, his safety could be guaranteed to a certain degree. It was usually ningmai that used seal soldiers. Only those xiuzhe that were very wealthy, like the Wang Shixiong of Ling Ying Sect, would be able to use seal soldiers when they were only in the stage of zhuji. Actually, this seal soldier had been given to Wang Shixiong by his family to use when his life was in danger. It was just that he had been threatened by Zuo Mo and he had panicked, using this seal soldier. He had not won, and even paid up the seal soldier to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s eyes glowed as they looked at the dignified armored seal soldier. His heart was full of regret. It was a pity that after being used this time, this seal soldier would be useless. In Dong Fu, compared to those that made dan, or forged, the xiuzhe that understood seals were even more rare. There wasn’t even one person that had the power to create seals as powerful as this seal soldier. He didn’t know where Wang Shixiong’s elders had bought this seal soldier.

With the protection of the seal soldier, his confidence rose. However, he still did not release the paper crane in his possession.

He thought about the plan that he had spent so much effort on. On the wooden and frozen face, pride flashed through his eyes.

This last round was a free for all round. There were no rules. The last ten xiuzhe that were remaining in the Great Pine Pavilion were the last winners.

Zuo Mo decided to utilize this rule to the fullest!

It was a pity that his concealment spells were not outstanding. Otherwise, he could just find a place and conceal his presence. That way, his chances of winning would be greater. He could think of this, and other people also would. He suddenly thought about the [Fire Eyes] that Pu Yao mentioned today. If someone really knew [Fire Eyes], it was useless to hide.

Hue hue, all of you definitely don’t know what ge is planning.

Zuo Mo was full of motivation!

———

In the sky above Dong Fu, the gigantic mirage clearly showed every change inside the Great Ping Pavilion.

Seeing the competitors appear on the mirage, the spectators instantly became alert, and praised the wonders of the [Mirage Illusion Formation]!

Those that were watching in groups fixed their eyes on the mirage as they discussed.

“Who do you think will get first?” Yan Ming Zi asked.

Hu Shan shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe Gu Rong Ping. He’s just too powerful!”

Tao Zhu Er suddenly pointed to the most prominent main peak in the mountain range depicted in the mirage, shouting, “Look!”

At the same time, many xiuzhe found two people on the main peak. The discussion was like the retreating tide, quickly disappearing.

Everyone’s eyes gathered onto the main peak.

There were fifteen great peaks that touched the clouds in the Great Pine Pavilion, and among them, the central main peak was the most prominent. It was extremely steep, like a gigantic sword cleaving the clouds.

On the main peak, two people were standing.

Gu Rong Ping and Wei Sheng!

The person who was predicted to win first in this Sword Test Conference, Gu Rong Ping!

The person who had an apparition when he entered zhuji, Wei Sheng!

No one had thought that those two people would appear at the same position. The competition had just started, and it had entered a peak, it was out of everyone’s expectations!

At the same time, many of the competitors inside the Great Pine Pavilion noticed the two people on the main peak. The two of them were like two swords, without any disguise or concealment as they stood proudly. Many people couldn’t help but release a breath. Those two were opponents none of them wanted to meet.

———

Through the black gauze, Su gazed at Gu Rong Ping standing on the peak. Her heart relaxed slightly. What she had been most worried about was that Shixiong would encounter Zuo Mo. Shixiong definitely wouldn’t give Zuo Mo a chance and show any mercy. Because she hadn’t begged him.

But that guy, why hadn’t he sent out the paper crane?

She suddenly turned her body.

———

On the main peak, the wind was very strong.

“Didn’t think that I would encounter Brother Wei so soon. It really is a surprise to me.” Gu Rong Ping said with a smile.

Wei Sheng’s expression was solemn. He did not speak, the desire for battle rising in his eyes. At some time, Splitting Rainbow sword had appeared in his hands. The air around his body seemed to have been pushed by an invisible hand, slowly spinning around him. A traceless yet pressuring presence, with him at the center, rippled out.

The smile on Gu Rong Ping’s face disappeared.

His eyes could see Wei Sheng in front of him, but in his spiritual perception, where Wei Sheng was standing, there was not a person!

It was an empty space, but there was sword essence!

———

The xiuzhe in Dong Fu conversed, their faces puzzled. What they were seeing was out of their comprehension, yet among the sect leaders and elders of the various sects, it exploded.

“Who told me Wu Kong Sword Sect is a small sect? Wei Sheng’s sword scripture definitely is above fifth-grade!”

“Heart Turn Sword Essence! The next step would be Metamorphosis! Heavens! What kind of monster is Wei Sheng? How old is he?”

“Wu Kong Sword Sect is going to rise. This boy’s future is limitless!”

“Impossible! Impossible! How is it possible… …”

“I heard when this boy was entering zhuji, an apparition of sword energy had appeared. I had thought it was just a rumor but seeing him now, it’s probably the truth!”

… …

The faces of Pei Yuan Ran and the other three were filled with pride and happiness. Ever since they discovered Wei Sheng’s talent, they had put large amounts of effort into him. Almost all the resources of the sect had been given to him. Xin Yan had taught him step by step. For the first time, the sword cave had been opened for a disciple. Even the ling food and lingdan that was put into the sword cave when Wei Sheng had been fighting in the sword cave had been made at the expense of countless expensive materials. Otherwise, no matter how outstanding Wei Sheng’s talent was, he couldn’t have broken through to ningmai so quickly.

Seeing the shock that Wei Sheng gave others, the four exchanged smiles. Their hearts were full of the feeling of accomplishment.

Wu Kong Sword Sect previously did not have any outstanding disciples. That had been a burden on all of their hearts. It was only when Wei Sheng had appeared that everything had changed.

If people knew how short of a time it took Wei Sheng to go from zhuji to ningmai, they would be frightened out of their wits. A slight hint of mirth floated on the corner of Pei Yuan Ran’s mouth. Sometimes, he would also be frightened by Wei Sheng’s cultivation speed.

Heart Turn Sword Essence, it was comprehending a deeper level of sword essence. Upon reaching this stage, the xiuzhe could control the sword essence according to his heart and wishes.

Controlling the sword scripture and controlling the sword essence were two completely different concepts.

The former could affect the power of the sword essence, the strength of the attack. It required delicate control of ling power, and the finer it was, the great the power of the sword scripture. But after one could control a sword scripture perfectly, if they wanted to progress further, they had to reach Heart Turn sword essence.

Each sword scripture, at the beginning, it was based on the “law” that xiuzhe that created it had. For those who came after and learned the scripture, these were different “laws”. Reaching Heart Turn Sword Essence, that meant that Wei Sheng had started to comprehend deeper levels of “law”. Only by comprehending his own “law”, could he break through the layers of restrictions in the sword scripture.

When one reached the Metamorphosis Sword Essence, it was creating one’s own “law”, a “law” that belonged to the individual.

This was why when the same sword scripture was practiced by different people to higher levels, it would differ so much. Normally, the people who could touch this level were xiuzhe entering jindan. Wei Sheng was a ningmai xiuzhe and had already started to comprehend “law”. Such talent, it was terrifying!

“Wei Sheng has progressed so fast, it really is the good fortune of the sect! So young and having reached the level of Heart Turn Sword Essence, even Second Shidi hadn’t done the same at that age.” Pei Yuan Ran praised. The four were tired of sitting and fighting with the other sect leaders so the four took the inner sect disciples to one side to watch the competition.

Li Ying Feng saw the agreement on Second Shibo’s face, and couldn’t help but jump in to say, “Master, so this means that Eldest Shixiong is going to win?”

Yan Le shook his head. “Not certain.”

“Isn’t Shixiong on a higher level?” Li Ying Feng was puzzled.

Yan Le explained, “Heart Turn Sword Essence is a transition level and a very unstable level. The old restrictions have not been completely broken, and the new sword scripture has not formed. The advantage provided in battle is not always evident. If the heart is uncertain, the power of the sword scripture would actually decrease.”

The disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect all had ugly expressions. Even Pei Yuan Ran and the others had left the joy of the previous moment, their expressions serious as they stared at the mirage.

———

Zuo Mo’s cultivation was a pitiful zhuji stage. His eyes naturally couldn’t compare to those ningmai xiuzhe, and was unable to notice Wei Sheng Shixiong’s battle.

Everything had been thrown far into the back of his mind. With the protection of the seal soldier, he could put all of his attention onto his plan.

He started to furiously take things out of the dimensional ring.

In the blink of an eye, a small mountain piled up in front of him. A small mountain completely made up of various materials!

Seeing this pile of materials bought with his pile of jingshi, Zuo Mo’s heart ached with pain.

“Hmm hmm, I’ll get all of you to taste the power of jingshi!”

It was a pity that everyone’s eyes at this time were gathered on Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping as they faced off on the main peak. No one noticed, beside a non-descript pond, a certain zombie was like a laboring ant, slowly moving a mountain made up of materials!

Chapter 137: Each Person’s Opponent

Su coldly stared at the thin male in front of her. She recognized him.

Gui Feng, he had unknown origins, skilled in the [Little Ghost Sword], and he had a mysterious ghost concealment movement method. He was a popular contender of this year’s Dong Fu Sword Test Conference.

Gui Feng was dressed in black. She didn’t know what material it was made of, but it was dark and no light reflected off the material. His figure was thin and tall, his hands shriveled like twigs, his eyes were dark, and his entire body was emanating a dense yin energy.

The two of them weren’t the type to waste words. As their eyes met, the two made their moves at the same time.

Su’s hand spread slightly, her snow white fingers lightly grasping at the air.

Gui Feng felt the scene in front of him twist slightly, sky and earth spinning, as a feeling of dizziness came over him.

[Magnet Polarity Sword]!

Even though she held no sword in her hand, but her Magnet Polarity sword essence was still powerful.

Gui Feng snorted coldly as his dark hawk-like eyes slightly narrowed. He didn’t seem to move but had disappeared from his spot.

Su’s hand straighten into sword fingers, swiping at the air beside her side.

A white bone ghost sword suddenly shot out of the air. Gui Feng’s sword and Su’s fingers seemed to have made an appointment, strangely crashing together.

Su gave a muffled grunt. Gui Feng had compressed all of the sword essence on the tip of his sword. Once the sword and her fingers met, she had been disproportionately impacted. The dark and cold sword essence followed her fingers to enter her body. She felt her body freeze.

The white bone ghost sword was snowy white, made from an unknown bone. The sword guard was a complete skull, the open mouth perfectly biting on the sword body, four sharp and curved fangs criss crossing. In the empty eye sockets, two bean-sized ghost fires burned lightly. The sword grip was made of seven continuous copper coins, wrapped in grass rope.

The name of this white bone ghost sword was not known, but at a glance it could seen that it was not ordinary.

Behind the black gauze, Su had a slightly angry expression. Having lost the first encounter, this experience was very rare to her.

She had lost because she did not use her flying sword. Even though she was not willing, she still took out a black flying sword. She had originally planned on not using a flying sword before her new flying sword had been forged.

Even though the sword named [Black Daze] in her hand was of high quality, it was not very suited for her sword scripture.

To a female that was a perfectionist, she was not willing to use a flying sword that was not suited to her.

What she was furious about was not having lost the encounter, but that the Gui Feng had forced her to use a flying sword that she didn’t want to use.

Once Gui Feng had the advantage, what would follow would be continuous attacks that wouldn’t give her a chance to breathe. Normally, she would slowly wear him down, but today, she still needed to find Zuo Mo! She didn’t have much interest in the Sword Test Conference, but Zuo Mo entering the top ten impacted the forging of her new flying sword.

She needed to quickly finish the fight!

Gently turning the handle of [Black Daze], the sword tip pointing up, it was held in front of her body. The surrounding area around her suddenly started to twist. Only Su who was standing at the very center, was unaffected.

Just at this time, the white and sharp bone sword suddenly stabbed towards Su as it appeared out of nowhere in front of her.

Su was not moved.

Seeing the other had no intentions to dodge, Gui Feng was slightly surprised, but there was no hesitation in his bone sword. The skull hilt gave a howl, like countless angry souls wailing, shocking a person’s soul. If this sword met its target, there was no chance of survival.

The speed of the flying sword was extremely quick, arriving in the blink of an eye to touch the black gauze in front of Su’s face. Gui Feng felt slightly joy but also puzzled. Was Su so weak to be defeated in one blow?

In this Sword Test Conference, there were many experts, and among those favored, the two that were most mysterious were Gui Feng and Su. Both of them were of unknown origins. No one had thought the two most mysterious competitors would become opponents.

He hit the target!

Gui Feng was not happy, but shocked. Even though his eyes saw the sword meet the target, but the bone sword in his hand did not feel as though it had hit anything tangible.

Not good!

With shock, Gui Feng retreated back.

For some reason, the bone sword brushed past a space three cun from Su’s gauze. The dark and cold energy made her feel uncomfortable but she did not even blink.

The Black Daze sword in her hand turned and crossed her chest. Her left hand raised on its own, she quickly spat out three notes.

She started to counterattack!

———

Zuo Mo wiped the sweat off his forehead, looking in satisfaction at the formation in front of his eyes.

He had completely fenced off the half mu of the pond to become the central formation of the formation. Compared to things like a lake, the water pond had weaker water elemental power, but it was enough for him. Since it was completely fenced in, he didn’t need to worry about other people damaging it.

Seven palm-sized green flags were on the border of the water pond, responding to each other.

The poles of the seven small flags were made from third-grade Greenwood, and the cloth of the flag was woven from third grade Sky Silk. With the formations carved in them, the seven greenwood flags were like seven roots, taking water elemental power from the water pond and turning it to wood elemental power.

Placed around each greenwood flag were seven second-grade Mini Copper Lionhead Dan Cauldrons, forming the shape of the Big Dipper, and supporting the greenwood flag, forming a second-grade [Li Fire Formation].

Beside each of the seven dan cauldrons, there were twelve jade cards scattered around. The twelve jade cards were connected by an extremely thin red gold thread. A delicate net made from slender red gold thread entangled the seven copper dan cauldrons. It formed a complete [Three-Turn Fire Formation].

And the seven by seven, forty nine little dan cauldrons flashed with light as they interacted with each other, forming another formation –– [Great Li Fire Formation].

Borrowing water elemental power to add wooden elemental power, and turning it to fire!

[Li Fire Formation] was not a high-level formation. It was commonly engraved in most low-grade dan cauldrons. Compare to [Streaming Fire Formation], [Great Li Fire Formation] was higher-grade, and usually constructed of two or more [Li Fire Formations].

The [Great Li Fire Formation] that Zuo Mo setup was composed of seven entire streaming fire formations! The seven Li Fire formations were being aided by plentiful wooden elemental energy, after being strengthened by the Three-Turn formation!

How strong would the fire they produce be?

Zuo Mo was full of expectation, and wanted to find a person to try it on.

The entire pond had been turned by Zuo Mo into an enormous dan cauldron! It could be imagined just how great the firepower of this great dan cauldron would be. But he didn’t know how high it would reach. The previous experiments he ran had used basic and cheapest materials. He had been somewhat satisfied with the power.

This [Great Li Fire Formation] was really piled up using all of his jingshi. The majority of the components had been bought from the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion.

He took out a bunch of three chi long nails from the pile of materials to heave onto his shoulders, his right hand holding an enormously large hammer!

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed with light. Hei hei, this was just the beginning… …

———

Chang Heng casually walked along the mountain paths as though he was taking a stroll, his expression lazy. He would occasionally stop, and look at the happily fighting Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping.

He had encountered a few xiuzhe, but they acted as though they had seen a ghost, turning and running away. He was too lazy to chase, lazily strolling along. In the last two rounds, the outcome of his opponents had been the same, both seriously wounded! One was going to lie on the bed for half a year, and the other eight months.

For most contestants, they were more willing to battle Gu Rong Ping than Chang Heng. This was a choice between loss and seriously injured. The great majority were naturally more willing to lose rather than be seriously injured for half a year.

Competitors like Chang Heng that moved around freely had absolute confidence in their power. Normal competitors found places to hide. The longer they stayed in, the higher their ranking. Everyone understood this and the xiuzhe that had reached this level, none of them lacked patience.

Chang Heng finally met a xiuzhe that didn’t run away upon seeing him.

An extremely average looking xiuzhe that had not left an impression on Chang Heng in previous rounds. A yellow face, a bulbous nose, a short robe. The other appeared extremely calm, looking in interest at him.

Chang Heng suddenly sniffed, tilting his head and muttering to himself, “A familiar smell.”

The other paused, and then had revealed an expression of great joy.

Chang Heng didn’t know why the other person would be so happy, just like he didn’t know why the other would have a smell that he would find familiar. But he was too lazy to ask, his right hand directly reaching for the copper ring between his clavicles.

The tooth-aching sound of a blade grinding against bone sounded, a horrifying scene appeared again.

The bright red Blood Spider Sword slowly was pulled out.

Chang Heng found the xiuzhe opposite him was staring at the Blood Spider Sword. The joy had disappeared. Replacing it seemed to be disappointment.

Disappointment!

Strangely, a smile appeared at the corner of Chang Heng’s mouth. His wiry hair stood like swords, full of killing intent.

———

Luo Li carefully concealed himself in a mountain valley. Compared to the calm of Eldest Shixiong and the casualness of Chang Heng, he was much more cautious. He sat down cross-legged at the center of the valley, his flying sword floating perpendicular to the ground beside him. His eyes were tightly closed as he nurtured the sword essence inside.

He was like a hunter waiting for his prey. Any enemy that appeared at the mouth of the valley would face his long-prepared attack.

Thinking back to his former arrogance, he was like a bystander that judged himself. He had wanted to use the [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture] to recover [Void Sword Scripture], but had accidentally walked onto another road, a road that belonged to himself.

His talent was not as awe-inspiring as Wei Sheng, but it was still better than others. Before Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo had appeared, he had been the most outstanding disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect. It was the heap of favor that he had received that had gradually caused his pride and conceit. His entire person had become impetuous. Zuo Mo’s blow had been like an alarm, shaking him awake.

The Luo Li that had woken up was abnormally hard-working and started to display his talent.

The person who had earned the greatest benefits from the opening of the sect’s records had been Luo Li. No one was clear on what Wei Sheng had received in his trip of the sword cave, but Eldest Shixiong was not interested at all in the records. Zuo Mo was only interested in dan-making, forging, and formation. Other than flipping through [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], he didn’t even look at any other sword scripture.

Luo Li was different.

Unable to achieve anything from studying [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture], he could only search for another road. As though he was dying of thirst, he had read through almost all the sword scriptures in the sect, in hopes that they could inspire him.

Especially the fourth-grade sword scriptures like [Cloud Sword Scripture], [Red Flame Sword Scripture] and [Greenstone Sword Scripture], he had repeatedly read over and over. No one would have thought that, just by using these three sword scriptures, he had really merged [Empty Sword Scripture] and [Shapeless Sword Scripture]!

But the newly merged sword scripture was different from [Void Sword Scripture]

Luo Li named it [Self Separation]!

the scripture is called 我离 or Wo Li. The “wo” means I or me. The “li” is the same “li” as Luo Li, meaning split or leave.

Chapter 138: Aggravation And Pleasure

Yu Bai had not found Zong Ming Yan. That slightly disappointed him. He suddenly noticed, not far away, there stood a golden armored soldier. He recognized it as a seal soldier. The fact that Zuo Mo had challenged Ling Ying Sect was not known by the non-locals, but it had spread widely in Dong Fu locally. Naturally, one piece of important information had been Zuo Mo had taken a seal soldier, so Yu Bai knew of it.

He hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would be so close to him.

Yu Bai shook his head. He didn’t have much interest in Zuo Mo. Even though the other had displayed outstanding talent, Yu Bai looked down on doing something such as bullying a zhuji xiuzhe. His Master and Wu Kong Sword Sect were on good relations. He was not willing to disrupt this kind of friendly relationship.

He was even considering, that if there was the chance, he would help Zuo Mo out.

But, very quickly, he did not have the attention to spare to think about this question because he saw a great enemy. A large man holding a gigantic sword the size of a door, stomping heavily as he neared. The other had already noticed him. Yu Bai could feel the other nearing, as his presence was quickly rising.

Nan Men Yang, the brightest grassroots xiuzhe in this Sword Test Conference. This extremely large figured man was extremely talented. Practicing the second grade [Vajra Scripture] and using the second-grade [Mountain Breaker Sword] combined for astonishing power. Because he belong to no family or sect, he quickly became the piece of jade that all sects were vying for. The benefits each sect offered him quickly rose. According to those familiar, Gu Rong Ping had represented Heart Lake Sect to give an invitation. Other than that, almost all the large sects had made an offer.

He was only twenty four years this year, his potential seemed limitless.

Nan Men Yang was the largest xiuzhe in the Sword Test Conference. His height of one zhang made him look like a moving mountain. All the muscles on his body were hard and powerful, the hard curves carved as they gave off the special faint gold light from the [Vajra Scripture], a presence that pressured others and suffocated them.

His strides were long, steady, and heavy, and one couldn’t help but feel the ground was shaking as he walked.

———

Zuo Mo felt the vibration of the ground and raised his head. However, due to the dense foliage of the trees, he couldn’t see the figure of Nan Men Yang.

After muttering a few words, he continued his work.

Three zhi long metal nails glowed with a cool blue light. Barely visible were the patterns of formations that covered the entire body of the nails.

Zuo Mo spat into his palms and raised the large metal hammer, channeling [Vajra Profound Sutra] as he pounded the metal nail into the ground. In total, there were nine large metal nails that were hammered into the ground by Zuo Mo according to specific locations. They formed the beginnings of a formation. After the hammering, Zuo Mo didn’t wipe his sweat away as he stood at the center of the formation, his fingers flying as he spat out a string of rushed notes.

The cool blue light started to spread from the nine metal nails into the surroundings. In the blink of an eye, with Zuo Mo as the center, a circle with radius of thirty zhang was completely dyed with blue light.

Zuo Mo suddenly shouted, “Set!”

The blue light that had been spreading instantly stopped. They brightened and then disappeared.

Zuo Mo released the ling power on his hands, collapsing onto his behind on the ground as he panted. Oh dear, this [Nine Metal Earth Formation] might not be a high-grade formation but it really used up a lot of ling power. [Nine Metal Earth Formation] was a second-grade formation. It only had one ability, it turned all the earth within the area of the formation as hard as metal, preventing enemies from attacking from below the earth.

After solving the problem of defending the earth, the next he had to solve was defending against the sky.

This time, Zuo Mo chose to use the [Dragon Tying Formation]. If a ningmai xiuzhe was trapped by the [Dragon Tying Formation], they usually couldn’t get out quickly. What Zuo Mo needed was just that little amount of time. Out of caution, Zuo Mo set down six [Dragon Tying Formation], almost covering all angles.

———

Not everyone’s eyes were fixed on Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping. Some people were noticing every single one of Zuo Mo’s actions.

“What does he want to do?” Yan Ming Zi dazedly asked Hu Shan.

Hu Shan was also gaping. He woodenly shook his head. “Don’t know… …”

“Is he trying to build a cave residence there?” Tao Zhu looked as though she had seen a ghost. “This this this… …”

At the place that the disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect were gathering, everyone’s expressions became extremely strange.

“Zuo Shidi’s thinking… …” Li Ying Feng’s face was red, and she forced out, “extremely unique!”

Xiao Guo’s eyes were full of stars, extremely admiring. “Shixiong is very strong! To be able to think of such a powerful method! Too powerful!”

The expression of the disciples that heard this became even stranger.

“So embarrassing!” Yan Le sighed, covering his head, not bearing to look. “We are sword xiu… …”

Shi Feng Rong’s face was black. “When he comes back, we need to sort out this rascal! He really humiliated us Wu Kong Sword Sect to the ground!”

The cold light in Xin Yan’s eyes were like the dance of countless blades. His voice seemed to come out of a deep glacier, so cold that people’s hearts shook. “I’ll teachhim what a sword xiu is!”

Pei Yuan Ran, who had the greatest experience in keeping his composure, felt his face was extremely red. He seemed to hear the memorial tablets of the ancestral masters in Wu Kong Hall were all jumping, the ancestral masters beating their chests and stomping their feet.

“Embarrassment, embarrassment… …”

“So humiliating, so humiliating… …”

“You unfilial disciples, I… … I need to climb out… …”

… …

Pei Yuan Ran felt as though his entire body was freezing. As he looked at the Zuo Mo in the mirage happily setting up his formations without a hint of stopping, his breath choked at his throat. His face was suffocating so much it was red, his fingers trembling.

Just at this time, he heard Xiao Guo’s innocent voice.

“Why says that Shixiong is an embarrassment? Shixiong’s formation looks very powerful!”

Pei Yuan Ran felt his vision turn black. He almost fainted.

At least, there is Wei Sheng. He comforted himself like this.

———

Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping’s battle quickly reached the climax.

The tip of the main peak soared over the other mountains, clouds occasionally floating past the body of the mountain.

No one would have thought that Wei Sheng could display such power. Based just on the level of cultivation, Wei Sheng definitely had no hope of winning. However, real battle did not mean that those of the higher cultivation stage would win. But even if Wei Sheng lost this fight, no one would ever doubt his strength again. Even if Gu Rong Ping won, the title of the Strongest among the younger generation of Sky Moon Jie would still be Wei Sheng.

Gu Rong Ping was also clear about this, so his expression was very ugly, ugly like it had never been before.

He had never thought that anyone in the younger generation would surpass him. Maybe there was, but certainly not in Sky Moon Jie.

Who was Wei Sheng? Where was Wu Kong Sword Sect? A few months ago, who even knew?

A person who had been unknown suddenly took away the halo around him, and had done it in front of this many people. Hate slid across Gu Rong Ping’s eyes. His sword presence became increasingly vicious.

But the elders that were watching all shook their heads and sighed. Gu Rong Ping’s Heart Lake Sword was based on the heart as a lake, clear and without waves. But right now, Gu Rong Ping’s sword presence was full of viciousness. Compared to the emptiness previously, even though the power looked to have increased, but in reality, he was losing.

Facing Gu Rong Ping’s sharp sword presence, Wei Sheng had no thoughts of retreat. His square face and thick brows were miles away from Gu Rong Ping’s handsomeness and elegance. Yet the steady square face, at this time, had a different kind of charisma.

Only those jindan experts with their keen eyes could sensitively catch the doubt that occasionally flashed through his eyes. That was the chaos and unsteadiness of the stage of Heart Turn Sword Essence.

Some of the elders and sect leaders took the chance to teach the disciples beside them what was Heart Turn Sword Essence.

Originally, Wei Sheng, with his unsteady situation, was not expected to win against Gu Rong Ping. However, Gu Rong Ping had lost his equilibrium, and did not give Wei Sheng enough of a threat. What Wei Sheng was now relying on was [Void Sword Scripture]!

The long-lost sword scripture [Void Sword Scripture] finally showed itself in his hands. Even Pei Yuan Ran and the others didn’t look away. The experts that were watching felt an unparalleled shock!

Sixth-grade sword scripture, this was the best sword scripture in Sky Moon Jie without a doubt!

Gu Rong Ping felt extremely uncomfortable.

Wei Sheng’s sword moves seemed to be intangible and invisible. It was untraceable, and what made him want to spit blood the most was the other’s sword essence! It was clearly a tangible and sharp sword essence, but upon impact, it was like hitting empty space, as though that sword essence was a mirage rather than tangible. But if he did not pay attention to it, there would definitely be countless more holes on his body.

Gu Rong Ping had never fought as uncomfortably as this.

The other’s sword essence was really too strange. It really was out of the norm!

What he cultivated was [Heart Lake Sword Scripture]. It was the secret of Heart Lake Sword Sect and was ranked high in fifth-grade. Did the other’s sword scripture have a higher grade than [Heart Lake Sword Scripture]?

Impossible! A backwater little sect, how could it have a sword scripture over fifth-grade?

Gu Rong Ping tightened his jaw, staring at Wei Sheng, the sword presence rising.

Since he could not understand, then he wouldn’t understand!

Gu Rong Ping resolved his heart.

———

“Our sect’s [Void Sword Scripture] is as wondrous as expected!” Rather than the aggravation as he looked at Zuo Mo, Yan Le’s face was light as he watched Wei Sheng’s fight.

Xin Yan didn’t have the attention to talk. His eyes were opened wide as he stared at Wei Sheng unblinkingly.

Pei Yuan Ran’s eyes were dazedly looking in the distance, muttering, “Master, this disciple has not failed… …”

[Void Sword Scripture] had always been a sickness on his heart. Now that it could see the light of day again, he was naturally very excited. The four elders of Wu Kong Sword Sect were skilled and had found fame in Yao Hunt, but were willing to lurk in Dong Fu. It had all been for this, for the succession of the sect. Now that there was a disciple of limitless potential like Wei Sheng and [Void Sword Scripture] had been restored, his heart was beating rapidly.

Such a situation, everyone understood that Wu Kong Sword Sect would definitely become one of the top sects in Sky Moon Jie!

In possession of such a wondrous sword scripture, and having a disciple of unparalleled talent, Wu Kong Sword Sect could not be stopped.

Some with nimble minds started thinking about reacquainting themselves with this sect that had appeared out of nowhere. And other people, like the sect leader of Ling Ying Sect, had a terrible expression. If Wu Kong Sword Sect had been a power unable to be dismissed before, then the present Wu Kong Sword Sect would squeeze into the top ranks of the Sky Moon Jie sects. Ling Ying Sect had already lost the qualification to compete with them.

At this moment, Wei Sheng was like the sun that was burning in the sky, releasing rays of unparalleled bright rays. All the other competitors were like the stars beside the sun, completely diminished and dark.

Zuo Mo did not know anything about these situations. All of his focus was on the formation in front of him.

He wiped away the sweat on his face, and started to create the most important part of this formation group.

–– [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]!

Chapter 139: Formation-Defense-Style

The ferocity of Su’s counterattack surprised Gui Feng!

After the three rushed notes were spat out from behind the black gauze, the Black Daze sword that was held horizontally in front of Su’s body began glowing. The surrounding space twisted as if pulled by an invisible hand. There was no wind, but one felt as though the space was collapsing. Gui Feng’s white bone sword trembled, the two dots of ghost fire in the eye sockets of the skull guard flickered like the a candle flame, and seemed ready to be extinguished at any moment.

Gui Feng’s expression changed dramatically!

The ling energy around Su’s body was extremely chaotic. The white bone sword was like a little boat in a storm, about to capsize at any moment. That moment just now, he had almost lost his connection to the white bone sword!

What sword scripture was this?

Full of shock, Gui Feng decided to retreat.

Su instantly detected Gui Feng’s intentions. She snorted coldly, her right hand actually letting go of the hilt of Black Daze.

The Black Daze sword did not drop to the ground, but floated horizontall and was spinning rapidly. At the same time, a clear hum started to sound like that of a bell, sometimes near and then far away.

As the bell sounded, countless invisible magnetic lines formed a gigantic net, heading for the white bone sword!

[Magnetic Polarity Net]!

Without a flying sword, a sword xiu was just a tiger with no claws nor teeth.

Gui Feng was not willing to surrender. The cold light in his eyes grew, his body twisted slightly and he disappeared on his spot. Ghost Movement! At the same time, he appeared in the magnetic net!

Falling into the web? Su was slightly surprised.

Appearing in the magnetic web, the first thing Gui Feng did was reach to grab the white bone sword.

Once the white bone sword entered his palm, Gui Feng felt very secure. He had understood Su’s sword scripture!

The strongest attribute of the magnetic force sword scriptures was that they could manipulate the ling energy in the world, affecting the connection and blocking the sword xiu from their flying sword. If they cultivated to high levels, they could easily control the magnetic forces of the world to their will, possibly even creating their own world, extremely powerful.

However, Su was far from that step.

Holding the copper coin hilt, Gui Feng’s wrist shook. A shriek came from the white bone sword, like a soul wailing. A ball of black mist flew out of the flying sword, suddenly exploding and turning into countless wisps of thin smoke that spread in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, there were countless thumb-sized black ghosts in the surroundings. Formed from the black smoke, these were little black ghosts , their faces like those of a leper that were extremely ugly. They appeared extremely horrifying, their bellies were round, their limbs short and stout, and their eyes were an eerie green.

The dense crowd of little ghosts floated beside Gui Feng, so many they could not be counted, fearful to the bystander.

Gui Feng’s pupils were a strange dark black, so deep the bottom could not be seen. His face which had been dark and thin in the beginning was now completely robbed of vitality, so white it was like that of a dead person.

Behind the black gauze, Su’s expression finally changed!

Gui Feng grumbled a sound, and the white bone sword in his hand pointed at Su.

[Little Ghost Ask Directions]!

Creak, all the little ghosts in the sky simultaneously gave a strange howl. Their features twisted as they turned to countless black images and headed towards Su. These little ghosts were extremely fast, their bodies blurring as they would suddenly disappear in the sky, and then suddenly appear out of the air.

Ghost Movement! These little ghosts had the ability of Ghost Movement!

Su did not dare to keep her strength now, her right palm firmly hitting the sword hilt of the Black Daze that was spinning.

The Black Daze sword was like a windmill as it spun, circles of invisible magnetic force suddenly spreading out.

A thin snow-white finger pointed at the center of the black light wheel.

[Magnetic Shield]!

The invisible magnetic force that was spread by the wheel of light instantly increased to the point that the ripple like patterns were visible to the naked eye. The invisible patterns quickly covered Su.

The vicious and raging little ghosts, when they encountered the invisible patterns, were instantly deflected back. But these little ghosts were not damaged in the least. With a strange howl, they kept on leaping towards Su!

This seemed like a black storm that would never stop, howls ringing out endlessly. The little ghosts did not seem to know exhaustion, repeatedly charging at Su. The invisible patterns were like the surface of a lake that was being attacked by the storm, rippling restlessly, but no matter how the little ghosts charged, it managed to firmly protect Su.

The battle instantly became a stand-off. Neither could win over the other.

Gui Feng’s ebony black eyes looked deeply at Su behind the magnetic shield, and suddenly disappeared on his spot. Disappearing along with him were the countless little ghosts.

This black storm had came suddenly, and left even more abruptly!

Su took a breath, but did not dare to move aside her finger. Only when she was certain that Gui Feng was not beside her did she move her finger aside, releasing the magnetic shield. Only now did she discover, without her noticing her back had become soaked with sweat.

Su, who had been very certain that she could guarantee that Zuo Mo would enter the top ten, realized that she had underestimated the heroes of the world!

Calming down her messy ling power, she decided to go find Zuo Mo immediately.

The faster she found Zuo Mo, the higher the chance they could win this battle. Up until now, she still had not received Zuo Mo’s paper crane. This made her heart fill with worry.

Did the little zombie have such terrible luck? Had he encountered danger so early?

She unconsciously sped up. If she had an appropriate flying sword just now… …

———

Zuo Mo had long thrown the matter of the paper crane to the back of his mind. All of his attention was on his [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

The [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was the formation he had gotten in payment for processing the Inky Black Lotus Seed. It was the only fourth-grade formation in his possession so after he had received it, he had spent large amounts of time on it. He had made a very profound conclusion. Formations above fourth-level weren’t that simple.

[Skyring Moon Chime Formation] did not look very complex. It was a mother-and-child formation. The grade of each child formation was not high, most of them second-grade. The formation that was the crux was just a third-grade formation. But the more he studied it, the more Zuo Mo felt this [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was not simple!

The difficulty of each child formation was not high and he could easily complete it, but fitting all of them together greatly increased the difficulty.

The smallest [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] required eighteen child formations. The more child formations there were, the more powerful the formation became. The power of a thirty six child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was extremely powerful. If Zuo Mo was trapped in it, he definitely could not get out.

Zuo Mo had decided to make a seventy two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

Seventy-two child formations and thirty-six child formations, the number of child formations had doubled, but the difference in the power had more than doubled.

The little mountain of materials was mostly prepared for the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. If this formation was successfully set up, Zuo Mo felt the likelihood of a ningmai xiuzhe coming out once they were trapped in the formation was low. Also, the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was extremely profound. It was impossible to damage the formation just through brute force, unless someone found the eye of the formation.

But at the eye of the formation, Zuo Mo had just carefully made a gigantic “dan cauldron!”

It was a pity he didn’t have the time to fantasize about his enemies being burnt. Zuo Mo needed to quickly finish the formation.

It required large amounts of time to set up the seventy-two child formations. So in Zuo Mo’s plan, it was to first make an eighteen children formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], and with that as the base, add another eighteen, forming a thirty-six [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. Increasing it step by step, it would make sure he still had the power to fight if an enemy sneaked up.

He was extremely proud that he had thought of such a great plan.

His cultivation wasn’t enough, so ge won’t compete in cultivation with you people!

Looking at the formations that he had already set up, Zuo Mo’s heart was filled with accomplishment. With the pond as the center, the groups of formations, jade pieces, copper cauldrons, and metal nails flashed with blinding light. The pond had been half a mu large in the beginning. This formation territory had reached an area of five mu. Originally, not many people had been paying attention to Zuo Mo, but when this five mu of formations were completed, all kinds of lights came and crossed. In comparison to this gigantic light-emitting formation area, the golden armored seal soldier that was summoned it was extremely tiny.

———

This formation belt was really too eye-catching. The people watching from the gigantic mirage in Dong Fu could easily find it with a glance.

Consequently, many people unconsciously looked at this sparkling formation belt.

Their expression were strangely similar, all gaping with wide eyes, dumbstruck where they were.

Pei Yuan Ran and the others had abnormally ugly expressions. Because their cultivation was too high, they could easily hear the conversation in the surroundings.

“I heard this guy is from Wu Kong Sword Sect, he isn’t the normal kind of extreme!”

“Are you sure it isn’t Wu Kong Formation Sect?”

Pei Yuan Ran’s eyebrows twitched. The other three had dark expressions. The four of them had a strong impulse they had never had before –– charge into the Great Pine Pavilion, and cut Zuo Mo down with a blow to pay for his crime towards the ancestral masters!

Another kind of conversation was going on at the other side.

“I understand now!” A xiuzhe suddenly stood up, his face full of realization, extremely excited.

Hearing this, his companions hurriedly crowded over. “What do you understand?”

The xiuzhe was extremely excited. “Zuo Mo’s true aim is to get the entire Great Pine Pavilion! He’s putting on a disguise and winning in the dark! He wants to slowly take over the Great Pine Pavilion. Right, the books say this is called nibbling… …”

At this time, not just Pei Yuan Ran, but all of the Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples, were so embarrassed they wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in.

“This disciple is unfilial! To have shamed the ancestral masters!” Tears streamed down Pei Yuan Ran’s face, extremely sorrowful.

Xin Yan’s hand unconsciously touched his flying sword, his voice seeming to have come out of purgatory. “I will let him know that he cannot go to Wu Kong Formation Sect!”

Yan Le, who was usually cheerful, gritted his teeth. “From next month, I’ll stop all of his allowance! He won’t get one more jingshi from me!”

Shi Feng Rong’s response was very calm. “Don’t worry, I’ll help heal him. He definitely won’t die. You can slowly work on him.”

The disciples in the surroundings were shuddering as they unconsciously distanced themselves from the exploding elders.

Zuo Mo, not knowing that he had provoked public rage, was extremely proud. He turned into a laborious worker-ant, energetically continuing his great endeavor of construction.

Just five mu, it was too small!

Once the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was completely set up, it would form a gigantic formation belt over fifteen mu large!

Zuo Mo called his new idea: formation-defense-style. The full name was Complete Formation Territory Defense Style.

Today was the day destined for formation-defense-style to become famous.

Zuo Mo was extremely motivated, his heart full of anticipation!

Chapter 140: [Self Separation]

Chang Heng and the yellow-faced man fought fiercely.

The strangely shaped copper ring, the Blood Spider sword, shined a sticky bloody color each time it was waved a noxious odor wafted forth. His strength was much stronger compared to when he had fought Zuo Mo.

Yet the yellow-faced man in front of him moved with ease. A copper dagger axe flew around him. The copper dagger axe emitted a green-blue light. As it flew, it formed a blue curtain. The bloody light was not able to break through this fragile-looking green-blue curtain of light.

“Cultivation using blood, how extremely obscure,” The yellow-faced man said, “it’s a pity that you didn’t cultivate it correctly, you just have the appearance of it.”

“Just the appearance?” Chang Heng’s pupils slightly shrunk.

His fingers twitching slightly, the Bloody Spider sword that was over his fingers flew into the sky. As the sword flew, it turned into an enormous shadow.

Boom!

Six thick legs heavily hit the ground, dust flying away as the ground trembled slightly . A bloody spider stared fiercely at the yellow-faced man. Compared to when it had faced Zuo Mo, it was more than double its previous size. The six legs of the spider were slender and long, full of hooks. The joints were much thicker, stronger and more powerful. The dark patterns on the surface of the blood spider was more evident than before, and there was a slightly metallic sheen, making sure people would not doubt its hardness.

What made others the most terrified was the face of the blood spider. The flat face seemed to have a few marks reminiscent of a human face. This face that seemed human-like was extremely vicious and cruel, a brutal presence emanating from it.

“Oh, not bad. To be able to cultivate almost to the step of Human Face, you have some talent,” The yellow-faced man said, “However, some parts of your cultivation are not correct. If you do not correct it, there will be many side-effects.”

For the first time, a serious expression came onto Chang Heng’s face. The yellow-faced man expressed through his facial expressions and speech that he was familiar with Chang Heng’s cultivation scripture. He might be part of Ling Ying Sect, but the scripture he practiced was not one of Ling Ying Sect’s scriptures. He had obtained the scripture and the Bloody Spider sword from a xiuzhe that he killed.

However, the scripture he had obtained was not complete. Evidently, its previous owner had not received it through proper channels. The blood method was extremely powerful, but at the same time, it was much more dangerous than normal scriptures. Just the tiniest mistake, and it could rebound and kill him. Chang Heng’s personality might seem dominant and vicious, but he was extremely careful when he cultivated.

The yellow-faced man’s words shot straight into Chang Heng’s heart.

Chang Heng suddenly took back the Blood Spider, “What do you want for it?”

The yellow-faced man gave an expression of praise, “Find me after the competition.”

Finishing, his figure disappeared where he stood.

Chang Heng’s heart shook. Regardless of whether the yellow-faced man had been fooling him or not, but just judging from his method of movement it was apparent the yellow-faced man was more powerful than he was.

From the first clash between Chang Heng and the yellow-faced man a very short time had passed.

Compared to the flashiness of the other battles, their fight did not attract anyone’s attention.

———

Meng Qing was like a cat as he carefully traversed through the woods. He was most skilled in concealment and assassination, and had once even escaped the pursuit of a jindan expert. But this time he was even more careful. The fifteen mountains covered a large area, but if there were one hundred ningmai xiuzhe fighting, then this battlefield could not be considered large. Quite the reverse, this battlefield was too small.

Since the battlefield was small, the fighting had become chaotic and extremely fierce. What he needed to be careful about was, other than him, that the ninety-nine other people were all his enemies.

Different than the other xiuzhe, he had a clear goal. However, when he thought about it, he felt it strange. A zhuji xiuzhe, was it worth spending jingshi for him kill the person? He looked down at it inside. A zhuji xiuzhe, how could he pass through the last round of fighting?

However, since he received the client’s jingshi, he still decided to complete the job. In his business, having a good reputation was everything. His own cultivation was limited and there were not many jobs he could complete. Usually, his living was very tight. Coming to the Sword Test Conference was because he wanted the prize. Then the luck came. Someone had actually found him and requested a job.

The payment was extremely tempting, and most importantly, the target was the only zhuji xiuzhe in the Sword Test Conference. If it was any other person, he might be slightly unconfident, but since it was Zuo Mo, he did not hesitate in accepting the job. He had seen Chao An and Zuo Mo’s fight. Truthfully, to win from a disadvantage, he admired Zuo Mo. He was suspicious that the person who made the request was Chao An. Chao An must have been unable to bear being eliminated and was now scheming from the shadows.

However, what did that have to do with him? He wouldn’t be at odds with jingshi!

These days, it was hard to make a living. Other than concealment, his battle abilities were average. There were not many jobs he could usually do. He was full of confidence for this job. He thought that the reason Zuo Mo could defeat Chao An was that Chao An had underestimated his opponent. Also, Zuo Mo had prepared very well beforehand. If it had been him, he definitely wouldn’t have given Zuo Mo so many chances to fight. From the beginning, he hadn’t thought of fighting openly. No matter how weak Zuo Mo was, he would persist in an ambush. In any case, he was just going for the jingshi.

However, to complete this job, he needed to find Zuo Mo first. This was the most troublesome part of his job.

Alright, jingshi wouldn’t just drop from the sky. If there was no difficulty, other people wouldn’t have spent so much jingshi to hire him.

He carefully controlled his body, like a blurry shadow, as he carefully moved among the trees. The color around his body kept on blending in with the surroundings. His presence was kept inside his body, it was as though he did not exist and his presence was difficult to detect. It was only due to his skills with this technique that no one had found him along the way. He was especially careful today. The surroundings were all filled with ningmai xiuzhe, and there was no lack of experts. If he was found, he didn’t have a chance of victory.

Hm, there was a mountain valley up ahead.

Meng Qing decided to take a look. Zuo Mo’s own cultivation was lower than other people, and naturally wouldn’t dare to walk around. After taking the job, he had been constantly pondering. He felt it was most probable that Zuo Mo would find a corner and use formation to defend his position. So during his search, he was especially attentive to places like mountain valleys and other hiding places.

The mouth of the valley up ahead was especially narrow. He didn’t dare to be brash, and carefully moved around by taking advantage of the geographic landscape.

———

Inside the mountain valley, Luo Li sat cross legged with his eyes closed. His flying sword was silently floating beside him. He was like a volcano, looking peaceful on the surface, but the sword essence was boiling inside.

Today, would be the first time he used [Self Separation] in battle!

There was a strange excitement welling up inside. This unnameable excitement was like a soundless flame, burning every bit of his body.

But he did not move, he was motionless like an old monk in meditation. He was suppressing it, suppressing this excitement that made him want to fight!

The air around him moved without a wind pushing it. Inside the little valley, it was like a tornado had started. However, what people would gasp at was that, no matter how strong the wind was inside the valley, there was no hint of it at the mouth of the valley.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes!

Someone was here!

[Self Separation] had been created with [Shapeless Sword Scripture] and [Empty Sword Scripture] as the rope and [Cloud Sword Scripture], [Red Flame Sword Scripture] and [Greenstone Sword Scripture] as the beads. He had put a lot of thought into it. Even though it was limited by his cultivation and knowledge, there were still many wonderful aspects, even Xin Yan Shibo had praised it.

Luo Li remained cross legged as his mind expanded with him at the center, to a radius of ten zhang. The mountain rocks, and the trees, slowly disappeared, like they were vanishing into space, turning into a patch of emptiness.

He was sitting in the center of a void.

The slightest animal, if they entered this patch of void, would become evident, and he would easily detect it.

It would be as though a drop of black ink appeared on a piece of snow white paper. No matter how small the ink dot was, it would be abnormally startling.

Meng Qing’s body was blended with the surroundings. He was hard to see using the naked eye, but in this patch of void in Luo Li’s mind,, he detected that there was another person!

The excitement that had been suppressed for so long in his chest finally found a vent.

In reverse to the heat and excitement in his eyes, his expression was serious. His right hand opened, palm faced away from his body. His thumb and pinky crossed as the other three fingers pointed at the sky.

The silently floating flying sword was like a vicious beast that had woken up from its dreams, opening its blood red eyes, and baring its sharp fangs.

A clear hum sounded in the air.

On the sword a green and red light entwined like two ling lovers in a passionate embrace, extremely joyful!

“Separate!”

A light sigh, unable to be traced, spoken as though from far away but like a murmur close to the ear.

The red and green light gradually turned to white light. The joy on the sword quickly became faint, a feeling of loneliness rose, like the autumn wind blowing.

The white flying sword did not move fast. Like a piece of ice, the flying sword quickly melted into the air with speed invisible to the naked eye.

———

At the moment Luo Li moved, Meng Qing knew that he had been detected!

Not daring to hesitate, he jumped up and sprinted for the opening of the valley.

The shocking transformation of the other’s flying sword made his skin on his head prickle. What sword scripture was that?

Especially when he saw the other’s flying sword disappear into space, the danger he felt suddenly reached a peak. In his profession, the thing most trusted was instinct. Each time that he had a bad feeling, he knew there was danger!

But such a strong feeling of danger as he had today, he had only encountered it before, when he had been pursued by that jindan expert.

F***! Didn’t they say it was all ningmai xiuzhe? Did he encounter Gu Rong Ping? Damn it, he should not be so unlucky!

Meng Qing paled. The feeling of danger might not rival the last time when he had met the jindan expert but it secured the position of second. His heart jumped rapidly. He didn’t dare to keep anything back, all of his ling power furiously channeling behind him as he leapt to get out of the valley! Behind him, a ling shield formed, looking slightly like a turtle shell.

He had just taken one step when something invisible suddenly hit the ling shield on his back. The solid and hard ling shield instantly shattered into pieces.

Pew!

It was as though Meng Qing had been struck by lightning, his pupils suddenly expanding. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and instantly became unconscious.

A figure landed from the sky, lightly inspecting the unconscious Meng Qing before saying indifferently, “Eliminated.”

After that, he grabbed Meng Qing and disappeared.

But before he left, the gaze he threw at Luo Li contained a hint of shock.

Chapter 141: Zong Ming Yan VS Zuo Mo

Zong Ming Yan’s face was dark. Seeing Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping’s battle with his own eyes, and the power the two showed that was clearly a notch above him. The proud him really did not feel very good seeing the fight.

In a terrible mood, he threw away all concealment, the sword essence on his body vibrating as he waited for some idiot to land on his hands.

Zong Ming Yan, as the first seat disciple of Dong Qi Sword Sect, the beloved disciple of Zuo Mei Tian, was not weak. Now that he was not disguising it, his presence revealed, most xiuzhe turned and left upon seeing him. Those that had some power were also not willing to use up their ling power this quickly. Everyone knew the earlier they used up their ling energy, the faster they would be eliminated. This round was not just testing strength, but patience.

He heard sounds of fighting in the distance, snorted and headed over.

Nan Men Yang’s body was glittering with gold light, hand holding an enormous sword, eyes bulging, as his mountain-like figure moved ferociously. Not far from him, Yu Bai was dressed in white. Even though his demeanor was not as extraordinary as Gu Rong Ping, he was also warm and elegant. His long bamboo-like sword danced around him, battling the other to a standstill.

The two of them were very strong, especially Nan Men Yang’s [Mountain Breaker Sword]. It was extremely forceful and domineering. Each blow howled like thunder, as though it really had the power to break mountains!

———

The elders and sect leaders of each sect that watched their battle all sighed in admiration.

“This Nan Meng Yan is extremely talented. Just a second-grade [Mountain Breaker Sword] is this powerful in his hands! If this boy works hard, he will definitely become an expert!”

“Right! Who can take him into the sect, will have another expert!”

… …

In reverse, no one was surprised at Yu Bai’s strength.

Wu Kong Sword Sect’s elders also noticed Nan Men Yang, the brightest non-sect xiuzhe of this Sword Test Conference.

“Shixiong, this boy really isn’t bad! Should we also consider making an offer?” Yan Le didn’t bear to tear his eyes away, as though he had seen a treasure.

Pei Yuan Ran pondered for a while and shook his head helplessly, “This boy is full of potential, but you know our assets as well as I do. Wei Sheng is just enough for us to deal with, and we have Zuo Mo who is even more of a headache. Luo Li had improved greatly, and his personality is much better than before. If we nurture him well, his future will also be bright.”

When other people were having a headache over not having talented disciples in the sect, Pei Yuan Ran was being troubled by having too many talented disciples.

“Our wealth isn’t that big of a problem. After this Sword Test Conference, I’m afraid we cannot stay low like we did previously. We should fight for what we need. These years, I’ve been very uncomfortable being suppressed,” When Yan Le said this, he was full of bravado.

Pei Yuan Ran grinned, the light in his eyes flashing.

Xin Yan suddenly inserted, “There’s no scripture suited for him.”

Only now did they think about this crucial problem. Yan Men Yang was really talented, but that depended on the scripture he practiced. Even though [Vajra Scripture] and [Mountain Breaker Sword] was only second-grade, but because it was suited to him, it was extremely powerful. If the scripture was not suited, then it was hard to say how far he could cultivate.

Those with experienced eyes could see with a glance that Nan Men Yang was a xiuzhe that needed special scriptures.

Shi Feng Rong suddenly said, “Isn’t Zuo Mo practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra]? Why don’t we let him also practices [Vajra Profound Sutra].”

Pei Yuan Ran grimaced,“[Vajra Profound Sutra] is just a normal third grade body cultivation scripture. Many sects have this scripture. We really cannot offer anything of substance. Alright, we shouldn’t pull him over and then waste his talent. That will be our crime.”

The other people fell silent. None of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sword scriptures were very suited for Nan Men Yang, so they gave up on the thought.

“Hm,” Yan Le suddenly pointed at the mirage and said, “Isn’t that boy Zong Ming Yan. He’s very near that rascal.”

The others might have many opinions of Zuo Mo, but he was still a disciple of their sect. Hearing this, they followed Yan Le’s finger.

But when their eyes saw where Zuo Mo was, they were instantly angered.

The sparkling five mu of formations had been eye-catching enough already. But in this short period of time, the formation belt that spread to twice that area, taking over ten mu!

What was the guy trying to do? That was the first though that jumped into their head. The second thought was, that was it! They really lost face this time!

The previous five mu of formations had just been a little pieces of land among the large green mountains. Right now, it was a glowing big patch. Zuo Mo was passing through the formations, not knowing exhaustion. If one looked closely, they could find the pride and excitement that could not be disguised by his face.

If they knew how to lip-read, they could easily know what he was muttering.

“Fighting with ge, kill you!”

“Can’t beat you in cultivation, ge will use jingshi to smash you to death… …. Who who who said that jingshi can cause people to bow… … bow to ge!”

“I’m very poor, but I’m very wretched… …”

… …

But lip-reading was not a profound skill. There were many people that knew how to do it. Occasionally, people would burst into laughter.

The four elders felt that in this Sword Test Conference, their already fragile spirits were greatly tortured. Whenever someone beside them laughed, they would be paranoid in feeling that those people were laughing at them. They became four easily alarmed birds.

The heavens take pity!

The honored sect leader of Wu Kong Sword Sect! Ice Dragon Sword of a vicious reputation! Even Yan Le and Shi Feng Rong were jindan experts! They were actually tormented by a zhuji disciple to the point of wanting to die. They were almost driven into insanity!

———

Zong Ming Yan was truly heading for Zuo Mo. He had actually wanted to fight with Yu Bai, but since Yu Bai was locked in fierce combat with Nan Men Yang, he naturally could not interfere.

For them, stooping to using low tactics to win was not a honorable thing. No matter if it was Yu Bai or Zong Ming Yan, they were extremely proud. They definitely could not tolerate themselves winning because they took advantage of someone else. So Zong Ming Yan could only change his target.

The seal soldier’s head that was a length above the trees was like a lighthouse glowing in the dark, attracting Zong Ming Yan to come closer.

———

“Now that’s something interesting to see! Zong Ming Yan meeting the Scalping Zombie!”

“It’s karma! I hate people who use jingshi to smash others the most!”

“He’s losing the face of us Dong Fu sword xiu! Zong Ming Yan, ge supports you! Get him down quickly, he’s too much of an embarrassment! The shame of Dong Fu!”

Hearing the consensual indignation of the Dong Fu sword xiu, Pei Yuan Ran and the others wanted to clap in agreement.

“Huff!” Yan Le exhaled deeply, “This is great! He finally can’t keep going!”

It was as though a heavy weight had been lifted off Pei Yuan Ran’s shoulders, “It’s not embarrassing to lose to Zong Ming Yan.”

Xin Yan gave his rare agreement, “Die early to be reincarnated!”

The three of them had the same opinion, hoping that Zong Ming Yan could quickly finish the fight. That way, Zuo Mo would have less time to embarrass everyone. Now, they felt that it was the stupidest decision of their lives to make Zuo Mo attend the last round of the Sword Test Conference. Wei Sheng had earned the sect lots of praise, but it was far from the amount that Zuo Mo embarrassed the sect by. They really lost.

Only Shi Feng Rong didn’t feel that great, “Why is it Zong Ming Yan? I don’t like Zuo Mei Tian, he’s an old bandit!” She suddenly turned her face,“Wei Sheng should go and kick Zuo Mo out!”

Pei Yuan Ran pondered it., “Fighting among the sect, that might not be good!”

Yan Le gave an idea from the side, “Let Zong Ming Yan first kick Zuo Mo out, then let Wei Sheng kick Zong Ming Yan out!”

Xin Yan, who had been silent, suddenly opened, “Splendid!”

At the doorway to every casino, a wagering match of Zuo Mo facing Zong Ming Yan was quickly put up. The shopkeepers doing their best to holler.

“Shaking all of Dong Fu, a wager of ten moves! The most unpopular choice of the last two rounds, can the zombie do it again? It will be revealed very soon! A world-shattering wager, if you do not personally participate, how could your life be perfect?”

“Come look, come see! Strong sword versus strong shield! What? No shield? Heavens! Sire, look, is there a stronger, more turtle-like shield than this? This is certainly this year’s strongest turtle formation! Look at what Mister Zuo Mo had named his work! Complete Formation Territory Defense style! Just this extremely strong name, full of the feeling of security, it is worth you betting on it!”

“The odds are one to five hundred! What? You still aren’t satisfied? This one can personally guarantee that there wouldn’t be a payment rate better than this! Think about it, last time, our wonderful Zuo Mo had been the main actor of a sky-shattering wagering match. Think about the people that had won so much! My neighbor Wang Xiao Er’s aunt’s son had just put down ten pieces of jingshi… …”

Fu Jin’s eyes were red as he wagered all the jingshi on his body, muttering to himself, “It’s not that I favor you. This is a grudge between me and Dong Qi Sword Sect!” The worker at the casino who heard this felt his heart shudder. Dong Qi Sword Sect was a large sect in Dong Fu.

Fu Jin recognized Zong Ming Yan!

It was during that incident, he had been injured by Zong Ming Yan and another Dong Qi Sword Sect disciples. It was also that time that Zuo Mo had stood up for him, and his relationship with Zuo Mo had deepened.

His eyes were entirely red as he bit his lips tightly, afraid for Zuo Mo.

He had naturally heard of Zong Ming Yan’s strength. Adding on that the two people had once had a conflict, Zong Ming Yan definitely wouldn’t have mercy.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was better than others and quickly found Zong Ming Yan. Zong Ming Yan’s steps were not fast. Step by step, he headed towards Zuo Mo. Truthfully, Zuo Mo wanted to run. He might have some hope of victory against the average xiuzhe, but against experts like Zong Ming Yan, there wasn’t a chance at all.

The biggest flaw of the Formation-Defense-style he was proud of finally revealed itself. That was, once it started, other than guarding it to the death, there wasn’t any other way.

The two did not have a happy previous encounter. Due to him, a Dong Qi disciple had been banned from Dong Fu.

Fine, if he couldn’t escape, he wouldn’t! Zuo Mo boldened his heart. If he decided to fight, there was a bit of presence.

Wasn’t it just Zong Ming Yan?

He looked at the surroundings. The glittering materials were like the sparkling jingshi, glowing with an enchanting light that blinded him.

Courage rose in his heart.

Ge could use jingshi to smash down Pu Yao who called himself a Sky Yao. You’re just a ningmai beginner, ge doesn’t believe ge can’t drown you!

Chapter 142: “Seven Plum Sword”

In reality, Zuo Mo was not confident at all.

He had just made forty-five child formations for the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], there were still twenty-seven child formations until he reached seventy-two child formations. Mother-and-child formations like [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] usually had an attribute. The more child formations they had, the stronger they would be. The growth of power was a nonlinear increase dependent on the number of single child formations, but increased in a pattern of values like six, twelve, thirty six, etc.

The power of forty-five child formations, was just slightly stronger than thirty-six child formations. If he could complete seventy-two child formations, the power of the formation would be the difference between heaven and earth compared to a thirty-six child formation. It would go up an entire stage. Zuo Mo estimated that the power of a seventy-two child formation would be more than four times that of a thirty-six child formation. Of course, there were also differences in the difficulty of setting up the formations. When the number of child formation reached a certain amount, the difficulty would multiply when adding on one more formation.

However, this was not the time to consider these things. He had no other choice.

Zong Ming Yan did not have any intentions of relenting, heading straight for Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo didn’t hesitate, raising his hand to sent out a five level multi-colored mini pagoda.

Once the Five Colored Pagoda flew into the air, it grew in size. In the blink of an eye, it was the height of a person. The Five Colored Pagoda flew into the sky above the pond. The pond below instantly filled with mist, moisture roiling. The moisture quickly rose up, reaching the base of the Five Color Pagoda. From far away, it looked as though the water was supporting the Five Colored Pagoda.

The light of the Five Color Pagoda lit up, the body of the pagoda continuously emitting countless flashes of five colored light that entered each formation.

Centered around the pond, the jade pieces, copper cauldrons, and formation nails in the ten mu formation belt lit up.

If the formation belt could have been called sparkling before, then right now, it was like a gigantic piece of gold had been embedded into the green landscape, extremely gaudy. Naturally, it received the unanimous disdain of everyone.

But when the entire ten mu of formations completely lit up in the flick of a finger, that blinding scene, how many people had seen anything like it?

No one had seen anything like it.

Such a large formation belt, it could only appear in the restricted grounds of a sect, and not just any sect. There was none like it even around the sword cave of Wu Kong Sword Sect. There was none around Dong Fu Hall. Heart Lake Sect did have one, but it had never been activated. The last time it was activated, it was several hundreds of years ago.

The densely packed crowds of xiuzhe around Dong Fu were completely struck dumb by such a spectacular scene.

Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping’s fight might be more profound and skillful, but in front of such an enormous formation, it became minuscule. With Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping’s cultivating stages of ningami, each sword energy would be seven or eight zhang. The longest would be ten zhang. No matter how magnificent they were, they could not compare to the spectacle of ten mu of formation being activated at once.

For a short moment, all of Dong Fu was completely silent.

A moment later, people slowly came out of their shock. Dong Fu instantly exploded. Several ten thousands of xiuzhe speaking at once, from extremely silent to waves of roaring, some xiuzhe that were of weaker cultivation felt their eyes rings and could not hear anything anymore.

After a while, their hearing finally recovered.

However, everyone’s discussion had not stopped. Quite the reverse, it had become even more fierce.

“Worth it! Definitely enough for me to come this far!”

“Spectacular! As expected, Zuo Mo really has some abilities, he can also muster up something!”

“What formation-seal-style? It is just jinzhi!”

… …

As everyone was sighed, the formation was completely activated. The formation belt about ten mu big suddenly changed.

A crescent rose up high over the pond, the light flashing. Inside the formation, green blue mist rose, blurring the landscape. Inside the mist, countless light rings of various sizes floated in the air, gathering and scattering like a school of nimble fish.

On the rooftop of one of Dong Fu’s residences, three people were standing together.

“Zuo Mo truly is a formations genius. Such a short period of time and he could comprehend [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], really powerful! Luckily, we did not offend him that day.” A red-robed male stared at the mirage and praised.

These three were the customers that had Zuo Mo process the Inky Black Lotus Seed.

“Humph, he’s a zhuji xiuzhe. He can only take advantage of outside forces, what can he accomplish?” The snarling man snorted.

“It’s good to have low cultivation.” The eagle-nosed man said darkly.

“You want to use force? Don’t forget that he has a powerful shixiong!” The snarling male shook his head and said. All three of them were extremely wary due to Wei Sheng’s strong performance.

“We don’t have enough people. His shixiong isn’t a bad substitute.” The eagle-nosed man said.

The snarling man still shook his head. “He’s only in zhuji. No matter how skilled his formations are, it is still limited.”

“It’s alright as long as he has talent.” The red-robed male suddenly opened. “This isn’t Tian Huan Realm, it is not easy to find xiuzhe skilled in formations. Wei Sheng might be powerful, but he is just one person. Us three brothers do not have to be afraid.”

The red-robed man held great authority among the three. Since he said so, the other two had no objections. Also, what the red-robed man said was the truth. There were many xiuzhe that knew formations, but those that could be called skilled were extremely rare. Those that had some reputation, either their price was too high, or they were unwilling to risk their own personal safety.

The snarling man smiled, and said, “That’s true. If he dares to have other thoughts, the new Black Lotus Yin Banner that we just forged can be tested.”

The eagle-nosed man furrowed his brows. “But how to persuade Zuo Mo? That guy isn’t easy to fool, and we cannot use force.”

The red-robed male was very confident about this point. He smirked. “Temptation! That’s easy with someone like Zuo Mo. Even a person as obsessed with the sword as Wei Sheng is won’t be immune.”

As the three talked, Zong Ming Yan had reached the edge of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

The moment the formation had activated, Zong Ming Yan’s mind had blanked for a quick instant but he quickly recovered. His steps were not rushed or slow, looking like a calm and relaxed expert. Only the shocking presence he was releasing expressed that the desire for battle inside had reached a peak.

Zuo Mo’s figure had disappeared into the formation.

The blue-green mist spread, forming its own little world. Countless rings of light in various sizes were nimble and lively. Occasionally, two rings of light would hit earth other, and chimes like that of glass would sound, clear and crisp. The chiming that passed through the mist were hard to follow, and echoed.

What entered the eyes was blue-green mist and the swimming rings of light. Not just Zuo Mo, even the jade pieces and metal nails on the ground had disappeared.

Ding ding dong dong!

Zong Ming Yan couldn’t help but snort. As the first seat of the younger generation of Dong Qi Sword Sect, he followed his master in cultivating the sword, and had a very basic knowledge of formations.

However, so what?

He was not afraid in the least.

One sword breaks all methods, that was a sword xiu! He had not reached that amazing step, but his opponent was just a zhuji. A xiuzhe only in zhuji, could he block the sword?

He didn’t believe it!

As for his conflict with Zuo Mo, he had long forgotten about it. He had never kept it on his mind. A disciple of his sect being banned, that was because his abilities were not as good as others. He was too lazy to care. He didn’t have especially bad feelings about Zuo Mo. Of course, he didn’t have any good feelings either.

It was a pity that Yu Bai and Nan Men Yang had matched up.

He was very regretful as he looked at Yu Bai and Nan Men Yang that were fighting heatedly behind him, and then looking at Zuo Mo ahead, he felt it was very bland.

Even if it wasn’t Yu Bai, he would be fine with Nan Men Yang, but why was it Zuo Mo?

As he sighed in regret, he summoned out his flying sword.

This was an extremely unique flying sword. The shape was like a section of old plum. There were many joints on the plum branch, appearing like a bone, old yet resilient. On the plum branch were seven fresh and blooming plum blossoms, so fresh that they seemed to have just been picked. A faint fragrance floated in the air.

“[Seven Plum Sword]! Zuo Mei Tian actually passed [Seven Plum Sword] to him! It seems he doesn’t have low hopes for Zong Ming Yan!

“This is the first sword of Dong Qi Sword Sect, [Seven Plum Sword]? As expected, it is extraordinary! Zuo Mei Tian is really brave. Such a good sword, he actually gave it to a ningmai disciple!”

Conversation rose, as everyone’s expressions were full of awe.

[Seven Plum Sword] was the most famous flying sword of Dong Qi Sword Sect, ranked fourth-grade. It was most suited to Dong Qi Sword Sect’s [Plum Cutting Sword Scripture]. However, the reason that this sword was so famous was because its owner was Zuo Mei Tian.

In Sky Moon Jie, Zuo Mei Tian was a very famous personage. Everyone was especially wary of his cruelty and ruthlessness. These years, he had not been seen much in public. The rumors had been that he had been focusing on teaching his disciple. Looking at it now, it was true. To pass a great treasure like [Seven Plum Sword] to Zong Ming Yan, it could be seen just how great his love was.

The people that had been drooling over [Seven Plum Sword] quickly killed their greed. It was easy to deal with the young one. But if they fought the young one, and the old one came, they couldn’t deal with that.

The faces of the four from Wu Kong Sword Sect were heavy. Even though they hoped that Zuo Mo could leave the competition as soon as possible, but when they saw Zong Ming Yan take out [Seven Plum Sword], their expressions changed slightly.

Zuo Mei Tian’s ruthlessness was famed, and look at it, his disciple Zong Ming Yan was not a merciful person either. They were not worried that Zuo Mo would lose the competition, because it was already set in stone. They were worried that Zuo Mo would be injured. If Zong Ming Yan was as heartless as his master, Zuo Mei Tian, then today, Zuo Mo was in danger!

However, at this time, Zuo Mo’s big formation was already up and running. Through the mirage, it was hard for them to see the situation inside the formation.

Inside the blue-green formation, the rings of light danced, a crescent moon hanging over top of it all!

In opposition to what everyone had imagined of Zuo Mo being on guard to face a great enemy, Zuo Mo was extremely busy. Taking advantage of the cover the formation was, he had silently sneaked to the other end of the formation, continuing to set up child formations for [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]?

One more child formation, the power of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] would increase a bit.

His movements were extremely quick. After continuously putting down forty-five child formations, he was extremely practiced.

He guessed that Zong Ming Yan would try to test the waters in the beginning so he decided to make good use of the time.

You hit, I set!

Wasn’t it just competition on speed?

Let’s see if you first break the formation, or I first finish the formation!

Zuo Mo thought hatefully inside, his hands moving even quickly.

No one would have thought, that in such a time of emergency, Zuo Mo was still persisting in laying down formations.

Chapter 143: Heavyweight News

Wei Sheng’s clothing was ripped, his entire body covered in countless little sword cuts, and he appeared to be out of energy. If the judges hadn’t seen that he was still stubbornly persisting, they would have stepped in a long time ago.

Gu Rong Ping’s expression was peaceful, the darkness and viciousness on his face had disappeared long ago.

He could be favored by so many to win, and had never lost until now, how could he be unable to see his own situation? When he realized he had made a mistake and started to adjust himself, Wei Sheng was instantly placed at a disadvantage.

Heart Lake Sword, heart like a lake, undisturbed.

Wei Sheng struggled to keep going. If it wasn’t that he had a more profound knowledge of sword essence, and could dodge or stop Gu Rong Ping at the last possible second, he would have lost already. Even so, he still could not stop Gu Rong Ping from attacking. Gu Rong Ping had changed from the previous impatience to a relaxed ease as his advantage was slowly increased.

The sword scriptures were different, and the roads they walked would be drastically different. Some sword scriptures were forceful and explosive, what they needed was each attack to be like a thunderbolt, without keeping anything back. Some sword scriptures walked the path of entanglement. They did not pursue killing with one attack. They went for continuously accumulating an advantage like pulling silk off a cocoon, to exhaust the opponent and in the end leave them with no energy to attack.

Gu Rong Ping was so.

“Gu Rong Ping truly isn’t bad. is [Heart Lake Sword] is very advanced for such a young age! Bao Rong hadn’t reached this level when he was his age. “Tian Song Zi couldn’t help but praise. After a slight pause, he couldn’t help but keep praising, “This Wei Sheng is even better! Ningmai stage and he could cultivate to Heart Turn Sword Essence, even more rare is that his personality is resilient and strong. Even though he is clearly trapped, he still does not submit. This boy will be great in the future!”

“Yes. I’m afraid that Dong Fu’s sects will have to eat behind Wu Kong Sword Sect in the future.” Ling Ying Sect’s leader Feng Qing glanced at Tian Song Zi.

These words were what many of Dong Fu’s little sects were thinking. Many people did not have good expressions.

Tian Song Zi knew it, but didn’t state it, only faintly saying, “The strongest rule, the power naturally determines the benefits. Or does Sect Leader Feng believe Wu Kong Sword Sect does not have the power?”

Feng Qing choked but he defended himself, “I’m afraid that Wu Kong Sword Sect will have too big of an appetite!”

Dislike rose in Tian Song Zi’s heart. He turned to look at the surrounding people, and said, “Wu Kong Sword Sect has been keeping a low profile all these years. If they were truly greedy people, with Ice Dragon Sword’s strength, there would not be many in Dong Fu that could stop him, much less Sect Leader Pei and the others who are also jindan.”

These words instantly made many people relax greatly. They found it was true when they thought about it. If Wu Kong Sword Sect were really those kind of people, did they even have the power to resist?

“Wu Kong Sword Sect is a part of Dong Fu. Wu Kong Sword Sect is strong, our Dong Fu is strong. Dong Fu is strong, everyone here will naturally benefit.” Tian Song Zi said meaningfully.

“Right! I see that Sect Leader Pei and the others are not those that would steal from others. If our Dong Fu can take a step up among the thirteen primary towns, that’s beneficial for everyone!” Someone praised.

The others all agreed. No one could rival Tian Song Zi’s influence in Dong Fu. Over all these years, he was mostly fair in his conduct, and everyone trusted him. The Ling Ying Sect leader was on the side, his expression changing.

Tian Song Zi suddenly stood up. Everyone knew that he had something to say. The surrounding instantly feel silent.

“There are many people that do not know my initial motivation for holding this Sword Test Conference.” Tian Song Zi started slowly. His voice was not loud, but there was an extra hint of solemnity. Everyone could help but perk their ears to listen. Those that were clever already realized that the matter was not simple.

“Maybe some people know, but it’s possible some people do not know.” Tian Song Zi paused slightly, before continuing, “Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie is showing signs of instability.”

First, it was silent, then it was a ruckus.

“No way!”

“How is it possible?”

“Weren’t there many experts holding the fort in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie?”

… …

The panicked voices flowed. These light words were like lightning on a clear day, instantly shaking up all the sect leaders. Even Ling Ying Sect’s leader was struck dumb. Gradually, fear started to show on his face.

Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was the buffer between xiuzhe and yaomo. That was the paradise where countless xiuzhe hunted yao. As long as you had the power, you could receive anything you wanted. Jingshi, talismans, rare materials… …

Expert after expert became famous there. It was the backyard of the xiuzhe, the material store of the xiuzhe.

So when Tian Song Zi said Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was showing signs of instability, they hadn’t managed to react to the connection between the Sword Test Conference and Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, had not reacted to the implications behind this news.

Only when people remembered how Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had formed did they suddenly wake.

Even the most composed person had a changed expression.

“Is the news confirmed?”

“The market didn’t have any news at all!”

Terror quickly spread across the people. They were only asking out of reflex. Everyone knew if Tian Song Zi could say this publicly, the news definitely would not be fake. Tian Song Zi had more avenues of information than they did.

Tian Song Zi lightly sighed. “Everyone, please prepare. This time, the first one hundred local xiuzhe, I will open the secret realm for them.”

This was another heavyweight news!

Secret realm!

A secret realm was like an extremely small jie. No one knew how a secret realm formed, but each jie would have secret worlds. But how many there were, it was unable to be predicted.

Secret realms were all different, but there were similarities. In every secret realm, the ling energy inside would be plentiful, and it would be extremely beneficial to cultivate inside. Inside the secret realm, due to the high density of ling energy, and the lack of people, there would be large numbers of rare ling grasses and beasts. And in some secret realms, there would also be residences left behind by ancient xiuzhe.

No one would have thought that Dong Fu Hall would have a secret realm!

As expected of the true master of Dong Fu. The wealth he possessed was truly unimaginable.

“This secret realm had been discovered by my ancestral founder. However, it is a pity that xiuzhe above jindan cannot enter, so this secret realm has been unopened until now. Since a great calamity is approaching, the disciples of all sects, as long as they enter the top one hundred, they can enter this secret realm. But as to what they can obtain, that will be up to their good fortune.” Tian Song Zi said.

A small smile finally came onto the fearful faces of those large sect leaders.

If they were talking about disciples from the top ten, then Dong Fu might not have many, but the top one hundred, the core disciples of most of the Dong Fu sects were basically all in there.

“Elder’s efforts! We really are shamed!” A sect leader suddenly came out and bowed deeply to Tian Song Zi.

The other sect leaders also came out and bowed in thanks to Tian Song Zi. To open one’s secret realm and allow disciples from other sects to enter, such a matter, it had never been heard of before. Tian Song Zi’s breath of mind received everyone’s admiration. Even Ling Ying Sect leader Feng Qing did not hesitate in bowing.

There was no joy on Tian Song Zi’s face. He sighed, “The fire of succession. Only when there is fire can it be passed on!”

Everyone’s hearts started to fall. From Tian Song Zi’s words, they finally realized that the situation was far worse than they had imagined.

Zong Ming Yan saw those nimble rings of light but still unhesitatingly stepped into the formation.

Once he stepped in, the scenery around him instantly changed.

Limitless blue-green mist covered the empty wilderness. He was in the middle of the wilderness, his surroundings empty. In the sky above his head, light rings of various sizes swam like schools of fish.

In the faint blue-green mist that was like what occurred during sunrise, the chimes from the collisions became even more ethereal. Those mischievous and nimble rings of light danced high above his head, and even higher up, a crescent moon hung, its faint shine falling on this patch of wilderness, giving even the mist a blurry shine.

This was a formation that a zhuji could set up?

Zong Ming Yan was slightly surprised and had to reconsider Zuo Mo.

He may have little knowledge of formations, but he had received Zuo Mei Tian’s attentive teachings, and a half-assed outer sect disciple like Zuo Mo could not compare. Even though he was not clear what formation Zuo Mo had set up, but he could clearly understand the meaning contained in the formation in front of his eyes.

He decided to put away the disdain in his heart. This Zuo Mo could be considered a genius in formations.

Zong Ming Yan casually walked, strong confidence revealed in his expression. So what if the other was a formations genius? He did not have any fear in his heart. Quite the opposite. He, who had thought he had picked a bland opponent, started to feel anticipation.

Zong Ming Yan’s desire for battle increased even more!

Gently shaking his wrist, the plum branch in his hand sliced and made a circle.

A plumb blossom gently trembled and fell of the plum branch, floating into the sky.

[One Cut Plum]!

This plum flower silently shattered in the air, turning into a pink ball of light. The light seemed to be pulled by two invisible hands in opposite directions, quickly pulled long and thin. A circle of faint sword essence, with the pink ball of light as the center, suddenly spread out towards the surroundings.

The long and pink sword essence had no warmth or gentleness. Quite the opposite. When it truly became a sword energy, the harsh and sharp sword essence reached a peak!

Zong Ming Yan narrowed his eyes, and his expression just like that pink sword energy became sharp and menacing!

The energy being disrupted, the dancing rings of light in the air were like startled schools of fish.

The chimes of collisions were like rain!

“Go!” Zong Ming Yan shouted, the plum branch in his hand leading.

The long and narrow pink sword energy suddenly brightened, drawing a bright pink light in the air as it headed into the rings of light.

The sword energy was extremely sharp. The rings of light were like bubbles, popping upon a single touch.

The fragments of light rained down like snowflakes.

Under the bright moonlight, inside the blue-green mist, the dots of broken light flushed away the killing intent carried by the sword essence, and added a hint of poignancy.

Hiss! Zuo Mo couldn’t help but inhale sharply.

This Zong Ming Yan’s power wasn’t on the same level as that Chao An he had encountered before. The power in that one blow was enough to frighten his little heart to beat rapidly.

If before, he had some thoughts about attacking first, Zong Ming Yan’s sword strike instantly made him understand how unrealistic his thoughts were.

The only method he had now was defense!

This was the only thing he could do. If Zong Ming Yan found his position, Zuo Mo was sure that, with his half-learned sword essence, he would lose within three blows.

After making a decision, the last stray thought in Zuo Mo’s mind was erased. His hands became even faster.

Fast!

Faster!

Chapter 144: Strange

Zong Ming Yan quickly frowned.

Those rings of light had appeared extremely weak, like bubbles that popped upon contact, but there really were too many of them!

His sword essence had, without him detecting it, had much of its momentum lost and its strength had been worn down by half. However, the rings of light in the sky did not seem to decrease in number.

Even more… … he still had not found Zuo Mo!

His eyes looked in the surroundings and didn’t find any shadow of Zuo Mo. He knew that, in a formation, one should not believe what the eyes showed. His consciousness had also swept through the surroundings, but it would always encounter strange interference that prevented him from detecting Zuo Mo.

All of this indicated that the formation Zuo Mo had constructed was not normal.

Zong Ming Yan did not panic, however. Everyone always saw him brimming with murderous intent and assumed that he wanted to find Zuo Mo to immediately to defeat him. In reality, it was not so. He enjoyed battle and enjoyed the pleasure of being challenged. The stronger Zuo Mo was, the more his desire for battle rose.

He planned on destroying Zuo Mo’s entire formation!

What would be more pleasurable than destroying the other’s strongest defense from the ground up? This made Zong Ming Yan’s blood boil!

The noise when [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] had been activated had truly been scary. Not just the audience in Dong Fu, but even the other xiuzhe in the Great Pine Pavilion had been shocked by the sudden light!

Many xiuzhe were curious but they still didn’t dare to walk around freely, all staying in their original places. As for the powerful xiuzhe, they did not have any hesitations about running towards the source of the light.

Su pushed her movement speed to the maximum. To stop other xiuzhe from ambushing her along the way, she released the ling power in her body spread out without anything holding back. The Black Daze sword under her feet released a powerful magnetism. Different from the howling flight of other flying swords, the flight of the Black Daze sword was more like gliding. But due to its terrifying speed, it howled as it broke through the air. She did not conceal herself as she raced towards the source of the light.

That cowardly guy that ate soft rice actually did not send out the paper crane!

In flight, Su couldn’t help but furrow her brows.

She held extreme dislike for Zuo Mo’s conduct. He clearly knew his strength was not enough but still acted on his own, it was very easy for his companions to dislike him. Even though Su did not think of Zuo Mo as her companion, but she needed Zuo Mo’s help to forge her flying sword. This meant that she could not disregard Zuo Mo’s safety.

If Zuo Mo could not enter the top ten, then no matter how high of a rank she achieved, it would be useless.

She disliked people who increased the difficulty of things she had to do!

Only this once!

After this affair ended, she never wanted to see this dislikable guy again.

Suddenly, she thought of what Lin Qian Shixiong said to her, and her heart became even more irritated.

Chang Heng still casually strolled, but the light released by the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was peerlessly bright, far surpassing the light of any sword energy.

“That’s an interesting guy.” He said to himself, before leaping into the air. Carrying a patch of bloody light, he disappeared.

At a hill, a figure suddenly disappeared, and then suddenly appeared not far away, before disappearing, and then appearing even further away. Because of the speed of movement, before the afterimage at the previous place had vanished, he would appear at the next position.

Where he passed, he left behind a string of shadows, extremely strange.

Gui Feng was using his ghost movement to run. In the blink of an eye, he was far away, his speed not much slower than a flying sword.

But that direction… …

The xiuzhe along the way gaped as they stretched their necks to look in the direction that Gui Feng disappeared in.

—It was the place that was flashing with light!

Luo Li had thought of being a hunter waiting for his prey, but he was slightly shocked by the light that had suddenly rose on the horizon.

That scene… …

It definitely wasn’t something caused by a sword energy or something like it. Truthfully, a person that could create [Self Separation], there wouldn’t be any problems with his intelligence. He quickly knew what it was!

Formations! Only formations!

He instantly was speechless. Of all the xiuzhe that attended the last round of the Sword Test Conference, only one person would lose the face of sword xiu to make formations, there was only Zuo Mo.

“Such a person that does not endear himself to others.” Luo Li said helplessly to himself. Grabbing the flying sword, he stood up. He had spent the longest with the sect leader and the others, and knew their thoughts better.

Maybe he should go and kick the other out of the competition… … to spare him from further humiliation… …

He wasn’t certain about the sect leader, but he believed the other shifu definitely would not oppose it.

In reality, curiosity dominated Luo Li’s heart.

That fight with Zuo Mo had been the most important turning point in his life. At the beginning, he had been slightly angry and hateful, but gradually, as Luo Li reflected on himself, his hate towards Zuo Mo had disappeared without a trace. If not for Zuo Mo, he was afraid that he would still be living his days out muddle-headedly like before.

That would be terrible… …

But he definitely didn’t have any thoughts of thanking Zuo Mo.

He was naturally curious. When Zuo Mo had fought with him, the difference in cultivation between them had been great, but in the end, Zuo Mo had won. He had seen Zuo Mo’s fight in the Sword Test Conference. The difference in cultivation between Zuo Mo and his opponent had been even greater, but Zuo Mo had won again. All those dazzling tricks that Zuo Mo had showed had greatly expanded his vision but he couldn’t help but find it pitiful.

He really couldn’t understand, with Zuo Mo’s great talent in the sword, why would he not cultivate the sword, and rather learn all those middling things.

In the time that he had created [Self Separation], his comprehension of the sword was much deeper than before, and his eyes were naturally better. With one look, he had seen that while Zuo Mo had many tricks up his sleeve that made people gasp in awe, but it was a great obstacle for him in his future cultivation of the sword.

Heterogeneity was the greatest taboo of sword xiu.

But Luo Li was still curious! Even though he was shaking his head inside, but he was still curious what Zuo Mo would do. This guy was extremely cunning and slippery, with an endless bag of creative tricks. Adding on that he was an extremely treacherous person, and if he could ambush someone twice, he definitely wouldn’t do it only once.

This Sword Test Conference, there were many experts. The difference between Zuo Mo and them was even greater. He might not understand Zuo Mo very well, but he felt that Zuo Mo was not someone that would easily surrender. If he didn’t cause some trouble, he probably wouldn’t surrender.

Would not easily surrender, had many tricks, and some power… …

This kind of weirdo, how could people not have a little bit of anticipation?

“It would be good to see.” Luo Li spoke to himself as he stepped on the flying sword and left the mountain valley.

Chang Heng was the first person to appear outside the formation. Right after, Su and Gui Feng almost appeared at the same time.

The appearance of three experts caused the xiuzhe that had been hiding in the dark to feel as though his heart had jumped out of his chest. These three, none of them were easy to deal with them. Luo Li quickly appeared not far away. Facing the three experts, he was extremely calm. Without a word, he sat down cross legged on the ground, his flying sword floating in front of him.

“Hm.” Chang Heng turned with slight shock to look at Luo Li.

Su and Gui Feng turned their faces at the same time to look at Luo Li.

In their perception, the seatedLuo Li was disappearing bit by bit. But they could clearly see him sitting there, not having moved at all.

The three of them were slightly shocked. It seemed that every disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect had some skill.

“I’m not fighting!” Nan Men Yang bellowed, and then took a step back. No matter who it was, realizing that there were strong opponents in the surroundings, would not be willing to use up all their power.

Yu Bai did not say anything but backed up a step at the same time.

He didn’t want to fight either. With so many experts at the sidelines, if even one of them attempted an ambush, he wouldn’t be able to deal with it.

However, the attention of this group of people was not on them but on the formation.

The two exchanged a look and, at the same time, turned to look at the formation, waiting to see the spectacle.

Not long after, another person came to spectate. It was the yellow-face man that Chang Heng had encountered previously. Occasionally other xiuzhe would land outside the formation. Those that dared to come up to watch at this time were experts that had confidence in their power.

Up until now, other than Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping that were still fighting heatedly on the main peak, basically all the experts had gathered here.

Such a strange scene, not just the competitors but even the xiuzhe watching the mirage in Dong Fu were gaping.

What, what was this?

Everything in front of their eyes, no matter what direction they looked, carried a strange atmosphere.

A formation with a moon hanging over it, and a crowd of people outside.

All of them were experts… … almost all of the top ten from the rankings were present. It was like a gathering of experts. If they didn’t have the power, they would be too embarrassed to come over!

The battle between Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping which had been watched by the most people quickly was abandoned by everyone. Everyone’s turned to Zuo Mo’s position.

Strange!

Too strange!

If these experts didn’t come from different sects, and different places, some with stronger backgrounds than Dong Fu Hall, they would definitely be suspicious that someone was manipulating the competition from the shadow. But right now, all of them were performing the same action, stretching their necks out, looking into the formation projected by the mirage.

It was like there was an astonishing beauty hiding in the formation, and she was completely naked!

Pei Yuan Ran and the others were also gaping. Behind them, the crowd of Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples were dumbstruck.

“What… … what are they doing?” Yan Le stammered out.

Pei Yuan Ran’s lips trembled, but he didn’t know what to say. He looked dumbly at the scene and couldn’t say anything. Xin Yan, who was usually stoic and wooden, had his mouth wide open, his eyes bulging. Shi Feng Rong was covering her mouth, her eyes widened greatly, not noticing how strange it was that she was maintaining this position.

“They… … want to watch?” Yan Le hesitantly stammered out, “To watch… … they aren’t fighting… …”

Pei Yuan Ran felt blood rise to his throat, his vision turning black and almost fainted. When he raised his head again, his face was bright red!

Heavens! Ancestral Masters! Forgive this disciple!

If before, he had only been regretting his action of making Zuo Mo attend the last round of the Sword Test Conference, right now, he wanted to smash his head against the wall and kill himself!

Yan Le’s words swirled in his head.

To watch… … they … … they wouldn’t fight… …

Chapter 145: Nan Men Yang! A Real Man!

Different from the outside, Chang Heng and the others could clearly see every move that Zong Ming Yan made inside the formation. However, Zuo Mo was still hidden away.

Zong Ming Yan’s [One Cut Plum] brightened many people’s eyes.

In reality, Zong Ming Yan did not feel well. It was like his punch had landed in soft cotton, his power undetectably being dissipated.

He couldn’t help but frown. It was not because he felt it was difficult, but out of dislike. He disliked this kind of soft attack very much. Most sword xiu did not like fighting with warm and soft enemies. If they did not kill off the other in one attack, then what awaited them was endless trouble!

Such enemies usually had great defenses. It was extremely hard to get them in one attack. As the battle progressed, it would become a labor of endurance. The endurance of most sword xiu definitely was not good.

He hadn’t thought that this Zuo Mo would also be this way!

Zong Ming Yan started to rub his forehead.

Zuo Mo had been frightened by Zong Ming Yan’s sword strike, his little hands shaking as they were setting up the formation, almost ruining it. Don’t think that he was familiar with [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], he was only familiar with the theory. The amount wasted by the enormous formation was astounding. Normally, he didn’t have that much jingshi to waste.

Luckily, the first sword energy had been blocked. The replenishing rings of light didn’t look as though they were damaged. Zuo Mo’s heart landed slightly.

He had just started studying [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. How to set it up, what materials it needed, it was more than enough for him. As to the different variations, he was not familiar with them. There was no way around it, there was not enough time. From the time that the sect leader had notified him about attending the last round of the Sword Test Conference until now, he had used almost all his time on this, and had just barely understood how to set it up.

Even more so, what he was setting up this time was a seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]!

For that Kun Lun introductory formation jade scroll, he had gone all in.

Even though he was greatly rushed, but he still tried his best, his hands fleetingly fast.

The great pressure did not make him panic. Quite the opposite, it was like he was shot with chicken blood, his entire body was abnormally exuberant. His consciousness was completely spread out, his attention focused like it never had been before, the uncompleted formation and the components appeared so clear in front of his eyes.

Because he had practiced finger movements for so long, his ten fingers were extremely nimble. [Vajra Profound Sutra] had been in effect, and his physical strength far surpassed most sword xiu, and he could easily lift up the large pieces of material. His consciousness was even more terrifying, covering the entire formation. Any change would be unable to escape his consciousness.

He was a blurry shadow, furiously setting down formations!

Countless materials flowed like water from his hands, accurately thrown to the positions needed. His fingers were like fresh flowers blooming, after images flickering as ripple after ripple of ling force was sent from his constantly moving fingers into the formation.

With the aid of the formation’s power, Zuo Mo hid himself so no one else could see him.

No one knew where Zuo Mo was. Everyone had assumed that Zuo Mo was hiding in a certain place, waiting for an opportunity to give Zong Ming Yan a killing blow at the most dangerous time!

No one knew that the enormous formation in front of them was an incomplete formation!

Raising his head to look at the crescent moon in the sky, Zong Ming Yan’s fretful heart calmed. He was proud but he was not dumb. To be able to stand out from so many other disciples, who would be dumb?

Those rings of light definitely were not the crux to breaking the formation, he thought. He stood in his spot, the light rings in the air were like free fish, not attacking him.

Was it that crescent moon?

The bright moon over his head seemed far yet real, not appearing at all like something created by the formation. Truthfully, it wasn’t just the bright moon. Everything inside this formation was no different than really. But he knew that everything he saw were all created by the formation, they were all fake.

There was no formation in the world that could not be solved, just like there was no invincible sword xiu in this world. Any formation would have a “cover door”. The so-called “cover door” referred to the Achilles’ heel of the formation, and the crux to solving a formation.

Where was the cover door of this formation?

The light in Zong Ming Yan’s eyes flashed. He stood like that in his spot and started to think.

Yu Bai, who had just stopped fighting, felt someone come close and turn to look. He saw his previous opponent, Nan Men Yang, come over with his exaggerated sword. He couldn’t help but be on his guard.

“What’s he doing?” Nan Men Yang bellowed, a face full of curiosity. His voice was like thunder. Even though he had pushed it extremely low, everyone could hear him.

Yu Bai first stilled, but seeming that Nan Men Yang’s expression did not seem like he was joking, he suddenly remembered that Nan Meng Yan had no family or sect. Then he understood. Sword xiu with no family nor sect could not compete at understanding all of the fundamentals with seedlings, like Yu Bai, that had been nurtured from childhood.

Yu Bai noticed that other people’s eyes had wandered over to him.

Composure… … Master said, I need to be warm and respectful… …

Gently coughing, Yu Bai warmly explained, “Zong Ming Yan is thinking of a way to solve it… …”

“That needs thinking?” Nan Men Yang stared with his bell-sized eyes, unconsciously raising his voice as he examined Yu Bai, “Just chop him down! An says you guys, you are so womanishly fussy. If it was an … …”

Nan Men Yang’s usual voice was loud enough. This was like thunder roaring, so loud that Yu Bai’s ears rang.

The tendons in Yu Bai’s forehead jumped slightly. He hadn’t thought that this guy would be so chatty!

It was unknown who laughed first. The tendons in Yu Bai’s forehead started to pulse again.

Composure… …

He forced out a smile, “This formation is extremely difficult, it would be hard to solve… …”

Nan Meng Yang once again interrupted Yu Bai, looking at him in puzzlement, his eyes widening again, “What solve, just cut it down! But that guy’s body, tsk, more petite and supple than my lover, about the same as you. If it was an… …”

The more Nan Men Yang talked, the more excited he got. His right hand in a fist, he tore apart his clothing, furiously beating his masculine chest that was as hard as metal, breathing heavily through his nose like a gorilla.

Petite and supple… …

Yu Bai’s handsome face instantly twisted, the ling power in his body almost running out of control like a tsunami that could erupt at any time!

Composure… …

Nan Men Yang did not detect it. He was like a furious bull, staring at the formation, wanting to try it out, but his mouth did not stop for a second.

“Look at what swords you guys are using, they are thin like chopsticks, are they even usable? A man should use a sword like this!” He raised the door-sized sword in his hand, and waved it, and proudly said, “Don’t understand? I’m telling you this in confidence. An’s lover told an, need big! Need big! Need bigger! A real man uses a big sword!”

He suddenly closed his mouth, hesitating for a moment before lowering his voice to ask suspiciously, “Are you really a man?”

Flash, everyone’s eyes moved to Yu Bai.

Having reached the limits of his tolerance, Yu Bai finally could not bear it any longer. His face was as black as ink, his handsome features twisted, screw composure! The flying sword in his hand pointed straight at Nan Men Yang, angrily shouting, “Shut up! Let’s fight!”

Nan Men Yang paused and then furiously shook his large head. “I only fight with men!” Disregarding Yu Bai completely, he raised his large sword, pointed it at the formation and excitedly hollered, “An’s going to chop the formation! An has never chopped something like this! Ha ha, take a good look at an! Real Men, will chop the formation!”

Finishing, with his enormous sword held up high, in big strides, he charged at the formation like a bull!

Yu Bai was enraged, and completely lost his mind. He shrieked, “Stop! You’re mine!”

He turned into a white flash, chasing Nan Men Yang and headed into the big formation.

Su had been laughing on the inside hearing Nan Men Yang’s sinister words, but this sudden change shocked her so much she couldn’t stop them in time!

Damn it!

There were now three people in the formation. Zuo Mo definitely wouldn’t be able to deal with it. Thinking about this, she panicked, stomped her foot and charged into the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] with the Black Daze Sword.

Gui Feng saw Su rush into the formation, a cold light flashed through his eyes before he also disappeared.

The heart of the yellow-faced man also moved, and he unhesitatingly charged into the formation.

Chang Heng said to himself, “Interesting.” Finishing, he headed to the formation, but compared to the others, he walked calmly.

Luo Li stood, and brushed off the non-existent dust on his clothes. He said helplessly, “Why am I in the same sect as this guy?”

As he spoke, he started walking towards the formation.

The other xiuzhe hesitated a while. Right after, there were people continuously charging into the formation.

The xiuzhe that charged in were all very excited, aching for battle! They were all xiuzhe that did not fear the competition!

Almost all the experts in the Sword Test Conference were now inside the formation. It was a rare chance to be able to compete with these experts. Such a great gathering, if they missed it, it would be the regret of a lifetime.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Figure after figure charged into the formation.

A formation brimming with blue-green mist under a crescent moon was like a gigantic whirlpool, continuously sucking the surrounding xiuzhe inside.

Everyone that was watching the competition in Dong Fu was dumbstruck!

Even though they could see clearly from the mirage, but the sounds were not passed on. The people on the outside didn’t know what happened. What was occurring in front of their eyes far surpassed their imagination.

The experienced Tian Song Zi was also gaping, “Why is Bai’er so excited? What happened?”

He had never seen Yu Bai so excited. In his memories, his beloved disciple was forever warm and elegant, respectful and polite. This… … what was this?

No one was able to tell him.

All those that charged into the formation were experts, the best and most exceptional disciples of the sects in Sky Moon Jie, the greatest among the younger generation. They all had great potential , they carried the hopes of each sect, what they learned were the best teachings in Sky Moon Jie, and what they used were the best talismans and flying sword… …

They… …

They seemed to be crazy at the moment, furious desire for battle on each person’s face. Their eyes, as they looked at the formation, were filled with yearning!

That formation, just how seductive was it… …

No matter if it was those floating in the air, or on the ground, time seemed to stop at this moment. The xiuzhe, regardless of their cultivation, they were gaping, their expressions dumb, limbs motionless, not making a sound as though they were statues.

At this moment, Dong Fu was so quiet that it was possible to hear a needle land on the ground.

Chapter 146: Zuo Mo’s Sorrowful Indignation

Yan Le’s expression was extremely strange. He focused on business, and naturally could understand lip language. Those that also knew how to read lips were also like Yan Le. They were stunned by Nan Men Yang’s onslaught of words.

The surroundings were too quiet, so quiet it was strange. Yan Le tried to open his mouth a few times, but couldn’t say a word. This strange silence was like a kind of pressure. No one spoke at this time.

Pei Yuan Ran’s mind was a mess. He had completely lost the ability to think. The strange scene in front of him was the straw that broke the camel’s back. All of his intelligence, his experience, none of it was useful right now. His gaze was blank.

Why did the sect have such a problematic person… …

Buzz buzz buzz.

Like the sound of bees flapping their wings, the noise steadily grew, gathering into a flood, booming. Everyone felt their ears ring. In one instant, they could not hear anything.

After a while, this wave of sound calmed and became peaceful.

Shock, weirdness, amazement… … all kinds of emotions were mixed together on the audience’s faces. No one could keep their calm.

“This Nan Men Yang’s mouth is stronger than flying swords!” Yan Le couldn’t help but praise. That’s right, he really was praising! His societal experience was extremely rich and knew just how effective a mouth was at many times.

Shi Feng Rong hurriedly inquired. After Yan Le finished narrating Nan Men Yang’s words, the others were also dumbstruck.

Who could have thought such a brute looking man was able to say such dark and malicious words.

Oh, maybe Nan Men Yang didn’t do it on purpose.

The only person that might not think that way would probably be Tian Song Zi. Tian Song Zi could imagine just how fiery the anger inside his beloved disciple was burning for him to lose his composure so! It was like he was experiencing it himself, killing intent on his old face.

At this time, the surrounding sect leaders naturally wouldn’t touch his sore spot. It wasn’t all due to the inheritance that his ancestors left him that Tian Song Zi was able to control Dong Fu for all these years. His own personal power was unfathomable.

Very quickly, “Real Men! Use Big Swords!” quickly spread through the xiuzhe. Those xiuzhe that used big swords raised their heads and puffed their chests. However, most of the xiuzhe looked as though they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

They finally understood what had happened.

The blankness in Pei Yuan Ran’s eyes disappeared greatly. Everything had a limit. Sometimes, this limit would change, as the attribute of the matter changed. Like using formations. Before, Pei Yuan Ran felt it was embarrassing. However, when the formation that Zuo Mo laid down could cause such a big ruckus, and caught a crowd of experts, Pei Yuan Ran felt somewhat proud inside.

Which other person’s disciple could make such a ruckus with a formation?

No matter if Zuo Mo’s formation won or lost in the end, after this competition, maybe there would be people that would mock Yu Bai, but there definitely wouldn’t be any mockery of Zuo Mo and his formation.

They finally figured out what had happened, but the curiosity the people had did not decrease the slightest, and became even stronger.

What was happening in the formation?

So many experts gathered inside one formation, what changes would occur?

How would they solve the formation?

Everyone was filled with curiosity!

At this time, Xiao Guo suddenly made a sound of surprise, “Shixiong’s formation seems… … seems to be getting bigger!”

Xiao Guo’s words instantly caused other people’s eyes to land on Zuo Mo’s formation.

Xin Yan suddenly said, “Yes, it is getting bigger.”

Shock came into the eyes of Pei Yuan Ran and the others, the disciples were puzzled.

One here, one here, and another one… …

Hurrying about setting up the formation, Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. What were these people doing? Were they crazy?

He only paused for a little while and then was enraged.

Just Zong Ming Yan alone was enough to exhaust him, you guys are coming to add insult to injury!

That’s right, Zuo Mo instantly set down his opinion of the people’s conduct: adding insult to injury!

Even though he didn’t understand what great grudge these people had against him, but it was clear that they were not coming to help him.

Adding insult to injury was the most distasteful action! Zuo Mo gritted his teeth!

At this time, he was not thinking about winning at all. So many experts entering the formation, to even think about winning was a delusion.

Villains! You crowd of villains! Ge will destroy all of you!

He seemed to see the Kun Lun jade scroll reluctantly waving its hands to say goodbye to him, going further away from him. Zuo Mo was indignant and sorrowful. It was this indignation at his grievous losses that allowed Zuo Mo to quickly make a decision. He was going to give these people that were adding insult to injury a memorable lesson!

Want to benefit from ge, ge’ll ruin all your teeth!

He didn’t think about retreat. His eyes entirely red, he used the most poisonous and malicious words to curse this damned crowd of people! At the same time, his movements became even faster, all kinds of materials streaming from his hands like they didn’t cost jingshi.

He felt that the blood in his body was burning, he was completely furious!

“Ah! The formation is still getting bigger!”

“It really is increasing!”

“Didn’t you hear Nan Men Yang say? Want big! Want big! Want bigger!”

“If I’m Zuo Mo, I’d first leave, since everyone is trapped in there! Ha!”

“Escape? Where would he escape? The moment he leaves the formation, he would just be waiting for death! Everyone outside is stronger than him. Without the protection of the formation, he would die even quicker.”

The sound of discussion rose. Everyone was puzzled by why Zuo Mo’s formation was getting bigger. But in all the versions, no one could guess what Zuo Mo was planning. Was Zuo Mo still delusional!

No one would think that, there were too many experts in there!

All the experts in the Sword Test Conference were in there!

Pitted against any competitor, Zuo Mo would undoubtedly lose, much less the experts that were gathered together. Everyone just needed to make a move, and this large formation would undoubtedly collapse!

Collapse?

Zuo Mo was very clear what the people in the formation thought. He smirked coldly inside, his hands not slowing down. [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was a fourth-grade formation. If there weren’t some strong points, how would it have the qualification to be a fourth-grade formation?

Maybe they could break the formation, but it definitely wouldn’t break in one or two moves. If they could not find the cover door of the formation, they didn’t need to think about breaking or solving it using brute power alone.

This cover door was not that easy to find… …

Zuo Mo’s actions were lightning fast. This caused the formation to quickly grow and was easily detected by the xiuzhe outside.

But no one dared to go into the formation!

The formation had now become the most dangerous area in the entire Great Pine Pavilion!

After Su entered the formation, she felt her vision blur and she was situated in the wilderness. The cold moonlight fell down like water. She felt as though she was in a dream.

Looking in the surroundings, everything was blurred. She didn’t know where to start.

That damned guy that ate soft rice! Why didn’t he send out the paper crane yet?

She was extremely panicked! She completely forgot, that up until now, Zuo Mo had not relied on her, and wasn’t actually eating soft rice.

After Nan Men Yang charged into the formation, he sunk into a berserker rage. His [Vajra Scripture] was at his maximum, his entire body covered in the golden light, together with his tall and brawny figure, he was a god of battle!

He gave a shout, and the [Mountain Breaker Sword] viciously chopped!

This sword chopped towards the rings of light in the sky!

An extremely dense sword energy left the sword, howling as it rushed into the rings of light in the sky!

The chimes were endless, like countless glass bottles were being broken.

Gui Feng, who had just came in, saw this scene and jumped in shock. Such a forceful blow, if it was heading for him, no matter if he fended it or dodged, it would not be easy!

Yet what surprised him was this blow that even he found difficult to defend was not effective in the slightest against the formation. It was like the fierce and sharp sword had broken the surface of the water. After the ripples passed, the surface of the water resumed normality.

Gui Feng quickly found the weirdness. He had headed in immediately after Su, but he did not find Su’s figure, encountering Nan Men Yang instead.

Did this formation have the ability to move others?

His consciousness was also being disrupted by an invisible ripple and was ineffective in the formation.

Gui Feng was in awe.

Different from other people, he did not underestimate Zuo Mo. He was skilled in underhanded and obscure skills, and did not walk the path of righteousness. Higher cultivation did not mean that one would definitely win.

Seeing so many people enter the formation, but not having found the cover door, it was not an easy matter to leave.

Then, where was the cover door?

Like Nan Men Yang, the first thing many xiuzhe did after they entered the formation was release attacks. However, to everyone’s surprise, it was like their attacks had entered the sea, ineffective.

Some powerful experts instantly stopped their futile efforts and started to think about the problem of solving the formation.

Zong Ming Yan hadn’t expected so many people would charge into the formation at once. He couldn’t help but frown.

This group of people were really irritating! Like a swarm of flies! He hadn’t solved the formation yet, but these people were coming in to also meddle, he was extremely displeased.

Even though he still hadn’t found the cover door of this formation, but Zong Ming Yan did not believe that he could not harm a zhuji disciple.

But now that the situation was completely disrupted. This group of people had appeared out of nowhere, each of them seemingly insane, attacking in all directions as they came in.

Suppressing the irritation inside, he smirked coldly as he put away the Seven Plum Sword.

You group of dumbasses! I’ll watch to see what you guys can do!

After having tried one blow, Zong Ming Yan was certain that this formation was not as simple as imagined.

He was extremely shocked inside. Such a formation, was it something a zhuji xiuzhe could set up? He didn’t quite believe it, but the truth was right in front of his eyes, and he had personally tried.

Maybe, it was a good thing these people have come to be cannon fodder.

Zong Ming Yan’s eyes became even colder.

Zuo Mo was still buried in setting up formations. His speed was extremely quick. He had already reached the sixty-third formation. In other words, there were only nine child formations until he could complete the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

A [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] with seventy-two child formations!

Humph humph, you guys can get a good taste!

Already extremely tired, Zuo Mo suddenly felt his body full of energy, his movements even faster, as he continued his expansion.

He had great expectations for the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. Even he hadn’t ever seen it before! What power would it have? There wasn’t a better place to try it out than right now!

At this time, a tragic howl could be heard from inside of the formation!

Chapter 147: Born To Battle

A xiuzhe had just tried to use a flying sword to attack the crescent moon hanging in the sky.

Unexpectedly, this action seemed to enrage those harmless looking rings of light! First, a light ring surrounded his body, then contracted. No one had expected a light ring that seemed to break with a touch could contain such great power!

The sword xiu instantly howled under the noose, his eyes flipping over, and fainted.

Just as everyone was shocked, a black gold chain came down from the sky and accurately lassoed this unconscious xiuzhe.

“Unconscious, judged loss, elimination from the competition.”

A cold voice sounded in everyone’s ears and then it was quiet.

Everyone knew it was the judges hidden in the shadows that had acted and saved this xiuzhe. The judges that had been invited to the last round were all jindan, and clearly were not average. They, naturally, could enter and leave the formation with ease, while the competitors were trapped by it.

Other than shock, they also felt inspired. In terms of cultivation stages, there was only one stage between ningmai and jindan, but there was an vast difference in the power!

For these ningmai xiuzhe, becoming jindan was their dream, but they knew how difficult it was. Ningmai could be considered the backbone of Sky Moon Jie, and only becoming jindan would mean you were considered an expert. Each year, countless people were blocked by this gate, but no one would retreat. If they passed this gate, that was really like carp jumping over the dragon gate, and soaring sky high. After that, there was also a long lifespan. Everyone wanted to live longer.

But right now, they could only admire and be envious. They were young. Even though they had exceptional talent, their cultivation was shallow. In this one hundred xiuzhe, there was only a few that had reached the middle levels of ningmai, and increases in cultivation were harder the further it went. Achieving jindan before the age of fifty was an extremely difficult accomplishment.

Zuo Mo also heard the words of the judges, but at this time, he didn’t have any thought of admiration. He almost started cursing! That judge had spoken without any warning, and frightened his hands into shaking, almost damaging the child formation he was setting up.

Luckily, he forced ling power in and managed to stabilize it.

Everything inside the formation was under the cover of his consciousness. He naturally was clear that the xiuzhe had been attacked.

Hee hee, this was just the beginning!

But he didn’t relax his hands, he could not spare any attention.

There were still six child formations before he could complete the seventy two [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]s !

Once he completed the seventy-two child formations, not only would the formation become more powerful, but the formation would gain an additional ability, control. He had controlled formations before, but those were only simple formations. He had never controlled such a complex and large formation. The difference between a formation that was controlled by a person, and one that was not, was the distance between heaven and earth.

Most importantly, if he could control such a big formation, it would be an extremely exhilarating experience!

Inside the formation, those experts were not dumb, and had their own calculations.

Su bolstered her ling power, the magnetic force forming an extremely small magnetic shell around her to protect her. Lu Li continued to wait for prey. Even though his Void Realm was suppressed in the big formation to a smaller area, but he was still motionless as his mind quickly pondered how to increase the size of his Void Realm in this formation.

These two both were planning to defend and counterattack; one was in action, and the other was silent.

Su frantically moved through the formation. Where was the damned guy hiding?

And Chang Heng, he idly wandered through the formation in curiosity. The yellow-faced man behaved similarly to him.

Gui Feng’s movements were hard to follow, suddenly appearing and disappearing.

Only Nan Men Yang was still howling, each blow faster than the previous as he sliced at the rings of light. No one dared to come close to him. Seeing Nan Men Yang’s masculine and brutal demeanor combined with his fanatical expression, anyone that went near him would most likely get chopped down as well.

Yu Bai was like a gust of wind, face dark as he searched for Nan Men Yang’s figure in the formation.

It was strange. The formation was just a bit over ten mu, but the people in the formation seemed to be in a vast wilderness. They could occasionally encounter another person, but the majority of the time, they could not.

Compared to the ease of some of these xiuzhe, the fighting between the other xiuzhe in the formation was much more brutal.

In the air above the big formation, the two judges idly talked, occasionally glancing at the formation. One of the judges was wearing a green Taoist robe, a cloth over his head, his name was Wu Ling sanren. The other person was extremely imposing, wearing ling armor. His name was Wei Fei, and one of the well-known experts in Sky Moon Jie.

“This Zuo Mo is really to my taste. What he’s planning is the seventy-two child formation, oh, he’s pretty decisive.” Wu Ling Sanren said, “The setup of the formations might be very rough, but it still stuns me that he actually managed to finish this much, considering he’s in zhuji.”

“Haha!” Hearing this, Wei Fei teased, “A pity that Pei Yuan Ran and the others won’t give this disciple to you. It is a pity. If he can learn from you for a few years, there probably wouldn’t be anyone that could rival him in the younger generation in the field of formations.”

Wu Ling Sanren was one of those rare sword xiu that was skilled in formations, which was why Wei Fei said what he did.

Wu Ling Sanren shook his head, “Such a talented disciple, which sect would not treasure him?” Between his words, he was extremely depressed. He had long wanted a disciple suited to him, but never found one. The disciples he had now, they did work hard to cultivate the sword, but had no interest in formations. His skill in formations was Wu Ling Sanren’s proudest skill. Now that no one would inherit these skills from him, how could he not be bothered?

If Wu Kong Sword Sect allowed Zuo Mo to enter his sect, he was willing to spend anything. But he also knew that was impossible. Even a normal sect wouldn’t agree, much less Wu Kong Sword Sect that was aiming to recover its former glory!

Ice Dragon Sword’s reputation was not loud in the ears of normal xiuzhe of Sky Moon Jie, but to jindan like him, Ice Dragon Sword’s reputation was clear.

“Haha! Sanren is also troubled! This Zuo Mo will not enter another sect, but Wu Kong Sword Sect is definitely having a headache!” Wei Fei’s words were full of amusement.

Wei Fei’s words were accurate!

Pei Yuan Ran felt an extreme migraine. Now that the situation was like this, he wasn’t thinking about victory or defeat. In his perspective, victory did not matter, but how could he teach Zuo Mo?

Undoubtedly, after this competition, Zuo Mo’s fame in the field of formations would reach a new height.

In their eyes, Zuo Mo had originally been a problematic youth, extremely hard to deal with.

Now, this problematic youth had become famous, very famous! Thinking that the sect would have a famous, wealthy, and extremely talented but problematic youth, Pei Yuan Ran felt like he was a mouse pulling a turtle, not knowing how to act!

Right now, he did not know that Zuo Mo was penniless. Zuo Mo had won such a large sum of jingshi last time, even a sect leader like Pei Yuan Ran would never ever dream that Zuo Mo would be so crazy as to spend it all!

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. The formation was under great pressure. He hadn’t thought that Nan Men Yang would be so crazy, one blow after another, each blow stronger than the previous.

Does ge have a disagreement with you?

Zuo Mo was extremely furious. If this kept on going, this [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] would really quickly break under the brute force of this barbarian!

He knew that he couldn’t just set up formations again. If the formation broke, there was no meaning to him setting them up.

Inside the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], Nan Men Yang had really gotten into the swing of it! He had given seven or eight blows, but it did not look like there was any effect on the formation.

His thought was extremely simple, if he hadn’t broken this thing yet, then it was because he didn’t use enough power.

Nan Men Yang went completely crazy!

The golden light on his body brightened, under that thick golden light, even the large sword seemed to be covered with a tangible gold light. His hair standing on end, he looked like a furious golden lion.

His eyes turned golden, staring at the rings of light above the sky.

They seemed to have felt the danger from Nan Meng Yang. The rings of light that had been swimming freely started to gather around Nan Men Yang’s position.

The presence that Nan Men Yang emitted was truly too strong, like the sun in the dark of the night.

Yu Bai’s black face became even darker as he spotted the light, a cold light flashing through his eyes. He unhesitatingly twisted his body and started to fly in the direction of Nan Men Yang!

Feeling the battle intent and strong presence from Nan Men Yang, everyone understood his next attack would be extremely powerful!

“Oh, is the formation about to break?” Zong Ming Yan thought with slight boredom. He swung the plum branch in his hand. Maybe he should go find an opponent.

Who should he find? That Chang Heng seemed pretty strong… …

It wasn’t just Zong Ming Yan that thought so. Nan Men Yang’s presence was truly too astonishing that even a person as unconcerned as Chang Heng usually was couldn’t help but change expression.

Su’s expression changed dramatically!

It was over!

The next attack that Nan Men Yang would give, even she wouldn’t dare to meet it!

Any xiuzhe inside the formation wouldn’t dare to meet Nan Men Yang’s blow!

But if Zuo Mo lost, her flying sword… …

The formation was going to break… …

Her heart was filled with hopelessness!

Just at this time, a change suddenly occurred.

Argh!

An angry howl that could rival Nan Men Yang suddenly sounded inside the formation. A gigantic golden person with blurred features came down from the sky and landed heavily in front of Nan Men Yang.

Seal soldier!

Nan Men Yang raised his golden eyes, and grinned! He was completely sunken into a berserker rage. Anyone that appeared in front of him would be immediately torn to pieces!

“Die!”

A roar like that of a lion, Nan Men Yang’s eyes glared angrily, the golden light on his body even brighter, as he swung his giant sword with both hands heavily at the seal soldier.

Feeling the threat and battle intent from Nan Men Yang, the seal soldier revealed a pair of eyes among the blurred features.

A pair of eyes filled with indifference and pressure!

Countless seals that covered the armor of the seal soldier like earthworms suddenly light up. Its thick left leg heavily stomped, causing the ground to shake. Its right leg soundlessly moved back, the right fist moving in front of its body. Its lower half positioned like a bow, while the right fist was like a readied arrow waiting to be launched. It faced the golden sword energy, and released its punch!

“Born to battle!”

An authoritative and deep voice sounded out like thunder rolling through the clouds.

A tangible golden light fist shot forth from its punch like a heavy hammer and thundered forth!

Golden sword energy vs golden light fist!

Chapter 148: Seal Soldier

Bam!

The deep reverberation of the collision seemed to beat on everyone’s hearts. There was no explosion like they had imagined, no light blazing in all directions, the two balls of golden light had been like two flames colliding with each other and extinguishing at the same time.

Nan Men Yang’s entire body shuddered, the anger inside his golden pupils increasing slightly. He shouted, “Go die!”

The golden light of the large sword in his hands was even brighter than before and it was like a shining sun. In the blink of an eye, even the crescent moon over the large formation seemed to have lost its sheen and become dull!

[Mountain Breaker Sword]!

The tip of the sword started to tilt downwards. The howl from the golden sword tip slicing past air started from a nearly non-existent sound and then suddenly, like a monster being torn apart, gave an extremely shrill shout!

The completed sword energy of the golden sword was like a golden crescent moon, howling as it flew towards the seal soldier!

The seals covering the body of the seal soldier became even brighter, like there were worms moving. On that blurred face, that pair of eyes became abnormally cold and distant, but its expression was indifferent as usual.

“Born to Battle!”

The words were heavily enunciated out from the mouth of the seal soldier slowly and clearly, his leg moving as he prepared to punch!

Another punch came!

The golden light in the shape of a fist left its hand, the booming it created was like the lava roiling in the deep of the earth. It charged forward forcefully like it could not be blocked!

Bam!

It was another heavy and deep reverberation. The ground suddenly shook, also shaking people’s hearts!

Some xiuzhe that had been watching changed their expressions and started to fall back.

Nan Men Yang’s gigantic figure shuddered again. The hairs that stood up on his head seemed to be blown by the wind restlessly.

Both sword blows had been ineffective. The battle desire and the craziness in Nan Men Yang’s chest shot to its peak! The golden pupils started to burn as if they were two golden balls of fire. The golden light over his body started to retreat inwards. On his body, a thin, almost tangible, and golden armor suddenly appeared. The thick golden energy that surrounded that gigantic sword in his hand spat and wavered like a flame!

As though it felt the final battle had arrived, the bright seals on the silent seal soldier seemed to have come alive, like bugs that moved along the soldier’s armor before quickly flowing towards the right fist it had beside its chest.

The authoritative eyes of the seal soldier became even deeper, almost until it was a void, empty of everything!

“Go die!” The angry roar was like a bolt of lightning. The blue-green mist around him suddenly exploded outward, with him at the center, clearing out one zhang of empty space. The power of one shout was extremely mighty!

He slowly moved, creating a blow! There was not one speck of sound!

But it was as though every muscle in Nan Men Yang’s body was following this sword. When the sword was just halfway through the air, a suffocating pressure pressed the ground into cracking!

“Born to battle!” The deep voice was not loud but it carried a different kind of power that directly pierced the heart. A resolute conviction was in these words, filling everyone’s hearts.

All the seals on the body flooded into its right fist. Its body became extremely dull. The entire body, other than the fist that was even brighter than before, the other parts started to blur like it was golden mist that could dissipate at any time.

Its action was the exact same as before!

Step and then punch!

A transparent fist exploded from its right fist, a fist that looked as though it was carved from clear crystal!

The fist didn’t hit Nan Men Yang. When it was halfway there, when Nan Men Yang’s sword was in the midst of falling down, it suddenly exploded!

Bam!

This muffled sound was even deeper than the last two, but the xiuzhe who saw this fist and hand, and heard this muffled thunderous sound, couldn’t help but shake!

Bam bam bam! Nan Men Yang went back three steps. The golden armor over his body became golden light again, his expression slightly wilted.

Opposite him where the seal soldier had just been standing, there was nothing left!

“Good opponent!” Nan Men Yang might be slightly wilted but still couldn’t help but shout in admiration, his eyes slightly regretful as he looked at the spot the seal soldier had disappeared.

Just as this time, Yu Bai’s furious voice that was full of hatred passed into Nan Men Yang’s ears.

“Nan Men Yang! I’ll kill you!”

In the corner of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], Zuo Mo spat out a mouthful of blood, startling to the eye when the bright red blood landed on the ground. He had been controlling the seal soldier. Nan Men Yang’s last blow far surpassed the limits of his tolerance. He had just been controlling the seal soldier to face Nan Men Yang yet he had been wounded in one blow. He couldn’t help but feel deep awe at Nan Men Yang’s power!

He wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth, expressionlessly baring his teeth.

Barbarian! Go play with Little White!

Forcibly controlling the turbulent ling power in his body, he gritted his teeth and continued to set up formations.

The xiuzhe inside the formation had been enchanted and deeply shocked by the three rounds between Nan Men Yang and the seal soldier. It was a straightforward competition of only brute power, there was no technique, no dodging!

Many people were awed. Nan Men Yang’s strength had been judged to be not bad, but due to the fact he was a grassroot cultivator, he was not judged very highly by other people. The great majority only believed that he would have a pretty good future. No one could have thought that he would have such terrifying power.

Thinking about Nan Men Yang looking like a god of war just moments ago, many people’s hearts became slightly cold.

But what was even more unexpected to them was another person, Zuo Mo!

Seal soldiers might be rare, but it couldn’t enter the eyes of these people. The absolute majority of sword xiu would snort at these kinds of seals. Of course, the crux of the matter was the power. In the seal soldiers they had seen before, not one had been so powerful!

Most importantly, the person controlling this seal soldier was a xiuzhe in the stages of zhuji!

This upturned many of the fixed ideas in their heads.

The difference between stages was not something that just a seal soldier could change. However, Zuo Mo accomplished it. Even though he had just been on par for three moves, but in the eyes of everyone else, it was already a miracle.

Up until now, the weakest competitor of the Sword Test Conference still hadn’t shown his face.

This undoubtedly implied another bit of information.

–––Zuo Mo still had tricks left!

The great formation still was unmoved. The rings of light that had gathered over Nan Men Yang’s head had all dissipated, moving around freely like they did before.

Zuo Mo’s surprising performance attracted the interest of many people. Like Chang Heng. He had only found the formation interesting which was why he entered, but Zuo Mo’s strong performance created great interest from him.

He was very curious, just how far could Zuo Mo go?

It wasn’t just him that had the thought.

In the air, Wu Ling Sanren sighed gently in surprise. “Not bad. To be able to meet Nan Men Yang head on three times, he used the seal soldier well.”

A strange light came into Wei Fei’s eyes. “His consciousness seems very large. That is rarely seen. Is Wu Kong Sword Sect also skilled in cultivating the spirit?”

“Without consciousness, he can’t afford to play with formations.” Wu Ling Sanren said, expression normal.

“That’s true.” Wei Fei nodded and said.

Behind the black gauze, Su’s little mouth almost couldn’t close. The shock that the three rounds had given her was too strong!

Different from other people, she had seen Wang Shixiong at Ling Ying Sect use the seal soldier when Zuo Mo had gone to challenge Ling Ying Sect. It looked as though it was the same seal soldier, but the difference in power was drastic. She suspected that this seal soldier could even defeat three of the seal soldiers she saw last time.

Maybe, he really did have some moves, and didn’t need her help … …

For the first time, she started to waver in her own thoughts.

She suddenly remembered the words that Lin Qian Shixiong had said to her. A copper coin appeared in the hand that was hidden in her sleeve. At the center of a coin, an eye had been carved. The eye on the copper coin started to glow slightly.

At the same time, the expression of the yellow-faced man slightly changed, his body became motionless. He seemed to have suddenly turned to a piece of rock, without any of the presence a person would have.

The copper coin in Su’s hand brightened and then extinguished.

The rock in Su’s heart landed. Everything about Lin Shixiong was good, but he was just slightly paranoid. Up until now, she still didn’t quite believe what Lin Shixiong had said. If it wasn’t that Lin Shixiong had taken out her sect’s token, she probably would have already attacked him.

“Just now, someone used [Fire Eye] again.” Pu Yao suddenly came out. Pu Yao suddenly came out.

Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to pay attention to him. “As long as you remain silent, no one can find you.”

“You seem to have encountered trouble.” Pu Yao asked in interest. In his eyes, Zuo Mo was afraid of death, and always put his own security at the most important position. He hadn’t ever saw Zuo Mo respond like so when he was discussing the problem of safety with Zuo Mo.

“This group of people is pouring salt onto the wound!” Zuo Mo gritted through his teeth, his hands not slowing.

“You want to give your all against them?” Pu Yao clearly was laughing at his misfortunes.

Zuo Mo was too lazy to pay attention to this perverse renyao who had nothing to do.

“You have the yao seed, why don’t you try to use the yao seed to manipulate the consciousness and control the formation?” Pu Yao kindly suggested.

Use the yao seed to manipulate the consciousness and control the formation? Zuo Mo reflexively shook his head. “The Skyring Moon Chime Formation needs all seventy-two child formations to be completed before it can be controlled.”

“You don’t just have the Skyring Moon Chime Formation.” Pu Yao said disapprovingly.

Right! Why hadn’t he thought of that!

Zuo Mo felt his vision light up. He had made a great misunderstanding. All of his mind had been thinking about completing the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] and completely forgot that he hadn’t just set up the formations for [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]!

This was an extremely large scale formation belt!

“Actually, other than increasing the rate your consciousness grows, the yao seed’s other use is splitting your mind!” Pu Yao was strangely good today. It was extremely rare that he would take the initiative and teach Zuo Mo without Zuo Mo needing to pay jingshi.

“Splitting my attention?” Zuo Mo irritably rolled his eyes, “At this time, you want me to split my attention?”

“The so-called splitting the mind is referring to splitting your consciousness into several parts, all of them working at the same time on their own matters.” Pu Yao said faintly. “The great majority of yao will split this consciousness, and some yao are born with this ability. Truly powerful yao are able to split their consciousness into thousands of portions, and are peerlessly strong!”

But at this time, Zuo Mo completely did not think about why Pu Yao was so strange today, he was shocked by Pu Yao’s words!

It was like a bolt of lightning hitting his mind.

Consciousness splitting!

If he split his consciousness and they all did their own things at once… …

Up until now, he had always thought of the consciousness as one whole entity, and had never thought about splitting the consciousness to do different things at once.

He suddenly thought of ling power. Ling power could break off and merge. Was the consciousness like ling power as well, able to be broken up and merged together?

If it really was possible … …

Zuo Mo’s hands which hadn’t stopped since the beginning, suddenly stopped in the air!

Chapter 149: Fire

Watching Yu Bai and Nan Men Yang embroiled in battle, no one could look away.

Just having gone three rounds, Nan Men Yang was completely suppressed by Yu Bai, unable to lift his head under the blows. Yu Bai didn’t use his usual style of fighting, instead each blow was vicious, decisive, and aimed to kill, causing a chill to creep into the hearts of everyone watching inside the formation.

When a composed person was angry, it was very frightening!

Probably the only person that found it boring was Chang Heng.

This level of fighting and killing, it really couldn’t alert his mind. He scanned the surroundings. Everyone had stopped their actions. The three rounds between Nan Men Yang and the seal soldier had shaken the skies, and attracted almost all the xiuzhe inside the formation. Right now, the fight between Nan Men Yang and Yu Bai was not as blood-rousing as the previous fight, but the technique was no-less spectacular.

One had a grassroots background with no family or sect, the other the beloved disciple of the ruler of Dong Fu!

Once the two really became serious, the scene was amazingly spectacular, the spectators becoming intoxicated!

Without detecting it, all the xiuzhe inside the formation had gathered together again.

Chang Heng raised his head to look at the rings of light swimming in the air and the crescent moon high up, his expression slightly moved. He took away his gaze because he noticed, not far away, Zong Ming Yan was looking at him. Their gazes met midair, striking like two extremely sharp swords, sparks flying!

Two stubborn and proud young experts exchanged a look.

“Fight?” Zong Ming Yan opened coldly, his gaze full of challenge.

“Not interested!” Chang Heng only glanced at Zong Ming Yan before moving his eyes back towards the sky. The rings of light that were freely swimming in the air seemed to be more attractive for him.

Zong Ming Yan’s eyes slightly shrunk but he didn’t make another challenge. Chang Heng’s viciousness and brutality was the greatest in the Sword Test Conference. Every competitor, when they faced this brute, couldn’t help but shrink inwards, including Zong Ming Yan.

Zong Ming Yan’s expression turned back to normal as he said faintly, “Why don’t we use the breaking of the formation to wager victory and defeat?”

Chang Heng’s face was still upraised, not looking at Zong Ming Yan even once, as he said, “Oh, I’m afraid you might not even break it.”

Zong Ming Yan could clearly feel Chang Heng’s low opinion, and his expression was extremely ugly. He snorted coldly. “You may be underestimating me a little too much.”

“You could try.” Chang Heng pointed at the sky, and said, face normal.

Hearing this, Zong Ming Yan was too lazy to respond to Chang Heng. The Seven Plum Sword appeared in his hand.

A shake of the wrist, and three plum flowers turned to three streams of light that flew into the sky.

Zong Ming Yan wanted Chang Heng to see his strength so his first move was his most accomplished, [Three Play]!

Three sword essences were like three slinking fish as they circled around and shot at the crescent moon in the sky!

———

Zuo Mo had been pondering how to split his consciousness when he suddenly detected an abnormality in the formation and instantly woke up.

F***, would they never stop? Having just made a tiny bit of headway, Zuo Mo was so angry he swore! When he found the person responsible was Zong Ming Yan, the anger in his heart shot upwards!

He remembered. This guy was the first person that had made trouble!

It was an anger that came from the chest, and hate from the gallbladder. Zuo Mo’s anger erupting from his heart, instantly sunk into his second rage!

Ge’s long found this guy an eyesore!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were green. The two hands that had stopped started again. He finally understood. Given the time and place, it wasn’t the momentgood time to ponder about how to split his consciousness. These people that had poured salt onto the wound might all be terribly evil, but each of them had the power to damage the formation. If he couldn’t complete the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], he couldn’t do anything to them.

Without him detecting it, he had started to think of ways to deal with the experts inside the formation. He completely forgot that each person in there had power that far surpassed him.

However, Zuo Mo was facing the same difficult problem as before. He must, before he could complete the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], stop these people from damaging it!

The seventy-two child formations were just on the edge of completion, and these people had come out again to make a mess.

Just now, he had used up the seal soldier to stop Nan Men Yang from breaking the formation. Now, what could he use to stop Zong Ming Yan from breaking the formation?

Did you think ge only had a seal soldier?

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth as he cursed Zong Ming Yan inside a hundred times. But, at the same time, his consciousness silently flowed forth like a stream of water.

His body slightly leaned forward, his back curved. He looked like a curved bow from far away. He maintained this strange position without moving, only his eyes slightly narrowed like a hunter waiting for his prey.

———

Zong Ming Yan’s three sword essences were like piranhas that landed in a rich swarm of fish!

Any ring of light that tried to come near the sword essences were instantly sliced to pieces. The three spiraling sword energies did not look like they were affected at all. Carrying a hiss that could shock souls, they headed straight for the crescent moon in the sky!

In his eyes, that bright moon was clearly the crux to breaking the formation!

If he could destroy the moon, the entire formation would be solved.

The layers of light rings were like a thick coat, unable to be damaged by knife or axe. But if a narrow needle was pushed, it could easily pierce through this layer of cloth.

The three sword energies did not stop their spinning, forming a sharp cutting formation. Each sword energy was like the sharpest blade, its penetrating power far surpassing normal sword energies!

The rings of light that had blocked his [One Cut Plum] were easily penetrated when faced with this [Three Play]!

The sword energies were as fast as lightning, nothing that the rings of light could catch up to. But the rings of light seemed to be alive. Knowing they couldn’t block the sword energies, they headed towards Zong Ming Yan?

Ring after ring of light landed from the sky, heading to cover Zong Ming Yan.

Even as powerful as Zong Ming Yan was, he didn’t easily experiment. Everyone had a deep impression of the xiuzhe that was eliminated!

[Paired Sparrow Flying]!

Two plum flowers fell off the plum branch like two butterflies, flying around Zong Ming Yan. Once the rings of light came at Zong Ming Yan from the sky, a clear cracking sound could be heard before they were blown to pieces, turning into countless scattered energies!

However, the rings of light did not give up moving towards Zong Ming Yan.

Clink clink clink!

The dense crisp sounds were like hundred of glass cups being smashed at once!

The broken energies fell and floated around Zong Ming Yan, and then were blown away by the winds created by the two plum flowers. Amidst the broken energies, Zong Ming Yan was unharmed.

“Young people, really have energy.” The yellow-faced male had appeared at some time beside Chang Heng and snickered.

Chang Heng still was looking at the sky, and responded indifferently, “He’s dumb.”

“Hee hee, that’s good. It will let us save some energy.” The yellow-faced man smiled and said.

Chang Heng heard this, and turned to look at the yellow-faced male. “Who are you searching for?”

“Searching for?” The yellow-faced man seemed to not understand.

“Your strength is greater than anyone here.” Chang Heng said faintly, “Hiding your strength, not competing for a rank, you naturally have other goals. You’ve been constantly running here and there, and look as though you are trying to find something. This is Great Pine Pavilion. I’ve never heard there was anything good there. That means there is only one possibility, you are trying to find someone.”

The smile on the yellow-faced male’s face disappeared, his eyes gradually turning sharp as a knife.

Chang Heng’s face was as indifferent as usual.

The yellow-faced man suddenly clapped his hands and smiled. “Others only know you for your viciousness and bloodthirst. No one would think you have such a mind for details. I underestimated you.”

“We do not have a conflict.” Chang Heng, from beginning to end, had a calm expression as though he was speaking of something that had no bearing on him.

The yellow-faced man lightly sighed. “Not here.” He could not disguise the disappointment.

“That’s a pity.” Chang Heng said, face calm. But he didn’t say why it was a pity.

———

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu sat on the gravestone, his eyes looking into the distance. There was a mirth floating at the corner of his mouth that was somewhat hard to decipher. It seemed slightly scornful, slightly reminiscent, slightly lonely, slightly cold… …

Different from Pu Yao who was as steady as Mount Tai, Zuo Mo was like the arrow that was on the thread that would sever at a touch!

That crescent moon might not be the cover door, but if it was attacked, Zuo Mo also knew what would happen!

The time did not allow him to think more.

Three blue lights that were like chains suddenly appeared –––– [Dragon Tying Formation]!

The position the blue chains appeared were extremely precise, exactly on the path that the spiraling sword energies would pass.

Different than the Dragon Tying formation that Zuo Mo had used before, once the three blue chains appeared, they knotted into a clasp, a clasp that could perfectly restrain the three sword energies!

The three sword energies headed straight into the clasp. The strength of the clasp far surpassed Zong Ming Yan’s expectations, it didn’t break!

Just as Zong Ming Yan paused, a web of fire suddenly appeared in the sky.

An enormous, dense and deep blue web of fire!

The seven greenwood flags absorbed the water power, continuously turning it into wood power. Beside each greenwood flag, there were seven second grade little Copper Lion Head Cauldrons. Deep red flames spat out from the mouth of the lion heads on the Copper Lion Head Cauldrons and gathered in the air. After gathering, the redness of the flames became fainter.

Around each of the seven cauldrons, with twelve jade cards as bone, and the red gold thread as the channels, it formed a [Three-Turn Fire Formation]!

After three turns, the fire was almost completely clear!

Seven near-transparent flames flew in the sky, crisscrossing in the air.

The seven by seven forty-nine little dan cauldrons formation a [Great Li Fire Formation]!

Once the formation formed, each string of fire shook. The nearly transparent flames changed again, and became tinged with a slightly tranquil blue.

This was the enormous tranquil blue web of fire that everyone saw up in the air!

The tranquil blue web of fire perfectly blocked the three sword energies and Zong Ming Yan!

———

Zong Ming Yan’s expression slightly changed!

This web of fire had actually cut the connection between him and the three sword energies!

At the same time, the blue Dragon Tying Chains that was around the three sword energies suddenly pulled and swung towards the side!

Bam!

In the end, the blue Dragon Tying Chains was not able to stop the three combined sword essences, and was shred into pieces! But with this pull and swing, the aim of the three sword essences diverged. They brushed past that crescent moon, entering the air and disappeared!

Everyone was shocked still by the fire web that suddenly appeared over their heads!

The tranquil blue threads of fire were silent. It was like there was a enormous and tranquil blue spider-web over their heads.

But many of them did not pale because of the thick tranquil blue fire threads. Instead the terrifying heat that was released startled everyone! The flame was tranquil blue, how high would its temperature reach?

The tranquil blue web of fire freely burned on. The interior of the formation had become an enormous dan cauldron!

In the air, Wu Ling Sanren and Wei Fei saw this extremely awe-inspiring scene.

The moisture of the half-mu sized pond roiled, abnormally lively. They turned to streams of water power, continuously flooding into the greenwood flag masts. The green and silent wood energy entered the Copper Lion Head Cauldrons, turning into deep red fire power, then through the [Three-Turn Fire Formation], it then entered the [Great Li Fire Formation], and knotted into a web.

Wei Fei stared with wide eyes, muttering to himself, “Uncanny workmanship! Godly technique!”

Chapter 150: New Target

Zuo Mo was in a predicament!

Bean-sized beads of sweat flowed down his face. He had underestimated the difficulty of controlling this [Great Li Fire Seal Formation]!

To pursue power, he had done his best to strengthen the formation from every aspect. The direct result was the difficulty in controlling the formation had also increased. Behind the spectacular display, the series of manipulations he had done were all highly difficult!

Even though Zuo Mo’s skill and control had increased, the unexpected difficulty of controlling the formation had created a great problem for him.

His body shook like dice. In a short moment, sweat suddenly started to appear on his body. In a moment he appeared to have been just dunked in water.

It was too hard!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo cautiously began using all of his consciousness to control every tiny change in the formation.

Formations were a kind of work that demanded meticulousness. Any kind of mistake could create an extremely large effect, and cause the effect of the formation to vary drastically. The complexity of a formation belt that was composed of many kinds of formations that were maximized for effect was even more so.

Zuo Mo did not notice that he had bitten through his lips, and blood was seeping out.

His consciousness was using the Five Colored Pagoda to carefully control the web of fire!

Having finally stopped Zong Ming Yan’s attack, Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to rejoice. He had reached his limits, the web of fire was almost out of control!

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened into circles, the tendons in his forehead pulsing. If he lost control of the fire web, for him, that meant failure. The temperature of the tranquil blue fire was the strongest flame that he had ever seen since he learned dan-making. The uncontrolled fire web would collapse in an instant, and the flowing tranquil blue fire would destroy all of the formations.

That was definitely not allowed!

But he had reached the last of his endurance. He could feel the ling power in his body quickly depleting. His weak cultivation once again became his Achilles’ heel! However, he had no time to think about this right now. He had to make a choice!

He didn’t even pause to think. Grunting, he gathered the last of his power!

———

The gigantic tranquil blue fire suddenly pushed downwards. The xiuzhe in the formation below instantly moved. Did Zuo Mo want to get them all at once?

He didn’t know his power!

A cold smile appeared on the corner of many of the xiuzhe’s mouths. From their perspective, a zhuji xiuzhe was sending them a challenge through this method. These people whose eyes were always looking upwards, how could they bear a zhuji looking down at them?

Many competitors were preparing eagerly to try to test the power of the web of fire!

Just at this time, a deep and raspy sound suddenly echoed through the formation.

“Bind!”

The web of fire that had covered the sky suddenly shrunk extremely, heading for Zong Ming Yan. This caused the xiuzhe that had prepared to fight to pause. They instantly revealed expressions of anticipation to see the result. No one would be dumb to block the web of fire for Zong Ming Yan.

Anger came onto Zong Ming Yan’s face. He gave a heavy snort. His expression serious, the Seven Plum Sword in his hand turned to a flash of dark light that headed for the web of fire.

As the Seven Plum Sword entered the air, it turned to a gigantic sword energy, forcefully piercing the net.

The tranquil blue fire web unexpectedly shrunk again, actually taking along the sword and person to the middle of the web.

When the sword energy sliced the web of fire, Zuo Mo spat out a handful of blood again, his face becoming even paler.

But did the situation allow him to retreat? He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, the salty and fishy taste of blood making his mind alert. He suddenly pushed out his last bit of power. His spiritual and ling power was almost empty at this time. Zuo Mo was bleeding from his nose and mouth, but he did not detect it.

The last bit of consciousness burrowed into the Five Colored Pagoda. The Five Colored Pagoda suddenly burst in light. Under the crescent moon, it flashed with five colored light!

Zong Ming Yan’s expression finally changed!

The web of fire had not neared him, but the rising temperature was already enough for him to feel fear. He didn’t dare to hold anything back. He jumped into the air, closely following the flying sword. All his ling power was channeled into the flying sword. There was only one thought in his mind –––– break out of this web of fire!

Using all his power, the sword essence of the Seven Plum Sword suddenly was as sharp as the cold wind at the top of a cliff. Suddenly, it was like there was an old winter plum standing in the wind!

Hiss!

The flying sword broke through the fire web. Zong Ming Yan felt joy, but just at this time, a change occurred.

“Die!”

Zuo Mo’s muffled shout was like thunder, rolling and exploding inside the formation!

The web of fire suddenly retreated inwards to the center!

Zong Ming Yan felt that the tranquil blue flame was all around him, as though he was inside a large dan cauldron, and would turn to ash at any instant. Fear in his heart, he hurriedly activated the ling armor!

Countless tranquil blue flames landed on Zong Ming Yan’s body!

“Ah!’

Zong Ming Yan shrieked, the light of the flying sword suddenly becoming disordered. Just as everyone assumed at Zong Ming Yan would lose his life, the countless tranquil blue flame suddenly disappeared.

Yet there were still many flames that had landed on Zong Ming Yan’s ling armor. Dong Qi Sword Sect was not famous for its defence. The power of these tranquil blue flames were astounding. Even with the protection of the ling armor, Zong Ming Yan was in terrible straits.

His entire body was burnt black, ling armor completely damaged. He was like a piece of wood burnt black, dropping from the sky.

The other xiuzhe inside the formation all inhaled in shock!

Who was the person dropping down! It was Zong Ming Yan!

This formation was truly too strong, even Zong Ming Yan had been defeated. The xiuzhe that had wanted to try solving the formation instantly stopped in their tracks. When they saw the unconscious Zong Ming Yan and the terrible state of his body as he laid on the ground, they really didn’t bear to look at him.

Holy moly!

Even Zong Ming Yan wasn’t a match. Was this formation really just something a zhuji had made?

The same question flowed through every xiuzhe inside the formation. Zuo Mo hadn’t put all of his effort in at the end. If he hadn’t stopped, then all of the tranquil blue flames would have bombarded Zong Ming Yan. It would have been hard to say if Zong Ming Yan would have managed to survive.

In other words, the formation that Zuo Mo setup was able to kill a ningmai xiuzhe!

Everyone jumped in fright.

In one moment, all the xiuzhe that had been fighting in the formation completely stopped attacking each other. A serious expression came onto their faces. They were still inside the formation!

But what they didn’t realize was that Zuo Mo had no intentions of letting the Zong Ming Yan off. At the end, even his mind had been blurred. How would he know when to stop? All of his spiritual and ling power had been used up. He had fainted which was what had caused the flames to disappear.

———

When Zuo Mo slowly woke up from unconsciousness, the desire for battle and courage had long ago flew into the horizons.

As expected, the ignorant had no fear!

Just now, he had actually been locked in combat directly with Zong Ming Yan!

He suddenly tilted his head. He remembered now. Before he had fainted, he had actually defeated Zong Ming Yan! He grinned, but with his expressionless face, it looked extremely strange.

How long had he been unconscious? He struggled to get up, looking at the surroundings.

Hm, he was still inside the formation? The people still hadn’t solved the formation? Zuo Mo felt that this was extremely absurd. Even now, he still found it hard to accept that he had just defeated Zong Ming Yan.

Zuo Mo didn’t know that he had just been unconscious for the time of an incense stick. This was due to his extremely deep practice of [Vajra Profound Sutra]. If he didn’t practice that, it would have been many days until he would wake up.

And he would never have predicted that in the time that he had been unconscious, no one tried to break the formation.

It was the opposite. The xiuzhe in the formation started to attack other people, no matter if it was Su or Gui Feng. Even Chang Heng had entered the fight. The other people started to clean up the other xiuzhe inside the formation. Wu Ling Sanren and Wei Fei had started to get busy.

Chang Heng and the others were acting out of caution. They had just seen the power of the formation. No one dared to be careless. To solve the formation, they had to put in all their power. But if there were opponents beside them, who would dare to give their all?

If Zuo Mo thought of all this, he would definitely feel proud of himself. A cultivator just in zhuji that made so many ningmai wary and put them on the defensive, it was enough to be proud!

However, Zuo Mo had just woken up and his gaze had landed on the incomplete [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

In reality, while it looked like he had won the battle against Zong Ming Yan, but in reality, he had accomplished it through self-harm. The wounds he had received when controlling the seal soldier to face Nan Men Yang had worsened and he completely lost the power to keep fighting.

So unprofitable!

The first thought that popped into Zuo Mo’s mind was this!

Looking at these Skyring Moon Chime child formations, the pain in his heart reached a peak, far more painful than the pain from his physical body.

So many jingshi were wasted! He had bought all of these materials from the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion in order to attend this competition. He felt like he had taken a large sum of jingshi, and made an extremely incorrect investment. It looked like he hadn’t gained anything at all, and lost everything.

No!

Definitely not!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and sat up. He had to finish the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]!

He wasn’t thinking of the Kun Lun jade scroll. His actions were just to not waste all the materials he had already used. He had spent so many materials, he had to hear a “sound” from them.

As he endured the pain, Zuo Mo comforted himself so.

Right now, he completely did not have any energy to continue so he sat down and meditated. He needed to quickly recover his ling and spiritual power. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even get to hear a “sound”.

Consequently, an extremely strange scene appeared. Zuo Mo was safely meditating in the formation to recover ling and spiritual power while Chang Heng and the others were engaged in fierce combat inside the formation. The other xiuzhe might not be as good as the experts but the ones that dared to enter the formation were not ordinary in their power. These xiuzhe were not stupid. They instantly knew what Chang Heng and the others intended, and naturally would not wait to be eliminated.

If one person couldn’t win, then two of them would fight together.

Amidst the shouts, the howls of the flying swords, the bangs and crashes, Zuo Mo silently meditated.

Forty five minutes later, he finally open his eyes. In possession of the mo matrix and yao seed he recovered ling and spiritual power. With the exception of Pu Yao, he had never encountered a xiuzhe that could recover faster than himself.

Yet even in this little span of time, only five people were left remaining in the formation.

Su, Gui Feng, Chang Heng, the yellow-faced man, Luo Li.

Yu Bai and Nan Men Yang had fought too hard and expended too much energy. It could be said that both of them had lost. They had been tricked by Chang Heng and the yellow-faced man working together. As for the other people, they had been eliminated even earlier on. The pitiful Zong Ming Yan had been saved by Wu Ling Sanren a long time ago.

Zuo Mo did not attend to the five people. Pushing down his wounds, he kept on setting up the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

The target that he gave himself right now was extremely realistic

––––

Finish the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], if he couldn’t get the jade scroll, he’d get experience!

Chapter 151: Comprehension

Su suddenly moved next to Luo Li. Luo Li silently put up his guard.

“You are Zuo Mo’s shixiong?” Su decided she would do it herself. Up until now, that soft-rice zombie still hadn’t responded at all. The soft-rice zombie might not care about victory, but she had to.

“En.” Luo Li made a sound in surprise.

“One for each of us.” Su spoke very quickly. “I pick Gui Feng.”

Luo Li was even more surprised. Was she Zuo Mo’s friend? Was it true or false? His brain moved quickly, balancing the advantages and disadvantages.

He was still on his guard, but his mouth did not hesitate in saying, “Okay, I pick the yellow-faced one.” Even if he could not judge the sincerity, but from every angle, there was no detriment to him.

The two split apart.

The other three people clearly heard the words between the two people.

Chang Heng was not affected. The yellow-faced male smiled. Gui Feng vanished where he stood.

Everyone was extremely cooperative, each person finding a place to fight. Only Chang Heng was left at the original spot, raising his head to look at the rings of light, sinking into his thoughts.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to what was happening in the formation. After making a decision, he didn’t move from it.

The wounds on his body were greatly affecting him. When he channeled ling power, there would be a bit of a pause. Ever since he had started practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], it had been a long time since he had tasted the pain of spiritual wounds. But in the last two fights, even his most skilled consciousness could not avoid being injured.

This was the result of fighting a battle that crossed stages. Even if he managed to use the formation as help, he still could not avoid being injured.

However, on the surface, no one would think that his channels and internal organs were wounded. His gaze was concentrated and calm, clear and serene without a stray thought. The finger movements were not lightning fast as before, but it was still flowing, and gave onlookers another kind of beauty.

———

In the air, Wu Ling Sanren couldn’t help by exclaim, “This boy would definitely accomplish great things!’

Wei Fei also had an expression of admiration. “With zhuji cultivation, to be able to block three full-force blows from Nan Men Yan, to seriously wound Zong Ming Yan, he has enough to be proud! The Heavens really have heavily blessed Wu Kong Sword Sect. One Wei Sheng, one Zuo Mo, there will be no worries for a hundred years!”

For some reason, Wu Ling Sanren suddenly sighed. “Such a pity they are not born at the right time! When the nest is attacked, would any egg escape? Such talent, if they fall early, it would be a pity!”

Wei Fei roared in laughter. “I have the opposite opinion from sanren. It is because they have outstanding talent that they need to undergo more grinding. Heroes are born in troubled times! Without troubled times, it is rare to see heroes!”

Hearing this, Wu Ling Sanren said, self-mockingly. “Brother Wei is right. Old, I’m old now.”

———

Without a stray thought on his mind, or desire for victory, Zuo Mo was extremely calm. The speed that he made formations increased greatly without his own knowledge. He seemed to not have to think and the materials would flow past from his fingers, the spells naturally cast, everything smooth and flowing.

In a short time, the seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] actually was completed!

He dazedly looked at the big formation and he seemed to be in slight disbelief yet was also slightly thoughtful.

In this short amount of time, he seemed to have experienced very much. A hard fight, receiving serious wounds, fainting and then waking up, all of this caused his mood to go from shaking to peaceful. In the beginning he was filled with anticipation, the desire for victory, only to have his hopes dashed, he was left with only the desire to wound the enemies; finally he was forced to focus on only one thing, to exclude all other thoughts and not think about victory,

He stood dazedly inside the formation, motionless like a statue.

———

On the top of the main peak, the battle between Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping was still ongoing.

Wei Sheng’s vision was a sea of blood, blurred. There were countless sword wounds on his body, the bleeding was dyeing his clothing. His features were blurred. He looked as though he was a person made from blood!

Many in the audience that were watching almost couldn’t bear to keep watching at this time. Even Tian Song Zi hadn’t resisted coming over, and asking if he should stop the battle. Pei Yuan Ran did not stop the fight. But he didn’t realize that inside his tight fist, his fingernails had deeply cut into the flesh.

Gu Rong Ping wasn’t in good shape either. There were three sword cuts on his body. The three sword cuts were not deep, but the fresh blood had dyed a patch on his chest. His sword essence was still as free and traceless as before, but the audience could easily detect his exhaustion.

No one would feel that Gu Rong Ping didn’t have enough power. After fighting so hard for such a long period of time, exhaustion was an extremely normal state.

Gu Rong Ping knew his own situation was worsening as time flowed but he had no solution. Two hours ago, Wei Sheng had been covered in wounds, almost wavering. But after two hours, Wei Sheng was still persisting. He seemed as though he could collapse at any moment, but he did not. Every time, Gu Rong Ping would feel that if he just put in a bit more power, he could defeat Wei Sheng, but after he put in the power, he found that, other than leaving behind a sword mark on the other’s body, he didn’t accomplish anything. Wei Sheng still endured.

He hadn’t managed to wait for Wei Sheng to collapse, yet Gu Rong Ping found that he had sunk into a dilemma without being aware of it.

The three sword marks on his body were the proof.

His sword scripture was like unspun silk from a cocoon, setting up a large web to snare the other, and then slowly wear away at the strength of his opponent, to let them lose all room to breathe and die. He had successfully pinned down his opponent, but his opponent had not stopped struggling.

The two sides entered a standoff. The other’s hardiness had far surpassed his expectations. His ling power had quickly been consumed. His sword energies had slowly lost their edge. His movements started to become slower. The other had caught onto his weakness and counter-attacked!

The longer he fought, the heavier the terror in Gu Rong Ping’s heart grew.

Wei Sheng was like a wild beast that did not know exhaustion, like a seal soldier that did not have life, and did not know pain. When the sword energy flashed past his body, other than a muffled grunt, other than seeing the spray of blood, there was no other observable signs that he was affected.

The fight between the hunter and the wild beast, the hunter was gradually losing the advantage.

———

Zuo Mo’s formation belt allowed people to see a spectacle, and made people feel surprise. Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping’s battle made people feel awe, awe that came deep from their hearts!

Time slowly slipped by. The sound of discussion became increasingly quieter. Even more people felt they were unable to keep watching.

Seeing a person entirely covered in blood, fighting without a sound as he struggled painstakingly, and flying through the air as his figure wavered. The blood that was flowing down his body flung into the air.

No one was in the mood to speak.

Even though Wei Sheng had not won, but in everyone’s eyes there was only his blood-covered figure.

The battle inside the Great Pine Pavilion was still continuing. The [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] had attracted the majority of the experts. Many people had cheered as they assumed their chances of entering the top ten would increase. However, the developments were completely the opposite of what they imagined.

Without the pressure of the experts, many xiuzhe that had decided to hide themselves did not have pressure and lost their patience. They did not hide in the corners any longer. The combat became even more fierce.

However, no one dared to near [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], and no one dared to near the main peak.

The [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was like a mysterious beast, its bloody maw wide open. No one knew the situation inside it. The fierce fight on top of the main peak made many xiuzhe inside the Great Pine Pavilion feel terror, deep terror!

Even the judges in the Great Pine Pavilion put their attentions on those two places, and wished all the other fights would instantly finish.

Zuo Mo felt that he seemed to have dropped into an enormous grey bubble. All around him was full of a strange grey material.

Even though he was wearing ling armor, but the ling armor did not separate him from the grey matter. He seemed to be swimming naked. It didn’t seem warm, but it wasn’t cold. It was a strange sensation. The only feeling he could describe was familiar. He seemed to be very familiar with this grey material.

What was this grey material? He seemed to understand everything, but did not understand anything at all.

He reached out to grab, but didn’t catch anything.

Where was this? What was it?

He felt that he should know, but no matter how he thought, he could not remember. He was slightly stunned. The surroundings did not provide any hints to him. His only clue was the feeling of familiarity.

What really was this? Zuo Mo couldn’t help furrowing his brows as he started to think deeply. He felt that he needed to find the answer.

He reflexively reached and grasped at the grey material. Same as last time, he didn’t grasp anything.

This material was like air, invisible and intangible Zuo Mo thought inside.

Wait, invisible and intangible… …

Zuo Mo suddenly jumped. He knew what this was!

Consciousness! This was consciousness!

The moment he told himself this was consciousness, the feeling of familiarity inside his body instantly grew stronger. At the same time, the scenery around him suddenly changed.

Below him, there was a place that looked like a little island far away. There was a patch of flame on the little island, countless crimson flames dancing. A gravestone, and a male wearing black sitting on top. There was also a ruler-straight river. The river was very muddled, with two kinds of colors that could barely be made out.

Sea of consciousness! This was the sea of consciousness1

Zuo Mo was very shocked when he saw Pu Yao on top of the gravestone. He couldn’t help but shout, but no matter how hard he tried to shout, Pu Yao did not hear him.

He had to give up, and started to scan the surroundings.

The entire sea of consciousness was surrounded by this grey material. This was completely different than what Zuo Mo had thought before. In the sea of consciousness in his memories, what he saw in the surroundings was a pitch black void, without anything but the stars in the sky.

Right!

He remembered that there were four stars in the void!

As expected, when he raised his head to look up, he saw the stars.

There were four stars in the sky. One of them was the brightest, the other three slightly duller.

Before, every time he entered the sea of consciousness, he felt the four stars were very distant. At this time, he found that the four stars were like four little boats, floating on the outside of the consciousness.

He seemed to have comprehended something.

At this time, the four stars suddenly started to shed starlight. The starlight was like silver sand, slowly absorbed into the grey consciousness. But the grey consciousness was too big. That bit of starlight was pitifully small. But the four stars continuously poured down starlight at a slow pace.

Zuo Mo didn’t know what was the use of these silver-grained starlight, but clearly, his consciousness seemed to be starting a kind of transformation.

———

Wei Fei and Wu Ling Sanren were absorbed in the fight between Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping. Not just them, but all of the judges in the Great Pine Pavilion were watching this tragic fight. Suddenly, Wu Ling Sanren seemed to have detected something, and turned his face. He unconsciously looked at the large formation under his feet. Just one look, and his gaze was stuck.

Inside the formation, Zuo Mo’s arms were spread open like he was going to embrace something. He was woodenly standing on the spot, his eyes empty and lifeless.

Around him, the air seemed like burning firewood, occasionally producing soft explosions!

Chapter 152: Stardust

The explosions around Zuo Mo became even dense. With the naked eye, it was possible to see the air continuously exploding, and producing small whirlpools

Wu Ling Sanren was skilled in formations, because of this his consciousness was strong. Yet he found when his consciousness was one zhang away from Zuo Mo, it seemed to have touched a wall that he could not penetrate. He made a sound of surprise. He was in the stage of jindan. Zuo Mo was just in zhuji. Theoretically, Zuo Mo’s consciousness was not something that could resist his own. But the present situation was he was blocked. This kind of situation usually happened only when both sides were similar in power.

He quickly calmed down from his surprise. He guessed that Zuo Mo’s consciousness was undergoing a transformation. The explosions around Zuo Mo made him even more certain of his prediction.

Compared to ling power, xiuzhe understood much less about the spirit. Even jindan xiuzhe like Wu Ling Sanren wouldn’t dare to say they had a good understanding of the spirit. On the market, there were countless jade scrolls on cultivating ling power, but the number of jade scrolls for cultivating spiritual power were pitifully small, and they were not in demand. It was the most unpopular of the unpopular.

In all the xiuzhe, most of those skilled in the spirit were formation xiu, but even formation xiu still primarily used ling power. It was like the Dhyana. They called themselves the greatest at body cultivation, but in reality, they still cultivated ling power primarily.

Wu Ling Sanren might be skilled in formations, but he wasn’t a formation xiu, but a sword xiu.

In such a backwater little jie like Sky Moon Jie dominated by sword xiu, how was it possible to find good scriptures for cultivating the spirit?

Wu Ling Sanren’s spirit scripture was a small branch of his sect’s scripture. Due to that, he became interested in formations, and cultivated it for a while. But, that was just his hobby. A sword xiu could only have one job, that was, to cultivate the sword!

Wu Ling Sanren did not know what was really happening in Zuo Mo’s spirit.

Wei Fei, who had been alarmed by Wu Ling Sanren’s sound, looked at Zuo Mo once before he took away his gaze. He was also a jindan and naturally could see that a transformation was taking place in Zuo Mo’s consciousness. But in his view, the spirit was not the true path. So what if one’s spirit was powerful?

Wu Ling Sanren thought for a while. Not being able to come to any answers, he turned his eyes back to Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping.

———

Zuo Mo felt his consciousness silently start to change as the starlight penetrated, but what change was it? Looking at the starlight continuously produced by the stars slowly spread out in his consciousness, he had a feeling that this transformation would continue for a time.

The speed that the starlight spread was very slow. If it needed to spread through all of the area that the consciousness occupied, the time needed was not short.

His gaze leaving the consciousness, he started to ponder the “consciousness-splitting” that Pu Yao told him. In front of him, the consciousness was so clear. This was the first time that he had seen his consciousness. He didn’t know if this was an illusion, or his own delusion. He felt it was hard to decipher so he didn’t think about it.

Because the consciousness was so close he could almost touch it, he naturally thought about “consciousness splitting.”

Pu Yao did not tell him how to separate the consciousness. Zuo Mo looked at the surroundings. All around him was the consciousness, like the endless grey matter. The sea of consciousness was enveloped at the very center of the consciousness. The stars floated on the outside of the consciousness. It was so large, yet shapeless and intangible. Zuo Mo didn’t know what to do.

He tried to communicate with the surrounding consciousness like he usually did.

The moment he thought, the grey consciousness around him started to flood towards him. A short while later, there was a ball of consciousness on his hand. Zuo Mo was joyful. It was this easy?

But before he could be happy for a while, the ball of consciousness on his hand disappeared. As expected, it wouldn’t be so simple. He wasn’t demotivated. He was not surprised at the result. Since the first time he heard the words “consciousness splitting,” he felt it wouldn’t be so simple.

After that, he tried all kinds of experiments and concluded many things.

It was true that he could control the consciousness here, and it was very easy to control. But the consciousness was like sand. It could easily be squeezed into a ball in the hand, but once he let go, it would collapse into a pile. Once Zuo Mo’s thought moved away, the consciousness would return to its original state.

Zuo Mo felt that it was not correct. In his understanding, the consciousness that was separated should have a certain initiative of its own. Otherwise, what would be the difference compared to him separating his consciousness into separate parts? The consciousness was shapeless and intangible, and so it could be manipulated into any shape.

When he was using the [Great Li Fire Formation] to fight against Zong Ming Yan, Zuo Mo had used a similar technique. At the time, he needed to control [Dragon Tying Formation], [Li Fire Formation], [Three-Turn Formation], and [Great Li Fire Formation] at the same time. In order to control all four formations, Zuo Mo’s skill with the consciousness had reached an extremely detailed level.

At that time, his consciousness had been like an octopus with four tentacles which he used to control the four formations at the same time.

From a technical viewpoint, that wasn’t truly controlling them simultaneously because there was an order to the formations. It could be more appropriate to say it was cooperation. It was just that the gap between the times that the four formations were used that it looked as though it had proceeded at the same time.

Controlling four formations at the same time, that was Zuo Mo’s limit. It wasn’t multitasking with the mind, but making four continuous steps seamlessly.

“Consciousness splitting” was truly multitasking. It could do many things at the same time. If that was true, then other than the consciousness, what also had to split apart was the mind!

Zuo Mo sunk into thought. The consciousness might be shapeless and intangible but it was like ling power, yet it could be separated. The mind was the thoughts of a person, how to split that?

That was not possible!

Zuo Mo understood his own pathway was definitely wrong.

He suddenly thought about the yao seed in his body. The moment the thought appeared in his mind, the scenery around him changed again!

The sea of consciousness was quickly pulled closer. In the blink of an eye, he appeared in the sea of consciousness. Pu Yao was nearby. Zuo Mo saw Pu Yao suddenly open his eye, and scan the surroundings. Then a puzzled expression appeared on his face.

Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to call Pu Yao before his body passed through the flames and was pulled under below the sea of consciousness.

And then, he saw the yao seed!

Only now did he know that the yao seed was actually hidden away in his sea of consciousness, and in the very center at that.

Zuo Mo suddenly started to admire Pu Yao. To be able to bury an item like this into the deepest part of the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao was quite powerful.

He had always assumed that the sea of consciousness was a small island, but now, he found it was actually a sphere. The place he usually went to was the surface of the sphere, and the inside of the sphere was empty. The yao seed was in the very center, approximately the size of a walnut. Around it, there were many narrow tubes similar to channels or vines. Zuo Mo couldn’t name them. These slim tubes connected the yao seed to the surface of the sea of consciousness.

The yao seed had been added later. Then these thin tubes should also have been added later. After he had obtained the yao seed, his control of the consciousness had grown dramatically. Zuo Mo guessed that it was caused by these things.

Looking at the yao seed covered with vine-like tubes, he fell into a daze.

His heart suddenly moved. If he copied the structure of the yao seed, could he stabilize the consciousness, rather than have it move like sand.

The more he thought, the more he felt it was possible. Thinking hard about it, he discovered the consciousness, though shapeless and intangible, did not dissipate because of the existence of the sea of consciousness. The yao seed allowed him to control the consciousness every more closely to his wishes.

Seeing a ray of light, Zuo Mo quickly found himself facing another question.

Then what could he use in place of the sea of consciousness, and what about the yao seed?

He didn’t have Pu Yao’s abilities. It was clearly impossible for him to take things in from the outside world. Only things already present could be used here. Looking at the yao seed in front of him, he couldn’t help but think that if this yao seed was really like a vine, it would be wonderful if it could bear fruit. That way, he wouldn’t be lacking for objects to use.

This absurd thought just flashed humorously though his mind.

He felt that his thinking should have been incorrect but he needed to find a solution. He started to wander through the sea of consciousness, searching for items that could be the core. It was strange. He could clearly see Pu Yao, but the two of them seemed to be in completely different worlds. No matter how hard he shouted, even passing in front of the other, Pu Yao did not feel it at all.

After trying a few times, he gave up on this useless action, and started to search for things that could replace the yao seed.

Yet, after he went through all of the sea of consciousness, he didn’t find anything.

Was this thinking wrong? He unconsciously floated back into the consciousness, feeling the sense of familiarity passed through the consciousness, he furrowed his brows as he thought.

Just at this time, a speck of glittering star light like silver sand slowly floated passed his eyes.

His eyes suddenly stopped.

That bit of starlight actually had gathered a thin layer of consciousness, as though it had a thin grey shield!

Glee suddenly came into Zuo Mo’s eyes!

Starlight! Right, how could he have forgotten starlight?

He carefully reached out with his hand to grab that speck of starlight. The speck had no weight in his hand, but he could feel even the thin layer of consciousness around the starlight even more clearly. This layer of consciousness was slightly denser than the consciousness of any other place.

Ha! This was it!

Zuo Mo decided to call this star dust. Because when he looked at it closely, it wasn’t a ball of light, but something tangible, like sand.

Having found the miraculous use of stardust, Zuo Mo started to squat next to the four stars to gather stardust.

The speed the four stars sprayed out stardust was not fast. After a long time, Zuo Mo only gathered a small handful.

He decided to first try using the amount of star dust he had.

The stardust was as loose as sand. If he wanted to use them as the inner core, he needed to forge them into one object.

Forging was not unfamiliar to Zuo Mo. Right now, he could be considered half an expert in controlling fire. He quickly became depressed through because he could not summon the Stalagmite fire. Without fire, wasn’t it a dream to forge them together?

Fire … …

His gaze couldn’t help but land on the sea of consciousness. That was a large patch of fire! Maybe he could use those crimson fires, Zuo Mo thought uncertainly.

But at this time, he didn’t have a better choice so he could only try.

Yet what he didn’t expect was, when the thought just appeared, a strand of fire left the sea of flames, and flew in front of him!

It was so smooth Zuo Mo was awestruck. He had never been able to control the flames in the sea of consciousness before.

But after thinking for a while, he couldn’t think of a cause. In any case, its effectiveness would be known once he tried.

Daringly, he took control of this strand of deep crimson fire, and started to forge the stardust in his hands.

The deep red flame, carrying a fraction of black, covered the stardust, twisting about like a belly-dancer!

Chapter 153: Soul-Tethered Talisman

A bean-sized bead appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand, giving off a soft and warm star-like glow.

The bead was spherical, flawlessly spherical, and very light. A thick layer of grey consciousness covered it which made its glow appear dimmer.

Zuo Mo knew that he was halfway there!

In reality, he felt his present situation was extremely weird. Everything in front of him was weird. There were so many wondrous aspects that could not be described, too many things that he could not understand. But so what? He actually hoped that this situation would continue for a bit longer. Please don’t be a dream!

It was a fleeting thought, he stopped didn’t thinking about the weirdness it anymore.

This perfect bead that was forged out of stardust, Zuo Mo called it the star bead. The star bead could automatically attract consciousness, but it still wasn’t enough. If the gigantic grey ball that Zuo Mo was on was his entire consciousness, then the amount of consciousness that the star bead attracted was so little it was insignificant.

That little minuscule bit of consciousness lacked real value.

Luckily, he could control the consciousness. He started to urge the consciousness to gather at the star bead and condense.

———

No one paid any attention to Zuo Mo. Even Wu Ling Sanren had his attention on Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping. The battle between the two had reached the decisive moment. Wei Sheng was covered in blood, and there were three more sword wounds on Gu Rong Ping’s body.

To say nothing of talent, just purely based on pain tolerance, Gu Rong Ping fell far behind Wei Sheng.

Even Gu Rong Ping had to admit it to himself.

What sort of monster was this guy in front of him?

No matter what movement he made, it would pull on his wounds. That heart-boring pain almost brought him to tears. Fresh blood continuously flowed out of the wounds. He could clearly feel the power in his body slowly diminish due to blood loss. His head started to ring, his vision gradually became blurry, his ling power was almost depleted, his channels were wounded … …

But how come this guy in front of him, who was far more injured than him, still hadn’t fallen down!

Wei Sheng had many more wounds than him, but why didn’t he seemed to be affected? Wei Sheng was flooded in blood, so much that he was suspicious that the other’s had been bleed dry. Why was he still persisting? Wei Sheng’s cultivation was much lower than his. It should have long been used up. His channels should have been damaged a long time ago. But why … …

Looking at the bloody figure in front of him, helplessness and hopelessness suddenly creeped into Gu Rong Ping’s heart!

———

The air around Zuo Mo’s body gradually calmed. The sounds of explosions became rarer, until it reached a complete silence. If one was watching, they would have found that the air around Zuo Mo’s body had went from one extreme to another. There was no longer any explosions, no flow of air, nothing. The area one zhang around his body was so silent it seemed to be tangible, with no movement in the air at all.

But no one noticed. Wu Ling Sanren and Wei Fei were completely concentrated on the battle between Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping. The few people that were fighting viciously in the formation also did not detect it.

Zuo Mo was forced to stop. Floating in front of him was a ball of black-grey consciousness the size of a bamboo basket. This was Zuo Mo’s result. After continuously condensing, this consciousness ball had the star bead as the inner core. As expected, the outer layer of consciousness did not dissipate.

He had taken out about one-tenth of his consciousness, and condensed it into this basket-sized ball of consciousness. The density of the consciousness ball had reached its limit, and was unable to be compressed any further. Due to the density, it was not like a ball of air, but was rock solid. Naturally, the star ball at the center could not be seen.

So was it complete?

Zuo Mo was not certain. He had made the object but he didn’t have any idea how to use it. Pu Yao had just described a concept. It was a pity that he was unable to communicate with Pu Yao. He had a strong feeling that if he left this wonderful state right now, it would definitely be hard to ever enter this wondrous state again.

How was he to use it? Looking at the black-grey rock ball of consciousness, Zuo Mo was in a predicament.

He could feel that there was a certain connection between himself and the ball of consciousness, as though it was a part of his body. Zuo Mo’s heart moved, and the ball of consciousness suddenly started to circle and dance around him.

So interesting!

Zuo Mo instantly became interested. He didn’t need to exert any control. Where his thoughts directed, the ball of consciousness would move. It was very fun. Zuo Mo had never felt so great. Even the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] that he was most familiar with, he could not cast and maintain it so effortlessly without thought, the familiarity could not compare to this feeling that the ball was a part of him.

He joyfully played around. Anything that he could think of, the ball of consciousness would usually be able to accomplish it.

But quickly, he found something worth noting. The air-like consciousness seemed to reject the ball of consciousness. A natural empty space would form around the ball of consciousness.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but frown. The consciousness and the ball of consciousness was from the same origins, why would they repel each other?

Pu Yao had never told him that the divided consciousness and the original consciousness would repel each other. Did he do something wrong?

Just as he was uncertain of what to do, he suddenly had an extremely daring idea –––– why not try and place the ball of consciousness into a talisman! One, since the ball of consciousness and his consciousness repelled each other, then he would find the ball of consciousness another place. Additionally the ball of consciousness felt intimately connected to him, and if it happened to be in a talisman, just think how great it would be! If a talisman could act according to his thoughts, and turn into a part of his body … …

The more Zuo Mo thought, the more appealing he found the idea!

Because the ball of consciousness was connected to his mind, he was able to understand that the ball of consciousness did not seem to disagree with his idea.

So he did it!

Zuo Mo started to calculate which talisman was suitable. Very quickly, he found a suitable talisman –––– Five Colored Pagoda!

He didn’t have many talismans in the first place and naturally didn’t have many to pick from.

The inside of the Five Colored Pagoda was a small pocket space which could take in the ball of consciousness. The Five Colored Pagoda may be able to deconstruct ordinary materials into the five elemental essences but consciousness was not one of the five elements. Therefore he did not have to worry about the ball being processed. In his perspective, the Five Colored Pagoda might only be half-completed but of all the talismans he possessed, it had the greatest potential to grow and the greatest abilities!

The moment he finished the thought, the ball of consciousness in front of him disappeared.

Immediately after, Zuo Mo could feel that it was now positioned in an area filled with essence of the five elements.

It was inside the Five Colored Pagoda!

Zuo Mo was gleeful.

———

At the same moment, a blinding five-colored light suddenly lit up the formation.

The four people fighting inside the formation, and Chang Heng who had been watching the rings of light, all stopped and raised their heads in shock.

A Five Colored Pagoda appeared above the formation, releasing five colors of light that was both strong and beautiful. It was so eye-catching that the crescent moon above the Five Colored Pagoda seemed to have lost all color. As the Five Colored Pagoda rose out of the clouds, light streamed like a sun rise,.

The exterior of the Five Colored Pagoda that was covered by the five-colored light had changed greatly. There was a glass-like sheen on the body of the tower, glistening and clear. The colors of each of the five different levels was even more clean and fine. The eaves of the tower curved at a great angle, looking like flying eaves. The body of the tower was narrower and taller than before, the top of the tower seemed sharp!

The sudden surge of light alarmed everyone.

———

“Soul-tethered talisman!” Xin Yan was the first to react. A light suddenly rose in his eyes, his voice full of excitement!

The other three dazedly stared at that exquisite Five Colored Pagoda in the mirage. The light that it produced, every detail, it all displayed just how unordinary it was.

After a while, the other three managed to react. Pei Yuan Ran was the first to turn around his face to look at Xin Yan. “It really is a soul-tethered talisman?”

The disciples behind them stared at each other. They were able to hear the excitement and nervousness in the sect leader’s voice. They couldn’t help but be curious. What was a soul-tethered talisman? Was it worth Xin Yan Shishu and the sect leader to be so excited?

“Definitely!” Xin Yan replied resolutely.

An uncontrollable joy floated onto the other three people’s face, unable to be disguised. Xin Yan was skilled in forging, and never over-exaggerated. If he was so certain, then it definitely wouldn’t be wrong.

Soul-tethered talisman!

Zuo Mo actually had a soul-tethered talisman!

If Xin Yan was able to realize this, then other people naturally could also see it. Surprise and shock made their way onto many people’s faces.

A soul-tethered talisman was a talisman that was intimately connected to a xiuzhe. This kind of talisman was extremely rare. The power of a soul-tethered talisman far surpassed normal talismans, and it had many qualities that made people drool. It was able to become stronger as the xiuzhe increased in cultivation. It was connected to the mind of its owner, so they could use it to the greatest effect. The meaning of “soul-tethered” was akin to being a part of the cultivator so they did not have to worry about the talisman being stolen by others.

Even if a soul-tethered talisman was stolen, the thief would not be able to use it. It was bound to the xiuzhe, that was why it was called a soul-tethered talisman. Who would cut off someone else’s hand, and then connect it to their body?

A soul-tethered talisman was the highest kind of talisman all cultivators dreamed about! It was strange but no one was able to forge a soul-tethered talisman. They usually were formed through great treasures which underwent some fortuitous occurrences. Up until now, no one was able to clearly describe the factors for the formation of a soul-tethered talisman.

While there were many benefits to the soul-tethered talisman, it wasn’t as though there were no disadvantages. Due to the great intimacy between the talisman and the xiuzhe, if the soul-tethered talisman was damaged, the cultivator would also be affected. Usually, soul-tethered talismans were also called life-saving talismans. Those that possessed one used one scarcely and carefully.

No one would have thought that a zhuji would possess a soul-tethered talisman!

People envied Zuo Mo’s luck.

As the Five Colored Pagoda transformed and appeared, the completed seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] also changed!

The light released by the Five Colored Pagoda gradually disappeared. At the same time, the crescent moon in the sky turned to a full moon, becoming even brighter and clean as it hung up in the sky! The full moon was like a wheel, countless moon-colored strands silently drifted down from the full moon. The moon-colored thin strands seemed to flutter in the wind on the other end, quietly moving through the air and passing through the freely swimming rings of light. In the blink of an eye, the light rings of various sizes had been threaded through by the moon-colored strands into bunches similar to wind chimes!

The light of the full moon brightened. The thin strands that fell down shook, and all the rings of light shook, countless rings chiming at the same time!

Ding!

The clear sound travelled through the enormous Great Pine Pavilion, able to be heard at every corner.

The Skyring Moon Chime Formation had been reborn!

Chapter 154: Moon Chime Sound Storm

Thousands of rings of light were chiming all at once. To the ears of everyone watching it was unspeakably clear and pleasurable, but the expressions of the five people inside the formation changed. Even Chang Heng, who was usually stoic, narrowed his eyes instinctively. He unhesitatingly reached towards the copper ring between his collarbones and took out the Bloody Spider sword.

He glanced at the others in the formation. Everyone acted as though they were facing a great enemy. Even the yellow-faced man that had been steadily overpowering him previously, had a serious expression as he held the copper dagger-axe in front of his chest.

When that clear chime from the rings of light had sounded out, the ling power in their bodies shook, their energies became unsteady!

Just a chime from the rings of light was so strong. The five people instantly became nervous.

Even the stupidest person understood now that the great formation in front of them had changed. The full moon shone in the sky. The moon-colored strands were like hair, soft and powerless, weaved in with the rings of light and ringing of wind chimes, the scene was a beautiful painting. Such a beautiful scene yet there was no admiration from the five people inside it. In their eyes, the formation was powerful and full of murderous intent!

———

Behind the black gauze, Su could not keep her composure, her face full of shock.

Such a formation, such a display, was it really something a zhuji xiuzhe could complete?

That image of a wretched, greedy, and soft-rice-eating zombie in her head was completely destroyed. Behind that expressionless face, there seemed to be a long shadow, deep and hard to predict! Had she been wrong in her impression of Zuo Mo from the beginning?

There were thousands rings of light on the moon strings. They slowly swayed, elegant and soft.

Tightly focusing on the moon strands and light rings in front of her, Su’s gaze seemed to be deeply attracted to them, and she was unable to move her eyes away. The rings of light gently trembled, and little slivers of killing intent slowly permeated, silently taking over every bit of space.

Her mouth was slightly dry.

She had always wondered why Zuo Mo hadn’t sent out the paper crane. She understood now. Zuo Mo didn’t need her help at all.

But at this time, her body was tense, not daring to slack off the tiniest bit. Her gaze still didn’t move. The sword scripture that she practiced belonged to the area of magnetism. Magnetic power was extremely good for detection. These tiny bits of killing intent appeared as non-threatening, but in reality, they could gather together at any time and kill.

Yet what truly made her on her guard, and more nervous than ever, was that she was their target!

Why … …

Why would she also be an enemy? Su couldn’t understand, but there was no time for her to think. She could only prepare for battle. She had a strong feeling that once the big formation was activated, it wouldn’t be so relaxing… …

———

Wu Ling Sanren and Wei Fei’s expressions were heavy.

Wei Fei stared down and asked solemnly, “Sanren, do you recognize this formation?”

Wu Ling Sanren shook his head. “No, but this formation should be fourth-grade. However, it must be that soul-tethered talismans that he just got which makes it so powerful.” He nervously stared at the formation below him, eyes unwavering.

He had to admit he had made a wrong judgment. Before, he had only felt Zuo Mo had some talent, but his skill with formations was in the range of normality, but looking at it now, the formation that guy had set up was far beyond his cultivation stage.

If it was only that, he would have just been slightly surprised. What really shocked him was that this guy had a soul-tethered talisman!

Truly a fortunate guy!

He couldn’t help but be envious. His cultivation was multiple times higher than Zuo Mo, but he didn’t have a soul-tethered talisman.

He was not the only one that was green-eyed over Zuo Mo’s soul-tethered talisman. Wei Fei also sighed over the unfairness of the heavens. However, they knew that soul-tethered talismans could not be planned for. Both were also jindan experts, the strength of their mind extremely resolute, and did not move so easily for an outside object.

The two of them quickly returned to normal.

“What does he want to do?” Wei Fei’s brows furrowed as he snorted coldly. “Does he want to fight one against five? Has a soul-tethered talisman, so he doesn’t even know where his limits are?”

Wu Ling Sanren didn’t speak. After continuously making mistaken judgments, he felt the less he said, the better. Also, based on the grave presence of the formation below, Zuo Mo may not be brash. What he really could not see clearly was Zuo Mo’s present situation.

Inside the formation, Zuo Mo still maintained his weird posture, his eyes empty.

The air around him seemed to be like glue, motionless. If one looked closely, they would find that the rings of light near him were affected by an invisible force that pushed them away.

The abnormalities had started when Zuo Mo had entered this strange state.

Wu Ling Sanren didn’t have any confidence.

The Five Colored Pagoda floated in the sky above the pond. On the sword-sharp point, there was a dot of star light that flashed, communicating with the full moon in the sky.

The moon dimmed and brightened.

Clink clink clink clink!

Suddenly, the light rings on the moon strings started to shake. The small chimes were like a tide, spreading out in waves.

The five people inside the formation stiffened as the tension rose. At this time, they did not have the attention to spare to fight with other people because, to their shock, they discovered that Zuo Mo did not plan on letting even one of them escape from the formation escape.

———

“Tsk! Unlucky!” Luo Li felt helpless. Zuo Mo went crazy again! The flying sword floated beside him, waiting to attack.

He said those words, but light came into his eyes, and slight anticipation rose. There was quite a period of time since the last time they had fought. He always had the thought of trying to fight Zuo Mo again but he had never found the chance.

Now that the opportunity was right in front of him, the desire for battle burned in his heart.

In Luo Li’s mind, Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng were all geniuses of the sect. Wei Sheng Shixiong was like a mountain peak unable to be scale. Facing Shixiong, one would only feel hopelessness. Zuo Mo was completely different. If one saw him usually, one would always accidentally underestimate and disdain him. But when one truly faced him, he might not win, but he definitely would surprise and shock others.

———

Gui Feng also detected the thick killing intent in the formation. He didn’t use the ghost movement to hide his figure like usual. The entire formation was under the control of the other. The effect of the ghost movement was limited. His expression was grave. Two blooms of bright green ghost fire burned on the white bone sword. The body of the sword hummed like the soft sobs of souls.

———

Zuo Mo still hadn’t left that wondrous state.

This state made people intoxicated, a state where anything was possible, as though everything was understood.

He silently stood there as though he was a spectator, watching everything that was happening in front of him. The Five Colored Pagoda whose thoughts were connected to his was stand guard in the center of the great formation, controlling the entire Skyring Moon Chime Formation!

Every detail of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation flowed across his heart. He couldn’t see it, but he could clearly feel it.

It was passed on from the Five Colored Pagoda.

Before, his original intentions had been to activate and use the seventy-two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation in order to gain some experience, and to comprehend some of the intricacies of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation.

Right now, every detail of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation was in front of him.

Due to this, he decided he would try the power of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation!

His thoughts moved, and the Five Colored Pagoda activated the great formation!

———

The fine chimes that had like a tide suddenly disappeared. The enormous formation suddenly sank into a dead silence, suffocating like a rock pressed to the chest.

The five people tensed to their limits inside the formation. This suffocating and heavy silent was the prelude to the killing.

The round moon suddenly lit up, emanating the brightest and strongest light it could without any regard. In the blink of an eye, the round moon which had been as clean as jade seemed to have started to burn, the strong light making it appear like a ball of fire!

Clink!

A ring of light that was the closest to the full moon gave a clear sound!

This clear sound announced the beginning of the killing move. There seemed to be some force that was being passed down through the moon string. Like it was a relay, one by one, the rings of light sounded.

Clink clink clink … …

The sounds went from slow to fast, the frequent chimes like a suddenly rising tide!

Looking from the sky, the rings of light hanging off the strands coming of the moon were like dominoes being set off, one shaking after the previous!

The shaking of the first ring of light was the least, and the sound was the lightest.

The send ring of light vibrated more, and the sound was slightly louder.

The third ring of light vibrated even greater in magnitude, the sound even louder!

… …

This cascade of changes was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, the power seemed to have passed to the end of the moon string, and to the last ring of light!

The last ring of light on each moon strand lit up at the same time. After the power from the preceding rings of light finally reached the last ring of light, the chiming of the ring of light had reached a maximum!

Clang!

The five people inside the formation felt their vision blur. Everything they saw seemed to twist and change. The ground underneath their feet shook violently, almost knocking them off their feet.

All of their expressions changed.

———

Su’s Black Daze sword was held across her chest, her right hand holding the hilt of the sword, her left hand straight like a sword, pressing gently on the body of the sword. She shouted clearly, “Protect!”

With her as the center, a terrifying magnetic force exploded into the surroundings!

———

Luo Li didn’t go grab the flying sword floating in front of him, but spread out his right hand, the palm open. His voice was ethereal, lonely and empty, “Self Separate!”

The ethereal sword essence was like a female ghost dancing by his side.

———

Chang Heng’s Blood Spider sword transformed into the Blood Spider, shielding him from the front. The blood light on the body of the blood spider was extremely bright, as though it had just been taken out of a blood pond! The blood spider gave a vicious howl, ready to leap!

———

At some time, a heavy copper armor appeared on the yellow-faced man. The thick armor covered his entire body, only revealing his eyes. His hand was holding the copper dagger-axe flatly, his back straight as he bellowed, “Break!”

———

A child appearing about six or seven years old appeared in front of Gui Feng. He was very chubby, his skin tender. He was wearing a red belly-cloth. However, his eyes were an eerie green! Gui Feng shouted, “Go!”

Gui Feng’s killing move –––– Little Ghost King!

The five people simultaneously used their killing moves. They could feel a strong threat!

The activation of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation did not have any forewarning. Once it started, it activated its strongest attack!

Inside the formation, the lion-headed copper cauldrons that Zuo Mo used to set up the [Li Fire Formation] collapsed into dust, the metal nails turned to dust, the jade cards turned to dust, the plants turned to dust, the ground turned to dust …. …

The half-mu sized pond turned into a ball of fine mist!

This was the initiation of the strongest killing move of the seventy-two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation – [Moon Chime Sound Storm]!

Chapter 155: Collision!

Lin Qian silently stood in the air, looking at the enormous mirage in the distance.

He could not see what was occurring inside the formation but he was very shocked at the appearance of the Five Colored Pagoda! Other people may not know the origins of the Five Colored Pagoda but he had seen Zuo Mo buying this talisman from the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion.

The Five Colored Pagoda had some clever abilities, but it was just an incomplete talisman. In his eyes, it was not a good talisman and wouldn’t have expected it to become a soul-tethered talisman.

But what the Five Colored Pagoda had just appeared was truly a soul-tethered talisman!

Something definitely changed in this period of time.

Just at this time, the mirage suddenly shook violently. The picture became indistinct, and nothing could be seen.

The audience which had been excited instantly gasped.

What had happened? Did the [Mirage Illusion Formation] malfunction?

Lin Qian was slightly surprised. The stability of the [Mirage Illusion Formation] that Tian Song Zi setup could not be doubted. Did something happen inside the Great Pine Pavilion?

He was not the only person surprised. The person who felt the greatest surprise was Tian Song Zi. To set up the [Mirage Illusion Formation], he had expended many resources. Seeing an unexpected occurrence happen, he couldn’t help but frown.

A sect leader was also puzzled. “Technically, there shouldn’t be a problem with the [Mirage Illusion Formation].”

“Yes, of course.” The other sect leaders opened in agreement.

[Mirage Illusion Formation] was an extremely mature and stable formation, having been used since a long time ago. Other than the size which was much larger than the average formation, there was nothing different about the formation that had been set up this time.

The corner of Tian Song Zi’s eye suddenly jumped.

Someone noticed his abnormality and asked, “Has Friend found something?’

Tian Song Zi’s expression was normal, and said with a smile, “A small accident.”

As expected, when he finished, the mirage quickly resumed. Everyone’s attention was quickly attracted by the mirage.

Shock slightly spilled out of Tian Song Zi’s eyes. The Great Pine Pavilion was a Secret Paradise talisman. It was always in the possession of each generation of Dong Fu Hall’s master. Just now, he had detected an extremely strong ling power ripple that had exploded suddenly in Great Pine Pavilion. It was that ling power ripple which had affected the [Mirage Illusion Formation] and caused its situation. This burst of ling power was like a meteor, and had flashed by and disappearing in a flash.

His eyes went towards the formation belt inside the mirage.

The location of the ling power explosion was there!

Who had caused the ling power explosion? Zuo Mo? Or someone else?

He wasn’t surprised that Yu Bai was eliminated and he wasn’t sad. There were many benefits to Yu Bai for having such an experience of real battle. As to everything else, he did not care. Maybe Yu Bai would care, but this was what Tian Song Zi hoped he could encounter.

Yu Bai might be respectful and warm usually, but in reality, he did not really know reality, and was overly proud. This proud aura was a trait of many young masters, it was the special aura that would appeared most easily on the core disciples of each sect .

Tian Song Zi’s eyes went towards the big formation.

He couldn’t help but admire Pei Yuan Ran. In Wu Kong Sword Sect’s disciples, other than Luo Li who had a faint attitude of a young master, Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo did not carry themselves this way.

These two young people were also the two with the most spectacular performance of this year’s Sword Test Conference.

———

[Moon Chime Sound Storm]!

Inside the formation, everything was pulverized to dust and thrown about. The dust and mist covered the entire formation, becoming even finer and smaller!

Amidst the sky of dust, Zuo Mo’s arms was open like a divine being, motionless, his eyes indifferent and empty without a hint of emotion. Within a one zhang radius around Zuo Mo the dust and mist were blocked by an invisible wall.

The greatest killing move of the seventy-two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation shook the Great Pine Pavilion! Nothing could block the sounds that swept through the Great Pine Pavilion. Countless young beasts bled from their orifices and died.

As the sound storm approached all xiuzhe felt their energies shake, their ling power almost spinning out of control. All were shocked!

That was the case for the xiuzhe outside the formation. The pressure faced by the five people inside the formation was hundreds of times stronger!

———

Su’s fine brow was creased into a ball, showing a slightly pained expression.

She had underestimated the power of the great formation! In the sound storm, the ling power in her body had almost collapsed, and the magnetic shield had almost dissolved. She bit her teeth, not daring to keep anything back. All the ling power inside her body channeled and flowed towards the Black Daze Sword!

The magnetic force twisted space, covering her, and turning her into a mirage.

———

Luo Li’s situation wasn’t much better. Blood streamed out of the corner of his mouth. His cultivation was not as high as the other four. After the attack, he was wounded! But the corner of his mouth went up rather than down, the desire for battle in his eyes increasing instead, furious, hot!

Last time, I pushed you to such a sorry state, but you did not surrender, this time, you push me to such a sorry … …

How can I lose to you … …

His pupils suddenly expanded, the flying sword floating in front of his body hummed, its body shaking. Like a stream of light, it stabbed into the ground in front of his feet up to the hilt.

He knelt down on one knee in front of the sword, muttering in a low voice, “Self Separation!”

Self Separation … … Wo Li … … Self Separation … …

It echoed around his body. The figure floating in front of his figure which appeared like a female ghost suddenly became clear. A plainly dressed female with her hair up stood. Her eyes were angry. She lightly sighed and raised her graceful wrist.

A green and red light flew from her hand, blocking in front of the two of them.

———

Chang Heng expressionlessly stood. The ground under his feet shattered. Even when they shattered into even smaller pieces of dust, he was not moved. In front of him, the Blood Spider seemed to be enraged, howling as the black seals across its entire body brightened.

A bloody curtain of light, tinged slightly with black, blocked in front of the person and spider.

The yellow-faced man wore heavy armor, holding a copper dagger-axe and shouted.

A blinding light appeared at the tip of the copper dagger-axe. It clearly was piercing emptiness, but it was like it was encountering great resistance. It slowly pierced further, each bit extremely difficult. The light of the dagger-axe became even more bright, so bright one could not look at it!

———

The Little Ghost King in front of Gui Feng spoke baby talk as he waved his tender lotus root-like hands. An eerie green curtain of light appeared layer by layer as he moved. The thin green curtains were as fragile as eggshell, breaking as soon as they formed.

Gui Feng finally showed shock.

The Little Ghost King seemed to have been provoked, not “ah-ah”-ing anymore. A vicious and cruel expression appeared on the innocent and adorable face. His hands started to dance, the movements strange. Each movement was filled with a dark and terrifying presence, like a sorcerer dancing!

A eerie green belt of light appeared, quickly spinning around Gui Feng and the Little Ghost King. From the belt of light came sorrowful and angry sobs.

———

The air that surrounded Zuo Mo who was in a wondrous state suddenly rippled.

That pair of indifferent and empty eyes moved, and became a fraction livelier.

Zuo Mo felt his body become gold. The pleasurable feeling from floating in the consciousness flew away.

There was no grey, no starlight, no sea of consciousness … …

He moved his eyes. Above his head, a full moon hung, the moon strings plentiful as hair, the rings like wind chimes.

The first thought in Zuo Mo’s mind was “Not good!”

Why did he wake up at such a dangerous time … …

Before he could become irritated, he was bowled over by a large yao beast that was charging at full speed. Splat, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Like a sandbag, he was thrown into the air.

The strongest attack of the seventy-two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation, [Moon Chime Sound Storm] and the life-saving measures of Chang Heng and the other four crashed together without any technique!

The strongest encounter in the Sword Test Conference!

Boom boom boom!

The bright light was like the sun rising.

The earth cracked, the sky changed color.

The Skyring Moon Chime Formation could not endure the terrifying power from such an encounter and instantly crumbled!

The pitiful Zuo Mo. He had woken up at the most crucial time, his skill level dropping back to his normal level. How could he defend against the collision of these two forces? Luckily, the majority of the power was absorbed by the Skyring Moon Chime Formation, but Zuo Mo still couldn’t endure the rest. He instantly was seriously wounded.

The light around the Five Colored Pagoda dimmed, cracks appearing on the body of the tower. With a tragic hum, it turned to a stream of light and flew into Zuo Mo’s body.

Chang Heng and the others were not much better. The face-on collision of the two forces were far beyond their expectations. Before they were able to react, they were forcefully ejected from the formation several dozen zhang away.

All five were injured. Each person had wounds, their faces full of shock. Even Chang Heng was not an exception.

———

Through the mirage formation, the audience in Dong Fu was unable to see the situation inside the great formation. The sudden blurring of the formation also made many people speculate.

Just as everyone was puzzled, the mirage which had just recovered suddenly exploded with a blinding light.

Not ready for the blinding flash, many people found their vision a sea of white, unable to see anything. Dong Fu instantly turned to chaos. The panicked people instinctively protecting themselves. The enormous Dong Fu exploded in shouts.

The situation only calmed down after a while when everyone’s eyes had recovered.

The fearful people unconsciously looked towards the mirage that had just changed.

Hiss!

It was rare to see several ten thousands of people inhale in shock.

On the mirage, the position where Zuo Mo had originally set up the formation belt had completely transformed. The pond was gone, the woods were gone, the formation was gone. What they could see was an enormous great pit. The depth of the pit was far more than ten zhang, its width reaching an astonishing fifty zhang. Such a terrifying pit made everyone feel cold in their hearts as they swallowed.

Around the great hole, there were fifteen great cracks that were wider than five zhang which snaked their way away from the big hole. The longest crack was three li in length!

Even the shortest crack was one hundred zhang!

The black big hole was full of cracks, startling to the eye. It looked like an extremely ugly jellyfish.

But anyone who saw this “jellyfish” would only feel fear and tremble!

What kind of power could do this?

The audience in Dong Fu was left in shock.

———

The xiuzhe inside the Great Pine Pavilion were struck even more deeply.

The moment the light appeared, that power which seemed to destroy the world made everyone feel the terror of death’s approach!

No one had any interest in fighting.

Their hearts were filled with terror yet their legs seemed to be enchanted as they ran towards the location of the light of their own initiative.

When they saw the great hole, the last vestige of power seemed to leave them and they sat down beside the hole.

———

At the gathering place of the Dong Fu sect leaders, a voice full of anger and pain sounded.

“My, my Great Pine Pavilion … …”

Book 3 - Survival On A Desolate Island

Chapter 156: Brothers In Difficulty

“Don’t forget .. …”

“Even in death, you must not forget … …”

… …

Zuo Mo woke up and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the pain! It was like the bones in his body had been rattled. Just the slightest of movements had caused bone-aching pain. He instantly became docile and motionless.

The familiar fragrance of medicine entered his nose. He instantly realized where this was.

Oh, his life was really bad. It seemed every time he attended a fight, he would enter the Fragrant Ginger Yard. It looked like he was quite heavily wounded this time.

“Cough, Shidi, you’re awake.”

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from his right.

Eldest Shixiong? Zuo Mo instinctively turned his neck to look right. Just as he moved, he couldn’t help but inhale sharply. So painful!

He moved his head with great difficulty. When he saw Eldest Shixiong on a bed not far away at his right, he was instantly shocked.

Lying on the bed where Eldest Shixiong voice came from was a person whose body was entirely bound in bandages with only his eyes left uncovered.

“Eldest Shixiong, is it you?” Zuo Mo asked with uncertainty. This person who was wrapped up like a mummy, was he really the courageous and invincible Eldest Shixiong?

“En.” The person under the bandages responded. It really was him. He said, “You’ve been unconscious the longest. We were all very worried about you.”

“Eldest Shixiong, who wounded you like this?” Zuo Mo asked in disbelief.

“Ha ha, I fought with Gu Rong Ping, he did this.” Wei Sheng’s tone was relaxed.

Zuo Mo still didn’t quite believe it. “That little white face shouldn’t be this strong!”

“He isn’t much better off.” Wei Sheng smiled. “In the end, I managed to slice him twelve times in succession.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo sweated. Sliced twelve times … … even if that little white face was a big carrot, he would have been sliced into a toothpick. However, he felt that this was expected. In the same generation, how could there be anyone who could overpower Eldest Shixiong to the point he could not retaliate?

seeing Eldest Shixiong worse off than he was, his mood which had been down due to his injuries instantly became much better. He felt this way even though Wei Sheng was Zuo Mo’s respected and loved Eldest Shixiong.

Brothers in difficulty … …

Suddenly, Wei Sheng suddenly shouted in Zuo Mo’s direction, “Luo Shidi, are you better today?”

Zuo Mo unconsciously turned his face to the left.

There was a bed on his left. Luo Li was lying on top. Even though it wasn’t as severe as Eldest Shixiong, but his expression was withered, his complexion pale. It was easy to see he was seriously injured.

So there wasn’t just one brother in difficulty … … Zuo Mo was struck.

When Luo Li looked at Zuo Mo, his expression was slightly unnatural. Zuo Mo immediately remembered that the person who had wounded Luo Li had been himself. That wondrous state had disappeared, but Zuo Mo clearly remembered what had happened during that time.

If Zuo Mo’s face could move, his expression right now would certainly be extremely unnatural.

Due to the fact he had been in a strange state, he had performed beyond his abilities. Even if he was completely healed and set up the seventy-two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation again, he might not be able to successfully perform [Moon Chime Sound Storm] successfully one in ten times.

“Is Shixiong better? Luo Li avoided Zuo Mo’s eyes and asked Wei Sheng. His mentality was much better than before. Even though Wei Sheng had once been his sword servant, but right now, he was Wu Kong Sword Sect’s Eldest Shixiong.

Greater power meant a greater status, the rules of the sect had always been so.

Now, no one in Wu Kong Sword Sect would doubt Wei Sheng Shixiong’s strength. Facing Zuo Mo, Luo Li still had some desire to compete, but facing Wei Sheng he had completely submitted.

“Much better.” Wei Sheng’ tone was nothing like that of a seriously wounded patient, extremely optimistic. “After a bit of time, I’ll probably heal.”

The three of them were all severely wounded, unable to move as they laid on the bed.

At the beginning there was a slight barrier between Zuo Mo and Luo Li, but now that they were in the same predicament, their relations gradually improved. After a while, they conversed freely. Before, Zuo Mo hadn’t liked Luo Li. Upon further acquaintance, he found that Luo Li was not as bad as he had imagined. Quite the opposite, in fact. Even though he would unconsciously reveal the pride ingrained in his bones, his personality was straightforward and he was a forthright person.

The two of them had fought two times. Both times, each of them had been seriously wounded. To a certain degree, their relationship was forged in fighting.

The two of them were also full of admiration towards each other’s strength.

Nothing needed to be said of Luo Li to Zuo Mo. Right now, Zuo Mo had become one of the hottest people in Dong Fu. At the end, he had fought one on five, and it had turned into a legend in Dong Fu. No one had saw the one-on-five fight, but everyone had clearly seen the terrifyingly gigantic hole in the Great Pine Pavilion.

Zuo Mo knew how much his strength was really worth. Each time Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li mentioned this matter, his heart was extremely insecure. In his perspective, Luo Li’s strength was much stronger than his.

Suddenly remembering this matter, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask in curiosity, “Shixiong, that day, I seemed to see a woman in front of you, who was that?”

Luo Li was instantly slightly embarrassed. He muttered, “That’s my sword spirit.”

“So Shidi is walking the road of spirit manifestation.” Wei Sheng instantly realized. Seeing Zuo Mo not understanding, and then remembering this guy did not study what he should be, he painstakingly explained. “There are many ways to cultivate the sword, many of them strange. Sword spirit is one of these. It means to nurture the sword essence to made it into a spirit. However…”

He couldn’t help but glance at Luo Li several times. “I really didn’t see that Luo Shixiong’s emotions are pretty sensitive.” Seeing Zuo Mo still not understanding, he said with a smile, “People that cultivate a sword spirit mostly have sensitive feelings. This way of the sword uses emotion to enter this path of the sword. When the sword spirit is forming, it needs to use emotion as the guide for the sword spirit to take form.”

Zuo Mo finally understood. Luo Li instantly blushed red.

“Our sect is a sword sect. Shidi must not slack off on the sword scriptures.” Wei Sheng said to Zuo Mo.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Zuo Mo unconcernedly responded. He suddenly thought about the Kun Lun jade scroll, and couldn’t help but ask, “This Sword Test Conference, has the rankings come out? Who entered the top ten?”

Wei Sheng shook his head. “Wounded like this, how can we know the situation outside?”

Zuo Mo turned towards Luo Li. Luo Li also shook his head.

Zuo Mo could only say, “I’ll ask when Xiao Guo and the others come next time.” These past few days, it had been Xiao Guo, Li Ying Feng and the others who had been looking after the three of them. The sect elders were not seen.

The three of them didn’t know the ranking for the Sword Test Conference had become a great problem.

Zuo Mo’s last move had disrupted the competition. Tian Song Zi saw that the Great Pine Pavilion had been damaged to a such a degree had instantly stopped the competition. No competitor had opposed the decision. Having seen the terrifying collision with their own eyes, they didn’t have any more interest in competing.

Many of the xiuzhe that rushed to the explosion had been left shocked, dazed, and withered. What was even more unexpected was that the time those people spent with a low mood was much longer than others had imagined. Their elders started to become worried.

From this, it could be seen just how much of a blow that world-shattering collision had given them!

For Tian Song Zi who was hosting the Sword Test Conference, there were more things that caused a headache for him. He could slowly fix the damage in the Great Pine Pavilion but he must immediately solve the problem of the Sword Test Conference’s ranking.

This was an extremely troublesome problem!

Because the competition had been stopped in the middle, the number of people in the Great Pine Pavilion was far more than ten. These competitors were also all people of some strength. Wei Sheng and Gu Rong Ping had both been wounded and became unconscious. The other spectacular competitor, Zuo Mo, also was seriously wounded and unconscious.

It was not easy to rank the first ten.

The reason that the four of Pei Yuan Ran and the others were absent was due to this matter.

Who could imagine a group of jindan experts in a room shouting furiously like a group of children. Some slammed the table, others sword, some bounced back and forth. It was very boisterous.

After Pei Yuan Ran and the others left Dong Fu Hall, even if they were of astounding cultivation, there was tiredness on their faces.

———

Su was lying on the bed. Even now, there was a layer of black gauze over her face.

“Do you feel better today?” Lin Qian asked attentively.

Su nodded and didn’t speak.

Lin Qian’s expression was full of self-blame. He took out a jade bottle and said gently, “I didn’t think you would be wounded this time. It is my fault. This Youth Dan will be very beneficial for you. Consume it quickly.”

Su’s body gently shook.

Her gaze stared at the jade bottle in Lin Qian’s hand.

She had heard of the name Youth Dan. It was an extremely rare and expensive lingdan, especially suited for female xiu to consume. It had great benefits for cultivation. Using it to heal, she felt it was a great waste.

“Who really are you?” Su’s gaze moved from the jade bottle to Lin Qian as she asked coldly.

She had heard the name of the Youth Dan but she was also very clear about its rarity. Heart Lake Sword Sect might be the top tier sect in Sky Moon Jie, but such a high grade lingdan such as Youth Dan wasn’t something they could possess.

She had always assumed that Lin Qian was a disciple of one of the elders, but when he took out the Youth Dan, she suddenly realized that Lin Qian definitely couldn’t be a disciple of her sect.

Then the other question was, where did the sect token in Lin Qian’s hand come from?

What goal did he have?

Su’s gaze was like an arrow. Lin Qian laughed lightly, his expression normal. He gently put the Youth Dan in front of Su. “I am not Shimei’s enemy.”

He then asked, “The matter I asked last time, does Shimei have the result?”

Seeing the calmness on Lin Qian’s face, Su hesitated and shook her head, saying, “It’s not him.”

Lin Qian did not seem surprised at this result. He nodded. “Many thanks, Shimei. Shimei, please relax and rest. As to forging your sword, you can give it to this one. I will not disappoint Shimei.”

Finishing, he left.

Su looked at the figure that disappeared outside the door and felt this person was even more mysterious.

———

In a distant mountain valley of Ling Ying Sect, there were two people speaking. It was Chang Heng and the yellow-faced man. The expressions of the two seemed untouched, but their complexion and alertness was much worse than before the competition.

The two of them had not escaped unscathed. They had been wounded to various degrees.

“This is what you need.” The yellow-faced man handed over a jade scroll.

Chang Heng took over the jade scroll. Without looking, he put it away.

The yellow-faced man saw Chang Heng didn’t move and said in satisfaction, “This is the first half. It’s the deposit. After the matter is concluded, I’ll give you the other half. I’ll notify you of the general time.”

Chang Heng nodded and said expressionlessly, “Alright.”

Finishing, he turned and left.

Chapter 157: Unexpected

When Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and Luo Li saw the sect leader and the other shishu, they instantly became obedient.

“Humph, you guys are very good. Went to attend a Sword Test Conference and not one of you came back whole.” Shi Feng Rong who had been working tirelessly saw these three and her already bad mood became even worse. The responsibility to heal the three had all landed on her head.

The three shook in fear. Shi Feng Rong might be the youngest of the sect elders, but in reality, the outcome to having offended Fourth Shigu was very bad.

Pei Yuan Ran and the others did not have good complexions. Everyone that was dragged to Dong Fu Hall had to shout and sort out the mess naturally were not in good moods. Even more, these three disciples were seriously wounded. The expenses were very high.

“Alright, alright.” Yan Le came out to smooth things over. “Really, you guys got yourselves into this state. As your elders, how can we not worry? You have to remember there is no meaning in one victory or defeat. As long as you are alive, you always have the chance to take it back. But if you don’t have a life, what does victory mean?”

The three murmured.

Pei Yuan Ran’s expression relaxed slightly and took over, “Your Shishu is right. You have to remember this. You are the hope of the sect. In the future, the prosperity of the sect rests on you. If you do not take care of your body, you will fail the teachings the sect has given you. Ha ha, but you guys were very good this time. The rankings for the Sword Test Conference have been finalized. The situation was special so the final rankings were calculated using the jindan elder’s judgement. All three of you are in the top ten. Wei Sheng second, Zuo Mo third, Luo Li seventh.”

Luo Li couldn’t help ask, “Didn’t we lose and were unconscious?”

Pei Yuan Ran narrated the situation after the Sword Test Conference had ended before Wei Sheng and Luo Li understood. When they looked at Zuo Mo, it was like they were looking at a monster. This guy was the true criminal for the ending of the competition!

Zuo Mo’s head was dazed, his eyes was blank. Kun Lun introductory formation jade scroll. He had given up hope on obtaining it for for a long time now, but the sect leader was telling him that he was ranked third. This meant that the jade scroll was basically his!

“Who’s first?” Wei Sheng asked.

“It’s Gu Rong Ping.” Pei Yuan Ran glanced at Wei Sheng. Afraid the other couldn’t bear it, he explained, “Gu Rong Ping’s level might not be as high as you, but he suppressed you. If it really was truly a matter of life and death, the likelihood of him winning is bigger.” In reality, he still had something he didn’t say. Heart Lake Sword Sect was the first ranked major sect in Sky Moon Jie, how could the others not give them some face?

“That’s right.” Wei Sheng nodded, unconcerned. “Gu Rong Ping really is the strongest opponent I encountered. I learned many things this time.”

Seeing Wei Sheng’s mind was so open, Pei Yuan Ran was very comforted.

Luo Li wanted to speak when he suddenly saw Xin Yan Shibo stare with icy eyes at Zuo Mo. He instantly didn’t dare to speak.

Did Xin Yan Shibo have some opinion about Zuo Mo Shidi? He was slightly puzzled. Rationally, Zuo Shidi’s performance this time could be labeled spectacular. Why wasn’t Xin Yan Shibo satisfied?

He peeked at Zuo Mo and found the other’s eyes were unfocused as though the other had wandered away. These few days, the three of them had grown their relationship. Luo Li couldn’t help but panic on Zuo Mo’s behalf. He wanted to speak to remind him, but the words shrunk back when it came to his moth.

Xin Yan Shibo’s gaze was really sharp, even sharper than a flying sword!

Zuo Mo gradually came out of his shock and instinctively asked, “What time can we get the prizes?”

Once the words came out, the four elders stopped speaking, their faces becoming dark.

Zuo Mo finally came back to his body. Seeing the sect leader and others have faces blacker than the bottom of a pot, he shook.

Not good!

The four of them stared unkindly at Zuo Mo, causing him to have goosebumps.

No one expected the first person to break the pressuring mood was Xin Yan Shibo. However, once he opened, it was like the wind of the tundra sweeping through the room, the temperature freezing, “Good! Very good! Extremely good!”

After three “good”, without another word, Xin Yan Shibo turned and left.

Pei Yuan Ran and Yan Le did not have good expressions. The two turned and left. Shi Feng Rong’s face was black. Her eyes looked as though she was going to skin Zuo Mo alive.

Zuo Mo was very good at deciphering people’s expressions. Seeing Master’s expression, the bad feeling inside shot up, and he murmured, “Master … …”

“Very good!” Shi Feng Rong snorted coldly, turning to leave.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck.

The suddenly change also scared Wei Sheng and Luo Li. When had the two ever seen the elders so angry?

Wei Sheng hesitated before asking, “Shidi, what did you do?”

“Yeah!” Luo Li couldn’t resist. “Everyone’s angry at you! You’re going to die!”

Anyway Zuo Mo heard it, this guy’s words were full of laughter at his misfortunes. However, he wasn’t in the mood to attend to that guy. Thinking about the “good” that Xin Yan Shibo had said, his heart trembled.

Just offending Master, his days would be difficult. This was good. In one stroke, he had completely offended all the elders, and from the tone, it seemed to be pretty severe.

What made Zuo Mo even more depressed was that, up until now, he didn’t even understand where the problem was.

Theoretically, his display this time wasn’t bad. Zuo Mo’s heart shook.

Only Wei Sheng looked thoughtful.

Zuo Mo had no solution to the anger his Master, shishu, and the sect leader held. However, he was extremely easy-going. Knowing that it was useless to worry, he didn’t think about it any further. Thinking about the Kun Lun introductory formation jade scroll that was going to be in his hands soon, the worry in his heart was washed away.

———

As Shi Feng Rong had come back from Dong Fu Hall, the speed the three healed at increased greatly. After a few days, they could all stand and move. They only needed to calm down and rest for a while before they fully recovered. Already sick of lying on the bed, the three went to take a breather outside.

On the mountain peak, the wind was very strong. The three of them enjoyed it immensely. Only after being stuck on the bed for so long did they knew how pleasurable it was to have the cold wind blowing like this.

Looking at the figures hard at work below, Wei Sheng sighed, “Our sect is going to prosper!!

The mood of Wu Kong Sword Sect had transformed completely. Along the mountain valleys and in the woods, there were always figures of Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples working hard. All the disciple’s eyes were full of admiration and respect when they saw the three of them.

The present Wu Kong Sword Sect was full of vitality and growth. The faces of the disciples were filled with confidence and motivation that they never had before. In their eyes this vitality Wei Sheng and the others could see hope, hope and longing for the future of their sect!

As they walked through the mountain, the three of them deeply felt it.

Luo Li nodded. “Not bad, after this Sword Test Conference, our sect’s position in Sky Moon Jie is set, we are unable to be stopped!” His eyes also flashed with yearning and hope. The prosperity of the sect meant the core disciples would get the greatest benefits. Cultivation was not an empty building. Without jingshi, without materials, without spells, it was impossible to catch up to other people’s cultivation speeds.

Zuo Mo was slightly unfocused, his thought wandering.

“Shidi, what are you thinking?” Wei Sheng noticed Zuo Mo’s absentmindedness.

Zuo Mo focused and disguised, “I’m calculating what time I can get the prize.”

Wei Sheng couldn’t help but grin.

Luo Li’s face was also helpless. But he then asked curiously, “You are so greedy, but why did you pick such a crappy item. There are so many good talismans.” Wei Sheng and Luo Li had been very surprised by the jade scroll that Zuo Mo had picked. They had all assumed that Zuo Mo would pick a fourth-grade talismans, or at the very least, the finest third-grade talisman. They hadn’t expected that he would be a non-descript jade scroll.

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. “If you don’t understand, don’t talk.”

Luo Li was not angry. He remembered just how ugly the sect leader and the others looked when Zuo Mo had requested the jade scroll, and managed to understand why the sect leader and the others were so angry.

He met Wei Sheng’s eyes and smiled. The two of them did not warn Zuo Mo.

———

Able to walk and move around, the three of them quickly moved back to their own residences. No one was willing to keep staying in Fragrant Ginger Yard.

Zuo Mo moved back to his Little West Wind Yard.

Lazily soaking in the sun, when he occasionally raised his head, he could see Silly Bird on the roof top posturing and showing off. If it was any other time, Zuo Mo definitely would have thrown a stone. But there was a period of time since they saw each other. He found it was quite endearing.

Xiao Guo was slicing up all kinds of fruits for Shixiong. Li Ying Feng Shijie had brought over the fruit. Li Ying Feng and Zuo Mo were chatting.

“Ha ha, Shidi should quickly recover. This time, Shidi really shocked everyone. Everyone was left speechless when the ranking came out.” Li Ying Feng suddenly thought of something. She smiled and said, “Nan Men Yang entered Dong Fu Hall and became Yu Bai’s shidi. As to Zong Ming Yan, supposedly he is very seriously wounded. Shidi has become the most unwelcome person of Dong Qi Sword Sect. Dong Fu has been very boring recently. Everyone is healing. The prices of recovery medicines of the market have been skyrocketing … …”

Zuo Mo chomped at the fruit, the juices flying as he mumbled, “Doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with me… …”

Li Ying Fengsmiled and said, “Shidi needs to recover faster. There’s many people that have come to my shop to ask if Shidi is taking orders. Shidi’s reputation in formations has passed through all of Sky Moon Jie. Adding on your fame from the Golden Crow Pill, there has been many people that have placed orders.”

Zuo Mo became alert. No news other than this could make him more excited!

Right now, he was penniless!

The gigantic formation belt he set up in the Sword Test Conference had almost taken up all the materials he had bought from the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion. The prize he had picked was a jade scroll, and there wasn’t one piece of jingshi there.

So when he heard Li Ying Feng’s news, his eyes became green.

However, he thought and then shook his head. “This has to wait until my wounds heal.”

“That’s natural.” Li Ying Feng said. “Shidi needs to rest and recover. When your body is good, you will have everything. Right, Elder Tian Song Zi suddenly announced two days ago that the local xiuzhe who entered the top one hundred are allowed to enter the secret realm.”

“Secret realm?” Zuo Mo’s eyes were wide. He said in disbelief, “Dong Fu Hall has a secret realm? They can bear to let us enter?”

“Yes! Supposedly, it is to nurture the local younger generation. Elder Tian Song Zi especially made the decision,” Li Ying Feng said.

The two chatted for a bit more but Zuo Mo wasn’t interested in chatting after Li Ying Feng’s weighty news. Seeing the situation, Li Ying Feng left behind a lot of healing lingdan and left.

Seeing off Li Ying Feng, Zuo Mo pushed Xiao Guo to practice the sword. He then sunk into thought.

That same day, he made a decision –– seclusion!

Chapter 158: Seclusion

Zuo Mo did not impulsively decide to enter into seclusion training.

The wounds on his body were mostly healed. The only thing left was rest. He needed to calm down and organize what he had gained and lost this time. This Sword Test Conference, what he had encountered was much more than he had originally imagined. Only now did he have the time to think about it.

There were many things he wanted to ask Pu Yao, like splitting his consciousness. But when he had first opened his eyes after the conference, he found that Pu Yao was in the middle of meditation. No matter how he shouted and tried to get Pu to respond, it was useless. He could only work it out himself.

There were too many things that he needed to think deeply about.

Another important reason that he decided to enter seclusion was the news that Li Ying Feng had about the secret realm. Zuo Mo knew what a secret realm was. Because he knew it was a rare opportunity, he decided to enter seclusion!

There would be many opportunities inside the secret realm. If he was lucky and found some rare materials, he would really make a profit. But it would be wrong to think of the secret realm as his own ling fields. Tian Song Zi was allowing everyone to explore the secret realm and this suggested that this secret realm was still unexplored because if it had already been explored and all the rare materials had been taken awaythen there would be no meaning to letting people explore it again.

In the secret realm, other than the opportunities, what was more prominent was the danger. Secret realms were usually guarded by yao beasts. The more rare and valuable the item, the stronger the guardian yao beast was.

Other than yao beasts, what was harder to defend against was the hearts of people. Direct benefits meant direct conflicts of interest. Different from the competition of the Great Pine Pavilion, there would not be judges, no one calling a stop to fights. The fighting would be even more straightforward and bare. If someone killed for treasure, Zuo Mo wouldn’t be surprised.

The world was like this! But it would be too stupid not to attend due to this risk.

To be able to gain something, other than being lucky, it required strength.

He might have been ranked third but he knew his own strength. Luck was a major factor in his third place ranking. The formations that he was skilled in were not suited for fighting. He guessed that the sect leader would have the three disciples from their sect to move together at that time. Undoubtedly, the three pronged trident of Wu Kong Sword Sect would form the strongest team. After them, it would probably be the team of Yu Bai and Nan Men Yang.

However, Zuo Mo didn’t want to drag the others down. Other xiuzhe may avoid them due to their strength, but those yao beasts wouldn’t recognize them.

There were too many comprehensions from this Sword Test Conference that he needed to organize. He also needed a to do a thorough examination of his Five Colored Pagoda.

Pu Yao was always unreliable at the most crucial times, Zuo Mo thought irritably.

———

Wu Kong Hall.

“He’s in seclusion?” Pei Yuan Ran said.

Other than Xin Yan who was still cold and unaffected, the other two appeared to have a headache.

Yan Le rubbed his forehead and said, “He does need to seclude himself and ponder the experiences he received this time.”

“Ponder what?” Shi Feng Rong was furious when it was mentioned. She clearly remembered the mockery from the audience. “Ponder his formations? Or ponder how to make jingshi?” When she remembered how Zuo Mo had asked when the prizes were being awarded when he heard he was third, anger poured out of her heart.

Why did she have such a greedy disciple who didn’t like the sword?

She couldn’t help but peek at the cold Second Shixiong, the anger in her heart growing even stronger. She knew that Second Shixiong was really angry this time.

This little ruffian, he made Second Shixiong angry! Shi Feng Rong raged. She decided to find a chance to sort out this lawless guy.

“No matter. Let him enter seclusion.” Xin Yan suddenly opened to the surprise of everyone else. They had grown together from childhood and knew each other very well. It just wasn’t Shi Feng Rong who saw he was angry.

Seeing Zuo Mo continuing to delve further into formations and not study what was right, Xin Yan did not stop him. According to their thinking, Xin Yan should personally have gone and grabbed Zuo Mo, severely punishing him and then guide him onto the proper path.

Wu Kong Hall was a patch of silence. Everyone was shocked at Xin Yan’s attitude.

In the silence, Xin Yan’s cold and pressuring voice echoed.

“I will make him understand why sword xiu can unite and lead the world of cultivation!”

“Wu Kong Formation Sect! He can’t go … …”

The murderous and dark voice made the other three shudder. Sympathy came onto their faces.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t know at this time just how decisive Xin Yan Shibo’s resolution was. He quickly received his prize. Just like he had imagined, this jade scroll came into his hands without a problem. His choice surprised many people. The Sword Test Conference might have finished but the events of the Sword Test Conference still made waves in Dong Fu.

There were praises, and mockery. Zuo Mo’s choice was the most unexpected choice in the top ten.

Whatever this Scalping Zombie did always surprised people.

Zuo Mo was not concerned with this. With the jade scroll in his possess, he had no more cares, perfect for seclusion.

He burrowed into the stone room, and entered meditation.

Inspecting the situation inside his body, he found his state was bad. The wounds he received this time were much more severe than he had imagined. Under Master’s care, the channels in his body had basically healed, but compared to him at his peak, they had shrunk.

Zuo Mo decided to nurture of his channels.

It was not difficult to nurture channels. It was only using ling power to slowly permeate the channels and re-awaking the vitality inside. However, it was a detailed job and especially demanded patience.

Luckily, Zuo Mo was not in a rush. Slowly nurturing the channels, he took the chance and examined his own body in detail.

The ling power would be absorbed by the mo matrix automatically when it came close to him. The mo matrix would automatically take in ling power. What Zuo Mo marveled at was that the mo matrix, other than automatically taking in ling energy, it was like a filter and automatically purified the power.

Tempering ling power was a step that was unavoidable in cultivation. Ling power that was not purified was not only unable to be used, but could also harm the body.

But with the marvelous mo matrix, Zuo Mo did not need to spend time on purification.

The problem of storing ling power was still unresolved. The ling power would be absorbed through the mo matrix into the body, circulate through the channels, and dissipate inside the body. The greatest storage place inside his body for ling power was his dantian. Compared to the ling power that was absorbed into his body, it could only be considered a small pond.

The remaining ling power was unable to be stored. They flowed along the channels and dissipated into the body.

Normal xiuzhe needed to spend long periods of time to absorb ling power, tempering it over and over to purify it. It would take a long time to fill the dantian.

But Zuo Mo felt the problem was not this.

If a xiuzhe was a container, and the amount of things this container could hold became smaller, then it definitely was a problem with the container. In other words, something was likely wrong with the dantian. His thoughts were very clear.

As expected, when he focused his attention on his dantian, he finally understood why his cultivation would increase so slowly.

The dantian was like a pool, and the ling power the water inside the pool. However, this pool was marvelous in that, as the water rose, the walls of the pool would also rise. That way, the ling power stored inside the body would increase. However, the problem was with the mo matrix. He didn’t know what that a**hole, Pu Yao, was thinking! One region of the mo matrix coincidentally passed through his dantian.

It was like there were two holes in the wall of a pool and once the water inside the pool rose above the height of the holes, the water would be lost. His ling power was spilling out through the holes. These two holes were not small, so even though there was water constantly added to the pool, the height of water inside the pool would not rise.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but grimace.

He really had tasted the bitterness of low cultivation in the Sword Test Conference. His cultivation was not enough, it meant that he had no strength to face someone else in the open. Tricks may be hard for people to deal with, but if he used them it too many times, it wouldn’t work.

Damn it!

Even though he knew what the problem was, he didn’t know what to do.

Changing the dantian wasn’t something a person like him who was just in zhuji could accomplish.

Without any other solution, he could only open his eyes.

He could only slowly work on the problem of cultivation. It was useless to rush. He could only comfort himself with the fact that finally knew what the problem was, now he only had to slowly think of a solution.

Compared to the pause in his ling power, his consciousness had rising quickly and without his knowledge, he had broken through to Fifth Breath. In the void above his sea of consciousness, there was another star.

In reality, before the Sword Test Conference, Zuo Mo didn’t have many good feelings about the [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. It may have been able to increase ling power, but its primary effect was strengthening the consciousness. For Zuo Mo, the consciousness had been far less important than ling power. Even more, it was strong in cultivating his consciousness, but there was no way to use his consciousness. In a person as pragmatic as Zuo Mo’s eyes, it was useless.

But now, Zuo Mo placed much more importance on [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] than any other scripture or spell.

That strange and indescribable state, the ethereal star dust, the feeling as though it was a part of his body …. …

Zuo Mo looked at the Five Colored Pagoda in his hand. A feeling rose as though it was connected to his blood. The little pagoda was like a part of his body, intimate and familiar.

The other reason he entered seclusion was for the Five Colored Pagoda. In the fight during that last great clash, he had been severely wounded, and the Five Colored Pagoda had also received severe damage. He had Master to help heal him, but only he could work on the damage of the Five Colored Pagoda.

The Five Colored Pagoda was dim and dull, and had cracks over the body. If it wasn’t for the feeling of connectedness that existed between them, Zuo Mo would be suspicious that this wasn’t his Five Colored Pagoda.

Feeling the weakness passed on by the Five Colored Pagoda, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but reach out and caress the Five Colored Pagoda.

He closed his eyes, his mind sinking into the Five Colored Pagoda.

Entering the Five Colored Pagoda, he jumped in fright.

Inside the Five Colored Pagoda, the five balls of five element essence were all dim, so faint that they appeared to be able to vanish at any moment.

The ball of consciousness weakly floated in the middle of the five balls of elemental essence without any of the liveliness of before. If the Five Colored Pagoda had been the beginnings of a five element world before, then this five element world was now on the edge of disintegration!

Zuo Mo’s expression was terrible. The situation was worse than he had imagined!

Chapter 159: Gains

The power of the Five Colored Pagoda had left a deep impression on Zuo Mo.

What was most precious was the feeling of connectedness as though it was his arm or finger. He had never felt the same with other talismans. It was hard to determine just how much he had imprinted on it, but it was now the most powerful talisman in Zuo Mo’s possession.

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, it wasn’t just a talisman. It could control the formations. Didn’t that mean that he had an extra set of hands?

He also had a feeling inside that if the Five Colored Pagoda really was ruined, he would also be affected. There were never such beneficial and fortuitous incidents in this world. If it was connected deeply to him as though it were his arms, then if his arms broke, how could he be unaffected?

No matter the cost, he needed to fix the Five Colored Pagoda.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. He took out all the materials from his ring and threw them inside the Pagoda.

The Five Colored Pagoda seemed extremely hungry. When the materials left his hands, they were sucked away.

One by one, the materials entered the Five Colored Pagoda and were deconstructed and converted into the five elemental essences.

Zuo Mo saw the materials flow like water into the Five Colored Pagoda and felt pain. These materials were all bought with large sums of jingshi. Now, they had all been fed to the Five Colored Pagoda. However, what comforted him slightly was this solution was extremely effective. The cracks on the body of the Five Colored Pagoda slowly disappeared with speed visible to the naked eye.

He could feel the five element world inside the Five Colored Pagoda being supplied by large amounts of five element essence and gradually stabilize.

But … …

The empty ring left Zuo Mo with a feeling of heartache.

Competing in the Sword Test Conference had completely cost him all his wealth. He had an impulse to spit blood.

What he wanted to spit blood at even more was the Five Colored Pagoda hadn’t fully recovered even as the last bit of material was absorbed. Compared to the pagoda’s original condition, it was still much dimmer in color. Heavens, how large of a quantity of materials would be needed to completely repair it?!

How much jingshi would that require… …

Zuo Mo didn’t just have any jingshi, and he had no materials left at all. It’s been a long time since he was so poor!

Just at this time, a ball of substance that appeared to be grey mud flew out of the Five Colored Pagoda into Zuo Mo’s palm.

Hm! Zuo Mo stilled. This was the first time he had seen the Five Colored Pagoda spit something out. Quickly, the Five Colored Pagoda passed on information that allowed him to understand what this grey mud was.

Everything belonged to the five elements, this was an extremely broad generalization. In this world, there were still a few things that did not belong to the five elements.

The little ball of grey mud in Zuo Mo’s hands would be the remnants after the Five Colored Pagoda deconstructed the materials into the five elemental energies. These remains did not belong inside the five elements so it was not absorbed by the Five Colored Pagoda and was pushed out.

The corners of Zuo Mo’s eyes jerked!

Eat mine, drink mine, and now shitting on my hand!

The brat, he was lawless!

Burning in rage, he raised his hand to throw the grey mud at the Five Colored Pagoda. The Five Colored Pagoda seemed to know Zuo Mo was angry and skipped away to dodge.

But the hand Zuo Mo raised up suddenly stopped, the anger inside disappearing without a trace.

It did not belong inside the five elements!

Right, this stuff didn’t belong inside the five elements!

Five elements contain all. There were extremely small number of things that were not, and without an exception these items were all extremely rare.

These days, what did rarity mean?

One word –– expensive!

Zuo Mo suddenly became excited. That’s right, the rarer it was, the more expensive it was! The grey mud in his hands was not inside the five elements and definitely should be valuable. Thinking about it, he carefully scraped the mud off his hands into a jade bottle and then put the jade bottle inside a sandalwood box before putting it inside the ring.

Sometime in the future, he should inquire to how much jingshi the grey mud was worth.

The Five Colored Pagoda temporarily stabilized, Zuo Mo’s mood was better now that he found another use for the Five Colored Pagoda.

Looking at the Five Colored Pagoda, he was reminded of his consciousness and the stardust the stars in his consciousness had slowly scattered. However, when he inspected his consciousness, there had not been any change. That was normal. With the slow speed that the stars shed off star dust, it would take a long time for the star dust to spread into the entirety of his consciousness.

Zuo Mo speculated a large amount of stardust was needed to create evident change. Of course, it could also just be his dream. Maybe there would not be a change at all.

He quickly threw the problem of the consciousness to one side.

Formations. His abilities with formations had surprised people, and also increased his confidence. Whenever he thought about the peerless power of the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], he still couldn’t help but become excited!

One against five, each person multiple times stronger than him. Even if it was only one move, and it was the Five Colored Pagoda controlling it, even if it was a fight inside the formation belt … …

Even so, that battle was something that he would never have been able to imagine before. Even now, he still felt it was like a dream.

If he had a deeper understanding of formations, if his control could be stronger, if he had been more careful in setting the formations … …

A fight like that could appear again, it could be copied.

Even more, he now had an introductory formation jade scroll from Kun Lun!

Suddenly, Zuo Mo was full of confidence about the future.

———

Xiao Guo absentmindedly practiced the sword. Shixiong was in seclusion. For some reason, when Shixiong was absent, her motivation to practice the sword was much less.

This was not right, Xiao Guo told herself.

But the sword in her hand was still so heavy, and her steps weak.

“You have to concentrate when practicing the sword!” A voice came from behind her.

Xiao Guo’s movements stopped. Turning, her apple face was full of joyful surprise. “Shixiong!”

Zuo Mo tapped Xiao Guo’s head, taking on the mannerism of a shixiong to lecture, “Not concentrating on practicing the sword, do you want to be disciplined? En, look at your sword, so weak, it only has the appearance … …”

Seeing Shixiong continue on, spit flying, Xiao Guo’s eyes couldn’t help but smile into two crescent moons.

After lecturing Xiao Guo, Zuo Mo laid down on the lounge chair lazily, without any awareness of being a role model. Silly Bird stared disdainfully at Zuo Mo and continued to preen her own feathers.

The feeling of the sun on his body was so good.

“Shixiong, you finished your seclusion?” Xiao Guo timidly asked.

“Oh, yes, it’s done.” Zuo Mo stretched lazily, closing his eyes and enjoying the warm sunshine.

He had gained greatly from this seclusion.

Kun Lun was really Kun Lun!

Each time it was mentioned, Zuo Mo was full of awe for this legendary sect. He had rejoiced countless times that he had chosen this jade scroll and how wise he was. Just an introductory formation jade scroll but it contained so many kinds of formations. The first time he read the jade scroll, he was completely stunned.

In his eyes, this jade scroll had the qualifications to be called the [The Complete Book Of Basic Formations]!

Zuo Mo could be considered to be a hobbyist in collecting jade scrolls but he had never thought that a jade scroll could contain such rich and comprehensive content. In comparison, the jade scrolls of the sect were so simple and rough it was embarrassing.

Inside the formation, there were more than two hundred types of basic formations, and there were all kinds of analyses.

These analyses that came from the Kun Lun formation experts had broadened Zuo Mo’s vision. All of his own ideas that he had been very proud of had been encompassed in the breadth of the jade scroll. Just a few phrases on each formation were sharp as a knife, pinpointing the essence of each profound and cryptic formation. Each formation was easily deconstructed and their relation to each other was revealed with clarity.

Zuo Mo was entranced.

This wasn’t learning, it was a peerless pleasure!

The moment he picked up the jade scroll, he could not stop himself from delving in.

Without sleep or rest, nor drink and food, he muttered to himself like he was sleep-talking, and laughed excitedly like he was insane.

When he finished reading the last analysis in the jade scroll, he was extremely depressed.

An introductory jade scroll could have such power!

What he gained was multiple times what he had imagined. He was like a child that had been swimming in a pond and suddenly saw the ocean.

“Is Shixiong going to seclusion again?” Xiao Guo asked timidly.

“Oh, no. There’s no jingshi to get in seclusion.” Zuo Mo lazily said. He suddenly thought of a question and asked, “Where are Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong? What are they busy with?”

Hearing that Zuo Mo wasn’t going back into seclusion, Xiao Guo’s eyes turned to crescents. “Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong are all in seclusion.”

Zuo Mo made a sound of acknowledgement. He wasn’t surprised.

———

Dong Fu.

The Sword Test Conference had finished. All the experts went back to their own homes. Dong Fu instantly became less lively. Of course, compared to the Dong Fu of the past, it was much more prosperous. This year’s Sword Test Conference had caused Dong Fu to stand out in the thirteen primary towns.

Not long in the future, it would be the time Tian Song Zi promised to open the secret realm. Even though they could not attend, but many still stayed, especially those who desperately needed certain hard to obtainmaterials. What secret realms were most famous for was producing all kinds of treasures. Larger material merchants also sent people to wait.

Zuo Mo rode Silly Bird, and headed straight to the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion.

There were many more people in the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion which surprised him. Coming for the second time, he was not as cautious as before.

Welcoming Zuo Mo was still the same storekeeper as last time.

When he saw Zuo Mo, he congratulated, “Congratulations, congratulations! Mister Zuo really is extraordinary. That last attack made my heart stop!” Then he pushed his voice lower and said, “Hee hee, many thanks to Mister Zuo!”

Zuo Mo stilled. “How so?”

“Hee hee, Mister Zuo had great skill to forge the Five Colored Pagoda into a soul tethered talisman! Our store also has benefited!”

Zuo Mo finally understood. However, what he realized was not the increase in the customers, but why the Five Colored Pagoda was so powerful now. So it had become his soul tethered talisman!

To a guy like him who had made “deep study” of talismans, how could he not know soul tethered talismans?

Soul tethered talisman … …

He was slightly excited but did not show it on his face. Just like usual, he grasped the main point. “Ha, that’s great. In the future, give me a bit of a discount!”

Hearing this, the storekeeper could only laugh along.

Zuo Mo was not concerned, asking, “Is Miss Su here?”

“Yes, please come with me!” The storekeeper hurriedly reached forward to usher him, clearly having already received orders.

Chapter 160: Intense Fire Dan

Su had been waiting for Zuo Mo for a long time.

Even though she was uncertain that Zuo Mo would aid her since she had not helped Zuo Mo like originally planned. She waited rather than going to Wu Kong Mountain due to her trust in Lin Qian. For some unknown reason this extremely mysterious youth instilled her with confidence.

“When do we begin?” Zuo Mo asked.

“I’m not in a hurry.” A jade bottle appeared on Su’s hand. “This is Fort Chao’s Intense Fire Dan. Consume it first, I’ll help you stabilize the medicine power.”

He hesitated but still took the jade bottle. Opening it, he could feel a wave of heat flood out of the jade bottle. Lying inside were beads that seemed to be carved out of red jade.

The Stalagmite fire was a cold fire. The fire power in this Intense Fire Dan was clearly hot fire. The two were of completely different attributes. It would most likely be troublesome to merge them together.

However, Zuo Mo still decided to try because he had consumed the Golden Crow Pills which contained the Golden Crow Fire which was also a hot fire.

The two sat in the seclusion room with Su positioned behind Zuo Mo.

“Intense Fire Dan was made from underground lava. It contains Lava Earth Fire and is extremely domineering. You have to be careful.” Su did not waste words, putting her hand on Zuo Mo’s back.

Zuo Mo shoved an Intense Fire Dan into his mouth.

Once the Intense Fire Dan entered his mouth, it turned to an extremely hot stream of energy. This hot stream was boiling like it was lava. Zuo Mo felt as though it would burn through his body.

As expected, it truly was domineering!

Not daring to slack off, Zuo Mo hurriedly channeled ling power to surround this bright red hot stream! If he allowed this hot stream to run rampant through his body, it would quickly damage his channels.

Zuo Mo’s skin that was exposed to the air suddenly became bright red like glowing hot metal.

Su didn’t dare to slack off either, channeling ling power to carefully permeate Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo detected ling power entering from his back. He did not panic but carefully inspected it. His consciousness was extremely large. Since his body was definitely his home field, he easily saw through Su’s ling power.

Such a strange ling power! Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be interested.

Su’s ling power was not flowing like water, but like countless moving strands. It seemed to be composed of countless little fish into schools and was extremely unique. He remembered that Su’s sword scripture was magnetic power. Was this the trick to it?

Zuo Mo noted it down.

Su could never dream that as she helped Zuo Mo digest the medicinal power, Zuo Mo managed to comprehend some of the intricacies of her ling power. It really wasn’t that she was inattentive, but Zuo Mo’s present consciousness was far outside of the expectations of normal people. Who would think a zhuji would have such a large consciousness?

Zuo Mo finally experienced just how great the gap was between ningmai and zhuji.

Su’s ling power was not fierce, but it was endless. When the domineering Intense Fire Dan was surrounded by this ling power, it was unable to move.

Zuo Mo knew it was time for him to act!

What Su could do was help him stabilize the medicinal power, but only he could process it.

He didn’t immediately let his ling power stream over, but used his consciousness to inspect the strong and domineering medicinal power.

Su carefully controlled her ling power. Since it was inside Zuo Mo’s body, her control was greatly decreased.

After a moment, Zuo Mo’s ling power was still motionless without any intentions of going forward.

Why wasn’t he doing anything? She furrowed her brows. She didn’t understand why Zuo Mo was procrastinating. Did he not know how to process medicinal power?

Just as she felt puzzled, Zuo Mo’s ling power suddenly moved.

Two thin tendrils of ling power charged at the medicinal power she was stabilizing.

Just this little bit of ling power?

She was slightly discontent. What was this guy doing? Using this little bit of ling power, how long would it take to process all the medicinal power? She securely held onto the medicinal power but the medicinal power of the Intense Fire Dan was extremely domineering. Even though it was caught in the grasp of her ling power, but it was like the wild beast in a cage and struggled to break free. Her ling power was slowly being consumed, even if the rate was not fast.

At this time, another two streams of ling power went to the back of the medicinal power.

Still not enough!

Su wanted to remind Zuo Mo that processing medicinal power required large amounts of ling power, and for him not to skimp on ling power at this time.

Before she could speak, there was another two streams of ling power!

Two streams!

Another two!

… …

In an extremely short period of time, Zuo Mo’s ling power turned to eighty something slender streams of ling power.

Su gaped with wide eyes. What, what was this … …

The scene that took place was completely out of her imagination.

The eighty-something streams of ling power were like extremely slippery earthworms that burrowed into the ling power she had wrapped around the Intense Fire Dan. In the blink of an eye, the domineering and explosive medicinal power was cut by Zuo Mo’s tiny ling power into seven or eight pieces.

Looking at the domineering medicinal power slowly nibbled away by those tiny ling power. No, it wasn’t nibbling. Even though they moved bit by bit, but the processing speed was extremely fast.

In a short moment, there was only a little bit of the medicinal power left.

Quickly, all the medicinal power of the Intense Fire Dan had been processed.

What remained after processing was a strand of extremely pure deep red fire power. Zuo Mo could feel the terrifying temperature contained in this tiny bit of fire power. It was all the essence of the entire Intense Fire Dan and it was Zuo Mo’s target.

It was rare to see such pure fire power, even if it was just a thread. Thinking about what Su had said, that the Intense Fire Dan was made from lava deep underground, it was no wonder that the fire power contained was so pure. In the descriptions of flames in the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], all kinds of earth fire were not low-grade fire seeds.

This pure thread of earth fire, to him, it was the best “nourishment”!

Zuo Mo carefully controlled the Stalagmite fire. As the Stalagmite fire appeared, a dark and cold presence instantly spread.

The milky white Stalagmite fire quickly wrapped around the thread of deep red earth fire.

One was yin and cold, the other was hot, yet the two strangely merged together. Zuo Mo could clearly feel that a wondrous change had occurred after the Stalagmite fire had absorbed this thread of earth fire. However, limited by the amount of earth fire, the change could not be clearly seen.

This surprised him. The trouble he had predicted did not occur. The entire merging process was so smooth he was shocked.

There were thirty six Intense Fire Dan. In other words, there were still thirty five threads of earth fire!

He began to feel anticipation. If all thirty six threads of Lava Earth Fire was merged into the Stalagmite fire, what change would occur?

Since there was no problems with the merging, Zuo Mo instantly increased his speed, throwing another Intense Fire Dan into his mouth.

Su steadily stabilized her ling power. Without her notice, a layer of fine sweat appeared on her forehead. She started to feel the burden. Zuo Mo’s speed was truly too fast, processing one pill after the next. She didn’t have a chance to breathe and rest.

She desired very much to stop but she suppressed it. A ningmai xiuzhe asking a zhuji to stop and rest, she couldn’t say it! Even more, all she had to do was just stabilize the medicinal power. The ling power consumed in processing was even greater. Zuo Mo hadn’t relented, so how could she?

She could only bear it!

Up until now, she did not understand how Zuo Mo did all this.

It should have been the person doing the processing who used up ling power more quickly, but up until now, after more than ten Intense Fire Dan, Zuo Mo did not show any signs of exhaustion. How was it possible? He was just a zhuji xiuzhe!

Su gritted her teeth. Her ling power was tightly wrapped around the medicinal power of the Intense Fire Dan. Zuo Mo’s ling power needed to go through her ling power in order to interact with the medicinal power, so she clearly perceived every movement of Zuo Mo’s ling power.

But even if she knew, she still found it impossible.

Zuo Mo used several dozen streams of ling power, each of which was controlled extremely delicately. It was clear that this was not the first time he had done this. This was the first time she had seen a processing method like Zuo Mo’s strange one. She couldn’t help but admire Zuo Mo’s idea. To cut the medicinal power into multiple parts, dividing before processing. It could greatly increase the efficiency.

What shocked her was those each of the tiny streams of ling power were as sharp as knifes. Their power may have been small, but they could easily cut the medicinal power into little pieces.

She had more experience and her cultivation was much higher than Zuo Mo’s , so she naturally understood how he accomplished it.

He only needed to find the weakest spot in the medicinal power to achieve this result.

But the crux of the problem was, how could Zuo Mo be so fast and accurate in finding the most fragile place on the medicinal power? Her ling power was wrapped around the medicinal power but she knew she couldn’t do such a thing.

Not just her, even her shixiong Gu Rong Ping definitely could not do such a delicate task!

This was probably Zuo Mo’s secret!

Having thought it through, the shock in Su’s mind gradually faded. Each person had their own skills. A person that displayed such talent at the Sword Test Conference like Zuo Mo, must have some unique talent.

Her mind calming down, she started to admire Zuo Mo’s “performance.”

Zuo Mo’s fine control of ling power truly could live up to the word “performance.” Several dozen strands of ling power were being controlled according to his wishes, cooperating among themselves easily like an army. They all had their individual tasks combining to create the larger picture. The explosive and domineering medicinal power in comparison was like a gigantic beast which only looked fierce yet had no substance, and was easily dismembered. The entire process was fast and accurate, clean and crisp without any unnecessary movements.

Seeing them move was a pleasure.

However, this also exposed that Zuo Mo’s ling power was not strong. It was beneficial in formations to have strong fine control over ling power, but for sword scriptures, there were not many benefits.

In a short period of time, Su made her conclusion.

In her eyes, Zuo Mo was still strong but this strength was different than others. His weakness was also clear. In other words, Zuo Mo’s strength could only be expressed under certain conditions. She thought about the Sword Test Conference and the shocking formation that Zuo Mo had set up. Hadn’t he created an environment where he could use his strength?

She couldn’t help but shake her head. In her eyes, a strength like Zuo Mo was superficial, he had too many limitations.

Sword cultivation was the correct path. No matter the circumstances, sword xiu could grasp their own fate! Thinking about it, she strengthened her resolve to cultivate the sword, full of anticipation towards the sword billet that was to be forged.

Six hours later, the last Intense Fire Dan landed in his stomach and quickly turned into a thread of Lava Earth Fire.

As the thirty-sixth thread of Lava Earth Fire merged, the Stalagmite fire suddenly changed!

Chapter 161: Forging The Sword Billet

The Stalagmite Fire suddenly grew as though oil had been poured on the fire. The flame jumped in height, the presence increasing along with it.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but become nervous. The most important moment had come.

The large Stalagmite Fire spat like a furious beast, the cold and explosive presence spreading into the surroundings. Even Zuo Mo’s channels were affected, feeling like they were pierced by needles.

Su hurriedly took back her ling power. At this time, her ling power was unable to help Zuo Mo, and would only distract him.

She opened her eyes and saw Zuo Mo trembling as he sat in front of her. His forehead was covered in a layer of frost.

Such a powerful cold fire!

Su was shocked inside. She stared nervously at Zuo Mo. If the merging this time failed, then there definitely wouldn’t be any forging of her sword billet.

Zuo Mo’s heart was in the air. He had done what he could do. The rest was up to fate.

As time passed, the restless Stalagmite Fire slowly quieted. The flame continued to shrink down and finally stabilized.

The new Stalagmite Fire had formed!

The present Stalagmite Fire was completely different compared to before. First, the size was about one third larger than before. The biggest difference was the past Stalagmite Fire had been milky white but the present Stalagmite Fire was surprisingly divided into three levels.

The outermost layer was the same milky white flame as before, and the middle was a dark red flame. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was the black fire in the very center. Even though it was just a thread, it was still easily detectable. The three levels were clearly divided.

The white flame was the Stalagmite Fire, the deep red flame was the Lava Earth Fire processed from the Intense Fire Dan, then what was the thread of black fire? Zuo Mo was slightly curious.

After investigating, he finally understood. This extremely thin strand of black fire was actually the toxin which had infected the flame when he had processed the Inky Black Lotus seed last time! If it wasn’t for the abnormal change this time, he wouldn’t have detected that his fire seed contained such a powerful toxin. What he hadn’t even thought about was that toxins could turn into flames!

The new flame was very different from the past Stalagmite Fire and it felt different to control.

The cold and yin energy had greatly decreased but the shift between ice and fire was more easy to accomplish. What Zuo Mo did not understand at all was how the thread of black fire could be used. In this three leveled fire, the Stalagmite Fire was of the lowest grade, then it was the Lava Earth Fire. The highest grade was this black fire which Zuo Mo knew nothing about. Upon further thought, Zuo Mo felt it was normal. This thread of black fire was received through processing the fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus Seed. That was fourth-grade!

The Stalagmite Fire was just a second-grade fire seed.

He didn’t hurry, slowly exploring the new flame. This was a completely new flame. Even the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] did not describe this kind of flame. This meant that Zuo Mo could only explore and understand on his own.

Being deep in his investigation of the new flame, Zuo Mo forgot the passage of time.

Su noticed Zuo Mo’s body had resumed normal. The frost on his forehead had disappeared. She released a breath. Seeing that Zuo Mo seemed to be in meditation, she didn’t hurry him, sitting down at the side to recover her ling power. She had waited so long, she didn’t care about a few more days.

———

Zuo Mo sat for three days.

When he opened his eyes again, other than exhaustion, there was a light that was unable to be disguised in his eyes.

Su’s heart relaxed.

After another day, Zuo Mo had recovered to his optimal state and was finally going to start forging the sword billet.

Zuo Mo did not allow Su to watch. If people watched, it was easy for the forger to be disturbed. He went into a seclusion room. The materials he needed had already been placed there. There was also a pile of jingshi for Zuo Mo to recover his ling power.

Zuo Mo snickered. He naturally would take the jingshi. Starting from now until he successfully forged the billet, he would stay inside the room. Su personally stood guard outside.

He took out a jade scroll. The jade scroll contained all the formations that needed to be carved onto each sword billet as well as the method to forge the sword billet. There was nothing exceptional about the forging method. Zuo Mo only needed to glance through it to understand the process.

His mind was quickly attracted to the four kinds of formations.

These were four kinds of formations he had never seen before. Just this was enough for him to be full of interest. To allow the forger to be able to successfully finish the forging, the jade scroll had extremely detailed descriptions of the four formations.

After he finished, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but inhale sharply.

A fourth-grade formation!

Four kinds of completely different fourth-grade formations!

Now he understood why Su hadn’t managed to find someone to forge the sword billet until now. Each sword billet needed to have a fourth-grade formation carved onto it. Four sword billets, four completely different kinds of fourth-grade formations.

Also … … there was a strange connection between these four formations.

Zuo Mo had thought that he had properly prepared, found that the difficulty in forging the sword billets was much higher than he had predicted. It was much much higher!

He helplessly shook his head. He really was going to take a loss on this job! This difficulty, he could have asked for a much higher price. Zuo Mo felt deep regret for having lost such a good opportunity, especially since he was now penniless.

His attention went back to the formations. The first step he needed to do was understand these four formations.

If he didn’t understand the formations, how could he carve the formations on the small sword billets?

If this was before the Sword Test Conference, he would have definitely patted his ass and left. Four kinds of completely different fourth-grade formations was definitely outside of his abilities. Zuo Mo had just upgraded his fire seed and bathed in the introductory formations of the jade scroll from Kun Lun, leaving his confidence at its peak.

He decided to challenge this difficult task!

According to the description on the jade scroll, he started to study the four types of formations. From this, it was possible to see how much help the Kun Lun jade scroll was to him! Having studied the Kun Lun jade scroll, Zuo Mo’s vision and understanding had gone up several levels.

Fourth-grade formations. Naturally, they had places that were profound and cryptic, especially when it was four completely different fourth-grade formations.

But Zuo Mo, in the span of five days, slowly managed to grasp the four kinds of formations bit by bit.

When the four kinds of formations appeared in front of him, his heart was filled with an indescribable feeling of accomplishment. All of his exhaustion washed away. His heart was so free he wanted to howl.

Zuo Mo did not use the double Four-Turn Fire formation that Lin Qian suggested. He planned to use this chance to try out his new fire seed.

In any case, it wasn’t his stuff, he thought heartlessly.

Zuo Mo put the four pieces of Cold Magnet in front of him. When he had cut the Cold Magnet last time, they were not of the same size. However, this was not a big problem for him.

Putting up a Ling Gathering Formation, he sat within the formation, the Five Colored Pagoda floating in front of him. The Five Colored Pagoda could greatly increase his abilities to control the five elements. Control of fire was naturally included.

He flipped his palm and the new fire seed appeared above the tip of the Five Colored Pagoda. Zuo Mo decided to name this new fire seed [Inky Lava White Fire]. Since no one had named it before, it was up to him.

A black center, deep red in the middle flame, and milky white on the outside.

The Inky Lava White Fire silently burned tamely without any of the explosiveness previous.

Zuo Mo’s eyes became serious. He threw the smallest piece of Cold Magnet into the Inky Lava White Fire.

His ling power started to flow towards the Inky Lava White Fire. The flame grew and wrapped around the Cold Magnet. The first step he needed to do was to use the flame to rid the Cold Magnet of any impurities it had. This was just a matter of large amounts of time. However, that did not include Zuo Mo. His consciousness was strong. He could easily detect where the impurities were in the cold magnet. This way, his efficiency was much higher.

He only spent one day to purify the piece of Cold Magnet.

In this time, what he needed to do was maintain a steady output of ling power. With the aid of the mo matrix and the Five Colored Pagoda, this laborious process was extremely easy.

Next was forging the Cold Magnet into the shape of a sword.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath and increased the amount of ling power he was channelling. The Inky Lava White Fire jumped up. In the seclusion room, cold and hot, two different presences, crashed together, and created explosions.

Inside the flame, the Cold Magnet slowly melted until it became a puddle of metal liquid.

What was strange was the metal liquid was not red but a strange black-blue that released a strong chilling presence.

Under the Inky Lava White Fire, the Five Colored Pagoda suddenly spun, faster and faster until it became a five colored shadow.

The metal liquid inside the fire seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and slowly changed shape.

Time passed and sweat appeared on Zuo Mo’s forehead. His breathing became panting, and he seemed to be under a great burden. However, under his control, the spinning of the Five Colored Pagoda did not slow, and still kept on increasing speed!

Inside the flame, the metal liquid slowly flowed until it was almost in the shape of a sword.

At this time, Zuo Mo finally had a chance to take a breather and rest. The Ling Gathering Formation around him had already been expended and turned to dust. He used the change to make another Ling Gathering Formation. The most important step was coming! Zuo Mo widened his eyes, not daring to relax.

The metal liquid slowly solidified. Suddenly, a bright blue appeared on the black-blue metal liquid.

Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. His hands bloomed like flowers, spell after spell were cast from his hands into the sword billet within the flames. The sword billet still did not change. Not good, the flame was not strong enough!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, channelling ling power again. The black flame at the very center of the Inky Lava White Flame was like a slender black tongue that licked the sword billet. At the same time, his hands moved again!

Light after light was cast into the flame.

The bright blue sword billet suddenly lit up. As the light of the spells landed on the sword billet, it was as though the light was clearly carved onto the surface of the sword billet.

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to pause. His eyes wide, all the ling power in his body moving, his hair standing on end. He was like a strong whirlpool. The ling power from the Ling Gathering Formation was pulled by an invisible force to flood towards him.

Large amounts of ling power flooded into his body. Even though there was the mo matrix, but Zuo Mo still felt pain.

At this time, he didn’t have the effort to call out in pain. The finger motions of his hands sped up again, the light of the spells continuously feeding into the sword billet.

Such fierce and extreme forging continued for six whole hours.

A stream of fresh blood silently streamed out of the corner of his mouth, snaking down.

The blurring fingers suddenly stopped in front of his body, the last spell accurately hitting the sword billet inside the flames.

Diiiiiiiing!

The sword billet gently hummed!

The light of the sword billet suddenly brightened and then dimmed until it disappeared.

A small black-blue sword billet silently floated in the air.

———

Ten days later.

Guarding outside the door, Su suddenly raised her head, joyous surprise on her face.

Chapter 162: Reselling

Four blue-black sword billets floated vertically in front of Su. There seemed to be an invisible magnetism between the sword billets. She reached out to touch one of them. The other three also moved along with it. The four sword billets maintained their distance from each other, all of them pointing away from each other in a compass arrangement.

The joy in Su’s eyes became even heavier. The four sword billets marched around her.

The storekeeper found it wondrous. “Amazing craftsmanship! The four swords are as one, able to attack and defend, truly the finest! If it can be tempered over time, this sword would be hard to trace!”

Zuo Mo was tired but he was still quite alert. Finishing the sword billets, he found himself extremely relaxed.

“Having finished this, I need to leave.” Zuo Mo prepared to leave.

Su suddenly called Zuo Mo. “Mister Zuo, please wait! This one had not helped during the Sword Test Conference, yet Mister Zuo still kept to your promise and helped me forge the sword billets. This little girl is extremely grateful. Mister Zuo, please take this bottle of Dying Flowing Moon!”

Su’s gaze was sincere, unable to let go of the four sword billets.

Zuo Mo naturally wouldn’t be polite. Dying Flowing Moon was very good! Quickly taking the Dying Flowing Moon, he said piously, “Then this one will accept.”

He thought of something and turned to say to the storekeeper. “I have something here I want to ask Storekeeper to take a look.”

The storekeeper hurriedly said, “It would be my honor!” If the reputation of Zuo Mo’s strength was why they did not dare to slight him, now, after successfully forging the four sword billets, Zuo Mo’s skill in forging received more respect from the storekeeper. The storekeeper and the others were business people. Their business was also in talismans. Why would they ever offend a cultivator who had limitless potential and was skilled in forging?

Zuo Mo took out a wooden box from the ring. Opening the box, he took out a jade bottle.

The two saw Zuo Mo was so serious, and became more curious to what treasure he was taking out.

Zuo Mo handed the jade bottle to the storekeeper, saying, “This item is not inside the five elements, but this one does not know what it is. Please, Storekeeper, take a look!”

“Not inside the five elements!” Su’s expression changed.

The storekeeper also slightly changed expression but maintained the sternness in his expression. How good a storekeeper’s eyes were was the most important measure of a storekeeper’s skill. He didn’t want to ruin his own reputation.

Carefully taking out the cork, he pour out the grey mud inside the bottle onto a snowy-white jade plate.

After studying for a few moments, he solemnly announced, “This one cannot distinguish what this substance is, but it truly is not inside the five elements. It doesn’t seem like just one substance, but is a mixture of a variety of different substances not inside the five elements. It really is curious.”

What he found it strange was that materials not inside the five elements were rare, and it was hard to even find one or two, so he did not know how such a complex mixture was produced.

Zuo Mo stilled. He suddenly remembered the large variety of materials he had thrown into the Five Colored Pagoda. The composition of this grey mud must be very complex. He couldn’t help but admire the skill of the storekeeper.

“What is the value of this substance?” Zuo Mo asked.

The storekeeper shook his head. “Hard to say.” He then explained, “If it was one substance, this one can easily set a price. The composition of this substance is extremely complex, and probably has a special use. Maybe it could be used in a flying sword. Materials not inside the five elements, if added into flying swords, can increase the grade of flying swords.”

He glanced at the four flying swords floating in front of Su and said, “If Miss Su could add this substance into the four sword billets before they were forged, the grade would have increased greatly.”

Vexation came into Su’s eyes. But since the formations on the sword billet had taken form, there was nothing to do so she did not say anything.

Zuo Mo was very curious. “Substances not of the five elements can increase the grade of flying swords? I’ve never heard of this.”

The storekeeper saw Zuo Mo was interested and said, “It is hard to find substances not of the five elements. The price has never dropped, and dependent on the attributes of the material, the effect is different. However, one quality is common to all. They are extremely attractive to ling power, especially ling power that is not strongly oriented to the five elements. For roaming xiu that cultivate the five elements, this is not a good thing, but to us sword xiu, it is the best. Most of the sword sect in our jie do not have ling power oriented to the five elements.”

He had originally wanted to say that five element sword scriptures didn’t have much of a future, when he suddenly remembered the sword scripture that Zuo Mo practiced was a five element sword scripture so he quickly changed his wording.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo instantly became excited. Coming from a sword sect, he instantly realized the value of the grey mud on his hands.

“If it is only used as material for flying swords, storekeeper, give a price.” Zuo Mo said.

The storekeeper hesitated and reported a price, “Two hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi.”

As he finished, Su suddenly opened, “Three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, can Mister Zuo part with this?” After several interactions with Zuo Mo, she had figured out his general personality. This guy was clear and hard to trick, but as long as there was enough money, he could be tempted.

“Okay!” Without another word, Zuo Mo agreed.

Three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi was far beyond the price in his heart. The grey mud was just the waste from the Five Colored Pagoda, and easy to get.

Su was also crisp in handing over the jingshi to give to Zuo Mo.

Having jingshi, Zuo Mo felt his heart rest. He sighed inside. As expected, with food in his hand, his heart wouldn’t panic.

Three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. It wasn’t much but it wasn’t a small amount. However, in the Hundred Treasures Flying Pavilion, it was only enough to buy one talisman. Zuo Mo could only reluctantly leave. The stuff of the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion was good, but the price wasn’t something normal people could pay.

His goal was businesses with lower prices, for example, He Rong.

Among the people that Zuo Mo knew, Fu Jin was a snakehead. His connections were complex and could always obtain things difficult to find. However, if it was mainstream materials, he didn’t have any advantages. He Rong and Zuo Mo had worked together before, their working relationship was well established.

When He Rong saw Zuo Mo, he was extremely surprised. He quickly gave a smile, “Zuo ye coming to this little shop, it is our honor!”

Zuo Mo’s name was like the sun right now, a hot commodity in the entire Sky Moon Jie. He Rong put himself extremely low.

“Does Boss He find me too old?” The first words that Zuo Mo said made He Rong’s expression change but his next words made him release a breath. “Treating an old friend like this, it really is too courteous! Just call me Xiao Zuo.”

He Rong could not be blamed for being so nervous. Compared to before, Zuo Mo was someone that was famous in Dong Fu. Businesspeople like He Rong saw even farther into the future. Wu Kong Sword Sect, who had three disciples of limitless potential and four jindan experts, would definitely rise.

Wu Kong Sword Sect was abnormally mysterious. No one knew what their conduct was like so when outsiders faced them, they naturally were careful.

He Rong was very experienced, and naturally went along with the flow, pretending to be familiar, “Look, look, you call me He Boss, but wanting me to call you Xiao Zuo, this is not right. If we are brothers, just call me Old He.”

Having received such fame, Zuo Mo’s conduct did not seem different than before, without any pride. Thinking out the core disciples of those sects that he usually had relations with, He Rong couldn’t help but sigh. If Wu Kong Sword Sect did not rise, then there was no justice in the world.

“Ha ha, right. We have history.” Zuo Mo said. He had interacted countless times before with Fu Jin and the others. He was very familiar with all this.

He Rong pointed at Zuo Mo, smiling as he said, “I know you won’t just come for nothing. Say it, selling or buying?”

Zuo Mo snicked. “Old He knows me so well. I’m planning on buying some five element materials.”

“Five element materials?” He Rong had a puzzled expression. “What do you want that for?” He suddenly realized, “Right, my memory, you are also skilled in forging and dan-making!”

Zuo Mo didn’t explain, only smiling and saying, “I want to pick some materials strong in five element power, do you have any?”

“Good kinds, or normal?”

“Normal.”

“Come with me.” He Rong nodded and said to Zuo Mo, walking at the front.

He Rong’s store was composed of the front shop and the back yard. Zuo Mo followed him through the store into the back yard. Passing through the yard and into the inner compound, Zuo Mo finally noticed that the doorway to the compound was full of jinzhi.

Even with Zuo Mo’s eyes, he couldn’t help but be shocked. Some of these jinzhi were extremely powerful, and confusion and illusory jinzhi were countless.

Just as he was puzzled, He Rong suddenly stopped. His hands cast multiple spells. A door of light appeared in front of them.

“Come in.” He Rong stepped inside the door first.

Zuo Mo was curious and hurried to follow.

Stepping inside the door of light, the space in front of him suddenly became vast. There were hundreds of ten zhang high shelves made from pinewood arranged into lines. The shelves were filled with all kinds of materials, and a strange odor wafting in the air.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen something this spectacular. He thought inside that He Rong’s business was much larger than he had imagined!

He Rong did not show it, but he was not a simple character!

Zuo Mo felt his steps were much lighter than usual. He made a sound and looked down at the ground.

He Rong noticed Zuo Mo’s shock. He smiled and said, “Brother Zuo must rarely come to the stores.” He then explained, “Storage areas would usually have a [Light Feather Formation] on the ground. The workers can float in the air, and it is convenient to fetch items. If they accidentally drop something, the item would not be damaged.”

Zuo Mo instantly understood, “So that’s why!”

His feet slightly used force and he was like a feather that floated into the air. What was even more particular was that he could freely adjust his direction in the air. The design was amazing!

He Rong had a smile. He had the desire to show his strength when he decided to take Zuo Mo into the stores. Wu Kong Sword Sect would definitely rise in the future. In order to create a cooperative relationship with this kind of sect, strength was the base of cooperation.

“Here, all the five element materials are here. Pick whichever items you want. Oh, I’ll give you the best price.” He Rong smiled. Giving a good price, but not free. Zuo Mo felt that was even more comfortable.

“Then many thanks, Old Brother He!” Zuo Mo’s words were really from his heart.

People who had strength could always more easily receive respect from others.

Zuo Mo went into the materials and started to pick.

His measure was very special. He didn’t care about the grade of the material, what he needed was five elemental power. The Five Colored Pagoda was not a picky eater. Right now, the Five Colored Pagoda’s primary goal was to recover its power, not to increase its level. He did not need to consider high level materials.

Also, in compliance with Zuo Mo’s usual conduct, he decided to take the price to the extreme –– materials that were the cheapest and had the most five element power!

Chapter 163: People Don’t Do This

Returning to the sect, Zuo Mo was very satisfied.

He had come back with a huge pile of materials. When he thought of He Rong’s dumbstruck expression, he felt great. Almost as though he was robbing He Rong, he had bought out many of the rarely-used materials.

Three hundred pieces of jingshi was not an large sum, but to buy low-grade materials? It had great buying power.

Five Colored Berry Leaf, first-grade material, containing rich five elemental power, but due to the mixture of five elemental power, it was only used at dan formation for only a few kinds of lingdan. Twenty sprigs to a bundle. Each bundle sold for ten pieces of second-grade jingshi.

Gold-patterned Snake Fragrant Grass, rich in gold element power, often used as an auxiliary material in tempering flying swords.

It was considered a low-end material, due to the fact there were many substitutes for it. After the Gold-patterned Snake Fragrant Grass was dried, it was pressed into bricks. One brick weighed two taels, the price was five pieces of second-grade jingshi.

Rainbow Vine held a mixture of the five elements. The body of the vine was multicolored and was named for rainbow-like appearance. When added to a fire, it could increase the power of the fire. Ten catties in a bundle, the price was fifteen pieces of second-grade jingshi.

… …

Piling all these materials he had brought into the yard, Silly Bird flew down from the roof and rooted around before flying back to the roof in disappointment. There clearly was no “snack” that she liked here.

Zuo Mo was too lazy to pay attention to this wastrel that only knew how to eat and laze around. He summoned the Five Colored Pagoda.

It was lucky that ge had practiced [Vajra Profound Sutra] … …

Looking at the mountain of material, Zuo Mo took a breath and started [Vajra Profound Sutra]. As, he started to work, he took of his top revealing his golden ribs.

The bundles of Five Colored Berry Grass was moved in groups of ten; the bricks of dried Gold-pattern Snake Fragrant Grass went flying like rain; moving the ten catty bundles of Rainbow Vine was the most exhausting, Zuo Mo had turned into a manual laborer … …

In the yard, Zuo Mo sweated like rain, singing loudly, “Pagoda, you are a cow, what you eat is grass, what is squeezed from you is milk ,ah ah ah en ah … …”

The Five Colored Pagoda appeared to be drunk as it swayed as it ate the materials.

When the last piece of material was sucked into the pagoda, the Five Colored Pagoda finally laid down with a thud.

Zuo Mo froze. Not caring that he was half-naked, he bent down and prodded the Five Colored Pagoda which was on the ground. No response! It shouldn’t have a problem from eating too much, right? He thought hesitantly.

After a while, the Five Colored Pagoda rolled around on the ground twice before swaying as it stood up. The stone in Zuo Mo’s heart landed. He laughed heartlessly, “Ha, I had thought you were too full. So you still hadn’t had enough!”

Maybe it was that it heard the words, the Five Colored Pagoda suddenly shook. Splat, it spat out something and then dropped to the ground, rolling a few circles before becoming motionless.

Zuo Mo was gleeful. Did it poop out the remnants again? What the little pagoda pooped out was jingshi!

But when he looked, he was greatly disappointed. This wasn’t any remnant, it clearly was half a bundle of Five Colored Berry Leaf. He couldn’t help but look in puzzlement and ask, “Lil’ Pagoda, is this not tasty?”

The Five Colored Pagoda shook, rolling away from Zuo Mo.

On the rooftop, Silly Bird looked in sympathy at the Five Colored Pagoda that was rolling around. Then she lowered her head to go back to preening her feathers.

What Zuo Mo felt disappointed about was that Lil’ Pagoda didn’t spit out any remnants this time. His plan of buying low and selling high failed. However, with large amounts of five element power, the Five Colored Pagoda seemed to have recovered to a large extent, even though the sheen was not as bright as before. These materials were just low-grade materials. They were enough in terms of quantity but in quality, it was still not enough.

Zuo Mo was helpless.

From the results of these two experiences, he concluded only high level materials would yield remnants.

Now, whenever Zuo Mo looked at the Five Colored Pagoda, the Five Colored Pagoda would timidly shrink back. Zuo Mo said in a regretful tone, “Lil’ Pagoda, if you could poop after eating all this, how great would it be!”

The Five Colored Pagoda shook, continuously making sounds of throwing up.

———

Back of Wu Kong Mountain.

Five people floated in midair. Under their feet, the valley was completely transformed.

“Finally done!” Yan Le couldn’t help but sigh. The other people were also tired.

Wu Ling Sanren couldn’t help but say, “Your sect has really spared no expense! Such an expanse, it is rare to see even in the restricted grounds of those large sects.” His expression was extremely exhausted, but different from the others was that the exhaustion could barely disguise his excitement.

The jinzhi in front of him was created by five jindan experts working together to destroy five mountain peaks, clearing out five mountain valleys, and chiseling out nine deep springs. They had covered more than half of Wu Kong Mountains. If this wasn’t considered a great work, then Sky Moon Jie had no great works.

“We’ve really bled blood for this boy!” Even a person as composed as Pei Yuan Ran felt his heart was bleeding.

Wu Ling Sanren’s payment, countless materials … …

Almost half of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s assets had been used up. Yan Le who was in charge of the monies had a terrible expression, gritting his teeth as he said, “The boy can slowly enjoy this.” He turned and then said to Wu Ling Sanren with a slightly suspicious tone. “Are you sure he cannot solve it? The boy is very talented in formations.”

Wu Ling Sanren was so furious he almost left. Pei Yuan Ran hurriedly lectured Yan Le. “Do not be so impolite to Sanren!”

Yan Le twisted his mouth. Everyone was in jindan, he wasn’t afraid of Wu Ling Sanren. However, lectured by Shixiong, he didn’t dare to speak again.

Wu Ling Sanren’s anger slightly calmed, a flush crossing his old face as he snorted. “It’s not this one praising myself, this great formation was formed with the aid of you four. This one had also applied all of the knowledge this one ever learned. The future is uncertain, but up until today, it is truly the greatest masterpiece this one has created. If us five jindan cannot imprison a zhuji, then we should just kill ourselves.”

Yan Le blushed as the other talked. He defended himself, “We don’t want to imprison him inside, we just want him to practice the sword … …”

“Don’t worry!” Wu Ling Sanren’s eyes rolled. He snorted coldly, “This formation has layers of jinzhi. To break though, there is only one way. That is, to practice the sword essence to the level of Heart Turn Sword Essence, that is the only way to comprehend the intricacies involved and find the way out of the formation.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Seeing the two descend into fighting, Pei Yuan Ran hurriedly smoothed over. Xin Yan and Shi Feng Rong looked on coldly from the side.

Wu Ling Sanren had not finished. “Friend Xin’s sword essence is pure and sharp. This one has not seen one like it before! However, everyone has to be careful. If one enters the formation and has not comprehended to Heart Turn Sword Essence, they cannot come out. To stop the boy from using his knowledge of formations to escape, this one has set up eighteen levels of jinzhi surrounding the formation. It is as solid as gold! If the four of you try to break the formation together, the formation would not stop you, but the person inside the formation would not escape death.”

The four of them started to hesitate. If the boy really could not solve the formation, if he encountered some danger inside, then they could do nothing about it.

“Friends, do not worry too much. Inside the formation, this one had especially emptied out some [Life] areas to allow him to rest. With his knowledge of formations, it should not be difficult to find these [Life] areas. Even though you cannot enter the formation, but you can observe the inside the formation. This one has also left behind some small transportation doors so you can transfer in supplies.”

Xin Yan suddenly opened, “I’ll find him.”

Finishing, he disappeared.

———

Zuo Mo rested lazily on the swing chair, idly soaking in the sun. The time to open the secret realm had been pushed back again and again. He didn’t have much to do. The change in opening the secret realm had supposedly been at the request of many sect leaders. The help that the Sword Test Conference had given the young xiuzhe was very large. The first thing many people had done when they had gone back to their sect was go into seclusion.

Right now, many people still had not come out of seclusion. Asking for the secret realm opening time to be delayed was natural.

Eldest Shixiong was still in seclusion. Luo Li Shixiong had been hurried into the sword cave.

Thinking bout this, Zuo Mo found it quite strange. Luo Li Shixiong was allowed to go to the sword cave, but why didn’t the sect leaders and the others allow him to enter the sword cave? He didn’t really care if he could go. What he cared about was that these recent days had been very peaceful, Xin Yan Shibo and the others hadn’t bothered him.

Thinking about the ”good” that Xin Yan Shibo had said when he was recovering, Zuo Mo felt coldness come into his heart. Even if he was under the sun, he could not get rid of the cold. He had a strong feeling that this matter wouldn’t easily conclude.

There definitely was something waiting for him.

Just at this time, he saw Xin Yan descending from the skies.

In an instant, Zuo Mo felt like he dropped into ice, his limbs went cold.

Xin Yan coldly snorted, his hand holding Zuo Mo up. Without another word, he flew into the sky.

Second Shibo flew extremely quickly, the harsh wind making Zuo Mo unable to open his eyes.

“Shibo, where are we going?” Zuo Mo tried to bear the strong wind and carefully asked.

“Cultivate the sword.” Xin Yan was expressionless.

“Cultivate the sword?” Zuo Mo’s heart rested slightly. Good, good, it wasn’t anything strange.

Hm, wasn’t this going to the back of the mountain? Was Shibo going to teach him about the sword in the back regions?

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s body froze.

Below him, a gigantic formation appeared in his vision. The formation that he had made in the Sword Test Conference could only be called a small formation when compared to the formation in front of him.

Did the sect have such a large formation?

They didn’t, he had come to this area many times before!

Zuo Mo saw the sect leader, Yan Le Shibo, Master, and an old Taoist that he did not know.

But why did their eyes seem slightly strangeas they looked at him … … …

Just as Zuo Mo was puzzled, Xin Yan Shibo’s hands suddenly relaxed.

“Ah!”

Zuo Mo shrieked. The wind howling in his ears, he was unable to control his body. Panicked, he hurriedly started the [Vajra Profound Sutra]!

A golden figure fell from the sky and slammed into the ground.

Boom!

The earth shook as dirt was sent flying everywhere. A golden figure hit the dirt directly, leaving an indent in the shape of a person.

Zuo Mo felt his organs had shifted from the impact. He dazedly opened his eyes and struggled to get up as he spit up mud.

Lucky that ge had practiced … …

He hissed in pain. His body felt like it was going to break. Even though his [Vajra Profound Sutra] had reached the level of Red Lotus Flowing Gold, it still hurt when he dropped from such a height.

But he was slightly reassured. Since he had eaten dirt, then this matter should pretty much be concluded, he thought inside.

Hm, where was this? This wasn’t right!

In front of him, sword essences roiled about, flowing in layers as dense as a forest, unable to be avoided!

Zuo Mo wanted to cry.

People don’t do this … …

Chapter 164: Sword Essence Formation

Just as Zuo Mo was gaping in befuddlement, outside of the formation Wu Ling Sanren was amazingly smug.

“This formation is composed with our four sword essences positioned at the cardinal points. Friend Xin Yan’s sword essence is the strongest and guards the center. The nine ling springs are the passages through the entire formation, allowing the sword essence to regenerate itself. The five sword essences create destruction between themselves. It is impossible to find the one living change when you have not reached the level of Heart Turn Sword Essence. Even if one is in jindan, if their sword essence is not high enough, it is impossible. Trying to break through the formation with brute force is seeking death!”

Pei Yuan Ran praised, “The formation that Sanren has set up is amazing. To use sword essences in a formation, this one has never heard of it!”

Wu Ling Sanren was very proud inside, but he did not lose his calm, modestly saying, “If it wasn’t for the requirements of your sect, this one wouldn’t have thought of such a method.” He then sighed. “That day when I was a judge, I saw Zuo Mo’s battle. Truthfully, this one was very shocked, but Friend Xin Yan is right we sword xiu must practice the sword! But I haven’t thought that your sect would spend so much for one disciple. To be from such a sect, Zuo Mo is very fortunate!”

Pei Yuan Ran shook his head. “Money and talismans are important, but what is most important are people. The people are present, so the sect is present. The people are strong, then the sect is strong. Since he is a disciple of our sect, then this matter is our duty. We only hope that he would wake and return to the right path as early as possible, as to not waste our efforts.”

The other three had stern expressions.

Wu Ling Sanren felt a deep sense of respect for these elders. “Sect Leader Pei, do not worry. This boy is intelligent and certainly will understand your efforts.”

Pei Yuan Ran laughed. “If Sanren did not help this time, we wouldn’t know what to do. This guy really is a headache!”

“No matter. After being tempered, he would understand. There are ten thousands paths in the work, but only cultivating the sword is the true path. One sword breaks all moves. All his tricks are just like paper in front of sword essences.” Wu Ling Sanren said proudly. He dared to say something like this, not because he had such confidence in his formation, but strong confidence in these four people’s sword essences.

He had heard rumors about the four elders of Wu Kong Sword Sect: Yan Le was skilled in management; Shi Feng Rong specialized in dan-making; and sect leader Pei Yuan Ran did not involve himself in worldly affairs. He had heard the reputation of the Ice Dragon Sword, but never had personally seen it so he hadn’t felt anything. Only during the construction of this formation did he experience how deep the roots of Wu Kong Sword Sect were. They far surpassed anyone’s imagination.

Of the five xiu present , his sword essence was the weakest. This made him feel a sense of embarrassment. He had rarely seen a sword essence as strong and terrifying as Xin Yan’s, which surpassed many of those so-called experts.

Originally, he had been worried the four’s sword essences would not be pure enough and would destabilize the formation. Now, he understood he had underestimated them.

With Xin Yan’s sword essence, which guarded the center, this big formation was as solid as rock and was unable to be destroyed. This formation was stronger than any other formation he had ever made. Even jindan experts would be unable to escape unscathed if they attacked this formation and were attacked in return by the pure sword essences left by these five xiu .

His only regret was that such a strong formation was to imprison a disciple in just zhuji. This did not allow him to feel a sense of accomplishment.

However, to be able to use this chance to form a relationship with Wu Kong Sword Sect, he was naturally very willing. He was full of confidence about Wu Kong Sword Sect’s future after seeing these four people’s terrifying power. The elders were strong and cared about nurturing their disciples, these disciples were also geniuses. Such a sect, he really couldn’t think of a reason it would not prosper.

Pei Yuan Ran saw that everyone’s faces were extremely tired and smiled, “This boy really has caused great trouble for us usually. Now, let him go enjoy it himself. Let’s go, we can rest. Sanren can get a taste of my ling tea.”

Wu Ling Sanren hurriedly agreed.

———

Zuo Mo was completely ignorant that the elders had left. He didn’t dare to move.

He was too familiar with the enormous dragon moving in front of him. He had been sliced by this thing countless times. Second Shibo’s sword essence!

Gritting his teeth, Zuo Mo suddenly raised his voice to wail, “Master! Disciple was wrong! This disciple will definitely change, let this disciple out … …”

Master might look cold but she was very concerned about him. If he begged, maybe Master’s heart would soften and let him out.

After shouting until his throat had gone raw, there was no movement from outside the formation. Bitter water rose in Zuo Mo’s heart like a flood. His little heart floated in bitterness. Up until now, he still did not understand what he had done wrong to make the sect leader and the others so furious.

As he shouted, his feet didn’t dare to move. The dragon in front of him freely moved around, never too far from him. The cold and indifferent eyes would occasionally sweep across his body. He felt that he was cold from head to toe.

He did not doubt that if he moved the slightest, the dragon claw of this dragon would gently swipe and he would be torn to pieces, flesh flying and lose his life.

This thing was the true essence!

He wanted to cry as he shuddered.

Only when he truly faced Second Shibo’s ice dragon did he experience how great the difference was between Pu Yao’s fake sword essence and the real one. Terror, instinctive terror rose from his heart. No matter how he suppressed it, terror was like a yao weed grass that could not be stopped, furiously growing through his heart.

After warily standing for an hour, the dragon moved away. But Zuo Mo instantly understood the look that it gave right before leaving.

“—— I’ll come back.”

When the dragon disappeared completely, the terrifying pressure also disappeared. The land was empty as though nothing had happened.

At this time, Zuo Mo lost his nervousness and started to scan the surroundings. He quickly understood he was in the middle of a formation. Thinking about the astoundingly large formation he had seen from the air, he shuddered.

F***, did the sect leader and the others want to kill him?

He had just been sighing in amazement at how big the formation was. He hadn’t thought that he would be thrown into the formation by Second Shibo.

He had to admit he underestimated the rage Second Shibo had towards him!

His mind recovering, Zuo Mo thought about how his wailing had not received a response and instantly understood that the sect leaders and the others truly wanted him to suffer. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought before what punishment Second Shibo and the others would give him. Getting beaten, house arrest, or special training, he had prepared himself mentally.

But after all though calculations, who would have thought that Second Shibo did something even more severe!

Even if Zuo Mo didn’t understand formations, he would be able to see the extraordinary nature of the formation, and he did have some knowledge of formations. Just one look and he could detect the strength of the person who set up the formation was much higher than his.

This kind of difference was not just in one area, but in all areas, including cultivation, understanding of formations, sword essences, etc etc.

Zuo Mo looked into the surroundings. He was clear that the sect leader and the others definitely wouldn’t take his life, they just wanted him to suffer a bit.

But this formation … …

Very dangerous! Very very dangerous!

Zuo Mo swallowed. In a few short steps, the shock in his heart increased.

Each step was full of killing intent!

Damn it! Zuo Mo want to swear!

Even the ground was permeated with fine and dense sword essences that disregarded the shoes on his feet and needled into the soles. It was like he was walking on a board covered with needles, each step left his feet full of pain. It was not just that. The air in front of him looked harmless, but if he moved, the disturbance of the air would naturally formed layers of sword essence around him. These sword essences were like fine icicles, slicing Zuo Mo who was in the middle!

They couldn’t do this … …

Zuo Mo wailed inside. Just how big of an offence had he made to make Master and the others so furious?

Staying in his original spot, he could only wait for the dragon to come back, that was too dangerous! He gritted his teeth and started [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Right now, his [Vajra Profound Sutra] was at Red Lotus Flowing Gold, hard to wound by normal flying swords.

Lucky that ge had practiced it … … Zuo Mo rejoiced inside.

———

Wu Kong Hall, Pei Yuan Ran and the other four idly drank ling tea.

“Ha ha, that boy definitely would use [Vajra Profound Sutra].” Yan Le snickered and glanced at Xin Yan who was drinking without speaking a word. “Second Shixiong really thought of everything, even planning for [Vajra Profound Sutra].”

“Sword xiu only cultivate the sword.” Xin Yan said frigidly. He sipped, and then added, “Not the body.”

“This boy really is terrible, he only just walks the wrong paths.” Shi Feng Rong’s face was angry. Her disciple had made everyone feel a headache, and used up so much wealth, she kept on feeling angry. “Making him cultivate the body was so he could have something to save his life. He’s great. He just silently practices it to the fourth level. Getting him to learn formations, it’s so he can learn more about dan-making, so he has a secondary profession, and wouldn’t have trouble making his living. This little brat just sinks into formations, and doesn’t know to progress, his side job becoming his main profession! His main profession actually went backwards!”

Vent up to this point, she felt very uncomfortable. “It’s all my fault. I’ve been remiss in teaching him. That’s why he walked onto the wrong path!”

Wu Ling Sanren hurriedly comforted. “Shi Xianzi is overly blaming yourself. Young people always are tempted by new things. That’s normal. Which sect doesn’t have one or two disciples like this? As the elders, we can only slowly guide them.”

“Sanren is right. Shimei, don’t be sad.” Pei Yuan Ran also comforted.

Yan Le snickered. “That boy can just keep suffering. I’ve been finding his [Vajra Profound Sutra] an eyesore for a long time. Red Lotus Flowing Gold, he thinks he’s a Dhyana? Even Dhyana lose when they face us! He needs to understand all his tricks are just garbage.”

None of the other four objected to Yan Le’s words. They all had a matter-of-face expression.

The pride of sword xiu came from thousands of years of holding a ruling position, they were unshakable.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t think that his actions would have be completely planned for by the elders.

Just as he activated the [Vajra Profound Sutra], the sword essences which had been like icicles suddenly became sharks that tasted blood and flooded towards him from all the surrounding areas.

Brring brring brrring !

Woosh woosh woosh!

Different howls of sword essences filled Zuo Mo’s ears like the earth was breaking, the sky was changing color!

The sudden change made Zuo Mo freeze!

He dazedly looked at the air that had turned turbulent, looked at the howls created by this sky full of sword essences, at the sword essences that flooded at him from all around … …

What … … what was this … …

Chapter 165: Wu Kong Expansion

After drinking tea, and having the dense ling energy fill them, everyone felt their body become relaxed and their exhaustion began to disappear.

Pei Yuan Ran said, “It’s probably time. Let’s go and see how the boy is.”

Everyone loudly agreed to this suggestion. The five of them travelled together to the back of Wu Kong Mountain.

———

In front of the formation, the five took a look, and laughed.

“That boy is really slippery, how could he not have found the [Life] area?” Yan Le pointed at the formation, roaring with laughter. Inside the formation, Zuo Mo was in a sorry state, his clothing was ripped. He had clearly suffered.

Having bled for this, Yan Le felt extremely good. Not just him, even Pei Yuan Ran and the others felt very good. The four of them were all jindan yet they couldn’t do anything against this zhuji boy. They had accumulated a lot of anger. If they threatened, there was the probably that this boy would run and join another sect. Temptation? This brat was the wealthiest person in Wu Kong Mountain.

Looking at this brat in such a sorry state, they felt they hadn’t wasted their efforts.

Wu Ling Sanren also laughed, “Zuo Mo is very talented in formations. It is not hard for him to find the [Life] area.” He noted and then decided not to involve himself. It was better to leave early, this was a matter for their sect. He could see that Zuo Mo had limitless potential. If the other discovered who had created the formation, they might come and create trouble for him. He wouldn’t be able to bear it.

The more he thought, the more he found it likely. Zuo Mo didn’t look like a generous person. He hurriedly said, “Since the matter is concluded, this one will bid you all farewell. There are still some affairs in the sect that this one has to take care of. If this one has free time in the future, this one will come again.”

Pei Yuan Ran and the others naturally tried to keep him, but seeing that Wu Ling Sanren was being very determined, they did not stop him. As for the payment, they had paid it already. Wu Ling Sanren bowed with folded hands and quickly vanished into the horizon.

Pei Yuan Ran and the others did not care. The road of cultivation was very long. Coming and going was very normal.

Shi Feng Rong looked at Zuo Mo who was in a terrible state, and suddenly said, “If Zuo Mo cannot get out, wouldn’t he be unable to enter the secret realm?”

Pei Yuan Ran did not find it important. “The secret realm is a small matter, there are just a few good treasures. All that is received are material items. With Zuo Mo’s talent, as long as he is willing to focus on practicing the sword, those material items aren’t worth anything. If it comes down to it, we will compensate him.”

Pei Yuan Ran’s answer made Shi Feng Rong satisfied. At the side, Yan Le twisted his mouth, but did not speak. He didn’t dare to offend Fourth Shimei.

Xin Yan was like a statue, coldly staring at Zuo Mo inside the formation.

———

Zuo Mo was very terrible at the moment. Not one part of his clothing was whole. He stared with trepidation at a place not far away. That dragon was coldly and proudly moving by, its gaze occasionally sweeping across his body.

He hadn’t thought the sect leader and the others had even planned for the use of the [Vajra Profound Sutra].

Even now, when he thought about the terrifying experience he just had, he felt his head prickle, his body cold. Countless sword essences had charged at him like a crowd of hungry sharks, each one wanting to rip off a piece of flesh.

His pitiful [Vajra Profound Sutra], even if it had already reached Red Lotus Flowing Gold,, it was destroyed in an instant.

If it wasn’t that his consciousness was outstanding, if he hadn’t studied the Kun Lu introductory formations jade scroll, and that he had deepened his understanding of formations, then he would have drowned in the countless sword essences.

He had stumbled and crawled to find this little area of safety. As long as he didn’t step outside of this circle that was three zhang in diameter, nothing would happen to him.

This little circle finally allowed Zuo Mo to believe that the sect leader and the others didn’t want to kill him.

However, this great formation was really terrifying! Zuo Mo looked warily at the dragon that was prancing outside, not daring to move at all.

———

Outside the formation, Pei Yuan Ran looked and then said, “Let’s go. The boy won’t cry unless he has one foot in the grave. He can slowly be ground down.”

In their eyes, Zuo Mo was greedy and wretched, and his personality was extremely stubborn. He certainly wouldn’t admit defeat so easily. They knew this all too well which was why they had spared no expense in creating such a big formation. This was their preparation for a long battle.

The four left, without a worry, planning on coming back in a few days.

The formation looked dangerous but in reality, it was very safe. Inside the formation, was Zuo Mo someone who would let himself be wounded? Outside the formation, he didn’t have to worry about enemies or wild beasts. A formation that even they could not break, in all of Sky Moon Jie, there definitely would not be more than three people who might be able to break through.

Pei Yuan Ran was even considering if they could change the formation after Zuo Mo came out. In the future, it could work as the restricted grounds for the sect. With the protection of the sect, there was no question of safety.

———

Zuo Mo used his consciousness to sweep through the surrounding space.

He had already decided, if the sect leader came to ask him if he knew he was wrong and if he would change, he wouldn’t hesitate in surrendering. He had to bow to the circumstances!

Sect leader! If you say kill, we definitely won’t set a fire! If you said east, we definitely wouldn’t walk west!

Heroes were people that recognized the circumstances, Zuo Mo comforted himself. Yet what he did not realize was the sect leader and the others overestimated his stubbornness.

Zuo Mo, who had been waiting to surrender for several days, didn’t even see the shadow of the sect leader and the others.

He had to face a problem.

There was no water and food. How could he had predicted that a calamity such as this would occur? His ring was almost empty. Under the effect of the jinzhi inside the formation, he was not able to even use [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. Naturally, he didn’t have any water.

It was fine if he didn’t have food. But without water, then it was bad.

He licked his dry lips. He could smell the water power in the air. He was certain the big formation definitely had water sources like springs.

However … …

The outside was empty, the dragon was not present, but Zuo Mo was not happy. He knew when he walked out of the [Life] area, he would be surrounded by sword essences.

But he still decided to try. If he didn’t act, he would never be able to walk outside of the formation.

At this time, he finally understood the malicious intentions of the elders. They wanted him to charge into the formation!

Wasn’t it just charging through! Zuo Mo boldened his heart and left the [Life] area.

———

Outside the sect Pei Yuan Ran and the others released a breath. The had never thought that Zuo Mo would just stay inside the [Life] area for the last few days and had never come out.

They had originally planned on sending some water and food in. But seeing Zuo Mo retreating into the [Life] area and not come out, looking as though he was waiting to stand off against them, they instantly let go of their intentions to send food and water in.

“The boy finally came out.” Pei Yuan Ran said.

Yan Le nodded. He clearly was relieved. “This guy is definitely one of the most wretched disciples in the sect. I guess that if we didn’t cut off his food and water, he probably would just stay in the [Life] area to wait it out, humph, wait until the formation collapses!”

Shi Feng Rong was somewhat unhappy. “Third Shixiong, weren’t you the same when you were young?”

Yan Le choked and instantly became silent.

Xin Yan unblinkingly stared at Zuo Mo inside the formation. Inside, he also was relieved. He had been afraid as well that Zuo Mo would just sit in passive resistance. He believed that the guy could definitely do something like that.

However, since Zuo Mo had walked out, they instantly paid attention.

They were very curious how Zuo Mo would respond. This brat might not walk on the right path but he had an endless bag of tricks that was always surprising.

———

Walking out of the [Life] grounds, Zuo Mo instantly felt the tearing from the sword essences in the air, the prickling from the ground. However, he didn’t dare use [Vajra Profound Sutra] this time, only gritted his teeth and bore the pain as he slowly moved in the direction of water.

———

Outside the formation, Xin Yan suddenly opened. “He’s finding water.”

The other three understood, a smile coming onto their faces.

When Wu Ling Sanren had been setting up the formation, he had already considered this point. It was not difficult to find a water source inside the formation, but it was not easy to resupply himself.

———

Zuo Mo bore the pain, his consciousness sweeping around to search for a source of water.

He found the slower he moved, the lower the threat the surrounding sword essences posed. So, with turtle speed, he slowly moved in the direction of water.

A short journey, he used up four whole hours.

———

Outside the formation, the elders had long lost their patience and left. There were many things they had to take care of at the moment, and this period of time was extremely important for Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Wu Kong Sword Sect had shone in the Sword Test Conference, and naturally walked to the front of the stage. It was not appropriate to remain as low-key as they did before. They needed to adjust the plan for the entire sect.

Countless eyes were focused on Wu Kong Sword Sect. This period would be the greatest transformation of Wu Kong Sword Sect in recent times. Reputation, status, they had that. What they needed to fight for was the benefits that came with it.

Wu Kong Sword Sect’s rise would certainly affect some sects. The fighting that would occur would be very harsh.

Pei Yuan Ran and the others were not kind and generous people. Once they finalized their plan, they moved lightning fast and without any hesitation.

In the time span of several nights, Wu Kong Sword Sect continuously defeated three sects. Even though it was three small sects, but people were still able to see a great beast slowly opening his jaws.

As expected, Wu Kong Sword Sect did not stop their expansion. In the next seven days, all the smaller sects surrounding Wu Kong Sword Sect were merged into Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Pei Yuan Ran’s conduct was just and authoritative. Xin Yan was invincible in battle. Yan Le was clever and experienced. Shi Feng Rong’s battle strength was not ordinary, and her skill in dan-making was unrivalled in Dong Fu.

The four cooperated well, with great trust between them. Even though many small sects had been absorbed, but the inner management of Wu Kong Sword Sect did not become disordered.The sect was disciplined and efficient in its restructuring.

This was a battle! There were negotiations behind the scenes, and naturally fighting in the open. In one night, Xin Yan defeated seven experts, shaking Sky Moon Jie!

It was that battle which completely established the fame of Ice Dragon Sword, and also greatly increased the rate the Wu Kong Sword Sect expanded.

Under such a situation, Pei Yuan Ran and the others had no attention to spare for Zuo Mo trapped inside the formation. They only ordered Li Ying Feng to regularly send in water and food, as well as jade scrolls. Of course, it was only ever sword scripture jade scrolls.

The pitiful Zuo Mo had encountered a big problem.

Chapter 166: This Land Is Great

Zuo Mo stared at the purple vine that was growing wildly. The purple vines were about the thickness of a finger, smooth and strong. There were strings of small blue flowers on the vine, giving the appearance of being both serene and elegant. The vine did not have any supports yet naturally grew in midair.

Hiss, Zuo Mo sucked in a breath. His body was covered in small wounds. He was full of wariness as he stared at the purple vine.

He could sense a familiar taste within the vine.

Manifestation!

The purple vine was Master’s sword essence!

Damn it. His gaze passed between the vines to look at the spring that was bubbling with water. He unconsciously licked his dry lips. Even though water and food would be sent into the formation at regular intervals, the amount was not enough to satisfy his needs.

After wasting so many days, he had pretty much grasped this damned formation. His heart was very cold. He didn’t know what master the sect leader had hired to set up this formation, but his skills were amazing. Zuo Mo had never thought about constructing a formation with sword essences! When he realized this, he didn’t dare believe his own judgement.

What made him feel even more hopeless was the five sword essences inside the formation were all sword essence manifestations! Damn it! A formation created by five jindan experts for him to suffer through, did the sect leader and the others have nothing else to do?

Zuo Mo cursed again and again inside.

He had suffered greatly in the formation ever since he entered. His body was covered in wounds. With the five sword essence manifestations guarding the formation, just the ripples that were released were enough to grind him into powder. If he even tried to use the [Vajra Profound Sutra], the fine sword essences would flood towards him.

Zuo Mo felt very depressed. In the beginning, who was it that wanted him to practice [Vajra Profound Sutra]?

Each location that had water was guarded by a sword essence. Sect Leader’s sword essence was a mountain peak, high and solid. Zuo Mo felt his heart shudder after taking a look. The heavy presence made him unable to breathe. He had turned and ran away. He hadn’t thought that the sect leader would also be so powerful. Yan Le Shibo’s sword essence was a while snow fox. The slender figure was a great contrast to Shibo. If it wasn’t for the slyness in its eyes, he would have doubted whose sword essence it was. Master’s sword essence was a purple vine. Since he had never seen Master fight, he had been hoping to try his luck.

The result, strings of blue flowers exploded simultaneously each turning to a rain of flowers that surrounded Zuo Mo. He finally tasted what it was like to be cut by a thousand knives.

The last sword essence was very unfamiliar to him. It was like a Bagua formation, and revolved relentlessly. It was the first time Zuo Mo saw such a strange sword essence. However, after interacting with sword essences every day, he managed to grasp some insights. This Bagua sword essence might look extraordinary, but it was the weakest of the five sword essences.

Yet with Zuo Mo’s pitifully low cultivation, he couldn’t handle it even though it was the weakest Bagua sword essence.

The few [Life] areas inside the formation were the only places he could rest.

Zuo Mo could only dejectedly retreat back to the [Life] area.

However, he hadn’t suffered these days for nothing. Certain areas were not dangerous unless he entered. This sword essence formation seemed to emphasize imprisonment, not killing. Otherwise, the five sword essences only needed to move on their own and everything inside the formation would turn to dust.

At regular intervals, items would be sent into the formation. Water, grains, jingshi, lingdan, sword scriptures etc etc. Especially sword scriptures. Did the elders want to move the entire records room into the formation?

At this time, he finally understood that he wouldn’t be getting out soon. Not being able to decipher why the elders were so angry, Zuo Mo was too lazy to think. Since he was here, he would stay here. After slowly becoming accustomed to it, he was full of curiosity towards the big formation.

He had never seen such a powerful formation before. To be able to experience it personally, wasn’t it the best way to learn?

Thinking like this, Zuo Mo instantly found the days were not so hard.

Other than the wondrous aspects of the formation itself, the five sword essence manifestations were also exposed to him without any disguise. There were many things he could study and copy!

Zuo Mo had comprehended sword essence a long time ago. It had stopped because he had not spent effort after that. Now that he had examples, if he didn’t grasp the chance, he would be too dumb.

This land was great!

The formation and the sword essences couldn’t directly teach him, but Zuo Mo had his own methods.

———

He retreated back into the [Life] area. Not far away, the dragon slowly and idly moved its gigantic body. Zuo Mo was even able to see the ice-like scales on its body. He snickered, raised his hand, and threw a rock at the ice dragon.

Pew pew pew!

The little rock was instantly ground to dust by the countless fine sword essences in the air. Even the dust was unable to reach the dragon.

But the dragon clearly became provoked by Zuo Mo’s challenge. It roared and the entire formation shook.

Zuo Mo stared at the enraged dragon with terror and excitement. The strong presence made him tremble uncontrollably but he stared with wide unblinking eyes!

The furious dragon started to rampage inside the formation. Dirt and stones flew into the air. The sword essences were like the pack of wolves that heard the call of its alpha and exploded forth! The dragon twisted its enormous body, all the scales on its body turning into countless sharp icy sword essences that shot into the surroundings!

Too domineering!

Zuo Mo could feel the peerless power inside the formation, could feel each sword essence, no matter how small it was, was so whole and complete! There was an extremely complex relationship between each sword essence, so wondrous it was almost unimaginable.

The tide!

Zuo Mo once again saw the tide!

Every time the dragon twisted, the sword essence would move on the body that was constructed out of countless sword essences. Pure power passed through the layers as though it was a tide!

Too … … too powerful!

Zuo Mo’s teeth were chattering. Even though he was in the [Life] area, but in front of absolute power, he felt he was so minuscule! But he endured it, even if his teeth were chattering, his body shaking, he used all his power to keep his eyes open and on the dragon, not willing to miss any detail!

Second Shibo’s sword essence was the last one that he was facing, because it was the strongest sword essence out of the five!

Sect Leader Shibo’s sword essence was as heavy as a mountain, Third Shibo’s sword essence as sly as a fox, Master’s sword essence as serene as a vine, and that unknown expert’s sword essence was unending like a formation.

After experiencing the four sword essences, Zuo Mo had thought he could face Second Shibo’s sword essence. But only now, facing it directly did he understand why Second Shibo’s sword essence was at the center!

Because it was the strongest, and not just by a bit!

Zuo Mo could not understand how someone’s sword essence could reach such a terrifying step. In the five sword essences, Zuo Mo had thought he would be the most familiar with Second Shibo’s Ice Dragon sword essence. Now, he knew he was wrong, and terribly wrong! He had never truly understood the Ice Dragon sword essence, he hadn’t even touched the surface.

Even the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was worthless in front of Second Shibo’s Ice Dragon sword essence!

His legs were nailed to the ground. As long as he stayed within the [Life] area, the dragon could not harm him. Even though he knew this, he still felt his courage quickly drain away.

Stand your ground!

———

In the next ten days, he continued to challenge the dragon every day.

Even Wu Ling Sanren, who had created the formation, would not have thought that Zuo Mo would use such a shameless tactic. No matter how wondrous the formation was, it was a formation, and required ling power to sustain itself. Zuo Mo continuously challenging the dragon and causing the dragon to go into a rage quickly increased the drain of ling power by the formation.

Of course, if Zuo Mo wanted to use this method to escape, then he would have to wait a few years.

What Zuo Mo was happy about was that, as the ling power of the great formation was expended, some places that were hidden were gradually exposed. Now, he was in even less of a rush. He continuously teased all five sword essences each day. For one, he could have make a better study and comprehend the sword essence. His other purpose was to run down the ling power of the formation.

No matter how talented he was, he was just a zhuji. Some of the higher-level transformations were far out of the range of his understanding and he could not learn it. But some of the lower and basic changes of the formation were more valuable to him.

The sword essence was the same.

There never was the best, only the most appropriate.

It was like there was no time in the formation. He forgot time. It was like he had landed in a treasure trove, there were too many treasures waiting for him to to dig up and discover. He became enchanted.

———

Zuo Mo’s upper body was bare. As he looked around, his eyes were clear.

He looked at the dragon nearby. The dragon was just as proud, but the sheen of the dragon was much dimmer than before. Suddenly, Zuo Mo felt some reluctance. He had spent everyday with the essence for more than half a year. Even though he knew it was not alive, Zuo Mo still would miss it.

Today, he decided to organize everything he had learned.

It was time for him to leave the formation!

Right now, the [Life] area that Zuo Mo was in had gone from three zhang to ten zhang. This space was modified by what Zuo Mo had comprehended about the formation.

Having decided to make an end, Zuo Mo was not in a hurry. He sat down in meditation, forgetting everything else.

A long time later, he opened his eyes, the light inside a fraction brighter than before.

The Water Drop sword was in front of him as he sunk deeply into thought.

Half a year’s worth of time, the changes to Wu Kong Sword Sect’s were enough to make people gape. The present Wu Kong Sword Sect was the largest sect in Dong Fu. It had absorbed almost all the sects in Dong Fu. It also squeezed its way into becoming one of the top three large sects in Sky Moon Jie, clearly one of the new grand sects.

Three months ago, Wei Sheng had come out of seclusion, and Luo Li had returned from the sword cave. The addition of the two people had increased the offensive power of Wu Kong Sword Sect. Following Xin Yan, they battled in all directions. Wu Kong Sword Sect’s power expanded at astounding speed.

All of Sky Moon Jie’s eyes were focused on this newly rising sect.

If it was in the past, Wu Kong Sword Sect’s conduct would have caused great resistance. Many other sects would have interfered. However, everyone was only watching, and no one was interfering because of one piece of news.

–– The news that Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had collapsed seemed to have grown wings as it passed through all of Sky Moon Jie.

Some small sects merged into Wu Kong Sword Sect of their own volition. It was much cooler under a large tree!

No matter what, Wu Kong Sword Sect had four jindan experts!

Xin Yan had taken Wei Sheng and Luo Li to fight outside. Yan Le was continuously travelling to the other sects, spreading Wu Kong Sword Sect’s respects and desire for friendly relations. In charge of the whole plan was Pei Yuan Ran, who was terribly busy. Even Shi Feng Rong had to come out of the dan room to help Pei Yuan Ran.

Just at this time, light streamed up at the back of Wu Kong Mountain!

Chapter 167: “The Places Are The Same, The People Are Not”

While walking along the path, he didn’t see any people along the way. It wasn’t until he had reached the mouth of the path that he saw four other disciples .

However … …

Zuo Mo didn’t recognize any of them. What shocked him even more was all four of the disciples were in zhuji, and one of them had an even deeper in cultivation than hedid. Who were these people? Why had they come to the back of the mountain of his sect?

Zuo Mo was on his guard.

When the four disciples saw Zuo Mo, they first paused and then bowed simultaneously, calling out, “Greetings to Zuo Shixiong!”

Zuo Shixiong? Had the sect taken in new disciples recently? Zuo Mo was puzzled but asked without showing a hint of confusion, “Everyone looks unfamiliar. Why did you all enter Wu Kong Sword Sect?”

The person with the deepest cultivation among the four stepped forward and said respectfully, “We used to be Wei Sword Sect disciples. Two months ago, we formally entered the sect and have received orders from the sect leader to guard the back mountain.”

Zuo Mo’s puzzlement increased upon hearing this. He asked curiously, “If you were Wei Sword Sect disciples, then why would you consider entering our sect?”

The four exchanged looks and smiled. The leader explained. “Shixiong was in seclusion and may not know the dramatic changes within the sect. Not just Wei Sword Sect, but almost half of the sects around Dong Fu have merged into our sect.”

Zuo Mo gaped.

The four saw Zuo Mo was blanking but didn’t dare disturb him. They might all have nearly the same level of cultivation, but the difference in status was enormous. The sect leader wasn’t known to be someone who was nepotistic, but it was unavoidable that the status of the original Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples would rise with their expansion. Even more, Zuo Mo wasn’t just any Wu Kong Sword Sect disciple; he was one of the core disciples.

According to the other original Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples, Zuo Mo’s position was even above Luo Li Shixiong. They didn’t dare to offend him. At the Sword Test Conference, Zuo Mo had become very famous. Everyone remembered his trademark zombie face. The four of them had recognized him with nothing more than a glance.

Only now did they realize that the back of the mountain was Zuo Mo’s place of seclusion. From when they had been ordered to guard this place, they had been curious what was so special about the back of the mountain that the sect leader would send four people to guard it. At regular intervals, Eldest Shijie Li Ying Feng would come, but still nothing was ever mentioned.

As they stopped speaking, countless sword energies flew in from all over. At the front was Sect Leader Pei Yuan Ran and Shi Feng Rong.

The light of Zuo Mo coming out of the formation had alarmed all of Wu Kong Mountain.

When Pei Yuan Ran saw Zuo Mo, his brows imperceptibly creased but resumed normal. At his side, Shi Feng Rong had a happy expression.

When the four people guarding the back mountain saw Pei Yuan Ran and Shi Feng Rong, they were shocked and hurriedly bowed. The four of them were once again reconsidering the importance of Zuo Mo to the elders.

“You finally came out of seclusion. Not bad.” Pei Yuan Ran warmly said, “Your Master has been impatient.”

“It’s good that you came out!” Shi Feng Rong was extremely fond of this disciple that was full of talent but also a cause for headache. The rims of her eyes turned red.

Zuo Mo’s nose instantly felt sore. He was very moved. He properly bowed, “Master!”

———

After talking for a while with Zuo Mo, the sect leader left. There were too many things he had to do. Shi Feng Rong accompanied Zuo Mo back to his Little West Wind Yard.

Just as they reached the mouth of the valley, a ball of white shadow slammed into Zuo Mo. Caught unaware, Zuo Mo was thrown to the ground. Silly Bird! Silly Bird nudged and snuggled with her head. Zuo Mo scolded, “You silly bird!” But inside, his heart was warmed.

The Little West Wind Yard did not seem different than before. There should have been people who came to clean.

Having perceived Zuo Mo’s befuddlement, Shi Feng Rong said with a slight smile, “At the beginning, Xiao Guo came to clean every day. After, Xiao Guo was sent to Sky Sound City, so she sent a few outer sect disciples to clean.”

Thinking about the timid apple-face, Zuo Mo felt a slight sense of loss. He asked, “How is Xiao Guo’s situation?”

Shi Feng Rong was clearly very satisfied with her other disciple. “Xiao Guo’s talents might not be as high as you guys, but she is extremely hard-working. Adding on that the sect has expanded quickly this half year and has many more resources, she has leveled up quickly. She’s not far from ningmai. The sect leader felt she needed to gain experience so she was sent to manage Sky Moon City.”

“Eldest Shixiong? Luo Li Shixiong?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask.

Shi Feng Rong said, “Your Eldest Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong originally started out with your Second Shibo. Afterwards, to increase speed, they all led some of the other disciples and split up. It’s a pity that we didn’t know when you would come out of the formation, otherwise Li Ying Feng definitely would have waited a few more days before leaving. Your Yan Le Shibo needs people so he also called your Li Ying Feng Shijie over.”

Zuo Mo’s heart felt even more hollow. Who could have thought that everything had changed after staying in the formation for half a year.

“We’ve expanded this much?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask, “The other sects have not interfered?”

“It’s not just us that is expanding. This half year, everyone has been expanding.” Worry came onto Shi Feng Rong’s face. “The situation in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie is becoming worse. Everyone is worried. In these troubling times, everyone that has the power to expand will expand. Only by consolidating our strength can there be some hope for survival. Sky Moon Jie is not far away from Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. Everyone is panicking. During such dangerous times, naturally it requires that special measures be used. We cannot be kind and generous. The sect leader is hoping that we can finish organizing before the bad news comes.”

“The situation is this bad?” Zuo Mo was very shocked.

“En.” The worry on Shi Feng Rong’s face became even heavier. She hesitated but still spoke. “Originally, since you came out of the formation, you should rest a while. But the situation is serious so there are some things that I have to say to you. Do not slack off now. The sect is not like it was in the past. We have seven jindan, about thirty ningmai, and more than two hundred zhuji disciples right now.”

Zuo Mo seemed to know what Master wanted to say, but for some unknown reason, he was very calm.

“Our sect has expanded too quickly. Even though it is out of helplessness, but there are many weaknesses. The sect is not as harmonious as it was before.” Speaking of that, she couldn’t help but sigh. “You have to work hard, and enter ningmai as early as possible!”

“This disciple understands.” Zuo Mo knew that Master was looking out for him.

Shi Feng Rong said a few more things before leaving.

———

The sky was dark. Zuo Mo sat on the rooftop, a sound tablet by his side. The noise of the sound tablet was the same. Silly Bird was at the side. She seemed to feel Zuo Mo’s mood and didn’t make noise.

After entering meditation from before, Pu Yao still hadn’t moved.

Luckily, there was no change in the sea of flames, no change in the gravestone, and no change in Pu Yao sitting on the gravestone.

Pu Yao was meditating, Eldest Shixiong, Luo Li Shixiong, Xiao Guo, and the others were not here.

Sitting on the rooftop, he looked at the sky. The light of flying swords were multiple times more frequent than before, extremely busy. Yet all this prosperity made Zuo Mo feel this place was now very unfamiliar and very cold.

Suddenly, something pulled the corner of his clothing. Turning around, he found it was Silly Bird.

“What? Silly Bird!”

Silly Bird flapped down the roof. Hm, Zuo Mo’s eyes landed where Silly Bird was standing.

Wasn’t that the entrance to the rock room?

Zuo Mo had always carefully concealed the entrance to the rock room. He had especially set up illusory formations around it. No one had found it. Zuo Mo suddenly felt interested and burrowed into the room.

Entering, a damp and cold air rushed out.

Sweeping the stone room, Zuo Mo suddenly had a joyful expression.

Hm!

Black gold worm!

The black gold wom also found Zuo Mo, turning into a streak of black light to land on Zuo Mo’s shoulder. Seeing this little guy, Zuo Mo’s mood lifted as though he was meeting an old friend. He finally remembered that the black gold worm liked to stay on the ling vein inside the stone room. He had long forgotten about it.

Putting the black gold worm on his palm and inspecting it, Zuo Mo felt even happier. Compared to before, the black gold worm was of a higher grade and more intelligent.

What had this guy eaten?

When his eyes landed on the pock-marked ling vein, he understood. It was as he had expected. When he approached the ling vein, he found he could not detect any ling energy. There was a small yet extremely deep hole in the ground. When Zuo Mo tested with his consciousness, he found it was at least several dozen zhang deep. It definitely was due to the black gold worm. The dan that had been nurturing by the ling spring probably also landed in this little guy’s stomach.

“I really didn’t see that you really have some skill!” Zuo Mo smiled at the black gold worm.

Taking the black gold worm out of the stone room, Zuo Mo’s mood was much better.

———

Wu Kong Hall

Pei Yuan Ran and Shi Feng Rong were discussing matters.

Pei Yuan Ran smiled and said, “I just received a flying sword message from Third Shidi. Good news, Heart Lake Sword Sect has agreed to give the Desolate Wood Reef to us.”

Shi Feng Rong also showed a sliver of joy. “If that’s the case, that’s great! The Desolate Wood Reef is right beside the jie river to Little Mountain Jie. We now have another escape route, but what did Heart Lake Sword Sect want in return?”

“They wanted Kui City. I agreed. Kui City isn’t of much use to us. To exchange for Desolate Wood Reef, it’s profitable.” Pei Yuan Ran said decisively.

Shi Feng Rong nodded in agreement.

“I’m planning to let Zuo Mo go to the Desolate Wood Reef,” Pei Yuan Ran suddenly said.

“Why?” Shi Feng Rong suddenly stood up, her face angry. “Zuo Mo just came out of the formation, and you are sending him to such wilderness. I understand clearly just how barren the Desolate Wood Reef is. We’ve been there before, and I know it. I don’t agree!”

Pei Yuan Ran rubbed his brow in helplessness, his other hand motioning to Shi Feng Rong. “Don’t be so impatient. Wait for me to finish.”

Shi Feng Rong snorted coldly, not speaking.

Pei Yuan Ran really had no methods of dealing with his shimei. “Desolate Wood Reef might be very poor, but Shimei also knows how important it is to us. Otherwise, why would we have needed Third Shidi to personally go to Heart Lake Sword Sect? This kind of important location, I wouldn’t feel safe if it wasn’t on our people’s hands. Wei Sheng and the others have their duties. Tell me, who can I send?”

Pei Yuan Ran spread his hands, and asked Shi Feng Rong.

Shi Feng Rong sneered. “Don’t use these righteous excuses. Isn’t it just that you saw that Zuo Mo isn’t in ningmai and his sword essence hasn’t reached Heart Turn Sword Essence? This matter, I definitely won’t agree!”

Pei Yuan Ran grimaced. “Ah, what do you want me to say? Keeping Zuo Mo in the sect, would that be good for him? You also know what the situation is like inside the sect! Do we have the time to protect him? Do you have it? No! I don’t either! Wei Sheng and the others are not here, no one can help him, is that really so good for him?”

Seeing Shi Feng Rong’s face relax, he continued patiently, “Desolate Wood Reef might be out of the way and poor, but it is very safe. It is behind us, therefore it will be on our path for retreat. Zuo Mo going there, he might suffer, but his life will not be in danger. If the situation is really bad and we need to retreat, we will definitely go through Desolate Wood Reef. With our current circumstances, other than ensuring his survival, what more do you want?”

Shi Feng Rong didn’t say anything. She knew that Sect Leader Shixiong was right.

After struggling for a while, she raised her head, and gritted her teeth, “On the matter of resources, we can’t short-change him.”

“Alright.” Pei Yuan Ran answered easily.

Chapter 168: Desolate Wood Reef

“Shixiong, Desolate Wood Reef is just up ahead,” A shidi said excitedly as he pointed forwards.

Zuo Mo nodded. He gazed into the distance and a lonely island had appeared in the distance.

Everyone was slightly excited. After flying continuously for two months, everyone sighed a breath of relief as they quickly neared their destination.

Seeing the Desolate Wood Reef, Zuo Mo finally understood why the sect had been so interested in such an out-of-the-way place. Desolate Wood Reef was positioned in a deep expanse of water, the edge of the jie river. If one wanted to pass into Little Mountain Jie, they had to pass through this location. The Endless Ocean was borderless and required long flights. Flying to this place was the limit of endurance for most. Because of this, the Desolate Wood Reef’s location was strategically important. It was necessary to rest at this area and regain strength in preparation for passing through the jie river.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Heart Lake Sword Sect was at the opposite end of Sky Moon Jie and their sect had several jie rivers, they never would have let go of such an important location as the Desolate Wood Reef. Even so, the sect had paid a great price.

But this place really was desolate.

As they flew closer and the island came into view, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh.

He didn’t have any anger towards the sect for sending him to the Desolate Wood Reef; he was actually very happy. The state of the sect was not harmonious, and all the disciples that he was familiar with were no longer present. Such timing had made it wiser to leave. Desolate Wood Reef was far away from the sect so any conflict inside the sect wouldn’t reach this place. He was happy to be so free.

Just at this time, several xiuzhe flew up out of the island.

“Are you the shixiong from Wu Kong Sword Sect?” shouted one of them.

“Yes!” Zuo Mo bowed. He was preparing to take out the sect token, when the other person smiled and waved his hand. “Zuo Shixiong coming personally, I don’t need to see the token.”

“Shixiong knows me?” Zuo Mo was slightly surprised.

The other smiled. The person said, “The recording jade scrolls of the battle between Brother Zuo and Chao An may be rare, but this one is lucky enough to possess one of them.

I recognized Brother Zuo from the recording.”

Zuo Mo finally understood, He humbly bowed with folded hands, “Shixiong is too kind.”

“I thought that you guys would arrive soon. We’ve already cleaned everything up. From today on, the Desolate Wood Reef will be under Brother Zuo’s care. This jade scroll contains some of what we have discovered about this island over the years. I hope it can help Brother Zuo. Goodbye.” The other bowed with folded hands in salute to Zuo Mo and then left. He didn’t seem to want to spend another moment on the island. The other people also bowed and then left.

The exchange had been so fast that it was surprising to Zuo Mo.

The people who had accompanied him here felt they had been given much face. Even the disciples of Heart Lake Sword Sect knew the name of Zuo Shixiong. They felt honored to be connected. The Wu Kong Sword Sect had just expanded, and compared to those older sects, there was still a gap in the attitudes of the disciples.

“Let’s head down.” Zuo Mo looked and urged Silly Bird to land.

The other people followed tightly after him.

The amount of investment that Heart Lake Sword Sect had put into the Desolate Wood Reef had been very limited. Other than a few stone buildings on the island, there was nothing. The shidi that came with Zuo Mo did not say anything, but their faces had become much dimmer. They found the place was much more isolated than they had originally imagined.

Zuo Mo did not care. Stepping on to the Desolate Wood Reef, he found the island was better than he had thought.

“We are going to make a home here.” Zuo Mo glanced at them and said calmly, “Everyone first rest for a few days before starting.”

After flying for more than two months, even Silly Bird was slightly less energetic. The steeds of the other shidi were even worse off. Zuo Mo took out a bottle of lingdan. This was the Energy Dan that he had prepared previously. The grade was not very high, just second-grade. But since it was easy to make and the cost was low, he had made an entire batch. Silly Bird liked to eat it and would often munch on them as if they were beans. They were pretty effective at recovering its energy.

As expected, after eating seven or eight, Silly Bird resumed her usual boastful and proud attitude. Her neck was arched high, her upper body unmoving, and her two long, dainty bird legs elegantly stepping out on the beach.

The shidi looked enviously looked at Silly Bird. Even someone blind could see handsomeness of Silly Bird.

They copied Zuo Mo, taking out Energy Dan to feed to their steeds. But they were still quite reluctant, the most they gave was two pills. Before departure, Zuo Mo had given each person a bottle with about ten pills in each.

In this time that the prices of materials were rising, the bottle of Energy Dan was not cheap. They found that following Zuo Shixiong didn’t seem to be so bad, at least it wouldn’t be unprofitable. Even more, Zuo Shixiong was a core disciple.

Those whom Zuo Mo had picked this time were all disciples from minor sects that hadn’t been in the sect for more than one month. They had just joined and had not been pulled into the factions within the sect. As those those disciples that had some fame, he didn’t take any of them.

Ningmai disciples, which ones would obey him?

The people he had picked were all in zhuji with foundations as production xiuzhe.

———

After resting for two days, everyone had basically recovered.

Zuo Mo called everyone over.

“Starting from today, for a very long period of time, we will be staying at this place where even the birds won’t shit.” Zuo Mo’s language was coarse, but everyone felt a deep empathy with his words.

“However, because this place is isolated, no one will disturb us here. It can be a place of peace. Right now, the sect is a mess, and even I find it troublesome. For you, it would be a dream to think you could have avoided it!”

“All of us here are production xiu, so think about the sect. Is there a place that will allow you to peacefully produce? This place might be isolated, but there is no conflict. To us, it is a very good place! Desolate? We can change it ourselves! I’ll state the rules first. On the Desolate Wood Reef, whoever creates ling fields will get to plant in them. Whoever plants will get what they planted. I won’t take a portion, the sect will not take anything! Also, the sect benefits that you are due will not change.”

“Really?” There was excitement on some people’s faces. Originally, they had felt this place was isolated and had been very unwilling. Hearing Zuo Mo say so, they became excited. They were all production xiu, and none among them were interested in fighting and killing. It might be hard to create ling fields, but if they made them, what they planted belonged to them! The sect would not take a portion.

It had to be said that the portion the sect usually took in rent for ling fields was extremely high.

Zuo Mo shrugged his shoulders. “As long as I am here there will not be a problem. But if the sect switches people then I can’t do a thing.”

The people believed Zuo Mo even more when he said that. At least Zuo Shixiong was not overexaggerating. Poor land? It was only a matter of effort for xiuzhe. Production xiu were hardworking and hardy.

Seeing everyone was becoming motivated, Zuo Mo decided to keep eating while the fire was hot.

“Time is jingshi! Everyone, you don’t want to waste jingshi! I have a plan here … …”

Zuo Mo knew that time was short. There was not a lot of time left for him.

In the past, Desolate Wood Reef was neglected, but as the situation worsened, the position of the Desolate Wood Reef would quickly become essential. Relatively speaking, Little Mountain Jie was even more isolated. It only had two jie rivers, even less than Sky Moon Jie.

The situations was worsening and the amount of xiuzhe that would pass through Desolate Wood Reef would increase greatly.

Having personally made the trip, Zuo Mo felt that the position of the Desolate Wood Reef was even better geographically. Two months of travelling, it took almost one month of flying over the Endless Ocean. Supposedly, there were vicious and dangerous water beasts underwater so few people would chose to travel on the water.

Zuo Mo could not imagine just how idiotic the people of Heart Lake Sword Sect were. Heavens, possessing such a good place yet not using it!

In reality, his thinking had gone askew. Little Mountain Jie only had a jie river towards Sky Moon Jie and one towards Sky Water Jie. Sky Moon Jie was not as prosperous as Sky Water Jie so there was rarely any people that passed through to Little Mountain Jie. The Desolate Wood Reef was too far away from Heart Lake Sword Sect. It was only a stop, so naturally, they did not try to manage it with any significant effort.

Zuo Mo had his own thoughts. Even though Little Mountain Jie was more isolated, it was also further away from Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. In other words, if the current situation really worsened retreating through Little Mountain Jie then onwards to Sky Water Jie was not a bad choice.

That was his plan.

He estimated that after some more time, there would continuously be people going through the jie river to Little Mountain Jie.

It wasn’t so easy to travel through a jie river. The shortest amount of time it would take was several months, longer trips could possibly take years. The Desolate Wood Reef was the only supply point before entering the jie river. That was an opportunity.

Want to resupply? Alright! Hee hee, passage fee … … accommodation fee … … resupplying fee … … birds will be plucked clean… …

He had decided. Even if it was a mosquito passing by, he was going to squeeze out three drops of blood!

In any case, the sect in the short term definitely had no attention to spare on him. Looking objectively from outside, he finally understood. The sect might look strong now, but before the sect leader could assimilate the newly merged factions, the sect would only remain superficially strong . In reality, it was weak internally. The sect leader definitely could see it, but was yet to be seen if there was enough time for him to do anything about it.

That was up to the Heavens!

Zuo Mo shook his head and threw those nonsense thoughts to the back of his mind. A problem even the sect leader couldn’t solve, it wasn’t necessary for him to waste his thoughts on it. He decided to manage his own little domain.

The Desolate Wood Reef was a treasure. Thinking of being able to sit and receive jingshi was great, but this all required that he had enough strength to support it.

This was what he was directing everyone to do now.

Each person had been given a jade scroll from Zuo Shixiong with the jobs assigned to them.

There were a variety of jobs that were very weird. Ling plant farmers were requested to plant certain ling grasses and herbs at certain areas on the island. The animal keepers were to put some of the worms and beasts they raised in certain locations. Zuo Mo had even drawn out the areas they needed to raise them.

The most common task was to dig holes and canals. Almost everyone felt it hard to understand.

The humidity on the Desolate Wood Reef was very rich. The effect of water element spells like [Little Art Of Cloud And Rain] were magnified. They didn’t really need to dig any waterways. Also, the canals that Zuo Shixiong had requested them to dig crisscrossed the entire island, all of them connected to each other.

What did Zuo Shixiong want to do?

After a while, some of the more sensitive xiuzhe discovered that Zuo Shixiong had not appeared for two days.

Where had Zuo Shixiong gone?

Chapter 169: Wealth Coming From The Sky

Zuo Mo followed closely behind the black gold worm. He held the Water Drop sword, his eyes continuously sweeping the surroundings with caution.

The armoured black worm ran very quickly. Zuo Mo was gleeful as he followed.

If Lil’ Black was running so cheerfully, then the island definitely had ling veins or some great treasure. He had originally assumed that the Desolate Wood Reef was a barren island. Looking at it now, it seemed to hold some surprises.

The place they had arrived at was a dense forest, and in the middle, there was a lake filled with black-coloured water. Lil’ Black seemed to be extremely afraid of the black water lake and rapidly passed it by. Zuo Mo examined the black water lake in slight surprise. The lake was not very large, about ten mu or so. The water of the pond was as black as ink. It was a dead place, no grass growing beside it and contained only large patches of pale white rock.

Corrupted land!

For some reason, these two words naturally floated to the top of Zuo Mo’s mind. The black water lake looked like it was dead. There were no animal tracks along the shores. It seemed to exude unluckiness. He remembered the jade scroll that the Heart Lake Sword Sect disciple had given him mentioned this lake. The black water lake was very dangerous, and it was recommended to stay away.

He didn’t have time to study the lake right now. He sped up to keep in step with Lil’ Black.

Among the woods, Lil’ Black was like a gust of wind, only a black shadow could be seen. If Zuo Mo did not have a mental connection with Lil’ Black, he would have lost track of it a long time ago.

Detecting that Lil’ Black’s speed had increased a fraction, Zuo Mo hurriedly sped up as well.

Lil’ Black suddenly crept inside a crack in a nearby clearing. Zuo Mo grimaced when he saw this two-finger wide crack. Yet his Water Drop sword in his hand did not hesitate, turning into a stream of light and twisting rapidly in the air as a blue shadow before it suddenly drilled downward!

Boom!

Broken rock scattered and a hole wide enough to allow Zuo Mo to enter appeared in front of him.

Zuo Mo waved his hand, and the Water Drop sword flew back into his hand. Bending down, he entered the hole and the tunnel widened in front of him. This place was a natural cave. Not far away, the black gold worm was waiting for Zuo Mo. Seeing Zuo Mo, it made a sound, turned and ran. Zuo Mo refocused and hurriedly followed.

The darkness did not affect Lil’ Black at all and Zuo Mo’s consciousness was strong enough to allow everything to be perceived by his mind.

Advancing inside the tunnel, Zuo Mo was able to feel that he was continuously moving deeper underground. Along the way, his flying sword had been used to break open quite a few blockages. Up until now, he hadn’t found any traces of other people. This made him even more excited.

———

After walking for more than an hour, when he walked by another corner, Zuo Mo was stunned by scene in front of him.

Large swathes of completely red lava flowed, slowly bubbling. His vision was completely filled with its red glow. The cavern was like a world of crimson, changing and twisting with each wave of heat. The air was stained with the smell of sulfur.

The lake of boiling lava was about three mu in size, rocks from the surrounding areas were constantly falling and disappearing into it. But after a while, the lava at the borders would cool, forming rock again and mending the holes.

Hmm? His gaze landed on the black gold worm. At some unknown time, Lil’ Black had crawled on top of a red coloured rock and started to nibble.

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrunk and he was overjoyed.

Crimson Fire Rock!

He couldn’t stop himself from approaching and picking up a red-coloured rock from the ground. The volcanic red rock was not jade yet similar to jade. It was a very strong and pure shade of red, hot to the touch like scorching hot metal. If Zuo Mo hadn’t wrapped ling power around his hand, his hand would have been cooked to the bone.

The rock contained extremely rich fire element power!

Fourth-grade Crimson Fire Rock!

At this time, he wanted to laugh. Who would’ve thought that this isolated island would have such a treasure! A circle of Crimson Red Rock grew around the rim of the lava lake.

All this Crimson Fire Rock alone was enough to make his trip to the Desolate Wood Reef worth it!

Without another word, he started to collect the Crimson Fire rock, not leaving even one piece. The Crimson Fire rock was arranged in a particular pattern. All of them grew in the area closest to the lava, forming a belt around the lava lake. These Crimson Fire rocks had been tempered over countless months and years, and the impurities inside had been melted away so they were very pure.

In the sixty or so pieces of Crimson Fire rock, most were third-grade. The number of fourth-grade Crimson Fire rock reached six pieces.

This was an astounding amount of wealth!

Zuo Mo was very satisfied. He was dizzy from receiving such a windfall of wealth. To reward Lil’ Black, he even took out a piece of fourth-grade Crimson Fire rock for it to chew on.

Lil’ Black instantly abandoned the third-grade Crimson Fire rock that he had half eaten and leapt towards the fourth-grade Crimson Fire rock as though its butt was on fire. This piece of Crimson Fire rock was not big, just slightly larger than his thumb. Lil’ Black ate it like it was a cracker, crunch crunch. A fourth-grade Crimson Fire rock was gone just like that.

Finished eating, Lil’ Black suddenly became bright red all over like it was being heated, lying there motionlessly.

Zuo Mo was alarmed. The connection between him and Lil’ Black was broken!

He carefully held Lil’ Black on his hand. Lil’ Black seemed like a piece of Crimson Fire rock at this moment, it’s temperature abnormally high. He carefully observed for a while using his consciousness. Finally, after making sure that the black gold worm hadn’t died, he instantly sighed in relief. After staying in the formation for half a year, Silly Bird and Lil’ Black were not just steed and ling worm to Zuo Mo, but more like his friends.

Zuo Mo guessed that Lil’ Black had consumed too much fire element power today, causing “indigestion.”

“You glutton!” He muttered as he put Lil’ Black into his ring.

After cleaning up the Crimson Fire rock, Zuo Mo finally calmed down. He reassessed this underground lava lake. Even standing on the shore, he could feel the rich fire element power.

This place was a treasure!

Zuo Mo had already started to ponder how he could use the lava lake.

His consciousness made a few rounds around the lake and did not find anything strange.

He had originally intended to find ling veins and hadn’t expected an earth fire lava lake. This was outside of his plans. However, even if it was unexpected, this lava lake was still of great use.

Zuo Mo stood at his spot, thinking for a moment before starting to act.

All kinds of materials appeared on his hands. The stores of the sect had been opened for his trip to the Desolate Wood Reef. He naturally wasn’t polite, and swept through until Master couldn’t bare it anymore. Compared to before, the resources were on completely different levels. There were all kinds of high level materials in the stores that dazzled Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Zuo Mo might be lazy in general, but he would never slack off on anything related to his life.

A flip of the hand, and a two-handled hornless dragon copper cauldron appeared. The hornless dragon pattern on the cauldron was a faint red, it’s coiled body carved to appear like flames.

Zuo Mo gently threw it and the copper cauldron appeared steadily at a place on the shore.

He flipped his hand again. It was another copper cauldron exactly the same as the last one.

Another toss, the cauldron was planted at another spot.

In one go, Zuo Mo had tossed out seven two-handled hornless dragon copper cauldrons which all landed at places equi-distant to the lava lake.

The seven two-handled hornless dragon copper cauldrons were fine items in the third-grade. When Zuo Mo had taken all seven while shopping at the sect stores, the face of the disciple in-charge turned green instantly.

Zuo Mo’s eyes became serious. His hands blooming, he started to walk along the lake, talismans and materials flying from his hands.

———

Two hours later, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. A spectacular display of all kinds of materials were placed along the edges of the lava lake!

He released a breath, his hands moving like lightning. He activated spells that created streams of light which entered the materials.

The entire process continued for six whole hours. When the last spell was finished, it was like Zuo Mo had lost all energy. He sat down on his butt, his entire body soaked in sweat.

He forced down the deathly exhaustion in his body, folded his legs and quickly entered meditation.

A few hours later, he opened his eyes, fully recovered.

“It can only be like this now.” Seeing the formation he had just finished, he wasn’t very satisfied.

The lava lake contained extremely rich fire element energy and a thread of earth fire. It was a wonderful natural cauldron. No matter if it was dan-making, or forging, it was a necessity so he did not spare the expense in using the seven third-grade two-handle hornless dragon copper cauldrons to set up a four-turn formation!

The fire element power reached an astounding height. The energy alone would be enough to accomplish half the work whether it was used for dan-making or forging!

The formation would naturally move on its own. The seven copper cauldrons were like seven whirlpools, furiously absorbing the fire element power from the lava lake. After four turns, it turned to a thread of fire that flew into the air above the lava lake. When the seven threads of fire intersected in the air, a serene blue flame bloomed in the air.

Zuo Mo finally had a satisfied expression. The formation was not perfect, but the flame was already very good.

He took out a thin copper hoop from the ring which was covered in all kinds of seals.

Raising his hand, he threw the copper hoop into the flame.

The flame suddenly grew, enveloping the copper ring. The copper ring was abnormally silent inside the fire.

Zuo Mo put around seven layers of jinzhi around the shores of the lava lake before he stopped.

He looked at the copper ring suspended in the flame. The original yellow-red flame now revealed an extremely thin thread of red. Zuo Mo showed some anticipation on his face before he left.

Coming out of the cave, Zuo Mo carefully laid out some jinzhi over the mouth to prevent others from entering.

———

The disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect had worked on their construction projects for quite a few days before they finished the tasks set out in their jade scrolls. Zuo Mo did not explain very much, but everyone still reliably finished their tasks. What Zuo Mo had picked were all production xiuzhe, and they were mostly docile.

However, everyone was very curious what Shixiong planned on doing.

When the shixiong that had disappeared for a few days reappeared, everyone went to crowd around him and reported their progress.

Zuo Mo focused and scanned everyone’s tasks before he had a satisfied expression.

“Everyone, thanks for your hard work!” Zuo Mo clapped his hand. “Everyone gets a bottle of Energy Dan, rest for a few days.”

Even though they didn’t know what Shixiong was doing, everyone felt satisfied with gaining a bottle of Energy Dan. After receiving the reward, they all went to rest.

At this very moment, a sword light suddenly flashed on the horizon.

The sword light was extremely quick. The person seemed to have spotted the Desolate Wood Reef. The light’s direction changed and headed towards the Desolate Wood Reef

Zuo Mo and his compatriots instantly became nervous.

Chapter 170: Nan Ming Zi

Zuo Mo did not panic. He only narrowed his eyes at the sword light heading towards them.

There was only one reason. With Wu Kong Sword Sect’s present status in Sky Moon Jie, no one would so foolishly dare to antagonize them. Different than the other grand sects’ steady conduct, the offensive power that Wu Kong Sword Sect were able to display had shook all of Sky Moon Jie. No one was able to rival the fame of Xin Yan’s Ice Dragon Sword.

He took out a little flag from his ring. Raising his hand, the little flag started to grow. The mast of the flag was more than three zhang high, about the thickness of a goose eye, completely black, and appeared to be made out of steel. On the black flag, the words “Wu Kong” seemed to radiate unlimited power. The brush strokes were like sword strokes, appearing to almost fly off of the flag.

When the disciples saw the flag, all of them had a joyous expression. They sighed at the affection that the sect leader had towards Zuo Mo. Each sect had their own tokens to prove their identities. This flag was Wu Kong Sword Sect’s token. Other than being a token, it was also a talisman that had been forged by several jindan together, who imbued it with many powerful abilities.

This Wu Kong flag had been something Shi Feng Rong had specially gone to Pei Yuan Ran to obtain for Zuo Mo.

As the sword light reached them, a xiuzhe about forty years old, with a white clean-shaven face and wearing a green Taoist robe could be seen. He was standing on a flying sword. At first glance, he saw the flag. His expression changed slightly. The name of Wu Kong Sword Sect had really become too famous recently.

Nan Ming Zi leapt down from the flying sword, and the flying sword flew into the sword sheath on his back.

“Humble Taoist Nan Ming Zi greets the friends from Wu Kong Sword Sect!”

“Greetings friend.” Zuo Mo folded his hands and bowed.

The wariness in Zuo Mo’s heart did not lessen at all. Nan Ming Zi was in the intermediate stage of ningmai, higher than all of the disciples here. The Desolate Wood Reef was also on the border of the jie river. If Nan Ming Zihad any ill intentions,killed them for their treasure, and escaped through the jie river into Little Mountain Jie, the sect wouldn’t be able to easily find him.

Nan Ming Zi looked at the Wu Kong flag, and a flash of greed shone in his eyes. A talisman that took several jindan to forge, naturally it was one of the finest! However, he quickly pushed down the greed in his heart. A sect token was a good talisman, but it was also a hot potato.

When he detected everyone’s cultivation, his own heart instantly relaxed greatly.

He noticed Zuo Mo. From beginning to now, it was this person that was speaking with him. He must be the leader of this group. He suddenly stared, “Friend looks very familiar, please tell me of your great name!”

“This one is Zuo Mo,” Zuo Mo answered. He had caught sight of the glimmer of greed that had briefly flashed in the other’s eyes. He was way too familiar with this kind of gaze.

“Zuo Mo?” Nan Ming Zi furrowed his brows to think. This face and the name, he was very familiar with both. He suddenly lifted his head, “Zuo Mo of the formation-seal-style?”

“Just little tricks, they don’t deserve to be mentioned,” Zuo Mo smiled expressionlessly.

Nan Ming Zi’s heart suddenly became cold. It had only been half a year since the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference. Zuo Mo’s name had still not been forgotten. He took back his original estimation. This expressionless guy in front of him had defeated ningmai before.

And the terrifying formation-seal-style … …

His gaze instinctively scanned the surroundings.

Line after line of criss-crossing pathways, piles of rock that clearly had been dug up … …

His heart suddenly beat faster. No way … … formation-seal-style … …

Zuo Mo’s expressionless face suddenly transformed into something as deep as the ocean, his stare appeared cold like a hunter watching prey caught in a trap. He rejoiced that he hadn’t attacked just now. This zombie in front of him was one that killed without a trace!

There were many rumours about why the Dong Fu Sword Test Conference had stopped in the middle, but no matter which version was told, they all used that enormous pit as the basis.

Nan Ming Zi was old and he had cultivated for a long time. His cultivation was even higher than people like Gu Rong Ping. However, he was from a small sect. In terms of attack power and techniques, he had to admit he wasn’t a match for the youths of the Sword Test Conference.

A drop of sweat flowed down his back.

“Ha ha. This poor Taoist is planning on passing through the jie river from here. Can this Taoist borrow this land to rest for a few days?” Nan Ming Zi hurriedly said. “If this one disturbs, please forgive my intrusion!”

His hands were passing over five pieces of third-grade jingshi.

Zuo Mo hadn’t expected the other to be so proactive. He did not change his expression as he took the five pieces of jingshi. “You are too polite! We have just taken possession of the Desolate Wood Reef from Heart Lake Sword Sect. There hasn’t been time to construct a few buildings. It is a poor place with little to offer, please have tolerance.”

Heart Lake Sword Sect … …

The sweat on Nan Ming Zi’s forehead became even more pronounced. If Wu Kong Sword Sect could be called the rising nouveau-rich, than Heart Lake Sword Sect was old money with deep foundations!

Since it was related to two big sects, Nan Ming Zi didn’t dare to act easily. He originated from a small sect and was very clear what power these big sects possessed. If it was only Wu Kong Sword Sect, he might dare to risk it; but since it also related to Heart Lake Sword Sect, he no longer had the courage.

The other disciples looked at Zuo Mo with eyes full of admiration. The other was a ningmai!

Nan Ming Zi was very tired after a long flight. He found a spot to meditate and recover his strength. The disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect found that in the next few days, Shixiong would walk all over the place, occasionally putting all kinds of strange materials into the ground, or casting some spells that no one understood.

But the formation that everyone imagined did not show any signs of completion.

Some less courageous disciples became panicked. Nan Ming Zi appeared friendly up until now, but they still worried. The other was much stronger than them. After recovering, the difference between the two sides would be even greater.

Zuo Shixiong’s big formation still appeared incomplete.

The third day, just like normal, Zuo Mo continuously cast all kinds of spells on the ground. He didn’t seem very rushed, his composure idle.

———

In the middle of meditation, Nan Ming Zi’s eyes opened a sliver and looked thoughtfully at Zuo Mo. These last three days, he had been observing Zuo Mo constantly. He didn’t find any ripple of a formation inside the island. Inside those criss-crossing canals, there was water that flowed in and out into the Endless Ocean. From all the signs, Zuo Mo’s big formation did not seem to have been completed.

Was he purposefully concealing it, or was the formation really not finished?

Nan Ming Zi wasn’t sure. He decided to wait a bit longer. There wasn’t anyone else on the island, only this crowd of zhuji. For him, it was very easy to conquer. There usually wasn’t any wealth on zhuji xiuzhe. However, he coveted the flag in Zuo Mo’s hands. Zuo Mo had used so many materials on the formation over the past few days that even Nan Ming Zi felt pain on his behalf.

These three days, that Wu Kong flag could not be driven from his thoughts. As his ling power recovered, Nan Ming Zi’s heart started to waver. Thinking that he was afraid of a zhuji xiuzhe, he felt his face burn with shame. Other than formations, Zuo Mo could not be of any danger to him.

With his power, these zhujii cultivators completely had no power to resist. If the formation was not complete, he had complete confidence he could quickly kill Zuo Mo. If it really came to that point, he didn’t plan on letting of any of the other Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples escape either. Afterwards, he would flee to Little Mountain Jie, then to Sky Water Jie. No matter how powerful Wu Kong Sword Sect and Heart Lake Sword Sect were, how could they find him then?

A dark light flashed across Nan Ming Zi’s eyes.

———

As Zuo Mo felt Nan Ming Zi’s vision, he started to sprint. Nan Ming Zi would never have thought that Zuo Mo’s consciousness was so strong that he could detect that Nan Ming Zi had been faking his meditation for the majority of the three days. Zuo Mo knew that Nan Ming Zi did not have good intentions, but to scare Nan Ming Zi, he had acted in a very calm manner the past few days.

As expected, troubled times had come! The world was in disorder!

Zuo Mo sighed inside, his feet moving faster. Now that society was in disorder, only having enough power would keep him alive.

He travelled along familiar paths back to the underground lava lake. These last few days, the fire formation in the lava lake had been continuously processing the copper hoop.

Zuo Mo waved his hand. The copper hoop rang and flew into his hand. The yellow-red copper hoop was now a bright fiery red, looking slightly strange compared to before. The fire element power had been very strong. After forging for three days and nights, the grade of the copper hoop had been raised by one level, reaching fourth-grade.

He gave a satisfied expression.

Coming out of the lava lake, Zuo Mo did not conceal his figure anymore, flying straight into the sky.

———

The other people instantly found Zuo Mo in the air.

The disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect all had excited expressions. The murderous intent on Nan Ming Zi’s face finally could no longer be concealed. He came to the conclusion that the formation on the island really had not been completed!

Damn it! He had been tricked by this zombie! Nan Ming Zi’s eyes revealed his greedy and crazy emotions. Born out of a small sect, even if he had reached the stage of ningmai, he still did not have an appropriate talisman!

He might not understand formations, but he was very experienced. Seeing Zuo Mo, it looked as though he was planning on activating the formation. Such a good opportunity, if he did not act now, when could he?

Silently, his flying sword had come out of its sheath. It suddenly turned into a stream of light, leaping towards Zuo Mo in the air.

Nan Ming Zi intended to kill with one blow. He did not hold anything back with this blow. The sword light was like a snake, opening its gaping maw and showing its fangs. Even from a distance, it was possible to feel the viciousness and maliciousness in the sword essence.

The expressions of the other disciples changed. Everyone took out their flying swords to try to act against Nan Ming Zi.

Nan Ming Zi smiled coldly. His figure flashed and appeared both on the ground and in the sky.

Zuo Mo did not seem to detect the sword light heading towards him. He opened his hand and the copper hoop slowly floated into the sky.

Ding!

As the red copper hoop slowly rose, it rang, producing clear bell-like sounds.

Ding ding ding ding!

It was as though there were countless wind chimes humming together with the red copper hoop. The Desolate Wood Reef was filled with the sounds of chimes.

The sword light that was halfway in the air seemed to have encountered great resistance. The body of the sword shook, and its speed suddenly decreased. Nan Ming Zi’s expression changed greatly. Gritting his teeth, all his ling power flowed into the sword. The light of the sword suddenly grew, its snake-like shape suddenly becoming even more realistic.

Hiss hiss!

The sword hissed as it cut through the air. The sword essence became even more brutal and savage.

Facing such a strong sword presence, Zuo Mo didn’t even bat an eyelid. All of his attention was focused on the slowly rising copper hoop.

At this time, the red copper hoop had floated past Zuo Mo’s head. It was like the sovereign that was facing the world. All the materials that Zuo Mo had cast into the ground seemed to have felt some invisible magnetism and started to float up into the sky with the fiery red copper hoop.

In the sky above the Desolate Wood Reef, there was countless materials floating densely together, as if to blot out the sun!

Chapter 171: Micro Void Arrow

The copper hoop was a Buddhist Sound Hoop, one of the finest of the third-grade talismans. When Zuo Mo had found it in the stores, he had been very happy. It was hard to find fine sound-type talismans. This Buddhist Sound Hoop had been made from Meteorite Copper and Crimson Red sand, and was able to produce a clear sound capable of breaking through illusions. Especially rare was the Buddhist Formation on the hoop was steady and grounded, not flashy, and had a uniquely dignified, serious presence.

After having been forged in strong fire element power for multiple days, the fire power flowed through the hoop. The clear sound it produced had become a deep strum, and within it were traces of hidden strength. What was special was the strength was like the sun, warm yet not brutal. The hoop had risen from third-grade to fourth-grade, its power growing drastically.

From the moment he saw the Buddhist Sound Hoop, Zuo Mo had decided to take it. It was as though it had been custom made for the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. The Buddhist Sound Hoop did not provide as much fine control as his Lil’ Pagoda, but because it was a sound-type talisman, it was much better suited to the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. Used as the center of the formation, the power would be much greater!

When Zuo Mo stepped onto the Desolate Wood Reef, he had already planned it out.

He had decided to set up a [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] of unprecedented size! There was enough manpower, and enough materials, there was also enough and time for him to set it up.

A two hundred and sixteen child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]!

Three seventy-two child formation [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] were placed at the corners of a triangle on the island, forming a large, never-before-seen [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. It really was too large, so much that it required a talisman to act as the center of the formation.

Zuo Mo had never set up such a large [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] before. He also did not know just how powerful the Buddhist Sound Hoop would be after it was tempered; but after studying in the sword essence formation for half a year, Zuo Mo’s understanding of formations was far greater than in the past. Even though he didn’t have very much confidence, he still proceeded accordingly, not panicked at all.

When he saw all the materials started to floated, his insecurities in his heart finally were alleviated!

The Buddhist Sound Hoop and the formation had finished their resonance!

Ping!

In the sky, a red light flashed on the Buddhist Sound Hoop producing a sound that was powerful and awe-inspiring. It was as if the Vajrapani Buddha was looking down with his eye, authoritative yet not wrathful!

———

Nan Ming Zi’s eyes widened in disbelief. The sword essence that he had produced using all the strength in his body was now weak as a bubble. With a pop, it scattered and disappeared.

An invisible Buddhist sound swept by. His body froze, the circulating ling power to resist the freezing of his body.

Nan Ming Zi had a shocked expression. The power of the formation was far beyond what he had imagined.

Not good! He’d been tricked!

He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue. A sweet, metallic taste instantly came into his mouth. A strange red colour spread across his face, the ling power that had been reserved inside his body was no longer held back. He felt his ling power surge through his body, plentiful like it never had been before.

But he had already lost his courage. There was only one though in his mind, flee!

A shuttle shaped talisman in the shape of a date seed appeared in his hand. He hurriedly channeled ling power into it.

Suddenly, a feeling of extremely danger appeared.

Uh-oh!

There was only time for that one thought before he felt a soft impact.

His chest had suddenly exploded without warning. He looked down and saw a bloody hole the size of a fist in his chest. His vision darkened, and he did not feel anything else.

[Skyring Moon Chime Formation]’s [Micro Void Arrow]!

———

Having seen the entire fight, watching Nan Ming Zi’s corpse plummet like a bag of sand, the Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples below all had expressions of shock and awe. They had heard all kinds of rumors about Zuo Mo Shixiong, but nothing was as shocking as personally seeing Zuo Mo Shixiong easily kill a ningmai xiuzhe.

In the sky stood the figure of Zuo Mo, a thin body and with his eyes closed, instilled them with a sense of awe and mystery

———

A beat later, Zuo Mo opened his eye, joy flashing across his eyes.

[Micro Void Arrow] was not a technique from the jade scroll of [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], but a technique he had come to understand on his own by studying the sword essence formation. In the sword essence formation, he had watched the process of many fine sword essences gathering into stronger and bigger sword essence many times. [Micro Void Arrow] was the result of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] producing large amounts of extremely small chimes. These small sounds would not attract any attention, but when they gathered together were very strong.

When the enemy inside the formation detected the danger, the [Micro Void Arrow] would have already formed!

Having detected that Nan Ming Zi wanted to flee, for some strange reason, Zuo Mo had used this technique that he wasn’t familiar with. He hadn’t expected it to be so effective. After finishing the fight, he savored everything he had learned in the moment.

Looking at Nan Ming Zi’s corpse, Zuo Mo was not happy in the slightest.

The social order was in chaos!

When a nest was under attack, would any egg escape? He was just a cultivator in zhuji. The worry in his heart only increased.

Zuo Mo slowly landed. The Buddhist Sound Hoop disappeared. All of the materials then entered the ground. If it wasn’t for the corpse on the ground, there was no sign that there had been a fight on the Desolate Wood Reef.

“Everyone, go rest. Starting tomorrow, we can start looking for ling veins.” Zuo Mo said to the other disciples.

“Yes!” The other disciples bent their heads and complied. The strength that Zuo Mo displayed created awe in their hearts and made them more willing to follow.

———

It was a pity that Lil’ Black was asleep. Otherwise, it would be extremely easy to find ling veins. However, these production xiuzhe had their own tricks. There was a ling plant farmer that knew how to look for ling veins, and a beast-speaker who had a blue-star mouse that could find ling veins. All of them were disciples of the same sect. And the Desolate Wood Reef was not large, so no one concealed anything, cooperating in their search.

Since the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was mostly complete, Zuo Mo’s heart finally landed. With the big formation present, he was not afraid of any ningmai. As for jindan, no matter what talismans he had, they were not something he could face.

However, jindan experts would not care for the little wealth that he had.

Beside the lava lake, Zuo Mo took out what he had collected from Nan Ming Zi’s body. There was a large pile of knick-knacks in front of him, but what were most eye-catching was a date seed and a piece of withered vine.

Carved onto the date seed was a little ship, with exquisite pavilions and columns, sails and masts. Zuo Mo remembered that Nan Ming Zi had taken out this date seed at the end when he clearly wanted to flee. He instantly felt great interest. Who didn’t like talismans used for escaping and could potentially be life-saving?

He channeled ling power inside.

A strong suction force suddenly came from the date seed. The ling power in his body instantly started to resemble a wild horse out of control, furiously flowing towards the date seed!

In the blink of an eye, the ling power in his body had been depleted.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and forcefully stopped the flow of ling power. This date seed was somewhat abnormal! Still wary, he put the date seed in front of him to carefully look. After absorbing the ling power, there was no change.

He seemed to understand why Nan Ming Zi had not used the date seed ship earlier. It required too much ling power to activate.

Zuo Mo grimaced inside. Ling power was his greatest weakness, yet the date seed ship required large amounts of ling power. After all this trouble, what he received was a talisman that he could not currently use.

He turned his eyes to the withered vine. His dejected mood instantly recovered, the joy in his eyes increasing. In the end, he couldn’t resist roaring with laughter.

He had made a profit!

The withered vine was not eye-catchingly pretty. Its muddy grey colour made it appear like any other withered vine which could be found everywhere. When he had taken it out of Nan Ming Zi’s ring, it had been piled together with a bunch of assorted items. Nan Ming Zi had not found its value.

Zuo Mo recognized this vine. It had a very special name, “Teeth Vine.”

It was a very scary organism. A mature teeth vine would release extremely beautiful flowers with seductive sweet fragrances. They were natural illusionists, able to transform into different shapes. From birth, they were skilled in illusory skills. Prey that neared them would be unable to escape as though they were trapped in illusory formations.

Once the prey entered its hunting range, as it cast an illusion, it would stealthily approach its prey. It was not just a plant, but made from countless tiny worms which were called “teeth.”

Teeth Vine was an extremely weird and dangerous ling vine. Not only was this unattractive withered vine was Teeth Vine, and it was a section of fourth-grade Teeth Vine.

Fourth-grade teeth vine!

He didn’t know who was so skilled that they could even cut fourth-grade Teeth Vine. The danger of a fourth-grade Teeth Vine definitely was not lower than that of any ningmai expert. It was extremely hard to hunt and required the skilled handiwork of a professional hunter. To be able to preserve the shape of the Teeth Vine, the hunter needed to use jade knives to cut it, otherwise, the Teeth Vine would collapse and turn to dust.

If this little section of fourth-grade Teeth Vine was placed in the Hundred Treasure Flying Pavilion, it could reach an astronomical price.

But Zuo Mo definitely would not sell it.

It was useful for him! He was going to make a sword formation!

It wouldn’t be a big sword formation like the sword essence formation, but a convenient, easy-to-transport formation that he could keep with him at all times. In other words, he decided to make a set of flying swords that could set up a sword formation at any time!

Zuo Mo had come up to the idea while he had been imprisoned in the big sword essence. From the moment the idea appeared in mind he was unable to sweep it away!

The fight with Nan Ming Zi reminded him that in chaotic times, the first priority was keeping himself alive. The Desolate Wood Reef had the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], so he had no worries here. But he could not always stay on the Desolate Wood Reef. If he didn’t have any power to keep himself safe, he would just be a fat sheep that would be torn to pieces.

He had gained some experience when he had forged sword billets for Su, and inside the big sword essence formation, the idea had been continuously perfected in his mind.

He had comprehended many things by personally experiencing the five different sword essences in the last half year. Even if it was less pure than the shibo, but there was no problem of copying it.

Five kinds of sword essence, Second Shibo’s Ice Dragon, Sect Leader’s mountain, Third Shibo’s snow fox, Master’s vine, and Wu Ling Sanren’s Bagua.

He had even considered which sword essences to use in the sword formation. He decided to replace Wu Ling Sanren’s Bagua sword essence with his own Li Water sword essence . The quality of the Li Water sword essence was far lower in quality than the Bagua sword essence, but he had a more profound understanding of Li Water sword essence and this would make the formation easier for him to control.

However, no matter how good the idea was, he lacked materials.

If he reforged the Water Drop sword, it could be used for the Li Water sword essence. However, Zuo Mo ran into difficulty with the four other swords. The mountain sword essence required an earth-attributed flying sword; the ice dragon sword needed icy materials; the snow fox sword essences needed things like fox claws or teeth; and the vine sword essence naturally required ling vines.

Zuo Mo had went through the entire sect stores and hadn’t found one item that he was satisfied with to be used for the four types of materials that he needed.

Now, to his surprise, he actually found a fourth-grade teeth vine on Nan Ming Zi’s body. How could he not be joyful?

Chapter 172: Pu Yao Awakening

Forging the Teeth Vine sword would be a slow process because it belonged to the element of wood. For this particular material a fire-forging method could not be used. Zuo Mo need to be think more about how he should accomplish his goal. If he ruined this fourth-grade Teeth Vine, there would be no pill he could take to cure him of such a regret.

The copper hoop was sent back into the ball of fire above the lava lake. Zuo Mo wanted to temper it a bit more so he did not need to pay close attention to it while it was in the fire. He hadn’t expected that this method would have caused such a change in the big formation. And all of this was caused by the combination of the copper hoop with earth fire.

The copper hoop was the center of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. Being tempered in the fire, it continuously received fire element power that was then passed through the hoop to the entire formation, slowly changed the big formation. As the hot fire element power permeated the formation, the originally cool aura of the formation was replaced by a domineering, hot presence of fire.

The change in the big formation was beyond Zuo Mo’s expectations.

He suddenly felt anticipation. If the fire element power completely permeated the entire formation, what would the resulting [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] be like?

Nan Ming Zi wasn’t rich, but he had still been a ningmai xiuzhe.

His wealth was still substantial to someone like Zuo Mo. He threw the remaining items and talismans to Lil’ Pagoda. They were deconstructed into pure five element energy, and was consumed by Lil’ Pagoda.

After taking in the five element energy, Lil’ Pagoda seemed more round, and it hopped around joyfully.

Having had everything taken out of it by Zuo Mo, Nan Ming Zi’s dimensional ring was now as empty as an abandoned shell. Zuo Mo put it on his hand. Nan Ming Zi’s dimensional ring was very small, not even a quarter of Zuo Mo’s ring, but it was still valuable. Naturally, no one would dislike having more dimensional rings.

Having sorted out Nan Ming Zi’s items, Zuo Mo changed expressions as he began examining the black gold worm that appeared in his hands.

Lil’ Black had transformed dramatically. There were now red patterns on the back of his black shell.

The antenna on Lil’ Black’s head moved. Zuo Mo was overjoyed. Was this glutton finally waking up?

After short while, Lil’ Black slowly began to move in his hand, but the movement was jerky, as though it was hung-over and unable to even walk straight. After it started to wake up, the intangible connection between Zuo Mo’s mind and Lil’ Black reappeared.

Other than in appearance, Lil’ Black did not seem to have changed, but the joy that came from Lil’ Black inside his mind made Zuo Mo’s mood better.

“You glutton. One day, you will eat yourself to death.” He couldn’t resist muttering.

Thinking of that, he realized he didn’t just have just one glutton on his hands. Silly Bird liked to eat lingdan, she was also very picking. Lil’ Black liked to eat things rich in ling energy, Lil’ Pagoda’s tastes were constantly increasing, and the demand on quality was becoming higher and higher.

The two slender antenna on Lil’ Black’s head moved, as though they was objecting to Zuo Mo’s comments. It was temporarily impossible to see any of the other changes but Lil’ Black seemed to be more intelligent.

“Haha, now that you are full, it’s time for you to work.” Zuo Mo put Lil’ Black on the ground.

Lil’ Black’s antenna waved as it turned into a black-gold light and started to fly.

Zuo Mo hurriedly followed.

They were busy searching for a few days, but Zuo Mo seemed to have used up his luck.

There were few ling veins on the Desolate Wood Reef, and they were all small veins. If they were used for ling fields, the grade definitely would not be more than third-grade. He finally understood why Heart Lake Sword Sect had not developed Desolate Wood Reef. They had definitely inspected the whole island and seen there was no value to developing it.

As expected, it really was a barren island!

Compared to Zuo Mo’s disappointment, the ling farming disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect were very excited.

When had they ever dreamed about possessing their own third-grade ling fields?

With great excitement, they were very motivated. Not just the ling farming disciples, even the other disciples cooperated, as it was important for their crafts that the ling fields were ploughed and ready as well. To raise ling beasts, they needed ling grasses. Those disciples that did dan-making needed ling herbs. Ling grains were also one of the greatest requirements for all people.

There were not many ling veins and therefore not many ling fieldsbut since only a few disciples had come, there was a sufficient number of ling fields. Of course, this was also directly related to Zuo Mo voluntarily surrendering his own share. With their Shixiong as role model, the others interacted in harmony.

After ploughing the ling fields,there were more than six hundred mu of ling fields. With three ling farming disciples, each person got two hundred mu. That wasn’t really that much, but being all third-grade ling fields, it easily satisfied the zhuji ling farming disciples. These three ling farming disciples had not received their spring sprout jade medal, so they could not be considered true ling plant farmers.

The other disciples began their own work. The disciples skilled in ling beast husbandry started to construct their livestock shelters. Desolate Wood Reef was a very busy place.

———

Zuo Mo looked dazedly at the Endless Ocean.

“What place is this?” A familiar voice suddenly appeared next to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s body froze. He turned around. Pu Yao lazily stretched and yawned, “I’ve really napped a long time this time!”

“A nap?” Zuo Mo, who had felt joy, suddenly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He finally remembered this guy was a Sky Yao, a person who could live for several thousand years and not die. Half a year, to him, it was just a short doze.

“Why did you come to a terrible place like this?” Pu Yao gazed around and asked curiously.

“No way about it. This place is quiet.” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly. He could feel Pu Yao’s consciousness sweeping across the entire Desolate Wood Reef in an instant.

“Haha, good place, good place!” Pu Yao laughed.

“What’s good about this crappy place?” Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao like he was looking at an idiot. “You slept yourself into stupidity.”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” Pu Yao scornfully glanced at Zuo Mo and then reached out a hand, “Jingshi!”

Zuo Mo forcefully controlled his impulse to charge and fight with Pu Yao. He took out ten pieces of third-grade jingshi and threw it to this damned renyao.

“Just this little bit?” Pu Yao frowned in dissatisfaction. The hand he reached out with made a grabbing motion in the air.

Clink-clink.

The familiar sound of jingshi. In his hands, a large handful of jingshi appeared!

It was as if Pu Yao had performed a magic trick. Zuo Mo gaped. After a while, he suddenly reacted and hurried to check his ring.

“You damned renyao, ye will kill you!”

Zuo Mo’s grieving wail echoed across the Desolate Wood Reef!

Presently, Zuo Mo could be considered to have settled down on the Desolate Wood Reef. For a long time, he was required to guard this barren island. When he had come, he had taken a large portion of supplies. This also meant that he would not receive supplies from the sect for a long time.

How to manage them, how to use them to get get stronger, these had became a problem that he had to think about.

He asked Pu Yao for advice.

Pu Yao was unconcerned, “None of my business!”

Having interacted with this guy for so long, Zuo Mo knew what this renyao was like. He wasn’t angry and smirked. “How much jingshi ye has, you know very well. When it’s all spent, all of us can wait to die! Ye will die from starvation, you will die from poverty, in any case, it is still death!”

Pu Yao’s expression was stunned. After a while, he said somewhat unwillingly, “So ignorant. Have you never heard the phrase ‘eat the mountain by the mountain, eat the sea by the sea’ ?”

Zuo Mo heard this, and his mind became alert, “How to eat?”

Pu Yao did not speak, suddenly sinking into thought.

Zuo Mo found it strange but did not disturb him.

After a while, Pu Yao opened, “I will pass on a certain set of arts to you, but you need to help me build a Nether Pool.”

“Nether Pool?” Zuo Mo was puzzled.

“Yes.” Pu Yao did not speak of the detail, only looking at Zuo Mo.

“What’s the purpose of the Nether Pool?” Zuo Mo probed. This renyao looked harmless on the surface but he was still a true yao, even though up until now, Zuo Mo had not seen him do anything evil.

“For my own use.” Pu Yao said shortly.

“Is it hard to build? What materials are needed?” Zuo Mo spread his hands. “There is nothing on this stupid island. You are very clear about what resources I have.” He didn’t want to be unable to build it after he agreed and have to take on a huge debt again.

It was not easy to owe Pu Yao anything. He had first hand experience of this fact.

“It is not complex. That black water lake on the island is enough.” Pu Yao snickered.

At this time, Zuo Mo realized why this guy had said this was a “good place.” So he had been thinking of that black water lake.

No matter how stupid he was, he knew that rare things were valuable. To be able to be targeted by someone like Pu Yao whose eyes were on the top of his head, that black water lake wasn’t so simple.

“Such a big black water lake, to give it to you … …”

Zuo Mo trailed off.

Pu Yao didn’t fall for it. He narrowed his eyes at Zuo Mo. “People shouldn’t be too greedy.”

Zuo Mo instantly faltered. However, his face was now as thick as a city wall, naturally not something that could be defeated by just a sentence. He pretended not to hear it. “You have to tell me at the very least what you are passing on to me. It can’t be something as crappy as that [Fragrance Knowledge].”

“Crap? You just don’t recognize quality when you’re eyes are pressed up against it!” Pu Yao snorted and threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo hurriedly caught the ball of light.

“A Yao Nurturing Pool?” Zuo Mo quickly furrowed his brows, his tone slightly fearful and dissatisfied, as he said, “Do you want me to commit suicide?”

The spell that Pu Yao gave was a method to nurture yaomo. In the world of yaomo, yaomo were divided into high and low ranks. Some high-level yaomo could use secret methods to create all kinds of strange and powerful yaomo that they could control.

Zuo Mo sweated as he examined the knowledge, thinking that the yaomo really had no morals as they did not even let go of their own kind. He had never heard of the yao nurturing methods mentioned, but all of them were cruel and horrible. He couldn’t even imagine how powerful and vicious the yaomo that were raised under these methods would be!

He had no desire to learn at all.

These yao nurturing methods were too cruel. Also, if he took a yao or mo around in public, people would instantly come to exterminate the yaomo.

In such a sensitive time, the terror that xiuzhe felt towards the yaomo had reached a height that they hadn’t reached in hundreds of years.

“You really are idiotic.” Pu Yao said scornfully, “Even if you wanted to nurture yao, there’s no yao to nurture.”

Zuo Mo stilled himself. That was true. The only yao here was Pu. Nurture him? Such an absurd thought … …

Having finally understood, Zuo Mo instantly fell into a rage, “Then why did you give me this? You want to fool me again?”

Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo like he was looking at an idiot.

“You can’t nurture yao, but don’t you know about beast nurturing?”

Chapter 173: Pulling Into The Fold

“Chun Yu Cheng, Shixiong’s looking for you,” someone shouted.

“Coming.” Chun Yu Cheng responded, his hands carefully placing a young worm into the nurturing formation, before standing and wiping the sweat off his face. He was twenty-four this year, his appearance was handsome, with sharp brows and bright eyes. He was a very dependable person. Even though he had not been part of the sect for very long, many female disciples had made advances; but he had refused all of them.

Compared to the study of love between man and woman, he had more interest towards animal husbandry.

Chun Yu Cheng’s cultivation could only be considered normal. He had just broken through to zhuji, yet no one dared to underestimate him. He was twenty four years old, yet he had received the white jade medal of the beast speakers. Even though he could not compare to Zuo Shixiong, but he was definitely a talented individual. The jade medals of the beast-speakers were divided into the ranks of white snake, black cobra, blue serpent, and crimson dragon. Within the profession, people would usually just use the colors, so the white snake jade medal would be referred to simply as the white jade medal.

In Zuo Mo’s company there were three people who had jade medals, Zuo Mo, Chun Yu Cheng, and the last was Gongsun Cha, who had a butcher jade medal. No one would think that the clean, white, scholarly looking Gongsun Cha would be a professional butcher. Supposedly, in the span of fifteen minutes, he could dismember any ling beast to hundreds of pieces, the ling energy in each piece conserved with the loss of ling energy of less than twenty percent.

Chun Yu Cheng was infatuated with beast keeping, but he wasn’t dumb. He had instantly perceived the increasingly terrible environment of the sect, so when he had been named to come to Desolate Wood Reef, he had not hesitated. Before, the problem he had been most concerned about was his safety. Now that Zuo Mo Shixiong’s great formation had been completed, the anxiety that had been building up up in the back of his mind was alleviated.

The environment of the Desolate Wood Reef was much worse than Wu Kong Mountain, but he did not care. Without the conflict of mortal affairs, he could finally concentrate on his craft.

Hearing that Zuo Mo Shixiong was calling him, he hurriedly put down what he was doing.

Shixiong was the true master of the present Desolate Wood Reef. Chun Yu Cheng might not like mortal affairs, but it wasn’t as though he did not understand them. He had not interacted much with Zuo Mo Shixiong and did not feel confident and was even slightly wary. However, up until now, he was very satisfied with the present situation. The series of announcements that Zuo Mo Shixiong had made, his action of not taking a share of the ling fields, had won the support of everyone. Chun Yu Cheng was full of hope towards his future days.

“Shixiong, you are looking for me?” Chun Yu Cheng was slightly formal. After Zuo Mo had killed Nan Ming Zi, the seeds of awe had been planted in everyone’s hearts.

But quickly, his attention was drawn to the pool that Shixiong was building.

This was a very strange looking nine-palace pool. Formations that he did not understand were carved onto the sides and bottom of the pool, but there were one or two that he recognized.

Those were nurturing formations used in raising beats, it could cause ling beasts to grow faster.

When did Shixiong become interested in animal rearing? He was puzzled. Shixiong was somewhat famous. Rumors had it that he knew something about everything, such as forging and dan-making, and it couldn’t be said that his skil in these crafts was low. But he had never heard that Shixiong knew how to raise animals.

“Hold on a second.” Zuo Mo did not stop. His hands continuously casted light after light that entered the walls of the pool.

Chen Yu Cheng began to understand. After each light that Shixiong cast, the walls of the pool became shinier, and the traces of the formations on the pool became fainter.

When the last light entered the wall, the walls of the pool became transparent like they were made from crystal. The marks of the formations on the walls had completely disappeared.

Zuo Mo panted and raised his head, asking, “What ling beasts do you have on you?”

Chun Yu Cheng paused and hurried to answer, “The flight was too long. It was hard to bring large-sized ling beats, all I brought were some small-sized ling beasts, like ling butterflies.”

“Oh, ling butterflies? Great, sell me some.” Zuo Mo said.

Chun Yu Cheng said, “Ling butterflies aren’t expensive. Shixiong, you don’t have to pay. How many does Shixiong want? Which types?”

“What type of ling butterfly?” Zuo Mo stilled and then asked back, “There are many kinds of ling butterflies?”

Chun Yu Cheng didn’t know how to react, but didn’t show it. “Just what this little brother knows of is about twenty thousand. However, I only have around one hundred eggs right now, but they are all very normal.” He guessed that Shixiong was having an impulse to work with ling beasts. However, just as he said, these ling butterfly eggs really were not worth very much. Even if he gave all of them to Shixiong, he wouldn’t feel it was a loss.

Zuo Mo had an interested expression. “Oh, so there is so much to learn here. Chun Shidi, please introduce me.”

“Shixiong is too polite.” Chun Yu Cheng started to introduce the different kinds of ling butterfly eggs to Zuo Mo.

The introductions hadn’t finished after four hours. Chun Yu Cheng’s throat was becoming dry, and Zuo Mo was left dizzy.

Zuo Mo realized now that even with this beast nurturing pool, if he wanted to get some results, it wasn’t a simple matter. Hearing how clear and knowledgeable Chun Yu Cheng was while he was talking about ling beasts, he couldn’t help but sigh at the level of professionalism needed!

Suddenly, an idea sprouted.

Why couldn’t he pull Chun Yu Cheng into the fold? If Chun Yu Cheng, the expert did it, wouldn’t it be easier to get results than an amateur like him?

The more he thought, the better Zuo Mo found the idea. His first aim was to make jingshi and not just spend his savings. Other than making jingshi, he didn’t have any interest in livestock. He already had too many things he needed to study. If he added another area, he wouldn’t be able to learn it effectively.

Chun Yu Cheng was still relentlessly lecturing. Zuo Mo was very familiar with the enthusiasm in his eyes. It indicated that the other really loved animal keeping.

Seeing such a determined gaze, Zuo Mo made the decision to incorporate Chun Yu Cheng into his plans.

Halfway through, Chun Yu Cheng accidentally saw Zuo Mo’s eerie-green, wolf-like gaze and shuddered inside. His tongue tying up. However, when he did a double-take to check again, Shixiong’s gaze was faint and calm, like a Dhyana expert.

He had just had a mistaken feeling! Chun Yu Cheng released a breath, organized his thoughts and continued on.

Zuo Mo pretended to be listening careful. Secretly, he flipped an empty jade scroll from his ring and imprinted some spells.

When Chun Yu Cheng finished, he hurriedly praised him, “Chun Shidi really has great knowledge. My own knowledge has grown greatly today!”

“Shixiong is too kind, this little brother has just entered the sect!” Chun Yu Cheng said humbly.

Zuo Mo suddenly asked, “Chun Shidi, what do you think about this pool?”

“This little brother is very ignorant and cannot understand anything except the nurturing formation. This pool must be related to raising beasts.” Chun Yu Cheng obediently replied.

“Chun Shidi really has good eyes!” Zuo Mo clapped as he praised. However, when matched with his expressionless face, it looked very strange. He said mysteriously, “Speaking of this pool, I got it from an ancient jade scroll remnant, it is called the [Nine Heavens Illusory Divine Light Serpent Transforming Dragon Pool]!”

“Nine Heaven Illusory Divine Light … … Serpent Transforming Dragon … …” Chun Yu Cheng gaped, stammering as he repeated this strange and extraordinarily lengthy name.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were serious. He did not look as though he was joking. He slowly took out the jade scroll he had just created, “That jade scroll remnant turned to dust after I read it. I do not understand animal husbandry so I only remembered the general gist. Shidi, please have a look.”

He was very certain the temptation that this jade scroll present to Chun Yu Cheng would be sufficiently seductive. Inside the jade scroll, he had redacted large sections of sensitive content, so the jade scroll seemed to lack many things. However, he was confident that even this ruined jade scroll was enough to tempt Chun Yu Cheng!

Chun Yu Cheng took the jade scroll somewhat in disbelief. In reality, if it hadn’t been that Zuo Mo Shixiong had always maintained a reputation of trust, he definitely would have immediately turned and left.

That name, it really … …

However, when he saw the first sentence on the jade scroll, it was as if he had been struck by lightning.

Zuo Mo didn’t hurry him.

He didn’t worry that Chun Yu Cheng would steal the method and learn it. None of what Pu Yao gave was easy to understand. This was the exact opposite of the gravestone. Not much effort had to be spent on understanding what the gravestone had taught him. The most important part of this set of spells was constructing the pool and was extremely complex. Other than Zuo Mo, no one on the Desolate Wood Reef could understand it. In reality, Zuo Mo himself had just made a first-grade yao cultivating pool.

Chun Yu Cheng raised his head, his eyes dazed. After a long time, his pupils final focused. The first thing he did was bow, “Shixiong, teach me!”

To be able to qualify for the white snake jade medal at twenty four years old, there was no need to describe Chun Yu Cheng’s talents with animals. With just one look look he understood the value of this jade scroll.

No, the value of this set of spells!

He understood the value better than Zuo Mo!

Zuo Mo was correct in this thoughts. The temptation that this jade scroll presented to Chun Yu Cheng was fatal!

Zuo Mo hurriedly helped Chun Yu Cheng upright, “Shidi, don’t be like this. We are brothers. On this island, we naturally should help each other.” Taking the chance, he threw out his own idea. “I’m an pure amateur at raising animals. This Serpent Transforming Dragon Pool, oh, we’ll call it a beast cultivating pool, Shidi can manage it. What does Shidi think?”

Chun Yu Cheng was joyous, “I couldn’t ask for more!”

To be able to look over the beast pool, it was the best opportunity to study and experiment. This set of spells was extremely deep and profound. The more he thought, the more excited he became. He wanted to move over immediately.

Zuo Mo said seriously, “Shidi also understands our situation. I built the beast pool with the aim to earn jingshi and to not have to rely on just what we have. Such a project can also allow us to establish our roots here on the Desolate Wood Reef.”

Chun Yu Cheng calmed down slightly, “Yu Cheng understands!”

Zuo Mo said in satisfaction, “Since it is for profit, then we need to make it clear.”

Chun Yu Cheng said, “Yu Cheng only wants to learn this method for study, not for jingshi!”

Zuo Mo shook his head, “Even blood brothers need clear accounts. Those are two different matters. What is earned by this beast pool, Shidi gets three-tenths.”

Chun Yu Cheng wanted to shake his head and refuse when he heard Zuo Mo say this. He was interrupted in the middle. “Shidi, do not refuse. This is what Shidi should get. Ha ha, if Shidi feels embarrassed, then invest more effort on it!”

Zuo Mo had started as an outer sect disciple. He could clearly understand many things. It was only when emotion and profit were both tied together that this kind of cooperative venture would be stable.

Chun Yu Cheng felt grateful but didn’t know what to say. He only nodded in earnest. He decided that he would work hard.

Zuo Mo snickered, “Okay, then this is now Shidi’s job. If you need any materials, just tell me.”

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s face was full of disdain.

Zuo Mo clapped his hands in satisfaction and left.

Chapter 174: Macro Golden Crow Formation

Zuo Mo’s finger movements continuously changed. His consciousness was like a third eye, emotionlessly overseeing the rippling of the ling power at his fingers and the subsequent changes in the dan cauldron.

Pu Yao had once said all changes were changes in formations.

What he was doing now was identifying that “change.”

Starting with the fasting pill at the beginning, he had studied the change in formations inside the medicines. The changes in the dan were very complex. Even the simplest dan medicines would need several kinds of materials, and higher-grade dan would require dozens of ingredients. However, he hadn’t found any dan that needed more than one hundred types of ingredients.

This was not difficult to understand; the more materials there were, the more uncontrolled factors were present.

But those recipes were far above what Zuo Mo was studying right now.

What he was doing was still struggling with the most basic lingdan. To make them and to understand each of the “changes” in them were completely different concepts and completely different levels of difficulty. After going through the big sword essence formation and having studied the basics discussed in the Kun Lun introductory formations jade scroll, Zuo Mo could be considered half an expert in formations.

The “changes” in the lingdan might be complex, but Zuo Mo’s examinations were clear. After careful study, he had learned many things. The Desolate Wood Reef was very isolated, much quieter than Wu Kong Mountain; it was perfect for doing these kinds of activities that needed lots of time, and he didn’t have to worry about anyone disturbing him.

He had found twelve different frequent “change” formations.

After this, the rate of dan completion when he made dan would be astoundingly high.

To say of nothing else, just his skill in dan-making was now enough to support him anywhere he went. The Golden Crow Pill that he had first become famous for was one of his primary investigative targets. The Golden Crow fire contained inside the Golden Crow Pill was its only value. However, due to the ingredients, he had no method of increasing the amount of Golden Crow fire contained inside the lingdan, which meant that the Golden Crow Pill was stuck as a low-grade lingdan.

Zuo Mo had wrung his mind out to think of ways to make jingshi.

It was unknown what effect the beast pools would have, when it would produce anything, and how much could be made from it. Zuo Mo naturally wouldn’t put all his hopes on the uncertainty of the beast pool. Dan-making was the other method he had to consider to make jingshi.

The Desolate Wood Reef was truly isolated. If it only produced ordinary things like ling grains, there certainly would not be people who would be willing to come. What kind of circumstances would cause other people to come a long way to the Desolate Wood Reef? Only when the Desolate Wood Reef had things that could only be found here and nowhere else.

Golden Crow Pill was not a bad choice.

However, the present Golden Crow Pill was just a second-grade lingdan, and its effects were too limited. Even if it did have some effect, but it was not enough to attract people to come a long way. Zuo Mo had thought for a long time how to increase the grade of the Golden Crow Pill.

He believed that if it was third-grade Golden Crow Pill, merchants would definitely be willing to come to the Desolate Wood Reef to buy it!

He had a general understanding of the few formations inside the Golden Crow Pill. But there was one formation that Zuo Mo had never seen before. It was constructed out of medicinal power, and had two uses. One use was that it could lock the essence of the sun, while the other use was that it could turn the trapped sun essence into Golden Crow fire.

Zuo Mo called this previously unseen formation [Golden Crow Formation]. The Golden Crow Formation was so complex and exquisite that it was able to broaden Zuo Mo’s vision on the scope of formations.

The formations found in dan-making were much more complex than the formations he could normally learn. The formations he used were large and broad, the ling power moving clearly through them. The formations in dan-making were shrunk into a small space, complex like hair twisted into a knot and difficult to find their true design. Zuo Mo called the formations he usually used macro-formations and the formations in dan-making could be called micro-formations.

Occasionally during this period of time,, other xiuzhe would arrive at the Desolate Wood Reef, wanting to pass through the jie river into Little Mountain Jie. Zuo Mo asked for one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi from each of them. For those that did not have the jingshi, they could use other things to barter. Zuo Mo’s trademark zombie face, the name of Wu Kong Sword Sect, and the threat of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] was enough for each of these ningmai xiuzhe to willingly pay the one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi for their “resting fee.”

On average, there would be one person coming every two or three days. That meant, that every two or three days, Zuo Mo would earn one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi . His days were very good.

Other than concentrating on his own experiments, he had taught some of what he knew about ling farming to the other three shidi who specialized in ling farming. He practiced all five elements, and his knowledge was much higher compared to the past.

Zuo Mo was an obsessive collector of jade scrolls. The number of jade scrolls that he possessed definitely was far more than what others would expect of a zhuji, and the collection was very diverse. Even though the grade on average was not high,there were some very good ones. Ling farming, beast raising, butchering, etc., he had all of them. The area that he had relatively little of were sword scriptures. However, on the island, except for Zuo Mo, who would spend time on sword scriptures, no one was interested in sword scriptures. He opened all the jade scrolls to the shidi and built a records room.

The jade scrolls collected by Wu Kong Sword Sect were primarily sword scriptures, and what Zuo Mo collected was the exact opposite. In terms of variety, the sect’s records room could not compare to Zuo Mo, but in terms of quality, Zuo Mo could never compete with the sect.

When the shidi went into the records room and saw the sheer number of jade scrolls, they were stunned and surprised! Their desire for jade scrolls was similar to Zuo Mo.

Reading jade scrolls required paying a fee. No one had any objections to this. How could there be free meals in this world? Wu Kong Sword Sect’s records room had been free to use at the beginning, but after the expansion it had returned to its old practices.

Taking into account the shidi didn’t have much jingshi; Zuo Mo was devious in his use of tabs and silently became their creditor. The fees for using the records room were much lower than the sect. They would go into debt but would be able to immediately learn new spells. How could the such an arrangement not make them happy?

The records room quickly became the most popular place on the Desolate Wood Reef.

What Zuo Mo had picked were production xiuzhe. They did not like conflict, were dependable, and hardworking. Now that there was a records room, everyone had even more motivation. The atmosphere of the Desolate Wood Reef was extremely good; everyone had comfortable days.

———

Wiping away the sweat on his forehead, his face covered in dust, Zuo Mo looked at the large formation that he had just completed. His heart slightly hesitant.

The formation in front of him was the [Golden Crow Formation]!

Zuo Mo had used jade pieces and jingshi to create a Golden Crow Formation. This was the first time he used a macro-formation based off of a micro-formation that was used in dan-making. He had spent large amounts of time on the [Golden Crow Formation] but didn’t have any confidence. Theoretically, the micro-formations and the macro formations should not be any different.

It took Zuo Mo twenty days to set up the macro-version of the Golden Crow Formation. Ever since he had come up with the idea of using macro formations to construct micro formations, the idea had been like a recurring nightmare that could not be erased. He had enough jingshi now, if he didn’t do it now, when could he ever do it?

But once he started setting up the formation, he found the difficulty was much higher than he had anticipated.

The ling power pathways of macro formations were clear, but compared to their counterpart micro formation, they were crude and rough. It was hard to use the macro formations to do such detailed changes. Zuo Mo had ran into great trouble. His original plan had been to set up a Golden Crow Formation that was about five zhang wide, but what he produced was fifty zhang in diameter.

It was like an enormous nest. Hollow in the center, while in the surroundings countless materials floated in the air, forming a complete circle.

What caused his heart pain was that the cost of the macro Golden Crow Formation was far greater than his predictions. This one formation cost a thousand third-grade jingshi!

Once the formation was activated, he would lose one thousand jingshi. This experiment could really be called expensive. It was also why Zuo Mo was hesitant. One thousand third-grade jingshi!

Pu Yao appeared beside Zuo Mo. Looking at the materials floating in the air, he twisted his mouth, “It’s really ugly!”

Zuo Mo didn’t pay attention to that guy. He gritted his teeth and decided to activate the formation.

Stepping into the already formed formation, his expression was stern, and his ling power began flowing through all ten of his fingers. A faint light appeared on his fingertips, as his fingers danced.

Lights flashed, extinguishing as quickly as they appeared.

A golden pillar of light came down from the sky and connected with one that came from between his hands.

As his fingers formed shapes, the golden pillar of light turned to ten beams that spread throughout the formation.

The golden light was reflected and passed around by the jade pieces in the formation. The jade pieces instantly became coated in gold light when the golden light touched them.

In the sky above the formation, it was possible to see the golden light slowly spread out in the formation like water. Everywhere it passed, the floating jingshi lit up becoming blindingly bright, like stars in golden colored lake. The entire process took an hour before the great formation started to give off a uniform golden glow.

The noise from the formation had alarmed many of the shidi, but when the discovered it was caused by Zuo Mo Shixiong, other than expressing amazement found it extremely normal. If Shixiong wasn’t working on formations, was it still the shixiong that was famed for his formations?

Zuo Mo’s hands did not dare to stop, the Art of Crimson Flame being pushed to the extreme.

At this time, the formation changed again.

Countless golden lights flew out of the jade pieces like fish, gathering in the empty space in the middle of the formation.

In the center of the formation, about two zhang from the ground, a ball of golden light was taking form.

Once the ball of light formed, the speed the light gathered suddenly increased. The golden lights were as dense as rain as they ran to merge into the golden ball of light.

The golden ball of light continuously increased in size, starting from the size of a basket in the beginning and growing to the size of a dining table. Zuo Mo’s expression became even more nervous.

Why wasn’t there a change yet?

Zuo Mo stared at the ball of light, his hands continuously changing. He did not notice that the pillar of light from the sky that entered his hands was as thick as his arm.

Theoretically, a change should be happening now!

But the ball of light was still expanding. The change he had predicted had not occurred yet

–– Becoming fire!

The most important step of the formation of Golden Crow fire. If this step did not happen, the essence of the sun could not form the Golden Crow Fire!

Time slowly passed. After eight hours, Zuo Mo felt extremely dizzy, his hands limper than ever. In the middle of the formation, the ball of light was now about the size of a house. Even the person who made it all, Zuo Mo, felt scared when he saw such an enormous ball of light.

All of this, it was the explosive essence of the sun!

If he was not careful … …

He could not imagine what would happen! The present situation was completely beyond out his predictions and control.

Just as he carefully acted as though he was on thin ice, he detected a change in the ball of light!

Chapter 175: Fire!

Inside the ball of light, something seemed to break.

A flame seemed to jump out of the ball of light. In the blink of an eye, the ball of light became a ball of pure golden-yellow flame spitting in the air. The ball of fire quickly collapsed into itself, and the house-sized ball shrinking into a flame the size of a fist.

Even though the flame was now the size of a fist, an extremely yang and extremely strong presence emanated from it.

Zuo Mo was affected, and his finger motions stumbled. Luckily, the formation had already been completed. The flame’s presence made Pu Yao furrow his brows. He wore an expression of digust.

“I’m very curious how you are planning to deal with this?” Pu Yao glanced at the flame before looking towards Zuo Mo, “Do you want to absorb it? I’m warning you, This Golden Crow Fire is not something you can tolerate.”

“No, I’m not planning on absorbing it.” Zuo Mo shook his head. Pu Yao wasn’t wrong. Sensing the strong presence radiating from the Golden Crow Fire, he understood this wasn’t something he could absorb at the moment. The amount of Golden Crow Fire in the Golden Crow Pill was just a thread so it was not hard to absorb, but this ball of Golden Crow Fire was pure and strong, beyond what he could endure. If he was a ningmai, it would be a wonderful fire seed.

This answer was not out of Pu Yao’s expectations. He gave a scornful expression, “You made all this noise and got this little ball of flame. So now what, do you want to use it for a barbecue?”

Staring at the burning golden-yellow flame at the center of the formation, Zuo Mo licked his lips, his eyes like a hungry wolf staring at a lamb. “So this is Golden Crow Fire!”

“So what? You can’t use it!” Pu Yao said scornfully like he always did. “Your formation can only be maintained for five days at most , and then this ball of Golden Crow Fire would naturally dissipate. Do you want to forge it into lingdan?”

“No, I changed my mind!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were fixed on the fist-size Golden Crow Fire.

“En?”

“I’ll sell fire! Directly sell Golden Crow Fire!” The light in Zuo Mo’s eyes grew, like the blinding light produced by countless jingshi. He waved his arms, his voice filled with excitement and joy. “I’ll split this Golden Crow Fire into a few dozen fires, seal them in jade boxes with a formation, and sell them!”

Pu Yao had to agree that Zuo Mo’s idea was interesting. However, he glanced at the ball of Golden Crow Fire and said, “You can divide this, you know the formations to seal it? Don’t ask me, the methods I know, you can’t use it, even I can’t use it at present.”

“That’s a problem,” Zuo Mo said. He didn’t answer and sunk deep into thought.

Pu Yao did not disturb him. It had to be said that if Zuo Mo’s method really worked, then the business opportunity in here was astounding! Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire did not lack for demand. Right now, he was tied together with Zuo Mo. Only if Zuo Mo had jingshi could he spend it. Even more, his Nether Pool was still lacking all of the materials needed to complete it. The black water was uselessly sitting in the middle of nowhere.

The damage accumulated over a few thousand years, it could not be repaired so easily.

However, troubled times were coming … …

He liked that.

Zuo Mo entered a period of mania. If he could solve this problem, Heavens! The jingshi! None of the business that Zuo Mo had done before could rival this one!

He seemed to see a great pathway made of jingshi in front of him. Any piece that he could chip off was fourth-grade!

The thoughts of jingshi did not mess up Zuo Mo’s mind. Quite the opposite, he was full of excitement and motivation. At this time, if a ningmai came, no, even a jindan, then Zuo Mo would howl and charge to chop the other into pieces!

Five days, the macro Golden Crow Formation could only be maintained for five days. Zuo Mo didn’t bear to waste one blink.

———

The fourth day.

Zuo Mo held the jade box in his hand and roared with laughter.

Pu Yao came with the noise. “Success?”

Looking at the concern on Pu Yao’s face, Zuo Mo was smug. He roared with laughter again.

He definitely succeeded!

The formations he studied came from the Kun Lun introductory formation jade scroll. This jade scroll, which Zuo Mo thought could also be called the Encyclopedia of Basic Formations, had all kinds of fundamental formations and naturally included formations to seal things.

What Zuo Mo picked was a formation called [Mini Lock Formation.] It was suitable for sealing in items that were intangible.

Naturally a mere second-grade formation like the [Mini Lock Formation] was not enough! Golden Crow Fire was fourth-grade, even if it was split into a dozen parts and weaken greatly, it was still not something a [Mini Lock Formation] could seal. Using the [Mini Lock Formation] as a basis, Zuo Mo had thought of ways to strengthen it.

His original intention had been to try to strengthen the [Mini Lock Formation], but he had not been able to find an appropriate method. Incidentally, of the micro formations he had discovered, he found an unique formation.

Its purpose was very strange, it could suppress medicinal power. Usually, it was used in lingdan that were quite domineering. It would suppress the medicinal power so the medicinal power would slowly enter the channels without damaging them.

This was an unexpected, happy surprise for Zuo Mo. Without strengthening the formation, he could suppress the Golden Crow Fire, it was the same!

It did not take him too long to merge the two formations. Zuo Mo named the new formation the [Mini Seal]. The Mini Seal was put on a palm-sized jade box. Zuo Mo used the best jade that he had for the box, third-grade icy jade, and called it a mini box.

Embed on each jade box were nine pieces of third-grade jingshi to provide ling power for the [Mini Seal]. In one go, he forged almost one hundred jade boxes.

Just the value of one of these jade boxes alone was not low. If it wasn’t that they were to be used to containing the Golden Crow Fire, Zuo Mo couldn’t bear to have use such good ice jade to make simple jade boxes. Looking at the attractive appearance of the mini box, Zuo Mo decided to raise the price of the Golden Crow Fire.

Ha ha, anyone that was able to by the Golden Crow Fire, they wouldn’t care about spending another few dozen more jingshi!

Pu Yao thought it was too early to be happy. He reminded Zuo Mo, “What about dividing the fire?”

“Ha ha, just keep on watching.” It was rare that he could show off in front of Pu Yao. Zuo Mo deliberately concealed his plan.

However, when Zuo Mo faced that fist-sized ball of Golden Crow Fire, he pushed all thoughts of showing off to the back of his mind.

The pure golden-yellow Golden Crow Fire was a true sovereign. Silently burning, it was like the king of lions unconcernedly smoothing its fur. Each time the flame jumped and spat, a oppressive presence would ripple into the surroundings.

With Zuo Mo’s cultivation, if it wasn’t that his spirit was strong enough, he wouldn’t even be able to stand up against this Golden Crow Fire. A benefit of a strong spirit was that his mind was very stable, and not easily affected by outside factors.

He didn’t start dividing the fire immediately, but hammered many large metal nails around the Golden Crow Fire. These nails were longer than a chi, about the thickness of three fingers. Cinnabar character seals could be seen glistening on the body of the nails. These were metal nails that were commonly used in formations. Being second-grade, they were useful for many formations.

Zuo Mo imbedded a dozen metal nails.

Standing and taking a breath, he hung the Streaming Fire Core Manipulation Pendant on his waist to increase his control over fire.

However, the method he used this time wasn’t one that was used to control fire!

He inhaled heavily, his chest rising, his eyes bulging as his hands suddenly started to whirl!

Bam!

A suddenly explosion sounded without a warning.

The floating ball of Golden Crow Fire suddenly shook, as though it was alarmed. Explosions sounded, one after the other.

After just one round, and Zuo Mo’s heart tightened. It seemed it was more difficult than he had thought! However, he didn’t have the time to think more. His hands continuously increased their speed.

Pia pia pia!

The explosions became more rushed and close together, the shaking of the Golden Crow Fire increased.

Zuo Mo’s forehead was covered in sweat, steam rising off like smoke. His eyes were filled with blood and widened greatly.

The ten fingers on his hands twirled so fast that it was as if they were a ball of shadows. If someone happened upon this scene, they would be unable to clearly see his fingers.

The shaking Golden Crow Fire convulsed erratically, and could collapse at any moment. The fierce and pure presence of the fire was completely sent out. Like a flood, it furiously pushed at everything in the surroundings.

Crack crack crack!

Cracks continued to appear on the jade pieces of the macro Golden Crow Formation. The formation was going to collapse!

If Zuo Mo did not successfully divide the fire, the Golden Crow Fire would instantly disappear. Without the support of the formation, the Golden Crow Fire would dissipate quickly.

The tendons on Zuo Mo’s forehead bulged like green earthworms.

“Open!” His voice was like spring thunder, his hands suddenly turning with power he never had before!

Boom!

The Golden Crow Fire exploded, turning to dozens of thumb-sized flames. The fierce presence that Zuo Mo felt afraid of instantly became much weaker.

The alarming cracking sounds also stopped. The moment before the large formation collapsed, Zuo Mo successfully divided the fire and the formation managed to stay whole. This way, he received precious time to breathe.

Zuo Mo panted furiously, his arms sagged as if they were filled with lead, unable to be raised. But in his eyes, there was only joy!

Success!

He really did it!

Pu Yao gaped. The method Zuo Mo used was completely out of his expectations. Zuo Mo actually used the method to divide dan!

During dan-making after the raw materials were added, medicinal fluid would take form, and this fluid would become lingdan in the end. However, the number of lingdan that would be produced from a single cauldron would depend on the skill of the dan-maker dividing the dan. Skilled dan-makers could produce more than a hundred lingdan from each cauldron.

For low-level lingdan, if they were made one by one, the time needed could not be imagined. Dan dividing was then one of the techniques that those who studied dan-making had to learn. However, Pu Yao never would have imagined that Zuo Mo would use the strange method of dan-dividing to divide fire!

This guy … …

He looked at Zuo Mo.

When some feeling returned to his hand, a bottle of lingdan appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand. Removing the cork, he shoved all of the contents into his mouth. He didn’t have the time to resolve the medicinal power so he used sheer quantity as a substitute.

After one bottle of lingdan was consumed, he felt much better.

But .,. …

The medicinal power of one entire bottle … …

Zuo Mo quickly experienced the aftereffects. The ling power that suddenly exploded in his body was like a flood bursting through a dam, rushing through his body!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s face twisted. However, he didn’t have the time to slowly absorb the lingdan. He quickly took out the mini boxes and started to harvest the Golden Crow Fire seeds.

Quickly, he had sealed all the Golden Crow Fire but the ling power in his body did not show any signs of exhaustion.

He had calculated wrong!

Compared to the astounding consumption of before, the ling power used to harvest was pitifully little!

Pu Yao was laughing at him from the side.

Just when Zuo Mo felt he would explode and die, suddenly, someone quickly flew over, their voice filled with terror.

“Shixiong, there’s trouble! Trouble!”

Chapter 176: Brute Strength!

“What is it?” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth as he forced the words out one by one through his teeth. He was putting all he could into suppressing the ling power that was rushing through his body.

Damn it!

His ling power was like a wild beast that was caught, furiously struggling, furiously charging around to try to break through the layer of imprisonment.

But his state was not betrayed by Zuo Mo’s zombie face.

“There’s a Blue Spiked Crocodile that suddenly charged out of the water! It wounded one of the shixiongs … …,” The disciple’s expression was one of panic, but his speech was relatively clear.

“Go!” Zuo Mo spat out through his teeth.

He just took one step, and the ling power in his body shuddered. He staggered. The restless ling power in his body made him jump. Disregarding the mocking laughter from Pu Yao inside his sea of consciousness, he hurriedly activated his [Vajra Profound Sutra].

Pei Yuan Ran and the others would never have thought that the [Vajra Profound Sutra] they had intended to suppress had been instead become well-developed. It could not be suppressed and progressed extremely quickly. The fine sword essences inside the formation had been like sandpaper that continuously ground against Zuo Mo’s body.

The [Vajra Profound Sutra] was greatly stimulated, and naturally circulated on its own. In half a year, Zuo Mo was only one step away from the fifth level.

Silently using the scripture of the [Vajra Profound Sutra], the sense of danger from the energy inside his body lessened. He released a sigh of relief.

His entire body was dark gold, a natural fierce presence exuding by itself.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s expression suddenly became angry. A bloody light flashed through his eye. Staring at the gravestone, a cold voice floated from the corner of his mouth, “I hadn’t thought that you would steal in front of me again. However … …”

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, his steps fast as he sprinted with the shidi that came with the message.

From long away, he saw the troublemaking Blue Spiked Crocodile. It was idly lying on the beach, disregarding the Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples that was surrounding it. However, the moment Zuo Mo appeared, it suddenly raised its head and opened its eyes.

The eyes of the Blue Spiked Crocodile were like needles, cold and without a hint of warm. Saliva slipped out of the corner of its mouth with dense teeth. Its body was covered in black and shiny armor, and it was easy to see from a glance that it would be hard to wound even with a flying sword. On its back was a row of blue spikes the width of an infant’s fist. They were very good primary materials for making flying swords, and were also the crocodile’s life-saving weapon.

The entire body of the Blue Spiked Crocodile was treasure, but not many people were willing to kill it. It was a truly a brutish existence!

Zuo Mo’s eyes turned to the blood soaked and injured right leg of the shidi. It was like a spark had been thrown into a barrel of dynamite. The ling power in his body exploded and went berserk!

Without a second word, his hands held the Water Drop sword.

One step, his body was like an arrow. Everyone felt their eyes blur, and Zuo Mo appeared beside the Blue Spiked Crocodile!

The body of the Water Drop sword was covered by a water- flame. The flame was silently burning, not as grand and shocking as the water-shaped flame of the past.

“Die!” Zuo Mo shouted. His body was seemingly made of gold, his eyes wide.

The Water Drop sword went from bottom to up! Li Water Burning Heavens! The first attack was his killing move!

The rampaging ling power in his body furiously flooded through the Water Drop sword in his hand. What was strange was the water-shaped flame on the Water Drop sword did not grow, but became even more transparent.

His sword essence, after going through the sword essence formation, was much more pure and introverted than before.

The Blue Spiked Crocodile’s reputation was clearly preceded by the extraordinary nature. Its body moved, and the steel-like tail whipped horizontally. With a piercing howl, it launched itself forward.

One tail and one sword clashed together.

Bam!

The explosive sword essence of the Li Water Burning Heavens seemed to have found a vent when it came into contact, and exploded!

At the same time, a domineering and powerful force passed from the Water Drop sword to Zuo Mo’s hands.

Zuo Mo felt his palms shake.

The Water Drop sword had almost been thrown out of his hands.

If he let go at this time, he definitely would be wounded, and the Water Drop sword would most likely fly far away from the current battle. Without a flying sword, how could he face the Blue Spiked Crocodile? There was no time to think. Using all his strength, his hands gripped tightly on the hilt of the Water Drop sword! A strong force passed from his palm to his arms to his entire body. The ling power that was rampaging through his body paused with this sweep of the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

It could be seen just how strong his foe was!

After retreating for more than ten strides, Zuo Mo finally steadied his body. Inside he was shocked.

The Blue Spiked Crocodile had also received some significant wounds. Its tail was ripped open, bleeding, the wound cut down to the bone. The combined offensive power of the [Vajra Profound Sutra] and the [Li Water Burning Heavens] could be seen.

However, what Zuo Mo had not expected was that the wounds would be unable of causing the Blue Spiked Crocodile to feel fear. Instead it had aroused its viciousness.

The eyes of the Blue Spiked Crocodile stared fixedly at Zuo Mo. A vicious and brutal aura tightly locked onto Zuo Mo.

Its long body shook and waved like a fish in the water. It was astounding fast as it charged at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo only saw a black shadow leaping at him. Without time to think, he channelled [Vajra Profound Sutra] to its maximum. His eyes were bright gold and a golden light was shining from his body! His hand held the Water Drop sword, the water flame on the sword was so transparent it was almost non-existent.

Li Water Burning Heavens!

Bang!

A sound of impact that was even deeper and more terrifying than the previous one that resounded out!

The energy inside Zuo Mo’s body roiled. He could not stop his body, bam bam bam, he went back seven steps.

Just having steadied himself, the Blue Spiked Crocodile leapt forward again! The mouth of the crocodile was like an enormous set of clamps, its two rows of sharp teeth were frightening!

The Water Drop Sword that Zuo Mo swept upwards just barely managed to block the enormous teeth of the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

The bloody maw of the Blue Spike Crocodile was so clear in Zuo Mo’s eyes. He was even able to see the remaining blood and flesh inside the mouth. A fishy smell flooded his face. Right after, he felt his surroundings blur. Like a sandbag, he was throw more than ten zhang away, stopping only when he had crashed into a tree.

Zuo Mo stood up. With the [Vajra Profound Sutra] present, he wasn’t wounded.

He widened his eyes, staring motionlessly at the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

The berserk ling power inside his body affected Zuo Mo’s mood. He was like an infuriated beast, all his thoughts thrown to the back of his head. In his eyes, there was only this Blue Spiked Crocodile! There was one thought in his head: kill it!

The Blue Spiked Crocodile shook its head. It had not succeeded with the last two charges. It was slightly dizzy. However, Zuo Mo’s following actions provoked it again!

Such a small being dared to challenge it!

Seeing the Blue Spiked Crocodile charge at him, Zuo Mo bared his teeth, his eyes dark.

His feet trotting, his hands held the sword at his side as he sped up.

A black figure and a golden figure smashed together like two meteorites! Boom!

A thunderous explosion! The black figure and the now blue blur bounced off of each other, the two moving backwards with even greater speed!

Bam bam bam. Zuo Mo was thrown like a sandbag, hitting the ground and bouncing up, then hitting the ground and bouncing up … … after bouncing more than seven times, he finally managed to stop. After being thrown so violently, his eyes were dizzy. After a moment, he struggled up, and spat out a mouthful of sand. The last impact was much stronger than the previous ones. His skeleton felt as though it was going to collapse. The ling power that was exploding inside his body had almost dissipated.

Panting, he thought inside that the bastard should be pretty much done!

Suddenly, his eyes focused. Nearby, that Blue Spiked Crocodile shook its head, staring with its eyes as it moved to charge.

Seeing the Blue Spiked Crocodile, the anger inside Zuo Mo’s heart rose.

If ge can’t kill you today, then ge will change my surname to You!

Zuo means left, so he is going to change his name to the opposite of what it is now, right or you.

“Die!” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. He held the Water Drop sword, started his trot again and charged at the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

The Blue Spiked Crocodile shook its head, howled once, and turned to a black shadow, leaping at Zuo Mo.

Bam! It was another simple crash. One person and one crocodile thrown back again!

———

With the fierce reputation of the Blue Spiked Crocodile, the news that there was a Blue Spiked Crocodile on the Desolate Wood Reef, and that it had wounded one of the disciples instantly attracted the attention of all the disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect. They were all very worried. If a Blue Spiked Crocodile appeared on the Desolate Wood Reef, that meant that any one of them could fall victim to the danger it posed.

All the disciples ran over.

Going to ask for help from Zuo Mo was their unconscious response. An adult Blue Spiked Crocodile was a fourth-grade beast. Normally even ningmai could only skirt around it if they encountered it. Maybe Shixiong would have a solution, set up a formation to trap it and then they could think of a way.

But the scene in front of them stunned everyone.

In the rumors, wasn’t Shixiong only skilled in formations … …

Seeing the person and crocodile irrationally collide together, continuously, repeatedly, robotically crash together. The golden Shixiong charged again and again, and was bounced back again and again before he climbed up over and over like nothing had happened, his face dusty, and he roared as he charged again! Seeing the Blue Spiked Crocodile howling furiously, not showing exhaustion after hitting for so many collisions.

Everyone felt fear because the Blue Spiked Crocodile was so strong. If they were in an encounter with it … … but that kind of apprehension surprised no one. It was a Blue Spiked Crocodile!

But Shixiong was also this strong … …

Was this a delusion?

But the increasing number of wounds on the body of the Blue Spiked Crocodile reminded them that everything happening in front of them was reality.

Every time Shixiong’s sword impacted the Blue Spiked Crocodile, the vibrating ling power was enough to make them jump, make them uncontrollably feel terror!

“Is Shixiong truly just a zhuji?” Chun Yu Cheng said to himself.

Standing beside him was Gongsun Cha. The clean and scholarly Gongsun Cha was strangely excited. “Doesn’t look like it. Shixiong and the Blue Spiked Crocodile have gone twenty two rounds! A zhuji definitely wouldn’t be able to stand for such a long period of time,” He couldn’t help but praise, “It really is such beautiful brutality that one cannot help but be intoxicated!”

After going straight for twenty two rounds, Zuo Mo’s mind was blank, instinctively climbing up, and instinctively charging … …

He didn’t realize that the rampaging ling power in his body was continuously scattered, gathered, and then continuously scattered before gathering again … …

The countless pieces of scattered ling power spread into his limbs and organs, into his tendons and blood. These scattered ling power went through every possible crevice. Of the enormous amount of ling power inside Zuo Mo’s body, over half was dissipated into different parts of his body.

A change was quietly occurring.

At this moment, Pu Yao suddenly raised his head in the sea of consciousness, “Mountain Physique … …”

Chapter 177: Business

As Pu Yao muttered under his breath; Zuo Mo, who once again had been thrown to the dirt again, detected the change in his own body!

Struggling to climb up, he didn’t howl and charge like he did the previous few times.

A bucket of cold water seemed to have been thrown on Zuo Mo’s hot head, causing him to wake up. His desire for battle that had been burning dissipated. He looked down at his hand. At some unknown time a mountain shaped tattoo appeared on his palms.

What was this?

———

As Zuo Mo bent down to examine his palms, the hearts of the on-looking disciple’s stumbled a beat.

Did Shixiong not have enough energy? The last twenty-something crashes had made their hearts shake and pulled their hearts into the air. They didn’t even dare to blink. They didn’t understand why Shixiong would use such a brutal method of fighting.

If he lost, there was no chance of survival!

The brutality of the Blue Spiked Crocodile was known by everyone present.

This time Shixiong stood up and didn’t charge like he had before, everyone thought it worrisome.

When the Green Spiked Crocodile charged at Shixiong again, Shixiong was still standing motionlessly. Their expressions all changed!

Shixiong had no more energy!

“Uh-oh!”

Almost all the disciples used their strongest moves, hoping they could help block for Shixiong for a while. Countless lights flashed, ling hoes, herb cutters, skinning knives, flew into the air, each with their own unique colour.

But they were all production xiuzhe. They usually never practised any attacks. Their panicked and fumbling offense didn’t even strike the shadow of the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

Seeing the Blue Spiked Crocodile about to ram into Shixiong, many disciples didn’t bear to watch! It was possible to see from the aftershocks of Shixiong’s previous attacks just how strong the Blue Spiked Crocodile was!

One charge was enough to break rock!

If one didn’t defend, there was only one outcome — to be split into pieces!

If Shixiong was not here, with their own strength, how could they survive on the Desolate Wood Reef? Without the protection of the big formation, they were like a herd of sheep left to the wolves.

Everyone’s hearts sunk!

They were finished!

———

At this time, Zuo Mo raised his head.

The Blue Spiked Crocodile was ten steps away from him. Its speed was so fast, it appeared as a series of after images. The oncoming presence was so strong it was suffocating.

A ball of gold light burst out of Zuo Mo’s eyes as he raised his head. He suddenly raised both of his hands, his left leg moving back into an arched position.

When he finished this move, the sharp teeth of the Blue Spike Crocodile just perfectly touched the two palms he held up.

The palms, which now appeared to be made from dark gold, and the pale and retched smelling crocodile teeth smashed together!

Boom!

Air swirled and shook. Ripples visible to the naked eye suddenly spread from the point the palm and teeth collided.

The golden pair of hands did not move!

From extreme movement to extreme stillness, the blow it dealt to the bystanders could not be rivalled. The talismans flying in the sky all stopped. Chun Yu Cheng, Gongsun Cha and the others looked in disbelief at this picture, this extremely strange scene. They forgot to control their talismans, not realizing that all their talismans had fallen to the ground.

Zuo Mo’s eyes turned entirely dark gold, the light rippling inside, cold and unfeeling.

He felt that his body was full of strength right now! Strength that he never possessed before! His legs that were standing on the ground seemed connected with the great earth, he seemed to be together with the earth, endless power streamed into his body.

Confidence grew strongly in him. He believed that even if there was a mountain, he could rip it open!

The powerful charge of the angered Spiked Crocodile did not cause his hands to shake the tiniest bit. His left hand flowed along to grab the two fangs protruding out of the Blue Spiked Crocodile, his right hand forming a blade and suddenly slicing against the head of the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

Pia!

The golden palm was like a sharp gold knife, but the sound of impact was as if a ten thousand catty hammer had struck the head of the Blue Spiked Crocodile. The skin of the Blue Spiked Crocodile, that even flying swords were unable to damage, didn’t break but the flesh under its skin vibrated like drums.

The eyes of the Blue Spiked Crocodile suddenly expanded. Then, like a pile of wet mud, it stopped moving and dropped to the ground.

Zuo Mo carelessly threw the Blue Spiked Crocodile to one side, not even looking at it. He closed his eyes, slowly recalling and savouring this strange and wonderful feeling.

His body was like a mountain, connected to the earth. A heavy strength passed from the earth into his body, he felt every joint of his body was filled with strength … …

He slowly experienced this state, but this feeling of connectedness with the earth quickly disappeared from his body.

Only when he couldn’t feel it anymore did he open his eyes. His heart was full of longing. The feeling of strength was really wonderful. Opening his palms, the mountain tattoos were so faint they were almost invisible.

Zuo Mo did not have too many regrets. He knew that had just been a moment of comprehension at a time of breakthrough. This kind of state could not last for a long time. But since he had passed this barrier, as long as he persisted and worked hard, there would be a day when he would reach that level.

It might have been the shock of leveling up but his joy at killing the Blue Spiked crocodile was very faint.

Before he left, he only said, “Gongsun Shidi, take care of it.”

———

After he left, everyone still had not come out of their shock. The last scene was truly too stunning, too fantastical. They felt their minds were a blank, not knowing what to say.

After a while, Gongsun Cha who had recovered first ran to to the corpse of the Blue Spiked Crocodile and flipped it. After a while, he said, “Way too strong! Way too strong!”

Hearing this, the other people also crowded over, surrounding the corpse of the Blue Spiked Crocodile. Even the wounded disciple did not care about his pain, running over in curiosity.

“Dead! Completely dead!”

“A Blue Spiked Crocodile is fourth-grade! Shixiong can even kill a fourth-grade Blue Spiked Crocodile, we don’t need to worry anymore!

“Worry? Have I ever worried? Anyways, isn’t there also the big formation? He, right, why didn’t Shixiong use the big formation?”

“Ha, does Shixiong need to use the formation?”

… …

Everyone chatted, unable to disguise the excitement on their faces.

Chun Yu Cheng and Gongsun Cha had amiable relations. He saw that Gongsun Cha had a face full of awe and couldn’t resist asking, “What are you seeing?” Seeing Gongsun Cha’s expression, he knew that this guy definitely wasn’t just excited that Shixiong had killed the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

“Way too brutal!” Gongsun Cha’s voice was excited, his gaze blazing, “Ha ha, everything inside this Blue Spiked Crocodile, all the bones, muscles, organs, they have all been shattered to pieces!”

Chun Yu Cheng jumped, “No way!”

Looking at the untouched outer layer of the Blue Spiked Crocodile, he could not imagine that the inside of this being was completely shattered.

This was a fourth-grade Blue Spiked Crocodile … …

Gongsun Cha shook his head and commented, “It is a waste of this Blue Spiked Crocodile. Only the teeth, skin, eyes, and the spikes can be used. The organs of a Blue Spiked Crocodile are very valuable … …”

Chun Yu Cheng did not hear Gongsun Cha’s words. He had floated off in his thoughts.

Chun Yu Cheng suddenly felt the usually low-key Shixiong was full of mystery and could not be understood. He did not know much about formations but he had heard of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] before. He didn’t find it surprising that Shixiong could kill Nan Ming Zi with it, since Shixiong was able to get third in the Sword Test Conference relying on it. But when Shixiong took out the beast pool, he completely lost all resistance. The temptation was just too much.

The beast pool was due to the animal keeping remnant scroll, but where did this astounding power come from?

The sect didn’t have this kind of scripture!

Without knowing it, he felt awe.

———

When Zuo Mo went back to his residence and had just sat down, Pu Yao appeared.

“What did I just do?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Don’t know, I’m not familiar with body cultivation,” Pu Yao shook his head.

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. He didn’t believe it. However, if Pu Yao didn’t want to say it, there was no way around it.

“Let’s do some business. Are you interested?”

“Not interested!” Zuo Mo decisively shook his head. His previous experience with Pu Yao told him that he would only lose and never make a profit.

“Don’t refuse so quickly.” Pu Yai said amuse fly. His two eyes narrowed into two bloody crescents. “Haven’t you been trying to make a sword formation? I’ll teach you a technique to use your consciousness. You can easily use the sword formation.”

“Oh,” Zuo Mo was not persuaded.

“This is a secret method. It is called the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands]. Even though your spiritual power isn’t low, your technique is terrible and fail to really express the power. The [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] can fill in a gap.”

“Oh,” Zuo Mo was still not persuaded.

“The spirit as a vine and the leaves as hands, it can easily make many transformations. Your one hand can do many things. When you have one thousand hands, how can anyone defend against you? Brute strength is useless. Even you sword xiu fight with swords, no one will let you in for close combat. That thing has no future! Your spirit is the right path! The path of Heaven is a wheel, you cannot control it but you can move it!”

“You said it yourself. Yao, mo, xiuzhe, each have their own advantages.”

Pu Yao paused. Then he acted as he hadn’t heard Zuo Mo’s words.

“Oh, I could also teach you [Little Thousand Leaf Hands]. The [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] emphasize invisibility and cooperation with your formations. The [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] has thirty-six moves. There are three that you could learn to defend yourself. Even if you are just in zhuji, you don’t need to worry about a ningmai.”

“Oh,” Zuo Mo was not moved, Pu Yao’s actions were way out of the norm!

Demons only appear when something was amiss!

This guy was the most demon-like of all demons.

“Oh, If you agree, starting from today, other than the expenses for the Nether Pool, I won’t take one more jingshi.”

Just like how well Zuo Mo knew Pu Yao, Pu Yao was clear about Zuo Mo’s weaknesses. He gently threw out a condition that Zuo Mo could not refuse!

As expected, Zuo Mo instantly couldn’t keep sitting, “Really?”

“Really.”

“Then what do you need?”

“Your blood,” Pu Yao’s smile was extremely malicious.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed. He decisively shook his head. “No!”

Was he joking, if he didn’t have jingshi, he could make more, if he lost his little life, he didn’t have a spare. He didn’t dare to joke around with his little life.

Pu Yao saw Zuo Mo’s thoughts with a glance, “Don’t worry, it won’t affect your body. You do body cultivation, your vital blood is very abundant. It won’t be much to take some blood. I don’t need much, one drop a day. One drop a day is nothing to you!”

“No!” Zuo Mo persisted in refusing.

Chapter 178: Void Pass

“Just one drop of blood. You are not willing to even pay this insignificant price?” Pu Yao said, his brow furrowing in discontent.

“Insignificant?” Zuo Mo’s voice was full of displeasure, “Taking blood from me is insignificant?”

He then said decisively, “This is not negotiable. Jingshi and talismans, how can they compare with my little life?”

Pu Yao propped his chin and thought momentarily before he said, “How about this? I won’t take your vital blood, but you have to give me the earth energy you get everyday.”

“Earth energy?” Zuo Mo was still for a moment but he replied quickly. In his mind, he instantly connected it to the feeling of connectedness to the earth when he had been fighting with the Blue Spiked Crocodile.

There was a problem!

Pu Yao was very cunning. This was his goal.

“What is earth energy?” He asked, knowing the result.

But Pu Yao was a yao thousands of years old. Even though Zuo Mo tried to conceal it, the intelligent Pu Yao could find hints from the slight changes in his eyes. Pu Yao smiled, not disguising it, “Mo have always thought that the Great Earth is the mother of all things. The power of the Great Earth is stronger than anything else. When they cultivate, they always attend to their communication to the earth. You just have broken through to the first level of body cultivation. This level is called Mountain Physique. The level of Mountain Physique, you can now communicate with the Great Earth. As long as your feet are on the ground, you will have endless strength.”

Zuo Mo listened carefully.

“Of course, that crowd of idiot mo doesn’t understand anything profound. This method is simple and straightforward, very easy to start. Mo also descend from wild beasts. Compared to xiuzhe, they naturally are more connected with the earth. It is easy for them to start this method. But you, it is very unexpected to me that you have such talent in body cultivation.”

“Earth energy is the power that comes from the earth?” Zuo Mo asked in response.

“Oh, it’s not incorrect if you understand it that way,” Pu Yao nodded.

“If I give the earth energy to you, that means my Mountain Physique would not progress?” Zuo Mo continued. He wasn’t stupid.

“Right,” Pu Yao continued to nod, calmly admitting it.

“No!” Zuo Mo shook his head.

Pu Yao was puzzled, “Why not? The Mountain Physique might be said to have the power of ten thousand elephants but usually, it is very stupid. It is not even as effective as your sword formation. It’s is far from the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands]. There’s also so much jingshi, why don’t you agree?”

Zuo Mo smirked, “I don’t even know the power of the the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] yet, but I’ve personally experience the power of the Mountain Physique. It is a very simple choice.”

Hearing this, Pu Yao was speechless. He had neglected the practicality of Zuo Mo. However, to a Sky Yao that was thousands of years old, what problem would this pose? He quickly thought of a solution, “If that’s the case, this is very simple. The [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] is split into seven chapters. You are only able to cultivate one chapter. Of the [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], you are only able to practice three moves. I’ll let you see half of the chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands], and teach you a move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] for free.”

“Definitely free, no additional conditions,” Pu Yao promised.

“Okay, then give it,” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly. In his heart, he had already decided, that this time he would get one over Pu Yao. Freely learning half a chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands], and one move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], then he would tell Pu Yao he still wouldn’t agree, ha ha … …

Thinking how frustrated Pu Yao would be, he felt very good.

Pu Yao didn’t waste words, throwing the first half chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo naturally did not refuse. As he daydreamed about Pu Yao’s upcoming rage, he read the half chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands].

After a few short words, and Zuo Mo’s indifference flew away.

He sunk into the text.

Compared to the cryptic nature of [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], the half chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] was easy to understand, like a genius asking and responding to their own questions.

It headed straight for the main topic right at the start, first describing how to control power.

Mo used their body as a tool, continuously tempering it and their power turning inside. With their action, they could destroy mountains and upturn oceans. Xiuzhe primarily practiced ling power, ling power stored within their bodies would be guided by their channels and was easy to use. Spiritual power was invisible, spread outside the body, controlled by the mind, but the difficulty to use it was high. Even though yao were born knowing how to use their spiritual power but there were different proficiency levels. High level yao could control the world with just a thought.

After that was a mountain of questions regarding the consciousness.

Zuo Mo’s mind was deeply enchanted. Many of the questions in here were problems that had dogged him for a long time which he could not solve.

His gaze unconsciously went down.

This author replied to each of the questions, their language was extremely simple to understand. Zuo Mo felt as though a mist had been lifted.

The last conclusion it had was the consciousness was like a ball of mist, lacking a skeleton which caused it to become difficult to control. Mo primarily cultivated their body, their entire skeleton, flesh, blood, and skin were pathways, easy to control.

What spiritual power lacked was exactly this kind of pathways. They were naturally spread out. Only some high level Yao had yao seeds that could naturally function as base pathways. That was also why they were so powerful. The yao did not lack for geniuses. They might not have had highly regarded bloodlines but they could create new paths.

This [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] originated as one of these new paths.

Like vine creating a net, one leaf per section, the leaf like a hand, five finger-like segments able to do tens of thousands of changes.

Zuo Mo was drunk. He had never heard of this method before. It was very novel. Zuo Mo was not a yao. Pu Yao had embedded a Yao seed and caused his control to increase but that was nothing compared to the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands]. It was on a completely different level.

If he could successfully learn the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands], any formation would be able to reach its greatest potential in his hands!

Other than that, it was also useful for forging and dan-making.

Just as Zuo Mo hurried to keep reading, he suddenly stopped, the chapter half was finished!

It was like an itch that being scratched in that sweet spot and then the other suddenly stopped. He felt unspeakably uncomfortable. Damn it! Why did it stop there!

Zuo Mo, who had been waiting to see Pu Yao frustrated, deeply felt what frustration was!

No, he needed to control himself, he couldn’t let Pu Yao win!

Zuo Mo reluctantly took away his eyes, closing them to rest for a while. He slowly calmed down. Zuo Mo’s mind became clear as he calmed. This was what Pu Yao always did. If he really made the transaction, then there probably were countless traps waiting for him ahead.

Calm, calm … …

He said it repeatedly to himself inside, furiously telling himself to not fall for Pu Yao’s trick. This kind of self brainwashing finally had some effect. He decided to learn the first move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] before he decided.

Hearing this, Pu Yao refreshingly nodded,”Okay, I’ll teach you the first move.”

“[Little Thousand Leaf Hands] has thirty-six moves in total. The first move is one of the two most shallow and fundamental moves. Many of the other moves will be connected somewhat with these two moves. You have to be familiar with this one.”

Seeing Pu Yao act as though he was going to personally teach it, Zuo Mo’s mind became alert.

Pu Yao always boasted to the sky, but Zuo Mo had never seen him personally move. He instantly became excited now that the other was going to demonstrate his abilities.

“[Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] were created by an ancient Sky Yao, the aim was to go against nature,” Pu Yao’s voice was full of respect, “When a yao is born, the achievements it can accomplish are mostly set. A yao seed is formed naturally and is the source of a yao’s power. This Sky Yao was born as the most normal of the little yao and became a Sky Yao in the end. You don’t really understand the yao. What the yao do is flow along with their natural order. It was only when that Sky Yao appeared that people discovered it was possible to go against this natural order. From then on, yao cultivation was split into with nature and against nature. You are learning that elder’s moves today, do not mar that Sky Yao Elder’s name.”

Pu Yao’s voice was stern and serious. Zuo Mo gaped inside and was full of anticipation. From Pu Yao’s explanation, it seemed that these two sets of methods had a great history!

“Watch carefully.”

As Pu Yao stopped talking, he raised his right hand. His right hand was long and snowy white, perfect in form, the bright red nails slightly curved and as sharp as a knife.

He pointed with his index finger, the long crimson fingernail lightly sketching in the air.

The movements were ethereal and gentle, flowing and pleasurable to the eye.

The places that the blade like fingernail passed, a streak of blood curved and squiggled. In a blink, a profound bloody character took form in the air.

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrunk!

He suddenly found that, starting from when Pu Yao’s finger had started to draw. Zuo Mo’s own consciousness had gone slightly out of control, as though Pu Yao’s finger held a strange magnetism. He jumped in fright, and hurriedly controlled his mind!

Even though he was trying to control his consciousness, the majority of his attention was used to watch Pu Yao.

Pu Yao’s spiritual power flooded the bloody character. The character seal suddenly became full and glistening as though it was alive.

Zuo Mo felt as though he was suddenly jerked into an extremely strange world.

There was no noise, no change. It was like time had completely stopped. Zuo Mo felt that that his heartbeat had stopped, his blood stopped flowing, his muscles and hair stopped moving!

An unknown amount of time later, this strange state flew away as though it was a dream.

Zuo Mo finally felt shock. In a daze, he heard Pu Yao’s slow and deep voice.

“The first move is called [Void Pass]. It does not halt time, it just maintains the laws that everything originally has, but at the same moment, it refuses all new laws, so you feel as though time has stopped. The two concepts are completely different. It only refuses change. The stronger your spirit is, the greater your control over your consciousness will be, and the larger the area you can control. However, if it is a strong change in the laws, you may not be able to stop it and the technique would break.”

“Do not try to use it on other xiuzhe, unless the difference in cultivation is very great.”

“Then what’s the use?” Zuo Mo heard himself ask instinctively.

“Hue hue, you can use it on talismans. The ling power on talismans usually is constantly flowing. The effect of interfering with that is very outstanding.”

———

Zuo Mo had received such a great blow that he seemed to have lost his soul in the following days. Pu Yao did not hurry him, looking very confident.

The fifth day, he finally thought it through and came to the sea of consciousness.

Like normal, Pu Yao sat on the gravestone. His back to Zuo Mo, he still knew that Zuo Mo had come, a smug smile at the corner of his mouth.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were clear. Just as he prepared to speak, he saw the gravestone under Pu Yao out of the corner of his eyes, and suddenly stopped.

Chapter 179: Gravestone

Written on the gravestone were the words, “Do as he asks.”

Zuo Mo had originally decided not to accept Pu Yao’s tempting offer. [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] enchanted him, but he still decided to refuse this transaction where it looked like he would benefit disproportionately.

Pu Yao had not described the Mountain Physique in great detail, but Zuo Mo understood that the reason he had cultivated this quickly to Mountain Physique was all due to the gravestone. The [Vajra Profound Sutra] was not an outstanding scripture. The reason it was so effective was those five adjusted phrases from the jade scroll.

Even though Pu Yao did not say much, he was quite scornful of the Mountain Physique in his tone. However, Zuo Mo could easily felt the great strength of the Mountain Physique.

He had recalled that moment he broke through, savoring that feeling of strength flooding through his body.

It was the first time he had so clearly tasted strength.

Pu Yao’s terrible reputation made Zuo Mo unable to believe him. No matter how much he was tempted by [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], it was clear that what Pu Yao gave looked sweet but it wouldn’t taste sweet when he ate it.

[Vajra Profound Sutra] didn’t have anything profound and was exactly suited to Zuo Mo’s appetite. The fact he could unknowingly cultivate to Mountain Physique, proved that he had talent in this area. Rather than gamble on the untrustworthy Pu Yao, it was better to persist with what he already had.

He didn’t want to think about progression to deeper stages. He believed that if he could reach the level he had experienced when he made the breakthrough, he would have some measure of protection in these troubled times.

After thinking for a few days, and having finally made a decision, Zuo Mo ran to the sea of consciousness to prepare to refuse Pu Yao. But to his shock, he saw the words floating on the gravestone.

A strange feeling rose inside Zuo Mo. It was like the gravestone under Pu Yao’s ass was alive. This idea was truly too absurd, so absurd that even Zuo Mo felt that he had thought too much these past days, and was having a delusion.

The words on the gravestone were large and eye-catching.

It wasn’t a delusion!

“How about it?” Pu Yao’s unconcerned voice suddenly sounded next to Zuo Mo’s ear.

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. He glanced and saw the words on the gravestone grow faint. In a blink, the eye-catching words had disappeared.

Was this gravestone really alive?

Zuo Mo thought and brushed off, “En, I’ve thought for a long time.”

If this gravestone was really alive, then … …

Suddenly, he recalled when he had first met Pu Yao and how he fell into that unconscious state. When he had been muddled, he had heard an ancient and stern voice. He had assumed that it was Pu Yao. Thinking about it now, that voice was stern and authoritative, and was completely different from Pu Yao’s seductive and enchanting mannerisms. He had overlooked this discrepancy before because there was no one except Pu Yao in his sea of consciousness.

When the [Vajra Profound Sutra] had appeared on the gravestone last time, it hadn’t caused him to question his assumption.

“Do as he asks.”

These words, other than living beings with brains, no matter if it was the most outstanding talisman, it could not say such words.

He felt the gravestone was alive.

Zuo Mo’s mind was furiously moving. Naturally, his speech could not keep up. This made him look especially dull today.

———

Pu Yao furrowed his brows, “And then?”

Zuo Mo instinctively answered, “I still have to think.” He ignored Pu Yao, sitting down on the ground. In any case, the words on the gravestone had already disappeared.

Pu Yao was slightly surprised. If Zuo Mo entered the sea of consciousness, he should have decided. Had he just decided to change his mind now? He had interacted with Zuo Mo for a long time. Zuo Mo might be hesitant sometimes, but after he made a decision, he would never waver. The other was so stubborn and vicious, even he would gape.

Why did he suddenly hesitate now?

However, he would never have thought in his wildest dreams the gravestone under his bottom had gotten one over him.

———

Zuo Mo decided to think.

The gravestone should be alive, no, maybe there was something alive under the gravestone.

Thinking about it now, the [Vajra Profound Sutra] had appeared on the gravestone when Pu Yao had been meditating. This time, the gravestone was opposing Pu Yao right in front of him.

Did the gravestone and Pu Yao have animosity?

Pu Yao usually sat on the gravestone. Previously, Zuo Mo had felt that Pu Yao was an undertaker. Thinking about it now, was more like Pu Yao was guarding it. Was there a powerful enemy sealed under the gravestone, and Pu Yao was so worried he personally guarded it?

This guess was very rational. Zuo Mo felt, that even if it wasn’t any great hatred between them, the relationship between Pu Yao and the gravestone was definitely not good. Otherwise, the gravestone wouldn’t have opposed Pu Yao twice.

Thinking through this, Zuo Mo suddenly understood slightly what Pu Yao’s aims were.

Pu Yao needed the earth energy for something he did not state. Looking at it now, Pu Yao had offered this transaction directly for the Mountain Physique that Zuo Mo had just achieved.

Zuo Mo suddenly didn’t get it again.

If Pu Yao and the gravestone really didn’t have good relations, then Pu Yao could just stop him from practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra]. However, Pu Yao did not prohibit him from practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra]. If Pu Yao was targeting Zuo Mo’s Mountain Physique, he had enough skill and methods to just take that.

Pu Yao wasn’t a generous person. This person always wanted to get even. Whoever he held a grudge against, would quickly feel retribution from Pu Yao’s machinations. Pu Yao would not let his enemies go, and give them time to recuperate.

As to Zuo Mo himself, he didn’t feel he could affect Pu Yao in any way between the two enemies.

The deeper he thought, the more puzzled Zuo Mo felt.

He threw away thinking about the relationship between Pu Yao and the gravestone. What he needed to consider was which choice was most beneficial for him. Pu Yao’s promises were not trustworthy in Zuo Mo’s mind. Compared to that, he was more willing to believe the gravestone. The benefits from the gravestone’s [Vajra Profound Sutra] were real and tangible.

There was no spectacular description, but true power and that was more likely to persuade Zuo Mo.

If he thought of Pu Yao and the gravestone as two people, his past experiences with Pu Yao were terrible, but his experience with the gravestone had been very good.

Zuo Mo felt dejected. This clearly was going to slow down his body cultivation progress so why did the gravestone want him to agree? Was there … …

Suddenly, an idea appeared in his mind, did the gravestone have a solution?

Zuo Mo suddenly became uplifted, it was possible! Otherwise, the gravestone certainly wouldn’t want him to agree to Pu Yao’s transaction. If the gravestone was not concerned with his cultivation progress, it wouldn’t have passed him [Vajra Profound Sutra] in the first place.

Zuo Mo believed that any action had an aim.

The gravestone had its own aims in passing on the [Vajra Profound Sutra], but he did not know it at the moment. But since it had a goal, then it wouldn’t easily let its previous efforts go to waste. Otherwise there would have been no reason to pass onto him the [Vajra Profound Sutra].

If the gravestone had just taught him out of sheer pleasure, even Zuo Mo would not believe it.

He couldn’t guess the goal, but Zuo Mo could judge what was more beneficial to him.

He decided to listen to the gravestone. Having made his decision, he started to think how the gravestone would give the solution. Thinking of the [Vajra Profound Sutra] and the words that had floated there, he decided to visit the sea of consciousness more frequently in the future.

After thinking it through, Zuo Mo stood and walked in front of Pu Yao.

“En. I’ve thought it through. Let’s make the transaction!”

“Your choice is very intelligent,” Pu Yao’s cold blade-like lips curved slightly.

Zuo Mo’s caught a glimpse of this smirk and felt that Pu Yao’s smile carried some unusual content, as though it proved some of his speculations.

The first chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and the first three moves of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] in his hands, Zuo Mo started to study them as though he was starving.

[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was cryptic and he still had barely progressed even now. The two spells had their own places that were hard to understand, but they were much easier compared to [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. What was most surprising to Zuo Mo was that Pu Yao was willing to personally teach [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].

He took the chance to ask Pu Yao for clarification regarding the problems he encountered. He hadn’t expected that Pu Yao to have changed his frugal attitude, and freely replied, and it could even be considered, very patiently. Zuo Mo was amazed.

Such a good chance, if he didn’t use it fully, then he was an idiot. Zuo Mo took the chance to go through everything he was usually puzzled by.

After going through it all, he felt it was worth it even if there wasn’t the two spells!

This set of spells that yao had about the spirit was more profound and wondrous than any jade scroll that he had ever read. It was like the difference between the cloud and earth.

But making a transaction with Pu Yao meant one could never just simply enjoy. Accompanying it was always the pain of the flesh.

Under Pu Yao’s guidance, he quickly learned how to absorb earth energy from the ground. The earth energy of body cultivation and the [Art of Earth Energy] that Zuo Mo cultivated shared the same name, but the two were completely different.

The earth energy of [Art of Earth Energy] was the energy nurtured from the soil, but the earth energy that Zuo Mo took in right now was a kind of weighty and concentrated power. The only similarity between the two was they were both nurturing and heavy. But what the [Art of Earth Energy] nurtured was ling plants, and what the earth energy of body cultivation nurtured was his body of flesh.

An attentive Zuo Mo found two reasons he could absorb earth energy. One was his body cultivation had reached Mountain Physique. The other reason was the mo matrix.

The mo matrix that Pu Yao had carved onto Zuo Mo’s body was wondrous in allowing his body to communicate with the earth.

He somewhat understood now why mo would primarily cultivate their body. It was because they were born with a mo matrix, and were the children of the earth.

When he was absorbing earth energy, it was so comfortable that he was intoxicated. Little by little, concentrated strength slowly moved into his body from his legs, nurturing every part of his body. He could feel the strength increasing in his body, a tranquility that he never felt before which was addicting.

But the earth energy that he took in would be drawn out by Pu Yao in an instant, in a great form of torture!

When the strength inside his body was extracted, his mind would blank for a short moment. When Zuo Mo’s mind came back, weakness and the lack of strength would make him feel that he had an incurable disease. A strong sense of dizziness and nausea destroyed his appetite and his interest in anything else

Each time Pu Yao drew out the earth energy, he only had one thought, to faint and sleep.

However, he didn’t sleep. He needed to cultivate.

Chapter 180: [Great Thousand Leaf Hands]

What Zuo Mo cultivated first was the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands].

The second half of the first chapter of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] explained how to form the great thousand leaf hands. This Sky Yao was an amazing genius. He used the process of a plant growing to complete his spell.

The first step of [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] was to gather up the spirit that was scattered. This was not a problem to Zuo Mo, he easily accomplished it.

Next was to forge the gathered consciousness into “seeds.” This step was crucial. If one could not form “seeds,” they could not practice [Great Thousand Leaf Hands].

The steps to forge “seeds” seemed to be very complicated, but when Zuo Mo finished reading, a strange feeling arose.

This was the “dan nurturing” water method!

The Moisture Dan hadn’t brought much jingshi to Zuo Mo, but he had studied the water method. The wondrous process of the dan forming had left a deep impression on him, so when he saw the process of the “seed” forming, he instantly found similarities.

He didn’t know if this Sky Yao knew of the water method, but to have created such an amazing set of spells and to use a dan-making method with spiritual power, he was in awe of the elder.

Thinking about it, he twisted his mouth.

Pu Yao said he was a Sky Yao, but they were both Sky Yao so why was the difference so great? Pu Yao had taken out many kinds of spells, but he had never heard the other say that he had created any of them. Even more importantly, Zuo Mo didn’t think Pu Yao behaved like a Sky Yao. He was very suspicious that Pu Yao’s Sky Yao identity was just him boasting.

Knowing the water method, Zuo Mo didn’t have much trouble in forging the “seed.”

A few hours later, a “seed” had been formed.

This “seed” that Zuo Mo had gathered all his consciousness into was the size of a soybean, expanding and contracting as though it was breathing.

The most difficult part did not stop Zuo Mo. As long as he persisted in practicing this set of spells daily, after ten days, this “seed” would germinate.

However, since all of his consciousness had been used to create this seed, it was like his consciousness had disappeared. This caused Zuo Mo, who had relied on using his consciousness constantly, to feel extremely awkward.

Without his consciousness, Zuo Mo could not make dan, could not forge, but what made him jump in fright was that he could not use the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation].

Damn it!

He had made such a fatal mistake. It seemed that he had been too proud these past days.

Please, no one come in these next ten days.

To not cause terror in other disciples, he acted normally on the surface.

Gongsun Cha delivered a pile of materials to him, all of it taken from the body of the Blue Spiked Crocodile that Zuo Mo had killed. What was most attention-catching among the items was the hide of the Blue Spiked Crocodile and the seven blue spikes. The hide was pristine. It was rare to see such a perfect Blue Spiked Crocodile skin. The hide of a Blue Spiked Crocodile was outstanding material to make ling armor and the price on the market was very high.

What Zuo Mo liked the most was the seven blue spikes.

The seven blue spikes were rare water element materials, and they came from the same Blue Spiked Crocodile, which made them very appropriate to forge into a flying sword.

Zuo Mo’s set of five sword essence swords needed five flying sword with completely different attributes. It would take luck to gather all five.

He decided to forge the seven blue spikes into a set of flying swords suitable for him to use now.

But when he thought that his consciousness was completely used in creating the “seed,” Zuo Mo could only grimace.

———

Ten days later.

Zuo Mo focused all his attention on growing the “seed” using the chant from the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands]. After ten days of continuous change, the “seed” was now the size of a goose egg, its outer shell a glowing porcelain. It was possible to see a curled sprout inside.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo detected the consciousness inside the egg moving. The outer layer of the “seed” broke. The outer layer was composed of consciousness and naturally would not have made a sound, but to Zuo Mo it was like thunder.

His body seemed to be struck by lightning as it vibrated.

A tender sprout with a single leaf reached out of the broken shell.

The leaf of the tender sprout was extremely small. It appeared like the palm of a person, with all five fingers.

Everything in the surroundings flooded in clearly. This feeling of everything being in his grasp instantly made Zuo Mo feel secure.

Consciousness!

Without him detecting it, Zuo Mo found, to his shock, that his reliance on his consciousness had reached such a shocking step. The consciousness seemed much weaker than before, but as long as he had his consciousness, he could activate the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] and he could guarantee his safety to some degree.

Finally calming down, Zuo Mo started to study his completely transformed consciousness.

His spiritual power had all turned into this little tender sprout. The little hand that was as round and tender as an infant’s was the only leaf on the sprout, but it was of great joy to Zuo Mo.

His mind moved and the leaf rippled, the five leaf fingers shaking. Quickly, Zuo Mo discovered the trick to manipulating the leaf fingers. The five fingers on the leaf became even more nimble. Zuo Mo was even able to control the five fingers on the leaf hand to do the finger motions of all kinds of spells. There was no sound when the leaf hand made the motions, the spiritual power and the ling power was completely different.

However, if he used finger motions with the leaf hand, its nimbleness far surpassed Zuo Mo’s own finger movements. He could control the leaf hand to complete many highly difficult and almost impossible finger movements. If he used his own fingers, he definitely could not do them.

The five fingers on the leaf hands could lengthen and change shape according to his will. Zuo Mo marveled at it.

Zuo Mo played with the leaf hand until he was exhausted mentally. When he stopped, he noticed something he had missed before. The difficulty of controlling the leaf hand had become much easier than before. He wouldn’t dare to even think about doing such delicate changes before.

The area covered by his consciousness was much smaller than before. In the beginning, he had thought that his consciousness had weakened, but he understood after studying the leaf hand. At the moment, the root of the leaf hand was still inside the “seed.”

The great majority of his spiritual power was still in the goose egg sized “seed”. The amount of consciousness that had transformed into the sprout was only a small minority. If all the consciousness inside the “seed” turned to leaf hands, his consciousness would return to the same level as before. The broken “seed” was like soil right now, the leaf hand taking its nutrients from it to grow.

In the span of one day, the tender leaf hand sprout grew a little bigger.

When all of his consciousness turned to leaf hands, the speed the leaf hand grew would then be affected by the rate his spiritual power grew.

Zuo Mo had a direct measure of the benefits that the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] gave him. Even though the area covered by his consciousness was much smaller than before, but the clarity of the area covered by his consciousness was much higher.

This benefit had a direct connection to dan-making and forging.

Zuo Mo’s control of fire had increased to another level. He had a strong impulse to forge a flying sword now, but he suppressed it. His consciousness had not recovered to its peak.

The growth of the leaf hand was not fast, but it was steady. Zuo Mo wasn’t in a hurry, he had many things to do.

Like practicing the first three moves of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].

Zuo Mo had already learned the first three moves. Pu Yao teaching him personally did have some effect. These three moves were either exquisite or powerful so he naturally would not let up, and continuously practiced them. He needed to practice them to the point that he could execute them with a thought.

However, he was far from that step.

What he felt strange was the light at his fingertip when he drew the characters was a faint white light, and not the bloody red of Pu Yao. However, the effect of the completed move did not change. Pu Yao could not find a reason for this, so Zuo Mo, seeing it was not detrimental to casting the spell, threw it to one side.

Zuo Mo still had not discovered the relation between this [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] and the leaf hands.

———

It was night, the moonlight streaming down.

A completely golden figure was at the edge of the black lake, his feet bare, and his legs apart.

Zuo Mo was using [Vajra Profound Sutra]. Small strands of earth energy burrowed into his body through the soles of his feet. The earth energy was thin and felt cold. As it spread through his body, he felt unspeakably pleasurable. As the threads of earth energy entered his body, his muscles became even more strong and hard. Zuo Mo’s body was filled with silence and vitality, just like the great earth.

He opened his eyes. Glancing at his palms, a faint mountain peak tattoo could be seen.

He shook his head. When Pu Yao sucked away the earth energy from his body, the mountain peak tattoo would once again disappear.

Each day, he had to go through this. He had naturally found some trends. The mountain peak tattoo on his palms should be the symbol of the mountain physique. The stronger the body, the richer the earth energy in the body, the clearer it would be. Each time after he absorbed earth energy was the time it was most clear.

A suction suddenly appeared inside his body. The earth energy that had just spread through his body was like a school of fishes that was attracted by bait, moving through every one of Zuo Mo’s muscles and bones.

An expression of pain came into Zuo Mo’s eyes.

It didn’t need his control, his body instinctively rebelled, resisting the departure of the earth energy. It wanted to keep the earth energy, but the suction was so powerful that the earth energy continuously gathered there.

Pu Yao took all the earth energy inside his body.

Weakness flooded in, but he could not faint because of the pain. His body felt like it was being pricked by needles all over, each muscle and bone was in pain.

Zuo Mo understood the reason.

Absorbing earth energy, and then having Pu Yao drawing it away. In the entire process, Zuo Mo’s body was like a man that had just gotten a treasure after struggle, but suddenly was robbed. It instinctively would defend and try to take it back. But since the enemy was too strong, in the conflict, his body was wounded.

He had to go through this process daily. The pain could be imagined.

It was torture!

The damned gravestone! Each time, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth as he bore the pain. At the same time, he repeatedly cursed the damned gravestone!

In this period of time, he would run to the sea of consciousness when he had the free time.

The result was that the gravestone didn’t take any action after the words had popped up.

Listening to the words, Zuo Mo, who had been trusting of the gravestone, was furious. He finally understood. He had trusted the wrong person!

No, he had trusted the wrong stele!

Chapter 181: Familiar Guests

Zuo Mo’s former habit had been to listen to the sound tablet every day. After arriving in Desolate Wood Reef, he would open the sound tablet whenever he was idle. This was not limited to just him. All the people on the Desolate Wood Reef were the same. Other than the flying sword messages the elders from the sect sent them, this was the only way they could communicate with the outside world. Even with Zuo Mo’s cultivation,he was unable to send flying sword messages to the sect over such a long distance.

Every day, they could hear the bad news. It was like the yaomo had suddenly became strong and peerless, the xiuzhe were not a match for them and continuously lost. Each time he heard this kind of bad news, Zuo Mo felt depressed. Theoretically, xiuzhe had been hunting yao for so many years in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. While the yaomo were like the livestock being raised in the xiuzhe’s back yard, but why did the xiuzhe suddenly become so weak?

He went to the lava lake. Inside the fire formation, a scorching flame covered the copper hoop and silently burned. After a long period of tempering, the copper hoop had become completely red like a piece of fire jade.

Carefully inspecting the fire formation, Zuo Mo’s mood became slightly better. If it was tempered for a bit more time, this copper hoop would completely transform. He anticipated just how powerful this copper hoop would be after it was done tempering.

After adding new jingshi to the fire formation, he climbed back out.

The sunlight landed on his body and warmed him, it was so comfortable he wanted to groan. Now that everything on the Desolate Wood Reef had settled into a routine, other than having to endure the “pain of earth energy” every day, he didn’t have any other frustrations.

The Desolate Wood Reef might be isolated, but compared to the endless conflict inside the sect, it was paradise.

Suddenly, he raised his head. Several black dots appeared on the horizon, heading at astonishing speed towards the Desolate Wood Reef.

Xiuzhe!

Zuo Mo’s heart shook slightly, but compared to the restlessness of the past, he was much more composed. With the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], even though his consciousness had not completely turned to leaf hands, but the leaf hands were so powerful that just the leaf hand of half his consciousness was more powerful in controlling the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] than before.

As long as the xiuzhe that were coming were not jindan, he was not afraid.

Three xiuzhe had come.

Seeing them speed over, Zuo Mo’s heart was slightly shocked. The three were not weak.

However, when the three people flew close, he found to his surprise that he knew them. The three people were the xiuzhe that had found him previously to process the Inky Black Lotus Seed.

When the three came close to the Desolate Wood Reef, they had surprised expressions when they saw Zuo Mo. The three quickly landed.

“Didn’t think we would encounter Brother Zuo here, it really is fate!” The red-robed man laughed forthrightly, his composure was extremely friendly. The other two tightly followed the red-robed man.

Last time, having ran into trouble with them, Zuo Mo knew they were not good people. In his heart he was wary. However, with his zombie face, no one could see what he was thinking. With Wu Kong Sword Sect behind him as support, and the island having the big formation, he was very confident.

“Ha ha, yes, yes,” Zuo Mo bowed with folded hands.

If it had been in the past, the three would have been furious at this attitude, but Zuo Mo’s present status compared to the past was like the difference between heaven and earth. The status of Wu Kong Sword Sect was rising in Sky Moon Jie. No one dared to provoke this battle-crazy sect, and Zuo Mo was also a core disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

The red-robed man rejoiced that he had made amends last time, so their relationship wasn’t too terrible. Otherwise, they would have a hard time today. He did not underestimate Zuo Mo due to his zhuji cultivation. Putting aside Wu Kong Sword Sect, Zuo Mo alone was a very dangerous entity.

He naturally understood a bit about the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] after having possessed the jade scroll for so long. When he saw Zuo Mo set up the formation in the Great Pine Pavilion, his shock had been indescribable. When he flew near Desolate Wood Reef and saw Zuo Mo, he understood that Zuo Mo definitely had put a formation over the island.

However, this person was very experienced. He could bow with the circumstances and was extremely perceptive. He smiled and said, “Us three brothers wish to use your place to rest and recover for a few days. This is just a token of our appreciation, Brother Zuo Mo, don’t refuse.”

The red-robed male handed over a small bag of jingshi. Zuo Mo slightly bounced it, and was very satisfied.

Three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. As expected, this xiuzhe was good with handling relationships.

“That’s fine. You can pick any residence here. If you need anything, just ask this little brother,” Zuo Mo instantly became much warmer.

The red-robed male released a breath inside. It was easy now that Zuo Mo was willing to take their jingshi. What he was most worried about was that Zuo Mo held a grudge over the incident of the Inky Black Lotus Seed. So before Zuo Mo had said anything, he had proactively and generously made the first move.

Looking at it now, he was correct in doing so.

“Sorry for the disturbance!”

“Right, I’ve also put a formation on this island. Please do not move around carelessly,” Zuo Mo reminded them.

The red-robed man thought, as expected. His mouth responded, “Many thanks for the reminder, Brother Zuo.”

Zuo Mo didn’t waste words, he turned and left.

———

When Zuo Mo disappeared, the three finally relaxed.

The snarling brawny man snorted coldly, “look at him act like that, I want to grind him to meat paste!”

“Is this place safe?” The hawk nosed man looked at his leader.

“We’ll rest here for a day and leave. Then go to Little Mountain Jie,” The red-robed man said decisively.

“I … …” The snarling brawny man was still going on.

The red-robed man glared at him, and interrupted, “Don’t waste words. Quickly meditate. We don’t have much time.”

The brawny man docilely sat and meditated.

———

Taking in three hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, Zuo Mo felt very good. Business with no cost and all profit was really pleasurable. He recalled that the three seemed quite rushed, as though they wanted to leave quickly.

He had previously received the jade scroll for the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] and had also gotten a [Gold Forging Chapter Remnant]. The gold method was more obscure; adding on that it was just a remnant scroll, Zuo Mo didn’t put any effort in studying it.

But one point was very clear, these three were clearly quite wealthy.

Zuo Mo thought about making a transaction. He had a pretty good amount of Golden Crow Fire on his hands and naturally wanted to sell it. However, the Desolate Wood Reef was really too isolated. He would have to fly for a long time to reach the nearest town. He was just a zhuji. If the news got out that he possessed Golden Crow Fire, he would be instantly surrounded and attacked if he stepped out of the Desolate Wood Reef.

The best and safest way was to attract people to come to him.

As long as he was on the Desolate Wood Reef, Zuo Mo was not afraid of any ningmai. He didn’t need to worry, no matter how big the attack force was. No power would actively challenge a battle-crazy sect like Wu Kong Sword Sect. What was most worrisome was the small xiuzhe groups of two or three people. They were the primary bandits and robbers. After killing and stealing, they would hide in a place. Once the noise was over, they would come out.

If he had to attract people to come such a long way to such an isolated place, he needed to have something to attract them. Golden Crow Fire would be one of those things.

What Zuo Mo needed to do first was pass the news out so other people knew they could buy Golden Crow Fire at Desolate Wood Reef.

His first target would be these three people.

———

The red-robed male who had been meditating suddenly opened his eyes, a wary expression on his face. The other two quickly opened their eyes.

Seeing the intruder was Zuo Mo, the wariness in their eyes lessened slightly.

“Sorry to disturb everyone’s rest,” Zuo Mo brashly sat down, no hint of apology in his voice.

“It’s nothing,” The red-robed male forced a smile, “What does Brother Zuo need to come so late in the night?”

Zuo Mo didn’t waste words, heading straight for the topic,“This little brother has something good. Does everyone have an interest?”

The red-robed male first stilled, and then gave an interested expression, “Oh, something that Brother Zuo finds good, it must not be ordinary.”

Zuo Mo handed over a jade box, “Everyone, take a look.”

The red-robed man took the mini box and praised, “Such a fine jade box. Oh, such exquisite formations on here, I have great expectations for what is in the box!”

He opened the jade box.

Inside the jade box, a golden flame silently burned as it floated inside the box.

“Golden Crow Fire!” The red-robed man shouted, the expressions of the two behind him changing as well.

The other two stared fixedly at the Golden Crow Fire in the box, the heat and desire not disguised at all. The red-robed male stared dazedly at the Golden Crow Fire inside the jade box. After a beat, he sighed, “Brother Zuo is really skilled! I heard before that the Golden Crow Pill was made by Brother Zuo. I didn’t think that Brother Zuo could also make such a pure Golden Crow Fire seed. Such skill is really terrifying!”

Seeing the other did not show signs of wanting to attack, Zuo Mo’s heart slightly eased. The aura of murder that faintly exuded from the three people suggested that they were frequently involved in shady transactions. Zuo Mo had been very worried that their greed would get the best of them. Even though he had been on guard, there was still danger if the three attacked together.

He didn’t know but in this moment, countless thoughts had turned inside the red-robed man’s mind. Don’t underestimate such a little bit of Golden Crow Fire. It had extremely high value. If one had something to exchange it for, the price wouldn’t be just a little bit. However, when he saw Zuo Mo was so serene, he felt that Zuo Mo had measures in place.

The red-robed male repeatedly weighed his options and pushed down his greed. The three knew each other very well. Leader didn’t speak, so the other two knew that Leader didn’t want to attack, so they had to control the killing intent inside.

“You are too complimentary. Are you three interested?” Zuo Mo said.

The red-robed male said, “How about a trade? This one doesn’t have much jingshi.”

Zuo Mo instantly became alert and said, “No problem.” What he hoped for the most was to trade for something useful to him. On a place like the Desolate Wood Reef where even the birds didn’t shit, there was nowhere to spend jingshi. It was better to trade for something he could use.

The red-robed male took out a pile of items for Zuo Mo to choose from.

Trading was a frequent transaction type between xiuzhe. Because there was no third party, what the transaction process tested was the knowledge of both sides and the price they had inside.

The red-robed male had taken out a variety of items. There were talismans, materials, and jade scrolls. The other two also took out and displayed what they had.

The three of them were very wealthy. Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly reddened, but his heart jumped.

This pile of items was of great variety, and definitely not from one individual. He couldn’t help but think about those xiuzhe that killed for treasure. The number of xiuzhe whose lives were ended by the hands of these three definitely wouldn’t be low.

Zuo Mo refocused and started to pick.

Chapter 182: Discovery!

Flipping through the talismans and materials in front of him, Zuo Mo rejoiced at his decision.

These three really had a lot of good items!

There were multiple fourth-grade materials, two or three fourth-grade talismans. The rest were things they didn’t know the use of.

Zuo Mo wanted to take them all, but that was just a fantasy. Golden Crow Fire was something good, but what he was offered was also good.

In the end, Zuo Mo picked three items.

The first was a paper seal soldier. Zuo Mo had a deep impression of the seal soldier from last time, the brute power and astounding presence it had. When he found a seal soldier in the pile, he was very happy.

The grade of this seal soldier was higher than the one before. It should be third-grade. Zuo Mo had only used a seal soldier once; he didn’t understand very much about it, and could only make a general judgement.

On the three-finger wide snowy white paper, the cinnabar seals were curving like earthworms, little bits of gold contained within the bright red cinnabar. The seals felt as though they were burned onto the paper.

Holding it on his hand, it was very heavy as though it wasn’t made of paper but more like a piece of metal, strong yet flexible.

The other was a fourth-grade Blue Icicle Crystal. This Blue Ice Crystal was of outstanding quality, entirely transparent without an impurity, forming a perfect icicle. When he took it out, a mist floated around the Blue Icicle Crystal.

Zuo Mo had to channel ling power to hold this Blue Icicle Crystal. If he did not channel ling power to his palm, his hand would have been frozen by the crystal.

Seeing such an outstanding Blue Icicle Crystal, the first thought in Zuo Mo’s mind was his five essence set of swords. If he forged this into a flying sword, it would be perfect for Xin Yan Shibo’s Ice Dragon sword essence.

The last was a talisman. When the three saw Zuo Mo pick this talisman, they all had shocked expressions.

It was a stick shaped talisman that was severely damaged. It looked as though it should have four panels, but two of the panels were broken.

None of the three recognized this talisman, they didn’t even know where they had gotten the stick from. Zuo Mo was willing to use a valuable choice to pick this broken stick, then it wasn’t something ordinary.

They were clear about that, but they didn’t recognize it, so it wasn’t useful in their hands. Also, no matter how good this talisman was, it was damaged, how good could it be?

They were willing to trade it.

The two sides easily made the transaction. Zuo Mo gave the Golden Crow Fire with the minibox to the other. The three all had happy expressions. Even though it was three for one, but they felt it was worth it.

The Golden Crow Fire was one of the higher quality fourth-grade fire seeds. Fire seeds were rare in the first place. This fire might be a tiny flame, and was weak, but it was pure Golden Crow Fire. As soon as it was imprinted, it could form a fire seed inside the body. While the Blue Icicle Crystal was also fourth-grade and it was perfect, but it still was not on the same level as this little ball of Golden Crow Fire.

But Zuo Mo did not lose out.

It was very hard to buy a third-grade seal soldier on the market. There were not many seal xiu in Sky Moon Jie. Seal soldiers could save lives. A second-grade seal soldier could face a ningmai for a short amount of time.

What about a third-grade seal soldier? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel anticipation.

No matter if it was the third-grade seal soldier, or the perfect Blue Icicle Crystal, they were all extraordinary treasures. But what Zuo Mo put the most importance on was the damaged stick.

The three opposite him did not know it, but Zuo Mo recognized it.

It was not a stick, but a damaged four-flanged Vajra Gada. It was a talisman that Dhyana xiu used. True Dhyana were rare in Sky Moon Jie. Zuo Mo was very curious where they got a dhyana talisman from.

A gada is a mace, a weapon used by one of the Gods. In depictions, the gada is literally a “stone on a stick”. This particular weapon has flanges, so it is a four-flanged mace/gada. Search vajra weapon, and imagine one end of it set on a stick. try search "Lord Hanuman weapon" , you will see the gada.

Dhyana emphasized cultivating the body and forming abhinna. This was the first time Zuo Mo saw a dhyana talisman. However, he didn’t pick this four-flanged Vajra Gada out of curiosity but because he had discovered something else.

His consciousness had become multiple times more sensitive as the leaf hand formed. When his consciousness had swept across this four-flanged Vajra Gada, he had suddenly felt a hidden power come out of the gada!

This power was not strong, it could be considered weak. It didn’t give off any pressure, was a peaceful but thick. This weak, harmless power, almost caused Zuo Mo to lose his control of his consciousness.

How could Zuo Mo not feel shock?

His own spirit was much stronger than normal ningmai. His mentality was as strong as stone, unable to be shaken. Now that he had the leaf hand, in terms of strength, wasn’t he multiple times stronger than before?

It wasn’t normal!

In an instant, Zuo Mo understood the value of this four-flanged Vajra Gada! He did not hesitate and picked it.

Both sides were happy.

———

The next morning, the three bid farewell to Zuo Mo very early and flew towards the jie river. Zuo Mo naturally wouldn’t speak of letting them stay longer, but felt it strange. These three still clearly seemed quite tired, and had not completely recovered. Why were they in such a hurry to leave?

Crossing the jie river was not an easy matter.

Even though he was puzzled, Zuo Mo did not have the time to care. He wanted them to leave at soon as possible so he could stop worrying and cultivate.

The present Desolate Wood Reef was like a paradise. The incident of the Blue Spiked Crocodile appearing and wounding someone reminded Zuo Mo, that he may have set down an unprecedentedly large Skyring Moon Chime Formation, but the Desolate Wood Reef wasn’t small, and there naturally were many holes.

Since he had discovered this, it was easy to deal with. He only needed to add some child formations to the Skyring Moon Chime Formation and it would seal the holes. Luckily, the main skeleton had already been built so the rest progressed quickly.

After being fixed up, the Desolate Wood Reef could be considered impregnable. Zuo Mo had not spared any of the beaches. After the incident with the Blue Spiked Crocodile, no other ling beast had managed to get into the island.

Gongsun Cha became the most idle person. There were no beasts for him to work on. He was very depressed.

Zuo Mo placed heavy importance on this shidi that had been certified for a jade medal and had comforted him.

After making rounds, it was time to absorb earth energy for the day.

Just having comforted Gongsun Cha, Zuo Mo needed to directly face an even harsher reality.

———

Days were passing so slowly! Zuo Mo howled, feeling as though each day was a year.

“Come!” Pu Yao raised his chin, smiling seductively and smugly.

Zuo Mo asked the question he would ask every day, “How many days left?”

“Soon, soon!” Pu Yao insincerely comforted him.

Zuo Mo’s body was dark gold, his pants rolled up and his bare feet struck deep in the soil. Threads of weak earth energy entered his body and flowed around, continuously permeating his muscles and bones.

It was as though he was soaking in the water, unspeakably comfortable.

But Zuo Mo did not dare to relax. His body was as tense as copper wire, nervous to the extreme. Countless previous experiences taught him if he allowed himself to sink into this comfortable state, the “torture” that would come next would became even harder and more painful to bear.

The suddenly discrepancy would destroy a person. Zuo Mo’s spirit had almost been wounded multiple times.

After that, he didn’t dare to let himself sink deeply into this pleasurable feeling.

He was like a criminal that knew that he was going to his execution soon. He had delicious food in front of him, but it could have been cardboard for all he cared.

It was coming!

Strangely, he felt his heart relax. It finally came.

The rest was very simple. One word – suffer!

The earth energy that entered Zuo Mo’s body became even tinier. That would cause the pain when they were drawn out to be even stronger.

Zuo Mo’s body uncontrollably trembled like dice. But his legs were like nails, hammered deeply into the ground.

The hair-thin earth energy was slowly and forcefully sucked out of the depth of his body. They passed through his flesh, the pores in his bones, his channels … …

Zuo Mo tried his best to keep his mind clear. This was the only method he had found over time that could decrease the feeling of pain.

However, in such a painful state, it was very difficult to enter a clear state of mind.

People’s potential was limitless.

After being continuously tortured, Zuo Mo started to find some tricks. He tried his best to pull his consciousness away. It was best if it could wander outside his body. That way, no matter how much pain his body was in, he would not be affected.

Relax, relax … …

His body was fiercely trembling, yet his breathing slowly calmed down.

[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]!

Unknowingly, Zuo Mo entered an embryonic state.

“Hm!” Pu Yao exclaimed in shock, his action of drawing out earth energy pausing.

In his bloody pupil, a thoughtful expression occurred. He seemed to have thought of something. Maybe … …

Zuo Mo, in his embryonic state, was like a spectator. He could “see” his body continuously tremble in increasing severity.

For the first time, he did not feel pain at all!

There was no joy. He just peacefully “looked.”

He “looked” as his body started to became transparent, “looked” at the flesh under his skin and saw those hair-thin earth energies continuously break free of the control of his body and was forcefully sucked out.

The entire process was displayed openly in front of him.

His muscles started to grow larger in front of him, so he could “look” more clearly, “look” closer. Each fibre of his muscles uncontrollably trembled when the earth energy passed by.

He just silently “looked.” It seemed he could “look” at more things.

He was very peaceful, until he “looked” and saw a scene.

This was … …

Suddenly, he seemed to understand something. As the idea popped out, it was like a pebble had been thrown at a peaceful pond.

Everything in the surroundings suddenly became blurred and unreal as though it was rippling.

Hiss!

Extreme pain suddenly washed over him like a flood! Zuo Mo’s mind had wavered as he left the embryonic state. Before his mind could steady, it was rushed by this unparalleled pain. He almost fainted.

Damn it!

Having left behind the embryonic state, Zuo Mo did not have any of the peace he had before. He gritted his teeth and arched his neck, trying his best to bear the shock of the pain. His mouth occasionally inhaled sharply. His eyes were red, like a bandit that had murdered many.

If this was any previous time, Zuo Mo definitely wouldn’t try to resist like this. The pain this time was far greater than any other previous occasion. It would be better to just faint. Then he wouldn’t have to experience it.

However, he definitely wouldn’t give up this time. He decided to resist to the end. He didn’t have the time to ponder what he had just seen, but he believed his own judgement.

It was so painful it was pleasurable! So painful it reached his bones!

He struggled to bear it.

He wanted to laugh, roar with laughter!

Chapter 183: Black Wind Bandits

Zuo Mo’s hands were on his knees as he allowed his sweat to drip to the ground. His chest was heaving like bellows, his rough rushed breathing short and sharp. He didn’t have the energy to talk.

He still wanted to smile, wanted to laugh.

His brain numbed from pain, he gradually recovered his strength. The joy in his heart diluted the exhaustion of his body. What he had seen when he “looked”, he almost did not believe it.

The earth energy spread throughout his body, and in the end into his blood and flesh. When Pu Yao drew it out, the thin earth energy was like a rainstorm of needles that once again passed through his blood and flesh.

In other words, Zuo Mo might not have been able to keep the earth energy, but the flesh of his body was bathed twice by the earth energy. The stimulation caused by the earth energy as it was drawn out by Pu Yao was much stronger than when Zuo Mo absorbed the earth energy.

Even though Zuo Mo could not keep the earth energy, his physical body was being continuously tempered like a piece of metal. The attribute of the earth energy, nourishment, could quickly replenish the damage that Zuo Mo’s body received during this beating.

As long as he could keep bearing it … … after his body had gone through such a forging process multiple times, wouldn’t it be strong?

He didn’t know if the gravestone had told him to agree with Pu Yao because of this. In any case, he wanted Pu Yao to do it more. In his perspective, this was a method of cultivation, even though it really was a matter of luck. Even if he understood the trick to it, but without Pu Yao, it would be impossible. Zuo Mo didn’t have any way of drawing out the earth energy in his body.

Zuo Mo controlled the exhilaration in his heart, and pretended to be exhausted. Like a bag of sand, he smashed on to the ground like wet mud.

He definitely could not attract Pu Yao’s attention.

Zuo Mo understood Pu Yao very well. That renyao would be excited upon seeing his sorry state and would be very willing to do this again. However, if the other saw his joy, Pu Yao would definitely stop.

———

In the Endless Ocean, a large group of xiuzhe were flying, all kinds of colors crossing the sky.

“Head, those three would definitely run towards Little Mountain Jie, should we keep pursuing?” The one speaking was a tall and thin person. The almond-yellow Taoist robe hung on his body like a rag that could be blown away by the wind at any time. He was called Wei Rong, and ranked third in this crowd of people.

“Go! Why don’t we keep going?” The large man at the front stared with his bell-sized eyes. Wei Rong couldn’t help but shrink back. The big man at the front was called Zhang Hao. His personality was as explosive as fire, his eyes full of viciousness.

“Not just Little Mountain Jie, even if it’s the edge of the world, I won’t let them escape!” The big man’s eyes flashed with viciousness, “They dare to trick me, I’ll skin them!”

“Yes yes yes,” Wei Rong hurried to agree.

“Hee hee, those three really had the best luck, finding a secret realm. Judging from their actions, they seemed to have gained a lot,” Another man with one eye and a lame leg laughed darkly. He was called Zuo Han. In this group, he was second in rank.

“Good luck? It’s our good luck!” Greed flashed through Zhang Hao’s eyes. He shouted, “Brothers, if we want to be rich, then let’s get motivated! A secret realm! Ha, after finishing this job, we can retire! What do you say?”

“Kill them!”

“Head, don’t worry, meat that’s reached our mouths, can we let them escape?”

“Kill kill kill!”

… …

Riches moved people’s hearts. To this crowd of bandits that lived through robbery, nothing could move them more than this. This crowd of people exuded killing intent, the exhaustion of their long flight lessening.

Zuo Han glanced at the Head in admiration. Head might look straightforward, but just a few of his words instantly stirred the desire for battle in everyone’s hearts. He was very skilled!

A secret realm!

Just these two words, if news spread, they could create countless conflicts in Sky Moon Jie. Zuo Han couldn’t help but admire the luck of the three people who had found a secret realm. They had accidentally stumbled upon the three and found some traces. However, they were just a bit too slow. When they rushed over, everything good inside the secret realm had been completely swept away.

In reality, even without those treasures, the value of the secret realm was extraordinary. However, to Zhang Hao and the others, it didn’t have any value. They were wandering bandits, moving like the wind. If they put down roots, their enemies would quickly come to kill them.

Everyone understood this, so they did not hesitate in pursuing in the direction the three had gone in.

This team of wandering bandits was about seventy people. Its size couldn’t be considered large, but they had great offensive power. They called themselves “Black Wind.” So everyone called them the “Black Wind Bandits.” Each member was at least zhuji. Five were in ningmai. The newest member had been a part of the group for three years. They were very good in their cooperation. Adding on that there were not many members, they were very experienced. It was hard to track their movement, many experts that wanted to kill them were not able to.

Head Zhang looked straightforward, but in reality, he was careful and cautious. They had lived very freely.

In these two years, the situation had become more unstable. Their lives had gotten even better. Those big sects were hurriedly consolidating their own power for their survival, and didn’t have the time to bother with them.

It wasn’t just the Black Wind Bandits. The present Sky Moon Jie was not as peaceful as in the past. Murders and fights were multiple times more frequent than three years ago. This messy situation seemed to point to an even more chaotic future. It was very rare to see xiuzhe that travelled alone.

The result was that the market rate to hire a sword xiu had exploded, and reached a terrifying level. Correspondingly, the price for all kinds of production xiuzhe had dropped. Many people were facing unemployment. A very strange situation appeared in the markets. The prices of all kinds of materials were sky high, but the formerly busy ling gardens were now barren.

Everyone was concerned.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for big sects like Wu Kong Sword Sect to finish their reorganization, and steady the situation.

The Black Wind Bandits had taken advantage of the chaos and grew larger by taking a few big jobs. Right now, all of them were very wealthy, but greed was not so easy to satisfy. As they changed their talismans, the overall power of the Black Wind Bandits had risen. This allowed them to gain enough power to steal from more powerful xiuzhe, even managing to target some of the minor powers.

But even the rich little powers could not compare to a secret realm.

“Head, they stopped on the little island coming up,” One of the subordinates pointed at the little island that could just be seen. He was the one most skilled in tracking of this group.

“Go see,” Head Zhang unhesitatingly ordered.

A group of people flew towards the island.

———

Chun Yu Cheng pointed at the infant worms in the beast pool, full of pride and anticipation as he said, “Shixiong, this is the first batch of worms.”

He didn’t like conflict and fighting. His main goal in life was to accomplish something in the field of animal husbandry. He had sunk into the beast pool in the last period of time. All of his attention was on pondering the abilities of the beast pool. Much of the content in the jade scroll was not complete and there were many parts he did not understand. However, he was not discouraged, but full of motivation to keep studying harder.

A person that came from grassroots would always be very careful with any opportunity they got.

The harder it was to understand, the more excited he was, because this meant that it was more profound.

Low level xiuzhe were willing to trade anything to get a profound skill or spell, including their life, because they had nothing.

Chun Yu Cheng forgot to eat and sleep as he studied. As expected, he did discover some things. This batch was only six infant worms, and it was the first successful batch that he had raised up until now. It was no wonder that he was so excited, and couldn’t wait to show off his results.

“What’s the mother?” Zuo Mo asked as he looked at the six infant worms.

The infant worms were about the thickness of his pinky, wrinkled, and grey white. They were not very attractive. Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. These infant worms looked too normal, without any hint of quality. However, he also knew that this beast pond was profound and hard to understand. Chun Yu Cheng Shidi was just a zhuji, and it would definitely take time before he would produce good results.

He could not hurry this.

Chun Yu Cheng did not detect Zuo Mo’s disappointment at all. He said excitedly, “I used three kinds of ling butterflies for the mother. Dong Fu Poisonous Moth, Blue Pupil Butterfly and Rain Mark Butterfly!”

Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled, “What are these ling butterflies?”

Chun Yu Cheng didn’t dare to laugh at Zuo Mo and he hurried to explain, “Dong Fu Poisonous Moth is a normal kind of poisonous moth produced in Dong Fu. It is second-grade, and can release a certain amount of poisonous powder. It is an average ling butterfly. Blue Pupil Butterfly and Rain Mark Butterfly are third-grade ling butterflies. Blue Pupil Butterflies are born with a pair of blue pupils that can see through illusions of third-grade and under. The Rain Mark Butterfly is a water element butterfly, skilled in water element spells. The highest grade Rain Mark Butterfly I’ve ever seen could use three water spells. The one I used is of average quality, and can only cast one kind of water element spell.”

“Oh, it sounds very complicated!” Zuo Mo gaped, nodding his head.

“Yes, this is all too deep and broad!” Chun Yu Cheng sighed.

Zuo Mo hadn’t heard of any of the three ling butterflies before. The bunch of ling butterflies that Chun Yu Cheng had introduced to him before, he had completely forgotten all of them. He thought that his decision to throw the beast pool to Chun Yu Cheng Shidi was really too wise. If it was him, wouldn’t he be having a headache?

Thinking about it that way, Zuo Mo’s disappointment at the ugliness and average nature of the infant worms instantly disappeared.

He smiled at Chun Yu Cheng, saying, “Don’t rush. We can go slowly. Maybe we can produce a few fine ones. Then we’ll strike it rich!”

Chun Yu Cheng knew Shixiong was comforting him. The rate that fine ones appeared was very low. He had studied for so many years, but he had only ever produced two ling beasts that could be considered to touch the border of fine. It was these two semi-fine ling beasts that allowed him to qualify for the jade medal.

“Don’t worry, Shixiong, before, Yu Cheng could not say it,” Chun Yu Cheng said seriously, “But with the beast pool and such a profound method, Yu Cheng would definitely bring good news to Shixiong!”

Zuo Mo saw the mood was too stern and wanted to say a few words to loosen it up when he suddenly raised his head to look into the distant sky.

A long way off in the sky, a crowd of black dots was flying at high speed towards the Desolate Wood Reef.

Zuo Mo’s gaze focused!

After his consciousness had turned into leaf hands, it was abnormally sensitive. He could clearly feel the ferocity of the other’s approach.

The murderous intent was like a dark cloud, a suffocating presence sweeping towards him!

Chapter 184: Mantis And Oriole

Without a word, Zuo Mo brought out the Wu Kong Flag.

The black metal mast carried a inky black flag, the words “Wu Kong” written with sword-like strokes that almost flew off the cloth!

As the Wu Kong Flag was revealed, sword essences rippled as though an invisible hand disturbed a still puddle of water. The air in the surroundings became dense and cold, with turbulence flowing under the surface.

Zuo Mo saw the xiuzhe come in even closer, and his hands started to rapidly cast all kinds of spells.

Light suddenly formed on the Wu Kong Flag above his head. Countless sword energies of all colours flew out from the flag, like fish of different colours. They swirled and circled around Zuo Mo.

With the sword energies as protection, Zuo Mo’s confidence increased.

Wu Kong Flag was the token of the sect, forged together by multiple jindan. What was sealed inside were sword energies from all types of jindan experts. Limited by his cultivation Zuo Mo could not use the full power of the Wu Kong Flag, but the sword energies of jindan experts were still incredibly dangerous to ningmai.

Luckily, there was no jindan expert in this group!

Zuo Mo stared at the group of xiuzhe that was coming closer. He couldn’t help but be slightly nervous. This was the first time he was facing so many people by himself. The other side clearly had ill intentions.

However, he might be nervous, the but there were not any stray thoughts in his head. His mind was abnormally clear. As soon as the other side made a move, he would not hesitate in unleashing a thundering attack!

The xiuzhe in the air stopped their flight, facing off from far away.

———

Zhang Hao’s face was hesitant as he stared at the black flag.

Zuo Han’s features were twisted, his one eye showing deep hatred, his hands fisting and cracking.

Wei Rong’s face was pale, his bamboo-like body shaking. When the other people saw the flag, it was like they had seen a ghost, deep terror on all of their faces and their bodies uncontrollably shrinking back.

In one moment, the procession of more than seventy people sank into a strange silence.

“Head, this little brother has followed you for ten years, you know my temper. This little brother doesn’t want to drag everyone down. This brother’s revenge, this brother will personally take it. Head, don’t stop me!” Zuo Han’s voice seemed to come from the Netherworld. Everyone’s expression changed upon hearing it. The cowardly Wei Rong was white.

Some time before, the reckless Black Wind Bandits had coincidentally encountered Wu Kong Sword Sect, and it had been the group led by Wei Sheng. They were instantly defeated and heavily wounded. Zuo Han’s eye and leg had been taken by Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng’s Void Sword Scripture was somewhat complete now. His sword essence would permeate the body. Zuo Han had tried all the lingdan but could not heal it. His hatred of Wu Kong Sword Sect was deep to the bone. He had constantly thought of ways to seek revenge but the only realistic way was to encounter Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples that were alone and kill them to vent his frustrations.

He hadn’t thought he would really encounter Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples.

Staring at the big flag, Xhang Zhao did not speak. He could naturally see the extraordinary nature of the flag. This disciple was undoubtedly a core disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect. If he really killed this Wu Kong Sword Sect disciple today, Wu Kong Sword Sect would not rest.

Having almost been killed by Wu Kong Sword Sect, how could Zhang Hao not be angry? But he recognized the situation. With the strength of the Black Wind Bandits, going to seek revenge against Wu Kong Sword Sect was seeking their own death. In the eyes of Wu Kong Sword Sect, the Black Wind Bandits were nothing. As long as they didn’t go to challenge them, Wu Kong Sword Sect would not remember them.

But if he let Zuo Han go off to see revenge alone, what would the other brothers think? Zuo Han was one of the oldest and original members of the Black Wind bandits, and had followed him for ten years, making numerous and great contributions. If he was so frigid, it would cool the hearts of the other brothers.

If the hearts moved apart, then the Black Wind Bandits were over.

Also, a secret realm … …

The secret realm was like a heavy weight on his heart. The balance in Zhang Hao’s heart instantly tilted.

This was the jie river. If they killed this disciple, and travelled far from Sky Moon Jie, no matter how powerful Wu Kong Sword Sect was, they would not be able to do anything. As long as this band of brothers was together, they could live anywhere.

He never even thought that he could be defeated. It had been such a long time, and the only person who came out was a zhuji.

No matter how strong Wu Kong Flag was, if his group couldn’t kill one zhuji, then they could go back to drinking milk.

A pity about the flag … …

He knew the extraordinary nature of the Wu Kong Flag, but he didn’t dare to take it. Sect tokens like these would have their own special imprints in them. Holding it was akin to telling other people where they were. Wu Kong Sword Sect would only need to send one jindan to kill them all.

Zhang Hao inhaled deeply, viciousness flashing through his eyes. He said hatefully, “What are you saying? Our group, after all this time and struggles, we are one f***ing family! Wu Kong Sword Sect might be strong! We can’t kill them! But we can’t be weak! We were humiliated so badly last time, if we can’t even deal with a baby, can it be any more of a f***ing embarrassment?”

Zhang Hao looked around. Shame was on the faces of many. Yes, Wu Kong Sword Sect was powerful, but if they had surrounded a disciple, it would be embarrassing if they escaped!

Zhang Hao’s tone relaxed slightly, “Where is this? This is the jie river! As long as we pass the jie river, it will be Little Mountain Jie! Wu Kong Sword Sect is strong? Can they go through Little Mountain Jie without any care? Ha ha, we can go hide. Can they find us?”

The other people nodded when they heard this.

Zhang Hao continued to pour oil on the fire, full of persuasion. “It is a secret realm! Brothers! Once we catch those three, we’re rich! With jingshi, where can’t we go? We’ll be bosses wherever we go!”

With the work of a few words, the desires of the group had been stirred by by Zhang Hao. Viciousness shine in everyone’s eyes, killing intent brimming. They wanted to immediately level the Desolate Wood Reef!

———

Feeling the killing intent become increasingly heavy, Zuo Mo knew a big battle could not be avoided. He didn’t have any thoughts of avoidance. He didn’t know what the group of people was, but seeing they had no fear of the Wu Kong Flag, they were definitely not normal xiuzhe.

One against seventy, he knew how low his chance of victory was.

But there was no place to escape on this Endless Ocean. The shidi that he had taken along were all producers. If he abandoned them, they would only have one outcome.

He broke off all his thoughts. Staring at the xiuzhe brimming with killing intent in the sky, his courage rose.

Wasn’t it just a fight!

Ge will chip off all of your teeth until the blood flowed!

He felt his blood boiling, a desire for battle rising in his chest.

Just as he was going to activate the Skyring Moon Chime Formation, he suddenly made a sound of surprise.

Skyring Moon Chime Formation … …

———

The disciples of Wi Kong Sword Sect were gathered together, all of them with bloodless faces. The only one that was somewhat calm was Gongsun Cha. Even Chun Yu Xheng’s complexion was slightly pale.

“Where did this crowd come from? They dare to disregard our Wu Kong Sword Sect! Aren’t they afraid the sect will pursue them?” Chun Yu Cheng’s voice was trembling.

Gongsun Cha snorted, “This group is definitely wandering bandits. I just don’t know which bunch. Pursue? How do they pursue? If they run to Little Mountain Jie, the sect will have no way.”

“What should we do … … what should we do… …” Chun Yu Cheng was mindless.

Gongsun Cha shuffled and spread his white palms, “All up to Zuo Shixiong.”

“Zuo Shixiong is only one person … …”

“No way about it, submit to your fate.”

———

About ten miles from the Desolate Wood Reed, in the middle of a white cloud, a bunch of people were also staring at the Desolate Wood Reef.

“Ha, now here’s something to see. Who do you think will win?” the yellow-faced man said.

At his side was a black clothes xiuzhe. His body was withered like dry firewood, his eyes dark. It was Gui Feng from the Sword Test Conference. On the other side was an indifferent, short wiry haired, Chang Heng with a copper ring at his collarbones.

The other people present both feared and were in awe of these three, unconsciously keeping their distance.

Gui Feng’s eyes were eerily green, his cultivation much deeper than before. His voice was raspy. “He isn’t in ningmai.” The implication did not have to be said. He still didn’t know the origins of the yellow-faced man. He only knew that the yellow-faced man called himself Bo Feng.

He cultivated the [Little Ghost Sword] which was an extremely obscure sword scripture. Even though he had good talent, but the [Little Ghost Sword] scripture had been incomplete at the start. It was hard for him to keep progressing further. At the time, Bo Feng had given him a scripture called [Nine Ghost Nail Curse]. This scripture that he had never heard of before caused him to have no hesitations about joining.

But when he saw Chang Heng, he was slightly shocked. He speculated that Chang Zheng should be in a similar situation as him. However, he didn’t know what scripture Bo Feng had given Chang Heng.

He didn’t really care about this group of zhuji. Actually, he felt there was no use for them. With him and Chang Heng, this group of thirty six zhuji really had no use. The problems the three of them could not solve, what good would adding on these thirty six zhuji be? They still won’t be able to solve it, and would even drag down their speed.

However, it had been Bo Feng who had gathered these thirty six zhuji. Gui Feng wouldn’t make trouble for himself by broaching the topic.

“What do you think?” Bo Feng turned to ask Chang Heng.

Chang Heng said calmly, “Zuo Mo wins.”

“Hm, you have such confidence in him,” Bo Feng smiled with surprise. Bo Feng’s appearance was not attractive He was extremely normal but his composure and actions had a presence that could shake people’s hearts.

Hearing this, Gui Feng did not agree. This was not the Sword Test Conference, Zhang Hao and his group of Black Wind Bandits were all extremely nasty and terrible people. This was a battle to the death. A zhuji, managing to block them for a few hours was enough to be proud of, much less victory.

But he did not voice it. He was still very wary of Chang Heng, there was no reason to cause conflict for such an unimportant topic. His strength had grown over this period of time, Chang Heng’s growth most likely had not grown any less than his.

Bo Feng did not linger on the topic. He looked at the two sides facing off in the distance, his voice serene. “No matter which side wins, we need to get the detailed information about the secret realm from Zhang Hao.”

The authority in his voice could not be resisted. Everyone’s hearts shook.

Chapter 185: The Power Of The Golden Crow Fire!

The two sides didn’t even exchange greetings.

Zuo Mo didn’t need to ask to feel the enmity from the other side. The Black Wind Bandits did not find it necessary.

He was just a zhuji, so did they need to waste such words?

Even though he knew that Zuo Han desperately wanted to get revenge, Zhang Hao still decided to send a few people to test out the waters. The abilities of the Wu Kong Flag would be known after an encounter. Zhang Hao had gone through countless battles and knew very well he could not be careless. The enemy was a core disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect. It would be normal for him to have one or two life-saving talismans.

These life-saving talismans were usually bestowed by the elders of the sect and were incredibly powerful. If they were not careful, they would stumble where they shouldn’t, a common occurrence. Since their own side had the advantage, there was no need to take unnecessary risks. Zuo Han was a very good subordinate. He wouldn’t be able to bear it if Zuo Han was tricked.

There were seventy people in the Black Wind Bandits. Five of them had reached ningmai. These were the backbone of the Black Wind Bandits. Those under ningmai could easily be replaced, especially in such troubled times.

He called five zhuji subordinates forward. Even if the opponent had life-saving treasures, his cultivation was still limited. The other would be at a disadvantage with one against five.

“Battle quickly,” He said and then turned to comfort Zuo Han, “Old brother, don’t be impatient. After they catch him, if you want to skin him or suck out the marrow, you can do whatever you want!”

Zuo Han said gratefully, “Many thanks, Head!”

Zhang Hao roared with laughter, “Don’t be so courteous. Old Brother has made many contributions over these years. This is just a minor matter.”

———

The five people did not dare to be rash. Light was flashing on the flag above the other’s head, and suggested it wasn’t anything ordinary. If it was one on one, they knew that they were not a match for disciples of a large sect. But if it was five on one, so they had enough confidence. To be able to survive in the Black Wind Bandits, especially as a zhuji, they had to learn how to cooperate with their fellow bandits.

This was the reason that the Black Wind Bandits had been able to remain free all these years.

They cooperated very well among themselves. This showed up very clearly when several groups were fighting. Their best method of fighting was to use many to fight against the strong, and use many to fight against many.

The disciples of large sects focused on individual power; that meant that they didn’t have any advantages when they were fighting in groups.

The five xiuzhe came slowly, spreading out in specific positions that complimented each other.

———

Zuo Mo stared at the five people. He was not nervous. The sword energies around his body were flying in patterns.

Of the five xiuzhe, three were sword xiu, one person had a black banner, and one had a chain-sickle. The cultivation of the five were not much different compared to Zuo Mo, roughly in the higher stages of zhuji. The person holding the black banner waved it, and an inky black cloud headed towards Zuo Mo.

The three sword xiu also attacked. Three flying swords of different colors turned to three dashes of light, transforming in the air as they headed towards Zuo Mo.

A cold smile floated on the mouth of the xiuzhe holding the chain-sickle. The black sickle swung in his hands and rattled rhythmically. The chain was the thickness of a thumb, with a water-drop shaped spike at the end of the chain. Traces of blood could be seen on the black chain. It could be seen this weapon had drank a lot of blood and was a violent weapon!

Zuo Mo naturally would not slack off. The Wu Kong Flag above his head landed on his hand, and he waved it.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh.

Countless sword energies flew out of the body of the flag and headed towards the black cloud.

The sword energies easily passed through the black cloud. The black cloud rumbled and returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

Zuo Mo tightly stared at the black could. Of the five people, the black cloud and the person holding the chain-sickle felt most dangerous to him. The threat posed by the three sword xiu was actually the smallest. None of the sword xiu had comprehended sword essence. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, their sword energies were insubstantial.

The feeling this black cloud gave Zuo Mo was somewhat similar to the blood fiends in the sword cave, dark and gloomy.

His mind was clear, the three flying swords were aiming at his chest, Zuo Mo turned and dodged the three flying swords. He still stared at the black cloud, his mind thinking furiously about how to deal with it. The person wielding the banner was hiding behind everyone else. It wasn’t realistic to attack the other.

The xiuzhe holding the chain-sickle did not move. He was like an experienced hunter, patiently waiting for Zuo Mo to reveal a weakness.

The black cloud was not fast, but its scope was very vast and would not be easy to dodge. The sword energies that passed through it had not stopped it at all.

A difficult thing!

Zuo Mo’s head swelled.

———

Far away, the attitudes of those spectating such as Bo Feng were idle, but when Bo Feng saw the black banner, he had a startled expression, “Black Blood Banner? People still make those?” He looked closely and then realized, “So it is incomplete. No wonder. ”

“What is the Black Blood Banner?” Gui Feng suddenly asked. In the [Nine Ghost Nail Curse] that Bo Feng had given him, it had mentioned the Black Blood Banner but it was a general description.

“An obscure talisman. Made by collecting yin and dirty substances. It can corrode talismans and flying swords very effectively,” Bo Feng did not conceal anything, explaining honestly, “Most of the xiuzhe that use this kind of talisman cultivate ghosts and yin spirits, but it is not easy to forge one. What that banner used is Black Dog Blood. The grade is too low, the forging method is incomplete so the power is limited.”

Gui Feng listened carefully. He might cultivate a sword scripture, but it was also related to the area of ghosts and yin spirits. Most of the xiuzhe that practiced these arts were roaming xiu, but among the sword xiu it was not considered an honourable practice. He normally did not have anyone who could teach him.

Bo Feng glanced at him and said care freely, “However, if one doesn’t know how to deal with it, this is difficult to deal with.”

———

The other members of the Black Wind Bandits were at ease. In their minds, this battle was already decided.

Zhang Hao smiled at Zuo Han, “That guy’s Dark Yin Banner is really good! It is always effective when used. Pity that it is hard to forge. If we can get a few more, our strength will increase by much.”

Zuo Han’s mood had relaxed. His face also easing off. Hearing this, he smiled and said, “Head is too greedy. It is lucky that our troop had even one. Other than our troop, I’ve never heard of another in our profession that had one, and Head wants us to have multiple.”

“Ha ha!” Zhang Hao laughed, “That’s true. I’m too greedy.”

He was very proud inside. The Black Wind Bandits did not have many members but it did not lack for talent. They were some of the best of their profession in Sky Moon Jie.

———

Just as Zuo Mo was frantically moving, he suddenly heard Pu Yao snort coldly, “They take something as trashy as this out! So embarrassing!” He then said disdainfully to Zuo Mo, “You can’t even defeat trash like this, you truly embarrass me!”

Zuo Mo instantly didn’t feel good. Looking at the situation he swore, “Stop wasting words, and tell me how to deal with it?”

“The methods of the Dhyana xiu are very effective.”

“Dhyana xiu?” Seeing the black cloud fly closer, Zuo Mo was speechless. There was no time to deal with Pu Yao’s riddles … …

“Oh, I forgot you don’t understand.

You only have a half-assed [Vajra Profound Scripture]. It’s useless,” Pu Yao drawled.

It was deliberate, this guy definitely was doing it deliberately! Zuo Mo’s teeth itched in anger.

“Oh, I remember, this thing is afraid of fire.”

Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. Afraid of fire, that was too easy!

What he didn’t lack right now was fire!

A flip of the hand, and a mini box appeared in his hand.

Zuo Mo’s action attracted everyone’s eyes.

What was that?

Amidst everyone’s curiosity, Zuo Mo threw the jade box at the black cloud.

———

The xiuzhe holding the black banner snorted coldly, ling power flooding into the banner. The black cloud became even thicker and darker, like sticky black ink. A nauseating smell instantly spread.

His Dark Yin Banner had been forged using a secret method that he had found in the remnants of a scroll. It was always successful at corrupting talismans.

Seeing the other throw out a jade box, he smirked inside. What the Wu Kong Flag had sent out were all sword energies. His cloud was intangible, so they had not been affected it.

I’m not afraid you will use talismans, but I’m afraid that you won’t use talismans!

His eyes twinkled as his prey fell into his trap. .

The little jade box flipped through the air, attracting everyone’s eyes.

Zuo Mo had used a large amount of force. In the blink of an eye, the jade box flew into the black cloud.

The xiuzhe with the chain-sickle shook his head, slightly regretful that he wouldn’t get the chance to attack. He knew his fellow’s black banner very well. No matter what kind of talisman, if it was touched by the black cloud, they would become scrap. Many ningmai had been tripped up by this non-descript black cloud.

As the jade box entered the black cloud, it was quickly corroded. The surface of the box was raven black, and a white rotten pattern appeared.

The xiuzhe holding the banner gave a smug smile.

Suddenly, a sword energy entered the black cloud and accurately struck the jade box!

This was … …

The smile of the banner-holding xiuzhe suddenly froze.

Pia!

The corroded jade box was incredibly fragile, and turned to dust when struck by the sword energy.

A pure golden flame fought its way out of the jade box.

Golden Crow Fire!

Hiss crack crack!

The black cloud was like a ball of oil that was suddenly lit up in a blaze, the little wisp of Golden Crow Fire grew dramatically. The fire spread with astounding speed from the centre of the cloud outwards.

Terror formed in the eyes of the banner-wielding xiuzhe.

———

Watching from far away, Bo Feng’s eyes lit up and he couldn’t help but gasp, “Golden Crow Fire! It’s actually Golden Crow Fire!”

Golden Crow Fire!

Chang Heng and Gui Feng’s hearts shook. They stared at the black cloud, not daring to move their eyes away. Their subordinates were all puzzled.

———

“Hm, what’s happening?” Zhang Hao stilled. He could make out golden light through the black cloud.

Was it that the talisman the little baby had thrown out not affected?

Zuo Han also couldn’t help but stare at the black cloud.

The two looked at each other and found their heated gaze. A talisman that was not affected by the black cloud was very rare. That was definitely a very good talisman!

The golden light inside the black cloud became increasingly brighter. All of the xiuzhe noticed the abnormality of the black cloud. However, their thoughts were the same as Zhang Hao and Zuo Han. No one noticed the deep hopelessness on the face of the banner-holding xiuzhe.

A wisp of golden fire finally burned through the black cloud.

In the blink of an eye, the thick tangible surface of the black cloud was covered in burning flames.

In the sky, an enormous golden ball of fire hung like the sun.

The golden fire was entirely pure, a domineering presence spreading out and sweeping like the wind!

“Ah!” The heart-wrenching wail caused everyone’s hearts go jump.

The banner-holding xiuzhe had become a person made from golden fire.

He only had the time to wail before both he and the black banner turned to dust.

Everyone was shocked!

Chapter 186: Sword Formation

Golden Crow Fire, fourth-grade, formed by gathering the essence of the sun, had extremely yang and strong attributes, and was one of the sources of all fires in the world.

Golden Crow Fire was usually created through being nurtured by some special kinds of ling grasses such as the Sky Sunflower. Golden Crow Fire could occasionally be found at the very centre of the flower.

Supposedly, some sects had secret methods that could create Golden Crow Fire, but due to the fire being overly yang and domineering it was extremely damaging to the body. It could leave hidden weaknesses and so secret methods were needed. It was one of the fire seeds people dreamed about. It could even absorb and merge with many other kinds of fire seeds, increasing the grade of the fire.

On the market, Golden Crow Fire was a treasure that had high demand and no supply! Even the smallest wisp would be worth a thousand jingshi.

People usually remembered how beneficial it was as a fire seed but usually forgot about the heat and domineering of the fire itself!

It was fourth-grade!

Zuo Mo was also stunned by the broad expanse burning in front of him. He had assumed that it could damage this black cloud. He had never thought that the power of the Golden Crow Fire was so terrifying!

What he didn’t know was the Golden Crow Fire was an extremely strong yang attribute, and was the exact counter to something yin and corrupting as the black cloud. This was why the result was so exaggerated.

The black cloud twisted in the air like a little mountain, pressing down on everyone.

But when it turned to a ball of fire, such an enormous ball of fire, it was even more of a blow than the black cloud.

It came without any warning, or rather, they hadn’t made any preparations.

Everyone was frightened!

Zuo Mo was only stunned for a moment before he woke. Such a good chance, if he wasted it, he would be punished by Heaven!

After being hammered in the big sword essence formation, his grasp of battle rhythm had increased.

He channeled ling power silently. The sword energies were like swimming fish that soundlessly flew out of the Wu Kong Flag and soundlessly neared the remaining four people.

There was a variety of sword energies sealed inside the Wu Kong Flag of all attributes. It could be seen just how vast of an area each elder had grasped. The flag also sealed three great moves that could be constructed from these sword energies. This was the most important thing about the flag. The original intentions of Pei Yuan Ran and the others in forging the flag had been these moves, that only jindan experts could use. This way, ningmai disciples could release jindan level attacks and save their own lives at a crucial time.

Pei Yuan Ran originally had not intended to give Zuo Mo the Wu Kong Flag because he had been considering that Zuo Mo basically could not use the full power of the flag. Later on, he couldn’t withstand the fire of Shi Feng Rong’s fury, so he had to part with it.

Zuo Mo couldn’t use any of the great killing moves sealed inside the Wu Kong Flag. He didn’t have enough ling power. He could only release those sword energies and not activate the killing moves.

But so what if he couldn’t?

It might have been the pressure from the life or death situation, but Zuo Mo’s consciousness was abnormally clear. The shock caused by the Golden Crow Fire disappeared in an instant. The little leaf formed from the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] imperceptibly waved.

The sword energies flowed silently like water.

He found that he had dismissed this Wu Kong Flag before!

There were sword energies of all different kinds. Even though they could not form killing moves, but he could easily control these sword energies.

Wasn’t this the best tool for setting a formation?

Instantly comprehending his resources, his mind was clear and still.

The situation had turned.

The position of hunter and prey silently changed.

The golden ball of fire burned, a peerless domineering presence spread in ripples. It attracted everyone’s gaze, the four people closest to it were not an exception. Under such a bright light, everything had lost color. The four people did not know that sword energies had silently surrounded them.

The sword energies slid like they were on ice, without a sound, and changed positions.

At the beginning, the changes in position between the sword energies was slightly raw, but quickly, the changes in position became very precise.

All of this happened in an extremely short period of time.

———

The four people had still not recovered from the ferocity of the Golden Crow Fire. The only person who detected something was the xiuzhe who had the chain-sickle.

Some clarity came into his eyes. He glanced at Zuo Mo holding the flag, his heart relaxing slightly. When he looked in the surroundings, his expression suddenly changed. He called in alarm, “Careful … …”

The sword formation had formed!

His shout became the prelude to the closing of the net!

The sharp and intimidating sword essences sliced at every bit of space. The air within their vision was shattered in an instant.

Pew pew pew!

Three pillars of blood shot high into the sky! Before they landed, their bodies were ground to powder by the sword energies that wove and sliced. Bam bam bam. The three sword xiu seemed to explode in midair, countless bits of blood and gore flew outwards in all directions.

The first person to detect the attack was the xiuzhe who held the chain-sickle. He was very experienced, and had gone through hundreds of battles. He didn’t retreat, but charged!

A black light flew from his hand, the sickle headed straight for Zuo Mo! The water drop spike arched like a poisonous snake, dancing so his sides were covered. As the sword energies hit it, sparks flew!

Ding ding ding ding!

The sword energies continuously hit the lengthening chain, like it was a chain made of sparks. The tip of the sickle gave a howl that shocked people’s souls.

The chain-sickle was made out of an unknown material that was able to cut out a path through such a dense rain of sword energies!

The speed was very fast. The edge pointed straight at Zuo Mo!

Impact!

The hook had hit the other person!

He was jubilant at this surprising outcome. His original intentions had been to defend for a while so his fellows would save him. He hadn’t thought he would make impact with one attack!

Was the other too busy controlling the sword energies, and could not split his attention?

Hm, that wasn’t right … …

———

The sword energies that suddenly lit up alarmed the Black Wind Bandits who were still in shock.

Right after, they saw something they would never be able to forget!

Countless sword energies formed a grand net. The three fellow bandits had been ground down and exploded in an instant. The only surviving fellow, they were all very familiar with. The chain-sickle on his hand had taken countless lives. However, the black blade was now strangely striking at an empty space, several dozen zhang away from the enemy!

The jubilation on their comrade’s face made their hairs stand on end.

“Illusion!” Zhang Hao’s pupils shrunk. He controlled his impulse to charge over.

His eyes were very experienced. He clearly saw the other had used the sword energies to form a formation. Now that the formation had been activated, charging in was too dangerous! His gaze suddenly darkened. He knew that his remaining subordinate would not escape death.

As expected, a gigantic sword made from sword energies heavily struck at the chains that covered the other.

The chain that was not easily damaged by flying swords shattered. The xiuzhe that did not have the time to dodge was instantly bisected!

All five had been lost!

Bam. The golden ball of fire coincidentally collapsed at this time, sparks flying in all directions.

As the bright golden sparks rained down, a thin and weak youth holding a black flag several times his size , was standing proudly under the five colored sword energies!

No one spoke, no one dared to move!

The pupils of all the Black Wind Bandits couldn’t help but shrink. All the underestimation, all the disdain, all their certainty, it all seemed so foolish now!

On the sky above the Desolate Wood Reef, there was only the sound of the wind.

Wei Rong who was shaking like dice suddenly shrieked, “I remember, I remember now … … he’s Zuo Mo! He is Zuo Mo!”

The shriek was ear-piercing in this deathly silence.

———

Far away, Bo Feng’s gaze recovered its clarity. Even he had been dazzled by that grand kill.

“Other than cultivation, Zuo Mo has improved very much compared to last time,” He praised, “His formations are even harder to predict now. If his cultivation could increase at this rate, he wouldn’t be any less outstanding than Wei Sheng!”

Gui Feng’s mouth was open wide, but he could not make a sound, shock dominating his eyes.

The strength that Zuo Mo had just displayed was not just a little bit higher than at the Sword Test Conference. Even though that Wu Kong Flag was very strong, but Zuo Mo’s skill was worthy of praise.

His control of the sword energies, his skill at setting up formations … …

It was completely different than before.

What surprised Gui Feng the most was Zuo Mo’s practiced composure and calmness. He remembered how tender Zuo Mo had been at the Sword Test Conference. In the short span of half a year, the Zuo Mo in front of him had become a completely different person.

Cheng Heng did not speak, but his eyes seemed to light up, full of desire for battle.

———

“Zuo Mo, so you are Zuo Mo!” Zhang Hao’s expression was very ugly, his voice pressuring.

He had thought it would be a soft fruit, but it turned out to be a hard nail. He had heard the name of Zuo Mo before. After the Sword Test Conference, this name had spread through all of Sky Moon Jie. He knew the little brat that looked slightly weak was a core disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect, but he had not expected it to be Zuo Mo.

He remembered now. In the rumors, Zuo Mo was most skilled in formations.

He couldn’t help but glance at the Desolate Wood Reef under them. There was no movement there, but since the person here was Zuo Mo, there definitely would be countless formations down there!

Bandit groups like the Black Wind Bandits disliked situations like this the most. What they were skilled at was ambushes and robbery. What they were least skilled at was attacking heavily guarded places with full frontal assaults.

In Zhang Hao’s eyes, the little island below was like a hedgehog.

If it was any other time, he definitely wouldn’t attack such a place.

But right now, he tasted what it felt like to be unable to get off his high horse!

Other than Zuo Han’s vengeance, five subordinates had been killed in front of him. If they left like this, their overall motivation would be greatly impacted.

Also, he hurt!

The five subordinates had all been zhuji¸ but the one with the banner and the other with the chain-sickle had been xiuzhe with special spells. Other than the five most important backbones, it was very difficult to find replacements for these xiuzhe who had special spells. He didn’t hurt for the death of the three sword xiu, but his heart was in pain at the death of those two!

He stared at Zuo Mo, his eyes red.

His temper was vicious and explosive. Now that he had tripped up so heavily, would he rest?

Even more, since he knew the person in front of him was Zuo Mo, he was clear of the importance of this little island to Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Such an important place, they would definitely have stored plentiful resources.

He quickly decided. No matter what, they had to take down this little island!

Chapter 187: Two Hours

The wind howled, the mood above Desolate Wood Reef became even tenser.

The Black Wind Bandits’ killing intent spread. Zuo Mo sighed to himself. Killing the five people just now had not created fear; it had provoked their viciousness.

Very quickly, he threw these thoughts to the back of his head because the other side had began advancing forward.

Without a doubt, the next fight would be more fierce and cruel.

Zuo Mo felt the pressure suddenly increasing. He didn’t have the luxury to hold back, raising his hand he cast a light downwards.

Skyring Moon Chime Formation!

A crescent moon rose low into the sky. Countless thin strands fell from the bright moon, covering the entire Desolate Wood Reef. On these thin strands, light rings of various sizes hung like wind chimes.

But this crescent moon was dyed with an orange-red tinge, the moon gave off a warm orange glow, when previously it was as clear and smooth as flowing water.

Zuo Mo sighed. Just a little bit more and the Buddha Sound Hoop would have finished. The tempered Buddha Sound Hoop would definitely have increased its power. It was a pity that it had just missed by a little bit, but just this little bit caused the power of the Buddha Sound Hoop to be one level lower.

The situation in front of him did not allow him to continue to temper it. There were still more than sixty people on the other side.

More than sixty xiuzhe, and five of them ningmai the pressure they gave him was unparalleled.

The only thing that could compete with the present situation was the great sword essence formation. The big formation that was created by five jindan together. Naturally it would not be ordinary. However, when he was inside the sword essence formation, he knew he didn’t have to worry about his life.

In terms of presence, this group was not as intimidating as the sword essence formation, but this group of people wouldn’t blink as they killed him. They really would take his little life!

“What should I do?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao.

“Kill!” Pu Yao was simple and crisp, his bloody pupil shining.

It was now that Zuo Mo felt this guy had some of the mannerisms of a Sky Yao. However, while the aura was present, but it wasn’t useful at all.

“How do I kill?” Zuo Mo felt he was an idiot to ask Pu Yao who was also an idiot, but he couldn’t resist asking.

Was it out of nervousness?

As expected, Pu Yao looked at him like he was looking at an idiot, “One by one, of course.”

He now really wanted to ask Pu Yao, “How do I kill them one by one?” But he suppressed it. He really did not like Pu Yao’s gaze.

Pu Yao thought and then suddenly said, “If you can kill them all within two hours, I will teach you another move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].”

Two hours … … kill them all … …

This time, it was Zuo Mo’s turn to look at Pu Yao like he was looking at an idiot, “Do you think I’m an an idiot? Two hours, you think I’m killing pigs? They are … …”

“Just say if you will do it or not?” Pu Yao lazily said, none of the killing intent he had just shown was on his face.

“Do it!” Once he said it, Zuo Mo felt he was really an idiot.

Two hours, to kill that dense patch of people … …

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven … …

Sixty seven people, five ningmai, sixty two zhuji, he was … … zhuji… …

Okay, after Pu Yao did this, the last bit of nervousness in Zuo Mo’s heart had dissipated.

Strangely, he felt anticipation and excitement. It was as though he really yearned for the battle that was going to come. His body heated up and his ling power was abnormally lively. Was it that he had stayed too long with a pervert like Pu Yao, and became slightly perverse himself … …

———

The Skyring Moon Chime Formation covered the entire Desolate Wood Reef. Zuo Mo’s figure was inside it, flickering in and out of sight.

Zuo Han’s eyes were cold and filled with hatred and killing intent. However, he forcefully suppressed it. He was waiting for Head’s order. The reason that the Black Wind Bandits had remained free for such a long time was their outstanding battle strategy, and it was their best protection. Even though he was second in command, and even though the hatred was deep in his heart, he still suppressed it.

Zhang Hao’s pupils shrunk into a line, a bloody light flashing from his eyes, cruel and vicious.

At this time, he had thrown all other thoughts to the back of his head. No matter how many concerns he had, once he decided to fight, there was only one thought in his mind, kill them!

“Kill!” A bellow like the howl of a wild beast came from his throat.

“Kill, kill, kill!” The eyes of everyone else were completely red, leaving behind only pure killing intent.

The sixty seven people split into several parts, and like thin flows, they headed towards Desolate Wood Reef from different directions.

Just sixty seven people, but the vicious and brutal aura they exuded would alarm anyone.

———

Bo Feng who saw this scene suddenly lit up, and praised, “I had originally thought that the Black Wind Bandits had an inflated reputation before. Looking at it now, they are even better than the rumors! To create this kind of presence, even Wu Kong Sword Sect which has been so powerful recently, cannot do it.”

One xiuzhe couldn’t help say, “When the Black Wind Bandits met Wu Kong Sword Sect last time, they suffered a huge loss.” The subordinate had followed Bo Feng for a time and knew that Bo Feng would not be discontent due to differences in opinions, which was why he dared to speak.

Bo Feng smiled and shook his head, “It’s not the same. Wu Kong Sword Sect’s strength is in their individual experts. What the Black Wind Bandits are strong in is their combined ability. The power of the group cannot replace experts, and the experts cannot replace the group. In small conflicts, the effect of experts is very evident, but if it is battles of thousands of people, then the use of experts begins to lessen.”

“How can there be battles with thousands of people?” That xiuzhe objected.

“There aren’t any now, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future,” Bo Feng said meaningfully.

———

The sixty seven xiuzhe attacked at the same time, their presence was astounding!

Light flashed across the sky, flying swords and talismans were dancing.

Zhang Hao’s plan was very simple, to use brute force to break technique! It was unwise to go head-on against a fortified target, but the present situation was special as the only person on the other side that could resist was Zuo Mo. No matter how strong Zuo Mo was, when he faced the attacks of sixty seven xiuzhe, there would have to be times where he would slip.

Formations were set up on the island. If they landed in them, that would give Zuo Mo a chance. It was better to use brute force to break the formation from the base. Having lost his greatest defense, Zuo Mo would be like a lamb waiting for slaughter.

———

Zuo Mo felt terrible right now.

Damn it!

This group of people rained everything down on his head!

Sixty seven xiuzhe furiously attacking downwards at the same time, without regard for ling power. They looked as though they would only rest when Desolate Wood Reef was leveled.

This group was also very smart. They only bombarded Desolate Wood Reef from a distance and did not come any closer.

Seeing all the flying swords and spells come down on his head like rain, Zuo Mo became stubborn. Alright, ge will see just how much ling power you have to waste!

The Wu Kong Flag was heavily inserted into the ground. The sword energies that swarmed around his body silently entered the Skyring Moon Chime Formation.

Zuo Mo jumped up from the ground and started to pass around the Desolate Wood Reef. He was like a fireman, continuously watching over the big formation.

The Skyring Moon Chime Formation he had set up was unprecedentedly large, reaching two hundred and sixteen child formations. Adding on that he had continuously been fixing the holes recently, even though it was not impenetrable, but it still managed to survive the bombing of the Black Wind Bandits.

He knew as long as he could make it through this round, the initiative would instantly change sides.

Sixty seven xiuzhe, not all of them could be offensive xiuzhe. For example, Zuo Han had a Hundred Poison Fan that could release all kinds of dark poisonous miasma, but in a fight of strength, it couldn’t have much of an effect.

The greatest threat came from strength based xiuzhe like Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao’s flying sword was very unique. The body of the sword was extremely wide, like it was a shovel or an ax. What he walked was a road of strength. The body of the sword was covered in a layer of red light. Each attack was like a heavy ax breaking a mountain, weighing thirty thousand catties!

Zuo Mo felt that Zhang Hao was the greatest threat out of all the people. Each of his attacks would make Zuo Mo’s heart jump.

The hair-like threads of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation would be blown into a mess, causing the rings of light on the threads to chime.

After being tempered for such a long time, the Buddha Sound Hoop had an additional attribute of yang and dominance. Before, the chimes had been clear and ethereal. The present chimes were deep and explosive. Even the echoes seemed to carry heat and flame.

Zuo Mo was still relatively calm. After being alarmed the first few times, he found that the Skyring Moon Chime Formation was still untouched. He finally remembered that during the Sword Test Conference, the seventy two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation had endured a great ordeal. At that time, the number of ningmai that had been in the formation had been more than right now.

If the others wanted to ruin the two hundred and sixteen child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation through brute force, that was a big delusion.

He knew the other side would quickly realize this.

At that time, the fight would truly start.

Zuo Mo raised his head to look at the sky. Throughout the threads, he could clearly see the mania and hatred on the faces of his enemies.

He lowered his head, his eyes becoming slightly cold.

He started to take out formation disks from the ring, and threw them inside to form various formations. Using the Skyring Moon Chime Formation as a cover, he secretly threw out many formation disks.

At this time, he didn’t have any thoughts of keeping anything back. The formation disks in his ring flew out of his hands like they didn’t cost money.

He wanted to turn the Desolate Wood Reef into a hunting ground. A hunting ground full of traps!

———

Gongsun Cha and the others had gone to hide in the cave with the lava lake. This was the safest place on the Desolate Wood Reef. The lava cave was deep under the ground. Zuo Mo had set up countless formations around it, and it was the most important of all important grounds.

So when they heard sound filtering from the outside, all of the people inside the cave had worried expressions.

Chun Yu Cheng sighed, “What a pity that we cannot help!”

These made many people unconsciously clench their hands. They were all production xiu. However, they were young and it was the age to be rash and brave. They also knew what their fate would be if this group broke through the big formation.

What wandering bandits needed were people that could fight. Production xiuzhe, who had no offensive strength, would be killed at the earliest convenience.

Gongsun Cha was the most composed of all the people. He laid on the ground and said unconcernedly, “Don’t worry. It won’t be so easy for them to break through Zuo Shixiong’s big formation. I also feel that Zuo Shixiong is much stronger than before. Has everyone forgotten the Blue Spiked Crocodile?”

Once the words came out, everyone was uplifted!

They thought about the multiple brute force impacts between Zuo Shixiong and the Blue Spiked Crocodile. Confidence grew. Their unsecure hearts settled down!

In the sky, the attacks slowed down.

Zuo Mo raised his face to look and then bent down to keep setting up.

An absurd idea suddenly came into his mind.

Two hours, there wasn’t much time left… …

Chapter 188: Entering The Formation

“The Black Wind Bandits lack strong offensive xiuzhe. It isn’t quite possible to break through Zuo Mo’s formation-defense-style,” Bo Feng said while shaking his head. “In Zuo Mo’s hands, this kind of turtle battle strategy is really used to the extreme. Unless they have troops specializing in offense, it’s impossible to break through the turtle shell. With such a gigantic formation, ningmai would find it difficult to destroy in a full frontal attack.”

Gui Feng lowered his head. He thought about Zuo Mo’s formation-defense-style at the Sword Test Conference that had caused a headache for everyone.

He didn’t have many good ideas about how to resolve the formation-defense-style either.

Unless they could attack before Zuo Mo had set up the formation. Once Zuo Mo had completed the formation, the chance of victory was almost zero.

The formation-defense-style was also called the turtle-style. It was called the strongest defense below jindan. It wasn’t that other people hadn’t thought of mimicking Zuo Mo’s formation-defense-style. But when they tried it themselves, they discovered the formation-defense-style was not so easy to make.

How to quickly set it up was one of the most important problems.

Looking at the present situation, Zuo Mo’s formation-defense-style had reached another stage. His efficiency at setting up and his skill had risen dramatically when compared to the Sword Test Conference.

Other than that, the combination of formations needed to be decided in an extremely short period of time. To control the formations, it also demanded a strong and large consciousness.

After studying it in depth, everyone found that the formation-defense-style was not as simple as imagined. Even the process of Zuo Mo battling Chao An was repeatedly taken out and studied. This was one of the rare battles in recent years where the weak won over the strong. The rich battle strategies involved in the match was enough for every xiuzhe who studied it to marvel.

“Is there really no way?” Another xiuzhe asked.

Bo Feng said deeply, “If you encounter Zuo Mo, do not give him the chance to set up formations.”

“But he has already set up formations,” The xiuzhe looked at the Desolate Wood Reef.

“Then I don’t have any way,” Bo Feng spread his hands and said honestly

Another xiuzhe couldn’t help but say, “There’s so many people. If they just charge in, they could win.”

In their eyes, the difference in strength between the two sides was too extreme. One versus sixty seven, and there were five ningmai. Zuo Mo himself was just in the stage of zhuji. Even if he had the help of the formation, if this many people charged in at the same time, Zuo Mo basically would have no chance.

“If it is anyone else, I would also feel the same,” Bo Feng said patiently. To the zhuji under his command, he never skimped on guidance, “But if it is Zuo Mo, I don’t think so. What formation-defense-style, that’s just the surface. What Zuo Mo is greatest at is strategy. He is most skilled at using all the factors at his disposal, and then turning them into advantages for himself. Even if he didn’t have these factors, he could also create an environment advantageous to himself. He is a born strategist. On this point, Wei Sheng is not as great as him.”

His subordinates all had expressions of understanding.

Bo Feng added, “Of course, maybe, to Zuo Mo, this is a method born out of helplessness. He needs to use other methods to compensate for his flaw of cultivation.”

If Zuo Mo heard Bo Feng’s analysis, he would definitely agree. If one had ling power, who would do all this? Just slice with the sword. He admired Wei Sheng Shixiong very much on this point.

Bo Feng then gave his conclusion, “From when they started to attack the Desolate Wood Reef, they became the reactive side. Desolate Wood Reef is very important to Wu Kong Sword Sect, but why did Wu Kong Sword Sect only send Zuo Mo alone? Because they are very clear that Zuo Mo, who is able to create the formation-defense-style, would be able to create a safe place by himself if he is given enough time. The Black Wind Bandits bully the island because there is only Zuo Mo. What they fail to realize is that Zuo Mo’s offensive abilities might not be strong, but if he is used to guard one island, he is more than enough. Zuo Mo’s growth has exceeded my predictions.”

“Zuo Mo would only ever fight in an environment that is advantageous for him. The Black Wind Bandits are not weak. To use force to overcome technique, they may have a chance at victory. This will be something to see.”

His speech made the thirty something zhuji under him enchanted. Everyone was in zhuji, but the difference was just too great.

“Then if a jindan expert came?” Some people were still not convinced. Clearly, he was very discontent about a zhuji being so arrogant.

“If a jindan expert came, no one can stop them. Only jindan can stop jindan.”

This zhuji could not say a thing.

———

Zhang Hao also realized that they could not break this turtle shell, even if they kept on bombarding the island. The Black Wind Bandits were still wandering bandits in the end. They moved like the wind and lacked strong offensive moves. Zhang Hao’s greatest wish right now was that everyone would have a talisman like the Sky Flipping Seal, picking it up and throwing it down heavily!

However, wandering bandits that travelled quickly like the Black Wind Bandits usually scorned talismans like the Sky Flipping Seal. They were too difficult to transport.

The threads coming from the orange moon shook. The rings of light chimed endlessly, but they did not break.

Zhang Hao was clear about the power of his flying sword. Even among the ningmai¸ those that could receive his sword head on would be those top ningmai experts.

He was the first one to save Zuo Han from Wei Sheng’s hands. Wei Sheng might have previously been second to Gu Rong Ping, but Gu Rong Ping had steadily faded out of view. Wei Sheng had quickly overtaken Gu Rong Ping as the most promising youth of Sky Moon Jie. Having gone into seclusion after the Sword Test Conference, Wei Sheng’s cultivation had skyrocketed. Everyone guessed he had found a method to break through to Heart Turn Sword Essence.

His amazing battles afterwards almost proved everyone’s speculations. From following Xin Yan in the beginning, to quickly leading his own team, he battled in all directions, and never lost.

No matter if it was in reputation, or strength, he became the first expert in ningmai!

Zhang Hao was not as good as Wei Sheng, but if the ningmai of Sky Moon Jie were ranked, he would belong to the rank of experts. However, he was usually low-key so he was not famous.

But the formation in front of him made him not know what to do.

Zhang Hao had experienced too many tribulations. He did not panic upon meeting a standoff. In the end, Zuo Mo was just one person. No matter how strong the formation was, it needed people to control it. A formation with someone controlling it and without were two completely different things. Formations might have many wonders but in the end, it was still an outside aid. After living through so many days on the blade’s edge, he clearly understood that the true substance of a battle was still a matter of the two sides strength.

This was why true sword xiu experts did not like using other moves. Because they themselves had enough power, and they had absolute confidence in their own strength.

Zhang Hao might not be a sword xiu expert, but he had the same absolute confidence in his group of people.

He suddenly whistled, and everyone instantly stopped.

“Kill!” Zhang Hao charged into the formation first, Zuo Han following tightly after. The other Black Wind Bandits did not hesitate, all of them charging into the formation.

———

Bo Feng who saw this from afar sighed,“Zuo Mo has the initiative.”

“Having the initiative doesn’t mean he is able to win,” Someone said.

Bo Feng smiled and nodded, “That’s true. But we will know after watching.”

———

As Zhang Hao entered the formation, he found the scene in front of him change. He was suddenly situated in the wilderness, empty and desolate. An orange moon hung in the sky, exuding a warm light.

As expected, the other had some skill!

He praised inside. If possible, he would definitely have tried to get Zuo Mo to join the Black Wind Bandits. However, he knew it was just a delusion. The other was a core disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect, would they even properly look at this group of wandering bandits?

He refocused and pushed down this unrealistic thought.

This was not the first time he had to solve a formation, but it was the first time he had faced such a powerful formation. Even though he didn’t understand the formation, but he was still confident because the opponent’s cultivation was one stage below his.

For xiuzhe, one stage meant a difference in the basic attribute of strength.

He also had a small secret, a secret that no one knew: Heart Turn Sword Essence! His [Mountain Opener Sword Scripture] had been cultivated to the stage of Heart Turn Sword Essence!

Holding the flying sword covered in a red light, he slowly proceeded. The red light became even brighter, his body covered by a seemingly tangible red shield.

———

A five colored fan appeared on Zuo Han’s hand. In the blink of an eye, a multi-colored mist surrounded him, his figure gradually disappearing in the rainbow mist.

———

Wei Rong’s face was pale, his tall and thin figure shaking in the wind like bamboo. He stared around in terror, wanting to find his fellows, but there was no one in his sight.

———

Zuo Mo’s eyes were serenely cold. He was completely prepared, the ling power of his body abnormally lively, but his mind empty and calm.

The prey had entered the hunting grounds!

His figure slowly became muddled and then disappeared.

His first target was Zhang Hao. Take the head first! Once he got rid of Zhang Hao, the other people would become headless, and his chances of ambush would be greater.

Zhang Hao’s ningmai cultivation meant that he could not face him head on, but Zuo Mo had his own methods.

Covered by the red light, Zhang Hao did not know that Zuo Mo had locked onto him. However, even if he knew, he wouldn’t feel fear, but would be even more excited.

Suddenly, he stopped, and waved the heavy sword in his hand.

A patch of red sword energies left his sword. The sword energy was extremely large, like a thick red light curtain that blocked in front of him.

Ding ding ding!

Several sword energies hit the red light curtain and bounced off.

Zhang Hao smirked not slowling in his steps as he headed in the direction of the moon. The Wu Kong Flag was a good talisman, and it was powerful. It was a pity that Zuo Mo’s cultivation was too low, and could not release its true power. Sword energies of this degree could kill zhuji, but it wasn’t enough for ningmai like him.

He didn’t know if this was controlled or just an attack of the formation.

He strode towards the crescent moon. He looked to be walking slowly, but it meant he was not easily lost in the illusions. He flooded his legs with ling power. Each step would be like a large hammer. A large hole would appear with each step. All illusions would be shattered. He was taking advantage that Zuo Mo’s cultivation was not as high as him. This method was stupid, but it was extremely effective.

Every formation would have a formation core. The core of the formation was the control center. If he could destroy the formation core, the strongest formation would still collapse in an instant.

Zhang Hao steadily headed towards the moon. All kinds of sword energies along the way were blocked off.

He used ling power to seal his ears to shut off the sounds that disturbed one’s mind. He only focused on walking forward. The sounds that could attack were all blocked by his heavy sword.

The more he walked forward, the more confident he grew.

Formations were very useful, but the difference in the two sides power was too large, it was useless!

He had taken the initiative again!

Chapter 189: Brewing

Zuo Mo did not expect that Zhang Hao would use such a straightforward method. He did not assume that Zhang Hao would instantly find the formation core, but the Desolate Wood Reef was just this little bit of area. With Zhang Hao’s speed, it would take him less than two hours to cover it all.

If possible, he wanted to use a similarly straightforward method like [Moon Chime Sound Storm] to just get rid of everyone. He had enough confidence that the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] of a two hundred and sixteen child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation would be stronger than the formation at the Sword Test Conference, and might even get all of them in one swoop.

However, he didn’t have the confidence he could successfully release it!

The state at the Sword Test Conference was a matter of good fortune. The number of successes that he had on releasing the [Moon Chime Sound Formation] with just the seventy two child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation could be counted on one hand, and a two hundred and sixteen child formation Skyring Moon Chime Formation was many times more difficult.

There were two choices in front of him: one was to get rid of Zhang Hao before he found the formation core, and the other was to get rid of everyone else while Zhang Hao was searching the formation core.

Both choices had their pros and cons. Zuo Mo chose the first course of action.

Of all the people in the formation, Zhang Hao was the greatest threat to Zuo Mo and to the formation. As long as the formation existed, Zuo Mo’s advantage would exist. But if the formation broke, all his advantages would disappear. Without the formation, not mentioning that he had to facing the sixty seven xiuzhe, Zhang Hao alone was enough to make him turn and run.

He might have defeated Chao An, but used all his cunning and numerous preparations. It did not mean that he had the ability to battle with a ningmai expert. Further adding to his troubles was the fact Zhang Hao and Chao An were not on the same level.

The two sides had not directly fought, but these two people did not dare to underestimate the other.

Zuo Mo no longer had the time to think. The longer this dragged on, the more reactive he would have to be.

He took out the Five Colored Pagoda which turned into a five colored light and flew underneath the copper hoop. The orange Buddha Sound Hoop completely covered the Five Colored Pagoda. No one noticed that the Skyring Moon Chime Formation had switched controllers.

Zuo Mo took out the Wu Kong Flag from the ground, and silently sneaked closer to Zhang Hao. He had put down a lot of little illusory formations in the Skyring Moon Chime Formation.

Three zhang away, Zhang Hao stopped, his face full of wariness.

Zuo Mo was silently shocked. Zhang Hao seemed to have clearly detected him coming near. The other’s consciousness was much weaker than his, but his sensitivity was not any lower.

What he didn’t know was for xiuzhe like Zhang Hao, who had lived for long periods at the edge of death, were sensitive to killing intent to a terrifying level.

His aims of ambush failing, Zuo Mo saw the situation and inserted the Wu Kong Flag into the ground.

Threads of sword energies swam around the Wu Kong Flag, suddenly gathering and spreading out.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath, his right hand reaching out flat.

The sword energies moving restlessly suddenly stopped. The inner sword essence suddenly exploded!

Zhang Hao’s expression changed slightly. His response was very quick. With a “Ha!”, the heavy sword in his hand chopped forcefully in Zuo Mo’s direction.

A crescent shaped crimson sword energy left the sword and shot at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt the red light flash in front of his eyes, and the other’s sword energy had reached him, a broad sword essence pointing at Zuo Mo’s brow!

Such pure sword essence!

For some reason, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but think of Wei Sheng Shixiong. Even though he didn’t know about the present Wei Sheng Shixiong, but the other’s sword had been very similar to the past Wei Sheng Shixiong! The other was very skilled in sword scriptures!

Zuo Mo really jumped in fright. This person had seven to eight tenths the power of Wei Sheng Shixiong at the Sword Test Conference. How could he not be shocked?

What he didn’t know was this person, that he thought was unknown, was the Head of the most terrifying and feared group of wandering bandits.

Even though he was shocked, he did not panic. Zuo Mo’s flat right hand turned to a point, and tapped at the air in front of him.

Cling!

Like a sword coming out of the sheath, the silent sword energies suddenly gathered at the air three cun from his fingertip.

His fingertip pointing at empty space, a blinding point of light. The sword energies surrounding Zuo Mo flashed with light, forming a cocoon that was composed of countless lights of various colors which shielded Zuo Mo.

The broad sword essence destructively hit the point of light in front of Zuo Mo’s fingertip.

Boom!

The red sword essence was instantly destroyed. Zuo Mo’s body shook uncontrollably taking a few steps back. The sword energies gathered at his finger tip had been scattered.

It seemed that the two were even, but Zuo Mo knew he had slightly lost. The sword energies of Wu Kong Flag came from jindan. Usually, Zuo Mo could not completely release their full power. However, Zhang Hao’s blow was enough to make the sword energies successfully feel danger. They automatically released the sword essences they carried to block the other’s move.

But quickly, Zuo Mo had no time to consider this. Zhang Hao’s second blow came!

———

Zhang Hao was not shocked that Zuo Mo could block his first blow. He had stolen and killed for treasure many times, and his eyes were very experienced. He knew very well what Wu Kong Flag was like.

He had great battle experience and knew what was most important at this time was to stick to the other and not give him chance to breathe and set up, especially when it was a xiuzhe skilled in formations like Zuo Mo.

Therefore, he struck out a second blow.

———

Zuo Mo took a breath, and pointed again.

Clang, the sword energies that had been scattered once again gathered at the empty space in front of his fingertip.

Boom!

The power passed on by the red sword energy was much stronger than last time. Zuo Mo felt his fingertip hurt and couldn’t help but grunt, stepping several steps back.

———

“Ha ha!” Zhang Hao laughed, feeling pleasure. He stepped forward, raising his heavy sword again.

Up until now, everything was much smoother than he had imagined.

As long as he killed Zuo Mo, everything was not a problem!

At this time, his heart suddenly shook. The chop of his heavy sword turned to a seal, and block in front of his body.

Ding!

A large force came from the sword. The red light of the heavy sword in his hand flashed and blocked the other’s attack.

Zhang Hao was very shocked. It sounded like it was one sword energy, but what he had blocked was three sword energies! These three sword energies also came without warning and from an unknown direction.

He didn’t have the time to think. He felt his heart jump. Snorting coldly, the heavy sword was placed in front of his chest as he struck his left palm heavily against the sword hilt!

The heavy sword turned to a dash of red light that circled around his body.

Ding ding ding!

The domineering and brutal heavy sword was as nimble as a little bird as it flew around him, forming a curtain of red light. The sharp and dense sword energies could not break through this curtain of light.

These sword energies were sharp and their paths were strange and hard to defend against, but to experts like Zhang Hao, other than to dragging out the fight, they were ineffective.

Zhang Hao was patiently waiting for a chance. Zuo Mo could not keep going like this. These sword energies were shockingly powerful, but the ling power used in releasing them would also be astounding. With Zuo Mo’s zhuji cultivation, he would not be able to maintain it for long. And as long as he was controlling the sword energies, Zuo Mo wouldn’t be able to make any other actions.

In other words, Zuo Mo seemed to have met a dead end. His attacks could not deal a killing blow to the other, but the ling power was not enough to support him for a long battle.

Zhang Hao became slightly puzzled. He was very experienced and felt that something was not right, but he could not identify it.

He decided to wait for the changes.

If he could see what Zuo Mo was doing right now, he definitely would not be so composed, and definitely would not be waiting!

———

Formation disks flew out of Zuo Mo’s hands, and into position around Zhang Hao.

In the blink of an eye, Zuo Mo had thrown out more than a dozen formation disks.

Only when they had all been positioned did he feel slightly safer.

Multitasking. Zhang Hao didn’t think that Zuo Mo could do several things at the same time.

This was due to the contribution of the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands]. Zuo Mo discovered that after his consciousness turned to the leaf hand, he could do multiple things at once. He was overjoyed at this discovery. It had to be said that multitasking was very useful in battle. When both sides were fighting with flying swords, one could ambushed the opponent. This kind of unscrupulous strategy was the dream of countless people.

But the reality was that no matter if it was sword xiu or other xiuzhe, when they were fighting against enemies at the same level, they could not multitask. They could continuously switch spells, but they definitely could not use two spells at the same time, unless they didn’t want to win.

It was not that it was impossible to cast two spells at once, but using two spells at once would decrease the power of both spells. He had never heard of an expert skilled in multitasking.

Zuo Mo was able to multitask before, but that degree was completely minuscule compared with now because of the leaf hand.

Zhang Hao never thought that Zuo Mo was able to multitask, controlling the sword energies at the same time as he set up formations.

After setting up, Zuo Mo slowly closed his eyes, and pointed with his finger again.

Slowly, an unspeakable aura appeared on his body.

———

Hm!

Zhang Hao’s heart suddenly shook. Zuo Mo’s presence transformed suddenly. Everything in the surroundings was very quiet, but the bad feeling in his heart became even stronger.

It was like in the space above his head, there was a pair of cold eyes looking at him indifferently.

Danger!

A strong sense of danger suddenly appeared. All the hairs on his body stood.

Zhang Hao’s expression changed greatly!

He believed his own intuition, the intuition that had saved him in countless bloody battles!

Feeling the strong terror in the heart of its master, the heavy sword flashed back into Zhang Hao’s hands.

Holding the familiar hilt, the terror in Zhang Hao’s heart dissipated greatly. His mind jumped. Not daring to hold anything back, all the ling power in his body furiously flooded towards the heavy sword.

The red light slowly flowed like a sticky liquid. Zhang Hao’s eyes widened angrily!

Just as he prepared to act, three blue chains suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and headed towards him.

Third-grade formation, [Dragon Tying Formation]!

———

At this time, Zuo Mo closed his eyes and had finished brewing his killing move.

The earth under his feet started to crack. The fine dust from the crack seemed to have been affected by an invisible force, slowly floating upwards. On Zuo Mo’s forehead, a leaf shaped symbol that seemed like a hand gave off a faint light, visible to all.

The finger that Zuo Mo had out was drawing in the air.

The places the finger drew past, the strokes curved, and gave of a faint light like starlight. In the blink of an eye, an ancient character formed!

Chapter 190: Going All In

[Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] !

Countless silver electricity snakes danced around Zhang Hao. The fine lightning tore at the air, cracking like popcorn and suddenly rampaging.

Lightning was domineering and strong, usually preferred by xiuzhe. Even the sword xiu who usually preferred purity did not disguise their preference for lightning. There were many lightning sword scriptures, and they were not low-grade. Due to the different kinds of lightning, the differing qualities would give the user many different abilities.

Hard lightning was a very common type of lightning. It was known for being strong and evil-cleansing, the natural antidote to yin and corrupting spells. But the words Yang Fiend in front of it, then it was extremely rare!

There were various ways to rank lightning , but in all these methods, the grade of Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning was never ranked lower than fourth-grade.

Fiend: greatly ominous in character; Hard, especially strong and unbreakable.

When Yang, Fiend and Hard was put together, it was possible to see just how strong and domineering it was.

Of the first three moves of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] was the only direct offensive spell. Yet, Zuo Mo valued this one offensive spell like it was a precious treasure!

Other than his formations, this [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] was the strongest move he had!

Starting with his killing move, Zuo Mo did not want to risk any uncertainty.

What he was still dissatisfied with was that the [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] that he cast was only five zhang in diameter. This was why he had to risk nearing Zhang Hao, and it was also why he had not used the move against the black cloud.

Zuo Mo’s mind was clear, all the ling power in his body serene, and the leaf hand created from his spiritual power was like a real hand, the fingers moving rapidly!

[Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] was a purely spiritual attack!

———

Zhang Hao who had been calculating how much ling power Zuo Mo had left never would have thought Zuo Mo would have a purely spiritual offensive spell!

The electric snakes danced and instantly gathered into a burning red bolt of lightning!

As the red lightning took form, a domineering and destructive presence gathered tightly around Zhang Hao!

Zhang Hao had detected the abnormality when the [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] formed. It really made too much noise! His heart was in shock and he almost couldn’t believe it. How could a zhuji use such a powerful and terrifying spell?

The vast destructive presence almost took away his mind!

He was very experienced and vicious; he knew that he could not retreat now. If his heart held any desire to flee, he definitely could not escape and would only die even quicker! Going against the flow he faced the spell. Only by finding life in death was there a chance of survival.

All of his confidence and all of his conceit turned to dust in front of the [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning].

Zhang Hao was like a wolf that had been pushed to the edge, rousing all of his brutality.

His eyes wide, his hair standing on end, and the red light on his body was so thick it appeared to be fresh blood. The heavy sword in his hand seemed to feel it’s master’s decision and glowed with brightness. A hint of black was added to the red light.

The red black light flashed and the blue chains on his body were destroyed.

He raised the heavy sword up high. With him as the centre, a vast presence suddenly exploded! No one would doubt that his next strike could really break a mountain!

“Kill!” Zhang Hao howled as though he was insane. With all the ling power in his body, he cleaved downwards.

The first move of [Mountain Opening Sword Scripture], [Open Mountain]!

———

At the same time, all the Black Wind bandits in the Skyring Moon Chime Formation stopped what they were doing, with shock filled faces.

The presence of Zhang Hao’s ultimate attack had alarmed everyone.

The Head was going all out?

How was it possible?

That was the first response from the Black Wind Bandits. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it. Who could force the Head use all his power?

Just as they were shocked, they heard Zhang Hao’s angry bellow. Everyone realized that Head really was fighting with all his power!

The Black Wind Bandits did not hesitate to fly towards the bellow.

———

At this time, Bo Feng who was looking from far away suddenly gasped, his eyes lighting up, “Zhang Hao is going all out!”

Gui Feng was slightly startled. Chang Heng did not speak, but the light that increased in his eyes revealed his surprise. The two became even more wary of Bo Feng’s unmeasurable strength. The entire Desolate Wood Reef was tightly locked down. They were very far away and could not see a thing.

It was terrifying that Bo Feng could judge so accurately.

However, Zhang Zhao was going all out … …

The sentence quickly filled their thoughts. When had Zuo Mo become so strong that he could force Zhang Hao to fight at full power? The two of them were not Zuo Mo. In the period of time they had followed Bo Feng, they had constantly tracked the Black Wind Bandits and were clear regarding how strong Zhang Hao was.

Gui Feng and Chang Heng knew. The other thirty six xiuzhe also knew.

None of the other analysis’ that Bo Feng did were as effective as this one sentence.

A zhuji had truly forced Zhang Hao to fight at full power!

———

So many people could feel Zhang Hao was going all out, so Zuo Mo, who was closest, could he not feel it? But at this time, he didn’t have the energy to spare to think. All of his attention was on this series of attacks.

As the red sword energy sliced down, Zuo Mo’s vision was entirely red. That suffocating presence would make one tremble instinctively.

Zuo Mo did not tremble.

Completely in battle mode, there was no joy nor sorrow in his heart, no emotion at all. His mind was clear and could detect any change within five zhang of him.

He suddenly understood.

[Little Thousand Leaf Hands] must be used with [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] to be able to reach its maximum power.

Every hand motion of the spiritual leaf hand flowed across his mind. He was like a bystander, silently savouring the profound changes embodied in each hand movement.

It seemed to be a long time, but it was just a short instant.

The lightning of [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] was as thick as an arm, twisting and giving off a faint red light.

Zhang Hao’s sword energy was another kind of red, a bloody red that carried hints of black.

The two powerful red lights accurately clashed!

Boom!

A little sun suddenly formed between Zuo Mo and Zhang Hao.

———

The Black Wind Bandits that had rushed over were blinded by the light and stopped in their tracks. Some weaker xiuzhe wailed and covered their eyes.

Ding ding ding!

Messy chimes suddenly sounded.

Pew pew pew!

A bloody hole had suddenly exploded on the chest of several of the Black Wind Bandits.

[Micro Void Arrow] of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]!

Lil’ Pagoda was controlling the Skyring Moon Chime Formation and had grasped the rhythm perfectly. The flash of Zhang Hao and Zuo Mo’s attacks had lit up without warning. Many of the Black Wind Bandits had been caught unaware and Lil’ Pagoda’s [Micro Void Arrow] was clearly a level higher than Zuo Mo.

Seeing a big hole explode in the chest of their compatriots, the other Black Wind Bandits paled!

Only now did they remember they were on dangerous grounds!

The Skyring Moon Chime Formation had previously given off a feeling of a turtle formation and had not shown any offensive qualities. This had caused them to slightly relax. That level of relaxation wasn’t enough to be fatal originally, but when the news that Zhang Hao was in danger was passed to them, their instructive choice made this relaxation quickly grow.

Any little change could cause an avalanche of responses.

The Five Colored Pagoda was Zuo Mo’s soul-tethered talisman and could be considered Zuo Mo’s second mind. What Zuo Mo knew, it also knew; Zuo Mo’s viciousness and cunning meant that the Pagoda’s wasn’t any less.

———

Zuo Mo felt the leaf hand suddenly shake. A trembling came from deep within his soul. Everything around him suddenly became blurred.

His spirit had been wounded!

At this time, the turbulence of his energies passed into his heart.

Splat!

Uncontrollably he spat out a mouthful of blood.

How could it easy to take in a full-power attack from a ningmai?

Zuo Mo’s state of mind could not avoid being affected by the injury to his consciousness. The terrifying presence given off by the combined sword energy and the Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning made him instinctively fearful!

He wanted to turn and run!

But he forcefully pushed down the impulse and terror inside, his finger quickly drawing in the air.

[Void Pass] of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands]!

The sword essence and lightning that had charged towards him made a strange turn and brushed dangerously past his body.

At the same time, another part of Zuo Mo’s mind controlled the sword energies of the Wu Kong Flag!

———

Zhang Hao looked much worse off than Zuo Mo. [Yang Fiend’s Hard Lightning] was fourth-grade. Even though Zuo Mo’s power was limited, but the strangeness of the attack method was extremely effective against Zhang Hao.

At the moment the sword energy and the Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning struck each other, he was injured like Zuo Mo!

At that time, his injuries were much less severe than Zuo Mo. The two were too close. He knew that Zuo Mo received heavier wounds and probably did not have the power to attack. Such a good chance to retreat, would he waste it?

In any case, Zuo Mo was already wounded. The rest could be left for his brothers to do! Zuo Mo’s endless bag of strange tricks had created a psychological shadow in him. He wanted to retreat.

Zhang Hao, who had decided to retreat, his expression suddenly changed!

Gathering his remaining strength, he barely managed to pull the heavy sword in front of him.

Clap clap clap!

Three sharp notes heavily struck his flying sword. It was Lil’ Pagod taking advantage to ambush him.

If he was uninjured, the three [Micro Void Arrows] would just be a minor threat to him, but being heavily injured he had almost staggered and fell to the ground.

This was like the start of a nightmare.

Zhang Hao, who wanted to leave the fight to find his fellows, discovered three blue chains came out of nowhere lightning fast and latched onto him.

He instantly lost his mind!

[Dragon Tying Formation], [Three Talent Sword Formation], [Dipper Formation] … …

All third-grade formations. He could see it was all formations released by formation disks. The power was not strong. Usually, Zhang Hao wouldn’t pay attention, but right now, they were messengers of death!

How many formation disks had this guy thrown out … …

Zhang Hao’s face was black as mud!

But he was a wise man and knew he did not have an avenue of retreat now.

The ball of light behind him could explode at any time. If he was hit by the ripples, he didn’t have a chance of survival.

Eyes red, Zhang Hao stumbled and forced his way through the formations with his heavy sword, disregarding his wounds.

He was covered in blood, his clothing torn!

Finally out!

As the thought appeared, a sharp and dense sword energy took over his vision.

His eyes only saw snowy white. He could almost see a snowy white dragon proudly swaying!

Chapter 191: The First Battle Of The Yin Fire Bead

Zhang Hao was sliced in two by the ice dragon sword essence.

Zuo Mo couldn’t suppress his injuries anymore and spat out another mouthful of blood!

That amazing ice dragon sword essence had not been cast by him directly, but through him using countless sword energies to construct it. The copycat sword essence was not very pure but the power was not something Zuo Mo could reach himself. The sword energies of Wu Kong Flag came from jindan experts and were extraordinary.

Already on the last of his strength Zhang Hao did not muster a response to the sword strike.

Zuo Mo wiped the blood from his mouth. His body was deathly tired. Using the sword formation while injured was his limit.

He grinned, a bit of madness flashed through his eyes.

So what if he was ningmai? Fight with ge, ge‘ll kill you!

Glancing at the corpse on the ground, Zuo Mo thought for a moment and then took it into his ring. This guy probably had a lot of good things. However, it wasn’t time to view his spoils, Zuo Mo thought regretfully.

He must first resolve the ball of light!

Zhang Hao’s sword energy and the [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] had merged into a ball of light. He really did not understand it. However, he didn’t have the time to ponder it. If this thing exploded, all of Desolate Wood Reef would probably be flattened.

The ball of light was like a miniature sun. Zuo Mo could clearly sense the terrifying ling power contained inside.

His little heart jerked and beat rapidly. He hurriedly asked, “Pu, what to do with this?”

“Run!” Pu Yao’s response did not contain anything unnecessary. He sighed helplessly, “I’m too weak now, and can’t even deal with a little thing like this,” He sounded very reflective.

Even Pu Yao couldn’t deal with it … …

Zuo Mo’s heart froze, his mouth volleying, “Aren’t you a Sky Yao?”

Pu Yao smirked, “It’s not there are no ways, there just aren’t any you could use.”

Zuo Mo paused. Did he really have to run?

But on this vast expanse of ocean, where could he run? Even if he had just killed Zhang Hao, the other side still had four more ningmai. He definitely would not be able to escape.

No, there had to be a way … … There definitely had to be a way!

Zuo Mo said to himself.

The “miniature sun” shook slightly. Even the ripples it gave off was frightening. The close he went, the more Zuo Mo’s heart shook.

Inside was a brutal ling power that could explode at any time!

Such a waste of ling power! Zuo Mo wanted to criticize Zhang Hao’s wastefulness. This absurd thought suddenly turned to a stroke of lightning.

Ling power!

This light ball contained ling power and hard lightning!

Wasn’t this an enormous jingshi? Except this jingshi was slightly dangerous … …

He opened his eyes as he had an daring idea.

The trembling of the “miniature sun” seemed to increase. It was becoming less stable.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. The time did not allow him to think more. The idea he just had was bold but at least he could see hope.

Different materials appeared on his hands, his speed at maximum. He wanted to have a few extra pairs of hands as he furiously set up formations.

———

The expressions of the Black Wind Bandits were both shocked and suspicious. They all stopped moving.

The Head’s presence had completely disappeared!

After that earth-shaking impact, Head’s presence had completely disappeared.

Had the Head been killed?

This absurd idea was like a poisonous viper that slowly corroded their remaining courage.

The big formation still existed. If the Head had won, the formation definitely would have broken. Head’s presence had disappeared, but the big formation was still present … …

Realizing that Zhang Hao was in trouble, every person’s first response was to go give aid. Yet, knowing that Zhang Hao had been killed in battle, their first response was flee!

———

In the blink of an eye, Zuo Mo had finished setting up a formation.

What he set up was a Four-Turn fire formation, one that used the light ball as a replacement for jingshi. This idea was incredibly daring. The light ball was extremely unstable and could explode at any time. From any perspective, this idea was preposterous.

It might have been the stimulation of danger that caused Zuo Mo’s thoughts to be usually clear.

He swept the fire formation quickly. No mistakes! He released a breath and then his eyes became serious. Reaching out with his right hand, he started to draw in space.

The second move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], [Leaf Birth]!

In empty space, a green character of light took form. Immediately, the character shattered and the green pieces of broken light merged into the fire formation.

The green pieces of light were like seeds which rapidly germinated and grew.

In the blink of an eye, the fire formation was crowded with patches of green leaves. What was miraculous was that the unstable ball of light seemed to become more stable, not giving off the feeling of danger any longer.

Zuo Mo finally released a breath!

The fire formation started to turn.

The restless ling power from the light ball was absorbed by the leaves, and turned to an endless and continuous steady flow of ling power.

Zuo Mo wiped the sweat off his head. He had been extremely nervous just now. If he had made the smallest mistake, this close to the ball of light, not even ashes would remain of him. Even Pu Yao hadn’t dared to disturb him then.

It was the first time he used [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] with formations. From the present result, it seemed he had succeeded!

After learning [Void Pass], Zuo Mo had learned [Leaf Birth]. In Zuo Mo’s mind, [Leaf Birth] had been an extremely useless spell. Its only effect was to regulate chaotic flows of ling power.

If he could regulate the ling power of his opponent then it meant he could resolve the other’s attack. It was a pity that this [Leaf Birth] could only be used on the ling power existing in the world and did not belong to anything. The ling power of the light ball came from Zhang Hao, but Zhang Hao was dead so this connection had disappeared, making it orphaned ling power. Zuo Mo’s [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] was just taking and using ling power that existed in the environment.

Zuo Mo had never expected that the most useless move of the three moves of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] would save his life!

Killing a strong enemy, staying alive after a tribulation, the joy of success, and the fear … …

Several emotions were tied together, the feeling was indescribable.

The bright red lines of fire crossed in the air. While heat rolled away from it, Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly moved and he had another idea.

Why didn’t he use the opportunity to temper the Buddha Sound Hoop? The BuddhaSound Hoop was almost complete. If it could be successfully tempered, then power of the big formation would definitely increase.

Looking at the bright orange moon, it might have been killing Zhang Hao or merging [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] with formations, but his confidence had grown. Beckoning with his hand, the Buddha Sound Hoop flew into the fire formation.

The bright red fire was like a furious wild beast continuously gnawing on the copper hoop.

Zuo Mo glanced at it and shook his head. The grade of the flame that was in the fire formation was too low. The grade of the Buddha Sound Hoop was not low and it was hard to temper.

He suddenly thought of the Golden Crow Fire he possessed and face palmed. He was too dumb to have forgotten about such a good thing!

The Golden Crow Fire was the finest of fourth-grade flames and it had a very beneficial quality of being able to easily merge to other flames. The price of Golden Crow Fire wasn’t low, but Zuo Mo knew how to create it and naturally would not be frugal.

He threw nine mini boxes into the formation.

As expected, the power of the fire formation increased with the addition of nine wisps of Golden Crow Fire. A hint of pure gold appeared in the red fire. The Buddha Sound Hoop which had been still finally showed signs of finishing tempering.

The rest required time.

Zuo Mo looked closely for a while and made sure they wouldn’t be any problems before he turned to leave.

He shoved a large handful of lingdan into his mouth. The ling power inside his body shook. However, Zuo Mo still could feel the weakness from the heavy damage to his body under the fullness of his ling power. It was not wise to use medicinal power to suppress wounds. However, the battle was far from finished. He knew it was harmful to his body but still did it.

———

Lil’ Pagoda was very skilled at controlling the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]. However, those in the formation were not average people.

Up until now, the greatest damage that Lil’ Pagoda had done to the other side was the series of attacks it had done when Zhang Hao and Zuo Mo had clashed. Other than that, it had not achieved any results. None of the remaining four ningmai had been injured.

Zuo Mo was connected to Lil’ Pagoda and so he knew the situation inside the formation.

He set his target on Zuo Han. With the guidance of Lil’ Pagoda, he could easily find Zuo Han’s position.

Zuo Han’s figure was concealed inside a rainbow cloud of poison. When the [Micro Void Arrow] hit the poisonous mist, it did not have any effect.

Zuo Mo wasn’t stupid enough to touch the poisonous mist. If he accidentally touched it, relying on the second-grade detoxification dan he had made was akin to seeking death.

However, in the eyes of Zuo Mo who had just killed Zhang Hao, the power of this guy who used poison was much lower than Zhang Hao.

Silently sneaking near Zuo Han, a yin fire bead appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand.

He usually did not dare to use the yin fire bead. This thing was incredibly powerful, but if it was exposed, the trouble it would bring would be far beyond what he could deal with. But right now, he didn’t have to worry about this problem. The entire Desolate Wood Reef was concealed by the Skyring Moon Chime Formation. People outside could not see a thing, and people inside were separated by illusory formations.

It was definitely a good chance to use the yin fire bead.

Originally, he had planned to use it in Zhang Hao. But Zhang Hao had detected him coming closer so the first battle of this yin fire bead landed on Zuo Han.

Zuo Han was completely ignorant that Zuo Mo had already come close to him. His heart was insecure.

The other people were still doubtful but he was almost certain that the Head was already dead. In the middle of the wilderness, he felt the surroundings were cold. Even with the protection of the poison mist, he couldn’t feel a hint of warmth.

The only thing that reassured him was the orange moon in the sky had become much dimmer. The formation probably couldn’t not be maintained for much longer.

Up until now, he had not encountered one other person.

His expression changed. It came again!

Ding ding ding!

Three invisible sound arrows entered the poisonous mist. Just like the previous times, he lightly channeled ling power. The poisonous mist flowed strangely and the three sound arrows disappeared.

The other was always very sudden in sending sound arrows. However, his poisonous mist was the perfect counter of straightforward spells.

Ding ding ding!

A storm of sound arrows shot at him without warning!

Zuo Han was very calm. The poisonous mist slowly flowed around him. The sound arrows that entered the mist seemed to have sunk into quicksand, rapidly disappearing.

A small cold smile suddenly floated into his dark face. It was useless!

Suddenly, he detected a small object had hit his poisonous mist. It wasn’t a sound arrow.

His expression abruptly changed. He instantly reacted. The storm of sound arrows had been to provide a cover for this little object!

Damn it!

The outside layer of the poisonous mist was dyed a bone white.

Coldness followed the white color as it spread with astonishing speed. Terrified, Zuo Han didn’t have the time to even make a response. The coldness blew through his body like the wind. He froze to his spot, his body a frozen and eerie white statue, frightened expression shown to all.

Chapter 192: Buddha Sound Hoop

Zuo Han crumbled away in the wind, only leaving behind a few talismans. The poisonous fan and mist had been frozen into ice by the yin fire bead. Despite this, Zuo Mo didn’t feel it a pity. That poison fan was not very endearing, and the glow of the remaining talismans were very good.

It was a pity there wasn’t the time to admire them one by one, so Zuo Mo threw it all into his ring.

Zuo Mo sighed. What he sighed at was not the power of the yin fire bead, but the maxim”We are sword xiu, whatever we need we will take it with our sword!” that the sect leader and others always said.

Battle was truly one of the fastest ways to gather wealth!

He had just killed two ningmai, and the talismans and jingshi he received were enough for him to feel his wallet swell up.

With the powerful yin fire bead as his support and the temptation of extreme wealth, Zuo Mo’s eyes turned red.

His gaze as he turned on the other xiuzhe was like he was staring at a delicious and fat sheep!

So much jingshi!

At the same time, a Buddha sound rang out. A bright gold light appeared inside the formation and headed for the clouds.

Joy came only Zuo Mo’s face. The tempering of the Buddha Sound Hoop was complete!

The Buddha Sound Hoop had turned from red to gold and did not feel like copper but a hoop of gold. Lightning occasionally flashed across the golden hoop. Had the Hard Lightning from the ball of light also been absorbed by the Buddha Sound Hoop? Zuo Mo was overjoyed.

Each time the lightning flashed, the Buddha Sound Hoop would sound out with a deep and dignified ring!

At this time, the environment of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation suddenly changed. A bright sun hung high up in the sky, warm golden light falling down. The thin strands that fell down were dyed gold. The rings of light on the gold wire turned from a clear moon color to gold.

The serenity of before was swept away. The feeling of the present formation was like standing under the sun, destroying all evil!

The remaining Black Wind Bandits felt something completely different. Before it was like they were in the wilderness, scary and dark. Now, they stood before a burning sun. They had moved from a cold wilderness to a hot and burning desert. When touched by the ripples of Buddha sounds, those with weaker minds easily lost all of their motivation.

The Black Wind Bandits inside the formation were all cruel people who lived on a knife’s edge. Their minds were not so weak, but they felt wave after wave of pressure!

The previous Skyring Moon Chime Formation made people wary of the sudden ambushes. The present formation demanded that they channel ling power at all times to defend against the Buddha sounds. The offensive power of the formation was stronger now!

No wonder Zuo Mo was so happy. It was like someone delivered a pillow to him just when he wanted to nap!

With the yin fire bead and the completely transformed new formation, his chances of victory had risen against this group of bandits.

Zuo Mo quickly changed ideas. Previous, he had planned to wound as many as possible. Now, he decided to not let even one of them go. Each one was so much jingshi!

These criminals whose hands were soaked in blood, let ge release you from your mortal coil! Zuo Mo thought righteously.

At this time, Zuo Mo was like an experienced hunter. He wasn’t in a hurry to pull close the net. His consciousness was connected to Lil’ Pagoda. He slowly went through all the changes in the new formation. The changes of the Buddha Sound Hoop were so drastic even he needed to accustom himself.

———

The Black Wind Bandits inside the formation started to panic. The Head’s presence had disappeared, his status unknown. After landing inside the formation, they had become like a crowd of flies, not knowing what to do.

The new formation increased the pressure on them. The sounds that permeated everywhere needed to be fended off with ling power, further increasing their consumption. They were not greenhorns. What they were most afraid of was situations like this when they needed to keep using ling power.

On the battlefield, ling power was the greatest support of a xiuzhe, and experienced xiuzhe would carefully control the consumption of their ling power.

———

Lil’ Pagoda really lived up to being a soul-tethered talisman. The new changes of the Buddha Sound Hoop flowed through Zuo Mo’s mind. Zuo Mo instinctively praised it and hadn’t expected a joyful emotion to pass onto him from Lil’ Pagoda.

Zuo Mo first stilled and then was stunned.

Did Lil’ Pagoda really have its own emotions and thoughts?

The formation process of Lil’ Pagoda had been very mysterious. Zuo Mo still felt there were many impossible places even now, but in his eyes Lil’ Pagoda was just a talisman. It originated from his consciousness and was connected to his mind. Usually, Lil’ Pagoda would frequently reveal a personality, but Zuo Mo only felt it only a rudimentary intelligence. He had never thought that Lil’ Pagoda would really have his own sense of self.

When a talisman developed its own sense of self, it was called ling cognition.

The thought that came from Lil’ Pagoda made Zuo Mo realize that Lil’ Tower had ling cognition!

Heavens! How was it possible?

Any talismans that could have ling cognition were the finest and greatest talismans without an exception. Zuo Mo felt that he was very luck that he had a soul-tethered talisman and had stumbled into a pile of jingshi.

A soul-tethered talisman that had ling cognition!

Oh!

The sudden good fortune made Zuo Mo vibrate in excitement. His eyes glowed as he looked at Lil’ Pagoda as though he wanted to shove Lil’ Pagoda into his mouth! Lil’ Pagoda instantly shrank back timidly, the five levels of its body shaking.

“Come come come, good son, let Daddy take a good look at you!” Zuo Mo drooled as he beckoned at Lil’ Pagoda, his expression unspeakably wretched.

Lil’ Pagoda could be considered to be half a son of his. Its ling cognition came from his consciousness.

Lil’ Pagoda’s body shrunk into a ball and trembled.

After closely examining for a while, he could not see anything. Helplessly, he could only release Lil’ Pagoda.

He pondered that he needed to take the time sometime to recall how he had forged Lil’ Pagoda. He dreamed of himself surrounded by light, a procession of soul-tethered ling cognition talismans that did not end behind him, it would be amazing!

He would only steal from wandering bandits. Anyone that would resist, all the soul-tethered talismans would bang down on their heads!

Fantasizing about himself grandly sweeping all directions, something suddenly hit his waist. Looking down, he found it was Lil’ Pagoda. Zuo Mo refocused and wiped the saliva off the corner of his mouth.

Lil’ Pagoda was reminding him the wandering bandits wanted to flee.

Flee?

Zuo Mo snickered coldly. Before, he had still been wary. Now, this remaining bunch of wandering bandits were just meat on the chopping board.

The Buddha Sound Hoop had risen to fourth-grade previously. The tempering this time had not increased its grade, but the power had risen. It had fire, sound, and lightning. The fire was the Golden Crow Fire that could rank in the top ten of fourth-grade fire. The lightning was fourth-grade Yang Fiend Hard Lightning. The only regret would probably be the Buddha Sound formation carved on the hoop, it was only third-grade. Otherwise, this Buddha Sound Hoop would definitely be a rare top-level fourth-grade talisman!

But even so, the present Buddha Sound Hoop definitely could be an upper-level fourth-grade talisman.

After talismans reached the fourth level, due to the increase in power, they needed to be divided even further. Fourth-grade talismans, the highest were the top level; they were the most outstanding fourth-grade talismans. Coming down, it was the upper, intermediate, and lower levels. However, talismans that were soul-tethered and had ling cognition like Lil’ Pagoda were above the top level.

The upper fourth-grade Buddha Sound Hoop, adding on the soul-tethered talisman Lil’ Pagoda that had ling cognition, the yin fire bead that could instantly kill ningmai, and the third-grade seal soldier that Zuo Mo had not used yet.

Zuo Mo’s confidence rose. He discovered that he had so many killing moves!

Such a good chance, would Zuo Mo let these Black Wind Bandits escape?

Lil’ Pagoda flew into the sky, once again taking control of the big formation. The light illusions of the big formation changed. The Buddha Sound Hoop slightly vibrated, waves of sound passing outwards like water.

———

Inside the formation, the Black Wind Bandits felt the scenery changing. The pressure that had been somewhat ethereal before became strong. Calls rang out in their ears, a strong feeling of numbness made them unconsciously stop moving, like there was a voice muttering in their minds, “Sleep, just sleep for a while … …”

Their eyelids were strangely heavy, the wariness disappearing from their hearts. Their hearts gradually became calm, the desire for sleep increasingly strong.

The Black Wind Bandits were very experienced. Pushing away their fright, they could only speed up the circulation of their ling power to fend against the sound.

They finally realized the longer it dragged, the more disadvantageous it was for them.

They all sent their killing moves at almost the same time!

Numerous sword energies and talismans shone as they rushed into the sky, shooting for the burning sun in the sky!

———

The last attack of the Black Wind Bandits before their death frightened Zuo Mo. The smugness in his heart instantly dissipated. His little heart beat rapidly. If the target of their attacks was him, not even dust would be left behind.

Clang!

The Buddha Sound Hoop suddenly shook!

The golden light exploded, the sound was like thunder. The deep and dignified sound turned into the angry shout of Buddha, strong and fierce! The Black Wind Bandits inside the formation felt their bodies shake, the ling power inside their body out of their control. Everyone’s faces changed. When they raised their heads, their faces became pale. Countless fist-sized hard lightning rolled down along the thin strands like marbles.

The big formation turned at its highest power. A deep and domineering presence destructively spread, unable to be stopped.

Zuo Mo gaped. So powerful! The counter-attack from the Buddha Sound Hoop wasn’t any less powerful than the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] of the Sword Test Conference!

The Buddha sounds were like anger, and the hard lightning like rain!

The Black Wind Bandits lost their minds. These fist-sized hard lightning wasn’t as strong as when Zuo Mo used them, but this was still the true Yang Fiend Hard Lightning! The domineering Buddha sounds had not disappeared, their ling power out of their control, just as the hard lightning fell upon them!

———

Wails and swearing entered Zuo Mo’s ears.

The body count was high! After this one attack, not even thirty of the Black Wind Bandits could still stand. Many Black Wind Bandits were wailing and groaning in puddles of blood. The faces of the still standing Black Wind Bandits were full of hopelessness, their eyes terrified.

Peerlessly domineering!

Zuo Mo sighed in shock and then felt heart pain. The golden light and lightning around the body of the Buddha Sound Hoop was clearly much dimmer than before. He hurriedly took the Buddha Sound Hoop back. If this happened again, the Buddha Sound Hoop would probably be destroyed. Even if it wasn’t destroyed, the grade would definitely drop.

It had been so difficult to obtain an upper fourth-grade talisman, could Zuo Mo bear to have it destroyed?

Even more, the wandering bandits that had lost all motivation and he didn’t need the Buddha Sound Hoop to subdue them anymore.

He and Lil’ Pagoda could get them!

The harvest was about to begin. His gaze was hot as he turned back to the formation, rubbing his hands. Lil’ Pagoda, connected to his mind, was also yearning, and excited.

Just at this time, Pu Yao suddenly came out.

“Wait.”

Chapter 193: Bountiful Harvest

When Pu Yao came out, Zuo Mo’s first response was, “Two hours haven’t passed yet!!”

He was still thinking about the promise that Pu Yao had made. If he could get rid of this group in under two hours he would learn the next move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands]! Zuo Mo hungered for the [Little Thousand Leaf Hands]. Of the three moves of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] that he had learned each move had played a crucial role in this battle. The [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] were all very good spells. If they were not powerful then they had special uses.

Most importantly, what it consumed was spiritual power and not ling power. To Zuo Mo presently, spells that used spiritual power were much more practical than spells that used ling power.

“I changed my mind,” Pu Yao said.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo was infuriated, “What did you say? Changed your mind? I just finished busting my ass off, and you changed your mind?”

Pu Yao waved his hands, he wasn’t angry, “I’ll teach you a move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].”

Zuo Mo’s anger instantly extinguished and turned to curiosity, “Then what did you change your mind about?” One move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] being guaranteed he naturally was calm.

“These people should not be killed,” Pu Yao said, his expression deep.

“Not be killed?” Zuo Mo stilled, “Keep them for what? These people don’t blink an eye when they kill, it would cause problems to keep them.”

From any angle, Zuo Mo was not a generous and kind person. Also, to speak of kindness with these wandering bandits that killed without batting an eye, that was purely seeking death. It was better to take everything from their bodies and then kill them.

“Constructing the Nether Pool requires manual labor,” Pu Yao said.

“Oh, you aren’t afraid of them rebelling?” Zuo Mo pointed at the crux.

“I am a Sky Yao!” Pu Yao rolled his eyes. The implicit meaning was, to a honored Sky Yao, this was just a little problem.

Zuo Mo smirked, and didn’t give him any face, “Sky Yao? Who told me to run back there?”

Pu Yao paused, his old face slightly red.

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to provoke this guy. He pointed at the Black Wind Bandits inside the formation, and said, “Manual laborers don’t need talismans, right?”

Pu Yao waved his hand generously, “No.”

Zuo Mo looked with some sympathy at the wandering bandits. Landing in the hands of a perverse renyao, it was a fate worse than death! It could be imagined just how dark their future days would be.

However, Zuo Mo was not kind due to feeling sympathy.

He and Lil’ Pagoda, one in the light and one in the dark, used the power of the formation to beat the wandering bandits unconscious. Zuo Mo didn’t even leave them any clothing, taking everything, before he contentedly threw a bunch of naked people at Pu Yao.

———

The Skyring Moon Chime Formation and the moon in the sky disappeared from the Desolate Wood Reef. There was nothing left except one big pit after another, showing that a battle had taken place here.

Bo Feng who had been watching from afar shook his head, his tone carrying wonderment, “It seems all of the Black Wind Bandits are dead.”

The Black Wind Bandits were dead!

As the words came out, everyone was shocked. They had been pursuing the Black Wind Bandits recently. The longer they trailed them the more uncertain they felt. The strong strength that the Black Wind Bandits displayed made them lack self-confidence. The only confidence they had was that they had more experts on their side. Bo Feng, Gui Feng, and Chang Heng were ningmai experts that were famous in Sky Moon Jie.

But even if they had three experts, they had thought if the two sides met it would be a hard battle.

Who would have thought a zhuji, relying on a formation on an island, in a period of time less than two hours, had completely killed all of the Black Wind Bandits!

Chang Heng and Gui Feng looked at the Desolate Wood Reef which had resumed its normal appearance and instantly understood. Gui Feng’s expression was full of disbelief. He had fought Zuo Mo before. Any way he viewed Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo should not have grown to such a point that he could kill all of the Black Wind Bandits by himself. If it was Wei Sheng, he would have found it somewhat possible.

Cheng Heng looked much more composed. Even the light in his eyes had dimmed greatly. He seemed to be pondering something.

———

Zuo Mo did not know people were watching him. He was contentedly checking his spoils, Lil’ Pagoda observing from the side. Silly Bird had ran out. However, Silly Bird was much more composed than Lil’ Pagoda, raising her neck up high, her attitude proud as she stepped her little bird steps, as though she thought of jingshi as dirt. However, the occasional glance out of the corner of her eye revealed her nefarious aims. The black gold worm directly burrowed into the little mountain and didn’t come out.

The other shidi came out. They felt as though they were dreaming.

They first saw Zuo Mo Shixiong, and then they saw the mountains of talismans and jingshi!

After that, they turned to stone.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright, saliva dripping out of the corner of his mouth that he did not wipe away.

Good things! Good things!

He picked up one, and then picked up another, his expression intoxicated and occasionally laughed.

However, the practical Zuo Mo decided he needed to check his personal wealth. He might have made a mountain of profit, but he had also spent a lot. No matter if it was Golden Crow Fire, or yin fire bead, they were not cheap. The cost of recovery for his wounds, and the nurturing of the Buddha Sound Hoop were also not going to be a small number!

He needed to break even.

Click-clack, click-clack, Zuo Mo started to pick through the pile. He rejoiced that he had the experience of processing materials with the Stalagmite fire before. The numbers of items that had passed through his hands was enormous, and helped create his keen pair of eyes.

The profits this time were very rich. There were more than a hundred flying swords, but their grades weren’t very high. The highest grade was Zhang Hao’s heavy sword, fourth-grade, the sword body was ancient and thick, extremely heavy in the hand, and carved with “Mountain Opener.”

Other than flying swords, there was a variety of talismans that broadened Zuo Mo’s horizons. There were some extremely obscure ones, like nets. One Blue Light Net, third-grade, when it left the hand it would become a blue ball of light, if one came close then it would turn into an enormous net that would quickly close.

The wealth of the zhuji was limited. Those that were rich were the several ningmai, especially Zhang Hao. This guy had two dimensional rings to start with, and the riches inside were numerous. Also, the guy had been very picky, and what he had kept were very good items.

Like the materials he collected were not of low grade. The majority were third-grade, and he had some fourth-grade materials.

What excited Zuo Mo the most were five fox teeth. These five fox teeth clearly came from the same yao fox. Each tooth was pure white with no impurities, shining like porcelain. A fragrance that was like orchids and plums spread. The appearance showed it definitely belonged to the top third-grade materials.

The quality of the Water Drop sword was very good. If he forged in the fourth-grade Crimson Fire Rock that he had, the two qualities of fire and water could reach the demands of Li Water sword essence. Adding on the Teeth Vine, and these five fox teeth, and the Blue Icicle Crystal he had traded for from the red-robed male, he had managed to gather the materials for four of the five flying swords. Instantly, he felt the five essence sword set was not far.

He was only lacking proper earth-based material before his five essence sword set could be realized!

Most of the talismans on Zhang Hao’s body were not ordinary, but most had been damaged. Zuo Mo felt a great pain. Those were all lost jingshi!

The other talisman that peaked Zuo Mo’s interest was a cloak. This cloak was called [Shadowless]. It was as thin as a cicada’s wing and hard to detect with the naked eye. If worn on the body, it would seem to disappear. However, even though he could not see it, Zuo Mo could still feel the existence of the cloak. This [Shadowless] cloak’s only purpose was to conceal his body. Zuo Mo was even more surprised that it was a fourth-grade cloak!

He tried it on, and the effect was outstanding. He couldn’t find a trace even if he used his consciousness to search.

Good thing!

This was definitely a good thing!

Zuo Mo instantly recognized the value of the cloak. This was a wonderful talisman to make an escape! If things were going badly, he could wrap the cloak around his body and no one could find him.

He found it somewhat strange the person he had killed didn’t use a talisman as good as this, and used a third-grade cloak.

What Zuo Mo didn’t realize was the Black Wind Bandits had run rampant for years. Other than being defeated by Wei Sheng recently, when had they ever been forced to escape? When Zhang Hao first got the cloak, he treasured it. Then he found he didn’t have a use for it at all. While the cloak could conceal him, it basically had no defensive power, so Zhang Hao switched to a third-grade talisman that could increase his defenses and was beneficial to charging and fighting.

Zuo Mo naturally wouldn’t be polite, cheerfully putting the cloak on.

With two extremely fine talismans as the opener, Zuo Mo instantly looked down at the remaining talismans.

However, these people all had a unique quality of carrying many jingshi on their body. Zuo Mo understood after thinking about it. These wandering bandits travelled everywhere. Nothing was as useful as jingshi, so they could buy whatever when they got somewhere.

All of this was Zuo Mo’s now. This was an enormous sum. Like Zhang Hao. He had more than ten pieces of just fourth-grade jingshi.

When he put all the jingshi in front of him, he was stunned! He felt that his eyes were filled with jingshi.

Even the best talisman, if put together with jingshi of equivalent value, it didn’t have the same effect as piles of jingshi.

After a long while, he finally recovered from the shock of the mountain of jingshi, his blank eyes becoming clear.

He took a deep breath, and hurriedly swept the jingshi into his ring. Continuing to judge the other talismans, his mind was slightly inattentive.

“Hm!” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly came into Zuo Mo’s ears.

Zuo Mo shook and suddenly refocused. He found that Pu Yao had appeared at some unknown time beside him.

Pu Yao stared at a white bone on his hand, his eyes unmoving.

Zuo Mo instinctively waved the bone, “Problem?”

Pu Yao was still staring at the bone, his hand reaching out, “Let me see.”

“Oh,” Zuo Mo instinctively handed over the bone.

Once he handed it over, he instantly realized, and regret blossomed. He was an idiot. Something that even Pu Yao was interested in, it definitely was something good!

Having landed in Pu Yao’s hands, it definitely was using meat buns to hit a dog, it would never return!

As expected, Pu Yao flipped his hand, and the bone disappeared. He was very natural in saying, “Oh, I’ll take the bone.”

Zuo Mo instantly wanted to spit blood. He knew he definitely wouldn’t be able to take it back. He responded quickly, “Then what do you trade for it?”

“I’ll give you a batch of little yao guards,” Pu Yao didn’t give Zuo Mo the grounds to bargain.

“Little yao guards? What’s that?” Zuo Mo’s attention was instantly attracted.

Pu Yao snickered, “You’ll know when it is time.” Finishing, he disappeared.

Dejectedly, Zuo Mo could only go back to his pile of talismans in hopes he would find a few more fine ones. It was a pity that his good luck seemed to have been used up. The rest were all very average and made him even more depressed.

When he finished sorting out the last talisman, he suddenly heard a light laugh from the sky,“Brother Zuo really had a good harvest!”

Chapter 194: Golden Armor Guards

Zuo Mo looked warily at the three unwelcomed guests in the sky.

The one that spoke was a yellow-faced man. Zuo Mo recognized him. It was the mysterious person he had fought in the Sword Test Conference. The two people behind him was Chang Heng and the other was Gui Feng. How did these three get together? he muttered inside.

And these three appeared at this time was that a coincidence? More likely it was that the three of them had hid and wanted to gain something. Seeing that he had won, they could only come out and greet him.

Zuo Mo was at the end of his rope. He didn’t dare to let these three people inside. The three were stronger than him and he had just also made a fortune. If the three became greedy, he might not be able to keep his little life.

“This little brother just has gone through a big battle and is heavily injured, and greatly needs rest. There is no time to greet everyone. Please pardon me!” Finishing, he rushed away.

That nimble and agile movement, did he look like he was heavily injured?

The three people in the air were speechless. They had assumed that Zuo Mo would exchange pleasantries, and they could find ways of getting closer. But they had underestimated Zuo Mo’s lack of shame, in turning and leaving. They couldn’t do a thing.

If they forcefully landed now, that was taking advantage and declaring they possessed malicious aims. The three people didn’t care about those fake reputations, but when they saw the huge holes in the ground, they instantly dismissed the idea of charging in.

Personally seeing the Black Wind Bandits be destroyed the three were very wary of the formation on Desolate Wood Reef.

Zuo Mo ignored the three people. If they really dared to charge into the Desolate Wood Reef, he would even gamble on destroying the Buddha Sound Hoop to fight them to the death.

When he saw the three standing outside the island, his heart relaxed slightly. He secretly sent Lil’ Pagoda out to guard. He threw the Buddha Sound Hoop back into the lava fire formation to be nurtured again and started to heal himself.

This time, the level of damage to his body was far beyond his predictions, especially since he had kept on fighting with these wounds, and had used medicinal power to suppress the injuries. On the surface, there didn’t seem to any problems, but in reality, he had serious internal injuries.

Luckily, Master had prepared many lingdan for him before he left. He hadn’t thought he would need to use it so early.

He shoved a lingdan into his mouth and meditated.

As the lingdan entered his mouth, it turned to a stream of coldness that flowed with the circulation of his ling power, spreading to every corner of his body. The hidden heat of his organs instantly decreased. He felt unspeakably comfortable.

———

Forty-two people were soaking in the black pond. Their eyes were closed, occasionally having expressions of pain. Threads of smoke silently entered their body from the black pond water and then slowly spread out.

Pu Yao’s eyes landed on the three ningmai Black Wind Bandits. They were completely covered in black, looking like coal. A small bump had risen on the foreheads of the three people as though something was going to grow out.

Pu Yao played with the white bone in his hand, speaking to himself, “Didn’t think I would see ancient dragon bone here. The brat really has good luck. Oh, using it on ningmai trash, it really is a waste!”

As he sighed, he slightly applied force. Pa, the white bone broke into pieces.

His hand rising, the ancient dragon bone power turned to three white arrows that burrowed inside the bodies of the three ningmai.

The three ningmai instantly started to shake like dice, their black faces twisted with expressions of extreme pain. Suddenly, their black skin started to ripple and a layer of scale-like material continuously came out.

In just this little while, the three had completely changed. Their bodies were covered by a dense layer of white scales like it was a layer of thick armor. The bump on their foreheads continued to grow. Pew, a sharp black horn broke through the skin, and only stopped when it grew to three cun long.

“White Scale Attendants! The ancient dragon bone is really good,” Pu Yao had a surprised expression. Then he became excited. Tilting his head and thinking, he snickered, and then grabbed at empty air.

Three jade boxes appeared on Pu Yao’s hands, the mini boxes that Zuo Mo loved so much.

Squeezing the jade boxes, Pu Yao gently blew and three wisps of Golden Crow Fire flew at the three people.

The Golden Crow Fire landed on the white scales and with a hiss and entered their bodies. Almost at the same time, mist rose around their body. The black pond water beside them started to bubble as though it was boiling.

Seeing that the black pond was covered in mist Pu Yao became even more excited. He was like a mischievous child who had found a fun toy.

He grabbed again at empty air.

Ding ding ding!

If Zuo Mo saw this, he would have been so angry he could spit blood. Pu Yao’s hands were full of Crimson Fire Rock, including three pieces of fourth-grade Crimson Fire Rock. Zuo Mo only had six pieces of fourth-grade Crimson Fire Rock. Pu Yao took half of his stock.

Pu Yao’s left hand pointed in the air. A black-red beguiling flame appeared in front of him.

He threw the Crimson Fire rock on his hands into the flame. He continued to grab at the air, materials appearing in his hands. He didn’t even look before throwing them into the fire.

After one hour, the flame slowly faded, and three entirely red broadsword appeared in front of him.

The broadsword was about half the height of a person, the width of the blade making them appear like a small door. The body was entirely red like burning metal, giving off a scorching heat.

At this time, the mist over the heads of the three people in the black pond dissipated, revealing their figures. The scales of the three were dyed with a layer of gold, making them look as though they were wearing golden armor. The black spike on their foreheads had disappeared.

Before, the three had looked dark and scary. Now, the three didn’t have any hint of dark energies, as though they were gods coming to the mortal world. A yang and strong presence was easily detectable.

“Ancient dragon bone, Golden Crow Fire, Nether Pool, these yao guards that were forged really make me anticipate!”

Pu Yao smiled proudly, “White Scaled Attendants, no no no, have to change the name, Golden Armor Guards! This name isn’t bad. Ha ha, who can tell they are yao guards?”

Rubbing his chin as he studied for a while, Pu Yao said to himself, “Oh, no, they are too ugly, and need to be changed.”

He blew out a ball of flame that grew and enveloped one of them. Instantly, the crackle of flesh burning sounded. A while later, the flame moved away. The person inside the flame had changed in appearance. Right now, his body was covered in a set of golden armor. Even his face was covered all over, the thick armor at the front only revealing the eyes. The shining golden scales had turned into a golden fish-scale armor. Other than being very dignified, it was more profound, and mysterious.

Pu Yao finally had a satisfied expression. Soon after, all three were modified.

Three bright red broadswords turned to three red lights and flew towards the three people.

The three simultaneously reached out and grabbed the flying swords. The three golden armor guards stood silently, a strong and dignified presence slowly spreading.

Pu Yao looked in sympathy at the other Black Wind Bandits that were still soaking in the black water pond, “You guys who can’t be seen in public, you just have to stay here for manual labor.”

———

When Zuo Mo woke up from his meditation there was joy in his heart. The injuries on his body were generally healed. It would be like nothing had happened once he rested for a while. What he was even happier about was the ling power that had stopped growing inside his body for a long time had actually grown slightly.

The increase was not a lot, but for Zuo Mo who had stopped growing for a long time, this was an unexpected happy surprise.

Just as Zuo Mo was happy, he saw Pu Yao proudly come over with three people dressed in golden armor.

Zuo Mo stilled and warily pointed at the three people, “Who are they?”

The three were covered in the golden armor. He was unable to see their features but Zuo Mo could feel the terrifying presence the three gave off all over their bodies.

These three were very strong!

Zuo Mo’s perception was extremely sensitive due to his spirit. The danger that these three gave him even surpassed the feeling of danger the Head of the wandering bandits gave him. Where did these three powerful people come from? Where did they pop out of?

His gaze landed on the broadswords in their hands, and silently swallowed.

Who was so f***ing wasteful?!

Crimson Fire Rock, definitely not less than ten pieces, and definitely had more than one piece of fourth-grade rock. Sky Eye Silver, that was extremely expensive; Zuo Mo himself only had three taels. Any of the broadswords in the three’s hands definitely had one tael of Sky Eye Silver added. And the red flame pearl. It was an extremely good fire element material, worth a thousand jing! There were at least three in each broadsword.

Great expenditure! Definitely great expenditure!

Zuo Mo drooled. Just the three broadswords were worth a lot! If it wasn’t the dangerous feeling coming from the three people pressuring him, his head might have heated up and he would have gone to rob them.

But, the materials, they looked very familiar … …

Just as he was suspicious, he heard Pu Yao say smugly, “They are Golden Armor Guards! Just finished making them, do you want to try?”

“Golden Armor Guards?” Zuo Mo stilled, “Didn’t you say you were creating little yao guards?”

“Little yao guards are too low quality,” Pu Yao said with scorn and continued, “and their appearance is too lacking. Look at these Golden Armor Guards. No hint of yin energy, perfect for dominating a situation. They are also very strong and good at fighting, the best fighters!”

“Really?” Zuo Mo’s face was disbelieving.

“You ignorant country bumpkin naturally has never seen anything this high quality!” Pu Yao’s face was full of disdain, and he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, one of the Golden Armor Guards behind him disappeared.

“Ha!” A deep bellow sounded.

Zuo Mo felt the space in front of his eyes light up, a blinding light forcing him to squint his eyes.

A domineering and forceful red sword light rose. This stroke seemed to rip apart space. A scorching, cruel, and domineering presence filled the air.

Zuo Mo’s heart was shocked, the hairs on his body straight. The feeling of danger was like a black cloud filled with lead, pressing down uncomfortably on his chest.

The sword light disappeared without warning!

At some unknown time, the golden armor guard returned to his original position.

Only now did Zuo Mo hear a soft “hiss.” Different than the blinding sword light, the sound of the sword was almost non-existent.

Zuo Mo was stunned!

Chapter 195: Two Transactions

The strength of the Golden Armor Guards made a deep impression on Zuo Mo.

“But what are they really?” Zuo Mo asked as he pointed at the three muscle-heads. The three Golden Armor Guards were very brawny. Standing with their swords, they were like three little mountains whose sole purpose was to pressure others.

“Puppets,” Pu Yao said softly.

“Oh,” Zuo Mo responded. A strong impulse formed to study these three puppets. There were many ways to create puppets. The most famous would probably be corpse-forging. Things like thousand year corpse were the best corpse-forging materials. Seal soldiers were also one kind of puppet, but they were completely different than corpse-forging.

But when he thought about that astonishing sword strike, he decided to stop thinking about this dangerous idea.

His eyes stared at the red broadswords in the hand of the three Golden Armor Guards. A beat later, Zuo Mo’s heart wrenching wail came out of the cave.

“Old Ghost! Ge will kill you! Sob sob sob! My Crimson Fire Rock! My Sky Eye Silver … …”

———

In the sky above the Desolate Wood Reef.

“How much longer do we have to wait?” Chang Heng said impatiently.

“He he, he would come out soon,” Bo Feng was very calm. At the side, Gui Feng’s eyes occasionally swept across the Desolate Wood Reef. Different than what they had thought: it wasn’t just Zuo Mo on the Desolate Wood Reef; there were also Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples. However, these disciples were all production xiuzhe.

At the beginning, these disciples would occasionally look up at them. As time went on, they attended to their own business.

The Desolate Wood Reef looked calm but many important places were covered with white clouds so nothing could be seen. These balls of cloud proved that the big formation of the Desolate Wood Reef had not been critically damaged.

Gui Feng felt that Zuo Mo was very mysterious. He was somewhat puzzled why Wu Kong Sword Sect would send such an important disciple to such an isolated place? Was it because they had trust in Zuo Mo?

He didn’t feel that way. While the importance of the Desolate Wood Reef was undoubted, no matter how great their trust was, the elders shouldn’t have been frugal in sending along a few more strong disciples with him.

Such an accomplished disciple, he didn’t believe any sect was willing to lose him.

But Zuo Mo was guarding Desolate Wood Reef alone. This made Gui Feng feel it was more of an exile.

The Black Wind Bandits had all been killed. If this news spread, it would definitely shake all of Sky Moon Jie. Zuo Mo’s own reputation and the reputation of Wu Kong Sword Sect would be pushed to another height.

Gui Feng glanced at Bo Feng. There was no impatience on Bo Feng’s face. They had been guarding here for five days. To show that they didn’t have any enmity he hadn’t brought any of the thirty six zhuji.

Gui Feng saw Zuo Mo’s figure appear out of the corner of his eye, his mind becoming alert.

Hm!

His gaze swept across the three enormous figures behind Zuo Mo, Gui Feng’s pupils suddenly shrunk into pinpoints!

The golden scale armor covered their entire body, the dense scales flashed with a pure golden sheen. Their faces were covered by gold masks, which only revealed a pair of eyes.

The three guards dressed in golden armor simultaneously looked at the three people in the sky.

When Gui Feng’s eyes met the three people’s eyes, his heart shook.

The three pairs of eyes were strange but all similar in that they were indifferent, cold, and emotionless. Gui Feng even felt that they were dead! He could feel that he was just an ant in their eyes, unable to cause even a ripple.

Suddenly, Gui Feng felt he was burning in a fire, an almost tangible pressure forming, and pushing down like a little mountain.

Gui Feng snorted coldly, his body moving slightly and circulated his ling power.

The invisible pressure around him instantly disappeared.

Successfully getting rid of the other’s pressure, Gui Feng did not feel joy at all. Quite the opposite, his complexion was very bad. The two seemed to be even, but Gui Feng knew he was at a disadvantage.

Such a powerful expert!

Was this Wu Kong Sword Sect’s hidden strength? He narrowed his eyes.

Bo Feng and Chang Heng’s expressions became serious. Their thoughts were the same as Gui Feng. These three xiuzhe covered in golden armor and cultivations above ningmai, and their strength was very strong! Even though they could not see the features, but the thick killing intent covering the three was the killing intent that would only form after countless battles.

No wonder the Black Wind Bandits were all killed. So the Desolate Wood Reef was also hiding three experts. The three people rejoiced that they hadn’t charged in. Facing any of these golden armor xiuzhe, even Bo Feng didn’t have a certain grasp on victory.

Ningmai had three stratums. Gui Feng and Chang Heng were only at the first stratum, but the three golden armor xiuzhe were all above second stratum.

The difference between ningmai and zhuji was large, but the difference between ningmai were also similarly large. The cultivation of ningmai second stratum was three times that of a first stratum ningmai!

Their cultivation was not as good as the other; their battle experience not as good as the other; their talismans … …

They looked at the burning red broadswords. Those were clearly not normal and definitely had reached the fourth-grade. The two sides were even. What they had the greatest confidence in was spells. Gui Feng was very confident in the [Nine Ghosts Nail Curse] that he was practicing.

———

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao muttered, “Pity about the baldy. He’s good material for making Golden Armor Guard.”

Zuo Mo did not pay attention, his eyes looking at the sky.

This time, with the three Golden Armor Guards around him, even though his wounds had not completely healed, he still had more bravery.

“Thank you for waiting for so long, is there something I can help with?” Zuo Mo did not like to chit-chat, and said forwardly.

Bo Feng did not twist, and said, “This one has two matters to ask.”

“Oh,” Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. He hadn’t thought the other really had a matter, and two of them at that.

“Brother Zuo killing the Black Wind Bandits is really a happy matter,” Bo Feng said, “I want to buy some news from Brother Zuo.”

Black Wind Bandits? Zuo Mo stilled and then reacted. So his attackers had been the Black Wind Bandits, no wonder they were so strong! His minds whirling, he quickly responded, “What news?”

Bo Feng started at Zuo Mo and said seriously, “I want to buy the position of a secret realm from Brother Zuo.”

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. Secret realm!

He truly was shocked by the words “secret realm.” Zuo Mo had missed the secret realm exploration after the Sword Test Conference because he had been thrown into the sword essence formation. It had been a regret of his. He hadn’t thought that he would suddenly hear information about a secret realm.

Bo Feng suddenly running over to ask him the location of the secret realm, the clever Zuo Mo instantly realized where the information about the secret realm would come from.

The Black Wind Bandits!

Definitely the Black Wind Bandits!

Pu Yao reacted even more quickly than he did, and had more tricks. In the blink of an eye, he had gotten the answers he wanted from the manual laborers that were still soaking in the black pond.

Hearing Pu Yao speak of it, Zuo Mo understood the general shape of the matter, and instantly was disappointed.

The first people to find the secret realm were the three of the red-robed xiuzhe. For some reason, the news had been leaked, and they were targeted by the Black Wind Bandits. However, the three were extremely slippery, and tricked the Black Wind Bandits, almost clearing out the entire secret realm before fleeing.

Zuo Mo finally understood why the three people had so many good items on their body. So it had been a secret realm!

He had admiration and disappointment. However, a secret realm that others had gone through did not hold any attractions to him.

However, he wouldn’t give the information so easily to Bo Feng. The cleared out secret realm might not have anything good, but the ling energy of the secret realm was dense and perfect for making a residence. It was not very useful for him, but to the sect, it was very good.

Bo Feng evidently wanted this secret realm.

“Ha ha,” Zuo Mo smiled, but his wooden expression looked very strange,“How does Brother Bo want to buy it?”

Speaking about business he became alert. In any case he had the initiative. He could sell or not sell. The red-robed man and his fellows had run to Little Mountain Jie, and definitely wouldn’t be coming back soon. The only people who knew the location of the secret realm were the Black Wind Bandits, but all of the Black Wind Bandits were soaking in the black pond.

Even if he didn’t sell its location to Bo Feng and sent the news back to the sect, he would get many rewards.

But in the deepest part of his heart, Zuo Mo didn’t plan on telling the information to the sect. If it was in the past, he definitely wouldn’t have hesitated in reporting the information to the sect. But the only person he missed in the sect right now was Master. The present Wu Kong Sword Sect was not the Wu Kong Sword Sect of the past that had felt like a home.

If it wasn’t for Master, he wouldn’t have any supplies. He wouldn’t even have had the Wu Kong Flag. If he came to such an isolated place as the Desolate Wood Reef, he would have more dangers than lucky encounters.

He couldn’t help but ball up his hands.

Destiny, it was more reliable to grasp it in his own hands.

“Ha ha,” Bo Feng laughed lightly, he seemed to have already had a plan, “I will use a piece of news to exchange with Brother Zuo.”

“News?” Bo Feng’s suggestions was out of Zuo Mo’s expectations.

Bo Feng said generously, “Brother Zuo should look first. If you are not satisfied, we can keep negotiating,” Finishing, his finger flicked and a jade scroll shot at Zuo Mo.

Pia!

A golden palm reached from behind Zuo Mo and accurately grasped the jade scroll.

Bo Feng smiled and didn’t speak. Inside, he praised Zuo Mo’s carefulness.

Zuo Mo took the jade scroll, and lowered his head to read.

There was not much inside the jade scroll, but after reading the last word, Zuo Mo felt he was in a glacier, his entire body cold.

“How is it? Is Brother Zuo satisfied?” Bo Feng asked.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath, and then bowed with folded hands at Bo Feng. He said seriously, “Many thanks, Brother Bo.” Finishing, he took out an empty jade scroll, entered the position of the secret realm, and threw it to Bo Feng.

Bo Feng took the jade scroll. After reading it, joy appeared on his face. When he finished, he crushed the jade scroll to powder.

“Brother Zuo is really refreshing!” Bo Feng said crisply, “This one wants to ask for a wisp of Golden Crow Fire from Brother Zuo, please help me!”

“Golden Crow Fire?” Zuo Mo nodded, “If Brother Bo has earth elemental materials above fourth-grade, a deal can be made.”

He didn’t ask for a high price. The news that Bo Feng had just given him was too important!

Bo Feng could not control his joy, “We really have good fate. This one luckily has a piece of Breathing Rock, and of high quality. It should fulfill Brother Zuo’s demands.”

“Trade!” Zuo Mo did not hesitate in nodding.

In fourth-grade earth element materials, Breathing Rock was a rare fine material. It usually existed in the deepest parts, a special earthy grey that naturally clung together, unable to be cut with anything metal.

Zuo Mo was excited. He finally gathered together everything for his five essence sword set!

Chapter 196: News

At Wu Kong Mountain, Shi Feng Rong had a face full of fury, “Why?”

Pei Yuan Ran was helplessly apologetic. “Too far! Even if we tell him, he won’t be able to get back. Unless he is jindan, he can’t get back in three days.”

“Then I won’t go to Bright Wave Jie! I’ll go get him!” Shi Feng Rong said decisively.

“Nonsense!” Pei Yuan Ran was furious. Looking at the pain and anger on Shi Feng Rong’s face, he suppressed the anger inside and said in a low voice, “There are so many experts in Bright Wave Jie. Whether our sect can establish ourselves in Bright Wave Jie, it all depends on us jindan. In our time of need, will Shimei abandon the entire sect for just Zuo Mo?”

Shi Feng Rong bit her lips tears flowing down uncontrollably.

Pei Yuan Ran relaxed his tone of voice, “Shimei, don’t worry. Zuo Mo is usually clever. He definitely will be fine. After we establish ourselves in Bright Wave Jie, we can send people to search for him!”

Pei Yuan Ran comforted Shi Feng Rong for a long time before she was finally persuaded.

———

When Lin Qian saw Pei Yuan Ran, he saw the other’s face was dark, and assumed that Pei Yuan Ran was worried for the future. He comforted, “Sect Leader Pei, do not worry too much. This one has some weight in Bright Wave Jie and will definitely pick a good land for your sect.”

Pei Yuan Ran raised his hands in thanks, but he stared at Lin Qian and said solemnly, “This one still has one thing that that he does not understand. Master Lin, please explain a few things to me!”

“Oh, please speak, Sect Leader Pei,” Lin Qian said.

“Master Lin has no connection to our sect, so why have you been so close with our sect as of late?” Pei Yuan Ran’s eyes were bright.

Lin Qian seemed to have already know that Pei Yuan Ran would ask this, and smiled, “If that’s the case, then I will speak the truth. It is because I see potential in Wei Sheng. Wei Sheng is the most talented xiuzhe that this one has ever seen, he has unbridled potential and his future will certainly be boundless. Sect Leader Pei can think of this as an investment. In the future, when I need help, please, Sect Leader Pei, lend a hand.”

“Naturally,” Pei Yuan Ran’s heart relaxed slightly. Even though he didn’t believe all of it, but he didn’t let it show.

Lin Qian smiled and said, “We will temporarily set our departure at noon three days from now. This one will be waiting and won’t disturbed Sect Leader Pei now. Farewell!”

“I won’t see you off!” Pei Yuan Ran said, raising his folded hands.

———

Zuo Mo and Bo Feng had made two good transactions, the aura between them very harmonious.

Chang Heng and Gui Feng were not interested in Golden Crow Fire, something Zuo Mo felt was very regretful about. However before leaving, Zuo Mo asked them to spread the news of the Golden Crow Fire, and Bo Feng agreed.

Zuo Mo saw Bo Feng and the others leave.

“What are you going to do?” Pu Yao suddenly asked.

Zuo Mo inhaled deeply, and then exhaled, as though he wanted to pushed out all the darkness that had formed in his heart, “I’ll take it step by step.”

Pu Yao smiled coldly, “You didn’t receive one bit of information. Tsk tsk, seems those old codgers don’t value you very much!”

Zuo Mo was silent.

“Plan on flying back?” Pu Yao didn’t have any sympathy.

“There’s not enough time,” Zuo Mo shook his head. From the Desolate Wood Reef to Wu Kong Mountain, flying would take multiple months.

“Don’t worry,” Pu Yao said unconcernedly, “Even if the yaomo come, it would be small groups. Probably just Night Stock Yao and Moon Demon, nothing important.”

“Night Stock Yao and Moon Demon? Are they very strong?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. He didn’t know much about yaomo.

“Little worms,” Pu Yao twisted his mouth, “about the same as ningmai.”

“Then why is everyone fleeing?” Zuo Mo could not understand, “If they are about the same as ningmai, we can completely kill them!”

Pu Yao smiled scornfully. “Whether Night Stock Yao or Moon Demon, if they face your ningmai, they can fight one against three!” His bloody pupil suddenly rippled, “Their growing environment is much more cruel than you guys.”

“So what?” Zuo Mo wasn’t persuaded.” Sky Moon Jie has jindan!”

Pu Yao shrugged indifferently, “This is just the beginning. I am willing to bet… no, guarantee that the old codgers of your sect are definitely planning on migrating away. Who is willing to bleed themselves to help other people stop yaomo?”

“Wu Kong Mountain is the base of our sect … …”

“You are too naïve!” Pu Yao’s words were full of scorn, “Just a poor mountain. As long as they have people, where can’t they go? Without the mountain, they can go steal another one.”

Zuo Mo couldn’t speak.

“Prepare early,” Pu Yao shook his head, “I won’t have any time in the near future, don’t bother me.”

He disappeared after finishing.

Zuo Mo stood at his spot he was unfocused for a moment. He could not think that the entire front line of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had collapsed in such a short period of time. This was the news that he traded with Bo Feng. Supposedly, it was a group of yaomo that had appeared at the flank and caused the collapse of the entire defensive line which fortified Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

Sky Moon Jie was not immediately next to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, but it wasn’t far from it, so it was in a very dangerous situation. Many sects of Sky Moon Jie had already started to prepare for migration.

This was the news from five days ago.

What had frozen Zuo Mo’s heart was that he had not received any news from his own sect. News from five days ago, with Wu Kong Sword Sect’s present status, they couldn’t be ignorant of it. If he moved now, he couldn’t meet up with the sect unless the sect migrated to Little Mountain Jie. But if they were going through Little Mountain Jie, they would have notified him so he could prepare to receive them.

But he hadn’t received anything.

He knew that he was set on a different path from the sect after this incident.

He wasn’t sad. In reality, when he had came out of the sword essence formation, he had sensed it coming, but he hadn’t thought the day would come so quickly. The present Wu Kong Sword Sect had long not been the Wu Kong Sword Sect of the past.

Never mind, he should think of way to protect himself. It was better to rely on himself than on others.

Zuo Mo’s idea was quite different than anyone else. He decided to keep guarding Desolate Wood Reef. Desolate Wood Reef’s environment was special. Adding on the Skyring Moon Chime Formation, and the golden armor guards, he could basically guarantee his own safety. If it was needed, he could enter Little Mountain Jie through the jie river at any time.

But before that, he needed to increase his own strength. Otherwise, with his zhuji cultivation and despite his large wealth of jingshi, not a piece of him would remain. If he left, he would take the shidi with him.

He had found all the materials for the five essence sword set. Also, his cultivation, which hadn’t moved for such a long time, finally had started to grow.

At this time, it was better to control his personality and increase his own strength before anything else.

The re-forging of Water Drop sword was very quick, only taking one day. He added a piece of fourth-grade Crimson Fire Rock. Even though that did not elevate it to fourth-grade, it rose to the top of third-grade. The outer layer of the Water Drop sword had an additional aura of bright red flame that constantly burned.

Zuo Mo renamed it [Water Fire Sword].

The Teeth Vine was soaked in a “ling spring.” There were no ling springs on the Desolate Wood Reef. This ling spring was one that Zuo Mo made himself using formations. The effect was not as good as natural ling springs. Zuo Mo could only increase the time it spent in the water.

The ten days it should have taken to forge, were extended to thirty days by Zuo Mo.

The Blue Icicle Crystal, the Breath Rock, and the Fox Teeth were all fourth-grade materials. It was almost impossible for Zuo Mo at present to forge them. He could only process them into sword billets. When his cultivation reached ningmai and he had absorbed Golden Crow Fire, could he finish the forging.

All of his other time was spent on meditation.

In this period of time, even Pu Yao who usually disdained Zuo Mo’s cultivation, intelligently chose to remain silent. Also, Pu Yao was very busy in this time.

Zuo Mo received a flying sword message from his Master. On there, it said that Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had collapsed, and the sect decided to move to Bright Wave Jie. She told Zuo Mo to be careful and protect himself. It also told him he could enter other sects. If there was a chance, he could also go to Bright Wave Jie to find them.

Zuo Mo put the flying sword message into his ring, and turned back to his meditation.

On the Desolate Wood Reef, the black lake had been completely transformed.

The inky black pond water now glowed darkly. On the shore, a simple and old-fashioned stone altar had taken form. Thirty something little yao guards continuously took water from the black water pond and poured it onto the stone tiles of the altar.

The stone tiles were like sponges. No matter how much black water was poured onto the surface, they didn’t leave one drop behind.

Pu Yao looked at the altar, not saying a word.

The number of xiuzhe that passed through Desolate Wood Reef increased over the days. At the beginning, there were little crowds. After a while, it turned to a continuous flow.

The power of the Skyring Moon Chime formation was much higher than before, so the consumption of jingshi was also much higher. Each day, it needed twenty pieces of third-grade jingshi to remain active. However, even though it was very expensive, but the strength exuded by the Brahma sound ring, and the Skyring Moon Chime Formation, prevented the passing xiuzhe from daring to have any greedy thoughts.

The rumors were that the Black Wind Bandits had attacked the Desolate Wood Reef, but ended up all being annihilated. There were also rumors that Zuo Mo was selling Golden Crow Fire. As long as they could pay the price or had good things to trade, they could buy it at any time.

Each xiuzhe that came onto the island would ask around about these two pieces of news when they landed.

As the flow of people increased, Zuo Mo’s daily income also shot up. However, he didn’t have any time to put on it. Each day, he furiously meditated, hoping to quickly break through to ningmai.

In comparison, Lil’ Pagoda was living very well these past days. The large amounts of talismans and materials that Zuo Mo had gotten from the Black Wind Bandits were quite good. Since Zuo Mo could not use them, and there was no place he could sell them, he decided to feed it all to Lil’ Pagoda.

Lil’ Pagoda flowed with light. Compared to the fragility of the past, it seemed to be brimming with life.

The tip of the tower that had been as sharp as a sword was now much more round. The slender body seemed much broader. The past Five Colored Pagoda gave people the feeling of darkness and sharpness. Now, it was more lively and nimble, the aura of killing was much smaller. What Zuo Mo felt most strange about were the five little gourds appeared on the eaves of the first level.

The five little gourds were all of different colors, belonging to the five elements. They were the size of a grain of a rice. If Zuo Mo did not look closely, he wouldn’t have found them.

Zuo Mo and Lil’ Pagoda communicated many times on the use of the five little gourds. Lil’ Pagoda tried very hard to explain, but Zuo Mo didn’t understand even after a long time. Full of anticipation, Zuo Mo couldn’t do anything except throw the question to one side.

To Zuo Mo’s joy, Lil’ Pagoda spat out a piece of grey mud again. It was slightly larger than last time, about the size of his thumb. Zuo Mo put the little bit of grey mud into his ring.

The other shidi also knew now that the sect had already left Sky Moon Jie. Everyone’s mood became terrible. Some people joined other sects. Zuo Mo didn’t stop them. In situations like this, they were certainly free to enter other sects.

Power and responsibility were tied together. The sect surrendered their responsibilities to them. Accordingly, they also surrendered the power to constrain them.

All of Zuo Mo’s efforts were put on cultivation.

He could feel his cultivation progressing extremely quickly. On a certain day, he finally started his charge at ningmai!

Chapter 197: Ningmai!

The ling power inside Zuo Mo’s body was thick like a cloud as it filled his channels. If it was not being channeled they would be abnormally quiet and flow extremely slow as though they had stopped.

This was a characteristic unique to zhuji ling power. The ling power in Zuo Mo’s body was thick like rain clouds, showing that his cultivation had reached the peak of zhuji.

The reason that his cultivation had grown so rapidly recently was all due to a strange repulsion at the little holes in his dantian. Before, any ling power he absorbed would spill from the little holes. Right now, the holes still existed but the ling power in his dantian would not spill and leave.

Zuo Mo was very suspicious that this strange repelling force was caused by the draw of earth energy away from his body as this began occurring after the earth energy had tempered his body.

However, the mysteries of channels were not something a little person like Zuo Mo could understand. He quickly threw it to the back of his mind and started to cultivate.

The cloud-like ling power relentlessly circulated in his body. Zuo Mo had already maintained this for four hours. His ling power was active while his mind and body were all at their best condition.

He started to charge into ningmai!

All the ling power in his body were roused, they started to flow through the channels at a speed Zuo Mo was familiar with.

Ningmai, or concentrating channels, required condensing the mist-like ling power into liquid form ling power. The simplest way was to continuously absorb ling power thus increasing the density of ling power causing it to condense from gas into liquid.

However, the process was not so simple when this condensation occurred in real life. After one’s cultivation reached the peak of zhuji, they would encounter resistance when they absorbed ling power. If they could not absorb ling power they could not increase the density of ling power.

Many people found themselves stuck at this gate into ningmai.

There were many ways to break through to the stage of ningmai, such as lingdan. The markets would sell Ningmai Dan. The success rate was high but not everyone liked to use them. Different than zhuji, those in ningmai stage started to comprehend the laws of the world. The breakthrough to ningmai was a wonderful opportunity to comprehend all kinds of laws. Xiuzhe who had confidence and high aspirations for themselves usually would not chose the Ningmai Dan but to comprehend by themselves.

Zuo Mo chose to comprehend it himself.

With his present wealth it was very easy to buy a Ningmai Dan, but he was understood that the easier the beginning was the easier it was to trip at later stages. If he walked more steadily at the beginning, even if he suffered more, the beneficial it would be for him later.

He had grown in this half year, and with the recent battle he had grown rapidly.

This kind of growth was not just in cultivation and formations, it was also the growth of his mind. Continuously encountering certain things caused him to understand many things. Even though it was hard to change his habit of taking shortcuts when possible, but regarding cultivation, he was abnormally steadfast.

Carefully channeling the ling power in his body his spiritual leaf hand opened like a flower. Any change in his ling power would be instantly detected by the leaf hand.

Using spiritual power had become Zuo Mo’s instinct. After he started [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] he became used to using his consciousness in any situation.

This habit had given him many benefits. He became even more determined to persist in this habit.

The mist-like ling power continuously magnified in front of his eyes. He could even see tinier wisps of ling power swimming within. They were like a group of tadpoles. They appeared to be one but the interior was made up of countless little entities.

There was a weak attraction between wisps of ling power, but as the ling power in the channels continued to increase there was a kind of repulsion that occurred between the ling power. The amount of ling power in the channels had reached a limit!

For some reason, Zuo Mo suddenly thought of Wu Kong Mountains, thought of the time that he had been farming in ling fields at Wu Kong Mountain.

A faint sorrow slowly flowed at the bottom of his heart. The ling power inside his body seemed to feel his emotions and instantly slowed down.

It took only a short while for Zuo Mo to fight his way out of the sadness. The world could not be predicted. He had started to learn how to deal with these emotions. He didn’t hold any hatred towards Wu Kong Sword Sect. The sect leader’s choice was not wrong at the core. With the exception of a few conservative and extremely old sects the great majority of sects were extremely mobile.

He just had never thought this would happen to him.

Focusing Zuo Mo controlled his thoughts and brought his attention back on his ling power.

He knew why he would suddenly recall farming ling fields on Wu Kong Mountain. The mist made him think of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain].

He was so familiar with the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] he couldn’t be any more familiar. It was the spell out of the five basic spells that he had the deepest comprehension of. For a long time, he had relied on it to not starve.

Wasn’t the the process of ningmai just transforming water element power to rain?

The [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] required first to use the spell to gather water element power. When the power reached a certain level, it would form water drops and fall as rain, nurturing the ling fields.

The two were so similar!

How did ling rain form? Zuo Mo was too familiar. In the past, in order to study the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], he almost took apart everything in the the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain].

Water element power was invisible and intangible. It could not directly turn to water drops. There were two requirements: one was having enough water element power, the other was collisions. The water element power had to collide among themselves. Only through mutual collisions to overcome the repulsion between the water element power could water drops form. The water drop would increase in size and condense in the air.

One way worked so it worked for ten thousand problems.

Zuo Mo’s thoughts became abnormally clear and he was very confident that his direction was not wrong.

Since the ling power in his body had reached a limit and no matter how he tried, he could not absorb any more ling power, then what he needed to do now was to cause the ling power to collide.

To cause the collisions in [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], Zuo Mo used turbulence in the air. The changes in air flow would cause the water element power to continuously collide.

Naturally, this method would not work on ling power. Other than ling power, the channels did not contain anything else.

His direction was not wrong. What he had to find now was a realistic method.

After thinking for a while, he thought of a way. Smashing ling power!

If he split his ling power into two parts and then made them smash into each other at high speeds, would that accomplish the effects of a collision?

His mind became alert. It would be difficult for others to use their mind for two things at once, but he possessed the leaf hand, it wasn’t a problem.

He didn’t rashly start but continued to sit and ponder.

He thought through every possible problem that he could think off. Some questions that he didn’t know the answers to, he would only know when he tried it.

Zuo Mo decided to start experimenting.

He split the ling power inside his body to two parts

The spiritual leaf hand started to shake, two portions of ling power started to move along their own paths. One half of ling power flowed through the channels on his left side, revolving clockwise. The other half of his ling power flowed through the channels on his right and revolved counter-clockwise.

Zuo Mo’s mind was clear, untainted by mortal matters, no sorrow or joy.

On his body, there was none of the frugality and worldliness that he usually had, but a faint and clean aura.

His ling power circulated while gradually speeding up.

The reason that low level xiuzhe attacks were so weak, besides their cultivation, was that they were limited by the speed the ling power circulated through their body. When high level xiuzhe thought, their ling power would be like a tsunami, and a killing move would form. For low level xiuzhe, even if they managed to respond in time, and channeled the ling power in their body, the time that was needed was much longer than high level xiuzhe.

But as Zuo Mo continued to speed up the circulation, the speed of the two groups of ling power had reached the limits of his endurance. His channels started to hurt.

The intensity was pretty much enough!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. The two high speed flows of ling power moved simultaneously from up and down towards his dantian!

The dantian was the place chose for the collision. Compared to the narrow channels, the dantian was much broader and the amount of ling power it could tolerate was much higher.

This held a certain degree of danger. The dantian was the nexus of all the channels in the body. If he made a mistake then it would be a calamity.

Cultivation was to go against the natural order and it was full of dangers. This was just ningmai. If his cultivation deepened, he would encounter more dangers such as heart demons and heavenly tribulations, and risk the destruction of his soul at any time.

Knowing that there was danger, Zuo Mo’s mind was abnormally clear without any fear.

Two high speed ling power flows charged into the dantian and collided without any finesse!

Zuo Mo’s body shook, his head ringing. It was as though he had been struck by a large hammer. He felt his body boil. There was an instant where his soul was outside his body, his mind completely blank, not knowing what was happening.

But when Zuo Mo woke up, he felt his body was unspeakably comfortable, soft and relaxed, so comfortable that he wanted to groan!

Zuo Mo did not sink into this comfort. He carefully inspected the changes in the ling power at his dantian.

A strange scene was occurring in front of him.

The two flows of mist that had ran head first at each other merged into a ball of ling power, and this ling power ball was slowly drizzling rain.

The feeling of comfort was from the ling power raining down at the dantian.

As the ling power continued to collide, the ling power rain constantly rained down on the dantian. In a little while, the dantian turned to a little pond.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed!

These water-like ling power meant that Zuo Mo had successfully entered ningmai!

He suppressed the happiness inside and carefully channeled the two streams of ling power. When all the ling power had collided, that was completion!

The ling power fell like rain.

Zuo Mo patiently waited for the last thread of ling power to turn collide into drops and land in the ling power pond below.

Feeling his dantian was hollow, Zuo Mo took out a piece of jingshi and furiously absorbed.

When the ling power was absorbed inside his body, he repeated the process and turned the ling power into liquid. Zuo Mo absorbed three pieces of third-grade jingshi before his dantian felt slightly filled.

He stopped.

Opening his eyes, he could not disguise the joy he felt. The ling power in his body was three times what he had in zhuji. This now was just after he had broken through.

He finally understood why ningmai was so much stronger than zhuji.

At some unknown time, his body had become wet, a sticky black layer pasted onto his body and emitting a nasty odour.

Zuo Mo hurriedly cast the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] and washed his body clean. The black substance were impurities from his body.

After finishing, Zuo Mo felt his body was filled with ling power, unable to stop himself from howling.

Lil’ Pagoda that was in charge of the [Sky Ring Moon Chime] Formation simultaneously started the formation with a ring from the Buddha Sound Hoop.

All of Desolate Wood Reef could hear it.

Chapter 198: What Is The Situation?

After venting his joy, Zuo Mo gradually calmed down. He quickly made a new discovery. His vision had little tiny threads.

What was this?

Zuo Mo’s heart moved and he started using his scripture.

As expected, these strands flowed towards him.

Ling energy!

So that was how ling energy looked in the air! Zuo Mo suddenly realized. Quickly, another question popped up in his head. Then where did the ling energy in the air come from? Ling veins? Then where did ling veins come from… …

Zuo Mo laughed. Not even jindan experts could explain these topics. He was just a ningmai, what was the use in thinking so much?

He brought his attention back to his body. Now that he broke through to ningmai there were many places that needed a reassessment.

If someone asked Zuo Mo what the dominant feeling of ningmai was, then it was the feeling of enough ling power!

The ling power in his body was three times what it had been previously. The feeling of having enough ling power was extremely pleasurable, as though his body was filled with power. The lack of ling power had been his biggest limit before. Now that he had broken through the limit it was an exhilarating feeling. The spells that he could not complete before he could easily cast them now.

This was just the first stratum of ningmai.

He made a rough guess of the ling power inside his body. It was about three jing. When one reached ningmai, the ling power inside the body was measured with a new unit— jing. The ling power of one jing was the ling power contained in a standard third-grade jingshi.

The peak of the first stratum of ningmai was about ten jing.

After that, he would reach a period of steady growth.

The ling power in ningmai was far purer than in zhuji. There was a change of properties in regard to power and control.

Zuo Mo flipped his hands, threads of fire began dancing. In an instant a Four Turn fire formation had taken form. There was none of the previous difficulty. The feeling of ease made it enjoyable for Zuo Mo.

Previously, when he then tried using Li Water Burning Heavens, this move would have taken half of his ling power, but now it was easily accomplished. The flame like water carried a killing intent with it. Zuo Mo, having killed now, had a slight aura of killing that he did not have before. The plentiful ling power flooded through the sword, the water-shaped flame was abnormally detailed.

Ling power was the foundation of a xiuzhe. Without ling power even if one had the best talismans, they could not be used. An example were fourth-grade talismans; to use killing moves with flying swords under fourth-grade, it would usually take one jing of ling power. Zuo Mo was able to use it three times now. In zhuji, he could only just manage it once.

Li Water Burning Heavens was a killing move. Zuo Mo had to almost use half of his ling power to use it one. Now that his ling power was more pure the expenditure was also less. He could easily cast it ten times.

To use an intermediate fourth-grade flying sword to cast a killing move, it would use approximately two jing of ling power.

Good talismans were powerful, but the ling power they consumed were also very terrifying. Not everyone could use them. Only the best talismans were powerful and used little ling power, like the soul-tethered talismans. But those talismans were a matter of luck.

The exhilarated Zuo Mo furiously worked himself.

———

Chun Yu Cheng carefully inspected the butterfly chrysalises in the beast pool. Three butterfly chrysalis silently hung on the wall of the best pool. The patterns on each of the butterfly chrysalis were different. One was multi-colored, another was faint blue, and the last one was grey and nondescript. Of the six infant worms, only three had become chrysalises. This success rate was not very high, but Chun Yu Cheng was not demotivated instead he was full of anticipation.

The transformation process of the three infant larva had been completely different than any he had seen before. From the patterns on the chrysalises, the three ling butterflies would be different types.

This point made him sigh. In his previous experience, he had never encountered this kind of situation. The treatment of the three infant larva had not been different. Theoretically, the mature ling butterflies should have been the same type, and only differed in quality.

The more he studied the beast pool, the more wondrous he found the beast pool.

He still held a grudge about the incident with the Black Wind Bandits. That feeling of helplessness, of only being able to watch, he would never forget in his life. Having been stimulated, he put two hundred percent of his effort into these ling butterflies.

Being abandoned by the sect was not a huge blow to him. He had only been in Wu Kong Sword Sect for a short period of time, and didn’t have a strong sense of belonging to the sect. He knew that many of the shixiong were leaving, but he did not go with them.

After these days, his confidence in Zuo Mo far surpassed his confidence in sects.

Compared to the tragic outlook of other people, he felt this situation was pretty good. At least, Zuo Shixiong would not be restained by the sect, his future prospects may even be better. Gongsun Cha Shidi also did not leave. The three most powerful people in this group were still together.

Those people that left would definitely regret it, he thought.

Quickly, he threw those thoughts far away, his eyes staring at the beast pool.

Sounds of footsteps came over. He didn’t turn around. A head appeared over his shoulder.

“How is it?” Gongsun Cha asked in a low voice.

The two of them chose to stay and their relationship had become close. Gongsun Cha was a butcher, but they hadn’t hunted any ling beasts recently, so he was very idle. Zuo Mo was in seclusion everyday so he only had Chun Yu Cheng’s company.

The duty of taking the tolls landed on Gongsun Cha’s body. This guy looked gentle and refined but his face was thick, his heart dark, and extremely brave. Facing ningmai experts, he wasn’t timid at all, tearing pieces off. The docile Chun Yu cheng could only gape as he watched.

“Soon,” Chun Yu Cheng didn’t dare to move his eyes away, nervousness was apparent in his voice.

Gongsun Cha wasn’t so nervous. He looked in interest at the three chrysalises in the beast pool.

Boop, a light sound. The multi-colored chrysalis was the first to move. It first swayed and then something broke through and made a little hole. Chun Yu Cheng’s gaze became even more nervous.

A dash of multiple colors flashed through the little hole, and a nimble multi-colored butterfly appeared in the beast pool.

Joy came onto Chun Yu Cheng’s face.

Boop boop. Another two sounds. Soon, another two ling butterflies appeared in the beast pool, one grey, one blue.

Thee ling butterflies danced in the beast pool nimbly, but no matter how they flew, they could not fly out of the beast pool.

Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was excited. At the side, Gongsun Cha laughed, and hurriedly reminded, “Take a look!”

Hearing this, Chun Yu Cheng came back to his senses and his hands cast a spell. A dash of light flew out of his hands and accurately covered the multi-colored ling butterfly.

His eyes suddenly widened as though he had seen something he could not believe.

Gongsun Cha hurriedly asked, “How is it?”

Chun Yu Cheng’s lips trembled. He didn’t speak, his hands casting another spell covering another ling butterfly. His eyes that had been wide suddenly bulged, his lips trembling again!

“What is it, tell me!” Gongsun Cha’s curiosity had been stirred and he pressed for an answer.

Chun Yu Cheng still didn’t speak, his lips trembling without stopping like waves. His hands were not very smooth as they cast a spell, stuttering so much that he failed a few times before he succeeded.

Another dash of light flew out and covered the last ling butterfly.

It was like he was struck with a body paralysis curse, suddenly freezing and looking in a daze at the ling butterfly covered in the light.

“Is there a problem?” Gongsun Cha felt his heart was speeding up. He swore inside, damn it, this docile and reliable really guy knows how to whet someone’s appetite!

At this time, he suddenly heard Chun Yu Cheng shriek. He jumped in fright and turned over to face.

Chun Yu Cheng, face bright red, fell backwards like a piece of wood.

This, this … … what was this situation … …

Gongsun Cha gaped at he stood in his spot, not understanding what the situation was.

———

Zuo Mo contentedly came out of the lava cave. Having broken through into ningmai, the insecurity in his heart had lessened greatly. To say of nothing else, just stepping into ningmai, with the aid of the big formation of the Desolate Wood Reef, he wasn’t afraid of ningmai third stratum experts.

If he used some more thought, and forge the five essence sword set, his power would increase a few more fractions.

His howl had alarmed all of the Desolate Wood Reef. The xiuzhe that had been staying on the island instantly understood that Zuo Mo had broken through to ningmai. The xiuzhe that had previously been restless instantly became quiet. No matter how strong the formation was, before people saw it, many did not believe it.

Zuo Mo did not lack for fame, but what was also famous was his zhuji cultivation. In the eyes of the great majority, this point was enough to erase his advantages in other areas.

This was Sky Moon Jie, dominated by sword xiu Sky Moon Jie.

But now, Zuo Mo had managed to fill in the last shortcoming. In the hearts of others, Zuo Mo’s danger had risen linearly. A ningmai xiuzhe who could fight ningmai when he was in zhuji, his danger did not have to be stated now that he was in ningmai.

All of that didn’t have much to do with Zuo Mo. He was hungering after his five essence sword set, but before that, he had to first absorb Golden Crow Fire.

After the Stalagmite fire turned to Inky Black Lava White Fire, it was a third-grade fire seed. However, for the present Zuo Mo, it wasn’t quite enough. After a third-grade fire was used with the Four-Turn fire formation, it could barely process fourth-grade materials. It could barely forge fourth-grade materials like Fox Teeth and Blue Icicle Crystal into sword billets. But if he wanted to forge a flying sword, it was not enough.

For other people, finding a fourth-grade fire seed was as difficult as ascending to the Heavens, but for Zuo Mo, he completely did not have worry about this area.

The amount of Golden Crow Fire on his hands could be counted in double digits.

Golden Crow Fire was a rare fine quality specimen in fourth-grade fire seeds, and was one of the most sought after fire seeds.

But the problem that Zuo Mo faced was a difficult one. Was he to use the pure Golden Crow Fire to replace Inky Black Lava White Fire, or use the Golden Crow Fire as the primary body and merge it with Inky Black Lava White Fire?

Both actions had their advantages and disadvantages.

Pure Golden Crow Fire was undoubtedly strong in its power but its domineering and yang qualities made it so that it could be used to process a smaller range of items. If Inky Black Lava White Fire was added, the power would not be as good as pure Golden Crow Fire, but because it had many qualities it could be used to process a larger range of items. For example, it could process cold and icy items like the Blue Icicle Crystal, but pure Golden Crow Fire could not do that.

It really was a painful problem. Zuo Mo had a headache.

Just at this time, he saw Gongsun Cha pant as he ran over in a panic. Seeing him, the other shouted, “Shixiong, not good! Chun Shidi has fainted!”

Chapter 199: Beast Service Card

When Zuo Mo hurried to the beast pool, but when he saw the glowing Chun Yu Cheng, his stopped in his tracks.

“Didn’t you say he fainted?” Zuo Mo turned around and saw Gongsun Cha’s stunned face.

“He clearly … …”

Chun Yu Cheng became even more exuberant when he saw Zuo Mo and came charging over, “Shixiong Shixiong! Success! We’re successful!”

Zuo Mo didn’t know what was going on. “Success? What success?”

“Ling butterflies!” Chun Yu Cheng spread his hands. There were three jade cards in his hands

Beast Service Cards!

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up, and unconsciously raised his voice. “Really? Let me see!”

Beast Service Card, a piece of four cun long and one and a half cun jade board. There were lucky clouds at the four corners. At the very center, a butterfly was motionless. Holding it in his hand, Zuo Mo flipped it over several times.

“So this is a beast service card!” Gongsun Cha threw his previous inquiry to the back of his mind and crowded over.

Zuo Mo did not scorn Gongsun Cha’s excitement. It was the first time he had seen a beast service card as well. The earth-plowing earthworm and other ling beasts that he used before were too low in grade, and didn’t have the qualifications to use beast service cards. Only high grade ling beasts would need beast service cards.

To store a ling beast into the card was to process and then make it submit to the owner, so the beast would follow the owner’s orders. The beast service card was also the residence of the ling beast.

“What’s the grade of the three ling butterflies?” Zuo Mo still flipped and caressed the card.

The patterns on the three beast service cards were similar but all had their own characteristics. One of the cards had multicolored patterns, one was entirely blue, the last grey-white.

Chun Yu Cheng was full of pride. “The multicolored is the peak of third-grade, the rest are high third-grade.”

Facing the expectant eyes of the other two, he took the three beast service cards and introduced, “The ling butterfly that is multicolored has three spells, Rainbow Pupils, Illusion Poison, and Poison Change. I’ve never heard of the three spells before so I do not know what the effects are. Shixiong will need to investigate it yourself. Third-grade ling beasts that can use three spells naturally are the best of third-grade. But these three spells are really weird. The Dong Fu Poisonous Moth is only second-grade, why would this ling butterfly be primarily poisonous… …”

As he spoke, Chun Yu Cheng slowly wandered off the beaten path of conversation yet again.

Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha helplessly exchanged a look. It wasn’t the first time they had encountered this kind of situation. Chun Yu Cheng was a maniac about raising animals, so at any time, he could digress on a topic.

Zuo Mo lightly coughed.

Chun Yu Cheng seemed to wake from his dream, bashfully scratching his forehead, “Oh, let’s continue. This blue butterfly has two spells, but both are water element spells. It looks like it isn’t any different from Rain Mark Butterfly, but it definitely isn’t a Rain Mark Butterfly. So strange … …”

Seeing he was going to wander off again, Gongsun Cha hurriedly reminded, “The last one?”

“Oh,” Chun Yu Cheng was pulled back, “This grey butterfly is also very unique. It only has one spell, Ling Eye. This grey butterfly is most suitable for Gongsun Shidi. Ling Eyes can detect the density of ling energy. If it is used to dismember beasts, it is a great aid!”

Gongsun Cha did not hesitate in taking the grey butterfly’s beast service card from his hands, “This one is mine.”

Zuo Mo naturally chose the multi-colored beast service card. For things that he did not understand, he always followed the most basic rationale – choose the most expensive one.

Chun Yu Cheng did not have much interest in the remaining beast service card. “We should sell this one. High third-grade, it can sell for a pretty good price.”

Zuo Mo thought, and then shook his head. “Shidi, take it. The situation is not good now, if you have it, Shidi can have a measure of self-protection.”

“Exactly!” Gongsun Cha agreed.

“Okay,” Chun Yu Cheng nodded, “But my cultivation is low. If I want to process this beast service card, it would take a lot of time.”

“It’s worth it no matter how long you spend,” Zuo Mo said.

“Then the beast pool, we’re not using it anymore?” Chun Yu Cheng understood what Zuo Mo meant.

“No,” Zuo Mo shook his head. “Let’s destroy it so it won’t land on other people’s hands.”

Chun Yu Cheng and Gongsun Cha became silent, the mood instantly becoming heavy.

Seeing the two seem very dejected, especially Chun Yu Cheng, Zuo Mo comforted, “It’s fine. When we find a new place to rest, we can build a new one.”

Chun Yu Cheng finally looked more expectant.

Gongsun Cha suddenly said, “I just heard a shout before. Did Shixiong break into ningmai?”

“That was me,” Zuo Mo nodded.

The two instantly became lighter, the depression on their hearts sweeping away.

Chun Yu Cheng smiled and said, “That’s great! Shixiong is in ningmai, now I can sleep peacefully at night!” He was full of confidence in Zuo Mo.

Gongsun Cha did not speak, but there was a light in his eyes, the smile on his face unspeakably devious, “Our income isn’t bad recently. At least fifty or sixty people everyday, at max one hundred people. Each person is charged one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. Overall, the daily income is ten to twenty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi.”

“Ten to twenty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi … …” Zuo Mo sucked in a breath. All of his discomfort and dejection were instantly swept away. This terrifying number made his little heart beat rapidly.

A short time ago, one piece of fourth-grade jingshi was an enormous sum for him.

As expected, it was easy to get rich in troubled times!

Even bandit leaders like Zhang Hao only carried about ten or so pieces of fourth-grade jingshi on his body. That was Zuo Mo’s daily income now!

An enormous feeling of good fortune surrounded Zuo Mo. He felt he had never been so rich before!

Jingshi increase a person’s courage. Zuo Mo’s confidence shot up. So what if there was yaomo? These days, there were no monsters that could not be smashed to death with jingshi!

“Hee hee, according to my estimates, this is just the beginning. After a while, the migration will reach a peak. A conservative estimate would be five hundred xiuzhe passing through each day.” Gongsun Cha’s refined and delicate face smiled softly and darkly, making Chun Yun Cheng’s body feel cold.

“Five hundred … …” Zuo Mo felt so many jingshi were flying in front of his eyes, his heart was flying.

One person was one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, five hundred people, that was one hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi … …

No matter what the price of commodities had grown to now, one hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi was definitely a number with great purchasing power.

“However, this jingshi isn’t that easy to make,” Gongsun Cha slowly said.

Zuo Mo’s heated head instantly cleared, “What? People dare to plot against us?” When he said this, his voice was full of killing intent.

“Groups with many members may not be willing to pay,” Gongsun Cha said shortly.

Zuo Mo recovered from the blow of jingshi. That was right. If a group had many people, they would definitely not be willing to pay the toll. One hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi was fine for ningmai, but it was not an insignificant sum for zhuji xiuzhe.

A single person would be afraid of the formation on the island and the golden armor guards, but if there were many people, the situation would not be easy to control.

For jingshi, Zuo Mo had more enthusiasm than anyone, his brains calculating faster than anyone else.

“That’s easy. We can hire some ningmai sword xiu. One hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi a day. This price, we can hire many ningmai sword xiu.” Zuo Mo smirked, “I’m in ningmai now. I can expand the formation.”

“Who won’t give the jingshi, ge will destroy their souls!” Zuo Mo said hatefully.

Gongsun Cha’s eyes were bright while Chun Yu Cheng’s face was full of shock.

———

Hong Yang saw the little island coming up and released a breath inside. It wasn’t just him, the ten guards behind him also released a breath. Long flights were exhausting. There was a little island up head. They could finally rest for a while.

“That should be the Desolate Wood Reef. We can use the area to rest and recover. After two days, we will pass the jie river,” he ordered.

The ten guards protected him as they flew towards the Desolate Wood Reef.

Hong Yang was the storekeeper of a large merchant business who had been sent to Sky Moon Jie. He had recently received an order from the merchant house for him to take all of the store’s jingshi and important talismans to leave Sky Moon Jie and enter Little Mountain Jie.

When he received this order, he had almost assumed that someone was pretending to send a false order. Only when he personally went to confirm it did he know what was happening. So he took the ten strongest guards of the shop, and made a low-key escape to Little Mountain Jie.

As the procession flew near Desolate Wood Reef, they unconsciously slowed their speed.

In the sky above the Desolate Wood Reef, a golden sun hung high, countless golden threads falling down. Many rings of light were strung on the golden strings, occasionally chiming.

Before nearing, Hong Yang felt the domineering and pressuring presence from the formation.

Such a powerful formation!

He was shocked. He wasn’t a country bumpkin. To be able to manage the merchant business of one jie, his eyes were undoubtedly skilled.

“Ah!” One of the guards gasped in shock.

“What is it?” He couldn’t help ask.

“This formation seems a bit like the formation that the Sword Test Conference’s Zuo Mo used,” The guard pondered for a long time before saying, “But above Zuo Mo’s formation was a moon, this formation has a sun.”

“Zuo Mo … …” Hong Yang chewed on this name. One of the most accomplished disciples of Wu Kong Sword Sect, he naturally knew about him. But his information channels were wide. He also knew that Wu Kong Sword Sect had already moved to Bright Wave Jie. A core disciple like Zuo Mo definitely wouldn’t remain in Sky Moon Jie.

However, it was better to be careful. He was carrying large amounts of jingshi and talismans on his body and naturally had to be careful. Even more, the presence of the formation could not lie. No matter who was it that set up the formation, a person able to set up such a large formation wasn’t a simple person.

“This one’s group would like to borrow space to rest for a few days,” he shouted.

“Welcome, thank you for your patronage, each person one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi,” A soft voice passed out of the formation.

One person one hundred piece of third-grade jingshi … …

This was extortion! This definitely was extortion!

The ten guards instantly became angry. One hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi was enough to buy a pretty good third-grade talisman! The leader of the guards even had his flying sword in his hand.

Hong Yang still kept his calm. This price was very high, but it wasn’t as though he could not accept it. The other was not afraid to call a high price, they definitely had something they relied on.

“Alright!” Hong Yang did not hesitate in nodding.

The other did not seem to be afraid that he would go back on his word. The big formation moved, and revealed a passage.

“I’ll go first,” The leader of the guards did not forget his duty, and walked at the very front. He had the highest cultivation of all the guards. Of the ten guards, three were ningmai, the other seven were the peak of zhuji.

All of them acted as though they were facing a great enemy, their expressions nervous as they carefully proceeded into the passage.

Chapter 200: Peddling

As he entered the passage the shock in Hong Yang’s heart increased.

This jie river was the only passageway leading to Little Mountain Jie. He had crossed it so many times before that he had lost count. He remembered clearly this was the territory of Heart Lake Sword Sect and was guarded by a few disciples. He had had several interactions with these Heart Lake Sword Sect disciples. Every time he passed through he would give a few gifts to maintain a close the relationship.

He remembered those Heart Lake disciples had no interest in developing the Desolate Wood Reef so the Desolate Wood Reef was always very bare.

When did the Desolate Wood Reef become like this?

As he landed from the passage of the formation, what he saw along the way was high defenses, heavy jinzhi so much that if they put one foot out of the border, they would instantly be killed by the formation. The appearing and disappearing sounds landed in everyone’s eyes like an intangible killing intent. The group walked as though there was a sword at their backs, their bodies cold, hairs standing on end. Even the face of the guard leader went from bright to dimd He clearly was very wary.

Such a big formation could not have been built in one day.

The shock in Hong Yang’s heart increased, did Heart Lake Sword Sect do this? In reality, from the perspective of a businessperson Hong Yang felt that constructing a restricted area here was a very profitable business.

He decided to wait and see. One hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi per person was just a small number to him, but from the perspective of others, it was a just a reckless toll; it did not seem like something a big sect like Heart Lake Sword Sect would do.

What he was most afraid off was there would be no limit to the other’s demands. Luckily, he had brought almost all the elite of the merchant house with him. Of the ten guards, three were ningmai experts, the others were all peak of zhuji.

As expected, when the world was in disorder anything could occur, Hong Yang sighed.

Welcoming him was a delicate and handsome youth and three golden armor guards.

The youth had a friendly smile on his face. His cultivation was not high, just zhuji.

Hong Yang’s gaze landed on the three guards behind him, and he was stunned. Not just him, even the leader of the guards and the two other ningmai guards changed expression.

The three guards were completely covered in golden armor, only revealing their eyes. The three’s gazes were cold and indifferent, without a hint of emotion. Their killing intent was tangible, each person was holding an exaggeratedly large broadsword that seemed designed to made people feel even more intimidated.

Where did these three come from?

The heart of the guard leader sunk to the bottom. The brutality revealed by the aura of the three golden armor guards surpassed any bandit he had ever encountered! All three made his heart move and feel a strong sense of danger. He knew what this meant. It meant that the cultivation of all three people were higher than him!

Hong Yang’s heart was even more stunned. The gap between his cultivation and the three golden armor guards was even larger, so he felt it even more strongly. Ningmai! These three were actually ningmai! In an instant, he was able to judge the other was of uncommon origins.

In Sky Moon Jie, ningmai was the most powerful xiuzhe that could be hired, and even then it was very difficult to hire them. The three ningmai guards under his command had been sent by the merchant house. He had tried to hire his own but had never succeeded.

His eyes landed on the three.

The flying swords that the three golden armor guards were wearing, the golden ling armor covering their bodies, they were not ordinary!

“Your patronage is one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi per person,” The youth’s voice was not loud, refreshing and clear as the spring wind.

Hong Yang refreshingly took out the jingshi he prepared and handed over, smiling and said, “What is this little brother called?”

“Uncle can call me Gongsun Cha,” Gongsun Cha smiled as he took the jingshi. Calculating the income today, the smile on his face became greater.

“Oh, so it is Little Gongsun Brother!” Hong Yang bowed with his hands, and pretended to be surprised, “Your sect is? This one has passed the Desolate Wood Reef many times, and has never seen the island so prosperous, your sect really is good at managing!”

Gongsun Cha smiled, “We are roaming xiu, no sect.”

Roaming xiu? Hong Yang almost spat blood. Was he kidding, the roaming xiu of Sky Moon Jie, how could they have such power?

Gongsun Cha pointed at a row of houses. “You can find a place to rest. No one will disturb you. If you need supplies, not far up ahead is a shop. Of course, the items will be a bit more expensive. You can rest, and leave at anytime, However, if you wish to enter again, you will need to pay the fee again.”

Finishing, Gongsun Cha left. He was a very busy person.

Seeing the other did not show signs of making more demands, Hong Yang’s heart finally rested. He was transporting an astonishing number of talismans, and naturally was very nervous, being suspicious along the trip.

They walked in the direction that Gongsun Cha had pointed in towards the houses.

The houses were very simple, each yard made from normal rocks without any decoration, and no comfort to speak of. However, many of the houses were occupied. Hong Yang suddenly stopped, “Is it Long Zhen Sanren?”

A middle-aged xiuzhe drinking in the yard suddenly raised his head, joyful surprise on his face, “Storekeeper Hong!” He hurriedly to stand and greet, “Come in, come in, I didn’t think I would encounter Storekeeper Hong here, lucky lucky!”

Hong Yang motioned for the guards to guard the outside and walked in with the leader of the guards. He smiled and said, “Sanren’s relaxed attitude, this little brother has never been able to learn it.”

“Haha! Brother Hong always talks so well. Come come come, sit sit sit!” Long Zheng Sanren said.

Hong Yang was not courteous and sat down opposite Long Zhen Sanren. Long Zhen Sanren was one of his old acquaintances, and they had known each other before he had became the storekeeper and had kept in contact after that. Long Zhen Sanren was dedicated to cultivation. A decade ago, he had already broken through to ningmai second stratum, his present cultivation was unknown.

“Does Sanren know the history of the island owner?” Hong Yang asked in a low voice.

“Ha ha, Old Brother must have just entered the island,” Long Zhen Sanren seemed to have expected that Hong Yang would ask, and said with the smile. “Old Brother definitely would not be unfamiliar with the owner of the island. This island was originally the property of Heart Lake Sword Sect, and then it switched to Wu Kong Sword Sect. Their disciple, Zuo Mo, was sent to guard this place.”

“Didn’t Wu Kong Sword Sect move to Bright Wave Jie?” Hong Yang could help but ask.

“Ha ha, Zuo Mo does not belong to a sect now, so he is the owner of the island,” Long Zhen Sanren.

Hong Yang stilled and then gasped, “Impossible! How can Wu Kong Sword Sect abandon their core disciple? Even more, it is Zuo Mo!” The leader of the guards behind him also had a face full of disbelief. Such a talented disciple as Zuo Mo, no sect would easily abandon him.

“I don’t understand what had happened, but right now, the master of the island is undoubtedly Zuo Mo,” Long Zhen Sanren suddenly remembered something, “Speaking of it, Old Brother really came at a good time!”

“Oh, how so?” Hong Yang still hadn’t recovered from the last shock and asked instinctively.

“This Zuo Mo is really a genius. He astounded everyone by making the Golden Crow Pill before. Now, somehow, he made Golden Crow Fire!” Long Zhen Sanren sighed.

“Golden Crow Fire!” Hong Yang jumped in fright, “Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire?”

“Yes, that Golden Crow Fire!” Long Zhen Sanren smiled, “So I say that Old Brother really came at a good time. The news has not spread yet. Otherwise, countless people would have headed here already.”

“Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire … …” Hong Yang muttered.

Long Zhen Sanren took a drink of tea, “I heard the news when I encountered Bo Feng on the road. Pity that I have no power to purchase it. Old Brother, you might not know, but the Black Wind Bandits attacked this place, but they were all killed!”

He shook his head, sighing, “I was dumbstruck when I heard this news. All killed! And it was the Black Wind Bandits! If Wu Kong Sword Sect learned this, they would be so regretful. Zhuji and able to kill the Black Wind Bandits, we have really wasted our lives.”

“Just a few days earlier, he broke through to ningmai. Such a genius, I have never heard of one like him!”

Hong Yang seemed to be struck by lightning, his entire head ringing. Long Zhen Sanren had given him too much news, so much he needed time to digest it. They chatted for a little more before he bid farewell. He needed to digest all this.

———

The next day, he found Gongsun Cha.

“I heard that the island is selling Golden Crow Fire. This one wishes to buy.”

Gongsun Cha brought Hong Yang to Zuo Mo.

When Hong Yang saw Zuo Mo, the stone in his heart landed. Zuo Mo could be considered one of the most talented and famous youths in Sky Moon Jie, and he was skilled in making dan. His business reputation had been very good before.

When he heard about the Golden Crow Fire, he couldn’t sit still. Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire was not something that he could buy when he wanted to. If he had a chance to buy it, his heart moved. If he could buy Golden Crow Fire, it could be counted as a large achievement. When he returned to the merchant house, his status would rise.

Also, the clever Hong Yang had other plans. Other than Golden Crow Fire, Zuo Mo’s personal wealth was extremely large. This kind of person was the high-end customer that business people liked the most.

“You want to buy Golden Crow Fire?” Zuo Mo looked at Hong Yang, his mood well. Finally, someone was coming to buy Golden Crow Fire!

“Yes!” Hong Yang said, “Can this one take a look at the true face of Golden Crow Fire?”

The other’s carefulness did not make Zuo Mo feel displeasure. This meant that the other truly had interest in buying. He took out a mini box, opened it and pushed it in front of Hong Yang.

A pure gold flame jumped in the box, the yang and domineering presence filled the room.

Hong Yang was slightly excited.

Golden Crow Fire! As expected, it really was Golden Crow Fire! And it was very pure.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Hong Yang asked, “How does Mister Zuo plan on selling this. On the market now, Golden Crow Fire of this quality, the price is usually about two pieces of fourth-grade jingshi.”

Hong Yang’s price was very just. However, Zuo Mo who heard the other meaning in Hong Yang’s words, followed along and said, “Does Storekeeper Hong have a suggestion?”

Hong Yang knew the following was the most crucial time, and would test his skill as a salesperson. He seemed to have returned to those days as an apprentice. He was slightly excited.

He said, “This one does not have much jingshi now, but have some interesting things that Mister Zuo might find interesting.”

“Interesting things?” Zuo Mo reacted very quickly. He hadn’t thought that he would become the target of a sales pitch.

However, he decided to see what the other could take out first.

Chapter 201: Armed To The Teeth

Zuo Mo was dazzled by the talismans in front of him.

Noticing the change in Zuo Mo’s eyes, Hong Yang was very proud.

He took out a pair of silver wings the size of his palm.

“Look, this pair of Thunder Flowing Light Wings are intermediate fourth-grade. It is the upgraded version of Thunder Wings. As fast as lighting and famed for its speed. This pair of Thunder Flowing Light Wings was forged by jindan experts. Other than its peerless speed, its consumption of ling power was made to be very low. At full speed, it would use one jing of ling power every two hours, and if it was at eighty percent of its speed, it would only use half a jing every two hours. Such a fine item, it only is sixty piece of fourth-grade jingshi!”

Zuo Mo did not hesitate in nodding. “I’ll take it!”

Do you want to taste the extreme speed? Zuo Mo was too familiar with the advertisement for Thunder Wings. Even more this was Thunder Flowing Light Wings, an even better version. It was much faster. Lightning sparked around the palm-sized wings extremely beautifully.

Hong Yang was joyous. Before he could speak, he heard Zuo Mo add, “Four pairs!”

Four pairs! Two hundred and forty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi! Hong Yang felt like a blooming flower, a feeling of happiness spreading through his body. This trip was worth it!

Big customer! Definitely a big customer!

Look, the presence, the spending, this was the biggest whale among whales.

Hong Yang was excited, completely excited. He perceptively discovered just how full Zuo Mo’s wallet was.

It was as though he was shot up with chicken’s blood, he felt the blood in his body burning as though it was exploding. He suppressed the impulse to shout. He sounded the horn of battle!

“Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves, referring to everything in the universe. Low fourth-grade, not extremely fine, but very practical. Wearing these gauntlets it means having the power of ten thousand, one sword strike will be able to break open a mountain, unable to be stopped! If it was just this , I would be ashamed to take it out. Its biggest benefit is it uses almost no ling power. Even zhuji can wear it. Twenty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi, a beautiful price!”

“Buy!” Putting it on to try, Zuo Mo did not hesitate in nodding. “Four pairs!” He thought of the three golden armor guards wearing the gloves. Adding on their exaggerated red broadswords, they could just charge through his enemies. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be excited.

“Seven Star Sword Boots, intermediate fourth-grade, the Seven Star Step Method is wondrous, unable to be predicted. As long as you are wearing it, you can easily avoid all kinds of attacks, your steps traceless, the best item for short-range movement. Other than that, it has a Seven Star Sword Formation, if you step in a Seven Stars pattern, the formation would take form automatically, making your attacks undefendable. Each pair is only seventy four fourth-grade jingshi.”

“Buy!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright, as he unhesitatingly nodded. “Four pairs!”

Hong Yang completely got into the rhythm, despite having never been as excited as he was now. “Same Heart Necklace. This is a rare upper fourth-grade talisman. It can be called great craftsmanship. It is able to let your mind connect to six others. The best aid to melee fighting! One hundred and fifty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!”

Zuo Mo’s eyes could not move away. He instantly nodded. “Buy!”

This was truly a good thing!

He instantly got the three golden armor guards to come over. He put on the Same Heart Necklace, and cast the corresponding spell. He instantly felt three clear intangible connections. His mind moved, and one of the golden armor guards suddenly went forward three steps.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. With this necklace, his offensive strength was elevated.

“This is Snake Pupil Belt … …”

The battle was not finished … …

———

When Hong Yang went back to his residence, he was still somewhat dazed. What he had experienced today had been like a dream. Zuo Mo had almost cleared out all the talismans in his ring. He had never encountered a customer as rich as this one, it was too scary!

Thinking about the little pile of mini boxes in his ring, the feeling of surrealism became even stronger.

This time, he really made a profit!

———

Zuo Mo saw the golden armor guards armed to the teeth, and grinned. All fourth-grade talismans that dazzled a person’s eyes. The present golden armor guards could be described by one phrase only — — deadly weapons!

Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng were dumbstruck. Was this xiuzhe? It was three display racks for talismans!

Any place that a talisman could be hung on the body of the golden armor guard, Zuo Mo did not leave it empty.

Hands holding the crimson fire broadsword, bodies covered in golden armor, feet encased in Seven Star Sword Boots, hands wearing Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves, waist tied with the Snake Pupil Belt, and Thunder Flowing Light Wings on the back!

Red, green, gold, silver, with Zuo Mo’s terrible sense of beauty, there naturally was no beauty here. Everyone’s first thought when they would see this was only be — — nouveau riche! So rich!

It was like those rich country bumpkins plating their teeth in gold, wanting everyone to know.

Even Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng felt disdain. But other than that, it evoked deep fright. The thick killing intent spilling from the three golden armor guards made one have to directly look and judge the terrifying power contained under this ugly grandeur!

Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng also received many talismans, mostly for life-saving and escaping. The two of them did not have any fighting power at all. If they had offensive talismans, they wouldn’t even be able to use a fraction of its power. However, the husbandry and butchery jade scrolls and life-saving talismans made the two smile. Especially Gongsun Cha. After he received the white medal, it was hard to progress as jade scrolls were hard to find.

Other than talismans, Zuo Mo had bought large amounts of materials from Hong Yang, especially some fourth-grade materials.

However, this furious shopping spree had emptied him of Golden Crow Fire.

But Zuo Mo did not care. He could gather Golden Crow Fire at any time. It wasn’t difficult for him. With this batch of talismans, to say of nothing else, their offensive power had multiplied. He had the confidence to face anyone under jindan.

However, what he felt demotivated by was the golden armor guards seemed born to fight. Compared to himself, they did not seem to need to practice to easily use the talismans to reach their full potentials. Zuo Mo gaped.

Deeply struck, Zuo Mo could only slowly adjust. Like the Seven Star Sword Boots, if he needed to activate the sword formation, he needed to do seven steps after the other in the correct locations.

———

When the fully armored golden armor guards appeared on the Desolate Wood Reef the next day, they caused a small disturbance. Any xiuzhe that saw them couldn’t help but have a stunned expression.

Hong Yang didn’t dare to stay long, leaving the next day.

Pu Yao coldly looked at the gradually shrinking black water lake. The black water lake was only a quarter of the size it had been originally. Those human-like monsters were continuously transporting black water from the lake to the altar.

The old-fashioned and crude altar was now completely black without any glow.

“Almost there,” Pu Yao muttered. He blew out black air. Those human-like monsters once again landed in the lake water.

After that, he waved his sleeve. Large amounts of materials were added to the lake water, many of them ones that Zuo Mo had bought from Hong Yang. The black lake water started to bubble, like a boiling pot of porridge.

Pu yao’s right palm opened slightly, a red-black flame appeared at the center of his pal,

Hiss!

His hand did not move, but the red-black flame suddenly turned into a fire dragon and charged at the altar.

The red-black fire flamed as it surrounded the altar, the flames flickering and enchanting.

Pu Yao inhaled deeply, his hands reaching out.

His hands changed movements. His slightly closed bloody eye suddenly widened, commanding lightly, “Rise!”

The altar that was shrouded in fire rose at command and started to fly towards the black lake, only slowly landing as it reached the center of the lake. As it carried the flames that were so red they were almost black, it floated at the center of the lake.

Pu Yao’s expression was solemn, his eyes focused, not daring to slip, as his hands changed shape again.

It was like the fire was poured on oil, spreading across the surface of the black water. In a blink, the entire black water lake was shrouded in flame.

Pu Yao finally released a breath. He reached out his hand, the black water lake dramatically shrinking until it became palm sized. Then the mini lake flew into his hand, the surrounding flame silently burning.

After being forged for many more months, the Nether Pool could form!

A deep exhaustion came from his body. Pu Yao felt unspeakably tired and sighed lightly inside. The present him was so weak.

———

Zuo Mo’s excitement had not faded. He had never bought so many talismans before, and so many fourth-grade talismans!

The feeling of being so rich was so good!

“Not bad, you are at ningmai.” Pu Yao suddenly appeared, He seemed slightly exhausted. “Then let’s continue with the earth energy.”

Zuo Mo felt as though a bucket of cold water was poured on his head.

Drawing out earth energy! He finally understood what was extreme grief born of extreme joy … …

It was alright though; this had benefits for him, so Zuo Mo comforted himself in this way.

Pu Yao’s actions were unusually fast. In a blink, the earth energy inside Zuo Mo’s body was cleanly swept away. Zuo Mo dropped to the ground, paralyzed, his body occasionally convulsing. Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo on the ground. His face showed pleasured, before he disappeared.

Zuo Mo’s mind was blank.

It was four hours later when his numb mind finally recovered.

Why, why was the feeling this time was stronger than before?

Was it a side effect of breaking through to ningmai?

Before, he had assumed that he had gradually adjusted to the pain of earth energy being forcibly drawn out, he hadn’t thought the pain would suddenly increase. Without any preparation, Zuo Mo instantly became a tragedy.

———

A female stared at the large river in front of her. Behind her was a silent and solemn, well-organized troop.

“Have you found out?”

“Yes!” A middle-aged man said respectfully, “The location of Stars in Daytime is Sky Moon Jie. It was not long ago, about a year ago.”

“One year ago … …” The female sighed lightly. “I’m very curious which daren it is.”

The middle-aged man’s eyes were filled with a fanatical heat. “A daren that could escape from the Yao Forging Tower, it definitely is a daren that managed to survive the Thousand Year Great War!”

“Thousand Year Great War … … a long time ago.”

“Miss!”

“Nothing, I’m just reflecting.” The female smiled. “Our generation is very lucky.”

“Yes!” The middle-aged man couldn’t help but be excited.

“Have there been any suspicious targets?” The female asked.

“Not yet.” The middle-aged male gave a realistic plan. “We have already found the jie rivers to Sky Moon Jie. We only need to lock the jie rivers, and we will have plentiful time to slowly investigate.”

“Alright, it is a stupid method.”

“Yes! Our previous infiltrators were impeded by others, so … …”

“Nothing, stupid methods are more effective sometimes.” The female waved her hand.

“Yes.”

Glancing at the jie river, the female said, “Depart.”

“Yes!”

Chapter 202: Territory Intrusion

Zuo Mo played with the beast service card in his hand, as a multi-colored butterfly flew around him. Chun Yu Cheng named this multi-colored butterfly Rainbow Mark Butterfly, it was the most outstanding ling beast he had ever raised up until now.

Zuo Mo could feel an extremely weak presence come from the Rainbow Mark Butterfly. The thoughts were very weak, and there were many images that were indistinct. This was a characteristic unique to low level ling beasts. The higher the grade of the ling beast, the more intelligent it would be. High level ling beasts were not much different than xiuzhe.

This Rainbow Mark Butterfly was only third-grade, and its intelligence just forming. Naturally, there would be many messages that Zuo Mo could not understand.

However, it could accurately understand Zuo Mo’s orders and was very obedient. The beast pool had been constructed to make jingshi. He had never thought that he wouldn’t lack for jingshi now. So the batch of ling butterflies had been turned from a business product into for their own use.

The Rainbow Mark Butterfly was the most outstanding of the three ling butterflies. It had three spells: Rainbow Pupils, Illusion Poison, Poison Change.

He ordered the Rainbow Mark Butterfly to cast the Rainbow Pupils. The Rainbow Mark Butterly lightly fluttered its wings, a rainbow light landed on Zuo Mo’s body. His eyes were suddenly covered in a layer of faint five-colored light. Zuo Mo felt the world in front of him change.

Everything he saw was grey-white.

The silently masticating Rainbow Mark Butterfly communicated before Zuo Mo understood. The so-called Rainbow Pupil was to detect poison. It could detect the danger of poisonous items.

Zuo Mo did not cultivate poison so the spell was not very useful for him. The only place he could use it was in dan-making.

Compared to Rainbow Pupil, Illusion Poison was much more interesting. Illusion Poison was to use poison to create illusion. Zuo Mo was very interested. He instantly thought of the uses for this spell. If he secretly fortified a few places of his formation with illusion poison, then no one would detect it.

However, the spell most important to Zuo Mo was the third spell – poison change! Rather than calling it a spell, poison change was more like a talent. According to Chun Yu Cheng’s explanation, if he kept on feeding the Rainbow Mark Butterfly poison, especially high-grade poison, when it reached a certain level, it could cause the Rainbow Mark Butterfly to transform and enter a higher grade.

As the grade increased, the intelligence of a ling beast would increase, and there was a possibility of the addition of a spell. It was a pity that Zuo Mo did not have any interest in poison, much less high-grade poison.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo smacked his forehead. How did he forget that? Didn’t his Inky Black Lava White Fire have a deadly poison? That was the poison obtained by processing a fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus Seed.

The grade of the Inky Black Lotus Fire was too low. Zuo Mo had decided to use the Golden Crow Fire as the primary one. It was perfect for him to split the fire apart. The poison for the Rainbow Mark Butterfly, the fire for Lil’ Pagoda. Even though the grade of the Inky Black Lava White Fire was not high, but it was still a fire seed, and quite pure.

But before that, Zuo Mo still needed to do one thing: forge the Blue Ice sword. The Blue Icicle Crystal could only be forged with a cold fire. The grade of the Golden Crow Fire was higher, but the attribute was not correct.

The Blue Icicle Crystal sword billet was about half a chi long, its body shaped like a prism. When the light reflected on the facets of the prism, it was very beautiful.

———

Three days later, the Blue Ice Sword took form!

The entire body was like a blue icicle, the tip of the sword extremely sharp. The body of the sword was made out of countless facets. As it floated in the air, a mist naturally formed around the sword.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved. Pew, the Blue Ice Sword entered the ground, only leaving behind a sword shaped hole. There was a circle of clear ice cracks around the hole. It could be seen just how cold it was.

Zuo Mo’s forging skill was not high and the Blue Ice Crystal was just lower fourth-grade. The grade of the Inky Black Lava White Fire was also too low. He had barely managed to forge a fourth-grade flying sword.

He didn’t care that much. The five essence sword set emphasized the cooperation between the different qualities of the flying swords.

Taking apart the Inky Black Lava White Fire, however, had taken Zuo Mo quite a bit of effort. The poison from the Inky Black Lotus had long ago merged into the flame. Zuo Mo did not have the strength at his cultivation level to take it apart. However, he thought of a clever solution, let Lil’ Pagoda deconstruct it.

The present Lil’ Pagoda only needed a bit to break through to fourth-grade, its control greatly increased. It could control how to decompose what was put into it.

The Inky Black Lava White Fire was quickly taken apart. The Inky Black Lotus poison was separated out. What surprised Zuo Mo was that this ball of Inky Black Lotus poison was an invisible substance. When he used ling power to carefully surround this deadly poison, he was instantly alarmed. His ling power was quickly consumed.

As expected from a fourth-grade Inky Black Lotus’ poison!

This discovery made him hesitate. Could the Rainbow Mark Butterfly tolerate such a strong poison? But quickly, he could feel the Rainbow Mark Butterfly’s anticipation and joy. The Rainbow Mark Butterfly lightly flapped its multi-colored wings, and a circle of light surrounded the poison.

The ring of light continuously shrunk until it disappeared.

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. A line of black had appeared on the wings of the Rainbow Mark Butterfly, but there was no other change. Lil’ Pagoda absorbed the fire seed, but there were no signs of another breakthrough.

Alright, he could not be too greedy, Zuo Mo mumbled.

He started to absorb the Golden Crow Fire.

———

The atmosphere of the Desolate Wood Reef was nervous and fretful. Everyone’s face was slightly heavy. A few days ago, several xiuzhe had escaped from the jie river.

They had encountered a group of very strong xiuzhe. That group killed everyone they saw. Many xiuzhe didn’t even have the time to flee before they were killed.

Instantly, the Desolate Wood Reef became tense. These injured xiuzhe had no strength to fly over the Endless Ocean, and could only stay on the Desolate Wood Reef. Those xiuzhe that had originally planned to travel to Little Mountain Jie through the jie river didn’t dare to move recklessly, and waited to see what would happen.

The number of xiuzhe on the Desolate Wood Reef increased, but no one dared to cause a disturbance. Other than the intimidation of the three golden armor guards, they also understood, if there really was a powerful enemy, the formation on the island was their strongest defense.

Without the beast pool, Chun Yu Cheng was idle. His face was full of worry. “There’s more than six hundred xiuzhe on the island, and more than twenty ningmai. If something happens, that wouldn’t be good. Shixiong is also in seclusion … …”

“What are you afraid of?” Gongsun Cha was unconcerned and said heartlessly, “Worst case, we can just flee.”

“What do you think the people in the jie river are? Killing everyone they see! They really have no regard for the law!” Chun Yu Cheng was righteously indignant.

Gongsun Cha teased the grey butterfly and said lazily, “Who knows, probably a group of people who couldn’t think things through.”

Suddenly, the crowd on the island shifted. The two instantly stopped what they were doing and stood up.

Far away in the sky, there were many black dots.

Chun Yu Cheng inhaled sharply, his face pale, voice trembling as he pointed at the black dots in the sky. “What… … what is that?”

Gongsun Cha also was motionless at his spot with a shocked expression.

The dense crowd of black dots flew at the Desolate Wood Reef at astonishing speed like a black cloud rolling over the sky. With a suffocating presence, they silently moved to a distance twenty li from the Desolate Wood Reef.

“Yao … … yaomo … …”

Someone trembled out those two words. It was as though a spark had been thrown into a pot of oil. The deathly silent Desolate Wood Reef suddenly exploded.

“Yaomo … …” Chun Yu Cheng felt his legs sore and weak, dropping to the ground.

There were hints of terror in Gongsun Cha’s eyes, but the terror was quickly changed to curiosity.

Was this yaomo?

It wasn’t just him that had this thought. In reality, this thought uncontrollably flashed across many people’s minds on the Desolate Wood Reef.

Other than the somewhat strange dark green skin, the yaomo in the sky didn’t seem much different than xiuzhe. On their foreheads, they all had a piece of crystal, the color and shape varied. Their bodies were mostly slender and were very handsome regardless of sex.

“This is yaomo? Wow!” Gongsun Cha tsked. He rubbed his chin, “Oh, almost as handsome as me, that’s not very good.”

However, he quickly became speechless.

The yaomo in the sky quickly moved forward three li.

Everyone was intimidated.

People now found that the dark-green skinned yaomo in the sky were in well-organized ranks that seemed to have been measured with a ruler. During the flying process, the entire troop did not have any hint of disorder, they were so synchronized that it was frightening.

When several dozen people were so, everyone would find it to be nothing, but when thousands of people were so organized, an invisible pressure formed. It was as if there was a thousand-catty rock on everyone’s chest. All the noise stopped, like someone had cut their throats.

“Really the elite!” Gongsun Cha’s eyes glowed as he muttered. He then looked in sympathy at the panicking xiuzhe on the island, and couldn’t help but sigh, “And there go the rabble!”

The contrast between the two sides was too strong. Of the thousands of people on the other side, no one was speaking, it was deathly silent. The xiuzhe on the island was panicking like a crowd of headless chickens.

“Prepare to run for your life,” Gongsun Cha said to Chun Yu Cheng.

“What about Shixiong?” Chun Yu Cheng asked, his expression blank.

“Find him.” Gongsun Cha said.

“I’m here,” At some unknown time, Zuo Mo appeared behind the two of them.

“Escape,” Gongsun Cha spread his hands at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo grimaced. He hadn’t thought that he would encounter this just after he came out of seclusion. He knew that Gongsun Cha was right. Even though the island had six hundred xiuzhe, it was just a grab-bag of random cultivators.

Looking at the military troop that was so terrifyingly organized, a hint of helplessness rose in Zuo Mo’s heart. The difference in power was not something a formation could bridge.

“Is it really yaomo?” Chun Yu Cheng was still somewhat lost. Gongsun Cha looked in curiosity at Zuo Mo.

“En, yao, not mo,” Zuo Mo nodded, “Mostly Ghost Attendant Yao and some Night Stock Yao.”

“Ghost Attendant Yao? Night Stock Yao?” Gongsun Cha had an interested expression. To them, yaomo was a very distant monster.

“The most basic yao are called little yao, about our lianqi. The next level is Ghost Attendant yao, like our zhuji. The Night Stock yao are equivalent to our ningmai,” Zuo Mo explained simply.

“That scared me. Then can’t we hold this place?” Chun Yu Cheng said excitedly.

Gongsun Cha shook his head but didn’t speak. Zuo Mo grimaced, “Probably not. Yaomo emphasize killing and have endured fighting since they were born. They live more harshly than we do. Also, you can also see their organization. Our side only has scattered soldiers and heroes, we are not a match.”

“Then what do we do?” Chun Yu Cheng’s little face became pale again.

“Flee!” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and said hatefully.

His heart was filled with sorrow.

The good days of sitting and taking in money had reached an end … …

Chapter 203: Date Seed Ship

“Miss, the position of this island is extremely good, it is perfect for guarding the jie river … …” The middle-aged man said respectfully.

“Is that the formation of a xiuzhe?” The female did not reply. She was staring at the hoop of light that was like a sun above the island.

“Yes, Miss.” He opened his mouth, but perceptively swallowed his words.

“Oh.” The female said faintly, “Check first if there is any suspicious targets among them. If not, push them out.”

“Yes!” The middle-aged man instantly complied.

“You really are kind.” A male beside the female said in a sarcastic tone. He was like a crane among the chickens, his entire person like a burning flame, a flame red crystal on his forehead.

Sweeping a glance at the rebellious male, the female was calm. “Yan Feng, shut your mouth.”

Yan Feng smirked. “The xiuzhe on this island are just rabble. Give me five hundred troops, and I can sweep them clean! If you let them go, isn’t it letting them off easy?”

The female was not moved. “Our job is to find someone.”

Yan Feng suddenly became excited, “Mu Xi, you forget that they are xiuzhe! Our enemy! The more we kill, the less enemies we have … …”

Mu Xi’s tone became cold, “Sir Yan Feng, please watch your tone. You are speaking to your direct commander. If you overstep again, you will be treated according to military law!”

Yan Feng was so angry fire came out of his eyes. The last bit of intelligence allowed him to keep his control. He knew the woman in front of him would do as she said.

The composition of yao was extremely complex. There were many species. Different than the reproduction of humans, yao were born from nature, formed from the ling energy of the world. Like Mu Xi, she came from the largest clan of yao, the Wood Clan. They were all formed from flora. Yan Feng, came out of Desolate Western Mountain Sky Fire branch. The reproduction of the Fire Clan was not as prosperous of the Wood Clan. They did not have many yao but they were natural fighters, their personality explosive and brave.

The Wood, Fire, Gold, Water, and Earth Clans were the five largest clans of the yao, but there were other little clans as many as sand. Due to the abundance of yao, every decade, some small clans would be born. Due to this, yao society was very accepting and very transparent.

This type of transparent and complete government was like an enormous squid that reached its tentacles into every corner. It was also this governance that had borne from countless great minds and strong elders that allowed the yao to quickly recover.

For example, Mu Xi was the most accomplished of the youths of the Wood Clan. Even though her cultivation was not outstanding, but she had started her duties very early. Yan Feng rarely found an opponent that could match his offensive power and was even stronger than Mu Xi, but due to his infighting within the ranks, he was punished and placed under Mu Xi’s command.

In reality, the two once had been classmates, but they had always been at odds.

———

Zuo Mo found he actually wasn’t nervous. He was slightly surprised. It seemed that fighting and killing really hardened people.

However, Pu Yao’s words instantly made him nervous. “They have come to find you.”

“Find me?” Zuo Mo gaped.

“Stars in Daytime, you alerted them.” Pu Yao was very calm. This made the nervousness in Zuo Mo’s heart decrease.

“Stars in Daytime, what does it do?” Zuo Mo asked a question that had been hidden in his heart for a long time.

“Not much. Some strong yaomo would try to borrow the power of the stars to recover from serious wounds, and this forms the Stars in Daytime.” Pu Yao said.

“It was you?”

Pu Yao smiled coldly, “None of my business!” He then frowned. “But these things are slightly irritating.”

“Aren’t you a yao? Should you be of the same kind as them?” Zuo Mo couldn’t really grasp Pu Yao’s attitude. However, if it wasn’t Pu Yao, who was it? Was it the gravestone?

Pu Yao did not like xiuzhe, Zuo Mo could understand this, but he could not understand that Pu Yao didn’t even like the yao.

“They don’t have any connection to me.” Pu Yao’s face was cold.

Zuo Mo saw that Pu Yao didn’t seem to want to mention this matter, and perceptively changed the topic. “Do you have any good suggestions?”

“Your luck seems pretty good. The arrivals are the Wood Clan.” Pu Yao glanced at the organized ranks of yao troops in the sky. “They don’t like fighting.”

“Wood clan?” Zuo Mo was very curious. Zuo Mo might have openly spoke about the little yao before, but that was buying and selling at the same time. Zuo Mo was very unfamiliar with yaomo. Seeing that he could not avoid a conflict with the yaomo, it was beneficial for him to know a bit more.

“A large clan, but it has many cadet branches. Formed from flora.” Pu Yao introduced shortly.

“Oh … …” Zuo Mo nodded, not understanding. What was formed from flora? But he knew that Pu Yao definitely did not have the patience to explain.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo detected a strong consciousness ripple.

“Hm!” He couldn’t help but jump. Such a strong consciousness!

The consciousness ripple came from the other side and swept the sky above the entire Desolate Wood Reef. Before this, Zuo Mo had been very confident in his consciousness. He had almost never encountered a xiuzhe who had a stronger consciousness than he did.

But the strength of this consciousness was far above his.

“They are searching for you. Such a pity, just Night Stock yao, they believe they have the skill!” Pu Yao smirked. He seemed to understand what Zuo Mo was thinking. “It’s very normal. They only cultivate the consciousness, it isn’t something a half-ass like you can compare to.”

Pu Yao’s interest was unknowingly stirred. “Yao cultivate the consciousness so the division for spiritual power is much finer than the xiuzhe.

Star fire, manifestation, spirit seed, yin spirit, yao mansion, six revolutions, and sky channels. You are just at manifestation. Among them, the most powerful have finished spirit seed. Even though their spirit is weak, but it can easy to kill you.”

“Manifestation?”

“When the starfire is full, it manifests, seed born in the heart to become planted in the spirit, the spirit births the yin spirit, the yin spirit opens the yao mansion … … spiritual manifestation, oh, your leaf hand is a manifestation.”

“The consciousness can become tangible?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Of course, it’s so simple, do you really need to think about it?” Pu Yao’s face was full of disdain. “However, you just entered manifestation, you’re very far off from spirit seed.”

“What is called seed born in the heart?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask, his head bloated.

“You’ll know when it is time.” Pu Yao had used up his patience.

“Then now?”

“Solve it yourself.” Pu Yao said impatiently before disappearing.

“They are going to attack.” Gongsun Cha pulled Zuo Mo back.

The attacking posture of the other size was so obvious even an idiot could see. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but become nervous. Pulling Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng, he pushed his voice low, “Prepare to escape.”

“Where?” Chun Yu Cheng’s face was puzzled.

Gongsun Cha suddenly opened his mouth, “Towards the jie river!”

“The jie river? Little Mountain Jie?” Zuo Mo was very surprised, “Isn’t that heading for the net?”

“The Endless Ocean is vast and borderless. We need to fly multiple months to see land, there is no place to hide.” Gongsun Cha was very calm, a hint of heat in his eyes. “When it’s time, these people will all scatter. We’ll go the opposite way and break through. They definitely wouldn’t have thought of it.”

“They just came from Little Mountain Jie, Little Mountain Jie definitely has fallen. If we go to Little Mountain Jie, we have no escape.” Chun Yu Cheng was frightened by Gongsun Cha’s suggestion, so frightened he woke up.

“This is not certain.” Gongsun Cha shook his head. “If Little Mountain Jie has fallen, what would come definitely wouldn’t just be this little amount of yao.”

“This is a little?” Chun Yu Cheng pointed at the organized and solemn yao army in the sky, and shouted.

“To us, it seems like a lot. But if they want to attack Sky Moon Jie, it is far too few,” Gongsun Cha said quickly.

Zuo Mo instantly reacted. “You mean they are a little troop that snuck in?”

“Possible.” Gongsun Cha said.

“What did they sneak in for?”

“I don’t know, they probably have a target?”

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of what Pu Yao had said. Did these people really come to find him? No, to find the yaomo of the Stars in Daytime?

He continued to weigh the choices in his heart. Truthfully, Gongsun Cha’s suggestion was very dangerous, no, it was extremely dangerous. But Zuo Mo felt that the success of that suggestion was very likely. From this, it could be seen that he was in support of Gongsun Cha’s suggestion.

Chose which one?

He was just a little xiuzhe that had just broken through to ningmai and hadn’t seen much. Facing a choice that would determine life and death, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

Yet the other didn’t give the time to hesitate.

The sky above the other side’s troop was suddenly dark. Strong ling power ripples were like a harsh wind that swept past.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. The other side was going to attack. The ling power ripples passing through the air were the same as [Yang Fiend Hard Lightning] but the terrifying presence it gave off was hundreds of times stronger. He didn’t doubt that their attack would flatten all of Desolate Wood Reef.

If he didn’t run now, when could he run?

He grabbed Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng, not caring for anything else, and suddenly jumped into the water.

A gold light flashed, and the Buddha Sound Hoop landed in Zuo Mo’s bosom, the presence of the formation on the Desolate Wood Reef weakening.

The Desolate Wood Reef instantly exploded!

“He ran! Zuo Mo ran!”

“Run!”

“Everyone, run!”

… …

At this time, with a large sound, a bolt of lightning twisted and struck the Desolate Wood Reef.

Dong!

A muffled sound hit everyone’s heart. Those xiuzhe with weak cultivations bled from their mouths and nose.

Everyone couldn’t help but turn their head.

The Desolate Wood Reef with its layers of formations was like paper in front of the lightning, cleanly wiped out. More than ten of the xiuzhe that moved too slowly were swept by the after-ripples and torn to countless pieces, not even having the time shout before their souls were destroyed.

In the ocean, Zuo Mo didn’t have it good either. The blood inside his body was roiling, his ling power almost spiraled out of control. Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng’s faces were pale, the power of the one attack was so powerful that it even passed into the ocean!

At the border of life and death, Zuo Mo became calm. A date seed appeared on his hand, a talisman-ship was carved on it. This date seed ship had been taken from Nan Ming Zi’s body. However, it required too much ling power, so he hadn’t found out how to use it.

In seclusion this time, after finishing forging the five essence sword set, Zuo Mo had spent a lot of effort on the talismans that he did not understand. He hadn’t expected that he found some methods, and including this date seed boat.

At this time, he didn’t dare to hold anything back, the ling power in his body furiously flooding towards the date seed boat.

A little date red wooden boat with an old aura appeared in front of everyone.

Zuo Mo’s hand moved.

They felt the scene in front of them blur and then they were inside the ship. The ship was dry and clean. The water outside the ship seemed to be stopped by an invisible power, unable to enter.

Zuo Mo hurriedly directed the date seed ship to sink to the bottom .The thick water could stop the search from the other’s consciousness.

If they could flee to a place that the other could not detect them, they would be temporarily safe.

Chapter 204: Improvement

The date seed ship submerged at a fast rateIn a blink, it had reached ten li under the surface. Through the windows on the ship, the outside was pitch black. The surroundings were silent, the noise from the outside was completely blocked

Everyone finally relaxed. The yao army used one attack to destroy any of the hopes they had left.

Silly Bird shook the water off. She looked liked a chicken in soup broth, with all of the drooping features. Even the proud Silly Bird was scared half to death by the hard lightning that had come from the sky and became much more docile. When Zuo Mo had come out of seclusion, he had taken Silly Bird and the others with him.

Chun Yu Cheng collapsed on the ground, heaving. By comparison, Gongsun Cha was much more composed but there was still a hint of fear lingering in his eyes.

Of everyone, the only ones that could truly maintain their calm were the three Golden Armour Guards. As usual, they held their swords and stood like statues.

Zuo Mo had recovered from the nervousness. Seeing everyone was complete and whole, his mood became much better. Just having escaped death, no one in the ship had any interest in talking, all of them catching their breaths and calming their minds.

After a while, Zuo Mo found his mind had relaxed greatly and stood up, and began inspecting the date seed ship.

During his seclusion, even though he had figured out how to activate the date seed ship, but he hadn’t studied it. Right now, the date seed ship was their life-saving talisman, he didn’t dare to leave it up to chance.

He walked around the cabin of the ship, closely inspecting it. Chun Yu Cheng and Gongsun Cha saw his actions and perceptively chose not to speak.

This was … …

Zuo Mo carefully inspected the formations carved on the date seed ship and was very shocked!

A jingshi talisman!

The date seed ship was a fourth-grade talisman, and it was even a rare jingshi talisman!

Jingshi talismans were talismans that could use jingshi as a source of power.Those were usually large-sized talismans. The Thousand Wing Boat that Zuo Mo had seen in Dong Fu was a classical example of a jingshi talisman. Historically, only large sect would forge jingshi talismans. The materials that were needed were not something a normal xiuzhe could afford.

There were some jingshi talismans for single-person use but not many. Compared to the ling power inside jingshi, the ling power inside xiuzhe was much purer and easier to control.

This date seed ship was a jingshi talisman. It could carry one hundred xiuzhe, able to fly either in air or in the water.

Zuo Mo’s interest was stirred up.

This was the first time he had seen a jingshi talisman. He instantly started to study the formations on the ship. Jingshi talismans were talismans where formations were used most purely. Xiuzhe only had to make some simple commands, and it could work on its own.

———

In a short period of time, he found the locations to put in jingshi. The cabin was empty, and did not even have tables or chairs. The place to insert the jingshi was on the ceiling.

The ceiling of the cabin had a depiction of the Big Dipper, the seven stars connected. Each star was the place to put in jingshi.

Zuo Mo took out seven third-grade jingshi from his ring to insert in the positions of the Big Dipper. When he shoved the last piece of jingshi in, everyone felt the cabin light up, a date coloured red light emanated from the ship.

“Wow, jingshi talisman?” Gongsun Cha was surprised.

“En, a jingshi talisman that I got from Nan Ming Zi.” Zuo Mo stared at the formations on the ship, calculating inside without turning his head to answer.

Through the consciousness leaf hand, he could clearly see the seals running through the ship. The more he saw, the more admiration he had. Before this, he had never seen a jingshi talisman before, so he never had seen jingshi talisman formations before.

The formations were like a gigantic mesh going through the entire date seed ship like they were the channels of the ship. Ling power flowed out from the seven jingshi into the channels and activated the formation.

He quickly found the differences between the date seed ship and the talismans he had studied before. The ling power that came out of the jingshi was very steady. Normal talismans consumed the ling power of xiuzhe, the ling power would have a variety of changes and would not be so steady.

There were advantages and disadvantages to both methods.

Jingshi talismans did not consume the ling power of the xiuzhe. As long as there was jingshi, it could keep working. The disadvantage was that its uses were set, and it was less flexible to adjusting to sudden changes.

Normal talismans were the exact opposite. Due to consuming the ling power of the xiuzhe, it could not compare in how long jingshi talismans could be used. However, they could do many things and were very good at adjusting to sudden changes.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly moved. If the two advantages could be put together, that would be great!

Once the idea popped up into his head, it could not be erased.

After studying for a while, he started to actually ponder if the flash of inspiration he had was realistic or not.

The space inside the date seed ship was enough for him to set up large amounts of formations. The smaller the space was, the harder it was to set up formations. Forging experts could set down multiple formations in a flying sword the size of a finger.

Zuo Mo was far from reaching that level. Space was very important for him. The bigger the ship was, the easier it was for him to make modifications.

There were a total of three formations on the date seed ship. One was a space formation, one was a ling shield formation, the last was a water movement formation.

Zuo Mo paid more attention to the ling shield formation. It’s defensive ability was average. He decided to change the [Micro Light Formation] to a [Seven Bright Micro Light Formation]. Zuo Mo only needed to put seven [Bright Light Formation] into the [Micro Light Formation] and the defensive power of the shield would increase by at least fifty percent.

This technique of interlocking child formations was something he had comprehended from the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation]

The structure of the [Bright Light Formation] was simple and easy to carve, so Zuo Mo quickly finished the [Seven Bright Micro Light Formation]. The ling shield over the ship gradually changed, the light becoming more intense and the shield thicker than it had been before.

Zuo Mo nodded in satisfaction. It seems his skill in making formations had improved once again. Before, this wouldn’t have been so simple.

Strengthening the ling shield mean that the consumption of ling power would increase correspondingly. However, Zuo Mo did not worry about this. Right now, he lacked for everything except jingshi.

Ge has lots of jingshi!

He suddenly hit his head. Right, how did he forget his greatest advantage!

Chun Yu Cheng and Gongsun Cha were frightened by Zuo Mo’s action. The two exchanged looks of puzzlement.

Jingshi! Right now, he had piles of jingshi!

Before, he had been thinking of carving an offensive formation on the ship that could be controlled by a person. That way, they didn’t need to leave the ship, but they could fight against their enemies.

When Zuo Mo realized his advantage, he suddenly reacted; he had made a mistake.

Since it was hard to control jingshi talismans precisely, rather than think of ways to increase the control over it, it was better to give the talisman a formation that did not need to be controlled, like a [Cloud Lightning Net]. He only needed it to protect the ship. As to increasing the maneuverability of the jingshi talisman, he could slowly study it.

The high consumption of the [Cloud Electrical Lightning Net] was nothing for Zuo Mo who wanted to keep his life.

The more he thought, the cleverer he found the idea. Even though there were still big gaps, but it was the most realistic plan at present.

No matter what, his little life came first.

He took out a large pile of materials and started to carve formations inside the cabin.

“What is Shixiong doing?” Chun Yu Cheng asked.

Gongsun Cha looked over, “I don’t understand, but he seems to be setting up formations.”

“We should run, not setting up formations now!” Chun Yu Cheng said hurriedly.

“I don’t know,” Gongsun Cha was also puzzled. He could see what Shixiong was generally doing. Even though he didn’t know why Shixiong was putting up formations now, but he believed in Shixiong‘s judgement. Currently, the only thing he was so shocked by was the fact that Shixiong seemed to be playing with the Jingshi Talisman. Could Shixiong could modify jingshi talismans?

He knew was much harder to modify talismans than to remake them.

After a talisman was successfully forged, it was one complete entity and had reached an equilibrium. Modifying was equivalent to first breaking the equilibrium and then setting a new equilibrium.

Had Shxiong‘s skills with formations reached such a level?

The Golden Armour Guards stood silently. Silly Bird had recovered from the fright, raising her bird head and stepping her unique bird walk.

Zuo Mo was very careful. [Bright Light Formation] was only an enhancing formation, and did not have much effect on the equilibrium of the talisman. However [Cloud Lightning Net] was a third-grade formation. It was very strong and needed large amounts of ling power. Zuo Mo needed to add a few more channels to conduct ling power to satisfy the [Cloud Lightning Net]

The [Cloud Lightning Net] was not difficult for Zuo Mo. The difficulty laid in setting the seals to channel the ling power.

The formations on the date seed boat before had been very complete. In order to add more seals to increase ling power pathways, he needed to change the entire structure.

This was the most difficult part. If he wasn’t careful, he could most likely cause the ling power pathways to intersect and then collapse.

Zuo Mo was very clear about this, so he continuously modelled it in his head before proceeding.

———

Four hours later, he finally thought it through and started to move.

What he did first was increase the number of jingshi. The ling power expenditure of [Cloud Lightning Net] was very large. Seven pieces of jingshi was not enough to satisfy its needs. Zuo Mo added another twenty one pieces of jingshi.

On the ceiling of the ship cabin, twenty eight stars shone.

To save his life, Zuo Mo did not care how much jingshi he had to spend.

Right after, he started to set up the [Cloud Lightning Net] and added more ling power channelling seals.

This modification took twelve hours. When he finished, he was exhausted.

However, he finally finished!

Hiss hiss!

Sounds came from the date red ling shield. Immediately after, countless fine lines of miniature lightning appeared on the surface of the ling shield, swimming like little snakes.

Fine lightning appeared at astounding speed and gathered. In the blink of an eye, a net appeared on the ling shield.

A net constructed of arm-thick lightning!

It was like a silver net had covered all of the date seed ship.

The lightning net slightly trembled, the sound slowly weakening until the hisses had disappeared.

What was wondrous was that, even though they were in the water, the lightning net on the ling shield showed no signs of dissipating, but was as dense as any other object, silently covering the ling shield.

The presence of the date seed ship instantly changed.

Chapter 205: War Chess

“Where are we heading?” Chun Yu Cheng asked uncertainly.

“Jie river.”

Gongsun Cha’s face was relaxed, half-lying on the bottom of the cabin, relaxed and idle.

“How do you know?” Chun Yu Cheng looked worriedly at Zuo Mo Shixiong who was still working on the date seed ship. Shixiong had been working for several hours and showed no signs of stopping.

“Ha. Shixiong might look careful and conservative, but if he’s pressured, he’s vicious and decisive.” Gongsun Cha said unconcernedly.

“What happens if Little Mountain Jie has been taken by the yaomo?” Chun Yu Cheng’s face was slightly pale. The strong offensive power of the yao army had almost destroyed his soul.

“No way about it. It’s all up to luck.” Gongsun Cha stretched out his waist, and laid down completely.

With a hiss, a silver light suddenly flashed outside the ship.

Just having laid down, Gongsun Cha instantly sat up, eyes looking outside. When he saw the lightning outside the ling shield, he first stilled, and then had joy on his face. Chun Yu Cheng who was in a fragile state of mind was half-scared to death by the noise.

“How’s the power of that thing?” Gongsun Cha pointed outside the ship, and asked Zuo Mo who had finally stopped and walked over.

“Better than nothing.” Zuo Mo sat down in exhaustion. “My skill in formations isn’t enough. This lightning net doesn’t have any dead ends but it is way too loose. Don’t have high hopes about the power.”

Gongsun Cha nodded, and then asked, “How far have we travelled?”

“This boat goes one hundred li every two hours, how long has it been?”

“Twelve hours.”

“Then it’s six hundred li,” Zuo Mo said. “Seems no one has chased after us.”

“I wonder what this yao army is looking for. This is an unexpected calamity.” Chun Yu Cheng sighed.

Zuo Mo naturally could not say the yao army was searching for him, but seeing Chun Yu Cheng’s worried expression, he knew this docile person had been frightened too deeply today, and hurried to comfort him.

The two shidi had two completely different personalities. Chun Yu Cheng was docile, and somewhat lacking in courage, only interested in animals. Gongsun Cha was the exact opposite. He was cunning and daring, calm when there was trouble, and had a devious and dark character. He didn’t have much interest in butchering.

“Follow the flow.” Gongsun Cha inserted and then raised his delicate face, his eyes shining, “Shixiong, there’s nothing to do now. Why don’t you get them to practice their cooperation?”

Zuo Mo understood that Gongsun Cha meant the three golden armor guards.

“Cooperation?”

Gongsun Cha’s words reminded him. The blow that the yao army had given them was too strong. The troops that were so organized they were almost insane, so neat that it seemed almost impossible, and that lightning attack that they couldn’t even hold their heads up against. Zuo Mo felt that he wouldn’t forget it in his life. The shock and panic of the xiuzhe was the perfect definition of the word “rabble.”

Every time he thought of it, he felt coldness seep uncontrollably from his heart.

The yao army gave all the xiuzhe on the Desolate Wood Reef a lesson.

Even the stupidest person could see the difference between the two, and could feel the difference in power. Zuo Mo suddenly had a feeling, that the era of individual power was nearing its end.

However, he quickly threw the problem to the back of his mind. A big problem like an era ending, it wasn’t something a little ningmai like him could relate to. But he agreed greatly with Gongsun Cha’s suggestion.

However, while he agreed, how to accomplish it was the true problem, “I don’t know how.”

“We can slowly try,” Gongsun Cha’s decisive tone made Zuo Mo look at him. He grinned. “It’s better than losing our lives.”

For some reason, Zuo Mo felt Gongsun Shidi’s delicate face was like the raised head of a snake, vicious and cold.

But when he turned his eyes towards Gongsun, Shidi’s smile was so sunny and timid that Zuo Mo felt he was mistaken.

“Okay!” He nodded.

Before having seen the yao army, Zuo Mo might have found it extraneous, but right now he didn’t hesitate.

This was useful! Very useful!

For him, starting from a blank slate wasn’t a new experience. Before, as long as he could make jingshi, he would work with all his effort! Now, Zuo Mo discovered that his little life was more important. His belief suddenly turned, anything that could save his little life, he would definitely put everything in!

The two crowded together and started to discuss.

Both were greenhorns, the mood was vibrant, but quickly, the discussion reached a standoff. Words had no proof, especially when the two had divergent views, no one could persuade the other. At this time, Gongsun Cha did not care Zuo Mo was his shixiong. His face was flushed as he argued, his expression ferocious, he no longer looked like a weak and bashful young master.

“If we each have a troop and can really fight, that would be nice.” Zuo Mo sighed, “Then who is right, it naturally can be seen.”

“Yes!” Gongsun Cha’s face was also bitter, holding his head and sighing. “Talking soldiers on paper, it is useless.”

A voice suddenly came inside Zuo Mo’s mind. “Want to try? I’ve got a way.”

Pu Yao suddenly came out.

“What way?” Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. Pu Yao might like to boast, but he occasionally had some real skill.

Pu Yao looked at him. “Actually, this kind of thing has been played since a long time ago, like Seal Soldier Battle Board, like Puppet Chess.”

“What is that?” Hearing those two new terms, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be curious.

“It is a kind of War Chess.”

“War Chess?”

“There’s many ways to play, like one on one, or many against many.” Pu Yao seemed to suddenly sink into his memories, refocusing after a while. “I remember it was quite fashionable back then.”

“You have those?” Zuo Mo looked suspiciously at Pu Yao.

“No.” Pu Yao shook his head. “The most important part is the rules. It is very easy to make them.” He threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo. “Here, these are the rules for all kinds of War Chess games that I played before, and how to make them.”

“Hm, when did you become this kind?” Zuo Mo’s gaze became even more suspicious, but his hands were not slow at all, rapidly catching the ball of light.

“I don’t want you to die this quickly.” Pu Yao looked scornfully at Zuo Mo before disappearing.

The date seed ship silently slid along the bottom in the pitch black water. For everyone, this was a very long period of boredom. Chun Yu Cheng seemed to be accustomed to this kind of boredom. He continued to busy himself in his experiments.

Zuo Mo occasionally took out the Golden Crow Fire. He seemed to be forging something.

“So boring!” Gongsun Cha yawned. He seemed to be the only person that didn’t have anything to do. He had thought about teasing Silly Bird to relieve his boredom but Silly Bird ignored him, proudly strutting her bird walk in the cabin. Lil’ Black climbed around the cabin without exhaustion. Lil’ Pagoda floated in the air, spinning in its spot. The three golden armor guards were like three statues, not having moved a finger in days.

Originally, Gongsun Cha had been worried they might meet some water element ling beasts. In the legends, there were many terrifying ling beasts in the Endless Ocean. However, their luck seemed to be exceptional and they travelled smoothly.

But these days were really so bland.

“Done,” Zuo Mo suddenly stated, making Gongsun Cha jump in fright..

He crowded over. “What’s done? Hm, what is this? Chess?”

“En, something called a War Chess,” Zuo Mo said uncertainly. “I don’t know if I made it correctly. Come, let’s try.”

Gongsun Cha, so bored he had almost fallen asleep, instantly jumped up. “Okay!”

Zuo Mo took out a jade scroll, recording down some of the rules that Pu Yao gave him and threw it to Gongsun Cha.

“Hm, interesting!” Gongsun Cha took the jade scroll. After a look, he became alert.

Zuo Mo also started to read the rules. Reading it in detail, he was instantly frightened!

F***! This was that complicated?

The dense paragraphs of rules made his head feel numb.

He heard Gongsun Cha’s voice full of enthusiasm, “Hm, this bit is interesting, yes, yes … … oh, I understand … …”

Zuo Mo could only force himself to keep reading.

An hour later, when Zuo Mo’s eyes were unfocused and his brain faint, he suddenly heard Gongsun Cha say, “So interesting, so interesting! It’s really too interesting!”

Zuo Mo raised his head in shock. He saw Gongsun Cha look excitedly at him, and say, “Let’s begin! If I know there was something as fun as this, I wouldn’t have learned how to butcher!”

What Zuo Mo forged was Puppet Chess. It was simpler. The size of the Seal Soldier Battle Board was bigger, requiring better skill at forging, and had more complex rules.

Basically, Puppet Chess was made from a set of little illusions. In a circle one zhang wide, miniature mountains and rivers were perfectly depicted. There were even clouds in the sky that slowly changed. Suddenly, these white clouds started to rain. Under the rain, the water in the river suddenly grew. A xiuzhe wearing Taoist robes suddenly charged into the sky from the river, slowly scanned the surroundings. Seeing there was not anything, the person went back into the river.

“Exquisite! Truly too exquisite!” Gongsun Cha gaped, his eyes changing from excited to scorching.

Zuo Mo was also shocked by such exquisiteness. Even though he had made it from beginning to end, but he had never thought of the result of the end product.

This wasn’t some chess board, it was like a complete little world. Everything inside would naturally cycle on their own.

So wondrous!

Zuo Mo’s mind became blank.

“Quick quick, how to play?” Gongsun Cha urged.

Zuo Mo refocused and handed him a piece of third-grade Black Daze crystal. “Put your mind into it.” He also took up a piece of black daze crystal and flooded it with his consciousness.

He felt the scenery in front of his eyes change, and he seemed to be looking from the sky.

Hm, his eyes unconsciously looked down.

Yao!

Nine yao were arranged in an organized square. He could clearly feel the connection between him and the nine yao. He was even able to use the eyes of any of the yao to see everything in the surroundings.

At the same time, the information of the nine yao flowed through his mind.

His mind moved, and a yao suddenly stepped three paces forward, leaving the troop. He instantly controlled it to do many strange and awkward poses.

So interesting! Very interesting!

Zuo Mo was in shock.

Chapter 206: What Was That?

Zuo Mo was very depressed.

In the first two matches, he had won. The third round was tied. They also tied for the fourth and fifth. After the fifth round, he never won again.

In total, they had battled for ten matches. Five losses, three ties, and two wins, that wasn’t a good result. The more they played, the greater the gap between them became. He was very surprised. Gongsun Shidi who looked shy and weak was very aggressive. In the last few matches, not soon after the match had started, Zuo Mo was killed off.

Zuo Mo lost so badly that even Pu Yao couldn’t keep looking.

“I’ll go!”

Pu Yao jumped out, took over control, and started to fight against Gongsun Cha.

Gongsun Cha was instantly obliterated. The strong ability to command that Pu Yao displayed made Zuo Mo intoxicated. Pu Yao, who seemed quite feminine, was extremely aggressive when he was in command.

You guys can slowly torture yourselves! Ge will play on ge’s own.

Zuo Mo muttered inside. This person and this yao were natural born militants. In other words, they were born for the role! Especially when he saw the expressions of the person and the yao, he shuddered. The light flashed in Pu Yao’s bloody pupil, a cruel smirk on the corner of his mouth, his actions light lightning. Gongsun Shidi, after being depressively killed for twenty something matches, his expression wasn’t the least bit dejected. His face was like a plum blossom, slightly flushed, the light in his eyes continuously flickering, he was more excited the more he fought!

These two perverts!

Zuo Mo had long known of Pu Yao’s perverseness. He hadn’t thought Gongsun Shidi would also be so perverse when he played War Chess!

Did everyone’s heart have a perverse chord?

Shaking his head, Zuo Mo smacked his lips. All the War Chess games that Pu Yao gave were for commanders, and were all yaomo. Xiuzhe, if they were not the enemy, they were cannon fodder. That made him very unaccustomed to it.

Okay, who made it so that they were War Chess games for yaomo.

Zuo Mo completely threw the last thought behind his head. He decided to continue his own cultivation.

Speaking of cultivation, he was studying formations.

He had seen many kinds of formations already. The soul-tethered talisman that was so rare, jingshi talismans, he had all that. Adding on the aid of his consciousness, his comprehension of formations was much deeper than normal xiuzhe.

He had many skills, he cultivated ling power, spiritual power, and also body cultivation on the side. He also knew many spells. Such variety was not a good quality. In reality, all of these were not his true cultivation path.

His primary cultivation was formations. The direction of this originated in Pu Yao’s statement, “The core of all spells is formations.” From the uncertainty in the beginning, to the gradual understanding, to the rock-hard determination of present, Zuo Mo had never stopped studying.

Even though he was far from the level Pu Yao had spoken of, he was full of confidence in himself.

For example, the micro formations in dan-making were the products of his continuous investigations. He didn’t know if anyone else studied them, but the micro formations had brought enormous profit for him. Without the micro formations, there was no Golden Crow Fire.

There were many paths to increasing one’s strength, but not every path was suited for him.

Since people were skilled at commanding, then this matter will be given to those skilled in that. It was the wisest choice for him to do what he was most skilled in.

He put his attention back on the date seed ship. In his view, there was a lot of room for modifications, especially to Zuo Mo who was skilled in micro formations.

As it was related to his life, he had to think hard.

In the cabin, three people all had different expressions. Chun Yu Cheng propped his head on his hand, his eyes lost. He had maintained this position for a long time, occasionally muttering. Gongsun Cha was extremely energetic, his eyes focused on War Chess, completely ignorant of the piece of black daze crystal that was floating in the air with no one else present.

Zuo Mo climbed up and down, his body covered in wood shavings, all kinds of tools and talismans occasionally on his hands.

Lil’ Pagoda skipped behind him, not letting go of one piece go to waste, all sucked into the tower.

Not far away, Silly Bird looked in disdain at Lil’ Pagoda. Lil’ Black silently waved its antennae as it climbed around.

A long time later, when the formation in front of him had finished, Zuo Mo finally released a breath and stretched.

Without any requirements, without any limitations, as long as he could think of it and he had enough materials, he would try it. This kind of experimentation that he had never had before made him feel unspeakably comfortable. He had done everything he could think of to modify the date seed ship.

Some were forging methods, some were dan-making methods, some were formation setting methods, including the formation disks that he hadn’t used for a time, they were all put to use on the date seed ship.

The date seed ship was completely transformed.

The shuttle-shaped date seed ship became even sharper, especially the bow where seven blue spikes were arranged in a row. These seven blue spikes had been obtained from the fourth-grade Blue Spiked Crocodile that Zuo Mo had killed on the Desolate Wood Reef. The blue jade like spike was covered in cinnabar seals all over.

The body of the ship was thinner and longer than before, like a swordfish. It made the ship look more dangerous and intrusive. The direct result was that its speed in the water suddenly increased. In two hours, it could travel one hundred and fifty li, having increased by fifty percent.

Zuo Mo added a control formation to the ling shield outside. It was almost attached to the body of the ship now, like a skin rather than the round bubble it had been before. The lightning net seemed to be engraved on the ling shield now rather than on its exterior.

It was possible to see a thread of lightning occasionally swim by silently on the ling shield.

Zuo Mo had cut off anything like the masts. Those things were more for decoration than practicality.

But even so, Zuo Mo was still not satisfied. He studied the water movement formation that the date seed ship had now, and found that this water movement formation was the reason the date seed ship was so slow in the water. Compared to flying in the air, the speed of travel in the water made him feel it was as slow as a turtle.

For example, the Thunder Flowing Light Wings that he had bought from Hong Yang could reach one thousand and five hundred li in two hours at full speed. Even the third-grade lucky cloud that did not pursue speed but was famed for its elegance could easily surpass a speed of three hundred li every two hours.

Having never possessed a water movement talisman before, Zuo Mo naturally could not be satisfied with the speed of the date seed ship. A fourth-grade date seed ship that couldn’t even catch up to a third-grade lucky cloud, wasn’t that a joke?

He completely forgot the resistance in the water was much stronger than flying in the air.

When he realized this problem, it was when he had increased the speed of the date seed ship to two hundred li every two hours, because he discovered that, no matter how he altered the water movement formation, he could not increase the speed of the date seed ship.

He sudden recalled a move that he had practiced before in the [Li Water Sword Scripture] – [Flowing Water]!

Other than being traceless and hard to discover, [Flowing Water] also was fast! It wasn’t an extremely fast, but a comfortable, and smooth, natural flow! He had practiced [Li Water Sword Scripture] in the water before. In the water, [Flowing Water] was much faster! The crux of [Flowing Water] was to change with the water flow, like water flowing from high up down.

If he could turn the date seed ship into the Water Drop sword, that would be good … …

This daring idea suddenly flashed through his head. This idea made him excited. After thinking for a long time, he finally found a solution.

He had just finished it now!

He used several hundred little formations to successfully model a situation similar to [Flowing Water]. The speed of the date seed ship was increased to four hundred li every two hours!

Zuo Mo did not know the market. If he knew the fourth-grade water movement talismans on the market were all around one hundred li every two hours, that even the upper fourth-grade talismans were about two hundred li every two hours, he certainly wouldn’t have been stubborn to increase the speed of the date seed ship.

Such terrifying speed was not without its limits. Due to the high number of formations, it was extremely difficult to control. Zuo Mo found it very hard to control himself, and had to let Lil’ Pagoda take control of the formations. These formations mostly were related to water, and Lil’ Pagoda was the best hand at controlling the five elements.

The other point was the consumption of jingshi had multiplied, especially when they were travelling at full speed. It would use ten jing of ling power every two hours, which was ten pieces of third-grade jingshi, ten times that of the Thunder Flowing Light Wings.

But in Zuo Mo’s perspective, this was worth it. If he couldn’t keep his little life, then no matter how much jingshi he had it was useless.

The present date seed ship finally reached the level of life-saving in his heart.

But before he could rest, suddenly, a feeling of danger came into Zuo Mo’s mind.

Zuo Mo’s heart beat heavily.

He couldn’t help but look outside. In the black water, a dot of light suddenly lit up far away.

This dot of light was extremely small like a hair, but in a blink, it was the size of a sesame seed.

Such fast speed!

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply.

He suddenly remembered the Endless ocean that countless people talked about, which had no border was the playground of strong ling beasts!

“Run!”

Connected to his mind, Lil’ Pagoda instantly light up, the jingshi of the twenty eight stars in the ceiling of the cabin lit up, the cabin so bright it seemed like day.

Vroom vroom vroom! The ship slightly trembled. Under its maximum speed, the pressure that the ship was under was very terrifying.

The sudden change alarmed the other two.

Chun Yu Cheng raised his head in confusion, the excited lush on Gongsun Cha’s face had not retreated. Gongsun Cha reacted first, the lightning speed of the date seed ship frightening him.

“So fast! When did the ship become this fast?” He wasn’t nervous, his face curious as he walked next to Zuo Mo.

“It isn’t the time to discuss this,” Zuo Mo said in a deep voice. “Something has locked onto us.”

“What?” Gongsun Cha’s face was curious. However, when his gaze turned to the outside, his face suddenly changed.

Not far away from the ship, a pair of vicious eyes about the size of a lantern stared at the date seed ship.

When the two people looked at its body, the two couldn’t help but inhale.

An enormous shadow appeared in their vision. Black water that flowed relentlessly was like a mountain that was clearly separate from the surrounding river. The pair of indifferent and vicious eyes were as bright as moons in the black water.

The three felt as though they had fell into a glacier, their entire body cold!

Chapter 207: Moon Eye Blackwater Beast

“What is that?” Gongsun Cha asked woodenly

“Don’t know,” Zuo Mo’s answer was similarly wooden.

The pitiable Chun Yu Cheng just fainted.

“This is a Moon Eye Black Water Beast,” Pu Yao drawled. Having just sadistically killed Gongsun Cha for more than twenty rounds, he was in a pleasurable state, his attitude exceptionally harmonious.

“Moon Eye Blackwater Beast?”

“They mostly live in the bottom of the Endless Ocean. They have large bodies, but they are all looks and no substance. They don’t have anything good on their bodies. The only things are the moon beads and the Blackwater.” Pu Yao only glanced once, before becoming scornful.

“Moon bead! Blackwater!” Zuo Mo’s heart leaped. He had never heard of the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast before, but he wasn’t unfamiliar with the Moon Bead and Blackwater. The uses of Blackwater were very broad, it was not cheap, and moon beads were not just expensive, there were very few of them on the market, and were some of the best materials for forging.

However, he didn’t dare to have any greed now. The presence that this Moon Eye Blackwater Beast had was too intimidating.

“What grade is this guy? Any weaknesses?” He asked.

“Fourth-grade. As to weaknesses, I don’t know.” Pu Yao added, “I’m not familiar.”

The speed of the date seed ship was at maximum, yet that Moon Eye Blackwater Beast was easily keeping up.

As expected of a natural water element beast. His date seed ship was not a match for this kind of water movement speed. He stopped the ship. In any case, he couldn’t escape from the beast

What reassured his heart was this Moon Eye Black Water Beast was a fourth-grade ling beast. What gave him a headache was that they were in the water.

Zuo Mo might have defeated a Blue Spiked Crocodile, but that was on land and not in the water. If they had been in the water, Zuo Mo wouldn’t have even been able to escape. Water element ling beasts could use all of their offensive power in the water.

One ship and one beast faced off.

Zuo Mo and the others didn’t dare to move rashly. The Moon Eye Blackwater Beast seemed curious about this object that it had never seen before.

Inside the ship, Zuo Mo cast a spell on Gongsun Cha. “You’re in command of them.” After playing War Chess, Zuo Mo realized Gongsun Shidi’s talent in this area. Since he really couldn’t make anything of them, it was better to give them to Shidi.

———

Gongsun Cha stilled, but he instantly took over the command of the three Golden Armor Guards. In his consciousness, when the three Golden Armor Guards appeared, a shocked expression uncontrollably floated onto his face.

He had always assumed that the Golden Armor Guards were living people. Now he discovered that these three mysterious experts were puppets!

He quickly managed to calm down. Gradually, his breathing started to speed up.

He felt his body was uncontrollably shaking. It was not fear nor terror, but excitement!

This was his first fight where he was in command. Even though his subordinates were three golems, when he thought of the upcoming battle, he felt his body temperature rising, even his blood was burning.

He suddenly closed his eyes, his rushed breathing slowly calming.

When he opened his eyes again, he looked much calmer, but the light in the deepest part of his eyes was like a blade’s edge.

———

Zuo Mo also threw away all other thoughts. Other than engaging in a fight, there didn’t seem to be other options. The other side was a fourth-grade ling beast in the water, but on his side were four ningmai. Zuo Mo felt there was a chance!

What he was worried about was they would create too much noise, and attract other ling beasts. That would not be good.

Just as Zuo Mo pondered when to attack, Gongsun Cha suddenly ran to Chun Yu Cheng who had fainted, and furiously shook him awake. “Shixiong, Shixiong, where’s your ling butterfly?”

“Ling butterfly … … ling butterfly … …” Chun Yu Cheng’s face was confused. After a while, he managed to react, and hurriedly took out the beast service card. “Ling butterfly! Ling butterfly!”

Gongsun Cha looked helplessly at the confusion and panic on Chun Yu Cheng’s face and could only softly comfort him, “Shixiong, don’t panic, just summon your ling butterfly.”

“Oh.” It might have been that Gongsun Cha’s comfort was effective, Chun Yu Cheng calmed down slightly and summoned the ling butterfly.

The blue ling butterfly appeared in front of him, nimbly fluttering its wings. Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Every time the blue butterfly flapped its wings, he could feel a rich stream of water element power. It seemed that the deep of the Endless Ocean was the place the water element blue butterfly could be most effective.

But Zuo Mo did not understand. Why did Gongsun Cha get Chun Yu Cheng to summon a blue butterfly? The blue butterfly was only a third-grade ling butterfly, definitely not a match for the big guy outside. Also, while the deep of the Endless Ocean had rich water element power, it really was not a habitat for butterflies.

“Shixiong, I remember your ling butterfly has two water element spells. Which two?” Gongsun Cha asked rapidly.

“[Water Movement] and [Water Power].” Chun Yu Cheng reflexively responded.

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up. He understood what Gongsun Shidi wanted to do.

Gongsun Cha did not waste time, pointing at the three Golden Armor Guards and saying, “Shixiong, get the ling butterfly to use the spells on these three.”

“Oh.” Chun Yu Cheng hurriedly commanded the blue butterfly. The blue butterfly lightly moved its wings, and two water-blue spells hit one of the Golden Armor Guards. After continuously casting eight spells on the three Golden Armor Guards plus Zuo Mo, the blue butterfly appeared tired. The wings were moving slower than they had been before.

When the two spells hit Zuo Mo, he felt his ling power become lively. The changes in the water flow outside side the ship became much more clear, even though he didn’t know what the effect would be!

It was the correct decision to give Gongsun Shidi control of the Golden Armor Guards. If it was him, he wouldn’t have thought of Chun Shidi’s ling butterfly.

With these two spells, the gap between the two sides had become a little bit smaller.

Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha looked at each other, and instantly understood what they wanted. Attack first!

———

Three blue lights suddenly charged at the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast!

Once they attacked, Zuo Mo had no thoughts about luck. The three blue spikes moved first.

Fourth-grade blue spikes, after being forged in Golden Crow Fire, the body of the spikes were filled with characters. It was the strongest killing move of the date seed ship, but compared to the enormous body of the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast, the three blue spikes were not even toothpicks.

The Moon Eye Blackwater Beast did not show any signs of dodging. The three blue spikes disappeared into the black and roiling black water.

Boom!

The Blackwater which had been slowly flowing suddenly rippled ferociously like boiling water

The lantern-sized eyes brightened. Hiss, the three people on the ship felt an ear-piercing sound.

Zuo Mo’s attack had wounded it.

The Moon Eye Blackwater beast was enraged. Everyone felt the landscape darken. A wave of Blackwater gathered towards the date seed ship from all directions, tying it up tightly. The strength of the black water was extremely high. The ship started to creak as the Blackwater pressed against it!

The Blackwater tightly covered the ling shield like a wall.

Three golden figures with a long red tail heavily struck the water wall outside.

Ding ding ding!

Three muffled sounds that were like lightning. The three Golden Armor Guards were forcibly bounced back. The seemingly soft-looking black water was as hard as steel. The full power blows of the three Golden Armor Guards were not able to move the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast.

Zuo Mo was shocked.

He was very clear about how powerful the three Golden Armor Guards were. Each Golden Armored Guard’s strength was above his. The attack of the three of them at full power was not able to harm the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast one bit!

If it was said the three blue spikes made Zuo Mo joyful, then his heart stilled with this attack. So the restless Blackwater around the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast was its strongest weapon!

Blackwater was one of the most famous heavywaters in the world. With such a large amount of Blackwater it didn’t need any other spells. It only needed to control them, and the power would be terrifying.

Controlling Blackwater! This was the area that the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast was truly strong in.

Gongsun Cha also had a shocked expression. The three Golden Armor Guards suddenly stopped and suddenly leapt outside again.

Zuo Mo also managed to react. Throwing all thoughts to the back of his head, the five essence sword set he had already prepared was waiting to attack. Suddenly seeing the actions of the three Golden Armor Guards, his own movements slowed.

The three Golden Armor Guards rushed outside. In the middle, the gloves on their hands lit up.

Ten Thousand Appearance Gloves!

The three golden figures were like three meteors, striking three times!

Bam bam bam!

The three blows were all at the same spot!

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s consciousness clearly watched the water wall that the three Golden Armor Guards attacked only slightly rippled, but behind the water shield, the Blackwater body of Moon Eye Blackwater Beast suddenly shook, a portion of the Blackwater almost flowing out of its body.

Gongsun Cha’s attack was too beautiful!

Zuo Mo suppressed the impulse to roar, and took the opportunity to attack. He didn’t use the five essence sword set on his hands, but went with the flow and activated the lightning net outside the ling shield of the date seed ship.

If this was earlier, lightning of this degree was nothing to the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast.

But the clever attacks of the three Golden Armor Guards caused the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast to lose control of the Blackwater for a very short instant. The relatively weak lightning moved in at this time.

Hiss hiss hiss!

Countless little bits of lightning flooded the Blackwater.

The Moon Eye Blackwater Beast was in a slight panic. The Blackwater that had been wrapped around the date seed ship furiously pressed inwards. Under the heavy pressure, half of the fine lightning was quickly destroyed.

However, the state of the two sides switched!

The devious Zuo Mo attacked it again, and three blue spikes soundlessly entered the Blackwater.

Argh!

The Moon Eye Blackwater Beast gave a strange howl!

Zuo Mo’s eyes blurred, everything shaking! Turning his head over, blood flowed out of Gongsun Cha’s nose and mouth, his face ferocious. The killing intent was so intense in his eyes that Zuo Mo’s heart shook

A red sword energy passed through the black water, aiming straight at the two lantern-sized eyes of the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast.

At the same time, another Golden Armor Guard paced several steps and moved up.

Bam!

The Blackwater wall shrunk back, blocking the red sword energy.

Pew!

The Blackwater that hurried back was slightly weaker than usual, unable to block such a sharp sword energy.

Another water wall!

The sword energy which had not expended its power hit the surface, causing ripples and was blocked!

Before the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast could release a breath, the Golden Armored Guard that had moved up smashed heavily into the wall.

An expression of scorn appeared in the vicious eyes of the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast. Smash? They couldn’t smash through the water wall!

Just as the Golden Armored Guard was going to hit the wall, suddenly, seven silver sword energies lit up by his side, the silver light flowing. Seven silver sword energies forcefully crashed on the water wall!

The Seven Star Sword Formation of the Seven Star Sword Boots!

The rippling water wall instantly collapsed, the seven silver sword energies pointing straight at the eyes of the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast.

For the first time, the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast had an expression of fear. At this time, it could do nothing except push all the Blackwater in front of it.

It needed to stop the seven silver sword energies!

It was so panicked that it did not notice that, at some unknown time, a golden figure had sneaked behind it.

Face covered in blood, Gongsun Cha seemed insane, the corners of his mouth coldly rising, his eyes black as they were reflected in the Blackwater, a dash of red flashing past!

Chapter 208: Blood Void Movement

Zuo Mo looked at the soft and shy Gongsun Shidi who was half-collapsed on the deck, face pale, and found it hard to think of him as the battle crazed guy just now.

As he took out medicine for Gongsun Cha, he thought, “This guy is really an extreme militant!” Even now, he felt it was slightly unreal. The entire battle was clean and crisp, without any big tribulations, it was done.

Zuo Mo didn’t even get to use his five essence sword set and the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast was killed!

He had felt the effectiveness of the Golden Armor Guards would not be as great with him as they were on Gongsun Shidi’s hands.

But the difference was a bit too big … …

On land, one Golden Armor Guard was enough to deal with a Moon Eye Blackwater Beast, but in the water, for three Golden Armor Guards to kill a Moon Eye Blackwater Beast, that needed luck. He hadn’t thought that Gongsun Shidi was so strong!

Pity about the pair of Moon beads!

Zuo Mo’s heart hurt. The last ambush by the Golden Armor Guard had sliced the eyes of the Moon Eye Blackwater Beasts in half. What landed in his hands were four half-sphere moon beads. Their value had greatly decreased. He had taken a lot of Blackwater. The Blackwater was not as valuable as moon beads, but it was still a rarity.

Even more, it was worth it just to discover Gongsun Shidi’s terrifying talent at battle!

In troubled times, what was most important was strength. As Gongsun Shidi’s talents were continuously uncovered, their strength was increasing. Zuo Mo was already considering if it was possible for Pu Yao to make a few more Golden Armor Guards.

However, Gongsun Shidi’s strength was a bit lacking. The shout from the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast had almost taken his little life. In Zuo Mo’s view, the direction that Gongsun Shidi should develop in was as a battle general, being skilled at commanding in battle, and not pursuing individual power.

But his individual power was too weak, even weaker than Chun Yu Cheng. If he was the least bit careless, he could lose his life. Having seen the yao army, Zuo Mo naturally realized that people like Gongsun Shidi were actually very strong. These days, hiring a sword xiu of some strength wasn’t hard, that just needed jingshi. But hiring a xiuzhe who would command, that was not simple. Even more, Gongsun Shidi was the closest of all, they had gone through tribulations together and was very reliable.

How could he get Gongsun Shidi to command in battle but not lose his little life?

Talisman? Even the best talisman would be scrap metal in Gongsun Shidi’s hands. He basically could not use them to their full potential.

Practice some life-saving spell? At this time, would it be too late? Gongsun Shidi might have talent at commanding, but his talent at cultivation seemed very average.

Zuo Mo ran into trouble.

Suddenly he hit his head. How could he forget Pu Yao? This thousand year old antique should know at least something.

“You want to turn him into a battle general?” Pu Yao’s eyes as he looked at Zuo Mo were slightly shocked. Such a perceptive matter, was it something that this greedy zombie face could think of? Didn’t this guy only ever pursue money?

“I feel he has great talent in the area.” Zuo Mo asked in response, “Don’t you think so?”

“His talent is barely acceptable.” Pu Yao did not refute it. “But what do you want a battle general for? Do you want to start conquering land?”

Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao like he was looking at an idiot. Did he get his head knocked? Just these few people, they couldn’t even get protection money, let alone conquering land! However, thinking that he had something to ask of the other, Zuo Mo decided it was better not to say such hurtful words. He said, “One good man, three person sect. Gang fighting has more technique involved than fighting by oneself. Anyways, I feel that this road has a brighter future for him than a butcher.”

For some unknown reason, Pu Yao released a breath. See, he said so. This brat couldn’t have such far-seeing eyes.

———

“This is so good, why does it have to be hidden?” Zuo Mo was not very happy.

“You bumpkin!” Pu Yao scornfully twisted his mouth. Each time he scolded like this, he felt great. Also, he found that as long as Zuo Mo had something to request of him, Zuo Mo wouldn’t be angry if he swore at him.

He saw the displeasure in Zuo Mo’s eyes become even heavier, but the other forcefully suppressed it. Pu Yao was very smug.

Oh, this feeling isn’t bad.

“Let me first teach you a lesson. With xiuzhe, those that are purely commanders are battle generals. Yaomo do not have pure things.” Pu yao’s voice was full of scorn. “For yaomo, they have to fight as soon as they are born. Commanding in battle is a technique any high level yaomo must learn. Of course, not every yaomo can become a strong commander, but the rate of their occurrence is much higher than your battle generals.”

“Do you know what is most important for a commander? Pu Yao asked.

“I don’t know,” Zuo Mo shook his head in confusion. He had never heard before what Pu Yao was saying now.

“Giving commands!” Pu Yao gave a very normal answer.

“Oh,” Zuo Mo seemed to have understood slightly.

“On the battlefield, the situation would change constantly, and is very complex. How can the people in command let their orders reach their subordinates?” As he kept on going, Pu Yao became serious. “Xiuzhe use seals, they first forge seals beforehand to give them to the xiuzhe they command, and pass orders through the seals. Mo use the mo matrix. They can mutually feel each other through the mo matrix. As to yao, I shouldn’t have to say anything.”

“Consciousness?”

“Yes.” Pu Yao nodded. “What yao primarily cultivate is the consciousness, and are born naturally powerful in this area. You should first consider this problem.”

“As to protecting his life,” Pu Yao tilted his head to think, “battle generals usually would have the protection of experts, and they would hide in the troops so they cannot easily be discovered.”

Zuo Mo had an impulse to spit blood.

After speaking for so long, it was basically equivalent to saying nothing. Having the protection of experts, where could he get experts to protect? There was only these few people, where would he hide?

“We are on one ship now.” Zuo Mo’s eyes were not friendly as he smirked, “Hm, I wonder if Sky Yao are nutritious and suited to a ling beast’s appetite.

Pu Yao naturally would not be scared by this degree of threat, and laughed loudly in response.

Seeing that Zuo Mo showed signs of rage, Pu Yao finally stopped his carefree laugh.

“If you are talking about saving his life, it’s not that there are not ways.” Pu Yao snickered, “Like the mo matrix. Look at how convenient it is. Carving it on once, benefits for a lifetime. He doesn’t need to cultivate at all. The mo matrix would automatically temper his body. In the future, he would be a juggernaut, a juggernaut that cannot be killed!”

Zuo Mo smirked. “Boast! Continue boasting! Ge got tricked by you last time, got this mo matrix carved, how come ge didn’t become a juggernaut!”

“It’s not possible to become a juggernaut in one day.” Pu Yao smiled. “Or a yao seed. Cultivating the consciousness, that’s the best pairing for a battle general.”

“The consciousness isn’t bad, but it isn’t useful in protecting his life. Also, if he starts practicing, it would take a long time.” Zuo Mo shook his head. “Also, in the future, he might not be in command of a yao army. Didn’t you also say that xiuzhe used seals?”

“You see, you refused the two areas I’m most skilled in.” Pu Yao waved his hand, his expression similar to saying “see, it’s not that I’m not helping you.”

“Ye just knew that you weren’t reliable!” Zuo Mo hatefully said. “Humph, fine! He can’t become a battle general, no one can play War Chess with you!”

Pu Yao froze.

Zuo Mo was secretly overjoyed. As expected, he hadn’t guessed wrong! Seeing Pu Yao sadistically kill Gongsun Cha for twenty something rounds, Zuo Mo was very shocked. He had never seen Pu Yao be interested in a matter like he was in this. Pu Yao had taken out a huge variety of War Chess games. Zuo Mo had knew then that this guy had definitely been obsessed with this path. Especially when he saw Pu Yao’s smug expression after he had sadistically killed Gongsun Cha twenty something rounds. He knew that this guy had found a new amusement, so he tried this approach.

Pu Yao was depressed. It wasn’t that he was unclear as to Zuo Mo’s little calculations, but just as Zuo Mo expected, it had been long and difficult before he had found someone who could play with him. If he lost a person to play with due to this, it was a loss.

To a Sky Yao that had no goal or ambition, amusement was very important.

He said slightly helplessly, “Oh, I remember, there is a very obscure life-saving method.”

“What?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked.

“[Blood Void Movement]!”

“What spell is that?”

“It’s not a spell, it’s a talisman!”

“Oh … …

Multiple hours later, Zuo Mo looked at the three necklaces in front of him with a satisfied expression. There were two jade tablets on each necklace, each tablet carved with complex and old characters. Zuo Mo’s craftsmanship was much better now, and the characters he carved were more smooth and fine.

Deviously laughing, he ran next to Gongsun Cha whose face was pale.

“Shixiong, what is it?” Gongsun Cha became wary. Shixiong’s expression was troubling.

“Nothing big.” Zuo Mo nickered. He pulled Gongsun Cha’s hand, rubbed it a few times. “Okay!”

Gongsun Cha stilled. He suddenly saw that his little hand was dripping blood. Below his fingers, there was a jade bottle that was already half filled with blood.

Gongsun Cha’s pale face suddenly became white as paper, his eyes rolling as he fainted.

Chun Yu Cheng propped up his chin, looking in the distance, his gaze wandering as he muttered to himself. “This formation should belong to the wind element power. Does wind element power affect the reproduction rate of ling butterflies … …”

He was completely ignorant that someone was beside him, and did not detect that the other hand which he had on his leg was dripping blood.

After half a bottle, he still had not detected it.

———

An hour later.

“Hm, when did my hand get wounded? Oh, where did I think up to … …”

Zuo Mo took out three bottles of blood, one of them his own. He had split the blood of the two bottles in half, each portion put into one of the jade tablets.

On the warm jade tablet, the bright red characters were exceptionally grand. No one would think of blood. It did not look any different than normal cinnabar.

The three necklaces with the jade tablets were the weapon to save lives – Blood Void Movement!

Three people, one person a piece.

When any one of them experienced a life-saving threat, they would automatically move beside their fellow, as long as their fellow was also wearing the Blood Void Movement necklace as well.

He had originally planned on finding a life-saving method for Gongsun Cha who had the lowest cultivation, but hadn’t thought that he would get such a big benefit out of it. Zuo Mo mixed the three people’s Blood Void Movement together. This way, no matter which one of the three of them encountered danger, they would move to one of the other two.

Having put handled a large worry, Zuo Mo’s mood was great and he woke Gongsun Cha up.

“Come, let’s play the War Chess!”

The confused Gongsun Cha did not know that he had been sold by Shixiong to a Pu Yao who was sharpening his blades.

Chapter 209: Ma Fan

“Where are we?” Chun Yu Cheng curiously poked his head out of the ship. After travelling for more than three months underwater, the three felt very suffocated.

“Little Mountain Jie,” Zuo Mo said uncertainly. None of them had ever been to Little Mountain Jie and had never paid any attention to information about Little Mountain Jie.

The fresh air made the trio’s chests instantly become refreshed and expand. They all poked their heads out of the cabin to greedily suck in the air.

On both sides of the river were endless series of mountain peaks.

But quickly, the three completely shut up. They looked dazedly at the mountain peaks at the two sides.

Smashed rocks and broken trees laid everywhere. Occasionally, there were corpses and pieces of clothing. The mountains which had originally been green were now barren.

“It can’t be this bad … …” Chun Yu Cheng’s voice drifted out as if it was sleep-talking.

Gongsun Cha was the first to respond. His face was not very good, lowering his head and saying to himself, “War has begun.”

Zuo Mo only looked, not knowing what to say. This area must have experienced fierce fighting. Thinking about the yao troops above the Desolate Wood Reef, Zuo Mo didn’t need to guess to know who had accomplished such destruction. His heart couldn’t help but feel fear. If he hadn’t escaped in time, this would have also been his outcome.

“Let’s be careful. The road probably won’t be safe.”

Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha exchanged a look, and saw the worry in each other’s eyes.

The date seed ship flew into the sky and floated in mid-air.

“Where should we go?” Gongsun Cha asked a very realistic question.

“We can only take one step and look one step.” Zuo Mo’s face was expressionless, but his voice was full of helplessness, “We aren’t familiar with Little Mountain Jie, so let’s first find someone to ask where the other jie rivers of Little Mountain Jie are.

“Are there even still people in Little Mountain Jie?”

Gongsun Cha’s words made Zuo Mo’s breathing uncontrollably stop. He turned around, and saw a matter-of-fact expression on Gongsun Cha’s soft face. For some reason, a cold chill seeped into his heart.

His first response was, he definitely could not bully Gongsun Shidi in the future.

This guy was definitely vicious and devious.

But Zuo Mo clearly wasn’t a nice person either. “Then our days are at an end. Just wait for others to come back to clean us up.”

Gongsun Cha giggled, and didn’t speak. Holding up his chin, he was thinking of something.

Luckily, Gongsun Cha’s words were not proven right. On the third day, they encountered living xiuzhe. But when they saw the messy battlefield, Zuo Mo could only say, “Let’s wait.” The date seed ship shrunk back into the clouds, and secretly gazed at the fighting below.

The two groups of xiuzhe were fighting, talismans and flying swords all over the air.

Most of the people had a cultivation of ningmai, only a rare few in zhuji. Chun Yu Cheng only looked for a little while before turning to think about his husbandry. He wasn’t interested in fighting and killing. Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha were so bored they were yawning.

“Why don’t we do another round of War Chess.” Gongsun Cha asked.

Zuo Mo swept him with a look and shook his head. “No, business first.”

Gongsun Cha had become their strongest offensive force now.

In the three months, this militant had improved with astounding speed, becoming more vicious and experienced in the art of commanding. The number of ling beasts that had been ruined could not be counted. In his hands, the three Golden Armored Guards could be called specters of war. Of course, Zuo Mo’s wallet had also become fuller.

Having seen the strong yao army, having seen the strong ling beasts under the water like the Moon Eye Blackwater Beast, especially after seeing the grand performances of the three golden armor guards under Gongsun Shidi’s command, the fight in front of them could not stir their interest.

Thinking it over Zuo Mo still decided to not wait, “Go get them to stop.”

“Alright,” Gongsun Cha clearly didn’t have any interest in opponents of this level. The two seemed to have completely forgot one of them was ningmai and the other zhuji while the two groups down there were mostly ningmai.

The three golden armor guards that had been holding their swords moved, and disappeared from Gongsun Cha’s side.

———

Ma Fan carefully maintained his distance from the others. Fifty zhang to one hundred zhang was his best attack range. In this range of distance, his sword scripture could reach its maximum power.

Compared to the great majority, his luck was pretty good, and he had found the remains of a sword scripture. This sword scripture did not have a name, and the contents were nearly all lost; but the remains were enough for him to survive until now.

It really was troublesome!

He carefully controlled his rhythm, occasionally glancing out of the corner of his eye at his fellows. Luckily, this group’s situation wasn’t bad. His heart relaxed slightly. Before this, he had always been alone. When he had encountered the yao army passing by, seeing that battle that had no meaning, he understood that it was not possible for one person to survive in these troubled times.

He had joined this little group. but how many times had he fought after joining this group? He didn’t quite remember. After the yao army left, Little Mountain Jie’s society had collapsed, and turned to chaos.

Out of nowhere, he saw three golden lights out of the corner of his eye!

There was an ambush! His heart shocked, he didn’t hesitate in turning and running. His feet moved continuously, and his entire person was covered in a pile of fake and real illusions.

The illusory movement method that he relied on to save his life!

The opponent sixty zhang away from him had suddenly lost his opponent, his face full of shock, not understanding the situation.

The three golden lights were like three sharp arrows that pierced straight into the people fighting.

Pia pia pia!

The rapid blows sounded out like rain hitting a banana leaf. The sounds rang in Ma Fan’s ears as he ran furiously, his scalp prickled.

It was troublesome now!

He was still quite confident in his speed. The sword scripture that he cultivated might have been incomplete, but the strongest parts were the illusory movement method and the three sword moves. The illusory sword method had saved his life a few times already. He rejoiced inside that he had luckily saved some energy before. Otherwise, he would meet his death today.

Just as he was thinking, the thundering crashes suddenly stopped.

A strong feeling of danger appeared. Uh-oh!

Hiss-crack!

A golden figure appeared in front of him out of thin air, the speed so quick that he didn’t even manage to see the person’s features.

Troublesome!

His feet changed direction and ran in another direction!

Hiss-crack!

Another golden figure appeared in front of him.

Trouble … …

At the same time, a hiss-crack sounded behind him!

“I surrender!” He raised both of his hands.

However, the other clearly did not pay attention to him. His neck hurt, his vision darkened, and then he was unconscious.

———

When he opened his eyes again, he released a breath. He hadn’t died. However, when he completely opened his eyes, his heart went back up again – a gold fighter!

He suddenly remembered what had happened before he was unconscious.

This was really troublesome now!

He finally managed to see what the golden people looked like. Their entire body was covered in golden scale armor. Under the sun, the dense golden scales rippled with golden light. The eyes under the golden scale armor were cold and murderous. Ma Fen did not doubt that if he dared to make a wrong move, the golden scale warriors would use that exaggeratedly large flame red broadsword to slice off his head.

Wait, Heavens!

His eyes blanked for an extremely short moment.

Flames surrounded the exaggerated red broadsword. The golden scaled warriors had thrust the sword into the ground. The soil around the tip of the sword slowly became black. Fourth-grade! This was a fourth-grade broadsword!

Ma Fan had worked alone for so long. From this experience, he had developed a great understanding of the market for these kinds of things.

Naturally had his own methods for judging talismans.

This broadsword was not ordinary. This was not what shocked him . Even if there was the addition of the golden scaled armor that looked to have high defense power, he wouldn’t feel shocked.

What shocked him was what was on the three … …

No wonder they could catch up to him. The Thunder Flowing Light Wings, one of the most famous fourth-grade flying talismans that could be brought on the market. It had appeared countless times in his dreams. If he had the Thunder Flowing Light Wings, if they were added to his illusory movement method. Oh, he had the confidence he could escape from any xiuzhe under jindan!

His eyes flashed across the hands resting on the hilt of the sword. A light blue pair of gloves embroidered with a little elephant. Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves! The best love of body xiu. If you had those, you could tear animals apart with your bare hands. His thoughts wandered. A moment later, he remembered the crashes that had come behind him before he had become unconscious.

To have been smashed by a guy wearing Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves … …

He shook and woke up.

But when his eyes flashed across the snake pupil that was so cold and emotionless on the belt that the golden scaled warriors were wearing, his body uncontrollably tensed again!

Snake Pupil Belt!

… …

His eyes unconsciously landed on the pair of feet closest to him. The slightly delicate boots were slightly strange being paired with the glittering golden armor. But, when Ma Fan’s gaze landed on the little sword on the shoes and the Big Dipper surrounding it, he only had one thought in his head

––It really was troublesome now!

“Don’t just look. Just sit up.”

A very young voice came from behind him. He hurriedly rolled up.

He saw an expressionless face. It really was expressionless. The entire face seemed to be paralyzed. He had never seen such a strange face before. The thin body, with this wooden face, it looked like a zombie. However, this “zombie” was covered in valuable talismans. Ma Fan instantly woke up. He had heard before that many elders would have all kinds of strange habits and preferences.

But the young xiuzhe next to the “zombie” was quite delicate, a slight smile on his face. He looked very friendly.

“What are you called?” The zombie opened.

“Ma Fan.”

“As in troublesome?”

Having expected the other’s response, Ma Fan hurriedly explained, “Ma as in sesame, fan for ordinary.”

“Oh,” The zombie slightly paused. “Why are you guys fighting?”

Zuo Mo pretended to be profound.

“Elder, they want to steal our ling grains.” Ma Fan didn’t dare to conceal.

“Ling grains?” Zuo Mo was very surprised. He had made his living from farming ling grains for several years but had never heard people fighting over ling grains.

“Yes.” Ma Fan perceptively detected the disbelief in Zuo Mo’s voice and explained, “Elder may not know. After the yao army passed through, for some reason, the ling energy in the jie has gradually decreased. Not only has cultivation has become difficult to progress, but after a period of time, our stages may actually go down.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly channeled his ling power and found that it was as Ma Fan had said. The surrounding ling energy was very thin. He had the mo matrix which would automatically take in ling energy from the surroundings which was why did he had not detected it. Also, Gongsun Cha was obsessed with War Chess and Chun Yu Cheng with his animals, the Golden Armor Guards did not need to cultivate, so their procession had not discovered the change in the ling energy.

Zuo Mo suddenly shuddered in shock.

Chapter 210: Collapse Of Order

For the longest time, ling grains had always been used to improve the body and as an aid to increase cultivation speed. Other than that, only those xiuzhe who were heading to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie would use them.

Due to this, the price of ling grains was low and very steady in the long term. Otherwise, Zuo Mo would have already become rich.

But right now, the ling energy density at Little Mountain Jie had become low, and the importance of ling grains had instantly become evident. Jingshi, lingdan and ling grains were the only items able to supply ling energy. The ling power contained in jingshi was rich, but the impurities it contained needed to be purified and could not be used in the long term. Lingdan was made with all kinds of ling herbs and ling materials, so the cost was too high.

The ling energy in the ling foods were not just easy to absorb but did not harm the body. If used for a long time, it could even slowly change the body. Ling grains were the most widely used and basic ingredient in ling foods. Even normal xiuzhe that did not know how to make ling food could easily consume it.

Many thoughts appeared in Zuo Mo’s head.

Little Mountain Jie’s ling energy had become thin after the yao army had passed through. Without a doubt, it was the fault of the yao army. However, even though he knew this desolation was caused by the yao army, Zuo Mo had to sigh with amazement at the strength of the yao army. Little Mountain Jie might be a small jie, but to be able to change the ling energy of a jie, this power was enough to make him look up with reverence..

Other than admiration, he started to think of the related problems this matter would cause.

Long ago when he had been farming ling grains, due to listening to the sound tablet frequently, he gradually learned how to follow the threads through the complex and numerous news reports to find the useful information . He knew he was only a little character. If he was going to survive in this troubled world, he needed to learn how to avoid dangers.

If the situation worsened, Little Mountain Jie would become a place like Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. A place with no ling energy was a terrible place for xiuzhe, and Little Mountain Jie would quickly become the playground of the yaomo.

Zuo Mo didn’t know what the yaomo had done, nor did he know if the change of ling energy could be reversed. If this change could be reversed that would be good, but if it could not be then the situation of the xiuzhe would be terrible! Under an environment without any ling energy, the offensive power of the xiuzhe would dramatically lessen, and the yaomo would become fish in the water. If this became the case, the disadvantages of the xiuzhe would continuously increase. The yaomo would only need to corrode one jie at a time, and the xiuzhe had to retreat.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo felt his heartbeat was increasing.

Alright, he was worrying for nothing. Those large sects wouldn’t stand aside. Thousands of years ago, the xiuzhe had won over the yaomo. They could do it again this time!

Zuo Mo comforted himself so.

His thoughts turned back to himself. The great affairs of the world were nothing to him. It was more practical to focus more his efforts on his little life.

The price of ling plant farmers was going to grow. At least, he didn’t have to worry about starving … … this thought flashed through his head.

The order of Little Mountain Jie would completely collapse. He had to quickly leave this place.

He had deeply experienced the ineffectiveness of individual strength on the front lines of battle. He couldn’t affect the battle, he couldn’t even decide his own life.

In troubled times, lives were nothing.

———

Ma Fan’s heart was fearful. The zombie elder had become silent. He felt the air in front of him had solidified, an invisible pressure making him tremble. He could clearly hear the increasing rate of his heartbeat. His mouth was drying.

“Why don’t you all leave Little Mountain Jie?” The zombie elder suddenly asked.

Zuo Mo finally spoke, and Ma Fan no longer felt he was suffocating.

“Elder, it’s not that we do not want to leave Little Mountain Jie, but the jie river towards Sky Water Jie has been under someone’s control. If we want to pass, we needed to pay enough jingshi and ling grains.”

Zuo Mo instantly realized. He couldn’t help but think that these people were much more vicious than he was. Little Mountain Jie only had two jie rivers, one to Sky Moon Jie, one towards Sky Water Jie.

Blockading the jie river towards Sky Water Jie, Little Mountain Jie instantly became a dead end. No one would dare to go to Sky Moon Jie.

“No one has tried to kill their way out?”

Ma Fan grimaced. “Controlling the Sky Water jie river is the strongest sect in the jie, Clear Sky Sect.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo shook his head. This wasn’t the way to do business.

To do business, there was a relationship of mutual gain. What was traded was jingshi, but what this Clear Sky Sect wanted was lives. Half of the responsibility for the collapse of order in Little Mountain Jie could be blamed on Clear Sky Sect and what they were pushing from the shadows. The xiuzhe that could not escape Little Mountain Jie and could only continuously fight and steal both jingshi and ling grains from other people. Everyone would think that when they had stolen enough, they could escape this place.

As for the people remaining, there was only one outcome.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel anything guilt about profiteering from war, but what Clear Sky Sect had done was enough for him to feel cold.

Clear Sky Sect’s actions of pushing people to the edge of death was like playing with fire. If they were not careful, they could also fall in. However, from the outside, it was also possible to see their absolute confidence.

Of course, Zuo Mo was not so carefree as to worry about the life and death of other people. Clear Sky Sect was blockading the jie river, and so was stopping their road to leave Little Mountain Jie.

Would Clear Sky Sect allow him to leave? Not possible. Clear Sky Sect had no relationship with him, would they let go of the chance to get rich?

As to making it through by force? That was even more unlikely.

Gongsun Cha might have been very relaxed in directing the golden armor guards to sort out the ten or so xiuzhe, but the power that large sects like Clear Sky Sect had was not something so few people that they had could face.

Give jingshi?

Zuo Mo did have jingshi, but he felt that in other people’s eyes, he was definitely a fat sheep. If it was him who saw such a fat sheep, there was no reason not to squeeze everything he could. How could they be content with just jingshi?

Zuo Mo quickly vetoed that plan.

Then, there was only one remaining way, kill his way through them! If he was going to kil, it wasn’t possible with just the three of them. Then, he needed to expand the strength he had. He needed a power that the other could not dismiss. Clear Sky Sect definitely would not get in a conflict with him to the point both sides were wounded and suffered significant losses. It was very simple. Zuo Mo had nothing, but Clear Sky Sect was waiting and raking in jingshi.

Ma Fan would never think that his few words had caused so many thoughts to flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind.

Zuo Mo asked for some of the general information regarding Sky Water jie river. As expected, the Sky Water jie river was unable to be penetrated under Clear Sky Sect’s management. It also killed off his last hope. Originally, he had thought about passing under the water of the jie river by the date seed ship.

Zuo Mo was going to ask Gongsun Shidi’s opinion, but when he saw Gongsun Shidi’s excitement and fanaticism, he already knew the answer.

This extreme militant!

Muttering inside he found Pu Yao, “Is there a way to make them listen to me?”

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil flashed and he snickered, “There’s very many. What you xiuzhe use the most is jinzhi.”

“Jinzhi?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“This isn’t strange.” Pu Yao said. “This is mostly used on xiu slaves, but some strict sects would use them on their disciples to stop the disciples from betraying them.”

“So scary!” Zuo Mo shook. He could not imagine that he needed to be implanted with jinzhi when he entered a sect.

“Do you want that method?”

“Yes.”

Zuo Mo only hesitated for a beat before deciding to take it. If it wasn’t their death, it was his, there was nothing to say. First, get past the jie river. Jinzhi were not moral, but it was the most effective method right now. There was no time for him to waste.

Zuo Mo didn’t want to be still in Little Mountain Jie when the yao army returned.

Pu Yao was strangely brisk this time, teaching Zuo Mo several kinds of jinzhi.

It was not that easy to use jinzhi, especially to Zuo Mo who was only first stratum ningmai. He spent some effort before he barely managed to learn it. This was due to his exceptional consciousness. Otherwise, jinzhi were not something he could use.

The pitiful Ma Fan became the first experiment.

———

Just as Zuo Mo was trying his best to put down jinzhi on the unconscious xiuzhe, Pu Yao revealed an amused expression in the sea of consciousness.

“You must also have great anticipation!” His chin was propped up in his hand, his eerie bloody eye deep as a bloody sea, as he lightly said to the gravestone. “So practical! Really makes one admire him more and more! He is destined not to walk your path … … you stupid self-destructive f***er!”

The gravestone was silent and motionless.

———

When the last jinzhi was put in, Zuo Mo was exhausted. He put jinzhi in all the ningmai. In total, there were sixteen people.

“The remainder is all down to you.” Finishing, Zuo Mo, whose consciousness and ling power had all been used up, instantly took a piece of jingshi and entered meditation.

“No problem!” Gongsun Cha raised his handsome and feminine face, smiling and revealing his teeth. An excited light was in his eyes.

At the side, Ma Fan felt a burst of coldness start at his tailbone and climb up his spine.

———

Sky Moon Jie, Desolate Wood Reef.

“Miss, Yan Yue of the Thirteenth Corps has already reached the jie river towards Bright Wave. The Jin Bao Zheng of the Sixth Corps has reached the jie river to South Beauty Jie. On the road, the two troops have not found any suspicious targets.” The middle aged man respectfully reported.

“They’ve moved pretty quickly.” Mu Xi said faintly. “The net has already been cast. The remainder is to slowly search. Be more attentive.”

“Yes!” The middle aged person sternly responded. He hesitated, and then said, “Miss, we’ve found signs of mo activity.”

“Mo?” At the side, Yan Feng’s expression changed slightly, and he shouted.

Mu Xi’s gaze slightly narrowed. She raised her head to ask, “Have they determined who it is?”

“To be able to go through the Blood Jie cracks , it can only be mo under brigadier.” The shock on Yan Feng’s face did not disappear. “Which Moon Mo colonel? Why did he come? Does he have the same goal as us?”

“Why is it not possible?” Mu Xi glanced at Yan Feng. “You’ve missed a possibility. For example, a true mo brigadier that has sealed their own power.”

The face of the middle-aged person changed.

“Instantly make an investigation.” Mu Xi said decisively. “Even if he is a true mo brigadier, do not worry. It would be best to establish communication with him. Maybe he could help us.”

“Yes,” The middle-aged man accepted his orders.

Seeing the worry on her subordinate’s face, Mu Xi smiled. “Don’t worry too much, no matter if it is a moon mo colonel, or a true mo brigadier, they have the same enemy as us.”

Mu Xi’s features could only be called clean, but this smile seemed to have a special power to make others calm down.

“Miss is right,” The middle-aged man said with a smile.

Chapter 211: Trash And Poor Ghosts

Zuo Mo looked at the dozen or so unfamiliar faces in front of him. Some of the people were terrified, but more of them were rebellious.

He was thinking about ways that he could control this group. Presently, Little Mountain Jie was like a cage, a gladiator stadium, the surviving xiuzhe were not average.

“From today onwards I am your Boss, the Big Boss!”

Zuo Mo’s opening did not stir any reaction. Scorn was in most people’s eyes. Zuo Mo had just a one stratum ningmai cultivation. In front of these people, he didn’t have any qualities that he could be proud about.

Zuo Mo didn’t pay any mind to this, and kept on speaking.

“I believe you have all had a taste of the jinzhi. I don’t want to spend more time talking. My goal is very simple, to go through the jie river. As for you trash and poor ghosts, you have nothing to be squeezed out so I don’t have much interest in you.”

The words were nasty to hear, but many people’s wariness lowered.

The expressionless person in front of them did have the qualification to say this. That date seed ship was clearly a rare jingshi talismans, a row of seven cinnabar-pattern blue spikes as sharp as teeth, clearly from an crocodile maw. They could smell faint traces of blood from the teeth. The long and elegant body of the ship was surrounded by a ling shield that occasionally flashed with lightning as it wrapped tightly around the ship.

Each person couldn’t help but drool when they saw the grand talismans and flying swords the three Golden Armor Guards were wearing. If it wasn’t that they had jinzhi in their bodies, these people who have leapt at the opportunity regardless of the risk.

Even the richest person in the group was too embarrassed to open his hundred treasures pouch when facing such a grand scene.

“I hope everyone can have happy interactions. Of course, with your present skill level is hard to make me happy.” Zuo Mo was full of scorn and disdain. “Look at all of you fighting so messily, even worse than wandering bandits, no finesse at all. From today onwards you all have to remember one thing.Gang fighting requires high finesse and is skilled work!”

“You are all very lucky,” Zuo Mo pointed at Gongsun Cha beside him. “Mister Gongsun here, is the best and most famous battle general of Sky Moon Jie. He will personally teach you this profound skill.”

Gongsun Cha smiled shyly, but his face didn’t blush at all. Chun Yu Cheng gaped. This boast was somewhat … …

When the other people’s eyes landed on Gongsun Cha, all the scorn and disdain completely flew away, only leaving behind terror.

Very good, Zuo Mo was extremely content. It seemed that Gongsun Shidi had already established enough authority with these people.

Just like when one did business, after pushing for the lowest price, he needed to give the other an incentive to motivate the other person.

“You will be completely transformed, and you will begin a completely different life here. You do not need to worry about ambushes in the middle of the night, you do not need to think about where to escape for safety.” Zuo Mo waved his arms, “You don’t need to worry about anything!”

“The only worry you need to have is whether or not you can satisfy Mister Gongsun.”

Zuo Mo made the last conclusion in an unconcerned tone.

“The jie river will fall under our feet.”

Zuo Mo, feeling very good about himself, moved the group to the side as he and Gongsun Cha started to discuss.

“How long would it take to train these people to have offensive power?” Zuo Mo asked Gongsun Cha.

“Don’t know,” Gongsun Cha spread his hands, “We are all novices.”

Zuo Mo had a headache. Gongsun Shidi was right. Everyone here were novices, no one had any experience.

Gongsun Cha added, “According to the rules of the wargame, a new troop needs to be trained for over a year to form the most basic offensive maneuvers. Also, the wargames you made were all yaomo style, not xiuzhe, so I have to slowly experiment.”

“We don’t have that much time,” Zuo Mo shook his head. He didn’t believe the yaomo would give them a year.

Gongsun Cha thought for a moment, “Then we can only increase the intensity of the training, or there are ways that we can use numbers to make up for lack of power.”

“Numbers … … it seems that we need a temporary base,” Zuo Mo said solemnly.

———

Zuo Mo chose a mountain valley. Before, there was a little sect here, but the people had left, so the valley did not belong to anyone. The reason he chose this place was because there were ling veins here before.

The reason that the ling energy of Little Mountain Jie had become thin was definitely due to a problem with the ling veins. Zuo Mo wanted to personally see what the ling veins had become.

They had encountered several groups along the way, which they completely taken down. At the beginning, it was the Golden Armor Guards. Later, Gongsun Cha commanded the xiuzhe they had just imprisoned. Compared to the high efficiency of the three Golden Armor Guards, these ningmai xiuzhe of average strength were extremely inefficient.

The novice Gongsun Cha also made many mistakes, but he was not discouraged.

Zuo Mo knew that it couldn’t be rushed, so he slowed down. In any case, there was still the Golden Armor Guards and the date seed ship in reserve. He didn’t need to worry about the problem of safety. It was hard to find the chance for battle. If he didn’t use it, it was really a waste.

Gongsun Cha quickly displayed his talent as a commander. Going from the complete chaos at the beginning to a full-fledged organization, took only a span of ten days.

Over the span of more than ten days, the troop had quickly expanded to forty people. Twenty eight ningmai, twelve zhuji.

Zuo Mo quickly discovered that setting down jinzhi was not harmless. Each jinzhi required him to put a bit of his consciousness inside the body of the other. Each jinzhi Zuo Mo set would weaken his consciousness.

This was not something that could be avoided. There were no free meals in this world. It was only a weirdo like him that could even set jinzhi before he reached jindan.

Luckily, they did not meet large groups of xiuzhe on the road.

According to Ma Fan, there were countless little groups in Little Mountain Jie, and several that were several hundred strong. Zuo Mo found it strange why the larger groups did not attack the jie river. Later, he found out the Clear Sky Sect that guarded the jie river was supported by a jindan!

Zuo Mo was frightened. No wonder the Clear Sky Sect had the confidence to monopolize the jie river. They had a jindan at their back.

This information instantly made Zuo Mo’s reconsider the difficulty of of breaking through the jie river.

Ningmai had three strata. The most important difference was the difference in the amount of ling power inside the body. The peak of the first stratum, ling power was about ten jing. The peak of the second stratum was approximately thirty jing, and the peak of the third stratum would shoot up to ninety jing.

Of the twenty eight ningmai subordinates that Zuo Mo had, only three had reached the second stratum. The remainder were all first stratum ningmai.

Usually, a ningmai third stratumcould individually deal with ten first stratum ningmai , or three second stratum ningmai. Of course, this was in theory. Real life was more complex, when taking into account spells, flying swords, talismans, and offensive tactics.

But if a ningmai faced a jindan, they could only escape. What counter-attack? Winning by pitting the weak against the strong, it definitely could not appear.

The difference between jindan and ningmai was not just the difference in ling power, but also the difference in understanding ling power. During the process of entering jindan, xiuzhe would experience a deeper comprehension of the world and ling power.

The same spell before and after jindan would be drastically different in power.

The only way that ningmai could face jindan was to overwhelm them with numbers. As to how many people were needed for victory, both Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha didn’t know.

Zuo Mo could only ask Pu Yao.

“Gang fighting? That isn’t easy to say.” Pu Yao rubbed his chin. “It depends on the skill of the other side, their talisman, and the cooperation of your side.”

“If it was those yao soldiers?” Zuo Mo asked.

“If it’s a normal jindan, then a troop of one hundred night stock yao. If the quality of the commander is not too bad, there shouldn’t be a problem,” Pu Yao mused.

Zuo Mo released a breath. Good, at least it wasn’t completely hopeless.

He naturally knew that the group of people he had could not reach the skill level of the yao army, but he could expand in numbers. If one hundred people did not work, then two hundred, three hundred. What he was most worried about was that even numbers would not be enough to make up for the difference.

‘Why is the ling energy of Little Mountain Jie becoming thin?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao.

“There are many possibilities, like yao worms that eat ling or Black Line mushrooms. Eating ling is a characteristic of yaomo.”

“Is there a way to reverse it?”

“You can request someone that is at least yuanying to act, and wait ten years for recovery.”

“Yuanying… …” Zuo Mo was speechless. The strongest xiuzhe that he had encountered up until now was in jindan. To renew the ling veins, it actually needed yuanying. That was a death sentence.

Something only someone in yuanying could accomplish, Zuo Mo didn’t feel he had any chance of success.

However, he still decided to establish his base in this mountain valley. The environment around it was good.

———

Zuo Mo received a large number of yaomo military training methods from Pu Yao and dumped them on Gongsun Cha. Pu Yao was actually kind enough to remind Zuo Mo those were old antiques from thousands of years ago, and they should only be used as a reference.

Zuo Mo was unused to Pu Yao’s sudden change in attitude.

But when Pu Yao drew out the earth energy, Zuo Mo, who had become unfamiliar after a period of time, instantly experienced what was life worse than death!

Even though he knew it was beneficial for his body, he still wanted to cry!

Drawing out the earth energy, when would it end … …

———

Ma Fan nervously stood in front of Gongsun Cha. In his eyes, the delicate and shy young master’s deviousness was enough for any yaomo to die of humiliation. No one dared to disobey his commands. Even the most vicious and rebellious of them all, Lei Peng, was as docile as a kitten in front of him.

“Perform every skill you know once. Do not leave anything out.” Gongsun Cha’s order was not complicated.

“Yes,” Ma Fan slowly learned how to live under Gongsun Cha’s command.

It was very simple. What Gongsun Cha said, then he would do it. If he managed to complete the demand, then everything was wonderful.

Ma Fan started to perform his spells one by one. Luckily, he had no sect or family. He only knew so many spells and quickly finished performing. Gongsun Cha was very interested in his illusory movement method and the three sword moves, and had made him repeat them several times.

Ma Fan had been very worried. What if Big Boss wanted his sword scripture, and wanted him to give it up?

However, he quickly found his worry was unwarranted. After Gongsun Cha recorded it down, he was sent back to training.

On the second day, Ma Fan trembled as he took a jade scroll the smiling Gongsun Cha handed him. After just one look, his little face was the color of dirt!

Chapter 212: Ge Is Pragmatic

Pu Yao felt this was extremely amusing.

Truthfully, he had been in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness for this long, and there hadn’t been one thing that was amusing as what was happening right now. In the thousands of years he lived, he had not encountered something more amusing than this.

A zhuji xiuzhe who had never studied anything in the area, oh, he was also a butcher, had started to study how to become a battle general. He had never heard of something like this, even during the great war from thousands of years ago.

He was very familiar with battle generals. In the camp of xiuzhe, without almost any exception, there were two ways that battle generals were trained. The first was a battle general that was specifically nurtured by large sects; and the other were battle generals that underwent countless battles and had gradually comprehended the skills.

The majority were from the first method. In that thousand year war, almost seventy percent of the famous battle generals in the xiuzhe camp had been from the large sects. They learned all kinds of knowledge from when they were young. Even the spells they learned were specialized to command in battle.

The second kind was the other thirty percent. In reality, if one considered all battle generals and not only the famous generals, the difference would be larger. Not having been taught from birth and having to climb up step by step from the lowest level, battle generals formed by the second method were all geniuses. The price they paid were much higher than the first kind.

It looked as though that Gongsun Cha had great hope to become one of those. Yet reality was always cruel. Being of low status and wanting to become a battle general, these individuals had to meet one condition: having great individual power. Disregarding the talent to command, the battle generals that were the second kind had talent in cultivation that was comparable to any other xiuzhe.

The reason was very simple. If they had no strength, they would not survive through battle. If they couldn’t survive, how could they climb up? Wanting to become a battle general but being of low status, they had to repeatedly climb over mountains of corpses, in order to accumulate fame and experience. Then there would be compliance to his orders.

No one in little groups of seven or eight would be willing to put their lives in the hands of an individual that could die anytime, much less larger troops.

This was also why Pu Yao thought that Gongsun Cha hadn’t had a chance. Gongsun Cha was only a butcher, a zhuji butcher. Pu Yao could easily see that Gongsun Cha’s talent in cultivation was very average. Even if he had many lingdan and talismans, he wouldn’t accomplish too much in cultivation.

But Pu Yao did not immediately dismiss his ability to become a battle general, even if he had to learn on his own. The most important reason was Zuo Mo’s support.

His talent wasn’t in question. If Gongsun Cha had been in a large sect from birth, and he ultimately became a battle general, Pu Yao would not find it strange. After playing war chess for so many days, Gongsun Cha had improved quickly.

What really surprised him was that Zuo Mo trusted Gongsun Cha so much!

Even Pu Yao had to admit that Zuo Mo’s eyes were wondrously accurate. In his mind, Zuo Mo’s talent wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t the best. However, over these two years, even with the stumbling and tripping, Pu Yao found to his shock that Zuo Mo’s progress was far outside of his predictions.

Part of it was that he had been involved, but the speed of improvement of core disciples from large sects would would rarely reach Zuo Mo’s level, and they would receive more aid than Zuo Mo.

But Zuo Mo’s physical talent really could not be called great. This was what Pu Yao marveled at.

As he kept on thinking about it, Pu Yao felt that it was all caused by Zuo Mo’s viewpoint.

Zuo Mo’s viewpoint and mentality were very strange, and very different from normal people. No matter if it was cultivation, battle, or interpersonal relationships. It was easy for others to see him as the classical utilitarian. Clever, greedy, and money-grubbing, but he would sometimes do something that Pu Yao would find stupid and irrational. Yet these idiotic actions would usually produce good results.

Originally, Pu Yao did not have a good opinion of Gongsun Cha’s prospects, but considering Zuo Mo, he was suddenly filled with interest and anticipation.

It was so amusing!

———

Compared to Pu Yao’s attitude of idling and watching from the sidelines, Zuo Mo was so busy his feet never touched the ground. He had been nagged by Chun Yu Cheng to the point that he had to build a beast pool. They wouldn’t stay for very long in Little Mountain Jie, but it wouldn’t be too short. If they used the time well, they could produce a few batches of ling beasts. Chun Yu Cheng had been studying for a long time on the date seed ship, and he had many ideas. However, without the beast pool, all ideas were nothing.

“Shixiong, build a beast pool!” Chun Yu Cheng’s words were like a ghost haunting Zuo Mo’s ears constantly.

After repeated requests , Zuo Mo complied.

His wealth was large. A beast pool was expensive, but not too expensive. However, the work was not easy. No one could help him, especially when Chun Shidi had a pile of ideas he wanted to suggest. To realize these ideas, he needed to modify the beast pool.

The modifications meant that the work he had to do increased dramatically, it meant that he needed to reconstruct it. Even more, Chun Yu Cheng Shidi’s ideas would occasionally change. Each time Zuo Mo wanted to slack off, Chun Yu Cheng’s haunting voice would float to him again.

“Shixiong, just change a bit, just change a bit … …”

When the beast pool was finished, it was like there was a pin in Zuo Mo’s behind, he ran away as far as possible.

When a obedient person started to torture other people, it would make them feel hopeless.

Chun Yu Cheng Shidi began to work on the beast pool, Gongsun Shidi was working on the group of xiuzhe, and Zuo Mo started to work on himself.

His studies into formations needed a large amount of time. He also added another job for himself. He found the ling vein, and gathered some of the Black Line mushrooms that ate ling. He was very interested in them.

Other than that, cultivation was something that could not be missed. His consciousness had shrunk dramatically after setting down the jinzhi. Thinking about the tactic of battle by relying on numbers, he deeply felt that increasing his consciousness was his most important priority at the moment.

[Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] became something he needed to do everyday.

After his consciousness manifested, his sea of consciousness transformed. The enchanting flames in the sea of consciousness had disappeared. The number of stars in the sky had increased to ten. The sword river still was the same. He had not increased his sword essence.

Looking at the stars in the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo suddenly recalled the time that he forged Lil’ Pagoda, and the stardust that the stars had produced which continuously permeated his consciousness.

In the void above his consciousness, the ten stars hung. Other than the one star that was somewhat bright, the rest were dim. Thinking about the speed that the stars sprayed out stardust, Zuo Mo felt it would take years for the stardust to permeate all of his consciousness.

“That is Star Source.” Pu Yao sat on the gravestone and raised his head to look at the ten stars above his head.

“What is Star Source?” This question had always been buried in Zuo Mo’s mind. Seeing that Pu Yao seemed to have intentions of explaining today, he played along and asked.

“Star Source is the origin of the spiritual power,” Pu Yao slowly said. “You can also think of them as the crystals formed from ling power. Don’t you xiuzhe like to talk about how many jing of ling power?”

“Ten star spiritual power?” Zuo Mo asked in response.

“Or you can see them as the springs that birth spiritual power. Ten stars mean that you have ten springs that can produce spiritual power.”

“One time, I saw that these stars could spray out silver star dust. What is that?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask in curiosity.

“What did you say?” Pu Yao suddenly opened his bloody pupil, his spine straightening, changing from his lazy attitude.

Zuo Mo feel slightly terrified under Pu Yao’s bloody gaze. Inside, he wondered if the other had started to go crazy again.

“Is something wrong?” Zuo Mo weakly asked.

After a beat, he saw Pu Yao say dazedly, “The second consciousness … …”

He forcefully shook his head as he refocused. He looked deeply at Zuo Mo. “The stardust that you saw is a purer form of spiritual power. We usually call it spirit dust. These ten stars, bright and dull are different. The brightest star can produce the most star spirit dust, the speed that it produces spiritual power is the fastest.”

Zuo Mo didn’t really understand. Pu Yao didn’t attend to him, and kept on talking.

“What yao cultivate are the laws of the world. All objects in the world all contain the laws of the world, all objects in the world can cultivate their spirit. Stars are just one of them. The path of the stars is profound and cryptic. There are very few yao that walk the path of star spirit cultivation.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo suddenly had a slightly bad premonition. “What spirit cultivation are you?”

“What I chose is Sky Fire Spirit Cultivation.” Pu Yao smiled, his teeth showing.

Zuo Mo interjected, “Then why am I star spiritual cultivation?”

“Because what you cultivate is [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation],” Pu Yao snickered. “I hadn’t thought that this [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] is actually a star spirit cultivation. I was fooled by the name.” He muttered in a small voice, “I had expected it was trash, hadn’t thought that it was actually high level, such a loss … …”

An fire suddenly shot up from Zuo Mo’s heart. He was enraged, pointing at Pu Yao’s nose as he swore. “You trash, you gave something you hadn’t tested for ye to cultivate! You actually wanted to use trash to con ye, ye isn’t finished with you … …”

“Don’t be like this!” Pu Yao wasn’t angry, and said, chuckling, “In any case, you didn’t lose. Look, you even managed to cultivate to ten stars. In two years, you’ve gotten to manifestation. This speed is very fast!”

“You you you … …” Zuo Mo pointed, hearing Pu Yao’s heartless words became so angry his finger trembled.

“Do you want to know how to cultivate next?” Seeing the situation, Pu Yao crisply turned to temptation.

“Yes,” Zuo Mo did not hesitate in answering, all his anger flying away.

Pu Yao was not shocked in the slightest by Zuo Mo’s one hundred and eighty degree turn in attitude. This guy was very pragmatic.

“That’s right.” Pu Yao smiled. “I can tell you, and I can give you even more help. But I have a small request.”

“Say it!” Zuo Mo was very familiar with Pu Yao’s conduct as well.

“I want the golden core of the jindan of Clear Sky Sect.”

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. When he managed to respond, he instantly jumped up. “Are you crazy? Jindan! Go get it yourself if you want it! Run to a little ningmai like myself to say you want the golden core of a jindan, humph humph, the other can turn me to dust with one slap.”

Finishing, he turned and left, waving his hand. “If you want to play, play by yourself, ge won’t play with you.”

Pu Yao’s expression was calm, and not angry, “Add a fifth-grade sword scripture.”

Zuo Mo pretended not to hear, and continued to walk forward.

“Add a fifth-grade movement method.”

Zuo Mo was not moved at all, his steps not changing.

“I’ll make seven more golden armor guards for you.”

Zuo Mo decided to ignore him.

“And another move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].”

Zuo Mo instantly stopped his body, and turned to walk towards Pu Yao.

“What to do?”

Chapter 213: Ma Fan Reaching Target

Ma Fan felt very troubled.

No matter if it was his ningmai second stratum cultivation or the nameless scripture he cultivated, they made him one of the top practitioners in this group. But to someone as afraid of trouble as he was, this prestige wasn’t a good thing.

He became one of the important prospects to be “nurtured”.

The requirements for his training far surpassed everyone else’s. Everyone looked at him with gazes full of sympathy.

That’s right, it really was sympathy.

The training for everyone was extremely strict, so the training regime of an important prospect, Ma Fan’s, could only be imagined. However, other than sympathy, they did not feel any joy at his misfortunes. They didn’t even have the power to save themselves. Everyone in the camp put all their strength into furiously training. If they did not complete their training, their outcome would be extremely tragic.

On the first day several people did not obey. But now when everyone saw the somewhat feminine, delicate, and shy youth, they could not control the deep terror that came out of their heart. The terrified screams that meant a fate worse than death haunted their ears. The inhuman state of the people who didn’t listen frequently haunted their thoughts. Whenever they thought of it, these people that were used to seeing storms of blood couldn’t help but tremble.

Devious, vicious, and cold-blooded, he thought of a life like grass … …

These words were not enough to describe this seemingly harmless and beautiful youth in front of them. Even the most rebellious person was docile and obedient in front of him.

This handsome youth might be strict, but if you could successfully finish your training nothing would happen. He would never try to punish you for unsubstantiated reasons. He didn’t take your talismans or scriptures. After discovering this point, everyone competed to be first, afraid of being slow, and having to taste that terrible torture that was worse than death.

Ma Fan felt his life was hopeless. Each day was endless training.

Heavens!

How can this be completed?

It hadn’t been long since he had broken through to the second stratum of ningmai. The ling power in his body was around fifteen jing. The content of his training focused on only one thing, one of his sword moves. That’s right, just the one move. Of the three sword moves that he knew, the strongest was the [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction]. The power of this move was very high. Most important was that it did not cause ling power ripples when it was cast. Without a sound or wind, it never attracted the eye, but it was surprisingly powerful.

In reality, after learning it, he had only used it in combat two or three times before now.

He usually was afraid of trouble, and rarely engaged in combat. If he saw the situation was not right, he would quickly use the illusory movement method to escape.

His training content was just this move. However, it wasn’t so simple. Gongsun Cha had two demands. The first was that he could use this killing move when he was using the illusory movement method. The second was that he had to be able to cast this move three times or more in the span of fifteen minutes. And in one hour, he had to be able to use this move seven or more times.

When he first received the training regime, it was normal for his face to be ugly.

With his present cultivation, if he cast [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction], he couldn’t do it when he was in motion, and could only cast it four times. After casting it, he needed to rest for a while before casting again. This clearly short of Gongsun Cha’s demands.

Ma Fan didn’t know how Gongsun Cha had thought of such a fatal demand. Wasn’t it just asking for his life?

He had once gathered his courage to request Gongsun Cha to change it. What he received was Gongsun Cha’s light words, “Cultivate well, for putting your life on the line is better than losing it.”

When Ma Fan heard this, and his heart instantly became cold. With no other solution, he could only train with his life on the line. From the time he had started his cultivation, he had never cultivated so hard before.

Using the illusory movement method at the same time as the [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction], this was something that he had never thought of before. With no sect, to be able to become a ningmai second stratum, Ma Fan’s talent in cultivation was not low, and his intelligence was not bad. Of course even he could see that if he could use his movement method and sword move at the same time, the power of the move would increase greatly.

But with his personality of avoiding trouble, if he thought of this in the past, he would have gave up after trying a few times.

But now, the blade hung above his neck. If he retreated slightly, his little life would be gone. There was no room to change his current trajectory. He could only push forward.

His ling power was so expended that he almost spat blood, his body was sore and soft that it felt like his skeleton was coming apart. For the sake of his little life, he must cultivate! Cultivate! Cultivate! He had cultivated to the point that he wanted to throw up when he saw a flying sword … …

He actually succeeded!

A flickering figure fluttered uncertainly in the air, and without warning, several explosions suddenly occurred in the air!

Boom!

The ground fifty zhang away from him seemed to have been struck by something invisible, suddenly exploding open, sending dirt flying. The people who had been training near by were alarmed, and put out their ling shields. Pia pia pia, the flying dirt hit the ling shields like rain. Those with weaker cultivation even felt their ling shields shake.

Everyone was shocked!

When they looked at the ground, they saw seven deep holes in a row, each hole that was two zhang deep!

Crashing down through the air, yet still so powerful, if this was someone’s body … …

Their eyes as they looked at Ma Fan instantly changed. This guy definitely had been holding back before! However, some with nimbler minds had happy expressions. Right now, everyone was on the same rope, Ma Fan getting stronger was good for all of them. At least, the probability of keeping their lives was now higher.

———

Gongsun Cha also had a surprised expression .He hadn’t thought that Ma fan would be the first to achieve his demands. In his plan, Ma Fan was the primary attacker, or rather, it was better to say he was the ambusher. With the unpredictable illusory movement method, and the undetectable but powerful [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction] that could kill with one blow, wasn’t he born for ambushing?

It was a pity that while the illusory body movement method was hard to follow, but it was easy for people to guard against, lowering the abruptness of an ambush. If there was a movement method that could completely conceal him, then Ma Fan’s power would be even greater.

Gongsun Cha felt he needed to think thoroughly about how to use Ma Fan to his greatest potential. He may look confident and calm in front of these xiuzhe, but in reality, his mind had been tense from the beginning.

He was a beginner, and had not been trained. Zuo Shixiong trusted him, so Shixiong certainly wouldn’t blame him for making mistakes in the beginning. However, though Gongsun Cha might look soft, he was actually very proud. Would he permit himself to make mistakes at such an important time?

All of his days were spent on these xiuzhe. He had long stopped his own cultivation.

He disliked failure!

———

Ma Fan looked in disbelief at the seven deep holes in front of him on the ground, his mind blank.

He did it … … he really did it … …

Was this really something he had done?

Dazedly landing on the ground, his mind was wandering. He had never thought that he could really do it!

He gritted his teeth and persisted in training because he was forced to; but when he really met the goals which he never could have possibly conceived of before, a different emotion filled his heart.

Looking at the flying sword in his hand, a seed called confidence gradually sprouted in his heart.

———

“Right now, do not create new stars. You cannot bite off more than you can chew. You should spend more time to temper these ten stars, so they will be as bright as your brightest star. The stars are the source of your spiritual power, and the brighter they are, the more spiritual power they produce, especially stardust. The brighter the star, the more pure the star dust they spray out. This alone will be more beneficial to you.”

In meditation, Zuo Mo’s mind had retreated to his sea of consciousness. He sat cross legged facing the stars, a ethereal strand of star light dropping from one of the stars and entering Zuo Mo’s forehead.

As Zuo Mo breathed, the star light brightened and dimmed pleasantly.

Bathing in the star light, Zuo Mo channeled the spell and communicated with the star. Communicating with the star was the first step in tempering it. After this, Zuo Mo needed to find a star home, take in star power, and then use it to nurture the stars in his consciousness to increase the Star Source.

This time, Pu Yao’s teachings were extremely detailed, answering all his questions patiently. He also didn’t drag his heels on what he had promised Zuo Mo, and paid upfront.

After communicating with the star in his sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo stopped his cultivation. Absorbing star power had to be done at night. He spent some time on reading through the good things he had gotten from Pu Yao before he started to think.

The stage of jindan was a stage that every xiuzhe dreamed about that time. At that time, the ling power of the xiuzhe would form into a golden core, hence the name. The golden core was the best parts of the ling power of a xiuzhe. Even the source of their life was inside it. A xiuzhe that lost their golden core would die. In other words, to obtain the golden core of a jindan, one had to kill them.

Kill a jindan!

That really was a crazy idea!

But behind this crazy idea, Zuo Mo had his own considerations. He would definitely have a battle with Clear Sky Sect. This jindan was an enemy he would have to meet. Zuo Mo didn’t have any thought of being so lucky as to avoid it.

To pass through the jie river, they had to defeat this jindan. That was the lowest goal. Right now, it was just increasing from defeating a jindan to killing a jindan. It sounded shocking, but in reality, there wasn’t much of an increase.

After a jindan was defeated, they would definitely flee. It was better to kill them. If the other escaped, they would never face him directly again. It wouldn’t be difficult for the jindan to wait in the shadows to kill him. If the other went to invite a few of his jindan friends, then this little Zuo Mo would definitely die.

Taking a few hundred people to scheme against a jindan, Zuo Mo felt that he had a slightly probability of victory. But if it was two jindan, Zuo Mo guessed he wouldn’t even be able to escape.

Thinking about it now, no matter if he agreed to Pu Yao’s demands or not, he definitely could not let Clear Sky Sect’s jindan live.

Zuo Mo’s heart was scared. It was lucky that he had agreed to Pu Yao’s request. Otherwise, if he had let the other go after the battle, he would have caused himself many problems.

After thinking it through, the rock in Zuo Mo’s heart instantly landed. People were like this. If they heard the great reputation of the other, it was easy to be intimidated and scared. However, once they understood that there was no other path, even against a god, they would take off a few pieces of flesh.

The effect that Zuo Mo’s personal power could have in this battle was pitifully small. It wasn’t even as high as the three golden armor guards.

Luckily, he was never a person that relied on brute power to eat.

He had a daring idea.

Chapter 214: A Mountain Of Problems

The art of multiple people fighting less, that was gang fighting. Gang fighting, that was fighting in groups.

In Zuo Mo’s understanding, it was ridiculous to depend on a person that had been only l studying ling grains two years ago to study battle tactics. However, if it was about gang fighting, he still had some real experience. There were many disciples in the outer sect; of course, there were those that were bullies. Adding on that the little factions were like trees in a forest, while fights didn’t happen everyday, there would be an occasional one.

Having seen many gang fights, the winning side always had certain qualities.

First, more people was better. This was the most basic tenet of gang fighting. Gang fighting, if there weren’t enough people, it would be embarrassing to call it a “gang”. More people won over fewer people, that was the most common outcome.

The second was “bravery and viciousness.” Bravery was not being afraid. The other side had more people, but their side dared to put their life on the line. The people who were not afraid of putting everything into a fight dominated everything around them. Other people didn’t dare to get close. Even experts wanted to stay alive! As to viciousness, it meant being unconditional in attacking. Once an attack started, one could not attend to their own back and be timid; the blow coming from the vicious had to reach rock-bottom. After flipping over several people, the other side would be discouraged.

Next was cooperation. The essence of group fighting was using more people fighting fewer people. Then how could the smaller group win? That required cooperation. A group of cooperative people defeating disordered rabble three times their number, was very normal occurrence.

The last was that the weapons were appropriate, look at Ling Ying Sect, they were the epitome of this. However, even the best talismans and flying swords depended on the people using it. Idiots with talismans were still idiots.

After concluding all this, Zuo Mo’s thoughts became nimble.

It took time to increase numbers, and it was a task that could not be hurried. Regarding “bravery was vicious,” Zuo Mo felt that it was pretty hard to attain. This group of people would be very unwilling, and were only forced to follow due to his jinzhi.

Cooperation could be considered, but this was Gongsun Cha’s problem. If he interfered, he might not have any positive benefit to the situation.

What he could only work on weapons.

He may have some talismans, but it wouldn’t be better than what these people had searched for and schemed for themselves. He could only think about other objects. He actually did find something.

Yin fire bead!

The power of the yin fire bead did not have to be said. He had never tried it on a jindan, but there definitely was not a problem with people under jindan. If one wasn’t enough against jindan, then two. If that was still not enough, then everyone could throw them together. Each person throwing eight or ten… surely even jindan couldn’t bear it!

He thought uncertainly. However, he did feel that it was possible.

In the past, he had always been worried that the matter of him knowing how to make yin beads would be revealed. Now that it was a matter of life or death, he threw those concerns to the back of his mind. If it spread, then there was a possibility of people targeting him, but that was a matter for the future. If he couldn’t leave Little Mountain Jie, then there was no future.

This idea made his mind jump. He inventoried the yin fire beads that he had, there were ten or so.

He shook his head, discontent with this number. For ningmai, Zuo Mo felt ten was enough, but the other was jindan!

That was a jindan!

Just thinking about it, Zuo Mo felt respect rise; and his desire for battle decreased. Other people may not know the strength of jindan, but how could Zuo Mo not know? He had suffered greatly under Xin Yan Shishu’s hands and had a clear understanding of jindan. If it was just him alone, Zuo Mo definitely would not be able to wound Xin Yan Shishu even with things ten times more powerful than yin fire beads.

This was because he basically could not throw them and have them touch Xin Yan Shishu’s body.

But if it was gang fighting, Zuo Mo thought there was a small chance. In a battle, there would be many talismans and flying swords flying. Before the yin fire bead was activated, it was not eye-catching. If the other was not on their guard , it was easy to get tricked.

Zuo Mo brought this problem up with Pu Yao. Of all these people, only this guy had fought jindan experts before.

“Your idea is somewhat interesting,” Pu Yao had an interested expression.

Seeing Pu Yao’s expression, Zuo Mo knew that it had potential, “But this requires yin fire beads. Where can I get more yin fire beads?”

“You need to find a place with yin fiends,” Pu Yao didn’t have a solution, “Find someone familiar with the area and ask.”

Hearing Pu Yao say so, Zuo Mo knew that there was no place with yin fiends nearby. Otherwise, with Pu Yao’s abilities, he could have immediately pointed to the location. He could only go ask the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie and see if anyone of them knew if there were places with yin fiends.

———

When he walked into the camp, he was shocked by the heated atmosphere. Twenty something ningmai cultivating together, the presence was shocking, his little heart beating rapidly. After a long while, he recovered. Seeing Gongsun Cha talking with Ma Fan in the corner, he hurriedly ran over.

When he neared, he heard Gongsun Cha lecturing Ma Fan.

“Your pathing just now was not correct. You have to remember your role. You have no set location, so you cannot stop. You need to be more nimble. Understand? More nimble! Swimming between them, search for chances … …”

“You also need to notice to retract your presence; you need the enemy to not notice your existence … …”

“Notice the opportunities. Do not deliberately search to kill with one move. You are the main attacker, yes, but you have fellows. They are not just decorations. At this time, your best chance is to attack. Yes, you cannot kill him, but he will reveal openings and will give your fellows opportunities. Other than killing enemies, you need to learn how to make opportunities for your fellows … …”

“If you decide to attack, don’t do those unnecessary flourishes. You have to be more straightforward, use more force! One move, you only have the chance for one move … …”

Zuo Mo had never seen Gongsun Cha so fierce. That’s right, full of fierceness. This guy who usually looked shy and weak was bellowing a whole bunch of stuff out.

Seeing Ma Fan’s nervousness, not daring to miss a word, Zuo Mo’s heart was suddenly full of sympathy.

After the lecture, Gongsun Cha waved and indicated for Ma Fan to continue cultivating.

“Everyone is working hard!” Zuo Mo said with feeling.

Gongsun Cha nodded, “En, when they can sell their lives, that will be almost enough.” Ma Fan, who had been preparing to leave, staggered and almost fell.

Zuo Mo mumbled in response, and asked uncertainly, “Do you need help?” He had completely thrown everything on Gongsun Cha’s shoulders. Even he was slightly ashamed. Seeing Gongsun Cha so busy his feet didn’t really touch the ground, who would not feel a bit of shame.

Gongsun Cha tilted his head to think and asked, “Can you make a kind of talisman?”

“What talisman do you want?” Speaking of talismans, Zuo Mo felt his bravery rise. These spectacular and eye-dazzling things in the camp, he could understand if they were by themselves, but he didn’t understand when they were put together. But if it was about talismans, he was good at that!

Zuo Mo completely forgot that he was also self-taught in forging talismans. In total, Xin Yan Shishu hadn’t thought him that many times. Having just felt some shame, Zuo Mo instantly found a place he could express his value and make up for his deficiencies, his mind becoming alert.

“Oh, talismans like the necklace” Gongsun Cha took off the Same Heart necklace on his neck.

Zuo Mo scratched his head. He understood what Gongsun Cha meant, to pass orders.

Pu Yao had spoken about this problem with him. The yao armies used the consciousness to pass on commands, the mo armies used the mo matrix to pass on commands, and xiuzhe used seals.

The Same Heart necklace could connect the user to six of the fellows, which meant commanding six other people. Clearly, six people could not satisfy Gongsun Cha’s demands. Zuo Mo agreed with that. Facing jindan, it probably needed several hundred. How to direct all of them then?

The battlefield changed every second. If they could not respond immediately, then there was only death.

Zuo Mo hadn’t expected that he couldn’t solve the problem of the yin fiends, and instead found another problem out of his trip to the camp. However, he understood the importance of the matter could not be delayed. He immediately passed on the matter of the yin fiend grounds to Gongsun Cha and rushed away with the Same Heart necklace. However, before he left, a batch of jingshi and ling grains was scraped off him.

He had to rejoice now that Master had gotten large amounts of supplies for him when Wu Kong Sword sect had sent him to the Desolate Wood Reef. They were used to great effect now. High intensity training like this consumed enormous amounts of jingshi and ling grains.

Zuo Mo was doubtful if he could manage it if there were one hundred or more people. However, this was not the time to think of it. The most pressing problem was what Gongsun Cha had thrown over.

Large-scale group fighting, xiuzhe used seals to pass commands. If it was forging, Zuo Mo dared to try, but if it was making seals, he could do nothing.

However, Zuo Mo was not a conservative person. This world would always have ways. Even more, he had a model on his hands. The effect of this Same Heart necklace was not any different than seals, but it was a talisman.

Zuo Mo started to think of how to replicate the Same Heart necklace. The number of people the Same Heart necklace could command was much lower, and could not reach Gongsun Cha’s demands. However, he thought of a method. Seven people to a troop, the leader of the troop in command. The troop leader would wear two necklaces, one to direct the troop members, the other receiving orders from the rank above. That way, wouldn’t everything be connected?

Of course, the usability of this method had to wait for the objects to be made before it could be tested.

The Same Heart necklace was an upper fourth-grade talisman. Theoretically, it was beyond of Zuo Mo’s ability. But thinking that he had patted his chest just now, there was actually no one except him that could solve the problem.

To be able to qualify as upper fourth-grade, the forging skill of the Same Heart necklace was very high. There were more than one hundred formations in the little necklace. These formations were either by themselves, or they were connected with others.

That was the focus of Zuo Mo’s study.

Only by familiarizing himself with these formations and chewing through all of them, he could understand how the Same Heart necklace could connect minds. Only by understanding the theory could he then copy it.

This wasn’t a small task. However, as it related to his wealth and little life, Zuo Mo definitely wouldn’t slack in the least. He would even eat this necklace if needed, much less just study it!

All in!

Chapter 215: Sustain Battle Through Battle

He had lost again.

Gongsun Cha looked at the devastated landscape, his remaining shreds of troops and grimaced. He didn’t remember how many times he had lost.

The skill of the mysterious War Chess opponent was extremely high. He didn’t know anything about the mysterious opponent. He couldn’t even find any traces of this mysterious person usually. But he knew, this mysterious person that he had never met really existed.

Because the other would play War Chess with him.

Even though the other would use Zuo Shixiong as a cover, the skill of the two individuals were so drastically differed that Gongsun Cha could easily detect it.

Gongsun Cha intelligently did not ask. It wasn’t too hard for him to accept that the soul of an elder which had not extinguished was living inside Zuo Shixiong’s body. Thinking about Zuo Shixiong’s sudden rise in the last two years, it added some support for his speculation.

However, the feeling of defeat was still terrible!

He wasn’t content!

Even though he knew this was the normal and most rational outcome, and he was able to learn many things from each loss, but he just wasn’t content! He disliked defeat or it was more accurate to call it hate.

This unwillingness flashed through his heart and was buried deep down. Anger was not useful. The War Chess was different than real battles, but this was the only place right now where he could learn how to command. There was no room for him to pick and criticize.

Also, that mysterious elder was clearly an expert at War Chess. The wondrous tactics and the frightening offensive power. Each time the battle was at its fiercest, he would have a feeling that the person opposite him was a large man with a heavy and flaming hammer!

What the other was most skilled in was dictating the battlefield’s the offensive zones. It could not be rivaled. He would often see the other begin killing in all directions with an unreasonable and arrogant attitude. The balanced situation, once the two sides started to kill each other, would herald Gongsun Cha’s defeat. His territory was like a crisp cookie. First, it was his borders that would crack. The gaps would grow bigger and turn into a situation where his entire defensive line would break.

Brutal, forceful, charging forward!

Many times, Gongsun Cha would be puzzled. In his mind, the commanding ability of the mysterious person was much higher than him, and he would be a better candidate to lead the troops. Zuo Shixiong did not use the powerful one but threw such an important and troublesome matter to a beginner like him.

He pondered it for a while before throwing the question to the back of his mind. Having finally found something that made him feel interest, and having such challenging battles ahead of him, he felt excited just thinking about it!

So amusing, so interesting!

Having sorted out his emotions, Gongsun Cha burrowed back into the camp.

In the War Chess games that Zuo Mo had made, if the forces were not yao, they were mo. Xiuzhe were the rarest. Other than the most classical xiuzhe combinations, there was nothing that he could reference. In comparison, the combinations of yaomo soldier types were much richer and extremely detailed. Sometimes, he would wonder. Was that elder inside Zuo Shixiong’s body an old yaomo?

This guess was not unsupported. Other people might not be able to see the true face of the Golden Armor Guards, but having been in command of them for so long, how could Gongsun Cha not know?

These three Golden Armor Guards were the White Scaled Attendants of the yao guards.

White Scaled Attendants were a low-level soldier type frequently seen in the War Chess. He had used them multiple times. The reason that he could use the Golden Armor Guards to their maximum potential was due to the inspiration and help that the War Chess gave him. However, what he did not understand was the power of the three Golden Armor Guards far surpassed normal White Scaled Attendants.

Gongsun Cha completely did not care whether the mysterious person was yaomo or not.

There were enough problems for him to have a headache about already.

No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, there had to be great consideration taken in the combinations of soldier types. Like the classical sword-seal, sword-Dhyana combinations of the xiuzhe. The combinations of the yaomo were more variable and rich.

But Gongsun Cha only had twenty eight ningmai and twenty six of them were sword xiu. Of the last two, one was a sabre xiu, while the other was a Dhyana. Completely all battle xiu, but there were no xiuzhe that could take a support role.

On paper, this kind of battle force was very strong. In reality, for group battle, the structure of this kind of force was extremely terrible. The effect of everyone was the same, that meant that the group lacked depth, diversity, and was therefore unable to complete formation transformations.

Sword xiu had the strongest offensive power, but it did not mean they did not have weaknesses. Compared to other xiuzhe, sword xiu lacked the endurance for long battles. Sword xiu were heavy on offense and light on defense, their other flaw was their defense was too weak.

Large scale battles were different than individual battles. Sword xiu were the kings of individual combat. Their strong and sharp attacks and their fast speed allowed them to be at an advantage in short individual battles, to pressure the enemy to the point of suffocation. In individual battles, sword xiu only needed to consider how to kill off the enemy before the enemy could threaten their weakness. But in group fighting, especially on large scales, sword xiu usually needed the protection of other xiuzhe at their sides so they could release their strong offensive power.

If a troop only had sword xiu, the enemy only needed to stop their first wave of attacks. Large scale sword xiu fatalities would only follow this as the sword xiu began to tire.

Okay, in reality, he didn’t need so many transformations. Gongsun Cha could only tell himself this.

———

In any case, after leaving Little Mountain Jie, everyone would split up. Zuo Shixiong had told him this multiple times. The reason was very simple. They couldn’t support such a large group.

On this matter, Zuo Mo did not lie.

If one wasn’t in charge, they did not know the price of food and supplies. Zuo Mo felt the pressure already with forty people. Especially in Little Mountain Jie where the only things that could replenish ling power were ling grains and jingshi. Yet the intensity of training could not be lessened. They were racing for time against the yao army.

The later they left Little Mountain Jie, the higher the danger.

Jingshi had side effects and could not be used in large amounts so the expenditure was not as high as ling grains. Zuo Mo quickly could not support it any longer.

“It’s not going to work if we keep going like this,” Zuo Mo said decisively. “The ling grains I have are only enough to support us for another half a month.”

“Half a month … …” Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo, “what should we do?”

“Battle to feed battle!” Zuo Mo did not hesitate to say.

“We can only do this.” Gongsun Cha felt helpless. These forty people were still far from what he demanded. However, he had no solutions to the problem that Zuo Mo stated.

However, he instantly thought of the necklace he had mentioned before. “Have the talismans been made?”

“I’ve grasped the method,” Zuo Mo spread his hands, “But there aren’t enough materials.”

With that, Gongsun Cha completely cut off his thoughts about the Same Heart necklace, assembling the forty people and departing instantly.

Zuo Mo actually wanted to go with them, but thinking about Chun Yu Cheng who was still at the beast pool, he decided to stay and protect the base. The three Golden Armor Guards were also kept behind. Of course, he said, since it was a true battle, then it should be a treated as real one.

To guarantee safety, Zuo Mo had set up formations around the mountain valley. Most of those were illusory formations. Right now, his skill with formations had grown. Little illusory formations and little killing formations were interlocked. The power wasn’t high, but to distract the enemy, it was more than enough.

Yin fire beads, seal soldiers, Golden Armor Guards, adding on the illusory traps, his safety was quite secure.

———

Gongsun Cha took his forty subordinates and slowly progressed.

In terms of prosperity, Little Mountain Jie could not compare to Sky Moon Jie. Naturally, there were not as many experts here as Sky Moon Jie. However, if it was in terms of harshness, Sky Moon Jie could not compare with the present Little Mountain Jie. Twenty eight ningmai, in Sky Moon Jie, it was not an insignificant force, but in the present Little Mountain Jie, it wasn’t anything.

The reason was very simple. Those xiuzhe of lesser strength had already died.

Those that could survive until now were all ones with some skill and intelligence. Under such cruel conditions, the peak of zhuji was the bottom line of survival. Ningmai first stratum was normal, ningmai second stratum was enough to become the elite of a small troop, and ningmai third stratum was enough to enter the rank of experts. As for jindan, there was just one.

These individuals similar to the Golden Armor Guards, their cultivation was between first and second stratum of ningmai, but their true power was far beyond normal ningmai second stratum. The yao guards forged from ancient dragon bone, Golden Crow Fire, and the Nether Pool, could normal people compare?

Three sword xiu formed a combat unit. Three combat units, one at the forward position, two at their sides, formed a triangle. They were the frontline guards. Gongsun Cha picked the sword xiu that could fly the fastest.

The other ten combat units maintained a distance between each other. Ma Fan was alone as he weaved through these units.

Three people to an unit was Gongsun Cha’s response to his lack of means. The Three Talent Formation was the simplest formation, but these people still had not familiarized themselves with it yet, and this was just the simplest formation.

In large scale battles, what was crucial was the tactics.

But just forty people … …

If this was on a large scale battlefield, they wouldn’t even form the smallest and most basic combat unit. To command such a small group, what was most important was formations and cooperation. Formations was something unique to xiuzhe. From the most basic Three Talent Formation to the super large formations that required tens of thousands of xiuzhe to set up, they could all increase battle strength.

Take for example the Three Talent Formation. In the formation, the three people’s energies would be merged, and they could communicate, increasing the connection between them. It was a very practical and useful formation. Some higher level formations would have killing moves unique to them. If they were activated, they were so strong the sky would change color.

However, it was not so easy to make a formation. Everyone inside the formation needed to accurately remember their position and the variations. This group hadn’t even grasped the most basic Three Talent Formation, the difficulty of such formations could be imagined.

Formations might be able to increase battle power, but they were not for all purposes. In battle, the situation could change in an instant. What it tested was the perception abilities of the commander, their quick response, and the cooperation between their comrades.

Gongsun Cha stood at the very center of the troop. Several of the most powerful were beside him. Ma Fan wandered around nearby.

Glancing at Ma Fan, Gongsun Cha was very satisfied. Out of everyone, Ma Fan was the one most important to him. Other than his strong battle power, he had comprehension that was stronger than other people, and he could always quickly understand Gongsun Cha’s intentions.

So Gongsun Cha did not hesitate to make him part of the core, and custom-made a battle tactics centred on him.

Just at this time, the front passed on news. There was a situation!

A flash of faint red rose and left Gongsun Cha’s soft and delicate face. His first battle had come!

Chapter 216: Gongsun Cha’s First Battle

It had been so hard to think of the yin fire bead, but the result was that he couldn’t find yin fiend grounds and form yin beads.

It had been so hard to understand how to forge the Same Heart necklace, but the result was that there weren’t enough materials. Luckily, that Same Heart necklace wasn’t damaged, and had been given back to Gongsun Cha.

Zuo Mo was depressed but he still did what he had to do. He needed to cultivate his consciousness. There was no way around it. Jinzhi was a good thing, but it consumed consciousness and it was a eternal consumption.

As to practicing sword scriptures, Zuo Mo didn’t have that much interest. His five essence sword set had been forged. Even though there was a distance until it was perfect but he was very content with the present progress.

The power of the five essence sword set was very high. At the time, his idea had been very original, but now, he discovered he had made a fatal mistake. The sword formation was formed, but there was no accompanying sword scripture that he could cultivate. Of the five sword essence, other than [Li Water Sword Scripture] and [Ice Dragon Sword Scripture], he only had the appearance but not the substance of the other sword essences

Basically, his five essence sword formation was a paper tiger.

This made him very discontent.

Anyone would not be happy. Spending so many good materials, putting in so much effort, but having made such useless things. However, he temporarily did not have a solution so he could only put it away.

He didn’t practice the move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] that Pu Yao gave him. All of his spiritual power was given to jinzhi in this while. He didn’t even need to think about body cultivation either. Any earth energy he gathered would be given in tribute to Pu Yao in the end. It had been a long time since he had done body cultivation. Even though he knew that drawing out the earth energy was good for him, but at this point in time, it really wasn’t worth the cost.

He put the most time on formations. To break through Little Mountain Jie, there were only two paths. One was increasing his own strength. If he could reach jindan, the other jindan would not block him. However, was it possible? Completely impossible!

The other path was what he was doing now, increasing the strength on his hands. Everything to do with commanding the group, he threw to Gongsun Cha. He believed in this battle maniac. He would definitely express the desire for battle which was concealed under those feminine and delicate features.

The remaining question was, what could he do?

Zuo Mo didn’t want to wait around when it came to his own little life, and put all his hopes on Gongsun Shidi.

Therefore, an extremely weighty and meaningful question was put in front of him – how could he increase the power of a group quickly?

Talismans, he threw that away. He didn’t even have enough materials to make the same heart necklace, much less anything else. He did have a lot of materials but that was only if he considered only himself. If he included everyone, there really wasn’t enough. Like the grandiose talismans of the Golden Armor Guards, there wouldn’t be enough money even if Zuo Mo sold himself.

Lingdan, Zuo Mo quickly threw away this method. Zuo Mo himself had never encountered lingdan that could increase cultivation. Slightly less effective were those support-type lingdan. He could make a batch, but against a jindan, it wasn’t enough.

What was left? Formations.

Zuo Mo’s topic of study was the mo matrix. In the beginning, he hadn’t thought of the mo matrix at all. It was completely due to being forced by the lack of ling grains that he had an extraordinarily daring idea. He could carve mo matrixes on all these xiuzhe. The thin ling energy in the air, after automatically gathering under the power of the mo matrix, was very substantial. Even more importantly, they would be able to use the ling power of the jingshi and not have to worry about the impurities of the jingshi harming their bodies.

In comparison, the ling power in the jingshi was much richer than in the ling grains.

Of course, his rational mind suppressed this insane idea.

Right now, they were at war with the yaomo. If he took a group of people with mo matrix carved on them out, there would be only one outcome, being killed for being yaomo.

He had never felt how valuable the mo matrix was before. Now, he had a deep experience of the benefits of the mo matrix. If he couldn’t carve the mo matrix, then he could go back a step. Didn’t Pu Yao say that the essence of the mo matrix was formations?

As long as he could find the formations that could purify the impurities in the ling power, and the formations that could automatically gather ling, wouldn’t the problem be solved?

He had a ready example of the mo matrix. Due to the mo matrix being on his body, and his extremely sensitive consciousness, he could clearly feel every change inside the mo matrix.

The simple-looking mo matrix was far more complex than he had imagined. Zuo Mo’s skill in formations was not low now, especially after having studied the micro formations in dan-making. The formations in the mo matrix had some similarities to those.

Other than formations, there were many pictures that seemed decorative, yet were extremely similar to formations. If he wanted to understand which were useful, and which were not, it would take three to five years.

But in Zuo Mo’s hands, this became a very simple matter. He only had to use his consciousness to sweep across, and then he could clearly detect it.

However, this was just the first step. Even though he had gotten rid of many of the distractions, but the remainder was still hard to work out. Not every formation would have a visible effect, but once they were removed, the entire mo matrix would lose its effect. Other than that, there were some semi-formation constructs. These semi-formation constructs would form a very special kind of formation with Zuo Mo’s flesh and blood.

This was probably these constructs that merged the formations with flesh and blood.

Luckily, this degree of difficulty wasn’t enough to scare Zuo Mo. The yao army was like a guillotine hanging over Zuo Mo’s head. Thinking of breaking through Little Mountain Jie was enough to motivate him.

The present Zuo Mo seemed more like a production xiuzhe.

Alright, he had always been a production xiuzhe, Zuo Mo smiled in self-disdain.

He probably would have never thought that his actions made Pu Yao jump in fright. Pu Yao naturally had his own aims when he had carved the mo matrix and added the yao seed for Zuo Mo. But he never would have expected Zuo Mo to progress so quickly.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s expression was heavy as he kept a close look.

Does this guy know just how terrifying the things he was studying right now were … …

———

Gongsun Cha’s luck was not too good. He had encountered a troop of about sixty people. A troop of sixty people could be considered to be quite organized. It wasn’t easy to support such a troop. This time, the groups that were still active all were not ordinary. Little Mountain Jie didn’t have any low hanging fruit left.

The two sides did not exchange pleasantries.

Gongsun Cha did not feel he needed to say anything. This was a habit he had formed during War Chess. Pu Yao didn’t like to chit chat with his enemies before starting to fight. Having encountered an opponent that used everything, it could be imagined what habits Gongsun Cha had.

On the other side, the people felt that they had twice as many people, and the chance of victory was high. Also, a group of forty people definitely had some supplies, and probably wouldn’t be that poor.

So the two sides did not speak and the battle instantly heated up.

Gongsun Cha was slightly nervous at the beginning, but when he saw the other side rush forward in messy groups, he smiled. A very warm and sweet smile.

The combat units closest to the front retreated slightly.

The other side clearly had many of the habits from individual fights. Many of the xiuzhe attacked at the same time, sword energies flying high. Since there were many of their fellows in the surroundings, they were even more brave, and naturally did not keep anything back when they attacked.

Several dozen sword energies gathered like a roaring dragon.

Of the three combat units that were ordered to retreat, one of the units were half a beat slower, and instantly were shredded to pieces.

Seeing that three people had died, the group became even more brave, charging forward towards the people who were retreating.

Having lost three people, Gongsun Cha didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Just as the forward combat units were retreating, the two combat units on the second row moved forward.

Six sword energies suddenly erupted between the two combat units that were retreating.

Pew pew pew!

The four sword xiu that had been charging at the front, and were struck at full force. Blood sprayed out!

The sudden change made the xiuzhe at the front panic for a beat, their charge slightly pausing.

At the same time, the two combat units that had been retreating suddenly reversed direction, six sword energies leaving their hands!

Another three unlucky souls were hit.

Before they could respond, the three combat units that had been silently moving forward fifty zhang did not hesitate to start a third wave of attack.

Nine sword energies sent out with full force turned into a net. The other side had charged too fast, their group densely packed together. The results were astounding!

Five xiuzhe were killed!

The head of the other side changed expression. With one attack, the losses were three to twelve, this made him slightly panic. The three waves of attack on the other side clearly had been planned. It was like a tide, one wave after the other, not giving them any chance to think.

Expert!

He smelled danger, but what calmed him down was that the speed on both sides had slowed down. The following battle would be prolonged combat. His side had the advantage of numbers and a higher possibility of victory.

“Charge and scatter them! Then hold on to them! Kill!” He shouted, his voice ringing out. He had confidence in his ningmai second stratum cultivation. Coldly snorting, he took his flying sword, and entered the chaotic fray!

The distance between the two sides narrowed. No one had the space to charge.

Gongsun Cha did not move. There was a combat unit protecting him. Four people were standing outside the battle, yet no one seemed to notice him.

Having seen the good results from the three section wave killing charge, his expression did not move, but the hands hidden in his sleeves were tightly fisted! He had copied this from the mysterious person in War Chess. However, the mysterious person was much more effective when he used it. Gongsun Cha had suffered greatly under this maneuver, always collapsing when he encountered it.

Even though it was a weaker version, it was enough to cause the enemy to suffer losses.

The scene was extremely chaotic, but he was already used to even worse scenes in War Chess. His mind had never been as clear as now. He quickly found the head among the enemies.

His mind slightly moving, Ma Fan who seemed to be aimlessly swimming around started to silently cover the other like a large bird.

Chapter 217: Killing Moves And Ma Fan

Magg Fan did not fly quickly and was very steady. Seeing the chaotic battle field slowly grow larger in his vision, his mind slightly wandered.

Truthfully, he admired Gongsun Cha very much. This person that look even younger than him was a beginner among beginners. It could be seen from the terrible and disorganized training at the start. Ma Fan had assumed that his little life had been in danger now that he had landed in the hands of a greenhorn and hadn’t expected Gongsun Cha to quickly fulfill his role. The messy training had quickly become neat and organized.

These days, everyone had shifted from their rebelliousness and terror induced submission, and gradually showed true respect and compliance. Everyone had climbed over mountains of corpses. They might never had heard of these methods before, but they could tell if it was useful or not.

In a group like this, as long as you could continuously lead everyone to victory, and everyone’s lives had some guarantees, no one would rebel.

Ma Fan was the first person to realize that the tactics Gongsun Cha had set up were useful. Before everyone else had understood this, he had started to rigorously train until he could he could meet Gongsun Cha’s demands.

In secret, everyone called Gongsun Cha “Lil’ Miss Gongsun” because he looked feminine and delicate like a woman. This also included a portion of maliciousness and slander. No way around it. They couldn’t defeat him so they could only vent in private.

Of course, no one dared to say the name in front of him. Lil’ Miss might be feminine but he was a vicious female.

Staring at the chaotic battle, the words that Gongsun Cha had keep on filling into his ears appeared in Ma Fan’s mind.

“You have to notice the distance between the enemy’s troop … …”

“You have to notice the offensive rhythm of the enemy … … after each strong attack, there would be an extremely short time where their ling power cannot catch up, this is when the enemy is the weakest … …”

“You have to notice the important targets of the enemy … …”

“You need to have battlefield awareness … …”

… …

All of this was extremely strange and unfamiliar to him.

“Such a troublesome Lil’ Miss,” Reflexively muttering, he already reached the border of the battle.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he glanced at the leader of the other side. He was extremely eye-attracting, pressuring down a combat unit by himself. Ma Fan did not go immediately to give aid. The three people were on the disadvantage, and seemed very bad off, but the three person formation had not become messy, and they could support themselves for a while.

Just a this time, he noticed there were some people whose ling power was boiling. It was clearly the early signal for strong sword moves being cast.

Usually, the stronger the sword move, the longer it took to prepare.

However, the combat unit they were facing evidently were also preparing a big move. No matter which side, the xiuzhe all instinctively chose to distance themselves. The collision between great moves were very strong, and could affect others.

A light flashed through Ma Fan’s eyes. Rather than retreat, he slowly neared the two sides.

———

“Taste ye’s [Crimson Rainbow Sword]!” A crimson sword light rose with a howl.

“Ha ha, me too, [Great Ling Sword Axe]!” A blue sword energy that was half sword and half axe appeared and heavily sliced down!

“[Bat Ghost Crying]!” Seven or eight black sword energies shaped like bats made flapping sounds as they drew out a strange curve and headed to the three people.

The three members of the combat unit did not panic, maintaining the Three Talent formation. At the beginning of the battle, they had been panicked, but as they gradually familiarized themselves with the wondrous energy connection unique to the Three Talent Formation, their cooperation grew, and their confidence also grew.

The great moves of the other side did not make them lose focus.

Even usually, one-on-one, they were not afraid, much less now, when they had the aid of the Three Talent Formation.

The leader of the three was Lei Peng. Before he was tamed by Lil’ Miss, this guy had been the most vicious and rebellious of them all. Now that someone had ran in front of him and boasted, he instantly got angry. His copper-bell sized eyes stared angrily, his fan-sized large hands opening. Pointing at the three people in front of him, he hatefully spat out.

“Get them!”

The other two people were also full of murderous intent. Everyone had made their way through rivers of blood. Who didn’t have some fire?

Who didn’t have killing moves?

One of them had a serious expression, his hands were covered in balls of blue light. The blue lights became darker, and smaller until they were just covering his hands. But this blue light was very concentrated and seemed like water.

The two hands punched out, two bright blue fist energies leaving his hands, growing as they moved. A concentrated energy covered the landscape.

[Sky Wave Fist]!

Zong Ru was the only Dhyana of the group. To be able to establish himself in this group, he naturally had his unique qualities. As he attacked, it instantly showed his exceptionalism.

At his side, his fellow that was called Nian Lu coldly snorted. He raised his hands up towards the sky, his figure spinning on the spot. His speed increased until his figure became a blur. Above his head, a lotus flower formed with astonishing speed. Flower bud, open, bloom!

The faint sword essence was like the sway of the lotus flower, making people uncontrollably attracted to it. Suddenly, a snowy white lotus flower petal tipped in pink fell off. After that, the flower petals fell off, one after the other, until all of them fell off.

One flower petal was one sword energy. Seven or eight white sword energies with a hint of pink, eighty percent serenity, twenty percent enchantment, formed.

Nian Lu’s ultimate move [Lotus Flower Fall]!

Lei Peng naturally did not want to be left behind. He was holding a black sabre in his hands. With both of his hands, he raised the black sabre above his head, and breathed.

A heavy strike!

A black sabre energy shot at the three opposite them. A vicious and brutal energy was like a ferocious tiger opening its jaws.

[Abyss Beast Soul-Eating Sabre]!

Killing move against killing move!

Blue, red, white, black … … multi colored streams of energy flew everywhere. The faceoff between six ningmai had caused the region between the two sides to become turbulent and distorted with ling power . No one dared to near. If they were sucked in, even their bodies may not remain.

Lei Peng and the two wavered slightly. Of the opposing three, two had began bleeding from their mouths and noses.

Without a doubt, Lei Peng and the others had slightly won.

A sabre xiu, a sword xiu, a Dhyana xiu, this kind of combination was unique among the forty people.

———

The faces of the enemy three were uncertain, and a desire to retreat began rising.

This kind of full force collision did not have any technique. The difference in strength could be easily seen.

The xiuzhe with the [Crimson Rainbow Sword] moved his eyes. Since their side had more people, why should the three of them take the risk? He was just going to call for his fellow to come over when he had a feeling in his heart!

He couldn’t help but turn his head.

A person, carried by countless flickering images, silently appeared beside him.

Ambush!

His expression changed. Just as he was going to speak, the voice that reached his mouth was shoved back by the afterimages that filled his vision.

A flying sword hit his ling armor without a sound.

Destructive ling power furiously flooded his body.

[Illusory Shadowless Sword Of Destruction]!

The fourth-grade ling armor on his body was like paper, instantly breaking into pieces. It was as if he was hit directly with a large hammer, his body flying like a sandbag towards the other xiuzhe!

This xiuzhe changed expression and wanted to catch his fellow.

“Careful!”

Before he finished, under the body of his fellow that was flying over, a silent light flashed. When he could respond, a flying sword that gave off no light was three zhang away from him.

Damn it!

He hurriedly put up his flying sword.

The swords impacted, ding, a small sound of collision.

His body shook, the blood in his face suddenly leaving his face. His eyes were full of disbelief, his eyes slowly becoming empty.

The remaining xiuzhe was also pale, and wanted to retreat.

Pew!

A white sword energy that had a hint of pink at the tip passed through his chest. His pupils suddenly expanded. He saw the smear of cold smile at the corner of Nian Lu opposite him.

———

Ma Fan’s ambush had shocked the entire field. He had successfully bought time for the Lei Peng’s group to breath. Nian Lu had made an ambush, and the panicked enemy had fallen.

Ma Fan suppressed the roiling of the ling power inside his body. Having continuously cast [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction] twice while flying at high speed, he couldn’t help but feel a lack of strength. He didn’t go to see if the other had lived or not, hurriedly starting his illusory movement method and disappeared.

From the collision of the two side’s killing moves, to the three people losing their lives, the sudden change shocked many people. Ma Fan took the chance to escape.

His illusory movement method was most skilled at confusing the enemy. The more chaotic the battle, the more beneficial it was to him.

Ma Fan’s entry slowly caused the balance of battle to tilt towards their side. The monstrous training regime of the past while had started to show its power. The combat units started to help cover and aid each other.

Everyone slowly became more used to cooperating with Ma Fan.

The more tense the situation, the more advantageous it was for Ma Fan to attack. He was accurate each time. Without knowing it, the advantage grew on their side.

———

Bao De felt that this fight today was terrible. Their side clearly had the advantage in numbers, but as they fought, they grew more tired. He felt as though they had entered quicksand and were unable to use their strength.

It wasn’t evident in the beginning, but as they fought, the feeling of weakness became even more clear.

The other side was three people, all clearly ningmai first stratum, but they managed to stop him. The other side’s tactics were very soft, not daring to face him straight on. He felt he wanted to spit blood.

Every time he was going to defeat the three, that person who came out of nowhere would come and disturb him, making his rhythm pause.

Because of this pause, the advantage he had managed to build up would disappear and he had to start from the beginning.

After fighting for so long, he saw the hints. The three were cooperating very well. One offensive, one distracting, and one defensive, and the offensive and defensive would frequently change positions. At the beginning, he had assumed he could quickly get rid of the enemy, but they had managed to stand up until now. He felt quite embarrassed, and his attacks grew stronger, but he hadn’t assumed it got more annoying the more he fought!

Other than the three he was facing, he still had to watch out for the annoying guy that appeared out of nowhere and was as irritating as a fly.

He dared to disdain the three in front of him, but didn’t dare to underestimate Ma Fan.

That guy was ningmai second stratum!

Fuck it, this was no way to fight!

Chapter 218: Spoils Of Victory

The entire battle gradually lost meaning.

Seeing that their own side was at a disadvantage, the leader did not hesitate to find a solution – surrender!

With a rattle, everyone surrendered. Gongsun Cha’s face was shocked but the other xiuzhe looked as if this was completely normal.

What would they do if they didn’t surrender? Escape? In the present Little Mountain jie, unless they were jindan, any xiuzhe would be targeted if they were alone. Fight to the death? Then the group would be crippled. A crippled group either would be killed or swallowed by someone else.

Surrendering was a loss of face, but at least they were not losing their lives.

This leader long knew the importance of this. Moreover, this group clearly did not have many people but were very strong. Rather than being swallowed by another group, it was better to go with this kind of group. Their days would be better. These days, weren’t people just looking for a way to survive in Little Mountain Jie?

This loud and noisy battle ended like this.

———

When Zuo Mo saw Gongsun Cha come back with a large group of captives, he was very shocked. As expected of a crazy battle-maniac. This efficiency was frightening! Before he could be happy, when he saw the thirty something captives, he grimaced inside.

His consciousness would have to bleed greatly again … …

———

Bao De was the head of this group. When he heard the head of the other side was going to set in jinzhi in his body he couldn’t help but shudder. Compared to those with no sect, he had come out of a little sect and knew more things than normal people.

Wasn’t it only jindan that could set down jinzhi? Was there a jindan elder here?

His heart became scared. In Little Mountain Jie, jindan were an invincible existence. Then he became puzzled. If jindan wanted to gather people, then he only needed to stand in the open and people would flock to him. There was no need to engage in fighting; everyone would have already surrendered.

But when Zuo Mo appeared in front of him, he was stunned.

The person putting down the jinzhi was a guy that had just broke through to ningmai first stratum! He was instantly discontent. Jinzhi meant that his little life was on that person’s hands. If he did not comply, the gentlest punishment was his cultivation would decrease, the most serious would be the destruction of his soul.

His little life was grasped within the hands of a guy that just broke through to ningmai?

However, he also knew his present situation. He didn’t understand. Was there someone behind this guy who supported him? Otherwise, why would so many people that were stronger than him obey him? He thought inside but he didn’t dare to show the discontent on his face.

No way about it. The losers could not be brave. Becoming other people’s prisoners, they didn’t dare to have any other thoughts. When he saw that Gongsun Cha who was standing silently by the side with a light and soft smile, he instantly discarded all his thoughts.

———

Zuo Mo was very familiar with jinzhi now. Quickly, all thirty people’s lives were in his hands.

However, after putting down thirty jinzhi, he lost a lot of energy, looking somewhat drooping.

“How many people died?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Twelve, all the zhuji died.” Gongsun Cha’s mood wasn’t good. Even though they had achieved victory, and the primary backbone was not damaged, but he was not satisfied with this result.

Zuo Mo sighed, his mood slightly down.

“At least we won,” Gongsun Cha didn’t have much confidence when he said this.

The mood became slightly heavy. The troubled world was like a copper cauldron, no one could escape. Zuo Mo decided to change the topic.

“Did you find ling grains?”

“No,” Gongsun Cha shook his head.

Zuo Mo almost spat blood. Originally, he wanted this group to use battle to feed battle, to steal ling grains from other people to lighten his load. Who could have thought that they had come back with thirty something people but no ling grains. He had just expended large amounts of consciousness and now had to care of thirty something more mouths.

He had really lost!

“Aren’t there any gains you made?” Zuo Mo was like a tomato after the frost, as he asked weakly.

“We’ve gotten some items. But I don’t really understand their functions, so Shixiong can pick,” Gongsun Cha blinked his plum flower sized eyes that sparkled as he said innocently.

From the numbers, Gongsun Cha had gotten many things. Piled up together, it was a little mountain.

Flying swords, talismans, jade scrolls, and materials. They all dazzled the eyes.

Zuo Mo glanced and was quite surprised. The great majority were not worth anything, but there were some good ones. This had been the collections of ningmai xiuzhe. They had some good items.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were very experienced and acted quickly. After flipping and picking, he divided the little mountain into several piles.

He pointed at a pile of flying swords and talismans, saying, “This batch isn’t bad. Go and divide it among them. Only if they are properly equipped can their battle strength increase.”

Gongsun Cha was full of admiration. Shixiong was really someone who could do great things. He had followed Shixiong for this long, and his eyes were not as experienced as Shixiong; but he could generally detect the quality. The flying swords and talismans in this piles were all pretty good. If they could be sold, that would be an enormous sum of jingshi. He hadn’t expected Shixiong to take it out.

This generosity, this breadth of mind … …

“To get the horse to run, we have to feed the horse grass,” Zuo Mo said meaningfully.

The admiration in Gongsun Cha’s heart reached a peak. It seemed that he was still too new. His level was not enough compared to Shixiong!

“Think of it as wages. They have to put their lives up. It won’t be right if they do not get anything,” Zuo Mo smacked his lips, and rubbed his chin, “In any case, this batch can’t be turned to jingshi and will only take up space.”

When Gongsun Cha heard the last part, all the admiration instantly dissipated.

This was more like Shixiong … …

For some reason, he found he had relaxed; his entire body easing itself of tension.

“Oh, right,” Zuo Mo picked out a jade scroll from the piles of jade scrolls, “There’s not much in this batch of jade scrolls other than this one. This one has some content related to battle generals. You take it to use as reference.”

“A bit of relation to battle generals?” Gongsun Cha instantly became excited and took the jade scroll.

“The materials are useful,” Zuo Mo said to himself as he looked at the little piles in front of him. “The rest can only be given to Lil’ Pagoda. We can store the jade scrolls, open them to all of them for free? Oh, they don’t take up space.”

Speaking of jade scrolls, he suddenly remembered something, “I have a fifth-grade movement method here. I probably won’t have the time to practice it. Give it to someone to use. The stronger they are, the safer we are. As to how to divide it, you can think.”

“Okay!” Gongsun Cha was slightly surprised that Shixiong could take out a fifth-grade movement method but did not hesitate in nodding. He agreed with Shixiong’s words.

After dividing up the spoils, Zuo Mo told Gongsun Cha again to look for yin fiend grounds. Everyone knew that time was tight and didn’t waste words. Gongsun Cha took the pile of talismans and flying swords and left.

———

Zuo Mo summoned Lil’ Pagoda, and pointed at the pile of talismans and flying swords as he took up a jade scroll to read.

This jade scroll was the only thing that he was interested in of this entire batch of spoils. There wasn’t much high level content in the jade scroll. What it was were some basic methods of making puppets. Now that Zuo Mo was somewhat skilled in formations, it was much easier to learn about puppets, and it wasn’t hard to read.

He had never encountered puppets before. Seeing them now, he found them novel. There were several places that were very unique. To his joy, he found that the puppets could solve the problem of his manpower.

Low level puppets did not have intelligence and could only accept the simplest and most basic commands. Those high level puppets were not much different than people. puppets that were forged with secret methods were not breakable, were as fast as the wind, and functioned as the best subordinates.

No wonder so many people liked puppets.

Of course, these subordinate type puppets were very hard to forge. But Zuo Mo did not think of those puppets. His eyes were set on the easily made low level puppets.

These guys didn’t have any great use, but they could barely manage to do some rough and menial labor.

He suddenly thought of an idea. With Little Mountain Jie so chaotic right now, the population drastically decreasing, the mines that had existed before wouldn’t have grown feet! The ling veins would have been corroded, but what about the ore veins?

He became more excited the more he thought, his brain extremely clear. Now that it was this chaotic, there was no one that was willing to spend time mining. If the ore veins were not infected and did not belong to anyone, and he went to mine them, no one would care. As for manpower, he could use puppets!

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and started to calculate.

It was not very hard to make the simplest puppet, and what it consumed were very low level materials. He had the power to make them.

Deep in thought, Zuo Mo did not notice Lil’ Pagoda greedily sucking in talismans and flying swords.

When the last talisman flew inside Lil’ Pagoda’s body, Lil’ Pagoda suddenly stopped moving.

———

“Rewards based on achievements?” Lei Peng thought he had heard it wrong, laughing scornfully. “Don’t dream. Food that’s been swallowed, who would throw it back up? Even more, our group has jinzhi, who wouldn’t listen? Who would be so dumb to spend on us?”

Nian Lu said in a rush, “But it’s true. Happening this afternoon! Supposedly, there is a fifth-grade movement method.”

“Ha ha! You’re killing me!” Lei Peng pointed at Nian Lu and then turned to say to Zong Ru. “Listen! Fifth-grade movement method! My ass! Fifth-grade movement methods are not lettuce, and given easily to us sheep. I say, Old Nian, you should understand the market. A fifth-grade movement method, that’s enough for those f***ers at Clear Sky Sect to let you pass. This kind of good thing, people will give it to you for free?”

Zong Ru said cross legged like an old monk in meditation, dignified. He pretended to not listen. Dhyana xiu were very rare in Little Mountain Jie. They cultivated the body and their abhinna. What Zong Ru cultivated was not some high level dhyana scripture, and so he had not formed an abhinna yet. However, his cultivation was rock solid.

He usually had few words, his personality silent and calm. In battle, he was like a whole other person, abnormally ferocious.

The three of them all had different personalities. Lei Peng was fiery like a fire, similar to a bandit. Nian Lu was of a lively temperament, optimistic and easygoing.

Now that Lei Peng said this, Nian Lu felt disbelieve rise as well. Fifth-grade movement method, it was enough to become the ultimate spell for a little sect. Who would give something like this for free?

Fortunately, time did not pass slowly. It quickly reached noon.

All the people, including the thirty that had just been captured were gathered together.

Everyone knew Lil’ Miss definitely had important things to announce.

Chapter 219: Rewards Conference

In secret, whenever everyone ever discussed Lil’ Miss’s feminine and delicate face, they couldn’t help but be slightly scornful of it. However, when Lil’ Miss was sitting in front of them, everyone couldn’t help but straighten their spines, their eyes straight forward.

People like Lei Peng, who had already spent some time under Lil’ Miss’ command,had experience of what to do. In front of Lil’ Miss, it was best for their eyes to look at their nose, their nose to be pointed at their heart. Do not go looking at Lil’ Miss’ eyes. You would always find they were freezing.

“Reward based on performance,” Lil’ Miss’ voice was not loud and was feminine as usual.

Lei Peng stilled. Had Old Nian been speaking the truth? There were really going to reward based on performance? His heart quickened and he couldn’t help but move his body.

It wasn’t just him. Everyone could not disguise the joy on their faces. There were jinzhi in their bodies, so their lives were in Zuo Mo’s hands. They had originally assumed that they would be cannon fodder, and the thought had never crossed their minds that they would be rewarded.

“Let’s start.” Everyone’s expression landed in Gongsun Cha’s eyes. His heart was very clear, the corners of his mouth rising. He decided to throw out a heavy bomb at the beginning, “This is a fifth-grade movement method. Boss decided to take it out as a reward.”

Vroom!

Everyone’s eyes turned to stare at the jade scroll in Lil’ Miss’ hands. So hot they almost melted the jade scroll. The temperature in the room instantly rose.

Fifth-grade movement method! That was fifth-grade.

Any spell, when it reached fifth-grade, the value was not comparable. No matter if it was in Sky Moon Jie, or in Little Mountain Jie, only core disciples could cultivate fourth-grade spells. This was an unwritten rule. And fifth-grade spells? The majority of sects did not possess a fifth-grade spell.

Now a fifth-grade movement method was in front of them, a place they could touch.

Breathing was rushed in the room. Without knowing it, excitement climbed onto everyone’s faces. If it wasn’t for the jinzhi, half of the people would definitely go up and steal.

Gongsun Cha was very satisfied with everyone’s performance. Fair reward and punishment was a governance that every stable troop must have. Gongsun Cha was not worried this crowd of brutes would betray, but it had been a problem for him to increase their motivation.

“This is a intermediate fourth-grade flying sword, called Black Lock, pure in quality, it is slightly oriented towards the water element. It is the best flying sword of this rewards conference.”

The flying sword was about one chi long, the body narrow and black, glistening with a blue light. Once it was taken out, a slightly sword essence rippled like waves across the entire room.

Hiss!

Inhales sounded below. This group all had good eyes. The quality of the Black Lock sword was not average.

Intermediate Fourth-grade!

Most of these xiuzhe were in ningmai, but only five or so of them had fourth-grade flying swords, and of those people, all their flying swords were low fourth-grade flying swords.

“This Nine Dawn Ling Armor, intermediate fourth-grade, it is the best protective talisman of this conference. Wood element, the ling armor has four formations, [Vitality], [Evil Removing], [Tranquil Mind], and [Illusion Break]. In places rich with wood element power, it can automatically absorb wood element power to repair the ling armor.”

Gulp.

As they swallowed, everyone stared at the ling armor. This was something good! If they had this ling armor, it was like getting half of a life.

It was like Gongsun Cha did not notice everyone’s eyes. One by one, he introduced all the talismans and flying swords.

In the room, the heavy sound of breathing was like thunder. Everyone’s faces were red and excited. Many people had pulled open their clothing, a layer of sweat on their foreheads. However, they did not detect it, their eyes tightly locked on the talismans and flying swords in front of Gongsun Cha.

The light given off by the talismans and flying swords merged and reflected off each person’s eyes.

Lei Peng’s forehead was full of sweat. His throat was dry, his copper-bell like eyes staring wide, afraid he would miss a talisman. When the last talisman was finished being introduced, his heart finally rested. Reflexively, he released a breath.

His ears suddenly heard the sound of breathing. He jumped in fright at his loud breathing.

It was over! If he angered Lil’ Miss, it would be terrible! He grimaced at the first thought that came into his head.

But when he saw the breathing of the people around him, he managed to realize that it wasn’t just the sound of his own breathing, but everyone breathing out together. The slightly sounds of breathing, under such silent environments, would stand out so clearly.

The room quickly became silent, extremely silent, everyone’s hearts rose again.

Everyone knew what was coming next was the most important!

There were only this many prizes, who would get it? How would it be divided? There was a lot involved was this. That would determine what landed on their own hands was good or trash.

“Those with the most achievements will pick first, one apiece.” Lil’ Miss was extremely clear in this silent environment where the drop of a pin could be heard. “Ma Fan is first.”

A blush suddenly rose on Ma Fan’s face like he had been drinking. In the admiring and jealous eyes of everyone else, he stood up and did not hesitate to pick the fifth-grade movement method.

Even though everyone had mostly guessed already, but they couldn’t help but have disappointed expressions. One of those was Lei Peng.

Fifth-grade movement method!

Seeing it slink away in front of his eyes, this feeling wasn’t just terrible!

But that was just jealousy. No one could say anything to Ma Fan picking first. The effect that Ma Fan had in this battle could not have been done by anyone else.

Before everyone had digested the disappointment from the fifth-grade movement method being picked away, Lil’ Miss opened again, “Lei Peng, Zong Ru, Nian Lu, your group is up. You can pick one fourth-grade, two third-grade.”

Lei Peng’s head rang, and then blanked.

It was his turn … …

He didn’t know how he stood up. Nian Lu and Zong Ru’s faces were also full of disbelief. It was like a dream. Even Zong Ru, the most composed of the three, didn’t managed to keep his composure.

The three people looked at each other. After a while, they found it hard to decide who would get the fourth-grade talisman.

Seeing the situation, Gongsun Cha decided to decide for them. “Straws, set down the order, and take turns in the future.”

This method was very fair. No one had an objection.

The sweat on Lei Peng’s forehead grew even more dense, his heartbeat racing because he drew first. The second was Zong Ru, the third was Nian Lu.

He really was shameful, couldn’t even calm down! He criticized himself.

But he was not slow in picking. He did not hesitate in picking the Nine Dawn ling armor. Sighs rose in the surroundings. Clearly, there were several that wanted this ling armor. For some reason, when he heard the sighs, Lei Peng felt every pore of him was in pleasure, and extremely smug. He instantly put on the ling armor.

Zong Ru picked upper third-grade vambraces, and Nian Lu picked an upper third-grade boots. Even though they didn’t pick something fourth-grade, these two were also very good among the third-grade, the two people were unable to keep their hands off.

Gongsun Cha measured achievement based on combat unit. Each combat unit could pick one fourth-grade item, and two third-grade. The fourth-grade items were quickly divided. Those ranked behind didn’t even get one, and could only stare.

But everyone basically got one talisman.

As to the xiuzhe like Bao De who had just turned from captive, they could only stare. Gongsun Cha didn’t plan on rewarding them. The remaining talismans were put to be used as rewards for the groups that were exceptional in training.

Gongsun Cha also clearly stated that once the reward was given, it was the person’s personal property. Other people could not take it. Like the fifth-grade movement method. Ma Fan picked it, so it could not be given to someone else. If anyone else wanted to learn, they had to ask Ma Fan. As to how to pass it on, or whether to pass it on, that was Ma Fan’s business.

No matter if it was Zuo Mo, or Gongsun Cha, they would never have predicted the effect this rewards conference would have.

———

Gongsun Cha still supervised the people in training. The last battle had revealed many insufficiencies. The three section wave killing charge, if it was a well-trained troop, if it was his mysterious opponent, they would only need to use it once to destroy the enemy.

He hadn’t just been unable to destroy the enemy, but had sunk into prolonged fighting. This made Gongsun Cha who usually demanded highly of himself very dissatisfied.

Lil’ Miss was dissatisfied so everyone didn’t have good days.

However, what Gongsun Cha was puzzled by was just how unexpected these people were in training. Everyone seemed to have been shot up with chicken blood, howling as they furiously trained.

And when Gongsun Cha fulfilled his promise by rewarding the talismans to the group that had finished training, he found to his shock that they completely did not need his supervision.

There was not a novice among this group of people. They all knew the importance of talismans. Who would dislike having one more talisman? On the battlefield, one more talisman was one more guarantee on their own life. There was no danger of dying in training. This kind of good matter, if it was in the past, everyone would distain to attend, but in the cruel Little Mountain Jie of the present, no one had heard of it.

No one fell behind.

Not having gotten any ling grains, and having some more mouths to feed, the pressure of Zuo Mo to supply ling grains instantly increased, especially in the recent days where this group had suddenly started to furiously train for some reason. The consumption of ling grains multiplied.

Zuo Mo felt the pressure multiply. He put one hundred and twenty percent of his effort into studying the mo matrix day and night.

Once he had an idea, he would immediately try it out, not caring for the consumption of materials. Seeing the amount of ling grains decrease, he felt even more pressured. His progress was not bad. He had eliminated half of the useless constructs. Less than one third of the constructs were remaining.

But this one third included more than seventy formation-like constructs.

Zuo Mo did not have the time to do theoretical analyses. The time was tight. He decided to use the stupidest and most effective method.

Try one by one!

He started to crazily try one formation after another.

In the span of a few days, his room was full of failed products like a little mountain.

Not having closed his eyes for seven days and nights, he didn’t even meditate. When his ling power was used up, he would grasp a jingshi to absorb ling power.

He looked quite fragile. After seven days and nights, even if his spiritual power had reached the stage of manifestation, he had reached a limit.

However, Zuo Mo forgot all the labor, all the exhaustion.

He dazedly looked at a peerlessly ugly thing on his hands!

Chapter 220: The Fatal Rotten Metal Silver

Bao De really had his vision broadened in these past days.

The troop in front of him was different than any other that he had been a part of before. Three people to each squad, that Three Talent Formation, that was a pleasure and a pain, enough ling grains, and there were rewards for the people placed under jinzhi … …

He looked at these old-timers who were now like children fighting to be first. There was no conspiracy, everything was done in broad daylight, it was so simple it could not be any more straightforward, but the troop had transformed by such a direct method.

The longer he stayed, the more he felt just how powerful the boss of this group was. It wasn’t a power that people could see at a simple glance, but a calm power hidden behind fog and mist. Even though everyone was afraid of Lil’ Miss, Bao De had been a leader; and he could tell who was truly in charge.

With such finesse, he wouldn’t be an ordinary person in the future. To follow such a boss, the future wouldn’t be too hard.

But Boss was a little guy around twenty something that had just entered ningmai first stratum … … the luck … …

No matter how many thoughts swirled in Bao De’s mind, his training amount would not lessen compared to the rest. His past identity as the leader and his ningmai second stratum cultivation did not give him any privileges. What made him feel helpless and depressed was the fact the other two people in his little troop were furiously training.

It was just a few talismans; was it worth all this? Having been a leader, Bao De naturally wouldn’t care about just third-grade talismans.

Yet he did not want to get into conflict with his teammates, due to dragging them down, and had to furiously train as well. There was no way around it. Lil’ Miss’ rewards were based on combat units, other than being like Ma Fan who was a combat unit on his own. Adding on that Lil’ Miss was staring from the side, he did not dare to slack.

Do not offend Lil’ Miss in any circumstance.

This was the most widespread phrase in the camp.

However, hm … … wasn’t that Boss? Bao De saw Boss holding a strange object and walk into the camp out of the corner of his eye.

He secretly paid attention. However, with his distraction, the Three Talent Formation that had been flowing smoothly came to an abrupt halt. With the pause, the rhythm of the entire team was disturbed. The three people had to stop. Seeing the dissatisfaction in the two people’s eyes, Bao De hurriedly apologized. He could offend anyone except his teammates. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even know how he died on the battlefield.

———

Gongsun Cha saw Zuo Mo hold something strange and couldn’t help but ask in curiosity, “Shixiong, what is this?”

“Ling processing … …” Zuo Mo stopped. He raised the ugly object in his hands in front of his face. Uh, what should he call this?

It could barely be called a talisman. But there were many kinds of talismans. This thing, which category did it belong to? Treasure box?

A strangely shaped box, the box was covered in holes and crack, patched with shapes of various colors and sizes, which made it hard to look at.

“Ling Processing Formation.” Zuo Mo pondered and decided to change its shape for next time. Otherwise, it would be hard to even name such an object.

“A bit ugly,” Gongsun Cha gave a fair review. Seeing the unfriendliness in Shixiong’s eyes, he hurriedly tried to move on, “What’s the use of this?”

Speaking of the use of this object, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be smug. “Oh, not that much. It can just process the ling power in the jingshi, and get rid of impurities.”

“Get rid of the impurities in the ling power of jingshi … …” Gongsun Cha first stilled but he quickly responded. His eyes suddenly widened, his voice unconsciously raising, “Get rid of the impurities in the ling power of jingshi?”

Gongsun Shidi’s reaction made Zuo Mo even more proud, “Exactly!”

Gongsun Cha’s eyes lit up, his voice tinted with excitement, “It can replace ling grains?”

“Exactly!” Zuo Mo felt his body was unspeakably comfortable. He snickered. “I tried already. The effect is pretty good. Taking it here was to find someone to try it out.”

Without another word, Gongsun Cha stood up, swept the people training, and saw Lei Peng and the other two who had just finished. He beckoned, “Lei Peng, you three come over.”

Hearing the summons of Lil’ Miss, the three hurried over.

Gongsun Cha turned around and asked Zuo Mo, “Shixiong, how do you use this?”

“Oh, put your hand on top of this, and start your scripture.” Zuo Mo put his palms on the two round formations on top of the box.

Gongsun Cha said to Lei Peng, “You try.”

“Oh,” Lei Peng said with confusion. He didn’t understand what this garbage in front of him, but he still complied in putting his hands inside the round formations and started his scripture.

“Huh!” Lei Peng gasped – ling power!

A stream of ling power was absorbed through his palms and quickly flowed along his channels. Such pure ling power! He was overjoyed. Such pure ling power, it meant that he didn’t have to spend so much energy on processing ling power! Endless ling power burrowed through his palms into his body. In a quick while, he felt the empty channels inside his body feel full.

Only now did he suddenly realize the use of this thing!

Why was Little Mountain Jie so terrible right now?

The most important reason was that the ling energy in the air had become thin, so thin that it could not be absorbed into the bodies of xiuzhe.

Everyone knew that the ling power of xiuzhe was obtained from the world of nature. The ling energy in the air was the most important source. After these ling energy were taken into the body, they were processed and turned to even purer ling power to be stored in the channels of the xiuzhe. The ling energy becoming extremely thin in Little Mountain Jie meant that the biggest source of ling energy for xiuzhe had been cut off.

Xiuzhe were forced to find other ways, like consuming ling grains. The ling power contained in the ling grains were easy to absorb, and were not harmful. The jingshi that people usually used contained more ling power than ling grains, but due to the impurities in the ling power of jingshi were more domineering than the impurities of the ling energy of the air, it was much harder to absorb. If it was used in the long term, it would damage the body.

Only some large sects had secret methods to resolve the impurities in the jingshi.

Secret method … …

When Lei Peng’s hands left the box, his mind seemed to be wandering, his expression slightly strange.

Nian Lu looked in puzzlement at Lei Peng, it was very rare to see Big Peng have this expression. He couldn’t help but look again at that extremely strange and hideous box. This garbage had a use?

When his hands left the box, his expression was also strange, muttering something continuously in his mouth like he had seen a ghost.

After Zong Ru tried, his expression could not disguise his shock.

No matter what waves had been stirred up in the three people, Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha were very satisfied with the result of the experiment. The remainder was to slightly modify the appearance. It really was too ugly, even Zuo Mo himself found it hard to tolerate.

Gongsun Cha’s sparkling eyes tightly locked on the extremely ugly box. He was very clear what this object meant for them! As long as they had this, there was one less chain that was on their necks!

In the present Little Mountain Jie, the price of ling grains had been inflated to a ridiculous price. In reverse, due to the lack of goods, the utility of jingshi was much less. It was common to see jingshi that had been thrown away. The rare ling grains had become the most common currency in Little Mountain Jie.

“But there is a problem.”

Zuo Mo’s words pulled Gongsun Cha back. He jumped, “What problem?”

“If we are producing in large quantities, we need lots of Rotten Metal silver,” Zuo Mo’s tone was slightly bitter, “I still have some, but it is just enough to make a few.”

Gongsun Cha stilled, and thought it was unfortunate. He hurriedly asked, “Is this Rotten Metal silver very rare?”

“It is a very common third-grade material.” Zuo Mo spread his hands. “I’ve used a lot so there’s not much left.”

“This problem … …” Gongsun Cha thought and then raised his hands, indicating for everyone to gather.

Everyone stopped their training, looked at each other, before gathering. Their expressions were all puzzled. Lil’ Miss had never interrupted their training before.

“Who knows where there is Rotten Metal silver?” Gongsun Cha asked.

Many xiuzhe were confused. What was Rotten Metal silver?”

Suddenly, a person raised their hands, “I know.” That person was Bao De.

“Where?” Gongsun Cha stared at Bao De.

When he met Lil’ Miss’ sharp eyes, a cold sweat ran down Bao De’s body. However, he had been a leader before, and suppressed the shock inside, pretending to be calm. “This one doesn’t know about the finished product, but this one knows a Rotten Metal silver mine.”

“Mine!” Zuo Mo’s eyes brightened. “Where?”

Bao De swallowed and obediently responded, “A place about three hundred li from here, called Stone Mountain Beach. Before, it was the location for a sect of Spell Sword Sect, now it’s possessed by a group.”

Zuo Mo turned to look at Gongsun Cha. Gongsun Cha instantly understood what he meant. He wanted the mine. Gongsun Cha was slightly puzzled. Even if they had the mine, there was no one to do the mining. However, since Shixiong said he wanted it, then it meant he had a way.

He turned to stare at Bao De. “How many people are there? What are their origins?”

Bao De hurriedly said. “About sixty or so people. The head, Xie Shan, is vicious and cruel. Ningmai third stratum. His subordinates are all above ningmai. They heard that Spell Sword Sect had ling grains, so they massacred Spell Sword Sect and took over Stone Mountain Beach.”

He then carefully said, “If Boss wants it, you can buy it at very low cost from Xie Shan’s hands. This one has some relationship with him … …”

“No need,” Gongsun Cha waved his hands, and then said, “Continue training,” to hurry the people away to cultivate. Bao De’s words were choked up in his throat. However, he perceptively went to train.

“What do you plan on doing?” Zuo Mo asked in curiosity.

He knew that Shidi definitely had an idea.

“We can beat them until they are crippled,” Gongsun Cha said unconcernedly. “There is no reason to give them any jingshi. They want to take food from our mouths, hmph hmph!”

Zuo Mo shook his head helplessly. Gongsun Shidi’s battle mania was acting up again!

Xie Shan’s group was really pitiful!

He couldn’t help but feel sympathy, but when the words reached his own mouth the only thing that came out was, “Hurry!”

Chapter 221: What Is Pu Yao Doing?

Zuo Mo quickly made the new product. Compared to the broken box, the new product was like a piece of art.

It was a meditation mat woven from Black Morning Glory, pure black and smooth to the touch. Hair like strands of rotten metal silver forming the formations were in exquisite and complex patterns. If the mat was flipped over, there were five openings that jingzhi could be put in. Zuo Mo had originally planning on making them even smaller to make it much easier to carry, but in the end, he still decided to make them into meditation mats.

His technique of weaving mediation mats was very good.

The meditation mats were named Black Processing Meditation Mats. On the foundation of the ling processing formations, he had added [Mind Concentration] and [Calm Heart] formations. The effect of the black processing meditation mats drastically increased.

In one go, Zuo Mo had used all the rotten metal silver to make five black processing meditation mats.

With the five black processing meditation mats both Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha steadied their heart. The five black processing meditation mats were not a lot, but if they were used in turns, it could barely suffice.

After giving the five black processing meditation mats to Gongsun Cha, Zuo Mo didn’t care anymore.

His gains this time was not just the ling processing formation. The mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s body was a low level mo matrix called the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix]. The biggest effect of this matrix was that it could automatically temper his body. But even as one of the simplest mo matrix, after being analyzed, it was found to be composed of hundreds of little micro formations.

Zuo Mo had never seen the majority of these micro formations and didn’t know their effects. But after this time, after finishing his analysis, and trying to forge, he had a direct understanding of these unfamiliar formations.

Of the many formations of the Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix, there were three formations that Zuo Mo felt were most useful: Ling Gathering Formation, Ling Processing Formation, and Body Tempering Formation.

There had been a detailed introduction about the Ling Gathering Formation in the [Kun Lun Preliminary Formations Jade Scroll]. But the ling gathering formation that Zuo Mo had found this time was different than any kind of ling gathering formation he had ever seen.

It was even more outstanding at gathering ling. The entire formation naturally formed, and was so exquisite that Zuo Mo had sighed countless times at the wonders of nature.

“This isn’t bad,” Pu Yao appeared out of nowhere, and stared at the ling gather formation that Zuo Mo was carving now.

Zuo Mo had long gotten used to Pu Yao’s ghostly appearances. His hand didn’t even tremble.

“Of course I know it is a good thing.” Zuo Mo did not disguise the pride he felt. He glanced at Pu Yao out of the corner of his eyes. “With ge’s skills! How can the things that ge makes not be good things?”

“Oh, not bad, not bad.” Finishing, Pu Yao faintly nodded before disappearing.

Zuo Mo, who had wanted to show off, felt his punch had missed and his chest felt suffocated. However, he was also puzzled. Pu Yao, the guy who did not rise early unless there was something to do, he had just ran over to say that this was not bad?

There was a problem!

Definitely was a problem!

Yet, Zuo Mo couldn’t think of where the problem was. He did not think on it and instead started to work with the ling gathering formation in front of him.

The ling gathering formation he had obtained from the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix] was exquisite and tiny. The difficulty of carving it was slightly high but the use was also very broad. He could carve this ling gathering formation on talismans and flying swords. Talismans and flying swords could continuously gather ling energy from the air. Over time their intelligence would grow. Any material, if they were put in places with thick ling energy, after being soaked in ling energy, the qualities of the material would gradually be changed for the better.

Zuo Mo had an even more daring idea, to carve the ling gathering formation on the body like the mo matrix. This way the body could constantly take in ling energy from the surroundings. Even though the amount of ling energy taken in each day would be small, but after accumulating for months and years, this amount would be terrifying.

This point, Zuo Mo who had a mo matrix had a direct experience. If it wasn’t that his channels were not able to store ling power before, he would have broken through to ningmai long ago. Even now, his cultivation speed was far faster than normal xiuzhe.

The body tempering formation was using ling power to continuously temper the blood, flesh, bones, and tendons of the body. Other than Dhyana xiu, other xiuzhe would rarely cultivate their body, but in Zuo Mo’s experience, a strong body was not a bad thing. Even more, no time had to be spent on this. It could automatically temper the body. Would anyone refuse?

Most importantly, the three formations that he had analyzed and separated out did not look anything like a mo matrix. No one would connect it to a mo matrix. In these days where yaomo were roaming about, this point was especially important.

After making the Black Processing Meditation Mats, Zuo Mo instantly felt the pressure decrease. He hadn’t found how to use the three micro formations right now. He already had the mo matrix on his body. He didn’t need the three formations.

He decided to cultivate his spiritual power.

According to Pu Yao, the road he was on was Star Spiritual cultivation. To Zuo Mo, Star Spiritual cultivation was slightly novel. Pu Yao’s suggestion was to first strengthen the ten stars, and he had given the related methods. Zuo Mo only had to absorb star power, then feed it back to the stars in his sea of consciousness to enlarge his source.

It was coincidentally night now. He walked out of the room, and raised his head to look at the sky dotted with stars. He split his legs apart, forward and back, his body like a coiled snake raising its head, his mouth slightly open, his hands pushing on the air by the side, making an extremely strange and awkward pose.

His mind empty, the consciousness leaf hand spread its five fingers and faced the far stars like a sunflower.

His breathing slowly disappeared. A thread of star light fell off the star above Zuo Mo’s head. It was like a silver mist, thread after thread swallowed in Zuo Mo’s mouth.

Zuo Mo felt his mind have a mysterious connection with the star above his head. A vast and ancient presence, from a deep and unknown place, crossing countless eras, and came to him. For some reason, his heart felt moved.

A faint silver mist burrowed into Zuo Mo’s mouth, and effortlessly entered his channels. The ling power in his channels were as quiet as a virgin, not having any enmity against the star power that had been absorbed into his body. These threads of star power made one circuit around the channels inside his body, and then entered the space between Zuo Mo’s brows like a sparrow returning to its nest.

In the void above the sea of consciousness, thread after thread of silver mist entered a dim star.

———

Pu Yao looked at the star above his head and then took away his gaze. He opened his hand. On his palm, there was a puddle of black water. In the center of the black water, there was a miniature altar floating.

Nether Pool!

“Finally formed!” Pu Yao said to himself, “Hopefully this will work.”

Finishing, he threw the puddle of black water towards the ground. The hand sized Nether Pool expanded in a blink to a black pond about one and a half mu large. On the altar floating in the center, an enchanting black flame jumped.

Pu Yao flew onto the altar. The black fire surrounded him and burned silently. The black water in the Nether Pool roiled as if there were countless serpents restlessly swimming under the surface.

Pu Yao closed his bloody pupil, his expression solemn. He suddenly shouted, “Rise!”

The altar under Pu Yao’s feet suddenly had an astounding power to attract, all the black water in the pool flooding towards the altar. The black water quickly flooded the altar, reaching up to Pu Yao’s feet. Pu Yao did not move, allowing the black water to creep up over his feet.

In a blink, the black water was above Pu Yao’s head.

An enormous ball of black water stood on the altar. The scene seemed extremely unbalanced. Compared to the black water ball, the altar was pitifully small, making one worried that the enormous black water ball would crush the altar into pieces.

Yet this crude altar was as steady as rock.

The black water covering Pu Yao flowed restlessly and sped up.

———

An hour later, the speed the black water ball was spinning at was at an astounding level. The hissing of high spinning speed was not sharp, but still frightening.

Having finished his cultivation, Zuo Mo noticed the abnormality in his sea of consciousness. When he saw the scene in front of him, he was very shocked.

What was Pu Yao doing?

The spinning of the black water ball was still increasing. Zuo Mo sensitively noticed that as the spinning increased, the black water ball started to show signs of instability.

“What does this guy want to do?” Zuo Mo muttered, not daring to move his eyes away.

The spinning speed of the black water ball was still increasing. The signs of instability were increasing. The spherical black water ball was majorly distorted.

It seemed the situation wasn’t good! Zuo Mo was slightly worried.

Just as the black water ball seemed to be on the verge of collapse, light suddenly shone on the altar, and a heavy presence that was filled with vitality cover the sea of consciousness.

Wait a moment!

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened. He was too familiar with this presence!

Earth energy! This was earth energy!

Having been slightly worried, Zuo Mo instantly felt discontent. So this guy had stored the earth energy he had drawn out in the altar. Thinking about the pain he had endured when the earth energy had been drawn out, he gritted his teeth.

Other than anger, he became even more curious.

What was Pu Yao doing?

Clearly, the “yao method” that Pu Yao was conducting was something he had aimed for a long time ago. No matter if it was the Nether Pool, or the earth energy that the other had drawn out, Pu Yao had prepared for a long time. There were many methods in the world, especially the methods of yaomo. Zuo Mo was too lazy to guess. He definitely would not guess it.

He decided to sit and wait for Pu Yao to finish.

With the help of the earth energy, the high speed spinning black water ball quickly stabilized. The stable black water ball started to increase speed again.

The altar continuously provided earth energy. Zuo Mo’s eyes became even more unfriendly. How much earth energy had the guy drawn out of him!

Suddenly, Zuo Mo raised his head and made a sound of surprise.

The ever accelerating black water ball suddenly started to change. With speed visible to the naked eye, it quickly became clear. In the span of a few blinks, the black water ball became a peerlessly clear water ball. He could clearly see Pu Yao inside the water ball.

Through the high speed water, Zuo Mo saw Pu Yao and instantly jumped in fright.

Pu Yao’s entire body was as black as ink, the skin exposed to the outside looked as though it had been dyed black. The two red crystals on his earlobes became even more alluring in contrast to the deep black. Zuo Mo almost did not recognize Pu Yao. He started to become nervous – pain made its way onto Pu Yao’s face.

Pu Yao had never shown this kind of expression before!

What was this guy doing? Did something happen? Zuo Mo thought uncertainly.

Earth energy continuously burrowed from the altar into the water ball and then into Pu Yao’s body. The earth energy seemed to be able to lessen Pu Yao’s pain. Pu Yao’s expression slowly steadied.

The black on his body started to fade. The speed of the water ball slowly slowed.

When the black completely faded, the water ball also stopped.

Through the round ball of water, a handsome and enchanting male stood.

He opened the narrow right eye that was not covered by his hair.

Chapter 222: Lil’ Pagoda’s Levelling Up

Pu Yao stepped out of and off the altar, the water ball collapsing behind him.

His expression was not too good.

“What did you do?” Zuo Mo probed.

“None of your business!” Pu Yao’s expression was dark, his tone unfriendly.

Seeing the sign, Zuo Mo knew that he couldn’t get anything out of Pu Yao and went on his own business. Ge was busy.

He started to make puppets for the Stone Door Beach that would soon enter his hands. He had deep confidence in Gongsun Shidi who was a battle crazy maniac. He didn’t know exactly where the confidence came from. When he thought about it, Gongsun Shidi was just a beginner, but Zuo Mo’s confidence in his did not lessen because of this.

“Was this the a psychological shadow from having lost in War Chess several times,” Zuo Mo muttered in his heart.

There were many ways to make puppets. The most commonly seen and crude method was to use paper and bamboo to make puppets. High level used things like corpses. After death, corpses would be buried in the ground. Yin and corrosive energies would permeate for long times, and birth some qualities. But in the eyes of large sects, they still avoided using corpses. However, that was not difficult or hard to find. They only needed a suitable corpse, forge it for a bit, and the power would be significant.

Most of the corpses used would rarely be human since no one wanted their own corpses to be ruined after death. They were mostly animal corpses.

However, Zuo Mo didn’t have the territory needed to find so many animal corpses. The corpse method was not suited to him. He decided to make the simplest paper puppet, with bamboo as the skeleton, the paper as the body. Paper puppets could not be greatly relied upon, but they should manage in mining.

Zuo Mo decided to make one to try first.

He took out a second-grade Rain Consort Bamboo and second-grade yellow paper. After a while, he finally folded out a paper person. This was the first time he had done this, so his skill was crude, and the paper figure looked very awkward. Zuo Mo did not care. He took up the cinnabar brush, and patiently painted characters on the paper person.

After a while, the body of the paper person was covered in squiggly characters. Zuo Mo put down his pen in satisfaction.

Bending down and pushing it in front of his face, he opened his mouth and blew a breath full of ling energy onto the paper person. The cinnabar seals suddenly lit up. The paper person creaked as it moved, and swayed as it struggled to stand up.

The paper person was about one chi high. As it walked, the creak of the paper and bamboo was endless. Zuo Mo’s mind moved. The paper person awkwardly raised both of its hands, making him worry that it would scatter into pieces at any moment.

Woosh!

A belt of palm-sized yellow paper suddenly flew out of the arm of the paper person. Different than the awkwardness of the paper person, the yellow paper that flew out was very nimble, accurately grasping a fist-sized rock. The paper belt shrunk back with the rock and flew in front of the paper person.

Interesting!

Zuo Mo looked at the paper puppet and found it more interesting. He controlled the paper puppet to do all kinds of movements. After a while, the paper person plopped to the floor, and would not get up no matter how Zuo Mo urged it. Zuo Mo hurriedly inspected the paper person and found the ling energy of the paper person had been used up.

This couldn’t work. If they stopped after just this little bit, the paper puppets didn’t have any value at all. He needed a way to increase the ling power of the paper puppets. Zuo Mo stared at the paper puppet in front of him, thinking inside.

What he used were all low level materials. They could not store much ling power. This was a problem with all low level puppets.

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of the jingshi talismans. His eyes lit up. Jingshi talismans used jingshi as the source of ling power and could be used in the long term! After thinking it through, he felt that this characteristic of jingshi talismans fit his needs.

He wasn’t going to depend on these paper puppets to fight or kill. They were only doing some hard labor. A steady source of ling power would completely fulfill their needs.

After thinking it through, he instantly made modifications. Inside the body of the paper puppet, he used thin bamboo to weave a cage that jingshi could be held and then added new characters along the bamboo skeleton.

The newly modified paper puppet was full of energy. After playing around for several hours, it showed no signs of exhaustion.

However, Zuo Mo quickly found a new problem. The paper puppet did not know exhaustion, but after so many hours, Zuo Mo was tired from commanding it. The new problem was very important. These paper puppets were going to be used in mining. He couldn’t always stay in the mine and direct them. That wouldn’t be as efficient as him mining by himself.

To get the paper puppets to mine by themselves and not need his control. If he could do this, even if the efficiency was low, he would be able to offload the heavy duty of mining. In any case, he could fold some more paper people!

But quickly, Zuo Mo realized that this problem was beyond his abilities. To make the puppet able to perceive, that mean that the puppet needed to have intelligence. There were many ways to create intelligence, but no matter which one, it wasn’t something a ningmai could do.

Did this idea have to be discarded?

Zuo Mo furrowed his brows and though. There were more and more for him to do. It would be best if he could split himself in two. Split in two … …

Like a bolt of lightning, he suddenly thought

– Lil’ Pagoda

Something to replace him and connected to his mind, that was Lil’ Pagoda! Lil’ Pagoda was even able to control a formation as complex and large as the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation], a dozen or so puppets would be a piece of cake.

Right right! Lil’ Pagoda would be perfect as the supervisor. Zuo Mo instantly felt confidence.

Hm, where was Lil’ Pagoda?

Scanning the surroundings, he didn’t find the shadow of Lil’ Pagoda. His mind moved, wanting to communicate with Lil’ Pagoda, but found that the connection between him and Lil’ Pagoda seemed to be blocked by an invisible force.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and started to search.

He quickly found Lil’ Pagoda in the corner of the room. Lil’ Pagoda was silently floating in the air, surrounded by an invisible pressure.

Silly Bird proudly walked its bird walk around Lil’ Pagoda in circles, occasionally revealing its concern. Lil’ Black had climbed onto the ceiling, the two antennae on its head continuously waving.

Seeing Silly Bird and Lil’ Black guarding Lil’ Pagoda, Zuo Mo’s heart felt very warmed.

However, the warmth was quickly smashed to pieces by the roll of eyes that Silly Bird had thrown over. Silly Bird took back its gaze, raised up her bird head, and continued to calmly strut its walk. Compared to the rebelliousness of Silly Bird, Lil’ Black was much warmer and obedient, climbing down from the ceiling, climbing up Zuo Mo’s pants until it reached Zuo Mo’s palm. The two antennae on its head waving and fawning.

“So good!” Zuo Mo purposefully took out a lingdan and put it in front of Lil’ Black. Lil’ Black started to happily chomp.

Silly Bird responded with a roll of the eyes filled with scorn and disdain, completely unmoved.

Zuo Mo was very irritated. At this time, a five colored light suddenly appeared on Lil’ Pagoda’s body.

Lil’ Pagoda was leveling up!

The displeasure in Zuo Mo’s heart instantly was thrown away, his eyes unblinking. Silly Bird also stopped walking and stared at Lil’ Pagoda, the concern in her eyes completely undisguised.

Lil’ Pagoda was Zuo Mo’s soul-tethered talisman. In the recent past, Zuo Mo had fed it large amounts of talismans and flying swords. Zuo Mo was not surprised it was leveling up. Zuo Mo knew pitifully little about soul-tethered talismans, and the grades of normal talismans were useless for Lil’ Pagoda.

In any case, he only needed to know that Lil’ Pagoda was becoming stronger, Zuo Mo comforted himself.

Lil’ Pagoda had five levels, and the light released by each level was different. The five colored lights merged and cycled. Inside the five colored lights, Lil’ Pagoda spun, the lights becoming even brighter. In a while, Lil’ Pagoda was covered in the blinding five colored light, and was unable to be seen.

The five balls of colored light dimmed and brightened like it was breathing. Reflecting off Zuo Mo’s face, it was possible to see the nervousness in his eyes.

This leveling up, what change would happen to Lil’ Pagoda?

After several cycles, the five colored ball steadied. Zuo Mo closed his eyes. He could barely make out that Lil’ Pagoda was changing.

The steady ball of light slowly dimmed until all the light was gone.

Lil’ Pagoda’s body had become even rounder, the tip of the power almost a ball now. The eaves were even wider and smooth, giving people the feeling of chubbiness. The little gourds under the eaves were bigger, and rounder.

Zuo Mo gaped.

These days, did pagodas also get fat?

Lil’ Pagoda shook its body, the chubby five levels of eaves opening and closing like five little hands that were also waving. It didn’t seem to have woken up, somewhat dizzy. However, it quickly found Silly Bird guarding it at the side.

The eaves of the five levels opened, and Lil’ Pagoda shook the five colored chubby gourds on its body as it skipped over to Silly Bird. Then it spat out a grey bead.

Silly Bird skillfully picked up the grey bead and swallowed it.

A tragic and pain filled voice suddenly shook the skies!

“You people! I say, this is why has it been so long since this stuff had come out, you guys secretly ate it!”

Zuo Mo furiously pointed and swore. He felt his heart was being carved with a knife! Heavens! The grey bead that Lil’ Pagoda had spat out a material that was not in the five elements!

With Silly Bird’s swallow, Zuo Mo felt the sky and earth turn, he seemed to see a flood made out of countless jingshi enter Silly Bird’s mouth like a whale swallowing water!

Pain! Pain of the flesh!

Lil’ Black, who had been chewing happily, froze, the antennae that had been waving freezing in the air. It slowly retreated, step by step, as slow as a turtle. When it found that Zuo Mo did not seem to notice it, it shot away from Zuo Mo’s body like a black light and disappeared.

Zuo Mo instantly understood, and gritted out, “Lil’ Black, so you were involved too!”

Lil’ Pagoda timidly hid behind Silly Bird, the chubby body shivering.

Only Silly Bird was not scared, glancing at Zuo Mo, her eyes filled with disdain and scorn. She picked up Lil’ Pagoda and proudly stalked her bird walk away. On the feathers above her butt was Lil’ Black that bounced with the strides.

Zuo Mo was so angry he almost spat blood.

———

Gongsun Cha took back his dissatisfied gaze. The new additions to the troops, training until they could barely fight, it was not easy. In War Chess, the setup for this was training took at least one year. Other than that, it would take more than two real battles.

That could only be considered just having formed, and was far from a mature troop. As to a troop of a hundred battle elite, that was hundreds of li away.

However, the troop in front of him, while far from the troop in Gongsun Cha’s heart, but it had started to take the shape of a troop.

Like in the areas of organization, like the still immature cooperation.

There wasn’t much technique in training but it wasn’t as though there were no tricks, such as real combat. Real battles were always able to quickly increase the strength of the group.

Gongsun Cha stared into the distance, his eyes dark, a cold and cruel smile floating at the corner of his mouth.

In this hundred battle hell of Little Mountain Jie, did he have to worry there was no chance for actual combat?

Chapter 223: Another Transaction

“From today onwards, I do not need earth energy.”

Pu Yao’s words were like a pardon. Zuo Mo felt a heavy weight had come off. The damned drawing out of earth energy finally ended! Thinking that he didn’t have to endure the pain of the earth energy being drawn out, he felt very good!

He suddenly thought about the scene in the sea of consciousness. Was it connected? He remembered that Pu Yao’s face had been very terrible then.

Then he noticed a rare hint of hesitation in Pu Yao’s voice. Zuo Mo did not speak, waiting for Pu Yao’s next words. Unexpectedly, Pu Yao did not immediately speak, but remained silent for a long time.

Just as Zuo Mo almost couldn’t bear it, Pu Yao finally spoke, “Let’s do a business.”

“What business?” Zuo Mo’s guard rose up, the shock in his heart growing stronger. Pu Yao’s voice was full of sternness. The more Pu Yao acted out of the ordinary, the more careful he was. He needed to be careful every time he talked business with Pu Yao.

“Help me analyze mo matrixes.” Pu Yao’s tone was light.

“Mo matrixes?”

“Yes,” Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo, “I have a use for them.”

“What mo matrixes?” Zuo Mo asked in puzzlement.

Pu Yao thought and then said, “Higher level mo matrixes, I’ll provide you with specimens.”

This was too general. Zuo Mo warily shook his head. “You understand mo matrixes better than I do, I can’t help you.”

Even the mo matrix on his body had been carved by Pu Yao. In terms of understanding of mo matrixes, Zuo Mo thought that he couldn’t compare to Pu Yao. Zuo Mo found it strange that Pu Yao had turned and asked him to analyze mo matrixes.

Pu Yao was not angry. Glancing at Zuo Mo, he said, “You are not wrong, but this only shows that I’ve lived longer than you. Even though I do not want to admit it, but you are the most talented person I’ve seen with formations. Right now, you cannot overcome me, but you have the potential, this is heaven given talent.”

Seeing Zuo Mo keeping his silence, Pu Yao continued, “I am not in a rush. I have enough patience. This can only be good for you. I can supply countless types of mo matrixes. What you have to do is very simple, just study them. [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix] is one of the lowest mo matrixes. The effects of those high level mo matrixes are not things you can imagine.”

Zuo Mo’s heart moved. Pu yao had not lied about this. Of the three formations he had gained from the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix], all of them were very useful, but were not high grade. Take for example the body tempering formation. No matter how strong the ling energy was, the effect of its tempering would have a limit.

If he could receive even higher level mo matrixes, he could find even higher grade formations that were more complete. Even more importantly, the process of analysis was a cultivation progress, and he could increase his understanding of formations.

Pu Yao had not finished his pitch. He understood Zuo Mo’s personality. To get this guy to agree to something, it was not hard. He only needed to give something that the other could not refuse!

That was what he was doing now.

“No matter if it is xiuzhe, or yaomo, I know at least a bit about all kinds of cultivation methods. I can guide you in your cultivation. Your cultivation is not pure. Ling power, spiritual power, body, you cultivate all of it. If you receive accurate guidance, you might be a miracle. However, if you keep going like this, it would only become more heterogeneous, and in the end, you will achieve nothing.”

Zuo Mo knew that Pu Yao’s words were not empty threats. Truthfully, he himself had already felt that his strength was too heterogeneous, yet he lacked true understanding of each kind of power.

“Or maybe I can help you solve the secret in your body.”

The last bomb that Pu Yao lightly threw down was like a bolt of lightning!

“Changing features and erasing the mind, not many yaomo use these. Only the cruelest of people would do such things.” He glanced at Zuo Mo. “Changing features and erasing the mind, it basically cannot be undone.”

Zuo Mo’s heart sunk. The temperature of the room was not low, but his body felt cold.

“Your body has something else.” Pu Yao’s words were shocking.

“What?” The words jumped out of Zuo Mo’s mouth.

“A very rare five element glass bead.” Pu Yao said, “Sealed inside it is another person’s power, or maybe something else. There may also be a clue.”

Pu Yao continued, “If there is no trace inside, then use Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass. It is very hard for memories to be completely erased. There would always be some fragments left. If you use Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass, you can find these pieces. I know of a place you can find Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass.”

Zuo Mo was silent.

Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo and knew he needed time to digest this, closed his mouth and patiently waited.

A long time later, Zuo Mo felt his mind start to move. Staring at Pu Yao, his voice was raspy as he asked Pu Yao, “How do you break the jinzhi on the five element glass bead?”

“You to reach jindan, or for me to recover my power.”

“How long would it take me to reach jindan?”

Pu Yao had a careful expression. “I cannot guarantee this.”

“Okay,” Unexpected to Pu Yao, Zuo Mo agreed.

Originally, he had wanted to ask Pu Yao why the other wanted him to analyze mo matrixes, but thinking about it, that didn’t have anything to do with him.

“It seems that we will be in business in the long term.” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil was a patch of peace, his gaze holding none of the underestimation and arrogance he held previously. The three formations Zuo Mo had discovered from the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix] had been an enormous blow to him. What had blown Pu Yao away wasn’t how exquisite the three formations were but Zuo Mo’s efficiency.

The time that Pu Yao had spent on pondering mo matrixes was longer than Zuo Mo’s lifetime, but he found that his pace was that of a turtle climbing compared to Zuo Mo. The astounding talent that Zuo Mo displayed in formations shocked him, and allowed him to see a thread of hope.

The effect of the Nether Pool was not as good as he had imagined. His situation was not good at the moment. Even more, he didn’t have many choices.

A series of factors forced him into a position of cooperation.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t know these reasons. He didn’t need to know. Just the “secret in your body” that Pu Yao had said was enough for him to agree to this transaction. This matter had always been an illness plaguing his heart. Zuo Mo was very practical, and he did not have high ambitions. He liked a peaceful life. Even if he knew that his consciousness had been erased, in the depths of his heart, he unconsciously did not hope for himself to enter a life of revenge. Adding on that he had no clues, this matter had been deeply buried inside his heart.

His hard work and labors were not for revenge, but to survive. This was his reality.

Yet no one could disregard their past, especially when he was told that there was a five element glass bead inside his body. His heart was instantly struck.

Who put it there? What connection did the person have to him?

He wanted to know!

———

Pu Yao was very satisfied with the transaction this time. He was very clear to Zuo Mo’s situation. To an expert who was able to massacre Gongsun Cha in the wargames, and having experienced the thousand year battle, Pu Yao’s line of thinking was more far-sighted than Zuo Mo.

What did Zuo Mo need most right now?

Strength!

The troop that Gongsun Cha had made could only be considered distant water, and distant water could not resolve nearby thirst.

The growth of strength had its necessary patterns. Pu Yao knew this, but he naturally had his own reasons to dare to say such worlds. What he was relying on was not anything other than Zuo Mo himself. Zuo Mo’s cultivation, due to different reasons, had been constantly suppressed by Pu Yao, and it was this suppression that caused him to be on the precipice of a boundary.

His own situation made Pu Yao realize he had to change his strategy.

“You are at the doorway of a breakthrough,” Pu Yao said straightforwardly, “Your body cultivation is in Mountain Physique. Even though it is only one mountain, it is one step away from an abhinna.”

“One mountain? Abhinna?” Zuo Mo became alert.

“The mountain physique is divided into three strata, one mountain is the first stratum. You have cultivated to mountain physique, absorbed earth energy, your body cultivation has truly made it into the gate. Now that you have reached mountain physique, you are not far from an abhinna.” Pu Yao said a little lie right there. Originally, Zuo Mo should have been able to achieve an abhinna a long time ago. However, he had deliberately stopped it, and so, even now, he still hadn’t formed an abhinna.

Pu Yao’s face didn’t blush as he said, “Abhinna is the term used by dhyana xiu. When cultivation of the body reaches a certain level, the self becomes enlightened, and the abhinna forms from the self. The abhinna is born of the self, and so everyone’s abhinna is naturally different.”

Zuo Mo didn’t really understand.

“Oh, dhyana likes talking so mystically. You can understand it like this. What is body cultivation? It is to forge the body as though it is a talisman. When it reaches a certain stage, some abilities would naturally form. Each person’s blood and flesh is different, so the abilities are varied.”

After Pu Yao’s explanation, Zuo Mo felt he understood much more. Talismans, and flying swords, after they were tempered for a long time, they would naturally become more powerful.

“I can form an abhinna?” Zuo Mo was slightly excited. He was very curious what his own abhinna was.

“Oh, pretty much,” Pu Yao muddled, “absorb more earth energy these next days. That stuff is very useful.”

In order not to have his lie seen through, he quickly changed the topic. “Other than an abhinna, there is something else that can dramatically increase your strength.”

As expected, Zuo Mo was guided by his words. He was slightly shocked. “What is it?”

He never knew that he had anything on his body that could greatly increase his strength.

“That five element glass bead,” Pu Yao said. “Five element glass beads are somewhat rare talismans, it can store ling power, and turn ling power into five element base source.”

“Turn ling power to five element base source?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. He was reminded of Lil’ Pagoda. Lil’ Pagoda was able to deconstruct talismans and materials into five element energy, but compared to five element base source, five element energy was the lesser variant. Five element energy could form marrow, forming five element marrow. The little gourds hanging on Lil’ Pagoda’s eaves were five element marrow. Five element base source was the finest and best part of five element marrow.

“Yes, five element base source is something very good. When you were injured last time, it was this bead that repaired your body. Five element base source is very easy to absorb, and suitable for body cultivation. I wonder who put it in, they were really extravagant,” Pu Yao said with a smile.

Strangely, Zuo Mo suddenly felt his heart move.

This movement was very suddenly. He suddenly had a feeling this five element glass bead was very important to him!

He could not say why he would have this feeling, but this feeling was strong, so strong to the point that he could not disregard it. He did not know who this five element glass bead belonged to, but the person who put this five element glass bead in him, it must be one of his closest people.

Was it his parents?

He raised his head, his tone decisive. “Don’t use it. Let’s cultivate an abhinna.”

Chapter 224: Pu Yao’s Teaching

Pu Yao said it easily, but an abhinna was not so easily formed. After being modified by earth energy, Zuo Mo’s body could contain more earth energy. Zuo Mo spent all of his time absorbing earth energy. When the earth energy entered his body, it would turn into hundreds of thin streams that spread throughout every part of Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo felt his strength was very full, and the mountain peak diagram on his palms were becoming increasingly clear.

According to Pu Yao, his body cultivation could be considered to have finally crossed the threshold. As he absorbed earth energy, Zuo Mo savored the difference between body and sword cultivation. Compared to those complex and profound sword scriptures, body cultivation was much easier. He only needed to continuously guide the earth energy to every part of his body and continuously temper it. Body cultivation was a test of his patience more than anything else.

Zuo Mo guided the earth energy into the blood and bones, which previously had had earth energy drawn out from before by Pu Yao. After multiple rounds of tempering, Zuo Mo was very familiar with his body, and it did not require any effort. There was some earth energy that could not be absorbed and swam between his blood and flesh. He was not rushed. Tempering was a labor of time, and it could not be hurried. The blood, bone, flesh, and tendons of his body seemed to breathe. When the amount of earth energy they absorbed reached a certain level, they would become full.

Zuo Mo’s knees slightly bent, his two palms were covered in a dark blue light. He continuously used his two palms to hit his body. With each blow his body would lightly shudder as though he was struck by electricity, becoming numb and itchy.

Each blow would cause much of the earth energy to shatter into smaller dust-sized particles. Pia pia pia, Zuo Mo continued for two hours before he stopped. The earth energies that he had taken in today were all absorbed in.

He stood up. His body, rather than being tired, was in unspeakable ecstasy. He knew that as long as he persisted, his body would become even harder and stronger, becoming as difficult to damage as a talisman.

He suddenly seemed to like body cultivation. The offensive strength of body cultivation and dhyana xiu could not compare to sword xiu, but tempering the body bit by bit continuously built his confidence. Every pore in his body felt stronger every day, and continuously made him even hardier.

Many dhyana xiu would not use a talisman in their entire lifetime because they would use all their time on tempering their own bodies. Their bodies were not the least bit lacking compared to strong talismans. The bodies of dhyana xiu after their death were the best for corpse forging, but no one dared to do so. Xiuzhe who had dared to do so had all been killed without exception by dhyana xiu.

“Mo is the best at body cultivation. The [Vajra Profound Sutra] that you cultivate might be low level, but it isn’t bad to use when building your foundation,” Pu Yao said coldly. Whenever he mentioned something related to the gravestone, he never had a good tone. “From the core, humans are not suited to body cultivation.”

“Because we do not have mo matrixes?” Zuo Mo reacted quickly.

“Exactly. With the mo matrix, the efficiency of body cultivation is multiplied. As for body cultivation, ling power is not the best choice. Ling power is most skilled in transformations. The Dhyana bunch were all people who didn’t have any sword scriptures at the time, and had no choice but to mimic the mo in body cultivation, and only achieved half the effectiveness.”

Pu Yao was full of scorn in his words about the dhyana xiu. He continued icily, “Mo understand body cultivation, but there is a world of difference there. Those slightly better body cultivation mo arts all have strict inheritance rules. Hmph, hmph, the inheritance of yaomo is much stricter than xiuzhe.”

“How do yaomo inherit?” Zuo Mo was full of interest and asked in curiosity.

“The best inheritances in the mo jies are mostly in the hands of mo above the level of general. They are warlords, ruling over large numbers of lower level mo in their territories. In any of the mo jie, inheritances represent strength. In order to learn an inheritance, one has to continuously give their loyalty to their master. In the future, if you encounter a mo army, you have to be careful.”

“Why? Are they even stronger than the yao army?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. In his experience, the yao army he had seen that day was so strong that he didn’t even any thoughts of resisting.

“The yao army obeys commands as one, but in terms of obedience, no army can compare to the mo armies. The military laws of the mo armies are so strict that no one is above them. Any mo general will have hundreds of subordinates that are willing to die for him. Brave, not afraid of death, and fanatical obedience. As long as the mo general is not too dumb, any troop would have a headache when faced against them.”

“They aren’t afraid of death?” Zuo Mo didn’t understand. He found it hard to comprehend this kind of loyalty. It was not that he did not believe in this kind of loyalty, but he felt that this kind of loyalty would only appear on a few select people. If a whole troop was not afraid of death, then it was too scary!

“Because of mo skill inheritances. Any kind of high level mo skill inheritances will have its own unique intelligence awakening technique that can bestow thought. What you people might say is that mo are born from intelligence beasts. In reality, to be able to be called mo, there is one condition, that their intelligence has been awakened. Behind every mo is their clan. But to become mo, their intelligence must be awakened. Only beasts that have their intelligence awakened can cultivate mo skills. If they die, their clan would benefit, and will receive more opportunities to awaken the intelligences of more mo. These are the rules that any mo general in any mo jie would abide by.”

“Why don’t people awaken some more?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Awakening a mo intelligence comes at a price,” Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo, and said, “There are those that are naturally born intelligent, but the number is very low. Those mo are very talented in cultivation.”

“But then, doesn’t it mean that they forever have to be subordinates?”

“They aren’t stupid.” Pu Yao smiled icily and said, “Joining the army, there is a chance to receive low level mo skill inheritances. The military achievements they accumulate can be used to trade for better inheritances. Even though it cannot be the top mo skills, but the inheritances they receive can be given to their clan members. If they can comprehend the technique to awaken the intelligence on their own, their clan will start to walk on the road to prosperity. As though whether the clan can become a Family, it depends on their fortune.”

“How do yao have inheritances?” Zuo Mo was even more curious.

“The clans of yao are even more complex than that of xiuzhe and mo. Over there, it is very easy to learn low level knowledge.” Pu Yao had a reminiscent expression. “Our reproduction is not as difficult as the mo. Newborn yao would be educated in their clans. When they reach a certain age, they will all be arranged to enter a yao art house, and learn higher level yao arts there. The best that graduate from the yao art houses would have chances to follow more powerful yao and learn even higher level yao arts.”

Zuo Mo gaped as he listened. He had always assumed that the world of yaomo was full of chaos and killing. But listening to Pu Yao, it seemed that they were even more peaceful than the xiuzhe jie.

Seemingly having guessed Zuo Mo’s thoughts, Pu Yao smiled coldly. “Don’t think of it as so beautiful. Machinations in the shadows are never lacking anywhere you go.” When he got to there, Pu Yao seemed to have thought of some displeasing matter, his face slightly ugly.

Zuo Mo twisted his mouth. Pu Yao was too ungenerous. It had been thousands of years, but this guy was still holding a grudge. In the future, he could not offend the other. The guy really held grudges.

Pu Yao’s introduction completely changed Zuo Mo’s impression of yaomo.

“Your strength is not powerful, and you’ve learned many things. Even though it is a bit chaotic, but it’s not as though there are no benefits.”

Pu Yao continued, “The [Vajra Profound Sutra] it gave you is rough, but it’s truly a mo skill. As for ling power, no matter if it is spells or manipulation, or control, you are not less than any other xiuzhe. There’s nothing that needs to be said about spiritual power. Star spiritual cultivation, Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands, they are all the best of yao arts.”

“Also, you are skilled in formations. This is especially important,” Pu Yao discussed like one learned in many areas of knowledge, “No matter if it is xiu spells, yao arts, or mo skills, at the core their essence is the laws of the world. If you do not understand formations and practice all three kinds, you will end up with a terrible mixture. Three kinds of power, they have changed and transformed over the long months and years, and now walk on different paths. However, formations are something that can connect all three together.”

When he got to there, Pu Yao became careful. “I do not know what you will become in the future because there has never been a precedent. The formations of xiuzhe were the first to develop and the most complete, but xiuzhe do not know much of yaomo so I’ve never heard of anyone having a breakthrough in this area.”

“Why?” Zuo Mo found it very strange that xiuzhe would disregard this. They had fought against yaomo for so many years, but why would xiuzhe still know so little about yaomo?

Pu Yao wanted to rolled his eyes and mock Zuo Mo for his ignorance about history, but upon further thought, he managed to resist it, and patiently explained, “Jingshi and talismans are more effective. As long as there are enough materials, the strength of a xiuzhe would quickly grow. No matter if it is a mo skill or a yao art, even though it can be aided by external forces, but they’re very limited and far slower than using jingshi and talismans. Also, mo skills and yao arts are not suited for ling power. The more they are practiced, the more heterogeneous it becomes. Why are sword xiu strong? Because they only cultivate ling power, only cultivate the sword. They only need more jingshi, better materials, stronger talismans and flying swords! In reality, the path of xiuzhe is to steal, increasingly professional theft.”

Zuo Mo didn’t know how to reply. Upon further thought, while he felt that Pu Yao’s words were slightly ugly, but they held some truth.

“However,” Pu Yao’s tone turned and became full of scorn as he said, “by taking advantage of outside sources in the long term, they comprehend less. Even though I do not know what the situation is like at present, but if I have not guessed incorrectly, the true experts of the xiuzhe are probably fewer in number than thousands of years ago. Ha ha!”

Tilting his head, Zuo Mo didn’t know. Sky Moon Jie was a small place, he didn’t know anything about the outside world. He unconcernedly shrugged his shoulders. “Never mind them, let’s first take care of ourselves.”

Pu Yao snickered and didn’t speak.

After Pu Yao’s guidance, Zuo Mo felt his own thoughts were clear and distinct. He had a general understanding of his future cultivation. Ling power, body, and consciousness, they represented the three separate areas of xiu spells, mo skills, and yao arts. The three were connected together by a single bridge, formations.

His confidence had increased from when he had analyzed and identified the three formations from the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix].

At this time, he suddenly found some points that he had disregarded before. For example, the growth of his consciousness was enormously beneficial for control of ling power. Didn’t his own fine control of ling power come from his spiritual power, which was far above those of the same cultivation as him?

He suddenly had a feeling that his own ling power would most likely change after his body cultivation improved.

He couldn’t help but be full of anticipation!

Chapter 225: Breakthrough In Body Cultivation

Before Zuo Mo had formed his abinna, Gongsun Cha had already taken Stone Door Beach. The high efficiency made Zuo Mo gape in awe.

The losses this time were smaller than the previous, and the xiuzhe captured were more numerous than last time as well.

Included in this group was the head of the group, Xie Shan. When he saw the Three Section Wave Killing Charge that Gongsun Cha had formed, he understood that the strength of the two sides were not on the same level. Even though there was not a large difference in terms of numbers, his rationality urged him to choose surrender.

After he had surrendered and learned that the other had attacked them just for the Rotten Metal Silver mine of Stone Door Beach, he was so depressed he almost spat blood. If he knew beforehand, he wouldn’t have hesitated in giving it to them. In the present Little Mountain Jie, who wanted a mine?

If there were no puppets or xiu slaves, the cost to mining could not be imagined. Xie Shan could not understand, no matter how hard he thought why this group of people would want the mine. However, while he could not understand the other side’s intentions, he could clearly see the difference in power.

The xiuzhe that had survived until now all had keen eyes, and a person that could lead a group couldn’t just rely on his ningmai third stratum cultivation. Xie Shan naturally had his own unique characteristics. He could see that the group was well trained, not a group of wandering and loose soldiers, and definitely had a deep background.

However, when he was told that jinzhi was going to be put into him, he was dumbstruck. When he saw Zuo Mo, he was dumbstruck again.

A guy of ningmai first stratum … …

Zuo Mo was well-versed in how to set down jinzhi. It only took a little while for jinzhi to be put into the bodies of this group of people. Naturally, jinzhi were not infallible. If someone’s cultivation reached jindan, the jinzhi would become ineffective.

In this group, the one with the highest hope of becoming jindan was Xie Shan. However, it was just a possibility. The difficulty of breaking into jindan was much higher than entering ningmai. After entering ningmai, ling power would start a constant increase. Reaching the level of third stratum was mostly dependent on an accumulation of ling power, but to breakthrough from ningmai to jindan, it also required comprehension.

Zuo Mo did not worry in the slightest. Of course, the most important reason was that worrying was useless.

The new camp was set at Stone Door Beach. Chun Yu Cheng’s beast pool was also moved over. When the three Golden Armor Guards appeared in Xie Shan’s vision, Xie Shan finally accepted his fate. The cultivation of the Golden Armor Guards did not seem as high as his, but the aura of danger that surrounded their entire body made his heart shudder. When he saw the date seed ship, the last bit of resistance in his mind dissipated.

Not anyone could possess a jingshi talisman.

In this period of time, other than body cultivation, Zuo Mo had done something else. He had carved the three formations from the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix] onto the three Golden Armor Guards. With these three formations, the Golden Armor Guards would continuously absorb ling power, and then temper their bodies. Even though Pu Yao had not explicitly stated the origins of the Golden Armor Guards, but Zuo Mo had guessed it. After he had asked Pu Yao, he was informed that the reason these three Golden Armor Guards were so strong was due to having used such quality materials such as ancient dragon bone and Nether water.

It was not possible to buy ancient dragon bone when one wanted too, and all of the Nether water had been used up in the previous matter. It was temporarily impossible to make new Golden Armor Guards. Zuo Mo tried to think of ways to increase the strength of the Golden Armor Guards. Even more, where else could he find such good experiment subjects like the Golden Armor Guards? Zuo Mo didn’t need to worry at all about making a mistake when he carved the formations.

In Zuo Mo’s view, the reason that the Golden Armor Guards could not increase in strength was that they could not keep cultivating like xiuzhe could. There were no real differences between Golden Armor Guards and the puppets, they both manipulated the power they already possessed. The three formations that he carved onto the Golden Armor Guards could continuously temper their bodies. With the continuous influx of ling power, theoretically, there was a possibility that the three Golden Armor Guards could improve.

This was only a theoretical speculation.

After moving to Stone Door Beach, the most important matter was to make Black Processing Meditation mats. Zuo Mo made one hundred paper puppets and threw them into the mining pit. The mine already showed signs of excavation. Rotten Metal Silver was not a valuable material, and was easy to sell. To any sect, this mine was a steady source of income.

Lil’ Pagoda was set in command of using the paper puppets to mine. The difficulty of mining the ore was extremely low at this location which was why paper puppets could be used. If it was a much more complex and dangerous mine, it would require higher level puppets.

Quickly, Rotten Metal Silver ore was continuously delivered to Zuo Mo’s hands. Zuo Mo used the Golden Crow Fire to process the ore. Rotten Metal Silver was extremely malleable and had a metallic sheen. It would naturally form with unique holes that made it look like rotten pieces of metal.

With the Rotten Metal Silver, Zuo Mo immediately made large quantities of the Black Processing Meditation mats. When the people under him personally experienced the benefits of the Black Processing Meditation mats, everyone held their mats with a death grip, afraid someone would steal it. Everyone understood what this Black Processing Meditation mat meant. As long as they had a Black Processing Meditation mat, they did not have to fight anymore with other people for ling grains, and did not have to worry that their cultivation would collapse one day due to lack of ling grains and die.

The enthusiasm of the troop towards training suddenly increased. With the Black Processing Meditation mat, they could cultivate like they did before to increase their cultivation. For any cultivator, there was nothing that could move them more than this fact.

In such a harsh environment, without any pressure from Gongsun Cha, everyone trained with their life. The Black Processing Meditation mat allowed them to see the hope of leveling up. They were also completely won over by Gongsun Cha’s battle tactics after two battles.

No one wanted to die. Able to see hope, anyone was willing to put in their all.

———

Earth energy continuously moved from the ground into Zuo Mo’s body. The infection of the ling veins did not cause the earth energy to also thin, but instead had made the earth energy even more dense, and full of vitality. This kind of transformation was unexpected to Zuo Mo. However, he understood after thinking it over.Now that ling energy was decreasing, Little Mountain Jie was developing in the direction of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. This kind of environment was much more suited to yaomo.

The increase in earth energy most likely was only one of reasons. Denser earth energy was more suited to mo to cultivate their bodies.

Zuo Mo’s body had been continuously tempered and washed by the earth energy. In the last few days, he had gone over every part of his body, not even missing his hair and nails. Nurtured by earth energy, he did not look as thin and weak as he had previously. His figure became much broader, his he could feel the enormous strength contained in his body as he moved.

This was purely the strength of his body of flesh. He had tried with the flying sword. If he did not use ling power, the flying sword was unable to slice open his skin. Not just so, his bones and flesh were also tempered. Without using ling power, he could easily punch granite to pieces.

He didn’t even exclude the skin on his face. Pu Yao had suggested that he did not temper his face, because it would increase the difficulty of regaining his original features. However, Zuo Mo still persisted in tempering his face. In the present situation, the first priority was surviving before anything else.

Zuo Mo could feel that every muscle and bone in his body had reached the limit that he could reach at the moment.

He instantly understood that he was on the cusp of a breakthrough.

He calmed down his mind, slowly absorbing earth energy. His body was extremely well adjusted to earth energy. Earth energy could easily pass through every part of his body. He felt the pleasure from his bones and flesh soaking in the earth energy, the earth energy flowing past his blood and flesh, making the blood and flesh tremble, and produce a tingly and itchy feeling.

The tingly and itchy feeling increased like there was countless ants climbing in his body. Zuo Mo forced himself to not move. He tried to relax his body to absorb earth energy. His consciousness slowly sank into his body.

His consciousness was much purer than previously. The size of the leaf hand had not changed, but the leaf hand was much denser than before. At the center of the palm of the leaf hand, some patterns had appeared that looked like the lines of a human palm.

Every tiny change of his body, under his consciousness, became clear like they never had been before.

The earth energy became increasingly dense, the amount of earth energy in Zuo Mo’s body reaching an astonishing level. Even the channels which were full of ling power felt the pressure from the earth energy. However, the ling power in the channels would not so easily retreat. Seeing the earth energy and ling power about to conflict inside his body, Zuo Mo’s heart rose.

He hadn’t expected the earth energy to leave the channels of their own initiative. The attention of the earth energy went back to his blood, bones, and flesh.

The plentiful earth energy started to slowly charge at Zuo Mo’s blood, flesh, tendons and bones. Zuo Mo uncontrollably started to tremble. If the charge before had been like the itch of ants, then it was like there was a saw slowly sawing his body.

He didn’t dare to move. He knew that this was the earth energy helping him reconstruct his body. If he could endure this moment of enormous pain, the benefits he would receive would be incomparable!

Under the charge of earth energy, each muscle in his body slowly moved. The slightly slack muscles became even tighter and firm, and the connections of the muscles, under the stimulation of the earth energy, started to furiously grow. It was like the root of a tree that continuously grew and burrowed deep into the ground.

Growth, what it changed wasn’t just his muscles, even his bones were continuously compressed. The bones became even thinner, but they were multiple times stronger.

Zuo Mo shook like dice, the enormous pain causing his eyes to redden but he did not make a sound.

The earth energy moved and occupied his eyes. His vision became a blur, unable to see anything distinctly.

These days, after Pu Yao’s teachings, he had a much deeper understanding about body cultivation. He knew the long that he resisted, the more benefits he would get.

The pain rolled like waves. His body was soaked in sweat, a puddle at his feet. He didn’t know how long it had been, his mind was blank.

There seemed to be a voice far away talking to him.

But his mind was unmoving. He didn’t heart one word. That voice, it seemed to sound somewhat like the voice that appeared in his dreams.

After an unknown period of time, his wandering and uncomprehending mind slowly recovered.

The scene in front of him slowly became clear.

The bone-aching pain had disappeared like the pain just now had never existed. His body felt as though it was soaking in hot water, the pleasure coming from the deepest part of his body making Zuo Mo want to groan.

But the sweat all over his body told him that the hell like pain had not been a delusion.

Zuo Mo suppressed the urge to sink back into the pleasure, instinctively raising his palm.

When he saw his palm, he was dumbstruck.

Chapter 226: The Stage Of Two Mountains

The previous withered palm seemed somewhat like metal now, with a barely perceptible layer of faint gold. Several golden lines were especially visible on his palm. Another mountain peak had appeared beside the mountain peak at the center of his palm.

“Two Mountains?” Pu Yao suddenly came out, slightly shocked as he looked at the two connected mountain peaks on Zuo Mo’s palm.

Zuo Mo was also very shocked. He had thought that he would form an abhinna this time, and had not expected that he would break through to two mountains.

“This is the stage of two mountains?” Zuo Mo asked with slight curiosity. He continuously opened and closed his hand, feeling the great strength passing from his palm.

Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo like he was looking at a weirdo. He could not understand how Zuo Mo had reached two mountains so quickly. He had never thought that this was his “achievement.” It was due to him continuously drawing earth energy from Zuo Mo’s body, causing Zuo Mo’s body to have been tempered multiple times that Zuo Mo had been prepped ready.

Zuo Mo seemed to know the cause, but thinking that Pu Yao and the gravestone seemed to be at odds, he decided to muddle over it, changing the topic. “What is the benefit of the two mountain stage?”

His body which had become robust looking had become thin once again . However, each muscle in his body had become stronger and firmer, hard as metal. His strength had multiplied.

He gently stomped his feet. Poof, his right foot seemed to have stepped into tofu, sinking to his calf. He pulled out his foot, and saw the edges of the hole were very clean, like it was carved out using a mold.

“The mountain represent strength. The stage of two mountains represent that you can use two mountains of strength at maximum.” Pu Yao thought for a while and hadn’t managed to find an explanation so he threw the problem to one side. He was gradually adjusting to Zuo Mo occasionally surprising him.

“How strong is one mountain of power? Is it to be able to move a mountain? Is that possible?” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly.

Pu Yao’s face was one of disdain. “How is that strange? If a mo skill is at a significant level, moving mountains or flipping oceans is not anything. That Dong Fu Town of yours, wasn’t it a town built by a sword xiu lopping off a mountain peak with one blow?”

“That’s true, but I feel that I don’t have such great strength” Zuo Mo argued as he looked at the his palm.

“How long have you cultivated? You want to move mountains and flip oceans?” Pu Yao’s face was full of scorn. “When xiuzhe cultivate ling power, don’t they need to also coordinate with sword scriptures and spells? Mo are the same. Other than body cultivation, mo skills also teach you how to use the strength of the body.”

He paused and then said, “The thinking of mo is very strange. They feel that their body is the most primal source of all their strength, but also feel the body is a cage. You may have reached the stage of two mountains, but in reality, even if you familiarize yourself with mo skills, you cannot use all of your power. Even if your technique is there, your body would first be destroyed.”

“So it’s like that.” Zuo Mo instantly realized. Pu Yao’s words were very reasonable. Suddenly thinking of his goal for this time, he hurriedly asked, “Then have I formed my abhinna?”

“Check, is there a place that is abnormal?” Pu Yao helplessly reminded. It really was hard work to teach a newbie.

“Abnormal?” Zuo Mo hurriedly calmed him mind and took a inner look at his body. He quickly found the abnormality that Pu Yao was speaking off. This abnormality was at his eyes, and not any other place of his body.

His eyes looked into the surroundings. The thick earth energy seemed to have been attracted by an invisible strength, and tightly wrapped around his eyes.

This was … …

He didn’t dare to move rashly, using his consciousness to carefully examine the two balls of earth energy. What reassured him slightly was that his eyes did not feel any discomfort, but no matter how he worked, he could not affect the two balls of earth energy.

After trying many times, he helplessly came out of his inner perspective.

“Did you find it?” Pu Yao asked with curiosity.

“En, it’s the eyes,” Zuo Mo was slightly dejected, “I tried, but didn’t know how to use them, and don’t know what they are used for.”

“Eyes,” Pu Yao said, “your luck isn’t bad. There are many abhinna regarding the eyes, and those are somewhat useful. An abhinna cannot be taught, the abhinna that each person forms is different. You have to slowly experiment, and make your own conclusions. As to not able to use them, don’t worry. Many abhinna cannot be used when they first form. They need to slowly form, and stabilize before they can be used. Your abhinna may belong to this kind.”

Zuo Mo wasn’t depressed. He was very satisfied already with reaching two mountains.

Pu Yao said in a deep voice, “Don’t worry about the abhinna. It is not easy to find mo skills, but don’t you have a dhyana xiu under your command? You are able to use the fist scripture that he has. In terms of yao arts, [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] and the [Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands] are enough for you. The worst you have right now is scriptures for ling power. [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] in the end is still for cultivating the spirit. We need to find you a scripture.”

Zuo Mo was shocked at his favor. When was Pu Yao ever so concerned with him?

Pu Yao sunk into thought as though Zuo Mo did not exist.

Seeing the situation, he perceptively went about his own business. However, he clearly noted down Pu Yao’s words.

———

Zong Ru could not be anything but puzzled when he heard the boss had called him. Truthfully, even if he was the only dhyana xiu in the group, he did not have many outstanding qualities. His strength could only be considered intermediate. The only aspect he was good in was probably defense. In this group of sword xiu who didn’t seem to know what defense even was, as a dhyana xiu, his defense was like the crane among the chicken flock.

His personality was very steady so even though he was shocked, he was still composed. When he saw Zuo Mo, he respectfully bowed. “Boss.”

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but praise him inside. In terms of mentality, sword xiu could not catch up to dhyana xiu. The dhyana xiu emphasized mental strength and their Samadhi. Things like illusory formations were less effective against them.

Incredibly awkward but “Buddhist meditation” or Samadhi is a different concept than the “mediation” that has been seen previously. Of course, stuff becomes weird here because mediation is a Buddhist practice that became inspiration for cultivation novels, so all cultivators are “Buddhist” from a certain viewpoint.

Zuo Mo didn’t mince words, straightforwardly saying, “I want your [Sky Wave Fist Scripture], give me a price.”

Zong Ru shook his head. “[Sky Wave Fist Scripture] isn’t a profound scripture. If Boss wants it, please go ahead.”

Zuo Mo waved his hand. “This belongs to you. If I want it, I will either buy it or trade for it. Relationships and business are not mixed together.”

Seeing that Zuo Mo did not seem to be pretending, Zong Ru was truly shocked this time. He had followed many people before, and was used to seeing those above demand talismans and scriptures from their subordinates. Hearing Boss’s astounding conclusion, the shock he was experiencing could be imagined.

However, Zong Ru was still wary. “All up to Boss.”

Seeing Zong Ru’s caution, Zuo Mo felt slightly helpless. He wasn’t pretending with his words. In the sect, the sect could not unreasonably take the possessions of the disciples. If they wanted something, they needed to pay a corresponding price. That was also his attitude.

He thought and then said, “You can pick a talisman of the same grade as [Sky Wave Fist Scripture], or … …” he suddenly had an idea, “trade for three formations.”

“Three formations?” Zong Ru was puzzled.

“I can carve three formations on your body. One is a ling gathering formation, one is a body tempering formation, one is a ling processing formation,” Zuo Mo explained. “The ling gathering formation can constantly help you absorb the ling energy in the surroundings, the ling processing formation is similar to the Black Processing Meditation mat, and can filter out the impurities in the ling energy. The body tempering formation can use ling power to temper your body. You are a dhyana xiu, these three formations are very suitable for you.”

The usually composed Zong Ru couldn’t help but have an expression of disbelief as he unconsciously gasped, “This … … this is not possible!”

This was not possible!

Zong Ru had walked many places, and had a wide range of knowledge. He had never heard of any formations that could be carved onto a person’s body. These three formations … … if they were truly as Boss had described, then was there a need to cultivate at all?

Zuo Mo did not argue. “You can pick two talismans.”

Zong Ru’s expression changed, his heart conflicted. His reason told him what Boss said was impossible! However, he could easily tell that Boss had not lied! If it was truly as Boss had said, this was a chance that came one in a thousand times!

Suddenly, he laughed. What did he have to be afraid of losing?

Zuo Mo saw Zong Ru’s expression return to normal and knew that Zong Ru had made his decision.

Zong Ru raised his head, and said with determination, “I choose the three formations!”

———

In a mountain valley about three hundred li from Stone Door Beach.

“Boss, Xie Shan of Stone Door Beach was taken in by someone else.” A xiuzhe reported.

“What are their origins?” A xiuzhe with crimson red hair furrowed his brow. He was called Venerable Chi. He had more than one hundred and fifty subordinates, and was one of the major powers in this area.

“Haven’t found out yet,” This xiuzhe said with slightly terror. Seeing the anger on Venerable Chi’s face increase, he hurriedly explained, “We don’t know where this bunch of people came out off. There aren’t many, but they aren’t weak. When they were taking down Xie Shan, there were only a few dozen people.”

“A few dozen?” Venerable Chi’s expression changed. “Xie Shan should also have about sixty something people, and isn’t Xie Shan ningmai third stratum?”

Ningmai third stratum definitely was first rate experts in Little Mountain Jie. In battle, the effect of an expert like Xie Shan was enormous, he could take on seven or eight people by himself.

This xiuzhe raised his head to look at his leader seeing the anger on Leader’s face decrease, his heart relaxed slightly. “The battle finished very quickly, and did not leave traces.”

“Does this group have some powerful talisman?” Venerable Chi pondered. He was clear about Xie Shan’s strength. He had wanted to conquer Xie Shan a long time ago, but he had not acted due to his fear of Xie Shan’s strength. He had more than one hundred and fifty people under his command, but not one was ningmai third stratum. Suddenly hearing that Xie Shan had been defeated, he naturally became wary.

Did the group also have ningmai third stratum experts?

If it was like that, then it was terrible! Adding on Xie Shan, it meant the other side had at least two ningmai third stratum. The other possibility was the group had a powerful talisman so terrifying that even Xie Shan had to surrender.

No matter which possibility it was, it was not good news to him.

If it was possible, he wanted to immediately take his group and leave behind this place. With the power he had, there were not many that dared to target him.

However, when he thought about the things inside the cave, he gave up on the thought of escaping.

That thing was really too important to him!

Venerable Chi was not a person that did not have brains. He was very clear that once the group had digested Xie Shan’s power, their own strength would quickly increase. The next target would definitely be them.

After thinking for a while, he raised his head, and said in a deep voice, “Call the Three Kong Brothers over.”

Chapter 227: Internal Orders

Zuo Mo did not immediately start practicing [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] that he had gotten from Zong Ru. Instead he decided to organize his thoughts first.

Just as Pu Yao had said, he knew a variety of things, but upon further inspection of these areas, the ones that were powerful were pitifully few.

Presently, the most powerful item in his arsenal was the yin fire bead. It was extremely damaging as a frontal attack. However, since yin fiend grounds were hard to find at the moment, he could not create yin beads. So yin fire beads were a limited resource. Also, if the enemy was on their guard, the effectiveness of the yin fire bead was not high.

There was also the five essence sword set. Even though he did not have the scriptures to progress further with it, the little sword formation originated from the sword essence formation and was still astoundingly powerful among the ningmai xiuzhe. However, it had not been tested in battle before, and Zuo Mo did not know just how powerful it was. What the five essence sword set used was a sword formation. From this perspective, it was more like a formation disk that was forged from five flying swords.

Over time, he had also managed to get five moves of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] from Pu Yao. [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] had many variations and was hard to predict. He could only barely manage to cast the five moves, and was still far from being smooth and familiar with them. What [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] manipulated was the ling energy of the world. It had many requirements for the environment and was not easy to cast. But once it could be successfully cast, it would be immensely powerful.

After practicing [Sky Wave Fist Scripture], he would have another move. However, Pu Yao had also said that [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was not some powerful fist scripture, and the power should not be very shocking.

Thinking about it that way, Zuo Mo felt that overall his moves were lackluster. In terms of talismans, Lil’ Pagoda was a soul-tethered talisman, but it was more skilled in controlling formations. While the other talismans that he possessed were valuable, but he did not have talismans that were at the very top of the grade.

No matter the grade, the finest talismans of the grade would have their own special characteristics.

A strong feeling of danger arose.

Zuo Mo had already decided to use gang fighting against the jindan expert of Clear Sky Sect, but that did not mean that he did not need the power to protect himself. At the very least, he had to guarantee that he could survive the upcoming gang fight.

The best place to cultivate was in the camp. Zuo Mo decided to move to the camp.

———

Having Boss personally come to the camp instantly made everyone alert; they did not dare slack off. Their eyes occasionally floated in the direction of Boss. No matter if it was an old-timer or one of the new members, they all knew one thing, Boss had many good things in his possession!

The first person to benefit had been Ma Fan. A fifth-grade movement method, many people had stared at it with red eyes. These days, they personally saw Ma Fan practicing the fifth-grade movement method that he had received. The dazzling images that had been produced before could not even be perceived now. He was like a wraith, suddenly appearing and disappearing. Every xiuzhe who saw this scene had uncontrollably inhaled sharply. When they thought of Ma Fan’s untraceable and powerful [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction], together with this silent and untraceable movement method, they knew he was able to kill any of them without a trace.

Lil’ Miss had also given Ma Fan a beast service card. No one dared to underestimate the grey and non-descript butterfly.

While Ma Fan made everyone jealous, they had nothing to say. Ma Fan’s power was obvious. His cultivation was not as high as Xie Shan, but his effect during battles was not something Xie Shan could compare to. Even Xie Shan would admit it. What was more, the numbers of enemy killed were written in bright red cinnabar and his score not something anyone could hope to match.

But Zong Ru’s encounter had gotten many people thinking.

Zong Ru was a docile person and could not defend against the probing of these people and had completely admitted to everything. Boss had insisted in trading, and this reassured them all. What dissatisfaction could they have in following such a boss? However, a few days after the inquiry, Zong Ru’s furious improvement shocked his team members, Nian Lu and Lei Peng,

Lil’ Miss also discovered Zong Ru’s present situation, and instantly took him out to cultivate on his own.

Eventually everyone had found out that Zong Ru had three formations carved onto his body which had lead to such miraculous effects! Instantly, everyone’s heart moved. Fifth-grade movement method was a reward based on service, and there was no chance to change this. But these three formations were something that Zong Ru had used a fist scripture to trade for.

In other words, these formations could be traded for!

These experienced old-timers, how could they not understand this?

Boss had also came to cultivate at the base. With such a good chance, how could they let it slip past their fingertips?

The first one to try was Lei Peng. He had been stimulated the most after practicing with Zong Ru everyday. This guy seemed like a rough man, but in reality, his mind was extremely attentive. He even had managed to get the effects of the three formations out of Zong Ru.

The use of the body cultivation formation was not large for him, but he drooled at the other two formations. This guy was extremely daring, and took advantage of a chance to rest to approach Zuo Mo. This rough man used an extremely ingratiating tone to say, “Boss, can an ask you for something?”

Zuo Mo looked with slight surprise at Lei Peng. “What is it?”

“An also wants three formations carved on the body.” Hearing Boss make a sound of surprise, his heart jumped and he hurriedly said, “An is willing to use [Abyss Ghost Sabre Scripture] to trade.”

Zuo Mo instantly understood.

Was there any reason to refuse business that came up to the door? Even more, he was still very unfamiliar with carving formations onto the body. It was rare that there was an experimental subject that came up to him. Zuo Mo’s heart rejoiced.

Zuo Mo made a sound and pretended to think. “Carving the formations is not so simple. There is a risk.”

Lei Peng had already mentally prepared for this point. There was no free lunch in the world. How could there not be any risk in such a speedy and simple method? However, he asked cautiously, “Would it harm the cultivation?”

“No, but it will leave behind scars if it fails. Because it uses a special ling liquid, even scar removing dan may be unable to remove it.”

Lei Peng instantly released and breath and chuckled. “An’s a man, so an doesn’t need to be so pretty.” The failure of the carving would just be a scar. Which guy that lived off a bloody blade to survive would care about that?

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo said expressionlessly, “I don’t need a sabre scripture. If you want to trade, you have to use something else.” He had already learned a variety of things, he didn’t plan on adding a sabre scripture to the mix.

Lei Peng instantly panicked and flung open the hundred treasure pouch on his waist and emptied it. “Boss, take what you want, an will trade!”

Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes and swept across the objects. Suddenly, his gaze slightly froze. He picked out a fist sized jade rock from a pile of knick-knacks and said, “This one.”

“Okay!” Lei Peng was overjoyed. What he was most worried about at the moment was that he didn’t have anything that Boss wanted. He seemed to be afraid that Boss would regret his decision, and he hurriedly packed away everything else.

“Come with me.” Zuo Mo stood, and after an exchange with Gongsun Cha, he left with Lei Peng.

———

When Lei Peng joyfully returned in the evening, the camp instantly exploded. When Lei Peng bared his upper body and showed off the three formations that had just been carved, other people drooled.

With an example of success, the crowds started to move.

Who didn’t have something good on their bodies? Materials, talismans, jade scrolls. Boss traded for everything. Boss was even willing to take some talisman remnants. Also, Boss never demanded an outrageous price. He would only pick one item each time.

Many times, everyone felt that Boss was a businessman full of professionalism!

Almost all the xiuzhe decided to carve the formations. Zuo Mo’s waiting line had already formed a twenty day backlog. He felt he would be driven insane by what he was gaining this time!

After taking down Xie Shan, he had one hundred and ten people under his command. Other than Zong Ru and Lei Peng, everyone else had queued up for getting formations carved. What was more practical and valuable as increasing one’s strength?

None of them were beginners. Everyone understood the value of these three formations. Even if Zuo Mo’s condition had been more stringent, the great majority would still have chosen to get them carved. However, Zuo Mo’s conduct of “picking only one” had left an impression of “not greedy” on the people.

If Zuo Mo’s facial expression could move, he would definitely be smiling widely.

There was not much in terms of talismans that could move his heart, but there were some precious jade scrolls. He had even found the Summer Flower ling farming jade scroll. He had been searching for this thing for a very long time. The result was that he had picked it out from a pile that appeared to be garbage.

What he had gained the most was all kinds of materials. These people all had cultivations in ningmai, which of them would collect normal materials? Zuo Mo had picked all fourth-grade materials. He had the Golden Crow Fire now and could process these materials.

Even Pu Yao felt jealous of Zuo Mo’s gains!

However, the transaction between them did not include the dividends of the profits Zuo Mo would get from using the formations. If it had been in the past, Pu Yao would have no consideration in taking from Zuo Mo. But right now, Pu Yao was in a position of asking a favor from Zuo Mo, and could not do so.

The red-eyed Pu Yao could only use another method to vent the dissatisfaction in his heart.

“You’ve already familiarized yourself with the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Matrix]. This is the mo matrix for [Golden-Wing Great Roc]. You should try to analyze it as fast as possible.” Pu Yao threw out a jade scroll. The mo matrix recorded inside the jade scroll was much more complex than the [Copper Rhinoceros Mo Marix]. After just one look, Zuo Mo felt slightly dizzy.

Pu Yao was very smug.

In any mo jie, Golden-Wing Great Rocs were nobility, and possessed an unique bloodline! They were born abnormal, not needing any technique for their intelligence to be awakened. They had the highest kind of inheritance. After evolving each generation, their bodies gradually became perfected, and the mo matrix on their bodies was also perfected. Their only weakness was one common to many clans with superb bloodlines, low reproductive ability.

Such a complex mo matrix was far beyond Zuo Mo’s abilities.

Pu Yao had purposefully given the [Golden-Wing Great Roc Matrix] to Zuo Mo to douse Zuo Mo’s arrogance. A mo matrix as perfect as this one held a fatal attraction to Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo would uncontrollably be attracted to it, and be tortured by it. When the fire was right, he would then throw a low level mo matrix to Zuo Mo.

The more Pu Yao thought, the happier he became. For some reason, when he saw Zuo Mo’s recent smugness, he was very displeased inside.

Just as Pu Yao had imagined, Zuo Mo was completely enchanted by this mo matrix, deeply enchanted! Pu Yao could clearly detect when Zuo Mo first saw the [Golden-Wing Great Roc Matrix], his breathing had stopped!

However, unexpectedly, Zuo Mo had displayed astounding self-control. The first thing he did after his trance was throw the jade scroll into the ring.

Then Pu Yao heard Zuo Mo grit out as he carved formations for people, his mouth almost convulsing as he chanted, refrain, refrain!

There were frequent screams that came out of Zuo Mo’s room.

Chapter 228: Ma Fan’s Decisiveness

Ma Fan had a separate cultivation area, which Gongsun Cha had specifically drawn out for him. It was a little corner closest to the water.

The geography of Stone Door Beach was very wide, next to the mountains and water. Occasionally, white birds would swim by on the water. The cruel conflicts in Little Mountain Jie had not affected them, thus they still lived idle lives. They did not have anything that xiuzhe would scheme after. They were not ling beasts, and the change in ling power did not affect them.

The remnant rays of the dusk reflected off the water, the white birds dragging their long shadows, the reeds gently waving in the wind. Unconsciously, Ma Fan stopped training, and walked to the water, looking into the distance, his heart peaceful and serene.

Suddenly, he lifted his eyelids, wariness flashing through his eyes.

Without changing expression, he lowered his arm, the jade card that was tied to his wrist touched his fingertip. A finger-sized grey butterfly silently grasped onto the inside of his middle finger, looking like a nondescript grey ring.

Ma Fan’s eyes were covered in an imperceptible layer of grey. It looked as though his eyes had become dimmer.

[Ling Pupils]!

His vision silently changed. The dense reeds gradually became transparent, and a ball of shadow was visible as it hid among them.

So that’s where they were hiding!

The other’s position was about one hundred and fifty zhang away from him. He didn’t have the confidence to kill with one blow at this distance. From the position the other had chosen, the other could be considered very careful. If he could not kill with one blow, it would be unlikely to be able to stop the other in this open landscape.

Ma Fan guessed that it was a spy from some other faction. This distance was more suited to watch but not an ambush.

If this was in the past, Ma Fan would have most likely chosen to disregard it. It was better to not invite trouble, he disliked trouble. But today, the first thought that flashed through his mind was actually to kill the other person!

When he managed to respond, he couldn’t help but feel shock at his first instinct. However, he didn’t waste much time on his emotions. He recalled the reminders Gongsun Cha had said many times to him.

“The greatest taboo on the battlefield is indecisiveness! You are the core, you must be decisive, you must make the choice in a lightning flash! No matter if the choice is right or wrong!”

This distance … … he wasn’t certain of killing with one blow, what should he do?

“You have to believe in your fellows, don’t just go at it alone. What would you do if you don’t have a chance? Very simple, you have two choices, you can make chances for your teammates and your teammates can make chances for you.”

Ma Fan turned around, his expression normal. He saw three fellows. He only recognized one person of the three, the guy that was called Xie Shan. He had been the leader of the group they had captured last time. Supposedly, his cultivation was ningmai third stratum.

In reality, he had hoped that the three people he saw was the Lei Peng team. Even though Xie Shan’s power was far stronger than the Lei Peng team, but this team was made of new members and didn’t have any familiarity with him.

However, he didn’t have a better choice.

“Old Xie,” He raised his arm, and shouted.

———

Xie Shan stilled and stopped moving, turning his face towards Ma Fan, puzzled on the inside. He naturally recognized Ma Fan, the core of the entire troop. The one with an incomparable position, the most trusted subordinate of Lil’ Miss.

But Xie Shan had never spoken one word with him.

“Hey!” Even though he was puzzled, he still responded with a smile. In the troop, he was the newest of the new. Even if his individual power was the highest, to gain Gongsun Cha’s trust, it required time. He wasn’t so stupid as to offend Ma Fan.

“Come help me train, let’s try my new movement method,” Ma Fan’s tone was intimate as he shouted.

Xie Shan imperceptibly furrowed his brows. He might be a newbie, but he was used to being the leader, no one had dared ask him to assist in training. However, the other’s intimate tone did not hold any negativity. What puzzled him even more was that he had never seen Ma Fan find someone to train with him in the past.

It was slightly strange … …

Suddenly, his eyes locked onto the palm that Ma Fan had raised up, a finger sized grey butterfly peacefully grasping his middle finger.

His heart suddenly jumped!

It had been Gongsun Cha who gave the grey butterfly beast service card to Ma Fan. It was rare to see him use it. If it really was a spar, Ma Fan should not have summoned the grey butterfly.

Xie Shan was very experienced. He thought as he smiled and walked towards Ma Fan. “Okay!”

The other two xiuzhe on the team looked at each other and did not speak. They could not afford to offend Xie Shan, much less Ma Fan. The two just stopped to watch.

Ma Fan and Xie Shan did not waste words, starting immediately.

What Xie Shan cultivated was the [Aurora Mirage Sword]. This was a rare fifth-grade sword scripture. He didn’t need to show his flying sword, raising his hands, multicolored sword energies flew out like an extremely beautiful aurora above the snow.

An icy presence instantly spread. Under the aurora in the sky, snowflakes danced, sharp as knives!

Sword essence!

———

Ma Fan’s heart instantly shook. This was sword essence! In the camp, all one hundred and ten xiuzhe were all ningmai, but there wasn’t more than five people that had comprehended sword essence.

As expected of the strongest person of the camp. With this attack, Ma Fan felt the pressure increase. The bright sword essences were like mist and dust, carrying a cold presence. Under the beautiful appearance was fatal killing intent!

The slowly spreading sword essence was like countless thin strands that were invisible to the naked eye that would silently trap a person.

However, you aren’t the only one who comprehended sword essence! Ma Fan’s grey eyes slightly narrowed.

———

Xie Shan intended to show his strength. In the previous battle, he had not displayed his strength. Gongsun Cha’s three section wave killing charge had been too ferocious. It was like an enormous hammer. With one blow, Xie Shan’s group had been broken into pieces. Seeing the situation, Xie Shan had immediately surrendered. Up until now, he had not had a chance to showcase his own strength.

It was a pity that Gongsun Cha was not at the camp. Xie Shan felt some regret. If he could display his full power in front of Lil’ Miss, it would be of great aid to increasing his status within the troop. However, there were only benefits and no disadvantages to displaying his strength in front of his fellows.

He was quickly surprised by Ma Fan’s strength.

Theoretically, there was a level of strength between the two. Xie Shan was ningmai third stratum, and Ma Fan was just ningmai second stratum. However, from the battle, it did not seem like a battle between two opponents of different power levels.

Xie Shan had never seen the confidence and determination that Ma Fan showed in another person. Was this what it was to be the core?

Each of Ma Fan’s blows would create many fake illusions that dazzled the eyes, but what shocked Xie Shan right after was that the afterimage of each sword energy did not disappear, but howled as they shot towards Xie Shan as though they were tangible!

Sword essence!

Ma Fan actually also comprehended sword essence!

The last thread of underestimation in Xie Shan’s heart disappeared. He did not use his full power, but he was also clear the other also had killing moves.

A ningmai second stratum was able to match him. Xie Shan couldn’t help but feel slightly bitter inside.

The multicolored aurora and the intangible sword shadows flew into the sky. There were continuously sounds of explosions but were controlled to an extremely small area, sounding like corn popping.

The xiuzhe in the camp had all stopped, turning their faces up to watch the fight. Everyone had an excited expression. One was the definite core of the troop, one was the xiuzhe with the highest cultivation of the camp. The battle between the two was the strongest collision!

In the sky, a multicolored ball of light dozens of zhang appeared. Inside the ball of light, it was tightly packed with multicolored sword energies and illusory sword energies, the figures of Ma Fan and Xie Shan flickering in and out of sight.

Gasps rose at the ground. The two had displayed extremely high control to have suppressed the sword energies to such a narrow space. Inside the light ball, the ling power and sword energy density had reached a terrifying level. Any consciousness that wanted to peer in would be torn to shreds.

Everyone’s hearts reached their throats. What was the situation like inside?

No one would have thought inside the ball where sword essences were blowing and killing intent was spilling, the two people were chatting and smiling.

———

“What’s the situation?” Xie Shan said with a smile.

Ma Fan praised Xie Shan inside. The two had never cooperated before. Xie Shan was very strong to be able to detect his intentions.

He didn’t waste words. “There’s a person crouching in the reeds.”

“Oh.” Xie Shan was very surprised. He had carefully inspected the surroundings when Ma Fan had asked him for a spar, but had not found anything. He did not doubt Ma Fan’s skill. Gasping on the inside, his expression became serious. “What do you plan on doing?”

“Kill!” Ma Fan did not hesitate in saying.

Xie Shan was shocked at Ma Fan’s viciousness. A normal person would first think of capturing the enemy alive in this kind of situation in hopes of obtaining useful knowledge through interrogation. He hadn’t expected that Ma Fan didn’t think before he said to kill the other.

He did not object, and said briskly, “Okay.”

“I’ll flee and you’ll chase in the direction of the reeds.”

———

The people on the ground saw a figure suddenly break through the ball of light, the sword essences that made up the light ball collapsing. Sword energy pieces that could not be countless lost control, and shot into the surroundings!

The surrounding crowd jumped in right and took up their flying swords to block these sword energy pieces. These sword energy pieces might look broken and scattered, but in reality, they were extremely sharp and deadly.

As the ball of light dissipated, Xie Shan’s hands were covered in a five colored light.

A multicolored sword about half a zhang wide, and three zhang long appeared above Xie Shan’s head.

“Go!”

Xie Shan’s hands suddenly closed together, the enormous aurora sword turning to a thick multicolored light that shot at Ma Fan in the air!

As the enormous aurora sword appeared, the expressions of those on the ground changed slightly.

The terrifying presence spread by the enormous sword made everyone feel shock! When it turned into a stream of light, the entire sky seemed to change color.

Ma Fan was in danger!

Just as Ma Fan appeared to have been hit by the flowing light, he suddenly disappeared.

Impossible!

The sword essence of the enormous sword was very dense. If it had locked on, it was an extremely difficult matter to escape. Any kind of movement method would be slowed, no matter how short the pause would be.

But Ma Fan did not show any pause. He disappeared in the air!

Having lost the target, the enormous sword light rushed at the reeds!

A grey shadow suddenly shot out of the reeds and moved to escape.

The enormous sword made an unexpectedly nimble turn in the air and charged at the grey figure.

The grey figure stilled slightly. He felt a bone-aching sword essence pressuring him in from all side. The enormous sword essence had tightly locked onto him!

Damn it!

Shocked, he channeled all the ling power in his body towards the flying sword and aimed it at the streaming sword light! With this attack, his own flying sword would undoubtedly be destroyed.

He didn’t have the time to mourn. He suddenly saw a grey flying sword silently appear at his side.

His pupils suddenly expanded, his heart dropping in an instant.

He ferociously bit through his tongue, a flush of blood flashing on his face as he spat out a bloody arrow!

If he could stop this attack, he could escape!

The other did not seem to have any intentions of dodging, the second flying sword welcoming the arrow of blood. A joyous expression came onto his face. This arrow of blood was his secret life-saving method. It was extremely powerful! If the other wanted to meet it head on, it would definitely stop the enemy for a few moments.

Pia!

A clean and crisp collision, the joy on his face froze.

Everything in his vision became so slow, he could see it with the utmost clarity. The arrow of blood collided with the flying sword, the expected retreat did not occur.

The arrow of blood was turned to a handful of bloody mist, a cloud of dust-sized blood droplets that flashed in front of his eyes as beautiful as a painting.

A flying sword emerged from the bloody mist and entered his body.

It was as though he was hit with a thirty-thousand-catty hammer. A bloody mist floated out of his body, the surroundings moved backwards with astonishing speed. A last thought flashed through his mind

–––– Such a heavy sword!

Chapter 229: Formation Breakthrough

When Lil’ Pagoda led Zuo Mo into a storeroom, he was dumbstruck.

Inside the storeroom, the piles of Rotten Metal Silver were like mountains. Other than the Rotten Metal Silver ore, there was a little pile of ore of various colors.

“Where did this come from?” Zuo Mo pointed at the little pile and asked Lil’ Pagoda.

Lil’ Black shot and climbed up to his hands, furiously waving its pair of antennae. Zuo Mo instantly understood. So it was Lil Black. He complimented, “Lil’ Black is very smart!” He put a lingdan on his palm. Lil’ Black used its forelimbs to grab the lingdan and cheerfully climbed away.

Lil’ Pagoda was connected in mind with Zuo Mo. He could feel Lil’ Pagoda’s intentions of wanting credit. As he saw its round and chubby body swing and tremble, he instantly grinned.

Feeling Zuo Mo’s happiness, Lil’ Pagoda was even more smug, twirling around Zuo Mo, shaking its body so the gourds on the eaves rang.

Silly Bird was full of pride, but her eyes were staring greedily at the lingdan that Lil’ Black was pinching. Gulp, the throat visibly swallowed. Zuo Mo coincidentally caught it, and instantly roared with laughter, pointing at Silly Bird and mocking, “You glutton!”

Zuo Mo was not angry, and threw two lingdan at it. Silly Bird easily picked them up in her beak, shook the feathers on her body, and, without a trace of shame, proudly left.

After he finished laughing, Zuo Mo looked at the mountainous piles of ore and felt a dilemma.

After making the Black Processing Meditation mats, his need for Rotten Metal Silver had instantly decreased. However, if he didn’t use the large amount of ore that was piled up here, then it was such a waste. The grade of the Rotten Metal Silver was not high, but it was a frequently used material. But if it was to be smelted and purified, it wouldn’t take just a while to finish with such a large pile. It was not worth it to spend the time.

Zuo Mo quickly thought of a solution to roughly process the ore.

He would make billets of Rotten Metal Silver, and then forge them again when it was time for them to used. Metal billets would not take as much space as raw ore. Zuo Mo had to consider the amount of space his dimensional ring had. The other reason was that he could use formations to do rough forging which saved time.

Zuo Mo had never seen formations used specifically for forging, but it did not stop him from making such a decision.

As his comprehension of formations deepened, Zuo Mo’s confidence increased. It was undoubtedly an extremely interesting matter to do something that had never been seen before. He decided to make a large formation that could forge all of the Rotten Metal Silver ore into billets.

Rotten Metal Silver was a third-grade material, and it was not hard to smelt. It did not require Golden Crow Fire. Zuo Mo did not plan on using Golden Crow Fire. Golden Crow Fire might be pure, but there was not enough, especially to smelt so much ore at once.

The fire formation Zuo Mo chose was of course not a low level formation like Li Fire Formation, but a fourth-grade fire formation called [Jade Flame Formation]. [Jade Flame Formation] could produce green flames that were more than enough to smelt the Rotten Metal Silver ore.

However, it was the first time Zuo Mo was working with so much ore. He needed to carefully consider how to set it up.

———

Pu Yao and Gongsun Cha were fiercely fighting in War Chess.

To let this person and yao play War Chess anywhere, Zuo Mo remade the War Chess again. The excuse was to make it a leveling kind of game. Then he threw it to Gongsun Cha. Gongsun Cha guessed it, but was happy to play stupid. In any case, he just wanted to play War Chess with the mysterious person.

Without anything to do, Pu Yao was naturally willing, especially when he saw how smug Zuo Mo was recently, he became very discontent. His [Golden-Wing Great Roc Matrix] did not produce the effect he predicted. Pu Yao vented all his displeasure onto Gongsun Cha.

The pitiful Gongsun Cha, having just managed to make an acceptable three section wave killing charge and just as he reached the level of being able to use ten soldiers to kill five of Pu Yao’s soldiers, Pu Yao, without a second word, directly put out a new killing move – the interlocking wall style defense formation that was specially made to defeat the three second wave killing charge.

Consequently, Gongsun Cha was defeated by Pu Yao so badly he couldn’t find which way was north.

Gongsun Cha was so abused that he wanted to die. He gritted his teeth with red eyes as he started the game again.

Feeling that he had not vented the displeasure inside, Pu Yao did not hesitate in accepting.

Twelve matches, Pu Yao used twelve different tactics. Each time, Gongsun Cha’s forces were completely obliterated, not one soldier remaining.

———

Even if Gongsun Cha was extremely hardy, and did not falter, he had been killed to the point that his face became green. When he returned to the camp, Gongsun Cha’s black face, and the terrifying pressure and coldness exuded by him made everyone shudder, their little hearts jumping rapidly.

Gongsun Cha slightly raised his head. On his handsome face, there was a small dark smile.

The camp instantly became deathly silent.

At night, Gongsun Cha found Zuo Mo. “There was someone spying on us today, he was killed.” He looked full of energy, without any of the displeasure and darkness he had during the day.

“Did you find who it was?” Zuo Mo stopped what he was doing.

“A subordinate of someone called Venerable Chi. Xie Shan recognized him,” Gongsun Cha said unconcernedly. “Supposedly, he has about one hundred people.”

“They have intentions towards us?” Zuo Mo felt slightly surprised. It was the first time he had encountered someone that had tried to find trouble with them of their own accord.

“Maybe they feel that we pose a threat,” Gongsun Cha pondered as he rubbed his chin.

“Why don’t we fight?” Zuo Mo probed. He was very surprised. Gongsun Cha was a battle maniac, but speaking up until now, he still hadn’t mentioned fighting.

“The group has progressed very quickly recently. It’s best to wait a while longer,” Gongsun Cha explained. They had enough jingshi at the moment, and did not need to rush.

Zuo Mo also understood. After the formations had been carved, the equilibrium of their bodies had been broken, the growth of ling power had increased. This situation would continue for a while longer until they reached a new equilibrium.

He suddenly thought of a wonderful idea. “I have a way for them to quickly increase strength.”

Gongsun Cha hurriedly asked, “What way?”

“But there is a possibility of injury.” Zuo Mo hesitated.

“That isn’t a problem!” Gongsun Cha said in a normal tone of voice.

———

Everyone smelt something different when Boss came to the camp again. Even though everyone was training hard, but secretly, they were all paying close attention to Boss and Lil’ Miss.

Thinking about the inhuman treatment they had received yesterday afternoon … …

Even Ma Fan, the core who usually received the best treatment, couldn’t help but shake.

A nightmarish memory!

They saw Boss start to work at a corner of the camp. Pieces of materials appeared in Boss’ hands and then quickly turned to streaks of light that entered the ground.

So he was making a formation. Their hearts landed. Everyone knew that Boss was skilled in formations.

Maybe Boss felt the camp was not safe enough after the spy had come yesterday!

However, many people felt that Boss’ caution was unwarranted. These recent days, they had detected their improvement. After two consecutive victories, two victories where they were fewer in number than the enemy, their confidence had exploded. The effect of the three formations were too evident. Many people wanted someone to come to their doors so they could try it out.

Zuo Mo worked for half a day before finally standing up in satisfaction.

He took out his five essence sword set. The five flying swords of different colors spun restlessly in front of him. Looking at the five flying swords, he felt something that he didn’t know how to describe. After the five essence sword set had been completed, he had never used them in battle. Now, he was using them to make a formation.

He was using the five essence sword set to make a formation as he suddenly recalled the sword essence formation when Gongsun Cha said the group was in a period of increasing strength.

The sword essence formation of the sect had many transformations, and had been incredibly effective to the growth of his strength, especially his understanding of sword essence.

The group of people under his command were growing their ling power. If he could give them some pressure, it was beneficial for their progress. When Zuo Mo discovered that only five people of the one hundred or so had comprehended sword essence, it strengthened his thinking.

It had not been hard for Zuo Mo to comprehend sword essence. At Wu Kong Sword Sect, both Wei Sheng Shixiong and Luo Li Shixiong had comprehended sword essence. In the Sword Test Conference, the majority of competitors had comprehended sword essence which had caused Zuo Mo to unconsciously feel that it was not a very difficult matter to comprehend sword essence.

How could one not comprehend sword essence?

With the five essence sword set as the core, and adding on some necessary formations, it was the weaker version of the sword essence formation.

Other than adding pressure to the people, it could also help them comprehend sword essence. Sword essence was shapeless, everyone’s sword essence was different. Many things could only be understood and could not be passed on in speech. It was better to throw them into a place full of sword essence. Even if he could not guarantee that they could definitely comprehend sword essence, but it could greatly increase the possibility they could comprehend sword essence.

As to injuries, Gongsun Cha who thought of life like grass didn’t care, how could this bunch that lived so dangerously care?

The entire formation took up seven or eight mu. When the formation took form, sword essence dominated, and killing intent was dense. In the sky above the formation, a black cloud formed, thunder and lightning occasionally occurring. People’s hearts shook.

When they saw Gongsun Cha’s faint smile, their hearts sank.

———

Zuo Mo had gained great inspiration from the creation of the sword formation. When he finished, he ran to the storeroom to start to set up the formation to smelt the ore. He didn’t move the ore, using the storeroom as the dan cauldron and started to set up formations.

Many of the rules and restrictions now flew away. He felt free and unrestrained. Spells and materials flowed from his hands, flying into the walls of the storeroom as though they had eyes.

He was completely in a trance, his mind open. Every detail of the formation continuously floated up into his mind. It seemed that just as a thought would appear, the spell on his hands would finish!

The change of his ten fingers became increasingly faster, like moving clouds and flowing water. On the walls in the surroundings, profound character patterns spread out with amazing speed.

In just two hours, the walls, ceiling, and floor of the storeroom was covered completely with characters.

The big formation was finished!

Zuo Mo dazedly stood motionlessly at his spot. His mind was still in that free and unrestrained state. That feeling was just too wonderful!

A beat later, he gradually came back. When he swept across the complicated characters patterns on the wall, his heart instantly felt full!

However, he quickly came out of this intoxication, shaking his head and smiling. Then he swept the pile of other ores into his ring. After that, he took out three pieces of fourth-grade jingshi and put them into the center of the formation.

He didn’t even inspect the formation. He was extremely confident that this formation had no mistakes!

Chapter 230: Sky Glass Wave

Venerable Chi’s mood was terrible. For a few continuous days, his subordinates did not dare to even breathe loudly.

Big Kong had been killed. When the news had passed to his ears, even he had been suspicious that he had heard it wrong. Big Kong was the most skilled at sneaking and spying, and had never failed before. This time, it was just to spy. Theoretically, there should have been little danger.

He was both shocked and regretful. His shock was that the strength of the other group was beyond his expectations. His regret was that Big Kong had died. That combined formations that the Kong Family had were now halved in power now.

He still had a headache over comforting Second Kong and Third Kong. Their elder brother was killed, how were the two brothers willing to let it go?

Just now, he had said all he could to barely manage to persuade the two. If they could hold back for another month … …

———

Zuo Mo stood outside the storeroom. The storeroom was like an enormous fire cauldron, a warm and serene green fire pouring out of the walls. Within three zhang, there was no feeling of burning. The green light was so warm that one could not relate it to fire.

This showed that the setup of the formation was very successful. Every thread of fire power was under control. Zuo Mo was very satisfied. Even he was slightly surprised that he could reach this level. Precisely controlling every thread of ling power was one of the final goals of all those who used formations. However, that was only in theory. It was not possible in reality. If the [Jade Flame Formation] fire formation had been perfectly controlled, it only needed one piece of fourth-grade jingshi, not three pieces.

The fire formation needed to be maintained for three days and nights. Luckily, Zuo Mo did not need to stand guard over it.

Shrieking like that of pigs being killed could be heard from the far away camp. Zuo Mo patted his head with some irritation. He forgot to add a sound blocking formation on the outside of the sword formation. Yet when he thought about it, he did not continue the idea since other than some voices, there was no other disadvantage.

It was better for Gongsun Shidi to deal with the matters of the camp.

———

The [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] had reached his hands for a long time. It took Zuo Mo some effort to cultivate. The difference between fist scriptures and sword scriptures was very large. He had never cultivated one before, and needed to start from the fundamentals. He had called Zong Ru over again. When Zong Ru was told that he needed to teach Boss how to practice the fist scripture, he instantly became dumbstruck.

Most of those that practiced fist scriptures were in Xuan Kong Realm. Kun Lun realm was where the sects of sword xiu were, and Boss’ sword scripture cultivation was not low, why would he think of cultivating a fist scripture? He didn’t ask, but tried to do his best. None of what he learned was some kind of secret. He had cultivated to ningmai mostly on his exceptional persistence.

Yet the speed of Boss’ improvement made him gape in shock.

In the span of a few days, the fist scripture took form on Boss’ hands. Even if there were some places that were not perfect, but this speed was really frightening. [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was the spell that he practiced the most, and had the deepest comprehension of. This fist scripture was not complex. It was the exact opposite and could be considered simple, but simple did not mean it was easy. It demanded highly of the body of the person who cultivated it, and the path was one of one person defeating ten. There was not much technique. In Xuan Kong Realm, many dhyana xiu that were of great age did not have the power to cultivate it to a deep level.

Behind the fist scripture, there were special chapters which described how to exercise the body and bones. Most beginners needed to start from there.

Boss’ body was so strong! Zong Ru was shocked and slightly puzzled. Boss looked very thin, and did not show any signs of strength.

It must be that Boss was exceptionally talented, he thought with some admiration inside.

Dhyana xiu that had no sect were even fewer in number than roaming xiu, their days were extremely hard. Body cultivation required many ling medicines. There was a common saying of ‘seven-tenths scripture, three-tenths medicine’. It could be seen how important resources were. However, ling medicines were very expensive. The dhyana xiu of sects were better off with the supplies from the sect. Dhyana xiu with no sect were a tragedy. Before ningmai, dhyana xiu had nothing else to show except a body full of physical strength. They could only do things like hard labor.

Zong Ru quickly adjusted his mentality. The scriptures that he practiced were all very average. This caused him to not have any exceptional areas. However, what no one knew was that his Samadhi was extremely deep. This was the most important reason he could reach ningmai. It had to be said that this was the place that dhyana xiu surpassed all others. Everyone could cultivate Samadhi, simple and easy to learn, it did not cost anything to learn. As long as you put the effort in, you could cultivate to ningmai.

Those with extremely deep Samadhi would have strong minds and resolute determination. The effect of things like illusory formations were lessened against these people.

Zong Ru did not hide anything. The version of [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] that he cultivated was not complete. Many of the unique parts had been discovered by him through his own cultivation. He was also willing to pass it on.

Other than the slightly displeasurable aspect of having jinzhi put into his body, the time that he had spend under Boss had been the most comfortable days he ever lived. Everyday, he only needed to cultivate. In the two battles, he didn’t need to worry about anything. The division of spoils was also extremely fair. Boss was the most generous of all the leaders he had worked under.

But what he really could not resist were the formations!

He didn’t know what the other people thought, but in his view, these three formations were custom-made for dhyana xiu. Due to his body cultivation level not high enough, he had broken through to ningmai but still had not formed an abhinna. With the three formations, he now had the confidence of forming an abhinna within a year.

Privately, everyone was speculating that Boss had other formations.

Zong Ru did not like conflict, but he was not stupid. With such good benefits, he wouldn’t leave even if they threw him out. Not just him, many of the xiuzhe that had no sect were thought similarly. No one was more clear than they were regarding the difficulties of not having a sect.

The world was no longer the same. Previously in Little Mountain Jie, as long as they did not have much ambition their ningmai cultivation was enough for them to have an idle life. But now, if they were not in jindan, then living alone was the same as asking for death.

These days, it was not a simple matter to find a good boss.

———

Zuo Mo did not know how many thoughts went through Zong Ru’s heart. He was fully concentrated on practicing [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]. Zong Ru’s understanding of [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was deeper than he had imagined. He gained much from the other’s guidance on many points.

Carefully savoring the change of ling power inside his body, he understood.

Right now, he was in the two mountain stage. His body looked thin, but in reality, his body was extremely compact and suitable for [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]. The moves of [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] were very simple, but had their unique qualities. In one instantly, [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was able to use all the ling power in the body and after revolutions in the arms, expel it with punches. This demanded extremely highly of the user’s body. Otherwise, after the ling power made several revolutions, it was enough to tear the channels and body apart.

After the ling power continued for five revolutions in his body, the ling power vibrated like running thunder. Zuo Mo stood, his legs apart, breathing out as he punched!

A jade green fist energy left his hands. The fist energy expanded dramatically in the air and roared like a tiger!

Zong Ru’s pupils suddenly expanded, shocked inside. This punch had eight-tenths of his own full power blow! But compared to how long he had cultivated, and how long Boss’ had cultivated … …

Zuo Mo managed to get the feeling. The crux of this fist scripture was not the amount of ling power, but the number of times it moved forward and in reverse! The more revolutions there was, the longer the preparation time was, the stronger the fist energy!

He instantly became excited. Just now, after five revolutions, his channels had shuddered, but did not respond in a major way.

Maybe he could add a few more revolutions?

As his mind worked, the ling power in his arms started to circulate again.

One revolution, two revolution, three revolution … …

Out of caution, he did not dare to add too many at one time.

Eight revolutions!

Green light came out of the skin of his arms. Adding on the black green metallic sheen that his body already carried, what appeared was a black greenish metallic color.

———

At the side, Zong Ru’s eyes suddenly widened!

This was … …

Ha!

Zuo Mo shouted, and the green fist energy left his hands again!

Zong Ru was familiar with the bright green watery light that glowed. That was the sheen that would only appear when the fist energy was concentrated to the extreme!

The green watery fist energy attracted the water energy in the air as they left the hands, the watery energy furiously heading towards the fist energies. As the fist energies flew past, it left behind a while trail of mist!

Zong Ru was stunned. This was so powerful when it just hit empty air. If it hit a person, then what would it look like?

———

His thinking had not been wrong. Zuo Mo was more excited now that he had received motivation. It had been so long since he had felt so excited!

Eight times was enough for him to feel pressure, but that was not his limit.

Maybe, he could see where the limit was?

When this idea popped up, it could not be stopped from taking over his entire mind. His hands did not listen to him as they began a new round of preparations!

His thin arms suddenly expanded. The bright green sheen that had risen before dimmed instead. Zuo Mo’s skin that was exposed to the air became black green, and seemed to have waves rippling underneath.

Twelve revolutions!

The channels in his arms were in pain from expansion. It was like a bow pulled to the limit. A gentle shake would cause Zuo Mo’s arm muscles to tremble!

His arms were heavy as though they were made up of lead. He felt extremely burdened. When he raised his arms up, his movements were extremely slow, and occasionally shook and the big drops of sweat on his forehead all showed that he was using great effort.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were open wide as though he was going to tear open his eye sockets. Sounds of his teeth grinding came out of his mouth!

“Break!”

Using the last of his strength, his fists punched out!

There was no wind, no howling. Two green fists that appeared to be carved out of crisp green glass drew out two green light streaks as they landed on a two person high rock far away.

The two fists were extremely detailed, even the joints could be clearly seen.

Pew!

The moment the fists and the rock collided, it created a cloud of dust, covering the entire rock.

Zuo Mo almost collapsed. He could not stop himself from sitting down on the ground. Without the energy to look at the result, he furiously panted. It had been too dangerous just now! The ling power in his arms had almost gone out of control. If he lost control, then his arms would have exploded!

Thankfully … …

He still felt fear.

———

A gust of wind blew and the dust scattered. Where the rock had been, there was no nothing except a half zhang deep hole.

There was no scattering rock, no explosive force, no shocking sound.

The rock had turned to dust in an instant!

Zong Ru, whose mind had always been strong and composed, paled, his eyes terrified!

That was … …

The killing move of [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] – [Sky Glass Wave]!

Chapter 231: Warning

“Miss!” The middle-aged person said respectfully, “We’ve just received a message from Jin daren. They were attacked by an unknown force. Seven dead, sixteen wounded, Jin Daren was also lightly wounded.”

“Oh,” Mu Xi’s expression changed, “who did it?”

“A female, origins unknown. Jin Danren’s subordinates have already started a search, but there has been no success up until now.”

“One person?” Mu Xi was slightly shocked. She had not interacted much with Jin Bo Zhen, but the few times were enough for her to conclude he was an experienced and calm person. With the protection of an entire corps, yet he was still wounded by a single female. She naturally was shocked. “A jindan?”

“The situation is not clear.” The middle-aged man clearly was puzzled as well. “However, the female is said to also be seriously wounded. Jin Daren hopes that Miss can keep this person in mind”

“I hadn’t thought that a measly Sky Moon Jie still had crouching dragons and hiding tigers!” Mu Xi sighed and then said, “You can keep the incident in mind. If we encounter her, do not let her go. The threat of a jindan is extremely high to us, however, our energy should be mostly spent on the original plan.”

“This subordinate understands,” The middle-aged man responded. He hesitated before saying, “This subordinate does not understand, if it really is a daren then why would they not try to get in contact with us?”

“There are many possibilities. Maybe the daren is not in a good situation, or maybe he does not want to see us.” Mu Xi said unconcernedly, “That has nothing to do with us. Our job is to find that daren, even if it is just a trace. There naturally will be other people to deal with the remaining matters.”

“Yes, this subordinate has asked too much!” the middle-aged man hurriedly said.

Mu Xi waved her hand. “There’s no need to be so careful. I have not been commanding for long. I still need to borrow your experience.”

“It is this subordinate’s honor.”

Seeing the respect on her subordinate’s face, Mu Xi was helpless. She suddenly recalled something. “Have we found the moon mo brigadier?”

“No, the other is very careful, and did not leave behind many traces,” The middle-aged man said.

“Oh, be careful.” Mu Xi thought and then said, “If you find the trail, do not enter into a conflict with the other. This battle will be long, and will not end so quickly. Yao and mo should be allies, not enemies.”

“This subordinate understands!”

———

Zuo Mo had also started cultivating in this period of time. No matter if it was ling power, spiritual power, or body cultivation, he was in a period of rapid progression. This was the golden time to cultivate. He didn’t dare slack off.

During the day, he cultivated ling power and his body, at night, he cultivated his consciousness. He even temporarily pushed his studies into formations to the side. Formations were the core, but it was a labor of time. In the short term, it could not increase his strength, but cultivation could.

[Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was just a very normal scripture, but with the mountain physique the great strength produced motivated Zuo Mo.

Especially the [Sky Glass Wave], it was even more powerful than Ma Fan’s [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction]. What Zuo Mo needed to do now was to compress the amount of time needed to prepare the attack, to complete twelve revolutions in a shorter period of time. This was not impossible. Zuo Mo was already skilled in controlling ling power, but shortening the preparation time would dramatically increase the burden on his ling channels.

Zuo Mo had to increase his level of body cultivation, he had to in order to tolerate the greater load, and enable this killing move to have practical value. Otherwise, such a strong killing move would be greatly discounted by having an overly lengthy preparation time.

Luckily, he was in the middle of a period of rapid improvement. As long as he did not slack off, after cultivating for a while longer, his body should be able to tolerate him using this killing move.

Of course, this also meant that other than going forward step by step, he did not have any other methods.

———

In the camp, howls would occasionally be heard from the sword formation. Over the last few days, people had gradually gotten used to them. Every person that went into the sword formation would shout and yell like so, but once they crawled out of the sword formation, they would immediately enter seclusion. Up until now, the remaining people that had not entered the sword formation did not even know how scary the inside was.

They only knew it was very scary, very very scary … …

But they also knew there were many many benefits … …

Compared to those xiuzhe who felt a mix of terror and anticipation, Zuo Mo did not have any discomfort at all. He was already used to these howls. When he had carved the formations onto them, the howling that had started up under his hands was no less than the present ones.

Suddenly, the beast service card at Zuo Mo’s waist suddenly shook.

Hmm, Zuo Mo’s mind moved, and he unconsciously stopped his actions. This was the first time the beast service card had done this. He hurriedly summoned the rainbow butterfly.

The Rainbow Mark butterfly flew out, made a nimble turn and started to fly towards outside the camp.

There was a situation?

Suddenly thinking about how someone had been spying a few days ago, Zuo Mo was extra cautious, and beckoned at Zong Ru’s unit which was closest to him, indicating for them to follow.

The three exchanged looks and hurriedly followed.

Those that noticed this from far away all had admiring gazes. Zong Ru’s little unit really had the best luck. Boss trusted them. Those with experience all knew that familiarizing their face with the boss was directly related to future benefits.

However, even though Lil’ Miss was not at camp, no one dared to stop their cultivation without Boss’ orders.

———

Gongsun Cha’s eyes were red as he stared deathly at the enemy which seemed like a tide.

He had already lost this match, but the other side did not have any intentions of stopping, pushing him into a little corner to proceed with the last massacre.

It was not the first time he had encountered this kind of situation. Once he showed a weakness, what awaited him was retreat after retreat. The other was like a dog with a bone, biting on tightly. What followed after was fierce attacks. Any little crack would be hammered into large gaps in a very short period of time.

Gongsun Cha was already used to the other pursuing and beating him.

However, he decided to give the other a little “surprise” this time!

Zuo Mo led the little team and followed tightly behind the Rainbow Mark butterfly. He rarely used this third-grade ling butterfly. From the grade, this was a very fine top of third-grade, but all three of its spells were related to poison. Zuo Mo rarely interacted with poison so he never used this Rainbow Mark butterfly unless he was feeding it.

It was the first time that Zuo Mo had encountered the beast service card actively giving a warning. Zuo Mo was very curious.

Lei Peng and the other two had similar ideas and formed a perimeter with Zuo Mo in the middle. No matter what time, protecting Boss was their first job. Compared to Zuo Mo’s curiosity, the three appeared as though they were facing a great enemy.

The rainbow butterfly flew extremely quickly as though someone was attracting it.

The mountain valley that Zuo Mo had headed to was in the mountains near the water. The mountain valley curved through the mountains, and the mouth of the valley directly faced Stone Door Beach.

The mountain valley was very deep. Zuo Mo had not sent anyone to explore since they had only come here for Rotten Metal silver and did not plan on staying here for a long time. Right now, the amount of Rotten Metal silver billets on Zuo Mo’s hands formed a mountainous stack. He guessed that it was about time to depart from Stone Door beach. Zuo Mo decided to wait for the group to all go through the sword formation before they left Stone Door Beach.

Even more, Zuo Mo had set down formations at the important places. Even though it was not a large formation like the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] on the Desolate Wood Reef, but these small formations were not easy to overcome either.

Zuo Mo did not put any formations on Stone Door Beach. The camp was constructed on the patch of sand. The view was wide from there, and everything could be seen at a glance. After the spying incident last time, the guard by the water had become even heavier.

Was there some worldly treasure that was attracting the Rainbow Mark butterfly?

Zuo Mo felt that it was not possible. This had been the site of a sect before. If there had been some treasure, it would not have been left for him to find. Suspicious, he tightly followed behind the Rainbow Mark butterfly.

After twisting and turning, the mountain valley became much steeper, and the humidity from the plants and trees grew.

The wariness on Lei Peng and the other’s faces grew even heavier.

Suddenly, the Rainbow Mark butterfly at the front furiously started to flap its wings. In the blink of an eye, with it as the center, a very small whirlpool formed.

What was going on?

Zuo Mo stopped moving, even more puzzled. There clearly was nothing in the surroundings.

He suddenly thought of the specialty of the Rainbow Mark butterfly, poison!

Was there some poisonous object!

His mind moved and let the Rainbow Mark butterfly cast a spell on him. The Rainbow Mark butterfly gently flapped its wings, and a five colored light emerged from Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo’s eyes were instantly covered in a layer of five colored light.

Zuo Mo instantly jumped in fright!

In front of his eyes, threads of black mist were being attracted by the Rainbow Mark butterfly’s whirlpool, and surged into the whirlpool.

This was … … poison!

Zuo Mo suddenly realized and hurriedly pulled back the three people beside him. If it wasn’t for the [Rainbow Pupils], he wouldn’t have been able to find this kind of poison! Even though he did not know how poisonous it was, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel fear.

A tasteless, colorless, and undetectable poison was more than scary enough! Even more, with the Rainbow Pupils, the threads of black mist made Zuo Mo’s hairs stand on end.

Was there some terrifying poisonous organism nearby?

That wasn’t right!

If there was something so poisonous, Xie Shan and the others who had lived here before should have already been turned to a pile of bones.

The joy the Rainbow Mark butterfly passed on to Zuo Mo did not make him happy, but made him felt as though he had fell into ice, his entire body went cold. He had recalled the other spell of the Rainbow Mark butterfly [Poison Change]! The Rainbow Mark butterfly could absorb all kinds of poisons to transform. The happier it was, the more deadly this poison was!

Poison was something the great majority of xiuzhe were wary off.

Some great poisons could even directly kill a jindan. They were extremely strange. Some poisons could be merged with the ling energy in the air, and could not be detected. Some poisons could pass through ling shields. There were all kinds of weird and wondrous poisons.

Without a doubt, this one was an extremely terrifying poison!

Someone was scheming against them!

No matter how stupid he was, Zuo Mo instantly realized it. Other than fear, killing intent uncontrollably rose!

The three people beside Zuo Mo could not see the deadly poison in the air, but were sensitive enough to catch the killing intent that spilled out of their boss. Their hearts shook!

Zuo Mo did not speak, and made a hand movement. After watching Lei Peng and the others work together for so long, he knew some of the simpler hand movements. Then, he started to fly up along the walls of the valley, using the Rainbow Mark butterfly as the border. The other side of the boundary was filled with black threads of poison.

Zuo Mo decided to make a circle to avoid the poison.

He wanted to see who was scheming against them!

Chapter 232: Gongsun Cha’s Insane War Tactics

Pu Yao felt very good.

He felt a certain kind of satisfaction each time he trampled Gongsun Cha, especially after he was defeated by Zuo Mo. That guy was getting more and more clever over time, and was not so easily tricked. The price he paid with each transaction was increasing. If the conditions were not what Zuo Mo wanted, it was basically impossible to persuade him. What made Pu Yao so irritated about Zuo Mo was that if he felt it was not good, he would just ignore the deal, and not be swayed no matter how Pu Yao provoked and willed.

Many times, Pu Yao felt he was a mouse pulling Zuo Mo, the turtle, and had no other solution.

Compared to the hardheadedness of Zuo Mo, Gongsun Cha was like a girl with her arms open, allowing him to do as he wished. Every time he was blocked off by Zuo Mo, Pu Yao would find pleasure from Gongsun Cha’s body.

This time, the battle situation was not different from any previous time. He had built an advantage very early on. What came after was more of a game of cat and mouse.

Pu Yao had more than enough skill to be proud, especially in the area of directing battle. In his eyes, Gongsun Cha was just a slightly talented youth. This kind of talent was not enough for him to be shocked. Through the Thousand Year war, he had seen too many young genius battle generals.

This kind of talent, oh, maybe he could only be the head of a little squad.

It was a pity Zuo Mo was not interested in becoming a battle general. Pu Yao smacked his lips with regret. If that was possible, it would be so satisfying to abuse him! Pu Yao yearned for the scene of Zuo Mo being totally defeated by him.

He had no interest in teaching Zuo Mo to become a battle general, but Zuo Mo clearly had no interest in playing with him, so facing Gongsun Cha became his only choice.

It was so boring recently, Pu Yao sighed inside. He propped up his chin, his bloody pupil filled with an empty loneliness. After spending thousands of years in the Yao Forging Tower, his soul had been seriously damaged. Cultivation was not very useful to him at present. Previously, the secret method that he had been placing his hopes on did not bring the benefits that he had imagined. Right now, he could only pin his hopes onto Zuo Mo.

But that hope looked so infinitesimally small.

Maybe, very soon, he would dissipate like smoke. He smiled. He thought of the gravestone, and the loneliness in his eye decreased.

Hmm!

When he swept across the battleground from the corner of his eye, he couldn’t help but still.

An ambush?

A middle-sized troop of Little Edge Mantis mo suddenly appeared at the side of his main army.

Pu Yao knew a great deal about any kind of yaomo. Little Edge Mantis mo was not an exception. Little Edge Mantis mo was a low level mo, the same level as White Scaled Attendants. However, its offensive power was three times that of a White Scaled Attendant! In low level mo, the offensive power of Little Edge Mantis mo was able to rank third.

Most mantis mo lived in the forests. They were natural blade wielders in the forest. After their intelligence was awakened, the pair of blade-like raptorial forelegs would detach, and become their best mo blades. At the same time, their instincts would also wake.

Compared to those high level mantis mo, Little Edge Mantis mo was one of the lowest mantis mo, but even so, their strong offense was enough for them to be famed among low level mo.

However, compared to their powerful offense and grand blade mo skills, their defensive power was pitifully low. The thin mo armor on their bodies was like paper, and almost could not stop any attack. This was also the weakness of almost all the mantis mo.

Due to the characteristic of the Little Edge Mantis mo, they were frequently used to fill battle technique units, not main attack units.

Gongsun Cha had actually used an ambush of a troop of Little Edge Mantis mo, and there was a lot of them.

There was no time for him to think more. The black blade lights were like a tide crashing against the shore, layer building upon layer. The entire troop was like a burning hot blade easily slicing through butter.

Little Edge Mantis mo’s attack power that was beyond its power level was completely shown at this time!

Pu Yao’s army was cut apart at the waist.

This group of Little Edge Mantis mo was also damaged, with not even half remaining.

The troops that had been pushed to the corner of the battlefield attacked at the same time, like a spring that had been compressed to the limit and exploded with all its power! The troop formation changed from an orb formation to a column formation. The two troops attacking from the left and right towards the two sides of Pu Yao’s forces, a furious counterattack!

Pu Yao saw the sudden change in the battle but was not panicked. The other’s counterattack was sharp and furious, but it was just the last vestiges of strength.

He did not hesitate in pressing his forces forward. The perimeter did not attack, but stuck to the enemy, keeping a mid-range distance. He furiously calculated inside. He was waiting for the other to run out of power. Once the other was fully expended, it would be time for him to counterattack. The middle of his forces had already prepared. The following attack would be like lightning and quickly destroy the enemy.

He believed that the other’s troops would soon collapse. This had already happened multiple times previously.

He did not worry at all about the remainder of the troop of Little Edge Mantis mo. The fragile defense of the Little Edge Mantis mo meant that they only had one chance to attack in such a crowded battlefield. No matter how high their attack strength was, they would quickly be killed.

The two troops that had broken through towards his flanks, which were guarded by his troops, so they had no chance of escape. Pu Yao smiled coldly inside. Gongsun Cha’s commander definitely would be in one of the troops.

In the wargame, a loss would only be set when the highest ranking general was killed. Gongsun Cha’s highest commander definitely was hiding in one of the two troops that had tried to break away.

Yet suddenly, something shocking happened.

The Little Edge Mantis mo, of which half had been just killed, divided into two little groups that charged straight into the back of Pu Yao’s forces.

What was he doing?

Pu Yao was slightly puzzled. Two little groups, each group had less than twenty people. This kind of Little Edge Mantis mo troop basically had no use.

Little Edge Mantis mo troops were frequently used to ambush, but their fragile defense determined their extremely short lifespans on the battlefield. If the other’s formation was dense, in order to complete the break through, there needed to be a certain number. The reason that the group of Little Edge Mantis mo had been able to so easily cut through his forces had been due to how thick the troop had been.

It was like a blade made from ice. It might be sharp, but it would quickly melt.

Such a small troop, other than causing some fatalities, they basically could not affect the battlefield at all.

Suddenly, a blinding light suddenly lit up at the head of the Little Edge Mantis mo troop at the very front.

That was not right! Those were not Little Edge Mantis mo!

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil widened, his face full of disbelief!

Boom boom boom!

A string of powerful explosions. A gigantic gap appeared in Pu Yao’s forces in the back half that had been cut away.

This light … … Pu Yao recognized it.

Balloon Fish mo’s Suicide Detonation!

Pu Yao instantly realized what had happened.

Those two groups hadn’t been Little Edge Mantis mo at all, but were all Balloon Fish, that used illusions … … water mist illusions. That was correct. If it was him, he would also have chosen water mist illusions. The illusions that were made up of countless threads of water mist would tightly wrap around the person it was cast on.

Most importantly, the water mists could provide rich moisture to the Balloon Fish mo … …

Balloon Fish mo was something no one willingly provoked. They had hundreds of little sacks on their bodies. Those sacs contained the water element power that they absorbed from the Endless Ocean. If they encountered an enemy, these pure water element power would become their weapon to attack their enemies. No one dared to provoke them, not because they were strong, but due to their Suicide Detonation.

This was the last move of the Balloon Fish mo to kill themselves and their enemies. The Suicide Detonation of the Balloon Fish mo was extremely terrifying. Even mo of higher levels would not be able to easily deal with it. Adding on that their intelligence was not very high, and they were not afraid of death, if they were provoked, what waited was serious damage to both sides.

But Pu Yao’s reaction was a beat too slow. The second group of Balloon Fish mo burrowed into the hole that had just been carved out by the explosions!

Another fierce string of explosions!

Pu Yao’s expression was extremely bad. His rear forces had been very dense. The Suicide Detonation of the two groups of Balloon Fish mo instantly increased his losses greatly!

However, he released a small breath inside. The battlefield this time only had some small sized ponds. There would not be high numbers of Balloon Fish mo. Gongsun Cha should not have any more Balloon Fish mo.

Wait!

Pu Yao’s face changed again!

He suddenly realized that he had missed an important question.

The Suicide Detonation of the Balloon Fish mo was powerful, but it was rarely used because there was a rule in war chess. In the regulations of the war chess, the Suicide Detonation of the Balloon Fish mo was only possible under one condition … …

His eyes suddenly turned towards the two groups that were trying to break away.

The two groups that should have been furiously trying to break through, in Pu Yao’s eyes, looked somewhat loose.

That was right … …

The bloody pupil suddenly shrunk, Pu Yao’s gaze was sharp and fierce!

Gongsun Cha’s highest commander was not in these two groups, but in … … his gaze landed on the remaining Little Edge Mantis mo that was located at the rear of his forces!

There!

At this time, Pu Yao finally comprehended Gongsun Cha’s intentions. The forces that had been forced to retreat back into the corner was bait. The ambush forces were the true attack force. This had been a trap, an extremely convincing trap!

Just as Pu Yao realized that it was the Suicide Detonation of the Balloon Fish mo, he could not react in time. No one had used this kind of tactic before. In war chess, the setup for the Balloon Fish mo had been they would only agree to detonate only under the direct orders of the highest commander! In the past, the Balloon Fish mo had always acted as the last barrier in front of the highest commander.

Gongsun Cha’s intention had not been to break away, but to kill Pu Yao’s highest commander!

For some unknown reason, Pu Yao felt a burst of coldness rise into his heart.

The entire battlefield, all the forces, they were all sacrifices! No, they were all cannon fodder! The two troops needed to attract the attention of the front forces, so they had to get the other to move closer, and fight for time for their own middle forces. What waited for these two groups was only complete fatalities. As to the ambushers? There was only one outcome, death!

Even if Gongsun Cha managed to kill his highest commander, he could not charge out of such a thick encirclement. To not attract Pu Yao’s attention, the personal guard was disguised as Little Edge Mantis mo. There could not be many people, and the outcome was naturally fated.

In other words, Gongsun Cha had never thought of winning this battle. He only had one thought – to die together!

“This madman!”

Pu Yao muttered, his eyes unfocused.

Chapter 233: Bloody Horned Great Serpent

Zuo Mo suppressed the killing intent flooding his chest, silently flying along the walls of the valley like a thread of smoke.

In his Rainbow Pupils vision, the black and forbidding mist turned. It was already a patch of death. Even though the Rainbow Mark butterfly was doing its best to absorb the poison, but the poisonous mist in the valley was too abundant and it did not make a difference.

Lei Peng and the others could not see the poison, and did not understand. However, the three were not stupid. They instantly guessed that Boss had found something. They were both wary and shocked. It was the first time they had seen Boss full of killing intent. The wooden face without any expression, even his gaze, which did not seemed to change, but the killing intent that occasionally flashed past made even the air around him solidify.

Boss did not make a sound as he flew at quick speed, making them unconsciously think of Ma Fan. However, compared to Ma Fan who disguised himself as harmless, and unnoticeable, the Boss may be silent, but he was like a black sword that could absorb light. Under concealment, each body part was an edge!

———

At the other end of the mountain valley.

Third Kong looked with fear at the black gourd far away, and couldn’t help but ask, “Is this going to work?”

The black gourd was entirely glossy black, the mouth of the gourd open.

Second Kong stared at the black gourd and was slightly smug, but in the deepest part of his eyes, there was a hint of terror. “Don’t worry! Wind will rise in this valley every night. This wind is very strange, it will only blow along the valley, but not outside it. This Six Poison Black Gourd was hard to forge. I spent a lot getting it out of Shortie Hu’s hands.”

He immediately said, “When we get revenge for Big Brother, we’ll leave here immediately.”

“Where?” Third Kong asked.

“We’ll discuss after we leave here. This poison is extremely strange, colorless and odourless. If one is poisoned, it is hard to detect at the beginning, yet nothing can save them.” Second Kong was slightly regretful. “This Six Poison Black Gourd is powerful, but it can only be used once.”

“En,” Third Kong nodded in response and said with fury, “Venerable Chi is too dishonourable! We three had put our lives on the line for him for so long. Big Brother’s bones haven’t even cooled, yet he actually does not want to get revenge for Big Brother.”

“Hm, exactly!” A thread of hate came into Second Kong’s eyes. It’s a pity that there is just one Six Poison Black Gourd. Otherwise, I definitely will also let him have a taste.”

His eyelid suddenly jumped, his expression changing, “Careful!” His suddenly jumped up.

A flying sword silently brushed past his waist. His body suddenly lit up, a set of silver ling armor appearing.

Third Kong was instantly shocked, and then flashed towards the side. Light flashed over his body, and a red ling armor covered him.

Four figures silently appeared, surrounding the two.

They had been surrounded!

The two people’s hearts instantly sank.

———

Lei Peng and the other two had not previously understood the situation, but when they saw the two people and the black gourd, they instantly understood.

Zuo Mo was very dissatisfied with the sword strike he had used in ambush. However, he didn’t have any good methods. When he had been in Wu Kong Mountain, he was only in zhuji, [Li Water Sword Scripture] had been enough for him. However, in Little Mountain Jie, where only ningmai remained, the power of [Li Water Sword Scripture] was somewhat unacceptable.

He lacked an ambush move. Zuo Mo knew that.

He started to examine the two people.

The style of the silver ling armor was very unique. It was made of thousands of fingernail sized silver scales. A dark and cold serpent could be seen coiling inside and moving freely. Having managed to block Zuo Mo’s strike, the ling armor was unharmed. It could be seen how strong it was.

The ling armor of the other person was unordinary as well. Entirely deep red, it was possible to smell the tang of blood from far away. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. This ling armor had been forged with a rare blood method. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, however, this ling armor was a half failure. If it was properly made, it definitely would not have such a heavy odor of blood.

But the majority of his attention was on the black gourd not far away.

In the vision of the Rainbow Pupils, the black mist was continuously flowing out of this gourd.

This black gourd was extraordinary!

Zuo Mo did not hesitate despite his shock, shouting, “Kill!”

Lei Peng and the others instantly attacked!

Lei Peng’s [Abyss Ghost Sabre Scripture], Zong Ru’s [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] and Nian Lu’s [Lotus Sword Scripture] were all cast. The three had worked together for a long time, and cooperated very well. In the camp, they were one of the strongest teams.

Second Kong and Third Kong reacted rapidly.

Second Kong’s hands cast a spell. A circle of light appeared beside the two. At the same time, Third Kong flicked his finger, and a dot of light perfectly landed in the circle of light.

The circle of light brightened, and exploded!

Lei Peng’s sabre energy, Zong Ru’s fist energy, and Nian Lu’s sword energy instantly shattered when they encountered the spreading light! The broken energies that had not lost all their momentum headed at them like a wave!

These people were prickly!

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to slack off, his right hand coming together and drawing in the air.

With a light hiss, countless electrical energies suddenly light up, and gathered at the air at Zuo Mo’s fingertips like numerous silver snakes. A goose-sized lightning bomb formed, its body flashing with a slightly red light.

[Yang Fiend Hard Lightning]!

The faces of Second Kong and Third Kong suddenly changed. Hard lightning! It was actually hard lightning!

Even Lei Peng and the others couldn’t help but inhale sharply, their faces shocked and fearful as they stared at the little lightning ball at Zuo Mo’s fingertips.

Hard lightning!

Lei Peng and the others had never seen Boss fight before. In their eyes, the existence of this boss was far too weak. Most of the time, Boss usually took the role of the quartermaster, which caused Lei Peng and the others to be less afraid of Zuo Mo than they were of Gongsun Cha.

Seeing Boss show such an amazing hand at this moment, the shock of Lei Peng and the others could be imagined. The one most composed of the three was probably Zong Ru, because he had personally saw Boss use [Sky Glass Fist.]

However, at this time, he also could not keep his composure!

Hard lightning was not commonly seen, but there were occasionally people who used it. They would not pale because they saw hard lightning.

What amazed them was the strength of control Boss had over hard lightning!

They could not even feel the unique presence of hard lightning, the destructive, extremely yang and powerful presence!

This meant one thing.

–– Boss’ control of the hard lightning was amazing high!

Xiuzhe deeply loved the power of hard lightning, but accordingly, the difficulty of using it was to a degree that most could only look with yearning. This little lightning bomb had none of the presence of hard lightning, but no one doubted its power.

Second Kong and Third Kong knew its power and didn’t dare to underestimate it, Second Kong reached and slapped his ling armor, a large serpent flying out of the silver ling armor, growing in the air. In an instantly, this large serpent had expanded to ten zhang long, its body as thick as a water barrel, inspiring fear in those who looked upon it. Third Kong started chanting at the same time, reaching out and pointing at the big serpent. A bloody light flew from his fingertip, and entered the body of the big serpent.

The big serpent flickered out with its forked tongue, a pained expression floating into its icy eyes.

Two bumps suddenly appeared on its forehead, the bumps quickly growing as though something was going to grow out. Pew, two fresh coral red horns pierced through the bumps and grew out.

Hiss!

The pain in the big serpent’s eyes retreated, the icy snake pupils tightly looking at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s eyes did not move as though he had not seen the enormous Bloody Horn Serpent. He carefully controlled the lightning bomb on his fingertip. [Yang Fiend Hard Lightning] was one of the strongest killing moves in his arsenal. Zuo Mo had spent a lot of effort on it. Pu Yao had not been sparse in his teachings. Zuo Mo had managed to make some variations on this one move of [Yang Fiend Hard Lightning]. This lightning bomb was one of them.

There were more variations, but the difficulty of controlling hard lightning did not decrease in the slightest.

[Yang Fiend Hard Lightning] was not like the other kinds of hard lightning xiuzhe used. The hard lightning this moved used was the hard lightning that existed naturally in the world! The power to manipulate the power of the world, this was the core of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].

This also meant that Zuo Mo needed to be extremely attentive with his control. His consciousness was still not large enough, there would be a clear time where his lightning bomb would form. If his consciousness was large enough, he could take in all the hard lightning from a one hundred li radius area. But right now, the area he could control was only twenty zhang in radius.

Finished!

The last thread of hard lightning was absorbed into the lightning bomb. Zuo Mo did not hesitate and flicked his finger!

The lightning bomb turned into a burning stream of light tinted with red as it charged at the two people.

Nothing could compare to the speed of lightning!

The lightning bomb reached the two people just after it left Zuo Mo’s hands. The Bloody Horn Serpent saw that he could not move to their aid in time so an unexpected scene occurred! The lightning bomb flew to a distance three zhang from the two people, and could not move in any further!

The swirling lightning bomb was forcefully blocked by an invisible wall!

The hearts of Lei Peng and the others shook!

A space shield!

Fifth-grade!

This Bloody Horn Great Serpent was actually a fifth-grade ling beast!

How was it possible!

Fifth-grade ling beasts definitely were not something a ningmai could deal with, but at the same time, a fifth-grade ling beast was not something a ningmai could control.

But what was happening in front of them was not an illusion!

The invisible wall that stopped the lightning bomb was a space shield, a space shield that only fifth-grade ling beasts could have! The space surrounding any fifth grade ling beast would naturally form an invisible defensive area, like it was a wall of energy, which people called a space shield!

This was a space shield!

Zuo Mo also recognized it was a space shield. He didn’t have time to think further, the spell on his hands changing with the flow.

Pia!

Like an egg being cracked, the lightning bomb instantly shattered.

Boom!

The compressed hard lightning inside the lightning ball suddenly exploded like an ancient yao beast waking up from its dream. A destructive presence suddenly expanded!

In an instant, a thread of fear came into the icy snake eyes of the Bloody Horn Serpent!

Countless electrical snakes rampaged within the space shield!

The thick body of the Bloody Horn Serpent suddenly started to twist. Second Kong and Third Kong were flicked into the air like bags of sand!

“Bastard!”

“Beast!”

Second Kong and Third Kong were full of anger and fear. They had never thought that the Bloody Horn Serpent would not be under their control! The two of them exchanged a look and did not hesitate in turning and fleeing.

Lei Peng and the other two seemed to wake up from their dreams. They knew it was not the time for their minds to wander. If they were not careful, with this ferocious ling beast in front of them, everyone would die here today.

“Sky Wave Fist!

“Abyss Beast Soul Consuming Sabre!”

“Lotus Flower Fall!”

Three figures crossed as they charged at the Bloody Horn Serpent!

Zuo Mo tightly followed the furiously twisting Bloody Horn Serpent. Strangely, he did not feel any terror.

There was a space shield over every part of the Bloody Horn Serpent. The yin fire bead could not penetrate the space shield, and be fully effective.

Zuo Mo’s face was expressionless, his eyes as deep and serene as water, his two hands slowly rising. His slow movements, in this frantic battle, was abnormally attention-catching!

Chapter 234: Fury and Killing Intent

Lei Peng and the others attacked at the same time.

At this time, they felt the taste of what it was like for Boss’ lightning bomb to not be able to move forward. It was like there was an invisible ball of energy in front of them. The flying swords and sabres in their hands were forcibly blocked. Destructive ling power flooded in, but there was no response, like mud cows entering the ocean.

The three were very shocked. Before they were able to retreat, a force suddenly came. They were not able to control their bodies.

Woosh woosh woosh!

The barrel thick body of the Bloody Horned Great Serpent twisted and turned. Like three sandbags, the three people were thrown about.

Zuo Mo did not raise his head. Every stray thought in his mind had flown away at this time. The arms that he had raised slightly wavered, the movements soft like the ethereal willow branches in the spring.

Hiss!

The Bloody Horned Great Serpent opened its bloody maw, revealing the arm thick fangs covered in saliva. A nasty odor spread everywhere. When the venomous saliva dripped on the ground it would create a bloom of smoke. The almond yellow eyes of the snake were empty, so cold there was no warmth, only the most instinctive desire to kill.

It stared at Zuo Mo, the killing desire in its eyes became even heavier. Just having suffered from the lightning bomb, the Bloody Horned Great Serpent was full of hate towards Zuo Mo.

Hiss hiss hiss!

The snake tail covered in fine silver scales was like a quickly vibrating rattle, giving out a soul-shocking sound as it shot towards Zuo Mo like an arrow! The space shield around the snake tail also vibrated at high speed. Everywhere it passed, the air was cut up into pieces.

The souls of Lei Peng and the others who were still in the air almost left their bodies. They could only see the snake tail! They were only able to see a ball of shadow, a shattered figure like a school of fish made from many little fishes!

All three of them were battle hardened, yet an instinctive terror uncontrollably spread into every corner of their body!

Even if Boss had a ling shield, he definitely could not stop this attack!

The attack of the Bloody Horned Great Serpent was close to the peak of physical power!

There were countless methods in the world, but no matter which kind of power, when they reached the peak, all paths ended up at the same place.

The three felt as though they were in a glacier, the blood in their bodies freezing in an instant. If Boss died, all of them would not be able to survive! The jinzhi on their bodies would restrict their souls instantly!

Suppressing the soreness of his body, Zong Ru forcefully bit his tongue. A thick tang spread in his mouth! Of the three, only he had a thread of energy. He had not wasted his training in this recent while! In blocking this kind of physical attack, dhyana xiu had a natural advantage.

Ling power furiously circulated through his body, moving without regard for the consequences.

He was like a piece of lead, suddenly dropping down. Bam, a figure shot out of the dirt!

He suddenly appeared in front of Zuo Mo, the scattered afterimages at the center of his vision. The frightening rattles did not have any effect on him now.

His mind was empty, focused on one aim, no shock, no joy, no fear, no anger, carefree!

A string of wooden Buddhist beads on his wrist slowly lit up, a warm and deep yellow light covering his entire body.

Inside the light, Buddhist sounds rang, and countless flashing sutra characters swam.

Pew!

The snake tail forcefully whipped the golden light on Zong Ru’s body. The golden light instantly dimmed, and wavered uncertainly like a candle flame lingering in the wind.

The Bloody Horned Great Serpent felt as though it had whipped a burning piece of metal, and hissed painfully, the thick serpent body furiously twisting! Paing! Each bone was in pain, pain that reached the marrow!

Pia pia pia!

The wooden Buddhist beads on Zong Ru’s wrist simultaneously exploded into dust, the yellow light extinguishing. Zong Ru uncontrollably spat out blood and fell backwards!

Before he fell unconscious, he seemed to see two glasslike lights flash.

[Sky Glass Fist]!

Fourteen revolution [Sky Glass Fist]!

The fists that appeared like glass were so detailed that every line could be seen, just the same as Zuo Mo’s fists!

————–

Fear finally slipped into the emotionless yellow eyes of the Bloody Horned Great Serpent. Yet the two fists that were so detailed they look like toys moved silently, but seemed to have a deadly attraction. It could not muster up a thought of dodging.

Bam bam!

The two fists hit its space shield.

There was no earth-shattering sound. Its space shield, which had be so strong and never had been penetrated before, was like a bubble which had been gently poked!

Impossible!

This was impossible!

For the first time, its body was exposed to the outside!

Terror had not even spread through its heart when a non-descript little bead impacted its enormous body.

The almond yellow eyes became blank. A pale coldness furiously spread along its body with astonishing speed.

Hiss!

The Bloody Horned Great Serpent made a sound as though it was being carved by a knife, yet the wail seemed to have been gripped and cut off by something else. It felt darkness flood it and drown it.

———

Zuo Mo’s mind was ringing. He could only hear the sound of his heartbeat, his eyes a blurred. Everything on the outside seemed so illusory, like they were shadows without any feeling of realism. Compared to the illusion of the outside, his body was extremely detailed in his vision. He was able to see the clearly defined channels of various sizes, the blood vessels which were like tree trunks, the strangely constructed muscles, and the ling power spread through his marrow and tendons, and the earth energy that was repairing his body … …

———

Lei Peng and Nian Lu saw the remaining half section of the Bloody Horned Great Serpent, and couldn’t help but gulp, their eyes full of disbelief.

Fifth-grade!

This was a fifth-grade ling beast!

Boss was able to kill a fifth-grade ling beast!

The Bloody Horned Great Serpent had become an ice sculpture, motionless, its entire body was a pale white.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s eyes suddenly shrank. The two stared with terror at the horns of the Bloody Horned Great Serpent!

It was withering away!

Withering away at a rate possible to be seen with the naked eye!

Lei Peng did not know how many fights he had experienced, but the terror caused by the strange scene in front of him was uncontrollable, especially since it was a fifth-grade ling beast. He used all the energy in his body to turn his gaze away.

He didn’t dare to watch!

It was a kind of pale white that was lifeless. It had a strange and abnormal powers. He was afraid he would lose the last of his courage.

When his gaze moved to the other size, he instantly became alarmed. “Boss!”

Boss was still maintaining his stance after the punch!

A bad feeling suddenly rose. Lei Peng furiously flew towards Boss. After Lei Peng’s shout, Nian Lu also woke up. When he saw that Boss was unmoving, his expression changed dramatically!

Crash!

Like a piece of wood, Zuo Mo collapsed head first.

The two flew towards Zuo Mo. The jinzhi on their bodies had not acted. The two felt slightly reassured. That meant that Boss was not fatally wounded.

They could not attend to the Bloody Horned Great Serpent that was withering. One of them grabbed Zuo Mo and the other grabbed Zong Ru before they flew quickly towards the camp. The two didn’t dare to go through the valley. That black gourd had not looked as though it was a harmless object.

The two of them were filled with fear. Who could have thought that two ningmai could summon a fifth-grade ling beast.

A fifth-grade ling beast and a fourth-grade were just separated by one grade, but the difference between the two was a deep abyss that could not be crossed. The space shield was just one of the major differences. Ling beasts fifth-grade and above were completely protected in the space shield. In reality, a space shield was just an area with ling power, a ling power area controlled by the ling beast and had many abilities.

Fifth-grade ling beasts were existences that only jindan could touch.

Overtaking their fear was a furiously burning anger, one that burned to every corner of their hearts.

———

When Gongsun Cha returned to the camp, his face was as dark and heavy as water. He had lost the round! He had killed all the way to fifty paces from the commander of the enemy. Only fifty paces! He was extremely furious. If he only had another small troop of Balloon Fish mo, he could pull the other into the ground with him!

Gongsun Cha did not feel happy at all, it was the his first time he made the mysterious person enter such a sorry state and yet his plan had not succeeded. Even though he would lose every match, even though he should be used to defeat, but even so, he hated failure, had an unparalleled hatred, even if the other was stronger than him, more powerful than him!

This battle definitely had given the mysterious person a shock, but so what? No matter how great the shock was, but it was a defeat. To him, there was no meaning!

Damn It!

Gongsun Cha appeared in the camp with a dark face, and the atmosphere at the camp instantly decreased. Everyone knew they could not provoke Lil’ Miss at this time!

Just at this time, when Gongsun Cha saw Lei Peng and Nian Lu stumble back with Zong Ru, he felt all the blood in his body freeze!

Clang! He felt that his head was hammered and there was a period of blankness.

When the camp saw the wounded Boss and Zong Ru, the camp exploded, everyone’s expressions changing.

Damn it!

Wasn’t this taking their lives as well?

If Boss died, everyone here would not survive! Everyone’s heart was being frantically, their complexions terrible.

“Who f***ing did this?”

“Kill them!”

… …

Gongsun Cha woke up from his daze. He took a deep breath. The energy in his body that had just left came back in a flood. The blood which had just frozen seemed to have suddenly started burning, and rose up!

A blush came onto his face as though the delicate face could drip blood.

“All of you, shut up!”

The anger in his head was like the eruption of a volcano, the burning blood turning to a shout.

The tendons in his forehead, at the corner of his eyes, and his neck bulged like they were earthworms, extremely fierce when paired with his ruddy face!

All the noise in the camp suddenly stopped, and entered a deathly sentence. Everyone was frightened by the fierce Lil’ Miss.

“What happened?”

Gongsun Cha suppressed the boiling fury inside, his voice rough and controlled, like a black cloud covering everyone’s hearts. The deliberate calm of Lil’ Miss made everyone’s heart uncontrollably shudder.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu hurriedly narrated everything that had happened in detail.

When they heard that the two xiuzhe had summoned a fifth-grade ling beast, the camp was full of gasps, and when they heard that Boss had killed this fifth-grade Bloody Horned Great Serpent, everyone gasped.

In the deathly silent camp, everyone dazedly listened to Lei Peng’s trembling voice as he described how the serpent turned a terrifying pale white and then broke down into dust.

“It’s the Kong Brothers under Venerable Chi’s command. Of the same group as the guy who spied on us last time,” Xie Shan opened. “Boss isn’t seriously harmed, Zong Ru has much heavier wounds, and needs to rest for a while.”

His cultivation was the highest, his eyes the keenest and able to accurately judge the wounds. His words caused everyone to relax.

Gongsun Cha’s expression did not turn even the slightest bit better. He generally understood the situation of the Rainbow Mark butterfly.

If Shixiong really met an unexpected occurrence, then he himself … …

He fisted his hands, unaware that his fingernails had cut into his flesh.

He definitely would not forgive himself!

He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. He relaxed his fist and the fingernails came out of the flesh.

“Organize and depart!”

Chapter 235: The Butcher’s Three Section Wave Killing Charge

Zuo Mo laid on the ground, the three Golden Armor Guards by his side.

His body was like a sponge, continuously absorbing earth energy from the ground. Fourteen revolutions of ling power was over his body’s limit. The terrifying ling power had almost destroyed his arms.

The uncontrolled ling power travelled everywhere inside his body. The earth energy was like paramedics, trying their best to repair Zuo Mo’s body.

Destruction, repair, destruction again, repair again … …

Zuo Mo’s body was like a battlefield, the ferocity of battle almost unimaginable. His limbs occasionally convulsed which looked extremely strange. No one noticed that as his body was repeatedly damaged, the impurities in his flesh and blood would be tempered immediately.

The earth energy that came after was like glue that was full of life, reconstructing the broken flesh.

This was just the start.

The Golden Crow Fire was also rampaging. When it was completely free from suppression, it silently spread, merging with the ling power and started a new round of damage of even greater magnitude.

The five element glass bead detected danger, and automatically turned, absorbing ling power from the surroundings. At the same time, threads of pure five element base source were released. They mixed with the earth energy, and repaired Zuo Mo’s body.

The mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s body flickered on and off. The three Golden Armor Guards by his side did not move. They were like statues, standing with their swords, motionless.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s frozen and wooden face started to boil like boiling porridge, appearing extremely frightening.

The Golden Crow Fire and the ling power had entered his face, and started to rampage and destroy. The earth energy and five element base source arrived at their tail, and the two sides started a new skirmish on his face.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s expression was heavy.

The present situation’s complexity was far beyond his predictions, and was outside of his limits to deal with. His blade like narrow lips did not have any of the usual scorn and mockery, only a deep bitterness and helplessness.

After he had escaped the Yao Forging Tower, his strength had started to slip away.

Even though he had predicted it beforehand, but he had not thought that the power would slip away so quickly. His present power was not even a quarter of what it had been when he had first met Zuo Mo.

This bit of strength was not enough to support him, to choose another person to hold his soul.

His expression was unparalleled in its ugliness, ferocity flashing through his eyes. The hatred in his heart had no place to vent. He could only try to think and recall if there was any spell or secret method that was suitable for Zuo Mo’s present situation.

Pew pew pew!

Zuo Mo’s face suddenly exploded, blood and gore flying. His face had been forcibly changed by someone before. There were many blood clots and flesh tumors below his skin. That was the true cause of his paralyzed and wooden face. The Golden Crow Fire and ling power mixed together into a destructive force that swept away these blood clots and tumors.

The earth energy with the five element base source was like a loyal bodyguard. Everywhere it passed, the exposed flesh stopped bleeding, and new flesh grew at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The same battle was happening on every corner of Zuo Mo’s body.

Flesh continuously exploded, and then regrew. Gradually, the blood scabs on Zuo Mo’s body became increasingly thicker.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao was slightly panicked. A thought flashed through his head. When he recalled a previous situation on Wu Kong Mountains, he suddenly turned around his face, and started to swear at the gravestone.

“What are you waiting for?”

The gravestone shrouded in the black clouds suddenly sucked the surrounding black clouds into it.

The black gravestone became even more deep and dark, the surface of the gravestone was black but was as shiny as a mirror.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a shadow moving on the gravestone.

Gradually, the shadow became clear on the gravestone, it seemed like the shadow of a person!

The figure was very indistinct, and the features were not clear. As the figure appeared, a vast presence suddenly appeared.

Pu Yao dazedly looked at the indistinct yet familiar figure on the gravestone. It was as though a body paralysis curse had been cast upon him. He was motionless.

———

“The mountain valley twenty li ahead is Venerable Chi’s base.” Xie Shan was very familiar and naturally knew because he had been in conflict with Venerable Chi for a long time. He was also full of fear. If something really had gone wrong with Boss, he would have died without an explanation.

Gongsun Cha did not hesitate, and said darkly, “Kill!”

As his voice landed, the chisel shaped attack formation of the moving group instantly changed. The two wings spread out like two gigantic claws that viciously pushed forward.

Such a ruckus, the other side naturally was prepared.

Seven xiuzhe flew up and welcome them. One of the people opened and inquired, “You … …”

“Kill!” Gongsun Cha did not have the interest in chatting with the other and interrupted him.

Three little teams were like three bolts of lightning. Without a word, they leapt at the seven enemies.

The seven xiuzhe evidently had not expected that Gongsun Cha would not even give a greeting before starting the fight, and instantly panicked.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

One of the xiuzhe had learned a spell similar to [Sky Thunder Sound]. When he shouted, it echoed through the mountains! The enemy had came brimming with killing intent. The seven people quickly worked together in defense.

This place was their base. If they could hold the other side back for a moment, their reinforcements would arrive. All of the xiuzhe that could survive in Little Mountain Jie were old-timers experienced in fighting. Everyone knew what they had to do, and what they should not do.

“Form the formation!” The leader shouted.

The other six moved into position, their flying swords and talismans out.

But right after, the expressions of the seven changed!

A little team from the other side charged at them with no signs of slowing down!

The three people were like a little chisel, their flying swords in their hands pressed to the maximum, each spitting with long sword energies! The three sword energies crossed and merged, forming a terrifying sword energy two zhang wide, and ten zhang long!

Woo woo woo!

The sound of the enormous sword energy tearing the air shook their souls!

The seven people had never expected the enemy to attack with such determination, without holding anything back! That was insane! While this kind of attack would be powerful, but it meant sacrificing any variation. If the enemy was able to dodge or bear it, these three people would become calves waiting for slaughter.

The seven people unconsciously chose to dodge.

It was unwise to face such a ferocious attack head on.

The seven people that scattered did not realize the formation they had just formed instantly crumbled.

The three people holding the gigantic sword energy were like a enormous and sharp sword, and could easily slice through the seven people. The two other little teams that followed tightly after were like panthers that smelt blood, and silently followed. The seven people that had been scattered were quickly divided into several groups.

At this time, there were xiuzhe continuously flying from the valley into the sky.

Without Gongsun Cha needing to order, the teams on the two flanks started to attack.

Three section wave killing charge!

With the little team as an unit, one wave charged forth after another as though there was no end. Each team would not linger in battle with each charge, and would leave the space for the team behind them.

The three section wave killing charge was the first battle tactic that Gongsun Cha had learned. Up until now, it was the tactic he was most familiar with using. Compared to the past, it really had completely transformed, and was in a completely different style than Pu Yao’s three section wave killing charge.

Pu Yao’s three section wave killing charge emphasized strength. It was like a heavy hammer thirty thousand catties heavy, using force to break technique.

Gongsun Cha’s three section wave killing charge emphasized transformations. It was especially skilled at dicing and dismembering the enemy.

If Pu Yao’s three section wave killing charge was a large hammer, Gongsun Cha’s three section wave killing charge was like a little hammer and a little knife. He first used the knife to dismember the enemy, then used the little hammer to smash the pieces. In terms of brute power, his three section wave killing charge was far from Pu Yao’s, and many places were raw and in need of perfecting, but in terms of efficiency, he had reached a certain standard.

Several little teams continuously charged and killed among the ranks of the enemy like sharp daggers!

Dismemberment, it was the work butchers were most skilled at.

The former butcher coldly stared at the chaotic battlefield like he was looking at the corpse of a ling beast. The pathways for each slice was so clear in his eyes.

He continued to pass down orders of minor adjustments through the Same Heart Necklace. He had left the Golden Armor Guards behind to protect Shixiong. The target of the Same Heart Necklace had therefore switched to the little teams. Under Gongsun Cha’s continuous adjustments, the entire team was like a fine-tuned machine, working faster and cooperating better.

Compared to the scattering and looseness of the enemy, the xiuzhe under his command maintained three people battle units. This caused them to always have the advantage of numbers in battle.

After a while, Gongsun Cha stopped his adjustments, looking at the battlefield without a word.

They had securely taken control of the battle!

No matter if it was in terms of battle tactics or in strength, the xiuzhe under his command held the advantage. This recent while had been a period of rapid growth for those xiuzhe. With large supplies of jingshi, the Black Processing Meditation mat, and the engraved formations, each person’s strength had received a certain degree of improvement.

With the fury of almost having died without knowing, with Lil’ Miss’ dark stare like a blade at their backs, every team went crazy. No one dared to keep anything back, and no one would do so.

Xie Shan stood guard next to Gongsun Cha. As the person with the highest cultivation in the camp, he had been promoted to Lil’ Miss’ bodyguard.

If it had been in the past, for the life of him, he would not have believed that he would act as someone’s bodyguard one day. Much less a person who was so young and only of zhuji cultivation.

However, he felt no discontent right now. Looking at the xiuzhe to his side that was in control of the battlefield and the dazzling battle tactics, he sighed in admiration.

This was skill! Skill that he definitely could not possess!

In this chaotic time, individual power was so insignificant. This kind of skill meant true power!

He looked with slight sympathy at the xiuzhe who were working to resist on the battlefield. Xiuzhe dropped frequently from the sky like kites who had their string suddenly cut. Falling down from such a high elevation, unless it was a dhyana xiu skilled in body cultivation, other xiuzhe had no chance of survival.

Venerable Chi raised his head to look at the sky, his face ashen.

Just a few more days … …

He had not expected the other to have attacked them at their base at such a crucial time, and had not expected the other to be so powerful, and for his own subordinates to not even stand up to one attack.

He recognized Xie Shan who was far away, but his gaze landed more on the young person standing next to Xie Shan.

He knew that he had no chance of flipping the situation.

“Let us surrender!”

Venerable Chi said three words that he didn’t dare believe he said.

Chapter 236: New Life?

Surrender was a very normal matter in Little Mountain Jie. It was extremely hard to survive here. The result of fighting to the end was injuring both sides. Once a group’s power was damaged, they would quickly be swallowed up by another group.

Surrender became an implicit agreement between the factions in Little Mountain Jie. Those that did not understand how to surrender died quickly. Those that did not accept surrender also died quickly. Fight and surrender was the bread and butter of life. There were all kinds of people under Venerable Chi’s command. In Little Mountain Jie, anything like loyalty was an illusion, no one would speak of it.

Seeing the situation was not to their benefit, it was normal to him that the remaining people would surrender.

———

Xie Shan suddenly went next to Gongsun Cha’s ear and said something in a low voice. He was very joyful inside. He hadn’t expected Venerable Chi to have something as good as this!

Gongsun Cha’s face was dark as he listened to the end without saying a word.

Just at this time, the surrounding xiuzhe suddenly shifted restlessly.

Noticing the shock and fear on everyone’s eyes, Gongsun Cha raised his head to follow their gaze. His pupils suddenly shrunk, his dark face changing instantly.

At some unknown time, the blue sky where the sun was shining brightly was filled with stars of various sizes.

There was none of the brightness of the stars at night time, but every single one was extremely distinct. Even the blinding sunlight could not steal their light.

Gongsun Cha felt a bone-piercing cold rise from the bottom of his feet.

“So strange! Why would stars appear in the daylight?” Someone asked with puzzlement.

“Dunno. It’s an apparition, probably not anything good.” The person responding was full of worry.

Everyone discussed in low voices. Even those xiuzhe who had surrendered and were tied up put their attention on the sky above their heads.

Gongsun Cha did not say anything. His entire body felt cold, his limbs numb. It was like there was a heavy rock on his chest.

Stars in Daytime!

He did not know what its appearance really meant, but he clearly remembered the first time he saw the Stars in Daytime in Sky Moon Jie, the nightmarish terror that made his bones tremble.

Now, Little Mountain Jie had a repeat of Stars in Daytime.

For some unknown reason, terror took over Gongsun Cha’s body. He forced himself to lower his head, tearing his gaze away from the strange sky.

After a while, his feelings calmed. Such a strange apparition definitely had nothing to do with him, why should he care? His attention landed back on the xiuzhe who had surrendered.

The other xiuzhe had calmed down after than Gongsun Cha did. In their minds, even the strangest apparitions could not compare to the enormous change in Little Mountain Jie.

Seeing Gongsun Cha’s attention land back on the xiuzhe, Xie Shan hurriedly asked, “What to do with these people?”

“Kill them,” Gongsun Cha’s expression was calm as he lightly said.

“Kill all of them?” Xie Shan was startled and asked instinctively.

“What?” Gongsun Cha tilted his head to look at Xie Shan.

Meeting Lil’ Miss’ calm and slightly delicate gaze, Xie Shan’s heart froze as he unconsciously avoided the gaze.

Gongsun Cha’s orders were loyally carried out. However, everyone’s faces were slightly unnatural. They were shocked at Lil’ Miss’ viciousness. Killing was extremely normal to them. Who hadn’t killed? But massacring captives … …

But when they saw the calmness on Gongsun Cha’s face, no one dared to speak.

From beginning to end, Gongsun Cha personally watched as all the captives were killed, his eyes not even blinking. That was truly killing without blinking! Xie Shan’s scalp felt numb. The faint and bashful smile on Lil’ Miss’ face made him only have one thought – run!

Suppressing the urge to turn and run, he was full of regret. Why had he showed off? Now, he was Lil’ Miss personal body. Xie Shan’s mouth felt bitter.

Gongsun Cha clapped, the usual shy smile on his face. “Everyone performed well today.”

No one made a sound.

“Five teams stay and guard here. Everyone else, return to camp, now.” He did not look at the corpses on the ground, turning and leaving.

———

Clear Sky Sect was built on top of a snowy mountain, the jie river roared past here as it entered Sky Water Jie. Among the white snow, tall towers stood, all of them built from second-grade snow crystals, extremely extravagant! Six thousand steps of ice stairs curved down the mountain. At the bottom end of the ice stairs was a crystal tablet made from a whole piece of snow crystal seven zhang tall. Written on it in cinnabar ink were two bright words – Clear Sky.

At this time, Clear Sky Sect was a mess.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know! Old Forefather rang the warning bell!”

“Then something major definitely happened!”

“Stop wasting effort guessing. Let’s move faster. We’ll be punished if we are late.”

Disciples of various ages hurried to the big hall. In a short while, all the disciples had gathered, an entire patch of silent black. The sect leader and others were standing on the side.

On the meditation mat at the very front was a xiuzhe whose hair was loose. He was wearing a snowy-white robe, appearing about forty or so. He was Clear Sky Old Forefather. The remaining and only jindan of the Clear Sky Sect.

Clear Sky Old Forefather slowly started to speak, his voice clear.

“Just now, there was a worldly apparition. Stars in Daytime, it is an inauspicious omen.”

Once the words came out, the crowd fell into a fervor. Many people had seen the Stars in Daytime just now, but no one had expected that even the Old Forefather was also alarmed.

“Send someone to investigate!” Clear Sky Old Forefather said, his words absolute.

“Yes!” The sect leader lowered his head in compliance.

“How are the recent supplies?” Clear Sky Old Forefather asked, “Have the ling grains from Hundred Flower Alliance been delivered on schedule?”

The sect leader said respectfully, “They have been delivered at the scheduled time. They hope that they can trade for some third and fourth-grade gold element materials, and have given extremely generous prices. They are willing to use a batch of third- and fourth-grade talismans to trade. They are also willing to give Old Forefather a sixth-grade Begonia Lantern in tribute.”

Clear Sky Old Forefather said in a deep voice, “Hundred Flower Alliance are skilled in entering the path through flowers. I have heard of their Begonia Lantern before, it’s not a bad talisman. However, they want gold element materials, not wood element materials?”

“Yes, this disciple does not understand, but they are truly purchasing gold element materials,” the sect leader responded.

Clear Sky Old Forefather thought and then said, “Send them a reply. Find a place inside the jie to open a market and sell ling grains. Get Hundred Flower Alliance to send a group of xiu slaves. We will sell them to other people, and use ling grains to purchase materials.”

“Old Forefather is wise,” the sect leader flattered.

“How many ningmai disciples does our sect have?”

“Old Forefather, there is one hundred and twenty people.”

“Too little!” Clear Sky Old Forefather shook his head, “Go recruit a group of ningmai and make them the Outer Hall. Their job is to take care of the affairs of the jie.”

“Yes!”

“You shall personally go to Sky Water Jie.” Clear Sky Old Forefather thought and then said, “You are to do two things on this trip. The first matter is to see if there is a chance to meet and ally with other factions. The other is to buy a secret paradise to become another home for the sect. Disciples of the sect who show promise shall all go to the second home to cultivate. If our sect can have a few more jindan, this Little Mountain Jie will become our backyard.”

“This disciple understands!” The sect leader was full of admiration. Old Forefather was a visionary. If these matters could be accomplished, Clear Sky Sect’s rule of Little Mountain Jie could not be shaken.

The ling energy of Little Mountain Jie had withered, but the mines had not been exhausted. It was more than enough for this one jie to support Clear Sky Sect!

“Do not worry. I will stay and guard for you.” Old Forefather waved his hand.

———

Zuo Mo’s vision was completely black, a rank odor continuously burrowing into his nose.

Where was this?

Had he died?

That wasn’t right, he hadn’t died.

After thinking for a while, he finally recalled fighting with the Bloody Horned Great Serpent.

That big guy was truly strong. Fear still lingered.

Impulsiveness was really a flaw! Why had he not managed to control himself? He made a deep self-reflection, and built his resolution that he would turn and run the next time he met something like this.

It had seemed as though that he had killed the big guy, he thought back uncertainly.

Many of the memories were blurry. After thinking for a while, he had not discovered anything.

Itchiness occurred all over his body, pulling him from his memories. His attention came back to the question of where he was.

He did not move, but controlled his consciousness. After he started practicing [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation], it had become his habit to always use the consciousness to investigate when he encountered something.

Hm!

Why was it like this?

If he did not clearly know that this was his body, he definitely would not believe the body in front of him had any connection to him.

It was full of vitality!

Extremely dense vitality!

The earth energy inside his body was so thick it was almost in liquid form, and flowed through every corner of his body. A blooming vitality, strong life force. Zuo Mo could clearly feel that intoxicating feeling.

What shocked him anymore was that he could not find any bit of familiarity with the body.

Blood, flesh, sinew, bone … …

It was completely unfamiliar. It was like a brand new body, a new and perfect body.

At the same time, he found the shell that was tightly covering his body! So strange, why would he be inside a shell?

He reflexively pushed out. Pia, the shell cracked. Light streamed through the crack. It was slightly blinding. Fresh air flowed into the shell. Zuo Mo felt it was unspeakable pleasurable. He greedily breathed in and pushed out!

Bam!

The shell instantly shattered into pieces and flew in all directions.

Zuo Mo stood naked in the air. The fresh air, the bright light, it made him feel like he was reborn.

It really was comfortable. He could not help but breathe in deeply.

At this time, he finally noticed the Golden Armor Guards standing nearby with their swords. So he had came back to camp. His heart relaxed.

Suddenly, he detected many people were flying near on the outside. It was Gongsun Shidi. He bent his head and scanned his bare body, instantly paling.

“Who took off ge’s clothes?”

He hurriedly found a set of ling armor inside the ring and rapidly put it on.

Just as he finished dressing, the door opened with a bang. Gongsun Cha rushed in with a group of people.

Gongsun Cha narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”

Zuo Mo stilled, his heart discontent. “Shidi, you don’t even recognize me?”

Gongsun Cha’s expression froze on his face. The other people also had strange expressions like they had seen a ghost.

The response from everyone made Zuo Mo realize something. He unconsciously reached to touch his face.

It was like his hand had been bitten by a snake, shrinking back lightning fast. His expression changed dramatically!

This feeling was not right … …

Without another word, his hand flipped, and a ball of mist floated at the center of his palm, quickly turning to a smooth water mirror.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck.

Book 4 - Zou Mo's Counterattack

Chapter 237: Reconstructing The Body

On the water mirror was an unfamiliar face.

“What the!” Zuo Mo jumped in fright, and then rubbed his face in curiosity before turning and inspecting in the mirror. After a long look, he made a final conclusion, “Alright, much better than before!”

His heart felt slightly reassured. A rock in his heart landed. This face was not handsome, but at least, his nose was a nose, his mouth was a mouth.

Truthfully, this face was slightly average, almost immature. Bald head, thick brows, and thick lips. His body was also thicker than before. He looked like a nice and obedient child.

Was this what he had really looked like originally? He was puzzled, and then saw a puzzled expression on the face in the water mirror. He felt slightly unnatural. He had become accustomed in the past years to that zombie face that could never have an expression, and used to hiding his thoughts under that zombie face. Now, his expressions had become more varied. The emotions inside naturally could be expressed on his face. He felt it was extremely strange.

With curiosity and novelty, he stared at the unfamiliar yet vivid face in the water mirror.

He decided to ask Pu Yao if this was his original appearance. This question was extremely important to him.

Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo’s hand, and when he saw the several dimensional rings, he released a breath. It really was Shixiong! Seeing Shixiong’s appearance, he also knew that something had happened. At this time, Shixiong needed quiet. He made a silent gesture, and took everyone else to retreat out. Changing appearances was not a rare matter for xiuzhe.

Once everyone left, Zuo Mo entered the sea of consciousness and found Pu Yao.

“What happened? How come I look like this?”

Pu Yao glanced at him, and sneered, “Don’t pretend in front of him. I had not expected the two of you to team up and scheme against me.”

“Team up? Scheme?” Zuo Mo was confused.

“I do admire you. You really have guts. Reconstructing the body, even those great mo may not dare to try. You really have the guts. I had underestimated you before.”

“Reconstruct the body?” Zuo Mo’s confusion grew.

“I had found it strange before why you would so easily agree to the drawing of earth energy so easily,” Pu Yao narrowed his bloody pupil, speaking to himself, “I should have thought of this earlier. How could you not know that my injuries needed earth energy? You were waiting for me here a long time ago. You are as cunning as you always were!”

Zuo Mo was able to hear that Pu Yao’s last two sentences evidently were not directed at him.

He was not dumb. Listening to Pu Yao’s words, he got a general understanding. Pu Yao’s “you” should be the gravestone. The more he listened, the colder his heart became. He suddenly recalled the “Do as he asks.” He had a feeling that Pu Yao’s speculation was not unbased.

Neither the yao or the stele were good people!

But when he thought deeper, he quickly realized it. If it was not for this yao and stele, he would not have reached the level he was at now. He probably would not having even successfully entered zhuji. It was like doing business. Each side had their own aims. Even the smallest of benefits would not drop down from the sky. As to risk, what business had no risk?

“I get the general gist of reconstructing the body,” Zuo Mo directly asked, “Is this my original appearance?”

His words not having the effect he intended, shock flashed across Pu Yao’s mind. Didn’t this guy hate being used the most? However, he did not linger on this question. It would cause the opposite effect if he said too much.

“Of course not,” Pu Yao’s answer was very definite. “After reconstruction of the body, all of your appearance would change. The greatest cause of danger in this kind of mo skill is here. All the bone, blood and flesh of your body would be broken up, processed and then reformed, making up for your natural deficiencies, making a powerful body.”

Zuo Mo pointed at his face and said, “In other words, this face now has no jingshi of a connection with my previous one?”

“Exactly.” Pu Yao was slightly cheerful at the misfortune. “Not just not having a connection at all, your entire body has been broken, all the remaining traces have completely been destroyed. In other words, the clues from before are gone now.”

Zuo Mo stilled.

“You had three clues in your hands. Changing features and erasing the mind would leave behind two clues, one was on your face, the other is on your spirit. There is one more, the five element glass bead in your body. Oh, you only have two clues now.”

Zuo Mo’s expression was very strange, completely different than what Pu Yao had expected. He couldn’t help but ask, “Are you not unhappy that you have one less clue?”

“I’m alright,” Zuo Mo’s tone was slightly complicated. He shrugged his shoulders. “At least, I’m alive. This business is not unprofitable since I kept my little life.”

Pu Yao was speechless.

“What are the benefits of this body?” Zuo Mo quickly came out of his emotions and asked with anticipation. Having heard the scarce words of Pu Yao, it seemed the new body was very powerful.

Pu Yao’s expression froze. He could not suppress it any longer, furiously shouting, “I didn’t do this, it’s none of my business!” before turning and leaving.

Zuo Mo stilled, and then roared with laughed. He felt good about getting one over Pu Yao, the lingering depression in his heart sweeping away.

———

Leaving the sea of consciousness in a good mood, he suddenly thought of Zong Ru. He remembered that Zong Ru had fended off the last attack for him. If not for that shield, he would have been heavily injured.

He hurriedly found Gongsun Shidi, and asked about Zong Ru’s injuries and then rushed over.

Zong Ru sat with his legs crossed, his face white as paper, his presence extremely low. Lei Peng and Nian Lu were worriedly sitting beside him. Seeing Zuo Mo come, the two of them hurriedly stood up.

“How are the injuries?” Zuo Mo abruptly asked.

Nian Lu grimaced, “His channels were injured. It would take a period of time to recover.”

“To heal channels, this is third-grade Spring Dew Dan, specifically for channel injuries. Oh, third-grade Primary Energy Dan, not bad for recovering energies. Third-grade Primary Replenishing Dan, restoring the body … …”

Nian Lu and Lei Peng gaped at the pile of lingdan.

After seeing Zong Ru, Zuo Mo remembered the Rainbow Mark butterfly that he had forgotten in the mountain valley. He called for the Rainbow Mark butterfly through the beast service card, but to his disappointment, the Rainbow Mark butterfly did not reply. If the energy of the Rainbow Mark butterfly was not still present, he would have assumed that the Rainbow Mark butterfly had died of poison.

Since the Rainbow Mark butterfly was still alive, he felt slightly reassured. Without the use of Rainbow Pupil, the black poisonous mist inside the mountain valley was enough to take his little life. He instantly discarded the thought of going to inspect the mountain valley.

He burrowed back into his room, and started to investigate his new body.

———

There was a question that puzzled Gongsun Cha, the fifth-grade ling beast was in the hands of the two ningmai. It had to be said that fifth-grade ling beasts were able to enter the ranks of high level ling beasts. They were not something that ningmai could command. How could it not be a puzzled how one appeared in the hands of two ningmai?

He was extremely attentive, and called Nian Lu and Lei Peng over to ask for the details.

“It’s the Kong Brothers.” Luckily, he had Xie Shan who was familiar with Venerable Chi’s base. He explained. “The Kong Brothers had managed to discover a secret technique from somewhere, if the three worked together, they can summon a fifth-grade Bloody Horned Serpent. They were the strongest helpers of Venerable Chi. Supposedly, the secret technique they found was not complete. The fifth-grade ling beast they summon is not truly fifth-grade, and can only be considered a quasi-fifth-grade beast. The reason that the Bloody Horned Serpent escaped control might be related to us having killed Big Kong.”

Even Xie Shan would never have thought that his speculations perfectly matched what had actually happened.

Gongsun Cha felt that it was plausible. To say of nothing else, the power of a fifth-grade ling beast definitely was higher than three ningmai xiuzhe. If this secret technique did not have any flaw, no one would have survived.

Suddenly, someone hurriedly ran in. “Head, head!”

The subordinates usually called Gongsun Cha Head, and Zuo Mo Boss.

“What is it?” Gongsun Cha asked. He wondered inside, did something else happen?

“A female xiu was floating in the river, the brothers pulled her out.”

“Female xiu?” Gongsun Cha stilled. It took a long time for him to react. After leaving Wu Kong Mountain, he had not encountered female xiu again.

In cultivation, there was no difference between female and male. Many sects even took only female disciples. The only type of cultivation that had a difference was probably the dhyana xiu which cultivated their bodies. Females loved beauty, liked their skin snowy white, and had no interest in bronzed skin and hard bones. Supposedly, Little Mountain Jie had female-only factions.

“ Let’s go see,” Gongsun Cha did not hesitate in saying .

When Gongsun Cha hurried to the camp, he quickly saw this female xiu. More accurately, it was a wounded female xiu.

“I say, she is just a bit too ugly.” Gongsun Cha did not realize how malicious his words were as he said in shock.

“Really.” Xie Shan agreed empathetically, nodding his head.

The unconscious female xiu was seriously injured, the hair flowing free, her entire body giving off a nasty smell. Her face was full of crusted scabies. She was dressed in a torn and white robe, not much different from a beggar. Her feet were bare, her legs patched in bruises.

Zuo Mo had hurried over when he heard the news. His expression was serious due to Pu Yao’s words.

“She’s been infected with yao poison.”

“Yao poison.” Zuo Mo’s expression became slightly ugly. “You mean that she was wounded by the yao?”

“Exactly.” Pu Yao, who had felt that his status had become threatened lately did not hold anything back anymore, not forgetting to show off at anytime. “This is a very common yao poison, made from Green Thorn Vine. They used this thousands of years ago. I hadn’t thought they would still use it.” At the end, he did not forget to review like he usually did. “Did they live one thousand years more for nothing?”

Zuo Mo did not pay attention to Pu Yao. He suddenly raised his head. “Where did she float from?”

Xie Shan stilled and then ran to ask the xiuzhe who had discovered the female first. After a while, he pointed at a direction on the river. “Floated from there.”

Gongsun Cha also reacted at this time. The two of them exchanged a look. Sky Moon Jie!

That direction, it was the direction of Sky Moon Jie!

This female xiu had escaped from Sky Moon Jie. The two of them were extremely shocked. Their present position was not far from the jie river. However, this female xiu was the first person that they had found who had escaped from Sky Moon Jie. Without a doubt, the yao army had locked down the jie river. It was not hard to accomplish. They only needed to send a troop to occupy Desolate Wood Reef, and then they could secure the jie river.

This female xiu was very strong!

Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha exchanged another look with the same idea, getting the other on their side. To say of nothing else, this female xiu’s power was not of a normal ningmai to be able to break through the blockade. Even more, all of them came from Sky Moon Jie, this made the two people feel slightly closer to her.

Having made a decision, Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao, “How do you neutralize the poison?”

Chapter 238: Sonic Lightning Walnut

“How is it?” Gongsun Cha looked into the room, and then sat next to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo shook his head. “I don’t know. She has been seriously wounded before, not just this once. It is a miracle that she is alive right now.” He had some admiration for her. When he had inspected the female, he had been stunned by the dense layers of hidden wounds inside her body. Was this woman like Wei Sheng Shixiong, and also a battle maniac?

“It would be better if she looked prettier.” Gongsun Cha smacked his lips.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. “Do you want to find a female xiu?”

“No, that’s not it,” Gongsun Cha explained, his face serious. “To be easy on the eyes.”

“Tell me, what’s so good about women? Why does everyone like them?” Zuo Mo recalled the paper crane female’s “illusory formation” that made blood rise.

“Shixiong, you don’t know this?” Gongsun Cha looked in disbelief at Zuo Mo. Gongsun Cha covered his forehead and sighed. He then adjusted his attitude to that of an experienced person, and began to lecture Zuo Mo in a heavy voice, “Shixiong, I may not be as good as you in cultivation. But if we are talking about the understanding of women, this little brother has a little bit of skill.”

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. He hurriedly said, “Tell me.”

“Women, the most important part is beauty, beauty like jade, voice like the wind, with a tantalizing fragrance that one cannot pull themselves away.” Gongsun Cha’s face was intoxicated, but he quickly said in a heavy voice, “But, Shixiong, you have to remember, you should just look at women. My master said that you can only look at women, but cannot touch them. We shall just look at them.”

“Oh, so it’s like that,” Zuo Mo nodded, still confused.

“It really is wonderful to meet someone from Sky Moon Jie.” Gongsun Cha sighed, “There is only the three of us. It’s better to have one more person.”

Zuo Mo was silent as he thought of previous matters. After a while, he asked, “Where’s Cheng Shidi?”

“Where else could he be? He’s always at the beast pool. Soon, he will accomplish his goal and cultivate into a ling beast. Hee hee,” Gongsun Cha mocked.

“It’s good as long as he likes it.” It might have been the string of occurrences recently, but Zuo Mo had a much more open perspective on many matters.

“En.” Gongsun Cha nodded. It would not be outrageous to say that their situation was a precarious one. They might have won a few victories, but these hundred something people could not rank up there in the entire Little Mountain Jie.

What they were doing right now, was it not what they liked? The deepest impression he had after learning how to command was that he had wasted his days before.

He suddenly thought of an urgent matter. “Shixiong, where do you think this yao army came from?”

“Came from?” Zuo Mo was stilled, struck silent by Gongsun Cha’s question. He thought and said, “Probably Sky Water Jie, Little Mountain Jie only has two jie rivers, they could only have come from Sky Water Jie.”

Gongsun Cha’s handsome face was full of worry. “But if they came from Sky Water Jie, would the yao army have let go of Clear Sky Sect? When we were at Desolate Wood Reef, they didn’t even say a thing before attacking.”

That was right. If the yao army really came into Little Mountain Jie from Sky Water Jie, any power that would have been guarding the jie river would have been destroyed. Zuo Mo didn’t believe that the yao army would make an exception for Clear Sky Sect.

“Maybe Clear Sky Sect had captured the jie river entrance after the yao army passed?” Zuo Mo thought of a possibility.

“I had asked Xie Shan and the others, but the Clear Sky Sect has always guarded that place,” Gongsun Cha said.

Zuo Mo felt a wave of cold seep up from the bottom of his feet. “Is there another entrance to Little Mountain Jie?”

“I don’t know.” Gongsun Cha shook his head.

———

This question was extremely important. Zuo Mo immediately went to find Pu Yao.

Pu Yao said in a deep voice, “The yao army should have entered from a chaos rift.”

“Chaos rift? What is that?”

“Each jie would have several entrances. The most frequently seen are the jie rivers. But other than those passageways, there usually would be some very small rifts, these are chaos rifts. However, most jie masters, after they have taken control of the jie, would find these chaos rifts and seal them to prevent others from taking advantage of them.” Pu Yao was very familiar with this kind of knowledge.

“Are there many chaos rifts?” Zuo Mo ‘s expression was slightly ugly. If it really was a chaos rift, then that meant the yao army could appear at any time.

“I don’t know,” Pu Yao said, “each jie is different. However, there is one point. The reason that chaos rifts have the appellation of chaos is that the laws inside the rifts are chaotic and non-existent. The higher the level of cultivator, the greater the effect it has on them. Little Mountain jie is one of the smallest kinds of jie. If it really has a chaos rift, it probably could only allow ningmai xiuzhe to pass through. Yaomo will be similarity constrained.”

Hearing this Zuo Mo was completely certain the yao army had entered Little Mountain Jie from a chaos rift. He had found it strange before that the yao army’s average cultivation had not been high despite the organization it showed. The individual strength had been comparable to ningmai. So it was not that they did not want to send experts, but they could not send them.

“How do you find a chaos rift? Can we block it off?” Zuo Mo asked with fear in his voice. A danger that was known but could not be seen was the easiest ones to cause terror.

“The surroundings of a chaos rift will usually have some attributes. Due to chaos, chaos which is not divided into yin and yang, not into the five elements. There would not be any earth energy, nor ling power. Xiu, yao, and mo will all be suppressed under chaos. Oh, it would also be empty and barren. No beast can survive in the area around a chaos rift, there will be no plants or animals, nothing living,” Pu Yao streamed on. At the end, he added, “There are also some secret methods that can detect them, but I don’t know them.”

———

Zuo Mo left the sea of consciousness. He narrated what Pu Yao had said.

Gongsun Cha was very calm. This answer was not far from his own speculations. He only asked a question, “Is the area around the chaos rift suitable for ambush?”

“Theoretically, it is very suitable.” Pu Yao responded of his own initiative. However, he could only speak to Zuo Mo, “But tell him to end the thought. Even the most exhausted lion is not one sheep can defeat. What he commands are the sheep of the sheep.”

Zuo Mo was speechless. However, he still tactfully passed on Pu Yao’s words.

Gongsun Cha’s expression was slightly ugly, but he also knew this was the truth. He was very clear about what the people under his command were like. Even though they had formed the beginnings of an army under his training, but it was far from being able to compete with a fully mature army like the yao army.

Zuo Mo also had no solutions for this problem.

However, this also increased the determination of the two people to quickly defeat Clear Sky Sect’s blockade. That was the only ray of hope for survival.

“Is there any news of yin fiend grounds?” Zuo Mo asked. The power of the yin fire bead was greater than he had imagined. Such a big monster as the Bloody Horn Serpent had been turned to dust upon impact. It really was out of Zuo Mo’s expectations, and increased his desire to find yin fiend lands.

The strength of fifth-grade ling beasts were on the same level as jindan. Even though the bloody horn serpent was only semi-fifth-level, but a power that could kill it would have some effect on a jindan.

Gongsun Cha was also clear about the power of the yin fire bead, and had been extremely attentive to this matter. He said, “Nothing yet, but I will focus on it. Right, after getting rid of Venerable Chi’s bunch, we got something good.”

“What something good?” Zuo Mo’s mind became alert as he asked.

“A maturing fourth-grade Sonic Lightning Walnut tree. The fruit is almost mature. Venerable Chi had been guarding it all this time, but it landed in our hands,” Gongsun Cha smiled shyly.

“Sonic Lightning Walnut! Fourth-grade!” Zuo Mo’s eyes widened as he gasped.

Seeing Shixiong drooling, Gongsun Cha giggled, “Yes.”

Shixiong’s expression was so vivid now! Gongsun Cha wanted to laugh.

Zuo Mo rushed into Venerable Chi’s mountain cave. The place was heavily guarded at the moment. Gongsun Cha was also clear about the value of a fourth-grade Sonic Lightning Walnut. It was a treasure beyond any price.

A stalk of a non-descript walnut tree twice the height of a person. The crown was filled with green fruits, the skin of which was covered in silver dots.

There was no thick ling energy, no blinding light. This tree looked extremely normal. It was hard for people to relate this tree to a fourth-grade Sonic Lightning Walnut tree.

“This Venerable Chi has some good eyesight! Normal people won’t have recognized it.” Zuo Mo greedily stared at the sparkling green fruits on the tree.

“Now, it is all ours.” Gongsun Cha did not have a good understanding of the value of the Sonic Lightning Walnut. He only knew that this tree was somewhat rare and very expensive.

Zuo Shixiong always was bursting with interest towards anything that was rare and could be sold for a good price. He himself was also very happy. He knew better than anyone else the expenses that was spent on the training he had ordered. He felt it was a good beginning that he could create revenue for Shixiong.

Having had a sweet taste, Gongsun Cha wondered if it was time to speed up the steps to create revenue?

Pia, a mature fruit fell off the branch.

Zuo Mo hurriedly put out a hand, the fruit flying into his grasp. He gently brushed with his hand and the skin and flesh was taken off, revealing the silvery sparkling walnut on the inside.

This was the famed Sonic Lightning Walnut!

Zuo Mo’s eyes was intoxicated as he pulled the Sonic Lightning Walnut in front of him.

This Sonic Lightning Walnut was slightly smaller than a normal walnut, appearing to have been made of pure silver. It was extremely heavy, the abundant creasing on the surface released the occasional spark of lightning. Zuo Mo’s hand was covered in a thin layer of ling power. Otherwise, he would be injured by the lightning of the Sonic Lightning Walnut.

“So this is the Sonic Lightning Walnut? It’s pretty beautiful.” Gongsun Cha crowded over. “This can probably sell for a good price!”

“Sell?” In a reversal of his usual attitude, Zuo Mo furiously shook his head. “We aren’t going to sell even one! This is something that you can’t even buy if you had the jingshi.”

His consciousness scanned the sparkling silvery Sonic Lightning Walnut in his hand as he sighed inside. The Sonic Lightning Walnut naturally contained abundant amounts of hard lightning. It was a natural talisman that could be used immediately. At present, Zuo Mo was lacking high attack power moves. These Sonic Lightning Walnuts had come at the perfect time!

With his thrifty and prudent personality, he naturally was not so stupid as to use the Sonic Lightning Walnuts directly. He also quickly discovered that, while the Sonic Lightning Walnut contained abundant hard lightning, but the kernel inside the hard husk could contain even more hard lightning.

If hard lightning was used to continuously temper it, the power of the Sonic Lightning Walnut would continuously increase.

For other people, it would not be easy to find hard lightning, but it was as simple for Zuo Mo as raising his hand.

[Yang Fiend Hard lightning], a fourth-grade hard lightning, was perfect for tempering the Sonic Lightning Walnuts.

Zuo Mo looked at the branches drooping with green fruits, and the strong feeling of happiness made him dizzy.

“Mine! All mine!”

The cave echoed with the balderdash of a miser.

Chapter 239: Yao Visiting Wu Kong

Compared to the past Wu Kong Mountain, if one went there now, weeds grew all over the mountain, the ling fields were barren. Occasionally, little wild animals poked their heads out from the weeds.

“It is in this area.”

Listening to the report from her subordinate, Mu Xi stepped on the overgrown path as she walked up the mountain.

“Which sect used to possess this site?” She asked.

“It is a sword practicing sect called Wu Kong Sword Sect.” The middle aged man had clearly done large amounts of work, introducing in great detail. “Wu Kong Sword Sect is one of the most accomplished sects of Sky Moon Jie. They became extremely famous in the last two years. At the beginning, they had four jindan of unordinary power.”

“Oh, such a little place, it is really abnormal to have four jindan,” Mu Xi said in surprise.

Yan Feng sneered unconcernedly.

Mu Xi ignored him, and said to the middle aged man, “Continue.”

“These two years, they have expanded extremely quickly. Presently, they have almost ten jindan in the sect.”

Surprise flashed through Mu Xi’s eyes. “Almost ten jindan?”

This time, surprise was also on Yan Feng’s face. They were only the forward guard. Almost ten jindan would be enough to be of threat to them. He was arrogant, but having successfully came out of a yao art house, he naturally was not stupid.

“Other than this, their second generation disciples are extremely outstanding, dominating Sky Moon Jie. The Eldest disciple Wei Sheng entered ningmai at twenty, and his talent at the sword is even more astounding. Having already reached the step of sword essence manifestation. Second disciple Zuo Mo is extremely skilled in formations. Third disciple Luo Li has also reached ningmai, and created his own sword scripture [Self Separation].”

“A very strong sect!” Mu Xi’s expression changed.

In the past years, the yao had increased their understanding of the xiuzhe. It would not be surprising for this information contained in the report to be referring to an intermediate sized sect. But it really was astounding for it to be reported from a little sect in such a little and backwater jie.

Yan Feng also had a shocked expression. He had always been proud of his genius. He had been deal a great blow by the news that someone had reached ningmai when they were twenty years old, and had reached the level of sword essence manifestation!

They walked to a lonely little wooden house. This little wooden house was extremely eye-catching. As they had walked up, weeds had covered everything. But the empty ground around this little wooden house was bare and had no weeds.

Such an eye-catching and strange place naturally could not escape their eyes. Mu Xi stared at the little wooden house for a while, standing motionlessly at her spot. The other people saw that Mu Xi did not move, and did not dare to more either. Seeing the situation, Yan Feng snorted coldly, and did not hesitate to walk towards the wooden house.

The middle aged man couldn’t help but look at Mu Xi with a questioning expression.

Mu Xi waved her hand with a faint smile.

When Yan Feng’s right foot stepped onto the empty ground, his head rang, all the hairs on his body standing up on end!

The scene in front of him suddenly changed. That normal looking wooden house suddenly broke, everything in the surrounding space seemed to collapse, an invisible force seemed to pull him downwards, countless sharp and intimidating sword essences pushing at him from all directions!

He paled, then his eyes turned bright red, flames erupting all over his body!

He gathered all the energy in his body, and pulled his body out to retreat!

As he left the empty ground, the frightening scene disappeared. The invisible force, the sword essences, they were like illusions. Yan Feng swallowed in terror, not daring to put away the flames on his body as he looked with fear at the lonely little wooden house.

“This is the site of cultivation for a very powerful sword xiu.” Mu Xi slowly walked beside him, and opened, “Every bit of the ground here has been permeated with sword essence for a long time. It is vicious and sharp, nothing can grow here. Each step that you take forward, the sword essence grows stronger. At the end, there is only two endings. One is that you are torn to pieces by the sword essences, the other is all the sword essences have been destroyed by you.”

Yan Feng’s complexion was pale. Since they had entered Little Mountain Jie from the chaos rift, it had been smooth sailing, and he had not encountered any proper resistance, causing him to have a low opinion of xiuzhe, assuming that the xiuzhe were just so. Only now did he suddenly realize, to his shock, that the strong masters of the xiuzhe were so terrifying!

Yan Feng’s unusual silence greatly satisfied Mu Xi. She did not do this just because of Yan Feng. She had discovered a mood of underestimating the enemy invading the ranks earlier. This was fatal to a vanguard that had entered the deep of the enemy.

Her subordinates looked with shock at the barren ground and the wooden house.

She turned, and saw the pride in her subordinates’ eyes had faded greatly before she asked the middle aged man expressionlessly, “Are there any potential targets?”

The middle aged man said respectfully, “From the time of the Stars in Daytime, the time that Daren had came to Wu Kong Sword Sect should have been before Wu Kong Sword Sect’s expansion. Before their expansion, there were not many people in Wu Kong Sword Sect. Since Daren had caused the Stars in Daytime, this daren probably was seriously wounded. With that, it is unlikely that Daren had taken over a jindan’s body. What is more likely are the second generation disciples.”

Mu Xi did not interrupt. After he finished, she thought and then asked, “Who do you feel is most suspicious?”

“Wei Sheng!” The middle aged man did not hesitate.

“Why?”

“Wei Sheng is the most talented, and can give Daren the greatest aid!”

Mu Xi shook her head. “I do not think so. If you are wounded and have to hide in someone’s body, what would you consider?”

Hearing this, the middle aged man became silent for a moment before saying, “In this subordinate’s view, the first is safety, the second is to speedily recover.”

“You are not wrong,” Mu Xi said then continued, “Wei Sheng’s talent is the greatest, and the primary target of the sect’s attention. It is easy to slip up if one is not careful. Therefore, residing in his body is not a wise choice. If it was me, I would chose Zuo Mo or Luo Li. They are not as attention-catching as Wei Sheng yet they also received good support. It is also certain that the attention they receive is less than Wei Sheng. No matter if the goal is either to control or to tempt, it is much easier.”

The middle aged man was full of admiration. “Daren is wise!”

“Where is Wu Kong Sword Sect now?”

“Supposedly, they have already moved to Bright Wave Jie,” the middle aged man answered. He had an expression of difficulty while he spoke, “With our strength, it is unlikely that we can take down Bright Wave Jie.”

Mu Xi was not angry, smiling and saying, “Bright Wave Jie is a intermediate jie. Of course, we cannot conquer it. Our mission has almost been completed. Take the information you have gathered, and our speculations to make a report. Just send it back. There will be people who will naturally take care of the rest.”

“Yes!” The middle aged person said respectfully.

Yan Feng’s expression had recovered. When he heard Mu Xi’s words, he was still somewhat discontent. “Then what are we doing here?”

“Us?” Mu Xi smiled, “After working for so long, it’s time for a vacation.”

Yan Feng was speechless.

———

Zuo Mo’s body was filled with strength. This new body gave him too many unfamiliar surprises and feelings. It progressed extremely rapidly in body cultivation. Without too much effort, he had entered the stage of three mountains. As he moved, he felt his entire body was filled by a bountiful power. It was an extremely pleasurable feeling.

What surprised him the most was the mo matrix Pu Yao had carved into his body had completely disappeared when his body had been reconstructed this time. However, for some unknown reason, there were some new formation-like patterns on his body. These patterns were not as complex or as strange as the mo matrix appeared, but was filled with a kind of man-made formation beauty.

However, Zuo Mo was still uncertain as to whether these patterns were formations. They required time to study.

Other than his body cultivation that reached three mountains, the other breakthrough was his abhinna which had not formed for a long time.

His abhinna was related to his eyes. This had not changed when he had changed into a new body.

[Ling Eye]!

The only ability of [Ling Eye] was to detect the flow of ling energy.

He was not able to use [Ling Eye] for a very long time at the moment, because his eyes would become extremely dry and sore. But even so, [Ling Eye] was a great surprise to him. Maybe other people would not care about [Ling Eye], but for him, [Ling Eye] was perfect.

It was a great boon to him to be able to see the flow of ling energy when he studied formations!

There were many explanations for the abhinna. Dhyana xiu thought that it was wisdom from Samadhi, the abhinna was wisdom. Pu Yao scorned this explanation. He thought it was the awakening of the base source of power of the flesh.

But there was a point that both sides were in a strange consensus on – an abhinna would grow. However, no matter if it was Zong Ru or Pu Yao, they did not know how to cultivate an abhinna.

Zuo Mo was not in a rush. He still had the simplest and stupidest method, learning through familiarity. When he had the time, he would use the [Ling Eye], and only stop when it was too sore to bear.

The reconstruction of his body had given him improvement in all areas. Other than body cultivation and the abhinna, the improvement in all other areas were extraordinary.

The new ling channels were even stronger, and grown wider by half of what they were before. The bones were like jade, strong as steel. The muscles were like metal, hardness concealed within the flexibility.

Every time he inspected his new body, Zuo Mo could not help but sigh. Strangely, he felt awe towards the gravestone. Such an astonishing method, it could be called uncanny craftsmanship, like stealing the sky and changing the sun!

He could not think of what kind of person could have such ability. This ability completely destroyed all he knew.

However, he put this awe deep into his heart. He cultivated without rest or food. Right now, he had such good conditions. If he wasted it, it would be so unprofitable! The talent that this new body had was something he could not imagine before.

Just as Zuo Mo was furiously cultivating, Gongsun Cha took the group of xiuzhe and started a similarly furious expansion.

———

In three months, Gongsun Cha took the group of xiuzhe and went through four hard battles!

In the hardest battle, even Ma Fan and Xie Shan were wounded. Even Gongsun Cha was almost killed.

But this battle had completely awoken the madness under Gongsun Cha’s shy and delicate appearance. Just as everyone’s wounds had healed, he took fifteen battle units, chased for eight hundred li, conquered a faction, and captured eighty xiuzhe.

After four fierce battles, the number of xiuzhe on Gongsun Cha’s hands quickly grew to an unprecedented four hundred and fifty people. With one step, they became the biggest power within three thousand li.

Lil’ Miss’s infamy quickly spread. The strong offensive power displayed by this faction of mysterious origins made people look. After a string of dazzling fights, everyone understood this troop was not a friendly one.

In an area three thousand li in diameter, all the scattered xiuzhe had been swept away by Gongsun Cha, and he did not leave behind one. In other words, in this enormous area, other than Gongsun Cha and the others, there was no one in any other place.

However, after a succession of victories, Gongsun Cha’s mood was extremely terrible because he heard a piece of news.

Chapter 240: What Was Going On?

Gongsun Cha found Zuo Mo and faithfully told him the news he had received.

The further he listened, the uglier Zuo Mo’s expression became.

“This Clear Sky Sect is truly too evil! They want to use all of Little Mountain Jie to feed only them!” Zuo Mo was extremely furious, but he quickly calmed down. “We need to move faster! The longer it takes, the harder the days will get. When this Outer Hall of theirs truly stabilizes, they would have many fighters. If we want to charge out, it would be much harder.”

“En!” Gongsun Cha nodded his head heavily, a flash of anger in his eyes. Clear Sky Sect’s actions was equal to farming the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie as though they were ling beasts. When it was time, they would be no different than those xiu slaves.

“I have a solution,” Zuo Mo said after some thought.

“What solution?” Gongsun Cha asked hurriedly.

“They sell ling grains, we’ll sell Black Processing Meditation mats!”

Gongsun Cha was slightly puzzled and spoke, “Wouldn’t it be too much of a waste if we sell the Black Processing Meditation mats to them? At that time, the price of jingshi in Little Mountain Jie would inflate dramatically.”

“Sell!” Zuo Mo said hatefully, “We won’t just sell, we’ll sell in large quantities! As long as the Black Processing Meditation mats are sold, the noose on everyone’s necks would not be so tight. If Clear Sky Sect cannot finish establishing the status quo, all of their past effort would be for nothing. When Clear Sky Sect discovers that it is us who ruined their business, they would definitely come to our doors. Hee hee, wait at leisure while the enemy labors, this way, we can set a trap for them! A strong dragon does not suppress the local snakehead. On our territory, it isn’t up to them how things are done.”

Gongsun Cha’s eyes instantly lit up.

The two of them discussed for a long time inside the room, dark snickers occasionally passing out of the room.

———

Lei Peng, Xie Shan, and the others found to their surprise that Head’s mood today was very good, the shadow on his face seemed to have been swept away. Usually, when Lil’ Miss’ mood was good, everyone had easier days.

However, before they had time to be happy, they heard Lil’ Miss announce that, from today onward, training was multiplied!

Wails rang out into the landscape!

Fortunately, the xiuzhe who made it through the cruel battles were not resistant to harsh cultivation.

Truthfully, what everyone wanted the most was access to that sword formation. Every xiuzhe that came out of the formation would go into seclusion. Up until now, several had comprehended sword essence after entering the sword formation. Something this good that went against the common knowledge was naturally very tempting to many. However, there were too many monks yet not enough porridge. The sword formation only allowed for one person to cultivate at a time. Gongsun Cha had a headache over the matter and could only use it as a part of the rewards for service.

Seeing the busy camp, Gongsun Cha sighed. If there was more time, he would definitely have made a true elite force.

It was a pity what they lacked the most was time.

When they charged out of Little Mountain Jie, he would find Shixiong, and make a true troop.

Having tasted what it was like to be a battle general, it would be really bland if he had to do something else.

However, what was going to happen next really filled him with anticipation!

———

After giving many matters to Gongsun Shidi, the amount of matters Zuo Mo had to attend to made his scalp prickle. The crux of this plan was Black Processing Meditation mats, and large amounts of them.

It was not difficult to make Black Processing Meditation mats, but the volume was too large. In the recent while, Zuo Mo had used up all the spare time he had outside out of cultivation to make Black Processing Meditation mats. The amount needed now was much higher, and he did not have an assistant. He needed to complete all of the work by himself.

This clearly was not realistic!

He decided to pick some xiuzhe who had the basics of forging from the camp to help him. What surprised him was that there were more than fifty people of the four hundred and fifty who knew the fundamentals of forging. Zuo Mo only understood after he asked. These xiuzhe mostly had no sect, and after they entered ningmai, they naturally had good days. However, before they entered ningmai, they were no different than any other low level xiuzhe.

Basically, everyone had a skill. Ling farming, animal husbandry, forging, etc. Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha gaped at the variety.

However, even though most of them had learned the basics and had spent longer on forging than Zuo Mo had, but due to the lack of a systematic education, they had only done some very basic jobs. After ningmai, they had not done much.

There were two who were exceptions. One of them was called Ji Wei, the other Sun Bao. The two had made a living from forging before the change in Little Mountain Jie. Their skill in forging was much higher than Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo treasured the two of them when he found them.

He even managed to take out the Golden Crow Fire and allowed the two of them to absorb it.

It was like the two of them had been hit with jingshi from the sky, they were so happy they almost fainted. Golden Crow Fire! This was Golden Crow Fire! The two had schemed and made countless efforts, but had never found a fire seed that could satisfy them.

So when Zuo Mo threw each of them a mini box and told them that a thread of Golden Crow Fire was sealed inside, their hands shook so much they almost dropped the boxes.

Other than happiness, the two deeply felt the importance Boss placed on them.

It was not a joke!

This was Golden Crow Fire!

Fourth-grade fire seed!

The fire seed that any person in forging or dan-making dreamed about!

Yet before the two of them were able to feel smug, they saw Zuo Mo pick out ten more people with the highest skill in forging, and give each of them a mini box!

Ji Wei and Sun Bao were dumbstruck, their expressions as though they had seen a ghost!

It was not just them. When the ten people had been picked out, they had been looking with admiration at the two. Now, they were holding the mini box, a stunned expression on their faces, their minds completely blank.

The remaining xiuzhe were also completely stunned. The temperature of the room rose dramatically.

“Work hard!” Zuo Mo waved his hand like a show off. Taking in everyone’s gazes, it was like he had eaten ginseng fruit, his entire body unspeakably comfortable.

There was no way around it, ge just has a lot of Golden Crow Fire!

This group of xiuzhe that had been dissatisfied at having been transferred over to a new troop started to furiously work as though they had been shot with chicken blood. Their enthusiasm with work made Zuo Mo jump in fright. They wouldn’t die from working this hard, right … …

Zuo Mo taught the formations of the Black Processing Meditation mat to Ji Wei and Sun Bao. When Zuo Mo finished teaching them, the two were motionless as though they were two pieces of rock.

From then on, the two had truly been convinced.

———

Zuo Mo concentrated solely on his work. When he raised his head in rest, he noticed that a person was standing in the doorway. Hm, he gave a surprised expression, and stopped what he was doing.

“You woke up?” asked Zuo Mo. The other person was just standing there. He didn’t know how long it had gone on.

This female xiu stood there woodenly as though she had not heard him speak.

Had she become stupid due to her injuries? Zuo Mo muttered inside.

“What are you called?” he probed.

The female xiu did not respond.

“Did your injuries really turn you stupid?” Zuo Mo rubbed his chin as he thought. He decided to try one more time. “Are you hungry?”

The female xiu still did not react.

Seeing the female xiu’s face that was full of scabies, Zuo Mo was suddenly filled with empathy. He remembered his past zombie face.

When she had been unconscious, Zuo Mo had checked. Her face did not have any disguise. The scabies on her face were caused by a certain kind of poison inside her body. Adding on the new and old inner wounds that could not be counted, Zuo Mo felt it was a miracle she was still alive.

After the last try had failed, Zuo Mo had a bit of headache and could only give up. “Do whatever you want.”

He didn’t feel the other understood, but right now, he had too many things to do. Even though the creation of the Black Processing Meditation mat had been basically given to other people, but he still had other work.

Any complete plan was constructed of many conditions.

He decided to do his own work. When he turned to leave, he heard footsteps behind him. This female xiu followed behind him without a word.

Zuo Mo instantly felt his temple start to hurt.

“Hey, there’s no jingshi you can earn by following me!”

“I don’t have the time to play with you, go play by yourself.”

“There really is no jingshi to be earned!”

“I’m warning you, if you don’t stay far away, I won’t be polite to you!”

Zuo Mo pretended to cast a spell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the female xiu’s movement, and his pupils sudden expanded. The other had also raised a hand. A light flashed at her fingertip, the air in the surroundings suddenly became sticky!

Motherf*****!

Zuo Mo’s soul almost ran out of his body. He hurriedly released the ling power in his hands, hurriedly saying, “Let’s just talk … … let’s just talk … …”

The female xiu still did not say a word, but followed Zuo Mo, the light at her fingertip dissipating. As she lowered her arm, the air in the surroundings returned to normal!

“Such a powerful little girl!” Pu Yao’s shocked sigh sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind, but when Zuo Mo heard it, it clearly had a hint of laughing at his misfortunes.

Zuo Mo had no solution. He basically could not communicate with this female xiu. As to attacking? When he thought of that terrifying light, Zuo Mo’s heart shook. The last bit of hope was destroyed.

“If you want to follow, then follow!” At the end of his rope, Zuo Mo muttered.

“Hahahaha!” Pu Yao’s roaring laughter, and the silence from the female xiu made Zuo Mo suddenly feel that life was dark.

The xiuzhe in the surrounding all looked with fear at the female xiu behind Zuo Mo. The strength that the female xiu had just displayed made everyone jump. Zuo Mo perceptively noticed that in these people’s eyes, other than terror and fear, there was a hint of disgust.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt uncomfortable inside.

But he also knew this was a normal response. When he had first seen the female xiu, he had also been frightened by the scabies on her face.

He randomly picked out a black ore from the pile of material and summoned the Golden Crow Fire before throwing the ore inside. The burning Golden Crow Fire instantly melted the ore into a puddle of red metal liquid. Zuo Mo’s mind moved, and it appeared as there was an invisible force that pulled the metal liquid. The metal liquid slowly changed shape.

The female xiu stared at the Golden Crow Fire and metal liquid.

After a while, a mask appeared on Zuo Mo’s hands.

The black mask was very plan. There were no patterns or decorations. What was most strange was the ratio was slightly off, the right and left sides of the mask were not symmetrical. Zuo Mo instantly felt slightly embarrassed. “Oh, first time making a mask, my hand was raw, raw! Oh, let’s redo it … …”

He was just going to remake one when a great force pass into his hands from the mask and then the mask flew into the hands of the female xiu.

The female xiu put on the mask.

“Oh, let’s remake that one,” Zuo Mo rubbed his hands and said embarrassedly.

The right and left sides really were not symmetrical … … Heavens! He had made such an elementary mistake! Looking at the strange looks from the subordinates in the surroundings, he wanted to find a hole in the ground and hide in it.

This was a great embarrassment!

The female xiu did not say a word, and seemed to not have any intentions of taking off the mask.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo perceptively gave up on his plan of making another one. He tried to do his own work and found the female xiu did not disturb him. She only stood there like a person made out of wood.

Zuo Mo gradually became used to her.

However, there was a question that was swirling in his mind.

This, what was going on?

Chapter 241: City Construction

Nan Sheng Village. The damaged walls had been reconstructed and it only took a span of a few months for this place to recover its prosperity.

Large numbers of xiuzhe had been transported over. This place also purchased all kinds of ore and other materials, but most importantly, this place sold ling grains, but it was limited. Just this was enough to cause all of Little Mountain Jie to shake.

———

Just as all of Little Mountain jie’s eyes were on Nan Sheng Village, a crowd of people appeared soundlessly in a mountain valley.

“We’ve searched. There are two jingshi mines here. The jingshi produced here is not high, only third-grade. This area used to belong to Sky Star Sect. Sky Star Sect did not manage to avoid the calamity, and there were heavy fatalities. The other people have disappeared.”

“Other than jingshi mines, there are three more mines in this area. They do not produce much. The primary product is Bright Flash Rock, Black Ling Stone Bead, and Greenwater Stone. The primary producer of Greenwater Stone comes from that pond right there. It is called Sky Star Lake.”

Xie Shan had done a large amount of work to research all of this.

Zuo Mo gave a satisfied expression. “Let’s choose this place!” He then asked, “What about the surrounding powers? Have they been investigated?”

Gongsun Cha smiled shyly and timidly, “They have all been destroyed.”

It was not the first time he saw Gongsun Cha smile shyly like a teenage boy, but the coldness in Xie Shan’s heart still could not be controlled. Gongsun Cha’s trademark timid smile was called “Lil’ Miss’ Slight Smile” in the camp, and all of them were afraid of it as though it was a snake or scorpion.

The female xiu wearing the black mask stood behind Zuo Mo.

This female xiu that had suddenly appeared had attracted everyone’s attention. However, no one dared to challenge her. Even Xie Shan was intimidated by her powerful strength. Xie Shan, whose cultivation had reached ningmmai third statum and was a step away from jindan, but even he did not have the courage to face the mysterious female xiu.

Many people had been secretly speculating if the female xiu was a jindan.

No one dared to ask, even Boss could not get her to speak. No one believed their face was bigger than Boss’.

Looking at the female xiu that was always steps from the Boss, they felt that is was pretty good. With such a powerful guard, Boss wouldn’t encounter any danger. This meant they did not have to worry that Boss would accidentally die, and they would collectively die as well. Dying without understanding why was an extremely depressing thought.

Zuo Mo did not have a solution to her following him. The female xiu was of unknown origins, and Zuo Mo naturally did not want her to overhear such secret information. But there was no way around it. The difference between their strengths was too large, his resistance was not effective.

Even someone like Pu Yao praised her with “powerful.” Her martial strength quickly rose in Zuo Mo’s mind to an unprecedented level. In his memory, Pu Yao had never called someone “powerful.”

Unable to communicate and not daring to attack, this was like the mouse pulling the turtle, unable to do a thing! Zuo Mo decided to let it go, pretending that she was air, as he went about his own business. The only thing worth celebrating was that she did not speak, nor make a fuss. Other than being slightly creepy, there were no other inconveniences.

He found it strange. He didn’t believe that she was going to help him for the rest of her life because he had saved her. But no matter how puzzled he was, it was clear that he would not find out the truth at the moment, so he could only go with the flow.

If the other held malicious aims against him, no one in the camp could stop her.

Zuo Mo could only comfort himself like so.

He decided to put his attention on what was in front of him. “In other words, this is ours now?”

“En.” Gongsun Cha nodded his head, and then added, “No one to compete with us.”

At the side, Xie Shan almost choked on air. That was a waste of words, of course no one was competing with them! Gongsun Cha had taken the group and conquered an area two thousand li in circumference, all of the powers had been plucked out one by one like they were nails. Even the xiuzhe who were hiding in the caves had not been let off. Lil’ Miss had sent out many small teams that combed the entire area.

“Great!” Zuo Mo’s eyebrows danced.

The people around him that were used to seeing his zombie face felt extremely unadjusted.

Boss’ face was more and more lively!

As they muttered inside, Xie Shan and the others waited for Boss’ next words.

After Lil’ Miss had left Boss’ place last time, the series of signs had shown that Boss was going to do something big!

It had to be said that Gongsun Cha had been very successful in his transformation of this group of lawless ruffians. The string of victories had increased their confidence, and the harder battles had tempered them and helped them complete the transformation. This troop, having been effected by a battle maniac like Gongsun Cha, always showed great offensive strength and desire for battle.

Having guessed that there was something big coming up, this group of people were full of anticipation!

Reality proved their speculation was correct.

Lil’ Miss had personally led the troops and carried out a blitzkrieg operation. All the powers in the area two thousand li in circumference around Sky Star Mountain were almost all taken out in the span of one night.

This was exhilarating for this group of battle-maniacs. The series of performance rewards, especially the spots for the sword formation, caused everyone to yearn about finding another eyesore and having a big battle!

———

“Then let’s build a city,” Zuo Mo sent down the order, but Xie Shan and the others stared at each other.

“Boss, you said to build a city?” Xie Shan probed.

“Yes. Build a big city. We are going to stay here for a while,” Zuo Mo said in a matter-of-fact voice.

“But we don’t know how to build a city!” Xie Shan frowned.

Zuo Mo rubbed his chin. “Oh, that is a problem.”

Very quickly, the camp received a second round of skill selection. With the example of the first round of selection before them, the qualifying round this time filled many people with anticipation since the reward from the first round had been a very enviable one.

Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire!

But quickly, everyone exchanged looks in silence.

Build a city?

The ending was, no one knew how.

A headache instantly started. He knew how to make formations, but setting up formations and building a city were two different things. If the plan failed now, he would not be satisfied. He said to Gongsun Cha, “Send some people out to investigate where there are xiuzhe who know how to build cities! If they find one, no matter the method, they have to get the person back here.”

The first thing Gongsun Cha did after returning was to gather everyone together.

“Who knows where there would be xiuzhe that know how to build cities?”

After continuous battle, the number of xiuzhe in the camp had rolled like a snowball and reached seven hundred and thirty people. However, the true core of power, and the ones with highest attack power were the one or two hundred people that had been there since the beginning. The remaining xiuzhe needed time in order to become offensive fighters.

The benefit of more people was more information.

As expected, several people provided some related information. Gongsun Cha instantly sent people out to investigate immediately. The cataclysm in Little Mountain Jie had been very severe. Much of the information that had been provided were things they had known from before. Many were useless information that needed to be further investigated.

Just as Zuo Mo and the others were in a panic, Nan Sheng Village had opened.

———

He Xiang looked at the waves of people on the street with ambition. He felt his future prospects were a road of light. When he had heard that Clear Sky Sect had been hiring for the Outer Hall, he had went over at the first possible time.

After having survived so laboriously in Little Mountain Jie for so long, no one knew better than he did what the xiuzhe here needed, and were willing to pay for it. He had especially provided large amounts of suggestions to the sect, and received a good appraisal from the Old Forefather. He had personally been appointed by the Old Forefather as the Chief Elder and became one of the most important people in Little Mountain Jie in one step.

He had not failed Old Forefather’s hopes. He worked hard and diligently. His contribution in helping reconstruct Nan Sheng Village in just a few months could not be erased.

A few days ago, they had tried to sell ling grains. However, that was just the beginning. What would come next were the interactions with the different factions. That was the most important part of this battle which had no death. As long as he could handle these interactions cleanly, no one could shake his position as Chief Elder of the Outer Hall.

With the great weapon of ling grains in his hand, he was full of confidence about the upcoming battle!

———

Sky Moon Jie, a non-descript mountain valley was abnormally silent.

A figure landed from the sky. In a blink, it disappeared into the mountain valley.

This xiuzhe then appeared at the bottom of the valley. The bottom was covered in dense layers of jinzhi that would make people’s scalp prickle. It continued on for a long distance, and it was possible to see that the person who set down the jinzhi was an expert. It was not possible to see a hint from outside the valley.

This xiuzhe made his practiced way through the alarming jinzhi without even looking. With a few twists and turns, he headed straight to a cliff face.

The cliff face rippled and the person disappeared.

The scene instantly changed inside.

A seemingly borderless grass plain, a winding river. No one would have ever thought that such a large grass plain could be hidden in a mountain valley.

Secret realm!

If someone saw such a strange place, they would have shouted in shock!

This was a secret realm!

Entering the secret realm, this xiuzhe’s expression instantly lightened. The thick ling power made him feel unspeakably comfortable. He flew straight towards the big river. There was a camp there.

A few xiuzhe flew out of the camp in welcome.

“Haha, you came back!” The xiuzhe in the welcoming entourage smiled as he gave a greeting. “Must have been difficult!”

“No way about it.” The xiuzhe who had just flown in said helplessly. “Got stuck with this mission. You guys have it easy, it seems you have made pretty good progress!”

“Haha!” All of the xiuzhe had proud expressions. “In the time you were gone, another two people entered ningmai. The ling energy here is just too thick!”

“That’s so good!” This xiuzhe was somewhat jealous.

“After this mission, you don’t have to worry and can just cultivate.”

“Hee hee, that’s true.”

“Quick, Leader is waiting for the news!”

“En!”

The people instantly increased their speed as they flew towards the camp.

After landing, this xiuzhe instantly went to a tent.

“Come in!” A deep male voice.

He hurriedly walked into the tent, and respectfully bowed to the male inside. “Daren, I have come back.”

“It must have been great trouble for you!” The male inside the tent raised his face and said in a warm tone.

If Zuo Mo saw this person, he would definitely recognize who it was.

Bo Feng, the mysterious competitor that had appeared at the Sword Test Conference, a person of mysterious power. It had been him who had bought the location of the secret sect from Zuo Mo.

He had actually stayed behind in Sky Moon Jie!

Chapter 242: Bao Yi

“When did Nan Sheng Village become this prosperous?” Lei Peng looked around, full of curiosity.

It was not just him. The other people were also looking around with curiosity. The news that Clear Sky Sect was opening a market at Nan Sheng Village had passed through Little Mountain Jie already. The intentions of Clear Sky Sect was clear in everyone’s minds. However, the situation was stronger than the people, and resistance would be ineffective.

Large numbers of xiuzhe flooded Nan Sheng Village, causing Nan Sheng Village to become the most prosperous area of Little Mountain Jie. This was of great help to Lei Peng and his procession. From every angle, their procession was not too eye-catching.

The leader was Xie Shan. Xie Shan had past experience as a leader, and he was skilled in creating relationships with people. Gongsun Cha had appointed him as the leader of the troop for this mission.

After seeing the many wonders of Boss and Head, and after multiple bloody battles, Xie Shan’s mentality had changed greatly. The little thoughts that he had before had faded. He was clear that even if he was the leader, he could not reach the present level of success. Lei Peng and the others were willing to follow Zuo Mo not because they had been conquered by Zuo Mo’s dominating aura, but because they found that their present lives were better than before.

For the great majority of people, this was enough.

The procession was fifteen people. The person with the highest cultivation was Xie Shan, ningmai third stratum. The person with the lowest cultivation was Nian Lu, ningmai second stratum. At a glance, this group did not show any signs of power.

But Xie Shan was full of confidence in the mission this time.

All fifteen people were old-timers of the camp, and were very good at teamwork, but what made him so confident was that all fifteen people, including him, had comprehended “essence!”

Xie Shan had led many xiuzhe before, and had never encountered such a strong group. No, he had never even heard of one. There wouldn’t be so many xiuzhe that had comprehended “essence” in Clear Sky Sect’s disciples.

Fifteen xiuzhe that had comprehended “essence,” this was definitely a terrifying amount of power!

He felt strangely excited every time he thought that he was leading such a group.

Before the appearance of the sword formation, there had only been five xiuzhe in the camp that had comprehended sword essence. Up until now, there had been thirty people that had gone into the sword formation, and nine that had comprehended “essence!” Of the nine, eight had comprehended sword essence, and Lei Peng, who practiced a sabre scripture, comprehended a sabre essence. The one with the most unique situation was Zong Ru. Zong Ru had recovered from his previous wounds, and naturally comprehended fist essence. He was the only person of the group who had comprehended “essence” without going through the sword formation.

This was another reason why these people were willing to follow Zuo Mo. Nothing could be more persuasive to these people than the increase in strength. Why did they join big sects? It was to increase their strength, and breakthrough at an earlier time. Due to personality issues, most of these people had negative experiences with other sects. They were very clear of the scheming and plotting that occurred inside the bigger sects.

In the camp, as long as you put your best in to train, and were not afraid of death when you fought, you would receive a corresponding reward. With spells, talismans, the sword formation, and formations, everyone’s strength was flying ahead.

These fifteen xiuzhe who had comprehended “essence” were the elite fighters of the camp. Xie Shan believed that as long as they did not encounter a jindan, their safety was guaranteed.

Xie Shan did not worry about the problem of safety at all. What he was thinking about was if he could finish the mission more beautifully.

But before that, he planned on visiting a familiar acquaintance of his.

This old acquaintance of his was called Bao Yi who was a black market business man that could buy anything. Before, he could always get some ling grains, and was famed in the profession.

“Boss Bao,” Xie Shan cheerfully gave a greeting. To avoid attracting unnecessary attention, he had come alone.

Bao Yi was both thin and tall like a stick of bamboo. When he saw Xie Shan, his eyes instantly lit up as he said in a warm voice, “Head Xie, what wind blew you here? Come in, please sit! Please sit!”

———

He had made a few transactions with Xie Shan before. The two of them were quite familiar with each other. He knew that Xie Shan had about one hundred people under his command. Customers like this were primary targets of attention. However, it had been quite a long time since Xie Shan had come. He had actually feeling that it was a pity since he had assumed that XIe Shan had been killed. He hadn’t expected the other man to still be alive. For him, this was a good matter.

“Why is it so empty here?” As Xie Shan walked in, he looked around and asked in puzzlement.

Bao Yi’s face instantly wrinkled. “Oh, there’s nothing to do. Now that Clear Sky Sect has come to directly trade, the business of us little people have become harder.”

“Oh, isn’t the Clear Sky Sect doing large business?”

Bao Yi explained, “Clear Sky Sect only does transactions with big factions, but it isn’t possible for anyone to do business with small groups. Without jade disks, it is impossible to buy ling grains.”

“With Boss Bao’s skill, getting a few jade disks should be easy.” Now, Xie Shan was really puzzled. Bao Yi’s network was extremely complex and broad. He had ties with people from all levels of society. It should not be hard for him to get a few jade disks.

Bao Yi grimaced, “When a person is unlucky, they will even choke on water. The Chief, Elder of Clear Sky Sect Outer Hall, He Xiang, and I had a little conflict in the past.”

Xie Shan finally understood. He acted to frown. “So it’s like that. Then this won’t be easy to do.”

“Yes, exactly.” Bao Yi’s face was mournful as he sighed. “I had come to Nan Sheng to see if there were any good opportunities. It’s a coincidence that Boss Xie is also here. After two more days, I’m leaving.”

He managed to rouse his spirits. “Does Boss Xie want to buy something? I have a bit left, not too much, but the quality isn’t bad. If Boss Xie is interested, I can give a price and you can take the lot.”

———

Xie Shan’s mouth continued to talk as his mind whirled furiously. If Boss wanted to build a city, then he wanted to do something big. He was not ignorant. He knew that it was not so easy to build a city. This Bao Yi might be a bit black-hearted but he was an expert at business who also had hate towards Clear Sky Sect.

It was the first time Xie Shan had been given an important task. Naturally, he wanted to perform well. If he could accomplish a great service, Boss probably would not refuse him if he went and asked for a thread of Golden Crow Fire.

The mission this time was to find xiuzhe that knew how to build a city, but if he could find some more talents, wouldn’t his service be greater?

He had been a leader for a period of time, and naturally understood more as to how to think of problems from the perspective of a leader.

———

Seeing Xie Shan did not seem to be interested in his wares, Bao Yi’s heart became even more bitter. This recent while, the matter of He Xiang and he having previously had a conflict had somehow passed around. His business had instantly dropped and no one came to his doors. How could he not know what had gone on in the shadows?

“If this place does not want to keep ye, there naturally are places that can keep ye! Old Bao, there’s nothing to be said about your abilities. We’ve made more than one transaction before, and we know each other very well. What about it, do you have any interest in helping this brother?” Xie Shan smiled cheerfully as he looked at Bao Yi.

Bao Yi gazed with slight shock at Xie Shan. Xie Shan had spoken so plainly that he knew what it meant. But it was that bluntness that shocked him. Xie Shan might have one hundred people, but in Little Mountain Jie, that was only a little faction. Right now, his tone was so grand, had Xie Shan struck it rich?

He was very familiar with Xie Shan and knew that Xie Shan was not an arrogant and irrational person.

As he thought inside, Bao Yi asked in return, “Does Boss Xie not care about worsening your relationship with Clear Sky Sect?”

Xie Shan chuckled. “Old Bao, don’t probe. I dare to say this because I have some certainly.”

Bao Yi’s expression became slightly wary. “If this little brother goes, what will I do?”

“Of course it is to do your old occupation, business.” Xie Shan thought for a beat before saying, “However, I don’t dare to promise you. It depends on what Boss is going to say.”

Boss! Bao Yi was shocked. There was someone else behind Xie Shan! It definitely would not be a weak power if it had managed to take in Xie Shan. He examined Xie Shan, and saw the confidence that naturally spilled out when Xie Shan mentioned his boss. Also, this power did not seem to be very afraid of Clear Sky Sect. This puzzled him. He could not think of any power in Little Mountain Jie that was not afraid of Clear Sky Sect.

Xie Shan was a clever person. Seeing Bao Yi, he knew what the other was thinking, and roared with laughter, using his words to enlighten Bao Yi. “Why is Boss Bao wavering? I cannot think of any situation that is worse than the present one!”

Bao Yi thought, that was right, what could be worse than his present situation? Since the other already knew he was on bad terms with Clear Sky Sect yet still dared to hire him, then he had to have some form of support. He had some savings but everyone knew how that he and Clear Sky Sect were on bad terms. They probably had already started scheming against him.

Clear Sky Sect might restrict fighting in Nan Sheng Village, but if he was robbed, it was very likely that Clear Sky Sect had been acting against him up in the shadows.

After thinking it through, he did not hesitate any longer. “Since Boss Xie holds Bao Yi in such esteem, I’m not one to not recognize what is good for me. From now on, please take good care of me!”

“Ha ha! That’s fine, fine!” Xie Shan’s mood instantly rose.

Bao Yi smiled. “We didn’t come here this time for the ling grains, right?”

The word “we” instantly tightened the distance between the two people. Xie Shan was very satisfied that Bao Yi had entered his role so quickly. He raised a thumb up at Bao Yi. “Old Bao is so smart. Boss heard that many xiuzhe were gathering in Nan Sheng Village, and told me to come to see if we can hire some talents.”

He decided to reveal some information to Bao Yi. He had come to see Bao Yi originally to find some information, but out of consideration for safety, he had not directly said that he was looking into the xiuzhe of the village.

Bao Yi said in a deep voice, “What kind of talent does our boss want to hire? This little brother has stayed for a while at Nan Sheng Village and might know something.”

Xie Shan’s eye lit up. “Anyone that has one skill.”

Bao Yi had a general understanding. This boss that he had never met before had an extremely strong base, and his ambitions were not small. These days, in Little Mountain Jie, the days of any kind of xiuzhe other than combat xiu were extremely difficult.

Since he had decided to enter the other’s group, Bao Yi decided he needed to perform well.

In any organization, in order to be recognized, the simplest method was to let the boss see your abilities, and understand your value!

“Do we have enough manpower?” he asked.

“Enough.” Xie Shan was full of confidence.

“If it is like that … …” Bao Yi’s heart rose, and he said hatefully, “then we shall do something big!”

Chapter 243: Jade Scroll

In the secret realm, his subordinate xiuzhe were giving their reports.

“The yao army has established their base in the Wu Kong Mountains. It is very heavily guarded. Our people do not dare to go close.”

Bo Feng nodded. “Do not alert them but keep an eye on them. If they make any unusual movements, report immediately.”

“Yes!”

Bo Feng asked some more questions about the details before letting the xiuzhe leave.

When the xiuzhe left the tent, two figures suddenly appeared inside the tent. Bo Feng did not seem to be surprised.

“What are you really looking for?” Gui Feng asked in a rough voice. At his side, Chang Heng’s expression was indifferent as though he did not care about this question.

“Ha ha, you’ll know when it is time.” Bo Feng smiled.

Chang Heng was not interested in this matter. He stared at Bo Feng. “Give the other half of the scripture to me.”

Bo Feng said easily, “No problem.”

Gui Feng’s expression changed. He seemed to be thinking.

———

Zuo Mo carefully looked at the black butterfly in front of him. Chun Yu Cheng was at his side, his eyes blazing as he observed the black butterfly. Zuo Mo’s mind had received a notice that the Rainbow Mark butterfly had broken through its cocoon. Zuo Mo had hurriedly pulled Chun Yu Cheng with him. When Chun Yu Cheng heard that the Rainbow Mark butterfly had finished its metamorphosis, it instantly stirred his interest and he took a rare absence from his beast pool.

The Rainbow Mark butterfly had completely changed. The rainbow colors that had covered its entire body had disappeared. Now, its body was completely black, contrasting against a pair of lively eyes.

“Can the spells still be used?” Chun Yu Cheng asked.

“Still useable, and there now seems to be one more spell.” Zuo Mo closed his eyes and carefully communicated with the black butterfly.

When he started his communication, he instantly felt a difference compared to the past. Before, he could only feel some pieces of what the Rainbow Mark butterfly could feel. Presently, he could clearly feel the emotions of the butterfly.

The black butterfly had become more intelligent than before.

“So it leveled up!” Chun Yu Cheng said with excitement. “Previously, it was just a third-grade ling beast. Now, it should be a fourth-grade ling beast! No wonder it has another spell! Have you discovered what kind of spell it is?”

“A very weird spell.” Zuo Mo’s expression was slightly weird.

“What spell?” Chun Yu Cheng asked impatiently.

“Poison Ling!”

“Poison Ling? What kind of spell is that?” Chun Yu Cheng was puzzled. He had never heard of this kind of spell.

“It is unclear.” Zuo Mo shook his head. He was also ignorant.

The two people looked at each other, with their faces confused. However, they did find out that the Rainbow Mark butterfly had leveled up to fourth-grade. Due to the black color of its body, Zuo Mo decided to change its name to Black Butterfly. He would have to slowly investigate what this poison ling was.

It would be great if it could level up to become a fifth-grade ling beast. Zuo Mo drooled as he dreamed. He decided that he would definitely feed anything poisonous to the Black Butterfly if he found them in the future. He had personally experienced how powerful a fifth-grade ling beast was. If the Black Butterfly could level up to fifth-grade, it could definitely beat down the bloody horn serpent.

Of course, he quickly wiped clean his drool. It had been so difficult to level up to fourth-grade from third-grade.. He could only dream about leveling up to fifth-grade.

He picked up the gourd as well. The poison inside the gourd had all dissipated. It was a pretty good container type talisman, especially for containing substances that were intangible. He was not polite in picking it up. Chun Yu Cheng saw that he could not discover anything else so he rushed back to the beast pool.

Right after Chun Yu Cheng left, Gongsun Cha approached him immediately after. Zuo Mo saw that the other’s expression was slightly strange and asked, “What? Did something happen?”

“Take a look.” Gongsun Cha handed over a jade scroll.

Zuo Mo took the jade scroll and skimmed it. He jumped in fright. “Holy moly, they’re crazy!”

“I was frightened too!” Gongsun Cha grimaced. “However, these people are pretty good!” The last sentence revealed his true thoughts.

“It really is very good … …” Zuo Mo couldn’t stop himself from reading further. The more the read, the wider his mouth grew.

“Shixiong, do you think we will take … …”

“Yes!” Zuo Mo shook like a basin of cold water had been poured over his head on a hot summer day. His energy then swell up. Holding his neck in an arch, he shouted, “Of course, we’ll take them! All of them! Every single one! Do not leave one behind!”

Ji Wei, Sun Bao and the other people that had been forging were frightened by the insanity that Zuo Mo displayed! Only the female xiu that was standing nearby was unaffected as though she had not heard it.

———

In the camp, everyone was busy cultivating. The new members needed large amounts of training before they could join the combat system. Before this, they had all been normal xiuzhe, and were too unfamiliar with things like battle formations.

“It is so boring!” A xiuzhe sighed. When he glanced at the group of people who were training laboriously, he felt a burst of dullness.

After the number of people grew, it was not suitable anymore to divide into small teams. Gongsun Cha reorganized the teams into six companies. Each company had one hundred and twenty two people, who were then divided into six platoons. They were led by a company leader and a vice company leader. Each platoon had six squads that were commanded by the platoon leader who was assisted by the vice platoon leader. Each squad had three people, one of which was the squad leader.

Due to the large number of new members, to help the new members quickly enter their roles, these old-timers that were now the company leaders had all taken up positions as instructors. However, to them, teaching the new people was an extremely boring task.

When they saw the raw cooperation between the new members and their awkward movements, they were usually speechless. Even though they clearly knew that they had been no better when they first started, but they thirsted for battle. Gongsun Cha was like a successful wolf tamer, the sheep under his command had been slowly transformed into wolves.

They had started to thirst for battle.

Many people had admired Xie Shan and the others who had gone to carry out a mission. While they held admiration, they could only stay and stare. Those people were stronger than they were. They also understood that the stronger they were, the more likely it was that they would carry out more difficult missions, and had a chance to earn more merit.

Even Gongsun Cha had never expected his unintentional actions had caused the sword formation to become the most attractive prize! Comprehending sword essence was the best path to increasing power.

A person said without strength, “The earlier that we finish training these greenhorns, the earlier we get to rest.”

“Laozi will never do this ever again!” One of the people said furious, “This group of trash. They can’t even perform the simplest Three Talent Formation after all this time, They are so stupid!”

“Please!” Someone else beside him sneered, “Hei Zi, you talk as though you were so skilled at the beginning! We weren’t much better than them at the beginning.”

“Oh, when can we go out on a mission! Laozi is so idle that my tastes have turned vegetarian.” Hei Zi wailed, his expression dejected.

“Yes, these days are too boring!” People beside him also sighed.

Woosh woosh!

A humming sound suddenly sounded above the formation without any warning.

The two people stilled, looked at each other, and shook simultaneously before they jumped up from the ground like lightning.

Hei Zi looked at the two new members that were still motionless and swore, “What are you doing sitting there? Move faster, this is the emergency signal!” Finishing, he leaped into the air, the two new members hurriedly following behind him.

Moving figures could be seen in the sky above the camp. The shouts of the company and platoon leaders ran out frequently.

“Faster faster! What are you procrastinating for?”

“Keep up!”

“Find your position! Don’t move around!”

… …

A tense atmosphere covered the entire camp. All the xiuzhe quickly gathered together. Within thirty breaths, all the xiuzhe in the camp had flew into the air, and the ranks had finished assembling.

The old-timers who saw Lil’ Miss staring at them became excited. There was going to be something to do, a big thing!

Gongsun Cha did not waste words. Seeing the troop had finished assembling, he waved his hand lightly.

“Everyone, move out!”

More than seven hundred xiuzhe silently flowed like a soundless flood across the sky.

———

Nan Sheng Village, Great Wind Merchant House.

“Little Wei, calculate the accounts for today” The storekeeper slowly savored the ling tea and lightly ordered.

“Yes,” Wei Cheng Bin instinctively answered.

The storekeeper detected Wei Cheng Bin’s inattentiveness, his face instantly darkening. “What? You worried about something? Do you feel dissatisfied with the work?”

It was like Wei Cheng Bin had been woken up from a dream. When he saw the storekeeper’s dark face, he knew that it was not good. He gave a smile, “No, no! This one has just met a bit of a problem in my cultivation.”

“Humph!” The storekeeper snorted coldly. “Cultivation? I hadn’t seen before that Little Wei has great ambitions! You want to reach jindan? To live, you have to be reliable. Do you know how many people are trying to get your ration of fifty catties of ling grains per month?! Cultivation? Don’t waste this old man’s ling grains!”

Wei Cheng Bin’s face flushed entirely red.

The storekeeper glanced at him and drawled, “One has to know their own limits. Little Mountain Jie has not had cultivation in a long time ago.”

“Two-tenths off this month’s wage of ling grains.” When he finished, he strode away.

Wei Cheng Bin’s head was bent, and he did not make a sound. Unknowingly, his fists were so tight that they had turned white. After the storekeeper had gone far away, he relaxed his fists. In his hand was a jade scroll.

This was a jade scroll he had received two days ago. It was an announcement for hiring.

The other had learned from somewhere that he had a skill at illusory formations and came to head-hunt him. They promised two hundred catties of ling grains per month. Wei Cheng Bin had come from a sect, and his best skill was some little illusory formations. He could make extremely exquisite mirage formations. However, this great skill had not provided him with any benefit in a situation such as the present one.

He had asked around everywhere, almost spending all his savings to beg to get a job like this. Accounting, hard labor, cleaning, he did everything!

Compared to those xiuzhe that worried for ling grains, he was much luckier. Rationally, he could settle down, but when he received this jade scroll, his heart uncontrollably started to jump.

He did not know how many times the shixiong had mocked him for playing with those little formations. In many people’s eyes, he was the classical example of someone who only played around. The sect elders had thought of him as one who did not treasure their talent, especially after he had cultivated to ningmai, and had treated him coldly.

This job might let him scrape by, but he didn’t know how many eye-rolls he had gotten. The enormous store, other than the storekeeper, he was the only one remaining. He had to do all the work.

For some reason, the sneer and disdain of the storekeeper flashed in front of his eyes.

Impulsiveness was the demon … … impulsiveness was the demon … …

He continuously told himself but his feet uncontrollably started to walk towards the outside.

“What are you doing? You idiot! I raised a trash like you for nothing! You … … you don’t have to come tomorrow!” The storekeeper’s bellows came from behind him.

Wei Cheng Bin suddenly felt his body was unspeakably light, his steps increasing speed.

In the dark, his eyes were as bright as jewels.

Chapter 244: Consensus

In Little Mountain Jie, no one would pay attention to the flow of xiuzhe. What everyone was attentive to was the flow of ling grains. As for xiuzhe, who would care?

Wei Cheng Bin found the place according to the address on the jade scroll. His heart was slightly insecure. He should have first confirmed it. If this jade scroll was a joke that someone played on him, then it would be terrible.

This was the place.

Two life-like authoritative and ferocious stone lion-type auspicious beasts were standing by the two sides of the gate. He had some experience and knew these were mechanized golem beasts. They usually were motionless, but if one dared to attack then they would attack at the first possible moment. The black metal gate was tightly shut. The light of jinzhi occasionally flashed by. He was slightly reassured. Families that had this kind of house in Nan Sheng Village should have at least some power.

He put his palm on the copper bell diagram carved on the door and channeled ling power.

Ding-dong!

The bell sound was clear and ethereal. A moment later, the metal door slowly opened,

A brawny man with a face full of scruff examined him, his gaze as sharp as a knife. Wei Cheng Bin felt his body tighten. He might be in ningmai¸ but his combat abilities were very low. He had broken through to ningmai due to a moment of enlightenment after working with illusory formations. He nervously swallowed. The brutal aura exuded by the large man in front of him created fear in him.

“I … … I am Wei Cheng Bin … … two … … two days ago, I received a jade scroll, it said … …”

———

Hearing Wei Cheng Bin stammer on for a long time yet unable to clearly state his meaning, Lei Peng lost his patience and interrupted, “Okay! This is the place, you didn’t go to the wrong place.”

Finishing, he raised Wei Cheng Bin with one hand as though he was picking up a little chicken, and flew inside.

Wei Cheng Bin closed his eyes in fright, his entire body shaking. Lei Peng rolled his eyes inside. He didn’t know who had suggested that he should be the one to welcome this group of people. Every single one person in this group was as cowardly as mice, and shook whenever they saw him.

This compound was just one of Bao Yi’s secret properties. As cunning as a rabbit, he had backups upon backups. That was his usual conduct.

“Another one came.”

The ling power on Lei Peng’s hand spat slightly, and Wei Cheng Bin was stunned into unconsciousness. He carelessly threw him on the ground.

“En, there’s already eight in this batch. With him, we only need one more before we can send them off,” Xie Shan said with satisfaction. He had exceeded his mission this time. According to Bao Yi’s intelligence, they had found three xiuzhe skilled in building cities. Without an exception, none of the three were able to resist the temptation of two hundred catties of ling grains per month.

He couldn’t help but sigh. If they were anywhere outside of Little Mountain Jie, no matter where they went, they would be treated courteously. But in Little Mountain Jie where life was worth as much as grass, just two hundred catties of ling grains was enough to buy a xiuzhe’s life. As a xiuzhe, Xie Shan couldn’t not help but marvel.

———

Bao Yi was off to the side. He was rejoicing that he had made the right choice. Even though he had not seen the Boss yet, but he had been successively shocked by Boss’ strength. Up until now, more than sixty people had been sent away.

The people that had been delivered outside seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

There definitely were people who were cooperating with them outside of the city, and that number would not be small. This group of people really were daring to act so boldly under Clear Sky Sect’s nose. However, he felt very good secretly at being able to dig at Clear Sky Sect’ walls.

He really had his action of throwing in the lot beautiful!

———

He Xiang looked down at the leaders of the different factions, the feeling of accomplishment in his heart reaching the peak in an instant. Previously, when he met any of the people seated here, he would have to nod his head and bend his waist, but right now, he could clearly capture the fear they had of him in the deepest part of their eyes.

This feeling was really good!

He quickly pulled himself back. He was very clear what his mission was.

A warm and careful smile piled onto his face. His voice was very light like the clouds high up in the sky. “My thanks to everyone here for waiting so long, then we shall now begin.”

———

“Seventy people, it should be enough! How about it? Let’s stop?” Lei Peng said impatiently. They had been guarding here every day. That Clear Sky Sect was really trash. They hadn’t reacted in the slightest. In the beginning, he had thought that this time would be a big mission. Who knew that it was so boring and tasteless? He just wanted to return to camp now.

Xie Shan did not pay attention to him. He looked at the list and frowned. “Why did the remaining people not come?”

Hearing this, Bao Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “We used ling grains to attract them. In the end, it is like business, you and I have to both be willing. The remainder probably are living quite well now, and do not want to move.”

“Then we will just leave them?” Xie Shan was slightly discontent. He did not want to leave any regrets in the first mission he was leading.

Bao Yi spread his hands. “Then what? It’s not like we can kidnap them.”

“Kidnap them!” Xie Shan’s eyes lit up as he clapped in excitement. “This idea is great! How come I didn’t think of it?”

Hearing this, Lei Peng, who was at so much leisure that he felt restless, was also excited and furiously nodded. “Not bad, not bad! We’ll kidnap all of them! We won’t leave one behind!”

The other people snickered as they exchanged looks. Zong Ru helplessly raised his eyelids. His Samhadhi had been interrupted once again.

Bao Yi paled. “No way! No way! It is very lucky that our recent actions had not attracted Clear Sky Sect’s attention! If we go to kidnap people, we would certainly alarm Clear Sky Sect, then it would be great trouble!”

“We’re not afraid!” Lei Peng twisted his mouth and said scornfully.

Bao Yi hurriedly looked at the other people. When he saw the anticipatory expressions on their faces, he felt his vision darken. He thought of Zong Ru. In his mind, Zong Ru had always been calm and reliable. He definitely would not approve of this course of action.

But before he could look at Zong Ru — he heard Zong Ru say in a voice filled with helplessness, “Should we do it now? Let’s go, let’s finish so I can go back sooner to train my Samadhi.”

Bao Yi felt his head instantly sink into stillness.

All fifteen people agreed to the kidnapping. From the suggestions to passing the motion, it hadn’t taken more than a minute. To be able to plan such a large kidnapping under the mighty Clear Sky Sect’s eyes, it was enough to make everyone except Bao Yi feel their blood boil!

Only this way would they not have wasted their journey here!

Since they had decided, everyone quickly started to finalize the plan. After following Lil’ Miss for so long, they had started to learn how to make a plan, and the beginnings of being professional brutes.

Bao Yi’s face was pale as he listened from the side. He decided he would definitely stay far away from this group of madmen in the future! Especially Zong Ru. Only now did he know how wrong he had been. Zong Ru usually indifferent, but when he spoke, malicious and evil ideas were lightly thrown out.

With one word from one and another from the other, a simple and rough plan was quickly born.

———

When Wei Cheng Bin woke up, he found that he was on someone’s back. The sound of wind that occasionally sounded around him let him know that he was flying at high speed through the air. He did not dare to move. He knew the limits of his own abilities. Up until now, he did not make a sound. He slightly turned his head, and warily scanned the surroundings.

Not ten zhang away from him, there was a xiuzhe. He was also carrying a person on his back.

When he clearly saw the surroundings, he was greatly shocked. There were more than one hundred xiuzhe around him. Of those, only twenty of the xiuzhe were carrying people. The other xiuzhe had placed them at the very center.

Wei Cheng Bin finally thought of what had occurred before he had became unconscious.

Which faction did this group of people belong to? They really looked like a big faction! Even though he did not know his own future, but he was full of anticipation. It was very clear that this was an extremely well-thought out plan. More than one hundred xiuzhe were protecting and transporting the twenty of them, it could be seen how importantly they were being treated. The other side had spent such effort so what they aimed for definitely would not be small.

“Notice your rhythm. Control the output of ling power.”

“Preserve the flexibility of the ranks!”

“Combat units at the outermost layer, be on your guard!”

“Try to avoid the clouds.”

… …

He could hear endless shouts of scolding. What Wei Cheng Bin found wondrous was that the xiuzhe in the surroundings did not make a sound as they continuously adjusted their position.

For some unknown reason, the stern silence this group of xiuzhe maintained made Wei Cheng Bin to feel a different kind of power!

He couldn’t help but make a closer examination.

The troop that was in front of his eyes were different than any other troop he had seen before. More than one hundred people were flying, but the ranks were so organized it was as though they had been drawn out with a ruler. The elites that he had seen before had been more relaxed and spread out. In front of this group, they seemed more like a random group of soldiers.

He could occasionally see xiuzhe in groups of three or five moving far away. Those were probably sentries.

The more he saw, the greater his shock was. The power that this troop displayed surpassed the limits of his imagination.

———

Wei Ran’s mind was tightly alert. He was the division leader of the Second Division, but before this, he had never lead a group larger than thirty people. He was worried that he would not do a good job, and thus he was extremely attentive. He also worked hard at his cultivation.

This was the first mission he was undergoing as a division leader.

The mission that Gongsun Cha had given him was not difficult – move forward along a predetermined path, and transport the twenty people back to the camp. When he had first heard the mission, he had released a breath, but when he saw the path, his expression became unnatural.

This path drew out an extremely large curve. It was akin to having travelled in a circle before returning to the camp. He did not understand why Lil’ Miss would make such a complex, and roundabout path. What worried him the most was this path would take him through the territories of multiple factions.

This meant that they could be attacked at any time.

However, when he saw the unnatural expressions of the other division leaders, he instantly understood. This was a mission, but it was also a test. Lil’ Miss was testing whether they had the abilities to be a division leader.

Up until now, they had not encountered any dangers.

However, they had encountered several xiuzhe yesterday that had skirted around them before leaving.

Wei Ran was experienced in battle and understood that people had locked onto his group.

On the entire way, he had constantly maintained the troop formations for combat.

Seeing the increasingly practiced display from the xiuzhe under him, he couldn’t help but sigh. As expected, true combat would temper a person. The improvement they had made in the last few days surpassed the improvement they had made in the previous month.

A blinding red light suddenly exploded in the sky in front of them.

Wei Ran’s pupils suddenly shrank. It had come!

That was the warning spell that their sentries had cast. He tried to compose himself, his mind furiously thinking back to what Lil’ Miss usually did.

He raised his right hand to copy the aloofness of Lil’ Miss, his voice coming out abnormally cold.

“Prepare for battle!”

Chapter 245: First Battle

The sentries that had been swimming at the edges started to spread out. Their job was not to engage in battle, but to observe the direction of the entire battlefield.

Wei Ran’s expression was cold, his lips tightly pressed together. There were about two hundred people in the enemy that were full of murderous intent as they charged. Wei Ran straightened his back like a sharp and upright spear. He slightly floated in the air, the shouts of the platoon leaders as they shouted at maximum passing into his ears.

“All of you, be alert! Notice your position!”

“What is in front of you is a pile of trash! Kill them! Kill them all!”

“Later, don’t think of anything. Where I go, charge after me! Whoever f**king lingers behind, watch how I’ll take care of him later!”

“Follow what you usually do during training!”

… …

The platoon leaders were doing their last adjustments before the battle. Most of the people under their command were greenhorns. They all had above average individual power, but in this kind of battle tactic style that demanded rigor, so cooperation was the crux of victory.

The rough, serious, or relaxed mobilizations burrowed into Wei Ran’s ears. He uncontrollably started to heat up. He did not notice that a smear of red had appeared in his eyes.

This really made a person’s blood boil!

Watching as the other side neared, Wei Ran raised his right hand again. All the noise disappeared. All one hundred and twenty two xiuzhe were completely silent. The entire troop was like a great bow that had been fully drawn. Everyone’s nerves were tensed to their limits, especially the xiuzhe at the front. The ling power in their body vibrated, their presence continuously rising. However, their feet seemed to be nailed to their spot.

———

Wei Cheng Bin unconsciously stopped breathing, his mind a patch of blankness.

He had never experienced such a shocking battle. This patch of silence was like an invisible noose that wrapped around him and slowly tightened, choking his throat shut. It was slightly suffocating. He opened his mouth to pant heavily. He widened his eyes, and instinctively stared at the xiuzhe at the front raise his right hand. His entire body started to unconsciously shake. He didn’t know if it was in terror or excitement.

———

Wei Ran coldly watched as the enemy entered the range of attack, the raised right hand suddenly chopping down.

“Kill!”

Pia!

The air exploded crisply like a firework. The furiously rampaging ling power of the twenty xiuzhe that were at the front platoon suddenly lost their restraints and exploded!

Twenty figures suddenly disappeared into the air.

Pia!

It was another soul-shaking explosion!

Twenty xiuzhe from the second platoon also disappeared into the air.

Pia!

The third platoon quickly followed behind!

The trademark three section wave killing charge!

Each little troop carried a gigantic sword energy twenty zhang above their heads. This was an attack created by the merging of three xiuzhe’s power! This kind of ling merging technique could only be activated when the Three Talent Formation reached a certain skill level.

The gigantic sword energies tore through the air and howled. On the entire battlefield, all the other sword energies and spells lost color in comparison.

In front of the gigantic sword energy, individual sword energies were as fragile as chopsticks, breaking upon impact.

As fast as lightning!

One platoon had six teams. It was as though six staggered blades cut right to the middle of the enemy.

Blood rained through the sky!

Six deep bloody marks appeared in the ranks of the enemy. Anywhere they passed, if one was just brushed, it meant either cutting off the limbs or breaking the spine. With destructive force, they penetrated through the enemy formation.

The enemy leader’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. “Drag them down! Their later power … …”

Just as he had spoken halfway, the ghostly wail-like howl of the gigantic sword energy sounded again!

The second platoon had arrived!

Six gigantic sword essences cut from a small angle on the right as they curved into the enemy formation.

Pew pew pew!

After a string of alarming sounds of cut of limbs and broken bones, the six gigantic sword essences plowed out six broad bloody groves. Wails passed into everyone’s ears.

The third platoon attacked from the opposite angle!

Just as the second platoon had finished passing through the enemy formation, the third platoon had coincidentally entered the center of the enemy formation.

Wei Ran pressed his lips tightly together. The power of the three section wave killing charge was evident! The courage of the enemy had been stolen, their morale plummeted and they had no more desire to battle. What he needed to do next was lay down the last straw that would break the camel’s back.

The fourth and fifth platoon suddenly attacked!

The enemy, whose courage had already been stolen, panicked when they saw the fourth and fifth platoons press forward. In an instant, they broke formation and their lines collapsed as they scattered in all directions!

Wei Ran’s body finally relaxed. The battle had been settled.

The three section wave killing charge was peerless in its killing power, but it was not as though it did not have weaknesses. Its biggest weakness was that it was weak in its follow up. If the enemy could stop the first few cycles of attacks, then they would be the ones in danger.

The giant sword energies could defend, but the ling power consumed was extremely terrifying. Gathering up all the ling power before the charge was not just to posture.

Wei Ran released a breath. This battle was much smoother than he had imagined. It now had no meaning. The leaders of the platoons directed the little teams to continuously move and cut. If there was a small gathering of people at one location, they were like sharks that tasted blood and would leap over.

The fearful enemy fighters did not hesitate when they saw the situation, all of them turning and fleeing.

Wei Ran hurriedly sent an order to not pursue. Their mission was to safely reach the camp, not to kill enemies. However, when he noticed some scattered xiuzhe that had been watching from far away, he guessed that those were scouts from other factions.

This battle should have intimidated many people, he pondered inside.

The enemy had completely fled in a short while Wei Ran ordered some xiuzhe to clean up the spoils, and everyone else landed to set up camp. The xiuzhe that had just come out of battle all had excited expressions lingering on their faces, but they still meticulously completed their orders.

All the platoon leaders all released a breath of relief. This kind of battle was just a minor matter to them, but they had still been worried about the new members under their command. In total, no major incidents had occurred, but combat had exposed many problems.

Some squads had not performed to their training standards when they had sent out the gigantic sword energy in the fight, and almost were not able to penetrate the ranks of the enemy. If they could not penetrate the ranks, and were bogged down in the enemy formation, the enemy would immediately have swarmed and torn them to pieces. These platoon leaders still felt fear when they thought of it.

Wei Ran did not interfere with the platoon leaders lecturing the xiuzhe who had made mistakes. He silently patrolled the camp.

A while later, the xiuzhe that finished cleaning up returned. The spoils of victory were given to the vice division later who would give them to Lil’ Miss when they returned, and then divided according to contributions.

———

Wei Cheng Bin gaped. The swiftness in which the battle had finished with had surpassed his imagination. When he heard the platoon leaders swear at their subordinations, he couldn’t believe it. Was this not enough? Such crisp and clean combat, such strong subordinates, then why were they being sworn at?

He was not skilled at battle, but that did not mean he did not have good eyes. He could generally see the traces of the skill of a troop. In his view, this completely unfamiliar and unique troop was the strongest that he had ever seen without exception.

They were too demanding! Wei Cheng Bin was unable to understand.

This victory was great motivation to the xiuzhe who were being transported. Their anticipation towards their destination rose. In the chaotic Little Mountain Jie, martial strength was the most effective guarantee of survival.

———

Nan Sheng Village.

He Xiang looked at the fake smiles on the faces in front of him. His temple throbbed. The negotiations were more difficult than he had imaged. These factions seemed to have reached a certain agreement in secret, their positions were at a strange consensus. Even the leaders that he had a good relationship with before had reversed their attitudes and remained silent.

He knew that these people just wanted to bargain, but for him who wanted to show his accomplishments, his abilities would only be displayed if he could push the price to the bottom. There were more than a few that were scheming after his position. He did not want to give them an opportunity.

He smiled, not showing his thoughts. “Everyone is tired today, let’s take a rest. This one has prepared a banquet especially for this, please, everyone come attend.”

The leaders exchanged looks with each other, rose, and said they were tired and wanted to rest.

He Xiang did not force them, smiling as he sent them out the door. When the last leader left, his dark expression could not be disguised any longer.

He needed a way to divide them, he thought inside. Just as he turned to leave, he coincidentally caught the mirth in the eyes of one of the other elders and his mood instantly became even more terrible.

———

“Is everyone sure of their target?” Xie Shan asked as he looked at everyone.

Everyone nodded.

Lei Peng rumbled, “Motherf***er, laozi even had to watch him as he went to the bathroom, it really is unlucky.”

Everyone laughed lightly. To guarantee they would succeed with one blow, everyone had rehearsed before. They had divided the ten targets among them.

“We will move in two hours,” Xie Shan did not waste words. All fifteen people had their own techniques. He might have the highest cultivation, but he did not dare to posture. Fortunately, everyone was rule-abiding and did not need him to nag.

Fifteen people silently spread out in all directions.

———

Lei Peng’s target was a guy skilled in dan-making. Even though ling materials were now in short supply in Little Mountain Jie, but some businesses still had some in stock. Due to this, this person had found a pretty good job. Consequently, when he had received the jade scroll, he had weighed his options, and decided to stay with his current employer. Especially since his current employer was good to him and the jade scroll was of unknown origins. He was not willing to take the risk.

For some reason, he felt the willies today as though something was going to happen.

This caused him to be unable to focus. Every time he had this feeling, there never was anything good.

He raised his head to look at the sky. The clouds were very low in the air, dense and suffocating.

“Medicine Master He, the owner is calling you.” The busboy hurriedly rushed over.

“Oh, I’m going now.” He refocused and hurriedly moved. There was probably another job for him to do.

He had just passed through into the backyard when he suddenly felt pain at the back of his head. His vision darkened, and he did not know anything else.

Lei Peng held him with one hand and looked around. Looking around to see if he had alarmed any other people, he grinned silently before disappearing into the air.

However, not everyone had the same good fortune as him. For example, Nian Lu.

———

Nian Lu looked with panic at his target. A female xiu skilled with livestock. She was presently teaching the other people how to put together feed for ling beasts. These apprentices were extremely respectful and listened carefully.

The time to act had arrived!

Seeing that the target would definitely not be leaving soon, Nian Lu gritted his teeth, and decided to move.

His figure was like a ghost that appeared behind the female xiu. His hand gently chopped, his left hand raising and grasping. The unconscious female xiu was on his back.

His movements were clean and crisp.

Only when he had disappeared through the door did the apprentices finally react, yelling in fear.

The guards of the store were instantly alerted and flew into the air.

The same situation, at the same time, occurred at different places in Nan Sheng Village.

Nan Sheng Village instantly became a mess!

Chapter 246: Ambush

The camp.

Zuo Mo looked at the female xiu and scratched his head, “You need a name. This way, we can call each other.” After changing his body, his hair had become short. When he scratched, he felt the hair was prickly like metal wire. So strange. How could his hair be this hard?

The female xiu did not seem to hear him.

When Zuo Mo had inspected her injuries last time, he found that there was a strange and icy power inside her body. The reason the alarming injuries inside her body had not worsen was due to this strange power. This unknown power was like strong spider silk that reached into every corner of her body. Zuo Mo would think sometimes that if the strange power did not exist, her body would shatter into pieces.

The reason her presence caused fear in others should also be caused by this unknown power, Zuo Mo thought to himself. No one dared to go near her. Even Silly Bird, the silly big sister, did not dare to go within three zhang of her, not to mention the cowardly pair of Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Black.

Seeing the female xiu’s lack of response, Zuo Mo put his attention back on the wiry hair on his scalp. He wouldn’t be turning into a yao beast, right? he thought inside.

The three Golden Armor Guards stood nearby with their swords. They also seemed to be slightly afraid of the female xiu. Weren’t the Golden Armor Guards golems? Why would they be afraid of a person?

The female xiu was a puzzle.

It seemed like there would be no result today. Zuo Mo shook his head. He had persisted in chatting with the female xiu everyday to deepen their connection, but up until now, there was no result. She was like a stone statue that stood there motionlessly. Zuo Mo had never even heard her speak.

Was she mute?

Zuo Mo thought uncertainly. In his mind, this female did not seem to have come from a big sect, because she was truly too unclean and ugly. Behind the disheveled appearance was a mess of dense lichen-like scabies. The only part untouched was the pair of bare feet.

In reality, Zuo Mo had never seen such beautiful feet. Symmetrical and white like jade and porcelain. There were no flaws. They were warm and delicate, exquisite like nothing else. When Zuo Mo had been inspecting her injuries, and when he had seen this pair of bare feet for the first time, his mind had blanked for a moment.

They seemed to hold a fatal attraction that made one unable to move their gaze aside.

It was a pity that scabies covered everything above the knees.

She wore the mask and a loose hemp robe. Her bare feet were in the mud. The snowy white and fine bare feet and the black mud made a strong contrast. Every time Zuo Mo saw it, he would uncontrollably stop breathing. What followed after would be pity. It was very pitiful for a woman to be covered in scabies.

He sighed inside. He didn’t know what he was sighing about. He flew onto a mountain peak. Looking into the distance, the sky was tourmaline and the white clouds were like silk. The wind was gentle and refreshing. At the base of the mountain, the Sky Star Lake was like a clear jewel embedded among the mountain peaks.

Zuo Mo’s mood instantly opened up. Little Mountain Jie might have lost its ling energy, but there was not much of a difference to these flora and wild beasts. Due to the lack of activity of xiuzhe, the mountains were even more green.

In order to construct the city, he moved the camp to Sky Star Mountain. He suddenly thought of the unwillingness on Chun Yu Cheng’s face, he grinned. Chun Shidi was really a manic about livestock.

Ji Wei and Sun Bao led their subordinates and furiously rushed about.

The amount of materials needed to construct a city was an exceedingly terrifying number. For example, the bricks. Most of them had to be cut from the mountain. Each piece had to be processed and carved with formations. It was not hard for xiuzhe to cut rocks, but processing them was not as easy.

To increase the speed, Zuo Mo had set up a large formation to gather large amounts of Golden Crow Fire again. Each person received a portion. The xiuzhe naturally were overjoyed and worked harder.

Each piece of bluestone was three zhang long, one zhang wide, and one zhang high. After the Golden Armor Guards mined it, the xiuzhe would start to process it. What caused Zuo Mo to have a headache was the grade of the Golden Crow Fire was too high. If they were the slightest bit inattentive, these second-grade bluestones would turn into a pile of molten rocks.

Later, the problem was finally solved when they decided to first carve the formations before they processed with the Golden Crow Fire. However, during the entire processing method, the bluestone bricks would shrink to more than half its original size and turn to a blue gold color. The quality was extremely dense and hard. Zuo Mo had experimented. Even if he chopped with a flying sword, sparks would fly but the brick would not be damaged. Only when Zuo Mo channeled all the ling power in his body would the sword cut halfway into the brick.

Such a material would not be enough to use to make ling armor but it was more than sufficient to use for city walls.

Fifty xiuzhe were all tasked with processing bluestone bricks. Zuo Mo himself was busy with surveying the geography. The newly constructed city had to have formations. The formations he set up this time were to face a jindan. This was an unprecedented test for Zuo Mo.

The large formations he had set up before, including the large formation on Desolate Wood Reef, were not enough to stop a jindan. He had seen jindan before, but had never fought against one before. He did not know how powerful they are, but he knew they were definitely more powerful than he could imagine.

There was an innate difference in terms of comprehension of ling power between ningmai and jindan.

He did not know how great this innate difference was. He could only do as much as he was able.

The path was dangerous!

Looking at the mountains in the distance, Zuo Mo’s eyes were black and deep.

———

Nian Lu was carrying a person on his back while the scenery flashed by. His speed had not been impeded at all. If one looked closely, they would find that a white lotus was under his feet. With the white robes, the tender white lotus flower, he looked unspeakably handsome as he flew in the wind. The eyes of many young females along his path lit up.

“Whoa! So handsome!”

The shrieks of the female xiu were endless.

The xiuzhe that were pursuing him heard the exclamations, causing their expressions to become even uglier.

Nian Lu did not use any disguise at this time. He picked the most straightforward path, a straight line!

Not just him, the other nine people had also picked straight lines. From different places within the village, they all sprinted towards the village gate of Nan Sheng Village! If one looked down from above Nan Sheng Village, they would see ten figures drawing out ten straight lines that were going to intersect at the village gate. Behind them, there were between fifty and sixty xiuzhe who seemed to be attracted and pulled towards the village gate.

Many xiuzhe flew into the sky. They were watching the spectacle. Inside, there were very shocked. Who dared to be so presumptuous in Clear Sky Sect’s territory?

Lei Peng was the first to reach the village gate. He even had the leisure to look back at his fellows that were sprinting towards him. Giving a smug grin, he then turned and slowly went through the village gate.

The other nine people simultaneously saw the smug expression on Lei Peng’s face, and they all rolled their eyes at the same time. Without needed to exchange a word, they snorted, and moved faster!

Ear-piercing howling instantly roared through Nan Sheng Village!

The nine figures were like nine sharp arrows that howled as they headed straight for the village gates!

The gate of Nan Sheng Village was just a symbolic construction. He Xiang had never expected people to dare to scheme against Clear Sky Sect. Who would dare to rampage on Clear Sky Sect’s territory? Only if that person did not want to keep living in Little Mountain Jie. Due to this, the defenses of Nan Sheng Village were pitifully weak.

The nine figures flashed past at high speeds. The pitiful gates were torn to pieces by the knife-like tailwinds!

Dust and wood flew at the village gates!

The xiuzhe in pursuit directly ran into it. Seeing the situation, they did not slow down. A light flashed across their ling armor and their ling shields were opened as they prepared to directly go through the village gate!

“I just knew that these people want us to eat their dust!”

Inside the dust, someone complained.

Countless sword energies suddenly shot out of the dust like bats hiding in the dark that showed their vampiric teeth.

“There’s an ambush!”

The pursuing xiuzhe all paled.

Pew pew pew!

The xiuzhe at the very front basically had no time to react. Their ling armor was instantly penetrated like it was made of paper-mache. Several bloody holes appeared on the body of this xiuzhe. The expression of this xiuzhe instantly froze, his body losing control and falling into the dirt like a bag of sand.

It was not just him alone. Several of the xiuzhe in the front did not survive.

“Sword essence!”

The xiuzhe at the back paled. Such destructive sword energies, there was only one possibility – sword essence!

Only sword xiu that comprehended sword essence could release such a terrifying sword energy which could so easily penetrate ling armor and kill with one strike!

There were not many sword energies, but they were of different colors. It was clear they had been released by different sword xiu!

There wasn’t just one sword xiu who had comprehended sword essence!

The expressions of this group of xiuzhe changed drastically. Sword xiu who comprehended sword essence were rare. One in a hundred of ningmai sword xiu comprehending sword essence was considered a rare event. Why did sword xiu always persist in trying to comprehend sword essence?

That was because the power of the sword energies were much greater if one comprehended sword essence. This kind of increase depended on the individual and the sword scripture, but it was certain that sword xiu who comprehend sword essence were much scarier than sword xiu of the same cultivation who had not comprehended sword essence!

Seven sword xiu died in the first encounter.

Other than fear, the other people rejoiced inside that they had not been so close in their pursuit. What made them even happier was that the collision between the two sides had swept away the scattered dust. The other side also showed themselves.

Five people!

There were only five people!

Their hearts were slightly reassured. Even if these five people all comprehended sword essence, but the number was too small. There were fifty to sixty on their side.

———

Zong Ru stood on the street with his eyes closed, his hand holding the Four-Flanged Vajra Gada. There was no joy or sorrow in his heart.

His beaded bracelet had been destroyed in the battle with the Bloody Horn Serpent. Zuo Mo had felt especially guilty and had the idea of finding a talisman for Zong Ru. However, Zong Ru was a rare dhyana xiu. Dhyana talismans were even harder to find. Zuo Mo had suddenly recalled that he had a damaged Four-Flanged Vajra Gada in his ring.

That Four-Flanged Vajra Gada was a true dhyana xiu talisman. When Zong Ru had used his full power with his bracelet, Zuo Mo had caught a thread of the mysteries of dhyana talismans. He had put in great thought and reforged the Four-Flanged Vajra Gada before giving it to Zong Ru.

When this Four-Flanged Vajra Gada came into Zong Ru’s hands, Zong Ru instantly knew this wasn’t a dhyana talisman of a low grade. The gada itself contained extremely abundant Buddhist mindfulness. He did not know which great elder had carried this gada along his path of enlightenment. Over time, this Four-Flanged Vajra Gada had accumulated large amounts of Buddhist mindfulness.

The power that this Four-Flanged Vajra Gada could express in Zuo Mo’s hands wasn’t even one percent of what it could be in Zong Ru’s hands.

The Buddhist mindfulness resting in the gada itself was extremely beneficial to Zong Ru’s cultivation. What was most valuable was that there were many scenes of the comprehensions that the elder had experienced in Buddhist fixity.

Zong Ru, who had been troubled due to his lack of a teacher, progressed quickly upon receiving such a treasure.

Other than his fist essence, even his abhinna which he had thought he would never form in this lifetime had unintentionally formed!

He felt the warm and cold presence that came from the Four-Flanged Vajra Gada just before the sword energies disappeared.

Zong Ru suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes!

Chapter 247: Rainbow Mirage Light

Zong Ru’s gaze was indifferent, his left hand held the Four-Flanged Vajra Gada, his right hand formed a seal.

“Duo!”

His voice resounded like a vast bell. It was not high and exciting, but it could be heard throughout Nan Sheng Village! With him as the center, an invisible hurricane swept outwards.

The faces of the xiuzhe all changed!

The ling armors they were wearing were already activated, but this shout seemed to have sounded from the bottom of their hearts. Their ling shields were not effective at all. What shocked them even more was all the ling power in their bodies suddenly froze for a moment!

Abhinna: Truth Speech!

The other four people took the opportunity to jump off the ground. Lightning fast, they were like four flying swords that thrust into the crowd.

———

Ma Fan only took a quick glance and the battle field was imprinted in his mind. After being the core for so long, his grasp of the entire battle situation was unparalleled in the camp. He had undergone the greatest change in the camp, or rather, he had improved the most, especially the presence he now had.

When he had been made the core, his performance had been very inexperienced. After gradually adjusting, a presence appeared on his body, one that was extremely authoritative. He had previously been an eternally roaming wolf that always gave people the sense of danger. The present him was less attention-catching. His features were ordinary. In a crowd, it was now harder to pick him out.

[Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction] was the killing move he had used the most in the past, but as his understanding of sword essence and battle had deepened, he started to experiment with simpler sword moves. Gradually, the number of times he used [Illusory Shadowless Sword Of Destruction] had decreased, and his edges had gradually been hidden. After he learned the fifth-grade [Void Movement] method, which lacked the dazzle of his previous illusory movement method, the threat he posed increased rather than decreased.

In a chaotic battle, it was difficult for the enemy to even detect his existence.

Ma Fan’s stealth was wonderfully displayed at this time. He was like an unnoticeable thread of light smoke floating among this crowd. There were no grand sword moves. Even his sword energies were just several cun long. He was like a little swordfish but no one other than Xie Shan could rival his efficiency!

In the blink of an eye, he had defeated seven or eight people.

Many people had not even found they had been attacked before he had disappeared without a shadow.

———

Compared to Ma Fan’s clean and high efficiency killing intent that was concealed, Xie Shan was a completely different style.

Keen!

As keen as a sword!

He was like an unsheathed sword. Countless five colored sword essences swam around him like rainbow flying swords. The pressuring sword essences intercrossed, extremely beautiful, and full of killing intent!

Xie Shan was a clever person. He knew his strengths and weaknesses.

In Little Mountain Jie, those with ningmai third stratum cultivation could be counted on the fingers!

In the stage of ningmai third stratum, the lowest amount of ling power in the body was ninety jing. No one knew that the ling power in Xie Shan’s body had reached an astounding one hundred and eighty jing! There was a saying that if a person could get the ling power in their body to contain more than two hundred jing, they could enter jindan. This kind of saying was not reliable, but it showed just how strong Xie Shan was. He had almost reached the peak of ningmai!

The benefit of deep cultivation was that those killing moves that came at great cost were not significant to him.

He rarely used killing moves. His comprehension of sword essence meant that he could easily face other enemies. However, Ma Fan had provoked his competitiveness today!

The pure ling power in his body were instantly channelled. The multi-colored sword energies around his body brightened and vibrated.

A light flashed through his eyes. His fingers came together,and he pointed at the crowd of xiuzhe!

Five colored light rose in the sky above his head in layers like an aurora curtain. The sun in the sky lost color at this moment. As his fingers pointed into the air, the aurora in the sky suddenly broke, and countless broken sword essences howled as they turned to streaming five colored lights that shot down. Killing intent rose with the rain of light!

It was a five colored rainstorm. However, no one had the energy to spare to watch it. The sound of air tearing made everyone’s scalp prickle!

What shocked the surrounding spectators was that Xie Shan’s move had covered all the xiuzhe that had been pursuing them!

[Rainbow Mirage Light]!

This beautiful and ethereal name was a terrifying killing move. The ling power it consumed was even more astonishing. One hundred and fifty jing of ling power. It was more than the total ling power that the great majority of ningmai contained in their bodies!

———

Ma Fan’s expression changed and he did not hesitate in pulling out and retreating! He was not the only one. The other two xiuzhe who had charged forward also changed expressions, turning and then running back.

This madman!

They were extremely shocked. They knew that no one in the camp could compare to Xie Shan’s cultivation but they had never expected that he was this powerful! Ma Fan could not calm his heart. He had always assumed that while Xie Shan’s cultivation was high, but they were equal in their strength.

Due to the incorrect assumptions, he never placed much emphasis on his own cultivation. However, this scene today totally destroyed his worldview. They had escaped from this move because the sword essence in the sky had not locked onto them. Otherwise, it would have been as though they had sunk into quicksand and would be unable to take a single step!

Xie Shan used this move to show them that xiuzhe of deep cultivation were terrifying.

The xiuzhe that were covered by the rainbow rain were in tragic states. Other than sharpness, the five colored sword energies also had a strange corroding power. The ling shield would only hold up to several blows before it would break! The xiuzhe that had been struck by the five colored streams of light were not able to even make a sound before their bodies rapidly changed into a puddle of soft five colored mud.

Lei Peng and the other nine that had ran away stopped at this time. They stared with their mouths wide open in shock as they looked in the direction of Nan Sheng Village to see that patch of terrifying rainbow rain!

Before they could sigh, they saw the five people flying over. Everyone’s gaze as they looked at Xie Shan had changed.

Xie Shan was not very smug. He only had thirty jing of ling power left in his body. It would not be good if a battle occurred again.

“Move quickly!”

He did not hesitate as he passed by the others and threw out the two words. The others woke and hurriedly channelled their ling power as they fled for their lives.

Everyone knew that they had gone overboard!

The killing move that consumed one hundred and fifty jing of ling power had startled all the xiuzhe in Nan Sheng Village!

In the blink of an eye, all the xiuzhe in Nan Sheng Village flew into the sky. The sky was covered. Their expressions were strangely similar, extremely shocked. Even the few ningmai third stratum xiuzhe had paled.

One hundred and fifty jing of ling power, that was more than all the ling power in their bodies!

Not one xiuzhe was standing in the area covered by the rainbow rain. Ling armor, talismans and flying swords covered the ground. At this time, no one dared to go and pick them up. The rainbow liquid that was flowing everywhere was like a beautiful yet fatal poison.

He Xiang gaped as he looked at this scene, his mind blank. It was over!

———

Having stayed at the camp, Zuo Mo did not know at all that the affair had become so large. He was busy settling in the first batch of xiuzhe that had arrived. The xiuzhe that were skilled in city building had been delivered to Sky Star Mountain with the quickest possible speed.

Seeing the patch of wild mountains and a crude camp, many people had disappointed expressions.

Zuo Mo did not attend to these people. He went straight to the xiuzhe who were skilled in city construction and spoke of his demands.

“Build a city?”

The three people looked at each other, their faces filled with disbelief. Did he assume that building a city was just putting a pile of rocks together and that was it?

“Is there a problem?” Zuo Mo looked at the three with slight displeasure.

The three people were not dumb. They knew that it was impossible for them to return now that they had arrived here. If they immediately offended the boss, they could not think about having a good future.

“How big of a city does Boss want to construct?” asked one of them.

“Following the flow of this mountain range, it needs to include these peaks, able to defend against the attacks of a jindan, able to … …”

The three all collectively sank to inertness.

“The expense will be a bit high,” another person probed.

“No problem, we have enough jingshi.” Zuo Mo’s attitude was like that of a nouveau riche.

“We need lots of manpower.”

“Oh, seven hundred xiuzhe, is that enough? I can also make some puppets.” Zuo Mo rubbed his chin and said to himself, “It seems that I need to let Gongsun Shidi get some more people.”

These words made the three feel a malicious intent. Was this person a xiu slave trader?

However, the three had seen the combat abilities of this group on the way here. They did not believe xiu slave traders would have such a strong troop.

The three saw Zuo Mo was serious and started to also seriously focus on surveying the landscape.

———

A few days later, Second Division had smoothly arrived back at camp. When Wei Cheng Bin came to the crude campsite, he was also very disappointed. However, before he could recover from the disappointment, the xiuzhe who had been hired were led in front of a person.

Ji Wei looked down at the crowd of xiuzhe that had recoiled slightly and shouted, “Those that know forging, come out.”

A while later, they looked at each other, but no one dared to walk out.

Ji Wei had expected the situation and followed up with, “Those that know forging can start work immediately. Let me tell you, this place pays wages on a unit basis. If you are late and the positions are taken, don’t blame other people.”

Just as he finished, people instantly reacted

“I know!”

“I know too!”

… …

Ji Wei was not picky. He waved his hands, “All of you, come with me.”

Eight people followed Ji Wei, Wei Cheng Bin was among them. Because he had studied small illusory formations, he had put in quite a bit of effort on forging. He was not good at forging big pieces, but was very good as making small ones.

They were taken to a mountain cave. The mountain cave clearly had been just carved out, and the person who dug it seemed to have no intentions of decoration. The walls were bare stone and mud.

When they walked to the end of the mountain cave, they found that the area was extremely wide.

However, it was all empty. There was nothing.

Someone could not resist, “Where’s the fire pool for forging? The gold steel drills? Without those things, how can we forge?”

Ji Wei looked with dissatisfaction at the person and bellowed, “Shut up! You don’t have any conduct!” Seeing the person shrink back in fear, he snorted coldly and did not look at the person any longer.

“Starting from today, you will be working here.”

The other people had expressions of bewilderment, but did not speak. Ji Wei was very satisfied.

“As to the things you mentions, this place has none of them,” Jie Wei said proudly, “Starting from today, you need to adjust to a new kind of forging method.”

At this time, the xiuzhe beside Ji Wei started to distribute jade boxes to everyone.

Wei Cheng Bin took the jade book with puzzlement. The jade box was very light in his hands. What it contained was very small.

He looked cautiously at Ji Wei. Seeing the other did not seem to object to them opening the jade box, he carefully opened the jade box.

His eyes suddenly widened, his mind blank.

“Golden Crow Fire!”

Chapter 248: The Problem Of Settlement

When Lei Peng and the others returned, Zuo Mo was discussing the construction plans of the city with the three people. Never having participated in building a city before, Zuo Mo was extremely interested. Also, the newly built city was of extremely important in his plan.

To the three people, a strong village that could defend against a jindan was something they had never done before. They were extremely interested. As to the feasibility of the plans due to the high difficulty? That was Boss’ problem. They were only in charge of designing it.

“What is the use of this beacon tower?” Zuo Mo pointed at the plans and asked.

“It is primarily to give warning to allies. Other than that, it can contain twenty xiuzhe. Its ling shield can protect xiuzhe. Xiuzhe standing on the top do not have to worry about the attacks of the enemy.”

“But don’t you think it is too small?”

“It can hold twenty people, it is not small.”

“Small, it’s too small. At the very least, it needs to be able to hold fifty xiuzhe. That way, it has offensive power. Also, we don’t need that fire altar. We only have one city, we don’t need to give anyone warnings.”

“Without the fire altar, is it still a beacon tower?”

“We can give it another name. What about Sword Pavilion, how do you guys feel about it?” Zuo Mo asked with interest.

The three were wordless.

Zuo Mo clearly had not finished speaking his thoughts. “Your plans are pretty good, but it is too conservative. Pure defense cannot stop the attacks of the enemy. Jindan recover ling power faster than us. If he can’t defeat us the first day, he’ll come back the second day. If he continues to attack for a dozen days or a month, do you feel we can stop him?”

The three were speechless again.

One person argued, “If a jindan attacks a city, there’s no city in Little Mountain Jie that can stop him.”

“There wasn’t one before, but there will be one soon.” Zuo Mo looked at the other, and then added, “If there isn’t one when it’s time, we will all die.”

The three instantly started to sweat, feeling hopelessness. Heavens, who had Boss offended? Wait! Jindan! A person flashed across their minds, Clear Sky Old Forefather! There was only one jindan xiuzhe in Little Mountain Jie.

“Clear Sky Old Forefather?” a person asked in a trembling voice.

Zuo Mo smiled and said, “Your guess is so accurate.”

The three’s faces turned ashy. Zuo Mo’s smile was so evil in their eyes, more evil than a demon. They were extremely regretful. Before, their lives were poor, but at least they wouldn’t be at risk for losing their little lifes.

“Okay, everyone,” Zuo Mo clapped his hands, “cheer up. I know you are the same as me, you don’t want to die. So cheer up. Use your strongest imagination and give the most plausible plan.”

One person looked soulless, but he managed to keep his composure. “Boss, you can’t defend against a jindan.”

“Then what do we do?” Zuo Mo spread his hands and asked.

This person bit out, “If we can’t defend, maybe we can try to kill him!”

“You’re crazy!” The other two people yelled.

“Continue.” Zuo Mo was shocked inside, and gave a surprised expression.

This person’s face was white, but this eyes flashed with an insane light. “Jindan might be strong, but they do have weaknesses. They are too proud, they believe too much in their own strength. They would not care about things that look very dangerous to us. We can make a trap using the city as bait. He may fall for it.”

“It’s not possible. He will see through our disguise.”

“You cannot kill a jindan!”

The other two muttered as though they were dreaming.

Zuo Mo scanned this person and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Yuan Jiang, Boss,” the person answered respectfully.

“From today on, you are the leader of the three of you,” Zuo Mo then said to the other two, “you two will be his assistants. If someone doesn’t listen, hmph hmph. You won’t live if you rebel against a jindan, but if you rebel against me, you won’t have a life now.”

The two people’s faces instantly whitened again, and fell silent.

“Make a new plan,” Zuo Mo said to Yuan Jiang.

“Yes, Boss!” Yuan Jiang said respectfully. He knew that if he was able to grasp this chance, his future prospects were limitless.

———

Gongsun Cha listened to the people report. Xie Shan stood at the side with an ashamed expression. He knew that he had gone overboard this time. He had exposed himself too early in front of the public. It was not a good thing for them.

“Oh, so it’s like that.” Gongsun Cha raised his head, and gave a shy smile. He said warmly, “No problem.”

Xie Shan’s heart loosened slightly.

“However”

Xie Shan’s heart suddenly rose again.

“Since you guys caused this problem, then you need to wipe your own butts.” Gongsun Cha then seemed to say to himself, “Oh, this is a pretty good chance, can’t waste it.”

No one understood what Lil’ Miss meant in his words to himself.

“Right now, Clear Sky Sect is definitely searching for you. Even though you have covered your tracks very well, but they probably will not have to try so hard to find this place. Your present mission is to stop and disrupt their pursuit.”

Everyone instantly had an excited expression. Wasn’t this another chance to fight?

The corner of Gongsun Cha’s mouth rose in an imperceptible curve. “All of you will led a platoon in this disruption mission.”

“Ah! We also need to take those new people?”

The people who had just been so excited instantly withered. They finally reacted. What disruption mission? It was a babysitting mission. Thinking about taking along a large group of newbies that didn’t know a thing, everyone, including Zong Ru, had a grimace on their face.

They were very willing to kill. But not one of them was willing to be a babysitter.

“What, you aren’t willing?” Gongsun Cha smiled, showing his teeth.

Everyone’s hearts suddenly froze. They simultaneously shook their heads.

‘Willing, how can we not be willing?! Leading a group of people, it will be very imposing, ha ha!” Lei Peng’s laughter was like sobbing.

“Very willing, very willing!” Nian Lu hurried to agree, afraid if he wasn’t careful, Lil’ Miss would fix onto him. Then it really would be getting a strip torn off his hide.

Ma Fan saw Lil’ Miss’ eyes float towards him and hurriedly jumped out. “This subordinate is willing to be the first to fight.”

The other people instantly were upset. How come they hadn’t been the first to declare themselves? Ma Fan’s mind was getting better and better. He hadn’t been the core for nothing!

Instantly, everyone asked to fight.

Gongsun Cha gave a shy and bashful smile, and said softly, “You have to be careful.”

Hearing this, it was as though everyone had been pardoned, and they scattered, rushing to go pick people.

———

Zuo Mo suddenly felt he was much busier. All the xiuzhe that had been brought over had at least one skill. He had to personally make arrangements for many people. However, before this, the first person he had to meet was the one who had planned all this, Bao Yi.

“Boss!” Bao Yi respectfully bowed.

When he first saw Zuo Mo, he was extremely shocked. From any angle, this boss looked like a youth that did not seem to have even entered his twenties. The more amazed he was, the less he dared to slight Boss. To be able to gather together such a large group of people at such an age, his abilities were definitely not something that a little businessman like him could underestimate.

After he took a tour around the camp, the amazement in his heart increased. Maybe this camp was extremely crude in other people’s eyes, but in the eyes of someone as experienced as Bao Yi, there were too many places here that were not normal.

That date seed ship was a rare jingshi talisman. The female xiu beside Boss and the three metal guards enveloped in golden armor were unable to be quantified.

The first mission he received was to organize the stores.

He was very attentive to this mission. The stores could, to a certain degree, reflect the wealth of Boss.

The storeroom was a mountain cave. It was heavily guarded with two whole platoons of xiuzhe. When he entered the deep cavern, and saw the mountainous pile of talismans, he was dumbstruck. In an instant, he felt all the blood in his body suddenly flood into his head.

Heavens! It was the first time he had seen talismans piled up in heaps like they were trash.

No one to care and repair them, Bao Yi’s first thought was, wastrel, they were wastrels!

After that, he started to organize through day and night. He organized and sorted the talismans according to type and grade. When Zuo Mo entered the store and saw the reborn storeroom, he was very satisfied.

“You must have worked very hard,” Zuo Mo said.

“This is this subordinate’s duty,” Bao Yi hurriedly said.

This guy really had abilities, Zuo Mo thought inside. Even though he was full of interest towards business, but it was clear that he definitely would not have the time in the future.

“You are going to be in charge of the store and be the quartermaster for the troop.” Zuo Mo reassured him. As the number of people increased, Zuo Mo felt it was increasingly difficult to manage them all. The training and combat of the xiuzhe in the camp belonged to Gongsun Shidi, but there was a lot of work in supplying resources. It had been a headache for him and Gongsun Shidi . As to Chun Shidi, that maniac could not be relied on.

Bao Yi was overjoyed. “Thank you Boss!”

Quartermaster and in charge of the stores, that was a rich job. What he thought more of was the importance of this job. After this, he did not need to worry about his status in this group.

“Work hard.” Zuo Mo encouraged and quickly left the storeroom.

———

Bao Yi’s job was very easy to arrange because no one other than him could do the job. However, Zuo Mo felt it was very difficult to arrange the other people.

They were skilled in a variety of areas, some of which were very obscure. Zuo Mo still had no idea what to do with them.

The only person he could ask for help was Pu Yao.

“This problem.” Pu Yao thought, and then said, “Maybe you can borrow some methods from our Yao Art Houses.”

“What methods?” Zuo Mo’s mind became alert.

“In the bigger yao art houses, they would take out a portion of resources and monies each year to support those yao with unique ideas to study new yao arts.” Pu Yao said, “Of course, you cannot avoid the necessary examinations and assessments.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. That was a good idea.

If he didn’t know how to organize these people, it was better to let them work it out, and he could save effort. As to resources, it would be within the limits of their abilities.

What Zuo Mo needed the most at the moment was the least effort-consuming method. If it continued like this, he felt that definitely would have no time to cultivate.

These days, it wasn’t easy being the boss!

Chapter 249: A New Plan

He Xiang’s face was black. The battle that had occurred at Nan Sheng Village was nothing less than a slap to his face. Also, this incident had coincided with the most crucial moment in negotiations. Looking at the slightly mocking expressions on the faces of the group of leaders, he understood that he would not be able to negotiate for the price he wanted.

He needed to prove Clear Sky Sect’s dominance of Little Mountain Jie. He needed to tell everyone what would happen if they went against Clear Sky Sect and him!

He Xiang’s expression was twisted viciously like a wild beast wanting to bite someone. There was none of the slight smile that had been on his face during the day.

All of you, just wait!

———

Zuo Mo read through Yuan Jiang’s new plan. At first glance, he liked this plan, a plan that was completely different than before.

Yuan Jiang was introducing the details, “This is an extreme plan. All of the construction is about one goal, our imaginary enemy, the Clear Sky Old Forefather.”

When he spoke of Clear Sky Old Forefather, Yuan Jiang’s voice was excited.

“To be able to maximize offensive and defensive capabilities, we rejected the plan to build a large city in this new plan. We will build a small city, a very small city, one that can only contain ten thousand people. Over here.”

He pointed at the highest peak.

“As the new city will be small, it will greatly reduce the area we have to defend, and gather our strength. Inside the new city, other than the basic necessities, all other constructions not related to combat have been abolished. The new city will be a big formation. This way, we can dramatically increase the defensive capabilities of the new city.

“We will hollow out the other six mountain peaks, and connect them to the new city underground. This way, we can form a gigantic Seven Star Formation. We’ve never planned such a large formation before, and do not know if it can stop a jindan, but this is the limits of what we can do. Boss needs to find experts in formations to complete this plan.”

Zuo Mo stared at the new blueprints without a word.

Yuan Jiang was slightly uncertain. He didn’t want to ruin his first job.

What he didn’t know was that his plan had given Zuo Mo endless inspiration, especially the idea of digging out the six mountain peaks and forming a Seven Star Formation underground. That idea was too crazy, too creative!

Zuo Mo was thinking, if it was like that, the Sky Star Lake could also be included in the big formation.

Using the mountains and lakes to set up a formation, Yuan Jiang’s plans had opened a new window for Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo had never tried such a terrifying and large formation. However, he knew that if this big formation could be formed, its power would be greater than any formation he had ever set up before.

The entire area around Sky Star Mountain would become an area controlled by the new city. Also, it would be so well disguised. Who could think that anyone would set up such an insane formation?

There were many places inside the city that could be improved, especially in the area of formations. It was clear that the three people were less skilled in the area of formations compared to Zuo Mo .

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a problem. Power. Such a large formations, how many jingshi would it take to activate?

An even more insane idea jumped out of his head.

Just at this time, he heard Yuan Jiang’s worried words, “Boss, the building materials for this city isn’t easy to find.”

Zuo Mo silently remembered his thought and raised his head to smile smugly at Yuan Jiang. “We’ve already started to prepare the bricks.”

Yuan Jiang stilled, and did not look very happy. He said, “Boss, for the new city to achieve the predicted effect, these bricks can’t be just anything. We need … …”

“Follow me.” Zuo Mo did not waste words and turn to lead the front.

When Yuan Jiang saw the mountains of blue gold stone bricks that had already been processed, he was dumbstruck. The other two people also gaped, looking dazedly at the glittering blue gold bricks.

After a beat, Yuan Jiang managed to react and leap forward.

“Good good good! The quality is comparable to talismans. However, it is the first time I have seen such a hot presence.” Yuan Jiang’s expression was excited. Only now did he finally believe that Boss really wanted to build a city!

“These bricks have been processed with Golden Crow Fire. The quality isn’t bad.” A rock in Zuo Mo’s heart landed. It looked like these bricks would satisfy Yuan Jiang’s demands.

“Great!” Yuan Jiang was thrilled, “Now that the problem of the bricks has been resolved, the other problems are easy.”

Zuo Mo did not speak. In his view, it was the exact opposite. The other problems were even harder.

It really was a vast undertaking!

———

Wei Cheng Bin’s recent days were not very good. Rationally, absorbing such a desired and fine fire seed as Golden Crow Fire should make a person happy. Even though there was none of the ling grains that had been predicted, but everyone had received a Black Meditation Mat. When Master Sun Bao had showed them how to use it, these Black Meditation Mats had become everyone’s most treasured possession. Many people were regretting that they hadn’t taken enough jingshi with them.

No one had any objections about their wages turning from the ling grains to jingshi.

What saddened him was the work that had followed.

When he saw the bluestone bricks that were multiple times larger than he was, he instantly did not know what to do. After that, it had taken him great effort before managing to process one of them. Then he found that other people had finished three pieces.

Therefore, his wages were one third of other people’s income.

Master Ji Wei suddenly gathered people together. “Who knows how to make small parts?”

The dejected Wei Cheng Bin instantly jumped out, his eyes bright. “I know.”

Other than him, a few other people had also stood up. Wei Cheng Bin glanced and laughed inside. All of them were people that had not performed well in the recent days.

Master Ji Wei did not say anything and gave them each a jade scroll.

“Make whatever you can from what is in there. All the materials are over there. It’s the same, pay by unit.”

Finishing, Master Ji Wei did not waste words and left. In the time he had spent here, Wei Cheng Bin had gradually gotten used to the busy atmosphere in this place. There were no idle people to be seen here. All the people, including Boss, seemed extremely busy. The cave was even more so. Because wages were calculated according to quantity, everyone was furiously working as the meditation mat meant jingshi became a life-saver. Everyone hoped to get more jingshi.

Only xiuzhe that had experienced the lack of ling energy and faced the possibility that their cultivation could collapse at any time would work so crazily.

He started to read the jade scroll in his hands and made a sound of surprise. Everything inside the jade scroll were strange metal constructs. There seemed like talismans but were not talismans. There were very detailed descriptions. Wei Cheng Bing recognized them. These were for a type of puppet.

He silently praised the wisdom of the person who had this idea. The puppet had been deconstructed to many little constructs. This person clearly was going after assembly. Wei Cheng Bin reacted. The number of xiuzhe here was limited, and there were no xiu slaves. Puppets were a pretty good substitute. However, what puzzled him was that puppets needed xiuzhe to direct them. With so many puppets, how many xiuzhe would be needed to direct them?

This thought turned in his head once before he threw it out. That wasn’t something he should care about. He started to work. A short while later, he made his first finished product. He was greatly encouraged, and worked hard. He gradually found that the smaller and more exquisite the item, the easier it was for him to make it.

Master Ji Wei quickly noticed his specialty and was somewhat shocked before giving him a job with a batch of small items.

His wages quickly grew with astonishing speed. The xiuzhe around him stared jealously.

These days were actually not bad, Wei Cheng Bin occasionally thought.

———

“Still haven’t found them?” He Xiang bellowed, “You group of garbage. How many days has it been since they escaped? You still haven’t found them?”

“This group is very cunning. They had scattered and escaped which wasted a lot of our time.” His subordinate defended.

“Don’t find excuses!” He Xiang controlled his anger, his tone dark, “What I want are results! As long as Old Forefather’s order has not come down, I am the Chief Elder. Before this, I can execute any of you!”

The subordinates paled. They knew that He Xiang was not wrong.

“I’ll give you three more days. If you cannot find them in three days, you can take your heads to see me.”

He Xiang’s words seemed to come from the depths of hell, cold and terrifying.

The subordinates knew that defending themselves was ineffective at this time. Everyone dejectedly bowed and quickly left. The Chief Elder would do what he said! The Old Forefather would not interfere. There were too many people waiting to enter to the Outer Hall, too many people that could replace them.

When everyone had left, He Xiang collapsed on the chair as though he had been robbed of all energy. His eyes were as dull as those of a dead fish.

Three days, that was the deadline the Old Forefather gave.

If there were no further developments in three days, he wasn’t going to live any longer. Originally, he had wanted to conceal this matter, and had not expected someone to bring it to Old Forefather. The result could be imagined. If he did not display enough ability, he knew very well the outcome waiting for him.

———

Ma Fan chewed a piece of grass in his mouth, looking in boredom at the sky above his head. He muttered, “Troublesome, it really is troublesome!”

The platoon leader tightly followed behind his butt, completely disregarding Ma Fan’s grouching. He was overjoyed at having gotten picked by Ma Fan. He was one of the original ones and very clear as to Ma Fan’s previous position and effect within the troop. Previously, many people had expected Ma Fan would have been the First Division leader.

This platoon leader knew one thing. If he followed behind Ma Fan, he would learn many things.

The xiuzhe under his command did not understand why the platoon leader was so respectful towards this xiuzhe that had been inattentive all this time. In their eyes, the biggest reason Ma Fan did not fit in with the troop was that indifference he exuded.

Idle, lazy, wasn’t those things that the platoon leader extremely disliked?

“They aren’t far from us.” A piece of grass held between his lips, Ma Fan’s words were slightly muddled. The platoon leader listened very carefully. On the way here, he was full of admiration towards Ma Fan’s judgement. Ma Fan raised his eyelids, looked into the distance, and continued, “Let everyone recover their ling power. They will probably encounter us in six hours.”

The platoon leader’s expression tensed.

The slight wind in the air suddenly seemed slightly murderous.

Chapter 250: Pu Yao’s Insane Suggestion

Zuo Mo stretched and released a long breath, his entire body sore. However, when he looked at the jade scroll in front of him, he couldn’t help but give a proud smile. He had completely improved the new plan. All the formations in the plans were redone.

Formation-defense-style, hee, have a taste of the true formations-defense-style!

Zuo Mo was very satisfied and proud of the finished plan. In the process of improving them, he had benefited. It had been very valuable. There were many questions he had never thought of before. There were many problems when building a city, and it was far more complex than formations. He tried to put different kinds of formations into every corner of the plans. Unlike Yuan Jiang and the others, Zuo Mo would use formations in any place possible if he did not have to use manpower.

The enormous construction would become a shockingly complex formation group, a gigantic formation belt composed of more than four hundred formations of various sizes.

Zuo Mo anticipated what expression Yuan Jiang would have when he saw this completely transformed plan.

Pu Yao suddenly came out to remind him, “This is a good chance.”

Zuo Mo stilled and asked, “What’s a good chance?”

Gongsun Cha had become at leisure recently and spent everyday playing war chess with Pu Yao. Usually, as long as he was facing off Gongsun Cha, Pu Yao would be much calmer. Many times, Zuo Mo could not help but feel that Pu Yao really was like a child. Of course, this kind of comparison was something a Sky Yao could not tolerate. Zuo Mo had smartly shut his mouth.

“Your body is barely acceptable, but you have been lacking in your cultivation recently. The potential of this body has not been completely excavated,” Pu Yao said, his voice heavy, “Wastefulness is shameful!”

Zuo Mo looked in shock at Pu Yao. That tone, why did it sound so similar to his own?

Wrong feeling, wrong feeling. Zuo Mo shook his head and threw the feeling aside. He said in helplessness, “There’s no other way. You can see it. I’m just one person. I can’t be split in two.”

“So what is in front of you is a chance. Right now, you have reached the peak of mountain physique. If you take another step, you will give birth to the moon soul, and reach the level of mo captain.” Light flashed through Pu Yao’s bloody pupil.

“The level of mo captain?”

“Equivalent to your xiuzhe’s ningmai.”

Zuo Mo was greatly disappointed. He was already ningmai. After the breakthrough to create a moon soul, that would just be equivalent to a ningmai. It was not that attractive to him.

Pu Yao seemed to see what Zuo Mo was thinking and smiled coldly. “Don’t feel as though it is unprofitable. Your physique has a name, it is called Jade Metal Head. Metal skin, jade bones. In low level mo physiques, it is among the top. That guy really put a lot of effort into it. Your luck isn’t bad, you made it through. Once you have a moon soul, you can absorb the power of the moon, and grow quickly. Also, there is an extra benefit to you that others don’t have.”

“What benefit?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked.

“Your spiritual cultivation is star spiritual cultivation. If you can cultivate to moon soul, you can absorb the powers of the stars and moon. If you are lucky, you may cultivate the Stars and Moon Wheel.”

“What is the Stars and Moon Wheel?”

“Just like you xiuzhe like using grades to divided good and bad, high and low, yaomo have similar divisions. Mo cultivate their bodies. There are many considerations. Other than the mo skills learned during life, all kinds of mo physiques are crucial, and there are naturally differences in quality. Mo live under military law. They like using military rankings to divide everything. Soldier, captain, colonel, brigadier general, marshall, king.

That group of people are simpleminded. Almost everything is divided like this, it’s easy to remember.” Pu Yao’s tone was filled with disdain and scorn towards the intelligence of mo.

“Then Jade Metal Head is what level?”

“Fifth in captain level.” Pu Yao spread out five fingers and waved them. Seeing the disappointment on Zuo Mo’ face, he sneered, “Alright, don’t act as though you didn’t get anything. Mo physique isn’t so easy to achieve. Any physique in the top five of all levels are what others dream about. However, you have to be careful, hee hee, mo physique is good, but if you encounter those people that refine corpses, you have to be careful. Mo physique is something they dream about too! Ha ha!”

Zuo Mo’s heart tightened as he listened.

“Then Stars and Moon Wheel? It’s also a mo physique?”

“It is also a mo physique, but it is even more rare. Twelfth in colonel level,” Pu Yao recalled, “If I didn’t remember it wrong.”

Zuo Mo listened and was even more confused. “Is there any practical benefits?”

Pu Yao stilled. “What is called practical benefits?”

“Like can I defend against other people’s flying swords, like my strength is ten times what it was, like … …”

Pu Yao rolled his eyes, “If someone like you can deal with flying swords with just your body, you xiuzhe would have been destroyed by us yaomo a long time ago.”

Zuo Mo was embarrassed. He found it was correct when he thought about it. If mo could handle strikes from a flying sword with only their body, then xiuzhe of the same level would not be a match for them. Flying swords could deal the greatest damage of all the talismans, and it was the sharpest. If even the flying sword could not wound the other, then other talismans really could not do a thing against the yaomo.

“The flying swords of the xiuzhe are still very powerful,” Pu Yao sighed. “You have never seen truly powerful xiuzhe. With their actions, they can destroy the earth and sky. They can even easily tear apart space, and nothing can stop them.”

Zuo Mo was not interested in those things that were too far away from him, and diverged back to the topic. “Those old people has nothing to do with us. This Jade Metal Head is fifth in captain level, it should have some unique attributes.”

“Unique attributes?” Pu Yao nodded. “Of course. The biggest attribute of the Jade Metal Head is that it is suitable for all mo skills.”

“Just this?” Zuo Mo asked in response.

“Yes, you don’t think this is enough?” Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo like he was looking at a weirdo.

Zuo Mo was slightly embarrassed by Pu Yao’s stare. “But I don’t know mo skills.”

“If you don’t want to be killed at any moment, don’t cultivate mo skills in the short term.” Pu Yao said solemnly, “When you start to cultivate a mo skill, the presence will radiate out. You will only die terribly.”

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. After all this time, every word was a waste. “Then why should I cultivate my body? I should just cultivate the sword. If not that, then even the consciousness works. Little Thousand Leaf Hands is stronger than that.”

In a reversal of his usual attitude, Pu Yao shook his head. “If you do not have this Jade Metal Head, I won’t urge you, but with such a wonderful mo physique, if you do not cultivate it, it really is a waste. You cannot practice mo skills at the moment, but that is fine. The Jade Metal Head itself contains extremely deep potential. If you can dig out all the potential, when you cultivate mo skills in the future, half of the work is already done, and you do not have to worry about the mo energy slipping out.

Zuo Mo waved his hand and said unconcernedly, “You say these pleasing things, but if we don’t get over this obstacle, any mo skill cultivation is useless.”

Pu Yao was speechless. He thought and then nodded, “You are also right. Maybe we can alter it.”

“Alter?” Zuo Mo was slightly bewildered. What was with Pu Yao today? Why was he so chatty?

“We shall do an analysis of what moves you have available.” Pu Yao sat down. “Let’s not include sword scriptures, your talent with the sword really is not good, and your sword essence level is too low, not even at Heart Turn Sword Essence. It isn’t even enough to scratch an itch for a jindan. [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] is pretty powerful, but your consciousness is not strong enough to threaten a jindan. The [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] is not enough against a jindan. The only thing that can be effective is your big formation. The grade of the yin fire beads are too low to be of significance. Those sonic lightning walnuts might give him some trouble if they are forged properly.”

When he finished, Pu Yao spread his hands. “See, no matter what you cultivate, it’s useless.”

Zuo Mo was extremely impacted and speechless.

“However, some areas have potential.” Pu Yao knew very well how to use the stick and the carrot.

Zuo Mo became alert at those words. “Tell me.”

“It’s a good idea to use [Yang Fiend Hard Lightning] to forge sonic lightning walnuts. You may want to borrow from the methods of the yin fire beads,” Pu Yao reminded.

Zuo Mo slapped his forehead and said with joy, “Right, why didn’t I think of that?” In the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter], there hadn’t been just one powerful way to make yin fire beads. Wouldn’t their effects be better than what he thought of himself?

He wanted to immediately read the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. The Clear Sky Old Forefather was like a sharp sword hanging above his head. He could not sleep well. He had always lacked moves that could threaten his enemies. Now that he had found one, how could he not rejoice?

“Other than the sonic lightning walnuts, if your physique could improve greatly in the short term, [Sky Glass Wave] may also give him some trouble.”

Zuo Mo still again. When he thought closely, he instantly found it feasible! If his body cultivation could make another step forward if the number of revolutions his ling power took could increase, the power of [Sky Glass Wave] would also increase. He had used Sky Glass Wave to break through the space shield of a fifth-grade ling beast. Even though the Bloody Horn Serpent was just a semi-fifth grade ling beast, but if he could increase, he might be able to threaten the Clear Sky Old Forefather.

The more he thought, the more excited Zuo Mo was. He suddenly found that he could attack. It was like seen a ray of light in the darkness. Even though it was just a thread, but it still gave him hope.

He asked impatiently, “What is the opportunity you said?”

“City construction.” Pu Yao blinked his bloody pupil.

“City construction?” Zuo Mo stilled again, “What does this have to do with city construction?”

The corner of Pu Yao’s mouth carelessly rose, his bloody pupil narrowed slightly, and his peerlessly handsome face became even harder to decipher. He looked like a cunning hunter that threw out the bait he had already prepared. With a light laugh, he said, “Haven’t you ever thought of building the city by yourself?”

“Build the city by myself?” Zuo Mo was dumbstruck where he stood.

“Yes, build the city by yourself.” Pu Yao raised his long and white finger that contrasted with the bright red fingernail. He chuckled, “Such a meaningful affair. A city that belongs completely to you. Making the foundation by yourself, making the city by yourself, making the formations by yourself … …”

Zuo Mo turned to stone.

“See, it won’t just exercise your body, it can also exercise your consciousness and your ling power. Where else can you find such a good chance?”

“A little city that can hold ten thousand people, it really is too small. At the beginning, I had assumed you were building a little city that could hold one hundred thousand people at the very least. That way, you will be exercised even more. Shall we expand the city?”

“Don’t you want to kill that jindan? Your little life is the most important! The harder you work, the more powerful you will be. If you sweat more now, you will spill less blood later … …”

Hearing Pu Yao nag into his ears, Zuo Mo received a great fright. His eyes rolling back, he fainted.

Chapter 251: Crazy Zuo Mo

Even a person as unconcerned with worldly affairs as Chun Yu Cheng had heard the news.

“Is there really nothing wrong with Shixiong?” Looking at a half-naked Zuo Mo that appeared like a maniac, he asked with worry and uncertainty.

Gongsun Cha shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

“I heard that he’s going to build the city by himself?” Chun Yu Cheng carefully asked. He looked with slight sympathy at Zuo Mo. Shixiong was normally a fanatic, but had the pressure recently been too much , and caused him to become abnormal?

“Yes,” Gongsun Cha also responded carefully in a small voice as well, “I even asked Shixiong a few days ago if we should sweep some more xiuzhe over. Shixiong said he was going to build the city by himself.”

“So the news is true!” Chun Yu Cheng gave a long sigh, and looked again. He sighed, “As expected. I just knew that Shixiong isn’t the average person!” He looked in sympathy at Zuo Mo, then turned and left with his hands behind his back.

“Shixiong isn’t normal, as expected!” Gongsun Cha gave the same exclamation as before, also turning and leaving.

———

Yuan Jiang’s heart trembled as he forced himself to say, “Boss, this … … this foundation, it needs to be dug deeper to work.”

Zuo Mo turned around his face, his eyes gleaming like that of a wolf.

Yuan Jiang’s face paled. Luckily, Zuo Mo only glanced at him before turning back to furiously start to dig the foundations. He jumped into the pit, his hands dancing as the soil flew. The earth hole quickly increased in depth and size with a speed visible to the naked eye.

Yuan Jiang furiously swallowed from the side, his face filled with fear. To be in the position of supervisor like this, he was to be pitied. Every time he saw Boss’ twisted features, it was as though there was an ancient wasteland beast in front of him that could open its jaws and swallow him at any moment.

He would be so frightened by Boss’ gleaming gaze to the point of forgetting to breathe whenever he pointed out areas where Boss had not met the specifications.

This world was crazy!

The frightened Yuan Jiang felt everyday was full of darkness, so black that there was no light. He could not understand what sickness Boss had that he would suddenly want to construct a city by himself.

Yes, this city was really quite small. A new city that could hold ten thousand people, the smallest of small cities, but it was still a city! As grown-up as he was, oh, please forgive him for incoherence, it was slightly dubious for Yuan Jiang who was over eighty years old to say this. However, in his eighty years of life, he had never seen, nor heard of a xiuzhe who built a city by themselves.

What made him feel helpless was that Boss was serious!

As a supervisor, Yuan Jiang thought that Boss was a very exceptional constructor. Look at that blinding speed. If someone had such a good worker under them, any supervisor would laugh. However, if the situation was changed and there was only this one good worker, then they would cry.

With Boss’ present speed, Yuan Jiang felt hopelessness about building the city.

What made him feel the greatest lack of hope was that the other was his boss!

———

Zuo Mo felt every piece of muscle in his body was trembling uncontrollably. He seemed to have lost control over his body. He opened his mouth like a fish that was thrown onto land, his body motionless. This body cultivation was really through. Zuo Mo felt even the insides of his head were trembling. All of his power, no matter if it was physical power, ling power or spiritual power had been completely consumed in this extreme labor.

In the plans for the city, the foundation was to be twenty zhang deep!

Zuo Mo had to use his bare hands to dig out the entire foundation!

Pu Yao was very devious … …

Zuo Mo weakly cursed Pu Yao inside. After resting for a moment, the lingdan he had shoved into his mouth earlier started to release their medicinal power. The Black Processing Meditation mat under his body continuously guided ling energy into Zuo Mo’s body. At this moment, Zuo Mo’s body was like a parched desert that was greedily sucking in any drop of medicinal and ling power.

After a while, Zuo Mo recovered some energy and struggled up. The sun above his head was slightly blinding. He turned to glance at the half completed ditch.

Taking in a deep breath, he jumped back into the ditch.

The abnormal state of Boss had long ago passed through the entire camp. Everyone had been discussing it in secret. They couldn’t understand what Boss intended to do.

Zuo Mo mechanically waved his arms. His speed was very fast. His consciousness was continuously released and reflected every detail of the dirt around him.

Pu Yao had been right. If he could build up this city by himself, his strength definitely could breakthrough to a whole new level. But this was such a perverse plan!

Zuo Mo tightly pressed together his dry lips, pushed his head down and dug crazily.

He started to learn how to use his consciousness to inspect the surrounding dirt, how to use the structure already present in the soil to save energy. He started to understand how to frugally use ling power. Before this, he had never thought there would be a day where he would use ling power so stingily. He started to understand how to move his hands as he absorbed earth energy at the same time … …

———

Three days later, a square shaped hole twenty zhang deep appeared on Sky Star Peak.

Zuo Mo looked like a mud person. Only his eyes were revealed. After laughing soundlessly, he sat down and crossed his legs.

Yuan Jiang was at the side, gaping as he looked at the twenty zhang deep foundation, a foundation that had completely met the specifications. It was not just him that was gaping. The entire camp was shocked.

Those xiuzhe that had had slightly mocking attitudes were so shocked they could not speak when they saw this twenty zhang deep ditch. Who could believe this was something a xiuzhe had dug with his bare hands? However, they had seen the entire process with their own eyes. Those people that had watched in order to laugh at the joke now only felt admiration.

———

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao stared at the gravestone and said, “I now understand why you chose him.”

“You,” he paused after each word, “are similarly stubborn.”

The gravestone was still silent, the black clouds slowly moving around it.

———

Gongsun Cha looked thoughtfully at the meditating Zuo Mo and turned back to return to the camp. He ordered the xiuzhe in a low voice, “Tell Ma Fan and the others to distract some more. They need to slow them down. We need more time.”

“Yes.” This xiuzhe took out a paper crane, wrote down a secret code on it, and lightly channeled ling power. The paper crane flapped into the sky and instantly disappeared. Before, Ma Fan and the others left, they had left behind their impressions. These paper cranes could follow the impressions and find Ma Fan and the others.

Little Mountain Jie was not large. It was convenient to use paper cranes.

“What about us?” Another xiuzhe couldn’t help but ask. Other than Ma Fan and the others had each taken a platoon with them, there were still many battle xiuzhe at the camp.

The figure of Shixiong completely covered in mud appeared in Gongsun Cha’s mind. His steps slightly paused before recovering. “Naturally, we can’t be idle as well.”

———

Ma Fan scanned the battlefield. More than a dozen corpses laid askew on the grass. Large holes could be seen everywhere. The plains that appeared to extend without end had been torn to pieces. The ling power was lingering in the air. It almost was possible to smell the viciousness of the battle moments ago.

The enemy had all been destroyed, but one of their own had also died.

The platoon leader ‘s expression was slightly sorrowful. This was the first time that a fatality had occurred under his command. The remaining xiuzhe were silently cleaning up the battlefield and gathering the spoils. The victory had turned melancholic due to one of their own dying.

Ma Fan looked at his slightly dejected fellows and was somewhat shocked but also proud. In any group that he had stayed in before, the morale would have never dropped after a victorious battle due to one of their own dying.

Maybe, these were true fellows. Ma Fan thought idly. Just at this time, he raised his head. A paper crane flew through the sky. He held out a hand, and the paper crane flew in.

Unfolding it and reading, he muttered, “Trouble!” He then handed the paper crane to the platoon leader behind him.

“What does Head mean?” The face of the platoon leader was filled with puzzlement. There was no explicit orders on the paper crane, just telling them to try their best to delay the enemy.

Ma Fan did not reply. Noticing the cleaning of the battlefield was almost done, he adjust his clothing, and lazily said, “Get everyone to prepare. We need to leave here. The enemy will probably quickly find this place.”

“Where should we go?” The platoon leader asked with curiosity.

“Let’s go south.”

The platoon leader jumped in fright, “Isn’t that Nan Sheng Village?”

“Yes,” Ma Fan said absentmindedly.

As his understanding of sword essence deepened, his original personality started to gradually show. After the reorganization, he did not need to act as the core, and his entire person seemed to instantly have relaxed, and resumed his lazy attitude of the past.

“Why are we going there? To attack Nan Sheng Village?”

Ma Fan looked at the platoon leader like he was looking at an idiot. “We only have this tiny amount of people. Attack Nan Sheng Village? Do you want to die?”

“Then why are we going south?”

Ma Fan did not look at him. He plucked a stalk of green grass and held it in his mouth, mumbling, “Killing midway.”

The sound of the whistle was like knives!

———

Zuo Mo opened his eyes, the light in them bright. He had meditated for three whole days! How long had it been since he had such a long meditation? Zuo Mo thought back in his mind, his heart filled with joy.

He could feel the change in his body.

Jade Metal Head, ranked fifth of all captain physiques. As expected, it was extraordinary!

He didn’t seem to use strength, but his body seemed to be pulled up by an invisible rope, and he stood up. Metal skin and jade bones. He had not experienced the benefits of these jade bones, but the benefits of this metal skin had started to clearly show.

The muscles of his body had been as hard as metal in the beginning with astounding flexibility. When he dug the foundation, every piece of muscle in his body seemed to have been reforged again. The space between the muscles decreased, and the muscles became tighter and more dense. These minuscule changes increased his strength by three-tenths.

He did not need to use ling power or earth energy to easily push his hand into the bluestone.

Looking at his body covered in mud, he wasn’t angry and snickered. The Little Art of Cloud and Rain instantly appeared above his head. The rain vented and in a short while, all the mud on Zuo Mo’s body had been washed away.

Zuo Mo discovered that his skin seemed to now show a strange black sheen that seemed slightly metallic.

As he marveled, Zuo Mo took his eyes away.

Yuan Jiang, who had fallen asleep as he stood guard, was awoken at this time, and opened his blurred eyes. When he saw Zuo Mo, he instantly shook, and the drowsiness disappeared. He seemed to jump off the ground and rapidly flew next to Zuo Mo. “Boss!”

“Let’s continue! What do we do next?”

Zuo Mo looked at the deep foundation. Bravado suddenly flooded into his heart!

Come on!

Chapter 252: Fire Paper Method

He Xiang released a breath in the side. Twelve hours before the final deadline, and he had finally found the enemy! As long as he found the enemy, he had the time to sort them out. The feeling of living after near death filled his body. He couldn’t help but want to exhale, but when he saw the hint of disappointment in the eyes of Second Elder, he forced himself to keep it in.

A hint of darkness flashed across the deepest part of his eyes. He did not want to show his weakness in front of his opponent.

“I’ve said it before. As long as they are in Little Mountain Jie, how can we not find them?” He pretended to be calm and said with a smile, “Tell us the situation.”

He looked as though he had expected all this.

“Chief Elder, our people had encountered the enemy on the plains in West River. A small platoon of sixteen people, our people were completely defeated.”

“West River Plains?” He Xiang mused, “Let Yu An take some people and make a trip. The other side has four people that have comprehended sword essence, and a dhyana xiu that has an abhinna. We cannot underestimate them.”

“Yes!” The subordinate hurriedly complied.

“Go quickly. Report anytime there is news.” He Xiang waved his hand.

The subordinate was perceptive and left.

“No wonder this group dare to be so presumptuous. They do have some ability.” He Xiang smiled as he spoke to the other elders. “A little troop just disappeared like this without a sound.”

“Chief Elder is wise,” an elder agreed. “However, if they want to work against our Clear Sky Sect, they obviously do not know their own limits, and are asking for their death.”

The other elders all nodded.

As to the little troop that had all died, no one was concerned. What did it have to do with them? The Outer Hall did not lack for people.

———

Below their feet were patches of clouds that spread into the horizon like a sea of clouds. Flying above the cloud layer, the sky was perfectly blue. Without any cover, the sunlight was abnormally poisonous. If one did not have their ling armor activated, they would be unknowingly corroded with a thread of fire poison contained in the sunlight.

There would rarely be xiuzhe who would fly so high. The strong wind at high elevations and the fire poison in the sunlight would increase the consumption of ling power in flight.

A troop of about three hundred people howled across the sea of clouds with astounding speed.

“Boss, where are we going?” the subordinate asked Gongsun Cha.

Gongsun Cha was sitting on a large green sword. There was an egg shaped ling shield around the big sword, blocking out the sharp wind and poisonous sunlight. Inside the ling shield, it was as warm as the spring and unusually silent. This big sword that was about one and a half zhang long had been forged of an entire block of fourth-grade Wind Ling Wood. Peerlessly light, it was an extremely fine flight flying sword. However, it was sumptuous to use such a big piece of Wind Ling Wood to make a flight flying sword. This was a spoil of victory.

This flying sword was called [Green Cloud], and had become Gongsun Cha’s personal flying sword. Because this flying sword could hold seven or eight people at the same, the person sitting on the point of the flying sword was the xiuzhe who was controlling Green Cloud. With Gongsun Cha’s zhuji cultivation, he basically could not move Green Cloud.

“Don’t you feel that we are too few in number?” When Gongsun Cha asked this, he seemed very much like a young and confused youth.

Of course, the people sitting here had become immune long ago.

“Not too few. We have six divisions now.”

“But this city can hold ten thousand people.” Gongsun Cha’s voice seemed slightly childlike.

Everyone sweated. It seemed Lil’ Miss’ sense of humor was increasing.

However, Gongsun Cha’s words made everyone’s hearts shake. The implication of Lil’ Miss’s words were clear. They couldn’t help but feel a thread of sympathy for the xiuzhe in the surrounding area.

“Then which place are we going to fight this time?” the subordinate asked carefully.

“One by one.”

Everyone shook again.

Gongsun Cha moved his mouth and another xiuzhe took out a jade scroll, channeling ling power inside. A light flashed and an illusory landscape of rivers and mountains appeared in front of them.

“There are thirteen different powers in our surroundings. The biggest has over five hundred xiuzhe, the smallest has eighty xiuzhe. Oh, on average, each faction has about two hundred people. Thirteen factions, how many would that be?” Gongsun Cha tilted his head as he asked.

The subordinate swallowed, “About two thousand and six hundred people.”

The faces of the people changed slightly. In total, they had slightly more than three hundred people. If they were to attack more than two thousand and six hundred people, the difference in numbers was really too large.

“Just two thousand.” A slightly disappointed expression came onto Gongsun Cha’s face.

Everyone’s heart jumped simultaneously as they hurriedly urged.

“It’s more than enough, more than enough. Head, we should fight one at a time.”

“Yes yes! An empire isn’t built in a day.”

… …

They feared that Gongsun Cha would be crazy and increase the number of targets. It was very likely that something like that could happen.

Gongsun Cha showed a disappointed expression. “Alright, even though it is slightly less, but we shall first eat them.”

“Head is wise!” The subordinates said together.

Gongsun Cha smiled as though he enjoyed the respect of all the people.

“Head, we’ve taken so many people out, the safety of the camp is … …”

“We don’t have to worry about that. It’s enough to have two platoons standing guard. That woman is very strong,” Gongsun Cha said carelessly.

Everyone finally recalled that Boss had a female xiu of immeasurable power that followed him. Then they recalled the three golden armor guards that never showed their faces, and instantly stopped talking.

“Oh, we will return to the camp in a month.”

The faint tone made everyone’s hearts shake as it entered their ears.

All of the xiuzhe forcefully stood up from the body of the sword. Floating midair, they solemnly accepted the order. “Yes!”

———

Batches of blue-gold bricks were transported next to the foundation. They piled up into little mountains. Yuan Jiang glanced over and couldn’t stop himself from swallowing. He urged weakly, “Boss, we should call some more people over.”

Zuo Mo ignored him and picked up two blue gold-bricks. The thick bricks seemed to weigh nothing in his hands.

“What do I do?”

Seeing the situation, Yuan Jiang could only helplessly inform, “Gold soup needs to be poured between two blue-gold bricks, and then spells are used to reinforce them. During the entire process, you have to notice to not damage the formations already on the blue-gold bricks. The root of the wall needs to be set up with earth element formations to connect them to the earth veins, so they can root themselves in the earth and become hard to shake. After the city walls are completed, bigger formations have to be drawn onto the surface of the outside walls.”

Yuan Jiang had already prepared and handed Zuo Mo a jade scroll. There were all kinds of detailed explanations in it, like the recipe for the gold soup. Gold soup was a substance that was created by mixing all kinds of gold element materials together.

After he finished reading the entire scroll, Zuo Mo suddenly asked, “Can’t I just melt the two blue-gold bricks together?”

“Melt them together?” Yuan Jiang was dumbstruck, “This … … how to melt?”

Zuo Mo himself was not so confident about the idea he just had and decided to try. He put the two blue-gold bricks together, and then he summoned the Golden Crow Fire. After some thought, the spell on his hands changed, and the Golden Crow Fire seemed to be pulled in four directions by an invisible force.

Yuan Jiang’s eyes were wide as he stared at the changes in Zuo Mo’s Golden Crow Fire.

The Golden Crow Fire gradually spread out and became increasingly thin until it was as thin as paper, an extremely thin golden piece of fire paper. At this point, the fire paper did not change anymore, but slowly flew towards the two blue-gold bricks that were stacked together.

The fire paper paused in front of the blue-gold brick and then burrowed into the gap between the two blue-gold bricks.

The fire paper quickly spread out flat between the two pieces of blue-gold bricks. A short while later, the brick surfaces facing the gap started to melt at the same time. There were no other signs of melting in the other parts of the brick.

Zuo Mo’s expression was serious. His consciousness was spread to its limits.

Seeing that it was almost enough, the fire paper suddenly flew out between the two blue-gold bricks. The two blue-gold bricks instantly stuck together. Zuo Mo didn’t dare to pause, and sent out five spells according to the description on the jade scroll.

The lights from the five spells accurately hit the merge point between the two blue-gold bricks.

When the last spell entered the two pieces of blue-gold bricks, what appeared in front of everyone was a single piece of blue-gold brick! It appeared to be one body, the surface as bright and smooth as a mirror without any gap.

Yuan Jiang was so shocked he couldn’t speak. It wasn’t just him. All the other forging xiu that were watching were left dumbstruck when they saw Zuo Mo’s skill with controlling fire.

Zuo Mo released a long breath. Good, good, he didn’t embarrass himself too much.

He felt slightly proud. Pointing at the big blue-gold brick that had just been forged, he said, “Go try and see what the effect is.”

Yuan Jiang was startled out of his daze and hurriedly arranged for an assessment of the new blue-gold brick. After a while, he ran back with an excited expression. “Boss, Boss! Strong! It really is too strong!”

Zuo Mo wanted to know the results. Hearing Yuan Jiang filled with meaningless words, he couldn’t control himself. “Tell me the result!”

There was still some hint of disbelief in Yuan Jiang’s eyes. “This is the strongest brick that this subordinate has ever seen! Definitely the strongest! We did a comparison with the best gold soup. Boss’s fire paper method was about two times stronger than reinforcing with the gold soup. We also found when there is too much outside force, the entire blue-gold brick would turn to powder, but before that, it never shows a crack. The ones made with the gold soup will crack at the mortar joints of the two blue-gold bricks if the outside force is large enough.”

Hearing Yuan Jiang blab on, Zuo Mo’s head felt dizzy. He could only ask, “So my method is better?”

“Better! Much much better!” Yuan Jiang was so excited he couldn’t control himself. The increase in strength that Boss’ method would provide to the city walls was greater than any method he knew. The other two people were also very excited.

Zuo Mo was very smug inside, and he did not feel much excitement. However, it was not hard for him to understand why Yuan Jiang and the other’s were excited. If they didn’t like it, who would study something as obscure as city construction? When a breakthrough development happened in an area a person liked, no one would be able to keep their composure.

“Oh, you guys can study the remaining. I’m going to start the work.”

Zuo Mo didn’t plan on wasting time. Time was very expensive.

The ling power spat out of his hand and coiled around twenty blue-gold bricks like a ling snake. He directly put them on his shoulder.

He felt his shoulders suddenly weigh down, his feet sinking into the earth.

It was really heavy!

These blue-gold bricks were all forged from large slabs of bluestone. Even though the volume had shrunk, the weight had not lessened. If it was any other person, they would have been pounded into paste when the twenty pieces were put on their shoulders.

Zuo Mo steadied his body and released a breath. Pulling his leg out of the mud, he started to charge towards the foundation.

Bam bam bam!

Each time Zuo Mo’s step landed, the earth would shake. Everyone in the surroundings inhaled in shock.

There were two Dhyana xiu in the two platoons who had stayed behind. Seeing this inhuman feat, they were very embarrassed!

Which motherf***er said that Boss was a sword xiu … …

Chapter 253: Golden Crow Walls

The blue-gold bricks were neatly stacked together.

The flying fire paper spread out and rolled, sometimes as straight as a knife as it passed through the gaps between the blue-gold bricks. Zuo Mo’s expression was serious, a faint layer of light in his eyes.

The fire paper danced faster and left behind beautiful golden trails in the air. His ling eyes and consciousness were stretched to their limits. No flow of ling power in the surroundings could escape Zuo Mo’s perception.

His hands were like flowers blooming. Zuo Mo’s well-practiced finger motions were completely used. His half-raised hands were always in the middle of countless afterimages that flickered in and out.

Many xiuzhe couldn’t help but put down what they were doing to come watch. Occasionally, gasps would sound out from among the crowd. Everyone was intoxicated. These xiuzhe were mostly non-combat production xiuzhe. They were one of the classes that emphasized finger motions the most. Zuo Mo’s precise ling power control did not waste one drop of energy. In their eyes, he was comparable to the most classic examples.

This was an experience to be enjoyed.

If Zuo Mo moving the blue-gold bricks previously had been the most basic and bare example of strength, then the grand finger motions and the amazing ling power control now represented the highest levels of control and technique.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had tried using his consciousness and Ling Eye at the same time. After a very short amount of time, he felt the benefits. The world in his eyes had never been so lively and dimensional in his eyes. His consciousness could detect every detail of the objects in front of him, his ling eyes could detect every change in the ling power. He was almost able to “see” the patterns behind the walls. With a glance, he would know everything in his field of vision.

This also caused his efficiency to skyrocket, and lead to the scene occurring right now.

Yuan Jiang had lost all power of speech. What was happening before his eyes surpassed the limits of his imagination. With a speed visible to the naked eyes, the blue-gold brick walls grew upwards. This kind of speed was outside of his knowledge. Even more, this was all done by a single person.

This world was too insane!

The last thread of his rationality caused him to look at the remaining blue-gold bricks. He instantly shook and his soul came back into his body. Of the mountain of blue-gold bricks that had been piled up before, there were not even one hundred pieces left. He thought of his role as the supervisor and ordered people to transport blue-gold bricks.

Other people did not have Zuo Mo’s physical strength, and could only use talismans. Instantly, all the talismans were put to use. Flying swords, ling hoes, jade scepters etc. all turned to a long line. Several bricks hung below each talisman. These bricks were way too heavy.

After a few round trips, the blue-gold bricks once again piled into a mountain. Yuan Jiang released a breath inside, and his expression relaxed.

Just as Yuan Jiang’s expression eased, Ji Wei and Sun Bao’s expressions became nervous. The two of them had been entranced in Boss’ grand performance had suddenly reacted when they saw Yuan Jiang summon people to transport blue-gold bricks.

The two rapidly calculated how many blue-gold bricks were remaining, and their faces changed!

Based on Boss’ terrifying speed, the remaining blue-gold bricks would quickly be unable to keep up with demand. The two of them were responsible for forging. If something happened here, they could not deflect their fault.

Previously, the two of them had feared Boss more than they respected him. Now that they had personally seen the abilities of Boss, they were full of respect to the point that they kow-towed. The more respect they held, the more they were unwilling to drag Boss down due to their own mistakes.

The two of them exchanged a look and did not hesitate in herding off the forging xiuzhe that were watching.

“Work work! Immediately! Anyone that dares to slow down, we’ll cut your wages!”

“Those that are making blue-gold bricks, listen. The wage for each piece is increasing by fifty percent.”

The two played good and bad, one punished while the other rewarded. The xiuzhe that made blue-gold bricks instantly ran off to work. They may have been motivated by Boss, or by the high wages, but each person was full of motivation.

The camp was very busy.

———

“Ma Fan is so meddlesome.” Lei Peng looked at the paper crane in his hands and muttered. He handed the paper crane to the platoon captain beside him in frustration.

After the platoon captain finished reading, he couldn’t help but ask, “What do we do?”

Lei Peng said, frustrated, “What to do? Do according to what he says!” Then he muttered, “This guy had been the core before, he should know more.”

The platoon captain was used to Lei Peng’s impatient tone. He knew that Lei Peng did not have malicious aims, but he was frustrated with having to take along greenhorns. He was an old member so he understood very well. Sometimes, even he would feel frustrated, much less a battle maniac like Lei Peng.

As the order pass down, everyone’s figures quickly disappeared.

———

In a patch of wood about two hundred li far from Lei Peng.

“Can Ma Fan Daren’s plan work?” the platoon captain asked Xie Shan uncertainly.

Xie Shan smiled and replied, “He was the core before. Of all of us, he received the most teachings from Gongsun Daren. None of us are likely to surpass him.”

“This is really a big plan!” the platoon captain sighed.

Xie Shan smiled and said, “Let’s start.”

———

At the same time, more than ten troops led by other people quietly hid in places about eight hundred li from Nan Sheng Village. This distance was very well grasped. Usually, the range of scouting troops were around one thousand and five hundred li. This distance was about half of that.

The suggestion Ma Fan gave them was to carefully sneak in and kill the little troops of xiuzhe as they were coming back.

The xiuzhe that were coming back would not have much ling power after long distance flight, and their combat power should be at a relatively low level. In the hearts of the xiuzhe of Clear Sky Sect outer hall, this position was a relatively safe area. They would not be so high alert and may relax their guard.

Of course, even more importantly, they could successfully reach the position of the plan.

As long as they could do this, Ma Fan’s string of plans had a high probability of success.

———

In many people’s view, Lil’ Miss’ campaign this time was slightly unexpected, but when battle started, they found that they were wrong. Lil’ Miss had done extremely detailed preparations. This was seen from the moment the first battle started.

Wei Ran securely remembered Lil’ Miss’s order. In the first charge, they did not use all of their power like they usually did. They only used the first charge of the three section wave killing charge. The Third Division he lead was like a knife that had ran out of power, having cut only halfway into the enemy ranks.

The faces of some of the other division leaders that were present all changed dramatically. The three section wave killing charge was to be completed all together. It was to be like a heavy blade, cutting everything in half! If it halted in the enemy ranks, and was surrounded in all directions, and if their side had lost the momentum, then it was an extremely dangerous situation.

But Lil’ Miss did not even look, and continued to add large numbers of fighters towards the flanks of the enemy.

After a while, everyone found that Wei Ran, who they thought would have lost many people, were only lightly damaged.

Wei Ran’s mission was to trap sixteen xiuzhe. These sixteen xiuzhe were the strongest power in the enemy ranks. It was not that their combat abilities were powerful, but the contribution they made towards their troop.

These sixteen people were a rare group, seal xiu!

Because the attack had been extremely abrupt, these sixteen xizhe hadn’t had the time to spread out before Wei Ran caught them all. Seal xiu were not famed for their combat abilities, but they were skilled in using all kinds of seal curses which could dramatically increase the combat abilities of the xiuzhe around them.

The first people Lil’ Miss dealt with were them. He used Wei Ran to cut the connection between them and the other xiuzhe. The balance of battle quickly tilted towards Lil’ Miss’ side.

———

The sixteen seal xiu looked with terror at the enemy that surrounded them, their hands nervously grasping stacks of seal papers.

The mood was extremely tense. One of the seal xiu couldn’t bear it, the seal paper on his hand unconsciously lighting up. He then heard Eldest Shixiong shout, “Don’t attack!” The seal paper on his hands was instantly blown apart.

This group of seal xiu were led by a middle-aged person of about forty years old. Seeing his calm expression, the other people gradually calmed down from their fear.

Once they calmed down, they detected the strangeness. The other side might have surrounded them tightly, but did not seem to have any intentions of attacking.

The xiuzhe that had almost attacked was instantly was filled with fear. If he had actually attacked just now, then he would really have caused a great disaster.

———

Without the support of the seal xiu, the other xiuzhe quickly collapsed as they faced the extremely sharp juggernaut of the three section wave killing charge. The other troops in Gongsun Cha’s command had already went back to block the retreat paths and to stop the scattered enemy from running around.

The battle quickly ended. There was no joy on Gongsun Cha’s face. The strength level of the two sides were not on the same level. If he couldn’t defeat these people, then he really had suffered through Pu Yao’s abuse for nothing.

However, when his eyes turned towards the seal xiu, they lit up.

If Chun Yu Cheng was here, he would definitely be shocked to find Gongsun Cha’s gaze right now was the same as Zuo Mo Shixiong’s when he saw a fat sheep.

Gongsun Cha showed his trademark bashful smile.

———

The city walls progressed quickly. Zuo Mo had thrown himself into the work, and forgot everything. He used the Black Procession Meditation mat to resupply ling power, and continued, then resupply. He mechanically repeated. The changes in the fire paper gradually decreased. The feeling of grandness slowly disappeared. What took over was accuracy and cleanness.

It was as though Zuo Mo did not know exhaustion until night. When the stars rose above his head, he would stop, sit on the unfinished walls and meditate.

When the sun rose on the second day, he would rise on-time, and start work again.

Facing such a crazy Boss, Ji Wei and Sun Bao were almost driven to insanity. The two of them led the other xiuzhe and used all their power to just barely manage to keep up with Zuo Mo’s speed so that the construction did not stop due to the lack of blue-gold bricks.

Ten days, the city walls were finished!

The blue-gold city walls were ten zhang deep. They were not imposing, but it was still amazing because there were no gaps to be seen on the city walls. They were as smooth as a mirror. When every person stood on the walls, they could not help but reach to touch.

Suddenly, the cloud layer above the Sky Star Peak suddenly dissipated. A golden pillar of light came down from the sky, and covered the just finished city walls. The city walls seemed to be a sponge, continuously absorbing the golden light for an hour.

All the xiuzhe in Sky Star Peak were alerted to this apparition.

The golden light slowly faded until it disappeared. The cloud layer in the sky closed again. The blue-gold walls of the city exuded a faint golden light.

The presence of the Sun Golden Crow, with the city walls as the center, rippled out towards the surroundings like a wave!

Chapter 254: The Metamorphosis Of Jade Metal Head

The completion of the city walls, and the apparition it caused motivated everyone. These were the smallest city walls they had ever seen, not even ten zhang high. These were also the shortest city walls they had ever seen. However, at this time, these short city walls always attracted their gaze. The mirror-smooth blue-gold city walls faintly exuded the sun’s warm presence.

Whenever they raised their heads in the camp to look at the little city on the mountain peak, they seemed to be filled with inexhaustible strength. Every morning, the sunlight would form into a faint gold pillar visible to the naked eye and cover the little city.

In the future, they would move in … … living behind these kind of city walls, it would be very warm … …

Everyone thought on the inside. In this chaotic and cruel Little Mountain Jie, unconsciously, this little Golden Crow city had added a hint of warmth to their hearts. It was an innate desire for sunlight and warmth. Without any urging required, everyone worked furiously day and night.

Zuo Mo did not know any of this. He was still constructing the city, and forgot everything else. The completion of the city walls for the entire city construction was just the first step. The amount of work left was enormous.

———

Yuan Jiang did not speak of the lack of manpower anymore. He did his best to point out the places Boss needed to pay attention to. Every time his eyes glanced across the little Golden Crow City walls, he couldn’t help but be entranced.

This was the most beautiful and perfect city walls he had ever seen!

He had exclaimed countless times inside. What amazed him even more was Boss’ deep skill with formations. Boss was the most skilled formations xiuzhe he had ever seen.

The ten zhang high city walls had a twenty zhang deep foundation. The entire city walls were one body. In the deepest part of the foundation, there were earth element formations carved every two steps. All of them were fourth-grade formations. [Earth Vein Root], [Granite Steel Overgrowth], and [Fire Lotus Foundation] were all arranged in a zig-zag fashion.

Whenever Yuan Jiang thought of the thought that Boss put into picking these three formations, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

[Earth Vein Root] acted like ten of thousand roots that deeply penetrated into the earth, unable to be broken. [Granite Steel Overgrowth] was an extremely obscure formation. It could cause granite around it to harden and would then continue to spread outwards like vines.

Yuan Jiang felt slight pity. If Clear Sky Sect did not exist, in twenty to thirty years, the entire Sky Star Peak’s granite would be hardened. At that time, it would be impenetrable.

What he felt was the cleverest was [Fire Lotus Foundation]. [Fire Lotus Foundation] was an extremely common formation, mostly used in forging and dan-making. It could form the base of a fire lotus. Lingdan and talismans would form on the lotus base. It was very creative to use it here. The walls of Golden Crow City was able to absorb Golden Crow Fire. Over time, this would be a very terrifying prospect.

These [Lotus Fire Foundations] could continue to temper the walls. Even though the effects would not be evident, but as time passed, it would become significant. Even more, fire bore earth. The effects of the two earth element formations would also increase.

It was a great pity!

The more Yuan Jiang looked, the more he liked it. However, when he thought of the city walls becoming the main battlefield for Clear Sky Old Forefather, and being destroyed, he felt even more reluctant.

———

Zuo Mo himself didn’t feel anything. The inside of the city had been divided into districts. Places like the camp and residential areas had been completely left alone so they could build it themselves.

What he was building now were the formation battle watchtowers.

formation battle watchtowers were the most important battle units of each city. There would all kinds of offensive formations on it. With the xiuzhe inside it controlling the formations, it could attack the enemy. The formations inside the formation battle watchtowers were all powerful offensive formations and usually needed many xiuzhe to work together.

Other than the protection offered by the city wall defenses, the formation battle watchtowers were one of the most important combat units that determined whether the place could be held.

At the beginning, Zuo Mo didn’t even think of building a big city. The only purpose of this little city was combat. Other than the necessary living spaces, Zuo Mo decided to use all other areas to construct the watchtowers.

Facing a jindan xiuzhe, it was not embarrassing to win through numbers.

The construction of formation battle watchtowers was not difficult, and it was not a secret. The jade scroll that Yuan Jiang had given him had extremely detailed descriptions. Of course, he didn’t follow exactly what the scroll said, those were just mainstream knowledge.

If he wanted something good, he had to put in effort himself.

Before the formation battle watchtowers were built, Zuo Mo’s Jade Metal Head mo physique unexpectedly had a breakthrough! The breakthrough was very sudden this time. There was no warning. Even Pu Yao did not detect it, much less Zuo Mo who had been in the depths of studying formation battle watchtowers.

The metamorphosis of a mo physique was unexpectedly terrible.

Just as he was pondering formation battle watchtowers, a cloud of bloody mist suddenly exploded out of Zuo Mo’s body.

The eyes of the female xiu that was closest to him suddenly lit up with a strange purple light. Her body did not move. The powerful bloody mist charged to two steps in front of her before it seemed to be stopped by an invisible wall.

The empty eyes of the three Golden Armor Guards lit up. The three of them raised their swords and blocked the charge of the bloody mist.

Yuan Jiang who was not far from Zuo Mo did not have the strength to resist. It was like he had been hit with a heavy hammer. He felt a great force pass over, sending him flying and into unconsciousness.

This was just a start.

Bam bam bam!

Clouds of bloody mist continuously exploded out of Zuo Mo’s body. Each burst contained extremely powerful momentum. The ground under his feet had already turned into a deep hole due to the explosions.

The golden armor on the three Golden Armor Guards rattled. They hurriedly braced their waist and legs, the light in their eyes were at a maximum as they managed to resist the charge of the bloody mist.

When the third wave of bloody mist exploded, the energy contained in the bloody mist reached a terrifying level. The three Golden Armor Guards could not block it. Dong dong dong, they were pushed to fifteen steps away before they could steady their bodies.

From beginning to now, the female xiu did not move. The exaggerated black mask and the eerie purple pupils flashed in and out of sight in the bloody mist.

She suddenly reached out with her right hand and grabbed at the bloody mist. The bloody mist in front of her instantly condensed, and a bean-sized blood bead appeared in her hand. After that, both of her hands grabbed at the empty air. All of the bloody mist had been condensed into blood beads.

Ding ding dong dong. The blood beads rang out as they fell onto the ground.

The bloody mist had been swept away and revealed Zuo Mo’s true body. Zuo Mo’s body was covered in gore. It was as though the gore was alive as it slowly moved. It looked extremely terrifying.

The female xiu silently looked at the bloody figure of Zuo Mo.

———

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao couldn’t help but sigh with shock, “Such a powerful girl!” He then lowered his head, and said to himself, “So quickly? Is this body really this suited to this path?”

He suddenly seemed to detect something and raised his head. The black clouds around the gravestone had disappeared.

———

The purple light in the eyes of the female xiu suddenly exploded.

A hint of black energy suddenly appeared in the gore wrapped around Zuo Mo’s body. The threads of black energy were like strands of hair and also extremely hard to notice.

The female xiu stared for a while before the purple light in her eyes gradually dimmed.

The gore on Zuo Mo’s body moved restlessly for more than four hours before gradually calming down. After four more hours, a person-high cocoon of blood appeared in the deep hole of the ground.

———

“The second batch.” The platoon captain was very excited. Adding on the group that they had just destroyed, they had successfully ambushed two groups of Clear Sky Sect Outer Hall xiuzhe that had been returning. Their luck was pretty good. From the information passed on through the paper cranes, several platoons hadn’t encountered anyone at all.

Continuous battle caused their platoon’s xiuzhe to quickly grow. Their combat had finally shown some hint of organization. For this, they had paid the price of three people.

Ma Fan inattentively made a sound in response. He was pondering what he may have not considered in his previous idea.

Lil’ Miss’s intentions were very clear. Do their best to delay the enemy so that the enemy could not find their main camp, and try to earn more time for the construction of the city. On the other hand, they couldn’t fight too fiercely, causing Clear Sky Old Forefather to come out personally. No one could deal with that.

There were too many places that had to be measured in here.

But from the present situation, the development of the situation had not left his predictions.

Holding a piece of green grass in his mouth, he raised his head to look at the faraway sky.

The battle had just begun.

———

Nan Sheng Village.

“Ten little troops have been killed? Ah! You group of trash! Two hundred people! That is two hundred people! Even if it was two motherf***ing stones, there would be a sound if they’re thrown into the water!”

Under great pressure, He Xiang finally lost all restraint and bellowed.

The subordinates shivered, and the other elders remained silent. Malicious joy came into many people’s eyes.

He Xiang sudden turned his head, and looked at the other elders. His eyes were filled with blood, his features twisted, the tendons in his head bulging like earthworms. His voice was deep like a lion that had been forced to death’s door. “Alright, you guys are just watching! Ha, you really think that only I would be punished if we don’t do this right? None of you will be able to escape! Don’t forget Old Forefather’s temper!”

The faces of the other elders all changed uncontrollably.

He raised his head, and said in a voice full of scorn and disdain, “I’m the Chief Elder, but is nothing to Old Forefather. You guys, which of you cannot be replaced? Don’t forget, it is very easy for the Outer Hall to hire xiuzhe. Would it be difficult to find new elders? You all should be clear how important this is. If we cannot even accomplish the first task for the Outer Hall, ha!”

Everyone saw the terror in each other’s eyes. Even though it was Chief Elder that was in control of the Outer Hall right now, but if Old Forefather really investigated, none of them would escape. What they were doing now was related to the foundation for the dominion of Clear Sky Sect in Little Mountain Jie.

One elder stood up. “That’s right. This is not the time for us to fight among ourselves. We should cooperate, and overcome this obstacle.”

“I agree!” another elder stood up.

Other elders continued to stand and express their agreement. Second Elder’s expression was slightly ugly but he also stood up. “I also agree.”

Chief Elder’s anger instantly disappeared, and even had a smile on his face. “As long as we cooperate, we will definitely capture this group of clowns quickly!”

Of the seven elders, except for him, they were all ningmai third stratum experts!

———

The mood of Nan Sheng Village had suddenly changed. All the people walking on the street were ordered to return home. All flow of resources were stopped, and all people were banned from travel. Even though the leaders of the various factions objected, but they were instantly suppressed. They were put under house arrest.

The Clear Sky Sect Outer Hall sent down its first Ten Thousand Fire Emergency Order!

The Outer Hall xiuzhe that had been prepared to send out to other places in Little Mountain Jie were all summoned back. The xiuzhe number in Nan Sheng Village continued to increase. The leaders that were under house arrest felt insecure when they saw this and were wise enough to stay in their homes.

The enormous Outer Hall gathered strength at an unprecedented efficiency!

Chapter 255: New Sky Glass Wave

Zuo Mo once again broke out of the cocoon. His body seemed to have changed again.

The skin that once had a black sheen now seemed slightly transparent like black jade. There was none of the shock that came with the first transformation. Zuo Mo examined his body with curiosity. Thankfully, there was not much change on his face. It wasn’t that he was afraid of becoming ugly, but it was not a good feeling when the face he had recently adjusted to had become strange once again.

He tested his strength. It was about two-tenths greater than before. Not bad, he thought inside as he started the [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]. He wanted to see how many revolutions his arms could tolerate this time.

Fourteen revolutions had been the limit when he had faced the Bloody Horn Serpent last time.

He started the [Sky Glass Wave] and the ling power quickly circulated through his arms.

Starting from the seventh revolution, his arms started to feel inflated. After ten revolutions, the feeling of inflation in his arms became more evident. After twelve revolutions, the feeling of inflation became even more pronounced in his arms. After that, with every new revolution, the feeling of inflation should increase greatly.

When it reached twelve revolutions, Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. It was possible!

Even though his arms felt very inflated, but there was still leeway compared to last time. He continued to channel ling power. He wanted to see where the limits of his new body were.

Fourteen revolutions, there was a pain caused by the feeling of the pressure.

Sixteen revolutions, Zuo Mo felt like his arms were going to explode.

Threads of light flooded out of his arms, and swam along his arms like little snakes moving about. It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen such a thing. He knew that if he completed two more revolutions, the Sky Glass Wave would probably undergo another change.

He weighed his options. He felt that he could still tolerate more. Bracing his heart, he continued to channel ling power!

Seventeen revolutions, the feeling of explosion in his hands became even stronger, and a needle like pain appeared. The light of the fist energies around his arms became even thicker, and the rate of movement increased.

The air around him did the exact opposite, their rate of flow was decreasing continuously.

At eighteen revolutions, the lights that swam around his arms increased in speed, and showed extremely unique whirlpool fist energies! Due to the increase in speed, the threadlike fist energies that had been wrapped around his elbow joints quickly were pulled astray. They were like springs that were pressed down by an invisible force. The spring disks that were now flat quickly revolved with amazing speed at Zuo Mo’s fists!

Zuo Mo knew that this was his limit. The air around him had stopped flowing as though it had turned solid at this moment.

Without a hesitation, Zuo Mo raised both his hands, and shouted, “Go!”

The center of the disk-shaped fist energies seemed to have been heavily struck and turned into the start of a helix that flew out with astounding speed!

There was no sound, no howling. When the two fist energies left his fists, they seemed to have disappeared into the air. They were so quick that Zuo Mo himself did not catch them.

As these two fists were released, the ling power and strength in Zuo Mo’s body seemed to have been completely pulled out. Extremely sore, he collapsed onto his bottom on the ground. After a while, he managed to struggle up and sway over to inspect the result of his two punches.

Twenty zhang away, two holes bored into the earth, each was more than two zhang in diameter. They were so deep the bottoms could not be seen. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but show slight joy as he gaped. It wasn’t possible to create this kind of clean and deep hole, like a knife cutting tofu, with just raw strength.

The power of the eighteen revolutions Sky Glass Wave was definitely more than twice as powerful as the fourteen revolutions one. Because there were not quantifiable measurements, he could only make a general estimate on its power. Zuo Mo instantly became happy. Pu Yao’s methods were quite painful, but they were very effective.

After this metamorphosis, the strength of his body had taken another leap forward. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have stood up to support the eighteen revolutions. The technique required in the Sky Glass Wave was not high, but starting from twelve revolutions, the demands on the body rapidly increased with each additional revolution.

This Jade Metal Head really lived up to being a mo physique, it was full of potential! Zuo Mo wondered inside about going to ask Pu Yao some other time to see if he could press some more out. When he had been at Wu Kong Mountain, when he heard the mention of yaomo, he would fear it. Now that he had experienced more, he didn’t have much feeling.

What mo physique, what yao art? When it was used, where was the energy of yaomo? He didn’t feel that his personality had become evil and vicious. As he experienced more, he gradually could see clearly. The so-called yao, mo, and xiuzhe were just different cultivation paths for different innate talents.

Like the yao, born from flora or the essence of the world. They were born understanding the power of the world, and naturally learned how to use their consciousness as a lever to manipulate the power of the world. Mo were born from intelligent beasts, with strong bodies and a mo matrix. It was no wonder they walked the path of awakening the potential of their bodies. And xiuzhe were humans. Their bodies were not strong, not close to the world, but they were intelligent. It was rational they would walk the path of assimilating outside forces to their benefit.

He gradually understood the hatred between yaomo and xiuzhe as he spent this time in Little Mountain Jie. The ling power that xiuzhe cultivated emphasized using outside objects. They needed all kinds of resources. Jingshi required jingshi mines, ling grains, and other ling grasses needed ling veins. Forging talismans required all kinds of materials, needed ores, and other precious treasures of the world.

But no matter if it was ore, or ling veins, all of them needed tens of thousands of years to mature. Even those treasures of the world usually needed several thousand years before they would mature.

But who could wait for more than a thousand years?

Xiuzhe could only continuously expand out and find new jie. However, this meant conflict with yaomo could not be avoided. In here, it couldn’t be said who was right or wrong. No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, these were all for their existence, for development.

Zuo Mo did not have good feelings about yaomo but held no dislike. Things like wars were not something a little character like him had to worry about. After gradually understanding this, Zuo Mo did not have any more mental barriers about cultivating mo skills and yao arts.

Without mental barriers, his progress in cultivating was naturally quick.

Before, he had always struggled with the concept of talent. His talent with swords was really very average. If Pu Yao did not exist, he may never have cultivated to sword essence. That was a sword essence created through being cut up thousands of times. His talent with formations and the five elements were more exceptional.

Now he felt that while talent was important, but many things could not be explained by talent. Comprehension was comprehension, incomprehension was incomprehension. If one did not have talent, they would still be strong if they could comprehend. If they had talent, and did not comprehend, there was no use.

Talent could increase the probability of comprehension but it was not always a certainty. There wasn’t just talent, even talismans and spells could be included in this. Even if the grade was higher, and the power was greater, but it depended on whether it was suited to oneself.

The [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] was just a third-grade fist scripture without any exceptional qualities. For the great majority of Dhyana xiu, it was very normal in terms of power, but in Zuo Mo’s hands, it was incredibly powerful. It was not that other Dhyana xiu could not understand the profoundness of Sky Glass Wave, but that their bodies just could not tolerate the shocking burden that came with the eighteen revolutions of ling power.

Zuo Mo comprehended many things.

The eighteen revolution Sky Glass Wave increased Zuo Mo’s confidence but he only had the power for one attack. Jindan xiuzhe like the Clear Sky Old Forefather moved like lightning. It would be extremely hard to hit them. His anticipation of the formation he was going to set up increased.

He suddenly saw the scattered blood beads beside the feet of the female xiu and made a sound of surprise, “Where did these come from?”

The female xiu did not respond.

Zuo Mo muttered inside but still collected the blood beads. The blood beads sparkled as though each one was made from fresh blood. When held in his hands, he felt a feeling of closeness.

Facing the silent female xiu, Zuo Mo did not have any ideas. The female xiu of unknown name and history was a mystery all over. As to whether or not she was mute, that was just ridiculous. With the female xiu’s deep cultivation, even if she was born with a natural deficiency, there were countless ways to fix it.

She didn’t speak, there was only one reason. She didn’t want to speak.

The only person that Zuo Mo could ask was Pu Yao. He had too many questions he had accumulated.

Pu Yao was not surprised at Zuo Mo’s arrival.

“I know what you want to ask.”

He was sitting cross-legged on the gravestone, lazily supporting his chin with his hand. The gleaming black sleeve naturally feel down, and revealed an arm that was even paler than that of a woman’s. The right bloody pupil that was not covered by his hair was slightly open.

“The greatest unique quality of the Jade Metal Head is equilibrium. Even though none of it is outstanding, but it is pretty good in every area. In this period of time, you had been practicing with your body, ling power, and consciousness. It has matured.”

Several questions came into Zuo Mo’s mind after Pu Yao’s words. “I know the relationship of ling power and the body, the ling channels. But what relationship is there between the consciousness and the body? The Jade Metal Head matured? What do you mean matured?”

Pu Yao rolled his eyes. He had gotten used to Zuo Mo frequently asking him questions he found extremely idiotic. “How can there not be a connection? Those with strong bodies usually have strong minds. Ling power, body, and consciousness, the three of them come from the same source. Do the xiuzhe of present not know this?”

Zuo Mo’s face was already as thick as city walls. He snickered, and was not angry at Pu Yao’s mockery. “Then what about the level up of Jade Metal Head.”

“Mo physique, there was no maturity in the beginning. At the start, everyone just found that some special bodies were very suited to practicing mo skills. Over time, everyone called them mo physiques. After that, about tens of thousands of years, I’m not too clear about mo’s history, oh, don’t think that xiuzhe have the longest history. The history of yaomo is much longer than the history of xiuzhe.”

Zuo Mo found that Pu Yao showed hints of going off-topic and hurriedly pulled him back, “Then why was there leveling up later?”

“Because of advancement,” Pu Yao said then continued, “Jade Metal Head is captain level, and Star and Moon Wheel is colonel level. This is called advancement. Maturation, mo physiques are very special kinds of bodies, but they have a common quality, they can grow. Isn’t it interesting! Having a mo physique, it does not mean that your body is stronger than other people, but that you have more potential than other people.”

“I seem to understand a bit. Potential needs to be stimulated before it can turn to strength.”

Pu Yao nodded, “Right, that’s the idea. Maturation, it means the degree that the potential of your mo physique has been expressed. Maturation and advancement have a strong connection. Only mo physiques of sufficient maturity can advance.”

“In other words, even if I can cultivate to moon soul, if my maturation is not enough, I cannot cultivate to Star and Moon Wheel?”

“Right. There is much scholarship associated with the advancement of mo physiques. There are many paths that Jade Metal Head can advance to. Star and Moon Wheel is only one of them. For example, there is also the Mountain Fiend Root that emphasizes strength, the Clear Wind Fighter that emphasizes lightness and agility. They had explored many kinds of weird advancement pathways. I only know the generalities.”

“Then what is my maturation right now?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked the question he was most concerned about.

Chapter 256: Variable

“You? Just first maturation.” Pu Yao looked at the anticipation on Zuo Mo’s face, and did not hesitate in his blows. “Basically, advancement is only possible at third maturation. Little bro, it’s early for you.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “Why is advancement this difficult?”

“Difficult?” Pu Yao smirked coldly. “What difficulty is this? Good things are not so easy to get.”

“That’s true.” Zuo Mo thought and found that it was right. He still remembered his time when he planted ling grains. Not talking about those good items, but even for those spells to reach a grade, at that time, he had to put in all of his energy to get.

His days had only gotten better after he had met Pu Yao. Pu Yao would occasionally do something bad to him, but Zuo Mo never really took to heart. Without Pu Yao, he would still be an outer sect disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

His attitude towards Pu Yao and the mysterious gravestone were the same. He could accept everyone making some transactions. To receive good things, he had to pay a price. This was reasonable, a matter of consent. But if the other was going to force him, he won’t take it.

“What are these blood beads?”

“Nothing, just the beads made from your essential blood.”

Zuo Mo instantly jumped in fright. “My essential blood? What time? How come ge didn’t know?” He looked at Pu Yao with slightly unfriendliness, his tone changing. Had this guy done something again?

“None of ge’s business!” Pu Yao rolled his eyes and mimicked Zuo Mo’s tone. “Your woman did it.”

“Ge’s woman?” Zuo Mo stilled. “When did ge have a woman?”

“The one wearing the mask.” Pu Yao undoubtedly had extreme talent in being a ruffian. As he learned a little bit, the disrespectful attitude was born. He clearly was a high grade ruffian of high status and identity, with some dignity and laziness. In comparison, Zuo Mo with his twisted features, and wiry hair was like the ruffians that ran about the streets with bricks.

“When did she do that?” Zuo Mo furrowed his brow.

“Don’t be unable to recognize people’s aid.” Pu Yao unconcernedly glanced and then yawned. He lazily said, “Received the benefit and still pretending to be good. Mo physiques will change during maturation. Oh, you were quite fierce, played with essence blood explosions. The other is very good, and help you condense them into blood beads so it wasn’t a waste. However, she really is a powerful girl!”

Zuo Mo’s expression instantly became awkward. He had always been full of suspicion towards this woman of unknown origins.

“What’s the use of this?” The practical Zuo Mo quickly pulled the topic onto the blood beads.

“There are many uses. If you cultivate mo skills with blood and fiends, it is a very rare treasure. Right now, I can’t think of any,” Pu Yao said irresponsibly.

Coming out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo coincidentally saw the female xiu. It might have been Pu Yao’s words, but he suddenly found her much more pleasing to look at.

“Thank you.” He raised the blood beads, and thanked the female xiu.

He knew the female xiu definitely wouldn’t respond. After showing his appreciation, he turned and went back to the work of building the city.

Zuo Mo didn’t know that just as he turned around, a purple light flashed across the eyes behind the mask.

———

Gongsun Cha gazed at the changes on the battlefield. He was continuously trying out new tactics. Any battle tactic, from seeing it, to familiarity, to understanding, the entire process required spending a lot of effort and thought. Even more important was actual use and experimentation.

In the war chess, Pu Yao had shown many kinds of battle tactics to Gongsun Cha. Each tactic had its own qualities, but not every tactic was like the three section wave killing charge, being able to be used after just trying it out. The tactics related to the mixture of people, and the structure of the troops.

In the war chess, there was only yaomo. To say of nothing else, the combat methods of yaomo and xiuzhe were extremely different. Just adapting the tactics over to use was not going to work.

However, after being continuously abused by all kinds of tactics, Gongsun Cha’s knowledge was much broader. No one told him what should be. He could only experiment to increase how long he could stand up under Pu Yao’s hands.

Mimicking, concluding, and experimenting.

If it was a normal person, after they had a sweet taste of the three section wave killing charge’s sharp blade, they would naturally worship it as the truth, the strongest weapon. However, Gongsun Cha was continuously experimenting with different tactics. Because it was difficult to find jade scrolls on battle formations, he had even asked Zuo Mo in hopes of finding more battle formations.

Unconsciously, he walked onto a path that had surpassed what everyone imagined.

About twenty li from them, there were two xiuzhe roaming about, watching the changes of the battlefield from a distance. Gongsun Cha ignored them. Each time they fought, they would encounter scouts like these from other factions. These scouts were extremely skilled in flight. They would only watch from afar. If they saw the situation wasn’t right, they would instantly get on a sword and fly away. There was no way of dealing with them.

So even though the scouts had been discovered, Gongsun Cha only ignored them other than preparing the necessary defenses to stop these scouts from participating in the fight.

———

However, the two people that were watching were not scouts. Jiang Wei was a leader of a faction. Previously he had not noticed Gongsun Cha. However, he had became alerted when Gongsun Cha had plucked up several of the other factions in succession.

He wasn’t unfamiliar with these factions. They had interacted before. Even though Gongsun Cha was still a distance away from his base, but he felt unsafe. So he had followed his subordinate and pretended to be scout to personally see this mysterious troop.

“Boss, that’s them.” His subordinate pointed at Gongsun Cha’s group far away.

Jiang Wei made a sound of acknowledgement. However, his heart was beating rapidly and his expression changed slightly. The battlefield seemed entrenched and chaotic, but to become a leader, how could he not have some good eyes?

This mysterious group had clearly taken the lead. Right now, they were just playing with the other side, like a cat playing with a mouse.

But after a while, he flinched with shock.

That wasn’t right! It wasn’t playing.

The chaotic battlefield gradually cleared up because this group started to organize themselves, and traces of organization.

As he continued to watch, Jiang Wei’s face paled, while his heart continuously dropped. This group’s organization and tactics were beyond his imagination. These guys were trying new tactics! Their chaos was not created by the enemy, but by themselves. As they familiarized themselves with their new tactics, the battlefield quickly turned clear.

He recognized the other side of the battle, Moustache Wang. Moustache Wang’s conduct was extremely powerful, and skilled in battle. He had a group of lawless fighters under his command. When he saw the other, he had to call the other Wang ge.

But someone as powerful as Moustache Wang was being used by the other to try out battle tactics! He actually was not able to resist!

Watching as Moustache Wang charged left and right with his band, but appearing as though he was sinking in the bog without a way out, a hint of sorrow came into Jiang Wei’s heart.

This group was too strong!

Their cooperation was very high. It wasn’t how smooth or grand their tactics were. In reality, he had seen the unfamiliarity in their cooperation at first glance . It should be a kind of tactic they had never used before. Moustache Wang did not lack skill. He had found the enemy’s flaws several times, but just when the balance was to be upset, this group would use a different kind of battle tactic.

That was the battle tactic they frequently used and were familiar with. It was astoundingly keen. Moustache Wang’s furious counterattack would be torn to pieces in moments.

Right after, this group would also return to their unfamiliar and new battle tactic in search of familiarizing their cooperation.

And so it repeated.

“It’s really terrifying!” Jiang Wei muttered to himself.

The subordinate didn’t understand why Leader would say it was scary. In his view, the two sides had fought for this long before this group had secured the advantage, they were not as strong as they were rumored to be.

Jiang Wei did not explain. He rejoiced inside that he had made a correct decision today by coming.

———

A hint of a smile finally came to Gongsun Cha’s lips. The xiuzhe under his command finally found rhythm with his new battle tactic. Any kind of battle tactic, no matter how well people trained, was discounted in power unless they went through true battle. The situation on the battlefield had tens of thousands of variations. It was completely different than normal training. Just copying what they normally practiced was useless.

As Lil’ Miss smiled, the rock in the hearts of the xiuzhe beside him finally landed.

The battle quickly ended. They had captured about one hundred and fifty xiuzhe.

Seeing the dense black patch of xiuzhe beside them, he couldn’t help but rub his forehead, “How many xiuzhe have we already captured?”

“One thousand one hundred and fifteen people,” the subordinate gave a precise number.

After some thought, Gongsun Cha ordered, “Transport them back. It is not safe to take them with us for each battle. Send a division.”

Zuo Mo was not here and could not put jinzhi in these captives. Due to that, he could only take all their talismans and send people to guard them. Some of the xiuzhe had been directly taken into the troops like those seal xiu, and three sword xiu who had comprehended sword essence, Moustache Wang among them.

These captives were very docile.

Every two or three days, they would see Gongsun Cha and the others defeat a faction. Naturally, everyone was docile. They looked fearfully at the remaining three hundred xiuzhe. Even though their own numbers were three times that of Lil’ Miss, but no one dared to disobey.

Before this, they had never thought there would be such a terrifying army. Of course, the xiuzhe who had seen the yao army would say the yao army were the most powerful. But even those people had to admit that this troop was the strongest troop they had ever seen other than the yao army.

The subordinates had long ago suggested to Lil’ Miss to send the captives back.

No one felt it was too few for one hundred something people to transport more than a thousand captives.

This mission landed again on Wei Ran. Lil’ Miss felt that while Wei Ran’s individual strength was average, but his mind was good and he was calm. This was a person worthy of nurturing. Truthfully, Wei Ran wasn’t quite willing. He was enjoying the fight. If he had to transport the captives, wouldn’t he fall behind the others? He had just gotten a taste of the new battle tactics.

However, he did not dare to disobey Lil’ Miss’ commands. He could only lead his subordinates and dejectedly go to transport captives.

———

Looking at a portion of the troop transporting a dark patch of xiuzhe, Jiang Wei first stilled and then instantly understood. He couldn’t help but shake his head. In his view, if they included these captives in the troop, it would actually cause the battle abilities of this terrifying troop to decrease. As long as one had these three hundred people, where couldn’t they go?

Maybe they had other ideas, Jiang Wei thought. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

A daring idea came out.

Chapter 257: One Small Step

The chapter title is the start of a Chinese idiom “差之毫厘，谬以千里.” Translated, it can mean “one small step can make a great difference,” “a small error can lead to a serious result.”

He Xiang’s face was tight, but in reality, his mood was not as terrible as he displayed. The members of the Outer Hall were continuously gathering which allowed the leaders of the factions in Nan Sheng Village personally see the strength of the Outer Hall.

Everyone was in danger now.

Under this tense atmosphere, the secret alliance the faction leaders had brokered fell apart without any attack. They all chose to capitulate, and He Xiang quickly got the price he wanted.

Now, he only needed to catch the group of troublemakers before he would accomplish his goals. Looking at the xiuzhe that covered the sky above Nan Sheng Village, the cloud over He Xiang’s heart swept away. The number of xiuzhe in the Outer Hall had reached a terrifying three thousand people. Nan Sheng Village was small to begin with. Three thousand xiuzhe flying in the air was like a storm cloud. In his view, such a strong power could dominate all of Little Mountain Jie. If it wasn’t that Old Forefather had personally made the captivity plan, he would have already suggested to take all of Little Mountain Jie into Clear Sky Sect’s pocket.

However, there wasn’t much of a difference now, he thought contentedly. He had sent out large numbers of troops to search for the traces of those people. As soon as they found one trace, they could send out all their strength, and tear those damned people into a thousand pieces.

He believed that news would come very soon.

Just as he was thinking this, an elder landed in front of him, and said excitedly, “We found the group! Two or three hundred people, up north, about two thousand li from here. Our people have locked onto them.”

He Xiang was exhilarated, and said hatefully, “As long as we can find them, then they will definitely die. Get the scouts at the front to keep alert and don’t lose them. It’s our turn to attack!”

“Ha ha, let them see the power of our Outer Hall,” this elder also laughed.

“We’ll destroy them!” He Xiang was full of bravado. “We’ll celebrate you when you get back!” This elder was an ally he had been pursuing.

“Ha ha! Wait for my good news!” This elder laughed proudly before jumping back into the air.

The xiuzhe filling the sky started to quickly gather.

———

Nian Lu was just as discontent as Wei Ran.

His feet stepping on a lotus flower, he flew with the wind. His snowy-white robes now seemed grey and dusty. After that handsome and light-hearted face seemed somewhat slow-witted after eating wind for more than ten days. The platoon captain beside him also had an expression of dissatisfaction. “This group of bum beetles, they are so annoying! We have to even talk to them everyday, but it’s still those old faces, there’s nothing new. But they don’t have it easy either!”

The last words were full of emotion.

He turned and hollered at the xiuzhe beside him, “All of you, stay alert. Don’t blame my flying sword if you don’t listen.”

Beside him, other than his own subordinates, there were almost two hundred unfamiliar xiuzhe. These xiuzhe all had their heads hanging down without energy. These were the xiuzhe that they had captured when they took the time to especially sweep up two factions. The sweep had been done together by Lei Peng, Zong Ru, and himself. Nian Lu’s luck had been the worst and had lost in drawing straws, so that the most depressing job of baiting the enemy had fallen to him.

These captives seemed to have extremely well-prepared ling armor, but other than ling armor, all other talismans and flying swords had been taken away.

Just like this, Nian Lu lead a platoon and two hundred xiuzhe as he flew openly towards the north.

To make sure the other side didn’t lose track of them, they had to maintain a moderate speed. What was most depressing was that he could not attend the upcoming battle, he could only continue to travel away.

The greatest tragedy of life was this. Nian Lu said with sorrow and anger, “Slow down, slow down, don’t let them lose track.”

———

At the base of a mountain about four hundred li from Nan Sheng Village was an extremely well-hidden mountain cave.

“What are we waiting for? We’re just guarding this place that even the birds don’t shit, when can we go and do something!” Lei Peng rumbled.

Everyone ignored him. Zong Ru was sitting and meditating, Xie Shan had his eyes closed to rest. The other platoon captain wisely did not interrupt. With so many of the old-timers here, he did not have a turn to speak.

Ma Fan shook his head helplessly. But it was his idea.

It was so troublesome. He drawled, “Soon, soon.”

Lei Peng snickered and said, “Little Nian Nian is probably being blown with a refreshing breeze right now.”

Light laughter came from the other people. Even Zong Ru showed a hint of mirth at the corner of his lips.

After killing those little groups last time, during that period of extremely short chaos, they had quietly sneaked in.

This trip had been seven days. Their luck was pretty good. They had found an extremely deep cave. With some camouflage added, it was a very good ambush point. This place was also very close to Nan Sheng Village, right under the enemy’s eyes. It was perfect for being “dark under the lamp.”

Xie Shan suddenly opened his eyes. The other people instantly had wary looks. Xie Shan said lightly, “They’ve come.”

All the xiuzhe instantly stopped talking. Xie Shan even extinguished the Small Light spell inside the cave. The cave instantly became pitch black. After a while, everyone felt streams of consciousness and strange ling power sweep across their bodies.

Fear rose in everyone’s hearts!

There were at least two thousand people from Nan Sheng Village that moved out this time! It could be seen that the Outer Hall had put a lot into destroying them.

No one dared to move. All signs of life on their bodies disappeared. All breathing and heartbeats stopped. Even the temperature of their bodies decreased. They were like a pile of rocks. Ma Fan had taught them all a spell to conceal themselves from scouts since he was very skilled in concealment.

To avoid attracting attention, they had not used any spell or formation to disguise the entrance of the cave. Formations were the best for disguise, but that was only for experts. If it wasn’t a formation expert, the disguise formation set up would be eye-catching instead.

They only used rocks and foliage to conceal and lessen the traces of themselves. They had also specially grabbed little animals like rabbits to put in the cave.

There were too many caves in this area. Ma Fan had correctly predicted the other would not inspect the caves one by one.

Wave after wave of surveillance continued for two hours. Even Xie Shan, with the highest cultivation, couldn’t help but be shocked by the Outer Hall’s strength. From the consciousness and ling power that swept across their bodies, there were more than ten ningmai third stratum xiuzhe. He was certain that more than seven-tenths of the entire Little Mountain Jie’s ningmai third stratum had sided with the Outer Hall.

One ningmai third stratum was not scary, but ten of them was definitely a great power. If he was the commander, he definitely would arrange for the ten people to be together. Powerful xiuzhe like this were terrifying when they were used together. Why had the xiuzhe who comprehended sword essence like him been arranged together? He hadn’t understood in the past, but after following Lil’ Miss for a time, and personally experiencing it, he now understood the benefits.

However, what he admired the most right now was Ma Fan’s cautiousness. Under Ma Fan’s persistence, they had dug into the cave to an extreme depth. Then used slabs of rock to seal the top of the pit. These granite stones were more than ten zhang thick, and had almost tired them to death at the time. The entire cave was now divided into two levels. Those little animals lived on the top level.

At the time, some people had muttered that Ma Fan was making a mountain out of a molehill. Looking at it now, these measures had saved their lives!

What he didn’t know was that Ma Fan was also feeling fear. If anything had gone astray with the measures, then they would have been sealed in. No one would have been able to escape.

Even when all the scans had disappeared, they still did not dare to move. Everyone was terrified by what had just occurred.

After ten whole hours, they finally recovered from the false death state.

“Woah, they are terrifying. At least two thousand people!” Lei Peng exclaimed, his face slightly pale.

“It’s three thousand,” Zong Ru suddenly spoke, “there is also thirteen third stratum.”

Everyone’s faces became slightly ugly. Xie Shan looked at Zong Ru with surprise. He was shocked at Zong Ru’s sensitivity.

“They really find us worthwhile!”

“Ha ha, laozi was so frightened right now, laozi’s body is still somewhat soft.”

… …

Everyone discussed loudly. They were slightly afraid and shocked, but they were more excited. The Outer Hall had found them important enough to send out this many people. In Little Mountain Jie, there was no faction other than theirs who managed to cause such a reaction. Most of these people were lawless fighters. Battle maniacs like Lei Peng were not rare. The more it was like the present, the more motivated they were.

Ma Fan was not as crazy as they were. He managed to calm his heartbeat, and wiped the cold sweat. He had been the core for so long, but it was the first time he had encountered such a risky situation like the one just now.

“When are we moving?” Lei Peng rubbed his hands excitedly, his eyes shining as he looked at Ma Fan.

Ma Fan forcibly repressed the impulse to kill the guy and rolled his eyes instead. “Do you want to die faster? They haven’t gone far away. If they turn back, none of us will escape.”

Lei Peng realized that his question seemed like it was trouble-making, especially when he saw the gazes looking at him like they were looking like an idiot. He rapidly gave a bright smile, “See, after being frightened by them, an’s mind doesn’t work properly.”

“Five days.” After calming down, Ma Fan’s head turned cold and rational. “We only need to wait five more days. Even if they want to turn back then, it wouldn’t be enough.”

“Everyone, get a good rest these five days. Otherwise, you’ll see the other people rampage while you falter,” Xie Shan said with a smile from the side.

Sound disappeared from the mountain cave. Everyone suppressed the excitement inside, and meditated. They were like a group of experienced hunters making their last preparations before closing the net.

———

Jiang Wei took the jade scroll his subordinate had handed over. He had sent out the xiuzhe that had been most skilled in concealment to follow behind Wei Ran’s group from far away, and successfully located this group’s main base.

When he scanned the jade scroll, his body froze.

In the mirage of the jade scroll, at the top of a mountain peak was a sun city made from blue-gold. The sunlight was like a keen sword cutting the sky and landing on this city. The faint golden light emitted from the little city gave people warmth like the sunlight.

Jiang Wei’s heart seemed to be suddenly gripped by an invisible hand. At that instant, it stopped beating.

After an unknown length of time, he slowly refocused. There was almost no xiuzhe in the empty city. All the blood in his body went to his head. With a glance, he could see how weak the city was! Even the troop that had sent the captives back had thrown the captives to the camp, and instantly left.

An uncontrollable greed and yearning filled every hair of his body!

Chapter 258: Bao Yi Explaining

Zuo Mo looked dumbly at the one thousand and one hundred xiuzhe in front of him, his face slightly ugly.

Seeing the signs, Wei Ran exchanged a greeting with Zuo Mo before decisively turning and leaving, disappearing in an instant.

One thousand and one hundred xiuzhe. They look very tasty, but in reality, they were a great problem. These people were docile right now, but if they had the chance, they would not be so. Why were the people under Gongsun Cha’s command so obedient? Because Zuo Mo had put down jinzhi in their bodies.

Using an aura of domination, and causing the surroundings to swear fealty to you was just a joke. Any person who entered an unfamiliar power, especially as a captive, how could they so easily accept it in their hearts? Zuo Mo didn’t even dare to be certain about the group that Gongsun Cha had, if they left Little Mountain Jie, how many would be willing to stay.

Zuo Mo was too lazy to think of things like loyalty. In such turbulent times, that was nothing. His demands were very simple, listen to orders and don’t make trouble. After breaking through Little Mountain Jie, everyone can pat their own butts and go off.

However, even listening to orders and refraining from making trouble were not simple to do. Before, he had used jinzhi to guarantee this, but even a jindan would die from exhaustion if he had to put jinzhi in one thousand and one hundred xiuzhe.

That method wouldn’t work here.

Fortunately, all of the talismans and flying swords had been clean off this group. They definitely wouldn’t make trouble in the short term. Zuo Mo had had enough time to think of ways to resolve the problem.

He first picked the xiuzhe that were skilled in forging from the group and sent them to Ji Wei and Sun Bao. There were quite a few, almost three hundred people. Of course, the great majority of them only had a rough understanding of forging. There were less than forty that were truly skilled. To Ji Wei and Sun Bao who were tight on manpower, they took all three hundred people and more. Even rough work needed people to do it.

Quickly, Zuo Mo found that the two were very good managers. No one made trouble, and no one slacked off. Everyone was furiously working. This puzzled Zuo Mo.

Coincidentally, Bao Yi had come to find Zuo Mo to get more people. He was the quartermaster and stores keeper, and didn’t have the time to do everything. Seeing that there were so many people here, he had ran over to ask for some.

Zuo Mo asked him the question that had puzzled him. He could not understand it. Ji Wei and Sun Bao didn’t have the ability to place jinzhi but those three hundred xiuzhe were obedient in their hands.

Hearing this, Bao Yi smiled. “Boss, this problem is easy. Here, I give him a wave, and he comes to work. If he doesn’t do well, then I’ll fire him.” Then he snickered, “But it’s even easier for us. We can punish anyone that doesn’t listen.”

Seeing Zuo Mo still filled with puzzlement, Bao Yi’s mind jumped at the rare chance to show his face in front of Zuo Mo and patiently explained, “Boss, don’t look at just how many people they have. Ha ha, in reality, they are helpless in front of us. First, they are afraid. Why are they afraid? Their little lives are in our hands. If we order them to do something, they don’t dare to leave it incomplete. Not every boss is as patient as you, Boss, or as benevolent.”

He didn’t forget to slightly flatter Zuo Mo, and continued, “First, we have to set the rules down, what they can do and what they can’t. If rebellious ones come out, we erase them. In the short term, they won’t dare to make trouble. After a while, we can pick obedient ones from them, and give them some sweets, like a team leader or something, so they will manage for us. These people that directly receive benefits will be directly connected to Boss’ aims, and definitely will put their all in.”

Zuo Mo was thoughtful.

Bao Yi smacked his lips. “Actually, with how generous Boss is, the great majority aren’t willing to make trouble. Those with ambition and talent chase greater stages of cultivation. They can see clearly that they aren’t disadvantaged under Boss’s hands. Most of the people just want a pretty good life. We only have to guard against the few that have other aims. Hee, these people don’t have any skill, but think they are extraordinary, and don’t want to follow others. They are like shit. We shouldn’t waste words with them, just chop them.”

Bao Yi’s words enlightened Zuo Mo. He had become too used to living by himself, and had never managed this many people. It was also his first time doing such a thing.

After Bao Yi finished picking workers, Zuo Mo called over the two platoons of xiuzhe that had remained to guard the camp. He announced strict rules with quite a few “execution without exception.” The two platoons stared at each other as they listened. Boss was very scary when he really got serious.

Then Zuo Mo ordered the remaining seven hundred or so people to train under the two platoons. The high quantity of training made everyone’s faces change. Even the two platoons that were responsible for teaching had ashy faces.

Zuo Mo’s thinking was very simple. Wasn’t it that he was afraid they would cause trouble? Then he would make an extremely arduous training plan. He didn’t believe there was anyone that would have any other thoughts after they completed such a laborious training plan every day.

As expected, after furiously training every day, the only thing that the xiuzhe all did after finishing was to collapse and sleep. The two platoons in charge were also exhausted. To guarantee normal alertness and safety, they had to take shifts.

The only thing that did not change were the three Golden Armor Guards that were quietly floating in the sky above the camp.

Every gaze sent towards the Golden Armor Guards were filled with fear. There were already a few troublemakers that had been chopped in half by the Golden Armor Guard’s exaggeratedly large broadswords. The ease had shocked every xiuzhe who had wavered.

Zuo Mo saw the situation was progressing well, and turned back to immerse himself in building the city. His new body was greatly improved. He was very satisfied with the power of the Sky Glass Wave, and full of excitement towards building the city.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao was slightly dumbstruck. He had assumed that building the city would torture Zuo Mo to the point of death, but seeing the mania on Zuo Mo’s face, he suddenly realized he had underestimated Zuo Mo. Under this guy’s normal appearance was a heart that was just as perverse as his.

Sky Star Peak seemed to resume its busyness, everything was on the right path.

———

”Big Brother, where are we going?” Jiang Hao asked with puzzlement. Big Brother had gathered everyone up together, and travelled quickly and carefully, not leaving one person behind to hold the fort.

“You’ll know when we get there.” Jiang Wei who was innately cautious did not even tell his own blood brother. He wanted that sun city!

Jiang Hao was slightly discontent. “Big Brother, you can’t even trust me?”

Seeing the dissatisfaction on his little brother’s face, Jiang Wei thought since they were getting close, it didn’t matter if the secret got out. After narrating what had happened before, he showed the jade scroll to Jiang Hao.

When Jiang Hao read the jade scroll, he instantly sunk into extreme excitement. “Brother, this city is great! It’s a hundred times better than our mountain camp!”

Jiang Wei’s thoughts were more attentive. “The majority of their forces have gone out. It is their most unguarded time. If we use the chance to take down the city, even if their primary force comes back, they can’t do anything to us. That city might be small, but it definitely hard to conquer, easy to guard and hard to attack.”

“How much farther? I can’t wait!” Jiang Hao rubbed his hands as he said.

“Almost there.” Jiang Wei then said, “Tell everyone to be careful and conceal their figures. If we encounter other xiuzhe, take all of them down.”

“Ha, no problem!” Jiang Hao excitedly rushed out with the order.

After flying for a half day, they finally entered Sky Star Mountain Range. Sky Star Peak was in their sight. Everyone sighed with amazement at the little city under the sunlight. When they learned that their target this time was this little city, the mood instantly became excited, everyone’s blood rushing.

The experienced Jiang Wei waved a hand. “Set up camp. Everyone, have a good rest, we’ll try to take them down in one encounter.”

Seeing the other people immerse themselves in meditation, Jiang Wei beckoned over Jiang Hao and said in a low voice, “Take some people with you and inspect the surroundings. There was so many days between now and before, we don’t want anything unexpected.”

Jiang Hao said unconcernedly, “Big Brother, you are too careful. We have five hundred people, all of them experts. We aren’t afraid of them!”

Jiang Wei’s face darkened. “Don’t say things like this in the future. This group is of mysterious origins. Even if there isn’t many people, but they are much stronger than us. If it wasn’t that they didn’t have many people right now, I wouldn’t dare to target this city. Be careful, don’t lose your life.”

Jiang Hao was extremely obedient of his big brother. He muttered inside, but still complied, running to find several xiuzhe that were skilled in concealment to go scout with him. His personality might be rough, but he was very good at travelling stealthily. The [Hundred Ghost Night Travel Scripture] that he cultivated was a fifth-grade scripture. It was a pity that the version he obtained was not complete. There were many parts that were lost. But even so, it was much stronger than normal fourth-grade scriptures.

His body shifted, and turned into a shadow.

A pair of eyes that lacked any life appeared in the shadow.

The other people also changed. Some became wild cats, others night eagles, all kinds of shapes.

Everyone cooperated well. After changing, they spread out, all of them travelling towards Sky Star Peak.

———

Zuo Mo finally finished the first formation battle watchtower. This formation battle watchtower was constructed of hundreds of formations. It was much better than normal formation battle watchtowers. From the beginning plans, to the construction, he had completed all of it. No one understood better than he did what he needed.

Yuan Jiang looked entranced at the lonely formation battle watchtower. The formation battle watchtower was fifteen zhang high, a section higher than the city walls. The entire watchtower was made up of blue-gold bricks. From a technical standpoint, the entire watchtower was just a formation, or rather, an extremely complete miniature interlocked formation belt. Yuan Jiang could not understand many of the parts. This little interlocked formation belt was different than any other formation he had seen before.

Was Boss at the level he could set up and match formations?

Boss was just this old … …

However, after personally seeing so many exceptional qualities of Boss, he had started to become numb.

Normal … … would someone normal become a boss? He could only comfort himself so.

“Boss, this is a lightning formation,” To show that he was not so ignorant, Yuan Jiang pretended and said.

“En, it’s a hard thunder formation.”

Hard thunder … … Yuang Jiang shook, that wasn’t lightning, that was hard lightning. He forced himself to calm, “Can we try it out?”

“I was just going to.” Zuo Mo didn’t raise his head, inserting jingshi in. “Right now, we can only use jingshi. In the future … …” he didn’t say the remaining. Yuan Jiang did not notice it.

“Where to hit?” Zuo Mo looked around after putting in the jingshi.

Yuan Jiang suddenly saw a black dot in the sky. It was an eagle. He didn’t hesitate to point at the eagle and say, “There is an eagle there!”

“Okay!” Zuo Mo also became motivated, and instantly activated the formation.

The inner walls, ceiling, and floor of the watchtower that were filled with formations quickly lit up with a warm silver light.

Chapter 259: Meteor Void Fire

A hard lightning bomb floated in front of Zuo Mo.

Without any visible action from him, with only a streak of silver lingering in his vision, the hard lightning seemed to disappear into the air.

There was no earth-shaking roar, no oppressive presence. It was fast, so fast that Yuan Jiang didn’t have the time to react. When he finally caught up, he hurriedly turned his head. The sky was empty. Nothing had been left. There was no explosion of blood and limbs, no smoke from being burned at high temperatures. The sky was light and clear as though nothing had happened.

“We got it?” Yuan Jiang asked uncertainly.

“Probably,” Zuo Mo answered back just as uncertainly. The speed that the formation battle watchtower had formed the hard lightning was faster than he expected. He had almost made a fool of himself. Just as he had locked onto the target, the hard lightning had flown out.

The two people looked around for a while and made sure they couldn’t find that eagle before confirming that it really had been killed.

“It seems that they will need to practice,” Zuo Mo muttered.

Yuan Jiang wasn’t in a position to give a review. Even though Boss said it was hard lightning, but he had not felt the rumored strong presence of hard lightning. Maybe this was a weakened version of hard lightning? He felt it was possible. It was a pity that it was just an eagle. If it was a much stronger ling beast, it would be much easier to test its true power. At this moment though, Boss’ formation battle watchtowers had a great advantage: speed.

In the blink of an eye, a round of attack had been sent.

“Boss, how many people can use the hard lightning at the same time here?” He decided to point out problems from a technical point of view.

“Ten, all of them above ningmai. On average, one hard lightning bolt will consume five jing of ling power,” Zuo Mo said. “I can only reach this level now. If I can do two jing of ling power per hard lightning bolt, that would be good.”

“Five jing of ling power?” Yuan Jiang jumped in fright. This formation used up this much ling power?

That was not how much jingshi it used, but the ling power of xiuzhe. It consumed a xiuzhe’s ling power to activate the formation and to control the lightning.

From a professional point of view, the formation battle watchtowers that Boss had designed were placed in the ranks of failed products. Before, he had felt that the speed of the hard lightning formation battle watchtowers were at least an advantage. Looking at it now, it was a failure.

The cultivation of a ningmai first stratum was between ten to thirty jing. Second stratum xiuzhe between thirty and ninety jing. One hard lightning bolt consumed five jing of ling power from a xiuzhe. That meant a xiuzhe at the peak of ningmai first stratum could only shoot six hard lightning bolts, and a second stratum peak xiuzhe could only shoot eighteen hard lightning bolts.

The quick attack rate of the formation battle watchtowers actually became its greatest flaw. It would only take a blink for the six hard lightning bolts to fly out. After the ling power of the xiuzhe was used up, the formation battle watchtower was just a watchtower.

“Boss, the expenditure is too scary,” Yuan Jiang decided to give a professional opinion. “We can completely use some formations with higher offensive power with such high ling power expenditure.”

“This is the strongest offensive formation that I can find.” Zuo Mo spread his hands.

“But our people cannot keep up. Their ling power would be used up in a very short amount of time. After that, we will lose the ability to fight.” Yuan Jiang struggled to persuade Zuo Mo. Geniuses were not all powerful, he thought inside.

“Oh, that is a problem.” Zuo Mo mused. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he clapped his hands, saying, “Ha, that’s easy to solve. We have so many people, aren’t there about seven hundred and so over there? Everyone can take turns. We only need ten to a shift.”

The more Zuo Mo thought, the more excited he was. He said to himself, “By that time, I’ll get them to train hard. Ten people to a team, they will take turns. We have the Black Processing Meditation mats, it’s fast to recover ling power. If we stagger the time, one round will follow another. That way, we can attack unlimited times. That’s right, our battle strategy is to win through numbers. If one person cannot kill him, a thousand people will do it together!”

Zuo Mo gritted out the last words.

Yuan Jiang gaped upon hearing this. So, so it could be like this!

When he thought back, he felt that Boss’ plan was plausible. Even though it was not so honorable, but these days, weren’t people competing on their hooliganism? Other than shock, he became wary. He could not offend Boss no matter what he did!

Yuan Jiang didn’t know if geniuses were gangsters, but when a genius became a gangster, then they would be a great gangster. This was his newest conclusion.

———

A slender and blinding silver light flashed across the sky. Jiang Hao, who was in ghost form, suddenly froze. He instinctively felt fear from the presence of the silver light.

That was the smell of lightning … …

Before he could react, he suddenly raised his head. In the sky, his fellow that had shifted into an eagle had disappeared.

The ghost figure was shocked. He was greatly shocked! Damn it! How had the enemy found them? What terrified him even more was that the xiuzhe that had turned to the eagle seemed to have disappeared into thin air, and did not leave anything behind.

That wasn’t possible!

That was a ningmai second stratum xiuzhe! Even though he had shifted into an eagle which prevented him from using many spells, but his real body was still ningmai second stratum! What spell could just erase a ningmai second stratum xiuzhe without leaving a trace? None of the spells he knew of could do such a thing.

At the same time, the other scouts that had also been moving forward also stopped.

Had they been discovered?

Everyone’s heart was beating furiously. For scouts, if the enemy had their defenses prepared and they got too close, the chance they would return alive was pitifully small. The enemy clearly also had an extremely powerful and wondrous talisman, or spell.

Their gazes turned to Jiang Hao.

The urge to retreat came up in Jiang Hao’s heart. He looked rough usually, but when he turned into the ghost figure, he was cunning and treacherous. If they keep on scouting now, he would most likely lose his life. That strange silver light definitely was his natural enemy!

———

Just as Jiang Hao didn’t know whether to advance or retreat, Jiang Wei, located not far away, was also alarmed by the hard lightning. Jiang Wei’s expression was uncertain. The power inside the little city didn’t seem to be as weak as he had imagined.

The enemy had already found them. His thoughts were the same as Jiang Hao.

He understood his plan had failed. There would be no meaning in sending out scouts now. He hurriedly summoned back his little brother. He just had this one little brother, and he cared very much for him.

“Dao Zi, take one hundred people to see what they are made of.” After some thought, he decided to probe them first. If the situation wasn’t right, they could turn and run away. Unless it was the last moment, they wouldn’t use their full power. This was his secret to surviving until now.

“Alright!” Dao Zi’s figure was large, his face in a snarl, his beady eyes flashing with a vicious light. He was a great subordinate of Jiang Wei’s. He was combative and fond of killing. When he went into a berserk rage, he never left anyone left alive. He was vicious to his enemies, and also to himself. He was vicious and did not fear death.

Dao Zi quickly picked one hundred people, and headed towards the little city atop Sky Star Peak.

Since they had been discovered, it was not necessary to keep hidden anymore.

———

Zuo Mo was pondering the problem of the formation battle watchtowers and did not realize that danger was nearing. He suddenly felt that a light was flashing, and raised his head. He saw a strange purple light in the eyes of the female xiu.

Before he could respond.

The female xiu sudden flew up into the sky.

Zuo Mo hurriedly stood and also flew into the sky.

When he saw the one hundred people coming with murderous intent, his head rang like someone hammered it.

Enemy attack!

Before he could respond, the female xiu had spread out her arms like a great bird and charged at the enemy!

Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically!

Danger!

All of this happened extremely quickly, like a flash of lightning. When he managed to react, the female xiu was only five hundred zhang from the group!

———

Dao Zi looked at the female xiu coming closer and snickered, “It’s a girl! Motherf***ers, no one can take this one from me!”

The other xiuzhe also snickered.

———

At such a dangerous time, Zuo Mo’s mind was blank. When he came back, he was already in mid-air.

Everything in front of him slowed down. He could see the twisted smiles on the faces of these one hundred xiuzhe, could see the light of their flying swords increase, could see her worn sleeves flapping in the wind

… …

Everything in front of him seemed to blur.

Those twisted and vicious faces became blurred like the mist, the killing intent behind each blurred face was like a blood-thirsty yao beast. The blue sky seemed to have been shadowed over.

There was only that figure wrapped in torn clothing, her arms spread like a large bird filled with resolve and will, the snow-white bare feet that reminded Zuo Mo of the most perfect porcelain.

He looked dazedly. What was in front of him was so slow that Zuo Mo could see so clearly.

For some unknown reason, it was like a chord in his head had been plucked. Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly turned red, the desire for battle was like a rampaging wave of lava, like the flood bursting the dam, and took over his body in an instant, burning his body with pain.

“Kill!” The deep howl sounded out like that of an ancient savage beast.

All the ling power in his body was channeled to the extreme, light suddenly exploding on his naked upper body. His skin became even more transparent like black jade, so much that it was possible to see threads of black energy that were continuously swimming under his skin.

He suddenly leaped into the air. In the blink of an eye, he had flown up one hundred zhang. His figure abruptly flipped upside down, and his legs pushed against the empty air.

Pia!

It was clearly void of any objects, but it was as though his feet had pushed against some invisible object and he shot off, full of force!

Zuo Mo’s figure changed directions and shot downwards, charging at the group of xiuzhe with all his might.

The chaotic turbulence boomed in his ears. His speed suddenly broke past his usual limits. The explosion completely separated him from the outside world. Every part of his body was trembling in either fear or excitement.

Hiss hiss hiss!

In the chaotic air flowing around his body, a hint of red suddenly appeared. Fire! It was fire! Zuo Mo’s consciousness was like an invisible hand stimulating these tiny fire snakes. In the blink of an eye, the fire exploded. The chaotic air flows in the surroundings were like dry firewood. Countless fire snakes appeared and swam restlessly in the turbulent air flowing around Zuo Mo’s body.

———

In the air, the blinding fire light, and the deep sound of an explosion caused Dao Zi and the others to shift their attention to the fire ball dropping from the sky.

Dao Zi’s expression suddenly changed, “Quick, spread out!”

Immediately after, everyone’s expressions changed!

The air around them seemed to solidify. Their bodies were tightly held by an invisible suction force.

“Meteor Void Fire! Motherf***ing … …”

With the booms from the explosions, dragging a long and blinding tail of fire, Zuo Mo was like a divine being smashing down with the force of thirty thousand catties!

Chapter 260: The Terrifying Female Xiu

The xiuzhe that were at the front had already prepared their ling shields, while the ling armor on their bodies glowing prettily with light. However, these lights which usually gave them a sense of safety, now clearly reflected the terror on their faces.

Many people couldn’t help but raise their faces.

With their extremely shaky vision, a fireball suddenly magnified and appeared in front of them in an instant.

Boom!

Zuo Mo heavily smashed into this crowd of people.

The three people at the very front were like stone balls that had been swatted up. Before they could even grunt, they were nailed into the soil. Under this kind of blow, no xiuzhe except those who practiced body cultivation could survive.

The ling shields produced by the ling armor were like thin paper, torn to pieces by the knifelike air flows.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel well after the powerful impact. The flame around him instantly collapsed. At the same time, he sprayed out a ball of bloody mist. When the bloody mist landed on the red flames, the flames suddenly erupted.

Some xiuzhe who didn’t dodge in time were swept by the exploding flames, and their expression changed.

Void Fire! The deadly Void Fire!

Zuo Mo did not understand the power of his move, but there were a few in this group that recognized it. Meteor Void Fire. Other than its presence which was as unstoppable as a meteor, half of its power was based on the Void Fire.

Void Fire was an extremely special kind of flame. It was born through the turbulence of air, as though it came from nowhere. Void Fire was extremely hard to extinguish, especially since water elemental power was ineffective. Its other quality was it was extremely strong. The temperature was not high, but it could corrode the minds of people.

The blood that Zuo Mo had sprayed out contained the essence of his own body. The blood caused the flame to grow, and seven or eight xiuzhe instantly were affected. A wound in the spirit was very painful. Several people instantly howled out.

Not having used up all his power, Zuo Mo penetrated through the ranks of this group, and charged at the ground.

After such a fierce impact, the burning blood slowly cooled down. Zuo Mo suddenly woke up. When he saw the surrounding situation, his scalp instantly tingled, and he felt bitter.

This was dangerous! Was he crazy?

Why had he just charged out … …

His expression was pale as he muttered unconsciously. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the quickly approaching ground and hurriedly adjusted his body. Dong! He hit the ground and was rooted in an extremely sorry position. Once he hit the ground, he plucked up his legs and started to run.

What had just happened was like a dream. The only thing he was clear about was that charge that he had accidentally made was quite good, but the consumption of ling power and consciousness was very high, both of them reaching a dangerously low level.

If he didn’t run now, what was he waiting for?

The results of his body cultivation recently final showed their effects. Without the support of his ling power, he actually ran faster on two legs faster than he could fly. Also, his grandiose Meteor Void Fire attack that he just did had shocked everyone. No one dared to chase him.

After panting and running for a while, Zuo Mo saw that no one was chasing him and finally stopped to catch his breath. That impact just now had also wounded him significantly. His entire skeleton felt like it was going to fracture all over.

Why did he just charge over … …

It was an evil spell … … it must have been an evil spell … …

Zuo Mo furiously thought about this question. It must have been that the female xiu had cast some evil spell on him! Otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t have charged out. How could he do something like this, charging into the maws of death?

There was a problem! There definitely was a problem!

Panting heavily, he saw no one chasing over, especially when he saw the three Golden Armor Guards and a platoon captain coming over with other people.

Seeing that Zuo Mo was alright, the platoon leader sighed in relief. “Boss, you are alright! The other platoon is recovering ling power, and will come here soon.”

Zuo Mo waved his hand, his other hand braced on his knee as he panted, “I’m fine, you guys go help that reckless woman!”

“Yes!” The platoon leader responded. Just as he raised his head, he froze on his spot. “Boss … …”

Zuo Mo found it strange hearing the platoon leader speak as though he was talking in a dream. When he raised his head, he saw the platoon captain’s face filled with strangeness, dazedly looking behind him.

He hurriedly turned over and followed the platoon captain’s gaze before he also froze.

In the sky, the female xiu was like a ghost that had no weight, lightly wandering around the enemy ranks. Her speed was not fast, her motions were not sharp, and there was no light of ling power.

But everywhere she passed, the enemy would drop like a dumpling into the pot, and then smashing into ground meat against the dirt.

It was evil!

A coldness sudden rose in Zuo Mo’s heart!

That was … … too evil! What spell was that? What scripture?

In this little while, there was only thirty something xiuzhe left scattered in the sky.

Gulp!

Zuo Mo’s complexion was pale without any blood as he instinctively swallowed! The scene in front of him had no pressure and blinding light, no keen sword essence, no booming explosions, there was nothing.

Her feet bare, she confidently passed between the people. The vicious xiuzhe dropped in front of her like sandbags, one by one. That pair of bare feet that Zuo Mo had sighed secretly over countless times, at this moment were giving off a dense deathly energy.

The bone-aching coldness made Zuo Mo feel as though his bones had also froze. He was like a statue, standing there with his mouth open. Beside him, the other xiuzhe didn’t dare to breath and terror filled their faces.

This was the strangest and most terrifying scene that Zuo Mo had ever seen since he could remember.

Even they felt fear, so those xiuzhe that were on the receiving end, what kind of terror did they feel?

———

Dao Zi, whose face had been filled with viciousness just a moment ago, seemed to have seen a ghost, his facial muscles continuously trembling. He turned and wanted to flee, but he felt he couldn’t move, not even a finger.

Time seemed to have frozen at this moment. The xiuzhe were all stuck in the air, unable to move like puppets.

That exquisite pair of porcelain bare feet would pass beside a person, and that person would drop from the sky.

In the blink of an eye, in the enormous battlefield of the sky, there was no one left except the female xiu.

A deathly silence.

The wind blew past. The female xiu silently floated in the air.

———

The sound of teeth chattering entered Zuo Mo’s ears. He turned around his face, and saw all the xiuzhe beside him were trembling and their teeth chattering. Zuo Mo had originally been feeling cold all over, his heart beating furiously. However, when he saw everyone’s state, the terror in his heart suddenly became fainter.

———

Jiang Wei and Jiang Hao’s face were ashen, their bodies uncontrollably trembling. The xiuzhe beside him were the same.

The female xiu suddenly turned her face, and looked towards them.

“Ah!” A yell filled with terror suddenly sounded in everyone’s ears. A xiuzhe’s face was twisted, his eyes bulging out, several streams of blood coming out of his nostrils and mouth. He froze in this position as he softly fell on the ground.

That shriek had almost caused Jiang Wei’s heart to stop beating. He just wanted to swear, but when he saw the person’s state his heart was even more shocked! This subordinate had followed him for a long time, and had seen many kinds of situations. Today, he was actually scared to death!

When he saw the other people, he knew if he ordered them to keep fighting, he would be the first person cut down!

He glanced with terror at the strange woman that was wearing a mask and looked like a clown. He knew that he would never forget this strange figure in his entire life.

“Run!” He suppressed the furious beating of his heart, and channeled the power to shout and wake everyone up. He turned and ran first.

The other people were also frightened, their faces paling. Like birds alarmed, they turned to flee.

The female xiu did not pursue them, and only watched in silence. Under her pair of heart-shocking and soul-shaking bare feet were one hundred corpses.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t even know how he had returned to the city at the end. His mind was blank. The shock and blow left by that last scene had been too much for him. It wasn’t just him. All the xiuzhe of the city seemed to have lost their souls. They had personally seen the female xiu’s strange and unpredictable fighting. No one dared to raise their heads to look at the female xiu, or to meet her gaze.

Just like normal, the female xiu stood silently near Zuo Mo.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s face was serious in front of Zuo Mo. This was the first time Zuo Mo had seen Pu Yao so serious.

“What spell is that?” Zuo Mo’s tone was raw.

“Don’t know.” Pu Yao clearly had been frightened by the female xiu as well. He said in a deep tone, “I cannot think of any spell or secret method that is related.”

“When I inspected her body, I found a strange power inside her body. Her body is clearly almost on the verge of collapse, it’s packed with old wounds,” Zuo Mo thought for a moment and said, hoping to give Pu Yao some clues.

“If it is like that, it should be a kind of self-harm spell or secret method. These types of spells and secret methods are powerful, but they shorten the lifespan,” Pu Yao said seriously. “You have to be careful. Her origins are not simple.”

“Careful … …” Zuo Mo’s face was more bitter than a bitter melon as he spread his hands, “How can I be careful?”

Pu Yao didn’t know what to say either. His complexion was not any better than Zuo Mo. Meeting a person whose origins he did not know, and was not match for, made him feel defeat as one who had once been a Sky Yao.

“I wonder if we can ask her to help against Clear Sky Old Forefather?” Zuo Mo suddenly said.

“She’s too young.” Pu Yao shook his head, “Even if it is a self-harm spell, the time she has spent on cultivation is too short. She may be strong, but not comparable to jindan. She can deal with ningmai like chopping vegetables, but against jindan, that’s a different matter.”

“Jindan and ningmai is not a difference in the kind of power, but the difference in essence of power,” Pu Yao continued, “The difference of the essence is not something that can be overcome with other methods.”

Zuo Mo found it was right after he thought about it.

“Tell me, did she use some kind of mental confusion spell?” Zuo Mo suddenly asked, “Why did I just charge out? I shouldn’t have! I remember there was a purple light in her eyes.”

“She definitely didn’t use one. I’m clear about that.” Pu Yao’s answer was very confident, but then his voice was also filled with puzzlement, “But I’m puzzled too. How come you just charged out? You are the one most scared of death.”

“I feel the same.” Zuo Mo did not feel embarrassed and nodded his head. “She didn’t give me any jingshi, why did I charge out? It is so evil!”

“She isn’t beautiful. If she was a beauty … …” Pu Yao pondered as he rubbed his chin.

“Beauty?” Zuo Mo glared, and instinctively raised his volume. “If there is no jingshi, even beauties don’t work!”

“Then why?” Pu Yao couldn’t understand.

“Why … …” Zuo Mo’s brows furrowed, his face full of distress.

This question was so strange, so confusing. If he couldn’t resolve it, he wouldn’t feel safe. If he went out like this again without knowing why, he might lose his little life.

———

Just as Zuo Mo was worried about this, inside a little quiet mountain cave not far away from Nan Sheng Village.

Ma Fan and Xie Shan opened their eyes at the same time.

Chapter 261: Ambush!

The cave was so dark that they couldn’t see their own fingers. There was only a burst of sound as they moved out. They were doing their final inspections and preparations. It was abnormally silent as no one spoke.

After a while, the preparations were finished, and killing intent silently spreading through as the mountain cave fell back into silence.

“Depart,” Ma Fan spat out the word shortly.

The procession swam out.

Exiting the cave, the fresh air rushed onto their faces. Everyone couldn’t help but show intoxicated expressions but they quickly recovered their calmness. No one spoke. Even Lei Peng who usually chatted on was abnormally silent at this time.

Everyone simultaneously flew into the air. After fighting so many hard battles together, the cooperation between the troops had matured.

More than three hundred people were floating in the air. The scattered troops exuded killing intent like a bow that was slowly being drawn.

They didn’t find any scouts in the sky. Ma Fan and Xie Shan looked at each other and saw the joy in the other’s eyes. After resting for five days, everyone was full of energy and ling power. The desire for battle that they had suppressed for so long was like a tiger breaking out of its cage and was unable to be stopped.

“Our target: Nan Sheng Village!” Ma Fan crisply gave the order and moved first.

The entire troop simultaneously moved to action from silence.

There was no hesitation, no disguise or trying to conserve energy. The flight speed of the troop was pushed to their limits as they headed straight towards Nan Sheng Village! The scouts they encountered along the way stared with shock at this unfamiliar troop that had appeared out of nowhere.

Ma Fan’s procession did not tangle with the scouts at all, brimming with killing intent as they flashed by the scouts.

The sound of wind howling in their ears, the wind blew on their faces like knifes, and the scenery that flashed quickly under their feet caused the killing intent of these people to increase! In their eyes, Nan Sheng Village was a weak beautiful woman that was half naked and could not resist at all.

Their lives were content after having such an experience.

As Nan Sheng Village appeared in their vision, everyone’s battle intent rose to the peak!

Even a person as indifferent as Ma Fan felt as though his blood was ignited. Raising his flying sword high, he angrily shouted, “Kill!”

“Kill!”

Everyone raised their swords and sabers, booming in their reply that shook the landscape!

The troop that appeared to be one being suddenly dismembered itself in the air and divided into fourteen groups. Like fourteen snakes, they revealed their sharp fangs and leapt down at Nan Sheng Village!

Ma Fan and Xie Shan each led a platoon as they charged at the very front. The two did not make any adjustments or detours, their bodies weighing down as they charged side by side!

Two ruler straight air ripples drew through the air. The two troops were like arrows that left the bow as they shot towards the newly rebuilt village gates. The brand new village gates were like fragile cardboard, instantly torn to countless pieces that scattered in all directions.

The two troops were not hampered in their speed, quickly passing through the ruler-straight streets of Nan Sheng Village!

The sword energies criss-crossed!

The high speed dive greatly increased the power of the sword energies. The keen sword energies were even more unstoppable at this time. The buildings on the two sides of the main street were ground into dust. The xiuzhe that jumped out all paled as they panicked. Facing such ferocious and insane sword essences, many xiuzhe’s awareness were stolen, and they lost their urge to fight!

Pew pew pew!

They were a destructive force, everywhere they passed innumerable bursts of blood rose. Amidst the loud roaring, the wails were not able to be heard.

Boom!

Ma Fan encountered the first resistance!

A xiuzhe gave a muffled grunt but took advantage of the sword energy’s power to bounce in another direction! Ma Fan was slightly startled. This was an expert!

Even he wasn’t certain if he could escape under a charge like this own. This person should be a third stratum xiuzhe. However, he ignored the other. One or two xiuzhe would not dare to resist against a charge constructed like so.

Even more, their morale and energy were at the best state right now!

The fourteen platoons were like fourteen domineering and sharp sword energies flashing by in the blink of an eye. Nan Sheng Village collapsed into pieces!

———

“Elder! Run!” A pale guard pulled He Xiang and quickly burrowed into the ground. There was a transportation formation in the secret room underground. Just as they burrowed into the underground room, the building on the surface broke down.

The light flashed on the transportation formations and no one was left in the room.

———

There was no need to communicate. Everyone was high on killing.

Ma Fan’s procession was extremely smart. They did not have targets, they just charged. They did not pursue the xiuzhe that escaped the first charge, they focused on furiously damaging Nan Sheng Village.

In a short amount of time, Nan Sheng Village turned into ruins.

They themselves were not wounded at all. Those who were leading were all those that comprehended sword essence. All the xiuzhe, when they faced this many attacks all lost their courage and escaped as far as they could!

After charging a few times, everyone had to stop.

“There’s no one alive,” Xie Shan said with helplessness. He had been in a rhythm, and couldn’t help but complain inside that Nan Sheng Village really didn’t have enough to kill. However, he also knew that if Nan Sheng Village wasn’t so weak, he wouldn’t have come no matter what.

Ma Fan made a sound of acknowledgement. “Everyone, rest. Let’s see if there is anything we can take.”

“Ha, an likes doing this!” Lei Peng grinned as he said.

However, everyone’s faces were ugly as they quickly gathered together again.

“Which mother***er told an the Outer Hall was rich?” Lei Peng’s face was as black as the bottom of the pot as he angrily swore, “An has never seen a place as poor as this! It’s clean! It’s so mother***ing clean! Unprofitable, so unprofitable!”

The faces of the other people were not much better. They had searched all of Nan Sheng Village. Other than some still usable talismans and other things they could find on the bodies of the xiuzhe they had killed, they actually hadn’t found anything else of value.

This was Nan Sheng Village, the main camp of the Outer Hall, how could it be so poor?

Just at this moment, a subordinate flew over. “Daren, Daren! There’s a camp nearby in the west!”

Everyone that hadn’t found everything suddenly lit up. Was the storeroom over there?

They did not hesitate to fly towards the camp. As they landed, they were full of anticipation. When they saw the entire camp filled with people who had fearful expressions on their faces, and had cultivations just in lianqi, their expressions became extremely ugly again.

Even Ma Fan who had personally made the plan this time didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Xiu slaves. This entire camp was all xiu slaves! Looking out, there probably were thousands of them. All of these xiu slaves had lianqi cultivation and were not of great use. The xiuzhe that had been guarding the camp had escaped a long time ago.

Ma Fan and the others had thought incorrectly. Even though He Xiang and the factions had been discussing business, but they hadn’t transported any merchandise over. What they discussed were large orders, and transactions that would be completed in intervals. As a result, other than these xiu slaves, Nan Sheng Village really didn’t have anything else.

Both Ma Fan and Xie Shan were very unfamiliar with doing business, so they couldn’t ever have predicted the proceedings. They had rationally assumed that the stores of Nan Sheng Village were bursting with mountains of resources.

It had to be said that the merit rewards in the camp were also connected to their service and the spoils that they had contributed each time. They looked down on what they could hand over, that could be used to trade for good things from Boss. Boss had a lot of good things in his possession. They had been envious for a long time.

Who could have thought that their plan would fail?

Everyone’s mood suddenly dropped to the bottom after having just achieving a victory.

“How about we take these xiu slaves?” someone weakly suggested.

“What do we need xiu slaves for? Also, how can we transport so many people?” someone objected.

“There’s slave transportation boats here. Their speed isn’t slow and it’s convenient for transporting people,” another person quickly suggested.

“If we take a few boats of xiu slaves back, and also lianqi level xiu slaves, wouldn’t we be laughed at when we get back?”

“But we can’t leave them to benefit the Outer Hall. Then should we kill all of them? I won’t do it. I can’t do something like massacring xiu slaves.”

Many xiuzhe nodded their heads in agreement with those words. They were all xiuzhe who had experienced many battles. All of them had blood on their hands. They felt it was normal to fight to the death. However, everyone still felt it was objectionable to massacre xiu slaves that were not able to put up any resistance.

Of course, that “can’t leave them to benefit the Outer Hall” struck their hearts even more. To say nothing of having gained nothing, no one was willing to let the Outer Hall have the slaves.

After such an attack, the two sides definitely had no room to negotiate. The people of the Outer Hall would hate them to their bones.

“Take them, all of them!” Ma Fan gritted his teeth, “Who cares if they are useful or not? Wait until we return first.”

The xiu slaves in the camp were herded onto the xiu slave boats. Everyone also stepped onto the slave transporting boats.

The slave transporting boats were jingshi talismans. They were extremely large, about fifty zhang long and shaped like a turtle with no sails. They could hold more than a thousand xiu slaves. Xiu slaves were not rare. They were mostly the natives of newly discovered jie. Some of the natives were very primitive, others had already stepped upon the path to cultivation. However, they were powerless against those great xiuzhe sects and had all became xiu slaves.

Many sects were enthusiastic about discovering new jie. Jingshi and ores were things they needed desperately. If they could become the jie master, they would become the literal emperor of that place. If they did not like doing so, they could sell the new jie they possessed to other sects and receive large amounts of resources.

Searching for jie was a high risk and high return profession.

After the natives were captured, the sect would pass some basic scriptures to them. Xiu slaves that entered lianqi could be bought and sold in the market. This kind of xiu slaves could do heavy labor like mining. Those xiu slaves who had exceptional talents would be marked with high prices to be sold to other sects to be slave soldiers.

Slave soldiers would be taught more profound scriptures but, without exception, have jinzhi put into them so that they absolutely would not dare to refuse the orders of the sect. Those sects who had long histories had even longer histories of bringing up slave soldiers. They would even have special slave soldier troops.

Slave transporting boats were specialized slave transporting talismans. They were extremely large and could contain large amounts of xiu slaves. The body of the boats were also extremely hard because they needed to travel between jie and pass through the turbulence of the Void. Due to that, slave transporting boats were never below fifth-grade.

In terms of spoils of victory this time, their biggest one was these five slave transporting boats. The Outer Hall had transported five boats of xiu slaves. They had already sold four boatloads of slaves so there was one boatload of xiu slaves left. Naturally, Ma Fan and the others wouldn’t leave the other four boats behind. Luckily, the boats could be shrunk when they were not in use. The miniaturized slave transporting boats were about three chi large, and was very exquisite.

Ma Fan and the others found it extremely puzzling that the slaves hadn’t run away on the ships. What they didn’t know was that the camp was very close to Nan Sheng Village so the Outer Hall didn’t worry at all that the xiu slaves would dare to run. The camp was usually guarded very loosely. The people who were supposed to be guarding the slaves today had coincidentally gone to Nan Sheng Village to have fun, and had not escaped the calamity.

It was the first time many of the people had stepped onto a slave transporting boat. All of them were very curious and looked around. Some of the people who had experience on the boats moved of their own initiative to steer the big boat.

The slave transporting boat slowly floated into the sky. Many people sighed with amazement at the fifty zhang boat.

Everyone snickered and steered the ship into the distance with spirit.

Chapter 262: Unprofitable Business

On the mountaintop, He Xiang looked at the ruined Nan Sheng Village, paused for a moment, and then broke down sobbing.

———

Zuo Mo looked with slight fear at the female xiu nearby. She seemed to have resumed her past state of motionlessness. After yesterday’s battle, the female xiu was much more sinister from every angle in his eyes.

This made him slightly insecure.

He would treasure his life and stay far from female xiu. Especially strong females that knew evil spells.

He had discussed with Pu Yao for a while yesterday and hadn’t concluded anything. He still needed to work so after resting for a night, so he continued to build formation battle watchtowers.

After such a battle, the captives in the camp were as obedient as they could be. However, the issue that arose was that no one dared to go within three zhang of Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo originally had a question to ask Yuan Jiang. But when he walked two steps towards the other, he saw Yuan Jiang’s face paled and his legs were trembling. Zuo Mo suddenly remembered that some of the enemies had been scared to death by the strong girl, and his steps instantly stopped. Yuan Jiang was a rare kind of genius. If he was scared to death, it would be so unprofitable. He could only stop moving.

He thought of the strong girl that wouldn’t leave him alone. Wasn’t he now the plague that no one would approach?

Zuo Mo’s mood immediately became terrible. He waved his hand for Yuan Jiang to leave. Watching as Yuan Jiang ran away faster than a rabbit as though he was pardoned from death, his mood became increasingly terrible. However, when he recalled Pu Yao’s dark expression, and undisguised rage, his mood instantly became better.

As expected, happiness was always built upon other people’s pain. Zuo Mo snickered and went back to building the city.

———

Just as Zuo Mo had seen, Pu Yao’s mood was extremely terrible. He felt great failure at the appearance of the female xiu. He didn’t know her history, nor the scripture she used, didn’t know how her power really was, didn’t know … … anything.

Yet he also had no solution. If this was still the time when his strength had not been damaged, if he was unhappy, he could just pinch and make the person explode. But now his soul was extremely damaged. He had to act carefully and could only rely on Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo was the place he had put his soul in, and was now under threat from the female xiu. How could Pu Yao feel safe like this?

Also, he could not understand the female xiu. This point caused the insecurity inside to grow. If something occurred, he could do nothing. His strength had reached the lowest point in his life. The female xiu’s strength wasn’t just ridiculously strong, but extremely strange.

“It seems that we need to temporarily cooperate,” Pu Yao gritted out to the gravestone. “This woman is too dangerous!”

The gravestone didn’t make a sound.

Pu Yao smirked coldly. “Aren’t you afraid that something will happen to him? Other than him, do you have any other choice?”

The gravestone suddenly became as smooth and clear as a mirror, a figure blurrily appearing.

Pu Ya smiled.

———

After the first formation battle watchtower, Zuo Mo’s construction speed increased dramatically. This was due to him acclimating to the new changes of his body. Zuo Mo gave the move he had randomly created that day the name of “Diving From Heaven.” Accidentally performing “Diving From Heaven” had made him realize many aspects of his new body.

The most evident was the consciousness. His consciousness had not developed very much over time as though it was stuck at a certain barrier. In the sky that day, when he had accidentally stirred the flames in the turbulent air, he had comprehended and instantly broke through in that moment.

The improvement in his consciousness was enormous. This also caused his speed in building formation battle watchtowers to dramatically increase.

The most difficult part of the formation battle watchtower was carving the formation. After his consciousness improved, it became easier to carve formations. Adding on that he had the experience of making one tower, his construction speed made people gape. Yuan Jiang who was watching from a distance increasingly felt that Boss was a monster.

One female and one male monster.

The demand of resources suddenly increased. Ji Wei and Sun Bao instantly were so busy they were dizzy.

Zuo Mo furiously built at a rate of one formation battle watchtower every two days. Tower after tower rose up. Zuo Mo used almost all of the empty ground to build formation battle watchtowers.

Zuo Mo had a strong feeling that the potential of his body was slowly being uncovered.

All kinds of heavy labor would squeeze out every bit of strength in his body; controlling the fire paper would consume every drop of his ling power; carving formations exhausted his spiritual power.

He suddenly felt some anticipation. When this city was finished, what would he become?

The anticipation and yearning of the xiuzhe in the camp increased every day. Such a strong city, adding such a dense patch of formation battle watchtowers, they thought that no one could destroy this.

Just as Zuo Mo was happily busy, Ma Fan and the others arrived at the camp with the enormous slave transporting boats.

Looking at the black batch of xiu slaves, Zuo Mo was at a complete loss for words. The one thousand and more captives that Gongsun Cha had sent back had already gave him a headache. Just after he had managed to settle them down, Ma Fan and the others had brought to him one thousand and more of xiu slaves, and just lianqi xiu slaves … …

Zuo Mo was exceptionally angry, pointing at the xiu slaves in front of him and asking expressionlessly, “What do I do with them?”

Ma Fan, Xie Shan, and the others were very careful. They also felt that their spoils this time were somewhat absurd. Xie Shan piled a smile on his face. “Xiu slaves can be used to mine.”

“Mining? I don’t believe they can do as well as Lil’ Pagoda,” Zuo Mo said with a black face. Lil’ Pagoda and Zuo Mo were connected in mind. Hearing Zuo Mo praise it, it whooshed out of somewhere and smugly twisted its slightly chubby body. However, when it saw Zuo Mo’s pot black face, its figure froze and then it fled.

Many incidents had told him when his daddy wasn’t in a good mood, nothing good would come out of appearing in front of him.

Ma Fan carefully gave a smile as he said, “Boss, you don’t know how poor the Outer Hall is, so poor that they only have xiu slaves. We didn’t have any solution. If we came back with empty hands, that doesn’t fit in with what you usually teach us.”

“Yes, yes!” Lei Peng hurriedly agreed as he furiously nodded his head.

Zuo Mo smiled coldly. “Not bad, not bad! You guys really remember my words well.”

“Of course!” Lei Peng beat loudly on his hairy chest. Xie Shan and Ma Fan exchanged a look and obediently close their mouths. The two of them looked with sympathy at Lei Peng.

“Then you can support them.” Zuo Mo glanced at Lei Peng. “You forgot the other phrase I said. We don’t do unprofitable business. Oh, I will take it from your rewards.”

Lei Peng gave a sky-shaking howl and grabbed onto Zuo Mo’s leg. “Boss! I was wrong! I really was wrong!”

The anger in Zuo Mo’s heart erupted as he kicked Lei Peng out twenty zhang away and swore, “You also know you are wrong! Ha! Do you know how much jingshi you people spend every day? Five pieces! Seven hundred people, three thousand and five hundred pieces of third grade jingshi every day! Do you really think ge is a tycoon? Ge is so poor right now ge almost can’t eat!”

Everyone was scared by the acrimony in Zuo Mo’s words that they were shaking. They found he was right as they thought about it. They would consume large amounts of jingshi when they cultivated every day. All of the expenses were provided by Boss. They had never thought about it before. Now that Boss calculated it, they jumped in fright. Many people suddenly felt guilty. As long as it was jingshi for cultivation, Boss was always open and had never shorted them.

“Ha! Now you guys have taken back this many xiu slaves, you just want ge to go bankrupt!” Zuo Mo’s anger had not eased. Nothing could infuriate him more than going bankrupt!

“Boss, we’ll go steal jingshi for you!” Lei Peng rolled and climbed over to express his determination.

“Right, Boss, we can’t let you lose!”

“We’ll rob them blind!”

The crowd of people instantly started howling. Their killing intent scared the one thousand xiu slaves into paling.

“Then what to do with the xiu slaves? Sell them?” Ma Fan carefully asked.

“Sell to whom?” The anger in Zuo Mo’s heart had decreased greatly as he snorted coldly, “Wouldn’t that be telling other people what you guys did Nan Sheng Village?”

Everyone stared at each other, and instantly found it was a problem.

“Should we kill them?” Xie Shan hesitantly asked. The expressions of many of the surrounding people were not natural.

Once the words came out, the xiu slaves that were nearest instantly paled and knelt down with a bang, furiously kowtowing and begging, “Daren! We can work! We’re willing to do any work! Daren, we only ask for something to eat … …”

“Get up! Get Up!” Zuo Mo instantly had a headache. He had never seen anything like this before.

Those xiu slaves didn’t dare to get up, all of them kneeling down in a wave as they furiously kow-towed, “Daren … …”

The already impatient Zuo Mo suddenly raged, “All of you, shut up and get the motherf***ing up! I’ll kill anyone who kneels!”

These words were very effective at silencing everyone.

Zuo Mo didn’t speak another word, turning and leaving.

Ma Fan and the others that remained behind looked at each other with frowns on their faces. Those people who had suggested to take the xiu slaves with them were full of regret but at this time, no one was in the mood to talk.

———

Zuo Mo found a formation battle watchtower in a dejected mood, and laid down. He might have many people under his command, but in reality, he still was a youth who hadn’t seen much.

Wu Kong Sword Sect also had xiu slaves. He had some sympathy for xiu slaves. They were a group of pitiful people.

But life was not easy. His sympathy wasn’t going to be used on xiu slaves he didn’t know or related to. This group of xiu slaves were a great burden, but he couldn’t do something like massacre all the xiu slaves.

Usually, he was used to facing these things from an objective perspective. Who could have thought that something like this would one day occur to him?

Little Mountain Jie was full of danger. Their goal was to quickly leave. Where did he have the energy to take care of this group of helpless xiu slaves? What Zuo Mo needed right now was xiuzhe with offensive power, and not xiu slaves that could not fight.

These xiu slaves also needed to consume ling grains or jingshi. Even though it wouldn’t be a huge amount, but due to the large numbers, it wouldn’t be a small amount. The already heavy burden would grow bigger.

Why had he encountered such a terrible matter?

Zuo Mo laid down with anger and no strength. Looking at the exquisite formations on the ceiling, he fell into a daze.

Suddenly, Pu Yao’s voice suddenly sounded in his mind, “I have a solution.”

Chapter 263: Zuo Mo’s Determination

Hearing Pu Yao’s words, Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. He pretend to accidentally glance at the female xiu before secretly entering the sea of consciousness.

“What solution?” Zuo Mo asked straightforwardly. However, when he saw Pu Yao, he stilled. Pu Yao wasn’t sitting on the gravestone like he usually did but sitting in front of it.

Weren’t these two at odds?

Suspicion flashed across Zuo Mo’s heart, but his attention was quickly attracted by Pu Yao’s words.

“I know what you are worried about.” Pu Yao’s thin lips curved in an enchanting smile.

Zuo Mo was slightly distracted by a nonsensical question in his mind. Why was everyone around him so evil and feminine? Even Gongsun Cha seemed to be progressing towards abnormal now. The strong girl that had appeared was also very evil.

Pu Yao seemed very confident. “It is a pity to waste jingshi on their body.”

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes upon hearing this. “Just say the solution, don’t waste words.”

“Hee hee.” Pu yao wasn’t moved, his bloody pupil narrowing slightly. “Why don’t you consider making them cultivate mo?”

“Cultivate mo?” Zuo Mo instantly froze.

“Exactly, cultivate mo,” Pu Yao smiled. “The ling energy of Little Mountain Jie is corroded, but that doesn’t affect mo cultivation. This group of xiu slaves have just entered lianqi, and their cultivation is rough. It would not be difficult for them to switch to mo cultivation. Also, cultivating mo does not require ling energy, and you do not need to use up jingshi.”

Zuo Mo’s interest was stirred by Pu Yao’s suggestion. He asked with curiosity, “How to cultivate mo?”

“There are mo skills,” Pu Yao said in a matter of fact tone.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo was furious. He jumped off the ground, pointing at Pu Yao’s nose and swearing, “Ha, you do have mo skills! What did you say in the past to ge? You said you didn’t have mo skills, making ge practice [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]! Now you run out and say you have mo skills, you were fooling ge!”

Pu Yao was speechless.

The matter of cultivating mo was quickly finalized. Pu Yao took out a set of mo skill called [Hardship Guard].

“The previous version of [Hardship Guard] was a mo skill called [Hardship Abyss]. It was first created by a heart-addicted monkey. He was born very weak and untalented. He could not cultivate the [Heart Addiction] mo skill of his clan. After many troubles, he personally created [Hardship Abyss], and in the end, cultivated to the rank of mo general. Later, this mo skill landed in the hands of a king. He changed the [Hardship Abyss] and bestowed it to one of his personal guards. This mo skill therefore changed its name to [Hardship Guard].

Pu Yao proudly introduced.

“The greatest specialty of this mo skill is that it is suitable for mo that do not have outstanding talents. Oh, this group of xiu slaves is very well suited. Hmph, hmph, in any mo jie, this mo skill is high level stuff. It can sell for a good price. These xiu slaves really picked up a bargain.”

After Zuo Mo finished reading [Hardship Guard], he jumped in fright. Unless one had great endurance they couldn’t cultivate this mo skill, much less to a high level. Mo skills were based on hard work and persistence. The person that made this mo skill really was perverse!

He had originally been thinking if he could cultivate it. After reading it, Zuo Mo decided to give up. This wasn’t something anyone could cultivate.

Pu Yao understood Zuo Mo’s misgiving.

“Normal people aren’t suited to cultivate this, but these xiu slaves have encountered many obstacles and hardships in their life so they are actually very suited to this mo skill. In any case, you just don’t want them to use jingshi right now.”

Zuo Mo agreed with Pu Yao. In any case, he wasn’t hoping that these xiu slaves would accomplish anything.

The xiu slaves were reorganized into a camp called the Guard Camp. Zuo Mo counted one thousand people. He passed down the first chapter of [Hardship Guard] and picked a few xiuzhe to supervise them before going back to his city construction work.

———

After a few days when Gongsun Cha returned with eight hundred captives, Zuo Mo finally released a breath. The two exchanged a few words before they attended to their own matters. Zuo Mo had to build the city, Gongsun Cha had to organize the captives and make new groups, and consolidate what he learned etc.

The preliminary structure of the Golden Crow City caused everyone, including the captives, to feel excitement and anticipation.

After continuous construction, the formation battle watchtowers of Golden Crow City reached thirty six in number. They were tightly packed together, pointing towards the sky like sharp swords. Looking at these formation battle watchtowers that rose above the city walls, everyone was filled with the feeling of safety.

The completion of thirty six formation battle watchtowers meant that the xiuzhe of the camp could start to move in.

Wei Cheng Bin followed Master Ji Wei into Golden Crow City, his expression excited. As he stepped into the city, a feeling of warmth surrounded him, feeling like he was soaking in the sun. The people in the surroundings sighed in amazement.

“What formation is this? It is so wonderful!”

“Comfortable, way too comfortable! Even if you kill me, I won’t return to that mountain cave!”

“Worth it, it’s worth it even if I die now!”

… …

Hearing the discussion around him, Wei Cheng Bin suddenly felt his nose was sore and almost cried. He hurriedly lowered his head to disguise his state. When he raised his head, what he saw was a flash of tears at the corner of Master Ji Wei’s eye.

For people like him, the Golden Crow City in front of them was the final dream in their hearts!

One after the other, the formation battle watchtowers covered in complex formations scripts appeared in their vision, causing them to sigh in amazement again. Everyone’s hearts was instantly comforted. The enormous group of formation battle watchtowers seemed to be announcing their power and gave them a strong feeling of safety.

“Alright, move quickly!” Master Ji Wei bellowed at the top of his lungs to wake the group of people up. “We need to go first build the places we will be living in. Otherwise, we need to return to the cave tonight. Which one of you wants to return?”

Of course, no one was willing so everyone hurried to start building.

The xiuzhe that knew earth element spells usually were also skilled in building houses. The xiuzhe of the forging division were never properly educated. Many of them had a pretty good earth element spell.

“Everyone work hard! Let’s try to finish before dusk so we can have a little fun tonight.” Master Jie Wei waved his arms with excitement.

———

As Zuo Mo had already divided out the different living districts beforehand, the camp was naturally the most important part. Gongsun Cha first needed to reorganize the numerous troops under his command. He didn’t interfere with the Guard Camp. He didn’t understand the things Shixiong was doing with the Guard Camp. Just the xiuzhe under his command were enough to give him a headache.

He didn’t want to break down the organization of the six divisions. These xiuzhe cooperated very well among themselves. If new people were added, their offensive capabilities would decrease.

However, Gongsun Cha was not the same greenhorn that didn’t understand anything anymore. He easily worked to reorganize.

The six divisions were the primary force, and were under the command of Vermillion Bird Camp. The fact that the first camp created was called Vermillion Bird Camp, and not Black Warrior Camp was enough to express how much everyone liked Golden Crow City from the bottom of their hearts. The xiuzhe that had comprehended “essence” and were led by Ma Fan and Xie Shan were put into one platoon, Sky Peak Platoon. What was a surprise was the Shield Guard Platoon was led by Zong Ru. The main purpose of the Shield Guard Platoon was to protect Gongsun Cha, and transmit Gongsun Cha’s orders.

The Vermillion Bird (Zhu Que) is one of the four sacred/benevolent animals of Chinese culture. It is actually a five- colored bird, not just one color. Its element is fire and the cardinal direction it represents is the south. Black Warrior (Xuan Wu) is another name for the Black Turtle (Xuan Gui). Its cardinal direction is the north, and its element is water. In mythology, the black warrior is made of two entities, a tortoise, and a snake who are two great generals. Due to the origins (Wikipedia), Xuan Wu would usually be a much better name for a military troop.

The remaining two thousand xiuzhe were divided into the Eastern and Western Camps. In Gongsun Cha’s plans, Eastern Camp and Western Camp were the reserve that would provide talented xiuzhe for Vermillion Bird Camp.

In Gongsun Cha’s vision, Vermillion Camp would have twelve divisions, one thousand six hundred and sixty four people. Adding on the quartermasters and supporting xiuzhe, it would be a full one thousand and five hundred people. There were just six divisions now, so it was only half complete.

But he was also clear that Vermillion Bird Camp which was skilled in ambushing was not in great demand since they possessed the Golden Crow City. The most pressing matter at the moment was to train the xiuzhe of the Eastern and Western Camps to use the formation battle watchtowers.

The reorganization calmly progressed.

As to the Guard Camp, that was Shixiong’s headache. Having finished his preparations, Gongsun Cha quickly moved into the Golden Crow City.

When the night came, Golden Crow City was very loud. The lanterns at the sides of the street filled the little city with brightness. From afar, it looked like a city that was floating in the air!

Today was a holiday for everyone in the city!

Many people cried from happiness. They finally had a place to rest, a place to shelter them from the elements, they finally had a place where they could relax and sleep!

In the calamity-ridden Little Mountain Jie, Golden Crow City was one of a kind!

Gongsun Cha silently watched his subordinates celebrate. Those people that usually weren’t afraid of death were sobbing like children at the moment. His heart didn’t feel so good. He knew more. He knew the city was just to prepare for the big battle against the Clear Sky Old Forefather.

From the moment it started to be built, the fate of Golden Crow City was set in stone.

He pressed together his lips, quietly leaving the partying camp to find Shixiong. He found Shixiong at a formation battle watchtower. He was slightly shocked. As everyone was partying madly, Shixiong was staying by himself at the formation battle watchtower.

Noticing Gongsun Cha come over, Zuo Mo raised his head. “I’m trying to see if I can use the formation battle watchtower to nurture the Sonic Lightning Walnuts.”

Gongsun Cha became alert. “Did Shixiong find something?”

“En, it seems plausible but I still need to test it.” Zuo Mo noticed Gongsun Cha’s low mood. “What? Has Shidi encountered something unhappy?”

He understood the two shidi very well. Cheng Shidi was a person obsessed with animal-keeping. While Gongsun Shidi usually seemed vicious and murderous, but in reality, his mentality was not any different than Cheng Shidi. They were both very naïve and did not know worldly matters.

“I just saw they are so happy. But in the end, there will be nothing. This city is destined to be destroyed,” Gongsun Cha said dejectedly.

Zuo Mo was silent. He walked to the guardrail and looked into the distance. After a moment, he smiled and said, “I hadn’t thought such a violent person as Shidi would be so sentimental.” He paused slightly, turned his face, and said seriously, “Little Mountain Jie is a cage. Can there be a paradise in a cage? What we want is to survive because we understand that if we cannot escape the cage, we will die. It is like using warm water to cook a frog, we will be cooked slowly.”

“Among them, some understand and some do not. Those that understand are not willing to think. Why? They feel if they can live one more day, it is one day.” Zuo Mo said in a deep voice, “But I don’t think the same. I would rather to use those miserable days to trade for a chance, a chance to escape.”

“Golden Crow City has never been a paradise! If we succeed, even if this city does not exist anymore, they will still be able to find their paradise!” Zuo Mo said resolutely.

Gongsun Cha raised his head. The depression on his delicate face swept away cleanly. Those eyes that were usually covered in killing intent and people could never see into were so clear now there was no impurity.

The two exchanged a look, and smiled at each other.

Chapter 264: The Rudimentary Form

Taking advantage of the fact that the Old Forefather was in seclusion, He Xiang concealed the matter. The other people also knew this matter had created too much of a mess. If it was revealed to the top, everyone would die so they all kept their silence. Their greatest losses this time were the five slave transporting boats. The value of the one thousand xiu slaves was very limited.

They were still able to afford the compensation for five slave transporting boats.

Yet, the loss that made them want to spit blood was that many of the bosses that they had finished negotiating with had died in this ambush. The agreements that they had made had become a waste of effort. These factions would enter a period of chaos, reform, and choose a new leader. This meant that their work would drag on for a longer period of time.

This damned group of hooligans!

If he caught them, he would definitely tear their bodies to pieces!

He Xiang gritted his teeth. Thinking of the factions that were in chaos, he felt his head ache. He suddenly found that from the time he had become the Chief Elder of the Outer Hall, an unfortunate sequence of bad luck had followed him. Nothing had gone smoothly.

What he needed to consider now was whether he should intervene in the internal conflict of these factions. There was not much time left for him. If he could not complete this matter before the Old Forefather came out of seclusion, he would lose all of his chances.

———

All of the formation battle watchtowers lit up. The warm silver lights were very beautiful in the night.

Seven Sonic Lightning Walnuts were floating at the top level of each formation battle watchtower They were bobbing like they were in water. They occasionally flew around the interior of the watchtowers. The ceiling and walls of the towers continued to release silver dots of light. These mist like silver dots of light would then be absorbed by the Sonic Lightning Walnuts.

Zuo Mo carefully inspected every Sonic Lightning Walnut that was being nurtured in the top level of the watchtowers. The formation battle watchtowers were carved with the [Yin Fiend Hard Lightning] formation. These dots of silver mist that looked harmless contained minuscule amounts of hard lightning. After being nurtured like this, the power of the Sonic Lightning Walnut would be even greater.

The construction of the city was only half completed. The remaining half was the most difficult part.

In the watchtower at the very center of the Golden Crow City, Zuo Mo started to dig down into the soil. He incinerated the evacuated soil using Golden Crow Fire. His body had entered the second maturation. The noise of this maturation process was much less noisy than compared to the first time.

The improvement of second maturation was not as evident as first maturation, but he could still clearly feel the improvement of his body.

[Sky Glass Wave] had improved to nineteen revolutions from eighteen revolutions. The power had increased, but there was no qualitative change.

But what interested Zuo Mo was the mo matrix on his body.

Jade Metal Head was a mo physique. After the second maturation, a faint mo matrix started to appear. The mo matrix started first on his chest and it was very faint. If Zuo Mo didn’t carefully inspect his body, it was likely he would have missed such a subtle change.

His skin had become black and glowing. The mo matrix patterns were also black, and very faint, so they were hard to detect.

Zuo Mo carefully studied them for a while and found the mo matrix that had floated out was not complete. Many places were far too faint and hard to decipher. He concluded that they must only completely appear after third maturation.

He noted it down before going back to building the city.

In the span of a few short days, Golden Crow City was completely revamped.

The streets were abnormally clean. New buildings neatly spread out like a forest on both sides of streets. The style of these buildings were varied. There were green brick yards, brightly colored sharp pointed towers. The xiuzhe of Golden Crow City came from many different places. The only buildings that could not been seen here were the residences frequently seen in other cities to be floating in the air out of consideration for safety.

The fruit trees on both sides of the street were tenderly green and heavy with fruit that gave off a tantalizing fragrance. All of the empty spaces like under the trees, and the corners of buildings were planted with flowers and grasses to make them attractive to the eyes. For these trees and grasses, all of the xiuzhe that had knowledge of ling farming had joined in. Many kinds of birds had been enticed over. Vitality flowed in every corner.

Nian Lu, who dragged a group of xiuzhe back through hurrying day and night gaped at the beautiful scene in front of him and lost the ability of speech.

———

Bao Yi bowed to Lil’ Pagoda that was floating in front of him, his expression slightly wary, “Pagoda ye, are you hungry again?”

The chubby Lil’ Pagoda tried its best to produce a proud stance, but one could not bear to look at it. Behind it, Silly Bird raised her head and pushed out her chest, her stomach tightly stretched and fat. The half-lidded eyes didn’t show any intentions of properly looking at a person. On top of Silly Bird’s head, the antenna of Lil’ Black restlessly waved as it looked around.

Bao Yi didn’t dare to laugh. He didn’t dare to offend the three little ancestors in front of him.

He really didn’t understand. These days, could talismans, steeds, and worms become so intelligent? The three formed a troop and would come at intervals to sweep the stores. The weirdest one was Lil’ Pagoda. It would swallow anything. Talismans, materials, all of it would go to its stomach.

But Boss was very lenient with them, and had told him to give the talismans that could not be used to Lil’ Pagoda.

To a miser like Bao Yi, this was akin to carving the flesh out of his heart. Even though he knew that there wasn’t much value in those talismans, but the smallest grain of rice was still food. Watching as they all landed in Lil’ Pagoda’s stomach, and not having the smallest piece of jingshi come out, his heart bled blood.

Wastrel! Such a wastrel!

Unconsciously, Lil’ Pagoda had become Bao Yi’s greatest enemy!

Of course, he didn’t dare to show the enmity that was in his heart. Lil’ Pagoda was deeply favored by Boss. If working under Zuo Mo previously had been a decision made out of helplessness, then his heart was truly loyal now. He had never heard of a person so strong they could build a city like this by themselves, much less seen one. Right now, he seemed to understand why an expert like Xie Shan would willingly serve Boss.

Look at the strong offensive abilities under Boss’ command! Oh, the God of Wealth Up High, he, Bao Yi, had never thought he could personally see such a strong and vicious troop!

He didn’t believe there was anyone that had the power to pose a risk to them in Little Mountain Jie unless Clear Sky Old Forefather personally came. He admired Boss very much for this point. Boss had opened up his provisions of jingshi for his subordinates. The troop of seven hundred people used three thousand and five hundred third-grade jingshi a day. If it was converted, it would be seven pieces of fourth-grade jingshi.

Seven piece of fourth-grade jingshi daily! Whoa! He had almost fainted when he had first learned this. Even in Little Mountain Jie where jingshi was not worth much at present, it still was not a low number.

He felt a compelling pressure. The talismans that they had gained were not able to be sold. Now that the city was constructed, he needed to think of ways for Boss to start doing business. Otherwise, if they just fed off of their savings then in the long term, they couldn’t sustain it in the future.

Just as he was wandering in his thoughts, he saw Lil’ Pagoda waving in front of him. He hurriedly refocused and suddenly found that a line of puppets had formed behind the three.

Puppets!

As an experienced merchant, Bao Yi had worked with all kinds of talismans, and naturally seen puppets before. Truthfully, from his angle, the construction of these copper puppets were very rough.

Copper puppets were just one step above paper puppets, but still were very common mainstream items. He twisted his mouth. This kind of copper puppets couldn’t sell for a good price, even if he was the one doing it.

However, it was possible to see that the person who had designed these puppets had put in a great deal of thought. These puppets were designed for mining. The bottom half of their bodies were jointed in sections like a snake. That would allow them to adjust to all kinds of uneven terrain. The top half was shaped traditionally like a person, but there were four arms instead of two.

The puppets lined up neatly, each puppet carrying on its back a cloth bag that was larger than their bodies.

Bao Yi lost some of his disdain. These puppets may look ugly, but they were very strong and were pretty good puppets.

He watched as these puppets came in, and put down the cloth bags on their backs. Bao Yi quickly found a little mountain pile up in front of him.

“This … … Pagoda ye, what is all this?” Bao Yi carefully asked.

Lil’ Pagoda bent its chubby body and acted as it was talking.

Bao Yi swallowed and wiped the sweat on his forehead. He asked uncertainly, “Is it to let me see?” Every time he faced Lil’ Pagoda and the other two, it was as though he was facing an enemy. He regretted not learning how to play charades when he was young.

Lil’ Pagoda nodded.

Bao Yi released a breath. He hadn’t guessed incorrectly. He hurriedly ran over and opened the cloth bags.

The blinding light of jingshi reflected on his dumbstruck face and filled the room with light.

Lil’ Pagoda ran in front of Silly Bird to ask for praise. Silly Bird used her wings to brush Lil’ Pagoda. Lil’ Pagoda instantly became happy, and hurried flying to the front to led the way. This guy was very clever. They had become familiar after coming here a few times. With Lil’ Black on top, Silly Bird walked its proud stride and floated off as she brushed past the stunned Bao Yi.

———

Shu Long was the highest ranked supervisor of the Guard Camp. He was an old xiu slave. Differing from the many people who had just been captured, he had already passed through five owners. This caused him to hold great authority among this group of xiu slaves.

He scanned the camp. Everyone was furiously cultivating. He couldn’t help but give a satisfied expression. He was full of gratitude towards his present owner. Only xiu slaves that had passed through many owners would deeply appreciate how much the present situation was like paradise.

He had actually received favor from Master to command the Guard Camp. He was full of excitement and terror. He was happy that he could help Master, but terrified that he would ruin the matter.

What he hadn’t expected was that Boss didn’t get them to go work, but had them cultivate. Cultivation was very good. Even though he didn’t know much, but he knew that cultivation was value. However, he couldn’t help but worry. Master’s action was benevolent, but in the eyes of other people, he was a wastrel. Who would let xiu slaves cultivate?

He had never heard of something so absurd.

But since Master had ordered it, he could only do his best to help Master. Sometimes, he couldn’t help but fantasize that some experts would be produced out of the Guard Camp and serve Master. It would be worth it even if he died.

Master had kept them, and allowed them to cultivate. All of Guard Camp were holding their breath. What Shu Long was most afraid of were the new slaves. New xiu slaves only had hatred in their minds. In their eyes, all xiuzhe were enemies.

He had also once walked that road.

“Shu Long, get them to come one by one. I need to inspect their progress.” A thought came from the necklace on his neck. His mind became alert. Cultivating was so strange. This necklace of his should probably be a talisman.

“Yes!” he hurriedly responded, and rang the large drum.

———

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao interestedly played with the necklace. The little toys that Zuo Mo forged had some usefulness.

Making a troop that cultivated mo, how interesting would something like that be!

Chapter 265: Silly Bird’s Shocking Change!

Silly Bird swallowed down a piece of grey mud.

This was a ball of grey mud that Lil’ Pagoda had just spat out. Lil’ Black had no interest in the grey mud. Silly Bird was the only one that liked it. The three of them had a great relationship, especially as Silly Bird occupied the position of leader with a proud and matter of fact attitude. The other two little ones were very obedient towards Silly bird.

So whenever Lil’ Pagoda had the chance, it would skip to give the grey mud it spat out to Silly Bird. Zuo Mo had been very busy recently, where would he find the time to take care of them? If he knew how much of the grey mud Silly Bird had swallowed, his heart would definitely bleed.

That was so much jingshi!

Silly Bird didn’t have any intentions of being frugal and swallowed the grey mud as though it was her right. The talismans that were collected were of much higher grade than before. Previously, the majority had been second-grade, but now it was third-grade. The storage were filled with a large amount of third-grade talismans. Since they couldn’t find buyers for them, and the xiuzhe couldn’t use them, all of them had entered Lil’ Pagoda’s stomach.

Just by looking at Lil’ Pagoda’s fattened figure, it was possible to see how good its recent days had been.

Silly Bird had also received benefits along with Lil’ Pagoda.

What was unexpected was that Silly Bird suddenly had a painful expression, all the feathers on its body were shaking. A faint whirlwind started to appear around its body, and spin continuously around her.

Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Black instantly became nervous.

Some grey energy threads suddenly appeared under Silly Bird’s wings. As though they were alive, these grey threads of energy climbed and wormed their way up her wings. Her pain seemed to increase as her body shook more fiercely. The grey energy quickly spread over her body at a rate visible to the naked eye.

In an extremely short period of time, the grey energy had spread along her long slender neck until it reached her eyes.

“Honk!”

A sound filled with pain caused Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Black to freeze on the spot in fright.

Pew.

An extremely small sound as though something had been lit.

Silly Bird’s entire body was wrapped in an extremely thick layer of grey mist. Looking at her from afar, she seemed like a roiling cloud of mist. Threads of grey energy spread out from the cloud, and entered the whirlwind that was swirling around her body, pulling out thin grey threads in circles.

The grey thread circles increased in number until there appeared to be an invisible silkworm spinning silk. The dense layer of grey thread continued to dance around Silly Bird and gradually formed a grey silk cocoon. At the very center of the grey cocoon was a ball of mist that continued to spew grey smoke.

“Honk!”

The painful sound seemed to come from the bottom of the heart. Bao Yi, who had been disturbed, changed expression. Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Black were so scared they lost their minds.

The grey cocoon suddenly flew into the air, leaving behind a grey shadow, as it disappeared into the horizon.

———

Zuo Mo, who had been working on the city’s construction, suddenly changed his expression. “Damn it!” His legs pushed off as he flew into the air.

“I’ll sort you all out when I get back!”

Zuo Mo’s furious voice passed back. Everyone at the ground looked at each other in ignorance.

After a while, Xie Shan tried to ask Gongsun Cha, “Boss, should we send someone to follow?”

Gongsun Cha glanced at the people that were yearning to go. “Do you guys want to slack off? Don’t even think about it. All of you, stay alert. Every one of you added together wouldn’t be a match for that woman.”

The other people instantly faltered. They remembered that the female xiu who always followed Boss was a terrifying existence!

———

Zuo Mo hurriedly followed in pursuit. Silly Bird that was wrapped in the grey energy flew extremely fast. He used all his power and could barely manage to keep up. He was both furious and panicked. Little brat, when ge catches up to you, just wait!

Lil’ Pagoda was connected to him. In an instant, he had known what had happened.

The more he thought, the angrier he got. Ge was working hard and was so tired, and you guys made trouble, you guys don’t want to live!

His mind prepared the series of tortures that would occur once he caught Silly Bird. It may have been due to the stimulus from his rage, his speed increased by another faction. The Thunder Flowing Light Wings were pressed to their limits. He was like a bolt of lightning!

No matter how fast he flew, the female xiu managed to follow without any effort. But at this point, Zuo Mo didn’t have the attention to spare.

His mind only had one thought, faster! Faster! Even faster!

All of his mind was engrossed in operating the Thunder Flowing Light Wings. After building the city, from the [Yin Fiend Hard Lightning] to the thirty six hard lightning formation battle watchtowers, without noticing it, his understanding of lightning had reached another level. Flowing Light was a kind of lightning. Very quickly, he comprehended it and grasped the trick to it.

The light of the Thunder Flowing Light Wings exploded. The Wings disappeared. They became a ball of lightning that wrapped around Zuo Mo. His speed increased yet again!

Boom!

As the lightning flashed across the sky, it gave off a heart-shaking vibration. The sound was small but it passed into the distance.

However, after chasing for several hours, Zuo Mo still lost Silly Bird. No matter how much he accelerated, he could only watch as the grey shadow distanced itself from him and gradually disappeared.

“Do you know where she went?” Zuo Mo stopped abruptly and asked the female xiu.

The female xiu stood to one side silently as though she hadn’t heard anything.

“Which direction? Tell me!” Zuo Mo awkwardly added on hand motions, his voice extremely panicked.

The female xiu was like a statue and did not speak.

“Speak!” Zuo Mo suddenly raged!

The female xiu was not affected, and did not move.

Looking at the female xiu silently gazing at himself, the furious Zuo Mo suddenly calmed down, the anger in his eyes disappearing bit by bit.

“Sorry, I lost my temper just now!” Zuo Mo sincerely gave an apology. Even though he knew the other could not hear it, he had lost control of his temper. Calm, he needed to be calm!

“Pu Yao, do you know which direction she went?” Zuo Mo entered the sea of consciousness to ask Pu Yao.

“Just now, it was to the east,” Pu Yao said with helplessness. “My strength has been greatly used up, the range of my consciousness is much smaller than in the past.”

“Towards the east!” Zuo Mo did not hesitate to keep on flying towards the east.

That damned Silly Bird! When ge catches you, ge will pluck you clean. How will you fly then? Zuo Mo thought hatefully .

He continued to channel ling power to maintain the Thunder Flowing Light Wings as he flew across the sky. Fortunately, his body had strengthened greatly in the past while. Of his body, consciousness, and ling power, the improvement of his ling power was not as visible as his body, but the recent progress was not ordinary.

His ling power had reached twenty five jing, only five jing away from the second stratum. What Zuo Mo didn’t know was how shocked the world would be if he spoke of such a crazy progression speed!

In each stratum, preliminary growth would always be rapid, but the rate would become slow as they got closer to the peak of the stratum. Five jing of cultivation didn’t seem like much. However, many people would expend three years, five years, or even longer on these five jing. Zuo Mo knew that while his cultivation growth rate had slowed, but the decrease was much smaller than normal xiuzhe.

He didn’t know if it was caused by the mo physique or something else.

At this time, he didn’t have the attention to spare. He gathered his ling power and flew with all his power towards the east.

Flying without rise until sunset, there was still nothing to be found. He looked in all directions, there were no traces. Zuo Mo’s expression became dark, and couldn’t control himself from swearing, “Damn it!”

However, his ling power was now completely used up. He had no energy to keep flying and could only land.

Taking out a few pieces of jingshi, he made a Primary Replenishing Formation before meditating to recover his ling power.

After reconstructing the mo physique, the previous formations on his body had been destroyed. However, this mo physique could automatically filter the impurities in the ling power. Zuo Mo patiently processed the ling power he absorbed. Even though the ling power that was absorbed did not have impurities, they were purer if he processed them and easier to control.

After two hours, Zuo Mo opened his eyes again, a light flashing in the dark.

Just as he stood up, the jingshi on the ground exploded into ball of dust.

“This is troublesome,” Zuo Mo flew into the sky, and muttered with a grimace after looking around.

The night was dark, and the coldness seeped into the bones. The cloud layer was very low, dark without any light. Zuo Mo decided to fly up. After a moment, he struggled out of the cloud layer.

The last bit of clouds were thrown behind him, the vast sky appearing in front.

All of the stars were so bright, densely covering the entire sky. From the ground, the cloud layer looked endless. Under the starlight, it was like a black ocean.

Between this cloud ocean and the stars, he was the only person!

He had never seen such a beautiful scene before. He was entranced for a while.

A moment later, he woke up. Looking at the female xiu that was silently floating beside him, his mood became slightly better. He said to her with a smile, “Silly Bird is somewhat dumb, but silly birds usually have silly luck, she shouldn’t be in trouble this time.”

He knew that the female xiu could not hear. Speaking this was just to comfort himself.

Suddenly, a few dots of light appeared in the sky.

Zuo Mo was instantly alerted and turned his head around .

It was a sword light! Zuo Mo was not unfamiliar with sword lights. These were the lights that were usually created when sword xiu flew on their flying swords.

These sword lights came extremely quickly. Almost in the blink of an eye, they went from the size of a sesame seed to a mung bean. Zuo Mo could barely make out that there were four people coming, three male and one female, all of them sword xiu.

Zuo Mo’s mind secretly became alert. These four people were not ordinary. Their speed as they flew on the sword was almost the same as when he would be using the Thunder Flowing Light Wings with all his power.

However, he didn’t avoid them but moved forward. He wanted to ask the four people if they had seen Silly Bird.

The four of them came very quickly. Zuo Mo vibrated his ling power and shouted out, “Please wait!”

The four sword lights stopped at a place fifty zhang from Zuo Mo. All four of them looked warily at Zuo Mo. One of them opened, “Why has Sire stopped us?” His tone was slightly unfriendly.

“Sorry sorry!” Zuo Mo raised his hands and smiled with friendliness. “This one’s steed was suddenly alarmed. This one has chased for a long time, but has lost it. Stopping everyone is just to ask if you have encountered a grey misty cloud?”

The expressions of the four eased. One of them said, “We did just see a grey shadow pass by, but it was to fast, we couldn’t make it out.”

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. “Do you know which direction?”

“That way,” the person said as he pointed behind him.

Zuo Mo hurriedly gave his thanks, rose and flew in the direction the person pointed at.

“Shixiong, you are…?” the female xiu asked with puzzlement. They hadn’t seen any grey shadow along the way.

“Hee hee,” the person laughed darkly. “We can’t capture that benefit, but we can’t let the person named Huang and the others to get it so easily. Otherwise, when we go back to Clear Sky Sect, our branch wouldn’t even have any room.”

“This person’s cultivation doesn’t seem to be high. I saw that he is only ningmai first stratum,” another person said confusedly.

“Ha ha, we can silently follow behind. You will know when it is time,” This person said confidently. “Maybe we can even take advantage of the chaos, and get some benefits.”

Chapter 266: A Little Harvest

After flying for about an hour, there were still no signs. Zuo Mo calmed down. He knew that panicking was not useful. Based on Silly Bird’s fierce flying, she probably wouldn’t stop anytime soon. As long as the direction was right, he would find her.

The grey mud that Lil’ Pagoda spat out was a smorgasbord of substances outside the five elements. He didn’t know what change would come after Silly Bird had eaten so much. It would be good if nothing happened to her. He was very worried. Silly Bird was the first ling beast he had owned, and he had a deep attachment to her. Even though she was very proud and had terrible habits, like showing off and not looking at people properly, but when he thought about the first time he was wounded, and Silly Bird had done her best to carry him back, his heart still was moved.

Suddenly, an extremely fine sword light flashed twenty li away from him.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. It seemed his luck today wasn’t so terrible. It required luck to be able to encounter other sword xiu when flying in the air at night, especially with the drastically reduced population of Little Mountain Jie. Not even one in ten remained, but he had met two different groups today.

He was just going forward to ask if the other had seen Silly Bird when the sword light unexpectedly curved and flew towards him.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo didn’t move and waited for the other.

When the other flew close, Zuo Mo saw his appearance. The person was an extremely young xiuzhe in his early twenties. The light-glimmering ling armor did not look like something average. His feet were stepping on a flying sword shaped like a ling snake. He looked very carefree as he flew in the wind.

Seeing the pride on the others face, Zuo Mo muttered inside. Before he spoke, he heard the other shout, “Hey, do you know five element spells?”

Zuo Mo instantly was discontent, his brow unconsciously furrowing. He speculated inside that this person definitely was a disciple that had just come out of the sect to gain experience. Surviving in the outside, just this kind of arrogant and brash tone was enough for him to die multiple times.

“I know some,” Zuo Mo still planned on asking about Silly Bird so he endured it.

The person’s eyes lit up. “Come with me!” Finishing, he turned and left.

Zuo Mo rubbed his nose. Where had this silly bird came from? Oh, no no no! If Silly Bird knew that he had given her and the guy in front of him had the same name, she would be humiliated to the point of hitting the wall to suicide!

The ignorance of the other caused Zuo Mo to not know what to say. His mind suddenly moved. How could a guy like this have survived in Little Mountain Jie? The only place he could think of was Clear Sky Sect!

Only Clear Sky Sect could have such an unworldly disciple!

“You are a disciple of Clear Sky Sect? Zuo Mo asked, tilting his head.

“Ha ha, you know that ye is from Clear Sky Sect! Since you know, then obey! If ye is happy, there’s some benefit for you. If you provoke ye, humph, no matter how big Little Mountain Jie is, there is no place for you to hide,” the person said proudly as he turned around.

It really was meeting one’s enemy on a narrow road!

Since he knew the other was a disciple of Clear Sky Sect, Zuo Mo didn’t have any more worries. With a flip of the hand, a flying sword appeared. This flying sword was serenely green, with rippling waves and extremely nimble. This sword was called Serene Water Sword, peak of third-grade. It was even better than the Water Drop Sword that Zuo Mo previously had.

Zuo Mo would only pick the talismans that he liked or found useful from what they had captured and put them into his ring. His ring at this time was piled full with fine talismans and rare materials.

This Serene Water Sword was just third-grade, but its entire body was forged from Serene Green Water, and was rich in water element power. It was already the peak of third-grade talismans.

With the Serene Water Sword in his hand, Zuo Mo seemed to be walking on the ground in the air. Pia pia pia, taking a series of small paces. Wind rose when his feet touched the air!

Zuo Mo held no fear when facing a ningmai. He had defeated ningmai xiuzhe when he had been in zhuji. Now that he had broken through to ningmai, his confidence had grown more. Even more, his fantasy enemy during this period of time had been the Clear Sky Old Forefather. Compared to the fear of a jindan, a ningmai third stratum expert didn’t seem so scary.

His first attack was [Li Water Burning Heavens]!

In an instantly, the body of the Serene Water Sword was covered in water-shaped flames. These clear and transparent flames were like a piece of living crystal as it flickered!

Compared to the flame of the past that had been multiple zhang long, the water-shaped flame was now just a short one chi, silent and serene!

This meant that Zuo Mo’s sword essence was even more condensed and had improved.

[Li Water Sword Scripture] was only a third-grade scripture, but Zuo Mo had comprehended sword essence. If he persisted in walking down this path, tempered his sword essence, and experimented with variations, he may be able to create new sword moves.

Zuo Mo had not expected the sword essence he comprehended the most of all the sword essences was Li Water sword essence and not Ice Dragon sword essence. In his hands, the sword scripture that was just a small third-grade seemed to change.

It was as though he did it without any effort. There was no pause. His little trot created countless afterimages, the sword in his hands serenely burning!

A gentle slice upwards!

There was none of the past explosiveness, or the sword essence radiating out, or the howling!

As clear and serene as water, as bright as fire!

A serene, light, and almost careless spark flashed.

The face of the Clear Sky Sect disciple changed greatly. He shouted angrily, “How gutsy! You dare … …”

The voice suddenly stopped. His expression changed greatly. A sword essence that was almost tangible securely locked onto him!

Sword essence!

He was actually an expert that comprehended sword essence!

Clear Sky Sect was also a sword xiu sect. He naturally knew the dangers, and understood that he had offended the wrong person this time.

Among the Clear Sky Sect disciples, only three of the shixiong had comprehended sword essence. He had actually randomly encountered such a person! He was full of regret. The internal competition of Clear Sky Sect was very fierce. The power of the shixiong had long been impressed into his mind.

Gritting his teeth, his hands swiped, and an extremely small light shot at Zuo Mo!

“Hm!” In the air, Zuo Mo’s figure did not move. His wrist flicked lightly, and produced a round wall of fire!

The wall of fire was like a great net that caught the light.

Zuo Mo stopped his figure, and grasped at the air. The clear flame wrapped around the light that slowly flew towards him.

“Sky Sand!” Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up. Without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and spat out a thread of pure golden flame. It was Golden Crow Fire. Once Golden Crow Fire appeared, Zuo Mo retracted the sword essence. The transparent flame turned to vapor and evaporated into the air.

The Golden Crow Fire drew out a line of fire and wrapped around the light.

“Golden Crow Fire!” this Clear Sky Sect disciple paled and exclaimed, his voice trembling.

Once the Golden Crow Fire wrapped around the Sky Sand, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shake his head. It really was a waste of something good! Sky Sand was the essence of earth element. This Sky Sand that was the size of a sand particle and was eight hundred catties in weight! Such a precious treasure of the earth, yet the impression method was so crude. Zuo Mo, who had always been frugal, felt his heart was in pain.

The Golden Crow Fire easily wiped away the formation on the Sky Sand. This Sky Sand revealed its original appearance.

Square and symmetrical, it was an extremely precise cube. The color was deep gold. Entering his palm, Zuo Mo felt his right hand was weight down, and he almost dropped it.

So heavy!

A special eathy energy spread out. Zuo Mo suddenly felt as though he was situated in dense sand.

Good thing!

Zuo Mo was overjoyed, and instantly threw it into his ring. This piece of Sky Sand might be small, but it was a rare fourth-grade material. If he could forge it well, he would have another good talisman.

The Clear Sky Sect disciple was dumbstruck. This particle of Sky Sand was his life-saving talisman. He gaped upon seeing the other easily subdue it.

After a while, he managed to react, and swore, pointing at Zuo Mo, “You you you … … …”

After “you”-ing for a while, Zuo Mo didn’t hear any further words and snickered. He examined the other from top to bottom. “I really hadn’t seen it. You brat, you do have some oil on you!”

“You … … what do you want?” The Clear Sky Sect disciple instantly panicked when he saw the greedy gaze Zuo Mo had.

“I don’t want much. Hee hee, everyone should share good things!” Zuo Mo snickered as he spoke. A few yellow and red rope pieces appeared on his hands. Each red rope was just the thickness of a chopstick.

“Immortal tying chain!” The Clear Sky Sect disciple almost fainted.

Coming out of a big sect like Clear Sky Sect, one could be unskilled at other things, but their knowledge and experience would definitely be stronger than those from small sects. That stack of red in Zuo Mo’s hands were all immortal tying chains! Immortal tying chains were the general name for a type of talisman. There was only one use for them, to tie up the enemy.

The first impression he had of the immortal tying chain was that it was very valuable! Because it was to imprison the other, immortal tying chains were mostly woven and forged out of materials that were not easily damaged by flying swords. That would guarantee they were strong enough that the enemy could not easily break free or cut it.

He had never seen someone taking out eight immortal tying chains at once.

Even more, he had never thought there would be a day he would have to face eight immortal tying chains at once!

“Hm, you’re pretty knowledgeable,” Zuo Mo said. However, his hands were not slow, the eight immortal tying chains flying out.

Once the immortal tying chains left his palm, they grew to ten zhang long!

The eight immortal tying chains caused it to appear as though the sky was covered in immortal tying chains.

The other basically had no power to resist. After struggling for a few moments, he was tied up tightly.

However, when Zuo Mo saw the gigantic rope egg made from the immoral tying chains making eight layers around, he was dumbstruck too. He hurriedly took down the extra immortal tying chains, leaving behind one. When he saw that Clear Sky Sect disciple again, the other had already fainted.

His eyes then lit up. This was a pretty good battle tactic!

Immortal tying chains were third-grade talismans, only had one purpose, and were very expensive. He hadn’t noticed them before, only finding them somewhat interesting so he had put them into his ring. The scene just now had made him realize the power of this move. One immortal tying chain was not strong enough, the other could dodge or escape, but the immortal tying chain had one benefit –– it didn’t require much control.

When ling power was channeled, each immortal tying chain would be ten zhang long!

Eight pieces of chain ten zhang long was enough to create a secure and large net in the sky.

Unable to be dodged or blocked!

If he had to face such a thing, he couldn’t help but shudder … …

Just having thought of a new tactic, Zuo Mo’s mood was very good. When he looked at the Clear Sky Sect disciple tied up like rice dumplings, Zuo Mo’s mood became even better.

As expected, one had to leave the home!

If they didn’t leave, there would be no gains!

His hand beckoned lightly, and the Clear Sky Sect securely tied up flew in front of him. Zuo Mo hummed a little tune and started to methodically plunder.

No ring … …

Then he will take the clothes, oh no, take the ling armor … …

Chapter 267: Ambush

Zuo Mo was very experienced and practiced. In an instant, the Clear Sky Sect disciple only had his pants left.

The only thing he felt regretful about was that this guy wasn’t as rich as he had thought. He had searched through this guy’s entire body and hadn’t found a second Sky Sand particle. This result clearly could not satisfy him.

His hand opening slightly, water quickly gathered at his palm and formed a ball of water. Zuo Mo slammed the water ball onto the face of the Clear Sky Sect disciple.

The Clear Sky Sect disciple slowly woke up.

The coldness of his entire body made him realize in the shortest amount of time what had happened. He was like a pure little lamb, trembling and looking with terror at Zuo Mo.

“I’m going to ask you a few questions. If you answer them, I’ll spare your life,” Zuo Mo grinned, baring his teeth.

This grin in the eyes of the Clear Sky Sect disciple was like a big grey wolf opening its jaws in front of him, flesh and blood still lingering on the sharp white teeth.

He uncontrollably shuddered all over. He finally understood that this black-skinned person in front of him wasn’t afraid of Clear Sky Sect.

His mind was blank. How was that possible? How could there still be a xiuzhe in Little Mountain Jie that wasn’t afraid of Clear Sky Sect?

Looking at the other’s dazed eyes, Zuo Mo became slightly impatient. His killing intent showed. “Ge doesn’t have the time to wait for you!”

The other shook and woke up from his daze. He swallowed. “Daren, please ask! Please ask!”

“Have you seen a grey shadow recently? Moving at very fast speed!” Zuo Mo stared at the Clear Sky Sect disciple’s eyes.

“Grey shadow? What grey shadow?” The eyes of the Clear Sky Sect disciple was still confused.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly dropped. He had been staring straight at the other’s eyes and knew the other had not lied. Had those four people lied to him? Suspicion rose. He said coldly, “I just saw four people right now. They said they seen it, and was in this direction.”

“I haven’t seen … …” The Clear Sky Sect disciple suddenly yelled, “Four people? Was there also a woman?”

“Yes!” Zuo Mo saw the other’s expression and knew he had been tricked.

“Motherf***er! Liu Dong Hua you bastard, you dare to make trouble for ye!” The Clear Sky Sect disciple that was swearing saw Zuo Mo’s cold eyes, and explained, “Daren, you were tricked! Those four are also disciples of my sect. They purposefully directed you over here to mess up our good matter … …”

He suddenly closed his mouth.

“Good matter? What good matter?” Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes.

“No … … nothing, just that our shixiong … …”

Seeing the other nervously stammer, Zuo Mo didn’t waste words, his hand grasping around the other’s neck.

The terrifying strength passed on from Zuo Mo’s fingers caused his soul to fly out. He didn’t dare to hesitate and rapidly said, “It’s a secret realm! A secret realm! We found a secret realm! The entrance to the secret realm needs xiuzhe that understands the five elements to open it! We don’t have anyone that is skilled in the five elements! Liu Dong Hua and the others want to get a share, but were driven away by Huang Shixiong! So … … so … …”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo finally realized.

So it was a secret realm!

He had been wondering why the Clear Sky Sect disciples would run to Little Mountain Jie. Now he knew the cause, he couldn’t help but grimace. His heart was stirred by the secret realm, but at this time, finding Silly Bird was more important.

He then asked, “Where did you get this Sky Sand? Don’t tell me there is only one particle! Hmph, hmph!”

“This particle of Sky Sand was bestowed when this one’s master was alive. There is only one.” Seeing the disbelief on Zuo Mo’s face, he grimaced and said, “Sky Sand is the treasure of the sect, and produced by the sect’s sect protector ling beast Crouching Soil Rhinoceros. One particle is produced every three years. Right now, the Crouching Soil Rhinoceros is kept by the Old Forefather, no one dares to think of obtaining it.”

“You don’t have this, you don’t have that, you still want to lie?” Zuo Mo said coldly.

“I I I … …” Frightened by Zuo Mo, this disciple instantly didn’t know what to say. Suddenly, he became alert. “Grey shadow! Grey shadow! I remember now! I didn’t see the grey shadow you spoke of, but I heard a shixiong mention it.”

Seeing the faint scorn on Zuo Mo’s face, he was even more panicked. “Really! I swear! I definitely am not lying! It was Lei Shixiong who said it. He said he had just seen a grey shadow. He thought it was a treasure that had come out of the earth and wanted to catch it. But the grey shadow was too strong. Lei Shixiong said that ball of grey energy was not something inside the five elements, and should be a treasure … …”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. Everything could be to fool him, but that phrase “not something inside the five elements” made him believe it slightly.

“Where did the grey ball go after that?”

“I don’t know, Lei Shixiong didn’t say.”

“What is he called?”

“Lei Hao.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Twenty two.”

Zuo Mo asked a few more details. This disciple didn’t dare to conceal anything. After he finished questioning the disciple, Zuo Mo gave a satisfied expression, and his hand lightly squeezed.

The disciple’s neck instantly was snapped, an expression of disbelief still remaining on his face.

Zuo Mo lightly flicked his hand, and threw the lifeless corpse into the cloud layer. He hadn’t planned on letting this guy go in the first place. He and the Clear Sky Sect were enemies. Even more, this was Little Mountain Jie. Only disciples like him that came from the sect would believe someone would let them live.

The female xiu stood motionlessly next to him.

His mind suddenly moved, and his body sank down, hiding among the thick cloud layer. He turned and looked. The female xiu was still beside him. Through the mist, he could only see a faint outline. Zuo Mo smiled slightly.

If he didn’t see it with his own eyes… he couldn’t feel the female xiu’s presence at all, even though the other wasn’t even a zhang away from him. This was always the case. No matter how much he scanned using his consciousness, he couldn’t detect any bit of the female xiu’s presence. Many times, the female xiu would give him the feeling of coldness. He could feel the strange power, but could not find the presence of life.

Zuo Mo took away his gaze, and took out the Shadowless Cape from his ring. Once the light Shadowless Cape was put on, his presence became fainter. After a while, his presence disappeared into the air.

———

A while later, four figures arrived at Zuo Mo’s former position.

“He had stopped here for a time. Hm, there also seems to be that idiot Lu Hui’s presence.” Liu Dong Hua carefully inspected the surroundings, and gave a satisfied expression. “It seems they already had a conflict.”

“There is only the two of them. Huang Zhuo Guang has more than twenty.” The shidi beside him shook his head.

It could be seen the leader of the four was Liu Dong Hua. Liu Dong Hua appeared to be in his forties, the light in his eyes hidden away. He chuckled. “Maybe not. This person’s strength isn’t ordinary, and especially the woman beside him has unfathomable strength. Our sect’s disciples are probably not a match.”

“This strong?” The three people all had shocked expressions.

Liu Dong Hua’s expression was solemn. “En, everyone, be careful, don’t get into conflict with them. These two don’t have common origins. Don’t underestimate the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie. They are used to killing which we cannot compare with.”

The other three gave unconcerned expressions. On their journey, if they stated their identity as Clear Sky Sect disciples, the other people either flattered them or had faces full of fear.

Seeing the situation, Liu Dong Hua knew that he was wasting his words and did not speak further.

“We should be careful.” Seeing the lack of concern on their faces, he slowly said, “If Huang Zhuo Guang and the others knew we are still chasing after them, everyone won’t have good days in the future.”

When he mentioned Huang Zhuo Guang, the other three reflexively gave terrified expressions.

Liu Dong Hua looked at them, and prepared to speak when his expression suddenly changed. “Careful!”

Several red shadows suddenly burrowed out of the cloud layer and leapt at them!

“Immortal tying chains!” they exclaimed and hurried to summon their flying swords.

“Motherf***er, why is there so many?”

“Don’t use flying swords, use fire to burn them!” Liu Dong Hua reminded loudly. Talismans like immortal tying chains were hard to damage with flying swords, but things like fire and ice were their enemy. The people that had planned on using flying swords to slice quickly dodged

The female xiu took out a jade tablet. This was a beast service card. Its entire body was bright red as though it was made from fire jade. A bright red fox was nimbly depicted on the surface.

Seeing her take out the beast service card, Liu Dong Hua and the others released a breath. The beast service card sealed a third-grade Fire-Tail fox. This Fire-Tail fox had already produced a fire tail and was perfect to subdue these immortal tying chains.

But before he could rejoice, he suddenly saw the air behind Shimei ripple. His face suddenly changed. “Careful!”

Shimei raised her head with confusion, not understanding why.

A flying sword suddenly appeared one chi away from the back of the Clear Sky Sect female xiu’s head.

A smear of light flashed.

There were no ling power ripples, no sword moves, just a simple thrust.

Pew!

The Clear Sky Sect female xiu who didn’t detect it didn’t have the time to respond before the sword flashed, and her head separated from her body, a pillar of blood thrusting high into the air.

“Shimei!” The other three xiuzhe were infuriated when they saw how terrible Shimei’s death was.

Liu Dong Hua felt his head ring. Shimei and he had had a good relationship from youth. Damn it! When he saw the person behind Shimei, his pupils suddenly shrank. The fury and killing desire swept away, his heart sinking to the bottom.

It was him!

“It’s you!” Liu Dong Hua gritted his teeth and said hatefully, “I underestimated you … …”

Zuo Mo sighed inside. This Shadowless Cape was really the best weapon for assassination. He had come so close to the other from behind and the other had not detected him. But it was a pity that if he moved, he would reveal his presence. To completely conceal his presence, it would need almost two breaths. Two breaths were not a long time, but in battle, it was enough to be fatal.

This caused the Shadowless Cape to have only one chance to attack, and greatly limited its usefulness. However, that was more than enough for Zuo Mo.

As for Liu Dong Hua’s hate-filled words, it didn’t cause any ripple in his mind.

As expected, this was a greenhorn. Facing the enemy and wasting so many words.

Without the Fire-Tail fox, the other three instantly sank into an extremely reactive state. The eight immortal tying chains were like eight red snakes dancing in the sky and chasing after the three people. If one of them was brushed, even a little bit, it would be like a ling snake and coil around a person.

These immortal tying chains were abnormally nimble and chased them tightly.

For a xiuzhe like Zuo Mo who had high spiritual power controlling many talismans at the same time was their most skilled technique.

A viciousness flashed across Liu Dong Hua’s eyes. He reached and took out a talisman!

Translator Ramblings: Well, poor disciple from Clear Sky Sect who got betrayed by his fellow disciples, know that some of your fellow disciples are meeting the same fate as you.

Also, for those of you wondering, they see the masked female accompanying Zuo Mo.

It’s late and I’m tired as I am scheduling this post so this rambling is super short. There’s things in this chapter I want to talk about but I’m too sleepy.

Chapter 268: Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk

Clear Sky Sect was a sword sect, but it had other branches. Liu Dong Hua was a successor of one of those branches. His branch specialized in earth element spells, but their branch had declined in power. However, Liu Dong Hua was still able to establish himself by relying on a treasure, the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk.

The Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk was a talisman passed down from a jindan of their branch. Clear Sky Sect produced Sky Soil. Even though Sky Soil was slightly less valuable than Sky Sand, but it was still a rare earth element material. Among the earth element materials, it belonged to the third-grade.

This ancestor had used nine thousand catties of Sky Soil, and entered into seclusion for ten years in order to forge the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk. The day the talisman had formed, the earth energy around all of Clear Sky Sect had spread, and shook. Their sect had became famous. At the time, their branch hadn’t been like it was now. That elder had been the second most powerful expert in the sect. In the end, they lacked the support of profound spells. After this elder, the branch had gradually declined and became poor.

When it came to Liu Dong Hua’s generation, there were the four of them.

This Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk had passed into Liu Dong Hua’s hands. Generation after generation of forging lasting four hundred years, this Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk had actually birthed a hint of cognition and became a sixth-grade talisman.

This was one of the reasons that large sects were so strong. Even sects like Clear Sky Sect who did not have relatively long histories or deep foundations were not something normal sects could compare to.

At this time, Liu Dong Hua was holding the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk in his hands. His expression was stern, all the ling power in his body flooding into the disk.

The Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk was entirely dark yellow and not at all eye-catching. The surface was covered in fine golden patterns on one side, the other with concentric circles, dividing the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk into nine parts. A golden palm was carved into the very center.

A faint brown light rose from the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk in Liu Dong Hua’s hands. It appeared as though he was holding a ball of light. Boom, the light suddenly exploded.

———

Zuo Mo felt the sky above his darken, all the starlight was completely covered. The surroundings were filled with yellow-brown earth energy that covered him like a mist.

He instantly felt an invisible force squeeze him, his expression couldn’t help but change. These minuscule yellow-brown dust particles around him were actually very heavy. Zuo Mo felt as though he was at the bottom of the deep ocean. The heavy pressure enveloped him, pressing on him so that he couldn’t breathe.

“What talisman is this?” Zuo Mo was shocked.

He struggled to turn his head and saw the female xiu. The female xiu was silently standing in the yellow mist, her eyes flashing with a purple light that made Zuo Mo’s bones shiver.

Among the soil mist, the immortal tying chains seemed to have been stopped in midair motionless.

Suddenly, the earth mist started to slowly flow. Zuo Mo instantly felt the pressure increase.

Ka ka ka!

Light sounds came from the bones in his body. Zuo Mo’s body uncontrollably trembled. The shocking invisible force came squeezing from all directions. Zuo Mo felt as though he had been dropped into a meat grinder.

“Pu, what is this thing?” Zuo Mo hollered.

“It is an earth element talisman. You have to be careful,” Pu Yao’s voice sounded in his mind, containing a rare gravity. “This talisman is at least fifth-grade, possibly sixth-grade!”

Sixth-grade!

Zuo Mo wanted to spit blood. Since when was it that ningmai could bring out sixth-grade talismans? And he had to meet one?

Creak creak creak!

The slowly flowing earth mist contained uncontrollable force, squeezing so much that Zuo Mo’s innards had almost condensed into a ball. Zuo Mo watched helplessly as his body slowly flowed along with the slowly flowing earth mist.

He stayed motionless, but his face had changed shape as though it could explode at any time.

———

The three people from Clear Sky Sect were not affected at all by the earth mist. If the mist neared them, it seemed to encounter an invisible wall and could not proceed further.

“Shixiong’s Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk is so powerful! I think that in the sect, other than Old Forefather’s Clear Sky Sword, then it should be Shixiong’s Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk!”

“Yes! When Shixiong cultivates [Bright Soil Scripture] to the fifth level, even Huang Zhuo Guang won’t be a match for Shixiong.”

The two saw Zuo Mo’s sorry state, and laughed.

“This person is going to meet a tragic end. Shixiong liked Shimei and definitely won’t have mercy on this guy. If he doesn’t grind this guy to meat paste, he definitely wouldn’t stop.”

“Shimei has also died, oh.” The other person couldn’t help but be slightly depressed. “When this affair is over, I’m planning on going to Sky Water Jie.”

“Ah! Why are you thinking of going to Sky Water Jie.”

“The sect is a mess right now, there’s nothing interesting,” He smiled mockingly. “Anyways, I’m not a core disciple, the sect will let me go.”

The other person was silent. He suddenly noticed the female xiu and was shocked. “That woman is weird!”

The body of the female xiu was covered in a faint layer of purple light. She seemed to be nailed to the air. No matter how the earth mist in the surroundings flowed, she did not move.

The two of them were speechless from shock and gaped. The earth mist was fine, but it was forged from nine thousand catties of Sky Soil. Any living being could not possibly resist inside the earth mist. The Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk was a sixth-grade talisman, a talisman that jindan used, and should not have appeared in the hands of a ningmai.

This woman was able to resist the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk!

Liu Dong Hua also noticed the female xiu, shock flashing across his mind. He rarely used the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk. One reason was that he was worried that other people would see it and become greedy. Another was that this treasure was naturally powerful, but it was beyond his cultivation. It was extremely hard for him to activate it. But of the few times he had, there wasn’t a time he hadn’t been easily victorious. He had never met someone who could resist.

On the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, light flashed and circled on the outermost layer of the surface. This was the first turn of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk.

After a while, the female xiu still remained motionless. Even the dark male, who seemed quite disheveled, was also struggling to resist.

A bad feeling appeared in Liu Dong Hua’s heart, but he didn’t believe the two people could resist the second turn’s power. In this short while, a third of his ling power had been consumed. He knew that he had to activate the second turn immediately. Otherwise, even if he wanted to activate it, he wouldn’t have enough ling power.

He closed his eyes, and the second circle of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk lit up.

The earth mist suddenly became dense. Before, it had only been a hazy earth mist. Now, the density multiplied, and the color turned dark.

The two shidi were shocked and their expressions became serious. The two knew that Shixiong had activated the power of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk’s second turn!

———

The earth mist was extremely dense, so much that one could not make out their fingers. The dust in the air was irritating to the nose. The earth element power was so rich it was almost tangible. Zuo Mo felt the pressure multiply again.

He couldn’t control himself from wailing, and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. As the blood landed in the earth mist, it was ground into minuscule particles and mixed among the earth mist.

A frightening hint of red appeared in the brown earth mist.

The terrifying power slowly flowed. His body seemed to feel it was crushed between two mountains. The terrifying pressure could not be avoided and made him helpless.

Under the shocking burden, every blood vessel, muscle, and bone of his body were on the verge of failing!

Death was so close to him. It seemed to be next to his face, coldly staring at him!

Zuo Mo’s mind was blank. Enormous pain and hopelessness filled every corner of his body. Calm and clarity had disappeared completely. The only thing Zuo Mo possessed was the most basic instinct to survive.

“Ah ah ah ah!”

Zuo Mo furiously shouted. Spells, tactics, in this instant, they were all forgotten!

Ling power and the consciousness was furiously channeled. The power of every muscle in his body was pushed to their peak instinctively!

The earth mist felt Zuo Mo’s intention to resist. The surrounding earth mist flooded towards Zuo Mo, the flowing rate increasing and the pressure suddenly mounting once again.

Zuo Mo had completely lost all of his senses. He was in his death throes, but since his body was restrained by the earth mist, he couldn’t move. The light flashed on his body, sometimes sword essence, then fire, then fist energy, then hard lightning … …

The color of his body continued to change. It would be pure golden yellow as though it was made from gold, then it would be like black and shining jade, clear, and then there would be threads of black energy burrowing about.

Inside Zuo Mo’s body, the five element glass bead also detected danger and automatically activated, five element power spreading into Zuo Mo’s body.

“Ah ah aaaaah!”

Zuo Mo went completely berserk, his features twisted. He was like a wild beast trapped in a cage making his final struggle, ferocious and crazy!

Zuo Mo’s body became a chaotic battlefield. He couldn’t even move a finger, and couldn’t send out any spell. All kinds of forces randomly flowed through his body and rampaged. Adding on the pressuring power from the outside, it turned to a mess.

“Damn it!” Pu Yao’s expression changed.

The entire sea of consciousness relentlessly trembled, showing signs of collapse.

The immortal tying chains that had been stuck in the mist and could not endure such strong power, they were ground into dust.

———

The female xiu had noticed Zuo Mo state. The purple light surrounding her shot up, and her entire person seemed to be covered in a ball of purple fire. The eerie purple fire was not affected at all by the earth mist, and flickered eerily!

That pair of fine and perfect jade feet, with extremely slow speed, rose up.

The mask could not endure such a strong pressure. Pia, it turned to dust, and revealed that ugly and scabbed face. The female xiu still did not have an expression. Pia pia pia, the dense scabs on her face could not endure the pressure, and exploded.

Ball after ball of blood flowers blossomed on her face.

In the blink of an eye, no part of her face was whole, and was completely covered in blood. She did not attend to it, allowing the blood on her face to slowly drip down and off her chin before being swept away by the mist to become a bloody mist. The purple fire rose again. The eyes that were flashing with the purple light actually dimmed down at this time.

Her face was expressionless. Every movement required her to use all her power. She could only slowly move bit by bit.

There was just a zhang between the two of them. Usually, that would only require a step.

Among the heavy and fatal brown colored earth mist, a figure covered in purple fire slowly neared at snail’s pace towards another figure.

Chapter 269: Who The Mother F***ing Are You

Zuo Mo was like a wild beast without any avenue of escape.

The earth mist surrounding him was thousands of catties heavy as it flowed. His body was uncontrollably swept up in the flow of the earth mist.

The female xiu stopped, raised her face covered in blood and looked at Zuo Mo who had separated a bit more from her, before continuing to move forward. Those perfect and flawless bare feet stepped on the eerie purple fire, travelling slowly through the heavy and dense earth mist.

Liu Dong Hua’s face was as pale as paper.

He had not expected these two people were so hardy! It was the first time he had used the second turn of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk. He had underestimated the expenditure of ling power. Right now, he was also had no way to backdown. His ling power was almost depleted, yet the two people were still resisting.

Motherf***er, where had these two terrifying people come from?

He had assumed that the female xiu was immeasurably powerful, but the hardiness of the black male surpassed his imagination. There wasn’t one disciple in his sect that could hold up under the power of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk’s second turn for so long! Not even Huang Zhuo Guang could do it!

What kind of weirdos were these two? His heart started to become terrified.

He forced himself to calm down. He knew that there was no solution other than persisting. The black male didn’t look as though he still had any capability to fight, and that female xiu, while her face was covered in blood, shouldn’t have been wounded heavily. If he took away the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, the two shidi wouldn’t be able to stop this strange female xiu with their abilities!

The purple fire was very scary, but Liu Dong Hua guessed that it came at great expense.

The two sides had entered a standoff to see who could last longer.

The depletion of ling power made Liu Dong Hua feel a weakness he never felt before. His face was as pale as paper, but he knew that it was time to go all in. Viciousness flashed through his eyes. A lingdan appeared on his hand. He did not hesitate to shove it into his mouth.

Ling power suddenly exploded inside his body. A smear of red floated on his white face.

The expressions of the two shidi changed. With this Ling Primary Dan going down, Shixiong’s cultivation would be damaged for at least three years. Shixiong was putting his life on the line!

The two stopped breathing. They hadn’t thought that a situation they were in control of would become one where they were risking their lives. But they knew the result of this would decide if the two lived or died.

”Shixiong, bring us over!”

The shidi that had been planning on going to Sky Water Jie after this battle ended suddenly shouted. The other shidi looked with slight puzzlement at him.

”Shidi, we’ll channel ling power to Shixiong!”

This shidi gritted his teeth and nodded. “Right, we’re in this together!”

Liu Dong Hua rejoiced inside and hurriedly cast the spell. The light flashed, and the two appeared beside him. He didn’t have the energy to speak now. Seeing the situation, the other two shidi didn’t waste words, each person reaching out to put a palm to his back.

The three cultivated the same scripture, and the attribute of their ling power was the same.

Ling power flowed continuously from the arms of the two shidi into Liu Dong Hua’s body. Liu Dong Hua felt that the ling power in his body had never been so plentiful. His confidence growing, the light of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk brightened!

———

Zuo Mo was like a wild beast at the precipice, howling angrily according to his instincts. Threads of black energy suddenly appeared on his body. The brown earth mist still was as heavy and murderous as before, but these hair-thin threads of black energy did not falter against the earth mist which could grind anything.

As though nothing else existed, they climbed and squiggled on Zuo Mo’s body. Immediately, they burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body and disappeared.

Just now, Zuo Mo’s body had been very chaotic.

Right now, there were only two colors left, red and black!

A dark red alluring flame was swaying like the waists of the belly dancers. The black mist was as dark as ink and motionless. The two were clearly divided like two greedy beasts that consumed all the energy they encountered along their path.

In a short amount of time, all the other powers that were roaming through Zuo Mo’s body were swept away.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao sat with his legs crossed. The originally white and pale face had become even more pale. Beside him, the black clouds that always shrouded the gravestone had disappeared.

The black clouds and the yao fire were like two vicious beasts resting in Zuo Mo’s body as they faced off.

Zuo Mo’s body calmed down. His consciousness also was slowly pulled back. Even though his body was still locked in place, but he could not feel the terrifying pressure of the earth mist any longer. Just having escaped with his life, Zuo Mo didn’t have time to sigh in relief. He quickly found the red and black forces that were facing off in his body, and almost died.

He knew the dangers.

The dark red flame should be Pu Yao’s power. Before, the vast sea of flame in his sea of consciousness had seemed like another world. Afterwards, it may have been that Pu Yao was wounded or for some other reason, and the sea of flame had disappeared.

He also recognized the black clouds. It was the black cloud that always was around the gravestone. Compared to Pu Yao who called himself a Sky Yao, the origins of the gravestone were even more mysterious. But Pu Yao seemed to be unwilling to speak of it.

The connection between the yao and the gravestone was extremely strange. They seemed to be enemies, but they were also very familiar with each other. He could never understand it.

The viciousness and brutality of the two kinds of power were not disguised any longer. Just having escaped one calamity, Zuo Mo once again sank into a heart-racing situation.

What Zuo Mo rejoiced about was that the two sides had not attacked each other. Without warning, the yao fire transformed into an extremely slender thread of fire that burrowed between Zuo Mo’s brows. The black cloud seemed like water pouring into sand, quickly seeping downwards. Zuo Mo could clearly see it was sinking into his bones.

What were these two guys doing? Zuo Mo was somewhat angry.

But before he could express his anger, the pressure came pushing back from all directions!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo suddenly gave a light exclamation. The pressure was still unable to be resisted, but it was not as painful as before.

It seemed to be almost tolerable … …

Zuo Mo quickly discovered that it was not his imagination. Had something happened again to his body? This question flashed across his mind. Before he could inspect it, he suddenly saw a figure covered in purple fire out of the corner of his eye.

All of Zuo Mo’s thoughts suddenly stopped at that moment!

His gaze was stunned.

The female xiu was close to him, the purple fire covering her entire body as she slowly inched over. What shocked Zuo Mo was her face, the face covered entirely in fresh blood. Blood was all over her face, so he could not see anything clearly except that pair of eyes that were slightly dim.

Seeing the female xiu move extremely slowly towards him like a puppet, for a strange reason, Zuo Mo suddenly had the impulse to call for her to stop.

Who are you?

Why?

Zuo Mo looked dazedly at the female xiu. For the first time in his eyes, the purple light didn’t hold any kind of fear and darkness. Even though he didn’t understand the reason, even though there were too many mysterious, but Zuo Mo suddenly understood she didn’t have malicious aims.

No. Looking at that face covered in blood, the steps as slow as a snail, she definitely did not have malicious intentions!

She definitely had a certain connection to him … … maybe they knew each other before?

He didn’t know, he didn’t know anything, but at this moment, a certain chord in his heart was struck.

His gaze landed on the blood covered face of the female xiu, watched as the blood dripped off her chin into the earth mist and be ground into bloody mist before spreading throughout the earth mist. As he watched, for some unknown reason, anger suddenly rose in his heart!

It was just a talisman!

An indescribable fury suddenly filled Zuo Mo’s chest. His eyes instantly turned entirely red, and two balls of fire could be seen to be bouncing.

His body could not move, the pressure made him feel helpless!

Zuo Mo started to channel his ling power. The ling power filled his arms and started to circulate with astounding speed.

One revolution … … two revolutions … …

Ten revolutions … … eleven revolutions … …

Eighteen revolutions… … nineteen revolutions … …

The furiously revolving ling power had no intentions of slowing down. The anger was like a flood. A desire to destroy suddenly rose in Zuo Mo’s heart!

The slowly flowing, awe-inspiring earth mist was such an eyesore to his eyes, such an object of dislike, so much so that he wanted to destroy it! Since the moment he had first opened his eyes, this was the first time he had such a strong impulse and desire to destroy something!

Twenty revolutions!

Twenty one revolutions!

The flame in Zuo Mo’s pupils shook fiercely and were filled with craziness

… … twenty three revolutions … …

The skin on his arms cracked open, marks of blood crisscrossing.

Twenty four revolutions!

Pia pia pia!

Suddenly, blood exploded forth from the glasslike arms!

The flame in Zuo Mo’s eyes danced crazily like a deep sea of flame.

His features twisted, the tendons bulging. Each fibre of muscle was trembling, each bone was cracking!

“Get up!”

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and shouted angrily. He used all the energy in his body to push at his arms!

Crack crack crack!

He heard his bones crack. His eyes were all red as though he was insane.

“Get up!”

Blood streamed out of his fiercely trembling arms as they slowly moved upwards.

The sea of flames in the deepest part of Zuo Mo’s eyes grew and filled every corner of his eyes! He was like an enraged beast, bellowing angrily, “Motherf***ing get up! Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”

His arms suddenly sped up in their movement as though the restraint of the earth mist had lost effect!

The glass-like arms, that were covered in bloody crisscrossing marks, rose up and slightly cocked back.

Zuo Mo inhaled deeply, his fire red eyes widening as he gathered the last threads of his strength. He was like a brutal prehistoric demonic god as his arms punched out.

“Motherf***ing die!”

Two fists that appeared to be carved from glass left his hands! A dignified and stern face could be seen on the surface of each fist energy.

Liu Dong Hua’s expression changed!

The two fist energies viciously entered the earth mist, flew straight for three zhang before suddenly exploding!

“Heavens!”

It was like someone had shouted in a low booming voice, the sound was like muffled thunder, like the beat of a drum, that made one’s heart shake!

The earth mist that had been flowing slowly suddenly started to roil. Liu Dong Hua and the other two simultaneously gave a grunt, blood flowing out of their noses and mouths, their faces pale! It was as though the three people had been struck by lightning, remaining motionless like they were made out of wood.

Twenty four revolution Sky Glass Wave!

The earth mist suddenly disappeared, the terrifying pressure that could not be stopped also disappeared.

Starlight once again fell onto Zuo Mo’s body. The three people nearby suddenly dropped down like stumps of wood.

The female xiu that was no longer constrained took a step and appeared next to Zuo Mo.

All of Zuo Mo’s energy had been used up. His eyes empty, his body softened. The female xiu picked him up with one hand.

The face covered with blood was blurry. Zuo Mo’s vision grew increasingly dark. He tried to open his eyes, and his mouth, his voice like that of a mosquito.

“Who the mother***ing are you … …”

Chapter 270: Great Harvest!

Zuo Mo slowly woke up, and saw the female xiu meditating nearby. A layer of blood scabs had formed on the female xiu’s face like an ugly and terrifying mask. Zuo Mo noticed her presence and was slightly surprised. He couldn’t help but speculate. Was she injured? After being injured, control over one’s presence would lessen.

However, his attention quickly returned to his own body. No great pain like he had imagined was present. His entire body was in comfort like he had just had a great nap, his body was filled with energy.

He instantly detected a difference. The power inside his body was so strong that he felt it unfamiliar. It seemed that his body had broken through again. He hurriedly sank into his sea of consciousness to find Pu Yao.

In the bare sea of consciousness, there was only Pu Yao and a gravestone.

“Ah, how come it’s like this?” Zuo Mo glanced around with curiosity.

Pu Yao stared at him as though he wanted to eat Zuo Mo.

Sweeping across the surroundings, Zuo Mo saw Pu Yao’s gaze and jumped in fright. “What are you doing? I didn’t steal your jingshi!”

Pu Yao snorted and didn’t speak. His gaze still looked with unfriendliness at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo thought of the dark red yao fire, and then the black gravestone, and said uncertainly, “The, that yao fire and black cloud, it isn’t that I don’t want to give it back to you guys … … those things, they can’t be controlled … … you know … …”

As he spoke, Zuo Mo felt it wasn’t right. His tone suddenly changed, his eyes widening, “That’s not right! I haven’t even taken you guys to task! What do you guys mean? Ah! Is ge’s body a trash center and you can throw anything you want inside?”

Pu Yao almost spat out a mouthful of blood, and the gravestone that always remained motionless shook frantically.

“You you you … …” Pu Yao’s eyes almost sprouted fire. After a beat, his finger shook as he said, “Don’t play dumb after getting the benefits!”

Zuo Mo did not feel he was unreasonable in the least. He raised an eyebrow, and suddenly jumped up. “Benefit? What benefit? Ge almost lost this little life. Before, when it was one of you that was messing around, ge endured it! That’s great now, you guys are even more outrageous, both of you going at it? Don’t think that ge doesn’t know what you two are doing. Let me tell you, be good in the future! An antique that can’t keep up with the times, an old rock that can’t even fart, you guys want to get benefits from ge? Ha, perish that thought!”

Zuo Mo pointed at Pu Yao and the gravestone from high up, and started to swear.

Pu Yao’s face was filled with shock. When he managed to react after a while, his face turned red and then white.

After his rant, Zuo Mo snorted and left. After he exited the sea of consciousness, he suddenly remembered why he had gone to find Pu Yao and instantly felt bitter. He had just aimed to vent right there, and forgot his actual business. It was over!

If he went to find Pu Yao now, that was akin to slapping his own mouth. Even though it was said that men could bow and kneel, but when he thought of Pu Yao’s scornful expression, Zuo Mo decided to wait a while.

———

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao gritted his teeth, his face switching between green and white. Beside him, shadows floated from the gravestone. The figure that had been lightly depicted on the gravestone was now a pile of messy lines.

“Never has there been a Sky Yao that was humiliated in such a manner! Never!” Pu Yao’s bellow echoed in the sea of consciousness.

The messy lines on the gravestone simultaneously lit up, countless black clouds sprouting out. In the blink of an eye, the black cloud roiled, brimming with killing intent.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t know that he had forced the two guys in his sea of consciousness to ally together again.

His gaze landed back on the female xiu. The female xiu’s terrifying face covered in scabs didn’t feel the least bit dark or terrifying in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

He still didn’t have too many clues about the history of the female xiu. The only thing he could think of was that she was connected to the past that he could not remember. But this was just his guess. There was no evidence.

His gaze unconsciously landed on the female xiu’s bare feet that were breathtakingly perfect. The first time he saw this pair of bare feet, he couldn’t help but sigh with admiration. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen the bare feel of other female xiu. Xiao Guo’s feet had also been very beautiful, round and adorable.

But the female xiu’s pair of bare feet could only cause him to sigh with admiration. They were just too perfect, so perfect there was no flaw. It made an especially deep impression when such a perfect pair of bare feet appeared on a female xiu that was as ugly as a clown.

But no matter how wonderful the bare feet were, they were not as good as going to find talismans.

Zuo Mo quickly moved aside his gaze to looked at the corpses scattered in the surroundings. He instantly became excited. Taking spoils was a very wonderful matter, and to take from his enemies was even more wonderful.

His first target was that soil disk that was enormously powerful. That thing was truly too strong. After personally experiencing the power of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, Zuo Mo could not think of any talisman that could rival it. Of course, what he remembered most deeply was Pu Yao’s exclamation of “At least fifth-grade, possibly sixth-grade!”

What kind of world was this?!

As he sighed, he smiled as he picked up the Nine Turn Sky Soil Talismans. His consciousness probed, and was almost ground to pieces by the dense earth mist inside. He hurriedly withdrew his consciousness.

Yikes! It really was sixth-grade!

Oooooooooooooh! He struck it rich! Really rich! Zuo Mo couldn’t stop himself from dancing crazily.

This time, it wasn’t that he was someone who was not experienced. Right now, he did have some wealth, and a few fourth-grade talismans on his body. In all ningmai xiuzhe, he could be considered wealthy, but all the talismans and materials on his body added together could not compare with this Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk.

If he took it out to sell, wow-oh-oh, the jingshi would be enough to drown him!

This kind of talisman was the kind that would be a sect treasure in any sect of Little Mountain Jie. How could Zuo Mo not be happy now that something like this had landed in his hands?

After a while, he gradually calmed down, and studied it. He rejoiced in his good luck. The Nine Turn Sky Soil Talisman was very powerful, but it wasn’t a talisman that ningmai xiuzhe could use. The expenditure of ling power was too much!

Liu Dong Hua had a cultivation of peak second stratum ningmai, and was just able to activate it. With Zuo Mo’s first stratum cultivation, he couldn’t even activate it. In the short term, he couldn’t use this talisman.

Should he sell it or keep it?

Zuo Mo thought and kept it. It was easy to sell talismans of this level, but it wouldn’t be easy to buy another one.

He hadn’t used a sixth-grade talisman before, but he was clear there was a chasm that was hard to cross between fifth and sixth-grade. This Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk had been a fifth-grade talisman when it was first forced. After more than four hundred years, and generations of people nurturing it, it finally birthed a thread of intelligence, and became a sixth-grade talisman.

Carefully putting the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, he went back into his salvaging work. However, after seen the sixth-grade Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, Zuo Mo’s eyes couldn’t be lit up by any of the other spoils of victory.

After a while, Zuo Mo shook his head. These four people clearly hadn’t done so well in Clear Sky Sect. Other than the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, they didn’t have anything good, and were worse than the first guy he had scalped.

It seemed that the two were not of the same group, and clearly, the guy he had scalped was much richer than this group.

The female xiu did not stand after a long time. This caused Zuo Mo to have a bad feeling. He walked next to the female xiu, and laid a hand on her shoulder to inspect her body.

The inspection instantly made him jump.

The strange purple power that always existed inside the body of the female xiu was so faint it was hard to detect. Her body had lost the restraints of the purple light, and showed signs of collapsing.

Zuo Mo instantly realized that it wasn’t good, unhesitatingly put the female xiu on his back and leap into the air. At the same time, he expanded his consciousness. After flying for a while, he found a mountain cave. He hurriedly carried the female xiu into the mountain cave. This was a normal cave that only had bats inside.

When the two of them flew inside, they instantly alarmed the bats that flapped like a black cloud out of the cave.

Zuo Mo cleaned out a patch of ground with a blow and carefully put down the female xiu. He shoved a Black Processing Meditation mat under the female xiu.

This move was visibly effective. Threads of ling power burrowed into the body of the female xiu and turned to purple light. After a while, the purple light inside the body of the female xiu increased slightly in brightness. Zuo Mo saw the situation, and thought this wouldn’t be over a matter of hours.

After some thought, he set up a medium-sized Primary Replenishing Formation around the female xiu. It could continuously provide ling power to the female xiu. Zuo Mo found the purple light of the female xiu was similar to the mo matrix on his body and was not afraid of the impurities in ling power.

This allowed him to be daring in his actions.

After guarding for a while, and the situation of the female xiu had stabilized, Zuo Mo decided to leave. He needed to find Silly Bird. As more time passed , there was a lower possibility of finding Silly Bird.

He left a jade scroll for the female xiu telling her the direction he was going in. To prevent other people from disturbing her, he set down a circle of formations at the cave entrance. Illusory formations were locked and layered with killing formations. It wasn’t just difficult to find, but if it was activated, it would cause a whole string of killing moves.

Zuo Mo really invested a lot in creating it. The power of the killing formations he set down were very high. Under the interlocking killing moves, other than xiuzhe at the peak of third stratum ningmai, normal ningmai could not escape. Even xiuzhe at ningmai third stratum would definitely be severely wounded if they didn’t have some precious treasure or obscure method to shield themselves.

Even though his heart hurt, but Zuo Mo still spent a large batch of valuable materials.

After setting down the big formation, and reexamining it, he looked worriedly at the cave before flying away in the direction that the Clear Sky Sect disciple he had stripped clean pointed in.

After flying for more than half a day, he suddenly met a large group of xiuzhe.

“You!” The xiuzhe at the front pointed at Zuo Mo and said without any politeness, “Come over!”

Zuo Mo saw the apparel of this person was similar to the previous Clear Sky Sect disciples he encountered. His heart moved, and he moved forward, pretending to be timid and saying, “Is, is there something I can help with? I, I still have something to do!”

“Come over and follow,” that Clear Sky Sect disciple pointed at the group behind him and said impatiently. “What? You aren’t willing to help Clear Sky Sect?”

The other Clear Sky Sect disciples beside him looked with hostility at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo rejoiced inside, putting a fearful expression on his face as he silently flew into the group.

Chapter 271: Opportunity

Zuo Mo was did not stand out in the group. A ningmai first stratum xiuzhe could just barely survive in Little Mountain Jie. Everyone was silent, but the Clear Sky Sect disciples conversed freely.

“These days, no one cultivates five element spells! I heard that Lu Hui still hasn’t responded, don’t know where he ran off to. How is it possible to find a person that knows all five element spells so quickly?”

“Lu Hui’s brain has never been too bright. Qi ge’s method is best. We can find some more people to get all five!”

“Ha ha … …”

Zuo Mo heard these people chat as though no one was around. A low voice spoke to him, “Bro, what should we call you?”

“Me?” Zuo Mo pointed at himself, a face full of puzzlement.

“Ha ha, I see that this little brother’s aura isn’t ordinary and I desire to become acquainted with you. Sorry for the offense!” The one who was speaking was a clever-faced middle aged male. There were seven or eight people beside him. They looked to belong to the same group.

Zuo Mo made up a fake name. “I’m called Wang Hong, what should I call you?”

“This one is Liu Gui,” the middle aged man bowed with folded hands, and probed, “Which side does Brother Wang live in?”

Zuo Mo parried, “All over.” He then pursed his mouth, “Are these your brothers?”

“Brother Wang has keen eyes!” Liu Gui said with a smile. After this short conversation, he understood that he would not get anything out of Zuo Mo, and stopped conversing further. The expressions of those beside him were stern and didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat.

It wasn’t just them. All of the people in the surroundings had worried expressions.

Zuo Mo suddenly asked in a low voice, “Why is everyone so docile?” He couldn’t understand. There were just three Clear Sky Sect disciples, and they were able to herd almost twenty xiuzhe.

Liu Gui was shocked inside. Just now, he had seen the person hide among the group with an expression of fear, but he had now asked something like this. He didn’t seem to be a coward. He said without expression, “There’s nothing we can do. They are from Clear Sky Sect.”

Zuo Mo smiled and didn’t respond.

After a while, the more Liu Gui mused, the more he felt Zuo Mo’s words contained hidden meanings. Seeing Zuo Mo maintain his silence, he couldn’t resist and spoke in a small voice, “What solution does Brother Wang have?”

Glancing at him, Zuo Mo said with a smile, “What solution can I have?”

Liu Gui increasingly felt this young person seemed high and unfathomable. Before, he appeared weak, but he looked calm now, and unworried. Liu Gui had met many people. He trusted his eyes. The presence exuded by this person didn’t seem like an ordinary person.

Was this a powerful xiuzhe?

He flipped through all the famous xiuzhe that he knew, but didn’t find anyone that was similar.

Because he was too young!

“Brother Wang looks very young,” Liu Gui couldn’t help but probe. “You look to be in your twenties, so young, yet you are ningmai, your talent is truly outstanding.”

Zuo Mo only smiled, and didn’t say anything.

However, what he didn’t expect was that Liu Gui’s words had stirred the attention of his fellows beside him. Usually, most of the people that broke through to ningmai in their twenties were sect disciples.

Men usually did not care much for their appearance. The price of Eternal Appearance Dan was not cheap. Very rarely would men spend that amount of jingshi. Consequently, it was hard to judge the ages of female xiu, but it was possible to see hints with male xiu. Zuo Mo’s face was easily a very youthful face.

However, the attitude that unconsciously revealed itself on his face had a maturity that surpassed his age.

“This one is Zheng Zhong, their shixiong,” the leader introduced himself. His words instantly startled the other disciples. They all raised their heads and looked with bewilderment at Shixiong. Even Liu Gui had a shocked expression. In their experience, Shixiong rarely spoke. This time, he had proactively spoken. They couldn’t help but look at Zuo Mo.

“Nice to meet you, Brother Zheng.” Zuo Mo bowed with folded hands. He didn’t dare to underestimate the other. His consciousness was abnormally sensitive. This Zheng Zhong had his eyes directed downwards but he was a ningmai third stratum expert!

In Little Mountain Jie, ningmai third stratum xiuzhe were the top experts! Experts like these may not be able to oppose Clear Sky Sect, but they definitely were not people that a few Clear Sky Sect disciples could order about.

Unless they had other aims?

Zuo Mo became wary. He didn’t want to have uncontrolled factors influence his plan. He didn’t care too much about the earthly treasures in the secret realm, but he was very worried about Silly Bird’s safety.

That idiot’s intelligence was pitifully low. As a bird, she was arrogant and outrageous. It would be a wonder if she didn’t get in trouble outside.

“Little brother’s skill is not ordinary, this one is full of admiration!” Zheng Zhong said seriously.

The other’s instantly had shocked faces. They looked at Zuo Mo like they were looking at a weirdo.

Zuo Mo felt slightly uneasy as he became the object of attention, and hurriedly said, “Ha ha, what is Brother Zheng saying. This one is just a first stratum newbie, everyone, please take care of me!”

Zheng Zhong did not refute it, smiled and lowered his gaze.

Zuo Mo’s hairs rose at Zheng Zhong’s smile. He decided to stay a bit further away from this group in case trouble occurred. He was now sure that these people were after the secret realm. He didn’t care about the secret realm, he only wanted them not to damage his plan.

“Shixiong, I cannot see where this person is outstanding!” a shidi said though a secret language.

They could communicate through a secret communication method that others were not able to detect.

Liu Gui glanced over, and said through the secret communication method, “I feel that this person’s origins aren’t simple. Look, he doesn’t seem nervous at all.”

Zheng Zhong suddenly said, “There’s killing intent on his body. He has recently killed at least four or five people.”

The others shook in fright.

“No … … no way!” a person stammered out. “Doesn’t he just have first stratum cultivation? How can he kill four or five people at once?”

Disbelieving expressions came onto the faces of the other people.

It was hard to imagine a first stratum xiuzhe killing four people in succession in Little Mountain Jie. First stratum was the lowest level of power in Little Mountain Jie. In other words, every person that he killed wasn’t weaker than he was. One person killing four people that were not any less weaker than he was, it was extremely difficult to do.

“Maybe he has a powerful talisman?” one shidi said through the communication method.

“Don’t cause trouble.” Zheng Zhong said in a solemn tone. “This person’s strength isn’t simple. Everyone, be careful.”

Zuo Mo noticed these people occasionally glancing at him, and grimaced inside. Had he became a target of these people? That wasn’t good!

There were about twenty people in the group. Zuo Mo suspected that these Clear Sky Sect disciples had stopped every xiuzhe they encountered. He could occasionally hear these people talking, but those Clear Sky Sect disciples never controlled them.

———

After flying for two hours, they encountered two more Clear Sky Sect disciples.

One Clear Sky Sect disciple said, “You guys are too slow! Huang Shixiong has been waiting for you, and also Lu Hui. We don’t know where he ran off to, not taking care of business, hmph, he won’t get a share this time!”

The Clear Sky Sect disciple that had been herding the group said, “That’s great. Maybe we can get a few more items each!”

The other people laughed.

“It seems you guys had a good harvest. Quick, Huang Shixiong has been waiting impatiently.”

Zuo Mo’s blood felt cold inside. These Clear Sky Sect disciples really had great pageantry. It seemed that they really thought of Little Mountain Jie as their backyard.

The group flew into a little mountain valley. The mountain valley was heavily guarded by Clear Sky Sect disciples holding flying swords and talismans as though they were facing a great enemy. There were already about twenty or so xiuzhe that had been gathered.

Huang Zhuo Guang stood proudly at a mountain peak, looking down at the xiuzhe, and asked in a deep tone, “Have we found all the people that know five element spells?”

Huang Zhuo Guang had narrow eyes and long eyebrows, his nose was high, his chin slightly narrow. He was wearing a bright yellow ling armor, a deep red cape on his shoulders, a copper circle tying up his hair. His hands were wearing dark blue gloves, a pair of Eye Tiger Head boots on his feet, he looked extremely grand and warrior-like. He was the most outstanding of the second generation disciples of Clear Sky Sect, and belonged to the most powerful branch. He himself was the most favored disciple of Clear Sky Old Forefather, and undoubtedly the leader of the Clear Sky Sect disciples.

“We still lack someone skilled in water element spells,” said a shimei in a soft tone. She was wearing a goose yellow palace robe, her eyes full of seductiveness. She said in puzzlement, “Shixiong, why didn’t we get the Outer Hall to assist us? Wouldn’t that be more convenient?”

“The Outer Hall?” Huang Zhuo Guang snorted coldly and said, “That group of trash, they can’t even defend Nan Sheng Village, how can they be relied on to help us?”

“Ah!” The shimei was very shocked. “What happened with the Outer Sect? Someone dares to make enemies with our Clear Sky Sect?”

“Hmph! Who cares who they are!” Huang Zhuo Guang narrowed his eyes, his voice was sharp and full of killing intent. “Just kill them! After this affair, we’ll go right back. Master had given the Outer Hall to He Xiang, I hadn’t thought this guy who fail so badly! Master is in seclusion, as his disciple, it is naturally up to me to help share the burden.”

Shimei looked with intoxicated eyes at Shixiong, feeling he was extremely magnificent.

“You there, which one of you knows water element spells?” someone shouted at Zuo Mo’s group.

No one responded.

A cold smirk floated at the corner of a Clear Sky Sect disciple’s mouth, and followed, “Those that know water element spells, stand up and help us. We’ll give you a fourth-grade flying sword as reward!”

He raised the flying sword in his hand.

This flying sword’s shape was very unique, like the fangs of a monster. Its body was made out of a material that was stark white. From two to three zhang away, it was still possible to feel the waves of killing intent clearly.

Such a vicious weapon!

Zuo Mo was very shocked. This flying sword wasn’t ordinary. Just the pure and keen killing intent was enough to make countless sword xiu crazy.

As expected, the crowd that had been motionless instantly exploded.

“I know!”

“Me me me!”

Instantly, seven or eight hands rose up.

Zuo Mo also raised his hand. He wanted to see what this group really wanted to do. He noticed that Zheng Zhong also raised his hand. He secretly glanced around him, trying to match the information he got from Lu Hui’s mouth to the Clear Sky Sect disciples he could see.

His gaze quickly landed on the bright figure that was on a little mountain peak.

The hero of Clear Sky – Huang Zhuo Guang!

Chapter 272: Huang Zhuo Guang

Clear Sky Sect had many branches and many second generation disciples, but no one could shake Huang Zhuo Guang’s position. Besides the support of Clear Sky Old Forefather, Huang Zhuo Guang’s strong individual strength was the most crucial factor.

Before the change in Little Mountain Jie, Huang Zhuo Guang had been labeled the most accomplished of the younger generation in Little Mountain Jie. The name of the Clear Sky Hero had spread from that time forward.

He entered ningmai at sixteen. At this age, many people had just started zhuji. At seventeen, he comprehended sword essence and quickly became the brightest name among the Little Mountain Jie younger generation. What truly pushed his fame to the peak was what happened during the calamity.

At that time, the situation had been chaotic. Many people had attacked Clear Sky Sect. At that crucial time, Huang Zhuo Guang stood out, killing twenty people with his sword. The row of bloody heads were hung at the gate of Clear Sky Sect. This action instantly shocked those xiuzhe that during the chaos and allowed the sect to hold out until Clear Sky Old Forefather returned.

It had to be said that half of the reason that Clear Sky Sect held its current position in Little Mountain Jie could be attributed to Huang Zhuo Guang. That battle had let his brutal reputation spread throughout Little Mountain Jie, and firmly established his position as second in the sect under the Old Forefather.

Huang Zhuo Guang was brutal and domineering, but he did not lack cleverness. The other disciples were filled with respect and fear towards him.

Since so many people had raised their hands, a competition was naturally required. However, what was being tested wasn’t individual power, but who had the strongest skill in water element spells. The xiuzhe that raised their hands were asked to cast a water element spell.

This wasn’t a problem to Zuo Mo at all. He casted the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], and a miniature white cloud floated one chi above his palm as it started to rain. As the drops landed on Zuo Mo’s palm, they disappeared.

This pure and skilled water element spell instantly defeated the great majority.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised by Zheng Zhong.

Zheng Zhong did not speak, and lightly tapped a jade card hanging on his waist. A blue water dragon instantly came out. The water dragon was about one chi long, the blue scales on its body flashing with an enchanting light. It was extremely smart, a pair of dragon eyes curiously scanning the surroundings.

Hm, a beast service card!

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. He didn’t know what kind of dragon this water dragon was. Maybe Cheng Shidi would recognize it. Without a doubt, the grade of this water dragon whatever its kind would not be low. As the blue water dragon flew out, Zuo Mo instantly felt that the water element power in the air thickened.

The water dragon innately belonged to water. It was most skilled in water element spells.

The disciple holding the white fang sword had a dilemma. Zuo Mo might have cast a little spell, but it could be seen with a glance that his skill was not low. Zheng Zhong’s water dragon was a natural expert at control of water.

“Both of you come up.” Huang Zhuo Guang’s voice sounded at this time.

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. Huang Zhuo Guang’s voice was not loud, but it held an unique kind of pressure. He could be considered to be experienced now, but it was the first time he encountered an expert of Huang Zhuo Guang’s style. The only one Zuo Mo felt was slightly similar was Chang Heng. However, there was a difference between the two. Huang Zhuo Guang was dominating, and Chang Heng was vicious.

If these two people fought, that would definitely be very spectacular, Zuo Mo muttered inside.

He noticed a xiuzhe with a pale complexion in the corner. That was Lei Hao, the person Lu Hui said had been wounded by Silly Bird. Lei Hao was Zuo Mo’s target.

The two followed behind the disciple with the white fang sword. Huang Zhuo Guang flew down from the mountain peak, and said to the shimei beside him, “Tell them to prepare to start.”

The other people were herded away from this area.

“Go, go, none of your business here. In five minutes, whoever remains within fifty li cannot blame my flying sword!” a Clear Sky Sect disciple said maliciously.

A change suddenly occurred!

A sword light like a smear of snowy light suddenly shot towards Huang Zhuo Guang!

Many Clear Sky Sect disciples paled. That sword light had been too sudden. The snowy and bright sword energy blinded them! The sharp sword essence was like countless shards of sharp snowflakes dancing.

The shimei beside Huang Zhuo Guang paled. This bit of snowy and bright sword light filled every corner of her vision! Everything was white! In the blink of an eye, the sharp sword essence stole away her urge to resist.

An extremely domineering sword light suddenly lit up.

“Ha ha! I just knew that there was a problem with you!” Huang Zhuo Guang laughed, and then his expression became cold. “But to scheme against me, you aren’t enough.”

In his tone, a strong confidence was expressed.

Zheng Zhong’s fellows moved at the same time, sword energies criss-crossing. These Clear Sky Sect disciples did not have Huang Zhuo Guang’s strength and the situation instantly became chaotic.

The wails and panic of the Clear Sky Sect disciples didn’t cause Huang Zhuo Guang to move away his eyes. He locked tightly onto Zheng Zhong and smirked, “Oh, so it is a third stratum. No wonder you are so gutsy.”

Zheng Zhong’s eyes were not lowered and half-lidded as previous. In his calm eyes, killing and battle intent flashed.

Huang Zhuo Guang smiled, “Let’s go up.” Finishing, he flew into the air.

Zheng Zhong did not hesitate in following him into the sky.

Zuo Mo looked right and left. No one was paying attention to him. Instantly, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. However, this was actually suitable for him to carry out his own affairs. He noticed Lei Hao panicking and wanting to flee.

The xiuzhe that had been captured were already filled with hate towards Clear Sky Sect, but due to Clear Sky Sect’s might, no one dared to speak up. At this time, as Zheng Zhong moved, and the situation was chaotic, Liu Gui fanned the flames, deliberately shouting, “Flying sword! That flying sword! Don’t let him escape!”

Once those words came out, it stirred the hearts of many people. That flying sword had such pure killing intent. It definitely was a rare top of the fourth-grade sword.

“Who dares? Wanting to steal something from Clear Sky Sect! You don’t want to live!” the disciple shouted with a stern expression.

Liu Hui hid among the crowd and grumbled, “The daring die from overeating, the cowards die from starvation. Who knows who!”

Everyone thought. Yes, such a chaotic situation, they wouldn’t know who stole it. Which xiuzhe that had survived in Little Mountain Jie up until now was a friendly person?

In a moment, dozens of sword lights howled as they shot towards that Clear Sky Sect disciple.

Zuo Mo who had flown away was also scared by the scene. He celebrated that he had left early enough. Otherwise, he would have also been affected.

“You … …” That disciple was both frightened and angry. Before he could finish speaking, he was chopped by tens of sword energies into pieces of meat, and froze Zuo Mo’s heart.

Everyone instantly went to grab the sword. After a period of chaos, a xiuzhe with good eyes and fast hands grabbed the flying sword before turning and running for his life. The xiuzhe that didn’t get the flying swords didn’t let go of the other things on this disciple’s body.

The xiuzhe that didn’t get anything quickly moved their red eyes towards the other Clear Sky Sect disciples.

They suddenly found that after losing the halo of Clear Sky Sect, these disciples were the best fat sheep!

The situation became even more chaotic.

After a few dashes, Zuo Mo flashed next to Lei Hao and grabbed him as he was fleeing.

Lei Hao was frightened half to death, his entire body shaking, his words nonsense. “I I I… … give you everything … …”

Zuo Mo furrowed his brow, and raised his hand to slap him a few times to restore him to clarity. “I’ll ask and you answer.”

“You … … please ask!” Lei Hao was stunned from the blows, and recovered from his soulless state. Even though he was still frightened, but he could manage to speak.

Zuo Mo’s hand suddenly flashed, his left hand casting a Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning!

Hiss!

It directly hit a flying sword!

With a burst of blue smoke, and a clanging sound, the flying sword landed on the ground.

A sword xiu nearby gave a grunt. His flying sword ruined, his consciousness was also wounded. He looked in terror at Zuo Mo, and stumbled as he turn to flee, not even daring to pick up his flying sword.

Zuo Mo didn’t pursue him. This scene had been seen by many people. The xiuzhe that had been charging towards Zuo Mo all turned in fright and went towards other targets. Lei Hao, who was hanging from Zuo Mo’s hand, swallowed in terror. Heavens, how had he landed in the hands of such an expert?

“What is with the wounds on your body?” Zuo Mo asked word by word as he stared at Lei Hao.

Lei Hao felt his hairs raise at Zuo Mo’s gaze. The pale face became even more white. He stammered, “I I … … I encountered something grey. I thought it was a treasure and wanted to catch it. But that thing was very strange. When I touched it, I was wounded.”

A burst of joy came into Zuo Mo’s heart. He had just inspected the wounds inside Lei Hao’s body. His body had truly been harmed by a power not inside the five elements.

“Where did the grey shadow go after?” Zuo Mo asked.

“It flew into the secret realm,” Lei Hao obediently responded.

“Isn’t the entrance to the secret realm closed? How could it fly in?”

“I … … I don’t know.”

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of how the entrance to the secret realm required five of the five element spells to open and of Silly Bird’s present attribute of not being within the five elements. That was a possibility.

“Where is the entrance to the secret realm?” Zuo Mo asked a last question.

“Over there.” Lei Hao pointed to a mountain valley nearby.

Zuo Mo snickered at him. “You answered well.’ As he finished, he raised his hand and threw Lei Hao back into the chaotic battlefield. Instantly, the people converged on him.

Zuo Mo looked at the two people fighting in the air, and regretted that the time wasn’t right. If it wasn’t that he was in a hurry to find Silly Bird, he would definitely take the chance to kill Huang Zhuo Guang. Huang Zhuo Guang was the second ranked expert of Clear Sky Sect. If he could be killed, it would greatly weaken Clear Sky Sect.

He suddenly found that he had underestimated the strength of Clear Sky Sect.

Huang Zhuo Guang was very powerful! Zheng Zhong had ningmai third stratum cultivation but he was at the disadvantage. This shocked Zuo Mo.

Seeing Huang Zhuo Guang’s sword essence, Zuo Mo suddenly understood a bit. The “sky” in Clear Sky Sect wasn’t all to do with the Sky Soil, but with the sky itself.

It was the sword of the sky!

The sword essence was vast and intangible. There was clearly nothing, but it made one feel that it could not be stopped!

Huang Zhuo Guang’s sword became even brighter with a hint of with sunlight like warmth. No matter if it was the sword energy or his movement, when in the air Huang Zhuo Guang was like a fish in water.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was exceptional. He had a feeling that Huang Zhuo Guang’s flying sword had a kind of unspeakable connection to the sky.

He was astounded!

How was it possible?

Did this person start cultivating when he was inside his mother?

In this moment, Zuo Mo decided to kill the other. If he missed this chance, it would almost be impossible to get a chance to kill him in the future.

An evil … … no, an ingenious idea came to mind.

Chapter 273: The Critical Sword Point

Huang Zhuo Guang stood in the air.

Zheng Zhong’s cool eyes unconsciously showed hints of terror. He had been fooled! The dominance on Huang Zhuo Guang’s face had long disappeared, his eyes scornful.

The brutality and dominance was just his disguise!

Zheng Zhong realized that he had been tricked. From the start, he thought that Huang Zhuo Guang walked the path of domination and strength. At this time, he discovered he was completely wrong.

The sword of the sky was ethereal, empty and vast, invisible and intangible!

His sword essence was extremely strange. Zheng Zhong had never seen it before. What was most scary was that the entire sky seemed to have become his support. Meeting Huang Zhuo Guang’s eyes that were as cold and deep as the blue sky, the battle spirit in Zheng Zhong’s heart was unconsciously weakened.

Zheng Zhong was skilled in fighting. His cultivation was also slightly higher than Huang Zhuo Guang and he had instantly detected it.

However, he wasn’t willing to escape like this.

He could see the situation below. He knew that if he could keep stalling for a while, he could rely on his shidi to come help him. No matter how difficult Huang Zhuo Guang’s sword essence was to handle, or how many transformations his sword moves had, he believed if he and his shidi worked together, they could kill the other.

At this point, Zheng Zhong was already defeated but his goal was very clear. He wasn’t in attempting to defeat Huang Zhuo Guang but to get the secret realm. Therefore, he was dragging the battle out.

“Your shidi have all been killed,” Zheng Zhong suddenly said.

Huang Zhuo Guang smiled unconcernedly and said, “Who cares if the trash die?”

There was none of the dominance and overbearing presence on his face. His eyes were cold and composed.

Zheng Zhong’s heart felt a chill. This was a vicious and emotionless person. He said, “Why don’t you run?”

“Run?” Huang Zhuo Guang seemed to have heard a great joke. “Why should I run? I know you are stalling and waiting for your shidi to come help you.”

There wasn’t any panic in Huang Zhuo Guang’s voice. His mouth curved, his eyes slowly narrowing. “It is a pity that you do not know that the difference in our power isn’t something that can be made up by quantity.”

Zheng Zhong was slightly shocked. The confidence in Huang Zhuo Guang’s voice wasn’t a pretense, but he was still puzzled. He was at a disadvantage, but the difference in their strengths wasn’t as large as Huang Zhuo Guang stated.

Unless Huang Zhuo Guang had hidden his strength? Zheng Zhong’s heart suddenly jumped.

———

Zuo Mo was very quick. Like a bolt of lightning, he reached the entrance to the secret realm. The entrance was inside a cave. Outside the cave, it was already chaotic, the sword energies were flying, everywhere and multicolored talismans flashing about. The ling power inside the little valley was a total mess.

When Liu Gui and the others saw Zuo Mo, their faces changed slightly.

Shixiong had told them not to provoke this person. They had also seen Zuo Mo’s Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning with their own eyes, and were wary. Seeing Zuo Mo coming to the secret realm, they instantly knew it wasn’t good.

Seven of them had been hiding in the chaotic crowd. They were also very careful, and had earned a significant amount. However, this amount of gains could not compare to a secret realm that had never been explored.

Zuo Mo had already noticed Liu Gui and the others by the secret realm’s entrance. Seeing the wariness on their faces, he knew if he proposed his plan, the others probably wouldn’t believe him.

Making a decision, Zuo Mo did not hesitate and took out the Serene Water Sword.

Inhaling deeply, he stepped hard on the ground and jumped! Like an arrow leaving the bow, he charged up seven dozen zhang. At the highest point, he suddenly crouched and hugged his knees, flipping forward. However, he only performed a half-flip. When his head was pointing downwards, the legs that were curved upwards suddenly pushed off the empty space above him.

Bam!

It was like there was an invisible wall above him, his legs pushing on it, he blasted off!

All the ling power in Zuo Mo’s body moved at that instant!

His body stretching out, it was a straight line from the tip of the sword to his heels. His entire person had transformed into a flying sword.

A sharp howl suddenly sounded, muffling over every other sound in the valley.

Everyone jumped and unconsciously stopped what they were doing. When they raised their heads to look up, it was as though they were struck by lightning!

It was possible to see a figure blurred by shuttle-shaped air ripples. The air inside the entire valley started to tremble, the fierce convulsions of the air rippled towards the ground. The ground shook like trembling dice.

Zuo Mo had completely forgotten everything at this point. The booming of air beside his ears causing him to be unable to hear anything. The pleasure of extreme speed caused the temperature of his blood to increase exponentially. Uncontrollably, he gave a long howl!

Accelerate, accelerate, accelerate more!

He seemed to exercise all his ling power and strength in this short one hundred zhang. The furious air turbulence exploded around him, the temperature also rising.

He thought of the Meteor Void Fire in the past. In the beginning, he had named it “Diving from the Sky.” Later, he had learned that the name of this move was called Meteor Void Fire, a very famous move of Dhyana xiu.

However, Zong Ru had tried many times, but could not create Void Fire.

Zuo Mo found something unique. The air turbulence around him would not scatter during his charge. When his speed reached a certain level, he could tear apart the turbulence created from air, and create a certain kind of suction. This suction would cause the turbulence to stay close to his body, and form a turbulent area.

The Void Fire was birthed in this turbulent area.

Like when two hard pieces of rock collided together, it would create sparks. This turbulent area was like an area of rock made out of pieces of stone moving against each other high speed so sparks naturally formed.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was like many tiny tentacles, accurately stirring the turbulence.

Hiss-crack!

A thread of fire shot out of the turbulence around his body. Quickly, the area of turbulence lit up around Zuo Mo’s body was like wood soaked in turpentine.

More than ten threads of fire snaked their way around Zuo Mo’s body.

But immediately after, Zuo Mo felt an unexpected change happen.

These fire snakes seemed to have smelt blood, all of them flooding towards the sword tip of the flying sword. The sword tip was like a powerful whirlpool, continuously consuming flames. In the blink of an eye, all the fire around Zuo Mo was absorbed into the sword tip.

At this time, the sword tip was burning bright with a blinding red light!

In the eyes of everyone in the valley, there was a burning red light with astounding speed drawing out a bold straight line across their vision!

All of the sword essence, all of the Void Fire was compressed in the needle-sized area of the sword tip. Everyone was shaking in fright!

“Motherf***er! Run!”

It wasn’t clear who first said it, but the group suddenly woke up. Instantly, wails rose. They hated that their parents hadn’t birthed them with another pair of legs. Stumbling and crawling, they sprinted towards the sides of the valley. In the blink of an eye, the entrance that had been blocked was cleared.

Liu Gui and the others all changed expressions!

When Shixiong reminded them not to provoke the person, they had not been concerned. Even when they were wary of Zuo Mo’s Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning bolt, but that was just wariness.

Until this sword appeared, this sword that compressed all the sword essence and explosiveness to the extreme!

They truly felt respect and terror!

None of the seven people dared to go stop this blow. They stood at their spot like wooden puppets, their faces raised, their mouths open as they looked dazedly at the blinding light!

This … … what weirdo was this!?

Their perception was better than average. The dot of red light that was compressed to the limits made them instinctively feel a suffocating sense of danger.

The ling power and air turbulence that had been created by the fights inside the valley were now like wild horses that had been broken and simultaneously calmed down. The shaking ground seemed to also have detected the danger and became silent.

Other than the panicking people that were feeling, everything else in the mountain valley seemed to freeze at this moment.

They seemed to be waiting for the conqueror to arrive!

———

Light flashed in Huang Zhuo Guang and Zheng Zhong’s eyes. In the sky near them, a blinding red light was at the front of a diving figure.

That dot of red light made both of them change expression.

A strange light flashed across Huang Zhuo Guang’s face. He noticed the nervousness on Zheng Zhong’s face. His mind moved, and purposefully said, “Hm, this person isn’t weak. Is he fighting against your shidi?”

Huang Zhuo Guang’s words were exactly what Zheng Zhong was worried about. However, he trusted that his shidi would not be so impulsive and shot back, “No matter. If he gets the secret realm, it’s better than you getting the secret realm.”

“You have animosity towards me?” Huang Zhuo Guang narrowed his eyes again.

“Animosity?” Zheng Zhong laughed coldly, “Is there anyone still alive in Little Mountain Jie that doesn’t have animosity against you?”

“That’s true,” Huang Zhuo Guang nodded. “The world is like this. If you are angry, be angry that your luck isn’t good.”

———

Zuo Mo, who had made such a ruckus and stopped the crowds, didn’t have any smugness on his face. Wrapped in the turbulence, his face was as pale as paper, his eyes terrified, his heart at his throat.

These was only one thought left in his mind. He really had played a terrible hand!

Serene Water Sword was a water element flying sword. He was used to the [Li Water Sword Scripture] and had picked this water element flying sword. Serene Water Sword was a good flying sword, it’s entire body made from serene water, and pure in water element power.

But damn it!

The pure water element power became the most crucial threat!

There was no problem in compressing the Li water sword essence, but Zuo Mo had not expected that the compressed sword essence would create a strong suction and absorb the Void Fire, thereby also compressing it at the sword tip.

Now, the problem was huge!

Void Fire was an extremely volatile flame, and a flame that Zuo Mo was extremely unfamiliar with. Water and fire could not merge in the first place. As the Void Fire entered the Serene Water Sword, the only outcome he could think of was an explosion.

Even more, the Void Fire inside the Serene Water Sword had been compressed to its limits. Motherf***er. Even if this thing wasn’t inside the Serene Water Sword, even if it was just a drop of water, there was only one outcome.

Boom, a loud sound, and no bones would be left remaining in a radius of thirty zhang.

Right now, there was something else that was also dangerous –– the sword essence that had been highly compressed! The addition of the sword essence had kept the three factors in an exquisite equilibrium, but it was very unstable. In other words, if Zuo Mo let go, the flying sword would instantly explode.

Adding on the sword essence that was compressed … …

If this exploded, then an area fifty zhang in radius, oh no, eighty zhang in radius, not a hair would remain!

Looking at the ground that was coming increasingly close to him, Zuo Mo’s face paled, his hand trembling, crying without tears.

Save me … …

Chapter 274: You Eat Meat, We’ll Drink Soup

What do I do … … what do I do … …

Zuo Mo was so panicked his innards were burning up. What presence, what scheme, all of it was thrown away.

The howling suddenly changed in tune, from being full of killing intent to being like a rooster that was clucking as it was being strangled, with a long after-note. The sword and person that had been burning suddenly paused, their speed decreasing.

After a while, they were like a little bird that was too fat and couldn’t fly as they swayed and unsteadily landed on the empty ground beside the cave.

Everyone collectively turned to stone as they watched such a strange scene.

Zuo Mo released a breath. The Serene Water Sword tip was still bright red, but it was evidently not as frightening as before. Right now, he wanted to throw this flying sword as far away as possible, but considering that the flying sword would instantly explode if it left his control, he could only keep a tight grip on it.

The mountain valley was deathly silent, everyone looking dazedly at Zuo Mo.

Had it been an illusion? Was this person bouncing about in front of them really the same person that was so peerless just a moment ago?

This change was too comedic. Because it was so sudden, and the difference too large, it caused everyone to be unable to react. This group of people stared straight at Zuo Mo, none of them fighting.

Dissipate … … dissipate … …

Zuo Mo recited at the Serene Water Sword. His voice was very light, but since the surroundings were too quiet, it was abnormally clear. When everyone heard it, many people wanted to roll their eyes. The mood instantly became awkward. Everyone looked at each other but no one moved.

The mountain valley that had been so noisy and full of fighting was abnormally peaceful and silent.

The Void Fire and sword essence that lost pressure quickly dissipated. After a while, the burning red tip of the Serene Water Sword also dissipated. The Serene Water Tip also resumed its normal appearance. Zuo Mo’s heart finally landed back in his stomach. He felt his body relax and he sat down on the ground.

So risky! He had almost tripped up. If he killed himself, wouldn’t it be a great joke?

He was full of regret as he panted. After two breaths, he suddenly froze, it wasn’t right!

Why were the surroundings so silent … …

He turned around, his heart slightly insecure, and saw a circle of people standing there silently as they looked at him. A hair-raising feeling spread. He almost shrieked. However, he finally remembered he could be considered the leader of a large group of people, swallowed, and stood up.

“You, why aren’t you fighting?”

No one spoke. Liu Gui didn’t know what to say. The chaotic situation they had put so much effort to create had been interrupted with such a strange method. But they didn’t dare jump out at this time. This wasn’t a joke. The slightly black guy in front of him was clearly stronger than they were by a large margin, and was extremely terrifying.

They didn’t know what problem Zuo Mo just had, but his power was displayed right there. Without knowing his intentions, jumping out was akin to trying to seeking death. The other people’s thoughts were very similar to Liu Gui. Zuo Mo’s half of a move had frightened everyone.

Zuo Mo saw that no one responded to him, and instantly faltered. He turned to face the entrance of the secret realm.

Without a call, these people flooded forward.

Zuo Mo turned in fright, “What are you doing?”

A voice suddenly sounded among the crowd, “Big Bro, you eat the meat, but let us drink some soup!”

“Yes yes!”

“Big Bro, you pick what’s good first, and let us get some benefits!”

Calls like this instantly sounded among the crowd.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. Liu Gui and the others were dumbstruck. No one had expected the situation would reach such a strange step.

“You bear to part with that?” Zuo Mo said thoughtlessly.

“Big Bro is joking. You are the strongest, it’s right that you pick first.” The person who spoke first saw that Zuo Mo wasn’t a hard person to interact with. His courage rose and he stood out.

“Right!”

“That’s the rationale!”

Every person agreed. Liu Gui and the others didn’t dare to speak. Other people might not know what they had just done, but this person of mysterious origins knew. If they stepped forward at this time and the other might reveal what they had just done, and they would be sliced to death.

Zuo Mo gradually calmed down, and said with slight amusement, “You guys trust me this much?”

“Big Bro, you didn’t even look at the White Fang Sword just now. How can anything normal enter your eyes?” The man was a smart one. “As to better things, we don’t dare to think about it.”

“That’s right, who dares to be greedy and covets Big Bro’s things, everyone will chop him!”

“Chop him!”

The people all agreed. Liu Gui shook with fright. These people were all very experienced old-timers. They knew that they, a random bunch of rabble, could not possibly get anything out of the secret realm.

Zuo Mo’s heart was slightly insecure. He liked the White Fang Sword too, but he had been thinking of the grey bird then and didn’t have the time.

Ge really hadn’t disregarded it … …

However, he quickly understood what these people were thinking.

Before, he had only thought of tripping up Huang Zhuo Guang. The present situation was way out of his predictions.

However, he responded quickly. “If that’s the case, then let us work together to kill Huang Zhuo Guang first. If we don’t kill him, this secret realm won’t be ours.”

As Zuo Mo said this, many people instantly hesitated. They were only pursuing wealth, but didn’t want to lose their lives. The vicious reputation of Huang Zhuo Guang had long been engraved their hearts.

The man who had just spoken said, “What are we afraid of? If Huang Zhuo Guang escapes, who among us will be able to escape the consequences in and being connected to the deaths of the Sky Sect disciples?”

Zuo Mo silently praised the person for his cleverness.

As expected, the people that had hesitated instantly started to shout, “Do it!”

“We have this many people, we can slice him to death with one blow from each of us!”

Zuo Mo threw out at a good time, “There’s some good talismans on Huang Zhuo Guang’s body. Afterwards, it will depend on who has the best luck.”

These words were instantly effective! Nothing was more tempting than talismans. Their courage instantly rose. Liu Gui and the few people were joyous upon hearing this. If this expert of mysterious skill could team up with Shixiong, Huang Zhuo Guang would have a hard time escaping.

“Big Bro, say what to do, and we’ll do it!” Liu Gui hurriedly shouted.

Zuo Mo suddenly found the situation was better than he had imagined. With this group of people, he could more easily set it up. Even though it wasn’t possible to rely on them to do something difficult, but not all things were difficult.

As he continued to issue out orders, the people that received them were filled with puzzlement. They could not understand at all what use the things Zuo Mo was asking them to do had.

Zuo Mo requested for most of them to continuously release sword energies and spells inside the valley. Even though their faces were filled with puzzlement, but they still followed and released spells and sword energies at empty areas.

The entire mountain valley became filled with all kinds of colored light.

Zuo Mo stood at the entrance to the secret realm. The secret realm entrance was a floating ball of light. Looking at the entrance, his grasp of the situation rose. This entrance was a natural five element formation. It wasn’t hard to open, but it required using all five element powers at the same time.

He looked at Liu Gui. Seeing Liu Gui nod, he started to rapidly send five element power towards the entrance.

As the five element spells entered the ball of light, five colored light exploded.

———

In the sky, Huang Zhuo Guang’s expression changed, killing intent filled in his eyes. His figure suddenly disappeared.

This group of damned bastards!

The reason he had been so confident before was largely due to his assumption that this group could not open the entrance. He had observed the entrance to the secret realm. It required putting in five kinds of five element spells at the same time. It was easy to find people that were skilled in one element or several, but it was rare to find those xiuzhe skilled in all five.

Finding five xiuzhe to cast spells at the same time was an action he had resorted to out of helplessness. He knew that in reality, this method couldn’t open the entrance to the secret realm completely.

He didn’t worry at all. No matter how many xiuzhe possessed the entrance, if the entrance wasn’t opened, then this secret realm would belong to Clear Sky Sect, no one could take it away.

So when the light flashed as the entrance was opened, he was both terrified and furious.

His figure flashed into the mountain valley, aiming for Zuo Mo. The other xiuzhe were a school of little fish in his eyes. The reality was just as he thought. When he appeared in the mountain valley, the xiuzhe flew into the sky like a group of alarmed birds.

Huang Zhuo Guang instantly saw Zuo Mo in front of the entrance.

“My eyes had failed me. So you are skilled in all five elements.” A cold light flashed in Huang Zhuo Guang’s eyes. “I hadn’t thought I would encounter another expert today. Such good luck.”

Madman!

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. Look at the time! He was still rambling. Without his hesitation, he raised his hand for a Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning bolt! Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning was the move of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] that he was most familiar with. At present, he almost didn’t have to think and could cast it.

“Hard lightning?” Huang Zhuo Guang was slightly surprised but he was not shocked. “Just this thing, and you dare to attack me?”

Zuo Mo suddenly sent out a bolt of Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning with his right palm. With a hiss, it seemed to strike something invisible. Huang Zhuo Guang finally had a shocked expression.

How was it possible? How could this guy so easily find his sword energy?

His Clear Sky sword energy was invisible and intangible, extremely hard to detect.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel anything Speaking of invisibility and intangibility, there probably was no sword energy that could compare to the [Void Sword Scripture] that Wei Sheng Shixiong cultivated.

While Huang Zhuo Guang’s Sky sword essence was also invisible and intangible, but these qualities were not outstanding. The reason that people continuously were defeated by Huang Zhuo Guang was that his sword essence was too ethereal and hard to find, but Zuo Mo had an exceptional consciousness and ling eyes so these qualities were not scary.

At this time, Zheng Zhong also appeared behind Huang Zhuo Guang.

Liu Gui and the other six appeared at same time, the eight people forming a complete circle. Zuo Mo reversed and retreated.

A smirk appeared at the corner of Huang Zhuo Guang’s mouth, gang fighting?

What they probably didn’t know was that he was the least afraid of gang fighting! The more people there were, the more power his sword scripture could release.

Stupid!

He decided to let these ignorant people see just how wrong they were.

Just as he was going to attack, the smirk at his mouth suddenly froze.

Chapter 275: Circle Kill

When Huang Zhuo Guang suddenly appeared, the space surrounding him became chaotic.

Countless ling power flows, countless air turbulence flows. The small mountain valley was like an area of turbulence.

What was most terrible was … …

He didn’t need to raise his head to know that his connection with the sky had been cut off. In a flash, he realized, a trap! This was a trap that had been prepared for him!

The ling power of the mountain valley randomly flew and collided in an unstable state. Some scenes that he had disregarded before flowed through his mind. Coldness rose through his heart. The group of xiuzhe that had panicked and rose when he entered the mountain valley had looked like a group of birds startled by an engle, so helpless, so weak, so alarmed.

But now, he realized that this group of pitifully weak people had used ling power and turbulence to create a net above the mountain valley without him noticing, a net blocking him from the sky!

He was separated from the sky!

Such a poisonous trap! Some admiration rose. This group seemed like a rabble, and was low on battle capabilities. It really was admirable that the other could think of such a great idea, and execute it effectively.

His gaze landed on Zuo Mo who was guarding the entrance to the secret realm

So this person was actually the most powerful of the bunch!

Huang Zhuo Guang’s eyes narrowed for the second time. Facing a predicament, after the initial shock, he wasn’t afraid. Quite the opposite. His desire for battle was instantly ignited. He felt the temperature of his body continuously increase.

There never had been someone that could force him to such a predicament! To such a sorry state!

Without the sky, you dare to challenge me?

Huang Zhuo Guang’s eyes brightened, the flying sword in his hand suddenly sweeping up. A strong presence expanded. The fine turbulence around him instantly cleared.

Zheng Zhong and the others did not hesitate in stepping forward.

This was also the reason Zuo Mo had retreated. Zheng Zhong and his group could work together. If he was in the middle, he would actually disrupt their cooperative battle capabilities. It was better to withdraw and wait for an opportunity.

The area of the mountain valley was narrow and small. In this kind of battle, what people competed on were their reaction times, little techniques, and talismans.

Huang Zhuo Guang had never experienced this kind of battle before, but he did not fear it. His body was entirely covered in fourth-grade talismans!

The ling armor on his body was a fourth-grade earth element ling armor, one of the finest pieces produced by Clear Sky Sect, called Dusty Sky Ling Armor. It was made from Sky Soil. Out of affection for him, Clear Sky Old Forefather had added three grains of Sky Sand into it. This caused the grade of the ling armor to increase greatly, especially its formations. Clear Sky Old Forefather even used the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk to copy formations that gave it the ability to defend and attack enemies.

There was a layer of sand mist that continuously wrapped around Huang Zhuo Guang’s body. One shouldn’t underestimate these sand mists. They could easily break second-grade flying swords, and the most damaging ability was that it could always corrode the other.

Dusty Sky Ling Armor was definitely a great weapon for close combat!

People usually could not see his flying sword because it would always be hidden in the sky. The flying sword forged from the essence of cloud soul [Sky Inquirer] was like an invisible flow of water silently spinning above Huang Zhuo Guang’s head.

Even the jade pendant on his body and the hair tie were also not ordinary, all high level items.

Zheng Zhong and the others instantly looked much poorer when compared to him. Other than the silver snowy flying sword in Zheng Zhong’s hand that was low fourth-grade, all that the other people had were third-grade.

Zuo Mo had to shake his head on the inside. It seemed that they didn’t have an easy time surviving.

Fourth-grade talismans were extremely expensive. For example, Zuo Mo’s Thunder Flowing Light Wings were intermediate fourth-grade, and cost him sixty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. It had to be said that one piece of fourth-grade jingshi was equivalent to five hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi. In other words, this talisman required thirty thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi.

This price was not something that normal people could tolerate.

Zuo Mo had won many things in Little Mountain Jie, enough talismans to make a small mountain, but the number of fourth-grade talismans could be counted on his fingers. In the present Little Mountain Jie, third-grade talismans were the mainstream armaments. Fourth-grade talismans were all on the hands of the experts. As to talismans like the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, even if you had one, you didn’t dare to use it.

Of the many talismans, fourth-grade flying swords were the rarest, and the most welcome. There was no way about it, Little Mountain Jie’s xiuzhe were mostly sword xiu.

Zuo Mo unconsciously inventoried his own wealth and found to his surprise that he had some assets.

But things like the Thunder Flowing Light Wings, Seven Star Sword Boots, they were mostly things that he bought using jingshi he earned from selling Golden Crow Fire.

Seeing the difference in talismans between the two sides, Zuo Mo knew it would not be an easy fight.

The reason the price between fourth-grade and third-grade talismans was so large was that, other than the materials being rarer and the abilities more outstanding, there was another area, formations.

Fourth-grade talismans frequently would have their own formation techniques. The sand mist that the Dusty Sky Ling Armor exuded was a formation combat technique called [Mist Kill]. The formation combat technique of Zuo Mo’s Seven Star Sword Boots were more unique. That was a sword formation.

The majority of fourth-grade talismans had formation combat techniques, it was rare that they did not have them, like the Thunder Flowing Light Wings. This kind of talismans that did not have formation combat techniques were able to qualify to fourth-grade due to one reason. It was that one of its attributes was too strong, like the speed of the Thunder Flowing Light Wings.

A good talisman in the hands of a novice was just a pile of scrap metal, but in the hands of an expert, it could be wielded to its greatest potential.

And if an expert was covered in good talismans?

Zuo Mo started to have a headache. The situation kept on changing unexpectedly. At the start, his plan hadn’t changed very much. He had planned on using [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] to mess up the turbulence even more. He hadn’t expected these people to be willing to listen to him. The plan had been even more perfect.

But now he found, no matter how much they planned, Huang Zhuo Guang was not suppressed like he had imagined.

Huang Zhuo Guang did not fear being surrounded and attacked. The formation combat technique of his ling armor, [Mist Kill], at full power, his entire person seemed like a person-shaped meat grinder, unreasonably charging and smashing about!

The Double Tiger Eye Boots on his feet were not average. Each time he stepped on the ground, the earth trembled.

It had the same abilities as Zuo Mo’s Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves.

If the other showed the slightest weakness, the flying sword above his head would suddenly strike. If it wasn’t for the fact that Zheng Zhong and his fellows cooperated well, many of them would already have been killed.

As Huang Zhuo Guang became familiar with this kind of combat, he responded with greater ease.

His feet suddenly shoving off, he was like a cannonball shot out of a cannon, smashing towards Liu Gui with astonishing speed. Liu Gui was very shocked, the flying sword stabbing multiple times in front of him, and a sword curtain appeared in front.

But he suddenly tapped the ground on the way, his figure changing directions and leapt at someone else

That person had been trying to go up to help Liu Gui, and didn’t expect Huang Zhuo Guang to suddenly turn around. He didn’t have the time to respond, and Huang Zhuo Guang had charged in front of him. Terror rose in his eyes.

Just as he was about to be ground by the sand mist, a snow sword light stabbed at Huang Zhuo Guang

Zheng Zhong’s attack was perfectly timed. Huang Zhuo Guang was still very wary of Zheng Zhong He swerved and flashed past the sword light. Before Zheng Zhong could sigh in relief, a spark suddenly appeared above the shidi’s head, a flying sword flashing and disappearing.

Huang Zhuo Guang’s gaze suddenly landed on Zuo Mo’s body. He hadn’t expected Zuo Mo was able to detect his well-concealed attack.

Zuo Mo shook his head as he kept on watching. This cooperation between this group was much worse than Lil’ Miss’ groups. It was far less than what he predicted. Out of helplessness, he could only shout, “Everyone else to the sky, let Brother Zheng deal with him.”

Liu Gui and the others had hesitant expressions. Zheng Zhong unhesitatingly said, “Listen to him!”

The other people flew into the sky, emptying out the mountain valley. Only Zuo Mo and Zheng Zhong were left to face Huang Zhuo Guang. Huang Zhuo Guang’s confidence had grown as he fought. He laughed, “Both of you can come together!”

Zuo Mo was not affected, “Old Zheng, use your flying sword.”

Before he finished, a layer of light suddenly covered his eyes. Ling eye! He raised his hands for a bolt of Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning. His target was not Huang Zhuo Guang, but the space above Huang Zhuo Guang.

Hiss-crack!

A flying sword revealed its true form, countless lightning arcs flashing on its body. With a sorrowful wail, it trembled.

“You dare to damage my flying sword!” Huang Zhuo Guang was enraged and tried to charge at Zuo Mo.

Zheng Zhong instantly understood what Zuo Mo had planned. His wrist shook, and several silver snowy white sword energies lit up and pushed Huang Zhuo Guang back. Zheng Zhong’s flying sword was also fourth-grade so he did not fear the sand mist of Huang Zhuo Guang’s ling armor. Since the mountain valley was now empty, he did not have to worry about accidentally wounding his fellows. The sword lights flew from his hand.

In close combat, controlling the sword from the distance was not as good as holding the sword.

Huang Zhuo Guang cut a sorry figure, as he was dodging the sword energies and call back [Sky Inquirer].

Zuo Mo didn’t care and continued to smash Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning towards Huang Zhuo Guang’s unique flying sword like they didn’t cost jingshi!

The Sky Inquirer sword was made from the essence of cloud souls. It was both water element and yin. Something like Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning, which was both yang and hard, was its natural enemy. After suffering twenty bolts, it finally stopped trembling, and slammed to the ground like a piece of ordinary metal and stayed there

Anyone with some knowledge knew that this flying sword was now ruined. Many of the xiuzhe who saw this from the air all sighed. Such a good flying sword! It had been fourth-grade! Ruined like this … …

His beloved sword ruined, Huang Zhuo Guang was completely enraged. The hair tie suddenly exploded, his hair standing on end.

His eyes were red as he gave a sky shaking bellow, “Die!”

All the ling power in his body moved. He was like a lion that had lost all reason as he charged at Zuo Mo. Pia pia pia! Several sword energies hit his body. He ignored them all, still charging at Zuo Mo.

Boom, the Dusty Sky Ling Armor shattered to pieces, the sand mist instantly disappearing.

But in that instant, the crazy Huang Zhuo Guang had arrived in front of Zuo Mo.

What welcomed him was a fist as exquisite as glass. Even though he was furious, Huang Zhuo Guang still had some rationality. The fingers on his right hand coming together to form sword essence!

Without a flying sword, the danger of the sword essence was many times lower. He had to send out seven sword essences in a row to destroy this glass fist.

The distance between the two was now only three zhang!

The bloody light in Huang Zhuo Guang’s eyes grew. His left foot pushing off hard, he was like an arrow released from the bow, his right leg kicking towards Zuo Mo!

At the tip of his foot, a double-eyes white tiger had suddenly appeared with a howl.

Double Eyed Tiger Head Boot, formation combat technique [Tiger Howl]!

A fist covered in countless lights imprinted itself without technique on the forehead of this white tiger.

Chapter 276: An Unparalleled Good Bird

Sky Glass Wave!

The light around the arms crashed inside the tiger head with this punch. At the same time, countless formations on the surface of the glove seemed to come alive, and flew quickly.

A fourteen revolution Sky Glass Wave, adding on the formation combat technique of the Ten Thousand Appearance Gloves, [Ten Thousand Elephants]!

Peew!

The vicious tiger head seemed to pop like a bubble. The sound was very small and did not seem like the collision that was imagined.

Huang Zhuo Guang’s vicious and twisted face suddenly froze.

The white tiger disappeared. That punch landed on his leg.

Boom!

The enormous sound made people’s heart jump uncontrollably.

Half of Huang Zhuo Guang’s body suddenly exploded, flesh and blood blooming like a goddess spreading flowers.

Everyone’s breathing stopped. Their movements unconsciously stopped as they stared dazedly at the blood mist in the air, their minds blank. Zheng Zhong who had been going up to help support Zuo Mo had lowered his guard and was sprayed directly by this bloody rain. Even though he was used to life and death, his face was pale from fright

Half of Huang Zhuo Guang’s body had disappeared, his expression frozen there

Zuo Mo sighed in relief, and panted rapidly. That moment had been very risky. Huang Zhuo Guang’s speed was faster than he had expected. He had only had the time for fourteen revolutions. Luckily, he had the Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves. Otherwise, his little life would have ended here.

The power of the Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves were stronger than he assumed. Of the fourth-grade talismans, the Ten Thousand Appearances Gloves were relatively cheap because its formation technique, [Ten Thousand Elephants], increased physical strength and could only be used in close combat.

Most of the battles between xiuzhe happened in the sky. Close physical battle was extremely are. If its formation technique was something like fist energies and could deliver long-distance attacks, then its price would shoot up

He looked at Huang Zhuo Guang who only had half a body left. There was no breath there. Zuo Mo had to admire how tough this guy had been. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was prepared, and the other was not, he and the other people might not have been able to kill him.

Zuo Mo had learned many things from this fight.

First, this fight showed that no matter how strong the spell or the individual’s strength, they could not defend against scheming. In reality, Huang Zhuo Guang was strong, the sword scripture he cultivated was strong. Most xiuzhe battled in the skies, and was the place his sword essence was most powerful.

This sword scripture was really powerful!

But even the strongest sword essence could be stopped if its weakness was found

The second point had strengthened Zuo Mo’s desire to take his spoils. The other had been so strong even when attacked at his weakness, it was all due to support from his talismans! Truthfully, if he hadn’t been here today, Zheng Zhong and the others wouldn’t have been able to trap him.

At important times, talismans could save lives.

Even though the scene was slightly bloody, it could not stop Zuo Mo’s decision to scalp. However, he only picked one thing this time [Clear Sky Sword Scripture].

When he held it, Zuo Mo knew he made a profit. He didn’t plan on cultivating this [Clear Sky Sword Scripture]. Right now, there were too many things he had to practice. Reality showed that his talent in the consciousness and body cultivation were stronger. Adding on that he had to study formations, he wanted to cut himself in half.

After discovering that [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] was suitable for aerial battle, he thought of Lil’ Miss’ subordinates. If they could cultivate this, then that power, hee hee … …

At the very least, a complete fifth-grade sword scripture could sell for a high price

Nothing was left on Huang Zhuo Guang’s body, not even the remaining Double Eyed Tiger Head Boot. Other than Zheng Zhong who picked an item ,the rest were divided among the people. There were more people than talismans, so everyone looked at Zuo Mo. Luckily, Zuo Mo was used to being a leader and used the simplest method, drawing straws.

Everyone had an equal chance. The people who got it were happy, the people who didn’t could only sigh at their bad luck.

The other people had even more respect for Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo’s punch that killed Huang Zhuo Guang had frightened them half to death. That was Huang Zhuo Guang! In their hearts, Zuo Mo’s strength had reached a level they could not comprehend, and Zuo Mo was fair. He wasn’t like other leaders that took everything.

Everyone could respect this kind of person.

Zuo Mo saw them look at him, and was clear to their thoughts. He said, “Since you all want to enter the formation, then let me first say the rules. If there is danger, I am not responsible for saving you. You have to think of ways to protect yourselves. The division will be like just now.”

Everyone instantly became cheerful. They had never entered a secret realm before.

Zuo Mo slowly scanned over everyone and said in a deep voice, “I’ll say the ugly things first. Don’t blame me for being rude if any of you cause trouble.”

Finishing, he didn’t look at the people behind him, turned, and entered the secret realm.

The scenery in front of him suddenly change, but it made him freeze where he stood. Zheng Zhong who followed behind him turned to stone instantly. Every person who came in afterwards had dazed expressions.

This … … this secret realm was really too small!

The scene in front of them could be encompassed within their field of view. It was a place the size of a yard, only ten zhang in radius. In the middle, there was a sweetly sleeping grey bird. There was nothing else in the area. Other than the ling energy slightly dense than the outside, there was nothing.

Zheng Zhong said in a low voice, “This should be a secret realm that just formed.”

He saw that Zuo Mo was still frozen there and assumed that Zuo Mo was very disappointed so he hurriedly explained. He had great admiration for Zuo Mo. Even though the other was much younger than he was, not in terms of moves and aura, he could not catch up. He had seen many of the leaders in Little Mountain Jie, and no one could rival this youth

That grey bird was sleeping well, a string of saliva hanging from its mouth. Due to the small space, it was possible to hear the rise and fall of its snores.

The anger instantly flamed up in Zuo Mo’s heart, his expression instantly becoming twisted and frightening Zheng Zhong and the others.

Zuo Mo darted forward and, pia, slapped Silly Bird’s head, the feathers flying!

Silly Bird opened her eyes dazedly.

“You idiot, ge nearly died to find you, had to fight other people, and killed all the way over here. You’re great, had a nice sleep! Ah-ha!”

Pia!

Another slap.

“Eat eat eat! You glutton! You ate so much! Got into trouble! Will you die if you don’t eat?! I’m telling you that from today onwards, you can’t eat anything … …”

Zuo Mo’s swearing stunned the group of people. They were puzzled. What were the origins of this grey bird. Zuo Mo hadn’t been this angry even when he was facing Huang Zhuo Guang!

Just as Zuo Mo’s saliva flew, Silly Bird resumed clarity. It slowly stood up, methodically preening the feathers on its body, not even looking at Zuo Mo straight through the entire process.

The people in the surroundings were stunned again.

Zuo Mo saw the bird still had a proud expression as though she had no regret, and anger rose. He suddenly grabbed Silly Bird.

This bird just lacked discipline! Ge will educate her.

Unexpectedly, the grey shadow in front of him flashed, and his grasp was empty.

Hm!

In another corner, Silly Bird looked at Zuo Mo out of the corner of her eyes with a gaze that was as proud as usual.

Zuo Mo shouted in fury, “Great! If ge doesn’t discipline you today, you don’t know how high the sky is, how wide the earth is!”

Zuo Mo’s body flashed. Before he could reach out, an astoundingly fast grey shadow brushed past him.

So fast!

Zuo Mo paused, his hand coming up empty again

In another corner, Silly Bird raised her head, still stepping her unique bird walk as she walked gracefully towards the crowd

Clank!

The people that were completely amazed by Silly Bird unconsciously stepped back to form a path

Silly Bird was not courteous, calmly walking towards the entrance.

Was what just happened a delusion? Zuo Mo wasn’t sure. Had this bird gotten some benefits this time? He looked at the empty and bare secret realm. He felt it was increasingly likely. This bird was a glutton. All the good things probably ended up in her stomach. This could not stand. He had to interrogate her when they got back.

Zheng Zhong’s expression changed slightly. Of the crowd, his cultivation was the highest. He had seen that scene clearly just now. That grey bird was almost impossibly fast. He clearly saw that when Zuo Mo moved, it had brushed past Zuo Mo and passed to the other side.

What did that mean?

It meant that the grey bird’s speed was many times faster than Zuo Mo! Zheng Zhong’s cultivation was higher than Zuo Mo, but there wasn’t a great difference in speed between the two of them. Multiple times faster than Zuo Mo, meant it was multiple times faster than him!

Zheng Zhong felt he was going insane.

Heavens! What world was this, how could so many weirdos come out?

He already felt the next generation was terrifying due to Zuo Mo’s strength. Now there was a bird that was multiple times faster than he was! Zheng Zhong didn’t dare to even think about what other abilities this grey bird had. Just its lightning fast speed was enough for it to be undefeatable.

Completely speechless, Zheng Zhong felt even more curious about Zuo Mo’s identity.

So young and such power, with such a strong ling beast, he definitely wasn’t an average xiuzhe. Was it a disciple of a large sect? He felt that it was plausible. He always believed that what Clear Sky Sect was doing to Little Mountain Jie could not continue for long.

The reason was very simple. Kun Lun certainly would allow such a matter to occur within its borders!

When he had been young, he had interacted with a Kun Lun disciple, and it left a deep impression on him.

Zuo Mo had faced Huang Zhuo Guang and didn’t hesistate in killing the other. Any factions that existed in Little Mountain Jie wouldn’t be so impulsive.

Young, of incomprehensible strength, a strong ling beast, and not afraid of Clear Sky Sect seeking revenge.

With all these conditions added together, Zheng Zhong increasingly felt that Zuo Mo could possibly be a disciple of Kun Lun. Oh, even if he wasn’t, he was at least the disciple of a large sect.

Just as Zheng Zhong was thinking hard, Zuo Mo had ran out of the secret realm.

The others still searched in the secret realm due to dissatisfaction, wanting to plow the ground three chi deep, but still did not find anything

Zheng Zhong was cunning and tightly followed Zuo Mo. He already made the decision to follow Zuo Mo. If Zuo Mo was a disciple of a certain big sect, then they wouldn’t lose if they followed. If Zuo Mo wasn’t a disciple of some large sect, and relied on himself to get to this step, then he was a monster.

Having made the decision, his face was full of smiles. Once a person’s attitude changed, their feeling when they looked at something was completely different. The more he looked, the more he felt that Silly Bird had an aura and mannerisms.

Good bird! An unparalleled good bird!

Chapter 277: Detection

Wu Kong Mountain.

Mu Xi suddenly stood up, “What? Stars in Daytime appeared in Little Mountain Jie?”

“Yes, Daren!” the middle-aged person responded. He was somewhat puzzled. “But we clearly had searched on our way here. It isn’t possible.”

Mu Xi waved her hand. “That isn’t a mystery. If this daren does not want to meet us, they naturally will have ways to avoid our scans.”

She sank into thought. After a while, she raised her head. “It isn’t a coincidence that Stars in Daytime happened here and in Little Mountain Jie. Search to see if there is anyone from Wu Kong Sword Sect that has not moved to Bright Wave Jie. Use every resource we have, and notify the other daren to look into this matter. Also, tell our scouts in Little Mountain Jie pay attention to the xiuzhe that moved to Little Mountain Jie from Sky Moon Jie, especially those that had previously been Wu Kong Sword Sect disciples.

The middle aged person said, “We didn’t leave enough people in Little Mountain Jie.”

“Then send more,” Mu Xi said decisively. “Send a three hundred man troop immediately to Little Mountain Jie for this matter. This information shall be immediately reported to the Elder Council. Urge that the supporting troops should advance and quickly take over Little Mountain Jie.’

“Yes!” The middle-aged person said cleanly.

———

Not long after, a yao troop of three hundred people hurriedly flew away. The mood of Wu Kong Mountain became tense.

However, even Mu Xi would never have thought there was a group of people hiding in the mountain beneath her feet.

“They’ve started to move. A three-hundred strong troop. Looking at the direction, they seem to be going to Little Mountain jie.” A young person with sharp brows said.

In front of him was Lin Qian. There was a person standing beside Lin Qian, it was Wei Sheng.

“Little Mountain Jie?” A pondering expression flashed through Lin Qian’s eyes. “Did they find something in Little Mountain Jie? Brother Wei, how many shidi do you have in Little Mountain Jie?”

Wei Sheng’s brows furrowed slightly, but he truthfully answered, “Only Zuo Shidi and the others.”

“Had my eyes failed me?” Lin Qian muttered to himself.

Wei Sheng did not reply. The mood instantly became slightly awkward. They were currently in the sword cave Wei Sheng had trained in before. He was very familiar with the place. No one would have thought that there was an elite force hidden in here.

This was the strongest troop that Wei Sheng had ever seen! They were well-trained, and had great endurance. What shocked him the most was their individual strengths. Most of them were of similar age to him, no older than sixty years old, and all of them had ningmai cultivation, each just slightly weaker than him, and about the same as Luo Li Shidi. In a slightly smaller sect, this kind of cultivation was enough to become a core disciple, but here, they were just average members.

Eight hundred people. He could not think how powerful this faction was to have gathered such a strong force!

Lin Qian’s identity became even more mysterious in his mind. It was clear these people respected Lin Qian from the bottom of their hearts. He was certain that if Lin Qian encountered danger, every person here, except himself, would be willing to give up their lives to defend him.

But no matter how much power Lin Qian had, Wei Sheng still did not like him. Because Lin Qian was suspicious of Wu Kong Sword Sect. Even though the sect had already migrated and settled down in Bright Wave Jie, Wei Sheng was filled with deep attachment towards everything of Wu Kong Mountain.

On the matter of Zuo Shidi’s disappearance, he maintained his silence. He had a deep bond with Zuo Mo. He could understand the sect’s actions, but he could not completely accept them. Presently the sect was much larger than before, but the flavor had changed. Not just him, even Luo Li and Xiao Guo maintained their silence.

The Desolate Wood Reef had received a destructive attack from the yao army. The chance that Shidi was still alive was small.

He wasn’t willing to take Lin Qian and his group to hide in the sword cave, but due to the sect leader’s orders, he carried it out. He decided to just observe. He was familiar with every place in Wu Kong Sword Sect, and never found any place that was unusual. Yet what he hadn’t expected was that the yao army had come to Wu Kong Mountain and established their base here.

His head was lowered as he thought. He suddenly felt that if it really was Zuo Shidi and the others that were the problem, it wasn’t a bad matter. At least, it meant that Zuo Shidi was still alive. Thinking about that, his brow relaxed.

———

In a secret realm in Sky Moon Jie, Bo Feng listened to the report of his subordinate and said heavily, “Little Mountain Jie?”

After a while, he shook his head, “Let’s just observe.”

———

Zuo Mo was very depressed, extremely depressed. Silly Bird was extremely fast now, flying close and far away. Her eyes undoubtedly showed the attitude of an ungenerous person who had become powerful.

Showing off, boldly showing off!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. He had thought many times of raising his hand to throw bolts of Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning at Silly Bird. He really saw the bird clearly. Usually, she was a proud show-off. Now she was even more so with the support of her faster speed.

This could not be tolerated!

Before he could think of an idea, he heard Zheng Zhong praise from beside him, “This bird is really wonderful! As fast as lightning, it is rare to see, really rare to see!”

Liu Gui and the others agreed.

Zuo Mo almost spat blood upon hearing it. He glanced and saw the smugness in Silly Bird’s eyes had increased, the grey feathers at her tail rising towards the sky.

Ge finally knows why you guys have had such a hard time, you don’t have good eyes!

Zuo Mo ignored them. There were eighteen xiuzhe that decided to follow him. The others chose to leave. Zuo Mo didn’t try to get them to stay. Of this group, other than Zheng Zhong who he felt had some skill, the strengths of the other people were just average.

Without him realizing it, his eyes had become much picker.

He had felt this especially clearly in the fight this time. If it was the batch of people that Lil’ Miss had trained, if he had had one platoon, then he had the confidence to kill Huang Zhuo Guang.

If this group met a group from Vermillion Bird Camp, one on one, the two sides would be fight to a stalemate. Five versus five, Vermillion Bird Camp would win. Ten versus ten, there was no meaning. One hundred versus one hundred, Vermillion Bird Camp wouldn’t even have one fatality.

He heard that Vermillion Bird Camp was trying out new battle tactics now, and he felt anticipation. Gongsun Shidi had settled into his role even more, and became even more outstanding.

The female xiu flew silently beside him, Zheng Zhong and the others felt she was slightly strange, but held no fear towards her. Yet Silly Bird was extremely afraid of the female xiu. Even though she continuously came up to Zuo Mo to show off, she didn’t dare go near the female xiu.

Zuo Mo glanced at the female xiu and sighed. Even though it looked as though she was fine, but in reality, her body had been severely wounded this time.

When he got to the mountain cave, the female xiu was still meditating. He took the chance to inspect her body, and found a strange situation. Her body was even more damaged, but the strange purple power inside her body had become even greater.

This was a situation that Zuo Mo felt he could not understand.

This purple power was like a net trapping every part of her body. Her body had already become split into pieces. The only reason she had not collapsed was due to this purple power. However, Zuo Mo also found the more damaged her body was, the stronger this purple power was, and the tighter it enveloped her.

An evil skill!

Other than these two words, Zuo Mo had no other words to describe it.

“Boss, where’s our territory?” Liu Gui carefully asked.

“Sky Star Peak,” Zuo Mo carelessly responded.

Liu Gui jumped in fright. “Sky Star Peak? There are many factions in that area!”

“Oh.” Still thinking of the female xiu¸ Zuo Mo was unconcerned. “Not anymore.”

Liu Gui’s heart steadied. Looking at it now, Boss’ faction likely wasn’t small. He usually had many avenues of information, and had interacted with some of the factions of Sky Star Peak in the past. He hadn’t expected that Boss had swept all of them clean.

In Little Mountain Jie, there was nothing more assuring than entering a powerful faction.

Liu Gui snicked and said, “Little Mountain Jie is somewhat chaotic. I heard that Nan Sheng Village was torn to pieces. Now that we killed Huang Zhuo Guang, Clear Sky Sect is going to be angry. People really are brave these days, they even dare to attack Nan Sheng Village. Tsk tsk, so powerful! So great!”

Liu Gui smacked his lips, admiration on his face. The other people also felt the same.

Zuo Mo made a sound of confirmation and said, “You don’t need to admire them, we did it.”

The surroundings instantly became deathly silent.

Liu Gui was so frightened he almost dropped from the sky. He then looked at the others. All of them had gaping mouths as they looked dazedly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo looked strangely at them. “What’s with your expressions? Nan Sheng Village isn’t as hard to attack as you imagine.”

All of the people, including Zheng Zhong, could not pull themselves out of their shock.

Zheng Zhong responded the fastest. At the beginning, he had thought that Zuo Mo was a disciple of a large sect. This seemed to prove his speculation. In Little Mountain Jie, no one had ever been willing to oppose Clear Sky Sect this openly.

Suddenly, a crowd of black dots appeared on the horizon.

The little black dots flew extremely quickly. After a while, they were twenty li away. They finally saw them. It was a group of about twenty people.

Zheng Zhong’s heart jumped, shock flashing through his eyes. He shouted loudly, “Everyone, on your guard!”

The group of twenty or so xiuzhe flew extremely quickly, but what shocked Zheng Zhong the most was the formation of their troop! Flying at such high speed, the troop’s formation had not changed, like a sharp blade breaking through the ice. From far away, he could feel a sharp presence hitting him in the face!

They were flying straight at them!

Zheng Zhong’s expression changed again!

In his eyes, the twenty people seemed like one body. Their energy, breathing, and ling power were so well attuned that there was no flaw!

Everyone felt they had dropped into a crevasse. Without even needing to fight, their confidence was destroyed. The other came as fast as lightning without any intentions of concealing themselves. The howls in the air roared in waves like thunder, the target was clearly them!

Some of the xiuzhe paled from fright and scattered to escape.

Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly turned dark.

However, only five xiuzhe had fled. The remaining thirteen people were still by his side.

So powerful!

Zheng Zhong’s heart leapt wildly. He forcibly suppressed the terror in his heart. He was a third stratum ningmai xiuzhe but facing the charge of these twenty people, instinctive terror rose.

However, he still moved in front of Zuo Mo. He couldn’t defeat this crowd, but he would do his best to protect Zuo Mo and escape with him.

Unexpectedly, the twenty people suddenly decelerated, making a immediate stop in front of them.

“Boss!” the person at the fount shouted with joy.

Zheng Zhong felt he had gone from hell to heaven in an instant. Before they could be happy, they heard Zuo Mo’s deep and murderous voice.

“Those five, execute.”

Chapter 278: The Insane Outer Hall

Wei Cheng Bin’s mood was very good these past two days because Boss had returned. It wasn’t only him. Every person he passed on his way also had a sunny smile on their faces. It was strange. No matter if it was individual power, or skill in command, Boss wasn’t the strongest, but he was every person’s pillar of support.

The few days that Boss had been absent, every person in Golden Crow City had been very worried, like they had lost their souls.

Wei Cheng Bin knew that with Gongsun daren present, nothing would happen to Golden Crow City. But there was still a layer of darkness that uncontrollably came over his heart. Fortunately, Boss had returned, the dark cloud over their hearts had dissipated. Every person in the city believed that as long as Boss was here, any problem would be easily solved.

In this recent while, his forging skill had furiously grew, especially in forging small parts. Even Master Ji Wei would praise him occasionally. In a short amount of time, he formed an affection for this place. The forging masters he usually interacted with, especially Masters Ji Wei and Sun Bao, all were very skilled, took good care of him, and never skimped on guidance.

The only person he didn’t like interacting with was Bao Yi.

That slender bamboo stick was very miserly. It took a lot of effort to get some materials from his hands.

Even Masters Sun Bao and Ji Wei didn’t like interacting with Bao Yi so the burden had landed on his head. With no other way, he could only force himself. Each transaction was a fierce and terrible battle!

But today, Bao Yi was unusually easy-going. It seemed that even the thin bamboo stick had a good mood now that Boss was back.

———

In contrast to Golden Crow City’s happy mood, the faces of everyone in the Outer Hall was deathly.

“What? Huang Daren was killed?” He Xiang’s lips were trembling, his hands cold.

“The news has already spread.” The xiuzhe that found the news also had a trembling note in his voice. “Huang daren and the others went to search for a secret realm. Others schemed, and he was killed by multiple opponents.”

“Impossible!” He Xiang said sternly, “How could Huang daren be killed by many people so easily? Where’s the other people with him?”

“All … … all killed! In total, more than twenty inner sect disciples … …”

Bang, He Xiang’s legs weakened and he collapsed on the chair, his face filled with hopelessness. Every elder present had faces so pale there was no blood.

Everyone understood that the affair was too big this time. So big, they could not conceal it!

The entire Outer Hall would face the anger of the Old Forefather when it was time. No, the entire Little Mountain Jie would have to face the anger of the Old Forefather!

He Xiang suddenly achieved clarity. He seemed to have grabbed onto the last life-saving piece of grass, and suddenly stood up. “Who did it? Who did it?”

“This subordinate is still investigating … …”

“Investigating my ass!” He Xiang’s eyes were entirely red, his anger unrestrained. “If these people won’t let us live, then we won’t let them live!” He took a deep breath, and calmed his emotions, gradually calming down. He looked at the elders that had sank into hopelessness, and said with craziness, “We only have one path.”

Everyone blankly raised their heads. They really couldn’t think of a path they could take.

“We need to find the perpetrator that killed Huang daren and give them to Old Forefather as penance.” He Xiang said in a low voice “This time, whether or not our penance is acceptable will determine if we can survive!”

Many people had doubtful expressions. The matter this time was too serious. They didn’t believe that the Old Forefather would forgive them even if they found the perpetrator.

“This is our only chance!” He Xiang said crisply, and then added meaningfully. “Old Forefather will still need people to take care of affairs! If we can let Old Forefather see our abilities, the hope we can survive is greater.”

Everyone all became alert. Even though they didn’t believe it, but He Xiang was right, this was their only chance.

They had no route to escape.

The power of the Outer Hall was gathered together again. Every elder and all the xiuzhe were sent out.

He Xiang decided to use the stupidest method, moving through faction by faction. He didn’t believe that he couldn’t find the perpetrator!

Little Mountain Jie started to boil again!

———

With Silly Bird found, Zuo Mo went back to building the city. Huang Zhuo Guang was killed, the state of Little Mountain Jie would definitely become tense. There wasn’t much time left for him. Thankfully, Little Mountain Jie, while a small jie, would still take a large amount of effort to search for one person.

But Zuo Mo deeply felt he was pressed for time. He built crazily.

Pah, Zuo Mo spat out the soil from his mouth. His entire body was covered in mud, only his eyes were exposed. Looking at the finished tunnels, he had a satisfied expression. The tunnels between the city and the other six mountain peaks were finished. The remaining work was to set up formations.

What he felt the most from digging tunnels was that this thing really was something for dhyana xiu to do. Without physical strength, he definitely couldn’t have persisted. When a sword xiu was powerful, they could slice through a mountain peak with one blow, but if a sword xiu had to come dig a tunnel, it was like they were blind.

Thinking of his gigantic formation, he felt that his body was filled with inexhaustible energy. He bent his head to and kept working.

Without rest or sleep, Zuo Mo worked for more than ten days, and finished all the tunnels.

———

In these ten days, Little Mountain Jie had become a mess. The Outer Hall seemed to have gone crazy as they searched everywhere. They even put out a mosted wanted list. The most famous on there was Zheng Zhong of ningmai third stratum cultivation. Many others also recognized those like Liu Gui. The only one that was unknown was that black looking person at the top of the list. What people didn’t know to laugh or cry about was that there was also a bird on the ranking, a big grey bird.

Had the Outer Hall gone insane? Many people hadn’t placed any importance on the list when they first received it. However, the Outer Hall used their following actions to demonstrate that they were not joking.

In a short ten days, five factions had been massacred.

The troops of the Outer Hall didn’t seem to show any signs of stopping, and continued to push outwards, not leaving anything behind.

Instantly, Little Mountain Jie became a mess.

Many factions, upon seeing the terrible situation, instantly pledged their allegiance to the Outer Sect to avoid the calamity. Those factions that were not willing to enter the Outer Sect could only keep retreating backwards. The Outer Hall that faced no resistance moved even faster.

After a while, the factions that had joined the Outer Hall quickly were divided into cadet halls of the Outer Hall, and each put in charge of an area rich in ores.

With this, everyone understood what the Outer Hall was planning.

The Outer Hall wanted to swallow all of Little Mountain Jie. They were no longer content with holding the throats of all the factions. They demanded complete control.

Gongsun Cha in a panic went and found Zuo Mo.

After Zuo Mo heard Gongsun Cha’s report, he thought for a while, and said, “We need to first get rid of the Outer Hall.”

He then explained. “There’s really too many people in this batch of people from the Outer Hall. If we don’t get rid of them bit by bit, it’s slightly dangerous. I’m worried that the Old Forefather might not be so proud. Then no matter how good our trap it, it cannot stand against a battle tactic of using sheer numbers. The best path is to lower the power of the Outer Hall. That way, the Clear Sky Old Forefather would have no other option but to come find us.”

Gongsun Cha nodded. They only had one chance. If they were exposed, the Clear Sky Old Forefather wouldn’t be so dumb as to be tricked a second time.

“Can we defeat them?” Zuo Mo asked Gongsun Cha worriedly. The Vermillion Bird Camp now had more than seven hundred people. The Eastern and Western Camps had two thousand people, but Zuo Mo was doubtful regarding their combat abilities. The forces of the Outer Hall had expanded rapidly, their numbers reaching more than ten thousand people. The difference in numbers was too large.

Gongsun Cha smiled shyly and said, “We can try.”

Since he understood Shixiong’s thinking, Gongsun Cha quickly responded. He no longer needed to worry about the safety of the Golden Crow City. The thirty six formation battle watchtowers were enough for self-defense. He moved out with the Vermillion Bird Camp, the Eastern and Western Camps were to stand guard, and to control the watchtowers when it was time.

As to Guard Camp, Gongsun Cha didn’t even go there once.

Who could depend on a group of xiu slaves to do anything?

Gongsun Cha’s departure was silent. The great majority of people in Golden Crow City were ignorant.

Zuo Mo also realized the tense situation. He instantly responded, quickly sending out orders. Without noticing it, the inside of Golden Crow City started to become tense.

Especially the forging division. Every person could feel the tenseness that spread through the air.

———

After a few days, a group of xiuzhe appeared near Golden Crow City. When Vermillion Bird Camp had been present, Gongsun Cha had arranged for patrols to stop people from approaching Golden Crow City. Now that Vermillion Bird Camp had been deployed, there hadn’t been anyone to maintain the patrols.

When the xiuzhe that were training on the formation battle watchtowers saw the crowd of dots on the horizon, they became nervous, and hurriedly sent out an alarm.

The Golden Crow City was on alert!

“Heavens! When had there been a city here?” The xiuzhe at the front looked in disbelief at the little city on the faraway mountain peak.

Everyone else was also staring with wide eyes, their expressions stunned as they looked at the little city.

At this time, a beam of light penetrated the clouds like a sharp sword, and landed on the Golden Crow City. Golden Crow City instantly lit up with a faint light.

The faint golden light exuded the presence of the sun. Even from tens of li out, it still caused trepidation.

“Miracle! This is a miracle!” the xiuzhe at the front muttered to himself.

All of the people were deeply shocked by Golden Crow City. Their gazes couldn’t bear to move away for more than a second. They flew on soullessly.

When they flew to a distance of ten li from the city, the little city was even more realistic in their eyes. It was a city of the sun! They could not imagine what people could construct such a beautiful city!

But when they unconsciously went closer, the xiuzhe at the front suddenly smelled a dangerous presence.

Dots of silver light lit up on the little city.

Everyone instantly stopped in their tracks.

When the xiuzhe at the front saw the watchtowers that were higher than the city walls, an unfamiliar term flashed through his mind. His soul instantly left his body. He shouted hoarsely in terror, “Retreat! Quick, retreat!”

Every watchtower that lit up looked like a silver dot from a distance.

The silver dots lit up one after the other.

All thirty six silver dots bathed in the sunlight. The xiuzhe at the front retreated in panic, his expression shocked, and eyes filled with terror.

Formation battle watchtowers! Those were formation battle watchtowers!

Chapter 279: Transaction

After receiving a strong fright, the xiuzhe retreated twenty li before stopping. Luckily, the silver dots from Golden Crow City did not approach and they calmed down slightly.

“Head, what are formation battle watchtowers?” the subordinate asked, puzzled. The other xiuzhe also had bewildered faces, but some xiuzhe had fearful expressions.

“Great weapons to protect a city.” The Head looked at Golden Crow City and warned, “You have to be careful. If you ever see a city that have things like what you just saw, you have to be careful. The power of formation battle watchtowers are very high. They are used to stop enemies from attacking. Usually, they can only be seen in larger cities. I hadn’t expected such a small city to have thirty six of them.”

“It’s just thirty six of them. We have this many people, one charge, and we can take it down,” the subordinate objected, unconvinced.

“Charge?” the Head smiled coldly. “Don’t cause trouble for me. The other side is much stronger than our people! Don’t look down on those thirty-six formation battle watchtowers. That thing’s expensive. Even if we sell ourselves, we won’t be able to trade for one of them.”

“That expensive?” the subordinate’s eyes widened as he gaped.

“En, very expensive,” the Head said. “Think about it. Right now, we are worried about ling grains everyday, but the other has the ability to build formation battle watchtowers. Is there a need to fight?”

No one spoke. This comparison was simple and straightforward, able to be comprehended at a glance. In Little Mountain Jie, everyone was in a half-starved state. The rarity of ling grains were something every faction had to face.

“If they don’t lack for ling grains, can we buy some ling grains from them?” the subordinate suddenly asked.

The Head stilled, and thought. He was right. The other had the ability to build such a city, they shouldn’t lack for ling grains. In Little Mountain jie right now, even if you had the jingshi, there was no place to buy ling grains.

Just at this time, several people were seen flying out of Golden Crow City.

They were extremely fast, arriving in front of them in a short while. There were four people, the leader a male xiu that was both tall and thin. Beside him were three guards dressed in golden armor.

Everyone’s eyes were attracted by the exaggerated fire red broadswords the Golden Armor Guards were holding. The three xiuzhe were completely enveloped by the golden armor as they stood coldly. The head’s heart shook. He could not see the true power of these three Golden Armor Guards, but the presence and faint viciousness that spilled out made him smell danger.

———

“This one is Bao Yi, the main manager of Golden Crow City’s businesses.” Bao Yi made an elegant bow. Ever since he had followed Boss, what he had done was watch over the stores. Now, it was finally time for him to go back to his old profession. At this moment, his tears almost streamed over his face.

“Bao Yi?” The Head felt that this name was somewhat familiar but he couldn’t recall it. However, he didn’t let the puzzlement stay long on his face, and filled it with a smile, “Nice to meet Manager Bao!”

The people noted down the name of this city, Golden Crow City.

“My apologies.” Bao Yi’s expression made everyone’s hearts tense.

Detecting expressions were basic techniques that every businessperson had to learn. As one of the best, Bao Yi naturally had great skill. His expression was indifferent, but he was very satisfied inside. Before, he had only been a little black market dealer. Now, he could cause such a large crowd of xiuzhe to feel nervous.

This batch of xiuzhe was about five hundred or so people, and could be considered a significant faction.

He felt satisfied, but he didn’t want to ruin his first business transaction. He put on a friendly smile, “Due to our city being too small, it cannot hold everyone. You can set up camp outside the city. All fighting is restricted within twenty li of the city. If you would like to camp inside this area, you will need to pay a fee, and we will direct you to an area to camp. You can also choose to set up camp outside this twenty li area, and not have to pay any fee. Also, our city has a market inside. It will have many surprises for everyone. If you have any needs, our city will open everyday at sunrise, and close at sunset. We will do our best to provide services for everyone.”

When the Head heard such formal words, he thought inside that this was truly a large faction. Look at the mannerisms, the composure. They were even so skilled in demanding jingshi, to the point you couldn’t get angry.

Swallowing, the Head said, “What do you take in trade?”

Little Mountain Jie was extremely chaotic, all kinds of order had collapsed long ago. Many factions traded in all kinds of weird things.

“Jingshi third-grade and above is accepted. Also, to provide convenience, we have specialized conversion services. Acceptable materials are those third-grade and above, talismans and jade scrolls need to be fourth grade and above.”

Hearing this, the Head was even more shocked. Look at that, they only take in jade scrolls and talismans of fourth-grade and above. In their group, there were only two fourth-grade talismans. Compared to the other, they were so poor they were practically beggars.

His heart feeling even less confidence, his voice became smaller, “Then we will camp outside the twenty li.”

The friendly smile hung on Bao Yi’s face. “No problem.” He then handed the Head a paper crane, saying, “If needed, you can contact me at any time. Everyone, you have had a long trip, I will not disturb you, goodbye.”

Finishing, he bowed courteously before taking the three Golden Armor Guards and flying back to the city.

———

When Bao Yi left, this Head instantly asked, “Who has jingshi?”

There were many that kept some, but the total was pitifully small. At this time, a subordinate reminded him, “Head, don’t we have a batch of White Bone Stone? We can sell to them.”

The Head hit his head. Right! White Bone Stone was shaped like white bone, hence the name. It was a rare third-grade material. Instantly feeling that his wallet wasn’t so empty, the Head instantly was lively. “En, we will go look around the city tomorrow, and see what things we can buy.”

At this time, the subordinate suddenly remembered. “Boss, I remember now!’

“Remember what?” the Head turned his face.

“Bao Yi!” this subordinate said. “Bao Yi is a black market dealer. He had went to Nan Sheng Village, but the Chief Elder of the Outer Hall had enmity against him. Don’t you remember? At that time, you even told me to never go to him to buy anything so the Outer Hall wouldn’t hold a grudge against us.”

“I remember!” After this reminder, the Head instantly recalled it. “It seems he caught onto a big tree this time, and struck it rich! The owner of this city is really daring to not even give face to the Outer Hall.”

“Boss, say, could it be that it was this group that did Nan Sheng Village?” the subordinate said in a quiet voice.

The Head shook and jumped in fright. He instantly reprimanded in a low voice, “Don’t speak nonsense! You can’t say these things, you can be killed for this!”

“Yes yes yes!” The subordinate’s face was slightly pale as he nodded continuously.

Waving his hand to push the subordinate to the side, the Head couldn’t help but think. For some reason, what the subordinate just said whirled through his mind like a ghost haunting him.

Had it been this group who did that?

Before today, he had never thought there could be any faction in Little Mountain Jie that could be this powerful. Even the Outer Hall couldn’t compare. Everyone had already discussed in depth what happened at Nan Sheng Village, and had come to a consensus.

The attacking side’s abilities were not smaller than the Outer Hall!

If it really was them … …

The more the Head thought, the more scared he was. It was fated that he would have a sleepless night.

———

Golden Crow City, Zuo Mo worked as he asked, “How was it?”

Bao Yi stood respectfully at the side. “They don’t seem to have too much jingshi.”

“No problem,” Zuo Mo said, “we can loan them some.”

“Loan?” Bao Yi was very shocked. “Then wouldn’t it be unprofitable for us?”

“Loan it to them, and they can then sell to other people.” Zuo Mo clearly had great enthusiasm towards jingshi. He even stopped doing his work and snickered. “As long as there is jingshi to be earned, they will work harder than anyone else.”

“But what if they take the stuff and run?” Bao Yi said, full of worry.

“What are you afraid of?” Zuo Mo was unconcerned. “Where can they run to? They won’t run. Here, they can continuously make jingshi!”

Seeing Bao Yi was going to speak, Zuo Mo waved his hand and said. “Even if we lose, it won’t be a lot. Other than making jingshi, it is more important to sell the Black Processing Meditation mat.”

Bao Yi was confused.

“With the Black Processing Meditation mat, do they still need ling grains?” Zuo Mo asked.

“They don’t need it.” Bao Yi shook his head.

“That’s the point,” Zuo Mo patiently explained. “If they don’t need ling grains, they will not be controlled by Clear Sky Sect. In the future when we are fighting Clear Sky Sect, they would not be pressured to help Clear Sky Sect. This is more important to us. Jingshi is much easier to get than ling grains.”

“If Clear Sky Old Forefather comes, they wouldn’t dare … …” Bao Yi said.

“A single jindan ruling a jie, have you ever heard of it?” Zuo Mo asked. Then he answered his own question, “I’ve never heard of it. Why is everyone so afraid of Clear Sky Sect? It is not Clear Sky Old Forefather, but the ling grains. Without the threat of ling grains, everyone will think, I can’t defeat you, but you can’t do anything if I stay away from you. I don’t need your help.”

“In other words, Little Mountain Jie is still a cage, but inside the cage, people won’t have to worry about their cultivation collapsing in the short term,” Zuo Mo said. “No one likes Clear Sky Sect. In the short term without the threat of ling grains, they won’t help Clear Sky Sect when we fight against Clear Sky Sect.”

Bao Yi finally realized and then asked, “Will they help us? If we get rid of Clear Sky Sect, it would be of benefit to everyone!”

“No,” Zuo Mo’s answer was clean. “You aren’t giving jingshi to them, why will they help you? They also have to consider ‘what if we are defeated?’ They still have to stay in this cage.”

Bao Yi was silent. He knew that Boss wasn’t wrong, but for some reason, he was slightly disappointed by this answer.

Zuo Mo knew Bao Yi’s emotions and comforted. “It’s alright, we hadn’t been planning on depending on them in the first place. We rely on ourselves.”

“En! Boss, I know what to do.” Bao Yi nodded his head firmly, a undetectable cold light flashing in his eyes.

His heart was full of enthusiasm for battle. As a successful black market businessperson, he decided to use the truth to tell them why he could establish himself in the black market, and the difference between black market businesspeople and normal businesspeople. It was all one word

–– Black!

Chapter 280: Prelude

Outside of Nan Sheng Village.

“Hee hee, they definitely would never expect that we would return,” Lei Peng looked at the newly rebuilt Nan Sheng Village, his bearded face snickering.

The other people all had strange expressions.

No one had expected that Lil’ Miss would sneak all the way to Nan Sheng Village.

However, they were full of enthusiasm about destroying the enemy’s main base again. Everyone was drooling while staring at Nan Sheng Village, howling as they charged at Nan Sheng Village.

Hopelessness floated on to the faces of the enemies.

———

Golden Crow City.

“We have all kinds of talismans for all types of xiuzhe, the offensive type, the defensive type, the supporting type. You can see them all. A good talisman can save your life at a critical moment, and they are not expensive … …”

“This is a special product of our city, fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire. I think that I don’t need to introduce this. If you have enough jingshi, we can provide you with an unlimited amount. Of course, something as good as this needs a price suitable for it … …”

“What you see right now is a top-secret talisman, Black Processing Meditation mat. When you possess this, you do not need to worry about relying completely on ling grains. What? You don’t believe me. Oh oh oh I can understand! No matter, what can be more effective than personally experiencing it? Out of consideration for our customers, we provide trial service. Please come with me … …”

“You do not have enough jingshi? Oh, I need to consider this. You know that all of our merchandise are good items that are in high demand. No xiuzhe would be able to refuse this Golden Crow Fire. Black Processing Meditation mat, oh, this definitely is an mighty talisman! Yes, it is not outrageous to use mighty to describe it. It can help you get rid of your reliance on ling grains … …”

“Oh, so it’s like that! I can understand your difficulties. Since you are so sincere, we can both move back a step. You can first borrow a batch of merchandise from our city, but it will not be a huge amount. I trust that you have the abilities to quickly sell all of it with your power. We will not interfere with how much you sell it for. I feel that the large profit involved is enough for your purchasing power to quickly increase in a short time.”

“But considering that we do not have a history of cooperating together, you need to provide a guarantee. Anything can work, I see that your fourth-grade flying sword appeared very good … …”

“Oh, a gentleman will not take another’s items. Since it is so meaningful to you, then this one will not demand it. Then we only have one option, a lien through people. You only have to provide one hundred people as collateral… …”

“We will have a great relationship!”

When the Head came out of Golden Crow City, he shook his slightly inflated head. That slender bamboo rod really knew how to talk. Those good items still seemed to be swaying in front of his eyes. The cold wind that blew against his face cleared his mind. Looking at the faraway mountain peak, he took a deep breath. He knew an outrageously good opportunity was in front of him!

If he could catch this chance, his strength would quickly go up a few levels!

———

Shu Long carefully listened to the voice that came out of the necklace. However, the person who was speaking this time seemed to be arguing with someone.

“They can only cultivate mo, they can’t do what the yao do.” Shu Long was very familiar with this voice that was always slightly scornful. It was this one that had taught them how to cultivate.

Boss’ subordinate was so mysterious, he had never shown his true face.

However, he didn’t dare interrupt. This daren’s temper was not good.

“Oh, you aren’t wrong. The boy is even more outrageous now. We can’t let him continue to be so smug. We are people of status.”

“Okay, we can try what you suggest.”

Listening to this daren talk to himself, Shu Long perceptively stayed silent.

“Shu Long,” The necklace passed through the daren’s call.

He hurriedly responded, “This one is here.”

“From today onwards, the cultivation plan is being changed.”

“Yes.” Shu Long did not argue or object. They would cultivate whichever way Daren said to. Before this, they didn’t know anything about cultivation.

Daren listed all the places that needed to be modified in detail. Shu Long noted all of them down. When he met places he did not understand, he would ask for clarification.

Pu Yao clearly was very satisfied with Shu Long’s attitude, but he still added, “Oh, you need to supervise them. With your turtle speed, when will you even cultivate to an acceptable level?”

“Yes!” Shu Long seriously answered.

“Especially that [Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation], you need to rehearse it well.”

———

In the tunnel, Zuo Mo wiped the sweat off his forehead, a satisfied expression on his face. The four sides of the tunnel had to be carved with formations to create a complete formation. The amount of work Zuo Mo had to complete this time was vast. The nine formation belts interlocked together, each of them with a fourth-grade formation as the core, and thirteen third-grade formations set up in the perimeter.

Nine fourth-grade formations, one hundred and seventeen third-grade formations. He almost didn’t even dare to think about it.

But he still gritted his teeth and started!

If he couldn’t charge out of here, he would die in here sooner or later.

He had struggled greatly when setting up these formations. Every day, his ling and spiritual power were greatly used exhausted.

However, his labor hadn’t been wasted. He had finished one-third of it. Thinking about it, he felt it was impossible. He had never completed so much before.

Releasing a long breath, the golden threads of fire flying in the air were as mischievous as pixies and flew in front of him.

In the fire light, he looked at the female xiu nearby.

She stood there motionlessly like wood. There was a mask on her face again. Zuo Mo had reforged a black mask for her. Her eyes were grey and empty, only flashing with the purple light when she was fighting. This woman who was covered in mysteries!

Looking at her, Zuo Mo’s thoughts wandered.

Who are you!

He shook his head hard and threw away these stray thought. Right now, he needed to think how to finish the big formation. For him, he had never thought of such a large formation belt before.

From the planning to fruition, it had been all completed by him. Every time he thought of it, his blood heated up.

When ge gets this done, what Hero’s Pass, what sect jinzhi, all of that is nothing.

He gathered one hundred and twenty percent of his mental effort and went back to his work.

———

In the forging division, Sun Bao wiped away the sweat and said with a grimace to Ji Wei, “Boss’ pace is too astonishing, we really have it hard.”

Ji Wei could only grimace along. “What can we do? I don’t know if Boss is made out of metal or something. We forged so many parts, he shouldn’t be so fast even if he was eating them.”

The two could only grimace at each other before bending down to forge.

———

Gongsun Cha looked at Nan Sheng Village under his feet that had been once again turned to ruins, his face expressionless. He knew this was only the start. It was like a war that had just started. The following battles would be their true test.

“Daren, where are we going now?”

Xie Shan asked with anticipation. He was totally won over by this Head who was much lower in cultivation than him. Boss and Lil’ Miss’ ages were not high, but why were they so strong? Supposedly, they were disciples of the same sect. It was very rare to see such strong disciples at such a young age.

The ambush this time was not as fierce as last time, but this kind of disciplined style made Xie Shan feel very good inside. In such a short period of time, everyone had made such large improvements. He felt it was incredible when he thought back.

The other people looked towards Lil’ Miss with anticipation. When Lil’ Miss personally led the troops, he would always give them unexpected surprises.

“Didn’t they create cadet halls? Pick one to start with.” Gongsun Cha’s face had a rare cold expression, his tone murderous.

This group of battlemaniacs instantly became excited.

Only a rare few realized the abnormality of the mission this time and from Lil’ Miss’ unusual attitude. They looked at each other.

Was the final battle going to start … …

———

Sky Water Jie, a grand yard filled with grass and ling beasts frolicking about. In the very center, there was an ancient copper diffuser as high as a person. Beside the stove, there was a middle-aged xiuzhe sitting cross legged on a meditation mat, surrounded by the smoke.

Suddenly, a paper crane flew out of the sky and landed in front of the middle-aged xiuzhe.

The middle-aged xiuzhe opened their eyes, and looked at the paper crane with a surprised expression. He hurriedly opened the paper crane. After carefully reading it over, he sank into deep thought.

After a while, he raised his head. His finger flicked and a sword light flew out. Shortly after, a female xiu flew in front of the middle-aged xiu, and bowed slightly, “Why has Daren summoned me?”

The female xiu wore deep red ling armor, her features pretty and her mannerisms restrained.

“Do you know the situation of Little Mountain Jie?” the middle-aged xiuzhe asked solemnly.

“I know some.”

“Oh, speak.”

“Little Mountain Jie is managed by Clear Sky Sect presently. After the yao army passed through, the ling energy there has withered. Many xiuzhe have become trapped inside because the Clear Sky Sect blockades the jie river,” the female xiu paused slightly, “the Hundred Flowers Alliance and other sects have relationships with Clear Sky Sect, and have made private transactions.”

“Clear Sky Sect’s guts isn’t small.” The face of the middle-aged xiuzhe was slightly heavy. “It looks as though they want to turn Little Mountain Jie into their own private property. Who’s the leader of Clear Sky Sect right now?”

“It is Clear Sky Old Forefather.”

“That old man,” the middle-aged person said with a smirk, “there naturally will be people to sort him out.”

The female xiu did not speak and waited silently.

The middle-aged person took out a token and threw it to the female xiu. “Go pick two hundred people to go with you to Little Mountain Jie. With this token, that old person will not block you.”

“What is this subordinate’s mission?”

“You only need to accomplish one matter this time,” the middle-aged xiuzhe said. “Stars in Daytime appeared in Little Mountain Jie, you will go investigate this matter.”

“Stars in Daytime?” the female xiu had a shocked expression.

“Yes, it has also appeared once in Sky Moon Jie. There is most likely a connection between these two occasions. You have to pay special attention to those xiuzhe that escaped from Sky Moon Jie to Little Mountain Jie.”

“If we find this person, what should I do?” the female xiu, bowing.

“Bring them back!” the middle-aged person said.

“I understand.”

Chapter 281: Gradual Advance

Nan Sheng Village had been destroyed again!

This was like a peerlessly loud slap that landed heavily on He Xiang’s face. He Xiang felt a rush of blood rush up his throat and he almost fainted. The expressions of the other elders were also terrible. They had achieved great victories recently, and saw the hope of survival.

But at this time, they were hit over the head with a stick.

“Who! Motherf***ing who!” an elder lost control of his emotions, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“It definitely is that group! It has to be them!”

The crowd was furious. All of the elders were like a pack of wolves that were pushed to the precipice, their faces red as they breathed heavily.

He Xiang steadied his mind. He tried to calm himself down. He raised a hand and stopped the shouts of the elders, saying, “We need to retaliate! A hard counterattack! Old Forefather is watching at us. All of Little Mountain Jie is watching us. If we are so easily defeated, no one will listen to us again. Old Forefather will lose his last thread of patience, and we will be finished!”

“Catch them! Defeat them! At any cost!”

He Xiang gritted through his teeth.

“The final battle has started! This is our final battle! This battle will determine if we live or die!”

No one spoke. The eyes of every elder were red, their faces twisted.

———

Ji Wei and Sun Bao carefully entered the tunnels. Their eyes uncontrollably looked at the complex formations on the walls of the tunnels with intoxicated expressions. They were like unworldly country bumpkins that had entered the city for the first time, feeling as though their eyes were not enough to take in the sights.

Their gasps occasionally rang out in the silent tunnels.

“Look at this, it can be interlocked like this!” Ji Wei pointed at a place, and praised. “I don’t know what is inside Boss’ head that he can think of a solution like this!”

“Yes!” Sun Bao replied, but his gaze didn’t bear to move away. “Boss’ learning in formations is growing deeper.”

“Oh, I feel that Boss might be able to get a Formation Grandmaster medal to play with,” Ji Wei said.

“Boss won’t be interested,” Sun Bao got a hint, and contentedly shifted his eyes away. “What use is that Formation Grandmaster jade medal to Boss? Will Boss depend on it for his meal ticket? We should probably get some so that we won’t end up without the qualifications to be Boss’ assistants. Look at these formations, they are as beautiful as a picture. There’s nothing to say about Boss’ skill with fire. I say that if Boss forged, we could only be his assistants. Think about it, how old is Boss?”

Hearing this, Ji Wei nodded emphatically. “You are right. We need to work on the little group of brats. Ai, it would be great if they had half the talent of Boss.”

Sun Bao smiled scornfully and said, “Half of his talent, don’t dream. We aren’t young people, but have you ever seen someone as monstrous as Boss? Heavens, he isn’t a person. He built this Golden Crow City by himself, and used fire forging methods. You might not have noticed but I was dumbstruck on the spot.”

Ji Wei nodded with empathy. “Yes, I was also stunned. Even with all of us assisting, we almost didn’t manage to keep up the supply. I didn’t sleep well any of those days in fear we couldn’t keep up. Boss’s fire paper technique, tsk tsk, it is a pleasure to see, I didn’t want to move away.”

Sun bao snickered. “Everyone is the same. Who has seen such wonderful fire forging technique? It is enough to scare me to death. And those formation battle watchtowers. Thirty six towers. Motherf***er, we’re lucky Boss is Boss. If it was any other person, everyone else would lose their meal ticket.”

“With the city, and the formation battle watchtowers, our Golden Crow City is probably unique among Little Mountain Jie,” Jie Wei said, full of pride.

“Of course!” Sun Bao also had a proud expression. He looked around, and then lowered his voice to say, “But from what I see, Boss might not stay in Little Mountain Jie. Look at these tunnels, this formation belt. It is very big. Other than jindan, I can’t think of anyone who needs such preparations.”

Ji Wei was silent for a moment before saying, “In any case, I’m planning on going with Boss. I’m not young anymore, I see the world clearly. There’s nothing to say about how Boss treats us. As to the other, life and death, I’m too lazy to think.”

“Your words are wasted on me,” Ji Wei said unconcernedly. “No one among us will run now. If any of the brats dare run, watch me break his legs. I’m confident in Boss. Just this Little Mountain Jie cannot trap Boss.”

“Then why are you saying this?” Ji Wei glanced at the other out of the corner of his eyes.

Sun Bao said excitedly, “Aren’t you excited? We are going to deal with a jindan! Jindan!”

Ji Wei rolled his eyes, and said rudely. “You’re a pretty old person, why are you still so childlike? Quick, quick, stop wasting time. We need to deliver this to Boss, he’s waiting.”

“You aren’t excited at all? Jindan, that is a jindan … …”

“Oh, very excited.”

“You aren’t excited at all, how can you not be excited? You … …”

“Since you have this much energy, go back and forge some more Black Processing Meditation mats. The slender bamboo almost can’t meet the demand … …”

———

Bao Yi looked at the mountains of jingshi and materials in the storeroom and his face blossomed. Boss was right. The domino effect was really too fast! After that Head had left, several more group of xiuzhe had arrived shortly after. Some people had bought Black Processing Meditation mat from others, and then came in search of more. Others were just passing by.

They had to thank the Outer Hall. As the Outer Hall pushed forward, the xiuzhe along the way continued to retreat, and run. Consequently, many xiuzhe would pass by Golden Crow City. Every xiuzhe that passed by would gape when they saw Golden Crow City, so shocked they would almost drop from the sky.

And what the city was selling made everyone go crazy.

The appearance of the Black Processing Meditation mat was a great explosion. The number of people that came to buy Black Processing Meditation mat everyday was so much they had lined up. It wasn’t realistic for each person to by one. Usually it was a group and they would buy a few dozen each time. About three people would share a single mat and could satisfy their daily needs.

However, the direct result of the Black Processing Meditation mat was the jingshi that everyone had thrown to the side before increased in value. With the Black Processing Meditation mat, jingshi was equivalent to ling grains. Many xiuzhe couldn’t bear to use jingshi to purchase, and mostly traded using materials.

So all kinds of materials flooded towards Golden Crow City, causing Bao Yi to increase the standard for taking in materials.

Bao Yi’s face was flushed, his mind excited. He had been a black market dealer for so long, but had never done business like this. What he was selling now would directly change the situation of Little Mountain Jie. He felt so happy he was going to faint.

The supply was not keeping up with demand, and gave him enough space to express “black” to its limits.

Talismans, materials, jingshi … …

We’ll take them, take them all!

Expensive? Oh, very sorry, we don’t have discounts!

The feeling of richness that he never had before took over his entire body.

His life like this, what else could he ask for!

———

The sky was dark and bloody, the ground was barren. This was a certain place in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

A troop of yao camped surrounding a spring that looked like fresh blood. This was a blood spring. Blood springs were frequently seen in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. For yaomo, blood springs were very good places. Yao could use it to calm their energies, and mo could directly consume the spring blood to recover their strength. But for xiuzhe, blood springs were a terrible place. The closer it was to the blood spring, the more brutal and restless the ling power was. The spring blood of the blood spring was also a fatal poison for xiuzhe. If xiuzhe under jindan came into contact with the slightest bit of it, they would be poisoned. If they were not careful, they would die.

This troop of yao was about one thousand people.

“How far away are we from Little Mountain Jie?” the leading commander asked.

“About fifteen days of travel,” his vice commander hurriedly said.

Suddenly, a bead on the bracelet on his wrist lit up with a blue light. He made a light sound. “Blue Hyacinth! Orders from the Elder Council!”

He took down the bead glowing with blue light and threw it onto the ground. Pia. As the bead landed, it burrowed into the ground. Quickly, a blue plant grew with speed visible to the naked eye, flowered, and produced fruit.

From beginning to end, it took just two breaths.

The blue fruit produced a faint blue mist. The mist moved and roiled, forming an old face.

“Sir Tian Sheng, after the discussion of the Elder Council, you have been commanded to move your division at the fastest speed possible to Little Mountain Jie, take over and hold the jie river of Little Mountain Jie to Sky Water Jie, and are not permitted to fail!”

“Yes!” Tian Sheng gravely responded.

Pah, the mist dissipated. This blue hyacinth quickly withered and turned to dust. With a gust of wind, nothing was left.

“Send the order down. Gather immediately to travel,” Tian Sheng said gravely.

“Yes!” the vice commander hurriedly followed the order.

Tian Sheng was still thinking over the order just now. In all the military orders of the yao military, only the orders from the Elder Sect could use blue hyacinths. In other words, this order had come directly from the Elder Council. This kind of situation was extremely rare, and the first time he had encountered it.

Something definitely had happened in Little Mountain Jie.

Even though they had not rested for long, and everyone had not recovered from their exhaustion, the good discipline of the yao military was fully expressed now. They quickly packed up.

“Little Mountain Jie, travel at our fastest speed!”

———

Dong Cheng idly stretched out. It was very hard to be able to live such an idle life in Little Mountain Jie. He was secretly proud of his perceptiveness. As the first faction to submit to the Outer Hall, he became the example, and was put in charge of the first cadet branch of the Outer Hall.

The first one of the Outer Hall. He narrowed his eyes, and enjoyed the sunlight falling on his face. Just this name was enough for him to have a good life in the future.

Even though each month’s jobs were not light, but it was a great improvement over his past life.

Oh, he had to make a request for a batch of xiu slaves from the main hall.

Suddenly, a subordinate stumbled into the yard and shouted in panic, “Daren! Daren! It’s not good, it’s not good!”

Dong Cheng’s dream was disturbed, and he was very discontent. He furrowed his brow. “What are you panicking about. I haven’t died yet!”

“It’s not good! Daren! It really isn’t good … …”

“Hmph, say, what isn’t good?” Dong Zheng was even more discontent. He decided that if this guy couldn’t mention a great matter, he would punish the other well.

“Someone has attacked us … …”

“My ass!” Dong Cheng snorted. “In Little Mountain Jie, no one dares to come to our Outer Hall to … …”

His voice suddenly stopped, his body freezing as he looked dazedly at the sky.

In the sky, a troop was looking down at them.

Suddenly thinking of something, Dong Cheng’s face was drained of blood in an instant, his limbs went cold!

Chapter 282: Fire Sickle Rock

It wasn’t the first time Rong Wei came to Little Mountain Jie, but when she saw how damaged Little Mountain Jie was, she was still shocked. The house guards that came with her were also shocked.

“Clear Sky Sect isn’t really a good thing. Look at Little Mountain, what have they done to it?” someone muttered.

“Yes, they will be punished by the heavens!”

“Is the Marquis going to move against Clear Sky Sect?”

“Don’t guess randomly .. …”

Listening to the mutterings of her subordinates, Rong Wei did not speak. Her mind was slightly unfocused. After a moment, she refocused. She hadn’t seen Clear Sky Old Forefather. The Marquis’ token had been presented, and they were let into Little Mountain Jie.

She could clearly feel the nervous mood of Clear Sky Sect. She heard that someone had encountered something.

Had something happened again in Little Mountain Jie?

The incident of Stars in Daytime in Sky Moon Jie had disturbed many people at the time. She knew that the Marquis had paid special attention to the matter. Even though she had been brought up by the Marquis from childhood, she rarely saw the Marquis so concerned over a matter.

The origins of the Marquis were deep and mysterious. She had never seen him attend to the major matters that occurred in Sky Moon Jie, but for the first time, she had seen a grave expression on Marquis’ face concerning the Stars in Daytime.

This was the second time, and was also due to the Stars in Daytime.

There were many jade scrolls and old records in the Marquis’ compound. Growing up from childhood in the compound, Rong Wei’s knowledge was much wider than the great majority of xiuzhe. She knew a bit about what Stars in Daytime meant.

She felt slightly puzzled. The impression that Marquis usually gave her was that of an idle person. She couldn’t help but feel nervous that he was so concerned about such a matter.

She focused, and slowly said, “Let’s go.”

The compound guards instantly closed their mouths. Miss Rong was not of Marquis’s legitimate line, but in terms of favor, she was first in the compound. Also, Miss Rong had not failed the Marquis’ teachings, and was outstanding in all areas since childhood. It was just that she rarely left the compound, so her reputation was not known. The compound guards, regardless of their experience, were all respectful when they saw her, and didn’t dare to do any posturing.

Rong Wei’s head started to hurt. Where should she start investigating the Stars in Daytime?

———

Jiang Hao looked at the most wanted list and drooled, “Big Brother, we are going to get rich now!” The other people also showed undisguised greed.

Jiang Wei was also swallowing hard, but he was calmer than his younger brother. Whenever he thought of that strange and terrifying female xiu, he would sink into deep terror.

“Don’t forget about that female xiu.” His voice was hoarse.

The surroundings became deathly silent. Terror was imprinted on everyone’s eyes. After seeing that silent massacre, three among them had their cultivation collapse due to long-term terror. The wails before their death still seemed to echo in their ears.

The flames of greed in everyone’s eyes were doused by a bucket of cold water.

Jiang Hao shook. He force a smile and said, “The one that will go find them is the Outer Hall. No matter how powerful the female xiu is, she is just one person … …” His voice became increasingly light, and his face increasingly pale.

“No matter how many the benefits are, we will need to live to experience them.” Jiang Wei’s eyes were bloodshot, and he said gravely, “Since the Outer Hall is searching for them, they will be able to find them. The collision between the two sides is beneficial to us. Maybe we can even leave this damned place.”

“Brother, you think too highly of them,” Jiang Hao said with a forced smile.

“It’s not that I think highly of them, but I hope they can do it,” Jiang Wei sighed.

The other people were silent.

———

In Zuo Mo’s vast tunnels, the surroundings were filled with formations. His heart was excited. Finished! He finally finished!

To set up such a large formation just with his power, he had enough to be proud of!

Thinking it over, working day and night, only he knew how difficult it had been. Starting from when he began building Golden Crow City, he had never truly thought he could finish it. The increasingly tense situation was like an invisible whip continuously urging him to be faster!

When it truly was finished, Zuo Mo felt he was in a dream.

“Is this real?” he suddenly turned and asked the female xiu.

The female xiu didn’t seem to hear and didn’t respond.

Zuo Mo snickered and was not concerned. He muttered to himself. “Please don’t let this be a dream!”

In this period of time, his consciousness had improved greatly, his skill with fire deepening with every day so that the later portion of his work had been completed quickly. With his previous skill level, it wouldn’t have been possible to complete such a vast project without using the better half of a year.

Pu Yao hadn’t lied to him this time. He had improved greatly through the entire process of building the city, so much that even he was shocked. The Jade Metal Head had entered third maturation. What excited him the most was that his consciousness had grown more than three times. Right now, he felt as though he was a basin of water, with so much water that it was almost overflowing. His consciousness probably wasn’t far from a breakthrough. He also had a feeling that if his breakthrough could succeed this time, the degree of improvement would be very large.

Looking at the surroundings, Zuo Mo was suddenly filled with confidence!

Even if what he was facing was a jindan!

Right now, there was only one thing left to do.

———

Zuo Mo didn’t tell anyone the work had been completed, but the first person who felt the effects was Bao Yi. The supply of Black Processing Meditation mats couldn’t keep up with demand. Bao Yi felt proud, but also frantic.

Yet suddenly the production of Black Processing Meditation mat increased dramatically. He perceptively realized what had happened.

Only if Boss did not require any supplies on his side, then the people of the forging division would be able to put all their effort into making Black Processing Meditation mats. Of the two most famous products of Golden Crow city, one was Golden Crow Fire, the other was Black Processing Meditation mat. Other than the batch that Bao Yi deliberately held back, the remaining Golden Crow Fire had all been sold. Only Boss could make Golden Crow Fire. Now that no one could find Boss through the day, who had the time to hope he could produce Golden Crow Fire?

Golden Crow City only sold one product now, Black Processing Meditation mats.

The wondrous ability of the Black Processing Meditation mat spread throughout Little Mountain Jie like it had wings. Countless xiuzhe flooded from all areas towards Golden Crow City.

———

In a dusky mine shaft, Lil’ Pagoda floated in the air like a dutiful supervisor as it directed those puppets to continuously work. The abnormal change had frightened the timid Lil’ Pagoda half to death. Even though Zuo Mo had not scolded it, it still expressed an attitude of fulfilling its duties well.

This caused the production of jingshi and ore recently to grow dramatically. The cheer on Bao Yi’s face had grown even more.

Suddenly, a copper puppet stopped what it was going, looking dazedly at the strange item in front of it.

Lil’ Pagoda instantly detected the abnormality, and hurriedly flew over.

It was a bright red rock that exuded a strange presence. Lil’ Pagoda tilted its head and looked with puzzlement at this piece of red rock.

Zuo Mo instantly received the information Lil’ Pagoda passed over and rushed over, since Lil’ Pagoda was connected to Zuo Mo.

“Hm, this rock is strange.” Zuo Mo went over and tapped it.

The red rock was the size of a table and appeared like a piece of red jade, spreading threads of warmth. However, what was most unique was that it contained strong vitality. If one came close, they could make out the sound of a heartbeat.

Was this something alive? Zuo Mo felt it was so fantastical. After circling the rock and thinking hard, he couldn’t think of what this red rock really was.

“Pu Yao, what is this?” Zuo Mo ran over to ask Pu Yao.

Pu Yao sat in front of the gravestone and resting, acting as if he was ignoring Zuo Mo.

Seeing Pu Yao’s state. Zuo Mo understood that this guy was in a mood. However, he had long forgotten what he had done.

A real man could bow and scrape, ge will endure.

Zuo Mo piled on the smiles, “Pu Yao, you are a honored Sky Yao, what are you doing holding a grudge against a little character like me? Ge … … oh no, if this little brother has done something wrong, please have tolerance.”

Pu Yao’s eyes were still closed, and there was no movement, but Zuo Mo noticed that Pu Yao’s spine had straightened slightly.

It worked!

“Pu Yao, you are a millennia old Sky yao! The breadth of your mind, the composure, it is as wide as the sky, as deep as the ocean, your knowledge, your … …”

“Okay okay! Stop with the flattery!” Pu Yao’s expression was impatient, but the smile at the corner of his mouth revealed his pleased mood.

Zuo Mo mocked him inside. As expected of a thousand year antique. He bent under just this little bit of flattery. He piled on a fawning smile, “Some guidance?”

“Hm.” Pu Yao gave a light cough before slowly drawling, “It’s not embarrassing that you haven’t seen this before. There aren’t many xiuzhe that have seen it. This is Fire Sickle Rock. After absorbing the essence of moon and sun for a long time, it has born an intelligence. If nothing had changed in Little Mountain Jie, this piece of Fire Sickle Rock would just be an earthly treasure about fifth-grade.”

“Then now?” Zuo Mo perceptively asked.

“Presently, the ling energy of Little Mountain Jie has withered, and the power of the chaos has risen. But since this piece of Fire Sickle Rock has an intelligence, it couldn’t absorb ling power so it absorbed the power of chaos instead.”

Zuo Mo didn’t understand. “Power of chaos?”

“Chaos is the originator of all power. No matter if it is xiuzhe, yao or mo, power comes from chaos. But because everyone walks a different path, the result is completely different. What yaomo do is to go with the flow, while xiuzhe chose to resist. The ling power of the xiuzhe is a natural enemy to the power of chaos. “

“You mean he became a yaomo?” Zuo Mo pointed at the rock and asked with shock.

“Become yao.” Pu Yao was clearly smug. “There is a fire yao being nurtured here, but before it comes out, I don’t know what kind of fire yao. The intelligent souls of flora will become yao, the intelligent souls of wild beasts will become mo. If you throw ling beasts into a place like Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, and after corrosion by the power of chaos, it will become mo.”

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. “So it’s just a yao, then shouldn’t I kill the yaomo?”

Pu Yao’s face instantly became black, “Who are you killing?”

Zuo Mo shook. He remembered the guy in front of him was a Sky Yao. He smiled, “Joke, joke!” He then said, “I’m just too disappointed. I thought I dug up a treasure, and didn’t expect it was something useless.”

“Who says it is useless?” Pu Yao was clearly slightly excited. “You just don’t know it! Treasure, hmph, even if it was put in front of you, you won’t recognize it.”

“Then what is the use?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked.

Pu Yao closed his mouth and made a proud posture.

Zuo Mo wasn’t tricked. He took out a flying sword from the ring, and moved it to the Fire Sickle Rock. “If I can’t use it, I can’t let other people have it. So let’s kill it.”

Seeing the situation, Pu Yao said, “Fire yao isn’t too different than your ling beasts. You can use some of its abilities.”

“Oh, so that’s it, but I don’t know how.”

“Just drip blood.” Once Pu Yao finished, he knew he was tricked.

As expected, Zuo Mo cheerfully turned the flying sword and swiped across his finger. He squeezed out a drop of blood onto the Fire Sickle Rock.

Chapter 283: Lil’ Fire

The red light of the Fire Sickle Rock exploded forth, and the temperature rose drastically.

After a while, the red light started to flicker, and with a light sound, a burning flame rose out of the Fire Sickle Rock. The flame was extremely hot. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. Right now, his Jade Metal Head was in third maturation, but he could just barely tolerate such a high temperature. If it was a normal xiuzhe, they probably would have to activate their ling armor to hold up.

Such a powerful fire!

A copper puppet was unable to avoid it and started to melt.

Zuo Mo stared at the burning Fire Sickle Rock. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice passed into his mind.

“Cheep cheep cheep!”

Even though he could not understand, but Zuo Mo could feel the closeness and joy it passed on. He couldn’t help but grin.

The vitality coming from the Fire Sickle Rock inside the flame became even stronger. He could clearly feel something alive inside it. After burning for two whole hours, the Fire Sickle Rock suddenly split from the middle. A red shadow shot out rapidly.

The fire shadow suddenly stopped in front of Zuo Mo. He finally managed to see this fire yao. It was the size of a fist, shaped like a ball of fire as it continued to chirp. It happily flew nimbly around Zuo Mo.

“You’ll be called Lil’ Fire.” Zuo Mo made up a name on the spot. Lil’ Fire seemed to understand and was even happier, chirping continuously.

Lil’ Pagoda was curious and timidly came over.

Lil’ Fire was not shy, and quickly started to play with Lil’ Pagoda. The pagoda and fire flew quickly in the air as they chased after each other. Zuo Mo’s mood was very good. The scene in front of him made him feel very warm inside. Even if Lil’ Fire didn’t have any spells, he felt it was alright.

After a while, a grey figure flashed into the cave like lightning.

It was Silly Bird with Lil’ Black on top of her head. She elegantly reached out with her bird claws and gently landed on the ground. When Lil’ Pagoda saw Silly Bird, it was even more excited. It took the little brother it just met and ran in front of Silly Bird. Lil’ Fire circled around Silly Bird in curiosity. At this moment, Silly Bird was like a big sister. She used her long bird beak to nudge Lil’ Fire.

Lil’ Fire was like a rubber ball as it flipped through the air. It became even more excited and chirped.

Seeing the little ones interacting harmoniously, Zuo Mo was even happier. The only thing that caused discontent was Silly Bird. From the moment this one landed, she didn’t even look at him properly.

This brat! Zuo Mo gritted his teeth but couldn’t do anything. He didn’t know what had happened, but she was even faster than his flying sword. He couldn’t do anything to her.

“What are you playing around for? Go work!” Zuo Mo glared at Lil’ Pagoda.

Lil’ Pagoda, that was playing happily, instantly withered, dejectedly directing the puppets to start mining.

Little brat, dare to fight against ge! Zuo Mo left in satisfaction.

When Zuo Mo left, the four little ones gathered together again as they chatted.

Lil’ Black quickly climbed down from Silly Bird’s head, moving its short legs like a wisp of black smoke to quickly circle around the cave, its antennae waving. After a while, it stopped on a piece of rock in the cave. It waved its antennae at the other three, and then flipped its short legs, running off the rock.

Silly Bird made a small jump and spread her wings. With a fierce flap, a sharp howl suddenly sounded inside the cave. Like a flash of grey lightning, it struck the rock that Lil’ Black had pointed out.

The hard rock was like a piece of tofu as Silly Bird pierced through it like a sharp arrow.

A large hole appeared in the rock.

After a while, a grey shadow flew out of it. Silly Bird stopped in the air, shook off the shards of rock, and resumed her elegant composure.

Lil’ Fire chirped and turned into a thread of fire, burrowing into the deep cave that Silly Bird bored out.

After a while, countless threads of fire criss-crossed in the cave like a red spiderweb. After a while, Lil’ Fire wavered drunkenly as it flew out of the cave.

Rumble rumble!

Large pieces of rock continued to fall like it was raining. In a moment, the tunnel was filled with pieces of rock. Lil’ Pagoda happily turned in the air, and the copper puppets instantly leapt over.

After a short while, the ore was piled up in mountains.

The four little ones started to play again, the cheerful chirping of Lil’ Fire echoing in the tunnels.

———

“The third cadet hall.” Lei Peng smacked his lips. “Hee hee, Lil’ Miss is serious this time.”

Nian Lu took out a mirror, and combed his bangs that had been blown into disorder by the wind. He said, “It’s a pity there aren’t any female xiu. Without their furious shouts, I’m really not used to it. Such a waste of the beautiful scene that is I.”

Lei Peng ignored him and said, “With Lil’ Miss’ personality, since he decided to act, he definitely wouldn’t be hitting the cadet branches just to vent. Who do you think that we are going to attack next?”

There were many people that also had the same question as Lei Peng. Xie Shan was one of those.

Ma Fan held a stalk of grass in his mouth as he lazily laid on the ground. “If it was me, I’d hit the reinforcements.”

“The reinforcements?” Xie Shan had a thoughtful expression. As the two most offensively powerful people of Vermillion Bird Camp, their relationship had gradually deepened. Ma Fan had many ideas. After being the core for a while, his perspective when looking at a problem was very different than normal xiuzhe.

“En. We’ve attacked so many of their cadet halls, the Outer Hall certainly wouldn’t rest. They will definitely send people to attack us.” Ma Fan had a thoughtful expression and said, “We don’t have many people. If we end up surrounded by the enemy, our days will end. We need space, we need to continuously pull along the enemy so we have opportunities.”

Xie Shan’s eyes lit up, clapping his hands as he praised, “Right! This way, we will slowly consume the enemy.”

Ma Fan smiled and said, “We can think of it, how can Lil’ Miss not think of it? Don’t worry, I’m not sure about other places, but there definitely is no one in Little Mountain Jie that can defeat Lil’ Miss.”

“Ha ha,” Xie Shan said with a smile, “that’s true.”

“How long do you have until jindan?” Ma Fan suddenly asked.

“I don’t know, but I feel that I will breakthrough soon. As expected, combat is the best training,” Xie Shan said with a smile.

“After jindan? Where are you going?” Ma Fan said with slight gravity.

“You don’t need to feel me out,” Xie Shan smiled and said, “I’ll definitely still follow Boss. Actually, I’m slightly curious.”

“Curious about what?” Ma Fan asked.

“I’m curious how far Boss can really go.” Xie Shan looked into the distance.

“Just because of this? I don’t believe it.” Ma Fan shook his head.

“Of course that isn’t all of it. I’ve gradually come to understand just how much I’m worth. Boss is a pretty good boss, and I feel that Boss has a good future.” Xie Shan listed with his fingers, “Talented, hard-working, humble. Most importantly, young. Way too young! It’s the first time I’ve met such a powerful person. Boss’ origins are probably not as simple as we think. Adding on Lil’ Miss, and the band of brothers we have now, it’s nothing to just conquer a territory and live a good life.”

He laughed self-mockingly. “I’ve been the leader before, it isn’t easy being the leader. I feel that it is pretty good right now, I get all my benefits, I don’t have to worry about any problems, and can do anything that is needed. My progress in this past half-year is more than the progress of the last three years combined.”

Ma Fan didn’t speak, but his expression lessened.

“Don’t worry, I guarantee that the none of the brothers now will leave,” Xie Shan’s voice was filled with confidence.

Ma Fan chewed the grass stalk and made a sound of acknowledgement.

Suddenly, a sharp bugle call sounded.

“Let’s go, it’s time to work!”

———

He Xiang was extremely busy. He hadn’t had good sleep in these days. He hadn’t expected the mysterious troop that suddenly appeared behind him to be this slippery. He had sent a troop to kill them, but after two days, he received the unexpected news that a cadet hall was destroyed.

With anger, he sent out another troop.

The other’s movement was hard to predict. After a few days, another piece of news came through. An cadet hall located extremely far away had been massacred.

After that, every one to two days, he would receive the bad news that a certain cadet hall had been destroyed.

The news seemed to spread through Little Mountain Jie like it had wings. Their progress instantly became much harder. The factions that had thought of submitting to the Outer Hall started to hesitate.

The Outer Hall could not be stopped, but clearly, that mysterious troop also could not be stopped. The news that the cadet halls were attacked spread through all the cadet halls. Each hall had prepared, but they could not stop this mysterious force.

From this, it was possible to see the power of this force!

But the factions couldn’t bear to surrender the territory that they had won through hard work. If they lost these territories, and they were swallowed by the Outer Hall, they wouldn’t have any leverage to negotiate.

These factions instantly found it hard to advance or retreat.

As the advance of the Outer Hall met resistance, the pressure on He Xiang and the others’ bodies increased heavily.

“We need to find their base!” In the time of ten short days, He Xiang seemed like a completely different person. His entire face was shockingly thin. “It definitely isn’t the matter of a few days to train such a strong force. If we can find their base, then they will definitely be forced to go back. At that time, we can surround them.”

“But we’ve searched for so long, and there hasn’t been any news!” an elder said.

Just at this time, an elder suddenly stumbled in. “I found them! I found them!”

All the elders abruptly stood up.

“Where?”

“What place?”

“All of you, shut up!” He Xiang shouted sharply. Instantly, everyone obediently close their mouths. In this short period of time, He Xiang had successfully built up his authority. It truly wasn’t luck that the Old Forefather had picked him.

The elder that charged in was flushed and extremely excited. “Let me first show you something!”

He Xiang suppressed the irritation inside.

A black meditation mat was placed in front of everyone. The elders hurriedly came over and examined it. They all recognized good things, and instantly saw the trick. All of them inhaled sharply.

They weren’t dumb. This little meditation mat was a decisive influence on the situation of Little Mountain Jie.

“This is a talisman produced by a place called Golden Crow City. I probably don’t need to introduce the abilities. Golden Crow City is at the Sky Star Peak. After a group occupied it, they built a city.”

Everyone couldn’t help but inhale sharply again

Built a city!

“I’m not sure who the true master is, but Elder He is definitely very familiar with their chief business manager.”

He Xiang’s expression changed. “Who is it?”

“Bao Yi!”

The elders’ faces instantly became strange. He Xiang’s face instantly became heavy.

“According to the xiuzhe, they once saw a troop leave Golden Crow City at night. Less than one thousand people,” the elder said, “so that’s why I suspect it is them. Now, all the xiuzhe in the jie are moving there. If we don’t defeat it soon, if this meditation mat continues to sell, our future days won’t be easy.”

Everyone’s expression instantly became heavy.

He Xiang stood up, his expression vicious. “Attack Golden Crow City!”

Chapter 284: Great Formation!

In an enormous and deep pit, Zuo Mo continuously dug down.

The hole above his head seemed to be palm-sized. The depth of this place was fifty zhang below ground level. The pit was about one zhang in radius. The female xiu stood nearby. Looking up, the height of fifty zhang was enough to make one feel suffocated.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo stopped his movements, a surprised and joyful expression on his face.

“Let’s go up,” he said to the female xiu. Even though the female xiu couldn’t hear, but he still said it. Then he started to fly up, the female xiu followed closely behind him.

As he flew up to the entrance of the hole, Zuo Mo stopped and took a deep breath.

With all his power, he punched out a Sky Glass Wave!

A glass-like fist brutally entered the pit, and smashed heavily on the bottom.

Boom!

Bright red lava sprouted out, continuously sprouting up like an ancient wild beast released from its cage. From far away, Zuo Mo was still able to feel a burning presence rush against his face.

The deep red lava would occasionally spit out flames. Facing the power of nature, Zuo Mo’s expression couldn’t help but change. If he accidentally got caught by the earth fire, unless he had jindan cultivation, his bones would not survive.

Other than shock, joy also made its way onto his face.

He pulled the female xiu as he kept on flying up. The lava finally reached the surface. This place was the core of the big formation Zuo Mo had set up. The deep red viscous lava slowly flowed. As it flowed into the tunnels, the formations on the walls of the tunnel started to light up.

Zuo Mo finally could not stop himself from showing a smile!

He had succeeded!

Finally succeeded!

Right above his head, Golden Crow City suddenly lit up in the night. Countless golden lights like golden fish leaping against the current flew into the sky above Golden Crow City. These small golden energies spread and gathered above Golden Crow City.

All the people in Golden Crow City were alarmed by such a loud change. They all walked out of the buildings, raising their faces to look at the golden energies covering the sky!

The xiuzhe that were skilled in formations all changed expressions. They could occasionally see the shadow of formations in those golden energies that swam like fish. Was this some powerful formation? This was so unfathomable! They didn’t know what kind of formation could create such a world-shaking apparition.

The large factions that had camped outside the camp were also disturbed.

“What is that?”

“Is it some treasure coming out of the ground?”

In the dark of the night, Golden Crow City’s lights grew dramatically. It was covered in a blinding golden cage of light like a sun against the black sky.

“Such vast craftsmanship!” On a mountain peak, a bearded middle-aged person sighed with shock. Beside him was a stocky large male.

“How so?” the large male asked.

“This city most likely is hiding a very powerful formation. This presence clearly is the scene that occurs when a large formation has just formed. When we entered the city yesterday, I had found that the materials used in the city are extremely special. Daren definitely cannot guess it,” the middle-aged person said with a smile.

“Oh, what kind of high-level material did it use?” The large male was slightly curious.

“It is just the opposite of what Daren is thinking. The bricks used in the city are just normal bluestone.”

“How is it possible?” the large male paused and then shook his head. “If blue stone can create such an impenetrable city, Little Mountain Jie should be covered in cities.”

“Ha ha, it is bluestone, but this blue stone has been forged in Golden Crow Fire.” The middle-aged person grinned.

“So that’s why!” The large male finally understood.

Admiration floated onto the face of the middle-aged person. “This person is very clever. Even though the city is small, the method he really used is forging methods.”

“Forging methods? Did he think of Golden Crow City like a talisman?” The large male was stunned again.

“Exactly. All of Golden Crow City is covered in formations. All of the buildings are connected into one entity by formations. It forms a situation where all of them prosper or fall together. During the day, the sunlight will form a pillar of light and enter the city. Has Daren noticed it?”

“Is there something about that too?”

“The sunlight contains slight amounts of Golden Crow Fire which is continuously absorbed by Golden Crow City. Over time, this city would become even purer. Isn’t this a forging method?” The eyes of the middle-aged person flashed as he sighed in praise. “The daylight is good, but it requires time. This city master clearly cannot wait that long. If I am not wrong, he should be using earth fire to temper this city. This is why this subordinate calls it great craftsmanship.”

“Using earth fire to temper this city?” The expression on the large male’s face was slightly stunned. After a beat, he shook his head and said, “I hadn’t thought that such powerful people were hiding in Little Mountain Jie. Someone this powerful. If I just let them slip by, I am not satisfied. What does Teacher think, can we hire them?”

The middle aged man shook his head. “It is good that Daren is desirous of those with virtues. However, I see that this person already has his own power. He actually has battle generals. His origins are probably not simple. Even more, Daren’s command posts have been filled. If we get him, where shall we put him?”

Hearing this, the large male paused for a while before sighing.

“Daren doesn’t have to be sorrowful,” the middle-aged person comforted. “Our sect’s power is vast, and full of resources. We only need Daren to first establish himself in the sect. It is not difficult for Daren to find talented people. This time, the sect leader’s intentions of nurturing Daren is evident through sending Daren to investigate the affairs of Little Mountain Jie. Daren only has to complete his duty. There is no need to feel frustration over one person.”

“Teacher is right.” The large man’s expression turned normal. Then anger was evident on his face. “Hmph, Clear Sky Old man is too daring, he dares to ruin a jie so, he doesn’t want to live.”

What he had seen on the way here was peerlessly cruel.

“Now that the news has spread, his days won’t be easy.” The middle-aged man’s eyes flashed with a cold light. “It is retribution that his disciple was killed. This one speculates other factions will soon enter.”

The large male suddenly said. “Do you think that it might be the people inside that killed Huang Zhuo Guang?” He pointed at Golden Crow City.

The middle-aged person paused, and then his mind moved. “It is possible! However, this doesn’t have much to do with us.” He thought, and said as he shook his head, “We have our business to attend to. The appearance of Stars in Daytime is a rare opportunity for Daren. Daren’s luck is not bad.”

They had been sent to investigate the matter of the yao army appearing in Little Mountain Jie, and to find the chaos rift. They hadn’t expected to encounter the apparition of Stars in Daytime in the middle.

“But we do not have any results even now,” the large male said helplessly.

“We can proceed slowly, rushing does not help.” The middle-aged person also had no solution.

Little Mountain Jie had become a mess. The unprecedented moves that the Outer Hall has made and the sudden rise of Golden Crow City had caused the two to become the most popular topic of Little Mountain Jie. All kinds of information were continuously passed out. Only one-third of the Outer Hall’s cadet halls still remained.

Not two days after that, they heard that mysterious troop had successively defeated three troops of reinforcements the Outer Hall had sent out.

The xiuzhe that had been defeated and fled all described the power of this troop. The fear still lingering on their faces became the most convincing evidence. The news quickly spread, and the Outer Hall, in complete reversal of its usual attitude, gathered its power and advanced continuously towards Golden Crow City.

Those that had the slightest smarts instantly realized the connection between the mysterious troop and Golden Crow City.

The factions positioned between the two forces quickly relocated behind Golden Crow City’s location. Everyone was waiting to see the clash between the two major factions.

The clash this time would be the clash between the two strongest factions of Little Mountain Jie.

Nothing more had to be said about the Outer Hall. Even though they had lost three thousand people, but they still had an enormous troop of more than seven thousand people. This enormous troop was like a juggernaut. All factions that dared to resist in its path were crushed under them completely with the weight of Mount Tai.

Golden Crow City leapt into view. In tens of days, it had jumped to become an existence just below the Outer Hall. Golden Crow Fire, Black Processing Meditation mat, the thirty six formation battle watchtowers, and the mysterious troop had caused Golden Crow City to become the center of Little Mountain Jie.

Golden Crow City seemed to not feel the pressuring steps of the Outer Hall. It still was furiously selling Black Processing Meditation mats. This also caused it to become an essential stop for the xiuzhe that were retreating. Everyone did everything within their abilities to buy Black Processing Meditation mats.

Black Processing Meditation mats might be expensive, but compared to ling grains, it had too many benefits.

In the midst of it all, many factions suggested they could help defend the city, but Bao Yi adeptly refused them. This caused everyone to be even more curious. After they bought the Black Processing Meditation mats, they didn’t leave, but set up bases behind Golden Crow City.

Looking from far away, it was not possible to see the end of the densely packed xiuzhe behind Golden Crow City. Half of all the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie had gathered here. They wanted to personally see this rare clash between titans.

The result of this clash would directly relate to their future life.

Privately, about eight-tenths of the xiuzhe favored the Outer Hall. The terrifying power of seven thousand xiuzhe combined made everyone fearful. Even if that mysterious troop belonged to Golden Crow City, but their numbers were too few. They could be used to harass, but they were not able to be significantly effective, especially with Clear Sky Old Forefather, a jindan, standing guard.

They were just curious how long Golden Crow City could withstand the Outer Hall’s attack.

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, the Outer Hall started to slow down its advance.While the speed of the army’s advancement slowed, the pressure only made them feel more suffocated. Those that had some knowledge understood the Outer Hall was resting up and preparing for the final battle.

Golden Crow City still performed business as usual. Many of the xiuzhe behind the city were sighing. If Golden Crow City really landed in the hands of the Outer Hall, it really was good for them. No one could determine how much wealth Golden Crow City really had, but the items definitely were piled up in mountains.

Black Processing Meditation mats were not cheap!

Golden Crow City was the wealthiest place in the present Little Mountain Jie.

After opening the flow of earth fire, Zuo Mo became idle. Half of his heart had landed when the formation was finished.

A big battle was coming up, but he was not panicked, instead he acted calm and casual. When each person saw Boss was so composed, the nervous atmosphere instantly relaxed to the highest degree. Everyone’s enthusiasm quickly grew.

As long as Boss was here, they didn’t have to worry about anything.

Zuo Mo flew to the formation battle watchtower.

The thirty-six formation battle watchtowers had become the busiest places. The Eastern and Western Camps were nervously training before the battle. They were all clear they were the main force in the battle to defend the city this time.

Each person was rubbing their hands and furiously trained. If they performed well, they may even be promoted to Vermillion Bird Camp. That was the place that everyone in the Eastern and Western Camps yearned to go into. This battle was their best chance.

Zuo Mo exchanged a greeting with the commanders of the Eastern and Western Camps, and flew to the highest level.

He had come this time to look at the Lightning Sonic Walnuts that had been nurtured in the formation battle watchtowers.

Chapter 285: Comprehensions Gained From Forging

Sonic Lightning Walnuts, fourth-grade, hard, righteous, and breaks evil.

Before this, Zuo Mo didn’t have many fourth-grade materials on his hands, and did not understand much about fourth-grade materials. The amount of jade scrolls and old records that talked about fourth-grade materials were pitifully flew in places like Sky Moon Jie and Little Mountain Jie.

Fourth-grade materials were so valuable that normal people rarely were able to even see them. Only sects with some power could use them for practice and gain experience. Wu Kong Sword Sect clearly didn’t number among these sects. Zuo Mo had memorized many jade scrolls, but there were just a few phrases that related to fourth-grade materials, and most of them were vague.

As the amount of fourth-grade materials on his hands increased, he gradually learned some things.

The biggest difference between fourth and third-grade materials were in their formations. The natural formations on fourth-grade materials were of higher-level, more complete and complex, than that of third-grade materials.

Zuo Mo didn’t know if the predecessors of xiuzhe had learned formations from materials, and only sighed at the wonders of creation.

The forging skill level of a xiuzhe could be said to be a measure of the degree the xiuzhe could activate the natural formations of the material. The formation techniques of fourth-grade talismans had a close connection with the natural formations of materials used.

After being nurtured by hard lightning in this period of time, the Sonic Lightning Walnuts looked like rotten silver, its surface carved with pits and grooves. It was heavy in his hand, even with its volume having shrunk. However, it was covered in the light of dense blue lightning so to hold it Zuo Mo had to use his ling power to cover his palm.

When he inspected it, he instantly felt the lightning element inside. Zuo Mo gaped.

This Sonic Lightning Walnut was something good, but it was very dangerous. If he wasn’t careful when forging it could explode and easily harm him.

He recalled Pu Yao had suggested he use the method for yin fire beads to forge the Sonic Lightning Walnuts. However, he had been so busy previously he hadn’t thought about it. After some thought, he seemed to understand. Pu Yao would never do anything meaningless but what he suggested didn’t always work.

There were many methods listed in the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] to forge yin fire beads. Zuo Mo was always astonished by the variety of yin fire beads. Due to being unable to find a yin fiend ground, he couldn’t make yin fire beads so he had thrown the jade scroll to the side.

Now that his knowledge was far better than before, he had a completely new experience when he reread the jade scroll.

Gradually, a sliver of understanding formed.

The most important part of the yin fire bead creation methods was a place he hadn’t noticed before, it must be forged with yin fire. Yin beads had an attribute of yin so the forging fire had to be yin as well. The Stalagmite fire Zuo Mo had before was yin.

Technically, when the attributes were the same, the two should feed off each other and gradually merge into one entity. The most wondrous part of the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] was that it could let the two stay in a kind of semi-merged state, the most explosive state.

Zuo Mo was intoxicated with such a wondrous transformation. He didn’t know how the elder who had created the yin fire bead had thought of such a wondrous spell.

If he was to use the yin fire bead method to forge Sonic Lightning Walnuts, then he needed to use purely yang fire. It was perfect for Zuo Mo. The Golden Crow Fire on his hands was one of the best of pure yang fires.

However, he needed a help. Sonic Lightning Walnuts were fourth-grade, and were much higher grade than the yin beads he had created in the past.

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly moved. He thought of Lil’ Fire and Lil’ Pagoda.

Lil’ Fire was a fire yao, and Lil’ Pagoda had all five elements in one body, and could control fire.

He was connected mentally to Lil’ Paogda. When his mind moved, Lil’ Pagoda knew. In a short while, Lil’ Pagoda led Lil’ Fire to fly to the formation battle watchtowers. Silly Bird also followed with Lil’ Black.

When Lil’ Fire flew into the formation battle watchtower, it floated around in the air like a fire-red ball, playing happily by itself. Lil’ Pagoda was at the side silently listening to Zuo Mo talk.

Zuo Mo took out more than ten mini boxes from his ring. These were the Golden Crow Fires that he had especially held on to. The rest had all been sold. Golden Crow Fire was not difficult for him to gather, but he didn’t have the time right now.

Lil’ Fire who had been flipping in the air sudden froze. When it saw the mini boxes, it instantly gave happy chirping sounds. It turned into a fire wisp and leapt at the mini boxes. There was a smell of flame that came from inside it and was a fatal attraction for Lil’ Fire.

Zuo Mo didn’t stop it, and saw it swallow all the mini boxes in one gulp.

He instantly gaped, his hand frozen in the air.

After a while, he recovered. The first thought in his mind was, this was another glutton!

Lil’ Pagoda wasn’t angry, and skipped around Lil’ Fire.

The round body of Lil’ Fire instantly became even rounder like a red bubble. Suddenly, a fingernail-sized gold star appeared on its forehead.

However, upon closer inspection, Zuo Mo couldn’t tell if it was Lil’ Fire’s forehead. This guy was way too round.

He stared at Lil’ Fire for a while. Nothing seemed to happen to Lil’ Fire.

Lil’ Fire continued to cheerfully chirp and play with Lil’ Pagoda in the air. Lil’ Pagoda would use the tip of the pagoda to poke Lil’ Fire, and Lil’ Fire would nudge Lil’ Pagoda with its round body. The two little ones clearly were having fun, causing Lil’ Black’s antennae to wave in the air as it watched from the side, wanting to join in.

Zuo Mo stared tightly at Lil’ Fire.

There still wasn’t a change … …

After playing for a while, Lil’ Fire noticed Zuo Mo staring at it, and gave a cheerful chirp. It flew into Zuo Mo’s embrace, and snuggled around.

Zuo Mo reached to grab this guy. The round body was really like a bubble, warm and soft.

However, Zuo Mo clearly was not moved by its fawning. Reaching to grab Lil’ Fire, he dangled it in front of his eyes, and squeezed Lil’ Fire into all kinds of shapes, gritting through his teeth, “Little brat, you swallowed that much Golden Crow Fire, but there’s no change? Do you know how many jingshi that was? You ate so much jingshi with one gulp … …”

Lil’ Pagoda’s body shook and it silently started to float away. Lil’ Black that had been wanting to join in the fun suddenly stopped moving its antennae. The calmest one was Silly Bird.

Zuo Mo’s rage could not be stopped. He had originally planned on giving Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire one each, and hadn’t expected this guy to clean him out with one gulp, and not even leaving the boxes behind.

“Can you breathe fire?” Zuo Mo said, full of killing intent. “No? You don’t know how to breathe fire? You dare to not know? Do you know how much jingshi … …”

Lil’ Fire hurriedly spat out a little wisp of flame on his hands.

“Hm! You do know how to breathe fire!” Zuo Mo’s face instantly became curious, and he put Lil’ Fire in front of him. He inspected it carefully, speaking to himself. “You don’t have any orifices, where did you breathe it out?”

Lil’ Fire’s fleshy body instantly froze.

Lil’ Pagoda instantly raised its eaves to cover its face. The entire pagoda was bright red like a cooked shrimp.

After studying for a while, Zuo Mo still didn’t have any results. He decided to not waste any more time. He really was grasping at straws when he had hoped this crowd of gluttons could be of help.

He should never have any illusions about these gluttons … …

Zuo Mo’s heart was bleeding. So much jingshi was gone … …

The four quickly left for the mine as though they were being pardoned.

Zuo Mo decided to do it by himself. However, he didn’t dare to experiment on the formation battle watchtower. If he wasn’t careful, the entire tower would be bombed into dust. He picked a third-grade lucky cloud from the stores, sat on it and slowly floated into the sky.

The lucky cloud was extremely soft like cotton. Basically no one except hedonists used it. Compared to ling beasts and flying swords, it’s flying speed was too slow. However, there were some high-grade lucky clouds that were extremely fast, like the famous Flying Nimbus. Among fifth-grade steeds, its speed was in the top ten. The lucky cloud might be slow, but there was a benefit. It did not need to be controlled to stay afloat.

This ball of lucky cloud was the size of his palm. When it was thrown out, it instantly grew to about ten zhang in radius. It could hold many people so the female xiu stood at a distance not far from him. Zuo Mo ignored the dense populace of xiuzhe that were camping on the mountains. With the formation battle watchtowers and the female xiu present, he didn’t have to worry about people interrupting his forging.

He took out the Sonic Lightning Walnut, spat out the Golden Crow Fire, and started to forge.

The most important part of the yin fire bead forging was to freeze the state of the yin bead and the yin fire in the instant before they merged.

In front of Zuo Mo, a thread of Golden Crow Fire enveloped the Sonic Lightning Walnut.

After two whole hours, the Golden Crow Fire finally removed the layer of hard lightning on the exterior of the walnut and revealed the true seed of the Sonic Lightning Walnut. After another hour, the creased surface of the silver walnut started to show signs of melting. The silver liquid flowed slowly along the patterns of the walnut.

The thick lightning element made Zuo Mo’s heart beat rapidly as though he was on thin ice.

Fourth-grade materials were as extraordinary as expected!

Zuo Mo’s mind was deeply immersed in this forging process, but it was also a rare chance for him to learn. Both the Golden Crow Fire and the Sonic Lightning Walnut were rare fourth-grade materials.

When the two merged, they gave rise to many changes, most of which he had never seen before.

The natural formations on the Sonic Lightning Walnut were continuously broken in the forging process and reformed like pieces of wooden blocks forming new pictures. Some were formations, some were nonsense patterns. Forging needed the xiuzhe to choose and experience the changes in the formations.

Different xiuzhe would gain experience through different changes, to comprehend different things, but the underlying nature was the same.

Without this kind of experience, no matter how deep their cultivation was, how abundant the ling power inside their body was, one still could not breakthrough to other stages and would still be small and weak.

Zuo Mo was immersed in this mystical world. The feeling of walking on thin ice slowly disappeared, and he forgot himself.

The flickering of the Golden Crow Fire in front of him suddenly slowed as though a wild stallion had been tamed.

The Sonic Lightning Walnut also changed rapidly. The walnut patterns that had covered the surface disappeared. It was entirely smooth like a perfect silver ball. Threads of Golden Crow Fire burrowed into the silver ball and beautiful golden patterns started to float into the surface of the silver ball.

The number of gold patterns increased like a golden vine furiously growing along the surface of the Sonic Lightning Walnut.

Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes, the Sonic Lightning Walnut falling into his palm.

The golden patterns on it were complex like flowers that covered the surface of the silver ball. It seemed like a normal silver ball without any of its presence exposed.

Chapter 286: Arrival!

Rong Wei watched the troop disappear into the horizon, her heart was filled with shock that she could not voice.

After personally watching the entire battle, this troop of six or seven hundred people had left a deep impression on her. The knife-sharp charges had caused her to momentarily think of turning and fleeing

There was no challenge in the entire battle. It ended in an extremely short amount of time. This troop was like a keen blade that dismembered the enemy in moments. Yes, other than dismembering, she could not think of any other descriptor that could express the scene she saw.

Their opponent had been a troop of a thousand people.

The compound guards next to Rong Wei stared in disbelief with gaping mouths at the empty sky. The scene just now had given them too much of a blow. The unstoppable and keen charges pierced their hearts like a bolt of lightning!

The thousand man troop had seemed to be made out of paper-mache. With one clash, they had shattered into pieces. Rong Wei had never thought that when the howls and sharp presences of sword energies gathered together, that it could be so spectacular, so soul-stealing. Even they, the spectators, felt their scalps prickle, their limbs cold. What must it like to be the troop that was facing such a terrifying scene directly?

No one laughed at the troop that was defeated.

How could there be such a strong troop in Little Mountain Jie.

Even in Sky Water Jie, there were only one or two troops that were said to be at such a level.

“Head, there are people following behind us,” Xie Shan said to Gongsun Cha in a low voice.

Many of the people in the troop had noticed a troop of people following behind them. However, they were not worried, just slightly curious. After fighting for so long, people who saw them fight all fled with the wind. It was the first time they saw someone who followed them like this.

Gongsun Cha looked back. “Oh, go ask.”

Xie Shan admonished himself for being chatty. Wasn’t that finding more work to do for himself? However, since Lil’ Miss commanded it, he could only fly towards that troop.

Truthfully, Rong Wei’s heart was also very insecure. If the other unreasonably charged over to kill without any cause, they could only flee. However, she noticed that the other side didn’t seem to be obsessed with killing, and hadn’t pursued their enemies who had fled.

She was really too curious about this troop. She was very learned, and naturally could see the bones of an army in this troop. She knew very well that building an army was not a simple battle. The members had to be picked with thought, there had to be skilled members, and there were enormous expenses … …

There were many sects in Sky Water Jie, but only two had an army.

She had followed the Marquis for many years, and knew the Marquis had had the notion for a long time. However, he struggled with the problem of manpower. The only people that had the abilities to build an army were battle generals, but only large sects had the abilities to groom battle generals.

The compound guards under her command looked like the elite, but if they were compared, the difference was instantly visible. Rong Wei’s eyes were not ordinary. She could see the average power of the troop’s xiuzhe wasn’t as high as the compound guards under her command.

But if the equal numbers of people were fighting, the ones to die first would be the compound guards. She actually wanted to see if she could hire this battle general, or hire this entire troop.

But she knew that it was a fantasy. It clearly had been some time since this troop had formed. A sect that didn’t have some power wouldn’t be able to support them, but since they had been raised, then the sect supporting them definitely had power.

The possibility of hiring them was minuscule.

One reason that she had given the ordered to follow was curiosity. The other reason was that she was clear that such a strong troop definitely was a significant power in Little Mountain Jie.

Even if she could not recruit them, it wasn’t a bad choice to partner up with them.

Hadn’t she been puzzled regarding the question of ‘how they were to investigate Stars in Daytime? If she partnered up with such a strong faction, it would be much easier to accomplish.

But the compound guards did not know Rong Wei’s thoughts. Each of them were shaking in their boots, preparing to take Rong Wei and flee at any second.

Suddenly, someone from the troop up ahead flew towards them.

The compound guards instantly became nervous.

Rong Wei’s heart settled down. What she was most worried about was the other would kill without asking any questions. Since the other had sent someone over, then it meant she had the room to speak.

“Who are you? Why are you following us?” Xie Shan asked.

Rong Wei bowed and said, “We are disciples from Sky Water Jie’s House of Marquis Wu, and have come with an order to investigate the Stars in Daytime in Little Mountain Jie. Is it possible to travel with your division? It is for safety. This is a small token of our appreciation, please take it.”

She took out some pieces of fourth-grade jingshi.

Xie Shan looked at the jingshi on her hands but did not take them. He nodded and said, “I’ll report the request for you.”

Finishing, he turned and went back to the troop.

———

“To travel with us?” Gongsun Cha was slightly surprised.

“Or does she want to pursue one of us?” Lei Peng snickered. At the side, Nian Lu shook his bangs, and followed up, “Who else other than me?”

Everyone ignored them. Even Zong Ru couldn’t bear to look at them. How had he been on the same team as these two clowns before? So embarrassing.

“That’s what she said, and they are from Sky Water Jie’s House of Marquis Wu,” Xie Shan continued.

“Which of you have heard of them?” asked Gongsun Cha.

“We are all country people, who’s been to Sky Water Jie,” Ma Fan mocked.

“What do you want to do?” Xie Shan gazed at Gongsun Cha.

“We don’t have the time to tangle with them.” Gongsun Cha shook his head.

“Such a pity, that is a great beauty.” Xie Shan’s tone was slightly teasing.

Gongsun Cha glanced at him and Xie Shan instantly shut up. Do not provoke Lil’ Miss, otherwise, their outcome would be very tragic

A paper crane suddenly flew out of the sky and landed in Gongsun Cha’s hand. Opening the paper crane and taking a quick look, Gongsun Cha’s expression changed slightly. The paper crane was passed quickly onto the hands of other people. Everyone’s faces became grave.

No one joked, no one wasted words. The mood instantly became tense. The Vermillion Bird Camp instantly organized their ranks and raced with their fastest speed to Sky Star Peak.

———

Rong Wei looked with astonishment at the troop that disappeared at the horizon. What was this?

The compound guards all released a breath. They had been scared half to death. A compound guard carefully said to Rong Wei, “Miss, they’ve gone away.”

Rong Wei woke from her trance, and responded, “Follow them.”

The compound guards that had just released a breath instantly grimaced. Rong Wei ignored them and flew out first. The other people could only follow helplessly.

———

Zuo Mo opened his hand, and a lightning bullet twirled in his hand. This was the [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] that he was so familiar. Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning required using the consciousness to manipulate the sparse lightning power in the air to form hard lightning. Due to the unique method, the hard lightning created was both extremely yang and hard.

Zuo Mo was extremely familiar with this move now. With one thought, the hard lightning would form.

He continued to gather hard lightning, and then beat it to smithereens. He was experimenting. The process of forging the Sonic Lightning Walnuts was very successful. He had comprehended some methods for hard lightning, and hoped to merge these understandings into the spells that he knew.

[Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] was his primary attack move. It was faster than [Sky Wave Fist], and was extremely powerful. The only flaw was that there was a lack of variation. When Zuo Mo had comprehended those hard lightning formations, the first thing he thought of was [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning.]

Continuously adding comprehensions to spells was something every xiuzhe had to do. This was also why disciples of the same sect would practice the same spells, but the results were different. Each person had different comprehensions, and the road they walked was naturally different.

The lightning bullet continued to change in his palm. Suddenly, a net with a small mesh size covered all of Zuo Mo’s palm, and then it suddenly turned into a lightning arrow. The lightning arrow suddenly dissipated and turned to countless tiny lightning snakes. The snakes suddenly gathered and turned to a lightning bird … …

Gradually, Zuo Mo felt he had gained greater control. The hard lightning on his hand seemed like a part of his body and could change according to his thoughts.

Zuo Mo quickly judged the quality of each change.

Hard lightning heavily leaned towards offense and seemed to have almost no defensive power when it turned to a lightning shield. When it became a lightning arrow or spear, it was unstoppable. The other attribute of hard lightning was that it was extremely quick. It probably was one of the fastest of all the spells.

Hard lightning was hard and ferocious, and extremely hard to compress. Zuo Mo had tried all he could, but could not condense the lightning power even more. It was possible to see the value of Sonic Lightning Walnuts from this. The amount of lightning power contained in Sonic Lightning Walnuts was so much one couldn’t imagine it.

After forging, the power of the Sonic Lightning Walnuts had increased. Zuo Mo was full of anticipation about its power, but he didn’t test it as he couldn’t bear the loss.

Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes. Looking into the distance, a cold smile came onto his face.

He controlled the lucky cloud to slowly land in Golden Crow City. Once he landed, he stored away the lucky cloud. Zuo Mo’s calm and unflustered state resolved some of the nervousness of the xiuzhe in the two camps.

“Everyone, pay attention. They have come,” Zuo Mo shouted out.

Everyone’s hearts jumped. However, they had already prepared for battle, and lined up neatly. The lights of the formation battle watchtowers started to light up one after the other.

The city gates slowly closed. All of the noise inside the city instantly disappeared.

The xiuzhe behind Golden Crow City also noticed it and started to shift.

“The Outer Hall has come! The Outer Hall has come! It’s going to begin!”

“Everyone, careful! If you see the situation isn’t right, start running!”

“Haha! I’ve never seen something as big as this, this is really broadening my vision.”

———

The noise of the surroundings passed around. The middle aged person, the large male, and their group also flew into the sky. Infected by the others around him, burning desire for battle lit up suddenly in the eyes of the large male, and a slight blush came onto the face of the middle-aged man.

Who had ever seen such a large-scale battle before?

“You have to watch closely. This is a rare chance. Just a little bit will be enough to greatly benefit you,” the middle-aged man lectured the guards around him.

The large male knew the middle-aged man was actually reminding him. However, he was staring fixedly at the distant horizon.

A large dense patch of black dots appeared on the horizon like a black cloud, and slowly flew over.

The noisy xiuzhe all simultaneously inhaled sharply, the sky completely silent.

As the Outer Hall neared, everyone’s faces couldn’t help but pale.

Seven thousand xiuzhe gathered in the sky like a flood that could not be stopped as it rolled forward. It was not very fast, but the pressure that came with it made the people feel suffocated. It seemed to be using this method to show its power to destroy everything!

Chapter 287: Cloud Formation Silk

As the army came closer, the xiuzhe on the formation battle watchtowers shifted, but quickly calmed down.

The sun disappeared into the thick clouds, the sky darkened, and the air filled with the scent of death.

Zuo Mo shook his head. In the end, the Eastern and Western Camps were too inexperienced. Gongsun Shidi hadn’t put his focus on these two camps. The two camps lacked greatly compared to Vermillion Bird Camp.

He raised his hand and threw out the Buddha Sound Hoop.

As the golden Buddha Sound Hoop flew, it rose into the sky above Golden Crow City and turned into a shining sun with numerous golden threads that dangling down tied onto the thirty six formation battle watchtowers. Upon the golden thread were countless golden rings!

The Buddha Sound Hoop had been tempered by Golden Crow Fire and hard lightning. At this time, its attributes matched with Golden Crow City and the formation battle watchtower. As it rose, the scene was far more extraordinary than when he used it at Desolate Wood Reef. Zuo Mo had put much effort into the placement of the thirty six formation battle watchtowers. Other than being able to form [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] with the Buddha Sound Hoop, they could form a formation on their own.

Zuo Mo was full of confidence for this battle.

This confidence was not in anything else but Golden Crow City. No one knew just how much effort and thought he had put into this city that he had built with his own hands.

The dignified and stern Buddha Sound Formation seemed to be chanting into one’s ear, yet almost imperceptible at moments. The terror in the hearts of the xiuzhe in the city lessened.

———

“What is this formation?” Shock flashed across the eyes of the large male that was watching from far away. This formation’s presence was not normal.

The middle-aged person narrowed his eyes. “From what this subordinate sees, this formation should originate from [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] but its attributes are exactly the opposite. Domineering, hard and fierce, primarily for killing! This person’s formations interlock together and are very strong!”

“How so?” The large male asked for guidance.

The middle-aged person explained, “Daren please look. That golden hoop should be a Buddha Sound Hoop.”

“Buddha Sound Hoop?” The large male had not heard of it before. “Is it powerful?”

“It’s just a normal third-grade sound type talisman, but this Buddha Sound Hoop clearly has been specially tempered. If this subordinate has not guess wrong, it should have been processed in fire and lightning. This hoop has risen to fourth-grade already.”

“Oh, fourth-grade.” The large male didn’t seem to care. Fourth-grade talismans were rare, but were not much to him.

“This city master’s thoughts are extremely clever. The power of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] might be large, but setting up the formation is complex. This person used the formation battle watchtowers as the base. This way, he only needs this Buddha Sound Hoop to set up the formation at any time. Since this hoop has been process by fire and lightning, it is hard and fierce. This city can also continuously provide fire and lightning. With this formation and the formation battle watchtowers, Golden Crow City has become one body, and the power has been multiplied many times.” The middle-aged person could not disguise the admiration.

At this time, the large male finally understood, anticipation growing on his face.

———

Listening to the Buddha sounds, Zuo Mo looked at the army that had already entered twenty li of Golden Crow City with a cold smile at the corner of his mouth.

Other than jindan, no one had ever heard of ningmai xiuzhe that could attack outside of twenty li. The sword energies of ningmai sword xiu was not effective outside of three li. In other words, if the other wanted to attack Golden Crow City, it must come within three li of the city.

But the attacking range of formation battle watchtowers was ten li. The hard lightning formation battle watchtowers that Zuo Mo constructed had an astounding attack range of fifteen li.

Why were formation battle watchtowers still essential constructs for a city even though they were so expensive and hard to build? Because of its great power. When Zuo Mo first constructed Golden Crow City, all of his setup was for battle.

He had used almost any kind of attacking move he could think of on Golden Crow City.

———

When He Xiang and the rest of the Outer Hall elders saw Golden Crow City from a distance, their faces were filled with amazement!

“I hadn’t really expected someone built a city!”

“Really hadn’t expected it!”

Greed was in every elder’s eyes. When a person first saw such an exquisite and beautiful Golden Crow City, their first idea was to take it for themselves.

“Only us Outer Hall has the qualifications to live in such a good place!” He Xiang said firmly. He couldn’t wait for one second.

If they could take down this city, and make it the headquarters for the Outer Hall, how grand would it be. Even Old Forefather wouldn’t be able to calmly face such a city! He also heard there were piles of valuable materials and talismans inside. This was a treasure city!

The other elders all gave their agreement. Each person’s eyes were heated. The struggles they had previously encountered were thrown to the back of their minds. At this moment, there was only this city in their eyes, a city of the sun!

“Who is going first?” He Xiang turned and asked.

The elders all closed their mouths. They were not stupid. The presence of Golden Crow City was heavy. The light coming from the large formation made all of their hearts shake slightly. In their view, it was time to harvest. If they could take down Golden Crow City, they would definitely be on the achievements list. However, if they died at this last step, it wasn’t worth it.

The Buddha sounds floated from across the distance. The golden sun above Golden Crow City also reminded them to be careful.

He Xiang knew these people very well. He smiled coldly inside, and said, “The first person to get into the city is the first to pick the spoils, they can pick three pieces.”

The eyes of the elders instantly turned red.

With great rewards, there would always be brave ones!

With Golden Crow City’s wealthy, it was possible to imagine the richness of the spoils. The first to pick, and to pick three items, it would at least be three fourth-grade talismans! No one could remain unmoved by such a rich reward.

“Who first?” He Xiang asked again.

“Me first!”

“Me first!”

The elders instantly leap, their enthusiasm for battle growing. Even Second Elder who was usually at odds with Chief Elder couldn’t resist speaking.

“Then we shall first trouble Second Elder!” He Xiang said without showing his emotions.

Seeing Second Elder take his troops and joyfully prepare to attack, imperceptible smugness flashed across He Xiang’s eyes. He was very devious. When he saw Golden Crow City, he knew this was a tough nut to crack. He was happy to see Second Elder willing to go die.

He Xiang was filled with confidence at taking down Golden Crow City. With this many people, he could just drown the other side. By that time, he was certain he would have the spare energy to plan some other affairs.

———

Among the elders, Second Elder’s rank in power was below He Xiang. He naturally understood what He Xiang thought. He had his own confidence of success to dare to speak up.

He picked out one thousand and five hundred people in one go. Going with him were three elders.

When Second Elder took out a talisman, the faces of the other elders, including He Xiang, turned uglier. A faint cloud energy was released from his hand, and swam among the xiuzhe. In moments, a faint thread of earth energy was around every one of the one thousand and five hundred people.

“Cloud Formation Silk!” The middle-aged person watching from afar exclaimed, “He actually possesses Cloud Formation Silk!”

“What is Cloud Formation Silk?” the large male saw the middle-aged person lose his composure and couldn’t help but ask in curiosity.

“Cloud Formation Silk is a very rare talisman.” The expression of the middle-aged person was grave. “It is not of high grade, just fourth-grade. It is made by the Sky Joy Workshop in Cloud Sea Jie who harvest cloud thread to forge into a talisman. It is rare for it to end up outside. Its purpose is very unique. It can create a cloud energy that can defend.”

“Like a ling shield?” the large male asked.

“Approximately. This cloud energy’s defense is not as strong, but it is extremely hard to disperse. Its strength lies in that it can be used on more than one person. Look at them, all of them have a thread of cloud energy on them. The more people there are for this Cloud Formation Silk, the stronger it is!”

The eyes of the large male flashed. “It really is a waste for such a good treasure like this to end up in this person’s hands.”

The tone of the middle-aged person was grave. “This isn’t good for Golden Crow City!” Seeing the large male was unconcerned, he said, “The cloud energy isn’t strong, but if every person’s defense was slightly strengthened, it is very terrifying when it accumulates.”

The large male thought, and instantly shook. He felt the extraordinariness of the item even more. It really was a great weapon for a large battle. He couldn’t help but say, “Is it possible to buy this Cloud Formation Silk?”

The middle-aged person shook his head. “Cloud Sea Jie is too far from us.”

The large male was slightly regretful.

The public might not know the origins of the Cloud Formation Silk, but the ability of this talisman was easily seen. One thousand and five hundred people with this Cloud Formation Silk, the strength of the troop instantly rose up a stage.

The complexions of the elders were dark. Second Elder possessed such a powerful talisman, but they had never seen it in the many battles before this. Of course, what they cared about the most was that Second Elder could possibly take down Golden Crow City in one attack.

———

Zuo Mo was also shocked. The other’s talisman was so strong! In large-scale battles, what was most scary were talismans like Cloud Formation Silk. However, he didn’t have much he could think of to do at this point.

Fortunately his heart was strong. Even though an unexpected event had occurred, he wasn’t in a panic.

———

Second Elder’s face was filled with smugness. He Xiang, He Xiang, you could never have thought that I would have Cloud Formation Silk! The other elders also were overjoyed. The morale of the one thousand and five hundred xiuzhe grew greatly and they activated their ling armor.

The attributes of each person’s ling armor were all different, and so their colors were naturally different. Watching from a distance, the sky was filled with a dazzling variety of colors! The faint cloud energy was not eye-catching under the light of the ling armor.

“Everyone, listen well!” Second Elder spoke slowly, his voice passing out. “This is our last battle. After this battle, we will live in this city! I will reward the first person that charges in with a fourth-grade talisman!”

Everyone was instantly excited. It was extremely difficult for normal xiuzhe to obtain a fourth-grade talisman! These xiuzhe’s eyes instantly turned red as they breathed heavily. They felt their blood boil, their desire for battle roiling as they wanted to attack at this exact moment!

Seeing that the morale had risen, Second Elder proudly ordered, “Attack!”

One thousand and five hundred xiuzhe howled and exuded killing intent as they charged at Golden Crow City!

Everyone pushed their ling shield to the largest possible. Those xiuzhe that had defensive talismans took all of them out as they howled and charged at Golden Crow City!

In the sky, streak after streak of five-colored light lit up. One thousand and five hundred streaks of light filled the sky. They were eye-catching as they carried killing intent and leapt crazily towards Golden Crow City.

———

Zuo Mo sat at the formation battle watchtowers, and did not panic at all. At this time, all of his stray thoughts were thrown to the back of his mind.

In his eyes, there were only the enemies that were flying closer!

Staring at the enemy, he silently calculated the distance between them. Suddenly, light flashed out of his eyes. He raised his right hand and chopped down heavily. His voice was like the roar of thunder and heard over the entire city.

“Kill!”

Chapter 288: Fight!

The thirty six formation battle watchtowers suddenly light up, the dazzling silver light breaking through the clouds. The Outer Hall xiuzhe that were charging felt their vision fill with a snowy brightness, so bright they could not keep their eyes open!

The charge of the Outer Hall xiuzhe could not avoid pausing.

Hundreds of streaks of silver lights shot out of the formation battle watchtowers like sharp swords.

Pew pew pew!

Dozens of xiuzhe wailed as they were instantly penetrated by the hard lightning! No matter if it was the cloud energy that flickered around their body, or the ling shield of the ling armor, they could not stop the hard lightning for even a moment.

Zuo Mo had used the Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning as his basis for building the formation battle watchtowers. The power was even stronger than the Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning that Zuo Mo himself could cast. How could these xiuzhe that wore just third-grade ling armor stop such a destructive attack?

The loss of several dozen members was not much towards a troop of one thousand and five hundred people. Second Elder shouted, “Charge! Don’t stop! The speed of the formation battle watchtowers are very slow!”

Hundred of hard lightning bolts only stopped them for a moment.

———

The middle-aged person that was watching from a distance couldn’t help but shake his head. “The city master doesn’t seem to know how to use formation battle watchtowers. The rhythm isn’t right.”

“How so?” the large male hurriedly asked.

‘Formation battle watchtowers are powerful, but the time it takes takes time to prepare. Due to this, the rhythm is extremely important,” The middle-aged person said, “The thirty six formation battle watchtowers can cover for each other, and continuously attack. That way, they can drag down the enemy’s rhythm and obtain more time for themselves.”

“So that’s it!” The large male understood.

“Golden Crow City’s attack didn’t hold anything back, firing all at once. There will definitely be a short pause.” The middle-aged person stared unblinkingly at Golden Crow City and said, “For the Outer Hall, this is a chance! If they could get close, even if the formation battle watchtowers start attacking again, they cannot stop the Outer Hall from advancing!”

The situation was as he expected. The formation battle watchtowers of Golden Crow City stopped firing. The speed of xiuzhe was fast to start with, and quickly charged to within ten li of Golden Crow City.

There were occasionally some bolts of hard lightning that shot out of Golden Crow City, and struck a few xiuzhe, but this kind of scattered attack could not stop the advancing steps of the Outer Hall xiuzhe. The morale of the xiuzhe led by Second Elder rose! Looking as Golden Crow City came closer, everyone became extremely ecstatic. They howled crazily, activating the ling armor as they raised the flying sword in their hands in anticipation of reaching Golden Crow City and slicing down!

There were countless jingshi and talismans waiting for them … …

The hard lightning shooting from Golden Crow City was still scattered. Under such a ferocious attack, it seemed so weak and helpless.

Eight li!

The xiuzhe that were watching Golden Crow City from afar sighed. It was over, Golden Crow City was finished! If they went another four or five li, the Outer Hall xiuzhe could attack Golden Crow City.

Even a jindan would not be able to stop the simultaneous attack of one thousand and five hundred xiuzhe, even if it was the accumulated power of a second-grade spell from each person. A jindan could not destroy one thousand and five hundred xiuzhe. When jindan could not win, they could run. This meant that he always had the initiative in battle.

The coordinated charge of thousands of xiuzhe was a nightmare once they closed in.

Spells and sword energies would rain down, unable to be stopped.

All of them could predict the terrible loss that was waiting for Golden Crow City!

———

Second Elder’s blood was boiling in his body. He was so excited he was trembling. He would become the first elder to enter Golden Crow City. He could pick three talismans of his choosing, the shining accomplishment would give him more power in the Outer Hall.

“Kill!” he furiously yelled.

“Kiiiillllllllllll!” The xiuzhe around him all simultaneously bellowed!

———

Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes. Every formation battle watchtower under him was filled with xiuzhe at this point.

“Stand at the positions!”

“Prepare to take over at any moment!”

“Don’t hold any energy back! Use everything when you get up. When your ling power is used up, immediately give up the position. Remember the location of the exit and do not block other people.”

“Don’t panic, just be like when we usually practice. Don’t aim, just throw at places with more people.”

Each formation battle watchtower was extremely tense. The faces of every xiuzhe was grave. They were not afraid. Even though they were captives, they had lived for a long time in Little Mountain Jie. Their discipline had been loose before, but after this recent period of training, they finally looked somewhat acceptable.

The backbone of the Eastern and Western Camps had come from Vermillion Bird Camp. They had completely transferred Lil’ Miss’ people over.

When the last order was issued, every stray noise disappeared. Each person’s nerves were tight as they waited for the order from the Boss.

The thirty-six formation battle watchtowers were so quiet at this moment it was possible to hear a needle drop to the floor.

Zuo Mo looked at the xiuzhe covering the sky as they raced closer. Having gotten used to Gongsun Cha’s three section wave killing charge, there wasn’t any ripple in his heart when he saw the enemies charge. His mind furiously calculated the distance between the two sides. His eyes were looking at the sky without blinking.

As the distance grew smaller, the ranks of the other side became tighter as well.

The Outer Hall xiuzhe furiously flew towards Golden Crow City, but Golden Crow City was only a little city. If they wanted to get close, they naturally had to squeeze towards each other. In the eyes of the spectators, these one thousand and more xiuzhe were like a flood when they gathered together. The sound of howling in the air multiplied and shook their souls!

The xiuzhe in the surroundings felt the sky and earth change color, the mountains collapsing, and the earth breaking. Each of them paled. The lips of some of the less brave xiuzhe uncontrollably trembled.

Looking at the other’s dense ranks, Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly became sharp. It seemed to heavily come out of his chest, the killing intent undisguised as it echoed in Golden Crow City. “Kill!”

In an instant, the dim thirty six formation battle watchtowers suddenly bursted with light!

Countless hard lightning bolts gathered like a silver flood.

It was too fast!

The Outer Hall xiuzhe felt their vision fill with light and were extremely shocked. Before they could react, they felt they had been heavily struck by something.

The two opposing waves collided without any finesse!

Pia pia pia!

The rattle of collisions was like a rushed drum beat. The xiuzhe at the front that were pierced lost control and their speed dipped. The xiuzhe in the back did not have to the time to slow, and could only stare as they crashed.

More than one thousand people instantly turned to a mess!

The hard lightning had arrived so rapidly, no one was able to dodge in time. As their speed had been pushed to their maximum, they did not have the energy to do any other action at this time.

“Charge over! Charge over!” the elders shouted at the top of their lungs. Their faces were slightly pale.

“Charge … …”

An elder’s shout suddenly stopped. Five bolts of hard lightning hit his ling shield at the same time. The fourth-grade ling armor broke. He was torn to pieces by the powerful force.

The power of hard lightning was clearly displayed at this moment. Normal third-grade ling armor could not stop it. It would frequently penetrate through one xiuzhe, and the hard lightning would still have enough energy to strike the ling shield of a second xiuzhe.

The thirty six formation battle watchtowers had all concentrated their shots in an area no wider than ten zhang, and didn’t give any space to dodge.

This attack came so suddenly and ferociously that the Outer Hall xiuzhe were dumbstruck.

The thirty six formation battle watchtowers had also become chaotic at this time.

“Don’t keep ling power back, do not aim at a target. Quick, with all possible speed!”

“Faster, faster! Next rotation!”

“Good, go!”

Several people were to assigned to a team that would shoot out as much hard lightning in the shortest time possible before instantly flying away. Then the next team that had already prepared would rush to the set positions and take over in a cycle.

Hard lightning continuously flew out from the formation battle watchtowers, and smashed into the ranks of the Outer Hall that had squeezed into a ball.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the Outer Hall had fallen, leaving slightly more than five hundred people.

Second Elder had been struck dumb by this round of fierce attacks. However, he truly was a character, and knew that the situation had reached its most dangerous moment. At this time, he couldn’t spare the effort for anything else, and took out all the defensive talismans he had

Several layers of ling shield appeared on his body. His eyes red, he suddenly charged to the very front. “Kill!”

He was like a wild beast being backed into a precipice!

If he lost this battle, there would be no place for him in the Outer Hall.

The hard lightning hit his ling shield. Pia, one ling shield broke, a talisman on his body broke. He ignored it, and did not slow down.

As Second Elder led the attack, the morale was instantly boosted. Everyone crazily charged towards Golden Crow City!

At this time, there were less than five hundred people left so they were not as tightly arranged as they had been. Adding on they deliberately spreading out, the situation instantly turned for the better. The response from Golden Crow City was half a beat slower, and their accuracy rate lowered drastically.

The Outer Hall xiuzhe took the opportunity to get even closer.

Three li!

At this time, they had already entered the attack range of the xiuzhe. The remaining Outer Hall xiuzhe were even more excited! Even though there were less than three hundred people remaining, but everyone believed that they other’s moves had all been used. They were only one step away from conquering Golden Crow City!

The flying swords they had already prepared were going to be sent out.

———

Sitting on a lucky cloud, Zuo Mo sighed inside. The skill level of the Eastern and Western Camps were still lacking when compared to Vermillion Bird Camp. When the enemy had suddenly scattered just now, their rhythm instantly stumbled. More than half of the hard lightning had missed. If the rhythm hadn’t stumbled, the enemy fatalities would be another one hundred people.

However, he also knew this was the necessary learning process.

This string of changes dazzled the eyes of the spectators. They almost forgot to breathe. From the Outer Hall’s confident charge, everyone had thought that Golden Crow City was finished. But the battle situation was completely unexpected. The brief pauses of Golden Crow City’s defenses had clearly been planned. That was just a trap dug for the Outer Hall.

When the hard lightning flood and the xiuzhe flood smashed together, everyone’s minds went blank.

They lost the ability to think. They could only gape as they watched the collision, such a magnificent yet cruel scene! A brutal yet tragically beautiful scene!

Then they watched as Second Elder went to charge at the front, the Outer Hall xiuzhe furiously charging towards Golden Crow City. The presence of the remaining hundred people suddenly became savage. Everyone was dumbstruck where they stood and inhaled sharply.

They watched as Second Elder led his people to within a li of Golden Crow City, there was only one thought in everyone’s mind. Golden Crow City was finished!

But just at this time, in the sky above Golden Crow City, the very center of everyone’s attention, the young person sitting on a lucky cloud moved.

He stood up.

Chapter 289: The Reappearance Of The Sound Storm

The city master of Golden Crow City was an extremely mysterious individual. No one knew his origins, and nothing was learned from the spies that the factions had sent in.

Before the battle started, this young person had sat on the lucky cloud, a mask-wearing female xiu standing by his side, his expression calm. From beginning to end, he had only spoken two words: “kill.”

He completely didn’t realize that he was the center of everyone’s attention.

No one dared to underestimate this young person. Even if he looked very young, so young that it seemed almost impossible. But no one dared to doubt his abilities. How many people could found such a property in Little Mountain Jie?

The trap just now had also been outside of everyone’s expectations. The results had also been unexpected. At the most dangerous moment, everyone’s hearts suddenly rose for some unexpected reason when they saw him suddenly stand up.

After he stood up, Zuo Mo detected that the hard lightning released by the formation battle watchtowers had stabilized again.

It was time.

His mind moving. Lil’ Pagoda who was connected to his mind suddenly started to rapidly spin.

The light from the golden sun grew, and turned to a flaming ball of fire. The fire followed the threads that dangled down in the sky and spread throughout the formation. When it passed by a ring of light, the ring of light would shake and lightly ring.

For some unknown reason, this sound made everyone’s hearts jump.

It was like a golden gada’s blow, deep and murderous!

Clang clang clang!

The continuous and rapid string of deep chimes made their minds tremble. Like a relay, the chimes became even deeper and powerful, accompanied by an ethereal chanting that made their hearts beat rapidly.

If people from Sky Moon Jie saw this scene, the would definitely recall that scene at the Sword Test Conference!

Second Elder’s expression changed slightly. As a ningmai third stratum, his sense of danger was more sensitive.

Not good!

Clang!

Like the ringing of a far away temple’s bell, this ring seemed to strike his heart. The sound was first too soft to hear, but then suddenly rose. The hard and dignified presence was like water breaking through the dam, and sweeping forth unstoppably!

The strongest killing move of the Skyring Moon Chime Formation, [Moon Chime Sound Storm]!

This [Moon Chime Sound Storm] had tormented the disciples from various sects at the Sword Test Conference. Now that he had added the fourth-grade Buddha Sound Hoop, and the Skyring Moon Chime Formation used the thirty six formation battle watchtowers as a foundation, it was much stronger than the Skyring Moon Chime Formation made that day using metal nails and jade tablets.

Zuo Mo had also discovered the formation technique of the fourth-grade Buddha Sound Hoop.

[Buddha Chant]!

The Buddha sound was like a knife that killed without blood. If one wasn’t careful, it would corrode their minds and was unable to be dodged.

In everyone’s eyes, an invisible ripple suddenly exploded outwards with Golden Crow City as the center. The Outer Hall xiuzhe were unable to dodge in time and received the full brunt of the attack. No one escaped.

Xiuzhe who were slightly weak instantly bled from their orifices, their innards pulverized.

Xiuzhe who were stronger, like Second Elder, paled, and their figures couldn’t help but pause.

This pause was a chance to the xiuzhe inside Golden Crow City!

The hard lightning from every formation battle watchtower instantly smashed towards the remaining xiuzhe. The Buddha sound in the ears of the Golden Crow City’s people was like a blessing from the heavens. Their exhaustion disappeared, and their minds cleared. The energy of the two camps instantly grew.

With the aid of the Buddha Sound Hoop’s chanting, the xiuzhe inside the formation battle watchtower performed above their usual skill. The hard lightning they shot was frighteningly accurate. The xiuzhe who had been wounded by the Buddha sound were at their weakest state. Even if they had the energy to block the hard lightning, they were still penetrated. Bloom after bloom of blood red blossoms appeared in the sky, and the energy of death rose.

After a single wave of hard lightning, there were only a few xiuzhe left in the sky.

Second Elder was one of them. His face was ashen as he looked dazedly at the corpses on the ground. He suddenly raised his head, shouting furiously with all his power, “Master of Golden Crow City! Do you dare fight?”

On the lucky cloud, Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. “Idiot.”

Even Silly Bird couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at Second Elder.

Zuo Mo saw there was no noise from below him, and was very discontent. He shouted down, “What are you doing standing around? Do you want to invite him in for dinner?”

The formation battle watchtowers below had a ruckus. Whoosh, a large patch of hard lightning flew out and dazzled the eyes.

Second Elder’s eyes were open very wide, his face filled with disbelief.

There were at least a dozen hard lightning bolts that struck him. He stared fixedly at Golden Crow City, as he dropped from the sky like a bag of sand.

The one thousand and five hundred people had all been killed!

The Outer Hall xiuzhe lost their capabilities of speech. Each of them had pale white faces. They had had smooth sailing previously, and had only needed to use the slightest of efforts to flatten the factions that had tried to resist. They had never encountered such fierce fighting before.

Outside the Golden Crow City, more than one thousand burnt black corpses were scattered everywhere. Dismembered limbs and flesh could be seen everywhere. The ling power turbulence lingering in the air reminded everyone just how cruel and fierce the fight had been!

Even He Xiang who wanted Second Elder to die did not feel any joy right now. His face was as pale as paper. He had finally realized how idiotic his optimistic prediction had been!

This bone was much harder than they had imagined!

The dark circle of spectators was also completely silent.

They had remained here because they wanted to see a good fight, but right now, they were shocked by the fierceness of this fight. Usually, everyone would charge up together, furiously competing to take the spoils from the corpses. But looking at the mountains of corpses, they had no impulse at all. They only dazedly looked.

———

The middle-aged person and the large man also had dazed faces.

They were also shocked.

Yaomo were rampaging about now. Everyone knew that large scale battles could not be avoided. But when they finally saw a large scale battle, they found that these battles were far crueler than they could imagine.

“What is the use of individual bravery?” the large man sighed emotionally with slight dejection.

For a long time, increasing individual strength and going to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie to become famous was the path to success of every young xiuzhe. Now, he found that the individual strength they had pursued with such hardship was almost ineffective in large scale battles.

The middle aged person knew the large man had received a blow and urged, “Daren, there is no need to be demotivated. If a jindan came, the results would be completely the opposite.”

The large man’s expression cheered up slightly. Upon further thought, he found that it was right. If a jindan came, they would have defeated this city long ago. They had all seen the strength of jindan experts before. Even such a strong city would probably be unable to stop the steps of a jindan expert.

———

Contrasting the deathly silence, the cheers coming from inside Golden Crow City rolled into the surroundings.

In reality, Golden Crow City was also on its last legs. The ling power of the two camps was almost completely used up. If they didn’t have so many people, with such ferocity and unfettered disregard of the consequences as they released the waves of hard lightning, they would have quickly left all of the xiuzhe unable to even stand up.

Lil’ Pagoda was drooping. That [Moon Chime Sound Storm] had used all of its power. Zuo Mo carried it in his hand with heartache. He had to throw a few talismans to it before it recovered some energy.

“Good son, Daddy knows you are the best.”

Lil’ Pagoda was very happy at receiving praise and twirled in Zuo Mo’s palm. Silly Bird looked disdainfully at Zuo Mo. That disdain seemed to say, fooling little child … …

Zuo Mo faltered slightly. However, he decided to disregard this unlikable person. He couldn’t help but mutter inside, Silly Bird’s expressions were becoming increasingly varied. It seemed she had gained many benefits this time.

Scanning Silly Bird, Zuo Mo increasingly felt this one was fat and rich. He wondered if he could squeeze some oil out.

Seeming to detecting the danger coming from Zuo Mo, Silly Bird hurriedly increased her distance from Zuo Mo. Lil’ Fire, on the opposite hand, found it fun and chirped. Like a bubble, it slowly flew over to join the fun.

“Boss, outside the city … …” Bao Yi put out his head and twisted his lips at the outside.

“Outside the city?” Zuo Mo’s expression was puzzled, and then he realized. He rubbed his chin and said, “Get the Guard Camp to go!”

———

Shu Long’s expression was stern as he methodically listened to the xiuzhe that came to pass on orders.

In reality, his attention was completely focused on the bellows coming from inside the necklace.

“First mission, all of you, pay attention! Whoever makes a mistake, whoever makes me lose face, hee hee, just wait! Hm, as the first batch of subordinates of this seat for nearly a thousand years, if you humiliate my name as a Sky Yao, I will kill all of you … …”

“Once out of the city, instantly assemble in the formation. Take out everything you have trained usually … …”

Seeing the xiuzhe who had delivered the orders leave, Shu Long swallowed and said, “But Daren, Boss’ orders is only for us to take the spoils … …”

“My ass! Using the troop of a honored Sky Yao to do something like pick up trash? I cannot bear the embarrassment! Listen well, this mission is your monthly test. If you make a mistake, there will be good days for you next month.”

His heart shook, and coldness shot up from the bottom of his feet. The monthly test was the most terrible days in a month. Every time it occurred, wails rang into the landscape.

This daren was not some generous one. It would be more accurate to describe him as one that would always get even. If they provoked him this time, everyone could not live in the future.

Also, in the deepest part of his heart, he wanted Boss to see their results!

Even though they did not have to worry about food, shelter, there was no hard labour, and they only cultivated everyday, but whenever danger approached the Boss would never think of the existence of Guard Camp. All of Guard Camp were holding a breath. They knew their foundations were terrible, and their strength weak. They could not do anything major. Consequently, everyone cultivated using their life. Injuries due to cultivation were the most frequent event in Guard Camp.

This breath was like an invisible whip furiously striking them.

Had their day finally come?

Under Shu Long’s weathered face, his heart started to ripple. He adjusted the ling armor on his body and suppressed his excitement. He tried to make his steps as steady as usual and walked out of the tent.

Outside the tent, everyone in Guard Camp had finished gathering.

Everyone had excited expressions. It was possible to see that they were trying their best to suppress their excitement.

Looking at the organized troop with new uniforms, Shu Long suddenly blanked. The scenes of the past flowed like water passed his eyes. Panicked and in a sorry state as they huddled together, their clothing unable to cover their bodies, their hopeless and dead eyes … …

He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the talisman on his hand. All of the scenes in his mind instantly shattered. Looking at the gazes full of life, his gaze became determined as he ordered.

“Depart!”

Chapter 290: The Guard Camp Steps Onto The Stage

He Xiang’s heart was beating like a drum. The other elders were all pale. They had not recovered from watching the battle just now. One thousand and five hundred people had all died. Their power instantly shrank by one-fifth.

The corpses scattered across the mountains made it seem like a hellish landscape. The elders who had been scrambling for the opportunity to attack the city first were now filled with fear. If it had been them … …

Truthfully, Second Elder had performed very well. He had a great weapon in the Cloud Formation Silk, he had the bravery to lead from the front. None of the elders here could have performed better than he had, but he still died. The whole troop had died. It wasn’t that he hadn’t performed well, but the enemy was too strong.

What kind of formation battle watchtower was that? The hard lightning it released seemed endless like a tide. If it wasn’t that they had seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t believe that there were such powerful formation battle watchtowers in this world. Even if there were, how could they appear in this minuscule Little Mountain Jie?

If this came out, how could everyone live?

And that Skyring Moon Chime Formation, could that still even be called the Skyring Moon Chime Formation? Bro, you weren’t the only one that played around with a Skyring Moon Chime Formation before, are you sure that what you have is still a Skyring Moon Chime Formation?

The elders looked at Golden Crow City with sorrowful rage.

Bro, be nice, you are so strong, don’t come running to Little Mountain Jie to steal food from us little people!

Why … …

Even He Xiang didn’t know what to do next. Continue to fight? He looked at the elders around him. Every one of them was dispirited and had lost their courage. Even if there was an elder that had the courage to attack, the people under them wouldn’t be willing. He could clearly feel the morale of his troops had reached bottom.

But with everyone watching them, he felt he couldn’t retreat like this and lose face.

Just as He Xiang was struggling with his dilemma, Golden Crow City acted again.

Many people suddenly appeared on top of the walls of Golden Crow City and jumped down from the walls.

He Xiang’s eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at the people continuously jumping down from Golden Crow City’s walls.

Was it … … were they going to attack?

For an unknown reason, he suddenly shook. He turned to look at the other elders and stilled again. The elders that had surrounded him had all disappeared. Only when he turned his face around did he see that they had retreated three zhang away from him.

Terror was on everyone’s faces.

The movement of Golden Crow City had attracted everyone’s attention. The xiuzhe that were watching from afar moved their eyes towards this group of people that flooded out of Golden Crow City

This group of people were all wearing black heavy armor, but their movements were light and agile. After watching for a while, everyone had puzzled expressions. Almost no one used heavy armor among the various types of ling armor because the majority of xiuzhe battles were in the air. The heavy ling armor would greatly affect their speed. The popular ling armors were mostly light and carved with formations to be activated during battle. Usually, the defensive abilities of the ling armor were not reliant on the ling armor itself, but depended on the strength of the ling shield activated from the ling armor.

It was possible to see that the black ling armor on these people was very heavy.

Only body cultivating xiuzhe could support such heavy ling armor. Looking at the nimble movements of these people, they did seem like body cultivating xiuzhe.

There was a continuous stream of armor-wearing xiuzhe jumping off the city walls. Their movements were extremely quick, and well-trained, flowing like water. A group of xiuzhe quickly gathered outside the city, and when the number of xiuzhe reached one thousand people, the spectators all inhaled sharply.

He Xiang and the others had ashen faces!

Who said that Golden Crow City didn’t have many people?

It was very hard to calculate how many people were needed to man the thirty six formation battle watchtowers, but it definitely wasn’t less than one thousand people. Now, one thousand body cultivating xiuzhe had come out. How many people were really hiding inside Golden Crow City?

He Xiang didn’t even have the energy to swear. The other elders could only stare at each other.

———

One thousand heavy-armor xiuzhe quickly gathered, their movements clean and without any fuss. In a short span, they finished organizing their formation.

One thousand armor-wearing xiuzhe stood solemnly without a sound. All noise had disappeared.

The wind blew past and stirred the dust and dried leaves to swirl in the air. The killing intent was as cold as a knife. The one thousand people were like a heavy rock pressing on everyone’s chest, making them unconsciously feel that breathing was slightly difficult.

Shu Long had a small headache.

First, they could not resist Boss’ mission. Boss had told them to collect the spoils. If he went on a different path, Boss definitely would not be happy. Even he wasn’t willing to do so.

However, the words of the daren inside the necklace could not be dismissed. That was his direct teacher. If that person was offended, his days would become very dark.

His mind suddenly moved and had an idea.

———

The people that were paying attention to the black armor troop were of two different opinions.

One side chided the master of Golden Crow City for being so dim to create such a trashy troop. No matter if it was sword xiu, or Dhyana xiu, they emphasized the ability to fly. The mainstream battlefield was the sky. If this group of people flew up into the air, they would be like turtles, only able to wait for death.

The other side was very curious. Up until now, every move of the master of Golden Crow City made people feel amazed. How could such a person make such a shallow and low-level mistake? There had to be a deeper meaning.

The middle-aged person and the large male held the second opinion.

“It’s very hard to say with precedent,” The eyes of the middle-aged person flashed as he said gravely. “Only people that can break convention are true heroes.”

The large male stared at the black-armor troop outside the Golden Crow City. Other people might feel that this troop was hilarious, but he had seen true elite forces before. This troop couldn’t be called elite, but it seemed to have a presence that others could not dismiss.

Other people might not concern themselves with this, but the large male knew it wasn’t so easy to form such a presence.

This master of Golden Crow City was really talented!

The eyes of the large male became even hotter.

———

[Hardship Guard] was an extreme mo skill. It wasn’t possible to cultivate unless one had perseverance. If they could tolerate pain, the progress was far faster than any other mo skill. When that King first obtained [Hardship Abyss], he had felt it wasn’t bad, but thought that it didn’t progress quickly enough. He didn’t have the patience to slowly nurture his personal guards so he had made the appropriate changes to the skill and made the newly formed [Hardship Guard]. It became a quick mo skill, but the pain involved naturally multiplied.

To the King, he had countless people. Even if the elimination rate was astounding, he didn’t care at all.

He probably would never have thought that this mo skill would one day be given to a group of xiu slaves. These xiu slave had gone through many hands. Those that could survive were those with resilience. Also, Pu Yao naturally didn’t have any kind of emotions like pity. To prove the value of Sky Yao, he had furiously urged them on.

Today was the first time the Guard Camp showed themselves.

What did this weird troop want to do?

Just as everyone was puzzled, they saw the organized ranks suddenly spread out. Each troop was like a stream of water, suddenly turning to ten smaller flows. With thirty six of them to a platoon, they quickly sprinted among the mountain.

Their speed was very fast, the heavy armor on their body seemed to not affect them at all. What was most praiseworthy was that even at such fast speeds, the shape of the troop was not affected at all.

At the top of Golden Crow City, Zuo Mo made a small sound of surprise.

After working with formations for so long, he was abnormally sensitive to formations. With one glance, he recognized the platoon of thirty six people were maintaining a kind of battle formation.

His mind moving, he opened his ling eyes.

Above each little troop, black energy shifted like dozens of black serpents swimming around, brimming with killing intent.

Zuo Mo instantly jumped in fright.

What battle formation was this?

The killing intent in this formation was so heavy that Zuo Mo had never seen anything comparable. Even the killing intent of Gongsun Cha’s Vermillion Bird Camp was far less than the Guard Camp’s present battle formation.

As expected, Pu Yao still had a trick up his sleeve!

Zuo Mo rubbed his chin as he thought.

Sweat continued to flow down Shu Long’s head as he heard the daren inside the necklace bellow.

“What have you trained? Ah! This is only the thirty six person Little Mo Kill, you’ve only gotten to this. Then that one thousand people Great Mo Kill, can you even train … …”

Pu Yao didn’t have any of the composure that he had in front of Zuo Mo. His shouts were like thunder and made Shu Long’s heart tremble. He was clearly very dissatisfied.

Shu Long’s orders quickly passed to every little team. Everyone’s heart shook. Already full of desire for battle, they raised themselves to one hundred and twenty percent of their usual attentiveness.

———

The killing intent of each platoon became even more tangible. At this time, even the xiuzhe who didn’t have ling eyes could see the extraordinary aspects.

“Such keen killing intent!” For the first time, the middle-aged person had a shocked expression. His expression was grave as he said, “This formation has the heaviest killing intent that this subordinate has seen in life! I wonder who could create such a vicious formation!”

“Any formation that can kill people is a good formation!” The large male was very liberal with this point. He stared attentively at the constant movements of the black armor camp guards.

The killing intent was tangible. There were black snakes that seemed to be flipping above the heads of each platoon and inspired fear when looked upon.

The people that had been mocking Zuo Mo before were gaping now as their hearts beat rapidly. Even though they had not seen this black-armor guard troop’s attack, but just this shocking killing intent was enough to rob many of their courage.

———

“As powerful as expected!” Zuo Mo, who possessed the Ling Eye, could see more clearly than the others. Once they were touched, the killing intent that had turned to black serpents would instantly coil around the enemy. Each platoon was like a wild beast that devoured people. Inside the killing formation, the pupils of each camp guard had turned bloody red, and exuded a terrifying presence. If it wasn’t that they cultivated [Hardship Guard], and had indefatigable personalities, they would have broken under such dense killing intent.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be curious what it would be like if this battle formation encountered an enemy. He really wanted to go ask Pu Yao, but if he went to ask at this time, that guy’s nostrils would face the sky.

He ended the thought. Suddenly, he finally responded. “Didn’t I tell them to go strip the talismans? What are they rehearsing for?”

Upon second thought, when he looked at the ground full of corpses and scattered talismans, Zuo Mo instantly was furious. It definitely was Pu Yao that was the culprit.

So much jingshi … …

Just as he was going to swear, he suddenly saw out of the corner of his eye dozens of sword lights flew in from the horizon.

Chapter 291: Hong Jun Xuan

Dozens of xiuzhe with flying swords under their feet and their bodies flashing with light, their faces cold, landed among the Outer Sect disciples. The first among them pointed and started to scold He Xiang just as he stopped.

“He Xiang! You have guts! Eldest Shixiong was killed! You dare to conceal this and not report it!”

He instantly ignored He Xiang’s explanation, his face cold as he swept the other elders. “This seat is Old Forefather’s Second Disciple Hong Jun Xuan. Starting from now, this seat will be managing the Outer Hall! Anyone that disobeys will be killed!”

The expressions of the other elders all changed, but no one dared to speak up. Many of them had seen Hong Jun Xuang before.

“This seat will give you a chance to make up for your crimes.” Hong Jun Xuan’s eyes were filled with killing intent. He pointed at the Guard Camp outside of Golden Crow City and said darkly, “This seat will permit you to take one thousand people. If you can defeat this group of country bumpkins, I will pardon your crimes. If any of you do not dare to fight, then don’t blame this seat for being unmerciful!”

The faces of the elders were ashen.

They didn’t know the battle capabilities of that troop, but the killing intent was so dense their hearts trembled. They couldn’t gather up any courage when they looked.

“What?” Hong Jun Xuan’s face grew even colder. “You are not willing?”

The other Clear Sky Sect disciples also looked with unfriendliness. If He Xiang and the others dared to make the slightest move to rebel, they would act.

He Xiang’s face was like ash. He knew that he didn’t have the chance to change anything now. Clear Sky Sect’s patience with them had reached its limited. He said difficulty, “I’m willing.”

There was only one route left to him, seeking life in death.

Hong Jun Xuan and the others wouldn’t give them any other route. As to escape, he never thought about it. No matter how big Little Mountain Jie was, there wasn’t another place that would take him in.

Seeing He Xiang speak, the gazes of the other elders were undecided, especially the few elders with ningmai third stratum cultivation who now had thoughts of fleeing. But the Clear Sky Sect disciples had encircled them. They also knew that escape would not be so simple.

They silently stood next to He Xiang.

Hate flashed across the eyes of the Clear Sky Sect disciples like Hong Jun Xuan. The death of Huang Zhuo Guang was like a lightning bolt on a clear day for Clear Sky Sect. These Clear Sky Sect disciples mostly idolized Eldest Shixiong. The death of Eldest Shixiong, especially in Little Mountain Jie where they had never felt there was any danger before, was unacceptable to them.

He Xiang knew explaining would not be useful. He didn’t speak and picked one thousand people.

The sudden arrival of the Clear Sky Sect disciples instantly caused the battlefield that had relaxed to become tense again. Everyone’s eyes gathered on Hong Jun Xuan’s body. This made Hong Jun Xuan feel excited like he had never been before. Eldest Shixiong wasn’t here so it was now his turn.

He had waited for this day for a long time.

If he could take down this city, control of Little Mountain Jie would land back in the hands of the sect, his status would rise with this accomplishment and would certainly take Eldest Shixiong’s place as the new leader of the younger generation of disciples. As to He Xiang and the others, they were useless in his eyes. If it wasn’t for them, the situation of Little Mountain Jie would never have gotten to such a terrible state.

———

“The Clear Sky Sect disciples are like this, they really cannot be cured.” The large male shook his head, his tone filled with unspeakable dislike.

“He he, those whom the heavens wish to destroy, they first make mad. Daren should not argue with them.” The middle-aged person laughed lightly.

“That’s true.” The large male nodded, and then had an expression of anticipation. “That’s a good thing. This way, I can see just where this black armored troop is special.”

———

It wasn’t just the spectators that saw the change in the Outer Hall. Shu Long had also noticed it.

His expression instantly became solemn. Glancing at Boss on the top of Golden Crow City, he conversed in a low voice with the daren in the necklace. “Daren, they seem to want to attack.”

“Attack?” The voice of the daren inside the necklace instantly became excited. “Good! Very good! Kill! Kill all of them!”

Shu Long jumped in fright. This daren’s killing intent was really strong. However, he didn’t take the words seriously. He examined the situation and saw there was no time to gather the spoils of victory. He instantly became slightly depressed. Boss had sent them to scalp, but it seemed that they could not finish the mission now.

Shu Long was very discontent that they could not complete the first mission that Boss gave the Guard Camp.

But at this moment, he knew what was more important. The other had divided out one thousand people. It definitely wasn’t to invite them to a meal. He did not hesitate and ordered for the platoons to gather.

The Guard Camp that had spread out on the ground instantly gathered with Shu Long as the center. Shu Long seemed to be a great magnet to attract them to him. The heavy black armor was not a hindrance. Even though they could not fly, but each person’s movements were nimble. With a few jumps, they returned to the camp formation.

Zuo Mo nodded on the inside as he sat on the lucky cloud. Shu Long was quite dependable. He didn’t speak, but had the formation battle watchtowers prepare to give aid at any time. Any troop would be useless in the end if they did not undergo real battle. Before, he had assumed that the Guard Camp wouldn’t show any results after such a short period of time. Now, he found that the progress of Guard Camp far had surpassed his imagination, and instantly felt some confidence.

That short encounter just now had almost consumed all of the battle capabilities of the Eastern and Western Camps. The aid that the formation battle watchtowers could give was limited. Zuo Mo could only direct them to hurry and recover ling power.

He was also very curious what powerful moves Guard Camp had.

With his understanding of Pu Yao, if this guy didn’t have a grasp of the situation, he definitely wouldn’t come out to embarrass himself.

Pu Yao could only ever do one thing, show off!

The Guard Camp merged back with their fastest possible speed. Shu Long did not order for them to return to the city, but to prepare to welcome the enemy outside the city walls.

“They have their test, and you have yours.”

The words of the daren in the necklace caused Shu Long to pale in fright.

“I’ve taught so much. If you worked hard, you should be able to deal with this kind of minor situation.”

Pu Yao’s voice didn’t hold any emotion.

“If you can’t deal with it, you don’t need to live. Your Boss might be softhearted, but if you are useless, you would only be a burden.”

Shu Long wasn’t angry. He was several decades old, and had been a xiu slave for more than twenty years. What pain hadn’t he encountered, what hadn’t he seen? Daren’s words were not pleasing to hear but they were not wrong. He tightened the black armor on his body, and raised his head, determination was the only thing remaining in his eyes.

If they couldn’t deal with something as minor as this, how could they face Boss?

He slowly scanned around him and said in a deep voice, “This is our first battle! I know everyone has waited for this day for a long time. We cultivated with our lives, for what? For this battle! Even if we die today, we need to build up the reputation of the Guard Camp!”

His voice was not loud, but every person in Guard Camp was suddenly full of passion.

Zuo Mo could not hear their words. He looked with shock at the roiling black energy above Guard Camp suddenly become somewhat stronger. It became as black as ink in his eyes. Even he couldn’t help but have a strong feeling of danger.

Such a powerful battle formation!

Zuo Mo was stunned. An eerie purple light suddenly lit up in the eyes of the female xiu as she stared at the Guard Camp.

With his Ling Eyes, he saw threads of black energy sprout out of each camp guard. As the black energy came out, it would enter the formation, and swim inside the formation. In the blink of an eye, the formation was filled with countless small threads of black energy.

———

“Let’s go!” He Xiang said heavily.

The other elders silently took out their flying swords and activated their ling armor. Behind them, one thousand xiuzhe took out their ling armor and activated it as well.

The sky was once again covered in light of various colors.

Everyone’s gazes once again gathered on these two troops that were going to collide.

Based on strength, the Outer Hall definitely was at an advantage. Their ling armor was far better than the heavy armor of Guard Camp in the eyes of many xiuzhe. It was the first time they had seen people use such clumsy and rough heavy armor.

Based on individual power, the Outer Hall was at an even greater advantage. There were several ningmai third stratum xiuzhe among the Outer Hall elders. As for the Guard Camp? Even though the scripture they cultivated was very obscure, their individual power was average, and there was no eye-catching expert.

Many people unconsciously glanced at Zuo Mo and shook their heads

Hong Jun Xuan smirked icily. “Heavy armor, they still think this is thousands of years ago. They even managed to come up with something like this antique. Who told me that they are very rich? So many from the Outer Hall have been killed by this group? Trash is trash. Even if they entered our Clear Sky Sect, they would not be acceptable!”

“Hee hee, that’s true! They can’t compare to Shixiong. It’s easy now that Shixiong is in command!” a shidi flattered. “Not just Golden Crow City. Even if there was a few more, Shixiong can easily conquer them!”

Hong Jun Xuan was content. “When we take down this city, everyone’s service will be repaid!”

“Shixiong is wise!”

“We can only benefit from association from following Shixiong!”

The other shidi flattered Hong Jun Xian. Hong Jun Xian’s ego was satisfied like it never had been before. He waved a hand. “Let’s see just how useful this group of trash is.”

The other people’s eyes all turned to He Xiang.

“Let’s kill!” He Xiang didn’t waste words, and took his sword to charge at the very front. The other elders didn’t speak either and tightly followed. The one thousand xiuzhe didn’t dare to disobey.

Piercing howls sounded in the air.

The light was like rain as they leapt towards the Guard Camp outside Golden Crow City!

Ten li!

No move. The silver flood that everyone had predicted did not appear. This made everyone feel surprised.

“Maybe the power of the formation battle watchtowers have been used up?” The middle-aged person was puzzled. “Or the master of Golden Crow City has full confidence in this troop?”

The large male’s face was both shocked and doubtful. Both possibilities were extremely likely, but they represented completely different meanings.

He Xiang and the elders had been planning to face the rain of hard lightning, and hadn’t expected that Golden Crow City did not shoot even one bolt after flying for a while.

This caused them to be overjoyed. Morale exploded!

The elders that had been planning to flee instantly felt assured. The Outer Hall xiuzhe behind them instantly became confident.

What they were most afraid off was the hard lightning. Now that the biggest threat was gone, the other side was just some bumpkins dressed in heavy armor. What was there to be afraid of?

Yes! What was there to be afraid of?

Having seen the hope of survival, He Xian’s desire for battle suddenly boiled. He shouted, “Kill! Kill! Kill!”

One thousand Outer Hall xiuzhe shouted together, “Killllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!”

Seven li!

Five li!

Three li!

———

The xiuzhe that were diving down began magnifying with astounding speed in Shu Long’s vision.

The mo skill ramped up to the limits, Shu Long opened his eyes. In his blood red eyes, a dash of black energy flashed past like a black knife. He suddenly shouted!

“Kill!”

Chapter 292: Little Mo Kill

Shu Long ramped up his mo skill to its limit. Countless threads of black energy rapidly burrowed inside his body.

His body quickly expanded, forcibly growing more than one chi in height. The weathered face became vicious and authoritative at this moment, the black armor and red eyes shocking people’s hearts.

It wasn’t just him. The camp guards beside him all shouted, each of them growing taller.

“What weird scripture is this?” The large male gaped with wide eyes.

“It is not clear.” The face of the middle aged person was serious. “It’s a bit like the [Ghost General Arrival] of the Ghost Formation Sect, and Divine Staff Beating Technique of Dhyana xiu. There are many sects that have these kind of secret methods. They had been glorious during the Thousand Year War, but not many have survived until now.”

“Why hasn’t more of it remained?”

“This kind of secret method emphasizes killing, with less focus on cultivating the body and skills that create wealth, like forging or dan-making. It’s natural that they would decline more quickly,” the middle-aged person explained quickly, his eyes tightly locked onto the battlefield.

It was another scene in Zuo Mo’s Ling Eyes. Each camp guard was shrouded in black energy like numerous slender black serpents swimming around their body.

An even higher pitched howl suddenly sounded.

The Outer Hall xiuzhe simultaneously sent out sword energies. Countless sword energies of various colors were like an enormous and dense school of multicoloured fish howling as they leapt towards Guard Camp!

The scene of a thousand xiuzhe simultaneously releasing sword energies was very spectacular!

Those who saw this scene all felt their hearts shake.

After Shu Long’s bellow, all of the Guard Camp sank into a strange silence. The thick killing intent also disappeared.

At this time, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but have a shocked expression. The black energy was tightly restrained inside the big formation. It was like a wild beast that was trapped in a cage. It furiously smashed against the cage. However, Shu Long and the others seemed familiar with these black energies and dismissed them, staying in their positions, and allowing them to charge.

It was only when the sword energy attacks had reached their heads that Shu Long had shouted, “Kill!”

His “kill” was not loud, but it had an unique rhythm, deep and restrained.

The big formation of the Guard Camp suddenly moved. The rampaging black energy inside the formation seemed to be unwilling to be used. They furiously rampaged inside the formation, but it was useless. The Guard Camp wearing black armor were expressionless as they marched with determined steps. As the camp guards quickly marched inside the formation, an invisible force formed inside the formation, and carried the black energy to accelerate.

An enormous whirlpool appeared above Guard Camp. The whirlpool darkened at a rate visible to the naked eye. The dense killing intent once again was revealed!

The sword energies that were like rain in the sky seemed to be attracted by a strong force and were pulled towards the whirlpool.

The faces of the Outer Hall xiuzhe changed!

They lost control of their sword energies!

How was it possible!

The great majority of them had never encountered such a strange situation before.

The rain of sword energies entered the whirlpool made from black energy and disappeared without a trace.

The entire battlefield was deathly silent. Everyone looked dazedly at the enormous black whirlpool that was silently churning above the Guard Camp.

“What … … what is that?” the large male exclaimed in shock.

The middle-aged person was so shocked he couldn’t speak. How was it possible? How could such a powerful formation appear in Little Mountain Jie?

The master of Golden Crow City truly had extraordinary origins!

If it wasn’t a sect more than seven or eight hundred years old, they definitely could not possess such a terrifying battle formation. Which sect did this person come from? Why did he come to Little Mountain Jie? Did he have the same goals as they did?

A hundred thoughts ran through his head, the expression of the middle-aged person was also uncertain.

Hong Jun Xuan looked at the enormous whirlpool and his expression changed. His interest in watching flew away.

He Xiang and the others were shocked. The slowly moving black whirlpool above Guard Camp was like an ancient beast that could consume everything. A thousand sword energies had silently been swallowed inside.

As expected, there was something strange!

He Xiang gritted his teeth. “Let’s go closer! They cannot stop our flying swords!”

The other xiuzhe had hesitant expressions, but Hong Jun Xuan and the others were behind them. If they retreated at this time, they would definitely be executed by the sword! Only by charging forward was there a possibility of survival!

The elders exchanged looks. Without wasting words, they channeled their ling power.

Seeing the situation, the one thousand people behind them could only follow behind. What reassured them was that they were in the sky, and that strange troop clearly was not suited to flight so they could not do anything.

If they were careful, and didn’t go near the black whirlpool, there shouldn’t be a problem.

He Xiang led the approach. His heart was slightly drumming. This troop was too strange. The black whirlpool looked extremely shocking. Their hearts beat rapidly.

Unexpectedly, the whirlpool did not react to them as they neared. Maybe this whirlpool was only effective against things like sword energies? Everyone’s courage grew a few fractions.

They tried to go closer. As expected, there was no effect!

Now their hearts were greatly reassured.

The other people also saw and for some unknown reason, the middle-aged person unconsciously released a breath. This vicious formation had given him pressure he had never felt before, pushing on his chest like a heavy rock.

Such a powerful killing formation should not appear in Little Mountain Jie.

Only Zuo Mo could see the profoundness involved. The black whirlpool had became even bigger after absorbing so many sword energies. Even more terrifying was that the enlarged black energy passed into the formation. The black energy inside the formation was more than ten times as dense as it had been,

Zuo Mo couldn’t move his eyes away. For an unknown reason, he suddenly thought of the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk’s earth mist. The earth mist had been as heavy as a mountain, and this black energy was vicious and brutal!

Inside the formation, Shu Long and the others were wrapped in thick black energy. The threads that had been like snakes before but now it was like they were swimming in black water. The closer it was to them, the thicker the black energy.

The sound of the black whirlpool was still shocking, but in Zuo Mo’s eyes, it shows signs of fading.

Was it … …

Zuo Mo’s mind moved.

At this time, Shu Long roared again, “Kill!”

Everyone’s heart jumped. Before they could respond, they heard the one thousand camp guards roar, “Kill!”

The killing intent that was let loose was like a fierce tiger that had left its cage, roaring and unstoppable!

The organized troop suddenly spread out. Each platoon was like a ball of black cloud that spread into the surroundings. At the same time, dozens of black serpents flew out of the formation, twisting as their barrel thick bodies leapt towards the Outer Hall xiuzhe in the air.

Hiss hiss hiss!

The stream of serpents hissing made everyone’s scalp prickle.

The spectators only saw dozens of enormous black serpents that were dozens of zhang long suddenly leaping out of the black whirlpool, baring their black fangs as they charged at the Outer Hall xiuzhe in the air.

The distance between the two sides was not far. The enormous black serpents were like arrows leaving the bow. With an unstoppable presence, it charged in front of the xiuzhe.

A blurry black shadow suddenly shot before him, He Xiang’s head rang and then blanked.

He was not the only one. None of the elders managed to react.

Whoosh!

A fishy wind blew past. The pain they imagined did not come. He Xiang shook and suddenly woke up. He found that he was surrounded in a patch of black.

A strange terror filled his heart. He swallowed difficulty. Where, where was this?

Cold and murderous without a hint of life, he seemed to be located in a void. Loneliness and terror continued to charge at his heart’s defenses like waves.

Calm … … calm … … … he had to remain calm!

This definitely was an illusion!

He Xiang repeatedly told himself and tried to calm down.

A voice full of killing intent suddenly passed into the void.

“Kill!”

He suddenly felt an enormous pain from his back. When he lowered his head, he found to his terror a hand shrouded in black energy had emerged halfway out of his chest.

Why … …

His mind dropped into an endless darkness.

———

Su Long felt the temperature inside his body was astoundingly high. He seemed to be burning to ashes. He could only grit his teeth and bear it. It was common to encounter this kind of situation when they cultivated [Hardship Guard]. Just now, he had activated the mo skill to kill He Xiang in one blow.

However, he did not have any joy at this moment. There was only a furious desire for battle in his heart.

He once again raised his palm. His entire palm was wrapped in thick black energy. His eyes became even more red. A heart-boring pain passed from his right arm, but his arm did not shake at all.

Any kind of power could not come out of thin air.

To gain power, one had to pay. With a safe scripture, what was paid was time. For a quick scripture, even though it saved time, it required payment of other things.

“Kill!”

A deep roar squeezed out of his chest. He suddenly flipped his palm, his fingers turning to claws as he grabbed towards a xiuzhe in the air!

A black palm left his hand, and suddenly imprinted on one xiuzhe’s chest and passing through as though the dazzling ling shield seemed to not exist. This black palm easily passed through.

This xiuzhe’s body shook, and then his vitality instantly disappeared as he dropped down.

———

What the outsiders saw was a very strange scene. When the black serpents were just going to collide with the xiuzhe troop, they suddenly turned to a ball of black energy, and covered all of the xiuzhe.

The xiuzhe covered in the black energy seemed to freeze like puppets in the air.

Balls of black energy instantly flew out of the Guard Camp below them and hit the frozen Outer Hall xiuzhe. The xiuzhe in the sky dropped, like dumplings into a pot. When some xiuzhe were still dropping from the air, their corpses were already grey and without life.

Pia pia pia!

Outer Hall xiuzhe continued to drop. In a few short breaths, nothing was left in the sky.

No xiuzhe had escaped. The Outer Hall troops had all been defeated again, including all of their elders. The elders tried to struggle but inside the black energy, they were like headless flies. They flew randomly, but still could not escape. In the end, they were hit with dozens of black energy balls .

The entire battle was so short it was unimaginable, so clean and crisp it was terrifying.

One thousand people versus one thousand people!

One side was completely obliterated in the blink of an eye, and the other side had no fatalities at all. Everyone did not feel shock any more, but instead felt terror! Deep terror! This group of people dressed in black armor was as terrifying as yaomo!

No, even if it were yaomo, they definitely could not kill one thousand xiuzhe so easily!

Hong Jun Xuan’s face was bloodless, and as white as paper. He unconsciously opened his mouth but did not produce any sound. At his side, the calves of the other Clear Sky Sect disciples uncontrollably trembled.

Even the large male and the middle-aged person had fearful expressions.

They … … who were they?

What was that black energy?

What was that battle formation?

Chapter 293: Great Unexpected Wealth

Shu Long bit down hard. The black energy was burning against his body like fire. He knew what the black energy was, it was killing essence. The [Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation] could condense killing essence to wound the enemy, but the killing essence was like a double edged blade. To wound the enemy, it had to first wound them.

Channeling [Hardship Guard] to his limit, the black energy was slowly being absorbed. His body uncontrollably trembled all over.

Pain and struggle was the best nutrients or this mo skill.

Different than what others saw, using Little Mo Kill was barely achievable for the present Guard Camp. In the usual practice, the success rate of Little Mo Kill was not high. But today, no platoon had failed in activating their Little Mo Kill!

But … …

Shu Long felt threads of black energy burrow into his body like worms and burning every part of his skin! He didn’t dare to move. He was afraid that if he made the slightest movement, he would suddenly lose control.

He was not the only one. All the other camp guards were nailed to the ground like wooden posts. They were covered all over in black energy. They gritted his teeth and bore it, furiously channeling their mo skill.

“Return to the city immediately.”

Inside the necklace, Pu Yao’s voice was not shouting like he was previously, but with a rare kind of solemnity.

Shu Long could not speak. He bit down harder, the black energy on his body increasingly dense. The black energy seemed to show signs of turning to flame. He couldn’t even move his feet to walk. The black energy increasingly grew heavier in all of Guard Camp.

Zuo Mo also saw the wrongness. Theoretically, the black energy should have dissipated by now, but the black energy inside the large formation was becoming increasingly heavy. If this continued, Guard Camp would be consumed by these brutal and sharp killing essences.

“Black Water! Quick!” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly sounded inside Zuo Mo’s head.

Zuo Mo first stilled, and then his expression instantly changed. He flew outside the city, and sprinkled down Black Water. At this time, he couldn’t care about how valuable Black Water was. He was afraid that the amount wasn’t enough, and just rained down all the Black Water he possessed on Guard Camp.

Each drop of Black Water was heavy as lead. With cracking sounds, some landed on the ground, and smashed out a small hole, dust spraying out.

But when it hit the bodies of the camp guards, it was like landing in sand, instantly entering their body and disappearing without a trace.

Previously, the Moon Eye Black Water Beast Zuo Mo and the others had killed was three thousand catties heavy. Zuo Mo had taken as much as one thousand and five hundred catties of Black Water. All of that one thousand and five hundred catties of Black Water was raining down on the bodies of the Guard Camp.

Black Water was a frequently used third-grade material, but that did not mean that it was so cheap.

The Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation caused everyone to feel terror, but when the spectators saw Zuo Mo continuously sprinkle down one thousand and five hundred catties of Black Water, they almost went insane, and felt great pain!

Their eyes were so jealous they were entirely red.

More than a thousand catties of Black Water … …

Was there anyone that was so wasteful?

Looking at the black energy decreasing, the expressions of pain on Shu Long and the other’s faces decreased greatly, Zuo Mo felt slightly reassured. He suddenly recalled that he had four semi-spheres of Moon Eye, he hurriedly asked Pu Yao, “Are Moon Eyes useful?”

Pu Yao was slightly surprised. “Moon Eyes are very expensive.”

“So it means they are effective?” asked Zuo Mo.

“Oh, it’s effective.”

Just as Pu Yao’s words landed, Zuo Mo took out the four semi-spheres of Moon Eye.

“Moon Eye!” The spectators did not lack for those that recognized it who then exclaimed.

“Black Water! Moon Eye! He must have killed a Moon Eye Black Water Beast! Very strong!”

“That thing is very expensive … … what does he want to do?”

Zuo Mo put the Moon Eyes into the center of his palms and then scrubbed hard. Instantly, the Moon Eyes turned to a pile of white powder.

All the exclamations suddenly stopped. They looked with abject shock at Zuo Mo’s hands.

Zuo Mo gently channeled ling power into his palms. The Moon Eye power instantly turned to a ball of white smoke and covered Guard Camp.

———

“This master of Golden Crow City definitely is of uncommon origin.” The middle-aged person’s expression was admiring. “I don’t know which sect he is a disciple off. This person is very generous and has high aims. Daren may want get acquainted with him.”

The large male also had admiration. To say of nothing else, it wasn’t so easy to be so generous to one’s subordinates. He was confident in the judgment of the middle-aged person. Without a doubt, the master of Golden Crow City definitely was the heir to an ancient and hidden sect. Such a vicious formation, such powerful subordinates, these were things only disciples of those large sects would have. What made him so certain was the one thousand and five hundred catties of Black Water, and the four semi-spheres of Moon Eye that Zuo Mo had taken out.

He was too familiar with these motions!

Just this mannerism wasn’t something a small sect could afford to give. Thinking about himself and his group of people throwing down the thousand jing to get a beauty to smile, it was embarrassing compared to this person today!

So the actual phrase in Chinese (千金博美人一笑) roughly translates to “a thousand gold to gain a beauty’s smile.” The idiom comes from the story of King You of Zhuo who had a queen with the surname Bo that did not smile.

So embarrassing!

The large male made the decision that he would definitely request a meeting with the Lord of Golden Crow City when this battle finished.

———

Shu Long and the others knew the value of Black Water and Moon Eye. Mist rose in their eyes. The black energy almost lost control. They had always been ordered about, beaten, and sworn at. No one had ever spent so much on them.

Never before … …

The voice of the daren inside the necklace sounded again. “Gather your minds, return to the city immediately, move slowly.”

Shu Long suppressed the excitement inside. He didn’t say anything, reaching out with a hand to make a motion towards the others. They slowly moved towards Golden Crow City. The city gates of Golden Crow City were wide open. Compared to the crispness and nimbleness when they jumped down from the walls of the city, they were as slow as turtles at this time and had no presence.

But no one dared to underestimate them. When their eyes landed on Guard Camp, they would unconsciously hold a hint of terror.

It was this troop that looked as slow as puppets, it was these bumpkins mocked for wearing clumsy and heavy black armor, that had just destroyed a troop of one thousand xiuzhe!

When Guard Camp entered the city, they went directly back to their camp to process the killing essence, Black Water, and Moon Eyes.

Zuo Mo wasn’t in the mood to face the others, and had the formation battle watchtowers keep up their guard.

He ran to the residence of Guard Camp and saw the armor-wearing xiu slaves standing like wooden posts shrouded in black energy. He worriedly asked Pu Yao, “What happened today? Is there a problem? Right, what formation did they use?”

“Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation, a type of slightly obscure formation,” Pu Yao said. “It is the most appropriate to use with [Hardship Guard]. This battle formation was something it got after killing a mo general.”

Dumb (傻) and kill (杀) are different tones that are very close to each other and have the same pinyin but pronounced differently. So Zuo Mo mangles the killing formation into a dumb formation.

“It?” Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled.

“That stele,” Pu Yao said irritably.

“Oh.” Zuo Mo didn’t understand but noted it down. It seemed the gravestone was as extraordinary as he had expected to be able to kill a mo general. He continued to ask, “What happened today?”

“The first skill of Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation is called Little Mo Kill, that’s what you saw today,” Pu Yao said. “Even though it doesn’t have much technique, the time they have spent cultivating is too short and it was too hard for them to use.”

“Then what are they doing now?”

Pu Yao was slightly discontent. Originally, he had been planning to show off in front of Zuo Mo, but hadn’t expected that the other had to come and rescued him. This made him feel as uncomfortable as though he had swallowed a fly.

Seeing Zuo Mo stare at him, he could only twist his mouth and say, “They have received good fortune due to this calamity. The killing essence has corroded their body. To other people, it is fatal, but for them, it is a good chance to make a breakthrough. Since you have Black Water, and used the Moon Eyes, if they still can’t break through, they are pigs!”

Zuo Mo’s heart was instantly reassured. He smirked. “I don’t dare to say if they are pigs. I say, Old Pu, you have to be more reliable in the future. You said you wanted to manage Guard Camp alone, okay, I immediate consented. But look, after this long, you only practiced a dumb] formation and a self-mutilation skill. Please, you are a Sky Yao, you need to take out something acceptable! A person can’t be so miserly, no, no, a Sky Yao can’t be so miserly. You even needed ge to run over for a rescue! Do you think Black Water and Moon Eyes doesn’t cost jingshi? Honored Sky Yao, it is very expensive!

Finishing, he didn’t looked at Pu Yao’s white and green face, turned, and left the sea of consciousness.

Once he came out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo couldn’t stop himself from roaring with laughter. When he thought of Pu Yao’s green and white ugly expression, he felt his body was unspeakably comfortable.

After two thousand and five hundred people had fallen outside Golden Crow City, Hong Jun Xuan who saw it all with his own eyes had to tuck up his tail no matter how arrogant he was.

He definitely could not accept leaving pitifully like this, but he didn’t dare to mount another frontal attack. He Xiang and the others had all been killed in this battle. He had paled just from watching. Where could he get the bravery? Out of helplessness, he could only set down camp, and slowly brainstorm.

The night came quickly. Golden Crow City that usually was filled with light was pitch black today. But the camp of the Outer Hall was lit up like it was day. They were afraid of a sneak attack from Golden Crow City. The xiuzhe that were watching from afar were waiting for the day to arrive. It seemed like nothing would happen tonight.

Time quickly flowed until midnight.

Suddenly, the city gate of Golden Crow City was pushed open a sliver. Lil’ Pagoda sneakily peeked out with half of its body, saw that no one was there, before walking out without any worry. Behind it, a row of copper puppets tip-toed as they streamed out. Each cooper puppet had a cloth bag on its back

Lil’ Pagoda slowly flew at the front, occasionally looking around. The copper puppets leapt towards the corpses below with a nimbleness and speed completely opposite its clumsy bodies.

Their movements were uncoordinated as they tore down the talismans, and ling armor from the bodies of the corpses, and then put them into the cloth bag on their backs. At the beginning, their movements were extremely raw, but then they slowly became smooth.

Very quickly, the cloth bag on a puppet’s back was full. At this time, a grey shadow flashed past its back and flew away with the bag. The copper puppet slowly took out a second cloth bag and continued to work.

On the morning of the next day when everyone looked at Golden Crow City, they were stunned.

The corpses that had been scattered on the mountain were now completely bare.

This … … this … …

Looking at the bare corpses on the mountain, everyone completely lost their abilities to speak. When Hong Jun Xuan saw this scene, he didn’t know what to say.

So vicious … …

In Golden Crow City, Bao Yi completely sank into mania as he looked at the mountain of talismans. An exhilarated blush floated on his face, he forgot exhaustion as he started to sort the talismans.

Lil’ Pagoda was at the side, continuously throwing talismans into its mouth. Before, Bao Yi had quite an opinion about Lil’ Pagoda swallowing talismans, but he was abnormally cooperative today. He even took out a large pile of talismans and put them in front of Lil’ Pagoda.

When Zuo Mo saw results of Bao Yi’s inventory, it was like someone whacked him on the head. He felt extremely dizzy.

Rich! They really struck it rich this time!

Chapter 294: The Return Of Lil’ Miss

The spoils from two thousand and five hundred people was astounding.

Other than large amounts of normal third-grade talismans, there were also twelve fourth-grade talismans. The elders had been very rich. Of course, that Cloud Formation Silk naturally wouldn’t have been lost. The number of materials and jingshi were also very astounding. The spoils this time filled all of the date seed ship.

This was an astonishing amount of wealth.

So when Zuo Mo saw the inventory list Bao Yi gave him, he was turned dumb by such enormous wealth. However, upon further thought, he felt it was normal. The Outer Hall xiuzhe were wealthier than the average xiuzhe to start with, and since it was two thousand and five hundred people at once, the amount could be imagined.

In the next few days, Zuo Mo was immersed in great happiness.

———

Hong Jun Xuan did not dare to act rashly. He had personally saw the Guard Camp destroy one thousand people with the flick of a finger. He was especially wary of the deathly black energy that could ignore ling shields.

He sank into a situation where he could not retreat.

“What good ideas do you have?” He Jun Xuan’s eyes were bloodshot and his voice hoarse.

The other shidi looked at each other. After a while, a shidi said, “There’s so many xiuzhe behind Golden Crow City. Why doesn’t Shixiong recruit them? I saw that the state of those heavy armor xiuzhe wasn’t so well after the battle. Golden Crow City may not be as strong as we imagine. If we can recruit more people, our chances of victory would increase.”

Hong Jun Xuan shook his head. “If we win and order them to submit to us, none of them would disobey. But now that victory is undecided, they will only watch. They would only obey if Master came.”

Everyone sank into silence again.

They had been hoping to get some achievements this time. Looking at it now, there was no hope left. It was a disappointment that they would not get any achievements, but it was much better than losing their life. The strength of Golden Crow City was beyond their imagination. Unless Master personally came, they didn’t feel that any faction in Little Mountain Jie would be able to conquer this little city.

Hong Jun Xuan knew what the shidi were all thinking, but he didn’t have a solution at this time. It was a great misstep to have come this time. The authority that he had managed to accumulate would probably be lost this time.

But he was a decisive person. He understood the only solution now was to ask for aid from Master.

Before Master came, if he could preserve the power of the present Outer Hall, even if he did not earn any great accomplishments, he would be noted for his work. After thinking it through, he instantly made his response. “Let’s stay on the defensive. I’ll trouble one shidi to go make a trip and send a letter to Master for me.”

Several shidi instantly jumped out. They all wanted to leave this nightmarish place faster.

Seventh Shidi happily put away the jade scroll that Hong Jun Xuan handed over, and made his farewells. He quickly flew into the air and left on his sword. The other shidi were all discontent, but they didn’t have any way around it. Seventh Shidi flew the fastest among them all.

Just as everyone was grumbling, a sword light flew at astounding speed towards the camp.

“Hm, why has Seventh Shidi come back?” one of the people remarked in puzzlement.

They saw Seventh Shidi land in the camp with a terrified expression. The moment he stepped on the ground, he stumbled, his face full of panic. “Second Shixiong! Second Shixiong! Not good! People are coming over … …”

Boom, the camp instantly became a mess. All of the Clear Sky Sect disciples had expressions of anger. Had Clear Sky Sect really become a softy for anyone to squeeze? Any random person could run and shit over their heads? Hong Jun Xuan, who had lost at Golden Crow City, instantly became angry!

“Hmph! They really dare to rebel against the heavens! After this Golden Crow City, they all think that they are Golden Crow City!”

The Clear Sky Sect disciples hurriedly agreed. With a rumble, everyone rose into the sky.

———

After resting from battle for a few days, the xiuzhe in the surroundings had become slightly bored. Seeing the Outer Hall fly into the sky once again, they instantly became alert.

Were they going to continue to attack Golden Crow City?

Many people secretly shook their heads. Many of them had been thinking, out of boredom, these days on how to attack Golden Crow City, but they found that this little Golden Crow City wasn’t something they could swallow. Only two of Golden Crow City’s cards had been revealed, and they destroyed two thousand and five hundred people from the Outer Hall. Who knew how many more tricks did they have up their sleeves?

To say of nothing else, just the city walls that exuded a faint solar aura was already extraordinary. These people had all went inside Golden Crow City to buy Black Processing Meditation mats. The dense and dizzying formations that could be seen everywhere in Golden Crow City made many xiuzhe that thought they were skilled in formations feel embarrassed.

If there wasn’t a jindan expert, such a strong city could only be taken using lives.

However, the direction the Outer Hall was facing … … seemed to be opposite to Golden Crow City.

Everyone watched in astonishment. What was the Outer Hall doing? They saw a seven hundred or so troop appear in their view and understood. The news that the cadet halls of the Outer Hall had been attacked had long spread throughout Little Mountain Jie. Many people speculated this unusually mysterious and strong troop was very likely to be a force from Golden Crow City!

The six divisions of Vermillion Bird Camp silently floated in the air as they faced the Outer Hall.

“Such an elite force!” A bright light suddenly exploded in the eyes of the middle-aged person who couldn’t help but exclaim.

“How so? Their numbers seem too few,” said the large male as he looked with shock at the middle-aged person. It was extremely rare to hear this person praise others usually. He hadn’t expected that Golden Crow City, and now this troop, would receive such high praise in the last few days.

“The only weakness is that there is not enough people!” The middle-aged person said, “Daren, look closely at this troop. The shape of this troop is not as strictly organized as the armor-wearing xiuzhe from two days ago, but in reality, it only appears loose on the outside, but is tight on the inside. This is a quality that would only appear on troops that are experienced at battle. Facing so many enemies, they are not the least bit panicked or rushed. This means that they are confident.”

“If this kind of troop is in our sect, what could it rank?” the large male asked in curiosity.

“It should enter the top ten,” the middle-aged person said gravely.

The large male suddenly changed expression. He finally started to look seriously at this troop that was only seven to eight hundred people. The top ten troops in his sect were all famous in their jie. His dream was to possess a troop that could enter the top ten, but up until now, he was very far from his goal.

People who had keen eyes were not few. The biggest feeling that Vermillion Bird Camp gave everyone was a pressure that blew straight at them.

They just stood there, yet an invisible pressure unconsciously spread out.

———

Gongsun Cha glanced at the naked corpses that covered the mountain, a rock inside his heart landing. Mirth floated at the corner of his mouth. Only Shixiong could create such a spectacular scene. To not leave even one pair of pants behind, that was the classic style of Shixiong.

Narrowing his eyes to look at the other side, Gongsun Cha smiled again. With his present eyes, he could see with a glance that the Outer Hall had been greatly impacted, their morale at a low.

It seemed that Shixiong had been a bit heavy-handed!

When the other people saw the bare corpses under their feet, all of their expressions were extremely strange.

Zuo Mo received a report that Gongsun Shidi and the others had come back. He hurriedly climbed onto the lucky cloud, and took the female xiu as he slowly floated into the sky above Golden Crow City.

Seeing that the expressions of Vermillion Bird Camp were slightly tired, but the morale was high, and there were no fatalities, a rock landed in his chest. He decided to exchange greetings with Shidi, but when the words reached his mouth, they instantly changed flavor.

“Shidi! Don’t let go of any of them!”

Zuo Mo shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed in the mountain valleys.

The spectators realized at this time that this troop of seven hundred people was, as expected, the elite of Golden Crow City. The middle-aged person and the large male’s hypothesis that Zuo Mo came from a hidden sect was reinforced by this call of “Shidi.”

A thought floated on everyone’s minds. It seemed that the master of Golden Crow City was full of confidence towards this elite force. He actually didn’t want any of the enemy to escape. The grievance between Golden Crow City and Clear Sky Sect seemed to grow. Golden Crow City wanted to massacre the Outer Hall.

As expected, this wasn’t an ordinary person. Just this mannerism was extraordinary.

Zuo Mo then gravely added a sentence, “They are all fat sheep! You can’t let any of them go!”

Everyone collectively turned to stone. The praise on the face of the middle-aged person suddenly froze.

———

Hong Jun Xuan felt he would die from embarrassment. When were Clear Sky Sect disciples that led five thousand people called “fat sheep” by others, and also “not let any of them go?”

Humiliation! This was true humiliation!

The faces of the Clear Sky Sect disciples flushed red. They stared hatefully at the procession of Gongsun Cha. They didn’t dare to attack Golden Crow city. However, a troop that wasn’t even eight hundred strong dared to be so arrogant in front of them, and said that they would all be defeated! Even if they went back to the sect now, they could never raise their heads in front of the other disciples.

“You don’t need me to say anything.” Hong Jun Xuan said darkly, “When has us Clear Sky Sect disciples been humiliated so?”

“Don’t worry, Shixiong!” A shidi’s face was filled with killing intent. “Leave none of them standing! We need to let them taste what it is like to leave none of them standing!”

“Yes! At that time, we will also strip their corpses!” another shidi viciously said.

Hong Jun Xuan said gravely, “I won’t say too much. If anyone dares to retreat and fear battle today, I will personally execute them! I believe that even if Master was here, he wouldn’t blame me!”

“Yes!” everyone’s hearts shook as they responded together.

———

Rong Wei along with the two hundred compound guards flew as fast as they could. That troop had been too fast. They had used all their power, and just managed to not lose track of the troop. The other clearly had an emergency and ignored their group, who followed behind.

After flying for several days and nights, she was exhausted. However, she found it was unimaginably queer that the troop did not show any signs of exhaustion.

How was it possible? Were they metal people?

When she saw the mysterious and strong troop up ahead, she released a breath. She hadn’t lost them. After following for so many days, she was finally slightly familiar with this troop. This was a true elite force. Even if they were in a crowd, she could easily find them.

However, she immediately stilled.

Because facing against this troop was a vast troop of approximately five thousand people!

Were … … were … … they going to challenge an enemy who had numbers about six times their own?

How … … how was this possible? Were they crazy? After flying continuously for so many days, how could they still have the energy?

———

Gongsun Cha did not notice this gaze that was filled with disbelief behind him. He gave a shy and bashful smile. The people around him shook simultaneously. These few days, Lil’ Miss’ face had remained cold. Now he was showing his trademark smile, they felt their hair stand up on end.

“Do you all understand what Boss means?”

“Understood!” everyone instinctively replied.

“Then let’s begin.” In the depths of Gongsun Cha’s shy and smiling pupils, a cold blade-like light suddenly ignited.

Chapter 295: Battle General!

Vermillion Bird Camp did not immediately act.

They were like patient huntsmen waiting for their prey to reveal a fatal weakness. Continuous combat had caused them to mature quickly. Not just Gongsun Cha, it was also true of everyone else. In the present, they didn’t need Gongsun Cha to send down orders. Every person knew what they should do.

Gongsun Cha’s eyes were sparkling, his face holding the bashful smile that was unique to him. He clearly had been induced to elation by Shixiong’s suggestion.

Seeing the smile on Lil’ Miss’ face, everyone understood that Lil’ Miss was getting serious. They hurriedly became one hundred and twenty percent alert and gathered their mind. If they couldn’t complete it well, then what was waiting for them would be inhumane … …

They collectively shook.

Everyone wiped their eyes clean, and revealed a light that made others feel trepidation.

The first to act was the Outer Hall. The five thousand strong army suddenly divided into five troops. Two of the troops charged straight forward, and another two circled around to the flanks.

“They want to surround us?” Ma Fan was stunned.

“Ha!” Xie Shan smiled, filled with killing intent.

———

Everyone could see that the Outer Hall wanted to swallow this elite force of Golden Crow City in one go.

“This troop from Golden Crow City is overconfident.” The large male shook his head. “At least this time, the Outer Hall didn’t do anything stupid. They finally understand that their greatest advantage is their numbers. If they can bog down this troop, they can slowly grind them dead.”

The middle-aged person was silent. He didn’t speak, but he agreed with the large male inside.

———

Naturally, they were not the only ones who could see this. Rong Wei also saw this.

She looked with puzzlement at this troop that was about to be surrounded. After following for so many days, she had her own opinion about this mysterious troop.

This was a true elite troop!

They were skilled in tactics, had outstanding individual manpower, was well organized, persistent, and had endurance in combat. How could such a troop make such a common and low-level mistake? They were elite, but the difference in numbers was truly too great. In the present situation, their best tactic was to use their own actions to continuously manipulate the enemy, and find chances to continuously gnaw on them.

But Vermillion Bird Camp seemed to be unaffected about being surrounded.

She felt pity inside. Such an elite troop would die here. She had originally wanted to have a partnership with the other. Looking at it now, she had to find another way.

Just as the others were feeling pity, Vermillion Bird Camp finally moved!

Without any finesse, the charged directly at the two troops that were flying at them.

Everyone was filled with bewilderment. The two troops that were directly in front of them added together was nearly two thousand people. It was the direction that had the greatest number of people, and should have been the least likely choice to make a breakthrough.

But Vermillion Bird Camp chose to directly breakthrough!

Acceleration! Acceleration without any hesitation!

In the sky, tearing howls rose.

Ma Fan and Xie Shan lead the first charge. They instantly attracted everyone’s gaze.

Ma Fan’s illusory movement method was at its highest. The howling in his ears gradually faded as they were left behind him due to his fast speed! In the sky, a string of afterimages blossomed, and then were dissipated by the members that followed tightly behind him.

He didn’t need to look to know that Xie Shan was definitely near him. They had partnered up multiple times and were very in sync with each other.

His speed was so fast he could not even see the faces of the enemy clearly. He bent his head down, and he focused while the flying sword appeared in his hand

The enemy neared at a shocking speed. The battle intent that was simmering inside his body reached a peak in an instant, the ling power already prepared erupting out through the flying sword!

Shadowless Sword of Destruction!

The intimidating sword essence gathered at the tip of each sword energy. With long afterimages trailing behind, the sword energies flickered bright and dim.

The three xiuzhe targeted by the sword essence changed expression, and fled to the two sides in panic!

Xie Shan had the highest cultivation, but in terms of talent in the sword and comprehension of sword essence, Ma Fan was the number one in Vermillion Bird Camp. Each sword essence would create three to five afterimages that made it hard to determine which was real and which was not. The sky full of sword energies made a person feel unable to dodge. The dot of sword essence at the tip of each sword energy was extremely pure and unable to be destroyed.

When every Outer Hall xiuzhe faced it, it felt as though the sword energy was pointed directly at their brow. Their hearts were stunned.

The Outer Hall xiuzhe retreated to the two sides like a retreating tide everywhere Ma Fan passed.

The ling power of Xie Shan’s body was channeled to the extreme. The pressure exuded by a terrifying cultivation of over one hundred and eighty jing was enough to drive a person insane. The Outer Hall xiuzhe suddenly thought of that terrifying ningmai third stratum xiuzhe that had almost destroyed Nan Sheng Village on his own.

The spectators rumbled and flew into the sky to looked with shock at the battlefield.

———

Each person could clearly feel the waves released by Xie Shan. A ningmai third stratum xiuzhe with a cultivation surpassing one hundred and eighty jing was the peak existence in ningmai.

However the middle-aged person next to the large male favored Ma Fan more.

“It is rare for someone so young to possess such a pure sword essence. In the future, he would easily become an expert. If there is a chance, it is good to recruit him.”

The large male disagreed inside. In the sect, there were many shidi who possessed such power. He lacked interest in Ma Fan.

The middle-aged person knew that the large male was thinking, and sighed inside. In his view, the fact that Ma Fan could cultivate such a pure sword essence in such an environment was enough to prove his outstanding talent. The disciples from the sect were good in their strength, but how much lingdan and wondrous medicines had been used to build that up?

However, he did not persuade further.

———

Another who had the same view as the middle-aged person was Rong Wei. However, she knew the power of Vermillion Bird Camp and did not have any intentions of recruiting the other. However, the shock she had increased. This troop was filled with all sorts of talents, and was even more powerful than she had imagined.

She suddenly glanced at the male that was floating on the lucky cloud above Golden Crow City. Just now, she had heard him shout “Shidi.” Was he the one in charge? When her gaze landed on the mask wearing female xiu next to the male, she had a strong feeling that the power of this female xiu wasn’t simple, though she could not see it.

This group of people were not simple!

———

The expressions of the Clear Sky Sect disciples were all ugly. The strong combat abilities shown by Ma Fan and Xie Shan caused the Outer Hall xiuzhe to retreat. No one dared to block them for an instant.

Quickly, four Clear Sky Sect disciples charged at the two people at the same time.

Xie Shan snickered, the flying sword in his hand rising as he suddenly accelerated. His entire figure turned into a smear of multi-colored light as he charged towards the four!

In sync, Ma Fan’s figure swerved and left the four people behind but still charging forward. Behind him, Nian Lu instantly took his place. Beside Nian Lu, Lei Peng had a snarling smile as he charged at the four Clear Sky Sect disciples that Xie Shan was covering. Beside Lei Peng, the other expects all moved forward, brimming with murderous intent.

They didn’t give anyone the chance to fight on their own. Taking advantage of Xie Shan trapping the disciples, the sabre and sword energies of Lei Peng and the others silently flashed by.

A line of blood simultaneously appeared on the throats of the four people.

Their eyes were wide, terror frozen on their faces as if they wanted to say something.

No one paid attention to them. None of the xiuzhe from the Sky Peak Platoon looked at the four Clear Sky Sect disciples and raced passed them.

Having gotten rid of what was behind him, Ma Fan was alone as the head of the arrow. His wrist shook and the sword energies that had been prepared long ago, pew pew pew, were like a sword energy rain. Everyone suddenly felt their vision light up. The sword energies carried a sky-covering presence as the keen sword essence covered everything. Everyone felt their scalp prickle, and their expressions changed.

Their minds stolen away, they instinctively dodged.

Sky Peak Platoon was like a burning hot blade slicing through butter. Without any resistance, it easily divided the troops in two.

What was following tightly after was the six divisions of Vermillion Bird Camp.

Different from the unparalleled keenness of Sky Peak Platoon, what the six divisions displayed was power. If Sky Peak Platoon was a sharp knife, then the six divisions were six heavy hammers, thirty thousand catties heavy, and unable to be stopped!

In front of the six divisions, the two thousand people were like paper-mache, and easily penetrated. When they passed, they left behind a straight line of bloody rain.

In the blink of an eye, the situation of the battlefield instantly reversed. Everyone gaped.

Having broken through and messed up the ranks of the two thousand people at the front, the advantages of the two sides instantly reversed. At this time, Vermillion Bird Camp held the advantage.

This … … this … …

Countless people gaped. They looked dazedly as Vermillion Bird Camp broke through the ranks of two thousand people in an instant. That was two thousand people! That number was three times that of Vermillion Bird Camp!

The xiuzhe that lost organization were like headless mosquitoes moving in random directions. It was useless no matter how Hong Jun Xuan shouted and raged.

———

The faces of the large male, the middle-aged person, and Rong Wei changed at the same time!

Their eyes were keener and more acute. The collision between the two sides had just been a short instant, but this short instant had given them too much of a shock, and too much content that they needed to digest.

More than ten xiuzhe that comprehend sword essence!

If it was just based on numbers, the large male shouldn’t be so shocked. There were many disciples inside the sect that comprehend sword essence. But those were disciples. When these disciples entered the battalions, they were the backbone.

To use experts that comprehended sword essence to specially construct a little troop for charging … …

He had never heard of such a thing, much less seen it.

It was too luxurious!

The large male felt he was almost going insane. He started to doubt. Was his sect really a large sect? Why did he feel he was poor?

Rong Wei looked at the chaotic battle field in the air. She had made a high estimate previously about the combat abilities of this troop of seven hundred or so people, but after seeing them fight with her own eyes today, she found that she had greatly underestimated them.

Battle general!

This was definitely a troop that possessed a battle general, and a battle general that was not of a low-rank.

The brutal and sharp charge was like a blade that accurately dismembered the opponent. The cooperation and support between each troop, including their advancing paths and the timing of attack was flawless!

Rong Wei felt cold sweat stream down. The Marquis had done his best to teach her. She had also learned how to be a battle general. Otherwise, the Marquis would not have sent her on this mission.

As early as when she was fifteen, she had received the Green Bronze Battle General Medal from the licensing office. Her talent had been astounding.

Comparing herself to that young person, she secretly rejoiced that she hadn’t hung that Bronze Battle General Medal on her waist.

She looked from a distance at the young person that was tightly guarded in the middle, and felt it was hard to comprehend. From childhood, what she had heard the most of were praises of how talented she was. Today, she had personally seen a young person who wasn’t much older than her, but was much more skilled than she was.

Gongsun Cha did not detect that someone was looking at him. His eyes were like stars in the night spreading a glowing light.

Constantly paying attention to the changes on the battlefield, he suddenly spoke.

“Prepare to begin.”

Chapter 296: Silver

After such a charge, over five hundred of the two thousand people had been killed.

“Scum,” Lei Peng’s voice was full of scorn as he said and continued, “So many people but they can’t even stop one wave.”

Nian Lu said unconcernedly, “Isn’t this better? Otherwise, we would need to have spent more effort. Careful that we can’t finish Boss’ mission.”

“We’re really going to kill all of them?” Lei Peng grumbled.

“You think? Don’t think you can get out of it!” Nian Lu brushed the bangs in front of his forehead as he said, “Boss said it in front of this many people. If we can’t finish, hee hee. We cause Boss to lose face, that means we cause Lil’ Miss to lose face. If we lose Lil’ Miss’ face, you don’t need me to say the rest.”

“I know that.” Lei Peng adopted the mannerism of one looking for defeat. ”I just feel that there is no joy in defeating this kind of enemy.”

“Enemy? Oh, you are wrong, they are just fat sheep. The pleasure in killing fat sheep is to strip them, not defeat them.”

The two didn’t have the time to chat. Lil’ Miss’ orders quickly passed over. The two rapidly gathered their minds and turned around.

Vermillion Bird Camp that had just thrust their way to the back lines of the enemy had suddenly turned and charged back.

The chaotic mess of over one thousand xiuzhe that had just been scattered by the charge instantly started to wail. Lacking effective organization, they ran in all directions in panic.

But there was no place to escape. They immediately met the Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe that had already sneaked their way to the flanks. After a few dozen were killed in a row, the rest of people were scared half to death and turned to run.

The platoons that swam at the ranks did not pursue them. They were only responsible for herding the xiuzhe that were preparing to flee back into the big group.

The Vermillion Bird Camp that had turned back to kill seemed to be herding sheep as they continuously herded the one thousand people that had been robbed of their courage.

———

Hong Jun Xuan’s limbs felt cold, his expression hopeless as he stood dazedly in the sky. He continuously saw the Outer Hall xiuzhe move past him, their faces filled with terror and hopelessness. All of his set up had been disrupted. The Outer Hall xiuzhe that came flooding into the remaining three troops.

Terror quickly spread. The troops that had already had low morale instantly collapsed, they had been routed.

———

On top of the lucky cloud, Zuo Mo looked at the chaotic battlefield. He couldn’t help shaking his head, and said, “This kind of troop is only strong on the surface.” He then smiled, and snickered, “It’s all ours.”

The female xiu stood by him like a wooden mannequin.

Zuo Mo actually was just talking to himself. He didn’t hope that the female xiu would give a response. If the female xiu suddenly talked, he would definitely be scared.

The Vermillion Bird Camp’s simultaneous shouts of “Surrender to not die” could be heard from far away. The hopeless Outer Hall xiuzhe all surrendered so easily that even Zuo Mo was shocked.

The direction of the entire battle was unexpected to everyone. Even Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha almost couldn’t believe that more than four thousand people could give up resisting so easily, and collectively surrender.

The other people were stunned.

The middle-aged person was the first to respond. He shook his head and sighed. “What the Outer Hall does is not righteous in the end. A troop constructed in this manner had nothing to speak in terms of discipline. There’s no problem usually, but if they encounter danger, they cannot withstand a single blow.”

The large male objected, “If it is the elite from our sect, it is unknown who will win.”

The middle-aged person smiled while he spoke, “The elite from the sect can compare to this troop, but what about the battle general?”

The large male stilled. A thousand soldiers were easy to obtain, but one general was hard to request. It was hard to raise a battle general. There were rarely those that could come out of the wild. Only large sects would be able to educate some. Of all the licensing offices, the battle general licensing office was always the least populous, but after the incident at Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, the battle general classes were as common as rain.

Of course, those were just to con people of jingshi.

But from the side, it was possible to see the desire of all sects regarding battle generals. Presently, battle general had become the most popular and employable profession. The sect had three or five battle generals, but they only had Bronze Medals.

The battle general of this troop definitely was not just a Bronze ranked general.

The level above Bronze Medal was the Silver Metal. Each Silver battle general was a rarely found talent. The price to recruit a Silver battle general was even higher than a jindan sword xiu.

Was he a Silver battle general … …

The large male stared at Gongsun Cha’s bashful and delicate face. He almost couldn’t believe it.

———

Rong Wei was just as shocked as he was. However, Rong Wei wasn’t just postulating, she was sure of it. She herself was a Bronze battle general, and had a more accurate judgment of Gongsun Cha’s skill.

This young person with a shy and bashful smile like that of the neighbour’s little boy definitely was a Silver ranked battle general!

Clear Sky Sect really kicked a metal board this time!

Rong Wei stared at the battlefield without a word. Behind her were the shocked faces of the compound guards.

Her gaze suddenly landed on the black young person sitting on the lucky cloud. That was the master of Golden Crow city. She imperceptibly furrowed her brows. The master of Golden Crow City seemed to be admiring the bare feet of the female.

She hadn’t expected him to be a lusty person.

She felt pity inside. The future of such a young Silver battle general was unlimited, but he was under the command of such a lusty person. She felt great regret.

———

Zuo Mo stared at the perfect bare feet of the female xiu, saying to himself, “Tell me, will Clear Sky Forefather come this time?”

After the previous experience with the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, Zuo Mo’s relationship with the female xiu had unconsciously became closer. Even he didn’t seem to realize it.

The bare feet of the female xiu would unconsciously attract his attention. At the beginning, he had been slightly embarrassed, but afterwards, he found that the female xiu did not care at all, so he did it openly.

This was in pursuit of beautiful things! Zuo Mo’s reason was righteous.

“He should probably come soon.”

Zuo Mo didn’t move aside his eyes as he spoke to himself.

“Clear Sky Old Forefather … …”

The female xiu was silent.

Gathering the spoils was a very familiar practice for Vermillion Bird Camp. Bao Yi also hurried out of Golden Crow City to help. It didn’t even take two hours for all of the captives to be completely stripped clean.

The spectating xiuzhe all watched with burning eyes. They wanted to go and get some benefits as well. However, after just seeing the strong combat capabilities of Vermillion Bird Camp, no one dared to act.

When Hong Jun Xuan and the other Clear Sky Sect disciples were taken to Zuo Mo, each of them only had their pants left.

“If you dare to even harm one of our hairs, the Old Forefather won’t have mercy on you!” a Clear Sky Sect disciple said severely.

Crazy, Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. Look at the situation, saying these words, did he not want to live?

Hong Jun Xuan suddenly shouted at this disciple, “Shut up!”

He dismissed the disciple and turned to Zuo Mo to say, “We are all core disciples of Clear Sky Sect. If Sir can give us a way to survive, we are willing to pay an appropriate price.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. Nothing was more attractive to him than jingshi, but his mouth went, “Oh, but you do not have anything right now.”

“Please give me a paper crane. This one believes the price will definitely satisfy Sir.” Hong Jun Xuan recovered his previous calm.

Zuo Mo thought, and then shook his head.

“Why?” Hong Jun Xuan instantly started to panic. If the other did not agree, then his little life was in danger. He thought the other was unsatisfied. “Two hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi? This price … …”

The shidi in the surroundings all inhaled sharply as they looked in disbelief at Second Shixiong. None of them had expected Second Shixiong to be so wealthy.

Where had Second Shixong gotten this much jingshi from?

Zuo Mo still shook his head.

“And half of the profits from the Outer Hall!” Hong Jun Xuan said painfully, “Sir should also know how much the Outer Hall can earn in a year. If Sir allows us to survive, the Outer Hall is still under our control … …”

“Second Shixiong, you’re crazy … …” a Clear Sky Sect disciple couldn’t resist saying.

“Shut up!” Hong Jun Xuan’s face was black, tendons bulging. “Do you want to die here?”

The other people instantly stopped talking.

Hong Jun Xuan was like a gambling addict that had lost everything. He looked at Zuo Mo. “How about it?”

Zuo Mo still shook his head.

“What do you want?” Hong Jun Xuan was almost going insane.

“To kill Clear Sky Old Forefather,” Zuo Mo said calmly.

All the Clear Sky Sect disciples first stilled and then laughed as though they had heard an impossible joke.

Hong Jun Xuan almost couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. After a while, he stopped, and said with a mocking smile, “Don’t joke. You want to kill Old Forefather? Just you guys? I feel that you should consider my previous suggestion.”

Zuo Mo said with interest, “Oh, what? Our power isn’t enough?”

“It’s not just that it isn’t enough.” Hong Jun Xuan said with a cold smile, “Old Forefather has jindan cultivation, his power limitless. You may have some power, but in front of Old Forefather, you basically have no room to move. How about it? Consider my suggestions, people have to be realistic.”

A hint of pride unconsciously came onto Hong Jun Xuan’s face.

Zuo Mo did not have any interest in wasting words with them. He turned and left. Everyone’s perspective was different. Hong Jun Xuan and the others could not understand many of his thoughts. He waved his hand without turning his head. “Don’t keep these people, make sure they won’t come back to haunt us in the future.”

Hong Jun Xuan and the other’s faces instantly turned as pale as paper.

———

After such an encounter, Golden Crow City’s name had truly spread through Little Mountain Jie. The rise of this group of people and this city was completely without warning. No one knew their origins.

But even the dumbest person knew that the final battle between Golden Crow City and Clear Sky Sect was coming.

No matter if it was the Black Processing Meditation mat or this big battle made it so the two could only fight to the death.

After this great battle, the gates of Golden Crow City remained tightly shut and under heavy guard. No one knew what was happening inside the walls. The sounds of explosions occasionally came from inside the city. Some xiuzhe that were daring desired to fly up into the sky to look, but they were almost killed by the hard lightning released by the formation battle watchtowers.

The Golden Crow City that was entirely preparing for battle made the other xiuzhe feel the tenseness of the situation even more. There was no one within one hundred li of Golden Crow City. Even though they wanted to see with their own eyes like they did previously the great battle that was coming, but they didn’t dare this time.

Coming from Clear Sky Sect this time would only be one person, Clear Sky Old Forefather.

–– The only jindan remaining in Little Mountain Jie!

The following days were cloudy and unspeakably foreboding.

A storm was approaching.

Chapter 287: Hardship Guard Armor

“Good! Good! Good!” Clear Sky Old Forefather said the word “good” repeatedly, unrestrained killing intent spilling out around him. In the sky above Clear Sky Sect, the clouds and wind suddenly changed. The black clouds were dark like lead. All over the sect, all the disciples shook in fear.

“I had never thought that the line of succession of Clear Sky would end in my hands.” Clear Sky Old Forefather looked at his palms that were smooth like those of an infant, his voice as calm as water, but the killing intent in the surroundings was becoming increasingly heavy. He raised his head, his eyes cold. “I was just in seclusion for a few months, yet so much has changed. The heavens! Even if it is the will of the heavens, they cannot stop this Old Forefather!”

He stood and his eyes scanned the disciples that were standing with their heads bowed below him. “If I have still not come back in ten days, you shall all run for your lives.”

When he finished, he did not wait for anyone to react before disappearing from the hall.

———

The atmosphere inside Golden Crow City was nervous.

In the sky above Guard Camp, a black energy covered the sky and did not dissipate for days. The xiuzhe from Vermillion Bird Camp guarded the gate. Their eyes all held hints of shock. The sharp killing essence was so thick that even they did not feel comfortable.

They could not understand how those weak xiuzhe slaves could become so terrifying after just a few months.

Zuo Mo nervously looked at the field and the rows of camp guards lined up in rows. After returning back to Golden Crow City that day, Shu Long and the others had maintained this position motionlessly for ten days.

The thick killing essence on their bodies made them look like the gods of slaughter that came from hell.

The black energy around each person was restlessly moving. Shu Long’s black energy was so thick that it was not possible to see his figure or features, they were completely covered by the black energy.

“Are they alright?” Zuo Mo was very worried.

“If they can make it through, then they’ll be fine. If they can’t, then all that is left for them is death.” Pu Yao’s voice was unconcerned, but Zuo Mo could still heard the thread of nervousness contained inside.

“All of this killing essence needs to be completely absorbed into the body?”

“En, no one knows everything about the profound mysteries of essence. Mo emphasize slaughter, and their killing essence is the strongest. Their killing essence can become tangible, which is quite a coincidence. However, for them, this opportunity to make a breakthrough is slightly early. I don’t know if they can make it through.”

At this time, Shu Long’s body suddenly started to tremble, the black energy that shrouded his body fiercely moving restlessly.

“It has started!” Pu Yao exclaimed. Zuo Mo’s heart rose.

The black energy was like slender worms that continuously burrowed into Shu Long’s body. Shu Long’s shaking increased in magnitude.

“Killing essence corroding the body is the most difficult barrier.” Pu Yao stared fixedly at Shu Long and said rapidly, “Their bodies are naturally weak. If they want to keep cultivating, they must get through this gate. If that guy was still alive, this would actually be the simplest matter … …”

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to move away his eyes. People were not plants, it was impossible to be emotionless upon familiarity. No matter what thoughts these xiu slaves had, he could clearly feel the trust they had in him. Every single one of them were willing to put their lives on the line for him.

The battle outside Golden Crow City had proven this.

It would be false to say he was not moved. No matter what, he didn’t want anything to happen to Shu Long and the others. These last few days, any materials and talismans that were necessary, no matter how expensive, as long as he had it, he unhesitatingly gave it to them.

He didn’t dare to have great hopes for their breakthrough. He hadn’t cultivated for a long time, but he still understood the importance of a solid foundation in cultivation. Shu Long and the others had very shallow foundations. The possibility of a breakthrough was not high. He only hoped that nothing bad would happen to them.

No matter how great of a favor he did for Shu Long and the others, they had fought using their lives for him once. Zuo Mo felt that they had repaid him. Even more, he had never felt that he had done any great favors for Shu Long and the others.

Shu Long’s body shook like dice. The black energy streamed through his nostrils and his skin. The black energy around his body became faint, and his features started to gradually become clear.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but make a sound of surprise.

Shu Long’s features had changed greatly. The weariness on his face had disappeared, the wrinkles had disappeared. He appeared much younger. The skin was black and shiny like they had been polished with oil.

Zuo Mo was filled with wonderment. When Shu Long was young, he had been very handsome.

A high nose, a knife-sharp brow, a structured face, deep-set eyes, and tightly pressed lips. The flavor of weariness had disappeared to be replaced by a feeling of deep maturity.

At his forehead, there was a black crystal.

Zuo Mo noticed that sometime ago, Shu Long’s outside was covered by a suit of shiny black armor. The black armor was connected with his body, tightly pressed against his body, and almost enclosing his whole body. Pia, the black heavy armor was brutally pierced through sheer pressure.

Compared to the Golden Armor Guards, Shu Long’s black suit of armor was tighter, and more exquisite. It gave the feeling of stability yet was filled with strength.

“Guard armor!” Pu Yao’s voice was filled with surprised joy.

“What is guard armor?”

“When [Hardship Guard] is cultivated to a certain level, they will create guard armor. This suit of armor has many abilities. When their cultivation deepens, they will be much stronger!” Pu Yao said excitedly, “When they break through to the next level, they could gather killing essence to form weapons. By that time, hee hee … …”

Zuo Mo’s heart was filled with joy. He felt happy for Shu Long.

Shu Long’s breakthrough seemed like a signal. The other camp guards successively created their guard armor.

This process continued for ten whole hours. In these ten hours, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to leave for an instant.

When the last camp guard finished his breakthrough, Shu Long’s tightly-closed eyes opened.

The gaze was as bright as a star and as deep as a star was distant.

He lowered his body in a bow, a greeting that Zuo Mo had never seen before.

“In the name of the Hardship Guard, to follow Daren, never leaving or abandoning!”

Shu Long’s voice was completely different than before, deep and resonant, pleasing to the ear.

“In the name of the Hardship Guard, we follow daren, never leaving or abandoning!”

One thousand Hardship Guards bowed at the same time.

Zuo Mo was stunned.

———

Rong Wei hadn’t retreated far away like the other xiuzhe. She was looking from a distance on a peak. On a peak nearby there was a large male and a middle-aged person. Other than that, there were some other scattered xiuzhe, the great majority of which were ningmai third stratum xiuzhe.

It was a rare chance to personally see jindan fight.

This wasn’t guidance, or sparring, but a battle to the death.

Up until now, no one had seen the mysterious master of Golden Crow City fight. The only offensive move would probably be activating the Skyring Moon Chime Formation. However, other than seeing that his skill in formations was extremely deep, it was not possible to see anything about his power.

It would be seen in this battle.

Rong Wei had other thoughts. Truthfully, she didn’t favor the master of Golden Crow City. Clear Sky Old Forefather was a person that even the Marquis was slightly wary of. His power was not so simple.

Only xiuzhe that knew jindan would know how strong a jindan was. To say of nothing else, but the movement speed would leave ningmai in the dust was enough for a jindan to be undefeatable. The difference in casting spells was a difference in the nature of power.

Fighting using numbers was not something that could be used against jindan. This meant that Golden Crow City was fated to only defend. It also meant that Clear Sky Old Forefather would always have the initiative.

It was a terrifying matter for a jindan that had the initiative and did not lack attacking moves.

Rong Wei definitely would not enter into this battle. She didn’t have any qualifications. However, if Golden Crow City was defeated, based on the Marquis’s face, she may be able to save that Moon Silver battle general. It would be too much of a pity if such a young Moon Silver battle general died here.

And if she took the chance to recruit him … …

That was the idea she had.

She reflexively looked at the large male and the middle-aged person nearby. She detected the origins of these two would not be small. Inside, she hoped that these people did not have the same idea that she did.

Otherwise, another battle of slaughter could not be avoided. Even more importantly, if the Old Forefather discovered that young person was a Silver battle general, they didn’t have to think of the matter anymore. Old Forefather would either recruit him or kill him.

There was no reason to let such a talent work under someone else.

This plan would only succeed if Clear Sky Old Forefather was ignorant.

Suddenly, a wave rippled across the sky in the distance. A vast presence that could not be stopped covered all of Sky Star Mountain range

Everyone’s expression changed. They felt their body freeze, and were shocked.

He had come!

The golden light of Golden Crow City suddenly brightened, countless golden energies leaping up and swimming like fish. They moved to cover the sky above Golden Crow City. Each formation battle watchtower lit up with silver lights. In a blink of an eye, all thirty six formation battle watchtowers were alight. A golden hoop rose into the sky spreading a burning golden light. Countless golden threads dangled off, and a faint Buddhist chanting could be heard.

Clear Sky Old Forefather seemed to appear out of nowhere in the sky above Golden Crow City.

Hair loose, he looked to be in his forties, but his skin was like that of an infant. A snowy white robe was carelessly tied on his body.

He faintly glanced at the people hiding at a distance to watch the fight.

Everyone felt their hearts uncontrollably jump, and were even more shocked.

The authority of a jindan was fierce!

“Little Miss Rong, is the Marquis well?” the Clear Sky Old Forefather faintly opened as though he was speaking of daily activities.

Rong Wei could only come out. “With the good fortune of Old Forefather, Marquis is well.”

“Oh, then why is Marquis trying to fight for this little jie with me?” Clear Sky Old Forefather’s voice was still faint.

Rong Wei felt her breathing stop and almost fell. Her scalp pricking, she could only say, “Old Forefather is joking. With Old Forefather here, Marquis won’t disturb you. Marquis only heard that Stars in Daytime has appeared in Little Mountain Jie, and sent this servant to investigate. Before coming Marquis had especially ordered this servant to first inform Old Forefather.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is,” Old Forefather nodded, “after this matter, I will go visit the Marquis. If you wish to see this battle, go back fifty more li.”

The tone that Clear Sky Old Forefather spoke to her was very warm, but for some unknown reason, Rong Wei’s heart froze. She didn’t dare to hesitate, and hurriedly retreated fifty li back.

“Everyone else, retreat one hundred li,” Clear Sky Old Forefather said lightly, “in ten breaths. Otherwise, don’t blame this Old Forefather for being impolite.”

The atmosphere in the air was instantly as heavy as mountains.

The other people were even more shocked and retreated in panic. The large male and the middle-aged person’s expressions couldn’t help but change. They exchanged a look, and retreated at the same time.

No one dared to disobey a jindan.

At this time, Clear Sky Old Forefather’s gaze casually turned to Golden Crow City.

Chapter 298: Insanity

“Who killed Zhuo Guang?”

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s voice was not loud but could be heard from far away.

With Clear Sky Old Forefather stalking outside, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to idly relax on the lucky cloud like he did previously. However, this did not stop him for feeling scorn.

“Ge finally knows why the people from Clear Sky Sect waste so many words. It starts at the top.”

Snort, several people couldn’t resist laughing out loud. The tense atmosphere instantly relaxed.

Zuo Mo may have been speaking so, but he was actually very nervous inside. Wu Kong Sword Sect had four jindan experts but he had never seen any jindan expert release their presence without any restraint. Even that day that Wei Sheng entered zhuji, Xin Yan Shibo had not used all of his power.

The pressure Clear Sky Old Forefather gave Zuo Mo was like a whole mountain pressing down. He almost couldn’t breathe.

Jindan was just as terrifying as he expected!

He didn’t have any interest in wasting words. Since the two had gotten to this step, they didn’t need any excuse to fight. What “first diplomacy, then war,” wasn’t that just nonsense?

“Formation battle watchtowers, attack together!” Zuo Mo gritted out the order.

The silver light of the thirty six formation battle watchtowers exploded!

Hundreds of bolts of hard light covered Clear Sky Old Forefather like raindrops.

“Slightly interesting.” Clear Sky Old Forefather smiled easily, his figure suddenly disappearing from his spot.

Hundreds of hard lightning bolts missed and vanished into the sky.

Hiss, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but inhale!

Such a fast speed!

His consciousness could not catch Clear Sky Old Forefather’s speed! It was the first time he had encountered a situation like this. The other xiuzhe in Golden Crow City all paled.

No one could keep up with the speed of Clear Sky Old Forefather!

He was so fast that even the hard lightning was slightly slower.

Even Zuo Mo had predicted that this battle would be extremely difficult, but it seemed the level of difficulty far surpassed his imagination.

Without needing Zuo Mo to give the order, the second wave of hard lightning shot towards Clear Sky Old Forefather.

It was ineffective!

Zuo Mo silently shook his head. The other was too fast, so fast that even the hard lightning could not catch up.

As expected, Clear Sky Old Forefather disappeared from his spot again.

Couldn’t catch him!

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly contracted. That wasn’t right!

Clear Sky Old Forefather suddenly appeared in front of a bolt of hard lightning and raised his palm.

Zzt-zzt-zzt!

The hard lightning seemed to have been stopped by an invisible wall that did not allow it to advance. It stopped at a place three cun from his upright palm. Clear Sky Old Forefather calmly reached out to pinch the hard lightning.

Pia pia pia!

The explosive hard lightning sounded and the snakelike electrical energies wrapped onto his finger.

Clear Sky Old Forefather seemed to not notice it. He put the hard lightning bolt in front of him and examined it. The flashing silver electricity reflected on his face, suddenly light and then it went dim.

“The idea is clever, very rare, very rare.” A hint of shock came onto Clear Sky Old Forefather’s face. Other than surprise, he seemed to have admiration.

As his words landed, two white and narrow fingers pinched. The hard lightning bolt between the fingers was squeezed into countless pieces of electricity and dissipated between his fingers.

Golden Crow City was in a deathly silence.

Everyone was shocked by this scene. Terror came onto Zuo Mo’s face.

That was hard lightning … …

Using fingers to crush hard lightning, that … … that wasn’t possible!

Zuo Mo’s mind was blank. The strength of Clear Sky Old Forefather was far out of his imaginations!

He stood there, dumbstruck.

Clear Sky Old Forefather wasn’t in a hurry. He asked faintly, “Who built the formation battle watchtowers? They can be spared from death.”

Zuo Mo gradually recovered. Thinking about how stunned he had been, he was slightly embarrassed. So he was this afraid of death! The surroundings were deathly silent. Golden Crow City was completely suppressed by Clear Sky Old Forefather. Some people even had expressions of hopelessness.

Zuo Mo’s gaze accidentally swept across the female xiu beside him. Just like usual, the female xiu was silently standing beside him like a wooden person. She was completely unaffected by Clear Sky Old Forefather.

Zuo Mo was even more embarrassed. Ge wasn’t even as good as a woman.

He raised his head and gazed at Clear Sky Old Forefather floating in the sky. His anger suddenly erupted like fire.

This guy looked quite fine, but his intentions were extremely malicious. In this guys’ eyes, the lives of other xiuzhe were not even worth a jingshi!

The more Zuo Mo thought, the angrier he became. If it wasn’t for this guy, he would have left Little Mountain Jie a long time ago. He wouldn’t be worried and frightened everyday like he was now!

Ge will play with you to the end today!

Zuo Mo became determined. Terror and fear instantly flew away.

“Continue to shoot!”

Zuo Mo ordered murderously. The other people stilled. Continue to shoot? But that was completely ineffective. However, when their gaze met Zuo Mo’s vicious gaze, they instantly shook. Boss was going all out! They became fully alert, and their terror of Clear Sky Old Forefather instantly dissipated greatly.

The formation battle watchtowers lit up again!

Scorn spilled out of the corner of Clear Sky Old Forefather’s eyes.

The light brightening, the hard lightning shot at Clear Sky Old Forefather again like raindrops.

“Do not stop!”

Zuo Mo’s shout could be heard by the entire city. The xiuzhe in the formation battle watchtowers put their all in as their hearts shook.

The hard lightning was like rain, and extremely loud.

A light laugh passed from within the torrent of hard lightning.

Not one bolt of hard lightning managed to touch the hem of Clear Sky Old Forefather’s clothes. This time, he did not disappear from his spot, but nimbly dodged among the hard lightning rain. For some unknown reason, his speed did not appear to be quick, but not one hard lightning bolt could hit him.

When Clear Sky Old Forefather’s light laugh landed in the ears of the xiuzhe in the formation battle watchtowers, it instantly enraged all of them. All of them furiously channeled ling power into the formation battle watchtower.

The light of the thirty-six formation battle watchtowers was so bright one could not look directly at them.

The hard lightning was even more heavy like a storm. With a savage presence, it head over!

“Keke.”

The light laugh of Clear Sky Old Forefather clearly passed into the ears of everyone present again.

Zuo Mo’s tightly pressed lips suddenly curved slightly upwards on one side.

Clang!

In the sky above Golden Crow City, the Buddha Sound Hoop suddenly released a ball of golden light. The lingering Buddhist sound rose up!

An invisible ripple suddenly spread with Golden Crow City as the center!

The killing move of Skyring Moon Chime Formation – [Moon Chime Sound Storm]!

Clear Sky Old Forefather who had been composed from the start suddenly froze in surprise. Unable to dodge in time, a bolt of hard lightning hit his face!

Pia!

Electrical snakes danced on his face. The body of Clear Sky Old Forefather froze.

Pia pia pia!

Several more bolts of hard lightning hit his body in succession.

Boom!

The writhing electrical snakes collided with each other, and released a blinding light. Clear Sky Old Forefather was completely covered by the hard lightning, and it was hard to make out his figure.

“Ha!” Zuo Mo was very excited and wanted to jump up.

The reason that he had ordered the formation battle watchtowers to continue to shoot was to give Clear Sky Old Forefather the impression that the formation battle watchtowers were their biggest support. His mind was connected with Lil’ Pagoda. The timing to which the [Moon Chime Sound Storm] was activated was perfect.

Hee hee, so what if he’s a jindan? Didn’t ge just trick him?

Zuo Mo was very smug and felt unspeakable comfortable like he had eaten a ginseng fruit.

However, he didn’t hope that the hard lightning was enough to kill Clear Sky Old Forefather. The other’s actions of crushing the hard lightning proved that hard lightning of this degree could not cause fatal damage.

However, after this successful attack on Clear Sky Old Forefather, the morale of the troops rose. The heavy pressure that was previously present in the city was swept away. Everyone’s faces showed excited expressions. While most of the xiuzhe inside Golden Crow City were ningmai, and was just a level from jindan, but ninety percent of the people had never seen jindan fight before.

Every action that Clear Sky Old Forefather had made had all been to show how strong he was, so strong that it made people feel hopeless. Zuo Mo used his actions to prove that jindan could be hit too!

Everyone was greatly motivated. Everyone of them believed that this battle might be unparalleled in difficulty but they did have a chance at victory. They did not fear that battle would be difficult, but they were afraid all of their efforts would be all for naught.

The silver light dissipated, and Clear Sky Old Forefather once again appeared in front of everyone.

When they clearly saw Clear Sky Old Forefather’s state, everyone roared in laughter.

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s robe now had some holes like that of a beggar. What really set them off uncontrollably was the black burns on his face.

Zuo Mo roared with laughter. He suddenly flew into the sky, his right hand raised up high as he shouted at everyone in the city, “Everyone, listen well. Shout with me!”

Everyone stopped laughing. They raised their heads, furiously gathering their ling power. Excitement and exhilaration was on everyone’s faces.

Zuo Mo turned around, and faced Clear Sky Old Forefather. He took a deep breathe, pointed with his finger towards Old Forefather, and hollered, “Old Fart!”

The seven thousand or so people inside Golden Crow City used all their strength to shout at the same time, “Old Fart!”

The simultaneous shout of more than seven thousand people was so loud that even the mountain peaks trembled, and the echoes reflected back.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were glaring angrily. Using all the strength in his body, he shorted again, “Don’t show-off!’

All of Golden Crow City followed in shouting, “Don’t show-off!”

Zuo Mo shouted at the top of his lungs, “Show-offs get struck by lightning!”

Everyone felt the blood in their bodies shoot towards their heads. Without thinking, the ling power in their bodies channeling to the limit, more than seven thousand people shouted angrily in unison, “Show-offs get struck by lightning!”

The shout passed into the surroundings. A sound wave exploded with Golden Crow City as the center, the sound not any less than the previous [Moon Chime Sound Storm]!

The entire mountain valley was echoing, “Struck by lightning – ing- ing!”

Zuo Mo felt unspeakably great. His hands on his hips, he threw his head back and laughed, “Hahahahahaha!”

An excited blush was on everyone’s faces. They all copied Zuo Mo in putting their hands on their hips and throwing their heads back to laugh. “Hahahahahaha!”

The laughter of more than seven thousand people was filled with excitement and bravado, able to be heard from far away.

Rong Wei gaped and was stunned.

The middle-aged person’s face was filled with shock. However, the large male was very excited, repeating to himself, “So great! So great! This is so great!”

Green and white intermingled on Clear Sky Old Forefather’s face. All of the calmness, the mannerisms of an expert was thrown to the back of his head.

His hair loose, his eyes gleamed viciously like a poisonous snake waiting to strike!

Zuo Mo seemed to be completely mad at this point. He raised his hand again. Everyone saw his hand motions, and suppressed their own voices. Golden Crow City became so silent that the sound of a needle landing on the ground could be heard.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were entirely red, and he said murderously, “Brothers!”

He paused slightly and then exploded, “F*** him!”

The thousands under him didn’t even think as they shouted together, “F*** him!”

Zuo Mo felt all the emotions inside reached a peak. He suddenly increased his volume again as he raged, “Kill him!”

Everyone was glaring as they hollered together, “Kill him!”

The killing energy was so much that the sky changed color!

Chapter 299: The Great Formation And Sonic Lightning Walnut

The Clear Sky Old Forefather felt an angry energy roiling restlessly inside his chest. Without a care to anything else, he took out his flying sword and said darkly, “You all will die!”

Before the sound landed and Zuo Mo was even able to see the appearance of the flying sword, the flying sword disappeared from in front of Clear Sky Old Forefather.

Everyone in Golden Crow City felt the entire sky start to slowly spin. Everything in the surroundings started to become blurry.

Zuo Mo suddenly remembered that Huang Zhuo Guang used the sky sword essence. Then Clear Sky Old Forefather’s sky sword essence would probably be multiple times as pure.

Damn it! It would be better if the guy would fly a bit closer!

Zuo Mo glanced at Clear Sky Old Forefather that was still far away from Golden Crow City and had to admire the person. Even though he was so angry, he still kept his calm. As expected of a jindan expert!

The spinning sky suddenly lit up with many dots of light like countless stars being ignited.

A feeling of extreme danger came into Zuo Mo’s mind. He didn’t dare to be careless, hurriedly activating the formation. Countless formation scripts suddenly lit up on the walls of Golden Crow City like complex flower patterns.

A half transparent golden ling shield wrapped Golden Crow City inside.

Everyone’s hearts eased slightly. At this moment, they heard Clear Sky Old Forefather say clearly, “Land!”

The dots of light above their heads lit up, and countless swords of light fell from the skies like a rainstorm, crashing against the ling shield of Golden Crow City!

The ling shield trembled heavily. The sharp sounds of collisions were as rapid as raindrops. Everyone felt their hearts jump at each sound.

Zuo Mo pulled Shu Long over. “Use the move you used last time!”

Shu Long understood and hurried back to the ranks.

Shu Long’s long hair flying, the black crystal on his forehead, and his eyes bent down. He shouted gravely, “Kill!”

Threads of black energy erupted from their bodies at an astounding rate. In the blink of an eye, the ranks of Guard Camp were covered in a black energy that blocked out the sun! As the black energy rose, it was not affected by the ling shield, and gathered in the sky above Golden Crow City.

A ball of restless black clouds covered all of Golden Crow City. The raindrops of sword energies instantly became invisible as they landed in the black cloud.

“Hm!” The Clear Sky Old Forefather showed surprise again.

Even with all of his knowledge, he did not know what powerful spell the other was using.

In the Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao unconcernedly said to the gravestone, “This old fart, just a jindan and he dares to posture in front of this Sky Yao. He doesn’t want to live.”

His eyebrow rose, and he snorted, “F*** him!”

He suddenly found his tone when he said this was truly too much like Zuo Mo. He instantly chose to close his mouth. As a Sky Yao, copying other people’s way of talking, especially Zuo Mo, made him feel he was losing face.

“It’s just a pity that Shu Long and his group has only cultivated for a short amount of time. Otherwise … … hmph hmph … … so boring!”

Pu Yao said to himself.

For the first time, Clear Sky Old Forefather had a serious expression. It had been a scheme of the other that had caused him to be struck by the formation battle watchtowers. But this black cloud clearly was some kind of spell or formation. This was true power. To be able to stop the attack of a jindan xiuzhe, it truly could be called powerful.

It didn’t seem too much like a spell. With a ningmai cultivation, it wasn’t possible to cast such a powerful spell.

The only thing he could think of was formations. But a normal sect couldn’t possess such a powerful formation. This group of people probably had mighty origins!

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s heart jumped.

He wasn’t afraid of this group of ningmai. Even if he had to kill all of them, it would just take him some more time. What he was worried about was if he killed the young ones, the old one would come. With the wealth of Clear Sky Sect, they didn’t have such a powerful formation. If an even more powerful expert came, then he would have a terrible ending.

Clear Sky Old Forefather knew how much he was worth. Being a ruler in an out-of-the-way place like Little Mountain Jie was achievable, but if he was in the larger jies, he would never get a turn.

However, he turned his thinking around. Since the grievance between the two had already been set and could not be resolved, the best solution was to kill this entire group and prevent the news from spreading.

Thinking about this, the viciousness in his eyes grew, and he was filled with murderous intent.

He had spent great amount of time on [Clear Sky Sword Scripture]. Other than this flying sword, he had nothing else on his body. He reached out with his finger, and a sword energy multiple zhang thick shot down!

The sword energy seemed to collide with the black cloud when it suddenly turned to countless tiny sword energies that nimbly went around the black cloud and smashed on the ling shield of Golden Crow City.

Clang!

The countless sword energies were like countless transparent snakes that hit the ling shield at the same exact moment. When the sound of the collisions gathered together, it was one sound that entered everyone’s ears.

The ling shield of Golden Crow City shook fiercely. Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. He controlled all of Golden Crow City, and he was aware just how strong this attack had been.

If something like this came a few more times, the ling shield of Golden Crow City would collapse!

He bit his lips tightly. Xiuzhe at jindan were too outrageously powerful!

What was the grade of this old fart’s flying sword?

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. At this point, there was no time to think, they could only bear it. Clear Sky Old Forefather flew in the sky and didn’t land at all. He was too far away and so they couldn’t use any other moves.

His mind suddenly moved. Pointing above his head, he shouted at Shu Long, “Can you change that to a different shape and cover the ling shield?”

Shu Long grimaced and didn’t dare to speak. The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation was at its limit, the black cloud slowly started to land. In the end, it landed on the ling shield. Following that, it started to fall against the ling shield. After a while, it completely covered the ling shield.

Everyone felt the sky darken and the city was in darkness.

———

Clear Sky Old Forefather saw this and was overjoyed. This way, didn’t they trap themselves inside? The black cloud might increase the defenses of the ling shield, but they had block their own sight.

Even he couldn’t see what was inside the black cloud. He didn’t believe the other could see.

Idiotic!

However, this was the difference in strength. The difference between the two sides was too great. The murderous intent in Clear Sky Old Forefather’s eyes reached a peak. How could he miss such a good opportunity?

He didn’t seem to move but suddenly disappeared from his spot and appeared dozens of zhang above Golden Crow City!

Looking at Golden Crow City under his feet that was wrapped in the black cloud, a cruel smile was on his lips.

“All of you should die!”

He raised his palm. A flying sword as blue as the sky appeared at the center of his palm and floated silently. He gently pushed up. The flying sword turned to a blue light, flew into the sky and disappeared.

Suddenly, a bright dot of light appeared in an extremely distant place far above his head!

A smug expression came onto his face. How long has it been since he used this move? Too long! His famed killing move appearing again. It really was emotional!

No one could stop this killing move, no one ever had!

Golden Crow City was soon to disappear, to be forcefully erased from Sky Star Peak. He felt a slight bit of regret. Truthfully, he liked this little city a lot.

It was a truly enchanting little city!

But everything would be destroyed!

The smile on his face suddenly froze.

He saw the mountain peaks across from him suddenly shake vigorously. Large patches of earth shifted in rock slides and revealed the granite underneath.

What was this … …

His body was suddenly restrained by an enormous force. The air in the surroundings seemed to become solid and heavy. He tried to move his body. Each movement became extremely difficult. He felt as though he had landed in an enormous spider web.

Trap!

His head rang and blanked.

Immediately after, large burst of lava sprouted out of the earth and slowly advanced along the hills.

He saw a soul-shaking scene underneath his feet. There seemed to be an invisible red pen drawing out vivid red lines among the mountains. These lines were determined in their advance as they created a strange picture.

Clear Sky Old Forefather felt there were countless strong and heavy chains tying him tightly so he couldn’t move.

At this time, the black cloud outside Golden Crow City had dissipated. The damned person flew into the sky.

———

Zuo Mo was very proud inside. Did you think ge couldn’t see? Ge has Ling Eye, understand?

But he knew this wasn’t the time to celebrate. His hand flipping, a Sonic Lightning Walnut covered in golden patterns appeared on his palm!

“Sonic Lightning Walnut!”

Clear Sky Old Forefather saw the Sonic Lightning Walnut in Zuo Mo’s hands. His expression changed dramatically.

Zuo Mo didn’t waste words, raising his hand and smashing it at Clear Sky Old Forefather!

Boom!

When the Sonic Lightning Walnut left Zuo Mo’s palm, it turned to a golden ball of flame the size of his face surrounded by countless silver electrical energies. The sound of the explosions continued, and was extremely shocking!

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s eyeballs almost fell out. This guy actually used Sonic Lightning Walnuts to make one-use talismans?

Was this guy crazy?

Sonic Lightning Walnuts were fourth-grade materials … …

He suddenly reacted, and his soul almost left his body! Damn it! This was a fourth-grade material!

He didn’t have the attention to spare for preparing his killing move. The flying sword turned to a stream of light and shot at the Sonic Lightning Walnut flying at Clear Sky Old Forefather.

Before he could rejoice, he saw another Sonic Lightning Walnut in Zuo Mo’s hands. The surface was covered with golden patterns, just like the previous one!

Clear Sky Old Forefather instantly turned white!

He couldn’t spare the energy for anything else. He furiously channeled his ling power to break from his restraints.

All the ling power inside his body was used. His figure started to move bit by bit. After a while, the speed increased greatly.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo knew this was the most important moment. Disregarding the pain in his heart, he threw and then another walnut appeared in his hand … …

In one go, he threw out more than ten Sonic Lightning Walnuts!

The golden balls of fire carried a savage presence as they headed for Clear Sky Old Forefather who was moving at turtle speed.

The sky filled with the sound of explosions like countless waves of lightning rolling past and caused the mountains to shake.

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s complexion could not be described by white any longer. He didn’t have the bravery. He had never seen someone forge Sonic Lightning Walnuts into one-use talismans.

How wealthy was that person that he dared to do so?

Boom!

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s flying sword accurately struck a Sonic Lightning Walnut and exploded!

Zuo Mo felt light explode in his vision. The light was so blinding that only golden light remained in his eyes and he was unable to see anything else.

Boom boom boom!

Zuo Mo’s eyes could only see golden light, so bright that he was blind. He felt an enormous beast had charged at him, and his entire body was thrown into the air.

He was dumbstruck.

Chapter 300: Sacrifice

Zuo Mo barely managed to steady himself. It was the female xiu that reached out a hand to catch him.

Blood was streaming out of his ears and nose. His face was white, the ling armor and clothes all torn to pieces. The power from the explosions of more than ten Sonic Lightning Walnuts was far outside of his imagination.

Nothing was left at Clear Sky Old Forefather’s position.

Thinking about that terrifying power, and the strength that could topple mountains and flip the seas, Zuo Mo’s calves shook. In a flash, he thought about the first time he had used a yin fire bead.

Ge had been careless!

The yin beads he had made in the past were second-grade. The Stalagmite fire was also a second-grade fire but the power of the yin fire bead forged was already great. How could the power of something forged through Sonic Lightning Walnuts and Golden Crow Fire be weak? They were all fourth-grade!

The Golden Thread Lightning Walnut forged from two types of fourth-grade materials using the yin fire bead forging method was unparalleled in its power!

If he had been even the slightest bit closer, he would’ve … …

He felt fear but since they finally killed Clear Sky Old Forefather, he hadn’t risked his life for nothing.

Suddenly, a feeling of danger came into his heart. He reflexively raised his head.

An enormous shadow carrying a threatening presence dived down at astounding speed from the sky above his head!

Clear Sky Old Forefather hadn’t died! Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically.

“Go die!”

A shout filled with fury and murderous intent exploded above his head.

Clear Sky Old Forefather’s clothing and ling armor and completely broken apart. His hair loose, there was blood flowing out of the corner of his mouth, and his left arm had disappeared. The power of the Sonic Lightning Walnuts had almost destroyed his soul. Under such an emergency, he had used a secret technique at a cost of three-tenths of his cultivation, and had barely managed to escape.

But even so, his losses were painful. His left arm had been broken and his flying sword had been destroyed. His most painful loss was the loss of three-tenths of his cultivation. This meant that his cultivation could collapse at any moment and return back to the stage of ningmai. How could he not be furious?

The loss of cultivation was every xiuzhe’s greatest fear!

Today, he definitely had to cut these people into pieces!

There was only this one thought in Clear Sky Old Forefather’s mind. [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] was pushed to its limits.

The sky above Golden Crow City seemed to solidify. In an instant, the sky seemed to become a vast piece of transparent crystal. Clouds, dust, sunlight, everything was solidified in that moment, motionless and lifeless.

Sunlight could not pass through the solidified sky. It created an enormous shadow that covered all of Golden Crow City.

The silent killing essence caused everyone to feel terror.

Ping!

The clear sound of crystal breaking. The solidified crystal-like sky suddenly became covered in a web of cracks. The cracks grew at a rapid rate as though there was an invisible hammer continuously striking this piece of crystal sky.

Shu Long was stunned. The road they walked was the one of killing essence, and they were most sensitive to killing essence. At this time, they could not attend to anything else. He shouted, “Kill!”

The hearts of everyone in Guard Camp shook, and they shouted simultaneously, “Kill!”

The black cloud rose and turned to a black python several dozen zhang long and several zhang thick. With a hiss, it viciously leapt towards Clear Sky Old Forefather who was above Zuo Mo’s head.

Clear Sky Old Forefather was not alarmed at all. With a cold laugh, he pointed with a finger!

Whoosh. The crystal sky covered in cracks above his head turned to large patches of transparent fragments that spun as they turned to a sword essence twister that dove at the black python.

[Clear Sky Sword Scripture – Shattering Sky]!

Boom!

The two enormous entities collided without finesse and created an earth-shaking sound.

The pitiful Zuo Mo was thrown up again by the wave of air.

Damn it!

Several Sky sword essence pieces left bloody marks on his body. He disregarded the pain, and looked towards the battlefield. He couldn’t help but inhale sharply.

Countless crystal-like fragments of sword essence floated in front of Clear Sky Old Forefather. He was bleeding from his mouth and nose. In the collision against the black python, he hadn’t escaped unscathed, but his gaze became even more vicious.

When Zuo Mo met Clear Sky Old Forefather’s gaze, his heart instantly shook. The other was going all out!

Shu Long’s figure shook, and he gave a muffled grunt, his face pale. The other camp guards staggered and collapsed as though they were drunk.

Pu Yao’s anger inside the necklace could not be restrained. “Trash! You group of trash! One jindan makes all of you this sorry-looking, how can you live in the future? I, the honored Sky Yao, cannot have such trash under my command … …”

A grimace came onto Shu Long’s face. They had just made a breakthrough. They needed a period of time to acclimate themselves with their bodies. Their loss this time really hadn’t come at a good time!

His eyes suddenly widened, and he had a joyous expression.

At some unknown time, the female xiu appeared behind Clear Sky Old Forefather, and pointed!

There was a chance!

Everyone had ecstatic expressions. They had all seen with their own eyes before how powerful the female xiu was. The female xiu was definitely the strongest person in all of Golden Crow City.

She finally acted!

For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly sank. The purple light in the female xiu’s eyes were as bright as two balls of purple fire. It was the first time he had seen the purple light in her eyes be so bright.

“Hahahaha! All of you, die!”

Clear Sky Old Forefather laughed madly. The shattered crystal sky above his head suddenly collapsed. Countless transparent sword essence fragments flowed down like an avalanche.

Countless fragments passed through Clear Sky Old Forefather’s body in burst of blood. Clear Sky Old Forefather did not feel the pain and continued to laugh!

Zuo Mo’s head rang.

A suicidal attack! He wanted them to perish together!

The area of the sky multiple mu large above Golden Crow City had completely collapsed. Countless, vast, and ethereal sword essence fragments with an unstoppable presence fell from the sky.

Countless sword essences penetrated Clear Sky Old Forefather’s body. They turned from glowing and transparent to becoming blood stained glass!

The vast and ethereal sword essence suddenly had a presence that was determined and tragic!

With the sky as the sword, using the body as the guide ––

–– [Blood Sky]!

———

Everyone’s face became pale. It was a terrifying matter if a jindan xiuhe decided to take everyone to the gates of hell with him.

Watching from afar, Rong Wei’s expression changed. There was only one thought in her mind, Golden Crow City was finished!

The large male and the middle-aged person changed expressions at the same time. A thought simultaneously flashed through their minds, Golden Crow city was finished!

There was no difficulty for a jindan xiuzhe to use a secret technique to release an attack with all their power without regard for the consequences. As a result, fights between jindan were more cautious. If one side was pushed to the precipice, their last attack before death was extremely terrifying. Even Rong Wei and the others had never seen a jindan expert go all out.

Rong Wei was stunned. She was very knowledgeable but the power of Clear Sky Old Forefather was far beyond of her predictions. Even among Sky Water Jie’s jindan, Clear Sky Old Forefather’s power would definitely rank among the top three. At this time, she suddenly understood why the Marquis was so wary of Clear Sky Old Forefather.

For some reason, she sighed inside.

They admired Golden Crow City for pushing a jindan to the point they had to fight using their life.

It was just a pity … …

The entire sky above Golden Crow City was pulled in. All of the sword essence had completely lost control!

As Clear Sky Old Forefather laughed crazily, his entire person exploded into a ball of bloody mist and was completely sucked into the uncontrolled sword essences.

An area fifty li in radius around Golden Crow City was completely covered. What made people feel hopeless was that any movement method would be ineffective in leaving the area covered by the sword essence. They couldn’t even escape!

Unless they also were jindan and had high grade movement methods could they escape this calamity.

———

The sky covered everything with the blood-colored sword essence and was unavoidable!

Lava flowed among the seven mountain peaks. Golden Crow City seemed to become hell!

Damn it!

Hopelessness floated on Zuo Mo’s face.

Suddenly, his sighed darkened, and a figure appeared in front of him.

It was her!

The female xiu was covered in bloody marks. Blood had soaked through many parts of her clothing. That pair of perfect bare feet was even more heart-moving in the patch of blood. Some time ago, the mask on her face had been destroyed and revealed her hideous face.

“You … …” Zuo Mo first stilled. When he wanted to speak, the female xiu suddenly flew over his head.

Her arms were open like a big bird, her face raised, and her entire body consumed in the purple flame. She was like a moth flying towards the fire, heading straight for the blood-colored sword tide that was crashing down.

The purple fire was burning so high they could not make out her figure.

For an unknown reason, Zuo Mo’s chest suddenly felt extreme pain. His tears uncontrollably flooded out, large teardrops falling down his face.

What was going on … …

Who are you … …

The tears blurred his vision, his chest was in great pain as though something was going to erupt.

His ears could only hear the howls of the sword essence covering the sky above his head that had formed a flood and had an appearance of an apocalyptic disaster.

Pain!

Time suddenly became extremely slow. The extreme pain at his chest was so clear at this moment like a thread of flame burning constantly.

Under that sword essence wave, the figure covered in the purple flame was as minuscule as dust.

So painful!

The pain burned every one of his nerves. He couldn’t suppress it any longer, using all of his strength to shout, “Arrrrrrrrgh!”

The enormous pain was like a tide, coming in brutally and sweeping his entire body.

He didn’t seem to detect that the bright red lava flowing down the mountains seemed to be pulled up by an invisible hand. In the blink of an eye, the lava wrapped around his legs. The damaged great formation on the ground suddenly lit up with a red light. The damaged formation actually managed to still activate!

The golden light of Golden Crow City exploded. The lightning from the formation battle watchtowers exploded. The xiuzhe inside discovered to their shock that the formation battle watchtowers were completely out of their control!

Lava, golden light, and hard lightning headed furiously towards Zuo Mo!

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Zuo Mo angrily yelled. His entire body was covered in the lava, hard lightning and golden light were flashing occasionally between the lava.

The abnormal change disturbed everyone!

Shu Long’s expression changed. Just as he thought to move, he heard the daren inside the necklace shout, “Don’t disturb him!”

He stilled and then had a joyous expression.

Within the lava, Zuo Mo felt his consciousness and fleshly body had been separated. He could clearly feel the enormous pain in his body, but at this time, he was like a spectator watching over it all.

He could see the five element glass bead shaking violently inside his body … …

He saw the figure above his head that was completely enveloped in the purple fire.

She was looking at him.

At this point, Zuo Mo could see through the purple fire and the lava without any effort. He could see very clearly.

He saw a pair of clear eyes filled with joyful surprise and longing.

Chapter 301: Desperate Situation

Under the colossal wave of sword energies, the female xiu enveloped in purple flames looked at Zuo Mo deeply. Zuo Mo had a disquieting feeling that time was pulled extremely long in this moment.

Their gazes met.

The female xiu moved away her eyes, and raised her face again to looked at the sword energies falling down towards her.

Pia pia pia!

Bursts of blood exploded out from her body. She disregarded them. The blood sprayed out and landed in the purple fire which was like a blood-sucking monster that greedily absorbed the fresh blood. The purple fire grew, snapping and crackling.

The hands covered in fresh blood slowly rose up over her head. She took a position as if she was pushing upwards.

The purple fire around her quickly streamed towards her upright arms.

It was just a simple movement, but it made anyone watching feel it was determined and grim.

Her arms pushed upwards.

Two streams of purple fire flowed from her arms and connected end to end. It formed a purple disk of fire about ten zhang large. All the fire on the female xiu’s body flowed into the purple fire disk without a drop remaining.

The purple fire disk spun eerily over her head.

Zuo Mo looked on dazedly. The female xiu who didn’t have any trace of purple fire left on her, no longer bleeding from her wounds, but her torn clothes had already become soaked in blood. Only that pair of bare feet was white and left untouched.

What shocked him even more was that he could not feel any hint of a presence from the female xiu!

She seemed to have suddenly disappeared, no, like she had died.

Looking coldly from the side, Zuo Mo’s emotions suddenly rippled violently.

His howls were like that of a wild beast being burned. Lava, hard lightning, and golden light furiously burrowed into his body destructively as they headed for the deepest reaches of his body.

The ripple of his emotions was like pouring oil onto the fire. His situation became even more terrible. Any place that was slightly weak was completely burned up when the golden light, hard lightning, and lava passed.

Even the muscles and bones that had been sufficiently tempered before were wavering under such a brutal baptism.

But at this moment, all of Zuo Mo’s attention was attracted by the female xiu.

A stream of tears continuously flowed from his eyes, yet he did not detect it. The five element glass bead in his chest jumped rhythmically like a heart, as though something was going to break through.

She definitely had more than a common connection to him!

At this point, Zuo Mo was certain of this point. The enchanting purple fire disk spun above the female xiu’s head. A power that made people feel trepidation slowly spread.

Who are you … …

Zuo Mo’s emotional upheaval became even more violent. He wanted to ask her this question, but his body was completely out of his control. No matter how he tried, he could not reclaim control of his own body.

The collapsing sword essence came even closer. Zuo Mo’s panic increased.

Damn it!

Why … … why couldn’t he control his own body … …

His heart had a fierce impulse. He wanted to control his own body. He wanted to ask her why. He didn’t want her shield him from the front. He … …

Damn it!

Zuo Mo felt there was a ball of fire burning in his chest. He had never had an impulse that was as strong as this one! He knew if he took control of his body at this moment, his soul would have to endure the flames.

But … … he wanted … …

Zuo Mo’s body shook violently. His screams became even more furious!

… … to ask her … …

His eyes were bright red and bloodshot. The tendons in his forehead had bulged out. The blood vessels in his body were like earthworms.

The sword essence sped increasingly near the female xiu and was less than ten zhang from the purple fire disk.

The female xiu suddenly lowered her head to look at him.

Something seemed to explode in Zuo Mo’s mind. Boom! His mind blanked. All of the ling power, consciousness, every drop of power contained in every bit of his muscles suddenly exploded!

His body suddenly created an extremely strong attraction. The lava, hard lightning, and golden light that had been rampaging inside his body were sucked in.

A familiar yet unfamiliar voice echoed.

“Don’t forget … …”

“Even in death, you cannot forget … …”

Layering and in waves like thunder.

In the sky, the colossal sword essence heavily collided on the purple fire disk.

Pew pew pew!

When a sword energy landed inside the purple fire disk, it was like pouring water into hot oil. Purple wisps of flame spat forth. The sword energies were relentless like a flood as they attacked the purple fire disk.

The arms of the female xiu suddenly became weighted, and her body shook slightly.

Zuo Mo was like a wild beast at death’s door as he furiously howled.

The body of the female xiu shook. Zuo Mo’s body shook at the same time. He was like an enraged wild beast. “Why!”

His body suddenly started to tremble. An expression of pain came onto his face. His voice uncontrollably became smaller. “ … … Why … …”

Even if his consciousness had been cultivated, but the pain from his soul being burned would not decrease due to that. The different kinds of forces inside his body seesawed. Enormous pain came from the burning of his soul. He felt like a shrimp being boiled. Every part of his body was trembling.

He wanted … … to ask her … … why … …

The arms of the female xiu were slowly pushed down. An astounding force passed from the purple fire disk.

He gritted his teeth. A stream of fresh blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

He wanted … … to ask her … … why … …

Zuo Mo’s entire body shook fiercely but he didn’t shout this time. He had a deathly stare as he bit down on his teeth, a stream of fresh blood coming out of the corner of his mouth.

Booooooooom!

The flames of the purple fire disk frantically consumed, but there were too many sword energies that forcibly suppressed the flames of the purple fire disk. They continuously pushed down on the purple fire disk.

The female xiu shook even harder. With a muffled grunt, her body suddenly sank down.

He wanted … … to ask her … … why

Below the female xiu, Zuo Mo raised his head with difficulty. His eyes were entirely red and filled with blood. An amazing change was happening to his body. The silver hard lightning swam across the surface of his body like countless silver snakes. The golden light furiously burrowed into his bones and the threads of pure earth fire inside the crimson lava crawled into his channels.

Having lost their targets, the ling and spiritual power slowly steadied.

Boom!

The figure of the female xiu above him sank again.

The golden light of the ling shield of Golden Crow City was burning. When the sky full of sword energies smashed onto it, the golden ling shield rippled.

Everyone knew this was the most crucial time, and put all of their power into fighting.

Shu Long led the Guard Camp and activated the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation again. The battle formations of Vermillion Bird Camp were primary offensive. Defense was not one of their talents. The only thing they could do was to activate some of the simpler defensive formations, and contribute as much as they could.

Lil’ Pagoda spun into a five colored after-image. The Skyring Moon Chime Formation was pressed to its limits.

The xiuzhe of the Eastern and Western Camps seemed to have gone insane as they furiously switched out the jingshi. Everyone knew that if the ling shield broke, no one could escape the calamity.

At this time, everyone directly experienced just how strong the female xiu was. With just her own power, she could stop such a terrifying sword essence. It really was hard to imagine. They had to rely on the big formation of Golden Crow City, and were still wavering when they used all their power. The ling shield could break at any time.

Everyone’s face was filled with hopelessness.

The sword essence coming down seemed to be endless and unstoppable. A nearby mountain peak was brutally destroyed, only leaving behind the bottom half. If they were not personally experiencing it, no one could imagine that sword essence could reach such a terrifying level.

Were their lives really going to be lost here today?

This thought uncontrollably flashed across everyone’s mind.

Gongsun Cha called over Xie Shan, Ma Fan, and a few others. He said in a low voice, “We probably can’t hold out for much longer. Later when the city’s ling shield breaks, you guys take Boss and break through.”

Everyone’s face was sorrowful. Each of them tightly bit their lips and didn’t speak.

Shu Long’s nose and mouth bled blood. He bit down on his teeth and continued to channel the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation. Almost everyone in Guard Camp were bleeding from their nose and mouth.

Boom!

The enormous power surpassed the limits that the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation could tolerate. Shu Long felt as though someone hammered him hard. His entire body was thrown into the air. The camp guards behind him were also thrown up.

The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation was broken!

Everyone’s expression changed. Without the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation, the ling shield of Golden Crow City could not last for long.

Just as everyone felt it was hopeless, someone suddenly said in a trembling voice, “Boss … …”

Boss?

Many people instinctively moved their gaze. Even if they would die here today, it wasn’t a bad idea if Boss could escape. Many people hoped the female xiu could take Boss and escape this place.

They were filled with terror and hopelessness, but they were not regretful. With Boss, they had a loud and great run. Compared to the lifeless days they had lived before, it was the difference between the earth and the sky! From the bottom of their hearts, they hoped that Boss could live!

So when someone exclaimed, many people couldn’t resist moving their eyes.

Zuo Mo’s body was covered in red, gold, and silver. He was standing upright like a spear.

His features were still twisted, but it gave people a completely different feeling. He raised his head and looked at the female xiu.

For some unknown reason, a thread of hope rose in everyone’s hearts at the same time.

Faster … … faster … …

Panic flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. The rampaging forces inside his body had gradually stabilized. His body had gradually returned to his control. He seemed to have entered an unfamiliar body and slowly recovered his strength.

It wasn’t a long process, but the timing really made him panic!

Countless bits of hard lightning swam across the surface of his body, a golden liquid flowed in his bones, the channels were filled with pure and crimson earth fire, his body that had been tempered again … …

His body had undergone another breakthrough, but at this time, there was no joy in him. He looked with panic at the figure above him.

Without the purple fire, the female xiu looked as weak as a dry leaf in the wind.

Boom!

The female xiu’s figure sank again, her long hair flying.

“Faster!”

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly ached.

Boom!

The female xiu sank once more. Sparks flew off the purple fire disk and it showed signs of collapsing.

“Motherf***ing faster!”

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly turned red.

Boooooooom!

The female xiu was like a nail that was being hammered down, and unable to stop.

Booooooooooooom!

The purple fire disk finally could not stand it anymore. It turned to countless wisps of purple fire and disappeared into the air.

The female xiu seemed to be heavily struck. Her eyes unfocused, her body dropped down at an even more rapid rate!

Zuo Mo’s mind exploded, his body exploded and suddenly became open. All of his strength suddenly poured into his body like water.

He disappeared from his spot.

In the air, his figure was arched. His back towards the sky, the female xiu was shielded against his chest.

His right hand held a handful of Golden Thread Lightning Walnuts. Like he was crazy, he threw them viciously at the howling sword essence!

“Go away!”

Chapter 302: A New Beginning

Booooooom!

More than ten Sonic Lightning Walnut exploded at the same time!

A blinding and scorching light passed through his back.

Zuo Mo felt his back was heavily struck. His throat turned sweet and then he spat out blood. Before he had the time to respond, like a meteorite falling from the sky, he and the female xiu smashed heavily into the dirt.

Ping!

The ground was really hard!

That was the last thought before Zuo Mo fainted.

———

Ma Fan looked at the half-collapsed city walls. Thinking about the scene from two days ago, he still felt fear. The big formation inside Golden Crow City had been completely damaged, and almost all of the formation battle watchtowers were ruined.

Most importantly, Boss had thrown out a huge number of Sonic Lightning Walnuts to save everybody.

The simultaneous explosion of the Sonic Lightning Walnuts had forcibly cleared out an empty area twenty mu in diameter.

The mountains around Golden Crow City did not have such good luck and had been bombarded and left half standing. Not one mountain peak remained whole. There was no untouched land near Golden Crow City. Everything was in disarray.

In the sky, it was possible to see xiuzhe from Vermillion Bird Camp patrolling everywhere. After the battle, some xiuzhe had nefarious aims, and wanted to get rich. They were completely annihilated by the members of Vermillion Bird Camp, who had a whole belly full of frustration. In the defense of the city, Vermillion Bird Camp’s utility had been pitifully small. This made them feel especially irritated.

They had almost all died, and were even unable to take Boss and escape. To the Vermillion Bird Camp that had been trained through many battle and successfully won, this undoubtedly was a great humiliation.

No one had expected that, in the end, Boss had saved everyone. Thinking about it now, it still seemed like a dream.

There was not much joy on Ma Fan’s face. Boss was still unconscious now. This caused a heavy cloud to settle on everyone’s hearts. In this present group, Boss was the true leader. No one could imagine what they would become if Boss wasn’t present.

Maybe this group that had been so difficult to gather together would face a fate of collapse.

Ma Fan chewed on a stalk of green grass as his feet unconsciously kicked pebbles.

“Old Fan, Old Fan!” His ears suddenly heard Xie Shan’s joyous voice.

“Oh.” He turned his face and dazedly responded.

Xie Shan said urgently, “Boss woke up!”

It was as though Ma Fan was struck by lightning. After a moment, he suddenly reacted, and asked hurriedly, “Boss woke up?”

“Hee hee, just woke up! It was just my turn to stand guard!” Xie Shan said with slight pride.

“That’s great!” Ma Fan muttered to himself.

“Isn’t it? This is great … …”

The news that Zuo Mo woke up quickly spread through Golden Crow City. Golden Crow City rejoiced, the gloom of the past days swept away.

———

Zuo Mo felt his body hurt all over as though it was being torn apart. He couldn’t help but give a deep groan. Looking at the familiar faces, joy at surviving the calamity washed over his heart. His expression suddenly changed and asked Gongsun Cha, “Where’s the female xiu?”

Gongsun Cha’s expression became strange.

“How is she?” Zuo Mo was very alarmed.

Even though he did not know the actual situation but there definitely was a great connection between him and the female xiu. The scene of the female xiu sacrificing herself to save him, and that pair of eyes filled with emotion flashed in front of his eyes.

Who are you … …

Zuo Mo could find the answer to many of the problems haunting him on her body.

She could not die!

Seeing Zuo Mo’s panic, Gongsun Cha did not joke and revealed, “Come and you’ll understand.”

When Zuo Mo saw the female xiu, he was dumbstruck.

The female xiu silently sat in the corner of the room, and didn’t seem to notice the existence of the two of them.

“Her, her cultivation … …” Zuo Mo asked in a trembling voice.

Gongsun Cha shook his head. “She woke up before you did, but for some reason, her cultivation disappeared.”

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly sank. He silently walked in front of the female xiu. When he saw the female xiu’s empty eyes, his heart couldn’t help but shake, and his nose felt sore.

That pair of clear and joyous eyes … …

She sat silently. When Zuo Mo walked in front of her, she did not seem to detect it. Zuo Mo reached out and waved a hand in front of her. She still did not respond.

“Inspect her body,” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly sounded. He was quite stern.

Zuo Mo tightly pressed together his lips, reached out a hand and placed it on her body.

She was motionless like a wooden puppet.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed.

The channels inside her body had all broke, the strange purple power had disappeared to leave behind an extremely minuscule thread of life as though it was a candle flickering in the wind, that could be extinguished at any time.

He couldn’t even feel her soul.

Why was it like this?

Zuo Mo’s mind rang and blanked.

After a long time, he refocused. Looking at the female xiu’s hideous and wooden face, especially when his gaze landed on the empty pupils, a certain chord in his heart was gently plucked.

The confused gaze suddenly became determined.

He entered the sea of consciousness and looked at Pu Yao. Pu Yao glanced at him and said, “I know what you want to ask. Truthfully, it’s very difficult.”

Pu Yao’s voice was deep and solemn without any of the mockery it usually held.

Zuo Mo’s expression was serious. “Tell me.”

Pu Yao did not raise any conditions. He looked at Zuo Mo, and threw a ball of light with formation scripts floating on the surface. He said, “This is [Adversity Overcoming Scripture] . I got it from a dhyana xiu. Maybe it can be of use.”

Zuo Mo’s mind jumped and he hurriedly took the light ball.

“Don’t be happy prematurely. This scripture can only support this thread of life remaining in her body.” Pu Yao said heavily, “If you want to save her, the best method is to get a Water Cloud Embryo.”

“Water Cloud Embryo?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. He hadn’t ever heard this name before.

“En, Water Cloud Embryo can nurture souls, and is the best for soul injuries.”

“Soul injuries?”

“En, her secret technique is very strange. It burns the soul to create great power.” Pu Yao’s expression was grave. “It is the first time I have seen such a strange secret skill. Her origins, I’m afraid, are not simple.”

When he finished, Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo. He felt somewhat strange inside. Zuo Mo probably wasn’t simple himself since he had a connection with such a complex female xiu. However, he had never seen uncommon qualities in Zuo Mo.

Pu Yao gathered his thoughts and continued, “She should have definitely died this time, but fortunately, she had left a soul-thought inside your body … …”

Zuo Mo’s boy shock and he interrupted, “She has a soul-thought inside my body?”

“Her soul-thought is inside that five element glass bead in your body.” Pu Yao secretly celebrated that he had not crushed that bead. Otherwise, it would be very troublesome now.

“Five element glass bead … …” Zuo Mo murmured to himself.

“When your cultivation reaches a certain level, you can see some of the mysteries inside,” Pu Yao said, “This five element glass bead is a very rare treasure.”

Zuo Mo’s hand unconsciously balled into a fist.

He was suddenly filled with motivation.

For a long time, he had lacked a clear goal, including his time at Wu Kong Mountain. Long days of low-level living had caused his expectations of life to be very low. When his most basic needs were fulfilled, he had been lost.

The unexpected encounter between him and the female xiu now seemed like fate.

He knew the female xiu definitely was very important to him!

How important would the connection be t that the other would place a soul-thought inside his body? He could not think of it, but he knew that no one other than the female xiu could do this.

Just this was enough!

Leaving the sea of consciousness, he looked at the female xiu. Her disfigured and wooden face could not cause any revulsion in him now. Suddenly, he thought of his past zombie-face, and laughed.

The fate of the zombie and female ghost?

“In the future, you will be A Gui.”

The female xiu was unmoved.

[Adversity Overcoming Scripture] was extremely cryptic and complex. The main reason was that Zuo Mo didn’t know much about many of the things of dhyana xiu. Pu Yao did not know much about dhyana xiu either. According to him, he had taken this from the body of a dhyana xiu he killed.

Luckily, Zuo Mo had Zong Ru who was a much more orthodox dhyana xiu to help him resolve many of the parts.

Pu Yao’s judgment was correct. [Adversity Overcoming Scripture] was able to help A Gui’s stabilize the thread of life. Under the Buddha mantra, the deathly presence on A Gui’s body dissipated greatly.

Zuo Mo was very encouraged and worked even harder.

———

After a few days, Gongsun Cha led a female xiu to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo looked with puzzlement at Gongsun Cha. “Shidi, this is?”

“This is Miss Rong Wei.” Gongsun Cha first made introductions and then said, “She hopes to work with us.”

“With us?” Zuo Mo stilled.

Rong Wei bowed and said, “This one is from Sky Water Jie’s House of the Crow Marquis and has been ordered to come to Little Mountain Jie to investigate Stars in Daytime. This one asks Daren for your aid.” She then took out a few talismans. “A small token of our intentions, please accept them.”

“Stars in Daytime?”

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. Damn it, Stars in Daytime, wasn’t that caused by him?

What were the origins of this Crow Marquis House, why were they investigating him? His heart instantly became wary.

He pretended to be confused and asked, “We did see the Stars in Daytime, but what does this apparition mean? Miss Rong Wei, please teach us.”

“This one does dare to teach.” Rong Wei bowed slightly. “The old records say that when Stars in Daytime appear, there are great yao and great mo healing.”

“Great yao and great mo?” Zuo Mo’s heart jumped again. He finally understood.

It seemed he needed to be careful in the future. If this appeared a few more times, he would be in danger.

“En, the Marquis believes great yao may have infiltrated Little Mountain Jie,” Rong Wei said. This was the most probable guess. A yao army had appeared in Little Mountain Jie, and now a great yao, that wasn’t too much of a surprise.

But what was there in Little Mountain Jie that made the yao put so much effort and even be injured?

Zuo Mo secretly released a breath inside. He hurriedly shook his head. “Miss Rong is joking. We aren’t enough if a yao army comes, much less a great yao. We plan on immediately leaving Little Mountain Jie to go to Sky Water Jie. Your House resides in Sky Water Jie, and we are unfamiliar with the area. At that time, please guide us.”

Rong Wei was slightly disappointed, but she had expected this. Unless there was a special order, no one was willing to stay for long in Little Mountain Jie. She had come this time with the intentions of making acquaintances.

The power of Golden Crow City, even if they entered Sky Water Jie, would definitely be a significant force.

There were no disadvantages to forming good relationship now.

Before, she had the idea of recruiting Gongsun Cha, but after personally seeing the battle that day, her thought had instantly disappeared.

This kind of person was not someone she could recruit.

Fortunately, the aim of her visit this time had been realized. She smiled slightly and took out a jade card to hand to Zuo Mo.

“This one still has duties, and cannot accompany everyone. It is very regretful. If you have any problem, you can take this card to travel to the House of the Crow Marquis. The Marquis would definitely welcome everyone.”

The two sides chatted a bit more before Rong Wei left.

“We are going to Sky Water Jie?” Gongsun Cha suddenly asked.

Chapter 303: Leaving Little Mountain Jie

“En, we need to leave this place quickly,” Zuo Mo said decisively. “Little Mountain Jie isn’t a safe place.”

“When are we leaving?” Gongsun Cha then asked.

“Get everyone to pack, then prepare for departure. Let them prepare well. When we pass through the Clear Sky Sect, there may be a hard battle.”

“Alright.” Gongsun Cha instantly went out to prepare.

———

Everyone in Golden Crow City started to move. Zuo Mo released all of the Outer Hall captives. Clear Sky Old Forefather had been killed which was a fatal blow to the Outer Hall xiuzhe. At this point, no one would be willing to sell their life for Clear Sky Sect.

The battle of Golden Crow City had shaken Little Mountain Jie.

Right now, everyone knew that the sky had changed for Little Mountain Jie

No one was willing to stay in this cage. In the span of a few days, almost all of the remaining xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie had gathered outside Golden Crow City.

They looked with awe at this little town of which only remained half standing. Everyone knew this place held the hope to leave Little Mountain Jie. No one made trouble, they only watched from a distance. When Vermillion Bird Camp’s patrols passed, many people bowed of their own initiative.

From a distance, there was a spectacularly dense patch of xiuzhe outside Golden Crow City.

“Will there be trouble?” Nian Lu asked worriedly.

“Who’s afraid?” Lei Peng was unconcerned. “We can kill as many of these as they come.”

“Ha, that’s true!” Pride flashed across Nian Lu’s face.”Before, who could have thought there would be a day like this? It’s worth it even if I die!”

Lei Peng rumbled, “I don’t want to die. Boss still has so much good stuff. Maybe we can cultivate to jindan in the future.”

“You really dare to think … …” Nian Lu looked into the distance.

Suddenly the order to gather came from below. The two exchanged a look. They were going to depart!

The Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe who had been keeping a constant eye on Golden Crow City shifted.

After a short while, Vermillion Bird Camp was the first to ascend into the air. The Vermillion Bird Camp of more than seven hundred people was famed in Little Mountain Jie. When Vermillion Bird Camp collectively flew into the air, many of the people watching from afar sighed with admiration.

“Look! That’s Vermillion Bird Camp! The strongest army of Little Mountain Jie!”

“Whoa! That presence is really frightening!”

“I wonder if they are still hiring? Death would be worth it if I could enter such a troop!”

Chatter rose among the crowd. People were filled with admiration and awe as they looked at this powerful troop. No one dared to underestimate them, even if they there were only seven hundred people.

Vermillion Bird Camp quickly spread out after getting up into the air. They were wary and cautious.

Following them were the five gigantic slave transporting boats that slowly rose. There were one thousand black armor camp guards standing on the lead slave transport ship. That was Guard Camp who became famous in one battle. They were not skilled in flying. The enormous and steady slave transporting boats were perfect for them. The pressure of one thousand camp guards standing on the deck gave people was unparalleled.

The appearance of Guard Camp caused a small crescendo of murmuring.

The xiuzhe that had personally seen the heart-shaking battle described the terrifying strength of Guard Camp to the others.

The ferocious killing energy and the ancient battle armor that they wore, which had long disappeared into the river of history, became the topics that interested the people the most.

The other for slave transporting boats were used for the Eastern Camp, Western Camp and non-combat xiuzhe. And the last boat was filled with all kinds of materials.

Slave transporting boats were enormous. In Little Mountain Jie, five slave transporting boats definitely counted as a gigantic fleet. Adding on Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp, this definitely was the strongest fleet of Little Mountain Jie.

———

Zuo Mo looked at Golden Crow City below and was filled with emotion.

It just had been a few short days, but Golden Crow City had completely transformed. It was broken and shattered. Possibly in the future, this place would become ruins of an ancient city.

He raised his head and looked at the sky filled with xiuzhe in a dense cloud that did not end. He couldn’t help but sigh again. After this departure, Little Mountain Jie would become a dead jie without any people.

Maybe this place would become the frontlines like Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had previously been, a paradise of yaomo.

Oh, he really had no standing to sigh. Thinking about Pu Yao in his sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo grimaced.

However, they could finally leave this place … …

He looked at A Gui beside him. A Gui was sitting silently. He turned his face and said to Gongsun Cha, “Depart!”

———

The five slave transporting boats slowly started to fly forward. Many people looked back at Golden Crow City, their eyes filled with reluctance. This little city had given them hope and sunlight. This little city would become a place they would reminiscence for their entire life.

The vast troop flew towards the jie river towards Sky Water Jie.

Along the way, there was a constant stream of xiuzhe merging with their convoy. The troop became even larger. Each person’s face was filled with excitement and exhilaration. They looked with awe at the figure standing on the deck of the lead slave transport ship.

There was no light coming from the ling armor, the not-so-broad figure did not have a grand presence, this normal looking youth that was outrageously young gave them hope and led them to escape this cage.

Not far from their troop, a troop of yao soldiers watched as they left.

“Daren, are we not pursuing them?”

“No, we are too exhausted.”

“But … …”

“The order from the Council of Elders is to take Little Mountain Jie at the fastest speed possible, not to do anything else.”

———

Rong Wei entered this convoy along the way.

Personally seeing this scene, she sighed inside. After this hard battle, the master of Golden Crow City had become the true king of Little Mountain Jie. If he sent down an order right now, there definitely would be many people willing to sell their life for him. In the remaining xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie, there was not another person that could be spoken of in the same terms as him.

The xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie had all chosen to leave. Her mission did not have much meaning then.

She didn’t think that she could investigate and find something in Little Mountain Jie with just the handful of compound guards she had come with. The best choice right now was to leave with the master of Golden Crow City.

She held a high opinion of the master of Golden Crow City. With the group of people under his command, the master of Golden Crow City would be invincible wherever he went. From the battle, she had seen how powerful the master of Golden Crow City was.

It was a profitable matter to give someone friendship when they were in their most difficult straits.

“Good day, City Master!” Rong Wei went over and bowed. With a smile, she said, “We will be travelling with you!”

Zuo Mo smiled. “Miss Rong is too courteous.” As he finished, he had his people make room.

Rong Wei was not courteous and stepped onto the slave transporting boat. The compound guards all held their head and chests high, and shared in the glory.

“What does City Master plan to do for the future?”

Rong Wei tilted her head and asked.

“We’ll plan each step when we get there.” Zuo Mo was very wary of this female xiu that was investigating Stars in Daytime.

“Sky Water Jie isn’t a bad place. City Master could consider it,” Rong Wei said.

Zuo Mo shook his head. “Too dangerous, The yao army can enter Little Mountain Jie at any time. Sky Water Jie is this close to Little Mountain Jie, it is slightly dangerous.”

Rong Wei stilled. Upon further thought, she instantly stopped speaking. The other’s words were very reasonable. She considered whether or not she should urge the Marquis to move the House of the Crow Marquis to a place further way when she returned.

Pu Yao suddenly spoke up inside Zuo Mo’s mind, “Ask her if she has a jie map?”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s mind moved. He asked Rong Wei, “Speaking of that, this one has something to request.”

“Oh, please speak,” Rong Wei said cautiously.

“This one’s jie map was lost, and wants to borrow and copy Miss Rong’s jie map,” Zuo Mo said without blushing or an increase in his heartbeat.

Hearing this, Rong Wei’s heart settled. She said, “No problem, but the markings on this one’s jie river are limited, and hope that City Master will not be too disappointed.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly gave his thanks, took out a blank jade scroll and copied.

After he finished, he gave the jie map jade scroll back to the other and went back to his cabin after bidding farewell.

Once he entered the boat cabin, he couldn’t wait and took out the jie map to examine.

The jie map was filled with the names of all the jie and the jie rivers connecting them. Zuo Mo instantly felt his vision broaden. Only today did he discover the general location of Sky Moon Jie, and Little Mountain Jie.

Sky Moon Jie and Little Mountain Jie were at the corner of the entire jie map.

As expected, it was rural area … …

He smacked his lips and rubbed his chin as he read intensely, unaware that Pu Yao had also crowded next to him and was examining the jie map.

“Such a small jie map?” Pu Yao said with slightly disdain.

“It’s already a lot. There’s more than three hundred jie labeled on here!”

“Three hundred jie is a lot?” Pu Yao seemed to have heard a great joke. “Country bumpkin!”

Zuo Mo ignored him. It was the first time he saw a jie map and he was very curious. The labels on the jie map were very detailed. It even included the specialty products of each jie. He read on with interest. Around the jie map were large areas of blank space. Those were probably areas that had never been mapped before.

He quickly discovered that there was no information on Water Cloud Embryos on the jie map.

“Pu, which jie produces Water Cloud Embryos?”

“I don’t know,” Pu Yao said irritably, “I’m not familiar with your xiuzhe territories.”

“Aren’t you a Sky yao? You don’t even know this.” Zuo Mo egged him on.

Pu Yao tilted his head and smirked coldly. “I know of a place, but it is in a yao jie, you dare to go?”

Zuo Mo instantly was speechless. It seemed he had to do a search when he got to Sky Water Jie.

When the vast troop reached Clear Sky Sect’s base, they found it was completely empty. Zuo Mo, who had been expecting another hard battle, was very surprised.

When they found out the Clear Sky Sect disciples had all run away, cheers rang out from the troop. Zuo Mo did not doubt that if any Clear Sky Sect disciple’s identity was revealed, and they encountered any xiuzhe that escaped from Little Mountain JIe, they would die a terrible death.

Every single one of the surviving xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie hated Clear Sky Sect to the bone.

What Zuo Mo felt was a pity was everything good in Clear Sky Sect had been cleaned out. He didn’t stop there, followed the jie river, and flew towards Sky Water Jie.

When they arrived at the airspace above the jie river, many of the xiuzhe’s tears uncontrollably flowed.

They finally believed that they were going to leave this hell-like cage!

They could finally return to the life they had been familiar with before. This made everyone excited.

Cheers, sobs, venting roars … …

The sky above the jie river was very busy.

Zuo Mo wasn’t very excited. He looked at A Gui sitting silently beside him, his gaze determined.

The other end of the jie river was just a new beginning.

Chapter 304: Great Day Mo Physique

The jie rivers were hard to cross. Every jie river was very lengthy.

Inside the cabin, Zuo Mo was focused on cultivation.

“Golden core! My golden core!” Once Pu Yao spoke of the jindan, he started to become irritable. “Fought a jindan and almost lost your little life, and you didn’t get me the golden core!”

Zuo Mo was slightly embarrassed. Before, he had promised to give a jindan to Pu Yao but that was unfulfilled. Thinking about it now, jindan were not as terrifying as he imagined. As long as he had the right method, it was possible to defeat a jindan.

After careful thought, the strongest quality of a jindan was their speed. This caused jindan to have the absolute advantage when facing ningmai xiuzhe. For a powerful jindan to kill with a strike was not uncommon, but it was not possible for one strike to kill ten ningmai.

In comparison, a jindan’s defensive advantage was the least eye-catching .Even though the sword energies of a single ningmai could not seriously wound them, but if dozens of sword energies struck at the same time, even a jindan could not bear it.

What was most scary was if the jindan decided to kill everyone at the expense of their life. If a jindan decided to go all out, the power they could release was multiple times what it was normally.

Experience was the most valuable.

With the experience from last time, if he had to fight with Clear Sky Old Forefather again, he even had the confidence to kill Clear Sky Old Forefather with just Vermillion Bird Camp.

Facing Pu Yao’s mockery and scorn, he could only grimace inside. The reason the battle against Clear Sky Old Forefather had been so difficult was because he had been frightened by the connotations of a jindan xiuzhe. Now he knew that being on the defense would cause him to become even more reactive when facing a jindan xiuzhe.

Pu Yao clearly knew this. At this point, his wailing was just to satisfy his mouth.

Hearing Pu Yao natter at his ears, Zuo Mo really could not bear it any longer. He stopped his cultivation. “Alright, alright! I’ll make it up to you!” He then muttered, “An honored Sky Yao is actually … … hmph hmph … …”

Pu Yao pretended not to hear. After a while, he could resist tempting Zuo Mo, “Actually, jindan are very easy to kill. You didn’t have the abilities before but it is different now. Look, you have so many people under your command, and you also made a breakthrough … …”

“Breakthrough?” Zuo Mo’s mind jumped. “Let’s talk more about this.”

“It’s strange now that you speak of it. Your talent in the consciousness and ling power doesn’t seem outstanding, but you are abnormally fast in cultivating the mo skills. It really is weird.” Pu Yao was slightly discontent, but still said, “You still remember your mo physique?”

“Of course, Jade Metal Head. Ranked fifth in the captain stage,” Zuo Mo answered.

“Exactly. At the beginning, I assumed you would go to Star and Moon Wheel. But with such coincidences, you transformed into another kind of mo physique.” Pu Yao seemed slightly helpless but also grave. “There are one hundred and seventy two types of colonel mo physiques. Ranked first is Mystical Earth, second is Great Day, third is Demonic Fiend Sea.”

“Mystical Earth is not yin or yang, and is the only mo physique in colonel level mo physiques that doesn’t belong to either. The biggest reason that it is ranked first is that it can develop into any brigadier physique, including the top three brigadier physiques.”

“Great Day is yang and unyielding, filled with brutal power. It is the best for developing any kind of yang and unyielding mo physique in the future. Demonic Fiend Sea is yin and deceptive, and the best for transformations.”

“I have the Great Day mo physique?” Zuo Mo seemed to understand.

“Right.” Pu Yao explained, “During the fight with Clear Sky Old Forefather, you coincidentally activated the big formation. The big formation processed your body, the essence of Golden Crow, hard lightning, and earth fire. All of those are yang and unyielding substances. Under these coincidental conditions, it allowed you to develop the Great Day mo physique.”

When he spoke to there, Pu Yao rolled his eyes. “It’s just you. If this was another other mo that cultivated to Great Day mo physique, he would already have gone to find a jindan to feed on. Afraid of a jindan? Humph!”

“Feed?”

“What is strange about that? The inner core of yaomo are treasures to xiuzhe, the jindan of a xiuzhe is also great food for yaomo!” Pu Yao’s vividly red tongue unconsciously licked his lips. “You could try. That taste is delicious.”

Zuo Mo shook, and then swore, “Pu Yao, you pervert!”

Pu Yao was not affected. “It’s you who is too ignorant. It’s very normal for xiuzhe to use yaomo to forge and in dan-making. But you say we’re perverts for eating golden cores?”

Zuo Mo was speechless.

He decided to not linger on this question. “What benefits are there to this Great Day mo physique?”

Pu Yao became excited. “There are many benefits. Otherwise, how can it match to a jindan xiuzhe? The first is in cultivating mo skills. You practiced [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] before, so you must know the crux to fully using the power of this fist scripture is how strong your body is. Mo skills are even more extreme on this point. In the future, you will discover than any mo skill in the end it is to cultivate the body. Great Day mo physique is innately strong and powerful. It is easier to cultivate those domineering mo skills.”

“Mo skills again, you don’t have mo skills, what are you excited for?” Zuo Mo responded neutrally.

Pu Yao almost choked. He decided to ignore Zuo Mo, and continued, “Mo physiques from colonel and up have many wondrous abilities. Yaomo are not skilled in forging, and really cannot stack up to xiuzhe on talismans. What do we do to compete then? One method is a soul-tethered talisman, but they are different from the soul-tethered talisman of xiuzhe. The yaomo’s soul-tethered talisman is a part of their body, like a claw, tooth, or the skin they shed, formed after being forged constantly. The other method is the transformation of the mo physique.”

“Of the colonel mo physiques, each type of mo physique has its own transformations, but there are never more than six transformations. The reason that Mystical Earth, Great Day, and Demonic Fiend Sea can rank in the top three is because all of them possess six transformations.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, “What are transformations?”

“Similar to the abhinna of dhyana xiu. Didn’t you get Ling Eyes activated? The transformations of a mo physique are techniques that can use the abilities of the mo physique to the greatest degree.”

“You understand the six transformations?” Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao with suspicion.

Pu Yao said calmly, “No.”

“I just knew. What Sky Yao, you don’t understand anything … …” Zuo Mo muttered to himself.

A vein throbbed in Pu Yao’s forehead but he suppressed himself. “I might not understand, but someone does.”

“Who?” Zuo Mo was very curious now.

“That guy,” Pu Yao said as he pointed at the gravestone.

“The gravestone?” Zuo Mo stilled.

“Right.” Smugness imperceptibly flashed across Pu Yao’s eyes. “You only need to agree to a little request from him, and he will teach you the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique, and also pass mo skills on to you.”

“Little request?” Zuo Mo instinctively detected danger. He suddenly remembered the ancient voice that sounded when Pu Yao had entered his body.

That damned “To abide by my ceremony, to execute my desires, to give my oath, will thou?” that had tormented him.

The more he thought, the more his anger burned. In the past when ge had been tender, you felt ge was easy to bully, and shit and peed on ge’s head, ge couldn’t defeat you, so ge tolerated it! Now you want to trick ge! No one could tolerate this!

He sprinted in front of the gravestone, and his foot heavily kicked the gravestone!

“Idiot! You ran into ge’s sea of consciousness! Didn’t give one piece of jingshi in rent! Now you scheme against ge! Do you want to live?”

Bang bang bang!

Bang bang bang!

As Zuo Mo swore loudly, his foot kicked the gravestone rapidly so much the gravestone wobbled.

Seeing Zuo Mo turn berserk, his eyes bloodshot, Pu Yao was dumbstruck where he stood!

He … … he dared to kick “him” … …

Heavens … …

After a long time, Pu Yao finally recovered. When he saw the gravestone that had almost been kicked over, his face instantly turned pale.

“You … …”

Just as he opened and said one word, he saw Zuo Mo stop and turned around. On the dark and vicious face was a pair of bloody and murderous eyes.

Pu Yao swallowed. He felt he was being targeted by a wild beast. If he took a wrong step, Zuo Mo would instantly leap over. His throat felt tight. When his words reached his mouth, they became, “Let’s talk peacefully … … let’s talk peacefully… …”

Zuo Mo turned around his pot-black face, and lifted his foot again.

Bang bang bang!

After kicking viciously for dozens of times, he finally stopped. Before he left, he did not forget to leave words behind. “Idiot, let ge tell you! You dare to scheme against ge, ge will kill you!”

As he finished, he was finally content and left.

Pu Yao looked dumbstruck at the gravestone. The black surface of the gravestone was covered in footprints.

After a long moment, Pu Yao suddenly exploded in laughter so hard he fell down.

“Hahahaha! This is the person you picked? He has such a personality! Really has a personality! Even more of a personality than you in the past! Haha! How do you feel? It must be great! Haha, I hadn’t thought there would be a day when you get kicked by other people? This is so interesting! Hahahaha! I like this guy!”

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s roaring laughter echoed.

———

When Zuo Mo left the sea of consciousness, his anger had not been completely vented. What Great Day mo physique, ge doesn’t care!

Don’t think that if you had stuff like mo skills that you can get good things out of ge!

Ge doesn’t lack spells!

Zuo Mo took out a large bunch of jade scrolls from the ring, and arranged them in a row.

These jade scrolls had been collected over time while he was in Little Mountain Jie, and were all spells that were unique. The great majority were good fourth-grade spells. Among them, there were also two fifth-grade spells. For him, at present, this was enough to use.

As to the golden core, it can go to hell!

Zuo Mo suddenly had a deep understanding of a rule. Self-reliance was the true path! Back at Wu Kong Mountain, he was able to break through to the fourth level of the[Little Art of Cloud and Rain] by relying on the lowest grade jade scroll. Right now, he had this many jade scrolls and their grades were not low. There was no reason that he would deteriorate over time.

Deeply stimulated by Pu Yao and the gravestone, Zuo Mo completely sank into a frenzy.

Wasn’t it just spells? Wasn’t it just skills? You think if you hold onto the spells, you hold ge’s throat?

If the tiger doesn’t roar, you mistake it for a sick cat?

Ge will let you see why you Sky Yao and old antiques have declined to the point that you couldn’t pay the rent, and had to take out the yin beads but couldn’t sell them!

While ge could hold a place in the outer sect of Wu Kong Sword Sect with just the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain], everyone calling out Little Mo ge, and the jingshi was rolling in!

Chapter 305: Entrance To The Jie River

Of more than one hundred jade scrolls, seven-tenths were sword scriptures. This made Zuo Mo feel very helpless.

Even though he had once cultivated sword essence at Wu Kong Mountains which had attracted the eye of the sect leader and the others, but that was relying the abilities of Pu Yao to forcibly make gains. His innate talent of practicing the sword was lacking, and he was more skilled with five element spells.

So when he saw that seventy percent of the sword scriptures, he really had a headache. However, he had put the words out. If he didn’t do something, wouldn’t Pu Yao laugh at him?

He was determined to get the two old codgers to see something new. Zuo Mo resolved himself. Wasn’t it just sword scriptures?

He lined up the jade scrolls, and read through each one patiently. However, he did not read deeply, but scanned through all of them first.

It took him nearly two days to finish reading more than one hundred jade scrolls. His head was dizzy and his vision was blurry when he finished, but he felt he had learned a lot. Right now, his cultivation was limited, but of the xiuzhe of the same age, there were only a rare few as knowledgeable as he was.

The spiritual cultivation arts of yao, the body cultivating mo skills of mo, and even though he hadn’t seen many high level spells of xiuzhe, but in terms of numbers, it was still very astounding. There were rarely people who would do as he did, and like to read all kinds of spells whether or not he would practice them or not.

The best benefit of having a vast knowledge was that he could examine these spells from a higher level.

Even though Zuo Mo could not cultivate these spells to a deep level, but that did not stop him from finding the main concepts. Of course, understanding was just understanding. Casting these spells required more than just understanding.

The spells were of a great variety. It clearly was not realistic to cultivate them one by one.

And Pu Yao would completely dismiss these spells. He needed to think of a way to shock this guy!

Zuo Mo thought for a long time. His face suddenly lit up — — he got it!

———

“Is Boss okay?” Xie Shan had a slightly worried expression.

Boss’ state was not normal! Anyone that had eyes was able to see this.

Boss had been in this state for a few days. Without eating and drinking, he sat on the deck as though he had gone insane, occasionally mutter something. In comparison, A Gui that sat silently beside him seemed more like a normal person.

“Probably,” Ma Fan said uncertainly.

Yesterday, Boss had suddenly cast an unknown spell. The result was the air in the surroundings had suddenly turned chaotic. They had almost been caught in it. After that, everyone stayed far away from Boss. Only A Gui sat silently beside him.

“Haha, you think that it is easy to make a new spell?” Pu Yao fanned the flames from the side.

Zuo Mo ignored him.

Time passed extremely quickly. Without realizing it, a month had passed.

Zuo Mo still forgot to rest and eat, but he still had nothing to show for his efforts.

———

The jie river entrance of Sky Water Jie was extremely wide. This place was controlled together by eight different entities. Hundred Flower Alliance was one of them. Hundred Flower Alliance entered the path through the flower, its entire sect was composed of female xiu. The sect leader, Su Yue, was extremely adept, and Hundred Flower Alliance prospered in her hands.

Those that could have a share of the jie river entrance were all sects with great power. It could be imagined how powerful Hundred Flower Alliance was.

Hundred Flower Alliance had a branch at this place with its own camp. More than five hundred people were present. The leader was a jindan elder called Gao Jian Ting. It was possible to see how much importance Hundred Flower Alliance put on the camp.

Gao Jian Ting was as beautiful as a flower, her [Begonia Sword Scripture] was at the level of Sword Essence Manifestation. When she attacked, it was a beautiful scene of begonias flying in the sky.

“The slave transporting boats that went to Little Mountain Jie last time still haven’t come back? Is there any other news?” Gao Jian Ting’s brow was creased.

“Shishu, no news has come back,” a female disciple hurriedly responded.

Gao Jian Ting murmured to herself, “Did something happen?”

Just at this time, a female disciple suddenly ran in with panic. “Shishu, Shihu! Please come out and see this!”

Gao Jian Ting’s expression changed, and her figure disappeared.

In the air, Gao Jian Tiang looked at the vast army in front of her, and inhaled sharply.

The sky above the jie river was completely filled with xiuzhe without any visible end.

“Shishu, that’s our slave transporting boats!” a female disciple cried out.

Gao Jian Ting’s pupils suddenly shrank. That was right, the five big ships at the very center of this large army were the slave transporting boats of Hundred Flower Alliance! The other didn’t even change the Hundred Flower Alliance markings on the slave transporting boats.

She was confident that something had happened in Little Mountain Jie!

This large procession disturbed all the factions. Sword lights flashed, and large amounts of xiuzhe flew into the sky. However, when they saw such a large number of xiuzhe, they were dumbstruck where they stood.

“Heavens! What is going on?”

The five colossal slave transporting boats slowly flew with a shocking presence like moons buoyed by the stars.

Gao Jian Ting’s expression changed. She controlled herself and did not move rashly. Since the other had gotten to this place, Clear Sky Old Forefather had most likely been killed. They were both jindan, and Gao Jian Ting knew her own strength was far below Clear Sky Old Forefather.

Even more, the troop that was swimming around the slave transporting boats looked extremely strong from a glance.

She was not only one. Every person’s gaze was attracted by Vermillion Bird Camp. This troop of no more than eight hundred people gave them a strong feeling of danger.

Elite!

Only an elite force that gone through many battles would possess such a dangerous aura.

The Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe that had just arrived were exhausted but all of them were excited.

They had finally escaped Little Mountain Jie!

However, when they noticed the xiuzhe from Sky Water Jie looking warily at them, they instantly quieted down. These fortunate xiuzhe that had survived had all gone through blood and fire. Their sensitivity to danger was far higher than Sky Water Jie xiuzhe.

They unconsciously retreated towards the five slave transporting boats. Even more of them took out their talismans.

Silence, an abnormal silence!

The situation instantly became tense. The expressions of the Sky Water Jie xiuzhe changed. They felt as though there was an invisible cord tightening slowly.

Gao Jian Ting’s expression also changed as well. The other side had much higher numbers than they did. If a conflict occurred, this place would flow with blood.

Their gazes all turned to the five slave transporting boats.

At this time, many people noticed the Hundred Flower Pavilion marks on the slave transporting boats and looked at Gao Jian Ting with strange looks. However, when they saw the contorted grimace on Gao Jian Ting’s face, they instantly understood.

They all knew what Hundred Flower Pavilion had done in Little Mountain Jie. Looking at it now, Hundred Flower Pavilion probably had not gotten any benefits.

However, they were more curious about the five slave transporting boats. From the movements of the xiuzhe, it was possible to see the leader of this group of people were on the five boats.

Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo. Shu Long looked at Zuo Mo. They were waiting for Zuo Mo’s order.

The xiuzhe in the surroundings all turned to look at Zuo Mo, waiting for the order from the master of Golden Crow City.

When people encountered danger, they were used to looking towards people who could resolve the problem and bring them victory. Zuo Mo was this kind of person in their hearts.

Gao Jian Ting and the others also noticed the change in people’s gazes, and unconsciously looked towards the youth sitting on the deck of the slave transporting boat at the very front.

The enormous jie river entrance was silent.

———

At the center of everyone’s attention, Zuo Mo didn’t feel anything at all. He was arguing furiously with Pu Yao.

“This is what you thought of? Ha, nonsense!” Pu Yao said scornfully, “I thought you had some ability, but after working for a month, you just have something this far-fetched?”

“Far-fetched? You old codger that’s been dead for a thousand years, you’re just like the gravestone, even your mind has rusted. Of course you guys can’t understand something this cutting-edge!” Zuo Mo was not weak as he retaliated.

“Don’t put me with that guy!” Pu Yao raged, “This honored Sky Yao … …”

“So what if you’re a Sky yao?” Zuo Mo said disdainfully as he looked sideways, “Out of time is out of time.”

Pu Yao smiled and said calmly, “Your idea is unique, but your experience in cultivation is too little. You clearly have underestimated the difficulty in this. If you are in jindan, you may be able to use this move, but you definitely cannot right now! Something that cannot be used has no value.”

“It’s useless because you say so? You really are confident!” Zuo Mo snorted coldly. “If I can do it, what then?”

Pu Yao’s eye narrowed like a blade, and he said darkly, “You do not need to provoke me. If you can do it, I will help you get the six transformations of Great Day mo physique. But if you cannot do it, then you have to agree to the gravestone’s oath.”

“You promise?” Zuo Mo asked as he tilted his head.

“Yes!” Pu Yao said coldly.

“Alright, I agree!” Zuo Mo nickered, a cunning smile on his face. “Pu, you got tricked!”

Finishing, Zuo Mo’s hands swiped and forming a sword scripture move.

A faint blue sword energy appeared in front of him.

His hands continuously swiped.

A red sword energy and a gold sword energy appeared.

His expression was unusually serious. With a light shout, the sword scriptures on his hands turned and his hand motions changes. The three sword energies seemed to change as they were guided by an invisible force.

“Pu, this is Three Talent Formation!”

In front of Zuo Mo was a three-leaf shaped sword formation composed of sword energies. The sword formation flowed in motion!

“Four Cardinal Formation!”

Zuo Mo released another sword scripture. This formation changed. Three talent into four cardinal. The nimble presence turned to a heavy one.

“Five Element formation!”

“Heaven Light Seven Star Sword Formation!”

———

Gao Jian Ting stared at the sword formation in front of the youth with shock on her face. With her eyes, she could see that every sword energy the youth released was a beginning one, but the attributes of each sword energy were completely different. If it was just this, that only showed that this boy’s knowledge was shamefully heterogeneous, and she wouldn’t be so shocked.

Yet the youth deliberately merged these sword energies of different attributes into a sword formation!

She could not completely understand the sword formation in front of the youth but there were thirty six types of sword energies that were put in.

When these normal sword energies formed a sword formation, their power grew! Looking from far away, she could feel threads of cold.

This skill was to turn what was rotten into a wonder!

Powerful!

What were the origins of this youth?

She did not notice that the tense atmosphere had dissipated. Everyone’s attention were attracted by the sword formation in front of Zuo Mo! No matter if it was the xiuzhe of Sky Water Jie or Little Mountain Jie, all of them had shock on their faces!

———

At this time, Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly widened as he glared and shouted, “Pu, look closely!”

Chapter 306: Spells Entering Formation

Zuo Mo’s cheeks ballooned, his eyes were round like a toad expanding its cheeks, and blew out heavily!

Whoosh!

A red thread of fire emerged from his mouth!

Countless small flames landed like raindrops in the sword formation.

Boom!

The light from the sword formation exploded, countless red sparks floating in the middle. Inside the sharp murderous intent was an explosive energy.

At the same time, Zuo Mo’s hands flipped and the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] formed. The glowing rain silently entered the sword formation. Innumerable clear droplets floated inside the formation. The water and fire were clearly divided and extremely pretty to look at. However, no one was attracted by its beauty. The dangerous presence exuded by the water and fire sword formation made everyone’s hearts speed up.

“Pu, look, isn’t this it?” Zuo Mo smugly showed off.

This was the method he thought of.

After Zuo Mo had read through more than one hundred jade scrolls, he found that while the quality of each was good, there wasn’t a spell that made peaked his interest. At this moment, he suddenly found that he had become pickier without previously noticing it.

However, he suddenly discovered that even though these spells and sword scriptures were not outstanding, they were at least varied. Each jade scroll had its own unique qualities. He had a daring idea. Could he merge all of these spells together?

Consequently, he thought of formations.

Different sword energies and spells contained an abundance of changes, and thus they were perfect for formations.

It was extremely difficult to use different sword energies and spells to create a formation.

When this idea jumped out, he knew it was possible! However, he didn’t speak of it. He really desired the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique from the bottom of his heart, especially when he heard Pu Yao say that it could match a jindan xiuzhe. He forcibly stopped the impulse to make a deal, and spent a whole month to sort through every detail that he could think of before he set the trap for Pu Yao.

Zuo Mo’s face was very smug but his heart was beating rapidly inside. Only when he finished setting up the formation did the stone in his heart land on the ground.

Dearie, he should not frequently do things like this in the future, that was too intense for ge!

“How … … how is it possible … …”

When Zuo Mo saw Pu Yao’s dumbstruck expression, all of the nervousness flew away, and his body felt unspeakably comfortable!

“Divine Summoning Art!” Pu Yao’s eyes widened greatly as he stared in disbelief at Zuo Mo.

“Divine Summoning Art? What is that?” Zuo Mo was confused.

Pu Yao had a death stare locked on Zuo Mo. His gaze was so strange that Zuo Mo felt his hairs stand up.

“Pu, I have no interest in yao … …”

Pu Yao’s eyes were tightly fixed on Zuo Mo and he did not speak.

After a while, Zuo Mo really could not suppress himself. “Pu, you can’t go back on your word!” His finger motions instantly changed. “Look, I used [Bright Light Spell] as the foundation, then [Black Fire Spell] and [Ling Wood Spell] so that the wood element would create fire. Then I used the [Black Daze Spell] as the connection to create the presence of the Fire-Tailed tiger, which is highly offensive and vicious!”

In front of him, a formation that seemed like a ferocious tiger took form. A thread of fire tail was waving in the air, cold and murderous.

———

Gao Jian Ting who saw this, couldn’t stop herself from inhaling sharply. With a few flicks of the youth’s finger, all kinds of spells fell like rain, and the formation took form almost in the blink of an eye.

What finger method was this?

With her cultivation and keen eyes, she could clearly see every step Zuo Mo made, but when all the movements were connected together, she could not understand it. However, the high spirited and vicious presence of this Fire-Tailed tiger formation rushed at her face.

She had never heard of such a fantastical method.

In her eyes, the youth sitting on the boat suddenly became deep and mysterious. Was it the disciple of some big sect out on a right of passage? This was her only rational guess.

———

The highest-ranking commanders of the other factions also had heavy expression at this time.

Zuo Mo’s move really was astounding and exquisite, stunning the entire place.

Even though they didn’t know why this youth would show this to everyone, but the factions couldn’t help but start to mutter.

“Why do you know Divine Summoning Art?” Pu Yao stared at Zuo Mo and bit out his words one by one.

“What is Divine Summoning Art?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

Pu Yao stared at Zuo Mo for a long time before opening. “Then how are you controlling these spells?”

“Spiritual power!” Zuo Mo looked strangely at Pu Yao. “Of course it is spiritual power. This is very easy! Look.”

He flicked with a finger and a thread of fire flew before him. Without any visible action from him, the thread of fire seemed to be pulled by an invisible force to spin around Zuo Mo.

“You don’t know how?” Zuo Mo felt it was even more strange. “No way! Shouldn’t a finger method as easy as this be something that all yao cultivate?”

“How many threads can you control in total?” Pu Yao did not answer but asked in response.

“A lot!” Without another word, Zuo Mo’s finger flicked continuously. Threads of fire floated in the air. In a short moment, more than one hundred flames were floating around him. Zuo Mo’s consciousness moved, and controlled these flames to perform all kinds of moves.

“Alright! I will give you the six transformations to the Great Day mo physique tomorrow!” Pu Yao said decisively.

Zuo Mo instantly had a smile. Pu Yao might have the track record of a con artist, but when he promised something he never went back on his word.

“You should first resolve what is happening right now,” Pu Yao then said.

Zuo Mo stilled. Pu Yao’s tone actually became slightly friendly. This made feel very unaccustomed. Illusion, this definitely was an illusion!

As he warned himself not to forget, he started to examine what was in front of him.

When he looked, his body shook.

What situation was this … …

The surroundings were deathly silent and every person was looking at him. Even if the skin on Zuo Mo’s face was thick, he still felt his scalp prickle. Had he been embarrassing himself in front of so many people just now?

It was over, over!

He wailed inside. However, the skin on his face was truly thick, and he quickly composed himself.

Zuo Mo calmly asked, “Um, what’s going on?”

When Xie Shan, Ma Fan, and the others heard this, they almost dropped from the sky. They stared at each other. Boss had made such a fuss, and now he was asking them what was happening?

Gongsun Cha’s expression did not change. He coughed lightly, and said to Zong Ru beside him “Oh, the wind outside is strong, I’m going in to rest.”

He then left for the cabin. Zong Ru reached out a hand in bewilderment. There was no wind.

Seeing no one answer after a while, anger sprouted from Zuo Mo’s embarrassment. He pointed at Ma Fan, “You, speak!”

Ma Fan felt very unlucky. He could hear the muffled laughs of Xie Shan, Lei Peng and the others beside him, but he forced himself to fly next to Zuo Mo. “Boss, this, look … …”

He pointed at the Sky Water Jie xiuzhe in the sky.

Zuo Mo followed Ma Fan’s finger and gazed at the Sky Water Jie xiuzhe opposite them. After tilting his head and thinking for a while, he said, “They are not letting us go across?”

When these words came out, all the Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe uncontrollably tightened their grip on their talismans, their gazes became vicious.

Gao Jian Ting and the other’s had extraordinary hearing. When they heard Zuo Mo’s words, their hearts jumped suddenly. If they had been just wary of the number of the Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe before, after seeing Zuo Mo’s uncanny formation, they were even more wary of his origins.

The instinctive movements of the other’s xiuzhe subordinates made their hearts tighten when they saw it.

They knew that it was not good but if they spoke and showed weakness now, they felt they would lose face.

At this time, Rong Wei inserted, “City Master, don’t be angry. Everyone must not have known that City Master and your procession would be arriving, and have overreacted. City Master, please allow this one to go forward to speak.”

Rong Wei was very nervous. She had seen the battle of Golden Crow City. Zuo Mo didn’t even respect Clear Sky Old Forefather. If these people infuriated him, this place would flow with blood today.

Having managed to escape from Little Mountain Jie after a struggle, Zuo Mo was slightly discontent at being blockaded at the Sky Water Jie entrance.

He had led this group of people and survived for so long in Little Mountain Jie, and a killing energy had settled on his body. However, he didn’t want to enter a conflict with the local factions just as he entered Sky Water Jie. He said to Rong Wei, “Then we will trouble Miss Rong!”

Rong Wei hurriedly flew towards the people of Sky Water Jie.

Normal xiuzhe might not know of Rong Wei of the House of the Crow Marquis, but the leaders of the eight factions recognized her. After Rong Wei went over and quietly spoke with them, the Sky Water Jie xiuzhe in front of Zuo Mo retreated.

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. It seemed this House of the Crow Marquis wasn’t simple!

Thinking about how the House of the Crow Marquis was investigating the Stars in Daytime, Zuo Mo was very irritated. It wasn’t a good feeling that he was being targeted by a force that had a powerful background.

Rong Wei came back and smiled. “It is done!”

Zuo Mo had to give his thanks again. The five slave transporting boats slowly started and took the vast group of xiuhe into Sky Water Jie.

———

Gao Jian Ting gazed at this enormous troop, worry rising in her heart. She could only hope now that these five slave transporting boats were not spoils of war from a direct conflict.

No, she had to report this to the sect leader immediately!

She didn’t dare to procrastinate and took out a paper crane. After she finished writing, she channeled ling power into the crane and watched as it disappeared into the sky.

At the same time, hundreds of paper cranes flew into the sky and disappeared.

———

As they entered Sky Water Jie, Zuo Mo’s emotions totally relaxed. At evening, they reached the first major city of Sky Water Jie, Guang Heng City. When such a large number of xiuzhe appeared in the horizon, they created terror in the local xiuzhe.

Fortunately, Rong Wei came out at the appropriate time to comfort them, and dissipate their panic.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo established camp at a mountain peak outside the city.

There were no gatherings in the world that did not end. Many xiuzhe came at this time to Zuo Mo to give their farewells. Zuo Mo did not urge them to remain and gave them his good wishes. The sky filled with sword lights like rain that disappeared into the sky.

Their individual power was undoubted after being able to survive in Little Mountain Jie. They would have good lives in Sky Water Jie.

After some thought, Zuo Mo gathered everyone together, and took the jinzhi off their bodies. He looked with emotion at them, and suddenly felt a bit proud.

“Truthfully, I had no choice but to put jinzhi in everyone in the past. Fortunately, we have escaped Little Mountain Jie. Starting from today, everyone is free, you can go wherever you want! Everyone can go get five pieces of fourth-grade jingshi from Old Bao.”

The people shifted slightly, but all of them were silent. No one moved.

Zuo Mo saw that no one moved, and felt irritated. He waved his hand. “I’m letting you go, so go!”

Finishing, he turned and left.

It was night, and the moonlight was like water.

Chapter 307: Bright Water City

Zuo Mo sat on top of a rock at the top of the mountain. The moon was shining above his head, and A Gui was sitting silently beside him.

Gongsun Cha found Zuo Mo. Seeing him, he could only smile.

“What are you smiling about?” Zuo Mo said irritably, and then asked, “Where’s Cheng Shidi?”

“He’s still experimenting with his ling beasts. According to him, he’s at a critical time period.” Gongsun Cha found a rock beside Zuo Mo and sat down. He stretched lazily. “I can finally rest. In Little Mountain Jie, I didn’t have one night of peaceful rest.”

“I had thought that a battle maniac like you wouldn’t need to rest.” Zuo Mo glanced at him and mocked.

“Oh, that’s because I was just starting.” Gongsun Cha gave a shy smile. Zuo Mo acted as though he was going to puke.

“Why are you letting them leave?” Gongsun Cha’s tone became serious.

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. “I can’t support them. Do you know how great the pressure it is to feed all these people? Oh, in Little Mountain Jie, we can steal resources, but that doesn’t work anywhere else. Those not in charge of the household, do not know how expensive food is. To say of nothing else, you know how much Vermillion Bird Camp uses every day. In any case, we have all fought together, it’s better to have a good farewell.”

Gongsun Cha was the one that knew the most about the expenses of Vermillion Bird Camp. It definitely was not realistic to keep everyone.

Sky Water Jie was much more wealthy and prosperous than Little Mountain Jie, but its territories had already been divided up. If they wanted to insert themselves, they would have to act against other factions. Gongsun Cha did not fear fighting, but this way, they would easily become the common enemy of the entire Sky Water Jie. That would not be good.

“A lot of people would probably go.” Gongsun Cha smacked his lips as he said, “People’s hearts have started to change as they arrived in Sky Water Jie.”

“This is also good,” Zuo Mo said.

The two became silent.

After a while, Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo, and then at A Gui who was sitting woodenly. He asked, “Where do we go next? En, don’t say something like it’s dangerous, and you will go alone.”

Zuo Mo’s heart warmed and said, “I need to find Water Cloud Embryo.”

“Water Cloud Embryo?” Gongsun Cha looked at A Gui. “For A Gui?”

“En!” Zuo Mo nodded, “I don’t know what connection I have with A Gui, but since she became like this to save me, I cannot just sit back and do nothing.”

“That’s for sure.” Gongsun Cha had an expression of agreement and then raised his arms, shouting exuberantly, “For A Gui! We will find Cloud Water Embryo!”

Zuo Mo was very moved and a smile appeared on his face.

“Hee he, the best is if we can encounter more fighting! It makes me excited just thinking about it!” Gongsun Cha said calmly.

As expected from a battle maniac … …

“Oh, where are we going to find Water Cloud Embryo? Can we buy it?” Gongsun Cha asked.

“Don’t know.” Zuo Mo shook his head. He looked at A Gui and said, “We have to investigate.”

His heart suddenly moved and took out the sound tablet from his ring. Gongsun Cha’s gaze was attracted and he was very shocked. “Shixiong has kept this with you! It’s been so long since I listened to it!”

‘Yes, it’s been a long time since we listened.” Zuo Mo channeled ling power into the sound tablet.

The calm voice floated out from the sound tablet and was unspeakably intimate.

Under the moonlight, Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha idly listened to the sound tablet, A Gui sitting silently beside them.

———

The morning of the next day.

Yesterday night was fated to be a difficult one for many people. The eyes of many people were bloodshot, some of them had heavy expressions. The number of people in the camp had been dramatically reduced.

Gongsun Cha’s expression was very relaxed. No one from Vermillion Bird Camp had left. The people that left were mostly from the Eastern and Western Camps. Of more than two thousand people, less than eight hundred remained.

“I can fill Vermillion Bird Camp now,” Gongsun Cha said with a smile.

Vermillion Bird Camp did not leave and Guard Camp did not leave. The departure of the majority of the Eastern and Western Camp was not out of Zuo Mo’s expectations. What surprised him was the forging division. None of the xiuzhe from the forging division had left.

Zuo Mo looked at the pairs of eyes below him and was very moved.

He opened his mouth, but when the words reached his lips, he didn’t know what to say.

“What are you all standing here for? Go back to work!”

Zuo Mo’s shout made everyone roar with laughter. The sorrow due the departures had dissipated greatly.

———

Rong Wei saw this scene and her heart shook. She increasingly felt that she could not clearly understand the Master of Golden Crow City. Yesterday, she had been very shocked when she heard the Master of Golden Crow City was letting people leave. How could there be someone that would willing weaken themselves?

But today, when she saw the determined looks of the xiuzhe from Golden Crow City, she seemed to understand.

This troop in front of her was more unified and had stronger morale than the previous group. Even if they encountered greater dangers, they wouldn’t easily break up!

The Master of Golden Crow City appeared to have weakened his power, but in reality, his primary strength had not been damaged, the organization had become purer, and the average strength had actually went up a level, and had gained strong abilities of survival!

Looking at that outrageously young face, Rong Wei felt it was almost impossible to believe. At a glance, Zuo Mo did not have any outstanding qualities. But the actions this youth took frequently displayed a maturity that surpassed his age.

She suddenly realized that even if the Master of Golden Crow City did not have that mysterious and powerful sect behind him, he would not be one of the masses with his abilities.

Just as she was thinking, Zuo Mo suddenly turned around to face her. “Miss Rong, where is the biggest city of Sky Water Jie?”

Rong Wei gathered her thoughts and said with a slight smile, “There are twenty eight primary towns in Sky Water Jie. The most prosperous would be Bright Water City. Does City Master have any plans?”

“Oh, I have a batch of items I want to sell, and buy items along the way.”

“If that’s the case, Bright Water City is perfect. The biggest merchants in Sky Water Jie are all in Bright Water City.” Rong Wei then said with a smile, “This one’s house is located in Bright Water City, and have relationships with those merchants, we may be able to help.”

Zuo Mo hurried to give him thanks. “Many thanks, Miss Rong!”

———

Su Yue finished reading the paper crane that Gao Jian Ting had sent, and a shadow flashed through her eyes. Su Yue was very charismatic and attractive. She was still the most attractive woman even among the multitude of beautiful women in Hundred Flower Alliance. She had managed Hundred Flower Alliance for twenty years and had good relationships with all the sects. The disciples under her had mostly married the accomplished disciples from big sects, and she had a deep foundation.

“Let’s not rashly move on this matter.” Su Yue said deeply, “See what their origins really are.”

“Yes!” the female disciple respectfully responded.

“Where are they now?”

“They reached the border of the city last night.” The female disciple crisply answered, “It was Miss Rong Wei that brought them over.”

“Oh.” Su Yue was slightly surprised and then had an expression of deep thought. She could not see what connection Rong Wei had with this Master of Golden Crow City.

The House of the Crow Marquis was as deep as the sea, and hard for outsiders to probe. But Hundred Flower Alliance had countless eyes, and were the most skilled at spying. Su Yue could see a hint. Of all the factions in Bright Water City, the one Su Yue was wary of the most was the House of the Crow Marquis.

The House of the Crow Marquis was usually low-key and did not attend to outside matters. The Crow Marquis himself only focused on cultivation. However, all the hints showed that there was a deep background behind the Crow Marquis. Su Yue had detected this a long time ago, but after all these years, no matter how they searched, they still did not find anything.

Rong Wei’s trip this time was the biggest action the House of the Crow Marquis took in years.

Su Yue smelt an unusual flavor from this.

———

When they saw Bright Water City, Zuo Mo and the shidi were slightly shocked. Bright Water City was tens of times bigger than Dong Fu. The entire sky was covered in lights that streamed without end. In the sky above the city floated hundreds of islands of various sizes. The houses constructed on the lucky clouds were multicolored from the lights of all kinds of jinzhi and formations.

Sky Water Jie was more prosperous than Sky Moon Jie as expected.

The other people were alright, but the trio of Zuo Mo, Gongsun Cha, and Chun Yu Cheng were people that were inexperienced. Each of them gaped, their faces filled with shock.

Rong Wei who had been constantly observing them felt slightly confused. These three’s actions did not seem like those that came from large sects.

However, she was not suspicious. Many disciples from large sect never asked about worldly affairs so they could concentrate on cultivation. Some people would never even leave the sects mountain for decades.

She didn’t show any signs of scorn and enthusiastically showed them around.

“Bright Water City is the best part of Sky Water Jie. Almost four-tenths of this jie’s ling veins are located here, and there are the most secret paradises here. If City Master wants to develop here, you could buy a few secret paradises. They are the best for cultivating.”

Secret paradieses did not hold any attraction for Zuo Mo. His mo physique could automatically absorb ling power from the world and it could process the impurities. He did not need a secret paradise.

The other people also lacked interest in the secret paradises.

Rong Wei was even more certain now that the Master of Golden Crow City came from a large sect. For normal xiuzhe, secret paradises were their biggest love as well as their greatest wish. Many xiuzhe worked their whole lives with the goal of owning a secret paradise.

Only disciples from large sects did not need to worry about secret paradises.

Zuo Mo’s procession could truly be called vast. They had camped at an empty area outside the city. What made Zuo Mo depressed was that the empty area outside the city was owned. It had taken Rong Wei coming forward to get the matter settled.

Shu Long and the others did not have any interest in touring the city. Having recovered his youth, Shu Long’s mania on cultivation was enough to make Zuo Mo sweat. With him as the role model, everyone in Guard Camp had become cultivation maniacs.

The people of the forging division also stayed at the camp with only Sun Bao and Ji Wei coming along. Other than that, Bao Yi was a person that could not be left behind. Considering that they should not be high-key, Gongsun Cha still took along three divisions, Sky Peak Platoon among them.

Even so, this procession was very eye-catching.

The killing aura of Vermillion Bird Camp that had been forged through combat was completely different than normal guards. Landing in the eyes of those who understood, they couldn’t stop themselves from speculating.

Fortunately, Rong Wei knew many people in Bright Water City and people would occasionally come up to exchange greetings.

Rong Wei’s mind suddenly moved and when she raised her head, a paper crane flew over.

The paper crane landed on her palm. She lightly unfolded it. When she finished reading, there was a surprised expression.

The Marquis was not in the compound!

The compound guard she had sent back to the compound informed her that the Marquis had left half a month ago and had not yet returned. Rong Wei felt slight regret. She had wanted to take the Master of Golden Crow City to meet the Marquis. The Marquis was very knowledgeable and might have been able to see his origins.

It seemed like she could not do it. She was worried about the affairs of the house and bowed in apology to Zuo Mo, “My sincere apologies. Rong Wei did not know that the Marquis had left a fortnight ago, and has not yet returned. There are many affairs in the compound. Rong Wei will bid farewell early. City Master, please give your forgiveness.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo hurriedly said, “Miss Rong has helped us greatly. We are very grateful, you should hurry! We will just walk around by ourselves!”

Worried about the internal situation of the house, Rong Wei left.

The procession of people hadn’t walked around for long when Zuo Mo’s expression changed and suddenly stopped walking. Someone was following them!

Chapter 308: Brute!

Zuo Mo gave everyone a look. They all understood and purposely walked towards a less populated area.

“Is there a reason Sir is following us?”

Zuo Mo looked coldly at this xiuzhe wearing almond-yellow Taoist robes, with white hair yet had a child-like appearance. There were still many people passing by. When these xiuzhe saw the yellow-robed old Taoist, they all changed expression and hurriedly left!

“Little baby is pretty clever to have noticed Old Forefather.” This old person’s tone was very proud. Facing Zuo Mo’s procession, he showed no fear.

The three divisions of Vermillion Bird Camp silently prepared to fight and could attack at any moment.

“I urge you to not move.” The yellow-robed old Taoist snickered. “Otherwise, this Old Forefather would make you feel it.”

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. Why did everyone speak so much these days?

However, Zuo Mo didn’t want to make trouble right after arriving in Bright Water City. He glanced at the yellow-robed old Taoist. “Sir has followed us for this long, it shouldn’t just be to chat, right?”

“Hee hee, little baby, you have a talisman. Since you can’t use it, why don’t you give it to this Old Forefather?” the yellow-robed old Taoist said cheerfully.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. He said, “Talisman? I have many talismans. Which one is Sir speaking of?”

“You have a pile of scrap metal. There’s only one that can be considered a talisman, it should be a sixth-grade talisman!” The yellow-robed old Taoist narrowed his eyes that twinkled with greed.

Sixth-grade talisman. Zuo Mo’s heart shook. The number of people that knew the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk had landed in his possession was pitifully few. How could this old Taoist know?

“Sir is joking! A sixth-grade talisman isn’t something someone like this one can possess!” Zuo Mo refuted.

“Don’t pretend in front of this Old Forefather.” The expression of the yellow-robed old Taoist turned cold and he seemed impatient. “Old Forefather doesn’t want to hear you blab. If you are wise, hand it over. Old Forefather naturally won’t forget to give you something in return.”

“Sir means?” Zuo Mo said lightly, his eyes turning cold.

“Ha, don’t think that Old Forefather doesn’t dare to attack you because you glued yourselves onto the House of the Crow Marquis. Hmph, even if the Crow Marquis personally comes, he can’t save you!”

The presence of the yellow-robed old Taoist suddenly grew. The ling power in the surroundings seemed to become chaotic and become abnormally restless.

The faces of Zuo Mo and the others changed dramatically!

Jindan!

This yellow-robed old Taoist was actually a jindan!

“Hee hee! Be wise, and take it out. Don’t make Old Forefather personally act. It won’t look good then!” the yellow-robed Taoist said darkly.

The strong ling pressure was like lead that pressed down on them to the point of suffocation. Zuo Mo and the others had never directly faced a jindan at such a close distance. Their battle against Clear Sky Old Forefather had been in the air. The feeling now was completely different. In their eyes, the figure of the yellow-robed old Taoist was as high as a mountain. They were as small as insects, and unable to shake him.

At such a close distance to a jindan, just this terrifying ling pressure was enough for the great majority of ningmai to lose their will to resist.

“Hee, I hadn’t noticed that you do have some talent!” A flash of shock passed through the eyes of the yellow-robed old Taoist and then he snickered. “Pity that it isn’t enough in front of Old Forefather!”

A light flashed through the eyes of the yellow-robed old Taoist.

Everyone suddenly felt their body be pulled down and could not move. They couldn’t even raise their arms. Everyone had shocked expressions.

Power of the earth!

“You … …” Zuo Mo glared angrily, but his body didn’t move at all. He finally knew why the other wanted the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk! The other cultivated earth element spells.

What … … what earth element spell was so tyrannical!

Xie Shan gave a muffled grunt and forcibly channeled his ling power to activate his sword scripture.

“Somewhat interesting. It seems you are almost at jindan.” The yellow-robed old Taoist had a surprised expression again. However, he then was unconcerned. “It’s a pity that your luck isn’t good.”

Pew.

Xie Shan felt the ling power in his chest reverse. He couldn’t not stop himself from spraying up a mouthful of blood.

“Don’t struggle!” The yellow-robed old Taoist looked scornfully at Xie Shan. “It is useless. There is just one line between us, but this one line is the difference between heaven and earth.”

Finishing, he ignored Xie Shan and turned to walk towards Zuo Mo.

“Hee hee, why did you have to force Old Forefather to act?” The yellow-robed old Taoist smiled smugly and casually walked in front of Zuo Mo and slapped Zuo Mo’s face. He roared with laughter. “Old Forefather’s luck today is really good, many thanks to you!”

The xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp all glared angrily, furiously channeling their ling power to struggle!

“They are pretty loyal to you!” The yellow-robed old Taoist snickered and continued to slap Zuo Mo’s face. “But so what? Ha ha!”

Zuo Mo bore the pain and asked through his teeth, “How did you know I have this talisman?”

The yellow-robed old Taoist was very proud. “I’ll teach you a lesson. Sixth-grade talismans have cognition, and Old Forefather knows a spell to find cognition.”

He examined Zuo Mo from head to toe. At the end, his eyes landed on the rings on Zuo Mo’s hand. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he laughed loudly. “Old Forefather is getting a tidy sum today! So many dimensional rings!”

As he spoke, he reached out to grab at a ring on Zuo Mo’s finger.

Just as his finger touched Zuo Mo’s finger, a change suddenly happened!

This motionless hand that was wearing several dimensional rings flipped upwards without a warning, and grabbed his hand!

The expression of the yellow-robed old Taoist suddenly changed. “You … …”

A terrifying force passed from his hand. He could not control his body and was slammed towards the other.

Not good!

The yellow-robed old Taoist reacted quickly. He was just going to activate his ling shield when his eyes suddenly bulged, his figure felt numb, and curled upwards.

A punch that could break rock slammed into his abdomen!

Zuo Mo’s features were twisted. Half of his face was still red as he bellowed, “Ge has had to bear with you for a long time already!”

Bang!

The body of the yellow-robed old Taoist shook. The enormous force caused his entire face to deform.

After practicing [Vajra Profound Sutra], Zuo Mo’s strength had increased greatly. The present strength of Zuo Mo who had a Great Day mo physique had reached a terrifying level. The flesh of mo were all extremely strong, and how could Great Day mo physique which ranked second of all brigadier mo physiques lack in this regard?

It wasn’t lacking, and was stronger, much stronger than Zuo Mo had imagined.

When his body had been restricted earlier, he had held some power back. He had personally experienced the restrictive abilities of the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk, and therefore didn’t panic. The power of the Great Day mo physique was much stronger than the time he had been trapped by the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk. But no one else in his group had the same terrifying strength he did.

As a single person, he definitely could not defeat the other. Zuo Mo could only feign weakness to bait the enemy.

At this time, he felt satisfaction. He had never felt that his fists were so filled with power, each punch seemed to vent the anger inside of him into the body of the yellow-robed old Taoist.

“Old Forefather! Ha, don’t you know ge already killed an Old Forefather?”

Bang!

“Dare to steal ge’s treasures! Do you want to live?”

Bang!

“Dare to slap ge’s face! You’re finished!”

Bang bang bang!

Zuo Mo handed out more than ten punches, each one landing on flesh. When a wallop landed on the body of the yellow-robed old Taoist, it was possible to see his body shake, and his flesh ripple. Zuo Mo hadn’t vented his anger yet. Holding the neck of the yellow-robed old Taoist, he threw the other onto the ground like throwing down a bag of sand.

Hiss!

Simultaneous inhales came from the surroundings, including Xie Shan who was injured and also looked with abject shock at Boss who had totally gone berserk.

Boom boom boom!

The stone tiles on the ground cracked, stone flying with every blow.

Pia, the ling armor of the yellow-robed old Taoist couldn’t tolerate such brutal strikes and shattered.

Zuo Mo’s hand paused. The ling armor of a jindan should be worth a lot of jinshi!

His heart suddenly started to hurt. He suddenly became furious, and continued to slam the yellow-robed old Taoist into the ground a dozen more times before he stopped. He raised his head with satisfaction, one hand holding the neck of the yellow-robed old Taoist and turned to face the other people.

———

“Are you guys okay?”

Whoosh, everyone simultaneous stepped back.

There wasn’t any anger left in their eyes. They looked with sympathy at the yellow-robed old Taoist that was being held by the neck by Zuo Mo like a rabid dog. The pitiful yellow-robed old Taoist was not shaped like a person any more. He was completely swollen from the beating and was unconscious.

Pitiful, so pitiful!

They had never seen such a pitiful jindan, one that had been punched to the point of being misshapen.

They should never offend Boss!

Even a rough man like Lei Peng was pale with fright like a little girl, his heart shaking rapidly. Zong Ru, who had once taught Boss fist scriptures, had an ashen face. He dared to guarantee that he had not taught this … …

What was wild? What was brutish? What was savage?

In comparison to using brute force to hit a jindan to the point of unconsciousness, becoming misshapen due to swelling of the entire body and leaving compound fractures.

We are xiuzhe, we specialize in techniques and ling … …

So when Boss turned with a reddened face, his face ferocious as he panted, they all retreated a few steps.

———

Zuo Mo glanced at the yellow-robed old Taoist that he was holding, and felt very good inside. He finally caught a jindan this time! He had promised to give Pu Yao a golden core. He hadn’t expected that he would encounter such a stupid jindan today. At this time, he completely forgot how he was completely suppressed before.

“Back to the camp!”

He waved his hand grandly and flew at the front.

———

Far from where they were, Su Yue’s face was slightly pale. It was the first time she had seen such a savage and brutish person.

When she had seen the yellow-robed old Taoist go to make trouble for Zuo Mo, she had taken note. She wanted to see just how powerful this group was, but there was much to be wary of. The appearance of the yellow-robed old Taoist was a great opportunity.

She recognized the yellow-robed Taoist. This person was vicious and cruel and had killed many people. Even other jindan xiuzhe were wary of him.

The beginning of the incident did not deviate from her imagination.

Anyone that had a bit of common knowledge knew the difference between jindan and ningmai. She even felt that Zuo Mo wouldn’t dare to rebel, and obediently give up the talismans. When the yellow-robed Taoist had activated his spell, she had secretly shaken her head and sighed. This Master of Golden Crow City really wasn’t a smart person.

But the scene immediately after struck her dumb.

The Master of Golden Crow City had suddenly moved and grabbed the yellow-robed old Taoist. Without using any ling power, definitely without any ling power like a street-roaming gangster, he had beat down a jindan with his fists.

But … …

The fist that had no ling power actually had beaten the yellow-robed old Taoist to the point of being misshapen.

Was he a body cultivating xiuzhe?

What stage had he cultivated to in order to be able to beat a jindan xiuzhe to this state?

The simple and rough barrage from the Master of Golden Crow City made her pale and uncontrollably feel a thread of fear.

This was a true brute!

Chapter 309: The Greatest Gain

At the camp.

“Can’t you go faster?” Pu Yao impatiently urged from behind him.

“What are you rushing for? Let me see if I missed anything!” Zuo Mo searched the body of the old Taoist one more time in great detail, to prevent anything from being left behind, before reluctantly throwing the old Taoist to Pu Yao.

Pu Yao hurriedly turned into a black wind that took up the old Taoist and disappeared.

“So pitiful!” Zuo Mo shook his head in sympathy, but when his eyes returned to his spoils, his face instantly filled with smiles. Fighting against a jindan was a painful process, but inventorying the spoils was the best experience.

Woah … …

There wasn’t much on the body of the old Taoist, but to be seen to have value in the eyes of a jindan, those items naturally were not ordinary. A string of mother and child copper bells, a blue stone about the size of his palm shaped like a mountain, and three jade scrolls.

Zuo Mo first took out the mother and child bells. The big and small yellow copper bells were strung together with a red string.

Zuo Mo found it interesting and swung the copper bell.

Dong!

Zuo Mo seemed to be hit full-on by a wild beast. Before he could react, he was thrown back multiple zhang.

After a while, Zuo Mo shook his head as he climbed up and spat out the sand in his mouth. His eyes were bright as he stared at the bells on the ground.

Such a powerful talisman!

If he did not possess the Great Day mo physique, he probably would have died right there. It was the first time he saw such a strange sound-type talisman. Most sound-type talismans enchanted the mind, and those that were stronger could directly attack the soul.

These mother and child bells could physically attack.

Strange! It was too strange!

Zuo Mo carefully picked up the mother and child bells, his consciousness prying into it. The best way to understand a talisman was the use the consciousness to inspect it.

When his consciousness entered the copper bells, Zuo Mo felt his vision shift and was situated in an empty space.

Countless complex and ancient seal scripts swam around him. They seemed to be alive as they spun freely. Even if Zuo Mo could be considered to be knowledgeable, his head was dizzy when he saw these seal scripts.

Not far from Zuo Mo was a round ball about the height of a person. It was made from dense layers of complex seal scripts wrapped together. That was a jinzhi! How many jinzhi had people put down over the big ball?!

Staring at the round ball covered in jinzhi, Zuo Mo suddenly became curious what was being contained inside this round ball?

Was the thing inside this round ball of jinzhi perhaps the crux to controlling these bells? How had the enormous force that had thrown him back been released? These seal scripts? Or what was contained inside?

He was a bit uncertain, but he didn’t dare to move rashly now. The seal scripts flying in the surroundings were outside of his knowledge of the field. If he accidentally became trapped, he was not certain that he could escape!

Withdrawing his consciousness from the copper bells, Zuo Mo still felt fear.

He couldn’t make a good judgment about the grade of this talisman, but it definitely was above fifth-grade. His intuition told him that it was very dangerous. Out of caution, Zuo Mo decided to temporarily put it aside. The old Taoist that he had defeated probably hadn’t understood how to use it either.

Zuo Mo’s attention then landed on the mountain-shaped blue rock. When he held it, he was very shocked.

It was very heavy!

This rock that was the size of his palm weighed a terrifying two thousand catties!

Zuo Mo instantly became excited. This was another powerful talisman. He couldn’t help but examine it. Countless seal characters could be seen on the surface of the mountain. They were as thin as strands of hair, and displayed the extraordinary skill of the forger.

Zuo Mo channeled ling power into it.

On the surface of the blue rock were the words “Evil Subduing” in bright cinnabar. The small mountain quickly grew to a height of five zhang.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved, his finger pointing upward as he shouted, “Seal”

The mountain suddenly appeared at the location that Zuo Mo’s finger was pointing to and slammed down!

Boom!

The earth shook, and Zuo Mo was almost knocked down. The strong air wave carried the dust as it swept past like a twister.

The entire camp was alarmed by such a loud noise, and many figures flew towards this place.

When everyone saw this blue mountain that was half buried in the ground and the spider-web like cracks radiating outwards, they shouted in shock and were dumbstruck where they stood.

“Hm, you can all go! Go! I’m trying out new talismans!”

Zuo Mo sent everyone away, ran to the little mountain and stared with intoxication at the cinnabar red words “Evil Subduing” written on the surface.

Good treasure, very good treasure!

If this dropped down and hit, even a jindan xiuzhe would be turned into a pancake. Even if it just brushed past, that would result in a broken limb at least.

This “Evil Subduing Peak” was a fifth-grade talisman and Zuo Mo could not stop caressing it. Fifth-grade talismans had to have formation techniques. If it was this powerful when used normally, he didn’t know what the formation technique would look like.

He still put the Evil Subduing Peak back into the ring. The investigation of the formation technique wouldn’t be easy and would take a long time.

After two great talismans, Zuo Mo’s curiosity had been stirred to a peak. He was full of anticipation towards the three jade scrolls that remained.

Taking out the jade scrolls, he read through them one by one.

The first jade scroll recorded the spell that the yellow-robed old Taoist had cultivated, [Heavy Earth Spell]. It was a rare sixth-grade earth element spell. This was astounding to Zuo Mo. Higher level spells belonging to the five element were very rare in the Kun Lun realm, as it was dominated by sword xiu.

He quickly found the move that the yellow-robed old Taoist had used in Bright Water City. It was called [Heavy Earth Restriction]. In an instant, it could manipulate the earth element power under the ground and to produce a restrictive effect.

Other than this, it had many other abilities that made Zuo Mo afraid as he read.

If the other had not been careless today, and been trapped in close combat, it was hard to say who would win. Jindan xiuzhe that were skilled in five element spells were completely different than jindan sword xiu. Even though their attacks were not as powerful as sword xiu, but their moves had more variation.

Zuo Mo decided that he had to practice the [Heavy Earth Spell]. His talent in the five elements wasn’t just a bit stronger than his talent in the sword.

The second jade scroll made Zuo Mo’s mind jump again. It recorded the imprinting and usage instructions for the Evil Subduing Peak. Zuo Mo was entranced as he read and was extremely joyful. This Evil Subduing Peak was made from one hundred and thirty thousand catties of third-grade Sky Blue Rock, and was processed hundreds of times to remove the impurities before finally being reduced to ten thousand catties of the essence.

The jade scroll also recorded the formation techniques of the Evil Subduing Peak. The description was so strong that Zuo Mo’s heart itched.

Evil Subduing Peak was a talisman like the [Heaven Turn Seal]. These types of talismans usually were powerful, but had all kinds of weaknesses. For example, this Evil Subduing Peak had to be held in the hand of the xiuzhe to be used. But it was a terrifying ten thousand catties heavy. Even if it was not activated, it was still two thousand catties heavy. Those that had weak bodies did not have the power to use it.

The yellow-robed old Taoist had possessed this Evil Subduing Peak for a long time, but due to this restriction, he could only leave it in the corner of his ring.

But this was perfect for Zuo Mo. His Great Day mo physique was very strong. Not to mention just two thousand catties, even if it was the full ten thousand catties, he could hold it up. If he also practiced the [Heavy Earth Spell] and used the two together, the power would further multiply.

The jade scroll also recorded how to process it further. Zuo Mo swept over it and put it back into the ring to start reading the last jade scroll.

The last jade scroll was a jie map.

This jie map was bigger than the one Zuo Mo had copied from Rong Wei. This shocked Zuo Mo. He guessed that the yellow-robed old Taoist had gotten this jie map from somewhere else and this was not charted by himself.

There were more than five hundred jie marked on the jie map, including some jie that were in very far away locations. Zuo Mo seemed to be able to trace the trips the maker of this jie map had taken through his life. Many of the routes penetrated deep into obscure places.

The information written about each jie were also very detailed.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel respect. To have gone to so many places, this xiuzhe definitely had been very powerful.

Following the jie map, Zuo Mo read the information on each jie one by one with interest.

When he found an intermediate jie called Cloud Sea Jie, a note written about it instantly made him freeze where he stood.

“At the deepest parts of the Water Cloud Sea, it is possible to hunt for Water Cloud Embryo which has the ability to heal and nurture the soul.”

Water Cloud Embryo!

Zuo Mo felt overjoyed. The previous talismans and spells could not make him as happy as this piece of information!

Water Cloud Embryo was in Cloud Sea Jie!

Cloud Sea Jie!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright. He instantly found the position of Sky Water Jie and quickly found a route that led to Cloud Sea Jie.

This was a very long route. The route passed through seven intermediate jie and twenty six small jie. He had never thought there would be a day that he would need to go to so many places. But he had no fear or timidity.

He needed to find Water Cloud Embryo and heal A Gui.

A Gui sat silently, Silly Bird, Lil’ Pagoda, and the others were surrounding her as they played happily. Ever since A Gui had been injured, the terrifying presence around her had disappeared. Silly Bird and the others did not fear her at all, and in reverse, they were very close to her.

Lil’ Fire liked to roll around on A Gui’s body, and Lil’ Black liked to hang on A Gui’s hair. Lil’ Pagoda liked to circle around A Gui. What made Zuo Mo feel was the least believable was Silly Bird. This bird, for some reason, was extremely good to A Gui, and was even willing to let A Gui ride her.

This was a benefit Zuo Mo could not even imagine.

It might have been a delusion, but Zuo Mo felt that after having the four keep her company, A Gui’s wooden face seemed to have a hint of life.

Zuo Mo looked at this scene and felt unusually warm.

———

Su Yue soullessly returned to the sect. The scene that occurred earlier in the day was still affecting her mind. She had led the Hundred Flower Alliance for more than twenty years, and saw every kind of scheme and plan. But it was the first time she had seen such a straightforward and brutish battle!

It seemed that she was only suited to behind the scene tactics, she smiled mockingly.

Sitting down and taking a drink of ling tea, her spirit sudden felt slightly better.

At this time, a female disciple ran in a panic.

“Sect Leader! Not good! Shimei was killed by Sky Number One, and he … … he ran away!”

Su Yue smashed her teacup that she had raised to her lips to the ground, her eyes wide as she lectured angrily, “What are you standing there for? Go pursue him! You crowd of trash! If you can’t get him back, all of you don’t need to come back!”

Chapter 310: The Past Grievances

Shu Long surveyed Guard Camp and saw everyone was working hard at their cultivation. He couldn’t help but have a satisfied expression. He knew very well how lacking their talent and foundation was. Only hard work could make up for their shortcomings.

The Guard Camp was completely made up of xiu slaves. They had encountered countless hardships, their personalities were resilient and exemplified persistence, and they were very reliable. He would try to fulfill any of Pu Yao’s demands, no matter no difficult, and urge the others to meet the demands.

Over the span of a few months, the Guard Camp had comprehended the benefits from the previous breakthrough and now their overall strength had risen a level. The black armor each person wore was even more exquisite, and their shapes had slowly changed. There were now slight differences on each person’s armor. Some were broad, others were slender and symmetrical, just like how people were very strong and others were nimble and speedy. After the preliminary stages of cultivation, they had started to develop in different directions

This was an unavoidable result of the intermediate stages of cultivation. Any kind of spell or mo skill would diverge this way.

As the one closest to Pu Yao, Shu Long received the most instruction from Pu Yao. No one could rival his strength in Guard Camp. Even though he had not sparred against the experts from Sky Peak Platoon, everyone secretly speculated that while Shu Long’s strength could not match that of Xie Shan and Ma Fan, he shouldn’t be far from Nian Lu and Lei Peng.

Everyone underestimated him.

Mo skills were dangerous. The slightest carelessness and one’s life would end and their soul shattered. However, if one could overcome that, the speed of progression was not anything that the xiuzhe’s ling cultivation or the yao’s spiritual cultivation could rival. Shu Long’s entire life had been full of hardship and suffering. These experiences were like fertilizer to the [Hardship Guard] mo skills. As a result his journey of cultivation was smooth and rapid.

Even though he was stern about urging everyone to cultivate, but his actual personality was warm and disliked conflict. Cultivating the mo skill had recovered his youth, but his personality had not changed. The laid-back attitude unique to middle-aged people showed itself on his body.

The camp that Guard Camp made was a long and narrow crescent that shielded almost all of the camp.

A light suddenly flashed through Shu Long’s eyes. He made a hand motion to the camp guard beside him and then walked towards the outside of the camp. Outside the camp was a dense forest. His ears were very sharp and he heard noise in the woods. There seemed to be many people that were approaching them.

Dozens of camp guards tightly followed behind him.

The camp guards were wary but not nervous. After the battle of Golden Crow City, especially after how dangerous and difficult the battle was, it was possible to see their improvement.

The sound from the woods became increasingly clear. This time, the other camps guards also detected it. Everyone stared at the woods waiting for the appearance of the unwelcome guests.

Whoosh, a person covered in blood came out of the woods.

Shu Long was slightly surprised. However, when he saw the face of this person, his pupils suddenly shrank.

“A Wen!”

When the camp guard beside him saw the person, he couldn’t help but exclaim.

The person covered in blood heard the exclamation. His body shook, and he raised his head in confusion.

“A Wen, Heavens, is it really you?”

“A Wen, you are still alive!”

Everyone was exceptionally excited. They all recognized this youth covered in blood. The eyes of the youth were confused as he looked at this crowd of people dressed in black armor. Even though he did not recognize them, but they gave him a feeling of familiarity.

“We can talk later. Tian Mu, take A Wen to the back. Everyone else, prepare for battle!” Shu Long’s voice was steady and methodical. His handsome face was serene, but a sharp cold light flashed in the deepest part of his eyes.

When the youth heard the name “Tian Mu,” his entire body shook. He raised his head to look at the large male in black armor in front of him. “Tian Mu, Big Brother Tian Mu?”

Tian Mu grinned, but it was slightly murderous. “Little A Wen, Big Brother will help you beat whoever bullies you!”

A familiar voice and tone allowed the youth to truly believe that this unfamiliar large male in front of him was really Big Brother Tian Mu. At the end of his strength, the youth fainted in Tian Mu’s arms.

No one spoke, but threads of black energy came out everyone’s armor and wrapped around their legs, waist, and wrists. Looking at A Wen’s terrible state, there seemed to be a ball of fire burning in everyone’s chests.

Only Shu Long was motionless without any killing essence coming from his body.

Whoosh, whoosh, a crowd of female xiu charged out of the woods. At the same time, a crowd of female xiu appeared in the sky.

When the leader of this group of female xiu saw Shu Long, she had a wary look. When she saw A Wen in Tian Mu’s arms, her gaze became sharp and she said, “Why had Sir taken this xiu slave which has escaped from our sect?”

When he saw this female, Shu Long could not control his killing essence any longer. Multiple threads of black energy suddenly shot out of his body like fire and covered his body.

He recognized this face!

Bai Ru Fen. Of the females that had been in charge of the xiu slaves, this female’s temper had been the worst. Just a little bit of unhappiness and she would vent on the xiu slaves. No less than fifty of Shu Long’s fellows had died at her hands.

“Kill!”

Shu Long’s cold voice disappeared in the air. His figure also disappeared from where he stood.

The female disciples of Hundred Flower Alliance never thought the other side would act without even exchanging words. With their guard down they were instantly at a disadvantage.

Not just Shu Long, but the other camp guards also recognized the female xiu in front of them and their origins. Each of them had blood-filled eyes as their murderous aura grew.

Shu Long suddenly appeared next to Bai Ru Fen like a ghost. His right hand chopped and a black energy sliced towards Bai Ru Fen’s white face like a blade. At the same time, a thread of black energy flew from the tip of his foot and silently wrapped towards the other’s right leg.

———

Bai Ru Fen paled. The other’s first attack was a killing move that did not show any mercy. Panicking, several balls of snowy-white plum blossom sword energies came from the flying sword in her hand and shielded her.

However, the others were approaching too fast and collided heavily with the sword energies. Bai Ru Fen was overjoyed, but when she saw the plum blossom sword energies passing through the other’s body, her face turned snowy-white.

Not good, it was an afterimage!

Her foot was suddenly in great pain. She didn’t even have the time to call out in pain when her neck suddenly hurt. She suddenly felt the world in her vision spin. Then she saw a headless body continuously sprouting fresh blood.

———

The wails echoed. When had the female xiu from the Hundred Flower Alliance ever experienced such a bloody and murderous scene? In the midst of their terror, they lost their lives.

In the blink of an eye, corpses covered the ground!

The faces of the Hundred Flower Alliance xiuzhe were all pale. Many people uncontrollably screamed and frantically fled.

Shu Long raised his head to look at the sky. He picked up a rock from the ground, his body pulling back like a bow, and threw the rock hard.

Hummmmmmmmmmmm!

A soul-shaking howl suddenly sounded. The piece of rock penetrated a female xiu through the heart and blood sprayed through the air.

This female xiu had forgotten to activate her ling armor as she had been too afraid.

Shu Long’s throw frightened the other people into fleeing even faster.

Shu Long stopped his fellows that were preparing to give chase. The [Hardship Guard] mo skill was powerful, but it had a flaw in that it was not good at flight. This weakness would only disappear when they reached a much more profound stage in their cultivation.

Returning to the camp, the first thing Shu Long did was to report this incident to Zuo Mo. He knew that this incident was very significant. This time, they had severely offended Hundred Flower Alliance, and likely caused the start of a battle against Hundred Flower Alliance.

After Zuo Mo heard Shu Long’s report, he did not give blame, but said, “Was there anyone left alive?”

Shu Long stilled. “There is one.”

“Go immediately to find where Hundred Flower Alliance is located.” Zuo Mo’s expression was stern. “We will attack first, we cannot give them the time to recover. Otherwise, we will be in danger.”

Shu Long was shocked. He had originally assumed that Boss would blame them, but he hadn’t expected that Boss didn’t assign any of the blame on them, and even decided to attack first. He pressed his lips together and immediately turned around.

Gongsun Cha shook his head. “This is great trouble.”

The local powers of Bright Water City had been wary of so many of xiuzhe appearing. Now that they had a conflict with Hundred Flower Alliance, the situation was extremely disadvantageous to them.

“Nothing to worry about, if we don’t give them the time to react and finish the fight fast, we can safely leave before everyone else reacts.” Zuo Mo wasn’t concerned.

“You don’t blame them?” Gongsun Cha asked curiously. Shixiong’s decisiveness was unexpected to him.

“I don’t blame them.” Zuo Mo shook his head, and said in a matter-of-fact voice, “Shu Long and the others are our people. They have a deep and bloody grievance against Hundred Flower Alliance. Who do we help? Of course we help Shu Long. Also, the people wrong in this incident isn’t Shu Long and the others. If it was me, I would definitely have charged all the way to Hundred Flower Alliance. However, hee hee, it isn’t too late now!”

The camp started to quickly move. No one panicked. Even the xiuzhe from the forging division had calm faces. When they had set down camp, everyone had known that this would only be a temporary camp. The majority of their possessions were still on the slave transporting boats, and hadn’t been moved to the camp which now saved them labor.

In two hours, everyone had boarded the slave transporting boats.

The five slave transporting boats slowly rose in the sky and flew into the southeastern part of Bright Water City.

Such a big action naturally could not be concealed from the eyes of the local powers, and Zuo Mo didn’t plan on concealing it from them. His thought was very simple. With the fastest speed possible, finish the battle! Their grievances with Hundred Flower Alliance could not be resolved. A local power like Hundred Flower Alliance that was well rooted in this place could gather a terrifying amount of support if they had enough time.

To the other powers, they were the outsider.

Zuo Mo displayed the decisiveness of a leader. He did not hesitate and decided to attack Hundred Flower Alliance first.

———

Su Yue listened to the report with a dark face. She could have never thought this mysterious power was so savage. They had attacked without giving an opportunity to speak as though they had held a deep hatred.

She would never have guessed that the entire Guard Camp were xiu slaves they had transported to Little Mountain Jie.

Now that the two sides had reached such a step, there was no room to negotiate.

She was wary of this mysterious troop but she wasn’t afraid. As one of the largest powers in Sky Water Jie, how could Hundred Flower Alliance stand being humiliated so?

“How many of the elders are in the sect?” she turned and asked one of her disciples.

“Elder Wang, Elder Mei, and Elder Xiao are all present,” the disciple instantly replied.

Su Yue’s heart was reassured. “Invite them for a discussion. You shall personally go to ask.”

Chapter 311: At The Door

Elders Wang, Mei, and Xiao quickly hurried over.

“What matter has Sect Leader in such a fuss? This old woman is slightly curious!” Elder Mei’s voice was piercing. Before she arrived, her voice could first be heard. Elder Mei’s face was hideous and her temper was the most explosive. Of the three people, she had been the oldest person when she reached jindan, and her composure was the worst among them.

Elder Wang was wearing a blue robe, her face friendly and had a cheerful smile. She looked very friendly and approachable. Elder Xiao’s eyes rippled with a seductive look. She was actually even younger than Su Yue, and she was a peerless beauty.

“Yes. It’s rare that Sect Leader will call all three of us together. Has something major happened?” Elder Xiao’s voice was sweet, endearing and alluring.

Elder Wang said warmly, “If Sect Leader has a problem, please tell us. We receive benefits from the sect daily, and won’t refuse if it is time for us to help.”

“This disciple thanks the three elders!” Su Yue bowed gracefully to the three elders, her attitude respectful. The biggest reason that she was in charge of Hundred Flower Alliance was that she had the support of the three elders. The three elders calmly received the bow and did not refuse.

After standing up, Su Yue narrated what had happened today.

“Sky Number One. Based on our sect’s tradition, he shouldn’t be lower than sixth-grade.” Elder Xiao was slightly surprised.

“Seventh-grade,” Su Yue said and then continued, “This xiu slave called A Wen is exceptional and of rare innate talent. He first caught our attention, when he showed himself in a group of fourth-grade xiu slaves. This disciple then put him among a group of fifth-grade xiu slaves. In an extremely short amount of time, he outcompeted them. Just a while ago, he won out of a group of sixth-grade xiu slaves. This disciple had been preparing to send him to Elders after some more time. No matter if it is as a slave soldier, or as a living cauldron, it would be very beneficial.”

Elder Xiao’s eyes lit up as she laughed lightly. “Jiejie cannot steal from me. This meimei just needs a good cauldron, and I can break through the stage of first stratum.”

“Hmph, this old one has no interest in xiu slaves,” Elder Mei said coldly.

Elder Wang smiled and said, “Then I will wish for Meimei to break through first stratum soon. Maybe Meimei will be the first one among us to first break through to the level of first stratum.”

“Meimei thanks Jiejie!” Elder Xiao’s expression was blissful.

“But this Master of Golden Crow City could grasp Old man Xue, he is not to be dismissed,” Elder Wang said gravely.

“What are you afraid of? Hmph! They really don’t want to live!” Elder Mei sneered coldly. “He should be a body cultivator, the probability of him being a dhyana xiu is the highest. At that time, get Xiao Xiao to go. Her [Sky Flower Fall] is perfect for dealing with those people.”

“Good, good!” Elder Xiao laughed prettily as she clapped her hands with a light smile. She was receiving the most benefits this time, and naturally was willing to put in more effort.

“Do they have any other jindan?” Elder Wang asked.

“No. This disciples personally saw them, and did not find any other jindan,” Su Yue said confidently.

“Don’t even have a jindan and they dare to be so arrogant, they are looking for death!” Elder Mei said hatefully.

A disciple suddenly stumbled in. “Sect Leader! Someone … … someone has attacked us … …”

Su Yu was suspicious that she had heard it wrong. Someone had attacked them?

“They dare!” Elder Mei was infuriated. “This old one will use them to make dan!” As her words landed, she stomped her feet and disappeared. The other two elders had unfriendly expressions as they disappeared at the same time.

———

Zuo Mo looked at the mountain valley below. Hundreds of flowers were blooming, red and purple, to form a beautiful sea of flowers. Even in the air, it was possible to smell the fragrance. This place was the base of Hundred Flower Alliance, Hundred Flower Valley. Hundred Flower Valley produced all kinds of valuable ling flowers. The flower type talismans and lingdan that they forged were were deeply liked by female xiu and easy to sell in the market.

Zuo Mo was just going to give the order to attack when three female xiu suddenly appeared in the air.

Jindan!

Three jindan!

Zuo Mo was not surprised by the appearance of jindan. If an enormous sect did not have several jindan, that would be a joke. Compared to Little Mountain Jie when he had felt hopeless at the mention of a jindan, the halo around jindan had disappeared. Jindan were just xiuzhe that were slightly more powerful than ningmai. There was nothing major. After meeting more of them, he could even give a general judgment on how powerful a jindan was.

Unfamiliar the first time, familiar the second. Fighting against jindan wasn’t an exception.

Zuo Mo compared the three jindan in front of him with Clear Sky Old Forefather and felt they were very lacking. He couldn’t help but sigh inside at the power of Clear Sky Old Forefather. The jindan that he had successively met were all a far cry from Clear Sky Old Forefather. It seemed that while they were all jindan, the skill level difference was large.

Thinking back to it, the strength of Wu Kong Sword Sect wasn’t just strong. Xin Yan Shishu wasn’t lacking in power compared to Clear Sky Old Forefather.

———

Su Yue quickly appeared behind the three elders. When she saw Zuo Mo, she instantly became furious. She shouted harshly, “Golden Crow City Master! You have gone too far! To say nothing of stealing this sect’s xiu slave, you actually attack our sect? You really think that my Hundred Flower Alliance has no one?”

The three elders didn’t know who had come but when they heard the person in front of them was the Master of Golden Crow City, they were all angry.

Elder Mei’s temper was the most explosive as she shouted, “You are seeking death! The Heaven has a road that you don’t walk, Hell has no door but you come! Little bastard, if I don’t destroy your soul today, this old one isn’t called Mei!”

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. The other was not polite so he naturally wouldn’t be polite. He spat and said scornfully, “Old Fart, your mommy is calling you to brush your teeth!”

Elder Mei exploded and disappeared in the sky. “This old one will tear your mouth!”

Woooooooooooooooooooosh!

More than ten figures charged towards the empty space in front of Zuo Mo like sharp arrows!

The fifteen members of Sky Peak Platoon drew out fifteen crisscrossing straight lines like an enormous net which covered the area thirty zhang in front of Zuo Mo! This enormous net seemed to suddenly explode. Countless sword essences were like multi-colored lines that howled with a soul-shaking sound as they filled the holes in the net.

Fifteen different kinds of sword essence filled the multi-colored net with a dangerous presence.

Elder Wang and Elder Xiao’s faces were heavy, and Su Yue’s expression changed slightly. Sword essence! Fifteen xiuzhe who had comprehended sword essence! In the entire Hundred Flower Alliance, other than the elders, there were just eight people among the disciples that had comprehended sword essence.

The other side just sent out fifteen people that were all xiuzhe who comprehended sword essence.

———

Gongsun Cha’s expression was shy, and ignorant of the fact his eyes had turned bright red. He was very excited!

Jindan!

In the battle at Golden Crow City against Clear Sky Old Forefather, the Vermillion Bird Camp that he was in command off didn’t have any use at all. To Gongsun Cha who looked shy on the surface, but was proud inside, it was a great humiliation!

Facing a jindan straight on this time, how could he not be excited?

The moment the large net took form, his eyes suddenly narrowed and flashed with the light of the hunter closing the next. He quickly spat out two words.”

“Second Division!”

———

Elder Mei charged headfirst into this enormous net. While these sword essence could not form tangible danger to her, they still put her in her a sorry state. She had been somewhat careless and did not activate her ling armor. When she found where she stood was filled with sword energies, she finally activated the ling shield.

Pia pia pia!

Three sword energies struck her ling shield. The shield only shook slightly, but her expression was very terrible. She felt she had lost face.

Anger exploding, she screamed piercingly, and a plum branch appeared in her hand.

This glistening plum was about three chi in length. It was old and flexible, the flowers on the branches were in full bloom. Elder Mei waved it slightly. The tender pedals left the plum tree and flew with the wind. In a moment, the plum flowers rained down and managed to cover all of Sky Peak Platoon.

It was a dreamy realm of flowers but a sharp sound howled. Like the tide, the beautiful flower petals became shrap. Every petal contained sharp sword essence.

The dream realm instantly became hell.

It was Elder Mei’s killing move, [Plum Sacrifice]!

Elder Xiao’s eyes flashed as she laughed prettily. “Mei Jiejie really is going overboard. What reason is there to use a killing move just as the fight is starting? We can’t even get a drink of soup.”

Elder Wang praised, “Elder Mai’s sword essence has become purer. This [Plum Sacrifice] is multiple times stronger than last time.”

Su Yue was entranced. As Elder Mei attacked, the other side instantly disappeared in this beautiful yet treacherous flower sea.

The people of Sky Peak Platoon knew the danger. Their expressions changing, everyone retreated.

“Flee? Not so simple!” Elder Mei felt unspeakably good as she said hatefully. The spell on her hands changed again.

Her mind suddenly stuttered, a feeling of danger rising. She instantly was shocked. At this time, the air around her suddenly shook lightly, the sky full of flowers imperceptibly paused.

At some unknown time, a troop had charged to within thirty zhang of her.

Such fast speed!

Her eyes shrank. The other came quickly like a shining blade that made her feel that she could not stand under its sharpness!

Elder Mei was suddenly enraged .The other side was just a charge of more than one hundred people yet she actually had felt fear. It was too embarrassing! As she turned the plum tree in her palm, the sky full of falling flowers seemed to be carried by the wind to move towards the troop coming towards her.

The sharp flower petals were like soul-snatchers, and the wind pillar that carried them was undoubtedly a meat grinder!

“This fight is over!” Elder Wang said lightly. Even if she was the one facing Elder Mei’s move, she would not be able to escape without injury. Both Su Yue and Elder Xiao did not doubt her words.

Yet what they never had thought was the other side did not retreat but charged straight at Elder Mei!

———

Wei Ran felt the battle intent in his body had reached a peak, and his speed had risen to a peak! In order to increase their speed to the maximum, Lil’ Miss had arranged a position near the back for them.

Facing the meat-grinding pillar of wind, Wei Ran showed no fear.

Every xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp believed that when their speed was at maximum, when they completed their charge, no enemy could stop them!

This wasn’t something that Lil’ Miss forced onto them, but a belief born from multiple battles!

Wei Ran raised the flying sword in his hand. His fellows raised the flying sword in their hands at the same time!

He suddenly glared angrily, and shouted, “Hundred Kill!”

The flying sword in his hand sliced forward with all his power.

Everyone in Second Division shouted at the same time, “Hundred Kill!”

The flying sword in their hands sliced forward with all their power!

The sword energies were like streams meeting at the sea, one hundred swords becoming one. A gigantic sword energy three zhang wide rang deeply as it flashed blindingly and collided with the pillar of wind!

Chapter 312: Zuo Mo’s Fury

Boom!

Everyone’s vision flashed, the burning light stabbing people’s eyes to the point they couldn’t remain open.

Elder Mei’s sleeves were torn, her hair loose, and a thin stream of blood was coming out the corner of her mouth. She looked in terror at the group of more than one hundred people in front of her. What … … what sword scripture was this … …

She had seen sword scriptures that were combined in an attack together before, but she had never heard of sword scripture that combined attacks of more than one hundred people much less seen it with her eyes. Combined sword scripture attacks demanded high cooperation between the xiuzhe. The more people there were, the less likely it was that it would succeed. A combined sword scripture attack of more than one hundred people was something that could not be imagined.

As a jindan, she could only retreat when facing such a terrifying blow.

Looking at the troop that was slightly disorganized in front of her, it was like she had seen a ghost.

———

Wei Ran’s body was empty of power. Not just him, but every one of his fellows were panting heavily. But every person’s face was filled with battle intent and pride! Jindan, jindan, so what!

Wei Ran was so excited he wanted to howl. To wound a jindan with one blow. This was something they would never even dare to think about in the past, but it happened right in front of their eyes now! But he forcibly suppressed the excitement and battle tremors inside. He had not forgotten his duty.

“Scatter!”

Like a tide, the xiuzhe of Second Division suddenly divided down the middle.

———

Elder Mei was shocked and uncertain, but when her gaze landed on the passageway made by the opening, her expression changed dramatically!

A light and deep vibrating sound was like the deep bark of an ancient beast.

Another hundred people!

A charge just like the previous one!

Elder Wang and Elder Xiao’s complexions changed. Elder Mei was in danger! The two did not dare to be careless. The mysterious Master of Golden Crow City had subordinates of such power! Just a short exchange but it was coordinated and flawless. From the beginning, Elder Mei had landed in the other’s formation.

The enormous sword energy net made by the fifteen xiuzhe that comprehended sword essence had only one goal – slow down Elder Mei!

A jindan that lost their speed instantly became fragile when facing a strong troop that could complete a combined sword scripture attack of over one hundred people. The two also found to their shock that the Master of Golden Crow City didn’t just have this one troop under his command. Also, the other didn’t give Elder Mei any chance to breath. Their attacks were like waves, one wave after another.

If this continued, Elder Mei would become a fish on the other’s chopping block.

The two understood the dangers of the situation. At this time, they couldn’t attend to anything else, but leapt over. They only needed to create a chance for Elder Mei to breath, and the scales of battle would become balanced again.

“Kill!”

A cold and slightly old voice suddenly rang beside Elder Wang’s ears.

A feeling of danger floated onto her mind. She was very shocked, her figure disappearing from her spot.

A black snake the thickness of a water barrel viciously swept across the position she had just been at.

Elder Wang looked gravely at the troop that had ambushed her. A slave transporting boat’s deck was filled with standing black-armored xiuzhe! Heavy armor xiuzhe? Puzzlement floated into her mind. The clumsy heavy armor had long been eliminated by history. She felt it was incomprehensible that a heavy-armor troop had appeared in front of her.

However, she was not careless. The thick black snakes coiling above their heads made her sense danger.

Darkness, killing, sharpness … …

Her gaze landed on the young black-armored xiuzhe at the very front. She could feel the battle intent in the other’s eyes, and killing intent that was so thick it could not be resolved!

———

Zuo Mo stopped Elder Xiao.

“Hee hee, handsome guy, why have you stopped me?” Elder Xiao laughed prettily. The snowy and fine hand lightly covered the warm and red lips, and was unspeakably seductive.

Zuo Mo became super alert. His attitude might have been relaxed when he had been swearing back at Elder Mei, but when he truly faced a jindan, he still felt slightly nervous. He didn’t say anything, but stared tightly at the other. Different to earlier, any speech was useless.

“If you keep looking me, I will be embarrassed!” Elder Xiao’s eyes moved with allure.

Zuo Mo did not react, but he didn’t understand. If it was something like swearing at each other, he could understand. But did the woman have some scheme to be talking like this? He became increasingly wary. He didn’t waste words, one hand pulling and the other drawing.

Two yang fiendish hard lightning bolts left his hands.

“You are so harsh to attack me. If I get wounded, could you bear it?”

The sweet and seductive voice floated in the air. Elder Xiao’s exceptional body flickered in and out of view in the air. The snowy and smooth skin, the high twin peaks, the eyes, they all unconsciously attracted all attention.

Zuo Mo was puzzled. Could bear it? Why couldn’t he bear it?

The hard lightning on his hands continued to bomb towards the other like rain.

With a pretty bell-like laugh left behind in the air, Elder Xiao’s figure was flickering in the air. The air seemed to have a new addition of a sweetly fragrant and tempting smell.

Zuo Mo had a headache. The other’s movement method was very powerful. He couldn’t even touch the other’s clothing.

The sweetness in the air entered Zuo Mo’s nose. He suddenly felt strangely heated and frantic. The speed of the hard lightning increased, but no matter how fast they were, no hard lightning could even brush the other.

He did not notice that a blush had unknowingly came onto his cheeks.

But Elder Xiao noticed it, and she rejoiced inside. Her expression became even more seductive, and her movements even more tempting. The air became even more heated. But at this time, she heard a second grunt from Elder Mei. Her heart shook. She knew if she could not finish the battle quickly, Elder Mei would die today.

Also, to capture the bandits, first capture the leader. If she could capture the Master of Golden Crow City, this fight would be finished, and no one could fight against them for Sky Number One.

Thinking about this, she could not stop herself. She giggled, “Little villain, come get close to Jiejie!” The snake-like waist lightly twisted, the clothing on her body flew like flower petals.

But her expression held an unusual sincerity.

[Sky Flower Fall]!

———

An unknown length of time later.

It was like waking up from a long dream.

Where was this? Zuo Mo opened his eyes and examined the surroundings

Countless flower petals were falling down. Among the rain of flowers, beautiful bodies flickered out of view. Some were lazy, others innocent. They were all beautiful. Every moment and every look could stir the most basic desire of a person.

The scene in front of him was so real that one could not take themselves away.

“Boss!”

They walked in front of Zuo Mo, and bowed to Zuo Mo. The curvaceous bodies revealed large patches of snowy white of the front chest, and made one have the impulse to reach into it.

“Where is this?” Zuo Mo instinctively asked.

The females all had puzzled expressions. One of the female stood out. “Boss, this is your home!”

At this time, Zuo Mo finally noticed the flower under his feet was completed tiled in jingshi. Not just so, the yard, the benches, and the pond were all made from jingshi. Clitter-clatter ran from the pond, it was all jingshi inside.

The entire yard was made from jingshi!

So much jingshi!

Zuo Mo’s heart had never been so satisfied. Was this really his home?

“Boss, let this servant serve you!” A servant said with embarrassment. The tight long dress revealed all of her body. What made Zuo Mo want to spit blood was that the dress had a slit up to her waist and the inside was tantalizing.

“Hee hee, let us serve you!”

The females in the surroundings giggled and came up to help Zuo Mo change clothes.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. What were they doing? Why did they have to take off his clothes?

Seeing the situation, the females giggled even more.

“Boss is embarrassed!”

“Yes! It’s so cute!”

“Then we can undress first!”

“En, en!”

As Zuo Mo gaped, the females untied their dresses and revealed their perfect bodies, and looked with embarrassment or seductiveness at Zuo Mo.

It was enough for one to spit blood!

Zuo Mo felt his nose heat up, but he suddenly seemed to feel the scene in front of him was slightly familiar.

He seemed to have seen it before … …

Oh, where had he seen it before?

As he thought, Zuo Mo’s body suddenly froze as though he was hit with a bolt of lightning. In an instant, his face was a mix of green and red. He was furious, swearing as he pointed at the females “Illusory formations! You group of illusory formations!”

He finally remembered where he had seen this before!

Wu Kong Mountain, the pink paper crane!

That damned pink paper crane had once used a similar move against him, but he had seen through it then!

An illusory formation that was almost the exact same!

The anger inside erupted.

In the past, the paper crane female had did that to ge, ge couldn’t defeat her, ge endured it! You dare to use this move to trick ge? Ge won’t tolerate it! The new grievance and the old hate mixed together, especially when Zuo Mo recalled his sorry state in the past, the anger in his heart burned even brighter.

“Ge hates illusory formations the most!”

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and brimmed with killing intent.

Pia pia pia!

The naked beauties in front of him suddenly turned into balls of smoke. Before he could react, everything around him exploded into smoke.

Inside the thick smoke was Zuo Mo’s tragic wail, “Jingshi! My jingshi!”

The scenery around him changed and Zuo Mo seemed to wake from a dream. Air, he was still in the air, empty air!

Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly turned red. He felt his heart was dripping blood. Jingshi, so much jingshi, all gone! He, who had felt so rich just, now felt great sorrow rise in his heart and stimulate him.

If it was said that illusory formations made him remember his tragic previous days, and made him feel fury, then losing so much jingshi suddenly could not simply be described by fury.

Grievance! Deep hatred! Hatred that one side could not survive!

Blood seeped out of Elder Xiao’s mouth. [Sky Flower Fall] was invisible as it corroded the mind and was wondrous in its powerful, but if it was broken, her mind would be heavily wounded.

Even more importantly, she still did not understand how the Master of Golden Crow City had recognized and broken [Sky Flower Fall].

The [Sky Flower Fall] that had never failed before was defeated at the hands of a ningmai youth. She still could not believe it now.

This wasn’t possible!

Zuo Mo did not care for the shock and puzzlement the other felt. His eyes were filled with blood and his shout like thunder!

“Give all the jingshi back to me!”

The first transformation of the Great Day mo physique suddenly materialized!

Chapter 313: Serpent Transformation

A blurry golden shadow appeared behind Zuo Mo’s back. The shadow had a very indistinct shape. It was like an enormous golden cloud that moved behind Zuo Mo’s body.

What was that … …

Elder Xiao was filled with uncertainty and she felt the youth in front of her was filled with strangeness. [Sky Flower Fall] was based on appearances and was completely the opposite of normal illusory formations. Normal illusory formations used external forces to shake the mind of xiuzhe while [Sky Flower Fall] woke the innate desires of the xiuzhe. A Dhyana xiu’s Samadhi gave them strong minds and the possibility of them being enchanted was much lower than other xiuzhe.

But benefits always came with disadvantages.

Dhyana xiu had strong minds, but their convictions also had to be strong as well. Spells like [Sky Flower Fall] exploited this and were amazingly effective against them. Only when the dhyana xiu could cultivate to the higher stage of Great Freedom and let go of their convictions would spells like [Sky Flower Fall] lose their effect.

But the stage of Great Freedom was a very profound level. The dhyana xiu which reached such a level would all be great powers, and wouldn’t appear in a little place like Sky Water Jie, much less a ningmai twenty-something year old youth reaching such a level.

The [Sky Flower Fall] that had never failed before had been ineffective. Under the backlash of the illusion, her mind was injured. Up until now, she still did not know how Zuo Mo had seen through it, and what that “Return all the jingshi to me” meant.

Also, this indistinct cloud … …

…was eerie, and mysterious. A strong feeling of danger made her heart beat rapidly. Her knowledge naturally wasn’t ordinary for her to have cultivated to jindan, but she had never heard of such a strange and weird golden shadow before.

The golden shadow moved as though it was alive.

In the blink of an eye, it collapsed towards it’s center and rapidly shrank.

A pair of half-transparent golden wings appeared on Zuo Mo’s back.

Great Day Mo Physique, first transformation, Light Void Wings!

———

The Guard Camp that Shu Long was leading was engaged in heavy combat with Elder Wang at this time. Elder Wang learned from Elder Mei’s example and continuously changed her position to maintain the initiative. However, Shu Long wasn’t dumb and did not attack first. He securely held his position to cut off any opportunity for Elder Wang to give aid to Elder Mei. The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation was in motion. After breaking through last time, the Little Mo Kill could be used with ease.

Threads of black energy turned to thick chains that formed an enormous net to block the path of Elder Wang.

This way, no one could gain an advantage over the other.

———

“Hundred Kill!”

The shouts of one hundred people shook like thunder. A gigantic sword and the flower petal wind collided. Elder Mei suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Two branches on the plum branch in her hand snapped. The tree was filled with cracks and only had five branches left.

The ling power of Elder Mei was almost running out of her control and boiled like water. The other side did not give her any chance to recover.

The deep sound sounded at her ears like a nightmare again.

Elder Wang’s expression was heavy, the warmth it usually held had disappeared and was replaced by killing intent. She knew that she could not keep tangling with this group of people. Elder Mei had reached the end of her strength, and did not have the power to even continue for fifteen minutes.

A thread of regret came into her heart. The power of the Master of Golden Crow City was much stronger than they had imagined!

Before today, they had never thought there would be a day where they would be left so dishevelled and sorry-looking due to a group of ningmai. It was just a group of ningmai. No matter how high their numbers, they never even considered ningmai as a serious threat.

From the moment they became jindan, they had the qualifications to look down at ningmai.

This conviction was shattered by the cruel reality of today.

At this moment, she did not hope for victory, but only hoped that the three of them could survive. As long as the three of them could survive, the Hundred Flower Alliance would continue to exist. If the three of them were no longer here, even if the Master of Golden Crow City did not deal the final blow, the other powers of Bright Water City would swallow Hundred Flower Alliance.

———

Shu Long looked coldly at the other. He knew the other was going to go all out.

He did not feel any fear, even though the other was a jindan. They were the cause of this battle. They had more reason than any other person to put their lives on the line.

Xiu slavery had existed for a long time, and was common in every jie. Shu Long knew this reality. He was not so delusional as to hope that Daren could save all the xiu slaves and change the situation. That was not realistic. Daren had not blamed them, and even took everyone to attack Hundred Flower Alliance. Shu Long decided to put his life on the line.

It wasn’t just for A Wen, but more for themselves, and himself.

He didn’t feel any fear at the other’s decision to go all out, but felt slightly excited.

Elder Wang took out a Begonia Palace Lantern. A blue-white flame lightly jumped inside the lantern. As the Begonia Palace Lantern was taken out, the air around it paused for a short moment. After a while, a even more strange scene occurred. The air around Elder Wang started to jump in rhythm with the pulsing of the blue-white flame.

Elder Wang’s figure started to blur in the air.

Shu Long’s pupils imperceptibly shrank. This Begonia Palace Lantern was a powerful talisman!

He raised his right hand covered in black armor. His right hand was completely enveloped in a ball of thick black energy. As the wind blew past, the black energy flickered like a wisp of flame.

The people of Guard Camp silently raised their right hands. A ball of thick black energy encased everyone’s right hand.

The black snakes that coiled above their heads suddenly shattered and turned to tiny threads of black energy. These black energies gathered together with astounding speed and formed a black snake a hundred zhang long! The body of this black snake was completely tangible, with all of its muscles and scales intact as though it was alive. The red snake pupils did not hold emotions. It opened its maw and bared its white fangs as it breathed in. The black fire in the sky and the black energies that encased Shu Long and the other’s right hands were sucked into the sky and into the black snake’s mouth.

Woo-ha!

The deep long wail was like an invisible wind that swept in all directions.

Having absorbed the black fire, the black snake quickly transformed. Two bumps formed on its forehead. The snake’s pupils became even sharper, the scales even blacker and shinier, and the presence even more astonishing!

Elder Wang was even more shocked. This black-armor troop had very strange battle methods and was completely different from any type of xiuzhe she had seen before.

But she recognized the change in the black snake, Serpent Transformation!

Snakes and serpents had an innate difference and that was also true of their strength. This black snake that had not finished its transformation into a serpent still exuded a completely superior strength than just a moment ago. Its pupils seemed able to drain away all warmth. Elder Wang’s heart tightened.

Waves of warmth came from the Begonia Palace Lantern. Her heart eased slightly. Yes, the black snake was astonishing, but the Begonia Palace Lantern in her hand was not ordinary.

She was skilled in forging and especially skilled in making all kinds of flower lanterns. This hexagonal Begonia Palace Lantern was her masterpiece. The begonias used in the lantern were sixth-grade Sky Heart Begonias, one of the best types of begonias in the world. The rarest was the blue-white flame inside the palace lantern. It came from the center of a Ten Thousand Year Blue Fire Bamboo. It was called Blue Heart Bamboo Flame, and was a rare specimen among fourth-grade fires.

Without another word, she raised the Begonia Palace Lantern in her hand and chanted in a low voice.

The petals of the Begonia Palace Lantern fell off and flew into the sky. It seemed that there was an endless amount of flower petals, yet the lantern did not change at all. The begonia flower petals danced in the sky. In the blink of an eye, the sky was full of flower petals like a dream.

Compared to the plum blossoms of Elder Mei, the number of begonia flower petals were even more amazing. There seemed to be no end. All of Hundred Flower Valley was covered within it.

The black snake ignored the rain of flower petals. The black body coiled as its red pupils coldly stared at Elder Wang.

The flame of the Begonia Palace Lantern suddenly jumped. Boom, the flower petals in the sky simultaneously started to burn. Countless blue-white flames danced in the sky.

Blue Heart Bamboo Flame!

Bzzzt!

A bloom of Blue Heart Bamboo Flame landed on the shiny body of the black snake, bounced twice, and was extinguished. The black snake did not seem to detect it.

Elder Wang’s expression changed!

The Blue Heart Bamboo Flame was actually ineffective!

The Blue Heart Bamboo Flame which could burn through everything could not even leave a mark on the body of the black snake!

The icy eyes of the black snake had no emotion. It was made from pure and sharp killing essence. Was it something a measly Blue Heart Bamboo Flame could damage?

Light flashed through Shu Long’s eyes. He shouted in a low tone, “Kill!”

The pupils of the black snake suddenly opened, its enormous body twisting and jumping to charge at Elder Wang.

Elder Wang was shocked and hurriedly spun the Begonia Palace Lantern in her hand. Countless blooms of Blue Heart Bamboo Flame blew towards the black snake.

Pia pia pia!

The sounds were like the popping of beans.

Each of the Blue Heart Bamboo Flames were the size of a thumb but its was unexpectedly strong. The enormous body of the black snake was forced to bend down.

Elder Wang released a breath. It was good as long as there was a way to stop the other. She channelled her ling power furiously, and countless flower petals flew into the air. However, the flower petals this time were not tender and weak like they were with the last attack. They were like the sharpest blades with a keen sword essence as they swam around the body of the black snake.

Pew pew pew!

Scratches appeared on the black snake’s shiny body. The black snake felt pain and furiously twisted its body.

Yet the Blue Heart Bamboo Flame was endless as it bombed the black snake with no signs of ending.

A fine layer of sweat appeared on Shu Long’s head. His expression was calm, but he was unusually furious. A moment of carelessness, and the other had taken the advantage. How could he tolerate being suppressed? So what if the talisman was powerful?

A cold energy flashed through his eyes.

“Little Mo Kill!”

The black snake suddenly collapsed and turned to a ball of black energy. The center of the black energy spun rapidly.

The Blue Heart Bamboo Flame and the begonia sword essence covering the sky seemed to be attracted by an invisible force, and uncontrollably flew towards the spinning black energy.

Elder Wang’s expression changed dramatically.

The suction of the spinning black energy was shocking. The Blue Heart Bamboo Flame and the begonia sword essence furiously flew towards the black energy whirlpool.

What terrified her was that this black energy whirlpool was like a monster that could consume everything. It had not changed at all after so much Blue Heart Bamboo Flame and begonia sword essences had flown in.

The situation was becoming increasingly worse. A sharp look came into her eyes. She snorted coldly. For the first time, the Begonia Palace Lantern left her hand and flew into the sky.

Chapter 314: Successive Mo Kill

Fourth-grade talismans and above generally had formation techniques that accompanied them, and as the grade increased, the number of formation techniques a talisman possessed would also increase. For example, the majority of fourth-grade talismans had only one formation technique. Only the finest of fourth-grade talismans would have two formation techniques. Fifth-grade talismans would have between two to four formation techniques, and sixth-grade talismans would have between four to six formation techniques.

The formation techniques could utilize the talisman’s power to its maximum potential. Each additional formation technique was one more killing move.

No one would scorn having more killing moves.

At this time, Elder Wang understood that normal attacks would be ineffective against the people in front of her.

How long has it been since she used a killing move? Elder Wang’s thoughts wandered. After she had cultivated to jindan, she concentrated on her study of forging, and never fought again. She had never expected the first battle for her as a jindan would result in her being pushed to such a dangerous position!

Gathering her thoughts, the Begonia Palace Lantern in the sky slowly revolved. Each flower petal flashed with a glowing light. The pulsing Blue Heart Bamboo Flame was like a heart and stirred the ling energy in the surrounding area to pulse with it.

———

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was the largest and he was the first to detect the abnormality. He couldn’t help but feel shocked.

This Begonia Palace Lantern was definitely not below the sixth-grade. The power of a sixth-grade talisman in the hands of a jindan would be terrifying.

Elder Xiao also detected it. She was very stunned. Elder Wang was going all out!

For some reason, when she knew that Elder Wang was going all out, she didn’t feel any excitement, but felt fear instead. The pressure that the youth with the half-transparent golden wings gave her seemed to increase in that moment.

Zuo Mo sensitively detected that Elder Xiao’s attention wavered. An opportunity! Light flashed through his eyes and his body disappeared.

Elder Xiao’s heart suddenly jumped, the pink flying sword in her hand rising. Multiple sword energy shields appeared in the space beside her. Before she saw the results, she retreated, but the feeling of danger suddenly rose. Out of shock, her flying sword sliced towards her back.

Ping!

An enormous force drove into her from the flying sword. Her entire right arm went numb, and her flying sword was ripped from her hand.

She bit down on her lips. Not daring to stop at all, her figure successively flashed.

A cold essence flashed behind her back, and carried a spray of blood with it.

She panted heavily, and looked with astonishment at the youth in the distance. The back of her right hand was bleeding, and there was a curved wound on her back. She had been wounded twice by a ningmai’s attack!

She looked at Zuo Mo as though she was looking at a monster.

Her gaze landed on the half-transparent golden wing’s on Zuo Mo’s back and furiously trying to determine what kind of abhinna it was. What dhyana xiu cultivated was abhinna, and in her view, the wings should be a kind of abhinna. With such a wondrous abhinna, this youth’s origins were not ordinary.

They really encountered a great foe today.

Zuo Mo felt his entire body filled with great strength that was so abundant he wanted to groan. The Great Day mo physique really lived up to the rumors! At this time, Zuo Mo finally experienced that only the transformations of a mo physique could truly express the true power of the mo physique.

The Light Void Wings on his back seemed to be rooted inside his body. There were no actual changes inside his body, but many of his muscles, blood, and bones seemed to wake from their slumber. The abundant power did not come from the Light Void Wings but from the depths of his body.

Powerful!

The power that woke shook inside his body and almost forced his body to explode.

In this moment, Zuo Mo comprehended some of the true meaning of mo physique cultivation. The body was like a treasure cave, one that was unfathomable in its depths. But in the great majority of time, this treasure cave was dormant. The mo physique was like a vessel that continuously matured, and developed to become increasingly more powerful, and so the power that was activated and released was greater.

Looking at Elder Xiao who was just barely hanging on, Zuo Mo was suddenly filled with confidence, confidence that came from great strength.

Facing a jindan, he was not helpless anymore!

Glancing at the Begonia Palace Lantern igniting in the sky, he decided to end the battle as quickly as possible.

The Light Void Wings on his back lightly flapped. A strong force passed over, and his body disappeared in the air again!

———

In the sky, the Begonia Palace Lantern started to burn into a ball of blue-white fire and pulsed in an unique beat. Elder Wang chanted lowly, “Blue Heart Begonia Sea!”

Boom!

The empty sky seemed like dry tinder suddenly caught fire.

In an instant, the flame spread and the sky above Elder Wang turned to a sea of fire. The blue-white sea of flames covered the sky.

Shu Long raised his face upwards. The sunlight was blocked by the sea of fire, and a large shadow landed on his face. Looking at the vast sea of flame, one couldn’t help but feel awe. The blue-white sea of fire furiously burned as it spread. Countless threads of blue-white fire fell from the sky like tens of thousands of blue-white hands of fire that shot at the five slave transporting boats!

The faces of people on the boats, like the forging division, all changed. The furious sea of fire above their head covered everything and felt unavoidable.

Only Shu Long and his fellows stood motionless and steady as rocks. But the battle intent in their hearts was stirred by the sky full of fire. The black energy around them became denser.

The roiling black energy above their heads formed a snake again. The enormous snake was not lacking compared to the sea of flame. At the same time, Shu Long raised his left hand, the left hand that was covered in black energy. Every person in Guard Camp raised their left hand that was covered in black energy.

The black snake opened its large mouth and sucked with a hiss.

The black energy was like fire, and its sparks left their hands and raced into the sky.

The blue-white flame came from the sky, just like the fire-like black energy rising up against the flow. Between these white and black flames was a colossal black snake. The scene was filled with power. It was like an invisible hand tightly gripped everyone’s hearts. The people on the slave transporting boats dazedly raised their heads in silence. In this moment, they forgot their terror.

The dots of black fire in the sky rapidly landed in the mouth of the black snake.

The maw of the black snake was like a bottomless pit, and cleanly absorbed every bit of black energy that rose into the sky. The black energy around Shu Long and the others was now much fainter. The sheen on their black armor was much dimmer.

The black snake’s cold pupils showed slight pain. The two bumps on its forehead bulged like something inside was moving, and wanted to burst out. A light suddenly exploded out of the black snake’s pupils as it shrieked.

Woo-ha!

The lines of fire landing from the sky suddenly paused and could not progress any further.

There seemed to be an invisible wall between the black snake and the white sea of fire that forcibly stopped the tens of thousands of threads of blue-white fire.

Elder Wang’s expression changed. She did not notice that she had bitten through her lips and blood was dripping. She had been pushed into a hopeless situation! Even her retreat had been unknowingly sealed shut. If she chose to retreat now, the sea of flames in the sky would explode, and it would be difficult to escape death.

Pia, the hairpin in her hair broke. Her long hair fell down and was blown by the wind in a tangle like demons dancing.

She did not hesitate. Her last thread of ling power was thrown crazily into the sea of fire.

[Fire Born Begonia]!

The sea of fire changed again. Blue begonias grew out of the sea of fire, bloomed, and withered.

The withered flower petals landed in the sea of fire and turned to dust. The sea of fire suddenly collapsed and concentrated towards its center. All of the ling energy in the entire Hundred Flower Valley was pulled in. The ling flowers that were planted throughout the valley felt this enormous pulling force and left their branches to gravitate to the sea of fire.

Su Yue saw this and her heart bled. These ling flowers were the most important source of jingshi for Hundred Flower Alliance. They were all destroyed today. It wouldn’t be possible to recover without twenty years of work.

After this battle, no matter if they obtained victory or were defeated, Hundred Flower Alliance’s power would plummet, and it was likely they wouldn’t even be able to hold onto Hundred Flower Valley.

———

“Should we go help Guard Camp?” A thread of terror flashed across Zong Ru’s eyes. Even he, who had very good composure, felt his heart beat wildly at the sea of fire in the sky.

Gongsun Cha smiled. “Don’t worry. Shu Long and the others aren’t weak.”

Even though Shixiong had never told him who was in charge of Guard Camp, he knew. When would it ever be his turn to worry about the mysterious person that could annihilate him in War Chess?

Even he was curious just how strong the Guard Camp was.

Gongsun Cha suppressed his curiosity and his eyes returned to the battlefield he was responsible for. Looking at Vermillion Bird Camp charge the other side in waves, a furious battle intent came into his eyes. Even if it was that mysterious person that could exterminate him in War Chess, he wouldn’t willingly admit defeat.

Their fight had moved from War Chess into reality.

Was there anything that could excite him more?

It may have been the excitement that caused two patches of red to float on his face. This made him look even more shy and bashful.

“Close the net.”

———

The sea of fire was changing, and the black snake in the sky had also reached the most crucial time of its transformation. The two bumps on its forehead continuously grew like two enormous blisters.

Woo-ha!

The black snake gave a painful shriek again. The mountain-like body furiously twisted. Everywhere it swept, it created soul-shaking vibrations. Pew, the skin above the bumps on its forehead finally broke. Two black horns that seemed like dry wood burst out.

The two black horns continued to grow until they were about two chi when they finally stopped.

Serpent transformation!

This black snake finally completed its most important transformation. Today onwards, it would be called the Black Serpent.

A terrifying presence swept across the sky like a hard wind.

Everyone, including those on Zuo Mo’s side and the Hundred Flower Alliance’s side, froze in their movements.

The only person that was not affected was Zuo Mo. The Light Void Wings on his back shook, and resolved this shocking presence. But Zuo Mo was also shocked by the powerful presence of the black serpent. The twenty zhang long serpent body swam with ease in the air.

The pair of pupils were not icy like they were in the past, but were dignified and proud, as well as immeasurably deep.

It raised its serpent head. The sea of fire in the air turned to an enormous fire begonia. The begonia faced the black serpent and slowly turned.

A hint of mirth came onto Shu Long’s face. The black energy on his body was much fainter and caused his slightly smile to look slightly fragile. The other camp guards were pale, but their faces were overjoyed.

They had successfully cultivated to the second stage of the [Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation]!

The second kill of the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation, Successive Mo Kill!

Chapter 315: Flower Slaves

The last gamble!

Even the slowest person could clearly feel that the moment that determined life and death had arrived!

The black serpent suddenly turned into a ball of thick and vicious black energy, and then it shot towards the fire begonia that was diving towards it from the sky.

A cold light flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. The Light Void Wings shook slightly, and his figure disappeared in the air.

The Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Divisions of Vermillion Bird Camp attacked at the same time like three blades flashing across the sky. With the presence of death, they viciously sliced at Elder Mei.

Boom!

Everyone felt their vision darken, the earth shake like the world was ending. And then the sky filled with a blinding light illuminated the sky, formed from countless streams of fire shooting in all directions before disappearing.

All of Bright Water City was alarmed by such a terrifying collision. Countless xiuzhe flew into the sky and looked with terror in the direction of Hundred Flower Valley.

The powers that had been preparing to come to the aid of Hundred Flower Valley saw this. They were shocked and stopped their movements.

This was a collision on the level of jindan!

———

Compared to the earth-shaking black serpent, Zuo Mo’s attack was silent without even a whisper. Like a ghost, he appeared behind Elder Xiao. The glass-like right palm lightly pressed on Elder Xiao’s glowingly alluring back.

His action was warm, gentle, and without any presence. When Zong Ru saw Zuo Mo’s move from a distance, his expression changed slightly. He felt awe that Boss could cultivate [Sky Glass Wave] to such a fantastical level.

Elder Xiao’s figure suddenly froze. She seemed to hear an authoritative low growl echoing throughout her body. The explosive power erupted like a volcano and the channels inside her body were instantly shredded. What made her feel as though she was going to die was the golden core inside her body had stopped revolving. No matter how she tried, the golden core did not move even a sliver.

A hand suddenly grasped the golden core.

Endless blackness swallowed her like a tide.

———

Everyone in the Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Divisions raised their flying swords together. Everyone’s blood was boiling in their bodies, their battle intent filled their bodies and almost causing them to combust. They furiously accelerated without keeping anything back. Accelerate! Continuous acceleration!

There was only one goal in everyone’s eyes!

The leaders of the three divisions shouted at the same time, “Hundred Kill!”

“Hundred Kill!”

The xiuzhe of the three divisions howled angrily, their flying swords slicing down. The three sword energies that flashed passed at high speed gave off a blinding light in the air as their killing intent locked onto Elder Mei.

Elder Mei’s hair was loose as she glared, blood seeping out of the corner of her mouth.

Facing the three enormous sword energies, she had a slight smile. Wave after wave of attacks had pushed her nerves on edge. She had long been at the end of her rope, and just hanging on by a breath. The plum tree in her hand had broken into pieces a long ago, just leaving behind the bare main trunk.

The three enormous sword energies headed straight at her face. The presence sharp sword essence was enough to freeze her blood.

Was she going to be finally released?

This was the last thought that flashed through her mind. The three enormous sword energies exploded at the same time. The blinding light consumed her.

———

The Begonia Palace Lantern was destroyed. Elder Wang was heavily injured and spat out three mouthfuls of blood. The black serpent swam and coiled in the air, and growled successively. One of the black horns that had just grown had been broken. It clearly was very furious about that.

The black serpent had a vicious look in its eyes. It suddenly turned to a ball of black energy and smashed towards Elder Wang.

It came extremely quickly. Elder Wang’s movement was affected by her injuries and she was struck full on by the black energy.

Bam!

Like a meteor, Elder Wang was thrown into the ground.

The pitiful Elder Wang wasn’t a body cultivating expert like Zuo Mo. Such a strong crash was a fatal blow to her weak body. She was instantly killed.

———

Su Yue’s face was pale white, her eyes filled with hopelessness. The death of three jindan elders was a loss that Hundred Flower Alliance could not bear. There was still a troop brimming with murderous intent in the sky. A thought suddenly flashed through her mind, was today the day that Hundred Flower Alliance would cease to exist?

The Light Void Wings on Zuo Mo’s back slowly faded. The rich and explosive power inside his body quickly disappeared like a retreating tide.

He looked at the other people. No matter if it was Vermillion Bird Camp or Guard Camp, everyone was furiously panting for breath. It was possible to see how fierce these battles had been. But all of them had smiles on their faces. Only they, especially because they had experienced the battle with Clear Sky Old Forefather in Little Mountain Jie, could feel the difficulty of this battle, could feel the improvement of their strength!

This battle had disturbed all of Bright Water City. Countless xiuzhe flew from Bright Water City towards Hundred Flower Valley.

Zuo Mo glanced at the battlefield and grabbed Su Yue.

Su Yue seemed to have lost her soul. She did not resist Zuo Mo capturing her.

Zuo Mo was slightly reassured and said to Shu Long, “You guys go search and see if there is anymore people you are familiar with. We’ll take all that you recognize.”

Shu Long was moved. Without another word, he nodded and left with Guard Camp.

Zuo Mo held Su Yue and led the group to start looting Hundred Flower Alliance. Su Yue’s last thread of hope was destroyed and she was abnormally obedient.

Zuo Mo felt great shock at the wealth of Hundred Flower Alliance. It definitely was one of the richest sects he had ever seen.

Ling Ying Sect which had been famed for its wealth in Sky Moon Jie, but it was very poor in comparison to Hundred Flower Alliance. Su Yue was skilled in management. After twenty years of accumulation, the wealth of this enormous sect caused Zuo Mo to sink into an extreme frenzy.

In the storeroom, third-grade and fourth-grade materials were piled up in mountains. Fifth-grade materials were not rare. Zuo Mo even saw a large number of sixth-grade materials. His drool almost spilled out. There were all kinds of ling flowers, including the seeds of rare ling flowers.

To a person like Zuo Mo who would even pluck the feathers off a goose, how could he pass on such a good opportunity?

Everyone in the forging division were sent over to transport the materials to the slave transporting ships. Zuo Mo decided to loot all of Hundred Flower Valley.

The treasure rooms of the elders gave Zuo Mo joyful surprises again, especially Elder Wang’s room which held many of her craftwork. The great majority of these were fifth-grade talismans and above. Most of those were various kinds of flower lanterns. Even though there were not many items in the treasure rooms, but all of them were of very good quality.

Zuo Mo did not hesitate in sweeping them all into his ring.

The jade scrolls, including the jade scrolls the elders collected, and the ones that Hundred Flower Alliance had bought or obtained through other channels were also swept clean by Zuo Mo.

Looking at the disciples that fled in fear, Zuo Mo was filled with scorn. After he finished looting, Hundred Flower Alliance would truly be dead. If this was a cohesive sect, all the disciples would have started to attack at this time, and not just watch as the elders risked their lives.

This had to be said to be the tragedy of Hundred Flower Alliance.

Shu Long found Zuo Mo. His expression was grave, and his eyes pained and sorrowful, “Boss, come look.”

Zuo Mo stilled, and followed Shu Long into an extremely deep cave in the mountain valley. When he saw the terrifying scene, his skin uncontrollably prickled.

Hundreds of xiu slaves had all kinds of strange ling flowers tangled on their bodies. The roots of these ling flowers were rooted in their bodies. Their gazes were unfocused, strange smiles on their faces. The ling flowers on their bodies were alluring as they were blooming. However, Zuo Mo who possessed Ling Eyes could clearly see the vitality of these xiu slaves were slowly being lost.

It seemed as though something suddenly exploded inside Zuo Mo’s body. An unprecedented anger swept his body like it was burning. He suddenly gripped Su Yue’s throat, and jerked her in front. Su Yue’s face was twisted as her eyes showed pain. Zuo Mo’s viciousness and brutality made her feel terror.

“You group of scum!”

Zuo Mo squeezed the words one by one through his teeth. His hand tightened and crushed Su Yue’s throat!

Su Yue’s gaze became muddled. Even until death, she could not understand how Zuo Mo could bear to act against her? Countless people showed goodwill towards her, and used all kinds of methods to curry her favour. She had always assumed no man would willingly kill her because of her unparalleled appearance!

As long as she was docile and obedient, they wouldn’t bear to.

Zuo Mo distastefully threw Su Yue to the ground.

“Boss, what to do with them?” Shu Long could not disguise the sorrow in his voice. As someone who had also been a xiu slave, he felt it even more deeply. He could detect the vitality of these xiu slaves were slipping away bit by bit into the ling flowers on their bodies.

In Zuo Mo’s mind, Pu Yao suddenly said to him, “Don’t remove those ling flowers. If you move them even one bit, they will immediately die.”

Pu Yao’s voice contained a rare thread of anger. “Flower slaves, I hadn’t thought this method would have been passed down. Ling flowers grown on the bodies of flower slaves will take the flower slave’s purest vitality. The ling flowers grown this way will be extremely high in quality. If you want to save them, there is only one method.”

Zuo Mo finally understood why Hundred Flower Alliance had so many high grade ling flowers. The rage rampaged in his chest. He forcibly suppressed it, and asked in a deep voice, “What method?”

“The primary energies of the flower slaves is being taken away, and they cannot escape death. There are only two ways to save them. The first is to replenish their energies using lingdan and such. The other method is to use reverse-absorption!”

“Reverse-absorption!”

“En, yes! The ling powers can absorb the primary energies and vitality of the flower slaves, so why can’t the flower slaves absorb the primary energies and vitality of the ling flowers?”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “How do you reverse it?”

Pu Yao threw a ball of light to Zuo Mo.

“I’ll give you this [Flower Yao Coexistence Art].” Pu Yao’s voice was slightly heavy, and carried an imperceptible sorrow. “In the past, during the war between xiuzhe and yaomo, many yaomo were like them. After they were captured, they were implanted with ling flowers. They would die after a length of time after they were rescued. In order to save them, this [Flower Yao Coexistence Art] was created. I hadn’t thought that this yao art would be used again after thousands after years.”

Zuo Mo bit his lips and turned to say to Shu Long, “Take them all onto the boat.”

A hint of joy flashed through Shu Long’s eyes. Boss definitely had a solution. He and Guard Camp hurriedly transported the hundreds of flower slaves to the slave transporting boats.

Zuo Mo’s mood was extremely bad. He felt there was a fire burning in his heart that could not be vented. He never thought of himself as an ally of justice. However, the treatment of the flower slaves had broken through his bottom line. He could not suppress his fury.

Suddenly, he raised his head to glance at the sky and the several troops rolling in.

Zuo Mo suddenly smirked coldly.

Chapter 316: Enormous Change

Three powers had come, with between two to three thousand people.

They looked with shock at the devastated Hundred Flower Valley. They had clearly seen the great battle of the jindan just now, and at a closer distance, they could feel the ferocity of the battle even more clearly.

Hundred Flower Valley was in ruins. The mountain valley that had been prosperous and filled with flowers had disappeared.

The people that came looked at Zuo Mo’s group with eyes that held shock and fear. It had been these three thousand people that had erased a sect, a sect that ranked in the top ten of Sky Water Jie. Truthfully, they didn’t want to be the ones to test the waters, but … …

“Sir is really too arrogant in our Bright Water City,” One of the leaders of the group said coldly then continued, “You destroyed Hundred Flower Alliance with just a few actions. Great moves, great attitude!”

“We do not want to meddle in the grievance you have with Hundred Flower Alliance. Combat is common, but it is too cruel of you to destroy Hundred Flower Alliance!” The one that spoke was the leader of one of the other groups and he looked slightly old.

“If you’re wise, give us Su Yue, and we will spare your lives!” This person’s face was cold and indifferent, his murderous intent barely hidden.

The three all had calm expressions. They predicted that Zuo Mo’s group did not have the energy to fight after experiencing such a battle. Their intentions of taking advantage of the situation was evident.

Zuo Mo glanced at Shu Long and the others. He found that they could not disguise the exhaustion on their faces. The great battle just now had expended everyone’s energy. However, they were still quick in reorganizing themselves. No one was panicked or terrified. There was only calm on each person’s face.

Seeing that their words did not cause Zuo Mo and his fellows to panic, the faces of the three people that spoke couldn’t help but darken. The strength of mind of the Master of Golden Crow City’s subordinates was greater than they had imagined. In their predictions, if they just slightly pressured the Master of Golden Crow City, he would capitulate.

They did not want the situation to devolve into a stand-off.

Just as the three were preparing to increase their pressure on Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo calmly spoke, “Su Yue? I killed her.”

Hiss!

Simultaneous inhales of shock rang out in the surroundings. There were hundreds of people that had come to watch other than the three factions. They all were xiuzhe that had been disturbed by the battle and came to watch. Everyone knew Su Yue of Bright Water City.

Many people’s expressions became unnatural at the fact that such a strong local power had been easily destroyed by the mysterious power of unknown origins.

———

What no one noticed was that some xiuzhe exchanged looks among themselves and quietly left the crowd. There were only twenty or so xiuzhe that left hence they went unnoticed. But it was possible to see with the naked eye that many xiuzhe were quickly flying towards this place from Bright Water City.

“The City Master is in danger!” one of the xiuzhe that retreated said with a worried expression.

“These people clearly want to take advantage. Hmph, they are really pulling a just excuse!” another person said furiously.

“We can’t watch as City Master lands in danger.” This person seemed to have some status in this group of people. He said in a deep voice, “Everyone cannot forget the favor City Master did for all of us, giving us the chance to leave Little Mountain Jie, to see the light again.”

“But there are just so few of us … …”

“With just us is definitely not enough. However, there’s a lot of people that came from Little Mountain Jie in Bright Water City.” The person said with a grave expression, “Have you thought of how our days in Sky Water Jie will be in the future if City Master is treated like this today? Those of us that came from Little Mountain Jie, will all of us be bullied like this?”

“Right! They even dare to target City Master, we definitely won’t hold a place in their eyes! Big Brother, what do you suggest we do?”

“Let’s go to Bright Water City to get reinforcements,” the person said decisively. “If we spread the news that City Master is in danger, no one from Little Mountain Jie will have any reason to stand aside and watch!”

The twenty or so people exchanged looks, nodded, and flew rapidly towards Bright Water City.

———

“You killed Su Yue?” The three people had dark faces.

Zuo Mo’s expression was calm as he silently grasped a Sonic Lightning Walnut in his hand. These people looked very well-organized, but there were no jindan xiuzhe. Zuo Mo released a breath at this. If a jindan had come, Zuo Mo would definitely take his people and run for their lives.

Seeing the other was wary and had not immediately attacked, Zuo Mo was happy to drag on the conversation. The other definitely would not expect that the xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp had formations carved on their bodies that could automatically take ling power from the air and recover multiple times faster than normal xiuzhe. The recovery rate of Shu Long and his group was even faster.

When they recovered, he wouldn’t be afraid of these three thousand people, or even twice that.

“So what? Do you have a relationship with her?” Zuo Mo raised an eyebrow.

Laughs rang out from the crowd. The three people’s expressions were not attractive. All three of them had lusted after Su Yue’s beauty. Other than the temptation of great benefits, they had the notion of taking Su Yue into their houses.

“Sect Leader Su has a deep relationship with our sect. This one will definitely help get justice for Sect Leader Su,” one of the people said hatefully.

The other two did not speak, but their ranks pressed forward. The mood suddenly became tense.

———

As the base of Hundred Flower Alliance, Hundred Flower Valley was not far from Bright Water City. The procession of twenty people quickly travelled to Bright Water City. They suddenly split up, and flew low through the streets. Channelling their ling power, they shouted with all their power, “The Master of Golden Crow City is being surrounded. Brothers of Little Mountain Jie, if you’re a man, stand up!”

The shouts were like thunder as they rolled in waves. The people travelling in the sky looked over.

The leader of the group suddenly swept across the ground, and his eyes lit up. There was an enormous sound tablet about ten zhang high below that swirled with purple light. A Sound Tablet Agency! He instantly landed, and floated into the agency.

“Sir … …” a xiuzhe came up.

Before the other finished speaking, he took out a pile of jingshi and said in a deep voice, “Broadcast a message for me.”

———

As the other’s ranks moved forward, Zuo Mo did not feel any pressure. The three troops could be called organized, but there was still a great distance from being an elite force. He was used to the great pressure from Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp. Zuo Mo wouldn’t feel anything from this kind of degree of pressure.

But he noticed the xiuzhe in the surroundings seemed to stir as well, and his heart became wary. The individual power of the xiuzhe at the edges were average, and they were not organized, but in Zuo Mo’s eyes, the threat of these people was much greater than the three factions at the front.

With just a slight provocation, they would lose their rationality. They would charge up, and then the situation would descend into chaos. That had happened many times before in Little Mountain Jie. Zuo Mo, who had crawled his way out of Little Mountain Jie, how could he neglect this?

“Just you guys?” Zuo Mo said coldly. His eyes narrowed coldly like blades, cold and freezing.

For some unknown reason, all three people jumped in fright. They suddenly remembered this youth in front of them just killed a jindan.

Their pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints, and their expressions changed as they stared at the two silver walnuts covered in golden patterns that spun on Zuo Mo’s hand.

“Sonic Lightning Walnuts!”

An exclamation suddenly came from the crowd. Some that had knowledge unconsciously retreated twenty zhang!

All the eyes gathered on the two Sonic Lightning Walnuts in Zuo Mo’s hands. Those were Sonic Lightning Walnuts! The terrifying presence that emanated from the two Sonic Lightning Walnuts made one’s heart jump rapidly.

Sonic Lightning Walnuts were rare fourth-grade materials. Who would be so wasteful to forge Sonic Lightning Walnuts into one-use talismans?

The eyes of many people became extremely heated, but no one dared to move a sliver.

When Sonic Lightning Walnuts were forged into one-time talismans, they were things that even jindan were wary of. However, what reassured them slightly was that while the power of one-time Sonic Lightning Walnut talismans was astounding, but they could only be used once.

The two Sonic Lightning Walnuts slowly floated forward from Zuo Mo’s palm, and it was possible to see lightning arc across the surface of each walnut.

Whoosh, the xiuzhe in front of Zuo Mo simultaneously moved to the sides. They didn’t want to be at the front.

Their eyes suddenly shrank again.

Another two Sonic Lightning Walnuts appeared in Zuo Mo’s palm.

The two Sonic Lightning Walnuts floated up from his palm and floated in front of his chest.

The four Sonic Lightning Walnuts lined up in a row. Everyone’s eyes tightly locked onto them, and didn’t dare to move away. Many people uncontrollably swallowed. If it was said that the two Sonic Lightning Walnuts had previously made people feel fear, then four Sonic Lightning Walnuts was like pouring a basin of cold water on their hearts that had been shaken.

If four Sonic Lightning Walnuts exploded at the same time … …

The xiuzhe that thought of this shook.

When another two Sonic Lightning Walnuts appeared in Zuo Mo’s palm, the entire Hundred Flower Valley was silent.

Six Sonic Lightning Walnuts spun and twirled like six mischievous children restlessly in front of Zuo Mo.

After a short period of utter silence, the xiuzhe that had thought they had some power did not hesitate this time, and simultaneously retreated fifty zhang.

The space around Zuo Mo was instantly empty.

Where did this guy come from? Everyone felt they were going crazy. One move, and it was six Sonic Lightning Walnuts! This extravagance was enough to smash most of the tycoons in Bright Water City!

When the number of Sonic Lightning Walnuts in front of Zuo Mo increased to eight, the three leaders had ashen faces. The morale of their troops reached their lowest depth.

If taking out eight Sonic Lightning Walnuts in one go could not be considered the mannerisms of a rich sect disciple, then the top ten sects of Sky Water Jie were as poor as street urchins.

When the number of Sonic Lightning Walnuts in front of Zuo Mo reached a terrifying ten, everyone was left numb.

If ten Sonic Lightning Walnuts exploded simultaneously, all of them, including the Hundred Flower Valley, would only have one fate. To turn to ash.

When the number of Sonic Lightning Walnuts reached twenty … …

The people were not nervous anymore, and they relaxed.

“Maniac, why are they coming to a small place at Sky Water Jie to show-off for? These young masters are really boring. All they know is to play dumb.”

“Yes, they think we are stupid! Ha ha, those three factions are stunned now. They’ve offended a rich young master, just wait to get killed!”

“Did this guy want Su Yue? Tried to force himself, Su Yue wouldn’t comply so he killed Su Yue in anger, and destroyed Hundred Flower Alliance … …”

“Su Yue wouldn’t comply?” Another person rolled their eyes, “Who knows who tried to force themselves onto the other person … …”

The tense mood in the sky suddenly became filled with humor.

The three leaders were dumbstruck where they stood.

Chapter 317: Clouds Gathering

Fei Shan was working idly and humming as he listened to the sound tablet. The people around him stared at him weirdly. It puzzled them how someone could appear relaxed and pleased when doing such a complex work.

Only the xiuzhe that came from Little Mountain Jie could feel so at ease with such tasks.

He suddenly stopped what he was doing, and listened with concentration.

“Friends from Little Mountain Jie, the Master of Golden Crow City is being entrapped in Hundred Flower Valley in Bright Water City. Please come quickly to help.”

He listened very carefully. The sound tablet repeated it a few times. He stood up, and then started to walk towards the door under the strange gazes of everyone else.

“Where are you going?” The manager’s expression was slightly ugly as he lectured sharply, “Come back! You haven’t finished what you are doing … …”

Fei Shan bared his teeth in a smile, but his gaze was slightly murderous. The manager unconsciously shook and he didn’t dare to look at Fei Shan’s gaze. The words that followed were swallowed back into his stomach. Fei Shan ignored him, and left through the door.

Walking on the streets, he instantly heard many people shouting loudly in the air.

“Brothers of Little Mountain Jie, City Master is trapped in Hundred Flower Valley, everyone go get them!”

“The City Master is in danger! We shall … …”

All of Bright Water City was disturbed. People continuously flew into the sky.

Fei Shan raised his head. The sky of Bright Water City was filled with people. Seeing what was happening, he suddenly recalled the scene of everyone following the City Master as they charged out of Little Mountain Jie through the experience of the months. Something inside his body seemed to have been ignited.

He did not hesitate to channel his ling power, and flew into the sky and entered the flow of people.

They dared to move against the city master … …

The killing intent inside increased. Every xiuzhe around him had fury on their faces. This group of xiuzhe had all experienced the cruel calamity of Little Mountain Jie and survived. They were full of gratefulness and respect towards Zuo Mo who had led them out of Little Mountain Jie.

The Master of Golden Crow City had led everyone out of the terrifying cage that was Little Mountain Jie. Now that City Master was in danger, how could they stand aside?

———

A group of people were surrounding a sound tablet.

“Head, should we go?” a mousy-looking person hurriedly asked his leader.

The Head glared. “Of course we will go! They dare to even attack the City Master. Would they even leave us a way to live in the future? Kill them all!”

His subordinates instantly became excited and rumbled, “Kill them!”

“Hmph, they want to make an example of the City Master. They should first look and see what they are made out of!” The Head’s face was murderous.

The xiuzhe that came out of Little Mountain Jie were much more sensitive to danger than normal xiuzhe. In his view, this incident that targeted the City Master was a sign. It meant that their future days in Sky Water Jie would not be good.

———

There were about fifty to sixty xiuzhe that came from Little Mountain Jie, but all of them were ningmai xiuzhe. In Sky Water Jie, ningmai was the most common group. This sudden rush of ningmai xiuzhe with battle experience had diminished the power of the local powers.

The conflict between the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie and Sky Water Jie was unavoidable.

The xiuzhe of Sky Water Jie knew this. So how could the xiuzhe that had experienced even crueler battles in Little Mountain Jie be ignorant?

“Are we going to be able to get there in time?” a subordinate said worriedly.

The thoughts of normal xiuzhe were much simpler. The Master of Golden Crow City had led them out of Little Mountain Jie, and unknowingly became their spiritual leader. The great majority of people held a grateful attitude. Hearing that the Master of Golden Crow City was trapped, they felt very angry.

“We’re moving now!” The Head said with a cold snort, “Hmph, they think City Master is weak, he’ll break all their teeth! This battle will be a great one.”

The Head bared his teeth and had a vicious expression.

He suddenly stood up, and glared as he brimming with murderous intent. “See how I’ll sort out anyone that slacks off today! Don’t pack anything, we are moving now!”

These leaders feared xiuzhe like Clear Sky Old Forefather, but they didn’t have any caution regarding the other factions of Sky Water Jie.

Even more, there was also the Master of Golden City there.

The power of the Master of Golden Crow City had been deeply imbedded in the hearts of these rebellious people. Many people had the idea. Wouldn’t it be more tempting if they could persuade the Master of Golden Crow City to take everyone and sweep through Sky Water Jie?

After continuous urging, the sky above Bright Water City was filled with xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie.

The number of xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie that were in Bright Water City wasn’t much, but there were still around several thousand of them. The xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie were easy to recognize. The killing energy they had was much thicker than normal xiuzhe. Now each of these xiuzhe had vicious glares.

“Is that group of people crazy? They dare to move against City Master!”

“Who cares, kill them all!”

“If the tiger doesn’t roar, you mistake it for a sick cat?!”

Everyone was very excited as they flew furiously in the direction of Hundred Flower Valley. The xiuzhe of Bright Water City had never seen such a procession before, and were dumbstruck where they stood. Those xiuzhe that were smarter raced back to report.

Some older xiuzhe had worried expressions. If the xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie and the xiuzhe from Sky Water Jie had a conflict, the state of Sky Water Jie would become tumultuous.

What many people did not know was that message broadcasted by the sound tablet had spread through all of Sky Water Jie. At this time, many xiuzhe were travelling on their swords as they murderously flew in the direction of Bright Water City.

If one looked down from the sky, they would see many sword lights gathering with astounding speed towards Bright Water City as though they were attracted by a magnet.

The Master of Golden Crow City was the person of most authority of all the xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie. Without anyone noticing it, he was influencing the direction the affairs in Sky Water Jie would take.

———

In the House of the Crow Marquis, Rong Wei saw the compound guard run in with a sound tablet and she was shocked.

But when she listened to the message that was being repeatedly broadcasted through the sound tablet, her expression instantly changed.

Damn it!

Were those people crazy?

She knew just how powerful and terrifying the Master of Golden Crow City was. The elite force under his command surpassed any troop in Sky Water Jie. She remembered the scene of those xiuzhe bowing in farewell towards Zuo Mo. If the Master of Golden Crow City made a call right now- she uncontrollably shook.

That was too frightening … ..

The marquis was not here. This was not good!

Rong Wei was like an ant on a hot plate and spun in panic. At this time, a paper crane flew from the sky. Rong Wei waved her hand and the paper crane fell into her palm. When she finished reading, her expression changed dramatically.

———

Bright Water City, Sky Immortal Pavilion.

“These people from Little Mountain Jie are so aggressive right now. In the future, won’t they try to climb on top of our heads in the future?” A middle-aged xiuzhe’s expression was dark. He was the sect leader of the largest power in Bright Water City, Yan Yang of Wood Sword Sect.

“We need to let them know whose territory this is,” a xiuzhe with a waxy-yellow face said faintly. He was wearing a golden-threaded long robe, had bright eyes and an authoritative presence. He was the sect leader of Cloud Divine Sect, He Qiu.

Wood Sword Sect and Cloud Divine Sect were the largest two sects in Bright Water City. Bright Water City was the most prosperous city of Sky Water Jie, and was home to four of the top ten sects. Other than the Hundred Flower Alliance that Zuo Mo had destroyed, Wood Sword Sect was placed fifth, Cloud Divine Sect was placed seventh, and the other, the Blackwater Sect was tenth.

All the other sect leaders present nodded their heads.

It had touched many people’s nerves that the Master of Golden Crow City had attacked Hundred Flower Alliance. Wood Sword Sect and Cloud Divine Sect had marriage alliances with Hundred Flower Alliance. Zuo Mo had moved to destroy Hundred Flower Alliance before the other sects had managed to react. If he had taken some more time, his victory would not have been so easily achieved.

“Hm, Blackwater Sect does not want to meddle in this matter. That’s good, one less person to share in the spoils.” Yan Yang’s expression was cold.

The other sect leaders had joyed expressions. In their view, with Wood Sword Sect and Cloud Divine Sect as the leaders, the Master of Golden Crow City wouldn’t be able to make any waves no matter how powerful he was. They had long heard ago that the Master of Golden Crow City was very rich, and the five enormous slave transporting boats that were filled with all kinds of talismans and rare materials. They were truly treasure ships.

Even more, now there was also the enormous wealth of Hundred Flower Alliance added to the spoils. How could people’s hearts not be moved?

Many sects were jealous of Hundred Flower Alliance’s flower growing methods. If they could receive the ling farming methods for the ling flowers, they would have another steady source of income.

So when the two big sect leaders called out, many small sects responded.

“The House of the Crow Marquis … …” the leader of a small sect muttered.

He Qiu’s expression was natural. “No matter. I have already notified them. I believe they can see the state of affair clearly.”

“Everyone, go back and prepare. Let’s set the time for noon tomorrow,” Yan Yang said.

The sect leaders stood and went back to prepare.

After everyone had left, only Yan Yang and He Qiu were left in Sky Immortal Pavilion.

He Qiu asked, “How many people are you preparing to bring?”

“I heard that the Master of Golden Crow City has two elite forces. I really want to see how they compare to my Wood Sword Camp,” Yan Yang said proudly. Wood Sword Camp was the most elite troop of Wood Sword Sect, and was famed through Sky Water Jie.

He Qiu clapped and smiled, “I also had the same idea. How about we each take a troop and see who will win?”

The Flying Cloud Camp and Cloud Divine Sect was also an elite force known in Sky Water Jie.

“If both you and I win, then what?” Yan Yang looked at He Qiu.

“The first one to win is the winner,” He Qiu smiled. “The flower slave growth method of Hundred Flower Alliance supposedly originated from the Thousand Year Battle. How about we use it as our prize? But since the city Master of Golden Crow City has no jindan, if we use jindan to pressure people, we will not win honorably. You and I cannot take jindan. What does Sect Leader Yan think?”

A light flashed through Yan Yang’s eyes, “Wonderful!”

The two exchanged a look, sparks flying and did not stand down.

———

The atmosphere of Bright Water City suddenly became tense, and the number of xiuzhe that flew through the air dropped dramatically. Many stores that got the news of the battle closed their doors.

Tian Ling Zi and the other two people looked at the large patch of Sonic Lightning Walnuts that floated in front of Zuo Mo and their mouths tasted bitter. They really hit a steel board this time. The other had mysterious origins, and his power was far greater than they had imagined.

They couldn’t describe the bitterness inside.

Such a big personage like you, why did you run to such a poor gutter like Sky Water Jie for?

Can’t you give us a road to live?

A paper crane suddenly flew into Tian Ling Zi’s hand. After Tian Ling Zi finished looking, the shadow on his face was swept away and he roared with laughter.

The other people looked with unfriendliness at Tian Ling Zi. They really couldn’t think what could make Tian Ling Zi so happy in such terrible circumstances?

Tian Ling Zi passed the paper crane to the other two people, and smiled smugly. “Sect Leader Yan Yang of Wood Sword Sect and Sect Leader He Qiu of Cloud Divine Sect will be leading their army tomorrow to take this little boy’s life!”

After the two finished, they all had joyful expressions.

“Ha ha, we really have foresight!”

“We only need to drag down the Master of Golden Crow City, and we will definitely have a mention in the merit record!”

The three looked at each other and laughed loudly.

They were completely ignorant that danger was approaching them!

Chapter 318: Human Wrecking Ball

Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss looked at each other, and understood what the other was thinking.

It hadn’t been long but Vermillion Bird Camp completely finished their recovery. The supplies of Vermillion Bird Camp was generous, and each person carried enough jingshi so that they could quickly recover ling power. He glanced at Shu Long. Noticing Shu Long’s nearly imperceptible nod, he had to silently praise the powerful recovery speed of mo skills.

The power inside his body had also silently recovered. The strength of the Great Day mo physique far surpassed both the Guard Camp and his imagination.

Zuo Mo straightened his spine and looked at the three troops opposite him. His heart was filled with the belief that they would win!

The silent feeling of confidence had formed between these people without their own knowledge.

He shifted his body. Almost at the same moment, Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp started to move.

Vermillion Bird Camp was like a gust of clear wind. As the troop gathered and scattered, it was ethereal and nimble, carrying its unique sharp killing intent that was like a blade. While the Guard Camp was like a dense steel flood. They were not quick, but they were a tyrannical wave of destruction.

Zuo Mo was at the very front of the troop. He pressed his lips together tightly, his eyes slightly slowed as his body stood straight like a spear. The Sonic Lightning Walnuts that flew around his body drew out threads of silver light.

On his left rear flank was Vermillion Bird Camp waiting to act. If one looked closely, they would find the entire Vermillion Bird Camp was like a compressed spring that was silently trembling and filled with the aura of danger. Gongsun Cha did not sit on the broad Green Cloud Sword like he usually did. He had stood up, his eyes curving into crescents, and a shy smile on his face. A blade-like light flashed through the eyes of the Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe.

On his right rear flank, the Guard Camp was silent and motionless. They were like a troop of battle servants from thousands of years ago. Shu Long was at the very center of the troop, steady and murderous, yet motionless. The black heavy armor encased them tightly, and separated them from the outside. The fiendishness from the slightly lowered eyes made people feel the battle intent roiling away behind this deathly silent flood!

Zuo Mo and his people’s movements instantly attracted everyone’s attention. Tian Ling Zi’s trio changed expression. They commanded their troops to retreat fifty zhang. Zuo Mo’s action of taking out twenty Sonic Lightning Walnuts had destroyed their notions of taking advantage of the situation, but the news that came had given them the hope they could share in the spoils.

They had made the decision to not provoke the Master of Golden Crow City. As long as they managed to keep track of him, then after tomorrow’s battle they would receive some merit. They prepared to distance themselves at any moment.

Zuo Mo decided to fight quickly.

He raised his right hand and then chopped down hard. “Kill!”

A cold light flashed through Lil’ Miss’ crescent eyes. Vermillion Bird Camp who had been waiting for the signal suddenly exploded. Hundreds of sword energies tore the air!

Howls shrieked through the air.

Shu Long gave a low shout, “Kill!”

The black energy shifted and twisted. Thousands of black energy threads gathered and formed a black flood in the general shape of a snake. Waves of deep shrieks came from in inside.

The sky seemed to have suddenly darkened.

The aura of destruction and the terrifying killing energy filled the sky. Everyone paled.

The trio felt their limbs turn cold. Each of them had pale faces. Only now did they realize how idiotic their ideas were! Regret filled Tian Ling Zi’s heart. At this time, he could only shout at the top of his lungs, “Retr… …”

His pupils suddenly expanded. He lowered his head, and saw a hand bursting out from his chest.

The xiuzhe around Tian Ling Zi looked at him as though they saw a ghost. The terror inside their eyes spread through their hearts like spiderwebs.

A figure with golden wings on its back disappeared from their field of view.

This attack was flawless!

The Light Void Wings on his back lightly flapped, and a rich flow of power seemed to flood in like the tide. His figure was like lightning and flew out a great distance. Zuo Mo did not feel any panic at being in battle. His mind was unusually serene. He carefully experienced the power from the Light Void Wings behind his back. Under the terrifying power, it was not an easy matter to control his posture.

This battle, however, was the perfect chance to learn.

As for the Sonic Lightning Walnuts, wastefulness was shameful … …

The Light Void Wings on his back shook, and his vision blurred. He appeared half a zhang in front of a xiuzhe.

Uh-oh!

Zuo Mo who had just been very smug made a strange sound. Before he could react, he smashed onto the other’s ling shield.

Ping!

The ling shield instantly broke. Zuo Mo’s earlier momentum did not dissipate, and heavily collided with the other..

Zuo Mo only heard a wail and the sound of bones breaking. It was like he hit a sandbag. He unconsciously moved the Light Void Wings on his back. A strong force passed over, and his figure uncontrollably disappeared again.

He was like a person-shaped wrecking ball that had completely lost control and bounced between the people in the crowd.

But his Great Day mo physique was very strong. Adding on that terrifying speed, bones broke and limbs tore off wherever he passed. The wails echoed in his ears.

He saw the others could not wound him and decided to ignore them to concentrate on controlling the Light Void Wings. Only when he could truly control the Light Void Wings would he have the true assets to fight against jindan. Every one of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique were powerful. If he could adeptly use them, his power would furiously grow.

Vermillion Bird Camp used a completely different style. Each platoon was like a blade. They were like butchers dismembering ling beasts, accurate, at ease, and without hurry.

Guard Camp was still unmoving at their spot, but the crazily dancing black energy was changing strangely. It suddenly gathered and scattered, sometimes turning into a large snake, and sometimes as countless small snakes. The unpredictability and strangeness of the Little Mo Kill was fully expressed.

However, no matter if it was the waves of charges from the Vermillion Bird Camp, or the Little Mo Kill of Guard Camp, none of them dared to go close to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s dashes and crashes made everyone in Vermillion Bird Camp feel shock, and distance themselves. If they were accidentally hit, they would end here. Any xiuzhe that Boss hit had wailed, flew out a long distance through the air like a sandbag, and was smashed to pieces as they crashed into the ground.

No one was left alive!

No one was left alive if they were hit … …

Their hearts felt a chill. They could clearly see that Boss’ posture when he hit others was very strange. This sign made it evident that Boss could not fully control himself. If they were killed due to being hit while Boss moved uncontrollably, that was a true embarrassment. Who could they complain to?

The xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp distanced themselves from Zuo Mo and traced out a long arc to circle around to kill the xiuzhe that wanted to escape.

Gongsun Cha’s smile had frozen on his face. He was looking with shock at the sky.

Compared to Vermillion Bird Camp’s avoidance, Guard Camp was even more depressed. When they had seen Vermillion Bird Camp moving aside, they had been slightly proud. Since they were attacking from a distance, they were very safe.

But shock quickly came onto Shu Long and the others’ faces.

The black energy of Little Mo Kill would go crazy and become uncontrollable for some unknown reason if it neared Boss and dispersed in all directions. In this short period of time, the black energy expended on the enemies wasn’t as much as the black energy that Boss had scattered.

What situation was this … …

Having met such a strange situation for the first time, Shu Long could only grimace.

Out of helplessness, he could only control the Little Mo Kill and attack the enemy from the fringes .

An extremely strange scene played out in the battlefield in the sky. Little Mo Kill and Vermillion Bird Camp formed the borders of the battlefield together like a steel wall. No xiuzhe was able to escape.

Inside this sphere, the sound of impact continuously rang out.

Zuo Mo saw the other was not able to damage his Great Day mo physique and decided to not care about his posture, and just focus on controlling the Light Void Wings on his back.

Therefore, he used all kinds of peerlessly strange positions and astounding speed to hit one xiuzhe after the other out of the spherical battlefield.

The people of Vermillion Bird Camp were alert. They were nervous about the enemies that were hit. No one would add another blow to these people. What they were alert about was not getting hit by these enemies. There was an unfortunate Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe that had been lightly injured by an enemy that had been sent flying.

It was a calamity from the heavens!

After a while, the enemies inside the spherical battlefield had completely collapsed. They furiously attacked the outside border!

In the sky, the blade-like charges instantly started!

Little Mo Kill was activated at full power without anything held back.

The wails of the enemy rang in their ears. Flowers spun out in the sky, and like dumplings, they continuously fell down.

The minds of these Sky Water Jie xiuzhe had been robbed, and their morale was at its lowest point. The entire troop was collapsing at a rapid rate. Having lost the commander, with collapsing morale, without motivation, they were just rabble. In front of elite troops like Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp, they were a group of sheep waiting for slaughter.

The merciless slaughter only continued for a short hour before the entire battlefield was cleared.

None of the spectating xiuzhe were able to maintain their calm. They looked with pale white faces at the empty battlefield, and looked at the Master of Golden Crow City’s subordinates methodically looting the battlefield.

These people’s practiced and crisp actions, these movements that did not have any presence of killing, made the xiuzhe from Sky Water Jie smell the scene of blood and fire after such a battle.

———

“So weak!” Lei Peng jerked a jade pendant from a corpse as he snorted coldly. “Just this group of trashy people, and they want to attack us. They really don’t know anything.”

“People die for wealth, birds die for food, what’s so strange about that? Weren’t we the same in the past?” Nian Lu did not even raise his head, his movements were clean and brisk.

Lei Peng stilled at the words. Tilting his head to think, he nodded and said, “That’s true.” He then furrowed his brow and said, “But we are no longer the same. But how are we not the same?”

Nian Lu’s hands stopped moving. He straightened his spine, and said seriously. “We aren’t the same now.” But he also could not pinpoint where they were not the same.

After thinking fruitlessly for a while, Lei Peng was impatient. “Whatever, what are we thinking about that for? Just follow Boss. In any case, an was thinking that our way of living now isn’t so bad. It’s worth it even if we die!”

“En,” Nian Lu made a sound of agreement, his eyes deep. “That’s right. We lived long enough since we didn’t die in Little Mountain Jie.”

———

Zuo Mo panted heavily. It was the first time he tried out close combat fighting in a real fight like this. He hadn’t felt it before, but when he stopped, he felt his entire body was unspeakably sore. He inhaled sharply. It looked as though this Great Day mo physique had its limits. He couldn’t be so brash in the future.

“You guys are too vicious!”

A choked female voice came from the sky. Zuo Mo raised his head and found a female xiuzhe within the crowd was swearing and pointing at his nose.

The surrounding suddenly became silent.

The faces of the xiuzhe beside Zuo Mo all darkened.

“What? Do you want to kill me too?” The female xiu proudly flew out of the crowd. Her eyes held tears, and her expression was excited. “They weren’t even defending themselves. Why can’t you give them a road to live? Why do you have to kill them all?”

Chapter 319: If You Want A Fight, Fight!

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes.

He decided to ignore her. This kind of woman didn’t have a clear head. Since the two sides had started to fight, if one spoke of benevolence, wasn’t that just asking for death? Crazy person!

“Let’s go!” He turned his head and said.

Shu Long led Guard Camp back to the slave transporting ships. They were able to fly for short distances, but their speed was slow. They liked using the steady slave transporting boats more. The Vermillion Bird Camp swam in the sky as they warily looked at the surrounding xiuzhe.

“Come on, kill! Kill!” The emotions of the female xiu became increasingly excited. “You killed so many people already. You shouldn’t be afraid of killing one more! What? You don’t dare? You people from Little Mountain Jie come to our Sky Water Jie and the first thing you do is to kill. Go back to your Little Mountain Jie, we don’t welcome you!”

The surrounding Sky Water Jie xiuzhe shifted.

The female xiu’s words really struck many of the Sky Water Jie xiuzhe’s hearts. They were already very resistant to the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie. Many people’s eyes became unfriendly. Some of the powers that had been observing started to shift.

Zuo Mo’s face suddenly became cold. He stopped in the air.

Vermillion Bird Camp started to consolidate. Having just stepped onto the slave transporting boat, Shu Long’s face darkened. The faces of the other people became ugly. They came from Little Mountain Jie and were abnormally sensitive to the atmosphere of their surrounding environment.

They felt enmity.

Zuo Mo did not speak. He was not shocked at this scene. To the xiuzhe of Sky Water Jie, they were just outsiders. The arrival of xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie had already significantly changed the status quo in Sky Water Jie which was why their enmity was so strong.

“You won’t even have mercy on women?” The more the female xiu shouted, the more sorrowful and angry she became. “Didn’t you kill Sect Leader Su Yue? What? If you have the guts, then kill me … …”

The voice suddenly stopped.

The head that flew into the air, her expression full of disbelief. She seemed to still be unable to believe that Zuo Mo dared to kill her under the eyes of the public!

The xiuzhe of Sky Water Jie instantly rumbled. Many people also had expressions of disbelief.

“Too arrogant! Everyone, let’s kill them!”

“The people from Little Mountain Jie dare to come run amok in our Sky Water Jie, everyone, fight together!”

The crowd was extremely furious. Many people had blood-filled eyes as they yearned to fight. The powers that had been observing from the side were slightly wavering. Their subordinates had already sank into argument.

“Listen well.”

Zuo Mo coldly stated.

For some reason, there seemed to be a fire burning in his chest. While in Little Mountain Jie, he had assumed that after leaving Little Mountain Jie he would find paradise. Yet what he never thought was that he would immediately encounter something that broke through his bottom line in Sky Water Jie.

He thought of those flower slave with scattered minds and dazed expressions, entirely wrapped in ling flowers.

The scornful ruckus in the surroundings entered his ears. He wanted to laugh, but he found that he wasn’t able to laugh. There seemed to be a breath stuck at his chest. Savagery and killing intent twisted and roiled in his chest.

Therefore, he spoke.

The surroundings instantly became silent.

“I don’t care who you are. If you want to fight, fight.” His eyes were deep, and his voice seemed to float across from far away. “Don’t waste words. We can’t compare to you, we are much cleaner and in the open.”

The surroundings were deathly silent. The people looked dazedly at the Master of Golden Crow City in the air. No one had expected that the Master of Golden Crow City would say such arrogant and tyrannical words at such a time! Was this person crazy! Did he really think he could really do what he wanted in Sky Water Jie with just the people he had?

Everyone was shocked by Zuo Mo’s words. No one spoke.

Zuo Mo slowly looked around. His sharp gaze made many people have the impulse to turn their face away.

He raised his right hand in the air.

“Anyone that attacks, kill them!”

The voice was like the wind and snow that blew in the winter, not loud, but it was chilling to the bone as it swept everyone’s hearts.

No matter if it was Vermillion Bird Camp, or Guard Camp, everyone, including the forging division, all of them felt their blood boil. An indescribable feeling came from their hearts. They couldn’t help but shout together, “Kill!”

The shouts of several thousand people together were like thunder as it spread.

The Sky Water Jie xiuzhe that had been wanting to fight were all stunned by this shout. Their slightly heated heads instantly cleared. They had never heard such a fierce and domineering presence from any other troop.

The Master of Golden Crow City and Hundred Flower Alliance had personal grievances. That wasn’t a secret in Sky Water Jie. Ever since the Master of Golden Crow City had led tens of thousands of people out of Little Mountain Jie, he had instantly entered the attention of the large powers of Sky Water Jie. The origins of the Master of Golden Crow City were mysterious and were hard to find. But the presence of the Hundred Flower Alliance insignia on the five slave transporting boats gave them a great deal to speculate on.

One factor for their attention was that they desired the wealth of the Master of Golden Crow City. Supposedly, the five slave transporting boats were packed with large numbers of talismans and materials. After defeating Hundred Flower Alliance, the spoils would be even richer, and greed made their hearts move.

Another factor was the rejection of Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe by Sky Water Jie xiuzhe. The factions were especially unaccepting of any power that could destabilize their influence.

Just as the factions looked at each other and wanted to discuss, their expressions changed, and looked towards the sky.

Large patches of dots appeared in the sky. Before they could see clearly, the blinding sword energy that lit up when people were flying on the sword at their fastest speed lit up the entire sky, and forced them to narrow their eyes.

“City Master!”

“Ha! It’s the City Master!”

The shouts came like a tide.

———

These Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe that had come to help were very excited at this time. All of the surviving xiuzhe from Little Mountain Jie were ningmai, and they were in their forties or above. They were used to the way of the world. However, none of these people could keep their composure. Fei Shan was not an exception. He found he could not calm down.

He suddenly recalled the magnificent battles at Golden Crow City. They were deeply embedded in his heart. He still remembered his emotions at that time, especially when the City Master had led everyone to swear at the Clear Sky Old Forefather. He had imagined how exhilarating it would be to fight under the command of the Master of Golden Crow City. He hadn’t thought such a day would really come. He was very excited.

The Master of Golden Crow City looked to be in his early twenties. Among these fifty and sixty year old ningmai, he was somewhat outrageously young. But this youth that was outrageously young seemed to have a charisma that made people trust and obey him, and to be willing to fight for him!

The Sky Water Jie xiuzhe jumped in fright, and hurriedly rode their swords to flee.

———

In a short while, all of the Sky Water Jie xiuzhe had left the enormous Hundred Flower Valley. This change was so sudden that some Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe were too excited and wanted to chase before they were pulled back by their fellows.

“Stop shouting! Listen to the City Master! Which of you is more able than City Master!”

“Everyone listen to the City Master!”

The heads of the little factions in this crowd of xiuzhe spoke, and those xiuzhe making a fuss instantly closed their mouths. In terms of command, no one dared to compete against Zuo Mo.

At the beginning, Zuo Mo was quite puzzled. When he was informed that these xiuzhe had all heard that he was in danger and came to help, he was dumbstruck where he stood. He was very moved. Truthfully, he had never thought of these people when he fought with Clear Sky Old Forefather. He just did it for himself.

So he had never thought these people would remember this.

His heart was very warm. The darkness created by Hundred Flower Alliance was swept away. The sun seemed much brighter. He bowed towards the people, “This one thanks everyone here!”

This group of xiuzhe instantly became panicked.

“What is City Master doing?”

“City Master saved our lives, this is what we should do.”

“Yes, yes … …”

The people spoke over each other as they returned the bow.

After standing up, Zuo Mo swept the surroundings and said with a smile, “Let’s go down to rest!”

The people all agreed and landed on a mountain in Hundred Flower Valley.

Everyone felt very close upon seeing each other, and they were even noisier when they gathered together. Each person had a sunny smile on their face. Some chatty people had grouped together and started to converse.

The heads of some of the factions were circled around Zuo Mo as they held a discussion.

“City Master, I just received news. Cloud Divine Sect and Wood Sword Sect have gathered more than ten smaller sects and are planning to attack us tomorrow,” a faction head said worriedly. To be able to become a leader, he naturally had his talents. This leader’s abilities could not be underestimated as he was be able to place spies in Bright Water City so quickly.

Seeing many people were unmoved, he hurriedly explained the status of Cloud Divine Sect and Wood Sword Sect in Sky Water Jie. After his explanation, everyone all inhaled sharply.

Zuo Mo’s expression was normal as he raised his folded hands to this leader. “I have not asked for this big brother’s name.”

This leader said with some panic, “City Master is really troubling this one. This one is Zheng Wei. City Master can just call me by name. Don’t say anything more about big brother.”

Zuo Mo smiled. “Can Head Zheng give us some more details?”

Zheng Wei hurriedly narrated the news that he had just received from the beginning, and introduced the sects. After he finished, everyone was silent. The other side’s strength far surpassed their imagination.

If there really were so many people … …

Everyone turned to look at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo unconsciously furrowed his brow. He felt shocked at this news. If he had received this news in any other circumstances, he would only do one thing: take everyone and flee.

But … …

Right now, he would not flee. He was sure that if he fled, the other xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie would become the targets to vent hatred. The xiuzhe of Sky Water Jie would use this chance to weaken the powers of the Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe until they were sure the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie were not a threat to them.

He previously had not felt these xiuzhe had any connection to him, but now that he knew he could not just leave and end it.

Many paper cranes suddenly flew in from the sky and into the crowd of people.

“Ha, Li Xiao Si can arrive tonight!”

“I just knew they wouldn’t be able to stop themselves. Ha ha, Old Man Yang has his brothers and is hurrying over!”

Several paper cranes flew into Zheng Wei’s hands. After Zheng Wei finished reading, he was overjoyed. He said excitedly, “City Master, they’ve all come! Everyone is coming!”

A blush came onto Gongsun Cha’s face. His smile was even more bashful and shy as his eyes flashed with an unusual brightness. Shu Long stood silently beside Zuo Mo, but his heavy breathing exposed the desire for battle inside.

Zuo Mo’s mood was unsteady. He suddenly stood up as he looked towards Bright Water City.

“Well then let’s f***ing fight!”

Book 5 - Charge Out of the Ancient Battlefield

Chapter 320: Move Out

The night came.

The mountain peaks of Hundred Flower Valley were filled with light and sound.

Zuo Mo stood at the highest mountain peak. The campground below was very busy. His gaze turned to the empty darkness that held unpredictable dangers. He knew that many eyes were staring back at  him from the darkness. The people were waiting for tomorrow to come.

But … …

Thick clouds blanketed the entire sky. There wasn’t one thread of moonlight. A hint of mirth floated at the corner of his lips.

———

Ma Fan was sneaking in the darkness like a ghost. His movements were soundless. What was even more astounding was that none of his movements created any ripples of ling power. Lei Peng and the others that were watching from far away had expressions of admiration.

Ma Fan had taught all of them hidden movement spells, but when Ma Fan activated the spells, he wasn’t just slightly more familiar with them. His actions were light, and relaxed.

As expected of the core that Lil’ Miss had appointed!

Ma Fan crouched as he moved stealthily like an intangible shadow, he was merged into the darkness. The noises from Hundred Flower Valley could be heard from afar, and contrasted against the silence of the surroundings. He suddenly thought of his life in the past, before he had encountered Boss. He had frequently had to do work that required travelling in the night.

He did not like darkness.

At that time, he had only wanted to find a steady job and not have to fight for his life in the shadows. After the calamity of Little Mountain Jie, his situation had deteriorated even more. Fortunately, he had several good skills and managed to survive, but the desire for a stable life had gotten stronger.

He wasn’t a person with ambition. Being appointed the core by Lil’ Miss had not made him happy. It was the opposite. The training that he had done far surpassed everyone else. He improved very quickly. Even now, he was one of the two people that had the most influence in Sky Peak Platoon.

He had originally assumed he would quickly feel tired. This life of training every day was not something he wanted. But to his shock, he found he did not dislike it like he had predicted. He had started to accept this troop and gradually started to like this troop.

It wasn’t for the stimulation of battle, or for those spells and formations, but for hope. This troop, without him noticing it made him feel hope, feel sunshine. Even if he was walking in the darkness, he didn’t have any negative feelings like he did in the past. Every person behind his back made him feel safe and trusted.

Thinking about that, his eyes unconsciously glanced to his side. The space there was empty. Usually Xie Shan would appear at that spot. A few days ago Xie Shan had entered secluded meditation, and had not come out even now. He couldn’t help but feel slightly worried. After being paired together for such a long time, they cooperated very well, and had great feelings for each other.

His expression suddenly shifted. He stopped his nonsensical thinking, and his figure paused.

Everyone instantly became nervous.

Without any words, everyone spread out and silently advanced forwards.

———

Two people were hiding in a tree.

“Hmph, I want to see how long these people from Little Mountain Jie can be happy for!” one of the people said furiously.

“Ha, daylight will be the time of their execution!” The other person said greedily, “Supposedly, they are swimming in wealth. I wonder if we can get one or two items?”

“Please, we’re just assigned to watch the wind, what hopes do we have of getting anything good? It’s already pretty good to get some third-grade jingshi.”

“Hey, the sect is pretty generous this time. Twenty pieces of third-grade jingshi, that’s enough for us to use for a while.”

“Twenty pieces? Hmph, I wonder how much will remain by the time we get them?”

The two people suddenly felt a cold flash against their necks. Their pupils suddenly expanded but they were not able to make any sound. Several shadows appeared by their corpses. It was Ma Fan and the others.

“Tenth one!” Nian Lu said lightly.

The other side really had sent out a great number of scouts around Hundred Flower Valley. In this little while, they had gotten rid of ten scouts. It was smooth sailing for these people of Sky Peak Platoon that comprehended sword essence to do ambushes.

Ma Fan carefully stripped the two people clean. Seeing there was nothing suspicious, he raised his head. “We need to be quick. It is almost one o’clock.”

Everyone had hurried expressions.

Almost one o’clock… …

Ma Fan led everyone to quickly leave and search for the next target. They were silently but rapidly advancing along a path that was very out of the way. Along the way, they occasionally got rid of some scouts. But this road was really far out of the way, and they did not encounter too many scouts.

When they came out of a mountain valley, they could see Bright Water City and its lights. Bright Water River was serene and silent in the night. Ma Fan released a breath.

It was not yet one o’clock.

He nodded at Lei Peng and Nian Lu behind him. The two understood and quickly disappeared into the night. The remaining people were divided into several groups that disappeared behind the two people.

Ma Fan looked at the three people remaining beside him and said lightly, “Everyone, rest for a while.”

Finishing, he crossed his legs and sat. The other three did not waste words and also meditated.

———

In a deep valley that was once the area that Hundred Flower Alliance kept its flower slaves. The location was very out-of-the-way and hidden. Zuo Mo had already looted the entire mountain valley, and left nothing behind. This empty mountain valley was filled with seated people at this moment.

Zong Ru said in a light voice next to Gongsun Cha’s ear. “Daren, it’s one.”

The smile on Gongsun Cha’s face grew with a bashfulness that could not be hidden. He opened his eyes that flashed with a pressuring sharpness. “Depart.”

A troop silently advanced along a narrow mountain valley. It was possible to see figures flashing along the two sides of the mountain valley. The troop did not slow down at all. Everyone knew that those were the members of Sky Peak Platoon. They had swept this path clean.

———

Guarding at the mouth of the valley, Ma Fan suddenly opened his eyes, and saw a shadowy troop. His heart finally landed. They had not failed the mission that Lil’ Miss had given them.

The troop silently streamed and flew out of the valley. The dense woods outside the mountain valley gave them the best concealment.

When Gongsun Cha walked out of the mountain valley, he suddenly stopped in his steps and turned to look at the highest mountain peak. He couldn’t help but lightly laugh.

Shixiong, enjoy getting blown on by the wind.

After watching as the troop disappeared in the night, Ma Fan moved away his eyes and said contentedly, “Let’s go back!”

———

Wood Sword Sect.

“Master, let this disciple be first tomorrow!” a xiuzhe with handsome features couldn’t help but say. He was Yan Yang’s beloved disciple, Gao Xiu, and in charge of Wood Sword Camp.

Yan Yang looked with benevolent affection at Gao Xiu. He had put great effort onto Gao Xiu. Gao Xiu had not failed his expectations to be in charge of Wood Sword Camp before he was twenty-five. What many people did not know was that Gao Xiu had just received the White Silver battle general jade medal.

To be able to become a White Silver battle general at twenty five, this talent was enough to dominate all of Sky Water Jie and no one could rival him.

He could understand his disciple’s desire for battle. Just having received the White Silver battle general jade medal, he desired to use real combat to train himself.

“Don’t worry, you can’t even avoid the fight if you wanted to tomorrow,” Yan Yang said with a smile. Then his expression became serious. “But you have to be careful. There are two troops under the command of the Master of Golden Crow City. To be able to kill their way out of Little Mountain Jie, they naturally are very strong. You are familiar with Rong Wei. That little girl’s eyes aren’t bad. If she thinks they are elite, then they are definitely elite!”

“This disciple will definitely fight with everything, and not fail the reputation of our sect!” Gao Xiu said.

Yan Yang shook his head. “You are wrong. My demand of you is not to make great achievements, but to make no mistakes.”

Gao Xiu raised his head in shock.

“Then why did I make the wager with He Qiu when I know the other is an elite force?” Yang said meaningfully. “Wood Sword Camp is like a sword, and it needs to be sharpened before it can show its power. This Master of Golden Crow City is the whetstone. But we need to be careful or we may break against it. You need to be especially careful of your safety. As long as you are here, Wood Sword Camp is here, and you will not want for opportunities.”

Gao Xiu was moved, and he respectfully bowed. “This disciple understands.”

Yan Yang suddenly asked, “What is the situation at Hundred Flower Valley?”

Gao Xiu hurriedly said, “The Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe of this area have almost all gathered at Hundred Flower Valley. There are also many Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe that are heading over from all places.”

“The Master of Golden Crow City really has skill to have such a high reputation among this group of people!” Yan Yang praised, “If we give him the time, he may become a warlord. Right, where is he now? Keep track of his movements.”

“He is on the main peak of Hundred Flower Valley. Our people have been keeping an eye on him from afar.” Gao Xiu said with a smile, “Supposedly, he has been standing in the wind. He must be having a headache over tomorrow’s battle!”

“A strong dragon cannot suppress the local snakehead, you have to securely remember this, and not do as the Master of Golden Crow City is doing.”

“This disciple understands.”

———

Zuo Mo stood at the top of the mountain as the cold wind blew. He couldn’t help but swear, “What stupid plan needs ge to stand up here in the wind for the whole night. If this keeps on going, ge will go crazy in the wind!”

A Gui silently sat next to him. Other than when he fought, wherever Zuo Mo went, she would follow him like a puppet. Lil’ Black was snoozing on A Gui’s head. Lil’ Fire and Lil’ Pagoda were full of energy as they rolled around on her body happily. Silly Bird was silently standing next to A Gui. When she heard Zuo Mo’s words, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Somewhat bored, Zuo Mo reached out to Lil’ Fire. “Lil’ Fire, come over.”

Hearing this, Lil’ Fire instantly joyfully flew in front of Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo grabbed Lil’ Fire. It was very soft, and nice to grasp. Both of his hands were grasping Lil’ Fire as he put Lil’ Fire in front of his eyes in curiosity. He tightened and loosened his grip. “Hm, why aren’t you sprouting fire?”

Lil’ Pagoda who had also wanted to join in saw the situation and instantly shrank back.

The pitiful Lil’ Fire was kneaded in Zuo Mo’s hands until it sprouted a small flame. However, it never could have thought Zuo Mo was even more motivated, and kneaded even more happily.

“So interesting! Very interesting!”

Lil’ Fire became a bag that could sprout fire. With a squeeze, it would sprout a thread of fire. Lil’ Fire chirped sorrowfully, but no matter how it struggled, it could not escape these demonic hands, and could only sprout fire in humiliation.

Lil’ Pagoda ran to A Gui’s head, and watched sympathetically with Lil’ Black at Lil’ Fire.

Zuo Mo’s hand suddenly felt pain and uncontrollably relaxed. Lil’ Fire took the chance and broke free of the demonic hands.

Zuo Mo turned his face. What welcomed him was Silly Bird’s gaze filled with scorn. Just now, it had been her that pecked Zuo Mo’s hand.

He looked dazedly at Silly Bird and was astounded.

That peck … … was so strong!

He had the Great Day mo physique … … but he couldn’t keep his grip under the peck … …

He looked with disbelief at Silly Bird but the scene that followed shocked him even more!

Chapter 321: Ambush

Silly Bird suddenly turned her head around, and her bird eyes stared at the thick cloud cover far in the sky.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen Silly Bird have such a vicious gaze as though she had seen something she extremely disliked.

Just as Zuo Mo was puzzled, Silly Bird suddenly gave a long call, her wings spreading, and then she disappeared. Zuo Mo only saw a shadow fly by. When he managed to react, he saw a shocking scene.

Silly Bird was like a bolt of grey lightning that entered the thick black clouds.

What was this bird … … doing … …

Zuo Mo dazedly looked at the clouds, his mind unable to react. Just as he prepared to go and take a look, a shadow flew close and appeared in front of him. It was Silly Bird!

There were traces of blood on Silly Bird’s long beak. Her gaze was vicious as she puffed her head and chest high, her body wrapped in killing intent. She called out a clear long note that rang into the distance.

A shadow suddenly dropped out of the clouds. Zuo Mo saw it clearly. It was a Black Bat. The stomach of this Black Bat had been eviscerated, exposing the innards, and it clearly wouldn’t live. Black Bats were third-grade ling beasts. Their ears were extremely keen and they were mostly used for information gathering.

However, it was not easy to raise a Black Bat. They were very expensive. Normal scouts couldn’t afford them.

“Master of Golden Crow City! You dare to kill my Black Bat, tomorrow, I will make you die!”

A male’s shout came far out in the distance inside the clouds.

Zuo Mo ignored it. His eyes were tightly locked onto Silly Bird. The viciousness in Silly Bird’s eyes quickly retreated, and she quickly became as proud and aloof as she usually was. If it wasn’t for the traces of blood still on Silly Bird’s beak, Zuo Mo definitely would have thought what just happened was his delusion.

He huddled in front of Silly Bird.

“Oh, you look very normal.”

Silly Bird rolled her eyes and ignored him. She raised her bird head up high, strutted her bird walk, and left.

“When did this bird get so vicious?” Zuo Mo rubbed his chin as he said to himself. He wanted to chase, but when he looked at the surroundings and remembered that he still had the mission of keeping the other side’s spies occupied, he could only stand on the mountain to be blown by the wind.

He shook his head, and decided to ignore the bird. After she had gone out to show off last time, she hadn’t been very normal.

“A Gui, do you think we can win?”

A Gui was sitting woodenly.

Zuo Mo did not care and sat down next to A Gui. Looking out at the dark black sky, he became unfocused.

He didn’t notice an extremely faint, almost imperceptible purple light flash suddenly through A Gui’s empty eyes.

———

Bright Water City was surrounded by a large river. This large river was Bright Water River, and it was the origin of Bright Water City’s name. In the dark, Bright Water River was so quiet it seemed to be sleeping. There weren’t any waves. Suddenly, the water’s surface started to ripple and a figure slowly rose out of the river water.

This person looked around for a while, saw no one was around, and took out a little black umbrella.

The little umbrella flew out of his hand and turned to an intangible black silk that floated onto the sky above the river.

A moment later, figures rose up from the river water. In the span of a few breaths, the surface of the river was filled with people. These people silently floated into the sky above the river.

“This Black Ling Hiding Umbrella really lives up to being a fourth-grade talisman.” Wei Ran lifted his head to look at the black silk that was floating in the sky. This ethereal black silk covered all of them. They couldn’t be seen from the outside. This Black Ling Hiding Umbrella was one of the fourth-grade talismans from Boss’ spoils. It could hide people, and more importantly, it could stop ling energy ripples from spreading into the surrounding area.

Even as he praised, he took out jingshi and started to recover his ling power.

No one spoke. Everyone silently recovered their ling power.

Gongsun Cha didn’t need to recover ling power. He examined the nearby Bright Water City, and his lips curved. The powers of Bright Water City clearly didn’t think highly of them. Bright Water City almost had no defenses at all. The Black Ling Hiding Umbrella was a powerful talisman, but there were many formations and talismans that could detect it.

But they hadn’t encountered even one of them.

The loose defense was full of holes in Gongsun Cha’s eyes. He thought it was a pity that they were not here to attack the city.

One hour later, everyone finished their recovery.

The Black Ling Hiding Umbrella was put away. It could not be moved when it was activated. That was its only flaw.

Vermillion Bird Camp flew twenty zhang into the sky. Gongsun Cha sat on the broad Green Cloud Sword. Gazing down at Bright Water City, the corners of his mouth moved up. A cold light flashed through his eyes as he said lightly, “Start!”

Hiss!

Vermillion Bird Camp suddenly moved.

———

The lanterns on the streets gave off a warm yet bright light. Tonight’s Bright Water City was excited yet frantic. Large amounts of xiuzhe had gathered in Bright Water City. They were waiting for dawn. The actions taken this time were the most significant ones in Bright Water City’s recent history. Everyone was full of excitement and anticipation.

Wood Sword Camp and Flying Cloud Camp had already reached Bright Water City and made camp. The other sects were urgently gathering combat xiuzhe in order to attend this great banquet.

The tea houses and bars were filled with people. People even filled the streets.

The passer-by on the streets suddenly heard a strange sound. They stilled, and couldn’t resist raising their heads.

Large numbers of figures flashed through the sky, and caused endless howls.

Hiss, everyone without exception inhaled sharply.

This troop’s presence was shocking and were definitely an elite force. Many people started to speculate which sect’s elite force had arrived. This grand banquet had attracted the gaze of countless sects.

The xiuzhe flashed rapidly through the sky. Before they could react, the people had disappeared.

“So strong, I don’t know which sect had sent them. This really is a great force!”

“Hee hee, tomorrow is going to be a spectacle!”

Everyone became more excited as they chatted.

———

Gao Xiu came from the sect leader’s place and returned to the Vast Sun Hall. The Wood Sword Camp xiuzhe he encountered along the way bowed to him. Everyone could not disguise the excitement on their faces. They had hurried to Bright Water City in the afternoon and camped in Vast Sun Hall.

Gao Xiu’s vice-commander and a group of xiuzhe came over. “Daren, what did Sect Leader say?”

“We’re up first tomorrow!” Gao Xiu said with a smile, excitement flashing through his eyes.

“Great!”

“Ha ha, we’ll let the people from Flying Cloud Camp to see how strong we are!”

The xiuzhe of Wood Sword Camp cheered excitedly. They were the best disciples of Wood Sword Sect. Hadn’t they trained for decades just for this day?

Gao Xiu suddenly furrowed his brows. He could hear trembling vibrations coming close to them.

He knew what it was. That was the sound produced when a large troop flew by. The other xiuzhe were also alerted to the sound.

“Which bastard dares to fly above our heads?” someone couldn’t help swearing.

Camps like Wood Sword Camp were very wary of people flying over their heads, and all the sects would try to avoid flying over other camps. This was an unwritten rule.

“Has Flying Wind Camp come to Bright Water City?” Gao Xiu suddenly asked.

“They arrived four hours ago,” his subordinate answered.

Gao Xiu’s expression suddenly changed as he shouted, “Enemy attack!”

The black patch of xiuzhe appeared with astonishing speed in everyone’s vision!

Boom!

Countless sword energies rained down like a storm.

The black night was suddenly lit up by countless grand sword energies. The entire Vast Sun Hall was completely covered by the other side’s sword energies.

The xiuzhe around Gao Xiu all paled but they were well-trained and activated their ling shields to protect Gao Xiu. Some other Wood Sword Camp xiuzhe gritted their teeth and shouted, “Kill!”

Hundreds of figures flew up against the rain of sword energies.

Pew pew pew!

The ling shield of a Wood Sword xiuzhe cracked. He wasn’t able to make any response before dozens of sword energies pierced his body. Dozens of blood blossoms formed. Under the rain of sword energies, the sprays of blood were like explosions on these Wood Sword camp xiuzhe.

The grand Vast Sun Hall was instantly destroyed by the sword energy rain and was left riddled with holes.

“You dare!”

An angry shout suddenly sounded like lightning. Right after, a middle-aged xiuzhe holding an almond-yellow little flag waved out layers of yellow light. When the dense sword energy rain hit these yellow light curtains, they were only able to make ripples.

The morale of the Wood Sword Camp xiuzhe increased.

———

“Ha, jindan,” Lil’ Miss lightly breathed.

Just as the middle-aged xiuzhe appeared, Wei Ran had locked onto the other. What he hadn’t expected was the other had moved faster than he did. He snorted coldly, and took his division’s xiuzhe to fly out in an arc into the sky. Then then turned and started to dive.

Their speed suddenly increased, a piercing sound roared in the air.

Even among the sounds of battle, the howling that caused people’s scalp to prickle, Wei Ran raised the flying sword in his hand. The xiuzhe behind him all raised their flying swords.

“Hundred Kill!”

Wei Ran suddenly bellowed, the flying sword in his hand heavily striking down.

“Hundred Kill!”

The Second Division behind him all shouted, their flying sword striking down.

A terrifying sword energy more than twenty zhang long destructively tore through the air as it descended from the sky and landed heavily against the yellow light curtain.

Ping!

The yellow light curtain suddenly splintered and only half of the enormous sword energy was left.

A thread of blood came from the corner of the middle-aged person’s mouth. Viciousness flashed through his eyes. He raised his head and saw the half section of sword energy coming towards him. He said, “Good attack!” He pointed with the almond-yellow flag. A blinding yellow light collided directly with the remaining section of sword energy.

Boom!

Wei Ran only saw a patch of whiteness and was not able to see anything. He gritted his teeth, gathered his last bit of ling power, and threw what was in his hand down hard.

Just as the item in his hand left, a large force passed over him. He couldn’t control his body, and was thrown into the air.

Up in the sky, almost lacking all energy, he gave a smile, “Idiot!”

Boom!

Even more powerful explosions came from below.

Sonic Lightning Walnuts!

He had just thrown down a Sonic Lightning Walnut. The twelve division leaders had all been given a Sonic Lightning Walnut by Boss!

Before the Hundred Kill attack, he had already prepared the Sonic Lightning Walnut.

Relying on just Hundred Kill wasn’t enough to kill a jindan, but after a Hundred Kill, even a jindan couldn’t escape the Sonic Lightning Walnut.

Booooooooooooooooom!

A rapid series of sonic lightning explosions came from below. At this time, all of the division leaders had bombed down the Sonic Lightning Walnuts that they had held.

Before they could clearly see what the explosions did, a voice came from beside their ear, “Retreat!”

Chapter 322: Victory!

On the mountaintop, Zuo Mo saw the blinding light appearing above Bright Water City and suddenly jumped up from the ground as he roared with laughter, “Yes!”

———

Immediately after, blinding sword energies lit up the sky like a meteor shower that flew towards Hundred Flower Valley. At this time, Vermillion Bird Camp no longer needed to conceal themselves. The people that had ling power remaining all channelled their ling power to draw out blinding lights.

The xiuzhe of Bright Water City all finally reacted. Sword xiu continuously flew into the sky, and chased after the the blinding lights!

Soon, a grand scene appeared in the sky. Following after thousands of sword energies were an even greater number of sword energies. Almost all the sword xiu of Bright Water City had come out. The most eye-catching was Flying Cloud Camp that flew at the very front. Flying Cloud Camp were well trained and responded the quickest. After the twelve Sonic Lightning Walnuts exploded together, they had also been affected by the power.

Hu Shan’s eyes could spit fire. He had never thought the Master of Golden Crow City would be so insane and daring to this level! He didn’t bother looking down at Bright Water City. After such a terrifying explosion, there wouldn’t be anyone left alive at the campsite of Wood Sword Camp.

Before this night, he had never thought that Wood Sword Camp would be destroyed in a single night, and be destroyed so completely.

The relationship between Flying Cloud Camp and Wood Sword Camp couldn’t be called harmonious, but … …

He gritted his teeth. He felt there was a burst of fire inside his chest that wanted to get out! This group of bastards!

The distance between the Vermillion Bird camp and Flying Cloud camp remained steady as the chase continued, neither side gaining on the other. Flying Cloud Camp had reacted the quickest and so they tightly followed behind the other. Vermillion Bird Camp had made great expenditures in the ambush just now, and was at their weakest. If they could catch up, Flying Cloud Camp would definitely have the advantage.

In the night, the two sides did not have any care, and let all of their ling power go. One in front and one in the back, they were like two waves of meteorites that flew with astounding speed flying along the bottom of a thick cloud layer.

Hu Shan glared with wide eyes. The speed of the other side was beyond their expectations. They had to use all their ling power and they were just able to keep up. Before, Hu Shan had heard that the Master of Golden Crow City that had two elite forces. Looking at it now, they really were elite!

Flying Cloud Camp was famous for its speed, and Hu Shan was shocked that the other was even faster than they were.

Wait a moment!

The Master of Golden Crow City had two elite forces … …

Hu Shan’s heart suddenly sank. His limbs felt cold as his face paled.

Two elite forces … … where was the other elite force?

Not good!

At this moment, a deep voice sounded out from the cloud layer.

“Kill!”

Thousands of people shouted together, “Kill!”

Hu Shan felt his vision blur. Countless black snakes suddenly burrowed out of the cloud layer and rushed towards them!

Their speed had been raised to the maximum. They didn’t even have the time to think, much less dodge, before these black snakes had reached them. Hu Shan could clearly see the fangs of the black snakes.

He watched as the black snake penetrated his body. Disbelief and shock remained in Hu Shan’s wide eyes.

He almost couldn’t believe he would die so easily.

The moment the black snake entered his body, he felt his body become cold as something icy passed through his body. The channels in his body were destroyed, and he lost control of his body. His body flipped as it fell through the air, and crashed heavily on the ground.

Pia pia pia!

The sounds of impact were like raindrops that did not end.

Each of the black snakes penetrated a body and came out the back, its features twisted. With the remainder of its power, it usually would penetrate between three to five people!

This change happened in a flash, so quick that people were basically unable to react. Flying Cloud Camp instantly descended into chaos. They seemed to have been heavily swatted. The troop was scattered by the charge of black energy, and were left with heavy casualties and injuries. Due to the speed they were travelling at, the distance between the xiuzhe in the front and back of the troop was too small. Once the front lines had turned to chaos, the xiuzhe at the back didn’t have the time to respond and they collided together.

The sound of bones cracking, and flesh tearing, as well as grunts and wails appeared simultaneously in this short moment.

The battle immediately reached its climax, its grandest moment, the time of death!

Like a meteor shower, the beautiful sword energies seemed to have been extinguished by this black wind, only leaving behind a few that fled in terror.

Sneak attack, baiting, ambush, one tactic after the other. In one night, the two most famous elite forces of Bright Water City were almost completely destroyed.

At this time, Shu Long showed his rich battle experience. He did not choose to use the Successive Mo Kill which was more powerful, but used the weaker, and more easily controlled Little Mo Kill.

The more powerful the xiuzhe were, the more vicious and cruel the battles between them were, especially large scale battles like this one.

An enormous slave transporting boat emerged from the clouds and appeared in everyone’s view. The high speed pursuit had caused the distance between Flying Cloud camp and the other Bright Water City xiuzhe to increase. Leaving, Shu Long able to leisurely retreat towards Hundred Flower Valley.

The Bright Water City xiuzhe that managed to arrive could only watch the slave transporting boat enter the shadows of Hundred Flower Valley.

No one dared to give chase!

Many of them did not understand what was going on. They didn’t know what had happened in Bright Water City, but the destruction of Flying Cloud Camp had happened in front of their eyes. Just now, the famed Flying Cloud Camp had almost been completely annihilated.

They had personally seen the entire process.

The ease that the Master of Golden Crow City had accomplished this made them feel a bone-aching chill. Terror gripped their hearts like the night.

The sky was almost completely filled with xiuzhe from Bright Water City but no one dared to move closer. The entire sky was unusually quiet with a deathly silence.

———

“This is a good chance to charge and kill,” The first words that Gongsun Cha said to Zuo Mo when he got off the Green Cloud Sword was this.

Zuo Mo understood what Gongsun Cha meant. The other side’s morale had reached the bottom. If he took the xiuzhe of Little Mountain Jie and charged out right now, not even half of the xiuzhe in the air right now would remain.

But he shook his head and said, “This is enough.”

His eyes looked at the camp inside the valley that seemed to be boiling, and began wandering off in thought.

Just as he finished saying this, many people flew from the camp onto the mountaintop.

“City Master! Let’s attack! They are afraid!”

“Yes! It is a great chance!”

Everyone spoke over each other as they urged Zuo Mo to act. They were the leaders of the various factions.

Zuo Mo smiled, and a rare expression of solemnity came onto his face. “Everyone.”

Once he spoke, the noisy crowd instantly quieted.

“First, there is something that needs to be told to everyone.” Zuo Mo looked at the surroundings and said, “After this matter is over, we will be leaving Sky Water Jie.”

These people were all heads, and were smart people. Some were puzzled, some were dazed, but they all had thoughtful expressions.

“But the great majority of everyone will be remaining here. Those people,” Zuo Mo pointed at the xiuzhe in the sky, “are mostly normal xiuzhe. If they are killed, we can dust off our asses, and leave, no problem. But what about you? How will you establish yourselves in Sky Water Jie?”

“It isn’t too great of a problem to offend Cloud Divine Sect and Wood Sword Sect, but if you offend all of Sky Water Jie, there will be no place for you in Sky Water Jie.

“Everyone has come here to seek a chance at survival. No one wants to have come out of Little Mountain Jie and still fight everyday!”

Zuo Mo’s words caused everyone to be speechless.

“This one will remember and accept everyone’s good will, and is very grateful. This Hundred Flower Valley and this victory is gifted to everyone.”

“After today, there will be more xiuzhe that have rushed here. Why don’t you build a city here? If everyone is able to work together, with the precedent of Wood Sword Camp and Flying Cloud Camp, no one would dare to make trouble.

“This way, everyone can have safe and secure days.”

In the dark, Zuo Mo’s smile was like sunlight, his eyes black and bright as they attracted everyone’s gaze.

———

After the dark of the night came the light of dawn.

Many Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe came from all directions to Bright Water City, but before they could hurry to Bright Water City, the news of the Master of Golden Crow City’s great victory and the destruction of the Wood Sword and Flying Cloud Camps seemed to grow wings and spread throughout all of Sky Water Jie. The entire jie was shocked.

Just as the large factions of Sky Water Jie speculated on the future, the news that a city was being built in Hundred Flower Valley spread through Sky Water Jie.

The new city was called Little Mountain City.

Every Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe that was hurrying towards Bright Water City was reenergized and travelled day and night to fly towards Hundred Flower Valley.

In a short few days, almost half of all the Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe had gathered in Hundred Flower Valley.

All of the major factions in Sky Water Jie were attentively watching the movements of Hundred Flower Valley. They had originally assumed that Wood Sword Sect and Cloud Divine Sect would use their entire sect to exact vengeance, but unexpectedly, both sects maintained their silence and did not act.

By this time, almost eight-tenths of Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe had gathered in Hundred Flower Valley, and it was very busy.

The Master of Golden Crow City who was the subject of great hope had closed his doors to guests and cultivated every day.

“You aren’t going to help them?” Gongsun Cha asked.

“This isn’t something we should be involved in.” Zuo Mo shook his head, and then muttered, “Ge feels burdened with just the amount of people there already is. If there is any more people, ge will find a tree and hang himself.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Lil’ Miss nodded his head, and smacked his lips. He said regretfully, “We didn’t gain much from this battle.”

“A little unprofitable.” These words poked Zuo Mo’s wound. He couldn’t help but have an expression of heartache. They had invested greatly in this big victory. Just the dozen Sonic Lightning Walnuts were an astounding expense, but there were no spoils. It was the first time they had a battle with just expenses and no gains.

“It will count as thanks to them,” Zuo Mo comforted himself, but the heartache in his words didn’t lessen.

Feeling the strong effect this topic had on him, Zuo Mo decided to change the topic. He turned and asked Shu Long, “How is A Wen? Is he adjusting well? What about those flower slaves?”

Shu Long respectfully said, “A Wen’s injuries should completely heal in about a fortnight. The flower slaves are much better after cultivating the spell that daren taught them, but their situation will take some time until it can be clearly determined.”

“That’s good.” Zuo Mo felt his mood was much better.

Who said it, doing good deeds made one feel better. Even though it did not feel as good as jingshi, but Zuo Mo’s mood became much lighter.

The cloud suddenly started to gather in the sky above Hundred Flower Valley.

In less than ten breathes, there were dark clouds. The sky turned dark, and a pressuring mood filled all of Hundred Flower Valley.

Zuo Mo suddenly stood up, his face full of shock. “It’s Xie Shan!”

Chapter 323: Core Formation

The entire Hundred Flower Valley started to move.

Core formation!

Someone was having their core formation!

Compared to entering the zhuji and ningmai stages, forming the core made a much bigger spectacle. The sky had just been full of light, but now it was covered in dark clouds. It was possible to see lightning snakes among the clouds, and five colored auroras flowing by. Many people couldn’t help but have admiring expressions. Everyone caused different apparitions when they were forming their core. The exact nature of the apparition was related to the xiuzhe’s own spells, and the laws that they comprehended.

The changes of the world during core formation was extremely important to a xiuzhe because it was the first step for a xiuzhe to comprehend the higher levels of the world’s rules. Higher levelled rules, and deeper comprehension began with the apparition during core formation. Stepping into this door was a brand new world.

This was core formation! The core formation that countless people dreamed about.

Every xiuzhe that entered ningmai had a dream, core formation.

For the great majority of xiuzhe, jindan was the highest target they purused. It mean greater power, higher status, more jingshi, and a freer life! In places like Sky Moon Jie and Sky Water Jie, a jindan was a warlord, and if they didn’t want to waste time on mortal matters, any sect would welcome them with the status of an elder. The tempting benefits meant you did not have to worry about materials, or jingshi. You had great amounts of time to do anything you wanted.

To get all these benefits, you only needed to become a jindan.

The black clouds in the sky roiled. The five colored aurora would occasionally become rainbows that then extinguished. It was very attractive. The mood became even tenser.

Zuo Mo’s mouth was open wide as he looked dazedly at the sky. This was the first time he saw the process of core formation and it gave him an enormous shock. The black clouds in the sky, the rainbows that were born and died, all of this shocked him. His consciousness was very strong, and his sensitivity to ling power surpassed any xiuzhe inside the valley.

He could clearly feel the terrifying ling power that was contained here!

The ling power within a three hundred li radius had suddenly concentrated the moment the black clouds formed. The ling power had all flowed into this ball of black clouds. If these black clouds exploded, the power it would release would far surpass the power of twelve Sonic Lightning Walnut exploding simultaneously.

The entire Hundred Flower Valley would turn to dust. Even Zuo Mo, with his Great Day mo physique, would not be able to avoid this calamity. The pressure that was released by the black clouds was purely caused by the sheer enormous volume of ling power it contained!

Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly became extremely ugly. He noticed many xiuzhe didn’t retreat, but went closer. Core formation was a rare event and had a fatal attraction for everyone. If they could see a bit, it definitely would be of benefit.

This group of people didn’t want to live!

Zuo Mo swore inside and stopped the people going forward, “It is dangerous! Come back! Everyone, retreat out of Hundred Flower Valley!”

Fortunately, Zuo Mo held great authority among this group of people. Everyone hesitated, but they all quickly left Hundred Flower Valley.

Hundred Flower Valley was very close to Bright Water City. Such a strong flow of ling power had disturbed all of Bright Water City. Xiuzhe from Bright Water City continually flew out of Bright Water City to look in the direction of Hundred Flower Valley.

———

After that night’s battle, the xiuzhe of Bright Water City changed their attitudes towards the Little Mountain Jie xiuzhe who were lead by the Master of Golden Crow City, especially jindan xiuzhe. The ambush during the night had completely destroyed Wood Sword Camp, including one jindan. Up until now, there were five or six jindan that had died in the hands of the Master of Golden Crow City.

This was an number that no one could dismiss.

If it was one or two, it could be said to be luck, but five or six was not something that could be explained by luck. This was why the heavily wounded Wood Sword Sect and Cloud Divine Sect did not launch a counter-attack.

In the eyes of normal xiuzhe, the power of the Master of Golden Crow City was immeasurable. They also found that the construction of Little Mountain City did not affect their lives. These xiuzhe that came from Little Mountain Jie were not as brutal and evil as they had originally imagined. They were very generous and were deeply liked by merchants. Many merchants planned on going to Little Mountain City and open up a store.

“Core formation, they have someone becoming a jindan!”

In the sky, Yan Yang’s expression was dark. A malicious look flashed through his eyes.

He Qiu was silently for a moment before he said, “Yes, they have become even stronger.”

When the figures of Vermillion Bird Camp appeared in the sky, He Qiu sighed. The name of Vermillion Bird Camp had spread through Sky Water Jie. Everyone knew of them. The appearance of this troop meant that the Master of Golden Crow City was still wary of them. Yan Yang did not make a sound. He stared viciously at Vermillion Bird Camp that was swimming through the air.

It was this troop that had sent Wood Sword Camp to their deaths, and had taken the life of his beloved disciple.

He definitely would avenge this grievance!

His gaze was dark. The elders of the sect did not agree to allow him using stronger measures. No elder was willing to fight. This was why he had remained inactive up until now. He did his best to control the hatred in his heart. He was very clear that only an unconventional move could help him avenge this grievance. In the entire Sky Water Jie, no sect would publicly stand with him and become enemies with the Master of Golden Crow City.

Yan Yang did his best to suppress it, but how could he conceal it from the eyes of He Qiu, who had been his opponent for more than ten years? He Qiu instantly knew Yan Yang’s thoughts, but he did not speak of it. If Yan Yang wanted to jump into the fire pit, he wouldn’t stop the other.

———

At this time, five colored aurora lights suddenly light up the thick cloud layer above Hundred Flower Valley. It was possible to see the shape of a rainbow-colored ling beast swimming inside.

Zuo Mo’s expression was nervous. Xie Shan had reached the most crucial time of a core formation.

He could feel Xie Shan was continuously absorbing ling power from the clouds. That ling beast that was blurry was very resistant to Xie Shan absorbing ling power. Xie Shan didn’t seem to be in a hurry, and just continuously drew out ling power.

Two hours passed. Xie Shan was still absorbing ling power.

Zuo Mo was filled with shock. Up until now, he could generally estimate how much ling power Xie Shan had drawn out from the clouds. Jindan xiuzhe were definitely monsters. The amount of ling power in a ningmai could not compare to what a jindan could contain. No wonder people commonly say that jindan and ningmai were two different worlds.

Pu Yao appeared out of nowhere. “You don’t have to be jealous of him. He has a deep base which is why he has caused such an apparition while he is forming the golden core. If you grasp all six transformations of the Great Day mo physique, other than some rare powerful jindan, no other jindan will be a match for you.”

“Really?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe it. Before today, he hadn’t been as fearful of jindan as he had been in the past, but the powerful apparition of Xie Shan’s core formation today had once again shown him the power of jindan xiuzhe.

“To be ranked second among brigadier mo physiques, how could it not have any powerful qualities?” Pu Yao smirked coldly.

His direction changed. “Even if you do not use the Great Day mo physique, you still don’t have to be afraid of him.”

“How so?” Zuo Mo was slightly interested. After Pu Yao had gotten a jindan last time, he had become much more energized, and was chattier. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was that this guy was much more generous than he was in the past. He didn’t hide things like spells and yao arts like he had before.

“If you cultivate [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], even a jindan isn’t a threat!” Pu Yao said proudly.

“Please,” Zuo Mo smirked scornfully, “who are you trying to fool! I’ve practiced these two, the power isn’t bad, but it isn’t enough to take down a jindan.”

“How much have you cultivated?” Pu Yao volleyed back with the same scornful tone. “It is a waste for them to have landed on your hands. Your brain isn’t very good. Just cultivate Great Day mo physique. That is most suited to people with able limbs and simple minds.”

He then glanced disdainfully at Zuo Mo, “Our yao cultivation has much more to consider than the dumb mo.”

Zuo Mo was not willing to show weakness. He said with a cold smile, “Really? But why haven’t I ever seen it from this honored Sky Yao?”

Pu Yao had a deep hint of mirth at the corner of his mouth. “No problem, I can let you see.”

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrank. A black dot suddenly appeared in front of Pu Yao, a black dot that was bottomless. When the black dot appeared, it expanded and swallowed the surrounding space at a rapid speed. Zuo Mo could only stare as the surroundings were being swallowed. His body could not move.

In the black void, Zuo Mo faced Pu Yao.

“This .. … what yao art is this?” Zuo Mo gaped as he stammered. He looked in all directions. Everything was a black void.

Pu Yao lowered his head slightly, his blood red pupil narrowing into a line, and the thin lips slightly curved. “[Night Restriction], a very obscure yao art.” Finishing, he gave a strange smile. “You are nervous?”

“Cough!” Hearing this, Zuo Mo pretended to cough. “Nonsense! Just a yao art that is used for scares, and you want to make ge nervous, you underestimate ge!”

Zuo Mo then said suspiciously, “Pu, you’ve recovered your power?”

“A little bit. Just a golden core, there wasn’t much primary essence.”

Zuo Mo sweat when he heard this. Pu Yao’s tone made it seem like he was saying a mosquito didn’t have much meat. Those were jindan, not lettuce.

“What do you want to do by bringing me to this dark place?” Zuo Mo’s expression was righteous. “I’m telling you I have no interest in yao. In the future, I will find a beautiful female xiu to marry!”

“I’m very interested in you!” Pu Yao stared with interest at Zuo Mo like he was seeing some peerless treasure. His eye was red and shiny.

Zuo Mo’s hair rose at his gaze.

“That … … that … … Pu, Xie Shan is undergoing core formation! I’ve never seen a core formation. If I miss this chance, it will be hard to encounter one again, look … …”

“There’s nothing to see in a core formation.” Pu Yao narrowed up his eyes again, and froze Zuo Mo’s heart.

Pu Yao didn’t seem normal today!

Zuo Mo’s heart was beating. An abnormal Pu Yao was much scarier than any jindan.

“It was out of my expectations that you could cultivate to Great Day mo physique.” Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo and said lightly, “The Great Day mo physique is unyielding and powerful. I’ve only seen one mo successfully reach it. Ten years later, I discovered he died.”

“Died? How did he die?” Zuo Mo instinctively asked.

“They failed and died during advancement. If xiuzhe fail during advancement, they fail, and they themselves are not damaged. But the progression of a mo physique is very dangerous. If it fails, then their soul is destroyed.”

Pu Yao’s words were like the sharp cold wind of the winter, making Zuo Mo’s face turn pale white.

Chapter 324: Ten Finger Prison

Pu Yao’s words made Zuo Mo’s heart beat rapidly, but he quickly calmed down. After he had experienced so much, his mind was much stronger than before. Having dealt with Pu Yao for so long, it was clear that Pu Yao said all this for a reason.

Pu Yao saw that Zuo Mo didn’t speak, and was not surprised. He said, “Xiu spells, mo skills, yao arts, the differences between these three are not so absolute and opposed as you imagine. When you reach the higher levels, you will encounter things you cannot imagine now, like a mo general suddenly attacking with a sword scripture move, or a xiuzhe casting a yao art. Everyone has different paths, but they all lead back to the same destination.”

“Oh, this is just idle talk, this has nothing to do with you.” Pu Yao’s blood pupil flashed with a bloody light like a red and glittering ruby. He stared at Zuo Mo, and had an interested expression as he said amusedly, “What I want to say to you is that I am planning on doing a little experiment.”

Zuo Mo suddenly had a bad feeling. “What experiment? Hey, Pu Yao, I’m telling you, don’t do … …”

“Hee!” Pu Ya’s blade-like lips slightly curved. His hands spread out like wings, the ten fingers seemed to be pressed against water and creating ten dots of intangible ripples.

“[Ten Finger Prison], that is a place any yao with ambition will go to!”

The ten ripples spread, and the space surrounding Zuo Mo started to waver.

When he opened his eyes again, he was dumbstruck where he stood. Above his head, a river slowly flowed. It was not supported by anything. Zuo Mo could clearly see a rainbow and vivid schools of fish swimming in the river and the threads of black and green water grasses.

Below his feet was a piece of rock about ten zhang in radius that was floating in the air. In front of him rocks, large and small, floated without end. The river curved and flowed between these floating pieces of rock.

Some rocks had flowers and grasses growing vibrantly on them.

Zuo Mo’s mouth was wide open. Looking at this scene that far surpassed his imagination, he was flabbergasted.

“Oh, this place changed a lot.” Pu Yao’s mood seemed to be pretty good as he looked around.

After a while, Zuo Mo recovered. He carefully walked to the edge of the rock and looked down. What was below was a blurry space that nothing could be made out.

“Below is the endless void. Don’t fall down.” Pu Yao smiled freely, “If you fall down, I can’t save you.”

Zuo Mo’s body froze as he carefully shrank back to the center of the rock. He suddenly turned to stare hard at Pu Yao and gritted through his teeth, “You perverse renyao! Send ge back!”

“Hee hee.” Pu Yao was not angry. “Relax. Right now, you are just a thread of primary soul that has been pulled into the Ten Finger Prison, it’s not like your real body came.”

Zuo Mo was slightly reassured, but Pu Yao’s next words caused the anger in his heart to erupt.

“Oh, but if this thread of your soul can’t return, it isn’t any different than death.”

“Pu, what do you really want to do?” Zuo Mo bit each word out as he asked.

“It is such a familiar smell.” Pu Yao smelled the air of the Ten Finger Prison and showed an intoxicated expression. A moment later, he opened his eyes. “The Great Day mo physique is unyielding and peerlessly powerful, you know this. But you definitely don’t know that compared to the strength of the fleshly body, what the Great Day mo physique requires most is the strength of the inner heart, the strength of the soul, that is the crux to advancement.”

“This place cannot exercise your body, but it can exercise your heart and soul.”

“Welcome to the First Finger Prison of the Ten Finger Prison, Vast Water Clear Skies.”

Pu Yao bowed his body slightly, and made a very elegant gesture.

Zuo Mo quickly composed himself, and started to patiently listen to Pu Yao’s introduction. The more he heard, the more reassured he was. There was a time limit to the Ten Finger Prison. With the strength of Zuo Mo’s consciousness, he could only stay a maximum of four hours in here each time. Even Pu Yao had no way to change this.

Just four hours. The shadow over Zuo Mo’s heart instantly dissipated greatly.

“Ten Finger Prison is also called the Yao Training Prison. Any yao that has a little bit of accomplishment would basically have come here. The Yao Art Houses will even form teams and have events to increase the combat abilities of their students. Oh, you xiuzhe have similar places. Like Wu Kong Sword Sect’s sword cave, but that place is very small in comparison. Large sects like Kun Lun have their own training grounds. They are very big, about ten jie or so. We yao aren’t so extravagant. Oh, we’re so poor there’s no other way.”

Zuo Mo found that as Pu Yao entered the Ten Finger Prison, his words became more abundant, and was almost chatty. However, this matched his wishes. He could get some information from this guy’s mouth.

“Then won’t I encounter yao here?” Zuo Mo said doubtfully. He then became slightly excited. In any case, it was just four hours. Thinking that way, this trip to the Ten Finger Prison was more like a vacation.

“Right,” Pu Yao then twisted his mouth, “but this is the First Finger Prison, they will all just be beginners.”

“Oh. If they all like coming here, then this place should have some benefits.” Zuo Mo instantly showed his practical side.

“The Ten Finger Prison was supposedly created by an ancient Great Yao, and includes almost all the yao arts. Of course, that’s just a boast, you can just listen to it. But it does have a lot of yao arts. For example, the First Finger Prison, Vast Water Clear Skies, it is made from thirteen thousand low-level yao arts. I counted when I was young.” Pu Yao said with interest.

Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao like he was looking at a monster. Alright, this joke was slightly bad.

“You were so idle when you were young.”

When the admiration in his heart reached his mouth, it became scorn. From this, it was possible to see that Zuo Mo was still angry over Pu Yao pulling him into the Ten Finger Prison for a four hour trip.

“Yes!” Pu Yao responded emotionally as though he was thinking of the times in the past.

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted. “Pu, what were you like when you were young?”

“A person as weak as you cannot understand.”

Pu Yao’s answer instantly smashed the remaining good feeling in Zuo Mo’s heart. He rolled his eyes. “So the powerful you came here to count? Counted all the way to thirteen thousand?”

“Ha ha!” Pu Yao laughed freely.

Zuo Mo flew among the rocks. He was very careful. Every rock, flower, grass, and drop of water here was related to the yao arts. Of the forty-six pieces of rock Zuo Mo had passed, every one of them had a different attribute.

Pu Yao continuously explained the different yao arts to him, how to use them, and how to deconstruct them. Zuo Mo found that Pu Yao actually did have some skill. Pu Yao could confidently talk about every kind of yao art, explain it effortlessly and was simple to understand. Having already learned the Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands, Zuo Mo did not have a hard time understanding low level yao arts, but deconstructing them still required some effort.

What depressed him the most that the four hours was spent between these forty-six rocks. He had originally assumed that he could see some exotic locations. Zuo Mo was very disappointed. To leave each rock, it required deconstructing them.

Did this guy pull him here to destroy rocks?

What heart and soul becoming stronger … …

Zuo Mo was very suspicious this was an excuse this guy made up on the spot. He did not doubt this guy would do such a thing.

The power of low level yao arts were very limited, and far less than the Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands. After learning the forty-six yao arts, there was no actual benefit to his combat abilities.

It was just four hours, Zuo Mo could only comfort himself so.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a shadow flying towards him. His mind became alert, was he going to encounter a yao?

Just as he was filled with admiration, his surroundings rippled like waves and became blurry.

Damn it!

His vision blurred and Zuo Mo returned to reality. His expression was very ugly. He didn’t leave early or late, but returned at the most interesting moment. This made his four hour tour of Ten Finger Prison turn into a trip to view rocks.

———

Just after Pu Yao and Zuo Mo disappeared, a figure flashed past the rock the two of them had been on and couldn’t help but make a slight sound of surprise.

An expression of shock flashed across her face.

When her gaze landed on the other pieces of rock, the surprise on her face increased. She seemed to have seen something that was impossible.

———

Zuo Mo shook his head. His head still felt dizzy. Everything in front of him seemed slightly unreal.

“Daren, are you alright?” Shu Long asked in concern. He was slightly worried. Daren’s attention had been unfocused in the past four hours.

“Oh, nothing.” Zuo Mo suppressed the depression in his heart and raised his head to look in the direction of Hundred Flower Valley. “Has Xie Shan done anything?”

“Nothing.” Shu Long shook his head.

Just at this time, the black clouds above Hundred Flower Valley started to move forcefully, the five colored aurora moving in layers, and the outline of the multi-colored ling beast became even clearer.

Zuo Mo became alert. He felt the rate that Xie Shan was absorbing ling power suddenly increased.

It had come!

A rainbow light suddenly lit up in the black clouds like hundreds of rainbow needles piercing the eyes of the onlookers. Even Zuo Mo unconsciously closed his eyes.

The rainbow light was visible for hundreds of li.

A long howl passed from inside Hundred Flower Valley and rang into the surroundings!

When everyone opened their eyes, the black clouds in the sky had completely disappeared. There were no clouds for ten thousand li, and the sky was clear blue.

A figure shot from Hundred Flower Valley into the sky. It was Xie Shan. He looked around and then suddenly disappeared in the air.

Sighs rose among the crowd. Only jindan could possess such fast speed!

Xie Shan’s figure seemed to flash and then appear in front of Zuo Mo out of thin air. At this time, he was like an unsheathed sword with all his edges revealed. The presence of his body continuously smashed against the surroundings. Shu Long’s figure waved, and his expression changed to a wary one.

Zuo Mo was like a spear and remained motionless. He was not affected by Xie Shan’s presence at all.

“Daren, Xie Shan is a jindan!” Xie Shan respectfully bowed, his presence instantly decreasing.

Zuo Mo was stunned, and then a joyous expression came onto his face. He had originally assumed that Xie Shan would leave after becoming a jindan. In his view, that was normal and logical.

“Xie Shan hopes to follow Daren like before,” Xie Shan said with a serious expression.

“En, good.” Zuo Mo pressed his lips together tightly. He didn’t know what to say but his heart felt warm and moved.

Ma Fan, who had been nervous, seemed to be relieved of his burden and gave a blinding smile. No matter if it was Vermillion Bird Camp, Guard Camp, or the forging division, everyone’s mouths uncontrollably opened, their grins reaching their ears.

In an instantly, the cheers thundered!

Chapter 325: This Is … …

In the night, the five slave transporting boats silently advanced.

“A Gui, we are going to Cloud Sea Jie,” Zuo Mo lightly said to A Gui beside him. The puppet-like A Gui was lifeless, appearing so fragile she invoked pity. Whenever he thought of A Gui blocking the attack above Golden Crow City sacrificing herself in the process, Zuo Mo felt his heart tremble.

Lil’ Black was still sleeping as usual, Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire were playing without worry but Silly Bird was acting out of the ordinary. She stood silently beside A Gui, her grey feathers lightly trembling.

Gongsun Cha, Shu Long, Xie Shan, and the others were gathered on this slave transporting boat. After Xie Shan entered jindan, he left the Sky Peak Platoon to act as Zuo Mo’s personal guard. Ma Fan became the leader of Sky Peak Platoon, Nian Lu and Lei Peng his vice-commanders. In this period of time, the effect of continuous battle was very evident on everyone’s development. There were eighteen more xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp that had comprehended sword essence. The number of people in Sky Peak Platoon had increased rather than decreased even with Xie Shan’s departure, and reached a total of thirty people.

The forging division hadn’t been idle in this time. Due to the fact everyone used Golden Crow Fire, adopting the name Golden Crow Camp had received unanimous consent. Golden Crow Camp underwent further reorganization. The forging division was its most important division. Other than that, the dan-making division and other divisions were made into separate branches of Golden Crow Camp. Of the five slave transporting boats, two were especially set aside for Golden Crow Camp to construct specialized dan-making and forging rooms.

As their experience accumulated, everyone gradually created an effective system.

Xie Shan who had been resting suddenly opened his eyes. He glanced in the distance and a light flashed through his eyes. “This group of people are really not letting go.”

From the moment they had departed Hundred Flower Valley, there had been people following them along the entire way.

“Ignore them,” Zuo Mo said. Their travel was concealed as much as possible but it could not be completely concealed from those with the intention to follow. These scouts were very alert, did not come close and only trailed from far away.

After flying for another four hours, the ground underneath them turned from hills to plains. An enormous formation entered everyone’s field of view.

“Whoa, so big!”

“Powerful! Such a big transporting formation!”

The people on the slave transporting boats became excited, stretching their necks out to look at the enormous formation at the ground.

The Sky Water Transporting Formation was over ten li in radius and was one of the largest transporting formations in Sky Water Jie. In the darkness, the enormous transporting formation flashed with light that made it even more enchanting.

Zuo Mo’s face was filled with shock. Of all the kinds of formations, transporting formations were famed for their difficulty. It was hard to imagine just how difficult it had been to make such an enormous formation. The transporting formations of Sky Moon Jie compared to this one were like toys that children played with. Sky Water Jie was much stronger and prosperous than Sky Moon Jie. This transporting formation was a evidence of the difference in wealth.

“Let’s go down.”

The five slave transporting boats slowly landed. Vermillion Bird Camp spread out and went on their guard to stop others from coming close.

Zuo Mo impatiently flew off the boat and into the air above the transporting formation. Gazing at the complex seal scripts of the transporting formation, he was full of admiration. Zuo Mo quickly found that this formation had many places that he could not understand. However, he was not rushed, but took out a blank jade scroll to record down all the seal scripts of the transportation formation so he could study it in the future.

“Such a waste. You xiuzhe’s stuff is just grand yet impractical.” Pu Yao’s voice sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind. He said temptingly, “Little Mo Mo, come learn yao arts, yao arts are very useful.”

Zuo Mo ignored it and asked, “Pu, can you understand this formation?”

Pu Yao deflated. “Don’t understand … …” Then he argued, “I’m a yao, why do I need to understand your formations?”

“If you don’t understand, then shut up,” Zuo Mo shot back. A hint of suspicion flashed across his mind. Why was Pu Yao recently tempting him to learn yao arts? He couldn’t help but think at the same time that the golden core had been a very substantial meal. Pu Yao was much more lively than in the past.

If he ate a few more golden cores, would Pu Yao become a chatterbox?

Zuo Mo shook and decided to guard against this. A person couldn’t be overfed.

After flying multiple circles in the air around the transportation formation, Zuo Mo landed. Even though there were many details on this transportation formation that he did not understand, but he did not find it difficult to use it.

The five slave transporting ships flew inside the formation, and Zuo Mo started to bury jingshi inside the formation. One hundred and twenty four pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Zuo Mo’s heart bled at the expenditure.

After all one hundred and twenty four pieces of fourth-grade jingshi were embed into the formation, the jingshi lit up one after the other like stars being ignited in the sky. Ten breaths later, all one hundred and twenty four pieces of fourth-grade jingshi were lit up. If one looked down from the sky, they looked like stars. The light started from each pieces of jingshi and flowed following the seal scripts.

Looking at the complex seal scripts slowly light up, everyone felt curiosity and novelty.

The seal scripts of the entire formation were activated. It was extremely crowded, grand and dazzled the eyes. The light suddenly left the seal scripts and slowly floated towards the sky.

“Everyone, pay attention, we’re leaving!”

The excited Zuo Mo couldn’t help but yell.

Before his words landed, everyone inside the formation disappeared. The blinding and grand light turned to countless pieces of light and scattered in the wind like rain.

A moment later, two people appeared beside the formation. One of them was Yan Yang.

Yan Yang’s face was unusually excited. When he had learned of Zuo Mo’s trip, he knew that they were going towards the Sky Water Transportation Formation. They had hurried to get here first, and silently altered the formation to trick Zuo Mo. Yan Yang suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, and respectfully bowed to the person beside him. “Shishu, many thanks for doing this!”

“It’s nothing. I liked Gao Xiu too. This is avenging him,” This person said lightly. “However, you shall not move against Little Mountain City. If Sky Water Jie is in chaos, no one will benefit. The other sects will not agree.”

“This disciple understands,” Yan Yang couldn’t help but ask, “Where will they be transported to?”

“Three thousand jie are like stars in the sky. Only the heavens know where they will go.”

This person waved his sleeve, and dots of light flew out. The dots entered the formation and some seal scripts silently changed.

“This has ended. Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

———

Zuo Mo looked in front of him at the sky that seemed to be dyed with blood and suddenly had a bad feeling. Gongsun Cha, Xie Shan, and the others also had serious expressions. Anyone could see that something wasn’t right.

“This isn’t Buddhist Flower Jie!” Zuo Mo said darkly.

Sky Water Jie didn’t have a transportation formation connected directly to Cloud Sea Jie, so they had to first arrive in Buddhist Flower Jie. There was a clear description of Buddhist Flower Jie in Zuo Mo’s jie map. Buddhist Flower Jie’s seasons were all like spring, and the climate was mild.

But what was in front of them … …

The air was filled with a stern killing energy. The sky was tinted with a strange red. Nothing grew on the soil beneath their feet.

Zuo Mo reacted the quickest. He looked below him and his expression changed. “Not good, someone did something to the transportation formation!” The transportation formation under their feet was damaged and incomplete. It clearly had been many years since someone had used it. Many places had been worn away.

Everyone’s expression changed. Travelling among the jie, this was the most frightening scenario. If they suddenly landed in a strange and barren jie, there usually would be one ending, being trapped there until they died.

“Pu, do you know where this is?” Zuo Mo held one last thread of hope in his heart.

“No. You have to be careful. This place … … isn’t right!” Pu Yao’s voice held a rare gravity. Zuo Mo’s heart continuously sank.

Damn it! Without any thought, Zuo Mo could generally guess who had done this. However, there was no meaning in determining who had been working from the shadows at the moment.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be nervous as it was the first time he had landed in a situation like this. In the past, no matter if it was Little Mountain Jie or Sky Water Jie, he had never been so nervous no matter how terrible the situation was. He didn’t know what was up ahead. Were there people? Were there dangers?

He didn’t know anything.

Ignorance was the terror in the deepest part of his heart.

Nervousness and insecurity spread among the people. Zuo Mo forced himself to calm down. He knew he couldn’t panic right now. He inhaled deeply and tried to make his voice calmer. “We will go forward. Everyone, prepare to battle at any time.”

Zuo Mo’s efforts were not wasted. Everyone saw that he kept his composure, and it was as though they found their spines. Their restlessness instantly disappeared greatly. At this time, Shu Long and Gongsun Cha also reacted, and quickly calmed down.

The troop methodically started to move. The five slave transporting boats rose into the sky again and started to fly forward.

As they kept on flying, everyone’s expressions became even heavier.

Desolate, a desolation that made everyone feel hopeless. After flying more than a hundred li, they hadn’t seen anything that was living. The ground was burnt black but held a hint of blood red. There was nothing growing. All the mountain peaks were bare and free of any life.

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly moved. He channelled his ling power, and his expression changed again. He turned and said to Gongsun Cha, “Get them to save their ling power, the ling energy here is too thin.”

Hearing this, Gongsun Cha’s expression shifted slightly. He knew what this meant. The Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe that had spread out quickly came back to the slave transporting boats.

Now that the situation was so terrible, Zuo Mo actually completely calmed down. He said to Shu Long, “You try. See what effects this place has on you guys.”

Shu Long hurried to activate his mo skill. He quickly had a joyful expression. “Daren, this place is very suitable for us to use mo skills, it almost … … almost … …” He didn’t know how to explain it.

“The black fiendish energy here is very heavy,” Pu Yao opened again, “and it has benefits for Shu Long and the others.”

“Black fiendish energy?” Zuo Mo ‘s mind moved.

“En, a type of special fiendish energy. They mostly appear on battlefields. This place is probably an old battle field. However… …” Pu Yao suddenly stopped.

“However what?” Zuo Mo asked impatiently.

“Such strong black fiendish energy means two things. One is that this place should have been a battlefield in the past, a battlefield that is very vast, and was the site of colossal battles. The other is time. It will take a long time to create such thick black fiendish energy.”

“How long?”

“Over ten thousand years!”

Hiss, Zuo Mo uncontrollably inhaled.

Ten thousand years … …

“An ancient battlefield from ten thousand years ago … …” Zuo Mo murmured to himself. The desolate scene in front of him became even more vast and desolate! Xie Shan and Shu Long beside him changed expression upon hearing this. Xie Shan even gave an expression of disbelief.

“But … …” Pu Yao stopped in his words.

“But what?” Zuo Mo suddenly shook and blurted.

“If this really is a battlefield, then a world-shaking and great battle was fought here. Such significant battles can be counted on the fingers. It is impossible that I do not know it!” Pu Yao said gravely, “But this place doesn’t match the descriptions of any battlefield that I know of.”

Zuo Mo’s face was ashen white upon hearing this. Coldness crept up his heart, and his limbs.

Chapter 326: Ten Thousand Year Old Ancient Battlefield

“Can we go back the way we came?” Gongsun Cha asked Zuo Mo in a small voice.

The ashen-pale Zuo Mo shook his head, and said in a low voice, “We got tricked. The other changed the imprint on the transportation formation. This isn’t one of the preset transportation formations, but a random transportation formation. You also saw the transportation formation under our feet. It is broken.”

Gongsun Cha was silent.

Zuo Mo raised his awareness. “Make sure  everyone is careful. We managed to get out of Little Mountain Jie. We can definitely find a way out of this place.”

Hearing this, Gongsun Cha’s expression became better.

Xie Shan’s expression was stern. He was now a jindan and he was naturally different in all areas than everyone else. He silently savoured the “Ten Thousand Year old Battlefield” Zuo Mo had just said, and felt that it was possible as he felt the bone-piercing presence in the surroundings. However, since Boss recognized it, he felt slightly reassured.

Boss’ origins were still so deep and immeasurable.

After flying for a long time forward, the front lines suddenly shifted. On high alert, Zuo Mo unhesitatingly went forward.

When he flew to the front, he was dumbstruck where he stood.

It was an enormous and shocking wasteland. Countless mountain peaks that had collapsed, soil that was burnt black everywhere, and there were large craters more than ten li in radius everywhere. The scarred and charred land was shocking to see, this was a battlefield. Spread among those craters were bones that could not be counted. These bones were already weathered. When a harsh wind blew, the bones crumbled to powder. This scene that had only ever appeared in the legends and tall tales was endless. A vast and ancient presence blew in their faces.

Everyone was so shocked they could not speak, including Pu Yao.

“Ancient battlefield … … ancient battlefield … …” Xie Shan soullessly murmured to himself. The scene in front of him had given him an unparalleled blow. The marks left behind on the battlefield made him felt the terrifying power that could have destroyed the world at that time. He felt he was so small, like a speck of dust.

Zuo Mo was the first to recover. When he saw Xie Shan’s expression, he knew it was bad. Xie Shan had just entered jindan and his cultivation was not stable. The sudden stimulation was too strong, and his mind was still extremely vulnerable to damage. At this time, he couldn’t attend to anything else, shouting, “Remain alert!”

In these words, he used the Clear Sound Incantation.

Xie Shan shook and instantly regained his focus. He thought it had been very dangerous.

“Shu Long!” Zuo Mo shouted loudly.

Shu Long felt embarrassed by his performance just now. His face blotching red, he bowed respectfully. “Daren!”

“We’re going down!” Zuo Mo’s eyes narrowed, and a cold light flashed past.

“Daren!” Shu Long hurriedly urged, “The situation right now isn’t clear, going down so rashly … …”

“You don’t dare?” Zuo Mo interrupted him. His eyes were cold as knives.

Shu Long felt a burst of hot blood rushing to his head. His black armor rattled as he said unhesitatingly, “Shu Long obeys!”

He jumped up as he finished speaking. Mid air, Shu Long’s eyes glared angrily, the tendons tense and bulging without any of the caution and steadiness he usually held. His thunder-like bellow rang in the air, “Guard Camp, to the ground!”

The five slave transporting boats were close together to start with. Shu Long and Zuo Mo’s exchange had not been concealed. All of Guard Camp heard it clearly. Guard Camp, who had sworn to follow Zuo Mo, was being doubted on their bravery by Zuo Mo. The entire camp was blood rushed as their eyes turned red.

“Yes!” Guard Camp shouted together as they jumped down.

In the air, black shadows jumped down like large birds.

The simultaneous shout of Guard Camp was like a gust of wind that swept the darkness off everyone’s hearts. Morale rose greatly. Everyone of Vermillion Bird Camp that was staying on the slave transporting boats had shamed expressions. They had also clearly heard Zuo Mo’s question. They wanted to be able to charge at the very front at this moment.

Gongsun Cha felt the same inside. When he had arrived here, he had put himself in a box. He really was lacking compared to Shixiong. Shixiong really was a natural leader. With just a few words, he had restored morale.

Xie Shan felt even more shameful. He was a jindan, but his resolve was not as strong as Boss!

“We are going down,” Zuo Mo ordered with a cold face.

The five slave transporting boats quickly descended until they were not ten zhang from the ground.

“Shidi, you stay up here to command,” Zuo Mo said to Gongsun Cha before he turned his face. “Silly Bird, protect A Gui!” When he finished, he stepped off the slave transporting boat. Silly Bird rolled her eyes, but obediently stood guard next to A Gui.

Zuo Mo stepped onto the ground.

The ground was as hard as steel with traces of red within the black. Zuo Mo did not examine it closely, but shouted with a cold expression, “Advance!”

So what if it was a ten thousand year old ancient battlefield?

The troop rolled forward, Shu Long’s body shrouded in black energy and brimming with killing intent as he charged at the very front. At this time, people no longer felt any terror. Morale was high. They wanted to see if any monster would pop up from somewhere so they could have a good fight.

Zuo Mo’s face was cold as the troop advanced. He secretly paid attention to the surrounding environment.

Ten li long ditches were everywhere. Zuo Mo was suspicious that those were from sword energies. This place was filled with black fiendish energy. In a short while, the black energy on Shu Long and the other’s bodies had become a few fractions denser. Zuo Mo had decided to walk on the ground and not fly in the air after great thought. Due to the existence of the black fiendish energy, Guard Camp had become the primary fighting force. Guard Camp was not skilled in aerial combat so it was better to advance on the ground. Also, if they encountered something dangerous, Zuo Mo didn’t feel the air would be safer than the ground.

Zuo Mo glanced at the Golden Armor Guards beside him and suddenly found that the Golden Armor Guards were also absorbing black fiendish energy.

At this moment, all of his attention was put in front of him and could not be spared for other matters. What he saw most frequently were bones. When these bones were touched, they would crumble and become dust. There would usually be some damaged items beside the skeletons, but after ten thousand years, they were just like the bones, turning to dust upon a touch.

There was no life here, no living beings. On the way, there were only skeletons and scorched earth.

They had travelled for a full twenty hours. Zuo Mo raised his head to look at the blood colored sky. It hadn’t  shown any change compared to before. Was there no day or night here? Based on their speed, they had already advanced more than one thousand li, but there was no change in the scenery they passed.

Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head. He noticed the black fiendish energy was much denser here than the location from twenty hours ago.

“Careful, we have been walking towards the center of the battlefield,” Pu Yao warned. Everything here was beyond his knowledge. His tone was extremely grave.

So that was why … …

Zuo Mo suddenly spoke, “Everyone, rest for a while.”

Hearing this, the fast travelling troops stopped. Everyone sat down to rest. Shu Long and the others were wrapped in black energy. They did not feel any exhaustion and their energy was abnormally good.

“Will the black fiendish energy pose any danger to them?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao.

Pu Yao said, “No. To them and the Golden Armor Guards, black fiendish energy is the best substance. I have never heard of a place with such thick black fiendish energy. This is the best place for Shu Long and the others to cultivate.”

“That’s good.” Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed. He suddenly thought of a question. “Pu, do you think there will be anything living here?”

“The possibility is very low,” Pu Yaos tone was very cautious, “the scale of this battlefield eclipses any conflict that I know of. I really cannot think of any conflict that has been on such a scale. The black fiendish energy created after such a great battle is unparalleled in its brutality. Normal beings definitely cannot survive.”

“What about xiuzhe like us? Or yaomo?” Zuo Mo said.

“That is possible.”

“That’s great!” Zuo Mo seemed to see a thread of hope.

“Great? I don’t think so!” Pu Yao said with a cold smile, “Living long term in a place with such thick black fiendish energy, one’s personality would naturally be affected. Becoming brutal and fast to kill. Other than that, you need to be careful of fiendish soul beasts.”

“Fiendish soul beasts? What is that?”

“At dense areas of fiendish energy, over time, they will create low level souls. Oh, their formation process is like that of Lil’ Fire, but they are born from fiendish energy, and are innately brutal and fond of killing. I’ve never seen fiendish soul beasts nurtured by black fiendish energy. Ha, this is interesting!”

After resting for a while, the troop departed again.

Twenty hours later, the surrounding environment still had not changed. If it wasn’t that the density of black fiendish energy in the air had clearly increased, Zuo Mo would have been suspicious that they had entered a high level illusory formation.

After this rest, Zuo Mo did not let the troop immediately depart but set up camp.

“We need to rest?” Gongsun Cha ran over to ask Zuo Mo.

“En, there is possibly danger ahead. I’m planning to get Shu Long and the others to cultivate before going forward,” Zuo Mo said.

“So that’s how it is!” Gongsun Cha made a deep sound. He said with slight worry, “The other people’s situations are not good. The ling power here is very thin. They can only use jingshi to replenish their ling power.”

Zuo Mo didn’t have better methods. He could only say, “Just use jingshi for now.”

He rejoiced now that they had taken enough jingshi along and didn’t have to worry in the short term. This was a habit they had formed from being in Little Mountain Jie. They had taken large amounts of jingshi from Little Mountain Jie and hadn’t spent much in Sky Water Jie. They had taken all of these jingshi with them.

“Pu, do you have any methods?” Zuo Mo was slightly troubled.

“I do know some methods of cultivating with black fiendish energy, but they have to start over their cultivation from the beginning.” Pu Yao spread his hands.

“We can only take a step and look a step,” Zuo Mo sighed. He started to search for jade scrolls on formations in his ring. He needed to take a good look at transportation formations. He probably had to rely on himself to make a transportation formation to leave this ghastly place. No formation could remain complete after ten thousand years, it was unlikely that they would find one. What he set up would be much more dependable.

He had many jade scrolls in his ring, and jade scrolls on formations were something he was usually very enthusiastic about collecting. He took out all the jade scrolls on formations that he possessed. Piled up in front of him was a little mountain.

If he could chew through this little mountain, they would be able to leave this ghastly place!

Zuo Mo continued to brainwash himself. Just as he was preparing to start, he saw Cheng Shidi who had been buried in the nursery on the slave transporting boats and never showed his face suddenly jump out of the slave transporting boats. He stumbled as he ran over, his expression panicked.

“Shixiong! Shixiong! Come quickly to see!”

Chapter 327: Twin Butterfly

Zuo Mo raced with Chun Yu Cheng towards his nursery room.

This was the first time he had went to one of Cheng Shidi’s rooms. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of shame. There were too many matters he had to attend to every day and he had basically had not paid any attention to any of Cheng Shidi’s matters.

Cheng Shidi’s husbandry room had been divided into several areas. After he took a close look, he was very shocked. Each section was its own standalone beast pool. When had Cheng Shidi been able to construct the beast pool by himself?

“Shidi, you don’t know. When it came out, it was different compared to the rest of its species.” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression wasn’t good. His soul seemed shaken, but he felt reassured with Zuo Mo at his side.

“Shidi, you made these beast pools yourself?” Zuo Mo interrupted him.

“This, yes,” Chun Yu Cheng clearly did not pay attention to Zuo Mo’s question. The conversation’s focus quickly returned to the matter at hand, “It is a ninth-generation ling butterfly. There were two hundred that were of the same brood as it … …”

“Shidi, this part of the formation isn’t quite the same as what I did before,” Zuo Mo said as he pointed at a formation script on the beast pool.

“Did I change it incorrectly?” Chun Yu Cheng embarrassedly rubbed his head. “I felt that place wasn’t too complete, so I tried to change it. I found the effects are pretty good so I kept using it.”

Zuo Mo’s shock increased as he hurriedly waved his hand. “No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong. If Shidi feels it is effective, then use it.”

So without him noticing it, Chun Shidi’s husbandry skills had reached such a high level!

“Oh, that’s great!” Chun Yu Cheng released a breath, but his expression tensed again. He refocused on his original topic. “Shixiong, when this one came out, it swallowed a ling butterfly. I was slightly surprised. I’ve raised ling butterflies for this long, but have never seen one as savage as this.”

Chun Yu Cheng finally was able to pull Zuo Mo’s attention to the topic. He couldn’t help but follow, “Then?”

“Then,” Chun Yu Cheng swallowed, “it devoured more than one hundred ling butterflies. I thought that it would eat all the ling butterflies if it kept on going so I put it together with some poisonous worms. I started to raise these poisonous worms in Little Mountain Jie. They are very vicious, and have great potential. I speculated that if I raised them for a bit longer, after two or three generations, it may produce a fifth-grade ling beast.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s curiosity was completely stirred up. “And then?”

“When I went to look a few days later,” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was slightly terrified, “those poisonous worms had all died. Their bodies were deathly grey without a hint of life. Shixiong, you know, I’m pretty familiar with ling butterflies, but I’ve never heard of such an evil ling butterfly.”

Looking at the trace of terror remaining in Cheng Shidi’s face, Zuo Mo was even more curious.

“It was a pity to throw the poisonous worms out. I had originally planned on using the husks but didn’t expect the exoskeleton, claws, and teeth of the worms had no ling energy left.” Cheng Shidi’s voice became filled with anticipation. “At that time, I knew this ling butterfly wasn’t a simple one.”

Zuo Mo knew that if the matter was just like this, Cheng Shidi would not be so nervous. He asked, “Did something unexpected happen?”

Worry floated onto Chun Yu Cheng’s face. “Starting from yesterday, it suddenly became extremely restless, and kept on charging towards the outside of the beast pool. This ling butterfly is really powerful. I noticed that the beast pool can’t hold it for much longer, and I can’t suppress it any longer so I hurried to find Shixiong.”

At this time, the two of them arrived at a beast pool.

Zuo Mo finally saw the ling butterfly that Cheng Shidi spoke about. At first glance, he was very shocked. The wings of this ling butterfly were different colours, one black and one white, and were without any blemishes. The most unique part were the two antennae. A ball of mist floated at the end of each antenna, also black and white. It was possible to make out the figures of two little people within the two balls of mist.

But what truly shocked Zuo Mo was the faint presence released by the ling butterfly. This presence was extremely weak, but it was very clear, and made Zuo Mo think of that fifth-grade Bloody Horned Serpent.

Was this a fifth-grade ling butterfly?

“This ling butterfly is very unique.” Chun Yu Cheng had a proud expression. “I call it the twin butterfly.”

The twin butterfly noticed Zuo Mo, and instantly had a wary expression. Zuo Mo’s mind moved, and he released a thread of the presence of the Great Day mo physique. The twin butterfly was shocked and shrank back to the corner of the beast pool.

Such an intelligent ling butterfly!

Zuo Mo praised inside. He was even more sure that this twin butterfly wasn’t far from fifth-grade.

Thinking about this, he knocked on the beast service card at his waist. The Black Butterfly flew out. After the Rainbow Mark Butterfly leveled into the Black Butterfly, it was fourth-grade, and one step away from fifth-grade. When the Black Butterfly flew out, it noticed the twin butterfly. It seemed to be slightly wary of the twin butterfly.

At this time, the mist at the two ends of the twin butterfly’s antennae flew out like a bolt of intertwined black and white lightning that accurately struck the Black Butterfly!

The Black Butterfly froze on its spot as its vitality quickly flowed away. In a flick of the finger, the black and white mist flew back into the beast pool.

Hiss, Zuo Mo and Chun Yu Cheng inhaled sharply.

The change was so sudden. Zuo Mo hadn’t thought the black and white mist of the twin butterfly could ignore the jinzhi of the beast pool.

As the black and white mist entered the body of the twin butterfly, Zuo Mo sensitively detected the presence of the twin butterfly had greatly increased! He saw the colors of the black and white wings of the twin butterfly were even purer, and the greatest changes were in the two little people in the balls of mist. The features of the two little people in the mist were more distinct than before. They were the size of a thumb as they floated in the mist.

Such an eerie and weird ling butterfly!

Just as Zuo Mo was astonished, Pu Yao suddenly spoke, “Hm, this Yin-yang Twin Butterfly is a little interesting.”

“Yin-yang Twin Butterfly?” Zuo Mo’s reaction was extremely quick.

“This shidi of yours really does have some skill to be able to raise such a rare ling butterfly.” Pu Yao first praised Chun Yu Cheng before he said, “I’ve never seen a Yin-yang Twin Butterfly before so my knowledge is limited. This Twin Butterfly of your Shidi’s is slightly different than the Yin-yang Twin Butterfly I know of. Take a look with your Ling Eye.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly opened his Ling Eye and saw threads of black energy continuously fly into the beast pool and enter the body of the Twin Butterfly.

“Black fiendish energy?” Zuo Mo inhaled sharply again. “It is absorbing black fiendish energy!”

“Your shidi has raised something good.” Pu Yao reminded, “Quick, get it into the beast service card. Remember to first use the Great Day mo physique.”

Receiving Pu Yao’s guidance, Zuo Mo hurriedly explained the situation to Cheng Shidi. Cheng Shidi was both surprised and joyful. He hurriedly said, “Shixiong, quick, tame it!” Chun Yu Cheng’s cultivation was too low. There wasn’t a problem when he was raising ling beasts, but he did not have the power to tame a powerful ling beast like the twin butterfly.

Even Zuo Mo needed to use the power of the Great Day mo physique to tame the twin butterfly.

Zuo Mo did not hesitate and took out an empty beast service card. Activating the Great Day mo physique, the Light Void Wings on his back appeared. The husbandry room was filled with a tangible pressure. All the ling beasts in the beast pools curled up in balls as they shook. The two little people on the tips of the twin butterfly’s antennae trembled. It seemed to have realized something, but the powerful pressure of the Great Day mo physique made it lower its wings.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo unhesitatingly cut his finger to squeeze out a drop of blood to throw at the twin butterfly as he cast a spell at the same time, calling out, “In!”

The black and white wings of the twin butterfly shook, and it did not dare to dodge. The drop of blood and the spell quickly permeated it when it touched the wings like water sinking into sand. In a moment, a bloody crescent mark appeared on each of the black and white wings. The twin butterfly turned into a light of intermingling black and white and entered the beast card.

Two little people, one black and one white, floated onto the service of the beast service card back to back. Five stars lit up the back of the beast service card. Chun Yu Cheng and Zuo Mo both had joyous expressions. This twin butterfly was a fifth-grade ling butterfly!

“I raised a fifth-grade ling butterfly! I raised a fifth-grade ling butterfly!” The ecstatic Chun Yu Cheng murmured, unable to say anything else.

It had been his dream to raise a fifth-grade ling butterfly. He had talent in husbandry, but he was from a small sect. Compared to the disciples from the large sects, the resources he could receive were limited. Raising a fifth-grade ling butterfly was his limit. He had always worked towards this target.

But today, the goal that he thought he would need to struggle towards for a lifetime had already been achieved.

He felt he was dreaming and it was unrealistic. Among the joyfulness was a thread of confusion. The greatest goal of his life had been completed so easily.

Looking at the excited yet bewildered Cheng Shidi, Zuo Mo smiled. He understood Cheng Shidi’s mood very well. He shoved a jade scroll into Cheng Shidi’s hand and then left the husbandry room.

Chun Yu Cheng was excited for a long time, after he finally calmed down and found a jade scroll in his hand.

He reflexively inspected the contents and became dumbstruck as though he was struck by a bolt of lightning.

———

Zuo Mo walked out of the slave transporting boat and found Bao Yi to tell him to not short Cheng Shidi on any materials he requested. Bao Yi hurriedly agreed. Inside, he celebrated his carefulness. He had always tried to satisfied all of Chun Yu Cheng’s requests. In his view, Chun Yu Cheng did not ask about matters, but he was Boss’ Shidi. It seemed that he had acted correctly.

The jade scroll Zuo Mo had given Chun Yu Cheng included all of the content on the beast pools. The modifications Chun Shidi had made to the beast pool caused him to realize his shidi’s exceptional talent in husbandry. He decided to give everything about the beast pool to Cheng Shidi to study. The present Cheng Shidi needed a completely new goal.

He summoned the twin butterfly and examined this unique ling butterfly. He had to admit that only a maniac like Cheng Shidi could raise such a unique ling butterfly based on the disorderly and fragmented jade scroll Zuo Mo had given him and his own knowledge.

However, he then creased his brow. If Cheng Shidi wanted to progress another step, he would face a problem – cultivation. Cheng Shidi would find it difficult to suppress any action of a fifth-grade ling beast. The twin butterfly had been a very lucky incident.

Another with the same problem was Gongsun Shidi. Zuo Mo had learned more about battle generals, and knew that battle generals had a system of unique cultivation spells. The demands on cultivation of beginner battle generals were not high, but as they progressed, the demands on cultivation increased.

This was really a troublesome problem.

Zuo Mo frowned and sank into deep thought. He did not notice the actions of the twin butterfly.

Chapter 328: Upheaval Of Sword Cave

Inside the sword cave, Lin Qian finished reading the jade scroll and said with a sigh, “Just passed by, what a pity, what a pity.”

Wei Sheng raised his head to look but did not say anything. His time in the sword cave could not be called pleasant. It wasn’t that it was dull to stay in the sword cave every day. He cultivated the sword and had gone through hundreds of hardships. What was in front of him now didn’t amount to anything.

What made him feel dislike was the inability to mesh with this group of people. Truthfully, Lin Qian thought highly of him, and was very courteous in tone and speech, and never lost his manners. The xiuzhe under Lin Qian’s command did not try to find trouble with him, but the distance in their backgrounds would lead to subtle and unconsciously slips.

Wei Sheng wasn’t dumb. How could he not feel it? He didn’t find it strange. He had started as a sword servant. What kind of attitudes hadn’t he been subjected to? He just disliked it. What he disliked even more was that Lin Qian would always target Zuo Mo Shidi.

He usually wasn’t a chatty person. After entering the sword cave, he became increasingly reserved.

Lin Qian handed the jade scroll to Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng was slightly puzzled as he took the jade scroll and started reading. After he finished reading the jade scroll, Wei Sheng’s expression was normal, but enormous waves of emotion started in his heart.

Taking the name of the Master of Golden Crow City, killing multiple jindan, tens of thousands of xiuzhe gathering at his call … …

Was this Shidi? Wei Sheng didn’t quite believe it. In the jade scroll, Shidi’s appearance had changed greatly, but Wei Sheng had instantly recognized the attitude and movements. He also recognized Gongsun Cha and Chun Yu Cheng. After Shidi had been sent to Desolate Wood Reef, Wei Sheng had especially investigated the shidi of the sect that had gone with Zuo Mo Shidi and he had a general impression of these two people.

Shidi really was Shidi!

Wei Sheng was filled with an unspeakable joy. He felt peerlessly happy knowing that Shidi was alive and living well. Excitement unconsciously showed in his eyes. Shidi was so powerful now. As the shixiong, how could he be left behind?

Lin Qian had been staring at Wei Sheng and suddenly spoke, “Do you know what secret technique is this golden pair of wings on Zuo Mo’s back? Does it originate from the sect?”

Wei Sheng opened his eyes, and said solemnly, “Zuo Shidi usually has great luck. It wouldn’t be strange for him to have fortuitous encounters.”

Lin Qian looked with pity at Wei Sheng and said faintly, “Really? This one is familiar with the records and feel the pair of golden wings on Zuo Mo’s back matches the supposed transformations of a mo physique.”

Wei Sheng was not moved. “Oh, really? But based on what Wei knows, the dhyana’s abhinna have similar ones. Xin Shishu has passed on [Vajra Profound Sutra] to Shidi. Shidi is exceptionally talented, and was just a step away from forming an abhinna.”

Lin Qian took back his gaze and said calmly, “Brother Wei, why argue with me? I already have people guarding at Buddhist Flower Jie. Sect Leader Pei is righteous and just, and has agreed to this one to investigate this matter. The result will naturally be clear at that time.”

Wei Sheng’s hands fisted together, his eyes angry. The xiuzhe around Lin Qian shifted and stared with murderous eyes at Wei Sheng.

“Brother Wei has no need to be nervous. If Zuo Mo really has achieved an abhinna, this one will be happy. Even if Zuo Mo is being threatened by yaomo, this one will save his life.” Lin Qian raised his head, his eyes deep and serene. “The battle between us xiuzhe and yaomo is like water and fire, and cannot be avoided. Brother Wei is exceptionally talented. You should remain neutral. Do not fail the hopes of your sect leader.”

As he finished, he turned and ordered, “Everyone prepare. We are returning tomorrow morning.”

Wei Sheng shook upon hearing this. The snippets of conversation he heard when the xiuzhe had chatted floating into his mind. The xiuzhe in the surroundings looked coldly at Wei Sheng and scattered.

In the deepest part of the sword cave, Wei Sheng travelled here alone. His eyes scanned the surroundings and was filled with reluctance. He knew that Lin Qian and his fellows were going to completely abandon Sky Moon Jie. When the group of xiuzhe had been chatting, he heard that the upper ranks were planning to completely seal the jie river from Sky Moon Jie to Bright Wave Jie. Supposedly, almost all of the jindan experts of Bright Wave Jie were being gathered to set up the formation.

They didn’t plan to recapture Sky Moon Jie.

The atmosphere in the dark sword cave seemed to become more agreeable at this time. Thinking about how he would be unable to return to Sky Moon Jie in the future, Wei Sheng’ heart was dark. He silently walked to the deeper parts of the sword cave. He had killed his way through all eighteen levels of the sword cave. Thinking about it now, it seemed like yesterday. The shixiong and shidi of Wu Kong Mountain seemed to be right in front of him.

Thinking of the complex fighting inside the sect, his heart felt irritated. He hadn’t increased his cultivation one bit in this past year. He knew why that was. He had already planned it out. After returning this time, and the matter of Zuo Shidi was cleared up, he would go out to travel. He only wanted to cultivate the sword. He didn’t want to manage the matters of the sect and he couldn’t manage them.

For some reason, he wasn’t too worried about the matter of Shidi. Thinking of Zuo Mo, he smiled. Shidi’s cunning could only be understood by those who felt it. None of the people that had targeted Shidi before had ever gotten away.

Lin Qian’s origins were extraordinary, and had astounding power on his hands. Wei Sheng was very clear of that. But if Lin Qian thought he would be able to pin down Shidi so easily, then he was too naïve. Thinking about it, mirth unconsciously came to the corner of Wei Sheng’s mouth.

As to Lin Qian’s talk about yaomo. Wei Sheng felt disdain. He was clear that yaomo and xiuzhe were mortal enemies. He didn’t have any good feelings about yaomo, but did not hold  negative feelings. The conflict of xiuzhe and yaomo at its core was the conflict over resources. Xiuzhe cultivation required large amounts of jingshi and all kinds of talismans. Where would these things come from?

There was a system for the production of materials, but it was far from being able to satisfy the demands of those great sects. The discovery of new jie had never stopped. Each jie’s discovery would be accompanied by rivers of blood.

What did the battle of yaomo and xiuzhe have to do with him?

Those big sects weren’t good entities. He missed the past Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Unknowingly, he walked to the deepest level. The yin fiends along the way had not recovered, and didn’t dare to come near Wei Sheng as they knew his power.

The deepest level was empty. In the past, there had been a very powerful yin fiend here. He had killed it at the expense of heavy injuries. His gaze landed on the ground. There was a thick layer of copper tile beneath his feet, and along the stone wall was a copper table. There was a jade box on the copper table. Wei Sheng’s complete version of [Void Sword Scripture] had been taken from this jade box.

Everything here had not changed compared to when he had left.

After tomorrow, everything here would be sealed forever.

Wei Sheng was very emotion. His hand caressed the copper table. A wave of coldness passed back. He suddenly made a slight sound of surprise. There was another weak presence among this wave of coldness! This presence was very weak. If it wasn’t that he was much stronger than when he had previously been in the sword cave, then he would not have detected this presence.

There was something strange!

His mind jumped. Closing his eyes and calming his mind, this weak presence slowly became clear.

He opened his eyes and sent out his sword essence to swipe a few times on the copper table. The surface of the table flashed with light and revealed a jade box.

Wei Sheng had a surprised and joyful expression as he hurriedly opened the jade box. Inside was a damaged jade pendant and a jade scroll. Wei Sheng carefully picked up the jade scroll. As he read, he became even more shocked.

Remaining in the jade scroll was a thread of thought that the sect’s ancestral master had left before death. It told the history of this jade pendant. This pendant was a talisman the ancestral master had serendipitously received when he was young, which had a unique presence that lingered on it. The sect’s [Void Sword Scripture] had been comprehended by the ancestral master from this presence. When he read this, Wei Sheng’s heart beat wildly.

A presence was enough for the ancestral master to comprehend a sixth-grade sword scripture. This presence should have been so powerful he couldn’t imagine it

The ancestral master spent his entire life studying this jade scroll, and finally gained something before the end of his life. However, he had no power to personally uncover the mystery of the pendant so he had carved what he knowledge had gained on the underside of the copper tile. But considering that while the presence of the jade pendant was weak, but it was vastly immeasurable and pure, he was afraid it would cause a calamity. The ancestral master decided to hide it. If a disciple from the sect had the fate, he naturally would receive it. This was an opportunity.

Putting down the jade scroll, Wei Sheng’ gaze moved to the damaged jade pendant. His heart beat hard. A presence that was complex enough that the ancestral master took a lifetime to comprehend, it definitely was exceptional.

He carefully picked up the jade pendant. The jade pendant was very non-descript. One corner was damaged, and its style was very old. Holding it on his hand, he could feel the mysterious presence even more clearly. Suppressing his strong curiosity, he did not dare to use his mind to touch this weak presence. A presence that even the ancestral master had to study for a lifetime wasn’t something he could touch with his present cultivation.

He gravely hung the jade scroll on his neck and then his eyes landed on the copper tiles. He started the core scripture of [Void Sword Scripture] and pressed his hand to a copper tile. This copper tile instantly became light as air, and was easily taken up.

There was something!

A strange pattern was revealed on the ground. Wei Sheng’s mind jumped again, and he picked up the tiles one after the other.

In a short while, all of the copper tiles on the ground were removed  to reveal the ground below. The ground was as smooth as a mirror. An enormous formation appeared below Wei Sheng’s feet.

This was … …

Wei Sheng’s eyes flashed as he carefully examined the formation under his feet. However, the complex seal scripts made him dizzy. He thought it would be wonderful if Zuo Shidi was here. With Shidi’s skill in formations, he definitely would know what this formation did.

He did not notice the jade pendant hanging on his neck started to imperceptibly light up.

When the light covered the entire jade pendant, and Wei Sheng noticed it, the formation under his feet lit up with a bright bloody light, so bright that Wei Sheng could not open his eyes.

The dazzling blood coloured light formed a pillar and shot upwards.

The rock over his head turned to dust in front of the pillar of light.

———

On the highest level of the sword cave, Lin Qian’s expression suddenly changed. His figure suddenly leap to the side. A blinding bloody pillar of light shot out of the ground, and brushed past him. Some of the xiuzhe that couldn’t react in time didn’t even have the time to wail before they were reduced to dust.

The pillar of light destructively penetrated the jinzhi of the sword cave with its lingering energy, went through the thick rock and rose into the sky.

Lin Qian’s expression was extremely ugly. At this time, he could not do anything else but shout, “Leave! Leave immediately!”

The erupting pillar of bloody light was like an enormous sword of blood that pierced the sky!

The yao army camped on Wu Kong Mountain looked in shock at the thick pillar of light.

Mu Xi reacted the quickest. Her expression tightened with shock, “Go investigate what is going on!”

The deepest level of the sword cave was empty of everything.

Chapter 329: The Name Of Tenth Grade

The twin butterfly slowly waved its wings. The black fiendish energy continuously flowed into its body like a whale swallowing water. The black miniature figure hanging on the black antennae slowly became clearer. The features became more and more defined out of the blurriness, becoming more detailed.

The little miniature black person on the antenna was about three cun tall. Black clothing, and black hair, his face was cold, his eyes holding killing intent as he stood aloofly.

When Zuo Mo raised his head from his thoughts, he coincidentally saw the formation of the little black person. He was very surprised. This twin butterfly was really unusual!

The little black person glanced at Zuo Mo but had no intentions of paying attention to him. He suddenly raised his arms, his hair standing on end, his eyes lighting up as he said in a crisp voice, “In!”

A strong twister suddenly formed around the twin butterfly with wind, sand and rock.

Hiss! Zuo Mo inhaled sharply was amazement. The view within his Ling Eye, the black fiendish energy was furiously flowing towards the arms that the little black person was raising.

The noise caused by the little black person was too loud. The entire camp was disturbed. Everyone thought they were under attack and flew into the sky. The first to react was Xie Shan, the second to charge over was Shu Long. He was extremely sensitive to black fiendish energy, and instantly detected the change.

When they ran over with nervous expressions, and found the culprit was a strange black and white ling butterfly in front of Zuo Mo, they were stunned.

Zuo Mo looked dazedly at the little black person. The black fiendish energy within five li of here had all been moved. In the Ling Eye, the black fiendish energy within five li formed an enormous black and red whirlpool. At the center of this whirlpool was this little black person not even three cun tall.

The little black person had a stern expression as it focused intently on absorbing the black fiendish energy.

The entire process took a whole two hours before the little black person contentedly stopped. At this time, he clearly looked different. The black hair now was blood red like a burning flame. The black pupils were deep as the night. Its handsome little face was wore a cold expression , the killing intent between the brows even more evident.

The twin butterfly stopped absorbing the black fiendish energy, and the restless air gradually calmed down.

Just as Zuo Mo was dumbstruck, the twin butterfly flew in front of him. The little black person raised its little face filled with sternness and killing intent and gazed at Zuo Mo. When it spoke, it was with a crisp and child-like voice, “Please, Master, bestow a name!”

Oh, it seemed alive … …

His face filled with disbelief, Zuo Mo seemed to have seen a ghost and put his face near. “You are alive?”

The killing intent on the little black person’s face froze. The corner of his eyes twitched. The little face had also darkened, but was also helpless. “Yes!”

“Hm, interesting … …” Zuo Mo was excited. He suddenly raised his right hand, and poke a finger in curiosity on the body of the little black person. “Oh, it’s soft … …”

Murderous intent rose on the face of the little black person. The little face was dark as it said, “A soldier can be killed, but cannot be humiliated!”

It was a pity that the crisp childish tone neutralized the effect of all of the murderous intent.

However, Zuo Mo still took his finger back guiltily. He rubbed his chin in pretension. “Naming … …” His eyes suddenly lit up. “Inviting Wealth! How about this? Is it mighty enough … …”

The features of the little black person convulsed. Suppressing his anger, he gritted his teeth. “The warrior can only be killed, but not humiliated … …”

“Ooh, how about Jingshi?”

“The warrior can only be killed, but not humiliated … ..” The crisp child-like tone showed signs of collapsing.

“You don’t like Jingshi either? This habit isn’t good. It seems we need to teach your taste. The common saying is good, jingshi can even move ghosts … … ooh, All Wealth Belongs To Me, how about this … …”

“The warrior can only be killed, but not humiliated … …” The little black person weakly objected.

“The First Treasure in the World?”

“The warrior can only be killed, but not humiliated … …”

Xie Shan and Shu Long looked with sympathy at the little black person that was tortured to the point of death by Zuo Mo. They exchanged a look and rapidly left the scene.

Zuo Mo looked contentedly at the drooping figure of Tenth Grade. That was right, just now, the little black person that was being endlessly tormented finally agreed to the strange name of Tenth Grade.

“Tenth Grade, don’t feel that this name is common.” Zuo Mo said with a solemn face. “Tenth Grade, it represents the highest grade. This twin butterfly is just fifth-grade. Tenth Grade, it means the highest and the strongest! The strongest in the world. What, isn’t this what you are pursuing?”

The depressed little black person’s eyes suddenly lit up. He straightened, filled with battle intent, and said gravely, “Thank you Master for giving me a name!”

Zuo Mo’s expression was very stern, but he was laughing in his heart. Oh, tenth-grade, how much jingshi would that be … …

Tenth Grade was just three cun tall, but he was fifth-grade. Fifth-grade ling beasts had space shields. Tenth Grade’s space shield was even more unique and had hints of the black fiendish energy. Zuo Mo had never heard of black fiendish energy before, but after these days, he had some understanding of the uniqueness of the black fiendish energy.

For Shu Long and the others, black fiendish energy was a great nutrient, but for xiuzhe, black fiendish energy was akin to a powerful poison. Black fiendish energy was usually created from brutal battlefields, it was yin and had the utmost vicious nature. If it met another entity, if it did not completely destroy it, it would not rest.

A fifth-grade ling beast was as powerful as a jindan. Even more importantly, Tenth Grade was very intelligent. When a ling beast or talisman had more intelligence, it mean that it had greater room to grow.

The most powerful quality of Tenth Grade was that it could learn spells. This was something that Zuo Mo had never heard of. He instantly taught [Hardship Guard] to Tenth Grade. [Hardship Guard] could absorb black fiendish energy, and was suitable for Tenth Grade to practice. Zuo Mo planned to get a stronger mo skill out of Pu Yao and the gravestone at a later time.

Even though Tenth Grade’s power was not strong now, but Zuo Mo was full of anticipation about Tenth Grade’s future.

After a temporary rest, the troop departed again.

The vast ancient battlefield was covered in marks. Over time, even these terrifying marks had become blurry.

After advancing for more than ten days, the scenery still hadn’t changed. They hadn’t discovered anything. This ancient battlefield was so large that one couldn’t imagine it.

The twin butterfly danced in flight, Tenth Grade sitting cross-legged on the black antenna as he cultivated. His progressed made all of Guard Camp sweat. In just ten days, he had created black armor. He could also take it on or off based on his will while Shu Long and the other’s black armor could not be taken off.

Tenth Grade was a cultivation person, no, was a cultivation wild beast. He didn’t like to stay in the beast service card, and stayed on the antenna all day motionlessly cultivating. Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire were full of curiosity about Tenth Grade and would occasionally come over to look but Tenth Grade would just ignore them.

It was strange to speak of it. The great majority of Vermillion Bird Camp stayed inside the slave transporting boats. The thick black fiendish energy was extremely bad for them, so Zuo Mo had set up formation inside the boats to separate the black fiendish energy to stop it from corroding everyone. But the little ones, including Silly Bird, did not react at all to the black fiendish energy. Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire had the most energy and spend everyday playing. Lil’ Black was unusually sleep, and spent more than half the days lying on A Gui’s head.

What puzzled Zuo Mo the most was that A Gui did not respond at all to the black fiendish energy.

A Gui’s complexion was much better than before, and seemed to show some signs of life. After inspection, Zuo Mo found that a thread of the strange purple light had appeared in A Gui’s body. This purple power was extremely weak, but it was unusually valuable to A Gui’s crippled body.

A Gui’s situation turning for the better made Zuo Mo’s mood better.

However, Zuo Mo was still filled with worry. They hadn’t found anything in more than ten days. They hadn’t encountered any living being, and did not see one stalk of grass. This ancient battlefield was so desolate that it made people feel hopeless. Nothing could make a person feel as terrified and hopeless as this deathly cold and empty vastness. Even if they encountered a danger, or a yao beast, that would be much better than this.

If it continued like this, after just a short while, the people would go crazy.

Had they really come to a death ground that had nothing?

Suddenly, Zuo Mo stopped in his steps. He had a joyous expression in his eyes.

Water … … there was moisture in the air … …

He closed his eyes, spread his right hand, his fingers lightly wiped. [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]!

After ten breathers, a faint white cloud the size of an infant’s face floated on Zuo Mo’s palm.

Now, it wasn’t just Zuo Mo but everyone had that joyful expressions. The moisture in the air was higher than ten days before and higher than the places they travelled through. Water, that meant there was life.

What people were most afraid of was not hardship, but not being able to see hope.

Morale rose greatly. The advancing speed of the troop increased. The black fiendish energy in the air became thicker. Zuo Mo became even more careful. According to Pu Yao, the direction they were heading in was towards the center of the battlefield.

After travelling another five days, everyone saw the first water pond. The shallow water pond was just a puddle, but for everyone, it was a salvation.

But at this time, the troop had to stop because Shu Long was having a breakthrough.

The black fiendish energy was like fertilizer for the [Hardship Guard] mo skill that Shu Long and the others cultivated. Their progression speed was astounding. The other people of Guard Camp progressed quickly, but no one surpassed Shu Long.

The mood of the camp was nervous. If Shu Long could successfully complete his breakthrough, it would be a fortunate matter for them.

The three Golden Armor Guards lined up in a fan shape. The blinding golden scaled armor was now covered in black patterns, and looked extremely terrifying. The black patterns on the Golden Armor Guards was formed by the black fiendish energy that they had absorbed during this time. According to Pu Yao, this was due to the fact that ancient dragon bone had been used to make the Golden Armor Guards.

Pu Yao also said that if they were lucky, the three Golden Armor Guards may even level up.

However, what Zuo Mo was concerned with now wasn’t the Golden Armor Guards, but another problem.

“Pu, what spell could prevent xiuzhe from being corroded by black fiendish energy? Or process black fiendish energy? One that doesn’t need them to start cultivating from the beginning,” Zuo Mo asked.

Pu Yao glanced at him, and dawdled, “Of course there are spells.”

Zuo Mo rubbed his hands, and said, “Then can you give me a copy?”

“What can you give me in trade?” Pu Yao raised his eyebrow.

Zuo Mo swore inside, this damned renyao’s attitude was fickle and really hateful.

But he also knew that Pu Yao definitely would not let him have it easily. Pu Yao would get his pound of flesh. Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and said, “What do you want?”

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil narrowed as he smiled darkly.

Chapter 330: Shu Long Black Halberd

“In the past, I had a nickname in the yao world … …” Pu Yao said but he seemed to realize something and switched the topic. “Oh, let’s not mention what is in the past. The people you have don’t have bad personalities, but their talent isn’t great.”

Pu Yao had a face full of helplessness. Zuo Mo knew he had more to say, and didn’t interrupt.

“You have been practicing the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique, and you have let go of your yao arts. There hasn’t been much development in your study of formations.” Pu Yao’s expression darkened. “Hmph, that guy took all the benefits.”

Zuo Mo knew that Pu Yao was speaking of the gravestone. He rolled his eyes. “Don’t say that I’m not cultivating the yao arts. Who made it that your [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] isn’t as strong as the Great Day mo physique. You can’t have me lose my life.”

Pu Yao stopped speaking. The Great Day mo physique was domineering and unyielding. It really wasn’t an easy matter to find a yao art that could rival it at this stage. The few that he knew were extremely rigid in their cultivation. Actually, the progression of Great Day mo physique was extremely difficult, but Zuo Mo had muddled through it and succeeded. Pu Yao felt very surprised at that fact.

Was Zuo Mo fated to cultivate mo skills?

Pu Yao felt even more discontent.

“Ha, I don’t care about that.” Pu Yao smirked. “Don’t you want spells? No problem. Here, this is the Little Yao Art Record. It is a very simple thing. Five hundred types. When you can cultivate all of them, I will give you a spell.”

Finishing, he threw a jade scroll at Zuo Mo. Ignoring the gaping Zuo Mo, he disappeared.

This guy was crazy!

After a while, Zuo Mo’s first thought was that Pu Yao was crazy. He then was furious. This guy didn’t look at the time. In such a dangerous place, he had the idle time act passive-aggressively against the gravestone.

“Pu! Come out!”

“Idiot, ge is telling you. If you don’t want to live, don’t pull ge along!”

No matter how Zuo Mo swore, Pu Yao did not respond. After swearing for a while, Zuo Mo was tired, and sat down. Scanning the jade scroll, his expression instantly became bitter.

He had once been troubled by the lack of spells. He had never thought there would be a day where he would be troubled by having too many spells and yao arts to practice.

The power of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique was out of his imagination. He liked them a lot. He naturally would practise such life-saving moves everyday. The six transformations didn’t have many changes, but each transformation was vast and profound. It wasn’t an easy matter to master them.

He had just familiarized himself with the second transformation [Golden Crow Feet]. How couldn’t Zuo Mo be angry about Pu Yao doing this at such an important time?

If he could master all six changes, Zuo Mo’s power would rival that of a jindan third stratum xiuzhe!

Zuo Mo suddenly swearing made everyone else still where they stood, their faces puzzled.

———

Shu Long’s entire body was covered by thick black energy. In the last three days, he was motionless like a statue wrapped in black energy. The entire Guard Camp was on their guard. Shu Long was the first to make a breakthrough among them, and had attracted all of their attention.

The black energy roiled like countless snakes slithering about.

Two balls shocking red light suddenly lit up among the thick inky black energy. The blood-thirsty savage eyes of a wild beast were Shu Long’s eyes.

“Ping!”

Shu Long’s right hand rose in front of his chest, then his right hand pressed against the air as he made an extremely strange posture. He suddenly made a hoarse and deep roar.

The black energy around his body seemed to be stimulated and started to furiously flood towards his hands. Large volumes of black energy flowed on his arms like a black snake.

In the blink of an eye, the black energy on his hands was so thick it seemed tangible.

The inky black energy dripped and flowed down to form a black stream about one zhang long.

The black energy on Shu Long’s body continuously flowed towards this slender black flow. The shocking red eyes revealed a hint of pain. The black energy around Shu Long’s body suddenly shook, and showed signs of dissipating. The surrounding people exclaimed in shock. But the light of the red eyes brightened, and the slightly unsteady black energy seemed to be steadily attracted by an invisible force. Everyone in the surroundings released a breath.

Between the two hands, the slender black flow slowly flowed and became even thicker and more viscous. The speed of the flow became increasingly slow.

Even Zuo Mo ignored his headache and ran over. The other people didn’t even dare to blink. They all knew that Shu Long’s weapon was about to form.

The black energy of the black slender flow suddenly grew. At the same time, Shu Long’s eyes brightened. His two hands that had been grasping at air suddenly tightened.

Pia!

The two large hands were like two pincers that suddenly gripped the black slender flow.

The threads of black energy spreading around the black slender flow dissipated. A long black spear appeared on front of everyone. Hiss, the black energy around Shu Long’s body burrowed into his body, and revealed his black armor.

“Shu Long has fortunately succeeded!” Shu Long suppressed his excitement, and came in front of Zuo Mo to bow.

After leveling up, the authority that Shu Long exuded was even more stern, and his power had clearly gone up a stage.

“Good good good!” Zuo Mo was very happy. On one hand, he was happy that Shu Long had made a breakthrough. On the other, the success of Shu Long’s breakthrough created a great increase in morale.

Zuo Mo’s eyes quickly landed on the long black halberd in Shu Long’s hands. The long halberd was about one zhang long, with a crescent curve, and a point. The shape was old-fashioned. The body of the halberdwas as thick as a goose egg, smooth and glowing, it was extremely fine. At the blade of the halberd was a hint of eerie red like the fangs of a wild beast tinged with blood. Deep thick killing essence came from the body of the halberd. Looking at it from afar, it definitely was a vicious weapon

Shu Long didn’t just get the addition of the black halberd in this breakthrough. His armor had also changed greatly. The thick black scales of armor became much thinner, the black color even purer. The thick clumsy feeling had disappeared, and it seemed to become nimble.

The other people in Guard Camp couldn’t resist any long and flooded over.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo smiled and stepped to the side.

———

Lei Peng looked from afar at the joyful Guard Camp and muttered, “Shu Long’s bunch is really weird. They can even use black fiendish energy. We are unfortunate. We have to stay on the boats every day. It’s enough to suffocate us to death.”

Blue-white sword lotuses bloomed and died among Nian Lu’s fingers. He said without raising his head, “If you have the energy to complain, spend some time practicing your sabre scripture.”

Lei Peng’s expression became even more depressed. “Cultivate my ass! An isn’t like you, if an cultivates that sabre scripture, this boat will break.”

Nian Lu’s sword scripture did not lack exquisite and small sword moves, but Lei Peng’s sabre scripture was wide and broad. If he left the slave transporting boats, under the corrosion of the black fiendish energy, it wasn’t just dangerous but the rate that ling power was expended was also multiple times what it usually was. He would run out of ling power after just a few moves.

Ma Fan coincidentally passed by the two. Hearing this, he stopped and stared at Lei Peng.

At the beginning, Lei Peng didn’t care, but after being stared at for a while, and seeing Ma Fan still remain silent, he said self-consciously, “What, why are you looking at an?”

Ma Fan thought and then said, “Your sabre scripture is powerful and domineering, but if you could get it to become finer, its power will definitely go up a step.”

Lei Peng stilled and then started to ponder it. He looked rough, but he wasn’t dumb. If he was dumb, he couldn’t have comprehended sabre essence. Ma Fan’s words caused him to sink into deep thought.

Ma Fan prepared to leave after speaking, but Nian Lu hurriedly pulled him back, and said fawningly, “Head, how can you be so cruel? I’m also your vice commander! Teach me something!”

Ma Fan had an expression between smiling and crying. Two vice commanders, Lei Peng’s temper was explosive, but he was a chatterbox, while Nian Lu was warm, but he was a show-off. He lowered his head to think. “Your [Blue Lotus Sword Scripture] has many complex transformations, but if you want to progress, don’t linger on these transformations. You have to make the complex simple, using sword essence at the core.”

“Sword essence at the core … …” Nian Lu murmured unfocusedly.

Ma Fan silently left, but he also looked outside the boat and felt dejected. Xie Shan becoming a jindan had been a great stimulus to him. His talent at cultivating the sword was exceptional, and he had progressed very quickly when he focused, especially in the area of sword essence. He had touched the border of sword essence manifestation. The only thing limiting him was his cultivation.

But who would have thought they suddenly landed in this ghastly place. The ling energy was thin, and that horrid black fiendish energy made it even worse than Little Mountain Jie. While Little Mountain Jie was thin on ling power, but there was jingshi. They had jingshi right now, but everyone didn’t dare to use it to cultivate. Who knew how long they would stay in this ghastly place? If they encountered danger, these jingshi would be life-saving!

Stuck at this point, how could his mood not be terrible? But his mentality was much more stable than Nian Lu and Lei Peng and he could suppress it.

———

Zuo Mo stared in a daze as he held the Records of Little Yao Arts. Little Yao Arts were another name for basic yao arts. They weren’t anything profound, but the contents were something every yao had to practise. As he flipped through, Zuo Mo found that the difficulty of these little yao arts were not hard. He didn’t immediately start cultivating them, but pondered on what Pu Yao’s goal was.

Pu Yao was whimsical and ever changing. Zuo Mo had learned this countless times before, but he had a strong feeling this time – this was just the beginning of something.

This was the part that Zuo Mo really had a headache about.

He didn’t know what was going on in Pu Yao’s mind but it seemed he was very determined this time. What would happen after would definitely affect his practice of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique. At this time, these six transformations were the basis of his life-saving measures!

Zuo Mo rubbed his forehead in a headache. He had to think of a way to satisfy both.

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of the matter where Pu Yao had gotten him to study mo matrixes. His mind moved. Was this Pu Yao’s true goal? He remembered very clearly how much Pu Yao had cared about formations. Even though he had eaten a jindan’s golden core, and Pu Yao looked to have recovered greatly, but upon deeper thought, if Pu Yao could be healed with a single golden core, he definitely wouldn’t have been so nervous back then!

Was it the study of formations? Zuo Mo was slightly unsure.

After leaving Little Mountain Jie, Zuo Mo had been rushed by the series of events and hadn’t had the time to calm down to study formations. Zuo Mo was very clear about the value of formations. If he slacked off right now, it was a pity. But right now, he didn’t have the time to personally work on it.

After thinking for a long time, Zuo Mo still couldn’t get Pu Yao’s goal, but he still decided to restart his study of formations.

This time, he decided to make it a big move.

Chapter 331: Disseminating

Zuo Mo sat cross-legged as he recalled everything he had learned.

Formations, forging, fire manipulation, dan-making, he had dabbled in all of them, and formed his own knowledge over time, but he had never systematically examined his knowledge. Having a moment for self-assessment today, he unexpectedly found that what he learned was extremely heterogeneous and the great majority of things were not systematic.

How could he work with this? He thought with a furrowed brow.

———

Wei Cheng Bin concentrated on reading the jade scroll in his hand. After leaving Little Mountain Jie, all of Golden Crow Camp had been very idle. There were no missions and everyone could study topics that they were interested in. Some people were very interested in conversing with others. The present environment of Golden Crow Camp was extremely positive. Everyone had went through hardship together, and had formed deep relationships. They had long thrown the ideals of sect and family away. The two masters, Ji Wei and Sun Bao, would occasionally hold lectures. Wei Cheng Bin would attend each one of them and would learn much.

It was a pity that they couldn’t cultivate at present. Daren had allowed them to access great numbers of jade scrolls, and there were many fourth-grade core scriptures suitable for production xiuzhe. Everyone had originally been filled with motivation and planned on working hard on their cultivation in the hopes of reaching jindan as early as possible. Who could have thought they would end up in this place where they couldn’t even cultivate. Everyone could only put their attention on the jade scrolls, and content themselves with study.

“Cheng Bin!” A male popped his head in.

This male was called Wan Tian. His features were unusually ugly, but his fire manipulation skills were uncanny and ranked first in the entire camp. Even the two masters, Sun Bao, and Ji Wei, praised it endlessly.

“What terrible idea do you have now?” Wei Cheng Bin helplessly put down the jade scroll in his hands.

“Hee hee,” Wan Tian snickered, and whispered, “I want to get a bit of black fiendish energy to study.”

“Black fiendish energy?” Wei Cheng Bin’s heart jumped as he said with a serious expression. “Old Wan, don’t mess around. Black fiendish energy is extremely dangerous. It isn’t anything that people of our cultivation can touch!”

“I know that.” Wan Tian knew how dangerous it was. “I just want to get a thread, and see the mysteries of this black fiendish energy. This is a rare chance. We probably won’t ever encounter black fiendish energy again in the future.”

Wei Cheng Bin was persuaded. It would be false to say he was not curious, but his personality was a cautious one. He thought, and then said, “This probably needs the approval of the two masters.”

“Of course, of course. The masters usually rely on you. If you go to ask for it, there definitely wouldn’t be a problem,” Wan Tian was overjoyed as he hurriedly said.

Just at this time, Master Sun Bao’s voice suddenly boomed out from from above, “Everyone, come to Golden Crow Hall immediately!”

Wei Cheng Bin and Wan Tian exchanged a look and were both shocked. There was a hint of excitement in Master Sun Bao’s voice.

Golden Crow Hall was the largest room in this slave transporting boat, and had been modified by the two masters to be the place they held their lessons. When the two arrived, Golden Crow Hall was filled with people. The two masters sat at the very front with barely disguised excitement.

After everyone had gathered, Master Sun Bao slowly swept a look across the people and took a deep breath before saying solemnly, “Today, Daren has given us a jade scroll. Recorded within it is Daren’s knowledge and insights, including the Great Golden Crow Formation, how to make yin fire beads, the fire paper method, a chapter on the seal scripts of the formation battle watchtowers, the seal scripts for the body formations, and so on.”

Boom, it was like an explosion occurred. Some were dumbstruck, some were unable to speak, some were breathing heavily. Every name that came from the mouth of the master was a blow that was like lightning streaking over their bodies.

Wei Cheng Bin and Wan Tian gaped as they were dumbstruck where they stood.

Wei Cheng Bin felt his head was ringing. He felt like he was dreaming. Was this real … … was this real … …

Each name was a kind of lost knowledge, a bit of lost knowledge that should not be easily passed onto others! For example, the Great Golden Crow Formation that could gather sunlight to form Golden Crow Fire. If a sect knew someone had this formation, they would try to obtain it at any cost.

Each person had uncontrollable joy on their faces, but gradually, the joy on their faces disappeared and became serious.

The entire Golden Crow Hall was completely silent. The gravity of the situation showed on everyone’s faces because this jade scroll was like mountain that weighed on everyone’s hearts!

The usually warm Master Ji Wei’s expression was cold and serious. When he spoke, his tone was stern. “Everyone knows the value of this jade scroll, there’s no need for me to say more. Daren led us out of Little Mountain Jie and did not abandon us. Now, he is imparting these rare and lost knowledge to us. Let me ask, which sect can do so?”

No one said a word. That was right, which sect could do so? No sect would be able to do so. They had all been members of large sects before. Lost knowledge like this was unavailable to anyone except the core disciples, no matter how much an individual contributed.

In just a few words, Master Ji Wei’s words made everyone’s hearts feel heavy.

“So,” Master Ji Wei’s heavy tone paused, his eyes lighting up and flashing across the people present, “I and Master Sun Bao have discussed and agreed that anyone who will learn from this jade scroll must first make a killing heart oath. Our Golden Crow Camp will become its own sect loyal to Daren!”

———

Zuo Mo did not know what effect his actions created.

After putting in large amounts of effort, and producing that jade scroll, he sunk into frenzied cultivation. But what made Pu Yao discontent was that Zuo Mo did not just cultivate the little yao arts but practiced them together with the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique.

Was even this method useless?

Pu Yao wondered, but then he understood when he changed his way of thinking. Zuo Mo had experienced the power of the Great Day mo physique and thought it was stronger, which was why he was working so hard on it. Pu Yao’s eyes looked towards the sky. Threads of black energy floated in the blood-tinged sky. His eyes lit up. He snickered, and instantly felt unhurried.

Then his figure disappeared.

The next moment, he appeared in the Ten Finger Prison. Pu Yao was like a ghost, those yao art jinzhi had no effect on him. His speed was wondrously fast as the scenery flashed by.

———

Chi suddenly stopped in his steps, his hair was red and his features were masculine like a lion, and looked with shock towards the sky.

“Teacher? What is it?” the students beside him hurriedly asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Chi turned his gaze back, and pretended to be calm. “Everyone, be careful. It is your first trip to Ten Finger Prison. Vast Water Clear Skies should not have any dangers for you, but still be careful, especially of provoking other yao.”

The students beside him all agreed, their faces full of anticipation. They had all gotten to the soul-planting stage, and were starting to try out real battle.

Chi did not speak. His gaze uncontrollably went back to the distance. Just now, he had barely detected that a peerlessly powerful yao had passed by. This feeling wasn’t clear, but it made him feel fear.

Was it a Sky Yao?

———

“I can’t find it? That place is a bit strange!” Pu Yao murmured to himself, his brows tightly locked.

———

Zuo Mo’s legs were glittering with golden light as though they were made from gold. The pattern of each muscle was clear and distinct. Dong, Zuo Mo was unable to control it well, and like a knife carving into tofu, his right leg was deeply imbedded into the earth up to his hamstrings. At the side, Shu Long and Xie Shan’s jaws gaped. The earth here had been tempered by thousands of years of black fiendish energy, and was as hard as steel. But in front of Zuo Mo’s legs, they seemed to be made of tofu.

If they were hit with that leg … …

Shu Long and Xie Shan reflexively turned their eyes away.

Zuo Mo’s forehead was covered with sweat. He pulled his right leg from the earth, but he lost control of his left leg. Pew, that also sank into the earth. His figure lost balance and fell on the ground. His body wasn’t as strong as his legs, and he bared his teeth in pain.

The troop maintained a constant speed as it travelled, so Zuo Mo decided to cultivate using this method.

[Light Void Wings] was meant for speed, and [Golden Crow Feet] was for power. Before this, Zuo Mo found it hard to understand how those mo that focused on strength could rival the xiuzhe that had powerful long-distance attacks. He only started to understand as he started to cultivate [Golden Crow Feet].

Any kind of power was extremely terrifying when it reached a certain level.

When pure strength reached a certain level, it would form a boundary in the surroundings to make a force boundary. Any other power that entered this area would be fiercely attacked. It was possible to imagine how a flying sword of a xiuzhe would have to break this force boundary before wounding its target.

Entering the force boundary, what the flying sword would face was a collision of power without any finesse.

Zuo Mo was still a long way off from forming a force boundary, but he wasn’t in a hurry. The beautiful feeling of pure power intoxicated him. He used the time on the road every day to practice the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique, and when he was resting, he would cultivate the little yao arts.

As to the dangers in front, was of little concern to him but his cultivation took up all his time.

Compared to the difficulty of Zuo Mo’s cultivation, the cultivation speed of Tenth Grade was astoundingly fast. He now had a black crescent flying blade beside him. This black flying knife was like a black butterfly that danced and circled around Tenth Grade without exhaustion.

Even Shu Long was jealous. He had overcome great hardships to form his weapon, yet Tenth Grade had cultivated his weapon in a month.

Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire curiously floated around Tenth Grade. The two little ones clearly were filled with curiosity about this little black person.

Tenth Grade didn’t even bat an eye. He concentrated on cultivation. Of course, he also knew the connection between Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire to Master so he did not act.

But Tenth Grade, his goal was to reach tenth-grade! With such a high and grand goal, how could he live a life of idleness with these people that only knew how to play everyday?

Tenth Grade raised his eyelid a crack and imperceptibly glanced at the two little ones as he thought proudly.

Who knew that Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire found the black crescent blade flying around Tenth Grade was very fun. They started to chase the black crescent and twirled around Tenth Grade .

Tenth Grade that wanted to focus on cultivation felt very irritated. He could not resist any longer. Opening his eyes, his murderous intent brimmed. “Go play somewhere else! Stop bothering me!”

Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire shook and flew far away in fear.

Silly Bird who had been dozing suddenly opened her eyes. The bird eyes narrowed and flashed savagely. Her figure suddenly disappeared from her spot.

Tenth Grade felt alarm, but he was unable to muster a response before a powerful force whipped his body.

Bam!

He was like a rock that had been kicked and landed head first in the ground.

“Who … …”

The dizzy Tenth Grade tried to struggle up, his heart brimming with killing intent as he wanted to attack.

An enormously big bird claw came from the sky. The enormous shadow covered Tenth Grade .

Pew!

Limbs spread out, Tenth Grade was splayed out and pinned to the ground by Silly Bird’s claws. He was unable to move.

In Tenth Grade‘s eyes, an enormous bird head with a pair of vicious eyes came down and stared at him.

Tenth Grade‘s body froze as he was dumbstruck.

Chapter 332: Fiendish Mist

Hoo, finally finished learning the three hundredth little yao art.

Zuo Mo exhaled deeply. Little yao arts were not complicated at all, but there were so many kinds it was a headache. If it wasn’t that his consciousness’ foundation wasn’t bad, it probably would be much harder.

He suddenly raised his head. A disturbance was occurring at the front.

There was a situation!

Zuo Mo was not frightened and was happy. After so many days that he couldn’t even remember clearly, they hadn’t encountered anything ever since entering this damned ancient battlefield. His figure shifted and he appeared at the very front of the troop.

Not far away was a spread of thin bloody mist that seemed to have things moving inside it. The bloody mist was very vast, and showed no end.

Out of caution, the troop had stopped.

Pu Yao came out and looked gravely at the bloody mist up head. “Careful, this is fiendish mist. Inside are fiend soul beasts.”

It wasn’t the first time Zuo Mo had heard Pu Yao mention fiendish soul beasts. Every time Pu Yao spoke of them, his tone was very grave. He couldn’t resist asking, “Are those things very powerful?”

“En,” Pu Yao looked at the bloody mist up head, amazement unable to be disguised in his bloody pupil, “In any battlefield that has souls that have not transcended after death, the souls of those dead would roam the battlefield. If the fiendish energy of the battlefield is heavy, these souls will not dissipate, and will absorb fiendish energy to form fiendish souls. Over time, fiendish souls will become fiendish soul beasts. This fiendish mist is a size never heard of before. The fiend soul beasts inside will also be great.”

Pu Yao’s words made Zuo Mo feel hesitant. If it really was so dangerous, going into this bloody mist … …

After a few moments of thought, he ordered for camp to be set.

———

Golden Crow Camp had completely transformed.

Golden Crow Hall was filled with people that gathered in groups of three to five to discuss their studies. It was very noisy. This was an unique habit that they had formed during their time in Little Mountain Jie. Everyone had come from small sects, and were limited in their knowledge. Many of the problems that they encountered were not ones that could be resolved by themselves. Out of helplessness, consolidating everyone’s strength became the only choice. Over time, this became an unique habit of Golden Crow Camp.

The unique open environment of Golden Crow Camp and the trust built up due to persevering through  hardship together was the most fertile ground to grow these relationships. Zuo Mo’s jade scroll was like a spring rain that instantly created vitality.

But today, they had not gathered to discuss problems of formations.

“The fiendish mist is in front of us. Even though Daren has decided to temporarily make camp, we need to prepare for entering the fiendish mist,” Sun Bao said seriously.

Everyone listened careful. After they had all sworn the killing heart oath, they became much closer. If before they were more like partners working together, then now everyone was of the same sect.

“I don’t want to interrupt everyone’s cultivation plans, but the situation is an emergency,” Ji Wei continued. “Our Golden Crow Camp must not drag Daren down, and needs to do our best to help Daren. Otherwise, aren’t we useless?”

Everyone nodded their heads with expressions of agreement.

Sun Bao nodded his head inside, and said in a deep voice,  “So, I and Master Sun Bao have decided to gather all the strength of the camp to forge a talisman!”

———

The five hundredth type!

An exhausted Zuo Mo collapsed onto the ground.

Zuo Mo had furiously cultivated the little yao arts just so he could get that spell from Pu Yao as soon as possible. If they entered this fiendish mist, the ones in most danger were Vermillion Bird Camp and Golden Crow Camp.

Entering the fiendish mist was truly stepping into the inner span on the ancient battlefield.

Even though it was dangerous up ahead, but Zuo Mo saw more hope than in the desolation that he had seen these previous days. Pu Yao also supported this. The closer they were to the center of the battlefield, the more likely he could recognize where they were.

Unless they could find a working transportation formation, finding the general position of this jie was their only hope of leaving this place.

The bean-sized beads of sweat gathered in streams that flowed down his face. Zuo Mo didn’t wipe them off, and said in a hoarse voice, “Pu, spell!”

“Alright.” Pu Yao did not waste words and briskly handed over a jade scroll.

Grabbing the jade scroll, Zuo Mo felt he had recovered some energy and forced himself up to run towards Vermillion Bird Camp. Behind him, Pu Yao’s eyes flashed with an unusual light. He imperceptibly murmured, “Divine Summon Art … … really makes me anticipate … …”

———

In front of Gongsun Cha, Vermillion Bird Camp finished their organization.

Everyone was silent and their eyes were full of anticipation. This was the first time they had gathered after entering this ghastly place. Was there a mission? Many people couldn’t help but feel excitement. These battle maniacs felt moldy after spending every day on the boats.

“From today, all of your training missions are temporarily cancelled, and changed to cultivating this spell.”

Gongsun Cha smiled slightly, and then Zong Ru and the others beside him quickly handed jade scrolls to every person.

Everyone had a puzzled expression. Cultivate a new spell? But they suppressed their curiosity and remained motionless.

“Take a look.”

Only when Gongsun Cha said these words did they hurry to read the jade scroll in their heads.

[Fiend Ling]

Gongsun Cha saw the shock and joy on all the faces, and smiled. With this spell, the combat abilities of Vermillion Bird Camp would not drop but go up a level.

However, his own strength … …

His gaze turned to Zuo Shixiong who was cultivating in the distance and suddenly smiled.

After some more time, maybe he could give Zuo Shixiong a surprise.

The troop camped down at the border of the fiendish mist. The entire camp was busy. Even Zuo Mo was cultivating. With the fiendish mist in front of their eyes, there was nothing else that could motivate Zuo Mo even more. If he increased his strength by a fraction, then his chance of surviving would increase by a fraction.

Motivated by the looming threat of impending doom, Zuo Mo uncovered his own potential, and progressed quickly.

Right now, he had cultivated to the third transformation of the Great Day mo physique, [Day Script Palm]. He felt very excited at the power of this move. This move would gather an enormous golden palm over ten zhang in size. Under a palm strike, half of a mountain peak would disappear. Even Xie Shan and Shu Long couldn’t help but turn pale when they saw Zuo Mo perform this move.

Xie Shan rejoiced greatly now that he hadn’t let achieving jindan go to his head . He didn’t know where Daren had learned this strange moves from. Each move was enormously powerful. He was certain if he fought against Daren, he had no chance of victory.

The longer he stayed with Zuo Mo, the more respect and awe Xie Shan felt. In his eyes, Zuo Mo was filled with mysteries and enigmas.

Zuo Mo’s face was dusty. The palm of his hand hurt like it had been sliced with a blade. Three golden lines could be made out on his palm. Relative to the power of the [Day Script Palm] was its cultivation difficulty. Zuo Mo needed to cultivate to the point that his entire hand was covered in golden lines that formed a network. At that point, the [Day Script Palm] could be considered somewhat complete.

Each transformation of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique was vast profound, easy to learn but hard to master.

Pu Yao was unusual in that he did not disturb Zuo Mo’s cultivation of Great Day mo physique. Did this guy also know it was dangerous up ahead? Zuo Mo was slightly reassured. If Pu Yao went crazy, no one could stop him.

He raised his head and saw that everyone else was focusing on their cultivation. He was instantly filled with motivation. So what if it was the fiendish mist? With this group of brothers, even if it was places more dangerous than the fiendish mist, he was not afraid!

Having understood something, Zuo Mo said to Tenth Grade that was playing with Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire, “Tenth Grade, you have to work on your cultivation, and do not slack off!”

Tenth Grade felt humiliated and his little face dropped. He looked with trepidation at Silly Bird, and coincidentally saw a cold light flash through the small crack of Silly Bird’s eye as she was resting. Tenth Grade‘s body froze, and fully felt the impact of Lil’ Pagoda’s nudge.

Lil’ Pagoda was so excited it spun, and Lil’ Fire chirped happily from the side.

Silly Bird glanced at Tenth Grade and then closed her eyes.

Tenth Grade felt coldness shoot up from his spine and turned back to docilely play with Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire.

Zuo Mo did not detect the strangeness of it. In his view, it was normal for Tenth Grade to play with Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire. He turned his face, and looked with concern at A Gui.

Grabbing A Gui’s hand, a thread of consciousness was put into her body. Zuo Mo frowned. The purple light inside A Gui’s body was very weak and showed no signs of strengthening. However, what reassured him was that the black fiendish energy had no effect on A Gui.

Zuo Mo marvelled at this point. A Gui’s spells and secret techniques were strange and profound. Even Pu Yao who thought himself as knowledgeable did not know of its origins.

However, Zuo Mo did not care about all that.

“A Gui, we will definitely get out.”

Zuo Mo’s voice was not loud, but was filled with determination.

Tenth Grade was filled with humiliation. To him whose goal was to become tenth-grade, it was a great blow to submit to Silly Bird’s power even if it was done out of helplessness.

He had originally assumed he was Master’s strongest ling beast but he hadn’t thought there would be one even stronger!

Truthfully, Tenth Grade did not like Silly Bird at all. This narcissistic and show-off bird had a cold attitude towards Master, and should be executed for! He had the thought multiple times of taking care of this silly bird for Master.

He hadn’t expected he would be taken care off first … …

He wasn’t just taken care off, but like an idiot, he had to play with these children of low intelligence… …

Such a dark life!

Lil’ Pagoda didn’t know Tenth Grade’s depressed mood. It was playing very happily. Having successfully nudged Tenth Grade just now, both it and Lil’ Fire were greatly motivated to continue playing. That was the first time they had managed to catch Tenth Grade .

Without noticing the three little ones gradually neared the fiendish mist.

Tenth Grade was enveloped in his low mood after being dominated while Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire had completely gone off playing.

No one noticed the arrival of danger.

A dark red light suddenly flew out of the fiendish mist, and accurately struck Lil’ Pagoda.

The happily playing Lil’ Pagoda suddenly froze and dropped down like dead weight. This dark red light rolled up like the long tongue of a monster and pulled Lil’ Pagoda to burrow back into the fiendish mist.

This change happened without warning and was lightning fast.

Another dark red light leapt out at Lil’ Fire, and was going to strike Lil’ Fire.

Tenth Grade finally reacted by this time. The dark little face filled with killing intent, the two eyes glaring angrily as the flying black crescent blade turned to a black light and struck the red light.

The red light hissed and fled towards the fiendish mist.

Silly Bird suddenly opened her eyes, viciousness flashing through both of her eyes. With a call, her figure disappeared.

Chapter 333: Fiend Soul Tide

With an explosive sound echoing through the air, Silly Bird darted off like a grey bolt of lightning and headed into the fiendish mist.

A piercing wail came out of the fiendish mist as the red light that Tenth Grade  wounded suddenly exploded into dots of red light. Among the red dots, Silly Bird stood with murderous eyes.

Yet Lil’ Pagoda’s figure had disappeared.

The killing intent in Silly Bird’s eyes grew. The grey feathers on her forehead stood on end.

Tenth Grade flew next to Silly Bird, his face heavy. The black crescent blade danced around his body, killing energy spreading outwards in threads. Even if he was at odds with Silly Bird and the others, but they were all Master’s ling beasts. Even more, the change had occurred right in front of his eyes. How could he not be angry?

Without any hesitation, Silly Bird’s large eyes narrowed, and like an arrow, she charged into the fiendish mist.

Tenth Grade‘s face froze. He jumped up, turning into a black light, and entered the fiendish mist.

Everyone else was alerted and prepared to enter the fiendish mist.

“Do not go in!”

Zuo Mo’s voice came from behind them. They saw Zuo Mo’s face full of suppressed pain, and he sat down cross-legged immediately after saying this.

Everyone stared at each other. Many people had panicked expressions.

Zuo Mo’s present situation was not very good. Lil’ Pagoda was his soul-tethered talisman, and was connected in mind with him. The moment that Lil’ Pagoda was attacked, Zuo Mo felt it. The injuries that Lil’ Pagoda had taken also affected Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo felt his mind was shaken and had almost shattered. Shocked, he instantly sank into his mind.

A thread of his mind connected him with the distant Lil’ Pagoda.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was not weak, and his mind was strong. Even though he shook, he quickly steadied, and the connection with Lil’ Pagoda cleared up.

But Zuo Mo was not happy at all and felt terrible. His connection to Lil’ Pagoda had not been cut off, but no matter how he called out mentally, Lil’ Pagoda did not respond. Gritting his teeth, Zuo Mo put a thread of his mind, he entered Lil’ Pagoda’s body.

When his mind entered Lil’ Pagoda’s body, Zuo Mo finally understood how terrible the situation was.

The balls of pure five element energies inside the pagoda had stopped moving and hung motionless inside the void of the pagoda. Usually, the pure five element energies would be in balance, creating and subduing each other, as they spun endlessly to form a simple yet wondrous little five element world.

Zuo Mo was clear on the wondrous process of the five element  being created and destroyed within the pagoda. How could he not be shocked finding that the pure five element energies inside Lil’ Pagoda’s body had stopped moving?

The amount of pure five element energies inside Lil’ Pagoda was hundreds of times larger than when Zuo Mo had first bought it. This enormous amount had come from Lil’ Pagoda’s continuous deconstruction of talismans and materials. Zuo Mo could see the five element marrow that was being formed out of the five elemental energies. Eventually these five element marrow would reach a critical mass and  it would form small amounts of five element base source.

Every bit of five element base source was unusually valuable and powerful.

Lil’ Pagoda’s body was filled with abundant pure five element energies, and even contained a small amount of five element marrow, but it had not created any five element base source yet.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. He had no way to push the gigantic balls of pure five element energies floating above his head. He was the owner, but it had always been Lil’ Pagoda itself that had always controlled the circulation of pure five element energies.

The most effective method was for Lil’ Pagoda itself to recover.

However, he still did not know what Lil’ Pagoda had been wounded by. He could feel the existence of Lil’ Pagoda, could enter Lil’ Pagoda’s body, but was unable to communicate with Lil’ Pagoda.

Pu Yao suddenly appeared next to Zuo Mo.

“It is a fiend soul.” Pu Yao stared at the five balls of five element pure energy in the void, and said faintly, “This five element pagoda is filled with intelligence, and is irresistible to fiend souls.”

“Fiend souls?’ Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to ask how Pu Yao could come in and hurriedly asked, “What does this have to do with fiend souls?”

“Fiend souls are born from the fiendish mist, and over time, they will form a slight intelligence. When they become more intelligent, they will start to process fiendish energy and become fiend soul beasts.” Pu Yao looked back and said gravely, “Fiend souls love materials and talismans that have intelligence the most. They can slowly corrupt it and make it their own so they can quickly progress to becoming fiend soul beasts.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes turned cold.

“They usually kill each other to capture the intelligence and  to continuously become stronger. Not just fiend souls do this, fiend soul beasts also do this.” Pu Yao reminded him, “You have to be careful. I’ve never seen a fiend mist cloud of this size. The number of fiend souls contained in it should be astounding.”

As Pu Yao’s voice landed, Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly changed.

Because he saw three red lights.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen a fiend soul. They were like balls of mist covered in a layer of blood red fiend mist. From afar, they looked like curving red worms of various sizes. The longest was one chi, and the smallest was not even half a cun in size.

The vicious and destructive presence that each one had was like the dark wind from hell that filled every part of the void.

Zuo Mo could feel the primitive and innate viciousness killing intent in the fiend souls.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo thought of being at Wu Kong Mountain and using [Art of Aged Gold] to kill worms inside the ling grains. The presence of those pests could not compare to these fiend souls, of course, but he was far more powerful than he was in the past.

After experiencing so many battles, would Zuo Mo become timid and panicked by such a little scene?

Zuo Mo was preparing to activate [Light Void Wings] to smash these three fiend souls when he suddenly remembered that he was just a bit of soul at the moment. How could he activate [Light Void Wings]? However, he reacted quickly, and raised his hands for three bolts of Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning.

Pia pia pia.

The three bolts of Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning accurately hit the three fiend souls. The three fiend souls didn’t even have the time to wail before they were destroyed.

Zuo Mo released a breath. So these fiend souls were paper tigers. They made a lot of noise, but there weren’t even worth a single blow.

So when he saw six fiend souls burrow in, he did not hesitate to continue casting Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning.

Fiend souls continuously crawled in so Zuo Mo continuously cast Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning. After a few dozen bolts, his expression became ugly.

The fiend souls did not amount to much individually but their numbers continuously increased as they borrowed in. Zuo Mo was just being supported by a thread of consciousness at the moment. The Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning was strong, but it expended a lot of spiritual power. If it continued like this, he wouldn’t be able to continue for much longer.

“Use the little yao arts,” Pu Yao reminded idly from the side.

Zuo Mo’s hand shook, and he was instantly furious. “Pu Yao, what do you mean? Are you just standing aside and watching?”

Pu Yao spread his hands and shrugged, his face full of helplessness. “It isn’t that I don’t want to help, but I can’t. This is your soul-tethered talisman. You who can use ling power here, but no other person can. It wasn’t easy for me to come in. If I acted, it won’t be the fiend souls, but these five big guys above will instantly attack me.”

Pia pia pia!

Large amounts of multi-colored light flew out of the five balls of five element pure energy. These five colored energies were like sword energies and were very sharp. When they hit a fiend soul, the fiend soul would instantly be destroyed. In the blink of an eye, a large patch had been cleared.

Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo was overjoyed. The pressure on him would lessen if these five balls of five element pure energy could automatically defend themselves.

Pu Yao naturally understood what Zuo Mo was thinking, and poured cold water. “Don’t be prematurely happy. The number of fiend souls in this fiendish mist is much higher than you can imagine.”

As he said, the number of fiend souls that crawled in increased dramatically. Zuo Mo’s heart beat wildly. The fiend souls were like an endless tide. The defense of the pure five element energies were still just as sharp, but Zuo Mo could see that the pure five element energies were smaller than before.

If it continued like this … ..

Zuo Mo instantly felt panic. The fiend souls that burrowed in covered all the spaces as they furiously leapt at the pure five element energies. Some even leapt at Zuo Mo.

Damn it!

Just as Zuo Mo was stuck on what to do, Pu Yao’s reminder sounded at his ears, “Use little yao arts.”

Pu Yao’s voice was not idle like before and was full of panic.

———

Inside the fiendish mist, an enormous blood-colored twister was forming. The fiend mist seemed to suddenly wake up and became restless. Countless fiend souls came from all directions and furiously charged at this twister. At the center of this blood red twister, Lil’ Pagoda rolled among countless fiend souls. This fiend souls furiously tried to burrow into the pagoda, but there were so many fiend souls that no more could enter.

The countless fiend souls formed a terrifying tide that pulled the flashing Lil’ Pagoda deeper into the fiendish mist.

Such a large noise disturbed even the stronger fiend soul beasts inside the fiend mist. Countless pairs of eyes opened and flashed viciously.

Silly Bird charged recklessly in the fiendish mist. For some unknown reason, the fiendish mist that was like poison to others couldn’t come within three chi of Silly Bird. Everywhere she passed, the rolling red fiend souls seemed to have been frightened and rushed to dodge.

Silly Bird’s vicious eyes showed signs of panic. She charged in all directions and looked around to search for Lil’ Pagoda’s figure.

Tenth Grade‘s little body was like a fish in the water in the fiend mist. Inside the fiend mist, the black crescent blade that expanded to more than ten zhang large. With a long black energy, it was like a powerful axe. What was most strange was that this enormous black axe seemed to have a powerful magnetism that stopped fiend souls from struggling and sucked them in.

Tenth Grade ‘s expression was serious. The blood red hair floated up like a ball of flame.

———

“Little yao arts? Which type?” Zuo Mo’s hands did not stop moving as he rapidly asked.

“Number seventy six, and three hundred and thirteen, use Interlocking Gold Form,” Pu Yao hurriedly said.

The damned Pu Yao!

Making ge play with high difficulty moves at this time!

Zuo Mo wanted to spit blood, but he didn’t have the time to swear at Pu Yao now. The situation was becoming more dangerous. Several fiend souls had almost charged into the pure five element energies.

He gritted his teeth and his hand movements changed.

Number seventy six … … number three hundred and thirteen … …

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened greatly. Gritting his teeth, his left hand was like water flowing that created threads of light, his right hand seemed to weigh thirty thousand catties, moving slow and heavy without sound.

Zuo Mo tried to maintain the yao arts on his two hands. The two little yao arts alone did not pose any difficulty, but he instantly felt burdened when he casted them at the same time.

The left hand that moved so rapidly it was blurring with light, and the quiet, snail-slow right hand was abnormally fitting, and strangely reached the front of his chest at the same time.

… … Interlocking Gold Form … …

Zuo Mo boldened his heart and channelled all his consciousness.

At the same time, his hands crossed, the left hand covered in thread of light like water flowing into the motionless right hand and tangled together.

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil suddenly widened!

Chapter 334: Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art

Time seemed to suddenly slow at this moment.

The threads of flowing light were like sprouting branches of light that slowly crept and wrapped around Zuo Mo’s empty right hand.

Pu Yao’s mind was suddenly pulled into his memories. Some blurry and distant scenes seemed to overlap onto what was happening in front of him, as though they had occurred yesterday.

“ … … Teacher … …”

With the imperceptible murmur, the edges and coldness within the bloody pupil disappeared.

All of Zuo Mo’s attention was focused on the change occurring on his hands. He could feel a strange transformation taking formation in this short moment.

… … what was this?

This was just combining two kinds of little yao arts. Compared to the [Yang Fiendish Hard Lightning] that came from the [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], it wasn’t just simple and low level, there was no way to compare them. [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] contained all kinds of yao arts and was created by a Sky Yao. It was vast and profound. Even a person with his eyes at the top of his head like Pu Yao praised it.

But little yao arts?

Five hundred kinds of little yao arts. They were the essential contents every yao had to cultivate. Any yao must finish learning the five hundred kinds of little yao arts within their clan before they could enter the yao art houses. In other words, little yao arts were the most rudimentary knowledge of yao cultivation.

But … …

The power that exploded between his hands … …

The last bit of light flowed from Zuo Mo’s left hand and wrapped onto his right hand.

Hiss-crack!

Zuo Mo suddenly felt blinding light burst forth in front of his chest. A power filled with destructiveness formed on his right hand like an ancient and wasteland great beast breathing an aged presence as it reared up and authoritatively gazed down upon those it tread beneath its feet.

All of the fiend souls seemed to be paralyzed. Time seemed to stop inside the chaotic pagoda.

As extreme movement turned to extreme calm, Pu Yao stared soullessly at Zuo Mo’s right hand, his murmur clear to hear, “… … Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art … …”

Zuo Mo didn’t hear any of Pu Yao’s murmur. He was shocked by the light and terrifying presence on his hand. He had completely lost the ability to think. He seemed to unconsciously move his right hand. He saw his right hand lightly sway easily like the flick of a fish’s tail.

Among the blinding light, an extremely faint shadow flew out of his right hand and suddenly grew. It was like a monster that suddenly opened its bloody maw and swallowed all the fiend souls inside the pagoda.

———

In the fiendish mist, Lil’ Pagoda that was completely surrounded by fiend souls suddenly shot out countless blinding rays of light. An enormously strong suction force came from  inside the tower. Tens of thousands of fiend souls were unable to run away and were instantly sucked into the pagoda.

Just at the same time, a simple and bleak presence came from inside the pagoda.

The fiend souls that had not been sucked in seemed to be frightened. They instantly scattered like there was a frightening monster inside Lil’ Paogda. In the deeps of the fiendish mist, those fiend soul beasts that were higher on the food chain wore frightened expressions in their faces. All of them laid on the ground, and didn’t dare to move.

———

Zuo Mo felt very terrible now. The fiend souls were completely eaten, but he was stuffed full right now like he had eaten too much. What caused him to panic even more was that these fiend souls hadn’t died, and were just restrained in a layer of this strange power.

If this power lost control of these fiend souls, they would charge out again!

“Little yao art number one and number five hundred, use Straight Pass-Through Form.”

Pu Yao’s voice coincidentally arrived. Zuo Mo’s hands paused slightly. His first feeling was that it was not possible. Of the five hundred little yao arts, it encompassed almost all of the basics of yao arts, and many of them had incompatible characteristics. Number one and five hundred were the two yao arts that had the most incompatible and conflicted attributes of almost all antithetical yao arts.

How could two antithetical little yao arts be cast at the same time?

But time did not permit him to think. After pausing, his hands uncontrollably moved according to Pu Yao’s words.

Number one … … number five hundred … …

A peerlessly strange feeling came. Zuo Mo felt unspeakably awkward. He had felt awkward when he had cast number seventy six and number three hundred and thirteen at the same time. Compared to that, his feeling of awkwardness was multiple times stronger.

What method was this … …

Zuo Mo endured the peerlessly awkward feeling and managed to cast the two little yao arts together.

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil stared unblinkingly at the coiling light that formed in front of Zuo Mo, and unconsciously stopped breathing. He appeared as though he feared his breath would frighten this enchanting and grand light. The two hands that he usually liked to hide in his sleeves unconsciously extended outwards.

His expression was also very strange. It was filled with anticipation, but was also as though he was facing a great enemy.

The strong feeling of awkwardness increased as the light rose. Zuo Mo felt as though his body was being twisted from the left and right in opposite directions.

He knew this was a false feeling. At this time, he was just a thread of soul, what body was there to twist and contort? But he also knew this feeling of conflict actually existed. This was the conflict between laws.

As soon as he casted them, he knew it wasn’t good.

Under the effect of two extreme laws, if he wasn’t careful, he would be ground to powder at any time. Under the conflict between two basic laws, this bit of his consciousness was as weak as paper. His mind was being supported on this thread of consciousness. If this was destroyed, his outcome would not be any different than death.

The hardest injury to heal was an injury to the soul.

A Gui was wounded in the soul, and was left like a puppet. Was he going to become like her?

With the stimulation of death, Zuo Mo got a burst of energy from somewhere and forcibly calmed himself down.

However, how could two such opposed yao arts be combined using the Straight Pass-Through Form?

Not possible … … It was completely impossible … …

In a flash, countless thoughts flashed through his mind but he still did not know what to do with the two little yao arts in front of him. The two little yao arts were simple and straightforward. Any change tn the two were noticed by his awareness, but due to this, he increasingly felt it was impossible.

The two were like two carriages that were rushing in opposite directions. Right now, he had to pull them together. How was it possible?

Impossible … … impossible … …

Zuo Mo panicked. The two little yao arts started to conflict. He was able to feel every conflict that happen between the two forces. The feeling of danger grew like there was a sword hanging above his head. He was unable to move, and right now, there was a mouse gnawing on the rope holding the sword.

Calm, he had to be calm!

Zuo Mo’s breathing almost stopped. He told himself repeatedly to be calm, he forced himself to calm.

What to do … … what to do … …

Suddenly, it was like a bolt of lightning from the sky. He suddenly recalled the spell formation that he had created in the past. In that variety of spells and sword scriptures, there were also conflicting and incompatible spells and sword scriptures, but he had successfully merged them together.

That heterogeneous spell formation was what he had bet on with Pu Yao to win the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique.

It was a pity that he had thrown that set of spell formations to the side when he got the Great Day mo physique six transformations and concentrated on cultivating the six transformations.

Zuo Mo had no time to regret why he hadn’t kept on working with the spell formations. He worked his brain and tried to remember how he had merged those incompatible spells and sword scriptures into the formation at the time.

He thought of how he had controlled those conflicting spells.

His mind moved. Ignoring the ever increasing feeling of danger, he patiently felt every bit of conflict between the two little yao arts.

His consciousness suddenly split into two like two thin whips, and used two completely different powers to insert into the light of the two little yao arts.

A strange transformation occurred.

The two powers that had been furiously conflicting with each other used a strange form and started to spin in opposite directions.

Light lit up in Zuo Mo’s eyes. The conflict between the two little yao arts decreased and the distance between the two lights decreased. There was none of the enmity and conflict seen before. They were like twins that gathered together.

Moving naturally, Zuo Mo’s hands seemed to be controlled by something and used the Straight Pass-Through Form.

A force that was not strong accurately passed through the center of the two little yao arts.

Zuo Mo instantly understood.

The light of Pu Yao’s bloody pupil was as deep as the ocean. He looked dazedly at the strange yet familiar power in front of Zuo Mo and lightly breathed three words.

“Divine Summoning Art!”

The shape on front of Zuo Mo’s chest was like that of a mill stone. The light clearly divided into black and white suddenly created a strong suction. This suction was so strong that even Pu Yao was affected. His black robe flapped as it was pulled. Pu Yao’s bloody pupil lit up, his figure remaining motionless.

The strange power that had been enveloping the fiend souls was like a cat that smelled fish, impatiently chasing the countless fiend souls towards this strange black-and white millstone.

The black and white lights were like the upper and lower parts of the millstone. With astounding speed, it silently crushed countless fiend souls.

The fiend souls did not even have the time to wail before they were completely crushed.

Dots of white light floated off the millstone.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved and he started [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation]. The dots of white light gathered from all directions like raindrops and entered his body. At the same, the white light that Zuo Mo did not absorb entered the five balls of five element pure energies.

Zuo Mo’s entire body was enveloped in the white light to the point his figure was indistinct.

Pu Yao’s black robe flapped. His bloody pupil stared without movement at Zuo Mo. He just stood there silently without a word.

———

Silly Bird who had been running around in the fiendish mist suddenly turned her head. The vicious eyes slowly became gentle until she resumed her usual lazy and proud state. She idly turned and strutted her bird walk. There was none of the killing energy that had just been present.

———

Riding the black crescent blade that was like a huge axe, Tenth Grade‘s little face suddenly stilled. Feeling it in his mind, he did not hesitate to ride the black crescent and turn. His speed was suddenly raised to its limit as he cut through the heavy fiendish mist, howling by.

———

In the fiendish mist, Lil’ Pagoda was covered in a layer of faint white light. The fiendish mist in the surroundings was separated out.

———

Just at this time, Zuo Mo opened his eyes within the pagoda.

Chapter 335: Gains

Opening his eyes, joy flashed across Zuo Mo’s eyes. The richness of his gains this time far surpassed his imagination.

Each fiend soul was refined to powder, leaving behind only the purest thread of soul base source. Soul base source like this was so valuable that every xiuzhe dreamed about obtaining it. The thread of consciousness that was Zuo Mo  at this moment was forcibly expanded at an exponential rate.

Savoring the intoxicating taste, Zuo Mo seemed to have just tasted gourmet food. Other than satisfaction, he wanted to taste it again.

However, this thread of greed spun once in his mind before disappearing.

He cared more about Lil’ Pagoda’s situation.

Of all the little ones, Lil’ Pagoda was the most obedient and the one that Zuo Mo liked the most. However, when his gaze turned to the five enormous balls of pure five element energies above his head, he couldn’t help but release a breath. There was none of the slowness and stiffness from before. The pure five element energies spun continuously.

A simple yet profound five element power was displayed in front of him.

Before he could examine it closely, a five colored light suddenly flew in front of him. It was Lil’ Pagoda.

Seeing Lil’ Pagoda was uninjured, Zuo Mo instantly smiled. He grabbed Lil’ Pagoda, and said in concern. “My good son, you are alright!”

He found that Lil’ Pagoda seemed to have slightly changed. Other than becoming more round in shape, the feeling was much softer, and the five element marrow were much rounder than before and twinkled with light.

Lil’ Pagoda snuggled in Zuo Mo’s hands and rolled around to prove it was fine.

A lively and fawning thought was communicated into Zuo Mo’s mind. Zuo Mo couldn’t resist grinning. Zuo Mo quickly found to his shock that Lil’ Pagoda was more lively and smarter than before! The thoughts that Lil’ Pagoda passed to him were clearer and it had a wider variety of emotions.

It seemed that he wasn’t the only one that had benefited this time!

When he looked around, Zuo Mo made a sound of surprise when he looked at the pure five element energies. His mind was connected with Lil’ Pagoda. In his eyes, the pure five element energies were transparent. There were basket sized inner cores within the pure five element energies. This was five element marrow!

Such large balls of five element marrow. Zuo Mo drooled when he saw them.

Five element marrow was a very rare kind of marrow. Even the tiniest bit was very valuabe.

Feeling the desire in Zuo Mo’s heart, the five large balls of five element marrow instantly floated in front of Zuo Mo. Seeing the five enormous balls of five element marrow, it would be a lie to say he didn’t covet it, but when Zuo Mo saw the obedient and adorable Lil’ Pagoda beside him, his heart warmed and the greed disappeared.

Zuo Mo rubbed Lil’ Pagoda’s head, and said with a smile, “Alright, put them back. They are for you.”

Lil’ Pagoda seemed puzzled that Zuo Mo wanted them yet he refused.

“Only with five element marrow can you create five element base source in the future. When you have five element base source, our Lil’ Pagoda will be very strong!”

Lil’ Pagoda didn’t quite understand but it could feel Zuo Mo’s happiness so it happily flew around Zuo Mo.

Bam!

Zuo Mo felt the world shake. His heart shook. Had they come again?

When he spread out his consciousness, he found it was Silly Bird that had create the disturbance.

———

Silly Bird seemed to know Zuo Mo was watching her. She rolled her eyes and ignored him. Holding Lil’ Pagoda in her beak, she raised her wings and headed straight for the camp.

Along the way, she encountered Tenth Grade. When Tenth Grade saw Silly Bird holding Lil’ Pagoda in her beak, his little face eased slightly. But his expression quickly became extremely ugly. Silly Bird was like a bolt of lightning that flashed by him and disappeared.

That speed … …

Gritting his teeth, he pushed the black moon to its limits and chased the whole way but he still couldn’t see Silly Bird’s back.

Last time, Tenth Grade had not accepted his defeat at Silly Bird’s claws. But the speed that Silly Bird displayed today made him feel suffocated.

Detecting the difference in ability, it did not discourage Tenth Grade but lit up his motivation!

If he couldn’t defeat a bird, how could he reach the peak of tenth-grade?

On the black moon, Tenth Grade balled his fists, pressed his lips together, his tender face was filled with determination.

———

At the same time Silly Bird carried Lil’ Pagoda back to camp, Zuo Mo woke up from his meditation. When the enormous thread of consciousness returned to his body, it was like an abundant stream of water flowing into a deep pond. The level of water in the pond instantly exploded.

Zuo Mo was so comfortable he wanted to groan.

Three times!

The consciousness in his body had grown three times over!

This was a number that almost drove Zuo Mo insane. When he opened his eyes, he felt as though he had a fantastical dream. Multiplying three times in one night. He had never heard of such an impossible matter,and it had happened on his body.

He rushed to find Pu Yao. “Pu, what happened?”

Pu Yao’s expression was calm and he did not look any different than usual. He twisted his mouth. “Nothing, you have good luck.”

Seeing the enthusiasm on Zuo Mo’s face, Pu Yao who hadn’t prepared to say more suddenly saw the scene of Zuo Mo casting the little yao arts in front of him. He thought and then said, “Fiend souls are created from remnant threads of soul. You absorbed their soul base source. It is the first time I have seen something like this.”

He did not lie. Only a fiendish mist of such scale could form such a large number of fiend souls. Everything here was far out of Pu Yao’s imagination.

“So fiend souls can nurture the consciousness!” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “Good thing! Good thing!”

Pu Yao saw Zuo Mo and knew what he was planning. To other people, these fiend souls were very dangerous, and their minds would be easily corroded if they were not careful. It was not a simple matter to forge fiend souls into pure soul base source. Yes, fiend souls were created by that thread of soul, but these soul remnants were the convictions of those that died, and contained all kinds of negative emotions. Over long periods of slaughter and fighting, they became even more vicious and dangerous.

Would it be an easy matter to process them?

Unless … …

Pu Yao looked dazedly at Zuo Mo. Even though he had speculations and anticipation before, but when he saw Zuo Mo cast the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art with his own eyes, the blow of shock he received was stronger than anyone else.

He suddenly turned and glanced at the gravestone.

Many of the previous incidents had just been him acting rashly in anger against the gravestone, but now … …

The gravestone seemed to detect Pu Yao’s thoughts. The black energy suddenly grew!

Immersed in his wonderful dreams, Zuo Mo noticed the abnormality of the gravestone. He pointed with shock at the gravestone and asked Pu Yao with a curious expression, “What is it doing?”

Pu Yao’s mood suddenly became good. Glancing at the gravestone, he snicked, “Oh, he saw your consciousness improved greatly and is happy for you.”

“Oh!” Zuo Mo understood and then asked, “Right, Pu, what are the two moves you taught me today called? They are very powerful!”

Looking at Zuo Mo, Pu Yao felt even better and looked, with mirth at the corner of his mouth, at the gravestone.

Before, I did not compete with you, but now … …

The mirth at his lips disappeared. He turned his gaze to Zuo Mo, and raised an eyebrow. “How is it? Nice to use? Not lacking compared to the Great Day mo physique?”

“Not lacking, not lacking!” Zuo Mo rubbed his hands and snickered.

… … Have you not clearly seen the true quality of this person … … this person would call anyone that gives him milk mother … …

Pu Yao was very smug.

… … But my path overall has more of a future than your road … …

… … Teacher, are you happy … …

Countless thoughts flashed through Pu Yao’s mind.

Zuo Mo found to his surprise that Pu Yao’s expression had become stern.

“It is called the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art.” Pu Yao’s voice was deep. “Just like [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] it is an entire set of yao arts, and was created by another Sky Yao,  my teacher.”

“Your teacher?” Zuo Mo was very shocked.

Pu Yao would rarely speak of the past. This was the first time Pu Yao had spoken of his own history.

“Yes, my teacher!” Pu Yao had an reminiscent expression. His expression was stern without any of the nonchalance he usually had. He looked focusedly at Zuo Mo. “Zuo Mo, are you sure you want to learn?”

Pu Yao’s complete shift in attitude caused Zuo Mo to feel the unusual nature of this matter.

He didn’t agree immediately and asked cautiously, “Pu, to learn this set of Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art, are there any requirements?”

“Very simple, you accept the succession of this branch.”

“Can you be more concrete?” Zuo Mo carefully asked.

“Concrete?” Pu Yao stilled. He had never thought about the problem of accepting students. Being asked by Zuo Mo now, he didn’t know what to say. He tilted his head and thought back to when Teacher had accepted him.

“Before you accept students, you must travel to the First Yao Art House of the yao realm and enter your name into the Sky Yao Pavilion.”

Thinking about it, Pu Yao suddenly felt ashamed. He remembered the hopes Teacher had for him. Even though he had become a Sky Yao, but due to other reasons, he had not realized Teacher’s hopes.

This demand surprised Zuo Mo.

“Oh, you don’t need me to swear an oath?”

“Not necessary.”

“No rules?”

“No.”

“No restrictions?”

“No.”

The more Zuo Mo asked, the stranger he felt the situation was. This sect, oh, in his understanding, it was a sect. The requirements for acceptance for this sect was really low. As to being entered in Sky Yao Pavilion, Zuo Mo didn’t think of it as an important matter.

Accept students? That matter had nothing to do with him. Sky Yao Pavilion, who even knew what that was? But as long as he did not accept students, that had nothing to do with him.

By the end of the inquiry, Zuo Mo still didn’t quite believe it. Were yao sects so easy to enter?

In xiuzhe sects, every disciple had their duties, each needed to contribute to the sect in order to receive benefits.

Yet Pu Yao’s sect didn’t need any service and he could get benefits. It was so strange!

After thinking for a while, Zuo Mo felt there was only one possibility left.

Pu Yao’s sect was definitely a pitifully small sect.

Only the lowest and smallest sects would be so indiscriminating … …

Spat spat spat!

Zuo Mo found that he was now a part of the sect, and hurriedly stopped.

However, he had found the differences after such a contrast.

The gravestone had something like oaths to abide by and probably originated from a large sect which was why it had so many rules. Pu Yao’s sect was so loose and definitely was a small one.

“Oh, if I learn the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art, can I still cultivate the Great Day mo physique?”

Zuo Mo shamelessly asked.

Chapter 336: Try

Pu Yao stared at Zuo Mo without speaking.

Zuo Mo felt uncomfortable under the gaze and smiled weakly, “It would be a pity to not cultivate the Great Day mo physique!”

After being stared at while, just as Zuo Mo thought Pu Yao was going to be angry, Pu Yao suddenly spoke, “I have to think about this.”

Even though Pu Yao didn’t immediately answer, Zuo Mo still saw hope. He hurriedly left the sea of consciousness.

Once Zuo Mo left the sea of consciousness, large amounts of black mist came out of the gravestone. Figures flitted across the surface of the stone.

Pu Yao seemed to not see them, and spoke to himself, “Cultivate yao and mo together, this idea is quite interesting.”

The relationship between yao and mo was much closer than with xiuzhe, but the two of them had never heard of a person cultivating yao and mo at the same time. Pu Yao was a knowledgeable yao, and the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art was a lost and great knowledge. But the Great Day mo physique was also a high ranking mo physique. If Zuo Mo had not successful cultivated it, Pu Yao definitely wouldn’t rack his brains over the issue. But since Zuo Mo had successfully cultivated the Great Day mo physique, it would really be a pity to throw it away.

Yao cultivation was the most free and liberal of all three cultivations. Education methods like the yao art houses were much more liberal than the sect succession of the xiuzhe or the clan succession of the mo.

Figures flashed across the gravestone.

“You feel it is possible to try?” Pu Yao raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.

He sank into thought. He had all kinds of anger and dissatisfaction with the gravestone, but being the one to guard the gravestone for tens of thousands of years, the other was a significant factor. The gravestone had many places that he felt were stupid, stubborn, and too conservative, but he was familiar with the accomplishments and knowledge the gravestone had.

Pu Yao became unusually hesitant. Since Zuo Mo could comprehend the Divine Summoning Art on his own, he was perfect for cultivating the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art, and was the best successor. If Zuo Mo focused on cultivating the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art, there was a high possibility that he could reach the stage of a Sky Yao. But if he cultivated the mo physique and the yao art at the same time, it was hard to predict the outcome The journey of cultivating a mo physique was the most dangerous of the three paths. His soul would be destroyed due to the slightest carelessness.

The flashing shadow of a person on the surface of the gravestone silently waited for Pu Yao’s decision.

Pu Yao glanced at the gravestone out of the corner of his eyes. Its silence, and the events that happened in the past flashed across his mind. His bloody pupil suddenly became deep, and an imperceptible sorrow floated at the deepest part of his eye.

In a moment, his expression turned normal. He smiled mockingly and said, “What? Afraid your line of succession will end? Your set of stuff is so old its teeth is falling out, it should have been thrown into the trash a long time ago!”

“Hmph! If he wants to cultivate, then cultivate. I’m also slightly curious. Tsk tsk, yao art, mo physique, spells, formations, what kind of weirdo will this boy cultivate to become?”

A hint of insanity flashed across Pu Yao’s bloody pupil.

———

In the camp, after Zuo Mo opened his eyes, everyone’s hearts finally landed. However, this incident rang the alarm for everyone. This ghastly place was more dangerous than they had imagined.

The people of Guard Camp worked even harder on their cultivation.

The black fiendish energy had benefits for them. The black fiendish energy inside the fiendish mist was even denser, and harder to process. They had to carefully control the rate at which they absorbed fiendish mist. Otherwise, the fiendish mist would corrode their minds and they would gradually turn to fiend soul beasts.

However, this was a good place to cultivate [Hardship Guard]. All of them progressed quickly. Another person cultivated and formed their weapon. This person was an unexpected surprise to everyone. It was actually A Wen. After A Wen healed completely, he stayed with Guard Camp, and started cultivating [Hardship Guard] with everyone else.

In Guard Camp, A Wen had spent the shortest time cultivating [Hardship Guard] but his progression rate was amazing. When Zuo Mo was informed that A Wen had formed his weapon, he also jumped in fright. This talent was too outrageous.

A Wen’s weapon was a spear. Its entire body was black without any light. A dark red tassel hung below the head of the spear like a dark flame.

Once this black spear formed, A Wen hugged it and sank into meditation.

What also surprised Zuo Mo were the three hundred flower slaves. After these flower slaves were rescued from Hundred Flower Alliance, Shu Long had been taking care of them as they cultivated the [Flower Yao Mutual Existence Art]. This yao art was very wondrous. In a short period of time, they regained their clarity of mind and managed to suppressed the ling flowers planted on their bodies.

The flowers that Hundred Flower Alliance picked to grow on these flower slaves were all rare and valuable ling flowers. These ling flowers were all fifth-grade, and by themselves were rare ling objects that could automatically absorb the ling energy in the surroundings. However, this place was thin in ling energy and was filled with black fiendish energy. The ling flowers on their bodies had all turned to absorbing black fiendish energy instead.

It had to be said that everything in the world had their own abilities.

The brutal and dark black fiendish energy was not dark at all after being absorbed by the ling flowers, and became warm and lively. They progressed quickly.

Compared to the Guard Camp being fishes in the water, the situation of Vermillion Bird Camp was not too good. Even though Zuo Mo had given them the scrolls of [Fiend Ling] so they did not have to fear black fiendish energy as much as before, they still needed to cultivate it to a certain stage to regain their full combat abilities.

Among them, the sixteen seal xiu led by Gong Liang Wei were the worst off.

After they were captured in Little Mountain Jie, they had been put into Vermillion Bird Camp by Gongsun Cha. However, due to their unique cultivating methods, their position in Vermillion Bird Camp was very awkward.

At present, the combat tactic of Vermillion Bird Camp depended on speed and sharpness. This was the tactic that sword xiu were most skilled in. What seal xiu were more skilled in was support. Adding on that the spells they cultivated weren’t anything profound, the increases they could provide were limited. To date, before they could act, the battle would be finished.

Even though Gongsun Cha Daren put importance on them, it could not change the fact that they were in an awkward position.

Their cultivation was at the bottom of Vermillion Bird Camp, and the [Fiend Ling] had high demands of cultivation. They found it even harder.

“Why don’t we ask Gongsun Cha Daren to move to Golden Crow Camp,” one of the people said with his head down.

Gong Liang Wei was silent. He was over his forties, his talent was average, but due to his steadiness, he was the shixiong of this group of people. He also knew that Golden Crow Camp was more appropriate for them at this time.

They were skilled in all kinds of seal, and one among them called Li Zhuo was able to make second-grade seal soldiers. This was a great achievement for ningmai level seal xiu.

Seal xiu were skilled in all kinds of seals, were skilled in formations and making all kinds of seals, and to attack through use of seals.

In a seal xiu’s normal cultivation, they needed to use all kinds of formations and seals. This was the point that they differed from other xiuzhe. This place was thin in ling power. The formations that they needed for their cultivation could not perform fully, and their cultivation was not enough that they could cultivate [Fiend Ling].

As they spoke, Zong Ru walked towards them.

Gong Liang Wei hurriedly stood and went up to welcome Zong Ru. Zong Ru was the leader of the Shield Guard Platoon, and was responsible for Gongsun Daren’s safety. He had a high position in Vermillion Bird Camp. Gong Liang Wei was skilled in interaction, and did not show any of the trouble on his face. He said with a smile, “It is rare for Zong Daren to come here, is there something you wish to order?”

Zong Ru smiled warmly and passed over several jade scrolls. “Gongsun Daren has asked me to deliver some things to everyone.”

Gong Liang Wei took the jade scrolls with slight puzzlement. “What is worth Daren personally making a trip?”

“Everyone will know after reading.”

After Zong Ru spoke, he raised his folded hands and left. Zong Ru’s cultivation deepened by the day, and was increasingly warm and subdued like he was a normal person without any sharp edges.

After Zong Ru left, everyone crowded over.

Gong Liang Wei’s consciousness swept the jade scroll, and his body uncontrollably tensed.

The jade scrolls on their hands were the jade scrolls Zuo Mo had sent to Golden Crow Camp.

The content on formations made everyone’s eyes lit up.

———

Gongsun Cha was immersed in playing war chess everyday. That mysterious person did not appear so he studied by himself. Ever since he heard that battle generals had their cultivation spells, his thoughts started to wander.

He was completely enchanted with the highly difficult profession of battle general.

Since he did not have the spells that battle generals cultivated, then why couldn’t he explore by himself?

Gongsun Cha’s personality was a bit insane to begin with, he was always filled with interest and enthusiasm towards matters that normal people would find irrational. Creating battle general spells, another person wouldn’t even dare to think of it, but he had no fear.

However, in terms of knowledge of cultivation, he had a good grasp of his own limitations, but he also had his own solution, war chess. The craftsmanship of these war chess games were exquisitely detailed, and they closely mimicked to reality. The person that designed them definitely was a great battle general. Of course, the possibility it was a yaomo general was great.

However, this difference wasn’t major in Gongsun Cha’s view.

He tried to find hints and clues in the war chess games. He was curious how true battle generals cultivated. He had been immersed in this highly difficult pursuit recently.

He had made discoveries.

———

Pu Yao who had been teaching Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head, shock flashing through his bloody pupil.

Zuo Mo stilled, raised his head and asked, “What is it?”

“Oh, nothing.” Pu Yao’s expression turned normal .He looked at Zuo Mo. “You can continue to practice the Great Day mo physique. The condition is that your yao art cultivation meets my demands.”

“What demands?” Zuo Mo weakly asked.

Pu Yao gave a teeth-baring smile. “When I was in the yao art house, I had a nickname.”

“Nickname?” Zuo Mo was dazed. “What nickname?”

“They liked to call me the  Encyclopedia Of Yao Arts.” The faint voice came from Pu Yao’s shadowed face. A sharp smile flashed. “As my successor, you need to maintain this great tradition.”

A bad feeling washed over Zuo Mo’s mind.

“From today onwards, immerse yourself in the ocean of yao arts!”

Pu Yao’s arrogant voice threw Zuo Mo completely into hell.

There were many kinds of yao arts, and could not be counted. Just basic little yao arts had five hundred kinds, so the true scale could be imagined.

Also, Pu Yao had no intentions of passing Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art onto Zuo Mo, and started to explain things beginning with little yao arts. Zuo Mo found to his shock that the little yao arts that he though he learned were more complicated and intricate than he had previously imagined.

A completely different world started to reveal itself to him.

Pu Yao had never spoken of yao arts like this before. He was confident with each type of yao art, free and high-flying.

The person and yao were immersed and completely forgot the flow of time.

After an unknown number of days, they were suddenly disturbed.

It was Golden Crow Camp!

Chapter 337: Crimson Fiend Cauldron

The center of the slave transporting boat had been completely transformed. The rooms on multiple floors had been completely torn down. Right now, what stood in their place was a double-handled red cauldron about five zhang tall. The crimson red cauldron appeared to have been just taken from a strong fire. The shape was simple, but the presence was heavy. If one went to closer, they would see that the body of the cauldron was covered in formation scripts written in the size of ants. The complexity would make one faint.

If a xiuzhe skilled in forging saw this cauldron, they would be very shocked. Such small and complex formation scripts could not be completed even if a jindan forging xiuzhe worked for three to five years.

This enormous Crimson Fiend Cauldron was the effort by all of the people in Golden Crow Camp.

The body of the cauldron was made from a mixture of fire element materials like Crimson Fire Rock. The great majority were fourth-grade materials. The forging method to make the Crimson Fire Cauldron was different than normal methods. After the plan had been confirmed, the large cauldron had been divided into three hundred and twenty six pieces. There had been clear discussion regarding the size of each piece and the seal scripts carved into them. Due to the fact the sizes of the parts were relatively small after being dismembered, the forging difficulty was much lower. Each piece was repeatedly forged, and each line on the seal scriptshad been exquisitely planned.

In other words, the large cauldron was a puzzle that was pieced together. The entire assembly process took seven whole days and nights, members of Golden Crow Camp forged without sleep and rest to finish. After that, the entire camp used Golden Crow Fire to forge it for fourteen days to melt it into one body.

Today, the large cauldron took form!

When every Golden Crow Camp member looked at this astounding large Crimson Fiend Cauldron, their eyes were filled with head and pride!

Fifth-grade!

The grade of this large cauldron was fifth-grade!

When the masters announced this result, all of the camp cheered. Fifth-grade, that was enough for every person of Golden Crow Camp to feel proud. Golden Crow Camp did not have one jindan in its ranks, all of them were ningmai.

Only jindan xiuzhe, of at least the second stratum, had the ability to forging fifth-grade talismans.

But Golden Crow Camp that had no jindan at all did it!

However, the cheers only continued for a short period of time. Everyone’s expression turned serious because an even more crucial step was arriving.

Black red fiendish mist flowed towards the slave transporting boat like a tide.

Inside the slave transporting boat, the mood was nervous, and the loud voices of the two masters could be heard.

“Pay attention and control the flow rate of the fiendish mist!”

“Maintain the Golden Crow Fire, keep it up!”

The fiendish mist that was absorbed turned to a slender black-red flow and entered the large cauldron. The Golden Crow Fire within the cauldron seemed to have had a bucket of oil poured over it and grew.

Everyone uncontrollably stopped breathing.

The fine seal scripts on the Crimson Fiend Cauldron suddenly shot up with gold light. A vast ling power wave filled every corner of the slave transporting boat. The formations on the boat lit up at almost the same time.

Only now did the hearts of Golden Crow Camp members land. Cheers suddenly exploded.

Master Ji Wei’s face was covered in tears. Sun Bao was also very emotional, swallowing hard and unable to speak. He felt it would be worth it even if he died now!

Before Wan Tian had been urging Wei Cheng Bin to get some black fiendish energy, he and Sun Bao had already started to study the black fiendish energy.

The jade scroll that Zuo Mo had sent over had resolved many problems they could not overcome. Even though they had done this through the combined effort of the entire camp, but being able to forge such a cauldron when they were just ningmai was enough to make them famous throughout the entire world.

It wasn’t just the two masters. The people of Golden Crow Camp came from small sects, and most were those that did not have great ambitions. Everyone was uncontrollably excited at being able to complete such an amazing work. Many people couldn’t stop themselves from crying.

When Zuo Mo rushed over, this was what he saw.

Then his gaze was securely attracted to this five zhang tall Crimson Fiend Cauldron, and was dumbstruck.

“You forged this?” Zuo Mo pointed at the large cauldron and asked disbelievingly.

Sun Bao said respectfully and with pride, “Yes, Daren!”

Zuo Mo was shocked!

That was right, he was completely shocked!

He couldn’t be called skilled in formations, but his understanding of formations was far above everyone else. However, he was still amazed at the clever thinking behind the forging of the Crimson Fiend Cauldron. The forging of the Crimson Fiend Cauldron used Golden Crow Fire, and what Zuo Mo hadn’t expected was that they actually put the Great Golden Crow Formation onto this cauldron.

This way, the Golden Crow Fire inside the cauldron would be maintained for a long time and could gather Golden Crow Fire from sunlight. In the future, there would be no need to worry about the supply of Golden Crow Fire. As the amount of Golden Crow Fire inside the cauldron increased, it was very likely that it could produce even higher grade flames.

In other words, the Crimson Fire Cauldron still had room to improve.

But this wasn’t what shocked Zuo Mo the most. What gave him the greatest shock was the Crimson Fiend Cauldron could process fiendish mist and turn it to ling power.

Wasn’t … … wasn’t this the method of [Fiend Ling]?

[Fiend Ling] could transform fiendish energy to ling power. Vermillion Bird Camp was furiously cultivating this spell, but who could have expected that Golden Crow Camp would walk ahead of them.

“A pretty good talisman!” Pu Yao couldn’t help but praise.

The rich and lively ling power inside the slave transporting boat made a person feel comfortable. In this place, black fiendish energy was in endless supply. With the Crimson Fiend Cauldron, they did not need to worry about the problem of ling power at all. Their jingshi supply could also provide ling power but there would be a day when it was all used up.

The members of Golden Crow Camp all floated in this direction. Daren’s shocked expression made them feel very good.

“Can you make a few more?” Zuo Mo asked Sun Bao.

Sun Bao showed a difficult expression. “It isn’t hard to forge, but I’m afraid we cannot find suitable materials.”

In order to forge the Crimson Fiend Cauldron, all the rare materials from Bao Yi’s stores had been swept clean. If it wasn’t that Sun Bao and Ji Wei had both personally gone to demand them from Bao Yi, Bao Yi definitely would not have given the materials up.

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed but he was not surprised. Low grade materials could not endure such powerful ling power and the domineering Golden Crow Fire.

“I’m really greedy!” Zuo Mo said mockingly. He then said to Sun Bao and Ji Wei, “Good work! In the future if you need any materials, go to Bao Yi to get them. If that bamboo stick won’t give them to you, come find me directly.”

Sun Bao and Ji Wei were overjoy, “Thanks, Daren!”

To people that enjoyed forging, this promise made them happier than anything else.

Golden Crow Camp gave Zuo Mo a big surprise. With the Crimson Fire Cauldron, the pressure placed on him instantly decreased. They could be at more ease while exploring this strange place.

———

Coming out of the slave transporting boat, Zuo Mo was in a very good mood. He looked around. The camp was very busy. Everyone had not sunk into a depression but worked harder on their cultivation. Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo started to cultivate himself. Becoming stronger was better than anything else.

Pu Yao said that he had a nickname of the “Encyclopaedia of Yao Arts.” Zuo Mo felt that this nickname was a bit of an exaggeration. It wasn’t the first time this guy liked to boast, but this guy really displayed his aptitude when he started to explain yao arts.

Five hundred types of little yao arts. After Pu Yao explained them to him again, Zuo Mo had a completely different perspective.

However, Zuo Mo cared more about the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art.

“Pu, teach me another two moves of the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!” Zuo Mo raised his face and said fawningly.

Pu Yao replied absentmindedly, “Oh, don’t try to always get free benefits. It’s a dream to think that you can combine two little yao arts to get something powerful.”

“Then you can teach me some powerful yao arts?”

“You understand all of the little yao arts?” Pu Yao glanced at him.

“Pretty much.” Zuo Mo had some confidence about this.

“Really?” Pu Yao had a slightly smile. “Then let’s test it.”

“Test? What test?” Zuo Mo became alert.

Before he finished asking, the scene in the surroundings seemed to retreat like a wave, and turn to a dark void.

This was … … Ten Finger Prison!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to swear. His vision blurred and pushed the swear words at his mouth back.

“Your consciousness has become much stronger, and you should be able to stay for twelve hours now,” Pu Yao did not waste words and said crisply. “Walk forward using the method I taught you last time. I don’t demand anything too highly of you. Twelve hours, walk thirty li forward. Ooh, this demand is just one-tenth of mine when I first came here.”

Finishing, Pu Yao did not allow Zuo Mo to speak and disappeared.

Vast Water Clear Skies, Zuo Mo had come last time and wasn’t unfamiliar with this place. According to Pu Yao, the entire Vast Water Clear Skies was constructed from thirteen thousand low-level yao arts.

Hm, just thirty li, you think this will trouble ge?

Provoked by Pu Yao’s disdainful tone, Zuo Mo did not procrastinate. He lowered his head and started to deconstruct the yao art under his feet.

Every bit of soil, every piece of rock, every stalk of grass here was made from yao arts.

His consciousness made a close inspection. The yao arts here were completely different in Zuo Mo’s eyes than the ones from last time. Last time, if it wasn’t for Pu Yao guiding him continuously, he couldn’t have even advanced a single step. But right now, even facing low level yao arts he had never seen before, he could think of solutions.

It was a great help to him that his consciousness was stronger than in the past. No wonder they said that the consciousness was the basis of yao arts. Comparing the two visits, Zuo Mo gave a direct and deeply engraining experience. The yao arts borrowed all kinds of powers from within the world. The consciousness was like a level that leverage the power of the world.

The first yao art did not take Zuo Mo long before he deconstructed it.

Walking one step by one step, deconstructing one yao art by one yao art.

This feeling … … was somewhat familiar … …

Zuo Mo suddenly remembered why he found it familiar. In Wu Kong Mountain, he had also studied the questions of the [Preliminary Formations] jade scroll from Kun Lun. The feeling now was slightly similar.

This was a little bit interesting!

Zuo Mo did not find it dull, but found it interesting.

He gradually found some patterns, and his speed became faster. These low level yao arts had many transformations and he did not recognize the great majority of them. However, he found that if he used the right method, they were all able to be deconstructed using little yao arts.

Immersed in deconstructing yao arts, he did not notice the scenery behind him that he just deconstructed was changing.

Even more so, he did not notice a pair of eyes staring at him from nearby.

Chapter 338: Nan Yue

Nan Yue looked with curiosity at the male in front of her.

To be able to enter Vast Water Clear Skies in the first year of entering a yao art house, she had some fame in the art house, even though the yao art house that she belonged to was not a famed one. Even though she was very young, she was very experienced in Vast Water Clear Skies.

Last time, she had accidentally found there was a place that showed major marks of damage and instantly took note. Only today when she saw this unfamiliar male did she instantly realize she found the culprit.

She did not go up to warn him. She had stayed for a long time in Vast Water Clear Skies, and naturally had no problems with basic knowledge. The Ten Finger Prison was completely constructed from yao arts. It included almost all the yao arts. Due to this, it also became the place the yao learned yao arts. She had once learned three relatively powerful yao arts from Vast Water Clear Skies, and many places in Vast Water Clear Skies that were filled with danger were  good places to gain experience.

Nan Yue had encountered incidents of destruction before, but that was mostly when some yao that destroyed the area after finding a good yao art to prevent it from landing in another person’s hands. This kind of destruction had no effect on Vast Water Clear Skies. Vast Water Clear Skies was completely constructed from yao arts. Any grass or art that was destroyed would be recreated. It was always kept at an equilibrium.

Ten Finger Prison had existed for many years, and countless Sky Yao had come through, but nothing had ever happened to Ten Finger Prison.

What Nan Yue found curious was that the other’s strange actions looked more like a kind of cultivation method.

But … … what effect would it have?

She sank into thought. It was not hard to destroy the grasses and plants of Vast Water Clear Skies. They were constructed out of yao arts, and other than some rare defensive yao arts, they were usually easily destroyed.

Was this person a destructive maniac?

She laughed. These days, there were all kinds of strange yao. There were some weird yao in her yao art house. Supposedly, there were even more of these people at famed yao arts houses.

She really had too much free time that she would spend it on such a boring matter.

Was it that she had good results in the recent tests that caused her to be slightly proud? She couldn’t help but feel ashamed. She instantly warned herself to not be proud.

Just as she was going to leave, she suddenly saw the process of the rock collapsing in front of the unfamiliar male. Her heart shook and paused mid step.

Just now, that rock had turned to powder without any warning and disappeared into the air.

This was … … this was … …

Nan Yue’s mouth was opened wide, her face written with disbelief as she looked dazedly at Zuo Mo.

Without any sound, another entire piece of rock collapsed at the exact same moment to the smallest bits of powder that dissipated into the air. After three whole breaths, Nan Yue finally reacted, and couldn’t help but yell, “Deconstruction!”

When the words came out, she frightened herself. She hurriedly covered her mouth in fear of alarming the other.

However, the other fortunately had not been disturbed and was still in a trance.

After observing for a long time, Nan Yue was certain the other was deconstructing these yao arts, and was not destroying them. If he used brute force to destroy these rocks made from yao arts, the rock will just turn to a ball of light and then disappear.

Deconstruction and destruction were two completely different concepts. Destruction was to damage from the outside, and deconstruction was to dismember from the inside, and cause it to be destroyed.

The difficulty of deconstruction was far higher than destruction. It required a deep understanding of yao arts. Vast Water Clear Skies was only the first prison of Ten Finger Prison and there were only low-level yao arts here, but the yao arts here were innumerable. How could one be familiar with all of them?

The more Nan Yue saw, the more shocked she was. The speed the other deconstructed at made her heart beat wildly.

The ever-changing yao arts did not seem to be an obstacle to this male. His movements flowed without hurry. Everywhere he passed, the plants and grasses turned to dust and disappeared from beside his feet.

He did not look, and he did not stop in his steps.

Nan Yue was dazed as she watched.

At the beginning, she had doubted if her guess had been accurate. Even those high level students in the yao art house wouldn’t be so smooth and quick.

This was a daren!

Daren was the general term for those powerful and profound yao.

Maybe this great yao was trying a certain yao art? Or he was trying to comprehending some secret technique?

This was the only possibility that she was able to think of. Vast Water Clear Skies was the first level of Ten Finger Prison. Most of those who came here were little yao that had just entered the yao art houses. There were only low level yao arts here, and were not of help to those powerful yao.

But the strength shown by this person far surpassed them.

Nan Yue quickly realized this was a rare chance. She instantly thought rapidly how she could go up and initiate a conversation. In the yao art houses, everyone like to call situations like this wild wondrous encounters.

The yao arts houses publicly passed on many yao arts but these were the basic yao arts of each yao art level. As to the skills of each teacher, those were secret. Using the Purple Lotus Yao Art House that Nan Yue belonged to as the example, they took in two thousand students annually. After five to seven years of education, they would graduate with results based on each person’s consciousness and skill in the yao arts.

In these five to seven years, those little yao that studied hard and were talented might receive the favor of a certain teacher and become their student. Only these students had the possibility of receiving their line of succession. The teachers had the freedom to choose their students. Normally, the teachers only had to teach basic yao arts to all the students .

The best way to learn more profound yao arts was to become the personal student of a teacher. However, the competition inside the yao art house was very fierce. Every teacher was being targeted by countless students that wanted to enter their doors. Nan Yue’s talent was not high. The reason she had the achieved grades she did was due to her hard work. The teachers of the schools were perceptive. How could they not see this? Right now, the teachers all hoped to pick students with talent. Students like her only had the tiniest of chances.

Maybe this Daren was an opportunity!

At this time, she had to be shameless!

Nan Yue thought of the stories and experiences that her elder classmates had passed onto her. Gritting her teeth, she went next to Zuo Mo.

However, she did not speak, but silently stood and did not make a sound.

———

Zuo Mo felt a thread of exhaustion. He stopped because he found that when he was tired due to manipulating his consciousness, his rate of deconstruction would quickly decrease. He turned his head back to look at the path he had just walked. In one hour, he had advanced about two li. Based on this rate, he would only make twenty four li in twelve hours. There was quite a distance to the thirty li that Pu Yao set down. But Zuo Mo was not in a hurry, and took the time of rest to recall the experiences.

As the number of yao arts he deconstructed increased, his speed moving forward had increased. He could clearly feel that the time he spent on the last li was much shorter than the time he spent on the first li. Even though each type of yao art was different, he still understood and gradually became accustomed to the process.

These yao arts changed greatly, but they did not leave the area of little yao arts.

Thinking back to when Pu Yao had spoke of the little yao arts to him, he suddenly understood.

These yao arts were just constructions made up of different combinations of little yao arts. He instantly understood Pu Yao’s intentions. Pu Yao wanted to use this method to give him a deeper understanding of little yao arts.

Thinking about what he had felt just now, Zuo Mo instantly became excited because he felt this was an effective method.

Pu Yao wasn’t useless after all!

After criticizing Pu Yao out of habit, Zuo Mo decided to rest and recover his spiritual power. When he raised his head, a stammering and nervous voice suddenly sounded in his ear, “El … … Elder … …”

Elder?

Zuo Mo stilled and found Nan Yue standing nearby. However, his first response was to look around. When he found that no one was standing next to him, he finally realized this little girl was calling him.

He rubbed his head and watched as the other was in a trance. This term was slightly weird, and he didn’t know them. Oh, the other was a yao … …

Wait, yao?

Zuo Mo stilled again and curiously examined the other. This yao looked very normal, and didn’t have any of Pu Yao’s presence. Oh, compared to the yao soldiers that he encountered at Desolate Wood Reef, she seemed much weaker.

An interested expression came onto his face. This little yao should be the most normal little yao. Truthfully, he had never seen a normal little yao before!

So normal yao looked like this … …

Nan Yue had faint green hair, her eyes were also faint green like a transparent olive stone. Her chin was slightly pointed and didn’t look any different from any other person. She was dressed in a short robe and looked very capable.

———

Nan Yue felt uncomfortable under Zuo Mo’s gaze. She couldn’t help but panic inside. Was this daren a perverted yao?

Yao were very liberal about sexual matters. Most yao came from flora, and the process took a long number of years. The combinations between yao would strengthen the clan. The Council of Elders encouraged reproduction. Adding on that yao were born with long life spans, they were very uncaring regarding the matters of sex.

If it was a female yao that had some experience, they would have instantly shown a seductive posture immediately.

But Nan Yue clearly could not do it.

———

Compared to Nan Yue’s caution and discomfort, Zuo Mo was much more casual. He was young, but he had seen much. Right now, he even had a large group of people under his command. If he was still in Sky Moon Jie, he definitely qualified as a warlord. Additionally, he purely thought of this event as broadening his visions.

The yao world didn’t have a jingshi of a connection to him.

“What are you called?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Nan Yue,” The slightly nervous Nan Yue instantly replied.

“Oh, what kind of yao are you?” Zuo Mo asked. He had a pitiful understanding of yao.

———

The way that this daren asked questions was really very strange.

Nan Yue’s nervousness disappeared greatly. “Is Elder asking about Nan Yue’s birth? Nan Yue comes from the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky.”

“Wisteria Clan of the South Sky?” Zuo Mo was confused. He could understand the individual words, but he did not understand what they referred to when put together.

“Wisteria Clan of the South Sky!”

With a light sound of surprise, Pu Yao suddenly popped up.

Chapter 339: Origin?

Hearing Pu Yao’s voice, Zuo Mo instantly realized that this Wisteria Clan of the South Sky had some significance.

Before he could ask, he heard Pu Yao say to him, “Ask her if it is the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky at Purple Arrow Jie?”

Zuo Mo could only listen and ask, “Is it the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky at Purple Arrow Jie?”

Nan Yue was very shocked. “Does Elder also know the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky at Purple Arrow Jie?” Her expression then dimmed. “We migrated from Purple Arrow Jie to Core Wind Jie six hundred years ago.”

Pu Yao did not make a sound for a while.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. It seemed that Pu Yao really knew this Wisteria Clan of the South Sky.

After a while, Pu Yao said to Zuo Mo, “Ask her how many people remain of the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky.”

Zuo Mo obediently spoke.

Nan Yue’s expression became even dimmer. “There is only eleven people left in the clan now.”

“Eleven people … …” Pu Yao was dumbstruck.

As the situation of the clan was spoken of, Nan Yue felt very bad. The Wisteria Clan of the South Sky had been in decline for a long time. She had no memories of the glory they held in the past. Ever since she could remember, the clan’s living conditions had been very harsh.

She hadn’t thought that this elder would know the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky. She was quite shocked. There were not many teachers in the school that knew of the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky.

“Do you practice the [South Sky Arrow Art] of the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky?”

The elder’s question made her pause, but she shook her head. “[South Sky Arrow Art] was lost a thousand years ago.”

Zuo Mo could clearly feel these words made Pu Yao shake.

Nan Yue was also very shocked. The elder was very familiar with the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky. If it wasn’t that she liked learning and had worked hard, she wouldn’t know much of the clan history. If it was her other sibling of the clan, they probably wouldn’t even know what [South Sky Arrow Art] was.

Did this elder have a history with the clan?

Hope suddenly rose in her heart.

Even though Elder looked very young, but Nan Yue would not underestimate him for that. The age of yao had nothing to do with their appearances. The smooth deconstruction that Elder had performed just now had amazed her.

As her thoughts grew, her mood became unconfident.

What made her feel even more insecure was that Elder was silent for a long time and did not speak.

Her heart continued to sink. It seemed there was no hope.

Suddenly, Elder’s voice came. “I will pass [South Sky Arrow Art] on to you. In return you will follow me for a hundred years and will be free after that.”

Nan Yue seemed to have been struck by lightning. Her mind was blank. [South Sky Arrow Art]! Elder knew [South Sky Arrow Art]? Her face was filled with disbelief. The records of the clan said that [South Sky Arrow Art] was the most powerful yao art treasure of the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky, and the ultimate skill of the clan! But the records of the clan also did not leave any mention behind except how powerful [South Sky Arrow Art] was. She had even doubted the validity of these records and if they had been exaggerated.

[South Sky Arrow Art] … … so this world really had [South Sky Arrow Art] … …

Just as Nan Yue’s emotions changed, Zuo Mo pursued Pu Yao and continued to urge Pu Yao in a suspicious tone, “Pu, you really know that [South Sky Arrow Art? You really know? Don’t fool little kids! If you don’t know, and you can’t follow through with the lie, it will be embarrassing … …”

Pu Yao who had been immersed in his emotions instantly felt conflicting emotions. “Nonsense, of course I know.”

“You sure?” The suspicion on Zuo Mo’s face did not decrease. “How come I never heard you say so?”

“There’s a lot you never heard of,” Pu Yao rolled his eyes and said in a negative tone.

“Ooh, right. A gentleman is open, the little person hides his schemes. You are usually hidden very deeply. “ Zuo Mo nodded his head, and then snickered. He raised his face and said, “Then let’s add another century. We cannot be unprofitable!”

Pu Yao looked dumbly at Zuo Mo. At this moment, he lost the ability to talk.

Zuo Mo had no hint of shame. He was very smug. “Pu, as a yao, ge isn’t as good as you, but in business, you are far less than ge!”

After a beat, Nan Yue refocused. She did not hesitate in kneeling on the ground. “Teacher!”

Yao usually had long lives, and a century was not a long time for them. Also, the conditions were really too good. In Nan Yue’s view, this elder definitely had a deep history with the clan so he would use this method to help her.

In the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo sighed at Pu Yao, “It’s over, can’t increase the price.”

Nan Yue knelt on the ground motionlessly.

After a while, she heard Elder say gravely, “Stand up. I do not have the qualifications to accept students and cannot be your teacher. This is a transaction to pass on [South Sky Arrow Art] to you. You can call me daren in the future.”

Zuo Mo pretended.

Nan Yue was slightly disappointed. Daren was still unwilling to take her as his student. It must be that Daren was very rigorous in accepting students, and she did not meet his requirements. She secretly made a resolution to cultivate and work hard to satisfy Daren as early as possible to be accepted. Also, Daren had promised to pass [South Sky Arrow Art] onto her. This yao art which had been lost for so long, was it as powerful as the records said?

She was full of anticipation!

“What to do next?” Zuo Mo spread his hands and asked Pu Yao.

Pu Yao said seriously, “You will first teach her little yao arts.”

Zuo Mo stilled and then stammered as he pointed at his nose, “Me teaching?”

“Is there a problem?” Pu Yao tilted his head to look at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo forced a smile and said, “You are really too irresponsible to that little girl.” He was slightly unconfident. He wasn’t afraid at all about explaining spells or formations, but yao arts … …

The other was a true yao. He was a xiuzhe teaching a true yao how to cultivate yao arts … … it was too ridiculous!

“Just teach whatever,” Pu Yao said irresponsibly and then disappeared.

Zuo Mo stood dumbly in the empty sea of consciousness.

Coming out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo looked at Nan Yue who had an yearning expression on her face and instantly had a headache. A beat later, he emboldened his heart. Since Pu Yao said to teach her whatever, if he didn’t teach her well, it couldn’t be blamed on him.

He coughed lightly. “Let’s first start from little yao arts.”

“Little yao arts?” Nan Yue stilled. She hadn’t thought what Daren would teach first were little yao arts.

Didn’t every yao know little yao arts?

Zuo Mo ignored Nan Yue’s puzzled gaze and started to talk to himself. Luckily, Pu Yao had just taught him little yao arts recently and he remembered them clearly. He thought back as he talked. As he talked, he couldn’t help but add in some of his understandings that he had just gotten through deconstruction.

At the beginning, Nan Yue’s expression was filled with puzzlement and curiosity. But her expression gradually became stern and focused.

The little yao arts that Daren talked about were different in many places than what she understood!

Those little yao arts that seemed so simple in her view actually contained a very abundant number of permutations. She had never thought the permutations of little yao arts could be so plentiful and complex. There were such deep connections between different little yao arts … …

For the first time, the little yao arts were so profound in her eyes!

A bottomless, and borderless ocean appeared in front of her.

Zuo Mo finally stopped talking. He released a breath. His talk was not as detailed as Pu Yao but there was nothing incorrect about the main concepts.

Seeing that Nan Yue had fallen for his con, he was slightly reassured. But after the talk, what to do next? His mind shifted, and he instantly thought of a good idea. He pointed at the flowers and grasses and said pretentiously, “From today onwards, you will start to learn how to deconstruct the yao arts of Vast Water Clear Skies. There are thirteen thousand yao arts in Vast Water Clear Skies. If you can deconstruct all of them, your understanding of little yao arts has just begun.”

Zuo Mo felt he was like a conman at this time, especially when he saw Nan Yue’s gaze filled with respect. He felt even guiltier. He immediately got Nan Yue to start learning how to deconstruct yao arts.

At this time, Nan Yue realized why Daren had been deconstructing little yao arts all this time! She happily started to learn from Zuo Mo about deconstructing little yao arts. Seeing the situation, Zuo Mo instantly relaxed and started his deconstruction again.

The person and yao buried their heads and started to make “damage.”

After two hours, Nan Yue took a break. When she raised her head, she was very shocked. Daren was one and a half li in front of her!

The shock in Nan Yue’s eyes faded and was replaced by awe and respect.

As expected of Daren!

She definitely had to work harder to reach Daren’s qualifications for taking students!

Nan Yue balled her fists and made a decision.

———

Ma Fan did not cultivate [Fiend Ling]. He was the only xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp that did not cultivate [Fiend Ling]. Even Xie Shan had taken [Fiend Ling] to study.

Ma Fan was studying [Clear Sky Sword Scripture].

This fifth-grade sword scripture was the sect-establishing ultimate skill of Clear Sky Sect. Zuo Mo did not have much interest in sword scriptures, and after experiencing so much together, everyone had deeper bonds, so Zuo Mo made this public for everyone to study.

However, [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] was profound and hard to understand. Many places were unclear, and those that were just the slightest bit lacking had no ability to understand it. All those of Vermillion Bird Camp that cultivated the sword desired this sword scripture, but there were only a few that could persist in studying it.

Ma Fan was one of them.

The sword scripture he cultivated had no name, and was incomplete. Other than the power of [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction], the other moves were scattered sword moves that he had gathered from other sword scriptures.

For other people, [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] was too difficult, but for him, it was a treasure. He was one of the first to comprehend sword essence. The stage of his sword essence rivalled Xie Shan after he broke through to jindan.

He was used to taking the best parts from other sword scriptures to use for himself. His sword moves were gathered from a scattering of scriptures, but this allowed him to quickly adjust to using a brand new sword scripture.

The destruction caused by Clear Sky Old Forefather while using the [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] frequently crossed his mind, and reinforced his decision to cultivate this sword scripture.

As he comprehended more of the scripture, many places he did not understand instantly flowed.

Everyone only saw him in meditation daily. No one knew that his understanding of sword essence increased every day.

The silently sitting Ma Fan suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes lit up, and his presence suddenly changed!

Chapter 340: Going Fishing

Even sitting cross-legged on the ground, Ma Fan was like an unsheathed sword exuding sword essence!

He didn’t seem to move but disappeared.

Xie Shan who was cultivating [Fiend Ling] sudden felt his heart move and stopped to look at the sky. At the same time, Shu Long also raised his head to look at the sky with a shocked expression.

In the air, Ma Fan silently stood in the fiendish mist.

The poisonous fiendish mist was being repelled by an invisible force, and unable to go with in seven chi of Ma Fan’s body. Ma Fan’s clothes flapped, but what was strange was that while he looked to be of great presence, people only felt the faintest ling power vibrations from him.

“Sword essence … …” Xie Shan’s eyes suddenly widened and lit up. His expression changed slightly.

Ma Fan’s arms were spread out like a great bird in flight. The fiendish mist seemed to retreat in fear. In the blink of an eye, there was nothing within thirty zhang of him.

Such a presence made the people of Vermillion Bird Camp below full of admiration. Boss Ma Fan was really Boss Ma Fan! Vermillion Bird Camp was primarily sword xiu. Everyone’s cultivation was not high, but their eyes were not lacking. They understood that Boss Ma Fan had gained a new comprehension of sword essence.

The one that saw the most clearly was Xie Shan.

The reason the fiendish mist would retreat was because that there were countless invisible and ethereal sword essences in Ma Fan’s surrounding space! These sword essences were silently moving as though they were nurturing something.

Xie Shan seemed to be suddenly struck by lightning. His mouth was wide and his eyes full of disbelief as he looked at the stern Ma Fan.

Manifestation!

Sword essence manifestation!

Impossible!

Wasn’t sword essence manifestation a stage that only jindan xiuzhe could reach? He found it hard to accept what was happening in front of him. A beat later, the dumbstruck Xie Shan gradually regained focus. The taste in his mouth was bitter. He was a xiuzhe in jindan who hadn’t cultivated to sword essence manifestation, but Ma Fan who was a ningmai comprehended it first.

Ma Fan’s entire body was covered in uncountable sword essences, these fine, transparent and intangible Sky sword essences.

Sky … … Sky … …

Ma Fan tightly closed his eyes and seemed to understand something.

A vast and greatly vicious presence gathered from all directions. Ma Fan seemed like a leaf boat floating  precariously in the storm and rain, to be destroyed at the next moment!

This was … …

Xie Shan instantly understood. Ma Fan was cultivating [Clear Sky Sword Scripture]! He instantly furrowed his brows and had a worried expression. Looking at the crimson tinged sky, the uncertainty in his heart increased.

The sky here … … it wasn’t a good place to cultivate [Clear Sky Sword Scripture]!

The crimson red sky became even more terrifying. Black clouds rapidly formed.

At the center of the storm, the environment Ma Fan faced was even worse. When he realized that there was a problem, he already had no avenue of retreat. The sky here was filled with black fiendish energy. They originated from the ferocious battle of ten thousand years ago, and after thousands of years, they could easily corrode one’s mind.

The sky here had too many elements that did not belong to the sky!

The fiendish mist that had been trying to avoid him just now suddenly roiled fiercely. Dozens of tentacles made from the fiendish mist leapt at Ma Fan and seal him off in all directions. These fiendish mist tentacles were quick like arrows that pierced towards Ma Fan. Just as Ma Fan was going to be entangled and taken away, pia pia pia, the fiendish mist tentacles that approached Ma Fan exploded.

These tentacles were destroyed by the sword essence around Ma Fan.

But this was just the beginning!

Countless red-black fiendish mist tentacles rose from the fiendish mist and leapt at Ma Fan.

Explosions continued. There was too much fiendish mist that had exploded. A while later, they formed a thick fiendish mist. The sound of explosions did not stop among the fiendish mist. A red-black egg-shaped fiendish mist ball hung high in the sky.

Everyone couldn’t help but have worried expressions, but they could only look. They could not help at all.

———

Vast Water Clear Skies.

Nan Yue looked at Elder who had collapsed onto the ground. Her eyes were filled with respect. She had worked very hard in the yao art houses, but when she saw how Elder cultivated, she instantly felt her hard work was nothing in front of Elder.

“I will come back after some time.”

Elder threw out these words and disappeared.

Nan Yue was not too puzzled. At this time, she was filled with motivation. Elder had used his actions to explain to her how to cultivate. She wasn’t in such a hurry to get [South Sky Arrow Art] now. The things she learned today were enough for her to cultivate for a long time.

She left Vast Water Clear Skies. She needed to digest what she had learned today.

———

Zuo Mo felt very good, very very good.

He only took ten hours to go thirty li, two hours shorter than Pu Yao’s demand. If he subtracted the time that he had spent explaining little yao arts to Nan Yue, he only took nine hours. When Zuo Mo caught the shock and surprise in Pu Yao’s eye, he felt very good.

In reality, his spiritual power had almost been exhausted. After nine hours of high speed deconstruction, his response this time was much stronger than the first time around.

Unable to slowly savor his pleasure, he hurried into meditation to recover his spiritual power.

After a whole day, Zuo Mo finally woke up from his meditation. His spiritual power had only half recovered. It was a pity there were no stars in the sky here so he could not absorb the power of the skies. His consciousness had exploded in growth from last time. The number of stars in the void above his sea of consciousness had not grown, but each star became even brighter and sparkled in the void.

Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness had completely changed.

The ice sword river from the past had almost completely disappeared. This made Zuo Mo sweat. Those enchanting black flames had no longer rampaged like they had in the past. The black flames had almost disappeared in the area around the gravestone, and shown the black steel-like ground. The black energy that shrouded the gravestone seemed thicker than before.

According to Pu Yao, the path he walked was star spiritual cultivation. The star spiritual sand in his consciousness contained star power.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel anything like star power. However, the ten stars had grown, and his spiritual power recovery rate was stronger than before. Each star spread its light, and the sea of consciousness was bathed in star light.

When Zuo Mo saw the enormous fiendish mist ball in the air, he was astounded. He hurriedly grabbed Xie Shan to ask. When he was informed that Ma Fan was cultivating [Clear Sky Sword Scripture], he couldn’t help but worry. However, he did not have a solution. Of everything he cultivated, his sword scriptures were the weakest at this moment.

Right now, the strongest was his Great Day mo physique. The next was his yao arts. He couldn’t help but grimace. As one that originated as a xiuzhe, there wasn’t really much to be proud off. Ma Fan’s matter wouldn’t end anytime soon so Zuo Mo did not go to observe.

He turned around his face and found to his shock that A Gui was looking at him. Usually, A Gui was always steps away from him.

“Are you better?” Zuo Mo probed.

A Gui did not respond. Zuo Mo shook his head. He really was fantasizing. He grabbed A Gui’s hand and his consciousness went into her body to make a close inspection.

His brow quickly furrowed together.

A Gui’s body was a mess, so withered there was no life. From this point, it didn’t seem any different than usual, but Zuo Mo found there was an extremely small patch of purple on A Gui’s heart which had not been there before. Zuo Mo would examine A Gui every two or three days, and was very familiar with the condition of A Gui’s body.

There was no purple mark in his last inspection. It was possible to see that the purple mark had formed in the last few days.

Zuo Mo’s body suddenly dropped down. This meant that new changes had happened in the last few days to A Gui’s body. He couldn’t help but become worried. If it was a good change, then that naturally was very fortunate. But if it was a bad change, he did not have a measure to deal with it.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt a strong sense of urgency.

He had to find Water Cloud Embryo as soon as possible! But he also knew if he rashly went into the depths of the fiendish mist, his bones wouldn’t even remain. Everyone was working hard at this moment, and this was not the best time to enter the fiendish mist.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly became restless. He walked out of the campsite.

The campsite was at the border of the fiendish mist. It was possible to see threads of thin fiendish mist float by. His eyes turned to the deeper parts of the fiendish mist. What would it be like in there?

“You can fish!” Pu Yao suddenly said.

“Fish?” Zuo Mo asked with shock.

“Oh, you can take an intelligent talisman, and it will naturally attract many fiend souls,” Pu yao explained. “You can practice your little yao arts, and also,”

“Also what?”

“Do you remember the soul base essence you swallowed? If you want to strengthen your consciousness in the short them, this isn’t a bad method.” Then Pu Yao sighed. “You have pretty good luck!”

Zuo Mo instantly became alert. In his view, fiend souls were food. The main reason that he wanted to learn Archaic Desolate Sacrificial Art was to get fiend souls to strengthen his consciousness. With his present strength, entering the deeper parts of the fiend mist was too dangerous.

As expected, Pu Yao was cunning!

Zuo Mo thought and took out a talisman. This was the only sixth-grade talisman that he had, the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk. He didn’t dare to use Lil’ Paogda as the bait. The trouble last time was too much. There was a thread of intelligence on the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk. Even though it wasn’t as intelligent as Lil’ pagoda, it was perfect as bait.

The Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk that could make many jealous was thrown onto the ground. Zuo Mo stood nearby and widened his eyes.

A short while later, a red light suddenly charged out of the fiendish mist and headed straight for the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk on the ground.

Zuo Mo snickered. The little yao art that had already been prepped on his hand was thrown out.

Hiss-crack!

The little yao art was not powerful, but yao arts could subdue fiend souls to start with. This fiend soul didn’t even get the time to shriek before it was destroyed. Zuo Mo casually opened his mouth and sucked it in. That thin strand of base source entered his mouth.

Fiend souls continued to come over.

Zuo Mo quickly found that little yao arts were perfect for dealing with fiend souls. Right now, he was very familiar with little yao arts, and didn’t even need to think before he could successfully cast.

What he actually needed to be careful of was that the soul base sources did not slip away. He felt it even more clearly this time. The soul base sources absorbed into his body all entered the stars in the void of his sea of consciousness.

Compared to last time, there was a much less number of fiend souls. Zuo Mo was very unburdened.

“Shixiong, what are you doing?” At some unknown time, Gongsun Cha had come over and asked curiously.

Zuo Mo’s hand shook. Several strands of soul base source drifted towards Gongsun Cha.

Chapter 341: Shidi’s Spell

The threads of soul base source was very faint as though they would dissipate in the air at any moment.

“What is this?” Gongsun Cha had a curious expression. He opened his hand and the threads of soul base source flew towards his palm.

The soul base source flew into his palm. Before he could study it, they entered his skin.

Three shocked exclamations sounded out. The curiosity on Gongsun Cha’s face turned to surprise. Zuo Mo was also very surprised, and the last sound of shock came from Pu Yao inside Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Gongsun Cha closed his eyes and savored it for a while. After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and said joyfully, “Shixiong, what is this? This is really good!”

Of course it was really good … …

Zuo Mo muttered inside but he was also happy. He could see that the soul base source of the fiend souls were of great benefit to Gongsun Cha!

His mind suddenly moved and he asked, “Shidi, what spell are you cultivating right now?”

Gongsun Cha’s face blushed shyly. He said embarrassedly, “I … …. I just randomly made a way to cultivate. I don’t know if it is useful. I was just thinking of asking Shixiong to help.”

Zuo Mo looked with shock at the shy Gongsun Shidi like he was seeing a ghost.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s expression, Gongsun Cha’s pale face became even redder like a mature peach. “I … … I heard that battle generals have specialized cultivation spells. Since I didn’t have any, I thought about making something close to it.”

His words became smoother as he spoke, and his eyes flashed with excitement. “I found later that there are many battle generals in the war chess games. Even though they are yaomo battle generals, but I could use them as references. So I got some stuff. Shixiong, help me take a look.”

He ignored Zuo Mo’s strange expression and spoke of his idea.

At the beginning, Zuo Mo was unconcerned. If it wasn’t Gongsun Shidi, and it was any other zhuji xiuzhe that ran to him and said they were going to create their own cultivation spell, Zuo Mo would definitely put his feet on their face.

Zuo Mo’s expression slowly became grave.

It was very clear that Gongsun Shidi’s idea was much more developed than he had predicted. When he finished listening, the first thought he had was

–– it was too crazy!

He looked dazedly at Gongsun Cha.

Gongsun Cha finished speaking in one go and finally noticed the strangeness in Zuo Mo’s gaze. He instantly felt uncomfortable. Had his thinking been incorrect somewhere?

This shy and bashful shidi in front of him had created such an insane and extreme cultivation spell. The contrast was too big!

Zuo Mo felt it was very strange.

Gongsun Cha’s idea was very simple. First, he concluded what was most important to a battle general was the consciousness because the consciousness was of the greatest help to controlling the battle situation. This was also why yao battle generals were the most outstanding of all battle generals.

Of course, ling power was necessary. Xiuzhe battle generals had their own unique qualities.

Where did spiritual power and ling power come form?

The core of the spell Gongsun Cha had created was one word, steal!

When Zuo Mo understood this point, he had to sigh. As expected of a battle general’s cultivation spell. It completely fit with the thinking of a battle general! He was even suspicious. Had the frequent raids in Little Mountain Jie left aftereffects on Gongsun Shidi?

What surprised Zuo Mo even more was that while this technique was very rudimentary and not complete, there were no fatal mistakes.

He now understood why those threads of soul base source would enter Gongsun Cha’s skin.

Base source substances like the soul base source were great nutrients for Gongsun Shidi.

“Somewhat interesting!” Pu Yao couldn’t resist praising. “In zhuji and knows to create this spell, his future is limitless.” He suddenly felt it was very absurd. Without noticing it, there was a great number of people with power and good talent that gathered beside Zuo Mo.

And all of these people without exception had been unknown and disregarded before.

Like Gongsun Cha. He only knew of a few rare battle generals that could comprehend spells on their own. This spell in his view was very rough and rudimentary, but as Gongsun Cha’s knowledge and strength increased, the spell could be gradually perfected. It was also the beginning stages of this spell that caused Pu Yao to see the rise of a peerless battle general!

Pu Yao was very emotional. Even he had never thought that Gongsun Cha would reach this step. Gongsun Cha’s speed of improvement made him feel shock. Was this guy born to be a battle general?

Such talent. There were only a few familiar names that he knew who could rival it.

He couldn’t help but glance at Zuo Mo. This boy had great luck!

Pu Yao suddenly felt anticipation. He already felt amazement at Zuo Mo’s talent. Now that he had the help of a battle general of limitless potential, what heights could they reach?

At this moment, he deeply felt that he really made a profit in taking this student!

The terrible accounts from the past, maybe there was the chance to get them back … …

Pu Yao rubbed his chin and smiled darkly.

Zuo Mo did not know Pu Yao’s schemes. After asking Pu Yao and being informed that there were no significant problems with the spell, he started to help Gongsun Shidi. Gongsun Shidi’s spell did not have any major problems, but the most difficult part was the first step. The core of this spell was to steal the consciousness and ling power of other entities for themselves. But at the beginning, he was like an infant and did not have the power to steal.

But right now, there was a great change. The soul base sources of these fiend souls had no impurities, were warm and nurturing. Gongsun Cha had no problems absorbing them.

After discussing with Gongsun Cha for a while, Gongsun Cha instantly wanted to try it out.

Battle generals were really not normal people!

Zuo Mo muttered inside. His actions were not slow as he continued his “fishing.” But this time, the soul base sources were given to Gongsun Shidi. Gongsun Cha did not refuse and absorbed as much as possible.

In a short while, two smears of red came onto Gongsun Cha’s face as though he was drunk. He instantly sat down cross-legged.

Zuo Mo stopped. Gongsun Shidi’s cultivation was still too shallow. It would take time to completely absorb all of this soul base source. So he started to swallow soul base source himself. These were great food to him too.

This patch of fiendish mist was endless, and it seemed there was no end to the fiend souls inside. They continuously leapt towards the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk. None of them were able to touch the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk before they were struck by little yao arts and were dissipated like steam to only leave behind a thin thread of soul base source.

After four hours, Gongsun Cha opened his eyes. With a joyful expression, he leapt up and said shamelessly, “Shixiong, let’s do it again!”

Zuo Mo nodded. He didn’t waste words, and continued to cast little yao arts.

He used each of the five hundred little yao arts multiple times, and included some of the low level yao arts that he had learned from Vast Water Clear Skies or he tried to combine different little yao arts together. The amount of spiritual power expended by little yao arts was very little. Zuo Mo was also very practiced. Adding on that he continuously absorbed soul base source, his consciousness continued to grow and he became even more at ease.

This time, Gongsun Cha absorbed two-tenths more soul base source than last time before he sat down again.

After twenty hours, Zuo Mo felt a bit tired and hurriedly put away the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk. Having lost their target, the fiend souls instantly left. The surrounding became quiet.

Zuo Mo sat down with crossed legs. Each of the ten stars inside his body were bright, and the falling starlight seemed to turn as tangible as mist.

He could feel his spiritual power was full as though it was going to spill.

Was he going to level up?

Zuo Mo’s mind moved, and he started his scripture.

———

Sword light flashed in Wei Sheng’s hands. The fiend souls that leapt forward were instantly destroyed. The few threads of soul base source flew into the flying sword in his hand. This long black sword in his hand was tall, standing up to his chest, and looked like a horse chopping saber. It was simple in design. The black sheath did not have many adornments. He had found this black sword the first day he had been transported here.

At that time, this black sword had been inserted into the ground. He had found the sword sheath nearby. This black sword was filled with a violent presence. Holding it in his hand, his mind would easily be affected. Originally, Wei Sheng did not like such a vicious sword.

However, he did not throw this black sword away but held it in his hand. He was using this vicious sword to train his resolve!

His expression was calm, his steps unusually determined. The fiendish mist could not go within one zhang of him.

He did not remember how long he had been in this patch of blood mist but he was not nervous. He was actually very excited. The blood mist in his view was just a harder version of the sword cave. Going through the sword cave alone was very dangerous , but his strength had increased most rapidly in that period of time.

Nothing could excite him more than increasing his strength!

Also, being far removed from the common matters of the sect which irritated him, his mind was abnormally clear. He could feel his improvement. This feeling hadn’t appeared for a very long time.

Each step was a steady step he took towards the peak of the sword path.

The first day he had been transported to this bloody mist, he had detected the strangeness of the bloody mist. After finding the black sword, he quickly found that the black sword was not affected by the bloody mist at all.

When he found that the black sword could swallow the soul base source, he was shocked. This meant that there was a sword spirit inside the sword.

Flying swords had had sword spirits were the finest quality flying swords, but Wei Sheng did not have much joy. This black sword had such a vicious and violent presence, if it had a sword spirit, it would be a vicious spirit!

Strangely, no matter how he investigated, he could not find the existence of the sword spirit.

His heart did not wallow in the strangeness of the black sword. Even the best flying sword was just a material object to him. If his sword heart was strong, it would not be corroded by external evils.

After walking for multiple hours, he stopped and shoved the black sword in his hand into the ground beside his feet.

He had discovered that the fiend souls did not fear the black sword when it was in his hand. Once the black sword left his hand, there would definitely be nothing like the fiend souls within one hundred zhang.

The surroundings were blurry.

Wei Sheng’s brow furrowed. These past days, he tried to control his ling power, but his ling power was almost at its bottom. The ling energy in this patch of bloody mist was very thin. He could only replenish his ling power through jingshi, but he usually did not carry much jingshi with him.

The situation wasn’t good!

Chapter 342: Nan Yue’s Little Yao Arts

Nan Yue walked into the yao art house as usual. Her expression was calm. She met many classmates and good friends along the way. Everyone chatted but no one had the carefree expressions they usually had. The mood was slightly tense.

Today was the annual house exam. The results of the exam would greatly determine their future fate. The Purple Lotus Yao Art House wasn’t a famous house, but it had some influence in this jie. This could not be separated from their strict exam.

“A Yue!”

A familiar shout came from behind her. Without needing to turn her head, Nan Yue knew who it was. She stopped walking, turned around, and said curiously, “Hong, aren’t you exempt from the exam? Why are you here?”

Hong was Nan Yue’s best friend. They knew each other from childhood and had a close relationship. Hong came from a very obscure little clan. However, this clan’s yao were all skilled in illusory yao arts from birth. Hong naturally studied those yao arts. Due to her outstanding talent, Hong had been accepted as a student by a teacher when she entered the yao art house.

Hong did not need to go through the exam so Nan Yue felt shock at Hong’s appearance.

Hong was dressed colorfully and had a blooming smile on her face. “I came to see your exam. How can I miss such an important time?”

Nan Yue was very moved, and said, “It’s just an exam. There is no need to be nervous.”

“En en, with A Yue’s strength, it definitely wouldn’t be a problem.” Hong was filled with confidence. She suddenly came over with a secretive expression and said in a low voice, “They said that a daren from the Creeping Sedges Corps.”

“A daren from the Creeping Sedges Corps?” Nan Yue stilled and then her expression changed. “The Creeping Sedge Corps of Bing Lan Daren?”

Hong was very satisfied with Nan Yue’s expression and giggled. “Other than Bing Lan Daren’s Creeping Sedges Corps, where is there any other Creeping Sedges Corps? How about it, are you moved?”

Other than being taken as a student by a teacher, going into the military was also a pretty good path. In the military, one would be able to learn many practical yao arts, and when enough service was accumulated, it was possible to learn more profound yao arts. Right now, the fighting at the front was raging, and this was the best chance to accumulate service.

Nan Yue smiled and didn’t speak. If she had not encountered Daren, she would definitely be moved. But right now, she did not have any extraneous thoughts.

It was great honor to be able to follow Daren!

She was not clear to Elder’s identity, but there was a point that was undoubtable, Elder had a deep history with the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky. In these past days, she was left full of respect towards Elder. She could clearly feel her own strength leaping forward.

The nondescript little yao arts actually contained such deep meaning.

Nan Yue’s indifference was unexpected to Hong. She made a sound of surprise and re-examined her good friend. Nan Yue did not look any different than usual. She still wore plain clothing, but there seemed to be something extra to her. But what was it? Hong could not say.

“A Yue, did something happen recently?” Hong asked probingly.

“Nothing.” Nan Yue shook her head. Seeing Hong’s concern, her heart warmed. She hesitated but did not speak of Elder to Hong. Without Daren’s permission, she did not dare to carelessly speak of it.

However, Creeping Sedge Corps … …

In the past, entering Creeping Sedge Corps was one of her goals.

The mood of the yao art house was tense, and slightly restless. The news that a daren from the Creeping Sedge Corps came to see the exams made every student participating in the exams excited. Creeping Sedge Corps was very strong, and Bing Lan Daren was immeasurable in her power. Bing Lan Daren was also very beautiful, and the dream of countless male students.

For female yao, being able to enter the Creeping Sedge Corps was a good route.

Afterwards, Nan Yue saw the daren that came from the Creeping Sedge Corps. This daren’s figure was upright and she was handsome and attractive. Her golden eyes were especially enchanting. This daren most likely came from the Gold Clan. Standing on the stage, a sharp presence filled the room.

Nan Yue found that this presence was stronger than the great majority of teachers in this yao art house. The yao art house teachers may have deeper skill on the yao arts, but compared to the combat yao that came back from the front lines, they were lacking in their killing aura.

Many students became excited. It was rare to be able to enter a military troop like the Creeping Sedge Corps that was known all over the yao world. Without any encouragement, every yao was filled with competitiveness.

The exam began with this anticipation and restlessness.

The exam this time was much fiercer than in the past, but Nan Yue was not excited at all. Purple Lotus Yao Art House was not a famed house, and there were only those few familiar faces. There were no new people that made her eyes light up.

Also, these novel yao arts that she would have been excited about before could not cause any ripples in her heart.

She felt very strange.

It was the first time she felt so strange. In her eyes, those grand and dazzling yao arts seemed to be insubstantial. Her mind would uncontrollably think of little yao art combinations that could replace these dazzling yao arts.

This feeling made her uncomfortable. Before, she would be excited when she saw this yao arts and she would constantly rehearse them in her mind.

She silently warned herself to not be proud. She could not underestimate everyone just because she learned something. She suddenly thought about Elder talking of little yao arts to her that day. She remembered every word that Elder had said.

Suddenly, Hong poked her from the side. “A Yue, it’s your turn.”

“Oh,” she responded. She refocused and looked at the exam area. Focusing her mind, she flew to the field.

Her opponent was Shi Zheng. This was a familiar opponent. Shi Zheng’s experiences were very similar to hers. He also worked very hard, but similarly, no teacher had accepted him. However, he was older than Nan Yue, making his situation even worse.

———

When Shi Zheng saw Nan Yue, he was joyed. The yao arts he was skilled in could subdue Nan Yue to a certain extent.

“Begin!”

The teacher responsible for judging shouted. Shi Zheng’s body lit up with light. This was the yao art that he was most skilled in, [Rock Driving Flow]!

Shi Zheng’s clan was yao from rock, and was innately skilled in rock-type yao arts.

This [Rock Driving Flow] was Shi Zheng’s best yao art. The lights on his body could perform greatly in defense, and it could stop the enemy from harming him when it was cast.

A light flashed at the other side. The corner of Shi Zheng’s eye jerked. So fast!1

Nan Yue’s yao art was already completed!

However, he did not panic. The higher the level of the yao art, the more time it took to cast. Since Nan Yue finished the yao art so quickly, it definitely was a low level yao art, and couldn’t stop [Rock Driving Flow].

Shi Zheng was full of confidence. He knew very few moves, but due to this, the power of his [Rock Driving Flow] was far greater than normal low level yao arts and was at the borders of intermediate yao arts.

Just as he was thinking, Nan Yue’s yao art had already hit the light on his body.

The presence of his body loosened.

This was … … Little Yao Art – Mist Manifestation!

The concentrated rock energy suddenly lightened and he almost lost control of it. Shi Zheng was shocked. Little yao arts could be used like this?

Several sounds of surprise occurred on the spectator stage. The eyes of the daren from the Creeping Sedge Corps flashed with light.

Shi Zheng was shocked but not panicked. Little yao arts were just little yao arts. Their power was very limited. If she thought she could use this little yao art to make him lose control of the rock energy, that was a delusion.

He hurriedly adjusted his consciousness to strengthen his control. He heard pia pia pia, three yao arts in a row which was cast with blurring speed. Two of them hit his body, and one hit the ground under his feet.

Little Yao Art – Compression!

Little Yao Art – Gold Transformation!

Shi Zheng’s consciousness gathered the rock energy to prevent it from dissipating. He hadn’t expected a pressure to push over. When the two powers collided together, the rock energy immediately collapsed and turned to granite!

In the blink of an eye, a thin layer of rock amor appeared on Shi Zheng’s body.

Yet when the rock armor took form, it blinked with a metallic gleam as though it was a thin metal armor that wrapped securely around Shi Zheng.

Shi Zheng felt unable to breath. His entire body was enclosed and separated from the outside. Gritting his teeth, he tried to absorb rock energy from below his feet when a great force suddenly came from under him. His figure instantly unbalanced and flew to one side.

The others only saw a rush of water shoot up from under Shi Zheng’s feet and throw him to the side. It was another little yao art they were very familiar with, Spring Summon!

Shi Zheng was hit with another light as he flew through the air. His figure was strangely pinned in midair.

Little Yao Art – Spider Restraint!

Nan Yue’s ten fingers lit up with light like ten little lanterns.

The ten fingers was poised to act, Little Yao Art – Wind Spear!

Shi Zheng’s head rang. He knew he lost. His body was unable to move, and was trapped and isolated by the metallic armor meaning he could not absorb any rock energy. He would only be a sitting target. The power of wind spears was not high, but ten wind spears were more than enough to penetrate him.

“I lost!”

His mind was blank. He didn’t even know how he said the words. The spectators rumbled. The struggle they had originally imagined ended with such a strange way.

———

Clap clap clap, on the stage, the daren from the Creeping Sedge Corps clapped her hands as she rose, and said in praise, “Good! Little girl, are you willing to come to Creeping Sedge Corps?”

Woosh, countless eyes gathered at the same time on Nan Yue’s body filled with admiration and envy.

“Many thanks for Daren’s favor!” Nan Yue respectfully bowed and raised her head. Her eyes were crystal clear. “Nan Yue is planning on staying longer in the house. Daren, please forgive me.”

Hong shouted from below the field. She looked with disbelief at Nan Yue and thought she had heard it incorrectly.

The daren from the Creeping Sedge Corps was also surprised but she was not angry. She said faintly, “Never mind then.” Then she sat down.

But those with eyes could see the dissatisfaction of this daren. On the field, Nan Yue seemed unconcerned. Under the strange looks of everyone else, she casually flew off the field.

The exam did not stop due to this little detour. When it ended, there were three students that were picked to enter Creeping Sedge Corps. This daren did not stay. After picking the three people, she took them and flew away from Purple Lotus Yao Art House.

And Nan Yue that shook all of the house was facing Hong, who had a terrible expression, and felt a headache.

Chapter 343: Integration

Zuo Mo was very tired, but Gongsun Cha looked as though he had just ate a full meal. At the side, Lil’ Pagoda was also very content. It may have been due to Lil’ Pagoda’s urging that while Zuo Mo was “fishing”, the three little ones had come over, and divided the threads of soul base source among themselves.

Lil’ Black was the first to become full, then it was Lil’ Fire. But Lil’ Pagoda’s round body seemed to hide a bottomless pit.

When his last bit of spiritual power was used up, Zuo Mo still didn’t get even one bite.

Lil’ Pagoda contently patted its body had had become slightly rounder, snuggled on Zuo Mo’s body and ran off to play.

Zuo Mo didn’t even have the energy to swear. Dropping to the ground, he quickly started to meditate. The spiritual power in his body had been completely squeezed out. The ten stars in his sea of consciousness started to slowly spin.

As the star light swirled, the void above the sea of consciousness seemed to become brighter. Pu Yao raised his head and his expression changed as he looked at the turning stars.

If Zuo Mo could look into himself at this time, he would find to his shock the starlight given off by the ten stars in his sea of consciousness was integrating into his flesh and blood.

Threads of golden light suddenly flooded out from his flesh and blood. These golden lights were as thin as hairs, and were moving freely in the flesh. These golden lights might be small, but when they appeared, they had a domineering and fiery presence. Pu Yao did not understand much about mo physiques, but he had deep cultivation, and naturally could recognize what these tyrannical golden lights were.

The golden lights were the Great Day essence energies that were born from Zuo Mo’s cultivation of the Great Day mo physique. The Great Day essence energies nurtured his body and made it even stronger. At this time, these Great Day essence energies were like a school of fish that smelt blood and leapt at the dots of starlight merging into the flesh and blood.

This was … …

Pu Yao was shocked. How could Great Day essence energies swallow star spiritual sand?

Shocked, his expression became grave. What was happening in front of him was beyond the realms of his knowledge. He was skilled in all kinds of yao arts. To his knowledge, spiritual cultivation and the mo physique were clearly divided and never interacted.

Who could have thought the two would actually integrate!

It appeared as though the Great Day essence energies were swallowing the star spiritual sand, but Pu Yao clearly saw that the star spiritual sand did not put up any resistance. Otherwise Zuo Mo’s body would have become a terrifying battlefield.

The Great Day essence energies were tyrannical but the star spiritual sand was profound. If the two conflicted, it definitely would be a fierce battle.

This was what Pu Yao was worried about the most. In his predictions, the best result was the two sides were fine. Out of caution, he made up several plans to resolve this issue, but he had not expected that the Great Day essence energies and the star spiritual sand wouldn’t conflict at all, but attracted each other.

He looked dazedly at such a fantastical scene.

Could the spirit and the mo physique be cultivated together? But it had never succeeded in history. He actually knew of many great geniuses who had died on this path. The connection between yao and mo had never been broken. The two sides general maintained a friendly relationship since they had the same enemy.

Under this kind of cultural exchange, the idea of cultivating the spirit and the body at the same time naturally was produced. This idea had appeared many years ago, but there had never been one that actually cultivated the spirit and the body. The conclusion everyone made was that the combination of the two were fine in lower stages. But as one cultivated to higher stages, the drastic gap between the two sides would be expressed.

The reason that Pu Yao had not restricted Zuo Mo from cultivating the Great Day mo physique was because of how powerful the Great Day mo physique was at this stage as it was life-saving. The other reason was that his level was presently too low to cause significant problems.

But the scene in front of him defied Pu Yao’s expectations and knowledge.

These Great Day essence energies were not great in number but each was peerlessly powerful. The dots of star spiritual sand could only be produced by yao that had awakened their second spirit. How could they integrate?

The entire process continued for six hours. Dots of star light came continuously from between Zuo Mo’s brows. The Great Day essence energies swam everywhere and furiously swallowed the starlight. The starlight released between the brows gradually thinned. When the last bit of star light was consumed, the Great Day essence energies retreated back into the flesh and blood.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes at this time.

His body felt unspeakably comfortable and content. His spiritual power had completely recovered, and he felt it was slightly full as though it had leveled up again. His body was also filled with strength. Had Great Day mo physique also advanced?

Zuo Mo felt it was strange. When he had been at Wu Kong Mountain, the feeling when he was cultivating [Embryonic Breathing Spiritual Cultivation] was not so beautiful. Now, he felt very pleasurable each time and it was really addicting. The difference between past and present was too great. He was worried that his cultivation had gone wrong somewhere.

“Pu,” The slightly worried Zuo Mo hurriedly found Pu Yao in the sea of consciousness, “there isn’t any incorrect places in my cultivation, right?”

A strange look flashed across Pu Yao’s face. He did not answer directly, and asked interestedly, “What? Is somewhere feeling not right?”

“No, that’s not it.” Zuo Mo shook his head. “I feel that cultivation is becoming increasingly pleasurable. If cultivation is always this pleasurable, wouldn’t everyone be intoxicated with cultivating every day?”

The dullness and hardship of cultivation was very securely rooted in Zuo Mo’s knowledge.

Pu Yao’s expression was slightly displeasured. He felt Zuo Mo’s words were too ungrateful. Despite his displeasure, he was very interested in this matter. Taking Zuo Mo’s start, he followed along and said, “Then let me inspect you.”

As Zuo Mo’s strength increased over time, Pu Yao could not manipulate Zuo Mo’s body like he used to without getting permission.

After the inspection, the strange expression on Pu Yao’s face grew. Zuo Mo instantly panic, “What is it?”

“Your Great Day mo physique is almost at first maturation!”

“First maturation? Maturation? This quickly?” Zuo Mo still and was then overjoyed. The maturation of a mo physique was the representation that a mo physique was advancing. After each maturation was completed, the maturation level of the mo physique would go up a whole level. The more mature a mo physique was, the more power it contained.

No wonder he felt a bit strange. So his Great Day mo physique was maturing!

Zuo Mo was very happy. He hadn’t though the first maturation of the Great Day mo physique would come so quickly. He was also slightly surprised. He had only spent a short time with the Great Day mo physique, and he was already facing the first maturation.

As expected of the Great Day mo physique that ranked second of all brigadier mo physiques. It wasn’t just powerful, it was easy to cultivate.

If Pu Yao knew what Zuo Mo was thinking at this moment, he would die from spitting blood. He didn’t look any different on the surface but there were tsunamis in his heart.

It was true that Zuo Mo’s Great Day mo physique was facing its first maturation, but Pu Yao hadn’t said the second part which was the maturation of the Great Day mo physique had already begun! The maturation of the Great Day mo physique this time was completely different than any of the mo physiques maturations he knew about.

Mo physique maturation was an extremely important and dangerous time for any mo because the mo physique would reorganize itself during this time. If it was successful, their strength would grow, but if it failed, then it was the end. So mo were extremely sensitive to the maturation of their mo physique. When it was the time for a mo maturation, they would find a safe place to safely finish the maturation.

Zuo Mo did not know that his Great Day mo physique had entered the time of maturation. The Great Day essence energies were silently changing his body, yet he did not know. The maturation process that should have been strong and dangerous had become much slower in tempo, so slow that Zuo Mo could not detect it.

As the tempo slowed, risk decreased to the point there almost was no danger at all. It was very clear to Pu Yao that Zuo Mo would have no problems in finishing the first maturation, but it would just occur over a longer time frame.

Pu Yao knew what this meant. The percentage of mo that died during their maturations was the highest of those that cultivated the mo physique.

His expression changed slightly.

Zuo Mo did not notice Pu Yao’s abnormality. Since it was a good thing, he was too lazy to think further. Just as he left the sea of consciousness, Lil’ Pagoda came over and glued itself onto him. Lil’ Fire chirped as it floated around his body.

Lil’ Black was in deep slumber on A Gui’s head, and Silly Bird was lazily lying beside A Gui.

A black figure flew out of the fiendish mist like a sharp arrow in front of Zuo Mo. It was Tenth Grade. Tenth Grade exuded a killing energy all over. His black crescent had grown slightly. Zuo Mo couldn’t resist praising him, “Tenth Grade is really working hard!”

Tenth Grade clearly was very motivated by Zuo Mo’s praise. He raised his little head. Just as he was going to start a speech, he suddenly saw a light flash through the narrow crack of Silly Bird’s eyelids who had been sleeping. He instantly shook, and the words that reached his mouth were swallowed back down.

Just at this time, a strange sound came from the sky. The enormous egg-shaped fiendish mist ball suddenly cracked!

A vast and viciously sharp presence exploded and spread like a gale wind.

Such strong sword essence!

Zuo Mo was shocked. Ma Fan was in that ball of fiendish mist. He hurriedly raised his head and looked at the sky. The noise disturbed the entire camp. Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp all stopped.

The vast yet vicious sword essence made them feel fear.

Ma Fan looked to be in very sorry state. His clothing was in tatters, and was covered in wounds that seeped blood. What made others feel strange was that his face was unusually peaceful and calm without any hint of pain.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Even though he was very far away, Zuo Mo still clearly captured the joy that spilled from Ma Fan’s eyes.

Had he succeeded?

Zuo Mo didn’t get to think closely when he saw Ma Fan’s body began free falling. He paled. The Light Void Wings suddenly appeared on his back, and he disappeared from his spot.

Almost at the same time, he appeared below where Ma Fan was falling. He caught the unconscious Ma Fan and flashed back to the camp.

This change happened in a lightning flash. Before everyone could react, Zuo Mo had retreated to the campsite.

He carefully place Ma Fan on the ground. Xie Shan worriedly came over. ”Daren, is Ma Fan alright?”

Zuo Mo carefully inspected and said, “Nothing, he only fainted from exhaustion.”

Everyone finally was released from their worry.

———

In the depth of the fiendish mist, Wei Sheng suddenly stopped moving and his eyes lit up. “Sword essence!”

Chapter 344: Yi Zheng

Mu Xi observed the troop of xiuzhe in the distance and could not disguise the shock in her eyes. It wasn’t just her, even Yan Feng who usually looked down on everyone had uncertain and shocked expressions.

The formation of this xiuzhe troop was not organized, they appeared interlocked together which gave Mu Xi the impression of teeth. The murderous intent was like an undercurrent. The continued fights between the two forces had left a  deep impression of this troop.

These xiuzhe were not powerful, and were of equal strength to her subordinates, but she had not won any advantage from this troop in their successive battles.

Her eyes landed on the white-clothed youth at the very center. She suddenly had a feeling that this person may be her archrival.

In their successive encounters, this young xiuzhe was cautious in command, slow and unhurried with the mannerism of a great battle general. She admired him. This person definitely was a core disciple of a large sect and had been well-taught. It was possible to see hints of this from the xiuzhe around him. In order to protect him, they did not care for their lives.

Mu Xi’s eyes glittered. She suddenly floated out of the ranks and loudly said, “This one is Mu Xi. We will bid farewell today and meet on another battlefield. Sire, take care!”

The enemy ranks separated, and the white-clothed youth came forward. He said with a slightly smile, “No wonder. As expected of the Palace Lake Wood Clan! Lin Qian is honored!”

Mu Xi was shocked and did not disguise the shock on her face. “Brother Lin actually knows of the Palace Lake Wood Clan, you have vast knowledge, this little female is full of admiration!”

Wood Clan was one of the five largest clans of the yao world, and was the clan with the most branches. Even in the yao world, not every person would recognize her origins. It was a testament to how powerful Lin Qian’s background was to know her origins, especially since he was a xiuzhe.

Lin Qian saw Mu Xi was straightforward and honest and was not putting on a performance. He couldn’t help but show hints of admiration in his eyes. “Miss, take care!”

Mu Xi smiled brightly and gracefully bowed. “Have a good trip, Brother Lin!”

Seeing the people disappear, Yan Feng said with slightly anger, “We are just letting them escape like this?”

Mu Xi glanced at him. “Can we stop them?”

Yan Feng stopped. He argued, “If we can slow them down, when the other daren rush over and surround … …”

“Then we won’t have completed our task,” Mu Xi interrupted him. She said faintly, “Don’t forget what we came to do!”

Yan Feng was speechless.

“This person will become a great enemy of Daren!” the middle-aged person beside Mu Xi said worriedly with a grave face.

Mu Xi combed her hair, and said with a smile, “There are so many daren in the military, when would it ever be my turn to worry about this?”

“Daren is too modest!” the middle-aged person said smilingly. He deeply believed that Mu Xi had a bright future. Off to the side, Yan Feng dismissively twisted his mouth but did not say any words that would provoke public fury.

Lin Qian’s procession quickly travelled away. After fighting multiple times with this yao military troop, they had sustained fatalities and injuries on both dies. Lin Qian’s expression was as clear as water, calm and steady. No hint of hurry was shown. The xiuzhe that accompanied him were well trained and disciplined. No one spoke extraneously.

———

Xuan Kong Realm

The sound of bells echoed among the mountain range. A nondescript little temple was settled amongst the peaks. The yellow temple walls were covered in creeping vines, and were topped with grey-green terracotta shingles. There were many stone statues of life-like buddhas placed inside the temples. A small rainstorm had just passed, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of green grass. The rain remaining on the shingles flowed following the eaves like pearls off a broken string. As they hit the puddles on the stones, ding ding dong dong, the sound was very pleasing to hear.

Two dhyana xiu were sitting in the main hall of the little temple.

“Shixiong, I’m afraid I will have difficulty getting time to come visit Shixiong during this trip!” The young dhyana xiu was reluctant to leave. He was wearing blue monk robes. His features were handsome, untouched by mortal matters. A faint layer of light glistened over the pair of eyes. He looked to be about twenty years old, a kind of stillness within his handsomeness. Kneeling on the meditation mat, one could still feel his high spirits.

The older dhyana xiu smiled warmly and said, “It’s good for you to go, you will return in the end.”

The faint yellow monk robe that he wore had been washed for innumerable times. The colour was already faded and patchwork mending could be seen to dot the robe. There were no signs of ling power anywhere on his body. He was not any different than a normal person.

“En, I’ve already ordered the people below to deliver each month’s allowance on schedule!” the young dhyana xiu said in a light voice. “I’ll return very soon.”

Shixiong waved his hand and smiled lightly. He said, “You know that I do not need these material items.”

“That is not alright!” The spine of the young dhyana xiu straightened and he said seriously, “Shixiong needs to promise me to take care of yourself. Only then can  I feel safe leaving. There are still some more ling grasses needed for the Nine Song Dan. I can go and thoroughly search when I leave this time. When the Nine Song Dan is made, Shixiong’s cultivation will recover. Hmph, let’s see who dares to harass Shixiong then!”

When he got to the end, a thread of violence flashed through his eyes.

“Shidi, you have to avoid corruption,” the yellow-robed dhyana xiu said lightly.

”Shixiong is right to lecture me.” The young dhyana xiu lowered his head and hurried to admit his wrongs.

“Even if you are out, do not slack in training your Samadhi.”

“Yes.”

Yi Zheng looked back at the little temple at the back of the mountain, leapt up and disappeared into the sky. He hadn’t flown for a long time before he encountered some people. When he saw the people clearly, Yi Zheng’s brows couldn’t help but slightly furrow.

The others quickly noticed Yi Zheng as well, and slowed down their flight speed.

“I heard that Shidi is going on a long trip, congratulations, congratulations!” The person coming smiled as he bowed with folded hands.

Yi Zheng calmly returned the greeting, “It is due to the protection and love from all the shixiong.”

The two sides chatted a bit more, and then left after detecting that the other had no intentions of talking more.

Yi Zheng’s mood hadn’t been good to start with, and his mood now was even worse. This group of people were the disciples of Cui Shishu’s branch. The sect was prosperous right now. The number of disciples had increased, and the number of conflicts and inner struggles had grown.

Yi Zheng’s master had left on a mission and never returned. Shixiong had raised him alone. Shixiong was very talented, and ranked within the top ten of this generation. All the elders of the sect thought he had a good future. Unexpectedly, Shixiong was heavily wounded during a mission. Even though his life had been saved, but his cultivation became non-existent.

Starting from that point on their branch declined even further. Shixiong came to Little Stone Buddha Temple to recuperate. Yi Zheng had been thirteen then, and had worked even harder after that. Fortunately, while Shixiong’s cultivation had disappeared, he could still guide Yi Zheng’s cultivation. In the last dhyana exam, he had claimed the fifteenth rank and re-entered the eyes of the sect elders to take on this mission.

The rule of the sect was that each disciple had a monthly allowance, but this allowance was just enough for daily cultivation needs. The other disciples received gifts from their masters but Yi Zheng could only rely on other avenues such as teaching lower disciples on cultivation. That was his primary source of income. The sect was still generous to its disciples, and the payment of every mission was very generous. However, there were many geniuses in the sect, and the competition for missions was the fiercest. In the past, he did not have the power to compete.

Until now.

After some preparations, he decided to leave the mountain.

He had already memorized the contents of the mission. During his flight, he started to think. The mission this time was not complex. One of the smaller subordinate sects found a very deep and strange hole. Bloody light roiled in the deep hole. None of the people that went in had come out. What he needed to do was to investigate and see what the situation inside was like. Then he would have to report back to the sect.

After flying for more than ten days, he finally arrived at the sect of the incident, One Light Sect.

———

Ma Fan still had not regained consciousness when Zuo Mo was pulled back into Vast Water Clear Skies by Pu Yao.

“Pu, what connection does that Wisteria Clan of the South Sky have with you?” Zuo Mo asked. He could see that Pu Yao cared for Nan Yue. With this guy’s frugal personality, having him proactively passing on yao arts was akin to the sun rising from the west.

Zuo Mo also saw that Pu Yao didn’t just intend to pass [South Sky Arrow Art] to Nan Yue.

“The descendants of old friends,” Pu Yao said faintly.

Pu Yao’s answer provided the speculation Zuo Mo had. He then asked curiously, “What yao art is [South Sky Arrow Art]? A yao art using arrows?”

“A very strong yao art.”

Pu Yao’s answer seemed to avoid the point but Zuo Mo pondered it. A yao art that Pu Yao called strong, then it really was powerful!

Just as Zuo Mo’s gossiping soul was stirred by Pu Yao’s scarce words and he was preparing to delve into this mystery, Nan Yue came.

———

Nan Yue respectfully bowed to Zuo Mo. “Daren!”

She had shone in the spotlight in the last house exam and shocked all members of the house. Her status in the house had rocketed, and several teachers had come over requesting to take her as a student. However, she had refused all of them respectfully. She had not learned any profound yao arts, but Daren’s teachings had opened a completely new world to her.

She believed that even if there really was no [South Sky Arrow Art], she would still find a path.

It was the understandings she had gained during this past while that had caused her to become even more respectful towards Zuo Mo. Daren’s strength was even more profound! In her eyes, there was a large chasm between the teachers of the house compared to Daren.

“Oh, you’re here,” Zuo Mo pretentiously responded and then asked, “Do you have any questions? If you have them, then ask.”

Nan Yue suppressed the excitement inside, and raised up all the problems she had encountered and thought about in the recent days.

Because they were all about little yao arts, Zuo Mo did not slack off and tried to answer them by himself rather than throw the questions to Pu Yao. Zuo Mo had been with Pu Yao for a long time, and through listening and watching, the yao art theory that he had come into contact with  was much more profound than Nan Yue. Due to this, the perspective from which he approached at the questions was a few fractions deeper than Nan Yue. Nan Yue’s eyes lit up upon hearing the explanations and continuously nodded her head.

For Zuo Mo, this was also a significant test. There were two questions that Nan Yue raised which he had not thought about, and greatly affected him.

After all the questions were resolved, Nan Yue smiled happily. Zuo Mo’s head was covered with sweat as he released a breath.

If he hadn’t been able to answer a question, then it really was embarrassing!

And to be embarrassed in front of a yao … …

Embarrassing here is 丢人, or lost person. So this is also “lost person” in front of a yao which has another meaning since Zuo Mo is a human and not a yao.

Just as this nonsensical thought came into Zuo Mo’s head, he suddenly heard someone shout, “Nan Yue! Nan Yue!”

Zuo Mo raised his head, and saw a group of people, no, a group of yao wave their hands at Nan Yue as they excitedly ran over.

Chapter 345: The Prison Battlefield

Nan Yue hadn’t expected to meet her schoolmates here, and silently thought this was a terrible situation. She discretely looked to Daren. Inside, she secretly prayed that this incident would not infuriate Daren! This was the second time she had met Daren and she did not know what Daren’s temper was like.

However, she had heard that many daren did not like their movements to be known.

“Student Nan Yue, this is?” A deep and calm voice suddenly sounded out by her ears.

She raised her head and felt that the situation was now even worse. This was Teacher Chi! Chi had been one of the teachers that had sought her out after the house exam and wanted to take her as a student. Chi was born from the Fire Clan and was very skilled in fire yao arts. Among the teachers of the house, his power was enough to rank him in the top five.

Seeing so many yao art once, Zuo Mo felt his vision was broadened. This group of yao were of various shapes, most of which were humanoid. There were two individuals that were very eye-catching. One of them had the body like a crisp green tree. Their numerous roots were like unusually nimble feet. They seemed to have a very lively personality, the tree branches were like soft whips that waved in the ar. The other one’s body was made from hundreds of flowers that gathered and dispersed in the air as they changed shape.

Looking like this, how was it possible to distinguish between the sexes?

This slightly profound question troubled Zuo Mo.

Chi’s fire red hair and lion-like features were not all that attention-grabbing in this group of weirdos. However, Zuo Mo noticed him at first glance because he was the strongest of this group of yao, and wasn’t just marginally stronger.

Hearing what Chi called Nan Yue, Zuo Mo instantly understood Chi’s identity.

“Sir is Nan Yue’s teacher? Sorry, sorry! I am Nan Yue’s cousin,” Zuo Mo raised his folded hands and said with a smile.

Cousin?

The group’s gazes swept between Nan Yue and Zuo Mo, and their expressions instantly became suspicious.

Daren’s skill at lying really sucked! Nan Yue felt very ashamed. From any angle, Daren showed no hint of being of the same clan as her. However, since Daren had said it, she could only force herself to say, “My distant cousin.”

Distant… the yao all had understanding expressions.

Such a terrible lie could only fool naïve students, but how could it fool an experienced old yao like Chi? However, since the other was not willing to state his origins, Chi did not have to pry.

Everyone had secrets.

“Nice to meet you.” Chi politely bowed to Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo’s consciousness was not as high as his, but it was above these students. Considering the other’s age, he clearly had great talent.

Great talent … …

Chi’s thought moved, and he pretended to unconcernedly ask, “Which house is Sir in?”

“I’m not in a yao art house.” Zuo Mo shook his head honestly.

Not in a yao art house. The yao couldn’t believe these words.

“Why not?” The tree yao waved its branches. This guy looked like an outgoing one and it quickly rushed to be the first to ask.

“I’m being taught by a teacher.”

Zuo Mo’s response instantly caused murmurs of admiration. Yao art houses were pretty good places for normal yao, but students of a teacher could receive more guidance. Chi nodded his head inside. Zuo Mo had not lied this time.

He suddenly thought of the string of little yao arts that Nan Yue had showed during the exam. Had it been this cousin of hers that had taught her? The more he thought, the more Chi found it likely. He had taught Nan Yue’s class before, and understood this student well. There was nothing to be said of Nan Yue’s dedication and work ethic, but her talent could only be considered good. The dazzling performance of her last exam really was not her style.

Chi finally realized why Nan Yue had refused his invitation. It must be that the teacher of her cousin had also chosen to take Nan Yue on as a student.

“Can I ask for the name of your teacher?” Chi asked respectfully. That glimpse of the tip of the iceberg had been enough. Those little yao arts had shocked Chi for a long time.

“Oh, he’s called Pu,” Zuo Mo’s thought moved as he said.

Pu? Chi careful searched his memory for this name but did not find anything. It didn’t seem to be a very famous yao.

Nan Yue wanted to roll her eyes when she heard it. Daren’s skill at lying wasn’t just terrible! Nan Yue thought the “Pu” that Zuo Mo spoke off was just a random answer. Which yao would be so casual with their teacher’s name?

As expected, the flower yao snorted coldly. “If you don’t want to say, don’t say. There’s no need to lie!”

The other yao had expressions of agreement.

Zuo Mo was confused but he did not argue. He took the chance to go into the sea of consciousness and mock Pu Yao. “Pu, aren’t you a Sky Yao? How come no yao knows you? You really ended up terribly!”

Pu Yao’s expression was visibly unwell.

Having gotten his face back from Pu Yao, Zuo Mo did not care for the cold snort of the flower yao.

Nan Yue secretly glanced at Zuo Mo and thought inside, Daren’s lying skill was somewhat terrible, but his face was thick enough.

Chi did not think that Zuo Mo was lying. He had met many powerful and great yao before, and knew many yao had weird personalities and did not care for these things. However, he did not plan on wasting too much time on chatter. He said with a smile, “I came today to show them the prison battlefield. It is getting late  so we will bid farewell.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly bowed with his hands. Chi took the bunch of little yao and quickly disappeared.

After they went far away, Zuo Mo turned to ask Nan Yue, “What is the prison battlefield?”

Nan Yue’s expression instantly became slightly strange. Did Daren not know the prison battlefield? She didn’t quite believe it. What yao didn’t know the prison battlefield? However, she suppressed the suspicion inside and obediently answered, “The prison battlefield is the place for real combat practice. There are many yao formations inside which can only be solved with yao arts.”

“Yao formations?” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. Just this phrase stirred great interest in him. Yao formation, true to the name, should be the formations that yao use. Was there any differences compared to the seal formations that xiuzhe used?

He instantly said, “Oh, take me to see.”

Nan Yue found it even stranger, but still said respectfully, “Yes!’

Twelve hours was plenty of time for Zuo Mo. He wasn’t in a hurry and taught Nan Yue yao arts along the way. He explained in great detail the many variants of the little yao arts, and along the way, explained why he had deconstructed yao arts last time.

Nan Yue learned a lot, and unknowingly arrived at the prison battlefield. It was the first time she found time passed so quickly.

“Daren, this is the prison battlefield!”

Zuo Mo curiously examined the prison battlefield. After the first glance, he couldn’t move his eyes away.

Countless curved streams and rivers criss-crossed and passed through the void like glowing pipes. Some of these water flows were slow, some soft, some flowed against the current, and there were all kinds of weird ones. Among the river flows, there were some that had all kinds of strange water grasses growing in them and others had multi-colored fish that swam within. Zuo Mo’s eyes landed on an enormous fish that was thirty zhang in size that occasionally opened its gigantic mouth. Zuo Mo’s heart tightened as he looked at it.

Other than the river flows, the other places were all filled with other things like lightning balls, and clouds of fire which could be seen everywhere.

Such powerful yao formations!

After looking closely, Zuo Mo felt dizzy and shocked! No matter if it was the river flows, the water grasses, the fish, the lightning balls or the clouds of fire, they were all part of the bigger formation. One move against them would affect the entire entity.

This was a “living” great formation. Any change of one part of the formation would cause a change in the entire formation.

After observing for a long time, he turned and asked Nan Yue, “How do you play?”

“Play?” Nan Yue stumbled over Zuo Mo’s strange way of asking. She could only say, “Just go in. There are three levels to the Clear Skies prison battlefield. If you can enter the innermost level, you can enter the second prison.”

“The second prison?”  Zuo Mo was yearning to try. Were there ten levels in Ten Finger Prison? He was already so amazed at the first prison. What was the second prison like?

“Come, let’s go try it out!” Finishing, he pulled Nan Yue and charged in.

Nan Yue hadn’t expected Daren to charge when he said so. She saw how excited Daren appeared. Had Daren really never came before? Thinking to that, she couldn’t help but hurriedly remind him, “Daren, if you fail, it may wound the consciousness.”

“No problem.”

Before Daren’s words landed, Nan Yue felt the scenery in front change and become bright red!

Not good, a fire cloud!

Her expression changed drastically. In the prison battlefield, the yao arts that she was most afraid of were those like the fire cloud.

A dragon made out of fire seemed to smell them and with a burning presence, leapt over.

“Interesting!”

Daren’s voice came over from the side. She finally remembered that Daren was beside her, and her heart instantly was greatly reassured.

Zuo Mo really felt it was interesting. This fire dragon was made from seven interlocking fire yao arts and was very clever. The seven fire yao arts were all little yao arts, and were not complex yao arts. What it tested was the reaction abilities of those trying to go through the prison.

There were many ways of dealing with the fire dragon. Zuo Mo chose the simplest one.

Little Yao Art—Water Blade!

A transparent water blade entered the center of the fire dragon

Boom!

The fire dragon instantly turned to seven balls of fire and exploded.

Nan Yue’s eyeballs almost dropped out. She had clearly seen the little yao art that Daren had just casted. She was able to generally estimate the power of the fire dragon from its presence . She did not doubt that Daren could overcome this fire dragon.

But it was only a Water Blade!

There wasn’t any difference compared to the Water Blade she could cast. How was it possible … … how was it possible … …

She looked dazedly as the balls of fire flew.

Zuo Mo noticed Nan Yue’s expression and recalled that he had this “follower.” He explained, “You have to look at the structure of the fire dragon. It was made from seven interlocking fire yao arts. If you can find the crux of this kind of yao art, it really saves energy.”

There wasn’t time to say more. A lightning arrow shot in front of Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo unhurriedly raise a finger, and a transparent water ball appeared in front of him.

Little Yao Art—Water Ball!

The lightning entered the Water Ball. Countless arcs of electricity sparked and crackled on the surface of the water ball.

“There is no trick to this. Just respond quickly,” Zuo Mo flicked the Water Ball covered in layers of electricity and said sedately. “When casting little yao arts, the most basic point is speed.”

Before his words landed, countless water grasses in the surroundings suddenly and violently headed over!

Zuo Mo flipped his hand and a fire dragon that was just the same as the one before swam around the two of them. Everywhere it passed, the water grasses turned to dust.

“You have to learn and use … …”

He appeared to have the mannerisms of a master, and was very composed. He enjoyed Nan Yue’s awestruck gaze, and his ego was very satisfied.

What Zuo Mo did not know that his three continuous attacks seemed to rouse the silent prison battlefield out of its slumber.

Chapter 346: The Prison-Breaking Battle

“Nan Yue’s cousin really looks weird,” the tree yao waved its branches and spouted words like a spring spouting water, “doesn’t look anything like Nan Yue. From a glance, you can see he isn’t a good yao. How can Nan Yue have a cousin like this, it really is strange … …”

A cold snort came from the ball of flowers floating in the air, “Shut up!”

“Don’t you find it strange?” The tree yao was slightly puzzled. “How can you not find such a strange matter strange? Don’t you find it strange … …”

Chi felt a headache and shouted lowly, “Shut up!”

The tree yao’s words stopped. He obediently closed his mouth. He didn’t dare to disregard Teacher’s words. After being silent for a moment, he really couldn’t stop himself and murmured, “Teacher, don’t you find it strange … …”

Everyone wanted to faint.

Chi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The tree yao was the descendant of one of his friends. If he had the chance, he would always take the tree yao along. But this guy was a chatterbox, and had really strong sense of curiosity. If he was attracted by something, he definitely would not let it be.

“The prison battlefield is up ahead!” Chi’s topic changed as he pointed at the front to try to deflect this guy’s attention.

As expected, the tree yao’s attention turned to the prison battlefield. “So this is the prison battlefield!”

The other yao didn’t feel much. Several of the yao in this group had already gone through the prison battlefield already. After entering Vast Water Clear Skies, many people would give it a try. Even if they didn’t have the strength, they wouldn’t actually lose their lives in the prison battlefield, they would only be minorly wounded. If they were lucky, not even a hair would be damaged.

Little yao with guts liked to explore the prison battlefield. The yao arts in the prison battlefield were a few fractions stronger than what was in other areas, and were suited for real combat. Also, if they wanted to enter the next prison, they must go through the prison battlefield.

“Go, let’s go in.” Chi saw the tree yao was attracted to the prison battlefield and released a breath. He hurriedly took the yao in.

Entering the prison battlefield, the scenery instantly changed. The tree yao waved its branches and said emotionally, “It is such a strange place … …”

But no one paid attention to him at this time. The other yao had come to the prison battlefield before and their nerves tensed.

Teacher Chi was beside them, but he was responsible for teaching and guidance. Of course, in moments of danger, he would act and protect them. However, they all still hoped to become Teacher Chi’s student, and naturally did not slack off. All of them paid attention as they started to defend.

Due to their high numbers, the pressure was much less, and they appeared to be at ease.

“All of you, spread out,” Chi said in a deep voice.

Hearing this, the yao instantly spread out, and entered their own battle modes. The prison battlefield was a place to practice for real combat. In here, slacking off and short-cuts gave no benefits.

Yao arts successively came at them. All the yao were one hundred and twenty percent alert as they carefully responded.

“The fire dragon is a commonly used fire yao art, and has pretty good powerful. It will be suitable for your use for a long time. The most important place of this kind of fire yao art is its structure. Different structures will form different fire dragons. Like this fire dragon, it is made from six different little yao arts. Oh, not a bad combination.”

Chi casually stopped a fire dragon, and reviewed it calmly.

“It needs you to be very familiar with little yao arts. Nan Yue is very outstanding on this point. You need to learn from her.”

When the other yao heard this, they worked even harder. Clearly, Chi’s praise of Nan Yue motivated them.

———

“Do not copy these yao arts.”

Zuo Mo’s words shocked Nan Yue. She couldn’t help but say, “Why not? Aren’t these yao arts good?”

Three lights flew out of Zuo Mo’s hand like three sharp sword energies. The entered a mountain-like lightning cloud. In the blink of an eye, the lightning cloud brimming with astonishing primary lightning was like a bubble that popped and disappeared. Nan Yue’s eyes almost fell out as she watched.

“Yao arts are full of innumerable transformations. There are five hundred kinds of the most basic little yao arts. This is unique among all cultivation methods. How many yao arts are there now? No one …. … oh, no yao knows. But in Vast Water Clear Skies, there is no less than ten thousand kinds. If you just copy, you will forever be led by the nose by other people, and be exhausted by the pursuit. It is very simple, you will never finish learning!”

It was the first time that Nan Yue heard such a daring way of thinking. She listened extremely carefully and was afraid of missing a word.

“We will not copy them, we will deconstruct them.” Zuo Mo’s tone was faint and his attitude calm. With the flick of a finger, the yao art heading towards him turned to dust as though it was an example of his perspective.

“The number of yao art permutations is innumerable but there are patterns to be found. What we need to do is to find their patterns. When we find their patterns, you will be able to create yao arts that belong to you. And how do we grasp the patterns hidden behind the multitude of variations of yao arts?”

“Deconstruction!” Nan Yue blurted out.

“Right, how did it go? The person that understands you the best will forever be your enemy and not your friend. This phrase also works with yao arts. Oh, we need to first be the enemy of the yao arts.”

“Nan Yue understands!” Nan Yue felt like she was filled with awareness, her face flashing with light. There had never been a moment like this when she was so aware that she had clearly grabbed the pulse of destiny!

The respect and awe in Nan Yue’s eyes made Zuo Mo feel as pleasurable as though he was in a hot spring. In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao couldn’t help but mock, “You’re pretty good at learning and selling at the same time.”

But he clearly underestimated the thickness of Zuo Mo’s face. This guy snickered and said proudly, “Right, I feel the same.”

Pu Yao finally remembered Little Mo ge was someone that could tolerate everything. Talking about face with him was never as good as talking about jingshi.

His happy mood assisted Zuo Mo’s performance. His hands flew and streamed. No matter how powerful the yao art was, none of them could get within thirty zhang of him.

Just as Zuo Mo was having fun playing, the surroundings suddenly became silent. All the yao arts seemed to have disappeared.

Silence, a deathly silence. All the river flows became silent.

Zuo Mo’s hairs on end.

———

The sudden stop of the prison battlefield bewildered Chi’s students who stared at each other.

Chi made a light sound and his eyes brightened as they widened. “Prison-breaking battle? You guys will get a great spectacle today!”

“Prison-breaking battle!” all the students exclaimed in shock. Prison-breaking. Most of the yao who entered the Ten Finger Prison had heard of it. But most only heard of it. It was more like a legend.

Prison-breaking battle. It referred to the prison battlefield that had detected an enemy that could pose a threat to it. It would then use the power of the entire prison battlefield to deal with the enemy.

Prison-breaking battle, creation after destruction.

If a yao won this ferocious prison-breaking battle, Vast Water Clear Skies would be reconstructed.

Vast Water Clear Skies had been created three hundred years ago when a great yao skilled in water yao arts had completed the first prison’s prison-breaking battle.

Those that could break the prison had a certain connection to power, but that was not the definite trigger. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many powerful great yao that went through Vast Water Clear Skies without activating the prison-breaking battle.

Today, someone had activated the prison-breaking battle!

Exclamations of shock sounded in the prison battlefield. They all understood what the unusual scene in front of them meant.

The news that the prison-breaking battle was activated spread with astounding speed. Every yao in Vast Water Clear Skies was disturbed. Like a tide, they flooded towards the prison battlefield.

At the same time in the second prison that was neighbouring to the first prison, many yao raised their heads with shocked expressions. Immediately after, numerous figures flashed towards the door of the prison with astounding speed!

Prison-breaking battle!

The prison-breaking battle that had not appeared for three hundred years!

———

“Daren … …” Nan Yue’s voice was shaky. She looked with fear at the deathly silent prison battlefield.

“You have to remember not to lose your calm at any time. The more you panic, the quicker you die on the battlefield.”

Daren’s words caused shame to appear on Nan Yue’s face. “Yes!”

If she was so timid, how could she follow Daren in the future?

The terror inside decreased greatly. She raised her small face with a determined expression.

What she didn’t know was that Zuo Mo’s entire scalp was prickling at this moment. He had rich battle experience. Even though the surroundings were silent and motionless, but the dangerous presence was rising.

“Pu, what is happening?” he carefully asked Pu Yao.

Pu Yao narrowed his blood red eye, and lightly said, “There’s only this much stuff in the prison battlefield, what situation can happen?”

“There really isn’t anything?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe it.

Pu Yao’s face was mocking. “This is just the first prison.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo changed his thinking. That was right, Vast Water Clear Skies was only the first prison of the Ten Finger Prison. If it really was so dangerous, there wouldn’t be so many people. He hadn’t done anything. If something unfortunate happened, it wouldn’t be his turn.

Comforting himself so, his heart was reassured.

Before the stone in his heart landed, a strange power passed over, and Nan Yue disappeared from beside him.

All the other yao in the entire prison battlefield except for Zuo Mo were sent by this mysterious power out of the prison battlefield.

Many of the yao that were transported out had confused expressions, but when they saw the area surrounding the prison battlefield was filled with yao, they all shook.

But right now, no yao paid attention to them. Everyone’s gaze was staring into the prison battlefield.

The rivers that followed constantly through the void of the prison battlefield, the lightning balls, the fire clouds, they had all disappeared. They could clearly see that figure that was at the very center of the prison battlefield.

All the yao widened their eyes. A yao that could activate the prison-breaking battle definitely had a limitless future!

Chi and his procession of yao stared so much their eyes almost dropped out. The tree yao excitedly waved the tree branches. “Strange cousin! It’s the strange cousin!”

Light flashed through Chi’s eyes as waves were created inside his heart. The yao that had activated prison-breaking battles before were all great yao that had each left a deep mark on history.

This person of average appearance was so powerful?

When Nan Yue was sent out, Zuo Mo instantly understood the situation was targeting him.

Since the other had such powers, they definitely wouldn’t give him the chance to leave the prison battlefield.

He had been tricked!

Someone dared to trick ge!

Zuo Mo’s anger rose, and his stubbornness came out. The tendons in his neck bulged. His features enraged, he pushed up his sleeves, and murderously gritted his teeth as he uttered Dong Fu slang.

“Come on, baby!”

This part was the Chinese homonym of Come on, baby, and the “baby” part was 卑鄙 (bei bi) which means low, contemptible.

Chapter 347: One Battle!

Zuo Mo was filled with battle intent, his blood boiling. His back arched forward, his hands placed in the air in front of his chest with his ten fingers spread out like a wild beast waiting to pounce. He gave others the feeling of danger! This was the starting position of Great Day mo physique for physical battle which he instinctively used.

The surroundings were deathly silent, and caused Zuo Mo’s concentration to be highly focused. He was using all of his consciousness. Recently, his consciousness had greatly advanced. He had never used so much spiritual power at once as he was doing today. The usual “fishing” would always wring out his spiritual power, but the expenditure of little yao arts was very low so the process had been a drain of small increments.

The movement this time was without keeping anything back, and he was going all in.

The lively spiritual power wrapped around his body. Everything in the surroundings was quickly drawn out in his mind, and was as clear as it was a mirror image.

The temperature of the surroundings rose, and the heated air grew heavy. The dark and deep void started to light up, and the surroundings turned crimson red.

Zuo Mo was motionless. His eyes narrowed, the presence of his entire body was quietly restrained inside. He was like a statue.

———

“How many has it been years since someone activated a prison-breaking battle? He doesn’t look very good, really a monster!” Leng Yue said emotionally to his good friend Chang Zheng. The two of them had charged from the second prison to Vast Water Clear Skies. Before they even took a breath, they saw Zuo Mo standing alone in the prison battlefield.

Leng Yue wore a black silk robe, the sleeves of which were woven with gold silk into complex patterns. His figure was upright and handsome. He was from a famous family, and was usually very lofty. Pride and condescension had already deeply entered his bones. However, he was not stupid. Facing the monster that was in the prison battlefield right now, he had no assets to be proud of.

Individuals that could activate the prison-breaking battle were all monsters that stood above all monsters. If they could continue being monsters, after one or two centuries, they would even have the qualifications to enter the Council of Elders.

Chang Zheng stared unblinkingly, and tsked in wonder. “As expected, a monster. I cannot even feel his presence. Just this method of concealment is nothing our generation can do.” He then said suspiciously, “But this position … … why does it look like a mo skill … …”

Leng Yue was from a famed family and naturally knew more. He examined for a long time before he nodded. “It is a mo skill!”

“Cultivating yaomo together? That is ridiculous!” Chang Zheng’s face was full of disbelief.

Leng Yue was also filled with doubt. He did not dare to make a conclusion, and could only say, “We’ll know later.”

The two yao stared unblinkingly at the prison battlefield. They had gone through Vast Water Clear Skies’ battlefield in the past. With their power, they naturally had not had a hard time. They were very curious. Was the legendary prison-breaking battle really that powerful?

At this time, the prison battlefield started its first wave of attack.

The red light seemed to be pulled by an invisible power. They came from all directions, drawing out lines of dazzling red light as they gathered into a red mark with astounding speed.

The red mark of light dramatically expanded. An enormous ball of fire instantly floated about one hundred zhang from where Zuo Mo was. The crimson red flames continuously spat its fiery tongues. Rich fire elemental power spread following the waves of heat. Zuo Mo felt he was situated in a large dan cauldron, and it was hard to endure the baking.

———

The eye-catching red light, the meteor-like red energy, the burning ball of fire, the flickering tongues of flames, they all caused the yao looking in from the outside to have expressions of praise.

“Qian Liu Daren of peerless water yao arts, I hadn’t expected his fire yao arts to be so domineering.” Chang Zheng’s expression was full of admiration.

Leng Yue also had a face full of respect, and said, “Supposedly, Qian Liu Daren was only twenty eight when he broke the prison and remade it into Vast Water Clear Skies. It really is worthy of respect and terrifying that he could set down the name of a prison when he was twenty eight.”

“Ah, if there wasn’t someone having a prison-breaking battle now, we would not have the good fortune to watch.” Chang Zheng suddenly smiled and said, “I wonder what Qian Liu Daren would think if he knew his Vast Water Clear Skies is being challenged?”

The enormous ball of fire burned and spread a scorching presence. The fire element power that was able to wound the mind splashed in waves against everything in the surroundings. Zuo Mo’s figure under the fireball was as minuscule as an ant.

“He seems to have confidence,” Leng Yue suddenly said.

“Of course. Those who are average cannot activate the prison-breaking battle.” Chang Zheng had a matter-of-fact expression but then his tone changed. “However, the fire yao arts left by Qian Liu Daren’s impression in the Ten Finger Prison is not so easy to deal with.”

“Who are you helping? That’s like not saying anything at all.” Leng Yue rolled his eyes.

“Haha, we’re here to see the spectacle, the spectacle!” Chang Zheng laughed awkwardly.

The two spoke quickly, but their eyes were unmoving as they locked onto Zuo Mo in the field.

———

Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes and only showed a narrow crack. No one could see that there seemed to be a cold and eerie fire burning soundlessly in the depths of his eyes.

The open arms, the spread fingers, the slightly curved figure, they all give the yao a feeling that he was planning to hug this fatal and tyrannical ball of fire!

Zuo Mo was not nervous at all.

The burning and fatal presence given off by the enormous ball of fire in front of him did not cause any ripple in his heart.

Of the five elements, the fire element was his most familiar element after water. From the first Li Water Sword Scripture, to the Golden Crow Fire after that, he was an expert at playing with fire.

The fireball in front of him was somewhat similar to the fireball that Pu Yao had once demonstrated to him. In the beginning, Zuo Mo had encountered difficulties when he was comprehending the Li Water Sword Scripture. When Pu Yao taught him, he had also created an enormous ball of fire.

This familiar scene made his mind go slightly astray, but it was only a sliver. His body naturally entered battle mode. He no longer was that inexperienced Wu Kong Sword Sect disciple. After so many battles, he sensitively caught the opportunity.

He attacked first.

In the void, he stepped forward and then disappeared from the view of the yao.

The strange step stirred exclamations of shock. What the yao were even more shocked about was his action. To charge straight at the ball of fire, wasn’t that just going to find death? This fireball was formed from almost all the power of the entire prison battlefield. The fire element power contained within it reached a terrifying level. If he was touched by any of the streaks of flame, he most likely would not be able to retreat withhis body intact.

The fireball seemed to felt the threat. The tongues of flame rose, and crimson red whips of fire shot at Zuo Mo. In the void, the fire element power reached a horrifying level.

Sweat rolled down Chi’s forehead. The density of fire element power in the prison battlefield made him, someone skilled in fire yao arts, feel his heart speed up.

Zuo Mo stepped out of the void, his steps not slowing. He stepped forward and seemed to step into the void again.

Without knowing it, a faint layer of gold covered his legs

The bursting tongues of fire furiously leapt at Zuo Mo, and he was almost struck a few times. There was only the difference of a few hairs. Such a risky scene made Nan Yue’s face pale and she almost shouted a few times.

Zuo Mo’s expression was indifferent as though he did not detect the danger. His steps were like a stroll, at ease and calm.

The crowd of yao watching did not lack those who had knowledge. Their expressions changed. None of them had seen such a strange walk before. Leng Yue and Chang Zheng felt their bodies freeze as their eyes shocked shock.

As all the yao were shocked by Zuo Mo’s steps, no one noticed layer of faint light on Zuo Mo’s hands.

With each step, the light on Zuo Mo’s hand would become slightly brighter.

When Zuo Mo made his twelfth step, the light on his two hands was so thick it was almost tangible and could flow like liquid.

What was this?

The yao’s eyes were unconsciously attracted to the light covering both of Zuo Mo’s hands. They were filled with curiosity

Everyone knew this was Zuo Mo’s killing move. No matter how profound his steps were, they could not defeat the fireball. He still needed to rely on an offensive yao art. The multicolored light created multicolored afterimages during Zuo Mo’s high speed movement. As Zuo Mo flickered in and out, it became broken sections of a rainbow.

Killing move!

It definitely was a great killing move!

Everyone widened their eyes and didn’t dare to blink.

Nan Yue suddenly covered her mouth and muffled the shout that had reached her mouth, her eyes were filled with disbelief.

Heavens, how … … how was it possible?

That was … …

———

Zuo Mo’s mind was almost icy cold, as he made another step, as he went closer to the fireball, continued to rise in temperature. His presence continuously grew with his steps.

His figure slightly paused as it went against how people normally moved.

Thirty zhang away, the domineering and scorching heat hit his body as though it was incinerating him.

He crouched down slightly and both of his hands dropped to his side.

The slightly lowered eyelids were completely open now, revealing the calmness in the depths of his eyes. It was like cold butter thrown into the fire. The flame exploded. The boiling battle intent burned every one of Zuo Mo’s nerves.

All the tongues of fire of the fireball flooded towards Zuo Mo, the fire twisted into a burning sea.

The continuously rising presence reached a peak. He suddenly raised his face.

“Kill!”

The rampaging and violent killing essence suddenly shot outwards with Zuo Mo as the center.

Zuo Mo jumped up into the air like a flying sword leaving its sheath. Carrying a patch of multicolored light, he struck towards the sea of flame in front of him!

Among the sea of flames that covered the sky, a multicolored smear carved out a straight and blinding line, causing sparks to fly like the rain.

Among the sparks, the multicolored light struck the ball of fire!

All of the domineering and explosive presence, all of the battle intent, it all seemed to enter the ball of fire along with this blow.

The prison battlefield paused.

Everything paused.

Time seemed to have stopped.

Pia.

A sound like an eggshell being cracked. The domineering and terrifying crimson red ball lightly exploded and turned to a handful of sparks.

The sparks were like rain and mist as they fell. Zuo Mo’s figure floated in and out of view. The presence on his body disappeared, the multicolored light on his hands also disappeared.

———

Silence, deathly silence.

For ten whole breaths, no one made any sound. Only ten breaths later did the yao seem to suddenly wake up. Exclamation rose and fell.

“Who saw what yao art that was?”

“Too powerful!”

“Haven’t seen it before. Definitely a secret yao art! Such a weirdo! I wonder which hidden family he came from!”

“Worth it! Didn’t come for nothing! It is so worth it … …”

None of the yao in the surroundings could keep their calm. The crowd was very excited.

Among the yao, Nan Yue tightly covered her mouth. There was only one thought repeating in her mind.

That was … …

The discussion in the surroundings seemed to be far away to her ears. No one could have thought that among all of these many yao, only she understood that move.

That was—

——Little yao arts!

Chapter 348: Scheming

Little yao art, a sixteen little yao art combination!

The rainbow colored light lingered in Nan Yue’s pupils. She had almost stopped breathing. Sixteen kinds of little yao art versus the fire yao art of Qian Liu Daren. The difference between the two was like comparing a child and a battle hardened warrior.

Standing aloofly among the rain of light, there was no joy on Zuo Mo’s face, nor smugness.

Nan Yue suddenly felt that Daren had a great presence.

Leng Yue and Chang Zheng’s were shocked, but the shock quickly turned to extreme passion and excitement. No one knew what Qian Liu Daren’s fire yao art was called, but no one cared at this moment.

Clear Skies Qian Liu was a name that was legendary for the yao.

They had not personally seen how Qian Liu Daren completed the prison-breaking battle three hundred years ago, how he had reformed “Vast Water Clear Skies,” they could only imagine from hearing the tales and histories. Yet today, another yao had activated the prison-breaking battle. A new legend was being created  front of them.

Zuo Mo’s grand and dazzling lights and the fierce combat in the battle just now made every yao present feel their blood boil.

A new legend was going to begin!

Even if this yao of unknown origins was so young that it was almost outrageous, no one doubted his power at this time.

“Do you recognize his movement technique?” Chang Zheng impatiently asked. Leng Yue’s eyes and knowledge were just a bit higher than his.

Leng Yue’s face was serious. “It’s a bit like [Nether Stepping Movement Art] but his feet have a golden aura. This does not match the records of [Nether Stepping Movement Art]. It is very strange. It must be another high level yao art.”

The organization of yao arts was chaotic and complex because too many kinds of yao arts existed throughout history. Additionally, after the thousand year war, yao arts gradually entered a phase of rapid development. All kinds of novel and wondrous yao arts appeared, and this also became a huge problem for the ranking system of yao arts.

As the large yao art houses developed, the house-taught yao arts gradually replaced the clan-taught yao arts. Due to this, the yao art rankings finally settled.

From the most basic little yao arts, to low-level yao arts, to intermediate-level yao arts, to the astonishing high-level yao arts, to the even stronger earth-level yao arts, and then to the sky-level yao arts. This complete yao art system was constructed. This system had an extremely strict division. It wasn’t just based just on the power of the yao arts but included such things as the difficulty of casting, and the amount of spiritual power used. There was a special bureaucracy whose purpose was to  judge the levels of yao arts.

Chang Zheng’s expression was solemn. “Can you guess which yao art house it is from?”

“Can’t see it.”

The use of clan-taught yao arts had declined. Even the young yao that came from the large clans mostly chose to enter a yao art house to learn. The famed clan yao arts of the past had been gradually merged into the yao arts of the various yao art houses, and became the ultimate skill of those houses.

Sky-level arts mostly existed in the legends. Almost all the experts, including all of the Sky Yao, had died in the great battle thousands of years ago. The earth-level and sky-level yao arts they knew were lost in the rivers of history.

What the largest yao art houses competed with were the high-level yao arts. These were the trademark arts of each yao art house. There were similarities between the basicand intermediate yao arts between some yao art houses but it was rare that high-level yao arts were the same between houses. Each yao art house was extremely careful when passing down their house’s high-level yao art. Only the most accomplished and core disciples had the qualifications to learn.

“This kind of level is probably also the peak if it’s in the Great Ten.” Chang Zheng threw his confusion to the back of his mind and praised.

Leng Yue asked in response, “Great Ten? These three hundred years, how come not even one of the students of the Great Ten activated the prison-breaking battle?”

“True,” Chang Zheng nodded his head, “this yao art house is going to be famous. It may even enter the Great Ten.”

“This guy may not be from a yao art house.” Leng Yue’s words were shocking.

“Not from a yao art house?” Chang Zheng turned his face in shock. “You mean that he’s using clan-taught yao arts?”

“Maybe.” Ling Yue’s gaze focused. “Look at his battle method. Does he look like one from a yao art house?”

Chang Zheng pondered this and an expression of agreement grew. “Since you mentioned it, I also had this feeling. It doesn’t seem like the stuff from yao art houses.” He responded very quickly and said with a smile, “I wonder which yao art house will benefit this time.”

Clan-taught yao arts like this were what the large yao art houses desired the most. In the great war thousands of years ago, the yaomo had lost, and greatly suffered. Countless kinds of knowledge had been lost. The lost knowledge had formed through countless years, and represented the highest level of yao arts. They were the brightest pearl of the entire yao art system.

The yao arts that were developed after the war had developed mostly from the remaining basic yao arts and intermediate yao arts. That was the origins of most high-level yao arts. But higher ranks? The legendary earth and sky-level?

A few thousand of years was too short for them to be redeveloped. Other than the top yao art houses, the great majority of yao art houses only had high-level yao arts. The yao art houses that possessed earth and sky-level yao arts had not gained them through their own power, but were just luckier.

The clan-taught yao arts of the past were the best part of the ancient yao arts. If they could regain these clan-taught yao arts, it would be of great help in understanding higher-level yao arts. Of course, there were differences between clan-taught yao arts. What they needed the most were those outstanding clan-taught yao arts.

If this yao really was using clan-taught yao arts, he was a tasty morsel for any yao art house.

[Nether Stepping Movement Art] was a high-level yao art and one of the trademark arts of the Dragon River Yao Art House.

The amazing scene just now, in Leng Yue’s perspective, this movement art was not worse than the [Nether Stepping Movement Art] of the legend. Even he couldn’t help start scheming.

Behind the back of each yao art house was the shadow of some large clans. When the thousand year war had just finished, due to the fact that the peak and high level individuals of each clan had been lost in high levels, it lead to the loss of large amounts of yao arts. Many clans encountered difficulties in their cultivation paths, and lacking guidance, they had to openly discuss and study with other clans. This marked the rise of the yao art houses.

As the Council of Elders supported and administered it, the yao art houses became even more popular. Now, a yao art house was like a rope that tied several, or even a dozen, clans together to become a singular being with a common purpose. This was also why the clans were willing to share their clan yao arts.

In the Ice Day Yao Art House that Leng Yue attended, the Western Mountain Cold Clan occupied a seat on the Council of Elders of the yao art house.

If he could recruit this yao into the Ice Day Yao Art House, then he would have contributed greatly! He wouldn’t just be able to receive the top art of the house, [Cold Day Ice Art], but maybe his clan would get another sea on the  art house’s Council of Elders.

Even though Leng Yue was usually proud and cold, his breathing sped up when he thought about it. He wrung out his mind thinking of what conditions he could use to persuade the other. He felt lucky about this prison-breaking battle occurred in the first prison. Otherwise, even thinking about recruitment was a delusion.

At his side, Chang Zheng looked with shock at his good friend. But then he thought and understood.

However, he did not think well of Leng Yue’s plan. In his view, those that could activate the prison-breaking battles were the top geniuses of each era. The two of them could see this, would the other yao art houses not? In terms of competitive power, how could Ice Day Yao Art House compare to those top yao art houses?

His gaze swept around, and found that there were more yao around now than before. He was very calm. He wasn’t from a large clan, just a normal student.

Light continuously flashed. In the blink of an eye, the surroundings were filled with yao.

This was really a spectacle!

Chang Zheng thought inside.

Nan Yue was still immersed in the grand battle and did not notice Teacher Chi drift next to her.

Seeing this, Chi could only cough.

The startled Nan Yue noticed Teacher Chi, and hurriedly bowed. “Teacher Chi.”

“Oh, Nan Yue!” Chi’s masculine face was filled by a smile, and he said intimately, “The role of the Chief Student Elder in the school is empty. Are you interested? You are very young, and it is rare for you to have the strength you do now. With great power, you have to be brave and take on responsibilities.”

Nan Yue stilled where she stood. Chief Student Elder meant being the elder of all the students. This was a role that every student dreamed about. The Chief Student Elder could receive the guidance of all the elders in the entire Council of Elders of the yao art house. When they graduated, they could enter the yao art house and take on a core role. Even though they were students, their status would be much higher than normal teachers.

This role was far too important so in the last seven years, the Purple Lotus Yao Art House that Nan Yue was in had kept its Chief Student Elder position empty.

Now Teacher Chi was telling her she could be Chief Student Elder?

She felt she was dreaming.

Taking a few deep breaths, Nan Yue tried to calm the excitement inside. This world changed so quickly. A few days ago, she was working to become a student of a teacher. Now, the position of Chief Student Elder was being offered to her.

All of this was so fantastical, and unrealistic.

But Nan Yue quickly calmed down. Her experiences of hardship caused her to understand worldly matters better than normal students. The calm Nan Yue did not need to waste much effort to understand Teacher Chi’s motivations.

Looking at the calm Nan Yue, Chi was slightly shocked. For the first time, he properly looked at this student that didn’t have outstanding talent. To be able to maintain calmness in the face of such a great temptation, she wasn’t average.

Maybe he had missed a good seed. Regret flashed through Chi’s mind but that dot of regret quickly disappeared. The role of Chief Student Elder was far above anything he could promise. However, he was also very clear if they wanted to compete for the mysterious male yao in the prison battlefield, the only advantage the Purple Lotus Yao Art House had was Nan Yue.

Compared to an expert that could activate a prison-breaking battle, a position of Chief Student Elder really was not anything. He believed those cunning and slippery elders of the house would see this clearly.

If he could help bring this matter to a favorable conclusion, would his efforts be unrecognized?

He looked with burning eyes at Nan Yue.

Chapter 349: Rage

Nan Yue shook her head and said, “I need to first ask Cousin’s opinion.”

Chi knew his intentions had been seen. His old face reddened slightly but it quickly turned back. “Of course, of course.”

The tree yao, the flower yao and the other students looked from a distance as Chi talked with enthusiasm on his face and all of them were shocked without an exception.

———

The sparks fell like rain.

Zuo Mo widened his eyes as he warily observed the surroundings. The scenery in the surroundings had not changed, but the feeling of danger did not lessen, but had become even more oppressing.

Had that just been a warm-up?

Zuo Mo felt no fear. Just the opposite, an excited battle desire filled his body. He wanted the upcoming fight to be even fiercer!

The exquisite sixteen little yao art combination had dismembered the other’s fireball in an instant. What really excited him was that he had actually used one of the transformations of the Great Day mo physique, [Light Void Wings], in his crisis.

What [Light Void Wings] strengthened was speed, to become as fast as lightning. It was the first transformation Zuo Mo learned. When he had used it just now, he had a great idea. He suppressed the formation of the pair of golden wings, and diverted the power to his legs. It actually produced the effect of stepping through the void.

So [Light Void Wings] could be used like this!

Zuo Mo suddenly felt there was light, and was greatly inspired. Since the power of the Light Void Wings could be pushed to his legs, what would happen if he pushed it to his arms? Or any other place? He was even considering, could the other transformations be used like this?

He was yearning to try and filled with the intent to battle.

He had really made a profit today!

———

What he did not know was that Pu Yao’s eyes almost dropped to the floor in his sea of consciousness.

In his view, the new change of the Light Void Wings was somewhat wondrous but it was not enough for him, a great Sky Yao, to be shocked. What he felt was inconceivable was the use of mo skills in the Ten Finger Prison!

This was not possible!

He almost shouted.

Ten Finger Prison was constructed from yao arts, and only the power of yao arts could be used in the Ten Finger Prison. No matter if it was mo skills, or xiu spells, they definitely could not appear in the Ten Finger Prison. Even the first prison, Vast Water Clear Skies, was not an exception!

But what happened in front of him completely broke this rule that had existed for countless years.

What … … what was this?

Strangely, a thread of fright appeared in Pu Yao’s heart.

———

Zuo Mo did not know of the thread of fright floating in Pu Yao’s heart, but even if he knew, he would only snort and mock. He cultivated a variety of things, and did not have a bias towards any kind of power, and was curious about them all.

Even more so, he didn’t have the time to chat with Pu Yao. Even though the fireball had been destroyed, but the dangerous presence filling the surroundings had not weakened but had increased.

When the last spark fell, a change occurred.

In the void, a faint incorporeal shadow appeared. A heavy water element based power spread.

Glittering and transparent rivers of water criss-crossed as they appeared around him. Some were fast, some were slow, some were clear like precious gems, some were as turbid as mud.

The prison battlefield seemed to have returned to its usual state.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness didn’t dare to stay back and suddenly spread out.

———

A water arrow suddenly flew out of a river flow in front of him. This transparent water arrow announced the start of battle.

Blue light suddenly exploded!

Numerous water yao arts flew out of the criss-crossing river flows. They covered the skies and ground like a thunderstorm!

The yao in the surroundings changed expression. Even those experts that thought they were skilled in water yao arts were so shocked they almost jumped up when they saw the scene.

This attack included three hundred and sixty one water yao arts, from the simplest water arrow, the water bomb, to the combinations that formed water birds, water butterflies, to the higher level water dragons and beasts. What was even more astounding was that each water bird seemed almost alive, the transparent feathers extremely detailed.

The yao at this time finally knew what terrifying level Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts had reached!

Clear Skies Thousand Streams, awe-inspiring and terrifying!

Shocked, the faces of the yao became slightly intoxicated. Such beautiful water yao arts definitely were peerless. As to Zuo Mo who had activated the prison-breaking battle, no one looked at him again.

Maybe he was amazingly talented, maybe he was the successor to a mysterious yao art, but in front of Qian Liu Daren, he was fated to lose his halo, he was fated to become as inconsequential as a speck of dust.

———

Inside the battlefield, Zuo Mo’s expression changed drastically.

His vision was filled with the flooding blue sea that was made from the light of numerous water yao arts. These glowing and beautiful water yao arts were of different shapes and various speeds, but they all had the smell of danger.

The hairs on Zuo Mo’s body stood on end. Each water yao art was not difficult or complex for him, but when three hundred and sixty one water yao arts came at the same time, he was instantly in a life threatening predicament, and did not even have to room to dodge!

Incredible water yao arts!

The scent of death was so close. His face was slightly cold as though Death’s decaying face was pressed against his with a strange smile.

His mind was blank, his limbs were wooden. All of his battle intent gone, all of his motivation became fragile like glass in front of such a peerless attack, and was instantly shattered.

Zuo Mo’s body was frozen and unable to move a finger.

He could only looked dazedly at the ocean-like blue light rushing towards him. The almost tangible water element power was pressing at his brows. He watched as he was going to be swallowed by this vast ocean of blue light.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo suddenly shook and woke up from his dumbstruck state. What followed right after was shame from the heart! He had actually been shocked by the enemy’s attack, so frightened that he had lost all intent of rebelling!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly turned bright red like two balls of flame. The cold blood in his body suddenly boiled. Strong anger filled every part of his chest! He was furious because of his weakness, he felt furious for losing his resolve!

Breaking through the hard ice, the erupting desire to battle, his anger and shame merged together!

Zuo Mo instantly sank into a rage.

His eyes crimson red, in a raging Zuo Mo’s hands closed together and then opened. Hiss-crack, a blinding lightning net appeared between his hands. The thin silver lightning snakes curved as they swam. Thirty thumb-sized hard lightning bolts moved uncertainly in the lightning net.

[Yang Fiend Hard Lightning]!

If Zuo Mo was clear in mind at this time, he would be joyful at his improvement in the yao arts. When he used the [Yang Fiend Hard Lightning] this time, the presence it gave was completely different, and was very pressuring. No matter if it was the increase in spiritual power or his understanding of the yao arts, all of it was completely on display through the [Yang Fiend Hard Lightning] that he had used so many times.

———

A furious bellow suddenly sounded from inside the blue light.

Immediately after, a dot of silver energy suddenly lit up inside the blue light. Then this silver energy became increasingly brighter and bigger!

What was this?

The yao watching were slightly shocked. They speculated on what kind of yao art this silver energy was.

Boom boom boom … …

Sounds of explosions continued inside the thick blue light like explosions from the bottom of the water.

But quickly, the faces of the yao who were more attentive were slightly weird. They found to their shock that the sound of the explosions had changed starting from the tenth explosion. It was not as deep and muffled, and was increasingly bright.

Was it … …

They couldn’t help but show shock in their eyes.

The explosions were like thunder and rolled in waves.

Just as the yao were uncertain, an enormous sound exploded. Every yao felt the silver light turn blindingly bright and their vision instantly turned to white.

When the light dissipated, and the eyes of the yao recovered to look at the battlefield clearly, they instantly were amazed.

How … … how was it possible … …

In the battlefield, Zuo Mo’s body was covered in smoke and fire. He cut a very sorry figure.

But no yao laughed at him now. They looked in disbelief at Zuo Mo, their mouths unconsciously sighing in shock. The yells of those young and beautiful female yao came in waves. Their expressions were excited and uncontrollable.

Chi was dumbstruck. Just now, he had also lost himself in Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts and judged that Zuo Mo could not win, then he saw the hardy Zuo Mo standing in the battlefield. Shocked, he had to sigh lightly. If before this battle, he had thought that Purple Lotus Yao Art House had a chance of recruiting the other, after this battle, he understood that Purple Lotus Yao Art house could not keep the other.

Deep respect and joy stemming from the heart showed in Nan Yue’s crystal-like eyes!

The yells of the female yao quickly infected the other yao. Even those people that usually did not show their emotions now used all kinds of ways to vent the excitement inside.

In the last round, they saw the hope of Zuo Mo’s victory!

This was a prison-breaking battle!

The one that broke one of the prisons would be able to rename the prison they defeated!

This was an honor that each yao dreamed of, this was the beginning of a legend … …

Right now, this was happening in front of them. Such a lucky matter to be able to personally see it. This was also why they could not maintain their calm, and were so excited!

The spectators were peerlessly excited. They used all kinds of methods to tell their friends and family what was happening. The people that had started recording yao arts previously grinned up to their ears as though they had won the lottery.

———

Just as every yao was excited, Zuo Mo opened his eyes in the battlefield.

The pure red eyes did not show any signs of dissipating.

Still in a rage, Zuo Mo turned and looked around like a wild beast.

———

The yao on the outside gradually calmed down. The criss-crossing rivers in the battlefield had not disappeared. This meant that the prison-breaking battle had not finished. Qian Liu Daren definitely left another move behind.

Just as the yao were speculating, they suddenly found the guy that was smoking in the battlefield looked around as though he was searching for prey. He quickly walked murderously towards one of the river flows. The abnormal movement in the battlefield instantly attracted all of the yao’s eyes. Some yao with good eyes even noticed that Zuo Mo seemed to be shouting something.

In the blink of an eye, Zuo Mo charged in front of a river flow.

The movement that Zuo Mo made immediately after caused the hearts of all the yao to stop. Outside the battlefield, it was a deathly silence—

——he inserted his hand into the river flow in front of him.

This guy … … what did he want to do?

Chapter 350: You Dare Attack Ge!

The raging Zuo Mo seemed to be insane, growling from the deepest part of his throat like a furious animal roaring.

“You dare attack ge … … dare attack ge … …”

“… … you will definitely die … …”

“… … destroy you f***ers … …”

.. …

Zuo Mo seemed to have been messed with. Angry, he searched for anything that he could attack. He changed his reactive and defensive posture, and attacked head on!

Didn’t the water yao arts fly out from these river flows?

Then he will flatten all of these river flows!

With both of his hands in the river flow he attacked, his fury and rage did not make him lose his judgement, but heightened the sensitive intuition of a wild beast. In just that instant, the structure of the river flow constructed of yao arts seemed to flashed across his mind like flowing water.

Without needing to think, he started to deconstruct it.

In his eyes, the enormous river flow was not any different than those rocks and flora he previously deconstructed, just a little bit bigger in scale.

Who had left the impression of the river flows? What was Clear Skies Thousand Flow? Prison-breaking battle?

What was that?

His eyes crimson red and only held the most primitive crazy desire for battle and stubbornness.

Deconstruction, deconstruction, complete deconstruction!

The river flow was more complex than any yao art he had deconstructed before, but Zuo Mo’s attacking capabilities were far stronger in this moment than normal. His mind was unprecedentedly focused, his reactions unusually sensitive and his intuition abnormally accurate!

The hands that were in the river flow swayed gently like reeds. The water flow was lit up with a faint glowing like and had a blurry beauty.

———

The yao outside the battlefield were completely struck dumb by Zuo Mo’s actions.

Gulp!

Simultaneous sounds of swallowing. It was so clear and ear-piercing in the deathly silent Vast Water Clear Skies. No one cared. Their eyes couldn’t bear to stray from the figure in the battlefield for a moment.

Of course they could see that Zuo Mo was like a provoked lion who had started to furiously retaliate. Anyone who wasn’t an idiot could see.

But … …

But didn’t this guy know this was the prison battlefield that Qian Liu Daren set down? That was Qian Liu Daren! The Qian Liu Daren who had the appellation of Clear Sky Thousand Flows, the King of water yao arts, the Qian Liu Daren known in the world and had the qualifications to enter the Council of Elders!

Shouldn’t every yao be shaking and filled with admiration and respect in front of the marks such a legend left behind?

But that furious figure in their field of vision was such an eyesore, so painful that they felt disbelief.

Why was he angry? How could he be angry? That was Qian Liu Daren … …

Arrogance!

A term jumped out in the hearts of the yao. They could not believe that one of a younger generation dared to use this kind of posture to face the prison battlefield that Qian Liu Daren had set down! No, this was not facing off, this was a challenge!

That was right, this was a challenge!

Heavens! There was a yao who dared to challenge Qian Liu Daren!

All the yao were shocked by their thoughts and looked dazedly at the battlefield.

———

Nan Yue did not notice Teacher Chi whose mouth was wide and had a dazed expression. Her black eyes were tightly locked onto the hands that Zuo Mo had immersed into the river flows. When those hands lit up with the familiar glow, her eyes instantly became very wide.

Daren was using… … deconstruction!

For a whole moment, her mind was blank, but she shook and reacted. She did not know just how shocked the expression on her face was. She pressed hard against her furiously beating heart, her lips white from being bitten by her teeth as she stared at Daren’s hands!

As though that pair of hands had a kind of magnetism!

If Daren was really deconstructing Qian Liu Daren’s … …

She almost didn’t dare to keep thinking, but she knew that the scene in front of her was a once-in-a-thousand chance. To be able to see Daren deconstructing the water yao art of Qian Liu Daren, even if it was not successful, it was a chance that would only appear once in her lifetime!

The taste of blood suddenly spread inside her mouth. She instantly reacted. She had been too nervous and bit through the skin of her lip. However, this little distraction caused her heart to relax slightly. Out of the corners of her eyes, she noticed that people were casting recording yao arts. She instantly thought, she was so stupid, she even forgot about the recording yao arts.

There were recoding yao arts among all the yao arts, and had the same purpose as the xiuzhe’s mirage jade scrolls. However, the recording yao arts could be stored in the sea of consciousness of the yao, and were more convenient.

She hurriedly cast a recording yao art to prepare for her to study slowly when she returned.

This entire distraction caused her to calm down greatly. She could finally act calmly. Watching the lights on Daren’s hands, her mind quickly matched the corresponding yao arts. Very quickly, the face that had just calmed down showed shock again.

Little yao arts!

All of them were little yao arts!

Nan Yue could clearly see. She was able to match the little yao arts to the dozen of lights that lit up. When she realized this, she was truly stunned.

Did … … Daren plan on using little yao arts to deconstruct Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts?

She had been amazed when Daren had used a little yao art combination to defeat Qian Liu Daren’s fire yao art. Even though she felt shocked, but she could still accept it. Qian Liu Daren was famed for his water yao arts, and no one had heard of his fire yao arts. But Daren was now using little yao arts to deconstruct the water yao arts that Qian Liu Daren had become famous for. This caused Nan Yue’s mind to short-circuit.

———

No matter if it was the disbelief of the yao outside the battlefield or Nan Yue’s blank mind, they did not affect Zuo Mo inside the battlefield at all.

He wasn’t deliberately using little yao arts, but it was because he only knew little yao arts. From when he had started to deconstruct yao arts, Pu Yao had only taught him one method, to use little yao arts. Pu Yao had also made little yao arts appear wonderful, and that any yao art could be deconstructed with little yao arts etc etc.

This directly gave Zuo Mo the wrong impression, that all deconstruction should be done with little yao arts.

Also, these river flows that were in front of him in his view were just some more complex yao arts. So he did not hesitate in following his usual habits as he started to deconstruct it.

What he did not know was that Pu Yao in his sea of consciousness was gaping and wide eyed. The usually cold and evil face was dumb, and his eyes had almost dropped out.

There was only one thought left in his mind, this guy was using little yao arts to deconstruct … ..

This river flow was more complex than any object that Zuo Mo had encountered in Vast Water Clear Skies. He was even able to see the deep laws of water yao arts within them.

However, there was no true difference in Zuo Mo’s eyes, it was just more complex.

When the raging Zuo Mo encountered a complex problem, his response once again was unexpected to Pu Yao He didn’t become more restless, but he was like a lion that met a comparable rival. His desire to fight and compete expanded!

He had attacked first, and unconsciously became the proactive one.

The lights on his hands continuously changed, and the rate of change accelerated, so fast that it was hard to decipher. The speed that his hand cast little yao arts continuously grew faster. In a short time, it surpassed the fastest speed he could cast at.

Zou Mo did not notice this.

But he was clear that just this speed was not enough to deconstruct the river flow in front of him.

Zuo Mo’s repeated attacks of little yao arts instantly caused the river flow to retaliate. The river flow in front of him suddenly lit up with faint light. In the void, it looked like a glowing belt of light that floated.

Zuo Mo made a muffled grunt and his crimson red eyes became even more reddened.

Just now, five water yao arts had silently sneaked near him from the river flow. He had almost been hit. The raging Zuo Mo became even more furious. Without another word, the rate of little yao art changes on his hands increased another step.

The speed he was casting little yao arts now was two times his fastest speed!

The effect was immediately seen!

The peaceful river flow suddenly severely rippled. The river flow in front of Zuo Mo suddenly shook fiercely like the twisted body of a snake in pain struggling fiercely.

In response the speed of the river flow also increased.

Numerous translucent schools of fish appeared in the river flow. These schools of fish all had various shapes, their bodies transparent and made completely of water. If they were not seen from at a close distance, it was very difficult to detect them.

There were so many schools of fish that they could not be counted. Once they were formed, they furiously leaped towards Zuo Mo’s hands in the river flow.

His mind unprecedentedly focused, Zuo Mo instantly noticed the change of the river flow. But his feeling was completely different than those of the spectators. These furiously charging schools of fish, in his mind, were just new changes in the structure of the yao art making up the river flow.

He didn’t have any fear, and felt very excited because this meant that his deconstruction method was right. The river flow had detected the danger which was the reason it retaliated so fiercely.

Come on, baby!

Zuo Mo’s blood rose to his head, his desire for battle rising to a peak. The little yao arts his hands were casting were even more insane and became faster!

His two hands turned to one ball of intangible shadows. It was impossible to see his ten fingers clearly. His consciousness and finger movements were unusually in sync at this moment. With the smallest change of his finger, his consciousness would automatically make the corresponding change.

Lights flew between his flying hands with astounding speed. Some of these various colored lights headed straight for the schools of fish, some grouped together , and there were even several dozen that welcomed the school of fish like a net.

Zuo Mo felt unspeakably great. The little yao arts seemed to have become an instinctive part of him, and he had no problems casting them!

But he did not immerse himself in the feeling of pleasure. He only had one target in his eyes. Deconstruction! Complete destruction!

He was going to completely deconstruct this damned river flow!

Dare attack ge!

Die die!

All die!

Faster! Even faster! Just a bit more!

The speed of the two hands seemed to suddenly decrease. If it was put in slow motion, one would find the practiced motions seemed to pause, but this stop was very short, so short that people would find it hard to detect.

After this extremely short pause, the two hands that had been blurry into one ball slowly separated.

Two balls of shadow, two balls of furiously changing light balls!

The river flow that had been vibrating fiercely suddenly stopped. The body of the continuously struggling glittering snaking river seemed to freeze in this moment!

The rushing river flows around, the spraying waves, they all stopped in the sky.

Time seemed to suddenly stop. All the river flows in the entire prison battlefield froze, silent and motionless.

Chapter 351: Thousand Flow Water Breath

Pia pia pia … …

The dense sounds of corn popping rang without warning. With Zuo Mo’s hands as the starting point, the explosions rapidly spread with astounding speed towards the two ends of the river flow. When it reached the very end, the entire river flow was bombed into countless snowy-white water foam by another even stronger explosion.

Zuo Mo’s figure was instantly swallowed by the wave of water foam.

The fine water foam was like snowflakes which had been blown free, sombre and beautiful.

This beautiful scene was forever imprinted upon the minds of the female yao that were watching. The desolate and silent void, the sky full of snowflakes that had been thrown about; the scene was picturesque.

It wasn’t just the female yao. Even those male yao that only admired strength were shocked by the scene in front of them.

However, they quickly broke free of their shock. The deathly silent Vast Water Clear Skies seemed to be suddenly ignited. The soundwave instantly swallowed all of the yao. The yao could not hear other people’s words, not even their own words, but they were so excited they could only uncontrollably shout in awe.

“Heavens, what did I just see? Who can tell me?”

“Too crazy! Too crazy!”

“Impossible, this is impossible! This is Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts! Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts … …” a male yao held his head as he looked dazedly at the battlefield and murmured.

Leng Yue and Chang Zheng looked soullessly at the battlefield. All the power they had seemed to have been drained away. They didn’t even have the strength to speak.

Compared to the disbelief and shock of the male yao, the female yao were very excited and exuberant.

“Oh, so handsome! Who knows who this guys is? I definitely have to pursue him. He is too handsome, too intoxicating!” A beautiful female yao’s face was blushing as she spoke.

“So beautiful, he definitely is a romantic yao!” Another female yao’s eyes were intoxicated, and her face adoring.

The excited Nan Yue was instantly shocked inside and out. She shook, and the hairs on her body began standing up. Then she couldn’t help but think, if Daren heard this, she didn’t know how he would respond.

This thought flashed through her mind before disappearing. She suppressed her excitement, and start to think back to the little yao arts that Daren had just cast. She was very familiar with little yao arts. If she could see it, she definitely could quickly identify what kind of little yao art it was.

But the light that just covered Daren’s hands was completely different than the little yao arts that she had seen before. Had Daren used new yao arts?

This suspicion flashed past her mind.

She shook her head. Intuition told her that Daren had still used little yao arts. She didn’t recognize those strange lights but they seemed to be slightly familiar.

Her eyes suddenly widened. She thought of a possibility.

If the speed that little yao arts were cast was fast enough, and broke through the normal barrier … …

The shock of Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts being defeated was a far greater blow to all the yao than the fireball being dissipated before. Qian Liu Daren had been young when he had set Vast Water Clear Skies but the male yao in the battlefield certainly did not appear to be of a great age.

Qian Liu Daren had established his name of Clear Skies Thousand Flow.

It was possible to predict that the mysterious male young yao in the battlefield would be known throughout the world regardless of whether he finished the prison-breaking battle in the end.

Previously, everyone had felt Zuo Mo had been too arrogant to challenge Qian Liu Daren’s water yao arts, but right now, many yao were seriously considering how probable it was that Zuo Mo could win.

The short attack allowed them to understand the mysterious young male yao in the battlefield had potential no less than Crystal Clear Thousand Flow.

This world was really crazy.

A legend that only existed in heroic stales was really happening in front of them. The feeling of dreamy surrealism made many yao felt dazed for a moment.

Chi’s mouth was bitter as he grimaced. He knew his plan had failed. Chi couldn’t predict what level Nan Yue’s strange coursin would reach, but the power that he displayed now was not lacking compared to the young Clear Skies Thousand Flow.

A genius whose future was limitless, was it even possible that the little Purple Lotus Yao Art House could recruit him?

“Strange Cousin isn’t just strange, he had some talent!” The tree yao carelessly praised as though what he had just seen was a normal house battle.

Every single blossom on the flower yao’s body flipped like numerous pairs of eyes simultaneously rolling their eyes.

The other students at the side really could not resist themselves due to the tree yao’s otherworldly conduct. “Shut up!”

Before, they had felt that Zuo Mo’s conduct was full of ignorance about his own abilities, but now, Zuo Mo had risen to a height that they could admire. In their view, even the House Elder of the Purple Lotus Yao Art House might not have the qualifications to judge Zuo Mo. So what was the tree yao? How could he speak so grandly?

The tree yao waved his branches in shock. “Don’t you also feel the same? So strange! Has some skill! Really strange! How can you be more strange than the Strange Cousin … …”

This time, even the other yao that had been preparing to mock saw the situation clearly and shrunk back.

To argue with this deluded person was to find displeasure for themselves.

Before the fine snowy-white water foam had dissipated, there was another string of explosions and the layers of snowy-white foam rippled. The attention of all the yao were attracted. The explosions came endlessly. Thick snowy-white water foam completely covered the entire prison battlefield. No yao was able to clearly see Zuo Mo’s figure.

But those explosions were enough to prove that Zuo Mo was still in the battlefield.

———

Zuo Mo charged in every direction, his eyes crimson red as he howled like a crazed wild beast. If he found a river flow, he would instantly leap over.

Roused by the killing, he inexhaustibly searched for the next river flow, and continued to deconstruct. He became even more practised and his efficiency increased drastically. After a while, he was able to locate the weak points to break through before the first wave of counter-attacks arrived. It was like solving problems. There were many kinds of problems, but as he became familiar, his way of thinking became clear, and naturally became more at ease.

He completely had no intention of leaving face for the other. There was only one thought in his mind.

You dare to attack ge, all die, die!

Destroy, destroy, completely destroy!

The criss-crossing river flows continuously exploded into snowy foam.

When the last flowing river was deconstructed, Zuo Mo widened his eyes among the snowy foam turbulence and looked around. He wanted to find his next target. As his consciousness expanded, he suddenly found that they all seem to have been resolved.

All resolved?

There was nothing left?

Fine cold water foam covered his face. The temperature of his boiling hot head couldn’t help but decrease. The anger inside seemed to have been pretty much vented. He showed an expression of reluctance. He felt very exhilarated at doing deconstruction.

Just as he was enjoying it, the target disappeared.

Suddenly, a warm and gentle presence suddenly shot out of the void. The flying and moving snowy-white foam seemed to have suddenly come to life. Their speed slowly decreased until they were set in the void.

This presence could not be considered strong, there was no tyrannical presence that could conquer the world. It was warm but not conspicuous, yet peerlessly weighty. It was like a boundless ocean, so vast that it inspired awe. Under this warm and vast presence, threads of vitality like the sun being born slowly rose up from the water.

As the presence appeared, it covered the entire Vast Water Clear Skies, and covered every yao in Vast Water Clear Skies.

“Is this water breath?” Leng Yue reached out with his palm as though he wanted to grab this presence, and murmured to himself.

Every yao who cultivated water yao arts had serious expressions at this moment. They spread out their arms as though they wanted to throw themselves into this vast presence.

Yao like Chi who cultivated fire yao arts seemed to be sitting on pins. Without knowing it, a thin layer of sweat covered their heads.

Water breath was one of the base sources of power comprehended after water yao arts were cultivated to a very deep level. There were many kinds of little yao arts. Each yao’s water yao arts were different, and the water breath they would comprehend would vary. When yao that comprehended water breath cast water yao arts, the power was much greater than normal water yao arts.

As the cultivation deepened, the comprehension of water breath would continuously change. The more the comprehension of water breath was perfected, the deeper the understanding of water yao arts.

Comprehending water breath was the most important badge for every water art cultivating yao to have a deep understanding. Countless yao who had spent decades cultivating water yao arts were unable to comprehend water breath.

It was not strange or unexpected that Qian Liu Daren had comprehended water breath when he was young.  But that attributes that Qian Liu Daren’s water breath showed made every yao feel awe.

Vast and full of life!

The more the yao was skilled in water yao arts, the faster their hearts beat. Shouldn’t such high level laws only appeared on those old yao that had cultivated for centuries?

Zuo Mo was also very shocked.

He was very familiar with water element spells. Even though water element spells and water yao arts were completely different, but the base source of water did not change. This presence was not dominating, but it was extremely pure.

Then an unprecedented feeling of anger filled every pore of Zuo Mo’s body.

He wasn’t a greenhorn that just stepped onto the battlefield. When this water breath appeared, he instantly found the terrifying power under its warm and peaceful surface.

It was like a basin of cold water was poured from his head to his toes, and cooled his heart.

Zuo Mo found that, in front of this vast presence full of life, he was so minuscule he was like a speck of dust.

Minuscule like a speck of dust … ..

A dot of light suddenly appeared in Zuo Mo’s eyes that were still bloodshot. It was like the spark that lit up in the wild. He raised his face and looked forward as though he was going to penetrate the thick white water foam with his eyes.

He suddenly smiled. With the mannerism of a peerless expert, filled with nonchalance.

The curve of his mouth increased until the corners of his mouth reached his ears and revealed the snowy-white, neat and sharp teeth. The tone of his voice as it came out was completely opposite his aloof appearance. It was gritted through his teeth, and was filled with undisguised ferocity.

“Ge dislikes people that never commit the most!”

The murderous Zuo Mo started his insane actions.

A golden light flashed on his back, and a pair of faint golden and transparent wings appeared. Countless hair-thin gold threads climbed up from the bottom of Zuo Mo’s feet until they entirely covered his legs. The golden threads suddenly tightened as though they tied up his legs.

Light Void Wings, Golden Crow Feet!

Immediately after, numerous hard lightning appeared and floated around Zuo Mo to form a thick net of lightning.

Yang Fiend Hard Lightning!

One hundred and eight bolts of yang fiend hard lightning!

After finishing all this, Zuo Mo didn’t raise his head, and his hands started to swipe and move with difficulty!

Chapter 352: The Reappearance Of Wasteland Sacrificial Art

A grey shadow flew out from Zuo Mo’s right hand.

The grey shadow was like a wasteland beast that had left its cage. It grew in size, and the deep hissing it made shocked people down to their souls.

Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!

The last joker in Zuo Mo’s hands was unhesitatingly thrown out at this moment.

———

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao had a complicated expression, one that Zuo Mo would think was spectacular at this time. His expression was complex and showed a faint bitterness. The Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art was the yao art that his teacher had created. Teacher had never hidden any part of it from him. He could recite any part of the yao art, but even so, after one thousand years, he still could not successfully cast this yao art.

Thinking back to his nickname of [Encyclopedia of Yao Arts], it seemed full of irony.

[Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art] looked simple but it actually was complex in many places. Otherwise, how could Pu Yao still not be able to find the method to cast it after so many years had passed? Last time, he had only wanted to try, and just gave a few words of guidance. He had not expected Zuo Mo to successfully cast the art.

Today, Zuo Mo’s movements were still unpractised, but he had successfully cast it again. It was enough to show that he had grasped the crux of this yao art, and his success was not just a matter of luck.

What was an incredibly difficult yao art in Pu Yao’s eyes was easily grasped by Zuo Mo and without the other knowing its difficulty. Other than bitterness and mockery, he couldn’t help but admire Zuo Mo’s talent. Thinking back carefully, he found that inexperienced youth he had first met was more average in all areas compared to the present.

This guy’s staying power was very strong!

He suddenly snickered. His consciousness was greater than Zuo Mo’s. The prison battlefield could block Zuo Mo’s consciousness, but could not stop Pu Yao’s consciousness. Pu Yao knew everything about what was happening outside.

His mood instantly made a one hundred and eighty degree turn, especially when he saw the spectacular expressions of the spectating yao.

Maybe it was pretty good to have such a student. Even though Zuo Mo was not a yao, and was a human, but in the eyes of Pu Yao who usually did not tread the conventional  path, this wasn’t a concern at all.

At some time in the future, he definitely had to urge Zuo Mo to go to the yao world.

It would be really fun to cause a storm!

Imagining the shocked expressions of those old guys, he couldn’t help but roar with laughter.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s free yet somewhat insane laughter echoed.

———

Zuo Mo did not hear Pu Yao’s laughter. His mind was focused as he cast the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art.

The simple yet authoritative presence was like a vicious wasteland beast slowly walking out of the mist. The oncoming presence was suffocating!

Its movements were not fast, but were filled with perfect ease.

It suddenly stopped its movement.

The spectating yao felt their throats tighten as though a noose had been suddenly tightened around their necks. They couldn’t breath.

Terror suddenly jumped from their feet up, the bone-aching coldness spreading through their entire bodies, their minds completely blank.

He seemed to see an ancient wasteland beast the size of a mountain looking down indifferently.

The mountain-like presence covered the world, and bore down like a mountain.

The yao lost their courage. They wanted to turn and run. Those that were less daring collapsed onto the ground. Even those guys who thought themselves powerful had ashen faces at this moment.

Qian Liu Daren’s water breath was vastness and full of life.

And this grey figure was filled with tyranny and destruction!

———

The second prison.

Numerous yao suddenly stopped what they were doing at the same moment. They raised their heads in shock.

A dangerous presence filled with tyranny and destruction rushed past them like a gust of wind.

The enormous second prison sank into a strange silence.

A moment later, these yao that had been hard at work unhesitatingly dropped what they were doing, and started to fly in the same direction. If one looked from above the second prison, they would find that numerous figures seemed to be attracted to one location.

It was the entrance to the first prison.

———

Feeling the danger of the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art presented, the vast water breath that had been warm and peaceful a moment ago suddenly roiled.

Zuo Mo seemed to be situated in an angry ocean. The enormous waves that charged up could swallow him at any instant. These furious waves contained power that could crumble mountains and upend seas. If he was touched the tiniest bit, even with the Great Day mo physique, there would only be one outcome—his body completely shattered!

The complete reverse of the peace and harmony, the prison battlefield had turned to the other extreme. Zuo Mo understood this represented another attribute of the water breath. After experiencing the voyages on Endless Ocean, he understood just how the furious water could be terrifying powerful.

His surroundings were filled with abundant moisture.

Almost in the blink of an eye, a boundless ocean appeared under Zuo Mo’s feet.

Minuscule, Zuo Mo once again felt just how minuscule he was!

In front of this raging and vast water breath, people were forced to admit their insignificance.

Zuo Mo bit his lips tightly and tried to maintain his resolve. His hands were still methodically swiping in the air.

All of his strength was gathered in his body!

Come!

Zuo Mo suddenly raised his flushed eyes.

Almost at the same time, two empty red lights suddenly lit up in the grey shadow. They were like a pair of vicious eyes. The ignited red eyes were lantern sized, and like giving the touch of life to a painting, the figure of the wasteland beast that had been slightly intangible did not seem to feel transient any longer.

It was alive.

Even though the figure of the wasteland beast was not defined, but all of the yao had a strong feeling, it was alive!

The tyrannical and destructive presence suddenly exploded like a volcano and headed into the clouds!

It really was alive!

The spectating yao all shook. The two terrifying presences conflicted. They were like beauties that had just been abused getting abused again!

Among the crowds of yao, light flashed occasionally outside the prison battlefield. Each flash of light meant that a yao could not withstand the two oppressive presences  and was forced out of the Ten Finger Prison.

Inside the Ten Finger Prison, if their mental defenses were broken, they would be forcibly ejected from the Ten Finger Prison. This kind of situation was not common. The yao cultivated their consciousness. In terms of mental strength, they were much stronger than xiuzhe or mo.

But today, after the successive blows from two peerlessly presences, the yao that usually cultivated in the first prison could not bear it. Even Nan Yue only stood for three breaths before she was pushed out of the Ten Finger Prison.

In comparison Leng Yue and Chang Zheng’s situation was much better. They usually cultivated in the second prison, but there was no ease on their faces. They seemed to be struggling to bear it. The other yao fortunate enough to remain all had pained expressions on their faces but no one retreated of their own accord.

Everyone knew that the faceoff between the two presences that was coming would be a great conflict!

To be able to personally see a battle of such a level, even if they had to pay a great price to watch, they would unhesitatingly choose to do so, much less just tolerate some pain. This kind of opportunity was rare!

The lantern-sized vicious eyes glowed with red light. The waves that seemed to cover the sky did not seem to affect it.

It suddenly opened its mouth.

The open mouth suddenly formed a great suction force.

Numerous waves were forcibly pulled away from the water by this force and flew towards the open mouth of the wasteland beast. The furious ocean suddenly paused shortly.

The surface of the water that had instantly calmed rippled. It was rebelling against this suction.

The light of the two enormous pupils in the grey shadow increased. The suction power increased!

Whoosh whoosh!

Like a whale drinking rivers, numerous pillars of water were sucked into the mouth of the wasteland beast. The wasteland beast’s mouth seemed to be a bottomless hole. No matter how much water entered, it showed no signs of expanding.

But how could the vast ocean formed by the water breath be defeated so easily?

That was the water breath that Crystal Void Qian Liu Daren had left behind!

The vast ocean was colossal and showed no signs of shrinking. Many schools of fish suddenly appeared under the water. These schools of fish were different than the schools of fish that appeared before. They were of flesh of blood.

Life!

Zuo Mo suddenly understood. These schools of fish were truly lives that had been created by the water breath!

There were innumerable schools of fish. They furiously leapt at the wasteland beast. The strong vitality they carried was like boiling water and caused fear.

The shaking vitality did not serve as nutrients, but poison.

This blow was like the grass that broke the camel’s back for the yao who had been struggling outside the battlefield.

Innumerable lights flashed. None of the yao outside the battlefield remained!

For the first time, the wasteland beast showed wariness. These fragile lives caused the powerful wasteland beast to feel danger. Zuo Mo was very surprised!

Just as Zuo Mo felt shock, the lantern eyes of the wasteland beast suddenly blinked slyly.

Zuo Mo was shocked still by this person-like action of the wasteland beast.

The figure of the wasteland beast suddenly started to change.

Its body suddenly turned to shadow and divided into a top and bottom half.

Almost at the same time, Zuo Mo’s hands seemed to be out of his control as they unconsciously started to move.

Little yao arts, number one, number five hundred.

The top half of the grey shadow suddenly started to furiously spin clockwise, while the bottom half spun counter-clockwise.

That absurd and conflicting feeling appeared again. Zuo Mo felt as though he was being pulled by two wagons in opposite directions, and was unspeakably uncomfortable.

After having experienced it before, Zuo Mo instantly understood what he needed to to.

Straight Pass-Through Form!

A power that was not strong instantly penetrated the centers of the two yao arts.

Under the feet of the wasteland beast that had turned to a whirlwind, a thread of white light suddenly rose, and above its head, a blackness started to spread.

In the blink of an eye, the grey shadow turned to black and white parts that were clearly defined.

A black and white millstone.

The furiously turning millstone produced a much stronger suction force than before.

The schools of fish that came from all directions were like thin streams that were pulled into the millstone before they could even resist.

There was no flesh or blood flying. Everything was so silent it looked like a picture.

In the center of the millstone, a glowing bead gradually took shape.

The vast water breath filled with life quickly decreased, and the bead in the middle of the millstone became larger and glowed like a drop of dew.

The blood in Zuo Mo’s eyes gradually retreated. His consciousness was extremely drained.

Having recovered his calm, the first action Zuo Mo did was gather his last thread of strength, grabbing the bead, and shoving it into his mouth.

His vision darkened and he instantly lost consciousness.

Chapter 353: Spread

Wei Sheng progressed with difficulty. Each step required a great deal of concentration from him.

His clothing was in tatters and covered in dust, his entire person looked very fragile. Only that pair of black eyes showed a sharp light that seemed to penetrate the thick fiendish mist.

The dangers of this journey was hundreds of times greater compared to this trip in the sword cave.

Those soul beasts that could take form were especially vicious and cunning. They seemed to be one with the fiend mist, would silently approach to ambush and were hard to defend against. They also had an endless supply of illusory techniques that enchanted a person’s mind. If it wasn’t for the strength of Wei Sheng’s resolve, he would have fallen a long time go. They came like the wind, their speed was lightning fast, their attacks vicious. If he was the slightest bit careless, he would land in a precarious situation.

In the most dangerous incident, he had encountered three fiend soul beasts. What surprised him was that these three fiend soul beasts knew to cooperate among themselves. In that battle, he had been wounded in a dozen places. The most serious wound was so deep his rib bones could be seen.

If he did not have healing lingdan in his dimension ring, he would have died from the wound alone.

However, Wei Sheng was still Wei Sheng. Having left the sect to come to such an unfamiliar and dangerous place, it was as though he had been released from a heavy burden. The chains on his heart were shattered. He was like a bird that had escaped the cage and was unspeakably relaxed. He did not feel uncomfortable at the dangers in front of him.

He continuously experienced the ambush of all kinds of fiend soul beasts, the illusory techniques that ensnared a person’s mind. These dangers did not made him want to retreat, but tempered his sword heart even making it more refined and pure.

His talent in cultivating the sword was very exceptional in the beginning. The worldly apparition when he entered zhuji had caused everyone to feel anticipation about his future. Even Lin Qian of mysterious origins treated his talent slightly favorably. It was possible to see just how talented he was.

Having rediscovered the calm of his sword heart, and adding on the honing from the dangerous situation, he was like a treasure sword uncovered from the dust, and gradually showed his sharpened edges!

There wasn’t much ling power left.

He thought inside as his gaze looked towards the depths of the fiendish mist. Previously, sword essence had exploded suddenly in the direction he had been travelling. This gave him hope. He had a strong feeling that he was not far from his target.

But right now, he needed to think of everything he could do and control the consumption of ling power.

He was like the most frugal miser. If he could use one thread of ling power, he would not use two threads. He also tried to absorb ling power from the jingshi in the dimensional ring, and tried to purify it of impurities. He did everything he could do.

Even so, he was a sorry figure.

Caressing the black sword in his hands, he raised his head again and walked forward with determination.

He trusted the sword in his hands.

———

“Shixiong fainted again?” Gongsun Cha gazed curiously at the unconscious Zuo Mo. He reached out to poke and see if Shixiong was really unconscious.

The “again” of Gongsun Cha’s words made the other people’s features twitch.

“Ehm, Daren must be cultivating a special technique.” Xie Shan found a shoddy excuse. Zuo Mo was his boss. He had to help disguise it.

Shu Long’s mouth imperceptibly curved up but he quickly became stern again.

Gongsun Cha’s face was regretful as he muttered, “I had been hoping he could help me fish today … …”

“Hm, Daren will rest. He probably will wake up soon,” Xie Shan could only say.

He had checked. There were no problems with Daren’s body.

———

Shu Long had been planning on reporting to Zuo Mo. He could only leave now. He was the leader of the Hardship Guards. There was a pile of matters waiting for him everyday.

The camp of the Hardship Guard was always set up separately. Walking into the camp, it was very busy.

For other people, the abundant black fiendish energy was akin to poison, but for them, it was nothing less than the best nutrients.

“Head, when will Daren come to the camp?” When A Wen saw Shu Long, his eyes lit up, and he ran over with his black spear. The other Hardship Guards also crowded over.

Shu Long felt a head but still said expressionlessly, “Daren is cultivating now. When Daren finishes, I will report at the first moment.”

“Oh.” Everyone’s sounds carried slight disappointment.

In this period of time, the Hardship Guard had all improved greatly. There were many people that had finished forming their weapons. Almost half of the Guard Camp had finished forming their weapons. Compared to before, their combat capabilities were much stronger. Some more accomplished, like A Wen, rocketed in their improvement.

In this short amount of time, he had become the second strongest in Guard Camp after Shu Long. He had just woken up from his meditation, and had gained greatly. He was very innocent and he desired Daren’s praise. Everyone in the camp had improved greatly. Every one of the flower slaves had comprehended a few spells.

Shu Long also hoped that Daren could come to the camp. That would greatly increase morale.

He hadn’t expected that Daren was unconscious again.

He could only go tomorrow, Shu Long thought.

———

Nan Yue rubbed her forehead as her head ached. Being forcibly ejected from the Ten Finger Prison meant that her consciousness had been wounded slightly. But at this time, she did not put any attention on her lightly wounded consciousness.

She only wanted to know one thing now—had Daren finished the prison-breaking battle!

She wanted to enter Vast Water Clear Skies again, but before her consciousness recovered, she had no way of entering Vast Water Clear Skies.

Tightly biting her lips, her heart was in the air. What would Vast Water Clear Skies look like now?

But she could only be impatient. She comforted herself, tomorrow, by tomorrow, she would know the result. No matter if Daren had completed the prison-breaking battle or not, this matter would spread tomorrow, and the result would naturally float to the surface.

Daren had accidentally activated the prison-breaking battle. Due to this, other than the first and second prison, no one had managed to rush over in time. Right now, the news had not spread, but she dared to guarantee that by tomorrow, this matter would shake all of the yao world.

This was a prison-breaking battle!

She suddenly became excited. To be able to follow such a daren, what honor this was!

In the yao word, powerful yao would usually have many followers. Many of them would become their daren’s students, but most of them would only have the identity of a follower. However, this did not mean that they were lower than others. The guidance of a master, even if it was just a tiny bit, would greatly benefit them.

Even more, Daren had promised to pass her [South Sky Arrow Art]!

Thinking about this, she unconsciously tightened her fisted hands.

Nan Yue, you have to work hard, and cannot disappoint Daren!

She repeatedly motivated herself, her little face filled with determination. She understood her responsibilities. South Sky Wisteria Clan had already declined and was tiny. She did not think about recovering the past prosperity of the Wisteria Clan of the South Sky. Her only hope was to use her efforts to help the clansmen leave behind their situation of poverty. At least, they would have better lives.

Nan Yue, you can do it!

She told herself.

———

The vast ocean seemed borderless.

Water shifted at a part of the ocean, and in a moment, a terrifying whirlpool over two hundred li in diameter formed. The whirlpool spun with astonishing speed, the strong force pulling the center of the whirlpool to collapse into itself.

A deep passage appeared in the center of the whirlpool.

A handsome male flew out of the passage. His features were soft in its lines, a warm and elegant smile on his face that would create positive feelings, and had a transparent crystal on his forehead.

“He broke Vast Water Clear Skies, and swallowed my water breath bead as well,” the male shook his head and smiled. “Looks like a pretty talented young little yao.”

Just as he was talking to himself, a dash of fire landed from the sky.

“Ha ha! Little Qian Qian, your Vast Water Clear Skies was broken!”

A face appeared in the mountain-sized ball of fire. He was roaring with amused laughter.

Hearing the other’s appellation of him, Qian Liu’s forehead twitched. But he knew if he argued with this unreasonable guy, that was definitely going up against a wall. He could only smile and say, “Three hundred years have passed, it’s time for it to be broken.”

The fire-faced person that had been laughing at his misfortune a moment ago couldn’t help but snort. “Hmph! Three hundreds years and no one came out. That group of old guys talk that whole set every day, there’s no use.”

Qian Liu hurriedly urged, “That can’t be said. Even though there are no experts, but their methods at nurturing intermediate level yao is very effective.”

The temper of the fire-faced person was very explosive. He swore, “Effective my ass! No experts, there won’t be one to be able to be seen in public.”

“They have it hard.” Qian Liu sighed. “Supposedly, a few good seedlings have come from the yao art houses. They can be considered to have set up a path.”

The fire-face person’s temper lowered slightly, but he still growled, “It’s too late. We’ve already started the battle with the xiuzhe. If they came a few years earlier, then that would have worked.”

Qian Liu said with a smile, “It may not be a bad matter for them to arrive in time for this great battle. Without the tempering of true battle, it is hard for these people gain strength.”

“In any case, you always have excuses!” The fire-faced person clearly was impatient and did not want to stay on this topic. He changed direction. “What, don’t you want to know what the new first prison looks like?”

Qian Liu blinked. “There is still one day until the new first prison will form.”

The flames around the body of the fire-faced person stilled. He had forgotten this. He hurriedly glossed over. “What do you think this boy’s origins are?”

“How can I guess? I’ll know when I see tomorrow.”

“Hee hee, I can’t wait.”

———

Vast Water Clear Skies had been broken.

The news quickly spread through all of the large yao jies like it had wings, and instantly created waves. Right now, the yao army was winning on the front lines. This news was a boost in morale for the troops. All of the yao felt excited.

Was a new era about to come?

The prison-breaking battle that had not been activated for three hundred years once again entered everyone’s view. Some old yao were so excited they started to reminiscence about the prosperity of the yao before the thousand year war.

However, no one knew the origins of the mysterious guy.

All kinds of recording yao arts appeared, but people quickly found that all the recording yao arts did not have an ending, lacking the most important and crucial part.

Speculation and discussion filled every corner of the yao world. Each yao was waiting for the arrival of the second day, waiting for the new first prison to take form! Each yao desired to know—

——What would the new first prison be like?

Chapter 354: The Wasteland Beast Chessboard

Bam bam bam.

The sound of knocking on the door woke Nan Yue up. She really had been too tired yesterday and slept deeply. She opened her heavy eyes, and opened the door to the room. When she saw the people that come outside, all the drowsiness instantly disappeared.

The person that had knocked was Chi. His face was full of a warm smile. Behind him was a large crowd of people. Nan Yue found many of them familiar to the eye. But when she saw the House Elder of the Purple Lotus Yao Art House, she couldn’t help but still.

“Nan Yue, did we disturb your rest?”  Chi’s tone was filled with warmth and concern, and none of the usual sternness as though he had become a completely different person.

“Oh, no no.” Nan Yue instinctively shook her head.

She finally recalled what those old looking people that looked familiar were. They were the elders of the yao art house.

Two, three… … twelve!

Nan Yue’s scalp turned numb. All of the elders of the Purple Lotus Yao Art House Council of Elders was standing in front of her home! These elders that usually were high up and indifferent all had smiles on their faces, and harmonious auras. All of the upper level of the Purple Lotus Yao Art House was here without an exception.

Seeing Nan Yue still where she stood, Chi instantly understood what it was. He couldn’t help but smile and say, “What? Are you not going to invite us in to sit?”

“Oh oh oh!” Nan Yue finally reacted and seemed to wake up from her dream. She hurriedly moved away from the door. “Please come in, come in!”

The procession streamed in.

The House Elder examined the bare room and said with a slight smile, “Student Nan Yue is really living simply! As expected of the role model of our house’s other students. Our other students should learn from this valuable attitude.”

Nan Yue sweated. She wasn’t simple, she was just poor. At this moment, she did not know how to respond, and could only murmur in agreement.

“However,” the House Elder’s tone changed as he said passionately, “as the Chief Student Elder of the Purple Lotus Yao Art House, Student Nan Yue should shoulder a heavier burden! This is too far away, and not convenient. Oo, The house’s Purple Lotus Park has a Spirit Clarity Residence still empty. Student Nan Yue will find it much more convenient when moved over there.”

Chi’s gaze showed threads of admiration. Spirit Clarity Residence was the highest level of residence in the Purple Lotus Yao Art House. There were only three suites in total. The House Elder actually gave one to Nan Yue. The most valuable part of the Spirit Clarity Residence was the Spirit Clarity Pool. It could increase the cultivation speed of the consciousness. To say nothing of the high price in constructing the Spirit Clarity Pool, it could only be built on special geological forms.

After that, the elders took their turns to persuade and were unparalleled in their friendliness.

Nan Yue seemed to go through the entire process as though it was a dream. She did not know what to do. She only gradually refocused when the House Elder and the others had left for a while.

Chief student elder? She had become the Chief Student Elder? And they had given her a Spirit Clarity Residence to use?

Was she still dreaming?

But when she pulled herself out of the initial excitement, she quickly understood the crux. It was not hard to guess what the attitude of the House Elder and the elders were for.

They were here for Daren!

Even though they hadn’t mentioned one word about Daren today, but Nan Yue was one hundred percent certain that they had come for Daren!

No, she had to report this to Daren!

She suddenly remembered today was the day the first prison formed.

Thinking to this, she instantly became excited. She inspected her consciousness. Even though she had not fully healed her injuries, but she had recovered enough to enter the first prison. She instantly entered meditation and directly entered the first prison.

———

“Argh, motherf***er!” the pained Zuo Mo wailed.

It had been a long time since his consciousness had been wounded. The long-absent pain appeared again. The feeling of pain seemed to have grown even stronger.

“This is the result of trying to show off,” Pu Yao mocked neutrally.

“Ouch … … ouch, which guy was scheming against me? No, I can’t have suffered for nothing, I have to return it!” The pained Zuo Mo still exposed his vengeful nature.

“You aren’t a match,” Pu Yao said mercilessly.

“How can it be known without a fight? Tell me quickly!” Zuo Mo looked as though he would not give up and was murderous.

“Crystal Void Qian Liu.”

“Crytal Void Qian Liu? What thing is that?” Zuo Mo’s face was curious.

“It isn’t a thing, just a three hundred years little yao.”

“Che, just a three hundred year little yao.” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly.

A tendon throbbed in Pu Yao’s forehead. He forcibly suppressed it. “He comprehended water breath.”

“Water Breath?” Zuo Mo instantly became alert and said braggingly, “That was water breath? Didn’t it get destroyed by my Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!”

Your Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art … …

The tendon in Pu Yao’s forehead jumped again. He pretended to be calm and said, “That was an imprint he left behind three hundred years ago.”

“An imprint left three hundred years ago!” Zuo Mo jumped in fright. “In other words, he was this powerful three hundred years ago?”

“Right.”

The expression on Zuo Mo’s face changed as he said embarrassedly, “Peace is valuable, peace is valuable. It’s not good to fight and kill for nothing!”

Ignoring Pu Yao’s disdainful gaze, he asked curiously, “Why did his imprint attack me? I didn’t offend him.”

“He finds you an eyesore.”

Pu Yao’s caused Zuo Mo’s expression to become even more embarrassed. “It seems that Ten Finger Prison is really a dangerous place. I should not go to such a kind of place.”

Pu Yao heard this and thought inside, no, if Zuo Mo was  afraid and did not go to the Ten Finger Prison in the future, it would be a troublesome matter. He was very familiar with Zuo Mo’s personality. This guy could not be forced, and could only be tempted. If there were enough benefits, this guy would howl and charge.

“There’s a bit of danger, but there are also many benefits.” Pu Yao’s expression was indifferent as though he was speaking objectively. “You destroyed his imprint, and swallowed his water breath bead. Haven’t you felt anything?”

Zuo Mo finally remembered after Pu Yao’s remember the bead he had swallowed before he had fainted. He hurriedly made an examination and immediately found the water breath bead.

A glowing dewy bead floated in his sea of consciousness. The sea of consciousness where a sea of flames danced had a lively and abundant humidity. The faint moisture spread from the dew bead. Wherever the moisture passed, the wounded consciousness was like burnt soil receiving nurturing and became full of life again. Zuo Mo felt unspeakably comfortable.

This was something really good!

Zuo Mo’s mind moved. The dew bead flew in front of him and a warm moisture blew into his face.

“The water breath bead can heal?”

To make Zuo Mo understand the value of the water breath bead, Pu Yao naturally spoke endlessly. “Not just healing. With it, you will have an easier time comprehending your own water breath. Once you have comprehended water breath, it will merge into the water breath that you comprehend. You will have an easier time casting the great majority of water yao arts, and water element spells, their power would also be greater.”

“This powerful?” Zuo Mo felt very excited. He was clear to the value embodied. With this water breath bead, it meant that his affinity to water had increased. This would increase the strength of a major type of yao arts and spells.

Water element spells, ge knows them! He cast a [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] with pride. A palm-size could instantly floated in his palm.

Hm, the cloud ball from the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] this time was different than before.

The cloud ball seemed to be alive. The threads of rain that fell seemed to contain vitality. When they landed in Zuo Mo’s palm, then sunk into Zuo Mo’s skin and disappeared. Zuo Mo felt refreshed.

The sixth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]!

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. Just with the addition of a water breath bead, his [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] had leveled up to the sixth level!

The sixth level of [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] was significantly useful!

Zuo Mo was overjoyed.

Treasure! Great treasure!

“Can this even be called a treasure?” Pu Yao seemed to know Zuo Mo’s thoughts, and an imperceptible smile floated on the corners of Pu Yao’s mouth. He continued to tempt Zuo Mo, “The water breath was just from the prison-breaking battle of the first prison. Each prison of the Ten Finger Prison has something good. Only what is in the later prisons can be called treasures.”

“Each prison has their own?” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up.

“What? Are you interested?” Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo with deliberate calmness.

“Interested! Very interested!” Zuo Mo nodded frantically. He rubbed his palms and said warmly, “Pu Yao, let’s get them all! So many treasures, they can’t be wasted!”

“This will depend on your skills.” Pu Yao did not refute it. “The later prison-breaking battles will be more powerful than this.”

Countless jingshi spun in Zuo Mo’s eyes. He drooled and said with a stupid smile, “That’s nothing, we can wear them down, wear them to death!”

The water breath bead was wondrous as expected. Not long after, Zuo Mo’s injured consciousness was healed. Zuo Mo was full of praise, and desired the other treasures even more.

“Let’s go, you have not named your prison battlefield yet,” Pu Yao said as he pulled Zuo Mo into Vast Water Clear Skies.

Zuo Mo looked at the unfamiliar environment, his mouth wide, and his face stunned.

The criss-crossing river flows from before had all disappeared. The shards of stone under his feet had also disappeared. What replaced them were squares of different colors. The various colored tiles extended into the distance like an enormous chess board.

“What what is this?”

“Nothing big.” Pu Yao suppressed the shock inside and said in a normal tone. “You broke the first prison left by someone before you, so the first prison will be reconstructed.”

“Oh, so it’s like that.” Zuo Mo’s face showed realization

He casually walked forward and stepped into a green square. There were no changes. He stepped into another square, and there was still no change.

It just changed appearance.

The shock in Zuo Mo’s heart disappeared. He felt it was very boring, and his expression disappeared.

Suddenly, the scene in front of him changed again.

He seemed to have flown to a very high place and was looking down from an aerial view. He saw an enormous chessboard, the disorderly tiles formed a strange shape. The figure seemed slightly familiar to Zuo Mo. He quickly understood what the pattern was. Wasteland beast, that was a wasteland beast!

“Create a name.” Pu Yao’s light voice sounded at Zuo Mo’s ears.

“Wasteland Beast Chessboard.” Zuo Mo’s mind moved, and he blurted out.

Boom boom boom!

The sound was like thunder. The pattern of the wasteland beast on the chessboard seemed to suddenly become alive. A thread of grey smoke came out of the chessboard, and in a blink, turn to a wasteland beast.

The lantern sized red and vicious eyes, the bleak and disdainful presence, the roiling and shapeless body.

It glanced at Zuo Mo and suddenly burrowed back into the chessboard.

The chessboard under him once again became what it was originally.

In the minds of the yao that had excitedly charged into the first prison, three words floated up simultaneously—Wasteland Beast Chessboard!

Chapter 355: Bidding

Wasteland Beast Chessboard!

Nan Yue couldn’t resist repeating it lightly. The squares of various colors under her feet spread into the horizon without end.

Lights occasionally flashed. Every yao who entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard was filled with shock. There were no obstacles in their vision. They seemed to be on a broad plain. The yao further away seemed like black dots in their field of view

The strange colored squares under their feet reminded them this was a place filled with weirdness.

Some of the people that had been doubting the prison-breaking battle had their suspicious dissipate when they saw the completely transformed first prison. They stared dazedly with wide mouths as they looked at the borderless chessboard that was almost unimaginable.

Nan Yue fought free from her shock. She released a long breath. She was filled with curiosity. What was unique about Daren’s Wasteland Beast Chessboard?

She wanted to try when a slightly cold voice sounded from behind her.

“Pardon me, are you Student Nan Yue?”

Nan Yue turned around and saw a slightly thin but handsome youth standing with a smile. He bowed slightly. “This one is Leng Yue, from Western Mountain Cold Clan.”

“Western Mountain Cold Clan?” Nan Yue was slightly bewildered. The Wisteria Clan of the South Sky might have a glorious past, but it had been in decline for a long time. Struggling on the poverty line, how could Nan Yue pay attention to those rich and powerful families?

Leng Yue responded very quickly. Seeing the expression on Nan Yue’s face, he understood that the other’s birth was definitely very normal. He couldn’t help but rejoice inside. Yesterday, the news he had sent back to the sect had attracted attention from the clan. For this, they had used all their power to investigate the origins of the mysterious prison-breaking yao.

Even though the origins of the prison-breaking yao was a puzzle, but they still found some clues. For example, Nan Yue.

Up to here, there was nothing that Leng Yue had to do. He did not have the qualifications for future matters. But his luck was really good, and coincidentally encountered Nan Yue when he entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

Towards a very alert Leng Yue, how could he pass such a good chance?

It was a pity that he wasn’t the only one with good luck. Those that had the power to find Nan Yue weren’t just the Cold Family.

“Are you Miss Nan Yue?” A ethereal looking female clad in a white robe appeared at the side and politely bowed to Nan Yue. “This one is Bai Rou Lian.”

“Haha! Such a coincidence!” A brawny large male about three zhang tall appeared out of nowhere and bowed with great politeness towards Nan Yue. “Miss Nan Yue, an is Cang Ze.”

Leng Yue and Bai Rou Lian’s expressions were not too good, but they were all from influential families, and had some shrewdness. Even though they were wary, but their faces quickly were covered with smiles again as though they were good friends.

Nan Yue was not dumb. When she saw this, she knew what was happening, and grimaced inside.

At this time, a voice that was like a blessing from Heaven sounded at Nan Yue’s ears. “Nan Yue.”

Zuo Mo had detected Nan Yue’s position and ran over. Nan Yue was his follower in name, and was really one of his people. Towards his own people, Zuo Mo usually cared for them. From their recent interactions, Zuo Mo felt that Nan Yue was good in all areas, and hard working. She was worthy of being fostered.

When Nan Yue saw Zuo Mo, it was like she had seen her savior. “Daren!”

Woosh, the other three people’s eyes landed on Zuo Mo. Even though they had all seen Zuo Mo’s figure from the yao recording art, but when they saw him from close up, they were still stunned by Zuo Mo’s youth.

“Daren!”

The three of them were abnormally in sync as they respectfully bowed. The respect on their faces were not out of politeness but came from their hearts. They had a good family background, and received the best teachings, their strength was far above those of their age, but all of this could not be discussed when compared with the daren in front of them.

In front of such a genius that was able to leave behind his mark on yao society, what assets did they have to be proud of?

“En?” Zuo Mo paused. These three people he did not know called him Daren?

Their brains were wonky?

He looked suspiciously at Nan Yue and pointed at the trio. “What is this?”

“Daren, I’m not very clear either.” Nan Yue’s expression was pitiable.

Zuo Mo turned his face around. “Who can tell me what is going on?”

As a boss of a group of experts, he naturally formed a presence over time. Once he was serious, the unquestionable tone made the trio’s hearts shake. All three of them were smart. In that short sentence, the three could detect many things.

Even Leng Yue who had originally assumed that Zuo Mo came from an unknown family turned changed his previous speculation.

“This junior is Bai Rou Lian, and is representing the White Family to congratulate Daren for his successful prison-breaking.” Bai Rou Lian was the first to speak. Her tone was respectful, her voice was sweet and pleasing to hear. “The White Family has prepared some gifts for Elder. Daren, please accept them.”

Leng Yue and Cang Ze felt depressed. This wench had gone one step in front of them. They instantly felt as though they had eaten a fly, and were unspeakably uncomfortable. However, the two reacted quickly and hurried to speak.

“The Cold Family … …”

“The Grey Clan … …”

Zuo Mo listened and generally understood what was going on. He waved his hand and interrupted the two people. “Alright, say what you need. One by one.” Finishing, he pointed at Bai Rou Lian. “You first.”

Bai Rou Lian was smug inside but did not dare to forget herself. She respectfully said, “The White Family earnestly requests for Daren to enter the Peace River Yao Art House. The entire house will give you the best treatment. The White Family is willing to give six million each year, and a Heart Spirit Residence. The White Family will pay for all of Daren’s expenses, and Daren can cultivate all the yao arts of the Peace River Yao Art House.”

Nan Yue gaped. Heavens, six million each year! Even if she graduated from the Purple Lotus Yao Art House and found a job, her monthly income definitely would not surpass one thousand. Yet what was more valuable was that Heart Spirit Residence. Compared to the Spirit Clarity Residence that the House Elder had given to her this morning, the Heart Spirit Residence was even more expensive. A Heart Spirit Residence’s price  on the market would start at ten million on the market.

Really generous! Nan Yue’s expression was stunned.

Zuo Mo was very happy. Haha, so much jingshi! Oh, no, the yao world should not be using jingshi, but Zuo Mo understood that this definitely was not a low price. It could be seen from Nan Yue’s expression.

However, Zuo Mo was a very experienced person. He had an innate intuition about bargaining. Adding on his wealth of battle experience, the three brats in front of him were three rich and sweet lambs.

Zzt zzt zzt  … …

The sound of knives being honed sounded in Zuo Mo’s heart, but his expression remained neutral as though he was a person who did not care for mortal matters.

He pointed at Cang Ze and said, “You talk.”

Cang Ze became alert. “Daren, our clan is willing to give Daren eight million annually. The clan does not have a Heart Spirit Residence but the clan is willing to provide Daren three Golden Souls each year.”

Bai Rou Lian’s expression instantly became terrible. She was not shocked that Cang Ze was able to give a tribute of eight million each year. What she was shocked about was Golden Souls!

The rumors said that the Grey Clan possessed a Gold Tree. It seemed that it was true!

Leng Yue’s expression was ashen. The last hope in his heart was destroyed. To say nothing about the fact the clan had not given him the power to negotiate, but even with the permission, he believed that the clan would not be able to give a price higher than this.

It was not just the Cold Clan was unable to do so, the White Clan was also unable. When he saw Bai Rou Lian’s black face, the depressed Leng Yue felt much better.

Even though he didn’t know what Golden Soul was, but his intuition told Zuo Mo this definitely was something rare and good.

“Golden Soul!” Pu Yao’s voice trembled slightly. “Take this one!”

Zuo Mo did not accept. He nodded to Cang Ze and then turned his gaze to Leng Yue.

Leng Yue docilely said, “Daren, we cannot give a price higher than Brother Cang Ze.”

This result was not unexpected to Zuo Mo. Something that even Pu Yao changed expression at, it definitely was something good. He guessed that Leng Yue could not give a higher price, but out of caution, he still asked.

“Okay.” Zuo Mo said to Cang Ze, “You follow me. Nan Yue, come as well.”

Cang Ze was overjoyed and hurried to follow.

Bai Rou Lian’s black expression disappeared. Leng Yue did not have any more interest in seeing the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, and returned to report this matter.

There was no one around. Zuo Mo sat down and said to the two, “Sit.”

Cang Ze respectfully sat down, and Nan Yue sat down next to Zuo Mo.

In just this little while, Pu Yao quickly introduced Zuo Mo to the Golden Soul. The Golden Soul was born from the Golden Tree and was very rare. Pu Yao had assumed that the Golden Tree had gone extinct. The Golden Soul could quickly strengthen the consciousness and also expand the sea of consciousness. What it was most valuable at was that it could strength the spirit, and cause it to become even more pure and refined.

Yao cultivated the consciousness. How strong the consciousness was what determined strength. But the strength of the consciousness could not cause it to become pure and refined. Pure spirit was even more stabilized, and the sea of consciousness was even more secure. Unpure consciousness would become a hidden weakness. The deeper one cultivated, the more dangerous it would become.

Golden Soul was a great treasure that was not easily found, and for Pu Yao whose spirit was greatly wounded, Golden Soul was what he desperately needed to heal himself!

So when he heard the words Golden Soul, he couldn’t control himself.

What Zuo Mo cared about was another problem. The only place he could interact with them was in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. To say nothing of the fact he was now trapped in the ancient battlefield, even if he left, he could not come to the yao world.

Golden Soul was like the water breath bead. It could be taken into the Ten Finger Prison. This was what Zuo Mo prioritized.

However, there were no problems on his side, but he was not sure that Cang Ze would accept his conditions. The other would not easily give something like Golden Soul away.

So he spoke of his problem.

As expected, when he heard that Zuo Mo could not move to the Grey Clan, Cang Ze’s expression was not good. Truthfully, the price that Cang Ze gave was already the highest price.

Zuo Mo might have reconstructed the Wasteland Beast Chessboard but this was only the first prison.

In other words, what Zuo Mo displayed now was astonishing potential and not great strength. Before it became strength, potential was just potential no matter how amazing it was. It was filled with uncertainty and risk.

Cang Ze was silent for a long time. Zuo Mo instantly thought it was bad.

Damn it, if something this good flew away, he would cry!

Just as Zuo Mo had a headache, Pu Yao finally couldn’t resist speaking.

Chapter 356: New Changes

“Ask him what level of Grey Scar Art he has cultivated to?”

Zuo Mo immediately detected Pu Yao’s urgent tone when he suddenly spoke. After being in contact with Pu Yao for a long time, Zuo Mo gradually learned some of Pu Yao’s habits. Usually, Pu Yao looked down his nose at the great majority of matters, but when it was something that was of great help to him, he would not disguise his urgent desire.

Speaking from this perspective, Pu Yao was very straightforward. However, the great majority of the time, his straightforwardness was not very easy for a person to accept.

For example, he did not disguise his desire for the Golden Souls. Also, for example, if Zuo Mo did not get the Golden Souls for him, then what was waiting for him were countless pitfalls.

Pu Yao’s threats were bare naked.

Zuo Mo knew this very well. He coughed lightly, and said, “What step have you reached with your Grey Scar Art?”

Cang Ze was very shocked. Grey Scar Art, the other knew Grey Scar Art? Nan Yue detected Cang Ze’s shock from the side. She thought inside, was this another yao art like the [South Sky Arrow Art]?

Daren was really mysterious!

Cang Ze tightly stared at Zuo Mo as he wanted to see hints from Zuo Mo’s face.

But Zuo Mo was a very experienced person. He stiffened his face, and copied Pu Yao’s expressionless face very well. Inside, he muttered, I was such a pure and generous person before. After staying so long with Pu Yao, I’m now skilled in conning and lying.

Of course, he would not feel any guilt. He was trying to act out his role properly.

Cang Ze could not find any clues. Since the other could say the name of the Grey Scar Art, he should not be speaking nonsense. Of the many yao arts that existed now in the Grey Clan, [Grey Scar Art] was very unnoticeable. Those youths of the clan who had the slightest talent would not choose this yao art as their primary cultivation. They would like yao arts such as [Grey Sea Art] or [Grey Cloud Art] that were more powerful.

But as the grandson of the clan leader, he knew more than normal Grey Clan members. For example, the council of elders had never stopped their secret studies of the [Grey Scar Art].

The Grey Clan had so many yao arts, but why did the other just mention the [Grey Scar Art]?

Countless thoughts flashed through Cang Ze’s mind He lowered his head and said respectfully, “This one has not cultivated Grey Scar Art.”

“Not cultivated?” Pu Yao stilled.

Zuo Mo reacted rapidly and stilled as well. “You have not cultivated Grey Scar Art?”

“Has the Grey Clan created some other powerful yao art?” Pu Yao murmured to himself. His brows furrowed, and he was slightly surprised.

“Has your Grey Clan created some powerful yao art?” Zuo Mo learned and sold it at the same time.

Cang Ze gritted his teeth. “Not created new yao art, but this student is stupid and has not been allowed access to Grey Scar Art.” His heart beat wildly, his term for himself changing from “this one” to “this student.”

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s brow smoothed as he released a breath. “Tell him you will teach him Grey Scar Art, and exchange for five Golden Souls each year.”

“You know Grey Scar Art?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao suspiciously.

“That thing is very simple, it just curves from normal.” Having found his confidence, Pu Yao waved his hand with bravado.

Zuo Mo was both trusting and suspicious. Pu Yao really knew too many things. However, his thoughts did not affect his reaction. He lightly coughed, “I happen to know a bit about cultivating Grey Scar Art.”

Cang Ze felt a strong feeling of happiness burst over his mental defenses. He actually felt a thread of dizziness.

His voice trembled slightly. “Really?”

“Yes,” Zuo Mo forced himself to say.

At this time, Cang Ze showed his quality as the grandson of the clan leader. He did not lose control due, but suppressed his excitement. He asked respectfully, “What can my Grey Clan do for Teacher?”

Zuo Mo looked with praise at Cang Ze. He thought inside that this boy was very adept. However, he did not give the other a discount due to his praise. “Ten Golden Souls each year.”

When he opened, Zuo Mo doubled Pu Yao’s price.

It’s not ge is greedy, ge has a home and people to support!

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao gazed with bulging eyes.

Hiss, Cang Ze sucked in a breath. Even though he had predicted that the price the Grey Clan would pay would not be low, but ten Golden Souls annually, this price still far surpassed his estimate.

“This matter is grave. This Student needs to ask the elders of the sect.”

Cang Ze carefully answered.

“Alright.” Zuo Mo did not waste words. He pointed at Nan Yue and said, “She is my follower, just find her in the future.”

Hearing this, Cang Ze hurriedly exchanged spirit imprints with Nan Yue. A simple “Grey” character flew in front of Cang Ze. At the sides were two grey-green sparse shrubs. Nan Yue also took out her own spirit imprint. Her spirit imprint was the two characters “South Sky” formed by a curved purple vine.

Noticing Nan Yue’s spirit imprint, Cang Ze’s heart moved. In his investigation, Nan Yue did not have much of a background. She was born from a very small clan, their living conditions were difficult, and they were very normal. Seeing her spirit imprint, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

Being from an influential family, he naturally would not lack knowledge about spirit imprints. The way that the “South Sky” was written was completely different than what it was written like now. This kind of spirit imprint would mostly appear on those clans with long histories.

He noted it down, and planned on making an investigation when he returned. He reached out with a finger and gently poked the “South Sky.” A purple light flew into his spirit imprint. Nan Yue did the same.

After exchanging spirit imprints, the two sides would easily get in contact.

Cang Ze hurriedly bid farewell. He was in a hurry to go back and report. He had a feeling that this chance was very likely to be a chance in the Grey Clan’s fortunes.

After Cang Ze left, Zuo Mo taught Nan Yue for a while before he left.

———

“So he went the way of deconstruction.” Qian Liu was slightly puzzled. “A pretty unique style.”

The fire-faced person seemed to be uninterested in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. Looking around, he suddenly snickered and said, “Those little brats probably can’t stop themselves now.”

Qian Liu knew the people the fire-faced person was referring to. He smiled but did not speak. He continued to observe the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. He had left Vast Water Clear Skies three hundred years ago when he had broken the prison. He had not paid much attention to this incident in the past.

But his curiosity did not decrease today. He could not remember how long it had been since he came to Vast Water Clear Skies. As an expert that stayed in the seventh prison, the first prison was really a distant memory. Today, he had come especially to take a lot what the newly constructed prison by the guy who had broken his Vast Water Clear Skies looked like.

“I heard he is also very young?” Qian Liu asked interestedly.

“Very young!” The fire-faced person’s eyes raised his eyebrows. The face inside the ball of fire raised his brows with schadenfreude. “He’s probably on the list of the little brats as a target to challenge.”

“That’s not bad.” Qian Liu said neutrally, “Competition is good.”

He took back his consciousness and said with regret, “Pity I cannot activate the prison-breaking battle. The powerful stuff is all in there.”

The conditions to activate the prison-breaking battle were mysterious. For example, no one had activated the first prison, Vast Water Clear Skies, in the three hundred years. However, in the last  three hundred years, the second, fourth, and fifth prisons had all been activated. The pattern involved was hard to predict.

Qian Liu had activated a prison-breaking battle and knew much more than normal people.

The conditions to activate the prison-breaking battle did not have a direction connection with power, but the level of the person. It was also a very subtle connection. It would not work if the person’s level was too high, like he was currently. He could activate the first prison’s prison-breaking battle three hundred years ago, but the present him could not do so.

It would also not work if their level was too low.

Also, the Ten Finger Prison seemed to favor young yao. More accurately, young yao with high levels.

It really was a pity!

Qian Liu shook his head regretfully. The other’s most powerful yao art imprint was inside the prison-breaking battle. The Wasteland Beast Chessboard was filled with profound and exquisite deconstructing yao arts. It was like a rich sea of problems.

Qian Liu had fought against many experts before but it was the first time he had seen such an unique style. His heart itched and was hard to resist.

The fire-faced person saw the regret on Qian Liu’s face and suddenly crowded over. “I have a solution.”

“What solution?”

“Get the group of brats to come.” The fire-faced person seemed to want the world in chaos. “That group of brats definitely is full of motivation right now. Let them come break the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.”

Qian Liu’s thoughts shifted, but he shook his head and said, “The prison-breaking battle is not so easy to activate.”

“Hee hee, that isn’t our business. I speculate that the group of old farts is also interested,” the fire-faced said and snickered. He then said with righteous magnanimity, “Don’t worry about this matter, I’ll get them to come!”

Qian Liu was truly curious about Zuo Mo’s yao arts. He smiled and did not stop the other, only saying, “Don’t make it too big.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” The fire-faced person’s expression was excited.

———

Zuo Mo came out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard and felt a warm gust of air on his face.

He shook, and hurriedly opened his eyes. A familiar face was almost pressed to his.

“A Gui!”

He released a breath. Holding up A Gui’s face, he asked curiously, “What were you doing?”

A Gui stared dazedly at him and did not reply.

When Zuo Mo finished speaking, he stilled. Wait. Joy suddenly came into his eyes. “A Gui, A Gui!”

A Gui stilled looked dumbly at Zuo Mo without any response

The joy on Zuo Mo’s face gradually retreated. He examined A Gui closely. Her eyes were still empty and wooden. He couldn’t help but have a disappointed expression. A Gui had not recovered. He shook his head, and mocked himself. He was really too greedy.

He quickly recovered from his disappointment. Even though A Gui had not recovered, but she was much more lively now compared to before.

At the very least, this was a sign of a good turn of fortunes!

Thinking it through, the depression over Zuo Mo’s heart instantly swept away, and he roused himself. Jumping up, he picked A Gui up and put her on his back as he charged outside.

“A Gui, let’s go. We’ll go to Shu Long’s place to play!”

Chapter 357: Shadow Mo Guard A Wen

Ever since the Guard Camp was established, it seemed fated to have a hidden competitive relationship with Vermillion Bird Camp, even though the majority of the camp guards were once Vermillion Bird Camp’s captives. At the start, Vermillion Bird Camp had been unparalleled in its strength, and dominated all of Little Mountain Jie. In reality, for a very long time after the camp was formed, Guard Camp had been in a very awkward state. They were weak offensively, could not fight for Daren, and in many occasions, they were a burden.

Even many people from Vermillion Bird Camp could not understand why Daren would set up Guard Camp who was so weak in battle.

Everyone in Guard Camp had a grudge. They furiously cultivated without holding back any energy back. They never asked why they were cultivating, why were they cultivating like this. They only buried their heads and cultivated. Hardship? They were xiu slaves, they were not afraid of hardship.

Finally, the situation changed when Shu Long formed his armor. After forming his armor, Shu Long did not just recover his youth, but his combat abilities had become comparable to the top tier under Daren’s command. The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation was finally effective in battle, but the main force in battles was still Vermillion Bird Camp.

Their heavy and clumsy armor caused their movements to be slow. This made them take up a more defensive position in battles.

The situation had finally changed now.

Shu Long tightly grasped the long halberd in his hand. A cold feeling passed back as though a burst of strength burrowed into his body. His chest was filled with motivation.

It wasn’t as simple as just getting a weapon!

Shu Long suddenly saw Zuo Mo and A Gui in the doorway, and hurriedly bowed.

Zuo Mo looked around. Seeing everyone working hard, a smile came onto his face. “Not bad.”

Zuo Mo had been worried about morale previously. Seeing the business of the campsite, his heart relaxed slightly. In reality, Guard Camp’s morale had been good all along. This place was filled with black fiendish energy. It gave the Guard Camp the hope of surpassing Vermillion Bird Camp. They worked even harder on their cultivation. Vermillion Bird Camp’s morale was more severely affected, but after Zuo Mo threw them [Fiend Ling], they had settled down.

The path to leave this land could be slowly searched for, but if they did not even have the ling energy to cultivate, that was a blade that hung above the necks of xiuzhe.

A Wen saw Zuo Mo and ran over. “Daren, Daren.”

When Zuo Mo saw A Wen, he asked with a smile, “A Wen, how’s your cultivation going?”

A Wen was much healthier than when he had been rescued. His exquisite armor did not feel clumsy at all, but nimble and light.

“Ha ha, Daren, look.” A Wen held up his black spear as though he was presenting a treasure. “My weapon formed too! And I also comprehended some fun things!”

The completely black long spear had no adornment, but it gave the feeling of being finely crafted. The lines were smooth and flowing, two grooves on either side of the spearpoint. The fiery red charm hung at the head of spear and caused the black spear which originally seemed murderous and cold to have a hint of fire.

“Can the spear leave your body?” Zuo Mo asked.

“No.” A Wen scratched his head and said, “The black speak is condensed from killing energy. If it leaves my hand, it will dissipate.”

Zuo Mo’s interest was stirred. “Come, show me.”

A Wen obeyed. With a somersault, he flew out twenty zhang. Seeing this, the other people in the campsite stopped what they were doing and cheered A Wen on.

“Little Monkey, one more!”

“Little Monkey, don’t embarrass yourself in front of Daren!”

“Ha ha, Little Monkey, if you can’t do it, switch for someone else!”

When A Wen had been rescued, his figure had been very small. Even though he was much healthier now, but among this camp of burly men, his figure really was on the small side. Adding on that A Wen’s personality was lively and active, he was also clever, everyone called him Little Monkey.

“Ha, just be jealous!”

A Wen shot back. His smiling face suddenly turned serious as he stood holding his spear.

The noisy camp instantly quieted. Everyone’s mirth retreated, their expressions becoming serious. A Wen might be young, but he was exceptionally talented, and was firmly held his spot as the second strongest member of the Guard Camp, his strength just a bit less than Shu Long’s. They were also very curious about what A Wen had comprehended from staying in meditation for so long in the fiendish mist.

Shu Long had a gratified expression. He was the oldest, his personality was steady and well-established. His competitive desire was weak. He had basically taught everything to A Wen. Seeing A Wen improve rapidly, he was very happy.

A Wen’s expression was serious. The air flowed in streams around him and gradually sped up. In an instant, the air started to hiss like an arrow travelling at a high speed.

Clang!

With the sound of metallic impact, many black and gold plumes popped out of the black armor.

Zuo Mo was very shocked.

A Wen’s figure was thin and slender to begin with. With the addition of these long feather-like black gold plumes, he looked even more nimble. A Wen bent his legs slightly and then his figure disappeared from his spot.

So fast! Zuo Mo’s pupils slightly shrunk. His eyes were not ordinary but he could only see a streak of black. He was shocked. Unless Zuo Mo used the Light Void Wings, he would be left eating dust behind A Wen with that speed.

“This boy’s talent isn’t bad.” Pu Yao couldn’t resist popping in. “Look, this is the difference! He can cultivate to this step using a trashy [Hardship Guard]. Don’t you feel ashamed?”

“Ashamed? Why should I be ashamed?” Zuo Mo did not turn his eyes and responded, “It’s better the stronger he is.”

Pu Yao finally recalled the person in front of him had such a thick face that he was immune to mockery of this degree.

Zuo Mo rubbed his chin and said directly, “Not bad, not bad! This fast, we don’t have to use turtle tactics in the future. Can he fly? It will be great if there is flight!”

“Don’t think so optimistically.” Pu Yao could not bear to see Zuo Mo’s content state, and smirked. “This boy is very talented. The other people lack greatly compared to him. They can only be heavy armor Hardship Guards.” His tone then turned. “So many cultivation sects, they are all blind to dismiss such a good seed.”

Pu Yao started his usual habit of mocking everyone.

Zuo Mo ignored him and looked seriously at A Wen. A Wen’s speed was extremely fast, and rivaled the sword xiu when they flew on their swords. His nimbleness was actually better than sword xiu.

Zuo Mo, who could be considered to be an old-timer, was very clear how much of an advantage such speed would be in combat.

Midair, A Wen flipped again, and the black spear in his hand suddenly thrust.

Hiss!

A section of the spear-point suddenly appeared out of the air in a place thirty zhang from his body!

“What is that?” Zuo Mo’s expression changed.

“Air-breaker, a little technique. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” Even though he said this, Pu Yao could not disguise the pride on his face. “So young and he comprehended Air-breaker. It can be considered rare for mo guards.”

Pu Yao’s tone turned to be slightly regretful. “Actually, Shu Long’s talent is also not bad, but it is a pity that his age when he started cultivation is slightly old.”

All of the others sighed in shock. They widened their eyes in fear of missing any detail. Many of the techniques that A Wen was showing now was great inspiration to him, especially the camp guards that had broken through and formed their weapon.

In the air, A Wen seemed unconstrained by space. The tip of his spear thrust would appear in any place within one hundred zhang of him according to his will.

In a good mood, Pu Yao started to urge. “Actually, hardship guards like this boy’s kind is rare. The greatest duty of mo guards are to protect their master, not to kill enemies. That is why mo guards are frequently large blockheads. These people from Guard Camp are too weak. The best mo guards are Mountain Range Bull Mo, and Stone Rhinoceros Mo. If they cultivate [Hardship Guard], tsk tsk, they are just moving mountains. If it is the mantis mo that cultivate [Hardship Guard], it is more common for shadow mo guards specialized in speed to appear. But mantis mo are guys who will die if they are touched. Who would use them as guards?Maybe if they do not want to live a long time.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo noticed the other people in Guard Camp. As expected, they were all big blockheads. Each person’s body was full of exaggerated muscles. Their figures were half again as large as normal people on average. Adding on the thick armor, they were like mobile steel forts.

At this time, the red charm on A Wen’s black spear suddenly turned to a thread of fire and wrapped around the tip of the spear.

“Kill!”

A Wen shouted. A light that intermingled red and black tore apart the air.

Boom!

Everyone felt their vision light up. A burning and fiendish wave of air blew through the entire Guard Camp.

When the air gust subsided, a deep pit about five zhang wide appeared on the corner of the campsite.

It was an easy matter to make a pit five zhang wide. However, this pit seemed slightly deep. Zuo Mo flew to beside the pit, and looked inside. His heart was instantly shocked. This pit most likely was not less than twenty zhang deep.

Making a pit with a width of five zhang was not hard, but a pit that was deeper than twenty zhang was very difficult to accomplish!

This pit was formed like a knife cutting tofu. The bottom and top part of the hole were the same width. This showed one thing. A Wen’s attacking force was concentrated and evenly distributed.

Zuo Mo judged that if he was hit, he would probably lose half of his life.

A Wen’s figure flashed and he appeared next to Zuo Mo.

“Not bad, Little Monkey,” Zuo Mo praised. “You have really broadened my vision.”

A Wen’s face suddenly became flushed, and slightly embarrassed. “Daren, do not ridicule this humble performance.”

“Ho, Little Monkey, you’re embarrassed now?”

“Ha ha, Little Monkey’s face is very thin!”

The people in the surroundings instantly started. A Wen was even more embarrassed. He scratched his head and stood at the side. Seeing this, the other people laughed even more happily.

Zuo Mo also couldn’t resist roaring in laughter.

———

“Is what you say true?”

The elders in the room exploded. Many of the elders unconsciously stood up. These elder’s emotions were turbulent, and they forgot to keep their strength back. All the furniture in the room creaked and exploded in pieces.

Cang Ze’s scalp turned numb. He did not dare to breath. “He said so.”

“How can he know how to cultivate Grey Scar Art? He definitely is a liar!”

“Who cares if he is a liar. Catch him and then we will know!”

“Catch? What if he really knows? If we offend him, we will really lose greatly!”

The Grey Clan elders talked over each other, their faces red and their necks thick as though they were going to kill someone.

Cang Ze buried his head lower, and grimaced inside.

“Alright, all of you shut up!” A deep voice sounded. All of the voices disappeared.

The Chief Elder finally spoke. Cang Ze wiped away the cold sweat and celebrated inside.

‘What conditions does he have?” The Chief Elder opened his eyes in his wrinkle-filled face.

“Ten Golden Souls. Each Year.”

The enormous elder room was deathly silent.

Chapter 358: Public Challenge

“Have you gone to see the Wasteland Beast Chessboard?” a student excitedly asked his classmate.

Another student hurriedly took up the topic. “Of course, how can I miss it? They are really strong! They say it is a very young yao. I wonder which yao art house this monster came from.”

“There are yao beyond yao, bro!” Student A said emotionally.

“Right? I had assumed before that all the geniuses were part of the Genius Alliance. Didn’t think there would be people outside.” Student B felt it was slightly impossible to believe.

“Ha, I’ve long found that group of lily-white faces an eyesore. They take away all the girls based on their strength, and leave us with nothing. A hero finally comes down from the Heavens. Hero! He definitely has to strike a blow against their arrogant aura and save all of us!” Student A spread out his arms and shouted.

At the side, a snort suddenly came. “Delusional!”

Student A was enraged and suddenly turned around his face. However, he instantly faltered when he saw who had come. He dejectedly pulled Student B and fled.

Mu Wu Shang disdainfully stared at the two fleeing figures, but a shadow came over his mood. His steps grew slightly faster. He quickly reached the lecture room. When he stepped into the room, a wave of noise blew into his face. He unconsciously frowned.

The terms of prison-breaking battle, and Wasteland Beast Chessboard continuously appeared. His mood became even more terrible. He noticed that when some students saw him, they purposefully increased their volume and made expressions in secret.

Mu Wu Shang unconsciously clenched his fists. He snorted coldly, turned and walked out of the lecture room.

“Che, what Genius Alliance, that is a true genius … …”

“Yes, yes … …”

The sounds of discussion behind him burrowed into his ears. His face was blackened.

In a depressed mood, Mu Wu Shang flew to Daytime Peak. Right now, it was class time and there were not many people on Daytime Peak. Standing on the six thousand chi Daytime Peak, he looked into the distance. Mu Wu Shang’s depressed mood instantly eased greatly.

“Haha, I guess you were here.” A familiar voice came from behind him.

Without needing to turn his head, Wu Mu Shang knew who had come. Jin Ling, his best friend from childhood. The two were from large clans, and had close relations. The two of them had played together from very young and could be considered childhood sweethearts. However, the two of them had developed a platonic friendship, and were like siblings rather than the more intimate relationship their parents wanted.

“Why concern yourself with these people.” Jin Ling urged, “It seems that we suppress them too much usually.”

Mu Wu Shang did not speak, but his heart eased.

There were two members of Genius Alliance in Bright Might Yao Art House, one was Mu Wu Shang, the other was Jin Ling. Genius Alliance was a loose organization among students. It was established  four hundred years ago and was created by the twelve top genius students from the many yao art houses of the yao world.

The Genius Alliance only recruited those with outstanding students. After developing for more than four centuries, the influence of Genius Alliance was much greater than it started with. In four centuries, each generation’s alliance leader of the Genius Alliance was the undoubted leader of their generation of students. When these geniuses finished their schooling, if they would enter the important systems of the yao world or they were managing major areas. In its four century history, nine Sky Yao had appeared among their numbers. This was almost seven-tenths of the Sky Yao that had appeared over this four century period.

Each student thought it an honour to enter the Genius Alliance, and the scheduled exchanges inside the alliance was fatally attractive to these people who were cultivating maniacs.

If they could enter the Genius Alliance, they would definitely have a bright future.

However, these great talents also garnered much ire. On one hand, due to thinking highly of themselves, they were very brazen in their actions, and naturally did not attract favor. On the other hand, the elders that had already left the Genius Alliance liked to take care of their younger juniors in the Genius Alliance. This meant that the Genius Alliance was given a great amount of resources, and caused many yao to feel it was unfair.

The reason that this prison-breaking battle was related to the Genius Alliance was that the Genius Alliance had been planning on a prison-breaking battle recently. They were used to being high-profile and so this plan had been made public early on so everyone knew.

But at this time, the sudden prison-breaking battle that appeared caused the Genius Alliance’s position to be very awkward. Those students that disliked the Genius Alliance before were naturally happy. The Genius Alliance that had never been in a reactive position before finally tasted what it was like to be roasted on a fire.

However, these young geniuses were all very proud. How could they swallow this?

Mu Wu Shang was also the same.

Jin Ling’s tone was light, but she also had a fire suppressed inside.

Suddenly, the spirit imprint on Mu Wu Shang’s arm lit up. Mu Wu Shang noticed the “Ancient” character inside the light, and a blush came onto his black face. His eyes became excited.

A ball of light floated from the spirit imprint and a face that they were very familiar with showed up. He said excitedly, “Great, both of you are here. Saves me from making another trip. Quick, come to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard now!”

Mu Wu Shang and Jing Ling exchanged looks. They were excited. The Alliance was going to act!

The two did not waste words and instantly stood to fly with their greatest speed to the cultivation seclusion rooms. The two each rented a seclusion room, and entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. They quickly found the Alliance.

Forty six yao.

Mu Wu Shang and Jin Ling were all greatly shocked, and then they immediately became excited. It was possible to see how much the Alliance prioritized this matter when so many alliance members were present. When they saw the youth that looked very honest at the front, they couldn’t help but become excited again.

He had an very interesting name, Huai Boy. He was one of the supervisors of the Genius Alliance. Those that had roles inside the Genius Alliance were those that were very powerful, more powerful than normal members.

Huai Boy’s appearance was very normal. He always had a smile on his face, appeared to be harmless, and honest. But today, the smile on Huai Boy’s smile disappeared. The narrowed eyes were lit up.

“Just received news that the master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard has challenged us directly!”

Mu Wu Shang’s excited expression froze on his face. He looked dazedly at Huai Boy, his mouth gaping. The other student members all had shocked and disbelieving faces.

Challenging the Genius Alliance!

Was this guy crazy?

“This has already been broadcasted by all the major yao channels.”

“We do not know if someone is scheming and pushing their agenda from the shadows, or if it is the person’s challenge. But this is not important.”

“Because we will use reality to tell everyone that doubts us.”

“Who is truly the geniuses!”

———

Like usual, Nan Yue entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

However, today seemed … …

She looked strangely at the surrounding yao. She noticed that they all seemed to be very excited. Has something major happened?

Did someone activate the prison breaking battle again? She shook her head and smiled, and felt amused that she would have such an absurd thought.

“I heard that the Genius Alliance are coming to break the Wasteland Beast Chessboard!”

This sentence burrowed into Nan Yue’s ears. Nan Yue shook and felt a basin of cold water had been poured over her head. What? Genius Alliance wanted to break Daren’s Wasteland Beast Chessboard? She focused and listened closely.

“Ah? Why is Genius Alliance at odds with the Wasteland Beast Chessboard? I remember now. They seemed to have said they were going to break a prison before. Had their goal also been Vast Water Clear Skies?”

“Ha, you definitely do not know. The one making the challenge is the mystery person!”

“Mystery person? The owner of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard?”

“Just that one! Go watch the news, they’re broadcasting it everywhere.”

Nan Yue wasn’t in the mood to cultivate and immediately left the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. Her room was just four walls, where would she have the yao news tree? She hurriedly put on an outer garment, pushed open the door and flew up. She recalled that the center of the city had an enormous yao news tree.

She saw the yao news tree that reached up to the clouds from a long way off, and adjusted her direction to fly towards it.

This yao news tree was the largest of the three closest cities. The enormous crown of the tree was like a small mountain with innumerable forts. Countless vines drooped down from the tree branches and were heavy with pod-like fruits.

Yao filled all of the yao news tree.

Nan Yue picked a place with few people and landed. When she just steadied her body, her consciousness wrapped on a thin vine in front of her.

With a pop, the fruit of the yao news tree exploded and turned to a multi-coloured mist.

The rainbow mist quickly changed and became a beautiful female yao. The female yao’s expression was very excited, and spoke very quickly.

“The mystery young expert that just finished the prison breaking battle and reconstructed the Wasteland Beast Chessboard has publicly challenged the Genius Alliance. We are now doing a special report about this matter. Up until now, the Genius Alliance has not made any formal statements about this matter, and the new master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard has not been seen. However, this matter is definitely not unsubstantiated. Maybe we will soon see a spectacular struggle … …”

Nan Yue’s head rang.

Impossible! This was impossible!

Daren definitely would not challenge the Genius Alliance!

This thought was so strong that Nan Yue did not doubt it. She had not spent much time with Daren, but she did not feel that Daren, from any perspective, would be such an arrogant and impulsive yao.

There definitely was someone spreading fake information!

Nan Yue was not dumb and instantly understood. However, her expression did not turn for the better but became even worse. No one was ignorant of the power of the Genius Alliance!

Almost all yao knew what those geniuses were like. Regardless of whether this information was real, with the conduct of the Genius Alliance, they definitely would not rest!

Why was it like this … …

———

“Shixiong, move faster,” Gongsun Cha said, unsatisfied.

In the fiendish mist, Zuo Mo’s face instantly fell. After absorbing the soul base source of the fiend souls, Gongsun Cha’s speed had increased which caused Zuo Mo’s “fishing” to be unable to keep up.

Zuo Mo was discontent. “So noisy! It’s good that you even have something to eat!”

Tenth Grade flew up and down at the side, his little face slightly distressed.

“No, Shixiong, you have to be responsible for satiation since you are responsible for the food!” Gongsun Cha’s face was rascally.

The corner of Zuo Mo’s eyes twitched. He forcibly suppressed the impulse to kick Gongsun Cha away. Suddenly, his gaze focused and he stopped all movement. Raising his face, he looked towards the deeper parts of the fiendish mist.

Sword essence!

Chapter 359: Activation

Sword essence!

There was sword essence within the fiendish mist!

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed. The sword essence coming from the fiendish mist was faint, but he was sure it wasn’t an illusion. Out of caution, he closed his eyes and spread out his consciousness. A moment later, he opened his eyes. They were ecstatic.

There were people!

There were people inside the fiendish mist!

Nothing could excite him more. He hadn’t been this excited even after he completed the prison-break battle. Ever since they stepped into this vast, desolate, and mysterious ancient battlefield, uncertainty and worry had always been clouds over his heart regardless of how calm and composed he appeared.

There was no sign of life to be seen on this unknown ancient battlefield. This place was silent and barren, filled with danger. All the signs supported that this was a land of death. The scariest part of a dead land was the dangers all around it. The impoverished and dangerous environment meant that Zuo Mo and the others did not even have a chance to breathe.

But now, Zuo Mo suddenly found that there were people existing in a place he assumed was dead. How could he not be ecstatic? It was like searching endlessly in the darkness, and suddenly seeing a glimmer of light. At least, they had a chance to rest. Zuo Mo believed that if they had enough time, they could definitely walk out of the ancient battlefield.

“There are people ahead!” Zuo Mo pointed excitedly at the depth of the fiendish mist as he said to Gongsun Cha.

“People?” Gongsun Cha was stunned. After a moment, he suddenly reacted. “There are people inside?”

“En.” Zuo Mo nodded heavily. “Someone is using sword essence in there. In that direction. It’s a bit far from us, but not impossibly so. I can feel it, but it is not very strong.”

“What should we do?” Gongsun Cha hurriedly asked.

“Gather everyone, and we will advance in that direction. We need to be fast, or we will miss them.” At this time, Zuo Mo showed the decisiveness of a leader and did not hesitate in issuing instructions.

———

Wei Sheng stared at the fiend soul beast in front of him, the black sword in his hand slightly raised. However, his heart sank slightly. The body of this fiend soul beast was longer than three zhang. It was shaped like a scorpion. Between the two pincers, he was able to see the criss-crossing teeth that sent chills through his heart.

It’s body was completely covered in shiny, black armour covered with red seal scripts that curved like earthworms. There were two dark red dots for eyes that lit up in the fiendish mist, and shocked one’s soul.

Its body was close to the ground, the two pincers slightly raised as a dark and vicious presence tightly locked onto Wei Sheng.

This fiend soul beast had silently closed in with intentions of ambushing him. If it wasn’t for the fact that Wei Sheng’ cultivation level had progressed greatly, his sword essence spiritually clear and taken to heart, Wei Sheng himself was not sure he could survive after an ambush by such a vicious beast.

However, Wei Sheng did not panic due to his shock. He was not willing to show weakness, and his sword essence locked onto the other.

This fiend soul scorpion seemed to know the prey in front of it should not be underestimated. It did not dare to move rashly, and it seemed very wary of the great black sword in Wei Sheng’ hands.

The two descended into a stand off.

Wei Sheng closely watched  the fiend soul scorpion, the black sword in his hand did not tremble at all. He had killed his every step the entire way on his trip  through the fiendish mist. After continuous, hard battles, his body was very tired and at the end of its strength. The black sword seemed to lose its spirit. The aura had gradually faded. This caused Wei Sheng to feel it progressing was even harder, and basically had left him no opportunity to rest.

The exhaustion of his body was like a tide, wave after wave crashing against Wei Sheng’s mental defenses. Suddenly, Wei Sheng recalled the time when he had been a sword servant. Just with his simple and crude sword art, he had been searching for his sword path in the wilderness.

At that time, he had been so innocent and so satisfied!

There were no conflicts inside the sect, no unspoken criticism about the sect, no other thoughts. He was like the sword in his hand, simple to the utmost.

He lightly sighed.

There were many matters in the world that people were helpless against, could not brush off or dodge. Like this patch of fiendish mist. It continuously corroded his ling power. Now he understood why so many xiuzhe would stay in a distance place away from the troubles of the world.

As Wei Sheng’s mind was distracted, the cunning and vicious fiend soul scorpion instantly seized at a chance.

The glowing red eyes drew out two soul-shaking streaks in the fiendish mist. The speed of the fiend soul scorpion was like lightning. It was so fast, and the sound was so muffled that there wasn’t even a vibration in the air.

Wei Sheng’s heart was shocked. He knew he was in an unprecedentedly dangerous situation. When he had sighed just now, he instantly knew. That the wandering thought was a sign of extreme danger. It mean that his body was weak to the point of collapsing which was why his mental defenses had been so lax.

But he had not expected this vicious beast to be so sensitive and cunning to accurately seize this chance!

His wrist flipped, and the horse-chopping sabre that was up to Wei Sheng’s chest seemed to be as light as air as it block in front of his chest.

Dong!

Among the sound of steel striking, Wei Sheng’s body shook and he retreated seven steps.

Wei Sheng grimaced inside. If his condition wasn’t so poor, then he wouldn’t have retreated even one step under such a force. But his endurance, and ling power had reached their tail ends. His battle experience was rich and he knew that the vicious beast in front of him was cunning and deceitful. It definitely had detected that he was weak inside.

As expected, the red light of the fiend soul scorpion exploded. It did not attack but like before, it dashed forward.

Such a cautious beast!

Wei Sheng did not have the time to finish praising it when a great force passed over. He made a muffled grunt, and took ten steps back before he steadied his figure.

Was he going to be buried here today?

Wei Sheng sighed inside.

Only now did the fiend soul scorpion truly confirm that Wei Sheng had reached his last legs. It attacked without hesitation. It was very cunning, and knew that Wei Sheng had almost no strength left, so it tried to use brute force to destroy Wei Sheng.

Dong dong dong!

The sound of impacts were endless like a tempest.

Wei Sheng struggled to endure like a little boat in a hurricane, suddenly moving up and down as though he could be swallowed by the waves at any moment. The attacks of the fiend soul scorpion were relentless and as fast as lightning. Wei Sheng was surrounded by danger. The already tattered clothing at this time was destroyed by the small yet sharp turbulence like butterflies in flight.

A stream of blood came from the corner of Wei Sheng’s mouth. The ling power in his body was drained, his channels started to crack. He would not be able to persist for much longer, as his channels would shatter into countless pieces, and his cultivation would instantly collapse.

The black sword that had seemed vicious before was like a dull sword of ordinary metal without any sheen.

Was he really going to lose his life here?

Wei Sheng was in a daze, his moves slow as though he could fall at any moment. Yet unexpectedly, after more than ten continuous attacks, he was still standing, barely. If one looked closely, they would find that when the fiend soul scorpion’s pair of pincers was going to strike him, the black sword in his hand would coincidentally appear in front of the giant pincers.

The moment his body was in danger, Wei Sheng would always make an instinctive response.

Without conscious thought, without ling power, his mind was completely blank.

Dong dong dong … …

The hurricane was ongoing, so long it made one feel hopeless.

Yet the scene was filled with weirdness. Wei Sheng’s eyes were wooden, empty and without thought, his movements were slow. Yet the instant the giant pincers were going to touch his body, his hesitation would disappear. His movements would be unspeakably simple and crisp, but when paired with his wooden expression, it was even stranger.

It was as though if one more straw was added to his load, Wei Sheng would fall.

But no matter how the fiend soul scorpion tried, even when the giant pincers tore the air apart in their attacks, they were stopped by Wei Sheng’ movements that were filled with strangeness.

———

Nan Yue stood on the borderless Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

She bit her lips tightly. Just on her way here, she had already seen seven groups of people from the Genius Alliance. The Genius Alliance did not have any intentions of disguising its retaliation.

Dozens of the Genius Alliance Supervisors continued to announce that they would definitely break the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

The Genius Alliance were usually high-profile, but declaring such a thing in public had never happened before. Anyone with eyes could see the master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard had infuriated the Genius Alliance. A guy that offended the Genius Alliance, what good outcome would he have?

How could Nan Yue, who had been hearing of the Genius Alliance since she was very young, not know this? Before, the Genius Alliance was a place that was high and out of reach. She did not dare to even think of having a connection with the Genius Alliance, much less entering it.

But in a night, the Genius Alliance actually became her enemy. How could she not feel terror? She knew they were targeting Daren; but as Daren’s follower, Daren’s enemies were her enemies!

She felt great pressure from the groups of Genius Alliance members that appeared on the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

Nan Yue did not know how many yao were paying attention to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, but she could clearly feel that there were multiple times more yao at the Wasteland Beast Chessboard than there were normally.

“Hey, has there been a result?”

“No. Supposedly, the Genius Alliance of Fixed Sky Jie have come. This is going to be something good to see.”

“Fixed Sky Jie also came? Then isn’t it already six jie that have come?”

“It’s the eighth jie! Central Pond Jie and Lilium Jie also came.”

“Wow, this scary?”

“Yes, none of the Genius Alliance is willing to be defeated. How can they rest? In my view, even if this matter concluded here, this conflict won’t end!”

“In your view, who do you favor?”

“It’s hard to say. On the surface, the Genius Alliance of course has the advantage, but a person that set down the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, can he be a nice guy? Only idiots would believe such a thing! Look at how many people came from the Genius Alliance, but no one has activated the prison-breaking battle … …”

Hearing the discussion drifting into her hears, Nan Yue felt unspeakably irritated and fretful.

Which damned guys dared to slander Daren. They should be slowly sliced to death!

At this time, a wave of sound suddenly came over.

“Prison-breaking battle!”

“Someone activated the prison-breaking battle!”

The soundwave came from far and rolled over. Nan Yue’s head rang and blanked.

Her face was pale as she was stunned where she stood.

The yao in the surroundings hated that they were born without two more legs as they furiously charged towards the prison battlefield. Countless yao of different shapes formed a flood towards the prison battlefield.

Nan Yue was sandwiched in the middle and uncontrollably followed the flood towards the prison battlefield.

How was it possible … … how was … …

Was the Genius Alliance really this powerful?

Her expression was filled with hopelessness!

Chapter 360: Start

“I didn’t think that someone would activate the prison-breaking battle so quickly. It is slightly unexpected to me,” Qian Liu said with a smile.

The fire-faced person twisted his mouth. “You’re the only one interested in this low-level stuff. However,” he had a proud expression, “my skill isn’t bad.”

“Utmost base.” Qian Liu did not hesitate in giving his opinion.

“But very effective.” The pride on the fire-faced person did not decrease in the slightest.

Qian Liu was too lazy to speak and stared at the prison battlefield.

———

Huai Boy vigilantly paid attention to his surroundings.

The supervisors of the Genius Alliance were set for each jie, each jie had one supervisor. This year, Huai Boy was twenty, and his strength and talent was undisputed to be able to become a supervisor of the Genius Alliance. However, Huai Boy had not thought that he would activate the prison-breaking battle. Of the eight supervisors that had entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, in terms of power, he was ranked in the middle.

However, he quickly reacted, and was very excited. This was a chance from the Heavens!

There were not many rules in the Genius Alliance, but being rewarded for one’s service was the one upheld the strictest. There had been nine Sky Yao to come out of the Genius Alliance, and five of them had left yao arts behind for the Genius Alliance. This was added onto the wondrous techniques and strange arts that the generations of alliance leaders had collected, which were all stored in a yao art tree in the center of the yao realm. This tree surpassed any yao art tree from any yao art house.

This was a place that all yao dreamed of. Huai Boy was not an exception. Huai Boy came from Ying Wind Scholar Clan. It was one of the major clans locally, but in all of the yao realm, it could only be considered middling. The [Blue Thorn Secret Art] was a very good yao art, but Huai Boy did not feel satisfied.

He had become a supervisor of the Genius Alliance at such a young age and had great ambitions. No one, in the Scholar Clan’s history, had become a sky yao by cultivating [Blue Thorn Secret Art]. How could he be satisfied? The clan did not withhold any resources when nurturing him, and used all kinds of methods to collect even more powerful yao arts for him. However, each of the top yao arts were peerless in value. After so many years, they still were unable to acquire a top yao art.

Prison-breaking battle, no matter what, he had to achieve victory! Huai Boy made a resolution.

This service would probably be able to be traded for a pretty good yao art.

Come!

Huai Boy’s eyes lit up, and he was full of fighting spirit.

———

The procession of boats silently and rapidly progressed in the fiendish mist.

Of the five slave transporting boats, the slave transporting boat of Golden Crow Camp was at the very center. The formation scripts on the body of the boat released faint light. The Crimson Fiend Cauldron continuously transformed the fiendish mist into ling power, and guided it into the formations carved on the boat.

Compared to when it was made, the Crimson Fiend Cauldron was much smaller now. This was due to being used day and night without an moment of rest. The ling power transformed by the Crimson Fiend Cauldron, a fifth-grade talisman, was not just vast and rich, it was of high quality. As it worked day and night, this rich and pure ling power was a small fire that finely baked the cauldron and continuously processed it.

The Crimson Fiend Cauldron was created by everyone of Golden Crow Camp, and it was unprecedented in its invention. However, many parts of the Crimson Fiend Cauldron could not help but be somewhat heterogeneous due to the differences in cultivation of Sun Bao, Ji Wei, and the others. After a long period of ling power forging, the impurities of the Crimson Fiend Cauldron were slowly processed, and its quality was higher than before, but its size shrunk greatly.

Zuo Mo was standing at the bow of the slave transporting boat at the very front. His gaze was fixed into the mist. The formations of the boat reflected light on his tense face, and flickered. Beside him, A Gui propped up her chin and copied Zuo Mo to look into the distance.

A Gui’s wounds were clearly recovering, and her face gradually had some expression, even though it was still very wooden.

Woosh woosh woosh.

There were hardship guards in black armor that ran around constantly on their patrol. Their expressions were watchful, and they were all hardship guards that had that had created their weapons. A Wen ran at the very front with the black spear in his hand. The bright red tassel was like a flame flickering in the wind.

These Guard Camp elite that had finished forming their weapons were like fish in the water among the fiendish mist. They also became the primary combat force.

Gongsun Cha led the Vermillion Bird Camp, Shu Long led the Guard Camp, Xie Shan was on the last slave transporting boat as the rear guard. In the remaining slave transporting boat, Ma Fan sat on top of the boat. The other people of the Sky Peak Platoon were scattered around the boat. After the epiphany last time, Ma Fan’s sword essence had reached manifestation, and the suppression the fiendish mist had on him was minimized.

Everyone seemed to be on their guard, their expressions heavy. A murderous presence was thick and roiling among the troop like an enormous beast slowly travelling close to the ground without hurry or slowness.

Even though he was in a hurry to find the person inside the fiendish mist, but Zuo Mo knew very well how dangerous the depths of the fiendish mist were. He did not dare to move without forethought. In such a dangerous territory, the slightest bit of carelessness could cause all of them to die.

Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire nervously burrowed into A Gui’s arms. Lil’ Black had a death grip on A Gui’s hair. Silly Bird’s expression was unconcerned. The tense situation did not invoke any response from her. Tenth Grade floated on the black antennae of the twin butterfly, the murderous and cold little face showing yearning.

It was strange to speak of it. A ball of faint white mist still hung at the end of the white antennae of the twin butterfly and showed no signs of becoming tangible.

Tenth Grade was born from the twin butterfly absorbing black fiendish energy. Rather than being afraid of the fiendish mist, he felt it was very intimate. However, his sense of danger was more sensitive than normal xiuzhe. The deeps of the fiendish mist gave him a strong feeling of danger, so much that he did not dare to go deep in. He was proud, but he was not stupid. After “fishing” with Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha these past days, Tenth Grade had an even clearer understanding of the fiendish mist’s dangers.

Of course, most important was that the unreasonable and vicious bird was at the side … …

Tenth Grade glanced out of the corner of his eye at Silly Bird whose eyes were closed in rest, and instinctively shrunk his neck.

“There are people in such a damned place?” Lei Peng rumbled, and could not understand.

“Maybe it is the lost descendants of ancient cultivators.” Nian Lu brushed his bangs and fully expressed his imagination.

“Ancient cultivator descendants … …”

The people in the surroundings groaned. This guy had read too many legends and rumors.

Lei Peng’s gaze landed on the hardship guards that were moving nimbly and was filled with admiration. “This poor place really has a finger on our weak spot. But the Guard Camp, they are having a really good time! Even an wants to go cultivate [Hardship Guard].”

They were cultivating [Fiend Ling] but due to the short time cultivating it, they could just manage to defend against the corrosion of the fiendish mist. The fiendish mist that was filled with danger towards them wasn’t just harmless against Guard Camp, but was beneficial. How could these people that were long used to leading the charge not be jealous?

“Don’t be jealous of them!” Nian Lu adjusted his clothing and said, “You can copy the Captain. When your sword essence reaches the level of manifestation, you cannot be corroded by anything. The measly fiendish mist is naturally not an exception.”

Lei Peng was speechless.

There seemed to be an invisible wall around Ma Fan’s body. The red-black fiendish mist could not enter the area around him. Everyone did not feel any ling power rippling which meant that Captain had not used ling power. This area had naturally formed after Ma Fan achieved sword essence manifestation.

However, compared to starting from the beginning and cultivating [Hardship Guard], the difficulty of reaching sword essence manifestation was even higher. Unless they cultivated to jindan, it wasn’t just any normal monster that could reach sword essence manifestation in ningmai. But even from ningmai to jindan, the difficulty involved … …

“Blast it!” Lei Peng shot out an angry breath.

While everyone felt somewhat suppressed at not being able to charge at the very front, but they also felt slight anticipation. If there really were xiuzhe inside the fiendish mist, then that meant they also could use their full power within the fiendish mist. They had persisted in practicing [Fiend Ling] but they needed to reach the third level before they could directly transform the fiend mist into ling power.

Before that, while they still could absorb fiendish mist and transform it to ling power, the rate was very slow. That was fine for cultivation, but during battle, that meant that their ling power would basically be unreplenished.

Many of them put their hopes on the xiuzhe inside the fiendish mist.

Ping!

A crisp collision sound occurred on the outside.

Everyone’s expressions changed. Enemy attack!

This was the first attack they had encountered up until now. No one had good expressions. They had just travelled fifty li into the fiendish mist, and started to encounter attacks from unknown and vicious beings. The dangers up ahead could be imagined.

The one that encountered the enemy was A Wen.

A Wen’s eyes tracked the unknown and vicious beast in front of him. This vicious being was shaped like a tiger or panther, the long and nimble figure filled with beauty. Its entire body was covered in thick metal-hard scales in layers and gleamed with a cold light. The paws on the ground had hooked and sharp claws that effortlessly dug into the soil. The eyes were set deep, the cheekbones protruded, but there were no eyeballs in the sockets, only red light.

When A Wen’s gaze came into contact with the red light inside the eyes of the vicious being, he felt his body tighten, and was shocked inside.

Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on the vicious beast. Thinking about what Pu Yao had said to him before, he asked, “This is a fiend soul beast?”

“Yes.” Pu Yao’s tone did not have the aloofness it usually did and was filled with gravity. “Such a powerful fiend soul beast! This fiendish mist has been through an unknown amount of time. I’ve never seen black fiendish mist of such intensity, and have never heard of it. This fiendish soul beast surpasses any fiend soul beast of my knowledge. You need to be careful.”

Zuo Mo was shocked. This grave tone could be said to be very rare for Pu Yao.

A strong feeling of danger formed but Zuo Mo forcibly suppressed it. He decided to see just how powerful this fiendish soul beast really was.

———

A Wen was a lucky survivor of the dueling stadium and had experienced many cruel battles. The fiend soul beast in front of him gave him enormous pressure but did not cause him to lose his calm.

A cold feeling came from the black spear. He suddenly had a burst of confidence. In the dueling stadium, he had defeated many opponents stronger than him, and now, he was stronger than before!

The expression on the handsome face silently changed. Killing essence rose, his eyes vicious, a thick black mist came from the thenar space where he grasped his black spear, and like a black snake, it coiled around the black spear.

His presence suddenly exploded, his vicious eyes glaring as he shouted lowly, “Kill!”

The black spear in his hand was held flat and thrust forward without finesse.

Chapter 361: The Childhood Wish

Yi Zheng cut a sorry figure.

His blue monk robe was in tatters as he staggered forward, lacking any of the usual grace that the sect taught him. However, who would care about grace at this time?

He had never ever thought that the most normal sect mission would take him to such a ghastly place. Many times, he had thought that he had come to the Avīci Hell that only appeared on the records. Fortunately, he had worked hard on his cultivation these years, and with Eldest Shixiong’s focused teaching, while his combat abilities were not strong, his body of steel tendons and metal bones was unrivalled.

By relying on his great defensive abilities, he had managed to survive in this endless mist until now.

Before, he had not understood why Eldest Shixiong made him cultivate [Wisdom Dhyana Body], but now he felt the wonders of this dhyana technique. A circle of Buddhist script whirled around his body without rest. This was why the corrosive fiendish mist did not infect his body.

“Impervious to all evils … … impervious to all evils … …”

Yi Zheng continuously chanted. Beads of sweat could be clearly seen on his shiny and clean head. He had entered this mist for just three days, but in these three days, his heart jumped around, and he was very afraid. He was a dhyana xiu, and most sensitive to corrupt, yin and fiendish beings. But this fiendish mist in front of him was endless, and it was so dense it was almost unimaginable.

Other than hell, Yi Zheng really could not think of a place that would have such vicious fiends.

Fortunately, his Wisdom Dhyana Body could naturally subdue these corrupt beings. Even though he had struggled on his way, but he was not wounded. However, his heart did not dare relax. Even the records of the sect had never mentioned such a vicious place. The vicious beings it formed would definitely be terrifying.

Exterminate evil?

Don’t joke. Yi Zheng was very clearly how much he was worth. He believed it was a miracle that he had not been wounded up until now. Right now, he could only hope that the news of his disappearance would quickly arrive to the sect, and the sect would send people to rescue him. Actually, at the bottom of his heart, he also knew that chances were very small.

He was only a person at the borders of the sect. He did know how long it would take for the sect to respond after his disappearance.

He thought about Eldest Shixiong, thought about how Eldest Shixiong would be further neglected now that he was not in the sect. His mood instantly became slightly low.

He aimlessly travelled through the fiendish mist.

After walking for a short while, sounds of fierce combat could be heard from up ahead. Yi Zheng was startled awake. After pausing, he was overjoyed, and ran with bare feet towards the sound.

The sound of battle became clearer.

He quickly saw a man fighting fiercely with a fiend soul scorpion.

He carefully walked closer. When he saw the scorpion closely, he couldn’t help but inhale sharply. More than three zhang tall and two pincers, each the size of a door. Yi Zheng felt his scalp become numb. If he was grazed by those enormous pincers, even his Wisdom Dhyana Body definitely would be unable to tolerate it.

My dear Buddha!

Yi Zheng swallowed with difficulty. His gaze seemed to be glued and unable to be moved away. It was not due to the great strength of the scorpion, but how strange the scene was.

The scorpion’s opponent was a sword xiu. Even though the black sword looked more like a horse chopping sabre, but Yi Zheng recognized that the other was a sword xiu at first glance, and a very traditional sword xiu.

Such a strong sword xiu!

Yi Zheng was greatly alarmed. He recognized the origins of this scorpion. Fiend soul beast, this was a fiend soul beast, a vicious being born from the fiendish mist! He had previously been worried that the corrupt grounds would produce something extraordinary, but upon seeing this fiend soul scorpion, he finally realized just how powerful these vicious beings created were!

If Yi Zheng’s mind was clear now, his face would be pale and alarmed, but at this moment, his gaze was completely attracted by this odd looking battle.

The expression of the sword xiu was dull, as though he was ill, his movements were slow and his gaze wooden … …

Every time the enormous pincers of the fiend soul scorpion were about to tear the sword xiu in half, his slow movements would suddenly become nimble, and stop the giant pincer by a hair. The confused expression on the sword xiu’s face, the dull and slow responses, and the sudden nimbleness formed a strong contrast and was very weird.

After watching for a few moments, Yi Zheng felt his ling power roil and showed signs of losing control. He paled greatly. In terms of the peacefulness of ling power, dhyana xiu were blessed by the heavens. His ling power was going wild just because he was watching someone else fight?

Yi Zheng started his core scripture before he dared to look back at the battle.

The signs of his ling power escaping his control instantly disappeared.

Yi Zheng exhaled. His eyes returned to the person and scorpion that were fighting. The amazement on his face increased. He looked at the sword xiu as though he was looking at a ghost. Before, he had thought that the sword xiu was in danger, and would be killed at anytime. Now that he saw it clearly, he found to his shock that there seemed to be an invisible stickiness to the sword xiu’s black sword. The vicious fiend soul scorpion was like a puppet manipulated by many strings and was struggling in this invisible force.

A terrifying sword essence!

Yi Zheng could not detect the sword xiu’s sword essence at all. At this moment, he admired this sword xiu’s strength greatly. It wasn’t that he had not encountered sword xiu before, but it was the first time he had seen one so powerful. Also, the other seemed close in age to him. So young and possessing such power, it definitely was an accomplished disciple of a large sword cultivating sect.

Was he a disciple of Kun Lun?

Once he saw the state of the situation clearly, Yi Zheng was not in a hurry anymore, and thought about how he would exchange greetings with the person later. He was slightly stuck. This was his first time off the mountain, and he had no experience to speak of.

However, being able to encounter a xiuzhe in such a dangerous place, Yi Zheng felt his luck was already pretty good.

After a while, the battle still had not finished. Now Yi Zheng saw that something was wrong.

The sword xiu’s expression was confused and showed no signs of waking up.

Was he … …

Yi Zheng was daring but paid attention to details. His mind moved. After waiting another moment and seeing the situation did not turn for the better, he thought for an instant and then started to chant in a low voice.

———

Countless scenes flashed across Wei Sheng’s eyes. They were mirages and shadows, but they were also so clear.

The resolution he made as a child, the pursuit of it without fear through dangers, through hardships, sustaining wounds, comprehending the sword at the waterfall, becoming the Eldest Disciple, drinking alcohol with Zuo Shidi under the stars, the order from the sect … …

Countless scenes merged together and suddenly formed an enormous net that swept over him.

There was no place to escape or dodge.

The net grew tighter and restrained him. He felt he could not breathe. The feeling of suffocation filled his entire body. He was like a fish in the net. The more he struggled, the tighter the net was.

Why?

Why was it like this?

I only wanted to cultivate the sword … …

A burst of anger suddenly came from deep in his heart. He was like a beast trapped in a net that struggled fruitlessly.

Why … … why … …

It was like a silent shout, a furious bellow.

Why … … why … ..

He shouted at the top of his lungs, he wailed sorrowfully.

In a daze, he dreamed of a patch of stars. In the dark night, the stars in the sky were numerous. A light wind brushed across an empty wilderness. The faint Blue Sparrow-Tailed grasses swayed in the wind.

A child about seven or eight years old was sleeping amongst the grass. Raising his head to look at the lights streaking across the sky, the tender child voice carried deep amazement. “So beautiful!”

The child jumped up from the grass. The wind brushed across his face and revealed his glittering eyes.

A seed was silently planted in the heart of the child.

The dream was so real, as though he could touch it, but distant like how the moon reflected in the water’s surface. At this moment, Wei Sheng was like a statue. He looked dazedly at the child.

Suddenly, something seemed to burst in his heart, and something came forth.

The distance and unfamiliar childhood memory suddenly floated into his mind. Some reasons he had forgotten, those simple thoughts, they were like the Blue Sparrow Tailed grass seeds bursting from their shells, germination, and then growing.

Yes, my dream is to cultivate the sword.

A pure dream, a pure pursuit, a wish that a child made under the stars.

A strange relaxation came into his mind. The feeling of suffocation disappeared without a trace. Wei Sheng looked entranced at the child underneath the stars. A slightly smile came onto his face, and warmth was shoved into his chest.

Yes, it all came from this affection.

The complex and common mortal matters that made him feel helpless seemed so small, so insignificant.

He opened his eyes, his gaze was clear without any impurity.

Ling power suddenly flooded from his dry channels like water sprouting from a spring. When this new ling power passed, the parts of his channels that had been wounded instantly became filled with life like a tree welcoming spring.

The ling power that followed out was endless. In a short period of time, his ling power had reached his best state. However, the ling power showed no signs of stopping. They continued to rush into Wei Sheng’s channels, and filled every bit of the channels.

When all of Wei Sheng’s channels were filled with ling power, the new ling power started to progress towards his dantian.

Wei Sheng did not stop it. He did not do a thing. But that pair of eyes became even bright in the fiendish mist. It was filled with joy, joy from the heart.

A faint light covered the black sword in his hand.

The fiendish mist around him seemed to suddenly be pushed by an enormous force, pushed far from Wei Sheng and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Yi Zheng gaped as he looked at what was happening and even forgot to continue chanting.

Crack.

The fiend soul beast shattered into dozens of pieces without warning and dropped to the ground. The cuts were peerlessly smooth. Even that pair of unbreakable pincers were dismembered into several sections.

A sword shadow appeared behind Wei Sheng.

The shadow of the sword went from blurry to clear, and continued to grow. In a few dozen breaths, the sword figure was dozens of zhang tall.

The tip of the sword pointed at the sky. It showed no signs of stopping. It broke through the fiendish mist as though it was going to pierce the sky.

Under the colossal sword shadow, Wei Sheng stood majestically.

Thunder rolled through the fiendish mist, tens of thousands of fiend soul beasts howled simultaneously. The blood red sky seemed to boil.

A worldly apparition!

Chapter 362: A Wen Fighting All Out

Huai Boy’s head was covered in sweat.

He had solved five of the dozen problems in front of him, but he was stuck on the sixth question. The hourglass beside him did not show any signs of stopping. Seeing the layer of sand at the top half decrease at a visible rate, another layer of sweat appeared on Huai Boy’s forehead.

He had never thought that the prison-breaking battle of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard would require him to solve problems. In this era of yao art houses, intermediate yao arts made up the majority of yao arts, working cooperatively in groups was the mainstream. In the history of yao, there had never been such a time when teamwork had been so emphasized. To gather the power of a team to explore yao arts was the dominant method.

The yao art houses that understood this, and could teach their student very well . Analysis and deconstruction were techniques which every student was required to learn. In order to exercise the students’ skills, a rich library of problems could not be lacking. In addition to those public question banks, each yao art house had their own question banks.

As one of the top students of a yao art house, solving problems was a task that he was very familiar with and skilled in.

However, his confidence had been quickly crushed in front of the twelve questions of the prison battlefield. Truthfully, when he encountered the third question, he had started to sweat.

These problems were not esoteric. Quite the opposite, these questions were in an area every yao was very familiar with.

Little yao arts!

Even though he was at the sixth question now, it was still a problem about little yao arts.

To Huai Boy, the little yao arts that were the rudimentary and quite distant in his memory. He had finished learning little yao arts before he had entered the yao art house. How old had he been then?

Six? Seven?

Huai Boy himself couldn’t remember it.

However, these problems concerning the simple little yao arts made him feel helpless from the bottom of his heart. The problems that were formulated were not obscure, the ways of thinking were not weird, they were actually open and honest.

This made him feel the failure even more.

He encountered difficulty on simple and straightforward little yao art problems … …

Huai Boy’s face was slightly ashen.

———

Compared to Huai Boy’s nervousness and depression, the spectators outside felt this scene was very boring.

There were no dazzling lights, no murderous presences, no complex and profound changes … …

The honored prison-breaking battle was a student solving problems yet only Huai Boy could see the problems. They could only be bored and count how many beads of sweat were on Huai Boy’s forehead.

The fire-faced person was totally bored and complained, “What are they doing! I thought I could see something major. This long, and it’s so boring! If I knew it would be so boring, I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”

“Don’t be impatient,” Qian Liu could only comfort. “The result will be out soon.”

He hadn’t expected the prison-breaking battle of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard would be solving problems. He had never heard of such a peaceful and non-violent prison-breaking battle.

“That boy can’t do it.” The fire-faced person glanced over and snorted coldly, “Strong on the outside and dry on the inside!”

The fire-faced person suddenly changed his way of thinking and had a smile filled with schadenfreude. “Haha, there’s going to be drama to see now!”

“Drama?” Qian Liu did not react in time. Truthfully, he was slightly disappointed too.

“Think about it. The little guy that those old farts taught can’t even outcompete others on solving problems. Won’t their faces be even more ugly than they already are?” The fire-faced person was very smug. “In their style, solving problems is a fundamental skill. If their fundamentals are less than others, haha, is there anything that is more ironic than this?”

Thinking about it, the fire-faced person seemed to visualize the ugly faces of those old people and laughed freely.

Qian Liu finally reacted. The fire-faced person was not wrong. The old farts and the young brats shared a characteristic. They were conceited. Conceited yao always thought highly of their face. If they lost through yao spells, that was not anything major. But if they lost on solving problems, no matter if it was the old guys or the young brats, they definitely would not accept that.

Thinking about it, Qian Liu couldn’t help but feel anticipation.

“Ha, that guy came out!” The fire-faced person was very excited.

Qian Liu took back his thoughts as his eyes landed on the battlefield.

The prison-battlefield resumed its original appearance

Huai Boy dejectedly and woodenly stood in place.

He had failed.

———

In the fiendish mist, two figures flickered in and out of view.

A Wen’s speed was just slightly less than Zuo Mo’s Light Void Wings. Wearing black armour, it was as if he was a black bolt of lightning. A Wen was able to rival the fiend soul panther’s speed. It had explosive speed and power was. Each impact echoed like thunder.

Everyone’s expressions became serious. Shu Long tightly gripped the long ji in his hand, and prepared to give aid at any moment.

Both sides were amazingly fast. Even the members of Vermillion Bird Camp that always aspired towards rapid attacks had slightly changed expressions. Many people were judging inside. Could they retreat unharmed under such an explosive and sharp attack? Other than the small minority that could maintain their calm, the great majority had ugly expressions.

They did not have a grasp of the battle.

The rhythm was so fast it surpassed their imagination!

They gaped with wide eyes at A Wen’s light and rapid figure. Was this still the clumsy and slow Guard Camp? One person and one panther were like two bolts of black lightning that chased each other and struggled. The hard spear thrust randomly and could freely pass through the void, far and near without any dead spots. It was unable to be defended against.

The strength of the fiend soul panther also surpassed everyone’s expectations. Its speed was not any less, and its strength was greater than A Wen’s. The sharp spear that howled as it thrust looked like it would be shattered with a blow. People’s hearts felt cold when they saw this. If that blow really landed, they would instantly be crushed into powder.

A Wen hadn’t expected this fiend soul panther would be this hard to deal with.

He was much stronger than before, but he still could not do anything to the panther in front of him.

No, he had to battle quickly and not hinder the advance of the troop!

They had just entered the fiendish mist. The monsters that roamed the deeps of the fiendish mist would be even more powerful. If he could not defeat this panther, what would he do in the future? Thinking about it, A Wen’s presence suddenly became vicious and murderous.

“Hm!” Xie Shan’s expression was shocked. Ma Fan also had an astonished expression. They were very sensitive to presence and could clearly detect A Wen’s change.

To kill the other!

Boom!

The red tassel turned to a ball of red fire that enveloped the head of the spear. The black fiendish energy coiled around the pole of the spear and burrowed into the burning spearpoint.

The fiend soul panther showed desire to retreat. It was intelligent. The troop in front of it was enormous and not one he could tear something off. If it was wounded here, it wouldn’t just have lost its prey, even it would become the prey of the other fiend soul beasts.

It slowly retreated.

A Wen’s eyes were deep black, the black energy shrouding the black armor as the spearpoint burned.

A familiar feeling came. Every time he decided to go all out in the dueling stadium, he would enter this strange state. The killing essence in his body boiled, but the his heart was ice cold. This strange state was the talisman that saved his life and allowed him to fortunately survive so many cruel battles.

This was the first time A Wen decided to go all out after entering Guard Camp.

The contents of [Hardship Guard] flowed like water across his mind. His eyes became even deeper.

The black armour on his body was exquisite and light like it was made from layers of feathers. It was unique in Guard Camp. At this time, the black armour on his body slowly swayed as though it was alive. It caused the people watching to have goosebumps. The layers of metal feathers spread up A Wen’s face, and became a mask of small feathers.

Clang clang clang!

There was a string of sounds of iron brushing together like many blades being suddenly pulled out of their sheathes at the same time. Many long feathers suddenly bounced out of A Wen’s black armor. The long feathers were extremely thin, the edges as sharp as knives. In an instant, a vicious and murderous energy sudden spread out.

Arching his body and holding the spear, A Wen’s legs were slightly spaced apart as he bent down slightly.

A Wen raised his face. His slender black feathers of his mask had a fine shine that was savage and cold.

The fiend soul panther smelt the scent of danger and retreated even more quickly. In a blink, it disappeared in the fiendish mist.

Just at this time, the steel long feathers that rose up off A Wen’s black armour shook simultaneously .A power that could destroy mountains and upend seas instantly passed into his right arm. He yelled under his mask, “Kill!”

The black spear suddenly disappeared from his hand.

Pia!

A light sound of rupture came from the depths of the fiendish mist.

Everyone’s expressions changed.

A Wen fell down face first. Before his body could reach the ground, he was caught by a black-armoured hand. It was Shu Long who had managed to get to him.

Xie Shan’s figure flashed and burrowed into the fiendish mist. He returned after two breaths, and had a panther on his hands. There was a hole the size of an egg on the fiend soul panther’s forehead. The hole penetrated the entire head. On Xie Shan’s hands, the fiend soul beast quickly turned into threads of black energy.

Zuo Mo hurriedly ran over to Shu Long. “How is he?”

“No great harm. Just exhaustion,” Shu Long said respectfully.

Zuo Mo’s heart landed now. He had originally wanted A Wen to test the power of the fiend soul beast. He had not expected this handsome person to have such a fiery personality and actually kill the fiend soul beast.

Everyone was shocked by A Wen’s spectacular attack, especially Vermillion Bird Camp that usually had bug eyes. They received the greatest blow. The biggest impression they had of Guard Camp was the [Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation]. In their views, the individual combat abilities of the Hardship Guards was not strong.

But A Wen’s performance today completely flipped their entrenched impressions.

So Guard Camp had already grown to this level!

Zuo Mo’s attention was then put onto the fiend soul beast that Xie Shan had taken over. The fiend soul beast quickly dissipated, and only felt behind a paw and a bead.

The panther paw was covered in fine scales, and extremely hard. The sharp and curved long claws up to five cun long were the most eye-catching. The bead was the size of a thumb, glowing and transparent. It wasn’t ordinary. This was not the time to investigate these items so Zuo Mo carelessly threw them into his ring.

Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head, his eyes as sharp as a sword that pointed straight at the deeper parts of the fiendish mist.

Xie Shan and the others were only a beat behind Zuo Mo. They all raised their heads and looked with shock at the fiendish mist in front of them.

A black tide was quickly spreading from the deeps of the fiendish mist towards them with astounding speed. Everywhere it passed, everything turned to black void. This black tide came extremely quickly. In a blink, it came in front of Zuo Mo and the others. The void that seemed endless swallowed everything.

The fiendish mist that was so corrosive turned to nothing.

Zuo Mo’s procession seemed to be situated in a void.

A the middle of the void, an enormous sword reaching the sky entered everyone’s eyes.

Xie Shan, who was already in jindan, was completely pale now. Like his tail had been stepped on, he shouted in a high-pitch, “Sword essence!”

Ma Fan, Shu Long and the others had white faces.

Zuo Mo seemed to be struck by lightning. His body freezing suddenly, he dazedly murmured lightly.

“Eldest Shixiong… …”

Chapter 363: The Prison-Breaking Six

“These are the problems I encountered.” Huai Boy’s mouth felt bitter. He had thought he would become a hero and had unexpectedly ended up with nothing. He had received the heavy blow in a field that he had never thought would cause him trouble. In the next few days, his mind would be quite scattered.

He had memorized the problems, including the unsolved sixth problem.

The other supervisors came over.

“Little yao arts?”

“It is actually little yao arts?”

They all wore shocked expressions. Some people felt it was nothing. How hard could a little yao art problem be? Huai Boy saw the dismissive expressions, but he did not argue.

The noise quickly faded. After a while, everyone started to sweat. No one had a dismissive expression anymore.

In a patch of silence, everyone’s sweat increased.

———

“This junior’s name is Yi Zheng, a disciple of the Great Buddha Temple,” Yi Zheng rearranged his clothing and respectfully said with a bow. The greeting he gave was one of a junior. The worldly apparition had stunned him. He could clearly feel the difference of the sword xiu’s before and after states.

Was that core formation?

He wasn’t sure, but any breakthrough that was accompanied by a worldly apparition was extraordinary. This was why he had given the bow of a junior even though the other did not look older compared to himself.

Wei Sheng opened his eyes. The ephemeral presence around him suddenly disappeared like it had been brushed away by wind. His eyes became peaceful again like a sharp sword being sheathed so its edges could not be seen.

But after experiencing that soul-shaking scene, Yi Zheng did not dare to slack off and offend. Even more, he glanced at the remnants of the fiend soul beast that had been cut up into multiple pieces, and his heart tightened.

“I am Wei Sheng, from Wu Kong Sword Sect.” Wei Sheng smiled, his attitude warm and peaceful.

“It’s an honor to meet you at last!” Yi Zheng hurriedly said.

Wei Sheng roared with laughter. “Mine is a small sect. You definitely have not heard of it.”

Yi Zheng instantly became a bit embarrassed. He did not know what it was. Even though this Wei Sheng’s attitude was friendly and warm, but he still felt an invisible pressure. It was this invisible pressure that caused him to do some actions that he usually would not.

“You can just call me Wei Sheng.” Wei Sheng waved his hand. “Not Elder, I don’t want to be old so quickly.”

Yi Zheng instantly felt a predicament, but he had a spark of inspiration. “Big Brother Wei!”

Wei Sheng smiled and did not argue. He asked, “How did you come to this place?”

Speaking of this, Yi Zheng’s face instantly became a bitter gourd. “I don’t know either. I took a mission from my sect and assumed that I could earn some contribution points. I didn’t expect to be this unlucky and get sent to this ghastly place. I probably can’t go back.”

Finishing, he sighed.

“You definitely can go back,” Wei Sheng said. His tone was not strong and it was a sentence that was very ordinary; but when Yi Zheng heard it, he actually believed it.

“We will continue walking forward. Before this, I felt a sword essence in this direction.” Wei Sheng did not waste words. Raising the horse-chopping sword, he walked forward. Seeing the situation, Yi Zheng hurriedly followed.

The two hadn’t walked for a long time when Wei Sheng suddenly stopped walking. An excited expression abruptly came onto his face.

“Big Brother Wei, what is it?” Yi Zheng carefully asked.

Wei Sheng did not answer him, his eyes tightly staring at the fiendish mist in front of him. The excitement on his face grew until even his lips started to tremble. “Li Water sword essence… … Li  Water sword essence … … Shidi … …”

The familiar Li Water Sword essence was faintly discernable in the fiendish mist ahead of him.

Wei Sheng unhesitatingly threw out the flying sword. Grabbing Yi Zheng, he stepped onto the horse-chopping sword. He currently wanted to to grow wings. Taking a deep breath, he urged the sword with all his power and charge forward.

———

Qian Liu was staring at the six little yao art problems in front of him. A moment later, he raised his head. “The little guy is a bit interesting.”

The fire-faced person asked in wonder. “Little yao art problems? This guy is really creative! I wonder which great master taught this little yao monster.” He then snickered. “There is good drama to be seen now. Little yao arts, ha, this slap in the face is really hard!”

Qian Liu did not pay attention to the schadenfreude of the fire-faced person and turned his gaze back to the little yao art problems. He was very curious what the remaining six problems were like. If it was said that he had been slightly curious before, then the six little yao art problems had successfully raised his curiosity.

“Little yao arts … …” Qian Liu murmured lowly as he thought inside.

In his memory, there had not been any Sky Yao that had such a style in the past eight hundred years. If one went even further back, then it was the thousand year war. The records from then were very chaotic, and it was the era they had lost the most records on. There were too many yao arts, too many Sky Yao that could not be verified.

“What are you thinking so much for?” the fire-faced person said unconcernedly. “In any case, there is a spectacle to be seen. If you are lucky, maybe you will be able to see the next six problems. Haha, I hope the little brats work hard, so yeye won’t be disappointed!”

Qian Liu helplessly rubbed his forehead. With the fire-person’s rumble, his line of thinking had been interrupted.

However, he agreed with the fire-faced person’s words.

This matter had just started. The good drama hadn’t even come on stage yet.

———

It was unknown who leaked the information, but the six problems of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard’s prison-breaking battle quickly spread. All the major yao channels were studying these six little yao art problems. When many yao first received these six problems, they were very dismissive. Many yao were even suspicious that these Prison-Breaking Six Problems were fake.

Little yao art problems, what a joke!

But no matter if it was those that were dismissive or curious, what all the yao did when they first received the six problems was strangely similar; they tried to solve them.

They quickly discovered just how laughable and naïve their thinking had been.

At this moment, those spectators that had been so bored outside the prison battlefield finally understood how soul-shaking the seemingly boring prison-breaking battle had been.

Little yao arts were the fundamentals of all yao arts. No yao or school of thought would doubt this. The study of little yao arts had only been of interest in the yao art houses for a few years before their studied was considered complete. It was not that the yao of the time dismissed little yao arts. It was the exact opposite. They put great importance on little yao arts. Due to this, they had put in great amounts of yao-power and ran through all the permutations of little yao arts. From that onwards, there were almost no new developments in little yao arts. Those with knowledge at the time started to put more effort into intermediate yao arts and high yao arts.

The Prison-Breaking Six Problems seemed to be like throwing six heavy stones into a peaceful pond churning the shores with great waves.

The six little yao art problems, put in their order, went from easy to hard. The first three were extremely easy and did not leave the scope of the present little yao arts. But starting from the fourth question, it went beyond the scope of the general understanding of little yao arts.

Truthfully, Huai Boy was very skilled to have been able to reach the sixth problem. With the aid of his firm foundation, even though there were new transformations, he still used his outstanding intelligence and managed to solve the fifth problem.

But up to here, he could not go any further. His head was filled with the sixth problem. He did not eat or rest, and his mind was scattered.

Higher yao, like Qian Liu, could detect a completely new road from these six problems that increased in difficulty, a road that was completely different than what the general understanding of little yao art was now. This discovery made them happy and filled with curiosity. As yao that cultivated to their level, how could their eyes be shallow?

Presently the six little yao art problems were the most popular topic of study for the yao art houses. The teachers of many yao art houses acted, but they quickly all encountered a roadblock. Consequently, many “Little Yao Art Study Teams” came out of every yao art house like spring bamboo after the rain.

———

Cang Ze stayed in the corner and didn’t dare to breathe. The reason was very simple. The room was too silent! Staring at the tips of his feet, his heart was a storm. This was definitely the most silent meeting of the Council of Elders in the clan’s history.

The elders of great status and power had furrowed brows and did not make any sound.

“What does everyone think?” The one that spoke was the clan leader, Cang Ze’s father. However, even though Cang Ze’s father was the clan leader, but in this room, Cang Ze did not have a place to sit. In fact, if it wasn’t that he had successfully established a dialogue with the master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, he wouldn’t even have had the qualifications to enter this room.

“The Genius Alliance will not rest,” an elder said hesitantly. “If we worsen our relations with the Genius Alliance, it won’t be good for us.”

“Everyone knows that, do you need to waste your breath?” an elder that did not have a good temper snorted coldly. “But he knows [Grey Scar Art]”

“That’s what he says, it may not be true.”

The room descended into noise. Those that were shouting, those that had faces red, those that were winding up their sleeves to start fighting. Cang Ze released a breath, and felt much more at ease.

The clan leader really could not bear it anymore and said in a deep voice, “Stop!”

The voices finally calmed. The clan leader turned around his face. “Chief Elder, what do you think?”

“Has everyone seen the six problems?” The Chief Elder opened his eyes, his voice was hoarse.

The elders all nodded.

“What does everyone think of these six problems?” the Chief Elder asked directly.

“Pretty interesting.”

“Profound.”

“Unique.”

The elders chattered.

The Chief Elder shook his head. He waited for everyone to stop talking before he opened, “In my view, these six questions open a new school of thought within Yao arts.”

When these words came out, the others rumbled. No one had expected the Chief Elder to have such a high opinion of the six little yao art problems, but no one doubted the Chief Elder’s judgement. Because his judgement in countless matters had proved that Chief Elder’s eyes were terrifyingly accurate.

“Do we have any relationship with the Genius Alliance?” the Chief Elder suddenly asked.

“No.” The other elders shook their heads together. They might have some power locally, but for them, the Genius Alliance was high up and unreachable.

“Without a relationship, there is no saying that our relations will worsen,” the Chief Elder said faintly. But his authoritative gaze contained a thread of heat. “Everyone seated here today understands what [Grey Scar Art] means to us. There are no free benefits in this world, so everyone should understand there is no profit without risk.”

The Chief Elder suddenly stood. “Does everyone remember their oaths when they entered the council of elders?”

The other elders were excited and simultaneously stood. “Do not dare to forget!”

“We have waited for this chance,” the Chief Elder looked at the old visages of the other elders and sighed deeply, “waited for too long!”

Chapter 364: Reunion

Standing in the middle of the five element sword formation, sweat was flowing down Zuo Mo’s back.

A glowing and transparent water-shaped flame jumped silently in the air above the formation. Two opposite presences of icy cold and explosively hot formed an exquisite balance. It was the first time that many people saw Zuo Mo’s Li Water Sword essence and they had curious expressions.

In their impression, Zuo Mo during battle was like an ancient wasteland beast, especially his brutal and physical attacks that gave people great shocks. They knew that Zuo Mo had once been a sword xiu but they rarely saw Zuo Mo using a flying sword.

It was true that Zuo Mo had decreased his use of a flying sword, especially after cultivating the Great Day mo physique. All six changes of the Great Day mo physique were extremely powerful, both speed and power were so strong it was almost absurd. The other important reason was that his improvement on sword essence was not very large. He didn’t know why. If he cultivated mo skills and yao arts, he advanced a thousand li a day, but when he cultivated sword scriptures, he was just slightly better than the average xiuzhe. He gradually found that the power of the [Li Water Sword Scripture] could not satisfy his demands.

He had even gave the five element sword formation to Vermillion Bird Camp to use to comprehend sword essence.

When he discovered the sword xiu in the fiendish mist was very likely to be Eldest Shixiong Wei Sheng, he instantly started to hurry. What was most important now was to get in contact with Eldest Shixiong. Otherwise, if the two of them moved past each other, it would not be easy to find each other again in this fiendish mist.

The worldly apparition just now should be Eldest Shixiong making a break through.

As expected of Eldest Shixiong, Wei Sheng’s talent in the sword wasn’t just a bit stronger than his.

The Void sword essence that Eldest Shixiong had released during his breakthrough had given him inspiration. If Eldest Shixiong could detect his sword essence, couldn’t he get into contact with Eldest Shixiong? Eldest Shixiong had just made a break through, his energy and mind should be in his best condition, and it would be easier for him to detect the sword essence that was released.

In order to release the strongest sword essence, Zuo Mo even took out his five element sword formation that he had not used for a long time. In the five element sword formation, the water element formation was his Li Water sword essence, and it was perfect for this purpose.

The Li Water Sword Scripture that he had not used for a long time seemed multiple times more difficult to control at the beginning, but he gradually found the feeling.

In the cold and silent water flame sword essence, the explosive power was like the undercurrents beneath the surface of the water. Zuo Mo channeled ling power in and the five flying swords lit up. The sword essence also grew explosively. Zuo Mo’s sword essence had not improved, but his ling power and skill in formations were much stronger than before. When he used all his power, the sword essence instantly became large.

Ling power was being used up with astounding speed. Zuo Mo gradually had an expression of effort on his face.

The other people looked on curiously as Zuo Mo set up a formation and casted his sword scripture. They did not understand Zuo Mo’s intentions.

After a while, a thin thread-like howl sounded from deep within the fiendish mist as though it came from the horizon. This howl was very weak, but everyone present had pretty good strength and could detect it clearly. All of them were alarmed and readied their guard.

The howl became louder and started to hum. Two breaths later, the sound changed and became thunderous as it neared with terrifying speed!

Xie Shan and Ma Fan paled. Before they could react, a sword xiu on a flying sword appeared out of the air in front of everyone.

The sword xiu stared hard at Zuo Mo inside the sword formation.

Booooooooooooom!

The fiendish mist behind him exploded towards the two sides without any warning. With explosive sounds, a ruler straight and wide passage appeared behind him as though it was opening a road in the fiendish mist.

The air gust and blew, but the figure of the sword xiu did not move at all.

A breath later.

Whoosh!

Like an avalanche, the fiendish mist followed the long path behind the sword xiu.

The tailwind was so strong!

Everyone’s desire to fight almost instantly collapsed. No matter if it was Xie Shan in jindan, or Ma Fan that had his sword essence manifestation, or Shu Long that had formed his weapon, their rock-hard mentality cracked a sliver.

The figure appeared first before the sound came. Such speed was shocking to even hear about!

“Is it Shidi?”

“Eldest Shixiong!”

Two voices were filled with joy and emotion as they sounded at the same time.

Wei Sheng jumped down from the flying sword in front of Zuo Mo. After examining him for a moment, he smiled brightly and said, “This appearance is much more pleasing to the eye than before.” Lin Qian had a jade scroll that had Zuo Mo’s new appearance mirage. This was the first time he had seen Shidi’s new face in person. The face in front of his eyes was very unfamiliar but Wei Sheng could still feel the familiar presence. This caused him to smile.

Zuo Mo felt something in his throat, and his nose went sour.

Wei Sheng patted Zuo Mo’s shoulder and smiled. He said, “It is a happy occasion for us brothers to gather together. Don’t be like a woman.”

“Eldest Shixiong should not underestimate me.” Infected by Wei Sheng’ smile, Zuo Mo puffed out his chest and pretended to be a manly man.

The two looked at each other. Finding the joy in each other’s eyes, they laughed together.

None of them had thought that they would encounter each other in this place. The joy at reuniting overcame everything else. The dangerous fiendish mist seemed so adorable right now. The two of them did not worry at all.

———

The situation at the front line was stabilizing. Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was already completely possessed by yaomo. Previously the jie was like the xiuzhe’s backyard, where they hunted yaomo and was now split between the yao and the mo.

Mu Xi looked at the completely transformed Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. She was filled with confidence that the yaomo would achieve the final victory of this war. Wherever she looked, countless war yao trees formed a forest. The air was filled with the poison released by highland hell’s bells. Even jindan xiuzhe, if they were careless and their ling power touched the poison, they would be in extreme danger.

Large amounts of dangerous plants almost covered all of the empty ground. For xiuzhe, this was a definitely a swamp. If they entered, they would not come out. But for yao, in this place, their advantages could increase their combat abilities multiple times.

Supposedly, the Council of Elders was inviting some Sky Yao Daren to add another layer of defenses to the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. By that time, the Blood Sky Metropolis Jie would be impenetrable.

In the region that the mo had occupied, they were changing it to grow mo seed sea.

Once the mo seed sea was constructed, it would become a natural barrier that was almost impossible to cross.

In Mu Xi’s view, if the yaomo could construct the defensive line of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, the yaomo would be in an undefeatable position and have the initiative.

From the start of the war until now, the strategic goals of the Council of Elders had been fulfilled remarkably well, and the results were outstanding. The reason that it had proceeded so smoothly was due to the element of surprise. The long peace had numbed the high levels of the large xiuzhe sects, so in this stage of battle, the responses of the xiuzhe were very slow, and they continuously lost.

What would happen next was that the war would enter a state of attrition. This was a cruel and tragic phase. Mu Xi did not dare to underestimate the xiuzhe. On the surface, the yao were dominating, but she knew what they had encountered up until now were the fringe sects of the xiuzhe. She suddenly thought of the youth called Lin Qian and the elite xiuzhe under his command.

Lin Qian had the great mannerisms of a general, and had pointed out her origins from a single sentence. What shocked her was that he was a battle general with abilities comparable to her.

How many battle generals did the xiuzhe have that were like Lin Qian?

She did not know.

In the higher levels of the yao realm, no one assumed that they would easily obtain victory. The xiuzhe had won the thousand year war. They had captured a countless amount of resources. Adding on the development of a thousand years, no one knew how rich they were.

So before starting the war, everyone had prepared for hard battle. However, the victories came easier than expected. She was worried that the string of victories make some of the elders overconfident.

In these few days in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, she occasionally would hear young combat yao in groups that demanded to continue their advance. This place had an over-zealous mood, and showed signs of losing control. In the following battles, if they relied on the defensive line of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, and turned this place into a meat grinder that would greatly reduce the strength of xiuzhe, and when the final battle came, the yao would have a great advantage.

If they attacked first and lost the strategic advantage of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie’s natural barrier, they would end up in an extremely reactive position.

However, she knew her words carried little weight, and could only keep her worries to herself.

It probably was that she was just worried for nothing, she mocked herself inside.

The middle-aged person did not think as deeply as Mu Xi. The busy scene in front of him caused all the blood in his body to boil, and filled with the desire to fight. However, he had been Mu Xi’s vice commander for a long time and was very familiar with Mu Xi. He asked in curiosity, “What is Daren thinking?”

“Nothing.” Mu Xi shook her head.

Noticing that Mu Xi’s mood was not good, the middle-aged person was slightly puzzled but he was wise and did not ask. He switched the top and said with a smile, “Does Daren know? Something big happened recently!”

“What big matter?” Mu Xi said disinterestedly.

“Vast Water Clear Skies was broken, the new prison is called Wasteland Beast Chessboard,” the middle-aged person said with a smile.

“Oh.” Mu Xi was slightly astonished. Of course she knew of Vast Water Clear Skies. Even though as a battle general, her proficiency with normal yao arts was very average, but she still knew Vast Water Clear Skies. How many years had it been since the last prison-breaking battle?

Seeing Mu Xie finally have an interested expression, the mood of the middle-aged person became slightly better. He narrated, “Supposedly, many people saw that prison-breaking battle. The entire battle was very fierce, but this mysterious youth in the end succeeded. However, the matter is just beginning. Rumors quickly spread that this youth was challenging the Genius Alliance.”

“Someone is causing trouble.” Mu Xi raised an eyebrow.

“This subordinate thinks the same.” The middle-aged person continued, “But this youth did not come out and refute it. Daren, you also know the personalities of the Genius Alliance.”

“Proud.” Mu Xi unhesitatingly blurted out. She suddenly thought of her younger brother that had the label of a genius. He also was a member of the Genius Alliance. The clan had  great hopes for him.

“Daren’s evaluation is very accurate,” the middle-aged person said with a smile. “So how could the Genius Alliance let it rest? They gathered and decided to break the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.”

“The prison-breaking battle should not be activated so easily.”

“Of course, but Genius Alliance is really full of geniuses. One of their supervisors really activated the prison-breaking battle.”

“And then?” Mu Xi asked curiously. Her appetite had been whetted.

“In that prison-breaking battle, the prison battlefield demanded that this Genius Alliance supervisor to solve twelve yao art problems within a required time. At first, this supervisor had a smooth time, but he was left stuck on the sixth question, and in the end, did not complete the prison-breaking battle.”

“Such a pity.” Mu Xi smacked her lips, but her tone was not pitying at all.

“When this supervisor came out, he wrote down these six problems, and this caused a great ruckus.”

“What type of yao art problems are these six yao art problems?” Mu Xi was very sensitive.

The middle-aged person’s expression was slightly strange. “Little yao art problems.”

“Little yao art?” Mu Xi’s face was shocked. Her expression quickly became weird. She could imagine what expressions those geniuses had when they saw the six little yao art problems.

“These six problems are being called the Prison-Breaking Six Problems. Even though they are little yao art problems, but they are very difficult and of a new perspective. They clearly are of a new school of thought,” The middle-aged person said sternly.

Mu Xi nodded. She understood the difficulty involved.

“Unexpectedly, this matter had new developments yesterday.” The expression of the middle-aged person became strange again.

Chapter 365: Let’s Have A Discussion

The sixth problem had been solved.

The news swept through almost all the yao art houses like a strong gust of wind and was as if someone had thrown a spark into a pot of oil.

Originally, the prison-breaking six problems were unexpected and unconventional, but it was not enough to cause everyone to pursue a solution. Even though the conflict between the mysterious prison-breaking yao and the Genius Alliance had been aggrandized, those with some intelligence would not put too much importance on it. The matter clearly a manipulation by someone from the shadows. Everyone watched it with the intentions of witnessing the spectacle and for amusement. No one believed the mysterious prison-breaking yao could defeat the Genius Alliance. Any normal yao would clearly arrive at this conclusion.

So when Huai Boy had succeeded in activating the prison breaking battle, everyone watched but felt it was expected. Everyone had been speculating on when the Genius Alliance would break the prison. One of the Genius Alliance’s supervisors had activated the prison-breaking battle. The Genius Alliance had so many supervisors. Breaking the prison was just a matter of time.

The prison-breaking six problems were novel to everyone, and showed everyone a completely different way of thinking. To be able to create something unique in the little yao arts which had been studied so thoroughly, the strength of the mysterious prison-breaking yao could not be underestimated. Some powerful great yao and famed teachers from famed yao art houses gave their praises, and were in agreement that they favored the potential of the mysterious prison-breaking yao and thought his future was limitless.

Even as the prison-breaking six problems increasingly attracted the attention of more and more yao, but in the eyes of the public, this wasn’t anything.

Each year, a few  brilliant stars would appear and be praised by these so-called famed teachers, but the great majority would gradually grow dim and lose their standing.

But just as everyone was waiting for the Genius Alliance to make a new move, everyone noticed a strange occurrence.

The solution to the sixth prison-breaking problem had not been announced.

One day, two days, three days … …

The topic of the mysterious prison-breaking yao vs the Genius Alliance had lost its fervor and interest waned, but there was still no news of the answer to the sixth problem. It wasn’t known who first mentioned this strange situation, but it instantly attracted everyone’s attention.

Was the sixth problem this difficult?

Everyone had been somewhat disinterested in this matter, but their appetites were whet again.

The people inside the Genius Alliance did not place much importance on this matter. They were full of confidence. Huai Boy had not successfully completed the prison-breaking, but it definitely was a good beginning. Young geniuses? The alliance did not lack geniuses.. Many supervisors were wondrously in consensus over this matter. They did not disturb the higher ranks. They firmly believed that they could solve this matter based on their individual strengths.

Yet when the outside world started to discuss when the answer to the sixth problem would come out, they suddenly found to their shock, that without their notice, they had all been stuck on this problem.

Now everyone was in a hurry.

The branches of the Genius Alliance at each jie changed their lax attitude and quickly formed teams to work together on the problem.

At last, on the ninth day, the answer to the sixth problem came out.

The appetite of the outside world was very high. When the sixth problem’s answer came out, it pushed the matter of mystery prison-breaking yao vs Genius Alliance to the top again. Everyone suddenly found that it wouldn’t be so easy for the Genius Alliance to win.

A battle with great power disparity naturally would not be interesting to many eyes. But when the underdog they had thought would lose in one round had endured for ten, left in a better shape than they anticipated and with a glimmer of hope, , the interest of the spectators skyrocketed.

There wasn’t just one or two groups that wanted to see the Genius Alliance be left looking like fools.

———

“We must retaliate!” the supervisor from the Lilium Jie said excitedly. His temper was explosive to start with, and he had been very stimulated by the words from the outside.

“Yes! We have to retaliate!” the other supervisors agree with excited expressions.

When had these proud individuals ever endured so much mockery and disdain? They firmly believed that the Genius Alliance gathered the most outstanding geniuses of the yao. They felt very proud of themselves for being among them.

“Hmph, just took us a few extra days of effort, and all the scum have come out!”

“We have to make them see the reality.” Another supervisor shrugged with a helpless expression. “Even if it is a bit cruel.”

“What does everyone think? We can’t just get beat up like this. When has our Genius Alliance ever lost like this?” the supervisor from the Lilium Jie said.

“Ha, very simple, increase the reward!”

“Yes, brave ones will come for a great reward!”

The yao supervisors had a common enemy and all gave their suggestions towards a plan.

“Everyone contribute a few credits. Once we have a few hundred. I don’t believe that no one in the alliance won’t take it! I will contribute ten credit points.”

“I will donate twenty!”

The supervisors discussed and felt that this was a good plan. Not every member of the Genius Alliance had an outstanding family to support them. The alliance did not lack members that came from those poor families. The majority of these people that entered the Genius Alliance chose to do so due to the great benefits the Genius Alliance provided. These yao cared about material gain, and not reputation. They usually did not interact with these supervisors, and could be considered to be a clearly separated group.

However, these yao had a fatal weakness, credit points. The credits of the Genius Alliance were really just contribution points. They were able to exchanged all kinds of yao arts and worldly treasures for credit points from the alliance.

When they encountered a troublesome problem, the supervisors instantly remembered these people that they usually looked down upon.

In the corner, Huai Boy did not make a sound. His complexion was fragile, but an indiscernible cold smile floated at the corner of his mouth. These past few days, the other supervisors had been ignoring and shunning him, and he deeply felt how cold people here were. He knew the reason. Many supervisors felt discontented that of all the supervisors it was he that activated the prison-breaking battle. If he had succeeded, he would be a hero and the discontent would have been suppressed. They would have fawned over him. But he was defeated so he became the target of disdain.

He suddenly felt he was slightly laughable.

Why was he together  with such an ungenerous and obnoxious crowd  that thought highly of themselves?

He silently looked on and smirked coldly inside.

———

The troop would advance a distance every day.

If they stopped, Zuo Mo would start drinking with Wei Sheng. The alcohol wasn’t anything good, but the two were very happy when they drank. They spoke of what happened to them in these few years, reminiscing on the interesting things that happened in their sect in the past.

They sighed.

“Speaking of it, if it wasn’t for these incidents, we wouldn’t be who we are today.” The alcohol was going to Zuo Mo’s head. He did not use ling power to suppress the effects of the alcohol. He said with a smile, “Without the troubles and worries in the past, how could Shixiong’s sword heart be so strong? Without the dangers along this road, I don’t know in which  little corner I would be in trying to pass the days. I’d probably be just farming ling fields or something.”

“Right!” Wei Sheng gulped down a large mouthful of alcohol, and allowed the excess liquid to freely flow down along his neck. He suddenly said, “Shidi, what is your goal?”

“Goal?” Zuo Mo stilled. He tilted his head and thought for a while. Then he counted on his fingers as he said, “First, heal A Gui, and then investigate my origins. However, this second matter cannot be forced. I don’t have too much hope. Most importantly, make more jingshi and give everyone good days so I do not fail them for choosing to accompanying me through these dangers.”

“Haha!” Wei Sheng gave a booming laugh. “Apart three days, I have a different view of you! Shidi in the past was the one most afraid of trouble. You now have great goals. Good, good!”

Zuo Mo’s face blushed at Wei Sheng’s words. “What great ambitions? I’m unable to get off the horse! Shixiong, don’t laugh at me!”

“This is good!” Wei Sheng put down the wine pouch in his hand and said seriously, “I always felt that Shidi did not lack talent, but your personality was somewhat carefree. Now that Shidi has resolve, you naturally will have accomplishments. Even our sect cannot compare at all to the followers that Shidi has now.”

“What about Shixiong? What goals do you have?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Me?” Wei Sheng thought for a second and suddenly gulped wine. When he put down the pouch, his expression was grave. “In this life, I pursue the pinnacle of the sword!”

Wei Sheng’s words were strong and steely without any hesitation or fright!

“Good!” In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao couldn’t resist praising.

Threads of admiration came into Zuo Mo’s heart. He recalled the jade scroll that Eldest Shixiong had given him that recorded the hardships that Eldest Shixiong encountered in his search for the sword. They flowed past his eyes. Of all the people he ever encountered, in terms of determination, Eldest Shixiong was undoubtedly ranked first.

Only people like Eldest Shixiong were able to walk to the peak of the sword path!

Zuo Mo was shocked and admiring, but when the words reached his mouth, they became “Shixiong, let’s have a discussion?”

“Discussion? What matter?” Zuo Mo’s change was so sudden that Wei Sheng did not have the time to react.

“Shixiong pursues the sword path, how can it work without true combat? Combat is the best way to advance!” Zuo Mo lowered his face and did not disguise his true expression. He snickered and said fawningly, “How about we go together, I’ll provide food, shelter, and jingshi! Shixiong, don’t worry, we lack for everything, but we won’t lack for fighting! We will definitely satisfy Shixiong and make it extremely fulfilling! That sword path comprehension, experience, they will rise, and be unable to be stopped even if you want it too! If you are lucky, you might get an intimate friend of the fairer sex, a sword couple in paired cultivation, and to seek the path together! Didn’t they say something like the warm home is the hero something? Oh oh oh, Shixiong is a true and honest person, and naturally will not be affected by beauty … …”

Wei Sheng gaped and did not realize the alcohol was spilling on to his body.

Zuo Mo continued to talk for a while until his throat was dry. He finally stopped and took a gulp of alcohol to moisten his throat before he asked Wei Sheng with a strong face, “Shixiong, your opinion?”

Wei Sheng pointed at Zuo Mo and laughed. “To hope that a lazy guy like you would be serious is like hoping a sow can climb up a tree.”

It seemed that he hadn’t put in enough effort!

Seeing this, Zuo Mo took a large gulp of alcohol, moistened his throat and prepared to start again.

A crisp voice came into Zuo Mo’s years. Zuo Mo who had been preparing his emotions and preparing to start persuading again and didn’t react in time and almost spat out the alcohol.

“What?”

Choked by the wine, Zuo Mo had dead fish eyes as he turned to look at Wei Sheng.

Wei raised the alcohol pouch and put it in front of Zuo Mo. He smiled freely. “Yes!”

Zuo Mo was overjoyed when he reacted. Raising his alcohol pouch, the two pouches collided together.

That night, Zuo Mo dreamed off Shixiong as a giant that killed in all directions at the front, and he was at the back and furiously counting jingshi with a dumb smile on his face. So much jingshi, he couldn’t count it all … …

Chapter 366: Yi Zheng Of The Great Buddha Temple

Opening his eyes, Zuo Mo felt a splitting headache. He finally recalled that he and Shixiong had drank all night and apparently had gone crazy later on, singing and dancing. He didn’t even know how they had finally passed out.

He struggled up and walked out of the room. The outside was still misty.

Not far away, Xie Shan was respectfully asking Wei Sheng for advice. He occasionally nodded and was as obedient as an underling. Zuo Mo lifted the corners of his mouth and silently snickered. It must have been that Shixiong’s worldly apparition that had had deeply shocked Xie Shan.

Zuo Mo did not disturb the two and randomly walked about. The five slave transporting boats were placed apart and formed an enormous circle around the campsite.

Having suddenly added a strong member, everyone’s morale grew. They put even more effort into their daily cultivation. The worldly apparition when Wei Sheng had his breakthrough hadn’t shocked just Xie Shan.

A Wen had awoken. Thinking about how the fiend soul beast had forced him into such a state, and especially in front of Boss, he was very dejected. Starting early in the morning, he started to run around the campsite wanting to encounter another fiend soul beast to defeat. The warlike Tenth Grade was not willing to fall back and tightly followed behind.

Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire affectionately nudged A Gui. A Gui was wooden and would only respond once in a while. Whenever it happened, Lil’ Fire and Lil’ Pagoda would be very excited. Silly Bird raised her head high, and stalked around with her unique bird walk as she passed majestically beside Zuo Mo without even glancing at him. For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo’s heart was filled with warmth. His mood seemed full of sunlight and was unusually bright. Even the blood-red sky seemed to become much more amicable.

He suddenly remembered that the fiend soul beast A Wen had killed had left behind a paw and a bead. He hurriedly took them out. The paw was as hard as steel, deep black and shiny. The claws on the paw were especially sharp. When he gently swiped it against the ground, it created five deep scratches. With Zuo Mo’s eyes, he was unable to distinguish what kind of material it was.

“This is a fiend heavy weapon, very rare. It is a natural weapon. It is the first time I have seen a fiend heavy weapon of such quality. You brat, you really have good luck. Only a vicious fiendish land sealed for tens of thousands of years like this can form such powerful fiend soul beasts, and produce these kind of fiend heavy weapons.”

Pu Yao was filled with emotion.

Zuo Mo waved the paw around a bit, and felt it was not very comfortable. He said, “This is probably worth a lot of jingshi.”

The emotional Pu Yao stopped breathing. His temple throbbed. He forcibly suppressed himself. “This isn’t for xiuzhe use, it’s for yao.”

Zuo Mo was very disappointed, and his expression was disinterested. If something could not be traded for jingshi, how could it be considered good? He had so many subordinates that cultivated a mo skills, but there were none that cultivate the yao arts. Wait, he suddenly thought of the flower slaves in Guard Camp. Didn’t they cultivate yao arts?

“They can’t use them.” Pu Yao finally learned the joy of beating down Zuo Mo’s hopes, and drawled, “What they cultivate is the [Flower Yao Coexistence Art]. Their weapon is the ling flower in their bodies. Oh, they should be called yao flowers now. Fiend heavy weapons are vicious things, they are not something that normal yao can use.”

Could not be traded for jingshi, none of his subordinates could use it, and neither could normal yao … …

Was this just trash?”

Without another words, Zuo Mo threw it into the ring, and picked up the bead.

“Hmm, this is something good!” Zuo Mo became alert. He didn’t understand something like the fiend heavy weapon, but he could recognize this bead.

Normal fiend souls would have a thread of soul base source. How could fiend soul beasts not have any? This bead was their core, and inside was a huge amount of soul base essence that was extremely pure. Upon further thought, Zuo Mo understood. These fiend soul beasts were formed from fiend souls. They consumed other fiend souls and continuously grew. It would take at least a hundred thousand fiend souls to form a fiend soul beast. Fiend souls beasts had a basic intelligence and instinctively understood how to cultivate the rudimentary spells of the fiendish energy.

No one had disturbed this ancient battlefield for tens of thousands of years. The fiend souls formed here had experienced the cruelest slaughter. It could be imagined how strong their soul was.

Zuo Mo instantly found that the “fishing” they had been so proud of before was really very inefficient and idiotic … …

Out of the corner of his eyes, he coincidentally saw Gongsun Cha coming over. His body flashed and he jumped next to Gongsun Cha. Before Gongsun Cha could relax, he shoved the bead into Gongsun Cha’s mouth.

With a moment of inattentiveness, Gongsun Cha’s eyes bulged out as he was tricked. One breath later, Lil’ Miss’ shy face that originally had a faint blush became completely red.

Gongsun Cha’s entire body quickly became red. He pointed with a trembling finger at Zuo Mo but could not say a word.

His eyes suddenly widened, and then he ran away.

“Haha!”

Behind him was Zuo Mo’s heartless laughter.

The fiend heavy weapon was useless, the core bead was used to trick Lil’ Miss, Zuo Mo suddenly felt that there was nothing to do. The troop was temporarily resting at this spot. Through Shixiong’s description, Zuo Mo knew that the size of this fiendish mist surpassed his imagination. The native beings that he had originally thought were present turned out to be Eldest Shixiong. Now he wasn’t in a rush to advance.

“Golden soul! Did you forget Golden Soul?” Pu Yao couldn’t resist reminding.

Zuo Mo hit his head. Right, how could he forget that matter.

———

Yi Zheng’s shock grew. He might not be a core disciple of Great Buddha Temple, but he had rudimentary knowledge. Great Buddha Temple was already a strong sect in their jie but … …

His eyes swept across those xiuzhe working hard at their cultivation. Even though it was not the first time he saw them, his heart couldn’t resist jumping. The cultivations of these xiuzhe were not high, and their ningmai cultivation were comparable to the normal disciples of the temple. However, if the disciples of the temple had a conflict with these group of people, not even their bones would remain!

This was killing intent!

Killing energy that made his heart beat rapidly. Elite! This word suddenly jumped into his head. Only those elite that had experienced hundreds of bloody fights would have such concentrated killing energy.

The temple also had these kind of elite dhyana soldiers. He had seen them before. Those dhyana soldiers did not have high individual cultivation. One would only know how strong they were only when one fought them. They were vicious and battle hardened, and did not care about sustaining wounds. Yi Zheng had once been completely suppressed by a dhyana soldier with a cultivation lower than his own. In the following five on five match, they had not even lasted for twenty breaths before they lost.

If it wasn’t that it was a match with the sect, they would have died.

“This shixiong, greetings.”

A warm and gentle voice sounded from behind him.

Yi Zheng’s mind shifted. Turning around, joy instantly came onto his face. He was facing a dhyana xiu. This troop actually had dhyana xiu! Yi Zheng carefully examined the other. Even though the other was not wearing a monk robe and a kasaya, but the trace of a dhyana xiu aura could not be faked. He instantly felt much closer to the other and hurriedly returned the greeting. “This little monk gives greetings!”

“This little brother is Zong Ru. If Shixiong has any matters, you can find me.” Zong Ru had a faint smile hanging on his face.

Yi Zheng felt astonished inside. The other’s cultivation was not lower than his. Dhyana xiu emphasized their Samadhi skill the most. He gave a slight smile as well, and bowed deeply. “Shixiong is too courteous. This little brother is of low cultivation, I am currently lost and in need of help. Please, Shixiong, take care of me.”

“Everyone is together in this dangerous land. Helping each other is rational.” Zong Ru smiled and waved his right hand. “Why don’t we go this little brother’s room. If Shixiong has any questions, please ask there.”

“Yes!” Yi Zheng hurriedly said.

He followed behind Zong Ru and walked as xiuzhe occasionally bowed to Zong Ru along the way. He thought inside, it seemed that this Zong Ru Shixiong had a high status among this group.

Zong Ru’s room was very simple. Other than the two meditation mats, there were no other objects.

“A simple place, you have seen a joke,” Zong Ru said with a smile.

“No, no! Shixiong’s place is perfect for the serene Samadhi path. This little brother feels admiration,” Yi Zheng hurriedly said.

Zong Ru smiled. “Which sect does Shixiong come from? Where did you cultivate before?”

Yi Zheng thought inside that the true aim had come out. He answered, “This little monk is a disciple from Great Buddha Temple, and cultivated at He Residence Mountain before.”

“Great Buddha Temple?” Zong Ru made a sound and suddenly thought of something. He asked with shock, “Great Buddha Temple of Temple Sea Jie.”

“Shixiong knows this humble temple?” Yi Zheng slightly let out a breath at the other’s shock. To his shock, he found that everything he had seen in this day and night had unconsciously put pressure on him.

“Ha ha, the honored temple’s [Great Buddha Dhyana Records] is one of the Eight Great Dhyana records of Xuan Kong Territoires and is renowned. This little brother may be sheltered and ignorant but still knows the honored Great Buddha Temple.”

Yi Zheng did not feel any smugness. If it really was like the other had said, Zong Ru would not have made a sound like he did. His mind shifted. “Where did Shixiong learn?”

Zong Ru gave a reminiscent expression. He said with a smile, “Speaking of that, I’m not afraid Shixiong would laugh. This one has no teacher. This one only encountered a master in the past that passed on some basic dhyana spells.”

Yi Zheng did not believe it. Zong Ru’s cultivation was clearly not weaker than his, and his Samadhi skill was even deeper. The study of any other spells could have the possibility of a shortcut, but not Samadhi. Even if it was a fundamental, but there was no room for shortcuts. Zong Ru’s ling power ripples were as deep and steady as the ocean. His Samadhi skill was clearly very high.

Seeing Yi Zheng’s expression, Zong Ru understood. He did not explain. “Shixiong has come from the Xuan Kong Territories, we have come from the Kun Lun Territoires. There are thousands of li between us. It is a matter of dhyana karma that we have met on this ancient battlefield.”

Yi Zheng nodded. “Shixiong’s words are great kindness!” He already believed the words. Almost all the dhyana xiu temples of the world gathered in the Xuan Kong Territories. The Kun Lun Territories were famed for their sword xiu. He had never heard of them having a large dhyana xiu temple.

Upon closer examination, he found that while Zong Ru had deep dhyana cultivation, but it was possible to see signs of age and hardship between the brows. He clearly had gone through hardships in his cultivation. The dhyana xiu disciples of large temples did not like luxury, but they did not have to worry about material things. They could rest their hearts and cultivate their dhyana, and it was rare for them to have hard times.

He suddenly thought of the “ancient battlefield” that Zong Ru had just mentioned, and couldn’t help but ask, “This is an ancient battlefield?”

“En. We came in from the outer fringes, and saw many corpses and bones along the way. But it has been too long, and they would disintegrate when touched. Daren said that this ancient battlefield is tens of thousands of years old.” Zong Ru did not conceal it.

“Tens of thousands of years?” Yi Zheng’s expression shifted, and then he sank into thousand, “Ten thousand years … … ancient battlefield … … ancient battlefield … …”

The Great Buddha Temple was one of the Eight Great Temples. With a long history, it had many temple records. He thought back and tried to recall what records would match this.

Seeing Yi Zheng in deep thought, Zong Ru did not hurry him and patiently waited.

A long while later, Yi Zheng suddenly murmured in a low voice, “Can it be … … can it be … …”

Deep terror suddenly appeared in his eyes.

Chapter 367: Illusory Formations And Qinghua Zang Shui

Nan Yue looked helplessly at Cang Ze who was beside her.

A few days ago, this guy had found her and was sticking to her without moving a step away. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t get him to go away. Fortunately, his attitude was respectful and he was not impolite. When Nan Yue had the time, she would come to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard to wait for Daren. Cang Ze also waited alongside her.

Daren had not appeared for many days.

Did something happen? Nan Yue was slightly worried.

But this strong female yao did not show her worries in her expressions. In front of Cang Ze, she was always steady and composed. She had never felt the days were so hard to go through. When each piece of news surfaced, her heart would tighten.

The prison-breaking battle was activated, the sixth problem was solved, the challenge from the Genius Alliance … …

She lived every day with a rapidly drumming heart. She never doubted Daren’s strength because she never believed that Daren could defeat the Genius Alliance. But she would still be worried.

No matter how strong the Genius Alliance was, what did it have to do with her? She was Daren’s follower!

Just as she was panicking, a familiar voice came from behind her. “This is where you are.”

Hearing this voice, Nan Yue almost cried. She suppressed the urge and said with a lowered head, Daren.”

“How was your recent cultivation?” Zuo Mo asked. He glanced at Cang Ze at the side.

Nan Yue instantly stammered. Her mind distracted with all kinds of news these past days, how could she be in a mood to cultivate?

Zuo Mo creased his brow and did not blame her. He asked curiously, “What happened?” In his eyes, Nan Yue was a cultivation obsessed person, no, a cultivation obsessed yao. It was really abnormal for her to neglect cultivating.

Nan Yue instantly felt ashamed and wanted to find a crack in the ground to burrow into. “Daren, it’s the matter of the Genius Alliance … …”

Nan Yue, Nan Yue, you are too weak, just this minor bit of news, and you cannot cultivate! She was filled with self-blame.

“Genius Alliance?” Zuo Mo paused. His first response was, what a grandiose name! His second response was, “What is that?”

What is that … …

Nan Yue’s tongue tied up and she did not know how to reply. At the side, Cang Ze’s expression was also strange.

“Daren has not heard of Genius Alliance?” Cang Ze probed.

“No.” Zuo Mo shook his head. “Very strong? Do they have Sky Yao?”

Cang Ze swallowed. “They did before. In their history, the Genius Alliance produced … …”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo realized. “So they had ancestors who were.”

Cang Ze swallowed the words that reached his mouth, his expression abject.

Out of caution, Zuo Mo secretly asked Pu Yao, “Have you heard of this Genius Alliance?”

Pu Yao didn’t even bat an eye and said irritably, “Don’t bother me with these insignificant nobodies.”

Seemed that this wasn’t a famous faction. Zuo Mo silently judged according to Pu Yao’s response.

“Have they made trouble for you?” Zuo Mo’s courage grew and his tone was slightly unfriendly.

“No … …” Nan Yue weakly replied. She hesitated before saying, “They are trying to find trouble with you.”

“Me?” Zuo Mo pointed at his nose as he asked in shock.

Nan Yue quietly narrated the cause. Looking at Daren’s attitude, he did not seem to know the Genius Alliance. Her explanation was very detailed. However, how could Daren not know Genius Alliance? How could there be a yao that did not know the Genius Alliance?

“Understood.” Zuo Mo nodded and smacked his lips. With a dismissive face, he made his final conclusion. “They don’t have the skills, and dislike people that earn more than they do!”

Seeing Nan Yue’s face was still worried, he waved his hand and said, “Why care about them? A deranged group! Putting so much effort into prison-breaking, there isn’t any money there.. Full of it and have nothing better to do.”

Nan Yue and Cang Ze’s expressions were strange. At this time, they could not find the words to describe their current mood.

Daren was really deep and profound!

“Hee hee! It really is full of it and they have nothing better to do!” A sweet voice passed over. A shapely body appeared in everyone’s field of view. The tight evening dress highlighted her curvaceous body, the full and soft chest almost bursting out, the hair styled in a high up-do and revealing the snowy-white neck. A faintly discernable smile on the face, was highly seductive. There was a small mole at the corner of her red and moist lips that added a hint of enchantment.

Cang Ze and Nan Yue were dazed.

This female yao was like a burning flame that could melt people’s bones.

This restless feeling … … was a bit familiar … …

Zuo Mo was dazed for a moment and then was furious. She dared to use illusions!

The tragic memory that the paper crane female had left on him back on Wu Kong Mountain surfaced in his mind. Ge hates illusory techniques the most!

The furious Zuo Mo did not hesitate to give a powerful counterattack.

His hands secretly made a move, [Little Thousand Leaf Art—Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash]!

A invisible wind spread in ripples.

The female yao seemed to be heavy struck. Her body shook, and her face paled as she gave a delicate cry of pain. Her expression was pained, her brow slightly creased, her eyes unfocused. On the slightly bent body, the snowy white mounds on her chest moved. Even the delicate cry was seductive and caused people’s hearts to heat up.

Cang Ze’s breathing suddenly became heavy as his eyes turned red. Nan Yue also felt her body was unusually heated. She felt the female in front of her was overbearingly beautiful.

Such a powerful illusory technique!

Still not giving up?

Zuo Mo glared and his anger increased. His hand gave three [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind]! [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind] was the ninth move of Little Thousand Leaf Hands. After the encounter at Hundred Flower Alliance, Zuo Mo had relentlessly urged Pu Yao to teach him a move of Little Thousand Leaf Hands that specialized in breaking illusory techniques.

He hadn’t thought he would encounter such a powerful illusory technique the first time he used it!

Three bursts of wind hit the female yao at the same time. The female yao’s eyes suddenly straightened as though she was struck by lightning. Her hairdo exploded. As her locks fell down, a stream of blood came from the corner of her mouth.

“You … …”

The hate filled and piercing voice suddenly stopped. The light flashed on her body and she disappeared. She had been pushed out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard by Zuo Mo’s fourth [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind].

Zuo Mo finally released a breath. Turning his face, he saw Cang Ze and Nan Yue look dumbly at him, and warned them gravely, “This female’s illusory technique is very powerful! You have to be very careful! Do not fall for it!”

Illusory technique … …

Nan Yue and Cang Ze looked at each other in confusion. They still did not know what had happened. Where had there been an illusory art?

Had there really been a powerful illusory art?

Cang Ze’s heart was filled with regret. It was the first time he had seen such a seductive being! Such a pity. But why would she cast an illusory art?

Even though he was filled with regret, Cang Ze finally calmed down and felt that Zuo Mo was even more powerful. It definitely was a very powerful illusory art if he hadn’t detected it at all. Daren’s strength was, as expected, immeasurable!

He suddenly rejoiced slightly that the council of elders had made a correct decision.

“Daren!” he said with unusual respect.

“Un-huh.” Zuo Mo was still immersed in the satisfaction from defeating the illusory technique with the [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind]. Zuo Mo knew some of the Little Thousand Leaf Hands. At the beginning, Pu Yao had taught him five moves, and then periodically taught a few more here and there. However, Zuo Mo always felt that the effect of Little Thousand Leaf Hands was average, even less than the [Sky Glass Wave] and was far cry from the Great Day mo physique.

However this time, he experienced the exquisiteness of Little Thousand Leaf Hands. If he was familiar with the move, he would have defeated the other’s illusory technique with one [Bone-crushing Obscuring Wind]. Would he have needed to cast it four times? Zuo Mo finally recalled that the Great and Little Thousand Leaf Hands were created by a Sky Yao, and naturally was extraordinary.

Hmph, just a half-learned illusory technique and dare to show off in front of ge, they don’t want to live.

If she knew ge’s glorious battles in illusory formations, she definitely wouldn’t dare. Before ge learned [Bone-crushing Obscuring Wind], ge still defeated the illusory technique of the Hundred Flower Alliance.

Zuo Mo felt very proud. The only grudge he had left was the paper crane girl. If he encountered the paper crane girl now, he would definitely pin her down on the ground and then beat her until her head swelled like a pig’s head, get a batch of jingshi off her, and then use a similar illusory technique on her before letting her go.

“Daren.” Cang Ze did not discover that Zuo Mo was still in his fantasy and said with the utmost respect. “The clan has agreed to give Daren ten Golden Souls annually as tribute!”

“Good!” Zuo Mo refocused and was overjoyed. He hurriedly asked. “When will you give the Golden Souls to me?”

Cang Ze suddenly had a feeling that he seemed to have met a conman. Daren wasn’t a conman, right? He muttered inside but did not show any of it on his face. He carefully reminded, “Daren, do you remember, the [Grey Scar Art]?”

“Oh, right, wait a moment.” Zuo Mo hurriedly found Pu Yao.

Pu Yao’s eye at this moment was like a hungry wolf that gleamed eerily. He stared at Zuo Mo for a while without a word.

Zuo Mo’s hair rose under his gaze. He muttered inside, was Pu Yao also going to cast an illusory technique?

Pu Yao stared at Zuo Mo for a while before shaking his head and saying to himself, “Black-hearted, really black-hearted!”

Speaking of this, Zuo Mo’s spine instantly became straight. He instantly said, full of disdain, “Getting the benefit and you still complain. If you feel it’s black, take one less Golden Soul!”

Pu Yao’s mouth was instantly tightly closed.

“Right, the more we make, the more we can divide.” Zuo Mo had an expression like he was teaching a child. He reached out. “Give it.”

“What?” Pu Yao instinctively asked.

“Grey Scar Art. Don’t you want the Golden Souls?”

“Oh.” Pu Yao instinctively threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo.

“And give me that [South Sky Arrow Art] along with it so I don’t have to run over again.”

“Oh.” Another ball of light.

Zuo Mo contentedly left the sea of consciousness before Pu Yao could react.

You antique from thousands of years ago, how can you fight with ge? Don’t you know that ge is the sun at eight or nine? The present is ge’s, the future is ge’s, all of it is ge’s!

Before the satisfied Zuo Mo could make the transaction, a cold voice interrupted. “You are the master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

A male yao covered in blue marks stared coldly at Zuo Mo.

The master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard?

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes but did not answer him. He asked Cang Ze. “When will we carry out the transaction?”

The blue yao swept Cang Ze and said neutrally, “The Grey Clan is very daring to dare be enemies against our Genius Alliance!”

Cang Ze’s pupils suddenly shrunk. “Genius Alliance? Sire, who are you?”

“Qinghua Zang Shui,” the blue yao said faintly.

Cang Ze’s body shook and a layer of fine sweat began to cover his forehead.

His business disturbed, Zuo Mo instantly became discontent. He flipped his hand, and a little stool appeared. He shoved it in front of the blue yao. “Hold this.”

“En?” Qinghua Zang Shui looked with puzzlement at the stool made from yao arts. His gaze flashed. It was very rough and simple. Was he planning to compete in yao arts?

Zuo Mo pointed. “There, take the stool. Go to the corner and draw circles.”

Qinghua Zang Shui’s indigo face instantly became red. In an instant, his mind turned blank.

Humiliated, he had actually been humiliated!

Chapter 368: Battle Of Tongues

As the exceptional successor of the young generation of the Blue Flower Family, Qinghua Zang Shui had an talent unrivalled within the clan. Cloud Ridge Blue Flower had been a famed and influential clan that flourished for thousands of years and never declined. Each generation had outstanding descendants. If they went back a few hundred years, the Blue Flower Clan had occupied a seat on the Council of Elders that oversaw the entire yao world.

The present Blue Flower did not have the status of its past, but it was still a large sect that was firmly established and admired. Compared to them, the Grey Clan was just a wild, little clan from some backwater mountain, so when Cang Ze heard the other’s name, he instantly became silent.

Usually, just based on the words “Cloud Ridge Blue Flower,” Qinghua Zang Shui could charge recklessly anywhere. When had he ever been humiliated so?

When had the Blue Flower Family ever been humiliated like this?

Qinghua Zang Shui was so ashamed that he could die. A burst of hot blood rushed into his head. His eyes glaring, he pointed at Zuo Mo and gritted, “Those that humiliate my Blue Flower Family shall die!”

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. “Are you mental? Am I humiliating your Blue Flower Family?”

“So- you … …” The anger in Qinghua Zang Shui’s chest calmed slightly before he was interrupted by Zuo Mo.

“Who I am humiliating is you.” Zuo Mo looked at Qinghua Zang Shui like he was looking at an idiot and said mockingly, “Just a person like you, you aren’t ashamed to be called a genius? Don’t come out to frighten people? Oh, you definitely want to kill me right now, I know this. So, people like you only have this little bit of patience, only this bit of breadth of chest! Compete with me?” He suddenly increased his volume. “What qualifications do you have to compete with me? Does the Blue Flower Family have more face than other people? You who eats soft rice, go and break the prison. Don’t bother me before you break the prison. Ge is very busy, understand?”

Qinghua Zang Shui’s face flushed turned black and then white. His entire figure wavered unsteadily.

Puh!

Qinghua Zang Shui’s blurred figure suddenly exploded into a ball of light and disappeared.

Zuo Mo shook his head and sighed. “He is mentally weak, his mind is really low in quality!”

Turning around his face, he looked at the gaping Nan Yue and Cang Ze. He said, “Ooh, let’s continue.”

———

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A shriek filled with fury came from the room. Ji Cheng stopped in his steps and then forced himself to push open the door. Pia! An extremely fine crystal decoration smashed loudly beside his feet into countless pieces.

Ji Cheng did not dare to block the shrapnel and allowed the crystal shards to hit his body. He wore a smile as he said in a fawning tone, “Sis, what is the matter? Who made you so angry? I’ll go beat him up! Grind his bones into powder, skin him and pluck out his tendons … …”

His voice suddenly stopped. Ji Li Yu stared fiercely at him.

Woah!

Old Sis’s angry face was filled with killing intent. In that pair of eyes that enchanted countless male yao was burning fire!

Heavens! Ji Cheng felt his scalp tighten. He had never seen Old Sis so angry ever. He didn’t know which pitiful person had infuriated Old Sis. So pitiful!

In her anger, Old Sis did not recognize anyone. Ji Cheng was filled with regret. Why had he been so dumb to stare down the barrel of this gun.

Ji Cheng knew the time to show his loyalty had come. He pretended to be angry and said, “Sis, don’t be so anxious! I’ll go send for people! They dare to provoke my sis, they must not want to live!”

Ji Li Yu stared at Ji Cheng for a while, which caused Ji Cheng’s hairs to stand up.

“Alright! Don’t act in front of me!” Ji Li Yu snorted coldly and sat down. There was still anger on her face, but she finally calmed down. She propped up her chin, and it was unknown if she was in a daze or considering something.

Ji Cheng released a deep sigh inside. The most dangerous moment had past. However he knew that if he left at this time, he would definitely receive retribution. He carefully and curiously went forward. “What happened?”

Which saint had caused Old Sis to be so furious? That skill wasn’t just high! Ji Cheng was full of admiration towards this unknown expert to the point of kowtowing to his or her skills. Of course, he didn’t dare to show any of it on his face.

“My [Charm Clothing] was defeated.” Ji Li Yu said lightly.

“Ah!” Ji Cheng was stunned. He was sincerely concerned now. “Are you wounded?”

“No.”

Ji Cheng released a breath but still wasn’t able to believe it. “How is it possible? How can [Charm Clothing] be defeated?”

The Ji Family’s [Sky Clothing] was full of transformations and was one of the few remaining earth level yao arts in the yao world. Many of the parts had been previously lost. Afterwards, the Ji Family had founded the Sky Clothing Yao Art House. Under accumulation of research and study over years, they finally recovered the original appearance. There were nine transformations of the Sky Clothing, [Charm Clothing] was one of them.

But compared to the [Emperor Clothing] and [Domination Clothing] of the Ji Family, those that knew the [Charm Clothing] were the least common. Of the generations of Ji Family disciples, there were rarely those who cultivated the [Charm Clothing]. The conditions to cultivate [Charm Clothing] were extremely strict. It demanded that the one cultivating it was naturally beautiful with a flawless consciousness; but the most important part was that their heart had to be as clean as jade and untainted. The purer the heart, the stronger the power was in their hands.

Even in the Ji Family, it was one of the most tightly guarded secrets that Ji Li Yu had successfully cultivated [Charm Clothing]. There were less than five people who knew. The most powerful quality of the [Charm Clothing] was that it was intangible and invisible as it affected others. It was one of the best illusory arts.

Using the power of the [Charm Clothing], Ji Li Yu lived a really a good life. Ever since she was little, she was someone who had always been liked by all. After entering the yao art house, she became blinding and dazzling, she was the dream lover of countless young and accomplished yao. The second year she entered the yao art house, she entered the Genius Alliance and received attention from the leader of the Genius Alliance, Ming Yue Ye. The third year, she entered the Genius Alliance council of elders and became the youngest elder in the Alliance’s history. After becoming the youngest elder of the Genius Alliance, she was appointed by Ming Yue Ye as the Relations Minister of the Genius Alliance and was specifically in charge of recruiting talent.

She had completely utilized the powers of the [Charm Clothing]. These years, she had outstanding results, and her seat as an elder was rock solid.

Even as the successor of the Ji Family and someone stronger, Ji Cheng still lived in her shadow.

No one other than Ji Cheng who also cultivated [Sky Clothing] knew how powerful [Charm Clothing] was. From a certain perspective, it was a nearly undetectable illusory art, and its effects directly gripped the heart. He had personally seen countless vicious serial killers and mass murders face Old Sis with a face full of warmth.

What kind of monster could bear to attack her?

“It is that prison-breaking yao.” Ji Li Yu’s expression was slightly ugly.

“Prison-breaking yao?” Ji Cheng stilled and then reacted in a moment. He stammered, “The master of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard? Old Sis, why did you provoke him? Did Ming Yue Ye send you to deal with him? It shouldn’t be so, when did it become the elder’s turn to attack?”

“Who said we are attacking him?” Ji Li Yu rolled her eyes, and her expression became even uglier. “The masses are talking so much about our failures. If the prison-breaking yao joined the Genius Alliance at this moment, what expression do you think those people would have?”

Ji Cheng pondered it for a while and then nodded. “This move is great! Completely pulling the carpet from beneath them! And then? You went to find him?”

“En, I had people keeping watch on that little girl called Nan Yue.” Ji Li Yu’s expression suddenly became black as she gritted. “I just spoke, and that guy instantly flipped. Without a word, he used four attacks of a very strange yao art.”

“Attacked without a word?” Ji Cheng’s expression became slightly strange. “Old Sis, is this a romantic debt that you left behind in the past?”

Ji Li Yu’s eyes glared and frightened Ji Cheng to shrink his head back into his neck.

But he could not bear his own curiosity and said, “And then?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Ji Cheng was confused.

“I was directly thrown out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.”

“Directly thrown out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard … …” Ji Cheng stammered and then inhaled sharply! Whoa, this guy was that vicious? The first meeting and he threw Old Sis out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard without a word … ..

On pain of his death, Ji Cheng could promise Old Sis wouldn’t easily let this matter go. He carefully asked. “Old Sis, what are you planning to do now?”

“Hmph, this isn’t finished!” Ji Li Yi spat out with a dark face.

In this instant, Ji Cheng was filled with sympathy for that vicious prison-breaking brother!

———

Qinghua Zang Shui’s body uncontrollably trembled, his teeth were creaking. He was going mad from anger!

He had been humiliated! The Blue Flower Family had been humiliated!

Eating soft rice … … no qualifications … …

The words were like a poisonous snake continuously tearing and consuming his peerlessly proud heart.

He suddenly raised his head, those who humiliate me, die!

———

“That right now wasn’t good?” Cang Ze weakly said. He suddenly remembered who that seductive female yao was. His heart had almost stopped breathing. He suddenly felt that the decision by the elders was a humongous mistake. Daren’s conduct was completely unpredictable. In the blink of an eye, he had offended two big families.

The Ji Family and Blue Flower Family!

Heavens!

Either of these families could lift a little finger and swept the Grey Clan out. He had just watched as Daren had humiliated the two big families. His heart was freezing cold.

“We need to save time.” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly, “Who has the time to waste on these nobodies?”

Nobodies … … the Ji Family and the Blue Flower Family were nobodies … …

Cang Ze trembled. Just this matter was enough to create a conflict where blood would flow like rivers. He intelligently skipped past this problem. If he let Daren keep talking, the matter would become even worse. He finally understood the meaning of “disaster coming from the mouth.”

“Are you the prison-breaking yao?” A weak voice passed over.

“Why are you guys so irritating?” Zuo Mo was completely irritated by these people that constantly interrupted him. He turned around, and swore all over.

“Ah!” The female yelled and retreated five steps in fear.

When Zuo Mo saw this was just a normal female, his anger instantly dissipated, but his tone was still slightly unfriendly. “What is it?”

“You really are the prison-breaking yao?” the little girl gathered her courage and asked.

“Prison-breaking yao? If you mean the prison-breaking battle, yes, it’s me,” said Zuo Mo impatiently. “If you have something to say, say it quickly. Otherwise leave!” Seeing that a big transaction was just going to be completed but being successively interrupted by others, Zuo Mo’s mood could be imagined.

“Wow! Great!” The little girl was so excited she almost jumped up. “I am a reporter for the Tomorrow Yao Channel, can I interview you?”

“Interview?” Zuo Mo stilled. He thought about it and then said openly. “No problem, no problem, but you have to pay! Just a reminder, ge’s price is very high!”

The little girl immediately turned to stone.

Cang Ze and Nan Yue covered their faces and could not bear to watch.

Chapter 369: I Am Xiao Mo Ge

In the end, the one that accepted the fee was Nan Yue. Zuo Mo wasn’t willing to hand over the fee from the bottom of his heart, but this was not something that could be avoided. As for the price, he doubled the amount that Cang Ze suggested. When the little girl heard this price, her expression changed. When she asked her superior, her voice had been trembling.

The interview quickly proceeded. After getting the fee, Zuo Mo was very professional.

But as the interview continued, Nan Yue and Cang Ze’s expressions became increasingly ugly. In the end, their faces were ashen white and wore expressions of terror.

The little girl gaped with wide eyes in shock, but she quickly became excited.

Heavens!

The interview this time would definitely sell!

After the interview, the little girl hurriedly left.

Watching as the little girl left, Nan Yue and Cang Ze wanted to speak when Zuo Mo suddenly disappeared with a sound—his time was up.

Nan Yue and Cang Ze looked at the dissipating white light with dazed expressions.

A beat later, Cang Ze said with exasperation, “It’s big trouble this time.”

Nan Yue knew what Cang Ze was saying. She remained silent. Even though her heart was filled with worry, she made a resolution that she wouldn’t be moved no matter what hardships Daren encountered!

As Daren’s follower, any wavering, even if it was wavering of the heart, was shameful!

Daren, you created great trouble this time!

———

Zuo Mo had a down expression. “After this group of people interrupting today, we didn’t even finish discussing the matters at hand.”

Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo with extreme displeasure. But after considering he had to rely on Zuo Mo to get the Golden Souls, he decided to keep quiet.

Just at this time, he heard Zong Ru’s voice come from the outside. “Daren.”

“Come in, come in!” Zuo Mo felt slightly puzzled as he could hear the urgency in Zong Ru’s voice. Zong Ru wasn’t like some Qinghua Zang Shui, he was mentally strong. A dhyana xiu that was raised outside a sect and could still cultivate an abhinna, that wasn’t something any average person could accomplish.

Zong Ru had someone else with him. It was the guy that Shixiong had been carrying the other day.

“Daren, this shixiong is a high ranked disciple of Great Buddha Temple.” Zong Ru first introduced Yi Zheng.

“Great Buddha Temple!” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao shrieked and then gritted, “No wonder this person has a smell I dislike! Great Buddha Temple! Great Buddha Temple! So Great Buddha Temple had not been destroyed yet!”

Zuo Mo jumped in fright at Pu Yao’s shriek and fury. It was the first time he had seen Pu Yao lose his composure so. He carefully asked, “You had encounters?”

“Hmph!” A cold snort. Pu Yao suddenly calmed down, but his bloody pupil dimmed and brightened in turn. The killing energy around his body was also uncertain.

Zong Ru saw Zuo Mo did not react and continued, “Yi Zheng Shixiong said that he may know what place this is.”

Zuo Mo’s attention came back at the mention of this. He was slightly shocked. “Ah, what place is this?”

Yi Zheng was studying Zuo Mo all this time. It was the first time that he had seen the boss of this strange troop. The person in front of him was clearly younger than himself. When he first encountered Wei Sheng, he had been astounded by Wei Sheng’s age, but seeing an even younger Zuo Mo, there was only one phrase in his mind.

Only freaks thrived!

Yi Zheng reflected inside, but he did not dare to slight the other because of his age. The power the other controlled was enough to easily crush him a few hundred times over.

He hurried to say respectfully, “This little monk is just guessing and is not sure. This little monk has frequently read my Shixiong’s various records, and happened to come across a vague reference. It referred to something called the Battle of Sealed Extinction. Supposedly, it occurred about twenty thousand years ago. This little monk once felt it the description was absurd and skimmed past the notes, but thinking about it now, the description seems similar.”

“Battle of Sealed Extinction.” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s body shook suddenly.

“This little monk’s shixiong likes and collects all kinds of wondrous legends and tales. This little monk was influenced and has read about many such tales. What this little monk was initially interested in was the great battle from three thousand years ago. Later, this little monk found that there were several separate references to battles in these legends. One was three thousand years ago, one was ten thousand years ago. These are the two most common references . Naturally, nothing needs to be said about the great Battle three thousand years ago. But starting from three thousand years ago to ten thousand years ago, there were numerous legends and rumors about that period, but if we go back even further, there are a few rare records. Of those battles only one could be called a great battle, the Battle of Sealed Extinction that occurred twenty thousand years ago. This battle is so ancient that the only obscure mentions are in Shixiong’s collection of anecdotes and fantasy stories.

Yi Zheng’s words flowed. He knew this was the time to display his value. He could not fail. He furiously tried to think back to the folk tales and anecdotes that he had read at Shixiong’s place.

“Even though the Battle of Seal Extinction is rarely mentioned, but those tales all say that the mountains and rivers changed color, the sky and earth completely red, and the land was blanketed with corpses.”

A great Battle twenty thousand years ago … …

Zuo Mo gaped upon hearing this, like he was listening to a story. Not just twenty thousand years ago, but Zuo Mo even felt the battle three thousand years ago was like a distant rumour. Twenty thousand years ago, how ancient would that be, were there even xiuzhe at that time … …

Even though Zuo Mo seemed to be listening to the story, he was secretly paying attention to Pu Yao’s reaction. Pu Yao had been silent, and seemed to be thinking of something. This caused Zuo Mo to feel that Yi Zheng suggestion was not nonsense.

Yi Zheng wanted to perform well from the bottom of his heart. But other than the time period of when the battle occurred, he did not know anything else about the Battle of Sealed Extinction. He couldn’t help but be upset with himself. If he knew before what he did now, he should have studied Shixiong’s books.

Just as Yi Zheng was panicking, he suddenly heard Zuo Mo asked, “Is Master Da Zheng still alive?”

Yi Zheng stilled and his expression was slightly strange. “The ancestral master passed away the eighth year after the war.”

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, a sigh suddenly sounded. The viciousness on Pu Yao’s face dissipated to only leave behind a thick aura of loneliness.

He turned around and silently stared at the gravestone. He lightly murmured, “You are dead … … they are also dead … … only I am still alive … …”

Just having bid farewell to Yi Zheng, Zuo Mo entered the sea of consciousness and saw this. He perceptively closed his mouth. Just as he prepared to leave the sea of consciousness, he was called by Pu Yao.

“The Battle of Sealed Extinction that he just mentioned is very plausible.” Pu Yao turned around, his expression normal. There were no hints on his face as though what had just happened was Zuo Mo’s delusion. He said calmly, “The Battle of Sealed Extinction is too ancient. Even I did not think of it. I know very little about this great battle. We need to research information about it.”

“How?” Zuo Mo asked, bewildered. They were in the fiendish mist, and lacked communication with the outside world. How could they research anything?

“You forgot the Ten Finger Prison,” Pu Yao said faintly.

Zuo Mo stilled and then instantly reacted. His eyes lit up. Their biggest problem now was that they lacked a method of communication with the outside world, and they were trapped in this mysterious ancient battlefield. If they could contact the outside, then they could receive help. The help they needed the most was general information!

If they knew the general location of this ancient battlefield, Zuo Mo would be even able to use transportation formations to take everyone and leave this ghastly place. They had entered this place through a transportation formation, then they were definitely able to leave this place through a transportation formation. However, there was a prerequisite. He needed to know the general location of where they were now.

Otherwise, if he was careless and transported everyone into chaotic turbulence, that was seeking death.

Zuo Mo’s eyes brightened.

He felt he had been a headless chicken before, running around in this fiendish mist in search of that chance that only existed in theory. But it was different now. They didn’t just have a clue. If they could find the path, the hope that they could walk out of this ghastly place would increase!

Zuo Mo wanted to rush into the Ten Finger Prison. This was the first time he desired to enter the Ten Finger Prison so much.

Of course, this was just an impulse. He had to let his consciousness recover to its best state before he could re-enter the Wasteland Beast Chessboard again.

However, there was still something he was puzzled by.

If this really was the battlefield of the Battle of Sealed Extinction, then how did Shixiong and Yi Zheng get here?

———

“This is Tomorrow Yao Channel, right now, we are broadcasting an exclusive interview that we have just finished recording. The interviewee is the prison-breaking yao that just completed the prison-breaking battle! To get this interview, we went through great … …”

Nan Yue and Cang Ze looked at the news that the Tomorrow Yao Channel were broadcasting and both of them had ugly expressions.

“This is somewhat embarrassing … …” Cang Ze gave a long sigh.

Nan Yue kept her jaw clenched and did not make a sound. However, the expression on her face seemed to be that of a devoted martyr.

The little girl appeared on the news. She seemed slightly nervous, “The public has been constantly speculating to your name, can you introduce yourself to everyone?”

Zuo Mo’s behavior was very normal and did not have any of the nervousness of being interviewed for the first time. “Hello everyone, I am Xiao Mo Ge.”

“Xiao Mo Ge? Such a strange name!” The little girl quickly memorized it. She quickly asked the second question, “Why did you call the first prison the Wasteland Beast Chessboard?”

“Don’t you feel that it is like a chessboard?” Zuo Mo asked in response with a puzzled expression.

“What is a wasteland beast?”

“A wasteland beast is a wasteland beast!”

“Mister Xiao Mo Ge, can you speak about the conflict between you and the Genius Alliance?” The little girl asked as she lead the conversation, with malicious intent.

“I don’t know them,” Zuo Mo obediently replied.

“Ah, Mister Xiao Mo Ge has never heard of the Genius Alliance?” The little girl purposefully misinterpreted Zuo Mo’s meaning.

“Heard of them,” Zuo Mo continued to obediently answer, “just now.”

Nan Yue and Cang Ze’s expressions were very terrible. Even though they already knew the content before hand, but seeing it again, their scalps still felt numb

“Is this your plan to retaliate against them?” the little girl cunningly asked.

“Retaliation? Why do I have to retaliate?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“The Genius Alliance is currently challenging your Wasteland Beast Chessboard!” The little girl had a matter-of-fact expression.

“Can I charge fees?”

“Fees?” The little girl had an astonished expression.

“According to the number of times, challenge once, pay a fee, very fair.” Zuo Mo felt his idea was great.

The little girl’s face was exasperated. She forcibly suppressed it. “Are you going to accept challenges from the Genius Alliance? What I mean are individual challenges.”

“No.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

“Why not?”

“There is no money to be made?”

“Hm, don’t you feel this is ruining your prestige?”

“Prestige? I have a lot of prestige?” Zuo Mo asked back.

“Hem hem!” The little girl almost choked. “If they are willing to pay?”

“There are idiots like that?” Zuo Mo was very shocked. Then he thought and said with some reluctance, “Ooh, if they are willing to pay, then I can consider it.”

“What is your price?” the little girl continued to ask.

Zuo Mo pulled Cang Ze over. “Talk to him.”

When Cang Ze saw this part, he wanted to find a hole in the ground and burrow into it. Nan Yue looked sympathetically at Cang Ze, while rejoicing inside that Daren knew she had been impoverished from youth, and was not skilled in bargaining and negotiating. Otherwise, this would be really embarrassing!

“Is any yao allowed?” the little girl continued to ask.

“No female yao,” Zuo Mo said resolutely.

“Why?” the little girl asked curiously.

“Today, I encountered One Mole … …”

“One Mole?”

“She had a mole by her mouth.”

“Oh.”

“When One Mole saw me, she immediately used an illusory art on me.” Zuo Mo recalled the restless and heated feeling inside his body and was instantly angry. “It was lucky that I reacted  fast, and attacked back without a word.”

“We carried out a thorough investigation into this event Xiao Mo Ge mentioned. According to bystanders, the One Mole that Mister Xiao Mo Ge saw is very likely to be Miss Ji Li Yu. Later, we offered a great reward and found a yao recording art from a bystander that recorded this scene. Other than this, we also unexpectedly found Mister Qinghua Zang Shui was also present. He seemed to have been forced out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard by Mister Xiao Mo Ge as well, but we did not find any signs that Mister Xiao Mo Ge used a yao art. Experts speculate that Mister Qinghua Zang Shui was attacked by a mysterious yao art, which destabilized his mind, and he was forced to leave the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.”

“Both Miss Ji Li Yu and Mister Qinghua Zang Shui belong to the Genius Alliance, and Miss Ji Li Yu is also one of the elders of the Genius Alliance. This incident means that the conflict between the two sides has escalated!”

The host yao quickly spat out this string of words in an excited tone. He was very clear.

An enormous storm was formally beginning.

Chapter 370: Jade Pendant

Zuo Mo told Wei Sheng about Yi Zheng’s hypothesis.

Wei Sheng made a sound. “Does Shidi still remember the sword cave?”

“Of course I remember.” Zuo Mo nodded. He did not dare to mention that he had explored that place many times.

“I was transported from there.” Wei Sheng said, “There is a person called Lin Qian that has been investigating you all this time. This time, they found that the yao military had taken over our Wu Kong Mountain, and thought that the matter was connected to you. They persuaded the Sect Leader to allow them into the sword cave. I accompanied them in. Later, in the deepest level of the sword cave, I found a place that was unique.”

Wei’s words made Zuo Mo jump in fright. He urgently asked, “Wait, you say he’s called Lin Qian?”

“Yes, Shidi knows him?” Wei Sheng described Lin Qian’s appearance and then gravely said, “Shidi needs to be very careful of this person. This man’s background is very high and strong. The xiuzhe under his command are all elite. He led just a hundred people, but I wasn’t even a match for a normal guard.”

Wei Sheng only needed to slightly describe him and Zuo Mo knew that the Lin Qian Shixiong spoke about was the same Lin Qian that he had met. Thinking about it now, it may not have been a coincidence that he had encountered Lin Qian at that time. He thought it was very unlucky. He had been very careful but people still locked onto him. Of course, it was just a shock. Right now, they were in the ancient battlefield. Even if Lin Qian had enormously powerful backing, this place had no connection to him.

However, he had to be careful when they left. He knew how powerful Eldest Shixiong was. Even though Eldest Shixiong had not been jindan then, but his combat abilities could not be underestimated. If even a normal guard was stronger than Eldest Shixiong, then what level would that troop be!

Seeing Zuo Mo was listening carefully, Wei Sheng narrated everything that he knew.

Zuo Mo generally understood the problem of Lin Qian, but there were some words that could not be said and could only be left to rot inside. His attention quickly moved away from Lin Qian. If they could not find a path of exit, even if Lin Qian did not attack, they would not survive. The urgent matter now was to leave this place as soon as possible.

After Zuo Mo mentioned it, Wei Sheng suddenly remembered the jade pendant remnant. “Right, ancestral master mentioned that the transportation formation had been comprehended from this talisman. Is there a clue here?”

Zuo Mo took the jade pendant. The jade pendant was very old and had a broken corner. At a glance, it was possible to see this was a relic that had lasted through ages. Zuo Mo was very curious about an object of the ancestral master.

“Hm.” He suddenly made a light sound, “There’s something strange.”

“Hm.” Pu Yao in the sea of consciousness made a light sound at the same time. “There is something strange!”

The person and yao spoke together.

“What is strange?” Wei Sheng hurriedly asked.

Zuo Mo did not speak. He closed his eyes, and his consciousness wrapped around this jade pendant like it was the tide.

Wei Sheng’s expression shifted. Shidi’s consciousness was so strong! Was Shidi planning to walk the path of the dhyana xiu? He then recalled Shidi’s preference for formations, and then felt he could be a seal xiu. Dhyana xiu and seal xiu both emphasized the training of the consciousness, but they did so in completely opposite directions. The dhyana xiu’s consciousness was to be clear and steady, vast and peaceful, while the consciousness of a seal xiu was the path of transformation and cooperation.

“En?” Wei Sheng was shocked. Shidi’s consciousness was far stronger than those dhyana and formation xiu that he had seen before. It reached an almost fantastical level. He imperceptibly furrowed his brows. He knew the consciousness was good. Even as a sword xiu, if he could cultivate the consciousness at the same time, it would be of great aid.

Shidi’s consciousness was stronger but it made a person feel it was too unrooted. No matter if it was dhyana xiu or formation xiu, they all emphasized the consciousness but in the end, their foundation was based on ling power. Without ling power, no matter how strong the consciousness was, it was like a person with a weak body, and they were unable to wave the sharp heavy axe.

Had a problem occurred to Shidi’s cultivation? Wei Sheng was puzzled but he did not speak. Shidi always had his own definite opinions. Even early on at Wu Kong Mountain, everyone’s cultivation path had been different.

Thinking about the time at Wu Kong Mountain, he couldn’t help but shake his head and smile. He really was worrying for nothing. With Shidi’s practical personality, even on pain of death, he wouldn’t cultivate a useless technique. Also, Shidi was usually very strange, and liked to work on those weird and wondrous things.

“Has Shidi found something?” Wei Sheng asked.

Zuo Mo’s expression was strange. “It seems that the ancestral master of ours isn’t some normal person! This jade pendant’s origins is most likely extraordinary. The presence on it is very strange and I have never seen it before.”

Wei Sheng smiled slightly and was not too shocked. In his view, he and Shidi were both too young and their knowledge was limited. It was normal for them to not have seen or heard of something. If they had seen it before, then it would be abnormal. What he did not know was that there was an old yao thousands of years old in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Zuo Mo almost never saw a shocked expression on Pu Yao’s face. This was the first time. Usually, Pu Yao loved to act as though he was the greatest yao in the word. It was rare for his expression to shift and show surprise.

“What did you find?” Zuo Mo was curious as his eyes widened.

“Powerful!” Opening his eye, Pu Yao released a long sigh, and the shock on his face did not retreat. “The presence on the jade pendant was left behind twenty thousand years ago.”

“Twenty thousand years ago … …” Zuo Mo felt his tongue was knotted as he stammered the question.

Twenty thousand years!

After twenty thousand years, even the most powerful xiuzhe and yaomo would have turned to dust, and dissipated without a trace. On the battlefield they were in, the piles of corpses had weathered and would turn to dust at a touch.

There was someone that could make a presence remain for twenty thousand years, what kind of power would that take?

The person and yao were immersed in enormous shock and unable to pull themselves out.

A long while later, Zuo Mo heard Pu Yao sigh. “Compared to them, we are insignificant.” With Pu Yao’s egotistic personality, for him to say such a thing, it was clear just how enormous the blow that the jade pendant had caused.

Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say. Twenty thousand years, it really … … really was … …

He could not find the words to describe his mood right now.

After a while, he woodenly left the sea of consciousness and said to Wei Sheng, “Eldest Shixiong, I’m going to study this jade pendant for a while.”

“En, just take it.” Wei Sheng nodded. In the field of studying strange and weird objects, he could not compare to Shidi.

———

Wei Sheng did not idle around. There was an endless amount of people asking him for guidance, all of them were members of the Vermillion Bird Camp. Vermillion Bird Camp’s daily cultivation was primarily in two areas. One was individual cultivation, the other was battle tactics. In the area of battle tactics, there was guidance from Gongsun Cha and they progressed smoothly, but their individual cultivation was a problematic.

Most of them were had come from grassroots and had never received a complete and proper education. What Zuo Mo was able to provide them were numerous kinds of sword scriptures and sword formations. But just the sword scriptures were not enough. No one could guide them through the problems they encountered in their daily cultivation. They could only rely on their own explorations. The sword formation was only useful for those sword xiu who had a firm foundation such as Ma Fan.

Wei Sheng’s arrival caused the people of Vermillion Bird Camp that had been wandering in the dark to see light.

The worldly apparition that day had been deeply branded into their minds. Just this was enough to make them feel admiration and respect, but many people still had doubts. People that were skilled in cultivation were not necessarily good at teaching. Even more, what reason did Wei Sheng have for teaching them? So everyone thought of testing the waters and had Xie Shan go first to investigate.

Xie Shan clearly understood everyone’s worries. He did manage to enter jindan but this was the result of a long period accumulation. In other words, he had used the stupidest method possible to break through to jindan. There was pitifully little he could teach the others. He was also curious just how powerful a genius that could cause a worldly apparition was. He agreed and ran over to ask aid from Wei Sheng.

When a professional reached out, it was possible to see if they had the ability or not.

Wei Sheng did not withhold any advice. Just a few words, and Xie Shan had such admiration he could kowtow. After going back, Xie Shan greatly advertised how powerful Wei Sheng was. As expected of Daren’s Eldest Shixiong, the two were generous, did not hide anything, were just the same etc etc.

This time, all the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp could not sit still. But to avoid irritating Wei Sheng, the camp used the method of drawing straws to establish an order to ask guidance.

This move instantly was effective.

To pursue the sword path, Wei Sheng had gone through thousands of hardships, and almost lost his life multiple times. After becoming an inner sect disciple, the one that taught him the sword was Xin Yan,  the one in Wu Kong Sword Sect most skilled in sword essence; in addition to the fact that Wei Sheng was frighteningly hard working. Due to this, his foundation was extremely secure. After receiving the complete [Void Sword Scripture], his breadth of knowledge was much stronger than normal sword xiu.

His early experiences taught him the pain of not having someone to ask for guidance. These sword xiu were also Shidi’s subordinates. This could be considered helping Shidi out. So when the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp came over to ask for his guidance, he easily agreed.

Wei Sheng quickly found that the problems many people encountered were very similar. When he mentioned this to Zuo Mo, and Zuo Mo’s eyes turned and thought of a great solution.

Open a lecture hall.

Before, at Wu Kong Mountain, there would be inner sect disciples that would come at regular intervals to teach outer sect disciples.

Wei Sheng felt that this method was pretty good and followed it.

The Sword Teaching Hall opened in this fiendish mist.

After having this idea, Zuo Mo instantly went into the Ten Finger Prison.

Entering the Wasteland Beast Chessboard again, Zuo Mo’s mentality had completely changed. Before, he had treated it as if he was playing a game, but now that the Ten Finger Prison was connected to whether or not they could escape, he could not be as reckless as before.

He desperately desired any information about the Battle of Sealed Extinction. This desire surpassed his thirst for Golden Souls!

He didn’t know how to use the Ten Finger Prison to get information about the Battle of Sealed Extinction, but still he stepped into the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

When the light faded, when the chessboard was laid out, he inhaled deeply.

A new battlefield, a new battle.

Start!

Chapter 371: Bounty

Nan Yue was not here, Cang Ze was also not here, Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. He had originally wanted to ask them if there were any methods to research information about the Battle of Sealed Extinction. Since the two were actual yao, they would be more familiar with yao society. Pu Yao was a true blooded yao, but after three thousand years, he also didn’t know anything about what the present yao world was like.

“He dared … … dared to humiliate Miss Ji Li Yu! He cannot be forgiven! This person is too hateful!”

“Yes! Who cares about the Genius Alliance, but he dares call her One Mole. Darn it, if I find him, I’ll definitely have a good chat with him.”

“We aren’t a match for him … …”

“We cannot just sit back because we are not a match! We need to make him understand offending Miss Ji Li Yu means offending us! If he offends us, we won’t let him have good days!”

“Brother Wang, do you have some good ideas? Tell us!”

“Ha, those garbage scum from the Genius Alliance, they cannot even protect Miss Ji Li Yu’s reputation. We cannot rely on them. We need to rely on our own power and fight on behalf of Miss Ji Li Yu! Of course we are not a match for Xiao Mo Ge, but there naturally are those who are a match. We’ll put out a bounty!”

“Bounty?”

“Yes! There are many people like us who are protectors of Miss Ji Li Yu. Even though our individual powers are weak, but if we gather together, we can definitely let Xiao Mo Ge have a taste of our power. I’ve taken out all my allowance money for the last half year to place a bounty out for a powerful expert to deal with him.

“Brother Wang, this bit of money isn’t enough.”

“Of course it is not enough. Ha, I don’t know who had the idea, but they opened a bounty in the yao market to deal with Xiao Mo Ge and allows adding to the bounty. The money inside has already reached two million!”

“Two million! Heavens! Xiao Mo Ge is in for a tragically bad time!”

“Ha, this is just here. Supposedly, there is a bounty in every city. Xiao Mo Ge will quickly know the power of Miss Ji!”

“Haha! This idea is too clever! I’ll go immediately! For Miss Ji, I’ll take out my allowance for this whole year!”

Zuo Mo’s face was flabbergasted where he stood.

No way, had he poked the hornet’s nest? One Mole shouldn’t be this powerful … …

Wailing inside, Zuo Mo even wanted to cry. If this was in the past, he would dust off his butt, ge won’t play with you anymore, and leave. What of Ji Li Yu? What of Qinghua Zang Shui? They would only get to stare.

He had just prepared to think of the Ten Finger Prison as a new battlefield and suddenly found that the battlefield was now filled with his enemies.

Heavens, don’t play people like this!

“Pu Yao, are there any methods of changing my appearance?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked.

“Starting from the fifth prison one can change their appearance, but it is not possible in the first four prisons.” Pu Yao’s answer mercilessly killed Zuo Mo’s last hope.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flickered around like he was a thief. Good good, maybe they only know the name of Xiao Mo Ge and not his appearance. Just at this moment, a light suddenly flashed nearby and a little yao appeared.

The little yao saw Zuo Mo and was dazed.

Zuo Mo saw the other’s expression and thought, uh-oh.

“Xiao Mo Ge!”

The little yao shouted furiously and pointed at Zuo Mo with a finger.

Woosh, all the noise disappeared. The surroundings were silent. Zuo Mo could feel many eyes landing on his body. Even though he had seen grand scenes before, Zuo Mo’s scalp turned numb and he felt uncomfortable.

Now that he was in this situation, Zuo Mo could only force himself to continue. He pretended to be calm and glanced at the other before moving his gaze aside. He walked forward and had every intention of ignoring the other.

The little yao reacted, and his face turned pale. He felt regretful. Why had he been so reckless and shouted?

Free combat was allowed inside the Ten Finger Prison. Even though it would not be deadly as in reality, but consciousness injuries could not be voided. In the past, there were those that had been too heavily wounded in the Ten Finger Prison that it had caused their consciousness to weaken two stages. After that, incidents of fighting in the Ten Finger Prison quickly decreased. Later, everyone found that it wasn’t just fighting that could create injuries. Even being in the prison battlefield could cause people to be wounded spiritually.

If the consciousness was wounded, they could not avoid experiencing the pain involved.

Under so many eyes, Zuo Mo turned into light and left the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

“Hahahaha!” Pu Yao’s explosion of laughter spread out far into the sea of consciousness. He pointed at Zuo Mo without any composure, one hand on his stomach, as he laughed without restraint.

Zuo Mo’s face was as black as a pot, his tone unfriendly. “Laughing? What is laughable!”

“Hahahaha!” Pu Yao did not have any intentions of restraining himself and laughed even more outrageously. “I’m going to die from laughter! Street rat, haha, you are a literal street rat right now!”

Already very discontent, Zuo Mo’s discontent increased because of Pu Yao’s laughter.

His stubbornness rose. Wasn’t it just the Ten Finger Prison? He wasn’t afraid of anyone!

He wanted to see what kinds of people had come!

Zuo Mo’s mood was vicious and murderous as he entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard again!

The scenery in front of him changed as he re-entered the Wasteland Beast chessboard. When he saw the surroundings clearly, his heart was reassured. Good. The position when he entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard each time was different. This was very advantageous for him. At the least, if he couldn’t win, he could run!

With a trick up his sleeve, Zuo Mo wasn’t panicked anymore.

He started to think about the influence this incident would have on him. He had had a very casual attitude about what had happened before, and did not treat the incident seriously. Now that the situation was different, his demands were also different.

The incident of One Mole seemed to be pretty big. After experiencing so much, Zuo Mo was clear that making a big fuss had its own advantages, like becoming famous faster. When he had successfully completed the prison-breaking battle, people had come to recruit him.

What he needed was information on the Battle of Sealed Extinction. Truthfully, Zuo Mo had no hopes that this would be easy. This was something that even Pu Yao was not clear about. It was a question even if the yao world still had information on the topic. Even if there was information on it, it definitely would not be so easy to access.

Nan Yue was a normal little yao. The Wisteria Clan of the South Sky had been in decline for too long. Cang Ze’s situation was better than Nan Yue but that was just by a little bit. Zuo Mo had a feeling that investigating the Battle of Sealed Extinction was probably not an easy task. If he needed to use large amounts of resources, it would not be possible to realize it with the two of them.

The spiritual imprint on his arm shifted. Nan Yue and Cang Ze had come.

Zuo Mo put a thought and passed it through the spiritual imprint on his arm. Moments later, the two arrived.

“Daren!” The two hurriedly bowed.

“Hmph, is there a quiet place?” Zuo Mo really felt that there were too many people around.

Cang Ze was the first to react and hurriedly said, “Daren only needs to put down an illusory formation.”

Zuo Mo wanted to facepalm. He was so dumb, unable to even think of such a simple solution. It really was an easy matter for him to put down an illusory formation. His right hand rose slightly. A light energy left his hand and landed on the ground. A thin circular curtain of light rose around them and surrounded them.

Cang Ze knew when things were good. Daren’s formation building methods were very powerful. His admiration rose. Daren was not old but he seemed to be able to do anything, and was skilled in all of them.

Nan Yue’s thoughts were much simpler. She looked curiously at the curtain of light. “Daren, what illusory formation is this?”

“Little Coverup, a variant of a water yao art. Water can create illusions, refract light, and is very suitable for setting up illusory formations.” Zuo Mo explained as they moved inside the curtain.

Cang Ze looked with admiration at Nan Yue. Nan Yue and Daren’s relationship was clearly unordinary. It seemed that Nan Yue was Daren’s follower. If she was his student, she would not call him daren, and would call him teacher. Daren still treated Nan Yue as though she was a student, and did not seem like he was interacting with a follower.

It was rare to see a daren that were like this!

Nan Yue was very fortunate!

After Zuo Mo finished his pointer, he asked, “What is Ji Li Yu’s background?”

Nan Yue and Cang Ze’s expressions were slightly strange. Daren, you finally thought of asking about this now?

Cang Ze knew that Nan Yue definitely did not know as many details as he did and said proactively, “Daren, Ji Li Yu is the woman you threw out last time.”

“En, I know.” Zuo Mo said expressionlessly.

“She is the eldest granddaughter of the Ji Family Leader, and is loved by all the elders in the sect. She was very outstanding from youth, and it really was that everyone who saw her was in love with her. The second year after entering the yao art house, she and her younger brother, Ji Cheng, were invited into the Genius Alliance at the same time. Her rise inside the Genius Alliance is much faster than Ji Cheng. She quickly entered the council of elders and is the youngest elder on the council of the Genius Alliance.”

“Genius Alliance again?” Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed slightly. “Continue.”

“Ji Li Yu might not be the next successor to the Ji Family, but she is the most famous yao of the Ji Family. Even the Ji Clan Elder is not as well-known as she is. Ji Li Yu might come from the Ji Family but she is not interested in cultivating yao arts, and studies dancing, singing, and the instruments. She is especially skilled in singing. The sound is enchanting and well-liked by the public.”

“She has many defenders.” Cang Ze paused, and then emphasized, “Many.”

After listening to Cang Ze’s introduction, Zuo Mo instantly felt it was problematic to have offended such a powerful person.

However, Zuo Mo just felt it was troublesome. His attention was still primarily on the Battle of Sealed Extinction.

“Have you heard of the Battle of Sealed Extinction?” Zuo Mo suddenly asked.

“Battle of Sealed Extinction, what is that?” Nan Yu asked curiously.

Cang Ze shook his head. “No.”

Just as Zuo Mo had thought. He mused and then said, “I need to research some information about an ancient battle, do you have any suggestions?”

“Will the records room of our yao art house have it?” Nan Yue said.

Cang Ze said, “If the information Daren is searching for is very rare and obscure, there are some places to try.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “Speak.”

“The first is the yao art house that Nan Yue just mentioned. Each yao art house has records rooms, and the scale of the records rooms of those large yao art houses are extremely astonishing, and have complete information in all areas. The second is some special little circles. Each profession will have their own little circles. They would have information exchanges at regular intervals. The third is the simplest, a bounty.”

“Bounty?” Zuo Mo’s eyes gradually became bright.

Chapter 372: Golden Soul

“Yes, Daren.” Cang Ze had started to become familiar with Zuo Mo’s temperament. “This is the most convenient and most plausible solution. The information that Daren needs is most likely uncommon, and we aren’t familiar with this area at all. Since this is the case, we can give the task to a professional yao to do. We only need to supply an appropriate price, one that will move their hearts, and they will definitely try their best to find the information that Daren wants.”

Zuo Mo was persuaded by Cang Ze’s suggestion. “Where do I have to go to put a bounty?”

“You can go to the yao market; but if it is a more difficult bounty, you will have to go to the yao markets of bigger cities,” Cang Ze said.

“Then you can find the biggest city for me. I’ll provide the money,” Zuo Mo said without hesitation.

Cang Ze instantly had an expression of difficulty.

“There is a problem?” Zuo Mo asked with puzzlement.

“Daren might not know, but there are access requirements to go to these large cities. My yao designation level is not high, and so I cannot … …” Cang Ze thought inside, how could Daren not know even this? Was Daren a hidden yao that lived in the deep forests?

“Yao designation level? What is that?” Zuo Mo did not understand.

As expected. Cang Ze was even more sure of his speculation. No wonder Daren’s conduct was so unique. He impatiently explained, “Daren, the yao designation is an imprint that signals each yao’s identity. Every city usually has a big formation. If one cannot reach a certain cultivation, they are unable to enter. The more prosperous the city, the higer the yao designation level needed.”

Zuo Mo became very interested, “Then wouldn’t one city all be experts? They would have to have people to do labor, or do they do everything on their own?”

“These doorways are just directed to the yao that come and go. The locals can enter and leave as they will. The locals of these places usually have low cultivation, and their yao designation is another kind. The management of local yao designations is extremely strict and unable to be faked.”

“This troublesome?” Zuo Mo felt the problem was somewhat difficult and asked, “Then how does one increase their yao designation level?”

“There are many ways. Like a certification of power. With Daren’s strength, you only need to go to the Yao Designation Ministry, and get an examination of power to get a pretty good yao designation level. Other than this, you can increase your contribution. Every city has their needs. If you can provide what they need, one can receive an appropriate contribution credit. When contribution credits reach a certain number, one can receive access permissions.”

Zuo Mo said, “It’s not convenient for me to go. Can I hire a yao with a high yao designation level to go?”

“It is probably very difficult.” Cang Ze shook his head and said, “Yao of high designation levels basically will go to live in the bigger cities. The bigger the city, the better the environment. Like Wind Creek Pond, Victory Mountain, they are all famous holy cultivation grounds. Even if the living in the cities is hard, they would not want to come back because the rate of cultivation progress is higher in those places.”

“What is your yao designation level?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Second.” Cang Ze was slightly embarrassed.

Zuo Mo turned around to ask Nan Yue. “You?”

“Second.” Nan Yue was very open.

“How many levels in total?”

“Twenty four.” Cang Ze thought and then said, “Daren, maybe you can go to the higher prisons to look. Supposedly, there are also places in there that are like yao markets. One of my cousins once went to the third prison and mentioned this to me.”

Zuo Mo nodded. He said, “From today, I will start passing on [Grey Scar Art] to you.”

“Thank you Daren!” Cang Ze suddenly became excited. He suddenly lifted and opened his palm. A golden ball of light appeared in his palm. He respectfully presented it. “This little one’s consciousness is too weak, and can only bring one golden soul every time. In the future, this little one will bring a golden soul each time.”

“This is the Golden Soul?” Zuo Mo took over the Golden Soul curiously.

It looked like a golden cloud the size of a palm. It was insubstantially light in his hand. Like it was alive, it was slightly rippling. Zuo Mo could feel a strong presence of vitality!

Suddenly, deep and raw ancient words came from Zuo Mo’s mouth. No matter how hard Nan Yue and Cang Ze tried to listen, they could not hear it clearly. It was so blurry like it came from the depths of the earth.

With speed visible to the naked eye, the cloud turned to a puddle of golden water. The presence of life suddenly became exponentially stronger.

Bam!

The golden water suddenly exploded and turned into a handful of golden mist. Amidst the deep and indistinct chant, the golden mist silently surrounded Zuo Mo. It was like moisture permeating long-parched sand and quickly entered the body constructed of Zuo Mo’s consciousness without leaving a drop behind.

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s body was covered by a layer of faint golden light. He was sitting cross-legged with a solemn expression.

A powerful presence of vitality filled every corner of the sea of consciousness. The presence that spilled out were all absorbed by Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. Zuo Mo felt unspeakably refreshed.

“This is really good!” Zuo Mo said with lingering hunger. He looked at Pu Yao in meditation and couldn’t help but smile. This guy was so urgent and impatient. It seemed that the Golden Soul was very important to him.

He did not disturb Pu Yao and retreated from the sea of consciousness.

Cang Ze was increasingly respectful. He did not understand the deep and indistinct chant that Zuo Mo had just said, but it made him think of some things that Grandfather had said to him on accident. The Grey Clan had guarded its Golden Tree for more than three thousand years, and their understanding of the Golden Soul was much deeper than any other yao. Cang Ze knew of all kinds of legends about the Golden Soul.

The method Daren used to absorb the Golden Soul was completely different than any passed down through the clan.

Cultivating in the deep forests, possessing an inheritance from the ancient ages … …

Cang Ze gradually drew out Zuo Mo’s identity in his mind.

Just as Cang Ze was thinking nonsense, Zuo Mo turned and asked Nan Yue, “How have you been recently?”

“I’ve solved the sixth problem.” Nan Yue seriously replied.

“Hm, pretty good progress.” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. Nan Yue’s rate of improvement was faster than he had imagined. It seemed that the little girl worked pretty hard during this time. What he did not know was that Nan Yue cultivated with an attitude of putting her life on the line. She had securely remembered Zuo Mo’s reprimand from last time. She cultivated day and night, and spent any free time on cultivation.

Her fundamentals could not be said to be good, and her talent was not outstanding; but she was the first to come into contact with Zuo Mo’s way of thinking. In reality, when the prison-breaking six problems had spread, she had also tried to solve them. Compared to other yao, she had received Zuo Mo’s thinking, and it naturally was easier for her to solve them. She quickly solved up to the fourth problem, but she became stuck.

Her weak foundation stopped her from moving forward. Nan Yue was not stupid and instantly realized this. She recalled a dumb method that Daren had mentioned to her—deconstruct all the yao arts she encountered on the path.

She really ran into the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, and following the chessboard, she deconstructed tile by tile.

Deconstruction of the chessboard, forced to leave, recover her spiritual power, and enter the chessboard again to deconstruct … …

She repeated this. She did not dare to relax one bit. Every time she thought about giving up, she told herself that this was her only chance.

When Zuo Mo finished listening to Nan Yue narrate her daily cultivation, looking at Nan Yue’s focused face, the admiration in his eyes increased. At the side, Cang Ze also had admiration on his face. He had personally seen how crazy Nan Yue had been. Everyone was about the same in age, but this persistence was enough to make him embarrassed.

Zuo Mo motivated Nan Yue. “This method might be dumb, but it once produced a sky yao.”

Cang Ze’s heart shook. There was a lot of room to ponder behind Daren’s words.

Nan Yue did not think much and nodded seriously.

“The foundations are a matter of practicing. Persisting has great benefits.” Zuo Mo then said, “From today, you can start learning [South Sky Arrow Art.] Do not slack off.”

“Yes, Daren!” Nan Yue said with the same seriousness.

Zuo Mo started to pass the two yao arts.

After asking for Zuo Mo’s permission, Cang Ze released a recording yao art in case he could not remember it all. Then he would become the criminal of his clan. After hearing just a few sentences, he could not control himself, and almost cried.

[Grey Scar Art]! Lost for three thousand years, [Grey Scar Art] was going to see the light of day again!

Compared to Cang Ze’s excitement, Nan Yue was much more peaceful. The Wisteria Clan of the South Sky was far too distant for her. She only hoped that she could reach Daren’s requirements to be able to follow Daren and to give her clansmen better lives.

“Daren, can I teach my clansmen [South Sky Arrow Art]?” Nan Yue asked.

“Of course, This was your South Sky Wisteria Clan’s yao art in the first place,” Zuo Mo said with a smile.

After passing it on to the two, Zuo Mo did not disturb them anymore. This was the best time for them to digest it. Zuo Mo sat down and started to ponder the two yao arts. [Grey Scar Art] and [South Sky Arrow Art] had been on his hands for a while but he hadn’t had the time to examine them.

The two yao arts had their unique aspects.

Zuo Mo had seen many yao arts by now, and could see good or bad at a glance. [Grey Scar Art] was a very unusual illusory killing yao art, and the way of thinking was extremely strange. Zuo Mo had to read it over three times before he understood. The requirements for cultivating [South Sky Arrow Art] was even more strict. It was impossible to cultivate for anyone not a wisteria yao because only wisteria yao could create wisteria arrows, and the succeeding string of arts could be cast.

After reading through both sets of yao arts, many of Zuo Mo’s questions disappeared. No wonder each yao clan had their own inheritances. These inherited yao arts were continuously developed and perfected based on the unique traits of their clan. It would not be a great problem even if these yao arts ended up in the hands of other yao clans because the other basically could not cultivate it. Even if they could, the power would decrease greatly.

But if these yao arts were lost, it was definitely a heavy blow to a clan.

To Zuo Mo, these yao arts were not of great use. Only now did he understand the power of the [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] and [Little Thousand Leaf Hands]. These two yao arts were ones that the great majority of clans could cultivate.

“Hey, there’s an illusory formation!”

An arrogant voice suddenly came from the outside.

“Let’s go, don’t create trouble,” another voice urged.

“Just a bit longer. The person inside is doing something that can’t be seen in the light if they put up an illusory formation.”

“Fine, be quick … …”

A group of ripples came from the outside. Zuo Mo looked at Nan Yue and Cang Ze still immersed in their thoughts, and two bolts of light came out of his eyes.

He rose and walked out of the illusory formation.

Chapter 373: Orange-Haired Yao

There were two yao outside the formation.

The first was a male yao was looking eagerly at the illusory formation. What was most eye-catching about him was his bright orange hair. It looked like a flickering fire. The other was completely shrouded in a ball of black smoke so light, it looked as though it would dissipate with a wind gust.

A flame lit up on the orange-haired yao’s hand. His hand rose and a handful of fire rain slowly flew towards the illusory formation.

“You dare!”

A cold snort suddenly rang out from inside the formation. A bolt of silver light flew out of the formation and hit the rain of fire.

Pia!

The rain of fire suddenly was destroyed. The silver light still had power and continued to fly at the orange-haired yao.

“Great attack!” The orange-haired yao’s eyes lit up, and he became even more excited. A thread of fire extended from his finger, and he pointed it at the incoming bolt of silver light.

Hiss-crack!

Several arcs of electricity flashed in the air. The silver light disappeared.

“Hard lightning!” the black smoke yao exclaimed lowly, and thought that the situation was not proceeding favorably.

“Hard lightning!” The orange-haired yao’s eyes became even brighter.

A blur came in front of the two yao and a figure appeared. Zuo Mo looked coldly at the two yao. He usually had no positive feelings towards those that like causing trouble.

“You know hard lightning?” The orange-haired yao was very excited and he said as he rubbed his hands, “Let’s have another one!”

Before he finished his words, a hard lightning bolt flew towards him. People that had battle experience, like Zuo Mo,  did not have mercy when they decided to attack. However, he hadn’t expected the orange-haired yao to not dodge, and was surprised when the yao opened his arms as though he was going to embrace the hard lightning.

Hiss-crack!

The yang fiend hard lightning accurately struck the orange-haired yao. Standing among the cracking, the orange-haired yao’s body shook like dice, the strands of orange hair were standing on end and giving off green smoke.

“Puh!” The orange-haired yao gave a long exhaled of black smoke when he finished shaking and said to himself, “So hard lightning tastes like this!”

Zuo Mo’s anger turned to astonishment. He had prepared a whole string of moves after the initial yang fiend hard lightning attack but since the other had not dodged at all, he was not able to use any of the moves he had prepared.

“Brother, give me another one!” The orange-haired yao looked with desire at Zuo Mo.

Was this guy not normal? Whichever way Zuo Mo looked at him, he felt the other was not normal.

“Xiao Mo Ge!” The black smoke yao suddenly exclaimed.

Zuo Mo shuddered. He was overly reactive to this name now.

The orange-haired yao’s eyes became brighter as he laughed. “So you are Xiao Mo Ge. No wonder you know hard lightning. Powerful, powerful! Brother, give me another one!” With the last words, his gaze turned to begging.

“Ahem, your friend isn’t normal.” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but turn and ask the black smoke yao. This guy looked more normal. It was a very unintelligent matter to argue with an abnormal person.

The black smoke yao took withdrew his black smoke and turned to a black male. His expression was very awkward and he did not know what to say.

“Who isn’t normal?” The orange-haired yao’s eyes glared, his expression unwilling, but when Zuo Mo’s eyes came back to him, a fawning expression came back to his face. “Brother, give me another one!”

Zuo Mo examined the orange-haired yao for a while and felt the other was brimming with strangeness. He turned and acted to leave.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t leave!” The orange-haired yao  was slightly displeasured. “Give me some face, give me another one!”

Without looking back, Zuo Mo walked away as he shook his head. Meeting such an extreme person, he could not maintain his anger.

“If you won’t, I will!” The orange-haired yao laughed and stepped forward. He raised his hand for a stream of fire. The flame came unusually quickly, pulling out a ruler straight line in the air like an arrow of fire which howled.

Why was this person still bothering him?

Zuo Mo’s brow creased. Without turning his head back, his hand opened as he grabbed behind his back.

Pia!

The fire arrow suddenly exploded in the air like it was crushed by an invisible hand.

“Powerful, powerful!” The orange-haired yao was even more eager. “Again, again!”

Zuo Mo finally became angry and raised his hand and released three bolts of yang fiend hard lightning.

Pia pia pia!

The three yang fiend hard lightning accurately struck the orange-haired yao.

Hiss-crack, hiss-crack, hiss-crack!

The eyes of the orange-haired yao suddenly became straight, his entire body shaking randomly as his hairs stood up.

“Hm!” Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. The other had been struck simultaneously with three bolts of yang fiend hard lightning but still wasn’t thrown out of the Wasteland Beast chessboard. He knew some rules of the Ten Finger Prison now. Being attacked inside the Ten Finger Prison was just the same as being attacked in reality, but what was wounded was not the flesh body but the consciousness.

“Puh!” The orange-haired yao slowly exhaled a mouthful of black smoke. His paralyzed eyes slowly became normal. He closed his eyes and was motionless.

The black smoke yao that had been idling around now looked warily at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo detected the wariness of the black smoke yao. He was thoughtful and did not attack. He looked with interest at the other.

The orange-haired yao opened his eyes and roared with laughter. “I got it, I got it!”

A ball of lightning suddenly appeared on his hand which twirled around. However, the color was different than Zuo Mo’s silver hard lightning. The ball of lightning in the other’s hand was a dazzling red as it snapped.

“Flame-infused hard lightning!” Zuo Mo was even more surprised.

“Good eyes, good eyes!” The orange-haired yao laughed loudly and said proudly, “But still not as powerful as yours, Brother. Just about seven or eight tenths.”

“You can copy other people’s yao arts?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Am I not strong?” The orange-haired yao laughed loudly. “Don’t be jealous!”

Zuo Mo couldn’t resist grinning.

At the side, the black smoke male continuously wiped his sweat. Did this guy not know who he was talking to?

“Can your hard lightning be more powerful?” the orange-haired yao asked probingly.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded. Seeing the eyes of the orange-haired yao light up, he said with a smile, “But I don’t know how.” What Zuo Mo said was true. There were many transformations of [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], and every yao art had their unique aspects. However, if he really wanted to express the full powerful of the [Little Thousand Leaf Hands], it required cultivating [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] to a certain stage.

Zuo Mo had used [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] all this time, but his time on [Great Thousand Leaf Hands] was much less.

The orange-haired yao had an understanding expression as he made a sound of acknowledgement. He suddenly thought of something. “Hm, you are Xiao Mo Ge?”

“En, yes.”

“Whoa, a famous yao!” The orange-haired yao was startled. He suddenly examined Zuo Mo from top  to bottom deeply. “Brother, your bounty is very high. It’s at least five hundred thousand to kill you once. Over ten times and it is above six million. How about we work together and split the money?”

Zuo Mo smiled unconcernedly.

“Nevermind if you are not willing.” The orange-haired yao felt slight regret but then he patted his chest. “Don’t worry, I’ve gotten attacked by you so now we are brothers. My maxim is that to be brothers, one has to be loyal.”

The black smoke yao’s face was filled with helplessness as though he was going to cover his face and sigh.

“Then thank you very much,” Zuo Mo said with a smile.

“Haha, I’m very loyal!” The orange-haired yao had a proud expression.

Zuo Mo felt this person was very interesting. His thumb went up. “Loyal yao!”

“Haha! This name is good!” The orange-haired yao was full of bravado. “In the future, call me Loyal Yao.”

Zuo Mo suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked behind the orange-haired yao. A figure was quickly coming towards them.

“Xiao Mo Ge, it took me great trouble to find you!” Qinghua Zang Shui’s dark and poisonous voice was like the hissing of a venomous snake in the darkness.

“Brother, to be a yao, you have to loyal. As a male yao, you cannot bend your spine to the influence of money!” The orange-haired yao stopped Qinghua Zang Shui with his body and sincerely addressed him, “Brother, if you lack money, I can lend to you, but don’t be a disloyal yao.”

The expression of the black smoke yao changed slightly. It was possible to see at a glance from Qinghua Zang Shui’s presence that he was not an ordinary yao.

Qinghua Zang Shui’s expression became even darker. He squeezed out between his teeth, “Leave!”

“Hey! Your temper is really bad! It’s not good to be like this. To be a yao, you have to have a breadth of chest, of course, even more importantly, you have to be loyal … …”

Qinghua Zang Shu was infuriated. “Where did this idiot come from? Leave! If you keep chatting, I’ll destroy you!”

“Fight? Come come come! Ha, I like this the most!” The orange-haired yao’s eyes lit up in eagerness.

Qinghua Zang Shui could not suppress it any longer. He raised his hand and a blue light flew out. The blue light danced in the air and quickly formed the shape of a flower.

“Blue Flower Family!” The black smoke yao’s expression changed greatly.

The blue flower in the air suddenly lit up and flew towards the orange-haired yao. The speed of the blue flower was slow and idle.

“Ha! Taste my fire hard lightning!” The orange-haired yao excitedly threw out a fire red hard lightning.

The fire hard lightning directly struck the floating blue flower but an unexpected scene occurred. The fire hard lightning directly passed through the blue flower and flew into the distance. The blue flower was not damaged at all and still flew lightly towards the orange-haired yao.

“Hm.” The orange-haired yao did not believe his bad luck and sent out a few more yao arts. Without exception, they all seemed to pass through the air, and did not stop the blue flower at all.

“Go die!” the completely rampaging Qinghua Zang Shui bellowed.

Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed. He smelled danger from the slowly moving blue flower.Yang Fiend Hard Lightning, Bone-crushing Obscuring Wind, Void Pass, the three yao arts were sent in succession.

The three yao arts passed through the blue flower without any resistance.

“Haha!” Qinghua Zang Shui laughed proudly at this time. “It’s useless! All of you, die!”

Dozens of blue flowers rose up beside him and howled as they flew towards Zuo Mo and the black smoke yao. These blue flowers were light and seemed very slow.

The blue flower landed on the body of the orange-haired yao. Pia, a clear blue flower pattern was imprinted on the body of the orange-haired yao.

“Blue Flower Soul Bite! All of you, wait for your death … …”

Qinghua Zang Shui’s wild laugh suddenly stopped. He looked in disbelief at the orange-haired yao. “You you you … …”

The orange-haired yao looked curiously at the blinking blue flower on his body. He raised his head, and his eyes seemed to be ignited. His body suddenly shifted and like a gust of wind, it intercepted the blue flowers.

Pia pia pia!

His body became covered with flashing blue flowers, and looked extremely strange. Qinghua Zang Shui gaped at the orange-haired yao covered in blue flower imprints as though he was struck by lightning.

The orange-haired yao looked his head to look and tsked in praise. He suddenly raised his head and looked at Qinghua Zang Shui. He pointed at the empty places on his body and asked desirously, “Brother, add two more here.”

“Aaaaah… …”

Qinghua Zang Shui’s expression wavered. He suddenly shrieked. His figure became blurred and after struggling for a moment, he disappeared with a clap.

“Miser.” The orange-haired yao twisted his mouth. “It’s fine if you don’t want to give it, don’t run!”

He rubbed his chin and said with a serious face, “This kind of yao, one cannot be brothers with.” He turned his face and looked towards Zuo Mo. “Right, Brother?”

Zuo Mo looked dumbly at the orange-haired yao’s body covered in blue flowers and was speechless.

Chapter 374: [Wasteland Beast Chessboard—Match]

In reality, the orange-haired yao looked extremely weird at this moment. Especially since he did not know a glowing blue flower was imprinted on his lips. But he was extremely chatty, so that the blue flower opened and closed. It was very strange.

“Ahem, do you not feel discomfort?” Zuo Mo couldn’t resist asking.

The orange-haired yao’s body was covered in blue flowers that shined. He seemed to be unaffected. Zuo Mo was not so naïve to think that the blue flowers just looked pretty. In reality, he considered the blue flowers “vicious and deadly”. The [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] that had been so successful before was unable to stop the blue flowers. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation after he learned [Little Thousand Leaf Hands].

In terms of strangeness and viciousness, the blue flower definitely ranked in the top three of the yao arts Zuo Mo had encountered. When the blue flowers had appeared, Zuo Mo’s hairs had stood on end. The strong feeling of danger that had erupted out of the bottom of his heart back then were still a faint mist on his heart now and had not dissipated.

“No.” The orange-haired yao was very proud. “The honored undying body like the one I have, how can I fear these ruined flowers? Do not admire me!”

The black smoke yao’s expression froze and it quickly became strange.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but grin. This guy was pretty interesting.

“But these ruined flowers do have some substance. I can’t decipher all of it.” The face of the orange-haired yao that had been proud suddenly collapsed as he said, full of struggle, “It is such a pity. I wanted to learn this move. So tempting.”

“This is probably a yao art related to the Blue Flower Family, it is definitely not easy to copy.” Zuo Mo comforted. “This move is also too feminine, and it is not suited for real males.”

“That’s right.” The orange-haired yao’s mood quickly rose. He laughed and said, “Brother, it is you who understands me. We don’t want these ruined flowers. Loyal males need yao arts with presence! Ooh, the fire lightning is perfect!”

Looking at the oblivious orange-haired yao, the mouth of the black smoke yao was bitter. Blue Flower Family! That was the Blue Flower Family just now! Was the Blue Flower Family so easy to offend? He was full of regret at this moment. How come he hadn’t stopped Big Orange? If they hadn’t disrupted the other’s illusory formation, they would not have stirred Xiao Mo Ge. If they did not draw out Xiao Mo Ge, they would not have become enemies with the Blue Flower Family.

His face was black to begin with and now its colour was as deep as the bottom of a pot. However, he also knew that the enmity had already formed. Just now, Big Orange had completely offended the Blue Flower Family.

The orange-haired yao was heartless and did not worry at all. He excitedly ran next to Zuo Mo. “Brother, if there is something fun, remember to call me.”

Zuo Mo saw other yao pointing towards them out of the corner of his eyes. His heart suddenly jumped. He knew that the yao had recognized him. He smiled at the orange-haired yao and said. “En en, if there is anything fun in the future, I’ll definitely go find you. But I’ve got something I need to attend to right now.”

The orange-haired yao was slightly regretful and reluctantly left after exchanging spiritual imprints with Zuo Mo. He clearly had not had enough fun. The black smoke yao noticed the situation in the distance and glanced at Zuo Mo with surprise.

The orange-haired yao had been exhausted. After waving to Zuo Mo, he left with the black smoke yao.

Zuo Mo liked this slightly idiotic person very much. Due to this, he did not want the other to be drawn into this matter. He glanced at the yao in the distance that were pointing at him. He knew that his tracks could not be concealed. Nan Yue and Cang Ze were comprehending the yao arts they had just received and it was not a good time to be disturbed.

Zuo Mo knew very well what was going to happen next. He was at great ease. His mood did not change at all. His experiences after leaving Wu Kong Mountain, the developments along the road and the many battles, he no longer felt terror when facing combat.

He stood silently and waited for the others to appear.

A short while later, several figures quickly neared with astounding speed.

“Xiao Mo Ge!”

“He’s over there!”

These voices were filled with excitement and joy. The bounties every large yao market had on Xiao Mo Ge had been continuously rising. If they could use yao arts to record the process of defeating Xiao Mo Ge, they would receive a great reward. Money did not just move the hearts of people, they also moved the hearts of yao. Even more, the one that defeated Xiao Mo Ge would not just receive wealth; any person that defeated Xiao Mo Ge would become famous. In any case, this was the Ten Finger Prison and no one would die. At most, it would just be wounds to the consciousness. Compared to the rewards, this bit of risk was easy to dismiss. Where else could they find a matter where they could get fame and wealth together?

Zuo Mo was like a powerful magnet continuously attracting other yao.

Seeing the figures approaching, Zuo Mo’s clear and indifferent pupils suddenly shot out several cold and intimidating lights.

Without any warning, these people gave sharp wails.

The figures seemed to be split in half by something. Body parts that were cleaved off flew out a few zhang before they disappeared.

“Careful! There are ice blades!”

“It’s an illusory formation!”

Exclamations rang out. No one had expected that Xiao Mo Ge had set out ice blades illusory formations so far away from his position without leaving any traces! Hiss, many people couldn’t help but inhale sharply. Ice blade illusory formations, these were not high level yao arts. Ice blade was a little yao art, the illusory formations had been composed of two kinds of low level water yao arts.

What made all the yao inhale in shock that these people had been struck by the blades least one hundred and fifty zhang away from Xiao Mo Ge.

Without changing expression, he had set down traps one hundred and fifty zhang away. His tactics and power were all essential to this. Many people that had vulturous ideas previously seemed to have a bucket of cold water poured over their heads. The chilling fear struck their hearts.

The bounty was not so easy to get.

Pia pia.

Another few lights flashed. Another few people had been thrown out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. Many yao were not even able to make out what trick these people had fallen for. The mood suddenly became tense. Some yao even had thoughts of retreat. Their steps slowed down as they looked uncertainly at Xiao Mo Ge.

The other seemed too calm. Did he have something to rely on? If he did not have support, how could he not be nervous at all?

The troop quickly spread out. Those with nimble minds seemed to feel the danger. It was good to let other people test the waters. Only those that could remain until the end could reap the benefits.

Zuo Mo calmly stood there as though he did not see the enemies coming at him from all directions.

He was not pretending to be calm. His heart was as serene as water, his consciousness was unprecedentedly lively. Every action in the surroundings seemed to be seen in the palm of his hand. The comfortability he felt was like being a fish in the water made every nerve in his body feel pleasure. He could clearly feel the surrounding environment was filled with closeness.

Suddenly, he understood.

This was the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, this was his territory!

Boom!

His mind seemed to suddenly exploded. The barely discernable bond with the surroundings became blinding like oil poured onto fire.

Wasteland Beast Chessboard!

He seemed to see a wasteland beast shrouded in the smoke that looked at him. That pair of vicious lantern-sized red eyes did not hold viciousness and savagery. It only stared deeply at him.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s sigh sounded out.

Zuo Mo heard this sigh filled with the burden of age, but at this time, he did not have the time to study the meaning behind this sigh. His eyes did not move away from the wasteland beast at all. His face was raised. The wasteland beast was half crouched in front of him. Zuo Mo was not short, but he was just able to reach the toe of the wasteland beast. The wasteland beast looked down at Zuo Mo. The deep red eyes were as deep as the ocean and were unable to be understood.

It stared at Zuo Mo for a while as its body slowly disappeared from in front of him.

Zuo Mo suddenly shook. The shouts and roars suddenly entered his ears like a tide. He seemed to be in a different world. Had it been a delusion just now? Zuo Mo shook his head hard. Where was the wasteland beast in front of him?

There was no time to think. The closest enemy was already within one hundred zhang of him.

———

Ice blades illusory formations were not high level illusory formations, and if the other had even the slightest awareness, they were ineffective. All of the ice blade formations were completely swept away. The crowd of yao’s morale rose!

Even if Xiao Mo Ge had some great ability, he could not defend against so many people! There were more than forty yao that were charging and many of the yao that had been watching could not resist charging as well. Maybe they could get some benefits in this mess? Then they would really profit!

The yao arts on the hands of many yao started to flash. The crowds became excited. In the next second, hundreds of yao arts flew towards Xiao Mo Ge like rain!

No matter how strong Xiao Mo Ge was, he could not dodge all of them.

Victory was right in front of their eyes, the crowd of yao was excited, and the spectators continuously casted recording yao arts in the fear they would fail. Xiao Mo Ge was being ganged up on, this was great news that would shake the yao world. Those that were experienced always warned their students this was the outcome of offending great personages. So what if you could break the prison? People could torment you however they want!

In the battlefield, Xiao Mo Ge was still motionless. He seemed to not see the lights of the yao spells in the hands of the yao. He lightly raised his right hand.

A right hand that was extremely normal!

A light that was not blinding lit up on the fingers of his right hand.

He slowly breathed out, “[Wasteland Beast Chessboard—Match]!”

The voice was not loud and was as soft as the wind, but it blew into every corner of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. All of the yao in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard were disturbed and raised their heads in shock.

Silently, the black and white tiles within one hundred and fifty zhang of Zuo Mo seemed to become alive and slowly turned.

Time seemed to have stopped in this second. All the yao that had charged into this area of a radius of one hundred and fifty zhang froze where they stood.

Many strange statues stood next to Zuo Mo. They maintained their running posture. Some still had lights on their hands, others were slanted forward as though they could fall at any moment.

All the noise disappeared. It was deathly silently within one hundred and fifty zhang of Zuo Mo. The yao watching from a distance looked at this strange and fantastical scene. What had happened? No one understood. Under their puzzled eyes, Zuo Mo slowly sat down cross-legged.

Among the spectators, one person’s body suddenly shook fiercely.

His shock-filled face suddenly became as snowy white as paper, his eyes filled with astonishment.

Was it … …

Chapter 375: [Yao Art Cage]

Was it … … that he was able to control the Wasteland Beast Chessboard?

Ming Jue Zi’s heart beat wildly. In his eyes, the process of Xiao Mo Ge folding his legs as he sat was occurring in slow motion. He looked with disbelief at Xiao Mo Ge.

He had vast knowledge, and he knew that the battle now had reached another level. It seemed that those yao that had charged towards Xiao Mo Ge were being controlled but that was not true.

Another battle had just started. Xiao Mo Ge’s focused expression caused Ming Jue Zi to believe his speculation even more.

It was just … … he hadn’t really expected there were people able to control a prison … …

Ming Jue Zi looked dazedly at Xiao Mo Ge and his thoughts wandered. He was suddenly full of curiosity about what Xiao Mo Ge’s last move in the prison-breaking battle was. Breaking the prison did not mean controlling a prison. For example, Qian Liu Daren had set down Vast Water Clear Skies, but he was not able to control Vast Water Clear Skies, it just provided a slight advantage for him.

Throughout history, successful prison breakers were mostly like Qian Liu Daren but there were exceptions. Throughout history, there had been three prison-breaker yao that could control a prison.

This kind of secret information was only usually known by family with long histories. Supposedly, to control a prison, the crux was in the last attack of the prison-breaking battle. In a prison-breaking battle, the further it proceeded, the more ferocious it was. The last attack was usually the strongest and most vicious attack. The formation of the new prison had a large connection to the last attack, and the ability to control a prison was connected to the last attack as well.

Of course, these were all speculations, ones that circulated in a certain group.

Because it could not be proven, no one knew what the last move of the three daren in the past had been. Up until their death, they had not revealed the secret. This speculation had been formed by some concerned people from all kinds of hints and clues. Everyone had found to their shock that, through different channels, that all three daren had mentioned the last move to a certain degree. However, many people also did not believe this because these hints could not prove anything.

But Ming Jue Zi believed it.

Because he coincidentally knew a bit more than other people.

Ming Jue Zi was not interested in the matter of Xiao Mo Ge and the Genius Alliance to start with. This matter might have made a fuss but not many of Ming Jue Zi’s peers paid much attention to it. High level yao family had their own high level groups. They were only interested in matters of their circle. Ming Jue Zi was not too interested, but just curious what the Wasteland Beast Chessboard looked like so he came to see. He had not expected to see such an amazing scene.

———

The one hundred and fifty zhang radius around Zuo Mo was like a grey and white territory of death. Everyone seemed to be unmoving and silent.

There was a circle of yao surrounding it but no one dared to step into the area. The scene in front of them surpassed their limits. Countless recording yao arts flashed.

The scenery in front of Zuo Mo changed. An enormous chessboard appeared in front of him.

On this chessboard, there was only him, and his opponents that had been pulled in. However, the number of opponents was very high. All seventy one yao that had been drawn in were his opponents. In other words, he needed to fight against seventy one opponents simultaneously.

There was not one thread of fear in Zuo Mo’s heart. This was his territory.

Hiss hiss hiss!

Countless lights suddenly flew out of the black and white chessboard and grabbed onto the yao.

Wasteland Beast Chessboard!

Everyone felt their vision blur and they lost sight of Zuo Mo. When they could see the surroundings clearly again, they found to their shock they were inside cages of light. The arm-thick pillars of light flashed with complex and eerie lights.

[Yao Art Cage]!

The match had begun.

Some yao that thought highly of themselves snorted coldly and cast yao arts towards the cage. Yet no matter how they released their yao arts, the could not move the light pillars at all. Smarter yao did not move rashly and carefully examined the surroundings.

There were those with power among the seventy one yao. Jin Zhen was one of them. He was from a branch family of one of the five Great Clans, the Gold Clan. He was young and smart, his power unordinary.

In this length of time, there were no yao arts that attacked him. He instantly understood that the way to exit was on this light cage. He calmed his mind and inspected the pillars of light. The lights that flashed on each arm-thick pillar were different. Through the light, he was able to see layers of interwoven little yao arts. Hm, he suddenly felt they were familiar to his eyes.

He suddenly recalled what the yao art lights that glowed on the pillar of light seemed like—the prison-breaking six problems!

Yes, it was the prison breaking six problems!

The construction of yao arts on the light pillars were the same as the prison breaking six problems.

Sweat poured off Jin Zhen. He opened his mouth but could not produce a sound. How could he not be familiar with the prison-breaking six problems that had been so popular in the recent past? He was even able to recite every problem, including their answer.

But when he faced yao art problems that were similar to the prison-breaking six problems, there was only hopelessness in his heart. Based on his own power, he could only solve three of the prison-breaking six problems. Even when the answer to the sixth problem had come out, it had taken him six whole days to understand.

Please … … please don’t be too difficult … …

Jin Zhen grabbed the last thread of hope and prayed inside. He trembled and suppressed the wild beating of his heart as he looked closely.

Upon closer inspection, he almost fainted away.

Little yao arts were packed together and connected with abnormally complex ways. Looking over, it made one have a big head.

He really had been possessed to come running into this matter. Jin Zhen was very dispirited. He probably could not avoid being wounded this time. This was great. He needed to pay a fee for healing. It was really unprofitable!

His heart suddenly moved. He definitely had not hopes of solving, but he could record what he was seeing. He might even make a sum. The more he thought, the more excited he was. He hurriedly cast a recording yao art.

When the light of the recording yao art rose, he couldn’t help but laugh. It was useable! A door closed, but a window had opened. He had some ideas, and knew what was the most important. He did not spare his spiritual power and carefully recorded the yao arts on every pillar of light completely.

Ha ha, this was all money!

Just as he finished recording, the pillars of light lit up to a blinding degree, and suddenly were like thorns piercing his body. An excruciating pain came. With a wail, his vision darkened.

Woosh woosh woosh!

The yao  that maintained their strange position around Zuo Mo continuously turned to balls of light and disappeared.

———

Ming Jue Zi knew these people definitely were thrown out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. Amazement flashed through his eyes. From beginning to now, Xiao Mo Ge was sitting at his original spot and had not moved at all. What was that battle which was unable to be seen like? How did so many people get defeated?

He was filled with curiosity and his gaze was bright.

Zuo Mo slowly opened his eyes. A smear of exhaustion flashed through his eyes. Seventy one [Yao Art Cages]. Even with the advantage of being on his home territory, this was not an easy matter for him.

The entire battle did not look to be very fierce, but at many places, it was as though he was walking on wire with dangers all around. This was the first time that he used the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. Fortunately, what he encountered were not experts. Otherwise, if they entered battle, he would probably be unable to attend to all of them and could not escape defeat.

If he lost, the backlash would heavily injure his consciousness. The wasteland beast was behind him as it looked down. It was like a blade on his back.

Suddenly, several figures charged out of the yao crowd lightning fast towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s eyes narrowed. His heart felt grave. These people that were charging over had timed it perfectly. They were not average! His consciousness had been greatly expended in the [Match] just now, and this was the time he was most exhausted. If they gave him two breaths of time, no, even one breath, he would be able to resolve these attacks.

It seemed he still was inexperienced in fighting with yao. He silently made note of the mistakes he made this time.

He did not care too much about being killed and thrown out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. In any case, it was just wounding of his consciousness. If he could learn something from it, it was a profitable transaction because this could save his little life.

So Zuo Mo was not panicked. He was even slightly curious what it would feel like to be thrown out of the Ten Finger Prison.

Zzt!

A sound like a copper wire being plucked sounded from behind him. A purple arrow of light flashed past Zuo Mo’s face.

The purple arrows of light were so fast that people were hard pressed to dodge them. It passed through a yao moving forward at fast speed. This yao didn’t even have the time to make a wail before turning into a ball of light and disappearing.

Crash, the yao at the very front suddenly tripped without any signs. Two grey green chains of mist were wrapped on his feet.

This yao was of considerable power. He reacted very quickly. In the instant he fell, the light blade on his hand sliced towards the green mist chains on his feet.

Pew!

The tip of grey green sword suddenly came out of his chest.

The sword tip dissipated into mist. His eyes were full of disbelief as he turned to a ball of light and disappeared.

Zzt zzt zzt!

The sound of a copper wire being plucked continued. A vine bow had appeared in Nan Yue’s hands at some unknown time. Every time the bow was stretched, a purple light would flash and a vine arrow would be on the string.

Cang Ze’s appearance had changed greatly at this time. His hair was grey green and waved like water grass at a strange rhythm. His eyes were covered in a layer of faint green mist. His body was shaking like dice. Every time he shook, ripples that were hard to discern would spread, and an icily murderous energy spread.

The spectators all changed expression.

“High level yao arts!” Ming Jue Zi was unable to control himself any longer and exclaimed.

Nan Yue had coincidentally woken up from her meditation. Seeing Zuo Mo was being attacked, she did not hesitate in attacking. What she used was the [South Sky Arrow Art] that she had learned. Today was the first time she had cultivated it, but [South Sky Arrow Art] was truly the inherited yao art of the South Sky Wisteria Clan. Nan Yue learned it with ease. There was none of the difficulty she encountered with normal yao arts. At many places, it seemed like instinct.

She was in a hurry to support Zuo Mo. There was no other thought in her heart, and she gradually entered the perfect state.

Cang Ze had woken up a bit earlier than Nan Yue. He had not cultivated [Grey Scar Art] to the point he forgot his surroundings like Nan Yue did. It was the opposite. He had a sense of everything that was happening outside. Seeing Daren protecting them, he felt grateful. Even though he knew that this would offend people, he did not hesitate.

[South Sky Arrow Art]! [Grey Scar Art]!

Two sets of yao arts that had once dominated, and been lost through time. They were like a sword that had the dust brushed off, the sharp edges appeared in front of the world again.

Just like the glory of three thousand years ago!

Chapter 376: We Need Real Combat!

Nan Yue and Cang Ze instantly intimidated the crowd of yao.

The purple vine arrows were as quick as lightning. No yao was able to dodge. The purple lights tore apart the air. The grey green streaks were full of transformations. They were like assassins wearing face-skin masks that could not be predicted or defended against. In the blink of an eye, the murderous ambushers all turned to white light and disappeared.

No spectator dared to move.

They may not be like Ming Jue Zi and realized with a glance that what Nan Yue and Cang Ze were using were high-level yao arts but they were able to see that the two yao arts were unique. Nan Yue and Cang Ze had been staying inside the illusory formation. The yao had been focused on Zuo Mo and none of them had noticed them.

Their sudden appearance, and their lightning attacks afterwards extinguished the thoughts of some yao that wanted to benefit from the chaos.

Nan Yue panted lightly as she held the vine bow and stood next to Zuo Mo. She looked warily at the surroundings. Cang Ze’s forehead was covered in sweat. The grey green mist on his body was much fainter than before.

Zuo Mo knew that this was the first time Nan Yue and Cang Ze had cultivated these new yao arts. After their actions, they were, undoubtedly, tired to the bone.

“Go back, have a good rest.” Having recovered, Zuo Mo said warmly. His hands moved together, and dozens of lights of various colors spilled forth like a storm. They entered the empty ground around him and disappeared.

A trap!

The hearts of everyone watching secretly shook.

Nan Yue and Cang Ze were at the end of their rope. They were just hanging on. Seeing the situation, they released a breath. Without dragging it out, they quickly left.

Zuo Mo coldly looked around. Many yao lowered their heads, not daring to look at him. His eyes paused on Ming Yue Zi. This unfamiliar yao smiled slightly at him.

He did not think about the meaning in Ming Jue Zi’s smile and left the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

The moment he left the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, Zuo Mo finally felt how serious his consciousness had been expended this time. He hurriedly entered meditation to recover.

———

“This sword formation is good and can help you comprehend sword essence. However, do not rely too much on external things. We are sword xiu. What is sword xiu? Other than the sword, there is nothing else! No matter if you comprehended sword essence or not, when you start cultivating the sword, your heart is like a sword billet. You need to continuously hammer it, grind it, cause it to become purer, and stronger. What can hammer and temper your sword hearts? Combat, continuous combat! Without combat, there are no sword xiu. We sword xiu come into the world with our sharp edges!”

Wei Sheng’s voice was not charismatic, but his determined gaze, and his indomitable voice made every sword xiu’s blood boil.

Previously, they were like a headless snake due to the lack of a teacher. Now, Wei Sheng’ sudden appearance caused every sword xiu to see hope. In other sects, disciples like Wei Sheng were still disciples. But here, Wei Sheng quickly became every sword xiu’s teacher. No one doubted any word that he said.

He was a true sword xiu!

If this was in the past, everyone would feel that Wei Sheng’s cultivation methods were very dumb. Who could think that a jindan xiuzhe would spend four hours each day slicing and thrusting like a beginner? But he quickly used reality to make everyone understand how important the basics were.

He used sword moves from the stage of lianqi, the ling power of a lianqi, and defeated all the experts of Vermillion Bird Camp, including Ma Fan.

After such a fantastical competition, all of Vermillion Bird Camp sank into a deathly silence for multiple days. Wei Sheng’s performance completely overturned the common understandings that had formed over time.

What ling power, what sword moves, in front of Wei Sheng, they were useless. He used reality to teach everyone their cultivation had gone in a wrong direction. Gradually, people started to copy Wei Sheng’s cultivation method, and methodically practiced the basic sword moves they had left behind a long time ago.

Wei Sheng’s Sword Lecture Hall was full of people daily.

In the Sword Lecture Hall, everyone gathered after class and discussed what Wei Sheng had just spoken on.

“Teacher Wei is really great!” Lei Peng did not cultivate a sword scripture, but he never missed any lecture. Wei Sheng’s words today really fit his appetite. The young Wei Sheng was called Teacher Wei by everyone.

“But where is there combat,” someone muttered.

“It’s not that there isn’t combat,” Ma Fan said in a deep voice. After he had been defeated by Wei Sheng last time, he had reflected for a long time. His cultivation of the sword was unorthodox and he only had a half-complete understanding of many things which left behind hidden weaknesses. Now that Wei Sheng had pointed every one of them out, he had benefited greatly. He would reflect and study every word that Wei Sheng said many times.

“That’s right, there are fiend souls outside, and even stronger fiend soul beasts. Aren’t they the best opponents?” Nian Lu inserted.

“Right! Let’s get them!”

“En en, we need to plan, how about this … …”

The pitiful fiend soul beasts. They had been living in relative peace and dominated this fiendish mist for thousands of years, but were facing a calamity due to one of Wei Sheng’s speeches.

———

Originally, Shu Long, A Wen, and the major fighters of Guard Camp were planning to attend the Sword Lecture Hall. Even though what Wei Sheng discussed was cultivating the sword, but many of the contents were also useful for them.

However, this plan was mercilessly killed by Pu Yao.

Were they joking? A branch of the honored Sky Yao, even if only in name, when was it ever someone else’s turn to lecture them?

To Pu Yao, this was a humiliation. That’s right, it was a humiliation!

Pu Yao, who was becoming more discontent the more he thought about it, instantly ordered Guard Camp into lockdown. What was good about the Sword Lecture Hall? Speaking of cultivation, hmph, who can compare to ge?

Pu Yao smirked coldly inside.

With a wave of his hand, the Mo Cultivating Hall was opened.

Even though Pu was a yao, he was familiar with the cultivation set that the mo used. Lazily and smugly, he freely spoke. What he taught was long and not limited to [Hardship Guard]. If those mo colonels of the mo world sat hear and listened, their hearts would have beat out of their chests. The hardship guards only listened docilely. Many parts caused them to have suddenly understandings. As to anything else, they didn’t feel anything.

Even if the camp door was tightly closed, but the actions of Vermillion Bird Camp caught the attention of Shu Long and the others.

“Combat? Oh, it is essential.” Pu Yao propped up his chin and blinked his bloody pupil.

Compared to the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp, the hardship guards of Guard Camp had an even more pitiful amount of combat experience. They were born xiu slaves, and were truly unorthodox. It could be said that innately, the hardship guards were greatly lacking compared to the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp.

If Guard Camp was suppressed by Vermillion Bird Camp, would there be any face for him?

Even if it was Wei Sheng!

Hmph! Just a jindan … …

How could the proud Pu Yao tolerate this result?

Even more, there was the Golden Souls! After absorbing one Golden Soul, his soul had greatly stabilized. Other than releasing a breath, he desired the remaining Golden Souls even more. At this point, he had to prove his value.

There was no way around it. This student of his was the utmost pragmatic!

Pu Yao aimed at those fiend soul beasts. He did not have any intentions of discussion. He waved his hand and sent out the order.

Guard Camp started to move.

———

Gongsun Cha did not know anything of what was happening at the campsite. Wei Sheng’s arrival did not affect him greatly. When he had left Wu Kong Mountain, he had just entered the sect for a few months, and he did not have many attachments to Wu Kong Sword Sect. He had only ever heard the name of the Eldest Shixiong Wei Sheng and it was the first time he had seen the real person.

At this time, his entire body was red like a boiled shrimp. His appearance was handsome to start with, and he had the shyness and bashfulness unique to youths. With his entire body red at this time, he seemed even more adorable.

His soul was trembling ferociously. When the bead had entered his mouth, the flooding soul base source was like a tide and almost swallowed him. His soul was like a leaf struggling on a great wave.

If it was a normal person, their first thought in this situation would be to protect themselves.

But Gongsun Cha was vicious and decisive. At the very first moment, he started a suicidal method of absorbing. As he struggled, he continuously swallowed soul base source to strength his own body. The level of danger in this was the most dangerous of Gongsun Cha’s entire cultivation.

Gongsun Cha’s cultivation was the lowest of everyone. But in terms of mental resolve, even Zuo Mo underestimated how strong Gongsun Cha’s resolve was. From the moment he met the concept of battle, he had stubbornly stood against Pu Yao’s repeated abuse. In that period, Pu Yao did not teach him at all. Gongsun Cha needed to find the patterns from his continuous failures. There was no motivation, no support, only failure.

The cruelest nurturing method had formed Gongsun Cha.

This had formed Lil’ Miss’ vicious and cruel battle style but there were only a few that knew he was even crueler to himself.

He was a weirdo with a weak body, a low cultivation but a strong and vicious inner heart.

To him, this was just another battle. The dangerous situation did not make him waver. His resolve that had been tempered by Pu Yao’s countless abuse was as steady as rock. What he was most skilled at was finding that one sliver of opportunity in a hopeless situation.

The tsunami like blow to his soul caused him to waver and almost fall but he was extremely calm as he swallowed threads of soul base source.

His consciousness quickly grew and it became even easier.

He seemed to direct his consciousness like he directed Vermillion Bird Camp.

Flank, deep thrust, circle, and annihilate … …

This was the method he was most familiar with, and he easily used it. He was like a cunning wolf wandering. When he saw the chance, he would leapt and tear a bite off.

The soul base source was so vast, and he was so weak. He did not panic. It was the opposite. He was very excited because he found the exhilaration of battle. This exhilaration was like an addictive poison, and intoxicated him.

He gradually took control of the situation.

His consciousness became increasingly stronger. Due to this, his calculations became even more precise, and his consciousness easier to control. They were like the fresh greenhorns that quickly turned to elite soldiers.

Gradually, a thread of understanding came.

This understanding became clearer, so clear it seemed to be held behind a paper window. If he could poke through, he could see its true appearance.

His consciousness was like a twister pulling the wind that swallowed the last thread of the soul base source.

Pia, it was like something had broken, and also something had erupted.

He stood on the battlefield that held no person, his mind abnormally clear.

Ha, so this was what it meant to be a battle general!

Chapter 377: Qinghua Xue

Two kinds of high level yao arts!

Ming Jue Zi studied the recording yao art and searched mentally what yao arts these two were. He knew at some details about the majority of high level yao arts. It had to be said this was not three thousand years ago. High level yao arts were no longer common.

However, no matter how long he thought for, he could not identify the origins of these two yao arts. His curiosity increased. His first idea was, was this a new kind of yao art?

In the great war three thousand years ago, even though large numbers of yao arts had been lost, the low and intermediate yao arts were still passed down untouched. After three thousand years of development, each yao art house had focused  their efforts to create new yao arts, and those famed houses all focused on creating new high level yao arts. Even those Sky Yao were working towards the same goal.

The development of yao arts had reached a new era of creativity. In these years, new high level yao arts had been continuously invented. This had become one of the measures to judge a yao art house. Without a high level yao art of their own, a yao art house could not push into the ranks of famed houses.

Was these high level yao arts that were created by a yao art house?

This was the most plausible hypothesis. But Ming Jue Zi’s intuition told him it was not like that. Xiao Mo Ge’s origins had always been a mystery but he had a completely different quality to the yao that came from yao art hoses. Ming Jue Zi was confident in his eyes. When he saw Xiao Mo Ge for the first time, this feeling was very strong.

Maybe it was an ancient high level yao art that had been lost?

Ming Jue Zi decided to do deep research.

———

Qinghua Zang Shui felt he was going crazy!

Xiao Mo Ge’s rudeness infuriated him. Even that idiotic nobody was so impolite to him!

When had the yao of the Blue Flower Family been treated so rudely?

But damn it, the blue flower was useless against that idiotic bastard! Qinghua Zang Shui tightly balled his fists, his eyes sprouting fire. Why? Why were the blue flowers useless against the idiot?

Did the [Blue Flower] have some fatal weakness … …

Impossible!

The reason that the Blue Flower family had such status was due to this blue flower.

This idea that suddenly came was like a poisonous vine that creeped over his mind. Without knowing it, his face became ashen, and his back soaked.

No!

There definitely was not a problem with the [Blue Flower]! It definitely was that he had incorrectly  cultivated somehow! Yes! It definitely was like that!

His heart tightened again. Had something gone wrong with his cultivation?

“Brother, what is it?” Qinghua Xue who coincidentally pushed open the door to come in saw Qinghua Zang Shui’s pale face and jumped in fright.

“I’m fine,” Qinghua Zang Shui said with a forced smile. But his voice was dry and rough, and caused the concern on Qinghua Xue’s face to grow.

Qinghua Xue’s body was tall and about the same as Qinghua Zang Shui. The slightly blue skin had a fine glossy sheen and contrasted beautifully against the amber eyes. It was unspeakably moving. Especially her long and curled eyelashes that evoked one’s pity.

“Is Brother still angry at that Xiao Mo Ge?” Qinghua Xue’s voice was warm and seemed to hold a special power. Qinghua Zang Shui quickly calmed down.

Qinghua Zang Shui hesitated for a moment, but when he recalled that poisonous thought, he couldn’t help but say, “Sister, is my [Blue Flower] not being cultivated properly?”

Qinghua Xue was slightly astonished. “Why does Brother have such a strange idea?”

“Today, I met a person in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. He wasn’t afraid of the blue flower at all. I had sent out twelve blue flowers, each hit his body but nothing happened to him.” Traces of terror showed in Qinghua Zang Shui’s gaze.

“Aah!” Qinghua Xue was very shocked, but when she saw Qinghua Zang Shui’s gaze full of terror and dispiritedness, she quickly composed herself. After thinking for a moment, she slowly opened, “The world is great, and has all kinds of wonders. Even the [Forbidden Night] of the Night Clan doesn’t dare to say that it is undefeatable. Does Brother remember what happened two years ago?”

Qinghua Zang Shui’s expression instantly relaxed.

“Our cultivation of [Blue Flower] lacks the last three levels but there are definitely are no problems.” Qinghua Xue’s voice was confidence.

Qinghua Zang Shui was relieved of his worries. He felt his younger sister was right, and mocked himself inside for having a weak mentality. The two were siblings from the same father but of different mothers. However, they had a great relationship. Qinghua Xue was the younger sister, but she was very intelligent, and Qinghua Zang Shui respected her from a young age, especially in the area of cultivation.

Even though Qinghua Zang Shui was a member of the Genius Alliance, he had no thoughts of pride in front of his younger sister. He knew of his younger sister’s talents in cultivation. From very young, he would ask help from his sister whenever he encountered a problem in cultivation. But his sister did not like conflict, and never used yao arts in front of other people. Even their father did not know of his sister’s talent in cultivating [Blue Flower].

Almost no one knew the name of Qinghua Xue.

Their declining family was a branch family of the Blue Flower Family. In the eyes of others, their branch had started to prosper after Qinghua Zang Shui entered the Genius Alliance. Only Qinghua Zang Shui himself knew that the one with the most potential of their branch was not him.

Even he did not know just how strong his younger sister was. But he was used to trusting Qinghua Xue from a young age. Over time, all the hopes of the family had been placed on his shoulders. He was sensitive and slightly moody, he would frequently become irritated and insecure. But in front of his sister, he would unconsciously feel at peace.

The air around his sister seemed to have the taste of peace.

Since Sister said there wasn’t a problem, then there definitely was not a problem.

“Brother has had to deal with too much pressure recently,” Qinghua Xue urged in a soft voice, “Brother shouldn’t care too much about Xiao Mo Ge. This male is arrogant in conduct, making enemies everywhere. He would not have a good ending. Brother’s [Blue Flower] is at a crucial time. If you can progress another step, your cultivation would truly reach a vast place.”

“Sister is right, I forced myself into a dead end.” Qinghua Zang Shui said. Thinking about how he seemed disturbed in this recent while, he couldn’t help but feel shame.

Qinghua Xue smiled sweetly. “Then I’m going out to play.”

Finishing, she floated away like a blue snowflake. Qinghua Zang Shui looked at his younger sister’s back and felt warm in his heart. Since Sister liked a peaceful life, then as her older brother, he needed to work harder!

Qinghua Xue returned to her room and sat in thought silently for a moment. Coldness suddenly came into the amber eyes.

“Xiao Mo Ge … …”

———

Nan Yue opened her eyes, and felt her mind was unspeakably content and fulfilled. There was no exhaustion at all. Joy floated into her mind. No wonder [South Sky Arrow Art] was the inherited yao art of her clan, it really was powerful!

Her mind moved slightly, a purple light flashed at her fingertips and a three cun vine arrow appeared. The small and exquisite vine arrow was made from two slender green vines interwoven together. At the tail were three green and crisp leaves. It was very charming. The vine arrow was very soft yet strong. She could fold it however she wished and it would not break. Playing with the vine arrow, her thoughts wandered.

She had not secretly passed the little yao arts and other things Daren had taught her onto her clansmen. Without Daren’s permission, she definitely would not share any of it. She also did not have those intentions. Her idea was to learn some skills. In the future, she could earn more money and help her clan members have a good life.

But when she learned this [South Sky Arrow Art], she had the urge to pass it to her clan members.

The [South Sky Arrow Art] was far too suited to the Wisteria Clan. It was just the first time she cultivated it, and her consciousness had grown by a tenth. This degree of improvement almost scared her. If this improvement was maintained over the long-term, then the power of the yao art was tangible. In the Wasteland Beast Chessboard yesterday, how many enemies had she destroyed? Ten!

Before this, it was an unimaginable feat to her! Also, this was just her first time cultivating it! Thinking about it now, the ancient records of [South Sky Arrow Art] of her clan were not exaggerating when they talked about its power.

Fortunately, Daren allowed her to pass [South Sky Arrow Art] to her clan members. Thinking about this, her heart was filled with gratefulness. She could see a great and open path in front of her and her clan. Sometimes, she couldn’t help but feel this was unreal. The poor and harsh life she previously had faced seemed to be just yesterday.

No matter which reason it originated from, she could be grateful to Daren!

She propped up her chin. Daren was so powerful, so strong, she could not be a burden on Daren! She definitely had to work on her cultivation! If she could help Daren in the future, then it would be even more perfect!

Ooh, how could she help Daren?

Her eyes lit up.

———

Zuo Mo was furiously cultivating yao arts. At the side, A Gui looked on with a wooden expression. The light of the yao arts reflected on her face, and added another thread of light to her eyes.

Lil’ Fire curiously circled from the side. It would sometimes approach very close to the light on Zuo Mo’s hands. Lil’ pagoda continuously nudged at Lil’ Fire. It was unmoved, and only looked curiously at the yao arts on Zuo Mo’s hands. Lil’ Pagoda could only dejectedly fly back into A Gui’s arms and snuggle around.

Yao arts!

Last time in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, he had almost been tripped up by that group of yao, Zuo Mo was greatly stimulated.

Damn it! If the tiger didn’t roar, they mistook it ge for a sick cat!

Wasn’t it just yao arts!

Zuo Mo resolved inside that he won’t let go of those people when he went next time. Last time, if it wasn’t for the wasteland beast that had helped him, he may have been thrown out immediately. There was nothing major about being thrown out, but it was a great loss of face!

“Xiao Mo Ge” was a personage right now, how could face be lost?

If he could not suppress this terrible conduct, how could it show Xiao Mo Ge’s power?

Yet he did not know just as he buried his hard and work on yao arts, a major event happened.

Chapter 378: Black Smoke Yao’s Suggestion

Feng Xing Zi had reconstructed the third prison to be renamed Wind Song!

This event created more noise than Zuo Mo reconstructing the Wasteland beast Chessboard. The first prison was just the ground of little yao that just entered yao art houses. If it wasn’t that it had been a long time since the first prison’s prison-breaking battle had been won, it wouldn’t have been any news at all. But the third prison was completely different. The yao that cultivated in the third pression were usually in the later stages of spirit planting, and the beginning stages of yin spirit.

The difficulty in reconstructing the third prison was several magnitudes greater than reconstructing the first prison.

Feng Xin Zi was a high level supervisor of the Genius Alliance, and based on the accomplishments from this battle, he had successfully entered the elder council of the Genius Alliance. Those that had discussed Xiao Mo Ge vs. the Genius Alliance were now collectively silent. The Genius Alliance used action to prove how laughable it was to compare Xiao Mo Ge and the Genius Alliance together.

However, Zuo Mo did not feel that his troubles had lessened.

This was due to the bounties from the large yao markets!

The bounty to kill him once in the Ten Finger Prison had grown from five million to eight million. What made him even more speechless was that it did not limit the number of times. The enormous sum made Zuo Mo’s eyes turn red. He turned to Nan Yue and said, “How about you all try to kill me and take the recording yao art to get the bounty, then we can split it?”

Nan Yue and Cang Ze’s expressions were like they had swallowed a fly, and they did not know what to say.

“So much money!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright as he furiously rubbed his hands together.

Nan Yue and Cang Ze stalwartly helped him destroy the enemies that came like moths to a flame. They were becoming familiar with their new yao arts. Taking turns and attacking, they were swift and efficient.

A short while later, the orange-haired yao excitedly ran over with the black smoke yao.

“Brother, the Genius Alliance broke the third prison!” The orange-haired yao shouted loudly when he saw Zuo Mo. “We cannot submit. Brother, go break the third prison! Show the Genius Alliance your power!”

Nan Yue and Cang Ze’s faces grew even darker. The black smoke yao behind the orange-haired yao couldn’t help but have an awkward expression and show an apologetic expression to the two yao.

Zuo Mo was unconcerned. “Not going!”

“Why not?” The orange-haired yao gaped, his face disbelieving.

“There’s no money!” Zuo Mo rubbed his hands.

“That is true.” The orange-haired yao stilled, thought and then nodded in agreement.

“Brother, why don’t you kill me, and then we split the money?” Zuo Mo brought up the old topic and looked with desire at the orange-haired yao.

“This idea is good.” The orange-haired yao then said with some bashfulness, “But I am Loyal Yao, how can I kill my brother?”

“That’s fine, just remember to give me a bigger portion.” Zuo Mo waved his hand carelessly.

Cang Ze finally could not resist. “Daren, there are many ways of making money, do not humiliate yourself so!”

Heavens! He could not think of it. If Daren really used this method to make money, everyone would collapse from laughter. Daren’s face was thick enough, and could dismiss all kinds of criticism, but he could not. Behind him was the entire Grey Clan! Daren’s idea made him shiver.

Too scary! No, he had to stop Daren’s insane idea!

Seeing Zuo Mo’s unaffected face, he almost cried. “Daren, if you need money, I’ll give it to you, alright?”

“How much money do you have?” Zuo Mo’s face was full of disdain and caused him to choke.

The black smoke male suddenly spoke, “Actually, I have a method.”

“Say it, say it!” The orange-haired yao was very excited

The black smoke male slowly spoke and caused everyone to become silent.

“Smoky, you are too devious!” The orange-haired yao exclaimed in shock and then his expression became ecstatic. He turned and asked Zuo Mo, “Brother, is this idea great or what!?”

Zuo Mo didn’t think and nodded. “Do it!”

———

“The most recent news. Just after Feng Xin Zi reconstructed the third prison, Xiao Mo Ge has also made a move.”

“Xiao Mo Ge has put down a stage in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard Prison. He has announced he will accept any challenge. The challenger only needs to pay a fee of fifty thousand, and can receive a preliminary qualification of challenge.

“Those that receive the preliminary qualification will need to go through a preliminary battle. Those that win can directly challenge Xiao Mo Ge. Those that pay two hundred thousand don’t need to go through a preliminary round and can directly challenge Xiao Mo Ge.”

Ji Li Yu’s complexion was black, and she remained silent. On the side, Ji Cheng’s expression was strange but he closed his mouth tightly. He knew his sister was at the point of erupting. He didn’t dare to make a sound at this time. He was full of respect towards Xiao Mo Ge right now. No matter how powerful this guy was, he definitely had a thick face and black heart to dare to do something like this.

The most extreme of extremes! A personage among personages!

He wanted to go and acquaint himself. However, when he saw Old Sis’ eyes that seemed to sprout fire, he forcibly suppressed this impulse.

“Very good.” Ji Li Yu’s voice as it was forced through her teeth was like the cold wind in the deep of winter. “But will he manage to survive?”

Ji Cheng shook.

Old Sis was angry!

———

“Congratulations, Elder Feng! Congratulations, Elder Feng!” Another supervisor bowed to Feng Xin Zi, unable to disguise the envy on his face and a hint of fawning. Feng Xin Zi had become the newest elder of the Genius Alliance Elder Council. The status of the two were completely different.

Congratulatory greetings came from the surroundings.

Feng Xin Zi had a humble smile on his face. “Thanks.”

He had come to bid farewell to everyone. After he reconstructed the third prison, the discussions about the Genius Alliance had abruptly stopped. All the major yao channels had stopped their scorn and praised the power of the Genius Alliance.

The enormous potential he displayed was very well favored by the higher levels. Even the leader of the Genius Alliance, Ming Yue Ye, had on multiple occasions, expressed her admiration.

Feng Xin Zi patiently bid farewell with every supervisor and member before leaving.

“Daren, I heard that the main division has countless yao arts, including sky and earth levels, is it true?” Xiao Jin blinked her adorable eyes and was full of anticipation. She was Feng Xin Zi’s follower, growing up with Feng Xin Zi like a sibling.

“Supposedly.” Feng Xin Zi was looking into the distance. He turned and replied with a smile.

“That’s wonderful! In the future, Daren will have sky level yao arts!” Xiao Jin was extremely happy.

Feng Xin Zi gave another slight smile but did not speak.

“Daren Daren, there is a very fun matter. That Xiao Mo Ge actually put up a stage, and is taking fees. How can there be such a greedy yao in the world!” Xiao Jin’s round face was filled with shock.

Feng Xin Zi saw Xiao Jin’s adorable appearance and couldn’t help but rub her head.

Xiao Jin’s face wrinkled and she said discontently, “Daren, you messed up Xiao Jin’s hair again!”

“Haha!” Feng Xin Zi laughed freely. “Let’s go!”

“Daren, wait for me!”

———

“Do you think we are going to get money?” Nan Yue asked Cang Ze uncertainly.

“I don’t know.” Cang’s mood was low and he almost seemed to cry. The Grey Clan had been in decline for a long time, and resorted to staying in an out of the way place, but it was an ancient clan that had guarded the Golden Tree. When had they done such embarrassing things? He was the junior clan leader, and he was going to be clan leader in the future!

But he did not display any temper at all. His objections in front of Daren’s decisiveness was as weak as the breath of an ant.

Daren had a decisive presence, his eyes filled with domination, a great hero. Cang Ze admired him inside, but that quality of greediness … …

Nan Yue did not notice Cang Ze’s low mood and was eager. “I hadn’t expected that black ghost with such an ordinary appearance to have such evil ideas. So black. But this idea is really good! I hope we can earn a lot this time!”

The Wisteria Clan of the South Sky had declined far more than the Grey Clan. After struggling at the lowest level of society for such a long time, they had long ago forgotten their past glory and the pride of a great clan. Such a taxing life had taught Nan Yue the difficulty of survival and the importance of money. Due to this, she was in strong agreement with the black smoke yao’s idea.

To be able to get money honestly, and to resolve trouble at the same time, the black smoke male’s idea fit Zuo Mo’s intentions very well.

“Nan Yue, pay attention to taking in the money. Only those that have paid have the qualifications.” Zuo Mo was like an experienced battle general calmly directing, “It would be best to hire a yao for the accounts. Oh, the first round, Cang Ze is up first.”

“I’m up first!” The orange-haired yao impatiently jumped out. He put his hands on his waist and laughed. “Haha, today is the day I become famous. You need to keep your eyes open and watch how I beat down all of them!”

Zuo Mo did not object. The orange-haired yao’s strange physique which could not be killed made him the best choice for the first round.

However, since they were paying, he naturally had to provide the best service. Ooh, the prison battlefield should be changed. Compared to other places, the intimate presence of the battlefield was greater. What reassured Zuo Mo the most was that barely discernable presence of the wasteland beast.

The strength of the wasteland beast was branded into his heart. He had asked Pu Yao about the wasteland beast but Pu Yao had been silent each time. Zuo Mo was used to Pu Yao’s secretiveness. This guy had too many secrets.

Okay, let all those secrets and old anitques go to hell, what ge loves is jingshi!

Zuo Mo was full of motivation.

The prison battlefield was completely transformed. This place had become Zuo Mo’s home territory. Compared to the peace outside, the prison battlefield was full of danger with each step. Lots of yao arts in the style of “Little Mo Ge” were swimming about. If it touched anything the slightest bit, then the successive attacks were like debtors being chased by creditors.

To guarantee that only yao that had paid the fee could enter, Zuo Mo had used the prison battlefield to its limits. The densely packed yao arts made even his scalp prickle. Zuo Mo even put down large amounts of illusory formations in the pathway that he left behind. This weren’t the low level things like ice blade illusory formations. This was a big illusory formation he had spent four hours to finish.

The yao arts inside the prison battlefield were obedient in his hands. He could merge them into the illusory formation as he wished. After the illusory formation was complete, he was well satisfied.

If they planned on forcing their way in, ha, wait to feel the pain.

Zuo Mo’s confidence in formations was much stronger than his confidence in his half-learned yao arts. Zuo Mo’s beautiful illusory formation shocked Nan Yue and the other yao. The admiration in their eyes was like a flood. Even the black smoke yao that had a black face and a black heart was very astonished.

In the yao world, the path of formations was famed for its difficulty in comprehension. There were very few yao that were skilled in formations.

Xiao Mo Ge was skilled in formations!

A thread of strangeness flashed across the eyes of the black smoke yao.

Chapter 379: Tide Of Battle

Nan Yue really found a yao to come collect the money, her good friend Hong. Only things like souls could enter the Ten Finger Prison, money could not be taken in. But the method of  transactions inside Ten Finger Prison had developed over the years, and everyone had naturally found a method.

There were merchants that specialized in this kind of business.

One only needed to go to these merchants to buy a type of soul that had a special soul imprint with money. In the Ten Finger Prison, these souls with special yao art imprints were akin to money. Only wealthy merchants could be involved in this kind of business. The souls that were used as money were seed souls born from special yao trees. The seed souls each merchant family used were different, and the spiritual imprint on the seed souls could effectively stop fraud.

Some old businesses had a good reputation in this field.

What Hong was hired to collect was this kind of seed soul.

The little girl was a daring one. In the beginning, she had been scared to due Zuo Mo’s reputation but she quickly became excited. When she saw the endless stream of people registering, she became even more excited.

Cang Ze looked at the packed mass of registrants. His vision blackened and he almost fainted. When he saw the major yao channels with their logos, his scalp prickled and his consciousness almost shattered. No, he hopelessly shouted in silence from the bottom of his heart!

Looking over it all, all the yao channels that he had heard of were present and there were even many he had not heard of.

“There is a bit too many!” the black smoke yao said weakly. He swallowed. The amount of registrants far surpassed his expectations. A hint of regret formed. They had played it too big this time … …

The orange-haired yao wasn’t nervous at all. He was very motivated, laughing with his hands on his hips. “Ha ha ha ha, this is fated to be the day that I become famous! I will quickly surpass you, Brother, feel the great pressure! Do not be nervous, I’m very loyal, but I won’t let you off!”

Zuo Mo did not hear the orange-haired yao’s words at all. There was only a jingshi ocean in his eyes, vast and rippling with an attractive light.

Ooh ooh ooh, it was enchanting!

By Zuo Mo’s side, Nan Yue was slightly excited. She balled her fists, and made a resolution. She had to make money for Daren!

———

“Who could have thought of it? Who could have thought of it? Just after Feng Xin Zi reconstructed the third prison, just as everyone is maintaining their silence due to their previous scorn of the Genius Alliance, Xiao Mo Ge made a move no one expected. This matter has been deflected dramatically into a new direction.”

“No matter how powerful the Genius Alliance is, Miss Ji Li Yu, and Mister Qinghua Zang Shui have all tripped when facing Xiao Mo Ge, and this blemish cannot be erased. At this time, people finally remember that the Genius Alliance has their eyes at the top of their heads did not get their face back from Xiao Mo Ge! Of course, maybe Miss Ji Li Yu and Mister Qinghua Zang Shui cannot represent the Genius Alliance.”

“If the two sides are facing off, then Xiao Mo Ge’s move this time is shockingly sharp!”

———

Wearing a deep blue mask was covered with silver flower patterns and filled with a strange presence. At this moment, the eyes behind the mask were filled with coldness. Murderous intent flashed across the eyes, sharp as a blade’s edge, but that pair of amber eyes quickly became calm like a deep lake.

“Xiao Mo Ge … …”

A slow and light sigh sounded behind the mask like tendrils of smoke and did not dissipate for a long time.

Her steps were slow, her upper body not moving at all as though she was sliding on ice. Her appearance was unspeakably elegant and ethereal.

She glanced at the registration area that was tightly packed before turning to look at the completely transformed prison battlefield.

“Hm!” A light sound came from behind the mask. There was a thread of surprise in her eyes. Formations! Xiao Mo Ge was actually skilled in formations. She noted it down inside. After studying outside the prison battlefield for a few moment, she turned and walked towards the registration spot.

Wherever she passed, the crowd seemed to be moved aside by an invisible hand and created a passageway.

Some yao with fiery tempers turned and prepared to swear. When they saw the dark blue mask, their expressions changed, and the words that had reached their mouths were swallowed back down. Anything that could be brought into the Ten Finger Prison were treasures! On this yao’s face was a soul mask. It was an extremely rare treasure. Those that possessed such a great treasure, if they were not rich, they were powerful!

And when they saw the streaming figure of the masked female yao, their hearts jumped! They recognized power!

Just like this, the masked female yao did not encounter any resistance and walked directly in front of Hong.

“You want to register?” Hong also noticed this unusual female yao and raised her head to ask.

“Yes.” It was possible to hear from the voice coming from behind the mask, that this was a female yao. She threw out a seed soul.

Hong took it and was slightly surprised. “Two hundred thousand! You want to make a direct challenge?”

“Is it not possible?” the masked female yao asked.

Pausing, Hong nodded hurriedly. “Possible, possible.” Then she shouted towards the inside of the formation, “Daren, there is a person who is challenging you directly.”

After shouting, she said to the female yao, “You can go in. Don’t worry, the formation will not attack you.”

The masked female yao walked steadily inside the prison battlefield. She did not seem to fear those strangely changing formations at all.

———

“Formations! Xiao Mo Ge actually knows formations?” Su Wei turned his face with astonishment. “This guy does have some skills. I remember you’ve always had an interest in formations. You didn’t come to such a low-level place like the first prison just for this? And pulling me along as well. Bro, I’m very busy.”

Ming Jue Zi shook his head. “I have only found out today that he knows formations. This guy is very strange.” He said with deep meaning, “He can control this prison.”

“What?” Su Wei’s eyes widened suddenly. “That’s impossible!”

He knew what controlling a prison meant.

“Look at the prison battlefield.” Ming Jue Zi pointed at the completely transformed prison battlefield. “This place has completely changed.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Su Wei did not believe it. His head shook like a rattle drum. “He reconstructed this prison and naturally has the home advantage. This degree of transformation does not prove anything.”

Ming Jue Zi did not argue. “You’ll understand later.”

He thought back to the recording yao arts that he had been studying in recent days. He had bought them for a high price from a little yao called Jin Zhen. Jin Zhen had been involved in attacking Xiao Mo Ge that day, and the recording yao art recorded everything he had encountered that day.

The deep and cryptic yao art problems on each pillar of the dazzling cage of light astonished him.

He knew that Su Wei and the others didn’t even have any attentions to look at a little yao that was muddling through the first prison. Previously, Su Wei had mocked him for wasting time on such a little personage, but as he studied more, the shock and puzzlement in Ming Jue Zi’s heart accumulated.

There were too many places that he could not understand and think through.

He had read through a large amount of information to find something similar to the high-level yao arts that the two followers of Xiao Mo Ge had used that day. This discovery instantly attracted his attention, because these high level yao arts that were possibly a match were both lost a long time ago.

He also researched the background of Xiao Mo Ge’s two followers. What was worth celebrating was that while Xiao Mo Ge’s origins were unknown, it was not hard to find the origins of the two followers.

The male yao was from the Grey Clan, a clan that had declined. The female yao came from the South Sky Wisteria Clan, a yao clan that was almost extinct. The intelligent Ming Jue Zi quickly found something worthy of deep thought.

Both the Grey Clan and the South Sky Arrow Clan were yao clans that could be traced back to three thousand years ago. The reason that the high level yao arts of the two clans were lost were strangely the same, they were lost in the great war three thousand years ago.

The formations in front of him … … looked like a xiuzhe’s seal formations.

These unusual traces caused Xiao Mo Ge to become even more mysterious.

But he did not tell any of this to Su Wei. There was too much speculations. He also believed that Xiao Mo Ge would shock Su Wei greatly.

Su Wei was also wondering inside. Even though Ming Jue Zi did not focus on what he should be doing some of the time, but his intuition far surpassed normal yao. Did this Xiao Mo Ge really have something strange about him?

Just at this time, he saw a familiar figure walking towards the prison battlefield from the corner of his eyes. His expression instantly became strange.

“Yu Zi Zhou has come as well! Is this person going to go up?”

Ming Jue Zi saw that figure and stilled.

———

“Big Sis, you really aren’t going to send someone?” Ji Cheng suppressed the impulse to laugh and asked Ji Li Yu seriously.

Ji Li Yu lightly snorted. “Such a small person, is he worthy of my attention?”

“He besmirched our Ji Family’s reputation. How can we let him off?” Ji Cheng pretended to be indignant as he said.

“Let him off?” Ji Li Yu giggled. “He will quickly get a taste of trouble.”

Ji Cheng hurriedly asked. “Does Sis have some insider information?”

“You want to know?” Ji Li Yu raised her eyelids.

“Want to know, want to know!” Ji Cheng nodded rapidly. He was very curious. He had originally thought that Old Sis’ was going to send an expert to teach this guy a lesson. The Ji Family did not lack for experts. Who would have expected that Old Sis’ had ordered the clansmen not to go make trouble for Xiao Mo Ge.

If he hadn’t seen Old Sis’ look as though she wanted to eat Xiao Mo Ge raw, he would have thought that Old Sis’ was interested in Xiao Mo Ge.

“I’m thirsty. Get me some Heart Moistening Fruits,” Ji Li Yu casually said.

“I knew it. It’s like this every time,” Ji Cheng muttered. He obediently went to get the Heart Moistening Fruits and put them in front of Old Sis.

Ji Li Yu opened a Heart Moistening Fruit. The glistening and tender flesh of the fruit and her long and white fingers formed a beautiful picture.

“Yu Ji Zhou has pursued me for so many years. How can he let go of such a chance as this?” Taking a small bite of the Heart Moistening Fruit, Ji Li Yu’s expression was like a child eating candy in secret. “Even though I do not like him, he is a good subordinate.”

Chapter 380: The Blue Flowers Of Qinghua Xue

Zuo Mo was waiting for the first person to directly challenge him.

Even though he did not know how much two hundred thousand in the yao world was in terms of jingshi, but from the responses of Nan Yue and the others, he could see it wasn’t a small sum.

He really could not understand it. If it was him, would he spend such a considerable sum of jingshi to have a fight with someone else? Didn’t they have anything else they could do? But there were so many registrants. For the bounty? Or for One Mole?

Zuo Mo was very surprised by the reach of One Mole’s influence. He thought back to the interaction that day. Other than using an illusory art the moment they met, he did not feel there was anything special about One Mole.

When Zuo Mo saw the challenger clearly, he paused and then asked Pu Yao, “Pu, how can there be masks in the Ten Finger Prison?”

“What is strange about that?” Pu Yao was discontent at being interrupted while teaching the Guard Camp. He said impatiently, “Golden Souls can be brought in, it’s natural other things can also be brought in. Right, I’m very busy, don’t bother me!”

Burning the bridge after crossing the river … … Zuo Mo muttered inside. Before he got the Golden Soul, this guy’s attitude was great. The moment he got it, he instantly made a one hundred and eighty degree turn. Zuo Mo expressed deep disdain at Pu Yao’s horrid conduct.

His gaze landed on the blue mask of the other person, and felt this object was very useful. He hadn’t come to the Ten Finger Prison to make money. He needed to think of a way to find information on the Battle of Sealed Extinction.

Thinking about his present situation, the joy in Zuo Mo’s heart at making money faded greatly.

“Start.” Zuo Mo focused. It was not fun to divide one’s attention during a fight.

Qinghua Xue carefully examined Xiao Mo Ge in front of her. The other’s eyes were peaceful and was not arrogant like the Xiao Mo Ge of the rumors.

She remained silent and threw this question to the back of her mind. Since she had already entered the battlefield, why think of all these details?

She stepped forward, and the silent pupils suddenly lit up with a pressuring light.

The female yao that had been peaceful and serene like a lady was like a longsword that was unsheathed from its scabbard. The cold icy presence was like an visible wave that rushed towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s heart wavered. His eyes became serious and he also stepped forward with his right foot.

The presence around him also changed. It was like the wind that blew from the desert, carrying a heart-shaking viciousness that rushed up without fear.

Pia pia pia!

Countless sparks formed like popcorn between the two.

The light in Qinghua Xue’s eyes grew, so bright that one could not stare directly at it. From since she was very little, she had started to practice [Blue Flower]. This had become a routine of her life and she had never stopped. She didn’t even know what level she had reached with her [Blue Flower]. Was it high or low?

This was the first time she fought, and it was the first time she channeled [Blue Flower] without holding back.

An unprecedented feeling flooded out of her body. The familiar power of [Blue Flower] seemed slightly strange to her. Under the stimulation of this domineering yet unfamiliar power, a strong yet unfamiliar feeling formed as though something was moving inside her heart.

She had a strong sense she could do it! Under the stimulation of this emotion, she was filled with anticipation towards the upcoming battle. She felt like there was a monster hiding in her heart that revealed its great horns at this time.

Anticipation, terror, and wonder all mixed together causing her to be briefly dazed. When she refocused, she found a familiar light in her hand.

[Blue Flower]!

When Zuo Mo saw that blue flower, his pupils suddenly shrunk! Damn it, a yao from the Blue Flower Family!

He had almost tripped up on the [Blue Flower] that Qinghua Zang Shui had released. If it wasn’t that the orange-haired yao could naturally suppress the blue flower, it was uncertain what the outcome would have been.

Zuo Mo’s figure suddenly retreated. Usual yao arts were of no use against the blue flower.

As he retreated, his eyes were tightly locked onto this blue flower. A strong feeling of danger formed. The hairs on his body stood up on end.

This blue flower was even more beautiful and complete than the one Qinghua Zang Shui had released, and even more dangerous!

The mask wearing female yao was more powerful than Qinghua Zang Shui!

When Zuo Mo noticed a second blue flower forming on Qinghua Xue’s hand, his eyelids couldn’t help but jump. If he kept on retreating, as the number of blue flowers increased, his situation would become increasingly dangerous!

Thinking about this, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. A gold light flashed at his feet and he suddenly charged forward.

With such urgency, he did not hold anything back. The gold light flashed on his feet and his figure moved like lightning!

To capture the group, capture the leader first!

Experienced in combat, Zuo Mo instantly made a decision. Since the blue flower was hard to defeat, then he would directly attack the true body!

Zuo Mo’s figure disappeared from where he stood and appeared like a ghost in front of Qinghua Xue.

The hard lightning covering his hand crackled and long arcing streaks of electricity danced as his fist chopped towards Qinghua Xue’s head like an axe of lightning!

The domineering presence of the hard lightning caused terror to form in Qinghua Xue’s heart. But this bit of terror was washed away by the excitement that came after. She elegantly let go of the blue flower in her hand.

The blue flower floated in front of her and suddenly gave a dazzling light.

Zuo Mo felt as though his blow was stopped by a flexible yet soft invisible wall. The domineering and savage yang fiend hard lightning was forcibly stopped. Zuo Mo knew the situation was not good and he quickly reacted. His open palm shifting to a crane strike  and the rampaging yang fiend hard lightning steamed out of Zuo Mo’s fingertips.

Boom!

The blinding silver and blue lights exploded between the two people. The flooding power suddenly lost control and swept in all directions.

The two figures were separated.

The blue flower in front of Qinghua Xue had disappeared, and Zuo Mo looked to be in a sorry state with many dots of blue on his body. His hanging right arm was continuously trembling. He looked at the other. The yang fiend hard lightning he had just used was the strongest he could create but it still was unable to harm the other. In this short round, he was able to judge that the female yao was much stronger than Qinghua Zang Shui. The two were not on the same level.

Such a powerful yao art!

However, he had not been defeated!

Seeing another blue flower flying at him out of the corner of his eye, Zuo Mo’s figure flashed and he disappeared from where he stood again.

The Blue Flower was powerful, but it was not without its weak spots.

Zuo Mo’s mind was clear, he did not rest as he moved at high speeds, and released twelve yang fiend hard lightning blows in succession! The twelve yang fiend hard lightning charged at Qinghua Xue from all directions. It was a pity that he could not cultivate [South Sky Arrow Art]. The vine arrows that Nan Yue shot were faster than yang fiend hard lightning.

It was the first time Qinghua Xue had ever fought but she displayed extraordinary talent at combat. In a moment she was surrounded, but Qinghua Xue did not panic at all. She took a deep breath and a clear shout came from under the mask, “Blue Flower Clothes!”

Before her shout was complete, tendrils of blue vines of light appeared on her body. The blue vines of light spread and wrapped around her legs, then her waist, and then her arms. In a blink, the blue vines covered her entire body like a blue flower closing its bud.

Under the blows of the yang fiend hard lightning, Qinghua Xue covered in the blue flower was like a weak flower in a storm, swaying and appeared ready to  break at any moment.

The twelve yang fiend hard lightning smashed on Qinghua Xue’s body like explosive raindrops!

Hiss hiss hiss!

It was like a net of lightning had been spread over Qinghua Xue who was barely discernable inside the blue flower. Countless silver snakes moved about. The silver electricity lit up Qinghua Xue’s amber eyes and they were full of the desire to fight!

Qinghua Xue was untouched. The hard lightning arcing on her body quickly weakened and the vines of light tightly wrapped around her body brightened like they were being fed nutrients and water. The vines had actually absorbed the hard lightning completely!

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply. His scalp prickled!

Such a weird yao art!

The situation was becoming worse. The speed of the blue flower was not fast, but its defensive power was also unable to be defeated. There were no weaknesses! He could almost predict what was waiting for him. The other only needed to continue releasing blue flowers. That day, Qinghua Zang Shui had released dozens of blue flowers in one go. With the power of this mask-wearing female yao, it probably was not difficult for her to release hundreds. If the number of blue flowers increased, the space that he could utilize to dodge would decrease. Then he would be in danger!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s mind moved quickly as he thought furiously. What move would be effective?

Did he have to use the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art?

Zuo Mo was confident in the power of the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art but in his mind, that was his ultimate move. If he used his ultimate move on the first challenger, what could he do for the rest?

He could use the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art on every one of them.

The power of the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art was powerful, but the expenditure was also astounding. If Zuo Mo used it once, he probably would have to leave the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

Then there would be no challenge he could accept! Definitely unprofitable!

An extra challenger was an extra sum of money. The longer he persisted, the more he would make. Zuo Mo knew this very well. His goal in coming to the Ten Finger Prison was to find a clue to the Battle of Sealed Extinction. But this required money, lots of money!

No!

He could not use the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!

The gold light under his feet flashed. He continuously disappeared and then appeared as though he was teleporting and roamed around Qinghua Xue to search for an opportunity.

As Zuo Mo expected, blossoms of blue flowers continuously formed and floated up from Qinghua Xue’s upheld hands. She was still elegant and relaxed like a girl putting out flower lanterns at the river’s edge. But when she raised her head, it was possible to see the burning battle desire occasionally from her amber eyes.

The gold light flashed under his feet. He seemed to pass through the void, suddenly appearing and then disappearing.

The gold light entered Zuo Mo’s vision. Not knowing what to do, Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly shifted.

Since [Golden Crow Feet] was able to be used in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, then what about the other transformations?

There were six transformations of the Great Day mo physique. Other than the [Golden Crow Feet], there were five more. Were they also able to be used?

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly burned. He had never used some of the transformations of the Great Day mo physique. He finally had the chance to use the ultimate moves he had worked so long on. It was like a sword that had been sharpened for a long time. It was being unsheathed to drink the fresh blood of the enemy!

In a moment, a strong desire for battle came from the deepest part of his body like a burning lava flow that spread throughout his entire body!

Chapter 381: Walked Out Of The Gravestone … …

The six transformations of the Great Day mo physique: Light Void Wings, Golden Crow Feet, Day Script Palm, Flame Seal Armor, Midday Blade, and Great Day.

Light Void Wings primarily enhanced speed and were as fast as lightning. The Golden Crow Feet enhanced strength and had the power of thirty thousand catties. When the two were used together, they lead to endless possibilities, and were the two moves that Zuo Mo was most familiar with. He had also practiced the other four moves but never used them in actual combat before.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved again. An even more outrageous thought came out. If … … he used all six transformations simultaneously … … what would it be like?

When this thought came about, it securely took hold over Zuo Mo’s thoughts and was unable to be forgotten.

Why didn’t he try … …

The gold light under his feet seemed to unwind like golden threads and quickly climbed up along his calves.

Qinghua Xue had no other thoughts in her mind. Blue flowers rose in the two hands she held up. The blossoms flew into the sky. These blue flowers that floated in the sky did not blindly chase Zuo Mo, but were spaced apart. There seemed to be invisible lines connecting the blue flowers to one another.

Reproducing and communicating among themselves.

When the golden threads reached Zuo Mo’s waist, his legs were completely enveloped by the golden threads, they were especially thick on his feet. The golden threads continued to climb onto his upper body. Woosh, a pair of transparent wings suddenly shot out of Zuo Mo’s back.

The dense golden threads continued to spread up Zuo Mo’s chest, onto his neck and then covered his face.

In a flash, Zuo Mo was covered completely by the golden threads all over except for his eyes. The bright golden threads quickly dimmed, and a dark golden suit of armor covered Zuo Mo’s body.

The dark gold scales were the size of fingernails and were in layers like fish scales. When Zuo Mo made the slightest move, they would sparkle like a wave of water. The helmet was round and tightly followed the contours of Zuo Mo’s face. There was a black horn protruding from the top of the helmet, and rings of patterns were inlaid on the horn. The horn curved slightly forward and came to a sharp point.

The pauldrons were like two balls of burning flame. On his left arm was a small dark golden round shield. In bright red the image of a flame was inscribed on the round shield. His right hand held a strangely shaped blade. It was broad at the front and narrow at the back. There was no curve on the blade at all. It was a straight as a ruler. The entire blade was enveloped in the flame.

The armour was made of small scales that tightly wrapped around Zuo Mo’s legs, but from the outside, they appeared even thicker. From his feet five sharp claws extended outwards, similar to the sabaton like the claws of the fiendish soul panther. The five claws of the Golden Crow Feet were like hooks that tightly gripped onto the ground.

Zuo Mo curiously examined himself.

———

“Hm.” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s expression shifted. He suddenly stopped commanding the Guard Camp. He carefully inspected Zuo Mo. His expression quickly changed, his bloody pupil expanding as he exclaimed in shock. “Great mo physique!”

Shu Long who had been receiving Pu Yao’s instruction was confused. “Daren, what is great mo physique?”

Pu Yao  ignored Shu Long, his bloody pupil tightly locked onto Zuo Mo.

“How is this possible? How is this possible? How can this boy use great mo physique? He clearly is not a true-blooded mo!”

He suddenly turned around his face, his gaze as sharp as a sword. He stared hard at the gravestone. “It’s you!”

A faint figure floated on top of the black gravestone.

What surprised Pu Yao was this blurry figure gradually became distinct.

Clean lines drew out a figure with  feminine curves. Wearing a tight fitting suit of battle armor, she held an extremely strange weapon—an enormous claw that was even taller than her body!

The enormous claw was so life like it seemed alive. It was hard to imagine what being could have such a terrifying enormous claw. It seemed like the entire figure of the female warrior was under the enormous claw.

“You you you … …” Pu Yao seemed to see a ghost. He paled and was speechless.

“Little Pu Pu, long time no see!” A sweet teasing voice filled with laziness suddenly came from the gravestone.

“You you you … …” Pu Yao’s lips shook.

“You miss me this much!” A seductive soft laugh came from the gravestone. The sweetness in the voice seemed to come from the bone. The simple figure drawn by the clean lines on the gravestone continued to come into focus. It was like an invisible pen that was drawing stroke by stroke.

On the blank face, eyes appeared and then eyebrows … …

In a blink, an ambiguously smiling beautiful face appeared on the gravestone.

The eyes on this face suddenly blinked at Pu Yao. Pu Yao was stunned, he seemed to be petrified.

Long legs reached out of the gravestone as their armor rattled. The figure that floated out of the gravestone like this. Complex patterns encircled eyes that were black like the deep of midnight, , eyes filled with a wildness and seductive gaze. The bark-brown skin that was exposed were as glossy as the best silk. The sexy figure was unable to be hidden underneath the battle armor.

She walked lightly in front of a statue-like Pu Yao. Bending down, she wore a dazzling smile, “Little Pu Pu … …”

Pia, without any warning, her right hand grabbed onto Pu Yao’s neck and pulled him up like holding up a little chick. Then with a sudden tug, she jerked him in front of her. There was still an enchanting smile on her face, but something seemed to roil in her black eyes, and her tone became extremely hostile.

“Little Pu Pu, your attitude right now is not very good!”

The stunned Pu Yao looked dazedly at this pair of eyes. Countless memories came like the tide. His eye suddenly became moist.

“Sniveling again, so boring.” Pia, the female warrior relaxed her hand. The vicious expression on her face turned to nothing and she muttered as she walked to the side.

After a moment, Pu Yao finally focused. He stammered out a question, “Da-Daren, you are still alive?”

“You want me dead?” the female warrior lazily replied. She threw the enormous claw onto the ground, laid on it, and yawned. She said indistinctly, “Why am I so sleepy again … …”

Pu Yao was unable to restrain himself from showing joy. His lips trembled. After a moment, for some unknown reason, his nose became stuffy and tears welled up in his eyes. He said, “Daren, they all died, Everyone is dead!”

The female warrior’s body froze. A long while later, she sighed lightly, “Yes, everyone is dead, we are the only ones left.”

The long sigh carried deep loneliness, grief and guilt.

———

The fully armored Zuo Mo felt as though he was a burning ball of fire. There seemed to be thousands of burning streams colliding, bursting and splashing inside his body. They released a destructive presence that made even Zuo Mo’s mind waver.

This was the first time Zuo Mo used all six transformations of the Great Day mo physique at the same time.

What entered the Ten Finger Prison was only the consciousness. There was no fleshly body nor ling power here, so how was he able to use the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique? Was it that his consciousness what was burning now?

When this thought came about, Zuo Mo felt an explosion inside his mind.

Countless golden flames suddenly shot out of the armor and burned.

Zuo Mo turned to a person made up of fire.

———

“What is happening?” Pu Yao gaped with wide eyes. He felt everything happening today was challenging the limits of his imagination. Everything was so fantastical, and unbelievable.

There was an astonishing change happening right now in Zuo Mo’s consciousness that he could not understand at all.

“His Great Day mo physique is about to advance,” the female warrior had her laziness back and said unconcernedly.

“How can he use the Great Day mo physique inside the Ten Finger Prison?” Pu Yao asked a question that had long been in his mind.

“The Great Day mo physique has some substance,” the female warrior casually said. “This boy has pretty good luck. You taught him to cultivate the consciousness and he accidentally found a correct path to practicing the Great Day mo physique.

Pu Yao’s expression suddenly became strange. What Great Day mo physique, who wanted to cultivate that thing? After struggling inside, he gritted his teeth and opened, “Daren, I took him as my student.”

“Oh, that’s your freedom, you don’t have to report it,” the female warrior waved her hand and said unconcernedly.

Thinking about his Teacher, Pu Yao forced himself to say, “Please, Daren, do not pass mo skills to him.”

“Little Pu Pu, this is not good!” The female warrior had a smiling face.

Pu Yao’s heart shook and he knew it was not good. However, he still decided to fight. “Daren, please respect the order of arrival!”

“Tsk tsk tsk, Little Pu Pu, weren’t you the one that taught him the Great Day mo physique? Yao arts, so feminine, such a good little man, how can he be wasted by you?” The female warrior still had a smiling face.

Pu Yao’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, the tendons in his forehead jumping.

“Little Pu Pu, change to cultivating mo skills too. I like men who are very masculine the most … …” The female warrior’s eyes became intoxicated.

Pu Yao finally could not suppress it. He jumped up and swore, “Damned woman, you dare call me feminine. Come on, let’s have a good fight … …”

The female warrior instantly had an excited expression. With one move, she raised the enormous claw that was multiple times larger than her body. “Great great, after sleeping for three thousand years, it’s been so suffocating. I want a fight!”

The two figures fought fiercely in Zuo Mo’s consciousness.

“Stupid woman, don’t think I’m afraid of you. You were only the commander because I let you .,. …”

“Little Pu Pu, my dear vice commander, you’ve never beat me!”

“I was having mercy. In front of everyone, giving you face!”

“Little Pu Pu, you still like to boast as you ever did! Looking at the fact you guarded Older Sister for three thousand years, Sister will let you attack three times first!”

“Guard you? My honored Commander that thinks so highly about yourself! What I protected was the reputation of the Corps! If the corpse of the Corps Commander landed in the hands of the enemy, it would be the shame of our corps!”

“Little Pu Pu, your mouth is still as sharp as before!”

“Corps Commander, you are still this shameless!”

———

Qinghua Xue looked in shock at Xiao Mo Ge who was swallowed in flame. Her hand couldn’t help but shake once.

Was this a backlash from the yao art?

The invisible power released by the flame spread in ripples of heat.

Her heart shook and her expression changed slightly.

Inside the flame, the strange blade seemed to lift slightly.

Chapter 382: Midday Blade Strike

The temperature of the prison battlefield suddenly rose. The blackness of the void became dark red. Invisible waves of heat came from all directions, and twisted everything in view. Qinghua Xue felt as though she was wading through molten lava and was going to burn at any moment.

The blue flower held in her hands was like a candle flickering in the wind, likely to be extinguished at any moment.

Xiao Mo Ge was covered in flame on the other side was like a twisting ball of flame she could not clearly see.

What was most terrifying was that her consciousness was unable to find Xiao Mo Ge!

Qinghua Xue was shocked and couldn’t help but panic.

The sky full of blue flowers showed signs of becoming uncontrolled. The connection between her and them became increasingly weak. Pia pia pia! The sounds that were so weak they were almost indiscernible landed in her ears but were akin to lightning on a clear day. Seven blue flowers cut off their connection to her consciousness!

Her complexion suddenly became white!

From the day she first cultivated [Blue Flower], these beautiful blue flowers were like her closest friends, and were connected with her in her mind. She played with them, told them her innermost thoughts. She had never encountered any problems on the complex yao arts recorded on [Blue Flower] because her friends would help her.

It was the first time that she had encountered the blue flowers cutting their connections to her.

Why was it like this?

Qinghua Xue had a bewildered expression. She did not know what to do about this sudden change.

Amidst her bewildered eyes, that strange straight blade that was shrouded in the fiery flame sliced from top to bottom!

This blow was unusually slow, so slow that Qinghua Xue could see it clearly.

When the strange blade started to move downwards, the surrounding flame seemed to have been pushed by an invisible power and quickly left the blade. It broke into countless tiny flames that shot off towards the sides. Qinghua Xue seemed to have a feeling that this blade had sliced a ball of flame into a rain of fire.

The entire space seemed to be ignited in this moment.

The bright flame spread through the entire space like a snowstorm of the winter. It was so hot that waves of heat which could melt steel rose and lifted up a sky full of fiery rain. The sky suddenly became bright, wind and fire joining together. The power of the fiery rain expanded.

The wind and fire twisted and engulfed the blue flowers. The strange and cryptic blue flowers disappeared in the air like bubbles popping.

With the destruction of each blue flower, Qinghua Xue’s face became a fraction paler. She wavered.

Poof.

When the last blue flower was destroyed, Qinghua Xue’s face was as pale as paper. The light inside the amber eyes disappeared. Everything in her vision quickly became blurry.

At this moment, a deep voice could be heard through the roaring of flame and wind.

“Midday Blade Strike!”

———

The yao and the mo that were fighting fiercely suddenly separated and stopped. They raised their heads at the same time to look at the void above their head.

Pu Yao’s expression was uncertain. The female warrior had a joyous expression.

Pu Yao suddenly spoke, “Your entire life was ruined by that suit of armor, are you going to ruin him as well?”

The joy on the female warrior’s face stilled, and gradually dissipated. She seemed to think of something. Pain floated on her face. She held the enormous claw and stood woodenly. The expression on her face continued to change, sometimes joyful, sometimes painful.

Pu Yao did not speak, and only looked silently at her.

———

Hot! So hot!

Zuo Mo felt as though his entire body was burning. His blood, flesh, and bones were like dry timber that were being furiously swallowed by a crimson flame. His eyes were completely red, the colour of red-hot steel!

He did not know that a clear flame had appeared above his head. This clear flame was silent, but the outer flame had faint rainbow patterns.

This flame quickly spread along Zuo Mo’s body.

The moment the flame appeared out of Zuo Mo’s body, the wooden A Gui suddenly raised her head, and a deep purple light lit up in the deepest part of the dull and unfocused eyes. Lil’ Fire who had been sleeping in her arms seemed to smell something delicious and woke up from its dreams.

———

“I had originally thought Daren was dead,” Pu Yao stared at the female warrior and slowly spoke.

“To swear my oath! To abide by my ceremony!” An extremely scornful expression came onto Pu Yao’s face. “Something so inflexible and trite, it is a miracle that it managed to pass down!”

The female warrior stood silently.

“It was this thing!” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly became high and filled with fury. “It ruined Daren’s entire life! Ruined the entire corps. Everyone was originally able to survive!”

The female warrior bit her lips, her black eyes filled with pain.

“Daren said right before death that she wanted me to guard it, so it will not land in the hands of xiuzhe.” Pu Yao’s tone was low. “I consented. I stood guard for three thousand years, it did not land in the hands of xiuzhe. I hated it, wanted to destroy it. I once thought the day that I managed to escape, I will throw this damned thing into the rivers of hell.”

“The time in the Yao Subduing Tower was really arduous to get through.” Pu Yao had a reminiscing expression. “If I had not promised Daren, I would not have made it through. I could not destroy it, so I had to endure. Being punished by lightning daily was nothing, what is most terrifying is to have no one to talk to, so I started to talk to it. Later, I did not hate it anymore. It is a inflexible idiot. There is no meaning in hating an idiot.”

“However, Daren,” Pu Yao suddenly lifted his head and stared directly at the female warrior, “are you going to ruin Zuo Mo as well.”

The female warrior was silent.

“He is my student,” Pu Yao said calmly. The black robe on his body seemed to flap in the wind, his black hair like countless snakes dancing. In the dark red bloody eye, the eerie red light slowly started to spin. His tone was as calm as usual. “To follow Daren in the past, I did not complete my Teacher’s final wish. Daren, instead I fulfilled my promise to you. I cannot finish Teacher’s last wish, but I cannot let Teacher’s line of succession break in my hands. Zuo Mo is my student. Daren, if you are going to put this ball and chain on my student’s body, please do so after stepping over my corpse.”

The cold voice landed in the sea of consciousness. Black flames came out of the ground and turned to curving snakes of fire that gathered from all directions below Pu Yao’s feet.

———

Ming Jue Zi suddenly raised his head, his pupils shrinking. He stared at the prison battlefield. Beside him, Su Wei’s expression changed as well.

Covered in the formation, the prison battlefield lit up with a dark red light. This patch of red light was massive and almost covered the entire prison battlefield. Ming Jue Zi and Su Wei exchanged a lot, and found shock in each other’s eyes.

“Such powerful fire yao arts!” Su Wei was frazzled.

Due to the formations outside the prison battlefield, the presence that leaked out was not strong. However, the pure fire contained in this thread of presence made every spectator change their expression.

“Fire yao art … …” Ming Jue Zi murmured soullessly. His expression was very strange, his eyes shocked and puzzled. He paid far more attention to Xiao Mo Ge than Su Wei did, and knew much more information than Su Wei.

The strange Wasteland Beast Chessboard, the strange yao art problems, the strange yao art cages, adding on fire yao arts now … …

How many yao arts did Xiao Mo Ge really know?

He was so young, how had he cultivated?

Everything that Ming Jue Zi thought was common knowledge seemed to be completely upended by this mystery person.

Who was he?

———

Yu Zi Zhou raised his head to look at the sky filled with red light in the prison battlefield. His expression became serious. He had regretted being late and to not have been the first to challenge Xiao Mo Ge. Before today, Xiao Mo Ge was just a dancing clown in his eyes. If it was not for Miss Ji Li Yu, he definitely would not waste time on such a minor character.

But such powerful yao fire arts!

He had just finished registering with Hong and was at the edge of the prison battlefield. The pure fire yao art presence spilling out of the prison battlefield shocked him.

“Hong, send one in.”

A deep voice came from inside the prison battlefield. The speaker seemed to be suppressing something.

“Alright, Daren.” Hong seemed to wake up from a dream, turning to Yu Ji Zhou and saying, “Mister, you may enter.”

Yu Zi focused his attention. He did not dare to slack off, his consciousness at full power as he stepped forward with a grave expression.

The scenery in front of him changed.

The surroundings were bright red as though he was submerged in molten metal. Invisible heat waves blew against him. His expression changed. Such strong fire yao art! He had to channel his powers to withstand these terrifying heat waves. His expression became even more grave.

As one of the Jade Clan, he was not afraid of fire. However, he was forced to use his powers to just stay here up so he recognized how powerful it was.

———

Zuo Mo stared with blood red eyes at Yu Zi Zhou in front of him. His entire body was inside a golden flame. The pain of burning tore at his nerves.

He could clearly feel the pure flame slowly permeating his consciousness. His consciousness seemed to shun these flames. Yet the golden flames were domineering and forcibly permeated his consciousness thread by thread.

What was this thing?

He gritted his teeth and bore the pain. The rich and tyrannical power occupied his entire body and the pain was like thousands of ants chewing on his body, especially his palms and back.

Zuo Mo had to focus his attention on the enemy in front of him. This way, it seemed that the pain he felt would lessen.

He gathered all the strength in his body, and the Midday Blade in his hand viciously struck at Yu Zi Zhou!

Midday Blade Strike!

The sky was full of wind and fire that howled as it shot at Yu Zi Zhou!

Yu Zi Zhou’s expression changed slightly. With a cold snort, his left leg shifted back slightly, his hands made a shape as they were holding a large ball, and drew a perfect circle with ease in front of his chest.

If Su Wei and the others saw this scene, they would have exclaimed, the ultimate defensive technique of Yu Zi Zhou—[Interconnected Jade Rings]!

An ultimate move right at the start! Without time to think, Yu Zi Zhou instinctively used the strongest defensive yao art he could do!

One created two, two created four … …

In a flash, rings of light covered Yu Zi Zhou.

Pew pew pew!

The storm of fire hit the rings of light, and both were destroyed. Rains of fire continuously landed on the rings of light, and rings of light were continuously destroyed. But the number of light rings did not lessen. Instead they increased, and became more numerous!

Zuo Mo felt there was an unstoppable flood inside his body that spread along his left hand and was going to burst from his left palm.

He did not even think before slamming his palm towards the thick rings of light.

Chapter 383: You Should Die!

This palm struck the rings directly.

The Day Script on the center of Zuo Mo’s palm suddenly lit up. A vast and scorching power burst forth from the center of his palm. This power was extremely strange. It did not blow away the rings of light, instead like a tiger reaching out with its head from the cage, it bit and held its prey.

The sea of light rings were securely latched onto by Zuo Mo’s left palm.

The Day Script continuously released golden yellow light that corroded the rings of light. A golden boundary rippled through the rings of light as it moved towards the center of the barrier.

Yu Zi Zhou’s expression changed greatly. He felt a tyrannical presence corroding his Interconnected Jade Rings at an astounding speed!

What … … what was this? It was the first time he had encountered such a strange yao art!

This domineering power spread so quickly it almost exceeded Yu Zi Zhou’s imagination.

He had just managed to gather all of his consciousness, and his vision already turned to a golden yellow ocean. Yu Zi Zhou had never thought he would ever be pushed to such a sorry state one day. No, such a hopeless situation! This was only the second move the other had used. The second move, and it forced him to such a state!

A dancing clown … …

He suddenly thought of this phrase. A feeling of humiliation like never before instantly rushed every inch of his nerves.

How could a person as proud as him be defeated in two moves by a person he thought of as a dancing clown?

How could he!

Yu Zi Zhou glared. The elegance and relaxed face was now unusually twisted. Deep pride was mixed with unprecedented humiliation. He was like a gambler that had lost it all, and went all in with his life!

All of his consciousness and his strength was channeled into his arms. He held his arms as though he was embracing the oncoming golden light and slowly pushed forward like he was pushing a mountain. His face trembled fiercely and showed signs of instability.

“Jade … …”

Gritting through his teeth, Yu Zi Zhou slowly spoke while visibly trembling. Every part of his body was trembling. The two curved arms he held in front of his chest slowly moved forward amidst this shuddering. Every fraction he pushed forward, the vibrations in the space around him increased by a fraction.

“Born … …”

Just as the “born” was squeezed from his mouth, the golden light had spread to the last ring of light in front of Yu Zi Zhou.

The golden light collided with Yu Zi Zhou’s arms without any finesse. Yu Zi Zhou’s body froze and his pupils suddenly expanded.

Pia! Yu Zi Zhou’s palms popped!

Pia! The wrists exploded!

Pia! The forearms exploded!

Pia pia pia … …

After a string of noises like popcorn popping, the explosions spread along Yu Zi Zhou’s arms to his body. Yu Zi Zhou’s eyes were enormously wide. He looked in disbelief as his body exploded inch by inch.

An unwilling wail suddenly was stopped.

There was a dazzling golden ball of light that covered Zuo Mo’s left palm that was like a sun. He maintained his striking pose motionlessly. All the flames over his body suddenly burrowed into his body.

The red light faded from his crimson eyes and revealed golden yellow pupils.

The golden yellow pupils were indifferent like that of a deity gazing down on ants, but the expression of pain on his face did not fade but increased. The indifferent gaze contrasted with the pained and twisted expression forming an extremely strange image. The Midday Blade in his right hand was trembling. The golden ball of light on the left palm dissipated, and the Sun Script at the center of the palm faded.

“Hong, let another one in!”

The hoarse and deep voice contained threads of insanity  as it came out of the formation.

———

“What Little Pu Pu has said is very wise!” The female warrior suddenly raised her head and looked smilingly at Pu Yao. She nodded heavily and said, “This stupid armor really shouldn’t be passed down any more.”

The gravestone shook fiercely as though it was very discontent with the female warrior’s words. The roiling black clouds looked as they were going to burst out.

“Shut up!” The female warrior’s expression cooled. She raised the enormous claw in one hand and heavily smashed it down on the gravestone. With a clang, the earth shook. The shaking gravestone froze. From the point it was smashed, a web of cracks snaked out.

Crack-woosh, a pile of broken rock fell off the gravestone. The black clouds that had just came out of the gravestone seemed to be hit with a body paralysis curse, and froze in the air.

Such … … such a powerful blow!

His presence almost at his peak, Pu Yao’s eyelids jumped. Pia pia pia, the black flames that had burrowed under his feet suddenly exploded simultaneously, and he was covered by a burst of black smoke. “Cough cough cough!” Pu Yao’s coughing passed out of the black smoke. When the black smoke dissipated, Pu Yao was singed and covered with ash.

He looked with unfriendliness at the female warrior.

The female warrior gave Pu Yao a flirtatious glance as though nothing had happened. She turned her face and when she looked at the gravestone, her tone was cold. “Clean it up.”

The gravestone shook. Woosh, the broken pieces that had broken off seemed to grow legs and climb into the place that had been smashed. Piece by piece, they went back to their original spot. In a blink, the gravestone seemed to be untouched again except for the web of cracks extending from the top of the gravestone.

The power was just as terrifying as it had been in the past … …

Pu Yao glanced at the female warrior and sat down. There were too much to consider about everything that had happened today. Hadn’t Daren died? How could she become alive again?

Death could not be reversed. This had no connection to cultivation.

Unless Daren did not die!

If Daren had not died in the past, then there were too many possibilities in this … … Golden Soul? That was very possible!

So Daren hadn’t died then … …

Wait a moment!

Pu Yao’s head was lowered. His bloody pupil unconsciously narrowed into icicles.

Daren died in his arms. Even if it had been three thousand years, he still remembered that scene clearly! He was familiar with Daren, her personality, her temper, he was familiar with everything!

The Daren in front of him was so familiar, as familiar as she was three thousand years ago.

But … … Daren had died … … she had really died … …

There seemed to be a silent sigh in the cold pupil. The pain seemed to have been washed away by time, so faint there was almost no trace, but … …

Pu Yao suddenly raised his head.

“Daren is already dead.”

The female warrior furrowed her brow and was slightly discontent.

Pu Yao seemed to not see it, and said to himself in a light voice, “Daren is dead, both her soul and body destroyed, there was nothing left.” His right hand came out of its wide sleeve and spread its fingers, feeling the air rush past them.

He looked directly at the female warrior and said calmly, “I know it, Daren died.”

The blood red pupil was so cold there was not a shred of warmth. He raised his hand, and a black flame jumped in his hand. His black hair started to dance again, and the silk-like black clothing moved despite the lack of wind.

The entire sea of consciousness seemed to slow down. Gradually, only one rhythm could be heard, only one sound.

Dong dong … … dong dong … … dong dong … …

The female warrior’s expression changed slightly. Her eyes locked onto the thread of black yao fire on Pu Yao’s hands. The strange rhythm in the space was the exact same as the rhythmic flickering flame on Pu Yao’s hand.

“The Golden Soul really is a good thing. It seems you’ve recovered a fair bit.” Pu Yao’s expression was indifferent. The bottomless crimson pupil slowly revolved and a scornful smile that was as cold and sharp as a knife’s edge suddenly jerked at the corner of his mouth. “You also recovered your usual idiocy.”

The female warrior suddenly spoke. But the voice changed from the sweetness and flirtatiousness of just now and became as simple and wizened as an old person. “How did you find out?”

Before the sound landed, the female warrior’s body collapsed into fine black powder. The black dust danced and gathered in the air to turn into a ball of black smoke. Inside the black smoke, the figure of a male was discernable.

“You want me to tell you how idiotic you are? Ha!” The scorn on Pu Yao’s face grew. “Tsk tsk, three thousand years, you finally showed your face, it really wasn’t easy.”

“Haven’t you wanted to force me out all along?” The male inside the black smoke glanced at the black fire on Pu Yao’s hands. He said in a deep voice, “I think we need to have a good discussion.”

“Discussion?” Pu Yao raised an eyebrow ambiguously. He took away the black fire in his hand and said unconcernedly. “Fine, discuss! Who are you?”

“Gravestone armor, called Protection, you can call me Wei.” The black smoke covering his body disappeared, and revealed Wei’s true appearance. He was wearing a body of black armor and seemed to have great bearing. His brow was straight and his eyes bright, he seemed full of righteousness. He was not as old as his voice seemed, and he bowed towards Pu Yao respectfully.

“Wei? Oh, not a bad name.” Pu Yao narrowed his eye.

“Due to the previous owner, your heart is filled with hatred towards me. I am able to understand this,” Wei slowly said. His voice was calm and neutral. It had a power that reached straight into the heart. “What she protected seemed to be idiocy to you but her resolve to protect was the source of her power.”

Pu Yao smirked coldly. “Tsk tsk, so high-sounding!”

Wei’s gaze looked into the distance as he was reminiscing on something. His voice became distant. “Every soul has something they are willing to give their life for.” His gaze came back and looked at Pu Yao. “Isn’t it also the same for you?”

Pu Yao still had a cold smirk. “Don’t spout these little pretenses in front of me.”

“Alright, you say.” Wei did not argue, nodding and saying without hesitation.

“I say?” Pu Yao narrowed his eye that was like a bloody red blade. He said lightly, “I say … … you should die!”

Wei’s expression changed greatly. His figure turned to rolls of black smoke and flew towards the gravestone.

Woosh!

Black flames sprouted from under the gravestone and completely enveloped the gravestone!

Wei hurriedly stopped his body. He seemed to be extremely wary of this kind of black flame.

“You should die!” Pu Yao stalked towards Pu Yao, a jumping flame being held in the air above his hand. The beautiful and dark face was filled with murderousness, his voice so cold there was no thread of warmth. “For pretending to be her, you should die!”

“Pu, you cannot kill me.” Wei stared at Pu Yao with a calm expression.

“I know.” The murderousness on Pu Yao’s face suddenly disappeared and he said with a strange and dark smile, “However, after three thousand years, how can I not have spent any of my thoughts on you?”

Wei’s expression really changed this time.

A dazzling light lit up on Pu Yao’s hands and illuminated the entire sea of consciousness!

Chapter 384: New Tenant

Zuo Mo seemed to have an extremely long dream, a dream of red and gold. A world full of flame, dazzling, golden light filled the entire dream. But he could not remember what happened.

Opening his eyes, pia, a warm and soft bubble-like thing smashed into his embrace.

Zuo Mo lowered his head. He saw a golden yellow body frolicking in his arms.

This was … …

“Lil’ Fire?”

Zuo Mo’s expression instantly became slightly strange. He gripped the little golden guy and raised it up. Lil’ Fire seemed to be recalling a certain painful memory. Its soft body suddenly froze. A moment later, it chirped weakly and looked at Zuo Mo.

It really was Lil’ Fire! Zuo Mo’s gaze relaxed and then he became curious. How did this guy become like this? The body which had originally been red was now golden red, and his figure had shrunk a few fractions.

“How did you become this?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. Lil’ Fire hurriedly chirped but Zuo Mo couldn’t understand one sound at all. Zuo Mo ignored it, and squeezed around as he muttered, “Forgot where the spot is … …”

The chirping suddenly stopped. Pew, a golden red flame shot out of Lil’ Fire’s body.

Lil’ Fire’s expression was full of sorrow.

“Ha, found it! Ooh ooh, it’s good that you are normal, normal.” Zuo Mo relaxed his grip.

When Lil’ Fire left the demonic hands, it shot into A Gui’s embrace and chirped sorrowfully as it rolled in search of comfort.

A Gui was still just as usual. Zuo Mo sighed inside. He didn’t know when they would reach Cloud Sea Jie. He walked next to A Gui, and inspected A Gui’s body again. An uncontrollable expression of joy appeared on his face.

The strange purple light seemed to have grown stronger. Even though he did not know what the purple light was, Zuo Mo knew it was of great benefit to A Gui. The first time he had encountered an unconscious A Gui, he had discovered the attributes of this purple energy.

The purple energy showed signs of growth. This was a good thing. Zuo Mo’s mood instantly became much lighter. Oh, what should he be doing right now? Zuo Mo furrowed his brow. He felt slightly strange. How could he not have anything to do?

Wait!

That wasn’t right! His gaze focused. He remembered, the battle stage at Wasteland Beast Chessboard! The memories were like a flood that burst through the dam. He thought of more and more matters. That was right! Wasteland Beast Chessboard! Stage!

But … …

Why couldn’t he remember what happened?

What had happened?

His expression became grave. He knew that something had definitely happened, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not recall anything. After thinking for a few moments, he entered the sea of consciousness. Pu Yao definitely would know.

Entering the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but make a sound of surprise. The sea of consciousness seemed to have changed. However, he was not in the mood to examine the sea of consciousness at this time. He sprinted directly in the direction of Pu Yao’s location.

Zuo Mo stopped his feet and gaped as he looked at Pu Yao.

There was another person standing beside Pu Yao!

After gaping for a moment, Zuo Mo suddenly became enraged. He shot forward a step, pointed at Pu Yao and started to scold, “You lazy glutton, ge tolerated you even though you don’t pay rent, now you bring another person in? You really think of ge’s sea of consciousness as a free residence? Ah-ha! Didn’t even inform me, you really think this is your home?”

Pu Yao who had been full of pride suddenly froze.

“I- I- I … …”

“I, what I? Do you know whose territory this is? This is ge’s sea of consciousness! You’re great, you don’t even have one piece of jingshi, and you have your nose pointing at the sky all day? Ge found you an eyesore a long time ago, you really think you are a benefit to ge? Ah-humph! Now you even took a subordinate in?”

“He- he- he … …”

“He, what he? Little Pu Pu, you disappoint ge greatly. Thinking back to the past at Wu Kong Mountain, even with that powerful formation from the paper crane woman, ge’s heart was like granite and did not waver at all! You meet just one male beauty, and you surrendered! Do you know why you are an old antique, but ge is the Little Mo ge that dominates the word? Let me tell you, there is a difference between people and yao!”

Pu Yao was completely stunned by Zuo Mo’s barrage of scolding.

After Zuo Mo finished ranting, he felt extremely comfortable, and very satisfied, especially when he saw Pu Yao’s stupefaction. A feeling  of victory rose. A cold snort coming out of his nose, he raised his face and glanced at the male beside Pu Yao. “Who are you?”

“I am Wei, greetings to you.” The other stood and bowed to Zuo Mo.

Wei’s motions were relaxed and his expression serious. It caused people to feel his sincerity.

However, Zuo Mo did not fall for this. He crisply shook his head. “Wei? Never heard of you.” Not waiting for Wei to speak, he continued, “I don’t care where you came from. But let’s talk about the problem of rent.”

“Very rational. Please continue.” Wei did not argue and cleanly nodded.

“Ha! I like brisk people!” Zuo Mo smiled. “Very simple and to the point. Ooh, you can use all kinds of valuable things as rent. Like spells, yao arts, jingshi, rare materials, they all work.”

Wei said, “I have a set of dhyana xiu [Attainment Golden Body], is this acceptable?”

“[Attainment Golden Body]? Dhyana xiu?” Zuo Mo thought and then said, “Don’t use trash to fool me!”

“You can test it out first.” Wei handed over a ball of light with a calm expression.

Zuo Mo showed a satisfied expression. This guy really knew how to get with the program. Taking in the ball of light, a set of spells flowed like water across his mind. After musing over it, he couldn’t help but show an abnormal expression.

A sixth-grade spell!

What was the origin of this guy? A sixth-grade spell just to start?

Zuo Mo refocused and raised his eyebrows. “Oh, not bad! This can be your yearly rent!” He then twisted his mouth at Pu Yao. “Pu, learn from this, look how proactive this person is.”

“Your praise is Wei’s honor!” Wei bowed towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo did not even look at Pu Yao’s pot black face and left with bravado.

Pu Yao’s expression was unfriendly. The shadowed bloody pupil stared with coldness at Wei.

Wei calmly met Pu Yao’s gaze. “As per our agreement, I did not pass him a mo skill.”

“Remember your situation. Do not try to infuriate me.” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil narrowed as he coldly spoke, “I’ve sealed your wretched stele. I cannot destroy it, hee hee, but if you anger me, you can think of the consequences.”

“You do not need to threaten me.” Wei was not afraid, “I’ve never betrayed my oath.”

“Tsk tsk, so honourable! So honourable that you had to pretend to be Daren?”

“The oath is will. Actions that do not betray the will are weapons; there is no right or wrong.”

“Excuses!”

“My will!”

Zuo Mo’s mood was even better now that he received a sixth-grade spell. He had guessed Wei’s identity at the start because he noticed the light of the seal on the gravestone. Even though Pu Yao was usually very arrogant, he could not casually bring other souls into  Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. In the past, even Pu Yao had caused a great disturbance when he had entered the sea of consciousness. How could another person arrive in the sea of consciousness without Zuo Mo detecting it?

Even more, he noticed that Pu Yao’s attitude towards Wei was unfriendly, but there were no further actions. Thinking about the ancient voice back when Pu Yao had entered his sea of consciousness, the answer was obvious.

He had originally planned on squeezing out a small sum, but Wei’s offering was much more than he had imagined. A sixth-grade spell to start with, ha, this was very profitable!

Zuo Mo was filled with smugness.

Even though [Attainment Golden Body] was a dhyana xiu spell, but it still held great value as a reference for him. Also, he had a dhyana xiu subordinate. Wasn’t Zong Ru just lacking a good dhyana xiu spell? Zong Ru was from an unorthodox background but he was still able to form an abnhinna. If this sixth-grade dhyana xiu spell was added, he could definitely go up another level.

In a good mood, Zuo Mo did not forget what was most urgent at this moment. There wasn’t enough time to carefully inspect the good thing in his hand, he hurried towards the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

What had happened with the stage in the prison battlefield? He was very curious and bewildered. What had happened? Why could he not remember anything at all? He had been too worked up just now and forgotten to ask Pu Yao. However, since he was going to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, it would be the same if he asked Nan Yue and Cang Ze. They would definitely know.

When Zuo Mo came to the prison battlefield, he couldn’t help but pause.

The prison battlefield was extremely unpopulated with only a few figures about. Even though he did not remember what happened, but he clearly remembered the crowds of yao that had surrounded the prison battlefield that day.

His heart suddenly jumped. Had he gone out of business?

When the figures that were wandering around the prison battlefield saw Zuo Mo, all of their expressions changed. They looked as though they were seeing a ghost. Their gazes were filled with terror and fear.

Zuo Mo was puzzled. What was with this group of people? Did he have something frightening on his body?

It shouldn’t be so!

He remembered that these people in the past had looked at him as though they were drooling dogs seeing meat buns. Why was it that now they looked as though they were mice that had seen a cat?

Was it … … something had happened that day? The bewilderment inside grew. He wanted to call a yao and ask for clarification. But when this yao saw Zuo Mo reach out, his face suddenly paled, his gaze unfocused, and he disappeared in a flash of white light.

This this this … …

Zuo Mo was stunned where he stood. He had never thought there would be a day that he could frighten a yao straight out of the Ten Finger Prison.

A moment later, he refocused. Moving his feet, he walked into the prison battlefield.

The formations on the outside had not changed compared to the past day. It was only when he went into the stage area that he saw Cang Ze. In the enormous stage age, Cang Ze sat alone.

“Daren!” Cang Ze saw Zuo Mo and joyfully ran over.

“Oh,” he made a sound in response. He then looked at the surroundings, and asked with a frown, “What happened here? Where’s Nan Yue?”

“Nan Yue went to cultivate. We’ve been taking turns waiting for Daren.” Cang Ze saw Zuo Mo’s expression was unfriendly and hurriedly said, “This place … … this place … …” At this moment, he could not find the words to describe and was stuck.

“We lost?” Zuo Mo asked.

Cang Ze swallowed and shook his head. “No.”

“Then why haven’t people come?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Daren, you do not remember?” Cang Ze carefully asked.

“Don’t remember.” Zuo Mo shook his head. “I was just going to ask you what happened that day?”

The sound of Cang Ze swallowing became louder. His gaze was full of respect, and his expression even had threads of terror. “That day … … that day, Daren successively killed twenty six yao! As a result … … result … … all … … all the yao that registered ran away in fear!”

Thinking about the scene that day, Cang Ze’s body uncontrollably shook.

“Successively killed twenty six yao … …”

Zuo Mo was stunned.

Chapter 385: The Fame Of A Brute

“Yes, Daren.” Cang Ze’s respectful voice carried great passion. Before when Zuo Mo had decided to set up the battle stage, he had felt it was absurd. But now, in his mind, Daren was like a deity, undefeated and with immeasurable power.

He had a feeling that Daren, even being so young, would definitely leave his name in the annals of yao history. This feeling was so strong that he had even spoke of it to the clan elders in the hopes that they could provide more aid to Daren.

In the beginning the clan elders did not believe him, but after the yao art recordings started appearing, they subdued the doubts of the elders. These yao art recordings were made by those that had challenged Xiao Mo Ge and had recorded the entire process of their battles with Xiao Mo Ge.

Twenty six challengers, and there were nine yao art recordings that had been publicized.

Of the twenty six challengers, the most famous was Yu Zi Zhou. The most accomplished genius of the Jade Clan’s new generation, he once had the chance to enter the Elder’s Council of the Genius Alliance. However, in order to concentrate on cultivation, he had refused Ming Yue Ye’s invitation. The Jade Clan was not a large one, but it had a long history that stretched back into the prehistoric era.

When Yu Zi Zhou appeared on the Wasteland Beast Chessboard prison battlefield, everyone had thought that the battle had lost meaning. No yao in the yao world did not know that Yu Zi Zhou was pursuing Ji Li Yu. He was also publicly recognized as the one most likely to receive Ji Li Yu’s favor.

But no one had thought that Xiao Mo Ge was so powerful he defeated Yu Zi Zhou in an instant.

What happened after that seemed to challenge the limits of the spectator’s imaginations.

Xiao Mo Ge was like a terrifying monster that did not know exhaustion. Any enemy standing in front of him would be crushed in an instant.

One person, then another, and another … …

Other than the first mysterious challenger no challenger was able to resist for five breaths, not even Yu Zi Zhou. Among them were genius youths, like Yu Zi Zhou, those that were experienced in death, and there were even two combat yao from the military. There were also five supervisors from the Genius Alliance.

Such a grand line up, it was possible to make a powerful offensive yao troop at the front lines!

However, in front of Xiao Mo Ge, they were cut up and diced like vegetables! In the third prison and above, there was a rumor that was going around: all the yao that failed in their challenge, including Yu Zi Zhou, had serious consciousness wounds and they had to seek healing. There were a few that had even more terrible situations. Other than wounds, this battle had left a great shadow in their hearts. It was possible that they would not progress anymore in their life.

Xiao Mo Ge became famed after this battle!

His fame as a brute was unparalleled at this time!

———

“Have you found what yao art this is?” Su Wei crowded over and asked curiously.

Ming Jue Zi shook his head. “No.”

His gaze once again landed on Xiao Mo Ge inside the yao recording art, and he was extremely puzzled. The body was covered in flame, the golden yellow light, the full suit of armor, a shield on the left and a blade on the right, the transparent golden wings, the golden claws, this extremely strange attire was recorded in all nine yao recording arts. What caused the greatest fear were  those golden eyes made of crimson flame, they were so cold like there was no emotion. This indifference was the antithesis to his savageness and bloodthirstiness in combat. He was like a wild beast that only knew how to kill.

All of the enemies were like weak prey and were torn into pieces under his sharp claws.

“Even you were not able to find anything?” Su Wei really was surprised this time. Ming Jue Zi’s power was not enough to bring him fame, but in terms of breadth of knowledge, few could trump over him. He was familiar with all kinds of secret histories and information that were not widely known. He even was well-studied in the yao history before the thousand year war.

“En.” Ming Jue Zi did not move his gaze away. He stared at the yao art recording. A moment later, he spoke, “I have a feeling this may not be a yao art.”

“Not a yao art?” Su Wei paused. He then shook his head like a rattle drum. “Impossible? If it is not a yao art, what is it?”

Ming Jue Zi was silent for a moment. “It looks a bit like a mo skill.”

“Mo skill?” Su Wei’s gaze instantly became strange. “Brother, you have a fever! Mo skill? Mo skill appearing in the Ten Finger Prison? Other than yao arts, there is nothing else that can appear in the Ten Finger Prison.”

“I don’t know either.” Ming Jue Zi spread his hands. “But I really feel it does not look like a yao art.”

Su Wei said in a deep voice, “Don’t be impatient. We can slowly search, there is definitely someone who will recognize it.”

“We can only do this.” Ming Jue Zi could only nod. He suddenly thought of something, and said seriously, “Don’t involve yourself in this mess. This Xiao Mo Ge is very savage.”

“No no!” Su Wei said without hesitation. “I don’t want to find death! This guy can be seen to be one that treats yao lives like grass. In his hands, if it is not death, it is serious injury! A bloodthirsty murderer! This guy really is a bloodthirsty murderer! Look at the two people from the military, didn’t they get end up killed with a stroke?”

The two yao did not have good expressions. They repeated watched the nine yao art recordings. That brute that was like a demonic god was deeply imprinted in their minds.

———

“How can the Great Day mo physique appear in the Ten Finger Prison?” Pu Yao stared at Wei and asked. This was a question that had lingered in his mind.

Wei sat with his legs crossed, arms against his legs, his hands dangling off his knees. His gaze was like the sea. “The Great Day mo physique is an extremely rare mo physique. Only a few know its origins.”

“Origins?” Pu Yao raised his eyelid. “I have never heard that mo physiques had origins.”

Wei smiled and did not refute. He only said, “In prehistoric times, there were no divisions between xiuzhe, yao, and mo. The cultivation at that time was not as complex as it was now. Actually, the cultivators of that time cultivated everything. The cultivation method of that time was very heterogeneous, varied. Mo physiques existed very early on but not many would know that the creator of the mo physique cultivation method, according to today’s categories, was more like yao.”

“Ha! You say that mo physiques are actually created by a yao?” Pu Yao seemed to have heard the best joke.

“Yes.” Wei did not argue and said, “When he found at that time the technique he was cultivating was unsupportable without a powerful body, he had to spend large amounts of time on body cultivation. He scorned the mainstream body cultivation methods of that time for being too slow so he created the mo physique cultivation method.”

Pu Yao did not speak. He realized this fake gentleman was not speaking nonsense. The mo physique cultivation method was really efficient, but the process of cultivation was truly dangerous. Pu Yao had great breadth of knowledge. He knew very well that there were all kinds of divisions in history. It looked as though it was due to chance, but under the surface, one would find that there were all kinds of inevitable occurrences. There were historical requirements to the developments.”

“At the time, he was not the only one developing a mo physique cultivation method but his results were the most obvious. The Great Day mo physique was his greatest work. The mo physiques did not have such great variety as they do now, and the Great Day mo physique was the peak of all mo physiques at that time. What this elder was most skilled in was still yao arts, so in developing the cultivation method of the Great Day mo physique, he drew inspiration from yao arts. The Great Day mo physique is the mo physique that most closely resembles yao arts. In today’s terms, the Great Day mo physique emphasizes the use of spiritual power.”

Wei continued on, his presence forming naturally.

Pu Yao did not answer. He pondered with his head down and then said with realization, “So that’s why.” He was a genius to start with, a weirdo with the name of the Encyclopedia of Yao Arts. After continuous battle, the number of spells and mo skills that he had won and collected could not be counted. He was very knowledgeable. There were parts he did not understand before but now that Wei spoke a bit about it, it was enough for him to clearly see the crux of the matter.

“The guy that thought of this method is really a genius!” Pu Yao praised. He seemed to have a new idea and said to himself, “Maybe this can be tried out?”

Wei’s expression was calm, but a shiver flashed through his mind. Being enemies with Pu Yao, he directly felt the immeasurable nature of this guy. Pu Yao’s mind was sharp, sensitive, reacted extremely quickly, vicious and decisive, especially the insanity that came from his bones, that insanity that would destroy everything to reach his goal!

Such a terrifying enemy!

A wave rippled in Wei’s heart but he quickly resumed calmness. He looked openly at Pu Yao without any trembling in his gaze.

The two had their own thoughts and it became silent.

———

Zuo Mo dazedly looked at Cang Ze, and gaped for a long moment. Successively killed twenty six yao? He was joking! How could he be so ferocious? He was clear how much he was worth. Even though he didn’t know names of the people that fell under his blade, but military combat yao, high level supervisors of the Genius Alliance, and guys that could enter the Elder Council of the Genius Alliance. Hearing Cang Ze heatedly narrate his results with awe, Zuo Mo felt like he was being told a story.

What yao world joke?

That was the words that were echoing inside his mind the most, but when he saw Cang Ze’s face which was so excited his lips were trembling, he felt that it was not pretense.

Had he really done it? Zuo Mo was full of suspicion and it was like he was listening to a fairytale.

Okay, maybe it really was he that did it … …

Zuo Mo said to himself. Oh, let’s focus on something more practical. He raised his head and asked, “How much did we make?”

Cang Ze that had been going on heatedly suddenly choked. His expression froze. In an instant, the giant figure of Daren in his mind wavered. He seemed to feel his breath was being choked at his throat.

Seeing Cang Ze’s expression, Zuo Mo instantly panicked, “Did we lose money?”

Cang Ze almost collapsed. Why … … why … …

In the legends, shouldn’t those great heroes treat gold like dirt?

The great battle god statue in Cang Ze’s mind collapsed.

“Da … … Daren, we earned … … earned thirty million … …” Cang Ze felt like he was a server reporting to the manager of the store.

“This much?” Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly widened and lit up. All the suspicions in his heart instantly dissipated in front of true income.

How could the number of yao he defeated be as tangible as how much he made? Zuo Mo wanted to roar with laughter!

Chapter 386: Cang Lin

“Daren, this is my cousin, Cang Lin. He has been to the third prison before. If Daren has any questions, you can ask him,” Cang Ze said respectfully. There was a male yao standing next to him with features similar to Cang Ze, but he looked slightly worn down. Cang Lin also followed with a bow to Zuo Mo. His eyes were filled with respect and awe. In the last few days, the brutish reputation of this mysterious daren had spread everywhere.

Zuo Mo looked at him and then suddenly made a sound of surprise. “You were wounded?”

“Yes, Daren,” Cang Lin said in a hoarse voice. His voice was drier than Cang Ze and his gaze dim. In the past, he had been the most talented of the younger generation of the sect. Young and he was able to enter the third prison. He got into a conflict with someone else in the third prison once and was wounded in combat that resulted long lasting damage to his consciousness. He had not expected the other’s imprint to be extremely malicious. The elders of the sect tried all they could but had no solutions.

Cang Ze had called him over this time because Zuo Mo had asked about the yao market bounties. Of the younger generation of the clan, only Cang Lin had gone to the third prison.

“Let’s heal you first and then talk.” Zuo Mo beckoned with his hand at Cang Lin. “Come over.”

Cang Lin stilled. Cang Ze reacted first, and said in a joyful and trembling voice, “Daren, can you heal this kind of wound?”

He could not be blamed for his loss of composure. The glory of the Grey Clan had long faded, and the Grey Clan was continuously declining. The greatest problem the Grey Clan faced was that they had no able successors. Cang Lin had once been the hope of the Grey Clan. In order to heal his wound, the clan had spent great sums. Cang Ze was the youth with the greatest talent next to Cang Lin but if it was not for the [Grey Scar Art], it probably would take him far more time to pass the first prison.

If Cang Lin’s wound could be healed, that meant the Grey Clan would have an able assistance! So when Cang Ze heard that Zuo Mo was able to heal Cang Lin’s wounds, his state could be described as overjoyed. Cang Lin was completely stunned, his mind blank.

He dumbly walked in front of Zuo Mo.

“Relax.”

Just like normal, Zuo Mo’s spiritual power was like nimble tentacles that connected to Cang Lin’s consciousness. The scenery in front of him changed. He seemed to be situated in a patch of grey and blue mist that moved relentlessly. It was possible to see dozens of mist streams that slowly flowed along specific paths.

Zuo Mo was shocked. The scene in front of him was so clear it was slightly outrageous.

His consciousness had improved again! Other than joy, Zuo Mo felt slightly puzzled. The improvement of his consciousness seemed too fast recently , it seemed to improve at a rate visible to the naked eye. He started to worry. Would this rate of increase have any problems?

He needed to find a time to ask Pu Yao.

Suppressing the worry and shock inside, Zuo Mo started to seriously inspect Cang Lin’s consciousness. He quickly found the cause of the problem. These blue streams were flowing slowly, too slowly.

He closed his eyes, and the scenery inside the blue mist continuously appeared in front of him.

The slender flows were like rivers and streams. Some were thick, and others extremely thin. They criss-crossed and did not interfere in certain places. Zuo Mo seemed to understand. These slender flows were like the ling channels inside people’s bodies and supported all of the consciousness.

At a place where the blue slender flows intersected was a blood-coloured vine covered in thorns.

This was it!

Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes. He was not skilled in healing and only understood a bit after repeatedly inspecting A Gui’s body. Vitality, this intangible and ethereal substance was something he could measure. From the beginning using the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to inspecting A Gui’s body, he had gained a direct impression. In the prison-breaking battle of Vast Water Clear Skies, facing the vast water breath filled with vitality, he had a new understanding of vitality.

Seeing Cang Lin today, he detected that Cang Lin’s vitality was not flowing smoothly so he had asked.

He examined it for a while longer and confirmed that the red thorny vine was the culprit that disrupted the flow of the blue streams. He did not hesitate and started to deconstruct it. In his eyes, the thorny vine was completely made from yao arts.

When he touched the red thorny vine, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shiver.

An excited expression quickly came over. The construction of the red thorny vine was a new structure he had never seen before. It was also more complex than the yao arts which appeared in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. From when they entered Vast Water Clear Skies, Pu Yao had continuously emphasized deconstruction to Zuo Mo.

How many yao arts had Zuo Mo deconstructed up until now?

He himself could not remember it but deconstructing yao arts almost had become a kind of instinct. When he saw a completely novel and complex yao art, he had a twinge of excitement like a gourmand that that saw delicious food!

Without hesitating, Zuo Mo started to deconstruct it.

Zuo Mo quickly encountered a blockage but this did not discourage him. It was the opposite and his fighting spirit was stimulated. He was like a battle seeking warrior who encountered an opponent of similar skill.

It had been so long since he had encountered such a powerful yao art!

Zuo Mo was excited!

This really was a complex yao art problem. Zuo Mo’s mind revolved quickly. His focus narrowed. The lights of all kinds of little yao arts continuously flashed on his hands. He was truly familiar with the set of little yao arts now and could confidently use them without any struggle. It was natural like eating and drinking. When an idea formed in his mind, the little yao art on his hand would have formed as well.

Cang Lin’s expression continuously changed. Sometimes pained and sometimes relaxed. Cang Ze did not dare to relax and silently informed the elders of the clan. To the grey Clan, this was really an important matter.

A moment later, six wizened looking Grey Clan elders appeared next to Cang Ze.

“How is the situation?” the Chief Elder asked in a deep voice. His gaze landed on Cang Lin and did not shift away. From the lights that were flashing on Cang Lin’s body, it was clear the other was undergoing healing.

“It’s been going for two hours,” Cang Ze hurriedly replied.

The elders instantly had serious expression. They had all tried to heal Cang Lin before but in the end, they were ineffective. The yao art imprint inside Cang Lin was not strong, but was extremely hardy. No matter which method they used, they could not destroy it.

Without needing to ask, the elders encircled Zuo Mo and Cang Lin and shielded in the middle, preventing others from disturbing them and affecting the healing.

Looking at Cang Lin’s pale and weary face, Chief Elder’s heart couldn’t help but hurt. He and the other elders worked to support the Grey Clan but they were already in the last stages of their life. But watching as they aged day by day, and there was no successor from the descendants of the Clan, the urgency they felt could be imagined.

The Grey Clan had declined but they possessed the Golden Tree so they had barely managed to survive until now. The reason the Grey Clan could protect the Golden Tree was that the elders were strong. Each of them was not individually strong but they were united. Others did not dare to easily provoke them. But if they were no longer there, the Golden Tree would end up being fatal to the Grey Clan.

The appearance of the [Grey Scar Art] undoubtedly filled the elders with hope of the future again.

If Cang Lin could recover, then their last worry would disappear. With Cang Lin’s talent, his cultivation would definitely skyrocket if he cultivated [Grey Scar Art].

The lights on Cang Lin’s body suddenly flashed rapidly. This change caused the expressions of the elders to deepen. They knew this was the most crucial moment!

Pia!

An abnormally crisp sound suddenly came out of Cang Lin’s body.

Chief Elder stilled and then his eyes lit up. He could not control himself from showing an overjoyed expression. The other elders quickly reacted, all of them with joy on their face.

Cang Lin opened his eyes. There was another light in that pair of dim eyes.

Zuo Mo did not move. He was like a statue of wood.

Seeing the situation, the other elders did not dare to slack off. They persisted in shielding Zuo Mo.

A long while later, Zuo Mo slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath. “Such a strange yao art!”

Seeing Zuo Mo open his eyes, Cang Lin forcibly suppressed the excitement inside and made a deep bow towards Zuo Mo. “Cang Lin cannot repay Daren’s great boon of rebirth. But whatever Daren orders, Cang Lin will do his best to accomplish!”

The Chief Elder just wanted to stop him, and hadn’t expected that he would be too late. He couldn’t help but sigh inside. As expected of a young person! With these words, it was akin to putting the future of the Grey Clan into the hands of Xiao Mo Ge. Of the young people of the clan, the most promising successor to the position of clan leader were Cang Ze and Cang Lin. But he could see the attitudes of these two towards Xiao Mo Ge.

But Chief Elder altered his way of thinking. This was not a terrible thing. If the Grey Clan had the aid of such a powerful expert in the future, at least, they did not have to worry about others targeting the Golden Tree.

Thinking about this, he stepped forward and bowed to Zuo Mo. “This old man is the Chief Elder of the Grey Clan. Greetings to the honored Xiao Mo Ge! The boon that Sir has given us is something all of the Grey Clan is grateful for. This is just a small token. Sire, please accept it.”

The other elders saw the two Golden Souls in the Chief Elder’s hand and couldn’t not stop their disbelieving expression. The production of Golden Souls was very low. Last time to exchange for the [Grey Scar Art], they had paid ten Golden Souls. What was left in the clan could be counted on the fingers. They had not expected the Chief Elder to give out two Golden Souls in their first meeting!

However, they all know that the Chief Elder usually had deep insight and carefully considered his actions. They were puzzled but no one spoke in opposition. They simultaneously bowed towards Zuo Mo. “Please accept it!”

Zuo Mo was not courteous and took the Golden Souls. He said that he wanted to ponder what he had learned today. The elders were all very intelligent and hurriedly bid farewell.

A cold light flashed past Zuo Mo’s eyes. He sat down cross-legged on the ground to recover his spiritual power.

Moments later, a figure appeared in the distance.

Zuo Mo detected it. He opened his eyes and stood up. Just now when he had succeeded in deconstructing the yao art imprint inside Cang Lin’s body, at the moment the blood colored thorny vine turned to dust, he received a challenge.

The yao that had left the yao art imprint in Cang Lin had challenged him.

This was a letter delivered in an arrogant tone and filled with unconcealed threats. The other had detected that Zuo Mo was deconstructing his yao art imprint. He could not bear it and wanted to see who was stronger with Zuo Mo.

If this was a usual time, Zuo Mo would definitely ignore the challenge, but today, he had a different idea.

This kind of complex and weird yao art had many unique places. Zuo Mo might have deconstructed the yao art imprint on Cang Lin, but there were still many places he did not understand. The other’s challenge was like a fat sheep that was being delivered to his mouth. A starving Zuo Mo unhesitatingly accepted it.

The blood colored thorny vine’s yao art … … was very interesting!

Zuo Mo was thoughtful.

Chapter 387: Mo Ru Huo

The Desolate Flat Slope was an extremely barren place. Weeds were growing everywhere and withered, graveley earth covered the land. No faction had any interest in such a poor and barren place. However, the South Sky Wisteria Clan lived here.

Just like the many times before, Nan Yue’s figure flashed past. Because there were no plentiful water sources nearby, and the air was dry. This kind of environment was not suited to their survival. The Wisteria Clan liked to live in places with dense forests, shade, and plenty of water. But places like those, even if they had no valuable resources, were everyone’s targets.

The Wisteria Clan which only had the old, the children, and the crippled, what offensive power did they have?

Looking at the piles of pebbles that flashed by below, Nan Yue’s mood was dour. She resolved inside that she had to made a breakthrough as early as possible to increase her yao designation. If she could increase her yao designation, she could take her clansmen into the city to live. The environment inside the cities was much better than in the wilderness.

Thinking of the [South Sky Arrow Art] she was cultivating, she was full of confidence in the future!

With her present improvement speed, it would not be long before she could receive a satisfactory yao designation level.

“A Yue has come back! A Yue has come back!”

The clanspeople saw Nan Yue and were very excited. Nan Yue was the most outstanding young yao of the Wisteria Clan and the hope of the clan. If it was not for the fact that she was so young, the clan leader would have passed the position onto her. In the younger generation, she was the undoubted big sister. When she arrived, everyone crowded over.

Nan Yue showed a smile, “Is everyone fine?”

“Great! A Yue, don’t worry about us!”

“Yes, Big Sister A Yue, we’ve been working hard on our cultivation!”

Everyone talked over each other. Listening to the clanspeople speak of what had happened in this past while, Nan Yue’s heart was filled with warmth. She took out a large pile of daily essentials from her date seed bracelet. This was bought using the money she earned outside of her time spent cultivating.

“We really troubled A Yue!”

The elders of the clan sigh. Their turbid eyes were filled with deep guilt. The entire clan was almost supported entirely by A Yue right now.

“It is my duty.” Nan Yue smiled, and comforted, “It is a kind of cultivation! If Uncles need something, tell me.”

When she had been little, her parents had died. It was these elders that had raised her. This situation was very common in the clan. Right now, the entire clan was eleven people. Other than the two elders, the rest were all children. They had survived only due to the toil and farming of these elders. It was this kind of hardship and poverty that caused the entire clan to become unusually united.

The elders of the clan had low cultivation. They did not have any other skill to earn money. They could only plant some basic grains in this patch of pebbly land and barely satisfy their hunger.

After talking about daily life with the elders, she stood, patted her hands and gathered all the children.

“How has everyone cultivated?”

The children squealed and talked. Nan Yue patiently inspected them one by one. She quickly had a happy expression. Three children were not far from igniting their star fire and entering the stage of star fire where they would be able to form vine arrows, giving them basic offensive abilities. All of this was due to the [South Sky Arrow Art]. [South Sky Arrow Art] was really the inherited yao art of the South Sky Wisteria Clan. It seemed to be custom-made for them and was the best suited for them to cultivate.

She praised the children that had improved the quickest, and patiently explained the problems that they encountered in their cultivation. However, she did not teach them the attacking yao arts of [South Sky Arrow Art] but taught them little yao arts.

She took Zuo Mo’s entire set of teachings and transferred it to them it over directly.

What Daren said was definitely correct!

Looking at the focused little faces, Nan Yue was full of anticipation towards the future.

———

Mo Ru Huo’s expression was dark. Just now, he had felt the yao art imprint that he had put in Cang Lin had been destroyed!

Who was this person who had no eyes! Who dared to meddle in matters not of his concern!

Looking for death!

He showed a bloodthirsty smile. Hee hee, it had been very long since he met someone worth fighting. It was good to have something to do today! He had also recently had a breakthrough and was at the time where his confidence was at its peak. A person who did not have eyes coming up to him, was there anything better than this?

My axe is hungering, and wants to drink fresh blood!

It was a pity that this was the Ten Finger Prison and there was no way to taste blood. He regretfully smacked his lips. He had a full and bristly beard. His eyes were deep set and a strange deep red. The slightly hooked nose made him seem sly.

When he flew, it was like a blazing thread of fire, he had no intention of concealment. His attitude was extremely arrogant and proud. The yao he encountered along the way all changed expression when they saw this thread of fire and moved aside in panic. Mo Ru Huo’s infamy was known by everyone in this area.

A free and smug laugh came from inside the fire thread. With the sound of the fire crackling as it burned, it spread into the surroundings!

Inside the fierce fire, Mo Ru Huo narrowed his eyes. He wondered, what would the other’s face look like when they saw him? He had seen too many guys who thought they were experts get ashen expressions when they saw him. That was way too amusing! Every time it happened, he would find it amusing. He was like a cat playing with the mice under his claw!

This kind of life was so wonderful!

He greedily sighed. How would he torment that unfortunate person later? Oh, use the yao art he had just comprehended? This idea wasn’t bad!

A ball of fierce fire crackled as it flashed past at astounding speed.

Entering the first prison, he quickly found the traces of the other. If ever his yao art imprint was destroyed, it would release an extremely weak imprint. This imprint would not do any damage, but it could guide him to find the other.

No one had ever escape untouched if they met him! Never!

Without needing much effort, he found the other. Looking from the distance, it was a lone figure. Mo Ru Huo suddenly became excited. Thinking how the other would desire death in front of his yao art, he felt the blood inside heat up.

It would be such a wonderful feeling!

He unhesitatingly sped up. This figure became closer and clearer. The other showed no intentions of fleeing. Wait, he seemed to be waiting! Suddenly, the figure raised its head and looked over. Mo Ru Huo sensed something unusual.

The distance between them decreased. The other’s appearance became clearer. Hm, why did he find this guy somewhat familiar?

Had they interacted before? Mo Ru Huo was slightly puzzled. He frowned, and thought back where he had seen this guy before. He did not decrease his speed. Surrounded by fire, Mo Ru Huo charged straight towards Zuo Mo.

When he was about three zhang from the other, a name suddenly jumped into Mo Ru Huo’s mind. His face instantly became white. That pair of bloody red eyes filled with viciousness and killing intent turned instantly into terror that reached his bones!

Xiao Mo Ge!

He was Xiao Mo Ge!

Mo Ru Huo’s heart seemed to be gripped tightly by an invisible hand without any warning. The sudden feeling of suffocation made his entire body soften. In a moment, his mind was blank and his eyes lost focus. The blow caused by this name almost destroyed his mental defenses!

Brute! This was a true brute! A heartless brute that killed twenty six yao successively! A truly lawless brute that caused even the military combat yao to lose their halo! Thinking about that undefeatable figure wrapped in fire, Mo Ru Huo felt his entire body tremble!

Compared to Xiao Mo Ge, he was just a sheep wrapped in wolfskin, so weak and gentle, so innocent and harmless!~

Those that fell under the butchering knife of Xiao Mo Ge included geniuses that Mo Ru Huo heard of like Yu Zi Zhou,  battle hardened combat yao, and a few that he was very familiar with. Those yao channels had just mentioned them, but Mo Ru Huo knew them. He even had good relations with one of them.

Those people were truly lawless people that worked in the shadows. They did not blink when they killed, vicious and emotionless. They were all people that Mo Ru Huo was very wary about. But all of them, without exception, had fallen under the blade of Xiao Mo Ge, even though the battles were in the Ten Finger Prison.

But this was not what caused him to feel terror.

Just yesterday, the one he had the closest relationship with had died in front of him. Speaking of him, Mo Ru Huo was not close to the guy, they had just interacted a few times. But that guy had no friends and had found him in the end. Mo Ru Huo could only go. In the end, he had taken care of the corpse. On the surface, it seemed the death was caused by old wounds like injuries to the consciousness, but the true fatal blow was the powerful blow that person’s mind had received.

That was the true cause of his death.

That blow of Xiao Mo Ge had not just wounded his consciousness, it had completely destroyed his will!

What the person had said to him at that time, Mo Ru Huo almost didn’t believe his ears!

The guy that died definitely had taken more than thirty lives , his will was definitely as sturdy as rock. Normal illusory arts could not affect him. He was so vicious and cruel that even Mo Ru Huo felt some fear of him. But a guy as powerful as him had met his end by one blow from Xiao Mo Ge.

And that was in the Ten Finger Prison.

This guy was terrifying to an extreme degree!

After that incident, in Mo Ru Huo’s heart, Xiao Mo Ge was a terrifying existence like a demonic god, and ranked first among those that he would not dare provoke.

What were Ming Yue Ye, Ji Li Yu? They can all go to hell!

Mo Ru Huo usually did not place any importance on those geniuses. In his eyes, those so-called geniuses were garden flowers that lived in the greenhouse. No matter how attractive they looked, they were only able to be admired but not used.

Those that did not experience blood and fire, they were just greenhorns. But Xiao Mo Ge was a vicious beast that climbed out of hell.

He had actually ran over to make trouble for Xiao Mo Ge … … a phrase jumped out of his mind … … he didn’t want to live … …

Did he not want to live? … …

His mind was completely blank. He lost the ability to speak, and to think. He could only look at Xiao Mo Ge dumbly. Every bone in his body, every piece of muscle was frozen midair.

Was today the apocalypse?

When he refocused, he was less than one zhang from Xiao Mo Ge.

Chapter 388: Fantasy Flame Tornado

Pu Yao greedily absorbed the Golden Souls. In the battle between him and Wei, he held the advantage, but he also had expended himself greatly. The two Golden Souls the Chief Elder of the Grey Clan had delivered were a rain that came at the right time. He unhesitatingly stole them from Zuo Mo’s hand. Zuo Mo did not stop him. He had probably guessed that it would be impossible to prevent.

The golden mist permeated Pu Yao’s body at a visible rate. Pu Yao showed a satisfied expression. However, a portion of the golden mist drifted towards Wei. Even though it was just a quarter, Pu Yao was still slightly discontent.

However, he had no solution to this problem. Just like no matter how much he found this false gentleman an eyesore, he was not able to kill the other. There was a direction connection between his three thousand years of survival in the Yao Forging Tower and this strange wretched armor. Wei was the armor spirit of this wretched armor. Pu Yao was about the same, but he was not restricted by the armor.

He had worked his mind for three thousand years to try to take over this gravestone armor. But this gravestone armor was a closed system and extremely strange.

However, when he thought about how this false gentleman was unable to shrink back into the turtle shell, Pu Yao couldn’t help but be smug. Anyway about it, he was a Sky Yao. He understood all kinds of obscure methods, and he finally found a few that were effective.

From a certain perspective, he and Wei shared an existence. The two could not destroy each other. Pu Yao could not even absorb the Golden Souls completely by himself. There definitely would be a portion which Wei would absorb. Even though Pu Yao clearly held the more powerful position, there was nothing for him to feel happy about. Even if this false gentleman had an extraordinary background, but in the eyes of Pu Yao, whose eyes were on the top of his head, this was a very low thing.

A piece of armor sitting in a position equal to his … … this was too motherf***ing displeasing to ge!

Having finished absorbing the Golden Soul, Pu Yao’s hair became even darker and shinier, and his bloody pupil had an additional sheen. The snake-like tongue unconsciously licked his lips with lingering hunger. He glanced at Wei who was sitting cross-legged. He could see that the Golden Soul was also of significant help to Wei.

A cold smirk floated at the corner of Pu Yao’s mouth. After three thousand years together, he understood his neighbor very well. Even if this guy agreed to not pass mo skills to Zuo Mo, he would not give up so easily.

However, Wei definitely would not think that his scant words that day had inspired great trust in Pu Yao .

To a person as perverse as Pu Yao, the inspiration brought by the most minuscule hint could change too many things.

Just wait and see!

Pu Yao narrowed his eyes.

———

Zuo Mo stared at Mo Ru Huo and was slightly surprised. A person that looked so rough used such strange yao arts. Yao really could not be judged based on their appearances.

Mo Ru Huo shivered under Zuo Mo’s stare. Zuo Mo’s silence pressured him. What should he say at this time?

“Sorry, I got the wrong person?” Or “Brother, I’ve long heard of you, give your little brother mercy!” Or just run away immediately … …

Various thoughts formed in the pitiful Mo Ru Huo’s mind. He did not think of resisting at all. Even if he was facing Yu Zi Zhou, he definitely would not be so nervous. Yu Zi Zhou was stronger than him but he believed if he gritted his teeth and did not fear death, he would have a chance at survival. He felt that in terms of viciousness, the great majority of geniuses could not compare to him.

But facing Xiao Mo Ge, no matter if they competed on strength or viciousness, he thought he had no chance at all.

What made him want to cry the was that he had been the one to instigate this matter! He really was seeking death! He wanted to slap himself. Such an idiotic matter had happened to him! All of the fighters of the yao world were trying to avoid this brute right now, and he had pushed himself in front of the other … …

Even he knew that the bounties of the yao markets for Xiao Mo Ge were continuously decreasing. The yao that had been wanting to watch a spectacle were really frightened this time. Vicious and savage, bloodthirsty and murderous, this kind of presence wasn’t something a yao with clean hands could have. The consciousness could not be faked.

On this point, almost all the yao had come to an unusual consensus.

Xiao Mo Ge was a lawless brute whose hands were drenched in blood!

The elders of those students ordered them to stop their actions against Xiao Mo Ge, and some over zealous students were put under house arrest by their clan, unable to leave. The Ji Family and the Blue Flower Family kept low key and clearly did not want any further incidents. Even the Genius Alliance which was usually loud-spoken collectively lost their voice.

They had enough privilege, enough strength, but none were willing to provoke a lawless brute. Even more so a lawless brute who was so young but had such power. Some experienced yao discussed secretly among themselves suggesting that if Xiao Mo Ge could live for another twenty years, then the yao world would have another butcher.

Just as Mo Ru Huo was thinking what to do, Xiao Mo Ge suddenly spoke.

“You left behind the yao art imprint on Cang Lin?”

Mo Ru Huo’s heart shook once. This was the classic interrogation! Zuo Mo’s words destroyed the last lingering thread of hope inside. Mo Ru Huo was truly a vicious person. The desperate situation provoked his viciousness. He raised his head and said harshly, “Yes! I left it!”

Zuo Mo made sure and so he did not hesitate. A few little yao arts smashed from his hands towards Mo Ru Huo.

As they started to fight, Mo Ru Huo started to calm down and settled to receive Zuo Mo’s attacks. After a few rounds, he quickly found that Xiao Mo Ge did not have the unstoppable presence he had in the yao recording arts. His attacks could not be considered strong. However, Mo Ru Huo was very battle-experienced. His murderousness was usually high, but he was cautious when he fought.

After standing up for twenty more breaths, Xiao Mo Ge was still as soft as water and did not pose too much of a threat. At this time, Mo Ru Huo finally relaxed completely and his attacks increased.

Mo Ru Huo’s yao art was extremely unique. His hands would continuously flick and swipe at the space in front of him as he was surrounded by dancing flames. The flames in the air floated along to strange paths. It was as though there were invisible threads in front of him that pulled the flames surrounding him.

Zuo Mo randomly threw out a little yao art and stopped a thread of flame. A feeling of danger rose. He did not hesitate and saw a blade of flame brush past his scalp. There was no time for him to dodge as a spear of flame jumped up and pointed straight at his stomach.

Zuo Mo’s legs crossed, and the fingers of his left hand flicked. A little yao art accurately hit the flame spear and caused it to divert from its path. However, Mo Ru Huo’s attack did not stop, and became even fiercer! The flames surrounding him were not just able to dance and attack to his will, but could transform into all kinds of attack forms.

It was the first time that Zuo Mo encountered a yao art as strange as this. His actions were uncoordinated and he made a somewhat sorry figure.

Mo Ru Huo saw this and his morale rose. He guessed that Xiao Mo Ge’s golden yellow armor probably had some special restriction. Another possibility was that Xiao Mo Ge had been wounded last time. Otherwise, he should not be refraining from using the armor.

Thinking about it this way, the terror in Mo Ru Huo’s heart retreated. Xiao Mo Ge’s situation was not uncommon. Those yao arts that were wondrously powerful usually had stringent requirements, or one had to pay a weighty price.

If it was like that, then this was undoubtedly the time where Xiao Mo Ge was the weakest!

Was this a chance given by the heavens?

Thinking about this brute that shook all of the yao world being abused under his hands, a feeling of exhilaration that he never had before filled his body. His body was even trembling from his excitement! Such a wonderful matter! A matter that he didn’t even dare to think of was happening in front of him. The extreme terror and the hopelessness from before decreased. The stimulation and pleasure produced almost consumed him. In this kind of wondrous situation, his state reached the highest peak of his life. The yao art that he had just had a breakthrough with did not seem raw in his hands and was confidently executed. Each yao art was carried out instinctively, so perfect that he felt this was a pleasurable experience!

Zuo Mo felt as though he had suddenly landed in a flaming hurricane. All kinds of fire yao arts covered the skies and earth as they shot at him. Even worse, he had no room to dodge. The other’s yao arts spread out, and their presence was bigger than Zuo Mo imagined.

However, Zuo Mo was not panicking. His figure looked sorry, but both his expression and his gaze had was dead still.

The light on his hands never stopped. To him, little yao arts were as simple as breathing. Sometimes it was one light, sometimes many. Five hundred kinds of little yao arts formed from the many combinations in his hands. These little yao art combinations either guided or stopped. Zuo Mo would frequently find the smallest space and use them to dodge repeatedly.

The flame hurricane continuously strengthened!

Looking at Xiao Mo Ge who was in a sorry state under his yao arts, Mo Ru Huo felt extremely smug. The longer his [Fantasy Flame Tornado] persisted, the more powerful it was. It would continuously strengthen itself, and the amount of spiritual power he expended would not change greatly.

The longer this battle dragged out, the more advantageous it was for him.

As expected, Xiao Mo Ge became even more harried. There were a few wounds on his body.

Even though it was just a few small wounds, Mo Ru Huo could not help but roar with laughter. “Xiao Mo Ge! Struggle! Experience such wonderful yao arts! Haha! Ooh, another wound, so pitiful!”

Mo Ru Huo started to play his favorite game of cat and mouse. Looking at Xiao Mo Ge who was holding on in the tornado, he did not want to miss any scene.

“Tsk tsk! Really hardy! As expected of Xiao Mo Ge! Such beautiful movements! Come on! Let’s have another one! Haha!”

Mo Ru Huo laughed freely.

Inside the tornado, Zuo Mo was silent as he withstood with effort. But Mo Ru Huo did not notice that the lights on Zuo Mo’s dangling hands were slowly changing.

Chapter 389: The Goal

The lights continuously changed on Zuo Mo’s hands. His brow was tightly furrowed. Little yao arts flowed like water past his fingertips. He had a serious expression and did not dare to slack off. As the tornado increased in strength, he could clearly feel the pressure increase along with it. He to use one hundred and twenty percent of his attention for each step. If he was the least bit careless, he would be drowned in the barrage of attacks.

The fire yao arts the other cast were extremely unorthodox and completely different than anything he had encountered before. What had attracted his attention though was the yao art imprint from Cang Lin’s consciousness that he had deconstructed. That yao art imprint had been strange and poisonous. It was completely different than these explosive yao arts he was seeing now.

Zuo Mo focused attentively on the chaotic looking fire yao arts. Like a fish swimming, his consciousness locked onto every yao art that passed in front of him. He was unusually calm, his mind and eyes clear like a serene lake. The yao arts passed like flickering silhouettes flashing across the lake.

The reflections that these yao arts created on the lake surface gradually became clear.

Zuo Mo did not blink. His steps were like that of a butterfly weaving between flowers, the little yao arts on his hands extremely accurate and appearing at the most appropriate time! With his attention occupied, even he did not detect his own transformation.

Time was like a line that grew longer the more it was pulled. The lightning fast yao arts and fire seemed to become increasingly slow.

Each yao art was unprecedentedly clear in Zuo Mo’s eyes. They seemed to pass by like snails. Every minuscule detail clearly landed in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

The wondrous feeling did not cause Zuo Mo to feel excited. His face was peaceful, and he searched for the traces of what interested him among these yao arts! The yao art imprint inside Cang Lin was his target this time!

The abundant fire yao arts looked domineering, but were not what he desired.

Just at this time, the lights on Zuo Mo’s hands finally stabilized. The faint glowing light seemed to form a thin and small glove of light that enveloped his palm. This yao art was called [Tactile Knowledge Grip]. This was a yao art that Zuo Mo had created. It was not complex, but it had taken great mental effort. This yao art could clearly identify the attributes of a yao art and was a yao art he created especially to help him deconstruct other yao arts.

But it was the first time that he used [Tactile Knowledge Grip] in battle.

A bloody red blade of fire came towards his neck at a difficult angle.

Zuo Mo raised his hand and grabbed at the blade of fire. A hand of light projected from his own and grabbed the blade of fire!

The blade of fire shook fiercely as if it was a fish that had been captured and wanted to jerk out of the hand. Pew pew pew! The outer layers of the blade of flame quickly dissipated, and revealed a section of bloody vine. Zuo Mo’s eyes brightened and his hands moved in the air. The hand of light gripped onto the bloody vine.

Such an unique construction … …

Zuo Mo closed his eyes, and his consciousness shot at the bloody vine!

The excited Mo Ru Huo stilled. Xiao Mo Ge actually closed his eyes! What was this guy thinking of doing? Did he want to surrender? Hmph! Did Xiao Mo Ge think that he would let him off like that? Mo Ru Huo’s bloodlust had been aroused, and his fear of Zuo Mo had been thrown out of his mind.

A cruel smile suddenly came onto his face. Suddenly, his pupils expanded and his smile froze on his face.

Inside the tornado, the figure of Xiao Mo Ge with his closed eyes became even hard to predict like wisps of smoke. The sky full of yao  arts couldn’t even touch the corner of his clothes!

Why … …

Mo Ru Huo suddenly had a bad feeling. Just now, Xiao Mo Ge had been a sorry figure, but now he seemed so at ease as though he was strolling around. Had he been pretending before?

There was a section of blood vine inside the blade of flame!

Shocked, Zuo Mo’s interest rose. This was it! The bloody vine was what he was interested in! When he had been healing Cang Lin, he had found the bloody vine was very unique. It could securely root itself inside the consciousness of the enemy and was extremely hard to eradicate. Zuo Mo had spent a great deal of effort to deconstruct that little section of bloody vine. Some of its unique structure had interested him greatly. This was why he had especially waited for Mo Ru Huo to come find him!

Zuo Mo’s style was to only act if there were benefits. He would not make trouble merely on behalf of Cang Lin.

That little section of bloody vine excited Zuo Mo, but it was just a little section and not a complete structure. Zuo Mo required a more complete bloody vine because this seemed related to another yao art.

Ten breaths later, Zuo Mo crushed the little section of bloody vine that he had finished studying and started to search for the next target.

The light grip was a new yao art he made. It was constructed from twelve little yao arts and specifically used to peel away the outer layers of the other’s fire yao arts. His use of little yao arts were at a mastery level. Even Pu Yao would occasionally praise it.

After continuously capturing six fire yao arts, Zuo Mo found that the bloody vine inside these fire yao arts were not very different. He frowned again. The bloody vines inside these fire yao arts were still incomplete.

He raised his head and narrowed his eyes towards Mo Ru Huo. It seemed that he had to get this guy to put more effort in!

Mo Ru Huo coincidentally saw Zuo Mo’s gaze and his body was instantly chilled. His face was ugly. The other seemed to have adjusted to his illusory flame tornado.

Damn it!

Why was it like this? The Fantasy Flame Tornado was one of his killing moves and had never failed before.

Viciousness flashed through his eyes. Having escalated the fighting to this point, if it was not you that died, it would be me! He gritted his teeth and burrowed into the tornado.

Zuo Mo stilled at Mo Ru Huo’s action. He quickly had a wary expression.

The Fantasy Flame Tornado that had been rampaging about suddenly became silent without any decrease in speed. The fire yao arts inside the tornado flew backwards rapidly. Mo Ru Hou was like a strong magnet, attracting all the fire yao arts to fly over.

A strange and dangerous presence covered Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was motionless as he stared at up Mo Ru Huo in the sky.

Mo Ru Huo was surrounded by all kinds of fire yao arts. He glared at Zuo Mo and insanity flashed through his eyes! All of his thoughts disappeared at this time, his consciousness was all consumed. The fire yao arts floating around him suddenly released an enchanting red light.

Pia!

Like magnets, fire yao arts were attracted to each other.

Pia pia pia!

The fire yao arts around Mo Ru Huo were combining into pairs and trios to become even larger fire yao art.

The powerful presence was like a gust of wind that blew at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes, his hands were like blooming flowers. [Tactile Knowledge Grip] was used to its limits. Threads of light floated from between his hands and the mist like light formed a crystal like ball of light in the air above Zuo Mo’s dancing hands. He used the layering method of [Sky Glass Wave] on [Tactile Knowledge Grip] to form this crystal ball of light.

Lights continuously flew out of Zuo Mo’s blurred fingers and entered the crystal ball of light.

The ball of lightly slowly revolved and gradually formed a glass-like hand.

Zuo Mo’s narrowed eyes became brighter. Every minuscule change in the space surrounding the glass hand would appear in his eyes. Even the thin hair-like strands of spiritual power that passed by the hand would be accurately captured by Zuo Mo.

It was the first time he had used the [Tactile Knowledge Grip] like this!

Mo Ru Huo seemed to be surrounded by an aura of red light. The enchanting red light carried the presence of blood. The fire yao arts floating by his side had completely changed. Their mass was five or six times what it had been before.

Zuo Mo’s eyes brightened.

Waves of strange spiritual thought came from these bloated fire yao arts! Zuo Mo suddenly had a feeling that there seemed to be something alive inside each fire yao art!

Zuo Mo thought of one of his own yao arts—Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!

Up until now, he had seen many yao arts but this was the second yao art that was like the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art! Yao arts were yao arts. No matter how strong they were, how powerful the presence it produced, but only these two yao arts could produce vitality!

When Zuo Mo had been deconstructing the yao art imprint inside Cang Lin, he had detected the faint presence of life contained in the blood vine. This made him very curious. But it had not been as strong as what he was feeling now!

The threads of spiritual thought inside the fire yao arts were filled with a feeling of darkness and maliciousness. Compared to the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial art, the vitality contained in these fire yao arts was much weaker and incomplete. But those threads of spiritual thought filled with vitality made Zuo Mo feel spirited like he never had been before!

Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art was his final ultimate move, and would be used to save his life at a crucial moment! Pu Yao had told him that the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art was not one move, but a set of yao arts. But no matter how Zuo Mo asked about the topic, Pu Yao never mentioned one bit about the other moves of this set of yao arts. Pu Yao closed his mouth and never even discussed the origins of this wasteland beast.

What Zuo Mo felt even more helpless about was that he could not find any similar yao arts to refer to. He did not fear if Pu Yao did not tell him, but if he did not even have a  yao art to use as reference, then he could do nothing!

Until today!

This was the first yao art Zuo Mo encountered that had attributes similar to the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art. How could he let pass by?

Five enormous fire yao arts floated next to Mo Ru Huo. The five fire yao arts were of different shapes. One was like the head of an axe, another like a snake, while the remaining three were hard to distinguish. Mo Ru Huo’s entire body was covered in the enchanting red light. The twisted face had a few hints of evil.

“Go die!”

Mo Ru Huo bellowed. Five dashes of red light tore the air and smashed towards Zuo Mo!

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrank, his hand seemed to wave weakly. The crystal hand was like the willow branch blown by the wind and coincidentally caught one of the red lights!

In a moment, countless bits of information entered Zuo Mo’s mind.

Time seemed to stop during this moment. Zuo Mo’s mind moved at an unprecedented speed as it digested the enormous amount of information that flooded it! In order to digest the information, he stopped all of his actions, and his body became motionless.

He suddenly turned to a wooden puppet.

A faint enchanting red light suddenly lit up in Zuo Mo’s puppet-like eyes.

The other four streaks of red light instantly flew in front of him. The bright red light reflected onto Zuo Mo’s face. Mo Ru Huo’s roars of laughter came into his ears. Zuo Mo was motionless and had no intentions of dodging.

No one noticed that the red light in his eyes suddenly exploded!

The red light instantly engulfed Zuo Mo.

Laughing furiously in the air, Mo Ru Huo did not notice a hair-think grey energy silently crept up his back, quickly permeated through it, and disappeared.

Chapter 390: Working Together

Wei Sheng sat cross-legged with the black sword upright by his side. For some unknown reason, the corrosive  fiendish mist would not come within three zhang of him. He opened his inky black eyes that shone with a determined light.

His daily life was extremely routine, so routine it was frightening.

Practicing the sword, meditation, and teaching others became the essential and only parts of his daily life. He would repeat the dull and monotonous cultivation over and over. He did not use ling power, relying on just his physical body, to slice and chop until all of his strength was exhausted and his entire body trembled.

A jindan expert cultivating to the point that his body would not stop trembling! Both Zong Ru and Yi Zheng whose cultivation emphasized hard work felt ashamed when they saw this kind of self-abusive and sadistic cultivation method, much less the sword xiu and Guard Camp. When everyone mentioned Wei Sheng Daren, they would feel admiration from the depths of their hearts. Every person knew hard work and persistence could lead to improvement, but how many could do it? The only one that could reach Wei Sheng’s level was only Wei Sheng Daren!

Also a jindan, Xie Shan had essentially become Wei Sheng’s manservant and followed him like a shadow.

Wei Sheng breathed out. Hiss, the fiendish mist three zhang away tore apart as though an invisible sword essence had cut through it. He had a satisfied expression. It may have been due to teaching others that he had recently comprehended much and improved greatly.

Suddenly, a wail came from Zuo Mo’s tent. It was Shidi!

Wei Sheng’s figure suddenly disappeared from his spot.

“Pain pain! Ow ow, so painful!”

Inside the tent, Zuo Mo was jumping about as though a fire was lit on his butt. His mouth was open and his nose and brow was almost squeezed together.

“It hurts … … hiss … … so much!”

Zuo Mo ran around in the tent like a headless chicken as though it could relieve his pain. Lil’ Fire seemed to have found a new toy and instantly became excited. It hung on to Zuo Mo’s behind and swung around as it chirped cheerfully.

Seeing the chaotic scene, Wei Sheng had a wry smile on his face. His heart relaxed. “Shidi, what is it? You alright?”

“Hisss … … hiss … …”

The sound of Zuo Mo inhaling could be clearly heard. As he ran around, he waved his hand. “Nothing … … hiss … … nothing!”

Lil’ Fire found it fun and seemed to mimic his speech. “Chirp chirp … … chirp … … chirp chirp!” Zuo Mo glared angrily. Lil’ Fire was frightened and its body froze in the air.

“… … hiss … …” Zuo Mo inhaled again. His expression of fury instantly dissipated. His expression was very strange as he started to jumped around in a hurry. Lil’ Fire recovered from fright and thought that Zuo Mo was playing with it. It chirped happily as it leapt over and hung on behind Zuo Mo.

Wei Sheng was helpless against Shidi’s weirdness. He shook his head and left.

Zuo Mo knew that if he was thrown out of the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, his consciousness would probably be injured, but he had not expected his consciousness injury to be so painful! If he had known, he definitely would not have done this “dumb thing.” It had been too long since he was last injured. Zuo Mo had almost forgotten the pain of consciousness injuries. This time, it really was so painful he wanted to die!

The damned Little Red!

Wait for ge, ge will return!

As he breathed in jerks, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and swore an oath.

———

Several black figures passed by like lightning, and several sharp edges criss-crossed in the air before suddenly appearing on the fiend soul beast. The fiend soul beast was instantly dismembered, and leaving behind only a black fang and a bead.

The fang and the bead were put away. The hardship guards had joyful expressions.

At this time, the expression of one of the people shifted. “Gathering orders! Back to the camp, immediately!” The other people quickly disappeared in the fiendish mist without another word.

In the Guard campgrounds, Shu Long looked at everyone who had finished gathering and was very comforted. Everyone’s improvement in this time had been great and unexpected to him. All of the Hardship Guards that cultivated [Hardship Guard] had formed their weapons. He had originally predicted they would need one or two years and had not expected it to be complete in less than a month.

He was filled with respect and awe towards the mystery daren inside the necklace. In his view, that daren could do anything! It was the guidance of this daren in this recent while that caused everyone to all finish forming their weapons. All of the cultivation regimes had been personally prescribed by the mystery daren. In this short month, the power of the entire Guard Camp had multiplied!

His thoughts were interrupted by the gazes of those below him. He focused and said in a deep voice, “In this recent while, everyone has cultivated successfully and finished forming the weapons! Good! Very good!”

Shu Long’s praise caused the hardship guards below to raised their heads and puff up their chests, their faces bright. Shu Long had a warm personality, but he was extremely stern when he supervised their cultivation. Everyone felt honored to receive his praise and were very proud.

The expressions of everyone landing in his eyes, the corners of Shu Long’s mouth imperceptibly smiled. He then said in a serious tone, “In order to commend everyone’s recent efforts, Daren has passed down new cultivation techniques.”

Everyone below instantly had joy and anticipation on their faces.

“Everyone has to work hard on this [Great Day Hardship Guard]. Its power is even greater! I won’t say much but only when our strength becomes strong can we give our service to Daren, to be able to protect Daren! Does everyone still remember the oath we took in the past?”

Woosh, everyone simultaneously bowed, and said together, “Do not dare to forget!”

Every hardship guard had excitement on their faces!

———

“You are too daring.” Wei’s expression was at ease as though he was narrating a small non-descript matter. “It is not so easy to modify a mo skill.”

“You feel guilty,” Pu Yao said coldly. There was no warmth in his bloody pupil.

“What do I feel guilty for?” Wei’s voice did not ripple at all.

Pu Yao smirked, his expression filled with scorn. “You definitely regret saying so much that day. You did not expect that I would deduce so much from your scattered rambling.”

“Yes, this point is unexpected to me.” Wei openly nodded. “Your skill in yao arts surpasses my imagination. A yao who is able to change mo skills using yao arts. I cannot accomplish this.”

“Of course you cannot do it.” Pu Yao was not modest at all.

Wei smiled slightly, and his star like eyes were bright. “Your theoretical level is definitely the most outstanding that I have ever seen but you lack experience. Spells, yao arts, mo skills, they do come from a common root, but after so many years of development, the divisions are clear. No matter if it is yao arts or mo skills, they have developed far on their own paths.”

Pu Yao lowered his head to think for a moment. When he raised his head, the scorn on his face had disappeared. He said seriously, “Your words are not wrong. My yao art theory and knowledge are based on the experience of those before me. These are my fundamentals, but I lack the fundamentals of mo skills.”

“A very clear awareness,” Wei calmly praised.

“Your conditions,” Pu Yao glanced at Wei and said coldly.

“A complete Golden Soul.” Wei raised a finger.

“Half.” Pu Yao shook his head.

“Agreed.” Wei unhesitantly nodded.

He knew that even if he did not tell Pu Yao, with Pu Yao’s talents, it would not be difficult to study and come to understand. He only needed to find some experimental subjects and make comparisons to come to the conclusion. Righteous Yao might not use these kinds of extreme methods, but for someone who was insane like Pu Yao, there was nothing that he would not do.

Also, Wei’s original intention was not to gain something from this transaction. He hoped that this was a good beginning.

No matter if it was against Pu Yao or Zuo Mo, this was extremely important as those that cultivated [Great Day Hardship Guard] were Zuo Mo’s subordinates.

Wei was clear to the contents of the [Great Day Hardship Guard] that Pu Yao had modified using the Great Day mo physique. Pu Yao had not concealed any part of the process from him. He was also clear about the problems of the [Great Day Hardship Guard]. Truthfully, Pu Yao had shocked him greatly.

A yao that modified a mo skill. He had never heard of such a thing in his past. More crucially, the [Great Day Hardship Guard] that Pu Yao had modified had an extremely high level skill. If this mo skill was thrown into the mo world, it definitely would become a mo skill that would be passed down in a clan.

Wei was also clear that if he wanted to do anything, he needed to first prove his value. Because he had a practical “landlord.”

He did not conceal anything, and proactively discussed with Pu Yao to make this mo skill even more complete. Pu Yao also saw Wei in a different light. Existences such as armor spirits might accumulate large amounts of knowledge because they had long lifespans but they were not necessarily outstanding in terms of intelligence.

But Wei showed how he was different compared to normal armor spirits. He did not just have a wealth of knowledge, he also had outstanding intelligence. This completely upended Pu Yao’s understanding of armor spirits. He was slightly curious. The origins of this false gentleman didn’t seem to be small.

No matter how much of a biased opinion Pu Yao had towards Wei, the discussion went extremely smooth. These two geniuses quickly found synergy.

A completely new [Great Day Hardship Guard] came out of the stove.

When the skill was completed, Pu Yao and Wei exchanged a look and found the anticipations in each other’s eyes.

This completely new mo art, with the [Hardship Guard] as the foundation and merging the Great Day mo physique as well as Pu Yao’s yao arts, what heights would this reach?

This was really worthy of anticipating!

———

The next morning when Zuo Mo work up, he found that the wounded consciousness that had caused him so much pain, had healed.

Hm, what happened?

Zuo Mo jumped up. He touched around and found that there was no pain. He hurriedly inspected his body. Had something new occurred inside his body?

Calming down, he entered his inner perspective.

He was completely shocked by the scene in front of him!

Chapter 391: Great Mo Physique

The flame seed inside Zuo Mo’s body tinged with gold flickered. These golden flames had extremely unique shapes. They seemed to be like overlapping waves, layered together. There were more than five layers. The color of each layer was different. The innermost layer was almost transparent, and the outermost layer was pure dazzling golden yellow. They burned silently.

Zuo Mo suddenly recalled his Golden Crow Fire seed. He hurried to look and his expression changed slightly. The Golden Crow Fire had disappeared without a trace. Golden Crow Fire was a fourth-grade flame and it could completely fulfill any of his present demands. It could melt gold and iron easily, and was one of Zuo Mo’s greatest assistants. Its sudden disappearance instantly made Zuo Mo slightly panicked.

A thought suddenly jumped into his mind.

Had some new change happened to the Golden Crow Fire?

His thoughts shifted, and the layered flame changed as expected. Pew, large amounts of layered flame suddenly erupted out of Zuo Mo’s palm and formed a hand of fire. Zuo Mo curiously put his hand in front of him. The boundaries between the layers of the golden layered flame were extremely clear. It exuded an astonishing heat but his palm was as cold as ice.

Zuo Mo found it interesting and his counsciousness burrowed into the golden layered flame.

Pew!

The golden layered flame suddenly erupted. A pressuring heat, with Zuo Mo at the center, exploded outwards. The defensive formations of the tent suddenly lit up with a red glow and stopped this wave of heat. Pia pia pia. The red light retreated. There was a crackling like glass breaking and Zuo Mo’s heart leapt when he heard this.

The last layer of formations forcibly stopped this terrifying wave of heat. Zuo Mo instantly released a breath. However, when he saw the mess inside the tent, his heart shivered. There was a layer of black glass on the ground. This was because the heat had melted the granite. Zuo Mo instantly judged that the golden layered flame was better than the Golden Crow Fire!

At least fifth-grade!

Zuo Mo thought to himself somewhat cheerfully. If it wasn’t that he knew the Golden Crow Macro Formation and could harvest Golden Crow Fire at will, obtaining the fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire would not be easy, much less obtaining this golden layered flame of a high grade. The golden layered flame had a higher grade, and was even more powerful. The requirement to control it was even higher. Zuo Mo thought to himself that he had to spend time studying this golden layered flame. Otherwise, it was shameful if he had a treasure and could not use it.

The changes to Zuo Mo’s body were not just limited to the golden layered flame. If he did not see it with his own eyes, Zuo Mo would not believe that this body was his!

Bones like crystal, the blood vessels that all glowed, and the patterns on them could be clearly seen. The blood inside the vessels was bright and fresh, filled with vitality and shining with a faint golden light. They circulated extremely slowly. If Zuo Mo’s consciousness was not extremely sensitive, he would have thought that the blood was unmoving. Zuo Mo quickly found the cause. The blood that was tinged with golden light was now much more viscous . Even the blood vessels were multiple times thicker and gave off the feeling of power.

Other than the channels and blood vessels, the muscles and tendons inside Zuo Mo’s body had completely transformed. The strong muscles had a faint gold sheen like it had been brushed with a layer of golden oil. The tendons inside his body were thinner and more slender than before but Zuo Mo could feel the astonishing power contained inside.

Zuo Mo had a strange feeling that he had become a weirdo.

A weirdo that had endless strength and an inhumanly strong body.

Slightly insecure, Zuo Mo instantly ran into the sea of consciousness. When he saw Pu Yao, he burst out, “Pu, what is with my body?”

Pu Yao’s eyes were closed in relaxation. He said lazily, “Don’t startle over nothing. Your Great Day mo physique advanced, that’s all.”

“Great Day mo physique advanced?” Zuo Mo realized and the stone inside his heart landed. He was instantly interested. “Haha! So it advanced! What are the benefits from advancing? Pu, tell me more!”

The corner of Pu Yao’s uncovered eye imperceptibly twitched and then he drawled. “An insignificant Great Day mo physique advancement, what else is there to say?”

Zuo Mo instantly was discontent. He smirked. “An insignificant Great Day mo physique advancement? If you have the skill, do this insignificant thing as well! Don’t hold the bread and say you don’t have food. Ge is relying on this to kill yao and mo. If we can’t walk out of this ghastly place, can you?”

Pu Yao was speechless.

Wei felt very good inside. Even though helping Zuo Mo in secret had been an action taken out of helplessness, but now he found that this guy was truly a weirdo! He had lost a few times to Pu Yao. He had a deep experience of Pu Yao’s cunning and maliciousness. Seeing Pu Yao defeated by Zuo Mo, he felt great no matter how he looked at it. If he wasn’t wary of Pu Yao, he wanted to clap his hands in pleasure.

However, he maintained his position and pretended to not overhear Zuo Mo and Pu Yao’s argument. Pu Yao was one to get even. Zuo Mo was unafraid, but he could not say the same. Unable to go back into the gravestone, his power was weaker than Pu Yao. Even more, Pu Yao was more cunning than him, more vicious than him, and dominated him in all aspects.

“Look at the time, you are still hiding things?” Zuo Mo was furious.

Pu Yao suddenly opened his eyes. “You can ask him about the Great Day mo physique.”

“Wei?” Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled. He turned to ask Wei, “You understand the Great Day mo physique?” He suddenly nodded in realization. “Right, right! You jumped out of the gravestone, you definitely understand the Great Day mo physique!”

Wei was shocked inside. He looked at Pu Yao who had closed his eyes again and was puzzled. After the gravestone had been sealed by Pu Yao, he had been forced into an agreement with Pu Yao and could not to pass mo skills onto Zuo Mo. This time, Pu Yao had actually suggested of his own initiative for Zuo Mo to ask him for help with the Great Day mo physique. Wasn’t this strange?

Out of caution, he shook his head. “I cannot teach you mo skills.”

“Why?” Zuo Mo stilled. His eyes widened and he suddenly showed realization. He said generously, “What do you want? Name a price!”

Wei closed his mouth and did not speak.

Pu Yao opened his eyes again and said to Wei, “This guy is right. If we cannot leave this ghastly place, no one will be well off. Since his Great Day mo physique has advanced, it is beneficial for everyone if you teach him a bit. This does not betray your oath.”

Wei’s bewilderment increased. Pu Yao’s words were righteous and appeared reasonable but the more it appeared so, the more Wei felt the other had a scheme. Wei pondered it momentarily inside and then made a decision. He nodded. “Alright.”

What he needed to do was not betray his oath and be able to pass mo skills to Zuo Mo. Even if Pu Yao had secret intentions, he decided to take the chance.

Seeing Wei agree, Zuo Mo was overjoyed. He hurriedly sat opposite Wei. Pu Yao closed his eye again. He might have been resting his mind or meditating.

Wei pushed aside his stray thoughts and slowly began, “The Great Day mo physique is an extremely rare mo physique, extremely yang and strong, unparalleled in dominance. You are familiar with the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique. Do you still remember when you had used all six transformations at the same time?”

“A bit.” Zuo Mo nodded.

“It has a name, Great mo physique,” Wei said faintly, and a strange look flashed through his eyes.

“Great mo physique?”

“The Great mo physique is the sign that amo physique has reached maturation, but this situation is very strange.” Wei said in a deep voice, “You are not a pure mo. Theoretically, the possibility of achieving Great mo physique is very low, but you managed to do it. Even now, I do not understand the cause of this.”

“Would there be any danger?” Zuo Mo hurried to ask. The Great Day mo physique did have great power, but if he lost his life in trade for this, then it was not profitable.

“There is no danger.” Wei said with a warm smile, “For you, there are only benefits and no harmful effects. You should have found the changes in your body. Those are traits unique to your Great mo physique. Your body right now is a body that cannot be unbroken. The flying swords controlled by ningmai xiuzhe cannot harm you. The dhyana xiu have similar techniques that create a body that cannot be damaged. Other than a few traits, there is no basic difference.”

Zuo Mo listened extremely carefully. Wei’s understanding of the mo physique seemed to be deeper than Pu Yao.

“The layered flame inside your body is called the Great Day Banded Flame. It is a kind of sixth-grade fire seed. Very few mo that cultivate the Great Day mo physique can form the Great Day Banded Flame. This must be related to the xiuzhe spells you cultivated before.” Wei said humbly, “The Great Day mo physique is very rarely seen. I do not know much about it and can only use some of what I know for you as reference.”

The Great Day Banded Flame was actually a sixth-grade fire seed. In this moment, Zuo Mo felt so happy he could faint!

Sixth-grade fire seed! This mean that his forging and dan-making would increase by two levels!

Zuo Mo wore a stupid smile.

Wei saw Zuo Mo’s expression and couldn’t help but grin. He did not hurry Zuo Mo along, and waited for Zuo Mo to come out of his daze. When Zuo Mo’s gaze became clear again, he continued, “After using the six changes of the Great Day mo physique to form the Great mo physique, it can open the deep mo levels.”

“How is it different?”

Wei smiled and then said seriously, “The six changes of the deep mo levels dramatically increase in power. Only then will you truly have the power to equal the top jindan xiuzhe.”

With an outstanding appearance, a humble presence, a serious expression, the cross-legged Wei was like the most devout preacher.

“How do you open the deep mo layer’s six transformations?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Comprehension.”

“How do I gain comprehension?”

“Very sorry, I do not know that either.” Wei shook his head with a slight smile. “Let me tell you of an example of someone that comprehend the deep mo level. Maybe this will give you some help.”

The deep pupils lit up with the sheen of remembrance, the handsome face filled with reminisce.

“My previous master’s mo physique when entering the colonel stage was called Serene Python. It cannot compare to your Great Day mo physique. The Serene Python is a mo physique famed for its strength, and it only has three transformations.”

Wei’s tone was deep and carried an inexplicable charisma as he narrated.

“She was fourteen when she reached the Great mo physique of the Serene Python.” Wei raised his head to see the shock on Zuo Mo’s face and smiled. He then said, “However, it was only when she was seventeen that she opened the deep mo layer of the three Serene Python changes. In these three years, she journeyed through nine mo jies.”

Zuo Mo was stunned. He murmured, “Nine … …”

He could not imagine travelling over nine mo jies. Even if they were little jie like Sky Moon Jie, it wasn’t just a matter of one or two months to cross one of them. Zuo Mo felt that he had gone many places, but compared to this person, it was an embarrassing comparison.

Even more, at fourteen … …

“She fought four hundred and twenty seven times, killed fifty nine mo, wounded another thirty, and was wounded twenty four times.”

Zuo Mo froze in shock.

Chapter 392: Making A Wish

What deep mo level, go to hell, this was the only thing Zuo Mo thought after hearing Wei speak of his previous master.

If he really followed what Wei suggested, Zuo Mo guessed that the only person among his compatriots that could accomplish this would be Wei Sheng Shixiong. Other people, including him, definitely could not realize it.

Since it was an insurmountable task, then there was no need to trouble himself over it. This was Zuo Mo’s usual style.

Compared to the unreliable deep mo level, it was more important to find news regarding the Battle of Sealed Extinction. Due to his lack of wealth in the past, he had delayed going to the second prison. Now that he had money, this matter had to progress quickly. Thinking about it, Zuo Mo entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard again.

This time, he did not go to find Nan Yue and Cang Ze, and went alone into the second prison. Cang Lin’s grievous injury had just healed and he needed to recover. Cang Ze and Nan Yue had to go through the test of the prison battlefield before they could enter the second prison. Zuo Mo, due to finishing the prison breaking battle, had already received the qualifications to enter the second prison.

The second prison was called Dance of Falling Maples.

Endless mountain ranges, and large groves of fire red maple trees extended endlessly into the distance. When a gentle wind blew past, the woods would creak, and fire red maple leaves would be caught up in the wind and leave their branches. In that time, the maple leaves would be like red pixies that danced in the wind. Even the clouds in the sky would be slightly tinged with red.

The scenery in front of him was as bright as fire, but Zuo Mo felt an unspeakable feeling of sorrow and desolation in his chest. Zuo Mo looked dazedly at the maple leaves floating in the wind.

Was it that his calm had decreased after his consciousness was wounded?

Zuo Mo focused and mocked himself. He walked forward.

———

Nan Yue looked with determination at the prison battlefield in front of her. Suddenly, Cang Ze’s laugh came from behind her. “A Yue has also come here.”

Nan Yue turned around and couldn’t help but be surprised. Today, Cang Ze seemed to be completely different than usual. Battle intent exuded faintly from his body, and his steps were determined. She instantly understood. “Cang da ge is also planning on today?”

“Yes, I can’t fall too much behind A Yue,” Cang Ze said with an open laugh.

Nan Yue had slightly mirth on her face, the competitiveness in her eyes rising. “Then let’s see who succeed first!”

“Alright! See you in the second prison!”

“See you in the second prison!”

The two figures charged into the prison battlefield at the same time.

———

The Maple Leaf Market was the yao city of the second prison and also one of the largest cities of the Ten Finger Prison. Usually, most yao that entered the second prison were yao that had successfully achieved planting of the spirit. Those who were successfully managed to rise above the lowest classes of little yao and ghost attendant yao. The yao of this stage were called night stock yao.

The yao that just ignited their star fire were called little yao, those yao that completed transformation were called ghost attendant yao, and those that successfully planted their spirit were night stock yao.

Night stock yao was the true fundamental level of the yao world. The local corps’s lowest requirement was ghost attendant yao, but the true backbone of these corps were the night stock yao. A corps commanded directly by the Council of Elders were at minimum night stock yao.

Zuo Mo could clearly feel that the yao that passed by were much stronger than the Wasteland Beast Chessboard as he had expected. Night stock yao were equivalent to ningmai xiuzhe. However, due to how cultivating yao arts meant communicating with the world, the presence exuded by night stock yao was stronger than ningmai xiuzhe.

Many night stock yao that successfully planted their spirit were unable to gather and conceal their power. All kinds of flowing rings of light would appear in the surroundings. Along the way, Zuo Mo saw many strange and weird rings of light. Some were bright green, others fire red, some were shaped like a sickle while others had teeth or were crescents. It broadened his visions.

These moving rings of light were related to the yao arts they cultivated. Night stock yao that just entered the spirit planting stage were unable to completely control their consciousness. A portion of the consciousness that leaked out would naturally form the yao art they cultivated and produce stray rings of light. Yao who had good eyes were even able to judge the attribute of the yao art from the rings of light.

Those night stock yao that did not have rings of light were actually stronger.

But no matter if they had a light ring or not, any yao coming that saw Zuo Mo’s face clearly would pale and then hurriedly jumped to the side.

One’s name was like the shadow of a tree. With the name of “Xiao Mo Ge,” Zuo Mo was a young expert that was known through the yao world, especially after he had killed twenty six yao successively, it had given him a reputation of brutality and no one dared to cause  trouble for him.

Anywhere he passed, the crowds of yao avoided him.

But a problem also came along. Zuo Mo was planning to ask for directions. Before he could speak, the other would turn and run as though their butts were on fire. A few ran even faster when they heard Zuo Mo speak, hating that their parents hadn’t given birth to them with two more legs.

Zuo Mo could only grimace.

After a lot of effort, he finally learned the position of the Maple Leaf Market.

After a few rounds at the Maple Leaf Market, he was slightly disappointed. As expected, this place was still quite low-level. The things sold and the contents of those bounties were also low-level. No wonder Cang Lin suggested for him to go to the third prison.

He was doubtful if he could find information on the Battle of Sealed Extinction at the third prison.

A short while later, there were many yao surrounding him. They looked at Zuo Mo with respect and awe and occasionally discuss. However, no one came over, clearly wary of Xiao Mo Ge’s reputation as a butcher.

Zuo Mo shook his head. After asking for directions to the prison battlefield, he left.

Everything Zuo Mo passed was extremely novel and unfamiliar, but Zuo Mo wasn’t in the mood at this time. The Sealed Extinction battlefield was like a heavy rock weighing on his heart. Right now, they seemed to have it easier, but Zuo Mo knew if it dragged on, their situation would become even more precarious.

The prison battlefield of the Dance of Falling Maples was a stand of beautiful and enchanting maple tries.

Zuo Mo did not stop and unhesitatingly stepped into it.

———

Zong Ru’s complexion was red gold, his lips slightly curved upward as though in a smile, his right hand seemed to be holding a flower as he sat with his legs crossed. His entire body seemed to be made from copper, a dignified and grave presence filling the entire room.

A long while later, he slowly opened his eyes. Gold light flashed through his eyes, and the spell on his fingers disappeared. The dignified and grave presence around him instantly disappeared. An uncontrollable look of joy floated in Zong Ru’s pupils. He finally saw a great path towards jindan!

When he had received [Attainment Golden Body] from Daren, even a person as composed as him was stunned where he stood! Sixth-grade spell! Daren had given him a sixth-grade spell! And it was also a sixth-grade dhyana xiu spell! For some reason, his nose had become sore, and he had almost cried.

No one knew the greatest reason he had chosen the path of the dhyana xiu was that he lacked spells. His talent was not outstanding, and sects would not accept him based on merit. His family was also extremely poor and could not pay the tribute. No sect was willing to accept disciples like him. A dhyana xiu that had wandered by had felt pity at his situation and given him [Sky Wave Fist Scripture].

This fist scripture was very simple and could even be called rough, but Zong Ru was still very grateful to that dhyana xiu.

He knew this fist scripture was extremely rudimentary. If he wanted to progress, other than obtaining higher-level spells, he could only work on his Samadhi to achieve ningmai. He used his outstanding persistence and finally reached ningmai, even forming an abhinna.

Only he knew the hardship of this entire journey.

However, Samadhi meditation was not the solution to all. He furiously worked on his Samadhi but he quickly found that relying on just the practice of Samadhi was unable to allow him to progress further. Zong Ru had been disappointed but he had not felt sad. He was not an ambitious person, and only worked hard on cultivation each day.

But when Zuo Mo handed [Attainment Golden Body] to him, everything changed.

His cultivation that had remained still for so long actually grew a little sliver. Such a wondrous effect, as expected of a sixth-grade spell.

What he had never expected was that, other than the [Attainment Golden Body] Daren also gave him the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk!

A sixth-grade spell, and a sixth-grade talisman!

Things the he didn’t even dare to dream about were now in his hands.

Daren had also said, using the Vajra Gada as the spindle, the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk as the wheel, he would reforge the two into a prayer wheel that would definitely be powerful.

Threads of warmth rose in Zong Ru’s heart, and a smile floated at the corner of his mouth.

Daren never did unprofitable business. He wanted him to sell his life for his entire life.

Then … … he will sell himself to Daren!

His hands suddenly came together, he lowered his eyes, his features dignified.

His dhyana heart was calm like an old well, a determined and grave voice echoing in his mind.

“Zong Ru wishes, forsaking the path to Buddhahood, to use this body as a vajra to protect Daren.”

His dhyana heart that was calm suddenly became covered with black clouds. Wind and rain came, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and created waves that reached the sky.

Zong Ru gave a muffled grunt and his expression changed slightly. But he seemed to not detect it. He closed his eyes, his voice as determined as usual.

“Zong Ru wishes, forsaking the path to Buddhahood, to use this body as a vajra to protect Daren!”

His body trembled fiercely, his dhyana heart cracking all over and on the edge of collapsing.

Zong Ru gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, reciting his wish over and over. He seemed to be situated in a terrible storm, lightning snakes flashing above him and illuminating his determined face. He piously recited again and again the wish he gave!

Boom!

A strange power suddenly formed from his nearly destroyed dhyana heart and quickly burrowed into his limbs and organs. Even more wondrous was that it permeated Zong Ru’s ling power, and every bit of blood and flesh of his body.

At the same time, the ling power inside his body seemed to be awakened, and started to flow according to [Attainment Golden Body].

A thread of strange power burrowed into his forehead.

———

In the camp, everyone suddenly stopped their actions and turned to look at a corner of the camp.

Everyone had shock on their faces.

Core formation!

Someone was entering jindan!

Yi Zheng who was not far away from Zong Ru suddenly paled. His lips trembled and he exclaimed, “Wish power! Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish!”

How was it possible?

Someone had given a death wish!

Did he not know that if one gave a death wish, they could not become a Buddha anymore?

Was he crazy?

Chapter 393: Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish

Core formation!

Up until now, the camp had two jindan in total, Wei Sheng and Xie Shan.

Zong Ru undergoing core formation was unexpected by everyone. Wei Sheng’s core formation was caused by the condensation of his sword heart after killing something, and Xie Shan’s core formation was an innate change due to power. Zong Ru’s talent could only be called normal. While his cultivation was not bad, but he had not accumulated power on the level that Xie Shan had.

Zong Ru, who was not the most outstanding in any area, was the third to undergo core formation!

Shocked, everyone naturally spread out and raised their guard to defend against the fiendish mist that would come and disturb Zong Ru.

After seeing two core formations, everyone was familiar with the apparitions during core formation. In the sky above Zong Ru’s tent was an enormous shadow that was like a faint ball of mist. The mist flowed and twisted as though something was struggling inside.

When everyone raised their heads to look at the enormous shadow in the air, they all expressed shock. As the mist appeared, a faint presence covered everyone’s minds like a little mountain. The only ones that could keep their composure were Wei Sheng and Xie Shan. But even these two had nervous expressions. If core formation failed, the lightest consequence was injury and the degradation of cultivation; the most serious was loss of life.

Roar!

A sound that was like a dragon and elephant thundered through the depths of the shadows like waves.

Irregular ripples formed in the air like ripples in water. Everyone guarding the surroundings felt their ears ring as though something had exploded by their ears. Those with deep cultivation wavered, and those that were of lower cultivation paled and took multiple steps back.

Only at this time did a hard wave of wind reach everyone.

———

“Wish power! A Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish! How long has it been since I’ve seen such pure and extreme wish power?” In Wei’s deep pupils, there seemed to be something flashing.

Pu Yao looked at the continuously changing mist in the sky, as a hint of trepidation flashed through his mind.

Wish power!

A taste that he had almost forgotten. But when it appeared again, that familiar trepidation once again appeared.

In that great war three thousand years ago, he had fought against many dhyana xiu. Of course, there were dhyana xiu that possessed wish power. Dhyana xiu that possessed wish power were enemies that all yao did not want to encounter. It didn’t matter if it was yao arts or mo skills, there were many malicious and evil techniques he could think of; but if Pu Yao had to pick out the ten most malicious powers, wish power was definitely among them.

Wish power did not have any connection with the cultivation level of the dhyana xiu. It was a power that could permeate all kinds of ling power. It was only connected with the wish inside the heart of the wisher. The more determined the wisher’s belief was, the stronger the wish power was.

In the legends, if the dhyana xiu who made a wish could complete the oath they gave, they could become a buddha.

The strongest belief of every dhyana xiu was to become a Buddha. A death wish was a wish that could not be completed. Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish, was when the dhyana xiu made the cruelest and harshest oath and because of this, of all the kinds of wish power, Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish was the most extreme wish power.

No one wanted to be enemies that had made a Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish. If one touched this terrifying wish power, it would directly damage their soul, and this damage was almost irreparable. It was a synonym for death.

Luckily, not every dhyana xiu could make wishes. Otherwise, the great battle in the past would not have lasted for long. In reality, it was rare to find dhyana xiu that could receive wish power; and of those the dhyana xiu that could make a Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish, even Pu Yao hadn’t seen more than five.

But they actually encountered one here!

Pu Yao and Wei were frightened.

———

Of the entire campsite, in terms of who was most shocked, it would undoubtedly be Yi Zheng.

Coming from the Great Buddha Temple, Yi Zheng was from an orthodox and famed sect. But at this time, he was gaping as he looked at the sky, his entire mind a mess.

Dropped into this ghastly place, what he had seen in these short months had completely upset everything he had learned on the mountain.

When he had seen Wei Sheng the first time, he was awed by the other’s talent and felt that he, in comparison, had achieved nothing. However, he never would have thought that it was just the beginning. Everything that followed was so fantastical it was like a dream.

A guy who was of similar age to him was the leader of thousands of people, and everyone was strangely loyal.

In a place called Golden Crow Camp, everyone had a fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire seed. He had almost gone insane then. Could that fire seed be made wholesale?

In a place called Vermillion Bird Camp, everyone there were battlemaniacs. Even their gaze when they walked by were like blades. Yi Zheng was a greenhorn. He did not know how strong these people were but the presence exuded by these people made his heart beat wildly.

A place called Guard Camp had its doors locked all day. However, there would occasionally be the sounds of howling like wild beasts and battle coming from inside. Every time he passed by, he would uncontrollably shake.

There was one that rested all day hugging the sword, one that held a black spear and killed all day without any weariness, little people that could fly, and mischievous pagoda … …

All kinds of weird, strange, and impossible things were found here.

We are from Great Buddha Temple, we are dhyana xiu, we won’t compete with you on strangeness, Yi Zheng repeatedly comforted himself in multiple nights.

But today, he saw with his own eyes a dhyana xiu’s coreformation, saw a dhyana xiu give a wish, saw a dhyana xiu give a Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish, and consequently, he completely broke down!

Who is the dhyana xiu here!

Great Buddha Temple, one of the ten dhyana xiu holy grounds. He knew of three that had wish power, the shishu from the Discipline Hall, the ancestral forefather, and Seventh Shigu.

Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish, oh, the stuff of legends, it’s good to hear about it.

But why did it have to appear in front of him … …

Yi Zheng suddenly felt that the glittering sigh of the Great Buddha Temple was still dazzling in front of this unorthodox dhyana xiu, but for some unknown reason, its presence had lessened greatly.

All hail the Buddha!

Yi Zheng grabbed his head with his hands and looked dazedly at the dark shadow gradually forming in the sky.

———

A blurry shadow gradually formed above the camp.

The enormous slave transporting boats in the face of this figure’s foot was like a toe. The shadow was like an ancient giant looking down at the world. Everyone in the camp without exception inhaled sharply. An endless presence came at them like a tsunami.

Wei Sheng showed a grave expression. He stepped forward, and gestured in a circle and swiped with his fingers.

Everyone felt the presence oppressing their bodies instantly lesson and their terror-filled expressions eased slightly.

Wei Sheng and Xie Shan exchanged a look. Both had grave expressions. The two of them had detected the unusualness of Zong Ru’s core formation.

Moo!

The blurry giant suddenly raised its head and bellowed. The sound travelled far in all directions!

Waves of motion came from the depths of the fiendish mist.

The giant’s blurry figure continued to change.

———

Zuo Mo who was going through the Dance of Falling Maple’s prison battlefield did not know of the enormous noise at the campground.

This time, he did not activate the prison breaking battle and he sighed in relief. If he activated the prison breaking battle again, then he would want to smash his head of a wall. He thought of how much endless trouble breaking Vast Water Clear Skies had been.

With money in his hand, Zuo Mo did not want trouble. These things might also be money, but there were not as likable as jingshi. In any case, ge couldn’t waste it.

The prison battlefield of the Dance of Falling Maple was primarily based on killing illusions. Zuo Mo felt good after using [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind]. Powerful yao arts only worked if they were used frequently. Zuo Mo clearly detected that he could use [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind] now.

Zuo Mo quickly was not satisfied with purely using [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Wind]. He started to try to change yao arts.

Suddenly thinking of the feeling he caught at the last moment in the battle against Mo Ru Huo … …

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up.

———

The door created by blue and green vines twined together released a serene light. This was a yao door. The xiuzhe had their transportation formations, the yao had the their yao doors, the mo had their blood pools.

They were going home.

Looking at the yao door, Mu Xi’s thoughts flowed. She couldn’t say how she felt after being able to safely return home after fighting for several years. Before this campaign, she had never left home for so long. Thinking about how her mother had cried until she was made of tears when she had been preparing, her heart felt sore.

Returning in victory, this was the only part she felt was worth it. From a young age, her talent was not very eye-catching among the youths of the clan. It was only when she began to study being a battle general that her talent was seen. It had been unexpected that the chance to represent the Wood Clan had landed on her head. The clan leader’s order had created many doubting voices. It had to be known that of all military commanders, she was the youngest.

Fortunately, she had not failed. Even though there were no great achievements, there were not any failures.

“Let’s go,” she said serenely.

Just at this time, a yao that was wearing the military uniform hurried past. Mu Xi recognized this yao. The other was an intermediate-level battle general at the front line of the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. Mu Xi had once met him. The other’s expression was panicked and had slight terror. Mu Xi’s heart suddenly jumped.

“Mang Zang Daren!” she called the other.

Mang Zang’s steps paused. He finally saw Mu Xi like he had woken up from a dream. “It’s Mu Xi Daren!”

To any battle general, the skill to remain calm was the most fundamental of all fundamentals. Seeing the other so uncomposed, the bad feeling inside grew. She asked in a light voice, “Has something happened?”

Zang Mang’s expression changed. His eyes suddenly became slightly red, his voice hoarse. “The front lines were defeated.”

“Ah!” Mu Xi and her vice commander’s expression changed dramatically.

“Three days ago, small numbers of xiuzhe appeared on the outskirts of the defensive line. We sent out little teams to clean out the area. We quickly received news that the teams were surrounded and were asking for aid. Yan Shang Daren led the troops to give aid. But the other took the chance to attack the defense line. The attack was strong. Yan Shang Daren was ambushed on the way back to give aid. The Fierce Fire Corps were completely killed. Yan Daren has also given his life in sacrifice. The troops that went to give aid to Yan Shang Daren were also ambushed and lost great numbers!”

Mang Zhan’s voice was sorrowful.

Mu Xi’s face suddenly became as white as paper.

Chapter 394: Speculation

When the news of the defeat at the front line reached the rear, all were shocked. This was the first defeat the yao had suffered after the war began. The losses were so severe they surpassed imagination.

In the previous battles, the yao military forces had advanced smoothly. The xiuzhe hadn’t just retreated out of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, they had also lost multiple jie. But looking at it with a calm eye now, the xiuzhe had not been truly wounded at all. What they had lost were just the lowest level of sects, and the true elite had not suffered losses at all.

In this defeat, the yao  casualties were all combat yao above the stage of spirit planting.

Normal yao and combat yao were both were spirit planting stage, but there was an enormous difference in ability. This was not as evident when it was a small skirmish, but the difference would certainly show in mass combat. Even if it was the local militia, they needed to training for at least five years to form preliminary combat abilities.

Even more, Fierce Fire Corps was a regular corps commanded directly by the Council of Elders.

None one had expected the xiuzhe’s counterattack was so ferocious and decisive. When they attacked, it was like thunder.

When the situation at the front lines were good, the mood at the rear was very relaxed, but with the news of the defeat the mood of the rear instantly became tense.

The Fierce Fire Corps of Yan Shang Daren were famed for their ferocity. They were completely defeated. Then how strong was the power of the enemy?

The yao finally remembered that the xiuzhe had possessed Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie for three thousand years. Three thousand years, even if Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was not suited for xiuzhe to fight, they would still be as familiar with that place like it was their back yard.

———

The light on his hand flashed continuously, Zuo Mo was very careful.

Pia, the light disappeared.

Zuo Mo shook his head. It still didn’t work. He tried to recall the feeling he captured with the [Tactile Knowledge Grip] that day, and seemed to comprehend something but he could not describe it. He knew this was due to not having a deep enough understanding. That barely discernable understanding needed more accumulation.

It seemed that he needed to go find Little Red soon.

The pitiful Mo Ru Huo was a pretty famous character, but due to his completely red body, Zuo Mo intimately called him Little Red. If he heard this nickname, he would probably go insane immediately.

He had been planning to use the prison battlefield to practice his yao arts. Now that he did not have any ideas, Zuo Mo did not decide to procrastinate any further.

As long as he did not activate the prison breaking battle, passing through was still pretty easy for him.

He quickly received the qualification to enter the third prison.

He thought, he had spent enough time in the Ten Finger Prison today. His consciousness swept across the spiritual imprint. He found that Cang Ze and Nan Yue were both present and headed to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

When Zuo Mo found Cang Ze and Nan Yue, he found the two were dejected and had worried expressions.

“What is it?” Zuo Mo asked in puzzlement, “Has something happened?”

Cang Ze narrated the news of the loss at the front lines in a low voice. At the side, Nan Yue showed worry. They lived in the yao world. If the yao army were defeated, their lives would become even worse. They had just seen hope. If the yao world became destabilized, would anyone remain unaffected?

After Cang Ze finished, Zuo Mo was stunned where he stood, with only shock left inside.

After a long time, he came back.

His first response was, how was it possible?

He had personally seen the great strength of the yao army. Sky Moon Jie, Little Mountain Jie, when hadn’t the xiuzhe retreated continually? Those large sects retreated when they heard of the advance of the yao army and ran back to Bright Wave Jie like homeless dogs. After that, Zuo Mo had lost complete confidence in Kun Lun. Even the present Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp in Zuo Mo’s eyes could not compare to the elite forces of the yao army.

Now he was hearing Cang Ze say that the yao army had been defeated by the xiuzhe.

The yao military that was so powerful was actually defeated? And defeated right in front of their own doorstep?

When he heard that the total death count reached twelve thousand, Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say.

So the xiuzhe had powerful people too … …

He still didn’t believe it but he knew that Cang Ze and Nan Yue definitely would not try to con him.

Such a dazzling victory completely upended Zuo Mo’s impression of the fragility of those great sects. He suddenly realized the depths of those great sects were not as he had thought.

But he couldn’t help but have a strange feeling.

The past weak display of the xiuzhe was a stark contrast against this great victory.

The two were so different they were like mud and clouds.

Was it … … was it … …

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly widened. His body froze and a wave of coldness rose from his spine.

Pretend to be weak?

The four words tore his mind like lightning.

His expression changed.

With multiple jie of territory, countless sects as the bait … … it was insane!

His mind blanked as he mindlessly murmured.

If it really was so, then the one who planned this was a madman! An undoubted madman!

Zuo Mo soullessly returned to the camp.

———

The grey mist in the sky continuously retreated back towards the center. The figure of the giant continuously shrunk and became clearer.

When it completely appeared, simultaneous inhales sounded in the camp again.

An extremely weird giant floated in the sky. Twenty zhang high like a little mountain. It had three heads that faced three directions, each with a different expression. There was one glaring angrily, one smiling slightly, and one with eyes closed in deep thought. The six arms were either making seals, or the pair of hands were together.

Endless dignity was like an invisible wave that struck everyone’s minds.

Staring at the colossal being in the sky, Yi Zheng’s face was a pale as paper, his pupils scattered as he unconsciously murmured.

“Dragon and Elephant Attainment … …”

———

When Zuo Mo returned to the camp, Zong Ru’s core formation was in its ending stages.

He looked towards where Zong Ru was. He was first shocked and then he showed joy. However, this thread of joy was quickly shrouded by thick darkness. His face became extremely dark and he called everyone to his tent.

The mood inside the camp was extremely low. Everyone had terrible expressions. The news that Zuo Mo had brought from the Ten Finger Prison was a shock and everyone was silent.

“We are bait.”

Gongsun Cha narrowed his eyes as his finger gently swiped across his face. His bashful and shy face was completely frosty at this time.

“If this really is their plan, then they definitely have successive plans,” Gongsun Cha continued to speak. His voice was cold like the collision of ice cubs. His autumn like pupils were filled with murderousness. “A person who is able to make such a scheme definitely would not just aim for this kind of small victory.”

“Damn it!” Xie Shan bellowed, his eyes sprouting fire and his features twisted.

The other xiuzhe who came out of Little Mountain Jie had completely red eyes. Not even one out ten xiuzhe had managed to survive Little Mountain Jie. No one experienced more than they did. Every one of them had crawling out of piles of corpses.

No one doubted Gongsun Cha’s speculation.

Sword essence flowed in Wei Sheng’s black eyes and his expression was black. He had felt things were strange when he had accompanied Lin Qian and his group to the sword cave. Every one of Lin Qian’s bodyguards had exceptional power. With that kind of strength, why did they not defend Sky Moon Jie? It seemed more like they had given Sky Moon Jie to the yao army.

With the comparison now, he understood. A strong fury and dislike instantly filled his chest. The sword essence in his body felt it and roiled as it wanted to burst out of his body.

Kun Lun governed the entire Kun Lun Territory. Every sect needed to pay taxes to Kun Lun. A portion of their income had to flow towards Kun Lun, turned to jingshi, turned to materials for Kun Lun disciples to cultivate, for Kun Lun to use for daily expenditures.

But … …

Killing essence flowed through the tent and the mood was extremely low.

Zuo Mo who had been silent all this time suddenly raised his face. As though nothing had happened, he gave a bright smile. “Everyone, cultivate! If they really did this, ha, there naturally will be chances to slowly settle our debts with them.”

———

“Faster, faster!”

“Accelerate! We must reach the defensive line within forty eight hours!”

Every yao soldier had tired expressions. They had received orders. In order to rush to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie as fast as possible, they had almost used all their power.

“General, we will reach Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie soon.”

As the corps commander of Ice Frost Crops, Lan was in his prime. Twenty years ago, he had become a golden battle general. The twenty years of experience of commanding a troop had caused him to show hints of making a breakthrough. As one of the most influential people of the Water Clan, everyone speculated that he would have a good future.

Lan had a cautious personality. His battle style was steady and he rarely made mistakes.

The reason that the Elder Council sent him was in hopes that he could quickly stabilize the theatre of war and prevent the collapse of the defensive line.

Looking at the bloody mist that was endless in front of him, Lan was silent. The troops streamed past him and entered the bloody mist. His vice commander silently stood next to him and did not disturb him.

“Do you know the origins of the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie?” Lan asked.

The vice commander respectfully said, “Three thousand years ago, we were defeated. In order to halt the advance of the xiuzhe, the four major jie masters used their fleshly bodies in sacrifice, with seven intermediate jie as the axle, forty nine little jie as the screen, to create what is called Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.”

Lan said emotionally, “Yes, born of our elders’ blood and flesh. I hope they can protect us to safely return.”

The vice commander said in shock, “Does Daren have such a low outlook on our mission this time?”

“The other definitely has more plans.” Lan shook his head. “The complete defeat of the Fierce Fire Corps is not an accident. The destruction of a corps is at least an intermediate scale battle. If they did not put in enough power, they other could not have completely killed the Fierce Fire Corps.”

The vice commander couldn’t help but have a worried expression. He had followed his commander for many years. Daren would never speculate.

Noticing the vice commander’s expression, Lan said with a smile, “Don’t be nervous. We will use earth to deal with water, generals to deal with soldiers. We just have to be more careful.”

“This subordinate thinks too much,” the vice commander hurriedly replied.

“Being more cautious is good.” Lan was silent for a moment before he suddenly raised his head. A light flashed through his pupils. “Order! Collectively accelerate! We need to reach the defensive line in twenty four hours.”

The vice commander apprehensively responded, “Yes!”

Chapter 395: Gold Battle General

Zong Ru opened his eyes. The chaotic air turbulence around him instantly stopped and a glowing light flashed and disappeared in his eyes. The skin on his face became extremely smooth, the weathering due to hard days in his past had disappeared. His appearance was not handsome and not exceptional in the campsite but the dhyana serene aura on his body was unique to him.

It had to be said that the people of the camp were very unique. Wei Sheng’s determination, Gongsun Cha’s insanity and viciousness hidden under bashfulness, Shu Long’s steadiness, Ma Fan’s laziness etc.

On Zong Ru’s clean forehead was a blood red lotus. Two auras, one holy and one demonic, were merged together, and filled with a soul-shaking power.

He stood and slowly walked out of the tent.

“Old Ru!”

Seeing Zong Ru, Lei Peng and Nian Lu first stopped and then were overjoyed. The three of them had once been in a team and had a good relationship. While Zong Ru had undergone his core formation, the two of them had stood guard outside the tent.

“Lei Man! Little Nian Nian!” A sincere smile came onto Zong Ru’s face.

Nian Lu’s smile froze on his face, and the tendons in his forehead pulsed. Lei Peng laughed instead, and rushed in front of Zong Ru, opening his eyes and giving a hard hug.

“Old Ru, you did it! Secretly having your core formation! Isn’t this forcing the rest of us to work hard?”

Lei Peng’s voice was like thunder and exploded next to Zong Ru’s ear. Zong Ru had a slight smile as he patted Lei Peng’s back.

Nian Lu’s gaze swept across Zong Ru and landed on Zong Ru’s face. His eyes suddenly lit up. “So core formation can make one more handsome! Excellent! No, no, I have to enter jindan soon! I’m so handsome now, if I’m a jindan, how handsome would I be? It is such a hard question … …”

Hearing Nian Lu’s narcissistic and nonsensical words, Zong Ru’s heart felt unspeakably warm.

The news that Zong Ru had come out made the entire camp erupt.

The mood of the camp had been extremely heavy these past days. Zong Ru’s re-appearance caused everyone to be filled with joy. Zong Ru was humble and low-key usually. In this time, the people that came to congratulate him was endless. Compared to everyone’s worry when Xie Shan had his core formation, everyone was extremely calm this time.

When Zong Ru saw Zuo Mo and the others, he hurriedly walked forward. He made a deep bow and said respectfully, “Daren!”

A smile came onto Zuo Mo’s face and he unhesitatingly went forward to give Zong Ru a hard hug. Just as Zong Ru was very moved, Daren muttered in a small voice next to his ear, “You have to work hard on the healing techniques of [Attainment Golden Body]. There is so many people in the camp, think how much jingshi we can save when the time comes … …”

———

“Daren, we cannot sustain this,” the vice commander’s expression was fragile and his voice bitter and burdened.

Lan’s face was unaffected. “How many have we lost?”

“Another two hundred were just killed, three hundred wounded!”

The vice commander had a terrible expression when he reported the numbers. In the short eight hours since they stepped into the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, they had encountered six waves of attack! Up until now, fatalities reached more than one thousand people, more than one-tenth of the entire corps.

The other’s attacks were extremely fierce and unpredictable. They seemed to be able to move without restriction in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. No one knew how they were able to do this. The Blood Sky Metropolis Jie was the battlefield suited for yaomo, yet they were suppressed in this place. But the xiuzhe who attacked them seemed to be unaffected at all and were at great ease.

How was the other able to do this?

Lan gazed into the distance and asked, “How long until we can reach the defensive line?”

“The other’s attacks have slowed our advancement … …”

Lan interrupted the vice commander and asked sternly, “How long?”

The vice commander’s heart shook. He gritted his teeth and said, “At this speed, we will only reach the line after ninety six hours.”

Lan was silent for a moment before he said in a deep voice, “Gather the other daren.”

“Yes.” The vice commander heeded the order. Moments later, the nine officers hurried over. Their expressions were all bad.

In eight short hours, one-tenth of their forces had been killed. This kind of attrition rate made their hearts beat rapidly. Based on this speed, their numbers would be expended before they reached the defensive line.

Lan’s gaze swept across the nine officers. Their faces were terrible but not panicked. He had personally promoted all nine commanders who had outstanding skills.

Military positions had very strict requirements. For a regular corps like the Ice Frost Corps, the corps commander must be a gold battle general, and the officers had to be silver battle generals.

“I need one that is willing to go to his death.”

Lan did not waste words and directly said it.

The nine officers all changed expressions. From Daren’s words, they could surmise the state of the situation. Daren’s gaze made them feel there was a blade at their back.

But … …

They hesitated.

At this time, a youth stood out.

“Daren, this subordinate is willing.”

Lan’s expressionless face imperceptibly twitched. He looked closely at the youth and his heart couldn’t help but hurt. This youth that had become a silver battle general at the age of twenty had a limitless potential and one of his favored commanders.

Liang Wei belonged to one of the side branches of the Water Clan. His results in the yao art house had been average until he had turned to study as a battle general, where his results shot up. When he was twenty, he had successfully passed the exam of a silver battle general. Even though he was not eye-catching compared to the little monsters of the yao world, Lan still felt that his future was limitless.

Liang Wei stood upright, full of bravery.

Lan could not refuse at this time. He nodded. “I will give you three thousand combat yao. Take up the rear, sweep the flanks of the troop, and stop the attacks.”

The other officers had complex expressions. From the harassment they had endured in the last eight hours, they could predict just how great the pressure Liang Wei would face.

Liang Wei calmly accepted and made a bow towards Lan.

“If I die in combat, Daren, please give some care to my clansmen.”

“I will!” Lan gravely replied. He turned to the other officers and said in a deep voice, “Proceed at full speed! Military law for those that slow down!”

“Yes!” The officers all shook.

———

Wei gazed at the development of the battle situation. He felt great shock at the combat capabilities that Gongsun Cha showed.

The battle had been at a stand still for two whole days.

Wei saw a rare seriousness on Pu Yao’s face. After interacting for several thousand years, no one could rival his understanding of Pu Yao. When his previous owner had been the corps commander, all of the strategic decisions had come from Pu Yao.

Pu Yao was forced to such a state by such a young guy!

If he didn’t see it with his own eyes, he definitely would not believe it.

From the start of this war chess match, he had watched as the two fought without a moment of inattention. He had sighed in amazement many times throughout. The eye-dazzling fighting had caused him to exclaim. The time rate of war chess was much faster than regular time. The span of two days was equivalent to a whole month inside the match.

He did not understand battle generals. At every dangerous moment, his heart couldn’t help but jump. He had thought hundreds of time inside, how could they be so devious?

Even though the advantage of the match was in Pu Yao’s hands, but Wei put more of his attention of Gongsun Cha. Such a young person that was able to resist Pu Yao for so long, his skill definitely was not low!

Gradually, the balance began to tilt and the Pu Yao’s advantage had grown.

Pu Yao’s sweeping attacks in the final stages of battle were, in Wei’s view, this guy venting for having lost face.

As expected, when Pu Yao came out of the war chess, his expression was not good.

“A very powerful young person.” Wei’s words were slightly pouring salt onto the wound.

Pu Yao’s expression became even uglier, but he seemed to think of something and his expression instantly recovered. He said proudly, “Don’t give young people too much praise. This is not good for his improvement.”

Wei stilled. He reacted very quickly. “He is?”

“My student.” Pu Yao showed a smug and sly smile. “How about it? Give a review!”

Wei really was stunned this time. “He is also your student? What about Zuo Mo?”

“Why can’t I have two students?” Pu Yao glanced at Wei, his tone filled with smugness and showiness. “I have good eyes for judging people!”

“Strong!” Wei’s praise seemed sincere.

“Of course!” Pu Yao was even more smug. “Nothing needs to be said of Zuo Mo, that guy is a weirdo that even I don’t understand. Gongsun Cha is born to be a battle general. Ha, a twenty year old gold battle general, he’ll frighten those old guys to death!”

“Gold battle general?” Wei was frightened. He stammered out, “That little guy is a gold battle general?”

Wei’s display made Pu Yao’s smugness reach a peak. His devious and cunning face seemed to glow at this moment. “Definitely a gold battle general! I jumped in fright this time when he attacked! If I wasn’t careful, I would have lost. Tsk tsk, a scripture he comprehended himself, twenty year old gold battle general. As expected of one that I taught from the beginning! Most importantly … …”

Pu Yao suddenly closed his mouth and did not speak. Wei unconsciously asked, “What is it?”

“Hahahaha! He didn’t not just inherit my skills as a battle general, but also my handsome appearance! On this point, Zuo Mo lacks a lot … …”

Wei looked wordlessly at Pu Yao.

———

Gongsun Cha’s mood was terrible to the bone.

He had originally thought that after just having a breakthrough, he could rival the mystery person. Who knew that he had lost again. Even though he knew he could not rival the other, but he disliked failure, extremely disliked it!

After swallowing the fiend soul beast bead, he had just reached the border of a breakthrough. Just at this time, Zuo Mo had given him a Golden Soul and successfully allowed him to make a breakthrough!

The strong confidence brought by the breakthrough caused him to unhesitatingly challenge Pu Yao.

But it still ended in defeat. Thinking about how he had never beat the other once, his mood became even worse!

The speculation about being bait made him even angrier. With his understanding of Shixiong, even though Shixiong had said it easily that day, he definitely would not give up inside. They would get even. As the battle general, he would undoubtedly play the most crucial part.

He could not fail!

Craziness flashed through Gongsun Cha’s eyes.

A daring and insane idea quickly formed in his mind.

Chapter 396: News

The high temperatures produced by the white hot Samadhi Truth Fire twisted everything in his field of vision.

Staring at the remnants of the defensive line burning, Liang Wei’s vision darkened. He viciously bit down and stopped himself from collapsing. He forcibly steadied himself as he tasted blood, but tears uncontrollably left his eyes.

Liang Wei and the soldiers beside him were covered in wounds, their blood covered clothing was torn everywhere. He could not remember how many attackers he had killed on the way here but he had been resilient and managed to block them from attacking the larger troop. In the end, to prevent the enemy attacks from their rear, he had resolutely led the troops as the rear guard.

They had travelled twelve hours behind the rest of the troop.

Liang Wei’s face was covered in tears and was like a wooden puppet. Looking at the flames that rose into the sky and rampaged, his body became increasingly cold. A long while later, the wails and cries of his compatriots became clear in his ears. He looked blankly at the grieving comrades around him.

His scattered gaze gradually became bright. He bit down hard on his lips and wiped away the tears. He turned around, his hoarse voice full of resolve as he said, “Let’s go!”

“Go? Go where?” The combat yao under his command raised their grieving and empty eyes.

“To get revenge!” Liang Wei said without turning his head.

———

Zuo Mo had been in the Ten Finger Prison in the past few days, not the third prison, but the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. The bounty for information had been posted, and what remained was to patiently wait.

At the same time, he was waiting for the results of another matter.

Gongsun Shidi’s speculation was stuck in his heart like a thorn. Everyone in the camp was waiting for the result.

According to Gongsun Shidi’s speculation, it would be quickly proven.

It may have been caused by this matter that Zuo Mo was disinterested in everything, even lacking interest in studying new yao arts.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo noticed Cang Ze arrive with an ugly expression.

“Daren, the newest information, the front lines were defeated again! Ice Frost Corps were almost completely destroyed, less than six hundred people remain.” Cang Ze’s voice was trembling. His heart was filled with terror. When Daren had told him to pay attention to news from the frontline, he had found it puzzling. But when he heard this news, he was frightened!

He suddenly found that Daren was standing in a daze.

———

“How does Daren find out news about the outside?” Nian Lu pressed his voice low and asked.

“Daren is like a ghost, an doesn’t know!” Lei Peng said in what was not a good tone. “It’s not like you don’t know how much of a monster Daren is!’

Nian Lu nodded repeated. “Yes! However, I get angry just thinking about it! Those great sects are not good! We need to cultivate and get even. As a handsome person, I cannot swallow this breath!”

Lei Peng showed an understanding and devious smile. “Don’t worry! Daren has said that he will take us and settle the odds! Hee hee, I’m telling you in secret, Lil’ Miss Daren privately said that it probably is people from Kun Lun that did this!”

“Kun Lun!” Nian Lu was shocked and then furious, “It is actually Kun Lun!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! There’s no need to worry even if it is Kun Lun,” Lei Peng’s expression was twisted as he smiled and said, “Daren said, if you have something of ours, spit it out. If you dug a trap for us, we’ll dig one for you! Little Nian Nian, go cultivate! Even Old Ru is a jindan, it’s not easy to live if we aren’t jindan in the future … …”

“Everyone wants to have a core formation, is the core that easy to form … …” Nian Lu murmured. “Shouldn’t core formations be achieved according to the degree of handsomeness … …”

———

Coming out of the Ten Finger Prison, Zuo Mo walked out of the camp with a fire in his chest.

The xiuzhe in the camp criss-crossed around busily, but looking at this busy scene, Zuo Mo’s heart did not calm down but became even more irritated.

He walked aimlessly out of the camp.

Walking out of the campsite, and losing the barrier provided by the campsite formations, the fiendish mist rushed towards him. The thick fiendish energy inside the fiendish mist made his raging fire grow even greater.

Nearby, there were xiuzhe from Vermillion Bird Camp that were cultivating. The [Fiend Ling] that they cultivated needed to use the power of the fiendish energy.

Zuo Mo did not disturb them and walked forward. At this moment, his heart was full of the impulse to destroy. Without thinking, he charged into the depths of the fiendish mist.

The presence of danger increased but he did not seem to detect it, and his steps did not slow.

Several fiend soul beasts silently stalked him. In the black-red fiendish mist, several dark red pairs of eerie eyes tightly locked onto Zuo Mo.

Without noticing, Zuo Mo had walked at least three hundred li from the camp. This distance far surpassed the camp’s usual cultivation and living area. Even Guard Camp would not go outside one hundred li of the camp.

A fiend soul beast could not resist any longer. With a roar, he charged at Zuo Mo!

The accumulated rage and savagery inside Zuo Mo were ignited at this moment!

“Go die!”

His eyes suddenly became red. He did not dodge. Facing the charge of the fiend soul beast, he punched out!

The fiend soul beast had not expected Zuo Mo to be so courageous and did not have the time to dodge.

Bam!

The two figures were like two arrows that flew apart. The fiend soul beast’s enormous body flew back with even faster speed, and Zuo Mo was like a ball hit by a stick that smashed heavily into the ground.

The other fiend soul beasts saw the chance and unhesitatingly leapt over.

Pia pia pia!

With sounds like that of a whip, the fiend soul beasts that leapt over all flew backwards.

Zuo Mo’s body floated up. A suit of dark golden armor stood proudly. The bright red eyes were filled with murderousness, his entire body exuding viciousness and savagery like a demon that walked out of hell.

The fiend soul beasts showed wariness. They crouched down and continued to growl. Their dark red eyes stared at Zuo Mo but they did not dare to move forward.

Zuo Mo raised his murderous eyes, and his figure disappeared from his spot.

The fiend soul beasts were alarmed and scattered.

Suddenly, an armoured hand appeared on the forehead of a fiend soul beast. This hand pressed it down. The fiend soul beast felt an enormous power pass over. It was unable to move! Now it became panicked. It growled urgently, its four limbs furiously tearing at the ground to try to resist this terrifying hand!

Zuo Mo’s left hand did not move a sliver. He raised his right hand and formed a fist.

“Go die!”

Zuo Mo bellowed. Brutality increased in his completely red eyes. The right hand heavily smashed onto the head of the fiend soul beast.

Bam!

The fiend soul beast’s body froze.

“Go die!”

Bam!

“Go die!”

Bam!

The berserk Zuo Mo bellowed as his fist rained down on the head of the fiend soul beast. Gradually, the body of this fiend soul beast became blurry.

Bam!

Zuo Mo’s fist penetrated the head of the fiend soul beast and struck the ground. It instantly smashed a large hole in the ground! The body of the fiend soul beast completely disappeared, leaving behind a black fang and a fiend soul beast bead.

The seemingly insane Zuo Mo made the other fiend soul beasts feel a thread of terror. While this fiend soul beast was smashed to nothingness by Zuo Mo, they did not dare to go forward.

Zuo Mo did not look at his spoils of victory. He raised his head and slowly stood. His gaze swept towards the other fiend soul beasts.

The fiend soul beasts that encountered his gaze all retreated without exception.

“You should all die!”

The dark and icy voice came out of Zuo Mo’s chest. Before his words landed, his figure disappeared again!

The fiend soul beasts were alarmed and scattered, fleeing in all directions.

Zuo Mo’s figure seemed to appear out of thin air beside a fiend soul beast. Just like the previous one, his hand grabbed the head of this fiend soul beast.

He hadn’t expected this fiend soul beast to be unusually clever. Its figure changed, and it escaped Zuo Mo’s grip.

A red light suddenly flashed across the dark red pupils of the fiend soul beast.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt a burst of dizziness. It was like he had entered the crevasse of a glacier. All the ling power inside his body seemed to be frozen and he was unable to move at all!

The eyes of this fiend soul beast showed smugness and cruelty. Midair, its body twisted as though it had no bones and it turned to face Zuo Mo. Its body crouched and jumped without needing to gather power, and like an arrow leaving the bowstring, it leapt at Zuo Mo!

The cold and sharp fangs and claws swiped out cold lights in the air.

The lights flashed towards Zuo Mo’s throat.

Suddenly, a fist appeared without warning in its field of vision and dramatically enlarged!

Boom!

Like a large drum being struck but also with a metallic clang!

This fist firmly punched the fiend soul beast without any finesse. The moment the fist and its body touched, threads of mist roiled on the surface of its body.

With speed even faster than just before, it flew backwards!

Bam!

Midair, a golden figure flashed, and the fiendish soul beast that was retreating immediately changed directions and smashed heavily into the ground! The ground trembled and dust flew up.

When the dust dissipated, there were only a few spoils of victory left in the large hole.

The other fiend soul beasts showed terror. They whined a few times before turning and fleeing.

They did not lack intelligence to have survived and grown up in such a cruel and harsh place.

Zuo Mo’s surroundings instantly became silent.

Gradually, the blood slowly faded from Zuo Mo’s eyes. The angry and savagery inside was vented, and his mind became clear. With clarity came a strong feeling of exhaustion. His legs softened and he sat down on the ground.

The sweat permeated his entire body. Weakness and softness came. He panted hard.

Ha-ah … … ha-ah… …

His rushed breathing in his ears were like bellows.

His heart gradually calmed down.

Zuo Mo had a grimace on his lips. It seemed that his resolve was not strong enough. Full of self-disdain, he couldn’t help but think back to his journey. Without realizing it, he felt his heart was warmed.

No matter how terrible the situation was, he would always have a crowd of people beside him, following him, fighting with him, risking their lives together with him … …

No matter how dangerous the future was, everyone was still supporting him, trusting him, following him, and protecting him.

A slight smile on the corners of his mouth, his heart gradually became warm and calm.

The sky full of fiendish mist in his eyes seemed to become an endless bright blue sky.

A strong will silently birthed and spread inside.

He balled his fists.

When he raised his head again, the confusion had cleared and was replaced by strong will!

After resting for a moment, Zuo Mo found a terrible problem and his face instantly fell.

Damn it, how was he to return?

At this time, a proud bird figure slowly stalked its bird walk and appeared in his vision.

Chapter 397: Totem Fragments

Even though Silly Bird’s gaze was still so proud, so discontent, but in front of Zuo Mo’s scoundrel-like and hoodlum laugh, there was nothing to do. Zuo Mo used his arms and legs to climb onto Silly Bird’s back and pretended to be dead.

However, Zuo Mo was muttering on the inside.

After Silly Bird’s strength had strangely skyrocketed, her personality had become even prouder. Adding on that all the little ones listened to her, she acted as the leader of them all, and completely forgot her actual profession as a steed, much less think of him, the owner!

This could not be tolerated!

Education could not be relaxed!

Planning on educating Silly Bird, Zuo Mo was going to speak when he felt himself shoot up. His entire body was almost thrown off. With a shake, he hurriedly hugged Silly Bird’s neck.

When they were flying in the air, the feeling was completely different. It was like lightning!

The wind blew so hard Zuo Mo could not open his eyes. Such an exhilarating speed caused Zuo Mo to be in a good mood. Hands tightly grabbing on to Silly Bird’s slender neck, he raised his head and started to sing.

“I want to fly even higher … … fly even higher … … ah ah ah … …”

The cymbal like sound flew across the sky.

Silly Bird’s eyes looked back with unfriendliness and glanced maliciously at Zuo Mo, who was in a world of his own. Her wings suddenly flapped and she flew straight up.

“Ah ah aaaaah … …”

Zuo Mo’s wail followed Silly Bird’s acceleration, as they floated up.

When he dismounted from Silly Bird’s back, his legs were as soft as noodles. His entire person was intoxicated as though he was drunk. Before he walked a few steps, he found all the little ones had come over, nudging and crowding intimately around Silly Bird.

Like the moon surrounded by stars, Silly Bird didn’t even look at Zuo Mo. Stalking her bird walk, she flounced off.

That presence, that manner, it made Zuo Mo gape.

Suddenly recalling what Silly Bird looked like before, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but laugh. After shaking his head in self-mockery, he went into the tent.

A Gui who was in the corner of the tent saw Zuo Mo come in, and the wooden and empty pupils seemed to become slightly more livelier.

“A Gui, have you rested well these days?”

Just like usual, even though he knew that A Gui would not reply, Zuo Mo spoke to her as he took out his spoils.

“En.”

When the tiny sound, that was like that of an ant, landed in Zuo Mo’s ears and was akin to thunder! Zuo Mo’s movements suddenly froze. He raised his head, and his face was filled with disbelief.

The disbelief on his face rapidly turned to ecstasy. He shot in front of A Gui. “A Gui! A Gui! You can speak?”

A Gui’s face was wooden, her pupils empty and she was unresponsive to Zuo Mo’s words as though the sound of response had been Zuo Mo’s delusion.

That definitely had not been a delusion!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were filled with joy. Even though A Gui’s body gradually shows signs of a good turn, but the response today was a breakthrough.

“A Gui, can you hear me speak?”

Zuo Mo slowed his talking speed and tried to make his tone warm. His eyes looked hard at A Gui’s face.

“En.”

It was another mosquito-sized response. It caused Zuo Mo to break out in a grin. He jumped up like a child and whooped.

“Haha! A Gui can talk! A Gui can talk!”

A slight ripple was produced in A Gui’s empty pupils.

After celebrating, Zuo Mo inspected A Gui’s body. He quickly found that the purple energy inside A Gui’s body had grown. The purple energy inside A Gui’s body was the decisive change and surely had an effect in A Gui’s recovery.

But this purple energy was extremely dark and unpredictable. Even Pu Yao did not know of its origins. Even weirder was that Zuo Mo could not sense any signs of life from the purple energy. It was the extreme opposite. It was dark, varied, and filled with destructiveness, the presence of death. Theoretically, such a strange power should bring death so how come it could make A Gui recover?

Even though he did not understand, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ponder the purple energy. How could he increase the strength of the purple energy?

This thought flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind. Calming down, Zuo Mo suppressed the urgency inside. He had to be cautious with this matter! A Gui’s body was extremely delicate. Any change, and there was a possibility the body could shatter into pieces.

Those two sounds of response seemed to have taken great energy from A Gui. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Seeing her state, Zuo Mo hurriedly quieted down and carefully laid her down.

After thinking for a long time, Zuo Mo finally returned his attention to his spoils. This time, he had killed two fiend soul beasts, and the spoils that remained were slightly strange.

It was strange, because there was something else other than the fiend soul beast bead and the remnants of limbs.

It was a piece of metal about the size of a fingernail. There were some special patterns on the surface of the piece. Zuo Mo felt the patterns were like seal scripts. This piece was left behind by the fiend soul beast that froze his ling power.

The composition of the metal was extremely unique. Zuo Mo could not say what it was made out of and had never seen the scripts on it before. Luckily, there was an old antique from three thousand years ago with him.

“Pu, do you recognize this?”

Pu Yao sprouted out, and grabbed the piece from Zuo Mo’s hand. Putting it on front of his eyes and studying it, his expression was grave as he shook his head. “I can see it is something ancient. But I don’t know what it actually is.”

Zuo Mo was not shocked. If this really was the Sealed Extinction battlefield, it was normal to not recognize something from tens of thousands of years ago.

“Can I have a look?” Wei suddenly spoke.

Pu Yao glanced at Wei and threw the fragment in his hand over. Wei received it, put it in front of him, and closely inspected it.

“This is a fragment of a totem. In order to be preserved until now, it should be the best part of the totem. The patterns on it is a kind of ancient totem.” Wei’s black eyes flashed with an unique light.

“Ancient totem?” Zuo Mo had a shocked expression.

“It is a kind of primitive seal script,” Wei explained. “In ancient times humans, yao, or mo lived in tribes. They gradually formed their own beliefs and totems were born from that. The xiuzhe’s scripts were developed from totems. However, the two have core differences. Seal scripts are the changes of ling power, while totems are related to ling power, they are related more to sacrificial offerings.”

“Sacrificial offering?”

“Sacrificial offerings are the most important matters of each tribe.” When Wei spoke to this, he suddenly said, “I cannot explain the reason behind this.”

But this was enough for Zuo Mo and Pu Yao to feel shock. The person and the yao exchanged a look and saw the shock in each other’s eyes.

Wei could speak so much about such ancient matters. What was this guy’s true origins?

“Then what is the use of this totem fragment?” Zuo Mo raised the fragment in his hand and asked what he was most concerned about.

Wei said, “The best materials that each tribe could find were used to make totems. Other than being made of extraordinary material, it must have undergone countless years of sacrificial offerings to survive tens of thousands of years and not be destroyed. Maybe this fragment has ling kernel.”

“Has ling kernel … …” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up.

He hurriedly channeled his spiritual power into the fragment in his hand, but when his consciousness was blocked on the outside, he was even happier. Ling kernel! It actually was ling kernel! The stronger the material resisted, it mean the higher the grade of the ling kernel of the material.

Materials that had ling kernels, no matter what material it was, was the best materials. Because the talismans that could be forged from it could have cognition. Talismans that had cognition meant they had room to grow, for example, Lil’ Pagoda.

There were countless ways to substitute for the poor quality of a material, but ling kernel was something that was a matter of chance.

He had picked up a treasure!

Zuo Mo suddenly became excited! He was just saying. How could such a big and ancient battlefield not leave behind anything good. He understood now. The fiendish energy of this place was so thick that the fiend soul beasts born were intelligent. If there was anything good, they could not have escaped the eyes of these fiend soul beasts.

It seemed the good stuff of this ancient battlefield had been divided up by the fiend soul beasts.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed greedily and his drool escaped the corner of his mouth.

If this was the case, they only needed to focus on the fiend soul beasts!

Thinking about the endless fiendish mist, and the abundant fiend soul beasts … ..

Oh! Heavens!

Zuo Mo’s drool dripped. Those ugly fiend soul beasts suddenly became peerlessly adorable in his eyes! The prizes of hunting fiend soul beasts were only remnants of limbs and fiend soul beasts. Supposedly, those remnants could be used to make mo weapons, but for Zuo Mo right now, there wasn’t any big uses. Fiend soul beast beads were slightly useful but were unable to stir Zuo Mo’s interest.

But right now, the totem fragment was enough to move Zuo Mo’s heart and upend his soul.

What could materials with ling kernels be used for! Making talismans! Who wouldn’t want many talismans? Who wouldn’t want many good talismans!

Also, Zuo Mo knew that everyone in the camp was hunting the fiend soul beasts for practice. Tsk tsk, able to increase combat experience, able to increase cultivation, and able to get good things. Such a good opportunity, where else could he find it?

He suddenly recalled that everyone had killed many fiend soul beasts these days. Then in the spoils … …

Like his butt was on fire, he rushed out and headed for Bao Yi. The pitiful Bao Yi was frightened when he saw Zuo Mo. When he heard Zuo Mo ask about the spoils from hunting fiend soul beasts, he hurriedly pointed them out.

Seeing the items piled up in the corner like garbage, Zuo Mo instantly felt pain in his heart.

He quickly found two more totem fragments from the pile.

So risky!

Pearls in the dust!

He was full of self-blame. Hadn’t ever thought that an, Little Mo ge, almost let something good slip by! He then gravely instructed Bao Yi to take good care of these things, especially fragments like what he had.

Bao Yi was clever. Seeing the pain on Boss’ face, cold sweat instantly poured down and he agreed frantically.

Coming out of Bao Yi’s place, Zuo Mo instantly ran to Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp to pass down the instructions regarding the totem fragments. If someone threw away the totem fragments like garbage, he wouldn’t even have the time to cry.

After doing all this, he finally relaxed and started to ponder another problem.

What talismans could be forged from this?

Chapter 398: The New Mood Of Golden Crow Camp

Speaking of forging, Zuo Mo had not done it for a very long time. In the past, he had needed to rely on the power of talismans. He had an unorthodox background in forging, but he did have a powerful weapon in Golden Crow Fire. Adding on that he had practiced arduously, his handiwork was relatively good. When his cultivation path had leaned towards emphasizing Great Day mo physique later on, the time spent practicing forging and dan-making had naturally been reduced.

Rawness was one factor, and the other was the lack of high level forging techniques. This caused him to not know what talisman to forge with the totem fragments on hand even though he had a sixth-grade flame, the Great Day Striped Flame.

Also, these totem fragments were great materials, but he wasn’t familiar with them at all.

After wavering for a while, Zuo Mo still decided to go to Golden Crow Camp.

———

The campsite of Golden Crow Camp was completely different than others. Only they had set up camp on a slave transporting boat. The entire interior of the slave transporting boat had been completely remodelled. It wasn’t just the layout that was completely different, almost all the formations had been changed. Every board of the ship had been carved with large and small formations. Right now, the structural integrity of this slave transporting boat was frightening.

This group of people were extremely bored yet also scared of death. So they used everything they could think of to insure this boat as their life-saver.

At the very center of the boat was the most important talisman of this slave transporting boat, the Crimson Fiend Cauldron.

The present Crimson Fiend Cauldron had shrunk to the height of a person. The cauldron had also turned from crimson-red to jet black. Its design had been simple to start with, and now it seemed even denser and dignified. The Crimson Fiend Cauldron had continuously tempered itself and now showed signs that it was going to level up.

At the present, the Crimson Fiend Cauldron had become the heart of this slave transporting boat. Every day, it turned large amounts of fiendish energy into ling power, and passed the ling power through the dense spider-web formations to every corner of the slave transporting boat.

Some ling plant farmers decided to just stay in the rooms and plant ling grains together. The beast speakers, led by Chun Yu Cheng, raised all kinds of ling beasts in the boat. It was possible to hear the calls of all kinds of ling beasts and very busy workers.

Everyone loved this boat. The density of ling energy inside the slave transporting boat could compare to some secret paradises.

What satisfied everyone the most was the atmosphere inside the boat, especially after Zuo Mo had assigned the study of mo matrixes to Golden Crow Camp. The seal xiu that had originally been in Vermillion Bird Camp had been moved here to study mo matrixes together. These production xiuzhe were not as fearless as combat xiuzhe but they had more skills. Additionally, the mood of the Golden Crow Camp was very liberal, the two masters, Ji Wei and Sun Bao, encouraged everyone to play around, so the youthfulness and liveliness of this group of young people were expressed to the maximum.

In this place, every person could do what interested them. There was nothing that was forced upon them, but it was not easy if they just wanted to get by through slacking. One factor was that the mood was so, and everyone looked down upon those that slacked off. The other factor was, beyond their basic needs, every person’s income and access to resources was based on their efforts. If one wanted more materials? Wanted more spells? Then work hard!

So when Zuo Mo visited Golden Crow Camp again, the completely new Golden Crow Camp stunned him.

Fortunately, every still recognized Boss. The two masters quickly hurried over.

“Daren!” The two respectfully bowed. Their cultivations had improved greatly and reached the later stages of ningmai.

Zuo Mo looked at the two people and found that their complexions were much better than they had been in the past. Thinking about their cautious and timid conduct of the past, and looking at the steady presence of these two people, it was a completely different world.

Zuo Mo said with a smile, “It seems everyone is living pretty well.”

“This place isn’t actually bad,” Sun Bao said with a smile. “Everyone has something to do, the ling power is abundant, and there is materials to waste. It’s natural for us to live well.”

The two of them were very content with the present life. They were all people that were intoxicated with forging and very experienced. The spells and formations that Zuo Mo had given them could be said to be invaluable. Adding on the abundant ling power inside the slave transporting boat, the two of them even felt indications of having a breakthrough.

However, what made the two of them feel the most proud about was not their individual breakthroughs, but the growth of the entire Golden Crow Camp. The good atmosphere, the abundant supplies, large amounts of spells as reference, and all kinds of novel problems had caused the youthful xiuzhe of Golden Crow Camp to grow at astounding speed. These young xiuzhe of meager backgrounds did not waste such a valuable opportunity. Their efforts and hard work caused both masters to feel very comforted.

“Has Daren come for the Golden-Winged Great Roc?” Ji Wei asked.

Master Jie Wei’s question reminded Zuo Mo. He hurriedly asked, “How’s the progress on the Golden-Winged Great Roc?”

“We’ve only solved half.” Ji Wei said embarrassedly, “The Golden-Winged Great Roc matrix is extremely complex. Our cultivation is not enough. Thankfully, with the addition of Li Zhuo, the rate of advancement quickened. Up until now, we have found three formations and they are wondrous!”

The two people’s faces were bright. The wonders of the three formations had broadened their visions. The reason that the two of them showed signs of core formation was a benefit from comprehending these three formations.

Zuo Mo had formed some impression of Li Zhuo. At ningmai stage and he was able to forge second-grade seal soldiers, he was very talented.

“This is not urgent, we advance go slowly.” Zuo Mo knew how complex the Golden-Winged Great Roc matrix was. In the past, he had studied it for a long time. He was already shocked at Ji Wei and the other’s advancement speed.

He then stated the goal of his trip. “I’ve come this time for another matter.”

The two hurriedly piqued their ears.

Zuo Mo took out the totem fragments and handed them to the two. “These are fragments of ancient totems that have remained over tens of thousands of years. They have formed ling kernels.”

“Ancient totem fragments!”

“Ling kernels!”

The two paled. Zuo Mo’s words instantly destroyed their mental barriers.

“En. These are good, but even the best stuff, if they cannot be used, are useless.” Zuo Mo continued, “I’ve come to find you to see what ways you guys have to forge them into talismans.”

Sun Bao and Ji Wei stared at each other. After a while, Sun Bao hesitantly opened. “Why doesn’t Daren forge them? Such a precious treasure, it would be too much of a pity if it was ruined.”

Zuo Mo naturally would be ashamed to say that his skills had been lain to waste. However, facing the duo’s worries, he said with a smile, “Don’t worry about ruining them!” After speaking, he took out two more pieces.

The two instantly became dumbstruck.

“These might be valuable, but everyone should not be timid due to this,” Zuo Mo said smugly. “These have come from the bodies of the fiend soul beasts. We probably can get more in the future.”

Sun Bao and Ji Wei’s eyes instantly lit up. No forging xiuzhe would not be moved when they heard this!

“You guys take it and study it!”

Zuo Mo gave each of them a totem fragment and kept one for himself. He didn’t want to lose a skill like forging that could earn jingshi. If he became poor one day, he might have to rely on this to eat. Also, he had the sixth-grade flame, Great Day Striped Flame, it would be too much of a pity if his forging skills were left to rust.

He asked Sun Bao to find an empty room and started to ponder it himself.

———

“Hm, Xiao Mo Ge!”

Ming Yue Zi who was sweeping around the yao city saw this name and his gaze couldn’t help but still as he stopped walking. He had a surprised expression. To be able to see Xiao Mo Ge’s bounty on the yao city of the third presion, that meant that Xiao Mo Ge had already entered the third prison. With Xiao Mo Ge’s strength, it did not surprise him that Xiao Mo Ge had entered the third prison.

What surprised him was that Xiao Mo Ge had put up a bounty of his own.

Ming Jue Zi’s first response was, “Is this guy wanted to retaliate against the Ji Family?”

His fingertip swiped across this bounty. The contents that opened up caused his to still. Battle of Seal Extinction? This extremely unfamiliar phrase caused Ming Jue Zi to not remember anything about it in a moment. A while later, he finally recalled some blurry impression about the Battle of Sealed Extinction.

The curiosity in Ming Jue Zi’s heart instantly rose. He hurriedly read on. Xiao Mo Ge’s bounty desired information on the Battle of Sealed Extinction. The more specific, the better, and they could even talk face-to-face. He then looked at the reward. His heart instantly jumped: It was a very high number!

This was an extremely strange bounty.

The requirements of the bounty was very indistinct, just that the more specific the better. And the goal of the bounty was unusually obscure. A battle that happened in ancient times?

Xiao Mo Ge was a historical enthusiast?

This speculation was too funny!

Did he have some treasure map of the Battle of Sealed Extinction? That was possible! If it was like that, then it was very probably that Xiao Mo Ge would put up such a bounty.

Thinking about the results of his past investigation, Ming Jue Zi’s heart suddenly started to burn.

He had expended great energy to finally pin down what high-level yao arts were used by Nan Yue and Cang Ze!

[South Sky Arrow Art] and [Grey Scar Art]!

These two yao arts that had been lost for a long time once again appeared in front of the word, and the crux of this entire matter all pointed to one yao—Xiao Mo Ge!

Maybe … …

Thinking about this, Ming Jue Zi decided to take this quest.

———

Bao Yi felt today was an unfortunate day.

Just after Boss had left, Gongsun Daren had arrived. It was fine to interact with Boss, but he couldn’t help but tremble whenever he interacted with Gongsun Daren. Whenever he saw Gongsun Daren’s peerlessly bashful smile, he couldn’t help but shiver.

“Daren, do you have any orders?” Bao Yi was very respectful.

“I’ve come to find fiend soul beast beads.” Gongsun Cha was slightly embarrassed.

For some unknown reason, when he saw Gongsun Cha’s shy expression like that of a seventeen year old, Bao Yi’s legs started to tremble slightly.

“How-how many do you need?”

“Give me all of them.” Gongsun Cha seemed to be even more embarrassed.

If it was any other person that came to Bao Yi and said this, he would definitely kick them in the face. Opening their mouths and demanding all of a certain material? Go dream! But facing Gongsun Daren, he said with the utmost respect, “Yes!”

Immediately, he used the fastest speed he was able to achieve to take out all the fiend soul beast beads and gave them to Gongsun Cha.

Gongsun Cha contentedly left.

Bao Yi’s legs softened and he sat down on the ground with lingering fear on his face. He finally sent off this killing god!

However, he was slightly puzzled. What did Gongsun Daren want so many fiend soul beast beads for?

Chapter 399: Weaknesses

“How was your troop’s harvest today?” a Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe asked his comrade beside him.

“Alright. It’s better than a few days ago. We killed two fiend soul beasts, but our luck wasn’t bad; and we got one totem fragment.” This fellow was truly proud inside, but he pretended to be indifferent.

“You guys really got lucky!” the other said with admiration. “I don’t know what is going on right now, so many good things becoming available at once. Did you see that Daren has announced three more kinds of formations that can be engraved?”

“Yes! They’re really good!” He licked his lips and was full of desire. “Much stronger than the engraved formations that were carved previously! However, the number of points that need to be used is really not cheap!”

“There’s no reason for good things to be cheap!” The person seemed very experienced. “And it’s just for us. Outsiders don’t even need to think about it. Even Ma Fan Daren has been furiously hunting fiend soul beasts these days. Isn’t it because he wants to trade for the engraved formations?”

“Ha, that’s true. Everyone is crazy! Who can sit still now? I’m not going to chat, going to work now! The faster I get points, the earlier I can get the formations engraved!”

In these past days, the relatively peaceful camp’s ambition had instantly been ignited by Zuo Mo’s announcement.

He had announced the three new formations, and the number of points needed for them to be engraved. In addition it was also announced that the mission for obtaining points would be the collection of totem fragments and fiend soul beast beads.

The number of points needed for each of the three newly announced formations were not low, but when everyone finished looking at the descriptions of the three formations, their eyes instantly turned red. A furious hunting wave had started due to this.

Compared to Vermillion Bird Camp, Guard Camp was much more peaceful.

The engraved formations did not have much use for them. What they cultivated was the fleshy body; but it did not mean that were not moved to action this time.

Fiend soul beast beads and totem fragments could be traded for points. For them, points were also of great use.

However Shu Long did not leave the camp and instead stayed locked up inside his tent by himself.

He was cultivating [Great Day Hardship Guard]. This mo skill had been greatly modified by Pu Yao again. Compared to [Hardship Guard], [Great Day Hardship Guard] was higher level. But the cultivation difficulty had also increased greatly. Out of caution, Pu Yao had Shu Long cultivate it first to prevent any problems from appearing.

[Hardship Guard] was a mo skill especially suited for those that did not have outstanding talent but were persistent.

The [Great Day Hardship Guard] that Pu Yao had modified had used [Hardship Guard] as the basis for a new mo skill. Even though his primary area was yao arts, to a peak expert like him that could touch the core nature of power, one solution was every solution. His knowledge was extremely broad. To say nothing of yao arts, he had studied an extraordinary amount of spells and mo skills.

Even Wei praised it after analyzing this [Great Day Hardship Guard] that he created. Afterwards, Wei had made adjustments to some details and further perfected it.

The [Great Day Hardship Guard] for which two great experts had teamed up to create was a top level mo skill even in the mo world.

But this top level mo skill was not so easy to cultivate. Pu Yao had added in many methods of cultivating from the Great Day mo physique, or rather, the cultivation of mo physiques.

The cultivation of mo physiques was extremely dangerous.

Shu Long’s entire body was tense. The armour on his body liquefied at a rate visible to the naked eye into a jet black liquid. Moments later, this black liquid wrapped him completely to the point even his eyes could not be seen.

“The hardest step is over,” Pu Yao said indifferent from within Zuo Mo’s consciousness.

“I feel some anticipation.” Wei’s eyes flashed. “If he can really cultivate into a mo physique … …”

He did not say what was after, but Pu Yao understood what Wei meant. If Shu Long could really cultivate into a mo physique, that meant that the possibility that other people could cultivate into mo physiques was very high.

In the mo world, the ability to cultivate into a mo physique depended on bloodlines and talent. If Shu Long could really cultivate into a mo physique, that Pu Yao undoubtedly had opened a completely new path! To cultivate into a mo physique by cultivating mo skills… instead of innate talent!

Wei was very clear about the terrifying power encapsulated in this!

Such a terrifying madman!

———

Zuo Mo’s expression was ugly as he stared at the totem fragment in his hand.

There was an aura of ancient desolation in this tiny fragment that made him think of the wasteland beast. Even though the presence of the totem fragment was not as powerful, vast, or savage as the wasteland beast, that bleakness was extremely similar. However, the bleakness of the wasteland beast carried a deathly stillness, and the bleakness of this totem fragment had birthed an extremely tiny thread of vitality.

That was the ling kernel!

Tens of thousands of years had caused this little fragment of life essence, to birth a thread of cognition.

He was almost certain that normal forging methods were unsuitable for the totem fragment. Normal forging methods could easily destroy the ling kernel of the totem fragment. That would be a great pity.

Zuo Mo placed great importance on this totem fragment. Due to this, he had specially used the Great Day Banded Flame to reforge the Sonic Lightning Walnuts to familiarize himself with the more domineering and purer Great Day Banded Flame.

It had to be said that the sixth-grade flame’s strength was as extraordinary as expected. He had almost forged a Sonic Lightning Walnut into a pile of silver water. The dominant nature of the fire could be seen. This also caused Zuo Mo to realize his weakest area.

The skill of a forger was primarily decided by three factors.

The first was forging knowledge: one had to be familiar with all kinds of materials, their combinations, and the formations.

The second was cultivation: one’s cultivation directly determined the control over the flame, the carving of formations. The higher the formation, the more complex it was, and the more it demanded of ling power.

The third were forging tools: fire seeds and cauldrons. If it was a water method, one also needed ling springs and cold ponds etc.

Zuo Mo was not weak on forging knowledge. Even though he did not understand high level forging methods, he had read a great variety of forging jade scrolls. In the area of formations, the entire Golden Crow Camp had no one that could compare to him. After the grind of the Ten Finger Prison, the endless yao arts broadened his visions and his affinity for formations came even more easily to him.

And tools were his strong points. Sixth-grade Great Day Banded Flame was definitely a peak fire seed that could not be bought with jingshi.

His weakest area was cultivation.

When he had been reforging the Sonic Lightning Walnut, he had detected this. In terms of cultivation, he was just in ningmai. Originally, he had not felt this kind of cultivation was low, but when he had channeled the Great Day Banded Flame today, he had found just how weak his ling power was.

The Great Day Banded Flame was like a colossal being, and his ling power wasn’t enough to even get a good glance at it.

If the Great Day Banded Flame had not been formed from his Great Day mo physique and was from the same origins, he would have been harmed in the backlash, much less channeled it.

Now Zuo Mo was depressed.

What was more depressing than having a treasure and not being able to use it?

Cultivation, cultivation! He was stuck at cultivation!

Deeply struck by this blow, Zuo Mo ran into the sea of consciousness and found Pu Yao. He asked without any greeting, “Pu, is there any methods that can immediately increase my cultivation?”

Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo like he was looking at an idiot. “What do you think ling power is?”

Zuo Mo was unsatisfied. “Are there really no methods?”

“I do have a good amount of spells here,” Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo, “but with your quality of physique, you probably have to cultivate ten more years to reach jindan. Unless you have worldly treasures. Do you have such things?”

Zuo Mo was instantly sorrowful. Worldly treasures that could increase cultivation, how could he have those?

With his present ling power, it was a delusion to think that he could control the sixth-grade Great Day Banded Flame. It wasn’t that he had not thought of using formations to control the Great Day Banded Flame, but no normal materials could tolerate the sixth-grade Great Day Banded Flame .

Damn it!

Wasn’t he wasting it?

Zuo Mo turned to Wei. Wei also showed an apologetic expression. He also didn’t have any good solutions.

Coming out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo’s mood was terrible. The Great Day Banded Flame was a top fire seed, the totem fragment was a top material, but he could only stare at them. It wasn’t even as good as Golden Crow Fire. That was just fourth-grade, but at least he could control that easily.

He finally realized a great problem. Ling power would always be his greatest weakness and he had to improve in it unless he wanted to give up on dan-making and forging. No matter if it was yao arts or mo skills, they were very powerful, but they could not replace ling power’s uses in other areas.

Fine, he wouldn’t think on it so much. Surviving and leaving the Sealed Extinction battlefield was the biggest priority right now.

Zuo Mo quickly let go of his mood.

He ran into the Ten Finger Prison. He first went to the yao city and received a letter left for him. The writer was a yao named Ming Jue Zi. He had written detailed inquiries on what kind of information Zuo Mo needed on the Battle of Sealed Extinction.

This letter instantly caused Zuo Mo’s low mood to rise greatly. Compared to his losses in forging, the information on the Battle of Sealed Extinction was much more important. He hurriedly wrote a response and replied to every question the other had.

After doing this, Zuo Mo’s depression was swept away. He excitedly ran to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard to find Nan Yue and Cang Ze. However, he did not find the two but found Cang Lin first. This young person was gradually recovering and was very happy when he saw Zuo Mo. Cang Ze was one of the primary hopes of the clan, and was urgently cultivating [Grey Scar Art].

A short while later, Zuo Mo saw a slightly tired Nan Yue. Due to the defeats at the front lines, everyone was furiously cultivating now. Nan Yue had a strong feeling of danger and was furiously teaching her clansmen to cultivate.

Zuo Mo thought of Nan Yue’s financial situation. The front lines had lost, so the prices of necessities would definitely have skyrocketed. Nan Yue’s days were probably very difficult. He gave a portion of the money he had to Nan Yue.

Having experienced war, Zuo Mo told her to spend more time on cultivation. In troubled times, strength was the basis of survival.

Nan Yue pressed her lips together tightly. She did not refuse and seriously nodded.

Zuo Mo explained in detail what to pay attention to during wartime. These were all his experiences. Nan Yue was not the only one to listen carefully. Cang Lin who was at the side hurriedly cast a recording yao art to record Zuo Mo’s words.

Zuo Mo’s stream of words caused Cang Lin to think. Had Daren experienced war before?

Was Daren at the front lines?

His heart was filled with questions.

Chapter 400: Draft Notice

Zuo Mo was downcast at the thought that his ling power was a constraint, but he was not demotivated by this. Instead it had roused his fighting spirit. Didn’t have any other ways? What he first thought of was the five element glass bead inside his body.

This five element glass bead was of extraordinary origins and greatly increased his affinity towards the five elements. When he had been at Wu Kong Mountain, he had benefited greatly from this.

At present, the five element glass bead was not one of Zuo Mo’s top talismans, but it was closely connected to Zuo Mo’s origins and had a special importance.

Zuo Mo had always been preoccupied and was unable to study it. At this time, Zuo Mo thought of it.

The five element glass bead had merged into Zuo Mo’s blood and flesh so he could only inspect it with his consciousness. However, when his consciousness inspected the five element glass bead, it was blocked by a gentle power.

Zuo Mo stilled. He recalled that Pu Yao had said to him that something was sealed inside the five element glass bead. A cautious expression came onto his face. This ling power was not strong, but it was very pure. The sealer should be a xiuzhe above jindan.

Surprised by his finding, Zuo Mo didn’t think much about it. In these two short years, he had encountered many battles and had almost died a few times. His life philosophies had also changed. Like his stance regarding his changed appearance and his origins, he still cared greatly and would endeavor to discover the truth, but he would not be as impulsive as he had been in the past.

Facing the threat of war, living in an unpredictable environment where he could perish at a moment’s notice, surviving was more important than anything else. Having personally experienced the cruelties of war, he knew just how small and insignificant a person’s life was. They were like a sapling in the middle of the storm. It took all of his strength to struggle and search for that thread of life.

After being baptised in battle, his heart was much stronger, and his self-control was stronger as well.

Pu Yao had also said clearly told him that he could not break the seal on the five element glass bead with his low cultivation. So Zuo Mo was not astonished about his failure.

His consciousness wrapped around the five element glass bead. Zuo Mo tried to find the smallest weakness in the seal, but this thin layer of ling power showed him that difference between cultivation stages was not so easy to overcome.

He shook his head, withdrew his consciousness from the five element glass bead. His hopes of using the five element glass bead was bankrupt.

Then what methods were there?

While Zuo Mo’s mind dwelled on the topic, a light flashed through his mind. He thought of another method, yao arts.

Could he use yao arts to forge? Yao arts could also control fire. Of all yao arts, five element yao arts were something every yao knew a little of because they were powerful and easy to learn. Zuo Mo’s fire yao art skill was not his best, but it wasn’t bad.

However, the fire of fire yao arts and the fire of forging had fundamental differences. Formations needed a medium in order to be engraved onto talismans, and flames could act as the medium. Fire yao arts might have powerful fires, but they could not be used in this manner.

Why so?

Zuo Mo sank into thought.

If things were different, Zuo Mo would not waste time on such a ridiculous problem, but there was no way around it. Even if it was ridiculous, he still had to do it.

As he thought, Zuo Mo’s right hand unconsciously cast a fire yao art. The simplest fire yao art of little yao arts, [Fire]. A weak flame wavered on the tip of his finger. Zuo Mo was extremely familiar with little yao arts. His mind did not need to move, and the wisp of flame twisted and danced around his finger like a snake of fire.

He closely felt every detail of the wisp. The snake of fire was very nimble and spirited.

Deep in thought, Zuo Mo completely did not realize the flow of time.

Draft notice!

Heavy Earth Corps had sent a draft notice!

Nan Yue looked at the draft notice in her hand. Her heart suddenly sank. The draft notice was compulsory. The tense wording requested the draftee to report to Heavy Earth Corps before a deadline. The one being drafted was not Nan Yue. She did show potential, but her strength was not enough that she qualified for a draft.

The draft notice was for Daren!

Nan Yue quickly understood. They could not find Daren’s location, but it was not hard to find her origins. Her mood instantly became dour. She had followed Daren for a while and generally grasped Daren’s temper.

Daren definitely would ignore this draft notice. At that time, conflict would be unavoidable.

Which person was scheming against Daren from the shadows?

She turned and looked at the clansmen that were working hard on their cultivation.

Her gaze was full of worry, but then her determination rose up.

She quickly entered the Wasteland Beast Chessboard. No matter what, she had to let Daren know as soon as possible!

Daren would definitely have a solution!

She was filled with confidence.

———

The black fire wrapped around a Golden Armor Guard. The Golden Armor Guard stood motionlessly like a wooden puppet. Pu Yao’s hands were like two blooming flowers. Yao arts rained down and entered the bodies of the Golden Armor Guards.

“Pity, the materials are a bit lacking,” Wei said with slight pity.

Due to the combination of Pu Yao’s skilled techniques  and the the large amounts of black fiendish energy the Golden Armored Guards absorbed from this vicious and fiendish ground,  they had the conditions to level up. The only thing Wei felt pity about was that these Golden Armor Guards had all been xiuzhe that cultivated the sword before death. The door-sized swords they held were frightening to see, but if it was a mo with a strong body, the power would have been several levels higher.

“Let’s just work with what we have,” Pu Yao said lazily. “Compared to the past, these days are already much better.”

“En.” Wei nodded and agreed with Pu Yao’s words.

This vicious ground to Zuo Mo and the others was undoubtedly a poor one. However, for Pu Yao and Wei, it was much better than Wu Kong Mountain. At the very least, they no longer needed to constantly worry about that withered old man suddenly coming with his sword to exterminate yaomo.

“Your student seems to have encountered trouble,” Wei reminded Pu Yao.

“I can’t help him,” Pu Yao said unconcernedly. His hands did not stop. “Do you understand that the methods of xiuzhe forging?”

Wei shook his head. “Mo cultivate their bodies and cannot forging.”

“It’s not that you cannot understand, but there is no need to understand.” Pu Yao was clearly  opposed to the xiuzhe methods. “Yao cultivate the spirit, mo their bodies, why do they need to forge? If he wants to work on forging, he can only rely on himself.”

Wei was silent for a moment before he suddenly said, “Why not let him cultivate yao arts and mo skills at the same time?”

“If you don’t want all of us to end up dead, it’s best if you do not have such a dangerous idea,” Pu Yao said warningly, “If he dies, you and I cannot escape either. Hmph, it already makes me feel unsafe that he cultivated a mo physique. Who made it so that your mo physique cultivation is so dangerous. I don’t want to die so soon.”

“Mo physique cultivation is not as dangerous as you think … …”

Pu Yao impatiently interrupted Wei. “If there are safer ways, then why risk it? Do you  have a problem with your head? If you want to find a successor, other than him, you can pick anyone. Guard Camp has so many people, just pick one. Shu Long isn’t bad, how about it? Have you considered it?”

Wei shook his head. “His talent is not enough.”

“Wake up!” Pu Yao was full of disdain. “Look at our state, you are still holding on to those traditions. It’s already good if you can find a successor, yet you’re still so picky!”

Pu Yao ranted on disdainfully, but his hand movements did not slow at all. When the last few lights entered the bodies of the Golden Armor Guards, he finally showed slight satisfaction.

The Golden Armor Guards were completely transformed. The scaled golden armor that had covered their bodies had disappeared, a complete suit of heavy black armor replaced it. The heavy armor was fitted so well it seemed like one object. They were like metal monsters. The terrifying presence that emanated from their bodies made people fearful.

Black spikes protruded from their shoulders, elbows, knees and other important places. The tip of each black spike was a strange blood-like red. At the crown of their helmets was a rhombus shaped golden mark that resembled the blood rhombus on Pu Yao’s forehead.

Pu Yao rubbed his chin and scanned the new Golden Armor Guards. He said to himself, “These trashy swords are no longer suitable. Oh, that broken sword in Wei Sheng’s hands isn’t bad, I wonder where he got it … …”

A moment later, he shook his head, and muttered, “Never mind. First we will work on this, let’s think about weapons in the future.”

Suddenly, Pu Yao raised his head and his eyes flashed.

At the same time, Wei also raised his head.

———

Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s faces were pale white.

After Daren had announced the fiend soul beast hunting mission, everyone was very enthusiastic. Other than engraving new formations, a piece of gossip was secretly passed on—the totem fragments were materials that had ling kernels! Supposedly Daren had already tasked the Golden Crow Camp with studying the forging talismans out of the totem fragments.

Those with foresight instantly detected the opportunity. Their past experiences told them if Daren gave something to Golden Crow Camp, it probably was in preparation to give to everyone.

No matter if it was the new formations, or the new talismans that hadn’t been forged yet, they all needed to be traded for by points. If they didn’t take this opportunity to earn points, were they dumb?

Lei Peng and Nian Lu were stronger than the average Vermillion Bird Camp members but they were still weaker than Ma Fan and the others. The two of them decided to pair up to hunt fiend soul beasts.

They worked very well together and were efficient producing great results. The past combat experiences had not been wasted. The strength of Vermillion Bird Camp had clearly increased. Many people did not even need to use the sword formation to comprehend sword essence. Of course, part of this was Wei Sheng’s work.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s improvement was especially evident. The fiend soul beasts they were afraid of in the past gradually became less dangerous for them.

Without detecting it, they had travelled a long way from the campsite.

Everything had been proceeding smoothly. Their luck was unusually good. They had encountered many more fiend soul beasts than usual. The outstanding result caused the two to start fantasizing about their wonderful future lives, with engraved new formations and using their new talismans.

Until they encountered this terrifying fiend soul beast!

Chapter 401: Big Guy

This fiend soul beast was more than three times the size of an average fiend soul beast. Its body shimmered with a metallic sheen. It stared coldly at Lei Peng and Nian Lu.

Its icy stare didn’t contain any hint of warmth.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu felt as though they were two little insects about to be stomped under the steps of a colossal giant. The other only needed to gently raise its foot and could crush them.

This fiend soul beast was unusually ugly. Its flat head was like that of a toad. The wide maw was tightly clenched and its jaw askew. The hunched posture was poised to strike. Every tense muscle fiber was visible to the eye. Its abnormally thick limbs made it appear asymmetric, but when these unbalanced features were combined together, it left them terror-stricken from the sense of danger.

The duo’s scalps felt numb but they did not dare to move rashly. The two of them were experienced. They knew if that they ran right now, there would be no chance of survival.

The fiend soul beast was motionless as it gazed down at the duo with indifference.

“What do we do?” Lei Peng maintained his posture as he asked in a low voice.

“Drag it out.” Nian Lu was also motionless. His eyes twirled about. “This thing is making such a spectacle. The others will definitely detect the disturbance. We will drag the fight out until they come to reinforce us.”

At the same time, the fiend soul beast suddenly opened its mouth.

The terrifyingly wide mouth opened like a gaping maw.

“Move!”

Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s bodies moved at the same time. The two of them darted away, one to the right and one to the left, each gathered all the ling power they could muster. The sword energy and sabre energy left their hands at the same time and howled as they flew towards the fiendish soul beast.

The fiendish soul beast seemed to not see it. Its eyes widened, and it inhaled through its enormous mouth.

Hiss!

The fiendish mist in the surroundings gathered furiously towards its gaping mouth. At a rate visible to the naked eye, a red black ball of light formed in its open mouth. It actually condensed the fiendish mist it had gathered in into a ball of light the size of a fist!

Ding ding!

Two clear sounds of impact rang out. Lei Peng and Nina Lu’s complexions changed. Their sword and sabre energies had struck the body of the fiend soul beast and only caused two sparks to fly.

What kind of monster was this?

These two were both xiuzhe that had comprehended “essence.” Their blows had been thrown with all their power, but they hadn’t even left a mark behind. The duo’s hearts sank. This big guy’s strength was far beyond their predictions!

A black red light erupted from the open mouth of the fiend soul beast.

It frightened the two into using all of their power to dodge to the sides.

Boom!

The red and black light lit up behind them. They were not able to react as they thrown backwards, and tossed through the air like blades of grass.

Pia pia, the instant the two landed on the ground, they were barely able to stabilize themselves. Their legs sunk into the dirt from the force, they were left in a sorry state. They could not dwell on the shock they were feeling. Turning around, the fiendish mist behind them had been swept clean away. Black smoke rose from a twenty zhang wide burnt black pit that stretched out behind them.

This, this was a monster!

The duo’s faces were ashen white.

———

Ma Fan moved like a ghost in the fiendish mist as he searched for fiend soul beasts. His entire body was covered in faint sword essence. Ever since he had comprehended sword essence manifestation his strength had leapt forward, but this also made his status slightly awkward, and this was even more evident when Zong Ru had stepped into jindan.

Compared to his normal fellows, he was much stronger, but he was a step behind the strongest group. After Wei Sheng came, and Zong Ru’s core formation, the stage of jindan had become the sign of being in the first group. It seemed as though he was only one step away from the stage of jindan, but this step was not so easily crossed.

If it wasn’t for Wei Sheng teaching the principles of the sword , he wouldn’t have dared to hope he could break through to jindan.

Zong Ru’s core formation was enormously influential on the entire group. Xie Shan’s core formation had been expected due to this many years of cultivation. Teacher Wei’s core formation was to be expected due to his talent. Only Zong Ru’s core formation was motivational to everyone. In the camp, Zong Ru was not the best in strength or the most talented. The fact that he could become jindan made it that core formation no longer seemed so out of reach in everyone else’s eyes.

For Ma Fan, other than motivation, this was also a kind of pressure.

He suddenly raised his head, his expression was grave.

Such a powerful presence!

There was a situation!

He suddenly changed directions and accelerated to fly towards the energy ripple. There were no other people in this fiendish mist other than their group. As he flew, he muttered inside. Who had such misfortune to encounter a big guy?

Ma Fan’s movement skill was not low, and after comprehending sword essence which was merged into his movement method, there were few in the camp that could rival him in speed. When he put focused on speed, he was like lightning. If one looked down from high up, they would see that Ma Fan was cutting through the mist like a sharp knife. Behind him, the two waves of air were like the lines of water when a ship travelled through and was extremely pretty.

That burst of shocking presence quickly became clearer and Ma Fan’s expression became increasingly serious.

Boom boom boom!

Sounds of explosions continuously echoed from ahead. With each sound, Ma Fan’s heart would jump.

At just this moment, his pupils suddenly shrank.

It was Lei Peng and Nian Lu!

The three were teammates from Sky Peak Platoon. Ma Fan was very familiar with the presences of these two, and instantly recognized them. The duo’s appearances were messy and panicked which made it evident that the situation was very dangerous. Ma Fan snorted coldly, and his speed increased again!

When he flew closer and saw Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s sorry state’s, fury rose in his eyes.

With a long howl, his body suddenly shot up in the air. The sword essence vibrated from his body and continuously increased. When he reached his peak, his sword essence had accumulated to an extreme and was blinding!

The fiend soul beast raised its head and shot a fiendish mist bullet towards Ma Fan in the air.

Ma Fan could clearly sense the danger from the black red light. If this was any other situation, he would definitely dodge and wait for a chance to strike. But at this time, his ling power and sword essence were surging without being held back. He seemed to be inside a burning fire cauldron. Every muscle felt as though it was being sliced by a thousand knives. He knew those were fine sword essences. His sword essence might have reached the stage of manifestation, but he still need a considerable amount of practice to control them at will.

He had seen Teacher Wei practice the sword. The sword essence was concentrated without a single thread going astray. That was the stage he dreamed about!

He tried to control the sword essence around his body and concentrated them inside his flying sword.

His blood vessels expanded and were on the verge of rupturing. The countless fine sword essences were like knives, but Ma Fan ignored all of this. All of his attention was focused on the merging of ling power and sword essence. Teacher Wei had said only when ling power and sword essences came together would they have the greatest power. With ling power and no sword essence, it only had the appearance. With sword essence but no ling power, there was blood but no flesh.

All the sword essence and ling power in his body furiously flew towards the sword.

The sword hummed lightly, and released a dazzling blue light. This layer of blinding light also covered Ma Fan.

The blue light was like a drop of ink that had splattered onto a white piece of paper. It spread outwards at astounding speeds. In the blink of an eye, the area ten zhang around Ma Fan was as blue as the sky.

The black red light finally reached him.

The sword energies that were as blue as the sky tore apart the fiendish mist. In a patch of red black fiendish mist, it was peerlessly dazzling.

Pew!

The sword energy sliced across the fiendish mist bullet without any resistance like a hot knife through butter and entered the forehead of the fiendish soul beast.

Pew!

Black liquid flew and turned to a ball of mist in the air before disappearing.

The fiend soul beast wailed in pain. For the first time, its icy cold eyes showed a ripple of emotion. It seemed unable to believe it had been injured! The ripples quickly turned to anger. The ant like prey in front of it had actually wounded it!

The fiendish mist in the surroundings seemed to have felt an invisible magnetism and furiously flooded towards it.

———

“This guy, he is this strong now?” Lei Peng was gaping as he stared.

“Handsome! Too handsome!” Nian Lu’s face was shocked.

They both recognized Ma Fan’s sword scripture. Fifth-grade [Clear Sky Sword Scripture], it had been a spoil of victory after Daren killed Clear Sky Old Forefather. There were many in Vermillion Bird Camp that cultivated this sword scripture, since it was a fifth-grade sword scripture and was very attractive.

However, Ma Fan was the first to cultivate [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] to this level!

He really was too strong!

With one move, Ma Fan was able to wound the fiend soul beast that they could do nothing to!

However, when they saw Ma Fan panting in the air, they realized that this move was at a great cost to Ma Fan.

“How are you?” Lei Peng turned to ask Nian Lu. Battle spirit roiled in his eyes.

“I won’t die!” Nian Lu looked at the sky and smiled with slight difficulty. “He is such a show-off, how can I let this guy take all the glory?”

The two rose into the sky and formed a triangle with Ma Fan. When Lei Peng and Nian Lu stood at his flanks behind him, Ma Fan’s confidence increased. Between the three, a sharp killing intent formed. The terror in their eyes decreased.

“This big guy definitely has something good on his body.” Lei Peng’s eyes flashed viciously.

“Kill it!” Nian Lu said maliciously.

“Troublesome … …” Ma Fan muttered.

The three figures charged towards the fiend soul beast!

———

Wei Sheng, Xie Shan, and Zong Ru flew through the fiendish mist at high speed. They had all detected the alarming presence in the distance and knew a situation had occurred. They had hurriedly acted.

Deep in thought, Zuo Mo was ignorant of everything else.

The fire yao art that had been spinning on the tip of his finger suddenly stopped on his palm and burned silently.

Zuo Mo’s fingers slowly started to move.

As his finger movements changed, the ling power was like an undercurrent that silently wrapped around the wisp of fire.

The fire wisp shook and became extremely unstable as though it could extinguish at any moment. Pia pia pia, a string of light explosions sounded around the wisp of fire.

The finger movements gradually became faster.

The fire wisp shook more fiercely. Suddenly, it exploded.

In this instant, Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up. He seemed thoughtful.

Fire yao art, consciousness, ling power, controlling fire … …

He seemed to see a thread that connected them.

Chapter 402: The Results From Ming Jue Zi’s Investigation

Zuo Mo had received a letter from Ming Jue Zi. His expression was excited and filled with hope. It said that Ming Jue Zi had found some important clues.

There was nothing that could make Zuo Mo happier than this, nothing was more urgent. He didn’t even stop to go look for Nan Yue and Cang Ze.

Ming Jue Zi quickly appeared. He recognized Zuo Mo at a glance. “Sir Xiao Mo Ge, I am Ming Jue Zi.”

Zuo Mo felt this person was familiar but he could not remember where he had seen Ming Jue Zi before. He politely responded, “Sir Ming Jue Zi, good day.”

Ming Jue Zi did not waste words and casted a recording yao art.

“In here is everything about the Battle of Sealed Extinction,” Ming Jue Zi said. This battle is truly too ancient. There are very few records about it. I’m very sorry, this is all the information that I was able to find.”

Zuo Mo quickly scanned the contents inside the recording yao art.

The general era in which the battle of Sealed Extinction occurred was not known, but it was approximately twenty five thousand years ago. It happened at that place that was called Constant Scarlet Jie. Supposedly, because the fiercest fighting had occurred near the jie river, the jie river entrance was destroyed in the fighting, and Constant Scarlet Jie became inaccessible, and disappeared from the jie maps from then on.

Zuo Mo look hard at the ancient jie map.

This jie map was extremely primitive. Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on the several jie surrounding Constant Scarlet Jie. From these, he could generally judge the position of Constant Scarlet Jie.

Sky Fold Jie, Gentle Mountain Jie, and Dazzling Splendor Jie. These three bordered Constant Scarlet Jie.

“Do you know the general position of Constant Scarlet Jie based on the present jie maps?” Zuo Mo asked Ming Jue Zi.

“It is probably in the area of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.” Ming Jue Zi had prepared well. “Constant Scarlet Jie disappeared a long time ago so it is hard to judge its position. But Sky Fold Jie and Dazzling Splendor Jie are presently part of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. Gentle Mountain Jie is the territory of xiuzhe and is a dangerous area. If we use these jie as references, Constant Scarlet Jie should be near the border of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. People have gone to explore this area before, but no one has found the existence of Constant Scarlet Jie.”

These questions strengthened Ming Jue Zi’s belief that Xiao Mo Ge was searching for treasure. Otherwise, why would he research the position of Constant Scarlet Jie?

Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie

Zuo Mo was stunned. Anyone with some common knowledge would know this place. Wasn’t that the place for the Yao Hunt? From all the news reports, he knew Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was where the heaviest fighting between xiuzhe and yaomo took place.

For Zuo Mo, this was not good news. Previously, he had decided to determine his present location, and then use transportation formations to leave the ghastly place.

But hearing that Constant Scarlet Jie was in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, his heart instantly cooled halfway. He had heard the general story of how Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had formed. Places like these were unsuitable for using transportation formations because the interference caused by the formation was great. When the Yao Hunt had been most fashionable in the past, the xiuzhe attempts in putting down transportation formations inside Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had never succeeded. All of the supplies had been transported in on treasure ships.

Zuo Mo had only a basic understanding of transportation formations. Because he couldn’t predict the interference, he didn’t dare to move rashly. Any small mistake in the transportation formation was terrifying. The reason that they had been transported to that ghastly place was that someone had changed the transportation formation in Sky Water Jie.

This plan seemed to have failed. Zuo Mo quickly discarded this idea.

His attention was placed on another sentence “the bulk of the fighting was near the jie river.” This sentence caused Zuo Mo’s eyes to light up. After searching through the fiendish mist all this time, they had discovered some trends. The closer to the center of the battlefield they went, the heavier the black fiendish energy was, and the stronger the fiend soul beasts.

If it was like that … …

Zuo Mo quickly organized his thoughts and became more excited as he thought. This way, they could quickly find the past jie river of Constant Scarlet Jie. The report speculated the reason that Constant Scarlet Jie had disappeared was that the jie river from it towards other jie had broke. This had caused the appearance that Constant Scarlet Jie had disappeared.

If they could find the location of the previous jie river, and then open the jie river … …

This way, the chances they could leave would increase greatly!

Zuo Mo repeatedly looked over the information to imprint it deep into his mind. Ming Jue Zi did not hurry him and patiently waited for Zuo Mo to finish reading.

A while later, Zuo Mo raised his head in satisfaction. “This is your payment.”

Ming Jue Zi gathered his courage and said, “Sir Xiao Mo Ge, I hope to use the reward to exchange for a yao art.” He then added, “If you have it.”

Zuo Mo paused. Ming Jue Zi’s request was unexpected but he still asked, “What yao art?”

“[Water Wood Light Art]!” When Ming Jue Zi finished speaking, he looked closely at Zuo Mo. He was extremely nervous.

“[Water Wood Light Art]?” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao paused upon hearing the name of the yao art. He abruptly said to Zuo Mo, “Ask him if he knows Ming Duan.”

“Do you know Ming Duan?” Zuo Mo asked.

Ming Jue Zi suddenly became excited. “That is my ancestor! Does Daren know Ancestor?”

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao was silent, and Wei sighed.

“Pu, you know?” Actually, with Pu Yao’s reactions, Zuo Mo knew that Pu Yao definitely knew Ming Duan and their relationship wasn’t just a casual one. However, he was slightly puzzled. He thought of Nan Yue, Pu Yao’s attitude back then had also been like this.

“Tell him,” Pu Yao did not reply and said, “the yao art will be given, but he must follow you.”

As expected, the conditions were just the same as Nan Yue. Zuo Mo muttered inside, but he still repeated this to Ming Jue Zi.

Ming Jue Zi unhesitatingly bowed, “This subordinate is willing to follow Daren!”

Giving the [Water Wood Light Art] to Ming Jue Zi, he hurriedly got him to leave. He was filled with curiosity, and decided to get to the bottom of the situation. He straightforwardly asked Pu Yao, “Pu, did you know their ancestors? Why do you have their yao arts?”

After remaining silent for a while, Pu Yao finally spoke, “Their ancestors were once my subordinates.”

Zuo Mo stilled. He had thought that Pu Yao had a close connection to these clans but definitely had not thought it would be this kind of relationship.

“That year, in our final battle, we were trapped.” Pu Yao looked into the distance, his voice reminiscent. “Everyone knew we could not escape. In order to make sure our lines of succession were not broken, we exchanged our yao arts amongst ourselves, said swore that whoever managed to survive was to pass on these yao arts to their descendants.”

Zuo Mo was silent. A moment later, he asked, “Then why do you require them to follow me? Just give it to them.”

“I had not thought that their clans would have declined so far.” Pu Yao twisted his mouth. “Even if I give the yao arts to them, their clans might not be able to survive on their own. Getting them to follow you is for their benefit. Your other skills might be average, but your ability to survive is top notch. If they follow you, they can at least survive.”

Zuo Mo’s face instantly collapsed. “Why push your past debts onto me?”

“You are my student, who do I push them on to if not you?” Pu Yao’s tone was righteous. He then smiled smugly, “It is fortunate that you are not inheriting from Wei. Tsk tsk, otherwise, you would really know what trouble is!”

Wei said with slight helplessness, “Don’t draw me into your matters.” Finishing, he couldn’t help but argue, “All of the gravestone armors stand by their belief and oath, this is glory and strength.”

Zuo Mo and Pu Yao rolled their eyes at the same time. They didn’t like Wei’s conduct at all.

Zuo Mo thought of another matter. He asked Pu Yao, “Then where did you get those xiuzhe spells?”

“Spoils of victory!” Pu Yao had a proud expression. “The xiuzhe that died on my hands aren’t normal ones. These spells are my collection. Aren’t they good?”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “How many? Give them all to me!”

“Why give them to you?” Pu Yao rolled his eyes.

“I’m your student!” Zuo Mo’s tone was righteous. Even his expression was the same as Pu Yao.

Pu Yao instantly choked. However, he reacted very quickly. “It’s not that I can’t give them to you.”

“What conditions?” Zuo Mo was very bald.

“First, you are my student, but look at yourself. What you’re best at is cultivating the mo physique. That is unacceptable!” Pu Yao had been discontent about this for a long time. On the side, Wei’s eyes flashed. He knew that Pu Yao had started his attack.

“No way about it. Who made it that the Great Day mo physique is powerful. We need to first preserve our lives first and then we can speak of other matters,” Zuo Mo threw up his hands and said with helplessness on his face.

Pu Yao was not defeated by Zuo Mo’s words. “Ha, when your yao arts advance to a level, I will give you that level’s spells.”

Zuo Mo wasn’t a softy. Want to tempt ge? Not that easy! He turned his face and said to Wei, “Wei, teach me mo skills!”

Pu Yao’s expression instantly became dark.

Wei did not want to provoke Pu Yao, but he didn’t want to only watch as Zuo Mo truly gave up on his mo physique. He had inspected everyone in Guard Camp. No person’s talent could compare to Zuo Mo. To be able to cultivate Great Day mo physique to this level, this was talent!

The inheritance of the gravestone armor was a matter of chance. If he gave up on this opportunity, he didn’t know when he would encounter another one.

Also, Zuo Mo seemed casual and offhand usually, and was never on the right path, but in reality, he had his own set of rules. He was not someone that would waver.

He said with finesse, “I gave an oath to not actively pass mo skills on to you.”

Pu Yao instantly thought that it was not good. He knew just how clever his student was.

As expected, Zuo Mo snickered after hearing that and said, “This is easy! I know, you are not able to break your oath. Oh, definitely won’t go against your oath, there are many ways. Look, I stole and learned on my own, you didn’t teach me.”

Wei was moved. He might hold by his oath, but he was not a pedantic person. Otherwise, he would not have disguised himself as the female to fool Pu Yao.

Pu Yao’s gaze instantly became extremely unfriendly, but he also had a great headache.

This boy was more and more bandit-like and was becoming harder to deal with!

Adding on that Wei was drooling after this boy, Pu Yao felt his mind was a mess.

Just as Pu Yao was feeling a headache, an icy voice interrupted the three people that were arguing.

“Xiao Mo Ge! You have been drafted! In ten days, report to the main base of the Heavy Earth Corps. If you do not arrive by the deadline, you will be punished by military law!”

Zuo Mo raised his head in shock. He found that at some time unknown to him, he was surrounded by four people with icy presences. The four people had faintly unfriendly expressions and tightly surrounded him.

Drafted?

Heavy Earth Corps?

Report in ten days?

Punishment by military law?

Zuo Mo’s mind blanked. What was this?

Chapter 403: Collision!

“Do you think Xiao Mo Ge would accept the draft?” Yu Zi Zhou said with bemusement. His gaze was poisonous and hateful.

“Probably,” his best friend said without confidence, “at this time, refusing the draft is punishable by military law! No matter how powerful his is, he won’t dare to oppose a military corp.”

“Haha!” Yu Zi Zhou laughed smugly. “No matter if he accepts or not, it won’t be easy for him. Haha! This is an unwinnable situation! I will let him know how death is written!”

“Your move is too poisonous!”

“Haha! Your praise makes my heart bloom! Haha!”

———

“The Heavy Earth Corps sent a draft notice for Xiao Mo Ge?” Ji Li Yu was slightly astonished.

“En.” Ji Cheng nodded repeatedly. “Yu Zi Zhou did it. The commander of Heavy Earth Corps is his uncle. A lot of people know this.”

“Yu Zi Zhou is not a good person, as expected,” Ji Li Yu said with a cold smile. “But this move is vicious!”

“What do we do?” Ji Cheng was slightly excited. “Xiao Mo Ge’s good days have reached an end!”

“Us? What does this have to do with us?” Ji Li Yu’s eyes flashed. “Yu Zi Zhou has lost his reason to his hatred. Making moves like this at this time, what would the people above think?”

“You mean … …” Ji Cheng made a sound. He was not dumb and understood she meant.

“They will fight their battles, while we just sit and watch,” Ji Li Yu said decisively. “At such a sensitive time when we are losing at the front lines, there are no disadvantages to being passive.” She changed the topic, “I heard that Mu Xi has come back?”

“En, she’s been back for a while now.” Ji Cheng nodded. He then reacted and said with astonishment, “You think well of her?”

“Find a time for us to visit Mu Xi.” Ji Li Yu’s eyes flashed with a different kind of light. “I have a feeling that Palace Lake Wood Clan is going end up with her as the main leader.”

“That’s not possible.” Ji Cheng’s expression was disbelieving and he said unconcernedly. “She’s so young! Also, she didn’t have any great battle achievements on her trip this time.”

“Let’s wait and see.” Ji Li Yu giggled.

———

Mu Xi narrated her entire journey in detail without missing any detail. The old person in front of her was the person she respected the most, and was also the leader of Palace Lake Wood Clan. In her eyes, he was also the wisest person.

“You say that the xiuzhe are also investigating this matter?” the clan leader said in a deep voice.

“Yes,” Mu Xi respectfully replied. “We did not detect that they were hiding near us at all. If an accident had not occurred to them, their scheme might have worked.”

“Stars in Daytime … …” the clan leader murmured to himself, “which daren would it be?”

Mu Xi sat respectfully and did not disturb the clan leader from thinking. Truthfully, even now, she did not fully understand the significance of Stars in Daytime.

A while later, the clan leader shook his head and refocused.

Mu Xi really could not contain her curiosity any more. “Clan Leader, what is Stars in Daytime?”

The clan leader explained, “The so-called Stars in Daytime is when one uses the power of the stars to heal the wounds of the body. If it is during the day, stars would appear on the entire sky, this is Stars in Daytime. Only the strongest of yaomo possess this kind of unnatural power.” He then grimaced and said, “This kind of skill only exists in the legends. I have not heard of anyone in the present that possesses it. Also, because the manifestation indicates he is injured, a daren would only cast such a secret technique in the most dangerous of times.”

Mu Xi finally understood. “No wonder!”

“Now you know why the Council of Elders is so panicked and reacted so urgently,” the clan leader said with a smile, “It shows great favor that the Elder Council gave such a mission to you, they are nurturing you. Now that the front lines are successively losing, it is a rare opportunity for you young people.”

Mi Xi calmly nodded, “Xi’er will definitely work hard.”

A flash of satisfaction flashed through the eyes of the clan leader. His expression then became stern as he said, “This man, Lin Qian, you speak of is probably a Kun Lun disciple, since he is able to pinpoint your origins immediately. The disciples of Kun Lun are always outstanding. If you fight against them in the future, you cannot take them lightly!”

“Yes!” Mu Xi obediently replied. That calm and handsome figure appeared in her mind’s eyes, and her fighting spirit rose. After returning, she had repeatedly thought back to the battle exchanges she had with Lin Qian. But even now, she could not find his weakness.

She had to admit that the other’s skills as a commander were higher than hers! She had the advantage of greater strength but still could not do anything to the other. If this was a mock battle in a battle general class, it would be judged as her defeat.

As expected from a Kun Lun disciple!

No matter if it was skill or conduct, it made others respect them.

She was not demotivated,but it was the opposite. The other’s appearance had caused her to understand how stupid and narrow it was for her compare herself with only those inside the yao art house. This was her starting point, she truly understood that a vast world had appeared in front of her.

Noticing the fighting spirit that rose in Mu Xi’s eyes, the experienced clan leader instantly understood what Mu Xi was thinking and couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“This matter will not end like this. Gaining the aid of a daren that can cause the Stars in Daytime is worth any price. This, we understand, the daren of the Council of Elders understand, but the xiuzhe also understand.” The clan elder was very clam. “Since all clues now point to Wu Kong Sword Sect, then we have a direction.”

Mu Xi was slightly puzzled. In her view, they should not enter into the conflict over the matter.

Almost as though he saw Mu Xi’s puzzlement, the clan leader said with a smile, “Our Palace Lake Wood Clan has some power, including influence in the territory of xiuzhe. However, the Council of Elders is probably also investigating in secret.”

“Then aren’t we wasting our efforts?” Mu Xi asked.

“Ha ha. It seems that we are wasting our efforts,” the clan leader chucked, and a sharp light flashed through his eyes, “but what if this daren is an elder that survived from the Thousand Year Battle?”

Mu Xi first froze and then she unhesitatingly shook her head. “That is impossible!”

“Why is it impossible?” The clan leader’s eyes narrowed. “I feel this is the most likely possibility! Otherwise, why did this daren appear in the territory of xiuzhe? A daren that could cause Stars of Daytime, it wouldn’t be strange for them to have some life-saving secret technique. Also, this relates to a secret that not many people know.”

“What secret?” Mu Xi unconsciously asked. But when the words came out, she regretted it. It was almost not appropriate for her to ask this.

Just as she was feeling insecure, the clan leader did not conceal and said, “In that great war, everyone knows that we yaomo lost but there are only a few that know some elders were captured! They were imprisoned in the Yao Subduing Tower. If I haven’t guessed wrong, this unknown daren most likely escaped from the Yao Subduing Tower.”

Mu Xi gaped and stared with wide eyes as she listened to the story.

Seeing Mu Xi’s expression, the clan leader smiled warmly. “Don’t find it strange. If this daren really escaped from the Yao Subduing Tower, then they are definitely worth our Palace Lake Wood Clan investing all our power.”

He did not explain more. There were some things that Mu Xi would understand only when she reached a certain age.

———

“Heavy Earth Corps?” Zuo Mo felt puzzled. However, when he saw the attitudes of the surrounding four people, his face instantly darkened.

“The draft notice has already been delivered to Sir’s follower, Nan Yue. Please report to the base of Heavy Earth Corps within ten days,” one of the people stared at Zuo Mo and said in a deep voice. He did not know who he had offended, but for him, this order held no influence.

“I have not heard of any Heavy Earth Corps and don’t have any interest!” Zuo Mo’s expression was icy.

Even though he did not understand why the other had come to find him, but in his view, the other’s attitude was enough to indicate a problem. Surrounded by four people, he was not afraid.

“You wish to resist a military order?” This person’s expression darkened and his gaze became vicious.

The other three people also had vicious glares as their bodies moved forward. A murderous energy instantly locked onto Zuo Mo. Even though they had heard that Zuo Mo had reconstructed the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, but in the eyes of this military combat yao, that wasn’t anything. Those genius that boasted so much were like bubbles that popped on impact, once they were placed on the battlefield.

The leading combat yao smirked. His gaze when he looked at Zuo Mo was like he was looking at a lamb waiting for slaughter. He did not object to giving the other a lesson in the Ten Finger Prison. Which one of those proud young masters didn’t obey under his hands?

Zuo Mo’s eyes narrowed and a cold light flashed through them. His upper body waved lightly like that of a clock pendulum.

The pupils of the leading combat yao suddenly shrank. In his field of vision, the Zuo Mo seemed to disappear! What shocked him even more was the other’s decisiveness. Attacking proactively without a word!

He was both shocked and angry. He bellowed, “You dare … …”

The movement of his hands were even faster than his angry shout. After long years of  training, it was instinct to react once encountering danger. A ball of dirt yellow light lit up in his hand and a shell of dirt yellow light appeared around him.

This was one of the most widely used military intermediate yao arts of the Heavy Earth Corps—[Earth Defence Art]. Proven through combat, it had outstanding defensive capabilities.

Being able to enter the third prison, his power was not weak. As one of the top combat yao in the military corp, he had absolute confidence in his power. Even more, he also had three powerful fellows with him.

Four against one, it made him feel as though he was using a sword to kill a chicken.

Ping!

A clear shattering sound caused his bellow to suddenly stop. A golden fist rapidly grew larger in his eyes!

How was this possible!

His expression froze. The earth defense art that he had always relied on was so easily broken by the other?

A military intermediate yao art at his full power … …

Was … …was … … smashed to bits by one punch … …

Time seemed to suddenly slow at this moment. The other’s fist grew larger and large in his eyes. Everything was so clear. He was even able to see the complex patterns that densely covered the golden armor on the other’s fist.

The terror was like a ferocious beast that escaped and rampaged in his body.

Chapter 404: Kill

Zuo Mo caught the terror in the eyes of this Heavy Earth Corps military official. His heart did not waver at all. He was completely ignorant of the strong mental blow his conduct had given this military official.

Attacking without any hesitation, so decisive and sharp it was shocking, a gaze that was indifferent- all of this screamed that, although this guy seemed young, he was definitely an experienced fighter!

This combat yao suddenly realized that this youth was completely different than what he had imagined.

At this time, he did not have the time to consider this. The fist that carried the aura of death had reached him. Even though he knew this was the Ten Finger Prison, where there wasn’t true death, his heart still shuddered, uncontrollably shuddered!

His eyes were wide. As a professional combat yao, even if his heart was terror-stricken, his training caused his body to still react instinctively!

His body suddenly retreated, both of his hands crossing in front of his chest. A bellow that shook him to his core had vented all the terror inside!

[Earth Shield]!

A low level yao art that completely displayed this military official’s combat instincts. A low level yao art, a yao art that he could cast the fastest was the only thing that could help him grasp the chance to survive in such a dangerous situation!

The full-powered [Earth Shield] had a surface as smooth as a mirror. The color was deep brown, and gave people the feeling of being as hard as metal.

Zuo Mo’s fist opened and he lightly pressed his palm onto the Earth Shield. The force caused by momentum suddenly changing to nimbleness was such a conflicting feeling that this combat yao almost spat blood.

However, when he saw the golden script that lit up on Zuo Mo’s palm, his expression changed.

Zzt!

Like poking through thin paper, the Earth Shield was like paper mache. That terrifying palm did not encounter any resistance, penetrating the Earth Shield and pressing against his body.

[Day Script Palm]!

Abundant power came from this palm. He opened his mouth, wanting to warn his fellows, but he could not make a sound!

He turned to a dash of white light and disappeared.

This exchange was so rapid that the remaining three only seemed to wake up when that combat yao turned to a ball of light. Their expressions changed.

But they could not find Zuo Mo’s figure at all.

One person’s expression suddenly changed as he shouted, “Careful!”

Pew!

A strangely shaped straight sword entered the back of a combat yao and exited through his chest.

Another white light!

The white light illuminated the shocked face of the third combat yao. In his eyes, a golden figure rapidly magnified.

An enormous pain came, and he turned to a streak of white light!

The last combat yao knew that he was definitely unable to escape. He suddenly howled. Strong yellow light flooded out of his body, and a fierce presence suddenly rose.

[Yellow Sky Heavy Earth]!

The was the trump card of the Heavy Earth Corps’ intermediate yao arts because its power was closely comparable to high level yao arts! With a special method, it would gather all spiritual power one had in an instant and then explode. A suicide attack, Dying together with the enemy!

This move’s spiritual power manipulation was not hard, but there were few people who could use it. That was because the caster, other than knowing how to use it, had to have the determination to die.

The combat yao showed a vicious smile that was twisted under the thick yellow light.

He leapt towards Zuo Mo!

He was fast, his figure disappeared from his position.

Pew pew!

Zuo Mo did not move, and only stared coldly at the other.

In midair, the combat yao looked in shock at his broken legs. He stared until the white light drowned the image of Xiao Mo Ge in his vision, the figure that was icily staring at him.

How … … how was this possible?

At the same time he turned to a ball of white light, a blade of ice appeared with a crisp sound in the air that had been empty before and shattered into pieces.

Ice Blade Illusory Formation!

Zuo Mo had set up a simple Ice Blade Illusory Formation around this combat yao, back when he had summoned the Noon Blade. He only had to wait for the other to fall into his trap.

There weren’t as many yao in the third prison as there were at the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, but there were still many yao that saw this fight. Every spectator had shocked expressions, and the sound of inhales came in waves. What happened before them surpassed their imaginations.

The result of the fight surpassed their imaginations, and the process of the fight had also surpassed their imaginations.

Four trained combat yao were killed by Xiao Mo Ge in one exchange each, and not one was able to threaten Xiao Mo Ge at all. The death of the last combat yao had left the strongest impression. The thick earthy yellow light, the shocking presence, everyone could tell that this was a powerful yao art that could rival high level yao arts. But the result was completely unexpected. A low level Ice Blade Illusory Formation had caused this powerful yao art and figure to crumble.

This result seemed to ridiculous and could even be considered fantastical.

After watching the battle and the shock subsided, it caused many spectators to think. Those that could enter the third prison were not weak, and each had above-average combat experience. Their combat experience told them if what happened in front of them occurred outside the Ten Finger Prison, the result would likely have been the same.

A terrifying guy!

A thread of warmth gradually rose in Zuo Mo’s icy eyes. He had exited his fighting mode. The exclamations and inhales of the spectators did not affect him at all. For him, this was just a fight, a fight that had nothing that was worthy of shock.

However, when he thought of the words the combat yao had said at the start, his brow couldn’t help but furrow.

He could disregard the other’s undisguised threat, but Nan Yue and the others might be affected.

This was slightly difficult!

Zuo Mo muttered inside.

———

When Zuo Mo got to the Wasteland Beast Chessboard, he quickly found Nan Yue because Nan Yue was waiting for him. Before encountering Zuo Mo, Nan Yue was a normal little yao. Right now, she was cultivating the high level yao art [South Sky Arrow Art], but her vision and knowledge had not changed at their core.

She was filled with worry when facing the power and authority of Heavy Earth Corps. As a true yao, she could understand the meaning of this draft notice better than Zuo Mo, especially at such a sensitive time with the yao’s repeated defeats at the front line.

Seeing Zuo Mo, she was overjoyed. “Daren!”

For an unknown reason, when she saw Daren, his peaceful face, his indifferent yet confident eyes, her restless heart quickly settled. Daren would definitely have a way! This thought unconsciously flashed through her mind but quickly took over it.

“You received the Heavy Earth Corps draft notice?” Zuo Mo did not waste words and asked Nan Yue.

“Yes, Daren!” Nan Yue replied. At the same time, she cast a recording yao art with her hand. She had recorded the contents of the draft notice inside. Since Daren already knew, then he definitely had a solution! She thought inside.

Zuo Mo scanned it and understood. After thinking, he asked Nan Yue, “If I do not want to accept the draft notice, is there any way?”

“Daren, there is no solution.” A voice came from behind him. It was Cang Lin that had coincidentally came as well. His expression was also filled with worry. Beside him was Cang Ze.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s eyes turn to him, Cang Lin grimaced and said, “Daren, the Heavy Earth Corps has sent the draft notice. If you disobey, they have the power to execute you.”

“Is there no way at all?” Zuo Mo’s brow creased.

“Unless the military upper levels or the Council of Elder resolve this situation. Only the Council of Elders have the power to change this draft order.” Cang Lin’s voice was bitter. “The Heavy Earth Corps is a regular corps belonging directly to the military. The military high command has the right to interfere. The same can be said for the Council of Elders. They have the right to any affair.”

“Which of you have a connection?” Zuo Mo asked.

The three shook their heads simultaneously. Zuo Mo saw this and understood. The Wisteria Clan of the South Sky and the Grey Clan had been in decline for too long. They were very far from the centers of power.

“Daren, maybe I have a solution!” Ming Jue Zi, who had rushed over to them had managed to hear this.

Zuo Mo had let him leave but he had not gone far. He had coincidentally heard some people passing by him discussing the conflict between Xiao Mo Ge and the Heavy Earth Corps. He had hurriedly ran over to search for Zuo Mo.

After Zuo Mo introduced Ming Jue Zi as his new follower, everyone instantly felt closer.

“Daren, this was definitely done by Yu Zi Zhou.” Ming Jue Zi only had to think to understand what had gone on.

“Yu Zi Zhou? Who is that?” Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled.

Seeing the puzzlement on Daren’s face, Ming Jue Zi couldn’t laugh or cry. He could only explain, “Daren, do you remember the battle when you defeated twenty six yao? Yu Zi Zhou was the second one.”

“Oh, him.” Zuo Mo had a small impression. However, the one that gave him the deepest impression was the masked expert from the Blue Flower Family.

“The military commander of Heavy Earth Corps is Yu Zi Zhou’s uncle.” Having spent a long time among experts, Ming Jue Zi was familiar with this kind of information. “Yu Zi Zhou has worked very hard to pursue Ji Li Yu. He probably was thinking of Ji Li Yu when he challenged Daren, but he lost great face when he was defeated by Daren. I heard that Yu Zi Zhou was a very small-hearted person. Didn’t think it was really so.”

Ming Jue Zi felt great disdain at Yu Zi Zhou’s conduct. “It really is despicable that Yu Zi Zhou is using such tricks, methods that should not be seen by the public, at such a sensitive time.”

Listening to Ming Jue Zi speak of the cause and effect, Zuo Mo and the others finally understood.

“What solution do you have?” Zuo Mo asked.

“It might not succeed,” Ming Jue Zi said in a heavy voice, “but it is worth a try! We need to make a big fuss!”

“Big fuss?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Yes! Only when it is a big fuss will they not dare to do whatever they want,” Ming Jue Zi said. “However, this will only make them cautious. In terms of law, they have the power to draft Daren!”

“And then?” Zuo Mo heard that Ming Jue Zi had following plans.

“They will definitely persist in the drafting you, and this would deepen the upper level’s dislike of them. We only need to show slight weakness and capture the sympathy of the upper levels,” Ming Jue Zi said calmly. “With the potential that Daren has shown, adding to our manufactured noise, there is a high possibility that we can get the upper levels to interfere.”

Nan Yue and the others lit up. This was a very outstanding plan.

Even Zuo Mo couldn’t help but nod inside. Ming Jue ZI’s plan was very plausible.

But … … maybe … …

An even crazier plan gradually formed in his mind!

Chapter 405: Yu Heng

“The Heavy Earth Corps draft of Xiao Mo Ge is filled with the stench of scheming and trickery. As everyone knows, Yu Zi Zhou’s uncle Yu Heng is the military commander of Heavy Earth Corps. One does not need an outstanding imagination to easily smell the fishiness here … …”

“Xiao Mo Ge’s strength is undoubted. Even when surrounded by four combat yao, he could easily defeat the other. It is not hard to accept such an accomplished youth giving his aid for this great war. However, we are suspicious. What would such an accomplish youth face if he enters the Heavy Earth Corps? Becoming cannon fodder is the most likely result … …

“The draft notice by the Heavy Earth Corps is completely without precedent. This is a very bad beginning. We do not need to say more of what has occurred between Xiao Mo Gen and Yu Ji Zhou. If a certain youth of great potential appears in the future, and is conscripted by the draft call, how is this different than being bandits? Or is it to say, if one does not have a background, with no protection from a yao art house, then they are unable to even protect their own freedom … …”

Yu Heng felt terrible inside and out. He looked darkly at his vice commander. The sharp gaze of the corps commander made the vice commander feel as though there was a blade at his back. Cold sweat poured down.

“Speak, what happened?” Yu Heng’s voice seemed to come between his teeth with dark coldness.

The vice commander knew that Daren was infuriated. He hadn’t expected that the matter would develop so poorly. He said weakly, “A few … … few days ago, Young Master said he needed a draft notice.”

“So you gave it to him?” Yu Heng’s facial skin shook as his eagle-like eyes stared at the vice commander.

The vice commander finally lost control of his terror. He knew that Daren was truly angry. His face suddenly became pale and he stammered, “This subordinate … … this subordinate … …”

“Trash!” Face black, Yu Heng’s right hand suddenly grabbed at the air.

Like an exploding watermelon, the vice commander was crushed and his limbs were sent flying!

A while later, his anger finally subsided slightly. His dark gaze stared at the floor covered in limbs and flesh. He sank into deep thought. He usually favored his nephew and had high hopes for him. He hadn’t expected his nephew to be so stupid. To do such a thing at such a sensitive time, and for someone to have gotten ahold of it and broadcasted it far and wide. The entire Heavy Earth Corps was now in an extremely reactive situation.

He was deeply disappointed in Yu Zi Zhou. He knew that Yu Zi Zhou had been pursuing Ji Li Yu. He had also supported it but he hadn’t thought that Yu Zi Zhou would be so small-minded. To do such a stupid thing for intangible gains!

Those yao channels were continuously discussing and repeating this matter these days.

Thinking about this, murderous intent rose. Those yao channels should all die! But the one who should die the most was that Xiao Mo Ge! Yu Heng was cunning. The situation was becoming fiercer over time, like oil being poured onto a fire. He could see with a glance that someone was stirring up trouble from the shadows.

But who was it? To make trouble for him at this time?

His gaze flashing, he calmed down. Several names came to mind. These people might not be the mastermind, but they would not refuse the chance to add stones when he was drowning.

Hmph, it is not so easy to see my humiliation!

Yu Heng recovered his calm. The harsh scent of blood in the room caused his to wrinkle his brow in discontent. He shouted towards outside the door, “Come!”

“Daren!” A guard came in. When he saw the ground meat on the ground, his expression couldn’t help but change.

Yu Heng said indifferent as though nothing had happened. “Clean this up.”

“Yes!” Swept by the corps commander’s gaze, the guard’s scalp tingled and coldness shot up from his feet.

Yu Heng walked out of the room without turning looking back.

———

Yu Zi Zhou’s limbs were cold. He had never expected the matter would transform into this. A person that was akin to an ant, no matter how outstanding his talent was, what was the use? In this era, if a person did not have a background or support, wasn’t he a lamb that would be slaughtered?

The gazes that had once been admiring and respectful in the past had all changed. Instead they were gazes of disdain, scorn … …

No one was willing to come close to him. Even the teachers of the yao art house shook their heads when they saw him as though they were pitying him, and sighing.

Why was it like this!

He balled his hands into fists so tightly his fingers went white! He was with furious and seethed with hatred! That one Xiao Mo Ge! Just a Xiao Mo Ge! Just that one was enough to make him an outcast? Were these people all blind?

He suddenly saw his best friend walking towards his direction. He seemed to have found someone to talk to and instinctively walked towards his best friend! But his best friend’s expression changed when he made eye contact. He pretended not to see Yu Zi Zhou and walked towards another direction.

Yu Zi Zhou’s feet were nailed to the ground.

He looked dazedly at the disappearing figure of his best friend.

———

Yu Heng stood with a warm smile in front of the reporters.

“I had not expected that our drafting of Xiao Mo Ge would be of concern to the public. Truthfully, this was unexpected to me. I have also heard what everyone has speculated about this matter so today, I have come to make some clarifications.”

All the reporters opened their ears.

“Many people think that this matter was caused by my nephew, Zi Zhou, scheming  in the shadows in order to take revenge on Xiao Mo Ge. Keke, Zi Zhou is my nephew, I have great affection for him, I do not refute any of this. There is one point about this matter that everyone has correctly guessed. I learned about Xiao Mo Ge from my nephew.”

Whoosh, the reporters all rumbled. They hadn’t thought that Yu Heng would not refuse to admit it!

He really was too arrogant!

Many people showed furious expressions.

Yu Heng’s hands made a motion to calm the press down. His presence as the military commander of a corps instinctively came out. The reporters that had become restless started to calm down.

“In contrast to everyone’s malicious speculations, my nephew admires Xiao Mo Ge very much. Due to this, he had done his best to recommend Xiao Mo Ge to me, it definitely was not done out of maliciousness.”

The people below all had disbelieving looks. There were even those that laughed.

Yu Heng seemed to not have heard it. His expression became grave as he said, “Truthfully, as a soldier, no matter if it is me or our Heavy Earth Corps, we have prepared to sacrifice ourselves at such a dangerous time. I will say this now. I hope the Council of Elders will consider our Heavy Earth Corps first. We have already finished preparing to go to the front lines!”

All of the reporters were stunned by Corps Commander Yu Heng’s request.

The losses at the front lines had greatly impacted morale. Some corps even started to fear combat. Now, Corps Commander Yu Heng was publicly requesting to go to war. The impassioned words instantly ignited everyone. The clapping was like thunder.

Yu Heng did not show joy and said in a heavy voice, “Life and death is not the most important in my eyes, but if defeat is caused due to the lack of strength, then we have to bear the blame! Everyone might feel we are domineering, that we have other intentions, but you do not know how desperate and desirous we are of talent! Why are we so desperate? Why so desirous? Because we know how heavy the responsibilities placed on our shoulders are! Because we know we cannot disappoint everyone’s hopes!”

Clap clap clap! The reporters below were excited, their faces completely red.

A dignified expression came onto Corps Commander Yu Heng’s face as he slowly said, “Mister Xiao Mo Ge! We will wait for you with the position of an officer! Please give your strength to help my Heavy Earth Corps!”

The entire room was silent. All the reports were shocked by these words.

———

“Such skill!” Ming Jue Zi’s face was pale as he murmured. All of his scheming and moves turned to dust in front of Yu Heng’s performance.

In front of Corps Commander Yu Heng’s experience, Ming Jue Zi felt just how poor his performance had been.

What made him feel even more hopeless was that his plan had actually set the stage to help Corps Commander Yu Heng.

Nan Yue and the others also had white faces.

In one night, public opinion had turned against them. Everyone praised Corps Commander Yu Heng and started to support this drafting of Xiao Mo Ge. There were people that continuously came out to call Xiao Mo Ge in hopes he would accept the draft notice.

He was offered an officer position, suggesting how sincere Corps Commander Yu Heng was Those people that assumed that Corps Commander Yu Heng was planning on making Xiao Mo Ge cannon fodder, but open your eyes and look!

The position of officer’s lowest requirement was to be a silver battle general. It was definitely an important position in the corps.

If Xiao Mo Ge still refused the draft call in this situation, that would be unacceptable.

Zuo Mo was also full of admiration. It had to be said that Yu Heng’s move was beautiful! Ming Jue Zi had not expected it, he had not expected it, and the cunning Pu Yao had also not expected it.

Looking at the pale Ming Jue Zi and others, he smiled.

He knew what Nan Yue and the others were worried about. The present situation for Xiao Mo Ge was akin to riding a tiger and being unable to get off. If he still refused the draft notice, Xiao Mo Ge’s popularity would plummet and his reputation would be stained.

But that was for Xiao Mo Ge. To Zuo Mo who was only able to appear in the Ten Finger Prison, was there a real consequence?

His reputation in the yao world? What was that?

Previously, he had been worried about the safety of Nan Yue and the others. Now, this had been solved. With the matter the subject of so much attention, the Heavy Earth Corps would not dare to seek revenge against Nan Yue and the others. Regardless of whether Zuo Mo accepted the draft notice or not, they had no reason to make trouble for Nan Yue and the others. This also caused the crazy plan that Zuo Mo had originally prepared to not have a place to be used.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s face was dark. His narrow bloody pupil was like a blade flashing with an alarming light. He said coldly, “Good move! Such a good move! Tsk tsk, there is someone this interesting!

The usually warm and humble Wei also showed dislike. “We cannot let him off so easily!”

Putting down his worries about Nan Yue and the others, Zuo Mo’s gaze turned towards the impassioned Yu Heng in the yao channel. He felt like he had swallowed a fly.

“Of course we can’t let this guy go.” Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes that flashed viciously.

The three miraculously had a consensus of opinion!

“Let’s get him!”

Chapter 406: Let’s Have A Fight!

“Yu Heng is really an old fox,” Ji Li Yu praised.

“Yes! I didn’t think that this guy was so cunning!” Ji Cheng still didn’t believe it, and it was hard to blame him. Before this, he wouldn’t even look at the corps commander of a regular corps. In the eyes of these large clans, the subordinate corps of the Council of Elders were the true elite. The regular corps were stronger than local corps, but their prestige and reputation was low.

But this time, he had been convinced that the regular corps also had powerful people.

“Do not underestimate others.” Ji Li Yu rolled her eyes. “Yu Heng is a golden battle general in the end, so how could he be weak? But comparing the actors of this scene, Yu Zi Zhou is really lacking. There isn’t anyone good in this generation of the Jade Family.”

“Tsk tsk, it seems that Yu Zi Zhou is completely out of the game! This kind of trash, Old Sis will definitely look down on,” Ji Cheng said as he shook his head.

Ji Li Yu said unconcernedly, “I didn’t have much interest in him to start with. If it wasn’t for fact he is from the Jade Family, I wouldn’t have even bothered with him.”

“I don’t know who will become my brother-in-law,” Ji Cheng muttered. Then he seemed to think of something. “But seeing Xiao Mo Ge losing, Old Sis probably feels very good!”

“Hee, slightly good!” Ji Li Yu’s brows relaxed, but then quickly creased again as she said, “However, I feel that Xiao Mo Ge wouldn’t lie down so easily.”

“In front of Yu Heng the old fox, he definitely has no chance of making a comeback,” Ji Cheng said confidently.

“That is not so certain … …” Ji Li Yu unconsciously wanted to say this;  but when the words reached her mouth, she finally reacted and swallowed them back down.

That figure floated in her mind. She had a strong feeling this guy wouldn’t give up here!

Fleeing without fighting definitely was not this guy’s style!

———

“What? You aren’t going to help that little guy who you were interested in?” the fire-faced person said curiously. “This guy’s situation isn’t good right now!”

“I’m not so idle as to make time for such things,” Tian Liu said disgruntledly.

“Hm, weren’t you very interested in him all this time? Didn’t you praise him for his outstanding talent and limitless potential,” the fire faced person asked with shock.

“You who dislikes salt does not need to worry about those of us who like salted carrots.” Qian Liu was so lazy he didn’t even open his eyes.

The fire faced person was enraged. “I hate eating carrots!” His tone suddenly changed. “You really aren’t worried?”

Facing the fire faced person’s nagging, Qian Liu was helpless. He could only raised his face. “In any case, it is just losing some popularity. So what? He won’t lose his life.”

“Oh, that’s right.” The fire faced person reacted.

“Also, that boy isn’t one take an attack like that lying down.”

“So, you are actually interested in the boy … …”

———

Yu Heng’s move caused both he and the Heavy Earth Corps to become famous.

No matter if it was the normal citizens that were truly fooled by him, or his opponents that knew him, they were filled with praise. Morale at the Heavy Earth Corps increased. Everyone raised their heads and puffed their chests. They were mentally satisfied and full of reverence when they looked at the corps commander.

Yu Heng was very proud. The effect that the plan, he had twisted his mind for, had had far surpassed his expectations. He had not been criticized for this matter. It was the opposite. Instead the military command had given him rewards for this. It had to be said that the geniuses of the yao art houses did not like to take positions in the military unless it was the corps that were directly subordinate to the Council of Elders, these were the positions that were attractive to them. The military command had always felt great pain about this but never had a solution.

The draft call of the Heavy Metal Corps caused their eyes to light up. Even more importantly, Yu Heng had made this matter beautiful! It hadn’t caused trouble for them, but made the military seem more upright. Even more, at this time when they were losing on the front lines, the words of the Corps Commander Yu Heng said had caused the low morale of the soldiers to greatly increase.

Yu Heng’s days became even better. As to whether or not Xiao Mo Ge would come, he was not concerned. After the storm this time, his reputation had shot up. Some citizens had put his name forward for the position of [The First Corps Commander of the Regular Corps]. No matter if Xiao Mo Ge came or not, he had benefited. As for actually being sent to the front lines, he was not afraid. His position as  corps commander had been earned by rising up through the ranks.

It really was profit without any costs!

He smugly watched the yao channels. In the past, he did not like these things that were full of wasted words, but he liked them very much now. Listening to the reporters repeatedly praising him, that made him feel better than anything else.

Yu Heng recognized the report in the yao channel. Yesterday, it had been him that had praised Yu Heng greatly, “The Tiger of the Regular Corps commanders,” “a true warrior,” “the bravest of the generation.” Yu Heng almost felt embarrassed from hearing the praises.

How would this guy compliment him today?

Yu Heng relaxed his body and laid halfway down as he thought and ate fruit.

“In this period of time, the matter of the drafts has really been turbulent and caused a great and unprecedented discussion. Every side has been continuously speaking of their position. The words of Corps Commander Yu Heng have showed us the sincerity of the Heavy Earth Corps. However, from beginning to end, we have missed the voice of one of the most important participants, Xiao Mo Ge! From the start, Xiao Mo Ge has not showed himself, and has not ever given his opinion on this matter. What we are able to see is only Xiao Mo Ge one on four battle and him defeating four Heavy Earth Corps combat yao in the recording yao arts. But today, Xiao Mo Ge has finally made a statement.”

Yu Heng was unconcerned. No matter if it was emotionally or rationally, he had the advantage. No matter what Xiao Mo Ge said, he could not win.

In the yao channel, Xiao Mo Ge’s expression was cold. It was the first time Yu Heng saw Xiao Mo Ge’s appearance. He paused slightly, so young, and then relaxed. His eyes were filled with amusement. What tricks would the other play?

“I still refuse the draft call of the Heavy Earth Corps.”

The reporter hurriedly asked, “Why? Do you not want to give your aid for this great war?”

“No.” Xiao Mo Ge shook his head.

“Then why?” the reporter pressed.

Xiao Mo Ge showed an expression of struggle.

Seeing the direction the interview was going, the reporter had a sense of urgency inside. On the outside, he had to act as a friendly guide. “If you have any difficulties, please tell everyone. I believe everyone will understand!”

Xiao Mo Ge still shook his head.

“Is it because of cultivation? You are at an important time in your cultivation?” The reporter used his imagination.

“No.” Xiao Mo Ge shook his head.

“Is it because of some predicament that cannot be altered?” the reporter gritted his teeth and asked.

“No.” Xiao Mo Ge shook his head.

“Then why?” The report was going to go crazy.

Hesitating once again, Xiao Mo Ge asked uncertainly, “Do I really have to say it?”

“I’m begging you, please say it!” The reporter wanted to cry.

“But saying it, I feel it wouldn’t be good,” Xiao Mo Ge slowly said.

The reporter had tears on his face. At this time, every yao that was watching was crying. Yu Heng snorted and smirked. This guy was good at pretending to be mysterious but his moves really sucked!

“No matter the reason, please say it!” the reporter said with the last of his energy.

“Then I’ll say it!” Xiao Mo Ge looked innocently at the reporter.

“Please say … … please say … …” the reporter panted and nodded.

Xiao Mo Ge suddenly paused. He retracted his playful expression and became grave. All the yao that were watching this unconsciously held their breath. Every yao had the same feeling that Xiao Mo Ge’s following words were definitely very important!

“Because…” Xiao Mo Ge who had closed his eyes suddenly opened them with a sharp gaze, “because they are too weak!”

“Too weak?” Intimidated by Xiao Mo Ge’s presence, the reporter instinctively asked.

“It was four against one a fight with an inexperienced youth like me, who has never stepped on the battlefield, yet they were defeated in one round. Is this the strength of our regular corps?” There was  indifference in his tone,reaccounting the event without emotion, yet he was able to convey his deep disappointment. “I am very disappointed! This is our Heavy Earth Corps? This is the Heavy Earth Corps that we have hoped would be able to protect us? This is the Heavy Earth Corps that we are hoping can win this great war?”

The reporter was completely stunned! Yu Heng was stunned! All the yao that were watching the yao channel were stunned!

In their ears, there was only Xiao Mo Ge’s icy voice echoing.

“So I refuse! I have never thought that a regular corps would be this weak. Four against one, but where was your teamwork? Where was the basic strategy that combat yao should have? Where was it? I believe that there are many who have seen the recording yao art. Can you find even the slightest trace of these things from there? And this is our regular corps?”

Xiao Mo Ge shook his head, his expression serious, as he seemed to talk to himself.

“A corps that is in such decline saying they want to draft me, should I feel proud? No! I feel embarrassed! This is an embarrassment! Even though I have never joined the army before,  in my mind, the army was powerful, so powerful it required our reverence. A qualified combat yao may not match an expert in a one on one battle, but when it is four on one, such a poor performance cannot be forgiven!”

Among the silence, Zuo Mo’s voice was clear.

“My personal experiences fill me with bewilderment. The so-called corps commander of this kind of corps, is he really a qualified battle general?”

In front of the yao channel, Yu Heng was so angry his face was white. His breath was stuck at his chest, unable to go up or down.

“Maybe a four on one battle cannot reveal the problem. Then…”

In the yao channel, Xiao Mo Ge that had thrown out such shocking words suddenly raised his head. His raised his right arm, his finger pointing straight as though Yu Heng was right in front of him.

“Let’s have a fight! Gold General Corps Commander Yu Heng!”

The clear voice and the domineering presence were imprinted in the minds of countless people alongside the figure of the youth giving a battle challenge with his arm.

Chapter 407: Acceptance Of Battle Invitation

“He dares! He dares!”

“Trash! Trash … …”

“Kill you! Kill you!”

The guard heard the shouts of the corps commander inside the room, and what followed immediately after was the sound of something crashing against the ground. His head shrank back. Thinking about the flesh and gore scattered around the room last time, his heart tightened.

Daren was really frightening when angry!

He was also slightly puzzled. Who had caused Daren to be so furious?

These days, all of the Heavy Earth Corps had been immersed in joy. Who wasn’t speaking positively of the Heavy Earth Corps? Everyone felt there was a shine to their faces. Supposedly, the military high command would visit the corps in a few days.

Which unperceptive person was seeking death?

The guard cursed inside but before he could think it through, a figure came out of the room. It was Daren! He jumped, and hurriedly bowed. However, Daren’s face was dark and did not raise his head.

Whoa, something major probably happened … …

———

“This guy,” Ji Cheng’s expression was frozen. A moment later, his soul came back and he stammered, “is he crazy? Too … … too domineering! Too arrogant … …”

Ji Li Yu did not seem to hear it. She looked dazedly at the youth inside the yao channel that was pointing at her. The youth on the yao channel had a gaze like a sword that did not retreat. That straight finger was the declaration of war!

“Too crazy!” Ji Cheng shook his head and murmured as though he wanted to make himself believe it. He did not even know what he was saying. “Too … … exhilarating!”

A long while later, the soulless Ji Cheng and the dazedly Ji Li Yu resumed normality. But the two sank into silence. They did not know what to say, and did not know what language to use to describe their mood at the moment.

A youth that was not yet twenty had publicly challenged the commander of a corps!

Such an insane even had never happened before in history, but it really happened in front of them. They had seen the entire process with their own eyes.

“Old Sis, do you think Yu Heng will accept?” Ji Cheng suddenly asked Ji Li Yu.

Ji li Yu unconsciously bit her lips. “Definitely.”

“Yes!” Ji Cheng’s tone was very complex. “Yu Heng will definitely accept! Xiao Mo Ge definitely would have predicted that Yu Heng will accept. It really is … … crazy!”

He repeatedly said “crazy” as though this would be able to truly express his present emotions.

“We all underestimated him.” Ji Li Yu’s gaze became clear again. Her usual intelligence also returned. She was very calm. “Xiao Mo Ge dares to give this sort of challenge means that he has something he can rely on.”

Ji Cheng nodded repeatedly. If he had some underestimation and scorn for Xiao Mo Ge before, then he was an admirer of Xiao Mo Ge now. Such a domineering and arrogant challenge, it was so exciting just thinking about it. He wouldn’t even dare to think about it, much less do it!

No matter if Xiao Mo Ge won or lost, Ji Cheng was completely subdued by the other’s bravery and domineering.

Without realizing it, Xiao Mo Ge had become Ji Cheng’s idol. Even Ji Cheng did not realize this. He asked urgently, “Is Xiao Mo Ge able to defeat Yu Heng?”

“No matter how powerful Xiao Mo Ge is, if it is a duel, he definitely is not Yu Heng’s match. However,” Ji Li Yu’s eyes flashed, “they probably will compete in war chess. What Xiao Mo Ge disparaged was Yu Heng’s skill as a battle general. If Yu Heng wants to wash this shame away, he must respond in this area. The only thing that can realize the two of them fighting is naturally war chess.”

“Is Xiao Mo Ge also a powerful battle general?” Ji Cheng’s mouth was wide, his face disbelieving.

“Most likely!” Ji Li Yu said to herself, “Since he dares to make the challenge, then he definitely would have some chance of victory. Yu Heng is a gold battle general. To have a chance of victory, he can only be … …”

“A gold battle general!” Ji Cheng exclaimed. He felt his brain wasn’t enough to use

Killing twenty six in a row, reconstructing a prison, all of this showed Xiao Mo Ge’s powerful individual strength. With Xiao Mo Ge’s age, it was enough to shock Ji Cheng. Now his Old Sis was telling him that Xiao Mo Ge was also a golden battle general!

It was too crazy … … too crazy … …

“Impossible! Impossible!” Ji Cheng unconsciously murmured. He felt his brain was short-circuiting. How was it possible? It was absurd! A guy of the same age as him that not only possessed great individual power, but was also a golden battle general. Was the world crazy? Had golden battle generals become lettuce selling on the market?

His mind was ringing. But Old Sis’ tone was so confident that he believed it. Every time Old Sis used this tone to give a arrive at a conclusion, then the result of this matter basically would not change too much. From young until now, it had always been so!

How was it possible … …

Ji Cheng suddenly felt a deep blow. His heart felt bitter. Compared to Xiao Mo Ge, he felt he was like a pig. The difference between them was so great that he could not gather the courage to compare the two of them.

Ji Li Yu noticed her younger brother’s expression. She paused slightly and then understood. She lightly said, “I feel that many people were wrong from the start.”

“Wrong about what?” Ji Cheng’s face was puzzled.

“Xiao Mo Ge’s identity is still a riddle. Many people assume that he is from a poor background and has no foundation.” Ji Li Yu shook her head and said, “Looking at it now, this speculation is absurdly incorrect. Xiao Mo Ge isn’t from a poor background and his origins are definitely not simple. He may even have a very important background!”

“Why?” Ji Cheng had not refused from his shock.

“It is possible to be from a poor background and still have powerful yao arts, but if he is a powerful battle general, how can he of humble birth? Xiao Mo Ge either is from a prestigious family background, or he has a famed teacher!” Ji Li Yu explained.

“Right.” Ji Cheng realized.

“The other’s birth might be even higher than our Ji Family, and have a deeper history!” Ji Li Yu said.

Ji Cheng’s grey face finally recovered some blood. Thinking about it this way, he felt much better.

“I really anticipate this!”

———

“How was it? Was my performance not bad?” Zuo Mo smugly asked Wei.

Wei smiled slightly. “Very good!”

Zuo Mo wouldn’t be fooled by Wei’s humble and gentle appearance any more. In front of the cunning and sly Pu Yao, Wei was definitely playing Mister Good. Wei was one that was persistence in his beliefs. However, Zuo Mo discovered through this matter that of the three of them, this guy had the highest skill at fooling people.

Full of righteousness, a good appearance … …

Even if he was making a great lie, Wei’s eyes would still be filled with sincerity. Zuo Mo was suspicious that this guy was practiced in doing things in the shadows, while showing a pious face.

This guy was a charlatan!

But it had to be said that after Wei’s teachings, Zuo Mo’s performance could be said to be perfect.

“What should we do now?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao curiously. “Do I really have to fight him?”

“No need, no need.” Pu Yao showed a very proud smile, and then smiled mysteriously. “You will know soon!”

———

The matter of Xiao Mo Ge publicly challenging Yu Heng became an even hotter topic.

The recording yao art of his one against four battle was spread far. After seeing the entire battle, many people couldn’t help but agree with Xiao Mo Ge’s words. It was true. From the recording yao art, the performances of the four combat yao were not worthy of praise.

Yu Heng’s impassioned performance changed meaning in front of this recording yao art.

The rumours about the Heavy Earth Corps in the cities became even more rampant: the Heavy Earth Corps were rotten from the core, there were secrets about the identity of Commander Yu Heng’s gold battle general status.

Yu Heng deeply experienced what it felt like to fall from the heavens into the pits of hell.

The military command that had been praising him previously changed their attitudes and their tone became stern. This time, they had come out and scolded him. They were all straightforward and old generals. These old general did not care about showing off. However, the level of the military decreasing and the loss of combat capabilities were subjects of their deep hatred.

Even more, the front lines had just experienced losses. Some people even speculated the reason that Fierce Fire Corps and Ice Frost Corpse were exterminated were because they were like the Heavy Earth Corps, rotten, in decline, and unable to stand up in a fight.

The pressure on Yu Heng shot up.

His face was dark every day. He threw his nephew Yu Zi Zhou far away. The mood in Heavy Earth Corps was very low. The experienced Yu Heng knew that if the other dared to challenge him like this then they had tricks to follow up with. He could see it clearly. No matter if he won or lost, there was no benefit to him.

If he won, the opponent was a youth and the victory was not honourable, it was expected and nothing to boast about.

But if he lost … …

He didn’t dare think of this result!

Such poisonous schemes!

Yu Heng’s face was black.

A while later, he raised his head. His eyes were murderous. He squeezed the words through his teeth, “Accept the battle!”

The second day, an enormous war chess was being set up on the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

All of the topography of this war chess was personally designed by famed war chess master He Yong. To set up this match, the famed Water Caltrop Yao Art House, had sent large numbers of teachers that spent three whole days constructing it.

This was a war chess match that was unprecedented.

———

Gongsun Cha swallowed a fiend soul beast bead and channelled his core scripture. He continuously absorbed soul base source from the fiend soul beast bead.

By now, his core scripture was in its beginning form and its power had started to show, especially when he was giving commands. He didn’t need to rely on even one talisman to be able to pass his orders to every soldier.

His core scripture flowed. His mind was able to maintain clarity from beginning to end. For a battle general, that was more important than anything.

His sudden increase in skill did not cause any joy to appear on his face. Thinking about his defeat last time, there seemed to be a fire burning inside.

He planned on challenge that old guy today!

This time, he had to defeat the other!

Entering war chess like usual, he sent a challenge to the other without fear. Previously, whenever he sent out the challenge, the other would unhesitatingly start a match.

But the chess match did not start today. Gongsun Cha frowned. The Lil’ Miss in times of battle was a completely different person than usual. At this moment, a dark voice sounded next to his ear, “There’s a new match, do you dare to come?”

New chess match? Who cares if it is a new chess match opponent or an old one! I will defeat all of them!

Full of motivation, Gongsun Cha was ignited by these light words.

“Come!”

Chapter 408: The Choices Of A Beginner?

“Gongsun Shidi?” Zuo Mo had an expression of realization. So it was not Pu Yao that was going to battle. Then he felt puzzled. “What trick did you use to pull Gongsun Shidi in?”

“Hee hee.” Pu Yao was very proud. “It took a lot of effort. But luckily, his consciousness is stronger than yours, so there are ways.”

Zuo Mo became slightly embarrassed and was shocked at the revelation. “Gongsun Shidi’s consciousness is stronger than mine?”

“Hmph! Now you know the difference. You learn everything, know a little of everything, but have mastered none.” Pu Yao had been unsatisfied with Zuo Mo for this for a long time. He naturally would not let go of the chance to attack him.

“This way is good as long as I can survive. If I can survive and can earn jingshi!” Zuo Mo’s expression was unconcerned and this infuriated Pu Yao, causing him to roll his eyes. Wei, on the other hand, sat in a dignified manner on the side, with the trademark righteous and dignified smirk on his face.

Zuo Mo found they were looking down on the battlefield from a very strange angle. It was clear Gongsun Shidi had not noticed their presence. Zuo Mo looked around and was very curious. He asked, “Will  Yu Heng be able to see Gongsun Shidi?”

Pu Yao ignored him. Wei explained, “They can’t see him. Other than the three of us, no one can see him.”

“So it’s like that!” Zuo Mo had an expression of comprehension. He then rubbed his hands eagerly. “Gongsun Shidi will definitely make that stupid jade cry and crawl away. Pu, you’re vicious!”

“The other is not that weak.” Pu shook his head, his expression serious. “Yu Heng is a gold battle general. His strength cannot be underestimated!”

“Gold battle general?” Zuo Mo stilled and said disbelievingly. “No way. That guy looks like he’s a con man, he’s a gold battle general?”

Pu Yao snorted and said, “You look down at him? He’s a true gold battle general! For people like you, he can just reach out with his fingertip and destroy your whole lot.”

Zuo Mo’s face was thick and immune to attacks of this degree. He said cheerfully, “Destroy me? He must first defeat Gongsun Shidi! Right, what is Gongsun Shidi’s skill level now? He probably won’t have any problems defeating this old guy, right?”

“Hard to say.” The smile on Pu Yao’s face disappeared. His expression was stern. “I’ve never fought against Yu Heng before, and do not know what his skills are like.”

“In any case, I believe in Gongsun Shidi!” Zuo Mo had a confident expression.

Pu Yao was slightly astonished. “You are this confident hin him?”

“Shidi is a genius!” Zuo Mo said without hesitation.

———

The usual Gongsun Cha was shy and bashful. Even when speaking, his tone and presence were soft. But when he fought, he seemed to become a whole other person. It might have been due to the influence of Pu Yao, or that his innate personality possessed this kind of insanity, but the Gongsun Cha during battle was daring and heated, vicious and merciless, striking without hesitation.

But there were few that knew under this layer of insanity was a glacier like iciness.

With one sweep, he detected the difference of the environment compared to usual. The complex environment, flora he had never seen before, and strange energy flows that seemed real … …

Such an enormous chess board!

Gongsun Cha stood on the top of a mountain peak and looked down at the vast and borderless stretches of land. The wind blew across his handsome face. The mountain wind was very strong and the hairs in front of his forehead swung in the wind and danced in his vision. They quickly became ruffled and tangled. He did not seem to detect it. There was a trace of a smile on the corner of his mouth. His gaze looked into the distance. In the eyes that swept around occasionally, a dot of fire grew, igniting when it met the wind and began to burn!

The scale of this chessboard far surpassed any he had fought on before.

He closed his eyes and spread his arms.

———

In the darkness, Yu Heng opened his eyes which flashed.

A moment later, he showed a satisfied expression. This period of quiet meditation these past few days had not been wasted. He could feel that his mental state had been attuned to its peak. The franticness and the fury of the past days had all disappeared. At this moment, he was like a wolf in the darkness, filled with desire to battle, but also possessing an icy and clear mind.

Xiao Mo Ge’s challenge had forced him into a situation of life and death. He only had one choice, to fight.

He had never before been made to look like such a fool and forced into a reactive position. The initial fury had come mostly from this.

Xiao Mo Ge’s move truly surpassed his expectation.

But Yu Heng had experienced countless schemes and plans during his rise to be able to become the commander of a corps. There were many situations that had been more dangerous than this. Experienced, he quickly calmed down and found the possibility of survival that remained.

This war chess match, he didn’t just have to win, but had to win beautifully!

Only by doing so could he preserve his glory in the public’s eyes. Having realized this, he threw away all hesitation and started to prepare his mental state. From this, it was possible to see his experience and decisiveness. His reputation was not insubstantial.

It was crucial for a battle general to have the ability to adjust their mentality and required to become a mature battle general.

Yu Heng unhesitatingly walked into the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

———

“Yu Heng has come,” Ji Heng said. His gaze did not move away for a moment.

Ji Li Yu did not make a sound. Her gaze was tightly locked on the yao channel’s broadcast in front of her.

This battle had caused a ruckus in every yao jie. All the yao channels, regardless of their size, were only broadcasting this battle today. It was the same in every yao jie, every city, tens of thousands of yao in the air watching the broadcast. No one would miss this battle. Compared to Xiao Mo Ge’s previous battles, today’s battle was on a completely different level.

His opponent was a gold battle general and the over-scaled, high difficulty war chess caused this battle to become hugely popular. The result of this battle would directly affect both the future of Heavy Earth Corps and  the gold battle general Yu Heng.

In the history of yao, there had never been an event where the fate of a corps was entirely determined by the power of a single person.

Other than attracting the public’s attention, this event also attracted the gaze of the upper levels. It was not just the military high command, even the Council of Elders had noticed it. Compared to this fight, the conflict against the Genius Alliance was like playing house.

Yu Heng had been the commander of Heavy Earth Corps for ten whole years, and had a great reputation. His reputation as a gold battle general was even longer than that.

It had to be said that in all of the yao jie, there were one hundred and seventy thousand silver battle generals, but the number of gold battle generals did not surpass eight hundred. Receiving the title of a gold battle general meant that they had squeezed into the ranks of the top battle generals.

Ji Li Yu stared at the war chess field on the yao channel even though the battle had not started, the entire landscape was empty. Xiao Mo Ge and Yu Heng had both entered the field and everyone became alert.

The spectators could not see the two, but the entire chess field had lit up. This meant that both participants had arrived.

The same thought flashed through every yao’s mind.

It was starting!

———

This battle also attracted the attention of many battle generals. Among battle generals, gold battle generals were undoubtedly experts. A gold battle general that received the position of corps commander was also an expert among experts. There were few chances to watch top experts directly fighting.

“Daren, who do you favor?” a young battle general asked respectfully.

Everyone surrounded a female like the stars surrounded the moon. A full head of golden long hair cascaded off her shoulders like a waterfall, pure snowy white skin, and a face without an imperfection. She was extraordinarily beautiful, especially that pair of light blue eyes that were as vast as the sea and able to see through everything. No yao in the surroundings dared to look straight at them.

The yao around her were also handsome or beautiful. She silently stood among them without a word, but no one could cover her light.

She was Ming Yue Ye, the bright moon in the night, the present leader of the Genius Alliance.

Ming Yue Ye smiled slightly and her lips parted, “Who do you favor?”

The voice was airy, and the yao that were close by had varying degrees of intoxicated expressions on their faces. A thread of adoration imperceptibly flashed across the young battle general’s face. He quickly gathered his thoughts and said cautiously, “We do not know Xiao Mo Ge’s skill level. However, Corps Commander Yu Heng’s style is experienced, and he is a hard bone to bite.”

At this time, a beautiful female yao in the surroundings said prettily, “Even the hardest bone is nothing in front of A Nan.” He Mei was one of Ming Yue Ye’s closest confidants. She wasn’t just beautiful and alluring, her conduct was extremely fiery and she was a rose with thorns.

Sang Nan hurriedly said humbly, “Sister He is joking. Compared to Commander Yu Heng, I’m very lacking.”

“Who does A Nan think will win?” He Mei couldn’t help but ask curiously. The yao around were also curious about this question. Many of them looked at Sang Nan. The Genius Alliance was full of geniuses. Other than the geniuses that had limitless futures in cultivation and yao arts, there were also many who were battle generals.

The Genius Alliance had sixteen gold battle generals, and Sang Nan was one of them. He was also the first seat battle general of the Genius Alliance. His strength had already attracted the attention of the Council of Elders, but such a skilled genius faithfully followed Ming Yue Ye. If he did not follow Ming Yue Ye, then it was very possible that he would have become the youngest corps commander of all of the yao world.

After thinking, Sang Nan said, “Both sides have a chance, especially since there are too many unknown factors. But I feel Yu Heng has a slight advantage. Yu Heng six, Xiao Mo Ge four.”

“So A Nan favors Yu Heng.” He Mei realized.

Ming Yue Ye was thoughtful. That pair of light blue eyes were as deep as the sea.

Sang Nan still wanted to ask. At this time, the two sides started to pick their troops. In war chess, this step was crucial. The strategies that each person was skilled in were different, so their pick of troops would be completely different. The scale of war chess this time was very large, and there was a complete set of soldier types to pick from. Experienced battle generals were able to judge the style and tactics of others from the composition of the troops.

He suddenly exclaimed lightly, “Hm!”

“A Nan, what is it?” He Mei asked curiously.

Sang Nan stared tightly at the yao channel with a strange expression. “As expected, this Xiao Mo Ge is an extremely arrogant person!”

“Why do you say so?” He Mei did not understand.

Sang Nan had a serious expression and his gaze did not leave the yao channel. He explained, “What he picked is all offensive troops! No support troops! No defensive troops!”

There was something that Sang Nan did not say:

—Usually only beginners would choose such a combination.

Chapter 409: The Flame Boring Yao

The soldier type that Gongsun Cha had chosen caused all yao that had some knowledge of battle generals to be greatly astonished. Many battle generals shook their heads and said that Xiao Mo Ge was definitely not a professional.

It had to be known that, no matter if it was in true combat or in war chess, the survival rate of an army of a single kind of soldier was very low. They could not deal with the complex and ever-changing battlefield.

Compared to Gongsun Cha, Yu Heng’s choices caused the spectators’ eyes to light up. Five-tenths attacking soldier types, two-tenths defensive soldier types, three-tenths support soldier types. There were all kinds of yao arts which caused there to be a wide variety of support soldier types. Many battle generals started to speculate Yu Heng’s possible tactics based on the soldier type composition he had chosen.

A few moments later, many battle generals shook their head on the inside and showed admiring expressions. Yu Heng’s troop composition was not just very rational, but could form many kinds of tactics. The more they thought, the more there was to admire.

The display of the two sides showed such a great difference in strength causing many spectators that had anticipated a great battle to be greatly disappointed.

———

Gongsun Cha was almost dazzled by the variety of soldier types. It was the first time he had seen a great majority of soldier types in the list. The war chess that Pu Yao was familiar with was the war chess of three thousand years ago. After three thousand years of development, war chess had completely changed.

Patiently flipping through the soldier type list, Gongsun Cha couldn’t help but frown. It was impossible to express the power of an unfamiliar soldier type. No battle general was willing to direct a troop that they were unfamiliar with, no matter how powerful they might be.

However, he quickly threw away his stray thoughts. He did not think it was unfair. From when he had first touched the profession of a battle general in Little Mountain Jie, he had never had the luxury to make a troop according to his desired tactics. It was the opposite. He could only choose appropriate tactics based on the conditions of reality, such as a Vermillion Bird Camp that was almost completely sword xiu.

In true battle, there were many places that would not be as desired. If battle generals could only fight when they were satisfied with the conditions, that was a joke.

In his view, battle generals were the ones that would think of obtaining victory under any conditions!

Other than victory, everything else was the enemy.

His tangled hair brushed past Gongsun Cha’s calm yet crazy face. He narrowed his eyes and flipped through the soldier type list without any pause.

Suddenly, a familiar soldier type entered his vision.

Fire Boring Yao!

———

When Pu Yao saw the soldier type listing that was also out of his expectations, his expression changed slightly. He had missed a crucial factor.

He was an exceptional battle general, no, exceptional was not enough to describe him. Pu Yao’s career as a battle general was dazzling. Other than the final battle in which all of his troops died, he was a top-notch battle general. He had only had one loss in his entire life. He had a great understanding of tactics.

He knew very well that there was no all-purpose tactic in this world. Even the strongest tactic would become familiar after being studied for three thousand years, and a way to defeat it would be found. The development of battle tactics would continuously advance. Old battle tactics would always be replaced with even better battle tactics.

Pu Yao’s expression was abnormally bad. The variety of soldier types in front of him was like a disdainful slap in the face.

When he saw Gongsun Cha expectedly choose the Flame Boring yao, his expression became grave.

The battle had not begun, and Gongsun Cha had landed in a definite disadvantage.

———

“Flame Boring yao … … tsk tsk!”

Many people were shaking their heads. There were those that were laughing, and those that were scornful. Flame Boring yao was a very common soldier type. However, it was a type popular three thousand years ago. Of all the yao arts, fire yao arts had always been a type of yao art that had relatively greater power. Flame Boring yao was a very obscure species among fire yao. They were born from the lava of earth fire.

They seemed to be born for fire yao arts. Any fire yao art would have unexpected power on their hands. Due to this, the attacking power of Flame Boring yao in war chess was very high. However, Flame Boring yao had weaknesses in other areas. Their intelligence was mostly low, and could only follow orders. Compared to their powerful offensive strength, their defenses could be described as fragile. This was directly connected with the fact that fire yao arts were not suited for defense. This was also reflected in the settings of war chess.

Due to this, they were greatly loved by novices and it was not hard to understand. Beginners always preferred those soldier types that were easy to control and had great offensive power. For them, the exhilaration of charging was more pleasurable than winning.

But for expects, any weakness could be fatal, much less a weakness that everyone knew. Flame Boring yao must be used in combination with other soldier types to protect the weak Flame Boring yao.

Choosing an army completely composed of Flame Boring yao, wasn’t that tantamount to suicide?

———

If Yu Heng knew this, he probably would laugh into the sky, but right now, he did not know the state of the opponent. He was extremely cautious as he did not want to lose his reputation.

The board in front of him was much larger in scale than he had imaged but this did not cause any problems to him. He was practiced as he skillfully set up his formations. With his many years of military service, his understanding of battle was even deeper than normal golden battle generals. This kind of profound understanding would show up in his adjustment. He almost did not need to think and a string of orders were sent out in a stream.

Sending out scouts, organizing the troops … …

Compared to Xiao Mo Ge’s terrible display, Yu Heng’s display was pleasing to the eye and worthy of respect.

When the scouts came back with the information that they had gathered, Yu Heng’s troops had finished their organization. Looking down from a great height, his troops were like a crab. The thick middle group was the body of the crab. The nimbly moving two flanks were like two sharp claws.

Completely composed of Flame Boring yao?

He almost thought a problem had occurred with the scout. But when successive scouts came back with the same information, Yu Heng quickly calmed down.

His first thought was that the other had soldier types skilled in illusory yao arts. There were twenty eight types that could cast illusory yao arts. He flipped through them mentally. He was considering which soldier type could be used together with Flame Boring yao.

He quickly concluded six soldier types that were able to use illusory yao arts and could work together with Flame Boring yao.

Yu Heng quickly furrowed his brow.

In opposition to everyone, who did not believe that Xiao Mo Ge had abilities as a battle general, Yu Heng was almost certain that Xiao Mo Ge had extremely outstanding talent as a battle general. Before accepting the challenge, he had studied Xiao Mo Ge’s history. He had found that, although Xiao Mo Ge was arrogant and rash, he would do as he said. He could always fulfill the seemingly absurd boasts he made.

Due to this, while everyone was doubting Xiao Mo Ge’s skill, he was considering what Xiao Mo Ge intended strategically to do such a thing?

So he frowned, because he did not understand.

Usually, using illusory yao arts were with the intention to feign battle tactics. But to disguise all of the troops as Flame Boring yao was not clever. Because any battle general with some experience could tell this was a disguise!

So from this point, the intention to disguise had lost effect!

Was Xiao Mo Ge’s skill just so?

Yu Heng did not believe it.

Deceptive battle tactics were based on both truth and lies, half-truth and half-lie. Successful deceptive tactics were used with the intention of misguiding the enemy.

From this angle, according to normal reasoning, the most plausible was that Xiao Mo Ge’s Flame Boring yao were truly Flame Boring yao!

All of them were truly Flame Boring yao?

Yu Heng shook his head. Of all the guesses, this was the most unlikely. Any battle general familiar with war chess would not be unfamiliar with Flame Boring yao. Of the thousands of tactics that Yu Heng knew, there was none where the starting troops were all Flame Boring yao.

This was decided by the Flame Boring yao’s unique weakness.

Xiao Mo Ge was a beginner?

He would be stupid to believe it.

But what were Xiao Mo Ge’s intentions?

Yu Heng suddenly found that while the two had not even come into contact, Xiao Mo Ge had successfully made him unable to judge his actions.

As strong as expected!

———

Normal battle generals might not be able to detect Yu Heng’s hesitation, but strong battle generals such as Sang Nan instantly caught it.

“Yu Heng’s hesitating,” Sang Nan said lightly. He then smiled lightly. “But if it was anyone else who encountered this, they probably would be jumping in fright too.”

“Is this the stronger you are, the less brave you become?” He Mei looked over.

“Yes.” Sang Nan grimaced. “No way around it. Xiao Mo Ge’s move is really too unexpected.”

At the same time, many battle generals gave knowing smiles, especially those that already were certain that Xiao Mo Ge was a beginner. In their eyes, this scene was especially comedic.

More and more people started to feel that Xiao Mo Ge was a beginner.

Because up until now, Xiao Mo Ge still hadn’t finished organizing his troops. Yu Heng, on the other hand, had found an extremely good piece of land to set up his main base, he had also started to plant all kinds of yao trees. As time increased, Yu Heng’s advantage would become even more evident.

Some people wanted to laugh at Yu Heng’s caution, but everyone could understand. The importance of this battle to Yu Heng could not be doubted, and in such a crucial battle, maintaining wariness was the sign of maturity.

Before discovering the other’s intentions, maintaining one’s development was an intelligent decision.

Experienced and cautious, not giving the other even one weakness to attack, as expected of the commander of an entire corps.

On the other hand, Xiao Mo Ge was still working to organize his troops. The mess of Flame Boring yao were in groups of three to five, and increasingly showed Xiao Mo Ge’s helplessness and clumsiness.

The sound of discussion increased and scornful laughs increased.

But in this loud and busy background, Sang Nan and the other golden battle generals lowered their voices.

The disdain, underestimation, laughter in their eyes were like snow under sunlight that quickly disappeared. Their eyes slowly grew bright and sharp.

They all looked at that troop that was being organized with difficulty!

Chapter 410: Snowflake Flood

Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao curiously, “What is Gongsun Shidi doing?”

“He is organizing his troops.” A look flashed through Pu Yao’s eyes. He suddenly laughed lightly. “Now there’s something good to watch.”

“Something good to watch?” Zuo Mo did not understand.

Pu Yao did not reply. His previous expression of gravity had disappeared, and a cold smile had formed at the corner of his mouth.

———

In other people’s eyes, Gongsun Cha’s organization of the troops seemed quite difficult, but Gongsun Cha himself was immersed in the organization of his experiment.

The attributes of the flame boring yao were very similar to the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp. They had strong offensive abilities and were weak defensively.

However, Gongsun Cha did not organize them like he did Vermillion Bird Camp. He was trying a new kind of organization. Six flame boring yao to a team, six teams to a troop. It was the first time that Gongsun Cha was organizing his troops this way. It wasn’t going too smoothly in the beginning. Even the spectators were able to feel that he was slightly hesitant.

But as the organization continued, the light in Gongsun Cha’s eyes grew clear. His movements became crisper, and the organization became smooth. A kind of presence called confidence slowly spread.

This new organization of troops wasn’t done on just an impulse.

The problem of how he was to increase the combat capabilities of Vermillion Bird Camp was a problem that he had thought about for a long while. This completely new formation was one of the products of his efforts.

The three section wave killing charge was unrivaled in its sharpness, but if they were bogged down in a battle of endurance, they would face the problem of not having any lasting power. Vermillion Bird Camp might have looked undefeatable in Little Mountain Jie, but Gongsun Cha knew very well that in the whole world, Vermillion Bird Camp was far from being elite. Once they fought against even stronger enemies, and the first three attacks were ineffective, then Vermillion Bird Camp would be in danger.

Recently, his skill as a battle general had increased greatly, and his vision was much broader than before. Possessing rich and new battle experience, he had thought of several novel battle tactics.

If it was any other battle general, they would have not dared to randomly create tactics. In their eyes, creating new battle tactics was a very unreliable thing. They understood hundreds of battle tactics. These battle tactics, used hundreds of times in the past, were enough for them to deal with the great majority of situations.

Never having undergone systematic education, Gongsun Cha did not have their shackles. The number of battle tactics that he understood wasn’t even as many as the silver battle generals of the yao world. Pu Yao never taught him concrete battle tactics. He could only discover and experience them through the process of fighting against Pu Yao.

All battle trends had to be concluded by himself.

He only pursued victory. Only more rational and effective tactics could help him achieve victory!

The messy troops slowly formed as if an invisible hand was shaping them into snowflakes, from ugliness into beauty.

As the gazes started to become serious, the sounds of discussion decreased.

Looking down from the sky, Gongsun Cha’s troops were like hundreds of snowflakes that fell upon the ground. But these snowflakes were deep-red, because flame boring yao possessed deep-red coloured hair.

In the midst of the beautiful deep-red snowflakes, killing intent rose.

———

“So pretty!” He Mei couldn’t help but say with bright eyes.

“They aren’t just pretty.” Sang Nan’s gaze had not moved a bit as he reflexively answered. Around him, many people also had similar expressions of seriousness. They all saw the killing intent contained in these beautiful snowflakes.

Ming Yue Ye did not speak. Her face was calm, but in her blue eyes that were like the vast sky, shock flashed imperceptibly.

“He’s moving!” He Mei’s eyes became even brighter. “Whoa, so prettyto look at!”

No one spoke, but in their eyes, astonishment flashed.

It really was good to look at!

The troops did not advance quickly. As they moved, the yao spectators found the army was divided into six enormous circles. The six circles slowly spun as they moved forward. What was even more amazing was that the snowflakes in each circle was also slowly spinning.

Thousands of deep-red snowflakes moving in synchrony was really pleasing to see.

But when it entered the eyes of Sang Nan and the others, their expressions changed!

Even the battle generals that had been so disdainful unconsciously stood up straight. Their bodies reflexively became tense. Shock flew through their eyes and took over.

Such a powerful consciousness!

———

Pu Yao snickered with smugness, “Xiuzhe, yao, and mo all have battle generals, but there are differences among the three. The battle generals of xiuzhe are most skilled in divination and prediction. The Great Development Calculating Method and such all do this. Mo battle generals emphasize bravery and spirit. A powerful mo battle general can gather the presences of the entire troop into one body. That really can destroy mountains. And yao battle generals? Their most powerful skill is the consciousness!”

“Consciousness?” Zuo Mo did not understand. After he found the strange fact that Gongsun Shidi had talent as a battle general, he hadn’t spent any more effort in that field.

“Battle generals with powerful consciousness can detect great details. All of the battlefield is in their mind. Even more, the consciousness is a network. He is able to send an order to every combat yao. The entire army is like his body and can be directed at will.”

Zuo Mo finally understood. “Gongsun Shidi is this strong?”

“His talent is good.” Pu Yao was slightly proud, and then he added, “His luck isn’t bad either.”

“I just knew that Gongsun Shidi is the strongest!” Zuo Mo was overjoyed. Thinking about being able to deal a fatal strike to that old codger, Yu Heng, he felt good inside.

“Don’t you feel your blood heating and boiling?” Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo.

“Boiling! I want to go up and fight!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright.

“Yes! What’s the meaning in two people fighting? This kind of large scale battle is true pleasure!” Pu Yao seduced. “How about it? Come learn to be a battle general, it is very fun!”

“No!” Zuo Mo shook his head like a rattle drum.

“Why?” Pu Yao asked, unwilling to give up.

“Shidi can learn to be a battle general.” Zuo Mo said righteously. “Making jingshi is the truest path. Can I make jingshi by learning to be a battle genera?”

Pu Yao was speechless.

In the corner, Wei sat silently.

———

Gongsun Cha looked with satisfaction at his army that he had finished organizing. Different tactics required different organization of troops. However, he did not direct the troops to speed up, but maintained the slow speed.

He had thought for a long time about this new battle tactic, but this was the first time he was using it. There naturally were many problems. Tripping and stumbling, Gongsun Cha was not in a rush. He slowly experimented. He didn’t seem to realize this was an important battle.

If it was said that people thought lightly of him before, then right now, any battle general with some knowledge was staring fixedly at the snowflake shaped troops.

Looking on as this strange troop went from the rawness of the start to smoothness.

“This Xiao Mo Ge’s consciousness is really strong.” Sang Nan was full of admiration. “Able to control this many battle yao so precisely. Powerful!”

“What’s the use of a strong consciousness? Just trying to appear pretty, who uses this kind of formation shape?” another battle general couldn’t help say. His expression was not good.

Someone else instantly agreed. “Right, does he think this is a performance? It’s acceptable if it is beautiful? Ha, making a snowflake shape. Never heard of this before. Even if he wants to be novel, he shouldn’t do it this way.”

“He’s a famous person. With such a good chance, of course he needs to perform! If he doesn’t make it pretty, how can he fool the amateurs?” another battle general said scornfully.

Many battle generals shook their heads. They all had great discontent on their faces. In their view, Xiao Mo Ge was purposefully acting this way. Was he using this pretty performance to fool those citizens that did not understand the profession? Was this something a battle general should even consider doing?

Sang Nan did not make a sound and grimaced inside.

He could understand the thoughts of his fellows. In the eyes of many battle generals, battle was a stern and sacred matter. If Xiao Mo Ge did not understand how to be a battle general, then they would just smile and let it go. But right now, the powerful consciousness and precise control that Xiao Mo Ge displayed showed that he was a true battle general.

A battle general that treated battle like it was a child’s game and only wanted to satisfy the audience. Such a figure instantly provoked hatred from them.

As the match started, almost all the battle generals were on Yu Heng’s side. They hoped sincerely that Corps Commander Yu Heng would give this clown a stern lesson.

Some battle generals gave Xiao Mo Ge the title of “The Embarrassment of Battle Generals.”

Listening to the scorn of his fellows, Sang Nan shook his head inside. He did not feel that Xiao Mo Ge had created this strange snowflake formation to purposefully be shocking, even though he did not understand why Xiao Mo Ge had formed it in the first place.

There was a feeling of danger that hung over his mind.

He looked at Ming Yue Ye Daren. Ming Yue Ye was focused on the strange army.

Sang Nan’s mind moved. “Daren, do you feel … …”

Ming Yue Ye did not move her gaze. She raised her hand. “Look.”

Following Daren’s finger, he hurriedly turned his face.

He saw Xiao Mo Ge’s troops suddenly accelerate. They were like an avalanche , one that was composed of many spinning snowflakes.

The scornful conversation of his fellows suddenly stopped. Sang Nan perceived their silence. His attention was locked onto the rapidly advancing troop. For some reason, the feeling of danger he had felt earlier increased.

He wasn’t the only one that felt the danger!

In the rolling avalanche, every snowflake was furiously spinning like deep-red snowflake shaped blades, densely packed together and moving in layers.

Sharp killing intent was displayed without any pretense!

In front of this rapidly spinning wave of blades, almost everyone had unconsciously stopped breathing.

Low against the ground, the deep-red, sharp snowflake flood drifted forward at astounding speeds. Just the presence of the troops was enough to stun everyone.

Wait!

Sang Nan who was staring hard at the deep-red flood of blades suddenly felt his eyelid jump. He suddenly raised his head and he had an expression of disbelief!

The direction of this flood … …

Was pointing directly at Yu Heng’s main base!

Chapter 411: Juxtaposition

How had he found the position of Yu Heng’s main base?

It wasn’t just Sang Nan that was surprised. Many battle generals quickly detected this. Every person who did notice, couldn’t help but show a startled look. Xiao Mo Ge’s soldiers were all Flame Boring yao, a soldier type that functioned poorly as a scout.

But beyond this, Xiao Mo Ge hadn’t performed any scouting but had found the other’s location.

“This guy,” a battle general said emotionally, “has great luck!”

The other battle generals nodded. Randomly marching in a direction, and it was the correct direction. His luck was astoundingly good!

Listening to the discussion around him, Sang Nan did not speak. He was uncertain inside. He could not tell if Xiao Mo Ge really was just lucky. To not need scouts and still be able to grasp the geography of the board, it only required that your consciousness was strong enough. But this kind of perception was not limitless. The bigger the battlefield, the larger the consciousness had to be to accomplish this. In large scale battles, the information obtained by a battle general’s consciousness was like a drop in the ocean. A large number of scouts were needed to get a sufficient amount of information.

For any battle general, information on the battlefield was what they based their commands on.

Sang Nan had never seen a battle general that did not need to send out any scouts, and the strangest thing was that the other actually determined the correct direction! At this moment, even he believed that this person had great luck.

But why did he still have a foreboding  sense of danger … …

———

Gongsun Cha’s consciousness was spread out like a net. Everything within fifty li was within his grasp. He quickly found the remaining traces of presence in the air. This was a presence he was unfamiliar with, and different than any combat yao he had encountered before. It should be a soldier type he had not seen before.

He narrowed his eyes. Amongst the burning desire for battle, the light of calm flashed.

His consciousness silently rippled. Without pausing, the snowflake avalanche made a smooth and sharp turn, advancing in a wave like spilled mercury, they silently and rapidly advanced.

A seemingly simple maneuver caused a wave of exclamations. Even Pu Yao’s eyes flashed with a thread of shock.

Directing troops to turn at high speed was a basic skill of a battle general. The more people there were, the harder it was. The faster the maneuver was, the harder it was. This was a move that every battle general could do, and one of the moves that strained and tested the fundamental skills of a battle general.

Silver battle generals needed to easily control about one thousand combat yao to complete a turn at high speed.

Five thousand was the requirement of a golden battle general!

Was … … was this guy already at the skill level of a golden battle general?

“Gongsun Shidi’s consciousness is really nimble!” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but praise. Even though he did not understand the intricacies of being a battle general, he could see the wonders of it with a glance.

To give orders to five thousand people at once didn’t just require a strong consciousness, it required a sensitive one. There was no wonder why Zuo Mo was shocked. Fine manipulations like this were something he had been the most skilled at. No matter if it was ling power or consciousness, he could not be considered strong, but he was always abnormally sensitive.

“Is it the fiend soul beast beads?” Pu Yao said to himself.

The consciousness control that Gongsun Cha displayed far surpassed his skill in the last match. He had progressed this quickly in such a short amount of time? The first thing that Pu Yao thought of was the fiend soul beast beasts because he knew that Gongsun Cha had been furiously consuming fiend soul beast beads in this past while.

Could fiend soul beast beads cause the consciousness to become more sensitive?

Pu Yao’s guess was not incorrect. Gongsun Cha’s consciousness had changed due to these fiend soul beast beads. Gongsun Cha’s talent in cultivation was very average, and greatly limited his development as a battle general. He had spent great thought to create his own battle general core scripture, but being of average talent, the rate of improvement could not satisfy him.

Lil’ Miss started his crazy cultivation plan when he had joyfully discovered that processing fiend soul beast beads were of benefit to his consciousness! He spent almost all of his time on processing the fiend soul beast beads, and around this time, the hunting missions had also begun. A continuous hunting  made so he did not need to worry about the supply of fiend soul beast beads.

When it came to a problem regarding being a battle general, the shy and bashful Lil’ Miss would accidentally display his insanity!

This time was not an exception!

Before he even understood the fiend soul beast beads, he had unhesitatingly gambled with himself. Because he knew that if he wanted to progress, he had to solve the problem of his weak consciousness. He desired victory! For victory, he was willing to take greater risks!

He had gambled correctly. His consciousness had grown three times and was now much more sensitive than before.

“Fiend soul beast beads?” Zuo Mo also showed a thoughtful expression. He suddenly thought about the golden souls he possessed. He had been busy this while. Other than the ones used by Gongsun Shidi, Pu Yao, and Wei, he had not used the other golden souls.

He had really been too busy and forgotten such an important thing.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but mock himself.

———

On the board, Gongsun Cha’s speed was extremely fast. Following the minuscule remnants of presence, the enormous Flame Boring yao army was like a red flow of snow that snaked its way towards the opponent’s base.

It wasn’t luck! Sang Nan’s heart beat wildly.

The other battle generals also saw the strangeness. “Hm, that’s weird. This boy can’t be lucky with every decision. How can he be right every time?”

“Yes! So strange!”

“Does this guy have a dog’s nose?”

“Even a dog can’t do this!”

The sounds of discussions rose. He Mei’s face was puzzled. She wasn’t a battle general and she was confused listening to the discussion. She asked Sang Nan curiously, “What are they speaking about?”

Sang Nan patiently explained, “They are speaking about how Xiao Mo Ge knew the position of Yu Heng’s main base without using scouts.”

“Right!” He Mei realized. “No wonder I felt something was weird. I didn’t see Xiao Mo Ge’s scouts.” She then asked confusedly, “How can Xiao Mo Ge know the position of Yu Heng’s main camp without using scouts?”

Sang Nan said in a quiet voice, “Flame Boring yao are not suited to being scouts. Their speed isn’t slow, but it isn’t fast. Even more important is that they cannot conceal themselves. Xiao Mo Ge probably has a secret technique that can find the presence that the other’s scouts have left behind.”

The surrounding conversation stopped. Everyone listened keenly. Sang Nan was greatly talented, and had once received the title of “Best Young Battle General” three years in a row. The amount of trophies and titles he had won was incomparable to most of his peers. Of the young generation of battle generals, he would definitely rank in the top five. Many of the elders in the military thought highly of him.

He had unexpectedly become Ming Yue Ye’s follower and had given up the chance to become a commander of a corps, which had caused his reputation to fall greatly. These past few years, he had rarely appeared in public, but stayed low-key by Ming Yue Ye’s side. But no one would doubt the title of the first battle general of the Genius Alliance.

“Look closely. The advancing path of Xiao Mo Ge is the route one of Yu Heng’s scouts had just taken while retreating.”

Everyone finally showed expressions of realization. No wonder he could make such accurate decisions; Xiao Mo Ge had such a powerful secret technique.

At this time, this red snowflake flood encountered some of Yu Heng’s scouts. Yu Heng had found Xiao Mo Ge’s position long ago. In order to obtain more information, he had sent more scouts in this direction.

When these scouts saw the troops, they couldn’t help but be shocked and then instantly started to retreat. Some scouts attempted to plant messenger trees and pass the news back to the camp. But Gongsun Cha would not give them the chance. With a wave of his hand, his troops instantly overwhelmed their scouts.

These scouts did not have the time to send back their reports before they died.

Seeing this, the other scouts ran even quicker.

Gongsun Cha did not hesitate. He directed his troops to closely follow behind these scouts. He maintained an appropriate distance and did not give them the chance to plant messenger trees.

In the yao world, information was sent mostly using messenger trees. Scouts would carry the seeds of messenger trees on them. They only needed to plant the seeds, and the messenger tree would sprout and grow in a very brief period of time to fruit and produce seed. The fruit of the messenger tree would shatter into a multi-colored mist that would turn the information into pictures and sound to transport it back.

It was possible to exchange information using the seeds of one messenger tree. It was very convenient but there was a flaw, it required time. It took about fifteen minutes for the seed to grow and bear fruit. Normally, fifteen minutes wasn’t anything, but in times of urgency and danger, this fifteen minutes became a fatal flaw.

The scouts right now lacked the required fifteen minutes.

Gongsun Cha’s troop suddenly divided up. The troops that had been like a flood suddenly divided into six large snowflakes. Each large snowflake was made from about eight hundred Flame Boring yao. They were like six high-speed blades. The troops on the right and left wings began flanking the enemy forming an arc that tightly followed the scouts and forced them together.

One group running and one group chasing, after one hour of this chase, Gongsun Cha’s troops reached the outskirts of Yu Heng’s main base.

All the yao gaped at this scene.

What … … what strategy was this?

In war chess that was larger in scale, the struggle between the two sides would usually take forty to sixty hours, or even longer. The vast geography was enough space allowed for deeper strategies and to outflank each other. The two sides usually needed to experience multiple rounds of spying, probing, skirmishes, and to pressure and squeeze each other’s territory before the final battle.

For this war chess match that was of a much grander scale, many battle generals had prepared to watch for three days and nights.

But Xiao Mo Ge that never acted within the expected norms and this time was not an exception. He didn’t construct a base, didn’t plant yao trees, upon starting, he took all his troops and charged straight at the other’s main camp. What strategy was this?

“Such, such a hooligan!”

A battle general unconsciously murmured, but this caused all the battle generals that felt suffocated to suddenly breathe properly!

Right! Hooligan! This was a hooligan!

Only those hooligans that did not care about technique and fought on the street would be like this, taking all their people and charging straight at the front gates… …

Sang Nan felt he had swallowed a fly, his entire body felt uncomfortable. Xiao Mo Ge’s snowflake shaped formation moved like it was a bolt of lightning that tore the clouds apart, and this stunned him. The secret technique he used was also unfathomable. All the signs lead him to be filled with anticipation about the following battle.

But that kind of anticipation definitely was not for this unreasonable charge on the front gates!

Right, it was unreasonable! He seemed to be watching a skilled sword warrior who, after a string of dazzling sword moves, suddenly threw away his treasured sword, and take up the pig-butchering cleaver and howling as he savagely charged.

Where was the strategy? Tactics? Technique?

The strong juxtaposition was so uncomfortable Sang Nan almost spat blood.

At this time, Gongsun Cha did not pause and directly started his attack. In Sang Nan’s eyes, the beauty of the snowflakes and everything else disappeared! He seemed to see a snarling butcher smile as he hacked, with the pig-butchering cleaver, at the other’s head like he was killing a pig!

Chapter 412: Collide

Unlike Sang Nan and the others who wanted to spit blood, Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up as he watched, his blood was boiling. He wanted to charge straight at the other’s main base with them. How exhilarating it would be! It would be so pleasurable!

Those dazzling tactics were nice to look at, but this kind of straightforward charge suited Zuo Mo’s temper.

Gongsun Cha did not think so much. These strange actions and choices in other people’s eyes were actually made out of his helplessness. He didn’t understand anything about strategic things like yao trees.

If it was any other person, they definitely would not accept this unfair match. But Gongsun Cha never thought about fairness. When had battle ever been fair?

The seemingly crazy Gongsun Cha was icy cold inside. He knew the longer the battle took, the more disadvantageous it was for him. So when he had finished organizing his troops, he charged towards the other’s camp without a moment’s pause.

Right now was the moment the difference between the two forces was the smallest. As time went on, the gap in strength between the two forces would grow.

He also knew that against the mysterious person, charging like this definitely wouldn’t end well. But with no other choice, he could only harden himself and charge.

———

Gongsun Cha had almost frightened Yu Heng. He actually didn’t manage to react.

What strategy was this?

His face was bewildered.

Having served many years in the military, Yu Heng was skilled in all kinds of tactics, and had fought against many experts. Naturally, he had fought against those who were unconventional. But even those abnormally acting experts had just used unconventional gambits. It was possible to determine the intentions behind their maneuvers. War chess had developed over so many years, and the large amounts of tactics had all been studied.

Which opening moves to use in a match was an issue that had been studied the most. There were all kinds of strategies. Many of them were popular for a time, but as time went on and these strategies were fully studied, their weaknesses were exposed, each became less useful. Then they were gradually replaced by new strategies.

Yu Heng’s opening method was a variation on the classic Three Division Opening Method. It put a third of his forces into development, one third into defense, and one third to act as needed.

The three division setup was equalized, had outstanding defense, and great developmental potential over time. It was a very popular and classic opening method. Yu Heng’s three divisions had a few changes focused on the combinations of soldier types, combinations that had made people’s eyes light up in awe. The troops he used to defend and those he reserved to act freely could freely interact and support each other. This unique adjustment caused the Yu Style’s Three Division Opening Method to become even stronger. All the spectators changed expressions upon seeing this, and it was possible to see how skilled Yu Heng was.

But Yu Heng who was skilled in all kinds of strategies never thought the other would charge straight to his door like a brute.

Was he suicidal?

Pausing, Yu Heng instantly reacted.

The offensive power of the Three Division Opening Method was not extremely strong, but the defensive power was not weak. So Yu Heng felt disbelief but he did not panic. His main base had been finished, and the defensive capabilities had been increased. Even if the other’s entire army came to attack, he had enough confidence that he could hold against the other.

However, he still was cautious. Using just the power the other had, it was an impossible mission to attack a completed main camp. Yu Heng believed that Xiao Mo Ge also understood this. Even more, he kept on feeling that Xiao Mo Ge’s purely Flame Boring yao army was a scheme.

Xiao Mo Ge definitely had something else planned, and that would be the true killing move!

He believed his judgment. He did not believe that Xiao Mo Ge had only picked Flame Boring yao. Yu Heng was careful as he directed the troops to advance as he prepared to counter against any move that would appear.

———

On the other side, Gongsun Cha’s mind was unprecedentedly focused.

Other people only saw him pursuing Yu Heng’s scouts. They did not know that inside the seemingly smooth flow of troops, Gongsun Cha was continuously familiarizing himself with this new troop formation. Every bit of familiarity he gained could add a small chance of success.

Fortunately, he had pondered the snowflake formation for a long time and was not completely unfamiliar with it. As he raced all this way, it became easier to move everything according to his will. This pursuit was like warmup. When he reached Yu Heng’s main base, just having finished his warmup, Gongsun Cha’s presence and attention was at its peak!

The snowflake flood that just reached the outskirts of the main base suddenly accelerated!

They were like a bundle of saw blades that suddenly tore at the main base.

At the same time, Gongsun Cha’s eyes suddenly lit up. His spread out consciousness shook. This vibration seemed to create ripples and rapidly transferred to every corner of the consciousness web.

Woosh!

The red snowflake’s center suddenly lit up and gave off a blinding red light. The red light spread at astounding speed. It seemed to be like flowing metal liquid that flowed along the pathways of the snowflake originating from its center, and quickly reached the tip of each snowflake branch.

When more than eight hundred Flame Boring yao cast fire yao arts at the same time, the heat produced twisted the air. This caused the shape of the snowflake to look somewhat warped.

What was even more stunning was that each Flame Boring yao was situated among the high-speed spinning snowflake!

Each was like a burning hot blade that was furiously humming!

Everyone was shocked at the presence given off by the Flame Boring yao. Everyone had used Flame Boring yao before, but they had never seen such an intimidating presence.

———

Yu Heng’s expression changed dramatically as his troops were struck. The presence suddenly exuded by the enemy surpassed his imagination.

Why was it like this?

He had always assumed that the enemy’s first wave of attack was definitely a feint. The true threat to him was the ambush that was to come later, so he had only sent a small portion of his army to face the enemy. The majority of his troops were waiting for the hidden enemy.

The suddenly fierce attack was like a storm that came without warning!

Six large snowflakes with burning and sharp howls furiously charged his base.

The moment the two sides collided, countless blinding lights shot up! Like six burning red saws, in the midst of ear-piercing shrieking, sparks shot out like a rain!

The sky seemed to be illuminated by the rising fire yao arts.

Not good!

Yu Heng’s heart skipped a beat. His body wavered. In his wide pupils, a thread of disbelief flashed.

The other really was using only Flame Boring yao! The other truly was attacking with all of his forces!

All of his predictions, all of the judgments, they were all wrong!

Two successive basic assumptions had been incorrect. From any angle, these were likely fatal!

In order to reserve more to face the later attacks of the enemy, he had preserved the majority of his power. This meant that the number of combat yao on the front lines that were facing the Flame Boring yao was too few. The difference in power was too large. Famed for its attacking power, the Flame Boring yao pressed their advantage to their limit.

The six troops were like six snowflake shaped heated saws that penetrated his troops like butter, cutting through them without any effort!

Forced to the precipice, Yu Heng displayed his outstanding tactical training. Facing this situation with his troops on the verge of collapse, he rapidly calmed down. Even though he had not expected that the other would use all his power on the first wave of attack, but he also did not hesitate to engage with all of his forces.

His expression resumed normality as he quickly adjusted the troops.

The troops under his command seemed to explode. They turned to several hundred little troops that quickly spread out into every corner of the base.

Relying on the defensive capabilities of the base, these little teams were very nimble. Like packs of wolves, they continuously harassed the enemy troops.

The situation quickly stabilized. The snowflake formation that encountered resistance had slowed down its advance.

———

“Powerful!”

Sang Nan couldn’t help but clap and praise. Xiao Mo Ge’s intimidating attack had almost got him to stop breathing. Yu Heng’s following reaction was based on the principle of using to softness to subdue hardness. To be able to stabilize the situation in such a chaotic state, Yu Heng really lived up to his reputation!

This collision was short, but extremely fierce!

After the short exchange, Yu Heng only had two thousand and six hundred combat yao remaining. His losses could be called immense. Xiao Mo Ge had four thousand combat yao left. He seemed to have the advantage of numbers, but their speed had been halted by Yu Heng. Adding on that they were deep in enemy territory, they now had to face the defensive weapons of the enemy camp. Flame Boring yao were very weak defensively, and it was undoubtedly very dangerous to be caught in such a situation.

Looking at it that way, the two sides had once again reached a certain equilibrium

All the battle generals were staring unblinkingly. Such a fierce collision usually only happened in the final stages of a match. Many of them even forgot to breathe. None of them had expected that seemingly pretty but useless snowflake formation would be so sharp!

All of the battle generals were stunned!

No one doubted Xiao Mo Ge’s battle general skills any longer. Such an extreme break through, if it appeared on the battlefield, was the nightmare of the enemy!

However, battle generals with some skill could see the danger that Xiao Mo Ge was now facing.

Yu Heng had relied on his experience as a commander to transform his main base into a quagmire. Even the sharpest saw was bogged down while facing this swamp.

What would Xiao Mo Ge do?

This question appeared in the observer’s minds at the same time.

———

But no one knew that Gongsun Cha who appeared to be in a dangerous situation did not feel he was in danger. Once the two sides had engaged, Gongsun Cha perceptively realized that his opponent was not the mystery expert he usually faced.

The two’s styles were too far apart!

Most importantly, Gongsun Cha could not feel the overbearing pressure that was usually present, did not feel like there was a rope constantly strangling his neck!

Being used to Pu Yao’s suffocating pressure, Gongsun Cha felt he was a fish in the water when he faced Yu Heng and was able to breathe freely.

Everyone thought that Yu Heng had stabilized the situation, and Xiao Mo Ge had landed in danger.

What they did not understand was that for a battle general like Gongsun Cha that struggled constantly under Pu Yao’s abuse, what would it mean when there wasn’t enough pressure put on him?

It meant that Gongsun Cha’s hands were unbound!

Having such freedom, how terrifying could Gongsun Cha be?

Before today, no one knew!

Lacking this pressure, Gongsun Cha felt it was very unfamiliar. This unfamiliar feeling deeply stimulated Gongsun Cha. His eyes became brighter. As his messy hair brushed across his face, a light bashful smile came to the corner of his mouth.

An imperceptible vibration passed to every Flame Boring yao along the invisible consciousness web.

The strangulation had started!

Chapter 413: Snowflake Strangulation Kill

Snowflake Strangulation Kill!

This was the name Gongsun Cha gave to this new battle tactic. Today was the first day he showed off its edges. Just as everyone was sighing over the powerful charge it had made, none of them knew that the reason Lil’ Miss had created the Snowflake Strangulation Kill was to compensate for the fact that the three section wave killing charge lacked lasting power.

In other words, the charges and defensive line break throughs that everyone exclaimed over was not the best attribute of this battle tactic.

Its best quality was—Strangulation Kill!

The six large snowflakes suddenly crumbled and turned to many smaller snowflakes. They did not move in a defined formation anymore. These tiny snowflakes were like a flood that streamed into every pore and crack.

Their rate of advance was not quick, but gave people the feeling their advance was unavoidable.

The small snowflakes composed of six Flame Boring yao furiously spun. Fire yao arts were prepared on their hands. Once they encountered an enemy, they would attack. Their attacking method was very unique. As they spun quickly, the six Flame Boring yao would move and while rotating positions to release the fire yao art in their hands

It became a ruler straight stream of fire!

This was a stream of fire composed of fire yao arts. When the last Flame Boring yao finished releasing the fire yao art, the first Flame Boring yao had finished casting a new fire yao art, it was the a continuous cycle of fire yao arts.

The stream of fire was endless.

In front of this endless line of fire, the defensive yao arts of the defensive troops were fragile as paper. They were not even able to delay the advance along enough to buy time for their comrades before dying. The combat soldier types that lacked protection died even quicker.

Even more frightening was that each small snowflake would not fight by themselves. They would always have two to three little teams beside them. The middle team of the trio would fall back, and form a reverse triangle. They would half-surround the enemy and engulf them in their web of fire.

The fire web made from the fire streams of the three teams increased their killing power. If six or seven fire snowflake’s fire streams shot out together, the fire web that formed robbed the enemy of all hope.

The advancement of the Flame Boring yao was not fast. They were moving slowly like molten lava. Everywhere they passed, everything turned to ash, and nothing was able to stop them!

The fire streams criss-crossed like an enormous web!

The enemies within the large web furiously casted yao arts, but they were like insects caught on the spider’s web. Any struggling was useless.

———

Yu Heng’s face was pale. The criss-crossing fire streams were like threads of death in his eyes! The number of troops under his command decreased at an astounding speed.

He could see that the Flame Boring yao were also continuously falling to his defence as well, but … …

Yu Heng’s mouth was filled with bitterness. The rate that the other’s numbers were lessening was far slower than his. Basically, three of his combat yao would be traded for one of the other’s combat yao. He almost couldn’t believe it, how was this the fragile Flame Boring yao?

The other’s consciousness was truly too strong!

The speed that the Flame Boring yao at the very front perished was very fast, but when one in front perished, another Flame Boring yao from behind quickly took its place. The other’s entire army was flowing smoothly like liquid! Other than that, every small snowflake still maintained its high speed spinning. At the beginning, there had been five thousand combat yao, in more than eight hundred small snowflakes!

Even with the losses they maintained the completeness of their troop formation, this meant that their abilities were only marginally reduced and lead to the staggeringly one sided ratio of damage each force was taking.

But how strong of a consciousness was needed to do this?

Yu Heng’s face was ashen, his eyes began to dim.

He knew he had been defeated, handily defeated. As the number of  combat yao under his commanded lessened, the effectiveness of the base’s defensive weapons had decreased. The other’s Flame Boring yao were even able to pluck them out one structure at a time.

He accepted his defeat.

Even though Xiao Mo Ge’s move was completely different than what was in style now, but the person who could create such a battle tactic was undoubtedly a tactical genius!

He understood that his two incorrect judgments had caused him to land in a defensive position. But what truly caused him to lose was this new battle tactic, was the other’s powerful and un-yao-like consciousness! Even if he was prepared to meet this burst of red snowflakes, he did not know how to defeat it.

Yu Heng liked playing politics, but he had received a traditional battle general’s education. His pride as a battle general was etched deeply into his bones. At this moment, he did not think about the result of losing his reputation. His heart was filled with the frustration of defeat, and his heart was truly akin to being dead!

Because this was a defeat where there was no excuse.

———

“Yu Heng is finished.” Sang Nan sighed lightly, and his tone was slightly sorrowful. Personally seeing the fall of a golden battle general, faint sorrow came into his mind. His intuition was far more sensitive than the average battle general. Without seeing Yu Heng’s face, he was still able to capture Yu Heng’s loss of spirit and dead presence from some near imperceptible details on the battlefield.

Each golden battle general had experienced countless tests, fights, and struggles. Maybe they had different backgrounds, and skill levels but each of them were truly the best.

Once the heart of a battle general was dead, that meant they had fallen.

Feeling that Yu Heng was probably dead at heart, sighs sounded out in many places, not just from Sang Nan. Many of them had anticipated this battle, but no one had expected this battle would directly cause the fall of a golden battle general.

———

For the great majority of people, this spectacular and dramatic battle satisfied their desires. The cause of this battle had long been forgotten. What people discussed the most was, of course, Xiao Mo Ge. In their view, Xiao Mo Ge had to be a gold battle general to have defeated Yu Heng.

The prison-breaking battle and killing twenty six yao had given him the title of genius. Now they found this guy was actually a gold battle general! Xiao Mo Ge who stepped on the corpse of another battle general, this “gold battle general” was very substantial.

It was no wonder that many yao exclaimed, was this guy still yao?

Such a freak of a yao, how many years would it take for one to appear?

Freak! Too freaky!

If everyone’s discussion was limited to low-level yao, then he was a hot topic, his name truly spread to every corner of the yao world. In wartime, everyone knew very well what a gold battle general meant. Even more, he was also so young! Adding on that his own strength was very outstanding, he had great potential, and even the possibility of achieving the position of a Sky yao.

Such a youth, could you demand him to be even more freakishly talented?

Even the Genius Alliance that was said to have countless geniuses only had a handful of comparable geniuses.

But the discussion of this battle had just begun. The amateurs watched the spectacle, the insiders discussed the technique. In the eyes of the battle generals, this battle had risen to the level of a classic. Xiao Mo Ge’s use of the Flame Boring yao broke the norm. Before this, no one had ever thought that Flame Boring yao could be used like this.

The meaning of this battle was not just on the Flame Boring yao. To these combat yao, Xiao Mo Ge’s creativity had opened a new window for them. The power of an unrelenting attack had attracted the attention of all battle generals. How to maintain the firepower of a troop became the hot topic of study for battle generals.

When the battle generals came back to studly, they found that the requirements of the consciousness in order to complete Xiao Mo Ge’s snowflake tactic were very high. They suddenly realized just how terrifying Xiao Mo Ge’s consciousness was!

As the battle generals were studying, and the normal people were discussing interestedly, a piece of news struck like lightning. Yu Heng, whose heart had collapsed, had handed in his resignation and quit as the Commander of the Heavy Earth Corps.

Many of Yu Heng’s good friends came to visit in hopes of comforting him. But when they saw Yu Heng, all of them paled! Yu Heng had shut himself into a small room, his expression dazed and he did not react to anyone that spoke to him.

Yu Heng was finished! The Jade Family was finished!

This news added a thick sense of tragedy to this battle!

But soon no one paid attention to Yu Heng’s news. Everyone’s eyes would forever be on the victor.

But Xiao Mo Ge seemed to have disappeared.

———

This battle made Zuo Mo marvel, but more importantly, it allowed him to feel satisfaction. But only just that. It was just a war chess match. What was there to be excited about?

Lil’ Miss was completely unaffected. Because he knew the opponent was not the usual mysterious person. Even though he had won, he didn’t feel any joy. It would probably take defeating Pu Yao to made him feel true joy.

This battle had also caused him to think more on his newly created snowflake tactic. Once the battle ended, he burrowed into the camp, all his thoughts on the new tactic.

As to Pu Yao and Wei, this small victory held no value in their eyes.

The victory that caused great waves in the yao world didn’t create a single ripple on Zuo Mo’s side.

This matter was perfectly resolved, and Zuo Mo could finally put his complete attention on how to leave this ghastly place. Form the information he got from Ming Jue Zi, they needed to find the center of the battlefield. If they found the center, they could be able to find the damaged jie river. That way, they could be able to leave the ancient battlefield.

So Zuo Mo instantly sent out the mobilization order. The entire group departed for the deepest part of the fiendish mist.

Everyone’s morale rose. They had set up camp at this place for a long time. They had put the majority of their attention on their cultivation, but they couldn’t help but feel desperate inside. They were like hungry beasts that had been trapped for a long time and all of them howled!

So when the order came down, everyone became excited.

They had become increasingly familiar with the surrounding environment after hunting fiend soul beasts in the recent while. The feeling of terror that they had when they first entered this ancient battlefield had disappeared long ago. These people that were daring to start with were eager and wanted to charge at the very front.

But Zuo Mo and the others that knew all of the information were not so optimistic.

In an ancient battlefield that was tens of thousands years old, were the vicious beasts it created only at this skill level?

Chapter 414: Fiend Corpse

Reality proved at the worries Zuo Mo and the others had were well founded. The first two days of the journey went smoothly, but they encountered trouble on the third day.

The vicious being they encountered had a human-shaped figure. It looked like a zombie. It had a human-shaped primate facing them had a vicious pair of eyes that glimmered with red light. Its entire body, including its face, was covered in fur. What was strangest was that the color of its fur was not uniform. Instead the multicolored fur created a complex and exquisite pattern that was like an unknown formation.

There was a skull hanging from its waist. It seemed to be made of jade or porcelain. There seemed to be a ball of black mist that floated it the empty eye sockets.

“Careful, this is a fiend corpse!”

From the tone of Pu Yao’s warning, Zuo Mo instantly understood this thing called a fiend corpse was posed an extraordinary danger.

He had just watched as at least three flying swords chopped at the fiend corpse’s body. Other than causing a few sparks, the attacks didn’t leave behind any mark and the rebound had almost caused the attackers harm instead. Everyone, including Zuo Mo, leapt forward. Wei Sheng, Xie Shan, and the others hurried forward to help.

The fiend corpse instantly retreated as his initial attack had not succeeded. Its right hand was pressed against the skull on its waist. Its eyes flashed with red light and its gaze was tightly locked onto Wei Sheng. It seemed to understand that Wei Sheng was the greatest threat to it. When its gaze landed on the broken sword in Wei Sheng hands, the red light grew, and the fiendish mist roiled.

The fiend corpse’s presence shocked Zuo Mo. He hurriedly asked Pu Yao. “What is a fiend corpse?”

“Corpses left in areas of dense fiendish energy do not easily rot. The fiendish energy enters the corpse and forms a fiend corpse. You have to be careful, this fiendish corpse isn’t simple.” Pu Yao’s tone was grave. “Along the way here, there were no traces of corpses. Over time even the bones had turned to dust. The formation of black fiendish energy takes time, at least hundreds of years. Meaning corpse was able to stay preserved for hundreds of years. Either it has the help of a treasure, or the corpse itself is strange.”

Treasure?

Zuo Mo’s gaze floated instantly to the skull on the fiend corpse’s waist. Was this skull a treasure? When he looked at the fur on the fiend corpse’s body that was like a formation, he felt Pu Yao’s other speculation was also possible.

Facing the fiend corpse, Wei Sheng’s expression was serious. The pressure he sensed from the fiend corpse was beyond anything he had previously experienced. Ever since he had stepped into the stage of jindan, his power had multiplied. This increase wasn’t just in cultivation, it included growth in sword essence and his mentality. He had to spend large amounts of time to stabilize his cultivation. This increase in power had caused the fiend soul beasts to become less pressuring to him.

But the fiend corpse in front of him … …

Wei Sheng could not feel even a thread of its presence. If he wasn’t staring at it with his eyes, it would seem there was nothing where the fiend corpse was standing. This shocked him. The only thing that he knew that could do this were fifth-grade ling beasts. Fifth-grade ling beasts could form void covers and hide their presences.

This fiend corpse wasn’t a ling beast, not even a yao beast, but definitely was above fifth-grade!

Vicious beings above fifth-grade could only be faced by xiuzhe in jindan or above. Zuo Mo had killed a Bloody Horned Great Serpent before but that one had been forced to form. It only just touched the boundary of fifth-grade.

The fiend corpse in front of them was definitely not a normal fifth-grade vicious being. It could possibly be sixth-grade. In the world, other than xiuzhe, yao, and mo there were all kinds of beings. For these living beings, grades were used to categorize their power.

The space shield of fifth-grade, the space boundary of sixth-grade, the space source of seventh-grade, and the scape spirit of eighth-grade. The ninth and tenth-grades were existences that almost were undefeatable and immortal.

Each grade had upper, intermediate, and lower divisions. With fifth-grade as an example, the lower level could just form the space shield, the space shield that formed was also very unstable. Intermediate fifth-grade had a basic and complete space shield, and started to form new transformations. When it came to upper fifth-grade, the space shield was almost perfect, and many transformation could be comprehended.

“Intermediate fifth-grade … …” Yi Zheng exclaimed. His face instantly became pale white. Being from a great sect, Yi Zheng’s knowledge was much broader than a country bumpkin like Zuo Mo. He instantly recognize the power of the fiend corpse.

When he spoke, he frightened everyone. It had to be said that in all the major xiuzhe jie, the danger any ling beasts or vicious being posed was clear. Fourth-grade vicious beings were very rare, much less intermediate fifth-grade vicious beings. Even Yi Zheng, who was from Great Buddha Temple, was frightened. Large sects like Great Buddha Temple naturally did not lack ling beasts. Not just fifth-grade, the temple even raised a few sixth-grade ling beasts. But the fifth and sixth-grade ling beasts raised in the temple were harmless babies when compared to this fiend corpse that had formed over tens of thousands of years.

With one look at the fiend corpse, a bone-aching coldness jumped into Yi Zheng’s heart.

Wei Sheng’s expression did not change. He did not blink, and the broken sword in his hand did not waver even a sliver.

The fiend corpse stared at Wei Sheng, baring his teeth and displaying a vicious expression. Its right hand was still pressed against the skull on its waist.

The xiuzhe around Wei rapidly retreated backwards. Xie Shan, Zong Ru, Su Long, and the others came forward, and loosely surrounded the fiend corpse.

The mood became increasingly more tense.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly jumped, and his eyes lit up. He urgently shouted, “Xie Shan, Zong Ru, Shu Long, guard the other directions. Be wary of other vicious beings!”

The trio’s hearts shook. They rapidly retreated but were still late.

“Careful! Enemy attack!”

Chaotic shouts came from the rear and flanks. At this moment everyone’s expression changed, including Zuo Mo! Diverting attention to the front to attack the back! This fiend corpse understood misdirection!

At this moment, the eyes of the fiend corpse facing off with Wei Sheng flashed with red light, and its figure suddenly disappeared.

Clang!

A crisp sound of a metallic collision rang out so the whole camp could hear!

Wei Sheng had raised the broken sword and as he firmly parried the other’s claw! At some unknown time, the fiend souls’ ten fingers had grown into sharp white bone claws!

Clang clang clang!

The collisions were as rapid as raindrops. Some xiuzhe who had not been prepared felt their ears ring. The fiend corpse and Wei Sheng turned to two balls of shadow that chased about in the air. Everyone was unable to track their shadows.

The fiend corpse’s bone claws and Wei Sheng’s broken sword crossed and matched!

At this time, Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. Damn it!

There wasn’t just one vicious being that was attacking them from behind! Looking at Wei Sheng who was in fierce combat against the fiend corpse, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, turned and charged towards the back.

He believed that with Eldest Shixiong’s power, even if he could not defeat the fiend corpse, he could slow down the other! If the vicious being that was ambushing form the back was fifth-grade as well, then it was a calamity for the others. Other than the few that had their core formations, everyone else was ningmai. Ningmai xiuzhe in front of fifth-grade yao beasts were as weak as lettuce.

This wasn’t something that numbers could change. The difference in power was too great!

If one fifth-grade yao beast charged in, blood would flow in rivers. Thinking about it, Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly became red. In name, everyone in this group were his subordinates, but in his heart, they were fellows he could give his life too.

One, two … … five … … six!

Damn it! There were six!

The damned group!

Halfway in the air, Zuo Mo suddenly bellowed. The furious howl was like thunder that suddenly spread!

The golden yellow and fiery red flame seal armor quickly wrapped around Zuo Mo at a rate visible to the naked eye. The half-transparent and gossamer thin golden wings formed silently behind him like they were drawn by an invisible pen.

Hiss!

Zuo Mo’s figure disappeared from the air.

———

An enormous shadow covered A Wen. Within the fiendish mist, there seemed to be a small mountain moving towards him. The ground was rumbling, and pebbles were furiously bouncing.

A Wen tightly gripped his black spear. His young face was expressionless like the most practiced hunter. Having survived the dueling stadium, A Wen might be young, but he had gone through hundreds of fights, and was one that truly climbed out of piles of corpses.

But this unknown monster had pressured him to the point he almost couldn’t breathe!

Even though the other had not attacked yet, A Wen was clear this feeling would occur when the enemy’s strength was far greater than his. However, he did not retreat because this big guy had wounded several of his brothers.

Shu Long was not present, and he was the strongest one present out of Guard Camp. If he ran now, the other people would directly face this big guy. Then only death awaited them.

What should he do?

His mind moved quickly. Use his speed to slow down this big guy?

At this time, the enormous shadow within the fiendish mist revealed its true face. A Wen’s pupils suddenly shrank!

An ugly sand puppet with the body of a small mountain that was at least twenty zhang. In front of it, A Wen was like an ant. It seemed to move very slowly, but it was able to move over a large distance with each step. Many small flows of sand surrounded it like mist.

So ugly!

A Wei twisted his mouth. He knew his plan of using speed to slow down the other was no longer viable.

However … …

A cold light suddenly flashed through A Wen’s eyes. He suddenly raised the black spear in his hand.

“Hardship Guard!”

A Wen’s angry shout jolted the confused and disorganized Guard Camp and quickly calmed them down. They were well trained. After the initial confusion, they quickly organized themselves. When they saw the youngest among them, A Wen, standing at the front, these men felt their blood rise up, their necks turned red, and tendons bulging.

Without any orders, just like normal, they quickly formed the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation!

The spear that A Wen had raised was now tilted downwards towards his side. With both his hands grasping the spear, he pointed the tip of the spear straight at the enormous sand puppet that was approaching .

All of the hardship guards understood A Wen’s meaning instantly!

These men that had felt shame at their panic furiously channeled into the formation.

Immediately, the fiendish mist was like water that furiously flooded the formation. The fiendish mist that was absorbed into the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation only left behind small threads of black mist.

The slender black mist swam and gathered in one direction

—towards the very front of the formation, the individual standing with his spear, A Wen.

Chapter 415: Crowd Of Monsters

This was the first time A Wen was leading the formation. This position had previously been Shu Long’s.

The inky black mist was moving towards him like slender snakes. They gathered from all corners of the formation onto A Wen’s body. In an instant, A Wen was covered in the snake-like mist. His body was shrouded in mist, and his figure became indistinct.

It was the first time that A Wen had felt as though his body was going to explode. The power was restlessly stirring inside his body, and was trying to escape! The surge pf pure killing essence was like waves that battered at his mind.

Along with the cold and dark killing essence came a darkness, the world within his view had became dark. A strong feeling of murderousness rose. He had the impulse to destroy everything!

But that lasted for just an instant and A Wen recovered clarity.

In that one instant, the world became a blur in his eyes. A Wen couldn’t help but feel afraid. The situation just now had been extremely dangerous. In their daily cultivation, Shu Long had repeatedly warned them not to lose themselves in killing essence. Once they were lost in killing essence, they would become monsters that only knew to kill.

Having climbed out of the dueling stadium, A Wen’s talents were not just outstanding, he was also mentally stronger than the great majority of people. He had never encountered such a dangerous loss of control in his daily cultivation. This was one reason that his progression was far faster than his fellows.

But the killing essence that had flooded in had been too great and almost drowned him.

Feeling afraid from this experience, A Wen became even more careful. However, he had never lead the formation before today so he could only think back to how Shu Long usually acted.

He quickly found that mimicking Shu Long was not as simple as he had imagined. It required special methods to control such a vast amount of killing essence.

Damn it!

———

“When will the three of them regain consciousness?” a member of the Sky Peak Platoon sighed. “These three are battlemaniacs; they will definitely regret missing out on such a spectacular battle.”

“They’re seriously wounded, it’s good that they are even alive! If it wasn’t for Teacher Wei and the others arriving in time, they might not even be alive,” a member beside him followed up.

“It’s useless even if they are awake,” another member inserted. “Why are we just watching right now? We still can’t join in? Damn it! Seems we need to try hard to get to jindan. Us Sky Peak Platoon can only stand aside and stare as the others battle. This is embarrassing!”

The other members felt great empathy with his words. In the past, the Sky Peak Platoon had been the elite of Vermillion Bird Camp. Comprised of sword xiu that comprehended sword essence, peerless in offensive power. But as more members comprehended sword essence, their advantage was not as evident as it was in the past. In reality, their improvement was not minor. This could be seen from their cultivation. All of them had reached the third stratum of ningmai.

They looked to be one step away from jindan, but it was not so easy to cross that step.

While third stratum xiuzhe were stronger than second stratum, the difference was not so definite. This placed them in an extremely awkward position.

“Isn’t it so! When we were glorious, those brats were still drinking milk!”

“Don’t mention the past, nothing to see there! If I say so, the way things are going, Sky Peak Platoon is going to be dissolved sooner or later!”

“My ass! You crow mouth!”

“It’s the truth. Look at the Shield Guard Platoon. Zong Ru is jindan. Our platoon doesn’t have even one jindan.”

“No way. We need to think of something!”

“Think of what? Jindan isn’t lettuce, buying some when we want them! It’s not that everyone isn’t working hard, no one is slacking off, but our improvement is too slow!”

Now everyone was speechless.

That was right. If jindan was that easy to reach, it wouldn’t be so valuable. These members hadn’t forgotten, they were all wringing their minds thinking of ways to reach jindan a little faster. But in the past who among them had even dared to think they could become jindan?

“Alright, stay alert! Guard your position! Anything can wait until we are safe!”

Due to having three wounded members in Sky Peak Platoon, so Gongsun Cha had positioned them as the last line of defense to protect the Golden Crow Camp that had little to no combat ability.

This made them feel very terrible.

———

Gongsun Cha’s expression was very ugly, and filled with self-blame. He had been immersed in thoughts about that war chess match these days which caused his response today to be slightly slow.

If Zuo Mo had not reacted quickly, they would have fallen for the diversionary tactic of these monsters.

If the yao beasts had successfully ambushed them, then … …

Without needing to think, Gongsun Cha knew that the result definitely would have been terrible. He would be unpardonable! This serious mistake deeply stimulated the usually proud and victory-desiring Lil’ miss. At the same time, fury erupted from his heart!

Hunting, what the yao beasts were using was a classic method used for hunting!

They were being hunted by a group of yao beasts!

Lil’ Miss’ handsome face was furious.

———

There were six monsters  in total.

Other than the fiend corpse facing off against Wei Sheng and the sand puppet that was heading for A Wen, the other people had also landed in hard battles. Fighting against Shu Long was an iron rhino, Xie Shan was facing a monster that had six bone spikes that jutted out of its back. Zong Ru was facing a black ball of mist.

And Zuo Mo’s target was a person!

Using person to describe it was not accurate, because there was no vitality in half of his body. This person’s clothing was torn, and his body seemed to be divided in two. The right half had a five colored pattern that looked as though poisonous insects were climbing all over him, and was startling to see!

There was no light in the grey white eyes that stared indifferently as Zuo Mo neared.

Zuo Mo’s speed was very quick. Under the full force of the Light Void Wings, he was like lightning!

The strange person reached out with a finger.

Zuo Mo felt his vision light up and fill with rainbow coloured light. A strong feeling of danger made every inch of his body uncontrollably shake!

Pia!

The beast service card on Zuo Mo’s waist flashed with light. A black butterfly appeared, out of thin air, in front of Zuo Mo.

Black Butterfly!

Ever since it had entered the fourth-grade, Zuo Mo felt the name of the Rainbow Mark Butterfly was not suited for it, and changed its name to Black Butterfly. The Black Butterfly had always stayed in the beast service card. This was the first time it had proactively came out of the beast service card.

The Black Butterfly lightly flapped its wings.

Hiss!

The rainbow energy was drawn in by an enormous suctioning force, gathering together and headed towards the Black Butterfly.

The rainbow energy continuously entered the Black Butterfly. Zuo Mo was astounded. The tiny body of the Black Butterfly seemed to be a bottomless hole. All of the rainbow energy was sucked in. What made him feel this was even more fantastical was the clear joy the Black Butterfly was communicating to him.

Was this light a poison?

When Zuo Mo’s thought formed, the Black Butterfly in front of him danced as though it was agreeing with his speculation.

———

“Why are there so many fiend corpses?” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao frowned.

Wei said lightly, “This is the Battle of Sealed Extinction.”

Pu Yao instantly stopped speaking. Right! This was the Sealed Extinction battlefield. It was not strange for such a rare occurrence to appear here.

———

Zuo Mo did not think too much. Letting your mind be distracted by stray thoughts in battle was the same as seeking death. Judging that the strange person was using poison, Zuo Mo’s heart calmed down. The Black Butterfly was a fourth-grade poison butterfly. For it, poisons were like nutrients.

Facing the strange person, no, maybe it was more appropriate to call it a strange corpse. It had the strongest power of this crowd of monsters, and should be upper fifth-level. If the Black Butterfly was not here, Zuo Mo would be in trouble today. The poison released by the fourth-grade Black Butterfly could already corrode ling power. The poison that this strange corpse released should be even more powerful!

Zzt-zzt-zzt!

The beautiful five colored energy spread from the feet of the strange corpse. The hard ground was quickly rotted, and a noxious smell spread.

Zuo Mo accidentally breathed in a thread. He instantly felt dizzy and was shocked inside.

The Black Butterfly seemed to smell something delicious and furiously flapped its wings!

The five colored energy spreading on the ground floated up from the ground and continuously absorbed into the Black Butterfly.

There wasn’t any emotion in the strange corpse’s grey eyes. It silently stared at the Black Butterfly as though it did not see that the Black Butterfly was continuously absorbing the poison it released.

A thread of grey silently mixed into the rainbow energy. Along with the rainbow energy, it entered the body of the Black Butterfly.

The Black Butterfly suddenly froze!

A dot of grey suddenly appeared on its wings.

A rotten presence of death spread out from the Black Butterfly.

———

The flood waves  killing essence continuously battered A Wen’s mind. Even more terrifying was that this power was still increasing.

A Wen had a strong sense of danger. If this kept going, before the sand puppet had arrived, he would have lost control and exploded.

Able to survive hundreds of battles, A Wen definitely was not a person without intelligence. It was the opposite. He had astounding battle intuition. Since he could not use Shu Long’s method, then he would use his own!

He carefully controlled the rushing killing essence, but the effect was minuscule. This burst of killing essence was truly too large. It was like a rushing river, and in front of it, he was tiny.

This made him realize just how small his own strength was.

If he wanted to get this strong killing essence to move as he wanted, then he could only use the power it already had. This idea illuminated him.

Gritting his teeth, he opened his mind.

Boom!

Endless killing essence howled and wailed as it swallowed him. His mind became blank for a short instant, but the last remaining thread of clarity allowed him to do one thing—raise the black spear in his hands!

The vast killing essence seemed to find a vent, and furiously rushed towards the black spear in his hand.

In other people’s eyes, they only saw the black snakes wrapped around A Wen’s body furiously head towards the black spear as though there was something there attracting them.

The black mist on A Wen’s body quickly lessened and revealed his armor. The black mist all gathered quickly on A Wen’s black spear without leaving a drop behind.

Pew!

The black mist shrouding the black spear seemed to be ignited. In a blink, the black mist on the entire spear started to burn.

A Wen’s face twisted. He felt as though he was not holding the black spear, but a ball of fire!

Almost unconsciously, he used all the power in his body and threw the burning black spear at the sand puppet!

Chapter 416: Strange Corpse

When the grey mark on the Black Butterfly exuded a strong rotten smell, Zuo Mo knew the situation was not well!

Without hesitating, the Midday Blade in his hand sliced towards the strange corpse!

The golden flame that shrouded the blade burst out along with this blow. It turned to a blinding crescent that leapt towards the strange corpse!

Midday Blade Strike!

Zuo Mo knew that the opponent was immeasurably powerful, so he did not hold any power back with this blow.

The golden flame blade energy was peerlessly domineering. The air howled around the explosive presence!

A different look flashed through the strange corpse’s eyes. The raised finger was not lowered, but pointed lightly at the Midday Blade Strike.

Boom!

The domineering and powerful Midday Blade Strike exploded, as it was released,  right in front of Zuo Mo!

Zuo Mo’s vision became white. He was unable to see anything. He was extremely shocked. The other was so terrifyingly powerful! At this time, a feeling of danger rose. Without thinking, the Light Void Wings on his back moved, and his body suddenly disappeared from his spot.

On the spot he had just been standing at, a grey light flashed by!

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly contracted!

When the light disappeared, everything in his vision became clear again. The strange corpse was still standing at his original spot, as though he had never moved. Even the raised finger had returned to its original place. It was like a statue, one that had no life.

There was nothing between him and Zuo Mo. The Black Butterfly had disappeared.

The strange corpse looked unaffectedly at Zuo Mo. There was no emotion in its empty and grey eyes. It still did not show any signs of life. Even in such a fierce battle, it did not show any vitality!

Coldness sprouted from Zuo Mo’s heart!

What monster was this guy?

“Pu, do you recognize it?” Zuo Mo stared at the other as he remained motionless and asked Pu Yao.

“No.” Pu Yao shook his head. He gave a rare warning. “Be careful. I cannot see its power!”

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly sank. A level of power that even Pu Yao could not measure, then … …

Wei suddenly spoke, “Try to talk to him, he may have cognition.”

Have cognition? Zuo Mo’s mind shifted and he said, “Sir, who are you?”

The statue like strange corpse’s neck cracked as it moved. The grey pupils stared at Zuo Mo, and its throat sent out dry sounds, “Hiss hiss … …”

The strange hisses caused Zuo Mo’s hairs to stand up.

“Hiss hiss … … person … …”

The strange corpse’s voice was very indistinct as though it had been a long time since it had spoken.

But Zuo Mo heard that “person.” As Wei had suspected, it had cognition! For them, this was both good and bad. If the strange corpse was intelligent, then that meant there was the possibility of communicating with them. That was good. But the this also meant that if the communication failed, then they were faced with an even more dangerous enemy. Intelligent enemies were undoubtedly harder to fight.

“Do you understand my words?” Zuo Mo probed.

“Hiss hiss … … crawk crawk … …” Blurry sounds like those from a wild beast’s throat came. The strange corpse’s expression finally changed slightly. He seemed to be trying to remember something. But the change in expression on his already ugly face made it even more terrible.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. If they enraged the strange corpse, then it really wasn’t a joke. Power that even Pu Yao could not measure, they definitely were not a match!

“Hiss hiss, human … … you are human … …”

The strange corpse’s eyes held strong emotion but his voice was still cracking.

But Zuo Mo understood. He hurriedly nodded as  his hands moved, “Right right right. I’m human, I’m human.”

The subordinates behind Zuo Mo were stunned by the scene in front of them. Their mouths were gaping as their faces were still. Some of the braver ones couldn’t help but laugh lightly. This kind of communication was really weird, especially Daren’s reply, it was too funny to hear.

Listening to the light laughter behind him, Zuo Mo instantly knew what those people were thinking. But in order not to provoke the strange corpse, he filled his face with a friendly and harmless smile.

He thought inside, just wait for me to sort you fools out later!

The strange corpse’s twisted expression calmed, and his words became smoother. “You … … how did you get in?”

Zuo Mo’s hairs rose at being the focus of the strange corpse’s grey eyes. He said, “Our transportation formation was altered by someone so we were transported here.”

“Transportation formation?” The strange corpse perceptively caught the crux of the information.

“Yes, transportation formation.” Zuo Mo nodded.

“What is this transportation formation?” The strange corpse asked.

“Uh, this is complicated to explain … …” Zuo Mo motioned.

“No matter. What is least lacking here is time.” The strange corpse smiled at him but Zuo Mo’s bones shivered at that smile. When he finished speaking, the strange corpse suddenly flicked out a bolt of light. After a while, the five other monsters appeared next to him. Of the five, only the sand puppet looked slightly disheveled, it had a black spear thrust into its body. But compared to its enormous shape, the black spear was like a toothpick. The sand where the black spear was abruptly caved inward, and then swallowed the black spear.

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply.

At the same time, several figures appeared like lightning beside Zuo Mo. Each person did not have a good expression. The other’s powers were too fantastical. The strange corpse looked at the black sword in Wei Sheng’s hands and nodded his head, “Didn’t think that this sword would end up in your possession.”

Wei Sheng’s eyebrow raised.

Zuo Mo reacted the quickest and hurriedly asked, “Elder, what is the origin of this sword?”

“Haa, haa, he will know when the time comes.” The strange corpse’s speech became increasingly smooth and his expressions more varied. But this caused him to look even weirder. The strange corpse turned his face to ask Zuo Mo, “Speak about the transformation formation.”

“The transformation formation is a formation method to move from one place to another … …”

“Formation method?”

Didn’t even know what a formation method was? Were these guys really survivors of the Battle of Sealed Extinction? His heart couldn’t help but beat wildly.

The strange corpse seemed to know what Zuo Mo was thinking inside. The grey pupils were amused.

Zuo Mo focused and carved out a transportation formation on the ground. “This is a transportation formation. We use it to travel.”

The strange corpse swept a look and understood. “This method is clever, but there are many limitations.”

“Yes. We don’t know the general location of this place. One minor difference in the transportation formation, and it creates  thousands of li of error.” Thinking about it, Zuo Mo could only shake his head.

But the strange corpse looked at Zuo Mo. “I know you have a another way of leaving.”

Not waiting for Zuo Mo to argue, he said faintly, “I have followed you for many days. You want to reach the center of the battlefield.”

The expressions of those beside Zuo Mo were ugly. Someone had followed behind them for so many days yet none of them had detected it. Zuo Mo wasn’t too shocked. The other’s strength was much greater than theirs. He had a guess. This strange corpse might possibly be an old monster that survived the Battle of Sealed Extinction.

In comparison, the strongest of his group was just jindan. The other could destroy them with a flick of the finger.

“With your strength, you cannot go into the center of the battlefield,” the strange corpse said faintly. “Those that died here are the strongest of the world. Their lingering presences are not something you can resist against even after so many years.”

Having it baldly stated that that their power wasn’t enough left everyone with black faces. But the other’s immeasurable power made them not dare to rebuke the statement.

Zuo Mo reacted the quickest, or rather, of everyone, he had the best understanding of the strange corpse and his group’s power. Since he understood their present situation the best, his mentality was the most appropriate.

“Please, Elder, teach us!” Zuo Mo said with a bow.

The strange corpse showed a satisfied expression, even though the half multicolored face caused him to look horrifying. He did not drag it out. “I can take you in, but I will leave with you.”

Zuo Mo released a breath and said, “It is our honor!”

No one had an opinion for the addition of the strange corpse’s group.

Reality quickly proved that this decision was correct. The addition of the strange corpse caused all the other monsters along the road to disappear. Their speed increased greatly. The strange corpse was not silent, but talkative. He was very interested in talking with Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo might not have proven his speculations on the identity of the strange corpse, but he received a great deal of information. For example, out of the group of six only the strange corpse had intelligence. The other five were vicious beings that were born in this patch of fiendish ground.

Whenever he conversed with the strange corpse, Pu Yao and Wei would remain silent. They were very wary of the strange corpse.

Just how perceptive of expression was Zuo Mo? Seeing the strange corpse held no ill will towards them, he took out the totem fragments they had obtained and asked for guidance from the strange corpse.

“Ha, you guys want even this?” The strange corpse laughed, his tone disinterested. “These are too fragmented, there is nothing very useful.”

“Elder recognizes this?” Zuo Mo hurriedly asked.

“Very normal stuff. Every tribe will have them, used for sacrificial offerings.”

“How to use them?”

“The totem itself has shen power.”

“Shen power?”

“Belief creates shen power, shen power nurtures the totem, so the totem can form.”

Zuo Mo did not understand. As expected, the stuff of ancient times and the present were two different things! He could only change his question. “Elder, how can this thread of intelligence in the fragment be forged?”

“What is the use of this bit of intelligence?” The strange corpse did not think much of the fragment.

Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say. If this fragment was on the outside world, there would be countless people that would want this.

“Filled men do not know the hunger of hungry men!” Zuo Mo muttered. Now that they were familiar, Zuo Mo had generally gotten a grasp on the strange corpse’s temper. He knew the other would not get angry over this.

The strange corpse glanced at him. “Don’t’ worry. There are many things better than this along the way. I will help you get some.”

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. “Many thanks, Elder!”

“Don’t thank me. Without you, I cannot leave.” The strange corpse taught, “Your methods are too gentle. If you want to forge the intelligence of this fragment, you have to use force.”

“Force?” Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. It was the first time he heard of doing that.

“Submit or die,” the strange corpse said faintly.

Seeing the shock on Zuo Mo’s face, the strange corpse said, “Totems are born to protect the tribe, their intelligence is not high, about the same as wild beasts. As long as they know they will die if they do not submit, they will naturally be tamed.”

Before Zuo Mo could react, the strange corpse raised his head and looked into the distance.

“Careful. We are going to enter the core area now.”

Zuo Mo felt as though he walked out of the fiendish mist. Everything was open in front of him!

Chapter 417: Sea Of Golden Crystal Sand

The dunes in their sight were endless.

The glittering gold sand was like a golden sea, and these rising dunes were like the waves of this golden sea.

This scene was spectacular!

The Golden Crow Camp at the back of their procession suddenly became restless.

“It’s Golden Crystal sand! Heavens, all of this is Golden Crystal sand!”

“Oh, Heavens! It really is Golden Crystal sand!”

“Heavens! What place is this? How can there be this much Golden Crystal sand?”

The restlessness from the rear rippled forward, and Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be stunned. He bent down and grabbed a handful of sand. When the gold sand entered his hand, his first thought was ‘heavy’! When he examined it, the golden sand was actually half transparent. Each speck was a cube. At the center of the cube was a hair thin golden thread. The reason that the sand was such a strong golden color was due to this extremely thin golden hair!

It really was Golden Crystal sand!

Fifth-grade Golden Crystal sand!

Zuo Mo dazedly looked at the golden sea in front of him, his mind blank as he allowed the Golden Crystal sand to slip through his fingers.

“This is the area where the totem of the Sun Tribe fell, so it is the Land of the Sunset. The Sun Tribe had the sun as its totem, and had many powerful tribal warriors. It was one of the strongest tribes in all of the jie.”

The strange corpse’s voice was calm and emotionless, without any rise, as though he was describing a normal matter.

Zuo Mo recovered from his daze. He furiously scooped Golden Crystal sand into his ring!

Heavens, this was Golden Crystal sand! Fifth-grade Golden Crystal sand! On the outside, it was sold by the grain! If he let this opportunity go, he would be struck by lightning!

Zuo Mo had never felt he was so rich before!

It wasn’t just him. All the xiuzhe of the Golden Crow Camp were furiously packing in the Golden Crystal sand. Everyone’s eyes were red. Seeing this made their hearts beat faster and their blood flow more rapidly. In front of such a patch of Golden Crystal sand sea, everyone was crazy!

The strange corpse tilted his head. “This and is useful to you?”

“This is Golden Crystal sand!” Zuo Mo didn’t raise his head as he furiously packed Golden Crystal sand into his ring and said rapidly, “A fifth-grade material! I can’t even find a place to buy this on the outside! Do you know, this is worth a lot! Right! We’ve struck it rich this time!”

“There is so much here, how are you going take it all?” The strange corpse pointed at the endless sea of sand.

Zuo Mo’s movements paused. The endless sea of sand in front of him seemed to be reminding him that the  Golden Crystal sand he was packing away was just a drop in the ocean. The bursting joy turned to grief. Zuo Mo’s tears flowed down his face.

The  Golden Crystal sand sea was in front of him, but he could not take all of it, the greatest pain in life was this!

Looking at the vast sea of sand, Zuo Mo was still for a while. After a long while, he refocused and gritted out a few words, “Set up camp!”

The troop quickly set up camp. Everyone was in a sort of frenzy and their movements unusually brisk.

“Forge, forge all of this. Flying swords, ling armors, forge it all with Golden Crystal sand!”

Zuo Mo’s bellows rang out over the entire camp. Everyone was upbeat. All of Golden Crow Camp members had eyes filled with blood. As production xiuzhe, they had no resistance towards high level materials. Vermillion Bird Camp was also excited. They learned from the Golden Crow Camp members that  Golden Crystal sand was great material for forging flying swords. The flying swords forged from it were unable to be damaged, so sharp they could cut through everything. Even more importantly, it was at least fifth-grade!

A fifth-grade flying sword, that was enough for a sword xiu to risk it all!

This land of sunset was filled with the presence of the sun. The power of the Golden Crow Fire had greatly increased. The xiuzhe of Golden Crow Camp started on their difficulty task of forging with Golden Crystal sand. Yes, it was very difficult. They were mostly from grassroots. They had pitifully few encounters with fourth-grade materials, let alone fifth-grade materials.

Golden Crow Fire was also a fourth-grade flame. Even though its power had greatly increased, but it was not easy to forge  Golden Crystal sand. The great majority of people could only forge one grain at a time.

The strange corpse looked with interest at this group of people.

Calming down, Zuo Mo suddenly realized this was a rare and wonderful opportunity. So much  Golden Crystal sand. Other than the value of the  Golden Crystal sand itself, it could also provide everyone with a great chance to practice.

Using  Golden Crystal sand to practice, for a forging xiuzhe, was there anything more extravagant and sumptuous than this?

Zuo Mo’s mood suddenly became light. Using fith-grade materials to practice. The experience he would get was much greater than with normal materials. Even Zuo Mo started to pick up the forging crafts he had decided to thrown away a long time ago, and started to process  Golden Crystal sand.

The strange corpse did not hurry them. He looked curiously as Zuo Mo forged. All of this was very unfamiliar to him.

“Your flame is better than theirs.” The strange corpse might not understand forging but he still had his eyes.

“Yes, I’m their head.” Zuo Mo was slightly smug, but his hands didn’t stop for an instant.

“Head?” The strange corpse repeated and chewed this word. He raised his head and asked, “Does it mean leader?”

“Elder’s comprehension is really good.” Zuo Mo flattered. He then asked curiously. “Elder, how did you forge talismans in your time?”

“Talismans? What are talismans?” The strange corpse asked in puzzlement.

“Oh, the flying swords they use are one type of talisman. Really, it is stuff that is made using all kinds of materials in order to increase our strength,” Zuo Mo explained.

The strange corpse was slightly dazed. “Your sword, oh, flying sword, it is a clever trick. But the quality is lacking, and the power it adds is too little. It is also too fine, there are many places that it does not need to be so fine. As long as the materials have enough cognition, they will merge together, and have greater power.”

Zuo Mo choked. He could only ask in response, “Elder, did you have many materials with cognition during your time?”

“Everywhere.” The strange corpse had a matter-of-fact expression. He pointed at the ground. “Stuff like this, no one would want this.”

Zuo Mo almost spat blood. So the  Golden Crystal sand that was a treasure in their eyes was stuff that no one else wanted. However, Zuo Mo understood upon thinking about it. The number of cultivators in ancient times could not compare to now. After so many years of development and production, after generations of harvesting and division, there naturally won’t be much left of even the greatest amount of materials.

Thinking about it that way, Zuo Mo found it fair. “Times are different. If this was taken out now, it would be considered good. Materials that have cognition are rare and too precious.”

The strange corpse was a very intelligent person. He nodded in understanding and said, “No wonder you have developed such clever methods.”

His next words caused Zuo Mo’s flame to shake. The  Golden Crystal sand in the middle of the flame that was going to melt instantly turned back to normal.

“There is something better inside this patch of sand.”

“What good thing?” Zuo Mo asked urgently. Something better than  Golden Crystal sand, wouldn’t that at least be sixth-grade?

Sixth-grade material … …

In this moment, Zuo Mo actually felt a thread of terror. Fifth-grade materials might be rare but he still had obtained a few items. But sixth-grade materials, he hadn’t ever dared to even think about it. Even the tiniest bit of sixth-grade material was enough to bring calamities.

However, this thread of terror quickly disappeared. Since ancient times, the daring died from overeating, while the cowardly died from hunger! He also had so many fellows, and the future wasn’t something a person could entirely shape to their will.

Zuo Mo’s gaze quickly became heated.

The strange corpse tilted his head and swept a gaze across the sand. His gaze locked on a certain dune and then it pointed over.

Bang!

An enormous sound, and a faraway sand dune suddenly exploded!

Zuo Mo gaped with wide eyes. This sand dune was at least one hundred zhang high. It looked like a small mountain. But the strange corpse just pointed and the resulting explosion turned it all to dust! A sand dune made up from  Golden Crystal sand was at least millions of catties heavy, and under this gesture, had it became dust.

Zuo Mo felt a hint of fear. It was lucky that he hadn’t tried to battle to death against this freak.

The strange corpse calmly made a grabbing motion with his hand. A golden shadow penetrated the sand swirling in the sky and flew into his hand.

An orange ball of fire!

The burning heat rushed at him. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

Enduring wave after wave of heat, he felt that his eyebrows were burning. He looked in shock at the fire ball in the strange corpse’s hand! Such high temperature! Such a powerful flame!

The orange-red flame burned like a miniature sun. This flame’s temperature was so high it surpassed any flame that Zuo Mo knew of. Within the orange-red fireball, it was possible to discern a faint sphere.

“This is called a Sun Crystal Seed, in the past it was the seed of the Sun Tribe’s totem. However, the Sun Tribe has probably died out by now, and it can no longer be used for the Sun Totem.” The strange corpse looked at Zuo Mo. “Do you want it?”

Treasure! Definitely an ultimate treasure! Not ordinary!

Zuo Mo was an experienced hand at studying reassures. He could see with a glance that the fireball’s value definitely surpassed everything on his body added together. Staring at the fireball, he felt a hint of trepidation but he gritted his teeth and said without hesitating. “Want!”

Want! He’ll want it even if he died!

“Its temperature is too high, you cannot tolerate it. I will help you seal it. When your strength reaches a certain level, you can unlock the seal.”

When the strange corpse finished speaking, without seeing him move, the orange-red flames quickly became dim and revealed the true face of the sphere inside. It was a sphere that looked just the same as normal crystal spheres that did not have any light.

Zuo Mo took over the crystal ball. His hand suddenly sank down, and his pupils dilated!

It was so heavy!

With the Great Day mo physique, Zuo Mo was so strong that no one was a match for him in the camp. But he was almost unable to hold this little crystal ball!

Zuo Mo guessed that this crystal ball was tens of thousands of catties heavy.

He struggled to put the crystal ball into his ring. He released a breath. The strange corpse had solved a great problem for him. After being sealed, the crystal ball was unattractive and unassuming. As long as no one reached to take it, no one would think that this non-descript crystal ball was at least a top sixth-grade material.

After the strange corpse threw the crystal ball to Zuo Mo, he did not show any more intentions of acting. He did not hurry them and started to examine people who were forging.

All of the members of the Golden Crow Camp were furiously processing. This chance to practice with fifth-grade materials would likely never appear in front of them again.

Suddenly, the strange corpse appeared next to Zuo Mo and said, “A sandstorm is coming.”

“Sandstorm?” Zuo Mo first paused and then his expression changed dramatically.  Golden Crystal sand was a good material, yes! But if it was sandstorm that was formed from Golden Crystal sand, the power from it… …

Chapter 418: Sandstorm

A black line could be seen on the horizon and it was rushing towards them at astonishing speed.

In a short period of time, the black line had multiplied in size. The Golden Crystal sand was picked up by the wind and the resulting sandstorm blocked the sun. The sky instantly darkened. The storm front looked like an ancient beast that was howling.

Zuo Mo paled. He howled at the top of his lungs, “Into the boat! Into the boat!”

Without needing Zuo Mo’s management, everyone started to systematically move. The xiuzhe of Golden Crow Camp threw away the Golden Crystal sand in their hands without a second word and moved like a legion of ants towards the slave transporting boat. The Golden Crow lit up with faint light, and the other boats also started to light up. This meant that the defensive formations on the boats had been activated.

Every slave transporting boat had been redesigned and renovated, they had engraved the boats with all kinds of defensive formations. But to save ling power, these formations were usually not activated.

Everyone was trained and quickly entered the slave transporting boats. There were only Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and the few that were the strongest left outside.

Zuo Mo called to the strange corpse to go into the boat together. The strange corpse shook his head, “This bit of a sandstorm isn’t anything.”

Thinking about the strange corpse’s enormous power, Zuo Mo did not force him. He was preparing to call the others into the boat when the strange corpse suddenly said, “I suggest that you all do not go in.”

“Why?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“You are all more powerful than the rest,” the strange corpse said, “but your cultivations do not seem to be stable. You must have broken through not long ago. This kind of sandstorm is a chance for you, a chance to strengthen yourselves.”

The people were thoughtful.

The strange corpse said faintly, “Do not give up any opportunity to strengthen yourself. This is very beneficial for you.”

Wei Sheng, Xie Shan, and the others were very moved. These normal words embodied with the obsession to cultivate.

The cultivation maniac Wei Sheng spoke first, “Yes! I will not go inside.”

Xie Shan tightly followed, “I won’t go inside either.”

Shu Long did not say anything, but the determination in his eyes displayed his decision. Zong Ru’s hands were together as he stood with closed eyes, but the decisiveness showed on his face.

Zuo Mo stared with wide eyes at this group, and wanted to swear!

You idiots, you’re so stupid. One sentence from that person and you were all fooled!

But he only dared to swear inside. The strange corpse’s gaze did not land on him, but he still felt a blade pointed at his back. Looking at Wei Sheng and the others remaining still, Zuo Mo gritted through his teeth as though he was possessed by a ghost and said , “Alright, then everyone can go together!”

When he finished speaking, he regretted it. Wasn’t he just asking for abuse? Why did he go and accompany them in their craziness? It really was crazy! All of them were crazy!

The other people looked at each other and then laughed out loud. Zuo Mo forced himself to squeeze a smile onto his face but it was uglier than crying.

The sandstorm arrived very quickly, faster than they had imagined. A moment ago it was on the horizon then and in a flash, it was in front of him.

The sound was shocking. Zuo Mo’s face was white, and unconfident inside.

Pia pia pia!

The first wave of the sandstorm hit the shining light covers of the slave transporting boats and caused sparks to fly everywhere. The Golden Crystal sand was extremely dense, and each seemingly tiny grain was very heavy. The wind was very fast, and each grain of Golden Crystal sand it carried was astoundingly powerful.

Zuo Mo and the others quickly experienced the power of the sandstorm!

The power of the wind was tolerable. All of them were exceptionally skilled, and could stabilize themselves in the wild wind. But the ever-present Golden Crystal sand was truly hard to deal with!

Even Zuo Mo who had the protection of the Great Day mo physique felt pain from the barrage of sand. The pain the others felt could be imagined. Everyone was furiously channeling ling power to protect their body. Shu Long, who was covered in armor, was drowning in sparks.

Only the strange corpse had a calm face. The space within one zhang of him was undisturbed, the area was filled with warm winds and radiating light.

Zuo Mo was quickly overwhelmed and could no longer look around. The sandstorm had increased in power. It became even difficult for him to stabilize his body. He had to hunch over to try to reduce the resistance against the terrifying sandstorm. The Golden Crystal sand rained down on his body. Under the Flame Seal Armor, it was unusually painful.

This wind … … wasn’t right!

The wind that had just started was producing  a different sound than just a moment ago. There was a feeling of tearing in the howling as though there were hundreds of sharp knifes rubbing together.

Hard wind!

This was hard wind!

Hard wind was like a blade. Its most famous quality was being able to tear apart the ling power that protected one’s body. But in reality, the hard wind didn’t just tear through ling power, it could also tear apart mo physiques!

Zuo Mo could not open his eyes. His ears were filled with wails and cries. He bit down hard and did not dare to relax. The hard wind was growing stronger!

The howl of the hard wind seemed to have an unusual power and could stun one’s soul. Zuo Mo did not have the spare energy to think about analyzing the experience. In this degree of hard wind, if he slacked off in the slightest, he would instantly be torn apart and turned to powder! The hard wind that carried Golden Crystal sand was like an enormous grinder that could reduce everything into a powder!

The strange corpse glanced at the slave transporting boats that were wavering against the hard wind. He suddenly reached out to point at the trembling slave transporting boats. The ling shields on each slave transporting boat suddenly became brighter and the boats instantly stabilized.

The states of Zuo Mo and the others were not good.

Xie Shan had long ago summoned his flying sword. Circles of multicolored light spun around his body like rainbows. An enormous shadow appeared behind Zong Ru. He summoned the Attainment Golden Body. Shu Long had also summoned his black ji, and his body seemed to be nailed to the ground.

After a while, Wei Sheng who had been motionless all this time finally raised the black sword in his hand. A vigorous sword essence erupted and tightly wrapped around Wei Sheng.

Zuo Mo’s Great Day mo physique was being channeled to the maximum. Flames rampaged across the Flame Seal Armor and hardily burning in the hard wind.

The sandstorm covered the sky. In the middle of the storm, Zuo Mo and the others were unable to see anything in the darkness.

Zuo Mo only felt that every muscle was burning. When every grain of the Golden Crystal sand hit his body with the hard wind, he felt a heart-boring pain. In the dark sandstorm, sparks flew like rain and tightly surrounded Zuo Mo. They came from all directions and pushed Zuo Mo to the point he was unable to move.

The impenetrable Flame Seal Armor started to warp from the furious blows of the sandstorm.

Blows that made him unable to breathe!

It was the first time Zuo Mo had encountered such a suffocating attack. Other than bearing through it, he could not think of any other solution. Even when he had been facing Clear Sky Old Forefather, he had not been as disheveled as now.

Today, he learned just how immeasurable the power of the world was!

Zuo Mo’s body rattled like dice, and his energy quickly flowed. Every breath was so long. This sandstorm seemed endless and made one feel hopeless. Sparks continuously flew. The Flame Seal Armor continuously changed shape. Pia pia pia, several Golden Crystal sand grains penetrated the Flame Seal Armor and hit Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo’s figure swayed and he almost fell.

No … … he almost couldn’t persist any more … …

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and bore it out, stabilizing his figure. He knew if he lost control of his body, then there was no possibility of survival. The ever-present Golden Crystal sand and the hard wind that could enter any opening would take his life.

Pew pew pew!

Several bursts of blood suddenly sprayed and was ground into a bloody mist by the sandstorm as it left his body. The powerful Great Day mo physique seemed to become fragile in front of this sandstorm.

Ever since he had begun cultivating the Great Day mo physique, especially as he had become familiarized with the six transformations, Zuo Mo had never been wounded. But today, he was forcibly beaten down and covered in wounds.

With a string of screeching cracks, the Flame Seal Armor suddenly crumbled!

The hard wind carried the Golden Crystal sand from all directions as it burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body. Pew, dozens of tiny blood arrows shot out!

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly unfocused and his body froze!

Even more Golden Crystal sand leapt at him as though they were sharks that smelt blood!

A bellow like that of a wounded wild beast!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were completely red, his hair standing on end. A tendril of blood came from his mouth. The successive wounds had enraged him.

He was wounded … … wounded … … wounded … …

Deep inside his body, something seemed to break. A warm wave erupted. Zuo Mo’s entire body became boiling, the blood in his vessels was like lava.

Every nerve was shaking! Every muscle was shaking! His entire body was shaking!

His body was completely red like burning metal.

In the sea of consciousness, Wei’s expression changed greatly. “Is his Great Day mo physique going through its second breakthrough?”

Pu Yao found it strange. “Breakthrough is good.”

Wei’s expression was serious as he shook his head and said, “He is reaching the destination too fast to. His Great Day mo physique has just gone through the first breakthrough, or the first maturation that you know of it as. But if he successively has two breakthroughs in such a short period of time, then there is a possibility that he will not be able to reach the third breakthrough before he levels up.”

“That is also good.” Pu Yao was slightly confused. He might understand how to cultivate as mo but on the details, he was far lacking compared to Wei.

“It is not good.” Wei shook his head. “His mo physique cultivation talent is astounding. I hadn’t thought that he would reach his second breakthrough this quickly. But with the growth of a mo physique faster is not better. It is like the growth of a person. Too rapid of growth will leave behind hidden weaknesses. What he needs right now is to make a good foundation. He has just had a break through, his body has not reached the limits of maturation in this stage. A breakthrough with a body that is not mature would lower the limits of what his body can tolerate.”

Pu Yao instantly understood what Wei meant. His expression also became grave. He was of outstanding knowledge, and once seen many geniuses that had pursued speed in cultivation and had not set a good foundation when they were young. Their ability to maintain their cultivating speed had been lacking.

The two sank into silence and stared nervously at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo did not know that he was at a very crucial time. He only felt that his entire body was immersed in lava. His entire body was filled with endless power as though nothing could stop him.

Brutality, craziness, and the most primitive impulses controlled his mind.

He wanted to bellow, he wanted to shout, he wanted to destroy everything!

There seemed to be an invisible wall around his body. The hard wind and Golden Crystal sand that had seemed invincible before were forcibly stopped on the outside.

The strange corpse’s eyes saw through the sand and stared at Zuo Mo. His gaze landed on Zuo Mo’s chest.

A cool slender flow silently flowed past Zuo Mo’s heart.

At the same time on the slave transporting boat, A Gui seemed to detect something and stood up, her eyes lighting up with a serene purple energy.

Chapter 419: Forced To The Precipice

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly cleared. It was the five element glass bead inside his body!

Faint water element power flowed along his channels and nurtured his dry and bright red channels. But pitted against the Great Day Banded Flame, this portion of water element power was like a cup of water, and consumed by the strong flame instantly.

But this weak water element power had allowed Zuo Mo, who had entered an unusual state, a very brief moment of clarity. It was this brief clarity that pulled Zuo Mo from the edge of the cliff.

He instantly detected danger, great danger!

He did not know where the danger was. In fact, the expanding power inside his body was intoxicating. Yet at this time, he displayed shocking calmness, because he smelt that the great danger lingered under the great power!

But he quickly found he did not know how to get out this unusual state.

He wanted to ask for help from Pu Yao, but no matter how he shouted inside, he could not feel the existence of Pu Yao. There seemed to be a power that separated him and Pu Yao.

This was going to be fatal … …

He didn’t have to time to groan before he was swallowed once again by the bursting flame.

At this moment, a faint blue light once again came from the five element glass bead in his body. As it slowly spun, faint water element power erupted again.

The water element power this time was thicker than previously.

The Great Day Banded Flame was rampaging in Zuo Mo’s body. It was created from the Great Day mo physique, and the sixth-grade Great Day Banded Flame was filled with destructiveness. It hadn’t been tamed by Zuo Mo to start with. Stimulated by the outside environment, it started to resist.

It was like a furious wild beast, power in angry waves!

The Great Day mo physique that had just finished the first maturation was fragile in front of this terrifying power as though it would be consumed at any moment. The golden Great Day Banded Flame permeated every fiber of muscle, every bone. The Great Mo Physique of the Great Day Mo physique that had completed the first maturation was unable to withstand the tyrannical Great Day Banded Flame.

Flesh and blood that had not matured perfectly instantly burned to dust. Even the strong flesh and blood that had completed the maturation perfectly were slowly melting under the heat of the Great Day Banded Flame.

The process seemed akin to tempering. If it could be completed, Zuo Mo’s body would reach terrifying new heights in power!

The water element power that had just been released by the five element glass bead was instantly surrounded by the Great Day Banded Flame, and a strong collision occurred!

Hiss hiss hiss!

The light blue stream and the golden flame crossed, but the water element power quickly was defeated. The ferocious Great Day Banded Flame was like a savage beast that easily burnt the water element power until there wasn’t a drop left. It seemed to be still unsatisfied and immediately leap at the five element glass bead!

This conflict that appeared to have no meaning once again allowed Zuo Mo to receive a brief moment of clarity.

As though he had been scooped out of lava, Zuo Mo’s vision was still completely red. If it was said that last time he had just smelt the scent of danger, then this time, he truly realized just how dangerous his situation was!

He panted heavily as every nerve burned in pain.

Savagery and insanity furiously attack his nervous. He suppressed the demonic impulse to destroy everything.

No! He could not keep going like this!

Zuo Mo wring his brains and tried to think. Zuo Mo was locked inside a cauldron. He didn’t know what was going on with Pu Yao, did not what was happening to the others. He didn’t have the time or the energy to spare thinking about others.

Forced to the precipice, there was only one thought in his mind. Stop the Great Day Banded Flame!

Uncontrolled tempering that would not submit to control!

The five element glass bead was obviously the loser of the battle with the Great Day Banded Flame. The grade difference between the two was too great. The Great Day Banded Flame had completely surrounded the five element glass bead and was furiously pressing in!

The five element glass bead was starting to spin slower and slower.

What … … what to do?

The Great Day Banded Flame did not listen to Zuo Mo’s orders at all. It was like a bloodthirsty monster that rampaged in his body. All the techniques used in cultivating the Great Day mo physique were useless. The Great Day Banded Flame that had been coincidentally formed far surpassed the limits of what his Great Day mo physique could control.

This great leap of progress finally caused Zuo Mo trouble for the first time.

Damn it! What to do?

Almost forced into insanity, Zuo Mo used all the powers that he could use!

Ling power, spiritual power … …

These were not strong powers but he channeled them as though he was completely crazy. It was the first time that he used ling power, spiritual power, and the mo physique simultaneously without holding anything back!

Just to resist the sixth-grade Great Day Banded Flame!

They were completely different but these unconnected powers were fighting together. They started a fierce conflict around the five element glass bead.

Zuo Mo’s ling power was sent into the five element glass bead, and the sealed five element glass bead detected danger. It greedily absorbed Zuo Mo’s ling power. The five element glass bead that almost stopped spinning started to gradually spin faster. The dim light lit up again and the water element power released was multiple times greater than what it had been before.

And Zuo Mo’s consciousness was furiously releasing water yao arts. Inside Zuo Mo’s body, the manipulation of his consciousness was even easier. The rate that these water yao arts were released was so fast it was frightening.

Facing the five element glass bead’s water element power and the water yao arts, the Great Day Banded Flame was still dominating. The enormous difference in grade was not something that could be filled just by numbers. If the water element power tried to push forward, it would be forced back by the Great Day Banded Flame. When those astounding numbers of water yao arts flew into the Great Day Banded Flame, it was like they were being thrown into a bottomless pit. There was no response.

Zuo Mo controlled the mo physique and tried to vent the power of the Great Day Banded Flame to the outside. It was also ineffective. The Great Day Banded Flame inside his body was like a beast that lost control. All the methods to control it in the past had completely lost effectiveness now.

The situation was still slowly and persistently developing in a dangerous direction.

The only thing worth celebrating was that while the Great Day Banded Flame raged it also blocked the hard wind and the Golden Crystal sand.

———

Zuo Mo’s terrible situation caused Pu Yao and Wei to wear grave expressions and show the utmost concern. The power of the Great Day Banded Flame had completely cut off their connection to Zuo Mo. They could only stare and were unable to do anything. Due to the fact the Great Day Banded Flame was born from the Great Day mo physique and was  strongly yang, it was extremely fatal to existences like Pu Yao and Wei.

Pu Yao and Wei’s power had been too greatly expended. Even if they had received reinforcement from the Golden Souls and recovered slightly, but facing a natural enemy like the Great Day Banded Flame, they still couldn’t do a thing!

“That guy still isn’t acting?” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil flashed with a cold light.

“He’s really composed,” Wei said emotionally. His expression was also terrible. This event originally had been a chance for him. If Zuo Mo was willing to take up his succession, he could have easily resolved the complications. But he had not expected that the Great Day Banded Flame was so domineering that it had forcibly blocked the connection between Zuo Mo and themselves.

Right now, they couldn’t even help, much less pass anything on.

Their only hope was the strange corpse. On the way here, the strange corpse had not showed any enmity towards Zuo Mo, and was instead very friendly. With the strange corpse’s power, it would only take a flick of the finger to solve Zuo Mo’s trouble.

Yet, even though the situation was now so dangerous, the strange corpse still showed no signs of moving.

For Pu Yao and Wei, Zuo Mo’s situation was directly connected to their future. If the Great Day Banded Flame’s power was completely released inside Zuo Mo’s body, Zuo Mo would be directly burned to dust, and they could not avoid the same fate.

The duo’s gazes as they stared at the strange corpse were very unfriendly.

———

Zuo Mo understood his dangerous situation. He forcibly fought off the influence of the Great Day Banded Flame even though the power was so seductive.

Who was strong and weak could be seen with a glance. Zuo Mo understood that if he could not immediately figure out an effective method, his outcome would definitely be very terrible!

If he had the time to think, he would have definitely regretted cultivating the Great Day mo physique!

But he didn’t have the time to think. All of his attention was focused on the battle inside his body. After the brief pause was a one way advance. It caused him to have a deep understanding of the deep abyss between grades.

He realized that normal methods were basically useless!

The strong feeling of burning and exhilaration attacked his mind like the tide. But at this time, Zuo Mo completely calmed down.

He had put in all the power that he could use from his body, but he still was not a match for the Great Day Banded Flame … …

Zuo Mo’s mind moved quickly.

How could he get his power to become stronger?

A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind. A daring yet matter-of-fact idea floated up in his mind.

His three types of powers were fighting for themselves, and were not a match for the Great Day Banded Flame. What about merging them together?

Would it become more powerful?

It was like the gate had opened. Inspiration bursted out!

Zuo Mo thought about how he had tried to use fire yao arts to forge because he could not use the Great Day Banded Flame. Even though he had not succeeded, but he had found a discernable path that could connected fire yao arts, consciousness, ling power, and fire control!

This idea was just a vague and general one. He had prepared to settle down before studying it.

But at this time while he was slowly drowning against the waves of power, Zuo Mo seemed to find a lifesaving piece of driftwood. Without care to anything else he grabbed on, and he started to experiment.

He did not have the time to hesitate!

He withdrew hiis ling power from the five element glass bead. At this time, there was only half of his ling power remaining. His consciousness quickly wrapped around the ling power. Zuo Mo could feel every detail of the ling power.

The connection between ling power and consciousness was very tricky. The ling power inside a xiuzhe’s body was what the xiuzhe obtained after absorbing it from the outside and then processing it into even purer ling power. Yao arts, that was the consciousness controlling all kinds of primary energies of the outside word. Yao arts were like using a lever to move all kinds of ling power in the natural world.

When Zuo Mo’s consciousness wrapped onto the ling power, a wondrous feeling occurred.

Among the xiuzhe, Zuo Mo’s consciousness was pretty big, and among the yao, Zuo Mo’s ling power was also very powerful.

When the two entwined together, a strange change occurred.

The consciousness was able to control the ling power roaming in the outside world, and his ling power was even purer and abundant than the ling power on the outside!

But … …

The strange feeling stimulated Zuo Mo but he couldn’t help but furrow his brow. He seemed to feel that something was lacking.

Mo physique!

That was right, mo physique!

He understood that he finally found the key to the crucial problem! He forcibly suppressed the joy and excitement inside. An idea he never had before rapidly took shape in his mind!

Chapter 420: Very Normal

Once this crazy idea was formed, it securely took over Zuo Mo’s entire mind.

All stray thoughts were thrown to the side. Truthfully, at such a dangerous moment, finding a plausible idea was enough for him to gamble everything. There was just no other choice!

The five element glass bead was in great danger and could be swallowed by the Great Day Banded Flame at any moment. The five element glass bead was his last defense. If it was swallowed by the Great Day Banded Flame, the crazy Great Day Banded Flame would instantly consume him.

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly turned entirely red.

He gathered all the remaining power he had in his body and used all of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique at the same time!

The Great Day Banded Flame was freed from its restraints and exploded to cover his entire body. The golden flame were clearly divided in concentric circles but flickered at the same rhythm. It was enchanting and appeared like golden rainbows.

But Zuo Mo was not in the mood to admire the beauty of the Great Day Banded Flame. His power was quickly being expended.

The consciousness and ling power that were mixed together suddenly separated into many portions and rained upon every corner of his body. Like raindrops, they quickly permeated into Zuo Mo’s flesh and blood.

Boom!

Zuo Mo felt as though something inside his body had suddenly exploded. His mind was completely blank!

At the same time, the Great Day Banded Flame that shrouded Zuo Mo strangely stopped moving. The five element glass bead also stopped spinning. At this moment, all movement inside Zuo Mo’s body stopped. Time seemed to stopped.

Pah!

A light explosion broke this strange calmness. His left foot exploded without warning, yet the blood seemed to be constrained by an invisible force transforming the spray into rice-sized beads of blood.

Pah pah pah!

A string of explosions. Many parts of Zuo Mo’s body continuously exploded. The string of blood beads extended up Zuo Mo’s legs and spread upwards.

Channels, joints, organs … …

Pah pah pah pah …. …

Zuo Mo’s spine popped like popcorn. His body shook fiercely but the Great Day Banded Flame seemed to be frozen and remained motionless.

When the last bead of the thirty six blood beads appeared at the center of Zuo Mo’s brows, his body quieted down again.

There was no expression of joy or grief on Zuo Mo’s face, just indifference.

Hiss!

The ferocious Great Day Banded Flame was quickly absorbed into the body. Once it entered the body, it was divided into thirty six flows that spread into the thirty six beads of blood.

The dark-red  beads of blood seemed to be dyed with a layer of gold.

The six changes of the Great Day mo physique collapsed like an avalanche. The ling armor and talismans he wore on his body turned to dust. The only thing left on his body was the ring on his hand.

Inside the sandstorm, Zuo Mo was like a person that never cultivated before. There was no energy on his body. The only thing that caused fear was his eyes, that pair of indifferent and cold eyes.

The sandstorm was powerful but it was not able to go near one zhang around him.

The space of one zhang radius around him was deathly silent.

The strange corpse stared at Zuo Mo as though there was something on his face. That pair of grey eyes showed a rare thoughtful expression.

———

When Zuo Mo regained consciousness, an unknown amount of time later,, he saw was many concerned gazes.

“Why are you all looking at me?” Zuo Mo reflexively said. He suddenly felt that his body was cold. He looked down and he instantly blushed. With rapid speed, he took out a piece of clothing from the ring and covered his body with it.

What was the situation?

His brain was dazed. What happened? He suddenly recalled his memories; his expression changed. Sandstorm! Right! He had just been in the sandstorm!

Hadn’t he encountered trouble?

What was this?

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly as he hurriedly inspected his body.

The inside of his body was empty. It didn’t seem any different than usual, but when Zuo Mo tried to channel ling power, his expression couldn’t help but change!

Why was it like this?

His ling power, consciousness, and body had merged into one!

This … … this!

His ling power in the past was like the water that flowed in a stream and was easy to manipulate. But his ling power seemed to be a layer of oil on his flesh and blood. It was very viscous and flowed extremely slowly.

His spiritual power which had been like a mist before was now an enormous web that passed through his entire body. Countless branches spread into every piece of flesh.

The strangest was his body!

The peerlessly tyrannical Great Day Banded Flame did not float in the dantain like before but permeated into his flesh and blood. This caused his flesh and blood to have a golden sheen.

What … … what was this?

Zuo Mo was stunned!

“Shidi, are you alright?” Wei Sheng saw Zuo Mo’s shocked expression and hurriedly asked.  All of them had benefited from this sandstorm, but Zuo Mo had seemed slightly off. Everyone had been very worried.

Zuo Mo refocused. Seeing the worry on all the faces, he forced a smile and said, “Nothing, nothing!”

Hearing Zuo Mo say he was alright, everyone released a breath.

The crowd left. Zuo Mo suddenly saw the strange corpse out of the corner of his eyes. His mind shifted and he ran toward the strange corpse.

His feet seemed to be exerting the same force as usual but the scene in front of him blurred!

He had jumped forward. Before he understood what happened, he seemed to hit something with a bang, and his field of vision turned black.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck!

Fine sand spilled into his mouth. He finally reacted as knew where he was!

He was inside a sand dune!

Without needing to use his  consciousness, he was able to detect everyone in the surrounding. He really was in the sand! He had fallen headfirst into the sand!

What was going on?

He did not understand. His hand unconsciously moved to push himself out of the sand. Before his hands could even exert force, his body rocketed multiple zhang high into the air.

Midair, Zuo Mo allowed the Golden Crystal sand to fall from his body with a blank expression.

Who could tell him what was going on?

Face bewildered, Zuo Mo dropped like a rock. When he was about ten zhang from the ground, he still didn’t know what had happened but he knew it was definitely because of a change in his body.

He was thinking about it when he reached the ground.

When this thought appeared, Zuo Mo’s vision blurred again. When he could see clearly, he was already on the ground!

This was freaky!

Zuo Mo shook!

———

“Daren has gained greatly this time!” Xie Shan’s face was upraised and admiring.

“Daren is an outstanding genius!” Zong Ru’s hands were together, his expression pious. “I was not able to see Daren’s figure clearly just now! It is terrifying!”

“I didn’t neither!” Xie Shan felt great empathy. He turned and asked Wei Sheng. “Teacher Wei, did you see him clearly?”

Wei Sheng shook his head. He didn’t speak. Thinking back to Zuo Mo’s movements, a thread of shock flashed through his mind! In his field of view right now, there had only been a faint shadow!

That wasn’t possible!

Wei Sheng almost let out a sound of surprised. It had to be said that he did not locate others just by relying on his eyes, but instead used his sword essence! In his knowledge, nothing was faster than sword essence!

But just now … … his sword essence could not keep up with Shidi’s speed!

What did that mean? He was left in a cold sweat! If sword essence could not keep up with the other’s speed, that meant he would be unable to lock onto the other. If the target could not be located, then the attack would be ineffective!

What happened to Shidi? What had happened?

———

Zuo Mo bent his back as he carefully raised his foot, and then carefully put down his foot as though the sand under his feet were fragile treasures.

The gazes of everyone in the surroundings became strange. Daren looked like a duck walking with a limp foot!

Zuo Mo did not notice the gazes of other people. All of his attention was on his feet. He was so focused it was like he was embroidering.

While alternating between shallow and a deep steps, he walked in front of the strange corpse. Zuo Mo finally released a breath.

“What happened to me?” Zuo Mo asked baldly.

You fooled all of them, and pulled ye down as well. Now it was like this, you have to give an explanation!

The strange corpse tilted his head, “What do you mean what happened?”

Zuo Mo glared. “My body! What is going on with my body?”

The strange corpse swept him up and down. He said, “Your body is very normal.”

Zuo Mo almost spat blood. Normal? This was called normal? Then what was ye’s body in the past? Abnormal?

Looking at the strange corpse, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh inside. He really was an idiot to put his hopes on an antique from tens of thousands of years ago! A few ten thousand years ago, it was enough for his brain to go wrong a few cycles!

But Zuo Mo thought about how he had two other antiques in his body. The antiques of a few thousand years ago should be more normal than one from tens of thousands of years ago!

He suddenly remembered that when he was burning up, he was unable to call Pu Yao. Thinking to there, his heart jumped. He hurriedly called for Pu Yao inside his sea of consciousness.

When Zuo Mo saw the terrible expression on Pu Yao’s face, he felt it was unspeakably close.

But Pu Yao’s next words instantly caused him to not be in the mood to be emotional.

“I know what you want to ask.” Pu Yao’s expression was grave. “The change inside your body is a rare one. It is the first time I’ve seen it. Consciousness, ling power, and flesh and blood can exist together, but I’ve never seen this kind of mixture.”

Zuo Mo’s heart instantly cooled.

Wei’s expression was also grave. “I’m very sorry. It is the first time I have seen this.”

Zuo Mo’s face was ashen.

However, Wei was an antique a bit older than Pu Yao. He hesitated and then said, “I suspect that your present state is somewhat similar to the ancient cultivators.”

Pu Yao stilled and then had an expression of realization. “Yes! Your state, isn’t this the state of ancient cultivators? Ancient cultivators didn’t have divisions of ling power, spiritual power, and mo physique!”

Ancient … …

Even though Wei and Pu Yao were only guessing, Zuo Mo instinctively thought about what the strange corpse had just said, and his face paled!

An old antique a few tens of thousands of years old said he was very normal … …

That meant—in the eyes of the strange corpse, Zuo Mo was like him!

Chapter 421: An Insane Idea

Zuo Mo didn’t know how to describe his mood at this moment.

It really was … … really was … …

It wasn’t sad, but there wasn’t much joy. Zuo Mo quickly sorted out his mood. Since it had happened, no amount of thinking could change the reality of his situation.

Feeling the powers in his body that had been amalgamated into one ball, he was slightly curious. Were ancient cultivators also like this? Then how did they channel these powers?

Thinking, Zuo Mo decided to find and ask the strange corpse. That would be better than thinking aimlessly like this.

———

Zuo Mo’s initial actions seemed slightly strange, but everyone’s worries had slowly lessened. Everyone’s attention quickly turned to that terrifying sandstorm. Without exception, their faces would change when they spoke of it.

The one issue that was everyone agreed on was that the defensive abilities of the slave transporting boats was not sufficient to weather the sandstorms. It had to be said that they had only just stepped into the central part of the ancient battlefield. How many dangers were waiting up ahead for them?

Everyone felt pessimistic about the prospect of carefree travel.

Of the slave transporting boats, the one in the best state was The Golden Crow, the boat that the Golden Crow Camp was on. As none of members of Golden Crow Camp had offensive capabilities, they had instead put all their efforts into reinforcing their slave transporting boat. The other slave transporting boats held combat personnel. They usually invested their time on cultivation so the defenses of their slave transporting boats were very fragile in comparison.

If the strange corpse had not acted to stabilized the situation, the results would be terrible to see.

The entire Golden Crow Camp started to move. If everyone had been filled with joy before, everyone had serious expressions now. A tense mood spread.

No one knew when the next sandstorm would come!

The only thing worth celebrating was that there was endless materials here! Golden Crystal sand! A supply of fifth-grade Golden Crystal sand that was endless and could not be used up!

“I have an idea,” Sun Bao suddenly said as he stared at the endless dunes.

Ji Wei asked curiously, “What idea?” Their minds were in sync. Ji Wei knew if Sun Bao spoke now, it would not be baseless.

Sun Bao suddenly turned around, his eyes burning, “Let’s use Golden Crystal sand to forge a slave transporting boat!”

“Use Golden Crystal sand to forge a boat?” Ji Wei exclaimed. “Heavens! That is insane!”

“Yes! Use Golden Crystal sand to forge a treasure ship! Use Golden Crystal sand for the entire boat!” Sun Bao was like a fanatic. He waved his arms and said loudly, “A Ji! Look at this place! It is all Golden Crystal sand! If we leave, we might never encounter a chance like this ever again!”

Ji Wei looked at the endless dunes. His heart was moved. He was excited as well!

Sun Bao was right. If they missed the chance in front of them, they might never encounter one like this again! No matter how much Golden Crystal sand they took with them this time, they could never be so wasteful as to use Golden Crystal sand to forge a big boat that could hold everyone!

“But it is hard for us to even process it … …”

Sun Bao said without hesitating, “Then we use the Crimson Fiend Cauldron! Do you remember how we forged the Crimson Fiend Cauldron last time? It’s just more work this time!”

Seeing the two masters were excitedly shouting with red faces, more and more Golden Crow Camp members came over.

When they understood what the two masters were saying, they were dumbstruck!

But after a short silence, the surrounding people exploded!

“Do it! This is such a good chance … …”

“Oh! Heavens! I’m excited just thinking about it! A Golden Crystal sand treasure ship!”

“Insane! We’re all insane! But this really is great!”

Everyone sank into extreme excitement and frenzy! Sun Bao’s idea was enough to cause any production xiuzhe to feel excitement.

———

“Do you understand?” the strange corpse asked.

In front of him, there was a ruler-straight pit that stretched ten li into the distance. The pit was multiple zhang wide and the inner walls were as smooth as crystal. That was a spectacle of the Golden Crystal sand being melted.

And all of this was caused with just a pointing of the finger by the strange corpse.

Everyone was deeply shocked! Zuo Mo was the only exception. He could not disguise his disappointment.

He said dejectedly, “I understand the general concept.”

The strange corpse was very strong offensively, so strong that the other only needed to point to turn Zuo Mo to dust. But Zuo Mo’s disappointment still uncontrollably showed.

The strange corpse was strong, but that was only due to the difference in cultivation stages. A monster that had lived for tens of thousands of years, his accumulation of power was terrifying. But that terrifying pointing attack did not have much to show in terms of technique.

This was a very primitive attack method, all of that power was simply compressed and then released. In terms of technique, it could not compare to the modern methods. No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, they had developed their own cultivation methods. They all had their specialties and their focus was different, forming systems on their own. There was a huge variety of techniques. Even the mo physique that was the least technical of the three was multiple times more exquisite than  the strange corpse’s attacking method.

Zuo Mo grimaced.

Thinking about it, this was actually the result that was most rational. Cultivation methods had developed over several tens of thousands of years. After the development of one generation and another, it was logical that the techniques were more powerful than in the past. If it wasn’t for  the great war several thousand years ago that a disrupted this trend the current methods wouldn’t be less than the previous generations.

It seemed that he had to search for a method on his own.

The strange corpse was extraordinarily intelligent. After a moment of thought, he understood what Zuo Mo had meant. He said with a nod, “Your techniques are extremely complex and varied, far surpassing us.” He then asked in puzzlement. “There is only one reason that required these techniques have become so complex, ling energy has become rare. Is the ling energy outside very thin right now?”

“Was the ling energy of your time very dense?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“In our time, we never had to consider ling energy. All beings naturally knew how to absorb ling energy, this is an innate ability,” the strange corpse said.

“As expected.” Zuo Mo knew the answer and was not very shocked. Resources would run out in the eventually. After tens of thousands of years of use, even the most plentiful resource would not have much left.

The strange corpse said, “I understand. No wonder I feel you are all weak. So ling energy has become rare.” He murmured. “Yes, it has been so long.”

He suddenly raised his head. “How many races are there now?”

“Races?” Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled.

The strange corpse’s grey eyes stared at Zuo Mo. “There has to be living beings that don’t look the same as you.”

Zuo Mo said assuredly, “You mean the yaomo?”

“Yaomo?”

“Yao races are mostly born from the essences of flora, and mo from wild beasts. We are human.”

The strange corpse was silent for a moment and then said, “So that’s how it is.”

Zuo Mo did not know what the strange corpse’s “so that’s how it is” meant. He asked curiously, “Did you have yaomo in your time?”

The ancient era was too distant from the present, and there were pitifully few records about the ancient era. Everyone was very curious.

The strange corpse shook his head and said, “In our time, there were only beings, there were not many differences in appearances. All beings could change their appearances at will. The human race is one of those beings, but there was nothing different about them, and they were very weak.”

“Weak?” Zuo Mo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The human species was weak, how was that possible? The number of jie humans now inhabited was almost the equal to the yao and mo combined. In terms of powerful people, the number of xiuzhe also far surpassed yaomo.

In Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, the xiuzhe had hunted yao for thousands of years! For thousands of years, yaomo were prey of humans. No wonder Zuo Mo thought he had heard it incorrectly that the humans had been weak in ancient eras.

“The yaomo you speak of had more outstanding talent back then. The beings of many tribes possessed many powerful abilities when they were born. If they just cultivated slightly, they would be powerful. But us humans did not have similar talent in this area, and were always suppressed.”

The strange corpse’s faint tone seemed to be describing something that was very normal.

Zuo Mo and the others had dazed expressions. The shock that this information gave them far surpassed the strange corpse’s finger pointing attack.

“Then w-why is the human species so strong now?” Zuo Mo asked in a stammer.

“If I have guessed correctly, it is caused by the change in ling energy. The other beings had powerful abilities, but when ling power became rare, their talents would also be weakened. he human species who did not rely on innate abilities did not lose as much as other beings. Time will change everything.”

The strange corpse’s grey eyes were empty, but his words were filled with wisdom.

Zuo Mo’s expression was dazed but he knew that what the strange corpse said was probably the closest to the truth.

“Daren! Daren!”

Zuo Mo seemed to wake up. He looked at Sun Bao who was running over and made a sound of acknowledgement, “En?”

Sun Bao said tentatively, “We’ve decided to forge a big ship!”

“Oh, forge a big ship, then do it,” Zuo Mo unconsciously replied. He had not completely woken up.

Sun Bao gritted his teeth. “We plan on forging a Golden Crystal sand treasure ship!”

“Golden Crystal sand treasure ship … …” Zuo Mo made a sound. He suddenly reacted. “Wait … … what did you say?”

“We are planning to use Golden Crystal sand to make a large ship! A treasure ship that can hold everyone!” Sun Bao raised his head, his eyes flashing with heat.

Zuo Mo opened his mouth and looked dazedly at Sun Bao.

“Daren, the journey we face is fraught with danger. Our slave transporting boats cannot hold up. There is also an unlimited supply of Golden Crystal sand here! It is a chance from heaven! Why don’t we use it to forge a large ship?” Sun Bao wasn’t afraid.

A moment later, Zuo Mo refocused, and his eyes lit up with excitement.

Exactly!

If they could use Golden Crystal sand to forge a big ship, as Zuo Mo thought, he felt his blood boil. The Golden Crystal sand that was sold by the grain on the outside, and he could use it to forge a big ship!

It really was an insane idea!

Zuo Mo’s eyes became even brighter. He said viciously, “Forge! Why don’t we forge! We’ll forge it as big as we can!”

With his agreement all of Golden Crow Camp instantly sank into mania.

Chapter 422: Tyrant

“This guy really knows how to sleep. He still hasn’t woken up!” Nian Lu muttered but a hint of worry flashed past his eyes.

Lei Peng did not speak. Ever since he had woken up, he became much more silent and sat there like a block of wood,but his eyes were so sharp they were frightening. This pair of sharp blade-like eyes also showed worry at this time.

He and Nian Lu had woken up three days ago, but Ma Fan had still not woken up.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu looked at the busy camp. Everyone was furiously cultivating. The two that woke up quickly were told about a string of unbelievable events, like the sand under their feet was all fifth-grade Golden Crystal sand, and the strange corpse was possibly an ancient cultivator from tens of thousands of years ago.

Every event was fantastical. If their comrades hadn’t been so serious and almost swore oaths, Lei Peng and Nian Lu wouldn’t believe it.

Everyone had ran over to give a greeting, and patted their shoulders. Lei Peng felt good. However, this group ran back to furiously cultivate after making short a greeting. They looked as though they wanted to cripple themselves cultivating.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu stared at each other. High intensity cultivation was a great tradition of the camp, but it was the first time they had seen it so recklessly done.

Later, the two had heard that during a sandstorm a few days ago, Daren, Teacher Wei, and a few other top experts didn’t take shelter in the slave transporting boats. These people talked over each other to describe just how frightening that sandstorm had been. But when they spoke of how those top experts had made it through the sandstorm, the two classic battle maniacs felt as though their bodies would ignite.

Afterwards, a certain person had given some “insider information.” Supposedly, this was actually a cultivation method from the ancient era, and was very effective!

Don’t believe it? An had heard the strange corpse say it!

Yes, yes! This effect, you can see it just by looking at Xie Shan’s expression. If it wasn’t effective, why was the corners of this guy’s mouth reaching his ears?

To cultivate this wondrous method, it required at least jindan level cultivation. Don’t you see everyone going crazy?

These people took turns to pat the duo’s shoulders and comforted them to recover and heal. Then they scattered and ran to furiously cultivate.

Suddenly, Lei Peng’s expression on his face. Then he showed joy, and his figure disappeared from his spot.

Nian Lu was at his side with a joyful expression.

Ma Fan had woken up!

———

“What is Daren doing?” Now awake, Ma Fan had walked out of the tent and saw Zuo Mo alone on a nearby sand dune. Ma Fan had a puzzled expression.

Daren’s movements seemed very strange. He acted as though fragile eggs were hung on his body. Every movement was slow and gentle. He was alone as he slowly spun.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s expressions instantly became strange.

“Is it some technique?” Ma Fan’s eyes widened and he almost walked over.

“Cough cough!” Lei Peng was going to remind him when Nian Lu suddenly spoke, “Aren’t you going over to greet Boss?”

Lei Peng glanced at Nian Lu brimming with righteousness. His face twitched a few times. Then he closed his mouth and did not make a sound.

Ma Fan felt Nian Lu was right but he shook his head. “I’m going to wait for Boss to finish practicing.”

“That’s fine, Boss is only relaxing.” Nian Lu had a smirk on his face but his tone was unusually even.

“That’s good.” Not having seen Nain Lu’s expression, Ma Fan felt that while Boss’ actions looked slightly strange but he had no more hesitation now that he knew that Boss was not practicing. In his view, when had Boss been normal?

Ma Fan went into the air and flew towards Zuo Mo.

When he was three zhang away from Boss, his eyes suddenly blurred. Boss disappeared from his spot!

Without any warning, Boss had disappeared!

At the same time, a sense of alarm rose. But before he could react, he felt like he had been hit by a high-speed slave transporting boat.

Bam!

The pitiful Ma Fan was sent flying like a ball.

Ma Fan flipped in the air. The light of the Golden Crystal sand occasionally swept across his confused face. The impact force was not high, but it was very tyrannical.

What was going on … …

Having just woken up, Ma Fan was confused. Nian Lu and Lei Peng were crouching on the ground as they laughed wildly and slapped the sand. Seeing the scene, cheers and whistling came from the camp.

“As expected from Ma Fan. That twist and turn, the attitude, the level of difficulty is definitely a 3.0 … …”

“Whoa, Daren’s Bute Explosion attack! Wonderful! It is soul-stealing!”

“Oh oh oh, the twentieth!”

Hearing this, Ma Fan instantly understood. He had been tricked by Lei Peng and Nian Lu. Flipping through the air, Ma Fan’s figure suddenly spread like a large bird taking off. He stared in fury at Lei Peng and Nian Lu on the ground.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu exchanged a look and said in unison, “Run!”

The two of them sprinted, one on the right and one on the left.

Pursuit and subsequent howls sounded in the camp. Cheers and laughter came after.

———

Meanwhile the culprit, Zuo Mo carefully plucked himself out of the sand.

He was already numb to this kind of situation. Events like this had happened many times. It caused no one to dare to come within thirty zhang of him.

It was due to all the damned changes inside his body! His consciousness, ling power, and flesh and had completely merged into one. Even the strange corpse could not predict what effect it would have. Initially it seemed as though Zuo Mo was on the same path as the strange corpse, but in reality, the two were completely different. The three major systems of yao, mo and xiu had developed over tens of thousands of years to become completely different than in ancient times.

After development, what result would come from the three powers merging together again? The strange corpse did not know, Pu Yao and Wei did not know. Of course, Pu Yao’s scorn and laughter could not be avoided.

Zuo Mo tragically found that he could only rely on himself in important times.

Alright, he would just rely on himself. In any case, it wasn’t the first time he had to do this. But the dream of being taken care off and being allowed to eat soft rice, when would that be realized … …

Zuo Mo cried inside.

The direct problem he was facing now was that his movements were just a thread faster than his thoughts. That was what caused the situation with Ma Fan. Once someone came within three zhang of him, his body was unconsciously moved. This reflex was faster than his mind. He usually would have hit someone flying before he would have reacted.

Everyone called it the Brute Explosion attack. The meaning was that no matter if one was willing or not, there was only one result. Of course, there was another layer of meaning. No matter if Boss was willing or not, he had explosively struck someone else.

Therefore, Zuo Mo had a new nickname—“Tyrant.” This caused him to feel very helpless.

The situation inside his body was filled with power and dominance that he did not understand. He did not lack for power inside. Every chord of muscle, every drop of ling power, and every thread of consciousness was filled with power.

But when a great power was uncontrollable, it brought a calamity.

However, Zuo Mo now displayed his open mind and strong persistence. Even if he was as weak as a child in front of this power, and did not have any strength to resist

He was not demotivated, did not give up.

Maybe, he could modify and adapt an existing a method? Sitting down again, Zuo Mo thought furiously what method could help him.

At this time, someone suddenly shouted. “A sandstorm is coming!”

Far in the horizon, a black line was becoming thicker at astounding speed. With their previous experience  everyone was much calmer than compared to previous sandstorm. The camp was completely protected by formations that the Golden Crow Camp had made using Golden Crystal sand.

Ji Wei and Sun Bao were very experienced. After designing the plans for the large ship, they did not start work immediately, but first set up defensive formations. They knew that forging the large Golden Crystal sand ship would not be an easy matter, and they would spend a considerable amount of time on it. Protecting everyone and ensuring their  safety was the most pressing issue. Even though they had the help of the strange corpse last time, but Daren had said it was always most reliable to rely on oneself.

The scholarly aura of Golden Crow Camp had increased. The jade scroll that Zuo Mo had delivered to them in the past was like a seed that had been planted, germinated, and started to grow. It could be seen from how they set up formations this time. Even though they did not work as quickly as Zuo Mo did alone, but they worked together methodically. They also found a solution for the hard to process Golden Crystal sand.

Influenced by Zuo Mo, the Golden Crow Camp liked to use large formations. The formation belt that Zuo Mo had designed in the past was greatly favored by them.

The defensive formation became an intermediate scale formation belt in their design.

Everyone tried all kinds of methods and could not break through it. Even Pu Yao praised it, and said this group truly comprehended the essence of Zuo Mo’s turtle style.

However, there were some that did not take shelter in the defensive formation. Other than the elites, Wei Sheng and the other jindan, others that were close to jindan, like A Wen and Ma Fan, also stayed out and wouldn’t go in.

Grinding in the sandstorm could quickly increase their power. This information was quickly passed around in the camp. Due to people like Ma Fan that were just a step away from jindan, this experience was even more important. It was even possible that they would comprehend and enter jindan. A Wen had realized that his power was not sufficient during the battle with the sand puppet and decided to also endure the sandstorm.

This also caused there to be many more people outside this time. There were not many ningmai third stratum xiuzhe outside but there was a small batch.

In consideration for their safety, Zuo Mo found a bunch of immortal tying chains and got them to tie them around their waists. The other end was tied inside the formation. He knew how powerful the sandstorm was. Even Wei Sheng and the others were only able to protect themselves. If a problem occurred, the only one that had the power to save them was the strange corpse. Zuo Mo didn’t dare to guarantee that the strange corpse would act, so he had to use these safety measures.

Ma Fan and the others knew how important this life saving measure was, and all tied them on.

The sandstorm came rapidly and instantly swallowed them.

The defensive formation lit up, and firmly stopped the sandstorm. The people inside the formation nervously stared at the tense immortal tying chains. If the team members on the outside seemed to have a problem, they would work together to pull the other into the formation.

But more people were staring at Zuo Mo. All of them were gaping with wide eyes as though they were seeing a ghost.

Chapter 423: The Thoughts Of A Genius

The moment the wind and sand hit his body, Zuo Mo’s body reacted.

Countless little yao arts suddenly appeared around him without any warning. These little yao arts were of different colors and varieties. It looked as though multicolored lights were surrounding Zuo Mo.

The same time as the little yao arts appeared, the faint sword essence present was like a flying sword slowly coming out of its sheath and showing is edges.

Flame Seal Armor, Midday Sword, Day Script Palm, Light Void Wings, Golden Crow Feet, Great Day!

Zuo Mo hadn’t even reacted and the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique had started on their own. He was instantly fully armored.

At this moment, Zuo Mo was unusually grand. The complete Great Day mo physique was flashing with golden light. The sharp style of mo was murderous, and caused everyone to feel fear. He held his hands in the air in front of his chest as though he was holding an invisible and enormous sword. Faint sword essence brimmed but did not erupt. Slow and rapid little yao arts glowed. Light blue water energy, dots of red flames … …

No wonder the people inside the defensive formation were left dumbstruck.

The destructive sandstorm seemed to especially treasure this beauty, as it was calm within three zhang of Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was also filled with curiosity. It was the first time he had encountered the three powers of his body acting all at once. He could feel that the vast well of power in his body was like an ocean. Compared to the power inside, the power that as active now was not a lot. It was like a single wave stirred when the wind swept by the ocean. But this wave was enough to make Zuo Mo’s heart jump in fright.

The ocean was so vast he felt terror.

This power was double edged. It could tear the enemy into pieces but also swallow him.

Zuo Mo suppressed the terror inside. He did not try to control the power inside his body, but started a close examination like he was an outsider. He observed as the great power inside him reacted after feeling a threat.

Immersed in his discovery, Zuo Mo completely forgot the existence of the sandstorm. The sandstorm had given him a rare one in a thousand chance. This was an attack that came from every angle and could stimulate all kinds of reactions from his body. Zuo Mo coincidentally needed to observe these reactions.

Focused, Zuo Mo was so perceptive that it was like he was a whole other person. The changes of his body were dazzling, but they did not dazzle his eyes. He was as calm as ice.

He quickly found the ailment.

On the surface, it seemed the reason that his actions were faster than his mind was that his reaction speed had become even faster. In other words, his mental reactions were too slow! The two used to be in sync, but the changes of his body had caused his body’s reaction speed to increase greatly. The increase in his mental reactions were not as significant  as his physical changes, so the two were out of sync.

From the root, this change came from the merging of the three types of power.

The three powers of the xiu, yao, and mo systems had merged into one. I am in you and you are in me. Using one power would pull the other two along. These three powers were not at the same level, there were great differences. Of the three, his mo body was the strongest, the second was his yao consciousness, and the weakest was his xiuzhe ling power.

This was the true reason for the loss of balance.

Finding the cause, Zuo Mo could only grimace. Was it easy to grow his spiritual and ling power? What he had cultivated first was ling power. He only cultivated the consciousness after he encountered Pu Yao. The mo physique had been started last, but this latecomer was the one that advanced far ahead and left the other two behind. Who knew that he would encounter a rare event in which the three powers merging together!

What made him even more dejected was that, with the three powers as one, even if all those spells were placed in front of him, he could not cultivate them.

Right now, continuing to cultivate the mo physique was the easiest!

But he knew that he could not cultivate the mo physique at this time. Of the three, the mo physique far surpassed the other two. If he continued to cultivate the mo physique, the imbalance between the three would become even greater.

Thinking about how he would be reduced to instinctual reactions like a wild beast, Zuo Mo shivered!

No!

He couldn’t be like that!

As Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and made the decision, he suddenly noticed a strange scene.

The golden light on the surface of the thirty six blood beads had lit up. Threads of golden light quickly swam between the muscles and blood as the blood beads spat out golden light.

Seeing these hair-like golden lights, he suddenly realized he had missed the most crucial thing!

Great Day Banded Flame!

It was the Great Day Banded Flame! The culprit of this change! A fire seed of sixth-grade that rampaged in Zuo Mo’s body but was now tamed and harmless.

He tried to control a blood bead. The blood bead wavered.

Zuo Mo was joyed. He hurriedly channeled his consciousness. The situation inside his body was very messy at the moment. Great Day mo physique, little yao art, sword essence, all of them were on their own. The amount of consciousness he could use was small. Under the control of this tiny bit of consciousness, the blood bead moved a thread towards the side.

This fraction of distance let Zuo Mo see the light of success. He gritted his teeth and continued to channel his consciousness to move the blood bead.

In the presence that Zuo Mo released, the Great Day mo physique held the definite advantage. The absolute power of the Great Day mo physique forced the other two powers to go along.

Among this mess, Zuo Mo seemed to walk a tightrope and carefully control the little bit of consciousness that he could.

This control was very mentally taxing. After a while, Zuo Mo’s head was covered in sweat.

He didn’t dare to have a stray thought. If he relaxed even slightly, the blood bead that had just moved would automatically return to its original position. That meant the loss of all his effort.

Concentrating on slowly moving the blood bead, he didn’t even detect the end of the sandstorm.

The strange corpse stopped the other people from disturbing Zuo Mo. He could see Zuo Mo was at an extremely crucial time. He wasn’t the only one who saw it. Wei Sheng and the others also could see. They even did not attend to what they gained this time and patiently waited.

Zuo Mo’s mind was immersed completely in his body.

As the sandstorm finished, he felt the pressure explode!

The power of the mo physique finished resisting the sandstorm and was no longer active. For Zuo Mo, the situation instantly became terrible. The power of the mo physique was the core of the three. It returning to silence meant the other two powers instantly also quieted.

Zuo Mo didn’t have any more opportunities.

But Zuo Mo was not demotivated. He was greatly encouraged because he understood his idea was not wrong!

The blood beads that contained Great Day Banded Flame gave Zuo Mo inspiration. The mo power was stronger than the other two powers. It was like a balance, the mo physique on one side with the consciousness and ling power on the other. It would tilt automatically towards the mo physique.

But if he used the Great Day mo physique as the counterweight?

The Great Day Banded Flame that was sixth-grade and was more powerful than the twice-matured Great Day mo physique. It was even stronger than the mo physique, the consciousness, and the ling power added together. The life threatening situation that during the first sandstorm had proven this. It only was when the three had combined together that the flame was suppressed.

But the Great Day Banded Flame was enough to subdue any one of the powers.

Even more importantly, the Great Day Banded Flame had been split evenly among the thirty six blood beads. They were like little weights that could allow Zuo Mo to balance the difference between the three as he wished.

Of course, while this idea could be called perfect, there still were many problems.

The most important one was how to add the power of the Great Day Banded Flame to the other three powers.

Zuo Mo thought of another clever idea, dan cauldron!

Exactly! The first thing he thought of was a dan cauldron!

The mo physique was powerful and able to tolerate the fire seed. The other two powers could create and destroy each other. The thirty six blood beads were enough for him to set up several fire formations. Once the fire formations were completed, the Great Day Banded Flame could be added to every power, and this power balance would form!

This daring idea caused him to feel excitement!

He did not know if this idea was right, because all of the ideas had come from him!  He had not received any guidance, or suggestions. He had used only his power and found a solution! It seemed to have a hope of success, but that was enough!

A situation that even the strange corpse, Pu Yao, and Wei could not solve, he found the breakthrough, how could he not be excited?

The mental excitement caused him to work even easier.

Six hours later.

When the last blood bead moved that thread, and reached the wanted position, a change suddenly occurred!

Zuo Mo felt the surroundings suddenly become deathly silent. He seemed to be in a patch of dark void.

Suddenly, a bit of golden light shined in the void. The golden light grew. It was like sharp golden spears that pierced the void. The golden light quickly enlarged in Zuo Mo’s eyes until it took up all of his vision.

Boom!

Something seemed to burst into Zuo Mo’s brain. His mind instantly became blank.

Pia!

A light sound. A ball of Great Day Banded Flame shot out of Zuo Mo’s left foot and cover his entire foot. Soon after, another light sound. His right foot also sprouted Great Day Banded Flame.

Pah pah pah!

A string of light sounds, and balls of Great Day Banded Flame came from all parts of Zuo Mo, knee, stomach, arm … …

The thirty six balls of flame were clearly divided as they burned silently.

Covered in flame, Zuo Mo did not show any expression of pain.

His pupils did not have panic, they were empty of everything.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao and Wei gaped, dumbstruck.

A moment later, light gathered slowly in the depths of the eyes, and his eyes resumed their usual light.

Refocusing, Zuo Mo jumped in fright at the Great Day Banded Flame that entered his eyes. He quickly reacted. He had succeeded!

He grinned and laughed!

Success!

He had really succeeded!

The messed up body had returned to normal. He relished in the the feeling of regaining freedom of movement again.

This feeling was great!

He suddenly jumped and his figure charged into the sky. Feeling the strong incoming wind, he felt unspeakably comfortable! As though he was a child, he flew around the sky without exhaustion.

The laughter of the youth spread out far among the sand dunes.

He only stopped when he felt a thread of tiredness. Like a person made out of fire, fire was sprouting from all parts of his body.

Zuo Mo snickered as he raised his hand towards the sand dune. A ball of Golden Crystal sand shot into his hand.

The Great Day Banded Flame quickly wrapped around these Golden Crystal sands. The grains softened at a rate visible to the eye and turned into a handful of golden liquid. The other impurities had disappeared into the flame.

The smile on Zuo Mo’s face was unable to be controlled any longer. He couldn’t help but laugh up into the sky!

Forging, ge likes it too much!

Chapter 424: Frenzy Of Forging

With the addition of Zuo Mo, the forging rate of the big Golden Crystal ship shot up. The sixth-grade Great Day Banded Flame easily melted fifth-grade Golden Crystal sand. After Zuo Mo worked through the initial rawness from not forging for so long, he quickly recovered his skill of the past and his speed increased again!

Later on, all of Golden Crow Camp could only act as assistants to him!

Ten thousand tons of Gold Crystal was produced!

One hundred catties of Golden Crystal sand had to be processed to produce one catty of Gold Crystal. Ten thousand tons of Gold Crystal meant one million tons of Golden Crystal sand!

Originally, Zuo Mo had only planned on processing one thousand tons of Golden Crystal for the ship. But the strange corpse had shown unexpected interested upon observing Zuo Mo in processing Golden Crystal and copied him. With the strange corpse’s great cultivation, under the point of a finger, an entire sand dune collapsed and left behind pure Gold Crystal.

With three points, the strange corpse processed three sand dunes. Each sand dune was over fifty zhang high!

It left behind three enormous Gold Crystal balls!

Zuo Mo laughed with a wide mouth as he skipped over and carried the three Gold Crystal balls back! He now found that a mo physique with great power was the best partner when forging large talismans. Otherwise, he couldn’t even move these three Gold Crystal balls.

The Gold Crystal’s feel was between crystal and gold. It had the sheen and transparency of crystal, and also the dense metallic feel of the gold metal. When ten thousand tons of Gold Crystal was piled together, it was just a small sand dune about three zhang high.

All of Golden Crow Camp gaped. Boss’ fantastical forging skills caused them to feel great shock, and the strange corpse’s skill had left them collectively speechless.

No one had expected the most difficult and time-consuming step would be finished like this!

A long while later, Sun Bao and Ji Wei refocused and directed the other people to divide up the Golden Crystal.

Zuo Mo did not interfere with the remaining work. He knew Sun Bao and the others had their own plans. In forging, craftsmanship was important, but the ideas were the most important. If he interfered, Sun Bao and the others would be influenced by his ideas, and he wasn’t familiar with how Golden Crow Camp worked. If he imposed, it would produce a detrimental effect.

Having idle time, Zuo Mo decided to practice forging using Golden Crystal sand.

A short while later, there was a golden colored broadsword in his hand. He had copied design of the black sword Wei Sheng had to make this Gold Crystal sword. Its length was almost the height of a person, similar to a horse-chopping sword. The glimmering and half-transparent Gold Crystal made it appear like a piece of art rather than a weapon of slaughter.

Truthfully, Zuo Mo’s forging craftsmanship really couldn’t be said to be good, but the material was very high level. Due to being made completely from the Gold Crystal purified from fifth-grade Gold Crystal sand, its weight reached a terrifying three tons!

Other than himself, no one would be able to use this Gold Crystal sword.

His skill had decayed, decayed! He shook his head and sighed.

But as the material was extraordinary, this Golden Crystal broadsword was fifth-grade. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was that it had three formation techniques: [Thirty Thousand Catties], [Corruption Destroying], and [Sky Fire]. Of course, what Zuo Mo was surprised at was the number of formation techniques. He was not surprised at the three formation techniques themselves. But with these three formation techniques, this Gold Crystal sword could be ranked as intermediate fifth-grade.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel any joy at forging an intermediate fifth-grade broadsword. Instead, he shook his head. The Gold Crystal was made from purified Gold Crystal sand. It had the potential to be forged into a sixth-grade talisman. Intermediate fifth-grade was inside the normal limits.

There was an innate difference between sixth- and fifth-grade

What he did not know was that many pairs of eyes were staring at the broadsword in his hand, and sounds of swallowing occurred.

Lei Peng had the thickest skin and he rushed over, “Head, give this to an! Such a big one, Head will have to expend effort to carry it, an is strong and isn’t afraid of exhaustion!”

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. “Don’t you use a sabre?”

“Ha, nothing, broadswords and sabres are about the same,” Lei Peng smiled honestly.

“Here, if you can move it, then take it,” Zuo Mo pointed at the Gold Crystal broadsword stuck upright in the sand and said.

Lei Peng was overjoyed and hurriedly ran over. He gathered all the energy in his body, breathed in, and then pulled the broadsword out of the sand. Without another word, he placed it on his shoulders like he was carrying a door. Like someone was chasing him, he dashed away.

Many people that were watching in the surroundings showed annoyance.

“The big blockhead got ahead of me!”

“Lei Peng’s face is invincible!”

“You can do that … …”

The broadsword now having a home, Zuo Mo thought for a while, and started to work again.

He hadn’t thought about the abnormal heaviness of the Gold Crystal so the flying sword that he had forged was too heavy. Having learned the lesson, he started to forge again.

A short while later, he had two flying swords, one long and one short, on his hand.

Zuo Mo had a satisfied expression this time. These two flying swords were a male and female sword. The male sword was just one chi, the female sword was nine cun. The sword sheathes had moving curves, and the swords themselves were naturally curved and nimble!

These flying swords had four formation techniques: [Sky Breaking], [Rainbow Mist], [Light Rush], and [Gold Strands]!

Upper fifth-grade!

These flying swords were definitely top among fifth-grade flying swords! Fifth-grade talismans would have four formation techniques at maximum, and these formation techniques were very good, and could be called the best!

The people that had been staring at Zuo Mo instantly became restless when they saw Zuo Mo’s expression. Before they were able to move, a figure appeared in front of Zuo Mo. It was Xie Shan!

“Late again!” Many sighs of disappointment sounded in unison.

Xie Shan was very smug inside, but when he turned to Zuo Mo, he gravely and respectfully made a bow. “Daren, can these swords be bestowed to Xie Shan?”

Zuo Mo thought for a moment and then nodded. “This flying sword is suited for you.” He handed the flying swords to Xie Shan after speaking.

Xie Shan carefully took the flying swords. After a slight examination, he suddenly became excited. These swords seemed to have been custom-made for him, and was a match for his Aurora sword essence! For any sword xiu, a flying sword suited for them was a fortuitous encounter!

Many sword forging masters provided custom services, but that price tag was so high it was only possible to dream. Xie Shan had dreamed countless times of finding a sword that was suited for him, but when these flying swords were truly in front of him, he didn’t quite dare to believe it.

He suddenly bowed. “Daren, please bestow a name!”

Zuo Mo wanted to say Xie Shan could name it, but when he saw Xie Shan’s serious expression, he could only say, “Then it can be the Paired Mirage Sword!”

“Paired Mirage Sword … … Paired Mirage Sword!” Xie Shan recited inside. He bowed towards Zuo Mo. “Daren, thank you for the name!”

Zuo Mo was very satisfied with the Paired Mirage Sword but this also reminded him. He could not  forge so freely, and had to forge to specifications. If the talismans he forged were not suited for someone to use, then what was the use?

Thinking about this, he shouted casually, “Who still needs a flying sword?”

The entire camp suddenly exploded!

The members of Vermillion Bird Camp flooded towards Zuo Mo. Many raised their hands in the air as they furiously shouted, “Daren, I need one!”

“I need!”

“Daren, give it to me!”

Zuo Mo realized that he had just poked the hornet’s nest.

———

“Haa, Daren is really hard-working!” Sun Bao glanced at Zuo Mo who was almost drowning in the crowd and said with a bright laugh.

Ji Wei also laughed. “Forging more is good!”

After the two conversed a few words, they put their attention back on the forging of the big ship. This unprecedentedly large ship was also an unprecedented test for Golden Crow Camp.

In order to hold everyone meant that the inside of the ship had to have enough space. If this ship was built using normal methods, then this ship would need to be three times the size of the current slave transporting boats. But the bigger the ship, the more jingshi they would need to use, it required setting up more formations, and the target it presented would be bigger.

Sun Bao and the others did not plan to use normal methods to forge this ship.

Daren’s date seed ship had given them great inspiration. They decided to use the same method to forge the big ship. Space formations required highly of the materials. That was the reason that the price of the space rings on the market never dropped. Rarely would there be people that would use space formations on ships. The price of construction would be too high, and often the ship would not be as good as ones built using normal methods.

But for Sun Bao and the others, the materials were not a problem they needed to consider at all.

The Gold Crystal that was just a thread from being a sixth-grade material had great potential and could hold the space formations. Golden Crystal sand was one of the materials that was used to forge high level space rings.

And they had ten thousand tons of even higher-grade Gold Crystal!

Sun Bao and Ji Wei’s enthusiasm grew, the enthusiasm of Golden Crow Camp grew. Everyone knew that after this, there wouldn’t be another chance to waste materials like this!

An enormous formation belt spread out. At the center was the Crimson Fiend Cauldron. The Crimson Fiend Cauldron was smaller in size. Since the day it was forged, there wasn’t a day when it wasn’t being tempered.

They methodically activated the formations. Dashes of light lit up, and the Crimson Fiend Cauldron spat out astounding red black flames.

Ji Wei and Sun Bao directly threw a tenth of the Gold Crystal into the Crimson Fiend Cauldron.

A whole one thousand tons of Gold Crystal!

The red-black flames instantly swallowed the Gold Crystal.

Everyone instantly showed nervousness. The people that were standing beside the formation started to continuously release spells. Lights continuously entered the Crimson Fiend Cauldron!

Threads of golden light started to creep into the cauldron.

The red-black flames also seemed to be dyed with a layer of gold, and the sound was not as fierce as it had been.

The first wave of xiuzhe had pale faces after a short time as their ling power was used up. Behind them, another wave of people came forward and took over their positions to continuously release spells.

Everyone had grave expressions. No one spoke, no one daydreamed. Even the most exhausted xiuzhe widened their eyes to stare at the Crimson Fiend Cauldron at the center of the formation.

Out of everyone present, Sun Bao and Ji Wei were the most nervous.

When they had first designed the Crimson Fiend Cauldron, they had allowed for the possibility that the Crimson Fiend Cauldron could level up. Today was the time to prove if their design was right or not.

The gold light inside the cauldron grew. It became restless as though there was golden liquid flowing restlessly inside the cauldron.

Suddenly, a formation script on the body of the cauldron lit up!

It was like a brush coated in golden liquid drew along the formation script. A gold formation script slowly formed. Golden formation scripts lit up one after one.

When the last formation script was complete, the flame bursting from the cauldron suddenly paused.

The big formation seemed to suddenly become deathly silent!

The air solidified!

Chapter 425: Super Monster Ship!

The air had become solid!

Everyone unconsciously stopped their breathing. The surroundings were deathly silent.

Suddenly, there was a muffled explosion, and deep crimson gold flames sprouted from the Crimson Fiend Cauldron. A thick pillar of fire shot into the clouds! The wave of heat released in that instant was destructive and the tightly packed formation scripts that it passed by instantly turned to ash.

There were several muffled grunts. It was some of the xiuzhe of Golden Crow Camp that could not stand this wave of hot heat and stumbled backwards!

At this moment, everyone’s expressions changed!

The formation scripts alight on the cauldron had a simple and heavy presence, yet the dark red gold flames held an unspeakable dominance!

All of Golden Crow Camp was excited. They looked with intoxication at the almost completely transformed Crimson Fiend Cauldron. They all knew it. The terrifying pressure of the new Crimson Fiend Cauldron proved it was not an ordinary one!

The formation scripts on the cauldron gradually dimmed. The Crimson Fiend Cauldron once again became cold and simple. The Crimson Fiend Cauldron was much smaller than before, about two-thirds of its previous size. The Golden Crow Camp xiuzhe that had been spectating couldn’t resist any longer and ran over.

“So heavy! It is much heavier than before!”

“We used that much Gold Crystal, how can it not be heavy?”

“We added more than one thousand tons of Gold Crystal and it shrank. Tsk tsk, that’s amazing!”

“This is nothing! Fewer impurities! The grade of the flame also increased. Any weaker material naturally was burned away. How can it not get smaller?”

Everyone went over and touched around with wonderment on their faces. The high temperature that could melt Gold Crystal seemed to be a delusion. There was only a slight warmth when they touched the body of the cauldron.

After the Crimson Fiend Cauldron was forged, it had continuously changed, and became more powerful. It also became more mysterious to everyone. Most of them hadn’t had the chance to see much before, and they had never seen many high level talismans, much less forged one. But even so, they still felt great pride.

Sun Bao and Ji Wei exchanged a look, their eyes flashed with great joy!

Levelling up!

That shocking presence just now could only have one cause, leveling up!

The Crimson Fiend Cauldron had shown signs of leveling up before, but it had not completed it in the past. After merging in one thousand tons of Gold Crystal, it finally leveled up!

Sixth-grade!

This was a true sixth-grade talisman!

In the great majority of talisman shops, it would become their ultimate work!

This was a talismans they had created with their own hands! Sixth-grade talisman!

What made them feel even happier was that the leveling up of the Crimson Fiend Cauldron meant that they were halfway completed! Because in their plans, the Crimson Fiend Cauldron was the heart of the Gold Crystal ship.

———

Zuo Mo raised his face and felt slightly strange as he looked at the big ship in front of him.

The ship wasn’t too big, and was small compared to the slave transporting boats. A dozen zhang long, two zhang wide, it gleamed with a black light, and did not look eye-catching. Put anywhere, this was a very non-descript little ship.

Who could imagine that this little boat was completely made from Gold Crystal, its value immeasurable!

“Gold Crystal is too eye-catching!” Sun Bao said with a smile, “To conceal it, we used Black Stalk Powder and Fragmented Script Stone. There is no real effect on the Gold Crystal, but its appearance has changed. If one doesn’t look closely, they definitely won’t know it’s Gold Crystal. It looks too much like Black Metal!”

Zuo Mo finally understood why he felt strange. Right, it was Black Metal! Black Metal was a commonly used third-grade material that Zuo Mo was very familiar with, so he had found it strange when he looked at the ship.

“It really looks similar! Not bad, not bad!” Zuo Mo praised effusively. If Sun Bao did not say it, he would have been fooled. He walked forward to touch the body of the ship, and upon contact, he instantly detected the difference.

“You can’t touch it, the cat’s out of the bag if you touch it.” The two were slightly embarrassed.

“It is not easy disguise it to this degree!” Zuo Mo said with a shake of his head. He raised his head to look at the ship, his heart filled with anticipation. “Quickly, let’s go in and see!”

From the outside, the ship was very small, but upon entering, he found the inside was frighteningly large. They needed to fly to get around inside.

“We used a large amount of space formations. Gold Crystal is really as good as expected! There is thirty thousand mu inside, and can hold everyone of us! We can even fit a few thousand more people!” Sun Bao’s voice was filled with excitement. They wouldn’t have even dared to think about completing such a ship in the past.

Thirty thousand mu!

Even though he found that the inside was large enough, but Zuo Mo was still stunned by this number!

How large was thirty thousand mu? Larger than the Desolate Wood Reef! Larger than Golden Crow City!

Was this still a ship?

Sun Bao and the others still made perfect plans for the thirty thousand mu and divided them according to different infrastructure functions. There were so many facilities that everyone’s eyes were dazzled.

There were seclusion rooms, dueling arenas, and what shocked Zuo Mo the most was that there were even ling fields specifically for farming ling plants inside the ship!

“Ling fields aren’t hard to get, there is abundant ling energy on the ship, and it didn’t take much effort to set up ling fields. Pity there isn’t any good soil here, the fiend energy in the soil is too heavy. If we can get something like Red Ling soil, Black Heavy soil, we could have two hundred mu of fifth-grade ling fiends to play with, then it would be a bit interesting!” Sun Bao said with regret.

Get two hundred mu of fifth-grade ling fields to play … …

Zuo Mo felt that his mind wasn’t enough to comprehend this.

“Daren, this is a small ling lake, there are seven little ling springs on that side, but it has not been completed. We found some totem fragments with water attributes and buried them at the bottom of the lake. There are formations for gathering ling energy down there, and the water has started to have ling power. In the future, if we find some high grade ling springs and move the whole spring over, the water accumulation would come quicker. Right now, we can only use it to raise some normal ling beasts.”

So shocked he was speechless, Zuo Mo’s group flew following the two into a fiery red area.

Flying into this area, his vision instantly became faintly red, and the temperature rose greatly.

“This is the forging area, it can provide a fifth-grade flame for forgers. En, the brothers that cultivate fire element sword essences can also come here to cultivate, their efforts would be multiplied!”

The duo’s expressions were filled with pride. To be able to forge such a big thing in such a short amount of time, it was enough for them to be proud. Even though many of the places were still in early development at this time, but in the future, they would be perfected.

Zuo Mo was truly stunned by these people!

This wasn’t a ship, this was a secret paradise!

A colossal, flight-enabled secret paradise!

Recovering from his shock, Zuo Mo instantly became excited. Yes, this was a secret paradise, an unprecedented secret paradise! It wasn’t just a secret paradise, it was also their base! Having this big ship meant they had a true foundation. In the future, no matter where they went, they did not need to worry about not having a place to stay!

He suddenly thought of a very important problem and hurriedly asked, “What about the defenses of the ship?”

“Ha!” The one who spoke was Ji Wei. His tone was filled with confidence. “Daren, this ship is the strongest one that this subordinate has ever seen! Gold Crystal is famed for its strength, hard to damage by flying swords. On the entire ship, we only put up one kind of defensive formation, [Solid Shield]!”

“[Solid Shield]?” Zuo Mo was found it hard to believe. [Solid Shield] was just a normal third-grade formation, and mostly carved on ling armor and defensive tools.

“Yes, in total, we engraved sixteen thousand [Solid Shield] formations!”

Sixteen thousand!

Hiss, Zuo Mo inhaled sharply!

The ship was not very large in volume. Even if [Solid Shield] was carved into every corner, there wasn’t space for that many.

“Sixteen thousand [Solid Shield] setup using a interlocking web formations, producing one hundred [Solid Shield] layers in total!”

Zuo Mo looked dazedly at the duo. He was so shocked he didn’t know what to say! Crazy! This group was crazy! Sixteen thousand [Solid Shield] formations! Only people who were crazy could do such a thing!

Who really had mastered the turtle style?

A monster with one hundred turtle layers … …

Heavens!

Thinking about the dense layers of turtle shells, Zuo Mo felt his scalp become numb! Facing this kind of extreme and fanatic design, he didn’t know what to say, he lost the ability of speech.

Sun Bao saw Zuo Mo’s face was slightly pale and assumed that Zuo Mo was worried that it was not safe enough. He hurried to say, “Daren, don’t worry, this kind of defense is top in the world! The reason that we chose to use [Solid Shield] is time, is that the interlocking web formation belt that we created can greatly increase the power of the formation.”

My Heavens!

Zuo Mo swallowed the exclamation that reached his mouth. He tried to resume calmness. Oh, the turtle style is very good, a super turtle style is naturally even better!

Better … … better … …

Sun Bao followed, “Other than defensive, our other increase is in speed. Gold Crystal is too heavy, our ship is especially heavy. We spent a lot of brainpower on this. Later, it was the totem fragments that Daren gave us that were useful!”

“Totem fragments?” Zuo Mo paused. He had wanted to ask back when they were at the ling lake.

“En. We have studied these numerous totem fragments. We found that the attributes of these totem fragments are varied and strange. We thought about them when we pondered how such a heavy ship was going to fly. Many of the totem fragments have the ability to fly, some even have the rare ability to make short space jumps. We used these totem fragments as the heart of the formation, and control the formation. As expected, the speed increased greatly! It is much faster than our slave transporting boats! What we didn’t expect is that this ship has the ability to do space jumps!”

“Space jumps!” Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly expanded and he became excited.

Space jumps were the most powerful escaping technique!

Sun Boa also had a happy expression. “Yes, we hadn’t expected it. Didn’t expect that our luck would be so good!”

The ecstatic Zuo Mo was stuck on his spot.

It was a super turtle ship that was impenetrable, it had hundred layers of turtle shells, it had lightning fast speed, at the crucial moment, it had the ability to make a space jump to flee, it also was a thirty thousand mu large scale secret paradise … …

Heavens!

What kind of monster ship was this!

Chapter 426: Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie

“The news that the Ice Frost Corps was almost completely wiped out has been reported back. The Council of Elders have ordered our battalion to travel immediately to the front lines. Daren has sent down the order to clean the surroundings. We needed to sweep this entire area before the situation is stabilized.”

Mu Xi listened carefully and her heart couldn’t help but shake. The female yao in front of her was very tall and was the vice commander of Bing Lan Daren. Her tone was cold and distant which caused it to be unpleasant to hear but Mu Xi did not feel any dissatisfaction. Her heart was actually full of respect. The other said it so plainly, but Mu Xi could imagine the cruelty in this.

Bing Lan Daren’s move seemed idiotic, but it was truly transformative and had gotten rid of all hidden weaknesses.

“I heard that your performance on the last mission wasn’t bad, so Daren decided to transfer you over. Please do not fail Daren’s hopes,” the female yao said faintly.

“Yes!” Mu Xi solemnly responded. She finally understood. So it had been Bing Lan Daren that had requested her transfer. However, she found it even stranger. How did Daren know of her?

She might have been an important person of the younger generation from the Palace Lake Wood Clan, but in all of the yao world, she really was an unknown person. Her performance in the last mission could only said to be competent but average. In terms of fame, she was not as famed as Liang Wei, the only leader that had survived the previous battle, much less that mysterious and uncanny genius, Xiao Mo Ge.

When she received the order to go to the front lines to assist Bing Lan Daren, Mu Xi’s shock could be imagined.

“Also, Liang Wei has also come.” The female yao paused. “But his situation is not the same as yours. He wishes for battle and has offered himself to fight. Bing Lan Daren has agreed to his battle plan. You only have to know this, you do not need to pay attention to him.”

“Starting from today, you are responsible for the defenses of Area Number Three. Go see your subordinates. Farewell!” The female yao turned to leave after she finished.

When the female yao walked away a long distance, Mu Xi inhaled deeply.

Was this the battlefield?

———

“We’re finally out!”

It was unknown who said this but it instantly ignited everyone’s emotions. Cheers and yells filled the Black Turtle! The nervousness and uncertainty that had accumulated on their minds were completely vented in this moment! These hardened men that had endured the test of countless battle were like children, some murmuring to themselves, others hugging each other, and some flying about frantically!

Among the cheers of these people, the strange corpse’s troop seemed abnormally silent.

The strange corpse’s grey eyes were empty and lifeless.

Noticing the strange corpse’s unusual state, Zuo Mo suppressed the joy inside and ran over. “What is it? We finally got out of that ghastly place! Really got out! Aren’t you happy?”

The strange corpse did not reply. He said calmly, “I need to leave.”

“Leave?’ Zuo Mo froze. The strange corpse was very strange but after this period of contact, Zuo Mo felt the other was very good and their interactions had been very harmonious. He couldn’t help but ask, “Where do you plan to go?”

“To find my homeland.”

“Homeland?” Zuo Mo stilled. Place of birth, this phrase was very unfamiliar to him.

“Yes. I hope that we can meet again in the future,” the strange corpse said calmly, “my name is Shi.”

It really was a strange name. Zuo Mo shook his head inside and shook off the thread of melancholy that had formed. He hung a bright smile on his face. “Thank you, without you, I wouldn’t have had the ability to gather those things.”

“No burden at all,” Shi said faintly. “I’m going.”

As the sound landed, the strange corpse’s troupe disappeared.

Having already noticed the disturbance on this side, Wei Sheng and the others hurriedly came over.

“He’s gone,” Zuo Mo spread his hands, “to find his place of birth.”

The others showed expressions of realization.

Other than Zuo Mo feeling some melancholy, the others didn’t feel anything at the departure of the strange corpse. It was the opposite. Without the strange corpse present, everyone felt much lighter. Even though the strange corpse had appeared friendly along the way but his immeasurable strength still put pressure on everyone.

Zuo Mo quickly throw away his emotions and called Wei Sheng, Lil’ miss and the others together.

“We’ve come out of the damned ghastly place, but that does not mean that we are safe,” Zuo Mo spoke first.

Gongsun Cha nodded. “Yes, if our previous speculations are correct, this should be the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, a battlefield! We must leave Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie at the fastest speed possible, otherwise … …”

Lil’ Miss did not continue but everyone understood what he meant. Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was the place where the fighting between xiuzhe and yaomo was the fiercest. If they were careless in the slightest way, and were pulled into a battle, there wouldn’t be anything left of them.

They really belonged to the camp of xiuzhe, but none on the Black Turtle were willing to seek the help of xiuzhe. Undoubtedly, the xiuzhe battle generals here would be disciples of those large sects. The people here, if they weren’t from Sky Moon Jie, they were from Little Mountain Jie. They didn’t have any good feelings towards those large sects.

And if they were chanced upon by yaomo, they didn’t need to even think about that result.

“Go ask, who has the jie river for Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie?” Zuo Mo thought and said, “We don’t even know the directions here, we can only blindly blunder here.”

Everyone instantly scattered.

Zuo Mo rubbed his forehead. The trouble really came wave after wave. They had just left behind the ancient battlefield only to enter another dangerous place. The present Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was not a peaceful place. The grounds of the former Yao Hunt were now the playground of yaomo.

Yaomo … …

Zuo Mo’s mind moved, and a thread of joy rose. How had he forgotten about the Ten Finger Prison! Zuo Mo hurriedly entered the Ten Finger Prison. Nan Yue and Cang Ze were not present, but Ming Jue Zi was fortunately present.

“Daren wants the jie map for Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie?” Ming Jue Zi said after thinking, “That is not hard but it might take some time. Daren, is it urgent?”

“En, very urgent!” Zuo Mo unhesitatingly nodded, and released a breath inside.

“Understood!” Ming Jue Zi instantly left the Ten Finger Prison.

The rock in Zuo Mo’s heart nodded. He could only wait for Ming Jue Zi’s news now. As expected, the other people came back in a short while. None of the xiuzhe in his camp had gone to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie before. Zuo Mo did not go into the details but told everyone that there would be news in a few days. He ordered them to set up defenses, and to especially send out more sentries as this place was not safe.

Truthfully, Zuo Mo did not worry too much about safety. The Black Turtle might have a boring name but it was true to its name. From when they left the Golden Crystal sand sea, and encountered a string of dangers, the powerful defense of the Black Turtle had safely overcome them all. Even the strange corpse had praised the Black Turtle.

Many people disdained this name for not being flashy enough, but since Boss had named it, everyone had perceptively closed their mouth.

Ming Jue Zi’s efficiency was very high. On the second day, he had obtained the jie map for Bloody Sky Metropolis jie. Like how the humans hunted yao, there were also yaomo that hunted xiuzhe. From very early on, there had been many yaomo that secretly entered the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. The jie map of the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had started to circulate from that time on.

This jie map even labeled the yaomo defensive lines. This defense line wasn’t a secret.

Zuo Mo had found a treasure.

With this jie map, they were not blind anymore. Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss started to study it. The only ones that had the ability to come up with ideas for this kind of action was just Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss.

The two found their general position on the jie map and started to search for routes.

What reassured them was Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was connected to many places. In other words, they could secretly enter a xiuzhe jie without alerting the xiuzhe guards.

The two schemed for a long time and finally chose a route that seemed relatively safe.

As to whether it was truly safe or not, that would only be known when they went through.

The Black Turtle was like a black light that silently flew in the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie’s sky.

Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was also shrouded in bloody mist, but it was far less dense than the fiendish energy of the Sealed Extinction battlefield. To other xiuzhe, they would feel constrained in such an environment, but for Zuo Mo and his group, this wasn’t a problem.

Bloody Sky Metropolis was made from seven intermediate jie as the axis and forty nine little jie as the protective screen, its vastness could be imagined.

———

“I heard the losses on that side are very high.” The mo who was speaking had a black green horn at his forehead. It meant he was a green rhinoceros mo. His entire body was covered in thick black green armor, and his smile was filled with scorn.

“It’s very normal. If Daren hadn’t had the foresight to turned this area into a Mo Breeding Sea, we couldn’t escape either.” The one who spoke was a handsome fox mo. Under the light blue hair was a pair of jewel eyes. The lips were thin and tense, and his tone was slightly lazy. This caused him to seem slightly seductive.

“So boring! I thought we would have a good fight. Who knew we just stand guard all day. Moss  is growing on my body!” As the rhinoceros mo complained, he glanced into the blood mist in the distance before giving up and lying back down.

“When it’s time to fight, you won’t think this.” Lan Qing glanced at his good friend.

The two were best friends from a young age. When they were recruiting, he originally hadn’t wanted to come. Who knew that Xi Ye had ran to register and had also registered him. Therefore, no matter how unwilling he was, he had to follow and come.

But regarding the matter of A Ye registering him, he didn’t have any anger. The two had played together from infancy. If A Ye had signed up alone, he would have definitely followed anyway. If he wasn’t present, this guy would cause calamities!

No one had expected that A Ye received favor from the Shen Yue Mo General due to his bravery and had been rapidly promoted. As the vice commander to this guy, Lan Qing was in charge of all military affairs so A Ye did not create a mess.

Shen Yue Mo General had been sent to the front lines with an important mission.

A Ye’s battalion was responsible for guarding this area. Their position was relatively forward and was a forward operating base.

At this time, Lan Qing’s expression changed slightly. He suddenly jumped up from the ground. “Not good! Enemy!”

“Enemy! Where, where?” A Ye also followed in jumping up with an excited expression.

A small black ship came out of the bloody mist.

Chapter 427: Black Leech Defense Line

“Is this route really safe?” Nian Lu muttered. His hands were not affected by what he said, fingernail sized white lotuses were rising and falling. Nian Lu’s personality was lively and his cultivation method was also different than other people.

Lei Peng lovingly caressed the Gold Crystal broadsword with an intoxicated look.

Ma Fan chewed a stalk of green grass, his head pillowed on his arms as he looked at the sky. The sky inside the ship was just an illusory formation, but it was so life-like it caused people to feel their minds relax. The sky of the Seal Extinction battlefield seemed to be dyed with blood, so pressuring it robbed people of hope. No one wanted had to see that.

“We’ll only know if we go through,” Ma Fan said lazily.

“It’s better if it’s not safe!” Lei Peng rumbled. In the days after waking up, he had seemed to be a completely different person, silent and stoic. When he had gotten the Gold Crystal broadsword, he finally became normal again, and even more battle-thirsty than before. His eyes flashed with the desire to battle, his large hands continuously caressing the broadsword. Anyone that accidentally saw this scene felt coldness rise up.

Ding ding ding!

Sharp and shrill sounds of the alarm suddenly sounded.

“You crow’s mouth!” Ma Fan sword. Before his words landed, he jumped up from the ground and turned to a dash of sword light. Lei Peng and Nian Lu did not dare to slack off. Their figures both turned to sword lights and disappeared.

Crow mouth: someone who brings bad things about by talking about them.

Inside the Black Turtle, sword lights flashed across the sky.

———

“These are … … mo?” Zuo Mo didn’t dare to be certain. The images from the mirage formations on the outside of the ship and passed back into the inside, but the strange people in the images were unfamiliar to everyone.

“Yes!” Gongsun Cha’s expression was serious. Other than the mo which looked strange, what he cared about more was that black river that extended behind them. That river was about ten zhang wide, the water was inky black. It was like an enormous earthworm that seemed to curve its body slowly.

Gongsun Cha recognized this black river. In war chess, he frequently had to meet it. That wasn’t a river, it was a defensive line. What was flowing slowly inside it was not some kind of black water, but something called Black Leeches.

Black Leech defense line, one of the most commonly used defensive lines of the mo. He had tripped up over this many times.

Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss’ expressions were slightly bad. They had tried their best to avoid the three factions at war, and hadn’t expected to encounter the mo’s defense lines!

Zuo Mo instantly realized where the problem had occurred. It was the jie map. They had chosen the route based on the jie map that Ming Jue zi had provided, but living in the yao world, Ming Jue Zi only knew the details of yao defense lines, and only knew the general shape of the mo defense lines.

This was relatively distant from the mo rearing sea of the mo. The mo had pushed their defensive line so far in!

Zuo Mo was shocked inside.

He knew what this meant! This meant that the mo had not encountered any pressure which was why they were so unconstrained.

However, he wasn’t in the mood to worry about others. The problem right in front of them was that the mo will think of them as enemies!

The problem they had tried so hard to avoid still happened!

“Charge through it!” All of the solutions furiously flipping through his mind once, he unhesitatingly ordered.

Lil’ Miss understood. A Black Leech defense line was not enough to make him panic. The Black Leech defense line was just ten zhang wide. It was very thin. He had many methods to overcome it, but right now, they only needed the simplest method.

That was right, charge through it!”

The Black Turtle suddenly accelerated!

———

“They’re charging … … charging over!” Xi Ye gaped in shock at the black ship charging towards the defense line like a moth to a flame.

Lan Qing also was stunned. Even though this was just a sentry post, and the black leech line wasn’t secure, but it wasn’t something that a little ship like this one could deal with.

This tiny ship was probably a scout boat. Scout boats mostly were used to carry scouts. Their speeds were fast and they were very nimble, but their defensive abilities were weak. The scouts inside were harder to deal with. Those that were scouts were definitely the elite.

It was impossible to charge through the ten zhang thick Black Leech defense line with a little boat like this.

The little black boat was extremely quick. It was like a bolt of lightning which provided more evidence for what Lan Qing guessed.

The moment the little black boat reached the defense line, the silent Black Leech defense line suddenly started to roar. Countless tiny black leeches rained down on the little black boat.

The black leeches were a very ferocious insect swarm species. Their reproductive abilities were very strong. Mature leeches were about three cun in length, completely black, and shaped like a shuttle, with only one eye. Their territorial instincts were very strong. Any being that invaded their territory would encounter their ferocious attack.

Just a charge from the black leeches could rival a full power blow from a mo captain!

The attacks of a Black Leech defense line was endless, and counted in tens of thousands. Even true mo brigadiers did not easily dare to provoke these little beings.

The non-descript little boat was instantly drowned in the flood of black leeches.

Pia pia pia! A dense sting of pops sounded like rain. The entire defensive lines moved angrily. The sharp hissing unique to black leeches filled the eardrums.

Hm, that wasn’t right … …

A hint of puzzlement flashed through Lan Qing’s eyes. He felt that something wasn’t right.

“How come there’s no explosion?” Xi Ye rubbed his head with dejectedness.

Lan Qing’s body froze, and his expression froze on his face.

He finally knew what wasn’t right! That little boat hadn’t exploded yet! Hit by tens of thousands of black leeches at once, the most rational result was to explode into pieces instantly!

But … …

Ever since the little black boat entered the defense line, the speed greatly decreased as though it went from being a bolt of lightning to a turtle. It was drowned by countless black leeches, causing it to look like a thick black leech ball. There wasn’t any part of the ship showing, but … …

The black leech ball was slowly moving forward. The movement rate was very slow as though it was just squirming but it really was moving forward. As thought … … the black leeches were pushing it slowly forward!

Crossing the ten zhang defense line did not take up much time.

When the black leech ball reached the other side of the defense line, the layers of black leeches scattered like an avalanche and revealed the black ship inside!

Lan Qing’s pupils suddenly constricted!

The ship was still unblemished. There were no changes in shape, no marks, it looked just the same as before.

He was not the only one surprised by this, the entire base was silent! All the mo soldiers had frozen expressions on their bodies.

The Black Turtle that left the black leech defensive lines sped up!

Lan Qing shook and reacted. He said urgently, “Alarm! Quick! Send the alarm!”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Xi Ye charge out. He knew it wasn’t good. Gritting his teeth, he hurriedly followed.

———

Successfully charging through the Black Leech defense line, cheers sounded inside the Black Turtle. They had all been frightened by the fierce attacks from the Black Leech defense line. At this time, the cheers were unusually loud.

“Holy, that frightened me to death. Lucky that our turtle shell is thick enough!”

“We cannot underestimate the mo, without Lil’ Turtle, we may not have been able to go through!”

“You guys are weak, ge was so calm! Can these little worms break our shell, the number one shell in the world? Are you joking? Our Lil’ Turtle has been tempered in the Golden Crystal sand storms!”

“Please, I saw your expression change just then … …”

Everyone excitedly discussed the recent danger.

Compared to the high mood below, Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss did not show any signs of relaxing. Their action just now was akin to poking the hornet’s nest. Since the other had set up sentries here, then a mo army was definitely not far away.

The battle had just started.

“I’m going to prepare.” Lil’ Miss turned and left with a calm expression.

The Black Turtle was strong defensively, but on the battlefield, if one just purely defended, even the strongest shield would eventually break.

Zuo Mo stared hard at the jie river, his mind furiously turning. It seemed impossible to avoid a hard battle, but for them, the most important was not to win, but to quickly leave the battlefield behind and charge out of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

What he was most worried about was being dragged down by the mo army. That was a road to death! His group seemed numerous, but compared to the most important defense line of the mo, they weren’t enough to fill the gaps of the mo’s teeth.

He was pondering where else the mo had set up defenses.

As for the battle, he did not need to worry at all. Lil’ Miss could complete everything perfectly.

The cheers inside the ship gradually calmed. Everyone’s expressions became stern. Lil’ Miss’ orders reached every person: Prepare to battle!

The Black Turtle raced on murderously!

———

Zuo Mo could not have imagined that the situation here was far more complex than he had thought. Just like how the mo had pushed the defense line to this place, in reality, its surroundings were filled with scouts from all factions.

These elite individuals were carefully hidden in the bloody mist like ghosts.

When the Black Turtle broke through the bloody mist, it attracted the attention of all the scouts.

When the Black Turtle unexpectedly charged through the Black Leech defense line, it caused restlessness among the hidden scouts. News passed down at a frightening speed back to the battle generals of all the factions.

Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie which had gradually calmed down and settled into a faceoff suddenly changed weather because of a little black ship!

———

Bing Lan narrowed her eyes. “It is a xiuzhe ship?”

“Yes! Even though there are no insignias on it, but it is a talisman forged by xiuzhe,” the vice commander nodded and said.

“Why have they suddenly attacked the mo defense line? A little ship, what can it do?” Bing Lan tapped the table and said to herself.

“We speculate this ship has become lost,” the vice commander respectfully reminded. “This ship is not ordinary, and so the people on it are not ordinary.”

Bing Lan thought for a moment and then said lightly, “Pass the news to Liang Wei. He knows what to do.”

———

“You are saying it is one of our ships?”

The middle-aged person was authoritative. He showed a pondering expression on his face.

“Yes, Daren!” The vice commander was also slightly puzzled. “But we did not receive any news from the brass.”

“So it’s like that … …” The middle aged person was thoughtful.

The vice commander did not speak. He stood with a slight bow waiting for orders.

“Who is closest to there?” the middle aged person asked.

The vice commander knew that Daren had made a decision and hurried to answer, “It is Ming Lie Daren!”

“Tell him to keep a close watch. He can move according to the events, and decide for himself,” the middle aged person said.

Chapter 428: Conspiracy

“I wonder how Eldest Shixiong is doing right now,” Ming Lei gazed at the expanse of bloody mist and said emotionally.

The deep fiery red cloak he was wearing floated up in the wind and flapped. Ming Lei’s posture was as straight as a sword, his two sharp brows tilted upwards into his hair, his eyes narrow and had a sharp presence.

“Who knows? Likely better than us! I’m really sick of this ghastly place,” a round-faced youth beside Ming Lei muttered. On his back was a normal Pine Script Sword. He looked as though he hadn’t woken up from his sleep. He was Ming Lei’s shidi, Song Yuan.

Ming Lei’s expression was slightly helpless as he said, “You, you, you have no ambition, so many people want to get in and earn more merit! You, from the first day, you’ve been muttering about going back!”

Song Yuan snorted. “Merit? One needs their little life to experience that!”

Ming Lei smiled. “The more afraid you are on the battlefield, the easier it is for you to die.”

“I only have one life, I won’t get more if I die.” Song Yuan glanced at Ming Lei. “I’m different from battle maniacs like you. Ye likes peace!”

Ming Lei knew Song Yuan’s temperament and wasn’t angry. He said in puzzlement, “I’m just wondering why Shidi is so nervous? In terms of the past, the yaomo were greatly wounded in the great war three thousand years ago, and our xiuzhe’s Four Realm Heaven is full of talents, and have reached the most prosperous moment of our recent ten thousand years! It is easy to see who is weak and strong with a glance. Recently, Eldest Shixiong used a scheme and the yao were greatly wounded. Even in this Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, we are not losing. What is Song Yuan Shidi worried about?”

Song Yuan smiled coldly. “I’m just worried you guys are underestimating the heroes of the world!”

Ming Lei stilled and then said with a smile, “Kun Lun, Xi Xuan, Xuan Kong, and Tian Huan which realm isn’t full of heroes? To say nothing else, just our Kun Lun has as many battle generals as the clouds, experts like rain! Are so many disciples unable to satisfy Shidi’s worries? What about Eldest Shixiong?”

Song Yuan was silent for a beat before he said, “Eldest Shixiong’s genius is undoubted.” He raised his head to look into the distance and said in a light voice, Actually, not just Eldest Shixiong, even you, Ming Lei Shixiong, are a top battle general. How can I not know what we are good at? But for some unknown reason, my heart beats wildly.”

Ming Lei showed a thoughtful expression.

“You know when people like me cultivate to such a level, our sword heart is strong and not affected by outside demons, but I still feel unsafe,” Song Yuan said with a sigh and spread his hands, “maybe I’m just worried needlessly.”

Ming Lei was a detail-oriented person. He studied as a battle general, and Song Yuan cultivated the sword scripture of the sect, and had a more sensitive intuition of danger. “Does Shidi feel that something is not right?”

Song Yuan shook his head. “I do not know, which is why I feel so uncertain.”

Just at this time, a sword light flew from the horizon. Song Yuan beckoned with his hand and the sword light landed in his palm. He moved his hand and there was a little sword on it.

Ming Lei picked up the little sword and light flashed through his eyes. “Let’s go, we have a mission.”

———

Liang Wei’s expression was cold as he stared at the little black boat. When he had received the order, he had been roaming around this area and coincidentally seen the Black Turtle break through the Black Leech defense line. But he hadn’t expected that the Black Turtle would so easily go through the Black Leech defense line.

As a silver battle general, of course he knew how powerful this Black Leech defense line was!

The grade of this nondescript little black ship was far greater than he had predicted, if it was able to easily go through the defense line. Even the stupidest person knew now that the identities of the xiuzhe inside the little ship were definitely not ordinary.

Maybe the people inside were major … …

Liang Wei unconsciously licked his lips, the fire of battle-thirst flickering in his eyes. The scar on his handsome face was abnormally sinister.

He forcibly suppressed the battle intent burning inside. Yao and mo were allies but the other definitely would not let them enter the defense line easily. Receiving permission to enter the defense line was only possible under one situation, when they were unable to hold it.

This little ship was definitely not simple, and its defensive capabilities would not be so weak.

Liang Wei was like a lone wolf in the wilderness that was silently waiting for an opportunity.

———

The breakthrough of the Black Turtle past the Black Leech defense line was like pouring a bucket of cold water into a pot of boiling oil. The situation instantly exploded!

Three groups of mo soldiers came from three different directions like three floods.

With the strange corpse gone, the pressure Pu Yao felt greatly decreased. He became lively again, and resumed acting as though he was the leader. “Battle generals are different. Xiuzhe battle generals emphasize deduction, while yao battle generals emphasize consciousness; both emphasizing control of the troops. But Mo battle generals? They emphasize bravery!”

“Emphasize bravery?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. It had to be said that individual bravery was not so important in large scale battle. If one jindan xiuzhe encountered one or two dozen ningmai, then it was a secure victory. If a jindan encountered a well-trained troop of fifty, then that was a very dangerous situation. If they encountered one hundred well-trained ningmai, then they had to run.

Jindan were high level soldier types among the military, but they were cannon fodder used to wear down high level soldiers. This was an ancient tactic that was still very effective. So in the military, each jindan would also have the protection of an entire troop of ningmai.

So the  effects of personal bravery were not evident in large scale battles.

“You’ll know when you see it.” At this important time, Pu Yao kept a secret again.

Zuo Mo was so angry he almost swore but he still managed to resist. Inside, he recorded another mark against Pu Yao.

But Pu Yao’s words still successfully stirred Zuo Mo’s interest. He started to pay close attention to these mo soldiers.

———

The three groups of mo soldiers raced from three directions. The Black Turtle that just broke through the Black Leech defense line ended up surrounded once again.

Gongsun Cha was motionless, his eyes straight and his expression still.

Some people from the Shield Guard Platoon discussed in low voices.

“Is Daren daydreaming? Daren has seemed slightly weird since his seclusion last time!” The person who spoke was slightly worried. This kind of thing had happened multiple times before. Ever since the last seclusion period, Gongsun Cha frequently wandered off in his mind.

“When was Daren ever normal … …” Another person rolled his eyes.

“That’s so true!” Everyone nodded. These words really struck their hearts.

“So, this is good, better than Daren smiling.”

“Daren’s bashful smile … …”

Everyone simultaneously shuddered. They seemed to recall something terrible and all of them felt cold.

“Oh,”  An ambiguous sound came from Gongsun Cha’s mouth. His dull eyes became focused again as he smiled shyly, “let us begin!”

Receiving the order, Vermillion Bird Camp instantly charged out!

In the air, many sword lights shot out of the Black Turtle at the same time. The dazzling and beautiful sword lights were like fireworks that exploded in the air!

The suddenly appearance of the Vermillion Bird Camp frightened everyone!

No matter if it was Xi Ye and Ming Qing, or the three groups that were forming a circle at the front, or Liang Wei hiding in the bloody mist, they all changed expressions!

The multi-colored sword lights were sparkling in the air but the yaomo were not in a mood to admire this beauty. Sharp inhales rose.

No one had expected this nondescript little ship was able to hold so many sword xiu!

The average outer appearance, the strong defensive capabilities, the carrying capacity that could rival intermediate and large sized treasure ships!

What kind of ship was this?

No one knew, but every mo battle general that had any experience could smell the danger contained inside! This kind of ship was like the assassin in the dark that could strike a fatal blow at the crucial moment!

Thinking about thousands of sword xiu being transported to the backlines without any signs and at the moment the fighting was the fiercest, thousands of sword xiu appearing behind them … …

The yaomo’s hearts suddenly felt cold!

———

Xi Ye gave a sky-shaking bellow. His eyes turned green!

From the day he joined the military, it was the first time that any enemy had broken into his territory so easily! He felt shame at his display just now, complete shame!

He charged at the very front!

All the mo soldiers at the front shouted angrily in unison. Without hesitating, they followed Xi Ye and leapt at the black ship!

At this time, the thousands of multi-colored sword lights filled Xi Ye and Lan Qing’s visions. They were completely stunned!

Bone-aching coldness caused their limbs to feel cold!

Xi Ye suddenly howled angrily. His eyes were almost completely crisp green, and his body made to charge!

Lan Qing’s eyes and hands were fast. He pulled Xi Ye back and shouted. “Send the news! Quick! Send the news to Daren!”

Xi Ye shook and reacted. He looked gratefully at Lan Qing and hurriedly took out a black insect from his bosom. He closed his eyes. A moment later, a drop of blood welled up on his fingertip. Xi Ye swiped the bead of blood on the head of the armored insect and the blood bead burrowed into the head of the armored insect rapidly.

The armored insect hissed and then suddenly disappeared from Xi Ye’s hand.

———

Looking dazedly at the sky full of sword lights, Liang Wei did not detect that his limbs were so cold they were freezing. There was only one thought in his mind.

This was a conspiracy! A conspiracy of the xiuzhe!

A devious ambush!

Liang Wei’s expression was ferocious, his hands tightly balled, his eyes filled with hate as he stared at the sky full of sword lights. Gradually, he relaxed his fists, and his eyes became calm again.

He did not start moving immediately to go help the allies even though he knew that the other would definitely accept their help. But if this was a planned ambush, then the moves of the xiuzhe would not end with just this!

Calmed down, Liang Wei displayed astounding powers of judgment. With quick thought, he was able to judge—

—the xiuzhe definitely would have reinforcements coming!

He instantly sent out concealed scouts that stood guard in the surroundings.

The scouts quickly passed back the information. A xiuzhe troops were approaching at a fast speed.

A thread of coldness flashed through Liang wei’s yes. The scar on his face was also murderous.

As expected, they had come!

Chapter 429: Mo Battle Methods

Ming Lieand Song Yuan were really to be pitied, calamity flew straight at them as they were ambushed by Liang Wei. Even though the ambush did not cause too many fatalities as Ming Lie had maintained his guard, but it still caused them to become disarrayed.

Liang Wei’s hatred of xiuzhe was carved deep into his bones after experiencing his last battle. Most of his troops were the lucky survivors of the Ice Frost Corps. Seeing Ming Lie and the others, his eyes instantly became bloodshot and murderous.

One side had prepared for a long time, the other was responding hurriedly, even though Liang Wei’s division did not have any experts, but they still suppressed Ming Lie’s troop.

Ming Lie’s expression was grave. The configuration of the troop in front of them was not highly skilled, but their technique was fierce and they were fearless!

His gaze landed on the young and handsome battle general in the middle of the formation, and was filled with shock. Ming Lie knew the military ranking of yaomo very well. This troop that was pressuring him was not one of the core corps of the yao! And this young battle general was just a silver battle general!

How was this possible?

When did the normal yao corps have such skill? When did a silver battle general become his equal?

His successive countermeasures were ineffective against the other. Five breaths! Five continuous breaths! Ming Lie had sent out six orders, but the state of the two sides had not changed at all!

Song Yuan’s expression also became serious. He was not a battle general but he could feel it more clearly. He felt as though they had landed in an enormous web and could not muster the strength to escape no matter what!

A sword xiu that was ten zhang away from him was hit by several yao arts at the same time. With a wail, the entire person shattered into ice powder!

Wails rose and fell. The other side’s cooperation was very high. The level of the yao arts were not high, but as they cooperated, their power was very astounding. A hint of grief flashed through Song Yuan’s eyes. Dying on the battlefield, even their souls could not escape!

The yao arts and sword lights illuminated the sky. Some entered the bloody mist and caused it to shift.

The collision between the two was brief but fierce!

———

Liang Wei remained unaffected and coldly stared at the other. His consciousness was spread like a huge net, every detail of the battlefield happening within his grasp. The defensive light shields of a combat yao at the very front was shattered by several sword lights at the same time. He didn’t even manage to make a sound before he turned into a spray of blood.

[Ice Heart Tundra] silently circulated, the heart like an icy tundra, unaffected by anything. Liang Wei had been very favored by the corps commander, who had secretly passed him the top yao art of the Ice Frost Corps, [Ice heart Tundra].

Liang Wei might just be a silver battle general, but after experiencing that difficult battle of protecting the rear during the retreat, he had completely been reborn. Upon detecting this, the Council of Elders permitted him to lead a troop.

Liang Wei knew the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides. He had no experts so he definitely could not enter a face off. The other’s experts were constantly being protected. If one wanted to use numbers to exchange for the experts deaths, the sacrifice was too high.

Having made a successful attack, they did not linger and retreated!

The bloody mist that covered Blood Sky Metropolis Jie was the best concealment for yaomo. Thousands of combat yao retreated in unison, their ranks organized. The combat yao that were at the end had lights flashing on their hands.

———

“Stop!” Ming Lie shouted. He called back his subordinates that were planning on chasing after the enemy. The other’s formation was organized and there were no weaknesses.

Ming Lie’s expression was black. A counter-attack would only cause them to land in the other’s trap.

The results of the battle quickly came out. Ming Lie had lost nearly eighty people, and the other had lost just six. Such a skewed loss ratio was like a loud slap that landed on his face.

The cold and indifferent gaze of the other as he had left was like the sharpest scorn. A silver battle general dared to be so arrogant in front of him!

Ming Lie took a deep breath to maintain his calm.

Song Yuan perceptively did not speak. Truthfully, he had also been stunned by that ferocious wave of attacks. He had started to gather experience on the outside world from when he was very young, and encountered many dangerous situations. But only today did he know that the dangers he experienced before was just child’s play compared to war.

In the blink of an eye, eighty people’s lives were erased. How cruel was this!

But what caused him to feel cold was the cool eyes of that young yao battle general that had no emotion. One successful attack without any lingering behind, so clean and crisp it was scary. Looking at Ming Lie’s black face, Song Yuan knew that just how terrible his shixiong’s mood was right now.

He did not understand battle generals but he did know that Ming Lie Shixiong’s skill in Kun Lun was among the top. Otherwise, their sect wouldn’t have given the first battle to him.

If the news that Ming Lie Shixiong had been tripped up on the hands on an unknown yao battle general spread back to the sect, it would definitely cause a great ruckus.

This place was really full of danger!

Song Yuan’s heart felt even more insecure.

———

The fighting behind them did not attract Zuo Mo’s attention. His attention was completely on the three groups of mo that were rushing at them. He looked very closely. Pu Yao’s character was usually poor but he would not speak nonsense.

Upon close study, he instantly made a new discovery. Mo battle generals were different than yao battle generals!

Yao battle generals used their consciousness to control the troops. The troops were like limbs that advanced and retreated together. Mo battle generals did not care for troop formations at all. They were an unsightly mess and sprawl.

But … …

In Zuo Mo’s vision, the presences of those unorganized mo soldiers were tightly gathered together! The presences of hundreds of mo soldiers were gathered into a ball. Once it was one being, the pressure instantly was completely different!

Zuo Mo seemed to see hundreds of muscles criss-crossing and joining together, tensing and turning into a fist!

The three groups of mo soldiers were like three powerful fists!

“The mo battle methods turn the complex into the simple, gather many into one, power overcoming technique, seemingly simple and extremely effective. The mo battle general is the only one of the three kinds of battle generals that requires a person to be individually brave.” Pu Yao’s tone then changed. “Your brain is stupid, you are more suited for the mo battle methods.”

Zuo Mo was eager as he looked on. “How can I gather many into one?”

“Oh, Wei knows,” Pu Yao said irresponsibly.

Wei opened his eyes with slight helplessness, and looked in dissatisfaction at Pu. Ever since he encountered the strange corpse and saw an existence even more ancient than his, Wei’s desire to find a successor unconsciously faded greatly. Waking up from his obsession, he finally realized what he had guarded in the past had been lost in the river of time.

The oath carved on the gravestone was only treasured by himself.

Pu Yao could still encounter the descendants of his past fellows, and this maintained the connection between him and the world, he was not abandoned by time. Yet Wei was too ancient, so ancient that nothing could have been left.

The strange corpse went to find his place of birth. Wei found with a grimace that he didn’t even have a target to search for.

Wei’s desire to find a new successor drastically dropped. Wei, who had always wanted to show his existence, was disinterested when Pu Yao threw the problem at him.

He said casually, “This is hard to learn.”

“Harder than learning the mo physique?” Zuo Mo asked.

Wei stopped breathing and finally remembered that this person was a freak that easily cultivated the Great Day mo physique that ranked second among colonel mo physiques!

“It is not as difficult as mo physiques.” Wei decided to say the truth.

“Then teach me!” Zuo Mo’s request burst out. He tried to widened his glistening eyes, and gave a desirous and fawning expression towards Wei.

In terms of shamelessness, Wei was clearly not Zuo Mo’s opponent. He could only say, “Mo physique and battle general are two different things, I do not know much.”

But when he saw Zuo Mo’s face turned towards him like a sunflower, he intelligently gave up on struggling. “Mo battle generals are truly different than other battle generals. The first thing they need to learn is to echo with the power of their comrades.”

“Echo with the power of comrades?”

Wei released a breath. The shameless expression on that face finally disappeared. He felt much more at ease and continued, “Yes, the power of mo is the power of the fleshly body, of the true self. Only by echoing with the power of one’s comrades can one communicate with one’s comrades. The directions of power is much faster and accurate than sound!”

“So it’s like this … …” Zuo Mo was thoughtful.

Wei suddenly smiled. He spread his hands. “Don’t ask me how to echo the power of comrades. I don’t know either, I’m just a gravestone armor.”

He hadn’t lied. For some unknown reason, when he saw Zuo Mo’s brow tightly furrowed, Wei’s mood that had just been helpless became much lighter.

“Echo the power of comrades … …” Zuo Mo pondered. He seemed to comprehend something, but when he thought deeper, he had nothing.

Immersed in thought, Zuo Mo directly forgot the fight that was happening now.

A moment later, he suddenly raised his head, excitement unable to be disguised from his face. Without another word, he jumped up from the ground and ran away!

———

Compared to Zuo Mo’s new discoveries, Gongsun Cha was entirely familiar with the mo battle methods. In war chess, he had faced all kinds of enemies. Even though the battle methods present were not the same as Pu Yao’s battle methods in war chess, they were of the same vein.

To Gongsun Cha, there was no difference.

Three section wave killing charge!

The multi-colored sword energies that had bloomed in the air brightened up!

Howling sounded and filled the eardrums. In a brief amount of time, the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp pushed their speed to the max!

The sword lights formed waves that charged at the three groups of mo soldiers!

Compared to the past, the present Vermillion Bird Camp was undoubted more mature. When they performed their trademark three section wave killing charge, they were even more masterful. The waves made from sword energies were not as ferocious and sharp as before, but were more bouncy, as though there was an invisible thread that connected all the sword energies.

The two sides collided!

A strange scene occurred.

Like waves, the sword energies gathered and scattered. They were like blades that danced about like butterflies, continuously slicing layers off the mo soldiers.

The sword energies criss-crossed!

In a blink, half of the mo soldiers were dead or wounded!

This scene stunned the entire field.

His chest full of fury and battle intent, Xi Ye’s body that just started to move seemed to be pulled to a complete stop by an invisible hand. He looked in disbelief at the waves of sword energies as though a basin of cold water was poured over his head, his limbs cold! Beside him, Lan Qing and the other mo soldiers were shocked!

When the black-faced Ming Lie saw this scene, it was as though he was paralyzed.

Inside the bloody mist, Liang Wei’s pupils suddenly shrank, his expression changed greatly, and his body entirely cold!

Chapter 430: Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo

Unlike Zuo Mo, Gongsun Cha noticed the combat behind them at once. He only glanced over before moving his gaze away. He couldn’t help but shake his head at the performance of this group of xiuzhe, but his eyes lit up at the performance of the yao.

The xiuzhe’s collective strength was a level higher than the yao but they were being suppressed by the yao. Even if it was due to being ambushed, in Gongsun Cha’s eyes, the performance of this group of sword xiu was really not outstanding.

Of course, he only glanced at them. The three factions were not very different in his eyes. If they landed in the hands of yaomo, it would naturally be hard to keep their bodies intact, but if they landed in the hands of the sword xiu, they definitely would not survive either. In such a sensitive place as the front lines, being a group of people with unclear origins, they would naturally be labeled as “dangerous.” To make it even worse was that they had too many valuable things on them that would breed envy in others and making them a target.

If it was Gongsun Cha on the other side, he would definitely slaughter this kind of fat sheep if he ever he encountered one.

Taking only a glance, Lil’ Miss put his attention back on the mo soldiers in front of him. Even though he had fought more than  once against mo battle generals in war chess, there would always be a difference between reality and war chess. Especially a war chess design from a few thousand years ago.

Lil’ Miss’ focus was a calamity for the mo soldiers.

The two sides had the same general amount of manpower. Full of confidence, Lil’ Miss did not take the advantage based on numbers, but even so, the three groups of mo soldiers were falling at an alarming rate in front of Lil’ Miss’s most developed move, the three section wave killing charge.

———

The one-sided battle shocked everyone, especially Liang Wei and Ming Lie. The two were exceptional battle generals and deciphering battle was their basic technique.

Battle general was the profession that the three major factions had which was the most similar between the races and that each faction was the most familiar with. It had always been the case that the yaomo and xiuzhe thought of each other as enemies and were most sensitive to this kind of information.

Shocked, the two simultaneously made the same choice—ask for reinforcements from the main army!

After doing this, the two who had cold sweats could finally relax enough to closely examine the battle which was reaching its end.

After watching for a while, the two almost exclaimed at the exact same time in disbelief.

“Three section wave killing charge!”

“Three section stab!”

The disbelief on the two’s faces quickly became strange.

“Shixiong, what is three section stab?” Song Yuan couldn’t help but ask.

“Three section stab is three section wave killing charge.” Ming Lie stared at the battlefield with a strange expression on his handsome face. As if he was taking in his sleep, he said, “How is this possible … … how is this possible?”

“Shixiong!” Song Yuan saw the situation was not right. Channeling ling power, he shouted like thunder.

Ming Lie shook and his unfocused eyes became clear again. He looked gratefully at Song Yuan and explained. “I hadn’t expected that the thing this person would use would be the three section stab! Shidi may not know, but the three section stab is a very ancient yao battle tactic. This battle tactic was most popular three thousand years ago, but as it heavily favored offense over defense, the yao battle generals decreased their use of it so now almost no one uses it.”

“Yao?” Song Yuan had a puzzled expression. “But these people are clearly sword xiu!”

“The three section wave killing charge is what the yao call it, we usually call it the three section stab. Actually, this kind of tactic is more suited for us sword xiu. People have used it in the past, but it has a fatal flaw!”

Song Yuan became interested. “What flaw?”

“It cannot sustain itself!” Ming Lie became relaxed again. He said in a deep voice, “The strongest part of the three section stab is that it gathers short-term explosiveness together, and cannot be stopped. But this kind of explosiveness cannot keep going. Three section stab, it is most powerful in this charge. If the other can stop these three waves of attack, the situations of the two sides would instantly reverse.”

Song Yuan looked at the battlefield and then said with a shake of his head, “They cannot hold against the three waves!”

“Of course they will not hold up!” Ming Lie said firmly. “However, the defense line of the mo is not so easy to penetrate. Mo defense lines are usually thick. The distance between each defense line is not far, and it is easy to get reinforcements. Creating such a large ruckus, there’s no way the defensive lines behind will ignore it.”

Before his words landed, a group of approximately two thousand mo soldiers appeared in everyone’s view like a black cloud.

———

“Not right, this isn’t right.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

In front of him, A Wen who was acting as his experimental subject was crying inside. But he didn’t dare to show any discontent on the outside. A Wen admired his fellows that were preparing to fight. The Guard Camp had finished preparing and were waiting to depart. Head Shu Long was personally leading. Every time he thought about the upcoming battle, he was excited.

But … …

Looking at the eager Boss, and then thinking about his situation, he began to wither like a tomato in frost.

Heavens! Why did Boss suddenly want to experiment? Why did Boss have to use him as the subject?

Boss told him to release his presence in a steady flow. He could not understand at all what the use was in doing this. But he didn’t dare to say that to Boss and docilely allowed Boss to move him around.

Boss seemed to be trying something and would occasionally mutter.

“No good … … this is not it!”

“Not right, there’s a problem!”

A Wen felt as though he was an idiot, and Boss was a madman.

But even if Boss was a madman, he was still Boss!

———

When this group of two thousand mo soldiers saw the remaining of their one hundred soldiers left, the eyes of the battle general that was leading instantly turned red. With a furious bellow, he charged like a rampaging bull!

Many bellows sounded in unison. The sky changed color and killing energy filled the air!

They came extremely quickly, the two thousand mo soldiers were like an enormous fist of metal that was burning as it smashed towards the battlefield!

Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu that were destroying the remaining soldiers couldn’t help but simultaneously pause, and their strong hearts showed a slight crack.

“Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo!” Ming Lie’s pupils contracted.

Song Yuan heard the great shock in Ming Lie’s tone of voice and hurriedly looked over. These mo soldiers were even more elite than the three previous groups of mo soldiers. Most of them were wrapped completely in black green armor. The surface of the armor was covered in beautiful patterns. Just from the sheen of this black green armor, Song Yuan knew the quality of the material was extraordinarily hard.

The presence of the mo battle general at the very front was even more intimidating. His entire body seemed to be wrapped in the armor shell. The armor seemed to be of one body, but seemed to not restrain movement as though it was alive. He had a black green horn at the top of his head, interlocking fangs that reached out from the armor and shrouded his face like a mask. This caused him to look extremely ferocious.

The patterns on his armor were the most beautiful as they glimmered.

Song Yuan murmured, “These are mo?”

“It is Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo!” Ming Lie’s tone was heavy. “It isn’t cannon fodder like the ones before, this is a regular corps! Their frontal charge is very strong. See their black armor? It is hard to damage with normal flying swords! Not easy to defeat!”

He suddenly was curious. He wanted to know how these sword xiu of unknown origins would deal with these troublesome Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo?

He could not guess.

———

Ming Lie was not the only one that recognized the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo. Gongsun Cha also recognized them at first glance.

But compared to the seriousness of Ming Lie, Lil’ Miss’ display could be considered calm. There was not a ripple in his gaze. His spread out consciousness passed his orders to every sword xiu in a flash.

The members of Vermillion Bird Camp instantly disengaged with the enemies in front of them, and the formation shape quickly shrank. In a blink, they compacted into a ball, and at the center, waves of light rose. In a blink, a group of people appeared.

Compared to the murderousness of the sword xiu, this group of people looked calm on the surface. They wore normal cloth, were barefooted and empty-handed. Only some details on their bodies, like a yellow flower at their waist, a purple creeper wove through lock of hair, caused some of the detail-oriented spectators start to wonder who they were.

These continuous lights also attracted the attention of the mo battle general. Gravity flashed through his eyes, and was then replaced by strong confidence and battle desire!

The other did not spread out their formation, did not roam around, but formed a circle of defense. This would perfectly allow them to express their full strength in a frontal charge!

He didn’t know who these people were. He didn’t hesitate. He firmly believed that under this kind of powerful charge, nothing could stop them!

He suddenly opened his mouth and gave a warbling yell!

Instantly, all the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo underneath him also gave warbling yells. Their speed suddenly increased, and the tyrannical presence rose again!

They were like a steely flood. Everything in front of their charge was crushed to pieces!

The patterns on the black armor of the mo battle general brightened. As he sprinted, he suddenly raised his right fist.

“Kill!” all the mo soldiers shouted in unison!

An invisible power furiously flooded towards the upright fist of the battle general. A black green light covered the right fist. The light increased at alarming speed. In the time it took to run a short one hundred zhang, it became a ball of flowing green sap.

There was a circle of black light around the energy.

The distance between the two sides was less than two hundred zhang. The domineering and savage presence of the battle general’s right fist covered in light reached a peak.

The mo battle general glared angrily and shouted, “Kill!”

The right fist was thrown out!

Hummmmmm!

The deep bellow that seemed to come from the deepest part of the ground caused everyone’s hearts to shudder.

When the green light left the hand, it grew in the air and was the size of a mountain in a blink. With a rush of air, it charged towards the Vermillion Bird Camp that had formed a circle.

Behind the green light, the two thousand Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo’s presence reached a peak. With an unstoppable presence, it forcibly charged in front of Vermillion Bird Camp.

The peerless charge of the Black horn Rhinoceros Mo!

Shrunk into a circle, Vermillion Bird Camp seemed as weak as an egg in front of this savage charge, as though it would be destroyed by this flood in the next moment.

And at the same time.

Opportunity!

A thread of harshness flashed through Ming Lie’s eyes. Without any hesitation, he bit down and shouted with all his power, “Charge!”

Chapter 431: Flower Slaves

The ambush of the Kun Lun sword xiu was very sudden!

After being continually suppressed, Ming Lie finally displayed the skill of a great battle general. His grasp of timing was very precise. Just as everyone was shocked by the domineering charge of the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo, he unexpectedly chose to attack!

Hidden in the bloody mist, Liang Wei’s expression changed. He hadn’t expected that the sword xiu would suddenly attack.

The situation of the battlefield was always one where if a hair was being pulled and the whole body would move. Ming Lie’s sudden attack caused slight chaos on the battlefield. The full frontal charge of the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo was peerless, but their capability to resist charges was not strong. In terms of timing, the collision between Ming Lie’s sword xiu and the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo would be just after the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo finished their frontal attack on this little ship.

The mo battle general had enough confidence to completely annihilate the other’s troops in one charge, but the other sword xiu group’s charge was vicious. That was exactly when they would be the weakest.

The expression of the mo battle general changed.

Seeing the danger, Liang Wei could not care for anything else. He instantly ordered, “Attack!”

The remaining two thousand battle yao suddenly released like a tense spring and shot out like arrows out of the bloody mist!

This string of changes happened in an extremely short amount of time but gave people the feeling that it was too much action for the eye to see.

The mo battle general’s complexion was slightly pale. There were two troops hidden so close to him and he had not detected it at all!

But the present situation did not allow for him to hesitate in the slightest. The enemy was right in front of him. Any hesitation would cause their situation to become even more terrible.

Destroying  this group of sword xiu with the fastest speed was most beneficial for them!

The battle intent rose in the chest of this mo battle general. As his presence grew, his body lit up with black green energy! The other Black Horn Rhinoceros mo beside him all copied him. A layer of black green energy instantly came onto the bodies of every Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo!

Their movements were slightly pulled inwards. Like they were pieces of granite, they charged at Gongsun Cha’s group!

Victory was right in front of them!

———

Ming Lie and Liang Wei’s troops were like two arrows that came from the rear from two different directions!

Most fatal was that the mo soldiers that were approaching had an unreasonable charge that was like a mountain thirty thousand catties heavy , and unable to be stopped! That lightning-like enormous green energy was almost right in front of them.

For some unknown reason, Lil’ Miss gave a smile at the corner of his mouth!

He didn’t make a move. A figure suddenly flew out from behind his back. A rainbow multi-colored light rose up from bottom to top, and flashed past!

Hiss!

Like strong cloth being torn, the mountain-like green energy and the shimmering sword rainbow collided like two bubbles and disappeared!

The mo battle general’s pupils suddenly shrank!

Jindan!

The other’s troops had a jindan!

This was not unexpected to him. How was it possible that a treasure ship like this didn’t have an expert? He did not panic due to this. Jindan sword xiu was not enough to make him feel panic. Once the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo started their charge, even a few jindan could not escape unharmed, much less just one!

The contact between the two we be in an instant!

Just at this time, a dot of purple energy lit up in his view!

What was this?

He suddenly had a strong feeling of danger, but before he could respond, his legs suddenly weakened, his entire body losing control as he tripped forward!

“Not good!”

The people beside him flipped over. In such a high speed charge, any slight loss of balance meant that their bodies would lose control. This came so suddenly that they tripped hard without having their guard up. The troop formation at the front instantly became chaotic. The mo soldiers at the back saw the situation and forcibly twisted their bodies to try to avoid their fellows that were unbalanced at the front. Some mo soldiers that were more skilled went with the flow and grabbed their fellows.

But what was fatal was their presence—the presence that had been gathered into one suddenly had a short burst of chaos.

And at this time, the flower yao, that were being guarded by the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu, had released a flood of  yao arts they had prepared in their hands.

The yao arts they cast were very unique. Some were crisp green, some bright purple, some serene blue, all of different colors, but all of them held a presence that was strange and deep.

There was no sound, no intimidating presence, no blinding energy light. Even these energies of various colors were like candles that flew lightly.

These candle-like serene lights seemed to be the black daggers in the darkness.

The mo battle general suddenly smelt a faint sweet scent. His expression changed. He shouted urgently at the top of his lungs, “Careful! It’s poison!”

His heart sank to the bottom.

Poison! It was poison! He had never expected the other to use this kind of move to resolve their charge! But he had to admire the skill of the other. This move grasped their weakness. Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo had powerful charges, outstanding defense. Normal methods could not defeat them at all, but using poison was a very effective method!

A tiny thread of blue smoke floated past his eyes like the willow branches blown up in the wind. Time seemed to slow down, his body that was usually filled with power started to become heavy.

Such powerful poison!

His mind started to blur.

They were going to lose … …

———

The mo soldiers were a complete mess. Their steps were unsteady, their eyes unfocused, their breathing panicked as they fell all over the place. Even more alarming was that marks of all colors started to appear on their hard black green armor. In a blink, these beautifully patterned armor were filled with all kinds of eerie multicolored marks.

The flower yao appeared in such a weird and terrifying manner on their first appearance on the battlefield.

The Flower Yao Coexistence Art!

This strange and special spell caused those high level ling flowers to gradually transform. The flower poison that each flower yao had cultivated were different. As they were tempered in the frighteningly abundant black fiendish energy of the Sealed Extinction battlefield, these flower poisons became even more toxic and could directly wound the soul.

No matter if it was yaomo or xiuzhe, the most troublesome situation was wounds to the soul.

In addition, their flower poisons were formed from cultivating [Flower Yao Coexistence Spell] and had some attributes of yao poisons. Their flower poisons each became an unique flower poison that was completely different from other flower poisons.

These flower slaves that had a constant smile on their faces, went barefoot and wore cloth were the true smiling assassins! It was the first time Gongsun Cha led the flower slaves into battle. He didn’t have a complete grasp of their abilities. He had called out all the flower slaves, and not knowing their own effectiveness the flower slaves also released all of their flower poisons without holding anything back. It caused every inch of space to be filled with dozens of types of flower poisons.

The mo soldiers that had no defense took a hard fall.

The Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu that were protecting the flower slaves also had unnatural expressions. The scene in front of them also frightened them. The strange yet powerful flower poisons caused them to show expressions of fear. The unstoppable flood instantly dissipated, and really shocked them.

If it was them who did not have any defenses up, their outcome would be the same as these mo soldiers.

They securely guarded the outside perimeter and didn’t dare to take a step forward. Sword xiu with good vision were even able to see the tiny thread-like forms of flower poison that floated in the air three zhang away from them.

Everyone felt slightly intimidated.

There were no wails, no groans, only the chaotic sounds of impacts, falling and then everything gradually turned to a deathly silence.

A hair-raising deathly silence!

The flower slaves’ slightly exhausted panting was clearly heard as though it was drawing the curtain to this hair-raising deathly silence.

———

The two troops that were shooting forward like arrows seemed to be pulled back by an invisible rope. Without any agreement, they both decelerated, and then stopped.

The two troops were silent.

Terror filled everyone’s face, no matter if it was sword xiu or combat yao. The depths of their eyes were filled by those multi-colored beautiful lights!

Ming Lie and Song Yuan’s faces were ashen. They dazedly looked at the scene in front of them that seemed to come from hell.

“Such … … such a powerful poison!” Song Yuan stammered out. It was not rare to see xiuzhe that cultivated poison. They were mostly roaming xiu. Song Yuan had seen many powerful poison-cultivating roaming xiu before, but like this, to poison several thousand at once, it was the first time he had seen it!

Ming Lie stared hard at those bare-foot and smiling people. He did not realize that he had almost bitten through his lips.

What were the origins of these people?

So many sword xiu, it had to be a sword cultivating sect! But which sword cultivating sect was this powerful? Able to destroy two thousand Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo with a wave of the hand, this was an attention-catching power. He had seen it clearly just now. From the moment those strange poison-cultivating roaming xiu appeared, the sword xiu that were guarding the perimeter were as steady as rock facing the charge of the Black Horn Rhinoceros Mo and didn’t move at all.

Well-trained!

The words popped up in his mind. Thinking back, even the usually proud Ming Lie had to admire the skill of the other battle general! From the beginning three section stab to suddenly using poison. It had to be said that this was a battle that suddenly occurred. To be able to find the other’s weakness in an instant and find a method of defeating them, this was skill!

But … …

Who were these sword xiu? And so many roaming xiu. What was their goal in coming here?

Ming Lie’s expression became uncertain.

———

Liang Wei’s limbs were icy, his face slightly white. However, he did not retreat. He stared at the people that were being protected at the center. The scene just now filled his heart with terror, but at this moment, another discovery attracted his attention.

Yao poison!

Those flower poisons seemed very strange, but it was definitely a kind of yao poison!

Liang Wei firmly believed that he had not seen it wrong!

How come these xiuzhe could use yao poisons? Where those barefoot people yao? But they didn’t look like it! Then why?

Countless riddles spun in his mind. These riddles caused him to suppress the urge to turn and flee and to maintain his distance to the other.

He had to get to the bottom of this!

Chapter 432: Kun Lun

Having tried for a while, Zuo Mo had not made any breakthroughs. This was extremely dispiriting for him. Was he not suited to be a battle general? He furrowed his brow and frowned.

Their troop looked very powerful, but in reality, Gongsun Cha was the only qualified battle general. Shu Long was studied and work hard, but as a commander, he was just average. If Gongsun Shidi became entangled in battle, then their situation would become extremely dangerous.

But the cultivation method of Guard Camp had caused them to be unsuitable for use under Lil’ Miss’ command. This was a problem that Zuo Mo had kept in mind this whole time. Without a suitable battle general, the Guard Camp’s offensive capabilities could not be fully expressed. In this chaotic time, combat strength was the safety net of survival. Having combat abilities but unable to use them, how could Zuo Mo be content?

Only today when he saw the mo battle general’s fighting methods did Zuo Mo finally realize. No wonder Lil’ Miss did not like to command Guard Camp. The cultivation method of Guard Camp meant that they were meant to battle in a different way than Vermillion Bird Camp.

Zuo Mo also found that this straightforward battle method of mo battle generals was very suited for him. He couldn’t help but think, if he could express the combat abilities of Guard Camp … …

Yet while the idea was beautiful, reality was cruel.

According to Wei, the first step was to feel the power of his fellows, so he had found A Wen to be his practice partner. But no matter how hard he tried, there wasn’t a response.

Mo battle generals required strong bodies. This wasn’t a problem for him at all. His Great Day mo physique had gone through its second maturation, his body was as hard as steel and hard to damage with a flying sword.

But no matter how he tried, he could not feel A Wen’s power.

Was it that the three powers in his body had merged into one and was preventing him from feeling A Wen’s power? He couldn’t help but furrow his brow. He was helpless about the situation inside his body as well. Even though it had reached a new equilibrium, but even Pu Yao and Wei could not offer anything about this once in a thousand year circumstance. He needed to explore everything by himself, and what was most fatal was that Pu Yao and Wei’s experiences were mostly ineffective.

This was the greatest loss for Zuo Mo.

But the situation was beyond his control since long ago. He could only endure it.

Was he fated to always explore on his own throughout his life? A thread of bitterness rose in Zuo Mo’s heart. At Wu Kong Mountain, he had to explore by himself. He finally encountered Pu Yao, the spells and yao arts had come to him as easily as water flowing. But just after being able to smoothly sailing for a short while, the change inside his body had caused Pu Yao and Wei’s experiences to lose effectiveness in one night.

Those powerful yao arts and spells casually waved goodbye to him, disregarding his lingering gaze and flew away.

In the period of one night, he had returned to where he started.

What sort of world was this … …

Zuo Mo grimaced. However, he could only grimace. He was not demotivated. Fate was like those yao art problems. You could not choose which problem it would give you. Your choice was either to work on solving it, or wait for death.

As to whether or not it could be solved, that was the next problem.

It seemed ge is fated to walk the high-difficulty path!

Aye, really no way about it, experts are always like ge … …

Comforting himself like this, Zuo Mo rubbed his face and tried to keep his mind alert. He sat down and started a new round of thought and experiment.

———

“This one is Kun Lun’s disciple Ming Lie, responsible for defending this area. Elders, please forgive me for coming late to the rescue!” Ming Lie said loudly, and bowed towards the distant Black Turtle. He put his attitude extremely low.

Kun Lun disciple!

When the people of Vermillion Bird Camp heard these words, their expressions suddenly changed.

“Kun Lun disciple … …” Lil’ Miss narrowed his eyes, the smile on his bashful face increasing as he said to himself, “such a coincidence, didn’t think we really would encounter people of Kun Lun.”

Cold snorts sounded around him. Everyone’s expressions darkened.

If they had to choose a sect that was most unwelcome among Zuo Mo’s group, then it was undoubtedly Kun Lun! Now people from the sect of Kun Lun were right in front of them. No one would have good faces.

Song Yuan’s eyes were keen and noticed the fury and murderousness on the faces of the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu. “They don’t seem to be very friendly towards us.”  His heart shook and he said in a low voice.

Ming Lie’s heart jumped but his expression instantly resumed normality. He said in a similarly light tone, “No matter how at unfriendly they are with us, they can’t be in agreement with yaomo.”

“That’s true.” Song Yuan thought from another direction and released the thought. No matter what grievances this group of people had with Kun Lun, everyone was xiuzhe and belonged to the same camp against the yaomo.

Ming Lie said loudly, “Seeing your honored division’s style today, it really causes admiration. But this place is the territory of the mo, extremely dangerous. Gentlemen do not say at dangerous places, everyone … …”

“You are a disciple of Kun Lun?” a male voice came from the black ship and interrupted Ming Lie.

Ming Lie said, “Yes. Your honored division … …”

The voice inside the boat once again interrupted him, “Who is Lin Qian to you?”

Ming Lie was shocked. He said in surprise, “Sir knows Eldest Shixiong?” At the side, Song Yuan also showed shock.

Inside the Black Turtle, the faces of Wei Sheng and the others changed again.

Just now, Wei Sheng suddenly recalled the riddle of Lin Qian’s identity and suddenly made an inquiry. Wei Sheng had been suspicious of Lin Qian’s identity long ago. He had speculated that Lin Qian would have a connection to Kun Lun but he never thought that the slightly mysterious young person that was not at all eye-catching was the Eldest Shixiong of Kun Lun Sect!

Gongsun Cha’s expression also couldn’t help but change. The two exchanged a look and saw the shock in each other’s eyes.

Kun Lun was the real ruler of the entire Kun Lun Realm. The Eldest Shixiong of Kun Lun Sect, the future sect leader of Kun Lun, his rank was so venerable, his identity so noble that other than the present sect leader of Kun Lun, no one could rival him!

What secret did Wu Kong Sword Sect have that caused the future Kun Lun sect leader to come in person?

Gongsun Cha was alright. He had entered Wu Kong Sword Sect relatively late and his feelings towards Wu Kong Sword Sect was not deep. But Wei Sheng had grown up in Wu Kong Sword Sect and held deep feelings. Shocked, he couldn’t help but show deep worry.

A little sect like Wu Kong Sword Sect would not have any power to resist under the influence of Kun Lun.

Ming Lie saw the other had become silent again and confusion rose. “Can Sir give your name. A friend of Eldest Shixiong is a friend of our Kun Lun! We will act as hosts!”

“Where’s Shixiong?” Gongsun Cha asked Zong Ru beside him in a low voice.

Zong Ru closed his eyes and opened them a moment later. He said, bewildered, “Daren seems to be meditating.”

“Meditating?” Gongsun Cha raised an eyebrow. He turned to look at Wei Sheng. “What does Eldest Shixiong think? They are most likely starting to suspect our origins now.”

“What do you think?” Wei Sheng asked warily.

Gongsun Cha gave a shy smile and did not answer. “It is not suitable for us to be targeted by Kun Lun at present.”

“You mean … …” Wei Sheng had a shocked expression.

Gongsun Cha raised his white hand and lightly sketched a chop.

“Hiss!” Wei Sheng inhaled sharply, and the people around them also showed shock. But in a moment, everyone’s shock turned to excitement and eagerness.

Kun Lun! That was Kun Lun!

For every sword xiu, Kun Lun was akin to a holy ground! And in reality, Kun Lun was the holy ground of sword xiu! Of the Four Realm Heaven, Kun Lun was the most honored! This honor was not borne out of thin air, but fought for by Kun Lun sword xiu using the flying sword of their heart in that great war three thousand years ago!

Even the subordinate sects of Kun Lun had no weak people, much less true Kun Lun disciples!

Wei Sheng hadn’t expected Gongsun Cha to be so daring to know that the other was a Kun Lun disciples and still dare to kill!

However, Wei Sheng was not a stupid person. He knew that he had exposed their identities when he had asked for Lin Qian’s identity. Ming Lie only needed to pass this information back. With Lin Qian’s intelligence, he would most likely guess it was them! Gongsun Cha was correct. If they were targeted by Kun Lun now, then they would be in danger!

He also thought about Wu Kong Sword Sect … …

Strength flashed through his eyes. He nodded heavily. “Okay!”

That heavy word was like a vase that broke. Thick killing intent spread out!

———

Liang Wei heard the exchange between the two and his heart continued to sink. The two seemed to be old acquaintances. He suddenly found his thinking just now was truly absurd. How could xiuzhe cultivate yao poisons?

It probably was a ling poison that the other had made that was similar to yao poison!

Thinking about this, he prepared to take his subordinates and retreat. If these two troops allied together, then it would no longer be so easy for them to retreat. Fortunately, he had acted the latest. So even though his attacking position was not good, it was very suited for retreat!

At this time, a change suddenly occurred!

The little black ship suddenly lit up in his vision.

Boom!

Like fireworks exploding, sword energies shot out!

Liang Wei’s expression changed. Was the other attacking? He was so frightened he almost shouted, but he perceptively caught a detail out of the corner of his eye. His figure instantly stilled.

Those sword energies … …

They were … … all heading towards the Kun Lun sword xiu!

What was going on? Inner conflict?

Liang Wei was stunned where he stood with bewilderment on his face. The combat yao beside him were all dumbstruck.

The other’s attack had occurred so suddenly without a hint of warning that the Kun Lun sword xiu did not react immediately. Their ranks shifted. The sword xiu first had astonishment on their faces, and then they showed fury.

Ming Lie was both shocked and angry. “You cowards dare!”

When was Kun Lun ever attacked by other sects first? Just the two words Kun Lun had crushed countless sects before. Today, there was someone that knew their origins and dared to attack them!

This was the first time Ming Lie had encountered such a thing!

Fury burned in his heart. He unhesitatingly went forward and shouted angrily, “Kun Lun! Kill!”

The sword lights of the Kun Lun sword xiu lit up!

Watching from a distance, Liang Wei started tightly at the sword lights that drew out beautiful curves. There was only one phrase echoing in his mind.

Surround! Tactical surround!

The other’s intentions suddenly became clear

—they intended to not leave even one alive!

Chapter 433: Grapple

Under Liang Wei’s shocked gaze, Ming Lie’s troop was like a sharp great sword that pierced straight into the threads of sword lights that came at them and twisted with the flow!

Their presence was concentrated and sharp. The black ship sword xiu’s sword energies scattered like fireworks. In front of Ming Lie’s forces, the threads of sword energies seemed to break with a touch. The sword xiu from the black ship that came hurriedly dodged to the side.

The presence of Ming Lie’s troop had become such that no one dared to stand up to them!

The terror in Ming Lie’s heart had also dissipated long ago. The confidence of a gold battle general filled every corner of his body! Layers of sword xiu were protecting him. The Pine Script Sword was in the hands of Song Yuan Shidi, and he was looking about warily.

The other five jindan sword xiu steadily controlled their position. These jindan were not from Kun Lun but they were the best from their respective sects. Ming Lie’s master had carefully chosen these people to ensure his safety.

Just this composition was enough to fill him with confidence. The Kun Lun realm was the largest realm of the Four Realm Heaven. The borders were vast and near endless. Due to having abundant battalions, the composition of their armies could not help but become complex, so there were divisions of far, near, outer, and inner.

While they were all jindan, the jindan sword xiu of normal sects had the lowest benefits in a battalion. The jindan sword xiu from Kun Lun’s numerous subordinate sects had much better benefits, and Kun Lun disciples benefits were a step above that. Inner sect disciples were mostly the leaders of the battalions.

Ming Lie Battalion’s jindan were all from subordinate sects who were completely loyal from top to bottom. The relationships between these subordinate sects to Kun Lun were very close, and the sects functioned as Kun Lun’s protective perimeter.

Even more, there was Song Yuan Shidi to help secure the flank.

Thinking about his prior shock just now, Ming Lie couldn’t help but feel a thread of shame.

He focused and decided that he must win this battle!

While the identity of a Kun Lun inner sect disciple was honored wherever they went, but in reality, the competition between inner sect disciples far surpassed the imaginations of everyone. How many Kun Lun inner sect disciples were there? Even Ming Lie did not know. But it was not strange that he could command one battalion since he was a gold battle general and an inner sect disciple.

But to get assigned his mission this time, it had taken great effort. Before leaving, Master had kept on telling him to work hard. The sect leader of this generation was extremely fair, and would reward meritorious service. If he could get a good victory on the front line, the fruit would be enough to benefit all of their sect line.

Of course, he would get the biggest slice!

Thinking about this, his gaze unconsciously heated up. Sweeping across the entire battlefield, his right hand started to count, all the ling power inside his body moving as he channeled [Celestial Balance] to the maximum!

Celestial Balance is the fourth star of the Northern Dipper.

In his eyes, there seemed to be dots of light spinning.

As these star-like dots of light continued to spin, the battlefield gradually became clear in his mind.

He suddenly opened his eyes, and coldness flashed past them.

As expected, the other was not ordinary!

His battalion was thrust straight in the middle of the other’s troops like a dagger. The sword xiu along the way that seemed to flee like alarmed birds, furiously sprinting away, but once out of harm’s way they simply rejoined their own formation.

He had inserted himself into the other’s troops, and the other had completely surrounded him.

Ming Lie smirked inside. If normal battle generals were surrounded, they would definitely panic; but for Ming Lie who was skilled in tactics, this was a great opportunity!

In his eyes, the other’s enclosure was like a cloth bag that only looked strong but would break with a mere poke of his finger. His battalion was gathered together, united. Wasn’t this just the kind of sharp object that he needed right now?

Come!

An excited blush floated onto Ming Lie’s face as though he had seen his prey!

“ Wood’s Horn Formation!”

The Horn was the first of the seven mansions that belonged to the Eastern Azure Dragon, who represented the Wood element, and similar to the horn of the dragon it was best used for killing!

The Eastern Azure Dragon in Chinese mythology represents spring and the wood element.The Eastern Azure Dragon is made up of seven constellations each called a mansion. These are the Horn, Neck, Root, Room, Heart, Tail and Winnowing Basket.

Wood’s Horn Formation was a classic assault battle formation!

The sword xiu, who were familiar with Ming Lie Daren for quite a while now, instantly understood that they were going to make a move!

Without any hesitation or keeping anything back, the ling power in their bodies circulated at full power. The flying swords in their hands started to vibrate and hum like starving and blood-thirsty wild beasts. Slight tingling numbness spread over their entire bodies as the battle presence erupted from the deepest part of their souls!

“Kun Lun!”

The flying swords rose up just like these thunder-like roars with that deep pride and zealotry!

In an instantly, the sword energies were like a tsunami that came surging forth!

———

A smear of slight red unconsciously blushed from Gongsun Cha’s face. This caused him to look like a shy and bashful neighbor’s boy.

But landing in the eyes of Zong Ru and the others standing close to him, they instantly understood—Gongsun Daren was excited!

Yes, Gongsun Cha really was excited!

In this short instant, the skill the other had displayed surpassed his expectations.

In suddenly occurring battles like this, the room for a battle general to act was not large. Other than the first response abilities of a battle general, what it tested was the power of the troops!

A mature troop usually did not need the direction of the battle general when it first encountered an attack and would instinctively respond correctly.

Even Gongsun Cha’s consciousness needed a brief amount of time to make a response.

In this instant, the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu that were closest to Ming Lie Battalion made their response.

The flying swords in their hands turned to streams of light that stabbed towards the other’s troops. Their bodies moved at the same time as their enemies, pulling them to a position parallel to the other, which tightly followed Ming Lie Battalion.

These dozens of sword lights did not stop Ming Lie Battalion from attacking but caused a few sword xiu at the flanks of the troops to pause for a brief moment.

This seemed as though it was an insignificant effect. It had to be said that even in everyday training, it was not possible for the battle formation to be perfect every time.

No one paid attention. Even those dozens of sword xiu that were affected did not pay attention. In their eyes, these people were like flies and could only disgust them. And if they placed too much of their attention on these flies, then the power of the Wood’s Horn Formation would weaken.

But they did not know the person who they were facing was a person who had hardily survived a great and immeasurable amount of abuse!

After facing Pu Yao’s horrific and perverse pressure, Gongsun Cha was extremely sensitive to slight changes on the battlefield.

He instantly caught this slight change.

His consciousness unhesitatingly moved.

The sword energies that were scattered like threads suddenly gathered towards the flanks of Ming Lie Battalion. Looking from afar, it seemed as though threads were tangling themselves onto Ming Lie Battalion.

They roamed parallel to the flanks of the other’s troops. If they found a chance, they would go and tear off a piece.

The amount of threads that were catching on increased and were becoming thicker.

The Kun Lun sword xiu that were on the flanks instantly had a headache. If the previous duos and trios of sword xiu were just flies that could only disgust them, they were now akin to packs of wild wolves as their numbers increased. If they were the tiniest bit careless, the other would tear off a piece of their force.

Their attention unconsciously moved to the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu that were occasionally roaming beside them.

It was without their detection that the presence of the entire assault troop slowly weakened.

Ming Lie detected the danger!

———

The Great Day mo physique was the power that Zuo Mo trusted the most. After his body reached equilibrium again, his Great Day mo physique followed his will again.

But the feeling of using the Great Day mo physique now was completely different than it had been in the past.

The change in every piece of muscle in his body would also pull along changes in the other two powers.

The ling power that stuck like oil and the consciousness that wrapped the muscles and tendons like vines had caused Zuo Mo to truly experience what it was like to have his whole body move by pulling a hair.

Under the effect of the Great Day Banded Flame, they were always in balance. This also meant that any new change required a new equilibrium.

Zuo Mo was currently trying to find the fulcrum.

A point that he could detect the power of his fellows!

This kind of search was like searching in the darkness without his eyes, slowly searching with just his hands.

Not far away from him, the dejected A Wen felt as though he was a candle that was continuously giving off light. He felt so stupid … …

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he stared in shock at Daren whose eyes were closed.

Had it just been his imagination?

He was puzzled. After staring at Daren for a long time, there wasn’t any response.

It was his imagination!

A Wei twisted his mouth and pulled a face at Daren.

Suddenly, his expression froze on his face as though he was struck by lightning.

Nearby, Daren’s body shook. He was like an old monk in meditation, but an indescribable presence spread out from Daren’s body.

After a while, A Wen understood. This was the presence of power!

It was the presence of the Great Day mo physique!

A Wen was uncertain. The presence of Daren’s Great Day mo physique was intimidating normally, but it was completely different compared to now. Everyone was familiar with the presence of the Great Day mo physique as all of the Hardship Guards were cultivating the [Great Day Hardship Guard] that Pu Yao had modified. That was why A Wen had immediately detected this familiar presence.

Outer release of presence?

A Wen did not understand what Zuo Mo was doing and was confused.

Mo skills cultivated the power of the flesh. This physical power was contained in their flesh and blood, and could not be released on the outside like ling power and consciousness.

He tilted his head and thought about how Daren was able to accomplish this.

Just at this time, his body suddenly shook without warning!

What was this?

A Wen was shocked. He hadn’t moved just now. At this time, his body shook again!

His eyes widened and his gaze landed on Zuo Mo’s body.

In his eyes, Daren’s body shook. Before he could muster a response, he began to shake uncontrollably, as if his body was possessed!

What … … what … … what was going on?

Frightened, A Wen found that his body was shaking like dice. No matter how much he wanted to stop, his body did not respond at all and still uncontrollably shook.

In his eyes, Zuo Mo’s body was shaking at the same frequency, but the magnitude was much smaller.

This strange situation almost caused A Wen to go crazy, his mind was nowcompletely blank.

Chapter 434: Formation Change

Ming Lie hadn’t even managed to send out an order before his field of vision widened. They had completely broken through the other’s encirclement!

But Ming Lie did not feel any joy at all. His heart slowly sank. The other’s reaction speed was faster than he could have ever imagined. They did not face their charge at all, only tightly following them, attacking and then retreating at once. If his own force was a screw that was spinning at high speed, then the enemy were the threads that wrapped themselves around it.

Even worse was that due to the other’s response, they were gradually losing speed.

Speed was most important factor of a charging assault. If they lost speed, these bothersome enemies that were like strings would instantly completely encircle them. At that time, they would end up in an even more reactive situation.

The enemies roaming around them were like cunning packs of wolves. They would gather and scatter abruptly like the wind.

“Twinkling Brilliance Formation!”

Twinkling Brilliance is the seventh star of the Northern Dipper. This makes it a match for Ming Lie’s Celestial Balance which is also a part of the Northern Dipper.

Ming Lie quickly made a decision. The troop that had been attacking at high speed seemed to curl up like a worm. In a blink, they switched from the Wood’s Horn Formation to the Twinkling Brilliance Formation. This meant that from this moment, they switched from assault to defense.

It had to be said that Ming Lie had some skill. The two had only fought for two rounds, and he had already detected the problem. His reactive ability was slower than his foe’s, and his sword xiu were not as experienced as the other’s. Understanding his disadvantages, Ming Lei decided to to pull the rhythm of battle into formation battle.

Formation fighting was different than encounter fighting.

If fighting encounters were determined by the experience and reaction of the sword xiu, then formation battle competed on the battle determination and quality of the two sides as well as the average strength of the sword xiu.

In this area, Ming Lie had absolute confidence!

Every sword xiu of his battalion had been carefully selected from different sects. The lowest cultivation among them was second stratum ningmai. Each person also had their unique skill, and they had never slacked off in daily training. He dared to state that they were an elite force.

If he had to say what weakness this troop had, then it would be that they had not gone through the test of battle.

Formation fighting was undoubtedly more suitable for them.

The front and the back ranks joined up, so Ming Lie Battalion quickly set down layers of defenses. It was possible to see their training from this. From an assault formation to a defensive formation, the entire process was smooth and natural, completed in an extremely short amount of time.

Battalions were a very unique group in Four Realm Heaven. No matter what type of xiuzhe, the stronger they were, the bigger their temper. Normal xiuzhe were not willing to go to a place like battalion where they had to follow the rules. For battle generals, the obedience of his subordinates was more important than having individual power.

The benefits from being in a battalion were better than other places, but jindan xiuzhe would not be badly treated no matter where they went. Who was willing to go to a battalion to suffer that?

This was also why Kun Lun Realm had countless sects, but there were not many sects that had battalions. Only colossal entities like Kun Lun, that controlled an enormous population, could selectively choose the xiuzhe who fit their requirements. The sword xiu that came from subordinate sects were trained in a completely different manner than normal disciples. From a young age, they were trained in the manner of battalions.

All the members of Ming Lie Battalion were such cultivators.

Quickly entering defense mode, no one panicked. Everyone methodically entered their own positions.

Vermillion Bird Camp went along with the flow and took back the advantage of the battlefield. With a woosh, they completed the encirclement again.

The two landed in a standoff again.

Gongsun Cha understood what the other was planning with slight thought. He couldn’t help but feel slight amazement. It seem the other battle general wasn’t an idiot. To be able to notice their own weakness in such a short amount of time and intelligently use their advantage, not every person could do this. This person who had come from Kun Lun had not had the so-called pride of fame go to their head, that really wasn’t easy.

However … …

He wasn’t a match for encounter battle, so would he be able to reverse it for formation battle?

A barely discernable smile flashed on Gongsun Cha’s lips. It did not cause anyone warmth and was like a blade that appeared in the air!

Finishing their encirclement, Vermillion Bird Camp did not rashly attack but instead seemed to be waiting.

———

“Daren, what are they planning?” the subordinate spoke with puzzlement. He was confused by that dazzling series of changes.

Liang Wei tightly stared at the battlefield and said without turning his head, “They are planning to have a formation battle.”

“Formation battle?” The subordinate was even more confused.

Liang Wei did not explain, and deep wariness flashed through his eyes. The battle generals on the two sides were both very powerful. If it was him, he didn’t dare to guarantee that he could best them.

It might have been alright for him to lose to Ming Lie Battalion. He did not know their name, but the Kun Lun emblems on their bodies was too eye-catching. It was possible to see with a glance. A battalion of Kun Lun, it was natural they would not be lacking. What shocked him the most was the battle general inside the black ship!

This unknown and mysterious battle general had forcibly suppressed this battalion from Kun Lun from the beginning till now.

If using poison could have been called trickery, then the collision he just saw now was not; it was a demonstration of skill.

His eyes didn’t dare to waver because he believed what would be coming next would be an even crueler formation battle!

In an instant, his pupils suddenly shrank. This wasn’t right!

Having finished surrounding the enemy, the black ship sword xiu looked as though they were roaming aimlessly around the outside.

But there seemed to be a structure that gradually became clear between these sword xiu.

This was … …

A battle formation! It definitely was a kind of battle formation!

Liang Wei did not feel any joy at his realization. His eyes were extremely wide, fearful of missing the slightest detail.

This was not strange. In reality, the xiuzhe, yao, and mo were very familiar with the formations of each camp. He was able to recognize Ming Lie’s Battalion’s Twinkling Brilliance Formation at a glance. But Liang Wei was unfamiliar with the formation of the black ship battle general.

What kind of battle formation would it be?

His mind moved quickly. He put himself in that position. If it was him, what battle formation would he use at this time?

Twinkling Brilliance Formation was a defensive formation, but it did not emphasize defense. Rather, it was famed for its ability to change. There were many variations of Twinkling Brilliance Formation. Every setup had many modifications, and it was liked by xiuzhe battle generals due to this.

What battle formation was suitable for defeating the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation?

The indiscernible lines and structures in Liang Wei’s eyes gradually became clear, and his curiosity was also drawn out. The skill that the black ship battle general had shown was very high, and filled him with anticipation.

The structure finally became clear.

Little teams that spun were like a pile of gears shoved together. They spun at high speeds without stopping.

“What battle formation is this?” Liang Wei’s vice commander said what everyone was thinking.

Liang Wei did not know either, but he did not make a sound. He knew the mysterious black ship battle general definitely would not do something meaningless.

What they did not know was that in all the major yao jie, this type of battle formation was the most popular battle formation of the moment! When Xiao Mo Ge and Yu Heng had their battle, they had already reached the front lines. A battle maniac, Liang Wei took his troops and spent all their time roaming Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie in search of prey. They were completely ignorant of what had happened back home.

Everyone widened their eyes.

———

Zuo Mo opened his eyes, and they were filled with ecstasy!

Fulcrum! He finally found that fulcrum!

He hadn’t just found that fulcrum, he finally understood how mo battle generals gathered everyone’s power together.

The power of the flesh could not leave the cage of the body, but it could connect everyone’s power through an unique method, resonance!

Yes, resonance!

Zuo Mo was not unfamiliar with resonance. This kind of scenario was repeatedly mentioned in low level forging, especially for forging items like Eight Treasure Sound Boxes. However, the resonance between the power of the body was much stronger than the resonance of low level talismans like Eight Treasure Sound Boxes. This was a kind of resonance that was invisible, it didn’t have sound!

It was this kind of resonance that was able to gather everyone’s power into one. The use of the battle general was to channel their own power and guide everyone along to complete group resonance.

This was a powerful ability!

Zuo Mo suddenly understood. It was like opening a new window into another mysterious world!

He also finally understood why the battle methods of mo battle generals were so strange. It was only the mo who had such strong bodies that could create such powerful vibrations and reach resonance!

Zuo Mo stood and secretly channeled the Great Day mo physique. He raised his head and saw a panicked A Wen. He laughed. “Don’t be nervous.” He then said, “What do you feel?”

A Wen hesitated and then said, “Like my body is not in my control, like something is pulling me, it’s a very strange feeling.”

“Try to channel your mo skill,” Zuo Mo said right after.

Heart beating wildly, A Wen carefully channeled his mo skill. Threads of black smoke came out of his body and formed panels of black armor on the surface of his body. He quickly became covered in armor. The layers of light, slender, and long black feathers made him look like a large bird.

“Follow what I do,” Zuo Mo said. Before he finished speaking, he suddenly threw out a punch!

A faint gold fist energy left his hand!

A Wen unhesitatingly flicked and thrust with his black spear. A black energy left his spear.

Yet what happened after that caused A Wen to widen his eyes.

The black energy he had release flew out of the spear point, and drew towards Zuo Mo’s faint gold fist energy as though it was being attracted by an magnet.

In a blink, the black energy entered Zuo Mo’s fist energy as though it was a baby sparrow returning to its nest!

The fist energy grew a sliver, the sound it created increasing and deepening as though something was shaking! In the center of the faint gold fist energy, a bean-sized, black dot was visible to see!

A Wen gaped!

What was this?

When the spear energy left the spear point, he had detected a great suctioning force. But he could also feel that he had not lost complete control of the spear energy.

Such a strange feeling!

Even though the Great and Little Mo Kill of the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation could gather many into one, but it felt completely different this time with Daren!

In front of A Wen, Zuo Mo grinned widely, his eyes lit up as he snickered dumbly.

Was there anything that embodied the method of many fighting against the few like this? No! Definitely not! This was undoubtedly the ultimate move for gang-fighting!

Ge really is a genius!

Zuo Mo became excited the more he thought, and eagerly ran towards Guard Camp.

If he was going to play, he was going to play big!

Chapter 435: Red Eyes

Burning, beautiful streaks of light in the distance were the sword light energies from flying swords rushing by.

The light of fire, explosions, and all kinds of spells reflected against Liang Wei’s handsome face. The scar on his face was like an earthworm struggling at the boundary of light and darkness.

He had stopped breathing. The upcoming climax to the battle caused the temperature of his blood to rocket up. His mouth and throat was dry, and there seemed to be a fire burning in his chest.

He suppressed the desire for combat in his chest. His stubborn gaze was focused and fanatical in the light.

But Liang Wei quickly frowned.

The two sides had not fully come into contact. They were still in the early stages of probing. In Liang Wei’s eyes, the actions of the black ship sword xiu were somewhat amateurish. He couldn’t help but be bewildered. Twinkling Brilliance Formation was not an obscure battle formation. Even though the Twinkling Brilliance Formation that these Kun Lun sword xiu used had many modifications, but it did not deviate significantly from the conventional structure of a Twinkling Brilliance Formation.

There were many methods to of deal with the Twinkling Brilliance Formation, but almost all the solutions followed one rule, attack the central defense area. The central defense area of the Twinkling Brilliance Formation was its strongest defensive area, but it was also the crux of the entire battle formation. If that was broken, the entire battle formation would quickly be defeated.

Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was one of the battle formations that xiuzhe battle generals most frequently used. Supposedly, the one who had created this battle formation was a sword xiu battle general. As a testament to its exceptional power, the formation had gained widespread usage in less than two hundred years.

The black ship’s battle general seemed unfamiliar with the Twinkling Brilliance Formation. Compared to the spectacular command abilities he had shown earlier, the skill he showed now was as if a completely different person had taken command.

Had someone else taken control of their side?

Liang Wei found it weird.

———

Gongsun Cha really did not know the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation.

But his eyes were very powerful. The two seemed to just begun their face off, but this short face off was enough for Gongsun Cha to pay close attention to this unfamiliar battle formation.

The Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was really exceptional. It actually was the skeleton of a battle formation that gave enough room for battle generals to react to many situations as required. Ming Lie was very skilled in using the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation. This was his best battle formation, and his wariness of Gongsun Cha could be seen from this course of action.

But even though he was wary, Gongsun Cha did not panicked. He widened his eyes. The battle formation stirred his interest.

A very powerful formation!

Seven sword xiu to a group, groups that then interlocked. There were all kinds of illusory formations that had been carefully arranged. All of the xiu in each group tightly grasped their flying swords, waiting. But what shocked Gongsun Cha was not this profound battle formation, but the talismans that this group of people wore.

The entire battle formation was shrouded in the light of the talismans!

Seeing this, Gongsun Cha’s eyes became red!

Compared to their enemies, they were just street beggars. Each of the sword xiu had one or two fourth-grade talismans, all the flying swords they had were also fourth-grade! Each of those jindan could be described as being bathed in the light of treasures, and it was blinding! Even more exaggerated was that the entire battle formation was covered in a layer of faint blue light.

The enemy even had large scale battle formation talismans!

When compared to his side, the talismans they had were mostly third-grade. The number of fourth-grade talismans could be counted on his fingers. The only thing that comforted them were the flying swords on their hands. They were all Gold Crystal flying swords that Zuo Mo had forged in the Golden Crystal Sand Sea for everyone.

But there were more than two thousand people in Vermillion Bird Camp. No matter how powerful Zuo Mo’s Great Day Banded Flame was, it was a vast amount of work to forge more than two thousand flying swords. In order to save time, he had created a mass forging method that could forge twenty Gold Crystal flying swords in one go.

But the Gold Crystal flying swords created through this method were lacking compared to the ones he had forged at the start. Low fifth-grade, and each possessed two very practical formation techniques, [Sharpness] and [Air Sweep].

[Sharpness]increased the sharpness of the flying sword and [Air Sweep] greatly increase the speed of the flying sword. After great efforts the xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp had basically all comprehended sword essence. These two formation techniques could be used to their full power in their hands.

Compared to the flying swords on their hands, the talismans on their bodies were really poor. No wonder Gongsun Cha’s eyes turned red when he saw the light of the fourth-grade talismans on the enemy sword xiu.

Zuo Mo was greedy and money-hungry. His style of disliking individuals with good talismans had deeply influenced everyone else.

Without any additional motivation, the entire Vermillion Bird Camp seemed to be full of adrenaline, all of them excited as they greedily rubbed their hands, their faintly red eyes sweeping to and fro on talisman decorated bodies of the enemy sword xiu.

“Daren, let an go to test the waters,” Lei Peng widened his eyes and rumbled with an innocent face.

The laziness on Ma Fan’s face instantly disappeared. He spat out the grass stem in his mouth and silently raised a thumb up at Lei Peng. Hearing this, like magic, a mirror had appeared on Nian Lu’s hand and he was combing his bangs in the mirror.

The other sword xiu of Sky Peak Platoon raised their chests and tried to seem very authoritative and brave.

Sly!

Someone got there first again!

The other divisions looked with unfriendliness at this group. Many people had vexed expressions. That Lei Peng looked like an idiot, but how come he could act so quickly?

Gongsun Cha thought and then nodded in consent. “Stay safe.”

It was the first time he saw the battle formation. Letting Ma Fan and the others go to test the waters would allow him to see this formation clearly.

Ma Fan and the others were overjoyed. No matter what, they had gotten the accomplishment of the first strike!

Even the usually complacent Ma Fan was excited, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Brothers, we need to show these brats the power of our Sky Peak Platoon!”

Everyone in Sky Peak Platoon was eager to fight!

Ever since more and more people comprehended sword essence, the status of Sky Peak Platoon became more and more awkward. They also needed a victory to bolster the status of Sky Peak Platoon as the elite of Vermillion Bird Camp!

As all the members of Sky Peak Platoon assembled. Everyone’s gazes landed on them.

———

Liang Wei did not speak, and the feeling of strangeness increased. When he saw a little team exit the black ship sword xiu, he was finally sure that the black ship battle general did not know the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation.

A battle general who did not recognize the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation?

This absurd conclusion was impossible to him, especially when he considered the spectacular command from earlier. The feeling of absurdity rose.

“No way, they don’t even recognize the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation,” a subordinate exclaimed.

“Maybe they have unorthodox training?” another subordinate spoke uncertainly.

Liang Wei paused to consider this and felt that it was plausible. Unorthodox battle generals were not uncommon. In truth, not every yao could attend a yao art house, and not every yao art house had the ability to educate a battle general. Only the yao art houses with great power had the ability to nurture battle generals.

Learning to be a battle general was a long process compared to learning yao arts. It was much harder to find the job, other than joining the military. Due to this, the yao who learned to be battle generals mostly came from rich families.

According to what Liang Wei knew, this situation wasn’t just unique to the yao, xiuzhe, and mo had the same problem.

Unorthodox battle generals would occasionally have spectacular attacking abilities, but compared to educated orthodox battle generals, there was great differences in terms of their control and ability to assess a battle.

The he had thought that it was a yao battle general inside the boat because the other’s battle had the flavor of yao, but now he wasn’t so sure.

He also felt anticipation.

Unorthodox battle generals were full of unpredictability. This kind of unpredictability would usually cause them to be defeated, but this unpredictability would also create headaches for their opponents.

No one was willing to meet an opponent that did not act rationally.

———

Sky Peak Platoon charged into the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation.

The Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was a variant of the Northern Dipper Battle Formation. The entire battle formation was divided into seven intersecting areas. However, while other variations of the Northern Dipper Battle Formation used the Heavenly Pivot star as the center of the formation, the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was creative in using the seventh star, the Twinkling Brilliance Star as the center of the formation.

There was a long history of sword xiu using the Northern Dipper Seven Star Formation in techniques. From the beginning sword scriptures, to the seven person formations, to mountain guarding formations, then to large scale battle formations, its structure could be found throughout the entire history of sword xiu development.

There were reasons that sword xiu preferred the seven star formation. The sword essence gathered through a seven star formation was very good, and it was multi-purpose as it could be used for both offense and defense.

However, Ma Fan truly lived up to being the former core under Lil’ Miss. His tactical abilities were several levels above normal sword xiu. The position he chose to attack was very special.

The Northern Dipper Seven Star Formation was shaped like a spoon, and the place Ma Fan attacked was the place where the spoon and the handle joined, the Celestial Balance.

Entering the attack range of the other’s battle formation, everyone felt their surroundings changes.

It was as though they suddenly entered a patch of grassland. Under their feet was a green carpet of grass that spread out endlessly. A curving great river was like a belt of jade that slowly flowed.

A gentle wind blew past. The smell of green grass that Ma Fan liked the most entered his nose.

An illusory formation!

Without needing his orders, the two sword xiu behind him shouted at the same time, two golden energies flew out of their hands and burrowing into the ground!

Boom-om-om!

The illusion of the grassland instantly shattered!

Sword xiu mostly were generally not skilled in illusory formations. The enemy had cast the illusory formation by relying on the talismans they were carrying. How could they stand up to the attack of fifth-grade flying swords?

The illusion broke, and the surroundings returned to normal. But seven sword energies had already reached  them!

The other hadn’t expected the illusory formation would trap them, it was a distraction. The attack that followed was the true killing move!

“Follow behind me!” Ma Fan shouted a reminder. His movements were fast, his flying sword lightly swinging and a transparent and irregular sword energy charged at the incoming sword energies like ripples of water!

This was a new sword move created from merging his [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction] into [Clear Sky Sword Scripture].

When this move was combined with his third stage sword cultivation, its power was explosive!

The other members followed closely behind him, the flying swords in their hands unmoving as though they did not see the incoming sword energies.

The ripple and the incoming sword energies of various colors crashed together without any finesse!

Pew pew pew!

When the sword energies hit the ripple, it was like a handful of pebbles landing in water and created many ripples.

The water ripples and the sword energies were like two bubbles that hit each other, cancelling each other out they disappeared at the same time.

The faces of the sword xiu on the other side changed slightly, their pupils contracting!

Sword essence manifestation!

An elite!

Chapter 436: The Unforeseen Consequences Of Lei Peng’s Blow

The first level of sword essence, preliminary comprehension of sword essence; second level of sword essence, Heart Turn Sword Essence; third level of sword essence, sword essence manifestation.

Comprehending sword essence for a sword xiu meant they had talent and potential above others. When Wei Sheng had stepped into the second level when he was in ningmai, he had shocked many.

Comprehending sword essence was not as rare and attention-catching in other regions as it was in Sky Moon Jie. Large sects had numerous methods to allow their disciples to comprehend sword essence. For example, the sword cauldron, at its core use was similar to Zuo Mo’s five element sword formation.

However, comprehending sword essence was just the first step through the door, and the path onwards was not a smooth one. A disciple that comprehended the third level of sword essence in ningmai would not be ignored even those large sects that were full of geniuses.

The first two levels did not increase the power of sword moves greatly. The second level, Heart Turn Sword Essence, was also extremely unstable. But when sword essence reached the third level, and it could manifest, the power of each sword move would skyrocket!

So when the other side saw Ma Fan’s sword essence manifestation, many were very shocked.

Of course, they were just shocked, but no one was afraid. They were a battalion that were from Kun Lun. Geniuses were not rare in Kun Lun. While disciples that comprehended the third level of sword essence in ningmai did not fill the streets, they were not preciously rare. Even those subordinate sects had many.

On top of that, they had finished forming their formation. This filled them with confidence towards the oncoming assault.

Almost all battle formations had a similar attribute. That was once their assault started, it would be relentless, one wave after the other.

Seeing Ma Fan stop the seven sword energies, the battle formation changed again.

Seven people to each troop forming a small seven star formation. Seven troops to a team, forming a large seven star formation.

The one who was leading the Twinkling Brilliance team was a jindan sword xiu, He Jian. He was in charge of this seven star formation made up of forty nine people. When he saw the other’s sword move, he too had been slightly shocked. The other’s sword essence level was even one above his own. But he did not feel nervousness. At a glance, he saw that the cultivations of this group of people were all ningmai.

The gap between ningmai and jindan was deep. Even if the other had one whose sword essence was one level above his, they were not a match for him!

A fierce smile floated upon He Jian’s lips!

Who cares what genius that was; by his hands, someone like that would only die!

He opened his mouth and spat out a blue sword pill!

The sword pill was just the size of a rice grain, but it grew when it came into contact with the air. After flying for ten zhang, it had expanded to more than three zhang wide. Pulling along a long blue tail of light, it was like an enormous, blue axe that howled as it charged at Ma Fan’s group!

The howling was like sobbing wails, shocking people’s souls!

The other forty eight sword xiu saw their Head attack and showed smiles of relief. During all their time together, they had never seen a sword xiu below jindan escape Head’s attack!

The fight was going to end!

He Jian’s sword energy came extremely quickly and grew bigger. When it came near Ma Fan and the others, the sword energy was almost enough to cover all of them!

The sword essence was sharp and intimidating, pressing straight at their heads and making them feel it was unstoppable!

A jindan’s attack had an extraordinary presence!

———

On the Black Turtle, Xie Shan looked at the smile the sword xiu were showing. He twisted his mouth. “Pitiful Ma Fan, he is being underestimated again.”

“So pitiful … …”

“Pitiful? That Ma Fan is laughing inside, if he’s able, he’ll put on a sheepskin, this guy is black on the inside!”

The crowd discussed heatedly.

———

Ma Fan looked at the incoming sword energy. His eyes unconsciously narrowed as his figure suddenly flashed to the side.

Half a body-length behind him was Lei Peng. His eyes glaring angrily, he raised the Gold Crystal broadsword. His legs bent slightly at the knee in the sky as though there was invisible ground beneath the feet. All the muscles in his body expanded, the ling power gathered like a burning flame and erupting from his body.

But all of this was silent as though he was a statue.

It made everyone feel an extreme contrast. Lei Peng was covering the raging sword energy with a suppressing silence.

The enormous sword energy that came with a long dazzling tail tore at the air, rumbling like thunder.

Extreme movement against extreme stillness, roaring thunder against deathly silence!

At this moment, the two conflicted natures formed a frightening scene!

Lei Peng seemed to return that battle, the moment right before the three of them had fainted. All the ling power in his body was like burning flames that burned every strand of his nerves in this soundless silence!

The blurry scene, the distant voice, the unwilling roar … …

The chaos flashed through his mind like a tide. The rough sword hilt he was tightly grasping gave him a thread of security, a thread of clarity!

Something seemed to flow through his mind.

This single thread of clarity was lightly plucked like an invisible chord.

Without any hesitation, the ling power flooded into the sword hilt by travelling through his arms and then palms. The raised broadsword moved in a single motion, swinging up and then down in the air!

The restlessness disappeared, the howling disappeared, all sound seemed to disappear in this instant!

A silent blow!

———

Far away, He Jian’s expression changed dramatically. Terror showed in his eyes. Before he could react, the other’s broadsword struck his flying sword!

Zzzt!

The sound was like a cloth being torn and scratched through the air in an unusually clear manner. The enormous blue curtain of light was cleaved by this blow.

He Jian grunted; his face pale, and his eyes shocked! He was injured! He didn’t believe it, he had actually been injured! And injured by a ningmai!

His flying sword was destroyed! The other’s blow that brutally cleaved his flying sword into two!

For any sword xiu, their flying sword was connected with their life. If the flying sword was damaged, the sword xiu would also be heavily wounded!

It was the first time he had been so heavily wounded!

What was so hard for him to accept was that the other was a ningmai sword xiu!

How was this possible … …

His gaze was unfocused and his expression blank.

———

Ma Fan and the others were also shocked by Lei Peng’s blow. One move heavily injuring a jindan sword xiu, such an absurd event had truly happened right in front of them.

But when they noticed that Lei Peng was maintaining his attacking posture motionlessly like a statue, all of their expressions changed!

Damn it!

This guy was having an epiphany at this time! Ma Fan groaned inside. This was the battlefield!

An epiphany was a rare chance for a breakthrough and would occur randomly. No one knew what could consistently initiate epiphanies, but everyone knew that epiphanies were chances for a breakthrough! Yet if the state of epiphany was disturbed, that was undoubtedly wasting a great opportunity!

No one knew when the next epiphany would be activated.

But Ma Fan reacted quickly. He advanced rather than retreating, shouting, “Kill!”

At this time, the other side’s expert was heavily wounded, and their formation was at its weakest. In a conflict of dozens of people, one jindan xiuzhe could be the decisive factor in the fight.

If they shrank back at this time, it would give the other time to react. This was the other’s territory. If the enemy reacted under such conditions, then they, Ma Fan’s side, would be in danger.

Attack in substitute of defense was the wiser choice. As to the rest, they would have to rely on Gongsun Daren!

The inexperience of Ming Lie Battalion was given full exposure at this time. These sword xiu that had assumed that victory was in their grasp and hadn’t thought that the situation would suddenly reverse. This caused them to be two whole beats late in reacting, only then did they muster a panicky response.

On the battlefield, especially fights in such a small area, two beats slower was enough to be fatal!

Compared to the other side’s panic, the Sky Peak Platoon with Ma Fan at the lead didn’t hesitate and used their full power in their first attack!

The sword energies  were like a sun that rose, unable to be looked at directly!

Three section wave killing charge!

They were like a burning blade that sliced through butter!

Fifteen sword xiu were killed upon contact!

The ling armor on their bodies only gave them a brief respite before their armor cracked like eggshells. The [Sharpness] formation technique on the Gold Crystal sword was used to great effect at this time. The fifteen sword xiu didn’t even have the time to wail before they were perforated, and lost their life!

Succeeding in the first attack, Ma Fan and the others didn’t hesitate and launched the second wave!

Only now did the enemy sword xiu seem to wake up and raise their swords to resist in panic.

Ma Fan looked at these slow opponents as though he was looking at a crowd of sheep waiting for slaughter. He did not show mercy.

How could the panicking sword xiu be a match for Ma Fan and the others?

Among the criss-crossing sword energies, blossoms of blood sprayed. The fragility of life showed itself. In a blink, another ten sword xiu lost their lives.

In just two waves of attack, more than half of the other’s division had been lost!

———

All of Ming Lie Battalion was shocked by such a ferocious attack. The pride in their hearts disappeared without a trace in front of those cold and bright sword energies.

Ming Lie’s expression also changed. The capabilities of this little troop of ningmai surpassed his imagination!

He didn’t know what those gold flying swords were made up of, but were at least fifth-grade. What shocked him the most was that every person in this little troop had at least comprehended the second level of sword essence. There were even several in the third level!

Truly elite!

Coldness flashed through his eyes. He did not feel fury at the fatalities of He Jian’s little team. For any battle general, it was a basic skill to maintain calm in the face of fatalities.

At the same time, he noticed the motionless Lei Peng. An epiphany?

A dark smile floated to the corner of his mouth.

A ningmai sword xiu that heavily wounded a jindan with one blow and activated an epiphany, there probably wouldn’t be a battle general that would be willing to give up this kind of subordinate!

Ming Lie admired that team leader’s response. But how could he not take advantage of such a good opportunity?

The strength of this little group of elite astonished him greatly, but he believed that this kind of elite skill couldn’t be the level of the entire troop. He was considering if he could capture these elite people alive and persuade them to follow him.

Calming down, Ming Lie quickly threw these absurd thoughts to the back of his head. What was most important now was to achieve victory!

The battle formation quickly changed and pushed towards Lei Peng’s position.

Inside the Black Turtle, Gongsun Cha lightly laughed. “This guy’s luck is pretty good.

As he finished, his expression suddenly became cold. He said peacefully, “Attack!”

The battlefield was full of unpredictable factors. No one had expected Lei Peng’s sudden epiphany. This caused the two sides to directly enter battle without sufficient probing!

Chapter 437: Zuo Mo’s Sneak Attack

All of Guard Camp was gathered and nervously waiting for orders. Returning to the camp, A Wen released a long breath. He finally didn’t have to be tormented under Daren’s hands.

The mood of Guard Camp wasn’t too nervous. Everyone was battle-hardened and naturally wouldn’t be nervous at the thought of battle. Adding on that Guard Camp were basically xiu slaves, they didn’t have any idea regarding things like Kun Lun. In their eyes, there was only the enemy.

They all knew that Vermillion Bird Camp had not yet gone all out.

Their mood relaxed, Guard Camp saw Zuo Mo charge in. Everyone hurried to bow.

“How’s the battle going?” Zuo Mo asked, pretending to be concerned. He wasn’t worried at all. With a battle maniac like Gongsun Shidi in charge, there was no need for him to worry.

Other people did not know about it, but he knew it well. Even an experienced Golden Battle General like Yu Heng had fallen under Gongsun Shidi’s butchering blade, he didn’t believe a young one could defeat Lil’ Miss. Of course, he completely forgot that Lil’ Miss was a shy little young one as well.

Shu Long said respectfully, “It has just begun, but Lei Peng has wounded one of the jindan on the other side.”

“Lei Peng wounded a jindan?” Zuo Mo jumped at this news. He didn’t quite believe it. “This guy is that fierce?”

“Yes.” Shu Long also had an admiring expression. To be able to heavily injure a jindan with only ningmai cultivation, from every angle, this was enough to shock anyone.

“Did he eat some drug?” Zuo Mo said to himself. He then moved his gaze to the battlefield. When he saw the motionless Lei Peng, he was shocked again. “Epiphany? It’s actually an epiphany! This guy’s luck is outrageous!”

It was no wonder that Zuo Mo felt admiration. An epiphany was a matter of chance, there were no patterns to evoke one.

Shu Long and the others beside Zuo Mo had sympathetic expressions. Lei Peng was a large fellow, looked outgoing and loud, but he was really cunning. There were many that had tripped up on him. Who would think that such a cunning and loudmouthed bandit was able to have an epiphany at this time. This was unexpected to everyone.

Zuo Mo smacked his lips and drew away his gaze. With that glance, he already recognized Lil’ Miss’ Snowflake Battle Formation.

He had a deep impression of this battle formation that tripped up Yu Heng. The last thread of worry in his heart dissipated.

Lil’ Miss was probably going to end the fight soon. They had to move quickly. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even get a slice of the pie.

Zuo Mo pondered inside. He was planning on trying out the power of the “Xiao Mo Ge Battle Method” that he had just discovered.

When he noticed that Gongsun Cha’s Snowflake Battle Formation had already started to press onto the enemy, he became even more rushed. Having seen the power of the Snowflake Battle Formation before, Zuo Mo never thought that the Kun Lun sword xiu could ever win.

Reality proved that encountering Gongsun Shidi was a very unfortunate matter.

———

The battle quickly entered a high point. Everyone moved decisively.

The position that Lei Peng was at quickly became the center area of the entire battle. Ming Lie’s Twinkling Brilliance Formation pressed toward there, and Vermillion Bird Camp’s goal was also in this narrow area.

A ferocious collision!

Moments later, Ming Lie’s expression became slightly ugly.

He had originally assumed that the other would become restrained in their actions due to the sword xiu that was having an epiphany. But the other didn’t have any care at all, and had made that location into their breakthrough point. That little elite troop was furiously sweeping through that area. Like layers of blades, they continuously charged!

Three section stab! Three section stab again!

The power of the other’s three section stab was enormous, especially in this situation where the his other little teams could not come to help. The sword xiu in that area had been mostly cleaned up. What angered him even more was that the wounded He Jian was like an alarmed bird that panicked and retreated without any fighting spirit, giving up the space to the other.

The enemy seemed to have torn a hole in the Twinkling Brilliance Formation. Sword xiu continuously flooded in from that gap!

A useless idiot!

Ming Lie had always dreamed of constructing a steely battalion. He Jian’s poor performance was like slapping him on the face! Losing wasn’t anything, being wounded wasn’t anything, but losing courage and forgetting his duties was, in his eyes, a failure!

I’ll sort you out once we get back!

Ming Lie thought inside as he gritted his teeth. His expression was dark as his orders streamed out. [Celestial Balance] was still going at full power. The complex and chaotic battlefield continued to change in his mind. His brow quickly furrowed.

Such a strange battle formation!

He had already made preparations to deal with the other’s three section stab. The other’s three section stab was used uncannily, and peerlessly sharp. In reality, this was the most powerful three section stab he had ever seen! It seemed that this should be the other’s trademark tactic but what he hadn’t expected was that the other did not use the three section stab but shifted to a kind of weird battle formation.

Six of their people to a little group like a snowflake that spun at high speed as they advanced.

Several battle formations flashed through Ming Lie’s mind but he quickly eliminated all of them. It was clear that this strange battle formation was not any battle formation he knew of.

His brow suddenly creased as he had a strange feeling.

This kind of battle formation seemed … … seemed slightly like a yao battle formation. His eyes lit up, and he suddenly realized why he felt it so strange. Yes! It was because this slightly strange snowflake battle formation clearly had the style of yao battle formations!

Yao, mo, and xiuzhe, the three major camps had clear differences in their battle methods so the battle formations they used were also completely different.

Xiuzhe were skilled in seal formations, so most of their battle formations had this at their core. This caused them to pay great attention to the structure of battle formations. Even such a flexible formation like the Twinkling Brilliance Formation had a very stable main skeleton.

Yao battle generals had extremely strong consciousnesses, and their control of troops was the strongest. Due to this, their battle formations did not care about battle formation structure and were more relaxed. For example, the three section wave killing charge was able to attack in any direction, while the snowflake battle formation was like a flowing flood of snowflakes.

On this point, mo battle generals and yao battle generals were in common, but compared to the yao, mo were even more straightforward. For example, the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation only had the Little Mo Kill, Successive Mo Kill and Great Mo Kill as transformations.

When Ming Lie detected the other’s strangeness, he was alarmed.

From the start, he had been suppressed. Every judgment he had made was different than reality! What did this mean? This meant that he had unconsciously allowed the other to take the advantage! From a certain perspective, it showed the difference in skill between him and the other.

He suddenly felt a thread of alarm.

———

“Pay attention to troop form!”

“Keep up! Keep up!”

“Do not linger in battle with the enemy, notice your position!”

The platoon leaders shouted at the top of their lungs. The ling power in their bodies were channeled to the limit, their faces red and necks thick! They had trained with the snowflake battle formation before, but had never use it in real combat so there naturally were places that were not in sync.

Everyone’s nerves were tense. This was the battlefield. The mistake in any detail meant that there was the possibility of losing their life!

The area with the fiercest combat was the position of Sky Peak Platoon!

They had already left Lei Peng’s position, and penetrated deeply into the other’s battle formation like a drill.

In this area, the sword xiu on both sides mingled.

The sword energies crossed in the air and rained down!

Among the blinding sword energies, people would occasionally be hit and fall down from the sky. In this kind of situation, if they were hit by a flying sword, they definitely could not survive. Even if they had the protection of ling armor, a momentary pause would attract many sword energies. Under this kind of assault, fourth-grade ling armor was like paper-mache, being pulverized to dust in an instant!

When the jindan sword xiu responsible for this area took a look, he was furious!

All the fatalities were people on their side!

Up until now, they hadn’t managed to kill a single person from the enemy’s side! This jindan sword xiu felt his face was burning. He unhesitatingly shouted, “Twinkling Brilliance Revolution!”

The formation shape of the little team changed. Everyone cast three sword energies towards the air.

The densely packed sword energies froze above their heads, the tips pointing at Ma Fan and the others.

Hundreds of sword energies floated in the sky, murderous intent swarmed Ma Fan and the others!

The jindan sword xiu’s gaze hardened. He threw a round silver ball into the air and pointed at Ma Fan, shouting ,”Fall!”

Hiss!

The silver ball flew into the sky, exploded and turning to electric snakes that swam between the sword energies!

In a blink, a web of lightning had formed!

———

Following the exclamation of “Fall” from the jindan sword xiu, the lightning net with the hundreds of sword energies fell down!

The moment the jindan sword xiu shouted “Twinkling Brilliance Revolution,” Ma Fan had detected danger and his body abruptly retreated! But this sword energy lightning net was like a black cloud that came extremely quickly. Before they could escape, the sword energy lightning net had reached above their heads like a mountain!

Killing intent and coldness caused the hairs on Ma Fan’s body to stand up. His eyes suddenly turned red!

Without thinking, the ling power inside his body was like a stallion off his reins that furiously flooded towards the Gold Crystal sword in his hand!

A light blue rippling sword energy that was the color of the sky appeared on the Gold Crystal sword. It was made from many layers and looked like creased blue glass!

Once the sword energy left the flying sword, it disappeared into the air without a trace!

Behind him, dozens of lotus flowers rose. There was a hum, it was the sound of the sword! The lotus flowers suddenly exploded mid air in unison, countless lotus flower petals shooting into the sky!

Nian Lu’s face was upraised, coldness flashing through his eyes as he disregarded the blood flowing out of the corner of his mouth.

The other Sky Peak Platoon sword xiu knew that this was the time to go all out. Everyone released their killing moves without communicating!

Boom!

The silver light above their heads fell down, the light was so blinding they almost couldn’t keep their eyes open!

Amongst the silver light came Ma Fan’s shout! “Retreat!”

When the light dissipated, the figures of Ma Fan and the others had disappeared. That jindan sword xiu showed shock in his eyes. His hair had been blown astray, falling all around him, and he was very disheveled! All of his subordinate sword xiu had a line of blood coming from the corner of their mouths.

On that pale face, that pair of eyes was possessed by terror!

The hardiness and viciousness of Sky Peak Platoon rattled these greenhorns that just stepped onto the battlefield! Just a few dozen people had firmly controlled almost two hundred people. Their side  had turned into a mess!

What they couldn’t believe was that the other side had safely escaped!

They had not killed even one of the enemy! Even when their jindan sword xiu attacked and used the power of the battle formation, they hadn’t managed to get one person!

They had always thought they were elite! Daren had continuously told them that they were elite! They had believed in this. They were able to join a battalion that belonged to Kun Lun, this meant that they were exceptional!

But the cruel reality was clearly put in front of them.

———

Ma Fan and the others gathered the last vestiges of strength. Taking advantage of the other’s slow reaction, they quickly left behind the area of battle. They had no more strength to fight.

“The rest is up to you.” Ma Fan’s voice was hoarse. He looked extremely terrible, his hair a mess, wounds all over his body and his gaze was dim.

The sword xiu that welcomed him did not say anything and bowed respectfully towards them.

When the figures of Ma Fan and his platoon disappeared behind the troop, every Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu’s expressions became stern!

“Attack!”

Gongsun Cha’s order came into everyone’s minds through his consciousness.

The Gold Crystal swords in the hands of the sword xiu at the very front of each snowflake created a sword energy. At the same time, they moved towards the side. His teammate that was on his right rotated into position and also released a sword energy at the same time!

The stream of sword energies gathered into a ruler-straight line!

On this line of light, each sword energy hit the same position!

Pia pia pia!

The ruler-straight sword energy line instantly ploughed deep bloody marks on the other’s battle formation.

Hundreds of sword energy lines lit up!

In a breath, hundreds of bloody pits appeared on the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation!

With this one attack, the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation had been turned into a sieve!

———

Liang Wei looked at the battlefield with a confused gaze.

He had originally thought this would be a fierce battle, and had not expected the battle to be so one-sided. His time in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was not short. This battalion from Kun Lun was not weak in its composition and could be said to be above average.

If it was him, he would not be afraid, but he did not dare to guarantee he could heavily wound the other. Even though he had caused many fatalities in the previous ambush but that kind of chance wouldn’t frequently occur.

But this black ship of mysterious origins did not seem to be using much effort.

He had speculated that this was a battle general from unorthodox origins. The astounding level of control he showed was like the corps commanders of those large corps! When he saw the sword energy lines, he suddenly realized that this was a completely new battle formation!

The other showed the style of a yao battle general everywhere in his actions but he commanded a group of sword xiu!

He could not comprehend this!

And the individual strength of these sword xiu were also a great surprise to him. He had not seen any of the other’s jindan sword xiu but just this group of ningmai sword xiu beat the other so thoroughly that the enemy couldn’t even raise their head.

Other than the battle formation, there was another crucial factor, sword essence!

Almost every one of the black ship sword xiu had comprehended sword essence!

When Liang Wei discovered this, he almost went insane. There hadn’t been any major battles in the time he had returned to Blood Sky Metropolis Jie but he had more than thirty scattered conflicts. He had encountered many sword xiu that comprehended sword essence!

But it was the first time he had encountered a troop that was completely composed of sword xiu that comprehended sword essence!

This wasn’t a dozen, or a few hundred, but a few thousand!

Liang Wei suddenly felt it was absurd. Maybe, this black ship was actually the people from Kun Lun?

His surroundings were entirely silent. Everyone was shocked by the combat capabilities the black ship showed.

Looking from a distance at this troop, Liang Wei found to his shock that he could not muster up any thought of making an ambush. In this moment, he was very emotional. When the difference in strength between two sides was too great, one would lose the bravery to ambush the enemy.

When could he also possess a troop like this, that would be wonderful … …

At this time, his eye jumped and his attention couldn’t help but land on the black ship at the back of the battlefield.

A troop of one hundred silently flew out of the black ship.

Something was going on!

———

“Careful, don’t let the enemy find us,” Zuo Mo whispered. The procession behind him that was sneaking nodded to show their understanding.

Like robbers, they tip-toed.

Zuo Mo’s plan of going out to fight had been met with strong resistance from Shu Long. The stern Shu Long stubbornly thought that it would be unpardonable if Daren went and met danger. Naturally, Zuo Mo did not agree. He raised an eyebrow and asked Shu Long, which of you is stronger than ge?

Everyone was left speechless.

In terms of individual power, everyone’s first choice would be Wei Sheng but second would be Zuo Mo. His Great Day mo physique that had went through its second maturation, so Zuo Mo’s combat capabilities far surpassed normal jindan! He was also skilled in a variety of tricks. Even if he was facing Wei Sheng, Wei Sheng wouldn’t dare to easily say he could win.

Helplessly, Shu Long could only pick the one hundred of the most elite Hardship Guards from Guard Camp. He had his responsibilities and could not mess around with Zuo Mo.

To these one hundred Hardship Guards, it was the first time they were directly under Daren’s command and fighting together with Daren! The morale was very high!

But with Zuo Mo’s deviousness, he definitely wouldn’t do something like a frontal charge.

Even if Vermillion Bird Camp had the advantage, even if he had the elite of Guard Camp with him, he still decided to make an sneak attack!

Most of Guard Camp were heavy armor Hardship Guards because the armor they formed were heavily weighted armor. Each of them were very strong, and each of their weapons was a door-sized cleaver one zhang long. After cultivating [Hardship Guard] their figures had grown crazily. Each of them was very brawny and tall, one zhang being the average height.

Lei Peng who looked down on Vermillion Bird Camp in terms of physical power was only a bean sprout when he was put among this group of fierce men.

So when this group of brawny fierce men clumsily hunched their backs and tip-toed behind Zuo Mo, it looked very humorous. The only one that looked normal was A Wen. He had cultivated to become a Mo Shadow Guard skilled in speed, and was the definite abnormality of Guard Camp.

However, these fierce men that were immersed in the nervousness of sneaking about clearly did not detect how strange their actions were.

Even though they tried to copy Zuo Mo’s movements, their physiques were truly too big, especially when one hundred brawny men gathered together. It wasn’t possible to avoid attention like this anywhere.

They were quickly discovered.

The first one that found them was Song Yuan. He was slightly nervous and had been looking around. He instantly found Zuo Mo and the others.

“What is that?” He hurriedly pulled Ming Lie beside him and pointed to another direction of the battle formation.

His face turned black and red, the fire in Ming Lie reached the point of eruption!

This was his most frustrating battle ever. Up until now, his results were pitiful! The other’s weird battle formation was very powerful, and his tactics were unreasonable. They were like a mill that continuously pressed forward! No matter what response he gave, the other would disregard it, pressing forward, forward and forward again!

The Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation that he had relied on, to get to achieve his current status, and any tactic that he could think of could not stop the other for even an instant.

There was no thrusting, no outflanking, no other tactics.

These sword xiu seemed to be insane, releasing sword energies without exhaustion. Those ruler-straight sword energy lines almost caused him to go insane!

Twinkling Brilliance Revolution, countered with two sword energy lines! Twinkling Brilliance Sword, countered with five sword energy lines! Twinkling Brilliance Qilin Sword, countered with ten sword energy lines… …

It was like a great swordsman that flourished his sword to tempt the enemy, the other didn’t pay any heed and responded by slamming down a brick; a feinting maneuver, the other didn’t look, another brick; a killing move! The other didn’t even look, and threw over a whole pile of bricks … …

But he couldn’t do anything against such a crude way of fighting!

He really had no solutions. He tried everything he could think of, but no matter what changes he made, they collapsed against the other’s crude and brutal sword energy lines.

Looking as his battalion was slowly swallowed up and being unable to do anything, the blow to his confidence was fatal!

He was confused like a gambler that had lost all he had.

Weakness, anger, hopelessness … …

Mixed together, it pushed him to the precipice of collapse.

At this moment, he saw Zuo Mo’s group!

Something in his mind seemed to explode. The last thread of intelligence was turned to dust by the erupting rage!

At this time, you still make a sneak attack!

You forced me to such a state, you still use a sneak attack!

You do a sneak attack, and use this crowd of big blockheads in the sneak attack!

You you you!

The pitiful Ming Lie’s eyes were completely red, his expression fierce! His pride that accumulated over twenty years was stepped on repeatedly by hundreds of pairs of muddy feet!

All the fury, all the hopelessness erupted and formed one word!

“Kill!”

———

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought that they would be discovered. He was slightly disappointed by the failure of his plan.

But his eyes quickly lit up. The excited person in the middle of the enemy that was charging over seemed to be the leader of this group!

The leader of the other group!

Au-au-arf!

Zuo Mo’s eyes shot out light. He seemed to have found the fattest lamb among a crowd of lambs!

The temptation of lambs caused him to become excited. The “Xiao Mo Ge Battle Method” was thrown away.

He waved his arm and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Brothers, there’s fat sheep!”

The fierce men all straightened their spines, their eyes alight. Green lights lit up in the eye-sockets of the heavy armor helmets.

Those gazes were so ravenous… … so greedy … …

Chapter 438: Victory

Zuo Mo’s raised arm was like a lighthouse’s guiding light, showing the way in the dark of the night. His loud shout was a horn that lit the deepest desires of these fierce men.

Heavenly thunder and earthly fire!

Spines straightened; the fierce men breathed heavily through their nose, dragging along their door-sized axes and cleavers as they threw their shoulders back and started a paced sprint!

The little scales on the heavy armor rattled as they ran, but as these fierce men’s charge gained speed, the sound changed.

Cl-ang … … cl-ang … …

Each sound was like a steel rhinoceros’s heavy stomp on the ground and caused people’s hearts to shake. When the sound of the armor impacts became packed together, the thunderous sounds quickly gathered into a metallic flood. When it spread out, the presence was unable to be resisted!

Boom-om-om!

The ground under their feet trembled fiercely. Little pebbles were thrown into the air as though there was an earthquake!

Having just charged five zhang, Ming Lie forcibly stopped his body. His face was ashen as he looked in terror at the wave of heavy armor that was charging at him as his lips trembled!

Heavy armor … …

It was motherf***ing heavy armor!

Ming Lie’s limbs were cold, his legs weak as he had an expression like he was both crying and smiling at the same time.

Heavy armor! This kind of antique, that was so old and had disappeared for so many years, actually appeared in front of him! And he was actually ambushed by such washed out and ancient soldier types!

In the legends, weren’t those heavy armor who wore dhyana xiu, true brave souls that did not fear death? Didn’t those same legends also say that those were forever the strongest power to meet face to face? Didn’t they say that those were the ones that only attacked head-on to destroy the resolve of the enemy? Didn’t they say that those were people who disdained  using any scheme or trickery and the use of battle formations?

But then why were these large men that had hunched their backs, while tip-toeing around in wearing heavy armor and had glowing blood thirsty eyes?

Ming Lie was dazed.

In this instant, Zuo Mo led the fierce men and suddenly charged in front of them!

From the beginning, Zuo Mo’s gaze had not left the other’s leader. That was his prey! Without another word, following the flow of the charge, the Light Void Wings burst in his wake, and he charged at Ming Lie!

At Ming Lie’s side, Song Yuan paled. He drew the Pine Script Sword out of its sheath. A round sword energy appeared in front of them!

Zuo Mo’s momentum was so powerful he was like a meteor!

The round sword energy was shattered. Among the scattered shards of energy, a rapid figure leapt at the two people!

Song Yuan really did have skills. He already knew his round sword energy could not stop Zuo Mo. The seemingly normal Pine Script Sword in his hand seemed to come alive, drawing out a nimble mark. The sword essence swirled and coiled into a snake!

Hiss!

The snow-white snake spat out its tongue!

Zuo Mo saw this snow-white snake, and his pupils suddenly contracted. Sword essence manifestation! This seemingly alive and nimble snow-white snake caused Zuo Mo to think about Xin Yan Shishu’s ice dragon!

Compared to Xin Yan Shishu’s ice dragon, this snow snake was much smaller. It was just three or four zhang long and the thickness of his wrist. But its attitude and presence was the same as Shisu’s ice dragon!

Expert!

Almost unconsciously, the Midday Blade appeared in Zuo Mo’s hands, his arm reversed course swinging downwards and dealt it a blow!

Cling!

The sharp sound of impact caused Zuo Mo’s eardrums to hurt. Enormous force came from his hand, and his entire arm heated up.

Without even thinking, Zuo Mo stabbed the Midday Blade into the ground using it as a fulcrum point to stabilize himself, his body spinning around it like a top, his right leg like a whipped out as he kicked the chin of the snow snake!

The snow snake froze. The strongest power from the Golden Crow Feet, the heaviness of this kick was almost unimaginable!

The merging of the three powers inside Zuo Mo’s body had given him many troubles, but also many benefits. After the three powers merged into one, when he used the Great Day mo physique, his advanced body cultivation would pull along his consciousness and ling power, enhancing the both of them. In this instant, his perceptual abilities were multiple times what it was in the past.

Zuo Mo instantly realized the benefit of this change. He unconsciously made adjustments to his Golden Crow Feet.

A golden foot shadow flashed on his right leg and disappeared!

This kick hit the snow snake directly! Song Yuan’s expression changed. The Pine Script Sword in his hand drew another circle and a blinding light swam from the handle of the sword to the tip!

The snow snake’s eyes suddenly became bright, two dots of red light pointing at Zuo Mo!

Zuo Mo had sunk into unspeakable pleasure with the success of that Golden Crow Feet blow. Every part of his body seemed to instantly come to life. A feeling of having control over everything formed!

This intoxicating feeling caused Zuo Mo to want to roar into the sky!

A feeling of danger suddenly formed!

Zuo Mo body reacted with lightning speed. The Light Void Wings lightly flapped and he disappeared into the air. Two dashes of red light flashed past his former position while, like a ghost, he appeared above and behind the snow snake’s head!

Something seemed to flash and almost spill out of his right palm.

The right hand made an empty palm strike towards the head of the snake!

A golden-yellow Great Day Script left his hand and imprinted on the head of the snow snake!

The snow snake instantly showed a painful expression!

Song Yuan’s round face was covered with sweat. He didn’t know when it had occurred, but the Pine Script Sword in his hand was now filled with a spider-web of cracks! His bean-sized eyes were filled with shock!

Mo physique!

This was a mo physique!

Ranking second among colonel mo physiques, the Great Day mo physique!

How was this possible?

How could humans cultivate mo physiques? Song Yuan seemed to have seen a ghost.

In Kun Lun, yaomo were a topic that every Kun Lun disciple had to study in depth. All of Kun Lun understood that the conflict between xiuzhe and yaomo would never end unless one side disappeared. As the top sect of xiuzhe, Kun Lun was leading the charge! Due to this, Kun Lun disciples understood much more about yaomo than other sects.

At first, Song Yuan had not even considered mo physiques. The people in front of him were dislikable, but they were undoubtedly human. Humans were unable to cultivate mo skills, this was common knowledge! But Zuo Mo’s fierce series of attacks, and especially the appearance of the Great Day Script had caused him to realize what he had encountered.

Ranking second among colonel mo physiques, the Great Day mo physique! Only the Great Day mo physique could be so fierce, so domineering!

And the other hadn’t just successfully cultivated into a mo physique, it wasn’t a mo physique in first maturation! But in second maturation!

This judgment almost completely uprooted everything he knew!

Up until now the division between the three camps of yao, mo and xiuzhe were clear. He had never heard of any human that had succeeded in getting a normal mo physique much less the Great Day mo physique which was rare and top even in the mo world.

This shocking discovery caused him to unconsciously glance at the large, heavily armored men behind Zuo Mo!

His pupils suddenly shrank!

No!

They weren’t heavy armor dhyana xiu at all! They were heavy armor mo kill guards!

His face was suddenly robbed of all color.

The difference between the heavy armor dhyana xiu and the heavy armor mo kill guards was the armor that they wore. The heavy armor of the dhyana xiu was a type of ling armor while the heavy armor of the heavy armor mo kill guards were condensed from killing energy!

Heavy armor mo kill guards … …

A distant and obscure mo soldier type, they were the cruelest machines of slaughter, the most vicious blades, the strongest heavy hammer in the hand of the Mo King!

The heavy armor mo kill guards in front of him were slightly green, but they were still true heavy armor mo kill guards!

Thinking about these heavy armor mo kill guards maturing and using their enormous weapons to create storms of blood, Song Yuan trembled!

However, he did not have the time to divide his attention. Zuo Mo’s attacks were like a tide, one wave striking after the other. His faintly golden figure flickered around the snowy white snake!

Song Yuan’s mouth tasted bitter. The Great Day Script on the forehead of the snow snake continuously corroded it! But he didn’t have a solution. The reason that the Great Day mo physique could rank second among colonel mo physique was because of its extreme hardness and yang affinity. There was no yin or corruption. This was very rare among mo physiques!

There were methods to subdue the Great Day mo physique. The utmost yin and cold spells could do it. As the holy ground of sword xiu, of course Kun Lun had these kinds of spells, and there were at least three sword scriptures and spells that fit these requirements.

However, Song Yuan had not cultivated any one of those before.

Unable to subdue it, he could only meet it directly to see if it was his sword that was sharpest, or the other’s mo physique that was more powerful.

———

Ming Lie looked dazedly at his troops as they were quickly losing.

This group of shameless people rampaged like lions that rushed into a herd of sheep! Their enormous weapons were truly fierce. The sword energies of his subordinates were as fragile as chopsticks in front of them.

They furiously charged around in the battle formation. They were not fast, but when an enormous man one zhang tall and completely covered in heavy armor charged over, people could not muster up the courage to stand their ground.

What made Ming Lie feel even more hopeless was that these blockheads never acted alone. They were acted three to five in a group. Even if they encountered a single sword xiu, they would all charge up together!

Five or six axes and cleavers chopped and sliced together for a while.

Ming Lie looked woodenly at all this.

He knew it, he had lost.

But why had he lost?

He was still filled with confusion.

———

Song Yuan tried to withstand Zuo Mo’s storm of attacks. But the last bit of hope inside slowly extinguished.

The other’s figure was covered in a layer of light gold so it was impossible to see his features. The other became even more brave the more he fought. Song Yuan could clearly feel the pressure he was receiving increase.

From a young age until now, he had never been suppressed like this by someone from start to finish!

Was he going to die here today?

A strong thread of terror rose up inside. He had never felt death was this close to him.

Pia pia pia!

Among a rapid string of collisions, the snow snake that had persisted finally reached its limits and crumbled into thousands of sword essence fragments that fluttered away!

Woosh!

A spray of blood carrying the fragments of ling armor suddenly flew forward.

A palm covered in Great Day Script passed through Song Yuan’s chest.

Song Yuan’s pupils froze, the light slowly dissipating until all life had disappeared!

With Song Yuan taken care of, Zuo Mo did not hesitate and appeared next to the soulless Ming Lie. With a crisp blow, the other’s life was ended!

No one knew that this sudden battle directly messed up the rhythm and set up of the three sides.

The “Meat Grinder” that would astound future generations debuted just like this without any warning.

Chapter 439: Cloud Sea Jie

Three months later.

A non-descript, little black ship appeared at the entrance of the Cloud Sea Jie river.

Everyone inside the Black Turtle squeezed in front of the mirage formation. Looking at the scenery outside, they were very excited.

“We’ve finally arrived! So this Cloud Sea Jie!”

“It’s so beautiful!”

“Yes, it’s the first time I’ve seen a place this beautiful … …”

Under their feet was an endless sea of clouds. Floating among this sea of clouds werewere little islands. The cloud sea slowly floated, and the white cloud energy was faintly discernable like mist.

Suddenly, a big, bright-green bird shot out of the cloud sea, its wings stroked as it furiously flew into the sky and disappeared into the distance in a blink.

“Such fast speed!”

The people that saw this scene all inhaled sharply. The speed of this green bird was something who even A Wen, the fastest one among them, could only gape at.

The expressions of Zuo Mo and few others also changed slightly. They exchanged looks with each other and saw the gravity in each other’s eyes. The green bird’s grade was not low. In Sky Moon Jie, it would definitely be at the top of the food chain.

If the grade of the yao beast in an area were very high, it meant that there would not be a high population of xiuzhe in this area and that the area was not well explored. Yao beasts were not friendly to xiuzhe. Xiuzhe liked to hunt yao beasts, and yao beasts were also showed a similar interest and fondness for xiuzhe.

“There aren’t any people on these islands.” Wei Sheng stared at the island as they passed by. The island was not very large, about fifty mu. Because it was so close, the group could see it very clearly. There were ruins of buildings on the island which indicated that xiuzhe had once resided there.

Thinking about the green bird that had darted by, everyone’s expressions were not very good. Were the ling beasts here left to roam free to such a degree?

“Everyone, be careful,” Zuo Mo ordered.

Everyone immediately focused and prepared their defenses. However, the reality proved they had worried needlessly. Other than that shockingly fast green bird, they did not encounter anything significant along the way.

After the initial novelty passed, the endless cloud sea quickly became dull and boring in everyone’s eyes.

———

After more than a dozen days, just as everyone was feeling restless, an enormous island appeared in their vision. Everyone’s morale rose, but no one had expected that they had to continue flying for three more days before they could be considered near to this island.

They finally realized that the enormity of this island far surpassed their imagination! When they flew closer, this feeling increased. It was like a colossal sea turtle silently floating in the cloud sea. In front of it, the xiuzhe were insignificant like specks of dust!

Approaching the large island, the number of fragmented little islands they could see increased. They were scattered randomly and in various sizes. Some were just dozens of zhang in diameter, while others were tens of thousands of mu in area.

When Zuo Mo and the others flew close, a xiuzhe flew out from one of the little islands. This xiuzhe’s face looked clever. He wore a cloth robe and crisply stopped fifty zhang from the Black Turtle. He made a bow and shouted loudly, “This one is Shang Wei Ming. Bosses, welcome to Dong Sheng Cloud Island. This one hopes your business is prosperous and flourishing! Do you require a guide? This one is a local, so if Boss wants to know of something, sell or buy, this one might be able to offer some scarce effort.”

Shang Wei Ming’s face was open without any shyness.

“Guide?” Zuo Mo felt it was interesting. After thinking a while, he shouted his order, “Get Bao Yi to come.”

As he finished, he flew out of the Black Turtle first. Wei Sheng was worried for Zuo Mo’s safety and also flew out. The other people inside the ship were alert and guarded, to ensure they could respond the moment they encountered any danger. They had slaughtered their way out of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie and had formed the habit of being alert at any moment.

Shang Wei Ming saw two people fly out of the ship. His expression was steady but he released a breath inside. It seemed that this business was possible!

“This is Dong Sheng Cloud Sea?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Yes, this is Dong Sheng Cloud Sea.” Shang Wei Ming bowed towards the two. “What do I call both bosses?”

“My name is Zuo,” Zuo Mo said with a smile. He pointed at Wei Sheng and said, “He is Wei.”

“Good day, Boss Zuo and Boss Wei,” Shang Wei Ming raised his folded hands in salute and gave his greetings. He examined the two people. Seeing their attire was normal, he was slightly disappointed inside. The black ship behind them was very normal. Shang Wei Ming was increasingly sure that Zuo Mo and the others were just small business merchants.

However, while he felt disappointed inside, he did not allow it to show it on his face. No matter what, it was good that he had business today.

“Have you come to Dong Sheng Cloud Sea for business or to visit friends?” Shang Wei Ming looked as Zuo Mo and asked. He could see that Zuo Mo was the decision-maker.

At this time, Bao Yi hurried over. He bowed towards Zuo Mo, “Boss,” and then bowed towards Wei Sheng. “Teacher Wei!”

“Brother Bao is too courteous,” Wei Sheng said humbly.

Zuo Mo wasn’t polite. “Old Bao, you came at the right time. You can deal with the business affairs. This Mister Shang is our guide. You can deal with the fees and such.”

Bao Yi hurriedly said, “Yes.”

Shang Wei Ming’s heart jumped. The decision-maker’s clothing was normal but his presence and tone of voice was definitely not of a small business merchant. He also smelt something familiar from this person who was as thin as bamboo.

It was the smell of a merchant!

“What is the daily fee, Mister Shang?” Bao Yi raised his head, his eyes flashing with calculation.

Shang Wei Ming focused. “Five third-grade jingshi per day.

“This price isn’t high.” Bao Yi nodded. He then slowly asked, “What other services does Mister Shang provide?”

Bao’s attitude, presence, and calculation caused Shang Wei Ming to realize that the person in front of him was an old-timer. His confidence of his positive speculations increased.

This group was surely here to do big business!

The smile on Shang Wei Ming’s face grew more friendly. “Providing directions is the most basic service. If you need to find shelter and food, this one can find appropriate inns and restaurants for everyone. This one is a local merchant and has a small network. This one also knows the local goods. If there is a need for information, this one can also find it, but this will require some additional jinshi.”

“Good.” Bao Yi took out fifteen pieces of third-grade jingshi. “This is the fee for three days. I hope to have a good partnership with Mister Shang.”

The other was generous in payment, and Shang Wei Ming’s mood became even better. He took the jingshi and said humbly, “To serve you is this one’s honor.”

Seeing the two finish their conversation, Zuo Mo smiled and opened up, “This is the first time we have come to Cloud Sea Jie. We are unfamiliar with this place. Can Mister Shang give us an introduction?”

“No problem.” Shang Wei Ming discretely put the jingshi into his pocket and continued. “Cloud Sea Jie is remote. Even though it was discovered early in recorded history, there haven’t been many xiuzhe here. You must have seen the many abandoned cloud islands along the way?”

“Yes, what happened?” Zuo Mo hurriedly said.

“The reason there are not many xiuzhe in Cloud Sea Jie is because we are currently overrun with yao beasts. Those cloud islands were occupied before, but as there are too many yao beasts in Cloud Sea Jie, those who are weak were eaten by the yao beasts.”

“Why don’t you hunt and kill the yao beasts?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. “Every part of a yao beast is treasure!”

Shang Wei Ming showed a grimace. “It’s the fault of this cloud sea! This cloud sea is endless and extremely deep. No one knows how deep it is down there. These yao beasts mostly live inside the cloud sea with it as a barrier. This cloud sea is also very strange, it can almost completely block off ling energy. For many years, an unknown amount of people used to dive into the cloud sea to explore it; but though many went, only a few come back. Of those that came back, they usually have no gains. Gradually, few  wanted or dared to go down anymore.”

“Then isn’t it very dangerous above the cloud sea?” Zuo Mo was frightened.

“Yes. The cloud sea is vast and filled with danger. Our jie’s cloud islands can be counted in tens of thousands, but there are not many that are truly suited for xiuzhe to inhabit. Our Dong Sheng Cloud Sea is the biggest cloud sea. Other than this, Qi Luo Continent and Hu Ju Island are among the relatively large cloud islands. Please do not randomly fly among the cloud sea, it is very dangerous. There are transportation formations that go between the cloud islands. It is much safer to go through transportation formations. Between the cloud islands that do not have transportation formations, there are shipping routes that have defended cloud islands among the way. That is also a safer option.”

Finishing, he took out a jade scroll. “This has all the transportation formations and shipping routes of Cloud Sea Jie. It isn’t worth much, but a token of this one to give to Boss.”

Shang Wei Ming’s action clearly showed his intentions of forming a relationship. Zuo Mo naturally understood. He smiled and took the jade scroll. “Many thanks, Brother Shang.” He took out a third-grade flying sword. “A little token of our own, nothing major. Brother Shang, please accept it!”

Shang Wei Ming took the flying sword. Taking it in hand, he channeled ling power through it. The smile on his face increased as he gave his thanks. Intermediate third-grade water element flying sword, this could be sold for a pretty good price. However, he did not plan on selling it. His son was not far from entering ningmai and this flying sword was perfect for him.

If it had just been a guess before, now he was almost certain this Boss Zuo was a big boss!

Using a third-grade flying sword as the first move, this was the first time he had encountered such a thing! He couldn’t help but rejoice how wise his decision had been. It was really profitable this time!

Zuo Mo looked around. “Are there any yao beasts where we are now?”

Shang Wei Ming hurried to say, “Boss, don’t worry. Our Dong Sheng Cloud Island has a large formation. Yao beasts will not come here. See how there are many cloud islands in this area, they are all protected by the large formation, and we do not need to worry about our safety. If Boss wants to have a long stay, you may want to buy one and turn it into a private yard.”

They conversed as they slowly flew towards the large island, the Black Turtle following closely behind them.

“Oh, these cloud islands can be bought? Where can one buy them? What are the prices?” Zuo Mo was instantly interested. The Black Turtle was spacious on the inside, but after staying in for a long time, they had all, naturally, become restless. Searching for Water Cloud Embryo would not be a not a quick matter. This place was relatively safe, and it was good to have a place to put their feet down.

Shang Wei Ming just mentioned this in passing. He hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would really be interested. He instantly became alert. According to the rules of the island: if he really could make this deal, he could receive a significant commission.

Shang Wei Ming seemed to see countless jingshi beckoning him!

Good fortune had come so suddenly!

Chapter 440: Xu Ling City

Shang Wei Ming suppressed the excitement he felt inside. His attitude became increasingly respectful. “Dong Sheng Cloud Island is actually a gathering of cloud islands. Other than the main island, there are more than thirty eight thousand cloud islands of various sizes. These cloud islands are divided into different price categories based on the size, position, and ling veins. The biggest and best batch of cloud islands have basically all been sold. The remaining are mostly medium sized and small cloud islands, as well as fragmented cloud islands.”

Zuo Mo asked interestedly. “What is the situation of medium, small, and fragmented cloud islands?”

Shang Wei Ming’s explanation was very detailed. “Fragmented cloud islands are the smallest cloud islands. They are mostly less than one hundred mu in size, and usually will not have ling veins. They are mainly used as residences by lone xiuzhe. The little island I own is just forty mu. Cloud islands above one hundred mu and below one thousand mu are considered  little cloud islands. Many have ling veins but they are very pricy. Islands over one thousand mu and below fifty thousand mu are considered middle cloud islands. These cloud islands usually have ling veins of good quality, some with ling lakes and springs so one can make ling fields. The large cloud islands above fifty thousand mu have been mostly sold, and the requirements to buy one are much stricter.”

Zuo Mo pondered for a while. With how many people they had, they probably needed to buy a middle-sized cloud island, and it had to a larger one. He asked, “What is the price of a middle-sized cloud island.”

As expected, a Big Boss!

Shang Wei Ming was overjoyed inside. Suppressing his excitement, he said, “Usually, it is one third-grade jingshi per mu.”

“This price isn’t cheap.” Zuo Mo was slightly alarmed. Tens of thousands of pieces of third-grade jingshi definitely was not a small sum.

“It really isn’t cheap!” Shang Wei Ming said emotionally. “This jie is filled with the cloud sea, the only place to land are the cloud islands. Those lone islands that do not have protection are not worth anything. Eliminating those, there aren’t many cloud islands left. Adding on that the situation outside is slightly tense, the price of cloud islands have risen in recent days.”

Zuo Mo paused. “Why is that?”

“Too many people have come to the jie recently,” Shang Wei Ming explained. “Cloud Sea Jie is remote, and is situated at the intersection between the borders of the Four Realms. In the past, there were not many that came from the outside. The situation has now drastically changed. This place is far from the front lines. Entering the jie here is difficult from the jie river,  and many must rely on transportation formations,. If the situation turns for the worst, we can simply destroy the transportation formation and be safe. In these past two years, xiuzhe from other places have started gathering here, so everyone hasn’t had good days.”

“How come?” Zuo Mo asked back.

“The prices of commodities have risen greatly! Cloud Sea Jie is different than other places, the jie river is hard to travel through so we rely on transportation formations. But if supplies are transported through transportation formations, the consumption of jingshi used on them is significant. If I hadn’t accumulated some wealth in the past and bought a fragmented cloud island, I won’t even have a place to live with how high the prices are now.” Shang Wei Ming shook his head and sighed.

“So it’s like that.” Zuo Mo was thoughtful.

They flew closer to Dong Sheng Cloud Island. Soon, they landed on the big island.

A xiuzhe whose clothes had a bright script of “Xu Ling” flew over and swept his gaze over the Black Turtle behind Zuo Mo. “Area Four, number one hundred and thirty. Docking costs three pieces of third-grade jingshi a day. Prepayment is twenty pieces of third-grade jingshi, and the deposit ten pieces of third-grade jingshi.”

At the side, Shang Wei Ming explained. “The ships cannot enter the city and must stay at the docks ahead. Area Four is used to store small ships. There are special storage areas on the docks. Boss, remember to arrange for people to guard it.”

Zuo Mo finally felt the pain of the high prices here. However, when he heard Shang Wei Ming’s last sentence, he instantly became wary. “It’s not safe?”

Shang Wei Ming had a grimace. “It was alright before but ,currently, it is not too good. There were several people whose merchandise had been stolen.”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo nodded. He then asked, “If we encounter people stealing, is it alright to kill them?”

Shang Wei Ming’s heart suddenly jumped. In this instant, the other had seemed to suddenly become a whole other person and exuded a dangerous presence. When Shang Wei Ming looked closely, he only saw a smiling Big Boss. He was suspicious that his eyesight had gone bad. He forced a smile and said, “If they are truly thieves, it is alright to kill them. However, it is best not to kill if possible. Harmonious business is best.”

“Harmonious business, very reasonable!” Zuo Mo nodded.

Under the guidance of the Xu Ling Sect disciple, the Black Turtle was put away at Area Four, bay  one hundred and thirty, and they paid the fees. Gongsun Cha, Xie Shan, Zong Ru flew out of the ship, the others stayed inside. Zuo Mo did not want to attract too much attention. With Eldest Shixiong, Xie Shan, Zong Ru, and himself, as long as they did not meet a yuanying xiuzhe, there was little worry for their safety.

As for xiuzhe that were in the stage of yuanying, Zuo Mo had never seen one before, not even in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

As they left the harbor, a straight blue stone road about five zhang wide appeared in front of everyone. The both sides were lined with a row of stone lamps. The stone lamps were not constructed from high quality materials but Zuo Mo noticed that the pillars of each stone lamp were engraved with complex formation scripts.

A large scale formation!

Zuo Mo’s heart shook slightly. These regularly arranged stone lamps were a part of a large scale formation! He cloud clearly feel the fine ling power vibrations that were unique to formations.

“Xu Ling City is one of the large cities in this area since Xu Ling Sect, a seal formation cultivation sect, is very strong. They put great emphasis on trading of materials. If Boss has merchandise of this kind, you may want to sell them directly to Xu Ling Sect. The prices they give are very fair. If the amount of the transaction is large, they will also give small concessions,” Shang Wei Ming said.

Zuo Mo now understood. So Xu Ling Sect was a formation sect. No wonder!

“There are many disciples in Xu Ling Sect so the amount of materials used each day is astounding. The talismans and seal soldiers they forge are very good and easy to sell. They are from Tian Huan Realm, and have great power. They managed to establish themselves quickly after arriving in Cloud Sea Jie. After developing for such a long time, their reputation in this area is very good,” Shang Wei Ming said.

Zuo Mo thought of a question. “The materials which aren’t easy to transport, can’t you plant them?”

“People do,” Shang Wei Ming said, “but ling farming requires ling fields, animal raising requires ling lakes and springs, and xiuzhe who are professionals, and also time. Unless they plan to stay here in the future, their efforts will only go to benefit other people. Right now, everyone wants to stay here for the safety, but when the war ends, how many people are willing to remain here?”

Zuo Mo nodded. “That’s true.”

No matter if it was growing ling plants or animals, they were not quick endeavors. They needed constant care. If one did not plan on establishing a home here, then no one was willing to spend so much effort and not gain anything.

Shang Wei Ming explained in great detail and Zuo Mo also listened carefully.

Zuo Mo’s procession did not attract any attention. They didn’t wear any talismans, and their clothing looked normal. Their expressions were normal and did not have the pride of experts. Gongsun Cha had a shy and bashful smile hanging on his face looking like the boy next door. The female xiu that passed by looked with interest at Gongsun Cha for a while. When they saw the shy blush on Gongsun Cha’s face increased due to their interest, they giggled.

Zuo Mo saw this and laughed. Who could think that the fearsome Lil’ Miss, that wouldn’t even blink an eye when killing thousands, was embarrassed by a few girls.

Shang Wei Ming couldn’t help but also laugh. “This young brother is very handsome!”

Zuo Mo roared with laughter. Wei Sheng laughed lightly. Xie Shan and Zong Ru did not dare, and could only force themselves to repress laughter. Their expressions look very strange.

Shang Wei Ming was confused. He didn’t know what was humorous about what he said.

The tendons in Gongsun Cha’s forehead pulsed but in the eyes of other people, it was filled with the innocent adorableness of youth. It caused the female xiu on the road to laugh again.

A daring female xiu ran over. “Hey, what are you called?”

Gongsun Cha’s face suddenly became as red as an apple.

Zuo Mo couldn’t resist any longer. He squatted on the ground and slammed his fist as he laughed. Xie Shan and Zong Ru’s expressions almost twisted, looking like fish that were suffocating.

“You are so shy!” The female xiu was not afraid of strangers, her black eyes filled with liveliness. She reached out a snowy white hand. “I am A Mu Lian!”

Staring at the snowy white hand in front of him, Gongsun Cha stilled.

“Let’s be friends!”

Gongsun Cha felt his face was burning. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, his heart filled with unprecedented panic, as he unconsciously made a sound!

The laughter of A Mu Lian’s fellows came from the distance. Gongsun Cha was even more distraught.

“Haha, you’re so cute!” A Mu Lian was very happy.

One of the older female xiu in the group urged her to leave with a smile.

“Ah! I have to go!” The female xiu jumped up and turned to leave. After a distance, she waved her white hand at Gongsun Cha, and then formed it into a funnel to shout, “Don’t forget my name, I’m A Mu Liang!”

A Mu Lian’s group quickly disappeared.

Zuo Mo fell backwards as he laughed. He had never seen Gongsun Shidi so panicked and clueless before. He used this matter to tease Gongsun Cha along the way but Gongsun Cha kept his head down and did not respond to Zuo Mo’s teasing.

Seeing Gongsun Shidi’s burning face and soulless expression, Zuo Mo suddenly felt very good.

This little detour raised everyone’s spirits as they walked towards the city gates.

———

The city gate of Xu Ling City was not large. Many Xu Ling Sect disciples were guarding the gate. Behind them were many large and tall seal soldiers. They did not question the people passing by and only came up to inspect any disturbances, like when there were fights.

It was possible to see all kinds of flying talismans in the sky, but the most common were paper cranes. This made Zuo Mo feel a sense of kinship.

Entering the city doors, a wave of sound crashed into them.

“Third-grade Yellow Armor Strength Warrior, with endless strength, suitable for all kinds of manual labor, long-lasting and durable! Essential for building and digging in mountains!”

“Third-grade Grass Puppet, making tea, pouring water, washing clothing and sheets, for all purposes, your best servant!”

“Sprint Lightning Seal! Sprint Lightning Seal! Xu Ling Sect’s Sprint Lightning Seal! Only one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi! Do not pass this opportunity by!”

The familiar yet unfamiliar scene caused Zuo Mo’s mind to blur. After so much killing and danger, the hawking of wares on the street caused Zuo Mo to be so moved he wanted to cry in this moment.

He pushed down the soreness in his nose and grinned.

This feeling was really good!

Chapter 441: Rules?

Xu Ling City did not have the sense of dread and nervousness pervading it like the front lines but seemed chaotic due to the influx of outside xiuzhe. However, this caused the market to seem even busier and more prosperous.

“This is the Cloud Pavilion, the biggest treasure shop in Xu Ling City.” Shang Wei Ming took Zuo Mo and the others to the doorway of a very grand shop. The walls of this shop were completely made from crystal bricks and hanging under the curved eaves were crystal palace lamps. These clear crystal lamps slowly spun and released lights of all colors. Reflecting on the crystal walls, the images were of rainbows and they changed in all ways.

Looking at this grand Cloud Pavilion, Zuo Mo and the others gaped, their expressions amazed.

The formation scripts on each crystal light was faintly discernible and each crystal palace lamp would contain twenty eight of them. The entire shop was under the protection of formations. Where had Zuo Mo seen such a grandiose shop before? To say of nothing else, just these glowing crystal bricks would be worth large amounts of jingshi.

A complex look flashed through Shang Wei Ming’s eyes but they quickly returned to normal. “Cloud Pavilion has shop fronts on almost all major cities on Dong Sheng Cloud Island. The owner of the Cloud Pavilion rarely show themselves but in terms of previous treasures and high level materials, it is much better than other shops.”

A moment later, Zuo Mo refocused. Shocked, he couldn’t help but feel anticipation. To say of nothing else, just this grandly-decorated shopfront was enough to prove that this shop possessed a powerful background.

Entering the Cloud Pavilion with Shang Wei Ming, he found that the inside was multiple times more luxurious than the outside. The ground was lined with black third-grade gold starshine rock. Each piece was sanded until it was as smooth as glass. The dots of gold in the rock were like stars in the night sky. Each shelf only held one treasure. Around it, the mirage illusions constantly changed presenting a detailed explanation of each treasure.

A shop-keeper came over, his attitude enthusiastic yet courteous. “Welcome to the Cloud Pavilion, it is my honor to provide you service. Please browse freely, you may inspect and touch any item.”

The shop-keeper glanced at Shang Wei Ming at the side, and a thread of disdain flashed through his eyes.

Any rare and precious treasure of high grade would release light. This was a treasure light. Looking over, the entire store was illuminated with treasure light!

Filling their fields of vision with talismans and high grade materials, even someone like Zuo Mo that was used to seeing such good things couldn’t help but show slight shock. This Cloud Pavilion really lived up to rumors. None of the talismans and materials on display were below fourth-grade. Other than Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and Gongsun Cha, the other people were amazed by the room filled with treasure light.

Wei Sheng’s heart was for the sword and was unaffected by outside objects. Gongsun Cha’s mind was also not attuned to such things.

Shang Wei Ming’s expression was complex. In the depths of his eyes, they showed slight pain.

Zuo Mo did not detect Shang Wei Ming’s change. He asked the shopkeeper, “Does your store have Water Cloud Embryo?”

“Water Cloud Embryo?” the shopkeeper shook his head and said, “My sincere apologies, our store’s Water Cloud Embryos have all been sold. A person has bought all the Water Cloud Embryo in our store three months ago.”

Seeing Zuo Mo’s disappointment, the shopkeeper explained, “While Water Cloud Embryo is not a high-grade item, it is only produced in the deepest part of the Cloud Sea. There is still half a year until the cloud tide recedes. Unless the cloud tide recedes, we cannot enter the cloud sea. Sir probably will have to wait for a half year. If Sir needs it, you may want to leave behind an address. If there is merchandise, our store will inform you as soon as possible.”

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but show disappointment. His brow furrowed, “Cloud tide?”

Shang Wei Ming did not forget his duties as a guide and hurriedly explained, “The Cloud Sea will have a cloud tide every two years. During the cloud tide, the cloud sea will become extremely unstable. It is very dangerous to enter the cloud sea in this time so there usually aren’t any that enter the cloud sea.”

“Let’s go to some place else to search,” Zuo Mo was disappointed but did not show it on his face and said faintly.

The shopkeeper smiled and said with slight pride. “Customer, please do not waste your efforts. This one will say something which is not a boast, if you cannot buy it at this store, you definitely cannot buy it at any other store in Cloud Sea Jie. You may ask Mister Shang about this, he should know it well.”

A painful look flashed through Shang Wei Ming’s eyes. He suppressed it and gritted, “Yes!”

The shopkeeper smiled and did not speak any further.

Zuo Mo noticed Shang Wei Ming’s abnormal change but he could also see that Shang Wei Ming did not lie. He was disappointed. However, he quickly sorted out his emotions. It seemed they would have to stay awhile in Cloud Sea Jie. They could look around. If that didn’t work, they might have to make a trip into the cloud sea.

But his original plan had been to settle down in Cloud Sea Jie. This place was poor and remote, hard to travel to, and was far from the front lines. Kun Lun’s attention would not be focused on this place. He also found that sword xiu were not at an advantage in Cloud Sea Jie. It was clear that this did not belong to Kun Lun’s influence.

Cloud Sea Jie was a pretty good place to rest.

At this time, he suddenly heard a female voice behind him. “Hey, isn’t this Shang Wei Ming? Tsk tsk, coming here again to sell something? Wait, this miss remembers that you sold all your assets. Did you dig out something good from your home? Let this miss take a look. If this miss likes it, this miss will bestow you some food!”

The cruel and harsh words caused Shang Wei Ming’s face to flush instantly with blood, his hands unconsciously balling together.

Zuo Mo turned around. A startling beautiful female entered his view. She had high brows, thin lips and a high nose. Her face was filled with disdain as she looked down at Shang Wei Ming with a faintly discernable smile on her mouth.

The female raised her head high as she strode light. The rings and pendants she wore chimed gently. When those shopkeepers saw her, their attitudes were respectful as they bowed. “Miss Ren!”

Miss Ren did not seem to hear them. Her attitude did not change at all. Walking in front of Shang Wei Ming, she examined him and said with a slight smile, “This Miss has just been wondering why you couldn’t be found. So you found a job as a guide. Tsk tsk, The Old Shang Family that was so high-flying in the past has fallen so. Really causes this Miss to feel heartsore. Seeing you today, how can this Miss not do anything?”

“Ren Qing, do not go overboard!” Shang Wei Ming’s face was entirely red as his knuckles cracked.

“Go overboard? Haha! These two words are so appropriate! I like to go overboard” She turned to face Zuo Mo. “Please, sir, be generous and let him go. Sir can pick any fourth-grade talisman.”

She then turned to face the shopkeeper, “Put it on this Miss’ tab.”

“Yes!” the shopkeeper said respectfully.

Zuo Mo raised his hand and said coldly, “Wait!”

“Is sir not even going to give some face to Ren Qing?” Ren Qing’s face as frosty.

Zuo Mo’s expression did not waver. “I have hired Brother Shang, he is not a slave. This one does not have the right to trade him.”

Ren Qing’s expression lessened slightly. “Then what does Sir mean?”

Zuo Mo faintly said, “This has to be Brother Shang’s own wishes. If Brother Shang nods his head, this one has nothing to say. There’s no need for the fourth-grade talisman, just return my guide fee to me.”

Ren Qing smiled brightly. “So that’s how it is, easy.”

Finishing, she turned and walked in front of Shang Wei Ming, smiling like a flower, “Shang Wei Ming, make a sound.”

Shang Wei Ming felt the anger burning inside his chest as he gritted. “Ren, don’t even think about it!”

Slap!

A loud slap landed on his face!

Shang Wei Ming’s mind blanked. In this instant, unprecedented humiliation washed over him. His eyes instantly turned around, tendons bulging on his fists as he prepared to fight for his life!

Ren Qing still had a smile that was full of disdain. “Your son is much more talented than you, almost at ningmai. This miss heard that he is at the Clear Mountain Sword Sect. Do you want to ruin his future? Do you need me to go make a visit?”

Shang Wei Ming forcibly stopped his motion. He felt as though he was in a glacier, his eyes shooting out anger and hatred. He seemed to squeeze through his teeth, “What do you really want to do?”

Pia!

Ren Qing reversed her hand for another slap!

“To do? Haha! This Miss just wants to find amusement out of you! How powerful was the Old Shang Family back in the day, almost suffocating my Ren Family. Now that this Miss can find amusement from Shang Wei Ming, this Miss is happy!”

“You … …”

Pia!

Another slap!

“Don’t dodge, stand still! Don’t forget about your son!”

Shang Wei Ming seemed to be struck by lightning. Like a wooden puppet, he stayed motionless.

Zuo Mo finally couldn’t stand aside. A thread of dislike appeared between his brows. He stepped forward. “Enough! Killing someone is just causing their head to drop to the floor, no matter how great the grievances were in the past, there is no need for such humiliation!”

Ren Qing’s hand stopped in the air. She turned around and said with a cold smirk. “You really did not take my good will! When I, Ren Qing, does something, when is it someone else’s turn to order me about, don’t you know the rules?”

Zuo Mo grinned and showed his clean teeth. He smiled darkly. “You’re right, we’re newcomers!”

His figure flashed and he appeared next to Ren Qing, grabbing her. She hadn’t reacted at all. He smiled viciously. “Little girl you are really evil at heart! Rules? Let ye teach you rules!”

Finishing, he started to strike at her face from right to left without any mercy.

The shopkeepers of the Cloud Pavilion instantly paled and exploded.

“Stop!”

“Stop now!”

“You will all die!”

The guards of the Cloud Pavilion charged in upon seeing this.

A cold snort suddenly exploded next to their years like a clap of thunder. Their ears rang. Some guards of weaker cultivation instantly bled from their mouth, their faces terrified.

Beside Xie Shan, Zong Ru’s palms were pressed together, his eyes closed. He disliked Ren Qing’s maliciousness, and he did not give mercy when using this Attainment Thunder.

There was shock on everyone’s faces, and they became even more panicked.

“Formation! Activate the formation!”

“Ask for aid from Elder Xu!”

“My heavens!”

Zuo Mo didn’t even look at the panicking guards. He did not use ling power or the mo physique as he sent out a string of slaps. Looking at the completely transformed Ren Qing, he felt he had vented his anger, and felt unspeakably good.

The pitiful Ren Qing’s pretty face was now swollen, green and purple, her hair disheveled.  From when Zuo Mo started to act, she didn’t even have the time to shout.

Her eyes showed deep hatred and maliciousness as though she wanted to swallow Zuo Mo!

But what kind of vicious people hadn’t Zuo Mo encountered? He wouldn’t place any importance on a little character like this. He held Ren Qing’s neck as though he was holding a fowl waiting for slaughter. He smiled viciously and said, “In the future, don’t let ye see you. Ye’ll hit you each time ye sees you!”

At this time, the smooth gold starshine stone below everyone’s feet started to light up with formation scripts!

Chapter 442: Women Like You

Shang Wei Ming looked at the formation scripts that were lighting up in succession and paled dramatically. He hurried to remind Zuo Mo’s group. “Run! Careful of the formation!”

Shang Wei Ming felt his death was nearing, since events had escalated to such a degree. But he knew these people intended to help him. However, they did not know the power of the Ren Clan in Xu Ling City.

With Ren Qing’s temper and personality, after such a humiliation, they would not be able to escape death!

“You cannot escape! Release Miss Ren immediately, we will give you a road to life!” a shopkeeper said sternly to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo and the others felt an invisible power restrain them as though there were little mountains on their backs. The jade pendants hanging from the waists of the Cloud Pavilion guards and shopkeepers exuded faint lights. Their movements were not affected at all.

The guards and shop-keeper quickly resumed their normal expressions. The store formation had been set up by an expert knowledgeable in formations. Their minimum requirement was that it was able to withstand a blow of jingdan xiuzhe.

Even though these daring people were powerful, but with the big formation activated, they could not fly even if they had wings!

“You cannot escape! I will slice you all thousands of times! And not die in peace!” Ren Qing shrieked as though she was crazy!

Without another word, Zuo Mo sent out another string of blows to the point that Ren Qing was seeing gold stars. Her eyes showing terror, she finally remembered that she was still in the hands of this terrifying person.

Zuo Mo’s anger dissipated slightly after giving the blows. He snorted coldly. “You really asked for this! You can’t behave if you aren’t hit!”

Ren Qing shook, and closed her mouth in terror. The male was young, his appearance was not evil, but the killing intent that he had just exuded made her shiver.

Shang Wei Ming’s face became purple. In front of the big formation, his low cultivation was like paper.

Gongsun Cha had the protection of Zong Ru and didn’t feel it.

Zuo Mo saw Shang Wei Ming’s state out of the corner of his eye and shouted, “Old Xie, the third lamp pillar on your right, destroy it!”

He had noticed these lamp pillars when he entered the store. This kind of store definitely had formations. This was strange. Being alert to the surroundings and not allowing himself to be placed in danger was now Zuo Mo’s instinct.

Hands already itching, a rainbow sword energy left Xie Shan’s hands without a word. Like cutting tofu, he sliced through the third lamp pillar on his right.

Everyone felt their bodies loosen.

“The sixth one behind you!”

“Third row in front of your feet, the fourth tile on the left.”

Zuo Mo’ s calm orders followed each other. Every time Xie Shan’s sword energy landed, the power of the big formation lessened a fraction. Under the terrified gazes of the Cloud Pavilion guards and shopkeepers, the big formation that was impenetrable in their hearts was continuously weakened under the other’s blows until the last thread of formation scripts on the gold starshine tiles dimmed and the big formation was completely destroyed.

With all the pressure relieved, Shang Wei Ming was like a dead fish, fainting away on the ground.

Just as the guards and shopkeepers felt hopeless, a guard coincidentally saw a familiar figure. He seemed to have grabbed hold of a lifeline and shouted, “Elder Xu! Elder Xu! Save us!”

———

In the shadow, Xu Zheng Wei’s steps paused as he thought, this was bad!

Truthfully, he had arrived long ago, but seeing the other disassemble the formation so easily, thoughts of retreat formed! Even though he would receive a tribute from the Cloud Pavilion each month and he had agreed to help, but he definitely would not do something for the Cloud Pavilion that would result in losing his life!

This crowd of idiots! Were they blind? Why did they have to provoke a crowd of lawless and murderous brutes!

Xu Zheng Wei was not an ignorant person. These people had moved crisply and cleanly. This kind of murderous decisiveness was unable to be achieved by people that had not killed before!

No matter what, he definitely did not want to have this kind of trouble!

Just as he was preparing to flee, a guard had seen him. He instantly landed in a dilemma! If he left, it wouldn’t be good if it spread that he had taken the other’s tribute and didn’t help. If he didn’t go and really faced this group of lawless brutes, then his old bones were not enough.

After fighting internally, Elder Xu still stood out.

“Everyone, please stop! This old man is not the owner of this store but is familiar with this owner. This one will have a thick face and give apologies. Everyone, please give some face, and resolve this peacefully!”

Elder Xu’s words said with a humble attitude caused the guards that had been preparing to shout “Elder Xu, help capture these people” to gape. The store instantly became silent.

Elder Xu was a jindan xiuzhe … …

The same thought flashed through everyone’s minds. They were suspicious that their eyes were working! Elder Xu who was usually proud, calm and ethereal was really the same person as this Elder Xu who was bowing his back humbly with a smile on his face?

This old man was a jindan!

The same thought flashed through the minds of Zuo Mo and his group. This Cloud Pavilion had some power. It had the protection of a jindan!

Even though Wei Sheng and the others were all jindan and Zuo Mo had even killed Song Yuan, a Kun Lun jindan disciple, he was not willing to lightly start a battle with another jindan.

There wasn’t any one simple who could cultivate to jindan.

Compared to the seriousness of Zuo Mo and the others, Elder Xu who had a smile on his face felt his heart beat wildly and was astounded! Other than one person whose cultivation was very weak, and the other was definitely not a jindan, he could not see the depth of cultivation of the other three!

This was a very dangerous sign!

Either the other’s power was higher than his, or the other was cultivating an unusual spell! No matter which one it was, it was dangerous for him! He couldn’t help but celebrate that he had kept his attitude extremely humble.

The common saying was that one did not slap a smiling face. He, Xu Zheng Wei, was also a jindan. Placing his own self-pride so low, the other would be embarrassed to attack.

As expected, the enmity of the group decreased but at this time, a familiar voice interrupted the easing situation!

“Grandpa Xu! Save me! Save Qing’er”

He saw a female with a swollen face and loose hair struggling on the hand of the leader! Back then in the shadow, Xu Zheng Wei had seen it clearly. This young person was the decision-maker of the group, and one of those he could not perceive the power of!

Elder Xu stilled and looked in disbelief at the completely changed Ren Qing. “Qing’er? You are Qing’er?”

“Wuu-wuu-wuu! Grandpa Xu, save Qing’er!”

Mentally strained, Ren Qing started to cry.

Learning that Zuo Mo was holding Ren Qing, Elder Xu instantly understood. How couldn’t he know Ren Qing’s arrogance? It definitely was that Ren Qing had provoked the other and resulted in her being disciplined!

He could see that the other had had mercy. Ren Qing’s hair was loose, her face bruised but she was not heavily injured. The other definitely had not used ling power. Otherwise, Ren Qing wouldn’t be alive.

Elder Xu felt a great headache. He didn’t hold any good feelings for Ren Qing’s difficult personality. However, he still had to consider Ren Qing’s elders. The reason that Ren Qing could be so arrogant in Xu Ling City had a direct connection with her overprotective elders, who had strange personalities!

If he stood aside today, those old people would definitely make trouble for him tomorrow!

This was terrible!

Elder Xu felt bitter inside. He raised his folded hands and said sincerely, “Little brothers, this old man is acquainted with the elders of this girl. Little girl doesn’t understand worldly matters. Today’s events are a lesson for her. Please, raise your hands and let her go.”

Zuo Mo hadn’t planned on taking Ren Qing’s little life. Seeing Xu Zheng Wei’s sincere attitude, he nodded and said easily, “Okay!”

As he spoke, he waved his hand and Ren Qing flew towards Elder Xu.

Elder Xu hurriedly raised a hand and received Ren Qing!

When Ren Qing landed, her eyes became red. Pointing at Zuo Mo’s group, she shrieked, “Grandpa Xu! Kill them! Kill them all!”

Elder Xu’s expression changed. He hadn’t expected Ren Qing to be so idiotic that  she could not understand the situation. The other group’s expressions became unfriendly and showed hints of killing intent.

He smiled awkwardly and said, “So sorry! Little child is still shocked, sorry! The lesson today is good for her!”

Xu Zheng Wei’s words caused the expressions of Zuo Mo’s group to ease again.

But at this time, a dark voice suddenly sounded at this time, “When was it someone else’s turn to lecture a child of our Ren Family?”

Xu Zheng Wei’s expression changed!

Three old people walked in through the door. All of them had white hair and beards, their expressions dark. The moment that Zuo Mo had grabbed Ren Qing, she had secretly torn apart the Lifesaving Seal. The three had received Ren Qing’s request for aid, paled and hurried over.

When Ren Qing saw the three old people, she cried as she fell into the embrace of the leader.

“Grandpa! Grandpa!”

The leading old person warmly comforted her, “Qing’er, don’t cry, Grandpa will settle the score for you!”

Ren Qing raised her head, a poisonous light flashing in her eyes as she ground her teeth. “I want them all dead! All of them dead!”

“Qing’er, rest your heart,” another old person spoke, “Second Grandpa promises none of them will live past today.”

“Dare to bully our Ren Family, you have guts!” The Third Ren was brimming with killing intent.

Ren Qing’s eyes were vicious. She pointed at Shang Wei Ming and said, “That is Shang Wei Ming from the Old Shang Family! Don’t kill him, I want to slowly sort him out!”

Shang Wei Ming’s face was ashen. He knew it would be hard to escape this calamity!

“Yes, as long as you are happy, anything for you!” Eldest Grandpa was peerlessly benevolent.

“And his son that’s at Clear Mountain Sword Sect!” Ren Qing said poisonously.

“Yes, we’ll definitely capture him for Qing’er!”

Shang Wei Ming felt a thunder clap over his head, his thoughts ended!

Ren Qing showed a cruel smile. “I want … …”

At this moment, Zuo Mo and the others suddenly disappeared.

The faces of the three Ren Family elders changed. Eldest Grampa’s reaction was not slow. He pushed and Ren Qing was shielded behind his back.

A void sword essence, a rainbow sword essence, and a dense fist essence appeared!

Each instantly locked onto one of the three people!

The three felt their hairs stand up!

At the same time, a faint gold figure flashed behind the three people.

Ren Qing’s voice suddenly stopped, her cruel smile freezing on her face. She heard the crack of a bone in her neck, and then she found the angle of her vision become extremely strange. Before she was swallowed by the tide of darkness, she managed to make out words.

“For women like you, it’s better for you to die.”

Chapter 443: Collision

No one had expected Zuo Mo would take the opportunity to make a sneak attack!

Xu Zheng Wei’s head rang. Looking at Ren Qing’s strangely angled neck, he was stunned. The other’s viciousness and decisiveness was far beyond his predictions. He had never thought that this conflict would directly become a battle to the death!

With the protective personalities of the Three Ren Elders and their affection for Ren Qing, there was only one conclusion of this situation, it would end in a battle to the death!

This group of young people, with unknown origins, had used a crisp and clean sneak attack to show their determination to fight and their fearlessness.

After the amazement was endless panic.

The three jindan of the Ren family were very famous in Xu Ling City. Even Xu Ling Sect gave them some face. Xu Zheng Wei was also a jindan but he knew his strength was not a match for these three unreasonable people

Xu Zheng Wei suddenly been placed in a very awkward position.

It was not good to provoke the three Ren elders, but this young group of unknown origins were not friendly either. The young grouper wasn’t afraid of the three Ren elders at all. Adding on that he could not clearly determine their strength, he didn’t dare to move. If he remained neutral and the Ren family was defeated it would be fine, but if the Ren Family won then his days would not be easy. With the temperment of the three Ren Elders, they would definitely make trouble for him in the future.

In an instant, countless thoughts spun in Xu Zheng Wei’s mind.

Seeing their granddaughter die in front of them, the three old men glared angrily, their eyes instantly turned red. They shouted in anger and, in unison, went all out!

A green color quickly spread over the body of the Elder Ren. His entire face became black green and his old features seemed to have the texture of bark. His skin also became very coarse. A thick wood element power rose! When the green color reached his head, his black green hair grew at astounding speed, becoming thumb-thick green vines. The green vines danced wildly on the head like green snakes furiously twisting their bodies!

Pia pia pia!

The dancing green vines whipped towards Wei Sheng’s sword essence.

These crisp green vines were unusually strong. When they collided with Wei Sheng’s sword essence, it created metallic sounds and sparks flew!

A layer of white water mist shrouded Second Ren’s body. His entire body became transparent, his figure quickly merging into the water. In a brief interval, he had became a transparent person made of water.

Facing Zong Ru’s dense fist essence, the water person’s shape changed. He turned to a thin stream of water, and like a snake, dodging at a strange angle!

Third Ren was completely covered in a ball of fire. The burning flames sprouted from his body. The gold starshine rock under his feet started to melt and his skin started to peel.

When Xie Shan’s sword essence approached near the flames on Third Ren’s body, they burst into sparks!

After his successful attack on Ren Qing, Zuo Mo returned to stand next to Gongsun Cha. He saw the three old men attacking and his heart instantly shook!

These were roaming xiu!

These three old men were roaming xiu!

Roaming xiu was a very broad category. Usually, xiuzhe other than sword xiu, seal xiu, and dhyana xiu all other xiu were categorized as roaming xiu. Among the roaming xiu, the most common were five element roaming xiu. The five elements were easy to learn but were hard to master. But if one reached a stage of mastery, there were many wondrous powers! There were many five element spells on the market, and so roaming xiu that cultivated the five elements were the most common.

The three Ren Family elders all cultivated one element and they had all reached a profound level!

It was extraordinary when they attacked!

The power that the three Ren Family elders showed also caused Xu Zheng Wei’s expression to change! These three’s reputations were not insubstantial as they had dominated Xu Ling City for so long! In the past, Xu Zheng Wei only knew that these three old people were hard to deal with. He hadn’t thought that they were so powerful!

This really was a dilemma! What to do … … Xu Zheng Wei groaned inside.

———

Zuo Mo was shocked but he was not too nervous. He looked warily at Xu Zheng Wei whose expression was changing. Gongsun Shidi’s skill at command was powerful, but his individual combat abilities were almost nothing. Any average guard could kill him. Having made a successful strike, Zuo Mo had instantly returned to guard Gongsun Shidi to prevent the battle from affecting Shidi.

The anger in Zuo Mo’s heart had been vented through personally ending that despicable woman’s life. He calmly watched the fight.

———

Xie Shan and the other two reacted differently facing the increasing presences of their opponents.

Seeing his sword essence easily defeated, Xie Shan coldly snorted. The Paired Mirage sword disappeared from his hand. Two light hums sounded in the air, one deep and thick and the other one high pitched, both shot into the sky!

Following them were two rainbow lights that were twisted together. With soul-shaking howls, they shot at Third Ren!

———

Zong Ru’s expression did not change when his punch missed. His eyes were still half-lidded like before, his expression dignified, but the blood lotus flower on his forehead became brighter as though it was dripping in fresh blood.

Behind him, a faint shadow appeared.

Dragon-Elephant Attainment!

The shadow gradually became one with Zong Ru. Zong Ru’s dhyana robes moved despite there being no wind, they were flapping hard. When the closed eyes slowly opened, they were empty of any emotion, and the blood lotus on his forehead was like a furious flame.

Raising his hand to deliver a punch, a very normal and average punch!

———

In terms of presence, the most shocking was still Wei Sheng!

Seeing the other’s twisting green vines easily destroy his sword essence, Wei Sheng did not show any timidity. His tiger like eyes suddenly lit up, the desire for battle exploding in his chest! After breaking through to jindan, and occasionally sparring with Zuo Mo, he had never truly fought a hard battle!

Because there were no suitable opponents!

The battle desire that had accumulated for so long erupted like a volcano, and caused Wei Sheng’s blood to boil.

Without even drawing the black sword, his right foot suddenly stepped forward, his figure bending slightly forward as though he was a sword leaving the sheath!

Void sword essence shot into the sky!

The presence of void and emptiness came like the darkness of night. With Wei Sheng as the center, it noiselessly spread into the surroundings and swallowed everything!

Everyone felt their vision blur and it appeared as though they were situated in an void realm.

There was no sound, no light, only endless void, an empty void of death!

Wei Sheng’s sword essence had enveloped everyone into it!

Zuo Mo also jumped in fright. Eldest Shixiong had lost himself in battle! He hurriedly grabbed Gongsun Cha and Shang Wei Ming, and his figure retreated rapidly. He had moved more than ten zhang before everything in his vision became normal again.

Woah! When Eldest Shixiong went crazy, it really was scary!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the old man that was facing Eldest Shixiong. Sighing, he could not form any jealousy. No one knew better than him how Eldest Shixiong’s terrifying strength had been achieved. That was truly accumulation  in dots and rips, gradually progressing from nothing to some to many, there was no short-cuts in this!

Zuo Mo knew that he could not do what Eldest Shixiong could!

———

Xie Shan’s eyelids twitched rapidly as he was amazed inside!

Wei Sheng and he were both jindan, the other was also younger than him, but he was still respectful to Teacher Wei. Teacher Wei’s skill on the path of the sword was unfathomable, enough to make him feel respect, but he had never seen Teacher Wei attack with his full power!

Due to Wei Sheng’s sword, Zong Ru’s cold and indifferent eyes suddenly was rippled indiscernibly!

Since they reacted so, the three Ren Family elder’s reactions could be imagined. All of them paled! Their heads rang out. They knew they had kicked a metal board this time!

“To take revenge for Qing’er!” Eldest Ren took a deep breath and roared angrily.

To be able to cultivate to jindan and lead the Ren Family for decades, he was not a weak person. It was just that he had spoiled Ren Qing far too much that this calamity had landed on their heads. But facing such an astounding sword essence, he finally recovered his calmness.

They were pressed to a situation of life and death. The Ren Family was pressed to a situation of life and death. If they were pushed another step, it would mean they would be crushed! This was for the three of them, and also for the Ren Family!

His angry shout was perfectly timed. Second Ren and Third Ren whose presences were stopped thought of their beloved granddaughter dying right in front of them. The two old men’s anger exploded again, and so did their presences!

All in!

The three elders attacked together rather than retreat!

The green of Eldest Ren’s body grew a fraction. His entire person was like an ancient tree, countless green branches sprouting out of his body into the ground. In front of these green vines, the hard gold starshine rock was like tofu and easily pierced.

Earth energy flowed along the green vines rooted in the deep ground and continuously entered Eldest Ren’s body.

Hiss hiss hiss!

As though numerous snakes were spitting, those furiously dancing green vines left behind green marks of light in the air!

The green marks criss-crossed, and a formation instantly formed!

Green sprouts came out of the ground. At an amazing rate, they grew, produced leaves, flowers bloomed and bore fruit!

In a blink, the ground was carpeted in a layer of flora. It was like a forest floor bed, bursting with endless vitality, teeming with life. The flowers gradually withered, the petals danced in the air, the leaves falling off their branches and flying everywhere! The fruits on the trees cracked open, seeds shooting everywhere to burrow into the ground and start a new cycle of furious growth.

Life without rest!

Flower petals and leaves continuously flew through the air. In a short while, the air was filled with leaves and flower petals. They danced and spun, spreading everywhere and continuously migrated towards the deepest parts of the void!

But at the same time, countless plants, flowers, and leaves were withering at an astounding rate and turning to nothingness!

This was a struggle between death and vitality!

Zuo Mo’s expression became serious. This dislikable old man had such deep skill in the wood element!

Wood was the primary element for life!

This was the strongest attribute of the wood element, but was also the hardest attribute to comprehend! Zuo Mo suddenly recalled back when he was at the end of the prison-breaking battle of Vast Water Clear Skies and was facing that vast vitality. He couldn’t help but shudder.

Death and life were like twins, and were one of the most basic powers.

Eldest Shixiong’s void sword essence was the sword of death and nothingness. The other’s wood element spell was the category of spell where it was easiest to comprehend the attribute of life. Wood element spells were not famed for their power but was the perfect for subduing Eldest Shixiong’s void sword essence!

Zuo Mo did not go forward to give aid.

He believed in Eldest Shixiong!

From the time he had first read Eldest Shixiong’s reflections on cultivation, he began to believe in Eldest Shixiong, trusting in this hardy, strong, and unusually persistent Eldest Shixiong. An individual who was willing to be a servant to search for the path of the sword, to hunt monkey swarms alone to comprehend sword essence!

In Zuo Mo’s view, the worldly apparition that Eldest Shixiong had caused at his zhuji was not the proof of Eldest Shixiong’s shocking talent, but the reward the heavens had given him, the reward for persisting and searching through hardship but remaining as determined as when he hard first started! A reward for forgetting himself and accumulating wounds! A reward for his days and nights of toiling labour!

How could an Eldest Shixiong like this be defeated?

He was a man that was like iron!

Chapter 444: Xie Shan’s Ling Power

There was no graveness to Zuo Mo’s demeanor, only calmness.

He hadn’t wanted to interfere in the conflict between Shang Wei Ming and Ren Qing. He only decided to act when he really couldn’t bear Ren Qing’s actions any longer. But he had only intended to give the other a lesson with his reprimands. However, when the three Ren Family elders appeared, Ren Qing’s words and the completely unreasonable protectiveness of the three old men made it clear to Zuo Mo what would happen next.

Resolve the dispute in peace, to believe that was naïve.

Battles of blood had already hardened Zuo Mo into a person who did not hesitate, so the moment his hands moved he had killed Ren Qing. Since the two sides were drawing their weapons to fight, then he would uproot the entire plant and not leave any roots behind!

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, this wasn’t some private conflict, this was a battle.

In battle, if it was not your death, then it was mine!

Even if they defeated these people, he would order Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp to raze the Ren family! He didn’t want to leave any hidden problems behind. They were going to stay here for a long time. In Zuo Mo’s view, leaving behind a family that had enmity towards them, who wanted to take revenge, was not any different than seeking death.

In battle, any illusions of innocence and luck were the cause of death.

Zuo Mo’s relaxed expression increasingly caused Xu Zheng Wei’s heart to beat wildly. However, more of his attention was attracted by the fierce combat. It was usually rare to see battle between jindan xiuzhe.

———

It had to be said that with Eldest Ren’s skill on the wood element and adding on that he had more ling power than Wei Sheng, when he pushed, Wei Sheng instantly felt pressured.

Against Eldest Ren’s assault the endless void retreated like the tide to between Wei Sheng and Eldest Ren.

Familiar with their eldest brother, Second Ren and Third Ren’s faces changed slightly!

The purest wood element power that Big Brother usually treasured was now flooding out without any frugality! He was like a gigantic tree, a tree whose vitality was burning!

The green color flowed through the void sword essence quickly spread towards Wei Sheng, connecting the two sides.

Big Brother was going all out! No matter the result of this battle, Big Brother would have lost a large portion of his vitality!

The two were sad and furious. In unison, they released their most powerful attacks!

The fiery Third Ren started first. With a vicious laugh, his arms curved and his hands curling back as he took a strange stance.

Woosh!

A bird of fire the size of a fist flew out of the flame! This bird of fire had bright red feathers, its expression was intelligent, and every time it flapped its wings, a shower of dazzling and burning sparks fell.

The fire bird made a clear sound, then it angrily leapt at the Paired Mirage Sword that was striking down!

It suddenly opened its beak. A blinding red light accurately struck Xie Shan’s Paired Mirage Swords!

Under the attack of this red light, the unstoppable Paired Mirage Light seemed to have been struck with a paralysis seal. It was forcibly stopped in the air. That fire bird was extremely intelligent, and started to pull the Paired Mirage back.

———

When the red light struck the Paired Mirage Sword, Xie Shan seemed to have been burn by a red hot piece of metal. The thread of connection between him and the Paired Mirage Sword had became a fraction weaker.

Xie Shan’s expression became slightly ugly. Daren had bestowed upon him this Paired Mirage Sword which he treasured it. Now that it was damaged by another, his anger could be imagined!

Furious, Xie Shan’s ling power seemed to boil like water. He couldn’t help but howl. The long howl that contained ling power vibrated like thunder!

Of the jindan on Zuo Mo’s side Xie Shan was the weakest, even though he was the first to reach jindan. Even compared to Zong Ru, he was weaker, much less when compared to Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo! Zong Ru possessed the wish power that everyone feared and cultivated the wondrous [Attainment Golden Body], while the sword scripture Xie Shan cultivated was normal. Even though he also studied [Clear Sky Sword Scripture], it was not exactly suited for him so he had not gained much.

But there was one quality that none of the others could rival Xie Shan at, ling power! Long ago in ningmai, his ling power had reached an astonishing one hundred and eighty jing! He almost broke through jindan just through the accumulation of ling power. No one had expected that this seemingly stupid method that relied on accumulation had given him a great benefit when he broke into jindan!

That was ling power!

He had close to two hundred jing of ling power when he made his jindan breakthrough which allowing his breakthrough process to be a smooth one. As his cultivation stage increased, his ling power furiously increased!

This astounding increase continued for a long time. Even now, the rate had slowed but it still steadily increased!

What no one also knew was that the amount of ling power in Xie Shan’s body was eight hundred jing!

Compared to the past, it was more than four times!

The maximum amount of ling power for a first stratum jindan was one thousand jing. Xie Shan’s cultivation was almost at the top of a first stratum jindan! Just having broken through to jindan and already nearing second stratum, not many would believe it if word spread.

The eight hundred jing of ling power meant that he was the only one that did not lose out in terms of cultivation against these three old men!

The three Ren Family Elders had been famed for many years, and had broken through to jindan decades ago. Eldest Ren’s cultivation even reached second stratum jindan. His ling power was so abundant that, normally, it wasn’t something that these juniors who just entered jindan could compete with! Yet who would have thought that Xie Shan who had forcibly entered jindan based on the abundance of his ling power was this kind of freak!

The Paired Mirage Sword, that was restrained by the stream fire that the firebird was sprouting, lit up. It suddenly twisted and tore out of the fire bird’s restraint!

The fire bird was also very intelligent. Seeing the Paired Mirage Sword, it let out a call, its wings flapping and crashed towards the Paired Mirage Sword like a flash of fire.

At this time, the Paired Mirage Sword was like a serpent freed from its cage. The light released from the sword continuously increased!

In a blink, the two flying swords were shrouded in a dazzling and blinking light. They were like two balls of light that were entwining in the air! Due to the strength of the light, even the multi-colored light became as white as the sun.

The flying swords were vibrating, caused by the ling power flooding in. Xie Shan’s body was also uncontrollably shaking. Fury, excitement, and other feelings were mixed together and caused Xie Shan to grin.

Since his other moves would not work, then he would just fight based on ling power!

A dark and vicious smile on his face, insanity and fierceness flashed through Xie Shan’s eyes!

The vicious light in Third Ren’s eyes rose. He snickered, “You want to compete on ling power? You’re seeking death!”

He spread his arms out and did not hold back any bit of ling power!

This young person wanted to compete based on ling power with him? He had never seen anyone more stupid! Third Ren decided to burn this person into ashes with this one move!

The flame over his body grew with a woosh. Even his face was covered by the thick flames. Talismans that were of lower quality on his body could not withstand such a high temperature and were melted and burned to ashes by the flames!

“Firebird Barrage!”

The words were said slowly as though they took all the power he had to pushed out the words!

Pew!

A fire bird came out!

Following right after it was another fire bird!

At an astounding rate, fire birds appeared one after another. With so many flying out of the flames, it was as though there were countless birds hidden within the flames!

When a fire bird came out of the flame, they flapped their wings and like a dash of fire, and shot at the Paired Mirage Sun, that was floating like a miniature sun in the sky!

In an instant!

The fire birds were like rain!

Covering the sky and hiding the sun!

Sparks scattered downwards. Even the air was ignited, explosions ringing in the air! When the sparks landed on the gold starshine rock, they created wisps of green smoke with a pop and little holes appeared on the tile.

The starshine rock that had been smooth like glass had instantly became pockmarked with numerous little dots.

Xie Shan was not afraid!

Having survived that hell-like battlefield, Xie Shan’s heart was as hard as stone. Even if a blade was right at his eyes, his heart would not shake at all!

As the fire birds covered the sky and filled his vision. The boiling ling power caused the objects in his view to become slightly twisted!

He was not affected at all.

Boil! My ling power!

He seemed to murmur as though he was talking in his dreams. The eight hundred jing of ling power inside his body was like burning lava that rampaged and flowed within the little flying swords.

The flying swords seemed to hear his words, vibrating and humming to respond to him.

Xie Shan had never felt that he had such power, and also never felt so weak before!

There wasn’t a drop of ling power left in his body at all!

If one looked closely, they would find that there were other lights mixed within the two little miniature suns. The hair-thin gold light was [Gold Strands], the faint mist that was like the rainbow after rain was [Rainbow Mist]!

The four formation techniques on the Pair Mirage Sword were all activated!

The two blinding miniature suns merged into one and became an even more blinding ball of light!

Xie Shan gazed at Third Ren within the fire, grinned, and then his expression became stern!

“Break!”

The shout that did not have ling power behind it and did not seem to be a threat at all.

But this shout that had no presence caused everyone’s hearts to shake simultaneously.

A ruler-straight beam of light shot forth!

A blinding white light beam that seemed to have been drawn with a ruler!

The light penetrated the fire birds covering the sky and into the flames!

Time seemed to stop in this moment. The fire birds flying in the sky paused briefly!

A passage with the thickness of a wrist formed cut through the dense crowd of fire birds. Dozens of fire birds only had half a body left as they froze in the air.

The flames were burning, still hissing and cracking.

Above the flame, a hole the size of a wrist had a smooth opening. Through the hole, it was possible to see the pitted floor tiles.

Pia!

Suddenly, one of the fire birds that only had half a body left turned into a ball of flame!

Pia, another fire bird also followed in exploding into a ball of flame.

These two fire birds that exploded was like the sparks thrown into a barrel of dynamite!

Boom!

Countless blinding balls of fire red lit up. All of the fire birds exploded together. The tongues of flame instantly swallowed up the position of both combatants!

Boom!

Another enormous explosion came from the flames!

From between the explosions came a faintly gold figure. Zuo Mo’s face was covered in dust and disheveled. Being held in his hands was a barely breathing Xie Shan!

Escaping from his death, Xie Shan did not seem terrified. He murmured gently, “So exhilarating!”

He then said to himself, “Idiot, don’t you know that ge’s flying swords are fifth-grade?”

Xie Shan’s vision darkened and he fainted. Unconsciousness, Xie Shan still tightly held onto the two little golden swords.

Chapter 445: Ren Cloud Island

Bam!

A glowing snake-like stream of water flowed at high speed suddenly exploded against the wall. The stream of water instantly turned into countless beads of water that scattered in all directions.

The water that splashed on the ground squirmed as though they were alive moving along the floor. The water drops quickly gathered in one location. In a short time, they had once again merged into a figure made out of water.

Second Ren was amazed. The power of this man was deep! When this man punched, there was no fist energy, no sound, it was calm and ordinary. But no matter how he dodged, he could not avoid it. When the fist struck his body, his body would be scattered!

But if it was just that, he would not be afraid. Water was shapeless. No matter how strong the other’s punches were, even if it could scatter his body into tiny beads of water, he could gather himself back together without taking any damage. He had defeat many opponents by relying on  this undying method.

But the other’s fists were very strange. Each time his body was destroyed, there would be a strange power that entered into his body. This power was as thin as a hair, it was strange and unpredictable. He had never seen it before. This caused him to have a foreboding feeling.

Even worse was that he could not get near the other at all. The other’s fists were terrifyingly accurate. None of his punches would miss. The shock that Second Ren felt could be imagined. He knew how agile he was, as any flying swords that were slightly slower than him could not hit him.

This young dhyana xiu in front of him was not simple!

Second Ren stared tightly at his opponent, killing intent spreading inside. He made a decision. Even at the cost of being wounded, he had to kill this person!

There had never been a person that dared to step on the Ren Family’s pride so! There had never been a person who dared to harm one hair on  a member of the Ren Family!

Thinking about how Ren Qing had died, Ren Yu felt great sorrow! He and his two brothers only had this one granddaughter. Now even this granddaughter was killed!

They should die!

All of these people should die!

The water essence on his body circulated unusually smoothly. The [Crooked Water Channeling Spell] that he had cultivated for many years, now showed signs of a breakthrough. But Second Ren did not feel any joy at all. There was only one thought in his mind, kill the other person!

At this time, he suddenly heard an enormous explosion coming from Third Ren’s direction. There was a rolling red ball of fire. His chest suddenly felt great pain!

Third Brother was dead!

Second Ren looked away staring angrily at the explosion and fiercely roared like a wild animal!

“Go die!”

Suddenly, his body froze, his expression solidifying on his face. The water that shrouded his body stopped flowing. Slender threads resembling blood appeared on the surface of his water.

His vision quickly became blurred, and the sound of battle became distant to him.

His mind started to blur!

The blood threads that had spread like a spider web  across his body suddenly lit up.

Pew!

The ball of water turned to a ball of white mist and rose up. When the water mist dissipated, there was nothing left at that spot.

The indifference and emptiness in Zong Ru’s eyes quickly faded. He panted lightly, and a indiscernible expression of exhaustion appeared at his brow. He sighed inside. He was really too weak still. He couldn’t even tolerate the preliminary stage of Attainment Golden Body. However, what really had been effective just now was wish power. If it wasn’t for his wish power, he most likely would not have defeated Second Ren.

He flew next to Zuo Mo and without speaking, he closed his eyes and started to recover.

———

In a blink, two of the three Ren Family elders were killed. Xu Zheng Wei’s face paled in shock.

What were those strange lines of blood?

Xu Zheng Wei’s heart felt cold. He rejoiced that he had not helped the three Ren Family elders just now. Looking at the present situation, the Ren Family was going to be finished. Even though Eldest Ren was still in a stand-off with that young sword xiu, but there was still one person on the other side that had not acted yet. The conclusion was clear.

He didn’t know where this group of outrageously powerful young people that was had sprouted out of. Each of them was deep in power. Greatly impacted, Xu Zheng Wei’s mind worked rapidly. He didn’t have any sympathy for the fall of the Ren Family. The Ren Family was usually arrogant and ostentatious.

He wondered if these young people were going to settle down here for the long term or were they just passing by. If they were settling down for the long term, the power balance of Xu Ling City was going to change!

Having lived for a long time in Xu Ling City, Xu Zheng Wei knew as long as it was not outrageous, Xu Ling Sect would not act.

He decided if the other was going to settle down, then he definitely had to make a good connection with the other. He didn’t worry about the Cloud Pavilion. With his understanding of the young master of the Cloud Pavilion, the other would not be so stupid to become enemies with such a powerful group of lawless brutes of unknown origins.

Just as Xu Zheng Wei was thinking, the situation changed again.

Wei Sheng’s eyes showed a hint of disappointment. He shook his head gently. “Pity.”

As he finished speaking, he raised his head. Without any sound, the void sword essence pushed against the furiously growing flora turning it into dust at an astounding rate and returning it to nothingness.

The empty sword essence destroyed the last bit of green.

The sword essence moved like a corrosive poison. It started to spread along the strong green vines. Everywhere it passed, the green vines crumbled into dust until nothing was left. Eldest Ren could not make a sound, and didn’t have the time to react. Like a statue, in front of everyone, he was swallowed by the sword essence and also turned to nothingness.

Clink!

A ring feel to the ground.

Even though he was prepared to make a good relationship with the other, Xu Zheng Wei was still shocked by the scene in front of him.

The Cloud Pavilion’s guards and shopkeepers were all pale as they shook in the corner. When they saw this group clean up the battlefield taking their spoils, as though no one else was present, their lips couldn’t help but tremble.

Such a natural display, if they were not brutes that had went through rains of blood, they would definitely not have this demeanour!

———

When Shang Wei Ming woke up, he found he was unharmed. He showed a dazed expression. When he was informed that the three Ren Family elders were killed, his head rang and his mind blanked.

Zuo Mo did not give him the time to digest it, asking straightforwardly, “Where is the Ren Family estate?”

The spoils of victory from the three Ren Family elder’s bodies were pitifully few. Other than three jade scrolls, Zuo Mo did not find any of importance or significance. Fighting against such powerful enemies, how could they not gain anything?

Mind blown, Shang Wei Ming instinctively answered, “At Ren Cloud Island.” When the words left his mouth, his mind suddenly cleared and his face changed!

So malicious!

Xu Zheng Wei’s heart also shook but he was not as shocked as Shang Wei Ming. In battles of life and death like this, the conclusion would frequently be like this.

“Ren Cloud Island?” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly asked, “How big is it?”

“Almost fifty thousand mu, it is the biggest intermediate-sized cloud island nearby!” Shang Wei Ming hurriedly answered. “Ren Cloud Island is in a good position and the flowing cloud silk that the island produces is famous in this region.”

Zuo Mo’s drool almost spilled out!

More than forty thousand mu, that was a value of more than forty thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi!

Zuo Mo, who had needed a place to settle down, immediately became excited.

“Go, go, go! Let’s go see now!”

———

The Ren Cloud Island was a flight of four hours from the main island. Zuo Mo took the Black Turtle along when he flew to the Ren Cloud Island.

When they reached Ren Cloud Island, they found that this cloud island was slightly different than other cloud islands. There were many balls of clouds floating in the sky above the cloud island. These clouds almost completely shrouded the cloud island. It was not possible to see the condition of the island.

Zuo Mo found it interesting and wanted to go near to study it.

Once he came near, these slowly moving clouds seemed to be frightened and rippled intensely. In a blink, the snowy-white clouds became inky black!

Hiss-crack!

Inside the black clouds, electrical snakes slithered and blinding lights occasionally appeared. Deep thunder could be heard inside the thick black clouds and lightening shot over.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. He hurriedly activated Light Void Wings and fled.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning with the thickness of a wrist flashed past his previous position and reflected on Zuo Mo’s pale little face.

If he was struck by such a thick bolt of lightning, then half of his little life would be gone.

At this time, everyone’s face became serious. Even Gongsun Cha’s expression was slightly ugly. To forcibly take this cloud island, they would have to pay a high price.

Shang Wei Ming hurried to remind, “Boss, use the island card!” Having escaped with his life from the hands of the Ren Family, he was very grateful to Zuo Mo. He was very clear that if he landed in the hands of Ren Qing, his fate would be worse than death. Due to his gratefulness, he tried to help all he could.

“Island card?” Zuo Mo stilled. He recalled that there was a jade card among the things he had taken from the three old men’s bodies. He hurriedly took it out.

There was a cloud engraved on the surface of the jade card. The back of the card was engraved with all kinds of formation scripts.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness swept the island card. He instantly understood. This island card was used to control the formations on the cloud island. Zuo Mo channelled ling power and shouted, “Open!”

The jade card in his hand shot out a beam of light that entered the thick cloud layer.

The black cloud layer that had been rumbling with thunder instantly quieted. The black clouds became white clouds again. The cloud layer retreated to the sides and a broad path appeared in front of them.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. He flew down first. The other people seeing the situation followed behind.

The arrival of Zuo Mo’s group caused a ruckus on the island. However, when Shang Wei Ming announced in a loud voice that the three Ren Family elders were dead, and the Ren Cloud Island had changed owners, these people calmed down. Most of them were hired workers, not servants. To them, they just changed employers. If this boss wasn’t good, they could leave.

“Daren, are we going to stay here in the future?” Lei Peng asked in a rumbling voice.

“What? Not satisfied?”

“Satisfied! Very satisfied!” Lei Peng rubbed his hands, his face full of excitement. “Staying every day in the Black Turtle, an’s bored to death! This place is both big and good … …”

Everyone was very excited. They had a new territory!

This group of battlemaniacs had a desire for territory like the desire men had towards women. They had been reluctant to part with the Golden Crow City. Then they had roamed and killed after that. Now that they finally had territory that belonged to them, the excitement they felt could be imagined.

Without waiting for Zuo Mo to speak, this group sprinted in all directions.

Zuo Mo raised his head. The sky was clear for ten thousand li. He couldn’t help but tsk in wonder. Looking at the island from the outside, there were layers of clouds blocking their view and nothing of the island could be seen. But looking from the island out, nothing was covered.

As expected, this was a good place!

Zuo Mo was very content!

Chapter 446: A Shocking Statistic

“From today onwards, this cloud island’s name is changed to Turtle Island!” Zuo Mo announced in satisfaction.

No one below responded, but they all looked at each other.

A beat later, the most daring of them, Lei Peng, weakly responded, “Daren why call this Turtle Island?”

“What? You feel this name isn’t good enough?” Zuo Mo angled a stare at him as he drawled.

“No! No!” Lei Peng hurriedly waved his hand, his face red before he said weakly, “Just that, Just that, this name … … it isn’t … … flashy?”

The other people were all distressed.

Zuo Mo snorted and said with disdain, “A thousand year tortoise, a ten thousand year turtle, ever heard this before?”

“Heard this!” People nodded their heads.

“The longer one lives, the more profit one can make,” Zuo Mo warned everyone in a meaningful tone. “Look at those flashy guys, show-offs, all of them are short-lived, why? Because they are eye-catching! What was that phrase … …”

Zuo Mo couldn’t recall it and thought with a furrowed brow.

“Say what?” The people below stretched their necks and waited for his next words.

“Oh, I remember.” Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. He spread his arms, looked at the sky and dragged his words in a tone that created goosebumps to recite with emotion. ”His outstanding figure was so dazzling among the crowd, like a sun, he was unable to be ignored!”

Everyone shuddered, their hairs standing on end.

Zuo Mo turned his head down and his gaze swept the crowd of confused people. His tone became normal as he picked out Lei Peng to ask, “If there was a person like this among the enemy, what would you do?”

“Kill him as soon as possible!” Lei Peng glared murderously.

“Why kill him first?” Zuo Mo lead him along.

“A person like this is either an expert or a leader, they have higher … … strategic value!” Lei Peng stammered out. Under Lil’ Miss’ high pressure training, learning combat tactics became a necessary class for every member of Vermillion Bird Camp. Even a rough man like Lei Peng could casually speak a few phrases.

“You are right!” Zuo Mo praised Lei Peng and said amusedly, “The spear strikes the bird that pops up first, that is the moral. The more low-key you are, the longer you can live. The longer you live, the more you can make. A name like Turtle Island that doesn’t catch the attention is suitable for us. Our method is to first be low-key, pretend to be weak, and then, hee hee, you know!”

Everyone realized and nodded their heads hard, their eyes gleaming with light. They looked at each other and smiled evilly at each other. “Hee hee, we understand!”

Coincidentally walking in at the same moment, Shang Wei Ming’s cold sweat flowed down.

He really wanted to tell Daren what a large influence killing the three Ren Family elders would have on Xu Ling City’s inhabitants. Xu Ling City was most likely in an uproar at this moment. No matter how low-key or  weak they pretended to be, no one would believe them … …

Of course, these words only spun in his mind. He smartly closed his mouth. Boss definitely had Boss’ reasons for doing a thing. A little character like him definitely could not understand the profound meaning of Boss’ action.

He already knew that Boss wasn’t just a boss. This was a classic combat troop. However, that had nothing to do with him. No matter what the other had him do, he would unhesitatingly do it, even at the risk of his own life.

When the evil laughs in the room decreased, he reported the assets of Turtle Island to Zuo Mo. “Daren, we have finished our survey.”

When Zuo Mo held the result, his eyes were wide.

The area of Turtle Island was forty seven thousand mu. Zuo Mo had to sigh that Turtle Island was, as expected, one of the largest islands of the intermediate-sized islands. The next string of statistics caused Zuo Mo to start drooling.

There were fifteen thousand mu of ling fields on the island, of which ten thousand were third-grade ling fields and another three thousand were fourth-grade ling fields.

Seeing such enormous numbers, his thoughts almost diverged. The entire Wu Kong Sword Sect had never had so many ling fields in the past, much less third-grade ling fields! Such an large amount of third-grade ling fields was enough to support a sizable sect. Adding on that the three thousand mu of fourth-grade ling fields was an enormous sum of wealth!

They had struck it rich!

Deliriously happy, Zuo Mo’s gaze moved down and then he suddenly froze.

Ten thousand mu third-grade ling fields but they only had thirty ling plant farmers!

Thirty ling plant farmers!

Compared to the enormous amount of ling fields, the number of ling plant farmers was not enough! Thirty ling plant farmers, not one of them had the Summer Flower Jade Medal, they were all Spring Sprout ling plant farmers!

This meant that almost ten thousand mu of the third-grade ling fields were in fallow! A spring spout level ling plant farmer could only plant and care for fifty mu of third-grade ling fields at maximum for a total of one thousand and five hundred mu! On their hands, the fourth-grade ling fields were an even larger waste, and could not reach their full potential.

Thinking about the ten thousand ling fields being in a state of waste, Zuo Mo instantly felt pain.

“Is it hard to hire ling plant farmers?” Zuo Mo asked Shang Wei Ming.

Shang Wei Ming shook his head. “Not easy. Even though many roaming xiu have come recently, but there still aren’t many ling plant farmers. Many families are recruiting ling plant farmers.”

Zuo Mo bared his teeth with a painful expression. He secretly noted down this problem.

Wastefulness was shameful!

Zuo Mo quickly found that it wasn’t just the ling fields that were not being utilized to their full capacity.

There were thirty six ling springs on the island, but only six were being used, and even then they only raised very normal kinds of animals.

There were three ling lakes on the island but not even one of them was in use. Each ling lake was surrounded by weeds. Supposedly, the three Ren Family elders were not interested in the ling lakes at all, and hadn’t even cleared out the weeds.

The one asset developed the most was a cave on the island, Snow Silkworm Cave. This cave was extremely deep and cold. There was a herd of Snow Cloud Silkworms living in the cave. The silk that the snow cloud silkworms produced were flowing cloud silk. This was an upper fourth-grade material and was easy to sell. The flowing cloud silk was the biggest source of annual income on the island.

There were many other caves on the island but none of them had been explored and used.

When Zuo Mo finished reading the report, his first feeling was, the Ren Family was really wasteful!

His second feeling, they had really struck it rich!

But the first decision Zuo Mo made was to order everyone to explore the entire Turtle Island. With this kind of slacker mentality from the three Ren Family elders, Zuo Mo felt that the possibility they had missed good things was very high.

Forty seven thousand mu was not a small area. How to set up defenses was also a problem. This headache would be given to Gongsun Cha to deal with.

Zuo Mo’s thoughts were completely focused on how to use the resources of Turtle Island.

———

“The Ren Family was killed?”

“Really? How can the Ren Family be killed? They have three jindan!”

“It’s true! I heard that only three people in the group fought and there was another that watched. Miss Ren also died, she was the cause of the conflict!”

“Ha, I’ve said it before. With Miss Ren’s personality, she would cause the Ren Family to die!”

“The Heavens really sent a blessing this time!”

“But we need to be careful in the short-term. People that casually killed the Ren Family are not ones that us little people can provoke!”

Just as Shang Wei Ming had predicted, Xu Ling City was in an uproar over the news that the Ren Family was destroyed. The cloud islands near Turtle Island acted as though they were facing a great enemy, fearing that this group of unknown origins had malicious intents towards them.

———

At the Tian Family, the elders that were in charge gathered together in a hall with serious expressions.

“I hadn’t thought that the Ren Family would be destroyed like this.” Tian Yong Qing sighed. “The three Ren Family jindan gone like this. The world has changed too quickly.”

“Don’t speak of useless things.” Tian Heng Bo had an unconcerned expression. “This group of unknown origins have taken over the Ren Cloud Island, that is land that we have planned to obtain! Fifteen thousand mu of ling fields with more than three thousand mu of fourth-grade ling fields, the rest are all third-grade ling fields! Not to speak of the flowing cloud silk produced on the island, the Ren Familly got rich based on just that!”

“If we can have Ren Cloud Island, our power would immediately go up a level!” another elder said. “I hadn’t expected that a group of outsiders got ahead of us!”

Everyone was silent. The Tian Family was most skilled ling farming and their desire of ling fields was much greater than other families. They had been planning for a long time and were preparing to take Ren Cloud Island soon. But Zuo Mo’s group had appeared out of nowhere and gotten there before them.

“Do not move rashly,” Tian Yong Qing said after a moment of thought. “We do not know the origins of this group. If we move now, it is hard to predict the results. Should we send someone to ask if they sell this island? The price can be negotiated!”

“Who would be so dumb to sell such a good place?” Tian Heng Bo did not believe it.

“That might not be the case,” Tian Yong Qing said with a smile, “No matter how many ling fields they have, without ling plant farmers, they can only go to waste! The only thing the other might be reluctant to part with is the flowing cloud silk.”

The elders smiled. About seven-tenths of the ling plant farmers on the Xu Ling City market worked for the Tian Family. The third grandpa of the Tian Family was skilled in ling farming and was a high level ling planter farmer with a autumn fruit jade medal. These ling plant farmers mostly wanted to improve so they entered the Tian Family.

Possessing the highest number of ling plant farmers, the Tian Family’s desire for ling fields was also the highest but the cloud island with the most ling fields near Xu Ling City did not belong to the Tian Family, but was Ren Cloud Island.

“If it is like that, it might not be impossible,” another elder spoke, “maybe we can use Star Cloud Island to trade. There is a fourth-grade star cloud metal mine on the island, and it isn’t lacking compared to the flowing cloud silk!”

Hiss, many elders inhaled sharply. That star cloud metal mine produced good fourth-grade star cloud metal, and was one of the important sources of income for the Tian Family.

“This price is too high!” Tian Heng Bo had a pained expression.

Tian Yong Qing waved his hand. “Do not hurry. They have just arrived. If it wasn’t for that Ren Qing being stupid and provoked them, they wouldn’t be so arrogant and aggressive! Right now, we shall observe and slowly come into contact with them.”

“If they use force?” an elder said in worry.

Tian Yong Qing lightly laughed. “If they think that because they destroyed the Ren Family, they can provoke our Tian Family, that is their death day!”

Looking at the puzzlement on everyone’s faces, Tian Yong Qing said faintly, “After one or two months, Eldest Grandfather is coming out of seclusion.”

The elders paused and then showed ecstasy.

Tian Yong Qing seemed to feel that one piece of good news wasn’t enough and continued, “The other good news is that our Tian Family Battalion, Tian Ye is coming back!”

It was deathly silent. Many elders showed terror.

Chapter 447: On The Island

Zuo Mo inspected A Gui and showed a hint of joy. The vitality in A Gui’s eyes had grown a bit. She no longer looked dead. Compared to the recent past, the purple energy inside her body had doubled.

A Gui’s change was wonderful, Zuo Mo was happy.

Staring at this still wooden face, for some unknown reason, Zuo Mo felt slight heartache. If she hadn’t had to save him, A Gui wouldn’t be in an abnormal condition like this, not human or ghost. Even though Zuo Mo did not know why A Gui would make such a sacrifice for him, but no matter what, the debt of saving his life was significant enough for Zuo Mo to be willing to repay it with his own death.

It would only be another half a year, then they would find the Water Cloud Embryo and A Gui’s wounds would heal. Thinking about this, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be filled with hope towards the future.

Now that they had Turtle Island, he could truly be considered to have his own property. Just that ten and some odd thousand mu of ling fields was enough for him to support all this people.

They had pretty much settled down on the island. What was left was to manage all this. This had to be slowly worked on. Everyone, including himself, was born poor, and it was their first time to managing such an enormous place. However, Zuo Mo was not afraid. Ge had marched through the storm of blood, and wasn’t afraid of a little matter like this.

Zuo Mo’s heart felt very sweet.

———

After Chun Yu Cheng finished visiting the last ling spring, he couldn’t help but sigh, “This really is a good place!”

Gazing at the serene and cold ling spring, he felt happy inside. This ling spring was a fourth-grade ling spring. Most likely due to its proximity to the Snow Silkworm Cave, the water was unusually cold. When he put his hand into the spring, his entire arm had almost frozen instantly. It was the first time Chun Yu Cheng had seen such a good quality ling spring and his happiness could be imagined.

This was the third fourth-grade ling spring he had visited and the other ling springs were third-grade. Even though the quality of each ling spring was different, but all of them were clean and high quality ling springs. There were many uses for good ling springs. They were especially suitable for raising some water element ling beasts, or planting some special ling grass. All water methods required good ling springs.

In those secret paradises, ling springs were something that could not be absent.

With these ling springs, he had enough confidence to raise excellent ling beasts. His knowledge of the beast pool was far deeper than when he first started, but there had been many ideas that he could not test due to the lack of conditions. He had never imagined there would be a day that he would truly have the conditions to study just because he wanted to.

So when he knew that there were many ling springs on the island, he hurriedly ran over to inspect them one by one.

The results left him overjoyed!

The conditions on the island and the quality of these ling spring surpassed their imagination. He had never thought there would really be a day that he could have this kind of conditions.

He felt as though he was dreaming!

Please don’t wake up from this dream!

Chun Yu Cheng murmured to himself.

———

“So is this the Snow Silkworm Cave?” Ji Cheng Wei poked his head into the cave and looked curiously.

“Yes, Daren.” The one leading the way was a supervisor. The flowing cloud silk that the Snow Silkworm Cave produced was the primary source of income from the island. The Ren Family had placed great important on it due to this and hired a supervisor specifically to be responsible for managing the Snow Silkworm Cave.

The deep cave was completely black. A gust of wind suddenly blew inside the cave and the people passing by all shuddered.

“So cold!”

“My heavens!”

“What place is this!”

The group of Golden Crow Camp exclaimed. This gust of wind was biting to the bone. Even at the entrance of the cave, they felt it was unbearable.

The supervisor was used to seeing this and was not shocked. He explained, “The Snow Silkworm Cave is extremely deep. The place that the snow silkworms live is about two hundred zhang from the cave entrance and no one has gone any deeper. After three hundred zhang, it really is too cold, ningmai that go in there would become ice cubes after ten breaths. We will not go to those deep places when we harvest the silk.”

Everyone’s faces were slightly pale. Ningmai would become ice cubes in ten breathes, how cold would that be!

They were all users of fire and did not like this type of extreme coldness the most. After taking a look around, everyone retreated in unison.

“Are there fire caves nearby?” Master Sun Bao asked.

“Yes!” The supervisor hurriedly nodded. His attitude was very respectful. With the change of the employer, many things would likely change, like his position as supervisor. He did not want to lose this job.

“Where?” Ji Wei’s eyes lit up as he asked.

The Golden Crow Camp was most skilled in forging. Even though they all had Golden Crow Fire now, but fire caves were still of great help to them.

“It is a place that Third Master cultivated in before, called Fierce Yang Cave!” the supervisor said.

“Take us there.”

The procession quickly reached the entrance to the Fierce Yang Cave. Compared to the other caves, this cave appeared much cleaner. There was a layer of fire clasts. The red-black fire clasts were not high-grade, just second-grade, and were a kind of commonly seen fire lava rock.

The air at the entrance twisted under the high temperature as waves of heat erupted from inside the cave. Everyone felt the pressuring heat from a long way off.

Their eyes instantly lit up.

Xiuzhe that practiced fire techniques liked all kinds of fire. They were not afraid of the fire’s high temperature, but rather were afraid that the temperature wasn’t high enough.

When they saw the scene at the entrance of the Fiery Yang Cave, everyone knew the temperature inside this Fiery Yang Cave was extremely high.

Sun Bao was relatively composed. He shouted to call back those xiuzhe that were eager and did not allow them to charge in on their own. The Fiery Yang Cave was their territory, they did not need to hurry and could progress slowly and cautiously, taking proper precautions to avoid any accidents happening.

When they learned that there was only one fire cave on this island, even Sun Bao lost interest in the other caves.

The Fiery Yang Cave was the existence they were the most interested in!

———

The island was very busy, and it was not quite in Xu Ling City either.

The killing of the three Ren Family elders had come people clapping and naturally had others who were discontent. As xiuzhe came in from the outside, the tensions between local and immigrating xiuzhe rose daily. The death of the three Ren Family Elders caused this conflict to increase, especially when the local xiuzhe found that Xu Ling Sect did not listen or inquire about the matter. This caused them to become even more discontent.

No matter how wrong the three Ren Family elders were in the matter, they were still xiuzhe of Xu Ling City. Many local xiu became angry when they discussed how the Ren Family was destroyed, that Xu Ling Sect did not respond, and had allowed the Ren Cloud Island to be occupied.

Some placed their hopes on the Cloud Pavilion. Everyone knew the background of the Cloud Pavilion. This time, the entire store had been destroyed, and the losses were very great as there were many talismans that were damaged or lost.

According to the conduct of the Cloud Pavilion, no one believed that the Cloud Pavilion would not make a sound.

Compared to the Cloud Pavilion, the Ren Family was just a little ant. Many people said if it wasn’t for the fact that the Ren Family produced flowing cloud silk, the shopkeeper of the Xu Ling City Cloud Pavilion wouldn’t even look at the Ren Family. This shopkeeper hoped to get more flowing cloud silk from the Ren Family to raise his own contributions. Who would have known that in showing favoritism he offended such a ruthless group of brutes and almost lost his little life!

The counter-attack from the Cloud Pavilion would definitely be very strong!

Just a few jindan and they wanted to face the Cloud Pavilion, that was daydreaming.

Some local families also moved in the dark. The cloud island of the Ren Family was very rich!

In this time, turbulence flowed under the surface.

———

The large formation of Turtle Island was the [Yinyang Cloud Thunder Formation]. The defensive power of this large formation was outstanding and especially suited to a large island like Turtle Island. The Ren Family had spent a great sum to invite an expert to set up this [Yinyang Cloud Thunder Formation.

But in the eyes of Zuo Mo who liked to make sneak attacks, this large formation was not so safe.

People that like to make sneak attacks usually were the ones that guarded against sneak attacks the most,  Zuo Mo patiently examined the defensive formation of Turtle Island. Bases and patrols were the territory of Lil’ Miss, but formations, only Zuo Mo could do this.

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, this [Yinyang Cloud Thunder Formation] was grandiose but was not useful, and only had a good appearance. It seemed to appear powerful, but if it encountered a strong enemy, it would likely collapse. The person who had set up the formation clearly did not have good intentions. He had left a few backdoors inside the formation. The muddle-headed Ren Family had not detected it, but how could it escape the fiery eyes of Zuo Mo?

Zuo Mo did not erase the backdoors, and instead used them as bait. He slightly modified the formation scripts near the dark doors. The dark doors did not look any different than before, but if the other entered through the backdoor, hee hee … …

Zuo Mo had an evil smile.

Of course, this wasn’t enough. In his eyes, the [Yinyang Cloud Thunder Formation] could only act as a thin shell, and was far from a sturdy turtle shell.

They had to live up to the name!

With this thought, Zuo Mo started a major project.

To increase the power of the [Yinyang Cloud Thunder Formation], Zuo Mo planted that

Sonic Lightning Walnut tree at the heart of the formation. The fourth-grade Sonic Lightning Walnut tree was not as valuable as it was in the past, but it was a lightning wood element material. Placed in the center of the formation, it could greatly increase the power of the large formation.

Other than this, Golden Crow Camp that was targeting the Fiery Yang Cave was pulled over by Zuo Mo to be manual laborers.

Golden Crow Fire took over the island. The burning flames illuminated half of the sky, causing the nearby cloud islands to become nervous. Without exception, they all raised their island formations in fear they would be attacked.

The xiuzhe that had remained on the island were dumbstruck upon seeing such a scene. The ling plant farmers that had started to formed plans to leave and became slightly restless ending those thoughts of leaving.

There was only one thought in their minds.

People with knowledge were everywhere. Someone instantly recognized the fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire. When the news spread, everyone was filled with motivation!

——Holy, how many pieces of jingshi would this be!

That number of jingshi would be enough to buy all of Xu Ling City. The production xiuzhe on the island were mostly local xiuzhe. How could they not know what was going on in Xu Ling City? They had been worried before that this group would not be able to establish themselves, and lose against those factions, that were waiting in the wings, but now they did not worry at all.

So many jingshi, oh, Heavens!

A rich family!

A powerful family!

A tycoon!

Lacking imagination, they could only think of these scant phrases, but this could not stop the enthusiasm that came out of their hearts.

Boss, buy an!

Everyone’s eyes became as red as rabbits.

Chapter 448: The Strong Vermillion Bird Camp

While the attention of the most prominent factions of Xu Ling City were focused on this mysterious new faction, this new faction hadn’t even stepped a foot out of Ren Cloud Island, oh, wait, supposedly the island was now called Turtle Island.

The scouts hiding in the shadows outside the island found, to their dismay, that the entirety of Turtle Island was shrouded in clouds and nothing could be seen. Only the lights that occasionally penetrated the thick cloud layer seemed to reaffirm that changes were happening inside the island.

Turtle Island was truly changing.

Zuo Mo did not spare jingshi for reinforcing the safety of the island. He acted as though he would not rest unless he really made Turtle Island worthy of its name. The lights the scouts outside Turtle Island saw were the lights produced as Zuo Mo constructed the island protecting formation.

Zuo Mo had thought that the [Yinyang Cloud Thunder Formation] was not strong enough and ran to Pu Yao to demand a new formation.

Pu Yao had all kinds of techniques and spells, all of them were spoils of victory from his war campaigns. Naturally, he did not lack protective formations. In the beginning Pu Yao wasn’t willing to hand over any formations, as he kept on brooding over the fact that Zuo Mo’s mo physique was stronger than his yao arts. Adding on that he hadn’t gotten any benefits from this guy, Pu Yao wasn’t very eager.

But this was a matter of life of death. Zuo Mo didn’t want to have someone sneak in while they were sleeping. He harassed, nagged, and grinded down Pu’s resistance, while Wei, the person who wanted the world in chaos, was pouring oil onto the fire, he managed to drag a formation from Pu Yao’s hands.

Wei started to resumed his liveliness, after having lost his motivation.

This formation was called the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] and was a sixth-grade formation. Supposedly, it was the mountain-protecting formation of a formation sect called the Azure Formation Sect.

When Zuo Mo held the formation scroll, his drool came out. A sixth-grade formation, it was a formation he didn’t even dare to think about in the past!

When he read it in depth, he increasingly felt that this formation was deep and profound. With his skill at formations, he could only understand thirty to forty percent of the formation. He saw that, at this speed, without a year or two of study, he could not completely comprehend this formation.

But time waits for no man, and there were many eyes staring at them from the outside.

Zuo Mo, realizing this and decided to gather the Golden Crow Camp. He gave all of them a copy of the formation. He had a simple thought, since his individual power wasn’t enough, then everyone should work on this together. More people meant more strength!

It had to be said that this move was effective.

These people from Golden Crow Camp were not the same people of the past who didn’t understand anything. Zuo Mo never concealed anything about formations from them, and gave them any good formations he had to comprehend. Their study of all kinds of mo matrixes had caused their knowledge and vision to broaden and increased their understanding of formations.

They also had an accurate measure of themselves, and knew that their talents were average and were not anything spectacular. Due to this, they put more importance on communicating and cooperating with each other. Even they did not know that they had unwittingly stepped onto a new path that was different than other production xiuzhe. While it was true their individual strength was not strong, but when they worked together and were skilled at cooperative forging.

Gathering everyone’s strength to study a formation together was a familiar job for Golden Crow Camp. So when Zuo Mo handed them the problem, Golden Crow Camp under the leadership of the two masters, Sun Bao and Ji Wei, started to methodically study the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation].

This was the first time Zuo Mo attended the collective comprehension process of Golden Crow Camp.

Following a requested from Sun Bao, Zuo Mo first presented what he understood about the formation in detail. After the gathering slowly digested his lecture, the immediately string of reactions caused Zuo Mo to gape in shock.

The [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] was divided into several parts by the two masters and the members most skilled in formations. Golden Crow Camp also divided into groups to specifically target these parts.

Zuo Mo had a feeling the large formation was dismembered into pieces!

Golden Crow Camp quickly showed Zuo Mo what efficiency was. During the discussions on the second day, several problems that he did not understand were resolved by the group. Each little team reported their progress as well as the problems they encountered. The heated discussion that followed also caused a great shock for Zuo Mo.

The mood was heated, there were people slamming the tables, faces flushed, swearing and shouting, glaring angrily at each other. They almost started fighting physically.

The second day was so.

The third day was so.

The fourth day, the fifth day … …

On the fifth day, the problems of the formation were all solved!

The people of Golden Crow Camp that had just comprehended a sixth-grad formation disregarded the astounded Zuo Mo. They interestedly started to discuss how many variations there were in the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] … …

So he had such a powerful group of people as subordinates!

Zuo Mo’s mind was dazed.

After the introduction on the first day, Zuo Mo was like an audience member. The completely deciphered [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] was recombined into a jade scroll along with twenty thousand characters of notes.

Receiving the jade scroll, Zuo Mo read the twenty thousand characters worth of notes. The profound and deep [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] was presented and straightforwardly as though it was an introductory jade scroll. In the twenty thousand character notes, it managed to explain almost every seed formation in the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation.]

Up until now, Zuo Mo had never stayed in Golden Crow Camp before. He would only come to deliver new formations, or if he needed to forge something. He had never thought that Golden Crow Camp had grown to such a level!

It was fantastical to believe!

Shocked, Zuo Mo could not understand even when he thought for a while.

While shocked and dazed, Zuo Mo had started to set up the formation. The [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] was very complicated and had complex formation scripts, but for Zuo Mo who had pretty good perception, these were not major problems.

The biggest barrier that Zuo Mo encountered were the Meridional azure aether spikes!

The meridional azure aether spikes were the most important weapons in the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation.] Almost half of the jade scroll was spent explaining how to forge meridional azure aether spikes, and the secret techniques that were used to forge them in azure aether. The best material to use were gold element materials and it had to be fourth-grade or above, the most suitable were those that were strong and sharp. When they formed, they would be dark azure and extremely powerful.

Materials were not a problem for Zuo Mo, he had a lot of Golden Crystal Sand.

The biggest problem was azure aether. He did not have azure aether. Azure aether was an unique mist of the world. It was a rare fifth-grade material, was completely azure in colour, and belonged to the water element.

Zuo Mo stared. Where could he go to get azure aether?

The main body of the formation was completed, and the only thing left was the one hundred and eight meridional azure aether spikes. When they were forged, and the meridional azure aether spikes were put into the formation, the entire formation would be completed.

Supposedly, the complete Meridional Azure Aether Formation could stop the attacks of yuanying xiuzhe, and jindan xiuzhe couldn’t break through at all.

Of course, considering that each sect liked to boast, Zuo Mo did not have that high of hopes for the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation]. He didn’t even know what yuanying xiuzhe looked like. But even taking that into account, that was enough security.

Without any azure aether, Zuo Mo could only temporarily stop the work on the formation.

Just at this time, Xie Shan suddenly ran in. “Daren, that old man Xu, from last time, is asking to meet you. He is with someone else.”

Old Man Xu? Zuo Mo recalled the scene that day. Old man Xu had been pretty courteous the entire time and hadn’t acted even at the end. After thinking, he flew into the air.

———

Outside the formation, he saw Old man Xu. There was also a young and handsome male standing beside him in an azure robe.

“Mister Xu, welcome to my place, welcome! Welcome!” Zuo Mo put a smile on his face, and raised his folded hands with friendliness.

Xu Zheng Wei had been afraid the other would posture. The rock in his heart landed and a smile unconsciously came onto his face. “When this old man saw Boss Zuo that day, this man knew that Boss Zuo wasn’t ordinary. Young, talented, and handsome! Let this old man introduce to Boss Zuo, this is the young master of the Cloud Pavilion, Mister Liao Junior.”

He saw that young person raise his hands in a greeting, and say in an apologetic tone, “This one apologizes to Boss Zuo. Boss Zuo, please have great tolerance about the employees of my store who offended you.” As he spoke, his hands moved, and a jade scepter appeared. “This fifth-grade scepter is this one’s token, please, Boss Zuo, accept this.”

Zuo Mo, naturally, moved to take the jade scepter. He said, “Boss Liao is too polite. Come come, come in to sit!”

He ushered the two into the island.

When Boss Liao and Xu Zheng Wei saw the furor of activity on the island, they maintained calmness on their faces but they were shocked inside. Sword lights flashed across the island. There was most likely thousands of people and the factions outside the island were completely ignorant of this.

The two were shocked at Zuo Mo’s uncanny move. How could they know the normal-looking Black Turtle had a great belly?

Liao Qi Chang was alright, but the shock in Xu Zheng Wei was like a storm! He had come to the Ren Family Island before and had a general impression of the island’s situation. But the cloud island had now been completely transformed and he could not find any traces of the Ren Family at all.

If it had to be asked what the greatest impression this place gave him, then it was strict!

There were sword xiu patrolling by all over the sky. Of course, that wasn’t strange, but if these sword xiu passed over one’s head in organized ranks like a blade, the startling feeling in their heart wasn’t a pleasurable one to experience.

It was possible to see a black mist shrouding a camp in the distance. It was possible to feel the thick killing energy from a great ways off.

On this short walk of five li, Xu Zheng Wei’s expression kept on changing. Liao Qi Chang showed more calmness but the shock inside could be seen through the graveness in his eyes.

He could see more than Xu Zheng Wei. He was the young master of the Cloud Pavilion and seen countless treasures. There were not many that could rival his eyes. At first glance, he was deeply attracted to the Sonic Lightning Walnut tree. The Sonic Lightning Walnut was just fourth-grade but it was very rare. This Sonic Lightning Walnut tree was already mature. There were a few fruits hanging off it, and the thick power of the hard lightning was wondrous.

It was not a wonder to have Sonic Lightning Walnuts, but having the Sonic Lightning Walnut tree was a whole other matter.

What were the origins of this group?

Liao Qi Chang thought inside, he was both shocked and suspicious.

Chapter 449: Institute Of Ling Plants

The conversation with Liao Qi Chang progressed under a very relaxed mood. Zuo Mo also requested Liao Qi Chang to help him search for azure aether, expressing he was willing to it buy at a high price. Liao Qi Chang naturally agreed.

After conversing for about two hours, Liao Qi Chang and Xu Zheng Wei stood and bid farewell.

Zuo Mo accompanied them on their way off the island to show them respect.

The two of them flew out a long distance before Xu Zheng Wei opened his mouth, “What do you think?”

Liao Qi Chang’s expression was grave. “They are not simple,” he paused for a beat and then said, “look how long we conversed. Did that Zuo person even give a hint about his origins? This person is secretive, has a group of strong subordinates, and is not a softy.”

“Yes!” Xu Zheng Wei’s face was emotional. “They were really vicious when I saw them destroy the Ren Family that day, they definitely did not come from a peaceful place.”

“I still am not clear where they came from,” Liao Qi Chang said, “but he has many subordinates, does not lack experts, has vicious conduct, but is not arrogant and domineering, and is as sly as a fox. This kind of a person is one we should not become enemies with.”

“I hear that many people are aiming for them,” Xu Zheng Wei said in a low voice. He had lived here for a long time, and naturally had sources to obtain information.

“We won’t enter into it.” Liao Qi Chang shook his head, “There are only a few families that can match this group in power. There probably are people manipulating the situation from the shadows, wanting to use others to do their will!”

Xu Zheng Wei nodded. “We really can’t touch this kind of matter. It’s possible to lose our lives if we aren’t careful.”

“Tian Ye came back?” Liao Qi Chang suddenly asked.

“En, he came back a few days ago. Supposedly, he earned a lot of merits for combat service and got numerous benefits.” Xu Zheng Wei was admiring.

“Ha, just beautiful on the surface,” Liao Qi Chang said dismissively. “This Cloud Sea Jie that none of the Four rule, even if he went to the front lines, no one will think highly of him. He just has what the large sects let slip through their fingers.”

Xu Zheng Wei smiled uncertainly.

“However,” Liao Qi Chang’s tone turned and he said sternly, “Tian Ye Battalion is probably harder to deal with after the combat experience. How many battalions does the Tian Family have?”

“Three, other than Tian Ye Battalion, there is also the Tian Wei Battalion and the Tiao She Battalion,” Xu Zheng Wei said. “In the past, the Tian She Battalion was the most outstanding of the three, and was considered the second best battalion in Xu Ling City.”

“Oh, who is first?”

“Xu Ling Sect’s Xu Ling Battalion.”

“Ah, that’s true. I forgot about Xu Ling Sect.” Liao Qi Chang nodded. He then ordered, “Don’t get too near other people in the short-term, we will observe from the sidelines.”

“That’s reasonable!”

———

“The young master of the Cloud Pavilion and Xu Zheng Wei went to Turtle Island.” Tian Heng Bo ran in excitedly.

“Oh.” Tian Yong Qing did not stop what he was doing and said without raising his head, “That is very normal, didn’t they say that the Cloud Pavilion stopkeep looked down on those people. Of course Liao Qi Chang would visit to explain, he is a businessman.”

“Should we go find him and ask?” Tian Heng Bo said.

“Ask what?”

“We don’t know anything. If they went onto the island, they definitely have learned a lot,” Tian Heng Bo said certainly.

“They went onto the island but they may not know anything.” Tian Yong Qing stopped what he was doing and his expression was stern. “Also, do not offend Liao Qi Chang!”

“He is just a businessperson, do you need to be this nervous?” Tian Heng Bo’s expression was rebellious.

Tian Yong Qing was not affected. “If you do not want to cause trouble for our Tian Family, do not provoke him!”

Tian Heng Bo finally could not suppress it. “Don’t allow this, don’t allow that, will information just drop down from the sky while we sit here at home?”

Tian Yong Qing thought for a moment and said, “Tell Gu Xiang Tian about this event.”

Tian Heng Bo’s eyes lit up, “Good idea!”

———

Yi Zheng’s mood was slightly low.

Even though they had left that damned place, he felt the present state was akin to house arrest. He had tried to ask Daren if it was possible to release him back to Great Buddha Temple. As expected, Daren had refused.

He did not think that Daren would really release him. He knew too many things that he should not know, like the destruction of a battalion belonging to Kun Lun. If there was nothing wrong with Daren’s mind, just this one event was enough that he wouldn’t be allowed to leave.

In reality, he already thanked the heavens and earth the other hadn’t killed him yet.

Compared to Kun Lun, Great Buddha Temple wasn’t anything. The other didn’t even blink when they killed thousands of Kun Lun people in one go. It wouldn’t be any hardship, to them, to slice him up.

Yi Zheng had a good estimation of himself and had no unrealistic delusions. Due to this, his mood was increasingly bad.

He had thought about escaping, but this idea only spun once in his mind before it intelligently disappeared. This group of people seemed cheerful and rambunctious while they were not working hard on their cultivation but the entire island was strictly managed behind the scenes. Any change in the wind and grass, these people would definitely kill without any questions asked.

He might be from Great Buddha Temple which could be considered a famed sect, but meeting this group of lawless brutes, he did not presume he would have an advantage relying on his background.

When he thought about the jindan on the island and a dhayana xiu who had wish power beside him … …

He obediently did not move.

But when could he get all the ling dan for Eldest Shixiong?

He suddenly stopped. Yes, why had he left the mountain? Wasn’t it so he could make ling dan for Eldest Shixiong?

Was he unable to make medicine right now?

No, Daren would not stop him from making medicine. He had been with this group for a while and his understanding of Daren had formed. Truthfully, Daren was very easygoing and emphasized emotions. If he told Daren he wanted to make medicine for his Eldest Shixiong, Daren definitely would not forbid him.

And those medicine?

That wasn’t hard to make!

He thought about the point system of the camp. With enough points, he could trade for the things he wanted with Bao Yi. If Bao Yi did not have them, the other would think of ways to buy them. The prerequisite was that you had enough points.

Then he could start earning points!

Yi Zheng’s eyes became brighter.

He came from Great Buddha Temple. Even though his cultivation was not as deep as Zong Ru, but the dhyana methods he knew might not be any less valued, like how he had recently helped heal Xie Shan.

If he could make ling dan, even if he could not leave, he could ask someone to deliver the pills to Eldest Shixiong so Eldest Shixiong could still be healed!

Yi Zheng’s mind was suddenly opened!

———

The island affairs gradually progressed, but Zuo Mo was concerned about the fifteen thousand mu of ling fields.

It would really be a pity if they could not use such a large area of ling fields, and Zuo Mo noticed that much of the ling fields were degrading due to being left unused and uncared for. Even though the degradation was not significant yet, the situation was not good.

Zuo Mo had examined all the ling plant farmers on the island, and had not found any outstanding people.

What was needed most urgently were ling plant farmers. Only by recruiting more ling plant farmers would make it so that the ling fields on the island would not be wasted.

Thinking about the wasted ling fields on the island, Zuo Mo seemed to see countless jingshi slip through his fingers. He felt great pain and hurriedly called Shang Wei Ming, taking the group together to fly towards Xu Ling City.

———

As the biggest city in this area, Xu Ling City possessed all the necessary licensing offices, the Institute of Ling Plants among them.

Under Shang Wei Ming’s guidance, he quickly reached the Institute of Ling Plants in the city.

The Institute of Ling Plants was not large, and the most unique attribute of the institute was the ling flowers and grasses that could be seen everywhere. Compared to other institutes, the Institute of Ling Plants was like a flower bouquet.

Walking into the Institute of Ling Plants, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but think about the first time he walked into an Institute of Ling Plants, His joy at receiving the ling plant farmer jade medal. Those normal and average days seemed like they were just yesterday.

The green carpet under their feet suddenly moved, and spread out like a hand, it lifted everyone up.

It was the first time Ma Fan and Lei Peng came to an Institute of Ling Plants. They instantly jumped in fright as though they were facing a great enemy. Zuo Mo hurriedly explained what this carpet vine was. At the side, Nian Lu fell back in laughter, pointing at the two and calling them country bumpkins. Ma Fan and Lei Peng were very embarrassed.

Shang Wei Ming felt it was hard to believe. There were people that had never been to an Institute of Ling Plants?

Just as he was thinking, the carpet vine under their feet suddenly floated up and flew into the building.

“This is pretty interesting!” Lei Peng bent down and brushed the leaves of the carpet vine with curiosity.

Ma Fan did not have as thick of a face as Lei Peng. He once again resumed his usual calmness, and pretended to be scanning the surroundings. Today, Zong Ru was in meditation, and Xie Shan was wounded from the previous battle. Even though he had gone through Yi Zheng’s healing, he still needed rest. Wei Sheng was teaching the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp. Zuo Mo hadn’t wanted to disturb him so he had called Ma Fan’s trio to accompany them.

The trio was only a step away from jindan and their combat capabilities were significant. With the three at his side, Zuo Mo felt very safe.

Compared to the people that were sight-seeing, Zuo Mo looked much more closely at the surroundings. There were many ling plants and grasses that he had never seen before. It seemed that this Institute of Ling Plant was strong.

There were differences in the strength of different institutes. Of course, the exams for jade medals would generally be standardized. This was one of the reasons that all kinds of jade medals were used widely. But the licensing offices would also have other businesses other than the exams. For example, the Institute of Ling Plants would sell seeds of ling grasses and flowers, and would sometimes buy the mature ling grasses and flowers that other ling plant farmers grew.

Of course, the opportunities to find a job was a free service.

Zuo Mo had come this time to see if he could recruit ling plant farmers.

Thinking about those ling fields that were being wasted, Zuo Mo felt his heart was burning. Even if he could not get enough to utilize it all, recruiting one more person would mean a bit less of the ling fields were wasted.

The carpet vine’s speed was not fast but very steady. What was ahead of them was a wall that was covered in all kinds of creepers.

When everyone flew close, the flower vines on the wall retreated like the tide towards the side.

In front of them stood a middle-aged person.

“You are Zuo Mo?” the middle-aged person asked coldly.

“Who are you?” Zuo Mo instantly became wary, and the faces of the people beside him also changed.

“That’s good!” The middle-aged person was expressionless. At this time, a clear shout came from Zuo Mo’s head, “Fall!”

There was an ambush!

Zuo Mo was shocked. Before he could reach out, a seven-colored rainbow light fell from the sky and covered them!

Chapter 450: Black Gold Seal Soldier

Zuo Mo felt the surroundings suddenly change.

The middle-aged person in front of him was still coldly staring at him, but Ma Fan and the others who were beside him had disappeared.

What was going on?

Zuo Mo’s eyes instinctively narrowed.

“You don’t need to search.” The middle-aged person’s tone was icy. “Sixth-grade Thousand Gem Illusory Disk, if you are not in yuanying there’s no way you can escape! Do not make meaningless efforts.”

Idiot! Zuo Mo thought inside. His body suddenly disappeared from its current location and appeared behind the middle-aged person. His right hand inserted into the other’s back like a poison snake darting out of its nest!

Instantly it penetrated through!

The same moment as when he struck, Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly.

Not good!

The figure in front of him rippled, and with a pop, had disappeared.

Illusion!

“Haha!” The middle-aged person’s smug smile sounded from all directions and echoed. “Just as vicious as expected! However, aren’t you first going to ask why I am attacking you?”

Zuo Mo’s thoughts flashed, and he followed the other’s lead to ask, “Who are you? Why are you attacking me?”

“Hmph! Even if you did not ask, I would have said it! Letting you you understand why you are dying! This one is Gu Xiang Tian. I owe much to the Ren Family, and they died by your hands. I do not want to ask what happened between you, but I repay what I owe. They died, so I cannot repay them normally. Instead, I will take your head in sacrifice to them and finish this cycle of karma between me and them!”

“Really?” Zuo Mo was not affected. He furiously searched for a trace of the other using his perception yet there was a strange power filling the surroundings. When Zuo Mo’s perception extended three zhang away from him, it would become chaotic.

This Thousand Gem Illusory Disk was as strange as expected! The formations within it could confuse the consciousness, and it was the first time Zuo Mo had ever encountered such a thing. Zuo Mo became alert. It seemed that he wouldn’t be able to easily escape today.

However, he was not afraid. He had come through so many bloody battles and wouldn’t be afraid such a battle.

At this time, a voice  rumbled as though it was coming out of the ground.

“Born to Battle!”

The sound echoed in his ears!

“Born to battle … … born to battle … …”

Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly changed!

A seal soldier!

A figure slowly appeared at a place about ten zhang from him.

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply!

As expected, a seal soldier!

Compared to the seal soldier that Zuo Mo had used before, the seal soldier in front of him was much smaller. It was about the same size as a real person and appeared extremely realistic. He had a cold expression, his body seemed to be made from steel, and its muscles were clearly defined and had a metallic sheen. There was no armor and the balanced figure was beautiful.

His feet were bare, the empty eyes had no emotion as though he was dead.

He looked coldly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s hairs suddenly stood on end. The seal soldier in front of him gave him unprecedented pressure. He felt as though he was being targeted by a vicious beast and didn’t dare to move at all!

“Haha! To die by a sixth-grade black gold seal soldier, to die inside the sixth-grade Thousand Gem Illusory Disk, your death is worthy!”

Sixth-grade?

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and his pupils suddenly contracted!

The black gold seal soldier in front of him disappeared!

Not good!

The blurry outline of a leg suddenly appeared in front of him!

The arm Zuo Mo hurriedly held up in defense was like a fragile wooden shelf that instantly collapsed!

Bam!

Zuo Mo felt as if he was just hit head-on by a charging rhinoceros mo. He could not control his body. Like a sandbag, he flew backwards into the air!

Such terrifying power!

Zuo Mo was shocked. He was at a disadvantage in physical strength!

How was this possible?

Even since he had cultivated the mo physique, his physical strength had grown, and when he cultivated into the Great Day mo physique, he had never met an opponent that could rival him in physical force!

Now he had been defeated based on his strongest area, physical strength. Zuo Mo found it hard to digest!

At this time, a feeling of danger formed. Zuo Mo could not attend to anything else and suddenly curled into a ball. Enormous pain passed over him him from his flank. Zuo Mo made a muffled grunt. The other’s kick was enough to make him feel as though his skeleton was going to come loose.

The ground magnified in his eyes. Zuo Mo knew that the seal soldier’s attacks would not end so easily. Just as he was going to hit the ground, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, his hands pushed out, with lightning speed, against the ground. His entire body suddenly changed direction, while in such a strange posture!

Woosh!

Zuo Mo could clearly feel the blade-like air flow right against his back.

Escaping, Zuo Mo’s posture changed again. His body furiously flashed about, on tip-toes, and distanced himself from the enemy!

The black gold seal soldier did not pursue but stopped at the previous position.

Zuo Mo panted heavily as his gaze tightly followed the black gold seal soldier. Waves of pain came from his back and caused the corners of his mouth to twitch uncontrollably. If this was any other normal jindan xiuzhe, if they were not dhyana xiu, they would have lost half of their life after being hit twice like this.

How long had it been since he was this disheveled?

There seemed to be two fires burning in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

“Oh, your life is pretty hardy!” Gu Xiang Tian was slightly shocked. “To be able to stop my black gold seal soldier twice and not die, are you a dhyana xiu?”

The faint gold and transparent Light Void Wings appeared on his back, Zuo Mo’s presence also increased.

The black gold seal soldier disappeared from his position again. At the same time, Zuo Mo also disappeared!

Bam!

The two figures crossed, and two fists smashed together without finesse!

A twisted and transparent air ripple suddenly spread.

Bam bam bam!

The air seemed to ignite as these air ripples exploded everywhere.

Just like the two had disappeared at the same time, the two reappeared together on their original spots as though they had not stepped away.

A blood stream flowed down Zuo Mo’s arm, but Zuo Mo did not detect it. His eyes that were like of a wild beast as he stared at the black gold seal soldier opposite him!

Thirteen punches!

Thirteen punches with all his power!

Even Zuo Mo’s Great Day mo physique could not avoid being wounded after thirteen fierce collisions. A gap three cun long had cracked open on his arm. This gap had formed due to the vibrations!

However, he had not been wounded for nothing!

Zuo Mo stared at the fists of the black gold seal soldier. Each of its fists had a golden Great Day script imprinted on it!

Day Script Palm!

Interlaced among the thirteen blows, Zuo Mo had used the Day Script Palm!

“Hm, that’s strange!” Gu Xiang Tian could not maintain his calmness. “What is this?”

The Great Day Script on the fists of the black gold seal soldier suddenly lit up, and the fists quickly melted at a visible rate into two irregularly shaped metal balls!

The black gold seal soldier’s expression was indifferent as though he did not feel any pain at all.

Suddenly, the two metal balls that were the hands of the black gold seal soldier once again became two new hands that were as perfect as in the beginning!

Zuo Mo’s expression became ugly. This guy was not made from flesh and blood. When it had been him using the seal soldier to hit other people, that had been pleasurable; but now that it was him facing against seal soldier, the feeling was terrible.

“Haha! Do not waste your efforts, stand for your death! Why struggle needlessly?” Gu Xiang Tian’s smug laughter sounded in the surroundings.

Gu Xiang Tian’s voice was ethereal and his position was unable to be found.

Without a doubt, it was the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk at work!

It was the first time Zuo Mo had encountered a talisman that could take other people into it, it really was powerful! Did Ma Fan and the others know he was stuck in here? Did they too encounter danger?

These thoughts flashed through his mind. He quickly put his attention on the black gold seal soldier in front of him.

He found this very problematic!

What he found problematic was not the black gold seal soldier’s power and speed. He had both of these, even though he was slightly weaker, they were on the same level. What he found problematic was the black gold seal soldier’s resilient body! To a person like him that only had ever used a third-grade seal soldier, an understanding of the sixth-grade seal soldier was something undoubtedly very distant to him.

Its formations? Its forging methods? He did not know anything about these, much less its weaknesses.

In this short interaction, he clearly learned just how strong the body of the black gold seal soldier was Zuo Mo did not know if it was possible to destroy it with brute force, but he knew it was something he definitely was unable to do.

The Day Script Palm was useless. It had turned the soldier’s hands had turned to metal balls and still did not affect it. Zuo Mo had a feeling that even if its entire body was melted, it could transform back into its present state.

Zuo Mo stared viciously at the black gold seal soldier. He felt that this could make him appear strong, and his mind spun quickly.

Maybe he could think of a way to find Gu Xiang Tian and kill him?

Zuo Mo felt that this idea was plausible. Gu Xiang Tian’s position was changing, and probably was the effect of the formations of the Thousand Gem Illusion Disk, because the seal xiu could not be too far from the seal soldier. If the seal xiu was too far away, the seal soldier’s strength would lessen.

But where was this guy?

Yet the black gold seal soldier did not give Zuo Mo the time to think and leapt again.

Helplessly, Zuo Mo could only throw the thoughts into the back of him mind. If he wasn’t careful, he could easily lose his life to this powerful guy!

Ge has many moves, ge doesn’t believe ge can’t stop you!

The murderous Zuo Mo moved forward, his legs covered in a thin layer of gold as he stepped heavily on the ground! Golden Crow Feet! A large force came from under his feet. His figure that was already lightning fast suddenly doubled in speed!

He appeared behind the black gold seal soldier out of thin air!

For the first time, Zuo Mo’s speed was faster than the black gold seal soldier!

Without another word, Zuo Mo’s right leg was like a light gold whip that struck the black gold seal soldier!

Woosh!

A sound brighter than any before it!

The black gold seal soldier’s body was whipped into the air yet somersaulted away!

Of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique, the Golden Crow Feet was the one with the most physical strength! Even as powerful as the black gold seal soldier was, it could not stabilize its figure. It was possible to see how strong the move was!

While you’re weak, take your life!

Zuo Mo’s feet pushed again. He once again appeared next to the black gold seal soldier with a strange blade shrouded in fire!

The ling power and consciousness in his body was unprecedentedly lively. Zuo Mo felt every piece of muscle, every bone, every tendon in his Great Day mo physique was vibrating together!

Countless tiny bits of power continued to merge in an extremely short amount of time, and like the streams entering the sea, they formed a great and vast power. This astounding flood rampaged through his body to his arm!

The muscles in his arm seemed to be pluck like chord and suddenly gave a clear hum as they vibrated!

Zuo Mo’s mind seemed to enter a wondrous state. Almost unconsciously, he followed this flood of power, and the flaming strange blade in his hand sliced with the flow.

Midday Blade Strike!

Chapter 451: Post-Epiphany Lei Peng

Midday Blade Strike!

The vast power was vented through this strike, turning into an enormous golden blade of energy that shot towards the black gold seal soldier!

There seemed to be a shadow howling from inside the blade energy, the golden blade energy changed while it and roiled relentlessly!

This was not the first time he had used the Midday Blade Strike, but this strike was clearly different!

The raging and vast power, in the moment it appeared, had caused the other powers in him to vibrate and collide like a spectacular drawing painted with rough, burning, thickly strokes! In an instant, a glimpse of understanding rose in Zuo Mo’s heart, as though something was within his reach! But when he thought about it, he seemed to not seem to have understood anything at all.

Time seemed to slow down.

Following along the pull of the howling power, Zuo Mo was like a devout believer.

The wavering golden light energy reflected on the face of the black gold seal soldier. Its expression was normal and did not change, as it shielded its body by bending inward and it raising its two crossed arms in front of it!

The howling blade energy was like a furious beast that smashed onto the crossed arms of the black gold seal soldier!

The golden light exploded!

Clang!

It was as if an enormous bell rang out in a mountain valley. The sound wave reverberated past Zuo Mo and his body uncontrollably trembled!

This was power! Power that would cause people to shake!

Having just seen its appearance, Zuo Mo almost instantly became enchanted by it.

Such strong power!

Excited, Zuo Mo felt very satisfied with his above-normal display of power. Because the black gold seal soldier was a significant threat to him, he had had a momentary break through and released such a powerful Midday Blade Strike!

The blinding and burning golden light filled his vision. A surprise exclamation came from Gu Xiang Tian and Zuo Mo snickered soundlessly.

The golden light disappeared!

When he saw the black gold seal soldier was still standing in the center of the golden light, Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly contracted. He almost shouted in disbelief!

Impossible!

With its body completely red, the black gold seal soldier seemed to have been just taken out of a furnace. Countless seal scripts floated on its body. On the two arms that protected its face was a wound several cun long, and a cut almost went through its entire arm!

But it had stopped the attack!

It had managed to stop the attack!

Zuo Mo’s eyes was full of disbelief. He could not imagine. How could such a great power could be stopped?

Was this the strength of a sixth-grade seal soldier?

Zuo Mo murmured to himself.

He quickly recovered from his daze, and his expression uncontrollably changed dramatically! This strike had produced a certain amount of damage to the black gold seal soldier. The red light on its body had gradually dissipated but the marks on its arms had not healed completely like previously.

The Midday Blade Strike had destroyed the seal scripts on its arms.

But Zuo Mo’s expression did not show any good signs due to this. The Midday Blade Strike just now had been a far above his normal skill level. Even if he used the move again, he lacked  the confidence in replicating power the power it had.

That Midday Blade Strike had almost used all the power in his body. The feeling of weakness flooded in.

The situation was not good!

For Zuo Mo, the situation was was terrible.

———

“We are ambushed.” Nian Lu swept the surroundings.

Ma Fan did not make a sound while Lei Peng scanned the surroundings in curiosity and rumbled, “Who is so brave? Daring to ambush us? Are they tired of living?”

Shang Wei Ming’s face was ashen as he said in a trembling voice, “Thousand Gem Illusory Disk, this is the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk!”

Hearing this, Ma Fan raised his face. “What is the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk?”

“Thousand Gem … … Thousand Gem Illusory Disk is the talisman that Qing Xu Sanren became famed for.” Shang Wei Ming’s mood stabilized slightly and he hurriedly explained, “It can trap people in it. There are countless illusions inside, and it is endless in space. If one cannot break through the formation, they can be trapped for their entire life!”

“It is this powerful?” Lei Peng was surprised and exploded.

Shang Wei Ming weakly added, “It is a sixth-grade talisman.”

Now everyone did not speak. Sixth-grade talisman was not something they could defeat. If Wei Sheng was here, there might be a chance

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded in everyone’s ears.

The faces of Ma Fan and the others changed. Other than the four of them, only Zuo Mo was in here. The other’s target was Daren! That was such a fierce collision, Daren must have encountered great danger.

“Three section wave killing change!” Ma Fan’s gaze focused as he said simply.

Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s eyes lit up. How could they have forgotten that move? If they encountered a dense enemy formation, they must use sword energies of even greater power, and this was also the most powerful quality of the three section wave killing change. At the beginning, they had to train together on this technique until the three of them were in sync, before it was considered complete. Later, they had been moved to the Sky Peak Platoon, and their chances of charging at the very front had gotten smaller.

“Old Fan, your brains are really good, no wonder you were once the core!” Lei Peng rumbled out.

He moved forward proactively, the three of them forming a triangle with Lei Peng at the very front. After Lei Peng had had epiphany on the battlefield, he had been laughed at by his fellows for a long time. What caused him to feel even more embarrassed was that the epiphany that was said to be a one-in-a-thousand chance had not helped him enter jindan!

The sabre scripture that Lei Peng used to cultivate was called the [Abyss Beast Soul Consuming Sabre]. The name was ostentatious but it really wasn’t a powerful sabre scripture. Sabre scriptures were hard to find, and good sabre scriptures were even rarer. So instead he wanted to cultivate sword scriptures like the [Clear Sky Sword Scripture]. This guy had a thick skin and came with a begging face to see Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo saw that such a big person like him coming to beg wasn’t an easy thing to do, and naturally allowed it. The result was that he had read every one of Zuo Mo’s sword scriptures, no matter if it was good or bad!

But after he read, he had even more questions, and even practicing the familiar sabre scripture became awkward.

That was until the epiphany on the battlefield last time that seemed to create a light among the mist. He actually comprehended three slightly unusual sword moves.

When he had just comprehended them, they were only in their beginning stages. He had skipped over to ask for guidance from others. Who knew that after Wei Sheng watched him them, Wei Sheng had praised the moves.  On the road from Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie to Cloud Sea Jie, he had helped Lei Peng gradually refine them. After being refined and carved like rough jade, these three sword moves released their blinding light.

Lei Peng called the three moves [Abyssal Chop].

Spending everyday together, Ma Fan and Lie Peng naturally knew the power of Lei Peng’s three moves. They were very powerful, and most suited to heavy assault, so he became the primary attacker.

The three stood still.

Nian Lu’s hands were like blooming lotus flowers. With a snap, a handful of small lotus flowers burst from his fingertips. Each of these little lotus flowers were the size of a thumb, small and adorable. When the little lotus flowers came out, they spread into the surroundings.

The surroundings instantly started to waver, and Nian Lu’s expression became grave.

Even though his move of his could defeat illusory formations and usually worked, but what they were facing right now was a sixth-grade talisman. He didn’t know if this would be effective.

However … …

An indiscernible light flashed through Nian Lu’s eyes.

Pia pia pia!

The little lotus flowers popped like bubbles. The changes in light around them became even more violent. However, Nian Lu stared tightly at a space not far from them—that place was only several chi big but under the his attack, from beginning to end, it had not changed a bit.

“There!”

Nian Lu’s voice was full of confidence.

He had not planned to defeat the illusory formation in front of them with his move. He knew he was not a match for an illusory formation produced by a sixth-grade talisman. He was trying to find the leverage point! Any illusory formation would have some areas that never changed, these were leverage points. They were the structure to the illusory formation and would not change as the illusory formation changed.

And these leverage points were their target!

When attacking an illusory formation, the worst thing to do was to attack aimlessly. The great majority of targets in an illusory formation were illusions, no matter how realistic they appeared, they were still illusions. If they attacked illusions, they would only miss! Only by attacking the structure of the formation could they truly damage the formation.

Lei Peng’s legs bent as he crouched slightly forward, his hands holding the golden crystal broadsword. Ling power burst from his body like a fire. In a blink, his body was covered in a thin layer of ling power fire. This was a sign that ling power was being channeled to its limits.

Without needing a signal, Ma Fan and Nian Lu channeled ling power simultaneously, and ling power flames also appeared on their bodies in a thin layer.

The ling power flames on their bodies were all different. Lei Peng’s flames were red with a tinge of black, giving people an intimidating feeling. Ma Fan’s ling power fire was grey and flickering, hard to catch. Nian Lu’s ling power fire was green with pink, extremely beautiful.

Like a metal tower, Lei Peng glared angrily, all the muscles in his body expanding as he raised the gold crystal broadsword in his hand.

Hiss!

Countless fine air flows around him seemed to be plucked by an invisible hand. Sharp fine sword energies were like sharp shards of ice that hissed and flew.

Ma Fan’s eyes were half-lidded, the tip of the flying sword in his hand slightly raised, and Nian Lu’s expression was grave, faint lotus flowers discernable on his long and slender flying sword.

Having finished preparing, Lei Peng felt the blood vessels in his body expand, but his heart was like the eye of the storm, calm and peaceful.

His mind moved, and he acted with his thought. All the gathered sword essence was like the flood rushing through the dam and venting out!

The upraised golden crystal broadsword suddenly chopped down!

“Deep Abyssal Chop!”

Woosh!

The sound was like an enormous block of wood being thrown up, and caused fear in people’s hearts! The surrounding space seemed to twist. This enormous sword that was like a horse-chopping sabre seemed to come from the abyss of hell and did not have any light at all!

Black and deep!

The places where the sword edges passed appeared a bottomless deep abyss!

Ma Fan and Nian Lu also attacked at the same time!

A grey sword energy and a blue sword essence were like baby sparrows returning to the nest, combined with Lei Peng’s bottomless and black sword energy!

The sword energy suddenly grew, and that black abyss expanded slightly!

That was a power that seemed to be able to swallow anything and instilled fear in people!

A shocked shout came from the air. The owner of the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk also detected danger. The scenery next to the trio changed dramatically as the other tried to distract and confuse them.

Lei Peng did not seem to see it. The growing sword energy in his hand accurately struck the place that Nian Lu had pointed at!

The moment it struck, time seemed to slightly pause.

Boom!

Everyone felt their vision darken, the blackness that was endless seemed to swallow all of them. The ground under their feel trembled and shook fiercely!

An angry voice came from the air.

“You dare to damage my talisman! All of you, wait for your death!”

Chapter 452: Zuo Mo’s Epiphany

Zuo Mo suddenly felt the surrounding scenery greatly change, and the furious bellow that resounded in the air, instantly, allowed him to understand what had happened.

His gaze instantly landed on Gu Xiang Tian, whose figure appeared fifty zhang from him.

In that brief moment, their eyes met!

From this, it was possible to see the difference in reaction between Gu Xiang Tian and Zuo Mo.

Even though his entire body was almost out of strength, Zuo Mo did not hesitate and charged at Gu Xiang Tian!

The common phrase was, a seal xiu at close quarters was like a chicken plucked of its feathers!

When Gu Xiang Tian saw Zuo Mo dash over with lightning fast speed, his face suddenly turned white. He panickedly retreated, and the black gold seal soldier tried to rush over.

Watching from above, one could see two figures furiously charging at Gu Xiang Tian like two bolts of lightning!

Zuo Mo sensed a strong feeling of danger came from behind him. He did not need to turn his head back to know that the black gold seal soldier was close behind him. Even though he had been a fraction faster in starting, but that Midday Blade Strike had used up too much of his strength. He was truly at the end of his power. But if he hesitated a bit, he would waste this rare opportunity!

If he was dragged back into fighting with that undying black gold seal soldier, with his present state, there was only death.

Zuo Mo grunted and gathered together the last threads of his power. A thin gold light appeared on his feet.

Golden Crow Feet!

His foot pushed off the ground, Zuo Mo’s body suddenly became a blurry shadow!

Crack!

Furiously retreating, Gu Xiang Tian’s feet suddenly paused. He tightly covered his mouth, his eyes bulging like that of a dead fish!

Clunk!

With his last thread of strength used up, Zuo Mo’s body lost its balance in the sky. Like a sandbag reaching the apex of its arc, he had fell and smashed down into the ground.

So mother***ing painful!

Heavily falling on the ground, Zuo Mo bared his teeth in pain, his skeleton feeling like it was going to break apart. He laid on the ground as he greedily breathed, not even willing to move a finger.

When the trio saw Zuo Mo lying on the ground, their expressions greatly changed.

However, when they walked forward and found that Daren was only exhausted and nothing else had happened, they hurriedly propped Zuo Mo up, gathered their spoils, and left.

When Turtle Island saw Zuo Mo being carried back, it instantly exploded!

Everyone’s expressions were peerlessly ugly. Without a second word, Gongsun Cha ordered everyone to gather! Even the one who always had a good temper, Wei Sheng, drew his black sword, his face murderous!

Zuo Mo hurriedly stopped the group.

If they charge over like this, it would actually be harder to find the person.

Zuo Mo pulled everyone and hid in the little back room as they conversed and maliciously planned something.

This matter was not finished!

———

“They have not acted?” Tian Yong Qing asked with a creased brow.

Tian Heng Bo was also puzzled. He shook his head, “No, have they admitted defeat and gave up?”

It had been the Tian Family manipulating this event from the shadows. It had been they who had told the news of the Ren Family’s death to Gu Xiang Tian, and their shadow was behind every step of the plan.

“Impossible!” Tian Yong Qing shook his head. “They do not seem like people who would give up easily, otherwise, they would not have gotten into conflict with the Ren Family in the first place.”

“Then what are they doing?” Tian Heng Bo asked in puzzlement.

Tian Yong Qing thought of something and hurriedly asked, “Where is Qing Xu Saren?”

“In hiding!” Tian Heng Bao said, “Gave him a sum of jingshi and told him to go and hide for a while.”

“That’s good.” A rock in Tian Yong Qing’s heart landed. He smiled and said, “Then we shall sit and see what they do.”

“If it was up to me, I would just steal it,” Tian Heng Bo muttered.

“Steal? I want to too, but there has to be a reason.” Tian Yong Qing said amusedly, “Without a reason, how can we steal it?”

“What reason do we need? Just steal it!” Tian Heng Bo said. “Let Tian Ye Battalion go, they can steal it in a snap, do we need to waste this much effort?”

“Stupid!” Tian Yong Qing stared at Tian Heng Bo. “Our Tian Family is not this group of outsiders. If we do this, what would the other families think? Hmph, don’t think I don’t know what you think. Don’t you just feel that your fist is bigger?”

“Yes!” Tian Heng Bo was righteous. “The one with the bigger fist makes the rules!”

“Then is our Tian Family’s fist bigger than Xu Ling Sect’s?” Tian Yong Qing said with a cold smile, “Based on your philosophy, there should only be one sect in this area, Xu Ling Sect! Who is a match for them?”

Tian Heng Bo instantly was speechless.

“Don’t be stupid!” Tian Yong Qing said in a heartfelt tone, “Every family has their own territory. Xu Ling City is the place where everyone does business together. Our Tian Family cannot mess around, even Xu Ling Sect would not mess around! No one will care if you mess around on your home territory, but if you mess around in Xu Ling City, everyone will not agree.”

Tian Heng Bo did not speak this time. Thinking back, this was the truth. A while later, he hesitantly spoke, “Then how long do we have to wait for the reason?”

“Don’t be impatient, it will be soon.” Tian Yong Qing was confident.

———

“He ran?” Zuo Mo paused where he stood. He hadn’t thought that Qing Xu Saren had ran away. This caused all of his plans fail.

Everyone’s faces were slightly ugly. They had prepared, and planned for a long time, waiting to make trouble for the other. It was like a punch that had been preparing for a long time that missed its mark. The feeling was uncomfortable.

Were they going to be unable to settle the score this time?

Never the generous one, Zuo Mo naturally did not feel good about this, and his hair almost broke as he pulled on it. But Qing Xu Sanren had ran, and he could do nothing. He needed a target to make trouble for. They had thought of the fact that someone was the mastermind behind the scenes and planned on squeezing some information from Qing Xu Saren’s mouth, but this guy had ran away!

This guy had thrown down some heavy words, but he was an impotent one!

Zuo Mo furiously cursed this impotent guy, one hundred times, one hundred times!

Qing Xu Sanren had ran away, they could not find the mastermind. There was no way around it, the strong dragon could not suppress the local snakehead. Zuo Mo only had Shang Wei Ming. He was methodical when carrying out his normal duties, but in terms of finding information, his resources were very limited.

He quickly did not think further on the matter. The other had not succeeded this time, and would definitely jump out next time. If he waited for a chance, he could grab the other’s weakness!

Wait for ye, ye’ll settle all the debts at that time!

Zuo Mo could only comfort himself like this.

But the gains this time were a source of joy for Zuo Mo. Gu Xiang Tian was very rich, and what cheered him up the most was the sixth-grade black gold seal soldier!

Having experienced its power for himself, Zuo Mo held it as though it was a precious treasure. What made his heart hurt was the damage his blow had made. It was clear that a section of the seal scripts on the seal paper had been damaged.

Other than the black gold seal soldier, there were many jade scrolls for seal xiu cultivation. Coincidentally, Zuo Mo had a group of seal xiu. This group had been troubled for a long time by the lack of jade scrolls to cultivate, and this time, they were overjoyed.

Their cultivation level was too low and could not produce higher grade paper seals. Low grade paper seals did not have much use to the comparatively strong Vermillion Bird Camp. Gongsun Cha who had high hopes for them could only transfer them to Golden Crow Camp and they only did work like engraving seals and formations. No one was interested in their paper seals and they were always depressed over this.

Gu Xiang Tian’s power wasn’t very high, but his skill in making paper seals was very good.

Desiring the power of seal soldiers, Zuo Mo invested even more resources on the seal xiu. He would instantly provide any materials they wanted. However, Zuo Mo also knew that even if there were jade scrolls, his batch of seal xiu would need a long time to reach the level he hoped for.

However, this was still a good event.

In this battle, what Zuo Mo hadn’t expected the most was not the black gold seal soldier, but the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk!

It could trap someone inside it!

Zuo Mo remembered it clearly. He had not been on his guard at all when he was attacked. In his view, that Thousand Gem Illusory Disk was a great weapon to make sneak attacks! Stay in the shadows, come out and suck the enemy in, that was a move hard to defend against.

This event also rang an alarm for Zuo Mo.

Until now, Zuo Mo had relied on brute power to fight after cultivating the Great Day mo physique and lost interest in other moves. This ambush reminded him about the power of talismans, especially good talismans, they were too powerful!

No wonder the yaomo had lost so badly to the xiu back then, wasn’t this the cause?

He had entered a wrong path!

He instantly recalled the armaments of his subordinates, and Zuo Mo felt extremely regretful.

The golden crystal swords could be considered top-notch, but other than that, there was nothing else that was acceptable to be seen. Their ling armors were varied, and most of them were taken from their enemies in Little Mountain Jie, and were only third-grade. Due to numerous battles, many of them were barely held together, and on the verge  of falling apart.

Theirs was a beggar troop!

Looking at the troop decorated in various colors, Zuo Mo came to this conclusion.

And then he made a decision!

Motherf***er!

There only ever was I, Xiao Mo Ge, using talismans to smash other people, when was it other people’s turns to use talismans to smash ge?

Talismans? Wasn’t that just competing on who had the most jingshi?

Did you not know that ge is the true jingshi madman?

Zuo Mo ran over to Bao Yi and asked abruptly, “How many pieces of jingshi do we still have?”

Bao Yi stilled, but he held the accounts inside his heart. “One piece of sixth-grade jingshi, twenty six pieces of fifth-grade jingshi; fourteen thousand pieces of fourth-grade jingshi; one million two hundred and twenty four thousand, nine hundred and sixty three pieces of third-grade jingshi!

Zuo Mo was shocked. “This much?”

Shocked, he couldn’t help but feel proud. Ge really is a jingshi madman, hearing this, just the number instills safety!

One fourth-grade jingshi was equal to five hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi, and one fifth-grade jingshi was one thousand fourth-grade jingshi.

One million two hundred and twenty four thousand, nine hundred and sixty three pieces of third-grade jingshi was equal to more than two thousand and four hundred pieces of jingshi or two and a half pieces of fifth-grade jingshi.

From a certain perspective, xiuzhe possessed increasingly more jingshi with increasing cultivation, but the desire for jingshi also increased because they had to use more of them.

Of course, for the present Zuo Mo, this number was enough for him to feel satisfied.

Content, Zuo Mo patted his tummy, his eyes smiling into lines.

Ge is finally a rich man!

Chapter 453: Spending Jing Like Dirt

Hearing that Big Boss Zuo Mo needed to buy large amounts of talismans, Liao Qi Chang proactively came to visit with many talisman specimens. One of the things that had left a deep impression in his mind, on his last trip to the island, was that there were a lot of people. Zuo Mo clearly said that he was going to buy large numbers this time would be to outfit his battalion. This was major business!

The Cloud Pavilion usually sold on the high-end products to the market but there was no reason to not take such a large order like this. Liao Qi Chang had come personally with the additional hope that he could forge a good relationship with Zuo Mo.

The hall was full of people. When Lei Peng and the others heard that Boss was going to be buying talismans for them, they became alert and squeezed around to watch.

Liao Qi Chang displayed the talismans he had brought along to Zuo Mo one by one.

“This Blue Soul Cold Light Armor is intermediate fourth-grade, it can form a very thin but outstanding space shield, and can greatly decrease the damage caused by flying swords and talismans to the wearer. Because this space shield’s nature is cold and icy, it is even more effective against fire element spells and flying swords. The formation techniques on it [Slight Flow] [Strong Ice] can increase its defensive power.”

Inhales sounded inside the hall, Lei Peng and the others staring at the light blue ling armor in Liao Qi Chang’s hands as though they wanted to swallow it up. The light blue ling armor seemed to be woven beautifully from fragmented ice.

Space shields, wasn’t that something only fifth-grade yao beasts would have? Everyone know how powerful that was! This was something good, something good!

Liao Qi Chang was very satisfied with the expressions of Zuo Mo’s subordinates. This showed that his hawking had stirred their interest.

“This set of Cloud Wings were forged with a secret method using the top grade cloud souls of our Cloud Sea Jie. Its greatest attribute is its speed, as fast as wind, and would greatly increase your speed! I believe I do not need to speak more on the importance of speed. The elite of the battalion, especially scouts should have this essential item! How fast is it? Why don’t one of these men here try it on?”

Even Zuo Mo was moved as he listened. He turned and asked, “Who wants to try?”

Many pairs of hands instantly rose up.

In the end, he chose Nian Lu. Nian Lu’s display was extremely fast and caused exclamations. Everyone were people that stayed long times on battlefields, and they compared it in their minds. If the two sides were equal in power, and they had the advantage in talismans, then they really had a great advantage!

For Liao Qi Chang, this was just the beginning!

“For a battalion, long distance campaigns occur regularly, how can one lack a good steed? They can help save ling power for you, allow you to fly for longer distances, they should be your most trusted companions! The Cloud Wings are fast, but they are not suited for long distance flight. Here, let me recommend to everyone the best steed that is produced by our Cloud Sea Jie, Nimbus Cloud!”

The “Tumble” Cloud is also known as the Nimbus Cloud or the magical cloud that Sun Wu Kong rides in Journey to the West.

Like magic, a snowy-white ball of cloud appeared in front of him.

“The Tumble Cloud is forged by harvesting Flower Sinew Cloud. It reaches intermediate fourth-grade, and can travel three thousand li in a day! It does not need you to feed it, does not require you to spur it along, it is hard-working, uncomplaining, the best companion for you to travel the world and for long distances!”

Liao Qi Chang’s words were like a river that flowed endlessly and emphasized  spectacular feats. Zuo Mo naturally would not be fooled by him, but the talismans this person put out were, truly, good talismans and people’s hearts would be uncontrollably moved.

At the end, after Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha discussed it, Zuo Mo placed, what could be called, a colossal order!

When Liao Qi Cheng took the order list, he almost fainted!

The order included entire armor sets. Each set included one set of Blue Soul Cold Light Armor, one pair of Cloud Wings, one pair of Tiger-Style Flowing Light Boots, one Serene Heart Intelligence Hat, and a Nimbus Cloud.

The abilities of this armor set were versatile, and any item in it was fourth-grade, making this a true fourth-grade armor set! No fourth-grade set was cheap. The least expensive item in this was sixty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi and the entire set would cost five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!

This kind of set on the market would not be considered high-end but it definitely was not low end either! Those that had the ability to buy something like this would be xiuzhe on the cusp of entering jindan and had accumulated some wealth! Those jindan that were not very wealthy might also wear a set of armor similar to this.

What truly caused Liao Qi Chang to feel dizzy was the number at the end—two thousand sets! An entire two thousand sets!

Momma-mia!

That was one million fourth-grade jingshi, or one thousand and five hundred fifth-grade jingshi, or one sixth-grade jingshi!

Even a person like Liao Qi Chang used to seeing big business couldn’t help but become excited!

One million pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!

A rich man! Definitely a rich man! He rejoiced that he had come this time, it was worth it!

Look look, to spend jingshi like dirt, the other didn’t even bat an eyelash!

Xu Zheng Wei who had also come was left in shock. He had never expected Boss Zuo who did not seem so eye-catching was this extravagant. Boss Zuo was also really generous to his people. He had never heard of someone spending so much!

A completely fourth-grade talisman outfit. If this kind of battalion was put into public, just the treasure light on their bodies would be enough to tempt other people!

Xu Zheng Wei’s eyes turned red!

He might be a jindan and didn’t really lack jingshi usually, but to spend  a thousand jingshi, no, a million jingshi, he could not imagine it! How many talismans could that buy! He could even buy many fifth-grade talismans! He didn’t even know if he could ever make so much over his entire life!

He had several good fourth-grade talismans and one fifth-grade talisman that Liao Qi Chang had given to him. Look at these people, they were ningmai and were wearing fourth-grade talismans all over!

It was frustrating to compare!

Xu Zheng Wei shook his head as though he was the one paying the jingshi.

Zuo Mo’s heart also hurt slightly. One sixth-grade jingshi! That was more than nine-tenths of his entire wealth. Before, his total wealth had been one thousand and thirty or so fifth-grade jingshi, no he had just over thirty fifth-grade jingshi! But he thought that everyone’s lives were more important. He gritted his teeth! Buy them!

Having made the decision, Zuo Mo quickly finished paying the deposit.

Hmph! Compete based on talismans?

Ge will let you see what is called competing on talismans!

Fantasizing about battling in all directions with such an extravagant troop, Zuo Mo was in both pain and ecstasy!

Liao Qi Chang naturally provided all the services for such a large order. He didn’t just agree to deliver the shipment to the island as quickly as possible, he had also agreed to provide a batch of materials for repairs free of charge. Talismans would be worn down and broken, but some slight damage could be repaired. Of course, if the damage was too great, then it would be scrap.

Everyone in Vermillion Bird Camp was excited. Each set was five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi! As expected, they had to follow Daren to live good days! With their cultivation, in any normal place, they probably didn’t have to think about making five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi without seven or eight years of work.

Everyone had admired the outfit of the Golden Armor Guards for a long time but no one had thought about owning a set. It was too expensive! In other places, only the personal bodyguards of those large personages could experience such grandiose treatment! But when they truly possessed such a set, many people felt as though they were dreaming! Even more people planned on passing this set of talismans to the next generation, even though none of them had descendants at this point!

Zuo Mo’s move caused everyone to be moved.  The quality of a boss depended on how good he was to everyone! Look at Boss, he took out ninety percent of his own wealth to buy talismans for everyone!

They had never heard of a boss as good as this!

They were all xiuzhe that had survived in Little Mountain Jie, a place that was selfish, cunning and full of schemes. They saw the realities of the world clearer than everyone else, and could feel the warmth in Zuo Mo’s actions better than anyone else. To a boss that could take out ninety percent of his wealth to outfit his subordinates, no matter if it was to buy their hearts or any other goals, how many could actually do this? And, more to the point, he did not have to do this at all!

Following a boss like this, what more could they ask?

No one said words of gratefulness and thanks, but no matter how difficult the times were in the future, none of these people would abandon Zuo Mo.

———

“Old Xu, what do you feel today?”

On the return back, Liao Qi Chang suddenly asked Xu Zheng Wei.

“I feel I’ve lived half of my life for nothing,” Xu Zheng Wei said emotionally. “Today really broadened my visions!”

“Truthfully, I was also frightened today!” Liao Qi Chang grimaced, and said, “I had thought that I had seen the world before, didn’t think that I would be frightened today. Two thousand sets! This really is a headache!”

“What?” Xu Zheng Wei was shocked. “It is a good matter to have such a big order!”

“It is good! But I hadn’t expected him to demand so much. Now I need to spend effort to gather it all.” Liao Qi Chang said, “I had assumed that it would be pretty good if he wanted two or three hundred sets. This time, I would probably have to borrow inventory from other places!”

Xu Zheng Wei knew the abilities of his good friend and said with a smile, “Don’t be outrageous! This kind of problem isn’t something that a daren like you needs to be worried about. You have so many subordinates, what do you need to worry about?”

”Daren?” Liao Qi Chang grimaced again and said, “He’s a true daren! Young, and with such power, it really isn’t luck! To be able to do something like this, his breadth of chest and his generosity, this is the first I’ve seen it in my life! We cannot be enemies with this person!”

“The Tian Family have made a great adversary this time!” Xu Zheng Wei said emotionally. Although Shang Wei Ming could not find the information on the mastermind, but for people on Xu Zheng Wei’s level, even if he did not know every detail about what was happening below, he would know the general shape of events.

“The Tian Family have been too used to being proud these few years.”

Liao Qi Chang said this lightly and then stopped speaking. He was a businessperson, and he didn’t want to be drawn into these conflicts! He suddenly thought about what Zuo Mo had said before they left, that the business definitely had to be kept a secret. His heart shook!

At the start, he had felt that the other did not want to attract attention, but thinking about it now, it didn’t seem so simple!

This Boss Zuo wasn’t a simple person!

Chapter 454: Financial Crisis

A Gui looked slightly better and this made Zuo Mo very happy.

Right now, the island was so big, Silly Bird, Lil’ Pagoda, and the others went crazy in playing. De didn’t know where they had run off to and gone to play. There were too many desolate places on the island as the Ren Family’s neglectful care of this cloud island allowed weeds and wild grasses grew in many places. There were also those deep caves, some of which were extremely deep. To the point no one knew what it was like inside.

These caves became the playground of Lil’ Pagoda and the others as they played happily. Since there was Silly Bird and Tenth Grade keeping watch, Zuo Mo did not worry about any dangers.

He was very busy in this while.

The island was very happy. This group who was getting completely outfitted had smiles on their face. Yet what Zuo Mo hadn’t expected was Pu Yao had also come to see him. He asked him if Vermillion Bird Camp was getting new equipment, then why was Guard Camp not getting new equipment?

Zuo Mo stilled at Pu Yao’s question and reflexively asked, weren’t they cultivating mo skills? What equipment did they need?

And then it was Pu Yao’s endless scorn and disdain. Zuo Mo became a country bumpkin with his words. Indignant,  Pu Yao then made it out as though he was fighting on behalf of Shu Long and the others. That they were being raised by an evil stepmother, and only he cared for them.

Feeling that he was going to go crazy, Zuo Mo automatically surrendered.

Zuo Mo was informed that the mo cultivated mo skills and did have talismans and weapons. But their talismans and weapons were extremely rare, just one or two items which were called mo weapons! These mo weapons were mostly forged through secret methods from things like fingernails, hair, and feathers that were naturally shed as they cultivated mo skills, and gradually became “talismans.”

Mo weapons were far less complex than xiuzhe talismans but their power was not minute, because the mo would usually only have one mo weapon in their entire life. The time it spent with them was something xiuzhe could not imagine.

Automatically surrendering, Zuo Mo found a new problem. How was he to forge mo weapons?

Fortunately, Pu Yao did not try to torture him, and said there was a cave on the island with heavy fiendish energy and was a perfect place for forging mo weapons. He only had to give the remains of the fiend soul beasts from the Sealed Extinction battlefield to Guard Camp etc etc.

Without another word, Zuo Mo got Bao Yi to throw everything to Guard Camp before Pu Yao contentedly left.

On the second day, Bao Yi came with a grimace to find Zuo Mo.

“Daren, our financial situation is reaching a dangerous level!” Bao Yi put out a grave expression as though he was not over exaggerating.

Zuo Mo scratched his head and comforted Bao Yi, “It should be okay!”

“There are ling veins on the island but most of them are being used on the ling fields. Everyone’s daily cultivation is based on using the Black Processing Meditation mats again. Each mat requires five pieces of third-grade jingshi every day. Daren, this means that we need to give out ten thousand pieces of third-grade jingshi daily, or twenty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Other than this, the island formation consumes about one fourth-grade jingshi a day.”

Each expenditure that Bao Yi said made Zuo Mo’s heart jump.

“But we do not have any income. Daren, up until now, we have not made one jingshi of income. The Kun Lun Battalion talismans we took from the battle cannot be sold right now in consideration of safety. Daren!”

Bao Yi’s old face was so wrinkled it was like a prune. As the quartermaster, he knew about Zuo Mo’s wealth better than anyone but he hadn’t expected that Zuo Mo would use an entire sixth-grade jingshi to buy talismans for everyone! In a blink, ninety percent of the jingshi in the stores suddenly disappeared and this caused him to feel unprecedented danger.

“it shouldn’t be this serious … …” Zuo Mo smiled weakly.

“And in this month, Chun Yu Cheng Daren took five hundred pieces of fourth-grade jingshi from me to buy ling beast offspring, and in the following plans, we need to invest approximately five thousand pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Daren, you agreed to this plan. Shu Long Daren has just taken ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi to buy all kinds of materials, he said you agreed!” Bao Yi’s expression was excited.

“Ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi?” Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly became extremely round as though he wanted to eat someone!

Pu Yao, you are too vicious! Ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi in one go! Zuo Mo gritted his teeth!

“Daren didn’t agree?” Bao Yi’s eyes lit up, wanting to pull up his sleeves and take the jingshi back.

Zuo Mo reacted and hurriedly waved his hands. “No no no! I agreed, I agreed!”

Bao Yi could not disguise his disappointment. “Daren! Not soon from now, we will be in a situation where we cannot feed anyone! The harvest of flowing cloud silk is at least three months away, and Daren, you know that the income from ling fields is basically nothing! Chun Yu Cheng Daren’s ling beasts can be profitable but that is at least six months away. In other words, we do not have any short-term income.”

When a good person was desperate, their presence was frightening.

Zuo Mo also feel the difficulty of the problem. If they kept spending at this rate, they really could not support it for much longer!

As expected, it was not easy to pretend to be a rich person!

Zuo Mo found, dejectedly, that he had only been a rich man for one day before he was thrown back to his original state!

Make jingshi!

Zuo Mo wanted to cry!

———

Xu Zheng Wei made a deep sound. He hadn’t expected Boss Zuo to throw such a difficult problem to him.

He had been very happy originally when Zuo Mo came to find him. Boss Zuo was very wealthy and was a good person to ally with. It was matching with his intentions of strengthening their relationship, that the other came to him to seek aid. But he hadn’t expected Zuo Mo to inquire about where to find ling plant farmers.

This was the method that Zuo Mo had managed to come up with after wringing his mind. What the island had the most of were ling fields. If he could truly use this, then the amount of jingshi that could be made would be substantial. However, ling fields required ling plant farmers. The encounter last time caused Zuo Mo to understand just how deep the waters here were so he came to find Xu Zheng Wei and inquire about the situation of ling plants farmers locally.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Zheng Wei decided to explain the twists and turns in this. So he began by talking about the Tian Family, how they made their wealth through ling farming, their desire for ling plant farmers, and how many ling plant farmers they had recruited.

“Brother Zuo, it’s not that this old brother doesn’t want to help, but my abilities are limited!” Xu Zheng Wei was slightly regretful.

After hearing this, Zuo Mo finally realized. He finally reacted and spoke, “So it was them behind the incident at the Institute of Ling Plants!”

Xu Zheng Wei remained silent.

Zuo Mo understood and his face instantly darkened. He had been fretful that he couldn’t find the culprit. So it had been like this!

He naturally understood the desire of a ling farming family towards ling fields, and also understood how disdainful they were of outside powers, as a local power. He even understood the plan that the Tian Family had!

It would have been fine if you did not provoke me, but since you are seeking death, then don’t blame anyone! Zuo Mo smiled coldly inside, his murderous intentions rising.

Xu Zheng Wei felt Zuo Mo’s murderousness and shook. He hurriedly urged, “Create wealth in harmony, create wealth in harmony, Brother Zuo, don’t be angry! I feel that the Tian Family may not have maliciousness, they just want to lower the price, if Brother Zuo is willing … …”

Zuo Mo waved his hands and changed the topic, “Is it possible to recruit from nearby cities?”

“This old brother isn’t clear about that,” Xu Zheng Wei shook his head, “Brother Zuo should go ask Mister Liao Jr. He has a wide network and knows much more than this old brother.”

Bidding farewell, Zuo Mo went to Cloud Pavilion, and after asking Liao Qi Chang, he left with disappointment.

Liao Qi Chang told him that it wasn’t just the ling plant farmers of Xu Ling City that were hard to recruit, it was hard in the nearby cities as well. In this area, ling plant farmers were resources in demand, and good ling plant farmers were in higher demand. Liao Qi Chang also urged Zuo Mo to sell to the Tian Family or to trade to the Tian Family for a cloud island of the same value.

Was so much ling fields really going to go to waste?

Zuo Mo wasn’t willing.

As to Xu Zheng Wei and Liao Qi Chang’s ideas of selling to the Tian Island or to trade islands with the Tian Family, Zuo Mo definitely would not agree.

With his vengeful personality, all that was turning in his mind was how to settle the score!

This matter definitely was not finished!

But right now was not the time to focus his attention on the Tian Family. The Tian Family was there and could not run away. He also did not have any evidence, and if they charged up to the door, they would land in a disadvantageous situation.

You were able to scheme against us, so we also have ways to scheme against you!

Zuo Mo decided to throw this problem to Pu Yao. This guy had taken ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi from him without so much as a sound, how could he not work for it? Scheming? Zuo Mo did not believe there was anyone that was more dark and perverse than Pu Yao!

All of Zuo Mo’s attention was focused on one matter, making jingshi!

The jingshi flowed as it was spent faster than water!

A few days passed, and his purse lessened by half again. Bao Yi would come complain and cry to him every day and the jingshi in his purse was reaching the danger line. This caused Zuo Mo to feel deep danger!

But he really could not think of a good way to make jingshi. He decided to gather everyone together!

When discussing of fighting and killing, this group of people wouldn’t even frown and would charge without regard for their lives.

But when he wanted them to discuss making jingshi, they instantly looked at each other and withered.

Luckily, Master Sun Bao of Golden Crow Camp reminded Zuo Mo, “Daren, we can sell Golden Crow Fire! That definitely should be easy to sell! We can also forge some talismans, or take some orders. Even if we cannot make much, we should still earn something.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. How did he forget something that was that easy to sell?

Golden Crow Fire was good!

Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire was definitely a product in demand!

At present, their assets couldn’t be considered large but they won’t be afraid if others targeted them. Self-protection would not be problem. There were several jindan on the island. As long as a yuanying did not come, the problem would not be large. The problem of selling was even easier, they would sell directly to the Cloud Pavilion.

Just as Zuo Mo was overjoyed, Shang Wei Ming that had been wanting to speak finally opened hesitantly.

“Daren, this subordinate has an idea!”

Chapter 455: Immortal Crossing The Sea

The original saying is roughly translated as “Sea-crossing Immortal” which means that anyone that can cross the sea is an immortal, and similar to other sayings such as “any cat, whether white or black, who can catch a rat is a good cat.” Zuo Mo like mangling idioms and so the saying is changed to “immortal crossing the sea.”

“Speak!” Zuo Mo said. He was calculating on how to best sell Golden Crow Fire. Even though he had saved Shang Wei Ming, he did not put great importance on him, he had only given Shang Wei Ming affairs to manage because he was familiar with the local area.

Shang Wei Ming gathered his courage and spoke, “Daren, since we do not have enough ling plant farmers, why don’t we forge some ling plant talismans? Or even sell some ling plant talismans. This way, we can use all of our ling fields!”

Zuo Mo slapped his head. Right, how had he forgotten this? It seemed that it had been too long since he had worked on ling fields, and his skills had deteriorated! With good ling farming talismans, these ling plant farmers would be able to cultivate a significantly larger amount. Sun Bao and Ji Wei’s eyes lit up. Forging talismans was what they were best at.

Zuo Mo’s mind having been suddenly opened, his thoughts became nimble. Other than talismans, there were also ling beasts skilled in ling plant farming!

By combining talismans and ling beasts they could work together and they could take care of more ling fields!

Shang Wei Ming had not finished speaking. He counted on his fingers as he said, “Since we cannot recruit any ling plant farmers, we can nurture our own! We can start a ling farming class. Right now, the city had many kinds of cultivation classes and the business is booming. On one hand, we can make jingshi, and on the other, we can educate ling plant farmers for our own use, or the production xiuzhe that we need. This is beneficial for the future!”

Zuo Mo dazedly looked at Shang Wei Ming with a heated gaze.

Genius!

He had almost missed such a powerful genius! To be able to think of such a clever idea, what was he except a genius?

Shang Wei Ming’s suggestion instantly received everyone’s support. They might not have  come up with this idea, but they could see its quality at a glance. Snag Wei Ming’s idea could accomplish multiple aims and was greatly beneficial to the long-term development of Turtle Island.

Zuo Mo had been worried about not having a way to make jingshi, but he wasn’t worried at all now.

He already started to calculate, what did he have the most of? People!

It was perfect for creating cultivation classes!

Wei Sheng’s Sword Lecturing Hall, that was a high-end sword xiu cultivation class. The cost would be one piece of fourth-grade jingshi every two hours. What? You think it is too pricy, we don’t do discounts!

Xie Shan would also open a sword essence class. He would work with the sword essence formation and provide the service for comprehending sword essence. Oh, sword essence was such a good thing, the price cannot be cheap! What? No money? No money, what are you cultivating sword essence for?

Yi Zheng and Zong Ru would open a dhyana xiu cultivation class. Yi Zheng was from Great Buddha Temple and had great knowledge. Zong Ru’s battle experience was high, had an abhinna and his cultivation was in jindan!

A perfect, golden, and luxurious team!

For forging cultivation class, the masters Sun Bao and Ji Wei could take turns with the other people of Golden Crow Camp as assistants. They could also display their Golden Crow Fire and advertise at the same time.

Cheng Shidi would give animal husbandry classes. That guy would probably be unwilling, but since he took ge’s jingshi, if he doesn’t want to work, hmph, the rest of the money was still in ge’s hands!

Of course, he would take the ling plant farmer classes. He was an intermediate level ling plant farmer that had received the summer flower jade medal! The prices could be set to undercut the other classes, and he could get more people.

Bao Yi, he could open a shop and slowly sell the talismans they had accumulated!

The more Zuo Mo thought, the more excited he was. There seemed to be two burning balls of fire in his eyes.

Jingshi is boundless!

———

“What? Open a cultivation class?” Tian Yong Qing’s face was shocked.

Tian Heng Bo’s face was also strange. “Yes, who knows what they are thinking! Oh, they also opened a ling plant cultivation class!”

“Ling plant cultivation class?” Tian Yong Qing laughed. “They cannot recruit any ling plant farmers so they thought up this method?”

“Haha!” Tian Heng Bo laughed smugly. “What can they do? We recruited all the nearby ling plant farmers. Unless they are willing to go to more distant places, but in that case, even if the person is willing to come, the price will be higher!”

“This group of people is very interesting.” Tian Yong Qing said with a chuckle, “I remember our Tian Family also has a ling plant cultivation class.”

Guessing what his brother meant, Tian Heng Bo smiled cunningly, “Yes, our Tian Family’s ling plant cultivation class, that is the top ranked one of Xu Ling City.”

“Get them to give a good display to these outsiders. If they cannot see our Tian Family’s strength in ling plants, they would not give up!” Tian Yong Qing said.

“Haha! I like to bully people the most!” Tian Heng Bo grinned.

———

“Is it good if we do this?” Nian Lu was struggling. Beside him, these experts of Sky Peak Platoon that did not flinch when facing mountains of blades and fire all showed insecure expressions.

“What isn’t good?” Lei Peng did not care.

“Those who doesn’t feel this is good only have to stop getting the allowance of jingshi for the Black Processing Meditation mat, and don’t need to go,” Ma Fan said lightly.

The insecure expressions instantly disappeared. Each of them had twisted expressions and suicidal determination.

“Do this!”

“Killlllll!”

———

“What do we do?” Yi Zheng looked at Zong Ru with desperation. “There is only the two of us as dhyana xiu! We can’t compete!” He wanted to complete what Daren had requested of them well so he could trade for ling dan as soon as possible. Yet, there were only the two of them who were dhayana xiu in the camp, and with limited labour they could not promote their class as well as the others.

Zong Ru thought and then his eyes suddenly lit up. “We’ll go to borrow people!”

“Borrow people?” Yi Zheng’s face was confused.

———

When the xiuzhe of Xu Ling City woke up that day, they found that the cultivation classes, that already seemed to be everywhere, had increased in number overnight!

Suddenly, many xiuzhe were running around on the roads of Xu Ling City. More than a dozen xiuzhe were all wearing Blue Soul Cold Light Armor, each of them with a bright red flag that had in big characters: “Xie’s Sword Essence Class”.

The troop was extremely organized, the person at the very front like a tower made from metal. He did not wear any armor, his upper half bare, heat evaporating from the steely muscles that were radiating with power!

Almost as though he noticed the number of people, the steely man at the front waved the red flag in his hands.

They shouted together, “Practicing the sword but not the essence, that is akin to just farting!”

The spectators were shocked.

The large man waved his flag again and the shouts rang out in unison.

“Xie’s Sword Essence Class, if you can’t get sword essence, we will refund it all!”

The rumbling footsteps seemed to rampage across the hearts of the spectators and left behind dazed passersby.

———

Xu Zheng Wei rose up very early today. It was a rare that he woke up so early. Even though xiuzhe were not affected by age like normal people, time would still leave behind marks on their body no matter how great their cultivation was.

Today, he decided to go visit his nephew.

He was born to a normal family and the only one in his family that had any significant cultivation, a jindan. He had a younger brother that did ran a little business, and with Xu Zheng Wei’s protection his brother’s life did not lack for anything. His brother’s son had pretty good cultivation talent. Just thirteen years old and almost in zhuji, which could be considered outstanding.

He focused a great amount of attention on this nephew and would visit every once in awhile to monitor his cultivation’s progress.

Just outside the door, he saw the street out of the corner of his eye, his step suddenly paused and then his expression froze on his face.

Ten xiuzhe in azure robes were sitting on ten nimbus clouds. The ten nimbus clouds were in a line that slowly floated along the street.

At the very front was that very wealthy Big Boss Zuo who spent jingshi like dirt!

They had managed to use something to write words onto the snowy-white nimbus clouds. Each nimbus cloud had a great big red character that could be seen from a long way off.

Xu Zheng Wei reflexively read along the nimbus cloud and almost spat blood!

“Ling plant cultivation class, includes work placement!”

———

A troop of fierce big men, yes, truly fierce and big men, each of them were more than one zhang tall!

When such a troop walked on the street, the pressure they produced was suffocating.

Each of their upper half was bare, the muscles were so terrifying they seemed unreal. All of them had proud expressions, their steps were heavy. When the ten people walked together, it rumbled as though a herd of elephants were trampling the ground.

However … …

“Zong Yi Dhayan Xiu Class, jindan dhyana xiu teaching, and lectures by a core disciples of the deep mountain’s Great Buddha Temple. The abhinna of dhyana xiu, all kinds of world-shaking techniques, are in this class, no regrets if you attend!”

The shouts that rose caused people to be unable to feel any fear at all.

———

Chun Yu Cheng smugly sat on top of a wood horn rhinoceros. Around him were six hundred ling butterflies of different colors. Everywhere he passed, they caused little children to chase and play.

These ling butterflies flew and formed words of different colors.

“Animal Husbandry Cultivation Class!”

———

Wei Sheng looked at the structure in front of him and showed a wry smile.

There was nothing to be said about the structure. This was a small sized yard, classic and elegant. On the door above the main gate was a large sign “Sword Teaching Hall.” The words were average, and at least better than chicken-scratch. What made him want to cry was the words written in the side of the door.

“High-end Sword Cultivation Class, the choice for elite!”

“Listen to the life experiences of a great master, comprehend the deep meanings of the sword!”

“Teacher Wei’s High-End Sword Hall, you are worth it!”

“The best gift for a child, the contribution of a true master, you are welcome to have a trial lesson!”

The people behind Wei Sheng had strange expressions as they looked at each other.

“Has someone registered?” Wei Sheng asked the xiuzhe responsible.

The other shook his head. “No!”

Wei Sheng smiled helplessly and murmured to himself, “It seems that I have to rely on myself!”

He was too lazy to ask the others to erase these slogans. Rising his feet, he walked up the stairs and only stopped when he was far from the door.

Turning, he faced the outside.

Seeing Wei Sheng’s serious face, the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu that had come to assist seemed to realize something and closed their mouths.

Boom!

A vast sword essence burst and rose into the sky!

The entire city was astounded!

Chapter 456: Off With A Bang

Famous!

Turtle Island cultivation classes became famous across Xu Ling City.

People crowded around every registration place for the cultivation classes, countless people waving their jingshi in hopes of getting a spot. The Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe that had never seen such a spectacle before were rushed and clumsy as they hurried.

The one that was most orderly was Wei Sheng’ Sword Teaching Hall. All incomers were respectful as they sincerely presented their jingshi and then found a corner to sit silently after receiving permission to wait for class to start.

Wei Sheng’s powerful sword essence shook all of Xu Ling City. Even jindan sword xiu came to register.

The first day passed in a hurry.

The people that thought they could take a rest found to their shock that on the second day the number of people coming to register had exploded. Many people had held doubts the first day, but the skill level of Zong Ru and the others had been shown during their first classes. The xiuzhe that had been wavering hurried in.

The busy scene in front of them seemed unexpected to everyone. Even Zuo Mo felt his scalp prickle.

After a long time, Zuo Mo finally understood the cause.

All the cultivation classes on the market were actually very low in terms of the skills they imparted. What did they have to do if they wanted to learn some substantial spells? Enter a sect. The cultivation classes that were on the market were really just used to get students to enter sects. Sects would have exams when they chose disciples.

So when Zuo Mo and the others opened their cultivation classes, it was like a crane among chickens, and the skills they taught were much higher than other cultivation classes.

The spells and tricks that Zuo Mo and the others passed on in their eyes were just the simple basics, but for the elementary xiuzhe that were stuck outside the doors of the sects, they were profound truths.

In one day, the name of the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes rose greatly. The xiuzhe that attended the first day of classes were excited and passed the news on to their friends. What were they most afraid of when attending cultivation classes? Afraid that they would pay the jingshi but would not learn anything. Now they found that the teachers of these cultivation classes were all powerful. How could these people not go crazy?

Because these cultivation classes came from Turtle Island, everyone called them by the general name of Turtle Island Cultivation Classes.

The beginner cultivators were the largest group and also the group that was paid the least amount of attention. Most of them were not very talented, and it was very hard to even get admitted into a small sect. Most of the time, they survived as hired employees, learning one or two of the most basic spells and had difficulty eking out a living.

No matter what jie, mastering one more spell meant one more hope of finding a job. The more profound the spell, the better the job.

For example, first grade fire spells were the most basic and elementary fire spells. They could only do the most labor-intensive and difficult fire-related work, such as stoking fires. Second-grade fire spells meant they could enter a kitchen and cook some simple ling dishes. Third-grade fire spells meant they could enter specialized medicine houses to treat all kinds of materials.

There were enormous differences between the income of different grades of spells.

But who held all the spells? Those small and large sects. In order to learn these spells, they could only enter these sects in order to learn them. Like the Wu Kong Sword Sect that Zuo Mo was in before. Now, it seemed a tiny sect, but even the second-grade sword scriptures of the sect were things that outer sect disciples had to pay contribution points to view.

Just paying a certain amount of jingshi and being able to learn a pretty good spell, this was fatally attractive to elementary xiuzhe.

Zuo Mo definitely would not have thought that the effect produced by the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes spread at astounding speed in Xu Ling City and even into more distant areas.

———

Looking at the empty hall, Tian Zhong Zhou showed a puzzled expression.

In a few short days, his cultivation class went from two hundred people to three people!

The last three students looked at each other and silently gathered their things to leave the hall. They had only come with their last hopes. Seeing the Tian cultivation class like this, they instantly understood.

No one was dumb!

The Turtle Island Cultivation Classes were not cheap, but the spells they taught were much more profound than other cultivation classes. In the past, the Tian cultivation class was the oldest and most reputable ling plant cultivation class in Xu Ling City. Yet the students who had attended the Turtle Island ling plant cultivation class never came back after that.

Tian Zhong Zhou looked on woodenly as the last three students left. His mind was dazed.

A few days ago, the upper levels had asked to them to blow away this cultivation class. Tian Zhong Zhou and the others had been full of motivation, each of them using all of their power and were waiting to beat the other down!

In other areas, the Tian Family didn’t dare, but in ling plants, who was a match for them in Xu Ling City?

Each teacher of the Tian cultivation class was full of motivation. The stuff that the Turtle Island Cultivation Class had taught on the first day were just tricks in the eyes of Tian Zhong Zhou and the others. It showed that the other was not as strong as they were so they would put their efforts on those unorthodox methods.

Cultivation class, they were about strength in the end!

Tian Zhong Zhou and the others were full of confidence.

Yet the suddenly change turned everyone dumbstruck.

No one had expected the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes that they thought of as clowns to gain such popularity and become unstoppable! In the span of a few short days, the students of the Tian cultivation classes quickly left.

At the start, Tian Zhong Zhou had thought, these students should never think about coming back to class ever again. Including him, the teachers of the classes had used all their skills. They had never worked so hard before, never been so professional! They hoped to use this method to stem the tide.

Yet they quickly found that all efforts were useless.

The number of students that came everywhere lessened.

Coming out of his thoughts, Tian Zhong Zhou’s eyes filled with blood. His hands unconsciously balled together and his discontent erupted!

Why was it like this!

Why!

He suddenly walked out. His face was determined. He was going to see just how evil the other’s cultivation class really was!

He wasn’t even in the mood to clean up what was on his table and left without a glance back.

He was going to expose the other’s tricks in front of the public!

A light drizzle came down as he walked. Tian Zhong Zhou walked quickly and did not detect the pitter-patter of rain against his body.

It was very easy to find the ling plant cultivation class of the Turtle Island. He only need to make a few inquiries and found the general location. Tian Zhong Zhou was very familiar with Xu Ling City and quickly found the place.

The deep little alley was completely silent.

It seemed these people were not very wealthy. The location of this little alley was not good and it used to be one of the most remote areas where no one would come. Tian Zhong Zhou recovered some of his confidence. Compared to this place, the location of their Tian cultivation class was in the golden stretch of the inner city.

Yet when Tian Zhong Zhou turned the corner to the alley, he seemed to be paralyzed.

People sat on the ground of the long and narrow alley. Their faces were upraised as they listened intently to the sound coming from the end of the alley. The entire alley was filled to the brim but silent. No one was speaking.

Tian Zhong Zhou was astounded!

Suddenly, an unspeakable feeling filled his chest and his lips uncontrollably trembled. His cultivation talent was normal and he did not have much status in the family. Otherwise, he would not have been sent to be the teacher for the ling plant cultivation class.

He had been a teacher of the ling plant cultivation class for ten whole years.

But in his ten years of teaching, he had never seen such a shocking scene!

He didn’t have good feelings about the students in his class. These xiuzhe that lived on the lowest level of society always had exhaustion-filled faces, and were never focused. The great majority of them were rough and crude, hard to like. They were the examples of the lowest level of xiuzhe in society, they were without any hint of refinement or beauty or the otherworldliness that came with cultivation.

Yet, it was also this group of people sitting quietly in rapt attention… …

Tian Zhong Zhou’s mind was dazed. The students that were sitting wore serious expressions that were slightly pious. There was no exhaustion or tiredness in their expressions, their focused faces shone with another kind of light.

Tian Zhong Zhou looked dazedly at this group of unfamiliar students.

The voice came from the end of the valley. It was not very loud but very clear. The teacher inside had seemed to predict this scene and had used a sound amplifying talisman.

“The five elements of ling plants have their own wonders. We are going to talk about the water element today. There are many water element spells, but does that mean that all water element spells are suited to ling plants? No. The water element spells that are able to be used on ling plants must have warm and nurturing effects. Today, I am going to talk of a water element spell called [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. It is not a profound spell, but for us ling plant farmers, it is very useful. Here, I must remind everyone to not always pursue high grade spells. High grade spells are better than low grade spells but the consumption of ling power is also higher. This is likely to cause you to land in the awkward state of not having enough ling power when using it … …”

After listening for a little while, Tian Zhong Zhou showed shock on his face.

They also taught [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] but only just the most basic variations. The higher level variations were only permitted to be taught after the student entered the Tian Family. Many of the wondrous parts this person talked about were ones that even Tian Zhong Zhou felt were novel. In this little while, he felt as though he had learned greatly!

But he did not feel happy, but disbelieving!

He did not wonder at this person’s deep comprehension of spells, but rather that this person would publicly teach such exquisite content!

Was this person crazy?

Did he not know what he was talking about were things no sect would easily make public?

If he only passed it on to a few people, no one would pay attention to him! But to publicly teach it like this, to so easily pass high grade spells, there was only one result, offending all the sects!

Why were the sects so powerful? Wasn’t it because they held the great majority of resources? And spells, that was the most important kind of resource that the sects possessed!

The monopoly sects had over spells was one of the foundations that they used to monopolize in reality. Due to this, in these thousands of years, all the sects and factions maintained this unusual and unspoken agreement.

This guy’s conduct intruded onto the profits of all the sects and factions around Xu Ling City!

He really was crazy!

Tian Zhong Zhou shook his head. But looking at the scene in front of him, for some unknown reason, all he felt it was pity.

Chapter 457: Devious

Tian Xiao Wei drunkenly walked on the streets as he was returning from drinking ling wine.

Ever since three years ago when he tasted ling wine for the first time, he was enchanted with the taste of ling wine. Every time after he received his wages, he would run to Heavenly Restaurant to have a few cups. He could not afford very good ling wine, and could only drink second-grade ling wine.

He didn’t have much interest in cultivation and had been stuck on the second stratum of zhuji for five or so years without any movement.

The night wind blew on his face, the intoxication rose and he was dazed.

Suddenly, two people appeared and walked towards him. Seeing him, they warmly gave their greetings, “Little Brother Wei!”

Tian Xiao Wei felt they were unfamiliar but he still pretended to know them and responded, “Where are you two going?”

“Planning to go drink wine. How about it, Little Brother Wei, go with us!” The other was very enthusiastic. The two people circled him and pulled his arm.

Tian Xiao Wei suddenly felt slight wariness. He wanted to break free but found to his shock that his body could not move!

He wanted to speak but no matter how hard he tried, his mouth could not produce any noise.

His eyes revealed the terror he felt.

He was pinned on both sides by the two and great force was applied to his arms,, and forced to walk outside the city.

———

“They are seeking death!” When Tian Yong Qing finished hearing Tian Zhong Zhou’s report, he said with a smirk, “These short-sighted people are not a problem.”

Tian Heng Bo’s expression was not so good, “I spoke with Xu Zheng Wei. He didn’t say it explicitly but these people do not plan on selling Turtle Island, even trading won’t work! I just want to see how they think they can oppose our Tian Family! Bastards! They are shameless!”

“Oppose our Tian Family, they need to have the ability,” another elder said with a smile, “Ye brother’s battalion rose forty-something ranks, that is really frightening.”

Speaking of this, the members of the Tian family all had smiles on their faces.

Among the sound tablets of Cloud Sea Jie, there was a program called Battalion Review. They would regularly review and rank the famous battalions of Cloud Sea Jie and held great authority. The Tian Ye Battalion had risen quickly, and successfully entered the top two hundred, ranked one hundred and ninety two. Due to this, public opinion of the Tian Family’s strength had also risen rapidly and they had become the second largest power in Xu Ling City next to Xu Ling Sect.

A powerful battalion was the representation of a faction’s power!

However, compared to individual rankings, battalion ranks were much steadier. So when Tian Ye Battalion had suddenly rose quickly, it attracted the attention of many people. The Tian Family instantly felt the change in attitudes  of the surrounding factions when they became the second most powerful faction of Xu Ling City.

At this time, the Turtle Island people were such an eyesore in the eyes of the Tian Family!

“We must have Turtle Island!” A cold light flashed through Tian Yong Qing’s eyes. “This is too important for our Tian Family! No matter which method we use, we need to have Turtle Island in our hands!”

Everyone stopped breathing to wait for his next words.

“The Turtle Island Cultivation classes has almost forced all other cultivation classes out of business. Ha, an outsider has stolen everyone’s business, this is not allowed on the business market!”

“Investigate which families have been damaged the most. We need to let the outsider see our power! Hmph, an outsider, what waves do they think they can make?”

Tian Yong Qing smiled coldly.

———

Ma Fan carefully laid his stomach against the ground, the presence of his body was concealed. He didn’t dare to even breathe.

He was memorizing the surrounding geography and formations.

No one would have expected for him to hide here for three whole days. In these three days, he became very familiar with this area. This was a storehouse for the Tian Family. Just as Zuo Mo’s cultivation classes were gaining popularity, he had secretly started an investigation of the Tian Family.

Ma Fan and the others had been there when Daren had been ambushed last time and felt great responsibility.

After that, Ma Fan and the others received a mission to secretly investigate the Tian Family. Shu Long had given them a jade scroll with a variety of concealment and scouting techniques. This was like giving wings to the tigers, the seasoned veterans of Sky Peak Platoon.

They quickly collected information and determined the general situation of the Tian Family.

Want to play in the dark, let’s see who is more devious!

Ma Fan muttered inside, he didn’t know who was direction the mission this time. In the beginning, everyone thought it was Lil’ Miss but they quickly found the style was completely different. Lil’ Miss was good at being a battle general, but scheming like this from the shadows was not something Lil’ Miss could play with. Was it Daren? But it didn’t seem like it. Daren was sometimes wretched but he liked being straightforward much more.

Then who was it?

Such an evil plan, even an old-timer like Ma Fan couldn’t help but feel his scalp prickle when he carried it out!

Devious!

It was truly too devious!

Ma Fan refocused. His gaze landed on the storehouse opposite him and paused to calculate the time.

After a while, the door to the storehouse opened and two xiuzhe laughed and chatted as they walked out.

When these people were far away, Ma Fan suddenly moved. Like an arrow, Ma Fan flew out against the ground. Beside him, his fellows moved at the same time.

Having scouted the warehouse for the last several days, Ma Fan and the others knew that no one would guard the storehouse at this time.

Charging to a place about ten zhang from the storehouse, the procession suddenly stopped. Then Ma Fan took out a jade medal and hung it on his waist.

The formation lit up, and so did the jade medal on Ma Fan’s waist.

The doors to the storehouse opened.

The interior of the storehouse entered their eyes. Mountains of ling plant farming talismans that were so numerous Ma Fan and the others inhaled sharply. They knew that the Tian Family were renewing a batch of ling plant farming talismans soon but when they saw the talismans with their own eyes, they couldn’t help but feel shocked at the great power of the Tian Family.

There were tens of thousands of ling plant farming talismans!

Even though these were only second-grade low level talismans, when this many were piled up, it was still shocking to see.

However, other than this batch of talismans, there were pitifully few other items in the storehouse.

Ma Fan and the others did not hesitate. They all took out little jade bottles and then poured it onto the pile of ling plant farming talismans. Several drops of multicolored medicinal fluid were dripped onto this pile of talismans.

Several balls of thin rainbow mist silently expanded, gradually dispersing until they were invisible.

Ma Fan and the others put away the jade bottles, and then took away the most valuable items. The storehouse instantly became a mess.

After finishing this, the group quickly disappeared.

———

“What?” Tian Heng Bo was furious. Like a ferocious man-eating tiger, he stared at the storekeepers who had their heads bowed.

The storekeepers all shook with ashen faces.

“Nice! All of you!” Tian Heng Bo said darkly, “People walked right in and took everything! Sixteen storehouses, a whole sixteen storehouses were robbed! If people didn’t know, they would think our Tian Family was a charity! You parcel of pigs!”

Tian Yong Qing’s expression was also ugly. He had never thought that people would dare to rob the Tian Family’s storehouses!

And to rob sixteen of them in one go!

Suppressing the fire in his heart, Tian Yong Qing asked in a dark voice, “What happened? Speak in detail!”

The storekeepers took turns to explain. The more he heard, the colder Tian Yong Qing’s heart was. The Tian Family had sixteen storehouses in Xu Ling City and they were all robbed at the same time! This showed that the other wasn’t just very familiar with the Tian Family, they were also very powerful. In order to rob sixteen storehouses at the same time, they needed a significant number of xiuzhe to act at the same time.

He also learned from these storekeepers that none of them had detected it and only discovered the theft after the fact!

This caused Tian Yong Qing to feel cold!

Tian Yong Qing asked about some of the details but still could not make any heads or tails of it. The other had not left any traces behind.

Sixteen storehouses robbed, the Tian Family had suffered heavy losses. Other than the low-grade ling plant farming talismans that had not been moved, any other talismans that were worth something had been taken away! These storehouses had held vast amounts of the ling plants and grains that the Tian Family had produced. Even though they were not valuable or rare specimens, but the amount was so large the loss was great!

In a rough estimate, the Tian Family’s losses this time was valued at minimum ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!

“Motherf***er! If ye find out who did it! See if ye won’t skin them!” Tian Heng Bo gritted out.

Tian Yong Qing also felt pain. The losses they suffered this time was definitely the most serious losses of the past years. In the past, these storehouses had not held valuable items so they had not put great attention on them. Additionally, Xu Ling City’s security had always been good and nothing like this had happened before!

“Send someone to investigate secretly who is selling large amounts of ling grasses and grains recently!” Tian Yong Qing resumed his calm. “These things are not jingshi and it is such a large amount, the sale of it is not easy to conceal! Don’t search in just our Xu Ling City, send people to look at the surrounding cities.”

Tian Heng Bo’s eyes lit up. “Big Brother is right! Sixteen storehouses’ worth of ling plants and grains is not so easy to sell off!”

“Do not announce it if you find them!” Tian Yong Qing’s voice was dark. “It is not so easy to swallow our Tian Family’s things!”

Tian Heng Bo ran off with the orders.

Tian Yong Qing looked at the storekeepers and his expression returned to indifference. “Do not lose the remaining ling plant farming talismans! The sowing season will start soon and these talismans will be used. If something else happens, I do not need to state the result.”

The storekeepers had white faces and nodded frantically.

Tian Yong Qing knew the strength of the storekeepers would not be enough so he picked up a pen and wrote on the paper. Putting down the pen, his right hand lightly rubbed and the paper became a paper crane that flew up and disappeared quickly.

“There will soon be people coming to help you guard the storehouses,” Tian Yong Qing said as he raised his head. “Move the talismans in the stores back to the family base. Pass this order down and do not delay this!”

“Yes yes yes!” The storekeepers hurriedly nodded.

The good fortune among the misfortune, the other had disregarded the ling plant farming talismans. Otherwise, it would really be troublesome! It had taken them some effort to buy these ling plant farming talismans. The seed sowing was going to start in a few days, and if these ling plant farming talismans had been stolen, it would be very hard to buy such a number of ling plant farming talismans so quickly!

Thinking about recent events, Tian Yong Qing’s head started to hurt.

Before one wave ended, another began!

Chapter 458: Action

“You went out robbing?” Zuo Mo looked at the little mountain of ling plants and grains and felt dizzy.

“Rob?” Pu Yao snorted. “Is just this little bit of stuff is worth robbing?”

Zuo Mo might have had some wealth before but when had he ever seen so much ling grasses and grains? His eyes were bright as he walked around the little mountain, his lips trembling, “How much jingshi would this be!”

Pu Yao was speechless. He suddenly found this slightly embarrassing. His student, the student of an honored Sky Yao was like this! Just this little bit was enough to make the other speechless, so embarrassing! It was very embarrassing! If people knew that his student was so weak … …

Even Pu Yao who had skin as thick as city walls felt his face burn.

“From the Tian Family?” Zuo Mo’s reaction was not slow. He suddenly looked with enthusiasm at Pu Yao, “Let’s go on a trip again!”

Amidst Wei’s roaring laughter, Pu Yao turned and left with a black face.

Having gotten a great sum of wealth, Zuo Mo felt very good and was not angry. The direction of the cultivation classes was also very good, each cultivation class growing from fifty people per class to two hundred. Adding on that the classes overflowed with students who listened, they were so popular that even Zuo Mo found it hard to believe.

What caused Zuo Mo to feel a headache was that the number was still growing at a rapid rate but the number of teachers was limited. Cheng Shidi had come over to complain to him multiple times that his normal cultivation and livestock raising was affected by the high numbers.

There was only Cheng Shidi for the animal husbandry classes, and for sword cultivation, no one could help with Xie Shan and Eldest Shixiong’s classes. The same was true for Zong Ru and Yi Zheng’s cultivation class as they were the only two dhyana xiu on the island. It was also the same for his ling plant farming class, there was only him.

Seeing so many pleading and hunger, oh no, so many jingshi that was lining up outside the door but could not enter his wallet, that feeling … …

Really wasn’t good!

What to do?

Zuo Mo rubbed his chin and started to think.

———

The shocking amount of ling grasses and grains caused all of Golden Crow Camp to turn out in smiles. Nothing was liked more by the Golden Crow group other than a large supply of raw materials. Most of them were skilled in forging and were not experts in dan-making or cooking but so what? Each of them had Golden Crow Fire, and there were jade scrolls among their collection. As long as they had the materials, they could naturally practice their skills. Even more, although their fire-manipulation techniques could not be said to be masterful, they were still very practiced.

Many people were interested in learning another processing method.

Zuo Mo did not care about their failures since they had gotten these things for free.

Also, if even half of these ling grasses could be processed in ling dan then the profit would also be astounding.

However, not everyone was happy. The two masters Sun Bao and Ji Wei had furrowed their brows at this moment. Compared to the heartless joy of the young people, the two of them had more pressure.

They knew the state of the island very well. That day, when Daren gathered everyone together to discuss how to make jingshi, they understood their precarious state. In order to use the abundant ling fields on the island, that required ling plant farming talismans. Plant farming talismans were not difficult to make, and the two masters were familiar with the talismans on the market. But if what was used were the ling plant farming talismans from the market, the ling fields on the island would not be completely used.

There was only one way if they wanted to use all the ling fields on the island.

That was to forge enough outstanding ling plant farming talismans, to forge talismans that could replace ling plant farmers!

In simple words, the two masters looked down on the ling plant farming talismans on the market!

———

“After twenty more days, these mo weapons will gradually take form,” Shu Long’s steady voice echoed in the cave. The cave they had dug was not large. Presently, all of Guard Camp had moved into this deep cave called the Yin Spirit Cave. This cave was extremely heavy with yin energy which be came denser the deeper they dug, and was very beneficial for the cultivation of Shu Long and the others.

A Wen looked eagerly at the mo weapons floating in the pool and asked, “Long ge, do you think that the power of the mo weapons is really that great?”

“Wouldn’t you know when it is time?” Shu Long said with a smile. He was very soft towards A Wen.

“Daren really bled this time!” A Wen said in shock, “Just the materials cost ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi! It’s amazing!”

The surface of the inky black pool did not ripple, and if one smelled from a distance, there was the scent of medicine. This was a pool that Shu Long had set up according to the directions of the mysterious daren. As to the effects, he did not have any confidence. When he thought about the jingshi that passed through his hands, he felt a thread of warmth. He was no longer that xiu slave that didn’t understand the value of jingshi any longer. Ten pieces of fifth-grade jingshi, if that was used to buy xiu slaves, it would be a vast number.

Daren was really good to everyone!

Thinking about this and the present Guard Camp, he felt a thread of guilt. Of the entire Guard Camp, other than he and A Wen who could be considered experts, all others were just average.

Compared to Vermillion Bird Camp, this result was not very good.

To say nothing of the two jindan, Xie Shan and Zong Ru, even Ma Fan, Nian Lu, and Lei Peng were just a step away from jindan.

He definitely had to train this group well!

And not waste Daren’s efforts!

As he paced, Shu Long made the decision. He quickly came to the deepest part of the cave. What entered his eyes was a busy scene. He could occasionally see sparks flying and crisp sounds ringing out.

“What is the problem?” Shu Long asked a hardship guard.

The hardship guard showed a grimace. “It is too hard! The deeper we go, the harder it gets. I’ve dug for half a day, and just gotten a little piece out, there’s not much progress!”

Hearing this, Shu Long went forward and punched the stone. He heard a muffled sound and fine cracks appeared around his fist while a few fragments fell .He wiped away the fragments and saw there was a shallow pit on the rock.

So hard! Shu Long was shocked. With the power of his punch, he was only able to make such a small indentation!

He picked up a piece of fragmented rock and grasped it in his hand. He had an expression of realization. The rock had been immersed in this thick yin energy for tens of thousands of years, and was as hard as steel. Gripping it, he could clearly feel the pure yin energy contained inside.

“En, everyone, work harder. This is a good place. When we dig out a bigger cave , everyone can live here for the long term. This place is suited for our cultivation!” Shu Long motivated everyone.

Another hardship guard said, “If you are speaking about cultivation, digging this stuff is the best cultivation!”

Shu Long’s mind moved.

The others talked and laughed.

“Haha! That’s right! I’ve dug for a few days, and felt I’ve improved greatly!”

“I assumed that only I had had that feeling. So everyone feels it!”

“That’s nothing strange. The rock is this hard, if we do not use killing essence, we can’t dig. This isn’t digging a hole, this is fighting!”

Hearing this, Shu Long suddenly realized this was a clever way!

Having been bothered that he did not have any ways of helping everyone cultivate, Shu Long’s eyes instantly lit up.

———

Lu Wei was very happy. He had actually made a breakthrough on his fire spell soon after registering for his class!

He had studied this fire spell for three years and progressed quickly until half a year ago when he could not enter a higher level no matter how hard he practiced. Due to this, he had registered for many classes but there was no effect until he had gone to the present class. Just a few of the teacher’s words had made him feel his vision broadened. After listening for five days, he smoothly broke through to the fourth level of the fire spell.

This teacher was really good!

The teacher looked younger than Lu Wei, and he hadn’t expected the teacher to be so strong! It wasn’t just him, all the students admired the teacher.

The fire spell he cultivated was second-grade, but now that he cultivated it to the fourth level, the value was instantly different.

An even better job was waving its hands at him. Thinking about how his monthly wages would double in the future, Lu Wei was very happy.

He excitedly ran to a ling materials shop. This shop always was hiring year round. Second-grade fourth level was enough for him to enter the ling grass room and become a ling grass fire worker to work in ling grass.

Compared to his dan fire labor in the past, it would be much easier and the wages higher.

Hearing he was coming to apply as a ling grass fire worker, the shopkeeper instantly came out. These days, it was hard to find a good ling grass fire worker. The shopkeeper first got him to show his fire spell and was very satisfied with his second-grade fourth-level strength.

Just as Lu Wei thought the shopkeeper would agree, the shopkeeper suddenly seemed to remember something and asked him, “Where do you attend cultivation class?”

“Copper Alley, the ling plant farming cultivation class of Turtle Island,” Lu Wei said with slight pride, “I was part of the first batch!”

Right now, the everyone coveted the spots in the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes to an astonishing degree. Even though Turtle Island Cultivation Classes were generous and did not stop them from listening from outside the class, it was not possible to see the displays of the teacher and the effects of the lessons naturally decreased. So what was occurring was that it was hard to buy a Turtle Island Cultivation Class spot with a thousand jingshi.

“Sorry, we do not hire the students from Turtle Island Cultivation Class,” the storekeeper politely gave the order to leave.

Lu Wei instantly was dumbstruck, “Why don’t you hire students from Turtle Island Cultivation Class?”

The shopkeeper looked at him and said, “We do not accept you, you can try at other places.”

Finishing, the shopkeeper disregarded him and went back inside.

Feeling very angry, Lu Wei went to another store. What he had not expected was that this store also did not accept students from Turtle Island Cultivation Class! Lu Wei did not believe his bad luck. He went to eight shops and none of them accepted students from Turtle Island Cultivation Class!

Lu Wei felt hopeless!

In the afternoon, the news that all shops of Xu Ling City refused to hire those from Turtle Island Cultivation Class spread through Xu Ling City!

Chapter 459: Counter-Attack

Reality was stronger than the fortitude of most people.

When all the businesses in Xu Ling City gathered together to restrict students of Turtle Island Cultivation Classes, the attendance rates were heavily affected.

Anyone that was intelligent and could see what was going on. Some students were not afraid and did not care. So what if they could not find a job in Xu Ling City? They could travel to other cities. As long as they cultivated good spells, where couldn’t they find a job?

But not every student had such courage and not every person was willing to run to an unfamiliar city and start a new life.

The number of people in Turtle Island Cultivation Class had instantly lessened.

Having been contemplating on how to expand the classes, Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. It had just been a few days, how come it was like this?

He hurriedly sent Shang Wei Ming to investigate. The businesses thought they were extremely strong and did not disguise anything. Shang Wei Ming quickly came back with news. When Zuo Mo learned it was the Tian Family again, he instantly became angry!

We haven’t even settled the ambush last time, and you come to challenge us again!

How can this be tolerated?

Zuo Mo had planned on letting Pu Yao torment the Tian Family, but now he rolled up his sleeves and decided to act himself!

Zuo Mo was clueless and couldn’t think of good ways to make money, but if he was thinking about doing devious things, Zuo Mo seemed to be shot up with adrenaline and instantly became excited!

Ge really isn’t a good person!

Zuo Mo sighed emotionally and then threw himself into the grand matter of exacting vengeance on the Tian Family. But upon reflection, Zuo Mo felt this was not something bad. With their manpower, expansion of the classes was akin to seeking death. The cultivation classes were much quieter than before but that was only when compared with the explosive in increase in attendance. There were many xiuzhe who did not worry about being blocked out and they were overjoyed at having the free spots in class.

Even more importantly, the excited Zuo Mo thought of a wondrous idea.

———

“Is there something you need?” The person receiving Zuo Mo was a middle-aged man.

“Oh, I want to discuss a partnership with your sect,” Zuo Mo said.

“Partnership?” The middle-aged male’s eyes lit up. Business!

Earth Sound Sect was a small sect. Their most famous product was the large sound tablet formation that could broadcast across the entire city. The male at the front of the store was their sect leader, Yin Ling Zi.

If Yin Ling Zi was not clever and creative the Earth Sound Sect would have died out long ago. Through his efforts the sound tablet program [Earth Sound] was produced in an interesting manner, and had a broad audience in Xu Ling City.

But their present days were not easy. The popularity of their [Earth Sound] program was slowly declining.  This caused a great headache for him but he did not have many solutions. Xu Ling City was still a small place, Earth Sound Sect was also a small sect. He could create higher-grade sound tablet formations, but he could not afford it. Also, the expenditure of higher grade sound tablet formations was also astounding.

Yin Ling Zi instantly became warm and had a smile on his face, “Please come in, please come in!”

Zuo Mo’s group walked into Earth Sound Sect, and Yin Ling Zi carefully took out his last bits of ling tea and brewed it.

After sitting down and taking a sip of ling tea, Zuo Mo stated his intentions, “I have come this time in the hope we can use the [Earth Sound] program your sect broadcasts to advertise the products of our island.”

“No problem, no problem!” Yin Ling Zi was overjoyed and still asked out of caution, “What cloud island is your island?”

Zuo Mo smiled. “We are Turtle Island!”

“Turtle Island!” Yin Ling Zi’s expression changed dramatically and thoughts of refusal rose. How could he not know the conflict between Turtle Island and the Tian Family? The Tian Family was the second largest faction in Xu Ling City, ranked under Xu Ling Sect, the depth of its foundation was far bigger than an outsider like Turtle Island!

If they offended the Tian Family, a little sect like Earth Sound Sect’s days would be at an end.

“What? Your sect will not accept this business?” Zuo Mo smiled thinly at Yin Ling Zi.

Yin Ling Zi hadn’t spoke when he saw Zuo Mo casually put something on the table. When he saw what it was, Yin Ling Zi’s eyes could not move away.

Ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!

Yin Ling Zi’s eyes instantly became heated as he stared at the ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi on the table!

For Earth Sound Sect, ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi was about half of their annual income. Yin Ling Zi knew his sect was in dire straits, it was to the point they were almost destitute, and could barely afford to buy food. If they could not create more revenue, they wouldn’t even have the jingshi to maintain the large sound tablet formation.

Zuo Mo heard the sound of Yin Ling Zi swallowing. Without a second word, he took out another ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!

Yin Ling Zi’s breathing became heavy, his eyes instantly filled with blood and his expression slightly vicious.

Twenty pieces of fourth-grade jingshi!

“This will be the thirty percent deposit.”

Zuo Mo’s words were like a fatal dagger that easily pierced Yin Ling Zi’s wavering defenses.

Yin Ling Zi felt his mind suddenly become blank.

He leapt at the jingshi!

What Tian Family! They can go to hell!

———

Zhu Zheng’s mood was strange, he had a particular sense of ennui.

His workmates watched him, each gleeful at his misfortune. Just a few days ago, all of them looked at him with completely different gazes. As one of the members of the first batch of students in the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes, he had had shockingly good luck. When the spot for a cultivation class was being auctioned off at a sky-high prices on the black market. While others could only sit in the alleys and listen, he was sitting in the hall and listening to Teacher Cheng’s husbandry class. That was really a great happiness.

Yet what he had never expected was the shopkeeper had quickly found him and told him if he continued to attend the Turtle Island Cultivation Class, he would be fired.

Helpless, he could only leave the cultivation class to keep his work.

The admiring and jealous gazes of the surrounding people instantly became gleeful.

Yet what Zhu Zheng had not expected was that the spells and formations that Teacher Cheng spoke about in class would unconsciously creep into his thoughts. Zhu Zhen had attended many cultivation classes before and Teacher Cheng’s skill would be ranked first. He held admiration for Teacher Cheng. Just those high level spells that Teacher Cheng spoke about casually filled him with motivation.

He seemed to be daydreaming constantly this days and was inattentive with his work. The shopkeeper had scolded him many times over this.

Why was it like this … … Zhu Zhen really felt bad inside. He felt that the Turtle Island Cultivation Class was very good.

Life had returned to normal. Zhu Zhen knew that the dissatisfaction in in his heart would dissipate with time and be worn down.

Everyone worked in the same place and due to the work being repetitive and boring, they would have a sound tablet to listen to when they worked. The shopkeeper had seen that it did not distract them so he had not forbidden it.

Suddenly, the content broadcasted by the sound tablet caused Zhu Zhen to stop what he was doing.

“… … Due to too many students being unable to enter our island’s cultivation class, we feel great regret and also blame ourselves! Teaching spells is the duty of every one of us xiuzhe. Due to this, we have now produced the Turtle Series jade scrolls, topic ranging from ling plants to animal husbandry, from sword xiu to dhyana xiu, we have made many kinds of detailed and informative jade scrolls. We hope that the students that are unable to attend our cultivation classes due to various reasons can cultivate by themselves through the jade scrolls … …”

Everyone couldn’t help but stop what they were doing and listen closely.

Zhu Zhen’s eyes slowly became bright.

———

Everyone thought that Turtle Island could do nothing when facing such a powerful alliance of local powers, and could only retreat!

It was  unexpected that Turtle Island’s counterattack was so quick, so sharp, and so precise!

Xu Ling City that had just quieted down, but now exploded like a bomb had been set off!

The sound tablet advertised the Turtle Island jade scroll series all day, the provocative shouts seemed to throw hot oil onto Xu Ling City.

“What? You did not hear it wrong! Nine ninety eight, only nine ninety eight! Not nine thousand nine hundred and ninety eight, or one thousand nine hundred and ninety eight! Nine ninety eight! Nine ninety eight! Just nine ninety eight! You can move the Turtle Island jade scrolls series to your home! This is a special promotion intended to repay students for supporting our Turtle Island Cultivation Classes! Nine hundred and ninety eight pieces of third-grade jingshi, the entire set of Turtle Island jade scrolls series … …”

“What we are looking at now is the fire spells jade scroll of the Turtle Island series. This jade scroll introduces five kinds of commonly seen second-grade fire spells, and has detailed instructions on every level. The price is one piece of third-grade jingshi. Without a doubt, this is definitely the spell jade scroll with the best value for your money this year! What? You think that second-grade fire spells are too low grade? No problem, here is a third-grade fire spell jade scroll. Heavens, you have not heard it wrong! Third-grade fire spell! Everyone is clear what the price on the market is for this, but for just one hundred pieces of third-grade jingshi and you can possess this … …”

“Turtle Island jade scroll series, made personally by the masters of the Turtle Island, works that cannot be surpassed!

“Turtle Island Fundamental Spell Commentary, the best commentary jade scroll to learn cultivation on your own! One of the most detailed basic spell commentaries on the market! What should you do when you encounter a problem? Don’t be afraid~! We have the Turtle Island Fundamental  Spell Commentary! It will list all kinds of problems you may encounter! It is an example of, ‘with one scroll in hand, the world in hand’ … …”

Xu Ling City exploded!

Completely exploded!

No matter what conflict existed between Turtle Island and the business of Xu Ling City, these students only needed what could help them actually learn. The effects of the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes had reached a mythical level, and the students that had personally experienced it were extremely confident.

Any xiuzhe with any ambition would always hope they could learn higher level spells.

When the businesses used the power of an alliance to stop them from attending the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes, they were angry inside.

The perceptive ones knew this was Turtle Island’s counterattack.

Yah, so you won’t hire the students of Turtle Island Cultivation Class, then I will directly sell jade scrolls! You can’t check for this! How can you detect where one learned these low-grade spells from? Many cultivation classes teach the same spells!

The advertising seemed to bombard them without exhaustion.

No business would sell them, no problem! The sword xiu that could be seen everywhere on the street wearing fourth-grade Cold Soul Blue Light Armor were selling them!

Two thousand sword xiu in full armor turned to streams that filled almost every corner of Xu Ling City!

They stepped on their sword lights as they murderously passed by every business as though they did not exist. Beside them were buckets of jade scrolls piled up like lettuce.

The businesses shuddered and no one dared to make a sound.

Arrogant!

Too arrogant!

Domineering!

Too domineering!

Chapter 460: Experts

“They dare to be so arrogant!” Tian Yong Qing’s gaze was dark. He definitely had not expected this group to be so reckless and heedless. Were they unafraid of offending the other powers in Xu Ling City? They did not fear they would earn the displeasure of Xu Ling Sect?

Where they showing off their martial power?

Yes! They were showing off their martial power!

Two thousand sword xiu entering the city to sell jade scrolls, what was that if not showing off?

Tian Heng Bo was so angry his face was almost twisted together. Tian Yong Qing felt as though he had swallowed a fly. He found to his shock that he didn’t have any good solutions!

Turtle Island dared to send two thousand sword xiu but he did not dare! He believed with Tian Ye Battalion’s power, they could take care of these two thousand sword xiu blink of an eye. But he did not dare to do so. If this kind of large-scale conflict happened in Xu Ling City, that was a challenge to Xu Ling Sect! The Tian Family might be the second most powerful faction in Xu Ling City but if they had to fight against Xu Ling Sect, Tian Yong Qing did not have any confidence in their chances.

If it was not a life or death situation, the Tian Family definitely would not dare to provoke Xu Ling Sect.

But if he allowed the other to keep going, wasn’t that another way of admitting that his side was not as good as the other? This caused Tian Yong Qing and the others to feel uncomfortable, even the business that were in alliance with the Tian Family felt uncomfortable!

The common saying was that the strong dragon could not suppress the local snakehead but they, the local “snakeheads”, had no way of dealing with this group. This was an embarrassment! Everyone had to stay and live in Xu Ling City in the future, where could they show their faces?

“Brother Tian, you have to think of a solution! These outsiders are so arrogant, they do not even acknowledge us! How dare they! How dare they! We definitely cannot accept this!” the owner of a shop couldn’t resist but say furiously.

His words instantly caused a chorus of agreement.

“Yes! How can we let these outsides step over our heads? If word spread, we would be ashamed to see other people!”

“Too arrogant! If we don’t teach them a lesson, they don’t know how high the sky is, how thick the earth is!”

“Ha, if I had a say, this kind of people just need a beating!”

Listening to everyone talk, a hint of darkness flashed through Tian Yong Qing’s eyes before his expression quickly became normal. He scanned the room with a smile, looking at the people and slowly said, “Bosses, you are right. Then what good ideas do you have so everyone can plan together!”

“Plan what!” A fiery-tempered owner opened, “Didn’t they want to have a cultivation class? We go find some experts to sort them out, and I want to see if they still have the face to open a cultivation class!”

“This idea is good … …”

“Good my ass!” another boss said unconcernedly, “Last time, Gu Xiang Tian, Qing Xu Daoren, and other people worked together, what was the result? Gu Xiang Tian’s dead, and Qing Xu Daoren’s Thousand Gem Illusory Disk was defeated. We don’t even know where he fled to!”

“Yes!” a boss agreed. “That high-end sword essence cultivation class, you know that one? The sword xiu there is very powerful. The sword essence he released that day was frightening! I know a jindan sword xiu who told to me to never provoke this person under any circumstance … …”

These words caused everyone to start hesitating.

Tian Yong Qing’s face gradually darkened, especially when he heard the matter of Gu Xiang Tian being killed and Qing Xu Daoren running away. The fire in his chest shot up. At the side, Tian Heng Bo was going to react but he shook his head, a signal to the other not to act.

Just as everyone was clueless about what to do, Tian Yong Qing smiled slightly and said slowly, “This matter, it is difficult but easy.”

Everyone’s attention was instantly attracted.

“What solution does Brother Tian have?” a boss asked.

Tian Yong Qing did not hide it. “Actually, in terms of power, Turtle Island is not worth so many of us working together. To say of nothing else, just my Tian Family is enough to destroy it.”

Tian Yong Qing’s tone was faint but the domineering presence showed.

Every person’s hearts shook simultaneously.

Their expressions landed in Tian Yong Qing’s eyes. Tian Yong Qing smiled coldly on the inside but did not show it. “However, this Xu Ling City is the place everyone does business, fighting and killing is not good. It is a pity that the other does not accept our good will. Turtle Island probably thinks that they are strong and we are afraid of them.”

When he spoke of this, everyone’s expressions ease and they nodded.

“Yes! Aren’t they in need of a beating?” a boss inserted.

Tian Yong Qing ignored the person who interrupted and continued, “This group does have several experts, jindan, that sword xiu called Wei that Boss Xu just mentioned isn’t low in skill.” Speaking to this point, Tian Yong Qing suddenly raised his volume, “But.”

Everyone became alert. They knew that the meat had come!

“We’re just going to watch as they rampage on our territory? Behave without regard? Expert?” Tian Yong Qing said in a disinterested tone, “So what if they are experts? I’ve never heard of an expert this arrogant! Also, they have experts, do we not have any? Which of the bosses here do not have one or two experts? When did it become that our Xu Ling City is ruled by a few jindan?”

These words struck the hearts of the bosses. Yes, so what if they had experts? If it was a dragon, you still had to coil up for us! So many experts, but all of them had been docile when they came to Xu Ling City.

Tian Yong Qing suddenly turned his face, “Boss Xu, I heard you have a good relationship with Ning Yi?”

That Boss Xu seemed to wake up. Seeing everyone’s gaze land on him, he couldn’t help but feel smug. “It can’t be said to be good, I can just exchange a few words.”

Hearing the name Ning Yi, the expressions of many people changed as a rumble of discussion started.

Ning Yi’s name in Cloud Sea Jie was famous and he was thirty second on the expert rankings of Cloud Sea Jie. This person was battle-hungry, and had a vicious and murderous personality. Of those that fought against him, if they did not die then they were wounded.

Just as everyone was wondering why Tian Yong Qing would mention such a vicious and infamous person, Tian Yong Qing said with a slight smile, “Good, Boss Xu, please pass a few words on for me. The Tian Family is willing to gift thirty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi to invite Mister Ning to battle the sword xiu named Wei.”

Hire Ning Yi?

The boss’s first paled. The Tian Family was very daring!

But then they found this idea was clever. Who was Ning Yi? That was a killing god that did not need a reason to kill! If this kind of person killed someone, no one would suspect them!

Ning Yi had a nickname called “Killing God Yi.”

They were not greenhorns and knew that acting in the open or leaving people to speculate would cause different results. What they were worried about the most was attracting the displeasure of Xu Ling City. But if they used Tian Yong Qing’s idea, Xu Ling City could not catch them or do anything.

Excited, everyone sighed in shock. The Tian Family was really rich. Thirty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi! It was shocking to hear such a great sum!

Even that Ning Yi would be unable to resist such a prize. Thirty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi was thirty thousand pieces of fourth-grade jingshi and would be enough to buy a good fifth-grade talisman.

This idea was an inspiration to the other bosses. Yes, with jingshi, how would they lack experts? The two sides would have to fight to get a sense of the other’s strength, but in terms of wealth, how could Turtle Island compare to them? Each person seated here had a thousand jingshi in their pockets. If it was competing on jingshi, they would not falter.

“I know a disciple of Gu Ming Gong. Why don’t we gather a gift and invite Gu Ming Gong?”

“Is it Gu Ming Gong who has the name of “Seal Immortal Gu?” That’s great! Add me in! Mister Gu is fifty six on the expert ranking!”

“Add me as well!”

“Haha, this group of outsiders, if we don’t kill them, ye won’t feel good. I will give five pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!”

Hearing everyone open their wallets, Tian Yong Qing’s smile grew and even Tian Heng Bo’s brow relaxed. The two exchanged a look and then smiled.

Everyone used their strength and quickly finalized the experts they could find.

“Killing God Yi” Ning Yi, thirty second on the expert ranking of Cloud Sea Jie; “Seal Immortal Gu” Gu Ming Gong, fifty six on the expert ranking of Cloud Sea Jie; “Eastern Cloud Budha” Yuan Xin, sixty on the expert ranking of Cloud Sea JIe!

When they saw this list, everyone became excited.

With such a team, not just a little Turtle Island, even Tian Yong Qing couldn’t help but feel wary. Unless the Old Master could successfully break through, otherwise, the Tian Family could not gather enough experts to rival this team! The only thing they could do was use the battalion to drag them down.

“Haha!  I don’t believe we can’t kill them this time!”

“This team is too strong! Are we overdoing it?”

“A bit, but they are unlucky to have encountered us! Haha!”

“We need to show them some power. Fighting against us, isn’t that seeking death?”

The bosses roared with laughter and felt good about their plan. Their depressed mood of the past few days was swept away! Thinking about the scene in the future, they felt extremely excited!

Seeing the scene in front of him, Tian Yong Qing’s heart suddenly moved. He said, “No one has seen such a grand modis operandi before!”

“Never! Never!” “Other than us, who can be so grand!” the people said to each other.

“If this matter succeeds, our Xu Ling City is going to be famous! Everyone is going to be famous! Who is more charismatic than us? Who has more skill than us? Who is more powerful than us? Which one in the top one hundred of the expert ranking doesn’t have their eyes in the sky and is revered by many people? But so what? We need to smash them down, smash them down with jingshi!” Tian Yong Qing’s voice was provocative as he waved his arms with an excited expression.

The other people also became excited!

Yes! Who would make such a grand move? So what if they were experts on the expert ranking? They could be smashed down with jingshi!

In this instantly, a feeling of grandness rose in every person seated here!

They did not think highly of the people from Turtle Island. In front of such a team, Turtle Island was like a little insect. Just one little finger was enough to crush it!

Turtle Island, what was that?

Chapter 461: The World Upended

Scenes of laughter and chatting was seen everywhere on Turtle Island.

When the people spoke about what they did this time, all of them were excited, and they were especially satisfied when they thought about the fearful and timid gazes of those business people.

“Ha, you guys don’t know. When those people look at me, it was like they are looking at an ogre!” Lei Peng was proud as he motioned with both hands.

“You look like a ogre.” Nian Lu added in a small voice.

Everyone burst out in laughter, including Lei Peng himself.

In the big hall, Zuo Mo and the others were gathered together with bright eyes.

Waiting for Bao Yi to finish calculating, Zuo Mo couldn’t resist asking, “How much did we sell?”

The smile on Bao Yi’s face was like a chrysanthemum flower blooming, but no one felt it wretched right now instead they looked at it with anticipation. Bao Yi’s voice trembled slightly, “Six … … six … …”

“Sixty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi?” Zuo Mo’s grin almost reached his ears.

Sixty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi, that really was a great sum of jingshi. That amount surpassed the total amount of jingshi Zuo Mo had at before! In just a few days, the amount in his pocket had doubled, this was definitely a great harvest!

Everyone had joyful smiles. Sixty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi, that was enough to buy a fifth-grade talisman!

Everyone might have a golden crystal sword each but they didn’t have much jingshi. Especially for a jindan like Xie Shan whose other talismans were lacking except for his fifth-grade golden crystal sword. The Blue Soul Cold Light Armor and the rest were slightly on the low end for a jindan, like Xie Shan.

Bao Yi’s face was flushed red. He had to  use all his strength to make his voice steady, “It … … is six hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!”

All of the laughter instantly disappeared.

Zuo Mo’ s eyes were round. “Six hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi?”

An entire set of Turtle Island jade scrolls was nine hundred and ninety eight third-grade jingshi or about two pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. Six hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi was six hundred thousand pieces of fourth-grade jingshi. In this short time period, they had sold three hundred thousand sets of Turtle Island jade scrolls!

Everyone was shocked speechless by this enormous number!

Bao Yi resumed his normal composure at this time. “In this rush, there have been stores from nearby cities that have come to use to purchase the jade scrolls. Our jade scrolls have sold like crazy in this area! Bright Light City, Sea Light City, Cloud Light City, their shops are not influenced by the people from Xu Ling City. They have bough huge numbers. We have spent great effort, all of Vermillion Bird Camp putting down their work to forge jade scrolls in order to fulfilled their demands.

In the silence, Bao Yi’s voice was the only one.

“However, our revenue is slowly decreasing. The little jinzhi we put on our jade scrolls have been deconstructed and knockoffs have appeared on the market. This has greatly affected our revenue.” Bao Yi was full of regret.

But everyone was still immersed in the great shock of six hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi. No one spoke.

Six hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!

Zuo Mo felt blank.

Selling jade scrolls was just something he did to oppose the Tian Family and just to annoy them. Getting Vermillion Bird Camp to sell jade scrolls was because there were no shops that were willing to sell his jade scrolls. He had used this group of extremely bored people as free labor.

What a world this was!

One could make six hundred jingshi like this?

When was jingshi so easy to make?

This was a whole six hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!

Zuo Mo felt his world was upended!

Yet what he had not expected was that it wasn’t just this matter that upended the world for him!

———

Zuo Mo looked curiously at the completely transformed ling fields. Beside him, the ling plant farmers of the island were also looking around curiously. The masters Ji Wei and Sun Bao were explaining the changes in detail.

“These ling fields have been completely modified to become formation ling fields. According to the attributes of the ling plants, we have designed new formations. Each section of ling fields has a cloud rain formation, and the core of the formation is a piece of fourth-grade water soul crystal. It can release the Little Art of Cloud and Rain to the equivalent of the fifth level. If one wants to release [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] to a higher level, it requires a higher grade water soul crystal.”

Following Master Sun Bao’s finger, Zuo Mo saw threads of white mist appear above the ling field. The white mist quickly formed a ball of clouds and  silver threaded rain fell onto every corner of the ling field.

Even from far away, Zuo Mo could sense the thick vitality in these rain drops. His eyes lit up. “This is good!”

At his side, more than twenty ling plant farmers gaped with disbelief on their faces. This was the first time they saw a formation that could cast [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. Their ling plant farming skill was not high but even they could feel the threads of rain were truly Little Art of Cloud and Rain!

There were clear differences between ling plant farming water spells and normal water spells. Normal xiuzhe might be unable to detect it but ling plant farmers definitely could.

Su Bao’s face held no pride. He continued to introduce, “The Cloud Rain Formation is the simplest formation and it was the first one we solved. We then resolved the earth formation. According to the [Earth Granary Spell] that summer flower ling plant farmers frequently use, we designed a Earth Granary Formation. At the center of the formation is a piece of fourth-grade brown spotted rock. It later proved to have a great effect and is very good at gathering earth energy. It can reach the skill of the fourth level of [Earth Granary Spell]. But we do not have a lot of brown spotted rock so Daren will need to buy a batch.”

Zuo Mo’s joy grew. Water and earth spells were the ones most often used on normal ling field. Since these two spells were solved, that meant that ling grasses and grains had the support for  basic growth. Wood spells could accelerate the growth of ling grasses and grains while gold spells was mostly used to exterminate insects and disease. Fire spells could gather the essence of the sun and also accelerated growth. But the core spells were the water and earth spells.

In other words, it was possible to plant ling grains and grasses on this section of ling field. Removing the need to cast the water and earth spells, each ling plant farmer could now take care of five hundred mu of ling fields an increase one hundred mu!

The amount of usable ling fields on the island could be multiplied by five!

To Zuo Mo, this was definitely good news!

However, the surprises that the two masters gave Zuo Mo didn’t end here. Master Ji Wei continued, “For the wood spell, we used the [Ling Essence Wood Attracting Spell]. This spell is relatively complex so not many ling plant farmers use it, but there is no problem if we use a formation. Also, while the Ling Essence Wood Attracting Formation is complex, it does not use a lot of jingshi. As for the fire spells, it was not difficult. Daren’s Golden Crow Fire Formation is appropriate but it is too strong. We weakened it by merging it with the Glimmer Formation to form a new kind of formation that we have called Golden Crow Glimmer Formation. It is not as powerful, but it is gentle and much more appropriate to use on ling plants.”

At this moment, the cloud and rain dissipated, the mist above the ling field disappearing. Threads of golden energy came from the sky and scattered among the ling fields. In a blink, a faint layer of golden light covered the ling grains in the field and looked very ethereal.

Zuo Mo and the others were stunned by the beautiful scenery and unconsciously stopped their breathing.

The two masters Ji Wei and Sun Bao were unaffected by the beautiful scenery. They had seen this scene repetitively during development, and didn’t even bat an eyelid, continuing, “If we have to say which spell was the most difficult, it is the gold spell.”

“Gold spell?” Zuo Mo reflexively asked. He quickly reacted and couldn’t help but frown. Yes, of the ling plant five elements, gold was for killing and it demanded the highest control of ling power and consciousness. Ling plant farmers mostly had gentle personalities and naturally had less of killing energies.

This was also why the number of ling plant farmers skilled in gold spells was pitifully few.

“We recalled something Daren once said,” Ji Wei said.

“What did I say?” Zuo Mo was clueless.

“Daren once said ling planting gold spells are like sword xiu, they are used for killing,” Ji Wei explained.

Zuo Mo recalled and nodded. “I did say it.” He then asked curious, “And then, how did you solve it?”

Truthfully, he was really frightened today. Sun Bao and Ji Wei’s designs were full of creativity and showed him a completely new path! Zuo Mo was not a short-sighted person and he was clear of the deep meaning contained in these formations. The two masters had been very clever in managing the previous four kinds of spells and this made Zuo Mo very curious as to how they had taken care of the difficult gold spell.

“We thought that since they are very similar to sword xiu, why don’t we use sword xiu directly?” Ji Wei asked in response.

Zuo Mo stilled. “Use sword xiu directly?”

“Yes, use sword xiu directly. We have a lot of sword xiu and many who have comprehended sword essence. If we can use all of them, can’t we solve a great part of the problem of lacking ling plant farmers?” Ji Wei showed excitement. “Ling plant farmers can kill those pests, so why can’t sword xiu? We especially asked Teacher Wei. He told us that theoretically, there is no problem and he also demonstrated for us. Through Teacher Wei’s guidance, we designed a completely new formation. Its development was delayed by the matter with the jade scrolls, so we just finished it recently!”

“A completely new formation?” Now even Zuo Mo found it hard to believe. This group of people were becoming increasingly stronger and coming up with strange and novel formations that even he could not think of. What did this have to do with formations?

Master Ji Wei was extremely excited as he spoke rapidly, “We call this geat formation the Insect Exterminating Formation. Its core is made from golden crystal sand. There only needs to be a sword xiu who comprehended sword essence inside the formation and it can be used to kill all kinds of pest and diseases. We got some of the brothers from Vermillion Bird Camp to try. The effect is great and there are no blind spots!”

Zuo Mo’s face was dazed. He was dumbstruck.

Ji Wei did not notice the dazed expression on Zuo Mo’s face. He waved his arms and said excitedly, “And this Insect Exterminating Formation even has an added benefit, it can help the sword xiu brothers practice their sword essence and allow them to control their sword essence even better.”

Zuo Mo was frightened as he looked dumbly at the two masters.

The two masters finally noticed the strange expression on Zuo Mo’s face. The two exchanged a look. Master Sun Bao broke the silenceopened, “Daren, is everything alright?”

“Alright! Very alright … …”

Zuo Mo unconsciously murmured. He gazed at the ling fields in front of him and his dazed eyes were blank.

This world was upended!

Chapter 462: Cave Fright

Xu Ling Sect

Lu Zhen’s expression was serious. “Ning Yi, Gu Ming Gong, and Yuan Xin, is this information up to date?”

Lu Zhen was the present sect leader of Xu Ling Sect, his cultivation was in the third stratum jindan and he was deeply trusted by the elders of the sect. Under his management, Xu Ling Sect had become more prosperous than before.

“Not up to date but their goal is definitely these three. Supposedly, Yuan Xin has already agreed.” The one who spoke was Lu Zheng’s shidi Huang Jie. He looked questioningly at Lu Zhen. “Should we stop them?”

Lu Zhen asked instead, “Have we determined the origins of the people from Turtle Island?”

“No,” Huang Jie shook his head, “they are very wary. We are afraid of drawing their attention and do not dare to question deeper. We thought about asking  Shang Wei Ming but there were no results. That guy’s mouth is unusually tight.”

“En, they saved his life. It seems Shang Wei Ming is determined to help this group of people.” Lu Zhen continued, “You also saw the sword xiu in the city that day, what do you think?”

“Their cultivation is average, all ningmai, but their killing energies are dense and should be a group of well-trained lawless brutes. Among them, the ratio of those who comprehend sword essence is very high.” Huang Jie recalled. He thought of the troop of sword xiu that had flew by him, the threads of killing essence coiling around them that had caused his heart to shake.

He refocused and continued, “I heard they have a cultivation class that says it guarantees comprehension of sword essence. Since they dare to give such a boast, they must have some technique that others do not know. They also have a sword xiu expert that is not weak. It is also rare that he is willing to teach and accept disciples.”

“Who do you favor?” Lu Zhen said with a smile.

Huang Jie said after a moment, “If Tian Yong Qing and them can really invite Ning Yi and the others, seven to three. Tian Yong Qing seven, Turtle Island three. When experts fight, it is not the killing of battalions, it depends on individual power. Ning Yi’s personality isn’t good, but his strength is hard to deal with. In our sect, other than Sect Leader who can fight him, the others cannot do it. Unless the top … …”

Lu Zhen raised a hand and stopped Huang Jie from continuing. He said, “Do not worry, I have invited Huang Long Zhenren to come visit for a while. With Huang Long Zhenren and I, they would not dare to mess about.”

Huang Jie said with a smile, “I had guessed that Sect Leader would be prepared but didn’t think you would have invited Huang Long Zhenren!”

“I also do not have any other solutions.” Lu Zhen smiled and then his expression became stern again. “The Tian Family has been very lively recently. It seems that the Tian Ye Battalion’s rise in rankings has caused their confidence to inflate!”

“Sect Leader means?”

“Wait for this matter to end. We will strike at the Tian Family so they will don’t lose sight of themselves.”

“Sect Leader is right.”

———

In a dark cave, a trail of black shadows marched for the deep reaches of the cave.

The one walking at the very front was Lil’ Black, followed by Tenth Grade. Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire were circling around A Gui. A Gui’s eyes exuded faint purple light that seemed eerie. Silly Bird was last as she held her head high as she slowly walked her bird walk, unaffected by the darkness, she was as proud and at ease as always.

A Gui’s situation was growing better by the day, her expressions gradually becoming nimble. Lil’ Pagoda and the others always accompanied A Gui. The caves on the island were overgrown with grasses and plants, and became the playground of A Gui and the others who played happily.

Suddenly, Lil’ Black that walked at the very front stopped, its two antennae furiously waving.

The battle maniac Tenth Grade was like a cat that had smelt fish, his little face instantly showing excitement. Holding the little black sword, he flew into the darkness.

Many flames erupted on Lil’ Fire’s body, the bright fire chasing away the darkness and revealed the Lil’ Gang.

The Lil’ Ones were around A Gui as the purple energy in her eyes wavered.

Tenth Grade’s body suddenly flashed and disappeared.

Clink!

A spark suddenly shot out of the air and the sharp sound of collision came into the Lil’ Ones’ ears.

The flames on Lil’ Fire’s body wavered and it timidly leaned towards A Gui. Lil’ Fire’s little feet grabbed onto A Gui’s leg and it climbed up into A Gui’s head to hide inside her hair.

Lil’ Pagoda was daring and unafraid, moving closer in curiousity.

Silly Bird had an idle expression.

Clink clink clink!

Sparks lit up the air and the sharp sounds beat down on the airs.

Using the light of the fire, the Lil’ Ones finally saw clearly. So this was a group of black insects!

These black insects were about the same size as Tenth Grade, their bodies shaped like shuttles and they were extremely fast! Their shells were extremely hard, and created sparks when colliding with the black sword in Tenth Grade’s hand but were not damaged!

Having found an opponent, Tenth Grade quickly descended into excitement, his stern face was murderous.

Tenth Grade with his black clothing and black sword was like a black bolt of lightning. In a turn, he had sealed off the advance of these little black insects.

Chirp chirp!

Sounds of the insects sounded.

Clink clink clink!

The sparks from the battle made it seem like a crescent barrier of fire had formed!

The killing energy on Tenth Grade’s face grew. He felt the pressure was increasing! The number of little black insects was increasing!

Silly Bird showed a wary expression. It detected danger!

Pia pia pia!

The sparks were bright in the darkness. The Lil’ Ones quickly changed expressions. The spark barrier was slowly being pushed towards them!

Tenth Grade’s figure moved quicker and quicker, his little face was vicious but the insects were increasing in number and he could not stop their advance!

Lil’ Pagoda did not dare to just look on from the side. It released a five colored light that swept towards the insects.

The insects that were swept by Lil’ Pagoda’s five colored light suddenly froze!

Tenth Grade who felt even more frustrated due to being pressured suddenly exploded and the sword presence grew!

The barrier of sparks suddenly expanded outwards!

Yet what no one had expected was that the spark barrier that just expanded seemed to have encountered an invisible hand that suddenly pushed it back!

Insects, even more insects!

In the depths of the cave, insects furiously came out like the tide!

The purple light in A Gui’s eyes rose. Her right hand waved and a wave of insects that were attacking seemed to encounter a fatal attack, falling down silently! When they landed, their bodies were motionless. They were dead!

A Gui’s attack caused the tide of insects to stall.

Opportunity!

The Lil’ Ones had followed Zuo Mo for a long time, and their skills at fleeing were even better! Without needing to communicate, their figures retreated in unison, they were so in sync it was as though they were tied together by the same rope.

The insect tide that had paused momentarily lost all restraint and furiously leapt at the Lil’ Ones!

The chirping was endless and caused pain in the eardrums!

The Lil’ Ones were in sync. Frightened, they ran with all their power. Silly Bird did not have any of the composure of an expert now as she furiously waved her wings and occasionally sneaked a look back, actions which did not affect her speed at all.

The insect wave was following tightly on their behinds. Just as they were going to catch up, the Lil’ Ones suddenly sensed everything lit up.

They were out of the cave!

What caused their eyes to widen was that the insects all stopped when they got to the cave entrance. In a flash, the shadow of the cave entrance was crowded with insects. These insects packed together in layer and on top of each other. It was frightening to see.

Using the sunlight, they finally saw the true appearance of these insect. These insects were not black, but a brown color, their bodies flat and shuttle-shaped. There was a pair of thin gossamer wings on their backs. It may have been because they lived in the dark, that they had extremely tiny eyes that were almost invisible. What was most shocking was their mouth that was filled with sharp fang that caused coldness in those who saw it.

The Lil’ Ones were frightened.

They quickly found that these insects did not come out of the cave no matter what. Then they rested their hearts.

The mischievous Lil’ Pagoda saw the insects were not willing to come out of the cave and its fear disappeared. It floated to a place only three zhang from the mouth of the cave and twisted its five layered waist at the insects in the cave, making all kinds of funny faces.

The insects at the cave shifted and furiously climbed towards the cave mouth but no matter how they climbed, they would not come out of the cave.

Seeing Lil’ Pagoda was fine, Lil’ Fire and Lil’ Black also came out to taunt the insects before contentedly leaving.

Tenth Grade looked back at the cave entrance crawling with insects before leaving, his always stern face suddenly had a dark smile.

Full of murderousness!

———

“No problem! We will transport a batch of brown spotted rock and water soul crystal as soon as possible. Because you require a large number, it will probably be around ten days.” The shopkeeper of Cloud Pavilion said warmly to Bao Yi.

The shopkeepers from the previous incident had been punished or fired by Liao Qi Chang. This shopkeeper had been moved over from another store. He was very clear on how he had become the storekeeper of Xu Ling City Cloud Pavilion, and the young master had ranked Mister Zuo as third  on the list of people to pay special attention to.

Even though this person was not Mister Zuo himself, he was still cautious. While the King of Hell was easy to see, the little ghosts were difficult to spot, so he did not dare to slight him!

Other than using the fastest possible speed to get the merchandise, he had also given the best discount.

Bao Yi showed a satisfied expression. He knew the market and understood that the delivery speed and prices of the other provided were very satisfactory.

“Thanks, Shopkeeper!” Bao Yi raised his folded hands in thanks. Daren placed great importance on this batch of brown spotted rock and water soul crystal, telling him to order them as fast as possible. Having completed what Daren had given him to do, a rock landed in Bao Yi’s heart.

Before leaving Cloud Pavilion, Bao Yi cast a disguise over his face.

He quickly walked into another shop.

After the businesses in Xu Ling City teamed up against Turtle Island, Bao Yi’s business had entered a stagnant state. He would even have trouble buying things. Other than Cloud Pavilion that continued to work with them, the other shops did not sell them anything, much less buy.

Bao Yi quickly thought of a solution and used disguise arts.

No one would suspect him if he did not use his true appearance as he went shops to make purchases. Many xiuzhe were not willing to use their true appearances and there were many that used disguise arts.

Just like normal, he paid attention to the price of all the merchandise and the discussion in the corner quickly entered his ears.

“Ha, this time, Turtle Island cannot escape!”

Bao Yi’s heart shook and his ears instantly rose up!

Chapter 463: What Strange Thing Is This?

In front of Zuo Mo, there was a black gold paper about three cun that was covered in cryptic golden seal scripts, each the size of tadpoles.

On the top of the black gold paper was a little figure about one chi tall. It was the black gold seal soldier!

Zuo Mo’s consciousness was like an oil slick that tightly covered onto this piece of paper. He didn’t even dare to blink his eyes. A short while later, his forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat.

A minuscule line of fire followed his finger and flew onto the seal paper, tracing among the scripts of the paper seal.

Zuo Mo was trying to repair the black gold seal soldier.

Zuo Mo drooled thinking about the black gold seal soldier that seemed unable to die. However, his strike seemed to have damaged the black gold seal soldier. He was now trying out methods to fix the seal soldier. Fortunately, he had managed to find the detailed method and instructions to make the black gold seal soldier in a jade scroll he took from Gu Xiang Tian’s body. Zuo Mo had found the solution after trying a few times.

Possessing the Great Day Banded flame, Zuo Mo innately had an advantage in forging.

Gu Xiang Tian was very skilled in making paper seals but he was not a rich person. This could be seen from the pitifully small amount of things left on his body. Zuo Mo had thought he could get a lot of spoils, but there were not many items.

The black gold seal soldier was Gu Xiang Tian’s ultimate attack and he had invested the majority of his blood and energy in it. But in Zuo Mo’s eyes, the materials were still low quality.

The information Gu Xiang Tian left in the jade scroll also indicated this. Because he could not find several materials at the time, Gu Xiang Tian could only substitute some materials with others of similar attributes. This caused the black gold seal soldier that he forged to be lacking compared to what he had originally designed, and he had felt great regret.

Gu Xiang Tian lacked materials, but this wasn’t a problem for Zuo Mo!

He had received a batch of high-grade materials on the Sealed Extinction battlefield, including an astounding amount of golden crystal sand. The black gold seal soldier needed materials of this kind the most. And among the items Gu Xiang Tian had regretting not being able to obtain were the materials that had intelligence. Zuo Mo had many of those. The totem fragments were piled up like mountains at Bao Yi’s place.

As the consciousness and ling power moved, Zuo Mo’s body seemed to be pulled by thin invisible threads and uncontrollably trembled violently.

A clear yet strange feeling came.

He had started to become familiar with the changes that merging the three powers had brought and discovered many abilities. When he was controlling fire in forging, what he relied on the most was consciousness and ling power. He could now increase the strength of his consciousness and ling power through controlling the muscles in his body.

Right now, Zuo Mo’s three powers could barely be considered united.

The benefits that came with this were easy to see. In terms of purity, he could not compare to xiuzhe that only cultivated ling power, but in terms of endurance battles, other people were lacking compared to him.

The tiny Great Day Banded Flame threads of fire that curved along the seal paper turned to countless little flames. They seemed to be attracted by the black gold seal soldier, slowly leaving the seal paper and entering the black gold seal soldier.

The seal scripts on the body of the black gold seal soldier suddenly lit up as though they were red hot.

Zuo Mo did not dare to relax. The golden crystal sand he had prepared beforehand was thrown at the black gold seal soldier. The black gold seal soldier was like a magnet, it absorbed all the golden crystal sand. At this moment, the fine flames wrapped the black gold seal soldier.

The seal scripts that covered the black gold seal soldier gave off a blinding light. It was like a dazzling sun!

Zuo Mo eyes stung like they were being pricked by needles but he didn’t dare to close his eyes. A totem fragment appeared on his hands.

This totem fragment was about the size of his palm and engraved with a simple and old character. Zuo Mo did not know what this character meant. He had asked Wei and Pu Yao, they didn’t know either.

But this totem fragment was one of the most outstanding totem fragments he had acquired. Zuo Mo felt that he really bled this time.

He hesitated and threw the totem fragment into the ball of light.

Boom!

The light grew and Zuo Mo felt as though his skin was being pierced by countless steel needles at the same time. He was extremely shocked and hurriedly closed his eyes.

The ball of light changed and flickered as though something was moving inside.

Zuo Mo suddenly found that his consciousness could not enter this ball of light, and he was even more shocked!

What was going on?

Eyes closed, Zuo Mo did not notice that the seal scripts on the seal paper seemed to become alive and creep over towards him.

This transformation continued for twelve whole hours. Zuo Mo did not dare to relax during this twelve hours. Thankful, this ball of light was not interested in his ling power so he did not need to channel ling power into it. He released a breath at this. Ling power was always his shortcoming. Even though his three powers had merged into one and could, to a certain degree, compensate for his ling power, but during forging, he still needed to be frugal.

The light gradually dimmed, and Zuo Mo’s heart rose.

But when he saw the appearance of the black gold seal soldier, he was dumbstruck.

The black gold seal soldier had changed greatly, turning from being black and gold to dark gold all over. All the seal scripts on its body had been hidden away, yet what shocked Zuo Mo was the appearance of the black gold seal soldier—it looked exactly the same as him!

What was going on?

How could it be the exact same as him?

Strange!

Just as Zuo Mo was puzzled, this black gold seal soldier suddenly opened his eyes!

Boom!

Zuo Mo felt his mind ring as though a heavy hammer had struck. A vicious and savage presence with the black gold seal soldier at the center suddenly swept out!

Dizzy, Zuo Mo heard Wei’s panicked voice in his mind. “Quick! Offer sacrifice!”

“Offer sacrifice?” Not having recovered from the blow, Zuo Mo was blank.

“Use the Golden Armor Guards!” Wei said without hesitation.

Zuo Mo’s mind cleared up. “Golden Armor Guards?” However, he knew that this was not the time for questions, he hurriedly summoned the Golden Armor Guards.

When the large Golden Armor Guards appeared in front of the black gold seal soldier, the black gold seal soldier’s eyes lit up. The Golden Armor Guards uncontrollably flew towards the black gold seal soldier and when they flew close, they shrank dramatically.

The next scene caused Zuo Mo to be dumbstruck where he stood.

The black gold seal soldier suddenly opened his mouth, and those miniaturized Golden Armor Guards flew into the mouth of the black gold seal soldier!

When they had flown over to the mouth of the black gold seal soldier, they were the size of a bean.

The black gold seal soldier swallowed these Golden Armor Guards in one gulp!

Having consumed the Golden Armor Guards, the black gold seal soldier calmed down. The vicious and vast presence quickly retreated and the figure silently floated on top of the seal paper.

Its eyes closed again and slowly landed.

When it landed on the black gold seal paper, it continued to descend. The black gold paper was like a large vortex  and slowly absorbed the black gold seal soldier.

Like this, the figure slowly sank into the black gold seal paper.

The light of the black gold seal paper disappeared and it was motionless.

What … … what was this?

Zuo Mo gaped!

———

“Using just thirty pieces of fifth-grade jingshi to invite me to kill someone? So I, Ning Yi, is just worth thirty pieces of jingshi!” The disdain on Ning Yi’s face was thick and his tone was extremely unfriendly.

Ning Yi’s eyes were long and narrow, he sat cross-legged, his arms resting on his knees, as he stared coldly at Boss Xu.

Boss Xu’s expression changed, and he couldn’t help but regret his impulse to take on this fatal task. Ning Yi’s personality was fickle and killed people like cutting grass. If the other was discontent, then his little life definitely would not be safe. Listening to Ning Yi’s tone, he was clearly angry. Terror spread in Boss Xu’s heart. He couldn’t help but tremble.

“Daren, have mercy … …Daren, have mercy … … this insignificant one was thoughtless … … this insignificant one was thoughtless … …”

At this time, a person dressed in azure robes next to Ning Yi said with a slight smile, “Brother Ning, do not argue with these people! They are just insects, killing them will dirty Brother Ning’s hands.”

Ning Yi’s expression eased slightly as he said, “Brother Li, sorry for you to have seen this.”

This young person that Ning Yi called Brother Li waved his hand at Boss Xu and said gently, “Leave.”

Boss Xu seemed to have been pardoned, crawling and stumbling as he exited the room.

“Does Brother Li have something to say?” Ning Yi asked curiously. He smelt something unusual in the other’s actions just now.

“This little brother has something to request of Brother Ning.” The youth with the surname Li had an open expression.

Ning Yi naturally was not a stupid person to be able to behave recklessly. He instantly reacted and said in shock, “These people were able to get Brother Li to speak for them?”

The Li-surname youth smiled slightly and did not explain. He said in a warm voice, “I will not hide it, this little brother noticed the Turtle Island people long ago. This group’s origins are extremely mysterious and have not revealed anything up until now. However, this group of sword xiu is extraordinary in power. Even the famed battalions of this jie may not win against them, much less normal battalions. Yet no matter how I’ve investigated, there is nothing to find. Since there is a possibility of a conflict, I will trouble Brother Ning to go meet them.”

“Oh, what virtues and abilities does this Turtle Island have that they have enter Brother Li’s eyes?” Ning Yi only smiled faintly without any viciousness on his face.

The youth surnamed Li smiled and took out a Bagua mirror.

“This Bagua Energy Mirror is not a very good talisman but has a wondrous attribute. It can calm the heart and focus the mind, resolving bloodthirst. If Brother Ning helps, this Bagua Energy Mirror is Brother Ning’s.”

Ning Yi’s expression changed slightly. The talisman that he had become famous for was a Blood Fiehdish Asura Umbrella. This talisman was powerful but the blood fiendish energy was extremely strong. Over time, his mind would be affected by using it. If he had this Bagua Energy Mirror, it would counteract these effects and be extremely beneficial for his cultivation.

He was slightly suspicious. Why did the other place such importance on Turtle Island?

Was there something else in here?

This Bagua Energy Mirror was good, but if he involved himself in great trouble due to this, then it was not worth it.

Almost as though he detected Ning Yi’s doubt, the youth with surname Li said with a smile, “Brother Ning, do not think too much. That group of sword xiu is pretty strong but they are definitely not from Kun Lun. This little brother just wants to see how they are, there are no other intentions.”

Having the other expose his thoughts, Ning Yi was not angry. As long as it was not Kun Lun, he did not fear them. He chuckled, “It is Ning Yi’s honor to help Brother Li. If that is the case, then we can finalize the deal.”

“Brother Ning is virtuous,” The youth with surname Li said respectfully and perceptively gave the Bagua Energy Mirror.

Ning Yi caressed the Bagua Energy Mirror, feeling his mind was unspeakably calm and clear. The joy on his face increased.

Chapter 464: Attack First!

“What is this?” Zuo Mo asked Wei as he stared at the black gold seal soldier. Looking at the face that was the exact same as his, he felt unspeakably uncomfortable.

Wei said in a deep voice, “This seems a bit like a totem puppet.”

“Totem puppet?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. He moved to look at Wei. “What is that? What is its purpose?”

“The totem of each tribe is the symbol of each tribe. They are extremely powerful but many totems did not like to personally attend to each tribal matter. They would bestow puppets to each tribe that contained some of their power. In the ancient era, totem puppets were numerous. They would be bestowed a power of the totems, but these powers were not as great as the totems themselves! Some totem puppets could function as seeds that the totems left behind for themselves. If the totem is destroyed, these totem puppets can use certain secret methods to reawaken the memories of the totem and become the new totem!”

Pu Yao listened carefully. Even he was not clear about these ancient matters t.

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted. Seal soldiers were a method that united seals and puppets. Totem puppets made him think about the totem fragment he had used.

“What is offering sacrifice?” Zuo Mo asked immediately.

“Offering the sacrifice is the most important step of the sacrificial ceremony. It usually is the signal that the ceremony has started.” Wei explained, “When your black gold seal soldier opened its eyes, it made me recall those sacrificial ceremonies. The sacrificial ceremonies of the ancient era usually require offerings. The totem puppets are like wild beasts and are extremely hungry! You did this by accident. As to what your black gold seal soldier can do, you need to explore it yourself. Things related to the totem is too distant even to us!”

The three were silent. He was right. The ancient era was way too archaic to them!

Totem puppet … …

He always managed to come up with weird stuff, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but grimace.

He clearly had forged according to Gu Xiang Tian’s jade scroll so why did the black gold seal soldier he made turn out completely different than in the instructions?

Whatever, he’ll know after trying it out.

Zuo Mo held the paper seal and channeled the spell according to the method recorded in the jade scroll.

There was no response.

Zuo Mo paused. How could there be no response? He hurriedly took out the jade scroll and closely read it over. It was correct! Zuo Mo suddenly had a bad feeling, could it be … …

He forced himself to calm and cast the spell again.

Still no response!

The corner of Zuo Mo’s eyes jerked. The bad feeling grew and he tried again.

Still no response!

Why wasn’t there a response? Had he ruined it? Zuo Mo looked at the paper seal in his hand with an ugly expression! Used so much effort, spent so many good materials, and even caused such a frightening offering of sacrifice, it all made ge feel anticipation, but it is really a failure?

Stupid thing! Zuo Mo was angry due to his embarrassment. Without another word, he whipped the paper seal at the table!

“Born to battle.”

A lazy voice that seemed to have just woken up suddenly popped out.

The masculine and intimidating words were soft and without any strength.

Behind this phrase was a long yawn.

Zuo Mo’s face was black as the bottom of a pot, his eyes staring viciously at the black gold seal soldier. The dark gold black gold seal soldier gave a yawn, drool coming out of the corner of his mouth, as he looked with sleepy eyes at Zuo Mo.

“Big Bro, what you want?”

Zuo Mo was frozen where he stood. Pu Yao and Wei were also dumbstruck.

Other than being completely dark gold, this guy’s wretched appearance was just the same as Zuo Mo!

Seeing no one reply, the black gold seal soldier gave another long yawn. “Nothing? If there’s nothing, I’m going to sleep. So sleepy!” Finishing, he waved a hand at Zuo Mo and disappeared with a pop.

Unfreezing, Zuo Mo felt the impulse to sob and cry. Was this still a seal soldier? That fierce seal soldier that was not afraid of death, where did it go? Wasting so much energy and materials, yet he only got this lazy guy, Zuo Mo felt he was so stupid he could go hit his head against a wall!

The more he thought, the more Zuo Mo missed the black gold seal soldier that was stoic, silent, and ignorant of pain or exhaustion!

Such a good black gold seal soldier!

His luck was terrible!

Among Pu Yao and Wei’s sympathetic eyes, Zuo Mo wanted to cry, so regretful his intestines were green.

———

Zong Ru chanted in a low voice as he gently swung the prayer wheel in his hands. The sutra characters on the prayer wheel up and swirled.

Threads of wish power were like a great grey poison that permeated the Crossed Prayer Wheel.

His Crossed Prayer Wheel used the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk as the body, the Vajra Gada as the spokes as it was inscribed by the [Attainment Golden Body] scripture that Zong Ru recited every day. The talisman was purified by wish power so the two talismans showed signs of merging together.

Even though it was just a preliminary shape, it already had wonderful powers.

What he needed right now was time to continue to merging it, so this Crossed Prayer Wheel could truly be created. But the present Crossed Prayer Wheel was still the second best talisman in the camp.

The Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk was sixth-grade, and after being processed in all kinds of dhayana methods, it became even more gentle and enigmatic.

Other than teaching, Zong Ru spent all his time on this Crossed Prayer Wheel.

———

An irritated Zuo Mo was found by a hurried Bao Yi.

Bao Yi, expression panicked, reported the news he had found to Zuo Mo. Shang Wei Ming had also hurried over changed expression when heard the name Ning Yi.

Zuo Mo was not concerned. “They only have this kind of move?”

In his view, this Tian Family was lacking compared to Pu Yao. These kind of little techniques to Zuo Mo who had killed his way out of mountains of corpses really could not stir his interest.

A classic little scuffle!

Shang Wei Ming saw Zuo Mo was not very concerned and instantly became urgent. “Daren, that Ning Yi doesn’t bat an eyelid when killing! No one can stop him with his cultivation! He has an extremely powerful talisman called the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella that is extremely domineering, and the blood light it releases is hard to defend against. Many people have fallen under this umbrella!”

“This powerful?” Zuo Mo stilled. “Even more than the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk?”

Shang Wei Ming hurriedly said, “How can the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk be compared to the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella? The Thousand Gem Illusory Disk could be said to be a powerful talisman in Xu Ling City, but it is nothing in all of Cloud Sea Jie. The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella is famed in all of Cloud Sea Jie. Using this umbrella, Ning Yi had killed more than seventy xiuzhe, even more than ten jindan experts ! The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella is ranked tenth on the jie’s ranking of sixth-grade talismans, and is very powerful!

“This powerful?” Zuo Mo jumped in fright.

Zuo Mo did not have any concept of the talisman ranking but if it was more powerful than that Thousand Gem Illusory Disk, then he found it worthy of attention! When he had been caught in that Thousand Gem Illusory Disk, it had been because he was not on guard, but Zuo Mo had been astounded by the power of the talisman. The power displayed by the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk surpassed all talisman Zuo Mo had ever seen before and caused him to reevaluate the value of talismans. Otherwise, he would not have been willing to spent  all of his wealth to outfit everyone.

But he was also clear that the talismans that could be bought on the market and the true top talismans had an insurmountable gap.

In his view, the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk was already a great talisman. If that Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was even more powerful, then it was trouble.

Zuo Mo’s first reaction was first send a group of people to kill Ning Yi on the road. No matter how strong Ning Yi or that Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was, if there was enough people, he would still be killed!

When this idea popped up, it uncontrollably spread in Zuo Mo’s mind. Sitting and waiting for others to come to the door was not Xiao Mo Ge’s style. He wanted himself to always be the first person to attack.

As to whether the news that Bao Yi found was true or not, he didn’t even think about it.

The pitiful Ning Yi was still immersed in the joy of having the Bagua Energy Mirror, and was ignorant that a certain someone had given him the label of “enemy.”

Quickly setting his target, Zuo Mo started to think if he should fight, what advantages were there in fighting? What disadvantages were there if he did not fight?

In a few moments, Zuo Mo decided to fight!

Attacking first meant having the advantage. The other was in the open and they were in the shadows and could take the initiative. If they could successfully kill Ning Yi, the other two would definitely feel fear. Also, the other would not predict that Zuo Mo would attack first. This kind of sneak attack was very sudden and Zuo Mo’s most liked option! Their advantage of numbers could be used. Gang fighting was his best love!

If he did not fight and waited for the others to come to his door, Zuo Mo and the others would be restrained in this Xu Ling City.

With so many benefits, why shouldn’t they attack?

The team selection was easy: himself, Wei Sheng, Xie Shang, and Zong Ru. Four jindan against Ning Yi. No matter how powerful that Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was, they should have a possibility of victory. If that really didn’t work, then adding Shu Long which would increase the probability of success.

Zuo Mo asked in detail. As expected, Ning Yi was the most powerful of the trio.

He unhesitatingly chose Ning Yi as the target!

The saying was to capture the bandits, first capture the leader!

———

Tenth Grade gazed at the deep cave with a grave expression. He had been forced back last time! The charging power of the insects inside was very powerful, and the number of insects far surpassed his imagination.

Recalling the scene that day caused him to feel a thread of fear.

It was this thread of fear that had caused him to feel shame! He was a ling beast that wanted to become tenth-grade, how can he feel fear? The vicious Tenth Grade felt that this had become a demon haunting him. If he could not destroy this monster, he would forever have a weakness!

And Master once said that where one lost face, he had to regain it at that place!

He could not swallow this!

He had to take back his face!

Insects, ye has come back!

Viciousness flashed through Tenth Grade’s eyes as he unhesitatingly threw himself into the cave.

Chapter 465: Danger

“Is the information accurate? Why haven’t we even seen a shadow?” Xie Shan muttered lowly. They were hiding in the cloud sea with formations around them. If one did not come close, they were hard to detect.

“What are you in a rush for!” Zuo Mo glared. He also did not have much confidence. The information all relied on one person,  since there was only Shang Wei Ming in his command who was familiar with Cloud Sea Jie.

Shang Wei Ming had quickly located one of Ning Yi’s residences. Everyone had thought for a long time, according to the jie map Ning Yi had to pass through this route.

Shang Wei Ming who had been in Bai Yue City discovered that Ning Yi was travelling to Xu Ling City from one of Ning Yi’s servants in these few days.

So Zuo Mo and the others went back to waiting.

They had already been laying in wait for three days but still had not seen Ning Yi’s shadow. Luckily, they all had high cultivations. Other than Xie Shan that muttered, everyone was able to keep their composure. Zong Ru would close his eyes to meditate. His Samadhi skill was increasing by the day and was as unmoving as a mountain. Wei Sheng sat with cross legs and closed eyes, the black sword lying across his legs, his presence idle. Shu Long did not come, having been assigned to stay on the island to guard it. If all the experts left, and people took over their nest, then this matter would really be unprofitable.

Suddenly, a few black dots appeared on the horizon.

Zuo Mo’s eyes was keen and instantly saw the person at the front was Ning Yi!

His mind became alert as he said in a low voice, “He’s come!”

Wei Sheng opened his eyes, his hand on his sword hilt. Zong Ru who open his eyes at the same time now held the Crossed Prayer Wheel and was slowly waving it. Xie Shan snickered, the Paired Mirage Sword in his hand.

Zuo Mo carefully looked at the two people next to Ning Yi. They were dressed in servant clothing and should be Ning Yi’s servants.

When the procession flew close, Zuo Mo suddenly shouted, “Move!”

The first to attack was Wei Sheng!

His eyes lighting up, the black sword in his hand silently turned as it gently stabbed into empty space!

At the same time, Zong Ru and Xie Shan also acted! One of Zong Ru’s hands led, and the characters on the Crossed Prayer Wheel on his right hand lit up one by one. The sutra characters automatically fell off the wheel. They did not dissipate in the air but were like golden characters! These sutra characters flew towards Ning Yi. There were seven golden characters in all, each golden character full of dhayan ling power and shrouded sounds of Buddhist chanting!

Xie Shan’s Paired Mirage sword drew out lines of seven colored light energies like the rainbow bridge after rain, beautiful and murderous!

Zuo Mo’s Great Day mo physique was completely activated as he shot lightning fast towards Ning Yi!

The killing moves that the four had prepared did not leave anything remaining once they were activated!

Just as Ning Yi’s head seemed to be going to leave his body, Ning Yi suddenly laughed, “As expected, Ming Gong is the cleverest!”

Pia!

A ball of light suddenly exploded three zhang in front of Ning Yi!

“This move is not very honest!” A servant next to Ning Yi suddenly shook and revealed his true appearance. He was wearing a bright yellow Buddhist robe, holding a staff as tall as his person!

The rings on his staff clinked, and waves of transparent light were released from those copper rings and shielding the three people within three zhang. Just now, it had been him that had stopped Wei Sheng’s silent blow.

“Ha ha, just little tricks.” The other servant next to Ning Yi also showed his true appearance. Long hair and a while face, dressed as a scholar with a learned presence.

He threw out a ball of Five Color Fog. The Five Color Fog grew with the wind and over the sky! Before Zuo Mo and the others managed to react, they were caught in the fog! The golden characters that lost their target were also taken into the Five Color Fog. Xie Shan’s rainbow sword energies were also swallowed by the Five Element Fog.

Zuo Mo and the others felt the surroundings change, and their expressions changed at the same time!

“Brother Ning, Master Yuan Xin, you can start at your leisure, do not need to hurry. This old man’s Five Element Fog is not specialized for killing and can only drag out the battle.” Gu Ming Gong smiled. His words seemed humble but were proud.

The seven golden characters that lost their target automatically came back to Zong Ru and slowly spun around him.

“Ming Gong ‘s move is powerful!” Ning Yi laughed wildly. “Haha! None of you will escape today! It has been so long since I’ve tasted blood. Now you came to my door, then none of you can escape!”

A Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella suddenly appeared in his hand. The body of the umbrella seemed to be soaked in blood and the thick tang of blood was nauseating! There was the sound of wails coming from inside the umbrella, sobbing and wailing that caused people’s minds to waver and feel fear!

Smelling the blood, an indiscernible thread of dislike flashed through Yuan Xin’s eyes. He did not speak, and only chanted lowly.

The wild laugh of Ning Yi that came from above their heads was like thunder and extremely vicious. Those that did not have enough bravery would have faltered!

Zuo Mo’s expression was grave. The other had prepared beforehand! The plan they had thought was concealed had been predicted by the other’s calculations. In a blink, the initiative had switched sides and they were in a dangerous position!

Ning Yi had not attacked but that Gu Ming Gong and Yuan Xin all showed great power! Yuan Xin wasn’t simple, since he was to be able to easily stop Eldest Shixiong’s strike.

The five colored fog in front of them was everchanging. Zuo Mo could feel a great formation power flowing within the fog!

This fog was strange!

Zuo Mo had just heard Gu Ming Gong call this the Five Element Fog Shield. Was this five colored fog the one that belonged to the five elements?

If it really was like that, then it really was not good! Zuo Mo’s heart continuously sank!

Those that used fog to forge talismans were mostly roaming xiu, because fog was not just divided into many kinds, each fog type had clear five element attributes. It was not easy to gather five kinds of fog of different elements, and it was even harder to forge this five element fog into one!

The fog of different elements was clearly divided and would not easily merge into each other. Two fogs of different elements were not easy to merge together and with the addition of each extra fog, the level of difficulty multiplied! The difficulty of merging fog of five different elements into one talisman was as hard as reaching the heavens!

When Zuo Mo heard what the other called this talisman, he recognized the danger!

He did not have the time to determine where they had slipped up. If they were the least bit careless, they would die here!

Being battle-experienced, Zuo Mo quickly judged the situation. Four against three, they originally had the advantage of numbers but the existence of the Five Element Fog Shield completely took away their advantage of numbers.

Once their advantage disappeared, then they were facing danger! In terms of talismans, they definitely could not compare to Ning Yi’s group. In terms of cultivation, it was the same. Ning Yi’s trio had become famous long ago, and were at least of the second stratum cultivation while Ning Yi was the peak of third-stratum.

Their side had all been separated and what would follow would be each person’s attack on them!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s mind spun quickly and his hands were not idle. He silently made a seal, and an invisible wind rippled!

It was the [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash]!

Gu Ming Gong’s sound of surprise came from above. “This spell is slightly interesting! But this old man will urge you to not waste your efforts. This old man’s Five Element Fog Shield has five elements cycling endlessly and is not some illusion! Be obedient and let me capture you, this old man will let you keep your life!”

The flash wind spread, but the Five Element Fog in the surroundings were not affected!

As expected, it was not an illusion!

Zuo Mo’s expression became even uglier!

But he was not demotivated. The Light Void Wing’s on his back lightly shook and he suddenly charged!

Yet no matter how he flew, he could not see the end of the five element fog.

“Haha! This old man has already said to not waste effort! The Five Element Fog will create and subdue each other, cycling endlessly and creating its own world! Even if you have heaven-tearing moves, you cannot leave this old man’s Five Element Fog Shield!” Gu Ming Gon’s smug laughter entered Zuo Mo’s ears.

“Hee, Ming Gong, why waste words on them!” Ming Yi’s cold voice inserted, “So boring, these little insects caused the three of us to have to make a trip! Ming Gong, end them. We can finish early, find a place to drink tea, isn’t that pleasurable?”

Master Yuan Xin said, “Excellent, excellent!”

Gu Ming Gong laughed brightly, “Both of you have elegant leanings! This old man will show his paltry moves!”

Zuo Mo and the others felt  the space tighten around them and the five element fog squeeze them from all directions. At the same time, tendrils of five element fog coiled around them like multi-colored poisonous snakes!

The light fog was like iron chains that were extremely strong and they were unable to move a hair no matter how they struggled!

Even with the Great Day mo physique, Zuo Mo’s struggle was ineffective. The more he struggled, the greater the power the five element smoke on his body passed over.

Was today the end?

———

Tian Heng Bo licked his lips, his eyes narrowed as he showed a cruel smile. He had a fire repressed in his heart at this time. The prey was in front of him, and his heart was filled with the desire to kill.

Behind him were five xiuzhe. They either had cold or idle expressions but without an exception, all of them had murderous presences! These five looked to be experienced people that spent long times on the battlefield. Only old-timers could behave so relaxed before a battle!

All the jindan battle xiu of the Tian Family were here!

Just these six jindan battle xiu were enough to deal with a battalion!

Behind the six were the battle xiu packed in tightly.

Tian Ye Battalion!

It was the first battalion of the Tian Family that had just returned from the battlefield, Tian Ye Battalion!

The Tian Family really invested greatly this time!

Other than the Tian Ye Battalion, the other two elite battalions of the Tian Family had also been called here!

Tian Yong Qing decided to use the chance to capture the Turtle Island!

Tian Yong Qing had not thought so much to start with yet Gu Ming Gong was outstandingly clever, deducing that Zuo Mo and the others would attempt an ambush on Ning Yi. Tian Yong Qing was also a smart person. His mind spun and instantly understood.

Right now, all the experts of Turtle Island had left, and the island was at its weakest, and had the least number of experts!

How could they miss this one in a thousand chance?

Once they captured the Turtle Island with its abundant ling fields, the Tian Family could instantly multiply its output and have revenue rolling in! If they took the chance of their increased reputation to recruit talents, no one could stop the rise of the Tian Family!

Even Xu Ling Sect could not stop them!

The Turtle Island in front of them was like a beautiful cut of meat that every member of the Tian Family drooled after!

From today, this piece of meat belonged to the Tian Family!

The murderousness in Tian Heng Bo’s eyes grew as he shouted, “Kill!”

The black battalion was like a black cloud that pressed towards Turtle Island!

Chapter 466: Five Element Fog Shield

Such a powerful talisman!

Zuo Mo felt the fog chains on his body tighten, his breathing became difficult and he could hear the bone-aching creaks coming from his bones.

If the Great Day mo physique was not so strong, this grinding pressure would have ground his flesh and blood into powder!

But the twisting still caused Zuo Mo enormous pain!

He unhesitatingly activated the Flame Seal Armor. The fire red Flame Seal Armor suddenly appeared. It was like igniting oil when the Great Day Banded Flame touched the fog chains. The Great Day Banded Flame grew and covered Zuo Mo’s body. He was like a burning ball of fire!

At the same time, a vast sword essence shot out into the sky among the roiling fog!

A burst of Buddhist chants could be heard. Threads of golden light streamed out of the five colored fog that covered the sky, the warm and calm dhanya essence filled the space!

Xie Shan was inside a seven colored round shield. This round shield was extremely beautiful and glittered. When the five colored fog neared, it was possible to hear the pops as the shield was being corroded.

Gu Ming Gong’s expression changed slightly. The Five Element Fog Shield was connected to his mind and everything that happened within it was known to him.

These four people were not easy to deal with!

His Five Element Fog Chains had trapped many heroes before yet these four had so easily broken free. He couldn’t help but feel wary. Even though the fog chains were the talismans simplest killing move, but he still felt insecure that the four did it so easily.

Ning Yi was also shocked but he was not afraid. He laughed madly and said, “Haha! Not bad, not bad! They have some power! My Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella lacks powerful souls. The asura is hard to form, and you have come knocking on the door! None of you will escape today!”

The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella in Ning Yi’s hands was made by collecting extremely yin and corrupt blood fiends. The numerous blood fiends in the umbrella were as vast as the sea, countless innocent souls floating within it as though it was hell. If he could capture powerful souls in the umbrella, he could cultivate the soul into an asura and the power of the umbrella would grow exponentially!

If this umbrella was forged to its limits, it could become its own world!

But powerful souls were hard to find, that was until today, when Ning Yi found that these four all had powerful souls that fit the requirements! The was especially true for that sword xiu with the black sword, a soul that strong was extremely rare! The stronger the souls, the more powerful the asura that was forged! If he used this person’s soul to forge the blood fiend asura, he didn’t know how strong it would be!

Ning Yi was overjoyed. If he knew there was such a powerful soul, he would think of ways to kill and capture it, even if he hadn’t been asked to! This was a temptation he could not resist!

He was really lucky today!

Without another word, he leapt at Wei Sheng!

———

Yuan Xin’s eyes were lightly locked onto that bright golden light. The vast dhyana essence exuded through that light caused shock in him, and also his eyes to become red!

He came from a small sect, and the [Skanda Staff Scripture] was something he had accidentally stumbled on in a cave. He was endowed with great talent, and the [Skanda Staff Scripture] was like adding wings to a tiger. His cultivation increased by the day and he gradually entered the ranks of experts. He had used great effort after becoming jindan to gather all types of materials to forge this Skanda Staff in his hand.

Yet when he saw the other’s pure dhyana essence, he still could not stop his eyes from turning red!

What the other cultivated was definitely an extremely profound dhyana scripture, one even more profound than his [Skanda Staff Scripture]! He had completely studied the [Skanda Staff Scripture] and it was unable to help him improve any longer! It could help him become jindan but could not help him cultivate into yuanying!

His fingers tightly gripped the Skanda staff. Because he was gripping with too much force, his fingers were white!

No matter what, he had to take this dhyana scripture!

Only better dhyana scriptures could help him become yuanying!

The Skanda Staff in his hand suddenly paused and the copper rings hummed in unison. Among the Buddhist chanting was murderous intent!

A divine light was discernible on Yuan Xin’s face as he strode directly at Zong Ru!

———

As the Flame Seal Armor appeared, Zuo Mo felt the pressure instantly decrease. The Great Day Banded Flame was as powerful as expected and he released a breath.

But he still had no idea how to defeat this Five Element Fog Shield! This Five Element Fog Shield had all five elements, was full of variations, and the other’s forging abilities were clearly high so there were likely many hidden abilities that he had not anticipated.

[Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash] was proven to be ineffective which meant that the fog in front of him was not an illusion.

Then what was it?

Suddenly recalling the formation power he had just detected, Zuo Mo shook. Did this Five Element Fog Shield contain formation-like changes?

The more he thought, the more likely it seemed.

The five elements enhanced and subdued each other. In formation, there were countless methods that used the five elements. The fog was also intangible and could change shape as one willed. In terms of formations, it could add many variations.

If that was the case, then this was really a big headache!

With a slight investigation using his consciousness, Zuo Mo’s expression instantly became even uglier. The five types of fog seemed to be mixed together casually but  it hid an undecipherable pattern. And the other had used a secret method that caused these five types of fog to remain separate at times, or to merge together in unpredictable changes.

Thinking about how the Great Day Banded Flame had just burned the fog, Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. Maybe he could use the Great Day Banded Flame!

The flame on his body burst out again. He charged towards the thickest part of the fog and heard hissing!

“The flame isn’t bad! Pity that you are lacking! It is delusion to think you can defeat my Five Element Fog Shield with just this kind of move!” Gu Ming Gong’s cold voice came. He clearly was angry now! He had relaxed his guard momentarily and his Five Element Fog Shield had been slightly damaged. He treasured this talismans and would feel great pain at any bit of damage.

Zuo Mo felt the scenery change and the five color fog around him became red fog! This kind of fog was red like fire and moved like sharks, that smelt blood, furiously rushing at Zuo Mo!

Before he could react, a suction force came and the Great Day Banded Flame began to leave his body!

Zuo Mo was astounded!

The red fog around the Great Day Banded Flame was so thick it was almost tangible. The attractive force had come from the red fog!

Fire Element Fog!

A formation!

Zuo Mo suddenly reacted and took back the Great Day Banded Flame. It had just been a moment, and half of his Great Day Banded Flame was gone! The fire element fog that absorbed the Great Day Banded Flame!

Zuo Mo was both shocked and felt pain in his heart!

Such a powerful fog! Such a powerful formation!

The other was so skilled it surpassed Zuo Mo’s imagination. The other was able to set up a fire-absorbing formation with the fog. Otherwise, no matter how powerful the fire element fog was, it could not absorb so much Great Day Banded Flame in such a short amount of time!

He finally tasted the power of the other. As expected of the [Seal Immortal]! Before, Zuo Mo had put all his thoughts on Ning Yi and did not pay any attention on the other two. Now he understood that those with great fame were never insubstantial!

Having rampaged in Blood Sky Metropolis Jie, Zuo Mo had never expected that he would be continuously set back when he entered Cloud Sea jie. This time, he found that he was once again put in a state of life and death, and he found he actually had no solutions. Last time, when he had been caught in the Thousand Gem Illusory Disk, the black gold seal soldier of Gu Xiang Tian had been great trouble for him and he almost died.

Wait!

Black gold seal soldier!

A light flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. But thinking about that guy’s wretched and lazy appearance, he felt this idea was unreliable!

But he really had no other solutions that he could think of at this time. The Great Day mo physique was powerful and few were a match, but the opponent’s moves were countered and  subdued the Great Day mo physique.

Other than this, he still had a killing move, [Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art]. While this move was extremely powerful, it expended a great amount of ling power. If it was not at death’s door, he definitely did not dare to use it!

Without another words, he took out the black gold seal paper and channeled ling power.

No response!

Thinking about the scene last time, the corners of Zuo Mo’s eyes jerked. Did this guy have to be hit to come out!

Pia!

He suddenly hit the paper seal on his hand.

“Born to battle.”

The lazy and drowsy voice sounded again. The black gold seal soldier appeared in front of Zuo Mo. Looking at the dark golden features that were the same as his, even in such a dangerous situation, Zuo Mo felt his mind turn to a mess!

Heavens, why did he put his hopes on such an unreliable person?

Alright, since called one out, then he would let them all come out!

Without another word, he took out all the beast service cards in his ring, and released them one after one. Cheng Shidi had given them to him but he had never used them before.

Fire-tailed fox, White Lite Butterfly, Black and White Forked-Tailed Sparrow … …

“You have a lot of knick-knacks.” Gu Ming Gong’s snort of laughter came from above his head. “Just this trash and you want them to save your life? Haha! Listen to this old man, let me capture you. Do not waste your effort on ineffective struggles, and this old man will keep you alive!”

Gu Ming Gong’s voice was friendly and sincere.

Zuo Mo pretended not to hear it, and continuously let out the ling beasts.

After fighting for so long, Zuo Mo had generally gotten the scope of the situation. The other’s Five Element Fog Shield was powerful, but only in the area of formation variations. There was no problem in trapping him, but it would be not be so simple if the other wanted to kill him.

Understanding the situation, he calmed down.

It was pity. If Lil’ Pagoda was here, that would be good. These five element fog would be great nutrients for it. He could only think of other ways now.

He hoped that these ling beasts would be enough to have an effect, at least they had numbers … …

A Ling Beast Army, this idea was pretty good!

Zuo Mo was slightly proud.

His surroundings quickly filled with all kinds of ling beasts that numbered more than two hundred! He had used all the beast service cards that Chun Yu Cheng had given him regardless of the grade!

No one would be like him and release so many ling beasts in one go. The more ling beasts one released, the harder they were the control. Even a beast breeder like Chun Yu Cheng could not control several hundred ling beasts in one go.

But Zuo Mo did not care that much right now. It was possible to see what a level he had been pressured into!

What Zuo Mo did not detect was a gleaming pair of eyes not far from him that was staring at the ling beast army he put such high hopes on!

And there was the sound of gurgling as this one swallowed!

Chapter 467: Strong Offense

The sky was a fiery red as though storm of spells raining down had lit the air on fire.

Tian Heng Bo’s expression was comparably ugly to the burning sky. Up until now, they hadn’t broken through the island’s protective formation!

Thunder roiled within the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation! Lightning occasionally flashed and the silver snakes curved with a frightening presence. But what caused people to feel hopeless was the azure energy that would occasionally appear. They didn’t know what those azure energies were but any spell that encountered the azure energy, no matter how powerful, would disappear.

The Tian Family started out as ling plant farmers but they had recruited a seal xiu that was skilled in formations. But that seal xiu’s head was covered in sweat and his expression was distraught at this time.

“How much longer?” Tian Heng Bo felt impatient and his voice was murderous.

He had never thought that Turtle Island was really a turtle, one that had retreated into its shell. A shell so hard it could break off people’s teeth! They had been stopped right outside the formation! If they could not break through the defense of the formation, it would be a serious blow to their present high morale.

What caused him even more fury was that Tian Ye had sent a message from the rear with the undisguised disdain. Tian Ye’s personality was eccentric and had terrible relations with Tian Heng Bo. Tian Heng Bo found it hard to tolerate being laughed at by Tian Ye.

“I … … I don’t know!” This female xiu knew Tian Heng Bo’s fiery temper. She swallowed hard and tried to explain, “This island has an expert in formations! The Yinyang Thunder Formation has been strengthened, and a lightning wood element has been added. There is also a very strange formation on the island that this subordinate has never seen before. This formation … …”

“In other words, there’s no solution?” Tian Heng Bo stared at the seal xiu with a dark face.

The heart of the seal xiu tightened. He stammered out, “This subordinate … … this subordinate needs two hours, no, four hours … …”

Woosh!

A energy flashed through the head of the seal xiu and blood streamed out.

“What is the use in keeping you!” Tian Heng Bo’s voice was cold. He did not look at the corpse on the ground, turning and ordering, “All of you, launch an all out assault! Anyone that retreats will be killed without question!”

The people around him shook inside and responded in the affirmative.

Battle xiu flooded in behind them and encircled Turtle Island, preparing their spells together.

Only one troop was stood out, staying motionless. That was Tian Ye Battalion!

Tian Heng Bo felt great hatred towards them but did not show it on his face. He ordered the other two elite battalions to attack at the same time! He resolved that he would take down Turtle Island no matter what! Otherwise, he would not be able to raise his head in front of Tian Ye in the future!

To break a formation, other than deconstructing it, there was another method, a strong attack! In theory, when the attack was strong enough, any formation can be defeated!

In a flash, numerous spells fell down!

———

Ji Wei looked at the burning sky and praised, “This Meridional Azure Aether Formation is truly strong! Daren is uncanny in ability to be able comprehend such a formation! It is a sect-protecting formation! With this formation, Daren is able to create his own sect.

Sun Bao said simply, “He’s a sect unto himself now.”

Ji Wei thought. That was true, there wasn’t any difference between Daren and a sect right now.

Zuo Mo did not conceal the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] and everyone in Golden Crow Camp learned it and understood its wonders. But the more they understood, the more the felt how immeasurable Daren was.

Because it was not easy for Zuo Mo to explain the origins of the jade scroll, he told them that he had comprehended it himself. Zuo Mo had just wanted to find an excuse, and hadn’t expected to cause everyone’s admiration.

They did not know that the [Meridional Azure Aether Formation] had great origins! A formation that Pu Yao had held onto until now, could it be average?

The spells rained down outside but the sky was clear and calm on the island. The formation that was already powerful grew in stronger under Lil’ Pagoda’s control. Regardless of the bombardment, it was like the rock in the middle of the sea that remained unmovable.

The two of them were not nervous at all. It wasn’t just these two, all the xiuzhe of Golden Crow Camp had come to watch the spectacle and did not show any fear.

Because near them ,the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp were waiting to attack!

———

In the dark and cold mountain cave, Shu Long and the others stood around a black pond.

“Should we go out and help?” A Wen couldn’t help asking.

“No need, they can deal with it.” Shu Long’s stern gaze was locked on the mo weapons floating in the pond. Beside him, everyone was anxious, afraid to breathe too harshly.

After a while, the black pond started to bubble as though it was going to boil.

Shu Long’s expression became even more grave as he said in a deep voice, “Do you remember the method I just taught you?”

Everyone nodded in unison.

“The mo weapons recognizes their owners, and all have their own good fortune. It is alright if you do not get one this time, but no one shall feel hate or envy!” Shu Long’s gaze swept across everyone.

“Ha, Brother Long is becoming more of a nag.”

“What’s there to hate? We’re all brothers!”

“The brothers that obtain mo weapons, you should go out and have a good run. Don’t let Vermillion Bird Camp take the attention!”

“That’s right! I’ve been wanting that group of bird-people to know the might of us Guard Camp!”

The competitive relationship between the two camps could be seen from the appellations. The xiuzhe of guard camp called Vermillion Bird Camp the ‘Birdy Camp’, and Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe referred to the Guard Camp as ‘Manual Labor Camp’.

Once the words came out, they caused a chorus of agreement and excitement! They were always discontent that Vermillion Bird Camp frequently ranked first.

Shu Long had an imperceptible smile on the corner of his mouth. He usually used this competitive relationship to motivate everyone to cultivate. It seems that the effects were good!

The black pond suddenly quieted. All noise disappeared, and everyone looked at the black pond. The quieted black pond was like a glossy and smooth mirror without any ripples.

At this time, a mo weapon silently floated onto the surface.

A faint but intimidating and pure fiendish energy engulfed the cave without any warning. Every camp guard unconsciously stopped breathing, their eyes pulled towards the mo weapon.

This was a curved blade. The completely black blade did not have the least bit of sheen. It had an abnormal curvature and seemed to have an unusual power that captivated  and held people’s gazes.

Mo weapons continuously floated onto the surface. The vicious fiendish energy in the cave increased in strength until it was almost tangible. Shu Long and the others felt this was unspeakably pleasurable. For xiuzhe, this was undoubtedly pure toxic poison, but for them this vicious fiendish energy was like being immersed in a hot spring and extremely comfortable.

No one moved even though their faces were full of excitement. They were waiting for Shu Long’s command.

Shu Long shouted, “Start!”

They then eagerly channeled the Hardship Guard. Killing essence filled the cave. Everyone had serious expressions, releasing as much killing essence as they could and were shrouded in tangible killing essence.

The black mist of killing essence seemed to give off an inviting scent. The mo weapons that were inside the black pool were attracted and started to shake. The peaceful black pool was instantly disrupted.

Mo weapons chose their masters.

For all the hardship guards including Shu Long, this was a very novel matter. They didn’t even have a general concept of mo weapons but they knew this could make them strong! Make them more powerful!

That was enough!

For these hardship guards that were once slave xiu, following Daren was their own goal in life. Yet they found their combat capabilities was inferior to Vermillion Bird Camp and the effect they could cause with their strength was limited. For this group of people, that lived to follow Zuo Mo, being unable to show their usefulness was even more depressing and uncomfortable than death!

Each of them channeled their mo skill to the max. Their eyes held determination that had gone through hardship.

———

Ning Yi looked greedily at Wei Sheng. Such an extreme soul! He could smell the purity of this soul, it was so intoxicating!

“A masterpiece of Heaven!” Ning Yi licked his lips, his long and narrow eyes showing undisguised excitement!

Wei Sheng did not speak. He could feel the other’s great power, the terrifying presence and especially the vicious energy coming from the bloody umbrella in the other’s hand that made him feel as though he was in hell.

But he did not waver. He never felt fear because of the strength of an enemy. Not in the past, not now, and would not in the future!

He was Wei Sheng, the one that always went forward Wei Sheng!

He looked without fear at the other. Battle intent in his eyes was like sword essence exploding. Only people that were familiar with him would notice a change, he had entered a battle state!

The black sword in his hand raised and pointed straight at the other.

“Why do you uselessly struggle?” Ning Yi shook his head and smiled slightly as though he was watching a pet play around.

Boom!

Vast sword essence was like the volcano breaking through the last layer of restraints, exploding into the sky!

The space three zhang around Wei Sheng seemed to collapse inwards and showed unnatural curvature.

The more Ning Yi watched, the more he liked it. “Not bad, not bad! A very good seed, good seed! So young and having cultivated sword essence to such a level, you did not waste your soul! An asura wielding the sword, I like this one!”

Suddenly, Ning Yi laughed. “Why should I waste so many words on you?” The mirth at the corner of his lips rose, and his gaze suddenly became vicious. “Die!”

Before the sound landed, the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella in his hand suddenly snapped open and floated over Ning Yi’s head. The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella slowly spun, releasing a red light and shielding Ning Yi in the middle.

A beam of bloody red light that carried a nauseating tang of blood shot at Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng felt a feeling of extreme danger. Without hesitating, the black sword in his hand struck forth!

The space in front of Wei Sheng was torn apart by this strike. There was a black void inside that was unknown!

The blood light was stopped by this strike!

“Not bad!” Ning Yi snorted coldly. “But this is not enough!”

The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella spun faster, the bloody light increasing in strength and the nauseating tang of iron growing. What was even more terrifying was that tear in the space was being slowly pressed closed by the bloody light!

Chapter 468: Damn It!

Two hundred ling beasts crouched around Zuo Mo. They were extremely quiet and did not make any sounds.

The sound of the black gold seal soldier swallowing was clear to hear.

Zuo Mo’s temples throbbed as he turned around with an unfriendly expression. He saw the black gold seal soldier look yearningly at the ling beast with a desirous and greedy gaze. He did not notice that Zuo Mo was staring at him, his dark gold Adam’s apple bobbing. He was clearly swallowing rapidly.

Seeing its wretched state, Zuo Mo felt a burning anger!

You wasted so many of ge’s good materials! Wasted so much of ge’s emotions! Wasted so much of ge’s time! Made ge be happy for nothing! You you you! Terrible history! Innumerable crimes!

Just as Zuo Mo’s anger was about to erupt, the black gold seal soldier suddenly turned his face around , pointing at the ling beasts and asking weakly, “They look so delicious, can I eat one?”

Eat … …

Zuo Mo’s expression instantly darkened. The corners of his eyes continuously jerked and it was like pouring oil onto the hot anger in his chest. But he suppressed the anger and gritted out, “If you can defeat this Five Element Fog Shield, you can eat all of them! If you can’t … …”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the cheer of the black gold seal soldier. “Really, really?”

The black gold seal soldier’s eyes lit up and the gulping sounds increased in volume. He completely disregarded Zuo Mo’s furious gaze, turning his face and suddenly opening his mouth to face the five colored fog. He suddenly sucked in.

Hiss!

A shocking scene occurred!

The five element fog that covered the sky flew straight at the black gold seal soldier’s mouth!

His mouth was like a bottomless hole. The five colored fog flooded in furiously like a whale sucking in water!

“You dare!”

Petrified from shock, Zuo Mo heard the shocked and furious shout of Gu Ming Gong come from above his head.

———

The fog twisted violently but no matter how it changed, it seemed to be caught tightly by a powerful and invisible hand, unable to escape!

Gu Ming Gong’s expression changed greatly!

He found that no matter how he channeled the Five Element Fog Shield, he was unable to escape from this strong suction. In a blink, he actually felt that he was losing control of the Five Element Fog Shield!

This … … this was not possible!

Gu Ming Gong’s face was ashen and he felt ice cold. His eyes were full of terror and disbelief. He had spent great effort on forging his Five Element Fog Shield, and used a whole decade to forge this talisman! From the day it was forged, it was connected to his mind and was almost a part of his body. There never had been a situation where he could not control it!

When his connection with the Five Element Fog Shield started to disappeared, he was unable to suppress the terror and hopelessness!

Blood climbed into his eyes. He furiously channeled ling power to drag back the Five Element Fog Shield.

Yet everything was futile!

No matter how he channeled ling power, no matter what spells he released, the Five Element Fog Shield was still being sucked at a speed that made him hopeless into the mouth of that ghastly thing!

What was that thing?

He looked with bloodshot eyes at the dark golden black gold seal soldier like a gambler that had just lost everything!

———

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck as he looked at the space around him that was emptied as though he was dreaming.

This … … this … …

The last thread of Five Element Fog was sucked into the mouth of the black gold seal soldier. His face was twisted as though he had eaten citrus peel. But when he turned around and looked at the ling beasts, he instantly turned into smiles. Without a second word, he opened his mouth and sucked again.

Like dumplings going into the pot, the ling beasts flew one after the last into his mouth!

In a blink, the two hundred ling beasts were cleared out.

The black gold seal soldier showed a contented expression, gave a burp and then a yawn. With drowsy eyes, he waved at Zuo Mo. “Big Bro, I’m so drowsy, going to sleep!”

He disappeared with a snap right after.

Zuo Mo had not recovered from his shock. Everything that just happened gave him a great blow to his confidence. The Five Element Fog Shield was the most powerful talisman he had ever seen, and was even more powerful than the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk. Adding on that Gu Ming Gong was also very powerful, it was an extremely strong trap, and was not something that the present Zuo Mo could face.

He had realized this before.

The Five Element Fog Shield contained all five elements and was full of transformations. Gu Ming Gong was also skilled in formations and had added many formation transformations so it was even more wondrous!

Zuo Mo was certain that Gu Ming Gong still had many killing moves he had not used yet. How could the Five Element Fog Shield only have just these few changes?

But … …

The shock that the black gold seal soldier gave Zuo Mo had not faded. Thinking about the wretched black gold seal soldier, Zuo Mo felt as though he had seen a ghost!

The Five Element Fog Shield was a top sixth-grade talismans!

It had been defeated by this guy in an instant?

Was this a joke?

The entire situation reversed so abruptly it was hard to accept.

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao and Wei were also greatly shocked by the black gold seal soldier and were robbed of speech momentarily.

“Give me my Five Element Fog Shield!”

Zuo Mo shook at Gu Ming Gong, but he instantly reacted and looked maliciously at Gu Ming Gong. That heart-wrenching cry of fury only drew attention to Gu Ming Gong. Without the Five Element Fog Shield, Gu Ming Gong in Zuo Mo’s eyes was a chicken plucked of all feathers!

He also felt a similar feeling that the black gold seal soldier had felt when looking at the ling beasts!

Beautifully fat!

———

Clang!

The Skanda staff in Yuan Xin’s hand accurately struck a golden character. The golden character instantly turned to dots of golden light.

But there was no satisfaction on Yuan Xin’s face, only wariness. He had originally assumed that since the other was so young, even with a profound dhyana scripture, the other would not be a match for him.

But in these rounds of fighting, the other was not at a disadvantage in the least.

Yuan Xin’s eyes stared at the Crossed Prayer Wheel in Zong Ru’s hands, and his pupils couldn’t help but contract! His heart was instantly taken over by jealousy. The Skanda staff in his hand was not ordinary but was lacking compared to the other’s prayer wheel!

A profound dhyana scripture, a powerful talisman, they are all mine!

With a large shout, Yuan Xin’s Skanda staff suddenly exploded with light, the copper rings chimed rapidly.

Circles of golden light flew at Zong Ru!

Zong Ru did not dare to underestimate them. This dhyana xiu had deeper cultivation than him, and should be jindan third stratum. His cultivation was so deep it surpassed Zong Ru’s imagination!

The Crossed Prayer Wheel shook slightly, sutra characters lighting up, falling and flying towards the golden circles of light.

Pop pop pop!

When they neared the golden circles of light, the sutra characters could not tolerate the enormous pressure and exploded into light.

The terrifying pressure flooded towards Zong Ru. The other had caught onto his shortcomings, his cultivation, and had decided to use the difference in cultivation to beat him down!

Zong Ru’s expression was serious. If the other used this almost-savage and primitive method, he did not have many good solutions.

When the difference in power reached a certain degree, the advantages in other areas could not provide much help.

Zong Ru’s days as a jindan were short and he had not even touched the peak of first stratum. Compared to the other’s peak of third stratum cultivation, his was greatly lacking.

The two were only two stratums apart but the cultivation difference between the two was more than ten times!

It was ’One on the earth, and one in heaven’!

So when Yuan Xin decided to use ling power to defeat him, Zong Ru instantly sank into a dangerous situation. Even though he had a sixth-grade talisman like the crossed Prayer Wheel, he could not stop Yuan Xin’s attack!

It was a pity. If he had forged the Crossed Prayer Wheel more to his wishes, he might have been able to stop these rings of light!

Zong Ru sighed inside, put away the Crossed Prayer Wheel and put his palms together!

Boom!

A shadow about three zhang appeared behind him with three heads and six arms, it was the Attainment Golden Body!

The Attainment Buddha opened one palm and grabbed one of the rings of light.

Pia!

The ring of light was crushed and the hand of the Attainment Buddha was also turned to powder!

Yuan Xin’s eyes instantly became heated. He looked greedily at the enormous shadow at almost covered Zong Ru. He felt enormous power from this shadow!

If he could also cultivate this dhyana scripture … …

Unhesitatingly, he poured the ling power in his body into the Skanda staff!

———

Wei Sheng was very disheveled. It had been a long time since he was pushed so far!

After becoming jindan, his sword essence increased greatly by the day as though every barrier was fragile in front of him. It was today when he encountered Ning Yi that he felt the difference between him and truly powerful experts.

Compared to the three Ren Family Elders, Ning Yi was a xiuzhe of a different level!

In cultivation, Ning Yi’s peak of third stratum cultivation was nine times that of Wei Sheng. It was only this small because Wei Sheng’s progress was far beyond normal people and he had reached the peak of first stratum in this short period. In terms of talismans, the blood light that Ning Yi’s Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella produced was enough to push Wei Sheng back continuously! Even in terms of battle experience, Ning Yi was far beyond Wei Sheng!

From the beginning, Wei Sheng was suppressed on all fields. The sword essence that he was always proud of was completely suppressed by the blood light released by the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella! He didn’t know what the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was made out of. It was even able to corrode the void!

Wei Sheng had not had the advantage once!

He didn’t even had the chance to attack back. He knew that the other did not use all his might. Otherwise, he would have died already! Was this a game of cat and mouse? He didn’t know!

He only had one though in his mind, sword strike! Sword strike! Sword strike!

Every one of his sword energies was a line of defense! Even though it could only stop the blood light for a minuscule amount of time, but he could only continuously release sword essence. One sword after the next to snatch a bit of time for himself!

The nauseating tang of blood burrowed into his nose as though it was constantly reminding him death was so close!

His ling power was being consumed at shocking speed. Wei Sheng quickly felt the burden!

Ning Yi’s eyes floated with insuppressible excitement. The conditions were about right!

Ning Yi did not want to leave any flaw on such a perfect soul. He purposefully held his power back in order to press Wei Sheng to his limits. A soul at its limits would become more powerful and the asura forged would be stronger!

The time he had dreamt about appeared. Even a vicious person like Ning Yi couldn’t help but feel excited.

The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella suddenly brightened with its bloody light!

Already at the end of his strength, the last bit of sword essence in front of Wei Sheng collapsed like fragile glass!

The blood light broke through the last line of defense and struck the black sword in Wei Sheng’s hand.

At this time, a change suddenly occurred!

This black sword that came with Wei Sheng from the Sealed Extinction Battlefield seemed to be awoken from its deep slumber!

Chapter 469: Abrupt Turnaround

The bloody light released by the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was pulled by the black sword.

In an instant, the black sword, which looked like a horse-chopping sabre, had turned completely red as though it was fresh from the forge!

Countless fine sword essences simultaneously exploded from the hilt of the sword. Unprepared for the change, Wei Sheng’s hands were cut up by the large numbers of sword essences. The numerous small wounds had turned his hands into a mess of blood and flesh. Wei Sheng made a muffled grunt. He knew that he definitely could not let go of the sword hilt right now. He didn’t let go, and gathered his remaining power to tightly grip the sword hilt!

Large amounts of blood flowed from Wei Sheng’s cutup palms. The entire sword hilt was quickly seeped in blood. The scene that followed looked extremely eerie. The sword hilt covered in fresh blood sudden soaked up the blood like a sponge.

Pangs of heart-boring pain burrowed starting at his hands into Wei Sheng’s body.

Wei Sheng felt his mind go blank!

———

With Ning Yi’s battle experience he detected something was wrong the moment the black sword changed colours! However, he was only shocked for a moment before recovering his calm. Who didn’t have one or two life-saving moves? The difference in power between the Wei Sheng and himself was so great that one or two ultimate moves could not change the outcome.

He did not hesitate in channeling ling power into the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella. The bloody light grew and the tang of blood in the air became even more nauseating. The bloody light that the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella released was yin and corrupt. It was a great toxin for talismans and flying swords, an unknown number of talismans had been ruined by the umbrella.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths … …

Time quickly slipped away, ten whole breaths passed but nothing changed at all! Ning Yi’s expression became slightly ugly. Under his ling power, the bloody light had become so thick it was appeared to be a bloody waterfall! Yet no matter how intense the bloody light became, that black sword did not react at all. Even Wei Sheng who had been wavering on the brink of collapse was still standing!

A bad feeling rose in Ning Yi’s mind. He decided to attack at full power to prevent something unexpected from happening. If the cooked duck managed to flew away, then he would really regret it.

Just at this time, he suddenly looked and saw Wei Sheng’s eyes. He couldn’t help but freeze.

Wei Sheng’s eyes were empty and had no focus or vitality.

Being stared at by such a pair of eyes, even a person as vicious as Ning Yi couldn’t help but feel his hairs rise!

Suddenly, Wei Sheng took on an extremely strange posture, his body arched and arm raised like a scorpion that had raised its tail.

Ning Yi’s heart suddenly jumped, his expression changing. Not good!

Before he could react, he saw Wei Sheng stab lightly at the empty space between them.

There was no wind, no light, it seemed like a very gentle and weak stab.

Pew!

The blood light that was as thick as a waterfall was effortlessly cut in two by this gentle and weak stab!

The sword presence penetrated the bloody light, striking one of the umbrella ribs!

Pia, the rib that was struck snapped in two!

Ning Yi was both shocked and furious!

Each umbrella rib of the Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was forged from the whale bone, from the yin ling whale that he had delved deep into the cloud sea to hunt. Each bone was as hard as metal and was difficult to damage with flying swords. After being immersed in the Hundred Grievance Blood Fiend for hundreds of days, each of them was strengthened and was unable to be damaged with flying swords!

If his Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was cultivated into its complete form and formed its own world, then these thirteen umbrella ribs would become the pillars that held up this world!

How could such hard umbrella ribs be broken so easily? And by a little youth that was in jindan first stratum with a single sword strike? What Ning Yi found even hard to accept was that youth had just been his prey!

The black sword!

It was the fault of the black sword!

Ning Yi stared hard at the black sword in Wei Sheng’s hands, green and white mixing on his face. His eyes carried deep hatred and viciousness but also a deep terror!

The Blood Fiend Asura Umbrella was his life. When this umbrella rib was broken, its power was greatly reduced. Repair was an extremely difficult matter. In the past, he had used all thirteen whale bones of the yin ling whale that had obtained on this umbrella and had not kept even one in reserve! It had been good fortune that he was able to kill the yin ling whale. Where was he going to find the yin ling whale now?

What made his heart bleed even more blood was Wei Sheng’s soul. Such a perfect soul was even more valuable than the umbrella rib!

What was the origin of that black sword?

That strike just now had been silent but the black sword strike still gave Ning Yi, a ruthless and vicious individual, a sense of foreboding from the viciousness and fiendishness essence released in that silence.

Wei Sheng’s empty pupils stared at Ning Yi.

For some unknown reason, Ning Yi felt unnameable terror.

Suddenly, the black sword in Wei Sheng’s hand shook lightly. Ning Yi’s pupil suddenly shrank and the fear in him rose. He turned to a ball of bloody light and, without hesitating, disappeared into the horizon!

Turtle Island!

Just you wait!

If I do not avenge myself, I, Ning Yi,will not be able to look at myself!

A moment later, Wei Sheng fell face first like a block of wood and fell unconscious.

The black sword flipped through the air and silently floated next to Wei Sheng.

Even while unconsciousness, Wei Sheng seemed to be supported by an invisible power and did not fall into the cloud sea.

———

Pia!

The last arm of the Attainment Buddha and a ring of golden light collided together and exploded. The shadow behind Zong Ru was finally unable to withstand the barrage, and after a burst of violent trembling, it disappeared.

Zong Ru’s body shook and his face was slightly white.

Yuan Xin laughed viciously. He suddenly breathed, the Skanda Staff in his hand shining as he threw it out!

The Skanda Staff suddenly grew exponentially and like a black shadow, it howled intimidatingly as it smashed towards Zong Ru!

Just as Zong Ru was going to be struck to death, a rainbow sword energy suddenly flew out. The rainbow sword energy was like a soft rainbow coloured ribbon and wrapped around the Skanda Staff in the air!

Xie Shan!

Pew pew pew!

The light released by the Skanda Staff seemed to be slowly  corroded and weakened. The size of the Skanda Staff also decreased slowly.

Yuan Xin’s expression did not change and still smiled viciously! His Skanda Staff was forged from the yellow copper essence extracted from deep underground. Even though it was lacking compared to that prayer wheel, it was unusually heavy! His throw seemed casual but it was actually extremely famed skill and called the [Skanda Throw]. The presence was heavy, like a mountain pressing down and the other would be unable to escape!

The other wanted to dissipate the power of this staff with that little bit of sword essence? That was a delusion!

Yuan Xin did not look at the Skanda Staff, just stared at Zong Ru and waited for him to be killed. He could then take the jade scroll and the prayer wheel before he would escape the battlefield! With the jade scroll and prayer wheel, that little bit of jingshi he was offered was insignificant!

Once he had these two items, he would immediately find a remote and secret place, go into seclusion to cultivate and break through into yuanying!

Xie Shan saw his sword essence was unable to stop the Skanda Staff. His expression changed. The situation was dangerous he could not attend to anything else. All the ling power in his body was channeled towards the Paired Mirage Swords in his hands!

Xie Shan’s cultivation was the highest of the four on their side!

This explosion of ling energy, that did not keep anything back, was extraordinarily powerful!

A handful of multi-colored sword energies appeared in Xie Shan’s hands each as thin as silk threads. These sword energies that were in the thousands as they flew at the Skanda Staff. The moment they came into contact with the staff, they suddenly turned soft and wrapped around the staff!

Xie Shan glared angrily and breathed out, “Go away!”

His hand made a grab motion and pulled back!

The sword energies that were in the thousands grew in intensity. In this instant, the seven colored light enshrouded the golden light released by the Skanda Staff!

The Skanda Staff was pulled askew by a thread to the side, brushing by Zong Ru’s body and falling into the deep cloud sea underneath.

A thread of shock flashed through Yuan Xin’s eyes. He hadn’t expected the other was able to save Zong Ru. However, a cold smile came onto his mouth. That sword xiu’s figure was wavering and unable to stand steady. He clearly had used up all his ling power to avert that attack. Zong Ru’s expression was also pale white, and was also at the end of his strength.

Without a word, with a great step he appeared in front of Zong Ru and reached out a hand to grab Zong Ru.

Pia!

The Blue Soul Cold Light Armor instantly shattered.

Zong Ru struggled to raise an arm and met Yuan Xin’s blow.

Crack!

Zong Ru’s arm broke. Yuan Xin showed a disdainful expression. In his eyes, Zong Ru was just making his last struggle before death. He prepared the killing move when his expression suddenly changed.

“Wish power!”

Like he was bitten by a poisonous snake, his eyes instantly filled with terror, his voice was hoarse and trembling.

Grey white color was like an enchanting vine that spread to his neck

Zong Ru managed a smile, the blood lotus on his head beautiful and glistening.

———

Compared to Zong Ru, Wei Sheng and Xie Shan, Zuo Mo’s battle was the extreme opposite and had gone smoothly.

The black gold seal soldier’s strange suction had defeated the Five Element Fog Shield that Zuo Mo was helpless against. The balance of victory had started to tilt towards Zuo Mo.

A seal xiu that lost their most powerful talisman was left to a tragic fate when facing the Great Day mo physique, which had shocking speed and power. Especially with Zuo Mo’s physical way of fighting. The rapid speed caused Gu Ming Gong to be in a disheveled state. If it wasn’t that he had several good talismans on him, he would have been beaten swollen by Zuo Mo.

However, he wasn’t much better off right now.

When his last talisman was split in half by Zuo Mo’s Midday Blade, his face as ashen

He didn’t even have a way to escape. His speed was far slower than Zuo Mo and what made him even more hopeless was that Zuo Mo was in a frenzy, the barrage of attacks didn’t give him a chance to breath at all. He didn’t have the time to grieve over his Five Element Fog Shield. No matter how good the talisman was, if it was gone, he could forge another one, but if he lost his little life, then he wouldn’t have anything!

He only needed a span of five breaths and he could escape!

He had a transportation seal which connected to the transportation formation in his residence. If he used it, he could return to his residence. As a seal xiu, transportation seals were something that they used as life-savers, how could he forget one?

Yet the other didn’t even give him a time of five breaths. He used all his moves, feints, swindling, conning to try to drag out the time. But the other didn’t reply to his words, only charging and killing as though the other held a great grievance against him.

Gu Ming Gong wanted to cry. The one that lost his talisman was clearly himself,the one disheveled was clearly him, but why did the other still look so furious? But how could he know that as Zuo Mo fought, he recalled the two hundred ling beasts he lost. The pain Zuo Mo felt was naturally blamed on Gu Ming Gong.

If Gu Ming Gong’s cultivation wasn’t so much stronger than his opponent, he would not have managed to survive until now!

This person was young but he was experienced, as sly as a fox!

His life would end here today!

His ling power fading, Gu Ming Gong’s thoughts ended. At this time, a hand gripped his throat.

Chapter 470: Lil’ Miss’ Order

“Feng Shixiong is well-informed, do you recognize this formation?” Li Shu looked from a distance at Turtle Island and said quietly.

Beside him was a middle-aged person named Feng Bao. Astonishment showed on his face. “It seems a bit like the Meridional Azure Aether Formation of Azure Sky Sect, is Turtle Island owned by a disciple of Azure Sky Sect?”

“Azure Sky Sect?”

“En, Azure Sky Sky is a powerful seal cultivator sect that is very powerful in Black Night Jie. They do not have many disciples, but they are most skilled in forging and seal-creating so the sect is extremely rich. What is most wondrous about Azure Sky Sect is the sect-protecting formation, called the Meridional Azure Aether Formation. It is extremely powerful,” Feng Bai explained.

“Black Night Jie?” Li Shu was slightly shocked, “So far away?”

“En, very very far.” Feng Bai nodded.

“Why did they run to Cloud Sea JIe?” LI Shu’s brow creased.

“I do not know that.” Feng Bai smiled and said, “What is Shidi worried about? According to what I know, the disciples of Azure Sky Sect are skilled in forging and seals, but they are peaceful and rarely enter conflicts against others.”

“Then it’s strange,” Li Shu said as he shook his head. “Shixiong may not know this, while these people from Turtle Island do not cause conflicts, they are not peaceful people. Their moves are vicious and decisive and the battalion they have are clearly veterans that have been on the battlefield. They would be hard to deal with.”

“There’s something like that?” Feng Bao said in wonder, “Then I wouldn’t know. Azure Sky Sect is too distant from us. It would require several years to go and investigate. I had only seen accounts of this formation by coincidence.”

Li Shu seemed to be pondering something and did not speak.

Sounds of violent explosions came from Turtle Island occasionally, the lights of all kinds of spells illuminating the sky. The Tian Family’s explosive barrage of attacks was still continuing.

Suddenly, Feng Bao made a light sound. “En, the formation has been penetrated?”

Li Shu woke up with shock and looked over. The Tian Family battalions that had been packed in the sky above Turtle Island were flowing furiously towards Turtle Island.

Had the formation of Turtle Island fallen?

———

“What?” Ma Fan thought that he had heard it wrong. Beside him, Lei Peng, Nian Lu and the others were frozen on their spots.

“Didn’t hear clearly? I said you can solve this problem yourselves.” Gongsun Cha showed a harmless smile, “You have the ability to solve a battle of this level by yourselves.”

Finishing, he shrugged, spread his hands, and looked away at ease.

Ma Fan instantly became frantic. His first response was —Damn it, which dumbass had offended Lil’ Miss? Dragging everyone down to feel the pain!

It wasn’t the first time something like this occurred. Once someone caused Lil’ Miss to show this demonic smile, what would follow would cause the Vermillion Bird Camp to be tormented together. When it was serious, even Guard Camp was unable to avoid the calamity.

“Daren! This is not possible!” Ma Fan lowed his voice and said fawningly, “Without you, we are blind! You are the bright light in the middle of the great sea, our helmsman, only on your hands can we express our greatest power! You are our spine, we can lack anyone but how can we lack you? Even Boss has said you are a Gold Battle General!”

Lil’ Miss smiled slightly bashfully as though he was embarrassed at hearing Ma Fan’s undisguised flattery yet Ma Fan and the others instantly had a foreboding feeling.

“Your flattery is slightly sickening but mostly truth.” Lil’ Miss smiled bashfully.

“Yes yes yes!” The foreboding feeling increased but Ma Fan and the others hurriedly nodded in agreement.

“But I am a Gold Battle General, that Tian Family, at most it is a Silver Battle General, it is worth of my attention.” Lil’ Miss smiled brightly, his face like a flower and showed two rows of white teeth. “You have stayed with me for this long, if you can’t even kill a Silver Battle General, then you might as well cut your own necks.”

Lil’ Miss smiled prettily again and everyone felt their backs dampen with cold sweat.

“I’m not joking.”

So Lil’ Miss really wasn’t joking!

Stumbling and crawling out of Lil’ Miss’ place, everyone huddled together and started to discuss.

“No way, Lil’ Miss wants to play us to death?” Someone wailed.

“Don’t cry, think of a solution! If we really can’t kill the Tian Family, ha, wait for it, if we don’t cut our own necks, Lil’ Miss will hand us the blade. Or he might just snap it, that is also possible!” Hei Zi motioned.

Everyone shuddered in unison. Even a fearless person like Lei Peng was slightly white.

Especially when the scene of Lil’ Miss holding a blade as he smiled shyly appeared in their minds. Uncontrollably, they all shook again!

“Brothers! If the Tian Family doesn’t die, then we will die!” A brother’s face was full of grief and excitement.

“Kill the Tian Family!”

“Kill’em!” “Kill’em!”

Everyone’s eyes were red as their voices almost blew off the roof of the building.

When the noise quieted, Lei Peng’s voice rumbled, “Old Fan, A Ran, you two have the most ideas, quick, think of something.’

The other people looked at Ma Fan and Wei Ran. In the eyes of everyone, these two were the best at strategizing in Vermillion Bird Camp. Ma Fan had been the core before and with his personality preferred to use his cunning rather than his blade. Wei Ran was not as smart as Ma Fan, but he was a reliable person that was widely trusted.

The first to speak was Wei Ran. He said in a low voice, “It is not enough to complete this with just our Vermillion Bird Camp. Defeating them is easy, but Lil’ Miss wants is to kill them. This is slightly difficult. Most importantly, we cannot let any of them escape.”

Ma Fan’s eyes lit up, “Why don’t we use a ‘bolt the door to beat the dog’ tactic!”

“Bolt the door to beat the dog?”

“We’ll let them in and then close the formation of the island. This way, they cannot escape!” Ma Fan’s eyes were bright.

“This idea is good!” Wei Ran clapped his hands in excitement.

The other people also showed excitement. All of them had lots of battle experience, but none of them had experienced being in charge before.

Someone quickly added, “Then we have to be careful, if the defeated battle xiu of the Tian Family damages the ling fields of the island…”

“Yes, yes! Lil’ Miss is not good to offend, and we can’t touch Boss! If Boss comes back and sees serious damage, then we won’t have a good outcome either!”

“En en, we need to have enough manpower. It seems that we really have to ask Guard Camp for help.”

“Let’s do this … …”

———

Shu Long caressed the great black halberd in his hand. This great black halberd was even larger than the one he had formed from killing essence, and its shape was simpler. There was only a single spike that was shaped like a bird’s head and a dark red blade seemed to been dyed in fresh blood.

What was most eerie was the design, a blue-grey eye on the head of the halberd. From a distance, it looked like a black crow standing on top of a black stick.

An intoxicated smile floated onto Shu Long’s face as he gripped it in his hands. A feeling of intimacy came from the body of the halberd and made him feel as though it was his flesh and blood.

All of the mo weapons in the black pond had used totem fragments. Each mo weapon seemed to be alive and caused each of them to have an unique presence.

But the presence of the mo weapons were not like the intelligent presences of the talismans and flying swords, but were vicious and dark. It was possible to see their viciousness at a glance.

The presence of the black halberd in Shu Long’s hands was the most unique. There was no viciousness, just a barely discernable desolate presence.

It may be due to fate that that A Wen received a mo weapon that was identical to the one he had formed from killing essence, it was a dark green spear. The body of the spear was streamlined and etched with complex patterns which made it feel comfortable in the hand. The shape of the green spear was unique. The spear was shaped like a ruler-straight green snake, and the head of the spear reached out of the snake’s jaw. The eyes of the snake were eerily open.

All three hundred mo weapons had chosen their masters.

The remaining people could only wait for a future round of forging. At the beginning, people were uncaring because no one had seen mo weapons before but after the mo weapons came out, everyone had jealous eyes!

Each mo weapon was like a piece of art, simple or exquisite, they all caused people’s hearts to move!

Shu Long raised his head. He saw every person that received a mo weapon were caressing their mo weapons in intoxication.

Hmm? He smiled imperceptibly and then he hid away his smile under a serious expression.

Just now, Ma Fan had sent a message explaining the situation outside and also describing their plan.

Shu Long did not know why Lil’ Miss Daren did not act, but he knew that since Lil’ Miss Daren sent down the order, it could not be changed. Lil’ Miss Daren rarely directed Guard Camp directly but that did not lessen his authority or legitimacy of his orders.

He did not learn battle tactics from Lil’ Miss Daren, and was instead taught by that mysterious person.

He did not have any objections to Ma Fan’s plan. This plan was actually very good.

“Okay, clean up and prepare to go! Let them see the power of our Guard Camp!” Shu Long’s voice spread into the entire mountain cave.

His voice was full of bravado. Receiving the mo weapons, Guard Camp were like tigers that had wings!

———

The large formation in front of them had suddenly opened, the fertile Turtle Island was like an inviting female, with legs spread in front of them.

Tian Heng Bo was full of joy. His already bloodshot eyes murderous as he shouted, “Kill!”

The six jindan changed out at the front!

The two battalions behind them seemed full of adrenaline as they furiously howled and charged with vicious expressions. They feared being slower than the others!

The Tian Family was like a flood bursting the dam, unable to be stopped!

Ling fields appeared in the everyone’s vision as though they were able to reach out and touch them. Everyone couldn’t help but become excited! These ling fields were going to belong to the Tian Family! Possessing Turtle Island, the Tian Family would become even stronger! And the service they provided in this battle would allow them to receive enough benefits!

No one could stop them!

In reality, their breakthrough was unusually smooth. They did not encounter any resistance along the way, no, they did not encounter one person.

Wait!

The corner of Tian Heng Bo’s eyes jumped and his expression changed slightly!

They didn’t encounter one person? Where were the people?

At this moment, he seemed saw something out of the corner of his eye. He stilled slightly and hurriedly turned around his face. In this moment, his pupils suddenly contracted and the blood drained from his face!

Chapter 471: Perfect Execution

The sharp howls were like the wails of ghost that tore through the air.

The hum unique to the three section wave killing charge caused people’s scalps to tingle!

The dense pack of sword xiu were like a barrage of arrows that charged out. They struck as quick as lightning!

Tian Heng Bo paled greatly. He opened his mouth and wanted to remind everyone but before he could make a sound, the sword xiu of Turtle Island had reached them.

Bam!

Near by a Tian Family disciple’s ling armor shattered into countless pieces, the sword energy flashed across this disciple’s neck with its remaining power, like a knife slicing tofu. A head flew into the sky!

Tian Heng Bo even saw the shock on the face of the Tian Family disciple.

Pia pia pia!

Caught off guard, the combat xiu of the Tian Familiy were struck by the sword lights! The third-grade ling armor they wore was as fragile as paper mache in front of the other’s sharp sword energies and shattered, blood to spray everywhere.

In what seemed like a blink of the eye, hundreds of Tian Family disciples were slaughtered by the sword lights!

The troops instantly became chaotic. The other was like a burning blade slicing through butter and created a vast corridor of blood among the ranks of the Tian Family!

In this bloody passage of twenty zhang wide, the blood and flesh of the Tian Family disciples sprayed and they all died standing where they were!

Seeing the Tian Family disciples die in front of him, Tian Heng Bo’s eyes filled with blood. The murderousness and viciousness in his chest was like a burning flame.

“Kill them!” He seemed like furious lion that charged first at the sword xiu!

The other five jindan beside him also let out angry shouts at the same time and charged with Tian Heng Bo!

In this chaotic battlefield, the six jindan were like six dazzling suns. The presence they gave off was intimidating and the presence of the six together overtook the Turtle Island sword xiu!

The disciples of the Tian Family roared. Their morale that had been dampened, by the sudden assault by Ma Fan’s group, now rose!

The six jindan were like six sharp arrows that were unstoppable. The other combat xiu followed behind them, forming six streams that leapt at Ma Fan’s group!

The expressions of Ma Fan and the others changed slightly. They hadn’t expected the other to have deployed six jindan! For the present Turtle Island, six jindan was enough to be fatal!

If it was only the six jindan, then he wasn’t afraid. Their strength was enough to grind the jindan to death! But the jindan had so many normal combat xiu as well, and these six jindan were fearlessly charging at the very front, the situation had become troublesome!

Ma Fan and the others knew if they allowed the other jindan to charge like this, the other side would be in a frenzy. Even if they won, their side would be wounded heavily.

But Daren and the others were not here … …

Wei Ran was the one best at maintaining his composure. Even though the situation was extremely urgent, his voice did not change at all. “Withdraw inwards! Stretch the distance between their forces!”

Everyone was quick-witted, instantly reacting. They did not fight, instead they turned and ran into the island!

Seeing the Turtle Island sword xiu running away, the morale of the Tian Family combat increased and they howled as they chased! The fierce blow that they had just suffered was forgotten and all of them showed extreme excitement.

One side was furiously feeling, and the other was furious pursuing!

No one noticed that below them, a pair of eyes that flashed with purple energy and a vicious large bird was watching them!

Ma Fan and the others were exceptionally fast. As the troop that had followed Zuo Mo the longest, retreat and escape was a class they had to take! In the past, when Zuo Mo and the other jindan were present, they would help get rid of the jindan, so Ma Fan and the others did not have many opportunities to face the jindan head on.

Having six jindan on their tail for the first time, they put all of their energy into running!

Their sword lights were even faster than when they had just charged.

But the other was still tightly following behind them especially the six jindan who were quickly closing the distance between them! The six jindan gradually separated from the combat xiu but this distance was not enough. If they turned around and charged now, then they would be entangled in battle with the jindan, and the combat xiu would charge and tear them apart!

“Kill jindan first! All divisions, spread out! Lead them out and  circle around, ensure they pull away from all the damned cannon fodder!” Ma Fan gritted out.

The teamwork between these people showed at this time. The entire troop suddenly scattered like a flower blooming!

This time, the Tian Family combat xiu were stunned.

Who do they chase?

Tian Heng Bo’s eyes were filled with blood as he chased the people at the very front, they  looked like the leaders. Those sword xiu had the highest cultivation of those he saw and should be the leaders of this group!

The jindan beside him hesitated and charged with Tian Heng Bo. Tian Heng Bo was Tian Yong Qing’s full-blooded brother, and ensuring Tian Heng Bo’s safety was one of their duties.

The Tian Family disciples behind them lacked orders and their ranks instantly became a mess. Many people scattered into small groups to chase the Turtle Island sword xiu that were fleeing.

The sky about Turtle Island instantly became a mess.

“Idiot!” Tian Ye who had not charged into Turtle Island couldn’t help but curse.

He wasn’t on good terms with Tian Heng Bo. In his eyes, Tian Heng Bo was a brute with courage but had no cunning! What made him the most discontent was that Tian Yong Qing had assigned six jindan to Tian Heng Bo! His battalion only had two jindan. This was something that the prideful Tian Ye could not accept.

After swearing, Tian Ye smiled coldly and did not move.

In reality, from the beginning to now, the enemy troops were undamaged. The seemingly chaotic scene was an illusion that they purposefully orchestrated! Watching the battle up until now, Tian Ye had a preliminary judgement.

This was a troop that was very strong. Their charging strength was extremely strong, they had practiced tactics, and they were high cooperative! They could rival his own battalion!

If there had to be a shortcoming, it was experts! He had not seen any of the experts in this troop, this caused him puzzlement.

Tian Yong Qing did not tell Tian Ye the battle plan. He had sent Tian Heng Bo in hopes he could take the chance to get some service merit.

Yet the development of events was not as smooth as Tian Yong Qing and Tian Heng Bo had expected.

Tian Ye was not in a hurry. In his view, Tian Heng Bo was a jindan and had five jindan protecting him so safety was not a problem. As to losses, Tian Ye wanted Tian Heng Bo to suffer as many casualties as possible. This could show just how strong he, Tian Ye, was!

With the skill level of this battalion, they most likely had planned follow-up moves.

The xiuzhe following behind Ma Fan and the others decreased. Even three jindan had felt that chasing like this was not as satisfactory as going to kill enemies so they went in search of other targets. These guys were not very powerful, but were very slippery when fleeing.

After chasing for only a few moments, there were only two people left by Tian Heng Bo.

No one noticed the sword xiu that were flying in all directions in the sky drew out long and strange curved paths. And the other end of these paths intersected at a place hidden from view.

It was like the bloomed flower that was closing.

Watching from a distance, Tian Ye seemed to detect something. His brow creased slightly. His eyes suddenly widened and his eyes showed shock!

Heavens, how did they do it?

Those complex curved lines only had one destination! How had they done this in such a complex environment? It was hard to imagine!

But Tian Ye’s face quickly changed. Not good!

Tian Heng Bo was in danger!

In his field of vision, Tian Heng Bo was lured by the other continuously closer to the intersection point!

Tian Ye was instantly panicked and shouted, “Advance!”

The xiuzhe of Tian Ye Battalion all paused. Didn’t Boss say they were going to wait here? Why were they advancing so suddenly? Tian Heng Bo’s side clearly had the advantage!

“Do you not have ears?” Tian Ye shouted angrily!

Everyone seemed to wake up and flew towards Turtle Island.

Seeing Tian Heng Bo rushing nearer to the intersection point, Tian Ye felt great panic! He had conflict with Tian Heng Bo but if Tian Heng Bo died here, and he only looked on, then there would be great trouble when he returned to the clan!

The present leader of the Tian Family was Tian Yong Qing!

It was alright to get Tian Heng Bo to lose face, but to have Tian Heng Bo to lose his life … …

Yet from when Tian Heng Bo had passed through the formation, Tian Ye Battalion had stayed at the back. When Tian Heng Bo had charged into Turtle Island, Tian Ye Battalion had not moved a step forward.

For the first time of his life, Tian Ye hoped his prediction would not become reality!

———

Ma Fan and the others raised their speed to the limits, the howling in the ears drowning out all other noise.

They were fleeing for their lives!

Jindan, what was chasing them were jindan! Even if they were half a step into jindan, when they were facing true jindan xiuzhe, they still felt a great pressure!

Fortunately, they were not fighting by themselves … …

They were familiar with every inch of Turtle Island. The scenes rushing past underneath their feet indicated to them their position and their eyes became bright!

The howling was still in their ears!

Yet at this time, their attention was unprecedentedly focused!

A non-descript little hill passed by their feet. The eyes of Ma Fan’s group lit up, all the ling power in their bodies vibrating, their extreme speed increasing slightly!

This was the moment!

Light suddenly rose in the sky above them!

The blinding light caused everything they saw to be a white daze. They forced themselves to tolerate the blinding light, their speed maintained as they continued to fly!

A sword energy the width of a door brushed dangerously past Ma Fan’s body and caused his hairs to stand!

This was a signal!

Ma Fan seemed to be suddenly situated inside a storm of enormous sword energies. The hum of sword energies filled his ears! The intimidating sword essences flashed past and he would shake every time!

This was the large sword energies that the three section wave killing charge used to face large scale targets and experts!

Each sword energy was made from the combined power of three sword xiu!

One hundred large sword energies came from all directions and were as packed together as rain as they smashed into an area of three zhang around Tian Heng Bo and the two jindan.

Clang!

One hundred large sword essences with unstoppable presence collided together!

Collision, crumbling, fragmentation, explosion!

A light even brighter than the one before exploded forth. The enormous wave of sound carried countless fragmented sword essences. Everywhere it passed, it caused people’s minds to blank just like their vision!

The entire battlefield became deathly silent!

Chapter 472: The Balance Tilts

No matter which side they were on, people were shocked at such a fearsome scene!

This was a perfect operation!

No matter if it was Ma Fan’s team that had lured the enemy, or the three hundred sword xiu that had come from all directions and silently executed the ambush, including the coordination where the sword energies passed by with a distance of only a hair’s thickness, it could all be called perfect!

When one hundred large sword energies exploded in such a small area, the presence produced was so terrifying that even the two jindan did not manage to respond before being reduced to ash!

Recovering from the enormous explosion, the reaction on the two sides was completely different.

The Tian Family disciples had dazed expressions. The abrupt change was like a punch that struck their head and stunned them! Many people did not know what had happened and those with keen eyes felt their heads ring and turn blank!

What followed were ashen faces!

For Ma Fan and the others, even though this attack was filled with luck and was unable to be repeated, it inspired their morale. Ma Fan and Wei Ran felt their confidence increase. The hint of timidity that was caused by the absence of Lil’ Miss also dissipated!

Some of the sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp still had disbelief on their faces. The actions they had planned and carried out had successfully ambushed and killed two jindan!

In a battlefield that was small and enclosed, the death of two jindan could change many things.

In this perfect operation, the ambush was the signal for the full scale counterattack from Vermillion Bird Camp!

When the Tian Family disciples still had cluelessness on their faces, the sky full of sword hums were like fatal noises that sounded in unison!

The large Turtle Island gave the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu a large battlefield so they could continuously accelerate and charge! One side was confused and puzzled, the other had increased morale, the chaotic battlefield instantly became one-sided.

Sprays of blood erupted, howls and people continuously fell down.

There were Tian Family disciples that resisted but as the conflict between the two side increased, their hearts became chilled!

Hands holding fifth-grade golden crystal sword, wearing fourth-grade Blue Soul Cold Light Armor, the Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu looked like rich tycoons facing the Tian Family disciples that mostly wore third-grade ling armor! When facing a sword xiu that was outfitted like this, it would cause one to feel helpless from the bottom of their hearts!

If the other’s sword strike did not kill them, it would wound them, and they would need to attack three times in a row to possibly cause damage to the enemy! If the difference in talismans between the two sides was not enough to deflate their courage, then the enormous difference in tactics caused their hopelessness to spread.

The Turtle Island sword xiu were like packs of cunning and vicious wolves. They never moved alone, always in groups of three to five. Even if the enemy was one person, they would still surround them in groups of three to five. If they encountered a strong opponent, these fragmented little teams would nimbly gather from all directions and furiously charge!

Their charges were furious and inexhaustible, their sword lights sharp and unstoppable. They were cold and merciless, they were regulated and well-organized, they were trained tactically. They were like demons that were born from the eerie fires of hell and carried the presence of death!

The sky seemed to be dyed red by the sprays of blood that erupted. The criss-crossing cold sword lights were the magnificent flowers when death captured life.

The weak defense of the Tian Family disciples were drown completely in the endless sword lights.

———

Tian Hao’s lips were trembling as his body uncontrollably shook.

The sky full of sword howling was like countless owls croaking. He felt that he would be torn up in the next instant! He wasn’t a novice, and was the elite of the battalion, he had seen situations of many sizes.

But he still uncontrollably shook!

He understood that the intimidating howling of the enemy attacks was the result of purposefully loosening their control of ling power, but he still uncontrollably felt fear!

He had never thought there would be a day that he would face such fearsome enemies!

The talismans and flying swords that were worthy of envy and jealousy were not enough to defeat a battle-hardened veterans. He had killed many enemies with more powerful talismans than he had. This group of enemies gathered and scattered suddenly and were hard to predict. Each charge would be decisive. No matter how bad the situation was, or what advantage the enemy had, they would always maintain their little tactical formations. They were like machines that only knew to slaughter, they did not deviate, and did not make one mistake!

There was nothing more frightening than this, or could make Tian Hao feel more hopeless!

He suddenly felt the Tian Family was so stupid. Why had they challenged an enemy that was so much powerful than they were?

———

The sword lights in the sky grew and brushed through the sky like a comb. No matter how the enemies within the sword lights struggled and resisted, they were like fragile bubbles that popped upon contact.

As the advantage on one side increased, the rhythm of battle would quickly increase!

Another jindan fell!

From beginning to now, the six jindan were important targets that Vermillion Bird Camp focused on. This jindan had been dragged down by one hundred and fifty Vermillion Bird Camp sword xiu and died due to using up all of his ling power.

Even the three remaining jindan felt their courage flee, much less those Tian Family disciples. In this short period of time, three jindan had died. They had never been through such a desperate battle

It was too frightening!

They were jindan and had more experienced eyes than other combat xiu. The golden flying swords in the hands of the enemy sword xiu was a frightening high degree, and even more powerful than the most outstanding fourth-grade flying swords!

Being even stronger than the most outstanding fourth-grade flying swords, so what grade was it?

Looking at the matching golden flying swords, they didn’t dare to think!

Flee!

Losing their courage, the Tian Family disciples ran away in a disorganized manner. They just wanted to leave this fearsome place as fast as possible. They did not put up any resistance because any resistance would affect their speed of escape.

There was only one thought in their minds

—Flee! Flee as fast as possible!

What family laws, what disciple-hood, that was all thrown away at this time.

It was unknown who it started with but at this time, the ranks collapsed like an avalanche! All of the people shouted and then turned and fled for their lives!

The fleeing crowd and the Tian Ye battalion that had rushed over at full power now collided together!

Tian Ye’s face suddenly changed!

The combat xiu at the front of the battalion shifted. Those clansmen that were completely in a frenzy charged into their battalion. In the eyes of these Tian Family disciples that had lost their last threads of bravery, if they neared the Tian Family Battalion, they would be able to survive.

The defeated soldiers flooded at Tian Ye Battalion like a tide.

“Do not collide … …” Tian Ye shouted urgently. His pupils suddenly expanded and his voice stopped abruptly.

Sword light!

All over the horizon!

An angry wave composed from numerous sword lights were tightly following behind this group of fleeing soldiers and were aimed at him!

Tian Ye glared angrily but his brain was still clear as ever. He knew if he hesitated in this moment, the entire troop would be lost. He shouted furiously, “Kill!”

Tian Ye Battalion had gone to Blood Sky Metropolis Jie had had more battle experience than normal battalions. These combat xiu might not bear to do it but they understood if their battle formation became disorganized, then they would all die!

Their eyes were red as they shouted at the top of their lungs, “Kill!”

Those Tian Family disciples never had expected that Tian Ye Battalion would move against them. Unguarded, blood sprayed out and seventy or so Tian Family disciples died instantly!

Tian Ye’s move was cruel but it was effective and showed his decisiveness as an exceptional Silver Battle General.

But he did not know that underneath their position, there was another troop waiting for them!

———

The bright and beautiful sword lights attracted everyone’s gaze. The appearance of Shu Long’s group was silent and did not attract any attention.

The three hundred hardship guards that had just received mo weapons were so silent they were like statues.

Shu Long coldly looked at the sky, his handsome face calm. Shu Long could not be said to be a battle general but he had received Pu Yao’s teachings and his eyes were not lacking. Pu Yao had once thought of nurturing Shu Long into a battle general, but the path of yao battle generals and mo battle generals were completely different paths.

Only a freak like Zuo Mo could naturally feel the power of others.

However, Shu Long did not lack the knowledge and judgment that a battle general should have. He could see that Ma Fan’s group had the advantage. Guard Camp and Vermillion Bird Camp were in a competitive relationship, but that was a deliberate manipulation by Shu Long and Ma Fan. Shu Long had a deep understanding of the combat capabilities of Vermillion Bird Camp. He knew very well when Vermillion Bird Camp held the advantage in battle, then it wasn’t far from the end of battle.

So he did not move, and stealthily hid, waiting to give those defeated soldiers a fatal blow.

But when he saw Tian Ye Battalion coming to aid, he changed his mind. In Boss’ words, that was a fatter sheep!

Born a sword xiu, Shu Long had endurance other people could not rival. He silently waited for a chance.

Until this moment!

“Kill!”

Shu Long bellowed as the black halberd in his hand stabbed into the sky!

The black mist that surrounded the black halberd formed a three zhang long halberd shadow that howled into the sky!

“Kill!”

Three hundred hardship guards shouted together and attacked with the mo weapons in their hands!

Three hundred black misty shadows of various shapes were three hundred shrieking crows that shot at Tian Ye Battalion in the sky!

The black mist released by the hardship guards merged into one patch that moved relentlessly. It was the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation!

Shu Long’s black halberd shadow was like an enormous nail that pierced into the ranks of Tian Ye Battalion. Pia, a moderate explosion, the halberd exploded and turned to a thick ball of black mist that covered dozens of combat xiu.

The three hundred black shadows that came after exploded at the same time and became thick black mist that covered half of the Tian Ye Battalion combat xiu!

———

Tian Ye Battalion was preparing for the incoming sword energy attacks. This sudden change caused confusion to spread through the ranks, resulting in chaos.

Tian Ye was both shocked and angry. He was shrouded in the black mist and couldn’t even see his fingers.

So vicious! At this point in battle to use this kind of spell to obscure their vision, they were really vicious!

Shock and angry, he yelled, “All on defense! Prepare to face sword energies!”

Just at this time, the black mist that seemed harmless and only served obscured people’s vision suddenly bared its fangs!

Chapter 473: Fatal Blow

Tian Ye felt the situation was terrible. He didn’t know what talisman the black mist had been forged from but it was extremely thick obscuring their vision. In front of him was a black  expanse so thick he could not even see his fingers, but he could clearly sense the nervousness of the guards that were next to him.

The attack that followed definitely would be ferocious.

The attack wave constructed from countless sword energies caused him to feel deep worry, even though he had only managed to take a glance. His battalion was strong offensively and weak defensively. The defensive formation they usually practiced, the [Sky Sunflower Guard Formation], was not an outstanding defense formation. He was doubtful about how long the [Sky Sunflower Guard Formation] could hold up under such a strong charge.

He already prepared himself for losing his soldiers, if it wasn’t for this black mist … …

Even though there would still be losses, this situation would lead to many more than he previously expected. He had absolute confidence in his command, yet what shocked him and surprised him was that the Sky Ray Treasure Lens was completely ineffective against this black mist!

The Sky Ray Treasure Lens was the most important talisman on his body and was his only sixth-grade talisman. It could see through illusory spells and techniques, could view things outside a thousand li and could be called a wondrous treasure. The Sky Ray Treasure Lens was the top reason that they had managed to survive in Blood Sky Metropolis Jie.

Yet this talisman that never failed him before was ineffective today. Because of the island formation, he had been unable to view the island from the outside. The Sky Ray Treasure Lens was also non-responsive against this black mist, and had made Tian Ye suspect that it was broken.

This black mist was probably a special talisman!

Tian Ye thought about this but more of his attention was placed on the sword energy wave that was soon to arrive! After roaming in Blood Sky Metropolis Jie for a long time, he had seen many strange talismans, ones stranger than even this, and naturally did not feel great wonder.

Suddenly, a light grunt came from beside him.

However, this did not attract Tian Ye’s attention. The howling of the sword energy wave was like thunder in comparison and the entire sky seemed to be trembling from its approach!

Under this terrifying wave of sound, no one paid attention to the occasional grunts that sounded from inside the black mist.

Everyone’s nerves were stretched tight, and [Sky Sunflower Guard Formation] was channeled to its maximum!

The first to detect something was not right was Tian Ye. His face suddenly changed! Not good! There was a plot!

The tang of blood was faintly discernable in the black mist seemed to prove his speculation. Unafraid of anything, Tian Ye’s face was ashen. His expanded pupils were full of disbelief and also had deep terror!

[Sky Sunflower Guard Formation]! It was [Sky Sunflower Guard Formation] that was telling him!

As the main commander of the battalion, every change in the battle formation would be reported to him. He has just noticed that the power of the [Sky Sunflower Guard Formation] was slightly less than half its usual strength! This discovery almost stopped his breathing, this wasn’t possible!

He was not an useless person and he had relied on his actual skills to obtain this position. In just an instant, he understood everything and was dumbstruck!

In this short period, only two-thirds of the combat xiu were left in the [Sky Sunflower Guard Formation]!

How was this possible?

He almost didn’t dare to believe this result!

This battalion’s members had been handpicked by him. He had taken them to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie and gone through many hardships to bring them back to Cloud Sea Jie! These subordinates that were unwaveringly loyal to him, he understood them better than anyone. They definitely would not make such a fatal mistake at such a crucial time!

The only possibility was that one third of the combat xiu had been assassinated unknowingly!

He suddenly realized that the black mist wasn’t used to just obscure their vision! It hid a murderousness plot!

At this time, one of his personal guards slumped over without any strength.

“A Yong!” Tian Ye shouted in shock. For the first time, he felt terror. The black mist that was almost tangible in front of his eyes seemed to hid a vicious beast that could not be seen and would consume lives at any moment.

Tian Ye’s shout did not attract the attention of other combat xiu because of the sword energies!

The howling of the sword energy great wave drowned out everything, like the howling and barks of countless yao beasts. They charged like a tide, furious and bloodthirsty!

Bam bam bam!

Facing this terrifying wave of sword energy, the light of the defensive formation was as fragile as glass and upon contact, it turned to powder in the black mist!

The collapse of the battle formation undoubtedly signaled the fate of this group of combat xiu!

In battles between battalions, when their formation was shattered, especially their defense formation, that meant failure. The talismans on the soldiers bodies were not any different than paper mache in front of the vast expanse of sword energies!

The combat xiu that lost the protection of the battle formation didn’t even have time to wail before they were torn to pieces by the flood of sword energies!

The moment the battle formation shattered, Tian Ye knew that they had lost this battle.

Lost completely!

His terror disappeared, and he showed the rebellious smile he usually had.

Dying under the sword of such an opponent, it was a worthy death!

———

Flee! Flee! Flee!

The three jindan were like homeless dogs, hating that their parents hadn’t given birth to them with a pair of wings. In their frantic retreat none of them displayed the usual composure of a jindan.

They had originally prepared to flee towards the Tian Ye Battalion as it was the top battalion of the Tian Family and was very strong. If they could run there, they should be safe. The three of them were jindan cultivation and Tian Ye would definitely recruit them.

If they could help Tian Ye get some combat service, then they would find it easy to return home. They were different than those others that were recruited from the outside, they were born Tian Family members and their own family members were in the clan. If they were not forced to, then they would not leave the Tian Family.

Who knew the Tian Ye Battalion that they put their high hopes on couldn’t even stand up under one encounter and had turned to ash!

The three completely lost of their courage!

That was Tian Ye Battalion! The true top battalion of the Tian Family! A battalion that could rank in all of Cloud Sea Jie!

Ow … .. how could it be destroyed just like that?

Terror was like a powerful poison that spread to every corner of their body and ate at every one of their nerves! There was only one thought in their minds, stay far from this ghastly place! Farther!

They flew furiously!

Yet what they had not expected was that because their speed was much faster than other combat xiu, they were extremely eye-catching and had attracted Lil’ Pagoda’s attention.

Before, Ma Fan’s plan had been to bolt the door and beat the dog. They were to lure the Tian Family into the island, and then close the large formation to destroy all of them on the island. Yet no one had expected Tian Ye Battalion to not advance with the others, and not enter Turtle Island as they had expected. Due to this, Lil’ Pagoda still had not received the order to close the island formation.

But when Lil’ Paogda saw the three jindan about the escape from the island formation, it became panicked and instantly closed the formation without a word!

In a blink, black clouds appeared in the sky. Thunder roared in the cloud layers, and silver snakes arced. The black clouds came extremely quickly as though it appeared out of everywhere.

The expressions of the three jindan changed dramatically. They were not dumb and understood what the other intended!

To kill them all!

Among the thick black clouds, the curving electric snakes caused their hearts to tremble. The terrifying power was like a storm that blew against the weak mental barriers of the three! Yet the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the azure light that was faintly discernable.

The three felt themselves frozen and all of them had hopeless expressions.

When had they ever been pushed to such a hopeless state? After becoming jindan, failure and setbacks seemed to distance themselves, and they were forever the objects of admiration!

But right now … …

The hopelessness on the person leading gradually turned to viciousness. His face was twisted, his eyes full of uncaring frenzy as he shouted, “Brothers! Kill one to break even … …”

His harsh and hopeless voice suddenly stopped, his expression freezing on his face as though he became statue in a flash.

He dropped down from the sky, bam, and hit the ground heavily. There wasn’t a thread of life on his body.

Following the fall of their fellow, the jindan seemed to see a ghost.

There was a wooden faced young female and a large bird silently standing near his body. The young female did not have any expression on her face, her eyes empty and without emotion. The large bird beside her was staring with a vicious expression at them!

Was it this seemingly lifeless young female that had just attack?

The found it hard to believe. This young female did not seem to be exceptional in any regard, and they were even unable to feel any ling power vibration from her body.

No one told them the answer!

Endless terror consumed their minds, other than terror their eyes could not hold anything else! The bravery to drag others into death with them was erased by this eerie attack!

This was an eerie place!

Everything was so eerie. Otherwise, why would they have been defeated? Why did Tian Ye Battalion get defeated so quickly? Why did they have to die here? Why was not one person able to escape … …

Everything was like a nightmare in front of them. Their gazes were scattered and their presences became chaotic.

They heard a clear chirp among their blurriness and it seemed to have a thread of disdain.

What followed was a pain in their chest and then they did not know anything.

———

Looking at the black clouds that shrouded the entire Turtle Island, Li Shu showed a serious expression.

At his side, Feng Bai’s expression was shocked. “Is all of Tian Family going to die here? I hadn’t expected that this Turtle Island’s strength was so, it isn’t bad.”

Li Shu did not speak. Feng Shixiong said that Turtle Island wasn’t bad but it could be heard from his tone that he was indifferent. This was very normal. Feng Shixiong was just passing through Cloud Sea Jie and did not understand the Tian Family’s strength so he would be like this.

But Li Shu understood the Tian Family’s strength and deep worry entered his eyes.

Chapter 474: A Visit From Liao Qi Chang

After victory of the battle at Turtle Island, Lil’ Miss did not hesitate and instantly retaliated against the Tian Family. Their battalions killed, the remaining Tian Family forces were not a match for Vermillion Bird Camp and quickly collapsed. Even the Old Master Tian that was in seclusion in hopes of breaking through to yuanying had to come out to save them.

Yet Zuo Mo and the others had returned by this time. With all of the experts in attendance, even though Old Master Tian had jindan third stratum cultivation, he could not stop Zuo Mo and the others from ganging up on him and was killed.

The battle that occurred between Turtle Island and the Tian Family astounded all of Xu Ling City. The Tian Family’s instantaneous destruction was a great blow to many people, especially those businesses that had allied with the Tian Family to work against Turtle Island. They were terrified and many of them even fled Xu Ling City during the night.

What was worthy of speculation was Xu Ling Sect’s attitude. Xu Ling Sect had not reacted to such a significant event, as though they did not notice it had occurred.

Having taken over the Tian Family’s territory and ling fields, Turtle Island jumped to become the second power of Xu Ling City and its reputation shot up.

The news that followed after pushed Turtle Island’s reputation to even greater heights.

Someone found had Yuan Xin’s bones.

Yuan Xin was found on a desolate island. His fleshly body had been destroyed only leaving behind pale white bones. If it was not his personal effects and artifacts that proved he was Yuan Xin, no one would connect this pile of white bones to the top ranked expert of Cloud Sea Jie.

Yuan Xin was dead, Ning Yi and Gu Ming Gong had disappeared.

The businesspeople of Xu Ling City entered a period of unprecedented terror. The businesses that could escape Xu Ling City all ran, while many the remaining businesses could not leave Xu Ling City, due to various reasons, could only await their fates. The news of the Tian Family, were nightmares that did not allow them to rest at night.

Xu Ling City was full of terror.

———

At this time Turtle Island was full of joy and cheer.

This battle had been a dangerous one but they had achieved victory in the end. Starting from yesterday, everyone was inventorying the spoils, and all of them couldn’t help but smile.

The richness of the harvest this time surpassed everyone’s predictions. The Tian Family was very rich, as would be expected of a family with a long history. It dazzled Zuo Mo’s eyes and caused him to drool. He finally knew that he had underestimated these local families.

In just jingshi, there were thirty six sixth-grade jinghsi, and the talismans of various types were innumerable. There were two sixth-grade talismans. Other than the Sky Ray Treasure Lens, the other was a rare sixth-grade ling plant talisman, Earth Spirit Matter Conveying Stone. He had taken the Earth Spirit Matter Conveying Stone from the body of the Old Master Tian. He didn’t know what this stone was forged from, it could continuously release ling power, and nurture all substances, it was a wondrous treasure!

Even Zuo Mo had never seen such a wondrous talisman before.

There were also many fourth and fifth-grade talismans but they no longer interested Zuo Mo. He gave them as rewards to the members with outstanding accomplishments in battle.

What were the most numerous was the Tian Family’s ling fields and ling mines!

The Tian Family had started out as ling plant farmers and even Xu Ling Sect could not compare to them in terms of ling fields. The Tian Family also had the largest number of ling plant farmers. Under the soft and hard tactics from the Tian Family, these ling plant farmers had signed death contracts. Now that the Tian Family was defeated, they also became Zuo Mo’s spoils of battle.

However, Zuo Mo had decided not to reveal the formations on the ling fields of Turtle Island to these ling plant farmers. He wasn’t ignorant and understood this method that completely upended the traditional ling farming methods, and would create endless trouble for him if it was revealed. Before he was strong enough, there could only be one outcome.

With so many ling plant farmers, he didn’t need to worry at all and only needed to send a few people to supervise the production.

This was a hen that would continuously lay golden eggs.

———

“Island Master really is powerful!”

Outside the island, Liao Qi Chang’s voice passed over the distance.

Zuo Mo leapt into the air and welcomed him. He saw Liao Qi Chang and Xu Zheng Wei come together and raised his folded hands in a greeting, “Mister Liao, Elder Xu, long time no see!”

Xu Zheng Wei hurriedly returned the greeting and his tone held a thread of awe. “Island Master, long time no see!”

If it was said he had just been shocked at the power of Zuo Mo and the others, now he really felt awe. The enormous Tian Family had been turned to dust in the blink of an eye. The power of this Turtle Island wasn’t just awe inspiring, it was terrifying!

Liao Qi Chang laughed brightly, “Island Master’s fight tactics are uncanny and will be a classic!”

“This is just good luck! Luck!” Zuo Mo pretended to be humble as he spoke, but he still felt proud inside.

Liao Qi Chang shook his head and said, “Luck? Island Master is incorrect! Who can destroy the Tian Family based on luck? Only people with great charisma and skill can do it! Even that battalion ranking can’t stay still. Thirty two, a rank that even the Xu Ling Battalion has never held. It seems the name of Turtle Island is going to spread through the entire Cloud Sea Jie!”

Zuo Mo tried to act humble but he still couldn’t help but smile, these were clearly the mannerisms of a lowly person that had accomplished their dream.

However, it had not gone to his head. He hurriedly said, “That doesn’t count, doesn’t count.  What have you come for this time … …”

He saw Liao Qi Chang say with a smile , “This one has come this time for three matters.”

Zuo Mo replied, “What three matters?”

“The first matter is to congratulate Island Master for your great victory!”

Zuo Mo’s expression did not change. He asked, “Many thanks, Mister Liao, then the second matter?”

“The second is about the azure aether. This one has remembered the azure aether matter that Island Master mentioned and has searched around. This one finally found it recently and is delivering it personally, as to not distract Island Master from your affairs.” When Liao Qi Chang finished speaking, he took out a transparent glass bottle. Inside the bottle was a ball of azure substance that was like cloud or mist but not that slowly flowed.

As expected, this was azure aether!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but show joy. The Meridional Azure Aether Formation on the island only lacked the azure aether and it would then be perfect. In the battle this time, the power of the Meridional Azure Aether Formation had showed itself. If it wasn’t for the Meridional Azure Aether Formation, and there was only the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation, the enemy would have managed to breakthrough long before Vermillion Bird Camp had fully prepared.

“What is the selling price of this azure aether” Zuo Mo’s eyes were burning.

Liao Qi Chang smiled slightly and said, “This is hard to find but its price is not high. This bottle of azure aether is a present for Island Master, it is this one’s gift of congratulations for Island Master’s victory.”

Finishing, he gently handed the glass bottle to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo received it and it disappeared in a flash. There was no shame on his face. “Then many thanks, Brother Liao!”

Liao Qi Chang smiled slightly, “The bottle is Crystal Clean Light bottle, it is a bottle that is good for capturing substances such as clouds, mist and flowing it. So this is for Island Master as well!”

“Many thanks, Brother Liao!” Zuo Mo was slightly moved this time. To say of nothing else, just this mannerism of gifting was not something normal people could afford to do.

“Then the third matter?” Zuo Mo asked proactively. He also knew the other wouldn’t give him talismans for no reason. He must have a request for the third matter. As long it was not a difficult matter, he would consent.

“This third matter is this one wants to ask Island Master for mercy,” Liao Qi Chang said slowly.

“Mercy? Mercy for what?” Zuo Mo did not understand.

Liao Qi Chang sighed lightly, “When this one heard that some businesses had allied with the Tian Family to scheme against your island, this one knew it was not good. Yet my warnings did not carry weight, and they did not listen to this one’s urgings. With Island Master’s great victory, they are fearful and cannot rest at night. Originally, this one did not plan on interfering in this matter, one needs to pay their debts, but they have some connections to this one, and have plead to me for days. This one really cannot bear it, and has come with a thick face to ask for a favor from Island Master. Please, spare them!”

Zuo Mo’s face turned dark. He hadn’t expected Liao Qi Chang to ask for mercy on behalf of those people.

Those businesses had allied with the Tian Family to suppress him from the beginning. He opened cultivation classes, they tried to stop it by using their power. Then they had a share in hiring Ning Yi, Yuan Xin and Gu Ming Gong.

Zuo Mo was never a generous person. It was the opposite. He was vengeful and would settle his debts, he would repay favors and take revenge! From the beginning, he had noted it down and waited to settle the debts later!

Liao Qi Chang actually was asking for mercy for these people!

Liao Qi Chang knew that this request was one that difficult. Even though the battle between Ning Yi’s group and Turtle Island was a mystery, but it was possible to see the life threatening danger involved from the death of Yuan Xin! No one would easily spare those that had almost killed them!

“They are extremely regretful and know it is not possible to escape their crime. Every family is willing to give their leader to Island Master to determine their fate. Also, Island Master, please accept these ten pieces of sixth-grade jingshi. They only hope to preserve some part of their family, Island Master, please spare them!” Liao Qi Chang took out a yellow little bag and handed it to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s expression eased slightly but he did not immediately take the jingshi. He looked at Liao Qi Chang and said, “Those that were responsible for starting this matter need to take responsibility.”

Liao Qi Chang understood that Zuo Mo’s words were a death sentence for these people. Those clans would definitely deliver the heads of these people for the sake of their families and to calm Turtle Island’s anger.

He nodded crisply and said, “Alright!”

Zuo Mo now took the jingshi and said, “This time, I will spare them because of Brother Liao. If they have other thoughts in the future, then do not blame this one for being impolite!”

“That is natural.” Liao Qi Chang smiled as he was relieved of a great burden. He hadn’t wanted to take this hot potato, but they had slowly ground down his resolve, so he had forced himself to come. However, the success of this negotiation was also beneficial for him. His reputation among the businesses would grow and no one would openly contend with this businesses.

Zuo Mo was also very content. The ten pieces of sixth-grade jingshi was a great surprise and by executing those responsible, it would intimated the businesses of Xu Ling City.

This was the best result.

Turtle Island had just swallowed the Tian Family and did not have a stable foundation. Even though he did not know why Xu Ling Sect had not made a sound this time, the other definitely was paying attention in secret. It was not hard to make trouble for those little businesses. But for Zuo Mo and the others that had recently come to Xu Ling City, it was not a wise decision to make enemies everywhere.

Rampaging and charging everywhere was something only a rash person would do. How could the cunning Zuo Mo do such unprofitable business?

Since the other side had given Zuo Mo enough to show their respect, Zuo Mo was naturally willing to take a steps off the stage.

Getting rich without a lifting a finger was the best plan!

After all, the fat piece of meat, the Tian Family, could not be digested in a short period of time.

Chapter 475: Meridional Azure Aether Formation

Zuo Mo stopped in the air above Turtle Island. Looking down at the enormous island, he couldn’t help but feel emotional.

Suddenly, he spread his arms, and gathered all the ling power in his body.

Pia pia pia!

One hundred and eight meridional azure aether spikes shot out of the earth and silently floated around him.

Zuo Mo’s expression became serious. He took out the Crystal Clear Light Bottle from his ring, and lightly plucked out the stopper. A ball of azure aether continuously flooded out of the mouth. This azure aether was extraordinarily beautiful. It was cloud-like and mist-like but not either of them with an indigo azure color. When it wafted out, it did not dissipate but floated in the sky and slowly swirled.

Zuo Mo’s ten figures flew furiously. Streaks of ling power lights rose and extinguished on his fingertips, the light blooming and profound!

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly became bright as he shouted, “Ha!”

A streak of light left his hand and entered the azure aether.

The azure aether suddenly froze and then exploded. It turned to one hundred and eight threads of azure smoke and shot into the meridional azure aether spikes. Zuo Mo’s expression became even more stern. His right hand moved and a meridional azure aether spike flew in front of him.

Zuo Mo didn’t seem to make a move but a thread of Great Day Banded Flame appeared soundlessly in front of him that swallowed that meridional azure aether spike. The azure aether within the spike was stimulated and shifted restlessly, causing even the Great Day Banded Flame to be tinged with azure.

About an hour later, the azure tinge in the Great Day Banded Flame retreated and it became a golden flame once more with differently colored bands.

The meridional azure aether spike once again returned to Zuo Mo’s hand. There was a long and narrow azure aether seal was on the body of the spike, which now glowed and exuded a faint power.

Zuo Mo showed a satisfied expression on his face. His right hand moved and another spike flew. The refinement process started again.

He forged the spikes one after the other. He would rest when he was tired, and then continue when his ling power was replenished. As he continuously forged, his skill became more practiced and he had a deeper understanding of the azure aether seal that caused his speed to increase.

After three days, the reforging of the one hundred and eight meridional azure aether spikes was completed.

The reforged meridional azure aether spikes floated around him like stars circling the moon. Zuo Mo could faintly feel the unique communication between them. There were six different azure aether seals, each of them with their own power and abilities that floated through Zuo Mo’s mind.

He seemed to understand something.

Almost unconsciously, he raised both of his hands.

There seemed to be an invisible string that caused one hundred and eight meridional azure aether spikes to float upward as though they were being pulled.

The azure aether seals on the spokes lit up one by one. When the azure aether seal on the last meridional azure aether spike lit up, an invisible force suddenly surrounded Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo’s body shook slightly!

Like the water in the pond was full and about to overflow.

Zuo Mo did not even think as his hands suddenly pressed down on the empty air and shouted, “In!”

Like arrows leaving the bowstring, the one hundred and eight meridional azure aether spikes turned to one hundred and eight dashes of azure light that entered all corners of Turtle Island.

An enormous azure light shell then covered the island like a bowl being placed upside down.

Many xiuzhe were disturbed by the change and flew into the sky. Their attention were all attracted to this thin light shell.

Zuo Mo released a breath as though he was relieved of a great burden. He raised his head to look at the azure light shield above his head. This layer of light was extremely thin and seemed as though it would shatter upon contact like eggshell. Zuo Mo knew that jindan xiuzhe definitely could not break through it and it would hold unless a yuanying xiuzhe attacked. Even then a yuanying xiuzhe would not have an easy time breaking through this thin shell of light.

The defensive power of the Meridional Azure Aether Formation was extremely strong. If he could find better materials, better azure aether, the power of the formation would grow to the point that even yuanying could not break it.

Zuo Mo quickly threw this unrealistic notion to the back of his mind. All the wealth he had, even added together, wouldn’t be enough to forge such a set of meridional azure aether spikes.

The shield of light gradually dimmed until it could not be seen. The sky seemed to return to what it was before but Zuo Mo knew that the defensive power of the formation had more than doubled.

Zuo Mo wanted to make his own nest a fort.

Zuo Mo considered whether he should construct a few formation battle watchtowers but then he ended the thought. The power of the formation battle watchtowers were slightly useless to the present Turtle Island. In the past, everyone’s skill was not very high, and their enemies were not strong.

But Zuo Mo didn’t even remember how many jindan they had encountered. If conflict occurred, the power of the formation battle watchtower would not be sufficient. Also, their present power was not something that their past could compare to. After experiencing the Sealed Extinction battlefield, with the help of the black processing meditation mat, the formations that originated in mo matrixes, the ling dan and ling foods, as long as Zuo Mo had it, he would not be miserly. Many of the xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp had reached the third stratum of ningmai. Even Golden Crow Camp had many that reached the third stratum.

Becoming jindan was the right path. One normal jindan xiuzhe was equivalent to hundreds of ningmai xiuzhe.

But Zuo Mo didn’t have good solutions to aid core formation. Right now with his three powers as one, his ling power’s strange stagnant period of no growth had finally been broken.

Of course, with benefit, there came loss. Now the strange cycle of his ling power growth was broken, his mo physique had instead stopped growing. Even if Zuo Mo cultivated his mo physique, what grew was his ling and spiritual power. Zuo Mo suspected that the growth of the mo physique was being limited by his ling and spiritual power, and would only grow once all three had reached the same level.

Due to the pause in his ling power growth in the past, Zuo Mo’s present ling power was the lowest in the entire camp, other than when compared to the flower yao. This was a great source of dejection for him.

Zuo Mo had asked Pu Yao and Wei Sheng if there was any ideas about core formation. However, the two did not know, they were not xiuzhe in the end.

Zuo Mo planned on asking Xu Zheng Wei or Liao Qi Chang in the future. If he could hire a few jindan, the power of the camp would go up another level.

Right now, Zuo Mo had other affairs to attend to.

The Earth Spirit Matter Conveying Stone was put at the center of the entire island. This treasure was really wondrous, causing the ling energy of the entire island to increase instantly. The ling fields were affected the most, and the grades of all the ling fields were increased by a fraction.

Ling fields of higher grades could raise ling plants of higher grades, and could produce ling plants of better quality.

Zuo Mo also moved the high grade ling plants he had found from the Tian Family estate, planted near the Earth Spirit Matter Conveying Stone. One of them was a fifth-grade Fury Maple. Its leaves were as red as fire and the trunk was a dark red. When one walked near, they could clearly feel a wave of heat being exuded from the plant.

It was a rare fire ling plant and each leaf it produced was worth a thousand jingshi. The fruit it produced was called Fire Eye Fruit, and was used to forge fire element talismans.

The other plant was Thousand Finger Guanyin Orchid. This flower was fifth-grade and shaped like the fingers of the Guanyin. If it bloomed, it would have thousands of flowers and was named so. This flower was deeply coveted by dhyana xiu and was greatly beneficial for their Samadhi. It was also the raw material for many ling medicines. The Thousand Flinger Guanyin Orchid would bloom every decade and was extremely rare due to this.

Zuo Mo had been shocked and joyous that the Tian Family had two such rare ling plants. Compared to these two ling plants, the Sonic Lightning Walnut wasn’t much.

Old Master Tian had started off dealing in ling pants, and naturally had collected more than these two plants in his collection. There were also many rare fourth-grade plants but they were now all in Zuo Mo’s purse now. He had moved the entire ling plant garden to Turtle Island. He dug up all of the Tian Family treasures, even the treasure safes that were hidden deep in the ground had been dug out under the guidance of Lil’ Black.

As for the Sky Ray Treasure Lens, Zuo Mo gifted it to Gongsun Shidi. This talisman was suited for battle generals and was akin to giving wings to Lil’ Miss.

The richness of the gains this time surpassed his predictions but there were also losses.

Wei Sheng Shixiong and Zong Ru were recuperating from their wounds. Zong Ru’s wounds were not too serious but Eldest Shixiong was still unconscious. Zuo Mo was very worried.

Thinking about it now, Ning Yi’s power still shook his mind.

Compared to Ning Yi, Old Master Tian wasn’t on the same level. Zuo Mo hadn’t put great value on talismans in the past, but this battle really called his attention to them. If it wasn’t for the surprise performance of the Black Gold Seal Soldier and the black sword in Eldest Shixiong’s hands, they would have died back then.

The power that could be expressed by powerful talismans were terrifying!

He finally understood now why so many xiuzhe would furiously pursue talismans!

One didn’t feel it in daily life, but when one encountered a true expert, they finally knew what it was to struggle with each step and not have a solution! What caused all this, other than the other’s high cultivation, was the talisman on their hands!

One talismans could decide life and death.

They had forged many talismans but there was never a talismans that possessed the terrifying power of the Blood Fiend Asure Umbrella. Zuo Mo felt that they had not invested enough energy in this area.

Truly top talismans were almost always forged by the xiuzhe who used it. People wouldn’t sell these kind of talismans, and what could be bought on the market were outstanding, like the Blue Soul Cold Light Armour, but these were not considered top-tier talismans.

Zuo Mo decided to forge a powerful talisman.

Otherwise the dangers of the last incident would occur again.

He thought of a person.

———

Tied up with the immortal tying chains, Gu Ming Gong’s spirits were low. Not eating or drinking for a few days wasn’t a big problem for him, but how long was it since he has had to endure such a thing? His mind was blank. Ever since thirty years ago, when his forging and seal-making skills had matured, he had lived a luxurious life. No matter where he went, which person did not greet him with a smiling face?

But right now, he was a prisoner.

He was very clear that the other had not killed him because he probably had an interest in his forging and seal creation skills. If he was of no use, there would only be one outcome for him.

He felt unparalleled terror.

At this moment, with a creak, the door was pushed open.

A young entered his vision, the one that had captured him.

He knew the time to decide his fate had arrived.

Chapter 476: Soul Setting Divine Light

Zuo Mo stared at Gu Ming Gong silently.

The pressure brought by the silence almost caused Gu Ming Gong to suffocate. Endless terror spread through his heart. He felt the other’s gaze seemed to be looking at something dead, or a lamb waiting for slaughter!

I don’t want to die … …

What he did not know was that Zuo Mo’s silence was not on purpose to pressure him but because he was in heated discussion with Pu Yao and Wei.

———

“I want him to work for me.” In the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo shrugged with a matter-of-fact expression. “But he is a jindan and has a higher cultivation than I do. He’s also skilled in formations so it is very dangerous. What suggestions do you have?”

Pu Yao said unconcernedly, “If you only want the forging knowledge in his mind, you can just  draw out his soul.”

“Draw his soul?” This phrase caused Zuo Mo to shudder uncontrollably.

“Even though it is slightly cruel, it is very effective. If you can draw out his soul, you can quickly possess the knowledge that belongs to him. How about it? Are you moved?” Pu Yao’s eerie red pupil narrowed and the slight smile on the corner of his mouth carried a coldness that was unique to him. He continued, “Of course, there is nothing that is perfect in the world. You will receive his memories and comprehensions but it will also affect your mind.”

Zuo Mo’s hairs rose up when hearing this but he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What are the effects?”

“Usually a personality split, a change in personality, etcetera, who knows? Everyone’s played about with the soul for so many years, but no one truly understands,” Pu Yao said irresponsibly.

Zuo Mo almost immediately blocked Pu Yao’s method. He turned his face. “Wei, do you have any methods?”

Wei thought for a moment and slowly opened, “We can only look in the direction of jinzhi.”

“Jinzhi?” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up but then his brow creased. “His cultivation is higher than mine, so I cannot put jinzhi in him. He’s also skilled in formations so it might not be able to restrain him.”

“I know a type of ancient jinzhi that might work.” Wei was very conservative in his words.

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up, “What jinzhi? Tell me!”

Pu Yao also had curiosity on his face. Wei’s existence was more ancient than his and he was also curious what kind of strange and wondrous jinzhi Wei could produce.

“I feel we must first discuss payment,” Wei said smilingly.

In this moment, Zuo Mo felt Wei’s expression was almost the exact same as Pu Yao. His expression instantly crumbled. Pu Yao was a calamity. Whomever stayed with him would be affected. Even this guy’s heart was black!

“Seriously!” Zuo Mo wailed.

Wei was not affected and smiled at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo quickly surrendered. “Alright, what payment do you want?”

“Guard Camp cultivates mo skills, it is not suited for Pu, give it to me,” Wei said with the same smile.

Pu Yao’s eyes instantly narrowed and became as long and cold as a blade, his entire body exuding an extremely dangerous presence.

Wei was not affected by this as though he did not detect the change, “My previous master was a mo, and I understand more about how to cultivate mo skills than Pu. I can get them to grow more quickly. Also, to date Guard Camp hasn’t produced even one battle general, this is enough to show that Pu Yao is not suited to teaching Guard Camp.”

Pu Yao’s expression was unfriendly. His entire person was like a cold blade that was unsheathed, the black robes he was wearing flapping despite the lack of wind as though he would leap and consume his enemy.

For Pu Yao, Guard Camp was something he was used to wile away his time. He didn’t find it so important but that did not mean he would allow someone to take it away from him! How could the proud Pu Yao tolerate such a matter happening to him?

The black fire in the sea of consciousness seemed to solidify.

Zuo Mo felt his scalp turn numb. Both of these were people he could not afford to offend!

How had he been pulled into the battle between them?

This was dangerous! Too dangerous for his life!

He didn’t dare to make a sound. He suspected that if he showed even the slightest bit of agreement, Pu Yao would tear him to pieces on the spot.

Pu Yao’s voice was bone-chillingly cold. “Jinzhi? Who doesn’t know jinzhi? Just one type of jinzhi and you want Guard Camp? You are delusional! A certain fake gentleman won’t teach, I’ll teach you! This jinzhi is called Purple Netherworld Curse … …”

Wei’s faint voice interrupted, “Purple Netherworld Curse can only be cast by Rahula Yao, if there isn’t not enough spiritual power, it would backlash on the user.”

Pu Yao stilled and his expression became uglier. “Hmph, other than Purple Netherworld Curse, there is the Needle Ghost Curse.”

“The Needle Ghost Curse needs thirteen yin bone needles, those aren’t easy to find!”

Pu Yao’s face became increasingly dark. He suddenly smiled coldly. “Oh, then I want to see what your jinzhi is.”

“So you have agreed?” Wei looked fearlessly at Pu Yao.

Pu Yao said proudly, “With this guy’s power, a skill that can be realized at the spot, without any side-effect. If you can do it, so what if I give you Guard Camp!”

Zuo Mo wanted to say weakly, “Big Brothers, Guard Camp is actually mine … …”

But intelligence caused him to keep his mouth closed. He couldn’t offend any of these two big bosses!

Suddenly, his mind became alert. Fight! Keep fighting! The more you fight, the more benefits ge gets! How did the phrase go, the crane and the clam fights, while the fisherman gets the rice … …

The original idiom roughly translates to the crane and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits. It describes a case when two sides fight and is both wounded so that the third side benefits.

He closed his mouth tightly and didn’t say a word.

“If that’s the case, then I will be disrespectful.” Wei smiled warmly but his words hide needles among the cotton that caused Pu Yao’s face to become a fraction uglier.

“There is nothing in verbal battle. I’m still waiting for you wondrous jinzhi to broaden my visions,” Pu Yao said ambiguously.

Wei finally said lightly, “This jinzhi is called Soul Setting Divine Light.”

Hearing this name, Pu Yao’s expression suddenly changed. His abruptly opening pupil was full of disbelief. “Soul Setting Divine Light! You actually comprehend Soul Setting Divine Light!”

It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen such an expression on Pu Yao’s face. There was a shock of terror within the amazement and deep disbelief.

Soul Setting Divine Light? What was that?

Zuo Mo’s mind was full of puzzlement. If it could cause Pu Yao to lose his composure, then it must be very powerful.

Wei still had that same gentle smile but at the time, it was full of immeasurability. “I tried to learn it incidentally but I didn’t learn it.”

“Who are you really?” Pu Yao looked hard at Wei. If it wasn’t that they would live and die together and coexist together, he would have not been able to stop himself from attacking!

He suddenly found that he knew pitifully little about Wei’s origins. Other than knowing Wei was once the gravestone armor of the former corps commander, he knew mothering else.

“I am Wei.” Wei smiled as usual, the smile warm as the sunlight of the dawn.

卫 (Wei) means to guard, or Guardian. Wei’s words have a double meaning.

Zuo Mo saw the two’s tense face-off and instantly became nervous. Big Brothers, this is an’s sea of consciousness, he instantly threw the idea of the fisherman getting the rice to the back of his head and tried to make peace, “Let’s talk peacefully, let’s talk peacefully. What is this Soul Setting Divine Light? Is it very powerful?”

Wei smiled at him.

Pu Yao said coldly, “If even you didn’t learn it, how can you teach him?”

Wei smiled, “My talent is not good, it is normal that I could not learn it.”

Pu Yao seemed to hear a joke. “You feel this boy is talented? Even though he is my student, but his talents, hmph hmph, very normal!”

Zuo Mo didn’t accept that, and his face suddenly became black!

What? Ge’s talents were not good?

“Ge’s talents are not good?” Zuo Mo shot back. “How was it that was crying and shouting to take ge as a student? Tsk tsk, burning the bridge after crossing it, eating and wiping clean then saying ge’s talent isn’t good?”

Pu Yao’s old face turned red as he coughed violently.

Wei had a wry smile on his face, “Yes, you can’t be that kind of yao. How about you give this student to me?”

“Don’t push it.” Pu Yao recovered his cold smirk, “I’m not a little child who doesn’t know anything! Soul Setting Divine Light is one of the ancient Great Nine Divine Lights, is it easy to cultivate? If he really can learn it, you also have the qualifications to be his teacher. Otherwise, go find a cold place and stay there.”

“Alright.” Wei nodded without hesitation. He then reached out with his right hand after speaking. Black mist came out of his right hand and quickly gathered into a black ball. It was possible to see dots of light within the black ball that made it even more mysterious.

Wei smiled at Zuo Mo and the black ball flew towards Zuo Mo and entered his body.

Zuo Mo’s mind blank as he froze where he stood.

In this instant, he felt an enormous and heterogeneous flood of mental thoughts swallowing him like an avalanche.

Zuo Mo seemed to be situated in a world of strange light. Everywhere was color. Zuo Mo had never seen such a variety and richness of color before. He thought that the colors in the entire world must be in here.

Light!

These rich colors were all kinds of light!

Some were dim, some were bright, some were vivid in color, others as black as ink … …

They  twisted, changed, were destroyed and created again!

They lived and died in a cycle, changed constantly and were so vast that Zuo Mo could not see the borders.

This was an ocean of light!

There seemed to be a voice above Zuo Mo’s head, but no matter how hard he tried to hear, he could not hear it clearly. But if he decided to ignore it, the voice would burrow into his ears again.

There was only him alone in this rainbow world.

———

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s face showed shock again. “Imprint! The imprint of the Soul Setting Divine Light!”

Wei smiled slightly. “It is fortunate it has not dissipated. Otherwise it would be a pity.”

Pu Yao remained silent. He was thinking hard in his mind. If it was said that he had been very shocked that Wei understood how to cultivate the Soul Setting Divine Light, then Wei possessing the imprint of the Soul Setting Divine Light made him even more confident of the guess he had.

The Soul Setting Divine Light was one of the ancient Great Nine Divine Lights. The number of people who had ever succeeded in cultivating it could be counted on the fingers. In the present day, most cultivators wouldn’t have even heard of it.

This great skill was famous in the ancient era and definitely had its outstanding aspects.

Since Wei possessed the imprint of the Soul Setting Divine Light, then he should have a direct connection to the great ones that had created this great skill.

Soul Setting Divine Light … … Soul Setting Divine Light … …

A bolt of lightning flashed in Pu Yao’s mind, and his pupil suddenly widened.

Chapter 477: Danger

Soul Setting Divine Light!

The name would occasionally be referenced in some ancient records. It was said that it was made by the heroes of the Sky Pool Tribe, fantastical in its effects, enormously famed, and was ranked as one of the nine Great Divine Lights.

Pu Yao had never seen the Soul Setting Divine Light and did not know what it looked like or what abilities it had. It wasn’t just the Soul Setting Divine Light, he had never seen any of the other divine lights before. The divine lights mostly appeared in the early stages of the ancient era, and then later disappeared from the records.

No one knew why the divine lights had gradually disappeared but this was not a strange occurrence. Throughout history it was the nine Divine Lights the only thing to be lost to time? Many secret methods and wondrous techniques had disappeared over the millennia, each were forever lost in the vast rivers of history.

“Sky Pool Tribe? What are you to Sky Pool Tribe?” Pu Yao stared at Wei.

For the first time today, Wei had a shocked expression. “As expected from the Encyclopedia of Yao Arts, you even know of my Sky Pool Tribe.” He then nodded. “You are right, I am from the Sky Pool Tribe.”

The amount of information Pu Yao had about the Sky Pool Tribe was pitifully little but within that pitiful amount, it was clear that Sky Pool Tribe had been a tribe with powerful people and had dominated for a time.

The two sank into silence, Pu Yao did not know what to say. His understanding of the Sky Pool Tribe was limited to this, and there was no meaning to knowing that Wei came from the Sky Pool Tribe. Wei seemed to be thinking of something and had an reminiscent expression on his face.

No matter how famed or powerful the tribe was, it could not stand against the ruthless advance of time. Just like those secret methods and techniques, it also had disappeared in the long river of history.

———

All kinds of colored dazzling light continuously changed and shifted in front of Zuo Mo, coming near and then jumping far away like swimming fish.

A bright green light swam in front of Zuo Mo. Reflexively, Zuo Mo reached out with a hand.

When the green light came into contact with Zuo Mo’s hand, a slender flow burrowed into his mind. This slender flow contained great amounts of information that was hard to comprehend, profound and unpredictable. What was most wondrous was that thread of vitality within it!

This thread of vitality was weak, but the presence was powerful and ancient.

That wasn’t right!

There seemed to be a voice in his mind. As though he was possessed, Zuo Mo relaxed his hand and that bright green light disappeared within the ocean of light like a fish.

Zuo Mo shook his head and wanted to clear his mind. This world of light was like a fantasy realm that he did not know what to do with.

Fortunately, he remembered everything that Wei had told him previously.

Soul Setting Divine Light!

He needed to find Soul Setting Divine Light. Was the Soul Setting Divine Light hidden among these lights?

Zuo Mo thought as he searched the lights. He saw a deep red light, and when his mind moved, that deep red light flew towards him. Zuo Mo reached out and touched the red light.

A burning and ferocious energy quickly spread up his arm. Zuo Mo felt as though his body was burning.

For some unknown reason, the feeling of wrongness increased. He released his hand and the red light instantly swam away.

Zuo Mo gradually started to understand. If he thought of any light in his mind, that light would fly into his hand. What he needed to do was to find the Soul Setting Divine Light among these numerous lights.

Zuo Mo’s brow creased.

There were more than billions of lights in here. If he was to try them one by one, then it would be like finding a grain of sand in the ocean.

There had to be a way … …

Zuo Mo sank into thought. He did not notice the lights had changed.

———

“You feel he can comprehend Soul Setting Divine Light?” Pu Yao looked at Wei and asked, “Even if there is the imprint, the difficulty would not be low. You have such confidence in him?”

Wei shook his head and said, “I do not have confidence that he will succeed.”

He then said, “The Soul Setting Divine Light is extremely hard to cultivate, and even within the tribe in the past, the number of those who had successfully learned it could be counted on the fingers. The decline of the Sky Pool Tribe was due to the loss of the Soul Setting Divine Light. None of the nine Great Divine Lights are easy to learn. The divine lights have stringent requirements even though we do not know what requirements there are.”

“Then why do give him the imprint?” Pu Yao asked.

Wei said calmly, “In the past, its purpose  was to leave behind a seed for the tribe. The Sky Pool Tribe has long been gone, and I am just the gravestone armor now. There is no meaning in keeping it. So why can’t I give it to him?”

Pu Yao didn’t know what to day.

“This isn’t our world now,” Wei smiled, his voice deep and calm, “the world belongs to him now.”

“I smell danger from this,” Pu Yao suddenly said.

Wei smiled slightly, “Of course, how can there not be any risk in learning such an ultimate skill?”

———

Just as Zuo Mo’s brow was creased as he thought about what to do, the light in the surroundings suddenly moved.

Unguarded, Zuo Mo wailed. A red light swept his body. He felt as though he was being boiled in a dan cauldron, the fire burning every inch of muscle, the heart-boring pain came like a tide like a tide,  swallowing him.

How long has it been since he felt pain like this?

Ever since he possessed Golden Crow Fire, normal flames could not harm him at all. The Great Day Banded Flame was even more domineering and ferocious providing further protection, a rare flame even among sixth-grade flames. It had been too long since he felt the pain of being burned.

The pain of every part of his soul being burned had almost caused Zuo Mo to lose his consciousness.

At this time, a cold and serene white light fell on his body.

The burning pain suddenly became bone-aching cold like ice blades scraping against his bones. Zuo Mo’s body uncontrollably trembled.

What the mother***ing was going on?

There was only this one question in his blank mind.

———

“The nine Great Divine Lights all have their wonders. The so-called divine lights are the lights that were born the instant the chaos formed. The Soul Setting Divine Light is one of them,” Wei said conversationally.

Pu Yao was also deeply enticed by the secrets Wei was speaking of. He showed shock and disbelief, “Born accompanying the beginning of chaos! There are treasures like this?”

“It really is a treasure.” Wei nodded, “The most precious part of the divine lights are related to this. Each thread of divine light contains various amounts of the information about the beginning of everything and the birth of chaos.”

Pu Yao’s pupils suddenly widened as he murmured, “Impossible … …”

He couldn’t help but show an yearning expression. There were patterns contained in the manifestations of everything in the world, it was the path that the strong always pursued. No matter if it was xiuzhe, yao, or mo, once they had cultivated to a certain stage, their end goals were unusual in its agreement and similarity.

“En, that is the most precious part of the divine light.” Wei did not explain and continued, “But this is also the hardest part of passing on the divine lights. The divine lights were born with the birth of sky and earth, and is hard to understand but it is also powerful. If the cultivator is not careful, they can turn to ash within the divine light.”

Pu Yao’s expression suddenly changed. His blood eye narrowed to a blade as he said harshly, “You want to harm him?”

He had thought there would be a possibility of danger, but hadn’t expected it to be so dangerous!

“Harm him?” Wei smiled faintly, “Just some danger. Remember, you and I are also on the boat, if the boat flips, I also cannot escape.”

Pu Yao’s expression eased slightly. That was right, if Zuo Mo had an accident, Wei couldn’t escape either. Right now, they were three ants on the same branch, no one could escape.

“How much of a grasp of it do you have?” Pu Yao asked in an unfriendly tone.

“No grasp at all.” Wei seemed to not see Pu Yao’s pot-black expression and said, “Right now, his three powers have merged to one, a state which is like those ancient forbearers. If I have to say who is most likely to succeed then it probably is him, even if the chance is small.”

“Your actions are very dangerous! It has taken me into the danger as well!” Pu Yao stared coldly at Wei, looking as though he was going to fight the moment they had a disagreement.

“If the imprint was not used soon, it would have dissipated.” Wei’s voice carried sorrow. He raised his head and gazed at Pu Yao. “If it was you, would you take the gamble?”

Pu Yao was speechless.

Wei was right. If this was him, he would definitely gamble as well! He knew just how valuable this imprint was. If this imprint could be traded, a big sect like Kun Lun would be willing to pay any price!

It was a priceless pressure!

“As the ancient tribes have disappeared, the paths of cultivation have diverged. I do not know if the Soul Setting Divine Light is still usable, but I cannot sit idle and watch as it disappears.” Wei sighed lightly, “This is probably the last of the divine lights in this world.”

Pu Yao was still silent.

“Isn’t it the same with your Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art? Could you bear for it to disappear? Didn’t you think the same when you took him as your student?” Wei looked in the distance as he murmured, “This is not our world anymore, but it was once our world. Would you or I be willing to leave nothing behind?”

Pu Yao remained silent, as before.

———

Countless lights continuously swept across Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo felt as though he was floating and sinking in hell, experiencing all kinds of feelings. Each destructive light ray almost destroyed him, and each vital life rays restored him; it was a cycle of life and death. At one moment, he felt at the top of the world, and then in the next felt worse than death.

All kinds and types of light energies, each ray was different in effect and the taste was naturally different!

Zuo Mo felt as though he was a chicken about to be roasted as he was rolled around in all kinds of spices.

Zuo Mo forgot about the Soul Setting Divine Light along the way.

These damned lights!

Zuo Mo gritted and wanted to cry. He was unable to move at all. These rays of light were not under his control and did not show any of the friendliness there was at  the beginning.

What was worse was that no matter what ray was being shined on his body, his mind was always clear. This meant that he had a good “taste” of every ray of light.

No more!

Zuo Mo wanted to shout for aid. There were billions of light rays in here, if he went through all of them … …

Hell! This was definitely hell!

Save me!

Chapter 478: Divine Light

The deep of the cave was a patch of blackness as sparks shot into the air, it was as though the sparks traced the outlines of trees.

The sharp hissing of the insects were piercing to the eardrums, and came in waves like the tide. But this shocking insect wave seemed to be stopped by an invisible barrier when it had reached a certain part of the rock and could not go any further.

Xiuzhe with good eyes would be able to see this invisible barrier was actually a streak of black shadow.

The black shadow was extremely fast and almost hard to catch with the naked eye.

Tenth Grade’s little face was covered with sweat.

His figure did not slow down as he forcibly pushed back the insect wave. As his ling power was used up, the suppressed insect wave gradually pushed near the entrance to the cave. Every time this happened, Tenth Grade would gather his energy and push the insect wave back.

The two sides seemed to be playing tug-of-war.

After this continued for four hours, Tenth Grade showed weariness on face.

The corpses of insects had accumulated and packed on the ground. Threads of black energy rose from the bodies of the insects and burrowed into Tenth Grade’s body.

Every time this happened, Tenth Grade would become refreshed and his attacks would become stronger.

At an area extremely close to the mouth of the cave, Lil’ Black was timidly laying on a piece of rock. Its pair of antennae waved occasionally. If there was the slightest movement, it would rapidly crawl outside the cave entrance.

The Little Ones had gotten the patten. These insects definitely would not take one step outside the cave. In the beginning few days, the little ones would accompany Tenth Grade into the cave but Lil’ Pagoda and Li’ Fire quickly got bored and left to play outside. Only Lil’ Black was left to stand guard as though he was very loyal.

Of course, loyalty aside, if the situation seemed to be going in a bad direction, Lil’ Black would turn and run, not caring for Tenth Grade at all.

Just like this, Tenth Grade made trouble day and night for the insects in the cave.

———

Xu Ling City seemed to resume its peace. The restless businesspeople could finally rest their hearts.

Everything seemed just like before but everyone understood the sky above Xu Ling City had changed!

The battle between the Tian Family and Turtle Island hadn’t just shook Xu Ling City, all of Cloud Sea Jie had been rattled!

When the other factions discovered an unfamiliar battalion had suddenly charged into the ranks of the top fifty, and take the thirty second position, the first thought that occurred in their minds was, who were these people?

The Xu Ling Battalion, the number one battalion of Xu Ling Sect was ranked in the eighties, and the two positions were not on the same level at all.

Even though Xu Ling Sect and Turtle Island had not had any conflict, but the silence of Xu Ling City in this incident became the synonym of retreat in many people’s eyes. In the eyes of the local powers of Xu Ling City, the comparison of strength between the two was clear to see at a glance. At the very least, they did not believe that Xu Ling sect could destroy the Tian Family so easily.

The larger powers of Cloud Sea Jie maintained great caution towards this Turtle Island that had risen up.

Looking from the intelligence reports they had gathered, Turtle Island’s battalion was outfitted extremely well, with things like the Blue Soul Cold Light Armor. Their equipment was completely of fourth-grade talismans and caused many battalions to drool.

Cloud Sea Jie was not a rich place. But a fourth-grade outfit like this would not be extraordinary and there were many that could buy it If it was thousands of sets, then only the most powerful factions could afford it.

What really caused jealousy were the unknown golden swords in their hands. Those were talismans above fourth-grade!

Talismans above fourth-grade? Wasn’t that fifth-grade?

When did fifth-grade talismans become a part of regular equipment? When they saw this, many people’s first response was one of disbelief but the following reports all provided the truthfulness of this information. This instantly caused a great furor.

Fifth-grade talisman!

Fifth-grade talisman was almost another term for jindan. Those that had the purchasing power and could forge fifth-grade talismans were basically all jindan.

There were no ningmai that would go and buy fifth-grade talismans. Even if they could, they would definitely not bring it out unless they were at death’s door. Wealth was a crime. Any person with experience understood this.

Fifth-grade talismans were enough to motivate people to kill and steal!

They had never heard of a battalion where every person possessed a fifth-grade talisman!

When the news of the fifth-grade talismans spread, there were many battalions that had devious thoughts but the ranking of thirty-two for Turtle island Battalion made them wary.

Any battalion that entered the top fifty were not to be easily to provoked.

But undoubtedly, many more people started to notice this strange faction with an unknown name.

However, none of them would ever expect that an enormous alligator had made its way into this remote little pond that was Cloud Sea Jie without a sound.

———

The divine light was like hell!

All kinds of rays of light swept to and fro on his body. He switched between euphoria and misery. He switched between befuddlement and clarity, and tasted all the experiences of life!

Pu Yao and Wei did not dare to breathe as they stared at Zuo Mo, who was shrouded in the light, with nervous expressions.

Wei might have spoken with openness and bravado, but when it came to his own survival, it would be false to say he was not nervous. Ten whole hours passed, and nothing about Zuo Mo changed. Wei felt slight regret. The divine light was hard to comprehend, no one from the Sky Pool Tribe had been able to comprehend it which was why the imprint had been passed onto him.

Zuo Mo wasn’t one from the Sky Pool Tribe … …

But it was too late to say anything now. He could only pray that Zuo Mo could comprehend the divine light. Otherwise, none of them could escape the divine light.

Suddenly, the lights around Zuo Mo became dim.

In about ten breaths, all light disappeared, and his surroundings quickly became black and a void at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Joy came onto Wei’s face but he feared disturbing Zuo Mo and did not dare to breath, the nervousness on his face increasing.

The space one zhang around Zuo Mo completely turned to a void, a bottomless black void.

Within the black void, Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes.

Boom!

A vast and authoritative presence swept furiously like a gale!

Pu Yao and Wei made muffled grunts in unison. Their faces were white as they stared in shock at Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed with an abnormal light and were like stars in the black void. This pair of eyes did not hold one thread of emotion, like a high up deity looking down at the mortals.

Pu Yao snorted coldly, the light in his bloody eye rising as he moved to retaliate.

At the side, the shock that was on Wei’s face was flushed away by excitement and ecstasy.

At this moment, the light in Zuo Mo’s eyes disappeared completely and showed their original appearance.

———

Zuo Mo felt he had had a very long dream. The rays of light in the dream had been so real but when he thought about it, he could not remember them. There was no soreness or pain in his body which was as good as when he started.

“What happened?” he asked with puzzlement.

“Congratulations,” Wei said excitedly.

Zuo Mo turned around and couldn’t help but pause when he saw Wei. It was the first time he had seen Wei so excited. For some reason, his mood also became better.

“Congratulate me on what?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help asking. He furrowed his brow and said puzzled, “I just had a very scary dream.”

Even though he couldn’t recall it, but the thought of “scary’ was deeply rooted in his mind. Thinking about it now, he couldn’t help but shudder.

“Right, wasn’t I comprehending that Soul Setting Divine Light?” Zuo Mo recalled what happened before and his eyes suddenly widened. He exclaimed, “Was I just … …”

“Yes,” Wei couldn’t disguise the joy on his face, “so congratulations!”

Zuo Mo stilled and asked in response, “I succeeded?”

“You completed the most difficult step!” Wei’s tone was excited. “In the past, I had speculated only someone like the ancient ones, with the three powers merged, could comprehend the divine light. I had not expected it to be so!”

Under Wei’s guidance, Zuo Mo found the ray of divine light in his body as expected.

But when he found the divine light, he was greatly disappointed. This divine light was as thin as a hair, grey and had none of the dazzling light of a divine light.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but frown. “This is the divine light?”

Wei saw Zuo Mo’s expression and knew what this guy was thinking. He wasn’t angry and said with a smile, “This is the Soul Setting Divine Light. Don’t judge it by its appearance, if you can comprehend its true meaning, its appearance will change. Feel it well, all the wonders of the Soul Setting Divine Light is within it. I cannot teach you the remainder, you need to comprehend on your own.”

Zuo Mo was very discontent at Wei’s irresponsible attitude. “What about jinzhi? Didn’t you say that the Soul Setting Divine Light can make jinzhi? I was aiming for the jinzhi! Wei, it is wrong for you to trick me so, you’re making it a habit!”

Wei didn’t know to laugh or cry. “Try to recall it, the wonder will naturally occur.”

“Hm! There it really is!” Zuo Mo’s mind moved and several unfamiliar spells appeared in his mind. He was slightly shocked and carefully inspected these spells. He said, “Good, you didn’t con me! Wei, I’m telling you, don’t copy Pu and make a habit of tricking me, becoming a villain!”

At the side Pu Yao’s face became green.

Wei roared with laughter and his heart felt light. This divine light imprint had been a sickness in Wei’s heart. In the past, there had been high hopes for him, the tribe had thought that he would be the person most likely to comprehend the Soul Setting Divine Light in the tribe, so this imprint had been passed onto him. Yet no matter what, he could not comprehend the divine light. When the danger had come, he had sacrificed himself, turning himself into the spirit of the artifact. He was forged into the gravestone armor though a secret method to help the people protect the tribe.

Yet the tribe still was destroyed later on. Personally seeing the last clansmen die, Wei’s heart ached.

The gravestone armor had passed through the hands of many strong people. His owners had all being very powerful people but he had never revealed the greatest secret, Soul Setting Divine Light!

Because he knew they could not cultivate it.

But this imprint was like a chain of fate binding his heart. He only felt relieved of the burden today and was unspeakably happy.

The Soul Setting Divine Light that intimidated all of the primitive era once again saw the light of day!

Suddenly, he was full of anticipation towards the future.

Chapter 479: Triumphant Progress

Frightened out of his wits, Gu Ming Gong did not struggle as Zuo Mo put on the jinzhi. His worries gone, Zuo Mo went with Gu Ming Gong to his home, scalped the inside and out to get a small sum of wealth.

There wasn’t any blood in the pitiful Gu Ming Gong’s face. In reality, he had not recovered from his shock.

The other’s cultivation was clearly not in jindan but was able to put jinzhi on his body. This upended all the conventions he knew. He also did not resist the series of what could be called complex missions that Zuo Mo sent down.

Teaching forging, forging, preparing materials … …

Gu Ming Gong was an old-timer and had seen everything. He was clear to his situation.

Captives never had the right to bargain. If the other was not desiring his skill in forging, his bones would probably be cold right now. He was not unfamiliar with teaching. Due to his title of “Seal Immortal,” many people would frequently come to his home and ask for guidance. As to forging, that was his profession.

However, when he entered Golden Crow Camp for the first time and looked at the densely packed crowd of forging xiuzhe below, he couldn’t help but be shocked. Only now did he readjust his judgement of Turtle Island’s power. There were only rare factions that could possess such a large number of forging xiuzhe, even the big sects did not have them.

Feeling shock, Gu Ming Gong was shocked again!

When he had taught to a point and told them they could try it out, the crowd below simultaneously showed their Golden Crow Fire.

In a flash, his eyes were dazzled by two thousand Golden Crow Fire flames, and the blood in his body froze.

The spectacular scene in front of him surpassed the limits of his imagination. When was fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire an essential part of people’s equipment? What joke was this?

He muddled through the first class.

He felt that he was an experienced and worldly person but … …

When he finally managed to recover from the shock from the first class and sorted his emotions out to start his second class, he received another blow!

Many students came with the talismans they had just forged in search of guidance.

Gu Ming Gong instantly felt better. Eager and hard-working students would always be preferred by teachers.

But when he saw several of the talismans that came from the forge, the expression on his face froze.

What formation was this? Hadn’t seen it before!

Didn’t see this one either!

This one … … still hadn’t seen it before!

Embarrassment! Great embarrassment! The pitiful Gu Ming Gong’s face was completely red and he wanted to find a hole to bury himself in. If the teacher was unable to solve a question from a student, he could generously praise the student for being very creative. But if he was unable to solve a number of student problems so early on, then that definitely was very awkward and shameful.

Heavens, Earth, spare me!

He didn’t know if they heard the wail in his heart, but the two masters came over to rescue him.

Another muddled class.

However, Gu Ming Gong found the two masters after class and asked them about those unfamiliar and strange formations he had encountered today. He was a smart person. Even though he felt very embarrassed by what happened today, he did not have an avenue of retreat.

If he just retreated the slightest bit, what was waiting for him was a chop.

No one would keep a captive that was useless, especially his exceptionally frugal master.

No matter what, he needed to show his value to the best of his abilities. The more value he showed, the better his situation would be and the further away from death he was.

He was quickly immersed and enchanted by these strange and wondrous formations.

These formations were completely different than any formation he had learned before but they held an unusual attraction that caused him to be greatly obsessed.

And when he saw the true form of these formations, those beautiful yet eerie mo matrixes, he was uncontrollably addicted and unable to pull himself away!

With the addition of Gu Ming Gong, the deconstruction rate of the mo matrix progressed just as fast as the forging skill level of Golden Crow Camp.

———

The situation of Turtle Island grew increasingly better.

As Ma Fan, Lie Peng, and Nian Lu had completed their core formations successfully, it meant that Turtle Island started to enter the era of jindan. With them, Turtle Island had more than six jindan. The two masters of Golden Crow Camp because of the benefits they had received from communicating and discussing with Gu Ming Gong felt the signs and entered seclusion to aim for jindan.

What was most unexpected was Chun Yu Cheng. When he had been raising ling beasts used for ling plant farming, he coincidentally comprehended a completely new husbandry spell called the [Ten Thousand Beast Body Rearing Spell]. His ling power exploded in a short time and he started his seclusion without a sound.

Guard Camp was in a complete transformation.

Ever since Pu had lost the bet with Wei, Guard Camp that had been once directed by Pu Yao had landed in Wei’s hand. In terms of mo cultivation, Pu Yao really wasn’t Wei’s opponent.

The [Great Day Hardship Guard] that Pu Yao put so much effort to change was taken by Wei. He changed a few places and that caused the power of the scripture to grow. In addition, Wei’s greatest accomplishment was to successfully changed Shu Long and A Wen into battle generals.

The methods of mo battle generals were completely different than the other two races. Wei’s previous owner was a very powerful mo battle general, yet what was unexpected to everyone was Zuo Mo was the best mo battle general.

Zuo Mo seemed to innately understand how to merge everyone’s power together. Shu Long and A Wen were far lacking compared to him in this area. Everyone collectively opposed the idea of Zuo Mo’s leading the charge at the front lines. Shu Long and A Wen were furiously cultivating so they could prevent Zuo Mo from being at the front.

Benefiting from the explosion of income on the island, Zuo Mo waved his hand and got all the materials and jingshi that Guard Camp needed to make mo weapons.

The present Guard Camp had exchanged their muskets for cannons.

———

Wei was feeling very good so naturally Pu Yao was extremely discontent.

The proud Pu could not accept losing Guard Camp! But he stood by his bet and he definitely could not do something as demanding to take it back. In his mind, Guard Camp wasn’t anything but he could not let go of losing to Wei.

When Wei changed [Great Day Hardship Guard] and made mo battle general cultivation as his first accomplishments, Pu Yao was furious. In the past, Wei had said with a straight face that he did not understand.

So this guy had nefarious aims long ago!

Knowing he had been tricked, Pu Yao did not show it, but held the hatred inside.

Pu Yao quickly found a solution.

“Go to Ten Finger Prison?” Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled but when he thought it had been a long time since he saw Nan Yue, Cang Ze, Ming Jue Zi, and the others, he happily agreed. “Okay, let’s go see!”

The human and the yao came to Ten Finger Prison.

The Wasteland Beast Chessboard was just like before but there seemed to be less people and it seemed quiet.

Zuo Mo quickly found the trio of Nan Yue, Cang Ze and Ming Jue Zi.

When the three saw Zuo Mo, they were overjoyed and came over to greet him. However, their eyes were more curious about Pu Yao. The strong presence of Pu Yao was really too obvious and made the trio’s hearts shake.

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. Pu Yao had shown his true self, this was unlike his usual behaviour. What did this guy want to do?

But pushing aside his puzzlement, he introduced, “This is Pu.”

“Pu Daren, good day!” The three said as they bowed together.

Pu Yao smiled slightly, “Greetings to you three.”

Pu Yao was peerlessly handsome with a thread of evilness. With this slight smile, he was like the rose that bloomed in the dark night, scary but enchanting.

The three had never seen such a smile before and couldn’t help but be stunned. Nan Yue also showed a rare blush.

Zuo Mo felt even more puzzled. Pu Yao wasn’t normal today.

But Zuo Mo quickly threw this thought to the back of his mind and asked how the trio was doing lately.

The three had been doing very well lately, especially in the area of yao arts where they improved rapidly. In order to increase their ability to help each other, Nan Yue and Ming Jue Zi all moved their clans to the lands of the Grey Clan so they could help and support each other.

The three thought of themselves as the students of Xiao Mo Ge, advancing and moving together. As the trio increased in strength, the strength of their clans also increased. The lands of the Grey Clan was remote and there were no other factions. Their lives were becoming better.

However, the three could not disguise their worries.

Upon closer inquiry, Zuo Mo finally learned that the state of the yao was not very good recently.

After two major corps, Fierce Fire and Ice Frost, were destroyed, Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie truly became a meat-grinder that was soaked in blood everywhere. The three factions continuously fought, continuously changing the territorial boundaries, see-sawing back and forth. The battles were fierce and the losses on the three sides were huge.

Just a few days ago, a troop of xiuzhe had appeared without any warning in the innermost area of the yao territory and caused great damage. Even though this troop was killed in the end, but they had done great damage. They had found after the fact that these xiuzhe had made their way through an unknown chaos rift.

But this incident caused great terror in the yao world. Even though the battle at the front lines had never stopped, for most yao this did not affect their lives. The cruel truth had smashed their naïve thinking into smithereens. They found, in shock, that war was so close to them and could appear next to them at any moment.

What was even more scary was that another small xiuzhe battalion had appeared in another yao jie not long after. It was fortunate that this was a large jie so the troops stationed there were very strong and not a great deal of damage was done.

But this caused the normal yao that were already feeling unsafe to become even more scared.

They could not even guarantee the smallest yao jie had been searched all over. No one knew if there were chaos rifts in the unexplored areas around them, leaving them insecure.

Many families sent out people to search their surroundings and started a web-like search to destroy weaknesses that could exist.

Very quickly, there was a clan that found an extremely hidden chaos rift fifty li from the family base. All the people of the clan were frightened out of their bodies, and moved their clan away that night.

Incidents like this occurred continuously in the recent days and a mood of terror spread.

The three also had the same worries. The area they resided in was remote and  no real powers in the area so their living was very easy. Due to this, if xiuzhe really invaded, they also lacked the ability to protect themselves.

After the three finished speaking, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but worry for them. Even though Nan Yue and the others were yaomo but they were much closer to Zuo Mo than normal xiuzhe. Naturally, he did not want anything to happen to them.

At this time, Pu Yao’s enchanting voice sounded, “I have a solution.”

Chapter 480: Wind And Clouds Move

Qinghua Xue had been secretly monitoring Xiao Mo Ge’s movements after their battle . But after the war chess match Xiao Mo Ge seemed to have evaporated from the yao world and his location was unknown. Many factions that were interested in Xiao Mo Ge and put in great effort into their search but could not find even a trace.

Who was Xiao Mo Ge?

No one knew. This genius youth that appeared out of nowhere was as dazzling as a meteor and just as mysterious. No one knew where he came from, no one knew who he really was, no one knew where he had learned those high level yao arts that seemed extremely ancient.

He was like an unfathomable riddle.

Among the younger generation of yao, his power was definitely not ranked in the top. Every yao youth could come up with a pile of names that were more powerful than he was. Up to now, he only had a prison-breaking battle, a battle arena, and a war chess matches. Compared to those great geniuses that had gone through hundreds of fights at such a young age, his accomplishments were much dimmer.

But with these three battles, the name of Xiao Mo Ge seemed to have a strange attraction that enchanted many people.

Qinghua Xue who had actually fought against him felt this more than the great majority of people.

She had been secretly paying attention to Xiao Mo Ge. The branch she was part of was a cadet branch of the Blue Flower Family but the power that she could use was not something a normal family could rival. Everyone also knew about the conflict between Xiao Mo Ge and the Blue Flower Family. The attention she paid Xiao Mo Ge did not attract any curiosity in the clan. When Qinghua Zang Shui had any news of Xiao Mo Ge, he would take it to his sister.

But as Xiao Mo Ge’s disappearance increased in length, many people gradually lost their patience, for example Ji Li Yu.

Qinghua Xue was very patient and she did not need to attend to countless matters like Ji Li Yu. She was just the most average young person in the family. No one knew she possessed astounding strength. Only her brother, Qinghua Zang Shui, had guessed a part of it.

She patiently waited for her target to appear.

Her wait was finally repaid. Nan Yue who had a connection to Xiao Mo Ge led her clan to leave! This instantly attracted her attention. She immediately found an excuse to leave the family and secretly followed Nan Yue.

Several accidents in the journey attracted her attention. Nan Yue seemed to have almost detected her a few times. This caused great shock in her. The power that Nan Yue displayed along the journey, especially that powerful yao art, caused Qinghua Xue even greater shock.

It was long an open secret that Xiao Mo Ge possessed great amounts of high-level yao arts. This was also why many speculated that he had a great birth.

She was amazed at the power of the [South Sky Arrow Art] but she did not have the thought to steal it. Her own [Blue Flower] was not lacking compared to the other’s yao art.

She secretly arrived with Nan Yue to the base of the Grey Clan. Not long after, Ming Jue Zi’s clan also arrived. All the signs caused Qinghua Xue to feel excitement. Xiao Mo Ge must be planning something. Otherwise, why would the three clans gather together?

Time slipped away. The three resided as neighbors and there was not any action.

Qinghua Xue idly waited without any impatience. She found a residence located near the place the three clans were residing. The residents nearby were filled with good will towards this warm and quiet little girl. Some generous aunts would come visit occasionally to help and she felt even happier than she did at home.

This day, she woke up early just like normal.

The residence was by the border of a forest with the building’s doorway facing a river. The land of the three clans was on the other side of the river. She could see the other side without even leaving her door.

On the other side of the river, a large group of people were gathered on the empty space beside the river.

Qinghua Xue clearly saw that the leaders were Nan Yue’s trio. They seemed to be practicing some kind of battle formation.

Qinghua Xue’s eyes lit up. Were they creating a battalion?

Thinking about Xiao Mo Ge’s golden battle general status, she didn’t find it strange. However, she had watched the three clans for a long time and knew their situation. Of the three clans, the Grey Clan was the strongest but they were just a little clan. Nan Yue’s clan only had eleven people while Ming Jue Zi’s clan was also a little clan.

It was impossible to make a battalion with these few people but Nan Yue’s group were clearly practicing battle formations!

Qinghua Xue didn’t know much about battle formations but she could still see the power in it. A daring thought suddenly charged into her mind

—Xiao Mo Ge had returned!

For some reason, excitement suddenly appeared in her usually calm heart!

———

Zuo Mo did not think much of Pu Yao’s great plan. He felt that this was Pu Yao acting out of embarrassment in hopes that he could wash away the shame of Wei taking Guard Camp away from him.

A battalion?

How many people did Nan Yue and the others have? What battalion could they make! Just nonsense!

He could only feel sympathy for Nan Yue and the others. Pu Yao’s great anger would probably vent on this little pitiful group of friends but he didn’t plan on stopping this. If Pu Yao’s anger moved to him, he couldn’t deal with it either! If Pu Yao started to fight Wei again, the person harmed would be him!

If the tenants fought, the property damaged would still be the landlord’s!

So Zuo Mo wisely closed his mouth, did not speak and did not oppose.

Nan Yue, wait for ge to get rich, ge will make it up to you guys … …

So Zuo Mo threw himself back to his cultivation with a mind at peace.

The matters of the island were going smoothly and there was nothing he needed to worry about. He could finally cultivate with a peaceful heart. This was extremely difficult for him.

After the three powers became one, his three powers could change among themselves but there were weak and strong powers. Without a doubt, his mo physique was the most powerful, followed by his consciousness, and his ling power was ranked last.

By now, he finally tasted the trouble that his shortcoming of ling power brought him. The three powers were like a bucket of water made from three plants of wood. How much water this bucket could hold was not decided by the longest plank, but by the shortest.

His pitiful ling power was undoubtedly the shortest wood plank.

If he could not repair this shortest plank, then no matter how much he added to the other two planks, there was no use.

In reality, his mo physique and consciousness had almost stopped growing. Zuo Mo knew that the culprit that had created this situation was his ling power.

The pitiful Zuo Mo held the Black Processing Meditation mat in his right hand, a handful of jingshi in his left as he cultivated ling power day and night in the hopes that he could increase his ling power as soon as possible.

———

Xu Ling Sect.

“What?” Lu Zhen’s expression changed dramatically. His voice became hoarse. “How did the news leak?”

Huang Jie’s face was ashen, his eyes terrified as he said in a trembling tone, “I don’t know! We’ve been very good at keeping it a secret! The people below never had the chance to interact with the outside … …”

“Then how did it leak?” Lu Zhen furiously interrupted him. His forehead was filled with beads of sweat, his tendons showing.

“Don’t know … … don’t know … …” Huang Jie’s face was as white as paper as he mumbled soullessly.

At this time, a disciple stumbled in.

“Bad news! Bad news! Sect leader! Li San has been killed … …”

Bam.

Huang Jie’s legs weakened and he sat down on the ground with a hopeless face.

At this moment, Lu Zhen recovered a thread of calm. He knew what was most important at this time was not to make any measures to resolve this but to report to the top immediately!

———

Zong Ru walked with bare feet and closed eyes on the streets of Xu Ling City like a normal dhyana xiu. The people that recognized him along the way all showed respectful expressions, and silently bowed towards him.

In a short time, Turtle Island had become the faction most respected by low-level xiuzhe in Xu Ling City.

Compared to Xu Ling Sect that ignored everything else, the other factions that tried to oppress them, the friendliness that Turtle Island showed low-level xiuzhe was something they had never seen before.

Of the many Turtle Island Cultivation Classes, Zong Ru was the most diligent.

Dhyana xiu were a very special group among xiuzhe. Their obsession with spreading their dhyana path far surpassed other xiuzhe. Sword xiu only sought the sword and many did not have a successor during their entire lives. They would only leave behind their knowledge to those who were fortunate. Seal xiu were always immersed in the formations and seals, and did not have any interest in taking disciples either. Roaming xiu mostly passed their skills from father to son keeping their skills a family secret.

What dhyana xiu wanted was to spread their skills to everyone. They were more willing to pass what they know.

The [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] that Zong Ru first cultivated had been passed onto him for free from an old dhyana xiu. Even though the cultivation classes required paying fees, but the number of people that came to each class to learn far surpassed the number that were registered.

He never sent them away and only serenely taught.

That serene and calm aura was something even Yi Zheng who came from a famed sect couldn’t help but admire.

Even now, Yi Zheng could not understand why this dhyana xiu that did not have orthodox origins was even more powerful than the shixiong from the temple! It wasn’t that he was stronger in strength but in the presence of a dhyana xiu!

Zong Ru’s lectures were extremely long, and usually spanned multiple days.

The number of dhyana xiu that came to listen increased over time, and many came from other cities to listen.

After class, Zong Ru liked to stroll along the streets. For some reason, whenever he walked among this bustling tide of people, he could feel a strange movement in his heart. This strange feeling attacked his mind as though it wanted to tell him something, so he would do it often.

Strolling quickly became one of his practices.

But today … …

Zong Ru stopped in his steps.

At the opposite street corner, a group of people with treasure lights laughed and talked heedlessly.

“Ho, this Xu Ling City is pretty prosperous!” The one that spoke was a male dressed in red robes. He looked around furtively and then his eyes suddenly lit up, “That girl isn’t bad!”

“Where?” “Where?”

The other people instantly became excited and crowded over.

“There, that one, do you see, the one in blue armor! Those bones … …” The red-robed male drooled.

The other people also looked with bright eyes.

“Alright! Don’t make trouble!”

The people that had been drooling instantly withered.

The one that spoke was a middle-aged person. His tone was cold as his gaze slowly swept the surroundings.

What was strange was that his gaze seemed like the black ice at the bottom of the earth. It carried astounding coldness. Everywhere it passed, the temperature dropped and the ice was bone-achingly cold. A puddle rapidly turned to ice.

All the passerby in the surroundings were shocked and scattered in panic.

The middle-aged man’s gaze landed on Zong Ru’s body.

Without any sound, a layer of white frost appeared on Zong Ru’s body, especially his eyebrows that were covered in frost.

His brows suddenly trembled, and the frost fell. Zong Ru slowly opened his eyes.

Chapter 481: Ruins

The two stared at each other.

One was as cold as ice, the other calm and normal.

The middle-aged person showed a serious expression and said coldly, “I hadn’t thought to find an expert like Sir here. This one is Ling Wei, Sir, please tell me your name!”

“Zong Ru.” Zong Ru calmly bowed in greeting

The two’s gazes were still locked together.

Ling Wei suddenly spoke, “We have other matters, farewell.” Finishing, he took his group and turned to leave.

Zong Ru stared at the backs of the group thoughtfully.

———

“Boss, that guy is very powerful?” the red-clothed male asked probingly.

Ling Wei snorted. “Don’t provoke that person.”

Hearing this, all the others were shocked! Even though Boss had not directly said the other was powerful, it was the first time since they arrived that he had cautioned them so.

The red-clothed male curiously looked back and saw that normal-looking dhyana xiu was still standing silently.

He couldn’t see how he was powerful!

He shook his head and pushed his puzzlement to the bottom of his mind. He was arrogant sometimes but he did not lack caution. A person that caused such wariness in boss definitely was not a normal person. Thinking about the goal of the trip this time, he suddenly asked, Boss, is he also … …”

Ling Wei’s expression did not change and his tone was as cold as usual. “If he is, then he is, if he is not, then he is not.”

“Then we?”

“First, we find a place to reside.”

———

Zuo Mo’s cultivation was disrupted because many non-local xiuzhe came to Xu Ling City. More accurately, many experts had come.

Experts?

These days, those that could be considered experts were at least jindan xiuzhe. The abnormal situation of many jindan coming into Xu Ling City suddenly instantly aroused everyone’s caution.

Supposedly, several fights had broken out already in Xu Ling City. The participants were jindan and there were many casualties and injuries. Even the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes were affected. Many low-level students did not dare to come to class.

For any local power, the peace in the surroundings was something they needed to maintain. Any kind of business required a peaceful environment.

The flood of experts became the problem they had the greatest headache about. These people either were alone or arrived in small groups. Most of them did not have good tempers, and killing people in anger became as common an occurrence as eating. They were a very unpredictable variable in public safety.

However, Zuo Mo had never thought about maintaining the public safety of Xu Ling City. That was something for Xu Ling Sect to look after. But from this unusual situation, he felt an incoming storm.

What had happened?

What could cause so many jindan xiuzhe to run to Xu Ling City? Xu Ling City wasn’t a large city and did not have any outstanding products.

Zuo Mo decided to get to the bottom of this matter.

The mood on Turtle Island suddenly became tense. The island-protecting formation was activated again and the cultivation classes were halted.

News continuously came from Xu Ling City.

In a short two days, the number of jindan in Xu Ling City passed one hundred people. This was a number that made everyone feel a chill. One hundred jindan were enough to flatten Xu Ling City!

The jindan were still coming in.

After seven days, the number of jindan in Xu Ling City reached an astonishing five hundred!

The fighting inside Xu Ling City increased. People frequently fought on the streets of the city. The damage caused by fighting between jindan was astonishing. Xu Ling City was damaged all over the place. No one dared to stop them. Low level xiuzhe were as insignificant as dust in front of this kind of battle and no one cared about them.

Large amounts of low level xiuzhe started to flee Xu Ling City.

Many low level xiuzhe, especially the students of Turtle Island Cultivation Class, ran to Turtle Island in hopes of protection. Zuo Mo naturally would not reject free labor that came to his door and took all of them in. He hadn’t expected his action to cause a ruckus among low level xiuzhe.

In the eyes of others, low level xiuzhe could be found everywhere and did not hold any value. Who would protect xiuzhe that were worthless?

The reputation of Turtle Island had been very good among low level xiuzhe before this. Hearing that Turtle Island was willing to accept low level xiuzhe, those that were unwilling to leave took their families and ran to Turtle Island.

Zuo Mo accepted these masses well. In any case, Turtle Island was very big and could hold them.

But when Zuo Mo saw Xu Zheng Wei, he couldn’t help but pause and hurriedly gave a greeting, “Isn’t this Elder Xu? What wind has blown Elder Xu over?”

Xu Zheng Wei’s old face blushed. “This old man has come to enter Island Master’s faction!”

Zuo Mo paused again and then said with a smile, “Elder Xu, please don’t joke.”

It was normal for low level xiuzhe to join him, but Xu Zheng Wei was a jindan and shouldn’t have any problems with survival.

“This is no joke.” Xu Zheng Wei gave a long sigh. “Ah, Island Master must not know how they have ruined Xu Ling City! Those people have been fighting and killing all day and they don’t know to how to stop. This old man almost died a few times.”

Seeing the fragility of Xu Zheng Wei, Zuo Mo finally learned that the situation was much more serious than he had imagined. He hurriedly said, “Come in, let’s talk inside the island.”

After he finished speaking, he ushered Xu Zheng Wei into the island.

The fighting inside the city had been very serious. Previously, Shang Wei Ming had been lightly wounded so Zuo Mo got him to return to the island. Therefore up until now, he did not know what these people had come for. Xu Zheng Wei was a jindan and definitely should know a bit regarding this.

As expected, as Zuo Mo inquired closely, the matter slowly floated out of the water.

———

Someone had heard there was the ruins of an ancient Sun Tribe Shen Hall near Xu Ling City, and was sleeping in the sea near Xu Ling City.

At the start, those that heard the news all snorted at it.

In these days, it would be unusual if stuff like ruins, treasure hoards, and immortal residences did not show up several times in a year. The rumors would be heavily inflated as though they were really real. But after losing many lives, everyone would discover it was a con.

But as the news spread, more details were revealed and gradually attracted the attention of those watching.

When a damaged Sun Tribe mask suddenly appeared in a large auction house, it caused everyone to believe the rumors. Many xiuzhe skilled in forging were invited to certify this damaged ancient mask. When each person returned, they all marveled at the mask without exception.

The ancient presence on it caused every xiuzhe that came into contact with it to feel shock.

Another rumor was also floating on the market. The biggest sect in Xu Ling City, Xu Ling Sect, had been secretly searching for these ruins during these past years. This mask was also one of their spoils but had been leaked onto the market for some reason.

Supposedly, there was a greater power behind Xu Ling Sect, and Xu Ling Sect had been founded just to find and explore these ruins!

All kinds of news quickly spread through the entire Cloud Sea Jie.

For some unknown reason, after Zuo Mo heard Xu Zheng Talk, he instantly felt that the rumors were true! Because Xu Ling Sect’s actions were too strange. He had been fighting so fiercely with the Tian Family but Xu Ling Sect had not acted at all. Any local power that was ruling the surroundings definitely would not ignore this unless their attention was not on maintaining their power at all!

Learning the cause of the matter, he finally understood why so many jindan were gathering at Xu Ling City.

“Is there no response from Xu Ling Sect?” Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a question.

“None.” Xu Zheng Wei shook his head. “How can they react? With this many jindan! Right now, many people are talking about going to Xu Ling Sect and pressuring Lu Zhen to reveal the location of the ruins.”

Zuo Mo thought that it was correct. Xu Ling Sect was not a match for this many jindan. They were most likely seeking aid from the power backing them.

“How many jindan have come?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Probably about half of the jindan of the entire Cloud Sea Jie,” Xu Zheng Wei said, “Any that have any ambition would not give up this chance. Any tribe with the sun as its totem would be a powerful tribe. If they can really get one or two talismans, then they’ve struck it rich.”

Zuo Mo did not speak. People died for wealth, birds for food, this principle did not change over time.

Danger was everywhere under the cloud sea with all kinds of powerful yao beasts. So what if they were jindan, they would also be unable to retreat unharmed. After experiencing the Sealed Extinction battlefield, no one was clearer to the dangers of ancient ruins than Zuo Mo and his group. If the strange corpse, Shi, wasn’t there then it was unknown if they could have walked out of there.

Thinking to this point, he couldn’t help but think of the strange corpse.

Did the strange corpse find his birthplace … …

As his thoughts turned in his mind, Zuo Mo decided to not participate in this matter. The enormous Turtle Island was rich in its products and he did not have to worry about making a living. He would wait a few months and see if he could buy Water Cloud Embryo to heal A Gui. If he couldn’t buy it, then they would have to make a trip into the cloud sea themselves.

Treasure was good but he would not unnecessarily gamble with his life over it.

Seeing that Zuo Mo was disinterested, Xu Zheng Wei couldn’t help but be puzzled. “Is Island Master uninterested?”

“Too many people, and too little food. Look at the amount of people, there is no place for us,” Zuo Mo said unconcernedly. He then comforted Xu Zheng Wei, “Elder Xu, don’t worry, rest your heart and stay on the island.”

Zuo Mo had interacted with Xu Zheng Wei and knew this was a honest person.

Learning the cause, Zuo Mo closed the formation and buried his head in cultivation. The low level xiuzhe on the island also settled down and the cultivation classes started again.

After arranging everything and releasing a breath, Zuo Mo suddenly saw Lil’ Pagoda fly in front of him.

The chubby Lil’ Pagoda’s eaves were like round fleshy paws, and increasingly adorable. When it saw Zuo Mo, it seemed to see a savior, its little fleshy paws grabbing on Zuo Mo’s clothing.

“Good son, Daddy doesn’t have to time to play with you! Go play!” Zuo Mo patted Lil’ Pagoda with affection.

Lil’ Pagoda was extremely panicked, furiously pulling Zuo Mo’s clothing and flying in one direction.

“Don’t mess around!” Zuo Mo scolded with laughter. He didn’t expect Lil’ Pagoda to pull even harder and detected that something was wrong.

His heart suddenly jumped. Had something happened?

Lil’ Pagoda saw that Zuo Mo seemed to understand and hurriedly flew forward with Zuo Mo tightly following behind.

Zuo Mo quickly came to the entrance of a cave.

Chapter 482: Brutish Bird

When Zuo Mo reached the cave entrance, he heard a sharp shriek, and his expression changed.

Silly Bird!

He charged in without hesitation!

Entering the cave, the lighting became dim, but for Zuo Mo it was as though it was lit up by daylight. There was a thick layer of insect corpses on the ground but he did not care to look at them and dashed lightning fast towards the deep reaches of the cave.

A short while later, Zuo Mo saw Silly Bird and his heart relaxed slightly.

Silly Bird was facing off against an enormous insect!

In a corner nearby, Tenth Grade was holding its sword as it furiously panted. It was at the end of its strength.

When Zuo Mo’s attention turned from Silly Bird and Tenth Grade to the enormous insect, he couldn’t help but inhale sharply. This large insect was shaped like a small hill and wrapped in black armor that looked extremely hard. It had large limbs that were like that of a spider, each was extremely thick and had rows of slightly curved spikes extended outward,  making its legs look as though they were covered in teeth. Zuo Mo believed that if even one leg swept its target, it would tear off skin and flesh!

At the end of its legs, hooked bone spikes tightly gripped the ground. In front of these feet, the hard rock was like mud that was easily penetrated.

The two eerie red eyes of the enormous insect stared at Silly Bird. It had a destructive presence that held a thread of decay came from its body.

Zuo Mo had never expected that such a dangerous yao beast was living on his island!

At this time, Silly Bird moved!

In the air, an afterimage flashed across Zuo Mo’s vision like lightning, so fast he could not capture it!

Clink!

The sound of metal colliding!

In the darkness, a ball of sparks shot out!

The enormous insect wasn’t an average yao beast and was extremely alert. Its two front legs shielded its face and did not show any openings.

The armor on its body was abnormally strong. Silly Bird’s claws that could easily penetrate talismans could not do anything to its armor.

Silly Bird was clearly angered by the opponent’s hardiness. With a long call, her wings suddenly spread, her eyes burning as a red flush came onto the beak like it was dripping with blood!

With a flap of her wings, she was like lightning!

Clink!

An even stronger burst of sparks blossomed in the air!

The enormous insect clearly could not stand against it and was forced half a zhang back, the rock under its feet shattering.

In a killing mood, Silly Bird furiously attacked!

Clink clink clink!

The enormous insect repeatedly fell back, the rock under its feet continuously shattering and being powdered under the repeated blows! Ripples spread outwards with the enormous insect as the center!

The body of the enormous worm continuously sank. Like it was a pillar of wood, it was being hammered into the ground!

It finally showed hints of terror but it was not so easy to escape a berserk Silly Bird! Silly Bird’s attacks were like a storm and the enormous insect didn’t even have a chance to breathe, much less escape.

If it wasn’t for its freakishly strong armor, it would have died long ago.

At the side, Zuo Mo gaped with wide eyes.

He had come with the panicked thought of rescue but at this time, there was only one thought in his mind, this insect was pitiful!

Of course, he pitied it but definitely would not rescue it!

He was also drooling as he looked at the freakishly strong armor of the insect. An armor that could stand up against such ferocious attacks was definitely a treasure! If he took this armor and made  ling armor, he wouldn’t even need to dodge normal flying swords.

Treasure, treasure!

At this time, a sudden change happened!

The insect that had been on the defense all this time suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a ball of black energy. Silly Bird was caught unprepared and was hit by the black energy.

Silly Bird’s body suddenly froze, she lost control and dropped to the ground!

Dreaming about the ling armor, Zuo Mo hadn’t expected the insect to do this. He acted to attack when he saw the situation!

Yet he hadn’t expected to see Silly Bird sway like she was drunk as she leapt up from the ground.

Zuo Mo was slightly reassured. It seemed that Silly Bird didn’t have a major problem. He looked attentively at the enormous worm. If it showed any signs of ill intent towards Silly Bird, he would attack viciously. But the enormous insect also showed tiredness. That ball of black smoke probably was not something it could release easily.

The enormous insect stared at Zuo Mo and hissed from its mouth as its body retreated.

It wanted to escape!

Zuo Mo instantly judged the insect’s intentions. He decided to attack!

How could he let such a treasure slip from his hands?

Suddenly, a high and sharp shriek came from beside him and penetrated his ear. Zuo Mo’s expression changed and reflexively covered his ears! The rock on the cave ceiling started to fall and the fear the enormous insect held grew!

Silly Bird attack again!

Just like before, the enormous insect curled into a ball with its front limbs covering its face.

Just as Silly Bird was going to touch the insect’s body, her diving attack suddenly turned into a snatching motion!

Zuo Mo looked with shock as Silly Bird grabbed the enormous worm that was much larger than her, lifting it into the air like a condor grabbing a sheep!

The enormous insect instantly panicked, its six limbs dancing as it hissed.

Zuo Mo seemed to see Silly Bird smile viciously as she carried the enormous insect and then used her body as a pivot to swing the insect!

The enormous insect was like a hammer that left the hand. With a howl, it hit the wall of the cavern!

Dong!

An enormous sound, the cave shuddered and rock rained down!

Zuo Mo had a feeling that the cave was going to collapse!

No matter how hard of armor it had, the enormous insect was left stunned by this smash. It laid down in a pit of shattered rock. This was a pit that had been caused by its collision!

Before it could struggle up, its body suddenly felt light.

It was grabbed into the air again!

Another throw!

Dong!

Rocks hit Zuo Mo’s body but he didn’t notice them at all. He gaped at this crazy scene in front of him!

In a berserk rage, Silly bird threw the enormous insect over and over and the insect was like a hammer that was swung again and again and then struck the ground, the ceiling, the walls and the stalagmites. If one wasn’t seeing it with their own eyes, no one could have thought that there was such terrifying strength in Silly Bird’s not-so-powerful looking body!

Zuo Mo shook. At the same time, Tenth Grade that was gaping in the corner also shook.

So scary … …

… ….

Five hundred and fifty one … … five hundred and fifty two … …

… …

One should offend a villain before offending Silly Bird!

Silly Bird! What kind of silly bird was this? This was clearly a brute bird!

Pia!

The freakishly strong insect body was not freakish enough compared to Silly Bird and was split into five pieces!

Silly Bird finally threw away the insect legs in her claws with satisfaction, raised her bird head and stalked her female bird walk as she left. In the entire process, she didn’t even glance at Zuo Mo.

We are generous and won’t argue with a brutish bird … …

It was impossible for non-freakish people to argue!

Zuo Mo went to clean up the insect corpse with great self-awareness.

Pitiful insect, didn’t it just spit out a mouthful of black smoke? It was smashed to death! So pitiful!

———

“Daren! Daren! This is great! This is a wonderful thing!” Gu Ming Gong rubbed his hands as he looked with bright eyes at the five pieces of the insect corpse in front of him excitedly. “This is the first time this subordinate has seen such a large deep granite leaf insect! Is this the insect queen? Right right right, this is the insect queen!”

Zuo Mo knew that the insect was something good, but he did not recognize it so he brought it to Gu Ming Gong’s for appraised. He believed that with Gu Ming Gong’s knowledge, he would definitely recognize it.

“Deep granite leaf insect?”

“Deep granite leaf insects mostly live in dark and deep caverns. They are extremely reliant on earth energy. Normal deep granite leaf insects are a cun long and each group will have an insect queen. What is most useful about the deep granite leaf insect is its armor! This is the famous black gold leaf armor!”

The excited Gu Ming Gong spoke quickly.

“Each black gold leaf shell is just a bit larger than a willow leaf, it naturally has exceptional defensives. With three hundred pieces, it is possible to forge a black wave leaf armor, that is fifth-grade ling armor!”

Zuo Mo thought of the dense layer of insect corpses in the cave and was instantly excited. So many corpses, there was hundreds of thousands!

Fifth-grade ling armor

Zuo Mo’s mind was blown by this good fortune that had dropped out of the sky!

Gu Ming Gon did not notice Zuo Mo’s expression. He looked with a burning gaze at the five pieces of insect corpse in front of him, his voice filled with disbelieving excitement. “This insect corpse is even better! Using this, this subordinate has the confidence to forge a sixth-grade ling armor which can rank on the talisman rankings! Such a perfect insect queen is almost unbelievable!”

Sixth-grade ling armor that could go rank in the talisman rankings!

Zuo Mo almost fainted. He had never worn sixth-grade ling armor!

A sixth-grade ling armor that could go onto the talisman ranking, would he become jindan just by putting it on … …

“This expert really has uncanny skill! Even able to dismember the insect queen, really powerful! Look at this cut, clean and without any hesitation … …”

Gu Ming Gon’s expression was intoxicated.

Zuo Mo shook and returned to normality.

He thought of a certain brute bird.

———

On the Yinyang Twin Butterfly, Tenth Grade was completely naked, black energy shrouding his entire body. His eyes were tightly closed and clearly was at an important time.

Threads of black energy continuously came out of his body and entered the black butterfly wing under his feet. What was strange was that the border between black and white was not pushing towards the white wing, but into the black.

Each thread of black energy seemed to be nutrients for the white wing, nurturing it.

Gradually, a light layer of white light appeared on the white wing.

Dots of white light shed off the white wing and floated upwards. When it reached the same height as Tenth Grade, these dots of white light gathered into a ball to become a rice-sized ball of white light.

When the ball formed, the speed it absorbed white light suddenly increased.

The white light on the white wing was quickly absorbed and its body became the same size as Tenth Grade.

Tenth Grade opened its eyes. Looking at the white ball of light, it showed rare joy.

He sat with legs crossed and waited silently.

Chapter 483: Elder Shen!

When Tenth Grade pulled a little person clad in white, who was about the same size as himself, in front of Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo’s chin almost dropped to the ground.

“Please, Master, bestow a name!” Tenth Grade said gravely.

Zuo Mo curiously looked at the little person in white. The little person in white seemed slightly embarrassed and hid behind Tenth Grade with a timid gaze. The little person in white was the same size as Tenth Grade, the face as handsome and exquisite but the person in white had softer features than Tenth Grade. Tenth Grade’s features were much harsher This caused the two to have completely different presences, the little person in white gave off the feeling of being sunny while Tenth Grade presence was cold.

After staring for a while, Zuo Mo still could not figure out if the little person in white was male or female.

Zuo Mo pointed at the little person in white and turned to look at Tenth Grade, “He is your … …”

“Brother!” Tenth Grade’s expression was stern and serious.

Oh, so it was a male, such a pity … … oh, why do I find it a pity … …

“Then he is named Sunshine.” Zuo Mo’s poor imagination meant he really could not think of a better name.

“Sunshine … …”Tenth Grade tilted his head, his little face serious. He felt this name was pretty good, “Many thanks for the name, Master!”

Sunshine gave a sunny smile.

The two quickly flew off and disappeared to play somewhere else.

Zuo Mo shook his head and continued his plan of getting rich.

———

In the cave, Gu Ming Gong looked at the insect corpses on the ground and his entire person seemed to be struck by lightning.

“Da … … Daren … …” The trembling in his voice was clear, his tongue seemed to be tied as he stammered out a question, “Who … … killed all of these?”

“Oh, my ling beasts,” Zuo Mo said. He then asked enthusiastically, “Can these insect corpses be used to forge black wave leaf armor?”

Gu Ming Gong was stunned. Killed by ling beasts? Heavens, those were powerful ling beasts!

Deep granite leaf insects were fifth-grade ling beasts! Their hard armor was unable to be damaged by flying swords below fifth-grade! Deep granite leaf insects basically had no weakness. They were not afraid of poison, fire, or cold and they lived in groups which made them extremely difficult to deal with.

He picked up an insect corpse from the ground. This deep granite leaf insect had died long ago, and there wasn’t a single mark on the outer shell. But when he opened the outer shell, there seemed to be a sword wound that went through the entire body of flesh.

Such a powerful sword essence!

Such a powerful ling beast!

Gu Ming Gong recovered from his shock. “Yes, it can be forged! It can be forged! This subordinate has never seen so many deep granite leaf insects before, Daren, you may laugh but this subordinate has really had a fright.”

Hearing that the black wave leaf armor could be made, the rock in Zuo Mo’s heart landed and his face was joyful.

This could be used for many black wave leaf armors! Maybe each person could get one!

“Daren, have you explored the cave?” Gu Ming Gong suddenly asked.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo thought, was there something else in the cave. He hurriedly asked, “No, what is it?”

Gu Ming Gong explained, “Daren may not know that the deep granite leaf insect has a special characteristic, they like to consume earth metals to help them strengthen their armor. So deep granite leaf insects usually reside on top of mines. Daren may want to inspect the area. If this mine could be found, it would be of great benefit.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s heart was moved.

For any power, mines were extremely important as it meant they had a steady income. No matter how rich a power was, if it did not have a steady income, this power would not be able to survive for long. Turtle Island had very good conditions, no matter if it was the ling fields, the cold silkworm cave, those were all very constant incomes.

If they could have a mine, that would be the icing on the cake.

Zuo Mo decided to explore the cave, and this incident also reminded him that there were many unexplored caves on the island. There were probably many secrets that he had not found. After he finished exploring this cave, he would definitely explore the entire island.

The cold silkworm cave had not been completely explored, the inside was bone-achingly cold , which made it hard to travel in.

Out of consideration for safety, Zuo Mo did not enter the deeper parts of the deep granite leaf insect cave alone and pulled everyone along to explore it. As expected, they found a vein of rock grain steel.

Rock grain steel was fourth-grade material and widely used in making all kinds of talismans so it was highly expensive.

Rock grain steel vein, tens of thousands of mu of ling fields, cold silkworm cave, Turtle Island was far wealthier than any other sect in Xu Ling City.

But only the few that explored with Zuo Mo knew about the vein. There were many people on the island now and the situation outside was unstable. If the news of this vein was leaked, people would likely immediately attack.

It was better to be low-key in this time.

———

Xu Ling Sect was disturbed everyday by xiuzhe that furiously inquired to the location of the Sun Shen Hall. Lu Zhen and the others could not escape.

“Ah, when will the top send people!” Huang Jie groaned, his face in a grimace. If it wasn’t that the others were wary of the power behind the two of them, the xiuzhe would have torn the two of them to pieces!

“Soon.” Lu Zhen pretended to be calm.

At this time, the oil lamp on the table suddenly exploded with light, and an authoritative voice sounded inside the room.

“Come forth to welcome!”

Lu Zhen and Huang Jie paused and then both showed overjoyed expressions. They flew out together. Lu Zhen took out a little jade chime and lightly tapped it twice.

The long chime sounded in the entire Xu Ling Sect.

A beat later, countless Xu Ling Sect disciples flew off the mountain with dignified expressions and in organized lines.

The jindan xiuzhe that were all impatiently waiting opened their eyes wide to see what Xu Ling sect was doing. Those that were smarter shifted their expression and thought of the sect supporting Xu Ling Sect. Was the power behind Xu Ling Sect about to show itself?

Countless disciples lined up from Xu Ling Sect all the way to the outside of Xu Ling City. They respectfully stood in two rows soundlessly. The ceremony was so heavy that all the jindan in Xu Ling City became grave.

Lu Zhen and Huang Jie appeared at the very front of the line.

Just as everyone was raising their heads in wait, a line of fire suddenly appeared on the horizon. This line of fire was not evident at the beginning, but in a blink of an eye, it magnified and covered the sun to burn the sky.

The sky that had been blue lost all of its color!

The burning fire swallowed the sky!

The green grass on the ground withered at a visible rate and turned black. The rivers floating on the ground seemed to boil! Streams that were slightly smaller completely dried up.

It seemed like the end of the world!

All the jindan that saw this scene showed shocked expressions, those less brave felt their knees knocking together.

There was only one word in their mind

—yuanying!

Only a yuanying could possess such a presence!

The sky-covering flames seemed to find a vent and rapidly flooded towards Lu Zhen and Huang Jie. When it neared them, it manifested into two people. The one leading was an old person dressed on red robes and a youth was standing beside him.

The sky that had been fiery red became blue again without any smoke.

“Disciple Lu Zhen, greets Elder Shen!”

“Disciple Huang Jie greets Elder Shen!”

Lu Zhen and Huang Jie respectfully knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times. Behind them, all the disciples of Xu Ling Sect knelt on the ground. The spectacle was extremely grand.

Elder Shen’s complexion was rosy and had a mole on his forehead. His gaze was sharp and fiery, and seeing such a scene, he showed a complimentary expression. “Not bad, you have done well. Even though accidents happened this time, but your service is greater than your offense. After this matter, you can return to the sect.”

Lu Zhen and Huang Jie was overjoyed. This had been what they were worried about the most but hearing Elder Sheng’s words, it seemed that the top would not pursue their mistakes this time and allowed them to return to the sect. What they had wished for so long was being fulfilled, the two couldn’t help but cry tears, and bowed again, “Thank Elder for your beneficence!”

“Alright, stand up,” Elder Shen said faintly.

“Yes!” The two finally stood up.

At this time, the young person next to Elder Shen stepped forward and raised his hands in congratulations, “Congratulations, Shidi.”

The two didn’t dare to slack off and hurriedly returned the greeting. “Greetings to Li Shixiong!”

If Ning Yi was here, he would definitely recognize this was the Li Shu who had plotted against Turtle Island with him. In name, Li Shu was the shixiong of Huang Jie and Lu Zhen but his authority was much greater. Once the two returned to the sect, there were many places that they needed to rely on Li Shu so it was naturally they did not dare to offend him.

From beginning to end, none of them even looked at the other xiuzhe in the surroundings, not even out of the corner of their eyes.

Those arrogant and wild jindan were completely silent.

Yuanying xiuzhe definitely could walk wherever they wanted in Cloud Sea Jie!

Those xiuzhe that had ran to Xu Ling Sect to pressure Lu Zhen all had ashen faces. If the other wanted to settle the score, no one would be able to escape. In front of yuanying xiuzhe, they had no power to resist.

Jindan xiuzhe could be defeated by being overwhelmed by a large number of people. On the battlefield, the death rate of jindan xiuzhe was not low which was enough to show their vulnerability.

But against yuanying, this tactic was not effective! If there was a little bit of error, just the slightest opening, it was enough for a yuanying xiuzhe to escape.

Due to this, the fatality rate of yuanying xiuzhe was extremely low on the battlefield.

Only yuanying xiuzhe could kill yuanying!

Thinking about the other’s overwhelmingly destructive presence, no one could gather any courage.

There had been great speculation about Xu Ling Sect before but no one had expected the person to come was a yuanying! Those people also noticed what Lu Zhen had called this person. Had the power that send this person have other yuanying xiuzhe?

Sects that possessed yuanying xiuzhe were ones people needed to look up to!

What kind of sect could have more than one yuanying?

The chaotic situation stabilized rapidly on the arrival of a yuanying xiuzhe! There were no people fighting on the streets and everyone seemed to become harmonious and polite in an instant.

Xiuzhe started to leave. They felt the hope was small and left.

But many jindan still stayed. They had been chasing shadows before, but as the yuanying came, it only seemed to confirm the truth of the rumor.

If it was not real, why would a yuanying come in person?

Chapter 484: Stage Of Yuanying

Zuo Mo shoved a Ling Replenishing Dan into his mouth and chewed on it, with a relaxed expression, as though it was popcorn. His hands did not stop, one after the other, the Ling Replenishing Dan that were worth ten pieces of fourth-grade jingshi a piece were repeatedly thrown into his mouth.

There had been a huge amount of materials that they had taken from the Tian Family and from that there had been a large amount that had been forged into ling dan like the Ling Replenishing Dan. Zuo Mo had adequate wealth now and decided to allow everyone to use them to help them increase their cultivation speed. As the boss, Zuo Mo naturally had an unlimited supply. He also found that no matter how much he ate, his body would not feel any discomfort so he ate them as though they were snacks.

Fueled by this feeding frenzy, the ling power in his body continuously increased.

Each Ling Replenishing Dan turned into a stream of gentle ling power once it reached his throat and quickly spread through his organs.

Compared to absorbing ling power from the outside, the ling power in Ling Replenishing Dan was much gentler and purer so it could greatly decrease the amount of time Zuo Mo needed to process and refine it. Normal xiuzhe would have the problem of ling power blockages caused by the impurities, while Zuo Mo did not need to consider this at all. The Great Day mo physique was very powerful and he could tolerate a much greater amount than normal xiuzhe.

There was also a significant portion of the ling power that would automatically turn into spiritual power or be absorbed into the mo physique.

Even so, the rate Zuo Mo’s ling power increased was astounding.

Zuo Mo finally understood how the terrifying cultivation of the large sect disciples had formed. It formed from being fed large amounts of worldly treasures and ling dan!

He was just a little power in a remote jie and he could use so many resources to cultivate. The power that those large sect disciples could command was multiple times larger than his! How could a xiuzhe that cultivated like this not become strong?

Oh, these days were already pretty good.

Zuo Mo reflected on the world idly as he chewed the Ling Replenishing Dan.

Ling Replenishing Dan were not rare on the island. Due to the bounty of materials, everyone’s dan making skills had shot up. Even the most difficult ling dan could not stand against supply the abundant materials. The few that were the best at dan-making could make more than three hundred in one frightening go.

He thought about when he had been forging the Golden Crow Dan at Wu Kong Mountain, that really sucked!

A Gui was silent, as usual, next to Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo didn’t dare let her to eat anything like the Ling Replenishing Dan. A Gui’s body was not well, and extremely powerful substances like the Ling Replenishing Dan was akin to poison to her and could likely cause her body to collapse.

The purple energy in A Gui’s body had grown again. Even Pu Yao and Wei could not understand this strange power, much less Zuo Mo who was much less experienced. But since he knew that the purple energy was beneficial to A Gui, Zuo Mo did not concern himself with it.

“I heard that there are three yuanying in Xu Ling City now! Tsk tsk, three yuanying!”

“Three yuanying? Really? Is there even three yuanying in Cloud Sea Jie You’re joking!”

“There probably is three, it is a pretty big jie. If there isn’t even three, then it is sad.”

“So the rumors about the Sun Shen Hall ruins are real?”

“Probably, even yuanying xiuzhe have come, can it be false?”

“We’re so close, if we can’t even get one benefit, then isn’t that a great loss?”

As he listened, Zuo Mo really could not suppress it. He took off the shoe on his foot and threw it at the people who were discussing the most. He cursed, “Idiots! You want jingshi over your life? Be good and follow me, how many good days have we just had?”

At this time, a serene voice inserted into the conversation.

“It seems you are all very idle. Let’s multiply your cultivation duties for today.”

Woosh, everyone’s faces became green! Lil’ Miss!

As expected, Gongsun Lil’ Miss was staring at them from nearby, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

This group instantly scattered.

“These guys are really annoying,” Zuo Mo cursed. “Each of them has their nose pointed at the sky, they really think they are the best in the world!”

“These people are like this after having a few victories.” Gongsun Cha sat down. “I will go and have a heart-to-heart with them.”

Standing at the side, Ma Fan and the others heard the words “heart-to-heart” and their faces paled further even though they were already jindan.

“We need to be careful,” Zuo Mo said in a low voice, “so many experts are gathered here, something is definitely going to happen.”

Gongsun Cha’s heart shook. Even though Shixiong seemed laid-back, he knew that Zuo Mo was more perceptive than any of them. This quality had been proved by past events. Gongsun Cha knew his best qualities, and his shortcomings. He was a pretty good battle general, but he was not as far-sighted as Shixiong.

He nodded. “En, I will arrange for a patrol.”

At this time, a fierce ripple of ling power came from a distance!

Zuo Mo’s expression couldn’t help but change. He blurted out, “Yuanying!”

Before the he finished speaking, he flew into the air. At the same time, Wei Sheng and the others appeared next to him.

Each person looked in shock in the direction of Xu Ling City.

The ling power ripple had came from Xu Ling City!

There was four hour trip between Turtle Island and Xu Ling City, the distance was not close! But this powerful and domineering ling power ripple was so clear as though it was happening right next to them!

Even Wei Sheng couldn’t help but show shock!

How terrifying would the ling power collision be to produce such a strong ling power ripple? How terrifying was the ling power ripple that it could spread to such a distant place?

Yuanying! It had to be yuanying!

Even though none of them had ever seen yuanying before, they were sure! Such a terrifying ling power collision was not something a jindan could produce.

This was the first time everyone directly felt the enormous strength of a yuanying xiuzhe!

Gongsun Cha suddenly took out the Sky Ray Treasure Lens and swiped his hand on the lens. The treasure lends instantly showed the scene at Xu Ling City.

When everyone saw what was on the lens, they hall inhaled sharply.

The members which had been restless just before had ashen faces and the restlessness disappeared without a trace.

Xu Ling City which had been full of holes from the fighting between jindan in previous days was like a cake that had been bisected. The half that was near the cloud sea had flown away.

Everyone was familiar with the streets of Xu Ling City and were even able to mentally construct the streets on the other half!

What was eerier was that the entire surface that had been cut was smooth as though it had been cut with a knife and had a glass-like sheen.

Xiuzhe skilled in fire spells were able to recognize this was the glassy layer that would form after something was burned by extremely domineering flames.

The cloud sea had quickly swallowed the half that flew away and disappeared as though nothing had been there before.

There were two indistinct figures facing off in the sky.

Was this yuanying?

This question was in everyone’s minds.

After the two faced each other for a moment, they left. One of them glanced in the direction of Zuo Mo and the others. Their hearts suddenly jumped!

The other was warning them!

Fortunately, the other did not show signs of attacking and his figure disappeared from the edge of the lens.

When everyone returned to the island, many people had soulless expressions. The blow that had been dealt to them had been too strong just now. The power that the yuanying had shown was truly terrifying. Xu Ling City was five times the area of Turtle Island. In other words, if a yuanying xiuzhe was willing, they had the power to erase Turtle Island from the cloud sea.

Gongsun Cha bit down on his lips, his face slightly pale. “We are not a match.”

This sentence caused him to feel great humiliation. His face flushed red, his eyes showing great shock and unwillingness.

Zuo Mo knew that with Gongsun Cha’s pride, saying this meant they didn’t even have one-tenth a chance of victory!

He started to understand now. Experts like yuanying were not something that could be faced using tactics but could only be dealt with on a strategic level. They had the power to destroy and travel through the void. They were not people that could be killed by relying numbers.

Zuo Mo forced a smile. “No problem, we won’t enter conflict against yuanying.”

Everyone sank into silence.

They had been so confidence before. Vermillion Bird Camp had won constantly. Even many jindan had died under their charges. They had once presumed that they had become stronger. There had been people undergoing core formation successively, and their confidence had been unprecedentedly high.

At this time, no one had the interest to speak. They finally knew how stupid their confidence was, they were sitting at the bottom of the well!

Any one of the two yuanying xiuzhe in the sky was enough to destroy all of them!

Everyone lost the interest to speak.

———

Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Wei said, “It seems that this experience has been a great blow to him.”

Pu Yao was unconcerned. “A setback isn’t a bad thing, just a yuanying.”

“You’re right, just a yuanying.” Wei nodded. He went back to his job of teaching Guard Camp. He had found great amusement from this job.

Just a yuanying.

———

The news about the battle quickly spread to them.

One of the participants was an elder from Xu Ling Sect named Sheng. The other was the elder of one of the biggest sects in Cloud Sea jie, Elder Yun Hai Sheng. The halving of Xu Ling City had been drawn by the zither string of Yun Hai Sheng’s Cloud Sea Jade Pillar Zither.

In this battle, other than half of Xu Ling City that had been erased, there were more than twenty jindan that did not manage to flee in time, and were either turned to powder under the zither sound attack or to ash in the fierce flames.

This caused many jindan to leave Xu Ling City of their own will after the battle ended. No one dared to go near Xu Ling City again.

The large formation of Xu Ling City was completely destroyed. If they stayed on the island, it would be dangerous if they were attack by yao beasts.

Yet Xu Ling City’s surroundings were only so big, and only had so many cloud islands were suited for habitation. There were many jindan xiuzhe that could not find appropriate places and started to fight.

Some jindan started to form groups and tried to use their numbers to get enough benefits.

Quickly, people started to target Turtle Island.

While Turtle Island Battalion was famed in Cloud Sea Jie, but Turtle Island was still an upstart in many people’s eyes. They only had one victory and it wasn’t anything significant.

Turtle Island’s wealth had long been spoken of. This caused many hearts to sway.

Several batches of xiuzhe quickly sneaked near Turtle Island.

All jindan xiuzhe!

The mood suddenly turned tense!

Chapter 485: Fire Crow Attacking The Formation

“So this is Turtle Island?” The large man at the front looked at the roiling clouds, his eyes flashing. “A good place as rumors say!”

“Yes, yes!” A small-framed xiuzhe with a pinched mouth and round cheeks hurried to agree, “Daren is wise! This island does not expose itself, this location is the best next to Xu Ling Sect.”

He suddenly lowered his voice. “This subordinate used the Hemp Garment Divination Method to divine multiple times and, increasingly, I feel that this Turtle Island is in a good position. It is not far from the ruins so if the ruins appear, we will definitely be able to detect the disturbance here.”

“Oh, are you sure?” The large male who was the leader changed expression for the first time.

“It is accurate from the divination.” The man with the pinched mouth knew he could not put a guarantee on this kind of matter and said cautiously, “However, the ruins were built in the ancient era and there are many uncertain variables so this subordinate does not guarantee it. There have been several groups that have been circling around Turtle Island recently and must also be targeting Turtle Island.”

The large man showed a satisfied expression. “En, you have done well! Hmph! They want to compete with me? They don’t want to live!”

When he spoke the last words, his expression became vicious and full of murderousness.

The pinched-mouth male was touched by the murderousness and his expression changed slightly.

Daren’s murderous intent was unrivaled, no wonder he was called “The Butcher!”

The leading male was a famous expert with the name of the “Butcher”, Wei Li Tian! Wei Li Tian had become famed twenty years ago, the most merciless and cruel person, and his hands were painted in blood. His ranking was even higher than Ning Yi, in the top ten of Cloud Sea Jie. He also gathered a group of fellows that were also cruel experts, and there were five of them that were in the top one hundred. The other people, though not as famous, all had jindan cultivation.

They travelled the wilds, killing people and taking their treasures, the most famous outlaws of Cloud Sea Jie.

Their numbers were always maintained at forty nine people. Being the fiftieth person meant being eliminated from the group with only one outcome, death!

Forty nine people, all of them jindan, all of them with their unique techniques!

Many powers wanted to destroy them but Wei Li Tian’s group wasn’t just merciless in their conduct, but also cunning and malicious. There were many battalions that had fallen at their hands, many of them with great fame.

Wei LI Tian knew the advantages and shortcomings of his own troop. He never faced his opponents in open combat, always running around the enemy like a cunning wolf pack, charging when he saw the chance and then biting a piece off!

They had also come this time for the Sun Shen Hall ruins.

Wei Li Tian knew much more about it than other people because he had a xiuzhe in his group that was skilled in divination. Qiu Ling was the weakest of all the people in his group but was one of the most crucial members. This unknown jindan was skilled in all sorts of divination and Wei Li Tian’s most trusted assistant.

It had also been Qiu Ling who had persuaded Wei Li Tian. He hadn’t just calculated the position of the ruins but also divine many details that people did not know. For example, only xiuzhe with jindan cultivation could enter the ruins. This caused Wei Li Tian’s heart to move.

They had forty nine people that were all jindan!

In other words, all of them could enter the ruins!

Other factions could also send in jindan but they would not be as in sync and cooperate as well as Wei Li Tian’s group. It could be said that Wei Li Tian had a natural advantage. In terms of collective strength, other than the three yuanying, their group was undoubtedly fourth!

Qiu Ling also divined the origins of this shen hall. It was the the shen temple of a large tribe in the ancient era and contained almost the entire treasure trove of this tribe.

This was a treasure trove almost unimaginable!

Even if he did not compete with the three yuanying, just the little bit of leftovers was enough to satisfy them and they would not need to steal for a few years! If they were lucky, they wouldn’t need to worry about their entire lifespan!

As to the danger, people in their profession were always in danger.

They sneaked near Xu Ling City but after seeing that fight between yuanying, even this group of vicious people couldn’t help but feel fear and hurriedly left Xu Ling City.

But they did not plan on departing and moved their eyes towards the well-positioned Turtle Island.

“We can’t force ourselves in, the island formation isn’t ordinary and we might not have enough people to charge though.” Wei Li Tian’s eyes were keen and instantly saw the exceptional quality of the formation. He turned around and asked a subordinate, “A Xin, do you recognize what formation this is?”

The xiuzhe called A Xin had greyish white eyes that gave people the feeling of darkness and death.

“There is a Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation, this isn’t a big problem and not difficult to resolve. But it is hiding another formation, and I have not seen this formation before. It isn’t simple, we need to be careful.”

When the words were spoken, many people had shocked expressions. A Xin was naturally born with a pair of grey pupils that were able to see through many things. He was from a seal cultivating sect and skilled in all kinds of formations. It was the first time they heard A Xin saw he did not recognize a formation.

Wei Li Tian’s expression became serious. He had expected before that this would be a hard bone to chew but he had been confident in having A Xin as the ultimate weapon. He hadn’t expected that even A Xin did not recognize it.

This caused him to smell the scent of danger.

He suddenly smiled, “Don’t rush. Since so many people are interested in Turtle Island, then we’ll let them explore first.”

The other people’s eyes lit up.

———

As the xiuzhe increased around Turtle Island, the mood on the island gradually became nervous.

A group of jindan xiuzhe roaming around Turtle Island produced pressure that caused everyone’s nervous to tense. This wasn’t one or two jindan, but dozens of jindan.

In reality, Zuo Mo and the others did not fear jindan. The island was strong in numbers and weapons, but after the number of jindan surpassed ten people, they started to feel enormous pressure.

A group of jindan was enough to decide the direction of the entire battle in small scale battles!

Battalions could easily defeat one or two jindan, but when the number reached ten, this was a power that was unable to be destroyed unless they were faced by a similar number of jindan!

Everyone rejoiced that Zuo Mo had spent great effort in setting up the formation. It now became the defense that they trusted the most!

The Meridional Azure Aether Formation that had been processed by azure aether was more than ten times as strong as the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation!

“What movements have these people made?” Zuo Mo asked Gongsun Cha.

Gongsun Cha’s Sky Ray Treasure Lens was extremely effective and they were able to clearly see the situation outside the formation.

“Restless!” Gongsun Cha’s brow creased and a thread of murderousness flashed. Lil’ Miss that had just been dealt a blow by the yuanying xiuzhe instantly felt irritated when a group of flies flew over.

Feeling the coldness in Gongsun Shidi’s words, Zuo Mo laughed soundlessly. Gongsun Shidi was proud and unwilling to admit defeat. Even if the other was yuanying, he was not willing to admit defeat. However, when he thought about it, Zuo Mo felt that he wasn’t much better. Including Eldest Shixiong, even though he didn’t say anything, but he had been even more diligent in his cultivation the past days. He probably also wasn’t giving up.

At this time, an enormous explosion came from the sky!

Boom!

Fire crows charged at the island and activated the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation. Countless silver eels danced and smashed onto the fire crows to crush them into pieces.

Gongsun Cha swiped on the Sky Ray Treasure Lens and saw a daoist holding a gourd. There were blackish red fire crows continuously coming out of the gourd.

There were several people around the daoist that were clearly protecting him.

Gongsun Cha’s face became pot-black as he left without a word.

Those that were familiar with Lil’ Miss knew, Lil Miss was angry!

———

The sky above Turtle Island.

“Daoist Master’s Black Fire Ling Crows are as extraordinary as expected!” A xiuzhe’s gaze was fixed on the crows as he praised.

He didn’t know what those black fire ling crows were forged from but they were not afraid of lightning! Every time they were stuck by lightning, they would reform and continue to charge within the formation. The lightning would strike it to smithereens, and then it would reform again! The black fire ling crows seemed to be unable to die.

The shocking lightning that had been so intimidatingly thick in the formation became thinner and the sound decreased. The number of black fire ling crows increased and it seemed to become a black patch that was spectacular to see!

The Fire Crow Daoist was extremely proud. He had harvested the black fire from the deep in the earth to forge these black fire ling crows using a secret method over ten years. Today was the first time they were displayed in front of everyone. He had the intentions of amazing everyone.

He suddenly shouted, “Burn!”

The spell on his hands changed, and the fire on the fire crows grew. The black clouds were completely burned away by the fire!

The Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation was so easy defeated!

There were cheers from the surroundings. Many people had shocked gazes and looked on with completely different attitudes towards the Fire Crow Daoist. The Fire Crow Daoist was even more proud and greed floated into his gaze. The news of Turtle Island’s wealth had spread rapidly in the past days. With his defeat of the formation in front, he would probably get some benefits.

Thinking how his purse which had been dusty for many years was finally going to be filled, the Fire Crow Daoist’s face became excited.

“Daoist is a masterful! After the formation is defeated, I will remember your service.” The leading xiuzhe gave the Fire Crow Daoist another push.

The Fire Crow Daoist became alert and said, “Many thanks, Daren! Look at my [Fire Chief Crow]!”

His expression became stern as he started to recite. An invisible ripple spread with him as the center.

The black fire ling crows spiraling in the air seemed to smell something and became restless and violent.

Pia pia pia!

Fire crows exploded into balls of black flame!

The exploding black flames merged into the bodies of the remaining black crows. The black fire ling crows expanded rapidly, their bodies becoming bigger, their claws even sharper with wisps of black smoke. The black feathers became even harder than before, the red patterns on them even brighter and clearer. On the forehead of the fire crows, a thread of black fire slowly pulsed.

The number of fire crows rapidly shrank until only thirty fire crows remained!

But the pressure given off by these thirty fire crows was even greater than the sky full of crows previously!

Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

As though it was the sound of the heart beating, the flames on the foreheads of the thirty fire crows pulsed simultaneously. The feeling of pressure spread and floated past everyone’s minds.

Each person’s heart uncontrollably tightened!

Chapter 486: Lil’ Fire’s … …

“This Fire Crow Daoist’s skill isn’t bad!” Wei Li Tian’s expression changed slightly as he stared at the black fire ling crows without blinking. He was considering if he should recruit Fire Crow Daoist into his group. With the skill that the Fire Crow Daoist was displaying now, it was enough for him to earn a spot in this group.

A Xin did not speak, his eyes tightly locked on the intimidating fire crows.

The grew pupils were at full force, the fire crows in his eyes turning in balls of pulsing black flames. Each ball of black flame was pulsing at an unique rate and the ling power in the surroundings was flooding towards them!

It was truly frightening!

Yet what was completely opposite of the presence of the fire crows was the abnormal calm of Turtle Island below them.

This was an unusual calm!

There was no movement in the view of his grey pupils. Even the azure light that had been barely discernable before had disappeared now. It was too calm! The other seemed to be ignorant that someone was attacking their formation, not reacting at all.

A Xin widened his eyes and didn’t dare to blink in fear he would miss a detail.

For some reason, this unusual calm quickly spread through the crowd. The xiuzhe unconsciously stopped their breathing as though they were waiting for something.

At this time, Fire Crow Daoist cast his spell and shouted, “Go!”

The flames on the foreheads of the fire crows suddenly paused, their eyes glaring as they shot up. Their spread out wings seemed to burn, the feathers turning rapidly to flames as the bright red patterns on the feathers turned to lines of red that mixed within the flame and added a touch of eeriness.

They suddenly dove down!

The air instantly was filled with fire!

Woosh woosh woosh!

The thirty fire crows were like arrows shot out a bow, giving off a long black tail of fire as though they were meteors coming from the sky!

Just as the fire crows seemed to pass through the formation, the azure light of the formation flashed.

A thin azure shell of light that seemed like an eggshell suddenly appeared.

A Xin’s grey pupils were suddenly covered in a layer of grey mist. He almost burst out, this was it!

When he saw the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation, he had found that an almost indiscernible azure light existed. He had perceptively noticed this azure light, that was so easy to be missed, and quickly judged that it was in reality a very powerful formation. But this layer of weak azure light had quickly disappeared as though it was a delusion he had experienced.

But A Xin believed in his judgement and also his grey eyes!

He patiently waited. He knew that if it was a formation, it would definitely appear again. Only now when this thin azure eggshell reappeared, he finally saw its true appearance!

This transformation had occurred extremely fast that most people were unable to react in time. Among many people’s exclamations, the first fire crow hit the azure light shell!

Boom!

Like a meteorite from heaven, each fire crow smashed heavily on the azure light shell.

The fire crows were like drumsticks, and the eggshell the drum!

The enormous sounds of collision beat on everyone’s hearts. The sound spread explosively and many people’s bodies froze, their expressions changing.

The azure eggshell shook, the fire crows suddenly exploded into countless wisps of flame that spread out.

Dong dong dong!

The rapid sound of collision was like a drumbeat that intimidated with every beat. Transparent air ripples spread and was like blades cutting the flesh where it passed!

No one had expected these small fire crows to be so strong!

This wave of [Fire Chief Crow] caused the spectator’s hearts to almost stop beating. Many people finally recovered at this moment and exhaled heavily.

The last ripple spread and it became peaceful again.

The flames that had exploded now spread and covered the entire shell as it burned silently.

The Fire Crow Daoist had not expected the other’s formation to be secure. The [Fire Chief Crow] he had such high hopes for had not succeeded. This caused his face to look slightly ugly. However, he was not panicked and a a smirk floated at the corner of his mouth.

The dominance and maliciousness of the [Fire Chief Crow] was not just this … …

Coming out of their shock, the spectators were puzzled. Why was the Fire Crow Daoist motionless?

If he did not have more powerful moves, then come down. There would naturally be people that would go up!

Why wasn’t he willing to come down?

Yet when their gazes landed on the formation on Turtle Island, their pupils suddenly contracted. Those black-red flames that had scattered on the eggshell had not weakened. They were still tightly glued onto the shell of light and were burning silently!

Was it … …

Many people’s eyes lit up.

———

Zuo Mo raised his head. That wave of [Fire Chief Crow] had also made him jump. Zuo Mo had a move called [Meteor Void Fire] in the past that had been similar to this move, but his move was weak in comparison to [Fire Chief Crow].

As the thirty fire crows dove down, there was a feeling the sky had changed color.

There was countless xiuzhe in the world and all of them had their own secret techniques. This fire crow method appeared normal but on further inspection, it was filled with unpredictable changes. That black fire wasn’t normal and if he wasn’t careful, the other would succeed in breaking through the formation.

Large amounts of black fire burned right next to the eggshell. Each bloom of fire was not large but they did not extinguish.

Zuo Mo furrowed his brow. He could detect that there were many corrosive powers continuously charging the Meridional Azure Aether Formation. The amount of ling power the Meridional Azure Aether Formation was consuming had increased greatly. Based on this speed, the Meridional Azure Aether Formation would not be defeated, but the jingshi would not be able to support it.

Zuo Mo raised his head and gazed at the black fire burning on the eggshell above his head.

At this time, a red shadow suddenly charged at the shell of light. Zuo Mo focused and was stunned. Lil’ Fire! Almost at the same time, Lil’ Pagoda took control of the Meridional Azure Aether Formation from Zuo Mo’s hands.

What were these two doing!

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped and his expression changed slightly. These two mischievous guys could not be playful at this time!

There was a huge crowd of jindan outside. If the formation was opened now, and the others took the chance to enter the island, then it would all be over! This was different than the attack from the Tian Family last time. There were truly too many jindan, so many that not even the battalions could defeat them.

There was also a large number of low level xiuzhe on the island. They did not have any strength to protect themselves. If the enemy charged it, the outcome would not bear thinking!

Zuo Mo shook!

Yet before he could stop them, what happened stunned him!

Lil’ Fire’s round and bouncy body was like a sticky rice bun that pasted itself onto the shell of light. Its entire face seemed to be pressed to the inner wall of the shell as it looked yearningly at the flames outside the shell, as though it saw something delicious and was drooling!

Zuo Mo almost thought his eyes were not working. He rubbed his eyes heard and made sure what he saw was not an illusion.

This guy was really drooling!

The following scene once again surpassed Zuo Mo’s limits of understanding.

Blocked by the shell of light, Lil’ Fire’s body rolled and it aimed its butt at the flames on the outside. Puu, a light sound, the flames outside the shell turned to a line of fire that burrowed into the orifice of Lil’ Fire’s behind.

Zuo Mo grabbed his head with his hands and turned to stone!

Oh, heavens!

What was this!

He suddenly recalled how Lil’ Fire would sprout a thin line of fire whenever he would squeeze its round body. When he was bored, Zuo Mo would frequently do this. As he squeezed Lil’ Fire’s tender and bouncy body, bursts of flame would erupt and, being interesting, he used it to relieve his boredom.

But now he saw that Lil’ Fire’s orifice that sprouted fire, was furiously, no, crazily sucking in flames!

Zuo Mo felt his world was crumbling!

The people beside him that had been brimming with murderousness were stunned.

Such a strange scene clearly surpassed the limits of understanding for normal people.

Having absorbed one thread of fire, Lil’ Fire gave a happy sigh and then it rolled along on the inner wall of the shell to the next fire.

Everywhere Lil’ Fire passed, the flames on the outside turned into lines of fire and entered its orifice. Every time this happened, the formation would ripple lightly. This was because Lil’ Pagoda was working together with Lil’ Fire, the two were in great sync.

Turtle Island was completely silent.

Zuo Mo and the others below watched with raised faces as though they were rows of statues.

———

The Fire Crow Daoist’s eyes were half-lidded and seemed very confident.

He knew that the other people were also seeing the effects of his talisman. He was patiently waiting. The black fire ling crows had been forged by harvesting the black fire from the depths of the earth. This kind of black fire was called the yin granite fiend fire. He had searched through mountains, continents, and swamps to find this in a deep and poisonous cave. He had really used great effort and spent much thought on forging the talisman.

When this yin granite fiend fire burned, it would attach itself and would not extinguish until what it was burning was ash. It was extremely malicious and specialized in attacking all kinds of space and ling shields.

He had forged one hundred and eight fire crows this time. Since the ruins event happened, he had planned to make his debut and thought of using the situation to become famous.

Up until now, the development of events had not diverged from what he had predicted. The other did not know the power of the yin granite fiend fire and allowed it to keep burning. They were really stupid!

That was good!

It was time for he, the Fire Crow Daoist, to become famous!

The Fire Crow Daoist was full of ambition, waiting for the ling power of the formation to be used up and for them to charge in.

At this time, the small chatter in the surroundings entered his years. Fire Crow Daoist couldn’t help but frown. This group of people had cultivated to jindan, how could their composure be so lacking?

When he opened his eyes and his gaze landed on the shell, it was like someone hit him over the head and sparks spun in his eyes!

The shell of light that had been covered in flame just now was completely bald and empty!

Why, why was it like this?

Yin granite fiend fire? Where was the yin granite fiend fire that would not extinguish until it burned all to ash?

He looked dazedly at the mirror-smooth shell of azure light, green and red crossing on his face!

His gourd was completely empty.

He thought about how much hardship he had endured to find that yin granite fiend fire, he thought about the many years he had spent to forge the one hundred and eight black fire ling crows, he thought about his ambitions and becoming famous … …

But there was only that eggshell of azure light left in his eyes with nothing on it.

Fire Crow Daoist looked dazedly on like this for a moment, and then he suddenly sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood, dropping out of the sky like a rock.

Chapter 487: Come!

Having swallowed the yin granite fiend fire, Lil’ Fire was like an inflated balloon, its body was now black and red. It slowly flew down from the shell of light at an extremely slow rate, as though it was a fatty that had eaten too much and was moving slowly with a large body.

Lil’ Pagoda came out of somewhere and circled Lil’ Fire, nudging Lil’ Fire and then sitting on Lil’ Fire.

“Daren? Isn’t Lil’ Fire a fire yao beast?” Xie Shan’s expression was uncertain.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo reflexively nodded.

“Are all fire yao beasts this powerful?” Xie Shan showed admiration. Fire yao beasts were not commonly seen but were not rare. More importantly, it was not expensive. Maybe he could buy a fire yao beast.

He did not know that the black fire was yin granite fiend fire but he had seen the power of the fire crows, and he knew the fire was not ordinary. Even the slowest person knew that Lil’ Fire wasn’t ordinary based on how Lil’ Fire was able to consume all the fire.

Zuo Mo felt slightly stunned and his expression was strange. “I don’t know.”

Xie Shan rubbed his hands and said yearningly, “Daren, how about getting Cheng Daren to breed a few more, and give each person one!” He turned his face and looked at the slowly flying Lil’ Fire, saying heatedly, “Looking at Lil’ Fire’s figure, it’s one that is good at breeding. Why don’t we breed a few more … …”

Lil’ Fire’s ears were very keen. Hearing this, its round body suddenly froze.

A vision suddenly floated up of it being held captive in the beast pool, a group of little Lil’ Fires jumping around it. It uncontrollably shook. The body which had just been tinged black instantly became pitch black.

With a bang, it dropped onto the ground, creating a great bloom of dirt. It furiously wriggled its ball-like body and fled in panic.

Looking at Lil’ Fire’s sorry state, Zuo Mo roared in laughter.

His mind returned to the sky and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

The xiuzhe in the sky showed no intentions of leaving and there were several more groups that were further away.

Do you think that Turtle Island is a fat piece of meat?

Zuo Mo smirked coldly inside.

The death of the Fire Crow Daoist only caused a small furor. Everyone quickly calmed down. Other than those geniuses that came from those large sects, normal jindan had to experience many battles and the were experienced with death.

They were attacking a large island with an island formation, how could there not be any fatalities?

But the problem was that layer of azure shell had not change at all.

“Is there any signs of it weakening?” Wei Li Tian asked A Xin.

“No.” A Xin’s answer was very decisive. There had been a few moments where the formation had shown slight rippling but he could not grasp what kind of effect this change indicated.

He had never heard of the wonders of this formation.

A Xin started to be suspicious of the origins of this group of people. This large formation was not something a normal sect could possess. Only those ancient sects with long histories could possess something like this.

“Turtle Island’s origins are probably not simple, this formation is very powerful!” A Xin decided to state his opinion because the following actions would determine his own life and death.

A Xin never told lies. Wei Li Tian showed a cautious expression. He asked Qiu Ling, “Can you divine their origins?”

Qiu Ling gave a grimace. “This subordinate does not have the power.”

Many people only knew that divination could predict the future and detect all kinds of thing but did not understand there were many restrictions. If one wasn’t careful, their souls would be destroyed. Also, it wasn’t possible to divine everything. The more specific the matter, the harder it was to divine and the greater the price that had to be paid.

Wei Li Tian did not speak. He decided to wait and see.

———

There was a group of people not far from Wei Li Tian, Leng Wei’s group that Zong Ru had encountered in Xu Ling City.

Leng Wei glanced at Wei Li Tian and said in a low voice, “Everyone, be careful. That is Wei Li Tian.”

“Butcher Wei Li Tian!”

Some people exclaimed. This name represented death to them.

The red-clothed male showed a rebellious expression and snorted. “So what if it is Wei Li Tian? If he dares come, we can kill him! Boss, can we take down this Turtle Island? Dragging on like this, these groups are like girls!”

Leng Wei shook his head. “Not so simple, this formation is very powerful!”

“Then what? We stand and watch?” the red-robed male said urgently. “That Turtle Island is brimming with wealth. If we can get it, we’ll be rich!”

Leng Wei’s brow creased. His nephew, Leng Sheng’s talents were exceptional and had become a jindan at a young age but he was worried about the other’s fiery temper.

As they spoke, another few jindan went forward and started to attack the formation.

———

At this time, several figures suddenly flew out of the island and caused everyone to stop talking.

“Ha ha! Turtle Island Turtle Island, a bunch of turtles hiding in their shells! What! Finally can’t stand it! Have you come to surrender?” a xiuzhe said smugly, “As long as you surrender and leave immediately, we’ll spare your lifes! Otherwise, with so many good heroes and men here, when we defeat your formation, hehe, won’t leave a chicken alive!”

Zuo Mo looked coldly at the surroundings and ignored that person.

At his side, Ma Fan’s expression suddenly changed. He snorted coldly, “Sneaking around!”

Before his voice stopped, the flying sword in his hand twisted in the air. Pew, blood sprayed and a limb shot out of the air. A figure wailed and tripped.

Ma Fan had been the best at concealment in the past. He was the first to detect someone was sneaking near Daren to try to assassinate him so he had been merciless in his attack.

At a distance, Leng Wei and the others expressions changed. “It’s him!”

Their gazes all landed on Zong Ru who was standing beside Zuo Mo. Their encounter at Xu Ling City that day had left a deep impression on them of Zong Ru so when they saw him standing next to Zuo Mo, they were very shocked.

Wei Sheng was on Zuo Mo’s right, Shu Long on Zuo Mo’s left. Zong Ru was next to Wei Sheng and was the second to Zuo Mo’s right.

No matter who it was, none of them had imagined the true master of Turtle Island was this outrageously young youth! Looking at that face that still held a thread of tenderness, everyone found it hard to believe.

Zuo Mo did not speak and displayed great calmness. In that glance, he had judged the situation. There were five groups of people, and what he felt was the greatest threat was that group with forty to fifty people. Zuo Mo was very sensitive to the presence of battle and he saw with a glance that this large group were not friendly.

The other groups were not as high of a threat to him.

Especially this group that was closest to him, there were only five people!

———

“So it is a little baby whose hair hasn’t all grown out!” Leng Sheng gave a cold snort and had an unconcerned expression. “I had thought it would be a powerful person!”

Leng Wei did not speak. When that sword had cut off the arm, this youth that was outrageously young didn’t even bat an eyelash.

He was too calm! This was a calm that did not fit his age!

———

At this time, a bellow came from the group of people nearest Zuo Mo. “Such daring! At death’s door and you dare to harm one of ours! You want to die! Brothers, kill this group of children, don’t leave any alive!”

Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on him.

His eyes were cold as he spat one word out, “Kill!”

Before his words finished, Xie Shan, Ma Fan, Lei Peng, Nian Lu and A Wen attacked!

From the beginning, the other side had carefully maintained a distance from Zuo Mo’s group but they had never expected the distance which they thought was extremely safe was enough for Xie Shan and the others!

Xie Shan and the others had long practiced the three section wave killing charge. Short-distance charges were seeped down into their bones and were like an instinct!

Between two points, a straight line was the shortest!

Sword up, power, accelerate, and a charge without any finesse!

Four ruler-straight golden sword lights flashed in everyone’s field of view.

The exception to Guard Camp, A Wen walked a path completely different than the others—he was a Mo Shadow Guard skilled in speed! With a light saw, the feathers around him shook lightly and his body disappeared in the air like a ghost.

The five people paled, hurriedly activating their ling armor to block this attack!

Pia!

Four heads left necks and flew into the air!

The power of the fifth-grade gold crystal sword was displayed in this kind of charge! The other’s ling armor was like paper-mache and did not stop them at all.

There was a bowl-sized bloody hole at the throat of the last person. No one detected how it had formed!

It was like the most practiced butcher treating the lamb on its board, hand up, blade down!

A battle finished in the blink of an eye with one side completely losing.

Many people showed a hint of terror. Such a sharp and decisive attack was out of everyone’s expectations!

Shouldn’t they be afraid?

Wei Li Tian and Leng Wei’s expressions started to become grave. They saw and understood more than average xiuzhe and the shock they received was much greater than normal xiuzhe.

The four sword xiuzhe had made the same move … … clean and crisp, an attack without any finesse, it had the scent they were familiar with, the scent of a battalion!

The sky above Turtle Island was completely silent!

At this time, a cold smile floated at the corner of Zuo Mo’s mouth. He slowly said, “I hadn’t expected Turtle Island to receive so many heroes today.”

Zuo Mo’s voice was not loud, his tone did not change. He seemed to be narrating a very normal matter but with slight disdain.

Yet in this silence, his voice was so clear and echoed in the sky.

At this moment, no one dared to underestimate this outrageously young Island Master any longer!

“You can fight however you want over the ruins! But!”

Zuo Mo’s voice paused, his eyes fierce as he looked at the surroundings. The murderousness on his face was exposed as he slowly breathed out.

“If someone wants to target our Turtle Island, then you are welcome to see if my sword is sharp or not!”

Zuo Mo seemed to be uncaring that there were multiple numbers of jindan around him.

“Such a great tone!” A shout came from a short distance away.

At Zuo Mo’s side, Wei Sheng’s brow creased. He stepped forward and his wrist turned. The black sword that was like a horse-chopping sabre seemed to be pulled out of a non-existent sword sheathe, one that was a void.

The speed he was pulling out the sword was not fast but as the sword rubbed the air, it created a tail of blinding sparks!

A sword hum shook the surroundings!

Wei Sheng dealt a blow.

Chapter 488: Wei Sheng’s One Strike

The movement of Wei Sheng swinging the sword was filled with the feeling of ease.

The large black sword that was as long as he was tall seemed weightless in his hands. Compared to the killing charge of Ma Fan and his fellows, Wei Sheng’s movements held no presence.

Yet everyone’s expressions changed dramatically. Even Wei Li Tian and Leng Wei showed fearful expressions!

Their gazes were locked on the black sword in Wei Sheng’s hand!

The black sword was like an ink brush and dyed the space it touched with a layer of blackness!

The sky that had been sunny before slowly darkened within everyone’s terrified gazes as the sword moved.

Just like that, the sky darkened until night came!

The empty and desolate presence was endless and vast as the ocean, and among this void ocean, the sky full of stars were as bright and glistening as diamonds!

“My Heavens!”

Someone’s exclamation was abnormally loud in the silent sky!

The person that had been shouting suddenly stopped. He looked dazedly at the starlight in the sky and was filled with disbelief!

How was this possible … …

How was this possible!

Flipping day and night, how great did the cultivation and power have to be? The other was clearly a jindan, how could he execute such a powerful move?

Was this an illusion?

But the scene was so real, the sky full of stars which were so close they could be touched. He could not detect any presence of an illusion. But to turn day and night using just sword essence, how terrifying!

Only those great powers in the legends could have such unnatural skill!

He suddenly had a bad feeling. Turtle Island’s power was much stronger than he had imagined! This kind of expert should only exist in the stories!

He did not notice the space around him was soundlessly twisting.

En, what … …

A feeling of danger suddenly came!

Before he could make any movements, his pupils suddenly expanded and his body froze where he stood!

A bright red and slender line of blood silently appeared on his neck.

Pew!

Blood sprayed from the bloody line and scattered into the night to disappear!

The youth in his field of view that was moving the sword became blurred.

Who was he … …

With his last suspicion remaining, he lost alertness.

———

Wei Sheng’s expression did not change. He took a step back, his wrist moving with the motion as the black sword slowly pushed back behind his body as though he was pushing it back into that invisible sheathe.

The sword created a string of sparks!

When his wrist stopped moving, the black sword suddenly gave a loud hum full of unwillingness!

The blackness of night visibly faded, decreasing until it disappeared. Sunlight fell down on everyone’s bodies but none felt any warmth. That faint and empty sword essence caused them to unable to absorb one thread of warmth even now!

There was no sharp killing intent, no bone-aching coldness, even that void was so faint it was hard to detect. The most attracting was that suddenly incoming night and the sky full of stars!

Wei Sheng’s sword strike caused many to feel the desire to retreat!

The unwilling hum of the  black sword caused people’s hearts to tremble. No one knew how that xiuzhe had died. When had the bloody line on his neck appeared?

This was a sword strike that was eerie and uncanny!

Who was he?

Everyone had the same thought. This kind of expert definitely could enter the expert rankings! Why had they never heard anyone mention him?

Some with more active minds and more information suddenly recalled the disappearance of Ning Yi, Gu Ming Gong, and  the skeletal remains of Yuan Xin. The details they had missed in the past floated into their mind and they seemed to understand.

Turtle Island had this kind of expert, no wonder!

Zuo Mo was also filled with shock. When Wei Sheng had made his strike, all the hairs on his body had uncontrollably stood on end. Ma Fan and the others gaped. Only Zuo Mo, Shu Long, and Zong Ru could maintain their composure.

Eldest Shixiong was as inhuman as expected!

Every time Eldest Shixiong was wounded, his strength would definitely explode after he healed!

Zuo Mo had originally felt proud at his progression in this past while, but in front of Eldest Shixiong’s sword strike that caused the sky and ground to change, his pride instantly disappeared!

Eldest Shixiong had intimidated the entire battlefield. Taking advantage of the silence, Zuo Mo smiled darkly and said with bloodthirst.

“Any that stays within fifty li of Turtle Island after one hour will be considered an enemy of Turtle Island!”

As he spoke, a hourglass appeared in front of him. The sand in the hourglass started to fall down.

———

Once the words came out, many people’s expressions changed and some were indignant. Zuo Mo’s tone was as before but the meaning in his words were extremely domineering and held an unquestionable tone!

These people were all ones that had their own fame and reputations. No one had ever dared to give them the order to leave with such a domineering tone!

However, many people chose to leave. The power that Turtle Island displayed far surpassed their expectations. Everyone had only known that Turtle Island Battalion had been skilled, and no one had known that Turtle Island also had many experts.

The crispness of attack from Ma Fan’s group of five caused them to feel astonishment. Wei Sheng’s uncanny sword strike had completely extinguished the greed in their hearts. They recovered their calmness!

Their goal this time was the ruins. If they were killed at Turtle Island before going into the ruins, that would be very unprofitable!

———

Wei Li Tian ordered without hesitation, “Retreat!”

The other xiuzhe under his command all showed surprised expressions. They knew just how vicious Boss was. The other had spoken so unreasonably and with such dominance that Boss rationally should not have agreed! No matter how powerful that person with the black sword was, he was only one person. There was nothing to be afraid off!

Only A Xin’s expression was unchanged. He didn’t seem to be surprised at this outcome at all.

———

Just as Wei Li Tian ordered a retreat, Leng Wei also ordered unhesitatingly, “Let’s go!”

Leng Zhen asked with disbelief, “Go? We’re going like this?”

“If you don’t want to die, leave!” Leng We said faintly.

Leng Sheng jumped up and said, thrusting his neck up. “Boss, this makes us seem cowardly. The other just is scaring us and have scared us way! How will we live in the future!”

“Can you beat the guy with the black sword?” Leng Wei asked in response.

Leng Sheng stopped but he tried to bluster, “Even if I can’t, I can hold up for a while.”

Leng Wei looked at him and said faintly, “I also cannot win over him. Not just him, the dhyana xiu we encountered that day is as powerful as I am.”

“So what? We have so many people!”

“Notice that island Master, you also cannot win against him. Pay attention to that guy in armor next to the Turtle Island Master, you also cannot win.” Leng Wei’s tone was not polite. “Their battalion has not even come out.”

“There are so many people here … …”

“Do you want to enter the ruins?” Leng Wei interrupted Leng Sheng’s quibbling, “If you want to enter the ruins, don’t provoke them!”

He turned around and threw back, “Those that do not leave will not enter the ruins.”

———

After almost an hour, there were only a few more than twenty jindan left in the sky. They thought they were powerful enough and did not want to scurry away. However, when they found that only twenty something people remained, their expressions became ugly, especially when they saw the two groups of Wei Li Tian and Leng Wei who were most powerful also left.

“Time’s up.” Zuo Mo grinned viciously at the people left.

“I want to see who dares to attack!” a xiuzhe said with an excited expression, “When did this sky become owned by Turtle Island … …”

“Idiot!” Zuo Mo spat out and his body disappeared.

Woosh woosh woosh!

Zuo Mo’s group all disappeared!

These xiuzhe had never thought at Zuo Mo and the others really dared to attack and were unprepared!

It wasn’t just Wei Sheng that had improved!

Zong Ru took out the Crossed Prayer Wheel and slowly turned it. Bright sutra characters floated off the prayer wheel into the sky. As Zong Ru chanted in a low voice, the golden characters slowly floated to a few xiuzhe.

When the sutra characters flew near their target, they seemed to be pinned to the air.

The enemy felt their bodies suddenly feel impossibly heavy and it was hard to even move a finger.

The sutra characters floating in the sky suddenly dropped dots of yellow sand. These tiny gold sand grains contained extremely great power. The smell of Sky Soil suddenly increased in the air.

The Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk had been completely merged into the prayer wheel. Zong Ru had also merged the power of the Nine Turn Sky Earth Disk into the dhyana xiu’s reincarnation illusory realm, calling it the Sky Earth Dhyana Realm. The power increased, and so did its wonders!

Zong Ru used wish power to wash each speck of Sky Earth Sand day and night.

The prayer wheel, a talisman that had never appeared before in any records, gradually transformed as Zong Ru forged it day and night! Even he was unable to control some of the transformations.

In the last fight, he had comprehended many of the abilities of the [Attainment Golden Body]. It was a sixth-grade dhyana spell and contained many abilities.

As the opponent was pulled into the Sky Earth Dhyana Realm, the other’s ling armor experienced three types of power: the Sky Earth, the dhyana presence, and wish power. It instantly shattered and before the xiuzhe could wail, he lost his life.

The sutra characters in the air suddenly lit up like monsters that had just filled their stomachs and returned to the prayer wheel.

Zong Ru chanted lowly and spun the prayer wheel to rid the prayer wheel of the thread of evil energy.

Among the crowd, the most attention-catching was Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo who had been consuming many dan lately had a great increase in his ling power. This caused his level in the other two powers to grow greatly. His speed was like lightning, his power peerless in its dominance. He charged left and right like a human-shaped beast. Everywhere he passed, blood and flesh flew!

The others had come up to his door shouting to fight and to kill. He had been irritated for a long time and did not have any mercy as he fought!

He used all six transformations of the Great Day mo physique in turn!

As he killed, he felt unspeakably comfortable and couldn’t help but howl!

He seemed to have plucked an invisible cord and many areas of the skills that had been blurry in the past suddenly became clear as though he could reach out and touch them.

As those it was following the flow, the domineering Midday Blade in his hand suddenly disappeared, his consciousness bloomed and twisted like flowers and scrolls!

Countless yao arts flooded his chest and was almost going to burst out!

At this moment, someone abrupt happened!

Chapter 489: Ambush

A blinding light appeared beside his feet without any warning!

His vision turned completely white and he was unable to see a thing. A dangerous and trembling presence was aimed straight at his brow and his heart jumped. Shocked, his body had almost unconsciously retreated!

Ambush!

Someone was ambushing him!

Damn it! He had not even detected the other’s existence!

The shock he felt was indescribable. Zuo Mo had been through hundreds of the fights but this was the first time someone managed to ambush him from right in front!

The Light Void Wings were activated to their maximum power, time seemed to stretch out at this moment, and everything seemed so slow. That thread of intimidating killing energy was like glue. No matter how Zuo Mo dodged or tried to escape, it was tightly following him!

The sharp and bone-chilling killing presence, the strong pressure that seemed to aim straight between his brow caused Zuo Mo’s nerves to be tensed to their limits.The Light Void Wings were furiously flapping at a remarkable rate, the air was howling in his ears and carried the exclamations of shock from Wei Sheng and the others, but Zuo Mo did not hear any of this. All of his attention was focused on that point of killing essence that was seemingly tangible!

His ten fingers seemed to be strumming the pipa as a string of blinding lights continuously expanded in front of him!

Little yao arts!

At this crucial moment, what Zuo Mo could choose was only little yao arts!

Simple and instantaneous, this most basic yao arts became Zuo Mo’s only choice at the moment.

Bam bam bam!

The sound of breaking was like a drumbeat. That thread of intimidating murderousness was not affected at all! In front of it, the little yao arts were like layers of paper mache, and the dot of black within the sky full of fragmented energies did not change at all.

The dark and cold killing essence made him feel as though he was in a glacier and the blood inside his body seemed frozen.

Terror was like a great poison that spread to every corner of Zuo Mo’s body. The god of death was so close to him, the rotten breath of the death gold almost breathing onto his face!

Was he going to die?

This thought uncontrollably appeared in his mind.

Time seemed to stop at this moment, everything in the surroundings became silent.

His chaotic consciousness became normal again.

The killing essence was still bone-penetrating, but the terror inside had disappeared. Zuo Mo entered a very strange state. In this moment, his mind was as clear as the water in a lake, the impulse that had accumulated due to the yao arts suddenly erupted like a volcano!

His fingers swiped through the motions as though they were out of his control. Strange paths, strange ling power vibrations, strange feeling, but everything was so natural as though it was water flowing.

Ten dots of light were like ten spinning stars drawing out ten serene blue lights!

Complex yao arts flowed past his mind. The serene blue light that his fingers were producing grew brighter. Zuo Mo’s mind was abnormally calm!

The slender yet bright serene blue lights seemed to grow like bean sprouts and climbed onto Zuo Mo’s hands.

His hands seemed to be covered in serene blue gloves of light.

When these two hands met in the air, a light that was as blinding as sword energies suddenly exploded from in front of Zuo Mo’s chest.

Argh!

A howl of beast suddenly swept past with an ancient presence.

As though there was a wasteland beast looking down authoritatively under a full moon!

Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!

The ambusher made a light sound. His body was like an earthworm that twisted strangely. The sky full of light suddenly retreated and it turned into a sword light that suddenly increased in speed and shot at Zuo Mo.!

Wei Sheng’s heart sank down. His sword strike that had flipped day and night looked easy but in reality, it was his masterpiece. It didn’t just contain his recent comprehensions, it had also consumed the greater half of his ling power.

The strength of the ambusher far surpassed his imagination!

Even if his ling power was not used up, he may not be a match for the other if they faced each other in true combat, much less an ambush. This ambusher’s sword light was grand but the sword essence was cunning and poisonous. It was not similar to any sword essence he had seen before. The other had comprehension of sword essence that was even higher than Wei Sheng’s.

Where had such a powerful enemy come from?

But at this time, he could not attend to anything else. Wei Sheng’s black sword pointed at the other, the ling power in his body boiling as it furiously flooded into the black sword!

The ambusher suddenly twisted and bounced away strangely. A dark sword energy had suddenly appeared where he just had been standing as though a cut had been made on the sky.

The ambusher seemed to have detected it a long time ago, and turned his head back with ease to stare at Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng saw a pale white mask, ugly and unmoving, tightly worn on the enemy’s face. The pair of eyes within the eye slits were full of dark murderousness!

The other suddenly grinned and the pale white mask was pulled into a strange smile that caused anyone who looked to feel a chill.

Wei Sheng’s eyes blurred and he lost track of the other.

But his pupils suddenly contracted. At this time the sword light viciously stabbed into the light in front of Zuo Mo’s chest!

A beast’s howl that carried an ancient presence suddenly spread outwards with Zuo Mo as the center.

The dust and smoke dissipated, leaving behind a shadow that was like a little mountain, an ancient colossal beast that appeared in everyone’s vision. The two lantern-sized eyes were full of dignity.

There was a bright sword energy held in its mouth.

Zuo Mo panted heavily, his hands covered in light one position forward and one back as though he was trying hard to grab onto something. Sweat snaked down his forehead. His eyes were glaring, his hands trembling slightly as though he was using great strength.

That bright sword energy was like a little snake that constantly struggled!

The sword energy gradually dimmed until it disappeared.

The wasteland beast that was like a little mountain crumbled soundlessly and also disappeared.

Seeing Zuo Mo was fine, everyone released a breath. Then they all looked warily at the surroundings to stop that strange sword xiu from making an ambush again.

After a while, there was no movement and Zuo Mo sat down on his behind, only able to pant.

From the moment he was ambushed until now, it was just the span of a blink of an eye, but the danger he experienced was something only Zuo Mo, who had been targeted on by the sword light, experienced.

The line between life and death!

He was just a hair’s width away from death!

Thinking about it now, he still felt fear. A group of xiuzhe suddenly flew up from below and encircled Zuo Mo in the middle. Gongsun Cha had given the order after seeing Zuo Mo ambushed.

Recovered, Zuo Mo forced a smile and said, “Such a powerful sword xiu! We have really met an expert now!”

His smile was even uglier than crying.

Without an exception, everyone else had terrible expressions. If something had happened to Daren just now, they would be unpardonable! But thinking about the sword xiu that wore the pale white mask, everyone’s hearts shook!

How he had sneaked in front of Zuo Mo, how he had released that sword energy, how he had left, no one knew! Even Wei Sheng only managed a brief glimpse before the figure  blurred and he had lost the other’s trace.

From beginning to end, the other had been at great ease.

“Let’s return to the island.”

Zuo Mo’s group instantly returned to Turtle Island and opened the formation as soon as they were back.

Fortunately, the formation had the ability to function as an alarm. If a person did not have a jade disk, they would be unable to enter the island. Otherwise, Zuo Mo would have to worry the assassin would be mixed among the crowd and wormed his way onto the island. Then it would be great trouble!

In the cloud sea about ten li from the island, a figure slowly rose from the cloud sea soundlessly.

A pale white mask looked back at Turtle Island and then slowly sank into the cloud sea.

———

“Have you found him?” Zuo Mo asked.

Thoughts of the terrifying sword xiu that ambushed him circled Zuo Mo’s mind like a nightmare. He did not know why the other had not continued his ambush. The greater majority of being able to escape alive this time was due to his luck. If he encountered this guy again, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to guarantee that his luck would be this good.

The other was far more powerful than they were. Even Wei Sheng honestly said his strength could not rival the other.

Someone this powerful definitely could not be unknown. Having such a powerful assassin target him, Zuo Mo felt that he wouldn’t be even to get a steady sleep so he decided to get to the bottom of this matter.

Therefore, when Zuo Mo returned to the island, he immediately sent out all his forces to investigate this person. He had paper crane messages with Liao Qi Chang but he had not expected Liao Qi Chang to run to the island in person.

Liao Qi Chang’s expression was very strange. “This guy isn’t not from Cloud Sea Jie!”

“Not from Cloud Sea Jie?” Zuo Mo was slightly astonished.

When Liao Qi Chang received the news that Zuo Mo had been ambushed, he had been greatly shocked. His connection with Turtle Island was relatively intimate and knew much more than regular people. Even Ning Yi and the others had not fared well on their hands, yet there was a person that was able to kill Zuo Mo. How could he not be shocked?

His first thought was, this guy should not be from Cloud Sea Jie.

His thought was quickly proven .The other was not from Cloud Sea Jie as he expected! But when he discovered the other’s origins, he was even more shocked. He felt this was not an ordinary matter and made a trip specifically to Turtle Island.

“According to your narration, this person should be the famous Masked Assassin. This person is unusually strange and skilled in assassination, he is a very famous assassin. He’s not famous in Cloud Sea Jie, but famous in the entire Four Realms!” Liao Qi Chang’s tone was slightly nervous.

“This powerful?” Zuo Mo jumped in fright.

“Even more powerful than this!” Liao Qi Chang licked his lips, “He may be a jindan, but what made him famous was that he had successfully assassinated a yuanying, Long Hong, five years ago. This caused him to rank in the top ten of jindan assassins, top ten among all Four Realms jindan assassins! He is seventh now, and he has never failed against a jindan target, including large sect disicples such as from your Kun Lun. You are the first.”

Speaking of this, Liao Qi Chang was slightly excited. He did not pay attention to the gaping mouth of Zuo Mo and continued, “You are going to be famous now, even the Masked Assassin was unable to kill you, it would be difficult for you to not become famous! Ning Yi isn’t anything, isn’t even worthy of holding the other’s shoes!”

There was no pride on Zuo Mo’s face, and his face was extremely ugly.

Had successfully assassinated a yuanying! My Heavens!

How had he provoked such a great personage!

An assassin ranked seventh in all of Four Realms jindan assassins… …

Zuo Mo’s face was ashen.

Chapter 490: Apparition

For the remote Cloud Sea Jie, an assassin ranked seventh on the Four Realm Heaven jindan ranking was a great personage among personages. The Four Realm Heaven was truly too enormous, so enormous that no one would pay any attention to the rankings at a usual time. When a truly famous expert suddenly appeared in Cloud Sea Jie, the shock that was produced could be imagined.

It was not outrageous to use truly famous to describe this person. Even though the great majority had never heard the name of the Masked Assassin before, that did not hinder them from understanding the significance of the seventh-ranking jindan assassin in all of Four Realm Heaven.

Even those yuanying xiuzhe, showed shocked expressions that had not appeared for decades when they heard this name.

Since the yuanying were like this, then nothing had to be said more for jindan xiuzhe.

Due to this, the news that the Turtle Island Master managed to stop the ambush of the Masked Assassin quickly spread through all of Cloud Sea Jie. Adding on that it was the first time the Masked Assassin had failed, this added a mysterious halo onto Zuo Mo’s body.

It was worth pondering why the Masked Assassin appeared at this time. Had he also come for the Sun Shen Temple ruins?

This caused everyone to increase their attention on the Sun Shen Temple. A ruin that could attract the seventh-ranking jindan assassin, how could it be simple?

Normal people just watched the spectacle and wanted the situation to become as large as possible. Those people that were preparing to enter and explore the ruins were extremely dispirited. The bigger the ruckus about the ruins, the more competitors they had. Thinking about the possibility of encountering the Masked Assassin, many people had thoughts of retreat.

The appearance of the Masked Assassin caused the situation to have a slight change. Even the yuanying xiuzhe that had thought they would have almost certain success couldn’t help but feel slightly unconfident. The Masked Assassin was a dangerous person that could kill a yuanying!

The other effect of this matter was related to Zuo Mo. On the expert ranking of Cloud Sea Jie, the ranking of Turtle Island Master rocketed up and charged into the top ten to rank at number five. Wei Sheng also entered the top ten. His astounding sword strike that had reversed day and night caused him to enter the top ten to rank at number nine.

There were no people or animals within a hundred li of Turtle Island.

No one dared to target Turtle Island anymore. Even the three yuanying ordered their subordinates to not provoke Turtle Island. If the battle with the Tian Family could be said to have caused Turtle Island to enter everyone’s eyes, then the fight this time caused Turtle Island to jump to becoming one of the most powerful factions in Cloud Sea Jie.

Turtle Island also became the only factions that had two people in the top ten expert ranking.

Right now, Turtle Island’s only worry was if the Masked Assassin would return. If the Masked Assassin did not return, there would not be problem, but if the Masked Assassin did not plan to let the matter go, could the Turtle Island Master escape the calamity?

Many people were curious, how did the Turtle Island Master provoke the Masked Assassin?

One was an unknown local faction, the other was a top expert that was famous in Four Realm Heaven. The two did not seem to have a connection at all.

Zuo Mo also could not understand. He almost wrung out his mind but still did not learn anything.

He wasn’t happy at all at the increase in his ranking. If it was possible, he would give up his rank  if he could not be enemies with the Masked Assassin.

The other’s strength far surpassed theirs.

This was the first time Zuo Mo had such a deep understanding of the difference in power with the other. Even when he faced Clear Sky Old Forefather, he had never felt so helpless.

The assassin xiuzhe that walked in the shadows were the enemies that were the hardest to deal with and the most bothersome. They would always strike a fatal blow when you were at your most careless and numb. You had to pay attention at every second to guard against their ambush that could occur at any moment.

“There is no good solution, so you cannot leave the island during this time.” Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo.

Facing such an enemy, Lil’ Miss also did not have a solution. His methods were not effective.

Zuo Mo grimaced. “We can only do this.”

The only thing he rejoiced about was that the Meridoinal Azure Aether Formation that he had spent so much effort to set up seemed worth the effort now. It became the barrier that Zuo Mo trusted the most. Even if it was the Masked Assassin, unless he had some special talisman, he could not sneak into Turtle Island.

The Meridional Azure Aether Formation was much more secure than Zuo Mo had imagined.

Hidden on Turtle Island, he was safe, but for Zuo Mo, this feeling was terrible and suffocating! Even if the other was the seventh-ranked jindan assassin!

Strongly motivated, Zuo Mo started to fanatically cultivate.

Zuo Mo was not the only one. Wei Sheng and the others started to madly cultivate as well. In these past few years, they had dominated in all their fights. Even though they had not been unstoppable, when had they been suppressed to the point it was so suffocating?

The heated cultivation atmosphere spread on Turtle Island.

———

At a place about five hundred li from Xu Ling City, the cloud sea started to violently stir. A golden light passed through the cloud sea and pointed at the sky!

The parts of the cloud sea near the pillar of light seemed to boil and stir restlessly.

The golden coloured light grew thicker, and the light even more blinding.

On Turtle Island, everyone was attracted by such a strange scene. An enormous golden pillar of light stood between the sky and the cloud sea as though it was holding up the sky.

Was it going to start?

Zuo Mo gazed at the light pillar and balled his hands.

———

Cloud Sea Jie exploded!

All of Cloud Sea Jie, in all the corners, people saw this scene. The pillar of light did not dim but grew brighter and thicker. In the span of a few short days, the area that the pillar of light covered reached a radius of one hundred and fifty li.

Everyone was deeply shocked by this colossal golden pillar of light.

Once they flew within a thousand li, they would increasing feel the enormity of this pillar of light. No matter how powerful the xiuzhe was, they would have a feeling that they were as insignificant as a flea when they flew close.

Countless people departed from all directions towards Xu Ling City like a flood.

The great majority of them had not intended to go into the ruins but to observe this spectacular marvel from the distance!

Yet this enormous golden pillar of light caused the hearts of many xiuzhe that had not planned to enter the ruins to move. All factions gathered their people to come to Xu Ling City.

The little Xu Ling City was filled with people.

The three yuanying became unusually low-key, and those arrogant and bold jindan put their tails between their legs.

There were too many people!

If they were careless and attracted the anger of the public, even the greatest power could not help them.

Many people tried to go closer to the light pillar but people quickly found that no matter how they tried, they could not get within twenty li of the light pillar. There was an invisible barrier that stopped them from going near.

Some daring people tried to attack it. But all the attacks seemed to dissipate like mud entering the ocean and did not create any disturbance.

———

“This is really a great party!” Li Shu gazed at the packed crowds, and the excitement on their faces as he sighed.

Lu Zhen was slightly worried and said with self-blame, “This subordinate did not accomplish the task, if the news had not been leaked … …”

“It would be the same if it had not leaked.” Li Shu comforted in a warm tone. “Look at this light pillar, it cannot be concealed. It is better like this, those that will go naturally will go, and those that won’t will not be moved.”

Lu Zhen hurriedly said, ”Daren is right.” He paused slightly and then said carefully, “Daren, should we ask for more people?”

Li Shu shook his head. “No need. The situation inside is complex, more people does not mean it is better. Do not worry, we have the elder. Even more, we have not prepared so many years for nothing.”

Seeing Li Shu’s confidence, Lu Zhen’s heart rested slightly. Upon further thought, he found it was true. With the great power of the sect, they had started t plan so many years ago, and definitely would have found many of the secrets. There were many elders skilled in divination within the sect yet they only send one elder and Li Shu Shixiong so they should be absolutely confidence.

For ruins like this, what was most important was not how powerful one was, but how much information one had.

“Let’s wait five more days.” Li Shu smiled slightly and with deep meaning.

———

Shu Long’s handsome face seemed slightly dark as he stared at the wall in front of him.

He had actually been unable to do anything last time when Daren had been ambushed, this caused him to feel unprecedented humiliation! In the past, he had focused more on urging others to cultivate and did not obsess over individual strength. In his view, Daren did not lack for experts at his side. No matter if it was Wei Sheng or Zong Ru, they were rare experts.

But last time, Daren had almost died, and he felt great self-recrimination!

In the end, it was just that he wasn’t strong enough!

Returning to the island, he burrowed into the cave and started to furiously cultivate. Even A Wen and the other xiuzhe were furiously cultivating, so much that they did not even go to look at the light pillar outside. They were only cultivating, continuously cultivating!

Yet what Shu Long had not expected was that his cultivation was interrupted.

“What is it?” he asked.

“We cannot dig any further,” a hardship guard stood out and said, “we do not know the reason. A few days ago, the granite suddenly became harder than usual and more difficult to dig. The deeper we dug, the harder it was to dig. Digging to here, we can’t advance at all.”

Shu Long walked in front of the stone wall.

They all lived inside the cave. The yin fiend presence inside the cave was extremely heavy and greatly beneficial for their cultivation. For all of Guard Camp, the previous cave had not been large enough so Shu Long had decided to dig deeper. He later found that the rock had been permeated by the yin friends and the process of digging was also a great help to their cultivation.

So digging holes became one of the daily cultivation tasks of Hardship Camp.

He hadn’t expected a problem to occur to their daily cultivation method.

Shu Long tapped the stone wall. He didn’t even leave behind a finger mark. He took out his mo weapon and struck hard!

Cling!

Sparks flew!

There wasn’t even a trace left on the stone wall.

Shu Long made a sound of surprise and reached out to touch the wall. It was unusually smooth.

He noticed at this moment the stone wall in front of him was unusually smooth and did not look as though it was naturally formed at all.

There was something strange!

Chapter 491: Rock Wall

Zuo Mo examined the rock wall from top to bottom and occasionally rubbed his palm back and forth on it.

In reality, he was muttering in low voices with the two old geezers, Pu Yao and Wei.

“Do you recognize this? This thing definitely is not natural!” Zuo Mo was like a curious baby. “Whoa, it really is hard!”

This rock wall was dark grey-green and did not look any different than normal soil but no matter if it was a flying sword or a mo weapon, they could not leave a mark behind.

“It seems as though someone has reinforced it with shen power,” Wei hesitated and then said.

Pu Yao’s enchanting voice sounded. He was slightly shocked. “Yes, it is shen power.”

“Shen power?” Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed as he muttered, “I had assumed this was a treasure. Such a big treasure, it would be very valuable! So it is just reinforced with some shen power … …”

He then asked curiously, “What is shen power? That it’s this powerful!”

“The so-called shen power is the power that ancient warriors used. Do you remember the strange corpse from the Sealed Extinction Battlefield, what he used was shen power. Shen power is different when compared to any present power, and is enormously powerful,” Wei explained patiently.

“If your power can go up another level, you may produce shen power,” Pu Yao suddenly said.

“I? Produce shen power?” Zuo Mo first still and then reacted. “So this shen power is the three powers merged together?”

“Three powers merged together is not shen power. But ling power, spiritual consciousness, and the mo physique are all powers that were derived from shen power. No one actually knows what the ancient shen power is really like. I had thought to be able to see it from the strange corpse, but his power was traceless and I could not see it.”

Seeing that Pu Yao showed no intentions of speaking, Wei knew that the duty of explaining fell on his shoulders so he could only continue speaking.

“So it is like this.” Zuo Mo seemed to only partially understand. He suddenly paled. “Is there also someone as powerful as the strange corpse behind the rock wall?”

Pu Yao really could not stop himself and said scornfully, “Do you think old monsters like the strange corpse are like common as lettuce on sale at the market? That another one will just easily jump out? The ancient tribes have fallen for an unknown number of years, they are extinct. Just one of them being able to survive until now is great luck!”

“Then why is there shen power here?” Zuo Mo pointed at the wall and asked with innocence.

Pu Yao snorted coldly and said, “Hmph, there are many things that can contain shen power. Ancient shen treasures, ruins that are relatively well-conserved, they can all preserve shen power!”

“Ruins?” Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “Would it be the Sun Shen Temple behind this rock wall?”

The news of the Sun Shen Temple had spread out long ago. Also, that enormous golden pillar of light was very close to Turtle Island and they could see it without even raising their heads.

A pillar of light with a radius of one hundred and fifty li was like a colossus that emanated extreme pressure. The light pillar did not extinguish during the day or night. Turtle Island was greatly affected and even their nights were as bright as day.

Even though Zuo Mo had resolved long ago not to enter the fight over benefits, but this strange rock wall made him uncontrollably think of the Sun Shen Temple ruins.

Wei said deeply, “This might be a possibility.”

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert. Even though he did not plan on joining the fight, he would not refuse treasure if it was delivered to his door. Also, if the ruins were truly behind the rock wall, that meant that Turtle Island was connected to the ruins. They could secretly enter.

The more Zuo Mo thought, the hotter his blood burned.

Pu Yao said with a cold smirk, “Even if the ruins are behind this wall, you cannot enter. This rock wall is filled with shen power, and is much harder than normal talismans. If you cannot break through the rock wall, how can you enter the ruins?”

Zuo Mo’s heart was instantly cooled. After being silent for a moment, he said reluctantly, “Is there no solution at all?”

“There are methods,” Wei said gravely.

Like grabbing the last stalk of life-saving grass, Zuo Mo suddenly became alert and said, “What method? Quick, speak!”

Wei looked at him. “You have three powers merged as one, if you progress one more step, you may actually comprehend shen power. If you can comprehend shen power, this rock wall will be an easy matter for you.”

“Comprehend shen power? How to comprehend? Quick, tell me!” Zuo Mo stared with begging eyes at Wei.

Pu Yao barked a laugh and said disdainfully, “Ha! Comprehend shen power?”

Wei said with slight helplessness, “This is only a theoretical possibility. Shen power is extremely repels us. I do not know what shen power really is like. If it wasn’t that all three powers were derived from shen power, there wouldn’t even be a theoretical possibility. As for comprehending shen power, you need to rely on yourself to explore.”

“Don’t waste your efforts. Use the energy to cultivate,” Pu Yao said ambiguously from the side. His body suddenly disappeared as he threw down, “So boring, you guys play on your own.”

Seeing the situation, Wei could only shrug and spread his hands in helplessness. “I only know this much.”

Zuo Mo came out of the empty sea of consciousness. Rubbing the mirror-smooth rock wall, his thoughts drifted.

Shen power … … it sounded so unreliable … …

But if he succeeded?

Countless rare talismans, countless jingshi and other treasures floated past Zuo Mo’s eyes! Ruins! This was the ruins of a shen temple! An ancient shen temple, how could it not have some talismans?

Thinking about how he didn’t have many acceptable talismans, Zuo Mo instantly felt restless.

Damn it!

He’ll do it!

The worst case was just wasting a few days’ worth of time!

Gritting his teeth, Zuo Mo decided to try. In any case, this was a business without any cost, and he couldn’t lose anything! If the ruins opened and he had not succeeded, he would seal this place and set down a formation to prevent people from entering the island through this way.

Shu Long and the others stared at each other. The found that Daren’s hands were rubbing here and there on the rock wall with a flushed face.

He look very strange and slightly … …

Perverted!

Everyone shook in unison and the words flashed across their minds

—so scary!

———

Two figures suddenly appeared in the empty sea of consciousness.

“It is not good that we are fooling him like this.” Wei was slightly hesitant.

“Fool him? Where did we fool him? Isn’t that shen power? Didn’t the three powers descend from shen power?” Pu Yao had a righteous expression.

“But … … what if he doesn’t succeed?” Wei halted his words.

“Doesn’t succeed?” Pu Yao rolled his eyes and said irresponsibility. “There is no loss to us.” Pausing, he then said even more irresponsibly, “There’s no loss to him either.”

“That’s true.” Wei was reassured.

The two disappeared at the same time.

———

Shen power! Damn it! What was shen power?

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth as he repeatedly muttered as though he was possessed.

He had gone over the rock wall thousands of times with his hands and hadn’t found anything. It may have been that he had touched it too much but he felt that the rock wall was much smoother than before and felt like a mirror.

He asked for help from Wei but Wei always had a burdened face. He asked for help from Pu Yao but this guy didn’t help him, and even scorned him to the point that Zuo Mo wanted to bomb him into smithereens.

Ge has principles!

Zuo Mo recited one hundred times and recovered his fighting spirit. He pulled up his sleeves and used the posture of the poison ivy, gluing himself to the wall, for a new round of fighting.

Unless life ends, the battle does not stop!

The winds howls, the river is cold, the hero climbs the wall and never to return…

The actual version of what Zuo Mo says is a quote by Jing Ke and roughly translates to (from Wikipedia) “The wind blows, the river freezes. The hero fords, never to return!” as Jing Ke attempts to assassinate the King of Qin who later becomes Emperor Qin, the first “emperor.”

Shen power, shen power, where are you?

Zuo Mo did not discover anything in the entire day.

No matter if he was touching, hitting, or hammering, no matter what he did, the rock wall did not react at all.

This rock wall was also very strange. No matter if Zuo Mo used ling power, spiritual power or the mo physique, the rock wall would produce a strong repellent power that forcibly pushed him aside.

Zuo Mo tried to adjust the three powers, and even tried to use all three at the same time. The rock wall was not as resistant when he did this but the three powers were like mud thrown into the ocean, and did not even cause a ripple.

The rock wall was still that rock wall, unchanged.

Bro, give a response?

Zuo Mo wanted to cry. He felt he was like the mouse pulling the turtle and did not know where to start.

———

Shu Long felt it would be better for less people to see Daren like this so he hurried everyone else out. Out of consideration for safety, he still arranged for people to stand guard outside to prevent any accidents from happening to Daren. After arranging all this, Shu Long threw himself back into his crazy cultivation.

All of Guard Camp was immersed in this furious cultivation atmosphere. It wasn’t just them, Vermillion Bird Camp was also the same. For this, Golden Crow Camp had specially forged all kinds of lingdan that were open to everyone so that each person had a daily ration.

The incident of Zuo Mo’s attempted assassination had deeply stimulated every single person on Turtle Island.

If something happened to Daren, the consequences … …

No one dared to imagine!

———

Zuo Mo was deathly exhausted after working for a whole day. He and the rock wall seemed to be at odds. The power of the rock wall was not ferocious or offensive but it greatly expended his three powers. Unknowingly in this struggle, the power inside Zuo Mo had been completely wrung out without a drop left.

When Zuo Mo realized this, he was so tired he didn’t even want to move a finger.

Leaning against the rock wall, he fell into a deep sleep.

How long has it been since he slept like a normal person? Zuo Mo couldn’t remember. As his power grew, his need for sleep decreased by the day. After cultivating the Great Day mo physique, he didn’t even need sleep.

He was in a heavy sleep like a child.

The dark cave was silent and an undetectable light suddenly floated on the rock wall.

The light was extremely weak and carried a slight green as it slowly permeated Zuo Mo’s body.

Deep in slumber, Zuo Mo did not detect it.

The speed of the green energy’s permeation was not fast and it was soundless.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s dantian and the space between his brow suddenly lit up. At the same time, his body lit up with a faint golden energy.

At this most crucial time, Zuo Mo’s three powers started to cooperate to stop the green energy.

The speed of the green energy’s permeation instantly slowed.

The lights on Zuo Mo’s body continuously changed. Four kinds of power, four kinds of light, all lit up and dimmed, changing constantly.

There was no pain on his face. He had an infant-like smile on the corner of his mouth and he was in a sweet sleep.

He was having a strange dream.

Chapter 492: Greenwood Secret Realm

Zuo Mo was having a very strange dream.

There were endless clouds and water over the remote swamp, the howls of unknown wild beasts sounding among the waist-high grasses, long multi-colored bird with their long tails flying around the high and green forests. The sky suddenly darkened, Zuo Mo raised his head and inhaled sharply. An large and strange looking unidentified bird slowly passed over his head, like a black cloud .

Zuo Mo had never seen such a gigantic bird before. In front of it, the wasteland beast was like a little child. Its spread wings covered the sun and sky, creating darkness and everywhere it passed, it was as though night had come.

He dumbly gaped with an upraised face.

Before he could recover from his shock, a low voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Who are you? Why have you invaded my Greenwood Secret Realm? Leave now, and your life will be spared!”

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and hurriedly turned around. He found that a blurry figure had appeared near him at an unknown time. This person was clearly near him but no matter how he tried, Zuo Mo could not make out his figure. The other’s figure was a blur.

“Greenwood Secret Realm? Where is this place? Who are you? Why am I here?” Zuo Mo asked dazedly.

He still hadn’t managed to react and understand how he had appeared here. He tried to recall but his memories seemed to be blank.

The other did not seem to expect Zuo Mo to ask such a question and was instantly stunned. He said to himself, “Who am I?”

“You don’t even know who you are?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. He suddenly found the other was especially slow.

“Who am I? Who am I … …” the dark figure recited over and over, his tone slightly panicked. He could not remember.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt the other was pitiful and felt some empathy due to being afflicted with the same predicament himself. His features had been changed and his memories erased so all of his memories before Wu Kong Mountain had disappeared.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush.” Zuo Mo hurriedly comforted the other, “It’s alright if you cannot remember. A man’s name is meaningless in this world.”

The other stopped and seemed to ponder Zuo Mo’s words.

Zuo Mo said in a familiar tone, “Brother, what is this Greenwood Secret Realm? Are you familiar with this place?”

“Of course I am familiar,” the other unconsciously replied, “the Greenwood Secret Realm is the Greenwood Secret Realm, the place that I guard.”

“So this is Brother’s territory!” Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly lit up and he flattered, “No wonder I feel that Big Brother is of such extraordinary bearing. From the presence, you do not seem like the average person! These days, anyone with territory is a great person! Big Brother, you are too strong! Since this is Big Brother’s territory, Big Brother has to cover Little Brother!”

It may have been that he was shaken by Zuo Mo’s words or that he still hadn’t recovered from the conundrum of “who he was’ but he paused when facing Zuo Mo’s flattery and then asked dumbly, “What is cover?”

“That is if there is wine, everyone drinks together, and if there is food, everyone eats together,” Zuo Mo said with a thick face. He was not speaking nonsense, he just felt that the other held no enmity towards him. It may have been that the other also had amnesia that Zuo Mo found a thread of intimacy with the other.

This kind of feeling was very rare for Zuo Mo.

The shadow made a sound of acknowledgement without real understanding. The blurry figure started to clear and Zuo Mo finally saw the other’s true features.

A head full of bright green hair that extended to the shoulders, a handsome but thin face, the features were exquisite as though they were carved. The black and shining eyes were as deep as the dark night that stared at Zuo Mo with interest. The clothing he wore was made from countless black-green vines with the leaves as armor that were layered beautifully.

“As expected of Big Brother! So handsome that women will have to use illusory formations!” Zuo Mo gave another piece of flattery. After saying this, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of tragedy. Every person around him was extraordinarily handsome and as their boss, there was too much pressure on him!

No wonder it had been such a long time since he had encountered those beautiful women in illusory formations, the ones that increased a person’s heartbeat and the flow of blood, it was probably related to this … …

“Women use illusory formations?” The other had a confused expression. He clearly did not know what Zuo Mo was speaking about.

Zuo Mo did not explain and looked in all directions as he asked curiously, “Big Brother, how did I get here?”

“This is the Greenwood Secret Realm of the Sun Shen Temple, are you here to explore the Sun Shen Temple?”

The other suddenly lost his woodenness, his eyes as sharp as knives that seemed to piece Zuo Mo’s heart.

Zuo Mo shook and his memories came back like a flood. He instantly remembered everything.

“This is the Sun Shen Temple?” Zuo Mo said with bewilderment. “I was clearly studying shen power by touching the rock wall, have I comprehended shen power?”

“Comprehend shen power?” The green-haired male’s brow creased, “Shen power is innate, how can there be comprehension?”

“Shen power is innate?” Zuo Mo’s head shook like a rattle drum. “I never heard of anyone born with shen power. It might be that the ancient era is different than the cultivators now. Shen power was lost a long time ago. What we cultivate now is ling power, spiritual consciousness, and mo physique.”

“Shen power is lost?” The green-haired male stilled.

“Tens of thousands of years, it would be strange if it was not lost!” Zuo Mo muttered.

In reality, he didn’t have good feelings regarding ancient things. Even the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art that was from just a few thousand years ago had tortured him to the point he wanted death, much less an ancient power like the Soul Setting Divine Light.

“Tens of thousands of years … … so it has been tens of thousands of years … …” the green-haired male murmured to himself, his expression lost.

“Big Brother, are you alright?” Zuo Mo asked carefully.

The green-haired male did not pay attention to him. A long while later, he gave a long sigh and said, “So the Sun Tribe is also gone.”

Zuo Mo nodded. “Gone a long time ago. There are no tribes now, no totems. I’ve gone to the Sealed Extinction Battlefield, there is a patch of gold crystal sand sea there, it should be the place that a warrior of the Sun Tribe fell. Oh, I also saw the Sun Crystal Seed.”

Zuo Mo recalled the Sun Crystal Seed that he had gotten from the Sealed Extinction Battlefield. After the strange corpse sealed the Sun Crystal Seed, it was like a normal crystal ball.

He only knew this was something good but up until now, he did not know how to use it. The strange corpse only told him this was a good item, but Zuo Mo couldn’t even determine its grade, and didn’t know when he could use it.

Wealth should not be shown. Zuo Mo did not know if the other would be greedy so he didn’t plan on taking it out.

“Sun Crystal Seed … … as strong as the Sun Tribe is, it cannot escape the ravages of time.” The green-haired male sighed and then he suddenly raised his head to look at Zuo Mo with a wry smile. “Even if I take it, your Sun Crystal Seed is useless to me. Do not worry that I will take it.”

Zuo Mo almost choked on air. He was shocked inside, and the next words the green-haired man almost caused his soul to depart.

“A person that has the power to seal the Sun Crystal Seed is very strong!” the green-haired male said lightly.

Even with Zuo Mo’s thick face, he felt unable to bear up with being exposed but what he was shocked even more at was the power of the green-haired male!

The other was even able to examine what was inside his ring. How great was his power!

“No wonder you were able to enter here,” the green-haired-male said to himself, “fate naturally occurs.”

Zuo Mo was confused and couldn’t help but ask, “Big Brother, what are you talking about?”

The green-haired male suddenly raised his head and smiled slightly. “Your luck is pretty good, come inside with me.”

Zuo Mo felt his vision blur and then he was at a different place.

When he looked around, his mouth instantly opened and could not close.

Looking around, he saw endless dense forests. Tree crowns formed a vast ocean of trees. He was able to see ancient yao beasts suddenly appear and disappear among the ocean of trees.

Zuo Mo was on the crown of an enormous tree.

What was strangest was that there were seven suns on the sky above his head that were like seven enormous fireballs hanging on the firmament.

“This is the Greenwood Secret Realm,” the green-haired male said faintly. There was a transparent bubble in his hand and inside it was a miniature tree ocean.

“Greenwood Secret Realm?” Zuo Mo asked.

“The Sun Tribe was one of the strongest tribes, and their temples were spread across the land. See the seven suns above your head? They symbolize the status of this shen temple, the highest ranked shen temple will have ten suns.”

The green-haired male slowly said, “The shen temple is primarily fire-oriented and so it has gold, wood, water, and earth realms positioned to guard the four cardinal directions of the temple. Each secret realm has a defender, and I am the defender for Greenwood Secret Realm.”

Zuo Mo gaped.

“I’m not some big brother,” the green-haired male said with a bitter smile, “those that guard the secret realms are experts that the Sun Tribe have captured from other tribes. I remember who I am now. I am the sun of the Green Vine tribe, Qing Ling. The realm masters of the three other secret realms are also experts of other tribes.”

Zuo Mo was even more stunned. He finally seemed to understand a bit of how powerful the Sun Tribe had been in the past.

“The Sun tribe has fallen, we will also die.” Qing Ling had an expression of release.

Zuo Mo jumped. “Why is it like this?”

“All of us had jinzhi set into us. The Sun Tribe has fallen, so theoretically, we should have died long ago. But the shen temple was suddenly closed down in the past and was blocked off from the outside world. It also blocked off the power of the jinzhi. Now that the shen temple is going to open and  see the light of day again, the power of the jinzhi will not be blocked any longer.

The green-haired male’s tone was nonchalant. Seeing Zuo Mo’s panicked expression, he comforted, “This is a kind of release for us. The shen temple has been closed off for so many years, without the power of the totem, it is a fate worse than death when the jinzhi causes a backlash every decade.

He did not want to speak more of the topic and said, “You have the Sun Crystal Seed so you should not have any problem inside the shen temple if you do not go to places too dangerous. The Sun Tribe had been dominant for a time and there are countless treasures inside the shen temple. Even though much has been destroyed but there should be some things remaining, this is an opportunity for you.”

“However ,before that, you need shen power.”

These words were like a basin of cold water that poured from head to toe. Zuo Mo’s heart was cold.

Why did it still need shen power … …

Seeing the expression on Zuo Mo’s face was as though he was going to cry without tears, the green-haired male said with a smile, “You have the Sun Crystal Seed. Helping you will not betray the jinzhi of the shen temple. I can help you think of a way with shen power.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly lit up and he hurriedly said, “What way?”

Chapter 493: Qing Lin

“Elder.”

Lu Shu’s respectful voice came from outside the door.

“Come in.”

The wooden door creaked open without any wind. Li Shu respectfully walked in and first bowed towards Elder Shen.

“What? Looking at A Shu’s face, it seems that you are worried about something.” Elder Shen asked Li Shu with a warm expression. Li Shu was an inner sect disciple and deeply liked by the sect leader so even he had to give him some face.

“I’m not afraid that Elder will laugh. But for some reason, this disciple feels slightly unconfident.” Li Shu grimaced.

He had only taken over this mission in the recent few years but he knew more than Elder Shen. From the moment the location of the ruins had been divined, the sect had sent Lu Zhen and the others to set up Xu Ling Sect. All the signs indicated that the sect wanted the Sun Shen Temple ruins.

He finally learned later that there was a wondrous treasure inside the Sun Shen Temple ruins that was extremely important to the sect. However, he did not know what treasure it was. For this, the sect even sent out a yuanying elder!

In his experience during the many years he had been in the sect, the yuanying elders were all in deep seclusion and only focused on cultivation. It was hard to even get see their face. This was the first time he saw a yuanying elder out on a mission.

It was possible to see from this just how much importance the sect placed on this mission`s success.

If there was any misstep in the mission this time, he naturally would not escape the judgment of “unable to carry out matters.” This would be extremely disadvantageous for his future in the sect. The sect leader paid great attention to him but in reality, there were many disciples like him.

Elder Shen said with a smile, “A Shu does not need to worry. Before leaving, the sect leader made a special divination and did not see any sudden changes. As for the Masked Assassin, even though he has some small fame but this old man has a slight grasp on the situation. The other two yuanying have pretty good cultivation, but in other matters, they amount to just that.”

In his tone, he was extremely disdainful of the two yuanying from Cloud Sea Jie.

The worry on Lu Shu’s face decreased greatly. The sect leader’s godly divination had never been disproven before. Just yesterday, he had received the sect leader’s paper crane. There was only gentle motivation on the paper crane, and nothing else. If there really was change, how could the sect leader not know?

It seemed that he was really worrying too much.

“Elder is right, losing composure like this, this disciple needs more training,” Li Shu said.

Elder Shen was not concerned and said with a smile, “A Shu’s personality is cautious. Not bad, not bad. When this old man was the same age as A Shu, this one was even less skilled at keeping one’s composure. There are four more days until the shen temple opens. A Shu should have a good rest in these days to be in the best condition.”

“Yes!” Li Shu responded. The elder’s tone was warm but the meaning in the words was still for him to stop thinking nonsense.

There should not be anything that would go wrong in the span of four days.

———

“I heard you failed?” a middle-aged person with a white face and no beard said with a smile, “That is rare. If this spreads, this person might become famous.”

In front of him, the Masked Assassin was wordless like a wooden puppet and the pale white mask was frightening to look at.

“Why did you think of attacking this person? Did you discover something?” the middle-aged male asked with curiously.

He had jumped in fright when he received the news. He and the Masked Assassin had worked together for a long time and he understood the other well. The Masked Assassin walked in the darkness but was not a murderous person. Other than the targets of assassination, he almost never acted against other people.

He had actually attacked a complete stranger, how could he not be shocked? What was even more shocking was that he had failed!

The middle-aged male’s first response when he heard this was, impossible! Even when the topic had heated up later on, he still did not believe it until now.

The response of the Masked Assassin proved the truth.

“Intuition,” the masked assassin treated words as though they were worth gold and gave the one word answer.

“Intuition?” The middle-aged male was shocked. He had thought of countless possibilities but this was not among them.

“He will affect my target.” The Masked Assassin’s voice was hoarse and unpleasant to hear like the sound of sandpaper rubbing.

“Affect your target?” The middle-aged male was astonished. But as one who was familiar with the other, he instantly understood what the other meant. “You mean that you intuitively feel that he would affect our matter?”

“Yes,” the Masked Assassin responded.

The middle-aged male became silent. He knew that the Masked Assassin had many curious qualities. This was also one of the reasons he never failed.

The Masked Assassin’s intuition felt that the other would affect their target, this caused the middle-aged person to feel it was fantastical.

But for some reason, the middle-aged male believed slightly in it.

“Should we think of a way to kill him?” the middle-aged male inquired.

“Formation is strong,” the Masked Assassin said.

“Then what?” the middle-aged male asked.

“Don’t know.”

The middle-aged male was speechless..

———

“This method is very simple, it is applying the Sun Crystal Seed to your body,” Qing Lin explained.

“This thing is useful?” Zuo Mo took out the Sun Crystal Seed. Since the other had found it, there was no reason to keep hiding it.

“Your power is not enough, and cannot take in the Sun Crystal Seed. The person who sealed the Sun Crystal Seed must also have thought this,” Qing Lin continued, “But he probably would not have thought that you would come across a Sun Shen Temple.”

Zuo Mo’s eyes were perked up in fear of missing a word.

“The Sun Crystal Seed is the seed of the Sun Tribe’s totem and used to nurture the totem warriors of their tribe. The totem warriors were strong but they also had great constraints. Since the Sun Tribe is gone now, and so is the belief of the tribe members, there is no totem power, and you cannot become a totem warrior.”

Zuo Mo was instantly greatly disappointed. After all this, this stuff had lost its effect.

Seeing the disappointment on Zuo Mo’s face, Qing Ling couldn’t help smiling, “You may not be able to become a totem warrior, but the Sun Crystal Seed itself is a rare and precious treasure in our world. It naturally has its own extraordinary properties. Do you know how the Sun Crystal Seed forms?”

Zuo Mo finally became spirited again. “How does it form?”

“Each generation of totem warriors from the Sun Tribe would try all they can to go to those primitive worlds, or places of chaos to search for unformed suns. They would first seal them into crystals, and then forge them day and night using the power of belief. Fifty years later, it would become a Sun Crystal Seed.”

Zuo Mo gaped on hearing this.

An unformed sun … ..

Motherf***er, so ge is holding a little sun!

“Each Sun Crystal Seed is a priceless treasure! If the Sun Tribe did not fall and die out, how could this Sun Crystal Seed end up in the hands of someone else?” Speaking of this, Qing Lin became slightly emotional. He shook his head and then said, “Your luck is pretty good to be able to encounter such an object, and also a person that could seal this object. Now you have also encountered a Sun Shen Temple that has not disappeared. Maybe there really is fate.”

Seeing Zuo Mo’s shocked face, Qing Lin grinned. He had a pretty good feeling about Zuo Mo. This person seemed slippery of the tongue and slightly cunning but still had a pure heart.

“The belief power in this Sun Crystal Seed probably has dissipated. If another ten thousand years passes, it may form another sun. In the future, you have to remember not to reveal the fact you possess the Sun Crystal Seed to prevent a calamity from falling on you.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo nodded furiously.

In the past, he only knew that this object was probably extraordinary, but he did not know how this was useful. After learning this, he finally understood how valuable of a gift the strange corpse had given him!

“Originally, the Sun Crystal Seed needs to be worshipped at the sacrificial altar before it can be absorbed. But the sacrificial altar in the shen temple has been abandoned for a long time. So we have to use a stupid method.”

As Qing Lin spoke, a jade-like water droplet suddenly condensed at his fingertip as he gently poked Zuo Mo’s forehead.

Boom!

Zuo Mo felt a coolness spread from his brow and roll downwards.

His entire body was unspeakably comfortable, and his mouth and nose was filled with the scent of fresh flora.

“This Greenvine Mystical Water is your big brother’s meeting gift to you,” Qing Lin said with a smile. His face was slightly pale. “It is very lacking compared to the Sun Crystal Seed, don’t look down at it.”

Zuo Mo was very moved. His nose became sore as he made a deep bow and said sincerely, “Big Brother!”

Qing Lin held him up and had a happy expression. “After muddling tens of thousands of years, I have no regrets in this life to encounter a brother again!” He then said, “This drop of Greenvine Mystical Water was a harvest from an old vine that was ten thousand years old. If Brother can absorb it well, it will be of great benefit.”

Zuo Mo could only nod dumbly. He suddenly took out a pile of treasures he usually treasured as though they were his life and said, “Big Brother, take a look. If there is something useful, please take it!”

“Oh, Brother has many good things,” Qing Lin said with a smile as he flipped through. “This broken arrow is probably the weapon of the totem warrior from the Archer Tribe. This broken bell should be the greatest treasure of the Eastern Water Tribe and is called the Celestial Bell. This black rock is the Nether Ghost Core, the greatest treasure of the Nether Ghost Tribe. It is a pity that this brother can just barely recognize them and I do not know how to use them.”

“This is all things I picked up from the Sealed Extinction Battlefield. My friend said that is the place many warriors died,” Zuo Mo said. These treasures had all been obtained when Zuo Mo had followed the strange corpse out of the Sealed Extinction Battlefield. They had gone through many places of death similar to the gold crystal sand sea. The strange corpse didn’t have much interest in these objects and gave them all to Zuo Mo.

“So that is the case!” Qing Lin nodded. “The Sealed Extinction Battlefield, as expected of the Battle of Sealed Extinction! The grave of so many warriors … …”

With a long sigh, Qing Lin pushed the objects in front of Zuo Mo. “This brother accepts Brother’s good intentions, but I will not be able to use these things. Brother, keep them on you and remember to not easily show them to others.”

Zuo Mo instantly said, “Big Brother, pick a few!”

“There really is no use.” Qin Lin pushed the objects back in front of Zuo Mo and said, “This brother does have something to request.”

“What? Big Brother, say it!” Zuo Mo said unhesitatingly.

“If Brother has free time in the future, can you go to this place to look. There may be descendents of mine here. If they are lucky and are still alive, Brother, please help look after them for me.” Qing Lin pointed again and Zuo Mo felt a jie map appear in his mind.

“Seas turn to mulberry fields, everything probably has changed. Shidi, do not deliberately go looking. If you encounter them, just giving them  a helping hand and it is enough,” Qing Lin said.

“No problem!” Zuo Mo nodded heavily. He decided inside that he would definitely go to this place to search.

Qing Lin smiled slightly and reached out a hand. “Brother, lend the Sun Crystal Seed to me for use.”

Zuo Mo hurriedly gave the Sun Crystal Seed to Qing Lin’s hand.

At this time, a bright green light suddenly came from Qing Lin’s hand and wrapped around the Sun Crystal Seed, the other end of the light entangling around Zuo Mo!

Chapter 494: Awaken

The bright green light was tender and glistening as its threads burrowed into the Sun Crystal Seed.

The dim Sun Crystal Seed started to violently shake as though there was an ancient beast howling within it.

Qing Lin’s expression was grave, his black eyes extremely bright like the stars in the night sky. His green hair moved despite the lack of wind and floated freely.

The Sun Crystal Seed suddenly released a blinding light. Countless sharp golden energies suddenly shot out like swords!

The blinding red light flowed out of the Sun Crystal Seed following the green light and into Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt his mind explode. Countless burning flows that were like lava charged into his mind. A heart-tearing pain came from the bottom of his soul. He didn’t even have time to wail before he lost consciousness.

At the other end of the green light, Zuo Mo’s eyes were tightly closed, and clearly had fainted. His body floated uncontrollably in the air. The blinding red light shrouded Zuo Mo. It quickly found an opening and burrowed in through Zuo Mo’s mouth and nose.

This burst of red light came extremely quickly. In a blink, it burrowed completely into Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo’s hair suddenly started burning.

Flames shot out of Zuo Mo’s skin and in a blink, he became a person of fire.

At this time, a thread of water suddenly rose from Zuo Mo’s dantian to combat the flames. It was the Greenvine Mystical Water that Qing Lin had gifted Zuo Mo.

The unordinary red light rampaged in Zuo Mo’s body and had suddenly encountered an enemy.

But this drop of mystical water was not ordinary either. Qing Lin had harvested it from a ten thousand year old vine. After being nurtured for tens of thousands of years, it was extremely pure. The Sun Crystal Seed was domineering, but since its owner had died tens of thousands of years ago, it was not maintained  and was lacking compared to in its past.

With the improvement on one side and the degeneration on the other, the two were evenly matched at the moment.

The Sun Crystal Seed was forged from the embryo of a sun, and was naturally domineering. Even if it had been tens of thousands of years, and it was greatly damaged, this dominance had not disappeared.

Encountering a strong enemy, its dominance was stimulated and its fiery presence was released.

The fire on Zuo Mo’s body rose and shot up. A high temperature shockwave of air swept outwards with Zuo Mo as the center.

The enormous tree under their feet turned to dust. Everywhere the wave of air passed, the flora turned to dust and the ground started to melt.

“As expected of the Sun Crystal Seed!” Qing Lin laughed lightly. Looking at Zuo Mo’s face, his thoughts suddenly floated away and those distant and blurry memories seemed to gradually become clear in front of him as though they were swept of dust.

Brother … …

A young and unfamiliar face became clear in his mind.

The distant emotions instantly filled his heart. He turned his face and gazed at Zuo Mo’s unconscious face. That young and unfamiliar face in his heart seemed to gradually merge with Zuo Mo’s face.

His heart that had not moved for thousands of years seemed to be plucked.

He smiled.

He stretched out his right arm and pointed at the sky.

A shining dot of light suddenly appeared in the sky like a star lighting up!

A slender and straight golden pillar shot down, from the distant horizon, through the endless void of the firmament above their heads, with the glory of tens of thousands of years!

It shot rapidly towards the ground and the ray of light accurately struck the finger Qing Lin had raised up.

Boom!

A light sound that shook the surroundings!

Qing Lin’s body shook as though he was struck by lightning. A vast and writhing power suddenly expanded with him as the center!

Pia pia pia!

The enormous trees that were dozens of zhang thick were easily cut down as though they were slender rods. The wave of air was destructive and everywhere it passed, the ground rippled and trees flew.

All of Greenwood Secret Realm was violently shuddering!

Under the pure golden ray of light, Qing Lin’s eyes flashed with an unspeakable light like a burning star. That free smile carried contentment and warmth.

He did not tell Zuo Mo that he was the only  defender of the four realms that had preserved his intelligence. The other three people’s minds had been lost through the thousands of years, and became monsters that only had instinct and murderous intent.

In the entire shen temple, he was the only one that had clarity of mind.

The loneliness of tens of thousands of years, how long it was!

He did not tell Zuo Mo when the Sun Shen Temple finished opening, the guardians of the realm like him would burn like the suns at the end of their lives, burning as never before, burning away their life!

He also did not tell Zuo Mo that in these tens of thousands of years, he had gone into every corner of the shen temple. The shen temple that only had him left meant that he could use a portion of the power of the shen temple.

Maybe this was fate. He could not stop the shen temple from activating. But this was also fate that he encountered a brother.

Tens of thousands of years … … it was long enough … …

Under the gold light, he smiled slightly!

The shen temple violently trembled, rocks rolling on the abandoned sacrificial altar. The shen scripts that were covered in dust and cobwebs lit up. The serene light started to pulse as well, quickly spreading to every corner of the shen temple. The entire shen temple started to tremble.

After sleeping for tens of thousands of years, the power that once represented the greatest glory of an era was woken from its deep slumber.

———

Just preparing to rest, Li Shu suddenly felt the ground under his feet tremble and couldn’t help but pause.

Earthquake?

Abruptly, he detected a peerlessly dominant presence suddenly explode nearby! This presence was absolutely dominant, the light like the sun in the middle of the day such that people were unable to face it directly.

Li Shu was astounded and hurried out of the room.

When he charged out of the room, the shocking scene in front of him stunned him completely!

———

“Don’t know?” the middle-aged man said urgently, “this time, I have spent a great price to get this piece of information. If I cannot find that treasure, it would be a great loss!”

The Masked Assassin sat woodenly without a word.

The middle-aged male was impatient but he didn’t dare to direct his anger at the Masked Assassin. He had a pained expression. He had originally thought that with the Masked Assassin present, it would be an easy task but this group of people with unknown origins popped up out of nowhere. He could not let it go.

At this time, the ground suddenly shuddered.

“What sort of place is this? They have earthquakes!” In a bad mood, the middle-aged male swore.

Suddenly, a peerlessly domineering presence exploded without warning. The pressure brought with the terrifying power was like an enormous stone on everyone’s chests, pushing them down uncomfortably.

The middle-aged male was greatly shocked. He was just going to ask the Masked Assassin when he found that the Masked Assassin had already disappeared.

He hurriedly charged out of the room. When he saw the figure of the Masked Assassin, he was slightly reassured.

When he directed his gaze towards the direction the power had erupted from, he seemed to be struck by lightning and stunned where he stood!

———

The enormous light pillar that was one hundred and fifty li in radius was continuously shrinking.

Everyone present had keen eyes, and instantly found it was continuously contracting, no, it was compressing! The golden light was becoming more condensed with every moment and even denser!

The golden light which had been pure became dark gold after being compressed.

The ground was trembling, violently trembling, and the pebbles continuously trembled and were thrown about as if they were jumping.

A deep and muffled sound came from the deep inside  earth as though there was a monster howling underneath! Crack, half of a mountain range suddenly crumbled. Some xiuzhe with low cultivation were unable to escape in time and buried alive.

The xiuzhe all flew into the sky with terror on their faces. In the air, they could see more clearly. The hard ground was like mud at this time, as though there was an invisible hand that was easily molding it.

Everyone’s already ugly expressions became even whiter!

In front of such worldly power, their power was so minuscule and insignificant!

Li Shu was disheveled as he flew next to Elder Shen, “Elder, this is … …”

“Something definitely is happening in the shen hall!” Elder Shen said in a deep voice. He was also astounded inside, but he showed calmness on the outside. “Do not worry, the Sun Tribe had flourished for a time. It would be unusual if there wasn’t any disturbance when their shen temple opened.”

Hearing this, Li Shu was slightly reassured. He couldn’t help but praise, “Elder is right! This presence is intimidating!”

Elder Shen snorted coldly, “Intimidating? The Sun Tribe has died out long ago, and even our sect’s great formation might also have such presence! Do not be frightened by these outdated and rotten powers!”

“This disciple understands!” Li Shu said hurriedly. It seemed that his words had caused Elder to be displeased. He hurriedly changed the topic. “Elder, do you think that someone has entered ahead of everyone?”

“Impossible!” Elder Shen shook his head. “The Sun Tribe is extremely closed off to outsiders, and thought of the world to be conquered by them. How can their shen temple allow others to enter? Unless the other is also of the Sun Tribe. But this is basically impossible. After the Battle of Sealed Extinction, all the warriors of the Sun Tribe fell, and they were attacked by the other tribes, and all died out. All of their shen temples were destroyed. This shen temple was able to avoid that fate because, it is very remote and few people knew of it. The other was the head priest at the time saw the situation and closed the shen temple from the inside world and sank it into the ground. Who can live for thousands of years?”

Li Shu was intoxicated on the words. With Elder’s few words, he depicted a vast ancient battle!

Suddenly, Elder Shen stopped, his gaze focusing tightly on the pillar of light.

The light pillar was compressed into ten li, fifteen times smaller than before!

It wasn’t like a pillar of light now, but a dark crimson and gold pillar that seemed tangible.

Suddenly, the lower end of the pillar started to disappear. No, it wasn’t disappearing, it was shrinking upwards.

Those who had keen eyes instantly exclaimed, “It is shrinking inwards!”

Those that were alerted looked closely. As said, the upper end of the pillar was also shrinking towards the middle at an astounding rate.

The scene was extremely strange. It was like a golden rod that had two ends that were shrinking back towards the middle and quickly became short.

Fantastical!

Everyone knew that this gold pillar wasn’t something substantial but a pillar of light! How could a pillar of light shrink from both ends?

What was going on?

The following scene caused everyone to lose the ability of speech.

Chapter 495: Intuition

The golden pillar that connected the earth and sky was shrinking inwards at a visible rate.

The pillar of light grew increasingly shorter, and the color of the gold pillar became increasingly dark, the blinding golden light become a dark crimson gold.

The entire process continued for almost fifteen minutes and the pillar finally shrank into a golden ball—a dark red gold sun hung in the dark sky.

All of Cloud Sea Jie suddenly became silent.

———

“Sun Shen Temple … …” Li Shu looked at the sky and murmured.

They were close and the heat made it seem as though they were in a cauldron. He could feel the intimidating presence of the ball of light. Waves of hot air were continuously released from the ball of light. The temperature of the air quickly rose and became burning hot. Everything within his field of view started to warp. The grass on the ground quickly withered at a visible rate, even the endless cloud sea under their feet was swept clean by the burning air and they were able to see an exposed corner of the Sun Shen Temple.

A shen temple from tens of thousands of years ago, after being whittled away by time, it still had such terrifying presence! How great would it have been at its peak?

At this moment, Li Shu’s thoughts wandered.

Elder Shen did not speak and a shocked expression was also on his face. His cultivation was yuanying and he could squeeze into the ranks of the higher classes in the entire Four Realm Heaven. His knowledge was much greater than Li Shu, and with that, he was able to understand what the scene in front of them represented better than Li SHu.

Yearning and heat flashed across his eyes!

Beside the two people, Lu Zhen and the others gaped as they looked in disbelief at the enormous dark red sun in the sky. They were dumbstruck.

Suddenly, Elder Shen said gravely, “You will need to prepare. The movement from the Sun Shen Temple has been so great this time, people should have guessed that it is not long before it opens. At that time, a battle will be unavoidable … …”

Elder Shen’s words pulled Li Shu and the other’s back to reality. They hurriedly said together, “Yes!”

Elder Shen looked deeply at the corner of the Sun Shen Temple that was exposed and then disappeared.

Li Shu’s gaze unconsciously moved back to the dark gold and red sun. Recovered, he couldn’t help but frown. They only learned the time of the activation through divination but hadn’t expected that the Sun Shen Trible would make such noise before it activated. This undoubtedly increased the difficulty.

No matter if it was him, or Elder Shen, they would never think that the scene in front of them had nothing to do at all with the activation of the shen temple!

It was a due to certain person getting in first … …

———

“Beautiful! So beautiful!” The middle-aged male looked intoxicatedly at the ball of light that seemed like a sun in the sky.

The Masked Assassin did not speak. That pale white and unusual mask seemed to be dyed a dark crimson gold.

“Ah, it is troublesome now!” the middle-aged male suddenly exclaimed. “Such a great spectacle, everyone will know that the shen temple is going to open! It’s over, over! I had originally planned for us to sneak in before everyone else reacts, and get the thing. There’s nothing to do now!”

The Masked Assassin did not speak.

The middle-aged male’s attitude seemed grievous as he nattered on.

The Masked Assassin suddenly interrupted him, “There’s people.”

“There’s people?” The middle-aged male stilled and suddenly reacted. A light flashed across his eyes. “You are saying there’s people inside the temple? Someone got in?”

“En.”

“Damn it!” The middle-aged male held his head with both hands and couldn’t help but curse, “Bastard!”

But he quickly thought of something and the anger on his face dissipated. He said smugly, “Ha! Impossible! The defenses of the shen temple are so strong that it is not something a person can damage. Unless it is a descendant of the Sun Tribe, no one can break through this layer of protection. Ha, I got someone to divine before. The Sun Tribe has died out, not even a hair is left.”

The Masked Assassin did not argue and was silent.

Seeing this, the middle-aged person showed a hesitant expression. He knew the Masked Assassin was not one to speak nonsense and couldn’t help but inquire, “How do you know that there are people inside?”

Like a puppet, the Masked Assassin indifferently spat out a word, “Intuition.”

The middle-aged male felt a cloud move over his head.

The damned intuition!

This person’s intuition … … had always been very accurate!

———

Zuo Mo slowly woke up.

He found he was leaning on the stone wall and everything was as before he fell asleep.

Had he just had a dream?

Zuo Mo shook his head. Everything that happened in the dream was so clear. He hesitated and then started to inspect his body.

The Greenvine Mystical Water was silently curled up in his body like a tamed pet. At some unknown time, a little sun appeared in his dantian.

The sun was very small, the light released threads of warmth. The warmth followed into his channels and to every part of his body. His entire body was warm and felt unspeakably comfortable.

The three powers that had been tangled up and hard to pick apart in his body had completely merged together and had become a power that he was unfamiliar with.

A thought imprint that contained countless information caused Zuo Mo to understand everything.

Uncontrollably, two lines of hot tears spilled from Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Big Brother Qing Lin … …

That wasn’t a dream!

Zuo Mo wiped away his tears, knelt on the ground and kowtowed gravely three times towards the rock wall. Zuo Mo was not too sorrowful, not because he was used to death in this chaotic state of the world but because in the thought imprint that Big Brother Qing Lin had left behind, it was filled with the emotional sentiments of being released. This kind of ending was one that Big Brother Qing Lin wanted, and what he chose.

What Zuo Mo could do was finish Big Brother’s last wish. He decided inside that no matter what, he would go and visit Big Brother’s homeland.

———

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao and Wei were silent.

A moment later, Wei said, “The Greenvine Tribe is also a very powerful tribe in the history records. This Qing Lin’s shen power is immeasurable. He probably was also a great warrior in the past. I hadn’t expected that he would be imprisoned in the shen temple for tens of thousands of years.”

Pu Yao had once been imprisoned in the Yao Subduing Tower for thousands of years as well and understood the hopelessness. To be able to keep his sanity after being imprisoned for tens of thousands of years in a closed-off shen temple, even Pu Yao who usually had his nose in the sky couldn’t help but feel great admiration.

No matter how powerful one was, they could not stop the power of time. Those experts that were imprisoned in the jinzhi and illusory realms were not killed by the jinzhi or illusions, but by the power of time.

Loneliness and hopelessness were the most effective emotions to form mental demons. Once the mental demons were born, one’s mind would gradually be corroded by the demons and the person would become an inhuman monster.

Wei suddenly smiled after reflecting. “This boy’s fortune is plentiful.”

“Our contribution.” Pu Yao unashamedly claimed the achievement as his own. If Zuo Mo was here, he would be jumping in fury.

“Reasonable!” Wei expressed deep agreement but his tone turned. “But it is not easy to say if this is good fortune or calamity.”

“Oh?” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil narrowed and the flame around his body stilled.

“Shen power might have disappeared for a long time, but there would probably be people who would still recognize it.” Wei continued, “Look at what he has, Greenvine Mystical Water and Sun Crystal Seed are two ultimate treasures. If you or I encountered them, we probably could not avoid thinking of taking them, how about others? Any large sect would be moved.”

A bloody light flashed through Pu Yao’s bloody pupil as he said faintly, “Kill them.”

“Is it so easy to kill? You and I are like this now, we cannot directly act!” Wei said with a sigh.

Pu Yao smirked coldly. “You underestimate this boy! Don’t look at his unmotivated state, if he really wants to, hmph hmph!”

Wei said with a smile, “You are right, the boy usually muddles through things but can stand up at the crucial time. He is also very slippery. Trying to benefit from him is not very easy.”

“You don’t need to worry for him.” Pu Yao said unconcernedly. His tone then changed. “Are you interested in shen power?”

Wei gave a smile, “Of course.”

“Go study it?”

“Fits my intentions perfectly!”

The two exchanged a look.

———

The thought imprint that Big Brother Qing Lin left contained many pieces of information.

He had used the entire power of the Sun Shen temple to help Zuo Mo cultivate to shen power and also unsealed a thread of the seal on the Sun Crystal Seed so that Zuo Mo could use its power yet it would not be able to harm Zuo Mo. This could not count as absorbing the Sun Crystal Seed but it was the limit of what Qing Lin could do.

Other than this, Qing Lin also passed on how to process the Greenvine Mystical Water, and how to use it. He also left behind the [Greenvine] technique of the Greenvine Tribe to Zuo Mo. Qing Lin did however say that Zuo Mo was not suited to cultivating this technique and it could only function as a reference.

Of all this, what was most important to Zuo Mo was the detailed introduction to the Sun Shen Temple, how to enter the Sun Shen Temple, how to solve its formations, and where the talismans were.

With the aid of the Sun Shen Temple’s power, Zuo Mo’s three powers merged into one and became shen power. Adding on the influences from the Sun Crystal Seed, his shen power had a clear leaning, and was very suited to cultivating the methods of the Sun Tribe.

Qing Lin told Zuo Mo he had to find the techniques of the Sun Tribe and gave out several hidden places where the Sun Tribe methods could be stored.

After digesting all this information, Zuo Mo stood up again.

The ling power, spiritual consciousness, and mo physique in his body had completely disappeared and became a strange power.

Was this shen power?

Zuo Mo curiously inspected this completely unique power. Compared to ling power, spiritual consciousness, and the mo physique, shen power was completely different. No matter if it was ling power, spiritual consciousness, or the mo physique, they had their unique circulation pathways. Ling power travelled through channels, the consciousness centered at the brow, and the mo physique moved through sinew and flesh.

Shen power was completely different. It seemed completely aimless, burrowing randomly through Zuo Mo’ body.

The feeling that shen power gave Zuo Mo was a muddle. Its use was not as clear as the three powers. It might have been that he was too unfamiliar with it that Zuo Mo felt that shen power was very difficult to control and could not be used as he pleased with the three powers.

Even the weakest of his three powers, ling power was much easier to control than shen power.

Chaotic, unclear, hard to grasp, these were what Zuo Mo felt about shen power. This caused him to feel very awkward. No one liked power that was unclear and uncontrolled.

There was this phrase that was passed among xiuzhe. The strength of a xiuzhe was not how much power he possessed but how much power he could control.

Zuo Mo was a faithful follower of this view.

This new situation caused him to feel unusually awkward.

Chapter 496: Shen Technique

Zuo Mo did not immediately enter the Sun Shen Temple

It would rare for him to rashly do something even when there was a pile of talismans and jingshi in front of him. In his view, the most unprofitable business in the world would be to lose his little life.

He needed time to digest the thought imprint that big Brother Qing Lin had left him and the strange shen power in his body. With the three powers having disappeared, shen power became the only power that he could rely on. If he entered the temple with a muddled head, he was sure that even his bones wouldn’t survive. The Sun Shen Temple was not a peaceful garden. It was the exact opposite, and full of danger. Even if he had the thought imprint that Big Brother Qing Lin left him, it could not guarantee his safety.

Zuo Mo focused his attention on the shen power and quickly had a new discovery.

There was a faint layer of “essence” around his body. It was like a mist that shrouded around Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but think of the space shield that ling beasts had. This thing seemed slightly like the space shield. Starting from fourth-grade, the yao beasts would have a space shield around their body. This was a sign that the yao beast had left behind the lowest grades.

Had he become something similar to yao beasts?

Zuo Mo muttered inside.

The “essence” that was around Zuo Mo was not under Zuo Mo’s control. No matter how Zuo Mo tried to control them, they were unaffected. However, they were not useless. Zuo Mo could clearly feel every change in the surroundings.

This was not the same as the perception granted through the use of consciousness. In the area that the consciousness covered, Zuo Mo could detect the flow of energy, such as ling power and the mo physique. But everything within the range of this “space shield,” even if it was a speck of dust, would register into Zuo Mo’s mind.

Zuo Mo sensitively detected the difference between the two and he had a feeling that he could possibly control this “space shield”!

This feeling caused him to become extremely excited.

The “space shield” was a bonus to his new shen power and the surprises that shen power gave Zuo Mo were even greater.

Power!

Absolute power!

The power of shen power far surpassed any of the three powers!

Zuo Mo was still unable to use shen power, but even so, the magnitude of strength that the shen power had caused Zuo Mo to become excited! When he casually punched the round wall, there was no loud bang, no flying rocks or dirt, Zuo Mo’s right fist seemed to become deeply embedded in the rock like a knife entering tofu!

He pulled out his fist and a deep fist-sized hole was left in the rock.

One zhang!

One complete zhang deep!

If one could cut open the rock, they would find a straight and deep hole that was the diameter of a fist that extended one zhang deep.

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply and then could not disguise the joy on his face!

This punch looked normal but it had an unusual profoundness. The depth of one zhang was enough to show how powerful this one punch was, enough to rival flying swords. The ruler-straight deep hole that went from start to finish meant that the force of this punch was concentrated at one point and had not dissipated at all!

Zuo Mo knew just how frightening this was!

Even with the Great Day mo physique, he was unable to do this.

He look at his hands and then paused.

White, smooth, slender, the palms seemed feminine, were these his palms? No way! Zuo Mo was slightly stunned. He remembered very well that his palms in the past had seemed to be forged from metal and shone with a metallic sheen.

These hands were too feminine! It wasn’t just that the skin had changed, but his entire hand was a size smaller than before.

Zuo Mo was slightly discontent.

In comparison, he liked his previous hands that were seemed broad, full of power and masculine.

Had the shen power also changed his appearance?

Thinking about this, Zuo Mo shook and hurriedly took out a gold crystal broadsword from the ring. Using the mirror-smooth surface, he looked at himself.

He first sighed in relief but then his brow creased.

His features had not changed greatly but his figure was much thinner than before. In the past, his body had been balanced but it gave people the feeling of power due to cultivating the Great Day mo physique. Right now, that powerful presence had disappeared, and he was slightly … … delicate!

Yes, delicate!

Zuo Mo’s mood instantly turned bad. Ge hates little white faces the most!

Actually, from the perspective of appearances, Zuo Mo only became more refined. This did not make him look uglier and gave him a gentlemanly presence.

Of course, that was only before Zuo Mo spoke.

He was a qualified ruffian, an exceptional gangster, but definitely not a well behaved youth.

No matter how discontent Zuo Mo was, he could not control the changes of his body. Did the great ones of the ancient era like this style?

Zuo Mo discontently asked the great ones of the Sun Shen Temple but he decided to not waste time on this painful question.

So feminine!

There were countless talismans waiting in the shen temple for him!

Zuo Mo instantly threw the question of his appearance to the back of his mind, focused and started to explore his shen power.

With this search, he found another unusual occurrence—the Soul Setting Divine Light had burrowed into the shen power.

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked but he wasn’t too nervous. The Soul Setting Divine Light had just been a thread and was pitifully small. It was the same as shen power, and did not listen to his commands.

These two were of the same streak!

Once he decided to study something, Zuo Mo would usually quickly enter a focused state.

He used all the methods he knew of to experiment with shen power and gradually understood some of the peculiarities. For example, he found if he absorbed ling power, the ling power would be rapidly swallowed by the shen power. If he cultivated the mo physique, it would be the same result. The shen power would actively absorb power from his body. This was also why his present body looked slightly thin.

What was most exciting was that he found he could control ling power.

Zuo Mo found the explanation from the [Greenvine] technique. [Greenvine] was the cultivation technique of the Greenvine Tribe and completely opposite to the Sun Tribe. However, it also cultivated shen power so some basic techniques were not very different.

The control of shen power was extremely complex. Even with basic techniques, it had stringent demands of body, essence and consciousness.

After studying a few basic techniques, a strange feeling grew. Body, essence, consciousness … … wasn’t that the techniques to control the three powers?

Zuo Mo suddenly realized.

He didn’t know what shen power was, but shen power was definitely the product of his three powers being merged together. So naturally, how it would be controlled would be using the control techniques of the three powers at the same time.

Thinking this through, Zuo Mo was very motivated.

However, he quickly found the difficulty in doing this was very high. In other words, he had to channel his mo skills, spells, and yao arts at the same time, and the three had to reach a perfect balance melding together before he could control shen power.

It was too difficult!

In just moments, Zuo Mo was soaked in sweat. Without the support of the mo physique, he had returned to his previous weak little body, and his endurance could not be said to be good.

According to the demands on [Greenvine], Zuo Mo clumsily twisted his body like a drunkard, his steps stumbling strangely as he stammered.

“Green vines luminous flower, serene moon a crescent, mountains tall waters clear, harmonious and still … … ordered and regular … …”

His eyes were wide as he tried to draw out a strange shape in his mind that was similar to yao arts.

Before he could finish drawing it out, his legs softened. Zuo Mo was unable to control himself and landed on his behind on the ground.

Pant pant pant!

Zuo Mo furiously gasped, his eyes wide.

After resting for a full half-hour, he finally recovered and his eyes became light again.

He finally knew why the use of shen power disappeared!

Such a complex and hard-to-learn thing, it would be strange if it wasn’t eliminated. He really could not imagine how those ancient great ones had managed to produce something this complex.

He did not doubt that the appearance and rise of the three powers was mostly because the people could not cultivate shen power so they divided shen power into three parts. Since they could not cultivate all of it, they would lower the difficulty and only cultivate one of them.

Yet what made him want to cry was that the three powers in his body had all become shen power and the shen power automatically consumed other powers. This meant that even if he started cultivating the three powers again, he could not produce any results.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s face was black. The shen technique he had just practiced was called [Green Flower] and was one of the basic moves in [Greenvine]. Supposedly, children around age ten were able to cultivate it.

Ten years old … …

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and he flipped through the [Greenvine] technique to search for easier content.

Every type of shen technique would contain content in three areas, divination dance, command, and heavenly sacrifice.

Divination dance was an extremely unique language based on limb movements. Not understanding it Zuo Mo viewed it as dancing around madly.

Command meant orders, curses and acts.

Heavenly sacrifice was to communicate with the world.

Only when the three were in perfect sync could a shen technique be cast.

At long last, his efforts did not fail him. In the last subordinate record, Zuo Mo found the simplest shen technique—[Light Finger].

Zuo Mo chose it for a very simple reason, because its divination dance only required dancing of the fingers. There was nothing else more suited for Zuo Mo because he had not forgotten his practiced finger motions.

As expected, Zuo Mo who had the foundation of finger motions could quickly finish the entire divination dance smoothly. Of course, it really was simple, and only had three movements.

This caused Zuo Mo’s confidence to grow.

The command was very simple, only one word.

The hardest was the heavenly sacrifice. Zuo Mo took two whole hours to familiarize himself.

Yet Zuo Mo quickly found that even if he was familiar with all three parts, it was not so simple for them to work together. Losing one or the other would occasionally occur, and the three were unable to reach a perfect meld.

Zuo Mo was not demotivated. Failure was common to him.

He repeatedly practiced.

His sweat flowed down his forehead and his neck. His terrible endurance made him feel the exhaustion he had not felt for a long time but he gritted his teeth and persisted.

His fingers moved rapidly and then pointed at the rock nearby as he shouted, “Break!”

His eyes widened and the heavenly sacrifice was finished in an instant!

The shen power in his body suddenly moved.

Bam!

A muffled sound. Zuo Mo stilled.

Success? Had he succeeded?

When his gaze moved towards the place that had just made the sound, his eyes widened and he was stunned where he stood.

A rock hole with a diameter of one zhang was in front of him.

Zuo Mo unconsciously walked towards the rock hole. The mouth was even bigger than he was tall and dazed him. The walls of the hole was smooth as though they were carved with a knife. The inside was completely dark and Zuo Mo walked in as though he was possessed.

One zhang, two zhang, three zhang … …

Twenty zhang, the hole was twenty zhang deep!

Chapter 497: Activation Of The Shen Temple

It was impossible to describe the shock Zuo Mo was feeling.

The enormous rock hole that seemed to have been carved with a knife was completely smooth. It surpassed everything that Zuo Mo knew. Before this, Zuo Mo had felt that he was able to understand this power yet he found that its profoundness was much deeper and advanced than he had imagined.

At this time, Zuo Mo suddenly felt his body shake. Pia, something inside his body seemed to explode.

A familiar feeling returned to his body.

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened and an expression of disbelief came onto his face.

The exhaustion in his body swept away. He dazedly raised his arm. The familiar Great Day mo physique had returned to his body. His mind moved. As well, his consciousness and ling power had returned to normal.

Was it … …

A daring idea rose in his mind.

The shock on Zuo Mo’s face uncontrollably turned to joy.

Excited, Zuo Mo instantly started to experiment. He quickly proved what he had guessed. For some unknown reason, his shen power could revert back to the three powers and the three powers could merge to become shen power!

What was even more joyous was that he could control this change!

He could not resist and roared with laughter!

The laughter echoed in the cave and even disturbed the hardship guards that were standing guard outside. However, they did not rashly charge in. Even though they did not know what was making Daren so happy, but it definitely was something good.

When he had achieved shen power before, Zuo Mo had not been this happy. Shen power was unrivaled in its power, but he was more familiar with the three powers, and could not help but feel disappointed at their loss.

Now that he discovered that the three powers and shen power could freely transform into each other, the last bit of hesitation disappeared. If he wanted to use shen power, he would use shen power, if he wanted to use the three powers, he would use the three powers.

However, the three powers that had been deconstructed were  slightly changed. His mo physique and consciousness had decreased with different magnitudes, especially his mo physique which had weakened the most. The opposite had happened with his ling power which had increased greatly.

The three powers had became equal.

This change did not disappoint Zuo Mo. Rather he felt overjoyed. The problem of his ling power was one of main the problems he had had a headache about. He was living in the xiuzhe world. If he used the mo physique and yao arts every day, and someone with good eyes detected it, then it would be great trouble!

Ling power was good, it was safe! As for spells he could use, that wasn’t a problem. They had won many spells over the course of their battles. As a last resort, he could even go to Pu Yao and nag and bother him, he would eventually get one.

He felt the thick ling power inside his body. He was just a line away from jindan, and the feeling of clarity of his mind made him greatly intoxicated.

Thinking about the shen power of just now, he felt that the three powers were more enjoyable.

However, now with shen power, he had another ultimate technique to protect himself.

Who would scorn themselves for having more techniques?

Even more, it was a shen technique!

Zuo Mo seemed to have been struck dizzy by jingshi that fell from the sky.

After experiencing for a while, Zuo Mo once again went back into his cultivation. He had to familiarize himself with the transformation between the three powers and shen power. This was a killing move, an ultimate move!

As he practiced, he suddenly pondered a question.

When shen power turned to the three powers, the three powers that were obtained were extremely equal. Since that was the case, couldn’t he cultivate ling power through cultivating the mo physique?

Once this daring idea jumped into his mind, he became alert.

If he could really do it … … then it really was … …

Very profitable!

The three powers were each a system unto themselves and were strongly separated. There were many reasons that Zuo Mo’s ling power was a shortcoming, Pu Yao’s and Wei’s influences caused Zuo Mo to cultivate yao arts and the mo physique but the most important cause was that his talent at cultivating ling power was far less than his talent in the mo physique and yao arts.

Wei Sheng was the opposite and was a genius at cultivating ling power.

The three powers could merge and form shen power, the shen power could transform and divide equally into the three powers.

Didn’t that mean that Zuo Mo did not have any cultivation shortcomings?

Zuo Mo tried it and as expected, his idea was realized! However, he quickly calmed down. This matter had advantages and disadvantages.

Even though he did not have any cultivation shortcomings, but if he wanted to improve the same amount as other people, the gains he needed to advance in cultivating was three times that of other people.

This wasn’t an insignificant cultivation amount!

Zuo Mo was full of motivation. He was frightened by the triple amount of cultivation. He dreamed about all three of his powers progressing together, stepping on all of his enemies, Zuo Mo felt his body heat up and wanted to start cultivating immediately.

However, he didn’t get swept up in the moment and  kept some of his intelligence. Cultivation was a long-term effort and there was an enormous treasure hoard waiting for him.

For Zuo Mo, being satisfied was a very simple yet difficult task.

He decided to explore the Sun Shen Temple.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he entered the state of cultivation and only stood up again when he had recovered to his best state.

Facing the rock wall, the three powers in his body merged into shen power. His head rang, as though there was a chord plucked right next to his ear. That strange “space shield” returned to his body.

The rock wall that had been blank suddenly became filled with strange characters that were like earthworms.

Zuo Mo didn’t recognize any of them.

But that was alright. He reached out an arm and his palm placed on the rock wall.

The golden earthworm characters on the rock wall suddenly lit up. The black and dense rock wall became clear, and Zuo Mo unhesitatingly stepped in.

As Zuo Mo passed through the transparent rock wall, the rock wall resumed its previous appearance.

Passing through the rock wall, Zuo Mo was frightened by the scene in front of him.

He was situated in a stone corridor. The corridor was very large and about six to seven zhang wide. The height was even more astonishing, about twenty zhang tall. Exquisite carvings could be seen on the stone walls on both sides. Even after tens of thousands of years, there were still many carvings that were undamaged. Among the carvings, the most commonly seen were depictions of the sun.

These sun carvings released warm light and illuminated the corridor as though it was under direct sunlight.

The enormous stone slabs showed weathering in many places due to the passage of time.

But what attracted Zuo Mo’s attention was that there were armored soldiers standing along the two sides of the corridor. These armored soldiers wore heavy armor as they stood with their battle-axes. Not far away were many pieces of damaged armor and there were some bones next to the armor.

These soldiers must have been the guards for the Sun Shen Temple. The warriors that were standing guard would have been in this position before they were dead.

Zuo Mo did not worry about these people. After  tens of thousands years, they were completely dead.

As expected, when Zuo Mo passed by these armored soldiers, they were motionless.

He looked painfully at the damaged armor that was scattered on the floor. He didn’t know what the armor was made from. A portion of them had weathered after thousands of years but they were mostly preserved.

These were not ordinary objects!

However, Zuo Mo remembered what Big Brother Qing Lin told him and did not touch the armored warriors.

The corridor was silent and without a sound. Even though Zuo Mo was daring, he was unconfident and regretted that he had not brought people with him.

A ruckus suddenly came from behind him.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and hurriedly turned around. He found that a rock slab from the wall had fallen down, smashed to the ground and caused a cloud of dust to rise.

After this false alarm, Zuo Mo hurriedly gathered his mind and forced himself to depart for the inner parts of the shen temple.

His present position was in the Greenwood Secret Realm, but Qing Lin had passed away so there was no one controlling the Greenwood Secret Realm. It had stopped its activity but that did not mean that this was safe for him. Every tile, every carving in this place could be a trap.

Zuo Mo kept the map that Qing Lin gave him in readied his mind. It was packed with all kinds of warnings and caused Zuo Mo’s scalp to tingle. There were many large and small secret realms in the shen temple. If he accidentally became trapped in one of them, he could be lost for his entire lifetime and then die as the shen temple was destroyed.

Zuo Mo became as alert as he could.

The corridors were like a maze. If he didn’t have a map, Zuo Mo would not have it so easily.

Zuo Mo stopped moving. In front of him was a lake.

The endless water was as smooth as glass and it was possible to faintly discern mountain peaks in the distance. There were bubbles of various sizes floating on top of the lake among the ethereal mist. These bubbles of various colors changed in the sunlight and were beautiful.

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply, his face serious.

This was the “Bloody Water Secret Realm!”

It was a very dangerous secret realm! The guardian of the Bloody Water Secret Realm was a female called Tu. She had once been a princess of the Benthic Water Tribe. However, that had been far distant in the past and she had lost her sanity,  only to become a monster that only knew to kill.

These seemingly beautiful air bubbles were all dangerous. Each bubble was a water secret realm. If one ended up in it, they would be unable to escape Tu.

Qing Lin’s imprint also told Zuo Mo honestly that even he was not a match for Tu. Even though everyone’s shen power was gradually disappearing, but Tu was still very powerful.

There was definitely no chance if he fought her!

Reviewing and remembering every warning that Big Brother Qing Lin gave him, he made sure he did not miss anything before stepping forward.

Stepping on the lake surface, every step caused ripples to spread outwards. A light wind suddenly formed on the lake surface. The colored bubbles flowed with the wind and floated towards Zuo Mo.

Seeing the air bubbles increase and come closer, Zuo Mo’s body became even more nervous.

At this moment, a warm flow suddenly came from his body. The Sun Crystal Seed suddenly flew out of his body, floated above his head, and gave off a warm golden light like a sun. This layer of sunlight was like a golden shield that covered Zuo Mo.

The five-colored bubbles seemed extremely afraid of the golden light and instantly ran far away.

Zuo Mo finally released a breath.

Qing Lin told him that the Sun Crystal Seed in his body was the crux to being able to enter the shen temple.

With the protection of the Sun Crystal Seed, Zuo Mo safely passed through the Bloody Water Secret Realm. He did not encounter Tu. Tu probably had felt the presence of the Sun Crystal Seed and avoided him.

They had lost their minds but the jinzhi inside their bodies were still present so they innately feared the presence of the sun.

The Sun Crystal seed was a true sun, even though it had not fully formed, it still had the purest sun presence. Qing Lin had also used the entire power of the shen temple to open a bit of the Sun Crystal Seed’s seal. Even though it was just a thread, it was the purest sun presence and was bright like a star in the night sky.

Passing through the Bloody Water Secret Realm, he came to the sacrificial altar.

The altar in the Sun Shen Temple was extremely large in scale. It was shaped like a sun, its entire structure was golden yellow like it was made from pure gold. It was more than three li in diameter, and had eighteen flights of stairs that were each five li long which spread outwards from the altar to form eighteen sun flame strips.

At the very center of the sacrificial altar, a bright red flame was silently burning.

Zuo Mo climbed onto the alter. Under his feet were dense scripts that formed formations that he could not understand. Maybe it wasn’t a formation. It was hard to say if there were formations in that era.

His gaze landed on that thread of red flame in the center of the altar.

That flame was just the size of a finger, its entire body as red as blood as it silently pulsed.

At this moment, the Sun Crystal Seed on top of Zuo Mo’s head suddenly hummed, a golden light shooting from the Sun Crystal Seed towards the red flame in the center of the altar.

The red flame suddenly expanded to the height of a person.

Boom!

An invisible ripple spread inside the shen temple with the flame as the center.

The scripts on the floor of the altar started to light up. The red light flowed onto the scripts on the ground as though red blood was being added.

Zuo Mo felt his head ring.

An ancient and desolate horn, the howls of unusual beasts that covered the sky, the figure among the sunlight that seemed like a god … …

It flowed across his mind and he lost focus.

———

The sun in the sky above the Sun Shen Temple suddenly released countless red flames that wrapped onto the dark gold sun!

A deep rumble came from the ground as though there were monsters underneath.

The xiuzhe that had been staying near the Sun Shen Temple gaped. Their eyes seemed to be glued to the Sun Shen Temple and were unable to move away.

The Sun Shen Temple of which only  a corner could be seen was now being pulled up.

There seemed to be an invisible hand that was forcibly pulling it up.

The cloud sea roiled, the golden light was thousands of zhang!

After being sealed for tens of thousands of years, the shen temple of the once-greatest tribe slowly rose and showed its true appearance.

After the passage of tens of thousands of years, it was enough to turn sea into land, enough for immortals to turn to dust!

The hero that had once dominated the world only had one last gasp left, like an old person that was sick and weak.

But the hero was still the hero. Even if there was only one breath left, he still had the presence that could look down on the world!

Among the great rumble, the Sun Shen Temple was pulled up. The blinding light pierced the sky and the layers of the cloud sea roiled.

The Sun Shen Temple that had disappeared for tens of thousands of words appeared proudly in front of the world with its powers from the ancient era tens of thousands of years ago.

On some of the eighteen enormous golden pillars was a golden crow statue. The golden crows stood silently at the top of the pillars and looked down indifferently at the people. It was unknown if they were inanimate or not.

The enormous pillars seemed to be made from gold. It had flowers, grasses, strange beasts and suns carved on it. The eighteen golden pillars were placed in a zig-zag manner. Light and shadow moved between the pillars and there were layers of light so that one was only able to barely discern the structure of the temple inside it.

The curtain of light was like thin layer of silk that separated the shen temple from the outside.

The mountains around the shen temple were dyed gold by the light and became golden mountains.

Elder Shen and Li Shu who had rushed over due to the disturbance had ugly expressions. Their faces were full of disbelief as they looked at the shen temple. For the first time, Li Shu had a panicked expression.

Was the shen temple being activated … … how was it possible … …

How could the sect leader’s divination be incorrect?

Wasn’t there two more days before the shen temple would open?

———

Not far away from them, the middle-aged male’s face was black.

Impossible … … how could the shen temple activate prematurely?

Beside him, the Masked Assassin stood woodenly.

At this time, the empty eyes of the golden crows on the tops of the pillars sudden became filled with golden flame. The statue-like golden crows twisted their bodies. Crack bang, crack bang, shattered stone continuously dropped from their bodies.

They had become alive!

Chapter 498: Golden Crow Sacrifice

The red eyes of the golden crows were like two burning balls of fire. Their inky black wings had criss-crossing golden scripts that appeared blinding and grand. They stood high up on the rock pillars and looked down at the people, their fire-red eyes filled with the indifference and disdain like that of deities.

They seemed to have just woken up from a deep sleep as they lazily flapped their wings as though no one was around.

The spectators had started to rumble. Golden crows, wondrous beasts from the ancient times, were alive right in front of them!

In the ancient era, the golden crow was a beast that represented the sun. The flames it produced were as fiery as the sun and could dissolve the hardest metals. They were so strong that people feared them!

But like the other famed beasts of the ancient era, they disappeared in the long river of time and disappeared from people’s views.

At this time, there were ten golden crows appearing in front of them. The blow and shock that they gave the spectators was peerless! Even the yuanying, Elder Shen, couldn’t help but gape with his eyes tightly locked onto the ten golden crows.

“Golden crow … … there really are golden crows!” Elder Shen murmured.

Li Shu was so shocked that he was unable to speak. No matter how much importance the sect placed on him, he was just a third-generation disciple. When had he ever seen such a spectacle?

“That’s not right!” Elder Shen’s eyes suddenly narrowed and he recovered his calmness. “These are not the true bodies of the golden crows!”

Hearing this, Li Shu instantly froze. “Not the true bodies? Then what is it?”

“It should be the souls of the golden crows!” Elder Shen sighed emotionally. “To be able to seal the souls of golden crows to guard the shen temple, such skill is divine!”

Li Shu realized it. He carefully inspected the ten golden crows. As he expected, he found that the borders of their bodies were slightly blurry but from this distance it was hard to detect if one did not look closely.

“But do not underestimate the souls of golden crows. Their power is not any less than seventh-grade ling beasts. There is also ten of them. If based on brute force, we are not enough even if we have ten lives,” Elder Shen gazed at the golden crows and said to himself.

“Elder, why are the beast soul guardians of the temple suddenly coming out?” Li Shu asked, puzzled. “Has someone moved? Provoked them? But they haven’t attacked … …”

As he spoke, Li Shu felt something was increasingly wrong and his expression changed dramatically.

Elder Shen’s face also changed.

Lu Zhen was confused and did not understand. But looking at the faces of the two daren, he also knew that something had gone wrong.

At this time, the golden crows that had been perched on the golden pillars suddenly looked at the red sun in the sky. Ten red lines of fire sprouted from the open mouths of the ten golden crows and wrapped around the red sun!

The little sun exploded in brightness and burned fiercely. The air in the surroundings increased in temperature again.

At the same time, the curtains of light between the ten stone pillars of the Sun Shen Temple became bright and the curtains of light covered the entire Sun Shen Temple.

“Haha, I hadn’t thought that we would trip up in such an easy place, someone else has managed to trick us!” Elder Shen’s face was black as he gritted out, “I want to see who has the guts to dare play tricks under this old man’s eyes!”

Li Shu’s expression was also terrible.

The fact that the temple guardian souls had appeared but did not attack anyone meant that it wasn’t caused by someone intruding on the defenses of the shen temple. Then there was only one possibility left, someone was controlling the defenses of the shen temple and activated the temple guardian souls!

“Didn’t the Sun Tribe die out?” Li Shu refocused and asked.

Sect Leader’s divination would not be incorrect. Both he and Elder Shen believed deeply in this. The change in this matter definitely had occurred in these last two days!

What Li Shu voiced was what he was most puzzled by. The Sun Tribe had died out long ago, the sect had been sure of this a long time ago. This was the result of having repeated divinations done. This was also why the sect had targeted the Sun Shen Temple.

The clanspeople of the Sun Shen Tribe had died out and meant that the possibility of having something unexpected happen was not high. Normal people would not be accepted by temples like this.

Yet what they had not expected was that an accident had occurred at the very place they felt the safest.

Elder Shen was experienced and knowledgeable. He calmed down and said coldly, “Don’t pay attention to that. We must enter the shen temple immediately before the other completely grasps the shen temple. This is the only chance. These beast spirits will not attack us, they are making a sacrificial ceremony!

Li Shu froze. Making a sacrifice was a very unfamiliar term for any xiuzhe of the present. His eyes quickly did not show any more shock. Someone was sacrificing using ten golden crow souls!

He turned around his thinking, using ten golden crow souls as a sacrifice … … what did the other want to do?

Elder Shen’s expression was dark and showed slight urgency. Before the two people could react, his sleeve twirled around them and the three people disappeared.

At the same time, several lights flashed across the sky at the same time all flying towards the stone pillar. Evidently, Elder Shen was not the only one to think of this.

The lights in the air flew at the curtain of light.

Woosh!

Several xiuzhe did not have the time to wail before they exploded into balls of fire. Several dots of light appeared on the light curtain and then disappeared in the blink of the eye.

Only when one flew near the curtain of light could they truly feel how high the temperature was!

Those that were slightly lacking in cultivation would be swallowed by flames if they just came into contact with the curtain of light. Some others saw the situation and started attacking the stone pillars in hopes that they could avoid the curtain of light. Yet what they had not expected was that the stone pillars were extremely hard and were undamaged no matter how they attacked.

But there were also people that charged into the curtain of light.

Elder Shen took the two people along and turned to a stream of fire that easily passed through the curtain of light.

There was a xiuzhe who wrapped his entire body in a layer of water and easily passed through the light.

Some xiuzhe had swords protecting their body as they passed.

All kinds of moves were used but there was one common quality. All those that could pass through the curtain of light were experts. Some of them were of mysterious origins but the great majority were experts that had been famous for a long time in Cloud Sea Jie.

There were people constantly turning to dust. The heated hearts of the spectators cooled greatly. The greed at one moment could daze their minds but no one would do something such as knowingly rush to their death.

Those that charged at the curtain of light were all people that had absolute confidence in themselves.

Among the crowd, exclamations occasionally occurred.

“It’s Cao Bei, he also came!”

“Look look! That is Hai Wu Ya!”

Expert after expert appearing caused the mood to reach a small climax. Since they knew they could not enter the shen temple, many people gave up and decided to peacefully watch.

This place became the center of Cloud Sea Jie. More than half of the experts had come to attend this magnificent spectacle.

The golden crows continued to shoot flames at the little sun. The fire of the little sun grew, and the heated waves were hard to tolerate. The spectators continuously retreated.

Such presence caused everyone to pale.

Some of the people that felt they had the abilities to enter couldn’t help but hesitate. The presence of the Sun Shen Temple was great, just like the sun, blinding and unable to be looked at. It probably was not so easy to enter.

Some that were more cautious even flew backwards far from the shen temple ruins.

If they lost their lives because of watching this, it was not worth it!

———

Zuo Mo was also alarmed by the change in front of him.

Truthfully, no matter if it was Qing Lin or the strange corpse, they were not too clear about the value of the Sun Crystal Seed to the Sun Tribe. The Sun Crystal Seed were forged by every totem warrior of the Sun Tribe and was the core inherited item of the Sun Tribe.

Not just this seven-star shen temple, Zuo Mo who possessed the Sun Crystal Seed could easily receive the recognition of even higher-ranked Sun Shen temple.

How could such an ignorant Zuo Mo truly understand the profoundness in this? He dazedly looked with a puzzled face at the shocking change of the sacrificial altar.

At this moment, something suddenly happened.

A golden pillar that seemed tangible came from the sky and covered Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt as though he was soaking in a hot spring. His entire body was warm and comfortable.

Where did this golden light come from?

Zuo Mo didn’t know. He did not have time to think. At this time, his mind was in a very special state. The Sun Crystal Seed in his body was unusually active. Threads of golden light and red energy swam from all directions towards the Sun Crystal Seed.

They smelled something familiar.

If Zuo Mo was clear-minded, he would find to his shock that this ray of light that was so solid it seemed tangible came from that little sun at the top of his head.

The Sun Crystal Seed was like a key that opened this sealed storehouse.

———

Elder Shen raised his head to look at the sky. His expression became even worse and his mood darker.

The little sun above his head had reached a peak in brightness, and was not lacking compared to the true sun in the sky. The figures of the ten golden crows were visibly fading.

Elder Shen knew what was going on.

Someone was manipulating the power of the Sun Shen Temple! No, more accurately, someone was absorbing the power of the Sun Shen Temple!

If he was not seeing it with his own eyes, he definitely would not believe it.

Only those who were descendants of the Sun Tribe could absorb the power of the Sun Shen Temples! No matter how certain he had been before that there were no survivors of the Sun Tribe, reality was in front of him. He had to accept that the sect leader had been wrong in his divination!

Once this conclusion came out, he could not stop the murderousness he felt!

The sect leader placed great importance on this ruin. He had found a clue by accident and after effort on multiple fronts, they had gradually locked onto the position of the ruins. During this time, the sect leader and the other major personages of the sect had expended great effort to divine to finally get this result.

This person who was able to escape so many divinations either had a great treasure or his power was astounding.

If he waited for the other to finish absorbing the power of the Sun Shen Temple, it would be too late!

Elder Shen took a deep breath. His gaze was serious. No matter what, he had to get the Sun Shen Temple!

“Stay carefully behind me,” Elder Shen said in a deep voice. Without another word, he strode forward.

Li Shu’s heart shook and tightly followed behind Elder Shen. Lu Zhen also did not dare to speak and hurriedly followed.

In front of them were endless sand dunes.

Chapter 499: Those Daring Die From Bursting

“This is the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm, be careful of what is under your feet.” Elder Shen’s tone was serious as he looked into the distance. It was vast there with endless dunes that stretched without end.

Nothing grew on the endless dunes and it was possible to see a pile of bones occasionally. The entire landscape was unspeakably desolate and lifeless. The air was abnormally hot that even jindan like Li Shu and Lu Zhen felt their mouths dry.

This caused the two to become alarmed. At their cultivation level, they were not affected by water nor fire. How could their mouths feel dry?

“The Overflowing Earth Secret Realm is an earth element secret realm,” Elder Shen said slowly. “Rather than say it is an earth element secret realm, it is more accurate to say it is an earth element cage. The guardian of the realm must be someone skilled in earth element shen power.”

However, a thread of a smile came onto his tightly tensed face. “Fortunately, Sect Leader had foresight.”

As he finished, he took out a little tender and green tree sprout.

The little tree sprout was just a few cun tall, slender and soft. Each leave was just the size of a fingernail. When Elder Shen took out this tree sprout, a cool and clear essence swept Li Shu and Lu Zhen and took away the frantic heat.

Li Shu asked in shock, “Shishu, what is this? How is this so wondrous?”

“A Jade Hook Tree,” Elder Shen replied without turning his head. He then bent down and put the Jade Hook Tree sprout in his hand into the sand dune.

As the tree sprout touched the surface of the sand, its roots rapidly burrowed into the sand down.

The green jade on the dry sand dune was abnormally eye-catching.

“Jade Hook Tree … …” Li Su murmured. Inside, he was extremely shocked. The Jade Hook Tree was one of the greatest treasures of the sect, and was usually protected in a restricted area of the sect. He hadn’t thought that the sect leader had even let Elder Shen take the Jade Hook Tree for dealing with the ruins.

Jade Hook Tree, emerald green, a upper sixth-grade ling tree, could produce Jade Hook Beads, , and was one of the best wood element beads in the world. It could be used to forge all kinds of wood element talismans. The Jade Hook Tree itself was a very rare and hard-to-obtain forging material.

The most important attribute of the Jade Hook Tree was that it could absorb earth element power to strengthen itself.

As the Jade Hook Tree entered the sand dune, it started to grow furiously. The green spread at an astounding rate towards every corner of the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm.

The heat in the air instantly decreased greatly.

At this time, the sand dune under their feet had started to tremble violently. Countless sand dunes collapsed and the rumble sounded in the earth. In a blink, the patches of green were swallowing the collapsing sand dunes.

Li Shu and Lu Zhen were alarmed. They were almost unable maintain their upright posture. The sand dunes under their feet seemed to have woken up from its slumber.

Elder Shen snorted coldly, his expression unchanging. “This Jade Hook Tree has grown in our sect for nine hundred years. Generations of our sect poured our hearts into caring for this. It can completely transform with just a bit more effort. This encounter is perfect for it.”

Lu Zhen’s face was confused. He did not understand.

Li Shu understood and he became alert. If the Jade Hook Tree was cared for correctly and nurtured constantly with earth element power, it had a chance to become a seventh-grade Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree.

Above seventh grade, it was the divine ranks!

The difference between sixth and seventh grade was the different between earth and sky. Sixth-grade was very rare on the market but it could still be brought. It was impossible to buy seventh-grade materials on the market. When a seventh-grade material came onto the market, it would disappear without a trace in the shortest time.

Materials seventh-grade and above would usually be labeled divine-grade.

Other than its rarity, it had completely different qualities from sixth-grade talismans. Each material seventh-grade and above was a natural talisman!

Talismans forged from seventh-grade materials were also called divine talismans, ultimate treasures every xiuzhe dreamed of.

If the Jade Hook Tree could rise another grade and become the Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree, then the sect would have another divine talisman!

Not just Li Shu, even Elder Shen couldn’t help but show desire unconsciously when he said this.

Talismans were easy to obtain, divine talismans were hard to find!

Even if he had stepped into the stage of yuanying a long time ago, it was still the same.

As expected, no matter how loud the sand dunes howled, the green of the Jade Hook Tree was hardy and tensile. It burst out of the sand and quickly spread into the surroundings.

The weak trunk of the tree continuously trembled in the sand and wind, but never broke.

Woosh woosh woosh!

The sand seemed to flow and gather at a place that was rapidly shifting.

A sand puppet slowly rose from the sand dunes.

The sand flowed towards the sand puppet from all directions and wrapped around the sand puppet as though they were snakes. They quickly flowed along the body of the sand puppet.

The body of the sand puppet quickly expanded and in a blink, its body’s size surpassed all the sand dunes yet it was still growing.

All of the sand in the secret realm was absorbed by it. The Jade Hook Tree that lost the support of the sand quickly withered. The endless green quickly disappeared like a retreating tide.

There was only one Jade Hook Tree left by Elder Shen’s foot.

Looking at the Jade Hook Tree, it  was greener than before, Elder Shen felt pity. Just a bit more, and this Jade Hook Tree would have finished its transformation. If he had a Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree, then leaving this secret realm was an easy task.

However, Elder Shen was not worried. The Overflowing Earth Secret Realm was the same as the divination results of the sect leaders and others. This caused him to be full of hope towards defeating the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm.

He had come prepared!

Zuo Mo was so comfortable he wanted to groan.

The warmth that came from his bones flowed slowly through his entire body. He did not feel his power increasing, but felt unspeakably comfortable.

Right, it was unspeakably comfortable.

The warmth slowly disappeared. He woke up from his intoxication and opened his eyes.

If someone was looking, he found find to his shock that Zuo Mo’s gaze in the instant he opened his eyes looked very similar to the golden birds on top of the ten pillars.

Cold and empty, looking down at everything.

At the very center of his eyes, a dot of gold glinted and disappeared.

The air around him seemed to condense. Even the erupting flame had froze in place.

The pause was just maintained for the blink of an eye and everything returned to normal. Zuo Mo was still immersed in that unspeakably comfortable feeling and didn’t detect anything.

He shook his head and regained his clarity of mind.

This wasn’t a warm bed and room suitable for sleeping.

The light of the sacrificial altar dimmed. While the sun in the sky was still burning, Zuo Mo seemed to detect a feeling of exhaustion.

Was his feeling wrong?

He shook his head, turned his face, and looked at the red flame.

A feeling hard to verbalize formed inside. Almost unconsciously, he walked towards the flame at the center of the sacrificial altar. Zuo Mo didn’t feel any heat from the burning flames but rather a closeness.

As though he was possessed, Zuo Mo put his hand into the flame.

Boom!

The scenery around him changed. He was situated in a sea of fire with a sun hanging high above his head.

Beside him, flames of fire pulsed. These flames seemed to be reflecting something.

Zuo Mo was shocked but not panicked. When his attention turned to the flame, many scenes uncontrollably floated into his mind.

Falling stone bricks, spiderwebs everywhere, and it was possible to see some people looking around occasionally.

This was … …

He looked at another few wisps of flame. Several different scenes flowed across his mind. Zuo Mo’s strange expression grew.

Zuo Mo hurriedly recalled the warnings that Big Brother Qing Lin had given him, and his strange expression grew even heavier.

The shen temple had recognized him as the master!

This … … this was too fantastical!

Zuo Mo’s mind was dazed. He was completely stunned by this large pie that dropped from the sky! He was able to encounter such a fortuitous occurrence?

Haha, there’s really nothing that could be done to people with good moral standing!

Zuo Mo roared with laughter and rejoiced!

If this was a descendant of the Sun Tribe, they would be extremely excited and their thoughts would be how to recover the glory of the once-strongest tribe. But the first thought of Zuo Mo that was recognized by the shen temple was…

Treasure!

Treasures of the shen temple!

All of them belong to ge!

Once this idea came out, it could not be suppressed. At the start, Zuo Mo only wanted to mix in with the crowd and get one or two items before running of. Yet now that he was recognized by the shen temple, his appetite had changed.

How could Little Mo Ge tolerate other people taking meat from his bowl?

The situation at all parts of the shen temple appeared before his mind. Recognized by the shen temple, Zuo Mo received the highest level of control of the shen temple. All kinds of shen techniques to control the shen temple was imprinted in his mind.

After browsing for a bit, Zuo Mo who was versed in formations gained a general understanding. Zuo Mo could see the beginning shapes of formations from the shen temple techniques but compared to the present formations, those shapes looked primitive and were almost entirely reliant on numerous sacrificial ceremonies, medical parasites, and beast souls. It was cryptic and hard to understand.

Zuo Mo didn’t plan on studying these things at this time.

Their reasoning was cryptic but as long as he had the shen technique, he could eventually activate them.

Zuo Mo carefully counted the people in the shen temple. There were thirty four in total and they had been transported into different corners of the shen temple. At this time, all of them were carefully exploring their surroundings.

Among these people, Zuo Mo saw the Masked Assassin that almost killed him and several people from Xu Ling Sect … …

Each person’s strength was above average, especially the three yuanying that were even more powerful than the rest. Zuo Mo’s heart beat rapidly when he saw this and the pride inside was swept away.

He was walking on a tightrope!

If he was careless and got caught by these people, this group would not hesitate to tear him to pieces!

No! He could not let them know that he had sneaked into the shen temple! Otherwise, there would be endless calamities!

But Zuo Mo would not leave the shen temple at this time even for his life.

He entered the shen temple before the other people, had the aid of Big Brother Qing Lin, and also was recognized by the shen temple. He had a higher starting point than other people! If he missed such a rare chance, he definitely would not get another one!

No matter what, he had to try!

Zuo Mo emboldened his heart, do it!

He suddenly snickered darkly and looked maliciously at the people in the flames.

Stealing from ge? Come on, have a good taste of the warm welcome from the ancient era!

Following the shen techniques in his mind, he clumsily and crudely channeled shen power, his body twisting like a snake as he produced muffled sounds.

The Sun Shen Temple abruptly trembled fiercely. The shen scripts in the corners of the temple  rippled like a wave and started to light up. The carvings all over the shen temple receded as though something was going to come out.

There seemed to be a string connecting sets of bones and armor scattered on the temple grounds. They slowly struggled to stand up.

The golden birds on the pillars whose shapes were now indistinct called out in unison, flapped their wings and burrowed into the little sun.

The shen temple instantly changed!

Chapter 500: Rather Than Miss, Kill Wrongly

The little sun’s radiance reached a peak, the blinding light chasing away the dark of night. It seemed like daytime in a radius of five hundred li around the temple.

Just as people were deeply shocked by this scene, the little sun suddenly exploded without warning. Countless streaks of fire, each drew out long tails as they pounded down like a storm of rain.

The entire Sun Shen  Temple became covered in this shower of fire.

The crowd couldn’t help but exclaim in shock!

The streams of fire were astoundingly powerful. Even looking from a distance, it was possible to feel their destructive and terrifying presence! If they were hit by these flames, not even ashes would be left!

Boom boom boom!

Explosions drummed rapidly as the ground rocked violently. The xiuzhe who were on the ground all escaped into the sky, and at this moment a shock wave hit them. They felt their bodies tighten as though someone pushed them hard. They were unable to stabilize their body. Their expression changed as they tried to control their figures, but like leaves in the wind, they were carried dozens of zhang away!

Shocked, everyone looked at the shen temple and inhaled sharply. The shen temple that had been so bright before was now completely swallowed in the dust. Explosions rang out from within and the dust would not settle!

What … … what happened?

The people looked at each other cluelessly.

———

Zuo Mo released a long breath. His body felt soft and sore. He had just manipulated the power of the shen temple and the task was enough to consume all the shen power in his body.

However, when he saw everyone panicking and moving fruitlessly in the flames, he instantly felt good. Especially that Masked Assassin who was in the Aged Gold Secret Realm. He was being chased by a golden figure and was left extremely disheveled. Zuo Mo felt good.

Masked Boy, enjoy this!

Zuo Mo snickered and sprinted off.

After the energy of the temple was used over tens of thousands of years and unable to replenish itself, the power of the shen temple was almost depleted. Many areas had become ineffective due to being abandoned for too long. Zuo Mo had activated the last vestiges of power in the shen temple but he did not dare guarantee that he could trap those people.

Especially the three yuanying. When they attacked, the power was enough to make Zuo Mo’s scalp prickle.

The most powerful of the three yuanying was the old man in the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm. He had almost torn apart the entire Overflowing Earth Secret Realm! The person that guarded the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm was called Zhu Gui, and was enormously powerful but this old man was completely subduing him. This old man seemed to be very clear to the defensive setup inside the secret realm and his attacks were extremely specific.

This gave Zuo Mo a strong feeling of danger.

He must find the treasures sealed in the shen temple before he got caught by these people and then secretly escape. Otherwise, it would be a problem of escape, not just getting the treasures.

However, he had his advantages. After being recognized by the shen temple, everything inside the shen temple was imprinted in his mind. He knew exactly where the treasures were hidden.

He did not have any hesitance as he sprinted at full power. Ling dan were pushed into his mouth to replenish his ling power as though they did not cost jingshi. He was hungry like a desert parched after the dry season. When the medicinal power of the ling dan entered his throat, they turned to threads of ling power, and permeated every part of his body.

The ling power quickly turned to the mo physique and spiritual consciousness in his body. The power inside his body was quickly recovering.

His sprinting speed increased. A short while later, Zuo Mo who recovered his mo physique summoned the Light Void Wings. His speed suddenly increased and he was like a golden bolt of lightning.

The inside of the shen temple was larger than it looked from the outside. Zuo Mo ran for a whole hour before he reached his destination.

In front of him was a door nine zhang tall. The door was forged from copper and was astonishingly thick. At the middle of the door was a bright sun and around the sun, ten golden birds flew with wings stretched.

Excitement showed on Zuo Mo’s face.

———

Elder Shen was extremely rushed.

When the sun in the sky had exploded, his heart had jumped. The worse case scenario had occurred! Descendants of the Sun Tribe! There really were descendants of the Sun Tribe still alive in the world!

If it had just been a speculation before, then what was happening now proved it.

If one wasn’t a descendant of the Sun Tribe, they definitely could not control the Sun Shen Temple. Also the other was highly likely to possess the direct bloodline of the Sun tribe!

If this new passed out, it would create a great ruckus!

The descendants of ancient tribes were always targets those from the large sects were extremely wary of. If they were found, they would immediately be eliminated. On this point, Kun Lun and the other sects of Four Realm Heaven had come to a consensus. The bloodlines of the ancients had long disappeared due to this persecution over thousands of years.

The Sun Tribe, formerly the strongest tribe, was one of those pursued the most. How could a fish have slipped the net?

Seeing the sand puppet reform once again, Elder Shen’s expression was dark. This was the sixth time he had dispersed its body.

The guardian of the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm, Zhu Gui, came from the Sand Earth Tribe, one of the nine earth tribes. Even though the sect leader and the others had given him a solution to deal with him, but it was not an easy matter to completely take the other apart quickly. Maybe in the ancient era Zhu Gui had not been a strong individual, but at present, he could definitely enter the top level! Also, this was the Overflowing Secret Realm and Zhu Gui’s power could be used to its fullest.

The sect leader told him if he encountered Zhu Gui, he was to scatter the other’s body thirteen times and a chance to strike a fatal blow would appear!

But thirteen times … …

Was there enough time?

The darkness grew over Elder Shen’s mind.

———

The Massed Assassin was extremely disheveled. The person in front of him was hard to damage with flying swords. He had tried very hard and managed to leave behind a wound on the other’s body but in the blink of an eye, the other had healed.

“Careful, this guy is from the Silver Ground Tribe!” the middle-aged person shouted from behind him with a face full of urgency.

The two figures in the air were like two streaks of lightning.

“Damn it, so unfortunate!” the middle-aged male couldn’t stop himself from swearing, “Someone from the Sun Tribe managed to slip past? Scum! They are scum! They’ve cleansed for several thousand years, and didn’t manage to do it completely. What a stupid sect, they are all holes!”

As he swore, he felt extremely panicked.

How could he have expected there would truly be Sun Tribe descendants? At the beginning, that rambling guy had patted his chest to promise that there definitely was not any Sun Tribe descendants so he had run over in hopes of profiting.

Based on the guy’s history of never failing, he had believed it, and hired the Masked Assassin to come over. But now there was a Sun Tribe descendant and they were trapped in the Aged Gold Secret Realm.

What was unluckiness?

This was!

The Masked Assassin’s power was great, but it depended on the situation. This kind of face-to-face fighting was the type of fighting that the Masked Assassin was weakest in. The secret realm was also the other’s home territory, and concealment was completely ineffective in the secret realm.

How unlucky were they to have landed in such a predicament!

The middle-aged male wanted to cry!

———

Zuo Mo’s hand pressed against the copper door. The Sun Crystal Seed suddenly heated up. A warm flow rushed out of the Sun Crystal Seed, and entered the copper door from Zuo Mo’s arm.

The sun script on the copper door suddenly lit up.

The copper doors that had been closed for tens of thousands of years slowly opened. The world behind it slowly revealed itself

Zuo Mo took a deep breath and walked in.

The space behind the door was not large. This was the priest’s hall, the place that the priest usually resided. In the ancient era, due to the requirement for sacrificial ceremonies, the position of a priest was extremely glorious. Their status was just a step lower than the totem warriors. They also were in charge of the daily life of the tribe so they were extremely powerful.

In every shen temple, the priest hall was the most important area.

Zuo Mo did not linger and walked straight through. There were some primitive and ancient artifacts along the way but Zuo Mo did not stop. These items looked valuable but if he blew lightly, they would turn to dust and disappear. In tens of thousands of years, normal objects could not remain.

Even though the priest was of high status, the decorations of the priest hall did not feel sumptuous and only had normal objects.

Passing through the place the priest normally lived, Zuo Mo came to the deepest part of the priest hall, the sacrifice room.

The sacrifice room was not large and the decorations were unusually simple with a copper table placed in the middle. When Zuo Mo came in, he was attracted by an item on the table.

It was a golden tree leaf.

This tree leaf was the only item in the room that did not have any dust on it. It released a faint golden light that dimmed and brightened in turn like a baby’s delicate breathing.

Zuo Mo saw with a glance that it was not ordinary. He was overjoyed and hurriedly picked it up.

The gold light disappeared the moment the tree leaf entered his hand. The entire tree leaf was palm-sized and seemed to be made from gold. However, the patterns on it were life-like and it did not show any marks of craftsmanship.

Zuo Mo had an intuitive feeling that this golden leaf was not man-made but a natural object.

Even an idiot would know that this golden leaf was not ordinary. Time was tight so Zuo Mo did not examine it closely and hurriedly put it into his ring. He raised his head and glanced at the copper golden crow statues on the table that were covered in dust. Zuo Mo hesitated and then swept them into the ring.

With the attitude that he would not miss any treasure, even if he made some mistakes and took something worthless, Zuo Mo didn’t even leave the copper table and put it into the ring.

There were two copper shelves beside the copper desk that was filled with decaying objects. They should have been filled in the past. Zuo Mo did not care for the uncleanliness and started to rummage through the debris.

He felt that anything which had not decayed was something good.

Tens of thousands of years was like a butcher’s knife. Those that were not good pigs with thick skin could not survive.

He actually did have some success.

A turtle shell with scorch marks, seven sharp beast teeth, and a short wooden rod that was extremely marked up.

Zuo Mo was motivated and placed the two copper shelves into the ring as well.

It was a pity that the door was too large and could not be taken of its hinges… …

Zuo Mo smacked his lips with regret.

After scanning the surroundings to make sure he did not miss anything, Zuo Mo finally left the sacrifice room.

He searched in his mind and the next target entered Zuo Mo’s vision.

—His blood instantly started to boil!

Book 6

Chapter 501 - Plough Up The Earth

Avoiding the few dangerous places, Zuo Mo finally found the target he was searching for.

The moment he saw it, he felt as though his heart stopped beating! He stopped breathing and unconsciously slowed his steps as though he was afraid of scaring it away. His eyes showed all kinds of shock and disbelief.

This was a tree.

It was the most beautiful and grandest tree Zuo Mo had ever seen!

It was not very tall, only about the same height as Zuo Mo. The body of three was bright red, even brighter than the most beautiful coral. The body of the tree was smooth as though the most accomplished craftsmen had carefully sanded it down. There weren’t any protrusions on the entire tree trunk. Every part of the tree had extremely beautiful curves that were perfect and would cause people to sigh at the wonder of nature.

Zuo Mo’s gaze was attracted by the balls of fire on the tree.

Heavens, what was that?

Zuo Mo gaped. He lost all abilities of speech. Once proud of his vast experience, he found that his imagination was so poor.

That wasn’t balls of flame, those were clearly miniature little suns!

Each was the size of a fist, round, each one had a layer of orange-red flames shrouding it, they were all small suns. There were ten small suns hanging like this from the tree.

Zuo Mo froze for a moment and unconsciously walked towards the red tree.

A warm presence blew across him. This presence was extremely unique. It seemed to be able to easily permeate the body. Zuo Mo felt that even his bones were warm.

Sun Shen Tree!

Was this the Sun Shen Tree?

Zuo Mo suddenly recalled how Big Brother Qing Lin had especially mentioned this in the thought imprint he had left behind. Looking at the red tree, he felt this name was extremely appropriate.

This was definitely the Sun Shen Tree that Big Brother Qing Lin had mentioned!

Zuo Mo believed without a doubt.

The Sun Shen Tree was the symbol of the Sun Tribe. Whenever they came to a new place, they would plant this tree. The Sun Shen Tree was able to produce Sun Fruits. These Sun Fruits were usually given to the warriors in the tribe with potential to nurture their shen power.

The Sun Fruits would mature after ten years. If they were not picked at maturity, they would form Sun Seeds after forty years and naturally fall off the tree.

Zuo Mo hurriedly bent his head. As expected, there was a thick layer of dark red and hard seeds on the ground. He picked one up and examined it. The body of the seed was dark red and filled with extremely fine golden scripts. It felt like heavy jade and gave off a clear warmth in his hand.

Without a word, Zuo Mo started to furiously sweep Sun Seeds into the ring as though he was insane.

Compared to the Sun Fruit, Sun Seeds were much better. The sun shen power inside was even purer and thicker after being condensed for forty years, and its quality a whole level above Sun Fruit. Other than consuming it to increase shen power, it was also one of the favored weapons of the Sun Tribe warriors.

If it was processed slightly with the sun shen power, it would become the “Crow Thorn” which had intimidated all of the lands.

Many great heroes had fallen under these non-descript Crow Thorns.

Qing Lin had especially mentioned the Sun Shen Tree, and specifically the Sun Seeds. Qing Lin had walked all over the shen temple. He had been unable to enter the priest’s hall but he had detected the presence of the Sun Shen Tree.

He had been wounded by a Crow Thorn, captured alive and brought to this place. He knew very well how powerful it was. Since he could feel the presence of the Sun Shen Tree, then it meant that the Sun Shen Tree inside the hall was alive. The tree would produce a batch of Sun Seeds every five decades. After tens of thousands of years, how many Sun Seeds had been produced?

Zuo Mo buried his head to pick Sun Seeds, unwilling to miss even one.

If he missed one of this kind of miraculous object, then he would be stuck by lightning!

After he ploughed through the soil nearby and made sure that he did not miss anything, he finally stood up contentedly. He looked at the ten Sun Fruits hanging on the tree. He took out a jade box, and plucked the Sun Fruits to put them in the box.

After picking the Sun Fruits, he looked at the bare Sun Shen Tree and his mind moved. He moved it, along with the surrounding soil, into his ring.

How could he leave a shen tree to those people?

Even though the Sun Fruit would only form every decade and the Sun Seeds required fifty years to mature, but this kind of shen tree was a rare treasure on its own. Zuo Mo did not know what grade the Sun Tree was, but it definitely was not low.

At the least, it was a shen tree!

Finished moving the Sun Shen tree, Zuo Mo looked around in hopes of finding something he missed. This was the garden of the shen temple and there should have been ling trees planted. He quickly was disappointed. None of the other ling trees in this garden survived other than this Sun Shen Tree. Thinking about it, he understood. The shen temple had been separated from the outside. It would have been difficult just to supply the Sun Shen Tree. They had no extra power to support other shen trees.

However, with Little Mo Ge’s personality of plucking feathers from a chicken, his mind turned and he had a new idea.

It was rational to think that such a large garden had not been planted with only the Sun Shen Tree. It was normal that the other ling trees could not survive. However, the ground that was full of Sun Seeds reminded him that even if the ling trees did not survive, would they leave behind any seeds?

Tens of thousands of years! Something common tens of thousands of years ago might be a treasure now! If those seeds could survive, they definitely were treasures!

This idea motivated him.

Without another word, he started to dig through the dirt.

In the past, ge had been a  ling farmer! How could plowing the ground be difficult for ge?

Zuo Mo was like a human-shaped dirt plough that raked three chi into the ground. Everywhere he passed, the dirt flew!

He did actually get a few items.

A black fruit that was like a rock that was extremely hard and heavy. It was the size of a thumb but several catties heavy. If there wasn’t a thread of vitality contained inside, Zuo Mo would be certain it was a piece of rock.

Other than this, Zuo Mo also got a section of half-rotten wood. It was the size of his arm and covered in dirt. When he wiped away the dirt, an unique scent burrowed into Zuo Mo’s nose.

Zuo Mo shuddered uncontrollably!

Treasure!

Zuo Mo instantly realized that this piece of wood that seemed rotten was definitely a treasure!

Zuo Mo dug throughout the entire garden.

It was a pity that there wasn’t enough time!

Zuo Mo looked with regret at the garden. If there was more time, he would dig ten chi deep!

But even now, Zuo Mo was content. He really had a good harvest!

Zuo Mo paid attention to those people. The yuanying that used fire had defeated the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm and was hurrying in his direction. Zuo Mo shook. There were some minor traps along the way but the other was able to defeat the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm, these obstacles would definitely not be a problem for them.

It was time to leave now. If he stayed longer, it would not be good.

But there was still a place he hadn’t gone to. Should he go or not?

Zuo Mo hesitated.

———

Elder Shen’s face was slightly pale. Looking as the sand dunes disappeared like dust, he released a long breath. He was shocked inside.

Zhu Gui’s power was less than a tenth of what it had been after tens of thousands of years. The sect leader had divined correctly. With the ultimate treasure of the sect, with his cultivation of yuanying, he had thought he would be able to subdue Zhu Gui. Yet he had almost fallen against Zhu Gui’s last struggle before death.

He really could not imagine just how great the power these ancient warriors possessed at their peak!

The sand dunes beneath his feet completely disappeared.

The Overflowing Secret Realm was truly defeated!

There was no joy in Elder Shen’s eyes. He felt an extreme sense of urgency. One misstep, and he would get nothing.

Also, the other had been in the shen temple for so long. They definitely would not have ignored the ultimate treasures!

“Go!” He did not wait for his ling power to recover. He picked up Li Shu and Lu Zhen to disappear from his spot.

They occasionally encountered obstacles along the path.

But Elder Shen didn’t have any intentions of stopping against the cannon fodder. Without another word, the fire in his hand would flash and the other would turn into dust.

Compared to how they were delayed in the Overflowing Earth Secret Realm, their progress now was unstoppable!

After flying for a long time, the three reached the copper door. Looking at the open copper door, Elder Shen’s expression changed.

When he saw the empty sacrificial room, his face paled even more.

He stomped his feet and flew towards the garden with a dark face.

Even though he had the help of the sect leader’s divination, it took him some time to find the garden. When he arrived at the garden and saw the garden that it seemed to have been plowed and was full of holes, blood rose in his throat.

“Ahahahaha!”

“This old man will not have mercy! You cannot escape!”

A wrenching yell echoed in the entire shen temple!

———

Zuo Mo still decided to go take a look at the Burning Shen Realm. It was not far and there should be enough time.

The Burning Shen Realm was the place that the shen temple used to hold its enemies. Ancient warriors had been very strong and even if they were captured, it was hard to kill them. Due to this, they were usually imprisoned in special cages. Burning Shen Realm was one of those cages.

The Burning Shen Realm was a place that Big Brother Qing Lin had not gone into.

The dark red earth under his feet exuded an astoundingly high temperature. The place was just multiple mu large but gave off a pressuring presence. The Sun Seed Crystal above Zuo Mo’s head gave off a faint golden light that covered Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo carefully explored. The power of the shen temple was weak and the eternal flames of the Burning Shen Realm had been extinguished. Even so, it was not something that Zuo Mo could bear. If it wasn’t for the Sun Crystal Seed, Zuo Mo would not be able to enter this place.

The Burning Shen Realm was dark and without a sun. Zuo Mo’s vision was compressed and could only see the things two or three zhang ahead of him.

It was completely bare. There was not anything. The high temperature under his feet gave Zuo Mo a feeling that he was walking on fire.

The entire Burning Shen Realm, Zuo Mo to felt uncomfortable, the area gave off a strong feeling of pressure and hopelessness. However, he still persisted in walking forward. He had the plan that if he was fast in his actions, it would not take much time. He would have regrets if he did not come.

He quickly reached the end.

Hm!

His pupils suddenly contracted.

Chapter 502 - Extreme Joy To Sorrow

Zuo Mo carefully advanced.

It was hard to feel safe in this ghastly place. Even though the Burning Shen Realm’s flames had been extinguished for many years, the atmosphere of hopelessness and pressure that had formed over countless years pressed on Zuo Mo’s heart like a rock.

Zuo Mo’s nerves were tightly tensed.

Just now, he had seemed to see something out of the corner of his eye. Under this murderous environment, Zuo Mo’s heart couldn’t help but jump. He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and managed to suppress it and calm himself down. This ghastly place! He really could not imagine how the people that had been imprisoned in the Burning Shen Realm had lived and wished for death!

When he walked forward, Zuo Mo finally saw what that pile of things were.

It was a pile of bones. Frightened for nothing, Zuo Mo instantly released a breath.

It was most likely the bones left behind from a person imprisoned in the Burning Shen Realm, one burned to death. Zuo Mo shook his head. It seemed that there wasn’t anything good left in here.

He bent down and started to collect out of habit.

When his hand came into contact with the bones, he instantly felt it was strange. His expression changed as he hurriedly picked up a piece of bone. He held it out in front of himself and started to examine it closely.

This bone should be a bone in the arm. It was not different in size compared than normal bones but when he held it, he felt a clear difference. It was extremely heavy, four to five times as heavy as normal arm bones. The bone was not the stark white of normal bones but a rare dark green. There were threads of dark red patterns on the surface and the bone felt as though it was made from jade.

Zuo Mo picked up another bone and lightly tapped the two of them together.

Ding!

A clear sound.

Without any warning, an invisible wave of sound suddenly exploded and headed at him! Zuo Mo was unable to react in time and felt golden light flash, so bright it blinded him. It was the Sun Crystal Seed above his head that was stimulated and automatically protected its owner.

Alarmed, Zuo Mo almost threw the two bones in his hands away!

Fortunately, his second reaction was also extremely fast and he managed to stop!

When his mood settled, his eyes became eerily green as though he wanted to eat these bones.

Treasure!

Definitely treasure!

Zuo Mo didn’t know how many times he shouted these words mentally!

Common! So common!

But he still couldn’t help but shout. There was a glow that was called jingshi on his face. He caressed the green jade bones on his hands and was filled with emotion!

Great ones were really great ones. Even the bones of great ones after death were this extraordinary, this powerful!

Zuo Mo carefully picked up the ink jade bones one by one, picking them up gently and putting them down gently. After picking up the ink jade bones on the top, Zuo Mo’s gaze was suddenly attracted by an object.

What was that?

His mind alert, Zuo Mo instantly swept away the dirt and dust to pick it up.

A bronze mask!

“Really ugly!” Zuo Mo muttered. The mask was cold in his hand. What was most startling was the two empty eye sockets on the face. The mouth engraved on the mask gaped wildly as though it held viciousness and disdain. It revealed two rows of sharp fangs like that of a wild beast and was biting on a broken arrow. The broken arrow seemed to have been dyed by some unknown material that was red and appeared as though it was dripping blood.

The craftsmanship style was very crude, but it held the flavor of savagery.

This should be a treasure?

Zuo Mo wasn’t sure.

Compared to the inky jade bones, the bronze mask did not seem very attention-catching. It seemed to be a normal bronze mask. Zuo Mo was even unable to feel any power ripples from it.

But since it was able to survive for so many years, it should have some value.

In such a heated Burning Shen Realm, the coldness that the mask radiated caused Zuo Mo to feel very comfortable. Without another word, he put the mask on.

A wave of coolness passed over. Zuo Mo felt unspeakably comfortable. His body instantly felt lighter, and the pressure that had been covering his mind seemed to decrease.

Good thing!

Zuo Mo instantly felt affection for this mask.

This wave of coolness was not thick but it seemed to seep into his bones. His mind instantly became clearer. Talismans that could clear the mind were very popular on the market. It wasn’t just beneficial for daily cultivation, they were also extremely practical in battle. They could decrease the power of the enemy’s illusory spells and could help the wearer cast spells.

This mask was able to subdue the effects of the Burning Shen Realm. Just this one quality was enough for Zuo Mo to hold on to it and not let go.

What kind of place was the Burning Shen Realm?

The effect that normal talismans could have in this place was so small it was insignificant!

Good treasure, good treasure!

Zuo Mo smiled and searched the entire Burning Shen Realm but did not have any more discoveries. The ground of the Burning Shen Temple was as hard as metal. Zuo Mo could only sigh. It would be hard to even leave a mark on the ground, much less dig down.

Content, Zuo Mo did not notice that the power of the shen temple was decreasing at an astounding rate.

———

The xiuzhe that were fighting noticed immediately. No matter if it was the realm guardians or the traps, their power decreased dramatically!

All of these people were old-timers and instantly understood what had happened.

“The power of the shen temple has weakened!” Li Shu looked at the sky and said lightly.

Elder Shen snorted coldly, his voice carrying deep urgency and murderousness. “He got it!”

Their speed suddenly increased!

———

At the same time, the Masked Assassin suddenly erupted and defeated the Aged Gold Secret Realm.

At this point, the middle-aged male was urgent and impatient. “Faster, faster! That Sun Tribe descendant got it!”

Without another word, the Masked Assassin picked up the middle-aged male and disappeared as he used his movement method.

———

In the other places, several groups coincided. However, they maintained a safe distance from each other with their gazes filled with thick enmity. However, they did not fight. Up until now, no one had gained anything.

Everyone had come in search of wealth. Before there was anything profitable appeared, no one would move rashly.

Everyone used their own movement methods to increase their speed, all moving towards the mask.

Along the way, they could see traces that things had been moved. There clearly had been people that reached these places first. This caused everyone’s expressions to become terrible.

“Damn it! If ye knows who has these things, ye’ll cut off his hands!”  one of the people said hatefully.

“Is it those yuanying?” someone asked.

“So what if it is the yuanying? Yuanying means they can take it all? Do they not know the rules? If they eat the meat, they have to leave soup for us!” someone shouted out in discontent.

No one verbally agreed but many had expressions of agreement. Those that were able to enter were famous people on the rankings of Cloud Sea Jie. Many of the top ten had come. Those that did not were either on a distant trip or in seclusion so they were unable to get here in time. Otherwise, they would have definitely come.

These experts usually had their eyes pointed at the sky and were very proud. They all came with great expectations into the shen temple.

But they worked so hard and took such a great risk yet ended up with nothing.

Several places that looked as though they had treasure seemed to have been searched by someone already. In the most exaggerated place, even the soil had been upturned.

This caused many people to stare in shock. What kind of person was this? Searching for treasure like this? This attitude of turning the earth caused many people to feel deep shock.

But more people had black faces, their eyes flashing with the sparks of anger as blood rushed into their throats. Was there anything more depressing than this?

They could only furiously channel their ling power and did not stop along the way.

If you’re lucky, don’t let ye catch you!

Otherwise … …

Spit out everything that you ate!

Everyone’s mental thought was unusually similar. These people were extremely outstanding in strength and with their anger boiling, their wrath could be imagined. Adding on that the power of the shen temple had weakened, they were unstoppable on their path!

If one looked from the sky, they could see all the xiuzhe in the Sun Shen Temple was furiously gathering in the direction that Zuo Mo was at.

At the very front was the trio of Elder SHen!

———

Contented, Zuo Mo came out of the Burning Shen Realm. He had originally went in with the thought of exploring and had not expected to get something. The joy in his heart could be imagined.

Extremely content!

“Bastard! This old man finally found you! Do not run!”

A dark and furious voice suddenly came from behind him. Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically!

Damn it!

This was fatal!

His reaction was extremely rapid. Seeing the situation, he prepared to activate the Light Void Wings to escape but found to his shock that the three powers in his body had transformed back to shen power!

This suddenly change instantly caused Zuo Mo’s soul to fly out!

It did not require a long time for shen power to turn to the three powers, but at this critical time, the delay was fatal!

In this blink, Elder Shen and the other two surrounded him.

Elder Shen felt very good. His gaze landed on the Sun Crystal Seed on top of Zuo Mo’s head and his eyes narrowed. He could not stop the greed in his eyes from showing as he said darkly, “So it is the Sun Crystal Seed! I was saying, how could there be Sun descendants. Your luck is pretty good to get such a great treasure!”

Li Shu and Lu Zhen also had excited expressions. They were high on their guard and were wary of letting the other escape. Li Shu was more detail-minded. His gaze landed on the bronze mask on the other’s face. For some unknown reason, he felt a thread of fear.

This thread of fear came out of nowhere. He hurriedly focused. With Elder present, the other definitely could not escape!

Elde Shen said lightly, “Be good and give the treasures, I’ll spare your life!”

Zuo Mo’s heart sank and a bitter smile came onto his mouth!

As expected, people died for wealth, birds died for food!

The pressure of the yuanying was like a mountain. Zuo Mo felt he couldn’t breath as the mountain-like pressure came onto him! What was even worse was that the Sun Crystal Seed shrank back. It did not react at all against the pressure that came at him!

The last life-saving straw was ineffective. Zuo Mo’s heart reached rock-bottom.

At this moment, Elder Shen’s expression changed.

“Leaving the treasures is a given, but I think that the life doesn’t need to be spared.” A middle-aged person dressed in Taoist robes slowly appeared in Zuo Mo’s vision. His appearance was extremely sudden as it  seemed to be out of thin air.

“I agree with Brother Ye’s words!”

An old person with a bamboo staff came out of the corner.

Zuo Mo’s face was ashen.

Yuanying! Two more yuanying!

Chapter 503 - Tian Huan

Elder Shen’s expression was dark.

He naturally recognized the two people in front of him. The one in the Supreme Polarity robes was called Ge Hai and name of the one holding the bamboo staff was unknown to Elder Shen so he  called him the Old Bamboo Staff Man. Both had yuanying cultivation. Their individually their power was not comparable to his but if the two worked together, he wasn’t sure what the result could be.

One of them stood on the right and the other on the left, their positions forming triangle. Their intentions to work together was evident.

“What do you two mean? Do you want to be enemies with my Tian Huan?” Elder Shen said faintly. Within his tone, a proudness could not be disguised.

“Tian Huan?”

The two’s expression changed slightly. The Old Bamboo Staff Man snorted coldly. “Tian Huan? When did Xu Ling Sect become Tian Huan? Does Sire feel we are easy to fool?”

His words were hard but his tone had unconsciously softened.

Zuo Mo also gaped on hearing this. He naturally knew what Tian Huan was. The reason that the territories of the xiuzhe were called Four Realms was because of Kun Lun, Xuan Kong, Tian Huan, and Xi Xuan. The names of the four realms represented the biggest sects of each region.

Sword xiu of Kun Lun, dhyana xiu of Xuan Kong Temple, seal xiu of Tian Huan, and roaming xiu of the Xi Xuan Alliance.

So when the other two heard Elder Shen call himself one of Tian Huan, their presences instantly weakened and intentions of retreat rose. The four great sects were the largest sects of the xiuzhe world. They were titans that could not be touched. The two of them might be yuanying and could be ranked first and second in Cloud Sea Jie but in front of Tian Huan, they were as minuscule as ants.

However, they did not leave despite the reservations they had. It still needed to be proven if the other was really one of Tian Huan. They would not believe it so easily.

Li Shu snorted coldly and opened his hand. An ring of light make from unique seal scripts floated on his palm.

“You should recognize this.”

Even though he was facing a yuanying xiuzhe, Li Shu was not courteous at all. He was also extremely furious. Things kept on happening on this mission and he was already full of rage. The sect leader had told him to not expose their identities this time. He hadn’t thought that they would end up being forced to reveal their identities in the end.

When the two saw the ring of light, their expressions changed greatly.

The ring of light slowly spun in Li Shu’s palm. The seal scripts seemed to be connected like chains and formed a ring of light.

This was the sky ring that shook all of Four Realm Heavens!

Every inner sect disciple of Tian Huan would have a sky ring that belonged to them. The sky ring was the proof of their identity and also their understanding of seal formations. The sky ring was a scripture unique to Tian Huan and outsiders were unable to forge it.

Just as Li Shu thought the two would retreat, Ge Hai suddenly said ambiguously, “I had really not expected to see people from Tian Huan. This old man is very fortunate. However, this Cloud Sea Jie is really far, it shouldn’t be under Tian Huan’s control.”

The thought of retreat decreased in the Old Bamboo Staff Man. So what if it was Tian Huan? No matter how big Tian Huan was, they could not control everything. If they took the secret treasure and then found a hidden place to seclude themselves and cultivate, how could Tian Huan find them?

Elder Shen’s expression changed slightly. His first reaction was, did they know of that treasure?

Li Shu also felt this situation was terrible. He also had not expected that the name of Tian Huan would not intimidate these people. This was the first time it had happened to him. Even when he had been interacting with Ning Yi and the others, if he exposed even a bit of his identity, they all fawned warmly over him. Even a person as proud as Ning Yi did as well!

Before he could think of a solution, other people had arrived.

The incomer was Cao Bei, the expert famed in Cloud Sea Jie. Seeing everyone’s position, he instantly understood. He respectfully bowed towards Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man. “Greetings to Elder Ge, Elder Zhu!”

“Little Cao Bei has also come!” Ge Hai said with a smile.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man also exchanged greetings with Cao Bei.

Cloud Sea Jie was not large and there were just the few that could be called experts. Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man were also the only yuanying xiuzhe in Cloud Sea Jie. Their reputation and status were naturally high.

Without a second word, Cao Bei stood on the side of these two people.

Very quickly, the number of xiuzhe that arrived increased.

Those that could enter the shen temple were the top experts of Cloud Sea Jie. None of them were stupid. Looking at the situation, they instantly understood.

Everyone started exchanging greetings and conversing with friendliness.

Elder Shen and Li Shu had black faces. More and more people were joining Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man’s side. The situation was becoming increasingly disadvantageous to them. Elder Shen started to regret that he had not brought more people along. If one more yuanying had come, he would dare to attack the other side.

If it was one-on-one, these yuanying from little sects would not be a problem.

Right now, the numbers on the other side was increasing and their courage would grow as well.

Gradually, the situation changed.

There were three camps. Elder Shen’s side, Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man, and some xiuzhe of unknown origins that were scattered about.

Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man had the most power. They were all local xiuzhe of Cloud Sea Jie and knew of each other. With Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man as the two yuanying at the front, they were the most united.

The three sides faced off. Zuo Mo was encircled at the center, unable to escape even if he had wings.

Seeing the present situation, Zuo Mo felt it was interesting and the majority of his nervousness disappeared.

Elder Shen said amusedly, “Cloud Sea Jie is really a good place. Everyone is very courageous. However, this old man will put the words down. We will settle the debts of however becomes enemies with my Tian Huan today.”

“Tian Huan … …”

The crowd shifted and many people showed expressions of terror. Those that had sects and groups instantly showed hesitation. They could escape and hide but their sect could not. If they became enemies of Tian Huan, they would bring extinction to their sect.

“Is there proof?”

A voice suddenly sounded in the crowd.

Li Shu’s face as cold as he showed his sky ring again.

A xiuzhe came of the group and bowed with folded hands towards the crowd. “This one has a family and will not enter into this affair, farewell!”

Finishing, he left without looking back.

With him as the example, other people started to leave. These people all had sects or families. They did not want to bring calamity to their family or sect due to a search for treasure.

The number of people on Ge Hai’s side which had originally been the strongest instantly decreased. Less than a third remained. The name of Tian Huan was enough to scare the great majority of people. However, the remainder were all lawless brutes. They did not feel terror and showed an excited desire for battle.

Zuo Mo looked with interest at this scene. It wasn’t possible to see a big battle like this normally.

Hmm!

His heart suddenly jumped and his body instinctively tensed.

An almost indiscernible ripple came from the deeps of the shen temple like a heartbeat.

It was from the direction of the sacrificial altar.

Zuo Mo became alert. He suppressed his joy and gathered his attention. He was like the hunter in the snow waiting patiently for his prey. After about ten breaths, another ripple passed across his mind.

It was the sacrificial altar!

Zuo Mo’s heart beat uncontrollably!

Fortunately, he was wearing a bronze mask on his face so no one detected his face change. He forced himself to calm down. He carefully raised his head and glanced at the people around him before he rapidly averted his gaze.

No one else had noticed this ripple!

Zuo Mo thought about how he was recognized by the shen temple. Was it because of this that he could detect this ripple?

What was the meaning in this ripple? Was something changing on the sacrificial altar?

Extremely sensitive to opportunity, Zuo Mo instantly realized that this may be his only chance!

Any change for him who was in a state of certain death was beneficial!

A thread of hope appearing in a situation of certain death made Zuo Mo feel as though his heart was raised up at his throat. At this time, Zuo Mo showed exceptional mental strength. He quickly calmed down and felt that ripple that was disappearing!

Calm! He had to be calm!

Another ten breaths and he once again felt the ripple!

The shen power inside his body suddenly flowed of its own accord.

Was it … …

Zuo Mo’s mind moved. He did not stop it, and followed the ripple coming from the sacrificial altar to allow the shen power to flow slowly.

The flow of shen power was very slow. Zuo Mo did not focus on anything else and memorized the pathways the shen power flowed.

He was motionless like a puppet.

The faceoff was suddenly interrupted by a suddenly attack. Someone suddenly shot out an arrow. That arrow was like a spark thrown into a barrel of gunpowder. The three sides that had been tense acted almost at the same moment.

The situation instantly became extremely chaotic.

Worried that they would cause the collapse of the ruins, the three yuanying were restrained in their attacks. Li Shu, Cao Bei, and the others did not have compunctions and attacked at full power.

Having held back his anger for a long time, Li Shu used a major killing move the moment he attacked.

The skyring in his palm spun. Seal scripts suddenly lit up under everyone’s feet. During the time he had presented the skyring, he had stealthily set up formations on the ground.

His move was an extremely beautiful and famed killing move of Tian Huan. It was called “Skyring Shadow.” Even Ge Hai and the Old Bamboo Staff Man who were yuanying did not detect it. It was possible to see from this how powerful the attack was.

The light of the seal scripts filled everyone’s visions. Two xiuzhe of Cloud Sea Jie only managed to wail before they were dismembered into multiple pieces by the light.

Ge Hai was furious, “Child has such a vicious heart!”

A black and white yinyang symbol shot at Li Shu.

Shen Wu Hai said coldly, “A minuscule one dares to call glory to themselves!”

A fire pillar stopped the yinyang symbol. Among the fire light, it was possible to see sea scripts flowing. This ball of flame suddenly grew as though it was alive and had opened its mouth to swallow the yinyang symbol.

The bamboo staff in the Old Bamboo Staff Man’s hand suddenly turned from green into an inky black that reflected no light at all. Yet the leaves on the end of the bamboo staff were deathly grey and was extremely eerie.

Shen Wu Hai’s expression changed as he yelled, “Corpse Sea Bamboo! You dare to forge Corpse Sea Bamboo!”

Hearing the three words “Corpse Sea Bamboo,” the expressions of the surrounding xiuzhe changed.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man smiled. He waved the corpse sea bamboo and a ball of black energy flew at Shen Wu Hai.

The black energy was roiling. It was possible to see twisted and blurry faces moving within it and it was frightening to see.

Shen Wu Hai did not dare to underestimate it and shot out a fire light.

The fire and the black energy collided and were mutually destroyed.

Shen Wu Hai’s expression became grave. He hadn’t expected the other to have a wondrous object like the Corpse Sea Bamboo. This caused his attack to lose out slightly.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man did not dare to be careless. However, he did not feel surprise .How could people that came from Tian Huan be simple?

No matter how fiercely the people fought, Zuo Mo who was at the very center seemed to be at the eye of the storm and it was unusually silent.

The three yuanying stopped all the attacks that targeted Zuo Mo. They all knew that the crux of this battle was between the three of them.

Motionless like a puppet, Zuo Mo did not show any suspicious qualities that would attract their attention.

No one noticed that the pair of eyes on that lowered mask was flashing at this time with an unusual light.

Chapter 504 - Blood Script Bell

The situation was chaotic.

The Corpse Sea Bamboo in the Old Bamboos Staff Man’s hand was a great treasure. Every time it was waved black balls of energy were released, each held countless angry souls inside. The rumor was that Corpse Sea Bamboo would only grow in extremely evil places within sea of corpses. The abundant death energy would become its nutrients.

Shen Wu Hai never thought that he would see such a powerful talismans in a little place as Cloud Sea Jie.

His seal fire that could be called masterful wasn’t effective against this little Corpse Sea Bamboo. In comparison, Ge Hai’s cultivation, while higher than the Old Bamboo Staff Man, was less of a threat to Shen Wu Hai.

Li Shu’s cultivation was pretty good. As an inner sect disciple, he might only have jindan cultivation but he had endless tricks. The little skyring changed endlessly.

At the side, Lu Zhen was much more clumsy in comparison. His ling power was greater than Li Shu but no matter if it was the spells he cast or his talismans, they were far lacking compared to Li Shu.

Even so, his power was still a great step above this group of Cloud Sea Jie jindan. He was definitely the third most powerful jindan!

This was the difference between large and small sects.

Any disciple of a large sect could usually rival the sect leaders of small sects. This was because the foundations of those large sects had been accumulated through thousands of years. They had abundant resources, profound spells, astoundingly powerful masters. This meant that their starting points were far higher than normal xiuzhe.

As they really started to fight, Li Shu calmed down.

The battle was not as difficult as he had imagined. Except the surprise of the Corpse Sea Bamboo, he did not feel any pressure due to the skill of the other xiuzhe. They couldn’t compare to the spars in the sect.

He couldn’t help but feel a thread of pride.

This caused him to feel even more relaxed and his skill was expressed to its limits. The skyring in his hand rapidly changed. All kinds of formation methods took their turn and flowed.

Those xiuzhe that he was suppressing were filled with shock. Li Shu’s strength far surpassed their expectations.

He alone managed to suppress seven jindan.

The constantly changing formations were like the invisible threads that controlled a puppet, exhausting the other’s concentration to deal with it.

Li Shu was idle and calm. No nervousness could be seen. His attention was on the entire situation. The Corpse Sea Bamboo was powerful but he was not worried. How could someone who was an elder in the sect just have only this level of strength?

Also, in terms of talismans, how many sects could be spoken of in the same sentence as Tian Huan?

His attention was mostly focused on those xiuzhe of unknown origins. In his view, these people were the unstable factor. They were most likely to bring about an unexpected change.

What reassured him slightly was that this group all fought for themselves.

It seemed he needed to add some power and sort out these people from Cloud Sea Jie as fast as possible. Murderousness flashed through Li Shu’s eyes. At some time, a bronze bell appeared in his hand. This bell looked very normal, the yellow bronze body was covered in complex red seal scripts that crossed like the network of blood vessels. It was terrifying to see.

This Blood Script Bell was the talismans his master had bestowed onto him.

The seemingly normal-looking pearwood handle came from a thousand year bitter pear tree. The body of the bell was forged from thirteen kinds of rare bronze gold. When it was forged, the sound of the bell had rang out for three days among the mountains before ending.

Li Shu usually treasured it. Other than imprinting on it every day, he rarely used it in battle. The other disciples knew that he had a defensive talisman but there were only a rare few that had seen it.

At this time, he wanted to finish the battle quickly which was why he showed this treasure!

At this time, a feeling of danger suddenly rose. A dot of light suddenly exploded in Li Shu’s eyes!

The extremely strong feeling of danger caused every hair on Li Shu’s body to stand on end.

Expression changing dramatically, Li Shu retreated suddenly. A dash of light shot out of the skyring and shielded his body.

Ping!

Before the formation lit up, it cracked like glass.

Among the flurry of shattered fragments, a serene light burrowed out and appeared in front of Li Shu.

“Masked Assassin!”

For the first time, fear was on Li Shu’s face. He suddenly felt a thread of regret. Damn it! How had he forgotten this dangerous guy?

This serene light was like glue. The intimidating cold essence aimed at Li Shu’s brow.

At this moment of life and death, Li Shu could not consider anything else. His ling power furiously flooded the Blood Script Bell in his hand.

Ding!

A blood red ripple of energy suddenly spread with the Blood Script Bell as the center!

The dot of light that was rush at him from the front suddenly grew in brightness when it encountered this bloody light. It gave a ear-piercing howl!

A blurry shadow silently appeared.

This change came extremely suddenly. The xiuzhe in the surroundings were not able to react until this bloody ripple reached them. All of them changed expression.

As the bloody ripple script passed across their bodies, the blood in their faces seemed to drain out.

They were frozen where they stood as though they were wooden puppets. There wasn’t a wound on their bodies, but their exposed skin was ashen white and without any blood.

The other xiuzhe paled and jumped out of the battle range far from Li Shu! The power of the Blood Script Bell caused all of them pale.

The only one that did not retreat was the Masked Assassin. He advanced instead. His body was like a blurry ball that could not be caught.

Every time that dot of light came into contact with the bloody light, it would suddenly light up as though there was friction with the air.

What was even harder for people to accept was that the dot of light was extremely domineering. Even Li Shu was suppressed to the point he could not raise his head.

Pia pia pia!

Every time the dot of light came into contact with the blood light, Li Shu’s hand that held the Blood Script Bell would shake.

The ghostly figure of the Masked Assassin continuously change position and roamed around in search of an opportunity to make the fatal strike.

This added great pressure to Li Shu. Pulses of vibration came from the bell. He was almost unable to hold onto the bell!

The presence of death was so close, almost breathing on his face.

It was the first time Li Shu was placed in such a dangerous situation. He gritted his teeth and held the Blood Script Bell in a death grip to try to control the Blood Script Bell.

The Masked Assassin was unusually cunning. He probably had guessed that Li Shu’s ling power would be expended extremely quickly to control such a high grade talisman like the Blood Script Bell. So he continuously attacked head on to increase the rate that Li Shu’s ling power was up.

Under the storm of the Masked Assassin’s attacks, Li Shu wavered.

“Shixiong!” Lu Zhen saw Li Shu was in danger. He did not attend to his own enemy, the blue ring on his hand expanding and shooting at the Masked Assassin.

The ghostly Masked Assassin flashed. A dot of light appeared behind Lu Zhen. The light flashed and then disappeared like an arrow.

Bam!

The ling armor on Lu Zhen’s body suddenly exploded. His body shook and he froze where he stood.

There was a bloody hole the size of a bowl in his chest.

“Shidi!” Li Shu glared angrily, sorrowful inside.

The difference in status between Lu Zhen and he was great, and their relationship was normal. However, the other had died to save him. This was a great and unparalleled blow to Li Shu.

A flush of blood suddenly appeared on Li Shu’s handsome face.

The skyring suddenly released many lights. Seal scripts flew out of the skyring like a stream of water. These bright seal scripts were so numerous that people felt it was endless.

Li Shu stood solemnly as he shook the Blood Script Bell gently, shouting, “Skyring Blood Chime!”

Those seal scripts floating in the air suddenly froze and formed rings of light in the air. Hundreds of light rings formed an enormous formation. Chimes echoed with ripples of bloody light in this formation!

At this instant, all the rings chimed!

Boom!

Everything inside the formation was completely shattered!

Some xiuzhe were unable to escape and crumbled before even having the time to wail. The xiuzhe that were frozen like wood puppets also disappeared!

An indiscernible muffled grunt, and a dot of light suddenly erupted out of the formation. Right after, a figure suddenly charged out of the formation!

He flashed like a ghost in front of everyone’s eyes and then disappeared.

Pia!

The formation of light rings completely crumbled like an avalanche of snow and disappeared into the ring.

A flow of blood came from Li Shu’s mouth. His gaze landed on the ground. There was a little puddle of blood there. The corners of his mouth unconsciously jerked, and he was shocked inside.

This Skyring Blood chime was his ultimate move. Even this move was unable to kill the Masked Assassin..

The other was really unfathomable!

Li Shu wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth and smoothed out his ruffled clothing without even looking at the surrounding xiuzhe.

No one dared to move forward.

This move had frightened all these xiuzhe.

Even the Masked Assassin had been wounded by this move. This youth was really powerful!

As expected of a disciple of Tian Huan!

———

Li Shu’s move shocked all of the battlefield. But no one would ever expect that a strange feeling formed in Zuo Mo’s mind, a figure who had his head bent and was dismissed by everyone.

He felt Li Shu’s move was very familiar. Wasn’t that a stronger version of the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] that he became famous with? The power of the blood red bell was slightly scary, but those familiar rings of light when combined together in this move was the same as [Skyring Moon Chime Froamtion]!

So the [Skyring Moon Chime Formation] originated from Tian Huan!

Zuo Mo released a sigh and then he twisted his mouth.

Tsk tsk, leftovers of what ge played … …

But there was not much time left for him to ponder. He knew the Masked Assassin was here from before and was not surprised. At this time, he just desired to know what that indiscernible ripple that came from the sacrificial altar was.

He wanted this fight to be as violent as possible. This way, he would have a chance.

———

Shen Wu Hai had gotten serious.

He was not affected by Lu Zhen. The death of an outer sect disciple was not worthy of his attention. However, he was furious at the appearance of the Masked Assassin. He had been tangled up with the two old people and Li Shu had almost been killed.

Li Shu was an inner sect disciple!

If an inner sect disciple died in front of him, he didn’t even want to know how many criticisms he would hear. Li Shu’s channels were wounded. When he returned, the other old guys would complain greatly.

Thinking about this, how could the proud Shen Wu Hai not be angry?

“Just a Corpse Sea Bamboo and you want to stop this old one?” Shen Wu Hai shouted. His ling power expanded, “Taste this old man’s Dark Void Fire!”

A clear and colorless flame appeared at the center of his palm.

Boom!

The moment this transparent flame appeared, everyone’s hearts trembled!

At this point, Zuo Mo who felt it suddenly opened his eyes!

Chapter 505 - Dark Void Fire

Zuo Mo looked in the direction of the sacrificial altar and his thoughts were turbulent.

At this time, no one noticed Zuo Mo’s abnormality. Everyone’s eyes were locked onto the transparent flame in Shen Wu Hai’s hand.

Dark Void Fire!

The clear fire soundlessly burned and pulsed in Shen Wu Hai’s hand. The air seemed to suddenly become sticky. An invisible ripple spread out from the flame and with each pulse, the heat could be felt.

Dark Void Fire!

Li Shu was alarmed. Elder Shen was going to go all out!

Shocked, he widened his eyes in fear of missing a detail of the fight. Dark Void Fire was the technique that Elder Shen was famous for. It was well-known in Tian Huan. This thread of Dark Void Fire contained what Elder Shen comprehended from studying seal scripts. It was named a fire but it was not actually within the five elements.

This thread of Dark Void Fire was the size of a pinky, but in reality, it was constructed of three hundred extremely small seal scripts layered together. It was exquisitely crafted.

The rumors were that the Dark Void Fire had reached the peak of seal fires. When Li Shu saw Elder Shen revealed his killing move, he became excited!

The Old Bamboo Staff Man’s expression changed. He detected the power the moment the Dark Void Fire appeared.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man’s expression became grave. He threw the Corpse Sea Bamboo into the air and chanted. The Corpse Sea Bamboo that was inky black started to melt and became a puddle of black water. A strange smelly odor spread that burrowed into everyone’s hearts.

Shen Wu Hai smirked coldly. The thread of Dark Void Fire coiled on his palm like a transparent snake.

The Dark Void Fire was clear and colorless. If one did not look closely, it would be hard to detect it was there.

Shen Wu Hai’s expression was proud but he did not dare to be careless. Wondrous objects like the Corpse Sea Bamboo usually had unexpected abilities. He did not want to trip up on flat ground.

The puddle of black water above the Old Bamboo Staff Man slowly moved. Suddenly, black bamboo shoots grew out of the black water at a visible rate.

The black bamboo grew very quickly. In a blink, it was a half-mu patch of black bamboo. Like a black cloud, it floated above the Old Bamboo Stall Man’s head.

The mood suddenly became as heavy as lead.

The pressure produced when two yuanying went all out was a calamity for the surrounding jindan! Even Li Shu did not have the ability to interfere in this high level battle!

The intimidating pressure was suffocating. He felt even his breathing was becoming difficult!

Yuanying! This was yuanying!

Li Shu’s gaze was reverent and burning. It was the first time he directly face such a great power. The shock and awe it gave him surpassed his expectations.

He carefully closed his mouth and nose. The strange stench that the Corpse Sea Bamboo exuded had a strong corrosive quality. He raised his foot and stone powder rose into the air. There was a clear footprint on the hard stone brick. Under the corrosive presence of the Corpse Sea Bamboo, the shen temple’s hard stone tiles were as soft as bread.

The jindan activated their ling armor to defend against the corrosive presence of the Corpse Sea Bamboo.

If there were ningmai xiuzhe, just the presence of the Corpse Sea Bamboo would be enough to kill all of them.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man cast a spell. Above his head the leaves on the black bamboo sea started to fall. The black bamboo leaves formed all kinds of black poisonous insects or corpse insects that charged at Shen Wu Hai!

At this time, hair-raising hissing came like the tide!

The people felt the shen temple darken and felt as though it was inescapable.

Shen Wu Hai’s expression was grave. He slowly raised his right hand and pushed forward without any finesse!

An enormous clear handprint left his hand and slammed at the black insects.

Pew pew pew!

Under the clear handprint, the black insects exploded like smoke and disappeared.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man snorted coldly. The number of black bamboo leaves falling increased. The number of insects had increased, and were packed together into a tide that completely surrounded Shen Wu Hai.

That clear handprint was unable to stand up by itself under the fearless attacks of the insects. In a blink, the black insects covered the entire handprint. It looked terrifying. The sound of the insects chewing and swallowing caused everyone’s scalps to prick and feel shock.

If this was a person, even the bones would be eaten!

There were insects that exploded and disappeared but these insect did not know fear and furiously chewed the enormous hand.

The enormous handprint was becoming visibly smaller.

In a flash, the enormous hand that had been multiple zhang large was chewed to the size of a fist.

A thread of pride passed through the eyes of the Old Bamboo Staff Man. He had accidentally obtained this Corpse Sea Bamboo. From the day he obtained it, he spent almost all of his time refining it.

In order for the Corpse Sea Bamboo to reach its maximum power, the Old Bamboo Staff Man had used a corpse forging method.

It was strange to say, but after the bamboo formed, this Corpse Sea Bamboo was as green as jade and did not have a hint of death energy. The Old Bamboo Staff Man was of high status in Cloud Sea Jie. It had been many years since he had fought against someone else so the power of the Corpse Sea Bamboo had never been displayed.

That was, until today!

To use it against an elder of Tian Huan to baptize this talisman, it was enough!

A thread of viciousness flashed across this Old Bamboo Staff Man’s eyes. If the two people did not die here today, then their own days in the future would only be spent escaping pursuit!

In order to get rid of all future obstacles, he had to kill them!

Murderousness brimming, the Old Bamboo Staff man unhesitatingly pointed at Shen Wu Hai and shouted, “Go!”

A sharp howl sounded in the air. Countless black worms charged at Shen Wu Hai from all directions.

Just as Shen Wu Hai seemed to be swallowed by the black insects, a smile passed at the corner of his lips.

“Good move!”

The enormous palm that was whittled down until it was a fist-sized ball suddenly exploded in dazzlingly light. The black insects on the enormous hand burned up in the clear flame. They were burned to ash before they could make a sound.

A thread of transparent flame once again appeared in everyone’s view.

It silently burned in the air.

Under the flame, densely packed seal scripts appeared like an enormous spider web that spread and shrouded everyone.

No one knew when this formation had been set up.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man’s expression changed. Even though he did not know what formation this was, he knew he has now at a disadvantage. All of his moves were predicted and had been part of the other’s plan.

As he expected, the transparent flame silently pulsed. The formation lit up. Woosh, flames exploded around Shen Wu Hai and the black insects were all consumed by the flames.

In a blink, the tide of battle flipped!

Shen Wu Hai looked around with a proud expression. “With just you lot, and you dare to steal from my Tian Huan? You do not know your limits! Today, this old man will give you a taste of the Dark Void Fire!”

The seal scripts spun. Everyone found that their feet were glued to the ground. No matter how they tried, they were unable to break free!

The Dark Void Fire silently pulsed.

Boom, two threads of flames suddenly shot out under the feet of two xiuzhe and swallowed them.

The flames dissipated and nothing was left where the two people had been.

Shock and hopelessness filled everyone’s faces. They used all kinds of methods to struggle but they were all ineffective.

Li Shu’s gaze was deeply attracted to the silently pulsing Dark Void Fire. He was filled with reverence and respect. Elder’s Dark Void Fire lived up to the rumors! It was an enormous formation but the thing truly effective was the Dark Void Fire, made from three hundred seal scripts!

Li Shu felt greatly reverent about Elder’s skill with seal formations. Compared to his Skyring Blood Chime that seemed to make great noise, Elder’s move was multiple times more skilled.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man and Ge Hai all had distressed expressions. The two of them exchanged a look and found intentions of fighting to the death.

The two of them were yuanying and were the only two people among all of these people that could move.

Shen Wu Hai, who had been paying attention to the Old Bamboo Staff Man, felt his heart tighten. This Dark Void Fire Formation was powerful but it was not easy to kill two yuanying at the same time. He had planned on getting rid of these cannon fodder before gathering all his power to deal with these two people.

Yet there was no time for him to regret how things had turned out.

The half-mu of black bamboo above the Old Bamboo Staff Man’s head turned back into the Corpse Sea Bamboo. The Old Bamboo Staff Man sliced at his wrist with a fingernail. Blood spurted out. The Corpse Sea Bamboo seemed to drink in all the blood that had poured out.

The Old Bamboo Staff Man instantly seemed to age by two decades and his hair turned completely white.

Ge Hai’s expression was grave. He carefully took out a Supreme Polarity Bead that was black and white. This bad was about the size of a pigeon’s egg and did not look eye-catching.

But Shen Wu Hai who saw this Supreme Polarity Bead changed expression as he shouted, “Yinyang Null Polarity Bead … …”

Li Shu’s expression turned white.

The Yinyang Null Polarity Bead was a very mysterious treasure. It was unknown who forged it, or why it was forged. It had mysterious origins. In the beginning, this bead was unknown but it had become famous after only one incident.

A sect that possessed three yuanying and sixteen jindan was massacred in one night.

The culprit was just one person.

When news of this incident spread, it shocked all of Four Realm Heaven, and the Yinyang Null Polarity Bead became famed.

The Yinyang Null Polarity Bead had stringent requirements on who could consumed it, the user had to be one above yuanying. It would cause the xiuhe’s primal spirit to burn and produce terrifying power so the user could destroy enemies multiple times more powerful than they were. However, the user would die.

This was one of the rare treasures that could cause terror in large sects!

The Corpse Sea Bamboo that drank enough blood was suddenly inserted into the ground. The body of the bamboo started to slowly shift. In the span of a few breaths, it formed something similar to a face.

A short while later, the Corpse Sea Bamboo finished its manifestation.

A monster with a green face and fangs appeared. It stood like a man with long limbs. Its needle-like black hairs which grew from the head continued to the tailbone.

It stood expressionlessly. There were no eyes, only two balls of shifting black energy.

Time seemed to freeze.

Shen Wu Hai was frightened by the Yinyang Null Polarity Bead and the Corpse Sea Bamboo monster.

“Kill him!” the aged Old Bamboo Staff Man pointed at Shen Wu hai and shouted harshly.

Shen Wu Hai prepared to fight. This vicious monster did not look easy.

The Corpse Sea Bamboo monster did not move.

“Quick, kill him!” the Old Bamboo Staff Man couldn’t help but shout again.

The Corpse Sea Bamboo monster remained motionless.

At this time, people detected that the Corpse Sea Bamboo monster seemed to be looking at someone … …

Following the gaze of the Corpse Sea Bamboo monster, everyone found that his gaze was tightly locked onto the person wearing a mask.

This sudden occurrence caused everyone to freeze.

It was him?

It was him!

Everyone now found that they had neglected this mysterious person wearing the bronze mask from the beginning.

At this moment, Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly jumped. He figured it out!

The ripple of the sacrificial altar! He figured it out!

Boom, countless things flooded into his mind!

Unconsciously, amidst everyone’s suspicious, puzzled, and speculator gazes, Zuo Mo lifted his arms.

–It was like tens of thousands of years ago.

Chapter 506 - That Herd Of White Lambs!

Dong!

A deep rhythmic sound came from the depths of the shen temple. This sound was very strange and burrowed into people’s hearts. Everywhere the sound passed, the flesh and blood of the people as well as their muscles suddenly shook uncontrollably.

Everyone became deathly silent.

All movement, all sound, after this sound arrived had disappeared.

Everyone unconsciously stopped what they were doing and turn their gazes towards the depths of the shen temple. Everyone was frightened by this strange and sudden sound. The three yuanying that were in a life-and-death battle had shocked expressions.

A vast power was carried along with this sound, coming from the shen temple.

Their complexions paled.

This power was vast and burning like rampaging lava, like a violent sea of fire.

Someone suddenly shouted in shock and broke through this deathly silence.

Hearing the shout, everyone turned their faces and they saw a shocking scene.

A golden ray came from above their heads like a golden sword breaking through darkness.

The lights of all the spells and formations being cast were dim in comparison to this ray of golden light. It was so scorching, so dazzling that people could not look at it directly.

Underneath the ray of light, Zuo Mo’s arms were spread as though he was going to embrace this ray of light. Bathing in this golden light, there was a layer of gold energy flowing around Zuo Mo’s body. Under the scorching light, the bronze mask was unusually dark and stood as a stark contrast to the light, as though it was a bottomless shadow.

The thick golden light landed on Zuo Mo’s spread arms and flowed along his arms as though it was sticky golden liquid.

The golden light gathered at Zuo Mo’s fingertips. It slowly gathered, grew, and formed a large drop of golden liquid that finally fell. As the golden liquid left his fingers, the outer layers of the golden liquid continuously dissipated into dots of golden energy that seemed like stars.

Large amounts of golden liquid fell from Zuo Mo’s arms and created hundreds of golden streaks of fragmented energy. They were in rows like golden features and beautiful to look at.

Everyone was gaping.

From beginning to end, no one ever looked twice at Zuo Mo who was surrounded other than the first glance when he appeared before them. From every angle, this guy was the fish in the net, the lamb washed and waiting on the chopping block for slaughter. Depending on circumstances the person who raised the knife would be different, but the lamb would still suffer the same fate.

Zuo Mo had been dismissed, everyone had dismissed him.

Only when this ray of light came from the sky did people suddenly realize that this incident was not as simple as they imagined.

Shen Wu Hai was the first to react. He said angrily, “Kill him!”

Dong!

Another sound that shook people’s bones interrupted Shen Wu Hai’s angry shout. It passed through the layers of protection and struck on the deepest part of their hearts.

The temperature of the shen temple rose dramatically. The air was burning so hot that it seemed the air would burn.

Dong … … dong … … dong … …

The beats followed each other, and accelerated in frequency.

Everyone found to their shock that they seemed to be restrained by an invisible power. No matter how they channeled ling power, they were unable to move a finger. With every beat, their energies and blood would uncontrollably vibrate. After several beats, everyone’s energies and blood was roiling, and their faces turned red and black in turn.

Their eyes turned from shock into terror.

Shen Wu Hai never thought such a thing could happen. He deeply regretted not having killed this mask-wearing guy at the beginning, this decision led him to such a desperate situation.

If there had been a thread of doubt before that this mask-wearing guy was a descendant of the Sun Tribe, he was completely sure of the other’s identity now.

The beat, the ray of light, the restraining power, they were all powered by the shen temple.

This power was so strong it caused people to feel hopeless!

But Shen Wu Hai was not robbed of hope. He was still struggling. Of all the people, he knew the most about the shen temple. This power was peerless and great, filled with domination, and burned without any disguise.

It was like the burning sun in the sky that people were unable to look at directly.

But Shen Wu Hai was not willing to wait to be captured. This scorching power was hard to resist but under this vast dominance, he detected a thread of burning without regard for consequences.

This shen temple that was reaching its end was burning its last vestiges of power.

As long … … if he could resist until it finished burning … …

He would be able to have a thread of a chance!

Just one chance, he was confident he could reverse the situation. Even if the other was a Sun descendant, he didn’t believe the other could master this shen temple.

Because of the requirement for shen power!

Even if he was a Sun descendent, he could not cultivate shen power. At present, there were no more lands with shen power, all methods of cultivating shen power had been lost in the dust of history. Without shen power, he could receive recognition of the shen temple, but he definitely could not control the shen temple.

This was just the last dying struggles of the shen temple.

Shen Wu Hai suddenly calmed down.

His gaze suddenly stopped and his body froze.

The person with the bronze mask suddenly moved. Under the mask hidden in shadow came raw and simple sounds. His body twisted like a snake taking a strange position.

The golden feathers constructed from fragmented golden energies drew out cryptic tracks in the air as Zuo Mo’s fingers moved.

An extremely unfamiliar power suddenly spread in waves.

Shen Wu Hai that just calmed down look at Zuo Mo as though he was seeing a ghost.

This … … this … … this … …

Shen power!

This was shen power!

Shen power … … how was it possible … … it was not possible!

Unable to move, Shen Wu Hai’s mind was completely blank. This astounding discovery exploded in his mind like lightning on a clear day!

This was his last thought.

A ray of light came from the sky and covered him. He felt his vision turn snow white and then he lost consciousness.

Dozens of rays of light shot down from the shen temple. Every person was restrained by a ray of light. The xiuzhe that were caught, no matter their cultivation level, had frozen expressions as though they were puppets.

Zuo Mo stopped moving. The golden energy on his body was much dimmer, so weak it seemed it would dissipate.

“Ha … … ss!”

Hoarse laughter came from behind the mask but it turned into sharp inhales. Zuo Mo jerked his lips with difficulty. He wanted to laugh but every piece of muscle was extremely sore. Even the muscles in his face were very sore. A slight pull and it caused heart-boring pain.

But even if his entire skeleton felt as though it was coming apart, and there was soreness everywhere, it could not diminish the pride and joy he felt.

What could make one happier than  turning around the situation from a state of certain death?

Looking at the people in front of him that seemed like statues, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but let out a smug yet regretful laugh.

These rays were a defensive power of the shen temple. They could freeze the figures of the enemy and take away their consciousness. It was very powerful. When Zuo Mo felt the ripple from the sacrificial altar, he unconsciously thought about the cryptic things he received from the sacrificial altar. In a desperate situation, Zuo Mo did not have the room to pick, and charged without regard to try to communicate with the sacrificial altar.

He had not expected that he would succeed!

Having made successful contact, Zuo Mo instantly understood why the sacrificial altar was sending ripples.

After being sealed for tens of thousands of years, the shen temple’s activation had caused the remaining power to be quickly expended.

The shen temple only had one more thread of power left.

If Zuo Mo had not been involved, this last thread of power would have been used to burn the shen temple to ash. The ripples from the sacrificial altar were the warning signal before the death of the shen temple.

But Zuo Mo who was in successful communication with the sacrificial altar used the last power to strike a fatal blow!

The power of the shen power was unparalleled. Even if it was the last thread, it was not something that Shen Wu Hai and the others could withstand.

These rays of light were called “Golden Crow Restraint Lights” and the most powerful defensive attack of the shen temple. Those that were covered by the Golden Crow Restraint Lights would lose all consciousness and become puppets.

However, the Golden Crow Restraint Lights could not directly kill the enemy. Additionally, the moment the other’s body was damaged, they would wake up from the restraint. Yuanying like Shen Wu Hai would be able to kill Zuo Mo in the moment they woke up. The way the Sun Shen Temple usually dealt with enemies that were affected by the Golden Crow Restraint Lights was to throw them into the Burning Shen  Realm and leave them to burn alive.

He could not kill these people … …

Zuo Mo felt slight regret but his eyes turned and he laughed strangely. Of course, inhales of pain could not be avoided.

He suppressed the soreness of his body and came in front of Shen Wu Hai.

Looking at the still Shen Wu Hai, his gaze was greedy and heated. Without hesitating, he started to search Shen Wu Hai’s body.

Ling armor, space ring, talismans … …

The excitement and joy of taking his spoils caused Zuo Mo to forget the pain of his body. With familiar movements, he crisply cleaned out Shen Wu Hai’s possessions.

Really cleanly … … Zuo Mo didn’t even leave behind the undergarments.

This cloth was pretty good!

Zuo Mo had keen eyes that instantly lit up.

So sumptuous, so sumptuous!

Woven from fifth-grade Flowing Wind as the base mixed with the feathers of the blood-weeping bird. There were three formations on it, “Nurture,” “Strengthen,” and “Endurance.” He could definitely sell this easily for two hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi.

Two hundred pieces of fifth-grade jingshi!

You can’t really blame ge!

Zuo Mo smiled and his hands became even quicker.

If there people were not experts, then they were leaders of local powers. Who among them wasn’t rich? Zuo Mo didn’t even look closely, but he still stripped them of clothing and armor.

Corpse Sea Bamboo, Yinyang Null Polarity Bead … …

His movements were extremely quick. It was not the first time he had done this job and his efficiency was naturally high.

Even the pitiful Masked Assassin did not avoid this fate. He had not gone far after being wounded and sneaked back closer to hide in the shadows with the intentions of dealing a fatal blow at the crucial moment.

But the shen temple had identified everyone except Zuo Mo as the enemy. The Masked Assassin had not been able to escape and was trapped in the Golden Crow Restraint Light.

Towards this guy that had almost killed him, Zuo Mo was full of hatred. Without a word, Zuo Mo stripped the other clean and did not leave the other’s trademark mask.

A short time later, there was only a pile of naked puppets left in the shen temple. They were left clean like a group of lambs that had been sheared.

“Such a spectacular sight!”

Zuo Mo ran away filled with emotion and pride. The duration of the Golden Crow Restraint Light was not long.

Everyone, goodbye!

Chapter 507 - First Make Up

When Zuo Mo just returned to Turtle Island from the Greenwood Secret Realm, the Sun Shen Temple collapsed like rotten wood. It created a giant cloud of dust. Yet before the dust settled, burning flames erupted out of the depths of the earth and swallowed the entire shen temple.

The people watching exclaimed in shock.

Shen Wu Hai felt his hand hurt and instantly woke.

Fire? His vision was filled with red. A sea of fire? Why was he in a sea of fire?

He flew into the air clueless. He instinctively escape this sea of fire. He channeled his ling power and flew into the sky.

Midair, he felt his body cool which caused his mind to clear up.

His body felt cool … … it was a very strange feeling … …

At this time, woosh, woosh, woosh, figures shot out of the shen temple debris. A dozen shadows appeared next to him.

These people all swayed and their expressions were slightly bewildered.

Shen Wu Hai was stunned where he stood. His expression became strange. Everywhere he looked, he saw white naked flesh. These people were not clothed, not even an inch of cloth.

Wait, that cool feeling … …

Shen Wu Hai’s face turned ashen as he looked down. What entered his field of view was a patch of smooth white skin. His naked body was completely exposed in the air.

His head rang.

The crowd of spectators were deathly silent. Shen Wu Hai swept across them out of the corner of his eyes and could clearly see the shock on their faces.

Countless gazes gathered on his bare-naked body … … it felt cool … ..

Laughter came like a tide.

Pew!

A mouthful of blood burst out of his throat. His figure wavered and he dropped down towards the sea of fire.

“Elder!”

Li Shu’s weak voice came from afar and became blurry in Shen Wu Hai’s consciousness.

———

Zuo Mo was inspecting his spoils of war.

The richness of the harvest this time surpassed his expectations. His grin almost reached his ears. Now that the shen temple was swallowed by fire, it had erased all the traces leading to him. No one would know that the masked person was him.

But before this, there was much work to be done.

Like the mountain of talismans piled up in front of him inside a formation.

Among these talismans, many had imprints left behind. Zuo Mo had made a special formation to block the imprint. If he could not erase the imprints, then these talismans had to be hidden. Otherwise, he would just be waiting for the other people to come find him.

Zuo Mo knew very well just how powerful the people he had offended this time were.

But clearing out the imprint was not a difficult task for Zuo Mo. He had the Great Day Banded Flame, the Greenvine Mystical Water, shen power, these could all erase the imprints.

What he was struggling with was another problem—how to prevent others from finding him.

Supposedly, Tian Huan had many xiuzhe skilled in divination. These people could peek at fate. Tian Huan definitely would not swallow their anger at having such a major loss. Tian Huan would even take revenge more cruelly to tell other people what the outcome of being enemies with Tian Huan was.

Zuo Mo didn’t want to be the chicken that was killed to scare the monkeys. He needed to hide his tracks to prevent any future problems.

Fortunately, he had Pu Yao.

“Disrupt divination?” Pu Yao rubbed his chin. The eye that was exposed slightly narrowed. The lips that were as thin as blades slowly curved like the gleam of a blade.

Zuo Mo nodded. “Yes, yes.”

Pu Yao suddenly turned to ask Wei, “What methods do you have?”

Wei glanced at Zuo Mo. “Sacrificial offerings, but it needs at least yuanying level souls.”

This wasn’t a field Wei was skilled in.

“Yuanying level souls?” Zuo Mo asked hesitantly. He was suspicious that there was a problem with his ears.

“Yes,” Wei replied seriously, “I only know this one method.”

Zuo Mo unhesitatingly turned to look at Pu Yao. Was he joking, yuanying level souls, even ten of him could not kill a yuanying.

Pu Yao smiled. Zuo Mo suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Very good, I like business deals that only has one supplier. I want a good price.” Pu Yao’s evil and sharp smile caused Zuo Mo to shudder.

A good price … …

Zuo Mo said tragically, “State your price!”

“You got pretty good things this time, oh, those bones, pity … …” Pu Yao was full of regret in his words.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly jumped. He knew that Pu Yao was speaking of the bones he found in the Burning Shen Realm. He secretly noted it down. So these bones were the best things out of what he got this time! Did this guy want the ink jade bones? Zuo Mo’s heart was insecure but when he heard Pu Yao say “pity,” his heart eased slightly.

However, Pu Yao did not continue after “pity.” His tone changed, “All of the Sun Fruits, and one hundred Sun Seeds.”

Pu Yao looked smilingly at Zuo Mo.

His heart just relaxing, Zuo Mo inhaled sharply and his heart jerked. Pu Yao’s cut was really deep this time! It was fine for the Sun Fruits, but those one hundred Sun Seeds were extraordinary in value. Zuo Mo had gotten a good number of Sun Seeds but after this one hundred was paid, then the total amount would shrink greatly.

But Zuo Mo knew that he could not give Pu Yao a chance to give another price, otherwise … …

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and nodded heard, “Agreed!”

“Refreshing!” Pu Yao stood but no emotion could be seen on his handsome face. He threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo. “Take it.”

Zuo Mo took the ball of light, and countless unfamiliar methods flowed  into his mind.

He hurriedly left the sea of consciousness and started to study it. At this time, he didn’t dare to waste one moment. This was a race against time. The earlier he finished his defenses, the earlier he would escape the danger. If he was late, then no rescue efforts would help.

In the sea of consciousness, Wei suddenly smiled warmly. “Your negotiation was done well. It seems that I need to learn from you.”

“You are right.” Pu Yao blinked his bloody pupil with an open expression. There wasn’t any evilness on his face.

The two exchanged a look and then disappeared separately.

———

Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

Nan Yue was furiously cultivating. Her eyes were tightly closed, her expression focused i her hands were placed together as though she was holding an invisible bow. Her [South Sky Arrow Art] had progressed quickly. Her rate of improvement was akin to travelling a thousand li in a day.

The scenery around her constantly changed, and her hands changed positions as well. However, there seemed to be a faint connection between her hands throughout.

Her consciousness was extremely unique and was like invisible water ripples. When the water ripples encountered enemies, they would quickly return with information about the other.

The surrounding scenery that changed was both real and fake.

Nan Yue needed to find the true target hidden among these real and fake yao arts.

It was not the first time she had trained like this. In reality, she was trapped in this illusion almost every day.

Ever since they had been introduced to Teacher Pu for instruction, they would encounter all kinds of strange training. Many people complained. Teacher Pu’s training was ever changing but what made people complain was that each type of training was extremely difficult. Teacher Pu’s temper was also fickle. If they did not complete the training, their outcome would be very bad. Many people couldn’t help but feel anger.

But Nan Yue did not feel any rage.

Teacher Pu was far stronger than any expert she had ever seen. Compared to Teacher Wei, the teachers at the yao art houses were thousands of miles behind. Every cultivation illusion here had been created by Teacher Pu with a wave of the hand. The uncanny yao arts caused everyone to gape in shock.

With this kind of famed teacher guiding them, what else could they hope for?

Nan Yue did not slack off and became even more diligent. She knew just how rare this chance was!

She wasn’t the only one. Ming Jue Zi, Cang Ze, and the others all knew this and buried their heads in cultivation in fear of missing this chance. The elders of the Grey Clan also strictly supervised the members of the Grey Clan. Those that did not work hard on their cultivation were disciplined with the clan law.

Selecting at the Wasteland Beast Chessboard as the cultivation area was done out of helplessness. Thankfully, the Wasteland Beast Chessboard was endless. No one noticed the corner they occupied. The number of people that could see through Pu Yao’s illusory arts were pitifully few and they would not appear in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

Just like usual, Pu Yao appeared in the Wasteland Beast Chessboard.

“Such terrible skill!” He looked down at the yao that were cultivating. His brow furrowed and he was dissatisfied.

He had enough qualifications to give this judgment. When he thought about this, he couldn’t help but think of Guard Camp and his mood worsened. Guard Camp wasn’t highly skilled in his eyes, but compared to these greenhorns, they were much better.

Right now, Guard Camp was in Wei’s hand. Having been tricked, Pu Yao naturally could not accept this so he put his ideas onto Nan Yue and the others. Wei could not enter the Ten Finger Prison so he could not see whatever Pu Yao did here.

Thinking like this, Pu Yao’s mood instantly became slightly better.

But when he saw these clumsily people practicing, what were extremely basic yao arts in his eyes, his good mood instantly evaporated.

Pu Yao had been planning to use these guys to form another camp so he had initially trained them in battle formations. However, he quickly found that these people were extremely lacking in skills. With such terrible strength, no matter how much they trained battle formations, they could not catch up to Guard Camp.

So he could only personally teach them yao arts.

Even though the improvement of Nan Yue and the others was considerable, to Pu Yao who lacked patience, this kind of progression was not enough.

He hadn’t expected Zuo Mo to be able to enter the Sun Shen Temple and to obtain so many treasures. He instantly locked on.

Zuo Mo coincidentally came to ask for help so he had gotten his hands on a lot of Sun Fruits and Sun Seeds.

The first moment he saw the Sun Fruits and Sun Seeds, Pu Yao’s heart had moved. He recognized these two treasures. They were like the golden souls, and could be taken into the Ten Finger Prison.

“It is really a waste to use them on you lot.”

Pu Yao murmured to himself as the Sun Fruits and Sun Seeds in his hand flashed with an enchanting light.

Chapter 508 - Inventory

After erasing all his tracks, Zuo Mo finally released a breath.

It had to be said that Pu Yao really had the moves. According to the methods he traded, Zuo Mo had forged a Nether Mist jade pendant. The Nether Mist jade pendant was the size of a jade scroll and appeared mundane but the cost of the materials was three whole pieces of sixth-grade jingshi.

That was three pieces of sixth-grade jingshi.

Bao Yi’s expression had become gloomy at the time and the felt heartache at the decreasing storages. In the next few days, Bao Yi’s mood was extremely terrible as the Chief Quartermaster. The people that came to get materials usually got cursed at.

But the Nether Mist jade pendant was truly extraordinary in value. If Zuo Mo was skilled in divination, he would find that everything about him seemed to be shrouded in mist and could not be clearly seen.

With the Nether Mist jade pendant, Zuo Mo’s heart relaxed. He finally had the free time and the mood to inventory the things he obtained from the Sun Shen Temple.

As he made an inventory of his gains, Zuo Mo was excited!

The products of this endeavor piled up like mountains. Every object was a rare treasure.

The Sun Seeds made up a the largest portion of his gains. The number of Sun Seeds that accumulated over tens of thousands of years was astounding. Even though Pu Yao had scalped away one hundred, there were still a great many left.

But among this pile of treasures, the three most eye catching were the golden leaf, the Sun Shen Tree, and the inky jade bones.

He didn’t know what tree the golden leaf came from. It was entirely golden and made of a weighty material. Every pattern on it was extremely detailed. At the beginning, Zuo Mo thought that this was the leaf of the Sun Shen Tree. But later when he compared, he found the two were completely different. Tens of thousands of years had passed, but the golden leaf still held a faint vitality and it was a marvel.

Zuo Mo held the golden leaf in his hand. Feeling the faint vitality exuded from the leaf, he couldn’t help but marvel.

This golden leaf had been placed in a position of great consideration. From a glance, it could be seen that it wasn’t anything normal. Yet when he examined it over and over, he could not identify what was special about it.

His mind shifted and Zuo Mo tried to channel a thread of shen power into the leaf.

Boom!

Numerous thoughts rushed into Zuo Mo’s mind like a furious flood.

He seemed to have landed in an endless sky of stars. Countless stars spun around him and pulled at him. The thoughts that originated from the ancient era were like the vast and deep stars. At this moment, he lost himself!

The stars changed, and at the empty part of the dark void, an imperceptible light rose.

The light quickly became brighter. In a blink, the light was like the stars that lit up the deep and black sky. It was beautiful.

But this beauty was only condensed for a brief moment. Then the burning light that tore apart the darkness swallowed Zuo Mo up!

Zuo Mo didn’t have to time to close his eyes, yet the piercing pain he imagined did not appear.

A cryptic and primitive song floated out of some unknown place but Zuo Mo felt unspeakably close to it. Even though he could not understand, his restless heart calmed when hearing the distant song. Zuo Mo fell into a trance.

As he listened, Zuo Mo suddenly detected that pitifully weak thread of shen power in his body started to circulate in his body of its own accord.

Was this … …

A daring idea appeared in Zuo Mo’s mind.

But when his attention slip, the shen power in his body instantly shrunk back like a frightened mouse.

Zuo Mo hurriedly refocused and put his attention back on the song. The shen power inside his body quickly started to circulate again and slowly moved around Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo silently noted down the pathways the shen power circulation took.

This was strange. As expected, this was strange!

The pathways the shen power took to circulate were extremely strange and completely different than the three powers. It did not follow the channels in his body like ling power, nor did it stay in his sea of consciousness like his spiritual consciousness, nor did it become purified between his blood and bone like the mo skills.

The pathways it took included the channels, included the sea of consciousness, as well as his blood and bone, but had innate differences to the mainstream cultivation methods.

Suddenly, a thread of exhaustion rose. The song became even more distant.

Zuo Mo was shocked!

Opening his eyes, the song suddenly stopped. He looked down. The golden leaf in his hand was gradually dimming. Zuo Mo hurriedly examined the golden leaf. He saw that the leaf had dimmed but the thread of vitality on the leaf had not disappeared before he released a breath.

So this was not one-use only!

Good, good!

At this time, Zuo Mo seemed to have learned a bit of this golden leaf’s use. It should be a treasure that the Sun Tribe used in the past to record the cultivation methods. From this function, the golden leaf was similar to jade scrolls. However, Zuo Mo had a feeling. It shouldn’t just be a “golden leaf jade scroll,” it should have other uses.

Compared to the golden leaf, the use of the Sun Shen Tree was much simpler. However, Zuo Mo was stuck with a problem. What grade was the Sun Shen Tree?

It was at least a great treasure of the Sun Tribe and it was called a shen tree. Even the Sun Seeds it produced were extraordinary. It should be at least seventh-grade!

Zuo Mo unconfidently thought.

However, while he was unable to judge the grade of the Sun Shen Tree, this did not stop him from using its power. The Sun Tribe planted Sun Shen Trees to get more Sun Fruits and Sun Seeds. Zuo Mo naturally did not have the patience to guard the Sun Shen Tree for decades.

The wood of the Sun Shen Tree was likely a great material but its exact uses were unknown.

Zuo Mo also didn’t bear to use this ancient shen wood that had lived for tens of thousands of years to forge into talismans. It would be a waste.

After some thought, Zuo Mo quickly had an idea.

He flew into the sky and looked around the island. He suddenly headed towards the south end of the island. Not long in flight, he landed on a little mountain top and entered a cavern.

Entering the cavern, the thick fire element power hit him in the face.

There were five fire element caverns on the island. This was one of them. The air was filled with the smell of sulphur. Zuo Mo had a content expression. This fire cavern was connected with earth fire, and was the best place to plant the Sun Shen Tree.

The Sun Shen Temple was connected to earth fire. If it wasn’t for the nurturing earth fire, this Sun Shen Tree would not have been able to live for so long!

Zuo Mo carefully took out the Sun Shen Tree.

When the Sun Shen Tree’s roots touched the lava rock, the roots suddenly twisted like slender snakes and burrowed into the rock. In front of these soft roots the hard granite was easily penetrated as though it was tofu.

A crimson red light spread at a visible rate from the roots towards the body of the tree.

When the red light reached the topmost part of the Sun Shen Tree, there was a light snap and golden flames erupted out of the tree.

A shocking wave of heat spread outwards.

Zuo Mo could not tolerate it and retreated a few steps. The granite under his feet showed signs of melting. He had a grave expression. His body contained both the Great Day Banded Flame and the Sun Crystal Seed. He had extremely high resistance towards all kinds of flames but he felt burdened in the face of this flame. The strength of this flame was shocking.

At this time, Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly changed!

Deep beneath his feet, earth fire was furiously heading towards this direction like a flood!

Damn it!

Without a word, he sprinted towards the outside!

Just as Zuo Mo sorrily flew out of the cave and turned around, he inhaled sharply.

The green flora on the mountain were producing green smoke as they popped and turned to ash. The entire little mountain was bright red. Every piece of rock seemed to have been taken out of the kiln just now and could melt at any moment.

Vast fire element power almost erupted through the restraint of the earth surface.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed again!

Damn it!

If he waited for this earth fire to erupt, he would not be able to conceal it.

Even though the Sun Shen Temple had been burned away and the xiuzhe that came to Cloud Sea Jie from different places were gradually leaving, but there were still many xiuzhe who had stayed behind.

If the earth fire suddenly burned the sky at Turtle Island, those with intentions could guess that the masked person in the Sun Shen Temple was him!

Zuo Mo was decisive. No matter what, the eruption could not occur!

But even through the eruption had not occurred yet, Zuo Mo could still clearly feel its power at such a distance.

What could he do?

His gaze at sweeping the surroundings, his eyes lit up.

He had set up the island protecting formation with his own hands. There were two large formations. One was the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation, the other was the Meridional Azure Aether Formation.

The Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation had been set up when the Ren Family was here. Even though Zuo Mo had planted the Sonic Lightning Walnut at the core and had increased its strength, it still could not compare to the Meridional Azure Aether Formation.

But at this time, using the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation was a better choice than the Meridional Azure Aether Formation.

Light flowed on Zuo Mo’s hands and lights entered the ground in succession.

Everyone on the island was disturbed by the earth fire and started to gather in its direction. However, when they saw Zuo Mo’s movements, they instantly understood what was going on and stopped their movements.

Ten minutes later, everyone from Golden Crow Camp had come. Seeing the situation, their expressions became grave. Under the directions of Master Sun Bao and JI Wei, they quickly prepared to give aid when necessary.

The surroundings were quiet. Everyone quieted their breathing and watched Zuo Mo’s actions.

Zuo Mo’s hands were moving slowly as though he was pulling something thousands of catties heavy. His expression was extremely serious.

The earth fire in the cavern became even more restless. The granite on the mountaintop started to dissolve. The earth fire could erupt at any moment. The earth fire slowly pulsed. Every time it pulsed, the raging power contained was exposed and caused people’s hearts to beat rapidly.

Even Eldest Shixiong Wei Sheng that never lost his composure showed a rare worried expression on his face as his right hand was placed on his sword hilt.

In the sky, Zuo Mo suddenly grabbed at the mountain.

Pew!

A streak of earth fire suddenly shot out of the little mountain like a raging dragon.

Zuo Mo’s right hand guided the dragon of fire and it seemed to be forcibly pushed towards the ground. At the same time, Zuo Mo’s left hand swiped as he recited.

At this tense moment, Zuo Mo unconsciously used the control method of shen power!

His attention used in three ways!

Pew!

The earth fire was forced back into the ground. Flames flew out. A golden seal script landed from the sky onto the body of the dragon of fire.

The dragon of fire suddenly formed a curving gold seal script line!

Golden Crow Camp was shocked. Just now, they had sighed at the high difficulty of Zuo Mo’s move. Even though they tried their best to not make a sound, sharp inhales were clear to hear.

At this time, the earth fire suddenly erupted and advanced following the golden seal line that was produced by the dragon of fire!

Chapter 509 - Inventory II

The brightly burning earth fire continuously sparked as the temperature of Turtle Island quickly increased. Waves of high heat spread into the surroundings.

When the dragon of fire covered the entire red line, the Yingyang Thunder Cloud Formation suddenly activated. Lightning flashed and thunder roared among the cloud layers in an intimidating display.

Just as everyone had released a breath, a bright red cloud of fire suddenly rose out of the little mountain with a muffled bang.

Pia pia pia!

Red clouds rose up from the little mountain and seemed to fly and merge into the cloud layers of the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation.

If one looked from the outside, they would find the thick clouds that never dissipated around Turtle Island were becoming red.

Zuo Mo released a breath and so did the other people. The burning waves of heat disappeared and the temperature of the island slowly returned to normal.

The fire clouds were still being produced.

What Zuo Mo did not know was that after his actions, the Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation was completely transformed. The power of the sonic lightning walnut could not compare to the Sun Shen Tree. Fortunately, thunder and fire were not in conflict so the sonic lightning walnut was not subdued by the Sun Shen Tree. However, the walnut now only made up a very small portion of power in the formation.

Zuo Mo wiped away the sweat from his forehead with lingering fear. From the beginning, he didn’t dare to underestimate the power of the Sun Shen Tree but he hadn’t thought that he would make such a great mistake. He almost created a great problem.

But they were past it!

Seeing the situation resolved, the people quickly left. No one came over to ask, even Wei Sheng left directly. Zuo Mo would always cause all kinds of situations. People were now used to it. If there was a peaceful period, people couldn’t help but wonder how Daren had been so peaceful recently.

The production of the fire clouds slowed but did not stop.

Zuo Mo estimated that the entire process would take several days. Even he did not know what the Yinyang Thunder Formation would look like in the end.

He ended up waiting by the little mountain for the entire process to finish. Bored, he could not resist the temptation and started to inspect his other spoils.

He didn’t dare to mess around with the ink jade bones. If he made another ruckus, it wouldn’t be enough even if he had another life. However, he found something strange. These ink jade bones were unable to be pieced together into a complete skeleton.

There were three bones missing.

Had he missed one? Zuo Mo was puzzled. He had searched with great care and theoretically, he shouldn’t have missed them. Zuo Mo might not know whose bones these were and what they were used for but he had a strong suspicion that these bones, carved from ink black jade, were anything but ordinary.

Zuo Mo quickly threw this riddle to one side and started to inspect his other spoils.

What he got the most of was the Sun Seed from the Sun Shen Temple. Zuo Mo knew they could help him cultivate shen power and also could be forged into “Crow Thorn” which was supposedly  extremely powerful. Even Big Brother Qing Lin had been wounded by it, but the problem was Zuo Mo did not know how to use the Sun Seed or how to forge the Crow Thorn.

After flipping for a while, Zuo Mo found to his sorrow that while these ancient treasures were good, but Zuo Mo had no inkling how to use them.

In comparison to those ancient talismans of the Sun Shen Temple that were not useful, what Shen Wu Hai and the others “gave” Zuo Mo could be used immediately. There were many high-quality talismans. Even Zuo Mo who was used to seeing good talismans brightened up when he saw them.

Jade Hook Tree, Blood Script Bell, Corpse Sea Bamboo … …

Any one of these if they were sold on to the market would be priceless!

However, what moved Zuo Mo the most was what he had taken from Shen Wu Hai, who was of Yuanying cultivation, and a Tian Huan Elder. These two qualities meant that his wealth was something that the Old Bamboo Staff Man and others could not rival.

Shen Wu Hai did not have any talisman that was below sixth-grade. Even though they were of different types, all of them were very fine. What Shen Wu Hai felt the most pain over losing was his ring. Inside were the treasures and materials that he had scrounged together over many years and with great effort. They all benefited Zuo Mo now.

Of course, Zuo Mo had his own troubles.

These numerous talismans dazzled his eyes but he could not take them out and use them directly. These were dirty. If someone got even a hint of where they came from, it would be a great calamity to him, much less using them in the open! He also did not dare to sell them. There probably were an unknown number of eyes staring at him. Any trace connection to the Sun Shen Temple would be fatal.

Tian Huan was a titan. It only needed to breathe and he would turn to dust.

Could not use them directly, could not sell them, then there was only one solution—forge them all into new talismans.

Such a vast task!

Zuo Mo gazed at the mountain of spoils and grimaced. Did he profit or lose this time after getting in so much trouble?

———

Just as Cloud Sea Jie’s xiuzhe were immersed in the incident of the Sun Shen Temple, in a deep region of the cloud sea, there was a fissure about ten zhang wide. The inside of the fissure was pitch black without any light.

Suddenly, a tall figure stepped out of the fissure.

After a while, other figures successively walked out.

The leading figure suddenly turned.

“I smell the scent of xiuzhe.”

———

Shen Wu Hai crushed the paper crane in his hand with a dark face. Below him, Li Shu hesitated and then carefully asked, “Elder … …”

Li Shu recognized the paper crane. It was a paper crane unique to the sect. Had the sect given them a punishment sentence? Had they said ugly words? Why was the elder so furious?

Shen Wu Hai was a yuanying in the end and good at keeping his composure. With a long exhale, he recovered his normal composure.

“We’re returning!”

“Return?” Li Shu stilled and said with disbelief, “We have not found … …”

“There is not time to investigate!” Shen Wu Hai was slightly impatient but still relaxed his tone. “The sect leader is urging us to return! Do not ask this old man the reason, this old man does not know!”

Shen Wu Hai’s tone was filled with unwillingness. He had tripped up so greatly this time, and under the eyes of so many people.

How could he accept this?

In these days, he had used all the influence and power that Tian Huan had in Cloud Sea Jie to investigate this matter. What almost drove him crazy was that they had not discovered anything even now. There wasn’t a trace to found!

How could he be willing to return, when the sect suddenly ordered them to?

However, Shen Wu Hai was slightly puzzled. The upper management of the sect would rarely interfere with missions. It was the first time he had seen such an nonnegotiable order.

Was it … … that something happened to the sect?

When this thought formed, he erased it. What could happen to the sect? The sect leader had been in his position for over two decades and his position was rock-solid. The other parts of the management occasionally fought for power, but compared to other sects, it was very gentle. They were more willing to immerse themselves into seal scripts.

Even Shen Wu Hai was like this usually. Otherwise, he would not have been able to form the Dark Void Fire.

He always felt that Tian Huan was the best sect in the Four Realm Heavens. Li Shu had the same thought.

As to outside enemies, what was that? Shen Wu Hai had never encountered someone who dared to be enemies with Tian Huan. Even Kun Lun that was called the strongest in fighting had to purchase large amounts of talismans and seals from Tian Huan. The other sects naturally did the same.

So why were they pressing so urgently for them to return?

Shen Wu Hai was confused.

Many people speculated the masked-wearing guy had escaped as far as he could. However, Li Shu and Shen Wu Hai felt that the other might not have even left Cloud Sea Jie. He had already sent people to seal the jie river. Even though this caused discontent in some people, no one dared to provoke an angry Tian Huan elder.

Yet up until now, there was no news of someone breaking through the jie river.

That guy had to be in Cloud Sea Jie!

But … …

He really was unwilling!

———

When the last fire cloud rose, the burning red little mountain gradually dimmed and the surrounding temperature decreased. The little mountain quickly returned to normal but the fauna around it had been burned clean so there were only black stones left.

Zuo Mo went into the cavern. The Sun Shen Tree was untouched and looked healthier than before.

Stepping out of the cave, Zuo Mo flew into the sky. He looked over. The colors of the clouds above Turtle Island were like dusk, orange and red, beautiful and spectacular!

The new formation had formed!

The previous Yinyang Thunder Cloud Formation had been completely changed by the earth fire and formed a new formation. Zuo Mo decided to change its name to the [Flowing Fire Cloud Thunder Formation].

The new formation was much stronger than the previous one.

As to that Jade Hook Tree, Zuo Mo planted it into the center of the Meridional Azure Aether Formation. The wood element power that the Jade Hook Wood released would continuously feed the Meridional Azure Aether Formation and greatly increase the power of the large formation.

Zuo Mo buried three Sun Seeds under the Jade Hook Tree. If the Jade Hook Tree could absorb the power inside the Sun Seeds, it could definitely go up a level and form the Celestial Green Jade Hook Tree.

With the protection of these two formations, the present Turtle Island was almost impenetrable.

Zuo Mo’s heart which had been in the air all this time lowered greatly. Even if Shen Wu Hai came, it would be impossible for him to force his way into Turtle Island!

Heehee, after ge digests these treasures, cultivates shen power, no one will know who will win if ge encounters Shen Wu Hai again!

Zuo Mo was full of ambition and resolve!

At this time, the sky above his head suddenly darkened.

Zuo Mo made a sound of surprise and raised his head to look. His body suddenly froze!

The sky that had been clear just now seemed to appear as though it was dusk. The sun that had been burning in the sky seemed to be veiled by a layer of black mist and became weak and wavering. The scene looked as though it was the end of the world.

A gust of wind blew past. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shudder. His expression changed again!

This gust of wind was filled with a very powerful yin and cold energy as though it blew from the underworld. Even Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shudder in the cold.

Woosh woosh woosh!

Wei Sheng, Zong Ru, Xie Shan and the others all flew into the sky and appeared next to Zuo Mo. All of them could not disguise their expressions of terror.

What was happening?

Chapter 510 - Sky-Splitting Calamity

The worldly apparition caused terror in the xiuzhe of Cloud Sea Jie. They quickly received news that similar apparitions had appeared in the nearby jie.

As this news spread, people became insecure.

What did this apparition, that seemed to herald the end of the world, mean?

The doorways of divination xiuzhe were packed with people that came to visit them. The customers were all people who came to inquire what this worldly apparition meant. Cloud Sea Jie did not have any powerful people skilled in divination but almost all the divination xiuzhe reported that this apparition was an inauspicious one. This news caused all people to feel insecure. The effect of this was that the prices of goods on the market skyrocketed.

The rumors quickly dissipated and the truth was revealed.

A small sect called Sky Record Sect was attacked by a strange troop and almost the entire sect had been killed. At the start, this news did not attract much attention but this strange troop quickly advanced and blood was spilled everywhere they passed.

People suddenly discovered to their shock that this was a mo army!

In the beginning, many people snorted at the news. Mo army? Ha! This was too funny! The Cloud Sea Jie was thousands of li from the front lines. What mo army could sneak into Cloud Sea Jie without being detected?

But these people quickly stopped laughing.

Because this mo army was unstoppable. No one was able to stop their advance. The large sects along their warpath all fell under the heels of this mo army. All the xiuzhe that managed to escape lost their courage and only knew to flee for their lives!

They were too powerful!

From when  they were discovered, they were like a sharp drill in only three days they advanced six thousand li! The sects and the cities in their way were all uprooted and burned down.

In these short three days, the atmosphere of Cloud Sea Jie changed.

People fought to flee this place in hopes of avoiding this calamity. Yet the news that came from the outside caused them to feel hopeless. There were many jie within Four Realms where these chaos rifts had appeared. Large numbers of mo armies flooded out of these chaos rifts.

No one knew why these chaos rifts appeared, but any xiuzhe with a thread of intelligence understood something.

The sky had changed!

It really changed!

The battle at Blood Sky Metropolis Jie had never stopped but for xiuzhe far from the front lines, the war was just another topic of discussion. But now, the abrupt appearance of the chaos rifts pushed the fighting into their lives, it was a cruel and inescapable bog!

This was a disaster, a Sky-Splitting Calamity!

The fires of war appeared everywhere!

When Zuo Mo learned of this news, he was stunned. Having fought his way out of Blood Sky Metropolis Jie, he knew much better than these normal xiuzhe what these chaos rifts represented.

Lil’ Miss, Wei Sheng, Shu Long, Zong Ru … …

When the people heard the news, they didn’t dare to believe their ears.

The silent hall was oppressive to Shang Wei Ming. He timidly looked at the people gathered. “This is what I managed to find out from the outside, it’s crazy out there. Should … … should … …”

Everyone looked at him. He couldn’t help but feel panic. “Should we prepare to leave early?”

He gathered his courage and continued, “Everyone is packing up and preparing to leave Cloud Sea Jie right now. The mo army is too strong. No one can stop them. There aren’t any large sects around. It is very dangerous for us to stay here!”

No one paid him attention. Everyone turned their eyes to Zuo Mo. At these times, the person who always set the direction was Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo thought for a long time before he slowly spoke, “If we leave Cloud Sea Jie, where would we go? The chaos rifts are everywhere, we do not even know how many chaos rifts are still undiscovered. If we move to an unfamiliar place, it is even more disadvantageous for us! We put great effort into Turtle Island and the defenses are very sturdy. Even if we encounter the mo army, we have the chance to fight. We weren’t afraid of them in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, are we going to be afraid of them here?”

The suppressive atmosphere inside the hall instantly swept away. Everyone’s morale rose at Zuo Mo’s words. Yes, everyone had fought and killed their way out of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. They hadn’t been afraid of the mo military in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, what was there to be afraid of here?

“We’re not afraid! They dare to rampage on top of our head, I say kill them!” Lei Peng’s loud voice made people’s eardrums hurt. He glared and held his golden crystal broadsword as though he wanted to start immediately.

Nian Lu took over with a slightly soft voice, “Don’t be so brutish. Be more gentle, be more gentle. Allow them to feel our friendship and enthusiasm towards yaomo, let’s be friends.”

“Idiots.” Looking at the display of his teammates, Ma Fan spat out.

Zuo Mo looked at Gongsun Cha. There was a smile at the corners of Lil’ Miss’ mouth that was filled with innocence and bashfulness. However, his eyes were filled with an excited light. Those familiar with him all felt their hearts jump.

Zuo Mo gazed at Shu Long. Shu Long’s presence had become even more solemn and heavy in recent days. Standing there, he seemed like a mountain. He noticed Zuo Mo’s gaze. Raising his head, he did not disguise the fighting spirit in his eyes. “Daren, Shu Long requests to battle!”

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Shu Long was steady in personality and his specialty in battle was the defense rather than offense. It was the first time he had seen Shu Long desirous of battle.

“What? Your hand is itching?” Zuo Mo said with a smile.

“This subordinate wants to see what true mo military is like,” Shu Long said gravely.

Zuo Mo finally understood. Guard Camp cultivated mo skills and the battle methods of Guard Camp were very close to the mo military. Shu Long probably wanted to see who was stronger, Guard Camp or the mo army. Zuo Mo felt a small headache. Why did this guy also have to get competitive? Was it Wei that had egged him on from the back?

At the side, Shang Wei Ming’s mouth was open and could not close. What did they mean killed their way out of Blood Sky Metropolis Jie? Why weren’t they afraid? This was the infamous mo army … …

He found to his shock that he understood pitifully little of Daren and the others.

No one paid attention to him.

After agreement of their thoughts, they quickly and methodically started to act. For this fight, Zuo Mo took out much of the materials he had gotten from the Sun Shen Temple and gave them to Golden Crow Camp to forge into talismans.

Fortunately the stores on the island were filled and they were rich. They did not need to worry about running of supplies.

Like an enormous machine, all of Turtle Island started to furiously turn!

———

“Which batch is this?”

“The sixth!”

“Is Turtle Island not planning to leave?” Liao Qi Chang was puzzled. At this time, every sect was racing against time to pack up and escape Cloud Sea Jie. Turtle Island’s actions became extremely eye-catching.

Xiuzhe continuously flew out of Turtle Island on nimbus clouds and flew away with the wind. In the span of half a day, six groups of xiuzhe had left Turtle Island. Looking at the direction they flew in, it was in the direction of the mo army. All the signs suggested that Turtle Island did not plan on leaving.

Did they plant to fight against the mo army?

When this idea popped out, it frightened him. That was impossible! That was a mo army! And it was also a very powerful mo army!

“No way, isn’t that seeking death?” The xiuzhe beside him was disbelieving. “Didn’t you hear? Even the Wind Element Sect was defeated! Who can stop them?”

Liao Qi Chang’s mood dimmed when he heard this. Wind Element Sect was a large sect that was ranked sixth in Cloud Sea Jie. Even they had not been able to escape the knife of the mo army. The strength of this mo army could be imagined!

Other than Wind Element Sect even Beautiful Water Sect, a sect ranking in the top ten, was defeated. This was another reason why no one had the courage to fight back and only knew to run away.

There was no possibility of victory!

Even the sects that ranked at the top like Wind Element Sect and Beautiful Water Sect had been defeated. These two sects had been very powerful. With the examples in front of them, who would be the egg that tried to smash the rock?

Liao Qi Chang did not speak and only stared at Turtle Island. A while later, another few xiuzhe flew out.

Liao Qi Chang’s eyes lit up. He recognized one of them and shouted loudly, “Is it Mister Ma Fan?”

Ma Fan heard the shout and turned to look. Seeing it was Liao Qi Chang, he flew down. He said with a bow, “Boss Liao, you have not left yet?”

“Where can we escape to?” Liao Qi Chang sighed.

Ma Fan’s moved and he said, “Boss Liao can probably have a temporary stay on the island. The island is relatively safe.”

“Safe? Such a great proclamation!” the xiuzhe next to Liao Qi Chang said with a snort.

Ma Fan stared at the other and was too lazy to respond.

Liao Qi Chang’s expression shifted. “You are not planning on leaving?”

Ma Fan laughed lightly, “Just as Boss Liao has said, where can we escape to? Rather than that, we will make a stand here.”

“I will give you people some words, don’t try to be heroes and overconfident. You feel that your heads are harder than rock,” the xiuzhe next to Liao Qi Chang said in a strange tone.

Lei Peng could not resist. His cowbell-sized eyes suddenly widened as his hand lit up as he slapped!

“Shut up!”

The other person reacted quickly. His ling armor lit up.

But Lei Peng’s blow was extremely heavy. Without any finesse, it landed on the illuminated ling armor. The person felt a great force pass over and his body uncontrollably fell back.

Crash!

Lei Peng slapped the person onto the ground.

He jumped up of the ground, his face flushed with anger. “You dare to attack me, you don’t want to live!”

Hiss.

It was a quiet hiss.

A line of coldness could be felt on his throat. The cold sword edge pressed tightly against his throat and caused his hairs to stand on end! He did not dare to move at all. Uncontrollable terror flooded him. His legs unconsciously rattled.

“Idiot.”

The flying sword returned to Ma Fan’s hand. Ma Fan didn’t look at the person that was frightened into a daze. He turned and said to Liao Qi Chang, “If Boss Liao goes to the island, Daren will definitely welcome you. We have a mission to complete and will not linger. Farewell!”

Finishing, the three got on their nimbus clouds and disappeared into the sky.

Chapter 511 - Hope

“Did you hear? Turtle Island is not fleeing!”

“Are they crazy? Are they waiting for their deaths?”

“Waiting for their death? They want to fight against the mo army! These are true men!”

“But can they win? Look at Wind Element Sect and Beautiful Water Sect, there wasn’t even one survivor. No matter how powerful Turtle Island is, are they stronger than Wind Element Sect and Beautiful Water Sect?”

”An doesn’t know if they are strong or not but an knows everyone is fleeing and only they dare to fight. They are true men, an respects them! No, an has to also participate in this fight. Even if an dies, an will accept it!”

“Don’t do stupid things … …” his friend urged him out of concern.

The news that Turtle Island was preparing to fight was like throwing a pebble into a pool of boiling water. The reactions were laughter, scorn, and indifference. But it also attracted many people’s attention. Many Cloud Sea Jie xiuzhe that grew up here were not willing to flee Cloud Sea Jie like this. There were also people like Liao Qi Chang who had many illiquid assets and properties in Cloud Sea Jie so their faction would have a difficult time leaving. At the beginning, everyone was panicking, clueless, and disorganized like a pile of scattered sand. They soon calmed down and found reasons to fight.

When the news that Turtle Island was preparing a resistance spread, they seemed to have found their spines.

Large amounts of xiuzhe flooded from all directions towards Turtle Island. In the span of a few days, an astounding number of xiuzhe gathered near Turtle Island.

When Zuo Mo discovered this situation, he had a great headache. Turtle Island was small in number but they were well-trained. They were familiar with battle formations and directing them was as easy as controlling limbs. They had great combat capabilities. These xiuzhe that came now were varied in strength and had no training in battle formations. If they were put onto the battlefield, they couldn’t even count as roaming warriors.

But if he did not pay attention to them, and someone caused them to stir, they would be a great threat towards Turtle Island.

Liao Qi Chang hurriedly said, “Island Master, morale is useful! Everyone’s blood is boiling, Island Master, do not cool their hearts. I see that there are famed ones among them. This is an enormous power. If Island Master can recruit them, after this event, no one will be a rival for Island Master in Cloud Sea Jie!”

Zuo Mo grimaced inside. He did not say what he worried him to Liao Qi Chang. This guy was an amateur in war and couldn’t understand.

He thought for a while. The arrival of these people wasn’t completely a bad thing. Turtle Island wasn’t small in scale but their numbers were too few. The majority of them were also low-level production xiuzhe. The composition of their members was not rational. If they wanted to survive in Cloud Sea Jie, they had to have enough combat xiuzhe. Otherwise, if the people of Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp fell and could not be replenished, then they would only weaken the more they fought.

As long as that chaos rift existed, Cloud Sea Jie was akin to being on the front lines.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and said, “Get them to come in!”

Compared to Liao Qi Chang’s excitement, the other people had serious expressions. They knew that Zuo Mo would have instructions following this statement.

Zuo Mo wasn’t courteous and said directly, “Pick the strong ones from these people and set up a another camp, Black Turtle Camp. They are unskilled right now so they need to train in battle formations. Ma Fan, you caused this mess so you will do this.”

Ma Fan was filled with regret. Getting him to train this group of greenhorns was worse than killing him!

At the side, Nian Lu and Lei Peng had expressions of schadenfreude. They would willingly go onto the battlefield to kill enemies rather than interact with a group of greenhorns everyday. They knew very well how difficult it was for Vermillion Bird Camp to go from nothing to something respectable. It definitely was not an easy task to bring a group of ignorant greenhorns to Vermillion Bird Camp’s skill level.

Glancing at the duo’s expressions, Ma Fan asked Zuo Mo without changing his expression, “Daren, I won’t be able to do it by myself. Can I get a few brothers to help?”

Lei Peng and NIan Lu’s expressions instantly changed.

Zuo Mo waved his hand and crisply agreed, “Yes!”

This matter was finalized like this.

———

Bu Si Dong looked at the red fire clouds on top of Turtle Island. His thoughts wandered. He was one of the people in the first group allowed onto Turtle Island. He was born and raised in Cloud Sea Jie and was naturally unwilling to see Cloud Sea Jie become the backyard of the yaomo. When he heard Turtle Island was preparing to have a great battle with the mo army, he ran over in hopes of joining Turtle Island.

But unexpected to him, Turtle Island did not immediately accept anyone. The island-protecting formation was securely closed. Other than xiuzhe that entered and left everyday, no one spoke to them.

He personally saw how Turtle Island had gone from empty to being completely filled. All of the xiuzhe that came here only had one goal: they hoped to join Turtle Island and fight against the mo army.

Yet no one paid attention to the people.

Several fiery-tempered people were so angry they charged at the formation. Then they were burned to ash by the formation. Those beautiful dusky red clouds were fatal.

This scene caused the heads of the surrounding people to calm down.

Another batch of xiuzhe rode on roaring nimbus clouds and headed into the fire clouds. Every time this happened, Bu Si Dong’s eyes turned around. This Turtle Island was really rich!

He wasn’t the only one to think this. The admiring words of the surrounding people entered his ears. They were not ignorant country bumpkins but every time they saw this, they couldn’t resist sighing in praise.

Wearing intermediate fourth-grade Blue Soul Cold Light Armor, ethereal Cloud Wings on their backs, Tiger-Style Flowing Light Boots on their feet, Serene Heart Intelligence Hats on their head, and the nimbus cloud that left trails behind them!

It was a complete set of fourth-grade attire!

With the Cloud Wings, why did they drag nimbus clouds along? Could they be any more wasteful?

Countless people wanted to charge up and strip these people clean. At the beginning, people were envious but they felt that it was acceptable that Turtle Island would outfit their elite with this level of equipment given Turtle Island’s strength.

Which power did not have a few hundred elite that were completely loyal?

But they quickly found to their shock that this was their standard equipment. Anyone that came out of there wore this!

Many people cried. These were real tycoons! Their heated hearts were stirred up further to the point that they almost burned themselves.

Bu Si Dong did not lose his calm. He looked around and thought. Turtle Island was still maintaining its silence. He suddenly had a feeling that Turtle Island was not so easy to join. When this thought appeared, it did not demotivate him. It increased his confidence. All of Turtle Island’s actions showed how they were different from other factions.

Maybe they could really defeat the mo army?

Bu Si Dong jumped in fright at the thought that popped up.

At this time, the large formation of Turtle Island suddenly opened and the dusky fire clouds split apart. A troop of about two hundred xiuzhe appeared in people’s view.

All fourth-grade attire, all golden flying swords, unusually regular!

Sword xiu?

Shocked, people thought inside, so many sword xiu, was Turtle Island a sword cultivating sect?

They did not give people the time to digest this. The Cloud Wings on the back of the leading xiuzhe moved and then the Cloud Wings on the back of the two hundred sword xiu moved in unison. The entire troop disappeared from people’s view!

All of them were shocked!

Such quick speed! Such great cooperation!

“They are up over there!” someone shouted in shock.

Everyone raised their heads. They saw the two hundred sword xiu who were like an unsheathed sword at this moment giving off rampant murderousness and battle spirit. They took over the entire sky! They looked down at them, the cold and murderous presence silently pervading!

People suddenly had the feeling they were trapped in dark and cold bog. Any kind of struggle would cause them to move closer to death.

So powerful … …

Bu Si Dong’s eyes were unfocused as he murmured to himself.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted, and his body shook.

In the sky, a cold voice sounded.

“Kill!”

Two hundred people shouted, “Kill!”

The killing essence that took over the sky rained down like a typhoon. The ice cold presence that was omnipresent filled every inch of space like sharp-edged daggers! Bu Si Dong felt as though he was standing in a space filled with sword essence. The howling of the sword essence tearing through the air was like countless wails and caused him to lose any intentions of resisting.

The vast sword essences were like an unstoppable flood that carried killing intent as it came down from the sky!

All of the xiuzhe present paled in front of such a powerful attack and shook!

No one dared to move!

They feared that the tiniest move would cause the other’s sword to change direction.

These xiuzhe that were used to fighting one-on-one suddenly discovered, in front of such a tsunami like attack from the battle formation, just how laughable their so-called rich experience was! Individual bravery was as minuscule as an ant in front of such powerful attack.

The sword energies disappeared into the distance. Echoes carried back. Turtle Island’s surroundings were deathly silent.

Ma Fan was very satisfied with the effects of the demonstration. But when he recalled how these people had been so scared they didn’t even dare to move and how they were going to become his subordinates, he became discontent again.

But he did not show it on his face. He said solemnly, “I come with orders from Daren to set up Black Turtle Camp. Those that are confident in their strength can come try. From today onwards until the time of the battle, Turtle Island is open. Everyone, Turtle Island has strict rules and requirements, take care of yourselves!”

With the lingering effects of that sword strike, no one dared to make a sound.

Ma Fan did not speak more. He turned and led the troop back into Turtle Island.

Bu Si Dong quickly recovered from his shock. Turtle Island was open? Setting up Black Turtle Camp? He instantly started to think and was overjoyed. Without any hesitation, he flew towards Turtle Island.

He was filled with confidence. Turtle Island’s battalions were more powerful than the rumors said!

He didn’t know if this kind of battalion could defeat the mo army but he knew this was the battalion of Cloud Sea Jie that had the highest probability of succeeding.

He was very curious. What was Turtle Island really like?

On this day, the news that Turtle Island had opened quickly spread through Cloud Sea Jie. Ma Fan’s group attack was also exaggerated to a great degree.

Those scornful still snorted, those feeling afraid still rushed to escape.

Only those that had a glimmer of hope remaining flew day and night towards Turtle Island!

Chapter 512 - A Goal

“They are all moving towards a place called Turtle Island. Supposedly, there is a faction there that plans on fighting against us.” The vice commander reported emotionlessly.

“Oh,” Shi Dong’s expression was cold as made a neutral sound. He said lightly, “This is also good. They are all gathering together and it will save us a lot of trouble.”

The vice commander did not speak, his eyes were half-lidded as he stood there like a rock. His commander was a daring and outstanding person who did not need looking after.

Shi Dong might have been born a low level mantis mo, but he possessed the rare bloodline of the Sky Mantis. He had the classic tall and slender body of mantis mo. There wasn’t a flaw on his carven face. His blue pupils were as pure and clear as icy sapphires and his expression was forever cold and distant.

His mantis blade was a completely different shape than normal mantis blades. It was held at his waist. The blade was narrow and long, almost touched the ground. The curve of the blade was very small and seemed between a sabre and a sword.

Looking at the handsome commander, the vice commander sighed inside. If Daren wasn’t born a mantis mo, he probably would have been promoted long ago. Even though Daren did not care, he couldn’t help but feel injustice on Daren’s behalf.

“Slow the advance,” Shi Dong said coldly.

“Yes.” The vice commander’s thoughts came back. With slight pondering, he understood what Daren intended. Daren wanted to give the other side enough time to gather. This way, they could avoid spending the time searching for these people and get rid of them in one battle.

Daren was really confident!

———

The large numbers of xiuzhe coming into Turtle Island caused Turtle Island to become bustling and noisy.

Most of the xiuzhe that came were combat xiuzhe, filled with fighting spirit. There were some that were extremely rebellious and were hard to manage. However, when Wei Sheng, Zong Ru, Xie Shan, and the other jindan came out they instantly took care of those disobedient people.

The rebellious people were thrown into the sword formation to experience its torture. The wails that occasionally passed out of the sword formation caused the passersby to uncontrollably tremble.

Turtle Island instantly became orderly.

Every combat xiu that entered Turtle Island would attend the selection for Black Turtle Camp immediately but they quickly comprehended what it meant to be part of a Turtle Island Battalion! The combat xiu that had the bravery to come at this time all had rich combat experience and good strength. In other factions, they could easily become part of the elite battalion. In actuality, many of them had left the elite battalions of other factions to come here and fight.

But these elites came out with dusty faces and dejection after experiencing the first day of qualifications.

They finally tasted the great strength of Turtle Island’s battalions!

Strict regulations that they had never ever heard of, the level of training was so high that many people did not last through the first day. Now these xiuzhe understood that the two hundred combat xiu they saw that first day was the standard combat xiu in Turtle Island. Turtle Island did not have a so-called elite battalion.

Corresponding to the high requirements of Black Turtle Camp was the great benefits that many were jealous of.

The first batch of people that were chosen and went through combat formation training would receive a complete fourth-grade outfit. Many people were jealous of the fourth-grade outfits that Vermillion Bird Camp wore. If they could finish the training, they could receive the same outfit. Where else could they find something as good as this?

Black Turtle Camp was extremely busy.

Zuo Mo took away his gaze. He would not be able to put any hopes on Black Turtle Camp in the short-term. The formation of a battalion required time. The composition of Black Turtle Camp was also extremely varied. There were a mixture of xiuzhe. It took a lot of mental effort to even think of combat formations they could train in.

Fortunately, other than the combat xiu, there were also three silver battle generals. With the help of the three silver battle generals, Ma Fan’s burdened lightened greatly. Even so, according to Lil’ Miss’ estimates, it would take at least one year for Black Turtle Camp to be ready for battle.

“We have found out that there are about three thousand people in this mo army. Their strength isn’t bad,” Gongsun Cha said unconcernedly.

He probably had been influenced by Pu Yao. It was very difficult for this guy to even say “not bad.”

“They have slowed down their advance. They probably want to give us time to gather and then defeat us in one blow.” Lil’ Miss smiled.

Seeing Lil’s Miss’ smile, the surrounding people shivered. Lil’ Miss was angry!

Some people had smiles of schadenfreude. What yaomo, what monsters, if they provoked Lil’ Miss, heeheehee … …

“How are we going to fight?” Shu Long asked straightforwardly.

Shu Long was clear to his strengths and weaknesses. In terms of scheming, ambushing and trickery, he was far from Lil’ Miss’ equal. Therefore, he decided not to waste the brainpower.

Lil’ Miss said lazily, “Why don’t we just charge over? I don’t believe they are stronger than Vermillion Bird Camp!”

The lazy words were filled with confidence. Lil’ Miss was clearly enraged by the other battle general’s intentions.

This insane idea caused Vermillion Bird Camp to rustle excitedly. If it was other people facing the mo army, they would have mental pressure, but for Vermillion Bird Camp, a mo army was nothing! They had seen the mo armies of Blood Sky Metropolis Jie, they were just that level. Vermillion Bird Camp had completely changed out their outfit, and their strength had grown. Their confidence was at a peak.

Come, come! Face to face, let’s have a fight!

Many people wanted to howl!

“No!” Zuo Mo glared at Lil’ Miss.

It was not that he did not have the confidence in Vermillion Bird Camp but even if they won through fighting head-on, the fatalities would be astounding. Everyone in Vermillion Bird Camp had followed him for this long, how could he bear for them to fight the other head on?

He could not do unprofitable business!

“We need to get the greatest victory with the smallest amount of fatalities.” Zuo Mo’s tone was concerned. Seeing that everyone still had opinions, he instantly followed up, “Our goal is to defeat this mo army, not kill them all off. We only have to chase them back into the mo world so we can seal the chaos rift. Do not forget that when we win, we still need to have the strength to take care of Cloud Sea Jie, do we want others to pluck the fruits of our labor?”

Their heated heads finally calmed down. That was right, if they won this fight, Cloud Sea Jie was theirs. If they didn’t have enough strength at that point, wasn’t that working for others?

“No one believes we have the abilities to defeat the mo army. Right now, all the major factions have fled, and Cloud Sea Jie almost void of other powers. For us, this is a great chance. If we can grasp it, Cloud Sea Jie will be ours in the future!”

The leaders around him listened carefully with excited expression on their faces. Compared to the mo army, taking over Cloud Sea Jie caused more excitement in them.

Zuo Mo said in a deep voice, “Cloud Sea Jie is not bad. This is a very remote place, and there is almost no influence from the Four Realm Heaven, it is not attention-catching. Right now, the Sky-Splitting Calamity is happening everywhere so they do not have the attention to spare to make trouble for us. For us, this is the best time.”

Everyone straightened their spines, and suppressed their excitement. They had roamed around with Zuo Mo this entire time and were extremely desirous of owning a stable territory. Even Wei Sheng who was usually steady couldn’t help but nod his head at Zuo Mo’s words.

“So this time, our goals are very clear. One, defeat the mo army and seal the chaos rift. Two, take this opportunity to take control of the jie rivers and take over Cloud Sea Jie.”

Light flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. His right fist smashed down hard and a thread of dominance showed.

Almost unconsciously, everyone shouted in unison, “Yes!”

Zuo Mo took a breath. Even he had gotten excited at his own words. Calming down, he jumped at his own daring. At the beginning, he did not have this idea. It was only when he saw large amounts of xiuzhe gathering at Turtle Island that this idea had suddenly formed. After thinking for a few days, he had finally made a decision.

Looking around, he found everyone had expression of excitement. All of their moods had transformed. Everyone was filled with energy and fighting spirit. It came from their excited and anticipatory faces.

Zuo Mo suddenly understood.

A clear goal would cause everyone to unite. They were filled with motivation and drive. They would not muddle through like they did in the past few months.

This troop was reborn!

Strangely, Zuo Mo felt some regret and apology. It was only today that he had given everyone a clear goal. He really had not been a good leader.

No one noticed Zuo Mo’s guilt. Everyone was immersed in their dreams of the future.

“Since that’s the case, then we will need to modify our plans.” Lil’ Miss brushed the bangs at his forehead and two balls of red rose on his cheeks. He gave a bashful smile like that of the neighbor’s boy. “There are many advantages that we can use. The appearance of the chaos rift was too sudden. I believe that the mo army has not adequately prepared. The reason that they have continuously won is because the local battalions of Cloud Sea Jie are too weak, and also because everyone fears the mo army. They do not have these two advantages against us. Also, we are fighting on home territory while they are battling a long-distance from their base. We have more of an advantage.”

Everyone listened carefully. Everyone could feel the rare seriousness in Lil’ Miss’ voice. It seemed that Lil’ Miss was also excited by Daren’s words.

“We are more familiar with the environment, this means we can use things like the transportation formations. We can identify the positions of all the transportation formations. This means that we can maneuver behind the enemy and then make a sneak attack.”

Lil’ Miss continued, “But we need to cut the passage between the other army and the mo world before that. If the other can get reinforcements, this tactic will be disadvantages for us.”

Everyone present nodded. Zuo Mo looked at the calm Lil’ Miss and couldn’t help but sigh. Lil’ Miss really had the mannerisms of a great general!

Lil’ Miss put up two fingers. “My battle plan is very simple. Send a troop to meet the mo army and then send another troop to ambush the chaos rift and seal the rift. If the rift gets sealed, then we have won half of the battle. That way, the other will only have two choices left. The first is to keep advancing forward, and the other is to fight to return to the mo world. The possibility of them choosing the second is greater. We can set up a battlefield near the chaos rift and attack from front and back. Then they will be finished.”

Zuo Mo thought deeply. He felt there wasn’t any holes and said unhesitatingly, “Do it!”

“Yes!” Everyone shouted their acceptance!

Chapter 513 - When We Made This Decision

“Hey, Lil’ Bu!”

A familiar voice came from behind him. Bu Si Dong stopped walking and when he saw the incomer, he showed happiness. He darted forward and threw a punch at the other’s shoulder excitedly. “Haha! A Zhe, you didn’t leave either! I thought you already left!”

“Leave? And go where?” A Zhe laughed helplessly. His figure was slender and scholarly. There was a star-shaped mark on his forehead. He had grown up with Bu Si Dong from childhood. Even though the two of them had later entered different sects, they had kept in contact.

“You are right!” Bu Si Dong’s voice was emotional. He quickly gave a sunny smile. “What are you doing now? Did you find work to do?”

“Constructing the city.” A Zhe pointed at the city which was now coming together, “Island Master wants to rebuild Xu Ling City. I’m responsible for a mid-sized defense formation.”

“Wow!” Bu Si Dong showed a shocked expression. “You’re this strong now? I had thought you were only able to forge second and third grade paper seals.”

A Zhe said exasperatedly, “I’ve lived this many years! Ah, if it wasn’t that Sect Leader had wanted to leave Cloud Sea Jie, I wouldn’t have left the sect.”

“The same with me.” Bu Si Dong sighed lightly. Both of them were in low moods. For them, their sects were like a second home. They were naturally reluctant to leave.

“Let’s not speak about this!” Bu Si Dong gathered his mind and said proudly, “Right, I’ve been selected for Black Turtle Camp! Isn’t it great?”

“You’re that strong?” This time, it was A Zhe’s turn to be shocked. “I heard that the selection was very strict. It’s over now that an amateur like you was able to get in. I feel slightly worried about my future.”

Bu Si Dong rolled his eyes. “I have to protect people like you in the future, I’m the one that should feel grief!”

“It is your honor, Little Bu!” A Zhe laughed as he patted Bu Si Dong’s shoulder. Then he said concernedly, “I heard the training there is very difficult. Do you have enough ling dan? I have some here … …”

“No need, no need!” Bu Si Dong shook his hand and then said emotionally and in a show-off manner, “In reality, I have never thought there would be a day that I cultivate with such luxury. We get two pieces of third-grade jingshi every day and one Primary Replenishing Dan. We have to finish using it. Every week, we will get a Cleansing Dan to rid ourselves of the impurities and purify the ling power.”

A Zhe’s mouth was wide open as he stammered, “That … … that is too luxurious!”

“Motherf***er, I finally know how those large sect disciples cultivate! With such a cultivation method, would they fail? Just absorbing ling power from the jingshi and the medicinal power from the Primary Replenishing Dan would take up half of the day. Then it is battle formation training. If we are the slightest bit incorrect, we can only wait to get punished!” Thinking about the pains of cultivation, Bu Si Dong smacked his lips emotionally.

“Don’t complain after benefiting!” A Zhe was full of admiration. “I heard long ago that the island is rolling in wealth. I hadn’t thought they would be this wealthy! You really gained greatly!”

“Haha, yes!” Bu Si Dong said with pride. “It is a pity I am not a sword xiu. Turtle Island is best at training sword xiu. You haven’t seen Teacher Wei’s sword essence, it is uncanny!”

“Oh, work well. In the future, if you make it, then you can protect me.” A Zhe’s expression was matter-of-fact.

Bu Si Dong thought of a matter and hurriedly said, “A Zhe, you can go try for Golden Crow Camp. That place is filled with xiuzhe skilled in forging, seals and dan-making. I heard those admitted get Golden Crow Fire!”

“Golden Crow Fire? Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire?” A Zhe’s eyes were wide as though he had saw a ghost.

“Yes!” Bu Si Dong nodded forcefully. “I hear that they teach all kinds of forging methods. All of the ling dan that we use in cultivation are made by Golden Crow Camp. I went with Ma Fan Daren once and there were so many good things there that are just thrown on the floor. They can be seen everywhere, my heart hurt just looking at it!”

“Which direction is Golden Crow Camp?” A Zhe’s eyes became bloodshot as he asked.

Bu Si Dong pointed, “Oh, that place over there.”

Without another word, he turned and sprinted away.

“At least say farewell … …” Bu Si Dong stilled and then he muttered.

———

The people streamed in. Turtle Island was like an enormous magnet that attracted innumerable numbers of xiuzhe. The xiuzhe that were not willing to leave Cloud Sea Jie only had this one chance. Turtle Island quickly was unable to accommodate so many xiuzhe. Adding on that there were many restricted areas on the island that housed things like the Sun Shen Tree. There were too many eyes. If someone recognized it, then it would not be good.

Zuo Mo decided to rebuild Xu Ling City.

Originally, Lil’ Miss planned to use Turtle Island as bait to attract the mo military. But looking at the flow of people that was continuously coming in, they had to throw out this idea.

Fortunately Vermillion Bird Camp which had the cloud wings and the nimbus clouds were very mobile and were suited for guerilla combat.

The progress of Xu Ling City was very quick. There was a large amount of manpower. Everyone knew that time was tight and worked hard.

Presently, Zuo Mo was very wealthy. This was the benefit of being the first to stand up against the mo army.

Merchants like Liao Qi Chang who came to Zuo Mo in search of protection naturally were willing to also invest. The businesses that were leaving Cloud Sea Jie would donate the things they were unable to transport to Zuo Mo. It was a favor, one they might be able to use in the future.

When he encountered this kind of situation, Zuo Mo accepted them. What? Not easy to move? No matter, I will get people to move it!

Those with keen eyes gambled on Zuo Mo. Many merchant houses proactively supplied all kinds of aid in the rebuilding of Xu Ling City.

How many of the merchants, that could survive in the cruel market, have poor insight?

Under this kind of situation, Zuo Mo’s power quickly grew. A strange prosperity appeared around Turtle Island.

After finalizing their goal, the people under Zuo Mo’s command displayed furious battle intent and high morale.

This might be the biggest “business deal” that Zuo Mo ever engaged in. His previous business deals were child’s play compared to this business deal. When the fighting started, Zuo Mo perceptively realized that the enormous opportunity contained in the fighting.

Maybe ge was really born to do business?

As to what to do after achieving their goal, who knew. Zuo Mo was too lazy to think. This really was a great chance but it was not so simple to grasp it.

Fortunately, everything seemed to be progressing smoothly at present.

But Zuo Mo did not let it go to his head. He judged calmly.

He was clear that this inflation in power was like a pile of bubbles. If they could not defeat the mo army, these bubbles would instantly pop.

Looking at the quiet A Gui, Zuo Mo’s restless heart also calmed down.

“A Gui, I’m very sorry. We need to wait for the fighting to finish before we can search for a Water Cloud embryo,” he said apologetically.

A Gui sat silently and motionlessly.

The two stared at each other in silence.

“A Gui, who are you?” Gazing at A Gui, Zuo Mo said quietly. A while later, he lowered his head. His expression was slightly depressed. “Who am I?”

Suddenly a hand reached over and grasped Zuo Mo’s hand.

Zuo Mo stilled and raised his hand abruptly.

A Gui’s face was still as wooden as usual but there was a weak light in the deep reaches of the empty eyes.

A Gui had moved!

This was the first time A Gui moved of her accord after she was wounded.

For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo suddenly felt his heart warm up. This simple move made him feel extremely comfortable and his dejection flew away.

A Gui’s hand was very beautiful. Just like her feet, it did not have one flaw.

Other than being slightly cold.

Zuo Mo gripped A Gi’s hand back.

“Thank you, A Gui.”

———

“I object!”

“I also object!”

“Daren, you cannot enter into a dangerous situation, this is too dangerous!”

Zuo Mo looked at the excited group. He had predicted this reaction. Wei Sheng did not speak but it was clear from his expression that he did not agree with Zuo Mo’s thoughts. He was not the only one. Lil’ Miss, Shu Long, and the others were shaking their heads.

Everyone knew what Zuo Mo’s safety meant to their troops. If something happened to Zuo Mo, this group would likely fall apart instantly.

Any suggestion that could cause that situation would receive everyone’s opposition.

Gradually, people calmed from their excitement. Their eyes landed on Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo was smiling as usual and did not show an excited expression. Seeing everyone calm down, he slowly opened.

“I’ve thought deeply about this.”

No one spoke. Everyone was waiting for Zuo Mo to keep speaking. After interacting with Daren for so long, they also knew it was extremely difficult to change Daren’s mind after he made a decision.

“No one can replace Gongsun Shidi and Vermillion Bird Camp in fighting against the mo military. The battle style of Guard Camp is not suited to guerrilla combat. Shu Long’s personality is steady and is skilled in defense rather than offence. This time, Guard Camp’s mission is to attack the other’s base. I feel that no one is more suited than I am.”

Seeing someone open their mouth to speak, Zuo Mo waved his hand and continued.

“As for the danger, do not mention it in the future. We are fighting with our backs against the wall, there is no retreat. Unless we want to return to what we were before,” Zuo Mo looked around and said in a deep voice, “Are you willing?”

The audience was completely silent.

Before setting their goal, no one had realized this problem and felt it was nothing. But once they set their goal, it was like poking a hole in the umbrella. No one was willing to go back to their previous muddling days.

“When we made this decision,”

Zuo Mo’s gaze slowly swept across everyone. Everyone felt a strong pressure.

“we no longer had the right to fear the consequences!”

Zuo Mo’s tone was aloof but these words were like a sharp sword deeply cutting into stone, and engraving themselves into people’s hearts!

Chapter 514 - Thousand Bird Seal

“We have encountered enemy scouts again. This is the seventh group,” the vice commander’s tone was very calm, “the other has a high opinion of us.”

“Oh,” Shi Dong made a sound. His posture did not change as he gazed into the distance. His blue eyes were as deep as the ocean.

“Based on the skill level of these scouts, the enemy is not weak,” the vice commander continued. “if the other’s combat xiu are also at this level, then we will have a tough battle.”

“Oh,” Shi Dong was unaffected.

“We need to be careful of our retreat path being cut off,” the vice commander reminded. “If our retreat is cut off, then we will be left in a dangerous situation.”

Shi Dong finally reacted, “Did you inform Ye Ling?”

“Yes,” the vice commander nodded and said, “Ye Ling Daren has already spread out the mo grass seeds. In fifteen days, these mo grass seeds will germinate.”

“Why was mo sea seed not used?” Shi Dong’s tone was calm but the vice commander who was familiar with him could hear the dissatisfaction in his tone.

The vice commander explained, “The mo sea seed is too expensive. We did not have enough time to prepare.”

Shi Dong was silent.

Mo grass seed was slower to grow than mo sea seed. If it was mo see seed, it would form a small mo rearing sea, and it would take at least fifteen days for mo grass seed to form a mo grass sea. Compared to the mo rearing sea, the mo grass sea was a level below in terms of expansion speed and the threat it would pose to enemies.

In Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, the mo had used vast areas of mo rearing sea to form a secure defensive line.

Even though Shi Dong felt that the mo sea seed was more effective, he knew that he could not blame Ye Ling for this matter. The chaos rifts had appeared so suddenly. Even he had not expected it. From the time the chaos rift appeared to the time that Shi Dong decided to lead the troops to attack, there was only a brief period of time. It was already very difficult for Ye Ling to have accomplished what he did.

Also, he felt the mo grass sea was enough to secure their base.

Their advance had been so smooth it surpassed Shi Dong’s imagination. When he learned of Cloud Sea Jie’s position, he understood why this was the case. This was a little place was remote and unattended to.

It lacked powerful sects, did not have unique produce, was poor and desolate, and there were many places that were still unexplored.

The successive victories did not give Shi Dong any pleasure. His opponents were too weak. There was nothing to be proud of in these kinds of victories.

His only hope now was that the unexplored areas under the cloud sea would give him some surprises. Otherwise, taking over such a place could not bring any benefits to his family.

Shi Dong was going to get the vice commander to remind Ye Ling but thinking about Ye Ling’s personality and how he never made low-level mistakes, he changed the topic, “Have you found out yet? What products from Cloud Sea Jie are valuable?”

“Looking at the present, it has some seams of ore but there is not a large amount, and the grade is not high.” The vice commander looked at Shi Dong and then said, “But Xiao Wo said he felt the presence of mo embryos.”

“Mo embryos!” Shi Dong’s eyes ignited and for the first time, his tone changed.

“Yes, mo embryos! Even though he does not know what kind of mo embryo it is, but there definitely are some. You also know, Xiao Wo has never been wrong in this matter before.” The vice commander’s tone was confident.

An imperceptible trace of joy appeared in Shi Dong’s eyes. Xiao Wo was a troop leader under Shi Dong’s command and a rare one who cultivated a mo physique. The mo physique that he practiced was called the Nighttide Snail mo physique. This kind of mo physique did not have strong battle abilities, but it had a special ability, an unusually powerful ability to smell.

The vice commander was right. Xiao Wo had never been incorrect in this before!

Mo embryo!

They grew among the flora and wild beasts, and were all kinds of strange shapes. Some lived within wild beasts, other within plants, some were in lifeless areas and appeared like rocks. Even a true mo like Shi Dong found it hard to say what were actually mo embryos.

But this did not stop them from knowing the value of mo embryos.

The greatest use of mo embryos was to cultivate the mo physique. There were all kinds of mo physique and their cultivation methods were as varied and as strange. For example, Shi Dong’s Cold Blade mo physique and Xiao Wo’s Nighttide Snail mo physique were cultivated through their bloodlines. But more mo physiques were not achieved through bloodlines.

Using mo embryos to cultivate a mo physique was a common method.

This was what the mo embryos were valued for.

If there was mo embryos here … …

Shi Dong understood. He needed to reassess the value of Cloud Sea Jie!

At this time, Shi Dong suddenly saw one of his scouts race back in a disheveled state. There were some shocking wounds on his body that were seeping blood.

Shi Dong’s pupils suddenly contracted!

———

”Daren, there is a very well-hidden transportation formation here,” Gu Ming gong said respectfully, “a merchant house had invited me to build it. Keeping it a secret, the site is very well hidden. This subordinate has put traps into it. If it is destroyed, this subordinate would detect it immediately.”

Ever since Zuo Mo had set the Soul Setting Divine Light in him, Gu Ming Gong was extremely obedient. If Zuo Mo told him to go east, he definitely would not go west. At the beginning, he had been extremely cautious and fearful as though he was on thin ice. As time passed, his terror had mostly dissipated. Zuo Mo never limited him on materials and continuously provided rare and valuable materials for him to forge so he quickly immersed himself into forging.

He was unable to get rid of the jinzhi on his body no matter what he did. As time went on, he could only go with the flow.

Fortunately, his days were pretty good. Other than not having freedom, everything else was very good, especially his forging. There was no other place that would give him so many materials to waste.

Zuo Mo had specifically taken him along on this campaign. One part was that Gu Ming gong was a famed jindan expert, and had combat capabilities. The other point was that Gu Ming Gong was very familiar with Cloud Sea Jie. He wasn’t just familiar with the local transportation formations, he could make his own transportation formations.

This was a great help to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo might have been provocative and stirring in his words seeming as though he would fight to the death, but inside, he was still very afraid of death.

Under the direction of Gu Ming gong, they quickly entered the underground room of the storehouse. As expected, they found a transportation formation. Gu Ming Gong inspected it to make sure there were not any problems before he activated the transportation formation

Several pieces of fourth-grade jingshi were put into the formation. The formation instantly lit up with light.

For this sneak attack, Zuo Mo really invested greatly. To say of nothing else, just to transport so many people was a shocking expense.

The people stepped after each other into the transportation formation. Streaks of light lit up and then they disappeared.

The other side of the transportation formation were also in a dark underground storehouse. Gu Ming Gong made his way familiarly through the basement and led everyone to exit. Everyone suddenly found that the buildings outside were in complete ruins and the formations were completely damaged.

“Daren, this is Cloud Watching Ridge.” Gu Ming Gong’s expression was not very good. He clearly was shocked by the hellish scene in front of him.

Fighting between xiuzhe was regular and common as eating, but compared to the horrific scene in front of him, that was just playing house.

Zuo Mo identified Cloud Watching Ridge was the one of the first places that were attacked by the mo.

Even now, they had not found where the chaos rift had appeared. They could only use this crude method and slowly search. Only when they found the chaos rift would they be able to find the other’s base. The other’s base definitely was not far from the chaos rift.

Looking across the landscape, it was a field of debris.

Compared to Gu Ming Gon’s loss of composure, Zuo Mo was much calmer. He had seen scenes bloodier than this.

He turned around and said to Gu Ming Gong, “Let’s start.”

Gu Ming Gong took out a paper seal and breathed ling power onto it. His left hand moved as he chanted.

Pew!

The paper seal suddenly started to burn and turned into a ball of fire.

Psh-hiss-hiss!

Among the flames, a group of non-descript grey birds flew out. There was a large number of them that flapped their wings to fly in all directions and disappeared in a flash.

Shu Long and the others looked curiously at this scene.

Even Zuo Mo was interested. In terms of variety of skills, it definitely was the seal xiu that stood tallest. Their endless variety of moves would always keep people’s eyes on them.

Noticing Zuo Mo’s gaze, Gu Ming Gong hurriedly introduced, “Daren, this is the Thousand Bird Seal and most suited for searching. However, it is not easy to make and very pricey.”

“It is very practical.” Zuo Mo started to consider if he should outfit Guard Camp with seals like this. Other than A Wen, the mo shadow guard who had shocking speed, Guard Camp was very average in speed and unsuited to being scouts.

The Thousand Bird Seals could cover for Guard Camp’s shortcoming to a great degree.

But Zuo Mo was not sure if Shu Long and the others could even use paper cranes. Paper cranes required ling power, while Shu Long and the others cultivated mo skills.

He requested a paper seal from Gu Ming Gong and gave it to Shu Long. No matter how Shu Long tried, he was unable to use it.

Zuo Mo could only give up on this tempting idea.

As expected, the heavens were fair. It was not realistic to get all the benefits.

In the past, Guard Camp always followed Vermillion Bird Camp. This was the first time they were fighting so far from the main base. Many problems that they had not encountered before were exposed now.

Zuo Mo was suddenly curious. How did the mo soldiers that were not fast deal with this problem?

He ran to ask Wei.

Wei explained, “The mo have many ways to solve this problem. For example, some mo physiques are shockingly fast or they have unique attributes. These kinds of mo are very powerful as scouts. Some mo armies would raise mo insects. They are extremely fast, and can conceal themselves. It is hard for enemies to detect them.”

Zuo Mo understood now. The xiuzhe had xiuzhe moves, yaomo had yaomo moves.

After development through so many years, the systems of  yao, mo, and xiu had gradually been perfected. Xiuzhe had geniuses, how could all of the yaomo be stupid? Zuo Mo also learned from Pu Yao and Wei that the internal conflicts of yaomo were much crueler than inner conflicts among xiuzhe. The mo had the fiercest infighting.

Zuo Mo noted down this problem and decided to resolve it when he got back.

They waited for about fifteen minutes when Gu Ming Go who was standing with his eyes closed suddenly shuddered. He opened his eyes abruptly, “Southeast!”

Zuo Mo and the others became alert. Without a word, they flew towards the southeast.

After flying for about four hours, a mountain valley appeared in front of them.

As they flashed past the valley, Zuo Mo’s body suddenly froze. Uncontrolled shock came into his eyes!

Chapter 515 - Dumbstruck Ye Ling

The black soil stood as a stark contrast, it seemed to have been dyed in ink and was clearly divided from the surrounding soil.

“Mo Grass Sea!”

Wei’s reminder came immediately as they spotted it.

“Mo Grass Sea?” Zuo Mo asked in response.

“Our luck is pretty good.” Wei explained, “This area has been recently seeded with mo grass seed. However, the mo grass seed has not germinated so I say that our luck is pretty good.”

“It is very powerful?”

“It is not powerful but after reaching maturity, the expansion rate of mo grass is astounding. It will spread like a poison and is able to survive on the poorest of soils. Its greatest ability is to absorb the ling power of the area it grows in.”

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply.

For xiuzhe, they would face great trouble if there was not any ling power in the air. This meant that the xiuzhe could only expend the ling power inside their body and it could not be easily replenished. If they did not have access to special methods, they could only occasionally replenish their ling power with jingshi. Ling foods and ling dan were more reliable and caused fewer side effects but this would dramatically inflate the cost and difficulty of supplying the troop.

“But Guard Camp cultivates mo skills.” Zuo Mo suddenly reacted.

“That is why I said our luck is pretty good.” Wei’s tone was very calm. “I feel you should have more confidence in Guard Camp. The present Guard Camp is nothing like it was in the past.”

A cold snort suddenly sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind. It was like the dark and cold hiss of a poisonous snake.

It was Pu Yao.

How could the clever Pu Yao not hear Wei’s insult?

Zuo Mo pretended to not hear it. Only when these two were at odds could he, the fisherman, get the rice! If the two worked together, he could not imagine how he would survive his days!

It was lucky that he brought along Guard Camp. If he had brought Vermillion Bird Camp, he would have been at a great disadvantage. The mo grass sea was ineffective against Guard Camp. Zuo Mo’s heart rested slightly.

The other was very cautious. This could be understood from the area filled with mo grass sea.

“Did you find the general position of the enemy’s base?” Zuo Mo asked Gu Ming Gong.

Gu Ming Gong shook his head. “This patch of black soil is very strange. The Thousand Bird Seal cannot fly over it.”

As expected!

This mo grass sea had not finished forming but its effect on draining ling power had started to emerge. The grey birds created from the Thousand Bird Seal were constructed from ling power and would be destroyed in they flew into this area.

But since they found the mo grass sea, then the other’s base was definitely in here.

Zuo Mo thought for a moment and then called for A Wen. After speaking in a low tone, A Wen nodded and then his plumed armor fanned out. Woosh, his body disappeared.

A Wen’s strength had progressed greatly. He was different from Shu Long and he was training as a lone soldier. His shocking talent caused his rate of improvement to be rapid. Pu Yao and Wei had a rare agreement and praised A Wen’s talents.

A Wen quickly returned.

He came back with the enemy base’s general location. Just like Zuo Mo had thought, as the mo grass seed had not matured, the other had not established their camp for long time.

Under A Wen’s direction, they silently approached the other’s base.

———

Ye Ling had a head full of maroon hair, and his grey-white eyes looked extremely deep. The wrinkles on his face ran deep. He had an ordinary birth and no special bloodline. He also lacked talent in cultivating mo skills but with his outstanding work ethic, he had found a place in the army.

Even though he was only in charge of the supplies, this was already very good for him and his family.

His working attitude was extremely proactive and industrious. He almost never made mistakes. Over time, he quickly gained a reputation of being capable and trustworthy. Even Shi Dong who had eyes on top of his head was willing to partner up with him.

“Where is Shi Dong Daren now?” he asked.

“At Grey Cloud Sea Continent. The latest reports say that our scouts have come into contact with xiuzhe scouts. Many of our scouts have been wounded,” the vice commander hurriedly answered.

Ye Ling was not very shocked. “This is very normal. Xiuzhe are not weak. It would actually be abnormal if they did not react at all to us knocking on their door and killing their people.”

“Daren is right.”

“We need to be careful and prevent others from ambushing us.” Ye Ling’s expression was grave as he said, “Have the troops on high alert! There are smart people among xiuzhe, we cannot trip up on flat ground!”

“Yes! Daren!” the vice commander accepted the order.

Suddenly, a howl sounded that almost ruptured Ye Ling’s eardrums.

The duo’s expressions suddenly changed!

Someone had mounted a sneak attack on their base.

———

Zuo Mo’s face fell.

They had sneaked right up in front of the enemy. If they didn’t use this chance to mount a sneak attack, they would be struck by lightning!

Yet he had not expected the other’s alertness to be higher than he had predicted. He had avoided the other’s scouts but the enemy’s defences were extremely thorough and they had been detected anyway.

The thing that caused this was an insect the size of a thumb. It was hidden in the soil and was extremely difficult to attack.

Something in the black soil under their feet seemed to be shifting. It rapidly advanced towards Zuo Mo’s group.

Zuo Mo was the first to react. His expression changed slightly, “Black Leech Defense Line!”

Almost in an instant, Guard Camp finished falling into formation.

Vast power came from behind him. The shock and fear inside Zuo Mo quickly disappeared like snow on a hot day. The Great Day mo physique was stimulated and quickly activated.

“Little Mo Kill!”

Thick black mist shrouded Zuo Mo’s right hand. He raised his hand and slammed it towards the flow of black leeches heading towards them.

A black shadow of a hand left his hand.

Boom!

The flow of black leeches seemed to strike wall and dispersed into countless smaller flows!

These slender black flows suddenly made a strange turn in the air and shot back towards Zuo Mo like black arrows.

If it was a normal xiuzhe, they would have panicked facing such a sudden change. However, Zuo Mo’s group had already seen the power of the black leech defense line in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie and expected that these black leeches were not easy to destroy.

At the very front of the large formation, Zuo Mo did not panic. He was immersed in an unique feeling.

There seemed to be unseen threads that were spreading out from his body. Each unseen thread connected to a hardship guard. This hardship guard would also have dozens of thin threads that were connected to other hardship guards.

These threads were connecting everyone!

Power flowed through these unseen threads, passing through the layers of connections before they gathered on Zuo Mo’s body.

An burst of power tightly wrapped around Zuo Mo. Under the magnification of this power, any normal move would now carry the weight of a mountain.

The Great Day mo physique was unusually active. Every cell in his body seemed to be cheering.

Without thinking, Zuo Mo spread open his fingers and then grasped at the air in the direction of the slender flows of black leeches!

Pia!

The black leeches in the air suddenly exploded and turned to black mist.

Zuo Mo waved his hand. The mist instantly dissipated.

Yet when he saw the now organized mo army in front of him, Zuo Mo’s expression instantly became grave.

His alertness had been raised when they encountered the black leech defense line. This was a temporary base yet the other had set up a black leech defense line. To say of nothing else, just the cautiousness of this planning was enough to create a headache for people!

The black leech defense line did not earn a lot of time for the enemy, but using such a brief amount of time, the other had finished their battle preparations!

They were well-trained!

Just this quality was enough for Zuo Mo to not dare to underestimate the enemy.

———

Ye Ling appeared extremely calm. He had the same heavy gaze as usual, and did not show any panic. This brought his subordinates great bravery and confidence.

Yet what no one knew was that underneath this, Ye Ling was not as calm.

His gaze was locked onto the youth at the front of the enemy formation, and his mind was in turmoil!

He had seen the entire process that the youth used to defeat the black leech defense line. The youth seemed to be very familiar with the black leech defense line and had defeated it with confidence. Ye Ling knew that the black leech defense line, that he had set up, was very thin but he never expected the enemy to defeat it this easily.

The other didn’t seem to be affected by the mo grass sea at all!

This was a shock to him. The mo grass sea had not completely formed but its ability to destroy ling power was already present. If xiuzhe entered this area, they would be affected to various degrees.

But the other didn’t seem to react at all. He was not the only one. Even the subordinates behind him didn’t seem to be under any pressure.

What was even stranger was … … the shape of the other’s formation!

Anyway he looked at it, Ye Ling found it familiar. Wasn’t this the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation of us mo?

The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation wasn’t a common thing. Only armies with power would cultivate this domineering and vicious killing formation.

Seeing a group of xiuzhe use the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation of the mo to defeat the black leech defense line of the mo, Ye Ling was almost dumbstruck where he stood.

All Hail The King! This … … who was really the mo here!

———

Zuo Mo took the chance to examine Ye Ling.

“What battle formation are they using?” Zuo Mo secretly asked Wei.

“I don’t recognize it. It probably is a new battle formation that came out after our imprisonment.” Wei’s brow creased as well. He hoped that he could help Zuo Mo gain victory. Only victory could prove that Guard Camp’s strength had improved under his guidance.

Could someone like Pu Yao compare to, I, Wei?

A warm sunny smile came back onto Wei’s face as he said with a hint of holy piousness.

“Do not worry. With the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation that I taught as well as your Great Day mo physique, we can flatten them.”

Oh, there was really nothing to be done, it was I, Wei, that taught Little Zuo Mo his Great Day mo physique … …

There was really nothing to be done … … there was really nothing to be done … …

Little Pu Pu … …

The light of I, Wei, will burn you with my radiance… …

We’s smile became even more holier and warmer.

———

In the Ten Finger Prison, Pu Yao suddenly raised his head. The corner of his eyes twitched. There seemed to be a vast ocean of blood howling and roaring in his bloody eye. Nan Yue and the others trembled. A moment later, Pu Yao’s cold voice squeezed out from between his teeth. “One month! If you cannot achieve this in one month, there is a good place waiting for you.”

The scalps of Nan Yue and the others prickled as they fled in panic!

Chapter 516 - To Cross Swords

Shi Dong looked coldly at the xiuzhe scouts that were roaming nearby.

Starting from the first day of contact, the fighting between the two side’s scouts never stopped. The scouts were the elite of an army. The fighting was short yet fierce, ending in serious wounds if not death.

Shi Dong did not feel surprised. He had spent many years in the military, and his heart was as hard as stone. The conflict between scouts were the prelude to a battle and he had confidence in his men.

These scouts had followed him for many years. Each one of them had been promoted based on their merit and service.

Yet the development of the situation still shocked him greatly.

In three short days, twenty seven elite scouts had been wounded or killed. Even with a rock-solid heart, Shi Dong felt a hint of coldness. The number of wounded and dead spoke to the violence of battle. But pitting their scouts against the enemy scouts, the other had sustained an insignificant number of wounds and fatalities. Shi Dong’s gaze grew colder.

Shi Dong understood. They had encountered a great enemy!

However, this did not cause him to feel nervousness and uncertainty. It was the exact opposite. Under his icy expression, the battle intent in his mind was like the hidden turbulence under the thick layer of ice that was slowly rippling.

The vice commander looked at the xiuzhe scouts roaming at the surroundings. Even now, he couldn’t quite believe it that his scouts were defeated.

“Does Cloud Sea Jie really have such a powerful battalion?” he murmured to himself in a voice filled with disbelief. At the start when they entered Cloud Sea Jie, they hadn’t know anything but as they gathered together information, Cloud Sea Jie became clear in their eyes.

Nothing had mentioned that Cloud Sea Jie had such a powerful battalion!

The battalions they had defeated before had battalions that ranked in the top ten of Cloud Sea Jie but compared to this mysterious battalion, they weren’t even worth mentioning.

Was this battalion the strongest battalion of Cloud Sea Jie, the Na Shan Battalion?

Shi Dong did not speak. There was no meaning in trying to guess the origins of this battalion. In his eyes, there was only victory. He was not concerned at all with the other’s name or history.

The enemy scouts had created a dense net. Their scouts could not leave.

Subsequently the amount of information that reached Shi Dong decreased. This feeling was terrible. He seemed to be trapped in quicksand and any struggle was useless.

The other did not seem to be in a hurry to attack. Other than these scouts that stuck to them like glue, the other’s primary force did not show themselves.

Suddenly, Shi Dong’s mind shifted. He recalled Turtle Island. Was this battalion Turtle Island Battalion?

The information on Turtle Island Battalion was almost nonexistent. There was only scattered mentions in the information they gathered and that was just about a small conflict. Thinking about Turtle Island’s recent reputation, and this mysterious battalion that suddenly appeared , Shi Dong instantly made the connection between the two.

So this was how it was … …

Gazing at the scouts, Shi Dong gripped the mantis blade at his waist tightly!

The other was dragging it out for time!

Yes! The other was trying to make time!

But why were they trying to drag for time? Shi Dong’s thought became clearer. The other needed time, they were waiting for something! Were they waiting for Turtle Island’s defenses to be completed?

It was not so simple … …

This short contact could not be said to be a conflict but Shi Dong could smell the danger level of the other’s battle general.

An expert!

The other’s aims definitely were not so simple. Also, defending Turtle Island was not a very good idea … …

Was it … …

Shi Dong’s heart suddenly jumped. He turned around abruptly. “Inquire about Ye Ling’s situation! Immediately!”

Frightened by his commanding officer’s moves, the vice commander stilled for a moment before reacting. “Yes.”

He took out a black insect on his hand and cut his finger. With a flick, a drop of blood entered the forehead of the insect. The insect started to fade in his hand at a visible rate until it disappeared.

Time slowly passed but the insect never came back.

The vice commander’s expression changed.

As expected … …

Shi Dong whose expression did not change had his suspicions confirmed. He had just been speculating on the other’s intentions, now he was definitely sure.

“Have we brought along any mo grass seed?” Shi Dong suddenly asked about something completely unconnected.

“Yes!” the vice commander reflexively answered.

Shi Dong gripped the mantis blade at his waist. He raised his head against the wind. The blue cap that represented the Sky Mantis flapped in the wind.

The ocean-like eyes suddenly gave off a sharp light. It was as though he drew out the mantis blade that was sheathed at his waist. His body was filled with the determination to advance.

“Our target is Turtle Island, advance at full speed!”

———

The other was not easy to fool.

Gongsun Cha hadn’t expected this mo army to suddenly accelerate without warning. It formed a perfect assault battle formation and headed straight for Turtle Island like a sharp blade!

Without a doubt, the enemy battle general had detected his aims. The counter-attack was expected, but it was unusually strong.

The great majority of people in this situation would turn back to act as reinforcements if their retreat was cut off. Yet this mo army did the opposite and advanced at an accelerated rate!

It was a decision filled with bravery!

Even though the two were enemies, Gongsun Cha could not help himself from sighing in praise.

The other was forcing him into a final battle.

If the other reached Turtle Island, even if he could win, the number of fatalities would reach a terrifying number. Turtle Island’s defenses were very strong but Turtle Island itself could not hold that many xiuzhe. Xu Ling City had not finished rebuilding, and the defenses were next to nothing.

If this was any other time, Gongsun Cha would not hesitate to use these people to trade for a victory.

But given the situation right now … …

A ruined Cloud Sea Jie was not of any benefit for them. Even Gongsun Cha, who was only interested in being a battle general, could understand a concept as shallow as this.

Actually, when Zuo Mo had said the words at the time, Lil’ Miss had been very surprised. But if there had to be one person that he would support unconditionally, there was only Zuo Mo.

As to whether Shixiong’s decision was correct, the obstacles they faced, and what consequences there were, it was not within the realm of his consideration.

The only thing he would use his mind for, to scheme for, was victory!

“You want a final battle?” Lil’ Miss’ eyes flashed with an insane light. The shadow formed by the bangs at the front of his face seemed to cover his entire face.

“Then come!”

His mouth unconsciously curved in a smile that was as bashful as usual.

———

“Can we win?” Bu Si Dong’s sweat was running in rivers down his face. The exhaustion caused his voice to gasp.

They had just experienced an abnormally difficult session of training. Almost all the strength in their bodies had been squeezed out.

This really was demonic cultivation!

Before this, no one had ever heard of training like this. They didn’t even dare think of this. Even with the great benefits, they were full of groans and complaints. Some people had even planned on running away. But ever since those few that ran away were captured and thrown into the sword formation, the wails that occurred daily caused all of Black Martial Camp to feel their scalps prickle.

Ma Fan had found experts from Golden Crow Camp to set up fifty sword formations that were placed right beside the campsite.

Everyday when they trained, they could clearly hear the inhuman screams coming out of the sword formation.

Everyone settled down.

Bu Si Dong never thought of running away. He didn’t have any talent but he could endure hardship. In reality, the potential of a person was greater than they themselves realized. These people were starting to adjust to this terrifying level of training.

The departure of Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp could be concealed from other people but not from Black Turtle Camp that was adjacent to Vermillion Bird Camp. Everyone knew the counter-attack had started.

When they had the time, they would discuss the situation.

“They probably can.” The one who spoke was called Luo Wei. He was a sword xiu and had a natural advantage in the camp. He was also the primary attacker of their small team.

However, Luo Wei’s tone did not hold much confidence.

“I want us to be able to participate. Didn’t we come just to fight against the mo army? Just hiding here and training everyday, it is so irritating!” Da Ban couldn’t help but mutter from the side. He had a pair of conspicuous front teeth. He was unusually proud of them and wouldn’t think of using ling power to modify them. Consequently, everyone called him Da Ban.

Luo Wei said without raising his head, “If Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp cannot win, then we aren’t even enough for a mouthful. Before, I felt I was strong, now I know how laughable that idea was.”

Everyone became silent.

Luo Wei was right. At the beginning, there were many rebellious people but after training for a few days, they finally understood how great the difference was between themselves and Vermillion Bird Camp.

“Who do you think is stronger, Guard Camp or Vermillion Bird Camp?” Bu Si Dong saw everyone was silent and hurriedly said.

“Does it need to be said, of course it is Vermillion Bird Camp!” Da Ban said without thinking.

Everyone’s interests were stirred by this topic and spoke up.

“I also feel it is Vermillion Bird Camp.”

“Vermillion Bird Camp! Ma Fan Daren is too strong!”

“Those animal from Vermillion Bird Camp are not human!”

All of them supported Vermillion Bird Camp. Compared to Guard Camp that had never showed its face, they had a direct experience with the strength of Vermillion Bird Camp. Some of them even felt that there wasn’t a stronger battalion than Vermillion Bird Camp in the world.

Bu Si Dong noticed that Luo Wei did not speak. He couldn’t help but ask, “Luo Wei, what do you feel?”

“I don’t know,” Luo Wei stopped what he was doing, “but I feel that since Guard Camp can rank together with Vermillion Bird Camp, it must have its strengths.”

When he spoke, he suddenly recalled when he had seen a person from Guard Camp the other day.

The other person just glanced at him, and he felt all the blood in his body freeze!

This incident had given him a deep impression.

He was preparing to tell everyone about the incident when Ma Fan Daren’s serene voice came like a ghost out of the ground.

“You’ve rested long enough, prepare for the next part of training.”

Everyone instantly jumped up as though something had bitten their behinds and sprinted towards the field.

Ma Fan’s figure slowly floated out of the air as he looked into the distance.

This really was so troublesome … ..

And he was missing such a spectacular battle … …

Chapter 517 - Who … … Who Is The Mo Here … …

Ye Ling’s position was quartermaster, it was his primary duty, but he was not unfamiliar with battle. In truth, in the mo military, people who could not fight were unable to survive.

The mo respected power. From childhood, they were taught the philosophy of fighting and its unparalleled and ultimate status. Status, wealth, mo skills, the hopes of the clan and others, all of them had to be earned through fighting prowess. This was a long battle that began in youth, a life that was cruel and filled with blood. Those that could survive this battle and achieve something were the elite of the mo.

Ye Ling was that kind of elite. Even if he was just a quartermaster, even if it had been many years since he last fought, this kind of instinct would not degrade.

The other’s mo-esque style of fighting shocked him but he quickly recovered his calmness. His years of experience in the military allowed him to face anything calmly.

His preferred position as he commanded differed from Zuo Mo. His position was at the center of the battle formation.

For mo this was a rare position to stand in.

Mo revered directness and brute force. Their battle generals usually stood at the front of the battle formation, as the tip of the blade! This could maximize the amount of strength they gathered from the entire battalion to unleash the strongest attack!

That was where Zuo Mo was standing.

Ye Ling couldn’t help but feel slight strangeness. As a true-blooded mo, his position was not like the mo but more similar to the yao and the xiuzhe. The enemy was clearly a xiuzhe but what he used was a conventional mo battle style.

Who really was the mo here?

This absurd thought flashed through his mind.

He quickly refocused his attention. Threads of power responded to him. Everything in the surroundings suddenly became unprecedentedly clear. A feeling of strength grew quickly in his mind!

Such a familiar feeling!

Strangely, he felt emotional. The battle spirit in his blood had remained cold for many years, but now the excitement of his youth was reawakened. His eyes became misty black.

Like a ball of mist, his figure disappeared in the air.

Almost at the same time, every mo soldier under his command had their eyes turn red as though they were dyed in fresh blood.

Silently, murderousness grew!

———

“[Mist Hand Seat]!” The holy smile on Wei’s face suddenly froze and he showed shock.

“What is that?”

Zuo Mo didn’t dare to be careless. In a flash, the enemy troop suddenly seemed to inflate. The murderousness made him feel great pressure.

“A very interesting mo skill.” Pu Yao’s voice suddenly inserted but his tone was full of undisguised schadenfreude. “I and Little Wei encountered this in the past. Tsk tsk, I really miss that time!”

Pu Yao dragged out the sound as he smacked his lips. He really appeared to be reminiscing about the past.

Little Wei … …

Wei’s smile became increasingly forced.

Hearing Pu Yao’s words, Zuo Mo suddenly had a bad feeling. “It’s very powerful?”

“Powerful?” The corners of Pu Yao’s lips rose slightly as he shook his head. “No no no! It isn’t powerful, but it is very interesting. Haha … …”

As though he seemed to recall something, Pu Yao roared with laughter. The laugher that was furious and as sharp as blades echoed in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Wei’s expression became increasingly terrible.

Zuo Mo’s bad feeling grew. Had they encountered a difficult enemy!

———

“I wonder how Ye Ling Daren is right now?” The vice commander was full of worry. “The other has gambled on Ye Ling Daren, and the troop they sent definitely would not be weak … …”

The vice commander’s nagging had caused Shi Dong’s patient to finally reach its end. He impatiently interrupted, “You don’t need to worry for Ye Ling!”

“But … …”

Seeing the worry on his vice commander’s face, Shi Dong thought and decided to say something. “Do not underestimate Ye Ling. What he cultivates is the [Mist Hand Seat.]”

“Ah!” The vice commander was shocked and his mouth was gaped so wide an egg could be shoved through it. After a long while, his mind refocused. He stammered out a question. “[Mist Hand Sea]? Heavens! Ye Ling Daren actually cultivates [Mist Hand Seat]!”

A military officer that was the quartermaster who cultivated the [Mist Hand Seat,] this was insane!

Shi Dong was silent for a moment. He suddenly said nonsensically, “It is a pity, if only he also cultivated the Mist mo physique … …”

The vice commander paused again but this time, he understood.

Shi Dong suddenly raised his head. His blue eyes narrowed slightly and his hand went to the mantis blade at his waist.

Looking down from the sky, the entire mo army seemed to stop without any warning. The entire process was carried out like clockwork, in sync and unified without any confusion.

In front of them, a troop was silently floating in the air.

Shi Dong gripped the handle of the mantis blade, his expression was icy and his back straight as he slowly walked towards the front.

With every step, his presence increased. When he reached to the front of the formation, he was like an unsheathed sword, the sharp edges exposed to the air without any reservation.

The mantis blade was unsheathed!

Pointing forward!

———

When Gongsun Cha saw Shi Dong’s action, his lips couldn’t help but curl up. Without any warning, his peaceful eyes suddenly began to boil.

The shy and bashful smile suddenly held a thread of craziness and undisguised admiration.

The other dared to advance alone after detecting his intentions and aimed straight at Turtle Island. Just this action was enough to win Lil’ Miss’ respect.

When the opponent realized Vermillion Bird Camp’s advantage in speed, the other advanced at full speed without holding anything in reserve. This action that seemed reckless had greatly weakened Vermillion Bird Camp’s advantage of fighting on home ground. It forced Vermillion Bird Camp into an early battle with him.

This was a pretty good opponent!

The wind blew the fine bangs at his forehead. Under the excitement and pleasure of facing a matching opponent, Gongsun Cha’s neck turned red.

His consciousness spread like a net.

“Let’s start!”

———

Mist Hand Seat?

Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to ask further when Ye Ling had started to attack.

Woosh!

A ball of mist exploded within the mo army and grew rapidly. In a flash, it spread out and covered the sky. Thousands of mo soldiers were quickly swallowed by the grey mist and disappeared without a trace.

The grey mist roiled restlessly as though an enormous monster was moving inside.

Zuo Mo was on his guard. Pu Yao and Wei’s reactions right now proved that the enemy was powerful.

But as the battle began, Zuo Mo threw all other thoughts to the back of his head.

He stared at the grey mist as though he was staring at prey. Viciousness shone in Zuo Mo’s eyes. Focused on fighting, Zuo Mo did not have any more terror or hesitation.

It might have been the stimulation from Pu Yao and Wei that Zuo Mo’s attention was exceedingly focused. The power of the Great Day mo physique was yearning to go inside his body while his ling power and consciousness were circulating on their own.

After cultivating shen power, the connection between the three powers grew closer and moving one would activate and pull everything along.

But Zuo Mo’s attention was not on his own body. His attention was focused all behind him!

He seemed to be standing inside a void with two thousand candle flames behind him each was a star.

Every hardship guard was like wisp of candle flame. They pulsed along with the rhythm of his own heart! The two brightest flames should be Shu Long and A Wen. Zuo Mo seemed thoughtful.

Two thousand candle flames pulsed to the same beat.

The threads of power gathered between them.

Power and killing essence was continuously added. Zuo Mo felt his body was like an inflated balloon filled with dark killing intent and destructive power. They continuously beat against his mind.

“Kill!”

Zuo Mo’s roar carried a thread of pain as he slapped towards the ball of black mist!

“Kill!”

The hardship guards shouted angrily and attacked at the same time!

The black smoke condensed from killing essence gathered at Zuo Mo’s right pal as though it was the rivers flowing into the ocean.

The Day Script on Zuo Mo’s right palm suddenly activated.

It wasn’t the usual blinding golden light but a terrifying dark red!

Day Script Palm!

Woosh-hiss!

The sharp howl sounded in all directions!

———

The moment the dark red Day Script left Zuo Mo’s hand, it furiously pulled at the air and all the ling power within ten li. The air seemed to be dyed with a layer of red and the temperature of the air shot up.

“Day Script Palm! Great Day mo physique!”

Ye Ling was so shocked he almost shouted. Zuo Mo was completely ignorant of mo skills and mo physiques but as a true-blood mo, Ye Ling was familiar with all kinds of famous mo physiques.

When he saw this dark red Day Script , he almost went insane.

The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation, standing in the position of that mo would standing, people unaffected by the mo grass seed, these all shocked him.

But when he saw this Day Script , he completely turned into chaos.

All Hail The King!

Day Script Palm … … this … … this really was the Day Script Palm … …

Great Day mo physique, ranking second in colonel mo physiques!

Day Scrip Palm, one of the six transformations of the Great Day mo physique!

But … … wasn’t the Great Day mo physique something only mo with the highest of bloodlines could cultivate?

When were even xiuzhe able to cultivate the Great Day mo physique? Was it now fashionable for xiuzhe to cultivate mo physiques?

Who really was the mo here … …

Wait!

Mo … … unless the other was mo as well!

Ye Ling was astounded at this daring and crazy idea that popped up. He seemed to be struck by lightning!

Mo!

Yes, the opponent was a mo!

Only mo could cultivate the mo physique. Ye Ling always paid attention to news from the front lines. They had never discovered any xiuzhe  that cultivated the mo physique. The only thing similar to the mo physique were the dhyana xiu of the xiuzhe but the two had innate differences.

He was ten thousand percent sure this was the Great Day mo physique, and this Great Day mo physique that had been cultivated to an extremely high level! The cultivation difficulty of the Great Day mo physique was just as famous and terrifying as its ranking among colonel level mo physiques. Its six transformations were even harder to cultivate!

This definitely was not any dhayna technique!

The dark red Day Script pulled at all kinds of energies within ten li!

Even fine black smoke that were like razors were layered by the purest of mo killing essence.

Yes, he had not seen it wrong!

Ye Ling was frightened by his own thinking.

Mo?

A mo that had been lost in xiuzhe territories?

Lost in the xiuzhe world, possessing the highest bloodline, a mo that tried to create a mo army!

Oh, All Hail The King!

Chapter 518 - All Hail The King!

The dark red Day Script howled as it reached him almost instantaneously.

It really was the Day Script Palm!

At such a crucial time, Ye Ling did not feel any fear from being hit but instead felt extremely excited.

Day Script Palm!

Great Day mo physique!

All Hail The King!

His vision sudden became slightly blurred as a daring and insane idea revolved in his mind. He was extremely excited but his strong mind had been tempered through many battles showed in his unwavering spirit. He tightly gritted his teeth and channeled his mo skill to its limits.

The other’s skill in the Day Script Palm was very profound but in his view, the other’s battle formation was still slightly lacking.

This was his chance, and the only opportunity he could exploit!

Otherwise, with the Great Day mo physique working with the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation, his Mist Hand Seat and the Skynet Combat Formation had no chance of victory.

In his view, it was logical that a descendant of a noble mo lineage lost in the xiuzhe world to be lacking in their understanding of mo battle formations.

The cultivation of the mo physique could be reached through talent and mo skills but battle formations could only mature through experience in the military.

The grey mist suddenly shot out many thin chains made from grey mist, like tentacles.

They were sharks that smelt blood and furiously flooded towards the intimidating Day Script!

Pia pia pia!

The grey mist tentacles had not even neared the Day Script when they were crushed by the powerful presence of the Day Script and exploded!

As expected of the legendary Great Day mo physique!

Ye Ling’s eyes grew bright within the grey mist. Strangely, there was joy on his face.

The grey mist tentacles shot at the Day Script at an even faster rate. The tentacles were densely packed and seemed endless. Explosions rang out but the number of grey mist tentacles were even more numerous as though there was no end to them.

Pia pia pia!

The grey mist from every destroyed tentacle would be dispersed by the Day Script. Looking from afar, it seemed as the Day Script was continuously consuming the grey mist tentacles!

Ye Ling methodically controlled every strand of grey mist.

He quickly started to show tiredness.

He was filled with shock. He found he had underestimated the other’s skill in the Great Day mo physique. This was the deep mo layer, this was definitely the Great Day mo physique at the deep mo layer, only then could it  have such domineering power!

A Great Day mo physique in the deep mo layer!

Once this idea came into his mind, he couldn’t help but shudder!

Such an outstanding mo. In any of the mo jie, he definitely would be a genius unable to be dismissed!

He was so young, so filled with talent, and had such a limitless future!

To be able to create a mo army in the xiuzhe world, he must be stubborn and resilient, determined and persistence. He couldn’t dare think of the hardships involved!

All Hail The King!

Heavens, are you trying to make it up to your servant for being unable to cultivate the Mist mo physique, by delivering such a great opportunity in front of me?

All of Ye Ling’s composure flew away.

However, he had to first deal with what was in front of him!

Ye Ling forced himself to calm down. He was unable to cultivate the Mist mo physique and he could only withstand this attack through the power of the battle formation.

Sharp howls suddenly rang out from within the grey mist.

Countless crescent-shaped mist blades suddenly flew out of the mist like a tsunami. They drew out strange curves in the air and shot at the Day Script that was incoming!

Looking down from the sky, this scene was spectacular.

Like whips, the grey mist tentacles shot out in ruler-straight lines, shooting out like spears. The deep howling as they cut through the air caused people’s minds to waver!

Boom boom boom!

But the Day Script was still unstoppable. No matter if it was the grey mist tentacles or the crescent mist blades, they exploded once they got near!

But even so, the attacks continued each like a thunderous rain drop and managed to push back the Day Script!

The grey mist tentacles and the crescent-shaped mist blades were coming increasingly close to the Day Script.

Within the grey mist, every mo soldier was releasing their own attacks at the fastest possible rate. When each attack was released, it would be shrouded in a layer of grey mist. They did not need to control the direction of the attack, they only had to release attacks at the fastest possible rate.

Boom!

A crescent-shaped mist blade heavily struck the Day Script.

The attacks that came after slammed the Day Script like a storm!

The Day Script finally could not stand up and exploded!

All the energies within ten li pulsed along with this huge explosion!

Among the grey mist were sounds of panting. Every mo soldier had a face full of shock.

This was just the first round of the enemy’s attack!

———

Zuo Mo frowned. The other’s battle method was very strange. Was this the so-called Mist Hand Seat? However, this Mist Hand Seat was strange but he did not feel it was powerful. He was not so arrogant to think that he could defeat the other in one blow.

He felt his body was full of energy that could not be used up. He was filled with the desire to fight.

Come on, baby!

He shouted inside.

“He hasn’t cultivated the Mist mo physique, no wonder he is so weak.” Pu Yao was greatly disappointed. He had felt the other could give Wei a shock but hadn’t expected it to be damaged goods. He was full of disappointment.

In a blink, the duo’s positions had switched. Wei’s pious smile came back on. “Yes, such a pity.”

Hearing the exchange between the two, Zuo Mo twisted his lips. The power of the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation filled every corner of his body. His excitement activated the Great Day mo physique to its limits, his excitement caused him to turn into a battle maniac. He was like a lion with bloodshot eyes that wanted to charge and tear the enemy into pieces.

Come on, baby!

Overexcited, a strange blade that seemed to burn in flame appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand!

Vast power flowed through his arm into the Midday Blade in his hand. Woosh, the golden flames suddenly jumped up high. At the same time, the Great Day Banded Flame inside Zuo Mo’s body uncontrollably sprouted out.

Shrouded completely in golden flames, Zuo Mo held a blade that was also covered in golden flames!

Zuo Mo was immersed into excitement!

The Midday Blade was raised up high. Behind him, all the hardship guards raised up the mo weapons in their hands. Each mo weapon was shrouded in black mist!

If this strike landed, it could tear apart the sky!

Zuo Mo was like a bloodthirsty lion that stared at the roiling grey mist.

“Sire, please wait a moment!”

Within the mist, a hurried voice suddenly passed out.

Zuo Mo stilled.

A middle-aged person dressed in grey robes walked out of the grey mist. He possessed a pair of grey eyes that looked extremely deep.

He walked along to the front of the formation and bowed to Zuo Mo.

“Sir, I am the commander of this troop. We surrender!”

What! Surrender?

What sort of interjie joke was this?

Zuo Mo felt as though he was having problems with his hearing. Surrender? Hadn’t the fight just begun?

The person in front had a respectful expression and was extremely polite. He looked very normal!

Mo military surrendering to xiuzhe?

Was there something wrong with his brain?

The suddenly surrender, or rather, the battle general’s polite, respectful and sincere surrender forced every bit of Zuo Mo’s burning battle spirit back inside!

“Sir, please allow us to surrender to you. We are willing to swear our allegiance to Daren!” Ye Ling’s voice was deep and hoarse, carrying sincerity that even an idiot could detect.

The mo soldiers behind him shifted.

I … … I … … I … …

Forced back, Zuo Mo felt as though something was blocking him from to speaking. In reality, he still held the Midday Blade up ready to strike. It was only his thoughts that seemed to be frozen in wax.

“To surrender to someone that cultivates the Great Day mo physique, this is our honor! Please allow us to follow behind Daren, we are willing to burn our lives for Daren to command. Daren’s commands are our honor!”

Ye Ling humbly bowed deeply.

“All Hail The King!”

Hearing the words “Great Day mo physique,” the restless mo army suddenly stilled. Immediately after, uncontrolled joy shone on many of their faces.

Moments later, all the mo soldiers bowed and shouted in unison.

“All Hail The King!”

Everyone behind Zuo Mo was stunned by this scene. Even the mature and composed Shu Long looked on with a dazed stare at the mo army and was unable to make a sound. The lively A Wen’s mouth was gaping. He looked as though he had seen a ghost.

The worst off was Gu Ming Gong. He was in complete chaos as he murmured to himself, “Illusion … … this must be an illusion … … is this a trick? Has Daren sent someone to pretend to be mo? Was this a trick from the start … … this old man … … which mother***ing jie is this … …”

Everyone behind Zuo Mo turned to stone. Even Pu Yao and Wei were almost driven slightly insane by the scene in front of them.

“Are they really mo? When did the mo become this spineless?” Pu Yao looked at Ye Ling as though he wanted to pluck out Ye Ling’s soul and examine it.

“Degeneration! This is degeneration!” Wei howled. He felt discomfort as though he swallowed a fly.

This guy was a neat freak.

But the one feeling the most discomfort was Zuo Mo.

His spirit had never burned like this before, never had such fighting spirit, never had been as impulsive as this … …

It all stopped and he had to suppress it!

Zuo Mo’s frozen face first turned pale and turn red. Energy flowed up, and his face was so red as though blood could start dripping out at any moment.

Big Bro, you’re messing with me!

A moment later, Zuo Mo could only wail inside helplessly.

But the other’s attitude was sincere, humble, and the tone as well as polite. No matter how suppressed the fighting spirit was, he could not vent it. Face flushed from suppressing it, Zuo Mo could not swallow the breath or breath out. He didn’t manage to say a word at all.

The exciting battlefield suddenly sank into a strange silence.

Ye Ling’s battalion still maintained their bows motionlessly. They were like a group of statues. Not one mo soldier moved.

A light of unusual determination flashed on everyone’s face.

Great Day mo physique!

That was the Great Day mo physique of legend!

Only mo that had the most noble bloodlines and unparalleled talent could cultivate this kind of mo physique! This kind of mo possessed the potential to become king!

Every mo soldier seemed to see the great path shining in front of them!

All Hail The King!

Chapter 519 - On The Same Path

Complete silence!

A complete and deathly silence .

Everyone started to recover from the initial shock, especially Shu Long and his group. Even though this incident had occurred so suddenly and was so implausible, it had happened in front of him!

Everyone looked at Zuo Mo. Many people couldn’t help but sigh inside—as expected of Daren!

Zuo Mo could not pay attention to them so much. His spirit was  suppressed almost to the point of causing an internal injury, it took great effort to calm the energies roiling inside of him.

But as more and more gazes looked at him, he felt he needed to give, oh, display more of the mannerisms of a boss.

He straightened and coughed lightly. In the silence, it was unusually clear. He frightened himself.

Ye Ling and the other’s suddenly became alert, their expressions even more respectful.

“I say, this … …” When Zuo Mo started to speak, the presence of a boss instantly dissipated, “you guys want to pledge allegiance to me?”

“Yes, Daren!” Ye Ling’s response was clean and crisp.

“Why?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. His question attracted everyone’s attention. Truthfully, no one understood what was going on.

“Daren has the potential to become king,” Ye Ling unhesitatingly replied.

Everyone liked hearing flattery. Zuo Mo was not an exception. He instantly gave a smile. “You have pretty good eyes, you managed to find me when I am hiding so deeply?”

Gu Ming Gong who just recovered suddenly had a strange expression. But when he glanced around and saw the seriousness on Shu Long and the other people’s faces, he intelligently suppressed his impulse to laugh.

Shu Long, A Wen, and the others threw gazes of praise at Ye Ling. As Zuo Mo’s core troop and most loyal subordinates, Guard Camp was completely loyal to Zuo Mo. They originated as xiuzhe slaves. Compared to the old-timers of Vermillion Bird Camp, they were less skilled in the ways of social interaction and did not understand the customs of the xiuzhe world. Their thinking was simpler and even purer.

In their minds, Zuo Mo was the most outstanding, powerful, and wisest Daren in the world!

Even if Zuo Mo told them to jump into a fire pit, they would jump in together without any hesitation.

In their minds, they only existed for Zuo Mo.

Gu Ming Gong felt Ye Ling was only giving platitudes but Shu Long and the others did not think so. To be able to recognize Daren’s strength in such a short amount of time, this guy had pretty good eyes!

Unconsciously, Guard Camp’s collective opinion of Ye Ling shot up.

Ye Ling’s words caused Zuo Mo to float and feel as though he was an immortal. The incident of almost getting internal injury just now was forgotten immediately.

He grinned to the point his eyes were narrow lines. His face bloomed like a flower. “Potential to become king? Ohoh, tell me, slowly, in detail!”

“Yes! Daren!” Ye Ling thought that Zuo Mo was testing his abilities. He collected his thought with the utmost seriousness before he opened, “Daren is young and has cultivated the Great Day mo physique. In all of the mo world, Daren could be called a genius. Situated in such a dangerous place, Daren was able to create such a powerful army and create such a situation. Daren has the signs of being a wise leader that can survive these troubled times. Only Daren who is strong, has talent, a resilient personality, and also one with great foresight, might become king!”

Shu Long and the others nodded and exchanged looks. As they communicated through their eyes, they showed expressions of agreement.

Shrunken in the corner, Gu Ming Gong was gaping. As he looked at the smug Zuo Mo, he felt this was impossible. The person speaking was serious, the person being praised was also serious. There was no flattery, no insincerity. It was terribly sincere and honest conversation.

But … …

The clever Gu Ming Gong opened his mouth a few times, but could not produce a word.

Oh, it was a pity that Eldest Shixiong and Gongsun Shidi were not present … … ah, he had forgotten, forgotten, he should have recorded it with a jade scroll.

Extremely happy, Zuo Mo instantly felt regret. This was one of those rare chances to grow face. He wanted everyone to see this.

Finally struggling out of his regret, Zuo Mo smacked his lips with lingering hunger and coughed pretentiously. “Oh, alright! However, we need to be low-key, low-key!”

No wonder Daren was able to survive in the xiuzhe world until now and had even amassed such a group. He really understood the way of concealment!

Ye Ling said with sincere reverence, “Yes, Daren!”

Having heard the flattery and having enjoyed it, Zuo Mo felt that leaving like this was not fair. He thought and then said, “Oh, since you have such sincerity, then from today onwards, you are Grey Camp. Shu Long will temporarily lead the camp, you will be the vice commander.”

Ye Ling was overjoyed. “Thank you Daren for bestowing the name!”

“But from today onwards, you have to take note and not reveal your identity as mo,” Zuo Mo reminded Ye Ling.

“Yes!” Ye Ling was full of admiration. Daren was extremely meticulous.

He turned his head and spoke a few words. The entire mo army changed their expressions. The mo that could enter the mo military all was of relatively strong strength and changing appearances were not hard for them. However, the mo sense of beauty was far different than xiuzhe. They preferred more rough and powerful appearances.

Then Ye Long greeted Shu Long.

Shu Long and the others had been xiuzhe slaves and oppressed by xiuzhe for a long time. They did not like xiuzhe but did not have any bad feelings about mo. Ye Ling’s words just now had won their good opinion. Shu Long and the others felt as though Ye Ling spoke what they all thought!

A feeling of walking on the same path rose.

Shu  Long said solemnly, “I will treat Grey Camp fairly, everyone work hard!”

“Yes!” Ye Ling was full of excitement.

Accidentally recruiting Grey Camp caused Zuo Mo’s sneak attack journey to end in a strange manner but in all, he had still accomplished his objectives.

Under the efforts of Guard Camp and Grey Camp, they quickly began setting up a new base at the chaos rift. Compared to the crude base that Ye Ling had, the scale of the new base was astounding.

However, the mo grass sea was still uprooted. This was really too eye-catching.

At this time, Ye Ling suddenly came to find Zuo Mo.

“Daren,” Ye Ling said with hesitation.

“What is it?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Daren, please permit me to persuade Shi Dong Daren to surrender!” Ye Ling gritted his teeth and said with determination.

“Shi Dong?” Zuo Mo stilled and then he reacted. “You mean the other mo army?”

“Yes, Daren,” Ye Ling hurriedly said, “Shi Dong Daren was this subordinate’s previous commander.”

“Oh, tell me about him.” Zuo Mo’s interest was stirred.

“Shi Dong Daren is born from a rare branch of the mantis mo called the Sky Mantis Mo. Shi Dong Daren is the most outstanding battle general this subordinate has ever seen. He is resilient and determent, extremely perceptive in battle. If he was not limited by his birth as a mantis mo, his accomplishments would not be limited to just so!”

“How is he compared to you?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. Ye Ling’s Mist Hand Seat had left him a deep impression.

“This subordinate is inferior,” Ye Ling said seriously, “this subordinate has always served as Shi Dong Daren’s quartermaster.”

“So that’s how it is … …” Zuo Mo instantly had the feeling he was making a great profit and hurriedly nodded, “then you can try!”

Ye Ling was overjoyed. “Yes!”

———

Smoke wafted off Shi Dong’s body. His grand cape was no torn and dirtied, his body covered in wounds of various sizes. He also had a tired expression.

Beside him, there were only half of the organized troops that remained and all of them carried wounds.

Shi Dong had not expected the other to be so powerful! Thinking about these nightmarish days of battle, his heart couldn’t help but shudder.

The enemy battle general was too powerful!

Other than at the beginning when the two were at a standoff, Shi Dong had been forced to watch as the balance of battle slowly tilted towards the enemy.

A slow yet resolute tilt!

He had tried all the solutions he could think of but was still unable to stop the tilt.

The other had suppressed them completely and did not give them any faults to use.

He had never thought he would encounter such a terrifying opponent!

Was this the legendary Xue Dong from Kun Lun? Or Tian Huan’s Gongye Xiao Rong?

Wasn’t this Cloud Sea Jie? Wasn’t this a remote little place that Four Realm Heaven disdained to enter?

How could such a peerless battle general be here?

A golden battle general!

Only a golden battle general could suppress him to the point of hopelessness!

Shi Dong was just a step away from becoming a gold battle general. If it wasn’t for his mantis mo bloodline, maybe he would be a gold battle general already. Since a very early point in his life, he had rarely encountered a match for himself. He never lacked confidence when directing battle.

But this time.

Looking at the small groups of three and five sword xiu that were nearby in the sky, he bit down on his lips with a pale face.

Just at this moment, a gasp of shock came from his vice commander.

He suddenly turned around his face with a sword-sharp gaze.

But when he saw the black insect in the vice commander’s hand, he suddenly froze.

———

“A good opponent,” Lil’ Miss’ voice was full of praise.

No one dismissed his words. The hardiness of this troop far surpassed their expectations. Even though Vermillion Bird Camp had quickly gotten the advantage, the other still withstood their assault.

Even though they could not stop the rising tide, the collapse in moral that people predicted had not occurred.

Even fighting to now with only half of their battalion left, their morale was still shocking steady. If this was a normal battalion, they would have crumbled long ago.

This kind of enemy was worthy of being respected.

Ever since Lil’ Miss created his own core scripture, his consciousness expanded rapidly by the day. His last shortcoming disappeared. Lil’ Miss who had been strong to start with, had become extremely terrifying, unusually and abnormally terrifying!

The advancement in skill caused by his increase in consciousness could be seen in this battle. From the moment the battle begun, the rhythm of battle was in his hands.

From beginning to end, he didn’t give the enemy on chance. Steadily and unrushed, with a method that was almost suffocating, he pressed on the other’s space leaving them no room to maneuver.

However, Lil’ Miss still had a high opinion of Shi Dong.

If he hadn’t had a breakthrough in his consciousness recently, the other would have been significant trouble for him to defeat. If the battle was fought in those conditions, less than one third of Vermillion Bird Camp would remain, and it wouldn’t have been zero fatalities like it was now.

The other reason they had such an advantage was the enemy mo army’s level was one lower than Vermillion Bird Camp. The investments that Zuo Mo made on Vermillion Bird Camp without any consideration for the cost finally showed their effects.

Lil’ Miss was sure that the other had power that was nearing that of a gold battle general.

Of all of Turtle Island, only Gongsun Cha and Zuo Mo had the power to fight against him. Even Shu Long was lacking in comparison.

It was a pity that Shi Dong encountered Gongsun Lil‘ Miss. The terrifying Lil’ Miss that even the renowned Corps Commander Yu Heng had fallen at the feet of!

Such a hardy opponent, Gongsun Cha sighed emotionally and turned to give the order to attack.

“Prepare to attack, let’s finish this battle before sunset.”

Suddenly, Gongsun Cha’s gaze stopped. He saw the enemy battle general leave the battle formation alone. The sword xiu at the front quickly flew back and reported to Gongsun Cha.

“Daren, they are surrendering!”

Chapter 520 - The Master Of Cloud Sea

No one had  expected that the battle ended in this kind of manner.

When Lil’ Miss received Zuo Mo’s paper crane, he did not have any hesitation and led his troops directly towards the Cloud Sea Jie’s jie river. No one knew that Turtle Island had achieved victory over the mo army. There were large numbers of xiuzhe gathered at the jie river and were preparing to flee Cloud Sea Jie.

When Lil’ Miss appeared with the troops, he instantly caused panic in these xiuzhe. Even the xiuzhe that occupied the gathering points on the jie river assumed that Turtle Island had been defeated. In panic, they instantly abandoned their bases to flee Cloud Sea Jie.

Lil’ Miss easily took over the bases on the jie river. There wasn’t any conflict involved.

Those xiuzhe that had been running away quickly reacted when they saw Lil’ Miss take over the gathering places.

Turtle Island had defeated the mo !

As expected, the news of their victory was quickly proven. Everyone was overjoyed!

At this time, control of Cloud Sea Jie landed completely in Zuo Mo’s hands.

They had become the true masters of Cloud Sea Jie.

The xiuzhe that had been planning to escape returned to their homes. Without the mo army threat, who was willing to leave their homeland?

Turtle Island’s strength astounded everyone!

At this time, which faction did not know of Zuo Mo’s ambitions? But the situation had formed and they could not do a thing. Fight? The other could defeat the mo army. Wouldn’t killing them be as easy as waving their hand?

The factions that were not willing to be subordinate to Turtle Island left Cloud Sea Jie. However, many families that had deep local roots decided to stay in Cloud Sea Jie.

Unexpected to Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss, the great majority of people decided to stay.

Zuo Mo later learned that most of the people in Cloud Sea Jie did not care who ruled them. Turtle Island’s strength was also enough to protect them and for them to feel safe.

With the Sky-Splitting Calamity, war was spreading everywhere. These days, the sound tablet continuously broadcasted areas that had become battlefields, which areas had been turned into a patch of scorched earth, or was filled with mountains of corpses. It seemed that within the span of one night, the xiuzhe world really entered a troubled era!

In a troubled era, preserving their lives was enough to satisfy most people.

But for Zuo Mo, this was just the beginning. He was extremely busy every day.

The enormous Cloud Sea Jie was the largest piece of territory he had ever controlled. The responsibilities as master of a jie were novel and puzzling for Zuo Mo, an ignorant country bumpkin with unorthodox origins. The complex matters were piled up like mountains and caused him a headache. He did not know where to start.

Out of helplessness, he could only ask Pu Yao and Wei.

“Hm, now you see, I guessed this would happen long ago.” Pu Yao did not reserve his disdain as a scornful smile hung on his face. “This guy is just a country bumpkin. He can manage some business that doesn’t require long term investment. But to be a small time landlord, ha, he doesn’t have the skill!”

Wei did not pay attention to Pu Yao’s disdain. He had a warm and friendly smile on his face. “Did you encounter some trouble?”

Neither of these two were good people!

In all of this, Zuo Mo was clear on this one point. Nothing more needed to be said about Pu Yao. He was an ungenerous person but Wei wasn’t much better. He might look harmless and friendly, but his level of danger wasn’t any lower than Pu Yao.

He did not respond to Wei.

He had to cause conflict between these two … …

Zuo Mo’s eyes turned and he suddenly asked, “Pu Yao, how is your yao army?”

Pu Yao’s expression instantly darkened. The anger in his bloody pupil roiled. Those damned talentless trash, idiots, garbage! Even when he used all his methods, the foundations of these people were too weak and they could not satisfy Pu Yao even now.

“Yao army?” Wei gave an interested smile. No wonder Pu Yao had been absent in this past while. So he had been working on a yao army.

It seemed this guy still held a grudge over him stealing away Guard Camp!

Zuo Mo disregarded Pu Yao’s dark expression and said to himself, “No matter how powerful Ten Finger Prison is, it is only the Ten Finger Prison. It cannot solve all training problems.”

“Useless words!” Pu Yao’s voice was glacial and his expression was unfriendly. He knew that Zuo Mo was right. Ten Finger Prison was very effective but it also had its limitations. It could not replace true combat. At the beginning, Nan Yue and the others had improved quickly, but recently the effects of lacking combat training had started to show. Their rate of advancement had slowed down.

But damn it, was the great Pu Yao Daren someone this boy could laugh at?

It seemed that it had been too long since the boy was straightened out. This guy was becoming outrageous!

Pu Yao was irritated. Just as he was going to punish Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo suddenly spoke, “I have a good solution.”

“Haha!” Pu Yao seemed to have heard a great joke and roared with laughter. He did not disguise his look full of disdain. “You, the country bumpkin, has a solution! This is too funny!”

Immune to Pu Yao’s disdain since long ago, Zuo Mo’s expression was unconcerned. “You can listen first and then laugh.”

Pu Yao’s laughter suddenly stopped. He stared hard at Zuo Mo and a moment later, he squeezed out between his teeth, “You better have a solution. Otherwise, hee hee!”

Zuo Mo said solemnly, “Many chaos rifts have appeared in the Sky-Splitting Calamity. These chaos rifts have connected the worlds of yaomo and xiuzhe. It is correct for me to say so.”

“Don’t waste words!” Pu Yao said coldly.

There was a faint smile on Wei’s face. He sat motionlessly and listened carefully.

“The yaomo and xiuzhe territories can be connected through the chaos rifts rather than travelling through Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie like in the past. The distance between the two sides has shortened!”

Just as Pu Yao was running out of patience, Zuo Mo suddenly said, “Maybe we can create a transportation formation and transport Nan Yue and the others over here!”

“Transportation formation?” Pu Yao paused and then had a thoughtful expression. A moment later, he shook his head. “Impossible! We cannot determine their location!”

“You know that some transportation formations are composed of a yin and a yang component. What if we get Nan Yue and the others to set up the yin formation?” Zuo Mo asked in response.

Pu Yao’s eyes suddenly lit up. He was an extremely smart person and instantly understood what Zuo Mo was thinking.

These transportation formations were divided up into yin and yang formations with the two situated in different places. This way, the two formations could still connect and so there would be a passage. If Nan Yue and the others could set up a yin formation in the yao world, a yang formation set up here, that meant … …

The chaos rifts formed from the Sky-Splitting Calamity were actually natural transportation formations.

Pu Yao quickly thought of the difficulty involved. He shook his head and said, “The transportation formations are too complex. None of the others understand formations.”

“We have sun seeds,” Zuo Mo said proudly. “The sun seeds can enter the Ten Finger Prison and be taken out. We can engrave the transportation formation onto the sun seed and use the Ten Finger Prison to pass it to Nan Yue. Wouldn’t that work?”

“Hm, this idea is interesting!” Pu Yao stilled and then had a pondering expression. A beat later, he said, “We need to try and find out.”

Zuo Mo’s idea was very daring.

“I can supply sun seeds to you. You can find Gu Ming Gong for the transportation formation. That guy is very clever,” Zuo Mo said generously.

“Hmph!” Pu Yao snorted, he did not respond to Zuo Mo. “You only have to assign the daily affairs of Cloud Sea Jie to those local powers and get them to take care of it. If they do it well, reward them. If they don’t, they get punished. Gather their powerful xiuzhe and make a battalion with your people as the leaders. Adding on your own battalions, who can rebel?”

Zuo Mo slapped his head and understood.

Pu Yao just used a few words and smoothed everything out, pointing straight at the crux of the matter!

Zuo Mo wasn’t stupid. He had been bewilderment because he never had experience dealing with these matters before. After being guided today, he instantly understood!

He left the sea of consciousness with excitement.

From beginning to end, there was a faint smile on Wei’s face. It was unknown what he was thinking.

———

Shi Dong looked coldly at Ye Ling.

Ye Ling was unaffected. “Does Shi Dong Daren have any questions?”

“What you say is true?” Shi Dong coldly spat out, his hand on the mantis blade at his waist.

“Completely true!” Ye Ling said sincerely. “All of my subordinates saw Daren’s Great Day mo physique. If Shi Dong Daren has any questions, you can ask any one of them.”

Shi Dong’s expression did not change. “His subordinates are xiuzhe!”

“There are xiuzhe!” Ye Ling corrected the mistake in Shi Dong’s words, “Guard Camp, which is the camp that my superior, Shu Long Daren commands, cultivates mo skills. Shi Dong Daren might have heard of the skill, [Hardship Guard]!

“[Hardship Guard!]” Shi Dong’s pupils suddenly contracted. Of course he had heard of this name. This mo skill was something usually cultivated by the guards of mo generals and had an extremely high in reputation.

“Yes, it is the [Hardship Guard] that most mo general’s guards cultivate,” Ye Ling said with a grave expression. “But the [Hardship Guard] that Shu Long Daren and his group cultivate has been modified by a very powerful daren and is based on the Great Day mo physique. It is called [Great Day Hardship Guard]!”

Shi Dong could not stop himself from showing shock.

“A daren that can use the Great Day mo physique to modify [Hardship Guard], could they possibly be xiuzhe?” Ye Ling asked in response.

Shi Dong was silent.

He knew that Ye Ling was correct. Someone that had the ability to use the Great Day mo physique to modify [Hardship Guard] was a powerful elder who definitely had a profound understanding of mo skills. This kind of powerful person would not likely be a xiuzhe. This didn’t just mean they couldn’t be xiuzhe, they also could not be yao. There was only one possibility, it was a powerful mo, and an unusually powerful mo!

“Cultivates the Great Day mo physique, has created a mo army, and has a mo elder of immeasurable power, I cannot think of an identity for Daren other than mo.” Ye Ling was calm and wise.

Shi Dong was silent for a moment before he asked, “What about those xiuzhe?”

“This is the xiuzhe world! Shi Dong Daren!” Ye Ling reminded Shi Dong. “A purely mo troop cannot survive here. Daren needs xiuzhe!”

Shi Dong gave a bitter smile. He was persuaded.

He sat down dejectedly.

Ye Long looked understandingly at Shi Dong. He said gently, “I know what Shi Dong Daren is feeling. For you, surrendering is hard to accept, but if you look at it from the opposite angle, Shi Dong Daren, isn’t this a great opportunity?”

He looked hard at Shi Dong and asked, emphasizing each word, “Shi Dong Daren, how many years has it been since there was a king arose from our Little Savage Jie?”

Shi Dong’s body shook. He raised his head, his gaze as sharp as a knife. “You think he can become king?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Ye Ling’s tone was indifferent. “But Daren is the mo with the greatest potential to become king that I have ever seen!”

“So you gambled everything?” Shi Dong asked. His tone was filled with disdain.

Ye Ling was unaffected and smiled as usual. “What else do we have? Shi Dong Daren?”

Shi Dong became silent again.

Chapter 521 - Followers

Having solved his problems, Zuo Mo could finally release a breath. He  began thinking about finding a water cloud embryo for A Gui.

A Gui’s recovery was going well. Even though she was still very wooden, she had more reactions.

“In a few days, we can go to search for water cloud embryo. By that time, you will completely recover!” Zuo Mo was very happy. If they found a water cloud embryo, he could heal A Gui.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel any distaste for A Gui’s ugly appearance. A slight smile was on his face.

His hand felt a coldness. A cold little hand grabbed his hand.

A Gui was improving by the day. Every time she found Zuo Mo nearby, she would immediately appear next to Zuo Mo. The thing she liked to do the most was hold Zuo Mo’s hand.

Zuo Mo allowed her to grip his hand, his other hand rubbing her head. He said with a smile, “When you have healed, Silly Bird and the others will be very happy.”

In the corner, the fat Silly Bird was napping with her eyes closed. She didn’t respond.

Looking at the bird nest she created out of A Gui’s hair, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but roar with laughter.

A Gui still stood silently next to Zuo Mo motionlessly.

———

“Why are you sitting here? Do you have something on your mind?”

Ming Jue Zi’s voice came from behind Nan Yue. He walked next to Nan Yue and sat down. In this recent while, everyone was training together. The hellish training and shared hardship had caused their friendships to strengthen.

Just now when cultivating in the Ten Finger Prison, Pu Yao had viciously scolded Nan Yue. When Nan Yue left the Ten Finger Prison, she had ran out alone. Everyone was worried and sent Ming Jue Zi, who was most skilled in communication, to comfort Nan Yue.

“Am I too dumb?” Nan Yue’s tone was melancholic. The rims of her eyes were red and her expression was sad. “I’m always unable to met Pu Daren’s expectations.”

Even the persistent Nan Yue had been scolded to such a state. Ming Yue Zi was even more afraid of Pu Yao.

“None of us can met Pu Daren’s expectations,” Ming Jue Zi comforted. “It is not that you are not working hard, it is that Pu Daren’s requirements are too high! Really, not even the elites in the top yao art houses can reach what Pu Daren is demanding! It is extremely good that you can do what you have done! Out of all of us, you have improved the quickest!”

Nan Yue’s lips were tightly pressed together and she did not speak.

“Pu Daren might be stern but it is for our sake. Look at our present strength. Compared to before, which one of us hasn’t multiplied in strength?”

As he spoke, Ming Jue Zi compared his past and present strength and found to his shock that he had improved so much without noticing it!

“I miss Daren.” Nan Yue’s voice held a sob. “Daren is never like this.”

Thinking about the time that Zuo Mo had spent teaching her, Nan Yue missed it.

“Yes, I wonder what Daren is busy with?” Ming Jue Zi sighed as well. He gazed into the distance. “However, doesn’t Pu Daren also work with Daren? Everyone is speculating. Pu Daren might be an elder of Daren’s clan. I don’t know what Daren’s lineage is. But for his clan possess such a powerful elder, it might be one of the legendary great families.”

“No matter what Daren’s identity is, I am Daren’s follower! I will forever follow Daren!” Nan Yue’s tone was determined.

“En, same with me.” Ming Jue Zi retracted his cheer and showed a serious expression.

Nan Yue suddenly stood up. Her eyes were still red, but her expression became determined again.

“What is it?” Ming Jue Zi was slightly puzzled.

“I am going to cultivate!” Nan Yue said without turning her head.

“I am Daren’s follower!”

The figure disappeared with the wind as she threw down the strong oath.

———

Gu Ming Gong’s eyes were swollen like two ripe peaches. He had not rested for ten days and nights. Even a jindan could not tolerate working conditions like this! Anyone who saw his figure right now would not be able to recognize him as the grandmaster of forging and sealing, Gu Ming Gong.

He stared at the sun seed in front of him.

The first time he saw the sun seed, Gu Ming Gong had been so excited his body had been trembling. Treasure! Peerless treasure! When he learned that this was the seed produced by the Sun Shen Tree, a pleasure like that of an orgasm had risen in his body.

Oh, heavens!

Sun Shen Tree, the legendary Sun Shen Tree, hadn’t it gone extinct a long time ago?

When he learned he would be able to get a few seeds to study, he felt so happy he almost fainted. There was nothing as tempting as legendary materials to a seal xiu skilled in forging.

Then he learned the other person’s intentions. They just wanted him to engrave a transportation formation inside the sun seed.

He almost went crazy!

Transportation formation! What he said was a transportation formation! This kind of priceless treasure was being used to make a transportation formation? He almost threw the other out!

He could not tolerate such frightening waste!

However, the other quickly taught him what the outcome of being uncooperative was.

The great Boss personally ran over to persuade him and motivated him in a meaningful tone before leaving. The pitiful Gu Ming Gong was frightened out of his wits. Even though Boss had not mentioned one word of the Soul Setting Divine Light, and did not say what would happen if he did not cooperate, but Gu Ming Gong sank into unprecedented terror.

He didn’t dare to slack off in the slightest. So what if it was a waste, he was just the worker … …

He quickly found that this guy in black clothing, floated around like a ghost all day, was the strictest and most terrifying supervisor in the world.

The situation was also more complex than he had imagined. The sun seed was extremely rare. He had never seen one before, and even the forging records had never mentioned the qualities of the sun seed.

Gu Ming Gong had to start from the beginning.

The sun seed was filled with the domineering sun shenpower. The sun shen power had formed as the Sun Shen Tree grew, and was extremely domineering. Ling power would be consumed by the sun shen power when it was added and it was impossible to carve a formation inside.

He ran to explain to Pu Yao and was verbally slapped and rebuked by Pu Yao.

Pu Yao’s viciousness told him that he only needed a result etc etc.

The pitiful Gu Ming Gong had the desire to ram his head into the wall and commit suicide! It was a pity that when one landed in the hands of a demon, one was even unable to seek death.

Gu Ming Gong that was slapped and could only study even more ferociously and try everything he could think of.

“Hahahahahaha! I did it! I did it!”

The insane laughter echoed in the room. Woosh, Pu Yao appeared like a ghost. Without a word, he picked up the sun seed with great carefulness.

To Pu Yao, the sun shen power inside the sun seed was akin to a powerful poison.

Unable to linger, Pu Yao’s consciousness retreated. Pu Yao showed joy and then disappeared soundlessly.

———

The fighting in the Grey Clan’s council meeting had not stopped since the meeting started.

Cang Ze was silent in the corner. He didn’t have any right to speak in this place. A hint of impatience flashed indiscernibly through his eyes at the elder’s fighting.

He felt those noisy elders had gone senile with age.

Without Daren, would there be the Grey Clan of the present? In the future? In these trouble times, how many of the small clans like the Grey Clan could survive?

Did they still think that this was the safe rear that the fires of war could not reach? Right now, was there still a rear?

Clans without combat capabilities were like a piece of fat meat. No one would hesitate to leap and take a bite.

Pu Daren had been helping everyone train the battalion. The Grey Clan that only thought about protecting themselves were too stupid!

He was Daren’s follower!

Cang Ze’s spine was straight as he listened expressionlessly to the discussions of the elders.

The Chief Elder noticed Cang Ze’s discontentment. His mind shifted and he suddenly spoke, “A Ze, what do you think about moving the clan?”

An elder said discontentedly, “Chief Elder, A Ze is so young, what does he understand … …”

A cold light flashed through Chief Elder’s eyes and he interrupted in a grave voice. “Shut your mouth! A Ze is the future clan leader. When you speak, use your mind!”

The elder retreated with a red face.

Chief Elder was extremely authoritative and influential. Cang Ze was the appointed successor to the Grey Clan so everyone’s gaze instantly landed on Cang Ze.

Cang Ze did not shrink back. He did not look at the elders and said directly, “I am Daren’s follower. No matter where Daren goes, I will follow!”

Everyone stilled. They finally recalled the matter that A Ze was Xiao Mo Ge’s follower.

In the yao world, they put great importance on the oath of a follower. Becoming the follower of someone strong was the dream of many people. Not many would easily go back on their word.

Chief Elder also knew the displeasure A Ze was feeling. He said with a smile, “A Ze, continue.”

Cang Ze suddenly swept tall of the elders with his gaze and said gravely, “Elders, are we safe? Is the world safe? Are we strong? Strong enough that no matter what comes, we can protect ourselves?”

The room was silent.

“We do not have a battalion, we do not have battle generals, even with the [Grey Scar Art] we have no ability to protect ourselves. And then? We will be swallowed by other people, our Grey Clan’s greatest secret, the [Grey Scar Art] will land in the hands of others. Our enemies would not surrender such a good chance!”

Cang Ze stated this cruel reality without any courtesy.

“Will Daren swallow us? Will Daren need our [Grey Scar Art]? Elders, did you forget where this [Grey Scar Art] came from?”

“What is safer than being under the command of a peerless battle general that could defeat Corps Commander Yu Heng?”

“This is an honor!”

Heat flashed through Cang Ze’s eyes.

All of the elders shifted.

After a moment of silence, the Chief Elder did not disguise the praise on his face and said, “I hadn’t expected that our group of old people do not see as clearly as the  young one, A Ze.”

Those elders that had been objecting to moving the clan all had shamed expressions.

“Sky-Splitting Calamity … … The Sky-Splitting Calamity!” Chief Elder’s heavy sigh echoed in the room. “I don’t know how much blood will flow because of this! Everyone, do not dream and be foolishness, troubled times have come!”

Everyone had grave expressions. They digested what Chief Elder was saying.

Chief Elder suddenly stood up. With a serious expression, he said loudly, “In such troubled times, if our Grey Clan is to survive, we need a stronger leader. Due to this, I recommend A Ze as the new clan leader!”

Cang Ze shouted in shock.

Moments later.

“I second this!”

“Seconded!”

“I agree!”

A new era had arrived.

Chapter 522 - Beak Island

When Nan Yue and the others saw Zuo Mo, their expressions were spectacular. Even though they knew that Daren was young, the shock when they saw him with their own eyes far surpassed what they felt in the Ten Finger Prison.

What shocked them even more was that Daren was in the xiuzhe territories! They finally understood why Daren had them change their appearances to look like xiuzhe when they came through the transportation formation.

However, just like Ye Ling, Nan Yue and the others did not have any doubts about Zuo Mo’s identity as a yao despite their shock of where they were. A guy that knew all kinds of lost yao arts, successfully completed a prison-breaking battle, and defeated Corps Commander Yu Heng, other than a yao, what could he be?

Xiuzhe? That joke would be so bad … …

On this point, their thoughts were also the same as Ye Ling. They felt that Daren was definitely a genius from a noble family that was lost in the xiuzhe conquered territories. No wonder no one in the yao world had found Daren!

They finally realized. Daren wasn’t in the yao world at all.

Right now, Zuo Mo was truly the master of Clouds Sea Jie in name and power. There were many cloud islands in Cloud Sea Jie and he picked a calm cloud island to settle the Grey Family.

The first day that Nan Yue and the others arrived, Pu Yao immediately started arranging a new training regime for them.

Pu Yao was full of ambition. As one of the top battle generals of the yao world, someone that had once dominated the world, he decided to made Nan Yue and the others in to the best battle generals of the yao world!

He decided to let Wei realize the truth—why Little Wei could only be a gravestone armor, and I, Pu, had been the best battle general once!

The pitiful Nan Yue and others didn’t even have the chance to breathe before Pu Yao kicked them into insane training routines. There was a boundary of jinzhi set up around the cloud island. It was a natural demonic training ground.

After Zuo Mo recruited the other powers, Cloud Sea Jie quickly settled down. The ones selected were those with good reputations in Cloud Sea Jie. The only two yuanying that Cloud Sea Jie had seemed to have disappeared from the world after streaking naked in front of the public at the Sun Shen Temple. They hadn’t shown up at all when the mo army had invaded this time.

Many people speculated that they had left Cloud Sea Jie long ago. They really had been greatly embarrassed this time. What face did they have to stay in Cloud Sea JIe?

After arranging everything, Zuo Mo decided to enter the Cloud Sea to search for water cloud embryo.

This time, he did not take many people along. The Cloud Sea depths were not suited for large scale battles.

Their group was made up of a guide, Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, Zong Ru, A Gui, and the Little Ones. They looked more like a tourist group.

Even though they were few in number, their combat capabilities were amongst the top in Cloud Sea Jie! Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and Zong Ru working together might hold up against a yuanying. Zuo Mo had not planned to take A Gui along but Pu Yao told him that it was most effective to consume the water cloud embryo when it was caught so Zuo Mo decided to take A Gui along.

Silly Bird stalked imperiously and proudly beside A Gui and ignored Zuo Mo. Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire were cuddled up in A Gui’s embrace. Lil’ Black held onto A Gui’s hair in a death grip. Tenth Grade and Sunshine appeared to be bodyguards and flew around A Gui.

Zuo Mo felt great exasperation.

In terms of shamelessness and wretchedness, the Little Ones that Zuo Mo taught truly learned it all.

Zuo Mo didn’t have a solution. In any case, taking one or taking all of them along was the same. He changed his way of thinking, they were pretty good fighters.

Nothing needed to be said of Silly Bird, she was the strongest of the Little Ones. Even Zuo Mo didn’t have a good measure of her abilities. The next strongest was Tenth Grade. He had made trouble for the insects frequently, and his skill had completely changed. Lil’ Pagoda was Zuo Mo’s soul-tethered talisman. It played everyday and never did anything productive. It could probably only be used when setting up formations. Zuo Mo had not seen Sunshine fight before. Lil’ Black’s combat abilities were zero but he was a good helper when finding treasure. Lil’ Fire could be used to relieve boredom on the road.

Zuo Mo brought along his group and departed.

The guide was called Kang De. He made a living by hunting water cloud embryos and was very familiar with the depths of the Cloud Sea.

According to Kang De’s plans, they first needed to fly to a place called Beak Island and then descend into the Cloud Sea from there. Beak Island was a very famous Cloud Sea port in Cloud Sea Jie. The depths of the Cloud Sea were filled with all kinds of dangers. If one tried entering from a random spot, they frequently did not return.

Beak Island had been used as an entrance to the Cloud Sea for a very long time. That part of the Cloud Sea was very safe and there were no strong beings.

The distance between Turtle Island and Beak Island was extremely far and there were many parts of the trip that did not have transportation formations. Fully prepared, Zuo Mo had taken along the Black Turtle which saved them the pain of having to flying long distances.

Wei Sheng, and Zong Ru were in seclusion everyday. Zuo Mo played with the Little Ones every day and when he had the spare time, he would slowly study the golden leaf he obtained from the Sun Shen Tribe.

He didn’t know what secret method had been used to make this golden leaf. The content on it was extremely rich but because it was from the ancient era, there were many areas that were very hard to understand. Zuo Mo’s attitude was very good. He was not impatient and only studied it occasionally. Other than the methods to cultivate shen power, he was also interested in the ancient secrets.

For example, he found out from the golden leaf that in the ancient era Cloud Sea Jie had been barren and there were no other tribes living here. This was probably the reason that this shen temple had managed to survive.

What stirred Zuo Mo’s interest was that the golden leaf hinted that the shen temple had been searching for something constantly in Cloud Sea Jie but never found it. Zuo Mo finally understood and some of his own questions were resolved.

Big Brother Qin Ling had once said that the level of this shen temple was not ranked low within the Sun Tribe. Shouldn’t such a high-ranking shen temple be constructed in a large and populated area? Why did they build it in the remote and barren Cloud Sea Jie?

But the golden leaf did not mention what they were searching for. However, it was certain that they did not find it because the tone of the records was slightly regretful

Zuo Mo never stopped cultivating his shen power but his progress was extremely slow. It was much harder to cultivate shen power compared to the three powers. Fortunately, Zuo Mo was not in a hurry. The only thing that made him slightly dejected was that after the three powers equalized and his ling power had increased, but he was still a thread away from jindan.

If he could break through to jindan, his power would multiple in the span of one night!

His shen power would increase as well, and enter a new realm!

However, Zuo Mo was very content at this time. Shen power, Soul Setting Divine Light, Great Day mo physique, and the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art, which of these was not powerful and unique? He was able to learn all these, what could he be discontent about?

A person could not be so greedy. Zuo Mo was idle and satisfied.

Half a month later, they finally reached Beak Island.

Zuo Mo looked at the large numbers of xiuzhe on Beak Island and was slightly shocked. “So many people?”

Kang De explained, “This is the best time to search for water cloud embryos and is also when Beak Island is most popular. Whether the yearly harvest is good or not depends on your luck during this time.

“These people are all searching for water cloud embryos?” Zuo Mo was so shocked his chin was almost on the ground.

“The great majority are. The Cloud Sea has other products but this period of time it is most profitable to hunt water cloud embryo.” Kang De was clearly very familiar with the present situation.

“High demand, low supply, wouldn’t it be difficult for us?” Zuo Mo frowned slightly.

Kang De shook his head. “How can it be so easy to capture a water cloud embryo? Island Master, do not worry. You see many people, but the number that will gain something will be very small. They are also not very strong and cannot go deep into the Cloud Sea. The best quality water cloud embryos are deep in the Cloud Sea.”

Zuo Mo’s heart was slightly reassured.

Zuo Mo’s group had changed their appearances so no one recognized them. But Lil’ Pagoda and the others attracted the attention of these xiuzhe. The heat and greed in their eyes caused Zuo Mo to frown slightly.

“Brother, are you selling this fire ling beast? We can negotiate the price!” An eagle-nosed man came over. From nearby, his compatriots looked over.

Lil’ Fire jumped in fright and burrowed into A Gui’s arms.

Lil’ Fire’s intelligent response caused this eagle-nosed male’s gaze to heat up.

“No.” Zuo Mo’s face darkened as he walked ahead.

“Hey, don’t go.” The eagle-nosed male blocked Zuo Mo and said with a smile, “This little brother really wants it and is definitely sincere. Brother, give a price, we can negotiate!”

Kang De suddenly spoke, “He Family Brothers, my daren has said we are not selling, do not keep bothering us.”

The eagle-nosed male’s eyes narrowed slightly and flashed, “Someone that can identify of this one’s origins should be someone familiar. I, He Wei’s eyes are stupid. Sir, who are you?”

Kang De smirked coldly, “Don’t bother trying to find out my identity. Let me advise you, be good. Otherwise, humph, none of your brothers will be able to escape.”

This was slightly troublesome.

He Wei’s heart shook. Someone that could identify  his origins was definitely someone familiar! The other’s tone was so harsh he clearly had a powerful background and didn’t need to consider him.

He Wei was experienced and knew when to bow. He smiled and said, “Brother, what are you saying, this little brother came up to ask, and does not have malicious intentions.”

He perceptively stepped out of the way.

He watched as Zuo Mo’s group left and thought hard, who was this?

His brothers quickly came over. “How is it? Are they not selling?”

“No,” He Wei’s expression was solemn, “and one of them recognizes us. It definitely is someone familiar but they have changed their appearance.

“Who cares, just steal it. That fire ling beast is definitely very high grade. If we can get it, Second Brother, your strength will multiply!” one of the people said nonchalantly.

“This group’s origins are not simple, if they are not rich, they are powerful!” He Wei thought back to the meeting and felt the other was calm and clearly did not think highly of them. He shook his head and said, “This group might be from a large faction. Let’s not cause trouble.”

The other people all had unconcerned expressions.

The geography of Beak Island was extremely unique. It appeared as though a bird was opening its mouth facing the sky. The entrance to the Cloud Sea was where the mouth was open.

There was almost no cloud mist at the entrance. Looking down, it was possible to see an endless path that disappeared into the Cloud Sea.

Beak Island was actually a mountain peak that had a section above the Cloud Sea.

“Daren, let’s go down.”

Kang De said respectfully.

Chapter 523 - Xuan Kong Temple

Zuo Mo and the others did not pay attention to the He Brothers. Even Kang De did not keep them in mind. Beside him was the true master of Cloud Sea Jie. People like the He Brothers were not worth a mention.

As they descended into the Cloud Sea, the light gradually dimmed. The thick Cloud Sea blocked most of the sunlight but this was not as dark as Zuo Mo had imagined. There were many cloud grasses floating in the cloud layers and each released faint light that illuminated the world below the Cloud Sea.

Kang De saw Zuo Mo and the others curiously examining the cloud grasses and hurriedly explained, “This place is a great producer of cloud grasses. The quality is very good, and occasionally, merchants from the outside will come and buy them. However, this is worthless locally.”

“What is the use for this?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

It was the first time he saw cloud grasses. These cloud grasses were shaped like sea grasses, the blades had the thickness of a pinky, completely white, and would release faint light. The individual bushes were about the size of a basket, and it was possible to occasionally see enormous ones that were multiple zhang in area.

“They can be used to forge water element ling dan, but only first grade,” Kang De said. “Those that aren’t strong wouldn’t dare to come down. Those that are strong do not care about these cloud grasses. These cloud grasses reproduce extremely quickly and can be found everywhere.”

Zuo Mo understood.

Everyone walked down. This mountain path was misty but the mist was tin.

“Under the Cloud Sea, what is most common is all kinds of cloud beasts. There are many people that come to hunt cloud beasts. Cloud beasts are water-oriented, and many people like them. But to get high-grade ones, they need to go deep into the Cloud Sea.”

Zuo Mo asked curiously, “What qualities of the cloud beasts are outstanding?”

“Being of the water element, their most powerful ability is their illusory spells. Since their body is formed from cloud mist, unless one encounters fire spells, other spells cannot inflict major damage.” Kang De was clearly familiar with this area and his words flowed without needing to think.

“How long has Old Kang been here?” Wei Sheng asked Kang De.

Kang De couldn’t help but sigh. “More than a decade. Actually, there are several other entrances to the Cloud Sea other than this one, but this is the most famous one. Consequently, this place has the most xiuzhe making a living here.”

Wei Sheng smiled. He had endured poverty before but his heart was dedicated to the sword. The hardships of life did not leave any mark behind and he naturally did not feel anything. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but think back to his time at Wu Kong Mountain when he fought everyday for each piece of jingshi. He instantly felt sympathy.

Seeing Kang De’s expression was slightly heavy, Zuo Mo hurriedly changed the topic. He said with a smile, “Those who have not come down definitely could not imagine that the scenery down here is very good!”

The faint cloud mist was like silk. The cloud grasses floating in the Cloud Sea slowly swayed with the Cloud Sea.

“Haha, Daren has good taste. But the scenery later will be even better!” Kang De laughed openly.

As Kang De said, the scenery below was even more beautiful.

After walking for four whole hours, their field of view suddenly broadened. They had passed through the thick Cloud Sea!

The thick Cloud Sea slowly rippled above their heads and countless cloud grasses drooped down from the Cloud Sea. These cloud grasses were extremely large, all of them multiple mu in area. The blades that dangled down were dozens of zhang in length. Looking from afar, the Cloud Sea was a curved ceiling, and the drooping cloud grasses were like densely packed waterfalls of light. The scenery was spectacular and endless!

“It’s so beautiful!” Zuo Mo was astounded.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were also shocked by the spectacular scene in front of them. Lil’ Pagoda and the others instantly became excited and flew around A Gui. Lil’ Fire was so excited it started to chirp.

Kang De smiled slightly. He was used to the scene in front of him and had become habituated to it a long time ago.

The xiuzhe that walked past them all smiled. Every greenhorn that entered the deep of the Cloud Sea for the first time would have this expression.

There was a constant flow of xiuzhe passing by. Everyone hoped to get something early. The price of the first batch of cloud beasts and water cloud embryo was usually the highest of the year.

At this time, Zong Ru whose eyes had been closed all this time suddenly made a sound and turned his head slightly.

Several dhyana xiu attracted his attention. The leader was one wearing purple dhyana robes. He had white brows and hair, and had an extraordinary mannerism. Behind him were three dhyana xiu in blue robes who were all very young.

These dhyana xiu also noticed Zong Ru. The purple-robed dhyana xiu’s eyes flashed. He did not speak but his palms came together as he bowed towards Zong Ru.

Zong Ru’s eyes were still closed but a warm smile came onto his face. He also returned the greeting with his palms together.

Noticing Zong Ru’s action, Wei Sheng looked over.

The other also noticed Wei Sheng. A thread of shock flashed across the purple-robed dhyana xiu again but his expression did not change. With a harmonious air, he bowed towards Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng did not speak and bowed slightly in acknowledgment.

From beginning to end, the two sides did not speak, but a strange exchange had occurred between the two sides.

Only when the other had gone far away did Zong Ru and Wei Sheng take their eyes away.

“These people are not simple,” Wei Sheng said in a deep voice. “The dhyana xiu in purple robes is very powerful, and possibly a yuanying. Even if he isn’t, he isn’t far from becoming one.”

Zong Ru nodded and agreed, “They should be from one of the great temples. We can ask Yi Zheng. He should know.”

Zuo Mo who had been wandering in his thoughts finally focused. Seeing the two acting as though they were facing a great enemy, he couldn’t help but inquire. The two narrated what just occurred. Zuo Mo thought and then decided to go ask Yi Zheng.

Kang De hadn’t planned on talking but he still couldn’t help but say, “Daren the Cloud Sea is thick. Paper cranes and normal flying swords cannot be used here, and cannot deliver messages to the outside.”

Zuo Mo waved his hand and said, “No worries, I have my ways.”

Zong Ru casted a small illusory spell which projected the appearances of the dhyana xiu. Zuo Mo memorized it and then entered the sea of consciousness. Ha, other people could not use paper cranes but he could go through Pu Yao and pass the message out.

But he hadn’t expected Pu Yao to snort when he saw the people and said, “There’s no need to ask other people, I know their origins.”

Zuo Mo said suspiciously, “You know?”

Pu Yao smirked coldly, “We fought so long in the past, it’s impossible for me not to recognize them. They are baldies from Xuan Kong Temple. Ha, you better be careful.”

“Xuan Kong Temple?” Zuo Mo almost shouted.

The biggest powers in the xiuzhe world were the four realms, Kun Lun, Tian Huan, Xi Xuan, and Xuan Kong.

Xuan Kong Realm was the holy land of the dhyana xiu, and the gathering place of all the famed temples in the world. Xuan Kong Temple was also the leader of all the temples in the world! Yi Zheng’s Great Buddha Temple might also be one of the ten great temples, but compared to Xuan Kong Temple, there were not in the same class.

“You better not encounter the baldies of Xuan Kong Temple. Otherwise, hee hee … …” The bloody sea of Pu Yao’s red eye roiled.

Zuo Mo was frightened by Pu Yao’s vicious expression. He hadn’t seen Pu Yao act like this when it was Kun Lun. “Are they more powerful than Kun Lun?”

“More powerful than Kun Lun? Not that powerful,” Pu Yao said coldly, “Kun Lun is the top in fighting power, but none are more powerful than the baldies in dragging people down. The baldies are mother***ing fanatics that do not fear death. There was one battle in the past when the baldies wanted to exterminate us ‘evil’ yaomo and sixty yuanying committed suicide by exploding! If it wasn’t laozi that noticed something was wrong, we would have fell for it, and been blasted to pieces.”

“Exploded … … six … … sixty yuanying … …” Zuo Mo stammered. He was unable to talk smoothly. This secret piece of information was so shocking he lost the ability to think. Sixty yuanying, sixty yuanying collectively exploding themselves. How crazy would they have to be to do that?

One yuanying from Tian Huan was enough to cause chaos in Cloud Sea Jie , sixty yuanying … …

When Zuo Mo came out of the sea of consciousness, Zong Ru and Wei Sheng looked at him. They had noticed Zuo Mo’s terrible expression long ago.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and said in a dry voice, “They are from Xuan Kong Temple.”

“Xuan Kong Temple?”

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru inhaled sharply. Kang De’s expression instantly turned ashen.

Xuan Kong Temple! The leader of all dhyana xiu, one of the four great sects in the world!

“Why have they come here?” Wei Sheng’s sword heart was like stone and he quickly calmed down.

Zong Ru’s Samadhi was also extremely high. His mind shook and then he recovered his calmness.

Zuo Mo also recovered his calm. So what if it was Xuan Kong Temple? Hadn’t he managed to trick the elder from Tian Huan? He had been frightened by the simultaneous suicide explosion of sixty yuanying that Pu Yao had mentioned.

He turned around his thinking. He was just a little character. They wouldn’t give him such a grand treatment.

He suddenly thought of something. He had to tell Guard Camp, Grey Camp, Nan Yue and the others to not show themselves in the short term. If the group of fanatics really caught them, they would definitely try to exterminate and kill yaomo.

Pu Yao was extremely dissatisfied with this action of retreating but he also knew there was no chance of victory if he had Zuo Mo face Xuan Kong Temple at this time.

Wei held a slight smile as he watched Pu Yao and Zuo Mo fight. But from any angle, it seemed that he was laughing at Pu Yao.

After sending out the orders, Zuo Mo saw the terror in Kang De’s eyes and his ashen complexion. He hurriedly comforted. “Let’s go, don’t bother with them. The Cloud Sea is so large, and everyone has their own aims. We won’t encounter them.”

Kang De’s complexion finally improved. He felt that the words were right. He knew just how large the Cloud Sea was. How likely would it be that they encountered each other and competed over the same item?”

However, after this incident, Zuo Mo lost all of his interest. The beautiful and vast scenery instantly became tasteless.

“The Cloud Sea is endless and there are many paths. If it is someone who is unfamiliar, they would definitely get lost.” The cloud over Kang De’s mind gradually dissipated. Even though everyone was coming down from Beak Island but the possibility of encountering each other was pitifully small.

Zuo Mo swept the surroundings and suddenly asked, “Why is no one flying?”

Kang De hurriedly explained, “The Cloud Sea is different than other places. It is best not to fly in here. The ling power vibrations can easily attract the attention of many cloud beasts that hide in the cloud layer. At the beginning, many people thought they were powerful and just charged recklessly through but they never came out in the end. After such a long time, no one dared to fly in there.”

“So that’s why!” Zuo Mo finally understood.

Fortunately, everyone was of deep cultivation. Walking was not a problem.

After walking down for several hours, the cloud layer above their heads that was filled with cloud grasses became further away. Some cloud mist appeared along the road. The cloud mist was extremely unique. It was gathered and did not dissipate. Even when the wind blew past, it did not move at all.

Little paths flickered in and out of view between the cloud mists as though there were complex spider-webs spreading into the cloud mist.

Chapter 524 - Omen

Looking at the little path that was leading into the Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo released a breath for some unknown reason. Truthfully, the suddenly appearance of the Xuan Kong Temple’s dhyana xiu gave him enormous pressure. Anything that could attract Xu Kong Temple’s dhyana xiu was not going to be anything normal. Zuo Mo wasn’t interested at all. He just didn’t want anything to happen as he tried to heal A Gui.

“There are so many divergent paths, you know all of them?” Zuo Mo asked Kang De in curiosity. There were hundred of these little paths that criss-crossed and confused the eyes.

“Daren don’t worry, this subordinate has been hunting here for over a decade and won’t walk wrong even with the my eyes closed,” Kang De said proudly. He then introduced, “These little paths might look complex, but if one goes through a few times, they can learn them. Starting from here, we will enter the true Cloud Sea. The cloud mist here is not thick, the deeper we go down, the thicker it becomes.”

Kang De led the group at the front.

They walked onto a curved little path and quickly disappeared in the Cloud Sea.

———

“Shishu, are those people suspicious?” Ming Jing asked probingly. Of the three young disciples, his mind was the nimblest and he noticed Shishu’s abnormalness.

Pu Yao was correct, these people were dhyana xiu from Xuan Kong Temple. The white-browed purple robed dhyana xiu was called Ding Zhen, and the disciples in blue robes were third-generation disciples. Ding Zhen had come out with these disciples for them to gain experience. Along the way, they had received a message from the sect leader and turned to Cloud Sea Jie.

Ding Zhen nodded, “That dhyana xiu is from an unknown sect, he actually possesses wish power, it really is rare.”

“Wish power?”

The three disciples stammered, their face filled with belief. The dhyana xiu that they had seen didn’t appear much older than them. He also did not look special.

Wish power was one of the rarest powers of all the dhyana xiu powers. The three of them were among the top ranks of the young disciples of Xuan Kong Temple and naturally knew what wish power meant.

The number of people Xuan Kong Temple, the greatest temple in the world, who possessed wish power could be counted on the fingers.

“There are always better people, the world outside is filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers.” Ding Zhen glanced at the trio. “Also, that sword xiu’s sword essence is so pure and condense that I have only seen such a thing before on a few Kun Lun disciples. If you encounter him, do not be careless.”

The other disciple reacted the quickest. “Shishu, could they be disciples from Kun Lun?”

“Not Kun Lun.” Ding Zhen shook his head, “The sword essence of Kun Lun does not feel like this.”

The expressions of the three disciples relaxed. It was good that it was not Kun Lun. Kun Lun had dominated the top position of the Four Realm Heaven for thousands of years. Even disciples of Xuan Kong Temple were not willing to encounter Kun Lung disciples. The four great sects fought openly and in the shadows, but there were rarely any direct conflicts. All of them were colossal beings. If fighting really started, it could not easily end.

As long as those were not disciples of the other three sects, they didn’t feel the need for any consideration. The enemies they were wary of and would treat equally were only disciples of the four great sects, people that were on the same level as themselves.

Seeing the unconcerned expression on the faces of the three disciples, Ding Zhen shook his head inside. But when he recalled how he had been similarly proud when he was young, he smiled and let it pass.

The disciples of Xuan Kong Temple had the right to be proud.

———

Along the way, Kang De chatted about all the strange tales and rumors of the Cloud Sea. His oratory skills were not good but he was very experienced and knew many details. Zuo Mo’s group listened attentively.

This trip took a day and night before the cloud mist started to become thick enough to obscure their vision. The pure white mist that seemed like cotton almost filled all of their vision. Little paths flickered in and out of the view in this cloud mist. If they were not careful and wandered off into the cloud mist, they would lose their direction. Then it would really be dangerous.

Zuo Mo curiously examined the cloud mist floating in the air. These cloud mist were in the air but they did not float everywhere. These little paths were very fine but there wasn’t any mist on the path.

Zuo Mo asked Kang De about this.

Kang De scratched his head. “Daren, this subordinate has never thought about this. This subordinate has been here for over a decade. Even though the cloud mists will change annually, but these little paths rarely change.”

“Would there be any dangers here?” Zuo Mo asked.

“There are rarely any dangers in this area. Xiuzhe frequently come through here so cloud beasts and other things have been cleaned out,” Kang De said.

As Kang De finished speaking, Zong Ru who was walking in the rear of the group, with his eyes closed, suddenly made a sound and stopped walking.

A cold light flashed through Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng’s eyes. They instantly stopped moving and held themselves warily.

Kang De was extremely confused.

“Something is nearing us,” Zong Ru said in a low voice.

Zong Ru’s Samadhi deepened and his sixth sense was extremely sensitive. Unless Zuo Mo expanded his consciousness, he was not a match for Zong Ru. However, Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng were powerful people. At almost the same moment Zong Ru spoke, they had also detected danger!

Wei Sheng held his black sword in his hand. Zuo Mo’s shen power turned into the three powers and was held in waiting.

Woosh woosh woosh!

Several white mist arrows suddenly shot out of the cloud mist with tearing sounds.

Zuo Mo’s movement were extremely rapid. His consciousness shifted and several [Ice Mirrors] were cast. Ever since he listened to Kang De speak about the unique qualities of the cloud bests hears, Zuo Mo felt that yao arts were more suited to the Cloud Sea.

[Ice Mirror] was a kind of little yao art. When Zuo Mo used it, it was so fast people could not catch it.

Bam bam bam!

The ice mirrors shattered and a cold energy spread in the air.

Several white shadows that charged out of the cloud mist instantly froze as their bodies entered the cold energy.

Inside the cold energy were three cloud beasts that were shaped like squirrels. Their body was frozen by the cold energy into ice, and they still maintained their charging position.

They were transparent and glowed like ice statues. Their faint blue eyes were beautiful.

Bam bam bam!

They crashed onto the ground and instantly shattered into a pile of ice.

The ice quickly melted into water, and then dissipated into cloud mist to disappear.

“Cloud mice!” Kang De’s expression was shocked as he murmured to himself, “No! No! How can there be cloud mice here?”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed. “You are saying these things should not appear here?”

Kang De refocused and hurriedly said, “Yes Daren! Cloud mice are very sensitive to the movements of xiuzhe, and usually live deep in the Cloud Sea where there are no people. Also … …”

He halted.

“Also what?” Zuo Mo asked in a deep voice.

“Cloud mice would rarely attack xiuzhe proactively.” Kang De’s expression was not well. “Cloud mice are very gentle and their temperament makes them suited to be pets. Female xiuzhe often like them. It is the first time that this subordinate has seen cloud mice attack xiuzhe unprovoked.”

“State your point!” Zuo Mo saw Kang De’s hesitating and his face darkened.

Kang De gritted his teeth and stated his speculation, “This subordinate thinks that something might have happened deep in the Cloud Sea so these cloud mice are acting … …”

“I understand. We will be careful and take precautions for our safety.” Zuo Mo understood what Kang De meant but he was definitely unwilling to go back like this.

Before departing, he had made the decision to find a water cloud embryo.

This matter did not just concern A Gui, but also his birth and origins. He had a strong feeling that the relationship between he and A Gui was definitely not simple!

Zuo Mo had prepared fully for this trip. He had asked Gu Ming Gong for several transportation seals and he was not afraid of encountering danger.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s determined attitude, Kang De could not do a thing. The other person was his boss.

———

“Shishu, something’s not right.” Ming Jing’s expression was not well. They had encountered several waves of attack. He felt a thread of uncertainly. Ming Jing had come to the Cloud Sea to hunt cloud beasts before and was not unfamiliar with this place. The unusual situation was clearly a sign of something wrong.

“What is not right?” Ding Zhen asked.

“This disciple has come to the Cloud Sea before. These cloud mice are fearful of people and would never attack xiuzhe first. Right now, they are so restless, this disciples suspects that something under has changed,” Ming Jing carefully responded.

“A change?” A light suddenly flashed through Ding Jing’s indifferent eyes. He seemed slightly excited as he looked towards the depths of the Cloud Sea.

Ming Jing jumped in fright at Ding Jing Shishu’s burning gaze. It was the first time he saw such a gaze from the composed and indifferent Ding Zhen Shishu. Was there … …

His mind suddenly shifted as he recalled Ding Zhen Shishu having received a message from the sect leader in the middle of their journey. Ding Zhen Shishu immediately had hurried to Cloud Sea Jie by travelling day and night.

Was there something that the sect leaders cared about that was hiding in the depths of the Cloud Sea?

Ding Zhen glanced at Ming Jing. Ming Jing’s heart jumped. Shishu’s gave was as sharp as a sword and seemed to piece to the bottom of his heart.

“Let’s go.” Ding Zhen’s expression became aloof again as he started to walk deeper into the Cloud Sea.

———

Li Shu’s mood was terrible.

The mission of the Sun Shen Temple had failed. Even though the sect leader did not punish him, but thinking about what he had lost, there seemed to be a fire burning inside of him.

The invasion of the mo army and the news that Turtle Island had instantly taken over all of Cloud Sea Jie had also arrived in his ears.

Turtle Island’s power shocked him again. To be able to win against a mo army, even a normal mo army, Turtle Island was more powerful than they appeared.

They had disguised themselves so well that he had not discovered their true strength!

It was a pity that the sect had no interest in Cloud Sea Jie after the Sun Shen Temple. Chaos rifts were continuously appearing in the jies governed by Tian Huan. Several small-scale yaomo battalions had been discovered in several jie, and the strength the sect had to spare for minor endeavors had instantly became limited.

This was to the point that the number of battalions sent to the front lines had dramatically decreased. If their homeland was invaded by the yaomo, there would not be any value in guarding the front line.

Jingshi, materials, ling grains, and etc. Every kind of resource supply was having problems. These were all major problems.

Elder Shen was sent to the front lines and Li Shu received orders to go to a place called Tong Yu Jie to assist the local battalion because they had discovered a small yaomo battalion there.

Tong Yu Jie was the producer of the ling jade which was important to Tian Huan. Ling jade was a very important raw material for forging seals. The importance of Tong Yu Jie to Tian Huan did not need to be said.

In comparison, the remote Cloud Sea Jie that did not produce anything significant and wasn’t worth a mention.

The Sky-Splitting Calamity had come without any warning and caused every sect to descend into chaos, and their responses disorganized.

No matter how much Shen Wu Hai and Li Shu wanted to settle their debts, the order had come down and they could only obediently accept the missions.

But, he really was not content … …

Chapter 525 - Cloud Crystal Mist Flow

In the seven days and nights they advanced through the mist, the coldness inside the cloud mist increased. Everyone had to channel ling power to withstand the cold energy. Zuo Mo and the others finally understood why only those jindan and above dared to enter the deepest reaches of the Cloud Sea. This coldness alone was not something those below jindan could withstand.

Zuo Mo had the Great Day Banded Flame and the precious treasure of the Sun Crystal Seed. The coldness did not affect him at all. What shocked him was that the Little Ones, each played happily and were extremely lively. Even Lil’ Fire whom he had thought would not be able to persist didn’t seem uncomfortable at all in the coldness.

They occasionally encountered some cloud beasts along the way, but fortunately, they did not encounter cloud beasts that were two powerful.

Kang De’s expression was full of worry. The abnormality of the Cloud Sea caused him to feel extremely unsafe.

“Daren, the cloud river is up ahead,” Kang De’s expression lightened. “Past the cloud river, we can find water cloud embryos.”

This sentence caused moral to rose and the group accelerated forward.

Soon later, a large river appeared in their field of view, but when their eyes landed on the cloud river, they all stilled.

Kang De suddenly became overjoyed and exclaimed, “Cloud Crystal Mist Flow! How can there be Cloud Crystal Mist Flow at this season?”

There wasn’t any cloud mist on the surface of the river yet what was flowing inside the river was not river water, but densely pack ice crystals. These ice crystals were each the size of an egg and were rhomboid. It was clear and transparent, and there was a small ball of cloud mist which slowly flowed inside each rhombus.

When the wide river surface that was tens of li in expanse were filled with this kind of ice crystal, countless rays of lights reflected and was dazzling.

Zuo Mo raised his hand and an ice crystal flew into Zuo Mo’s hand. Strangely, once the ice crystal left the river, it quickly melted into a thread of cloud mist that disappeared into the air.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru had never seen this before and tried to grab the ice crystals as well.

Wei Sheng made a light sound of surprise. “Such heavy coldness!”

Kang De said with a smile, “The cloud mist would condense into a flow of water and gather in the cloud river. Every decade, a cold flow would come. When the coldness invaded the cloud river, it would form the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow. The little ball of cloud mist inside these ice crystals are the purest of cloud essence and is something great for forging! Every time the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow appears, there would be troops of xiuzhe that come here to harvest the cloud essence! We are very fortunate to encounter this!”

Zuo Mo found that many xiuzhe had appeared on the shores of the river. Each person’s face was full of joy as they used all the talismans they had to gather cloud essence.

Kang De took out a jade bottle and started to carefully gather cloud essence.

Zuo Mo snickered and said, “We cannot enter a treasure mountain and leave empty-handed!”

Finishing saying this, hundreds of jade bottles and boxes appeared in front of him.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru also started to harvest.

If cloud essence was forged into flying swords, the flying sword would become more nimble and quick. Wei Sheng threw the black sword into the air. The black sword hummed lightly and then suddenly produced a strong suction. Like a whale, it sucked in ice crystals. When the ice crystals left the river, they quickly melted and then the thread of cloud essence was sucked into the black sword before it could dissipate.

Zong Ru activated his Attainment Golden Body. When the enormous golden figure appeared, a faint and authoritative dhyana presence spread. A blurry bottle suddenly appeared in one of the hands of the mountainous golden body. The mouth of the bottle was pointed towards the river and countless ice crystals flowed into the bottle like birds returning to their nest.

In comparison to the other two, Zuo Mo was lacking. Even though his efficiency was high and he filled up all of his jade boxes and bottles, he still was not satisfied.

His eyes turned and then he suddenly thought of the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. Didn’t this cloud essence belong to the yin? He then tried to cast the spell of the yin bead and motioned at the cloud river.

Bam!

Hundreds of ice crystals in the river suddenly exploded. The threads of cloud essence were like a barrage of rain that shot into Zuo Mo’s hands and gathered into a thumb-sized bead. This bead was round and glowing as though it was carved out of crystal. What was most marvelous was that there was a faint cloudy mist floating around it that made it very beautiful.

Zuo Mo saw that this method was workable and he laughed. He became even more motivated.

Lil’ Pagoda laboriously flapped its eaves to absorb cloud essence. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, the xiuzhe that had forged Lil’ Pagoda’s was creative, but his method had been very primitive and crude. The reason that Lil’ Pagoda was able to reach this level was completely through relying on piles of talismans and rare materials.

Gold, wood, water, fire, earth were the five levels of the pagoda. Zuo Mo had put the sixth-grade Jade Hook Tree on the wood level and Zuo Mo’s unique Great Day Banded Flame was on the fire level. The gold level was filled with vast amounts of gold crystal sand. Now they had coincidentally encountered the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow. It was definitely a one in a thousand opportunity.

As the cloud essence continuously flowed into Lil’ Pagoda’s body, its dim water level slowly lit up and then exuded faint cloud mist.

The xiuzhe on the river shores were disturbed by the noise going on over at Zuo Mo’s side and gave respectful and awed looks.

———

“Attainment Golden Body!” Ding Zhen’s eyes suddenly became bright. The figure behind Zong Ru’s back was blurry but it was the dignified golden body. His shock overtook his ability to speak and he was silent for a while.

“Shishu, what is the Attainment Golden Body?” Ming Jing was astounded. What could cause Shishi to lose his composure?

The other two people also stopped what they were doing.

“I hadn’t expected that it was the Attainment Golden Body!” Ding Zhen forced a calm smile, “It is a wondrous dhyana scripture. Ever since the thousand year battle, it had disappeared. I had thought it was lost and it is unexpected that a branch has survived. No wonder this boy was able to attain wish power. The successor of [Attainment Golden Body] is as extraordinary as one would expect!”

The three disciples showed expressions of understanding. So this was a lost dhyana scripture.

Ming Zhu who had been silent suddenly spoke, “The other two are also very strong.”

Hearing this, Ding Zhen stilled. Of the three disciples, Ming Zhu was the most stoic but he was usually correct in his words. Ding Zhen’s gaze finally moved away from the Attainment Golden Body. When it landed on Wei Sheng’s black sword, his pupils expanded.

“Such heavy fiendish energy! Such heavy killing intent! There is actually such a vicious weapon in the world!”

When he looked at Wei Sheng, he found that the other’s gaze was clear without any maliciousness and his actions were honest. It was possible to see that the killing intent of the sword had not influenced his mind. He couldn’t help but praise, “Such a determined and strong-minded man!”

His gaze moved to Zuo Mo.

He made a sound of surprise and his expression became bewildered. “Strange, there’s something strange!”

He said to himself, “He clearly is not in the stage of jindan, so how was he able to reach this place? His hand technique is also very strange, I cannot understand it.”

He kept on shaking his head.

When his gaze turned to Lil’ Pagoda, his eyes lit up but then he said regretfully, “It is a pity.”

The three disciples were confused by his words.

Ding Zhen did not explain and just said, “These three are of extraordinary origins. We need to be extremely careful in our journey this time and not get in conflict with them.”

Seeing the unconcerned faces of the three disciples, Ding Zhen’s brow furrowed. But when he thought about how they would have him, a yuanying, supporting them, he couldn’t help but laugh. He was too cautious.

He did not continue to persuade them and said with a smile, “You may want to harvest some more. It would be difficult to encounter such pure cloud essence in the future. It is a very good gift to give to your shixiong and shidi when you return to your sect.”

This time, even Ming Zhu took out a jade bottle and started harvesting.

———

Of the three, Zong Ru was the first to finish. The bottle became even more defined. It had grown longer and there was a blood red lotus on the surface of the bottle that flickered. The bottle was shrouded in cloud mist as it slowly faded into the golden body.

Zong Ru’s palms came together as he stood up and bowed towards the cloud river.

Zuo Mo had also formed hundreds of cloud beads. He had used up all of the ling power inside his body. He stopped, threw a few ling dan into his mouth and sat down cross-legged to recover his ling power.

Lil’ Pagoda seemed to be over stuffed as he swayed back into A Gui’s arms and laid down with its tummy facing up.

The black sword’s absorption of the cloud mist had not decreased.

Wei Sheng stared attentively at the black sword and found to his surprise that the shape of the black sword was slowly changing.

The body of the sword became even narrower, and caused the sword to look longer in comparison. Compared to its previous vicious appearance, it seemed nimbler and more spirited. Despite appearances its length was actually shortening. The long sword which had been the length of a person was now about the same length to Wei Sheng’s ribs. The ruler-straight sword was still simple and unadorned, it had a deep black luster that did not give off any light.

The present black sword was still a size larger than normal flying swords but was much more delicate in appearance than in the past. It was as though an ancient wild beast had hidden away its thick claws and teeth to silently settle down.

There wasn’t any aura of viciousness or fiendish energy, no killing intent, but for some unknown reason, Wei Sheng’s heart was full of a faint joy.

It took two whole hours before the black sword stopped absorbing cloud essence.

The black sword suddenly disappeared and then reappeared in Wei Sheng’s hand.

Wei Sheng gripped the hilt of the sword which was the perfect thickness and length for his hand. A smile blossomed on his face.

Kang De had finished before Zong Ru did. He had not expected to encounter the Cloud Crystal Mist Flow and had not prepared. However, he was not greedy and was very satisfied with the surprise.

“Daren, after crossing this cloud river and walking for two more days, we will enter the grounds of harvesting water cloud embryos … …”

Before Kang De finished speaking, his voice suddenly choked off. Almost at the same time, Zuo Mo and the others looked at the cloud river.

A blue light suddenly flew out of the cloud river, covered in layers of ice crystals, and struck a xiuzhe. The xiuzhe hit was instantly frozen into a statue of ice. He didn’t even had the time to scream before he dropped into the cloud river and disappeared!

“Ice Breath Beast!” Kang De’s face turned ashen and his voice trembled.

The xiuzhe who were harvesting by the river shore instantly started to panic. Each of them had ashen faces as they turned and tried to escape.

Dozens of blue energies flew out of the river. The xiuzhe that were struck instantly turned to ice sculptures. Even the expressions of their faces were preserved as though they were alive.

This time, even Zuo Mo’s group changed expression!

These dozens of xiuzhe were all jindan but were able to withstand one blow of this blue light!

What was even harder to believe was that the ones that were hit were the xiuzhe who had turned in order to escape!

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. Such high intelligence!

Suddenly, someone exclaimed in shock, “Heavens! The cloud river is growing!”

As he had said, the layers of ice crystals were growing upwards. They quickly reached the same level as the rivers of the shore and they were still rising!

At this time, several bolts of blue light suddenly shot at Zuo Mo’s group!

Face ashen, Kang De’s soul almost left his body!

Chapter 526 - Clear Cloud Python

Kang De was closest to Wei Sheng. Wei Sheng’s two thick eyebrows shifted. The slender and straight black sword appeared in his hand, drawing an arc and then a horizontal slash.

A faint black ripple spread.

When the blue light hit the black ripple, it disappeared without a trace.

Zong Ru’s eyes were still half-lidded. His expression had not changed but at some time in the brief moment since the start of the attack, his right hand had formed a seal.

Dong!

The Attainment Golden Body suddenly formed behind him, one hand raised high as though it was holding something up. In this instant, a dignified dhyana presence rippled outward and spread with the Attainment Golden Body as the center! Zuo Mo, A Gui and the others were enclosed within it.

When the blue lights came into contact with this intangible ripple, they exploded in the air beautifully like fireworks.

From beginning to end, Zuo Mo had not needed to act.

He stared at the roiling cloud river as though he was thinking of something.

Unlike Zuo Mo’s group which remained uninjured, the fatalities and wounds of the other xiuzhe were extremely high. The blue light that the ice breath beasts exhaled was very domineering and normal ling armor could not block it.

If they were hit, they definitely would turn into ice statues.

The xiuzhe that could stop the attack either had great treasures or were very powerful. Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on the four Xuan Kong Temple xiuzhe. They were the most-attention catching group.

None of the four moved.

The domineering blue lights seemed to be stopped by an invisible wall ten zhang away from them.

Zuo Mo was intimidated.

The other’s move was revealed they were more skilled than their group. He was now one hundred percent sure that the leading dhyana xiu was a yuanying! Those that were not yuanying were not able to resist like this.

———

Ding Zhen’s expression was unchanged but his heart had become slightly clouded. The abnormal change of the cloud river was abnormal.

“It is the ice breath beasts.” Ming Jing’s expression was not well as he continued, “Fifth-grade cloud beasts, their most powerful move is an  ice breath attack. Ling armor below fifth-grade cannot stop it.”

“Did they appear previously in this place?” Ding Zhen asked.

“Never,” Ming Jing shook his head and responded, “At most third-grade cloud beasts would appear here. Even fourth-grade beasts were extremely rare, much less fifth-grade!”

The expressions of the other two disciples were not well. For them, fifth-grade cloud beasts were targets they had to face seriously. If the beast had the advantage and the benefit of the geography, they would have turned and fled without shishu’s help.

Fortunately Shishu was present. For a yuanying xiuzhe, fifth-grade cloud beasts were easily dealt with.

“Shishu, should we save them?” Ming Jing looked at the terrible state on the shores. There was a hint of pity in his eyes as he spoke.

“We have more important things to do, do not stray,” Ding Zhen looked towards the other side of the shore and said in a deep voice.

“Shishu, we are to cross the river?” Ming Jing probed. Even though he knew that they had an important mission, there was the cloud crystal mist flow that had appeared out of season and the ice breath beasts that should not have appeared in the cloud river. Everything implied that something was unusual here.

“En, stay behind me,” Ding Zhen said faintly. He swept across Zuo Mo’s group and then turned his eyes away.

Ding Zhen stepped out like usual and stepped onto the cloud river. Step by step, he walked as though he was on solid ground, steady and unhurried. The three disciples walked behind him and stepped exactly where he had.

The moment Ding Zhen stepped onto the cloud river, the cloud river suddenly started to boil. Countless cold blue lights shot out of the cloud river and rained down on the quartet.

Ding Zhen’s expression was normal and did not change as though he did not see them.

The storm of blue lights created countless fragments of energy as they hit the invisible wall. Ding Zhen and the others were not affected, and seemed to stroll towards the other shore.

———

The xiuzhe who saw this all inhaled in shock.

“So powerful!” Zuo Mo swallowed. “This guy definitely is not the average yuanying!”

Admiration floated onto Wei Sheng’s face. The power that Ding Zhen displayed far surpassed their own. However, the admiration was quickly replaced by motivation. He unconsciously gripped the black sword in his hand.

The black sword that had completely changed in appearance after swallowing great amounts of cloud essence seemed to feel Wei Sheng’s battle spirit and lightly vibrated in Wei Sheng’s palm.

Wei Sheng felt the slight tremor from the black sword, and lovingly caressed the sword that had become long and narrow.

Kang De had been rescued from the jaws of death. An experienced person, his ashen face gradually became normal again. “Daren is wise. The ice breath beasts are fifth-grade ling beasts. The ice breath they exhale is glacially cold. Normal ling armor cannot withstand it.”

His gaze landed on the ice statues on the shore and couldn’t help but feel some grief.

As they spoke, the ice crystals spilled out as the cloud river rose.

“Daren, let’s return!” Kang De gathered his courage and urged. His voice was full of terror, “This subordinate has made a living for more than a decade in the cloud sea and has never seen … …”

Suddenly some of the xiuzhe which had fled successfully stumbled back with terrified faces.

“The Clear Cloud Python! Save us … …”

Kang De stopped. In this instant, his gaze became stunned.

An enormous snake’s head suddenly shot out of the cloud mist and swallowed the xiuzhe who spoke in one gulp! The snake’s head was enormous like a mountain that was hundreds of zhang tall. In front of it, xiuzhe were as minuscule as ants in comparison. It was made from the cloud mist, its two eyes grey-white and empty. Just this enormous snake head was enough to scatter some people’s minds.

Now even Zuo Mo and the others could not keep their calm. Their expressions changed drastically!

Just the snake’s head was so terrifying, so how large would the body of the snake be?

What was even more terrifying was the presence exuded by this enormous figure was almost enough to make them suffocate.

In this instant, Zuo Mo knew that they were not on the same level. Without hesitation, he grabbed A Gui and sprinted towards the cloud river.

“Let’s go!”

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were in sync with Zuo Mo. At the border of life and death, Wei Sheng grabbed Kang De who was trembling. Zong Ru started to move at the same time. Like arrows flying out of the bow, they shot towards the river. Silly Bird who always seemed to most unconcerned had the fastest reaction. With almost abnormal speed, she flew to the front of the group.

Compared with the titanic beast behind them, the ice breath beasts in the river were adorable like pets.

Blue lights flew like rain out of the river and shot at Zuo Mo and the others.

At this time, no one kept anything back. Even Zuo Mo seemed to go crazy, endless yao arts flying off his fingertips.

He dared to guarantee that he had reached a peak state in casting yao arts!

He didn’t dare to keep anything back and he didn’t even have the time to think as instinct took over his body.

Arrr!

The cloud sea behind him seemed to shake. Terrifying power swept across like a gust of wind! In front of this kind of power, the blue lights of the ice breath beasts were weak like candles in the wind, extinguishing easily!

“Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art!”

At this time, Zuo Mo didn’t even look and threw the strongest yao art he knew out behind him!

The wasteland beast appeared!

The lantern-sized red eyes flashed with an eerie light. As the wasteland beast appeared, it destroyed the wave of power that came at them with a swipe!

Compared to the Clear Cloud Python, the wasteland beast was much smaller. However, the wasteland beast stared attentively at the other. Furious battle spirit that was rare to see rose up in its bloody pupils!

The Clear Cloud Python also detected the power of the wasteland beast. It stared at the wasteland beast as lightning gathered in its empty grey eyes.

The wasteland beast crouched and then leapt at the Clear Cloud Python!

The Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art had drawn out all the power in Zuo Mo’s body. If it wasn’t that the three powers could be changed into each other, Zuo Mo could not have cast the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art after casting so many yao arts.

His body suddenly dropped down and just as he was about to fall into the cloud river, he suddenly felt his neck tighten.

It was Silly Bird that had grabbed onto him at this crucial time.

Zuo Mo threw a grateful look at Silly Bird but found to his shock that Silly Bird was rolling her eyes. He instantly became furious!

Zuo Mo’s other hand was tightly gripping A Gui.

A Gui’s face had not changed at all as though she did not know what a dangerous situation she was in. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but reflect that it was not a bad thing to be like A Gui sometimes. Lil’ Fire and Lil’ Pagoda in A Gui’s arms gave off terrified shrieks once in a while.

Grabbing onto two people, Silly Bird was still faster than Wei Sheng and Zong Ru. She kept a secure lead at the front.

The next scene caused Zuo Mo to gape. Silly Bird was extremely nimble even as she dragged the two of them through the rain of blue light. None of the blue lights managed to hit them.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were also dodging but they still had to stop to defend against some of the the blue lights.

A true bird would not show their face!

Zuo Mo’s mind moved quickly as he marveled. The bird seemed more powerful than he had imagined!

Such a good laborer, how had he forgotten it. Waste, such a waste … …

As though she detected that Zuo Mo was scheming something, Silly Bird’s body suddenly dropped.

Zuo Mo who had been thinking of how to wring Silly Bird dry suddenly felt his vision turn blue. The surface of the cloud river was less than half a zhang away from him. He was even able to see the ice breath beasts that were hiding under the ice crystals.

Silly Bird’s action was clearly a provocative one to the ice breath beasts in the cloud river. Countless blue lights headed for his face, their goal was Zuo Mo!

Zuo Mo’s soul almost departed. He watched as blue lights took over his field of view.

Then his neck tightened again and all the blue lights disappeared instantly.

In that instant, Zuo Mo felt that his heart almost stopped breathing.

Zuo Mo instantly reacted and swore, “You dumb bird, fat bird, chubby bird, ge will roast you … … cough cough … … hiss!”

Seeing Zuo Mo disheveled in the air, Wei Sheng and Zong Ru had sympathetic expressions. They carefully maintained a distance from the raging Silly Bird.

Compared to the raging Silly Bird, the ice breath beasts couldn’t even count as pets!

At this time, a great sound came from behind them.

Affected by the tremor, the cloud river seemed to boil and ice crystals shot out of the water.

Boom!

With a muffled sound, Zuo Mo and the others found that the large cloud river under them seemed to be torn apart by several great forces. It broke apart!

They couldn’t help but stop and look back.

Chapter 527 - Thieving Baldies!

Only half of the Clear Cloud Python’s head was left, a portion of the cloud energy had been scattered and swirled inside the cavity. The enormous pain caused it to furiously twist its body. All of the clouds within dozens of li were pulled in and the wind cut past like blades.

Where was the wasteland beast?

Zuo Mo’s eyes were wide as he furiously looked around to search for the traces of the wasteland beast but he could not find it anywhere.

For some unknown reason, he felt a wave of sorrow.

Even though he knew that the wasteland beast was a yao beast summoned using the [Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art] and would not truly die, he still felt a thread of grief. In his mind, the wasteland beast was undefeatable. On multiple occasions, it had been the wasteland beast that had saved him at the crucial moment. In his mind, the wasteland beast was like one of his comrades.

Zuo Mo stared hard at the Clear Cloud Python that was still twisting around. In this moment, he hated himself for not being strong enough.

Silly Bird also detected danger and accelerated. The Clear Cloud Python quickly disappeared from Zuo Mo’s vision.

———

A rare thread of trepidation flashed through Ding Zhen’s composed eyes. He leaned back to look at the enormous body of the Clear Cloud Python and could not move his gaze away.

Eighth-grade yao beast, was something that even he feared!

Ding Zhen felt a thread of regret. He should not have brought Ming Jing and the other’s along. He had not expected the Cloud Sea was so dangerous that it had cloud beasts that were eighth-grade like the Clear Cloud Python. Even he needed to be wary against an eighth-grade yao beast. Ming Jing and the others would not even have a chance to escape. No matter where, eight-grade yao beasts were the top rank of the food chain and powerful existences that yuanying xiuzhe did not dare to provoke!

This was really fortunate this time. If they had been a bit slower when crossing the river, then it would be dangerous.

However … …

His gaze was fixed on the people that had just crossed the river, and murderousness flashed through his eyes. He clearly remembered the wavering in his heart the moment the strange beast was summoned. No one knew the shock he felt at that moment. He did not recognize the wasteland beast but the unique desolate and ancient presence on the wasteland beast attracted Ding Zhen’s attention the moment it appeared.

The suicide attack of the wasteland beast what had heavily wounded the Clear Cloud Python caused him to reassess the power of the wasteland beast.

The Clear Cloud Python was an eighth-grade yao beast!

A xiuzhe that could possess such a powerful ling beast definitely would not have a simple background.

Ding Zhen didn’t even think in the direction of yao arts. There was a distance between the two groups and the river was shrouded in cloud mist so their view was obstructed. Also, all of their attention had been focused on the Clear Cloud Python.

Eighth-grade yao beasts, even Ding Zhen had only ever seen a handful.

It was only when the wasteland beast appeared that they attracted Ding Zhen’s attention.

Ding Zhen was considering if he should act against the other. His attitude towards Zuo Mo’s group was quickly changing. He did not know Zuo Mo’s goal in entering the deep of the Cloud Sea but he felt a direct threat. He also was suspicious that Zuo Mo’s group was also going after that thing in the Cloud Sea.

He would not allow anything unexpected to happen on this mission.

But when he met the gazes of Zuo Mo’s group, he suppressed the murderousness he felt because their gazes were full of undisguised wariness.

The other was prepared against a him!

Highly experienced old-timers!

Ding Zhen instantly understood. He smiled like usual and nodded towards Zuo Mo’s group. He then turned with his three disciples and disappeared into the Cloud Sea.

———

Crossing the cloud river safely, they could hear the howls of the Clear Cloud Python from across the river. But for some reason, the Clear Cloud Python seemed extremely wary of the river and did not cross it. Moments later, the shouts of the Clear Cloud Python faded.

The cloud river that had been torn into pieces spread everywhere, carrying along the ice crystals

Silly Bird relaxed her claws and Zuo Mo collapsed on the ground. He was almost completely out of energy. Even Wei Sheng had an expression of trepidation on his face. Kang De’s expression was stunned. He had not recovered from the situation.

“He intended to kill us just now,” Zong Ru suddenly spoke.

Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo stilled. The two exchanged a look and their expressions became grave. They knew just how fantastically sensitive Zong Ru’s perception was.

“There is no good baldy in the baldies of Xuan Kong Temple!” Zuo Mo said hatefully.

Wei Sheng laughed.

“Alive … … I’m still alive … … am I dreaming … …” Kang De’s voice was trembling as he talked to himself.

Zuo Mo and Silly Bird rolled their eyes at the same time. Their movements were in unison and it could be seen that the two of them were about the same in virtue.

Wei Sheng patted Kang De’s back and comforted him, “It isn’t a dream.”

Kang De seemed to be crazy. Everyone knew that he had not recovered from the shock of danger just now and were understanding towards his reaction. Zuo Mo shoved a bunch of ling dan into his mouth, crossed his legs and then started to meditate. Wei Sheng and Zong Ru guarded him to prevent any accidents from occurring.

As the ling dan entered his throat, it turned to a wave of heat that spread through his entire body.

Zuo Mo was the only one that dared to consume ling dan in this manner. His channels were larger than normal people, and the paths his ling power took to circulated through his body frequently differed from normal xiu. He did not need to worry about collisions between large streams of ling power.

He manipulated the circulation of shen power according to the methods on the golden leaf.

The circulation of shen power was more complex than any of the three powers, but its effect was also larger than any spell, mo skill or yao art.

Just an hour later, Zuo Mo opened his eyes. He had completely recovered.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru released a breath. If this was any other person, they would definitely be surprised at Zuo Mo’s quick recovery rate, but the two did not find it strange. In their view, nothing normal happened to Zuo Mo.

Kang De also gradually became calm but his face was still slightly white.

“What was the big thing just now?”

“It is the Clear Cloud Python.” Terror rose in Kang De’s eyes as he tried to keep his tone calm. “It is the most powerful cloud beast in the Cloud Sea. From long ago, people have spoken of it but no one had ever seen it with their own eyes. Many people did not believe it, I also did not think it was real. I hadn’t expected it to be true.”

“Clear Cloud Python?” Zuo Mo’s eyes were thoughtful but he didn’t have any memory of it. “What grade?”

“I don’t know.” Kang De shook his head.

“It should be eighth-grade,” Wei Sheng suddenly said.

“No wonder it was so powerful!” Zuo Mo stilled. Then he said with surprise, “No wonder it could defeat the wasteland beast!”

Just as he finished talking, Pu Yao’s cold snort sounded in his mind, “My ass!”

Zuo Mo’s expression froze.

“Passing the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art to you is a waste!”

“Ha, the honored wasteland beast was killed by an eighth-grade little fat snake, Teacher, oh Teacher, please do not climb out of your coffin!”

“Shaming you even in Cloud Sea Jie. I actually took on such trash as a student, I should poke out my own eyes!”

“The misfortune of the school!”

“The humiliation of yao world!”

Pu Yao’s disdain and mockery was thrown at Zuo Mo him with everything he was able.

Wei suddenly inserted with a smile, “You cannot completely blame Little Mo! The common saying is right, there are no stupid students, just terrible teachers.”

A deathly silence, murderousness spread in the sea of consciousness!

“Little Wei, it seems you are seeking death!” Pu Yao was full of murderousness.

“So sorry so sorry, I know, I know, the truth is slightly hurtful.” Wei’s face was full of innocence and apology but he looked extremely proud.

Bam bam bam bam … …

The two of them started to fight immediately.

Zuo Mo’s face was full of exasperation. These two were really extreme!

He turned towards Kang De. “How far until there are  water cloud embryos?”

Kang De thought and then said, “Not too far, about two more days of travel and we can arrive. However … …”

He halted in speech.

“However what?” Zuo Mo asked.

Kang De gritted his teeth and said, “Daren, this subordinate doesn’t dare to guarantee that there will be water cloud embryos there. Something big definitely happened in the Cloud Sea.”

“En, this cannot be blamed on you.” Zuo Mo waved his hand and then stood up. He said, “We will go immediately to find water cloud embryos.”

Zuo Mo decided once they found a water cloud embryo, he would use the transportation seals and get everyone to leave this dangerous place.

Kang De calmly quieted down. He also knew if he secretly ran away, he would not be able to escape the Cloud Sea. If he followed Daren, he would have at least a small guarantee of safety.

The group stood and continued to advance.

After walking for an hour, Kang De’s face gradually became ugly. He suddenly stopped walking.

“Daren, the road is not right.”

“The road is not right?” Zuo Mo and the other stilled.

“This subordinate is extremely familiar with this route and did not feel it at the beginning but now, this subordinate is certain that the road is not correct! It seems … … someone has modified it.” Kang De’s expression was puzzled.

Zuo Mo and the others changed expression.

He closed his eyes and spread out his shen power. When he opened his eyes, murderousness flashed through his eyes.

“Those damned baldies!”

As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand. A ball of light suddenly exploded in his hand. Light charged into the surroundings. It was the art used specifically to defeat illusory arts [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash]!

The Cloud Sea in the surroundings flashed but did not change. Zuo Mo’s expression changed.

Another [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash!]

Only after the third [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash] did the scenery change.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru had terrible expressions. They had not detected the illusory art that the other had set down at all! Zuo Mo’s face was black. He had used [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash] three times in a row to defeat the illusory spell the other set up. This was enough to show the difference in power between them.

The other’s move was extremely evil. It was just a little illusory spell. If they did not detect it, they would fall! If they got lost in the Cloud Sea, they would not come out alive!

Thieving baldies!

Kang De looked around and then his eyes suddenly lit up. “I know where we are!”

Finishing, he hurriedly walked towards the cloud mist on the right.

Zuo Mo and the others quickly followed.

“The Xuan Kong Temple baldies really do want to deal with us,” Zuo Mo gritted out.

“Rationally we are not in conflict with them unless they have a target? Are they afraid that we will interfere?” Wei Sheng showed a ponderous expression.

Zuo Mo said with a snicker, “They definitely have something they are after. Otherwise, why would they come to the Cloud Sea? Something that can attract a yuanying baldy of Xuan Kong Temple definitely would not be a normal treasure! Since they have involved us, hee hee … …”

He smirked coldly. Originally the two sides were only travelling in the same direction, you search for your treasure, and I’ll search for my water cloud embryo. He hadn’t expected the other to be so malicious and sneakily to move against them in secret.

Xiao Mo Ge’s personality was to settle all scores. There was no reason to slight himself.

So what if they were yuanying? Zuo Mo could not fight him for the treasure but in terms of setting down traps, if Zuo Mo did not have ten thousand ideas, he had at least a few thousand.

Don’t let ge encounter you … …

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and cursed inside.

Chapter 528 - Cloud Messenger

Kang De lead Zuo Mo and the others out of the mist, as expected from someone who had made a living in the Cloud Sea for over a decade.

However, before they could be happy about leaving the mists, they detected the signs of a battle. It was clear that a fierce battle had just occurred here.

Kang De squatted down and carefully examined the marks left on the ground.

He quickly stood up. His face was slightly pale but relatively calm compared to before. “Daren, it is the cloud messengers!”

“Cloud messengers?” Zuo Mo’s face was confused.

Kang De explained, “Cloud messengers are a kind of cloud beast unique to the Cloud Sea. They are fifth-grade and are extremely fast. Their territorial instincts are strong and they react with great enmity towards those who trespass in their territory.”

He had a serious expression. “Daren, there were not any cloud messengers here in the past!”

At this time, Zuo Mo felt a strong sense of danger. A streak of flowing light sudden shot out of the cloud mist and appeared in front of Zuo Mo.

At this time, Zuo Mo’s hand had just started to rise!

This streak of light came so quickly it was like lightning!

Fortunately, Zuo Mo had been on guard when he saw the marks on the ground. The shen power in his body had turned into the three powers. Zuo Mo was shocked but not panicked. His reaction was extremely rapid. Seeing he did not have the time to raise his arm to block, instead his hand turned over and he slapped up in a backhand!

The bright script appeared!

Day Script Palm!

Pia!

Zuo Mo’s Day Script Palm accurately hit the flowing light. The unexpectedly the light did not shatter. The flowing light was like a rebounding ball that used the power of the Day Script Palm to escape. Being thrown back by the strike, it increased in speed and went back into the cloud mist.

Zuo Mo’s hairs suddenly stood up. An expression of disbelief was on his face!

The Day Script Palm that had always dominated his enemies was unable to even harm this thing.

This wasn’t possible!

The battle occurred in a flash, but Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and the others had keen eyes and saw its appearance.

The cloud messenger was extremely strange in form. Four tentacles came out of a flattened body. Each tentacle had a ball of light at the end which shrouded its body in light. When it flew, its entire body was rotating at high speed, its four tentacles extended out to a point. This caused the space shield to also flatten and appear like a dart.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru’s faces changed slightly. They understood just how powerful Zuo Mo’s Day Script Palm was. The cloud messenger was able to withstand a full-on blow and not be damaged. Both of them were shocked. The cloud messenger was also lightning fast!

They were xiuzhe with a great amount of battle experience and instantly recognized the danger.

The thick, almost tangible cloud mist was a great hindrance to their vision but for the cloud beasts it was the best camouflage.

The tip of Wei Sheng’s black sword rose lightly. Zong Ru’s Cross Prayer Wheel appeared in his hand as the two prepared to face a great enemy!

Kang De’s heart was also in the air. Cloud messengers were the cloud beasts that xiuzhe who hunted in the Cloud Sea, like himself, dreaded encountering the most. Ice Breath beasts only lived in the cloud river. As long as they did not go near the cloud river, they would not be encountered. But cloud messengers would be commonly encountered once people went deeper into the Cloud Sea. There were an innumerable number of xiuzhe that had died due to cloud messengers each year.

Even though cloud messengers were only fifth-grade, but with its terrifying speed and in this environment covered in mist, it was impossible to always defend against.

However, cloud messengers rarely left their territories. There hadn’t been cloud messengers here before, what was going on with the Cloud Sea this year … …

Kang De was full of bewilderment.

“Careful, this thing’s space shield is strange,” Zuo Mo was the first to react and shouted a warning.

Before Zuo Mo finished saying this, countless flowing lights shot out of the cloud mist like a barrage!

The sound was like a vast bell. It was not loud and arousing but it rang out like thunder echoing within the clouds. With Zong Ru as the center, the cloud mist within five li suddenly stopped flowing in this instant.

Abhinna: [Truth Speech]!

Zong Ru’s first attack was the killing move he rarely used, the abhinna: [Truth Speech]!

Compared to the time he used it at Nan Sheng Village, the present [Truth Speech] was completely different in terms of power.

The strange space shield of the cloud messengers could not stop Zong Ru’s [Truth Speech]. The flowing lights suddenly stilled. Even though they were not completely stopped, but the murderousness intent had dissipated.

Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng and Zong Ru knew each other well. Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng acted at the same time.

What was the cloud mist most afraid of? Fire!

The cloud mist was formed from water moisture. When the sun rose, the cloud mist would quickly dissipate!

Zuo Mo’s control of fire had reached the level comparable to yuanying. He had formed the Great Day Banded Flame from the Great Day mo physique and combined with the Sun Crystal Seed, he had even been bathed in the shen fire back at the Sun Shen Temple. His skill level in controlling fire was something he could dominate jindan xiuzhe with!

Bringing his hands together, the golden flames engulfed his hands. As he spread his hands apart, the flames suddenly spilled out like a golden piece of cloth thrown into the air and covering all of the cloud messengers!

Wei Sheng’s coordination with Zong Ru was also exquisite. The black sword swung out in a circle. Intimidating sword essence smashed out like a twister! The thick cloud mist was blown away by the sword essence and instantly cleared out an empty space dozens of zhang in diameter!

Dozens of cloud messengers were instantly exposed.

These cloud messengers were also affected by Zong Ru’s Truth Speech but were not visible in the mist. Facing such targets, how could Wei Sheng miss them?

The black void that represented hundreds of years of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s history  showed its power as Wei Sheng swung his sword! Power that was hard to detect with the naked eye pushed and pulled, and caused the space shield of the cloud messengers to creak.

At the same time, one of Zuo Mo’s hands circled as another twisted!

The cloth of flame that had spread and trapped the cloud messengers suddenly tightened!

The cloud messengers gave strong and powerful chirps. They had managed to struggle out of the Truth Speech effects but the domineering Great Day Banded Flame was glued onto their space shields and would not stop burning.

Great Day Banded Flame was a sixth-grade flame!

The cloud messengers were terrified. They furiously struggled in the circle of Great Day Banded Flame and tried to escape!

Yet the tyranny of the Great Day Banded Flame far surpassed their imagination. It tore apart the space shields of the cloud messengers. As the space shields were penetrated, the Great Day Banded Flame started to burn the cloud messengers. The body of the cloud messengers disappeared at a visible rate no matter how they struggled.

In a short span of a few breaths, all of the cloud messengers around Zuo Mo were cleared out!

Wei Sheng was not lacking in comparison. His sword essence had broken through to the peak of sword essence manifestation and was at the door step of “domain”! This was a level that normally only yuanying sword xiu reached!

The black and empty sword essence was like the endless void, deep and without boundaries.

The space shields of the cloud messengers covered by the sword essence started to corrode and thin at a visible rate until they disappeared. Their bodies also disappeared at the same speed.

The combined attacks of the trio had killed hundreds of cloud messengers. Kang De’s eyes were left wide in awe!

Clink clink, many disks the size of a thumb fell from the air. The trio did not move and maintained their defensive state to carefully examine the surroundings.

Looking at the experienced and crisp teamwork between the three, Kang De had a strange feeling. He had this feeling that Daren and the others seemed very familiar with the dangers in the Cloud Sea. With the three working together, hundreds of cloud messengers had turned to dust with the flick of a finger and was a great blow to Kang De’s expectations!

The cloud messengers were fifth-grade cloud beasts and did not have a true ranking among the cloud beasts in the Cloud Sea. However, their lightning fast speed, and their numbers had caused countless xiuzhe to die in the Cloud Sea. Daren and the others were coming into contact for the first time but had found the cloud messenger’s weakness in such a short amount of time in order to kill them. Were Daren and the others really entering the Cloud Sea for the first time?

Of course, Kang De did not know that Zuo Mo and the other two had experienced a place far more terrifying than the Cloud Sea. On the Sealed Extinction battlefield, Zuo Mo and the others had long become used to the fiend souls that could appear at any time. The number of fiend souls they killed were innumerable.

“What is that?” Zuo Mo picked up a disk and asked.

The disk was the size of a thumb and the material felt like ivory. It was clean white and warm, the surface covered with natural patterns.

“It is a messenger seal, Daren.” Kang De’s tone was even more respectful. “Every cloud messenger would form a messenger seal in their body. The messenger seal has naturally forming seal formations. Many seal xiu will buy them. Other than to study the formations, they are good materials to forge cloud-type talismans.”

Natural seal formations?

Zuo Mo made a small sound of surprise, he brought the messenger seal in front of his eyes and closely examined it.

He quickly discovered something. These patterns that looked chaotic were actually seal formations. So interesting! Zuo Mo’s interest was stirred. It was not the first time he saw a natural formation but every time, they would give him surprises.

Where did the formations of xiuzhe originate?

From nature!

Actually, no matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, everyone’s cultivation method was different but they all were derived from nature, from the world, from copying and mimicking.

Things that had natural formations were among the best materials for forging. Zuo Mo instantly knew the value of the messenger seals.

“Ah, such a pity, we are in a hurry this time.” Zuo Mo picked up the messenger seals on the ground as he muttered, “They are easy to kill, the materials are good, where else would we find something as profitable as this?”

Cold sweat poured down Kang De’s head. Easy to kill? Cloud messengers were easy to kill? The cloud messengers that were the top thing people did not want to encounter had become the most profitable prey to hunt in Daren’s mouth. Kang De was speechless, but thinking about how Daren and the others killed hundreds in a brief moment, he chose to close his mouth.

Zuo Mo was planning to get Vermillion Bird Camp to come hunt cloud messengers. This was definitely a good business!

The cloud messengers in the cloud mist might have been scared by the attacks of Zuo Mo’s group and not one other cloud messenger ever popped out again.

Zuo Mo picked up the messenger seals on the ground and then started moving again. Finding a water cloud embryo was the most important matter.

Kang De once again led the way.

Zuo Mo could feel that they were continuously descending because the ambient temperature was gradually decreasing. The cloud mist became even thicker, and Zuo Mo suddenly found that the patch of cloud mist were formed from tiny ice droplets.

Kang De’s expression became even more grave and his speed slowed down.

Zuo Mo and the others tried to be more aware as they carefully followed behind Kang De. They were prepared to fight at any moment. They may have appeared to kill off all the cloud messengers easily but all of them were wary since the cloud messenger which was just fifth-grade had been able to take Zuo Mo’s Day Script Palm and come out undamaged.

Yet even so, an accident still happened!

Chapter 529 - The Mist People

The cloud mist in front of them was a faint blue. If one looked closely, they would find that each ball of mist was composed of countless tiny faint blue ice crystals. These faint blue ice crystals floated in the air and did not fall.

The blue endless mist sea was like an ocean and gave people the feeling of being immeasurable.

“This this … …” Kang De’s face was pale as he gaped. His expression seemed as though he had seen a ghost.

Zuo Mo’s heart jumped as he hurriedly asked, “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“This … … this is ice mist!” Kang De stammered out.

“Ice Mist?” Zuo Mo looked at the vast light blue mist and nodded. This name was pretty accurate. However, looking at Kang De’s expression, there definitely was something that was not right. He couldn’t help but ask, “What is it? What is wrong?”

Kang De swallowed hard, his face pale as though his face was powdered. “Daren may not know, but the ice mist is only found in one place. That is the Ice Mist Haze territory at the deepest part of the Cloud Sea. How can there be ice mist here?”

Zuo Mo recognized the situation. “You are saying there should not be ice mist here?”

Turning his face, he looked at the vast blue mist sea and shook.

Something definitely unexpected had happened!

He suddenly thought of a question and his expression changed. He hurriedly asked, “What about the road? Would the road … …”

“Daren, the road is gone!” Kang De’s expression was full of terror.

Zuo Mo’s heart sank. “Then the water cloud embryos?”

“This subordinate does not know.” Kang De shook his head. “This subordinate has never gone into the Ice Mist Haze territory. There are rarely people that go deep into the Ice Mist Haze territory. It is too dangerous! Daren, look at this ice mist, they are extremely cold. If one does not have a treasure or enough power to protect their body, then just contact with the ice mist is enough to freeze them!”

Wei Sheng raised the black sword, and the tip sand into the ice mist.

A layer of frost quickly spread on the surface of the black mist at a visible rate.

Wei Sheng shook it lightly and the frost on the black sword disappeared. He raised his face and his expression was solemn. “We need to be careful!”

Zuo Mo saw what Wei Sheng had done from beginning to end, if even Wei Sheng felt they needed to be careful then the danger the ice mist posed was clear.

But … …

Zuo Mo looked at the quiet A Gui beside him, his heart filled with unwillingness. Water cloud embryo! Only a water cloud embryo could heal A Gui!

At this moment, Zuo Mo felt extremely conflicted. No matter what, he needed to find the water cloud embryo but he did not want Wei Sheng and Zong Ru to end up in danger because of him.

Wei Sheng glanced at Zuo Mo and instantly understood Zuo Mo’s intentions. He smiled, “Just mere ice mist, Shidi, do not be nervous. Finding the water cloud embryo is important, let’s go!”

Turning around, he walked straight into the ice mist!

Zong Ru smiled slightly. “Daren, time is tight!”

Finishing, he walked into the ice mist.

Zuo Mo’s heart instantly warmed and he was moved. Seeing this, he did not hesitate and took out a transportation seal. “Your cultivation is too low, return first. This transportation formation will take you straight back to the island.”

Kang De had never gone to the Ice Mist Haze territory before and could not act as a guide any further. Kang De was also weak relative to rest of the group and the ice mist was abnormally dangerous. They did not have the attention to spare to protect him so Zuo Mo let him return.

Giving the transportation seal to Kang De, Zuo Mo took A Gui and walked into the ice mist.

Entering the ice mist, he felt the bone-boring coldness come from all directions. Even Zuo Mo, with his powerful body, couldn’t help but shudder. Suddenly, a wave of warmth wrapped around him. The Sun Crystal Seed appeared above his head and released fine light that covered Zuo Mo, A Gui, and the Little Ones.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. The Sun Crystal Seed had always been silent in his body and never moved. Sometimes, he would almost forget the existence of the Sun Crystal Seed. He hadn’t thought that the coldness of the ice mist would have stimulated the Sun Crystal Seed out.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru raised their own defenses.

Wei Sheng was covered in thin sword essence. This layer was extremely thin and wrapped around Wei Sheng’s body like a membrane. When the ice mist came into contact with this layer of sword essence, it would disappear as though it was swallowed.

Zong Ru held the Crossed Prayer Wheel and slowly turned it. Fine golden sutra characters swam in the surroundings and flicking in and out of view. The strange cold of the ice mist could not break through this seemingly thin barrier of sutra characters.

When Zuo Mo caught up, the three silently took up positions of a triangular formation with Wei Sheng at the front.

“The world is large and has all kinds of wonders!” Wei Sheng said emotionally. “This time, my vision has been broadened by this trip to the Cloud Sea! No wonder so many elders like to travel the world!”

Zuo Mo’s head shook like a rattle drum. “If it wasn’t for the water cloud embryo, I won’t come to this ghastly place! Oh, but the cloud messengers are good … …”

Wei Sheng saw Zuo Mo’s greedy state and he laughed. A strange feeling rose.

In terms of strength, Shidi could be considered a great genius that rivaled him but his personality was completely different than any young genius he had ever seen. Of the geniuses that he had encountered, like the astounding Lin Qian or the many others, they were either had great intelligence and deep talent or they had persistent hearts. Even he himself had only focused on the sword and nothing else.

But Shidi was far from being considered the peak of intelligence. His personality was lively, he was business-like and greedy for money. He learned all kinds of trades, spells, sword scriptures, seals, formations, forging, he learned a little of all of these, and many strange and weird things that Wei Sheng had never even heard of.

If one saw the things that Shidi learned, he was definitely the classical example of what not to do.

But even so, Shidi’s strength had reached a level that was hard to believe.

He didn’t understand how Shidi had cultivated the way he did. Wei Sheng shook his head and laughed, throwing the question to the back of his mind.

“Does Shidi recognize the water cloud embryo?” Wei Sheng asked.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded. He had made good preparations.

Wei Sheng rested his heart. He suddenly realized that while Shidi looked unreliable usually but he never made major mistakes. Thinking about this, Wei Sheng was thoughtful.

The further they walked in, the heavier the coldness of the ice mist was. The blue color of the ice mist increased and the ice crystals that formed the ice mist became bigger.

There were still remnants of cloud grasses lingering on the ground. These cloud grasses had been frozen into little ice statues. They would occasionally see corpses of cloud beasts but they had also been frozen into ice and on their surface was a strange blue layer.

The trio’s expressions became solemn. All the traces indicated that when the ice mist arrived, these cloud beasts had not had a chance to escape.

Suddenly, A Gui turned her head but no one noticed. Her empty and wooden eyes stared into the depths of the ice mist, a purple light flashed across her eyes.

Zuo Mo was slightly worried that the sudden appearance of the ice mist would have destroyed all the water cloud embryos.

Suddenly, a wave of rustling noises came from the ice mist. The three instantly showed wary expressions, stopped moving, and went on guard!

A pair of blue eyes appeared in the ice mist.

The trio felt a strong feeling of danger!

Without any hesitation, the black sword in Wei Sheng’s hands suddenly sliced forward!

The black and empty sword essence tore apart the ice mist in front of them and exposed the other’s true body!

A female whose body glowed like crystal appeared in front of them. She had a pair of deep blue eyes, her hair was a pure snowy white and her chin was sharp it had an uncanny and beautiful resemblance to work of craftsmanship. Her small lips did not hold any blush. Layer upon layer of light blue ice mist spin around her and her body that was bare flickered in and out of view.

When Zuo Mo and the others look down, they were astounded.

Countless blue ice crystals moved on the ground like quicksand. Her lower body was completely made up of this kind of blue ice.

“Mist People!” Pu Yao and Wei’s exclamations sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind at almost the same time.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly jumped and he rushed to ask, “What are the Mist People?”

He had a bad feeling. This was the first time that Pu Yao and Wei shouted in shock at the same matter.

“How is it possible?” Wei murmured to himself. The aloofness on his face had disappeared and what replaced it was deep disbelief as though he was seeing a ghost.

Pu Yao’s face was not much better. His expression suddenly changed as he shouted, “Quick ,run!”

Run?

Zuo Mo’s mind blanked. Not good!

Pu Yao usually looked down on everything. This was the first time Pu Yao did not hesitate in telling him to run!

This would only be one kind of circumstance—the other’s strength was such that even Pu Yao was wary!

In a flash, Zuo Mo’s mind was abnormally clear. He prepared to call Wei Sheng and Zong Ru to flee when something suddenly changed!

At some unknown time, their legs had been wrapped up in slender flows of ice mist. No matter how they struggled, they were unable to move!

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru instantly detected it and their expressions changed. Yet no matter how they channeled ling power, the slender flows of ice mist did not move at all.

The three had hopeless expressions.

None of the Little Ones were an exception and were firmly tied up as well. Silly Bird that was usually the boss had been tied until she looked like a knot.

The mist person looked indifferently at them. The ice crystals under her body supported her and slowly moved her near them.

Zuo Mo knew that they were finished. The difference in strength was too great, so great that they didn’t even have a chance to escape.

“What are the Mist People?” Zuo Mo’s expression did not change as he asked in his sea of consciousness.

Pu Yao and Wei definitely knew.

“An ancient tribe!” Wei’s tone could not recover its usual calm. “They are not too famous, but they have endured. It is possible to see traces of their presence in every era. I had not imagined they would had survived until now!”

Pu Yao’s expression was complex. He was widely read and knew what the Mist People were.

Everyone had assumed that the ancient tribes had died out long ago. Who could have thought that they would see the lucky survivors of an ancient tribe in the depth of the Cloud Sea!

Pu Yao who had received the elite education of yao knew much more about all kinds of secrets than normal yao. However, about ancient tribes, no matter if it was the xiuzhe world, the mo world, or the yao world, the conclusion was unusually in consensus.

They had died out long ago!

Ancient tribe?

This time, even Zuo Mo was shocked.

A tribe as powerful as the Sun Tribe had died out for tens of thousands of years. An ancient tribe had managed to survive?

Suddenly, the gaze of the mist person landed on Zuo Mo and they walked right up in front of him.

Chapter 530 - Ink Jade Bones

In the deathly silence, there was only the rustling as the mist person moved.

“Hey hey hey, let’s talk peacefully, let’s talk peacefully.” Zuo Mo’s heart was shaking but he still pushed a smile on his face. The other’s power was unfathomable to him. Of course, it was possible that this patch of ice mist had unusual qualities.

“Give it!” Like her appearance, her voice was unusually icy.

“Give what?” Zuo Mo’s face was bewildered, “Give what?”

“I smell the scent of my clansmen on you.” The mist person’s crystal-like eyes stared at Zuo Mo. Her voice was glacial and emotionless.

“The smell of your clansmen?” Zuo Mo was confused. There was a scent of mist people on his body?

However, out of the corner of his eyes he saw a flash of purple energy in A Gui’s eyes. A Gui’s body had been gradually recovering, the purple energy that had almost disappeared from her body had seemed to recover some vitality.

Also, the mist person seemed to feel that A Gui was not very strong and the ice mist flows that restrained her were the weakest.

Ever since A Gui had begun somewhat recovering, she had never used her strange power again. But when he saw the purple energy in A Gui’s eyes, a thread of hope suddenly rose!

His mind spun furiously as he hurriedly said, “Ah ah ah, is it that I am a mist person? I’m really sorry, my memory has been erased. Ah, am I really a mist person?”

His intention had been to distract and buy time, but when he finished speaking, even he felt it was possible that he really was a mist person. His birth had always been a mystery, so … …

A rare thread of excitement rose in his mind.

“You are not,” the mist person coldly replied.

The thread of excitement calmed. What rose was a thread of disappointment.

“Then I do not know.”

A thread of puzzlement flashed through the mist person’s sapphire eyes. Her head bowed, she sank into thought.

Suddenly, an unique vibration came from his ring. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but make a sound of surprise.

The mist person was attracted by Zuo Mo’s exclamation and raised her head.

At this time, the ice mist chains on the silent A Gui, suddenly shattered without warning! Pia, the ice mist flows shattered into a light blue icy mist!

A Gui’s right hand was slightly raised as her body twisted strangely on the spot. She was like a puppet that was pulled into a strange position as the purple light in her eyes brightened!

There was no sound, no light. The mist person in front of Zuo Mo seemed to be robbed of strength, her body softening as she fainted on the ground.

The ice mist flows around Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng and Zong Ru instantly dissipated.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru seemed to be relieved of a great burden. Their eyes were shocked as they stared at A Gui. A Gui did not detect their stares as though she had not done a thing and stood quietly next to Zuo Mo.

Wei Sheng asked Zuo Mo, “Has A Gui recovered?”

“I don’t know.” Zuo Mo spread his hand with a grimace.

The shock he was feeling far surpassed Wei Sheng and Zong Ru. It was like a tsunami occurring in his mind. He almost didn’t dare to believe his eyes! This was not the first time he saw A Gui fight but before this, Zuo Mo had been like other people, and did not know the method A Gui fought with.

But this time, he recognized it!

Shen power!

What A Gui was using was shen power!

A kind of shen power that was completely different from his sun shen power but it was undoubtedly shen power!

In the past, Zuo Mo had cultivated the three powers but knew nothing about shen power so he hadn’t recognized that what A Gui used was shen power. Now that what he was cultivating was shen power, he could immediately see that A Gui was using shen power.

There were no words that could describe the shock Zuo Mo was feeling at this moment. A Gui actually cultivated shen power! At this time, countless questions flooded his mind.

All the clues pointed to the fact that he and A Gui had an unknown connection. It was very probable that she knew of his past. Even the five element glass bead inside his body seemed to have a certain connection to A Gui.

He could cultivate ling power, he was able to cultivate mo physique, he was even able to enter the Ten Finger Prison. These clues that had been ignored in the past suddenly became so clear!

Then there was the Soul Setting Divine Light, and the sun shen power that were also of the same mold!

His birth definitely had a close connection to shen power!

But … …

Zuo Mo bit down on his lips, his expression changing.

Shen power had disappeared a long time ago!

Suddenly recalling  that the Four Realms hunted the descendants of ancient tribes, Zuo Mo unconsciously shuddered!

Then thinking about how someone had changed his appearance and erased his mind, a dark and dangerous presence suddenly rose as though it was a figure barely discernable in the thick mist.

Was it … …

Zuo Mo’s heart shook and he did not dare to keep thinking.

He remembered all of his questions. He definitely was going to get to the bottom of all of them! His gaze landed on A Gui standing quietly by him and his gaze softened.

The image of A Gui blocking attacks for him with her own body was still clear in his mind, as though it was yesterday.

No matter what, he had to find a water cloud embryo!

Resuming his normal composure, Zuo Mo’s gaze became determine again. Wei Sheng and Zong Ru who had been paying attention to Zuo Mo all this time finally released a breath. Seeing the two’s expressions, Zuo Mo did not want them to worry and smiled.

At this time, he suddenly recalled the strange vibration that had come from his ring.

He hurriedly started to rummage through his ring.

It was this!

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly contracted!

At some unknown time, the pile of bones in the corner of the ring had become a bright red like burning hot metal!

Ink jade bones!

The strange vibration just now had come from the ink jade bones!

Shocked, Zuo Mo took out all the ink jade bones. As the dark red ink jade bones were taken out, the ice mist that flooded the surroundings suddenly rushed towards the ink jade bones like sharks scenting blood.

This pile of ink jade bones in front of Zuo Mo seemed to be a powerful whirlpool or a bottomless hole that kept on consuming ice mist.

Sss sss sss!

The ice mist that was being pulled in turned to slender flows that howled.

Zuo Mo and the others were amazed.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were alright. Even though they were astounded, they did not know about all the events of the Sun Shen Temple and just thought the ink jade bones were a treasure. Zuo Mo truly jumped in fright. No one knew better than him about the origins of the ink jade bones. That was something he had found in the Burning Shen Realm of the Sun Shen Temple. At that time, he had seen the ink jade bones were of a good color and special quality. He had thought it was a treasure since it was not rotted after tens of thousands of years so he kept them until now.

Thinking about the “presence of clansmen” that the mist person had just mentioned, and then looking at this spectacular scene, Zuo Mo instantly understood. The ink jade bones were most likely an ancestor of the mist person. Then they had been captured by the Sun Shen Temple and jailed in the Burning Shen Realm.

The mist person who had been unconscious suddenly woke up with a moan.

The trio’s expressions suddenly changed and the realized that they had forgotten to check if the mist person was dead or alive! It might have been that A Gui had not completely recovered or that the mist person was too strong that this was the first time Zuo Mo had seen someone survive A Gui’s attack!

A Gui’s eyes were completely dim now and had reverted back to the usual woodenness. She did not react at all to the awakening mist person!

Damn it!

The three were just going to act, especially Zuo Mo. He was preparing to use shen power!

Yet the next scene stunned them!

They could see tears on the mist person’s face, they were like the pearls dropping off a broken necklace and fell down. The faint blue teardrops became faint blue beads once they left her eyes. When they landed on the ground, they caused a clatter.

It was the first time Zuo Mo and the others had seen someone cry like this. All of them were stuck to their spot.

“Tears of a mist person! I don’t know how a brat like you can have such good luck!” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao shook his head and sighed.

“Luck?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite understand. Everything that was happening right now did not seem to have a connection with luck.

“The mist people have cold personalities and the majority of them would not cry once in their life. The beads formed from the tears of the mist people are called mist people tears, and was an ultimate water element treasure! Even more importantly, once a mist person cries in front of someone, the person will receive their friendship!”

Pu Yao had great knowledge and described the lore.

“Really?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe it. If this woman suddenly went crazy, they wouldn’t be able to deal with it.

“It is true,” Wei said solemnly. His voice carried a strange emotion. He felt a mixture of feelings upon seeing the descendants of ancient tribes.

Zuo Mo finally calmed his racing heart. Pu Yao and Wei usually were at odds. If both sides agreed it was true, then it should be true.

He gave a look to Wei Sheng and Zong Ru to stop them from fighting. The two did not understand but refrained from taking action.

The mist person only cried for a while before stopping.

Standing to the side Zuo Mo didn’t know how much ice mist the bones had absorbed. The color of the bones had gone from the burning red to a faint blue. The bones became a wondrous glowing blue, transparent like crystal.

Rustling suddenly sounded in the surroundings. The figures of numerous mist people flickered in and out of the ice mist.

Zuo Mo and the others changed expression!

The mist people came from all directions like the tide, surrounding Zuo Mo’s group in the middle

Zuo Mo was furiously replaying that what Pu Yao said, “receiving the friendship of the mist person” and hoping it was true, otherwise … …

The dense crowd of mist people appearing caused Zuo Mo’s scalp to prickle!

The next action of the mist people caused Zuo Mo to be shocked and also sigh in relief! The mist people orderly knelt down like the tide washing over the crowd. There was excitement on all of their faces.

Zuo Mo understood his own weight and knew that the mist people were not kneeling to him. As expected, what they were kneeling to was the pile of  crystal bones!

He hurriedly pulled Wei Sheng and Zong Ru to hurry to the side. At this time, it was good to be perceptive.

Crack, crack!

As he moved away wave of strange sounds came from behind Zuo Mo. Turning around Zuo Mo, he was stunned as though he was struck by lightning.

The crystal bones were moving, all of them standing up. One bone flew on top of another bone, and a skeleton gradually formed. There seemed to be an invisible hand that was piecing the bones back together.

A hair-raising fear that was hard to describe rose in Zuo Mo’s mind. His hair all stood on end!

Chapter 531 - The Tribe Of Mist People

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were also shocked by the skeleton. Even Silly Bird that was usually proud was unusually obedient the moment—the skeleton was not weak! Of all of them, the only one that showed calm was A Gui.

A Gui silently stood next to Zuo Mo and ignored everything happening in front of her.

The crystal skeleton was transparent. Every piece of bone was like a piece of art. The entire crystal skeleton was exquisitely beautiful. When the last bone attached the skeleton, the entire skeleton suddenly lit up with a blinding blue light. The blue light spread in all directions in ripples. The mist people who were touched by the blinding light were extremely excited.

The ink jade bones that Zuo Mo had picked up from the Burning Shen Realm were not whole. There were three bones missing, the skull, a rib, and a fingerbone.

But there was no imbalance that could be seen from this incomplete crystal skeleton as though it even like this it was complete. Wei Sheng and Zong Ru had terrible expressions. They suddenly had felt that the ocean of ice mist suddenly seemed to come alive!

Zuo Mo also detected the transformation of the ice mist. He was astounded. Shen power!

This was shen power!

The shen power released by the crystal skeleton was unusually gentle, so soft that it was almost impossible to detect. If Zuo Mo was not cultivating shen power, and was far more sensitive to shen power than others, he definitely could not detect it!

Zuo Mo was not very shocked that the skeleton was releasing shen power. He had picked up the skeleton from the Sun Shen Tribe’s Burning Shen Realm so the skeleton definitely came from the ancient era. It was normal for the skeleton to have a connection to shen power. What he was shocked at was that the skeleton also still contained a trace of life!

The shen power released by the skeleton was weak and gentle but Zuo Mo could feel the presence of life contained within it!

Even though this presence of life was very weak, but it was truly life force!

Zuo Mo looked uncertainly at the skeleton. Was this a joke? A skeleton tens of thousands of years old suddenly coming back to life … … this was ridiculous!

Fortunately, the skeleton did not change any further. Its light gradually dimmed.

The mist people that had been prostrated on the ground stood up. Several mist people that seemed to be of advanced age carefully went forward, picked up the skeleton, and disappeared into the ice mist.

A middle-aged mist person walked in front of Zuo Mo and made a strange bow to Zuo Mo’s group. “Respected Guests, all future generations of Mist People will remember what you have done for the Mist People Tribe! No matter when, you are our friends!”

Even though Zuo Mo felt slight pain that the ink jade bones had been carried away by the mist people, this also resolved a possible calamity. He hurriedly said, “You are too polite! This was just a coincidence!”

“Speech is unable to express the gratefulness of our clan. Everyone, please, no matter what, come to be guests at our tribe for a few days so that we can act as hosts!” the middle-aged mist person said sincerely.

Zuo Mo was slightly conflicted, “Apologies, we need to search for a water cloud embryo … …”

The middle-aged mist person looked at A Gui and understood. He then showed a smile and said, “Sire, do not worry. We know many places where water cloud embryos grow.” Finishing, he spoke in a low tone to a mist person beside him. The language they spoke was strange and Zuo Mo’s group could not understand.

The mist person nodded as he listened and after he bowed respectfully to Zuo Mo’s group, he turned and disappeared into the ice mist.

“I have ordered him to harvest water cloud embryos. Water cloud embryos are not rare in this area of the Cloud Sea, but there needs to be great care taken with the method of harvesting that few know off. Although the effects of the water cloud embryo are best when they are just harvested, our clan has some special methods that can maintain its efficacy after being harvested,” the middle-aged mist person said to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo instantly had a joyful expression on his face as he thanked the other person, “Many thanks! Many thanks!” Wei Sheng and Zong Ru also had happy expressions. They had travelled for so long and expended such effort, but obtaining their target did not take any effort!

The middle-aged mist person waved his hand and said, “Compared to the boon that Sir has given our clan, this minor matter is nothing.”

He ushered Zuo Mo to the side, “Guests, please!”

Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly became slightly strange. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “That … …”

The middle-aged mist person had a puzzled expression. “Sir, please voice any matters you have!”

Zuo Mo’s old face was slightly red as he pointed at the mist person tears on the ground. “That … … can I first pick those up?”

———

Zuo Mo did not notice that when he said this, the female mist person who had cried suddenly had a slight blush.

The middle-aged person roared with laughter. His hand moved, and those mist person tears flew into his hand. He handed them to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo carefully took them with a wide smile. These mist person tears were good treasures! Things that could receive a judgment of “good treasure” from Pu Yao were definitely unordinary treasures.

Following behind the middle-aged mist person, the bone-achingly cold ice mist seemed to recognize them. It became a serene coolness that was comfortable.

The middle-aged mist person was extremely amiable and conversed while he continuously introduced the mist tribe to their guests. It was fine for Zuo Mo who already knew the history of the mist people, but Wei Sheng and Zong Ru gaped as they listened. The descendants of an ancient tribe that were isolated from the world?

“Then the skeleton is … …” Zuo Mo asked carefully and curiously. He was slightly worried that this would be a forbidden topic but he could not resist his curiosity.

“It is the totem of our tribe, called Lan!” The middle-aged mist person’s eyes flashed with excitement and happiness. He then sighed, “Ever since our clan has moved to this jie tens of thousands of years ago, the totem of our tribe had vanished suddenly soon after. We lost all sense of where it was. Ever since then, the shen power of the mist people weakened gradually so we are only able to live in the depths of the Cloud Sea isolated from the world.”

“Totem!” Zuo Mo finally realized. He had many guesses about the skeleton but he had not imagined it was a totem of a tribe.

When the mist people lost their connection to Lan was definitely when the Sun Shen Temple had imprisoned Lan in the Burning Shen Realm.

The Sun Shen Tribe had declined and its last shen temple turned to dust. Yet Lan who they had captured managed to barely survive.

When Zuo Mo spoke of this, everyone couldn’t help but sigh.

The middle-aged mist person nodded. “So it was the Sun Shen Tribe, no wonder! Even though we are isolated from the world, there are always one or two of our number that are sent into the ice mist to collect information. I heard that the bloodlines of the ancients have all died out on the outside?”

Looking at the middle-aged mist person’s unresigned expression, Zuo Mo didn’t know how to comfort him and could only nod.

The middle-aged mist person was silent. As this news was confirmed, the last bit of hope he had was extinguished. A moment later, he said in puzzlement, “Why have they died out?”

Zuo Mo shook his head. “I don’t know, there are probably many reasons.” For some reason, he did not want to tell the other about the thousands of years of pursuit and killing Four Realm Heavens did to the descendants of the ancients.

He saw the depressed expression on the face of the middle-aged mist person and comforted, “Now that Lan has been found, the Mist Clan can resume its previous strength, that is just a matter of time.”

Hearing this, the middle-aged mist person finally showed a smile. “Yes! As long as Lan is present, our clan can continue!”

He was full of confidence in Lan!

They quickly approached the public gathering area of the mist tribe.

Along the way, an area appeared in front of Zuo Mo’s group, it contained blue pools of various sizes. The sizes of these pools were all different and the water was deep blue. Looking around, it seemed like thousands of mirrors. There were blue balls of mist floating on top of some ponds. It was possible to faintly discern the figures of mist people within the mist.

“These are the mist pools of our clan.” Seeing Zuo Mo’s group show curiosity, the middle-aged mist person explained, “Lan disappeared, we lost our totem and our belief had no place to go, and we were unable to produce shen power. The ancestors spent great effort to create this Mist Pool body cultivation method to help our clan survive until now.”

“Powerful!” Zuo Mo praised sincerely. No matter what, any person that could create their own method were very able.

Seeing Zuo Mo and the others, the mist people along the way bowed.

Walking out of the mist pool area, large sections of blue building appeared in everyone’s view. These buildings were completely blue as though they were constructed from crystal and gave off the feeling of transparency. The walls flickered with light. It was this layer of light that blocked off the gazes of people outside and prevented them from seeing inside.

Each building was not large and could only be called a small house. Other than the material that were exquisite in feeling, the style of the buildings were simple and basic. Occasionally, they could see faint wall paintings sketched in faint grey strokes.

There were more mist people here than in the mist pools but Zuo Mo and the others found to their surprise that the strength of the mist people here seemed to be much weaker than the mist people they had originally met.

Zuo Mo suddenly saw an altar out of the corner of his eyes. The skeleton was on top of it.

The sacrificial altar was surrounded by mist people as they worshiped it devoutly.

Zuo Mo found to his shock that the shen power of the skeleton was stronger than just moments ago!

“It is a pity that we have lost Lan for too long. There is no priest in the clan. We can only worship daily and hope that Lan can recover as soon, and is able to protect the clan!” the middle-aged mist person said emotionally.

“It will be very fast.” Zuo Mo strangely followed up.

The middle-aged mist person paused and then smiled.

When he finished saying this, Zuo Mo suddenly seemed to feel something. The skeleton on the sacrificial altar seemed to be looking at him! This discovery caused his heart to jump but when he looked closely, the feeling had disappeared.

Zuo Mo smiled. It seemed that he was really too nervous. Lan didn’t even have a skull, and no eyes, how could Lan be looking at him?

Shaking his head and smiling, he followed the middle-aged mist person to walk towards the largest building.

“This is the conference room of the clan.” The middle-aged mist person was apologetic. “We have been isolated from the outside word for too long and do not have any buildings to receive guests. Everyone, you will have to make do. Please forgive us for our shortcomings!”

Zuo Mo and the others hurriedly said that he was too courteous.

Walking into the conference hall, they found that the inside had clearly been just cleaned. There was a layer of pure white grass laid out on the ground. The table was piled up with all kinds of fruits and foods. Even though it was simple, it made people feel very comfortable.

Stepping on the white carpet, everyone felt a wave of coolness seep into the body and their minds clear up. Their nervousness instantly eased and their tiredness swept away. It was unspeakably comfortable.

A good thing!

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up.

Chapter 532 - Bie Han

Xuan Kong Temple.

In the hall, Bie Han was prostrated on the ground. He was not of tall height, his figure thin with hallow cheeks and an ordinary appearance.

“Bie Han, how many years have you been in the temple?” A warm and thick voice came from behind the thick cloth curtains.

“Seventeen years,” Bie Han answered after a long moment of silence.

“Seventeen years, time has passed so quickly,” the sect leader sighed emotionally. “You are good, I have seen your improvement in these years and is very comforted.”

Bie Han was silent.

“In the younger generation, other than Little Zhe, only you are able to become a gold battle general.” Heard from behind the cloth, the sect leader’s voice seemed to have a strange power and was so warm it permeated the heart.

“Little Zhe has done well in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. I know you can also do well.”

Bie Han was silent.

“Your killing energy is too heavy, I am worried about you.” The sect leader’s words were full of concern. “Having you chant sutras every day was in the hopes that your violent energies can be dissipated. I had always hoped that you would not be required to go into battle, and hadn’t expected … …”

The sect leader sighed.

A moment later, he said serenely.

“Go, your Ding Zhen Shishu will encounter danger in Cloud Sea Jie. Take the battalion to reinforce him. Ask Ding Guang for information. You may leave.”

Bie Han was silent. After kowtowing three times, he turned and left.

The large doors of the hall closed without any wind. The hall was pitch black.

A voice suddenly sounded, “Sect Leader, do we really need to send Bie Han? He is a dangerous person!”

“This matter is very important, we cannot be careless.”

“Cloud Sea Jie might be an intermediate jie, I’ve never heard of any powerful factions … …”

“Tian Huan was just tripped up there. Shen Wu Hai is not among the top powers of of Tian Huan but he had yuanying cultivation.”

“But Bie Han … …”

“He is a knife, a vicious knife. We have to be careful his tendencies do not harm our people, but now that troubled times have come, it is time to use this knife!” the sect leader said peacefully.

———

The middle-aged mist person noticed that Zuo Mo was interested in the white grass carpet. He introduced, “These are cloud carpets woven from cloud silk grass. Cloud silk grass mostly grown in the deep of the cloud sea and it takes great effort to harvest. But the most difficult step is processing it. It takes several months of effort to process each strand of cloud silk grass.”

The trio gaped.

Just now on the road, Zuo Mo finally learned the name of the middle-aged mist person. He was Bing Yao, the clan leader of the mist people. The female mist person who had first encountered Zuo Mo was Bing Yao’s daughter, Bing Yue.

Finished speaking, he waved his hand. The cloud carpet instantly shrank to the size of his hand and flew into his palm. He handed the cloud carpet to Zuo Mo and said vigorously, “I was  troubled over what gift to give to Little Zuo. Since Little Zuo likes this, then this cloud carpet is Little Zuo’s!”

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and waved his hand to refuse it. “No no no ! This one is already grateful that your clan is helping us search for water cloud embryos … …”

Zuo Mo had just learned the value of this cloud carpet from Bing Yao’s description. If one strand of cloud silk grass needed that much effort to process. Zuo Mo didn’t dare to accept such a valuable gift.

Pu Yao suddenly shouted urgently from the sea of consciousness, “This is very good, accept it!”

“I know it is good,” Zuo Mo responded unconcernedly.

“You know my ass!” Pu Yao couldn’t stop himself from cursing. “This can be used to pass tribulations!”

Tribulations?

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted but before he could inquire further, he heard Bing Yao say with a smile, “Brother Zuo, do not refuse. This cloud carpet can calm the mind and remove mental barriers. We mist people are born with cold minds, and this is useless to use. Processing the cloud silk grass are what our younger ones use to cultivate Ice Mist. We feel that it is a pity to throw it away so we have woven it into carpets. Also, Brother Zuo has returned Lan back to us, and A Yue has offended you just now, it really is … …”

Bing Yao’s speech caused Bing Yue to blush from behind him.

“This cloud carpet is just a token. No matter what, Brother Zuo has to accept it!” Bing Yao’s expression was serious.

Seeing this, Zuo Mo knew that he could not refuse and accepted it. Xiao Mo Ge was usually shamelessly greedy but that was against outsiders. If the other really thought of him as a friend, he couldn’t do things so shamelessly.

He was not black-hearted enough … …

Zuo Mo mockingly self-reflected as he took out the copper mask from the ring. He handed it to Bing Yao. “I found this mask beside Lan. I do not know if this is also something belonging to Big Brother Bing’s clan.”

Bing Yao took the copper mask and examined it closely for a while. He shook his head and said, “The style does not look like an object of my clan. We will have to ask Lan for sure. If it is of my clan, I will have a thick face and accept it. If it is not, Lan will definitely know its origins and I will return it to Brother Zuo at that time.”

Zuo Mo said with a smile, “No matter if it is or not, this is given to Big Brother Bing.”

Bing Yao smiled slightly and put away the mask.

Right after, Bing Yao started inquiring to the outside world. They knew some, but what they knew was very general. Zuo Mo spoke of the wars between xiuzhe and yaomo, and then the Sky-Splitting Calamity, and also the fact that he had taken over Cloud Sea Jie.

Bing Yao listened with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. He had never expected the change in the outside world would be so drastic!

However, when he learned that Zuo Mo was the master of Cloud Sea Jie, he had a happy expression. With this, they, the mist people, were in much better circumstances.

Bing Yao patted his chest and said, “If Brother Zuo needs the mist people in the future, do not be courteous!”

Zuo Mo felt very good about this open and generous mist clan leader. He said with a smile, “I only hope that Big Brother Bing does not find me troublesome in the future.”

Bing Yao roared with laughter. “I think that Lan would not forgive me.”

The two sides chatted for awhile more before Bing Yao bid his leave for Zuo Mo and the others to rest.

“Shidi, what you are cultivating is shen power?” Wei Sheng suddenly asked.

Zuo Mo knew that he could not conceal this any longer and nodded. “En, it is called Sun shen power, an inheritance from the ancient Sun Tribe.”

“So you were the one behind the Sun Shen Temple matter!” Wei Sheng was not stupid and instantly understood. He then asked curiously, “Come, let me try your shen power, I have never seen shen power before.”

Zong Ru’s face was also turned over. He clearly was also extremely curious as well.

Zuo Mo suddenly moved into a strange posture, his two hands crossing and twisted together, his body leaning slightly towards the right as the tip of his right foot was just touching the ground. An extremely hard and yang power suddenly spread in all directions with him as the epicenter.

Wei Sheng’s pupils suddenly contracted. Threads of black energy suddenly floated out of the black sword in his hand as he swung the sword repeatedly in the air. Pia pia pia, explosions occurred at the tip of his sword.

Zong Ru’s expression changed and he spun the Crossed Prayer Wheel. The sutra characters that were shrouded in wish power shielded him from the front.

Bam bam bam!

Three sutra characters exploded before they managed to stop this wave of shen power.

Resting his sword, Wei Sheng thought back and said after a moment, “Such a strange power! As expected, it is different than anything else.”

Zong Ru was also savouring it. He followed, “Normal spells would have a difficult time stopping it.”

Zuo Mo thought and then stated his conclusion. “Shen power can be seen as the product of combining three powers together.”

“Three powers?” Wei Sheng’s expression changed.

“En, ling power, spiritual consciousness, mo skills.” Zuo Mo’s words flowed. Wei Sheng Shixiong was a genius. Zong Ru was low-key, but in order to have cultivated wish power, he also did not lack talent. These things might be of great use to him. He used even more care and energy to explain and spoke of everything he had felt and concluded regarding Shen power. He also told them the basic methods to cultivate shen power.

As to how much inspiration they would get, that depended on their individual luck.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru both sank into deep thought.

The two had already found the edge of power. To them, shen power was akin to opening a window to another world.

There was too much content they needed to digest. Like two wooden puppets, they sat motionlessly and entered a meditative state.

Seeing this, Zuo Mo did not disturb them. He took A Gui and the little ones to sit at the side.

Taking up A Gui’s hand, Zuo Mo hurriedly inspected A Gui. Since he knew it was shen power, Zuo Mo’s inspection was even more detailed and focused. Even though his understanding of shen power was still very shallow, he still made discoveries.

What he was first sure of was that the purple energy inside A Gui’s body was a kind of shen power.

It was a very strange shen power!

Zuo Mo felt that if it was shen power, it definitely would not be normal, but even so, the shen power inside A Gui’s body shocked him.

Dark, cold, strange, and able to consume any life!

The moment the Sun shen power came into contact with A Gui’s shen power, Zuo Mo felt as though he was suddenly pulled into a deathly silent void. There was no sound, no light, no heat!

It was a void that created hopelessness!

Zuo Mo’s mind in that instant was like a candle’s flame wavering in the wind and was almost extinguished!

Fortunately, his shen power was much stronger than A Gui’s shen power. The Sun shen power was innately extremely hard and yang so this difference had saved Zuo Mo’s life.

His shen power was carefully withdrawn from A Gui’s body, Zuo Mo looked at A Gui’s ugly and wooden face. For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo was in a low mood.

His eyes were full of deep worry.

As his understanding of shen power deepened by the day, Zuo Mo was clear how great the effects of shen power was on people. It wasn’t just shen power, the three powers also had effects. Xiuzhe that cultivated fire spells usually had fiery tempers, those that cultivated ice type spells were usually cold and unaffected by emotion.

Such a strange and dark shen power, and the terrifying seal of all six senses, A Gui … …

Thinking about the manner in which A Gui had used shen power before she had been wounded, Zuo Mo’s worries increased.

Zuo Mo had found a long time ago that A Gui’s body was in a terrible state. If it was not for this strange power, it probably would not have survived until now. But only today did he understand the terrifying nature of this shen power!

The scene of A Gui shielding him appeared suddenly in his mind.

That hopeless and deathly void, even just one moment in it caused him to shudder. The shen power had also been in A Gui’s body all this time … …

There seemed to be something weighing on Zuo Mo’s heart and he felt unspeakably uncomfortable!

Water Cloud Embryo!

If they could find a water cloud embryo, he could definitely heal A Gui. Then he would find a way to heal A Gui’s wounds and eliminate this terrifying shen power from A Gui’s body!

It was the first time Zuo Mo felt that time was passing by so slowly.

Each day was like a year.

Chapter 533 - Sin Battalion

Bie Han turned his head back to look at the temple floating in the sky. The tower peaks could be faintly discerned sticking out from the top of the clouds.

By his side, a strange battalion was standing silently.

This battalion was extremely strange. Some of them had cow heads, others horse bodies, some had rhinoceros horns growing out of their foreheads. Any xiuzhe that saw this battalion would be in a for a great show. Mo, these people were all mo!

They were motionless like statues, their eyes dull and a deathly grey-white. Golden seal scripts covered their bodies like beautiful tattoos.

This battalion was one of the most famous battalions of Xuan Kong Temple. It had a strange name—Sin Battalion!

Bie Han turned his gaze away and led at the front. The entire battalion slid past like water.

“Cloud Sea Jie … …” Bie Han said lightly to himself. The surroundings were completely silent.

In Sin Battalion, there were no vice commanders.

———

Zuo Mo suppressed the urgency he felt and kept his expression calm as he talked about all kinds of topics with Clan Leader Bing Yao. The young people in the clan liked to crowd around the two of them and listen to the stories. After being kept in isolation for so long, they were full of curiosity about the outside world.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru woke up from their meditation. Both of their presences showed clear changes. Zuo Mo was extremely happy. It seemed that his words had been of some help to them even though he did not know how great of gains they achieved.

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru saw that Zuo Mo was surrounded by many people, so they went into the corner to keep on pondering about shen power.

Fortunately, Zuo Mo had gone to many places and was comparatively experienced. Otherwise, he would have run out of topics long ago.

No matter what Zuo Mo said, the young mist people listened with great interest.

Suddenly, a figure stumbled in. On his back was an unconscious mist person. Zuo Mo’s pupils contracted. This was the individual who had been sent to harvest water cloud embryos that day!

Bing Yao’s expression suddenly darkened. With a flash, he appeared in front of the wounded mist person. A blue energy flashed on his hand as he carefully examined the other person.

Then he questioned the mist person who had carried the wounded companion with a stern tone. He was inquiring in great detail but due to the difference in language, Zuo Mo did not understand.

After finishing, Bing Yao raised his head and explained to Zuo Mo, “Someone fought and injured him. People are travelling into the restricted land.”

Zuo Mo suddenly recalled the group from Xuan Kong Temple and his heart jumped. He hurriedly asked, “Big Brother Bing, will you allow my fellow to examine this person’s injuries?”

Bing Yao nodded and retreated to the side. Zuo Mo indicated for Zong Ru to come forward. Zong Ru put his hand on the injured mist person and then after a few moments, he nodded towards Zuo Mo.

“Has Brother Zuo discovered something?” Seeing this, Bing Yao couldn’t resist asking.

Seeing Zong Ru nodded, Zuo Mo instantly understood and explained, “On our way, we encountered four dhyana xiu from Xuan Kong Temple. Based on the injuries of this brother, he was wounded by a dhyana xiu. I speculate that it could be the four dhyana xiu from Xuan Kong Temple.”

“Xuan Kong Temple!” Bing Yao’s face darkened. In the recent days, Zuo Mo had been introducing the state of the outside world to them. He had a general understanding of what Xuan Kong Temple was.

Bing Yao did not hesitate and said decisively, “No matter what, this clan will fight to the last remaining member and will not allow anyone to enter the restricted lands!”

Finishing, several mist people ran out of the conference hall. Strange howls sounded in all directions.

Hearing the howls, large numbers of mist people warriors gathered like the tide from all directions in the conference hall.

As Bing Yao spoke to them, all of the mist people had murderousness on their faces.

“Brother Zuo, your group can first stay … …” Bing Yao eased his tone as he turned to Zuo Mo to speak.

“Big Brother Bing is too polite!” Zuo Mo said with a serious expression. “This little brother has been waiting for an opportunity! Big Brother Bing does not know, but this group of thieving baldies have tried to entrap us on our way through the Cloud Sea. I have been thinking about how to get even, and this opportunity has delivered itself! Also, this brother was wounded in the pursuit of finding water cloud embryos for us. There is no honorable rationale for us to stand back and only observe!”

Bing Yao’s eyes were filled with an admiring light. He patted Zuo Mo’s shoulder heavily. “Good! I will accept you as a brother! Go! Let us go together! Hmph! Xuan Kong Temple!”

———

“Shishu, the person just now was so strange,” Ming Jing said with lingering shock. The blue figure had been like a ghost. If Shishu had not attacked and heavily injured the other, they would not be safe and uninjured now.

Ding Zhen whose expression was usually warm was now extremely dark. He squeezed out through his teeth, “That is a mist person!”

The three disciples were frightened by the viciousness of Ding Zhen’s face. A long while later, someone asked carefully, “Shishu, what is the mist person?”

“The remanent bastards of an ancient line!” Ding Zhen noticed the expressions of the three disciples and releaxed his expression. “Remember for the future. If you encounter members of ancient descent lines, report them to the sect!”

The three were stunned by Ding Zhen’s stern tone and nodded in compliance.

Ding Zhen suddenly closed his mouth. He had hit that mist person with his attack but had not found the corpse afterwards. He definitely had fellows that helped him escape!

Was it a mist person tribe?

Ding Zhen became alert. If that was true, then this trip was really worth it! Even if he did not find that object, just the discovery of the  mist people tribe would be enough for the sect to reward him.

He started to cast a spell and his ling power shifted slightly. A circle of golden light flashed at his fingertips. Ding Zhen opened his eyes and sighed inwardly. The ice mist was slightly strange. He was unable to deliver any message to the outside and back to the sect!

Ding Zhen became wary. These descendant of ancients most likely had a few tricks if they  had managed to survive until now.

Xuan Kong Temple was full of experts and the division of responsibilities was extremely fine. Specialized matters were taken care of by specialized people. Ding Zhen had never participated in this kind of mission. Truthfully, if they had not been the closest ones to Cloud Sea Jie, they would not have received this mission.

No matter what, it was most important to finish the mission.

“Be careful, let’s go.” Ding Zhen said heavily. “The matter this time is strange. If something goes wrong, turn and run. Do not hesitate, understand?”

Ding Zhen was not a person who held power or status in the sect, otherwise, he would not have been sent out on such a low-level mission, taking disciples out to gain experience. It was not that his power was not enough, but that he was not well-liked by the main decision-makers of the sect. He did not want anything to happen to the disciples on his watch.

The protocols of the sect were strict. If there were not any orders, the punishment for fleeing was very heavy.

“Yes, Shishu!” The three hurriedly replied.

———

Bie Han carefully browsed the information in the jade scroll. This was the fifteenth time.

The information had been gathered by the sect, and included all kinds of information about Turtle Island. Bie Han could see that the sect had not been paying attention to Turtle Island for too long of a time. It should have just started gathering information a few days ago. Otherwise, the information would not be so sparse.

Bie Han knew the power of the sect in gathering intelligence. Given enough time, they could find almost any information that could be imagined.

There was nothing special in the report on Cloud Sea Jie. This was a remote intermediate jie and did not have a significant faction in the past.

The main point of the intelligence report was on this faction called “Turtle Island.” This faction was very strong and had defeated a mo army!

Seeing the words “mo army,” Bie Han’s pupils uncontrollably contracted even though this was the fifteenth time.

The scale of the mo army was unknown but none of the local powers were able to stop them which had caused the entire jie to flee. The situation was only improved when Turtle Island stepped up and said they were going to fight the mo army.

Cloud Sea Jie was remote and did not have many products so it had not attracted attention in the past. None of the tendrils of the Four Realms had reached this place. One of the most important reasons for this was that Cloud Sea Jie did not have a jie master. Up until now, the jie key of Cloud Sea Jie was still undiscovered. This attracted Bie Han’s attention.

The jie key was of crucial importance to every jie. For every person, this meant peerless wealth! Possessing the jie key granted the ability to see the ling veins and ores in the jie. Other than that, the jie key could also control the ling energy of the jie.

Usually, the jie key would be found soon after a jie was discovered. The xiuzhe which flooded in would crazily search for the jie key. It was wealth that could drive people insane.

Strangely, the jie key of Cloud Sea Jie had not been found yet, and the history of xiuzhe residence on Cloud Sea Jie was uncertain but definitely over one thousand years. It was impossible that no one had searched for the jie key during such a long period time. Only by possessing the jie key will one become the true master of Cloud Sea Jie.

Bie Han was speculating to the true intentions of the sect.

The sect leader said that it was to help Ding Zhen but Bie Han did not believe him at all. He knew Ding Zhen’s status in the sect. It was a joke that the sect leader would send a battalion just to help Ding Zhen.

Also, they had let him venture out.

After he had gotten his gold battle general jade medal, he had been forced into house arrest and to chant sutras everyday. No one appeared to be guarding the door but Bie Han knew that there were countless pairs of eyes staring at his little yard from the shadows.

There were elders in the sect that said he was blood-thirsty. Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but smile coldly.

Jiang Zhe appeared handsome and gentle, but he was not soft when he started to kill. He never heard of any elder calling Jiang Zhe bloodthirsty.

All of this was just because … …

He suddenly turned his head and looked at the Sin Battalion in front of him. The golden restrictive sutra characters were as blinding as sunlight in his eyes.

A beat later, he took his gaze away and thought deeply without any expression on his face.

The sect had even prepared transportation formations for him to be transported directly into Cloud Sea Jie. The expenditure for this mission was astounding, and it was possible to see how much the sect prioritized this.

To transport directly into Cloud Sea Jie… …

The sect had sent spies into Cloud Sea Jie a long time ago.

What were they planning.

Only when the light of the transportation formation entered his eyes did he break free of his thoughts.

Several dhyana xiu were standing by the transportation. The one that was the leader stepped forward and said respectfully, “Bie Han Daren, the transportation formation has been prepared. You can depart at any time.”

Bie Han did not even look at the other. He walked directly towards the transportation formation expressionlessly.

The Sin Battalion was behind him and silent as though they were dead.

Chapter 534 - Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain

Everyone travelled quickly through the ice mist. The mist people were born living in the ice mist and had methods to freely move within it.

Zuo Mo could see some hints as to what method they used. The mist people beside him formed thin ice mist shield. These rhombus ice mist shields allowed them to skate through the ice mist.

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted. He consciously started to mimic the mist people. He was unable to manipulate the ice mist but he had other methods. At the beginning, he failed completely, but as the number of failures increased, Zuo Mo slowly found the method.

At the beginning, he used ling power, but he quickly found that ling power was expended quickly. Then he switched to spiritual consciousness, it was also expended quickly. In the end, he found that shen power was the most effective and its expenditure was almost negligible. However, it was much harder to control shen power than ling power and spiritual consciousness. Zuo Mo could only barely maintain it.

Wei Sheng quickly noticed what Zuo Mo was doing. With a glance, he understood. Wei Sheng was extremely intelligent and his skill in sword essence very high. He was not a jack of all trades like Zuo Mo and quickly grasped the trick. He used the sword essence to form a rhombus shield around him and his speed suddenly increased!

Wei Sheng’s display stunned Bing Yao and the others.

Bing Yao suddenly snorted coldly. “In the front, I’ve found him!”

———

Ding Zhen suddenly had a feeling of danger. He stopped in his steps, his expression changed abruptly, as he shouted at the trio of disciples, “Quick, run!”

The trio stilled and their faces paled. They were not slow in their reaction, turning and then running in three different directions!

There were sounds of rustling.

Three blue lights flew out of the ice mist and accurately struck the three disciples. Blue ice mist spread at a visible rate. Their terrified expressions froze on their faces as they turned into ice statues.

Pia pia pia!

The three ice statues smashed to the ground and instantly shattered.

Ding Zhen glared angrily, his eyes bloodshot. However, he did not counter-attack and shot towards the ice mist!

His heart was full of shock. He had to pass this news back to the sect! There was a mist people tribe of such scale!

“Want to run?” Bing Yao’s face was full of murderousness. With a cold snort, he pointed at the ice mist.

Hiss hiss!

Two light sounds hissed like poisonous snakes as the the mist shifted.

Two thin strands of ice mist shot towards Ding Zhen. Two burning rays of blue light penetrated Ding Zhen’s body in an instant.

Yet Bing Yao’s expression suddenly changed slightly.

Ding Zhen’s figure slowly faded within the ice mist until it disappeared. What had been penetrated was just his after-image!

“Everyone, step back!” Bing Yao suddenly said.

The mist people retreated like the tide leaving Bing Yao to stand at the front. Zuo Mo and the others also retreated to one side but Zuo Mo was more thoughtful. Zuo Mo and his group retreated to the flanks to prevent the other from running away.

Ding Zhen’s figure slowly appeared. He stared tightly at Bing Yao and slowly spoke, “I had not expected to encounter ancient descendants. Ding Zhen is very fortunate!”

Bing Yao was unaffected and said coldly, “Why have you trespassed into our restricted lands?”

“Restricted lands?” Ding Zhen’s eyelids jumped, “So that object is on your hands!”

“That object?” Bing Yao’s gaze focused.

“Haha,” Ding Zhen smiled faintly, “Do not waste words. I see that all the people here only you are close to me in strength. It will depend solely on Sir’s strength if you can keep me here.”

Bing Yao did not speak. He spread his arms, his fingers spread wide. Ten blue rays of light dangled from his fingertips like ten blue threads of light.

Ding Zhen’s talisman was extremely unique. It was the wooden fish he usually used when chanting. The wooden fish was completely black and covered in miniscule vermillion sutra characters. The wooden mallet was also filled with squiggly sutra characters.

A wooden fish, Muyu or Mokugyo, is a wooden percussion instrument used by monks during rituals involving the recitation of sutras, mantras, or other Buddhist texts.

The moment Ding Zhen took out the wooden fish, Zuo Mo and the others changed expression!

Seventh-grade talisman!

This was definitely a seventh-grade talisman!

It was not surprising that Ding Zhen had a seventh-grade talisman. No one would believe that a yuanying xiuzhe from Xuan Kong Temple would not have a seventh-grade talismans. Zuo Mo and the others knew the power of a seventh grade talisman. Zong Ru’s prayer wheel was a seventh-grade talisman.

Both were seventh-grade talismans but the power they had in the hands of jindan and yuanying was drastically different. Seventh-grade talismans were the top talismans jindan could use and due to limitations in cultivation, jindan xiuzhe usually could only express twenty percent of a seventh-grade talisman’s potential, the great majority could only use one-tenth. Yuanying xiuzhe could use all the potential of a seventh-grade talisman.

The strength of a xiuzhe depended on many factors. Ling power, the quality of the spell cultivated, the depth of personal understanding, talismans etc, but the chasm in power between yuanying and jindan was one that was uncrossable. No matter in what skill, yuanying xiuzhe had an absolute advantage.

So when he saw the wooden fish that Ding Zhen took out was a seventh-grade talisman, Zuo Mo instantly had a bad feeling.

The destruction that a yuanying xiuzhe pushed to the edge could release … …

Looking at Ding Zhen that was holding the wooden fish and mallet with a grave expression, Zuo Mo could only hope that Bing Yao would be able to withstand the attack.

Yuanying was still something that made him feel unconfident … …

Zuo Mo tried to keep his expression calm but Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were full of fighting spirit.

Ding Zhen sat down on the ground as though he was not surrounded. He put the wooden fish next to him, his head bent low and his eyes looked down as he started to drum against the fish and chant.

Bom bom bom!

The sounds from the wooden fish seemed to come from the ancient temples in deep valleys and were just faintly discernable.

The light in the surroundings slowly dimmed. The blueness of the ice mist in their view was consumed by a darkness. Figures seemed to walk out of the darkness and solidify. Those were dhyana xiu half-dressed in monk robes with exposed shoulders. These figures did not seem to see Zuo Mo’s group, and bent at their waists. A dot of candle light lit up in empty space.

The dhyana xiu continued to bend down, and ignite candle fires.

The dots of candle fire lit up one after another, swaying like the stars in the sky.

Waves of Buddhist song came from the figures candle lights.

Zuo Mo’s face was full of astonishment. Wei Sheng tightly gripped the black sword as excitement pulsed furiously in his eyes. He murmured to himself, “Is this the true [Domain]?”

“Domain?” Zuo Mo recovered from his shock. Hearing this, he was stunned. “He’s a sword xiu?”

Zuo Mo only knew that domain was a high level of sword essence. Eldest Shixiong had reached the edge of comprehending it.

“Not a sword xiu,” Wei Sheng’s burning gaze did not move as he said gravely, “No matter if it is sword xiu, seal xiu, dhyana xiu, when they cultivate to a certain stage, the paths all merge together with the comprehension of [Domain]!”

Zong Ru explained at this time, “The dhyana xiu call this the [Great Freedom].” His tone exposed his longing. His comprehension ability was not as high as Wei Sheng. Even though he possessed the rare wish power, his level was not high and he had not reached the stage of [Domain] yet.

Zuo Mo did not blush at his own ignorance of cultivation. He rubbed his chin and asked, “Is this an illusion? This thieving baldy is skilled in illusory spells, we almost got tricked on the way here!”

“It is not an illusory art.” Wei Sheng shook his head and struggled, “I do not know how to explain but he is very powerful. We need to be careful.”

“A yuanying thieving baldy is still a yuanying!” Zuo Mo agreed.

“No, that is not what I mean.” Wei Sheng shook his head again. “[Domain] is a dividing line. There is a world of a difference between those who have and have not comprehended it. [Domain] is related to comprehension but not cultivation. Not all yuanying can comprehend [Domain]!”

Zuo Mo instantly became nervous. “Eldest Shixiong is saying this thieving baldy is a high level thieving baldy among the yuanying thieving baldies?”

Wei Sheng had a conflicted expression. “No and yes… the implications to our situation  are about the same.”

“How many rounds can we survive against him?” Zuo Mo decided to ask a very pragmatic question.

“I don’t know.” Wei Sheng shook his head. “We may not even be able to stand up against one move. Shidi, your … …” When he said this, Wei Sheng had a wary expression. He instantly halted and then said indistinctly, “That strange … … I don’t understand much of it.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo instantly understood. Even though Wei Sheng did not state it clearly, what he meant was that the possibility they wouldn’t last one move was very high. He instantly said weakly, “Why don’t we hide behind Big Brother Bing Yao? It seems that Big Brother Bing Yao is very powerful.”

Bing Yao was standing in a patch of figures and candlelights without any trace of panic on his face. The ten hair-thin blue rays of light floated in the air. They continuously grew. The other ends of the rays reached deep into the darkness and the end could not be seen.

It was clear this was a battle of a higher level, one that surpassed the abilities of Zuo Mo and the others.

Ding Zhen’s light sigh came from the sea of candlelight, “A branch of the ancients is as wondrous as expected! This one’s Lantern Light Buddhist Domain is not completely successful. Powerful!”

The ground under Bing Yao’s feet was covered with faint blue ice mist in a radius of one zhang. The blue light that it released was abnormally eye-catching against this black sea of candlelight.

Bing Yao’s expression was cold but a hint of admiration flashed through his eyes. “If we were not in the ice mist, I am not a match for you.”

His expression suddenly turned stern as the blue light flashed through his eyes. “But right now, die!”

His hands spread, the ten blue strands of light suddenly brightened and flying into the air!

Innumerable blue threads of light swept through the candlelight sea and the dhyana xiu that were igniting candles.

Everywhere the lights passed an extremely cold frost spread in all directions.

The candle lights that were swept by the blue light did not extinguish. They seemed to stop as though they were frozen. The white frost that came after the lights spread onto the surfaces of the flames. The frost then thickened and encased and sealed the candle lights.

The glowing ice crystals were regular cubes. At the center of each cube was a frozen candle light. The light it released refracted within the cube, becoming bright and eerie.

The ice crystals that sealed the candle lights floated in the air like stars.

Ding Zhen’s brows moved, his expression becoming even more dignified and authoritative.

The red squiggly sutra characters on the wooden fish and mallet seemed to come alive and slowly move.

Suddenly, a golden sutra character flew out of the mouth of the wooden fish. Then a stream of golden sutra characters flew out of the wooden fish into the air.

In a flash, the sky was filled with gold and glimmering sutra characters!

A sutra character floated past Zong Ru, Eyes closed, Zong Ru’s body shuddered violently, and a shocked expression rose on his face!

Chapter 535 - Sneak Attack

The sutra characters were like leaves floating in the wind that scattered into every corner.

These beautiful gold leaves carried the calm presence unique to dhyana xiu and made people unconsciously intoxicated. Zong Ru’s expression suddenly changed and he stepped forward. Threads of wish power wrapped onto the Crossed Prayer Wheel and the talisman lit up!

A circle of sutra characters suddenly lit up on the prayer wheel. The faint gold light covered Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng behind him.

Dong!

The sounds of dhyana chanting echoed!

All of the sutra characters suddenly exploded. They turned to slender golden lines that swept through every part of the space!

The ice crystals that had been floating in the air were struck by the gold lights. With crisp sounds, they turned to ice shards! In this time, the space became filled with ice shards. The candle flames that had been sealed in ice suddenly exploded in size. Each of them were the size of a fist and wavered as they floated in the air.

The light shield that Zong Ru had released was unusually fragile in front of these minuscule golden lights!

The two were not on the same level of power. Innate differences were completely revealed now.

The shield of light shattered instantly. Zong Ru gave a muffled grunt and stumbled back multiple steps.

Wei Sheng’s expression changed slightly. He held the black sword across his body. A hole suddenly seemed to open in the space in front of him. The golden lights were instantly consumed by this hole!

A imperceptible sound came from Ding Zhen.

He glanced at Wei Sheng with slight surprise. He had a high opinion of Wei Sheng before but he had never thought that this youth that looked outrageously young had already reached the border of [Domain]!

Such a genious!

Which sect did he come from … … how did they end up together with the mist people?

Did this sect dare to publicly break the rules of the Four Realms?

Ding Zhen’s praise and puzzlement swept past. In his eyes, Wei Sheng’s [Domain] was crude and weak. Ding Zhen did not hold any real power in the sect, but due to this, he could focus more on cultivation.

Twenty years ago, he had stepped into the doorway of [Domain] and created his Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain. His exploration and perfecting during these twenty years had caused his Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain to grow significantly.

The sect leader of Xuan Kong Temple was one of the rare few that knew Ding Zhen’s true power so even when he knew that Tian Huan’s Sheng Wu Hai had been defeated and retreated from Cloud Sea Jie, the sect leader had stilled believed that Ding Zhen had the power to complete this mission.

The air vibrated as though there was an invisible hand that gathered all the golden hairs of light. It formed an enormous whirlpool that suddenly appeared in front of Wei Sheng.

The hair thin lines entered the hole in front of Wei Sheng.

The hole suddenly shook!

Wei Sheng’s expression suddenly changed. Before he could react, the hole exploded with an enormous bang! Wei Sheng’s body shook but he did not retreat even one step. A trace of blood dripped out the corner of his mouth. Injured, Wei Sheng did not give up. His burning gaze was locked onto Ding Zhen!

Of determined personality, such a good talent … …

Ding Zhen couldn’t help but praise inside, it was a pity … …

A thread of sharp light flashed through Ding Zhen’s sharp and gentle eyes!

Bing Yao’s expression was very ugly. The other’s strength clearly surpassed his. The mist people that had lost their totem had struggled to survive for tens of thousands of years in the depths of the cloud sea. Without realizing it, their strength had degraded!

This kind of degradation was made clearer when they faced a top sect like Xuan Kong Temple.

No matter what, they could not let him escape!

Bing Yao knew that if the other escaped, what was waiting for the mist people was gradual extermination. Compared to Xuan Kong Temple, the present mist people tribe was as fragile as a baby.

But we found Lan!

Bing Yao believed the mist people tribe that had found Lan again would become strong just like they were tens of thousands of years ago!

But that required time … … they definitely could not let this person leave alive!

Bing Yao had never felt such a deep belief before. His pupils became even more transparent and blue as though all impurities had been eliminated. They reflected the burning sea of candlelights.

A faint blue and glacial presence rose from Bing Yao’s feet.

Bing Yao closed his eyes, and raised his arms up high. The ten blue threads of light burrowed into the darkness like roots.

Ding Zhen’s expression changed slightly. He had not expected the other to go all out so quickly! Bing Yao’s resolve caused Ding Zhen’s dhyana heart to waver for the first time.

This thread of wavering and hesitation was an extremely fatal weakness!

Bing Yao opened his eyes. A blue light flashed through his pupils. Without any warning the blue threads of light shattered and scattered!

Everywhere the eye looked there were broken fragments of the blue threads of light. They were like rootless willow branches that slowly fell.

Ding Zhen’s eyes became extremely wary. His ling power furiously flooded into the wooden hammer in his hand.

Dong dong dong!

With every strike against the wooden fish, the candle lights floating in the air would jump and the flames would grow a fraction bigger.

“Karmic fire!” Zong Ru’s face was ashen. He has already been wounded in the previous attack and his voice was hoarse.

Zuo Mo had originally been thinking of how to dodge but Zong Ru and Wei Sheng’s injuries caused him to throw his thought of dodging away. New and old grievances gathered. He stared hatefully at Ding Zhe and searched for a chance to attack the other!

When he saw the Karmic Fire pulsing, he smiled darkly.

Playing with fire! Who was more skilled than he was?

Even if the other was an old yuanying monster, he wasn’t afraid! His road to prosperity had almost started through playing with fire.

Karmic Fire was an extremely poisonous fire of the dhyana xiu. If one was touched, even their souls would burn to dust. Even yuanying xiuzhe feared it!

But Zuo Mo was not afraid!

The Karmic Fire was powerful but it was a sixth-grade flame, the same level as the Great Day Banded Flame. Even more, he also had the wondrous treasure of the Sun Crystal Seed!

The power difference between himself and the other was great. Even if Zuo Mo was more skilled in controlling fire, he would not have any chance of victory if he directly faced Ding Zhen.

But Zuo Mo was such a dark and cunning person, would he face Ding Zhen openly?

Eldest Shixiong’s speculation allowed Zuo Mo to understand the difference in power. Zong Ru and Wei Sheng’s wounds after their attacks allowed Zuo Mo to gain a deep understanding of this difference. There was no chance if he charged from the front. He forced down the battle spirit inside and patiently waited for a chance!

He was like a poisonous snake hiding in the dark waiting for the chance to deliver a fatal strike!

When he saw the candle fire that grew explosively reach towards the thread of light, he did not hesitate to act!

His hands spread apart and the Great Day Banded Flame was released without any restraint. The layers of banded flame flowered angrily!

In the darkness, Zuo Mo was instantly swallowed by the Great Day Banded Flame. He seemed to be made from flame with layers of bright flame around him and was extremely eye-catching!

The karmic fire strangely paused for a brief moment!

The karmic fire was an extremely yin fire but the Great Day Banded Flame was an extremely yang flame. When the Great Day Banded Flame was released, the Karmic Fire in the sky was affected!

This was the most basic conflict of yin and yang in the world!

Ding Zhen’s Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain had Karmic Fire incorporated in it but that was not its primary focus. He had not spent much time on processing Karmic Fire. Dhyana xiu usually disliked the maliciousness of Karmic Fire, a preference which gave Zuo Mo this opportunity.

The pause was extremely short. But in this extremely brief moment, those blue strands of light slipped past and landed on the ground!

Ding Zhen’s expression suddenly changed!

How was this possible!

That guy … … he hadn’t detected any abnormality at all!

Ding Zhen almost didn’t believe his eyes. He had met Zuo Mo’s group a few times, but every time, his gaze was drawn to Wei Sheng and Zong Ru. He had never spared Zuo Mo a thought. In his eyes, Zuo Mo was so average Ding Zhen wouldn’t be able to discover him in the crowd.

But this youth that looked extremely average had suddenly given him a fatal blow!

Such a poisonous personality! He was able to hide for so long. A wave of coldness rose in Ding Zhen’s mind but at this time, he did not have the time to look at Zuo Mo. Those fragile-looking blue strands of silk gave him a dangerous feeling!

Such a strong feeling of danger had not appeared for over two decades!

The moment the blue strands landed on the ground, they burrowed underground. Patches of blue sprouts quickly rose out of the ground!

The feeling of danger increased, so strong that Ding Zhen felt as though he was standing at the edge of a cliff. If he wasn’t careful, he would fall into an abyss. Ding Zhen started to sweat and his face was pale.

He could clearly feel the blue sprouts breaking through his Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain easily like they were passing through soil!

What … … what was this?

Innumerable threads entered the ground and grew into blue sprouts! In almost an instant, his Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain was riddled full of holes!

It had been defeated like this … …

In this moment, Ding Zhen’s expression was dazed. Twenty years ago, he comprehended his own [Domain] and named it Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain. Over the next twenty years, he spent almost all of his time perfecting it.

It became stronger and more complete. He believed that xiuzhe in yuanying could not defeat his Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain!

The Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain that was now full of holes continuously trembled, the candle flames wavering. A thought suddenly appeared in Ding Zhen’s mind, a candle flame flickering in the wind!

He instantly aged, his smooth skin quickly overtaken by wrinkles!

His heart was dead.

The darkness dissipated, the candle flames extinguished, the changing faded. The wooden hammer in Ding Zhen’s hand cracked, the wooden fish shattering into dozens of pieces and falling to the ground.

Ding Zhen’s gaze suddenly locked onto Zuo Mo.

His gaze suddenly became vicious. A black line that squiggled like an earthworm climbed onto his face and was alarming to see!

It was him! It was him that ruined the Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain!

Zong Ru’s face suddenly changed. “Not good! He has gone insane!”

As the warning was spoken, Ding Zhen disappeared from his spot!

After Bing Yao’s attack, his expression was tired. Seeing this, his expression changed but he wasn’t even able to move a finger!

Zuo Mo reacted quickly. Before Zong Ru finished speaking, he detected danger. He instinctively prepared to dodge but he suddenly thought about the two behind him … …

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru were unable to fight. After A Gui had acted against the mist person, she had sank back into silence, and the Little Ones … …

Blood flooded Zuo Mo’s head. He moved forward rather than back!

There was no time to turn shen power into the three powers. He could not worry about such things. Channeling his shen power, his body moved towards Ding Zhen in a strange posture!

Chapter 536 - Sudden Change!

All of the shen power in his body pushed into his palm, and a layer of faint golden light appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand.

In this instant, Zuo Mo had a feeling that he could  destroy anything. However, this feeling came quickly and left even quicker.

The awesome power of Ding Zhen came at him without any finesse. The air solidified, and terror gripped Zuo Mo as he strangled and seemed to be suffocated. Time seemed to freeze at this moment. There were dense black lines etched across Ding Zhen’s face like spiderwebs, and a vicious and bloodthirsty smile was extremely clear. Zuo Mo’s mind was completely blank as he furiously slapped his hands forward!

Boom!

Zuo Mo felt as though he was hit by an rampaging rhinoceros. His vision darkened and he lost consciousness.

His body was powerfully deflected and instantly disappeared into the thick ice mist.

“Die! You will all die!” Ding Zhen was crazy. A golden palm print was visible on the front of his chest. He did not seem to detect it, the presence he exuded shrouded the entire battlefield. The mad Ding Zhen had let his power run berserk while in his death throes!

Everyone watched as Zuo Mo’s figure disappeared into the ice mist but they were unable to move their bodies. Silly bird’s claws were tightly pierced into the ground, all the feathers on her body standing up as she trembled to resist the pressure of Ding Zhen. She looked unblinkingly in the direction that Zuo Mo had disappeared with bloodshot eyes!

The most powerful of the Little Ones, Silly Bird, had a hard time resisting this pressure and the rest were worse off.

–Except for A Gui.

The moment Zuo Mo disappeared, a purple energy suddenly flashed through A Gui’s eyes as she leapt at Zuo Mo!

“Die!” Ding Zhen shouted viciously as he struck out at A Gui’s back.

A Gui did not seem to detect him.

Pia!

Ding Zhen’s hand struck A Gui’s back. A Gui’s figure shook but she used this force to increase her speed!

Like an arrow shooting from a bow, she entered the ice mist.

Ding Zhen did not chase her. He roared with insane laughter! Suddenly, a bolt of bright light was released from inside Ding Zhen’s body. It was like a sharp gold sword that cut through his body!

Ding Zhen’s body froze!

Countless golden lights shot out of his body like he was a hedgehog.

Boom!

An enormous golden ball of light illuminated the entire cloud sea like the rising sun!

Everyone found their visions turned had white and were unable to see anything. The powerful wave rampaged in all directions. The explosion of a yuanying surpassed the power of any talisman.

Every person present was like a fallen leaf that was swept up in the storm. They were unable to steady their bodies and were scattered around.

When the dust settled and the light dissipated, their visions recovered, what they saw was an enormous and deep hole that was over twenty li in diameter. It showed them just how powerful the explosion had been!

The first thing Wei Sheng and the others did after recovering was search for Zuo Mo and A Gui.

The other mist people quickly recovered. It was fortunate that Bing Yao had told the other mist people to retreat at the start. The injuries they received was much less compared to those in the fight, and they now flew within the ice mist to search for Zuo Mo and A Gui.

———

The Buddhist beads on Bie Han’s wrist suddenly lit u,. expressionlessly fiddled with the beads as a voice entered his ears.

“In the Dhyana Tower, Ding Zhen’s candle flame has extinguished.”

The messenger’s voice was extremely aloof and without any emotion. After hearing this, there was only silence. Bie Han seemed to only have heard some news unrelated to him and his expression did not change at all.

At his feet, several Xuan Kong Temple outer sect disciples were lying in puddles of blood.

The light of the transportation formation continuously flashed and was eerily reflected by the blood covering the ground.

A short time later, a brawny figure came out of the transportation formation.

When the incomer saw Bie Han, his expression was excited as he dashed forward. “Your Highness!”

If Zuo Mo saw this scene, he would be shocked and recognize this person—Fu Feng! A mysterious person that suddenly appeared in Sky Moon Jie and of unknown origins.

“This subordinate heard that Stars in Daytime had occurred in Sky Moon Jie and assumed it was Your Highness. This subordinate had not expected Your Highness to be at Xuan Kong Temple!” Fu Feng tried to keep his tone calm but it was possible to hear the excitement within!

“It caused great trouble for you.” The excitement flashed through Bie Han’s eyes and disappeared. He quickly recovered his usual calmness.

“This one cannot accept it … … this one cannot accept it … …” Fu Feng who was such a big person didn’t know where to put his hands and feet.

“Do not come too near to me. There are jinzhi on my body,” Bie Han said indifferently. “We need to return as soon as possible. They will receive notice about my escape soon.”

“Those damned thieving baldies!” Murderousness filled Fu Feng’s eyes. He then said deferentially to Bie Han. “Your Highness, do not worry, everything has been arranged! We will quickly return home. There is nothing big about the jinzhi of Xuan Kong Temple!”

Fu Feng’s tone was filled with pride.

Bie Han turned his head to look at Sin Battalion behind him.

“Your Highness, this is … …” Fu Feng was slightly puzzled.

“Sin Battalion,” Bie Han said indifferently.

Fu Feng’s eyes were wide as he looked in disbelief at this silent battalion.

“I’m taking you home,” Bie Han said lightly to this silent battalion.

———

“Bie Han took Sin Battalion and disappeared?” A deep voice came from behind the cloth. Even the stupidest person could hear the thick anger in Sect Leader’s voice.

The disciple that was reporting was nervous but he still faithfully narrated the events.

He spoke of how the outer sect disciples guarding of the transportation formations were killed, how they were unable to contact Bie Han through any method, and could not find any trace of Bie Han.

The sect leader behind the cloth sank into silence.

This was a deathly silence. The air inside the hall seemed to become solid and suffocating to this disciple.

The sect leader suddenly spoke, “What about the jinzhi? Didn’t he have jinzhi on his body?”

“There was no response from the jinzhi.” The disciple was kowtowing on the ground.

“I understand, you can leave.” The sect leader’s tone became normal again, and the heavy air in the room lightened back to normal.

The disciple released a breath and hurriedly bowed in farewell. When he retreated out of the hall, he found that his back was completely soaked in sweat.

Inside the hall.

“Investigate Bie Han’s identity,” the sect leader suddenly said.

“Yes!” a voice answered.

———

Wei Sheng and the others had terrible complexions.

They had not found Zuo Mo and A Gui after ten days of searching. All of the mist people tribe had been sent out to search every inch of the ground but there was no discovery. Zuo Mo and A Gui seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Bing Yao’s expression was not good. He had not yet recovered from the fight against Ding Zhen.

Looking at Bing Yao, Wei Sheng asked through his teeth, “Is there any news?” Zong Ru and the Little Ones all raised their heads. They had also not healed from their wounds and additionally they could not move as easily as the mist people through the ice mist.

Bing Yao gave a grimace and shook his head. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, “My clansmen have searched the area within a thousand li and still haven’t found anything. I suspect … …”

“Suspect what?” Wei Sheng’s gave focused.

“Suspect they have entered the restricted lands!” Bing Yao gritted out. “They definitely should not have flown out far. There is only one place within a thousand li that has not been searched, the restricted lands!”

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru’s heart sank. They recalled how Bing Yao had been willing to sacrifice his life to prevent people from entering the restricted lands.

The two sides became silent at the obvious rise in tensions.

At this time, a disturbance suddenly came from the door.

A mist person lead an unfamiliar man about thirty-years old into the room. “Clan Leader, he says he is Mister Zuo’s messenger.”

Wei Sheng and Zong Ru suddenly stood up. Wei Sheng’s gaze was sharp as he said gravely, “Who are you? Why do I not know you?”

Wei Sheng’s presence was as sharp as a sword. Even though his wounds had not healed, the presence clearly was outside the limits of what the other could endure. Seeing the other’s ashen face, Wei Sheng realized that he was too impatient and hurriedly dampened his presence.

The expression of the incomer recovered slightly but his voice was still trembling. “This one … … this one is a good friend of Kang De. A few … … few days ago, I received a message from him. He begged me to come here … … to send a message!”

Then he tremblingly took out a jade scroll and respectfully presented it.

Kang De? Hadn’t he gone back already?

Wei Sheng took the jade scroll and started to read it. His expression became dazed and then he handed the jade scroll to Zong Ru with a weird expression. When Zong Ru’s consciousness entered the jade scroll, his expression also became strange.

“You do this, your illusory spells are better than mine,” Wei Sheng said to Zong Ru with a grimace.

Zong Ru’s hands flipped and the message appeared in front of everyone.

The one speaking was Lil’ Miss. Lil’ Miss said they received a message from Zuo Mo saying that he and A Gui were fine but they were unable to come back in the short term etc etc, telling Wei Sheng and Zong Ru to not worry and first go back to Turtle Island to heal.

Everyone exhaled in relief.

Noticing Bing Yao’s expression of release, Wei Sheng bowed towards him and said apologetically, “I was very offensive towards Clan Leader just now, Clan Leader, please have tolerance!”

They had seen all the people from the mist people tribe going out and search these past days, and were grateful yet just now, they had almost started a conflict with Bing Yao over the restricted lands.

Bing Yao said guiltily, “The one who should say sorry is me. I’m am ashamed not have to have taken better care of Brother Zuo!”

Receiving a message from Turtle Island, Wei Sheng and Zong Ru’s hearts were at rest. The information was definitely true. Kang De had never seen the mist people. If Zuo Mo didn’t give him any directions, how could the messenger find this place?

Even though the words inside the jade scroll were general and vague, Wei Sheng and Zong Ru did not think deeply about it. They were very used to anything related to Zuo Mo to be out of the norm.

Since Zuo Mo could pass on this news, it was enough to show that he was in no mortal danger at this time.

This was the news that made them the happiest.

———

If Wei Sheng and Zong Ru knew Zuo Mo’s present situation, they definitely would be worried.

Zuo Mo’s skeleton had almost came apart. Every time A Gui took a step, he felt a wave of enormous pain but he did not make a sound. He had spent ten whole days on A Gui’s back.

A Gui’s situation was very terrible. The vitality in her eyes had disappeared. No matter what Zuo Mo said to her, she did not react at all.

Only when they encountered danger would the purple light in her eyes flare up again.

A Gui stopped walking, put Zuo Mo down and then silently sat down.

“A Gui, do you know what place this is?” Zuo Mo said to himself. He knew that A Gui would not respond but he still asked her.

He wasn’t the only one ignorant. Pu Yao didn’t know, Wei also did not know. He only knew A Gui had saved him. According to Pu Yao, A Gui had been hit by Ding Zhen in order to save him.

Strangely, Ding Zhen’s strike had worsened A Gui’s health but had also stimulated the purple energy in her body. It seemed to become even more powerful but Zuo Mo didn’t want it to be so powerful. Thinking about the feelings of coldness and death from the purple energy, Zuo Mo did not feel good.

Compared to A Gui, Zuo Mo’s state was much worse.

His shen power had dissipated, his ling power, spiritual consciousness, and mo skill tangled together. He was unable to use any power, and even worse, he wasn’t even able to move a finger. The only thing he could do was talk. Any time  the streams of power inside his body collided against itself, it would cause enormous pain.

Pu Yao and Wei did not have a solution. It was the first time they saw such a strange state.

“Ah, I wonder if Eldest Shixiong and Zong Ru received my message,” Zuo Mo said to himself. Then he asked, “Hey Pu Yao, did you really send the message?”

“Stop being bothersome, you asked twenty times already!” Pu Yao’s impatient voice echoed in his sea of consciousness.

Done with his harassment, Zuo Mo threw Pu Yao to the side and said to A Gui. “A Gui, your power seems to have recovered. It is so strange, getting injured causes a recovery in your power. A Gui, if we find a water cloud embryo, would you remember the past?”

A Gui was like a wooden puppet and did not react at all.

Zuo Mo continued to chitchat to himself. “What relationship do you think we had? You have helped me so much, your relationship definitely is not a shallow one!”

Zuo Mo spoke to himself as A Gui remained motionless like a statue.

Four hours later, A Gui put Zuo Mo back on her back and continued to walk forward.

“A Gui, why don’t you fly? Did you forget how?” On her back, Zuo Mo started to speak again. “That stupid purple energy. When I cultivate my Sun Shen power to a high level, I will eliminate it!”

A Gui did not respond as she walked forward.

This was a land of death with only rocks and crags spreading out without end. There was no trace of life. They would frequently encounter sand storms. When the sand and stones in the wind hit their bodies, it was enormously painful.

But no matter how strong the wind storm, A Gui would not change her direction or stop walking.

Her small body carried Zuo Mo who was a size larger than her as she walked against the sand storm. She did not seem to know exhaustion and did not speak. Only when she had walked for a day and night would she stop and rest for four hours.

Zuo Mo was pressed against A Gui’s neck as he was carried on her back. The enormous pain in his body did not seem to be so painful. No matter how excruciating the pain was, Zuo Mo did not speak. For some reason, he did not want A Gui to hear it, even if he knew that A Gui could not hear it.

Even the stupidest person would know that he and A Gui had more than a passing acquaintance. She was probably someone really close to him.

When she did not use the purple energy, A Gui’s strength was the same as the average person.

Her steps were very heavy. For her, it was slightly difficult to move Zuo Mo’s weight.

“A Gui, I’m going to tell you a joke, a very funny joke … …”

Zuo Mo patiently talked to A Gui. She could not hear but for some reason, but still Zuo Mo wanted to talk.

Chapter 537 - Shattered Stone

Bing Yao’s brow had not relaxed in the past few days. It was hard for him to accept Zuo Mo’s disappearance.

He bowed respectfully towards Lan. After the constant worship from the mist people in the last two weeks, Lan’s power was gradually recovering. Lan passed on the long-lost Ice Mist Shen power cultivation method to the mist people, the power of the tribe increased daily. The shadow that had hung over the tribe for tens of thousands of years was swept away. Lan received the sincere reverence of all the mist people.

“What question do you have?” Lan’s faint yet authoritative voice sounded in Bing Yao’s mind.

“Lan, what are the restricted lands?” Bing Yao raised his head and asked.

Lan hadn’t thought that Bing Yao would ask this. He remained silent.

“Ever since we moved here, we have guarded the restricted lands for more than ten thousand years. No one ever knew what the restricted lands are or why we guard it.” Bing Yao’s speaking speed was neither slow nor excited. It was filled with bewilderment.

A moment later, Lan slowly said, “The time has not come.”

“Xuan Kong Temple has already discovered this place. They definitely have a goal or they know something,” Bing Yao said straightforwardly.

“Become strong as fast as possible.” Lan’s sigh echoed in the air.

The surroundings sank into silence. No matter how Bing Yao called out, Lan no longer replied.

Disappointment flashed through Bing Yao’s eyes but he did not probe more. For him, or rather, for the great majority of the mist people, protecting and disallowing entry to the restricted lands was a tradition they had adhered to for tens of thousands of years. If it wasn’t that Zuo Mo might be stranded in the restricted lands, Bing Yao would not think to question this. Even if Ding Zhen had really entered the restricted lands, they would not have followed.

All the signs pointed to the fact that the restricted lands held an unknown secret.

Even something as powerful as Xuan Kong Temple desired this secret. What was inside the restricted lands? In order to become the sect leader Bing Yao had some skill and intelligence. Lan’s words had been sparse but he still managed to deduce a lot of information.

To enter the restricted lands, they were not strong enough … …

Bing Yao’s gaze became determined as he left the altar in silence.

———

They advanced day and night.

Zuo Mo dared to swear that he probably would never have another chance in this life where he would walk so far-that wasn’t right- carried so far. A Gui’s body was on the verge of falling apart, but seemed to contain astounding power. One day, one night, four hours rest, she did not know exhaustion.

Zuo Mo was like a chatterbox and continued to talk. In the past, he definitely never would have imagined there would be a day when he spoke so much.

Lying on A Gui’s back, the bare feet that he had sighed countless times over were trembling and straining with each step. He could clearly feel it. With every step, Zuo Mo’s heart shook. An indescribable feeling spread in his heart to the point he felt he wanted to be silent but he knew that he could not be silent. He kept on telling himself he had to do something.

Other than these meaningless words, he could not do anything.

There had never been a time, Zuo Mo had never hoped and wished like this, wished that he could use the shen power that dominated his body to exchange for one thread of ling power. Just one thread of ling power—and he could create a paper crane.

But there wasn’t one iota.

“Ah, A Gui, I’ve found that you are undefeatable, the more you fight, the stronger you get, the more you are wounded, the stronger you get.” Zuo Mo talked in a heartless tone, “Have you been hiding your power in the past? I’ve always found it strange about why you are so good to me. Did you owe me jingshi in the past? Hey, do you really owe me jingshi … …”

“This ghastly place doesn’t even have any birds pooping here. Did we come to another ancient battlefield? No no no, that was careless of me, I didn’t mean to say that! A Gui, you didn’t hear a thing … …”

“We’ve walked for twenty days and didn’t even see a stalk of grass, this is so depressing … …”

With only Zuo Mo’s nattering as company, they walked for another ten days.

When Zuo Mo saw the streak of green on the horizon, Zuo Mo was euphoric.

“A Gui A Gui! Look! Look! There, there! Oh, Heavens, hahahaha, we’re saved! We’re saved! A Gui! Can you see? Can you see?”

Zuo Mo was extremely excited and his exhales blew up A Gui’s hair.

A Gui did not respond and walked forward.

“A Gui, you are a genius! Oh oh oh ! A great genius! Such a great distance and you could find the direction, you are really a genius! Hahahaha, we need to find someone and then heal. Once I recover, I will take you to find a water cloud embryo again, I will … …”

“You are too excited.”

A rough voice came from behind him.

Zuo Mo’s voice abruptly halted and his heart shook. The inside of his body was a mess to the point that he didn’t even detect someone was so close to him! He was unable to turn his neck and could not see the person behind him.

“I’m very sorry, my body is unwell and I cannot turn my head.” Zuo Mo tried to keep his tone normal.

“En?” The other was slightly surprised. A figure flashed in front of Zuo Mo that said with astonishment, “So sickly! I pity you, little girl, you don’t have it easy!”

Zuo Mo finally saw the other’s appearance.

The other was of large stature and about twice Zuo Mo’s height. His skin was a sandy yellow, and a pair of faintly red eyes were sharp. Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on the other’s arm. From his wrist to the elbow, it was wrapped in a layer of brown scales.

Mo!

Zuo Mo was so shocked he almost shouted. Had he come to a mo territory?

“He is a lizard mo.” In the sea of consciousness, Wei destroyed Zuo Mo’s last hopes. However, Wei’s tone held a thread of excitement. “Oh, faintly red eyes, he probably has the blood of flame lizards.”

“Lizard mo Big Brother, good day!” Zuo Mo wanted to put a smile on his face but his face was paralyzed.

“Hmph, silvery tongued boy, you don’t look like a good person.” The wariness in the eyes of the lizard mo dissipated. The two in front of him didn’t look like a threat at all. His brow suddenly creased. “Where did you come from?”

“The direction we came from.” Zuo Mo’s tone was joyful. “We walked more than thirty days, I almost went crazy!”

“Thirty days?” A hint of suspicion flashed across the eyes of Uncle Lizard Mo. “You mean you two passed through the Shattered Stone Desert?”

“Shattered Stone Desert?” I don’t know. We were exploring some ruins and might have accidentally activated something. As a result, we were transported to this damned place.” Zuo Mo found an explanation that seemed extremely reasonable. His paralyzed face was the best disguise.

The last hint of suspicion in the eyes of Uncle Lizard Mo left and he said with a snort, “You look half-dead, and you explore ruins. You are very lucky to not have died in the Gobi Desert.”

Zuo Mo’s heart eased slightly. This Uncle Lizard Mo’s tone was bold but he could hear the friendliness.

“Let’s go, I’ll count this as doing an act of kindness.” Uncle Lizard Mo glanced at A Gui and complimented, “You, Boy, are really fortunate!”

Finishing, he walked at the front.

A Gui seemed to understand and walked behind Uncle Lizard Mo.

“Uncle, what is this place?” Zuo Mo asked familiarly. Anyone that had talked to themselves for thirty days couldn’t help but be enthusiastic.

“Shattered Stone Town,” Uncle Lizard Mo replied without turning his head.

“Shattered Stone Town … … uh, what jie does this belong to?” Zuo Mo asked in puzzlement.

“Shattered Stone Jie.” Uncle Lizard Mo did not turn his head.

In the sea of consciousness.

“Wei, you were among the mo before. Do you know where Shattered Stone Jie is?” Zuo Mo asked Wei, full of anticipation.

Wei coughed and said, “You know, my masters are usually mo of high status and were nobility, this kind of small place … …”

“Hahahaha!” Pu Yao’s laugh echoed in the sea of consciousness.

We’s skin was clearly thicker than the average as he looked at Zuo Mo with composure.

Zuo Mo had lost control of his body but this did not affect his ability to make expressions in the sea of consciousness.

–Disdain!

Yes, it was disdain, disdain as he looked down, deep disdain!

Pu Yao laughed even more freely as the red-black yao fire danced.

“You two, one of you boasts every day you are a sky yao, arrogant and domineering, one of you acts like a seer, ask me! Ask me! Ask me! You don’t even know where Shattered Stone Jie is, how can you not know the answer to such a simple question?” Old and new grievances combining, Zuo Mo pointed at the pair and swore, “I should have seen the truth about you both a long time ago! One used a stupid bead in the past and preyed on my youth and inexperience, telling me how much jingshi I can make with it, but I didn’t get any jingshi at all! Now the other comes in. Not even speaking of the rent, you always talk about that oath and that noble status. Ha, a person that doesn’t even know Shattered Stone Jie has the qualifications to talk about status?”

Pu Yao’s laugh stopped. Wei’s smile froze on his face. Even the yao fire stopped pulsing.

After he finished scolding, Zuo Mo instantly felt much better. With a snort, he left the sea of consciousness.

Uncle Lizard Mo was not very powerful and did not cultivate a mo physique. However, his body was strong and he strode forward. He noticed that it took A Gui great effort to walk and stopped. “Hey, Little Girl, let me carry him!”

A Gui did not seem to hear him and continued to walk forward.

Zuo Mo hurriedly apologized to Uncle Lizard Mo, “Uncle, sorry, she cannot hear.”

Uncle Lizard Mo’s gaze instantly gentled greatly. He seemed to think of something and was slightly inattentive but he quickly raised his head. He walked together with A Gui and snorted, “You two, one sick and the other crippled. You don’t stay at home but come out to run around, you don’t want to live, right?”

Zuo Mo could only smile weakly. He didn’t know how to respond.

“You guys, fine, you won’t listen even if I talk.” Uncle Lizard Mo shook his head and then said, “You can first stay at my place. Since I live alone, the space isn’t used.”

Finishing, he didn’t listen to Zuo Mo’s words of gratefulness and walked forward.

When they reached Shattered Stone Town, Zuo Mo saw some other mo. It could be seen that these mo were respectful towards Uncle Lizard Mo, and their gazes were full of curiosity as they looked at A Gui and Zuo Mo. However, several female mo looked at Zuo Mo with disdain and unfriendliness.

Contrary to what Zuo Mo had imagined, not all of these mo were lizard mo or one type of mo. This seemed to be a place where all kinds of mo lived together.

Shattered Stone Jie, Shattered Stone Town … … where was this … … ge was going to shatter soon … ….

Chapter 538 - Arrangements

Shattered Stone Town was not large and did not have a large population. The climate was extremely dry, because it was at the border of the Gobi Desert. It was also extremely poor and did not produce any specialty products. The survival here was extremely primitive and rural, the only thing in this place that held any value were the Iron Digging Ants. This was a very practical kind of ant that was well-liked by mo that liked playing with insects.

Every year, there would be some mo that would come to search for Iron Digging Ants. Only during these times would Shattered Stone Town seem lively.

However, for the residents of the little town, they did not feel this place was desolate.

Uncle Lizard Mo looked very brawny but he had a very delicate name, An Ya, In reality, Zuo Mo did not feel this elegant name had any connection with the Uncle Lizard Mo.

Uncle An Ya was very friendly. Even though his tone was slightly fierce, he took great care of Zuo Mo and A Gui, especially A Gui. The hints of sorrow that occasionally flashed through Uncle An Ya’s eyes as he looked at A Gui caused Zuo Mo to speculate that Uncle An Ya had once had a daughter that was like A Gui.

It could be seen that Uncle An Ya held great authority in Shattered Stone Town. He was responsible for teaching mo skills to the young mo and the idol for many of the youths.

“Notice your footwork. Before you learn to fly, footwork is the only thing you can use!”

“Power! What did I teach you? Gather your power together, it will only be strong then. So soft, do you want A Gui to laugh at you?”

The young mo that heard this blushed.

“Work hard!” Zuo Mo who was lying on A Gui’s back shouted. These young mo blushed even more.

A Gui was just the same as before and unreactive.

The youth of the town quickly accepted Zuo Mo and A Gui. Before they were ground down by the world, youths were always friendly and full of sympathy. In their eyes, Zuo Mo and A Gui were sick and crippled. But their worldly experiences had caused the youth to be filled with yearning and curiosity.

A Gui did not react but Zuo Mo who had become a chatterbox was the example of a friendly person. They were quickly accepted into the group.

In the Gobi Desert, A Gui would put Zuo Mo down to rest after walking for one day and night but strangely, after they came to Shattered Stone Town, she never put Zuo Mo down once. Uncle An Ya had tried a few times to get Zuo Mo own but when he saw A Gui’s instinctive wariness, he did not try any longer.

Zuo Mo could only sleep on A Gui’s back. However, what made him happy was that, other than being unwilling to put him down, A Gui seemed to be able to hear some of his words.

Like right now, come out to sunbathe, watch the youth cultivate.

The lessons Uncle An Ya was teaching was extremely basic content. Zuo Mo’s entire body was paralyzed but his eyes were still working. Uncle An Ya’s battle experience should be very high and all of the things he taught were practical. Even Zuo Mo felt he learned a lot just watching.

He had cultivated mo skills before and had even managed to get a mo physique but these fundamental concepts were the part that he lacked. Especially now when he was paralyzed, Zuo Mo would frequently learn many things from listening to Uncle An Ya talk. What was even better was that one day, he found he could move a finger again.

After that, if Uncle An Ya was teaching, he would definitely go to listen. Uncle An Ya did not have any objections as what he taught was not profound content and naturally did not need to keep it a secret.

“Pretty good, Little Dong!” Uncle An Ya complemented, “After a while, you can awaken your mo matrix.”

A boy showed excitement. Dong Zi was the most talented out of this group of youths. He had solid fundamentals and his skill was a notch above the other youths.

However, awaken the mo matrix? Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled.

Fortunately, there was Wei “who had noble status” and knew a bit about this. “Low level mo usually only have low level mo matrixes on their body, and they are not completely developed. They need to awaken the mo matrix through other methods before it can be used.”

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked, “There’s things like this?”

Pu Yao smirked coldly and said, “The mo care the most about bloodlines because of this. The more noble the bloodline of the mo, the more powerful the mo matrix they would have and naturally the stronger they would be. Hmph, this is a succession method that degrades the most easily.”

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a question, “Then can’t they just get mo matrixes engraved?”

Wei and Pu Yao stilled.

“Didn’t Vermillion Bird Camp have formations engraved before? Since formations are possible, why not mo matrixes? Those formations even originated from the mo matrixes!” Zuo Mo said excitedly.

“You can try,” Pu Yao said casually. He was not interested in this question. In the past, he had felt great anticipation about this problem because of his hopes that one day, he could possess his own body. But that was meaningless to him now. He and Wei could not be separated.

Since this was the case, why would he still want to work on the mo matrixes? Was there a place better than this sea of consciousness?

Wei sank into deep thought. Zuo Mo’s words were a blow for him. The mo were born with their matrixes and in their view, this was the power that the heavens gave them. No one had ever tried to engrave mo matrixes before, at least, no one had done it in the eras he had experienced.

Zuo Mo did not pay attention to these two unreliable people. He had many mo matrixes including the Golden Winged Roc which Pu Yao had given him in the past.

He decided to first go see how they actived the mo matrix. He had never seen it before and was very curious.

Also, he had a daring idea.

———

“Daren, tell us, when is Boss coming back?” Lei Peng smacked his lips and seemed to be thinking of something.

“I don’t know,” Lil’ Miss said without raising his head.

“I wonder what Daren is doing, is there danger?” Lei Peng murmured to himself with a creased brow.

“You are very idle!” Lil’ Miss raised his head.

“No, no!” When Lei Peng met Lil’ Miss’ gaze, his head shook like a rattledrum. “Daren, you don’t know, Black Turtle Camp has just started and those greenhorns are so terrible … …”

“I think you are too idle!” Lil’ Miss interrupted Lei Peng. With just a glance, Lei Peng wilted. Lil’ Miss said lightly, “Return and tell Ma Fan that I will be inspecting your cultivation progress tomorrow.”

“Boss, no way … …” Lei Peng was on the verge of tears. If he returned and Ma Fan and Nian Lu learned he had caused Lil’ Miss to come visit… … he shook just thinking about it.

Lil’ Miss smiled bashfully.

“An’s leaving, an’s leaving!” Lei Peng stumbled and crawled as he fled.

After Lei Peng left, Lil’ Miss moved his gaze and a shadow flashed across. Wei Sheng had passed information back. The one they had fought had been a yuanying xiuzhe from Xuan Kong Temple and the other had died.

Lil’ Miss knew that Xuan Kong Temple would not relent after one yuanying and three disciples had died. If they were willing to accept this loss, they would not be Xuan Kong Temple. Dhyana sects were more united than other sects and even more resistant to outsiders. When they encountered foreign enemies, the power they could gather was astounding.

When Lil’ Miss received Zuo Mo’s message, he prepared to do battle. According to what he knew, there had been a battalion that had already appeared in Cloud Sea Jie but for some reason, the battalion had suddenly disappeared.

The other had arrived through transportation formations and the cost to do that was already astounding. The expenditure for a inter-jie transport was amazing, and the other clearly wasn’t crossing just one jie.

Even though they had not found out what power that battalion belonged to, Lil’ Miss was sure that it was a battalion from Xuan Kong Temple!

But the other suddenly disappeared and Xuan Kong Temple had not made any more moves against them. Lil’ Miss guessed that something important had happened so that Xuan Kong Temple did not have the attention to spare for them right now.

But they would eventually come in the end. Xuan Kong Temple would definitely send a battalion to attack Cloud Sea Jie when they had the resources.

To stop the other from suddenly appearing in Cloud Sea Jie again, Cloud Sea Jie was forbidden from creating private transportation formations. The present transportation formations were under guard but Lil’ miss knew that this method was not flawless. If the other did not care about cost, it was not hard to sneak into Cloud Sea Jie and set up a transportation formation.

Did Xuan Kong Temple seem like an entity that cared about cost?

There would definitely be a fight. Lil ‘Miss was not worried. He had started as an outsider and fought his way up to his position. He did not fear battle at all. However, no matter how confident he was, when he faced a titan like Xuan Kong Temple, he could not be at ease.

Fortunately, they would be fighting on home territory.

This was something that Lil’ Miss rejoiced about. In this period of time, he had already started to set up. The present Turtle Island wasn’t a small faction that just anyone could knead. They had the resources of one jie and Turtle Island, who wasn’t weak to start with, quickly transformed. All of Turtle Island was preparing for battle, frantically training and preparing.

So what if it was Xuan Kong Temple?

If they came, he wouldn’t let them go without shedding a layer of skin!

A cold light flashed through Lil’ Miss’ eyes.

However, there were other problems to be solved right now. Even though Shixiong had not said anything specific in the message he sent, the careful Lil’ Miss detected the unusualness—Shixiong most likely was in trouble!

There was nothing in the message that said what he was doing now or when he was going to return. The message only said that they were fine now. Shixiong definitely was someone who would realize that Xuan Kong Temple would retaliate. If he was not returning at this time, then something definitely happened. It was either a matter held him up or that he could not return!

Shixiong had transportation seals and he could also set up transportation formations. He had taken all the materials required so even if he was in a mo jie, he should rationally have returned long ago.

This had only been Lil’ Miss’ guess, but the message Shixiong sent today completely proved Lil’ Miss’ speculation.

Shixiong wanted him to research where Shattered Stone Jie was.

As he had expected … …

“Daren, Ye Ling and Shi Dong Daren have come,” The shield platoon guard outside the door reported.

Lil’ Miss focused. “Invite them in.”

Lil’ Miss was the most protected person on Turtle Island, and even Zuo Mo’s protective detail could not compare. Zuo Mo’s personal strength was strong and usually did not need protection, unless he was fighting.

“Daren!”

Ye Ling and Shi Dong bowed.

They were puzzled at suddenly being called over.

Chapter 539 - Support

“Do either of you know Shattered Stone Jie?” Lil’ Miss asked directly.

“Shattered Stone Jie?” Ye Ling and Shi Dong exchanged a look and shook their heads.

“Haven’t heard of it.” “Never heard of it.”

Lil’ Miss couldn’t help but show disappointment.

“Daren, is Shattered Stone Jie part of the mo territories?” Ye Ling who was attentive asked. Shi Dong also looked at Lil’ Miss.

Speaking of this, Ye Ling and Shi Dong’s attitudes towards Zuo Mo and Lil’ Miss were completely different from each other. Ye Ling was completely loyal and followed Zuo Mo faithfully as he felt that Zuo Mo could possibly become the true king. His respect towards Lil’ Miss was more the kind of respect towards a commanding officer. On the other hand, Shi Dong felt doubt about Ye Ling’s idea that Zuo Mo could become king but he was truly respectful towards Lil’ Miss who had defeated him.

“En, go ask around, who knows where Shattered Stone Jie is?” Lil’ Miss said after thinking.

The two accepted the order and left.

They quickly came back to report.

“Daren, this subordinate has found it. There is a small jie called Shattered Stone Jie but it is very remote, it does not produce any special products. It is supposedly the territory of someone called Ceng Yi,” Ye Ling carefully reported. He was curiously. Why was Lil’ Miss Daren interested in Shattered Stone Jie?

Did that poor and remote little jie have something of value?

When Ye Ling and Shi Dong privately talked, they both thought that their king’s great work should first start from Little Savage Jie.

Little Savage Jie was the jie they had lived in before. With the chaos rift, they could quickly enter Little Savage Jie. More importantly, Little Savage Jie was completely unprepared at this time. It would not be hard to take down the local powers with Turtle Island’s strength.

They had seen Vermillion Bird Camp’s terrifying combat capabilities, and according to their observations, the power of Vermillion Bird Camp members was still improving at a terrifying rate. This was something that amazed the two of them. High rates of growth were extremely scary for battalions that had reached that certain level of strength, like Vermillion Bird Camp.

Grey Camp was also progressing at the same rapid rate.

Being able to practice mo skills that they dreamed about made them feel like they were in a fantasy when they held it. Every mo in Grey Camp cultivated as though they were dying of thirst. They did not need to be pressured to train. Every mo was clear about the value of this mo skill.

Shi Dong’s brow also furrowed. When he found out where Shattered Stone Jie was, he though that attacking Shattered Stone Jie was not a good choice.

“Daren, Shattered Stone Jie is of no value to us.” Shi Dong was extremely proud and a pure battle general. He stated his thoughts bluntly and directly. This was also one of the important reasons that he had never been promoted.

Ye Ling knew that Shi Dong’s action was not good. Just as he was going to speak to help Shi Dong out, he heard Lil’ Miss speak.

“Value? Oh, I do not want Shattered Stone Jie.” Lil Miss shook his head, “But I need to you go get someone.”

Get a person?

Shi Dong had a confused expression but Ye Ling’s heart jumped.

Ye Ling thought of King who had not shown himself recently!

Was it … …

Noticing the shock in Ye Ling’s eyes, Lil’ Miss smiled slightly. “Your king is in Shattered Stone Jie right now. Out of safety, I feel that we need to send some people over.”

“King is in Shattered Stone Jie!” Shi Dong’s eyes were wide in shock. He could not imagine how King had suddenly ran over to Shattered Stone Jie.

“Does King not have any guards?” Ye Ling was frightened.

“Only Miss A Gui.” Lil’ Miss spread his hands.

Ye Ling jumped like a cat whose tail was stepped on. “No guards! Heavens! How can there not be any guards! No guards, he’s the king! How can we let the King enter such a dangerous place alone … …”

Looking at Ye Ling that was shouting as he waved his hands about, Lil’ Miss was astounded.

Up until now, they had never had similar thoughts unless it was to fight on the battlefield. In the eyes of Lil’ Miss and the others, Zuo Mo was like a cockroach and possessed great and strong vitality. With his cunning and slippery personality and endless bag of tricks, even if he could not win, escaping wasn’t a problem.

Unless it was a special circumstance, people would rarely worry about Zuo Mo’s safety.

“Not alone,” Lil’ Miss added weakly, “there is also A Gui.”

“Miss A Gui?” Ye Ling was so furious his eyes were popping out. “Miss A Gui is so gentle and fragile … …”

A Gui was gentle and fragile … … Lil’ Miss sweated slightly. Looking at Ye Ling that appeared to almost go into a rage, he interrupted, “So, so, I have decided to sent you. I believe you can fulfill this mission perfectly!”

“I, Ye Ling, will use my life to guard my King’s glory!”

Ye Ling shouted his oath!

Lil’ Miss weakly swallowed. Fanatics were really scary!

Shi Dong suddenly inserted, “Lil’ Miss Daren!”

Lil’ Miss Daren … …

The corner of Lil’ Miss’ eyes twitched and he narrowed his eyes. He smiled bashfully and appeared harmless.

No one had ever dared to call this “nickname” in front of him … … never! This damned guy … …

The pitiful Shi Dong who thought that Lil’ Miss’ actual name was Lil’ Miss because Ma Fan and the others always used that name, had unwittingly stepped on a mine in a very natural fashion.

Even someone as clever as Ye Ling did not detect anything in front of Lil’ Miss’ gentle smile. How could Shi Dong who had a one-track mind react in time?

He said directly, “If this is the case, this subordinate suggests to first take Little Savage Jie!”

“Little Savage Jie?” Lil’ Miss stilled.

“This is the jie we originally lived in, it is a little jie and does not have any strong powers.” Shi Dong’s words flowed. “Only by taking over Little Savage Jie can we guarantee that our avenue of retreat is not blocked off.”

“Shixiong knows transportation formations,” Lil’ Miss said.

“Daren may not know.” This time, it was Ye Ling that spoke. He had been the quartermaster and knew more about this area. “The requirements for these kind of extreme long-distance transportation formations are very stringent and the risk during use is very high. Its greatest weakness is that it will produce extremely strong power vibrations and attract the attention of the jie’s strong people.”

Lil’ Miss’ brow furrowed. “Nan Yue and Cang Ze came through the transportation formation.”

“That only means that their jie does not have anyone strong to interfere.” Calmed down, Ye Ling was a completely different person. “Daren, the mo have a strong sense of territory. Any action that can intrude onto their territory is the same as a provocation to war. These strong people will only need to create a small amount of interference when the transportation formation is at work and the target of the transportation would shift. With a transportation of such an extreme distance, the slightest change would be the difference between life and death. Xiuzhe and yaomo have fought for so many years and never dared to used such a move before.”

“So that is why.” Lil’ Miss finally understood.

He had an unorthodox education and did not know many things that were common knowledge. Before the Sky-Splitting Calamity, everyone had been fighting at Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. This must have been the reason.

Lil’ Miss became silent. If this was the case, taking over Little Savage Jie became extremely important. The chaos rift was the passage into the mo territories and he would only feel assured if it was in their hands.

“We only need Grey Camp and we can sweep Little Savage Jie!” Shi Dong said proudly. He raised his head and looked at Lil’ Miss’s gaze directly, full of fighting spirit!

The present Grey Camp was multiple times as strong as it was in the past! Shi Dong had been the top battle general in Little Savage Jie before but his battalion had not been one of the top. He had always had to take the most difficult and dangerous missions. All of his subordinates were old soldiers that were experienced but were limited by their talent and their skill, they had reached a peak and could not improve.

The appearance of [Great Day Hardship Guard] was like a key to these people with great experience and took them into a completely new world.

All of them had breakthroughs!

It was due to this that Shi Dong dared to promise such a thing.

Lil’ Miss made a decision after a moment of silence. “Good! Shi Dong will go to fight Little Savage Jie and Black Turtle Camp will take over guarding the chaos rift. Ye Ling and Shu Long will pick a small group from Guard Camp and go to Shattered Stone Jie. En, Nan Yue and the others will also go.”

The Grey Camp were all mo and there would not be considered outsiders if they suddenly counter-attacked. If it was Vermillion Bird Camp, all of Little Savage Jie would unite together and the matter would become much more troublesome.

Ye Ling and Shi Dong took their orders.

Lil’ Miss’ orders were passed down at the fastest possible speed.

All of Turtle Island started to move like enormous cogs in a machine.

Shi Dong was proud but he was not stupid. He knew since he spoke in front of Lil Miss, he had to complete the mission and do well.

What could be called well?

Fast!

The faster the better!

The major powers of Little Savage Jie did not know someone was targeting them.

In secret, the guard on the chaos rift changed. Ma Fan wanted to go to the front lines but they didn’t dare to disobey Lil’ Miss’ orders.

The first to leave was not Shi Dong, but Ye Ling and Shu Long’s group. They would first enter Little Savage Jie before it became chaotic and depart for Shattered Stone Jie.

There were not many people in Shu Long’s group, only about one hundred people. Under Ye Ling’s suggestion, they disguised themselves as a merchant convoy.

Even though they were only one hundred people, but they were the elite. Nan Yue, Cang Ze, Ming Jue Zi were among them, and all the experts of Guard Camp were included. A Wen was present and also five flower yao.

Ye Ling was mo, Nan Yue and the others were yao, Shu Long and A Wen cultivated mo skills, the flower yao also cultivated yao arts.

This group was extremely plausible. The relationship between yao and mo was good and they were in a kind of alliance. The interactions among the common people were even more frequent and it was possible to frequently see yao in the territories of mo.

Guard Camp’s mo skill, and the flower slave’s yao arts were extremely profound. There wasn’t any hint of a xiuzhe presence on them, and they seemed to be true-blooded yaomo.

Ye Ling had relationships and connections with all levels of society and they passed smoothly into Little Savage Jie

Even now, Little Savage Jie did not know that Shi Dong and Ye Ling had betrayed them. At the beginning, they sent the two in order to test the waters and did not pay much attention. After they defected, Grey Camp had continued to guard the chaos rift so, naturally, no one suspected them.

Looking at the scenery that was completely different than the xiuzhe world, Shu Long and the others were astounded.

Out of worry for Zuo Mo’s safety, all of them were burning with impatience and headed towards Shattered Stone Jie at top speed.

But Shattered Stone Jie was too far away, they needed time.

Chapter 540 - Change Position!

Hearing the news that Shu Long and Ye Ling were coming to help him came to Zuo Mo through Pu Yao via the Ten Finger Prison, so Zuo Mo was in even less of a hurry to leave. He decided to stay in Shattered Stone Town to wait for Shu Long and Ye Ling. With his and A Gui’s present states, running around was the same as seeking death. It was safer to stay in Shattered Stone Town.

“A Gui, Shu Long and the others will soon come. By that time, we will be safe,” Zuo Mo said excitedly to A Gui. He hadn’t wanted to tell Lil’ Miss and the others because he didn’t want them to worry and also because he felt there wasn’t any way that they could help him solve this problem even if he told them. He hadn’t expected Lil’ Miss to actually send people to get them in a long-distance journey.

This was a true long distance journey. He didn’t know how many jie they would have to pass through from Cloud Sea Jie to Shattered Stone Jie!

Truthfully, he still didn’t know why he and A Gui had suddenly appeared here. Even Pu Yao and Wei didn’t know what happened after he lost consciousness, much less A Gui.

Cloud Sea Jie … … Shattered Stone Jie … …

Was there a connection between these two? Zuo Mo definitely did not believe this was a coincidence. A transportation formation that could travel such a long distance certainly was not an average transportation formation.

At the beginning, he had thought it was a chaos rift but Pu Yao and Wei rejected this speculation with confidence.

Pu Yao and Wei were not reliable but when the two of them had the same opinion, then it was a reliable conclusion.

Then what was it? Zuo Mo sank into deep thought.

Suddenly, a light flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind. All the clues were strung together like pearls in his mind.

He remembered the words on the golden leaf had said that the Sun Tribe had set up a shen temple in Cloud Sea Jie to look for a certain object. Zuo Mo at the beginning had thought that Lan had been imprisoned in the Burning Shen Realm because of the Sun Tribe’s war-like nature but looking at it now, this definitely was not a coincidence.

The thieving baldy from Xuan Kong Temple had talked about “that object”. It seemed that that guy knew something. Was the “object” that the thieving baldy spoke of and the “object” that the golden leaf mentioned the same one?

The restricted landed of the mist people!

That object was most likely in the restricted grounds of the mist people!

This was why Lan was in the Burning Shen Realm and why the thieving baldies had appeared was explainable.

But why did he and A Gui appear in Shattered Stone JIe? What was the connection between Shattered Stone Jie and the restricted grounds of the mist people? Was “that object” in Shattered Stone Jie?

Zuo Mo shook his head and threw this absurd thought to the back of his mind. In the period of time he had stayed in Uncle An Ya’s home, he generally understood the situation of Shattered Stone Jie. Shattered Stone Jie was an average little jie among the many in the mo realm. There was nothing worthy of attention here. What was most plentiful were the sand and rocks of the Gobi Desert.

According to Uncle An Ya, the Gobi Desert was so large it spanned over three quarters of Shattered Stone Jie and was at its most central part. The other mo settlements were mostly like Shattered Stone Town and scattered around the borders of the Gobi Desert.

From every perspective, Shattered Stone Jie was a desolate place, even more lifeless than Cloud Sea Jie. The number of xiuzhe in Cloud Sea Jie was far more than the number of mo living in Shattered Stone Jie.

Then why had he and A Gui been transported here? Was this a coincidence?

Zuo Mo did not understand.

He quickly threw these speculations to the back of his mind. Even if there was treasure, it had nothing to do with him. He was worried about Lil’ Miss and the others. Since Shu Long and A Wen were coming, Guard Camp now lacked a leader, and Turtle Island had one less troop that could fight.

Xuan Kong Temple would not remain passive.

He didn’t know if Gongsun Shidi would be able to withstand their advances. Fortunately, Xuan Kong Temple was very far from Cloud Sea Jie and they could not sent many battalions over. They were also unable to maintain a long campaign because their primary enemy was yaomo, not him.

If they could stop the first wave, then it would be easy!

He did not speak of his worries. He believed that Gongsun Shidi would think of his.

Alright, he should first take care of himself. This weak and inhuman state was hurtful to look at.

A Gui was probably tired as well … …

Zuo Mo was lying on A Gui’s back and her loose hair covered his face. After so many days of wind and sand, A Gui’s hair was so clean there wasn’t any dust and carried a heart-shaking black sheen. It felt slightly eerie.

It was a pity he could not see A Gui’s face … …

“Hey, A Gui, can we change the carrying position?” Zuo Mo muttered.

He clearly felt that A Gui stilled. Hm, did A Gui understand?

Zuo Mo was overjoyed and hurriedly said, “A Gui, A Gui, change position, come come come, let’s change position … …”

Before he finished speaking, he felt a great force and he spun.

He finally changed position … … it had been a few weeks since he was placed on A Gui’s back … … A Gui, you were great!

Zuo Mo almost cried.

———

“A Gui, can we change a position again?” Zuo Mo said weakly.

A Gui was motionless and didn’t react at all.

Zuo Mo was slightly nervous. His arm, which was in contact with a certain full and soft part of A Gui, tingled. Zuo Mo suddenly thought of the very powerful illusory art that despicable paper crane girl had used on him at Wu Kong Mountain … …

Was this … … also an illusory spell?

Such a powerful illusory spell!

Zuo Mo swallowed in difficulty and stammered, “Cough, A Gui, actually, we can change positions … … you, holding me horizontally like this, I don’t have any presence!”

A Gui was motionless.

“Hey, A Zuo A Zuo!” Shouts from Dong Zi and the others came from outside the door. Zuo Mo had been accepted into their group, especially since Zuo Mo would accidentally “teach” them. They became even warmer after that.

Not good, someone was coming!

Zuo Mo panicked.

Oh! The heavens as witness! Ge has never panicked like this! Facing yaomo, yuanying, jindan, worldly treasures, ge has never felt such panic!

Why, why so panicked … …

Zuo Mo wanted to find a crack in the ground and hide himself.

Pia, the door was pushed open.

“A Zuo A Zuo!” Dong Zi and the others rushed in excitedly but when they saw Zuo Mo, they were stunned where they stood.

Deathly silence.

“Hey … … hey, what’s with your expression?” Zuo Mo’s tone was extremely unnatural.

“Whoa, Sister A Gui is so strong! Bridal carry!” A little girl’s eyes were bright and admiring as she looked at A Gui.

Bridal carry … …

Everyone’s expressions became strange.

“Cough cough cough, speak, A Gui is very tired today!” Zuo Mo said with forced calm.

“Oh, we wanted to tell you the matrix awakening master has come. Didn’t you want to watch?” Dong Zi’s expression was very strange. Even such a honest youth as Dong Zi felt that he was embarrassed when he saw a woman holding a man in a bridal carry.

Matrix awakening master!

In the eyes of the mo, activating the mo matrix was done to awaken the sleeping mo matrix so those in  this profession were called matrix awakening masters. However, being a matrix awakening master was not a very prestigious profession because only low-level mo needed help to awaken their mo matrixes. They were still deeply respected because they were extremely knowledgeable.

Zuo Mo’s mind became alert and he lost all embarrassment. He asked in a hurry, “Where, where?”

There were not many mo in the town. Zuo Mo guessed roughly that there were about fifty thousand people. If this was Xu Ling City, then they wouldn’t even fill a corner of the city. Because the location was remote and the land was not bountiful,  the mo here were mostly poor. As a result, no mo would target this place and there was no fighting.

When Zuo Mo came onto the street in A Gui’s bridal carry, it instantly caused a burst of friendly laughter. The people here liked this strange pair. Zuo Mo who had become a chatterbox was warm and open in their eyes while A Gui who was silent and determined was greatly liked by those aunties full of maternal love. Everyday, someone would bring some food and attire to Uncle An Ya’s home for A Gui and Zuo Mo.

“Little Zuo Zuo, your A Gui is very domineering!

“Bridal  carry! Tsk tsk such strong arm power, Little Zuo Zuo, does it feel good to lean there, ha ha!”

“Ohohoh, Elder Sister A Gui is very strong. In the future, I want to carry my man like this, so strong! So moving!”

“I like A Gui, she’s so brave, Why hadn’t I thought of this move in the past? Time is a butcher’s knife! Oh, Little Zuo Zuo must be enjoying this … …

Zuo Mo was very embarrassed. If it wasn’t that his expression was paralyzed, his face would be completely flushed at now. His finger which was the only part of his body that could move was trembling and shaking like a spring.

Ge … … ge’s image was completely ruined! This was all his own fault! Why did ge want to change positions?

Zuo Mo cried on the inside.

A Gui was silent and her expression unchanged. Her steps were not wide. As she carried Zuo Mo, her center of balance was leaning towards the front. She was not strong to begin with and it was hard for her to carry him in this position.

Dong Zi and the others were chattering at the side.

Fortunately, no one came to help A Gui. All those of Shattered Stone Town knew that A Gui definitely would not let go of Zuo Mo.

The matrix awakening master was at the center of the town. He was helping a youth awaken his mo matrix. The surroundings were silent and everyone had nervous expressions.

This matrix awakening master was not very old, about thirty or forty. His body was very thin and seemed wispy. He held a long needle about the length of his forearm and had an expression of concentration as he carefully drew with the needlepoint that was dipped in an unknown black liquid.

It was the first time Zuo Mo was seeing the process of mo matrix awakening. He was filled with curiosity.

The movements of the matrix awakening master was very light and elegant. It had a certain rhythm that caused Zuo Mo to think of dancing. The expression of the matrix awakening master was very focused. Every time he lowered  the needle, the black medicine liquid on the tip would drip a black dot on the black of the youth. This extremely minuscule black dot would quickly permeate the skin and disappear.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were skilled. After a few seconds, he more-or-less understood the method.

En?

The next movements of the matrix awakening master shocked Zuo Mo!

Chapter 541 - Matrix Awakening Master

An imperceptible light suddenly lit up at the tip of this matrix awakening master’s hand. His wrist trembled slightly and the long needle was like a streak of silver light that suddenly entered the skin of the youth!

The youth’s body shook slightly as he gave a muffled grunt.

At the same time, the faint mo matrix suddenly appeared. It was not very distinct but the structure of the mo matrix was clear.

The matrix awakening master released a breath and lightly patted the mo matrix. The long needle seemed to be jerked out of the youth’s body by an invisible thread. Putting away the long needle, the matrix awakening master stood up and said with a smile, “Pretty good luck, it is a success.”

The youth was instantly excited and his parents all released a long breath and gave happy expressions. With the mo matrix awakened, as long as he did not stop cultivating, he would welcome a new rapid period of improvement after a while.

No matter where, strength was the most important assurance, especially in the mo territories.

Dong Zi looked with admiration at that youth. The other’s talent was not as high as his, but how high he would go depended on whether the awakening was a success.

Zuo Mo stared thoughtfully at the matrix awakening master’s long needle.

When he had seen the long needle enter the body of the youth, he had jumped in fight. But when the mo matrix appeared, he instantly identified the reason.

Zuo Mo had once thoroughly studied mo matrices and had his own understanding about the mo matrices. In his view, the mo matrix was a natural formation formed from the blood, flesh, and body’s energies. The complexity of this was much higher than the seal formations of the xiuzhe. Other than the complexity of its structure, there was also an important cause, the blood, flesh, energy, they were not dead.

The mo had a saying, ‘there were no mo matrices that were exactly the same’.

Because the energies and flesh of every mo were not completely the same, the mo matrices were not the same.

After seeing the entire process, he had a directly experience of how to awaken the mo matrix. The matrix awakening masters made a certain repairs to the incomplete mo matrices, no, more accurately, it was an adjustment. They made minor adjustments to the flesh and energies. Even though they could not repair the mo matrix, they could get the mo matrix to be effective to a certain degree.

Therefore ’awakening the mo matrix’, this saying was extremely accurate.

As Zuo Mo pondered this, he stared at the long needle in the hand of the matrix awakening master. He was very interested in that needle.

The spectating mo gradually left. There were not unfamiliar with this matter. A group of young mo remained behind and asked the matrix awakening master all kinds of questions. This middle-aged matrix awakening master was very harmonious in personality and patiently answered the questions of the youth.

Zuo Mo listened for a while and instantly had a new opinion of the matrix awakening master. The other was knowledgeable.

“Mister Matrix Awakening Master, may I see your needle?”

Zuo Mo suddenly said. His tone did not seem any different than the other innocent youths that were full of curiosity.

“En?” The matrix awakening master turned his face. When he saw Zuo Mo and A Gui, a teasing expression came onto his face, “Haha, little boy, starting to eat soft rice at such a young age. This is not a good habit!”

Eating soft rice?

Zuo Mo stilled. For some unknown reason, the feeling of fullness and softness that came from his arm instantly became crystal clear and the tingly feeling … ..

The illusory spell  had come again!

So soft … … was this … … was this what eating soft rice meant?

Zuo Mo instantly understood.

The taste was actually … … pretty good … …

Zuo Mo was dazed but he quickly focused. “Mister, I’m very sorry. I cannot move.”

At this time, he was like a harmless youth, and there was not one hint of the presence of the person who had taken over a jie.

“Mister Matrix Awakening Master, A Zuo’s body is not well and he cannot move. A Gui cannot hear nor speak,” the kind Dong Zi explained to the matrix awakening master.

“Oh!” The middle-aged matrix awakening master showed slight shock. He examined the two of them and said to himself, “Is there a strange ailment, let me see.”

He didn’t wait for Zuo Mo to respond, walked forward, and grabbed one of Zuo Mo’s hands.

Zuo Mo was shocked and instantly regretted his choice to interact. He shouldn’t have called attention to himself so early. If the other detected something when inspecting his body, it would be dangerous!

But before he could refuse, the middle-aged matrix awakening master started his inspection with one hand on Zuo Mo’s arm.

A warm wave of power followed his finger into Zuo Mo’s arm.

This wave of power was instantly dismembered by the rampaging powers that were fighting in Zuo Mo’s body!

The middle-aged matrix awakening master’s face turned white!

Zuo Mo sighed sorrowfully inside. It was over!

The middle-aged matrix awakening master took back his arm. His face was ashen. Even though he tried to maintain calmness on his face, Zuo Mo still noticed the barely discernable shock in his eyes.

“What is the result of Sire’s inspection?” Zuo Mo’s voice was smiling and it sounded like an innocent youth waiting for an answer. Since he had been found out, if he came on strongly, the other would have a harder time determining his true origins.

But in the ears of the middle-aged matrix awakening master, this was like a clap of thunder. This youth that seemed harmless and was held to the chest of this little girl instantly transformed to a dangerous youth hiding in the darkness.

A Gui who was expressionlessly holding Zuo Mo seemed like a personal guard of those high-level mo. The middle-aged matrix awakening master had once seen some high-level mo. They would frequently have one or two of those special existences by their side. Even that cold presence was the same.

These kinds of personal guards usually had great power, they killed people like they were ants, cold and emotionless … …

Was this youth actually a high-level mo?

Cold sweat instantly floated down his back.

In his eyes, the youth was staring at him sardonically. Even that tone seemed to be teasing.

“Ah ha ha, so sorry, my skill is not very good, and I really haven’t seen this ailment before.” The middle-aged matrix awakening master laughed. No matter what the other’s identity was, and why he had disguised himself like this or if A Zuo was really sick, he decided to not get involved.

After speaking, he turned and prepared to leave.

“Honorable Mister Matrix Awakening Master, you have not let me see your needle,” a seemingly innocent voice came from behind him.

The middle-aged matrix awakening master’s steps stilled and his expression froze.

The other was not afraid … … it seemed that his speculation was close … … he could not afford to offend someone this dangerous!

Turning around, his face was filled with a harmonious smile, “Aiya, I forgot this, so sorry.” Finishing, he took out the long needle.

“Mister Matrix Awakening Master, may I trouble you to put this in my hand? I’m very sorry, I cannot move,” Zuo Mo said politely.

The matrix awakening master carefully put the long needle onto Zuo Mo’s palm.

Dong Zi and the others had wide eyes. They had seen a mischievous person try to touch the long needle of the matrix awakening master and had been lectured severely by the master. The matrix awakening master was really a kind mo. He probably felt that A Zuo was pitiful so he was treating A Zuo so well!

That was what they thought.

When the long needle entered his hand, Zuo Mo instantly detected the mysteries of this long needle.

“Horizontal silver, Zero Light Black Sand, Iron Horned Rhinoceros Wood, Sunset Water … …” Zuo Mo murmured as he quickly deciphered the composition of this silver needle.

The matrix awakening master was stunned!

Immersed in his exploration, Zuo Mo did not notice that the long needle in his hand gently lit up.

The middle-aged matrix awakening master’s eyes were wide as he stared in disbelief at the silver needle in Zuo Mo’s hands that was giving off light. His expression was shocked as though he was seeing a ghost.

This … … this wasn’t possible!

Only he could use that silver needle, and only he could activate the power inside!

This youth … …

Zuo Mo did not detect anything at all. The enormous pain inside his body constantly attacked his mind. He needed to be more focused!

“Oh … … this formation, no, mo matrix. I remember now, it is a part of the Blackwater Leech mo matrix, so it can be used like this, interesting … …” Zuo Mo murmured to himself and did not detect the reactions of the people around him.

The middle-aged matrix awakening master felt his mind was blank. He felt as though he was instantaneously stripped completely naked, with everything on display! He had used secret methods to make his silver needle and the mo matrix inside the silver needle was the core secret of his teacher and the masters before him. It had … … had been so casually revealed and stated by this youth!

Zuo Mo’s mo physique was to cultivate the power of his blood and flesh. At this time, his physical power had been scattered and was mixed together with his ling power and spiritual consciousness as it rampaged through his body. The mo matrix on the silver needle instantly attracted the power of blood and flesh inside Zuo Mo’s body which was why he could explore the silver needle.

However, his body was in chaos and one thing would pull along something else. This stream of physical power was like a spark that was thrown into a pot of oil and instantly created an inferno.

The chaotic clash of the three powers furiously flowed into the silver needle!

Pia!

The silver needle in Zuo Mo’s hand wasn’t able to support such a strong power and exploded into a ball of silver smoke.

This explosion frightened everyone, including Zuo Mo.

The middle-aged matrix awakening master stood like a pillar of wood with an ashen face as he looked at Zuo Mo’s empty palm. Dong Zi and the others were dumbstruck. They had not understood Zuo Mo’s mumble but they had still felt respect—A Zuo’s words sounded as though they were very powerful!

But when the needle exploded in Zuo Mo’s hand, the first reaction of Dong Zi and the other’s was, uh-oh! A Zuo had ruined the matrix awakening master’s silver needle!

“I’m sorry, sorry, to have ruined your silver needle!” Looking at the bloodless face of the middle-aged matrix awakening master, Zuo Mo really felt guilt. It had probably taken the other great effort to get this silver needle and he had ruined it!

He could understand this feeling. If someone had ruined his paper crane, Lil’ Yellow,  in the past, he would put his life on the line to kill the other!

But right now, he was unable to use his ling power. Otherwise, he could just pay the other. He naturally did not lack this amount of wealth.

At present … …

The middle-aged matrix awakening master that was stunned, Dong Zi and the others with their nervous expressions and Zuo Mo that did not know what to do stared at each other.

At this time, A Gui did not look so eye-catching.

Chapter 542 - The Declining Situation

“After you go back, work hard!” the corps commander gave Mu Xi her transfer order. She admired Mu Xi greatly.

“Yes! Daren!” Mu Xi bowed back in seriousness.

“Go, don’t waste time.” The corps commander’s expression was calm. “We will be leaving this place soon as well.”

“Ah!” Mu Xi was greatly shocked. “Leave here? Are we going to abandon Blood Sky Metropolis Jie?”

“What is the meaning in standing guard here?” the corps commander said calmly.

Mu Xi was silent.

After the Sky-Splitting Calamity began, chaos rifts had appeared everywhere. It created countless passageways to appear between the yao territories and the xiuzhe territories. There was truly no meaning in standing guard at Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

A few days ago, Mu Xi received a message from the clan leader hoping that she could return to the clan and protect them.

Immediately after, the transfer order had come and the location of the transfer was her home territory. This surprised her. The clan leader must have done something, but he was not powerful enough to affect this kind of transfer.

Mu Xi was extremely smart and upon some thought, her thoughts cleared up.

The the war had changed at a fundamental level. The yao jies that had chaos rifts were the front lines of battle. The zig-zagging chaos rifts bypassed the buffer zone between yaomo and xiuzhe territories and allowed them to come into direct contact. This also heralded the start of chaotic fighting. The chaos rifts were passageways, the places that had to be fought over. No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, no one would give up the fight over them.

Especially the chaos rifts that appeared in the important locations. If those were taken over, the consequences didn’t need thinking about.

Mu Xi could imagine just how fierce and harsh the battle over the chaos rifts would be.

The situation had changed so quickly even the wise elders could not predict the outcome. All the military corps on the front lines were drawn back and transferred to protect the strategic locations. Mu Xi received the news on her way that all the yao art houses had stopped their classes. All the teachers and students were sent to conduct complete searches to make sure that every chaos rift would be found.

The safe rear guard entered an unprecedented chaos. The scent of war spread through the air, the prices shot through the roof, and there were even battalions patrolling the streets in some places.

There was no rear anymore!

On the road back home, Mu Xi was deep in thought.

The elders must have also thought of this so they had agreed to allow a portion of the battle generals to return to their homes. There were too many chaos rifts and the power of the regular corps was not enough to manage them all. Rather than stretching their resources, it was better to unite the local powers of each jie to resist the advances of the xiuzhe.

They, the battle generals who had been allowed to return home, would mount a furious resistance without any urging because it  was their home. The Council of Elders could shift more power to the strategic locations that they felt were most important.

Even if the xiuzhe wanted to break through by attacking these less important places, the local resistance would pose a hindrance to them and slow the enemy. This would create a buffer for the regular corps. The Council of Elders used this method to achieve strategic aims.

Mu Xi understood but she wasn’t happy at all.

At such a dangerous time, the Council of Elders had abandoned them. This was done out of helplessness. She did not hate the elders because if she was in their shoes she would also do the same.

But … …

Determination flashed through her eyes.

No matter what, she had to protect her home!

———

Lil’ Miss carefully browsed the intelligence he received.

After his reading, he sank into deep thought. Moments later, his gaze became clear and a slight smile floated at the corner of his mouth.

It seemed that Xuan Kong Temple would not be coming and making trouble for them any time soon. Large numbers of chaos rifts had appeared in Xuan Kong Realm. Supposedly, many of them were in core regions. The fighting over these chaos rifts was extremely fierce. At this crucial time, Xuan Kong Temple would not send a strong battalion to a place like Cloud Sea Jie.

Xuan Kong Temple was not the only one in a rush, the other three major powers of the Four Realms were not much better off. The chaos rifts that had suddenly appeared caused everyone to sink into chaos.

In comparison, Cloud Sea Jie was calm.

The only worry Lil’ Miss had was that there were too many places in Cloud Sea Jie that were unexplored. No one knew how many undiscovered chaos rifts there were here. Originally, Lil’ Miss had wanted to copy the other sects and conduct a systematic search but he quickly threw away this unrealistic idea. The Cloud Sea was deep and filled with unknown dangers. If they threw all of themselves in, they wouldn’t even make a splash.

Upon further thought, Lil’ Miss felt that the interlocking island formations that he was building right now were a more secure plan.

This plan had been suggested by the two masters of Golden Crow Camp. With Lil’ Miss’ preference to use offense in place of defense, he hadn’t been interested in this plan in the beginning. But after further consideration, he felt it was a very good plan, other than the fact that it was expensive.

He hadn’t thought that this plan called “Great Thousand Islands Formation” received strong support from all the factions. They were even willing to pay for the costs themselves. Everyone had been frightened by the mo army that suddenly arrived.

Therefore, the Great Thousand Islands Formation became the Great Ten Thousand Islands Formation. This enormous plan that included almost all the cloud islands in Cloud Sea Jie started like this!

Each cloud island became a node and all of the cloud islands formed an enormous and complex formation that were locked in layers. It was like an enormous spider web. Any enemy that entered this web would be attacked.

Once the great formation was complete, not just one battalion, but if multiple battalions came to their door, Lil’ Miss was confident he could force them to retreat.

And the news that Zuo Mo passed on suggested an even more daring idea, asking the mist people to help and search for the ling veins hidden in the Cloud Sea. These ling veins would be used to support the large formation’s energy expenditures.

Such a crazy idea!

Or did Shixiong just want to save jingshi?

Lil’ Miss couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh.

———

“Pay me one back?” the middle-aged matrix awakening master asked with a depressed face. At the side, Dong Zi had a nervous expression. Whether or not his matrix would be awakened would depend directly on this. He didn’t notice that the middle-aged matrix awakening master was using respectful terms of speech.

“Yes! I’m very sorry! However, it will have to be in a few days. You should be able to see that my current state is not well.” Zuo Mo’s tone was full of apology. In these past days, Zuo Mo had tried to organize his blood and flesh. The techniques he had stole from Uncle An Ya were extremely practical. After a few days of unrelenting effort, his right hand had gradually recovered feeling.

After a few more days, he should be able to turn his wrist.

The middle-aged matrix awakening master didn’t seem to believe him, but at this time, there was no other solution.

“I might need your help,” Zuo Mo said after thinking.

“No problem.” Since it was relating to his silver needle, the middle-aged matrix awakening master managed to agree.

“Mister Matrix Awakening Master, I have not inquired to how to call you.”

“Ka Zhuo.”

The news that Zuo Mo had cased Ka Zhuo’s silver needle to explode quickly spread through the entire town.

In Uncle An Ya’s home.

Uncle An Ya looked sternly at Zuo Mo. “A Zuo, what really happened?”

“Ah, I accidentally damaged Mister Ka Zhuo’s silver needle,” Zuo Mo said innocently.

“Aren’t you unable to move?” Uncle An Ya’s brow creased.

“Yes, I had Mister Ka Zhuo put the silver needle into my hand.” Zuo Mo felt this explanation could not satisfy Uncle An Ya and he said, “Actually, I’m also a matrix awakening master even though I’m not very skilled.”

“You are also a matrix awakening master?” This question moved Uncle An Ya’s attention. His face was shocked.

“How else could I damaged Mister Ka Zhuo’s silver needle?” Zuo Mo lied his pants off.

“That’s true.” The pitiful Uncle An Ya was not a match for the cunning Zuo Mo who deflected him somewhere else.

Uncle An Ya was relieved. He turned around and said to Ka Zhuo, “So sorry, the two children are young. Where is Mister Ka Zhuo’s silver needle sold at?”

When Zuo Mo heard that Uncle An Ya was going to repay it on his behalf, his heart warmed and he was moved. He hurriedly opened, “Uncle, don’t go to the trouble. I’ve already negotiated with Mister Ka Zhuo to be his assistant for a few days to repay the silver needle.

Uncle An Ya was not persuaded.

Zuo Mo knew this wasn’t good. He was clear that while the silver needle was nothing in his eyes, but for Uncle An Ya, it was an impossible sum. He hurriedly said, “Mister Ka Zhuo said he felt that the needle was not fitting to his hand and had wanted to make a new one for some time. It is also very cheap, otherwise, why would it have broken so easily? It is not made for multiple uses. Mister Ka Zhuo has the materials on him to make a new one at any time. Uncle, you don’t understand, don’t add to the mess. Mister Ka Zhuo, isn’t that right?”

Very cheap? Easy to damage? Could make one at any time?

Ka Zhuo fet pain and fury. He had spent many years to make that silver needle and the materials used up all of his saving!

But … … he glanced at A Gui’s cold face out of the corner of his eye. His heart shook. The silver needle was expensive but his little live was more important!

He pushed a smile onto his face. “Yes, yes, it is nothing major. I had been planning on making a new one. Some of A Zuo’s ideas are an inspiration to me, I’m the one benefiting!”

Ka Zhuo was crying on the inside.

Uncle An Ya really believed it and an open smile appeared on his face. “That’s good, that’s good.”

He turned around and stared at Zuo Mo for a long moment.

Zuo Mo felt unconfident under the stare and stammered out, “Uncle, what’s with your look?”

Uncle An Ya smiled and said with a snicker, “This position isn’t bad, enjoy it! Haha!”

Zuo Mo was very embarrassed.

With loud laughter, Uncle An Ya walked out of the room. He needed to supervise the youth in their daily cultivation.

Ka Zhuo released a breath. Good, he hadn’t offended this dangerous person just now … …

Zuo Mo did not go to watch Uncle An Ya’s class like usual and continuously asked some questions about mo matrixes.

As a matrix awakening master, Ka Zhuo was widely read. At the beginning, he was not concerned and only explained due to Zuo Mo’s identity but as the questions deepened, his expression was taken over by shock and sternness. His responses became slower and he sank into thought.

Was this youth really a matrix awakening master?

Chapter 543 - Ka Zhuo

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth, and bore the pain caused by the powers bouncing around his body as he tried to recover and reorganize his flesh. His wrist slowly turned, so slow as though it was unmoving. Fortunately, Zuo Mo had enough patience. As he bantered with A Gui, he tried to exercise his pitifully small amount of muscle.

The powers that were rampaging through his body were increasing at an astounding rate. Zuo Mo suspected that if he could not find a solution soon, what waited for his body was an explosion of just like Ka Zhuo’s silver needle. Even the strongest mo physique had an upper limit of power that it could withstand.

All the strange signs were ones that Pu Yao and Wei had never seen and did not have a solution for.

Yet the techniques that Zuo Mo secretly learned from Uncle An Ya were very effective. Even though he only move one wrist minutely at this time, but gave him hope.

Ka Zhuo was sitting in a daze to his side in deep thought. He had maintained this posture for a whole night. After Zuo Mo had asked his a pile of questions last night, there were many problems that he had never considered before and he sank into contemplation.

Zuo Mo didn’t care about what he had caused. He was more willing to talk to A Gui.

“A Gui, when I completely recover, I will definitely be very powerful, uh-huh, at that time, I”ll carry you!”

“Gongsun Shidi has sent a message. He said that Big Brother Bing Yao and the others have found the water cloud embryos. When we return, we can use it directly. Right now, Turtle Island and the mist people are building transportation formations so it won’t be long.”

“Shi Dong is very strong, and has taken over half of Little Savage Jie. Haha, ge stood up and the aura of dominance rose, woosh, and it attracted such a powerful battle general. Even Gongsun Shidi said he is not bad. Not bad!”

“I just don’t know if Little Savage Jie has jingshi mines, it would be great if they did … …”

Crack!

The bones in Zuo Mo’s wrist suddenly made a sound.

A feeling of smoothness that had been lost for a long time had returned. Zuo Mo stilled and then he was overjoyed. He tried to move his wrist. Nimbleness and smoothness that he had not experienced since so long ago made Zuo Mo want to howl to the sky!

Zuo Mo greedily rotated his wrist. Only after loss would he know the value.

It seemed he hadn’t endured his pains for nothing. Even though only one of his hands had recovered, he could now do many things.

This didn’t mean that the terrible situation inside his body was changing, but that he could once again control a portion of the power.

“A Gui, look, my hand can move!” Zuo Mo rotated his wrist like he was showing off a treasure.

A Gui didn’t react at all.

Zuo Mo was not demotivated. In a good mood, he instantly started to plan. He had never thought of this trip he and A Gui had come on was a vacation. This was the mo realm, an extremely unfamiliar and dangerous place. Even though Shattered Stone Town seemed so calm and peaceful to him, he still did not lose his wariness. He and A Gui currently lacked the power to protect themselves. If they encountered a situation, that would be terrible. Shu Long and the others were still very far from Shattered Stone Jie and could not be depended on in the short term.

What was most important now was recovering some ability to protect himself and then thinking of ways to resolve the problem of the powers running amok through his body.

The recovery of his hand meant that his method was, at least in part, correct. As long as he persisted, the problem of movement would be solved. However, the amount of power in the muscles he could control was limited. This was just the power that he had not detected and did not use. Even if Zuo Mo used all of that power, he would not be a match for Uncle An Ya.

He had to think of another method.

Zuo Mo’s eyes gradually became clear. He turned around and looked at Ka Zhuo who was deep in thought. He called, “Mister Ka Zhuo, Mister Ka Zhuo!”

“Aah!” Ka Zhuo blankly turned his head. Moments later, his dazed expression became normal again.

“Mister Ka Zhuo, let’s discuss the silver needle,” Zuo Mo’s words were full of temptation.

“Silver needle? Ah, silver needle!” Ka Zhuo first paused and then he had a nervous expression. “Speak, speak!”

The silver needle was of the utmost importance to Ka Zhuo but Zuo Mo had ruined it. Even though Zuo Mo had kept on saying he would repay with another one, Ka Zhuo didn’t really believe him. However, he didn’t dare to offend Zuo Mo. Now that Zuo Mo was raising the topic again, Ka Zhuo’s heart was up in the air.

“There are two methods.” Zuo Mo’s tone was smiling.

“The first, I will repay you with one that is exactly the same.”

Ka Zhuo instantly had a joyous expression.

“However, you need to wait. You can see that I’m in a bit of trouble right now. I need to first resolve this so you need to have patience.”

The joy on Ka Zhuo’s face retreated. He recovered his calm and asked, “Then the second choice?”

“The second choice is more complex.” A hint of admiration flashed across Zuo Mo’s eyes as his tone turned. “I believe that you have replacement materials, may you take them out and let me see. Maybe we can make a completely new silver needle.”

Ka Zhuo shook his head. “Making a matrix awakening needle is not so easy.”

“Oh, so they are called matrix awakening needles.” Zuo Mo’s tone was as usual. “Maybe it is possible but maybe not. I’m only providing a plan, and Mister Ka Zhuo will have to make it himself. I believe that Mister Ka Zhuo will be able to judge if the plan is plausible or not.”

Ka Zhuo had a doubtful expression. Could this youth in front of him really design a matrix awakening needle? He suddenly recalled Zuo Mo’s series of profound and difficult questions. In his eyes, Zuo Mo instantly became much more mysterious.

“Alright,” Ka Zhuo managed. He then took out the materials he had collected.

Chicken-blood stone, Forest Rotten Wood, insect droppings … …

Zuo Mo recognized the majority of the items but there were some that Zuo Mo did not recognize. After his gaze swept across all of the materials, he already had formed a plan.

He asked Ka Zhuo for pen and paper. Using his right hand that had recovered, he started to draw.

As the lines lengthened under Zuo Mo’s pen, shock and joy grew on Ka Zhuo’s face. He started tightly at the tip of Zuo Mo’s pen and stopped breathing as though he was afraid his breathing would disturb Zuo Mo.

The room instantly became quiet and there was only the sound of the pen brushing against the paper.

Moments later, Zuo Mo stopped. He made a close examination to make sure there were no mistakes before he threw down the pen.

“Alright, it is yours now. This mo matrix is the mo matrix for the Nether Jellyfish. It belongs to the same type as the matrix awakening needle you had before. I think that this should not be a hard task for you. The primary materials to make this are the Forest Rotten Wood, and then to be soaked in the chicken-blood stone and the insect droppings.”

Zuo Mo’s voice was slightly tired. The mo matrix for the Nether Jellyfish was not complex but compared to Zuo Mo’s pitiful endurance at present, it was not easy.

Ka Zhuo’s hand trembled as he held the paper. An abnormal red flush appeared on his face. His gaze was excited and heated as though he was holding a peerless treasure in his hands!

To Ka Zhou, this was truly a treasure!

The content on this paper alone was worth ten matrix awakening needles.

The mo matrix for the Nether Jellyfish was a true colonel level mo matrix! The Blackwater Leech mo matrix in his past needle had just been a captain level mo matrix. The two appeared to only be separated by one level, but the difference was drastic.

Also, his eyes were skilled and he could see that the Nether Jellyfish mo matrix was complete.

If he had doubts about Zuo Mo’s identity before this, then he was certain now that this youth, who was unable to move, definitely came from a high birth. Such a complete colonel level mo matrix was something only those high level mo families with noble blood could possess.

If Ka Zhuo went and sold this mo matrix, he could fetch a great price.

Also, the other was able to choose a mo matrix and even the method to making it based on the materials he had on hand, the other’s skill in mo matrices … …

“Ka Zhou was blind and has offended Sire. Sire, please forgive!” Ka Zhuo suddenly made a big bow and said with a sincere expression.

Zuo Mo stilled and then said, “I was wrong first, Mister Ka Zhuo does not have to be like this.”

Ka Zhou was unaffected and continued, “Sire’s knowledge far surpasses Ka Zhou! Ka Zhuo laughably thought lowly of you, Ka Zhou should die!”

Zuo Mo didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry. “What do you want to say?”

“Sire, please take Ka Zhuo as an apprentice!” Ka Zhou said loudly.

“Take you as an apprentice?” Zuo Mo looked at Ka Zhuo that was much older than him and felt strange. He hurriedly said, “No way, no way!”

Nan Yue, Cang Ze and the others were about the same age as Zuo Mo and he had no problems fooling them. But if Ka Zhuo, who was much older than himself, became his student then it would be really strange.

“Please, Daren, accept Ka Zhuo as an apprentice!” Ka Zhuo was not verbally skilled and he only repeated this sentence again.

Zuo Mo had felt that Ka Zhuo was weak and easy to bully before but when an obedient person became stubborn, they were even scarier.

After facing off for a while, Zuo Mo almost went crazy.

“Alright, first make this matrix awakening needle,” Zuo Mo said weakly. His endurance was almost at the end, and Ka Zhuo had gone crazy so he was not able to sustain himself.

Ka Zhuo excitedly stood. “Yes, Teacher!”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo grimaced inside. He had accepted someone who could be the age of his uncle to be a student.

The mo were crazy, as expected!

However, when Zuo Mo calmed down and pondered it, he felt that accepting such a student was not a bad thing.

Ka Zhou was a true mo and had gone to many places. He was experienced and the identity of a matrix awakening master could be protection and disguise for him. According to Zuo Mo’s knowledge, the status of a matrix awakening master was high among low level mo. Almost no one would oppose a matrix awakening mo. Even mo with power wouldn’t offend a matrix awakening master because they were extremely knowledgeable and often skilled in things like healing and poisons.

This way, his and A Gui’s safety would increase.

From this perspective, Zuo Mo felt this wasn’t bad.

It seemed that he needed to study the mo matrices. It would not be good if he slipped up and lost this protection.

Since he couldn’t take anything else out of his ring, studying mo matrices was a good choice.

Also, he had plenty of mo matrices. They were all ones that Pu Yao had collected over the past few millennia and they now benefited him.

Chapter 544 - Dong Zi’s Choice

Jiang Zhe sighed lightly and an expression of conflict appeared on his face.

On the battlefield below him, the mo were fighting a losing battle. There were mo who continuously fearlessly charged in suicide attacks but in facing a completed battle formation, they were like moths charging into a fire.

Jiang Zhe hadn’t expected the fighting to be so violent. Even if he was used to great spectacles, he was still shocked at this sight. He couldn’t help but feel a thread of respect towards those crazed mo. Without any doubt, this was an outstanding battalion!

The respect did not cause Jiang Zhe to be soft-hearted. He spoke softly as he commanded, “Central formation, feign a withdraw. Flanks, charge forward in a cross.”

The mo discovered that the enemy in front of them had suddenly retreated. They were instantly overjoyed. Was the other unable to withstand their charge any longer? At this time, a battalion suddenly charged in front of the right flank with lightning speed!

The mo who had just relaxed mentally were stunned by the fierce charge. Like a knife through butter, this battalion charged through their ranks.

The formation of the mo was cleaved apart!

The morale that had just rose up instantly sank. What no one noticed was that another battalion had snuck behind their rear.

The panicked mo were almost pierced through in an instant by the second charge.

From the sky, the two battalions cut a perfect cross through the mo.

“They are finished.” The woman next to Jiang Zhe stretched lazily as her voluptuous and mature body drew out an attractive curve with this motion. Several of the personal guards around them swallowed. Facing such a person, even dhyana xiu would not be unaffected.

Jiang Zhe was silent, his long and snowy-white hair blown into the air by the wind. His brow was slender and warm, his body tall, and upright like jade, standing in the air above the fighting. He would always unconsciously attract everyone’s gaze, especially his  calm and deep eyes, clear without any impurity. Any person that met his stare would be unconsciously attracted.

As one of the most accomplished representatives of Xuan Kong Temple’s present generation , no matter where he went, he would attract stares. In Xuan Kong Realm, his reputation and fame surpassed even those great dhyana xiu that had been famed for many years. In the minds of young dhyana xiu, the name Jiang Zhe seemed to hold a magical power.

In Xuan Kong Realm, there was only one person that could rival him, his Shixiong, Nangong Qing Lian.

Unlike Jiang Zhe who was a battle general, Nangong Qin Lian was a pure dhyana xiu. One literary and one martial, but both were outstanding.

“Is there any news of Bie Han?” Jiang Zhe stared off into the distance, his thoughts unknown.

“Not yet. What is it? You miss him?” The female raised an eyebrow with a teasing expression on her face. This beautiful and moving woman was Jiang Zhe’s Shijie, Feng Yue, and also his second-in-command.

There was a mole at the corner of Feng Yue’s mouth. It did not detract from her beauty and against the contrast of her bright red lips, it was extremely seductive.

“I’m thinking if it is Bie Han leading the other side … …” Jiang Zhe was not affected by Feng Yue at all and said lightly.

“You can’t do it? Or you are worried you would lose?” Feng Yue said heartlessly, “Did you guys in the past, en-hm, have some special feelings?”

Feng Yue specially emphasized “special.”

Jiang Zhe was used to Feng Yue Shixiong’s teasing style since a long time ago. He wasn’t angry and then he smiled slightly. “Now that you say this, I’m feeling anticipation about fighting against him.”

“I just don’t know why the sect leader had taken him in. I didn’t like him, since the first time I met him. His eyes are too vicious, like a wild beast.”

“What about Cloud Sea Jie?” Jiang Zhe deflected the topic.

“Ha, Ding Zhen Shishu’s status in the temple isn’t high enough, he died for nothing. Hmph, if those other shishu died, would the temple be as indifferent to the situation as they are now?” Feng Yue’s brow scrunched as an angry expression rose on her face and her tone became less courteous.

Jiang Zhe coughed lightly. “Originally, Bie Han had been sent to deal with it, but now that Bie Han has betrayed us, and the situation is so chaotic, the temple … …”

“You don’t have to defend those old people. Let’s put the ugly stuff first. If you are going to become like them in the future, this sis will go play by herself then.” Feng Yue raised an eyebrow, her tone filled with nonchalance.

Jiang Zhe gave a grimace. He didn’t know what to do with Feng Yue Shijie.

“After your defensive line stabilizes, I will go take revenge for Ding Zheng Shishu! If you won’t go, I will!” Feng Yue suddenly said.

Jiang Zhe who had appeared calm until now suddenly had a dark expression. “Nonsense!”

“Ding Zhen Shishu had mentored me in the past. I have to repay him,” Feng Yue said serenely.

Jiang Zhe sighed as well and became silent.

———

Ka Zhuo looked with intoxication at the matrix awakening needle in his hand. He continuously caressed it and couldn’t stop touching it.

The new matrix awakening needle was completely black and the blood red mo matrix spread over its surface like a spider-web and glimmered eerily.

“Alright, alright, stop looking.” Zuo Mo understood Ka Zhuo’s feelings but after Ka Zhuo had laughed dumbly like this for a whole morning, he finally could not bear it any longer.

“Yes yes yes, Teacher.” Ka Zhuo seemed to wake up and carefully put away the matrix awakening needle.

Uncle An Ya was unable to believe that Zup Mo had suddenly became Ka Zhuo’s teacher but after listening to Zuo Mo’s speech about geniuses Uncle An Ya had been mentally spun round and round, he managed to believe it.

However, the side effect of this was that Dong Zi and the others did not dare to treat Zuo Mo like they used to. In front of Zuo Mo, they became constrained and careful. They had to maintain their respect towards the matrix awakening masters. Every youth had been told this repeatedly.

And no one else laughed at A Gui carrying Zuo Mo in a princess carry. People suddenly realized, no wonder A Zuo was so strong, he wasn’t a normal mo.

In order to make his matrix awakening master identity more plausible, Zuo Mo started to study the topic of matrix awakening masters seriously. Zuo Mo was skilled in mo matrixes, forging, and seal formations. He managed to understand the craft without expending great effort.

Awakening matrixes was not content of a profound level, and for Zuo Mo, a freak who had seen many high level mo matrixes, if he understood, his understanding of matrix awakening far surpassed the great majority of matrix awakening masters.

Ka Zhuo was filled with respect. The more he was in contact with Teacher, the more he discovered just how vast his Teacher’s knowledge was.

This caused Ka Zhuo to faithfully do whatever Zuo Mo instructed.

Having a matrix awakening needle again, Ka Zhuo could awaken Dong Zi’s matrix.

Dong Zi who had waited for a long time was very excited and ran over instantly. The matrix awakening had attracted large numbers of Shattered Stone Town residents. Dong Zi was the most talented youth in this group and most people hoped that Shattered Stone Town could produce a true expert.

Ka Zhuo made a detailed examination of Dong Zi. Everyone stopped breathing in fear of disturbing Ka Zhuo.

Zuo Mo was lying in A Gui’s arms and saw the entire process. He understood.

Ka Zhuo was going to start awakening the matrix when Zuo Mo suddenly spoke, “Wait.”

Ka Zhuo instantly stopped moving and respectfully came next to Zuo Mo to ask, “Teacher, what orders do you have?”

The mo that were watching in the surroundings shifted slightly.

Even though they had accepted the reality that Zuo Mo had become Ka Zhuo’s teacher, when Ka Zhuo called him this in public, it was still caused a strong reaction. Zuo Mo’s age was about the same as Dong Zi and the other’s, yet this youth had become Ka Zhuo’s teacher. Ka Zhou did not reside in Shattered Stone Town but he was famed in Shattered Stone Town.

Dong Zi’s talent was really pretty good. According to Wei’s observations, Dong Zi should have Alpine Gorilla Blood. Pure Alpine Gorillas were natural warriors with great strength, speed, and bravery.

Zuo Mo had watched Ka Zhou’s inspection. He had confirmed that there were remnants of Alpine Gorilla matrix on Dong Zi’s body and Wei’s guess was proven.

When Zuo Mo had been studying the profession of a matrix awakening master, he found in the last few days that matrix awakening was similar to the matrixes that he had engraved on Lei Peng and the others. However, the mo were skilled in physical power so they used mo matrixes while xiuzhe used ling power so they used seal formations.

After confirming that Dong Zi had remnants of an Alpine Gorilla matrix on his body, Zuo Mo had a daring idea—could he complete Dong Zi’s Alpine Gorilla matrix?

Matrix awakening masters could awaken the mo matrix but that was only bringing out the hidden mo matrix. It was only a minor adjustment and did not repair the mo matrix.

However, to Zuo Mo who had engraved formations before, this idea was daring but was rational.

Zuo Mo was not completely confident and he decided to let Dong Zi make the final decision.

Calling Dong Zi, his parents, Uncle An Ya into the room, Zuo Mo told them his thoughts.

Everyone was stunned. When they heard that Dong Zi had the bloodline of the Alpine Gorilla mo, their faces became disbelieving. Zuo Mo noticed that Dong Zi’s gaze showed yearning and excitement.

Ka Zhuo felt that his mind could not fully grasp the concept. Repair the mo matrix? Ka Zhuo gaped. A long time later, he recovered and his expression suddenly became excited. Having been a matrix awakening master for a long time, Ka Zhuo knew what it mean if this daring idea could be realized.

“A Zuo, you cannot joke about this,” Uncle An Ya’s tone was grave, “how confident are you?”

“Three tenths,” Zuo Mo replied with a conservative guess. After having told them this, he realized the risk and felt regret. He hoped that no harm would befall Dong Zi. In this period of time, Dong Zi had been very good to him.

Dong Zi and his parents started discussing in low voices. They quickly made the decision.

Dong Zi inhaled deeply. “A Zuo, I am willing to try this!”

“It is very dangerous, your chance of death is very high,” Zuo Mo who now deeply regretted bring this up had started to urge him to reconsider.

“I’m not afraid!” Dong Zi said boldly, “I want to become more powerful, this way, we won’t be bullied.”

At this time, Dong Zi’s father also spoke. He said respectfully, “Mister Zuo, please give Dong Zi this chance! Our family, our Shattered Stone Town needs this chance.”

Uncle An Ya sighed deeply and then suddenly looked much older.

Zuo Mo knew that there probably was something going on. He saw that they were extremely resolute and even Uncle An Ya didn’t object so after some thought, he agreed, “Alright! But I need several days to prepare.”

Including Zuo Mo, no one had considered what kind of legend their decision would create!

Chapter 545 - Shattered Stone Chop

Xuan Kong Temple had conquered the mo controlled territory, Cold Mountain Jie!

This news was quickly  spread throughout the Four Realms with the sound tablets. The Four Realms that had been in a state of chaos was lifted by the news. This was the first mo jie that Four Realm Heaven had taken and the news was unexpected. Originally, people had thought the first one would be conquered by Kun Lun or Tian Huan. No one had expected that it would be Xuan Kong Temple.

Xuan Kong Temple was unexpectedly attention-catching in contrast to its usual low-key conduct.

Jiang Zhe who had obtained this victory became one of the most popular battle generals in the Four Realms with this victory!

———

Dong Zi’s entire body was immersed in the black liquid of the medicinal pool. The medicinal fluid gave off a strange fragrance. Ka Zhuo was putting the materials that had been prepared into the medicinal pool one by one.

Shattered Stone Town was remote and poor so there weren’t a lot of good materials on hand. Many materials were not available in Shattered Stone Jie,  Zuo Mo carefully picked carefully and found some common materials to substitute for the rarer ingredients. Ka Zhuo had then made a trip in order to go purchase these items.

It had to be said that the medicinal fluid that Zuo Mo created was very effective. The medicinal power boiled and dark green mo matrixes appeared on Dong Zi’s body, especially his arms that were almost entirely covered by the mo matrix. The mo matrix on his arms was the most detailed and clear, large amounts of hair-thin mo matrixes formed an eerie and complex diagram. Looking from a distance, it looked like tattoos.

“Alpine Gorilla matrix, this is the Alpine Gorilla matrix?” Ka Zhuo looked with intoxication at the tattoos on Dong Zi’s body. As a matrix awakening master, his obsession with mo matrixes was almost an instinct. Even though Zuo Mo had passed the Alpine Gorilla matrix to him, and he was completely familiar with it, but when he saw the real thing, he couldn’t help but be enchanted.

Zuo Mo did not speak, as it would disturb Ka Zhuo. He actually admired Ka Zhuo’s ability. In the past, Ka Zhuo’s education did not include any profound content. The reason that he had the skills he did now was, in part, because of his enthusiasm for mo matrixes.

Turning his gaze to Dong Zi in the medicinal pool, Zuo Mo’s expression was relaxed.

“The situation looks pretty good,” Zuo Mo said in a small voice in his sea of consciousness.

“It is a pity that the materials are lacking,” Wei said faintly. Pu Yao snorted coldly from the side.

Zuo Mo knew that Wei was being extremely conservative in his judgement. The materials were not just a bit lacking. These materials were basically the lowest level of materials, and even so, it had taken all the mo bei that Ka Zhuo had.

“There is no solution for this,” Zuo Mo spread his hand and said helplessly.

Zuo Mo’s daring idea had received Wei’s support. Wei had also guided him in making this medicinal pool.Supposedly, it was a kind of ancient sacrificial ceremony.

Pu Yao gave a cold snort from the side.

“Boy, you better spend some more effort on your body. Otherwise, even we will be affected,” Pu Yao said coldly.

Wei was silent. On this, he was on the same side as Pu Yao.

“The situation is much better than before. I can even move my arm now,” Zuo Mo purposefully showed off smugly.

“Ha, dying from exploding is a very tragic death.” Pu Yao’s face was disdainful. “It is useless even if you can move your entire body. Your body right now is like a volcano, the inside which is becoming more and more restless. Either you cool it down, or vent it.”

Zuo Mo raised an eyebrow. “What idea do you have?”

Pu Yao was silent for a moment before he said, “If you can vent all of the power outside your body, your life will not be in danger. I know a yao art that can do this.”

“And then? Ge will become completely weak?” Zuo Mo twisted his mouth. “Ge won’t do that. Ge still has to heal A Gui, has to find ge’s history, ge still has many things to do.”

“You do not have much time,” Pu Yao’s tone was emotionless. “Based on the present state inside your body, you cannot support it for a long time.”

Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed. “How much longer?”

“One month.”

The sea of consciousness became deathly silent. None of the three were interested in chatting further.

Zuo Mo sat dazed in A Gui’s embrace. He hadn’t thought that the situation was this dire, it was worse than he had imagined.

“Teacher, can we begin?” Ka Zhuo’s voice interrupted Zuo Mo’s thinking.

Zuo Mo refocused and glanced at the medicinal pool. Seeing the water in the medicinal pool was now clear and he could see the bottom, he became alert. “Start.”

Ka Zhuo took out the matrix awakening needle that he had made recently. His expression became serious and focused.

Zuo Mo’s understanding of mo matrixes far surpassed Ka Zhuo, but in terms of actual practical skill, he could not compare to Ka Zhuo. It was the first time that Ka Zhuo was engraving the Alpine Gorilla matrix but his movements were not raw, flowing with an unique rhythm and extremely elegant.

The process continued for a whole day.

Dong Zi was covered in fine and complex mo matrixes that looked like eerie tattoos.

Ka Zhuo disregarded his tiredness and a thread of nervousness appeared in his eyes. He closed his eyes and twenty breaths later, he opened them, his faint brown eyes were completely still.

The matrix awakening needle on his hand suddenly gave off a serene black energy. The black energy shrouded the matrix awakening needle and made it appear as though Ka Zhuo was holding a black bolt of energy.

The black energy suddenly entered between Dong Zi’s brows.

Pain came onto Dong Zi’s face and his entire body convulsed violently.

A deep wild roar came from Dong Zi’s throat that was filled with pain.

Zuo Mo’s heartbeat was raised as he watched Dong Zi roll on the ground. The mo matrix had been engraved and was activated, but the success would determine on whether or not Dong Zi’s body could tolerate the complete Alpine Gorilla matrix.

He had to make it … …

Zuo Mo was cheering for Dong Zi on the inside and extremely nervous.

Threads of black energy seemed to appear out of thin air and enter Dong Zi’s mo matrix. Dong Zi rolled even more violently and gave heart-wrenching howls.

But no matter how he rolled, the mo matrix on his body was not affected as all. As it absorbed more and more black energy, the mo matrix gradually became bright.

Dong Zi’s breathing was weakening as his body convulsed.

Zuo Mo was staring unblinkingly at the mo matrix, extremely nervous and held his breath.

The mo matrix that lit up gradually dimmed. After a while, it gradually lit up again and then dimmed … … pulsing as though it was breathing.

After seven to eight rounds of pulsing, the mo matrix no longer become bright again and Dong Zi was motionless on the ground.

The mo matrix dimmed and then gradually became faint, so faint that the naked eye was unable to see it. Dong Zi did not look any different than usual.

Dong Zi’s breathing sounded, long and serene as though he was sleeping.

Zuo Mo’s heart came back to ground and hurriedly stopped Ka Zhuo that was going forward. “Let him rest, do not disturb him.”

Ka Zhuo stilled and then he stammered out a question, “Suc… success?”

“Yes! Success!” Zuo Mo’s tone was filled with joy.

———

After four hours, Dong Zi woke up. He looked around dazedly and then looked at his hands. He asked Zuo Mo in puzzlement, “A Zuo, when are you going to work on me?”

Seeing Dong Zi acting like this, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but roar with laughter. “Haha, it’s already done!”

“Done?” Dong Zi stilled. He then raised his hands and looked for a while before shaking his head and said, “A Zuo, don’t try to fool me, it is the exact same as before!”

Zuo Mo did not explain and said with a smile, “Come, let’s go out. Uncle An Ya and the others are definitely waiting impatiently.”

It wasn’t just Uncle An Ya and Dong Zi’s parents that were waiting impatiently. All the residents of the town were filled with curiosity. There hadn’t ever been a matrix awakening that had taken such a long time. Dong Zi was the most talented youth in the town, kind and honest, and everyone liked him. They were also full of anticipation about his future.

Seeing Dong Zi walk out, Shattered Stone Town shook.

Everyone came out and surrounded him.

“Dong Zi, show us!”

“Dong Zi, show Auntie how powerful you are now!”

“Big Brother Dong Zi … …”

Dong Zi had never seen anyone shout and talk to him together like this. He instantly didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, the ones that came were people he were familiar with so he was not afraid. Dong Zi was quickly pushed by the flow of people to the training grounds. Uncle An Ya was teaching the other youths in cultivation at this time.

When Uncle Anya saw Dong Zi, he was first overjoyed, but after examining Dong Zi, he couldn’t help but have a puzzled expression. Dong Zi looked the same as before. Dong Zi’s parents were very excited.

“Dong Zi, it’s done?” Uncle An Ya’s question was very general. The matter about the repaired mo matrix was shocking, and so it was kept a secret with only Uncle An Ya and Dong Zi’s parents knowing the truth of the matter.

Uncle An Ya was highly respected in Shattered Stone Town. When he spoke, the noisy crowd instantly quieted.

Dong Zi scratched his head blankly. “A Zuo said it is done.”

Uncle An Ya’s expression did not change as he moved to make space. “En, come, try, do you remember the [Shattered Stone Strike] that I taught you?”

[Shattered Stone Strike] was Uncle An Ya’s ultimate move and this set of strikes was famous in the area. Uncle An Ya had created it based on the striking method he learned in the military and it was very strong.

“Oh,” Dong Zi responded dazedly. In reality, he still didn’t understand what was going on.

However, Uncle An Ya had taught him everything he knew. He would obey what Uncle An Ya said without any hesitation.

Zuo Mo was in A Gui’s arms and filled with anticipation while Ka Zhuo’s face was red from excitement.

Dong Zi’s legs were set apart, his arms slightly lowered with his right hand held straight like a blade.

At this time, the blankness on Dong ZI’s face had disappeared. His expression was stern, his eyes sharp, his entire person like an unsheathed blade!

Zuo Mo thought, Dong Zi was innocent in personality, and did not have stray thoughts. Just a position and it could be seen he had truly learned from Uncle An Ya.

“Strike!”

A shout, and then his slightly lowered arm moved, his hand like a blade as he chopped forward!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were sharp and saw it clearly.

Dong Zi’s palm was shaking at a very high frequency! With every shake, there would be a thread of red energy produced from Dong Zi’s palm and the red energies would layer together.

When the vibrations reached hundreds of times, the red energy was almost tangible and covered the line of his palm!

Hiss!

The red blade energy left his hand!

Boom!

A ruler-straight gulley stretched forward from Dong Zi’s feet, almost twenty zhang before it ended!

The surroundings were completely silent.

Chapter 546 - A Daring Idea

Uncle An Ya stared at the twenty zhang long cut in front of Dong Zi. His expression changed rapidly and he was astounded.

Captain level!

Dong Zi’s Shattered Stone Strike had reached the skill level of captain level!

Uncle An Ya was captain level himself and was very familiar with this move’s power. If he used all his power, he could produce the same effect.

Uncle An Ya knew Dong Zi’s strength very well. He was the most talented among the youths of Shattered Stone Town, but he was far from reaching the captain level.

But now … … captain level!

Uncle An Ya couldn’t help but turn to look at Zuo Mo in A Gui’s arms. There wasn’t any expression on Zuo Mo’s face. His gaze was also normal and there didn’t seem to be any change.

Wasn’t he shocked?

Uncle An Ya almost didn’t believe his eyes. However, he had gone into the world and seen more, and he knew more than the people here.

A Zuo’s origins were not simple!

Thinking back to it, A Zuo and A Gui had walked out of the Gobi Desert. In the past, he had felt that these two had great luck but thinking carefully now, how could they not have any strength and still managed to survive weeks in the Gobi Desert? How could they be simple people?

Uncle An Ya grimaced inside. It seemed that he was getting old, and actually had misjudged these two young people.

His gaze landed back on Dong Zi. Dong Zi clearly was frightened by his own move. His face was panicked and he didn’t know what to do. Uncle An Ya laughed.

Captain level, Dong Zi was in captain level now, his future would be even brighter. If Shattered Stone Town could produce an expert, then everyone’s lives would be much better. Uncle An Ya suddenly felt the heavy burden on his shoulders instantly became lighter.

Uncle An Ya walked next to A Gui and said emotionally, “A Zuo, thank you.”

Zuo Mo said with a smile, “Ah, ah, Uncle, don’t be courteous, this is something I should do!”

“I hadn’t thought that Dong Zi would level up to captain level directly, it really is … …” Uncle An Ya couldn’t keep the wonder out of his tone.

“Captain level?” Hearing this, Zuo Mo paused and then said to himself, “No wonder I felt it was slightly weak, so it is only captain level!”

Finishing, he ran into his sea of consciousness and started to discuss with Wei.

“Alpine Gorilla matrix is a colonel level mo matrix, why is Dong Zi only at the captain level?” Zuo Mo asked Wei.

“The change is a process. The mo matrix will continuously refine his flesh and blood until his body and the matrix truly become one and then his strength can break into colonel level,” Wei explained.

Zuo Mo finally understood.

Talking to Wei, Zuo Mo did not notice that Uncle An Ya’s expression had froze.

Slightly weak … … captain level … …

A beat later, Uncle An Ya refocused. He increasingly felt that Zuo Mo was even more mysterious. Where did A Zuo come from?

Those with captain level strength were unable to enter those elite battalions but definitely had no problem being admitted to those normal battalions. In little places like Shattered Stone Town, people at the captain level were the strongest.

As expected, they came from big places!

Uncle An Ya reflected inside.

“Uncle, Uncle, I’m very strong now, very strong!” Dong Zi charged over excitedly.

“Very powerful?” Zuo Mo heard this and spoke, “Just captain level.”

Just captain level … …

Uncle An Ya perceptively closed his mouth.

“Your body has not been completely tempered, the mo matrix has not merged into your flesh, you do not have a mo physique and the mo skills you practice … … oh” Zuo Mo finally remembered that the one teaching Dong Zi was Uncle An Ya. Uncle An Ya was right beside him.

Uncle An Ya laughed freely. “A Zuo, don’t be polite, Uncle knows his skill, and it really isn’t anything.” Immediately after, An Ya turned and said sternly to Dong Zi, “Listen carefully to A Zuo, remember everything that A Zuo tells you!”

Uncle An Ya was clear that this was a one-in-a-thousand chance for Dong Zi!

Dong Zi clearly did not understand. He said blankly, “I will listen to A Zuo, he’s so strong!”

This boy… but even a stupid mo has stupid good fortune! Uncle An Ya did not state it explicitly. He felt very happy inside and then said, “En, listen carefully to A Zuo. I will first take care of them.” Finishing, he pulled Dong Zi’s parents away.

“A Zuo, tell me, I’ll listen to you!” Dong Zi patted his chest and said in a loud voice.

Zuo Mo looked at Dong Zi’s face filled with sincerity and felt a thread of guilt.

Ge is really too evil! Seducing such an innocent youth to nurture him into a strong sidekick … …

He felt guilt but when the words reached his mouth, it became, “Hm hm, I have a very high-intensity cultivation plan here. If you can finish it, you might rise to colonel level!”

“Really?” Dong Zi’s eyes were bright and filled with desire.

“If you can complete it.”

“I will definitely complete it!” Dong Zi said in a loud voice as though he was swearing an oath. His face was filled with determination.

“Such a brave youth!” Wei praised. “You are becoming more and more devious.”

Zuo Mo ignored Wei and said, “However, Dong Zi, you have to promise me something.”

“Something? A Zuo, speak.” Dong Zi asked curiously.

“You can see that my present state is not good and A Gui is very soft and weak. My family has already sent people to get us but they are too far away. They will probably arrive after a long time. During this time, you have to protect A Gui and I.” Zuo Mo’s tone was serious.

“Of course, you and A Gui are so weak. A Zuo, you might understand a lot but your body is too weak.” Dong Zi’s face was matter-of-fact. Suddenly, his expression became nervous. “A Zuo, is someone targeting you?”

“Uh, no, this is just in case.”

“That’s good, that’s good!”

———

Dong Zi becoming captain level caused a ruckus in Shattered Stone Town and Ka Zhuo’s reputation had become unrivalled. Countless parents came with their children to find Ka Zhuo and Ka Zhuo was in a sorry state dealing with them.

No one came to bother Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo’s sickly looking appearance caused people to not bear to disturb him.

In the sea of consciousness.

“I have an idea,” Zuo Mo said seriously, “what if I also engrave a mo matrix into myself?”

Pu Yao and Wei were shocked by Zuo Mo’s idea.

“You are not a mo,” Pu Yao was the first to object.

“But I have achieved the Great Day mo physique,” Zuo Mo said unhesitatingly.

Pu Yao was silent. He finally remembered that this freak had made it to the Great Da mo physique even though he was not a mo.

“What kind of mo matrix do you want to engrave?” Wei asked gravely.

“My body right now is like a volcano that is about to erupt. The power inside is increasing, and the collisions are becoming more violent. The end result is exploding.” Zuo Mo was calm as though he was describing something unrelated to him. His tone was calm and composed. “The best method is to reorganize the powers in my body back to their state from before, but it is too difficult and I do not know where to start. The other way is to strengthen the volcano by making the mountain stronger and harder to break through.”

“Interesting! Even though it cannot solve the root problem, we can try,” Wei said. “But the effect of low level mo matrixes will not be strong with your present state. Your physical powers are also in chaos so you probably cannot activate high level mo matrixes.”

Zuo Mo nodded and said, “Yes, I want to engrave a portion of a mo matrix on my arm. When the mo matrix is engraved, the blood and flesh there would recover. It would be like a strong barrel. I will then try to direct the powers into the barrel. This way, the other parts of my body would not contain these chaotic powers, and can recover more quickly.”

He turned around and said to Pu Yao, “You said last time you had a yao art that could guide the powers in the body out? Since it can guided out, then it definitely can be used to guide the powers to my arm.”

Pu Yao and Wei sank into deep thought.

But quickly, the two raised their head simultaneously and their eyes flashed with an excited light.

“The yao art needs to be changed slightly, en, but not by very much.”

“The mo matrix has to be strong, but only has to be strong. With this kind of requirement, a mo matrix is easy to find!”

Once the direction was confirmed, the rest of the matter was not very hard for experts like Pu Yao and wei.

Zuo Mo was slightly excited. He finally had hope of bidding farewell to this paralyzed state.

———

“This is the mo matrix for the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie, colonel level mo matrix, very suited to you. The mo matrix is not complex. This is a mollusc that lives deep in the sea, each is the size of a fist. Its outer shell is one of the hardest materials in the world and can tolerate shocking amounts of power.”

Wei quickly found a suitable mo matrix. The mo matrixes that Pu Yao collected were mostly powerful and great mo matrixes, but in terms of how much he knew, he could not compare to Wei, especially in obscure areas.

“It really isn’t complex.” Zuo Mo examined it for a long time.

Pu Yao also produced the recipe needed. He had studied mo matrixes for a long time, even longer than Zuo Mo. This was not hard for him.

But when Zuo Mo gave the recipe to Ka Zhuo, Ka Zhuo’s expression became strange.

“Is there a problem?” Zuo Mo saw something was not right.

“Teacher, the materials on here … …” Ka Zhuo said slowly, “are very expensive … …”

“Very expensive?” Zuo Mo blanked.

“Yes, Teacher, very expensive! Like this, Date Fish Bone Powder, this student has only heard of this, and has never seen it before. This Blood Gelatin, this student has never seen it before, and it is definitely not sold in most shops … …” Ka Zhuo stammered out.

Zuo Mo became depressed.

He finally got a plan with some hope but found that his jingshi, oh, mo bei, wasn’t enough!

Even more depressing was that it wasn’t that Zuo Mo didn’t have the wealth, but that he couldn’t take the jingshi out!

Was there anything more tragic than this?

Zuo Mo cried inside.

An unfamiliar voice suddenly interrupted Zuo Mo’s grieving.

“Hello, Mister Zuo.”

The one who spoke had a very deep voice with a unique resonance.

Zuo Mo looked up and examined the person. A tall and proportional figure wrapped in dark green armor. Dark red eyes looked at Zuo Mo without any hint of warmth.

Colonel level!

Zuo Mo instantly discovered the other’s strength from the presence the other exuded.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook and felt a thread of danger.

Chapter 547 - Jie Master Ceng Yi

Colonel level.

If this was in the past, Zuo Mo had complete confidence he could destroy the man standing in front of him. At normal strength, he was also colonel level but his Great Day mo physique was ranked second among colonel level physiques and would allow him to dominate mo of the same level. Average mo that were in brigadier level wouldn’t be a match for him.

But now, Zuo Mo grimaced. A single colonel was enough to defeat everyone in Shattered Stone Town.

“I hadn’t expected to meet a colonel expert in a little place as Shattered Stone Town, it really is my honor.” Zuo Mo’s tone was light as he said, “Apologies, this one’s body has some problems and is unable to move. If there is any offense, Sir, please have tolerance.”

The other smiled slightly and said, “No matter, this one has heard long ago about Mister Zuo and knows Mister Zuo is not a normal person. Seeing you today, you are as extraordinary as expected. This one is Chao Yu, and is under the command of Ceng Yi Daren.”

His voice was deep and carried an unique resonance.

Heard long ago? Zuo Mo’s heart shook. Had the matter with Dong Zi attracted the other’s attention?

Seeing Zuo Mo remain silent, Chao Yu was not angry. His dark red eyes stared at Zuo Mo as he said directly, “Which teacher did Mister Zuo have? Matrix awakening masters that can cause their targets to level up through matrix awakenings are very rare.”

Zuo Mo did not answer and asked in response, “Does Sir have a matter to ask of me?”

Chao Yu did not pursue the topic and looked meaningfully at Zuo Mo. He said, “It seems that Mister Zuo doesn’t have simple origins.”

For some reason, Zuo Mo felt this person’s words were dark like a cold wind blowing at his back.

Chao Yu smiled and drawled, “This one wants to invite Mister Zuo to be a guest for a few days at Stone City.”

Be a guest? Stone City?

Zuo Mo was a clever person and naturally was able to hear the implied threat in the words.

Suddenly, a mo walked over holding an unconscious Ka Zhuo in his hand.

“What are you dragging on for?” the income said discontentedly. He was clearly unsatisfied with Chao Yu’s efficiency.

Zuo Mo knew that he was unable to avoid it and said in a deep voice, “I’ll go with you!”

Chao Yu laughed unconcernedly and said, “Maybe Mister Zuo will thank us in the future.”

Zuo Mo remained silent and only stared coldly at the other.

“What to do? Do you have a solution?” Zuo Mo impatiently asked Pu Yao and Wei in the sea of consciousness. A Gui was lost to the world, her shen power only working occasionally. If the other were provoked it could be disastrous. But he had no ability to fight. Zuo Mo was extremely panicked.

“With your present state, even the best solution is useless,” Pu Yao said coldly.

“Wait for a chance!” Wei said calmly, “Since they came to find you, they definitely have something to ask. Before you learn the details of the situation, do not do anything.”

Zuo Mo thought and quickly calmed down.

Wei was right, the other clearly had intentions.

“They might have come for the mo matrix.” Pu Yao’s eye narrowed and murderousness flashed through his bloody pupil. He was clearly discontent. “They are brave to act against me!”

If something happened to Zuo Mo, none of them would end up well. Acting against Zuo Mo was acting against them.

Zuo Mo felt slightly ashamed. Compared to the two old veterans, his mentality was still slightly tender. However, he was a leader, and after calming down from the initial panic, his mind started to quickly turn.

Those two people were both colonel level. After interacting with Uncle An Ya in these days, Zuo Mo knew the general situation. In Shattered Stone Jie, colonels were in the ranks of experts. It was not a small matter for two colonels to appear together. Chao Yu and the other came in the open and had no intentions of disguising themselves.

Zuo Mo was curled up in A Gui’s embrace as he continued to organize his body. Even though the effects could not be immediately seen, it was the only thing he could do now.

Chao Yu and the other had two enormous black bats as steeds. The wingspan was six zhang, and the back was broad enough to hold seven to eight people.

The black bats looked intimidating but they did not fly quickly. When they flew, a ball of black wind enveloped  them which blocked the harsh winds.

After flying for two days, a black mountain appeared in Zuo Mo’s view.

The entire mountain was as black as ink, the dropoffs steep as it floated in the sky. Zuo Mo noticed that there were layers of wind around the mountain. The wind carried countless shards of rock that formed a belt of shattered rock.

When they flew near the shattered rock belt, sharp howls almost pierced people’s eardrums, the wailing causing the hearer’s scalp to prickle.

Chao Yu had been paying attention to Zuo Mo the entire journey. He couldn’t help but marvel as he saw that Zuo Mo’s gaze was still calm right now. In this shattered stone belt, the hard wind cut like blades. As the wind carried shattered rock fragments, if one was pulled in, even the strongest body would be ground into powder.

“Has Mister Zuo seen such a thing at other places?” Chao Yu couldn’t help ask.

“No,” Zuo Mo replied indifferently.

It was the first time that Zuo Mo had no agency, he was unable to take the initiative. He was like a fish on the chopping block and could only await for others to act on him. His fighting abilities were zero, his most trusted powers had disappeared. Forced to such a hopeless situation, all of the carelessness, nonchalance, and laziness had disappeared without a trace.

Because there was still A Gui.

Other than his little life, there was still A Gui.

Chatterbox Zuo Mo became silent once again. He wrung out his mind to try to think of anything he could do. He used every second to organize his body even though the actions did not have much meaning.

All of his stray thoughts disappeared. Zuo Mo was focused.

Chao Yu saw that Zuo Mo didn’t have the interest in talking so he smiled and closed his mouth.

The two black bats charged into the shattered stone wind belt without any hesitation. A light shield lit up around the bodies of the black bats. The piercing howls instantly disappeared. Zuo Mo felt his vision blur and the scenery change.

The floating black pieces of stone formed a path that appeared in front of them and stretched into the distance.

The black bats flew above the stone path. Soon after, they flew in front of a black palace.

There were two mo guarding the palace gates. One of them saw Chao Yu and his fellow, smiled and said, “You have just returned? Jie Master has almost run out of patience.”

Chao Yu grimaced. “We didn’t dare to rest for a moment on the road, we didn’t even take break to  drink water until now.”

Zuo Mo’s gaze focused slightly. Jie master! Shattered Stone Jie only had one jie master. Zuo Mo remembered Uncle An Ya had said the jie master of Shattered Stone Jie was called Ceng Yi.

“Don’t complain to me,” the mo guarding the door laughed and said. He then examined Zuo Mo and tsked, “This little boy is the matrix awakening master you found? Are you sure! He’s so sick! This girl is also so ugly!”

Hearing this, murderousness rose inside Zuo Mo.

He looked deeply at the other and memorized the other’s appearance.

———

In the sea of consciousness.

“Zuo Mo’s killing energies are much heavier than before,” Wei said lightly.

Pu Yao said unconcernedly, “This is good, the boy lacked motivation, and was too content with what he had.”

“He treats A Gui very differently,” Wei said meaningfully.

“Women are the most effective!” Pu Yao felt slight regret. “If I’d known sooner, I would have shoved a few women towards him before!”

“A Gui isn’t bad.” Wei seemed to think of something, his tone reminiscing.

“How about shoving a few more women at the boy … …” Pu Yao spoke to himself.

———

“This is the matrix awakening master you found?” a man slowly asked.

Zuo Mo examined the jie master of Shattered Stone Jie.

Ceng Yi’s figure was not tall nor brawny. His body was actually very thin, a thinness that felt abnormal to Zuo Mo. He was wearing pure white robes. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was that he couldn’t feel any killing energy from the other.

Ceng Yi’s chin was pointy, his face exquisite. What was most eye-catching was his almond-yellow eyes that were extremely similar to snake pupils.

But if one underestimated him because of this, they would die a tragic death!

General!

This jie master that looked as though he could be blown away by the wind was the first general mo that Zuo Mo had ever encountered!~

As expected from the master of a jie!

The general rank of mo was equivalent to the yuanying of xiuzhe. Even if Zuo Mo was fully recovered, he would not be a match for Ceng Yi.

“Is he a snake mo?” Zuo Mo asked Wei.

‘En, a rare white fanged snake mo!” Wei’s tone carried a rare thread of seriousness.

“White fanged snake mo?”

“En, this branch of snake mo is an ancient snake mo. Their succession is a very unique kind of mo physique, the white fang mo physique.” Wei talked rapidly, “If they break into general rank, they can cultivate the white fang mo physique. The White Fang mo physique is a general rank mo physique.”

Zuo Mo’s heart dropped. His Great Day mo physique was a colonel level mo physique which was two ranks lower than the other’s White Fang mo physique. Even if Wei didn’t say it, Zuo Mo knew that the difference between the two of them was insurmountable.

Now even Pu Yao did not talk. The Great Day mo physique was ranked second in colonel rank. If he encountered normal brigadier level mo physiques, he might have a chance, but facing a general, there was no chance.

“En, we’ll think of something else.” Zuo Mo recovered his calm.

Pu Yao and Wei exchanged a look and saw the shock in each other’s eyes. They hadn’t expected that Zuo Mo would still have such motivation and spirit under such a disadvantageous and unbalanced situation.

Chao Yu’s voice interrupted the communication between Zuo Mo, Pu Yao and Wei.

“Jie Master! This subordinate encountered Mister Zuo coincidentally in Shattered Stone Town. This subordinate personally saw him awaken the matrix for a youth, and the youth directly level up to captain level.”

A burst of conversation instantly rose in the large hall. All the mo had disbelieving expressions. Matrix awakening was common among low level mo but directly leveling up was extremely rare.

Ceng Yi had some surprise on his face. “Oh, you are saying he caused a youth to directly level up to captain level?”

“Hes, this subordinate saw it personally,” Chao Yu said respectfully. He then pointed at the unconscious Ka Zhuo and said, “He is called Ka Zhuo, and he is Mister Zuo’s student.”

“Jie Master, this is Ka Zhuo, this subordinate has seen him before, he is not bad, but this subordinate has never heard of him having a teacher.” Among the crowd, a tall mo stood up, “Hmph! I think Chao Yu is just making things up!’

Chao Yu didn’t even look at the mo and said, “Jie Master, you can wake Ka Zhuo up and question him personally.”

Ceng Yi smiled and lightly waved his hand. “A Yu is a careful person and wouldn’t make a mistake.”

Finishing, he suddenly stood up and slowly walked in front of Zuo Mo.

Chapter 548 - Incurable

The almond-yellow pupils were clearly harmless but Zuo Mo felt as though their stare was gripping him by the throat and he was unable to breathe.

Was this the difference in their strength? Zuo Mo was shocked.

Just as Zuo Mo was going to suffocate, the restless power inside his body suddenly exploded!

Countless streams rampaged and charged in Zuo Mo’s body like a flood.

The invisible pressure pushing down on him disappeared with a pop.

Zuo Mo felt his body lighten. His breathing started again. The powers inside of his body lost their target and gradually calmed.

From beginning to end, Zuo Mo did not move. No one knew of such a violent change inside of his body.

Ceng Yi’s eyes were thoughtful and then he smiled slightly. “This one has a favour to ask of Mister Zuo.”

———

Ka Zhuo carefully inspected the unconscious young female on the bed. The features of the young female were similar to Ceng Yi and should be Ceng Yi’s daughter or someone close. The young female’s features were exquisite, the warm and soft red lips slightly open, the delicate brow slightly creased as though she was enduring pain.

A short time later, Ka Zhuo started to sweat. It had taken him a long time to understand what had happened after he was woke up. After the initial panic, he quickly calmed down. If he encountered something as dangerous as this by himself, he would have started trembling long ago, but since his teacher was behind him, he didn’t worry so much.

Zuo Mo’s endless bag of tricks had completely persuaded Ka Zhuo. Ka Zhuo even felt that if it was about mo matrixes, there was nothing that would be a problem for Teacher.

As Ka Zhuo continued his inspection, the mo matrix on the young females body gradually floated to the surface.

The ivory white mo matrix was hard to detect on the pale skin if one did not look closely. Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. This was the first time he saw ivory-colored mo matrixes.

“This isn’t simple.” Wei’s expression was grave. “The white fang snake mo’s greatest barrier in life is breaking through to general level. If they can, they will form the white fang mo physique, if they fail, they will end up like this. Ivory white mo matrixes is an immature mo matrix.”

“An immature mo matrix?” It was the first time Zuo Mo heard this term.

Wei flicked a look at Pu Yao. Pu Yao snorted and then spoke, “The mo matrix on the body is not unchanging. When you reach a new level, the mo matrix on your body will change as well, and becomes more mature, more perfect, this is what maturation is. However, if something happens during the process and the mo matrix’s maturation is interrupted, it will become like this.”

“So that is how it is!” Zuo Mo’s understanding of mo matrixes increased by the day. He instantly understood when Pu Yao pointed it out.

He quickly found this was a troublesome problem.

This kind of problem was not easy to solve.

As expected, Wei said helplessly, “This kind of state, in the mo world, is incurable!”

Pu Yao was also silent. He might study mo matrixes but this kind of state wasn’t in the scope of his study.

Zuo Mo felt his head swell.

Ka Zhuo finished his last test and retreated with his forehead full of sweat. He looked hopefully at Zuo Mo. He felt there wasn’t anything that could stop Teacher.

“Mister Zuo, how is it?” Ceng Yi asked. His almond-yellow snake pupils looked coldly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt his scalp prickle. He knew if he didn’t have anything, he would not be able to walk alive out of here today.

“Jie Master is a White Fang Snake mo!” Zuo Mo suddenly said.

“Mister Zuo is knowledgeable.” A hint of surprise flashed across Ceng Yi’s eyes. White Fang Snake mo was a rare kind of mo and not many people knew of them. Ceng Yi felt some hope that the other was able to recognize it at a glance and the implied skill and knowledge behind it.

“White Fang Snake mo will reach the White Fang mo physique when they enter general level. I had thought it was a rumor and not that it is actually so.” As Zuo Mo talked, his mind whirled furiously.

Ka Zhuo’s mouth was gaping widely. For him, this was extremely new.

Ceng Yi’s eyes narrowed slightly and then he laughed lightly. “Mister Zuo is very knowledgeable, this one feels respect. Then Mister Zuo should have some explanation about Daughter’s situation. Mister Zuo, please explain.”

Zuo Mo said indifferently, “Honored Miss has failed in the breakthrough, the maturation of her mo physique has been interrupted. Right now, her body is probably in chaos, and her life in danger.”

A light flashed across Ceng Yi’s eyes. Zuo Mo felt as though Ceng Yi suddenly turn into a giant, the great pressure almost making him unable to breathe.

This time, the chaotic turbulence inside his body did not move.

Ceng Yi instantly realized that this reaction was not beneficial and restrained his presence. Zuo Mo felt his body relax and he could breathe again.

General level and having a mo physique, the power was terrifying!

Zuo Mo was shocked inside. He heard Ceng Yi say in a low voice, “This one has found more than one hundred matrix awakening masters and only Mister Zuo could identify the ailment. This one feels admiration. Since Mister Zuo can correctly diagnose it, then Mister Zuo must have a solution.”

Zuo Mo said through his teeth, “Truthfully, it is the first time this one has seen such a situation. Even though the cause is known, this one doesn’t have a good grasp on the solution.”

Ceng Yi gave a smile, “Mister Zuo is too modest.”

Even though Ceng Yi had a smile on his face, Zuo Mo felt that smile was glacial.

Zuo Mo knew that he could not refuse. His mind whirled furiously and he continued, “This one is not being modest. Even though it is the first time this one has seen such an ailment, but this one has heard that it is incurable from many sources.”

“Incurable!” Ceng Yi stilled. A hint of grief shone in his eyes but he quickly recovered.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. This mo’s ability to control his emotions was astounding!

“This one believes Mister Zuo would have a way,” Ceng Yi said slowly.

Zuo Mo knew the crucial time has come. He said calmly, “This one has some ideas but will only know if they are plausible after trying. However, this one will first say if Jie Master wants this one to do this, you need to have enough patience. Life is important. This one’s ideas needs to carry out a lot of experimentation.”

Hearing this, Ceng Yi smiled and said, “That is to be expected. I will give the order to fully cooperate with Mister Zuo. However, in order for Mister Zuo to have better results, Mister Zuo will have to temporarily reside in Stone City.”

Zuo Mo had expected this. He nodded and said, “Alright.”

Ceng Yi was very satisfied with Zuo Mo’s perceptiveness. He believed that if Zuo Mo was restricted to this place, Zuo Mo wouldn’t dare to play any tricks.

Then Zuo Mo was taken to a nearby compound. There were two brigadier mo guarding at the door.

Only now did Zuo Mo release a breath.

He had never experienced the power suppression of higher levels on lower levels. If his mind was not this strong, he would have lost his mind facing Ceng Yi.

However, when he thought of the two brigadier mo outside the door, Zuo Mo grimaced. This time, they wouldn’t be able to escape.

Even if his power recovered, there wouldn’t be any hope.

Ceng Yi had general level strength and the White Fang mo physique, that was enough to suppress Zuo Mo.

His gaze landed on A Gui’s expressionless face. For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo suddenly thought of A Gui’s beautiful and stunning bare feet that he saw through the strands of hair blown up by the wind.

On the rough rock, the beautiful and exquisite bare feet were flawless and tempting. But this pair of feet trembled from the burden with every step in the wind and sand.

There was no stopping as she carried him step by step.

His line of sight was mostly occluded but these short glimpses made the situation clear.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed. The low mood flew away. He felt full of energy. He was not demotivated by the situation in front of him. He believed he could overcome this obstacle.

A Gui … … I’ll definitely take you and leave here!

Zuo Mo said to himself.

He started to ponder his present situation. Even though he was in a cage, he had a chance to breathe. In the short term, he didn’t need to worry about his safety.

This amount of time was enough for him to do something.

———

Ba La looked at the inventory list and felt great pain. Ever since that strange matrix awakening master came, countless materials had been taken from his place. Ba La was the housekeeper of the Jie Master. Every time, he had to give his permission for these lists. Even though the Jie Master had already ordered him to do his best to satisfy what the other needed, he still felt pain.

However, he didn’t dare to do anything about the requests. Everyone knew the love Jie Master had towards Miss. If he provoked the Jie Master because of this, it was a road leading to death.

He gritted his teeth and agreed to hand over the materials.

Ba La understood his master very well. The Jie Master wasn’t one that was easily fooled. If that damned matrix awakening master could not save Miss when the time came, he would die terribly!

In the hands of the Jie Master, dying was not an easy matter!

None of the matrix awakening masters that had come before had left alive.

Zuo Mo’s little yard was still guarded by two mo. They were only responsible for standing guard and were not concerned with what was happening inside.

“Are you familiar with the mo matrixes I taught you?” Zuo Mo asked Ka Zhuo.

“Familiar.” Ka Zhuo nodded.

“Then let’s start.” Zuo Mo did not chat. Time was extremely important for him.

Ka Zhuo carefully started to engrave the Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s right palm. The mo matrix was not complex and Ka Zhuo finished in four hours.

Then Ka Zhuo picked up one of the medicinal fluids that had been prepared. These fluids were made using materials they’d gotten from Ba La with the excuse they were for experiments. Ka Zhuo dipped into the fluid and started to brush it onto the mo matrix.

A burning feeling came from his palm. Zuo Mo was joyed.

Ka Zhuo used the next medicinal fluid and brushed again and again.

The feeling of burning increased. Zuo Mo felt as though his palm was going to burn to ash, his entire palm was red like liquid metal.

Ka Zhuo took out a vial that glowed with a serene blue light, the last medicinal fluid.

The moment the medicinal fluid touched the mo matrix, a feeling of cool comfort formed. Zuo Mo almost groaned in pleasure.

When the serene blue medicinal fluid touched the mo matrix, it quickly permeated into the mo matrix.

The entire mo matrix quickly became serene blue and covered Zuo Mo’s entire palm.

When the medicinal fluid entered the last stroke of the mo matrix, something changed!

Chapter 549 - The Mountain Dragon Corps

Shu Long’s group encountered trouble.

A group of mo was staring at them with malicious intent. The mo that was leading the group arrogantly shouted, “Listen well to ye, hand over half of your things and mo bei, and ye will allow you to live. If any of you don’t give ye face, ye won’t be polite.”

Shu Long looked towards his more experienced companion, Ye Ling. Before this journey, he had never been to the mo world.

Ye Ling’s expression was not good. He pressed his voice low and said, “They are bandits. There probably isn’t a ruling faction in this area and making it easy for bandits to control the area.”

“Bandits?” Shu Long stilled. “There are bandits in the mo world as well?”

Ye Ling’s old face flushed. “A lot.” His mood then lifted as he said heatedly, “So we need our king. Only our king can once again establish order!”

Shu Long patted Ye Ling heavily on the shoulder. “You are right!”

Immediately after, Shu Long slowly took out his mo weapon and said sternly, “Daren’s light has not reached this place, then we will first proceed for Daren!”

On this trip, the majority of his group were the elite of the elite from Guard Camp. In the past while they had been completely loyal to Zuo Mo, they did not have any goals or dreams. But after Ye Ling appeared, this battle maniac had caused  Guard Camp to reassess themselves.

A dreams, a drive, for Guard Camp; people who were once xiu slaves and encountered great hardship, this was akin to the light in a dark world.

They naturally thought of other xiu slaves that were still in terrible situations, that Guard Camp was once enslaved like them.

Every hardship guard believed that only Daren could help more xiu slaves escape their tragic fates. Since they joined Daren, no matter where they had gone, as long as it was Zuo Mo’s territory, there were no xiu slaves.

Silently, Guard Camp started to form their simple dream.

The only one that detected this transformation was Lil’ Miss, but Lil’ Miss felt that this kind of change was not bad. It was actually good. A battalion with a dream usually possessed astounding combat abilities because they would focus themselves and motivate themselves.

The mo were shocked that Shu Long and the others were planning on fighting back.

“You really have guts! Know who ye is? Ye is from the famous Mountain Dragon Corps! Hmph hmph, dare to resist? Ye will let you know what a massacre is … …” The leading mo smirked coldly.

Shu Long didn’t even blink as his heavy armor formed on his body.

Behind him, the hardship guards manifested their heavy armor. Shu Long held his large halberd in his hand, the beak-like point was red as though it had been soaked in blood.

Shu Long was clear that his talent as a general was average and far from being comparable to Lil’ Miss’ talent. So no matter what tactic or battle formation that Pu Yao or Wei had trained them in, he would always methodically complete them.

To the strictest and most stringent degree!

Even while travelling normally they maintained a battle formation. Even if they were walking from their camp to the training field, they would maintain their battle formation.

On this long journey, they still maintained their battle formation.

What Pu Yao and Wei demanded of Guard Camp was that they had to be able to activate the battle formation in the span of two breaths. Shu Long felt that he lacked talent and wanted to have even more time to respond to the enemy trained until this was down to half of a breath.

This was a standard that was so high that even Pu Yao and Wei were shocked.

At this time, this high standard was displayed.

Before the other finished speaking, the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation had started to move. The Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation variant that required less than one hundred hardship guards was what they trained the most in.

Threads of black mist left each hardship guard like an arrow and gathered around Shu Long at an astounding rate.

Half a breath!

Shu Long who was shrouded in the black smoke did not hesitate at all. His left foot suddenly stepped forward, as he lunged forward, and the black halberd in his hand suddenly swiped forward!

“Kill!”

The black mist covering his body flooded towards the black halberd. A black energy howled as it flew towards the enemy!

“You dare!” The mo leader was both shocked and furious. He hadn’t expected the other to really fight back and Shu Long’s move had been so fast that they responded only after the black energy formed.

The black energy was lightning fast!

When it flew in front of this group of mo, the black energy that had been a few chi on the halberd had expanded to twenty zhang in length!

The enormous energy was like a sickle!

It cut down the chaff!

Pew pew pew!

Anyone touched by the black energy was sent flying. Blood and flesh sprayed through the air. They didn’t even have the time to shout before they disappeared into the furious howl.

The howls dissipated and the black energy disappeared.

The ground was filled with bloodied bodies and broken limbs. The ground that had encountered the black energy was scorched black and was left completely lifeless.

Everyone was shocked by the scene in front of them.

There was an enormous section of the mo troop that had disappeared. The mo that had been standing in that space before had all disappeared. The remaining mo all had expressions of hopelessness. When the black energy had came at them, the sky in their eyes had become night!

The rising scent of blood was like terror that could not be restrained and completely filled the air. In the history of Mountain Dragon Corps, they had never faced such a fearsome opponent before.

Was this the elite of some battalion?

Even the most stupid person understood they had hit a hard nut this time. The terrible conditions of their fellows made them realize just how vicious this troop of a hundred people was!

Boom!

All the bandits reacted the same. They turned and scattered!

Shu Long who had been preparing to send a second attack stopped. The enemy’s weak resolve received their disdain.

“Mountain Dragon Corps … … no wonder we never heard of them … …” someone muttered.

Guard Camp’s display didn’t just shock the enemy but also people on their own side. The flower yao were alright as they had seen Vermillion Bird Camp before and that was a place that was just as freakish as Guard Camp.

But Nan Yue, Cang Ze, and the other yao, as well as Ye Ling were stunned!

No inquiries, no announcements, they didn’t even wait for the other to finish speaking, without any warning, as fast as lightning, and so aggressive … …

This was a vicious battle machine!

Ye Ling was a mo with knowledge and he had seen the Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation before. However, it was the first time he had seen such a oppressive and suffocating Crow Fiend Mo Kill Formation.

As expected of his king’s core troops!

He was filled with admiration, and when he thought of his own battalion, he was filled with shame. He resolved that he would definitely learn from Shu Long Daren when he returned. Such a vicious and domineering way of fighting was a great weapon! Only by becoming stronger could his minuscule strength contribute to his king’s dominion!

Nan Yue, Cang Ze and the others were even more shocked, their bodies numb.

Pu Yao who still held a grudge over how Guard Camp had been stolen from him kept on instilling in Nan Yue and the other’s the belief that Guard Camp were their competitors.

So on the way here, Nan Yue and the others had secretly observed Shu Long’s group.

Before this incident, they hadn’t found anything special about Shu Long and the other’s but the moment Shu Long and the other troop acted, they felt as though a harmless-looking wild beast had suddenly revealed its sharp and vicious fangs, shook off all disguise and revealed its true bloodthirsty nature!

The shock produced by this entire process caused their limbs to become cold and their faces bloodless.

No matter if it was Nan Yue, Cang Ze or Ming Jue Zi, their experiences had been very peaceful. Compared to the hardship guards that had fought and killed their way out, they were like infants.

“So strong … …” Cang Ze swallowed, his face ashen.

Ming Jue Zi had a grimace, “Daren really found a good competitor for us!”

Nan Yue had remnants of terror on her face but she bit down on her lips and said stubbornly, “We need to work harder!”

They finally understood why Pu Yao was demanded so much of them. All their objections and opinions dissipated in front of the domineering and powerful strength of Shu Long and the others!

They didn’t speak, but they each resolved inside to work harder!

Shu Long himself was not that kind of smart person. His response naturally was not so sensitive. Seeing the other choosing to flee, he deactivated the battle formation.

“Let’s go, we need to move faster,” Shu Long said in a deep voice.

Ye Ling also refocused and nodded. “Yes, it is most important to find our king!”

The troop once again started to travel. They did not think more about this interaction that couldn’t even be called a fight. They only hoped that they could reach Shattered Stone Jie as fast as possible.

However, what they hadn’t thought about was that this place they were travelling through was truly the land of bandits.

The news that they had defeated the Mountain Dragon Corps was like a pebble that was thrown into the water and caused a whole series of ripples.

———

The serene blue light on his right palm was blinding and illuminated the entire room.

The blue light was produced by the collisions of the turbulent flows inside his body. This kind of collision was just an instinctive response by the powers in his body and was not a regular and organized collision.

This type of collision was unexpected to Zuo Mo but he was overjoyed about it.

There had to be a process similar to awakening for the engraved mo matrix to start working. Only after awakening will the connection between the mo matrix and the flesh truly become close.

The irregular flows of power continuously charged at the mo matrix of the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie and so the mo matrix was quickly merging with his body.

The entire process continued for four whole hours before the blue light gradually dimmed and then disappeared.

Zuo Mo felt that his right palm had become hardened to a degree that would have been unimaginable in the past. He felt that if he now used his palm to hit a flying sword, he wouldn’t be hurt at all.

This filled Zuo Mo with confidence.

What was left now was to guide the chaotic flows inside his body into this rock-hard palm.

This was the most important step!

Even as strong and resolved as Zuo Mo was mentally, he felt a rare thread of nervousness.

His gaze unconsciously landed on A Gui’s face. From his angle, he coincidentally saw A Gui’s chin. Zuo Mo suddenly found that the skin at A Gui’s chin was smooth and completely different than her face.

This suddenly discovery took away Zuo Mo’s nervousness.

He laughed.

After laughing, Zuo Mo was in a good mood. He threw away all his stray thoughts and emotions, he looked outside and entered a state of concentration

– come.

Chapter 550 - Success!

There were still flows of power colliding and charging inside his body. Three completely different types of power continuously crashed together and what shocked him was that under such collisions, the three powers had continuously grown stronger.

The rate of increase far surpassed Zuo Mo’s knowledge.

They seemed to become stronger by the hour. Any kind of cultivation speed compared to this was as slow as a turtle.

If he could have this kind of growth rate when cultivating, how fortunate would it be!

This thought flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind before he threw it away. The danger associated with this abnormal growth was enough for any xiuzhe to die multiple times.

If Zuo Mo wasn’t cultivating shen power and the three powers were connected, if it wasn’t that he had the Soul Setting Divine Light inside his body as the counterbalance, if he didn’t have the Greenvine Mystical Water healing his body inside, he would have died a few hundred times already.

Zuo Mo gradually grasped some patterns to the movements of the power. This kind of crazy growth was because the powers were mutually stimulating each other. Right now, the three powers inside his body were like three factions of equal power. Any expansion of one faction would cause the expansion of the other two.

And this kind of growth was at a tricky equilibrium.

It was this tricky equilibrium that was why Zuo Mo’s body had not been destroyed. But these rampaging flows of power continuously attacked Zuo Mo’s body. This was also the reason that Zuo Mo was unable to move.

Zuo Mo’s way of thinking was not complex. He was to guide the chaotic flows into his right hand to lessen the burden on his body and allow his body to recover the ability to move.

But it was not easy to do all this.

Pu Yao had taught the yao art to Zuo Mo but Zuo Mo’s consciousness was also scattered and not in his control. Without his consciousness, he was unable to cast the yao art.

What Zuo Mo needed to do now was to control a small part of his consciousness.

This was the most difficult and most important step.

Zuo Mo’s only chance would occur during the short period of time the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie formation and his hand’s flesh was merging together. The equilibrium in his hand would be broken! The flesh would merge with the mo matrix, and leave behind the ling power and consciousness. What Zuo Mo needed to do was to split the two remaining powers, taking out the ling power that was tangled with the consciousness!

The consciousness that remained would be enough to cast the yao art.

Zuo Mo was like a hunter waiting for an opportunity, patiently waiting for the best time.

Suddenly, the mo matrix gave off a serene blue light. The connection between his hand and the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie had increased, and the physical power among the three powers in his hand was decreasing dramatically.

The balance was broken!

Highly focused, Zuo Mo acted in this instant!

His nimble five fingers on his right hand bloomed, flickering and pointing at a rapid rate!

Finger movements!

The finger movements that he had practiced so much on back at Wu Kong Mountain once again appeared!

“Finger movements?” Pu Yao was slightly surprised. Wei who was nearby was also left surprised. None of them had thought that Zuo Mo would use finger movements.

But these two were extremely smart and quickly understood. They said at the same time, “This is a good solution!”

Any beginner xiuzhe had a common knowledge that the finger movements were the surface guides and ling power was the core for control. In other words, the finger movements were just an assistive method and ling power control was actually what was effective. But this also meant that there was a special connection between finger movements and ling power.

Since his ling power had gone out of his control, he would use finger movements to guide the ling power.

This was something easy to say, but the number of people who could think of this was pitifully little. Everyone would think that the core controlled the surface, but in the eyes of many people, using the surface to control the core was mostly ineffectual. Even Pu Yao and Wei hadn’t thought of this, so when the two of them saw Zuo Mo using this method, they instantly complimented him.

Ka Zhuo gaped with wide eyes. He had never seen such nimble fingers before, and never such fantastical finger movements!

The dancing five fingers smoothly went through the finger movements.

Zuo Mo quickly felt the change in his palm. The ling power that was tangled with his consciousness was affected by the finger movements and gradually broke free as though it was attracted to something else. It flowed out through Zuo Mo’s five fingers.

Zuo Mo’s fingers gradually lit up. At the beginning, it was a light indiscernible from the light of his palm but as his five fingers moved, it became brighter!

His five fingers were like five bright dots of light that drew out streams of bright light as he moved.

[Little Art of Cloud and Rain]!

The spell that Zuo Mo was most familiar with!

A faint ball of mist slowly spread through the intersection of the bright lights. The mist gradually spread and the flickering fingers danced in and out of view with its streaks of light beautifully through the mist.

Zuo Mo did not have the attention to spare and admire this beautiful scene. His attention was focused because he had to perfectly finish the guiding yao art!

He had to split his mind on two tasks!

The benefits of shen power appeared now. If this was in the past, he definitely did not have the ability to cast a yao art when he was also maintaining a spell.

This yao art that was called “Other Life Art” not difficult but was very obscure. Pu Yao had said proudly that even in his era, there were pitifully few that knew of this yao art.

Zuo Mo found it hard to understand Pu Yao’s smugness. He really could not think of anyone who would use this yao art in a situation unlike this one. But in order to protect the stability of his sea of consciousness, he did not voice his thoughts.

At this time, Zuo Mo had thrown these random thoughts to the back of his mind. His consciousness which was disentangled from the ling power had begun merging together again.

Zuo Mo effortlessly cast [Other Life Art]!

The moment the yao art was completed, Zuo Mo’s body suddenly shook. The rampaging chaotic flows inside his body completely stopped.

What was going on?

Zuo Mo had a bad feeling. Why did it stop, this was completely different than what they had expected!

Before he could think more, the flows that had stopped then exploded without warning!

Boom!

The chaotic flows present in every part of his body were like sharks that smelt blood and flooded towards Zuo Mo’s right hand.

Zuo Mo’s body violently shook and he grunted.

The usual collisions of the chaotic flows were extremely painful. But these new crazy collisions were like countless blades sawing back and forth on Zuo Mo’s body.

The Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie mo matrix on his right hand was affected and suddenly released a blinding blue light.

The blue light given off this time was brighter than any other time. The entire room became dyed in blue light and Zuo Mo’s right hand was like a blinding ball of light.

The blue light was increasing in strength!

It was so bright that Ka Zhuo had to close his eyes. He was shocked inside. As expected of Teacher, this was wondrous! Even though he didn’t really understand what Zuo Mo was doing, it did not stop him from marveling at it.

His right hand was like a bottomless hole. As the power flooded in, other than the mo matrix brightening, there wasn’t any other response.

As the chaotic flows entered his right hand, the feeling of pain decreased drastically and his paralyzed body quickly recovered its mobility.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed!

Success!

He truly succeeded!

When the last chaotic flow burrowed into Zuo Mo’s right hand, Zuo Mo’s battered body quickly recovered under the nurturing of the Greenvine Mystical Water.

Such a marvelous Greenvine Mystical Water!

Zuo Mo suppressed his joy and tried to move. His left arm was able to move!

But due to his position, his left hand was placed on A Gui’s chest. With this movement, it caused a serious consequence

–So soft!

Zuo Mo’s face was red. That … … he couldn’t always eat soft rice!

After warning himself, Zuo Mo carefully got of A Gui. It had been too long since he moved and his movements were clumsy and stiff. Fortunately, A Gui seemed to understand that he had recovered and did not try to stop him.

The moment his feet landed on the ground, Zuo Mo almost cried!

Success!

His body was completely empty of power, and even his mo physique was unable to be used. But just having recovered his ability to move was enough for him to be ecstatic!

Zuo Mo quickly found an unpredicted situation—the blue light on his hand did not show any signs of dimming.

He quickly understood after thinking. After taking in so much power, these powers would continuously charge at the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie mo matrix. The mo matrix that was being stimulated would naturally light up.

While he understood, Zuo Mo was troubled. Was he going to have to go outside with this ball of light?

After more thought, Zuo Mo found a length of cloth and carefully wrapped up his right hand. After wrapping more than ten layers, the blue light was finally covered.

Without the blinding blue light, Ka Zhuo’s vision cleared up. When he saw Zuo Mo standing, he was shocked and stammered, “Teacher, you … … you have recovered completely?”

Zuo Mo smiled slightly. “Recovered in part.”

Then his gaze landed on A Gui and instantly became much gentler. “A Gui, sorry for burdening you!”

A Gui did not react as though she did not hear the words.

Zuo Mo did not care. He said lightly, “I will definitely take you and leave! I will heal you, recover you memories, I want to know your name.”

A Gui stood woodenly.

“I can definitely do it!” Lowering his head, Zuo Mo looked at his palm, so resolved as though he was announcing his oath to himself.

He started to exercise his body. A short while later, he found his coordination again.

After achieving this step, he sat down again and started to study his right hand that he had wrapped in many layers.

All of the chaotic power flows had been sucked into his right hand. These chaotic flows had formed a whirlpool.

No matter what kind of power it was, it would always search for balance!

Zuo Mo seemed to understand something.

All of the chaotic flows were compressed in his little hand. The entanglement between the three powers had increased. Having lost the comparatively vast space to rampage, they were more tightly packed and the collisions between them were even more violent. Zuo Mo could feel the powerful strength contained in the collision!

However, he had expected this.

But his next discovery caused his expression to change drastically!

Chapter 551 - Good That Came With The Bad

The power inside his hand was furiously growing at a rate multiple times compared to before!

The power whirlpool seemed to be expanding at a visible rate. The increasing power caused the presence of the whirlpool to become even more terrifying, the ferocity of the power collisions was rapidly increasing. The waves of power pushed outward and caused this compressed whirlpool of power to become even more chaotic.

No wonder Zuo Mo’s expression changed. If the rate continued to increase like this, even the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie would not be able to tolerate the power whirlpool inside his hand for very long!

Zuo Mo had never expected that guiding the power flows into his hand would cause their rate of growth to increase so greatly!

This also meant that the time Zuo Mo had left had shrunk dramatically.

Zuo Mo’s expression became stern. He reflexively moved his body. He was slightly unaccustomed to this empty body.

Suddenly, he had an idea. If he could pull out and process power from his hand and move it into his body … ..

He did it as he thought about it. He tried to pull out a small amount of power from the power whirlpool in his palm. However, what depressed him was that no matter if he used spells, yao arts, or mo skills, he was unable to obtain one thread of power from the power whirlpool.

The power whirlpool spun at a high speed and all the chaotic power flows were tightly sucked into the power whirlpool.

Zuo Mo was not demotivated. He patiently pondered it.

As he thought, he suddenly found that each of the chaotic flows in the power whirlpool were usually three powers tangled together, and it was very difficult to extract just one power.

Three powers … … three powers tangled together, wasn’t that just shen power?

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up.

The power whirlpool seemed to suddenly slow down. Those chaotic power flows magnified in front of his eyes and gradually became clear.

When the three powers merged, it was shen power!

Zuo Mo murmured to himself as he stared unblinkingly.

Suddenly, he moved into a strange posture, the beginning position for shen power cultivation that was recorded on the golden leaf. Almost the instant he got into position, a thread of gold light floated out of the power whirlpool.

Zuo Mo’s mind was completely clear. Without any pause, he moved through the following positions. Gold threads continued to flow out of the power whirlpool. These threads did not seem to be affected by the suction of the whirlpool at all.

These golden threads were as thin as hair as they slowly floated in the air above the whirlpool. This was shen power.

At this time, the ray of Soul Setting Divine Light inside Zuo Mo’s body suddenly lit up.

The shen power threads that were flowing suddenly stopped. With a flash of the divine light, the shen power seemed to be pulled by an unseen force, suddenly breaking out of the attraction to the whirlpool and flowing from the middle of his palm into his arm!

These hair-thin shen power strands quickly merged into Zuo Mo’s body when they left his palm.

A feeling of swelling power rose!

It was as though his parched body had suddenly became replenished by the rain. Every bit of his blood and flesh was greedily absorbing these strands of shen power.

The moves that had been raw before seemed to have merged into Zuo Mo’s bones. His movements flowed and felt simple yet enlightened.

Threads of shen power continuously flew out of Zuo Mo’s palm into every part of Zuo Mo’s body.

The Soul Setting Divine Light dimmed and brightened as though it was the lighthouse guiding the ships in the dark. If Zuo Mo looked carefully at the Soul Setting Divine Light at this time, he would find to his shock that the Soul Setting Divine Light was much brighter than in the past.

———

“Is he actually a genius?” Wei suddenly said.

His expression was extremely complex. There was shock, disbelief, dazedness, suspicious, but when he said this, his tone was certain.

“Otherwise, why would I take him as a student?” Pu Yao could not disguise the smugness in his expression, but his bloody pupil still exposed his own shock.

“I’m very curious about his origins now,” Wei said lightly, “He is able to cultivate the mo physique, able to cultivate yao arts, able to cultivate spells, able to cultivate shen power, able to comprehend the Soul Setting Divine Light, it really is … …”

Wei almost didn’t know how to describe it.

The smugness on Pu Yao’s’ face retreated and his usual indifference came back. “No matter what his birth is, my student is my student.”

“Do not be so nervous.” Wei smiled slightly. “I will not have malicious aims on him. This kind of genius will never lack for enemies. I don’t need to increase their numbers, I just anticipate it!”

A light flashed through Pu Yao’s bloody pupil. “What do you want to do?”

“Do you remember why we were defeated in the past?”

Wei smiled slightly but that smile was without any warmth.

———

“What? Mountain Dragon Corps is this embarrassing?” an one-eyed mo wolf shouted. His gaze was vicious, his face set in a snarl, scars crisscrossed his face and caused him to appear intimidating.

In this Eminent Mountain Jie, this one-eyed mo wolf’s reputation was feared. He wasn’t just the leader of the biggest group of bandits, he was also the boss that was most famous in Eminent Mountain Jie.

Eminent Mountain Jie was ruled by bandits. This was a famed home of bandits and the number of bandit groups were in the thousands.

The merchants that passed by didn’t dare to travel through this region, and due to the fact there were no large factions in the surroundings, no one came to rid the area of bandits. Over time, Eminent Mountain Jie became a true den of bandits. They raided in all areas and all of the business routes in the surroundings were within their raiding area.

The more daring bandit groups would even travel to raid places further away.

In Eminent Mountain Jie, there was only one kind of mo that could survive, bandits.

Hearing that someone had come to Eminent Mountain Jie to show off, the one-eyed mo wolf couldn’t accept it.

“Boss, that group is really strong! They probably aren’t from an average battalion. There aren’t many of them, about one hundred and so,” the subordinate said cautiously. He had not seen the battle personally and all the intelligence he had had been learned from the lucky survivors of Mountain Dragon Corps.

“Mountain Dragon Corps? Those trash!” the one-eyed mo wolf said disdainfully. “They are all cowardly! This kind of trash is an embarrassment to our Eminent Mountain Jie.”

The one-eyed mo clearly was talking as though he was the master of the jie.

Viciousness flashed through his eyes as he snarled, “Even those proper battalions do not dare to come to our territory to make trouble! Just a hundred people, such daring! They really think they are something!”

The subordinate perceptively did not try to urge otherwise. He was clear about his boss’ fiery temper. The boss hated matters that lost his face the most. If he was not perceptive, he wouldn’t be able to keep his head.

“Go! Tell the other corps, I’ll give a space to whoever exterminates this group on the next trip out!” The one-eyed mo wolf narrowed his one eye and said in a deep voice.

The subordinate was filled with sympathy towards this group of people that had charged into Eminent Mountain Jie. They were finished! With Boss throwing this prize out, there wouldn’t be a speck of these one hundred people left.

The one-eyed mo wolf was the strongest in Eminent Mountain Jie. Only he dared to attack the highly defended cities. Every time he went out on a city raid, he would come back with great prizes that the other factions were deeply envious of. The rule of the one-eyed mo wolf was that whichever bandit group performed a great service would be allowed to participate in the raids. This was a great business!

These people were really pitiful.

———

Zuo Mo woke up from his tranquil state. When he opened his eyes, a light flashed across them.

The feeling of being filled with explosive power was so familiar that he almost assumed he had recovered to his peak! He lightly shook his head, pia pia pia, a string of pops occurred from his neck down to his tailbone.

An unprecedented feeling of comfort filled his body.

Zuo Mo’s eyes brightened and his joy was hard to disguise. The shen power inside his body had not reached his peak but his present shen power was more pure and condensed than it was in the past!

He tried to turn shen power into the three powers, and there were no hindrances. What made him happier was that at almost the same moment he thought about it, the shen power had turned into the three powers. The entire process almost didn’t have any pause, and was much greater than the process in the past.

The good that came with the bad!

He really got something good this time with the bad!

The three powers that came from the purer shen power was much purer than before. Zuo Mo had a feeling that he was just a thread away from a breakthrough.

This breakthrough wasn’t a breakthrough in a single field, but in all areas! Ling power, mo physique, spiritual consciousness, they had all reached the border of a breakthrough.

What made him even happier was that he had a strong confidence he would have a successful breakthrough.

He raised his right hand. The whirlpool of power had shrunk by only a third, and the rate of spinning was slower than before. But it was still growing and not long in the future, it would recover to its previous form.

Zuo Mo suddenly became excited. The whirlpool in his right hand was like a shen power spring that could continuously provide shen power for him. If he persisted in taking shen power from it, his shen power would keep growing.

His rate of improvement would become astounding!

Zuo Mo was filled with confidence. Looking at the wooden A Gui, he couldn’t help but go forward and ruffle A Gui’s hair. He muttered excitedly, “A Gui, A Gui, I succeeded! I really succeeded!”

A Gui’s warm and raven-black long hair was turned into a pitiful bird’s nest. However, she did not react and only looked at Zuo Mo.

That pair of dim and grey-white eyes seemed to be shrouded in mist.

Ka Zhuo was gaping. In that instant, the strong pressure that Zuo Mo exuded almost pushed him to the ground.

This … .. this world had changed too quickly … …

There wasn’t anything that could give a person more confidence than power. Having recovered the majority of his strength, Zuo Mo was even more composed and calm. He did not continue to extract shen power. He hadn’t completely absorbed the shen power he had just taken. It would probably take two to three days before the process would be complete.

He decided to look at that young female mo.

As to Ceng Yi, a hint of battle spirit flashed across Zuo Mo’s calm face. He was going to give the other a great surprise!

So what if he was at the general level!

Chapter 552 - White Fang Mo Matrix

Murderous intent flashed through A Wen’s eyes. He had, long ago, noticed the group of people nearby. It was clear that the group was targeting them and it could be seen that the other had a very low opinion of them. Unrestrained laughter could occasionally be heard from the groups.

One two three four … … seven!

A Wen counted inside. There were seven groups of mo, each of unknown origins surrounding them. They were clearly being targeted.

Right now, A Wen was not the same naïve youth  that relied on only his talent to survive in the arena. He had fought in large scale battles, seen rivers of blood. Both Pu Yao and Wei had great affection for him and his talent, putting great effort into teaching him.

He was the strongest hardship guard in Guard Camp, even stronger than Shu Long!

A the only shadow mo guard his abilities were completely different from the other hardship guards. He had unparalleled speed so he had always acted as the scout.

Even though the troop was only barely more than one hundred people, Shu Long still methodically sent out scouts.

A Wen had quickly discovered these groups of bandits. The other’s unrestrained nature caused murderousness to rise but A Wen did not act by himself, instead he reported the information to Shu Long.

“Seven groups of bandits … …” Shu Long made a thoughtful sound.

“Yes, all the groups have different head counts. The largest is about five to six hundred people, and the smallest is two to three hundred people,” A Wen reported in detail, “There are about three thousand people in total.”

Hearing this, Ye Ling’s expression changed slightly.

Nan Yue, Cang Ze, and the others stared at each other. They were completely shocked at this news. Three thousand people! When they looked at the hundred or so people around them, they felt a wave of coldness rise.

Three thousand against one hundred. In other words, each one of them had to defeat thirty bandits.

This was a ratio that seemed hopeless!

They suddenly felt great admiration for Shu Long, as his  expression was unchanged after hearing the news and there was no trace of panic.

As expected of the leader of Guard Camp, he had the mannerisms of a great general!

“Ye Ling, what do you think?” Shu Long suddenly asked Ye Ling.

Ye Ling’s expression had changed but he forced himself to maintain calmness. “Daren what we need to do now is increase our speed and charge out of this jie before they finish surrounding us!”

Shu Long did not nod. He was thinking.

He quickly shook his head and refused Ye Ling’s suggestion. “Our speed is not fast. They are bandits and are skilled in quick raids. They have an advantage of speed and there probably are more people waiting for us ahead .”

Ye Ling’s face was white. Shu Long’s analysis was to the point. “Then what do we do?”

“Fight!” Shu Long’s eyes were filled with murderousness as he said in a deep voice, “We mustn’t just fight, we need to fight them until their forces are crippled! Only then will we have a chance to charge out of this jie.”

Everyone, including Ye Ling and Nan Yue, was stunned. One hundred against three thousand, how did Shu Long Daren want them to fight?

Wasn’t that just seeking death.

One hundred against three thousand, there wasn’t any chance of victory!

Shu Long seemed to know their thoughts and said sternly, “We are a trained battalion group, they are just a bunch of bandits. No matter how many there are, they are just rabble, there is nothing to fear.”

Ye Ling gritted his teeth. “How does Daren want to fight?”

“We will only have one chance. If we cannot destroy them in one strike, and they scatter, we will be harassed the entire way and then be in a reactive position, “Shu Long said gravely.

———

Zuo Mo inspected the mo matrix on the young female’s body. Now that he was half recovered, he didn’t need Ka Zhuo to help him examine her.

His movements were very slow, and his expression was grave.

When the mo matrix’s maturation was interrupted, it actually had caused irreparable damage. The mo matrix on the female’s body was unusually complex, the White Fang mo matrix was unique to the White Fang Snake mo. If it had complete maturation, she would enter general level and her mo physique would naturally form.

So young and she had touched the door to the general level. This young female was astoundingly talented.

The White Fang mo matrix was extremely unique. It could absorb power continuously and compress it to become more condensed. When it was cultivated to the extreme, one could compress all the power in the body to a point smaller than the point of a needle. This needle point was so powerful it could penetrate anything. Zuo Mo guessed that it could even penetrate a mature “Domain.”

Pu Yao and Wei examined the White Fang mo matrix curiously. None of them had ever seen the White Fang mo matrix before.

“It is slightly interesting. No wonder the White Fang mo matrix ranks sixteenth among the general rank mo physiques,” Pu Yao said interestedly. He was an expert in mo matrixes and with a glance, he understood the core fundamentals.

Wei looked at the young lady and then took his gaze away. He wasn’t too interested in mo matrixes but he had not seen this one before. Now that he saw the real thing, he was satisfied.

“Sixteenth among general level mo physiques?” Zuo Mo said in shock.

“En, a very strong mo physique. However what its greatest feature is that if one reaches general level, the mo physique automatically forms!” Pu Yao suddenly said, “How about you get some of this girl’s blood. Her blood is probably strange.”

Wei who had been silent suddenly opened, “This idea is pretty good. I know some methods of blood sacrifice, maybe you can possess this bloodline as well.”

Zuo Mo thought and then shook his head. “No I feel that my Great Day mo physique will soon have a breakthrough, the feeling is very strong.”

“That’s true. You cultivate the Great Day mo physique. The other mo physiques cannot compare to it in terms of their foundations,” Pu Yao nodded and said in agreement.

Wei asked Zuo Mo, “You plan on saving her?”

“Save her?” Zuo Mo shook his head. “I do not have such great ability. This damage caused by the mo matrix has also damaged her blood and flesh. I cannot save her.”

Wei became silent.

Zuo Mo did not speak more and continued to examine the mo matrix of this young female.

He didn’t have any plans of saving her whatsoever. He couldn’t do it, but even if he could, he didn’t plan too. He was planning on making trouble for Ceng Yi once he had his breakthrough to get even over the matter of being forced against his will.

He didn’t have the habit of showing someone the right side of his face after they slapped the left.

But this White Fang mo matrix was really profound. Even Pu Yao didn’t have many general level mo matrixes.

This was a rare chance!

Zuo Mo’s fingertip moved along the mo matrix. The unusually profound White Snake mo matrix caused him to sink into an immersed state.

Without knowing it, a thread of shen power was drawn out of his finger.

When his finger traced the mo matrix to the forehead of the young female, something happened!

A great suction force suddenly formed at the forehead of the young female. Zuo Mo’s shen power broke free of his control and furiously flooded towards the young female’s forehead.

Zuo Mo was astounded!

What was this?

But no matter how hard he tried, the shen power did not listen to his orders and furiously flooded into the forehead of the young female.

Zuo Mo instantly panicked. If this kept on going, wasn’t he going to be drained dry?

Zuo Mo who had just recovered half of his strength could not accept a fate of being drained dry again.

In a panic, Zuo Mo’s right hand pushed  against the young female’s body trying to push her away.

Boom!

The mo matrix on the young female’s body suddenly lit up. The blinding light broke through the room and a faint shadow of a white snake appeared in the sky!

It could be seen from far away!

———

“Jie master Ceng, you really will not reconsider it?” the youth in front of Ceng Yi asked coldly.

The youth had two slight bumps on his forehead. This was a trait unique to those with the bloodline of dragons and this trait would only appear in those that had reached the general level. The youth’s face was white as jade, his body tall, but his expression was cold and proud.

His gaze was filled with haughtiness.

There were two mo, one thin and one fat, standing next to the youth. The fat one had a jolly smile on his face and looked extremely welcoming. The thin one had a cold expression and his eyes were half-lidded.

“I do not need to consider it!” Ceng Yi’s expression was unreadable. He slowly said, “This one is nothing special as a jie master but it is a free existence. This one will have to reject Marshal Yu’s favor!”

At this time, Ceng Yi’s expression suddenly changed. At the same moment, the thin one next to the youth suddenly opened his eyes, and the fatty’s smile disappeared.

Without any words, all of them flew out of the room at almost the same time.

A building in the distance was giving off great light. Amongst the light, the white shadow of a snake flickered in and out of view.

“Lian’er!” Ceng Yi’s expression changed dramatically as he shouted. Before the shout ended , he disappeared.

“Ceng Yi as a White Fang snake mo as expected!” The youth snorted and then joy came onto his face. “This is a good chance! His daughter is at such a crucial moment, he won’t dare refuse. Otherwise, hmph hmph, he can’t blame us for being vicious!”

Finishing, the trio disappeared.

———

Zuo Mo had never expected the other’s mo matrix to be so strange. He was extremely panicked. When he discovered the light given off by the young female’s mo matrix was so bright, he knew it was not good.

How could such a big disturbance not be noticed by Ceng Yi?

Damn it!

This was not a good time to face Ceng Yi but Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to regret it. He already detected Ceng Yi’s presence. No, there were also three more generals!

Zuo Mo was shocked. Four generals, even if he had a breakthrough, he definitely was not a match!

“Lian’er!” Ceng Yi called out panickedly. His eyes were filled with worry and held none of the cruelness and indifference he usually had.

“Jie Master Ceng, I feel you should consider what I just said,” the youth said in a strange tone from behind Ceng Yi.

Ceng Yi was infuriated. “You … …”

“Ha ha, Jie Master Ceng, this is for your own good,” the fat one spoke with a smile, “as long as Jie Master makes a decision, we three are willing to help your daughter mature the mo matrix at the price of expending our own mo skills.”

Ceng Yi wavered.

Zuo Mo knew that it was not good. If Ceng Yi really agreed, then the one with the most terrible outcome would definitely be him.

But Zuo Mo didn’t have the power to speak at this time. All of the shen power in his body was flowing towards the brow of the young female.

At this time, the suction at the young female’s brow suddenly disappeared. Zuo Mo didn’t even have the time to be happy before a strange shen power erupted out of the young female’s forehead, and flowed into Zuo Mo’s body along his finger.

This burst of shen power was extremely strange. When he looked inside his body, he could clearly see that the returning shen power was silvery white.

Once the silvery white shen power entered Zuo Mo’s body, it was like a spark that ignited all the remaining shen power in Zuo Mo’s body!

Boom!

It felt as though something exploded inside Zuo Mo’s head.

Chapter 553 - Fragments

Shu Long made multiple inspections to be certain there were no mistakes before he stopped.

Nan Yue, Cang Ze, and the others were slightly nervous. They were having such a big battle for their first engagement, it would be lying to say they were not nervous. However, Pu Yao’s high-intensity training showed its effects. They were nervous but they still managed to maintain their calm.

The mission that Shu Long gave them was very simple. They were to follow up on the hardship guards attack.

On the top of the mountain, there were copper pillars inserted into the ground that were covered in rough and thick engravings, these were totem pillars. Shu Long had made according to Wei’s teachings.

The Hardship Guard that had been under Wei’s tutelage had completely changed their battle style compared to when they were under Pu Yao.

All of the masters that Wei had been with had all been top level geniuses. This allowed him to have a vast knowledge regarding mo battalions. In his hands, Guard Camp’s battle methods had quietly changed. He also added on many ancient tribal combat methods and made the camp even stronger.

Using the totem pillars was one of the methods.

If it wasn’t that Zuo Mo had gathered large numbers of totem fragments, they could not have made the totem pillars.

Guard Camp had a natural weakness, speed. In this era where speed was one of the ultimate factors, the clumsy Guard Camp was innately disadvantaged. Wei did not use any methods to increase Guard Camp’s speed, but used other methods to make them an unique heavy-armor battalion!

Ye Ling’s heart gradually calmed because he found the entire battalion was well-organized. Even though there was only a hundred people, there wasn’t any nervousness in their expressions. They were like precise instruments, their setup was crisp and efficient.

Such a powerful battalion!

Ye Ling who had seen many battalions before was filled with shock. The hardship guards had ease and calmness on their faces. There was no nervousness, no excitement. They seemed to move as though they were just training!

Shu Long Daren did not give any motivational speech. He only sent down orders like usual as if it was just another day.

This mountain peak was the tallest in the surrounding area. The peak reached into the clouds. The peak itself was a plateau about seventy or so mu.

One hundred and twenty totem pillars were securely embedded into the granite plateau so only half of the pillar was exposed. The hardship guards stood between the totem pillars and a certain kind of combat formation could be made out.

The bandits that had been following them did not understand what was happening so they did not attack immediately. The news about Mountain Dragon Corps had spread through all of Eminent Mountain Jie.

When the large formation was set up, Shu Long’s eyes silently burned with heated fighting spirit.

Come!

———

Zuo Mo’s head rang as though something inside had exploded. His mind went blank.

At this time, the young female under his finger made a sound.

Ceng Yi’s expression became overjoyed as he unconsciously called, “Lian’er!”

The youth and the other two’s expression sank. If they missed this chance, it would not be easy to persuade Ceng Yi. The three of them were at the general level, but they were still wary of Ceng Yi’s White Fang mo physique.

The three exchanged a look, coldness flashing through their eyes as they moved at the same time.

The youth headed straight for Zuo Mo and the young female to try to take the young female as a hostage, while the thin and the fat men leapt at Ceng Yi.

The moment the three moved, Ceng Yi understood their intentions. He shouted furiously, “Die!”

The almond-yellow snake pupils turned grey-white as he charged fearlessly at the two people. His right hand was slightly raised and now shone with a grey-white light!

A small howl seemed to come from hell.

The fat one and the thin one changed expressions. The fat one shouted, and a brown-red mo matrix appeared. Layers of invisible ripples spread out. The thin one’s fingers were like claws and flashed with a metallic sheen. His dark green mo matrix crept around his arms like countless branches of ivy.

Hiss!

Ceng Yi’s raised right hand came into contact with the invisible ripples. Without any pause, it pierced through like a knife into water!

One layer after another!

The dozens of layers didn’t manage to slow down Ceng Yi’s grey-white hand at all!

The fat one’s expression changed drastically. Ceng Yi’s strength far surpassed his expectations. At such a dangerous moment, the thin man’s fingers howled like ten sharp knifes as it moved to block!

There wasn’t any emotion in Ceng Yi’s grey-white pupils. They seemed to be lifeless as his right hand continued to push forward without any thought of dodging the thin man’s attack.

A vicious look appeared on the thin one’s face. His mo skill was ramped up to its limits. The dark green mo matrix suddenly brightened, and the green light drew out a blinding streak in the air!

The two sides crashed together without any finesse- a contest of strength!

Boom!

The blinding green light instantly illuminated the yard. The burning light was piercing to the eyes!

Pah!

A minuscule sound of something breaking occurred in the middle of this blinding ball of light.

The light disappeared without warning. Pain appeared on the face of the thin one. Three of the fingers on his right hand had been broken!

The fat one had a terrified expression but he reacted quickly and shouted loudly, “Stop!”

“Jie Master Ceng, your honored daughter!” the fat one said with his fastest speed in his life.

Ceng Yi’s grey-white pupils suddenly moved.

———

The youth didn’t even look at Zuo Mo once. There was only the young female in his eyes! The great sound of the explosion behind his back and the grunt from the fat one caused his nerves to tense.

He knew that his conduct was akin to breaking the peace. With Ceng Yi’s temper, if he did not get even, he would not rest!

Ceng Yi was not famed, but the youth would not underestimate him. If Marshal Yu was not occupied and unable to come, it definitely would not be him that had come. Out of caution, he had taken along two general mo, but he had not thought that these two had crumbled so easily when facing Ceng Yi. In one attack, one was forced to retreat and the other was wounded!

The White Fang mo physique lived up to the rumors!

He had the bloodline of dragons, but he had just stepped into general level and definitely was not Ceng Yi’s opponent.

The only chance right now was to capture Ceng Yi’s daughter!

That unconscious woman!

If he could take her hostage before she woke, she would cause Ceng Yi to become wary, and he could easily get Ceng Yi to bow his head!

He used all his power, his figure was lightning fast. In this moment, his mind was abnormally clear.

When the face of the young female entered his eyes, when that exquisite and beautiful face entered his eyes, in this moment, he almost forgot to breathe!

The long eyelashes flickered lightly, the slightly creased brow as though she was enduring some pain. On this flawless face, it caused one to unconsciously feel tenderness.

A certain part of this proud youth’s heart suddenly softened.

The shout from the fat one behind him cause the youth to shake and wake up from his trance. This beautiful and flawless face in front of him had a demonic bewitching power!

The youth suppressed the trembling of his heart. He gritted his teeth and used all his power to grab at the young female.

He was now even closer!

The youth was filled with joy. Success was right in front of him. If he captured the young female, he could turn defeat into victory!

His right hand touched the cheek of the young female, he could even feel the softness from his fingertips

Success!

Suddenly, the young female’s long eyelashes fluttered and she slowly opened her eyes.

The young female’s eyes were like polished onyx, deep and bottomless.

In that instant, the exquisite and beautiful face seemed to come alive! A beauty that was indescribable and a presence that was breathtaking. But it seemed like a poisonous snake in the dark had silently burrowed into the heart of the youth.

The youth’s expression instantly became dazed and his hand unconsciously stopped on the young female’s snowy face.

“I am Lian’er.”

The young female’s serene name was like a wisp that came with the wind.

“Act!” the fat one said panickedly.

The youth did not seem to hear him and remained motionless.

Pew pew pew pew!

Countless shots of blood sprouted out from the youth’s body. The youth fell backwards.

The expressions of the thin one and the fat one froze. They looked in disbelief at the scene that they found hard to understand. They had not seen the youth make any movement, did not detect any power vibrations, they hadn’t detected anything at all!

They knew the youth’s power. He had risen to general level at a young age, and soon, he would be able to awaken his dragon bloodline. His potential was unlimited. Even now, the youth was stronger than the two of them.

He had actually … … actually … … died!

They seemed to have seen a ghost. The scene in front of them was too strange, and out of the limits of their understanding!

“I am Lian’er.”

The young female said to Zuo Mo. That extremely beautiful face seemed to evoke tenderness.

Zuo Mo did not seem to hear it. He was motionless.

The young female’s eyelashes lowered as she closed her eyes. In this instant, countless fragmented scene appeared in front of her mind.

———

The bead broke.

“… … Do not forget … …”

The crisp young female’s voice was full of panic and worry.

“… … Never forget … …”

The young female seemed to repeatedly warn.

The voice was clearly in front of him but no matter how hard Zuo Mo tried, he could not see the face of the young female clearly. It seemed as though there was a layer of mist occluding his vision. Fragmented scenes flashed through his mind’s eye. Every picture was fragmented, and only the young female’s voice was clear.

Sorrow and hopelessness corroded Zuo Mo like a spreading mist.

Zuo Mo bit down on his lips. Having gone through many battles, he could see many things from these shattered scenes, blood, killing … …

The young female’s voice came in and out, and was just as fragmented as the visions.

“… … don’t be afraid … …”

“Young … … quick, run … …”

There were even more broken-up sounds that he could not understand.

It seemed like something was blocking Zuo Mo’s heart. Indescribable sorrow spread inside.

Suddenly, a scene caused Zuo Mo to shudder!

A young female was carrying a young male as she ran furiously through the woods. Branches continuously scratched and whipped past them. Their clothing was torn and was in pieces. Zuo Mo could even hear the heavy breathing of the young female and the beads of sweat falling from her face.

Zuo Mo dazedly looked towards the bottom of the scene as though he saw something unbelievable.

–A pair of perfect bare feet stepping over muddy soil, sharp branches as they continued to sprint.

Zuo Mo stared at the running pair of feet and could not move his eyes away.

“Young Master, don’t be afraid, I will definitely come find you!”

At this time, Zuo Mo heard a complete sentence in the young female’s determined yet young tone.

In this instant, it was as though Zuo Mo had been hit by something, and tears uncontrollably flowed.

Chapter 554 - Solution

“Lian’er! Lian’er!” Ceng Yi didn’t even look at the thin mo and the fat mo. Looking at Lian’er, his expression was excited. He stepped forward and grabbed Lian’er’s hand.

Zuo Mo’s finger left Lian’er’s brow  and her black eyes silently opened. She swept across the soundings, and when she saw A Gui, she paused slightly. When she saw A Gui’s bare feet, she had an expression of realization.

She had actually seen the scene inside Zuo Mo’s mind. She was also slightly shocked.

Was it … …

“Father!” Her voice was soft and serene.

“Lian’er! You’re alright! You are really alright! This is great!” Ceng Yi was extremely excited, and in his eyes, Zuo Mo was akin to empty air.

“He saved me,” Ceng Lian’er said serenely.

“Oh oh oh, I will definitely reward him well! He can have whatever he wants!” Ceng Yi nodded repeatedly. He could not suppress the joy on his face but his gaze did not bear to leave his daughter.

The fat one and the thin one silently sneaked away. No one paid attention.

———

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and the first thing he did was search for A Gui.

When he saw A Gui standing silently at the side a phrase floated up in his mind, “Young Master, don’t be afraid, I’ll definitely find you”. He couldn’t help but reach out and rub A Gui’s hair.

“A Gui, you found me.”

He wanted to smile, but his tears flowed down uncontrollably.

He thought about how A Gui had been covered in wounds when he had found her. She definitely had been searching for him! He thought about when they were trapped in the Nine Turn Sky Soil Disk, when she had faced the last attack of the Clear Sky Old Forefather, when they had been in the desert walking against the sand and wind as she had carried him, and her panting figure when she carried him through the woods in his memory.

His vision blurred, and A Gui’s figure also became blurred. This blurred figure and the young and blurry figure in his fragmented memories merged together.

Did you leave me the Five Element Glass Bead?

What happened? A Gui, who wounded you so?

A Gui took a deep breath. He grabbed A Gui’s hand and his expression recovered but there was something else unusual in his gaze.

The release of the seal on the Five Element Glass Bead meant that he had broken through into jindan.

Recalling that silver white shen power, he suddenly turned towards Ceng Lian’er. That woman! His pupils contracted, and Ceng Yi!

“What just happened?” Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao and Wei.

Wei said, “It should be power resonance, a very rare occurrence. It means that the degree of compatibility between your powers is very strong, and are of different orientation.”

Zuo Mo knew what power resonance was. This usually occurred when two kinds of powers in perfectly opposite came into contact and was an extremely rare event. The two powers would respond to each other, and this kind of intercourse would greatly aid in the increase of power. No wonder the silver shen power the other had given back didn’t cause him any trouble and helped him make a breakthrough.

But he cultivated shen power. The only power that could resonant with his shen power was shen power. This meant the other had to also cultivate shen power!

And it was shen power of the completely opposite orientation!

“Careful, this woman is dangerous,” Pu Yao warned Zuo Mo.

Without needing Pu Yao’s reminder, Zuo Mo knew the other was dangerous. Up until now, Zuo Mo had only met three people of this era that cultivated shen power. One was he, another was A Gui, and the last was this Ceng Lian’er.

He could not get the measure of this woman.

But he didn’t need to, Zuo Mo thought.

After the breakthrough, his thoughts of making trouble for Ceng Yi had temporarily faded and the other had helped in his breakthrough.

What completely occupied Zuo Mo’s mind at the moment was A Gui. The memory fragments sealed in the Five Element Glass Bead had caused him great shock.

He just wanted to find a place and calm down.

Without another word, he grabbed A Gui and jumped away. He had heard Ceng Lian’er and Ceng Yi’s conversation. He didn’t need to worry that Ka Zhuo would get in trouble.

“En?” Ceng Yi raised his head and was slightly surprised. The power that Zuo Mo showed was out of his expectations.

“Let them go.” Ceng Lian’er spoke.

“I’ll listen to Lian’er! Listen to Lian’er!” Ceng Yi said affectionately and took his gaze away.

———

“What do these people want to do? What do they mean by standing there?” a bandit asked in puzzlement.

“Haha! They aren’t able to run! So they are trying to fight back! Just one word from Boss One-eye, and look at this. Not just one hundred people, even if they are one thousand, they will be defeated.”

“You are right, we are using a sword to kill a chicken! I heard the people from Mountain Dragon Corps retelling about their strength and thought there would be a lot of people. One hundred, it isn’t even enough to pick our teeth with!”

“Stop wasting words, just one hundred people, how do we divide them up? We have to be first! There is only one space as a reward!”

“You are right!”

A bunch of bandits charged at the mountain. Their actions caused a chain response. Seeing this, the other bandits unhesitatingly charged.

One hundred people in a formation on the mountain couldn’t compare to the three thousand bandits.

The bandits that charged were like a tsunami, covering the ground and the sky!

The suppressed fighting spirit in Shu Long’s eyes lost all of its restrains and started to burn.

“Open!”

Black smoke suddenly sprouted out of the one hundred and eight totem pillars.

The black smoke grew with the wind and in a flash, it covered the entire mountain peak like a enormous black cloud.

The rushing bandits charged into the black cloud.

Boom boom boom!

The roiling black smoke was expelled from the totem pillars. They seemed to change constantly as though they were alive. Suddenly, the black smoke around one totem pillar condensed and formed the shape of a person.

A figure made from black smoke appeared above the totem pillar.

[Mo Grinding Disk]!

If a mo golden battle general saw this combat formation, he would exclaim in shock. [Mo Grinding Disk] was one of the strongest battle formations used to wear down the enemy. It was like a terrifying grinding disk. A battalion that was trapped in it was like a piece of meat thrown into the grinder and would be ground into meat paste.

There had been innumerable xiuzhe that had died in the [Mo Grinding Disk] in the past. But after that thousand year war, the [Mo Grinding Disk] had been lost and the technique never appeared after.

Yet at this time, one of the strongest battle formations, [Mo Grinding Disk], appeared on this little mountain, and there was only one hundred people.

“Kill!”

Inside the thick black smoke, Shu Long’s shout echoed in the air like thunder.

The battle formation shifted loudly and spun like a grindstone.

———

Zuo Mo looked silently at A Gui. A Gui sat beside him with  a wooden expression.

When he saw A Gui’s wooden expression, Zuo Mo’s heart hurt. The shen power inside A Gui’s body was too strange, and Zuo Mo couldn’t find traces any of A Gui’s thoughts and memories. Her mind was completely empty.

Zuo Mo remembered that A Gui had seemed most alive when she had been wounded and had no shen power.

Shen power!

That intimidating coldness and voice caused Zuo Mo’s heart to hurt.

“Pu, Wei, what solutions do you have?” Zuo Mo asked.

Pu Yao and Wei were both silent. Zuo Mo knew that this was a hard problem for them. Pu Yao and Wei knew a lot about yao and mo cultivation, but they didn’t know much more than he did about shen power.

“It would be good if A Gui could speak,” Zuo Mo murmured to himself. If A Gui could speak, then she could tell him everything.

Zuo Mo knew this was a delusion.

He forced himself to calm down and think back to every detail in those fragments. He instantly had many discoveries.

A Gui called him “Young Master.” This appellation implied many things. He probably did not have an ordinary birth. A Gui had carried him and fled for their lives. There had also been those fragments filled with blood and slaughter. His family had probably encountered trouble.

Who did it? Why?

Where had A Gui’s shen power come from? Who had erased his memories and changed his features?

Countless riddles came at him and almost pressed Zuo Mo to the point of suffocation.

Calm! He had to be calm!

Zuo Mo bit down hard on his lips and tried to maintain his calm. But his bulging tendons exposed the storm inside. A Gui’s shen power was the greatest obstacle. This shen power was extremely weird and Zuo Mo could not extract it.

At this time, Pu Yao suddenly said, “Do you remember the Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass that I once mentioned to you?”

Zuo Mo stilled and thought for a while with creased brows before he nodded. “I remember, you said the Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass can help me recover the fragments of my memory.”

“Yes. A Gui’s memories have been damaged, her soul is wounded, and I suspect that the wounds in her soul are related to the shen power that she cultivates. But if you want to know all this, you do not only have A Gui’s memories to repair,” Pu Yao said.

Zuo Mo reacted quickly and his eyes lit up. “Yes! There is no need to start with A Gui, we can start with me!”

The more he thought, the more excited Zuo Mo was. “Yes, yes! I should have also experienced those same vents, and there would be shadows left in my mind. If I can recover my memories, I can know all this! I will know what shen power A Gui cultivates, I can think of a way to heal A Gui … …”

He had closed himself in trying to find a way through A Gui. He had completely forgotten that he should also know!

Thinking back to the time that the sect leader had picked him up at Wu Kong Mountain, it was about the same time that was indicated in the memory fragments were sealed in the Five Element Glass Bead.

“Can the Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass really recover my memories?” Zuo Mo asked urgently.

Wei spoke and proved that Pu Yao was not boasting. “This is a grass that grows in the mo realm. As long as there is one piece of the memory, it can completely reflect and trace back your entire memory. You have so many memory fragments now. If we can find Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass, you should be able to get all of your previous memories!”

“Where is Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass?”

Pu Yao and Wei exchanged a look. Both hesitated.

“Where is it?” Zuo Mo exploded.

Wei slowly opened. “Supposedly, there is Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass in Nether Spring Jie of the Ming Realm.”

“Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass … … Nether Spring Jie!” Zuo Mo murmured, his gaze determined.

Chapter 555 - An Unusual Breakthrough

“What did you say?” shouted the one-eyed wolf mo as he suddenly jumped out of his seat wearing an expression of shock.

“Boss! They all died! All of them! No one survived!” His subordinate’s face was ashen and bloodless. He had been flailing and stumbling when he charged in and still appeared  weak in the knees.

“All dead? Be clearer! How did they all die?” the one-eyed wolf mo quickly recovered his calm and asked calmly.

“The people from all seven groups died! More than three thousand people! Not one … left alive!” the subordinate stammered. His eyes were thick with terror as though there was something chasing him. He was filled with hopelessness. He said tremblingly, “They … … they, on Black Dragon Peak, they killed everyone!”

“Impossible!” The one-eyed mo wolf was filled with disbelief as he shook his head. “More than three thousand people, how many people do they have? One hundred! One hundred killing three thousand, do you think they are killing chickens?”

“Boss! It’s the truth!” The subordinate was almost crying, “You can go to Black Dragon Peak and see! It’s corpses everywhere, from the peak to the base of the mountain, all corpses!”

The one-eyed mo wolf suddenly froze. Hearing the subordinate speak like this, he finally believed it! Black Dragon Peak was not far from their base, his subordinate wouldn’t easily make a mistake like this, and definitely would not lie to him about a matter like this.

How was it possible? That was three thousand people!

How could one hundred people kill three thousand people, and not one survive?

The one-eyed wolf mo’s extremities felt cold, his throat dry. “Did you find any of their corpses?”

“N-no!”

Coldness rose up in the one-eyed wolf mo. How many years had it been, he had become so unfamiliar with the feeling of terror! Yet it was this unfamiliar terror that came like the tide and almost swallowed him.

They had kicked a metal board!

And it was a metal board that was the hardest there could be!

One hundred people were enough to massacre three thousand people, those were the elites of an extraordinary battalion! In the one-eyed wolf mo’s career of raiding, he had never seen nor heard of such a powerful battalion.

If it hadn’t happened to him, he would definitely not believe it. Right now, he only felt terror. Such a terrifying battalion was something only those enormous factions could possess.

Was this the personal battalion of a mo marshal?

The one-eyed wolf mo tried to maintain his calm but his legs uncontrollably trembled.

Any mo marshal in the entire Hundred Savage was the warlord of an area, marshal was a title that meant power. There were no mo marshals that lived alone except the ones that existed in legend.

He might be able to dominate Eminent Mountain Jie, but in the eyes of those mo marshals, he was a small character who could be killed at any time like an ant. Which mo marshal didn’t have many powerful generals, and jie masters under them?

The one-eyed wolf mo looked vicious and arrogant but he was very smart. He never provoked any factions. He could not afford to.

The power represented by a mo marshal… it was an existence he could not afford to provoke!

Damn it! How had he done something so stupid?

The one-eyed wolf mo was full of regret. The only good news was that the other didn’t seem to have sustained any serious injuries or fatalities. He was familiar with the mentality of those personages. For those personages, their time was unusually the most precious. As long as there wasn’t great trouble, they were not willing to waste time on ants.

“Where are they?” the one-eyed wolf mo asked in a trembling voice.

“Go-gone!” the subordinate stammered out, “no-no one dared to block them.”

The one-eyed wolf mo released a breath. “They are gone, good! Good!”

It was good if these kind of death gods were gone!

Shu Long and the others who only desired to keep travelling did not pay attention to the other bandits. The other bandits were frightened out of their wits. Which one of them dared to continue and harass the caravan? The news that a battalion of one hundred people killed three thousand bandits quickly spread.

Many people expressed their disbelief when they heard the news.

This news only exploded when the mirage of the hellish state of Black Dragon Peak was spread.

Everyone speculated to which faction this terrifying battalion belonged to. One hundred killing three thousand, this amazing result caused the reputation of this mysterious battalion to rise. Because they did not know the name of this battalion, many mo called this the Butcher Battalion.

Shu Long and the others only tried to travel faster. They didn’t know that the battle of Black Dragon Peak had attracted the attention of many factions!

However, even if they knew, they would not have cared.

Because they received Zuo Mo’s order, to reach Shattered Stone Jie at the fastest speed!

———

Zuo Mo furiously absorbed shen power from his hand.

The threads of shen power continuously merged into his flesh and blood.

After the breakthrough, Zuo Mo seemed to have broken all the chains holding him back and his cultivation increased at amazing speeds.

It was strange to speak of: Zuo Mo’s ling power had finished core formation, his consciousness had formed the yin spirit, but it was his mo physique that was lacking. Zuo Mo could not understand this. Of the three powers, the mo physique was the one he was most familiar and most skilled with. Rationally, the first breakthrough should have been his mo physique.

But Zuo Mo was not in a hurry.

At this time, he was in a stage where his power was steadily increasing. Every time he drew shen power from his palm, he could feel a clear improvement. Zuo Mo did not have the time to cultivate any of the three powers and processed shen power. The palm of his right hand was akin to a bomb that could explode at any moment.

The vast shen power in it was truly enchanting!

Zuo Mo didn’t waste one iota of time and threw himself into furious cultivation.

In this time, he had investigated Nether Spring Jie.

Just like the xiuzhe world was called Four Realms, the mo world had another name, the Dark of Hundred Savage. It was divided into two realms, one was Hundred Savage Realm, the other was the Dark Realm. Nether Spring Jie was located at the deepest regions of the Dark Realm, no one knew much about the Dark Realm. They only knew that that was the darkest and most chaotic place of all of Dark of Hundred Savage.

It wasn’t easy to even reach that place. One had to pass through the territories of many great factions. The journey would be filled with danger and bandits. In the Dark Realm, there were vicious and savage mo that even those large factions were wary off.

This branch of mo was infamous. They were born as berserkers. They were cruel, bloodthirsty and without any emotion.

Zuo Mo knew if he wanted to eliminate A Gui’s shen power, if he wanted to know everything, if he wanted to find the Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass, he had to become even more powerful!

By himself, his power was not enough, he needed helpers. He decided to wait for Shu Long’s group at Shattered Stone Jie. He used all his time to cultivate day and night. He had never been as motivated as he was now!

A Gui was sitting silently beside him.

Just like normal, Zuo Mo started to cultivate, but he quickly detected an unusual shift inside his body.

The Sun Crystal Seed was spinning rapidly, the flames shifting in layers. The Greenvine Mystical Water released faint light that was warm yet cool. What surprised Zuo Mo was the even the Soul Setting Divine Light had become restless like a rainbow fish that swam nimbly without stopping inside his body.

All the signs signaled that something unusual was happening.

Was he having a breakthrough?

Zuo Mo knew, if this was the time, it would require him to be even calmer and maintain a clear mind.

He slowly channeled shen power. The shen power merged into his flesh and blood, turning to the three powers, and then turning back to shen power. It repeated this in an endless cycle.

The mo matrix on his body slowly lit up. The faint gold mo matrix was complex. The mo matrix brightened and dimmed as though it was breathing, but each time it flashed, the intensity of the brightness would increase.

When the golden mo matrix reached a peak brightness, the blinding golden light was piercing.

At this time, the Sun Crystal Seed suddenly released a flood of scorching flame. It was like burning lava that covered the shen power eating at his body. The Greenvine Mystical Water’s presence also increased, and the moisture sank into Zuo Mo’s blood and flesh. The blood and flesh that had just been burnt by the Sun Crystal Seed was instantly restored like nothing had happened.

The mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s body instantly had new changes.

The golden mo matrix seemed to come alive and move along Zuo Mo’s body, transforming!

Gradually, the mo matrix that was extremely packed started to divide into many areas. The mo matrix gathered in these areas, and as it’s movement grew slower, ten clear marks formed.

Suddenly, the Sun Crystal Seed inside Zuo Mo’s body brightened and released golden light from his chest!

An astounding scene happened.

The ten marks, that were formed by the mo matrix shrinking, had started to move along Zuo Mo’s body as though there was an invisible line pulling them. The largest golden mo matrix moved to the center of Zuo Mo’s chest as though it was attracted by a magnet.

The light of the Sun Crystal Seed merged with this largest mo matrix. The mo matrix seemed to turn into golden liquid and flowed along Zuo Mo’s chest as though a pen was slowly drawing out lines.

At the same time, the other nine mo matrixes lit up.

The blinding mo matrixes connected, and changed. They each became rounder, and the ten pieces of the mo matrix became ten perfect circles like ten small suns!

Ten suns were situated at different parts of Zuo Mo’s body!

The ten suns suddenly gave off great light, the dark night so bright it seemed like day, and the stars in the sky losing their light.

At this time, the swimming Soul Setting Divine Light ferociously burrowed into the Sun mo matrix at Zuo Mo’s chest. Then, like a needle, it rapidly passed through the other suns!

Ruler-straight lines spread through the ten suns and connected each sun to the other nine. In a blink, there were criss-crossing golden lines on Zuo Mo’s body that connected all ten suns.

Only now did the mo matrix’s light seem to be used up.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes. His eyes had turned a faint gold, and it was possible to discern criss-crossing golden lines inside his eyes. There was a golden Sun mo matrix on his forehead that appeared extremely domineering.

“This is … …” Zuo Mo looked dazedly at the Sun mo matrix on his palms.

This Sun mo matrix was similar to the Day Script that appeared when he used Day Script Palm but it was even more complex and beautiful.

Ten suns, the largest was on his chest, the smallest between his bows. There was one each on his hands and feet, one on his stomach, and three on his back.

Zuo Mo knew that he definitely had a breakthrough.

But … … such a strange feeling … …

Zuo Mo had a strong feeling that his breakthrough was unusual!

What had happened?

Chapter 556 - Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus

Pu Yao and Wei looked at Zuo Mo like they were looking at a freak.

“What is with your gaze … …” Zuo Mo was unable to maintain his calm.

“You leveled up.” Pu Yao’s voice was as cold and indifferent as usual but Zuo Mo who had become familiar with him a long time go could hear the thread of unusualness in his voice.

“I know I levelled up,” Zuo Mo muttered. He then asked in anticipation. “What mo physique do I have now? Is it powerful?”

Pu Yao’s gaze was very strange.

“Very powerful,” the one who spoke was Wei. Wei’s expression was also very strange. “Your present mo physique is called Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, a very rare mo physique, one even rarer than the White Fang mo physique.”

“This powerful!” Zuo Mo was overjoyed. Then he bent down his neck and said uncertainly, “Are you sure? Wait, isn’t the White Fang mo physique a general level mo physique?”

“You have not remembered it wrong.” Pu Yao’s gaze became even stranger.

Zuo Mo stilled. After a while, he said slowly, “General level? I levelled up to general level?”

Pu Yao and Wei did not speak and only looked at Zuo Mo strangely as though they could observe something from Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo was stunned by the news.

General level!

He had moved into the general level!

This was … … too fantastical!

His Great Day mo physique had been a colonel level mo physique. Zuo Mo had thought it had encountered some problem when it hadn’t had a breakthrough after all this time. He hadn’t expect to actually go past the brigadier level and go straight into general level.

The difference between general level and brigadier level was the difference between yuanying and jindan. There were innate differences.

This was not rational … … this was not rational! Zuo Mo thought dazedly.

“It should be caused by the Sun Crystal Seed.”

“And Greenvine Mystical Water and Soul Setting Divine Light!”

“What does Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus rank among the general level mo physiques? I don’t quite remember it … …”

“Third!”

Hearing the discussion between Pu Yao and Wei, especially when he heard that Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was ranked third, he shook and woke up. Zuo Mo grumbled, “Why isn’t it second?”

Pu Yao and Wei turned, looking at him as though they were looking at an idiot.

“Great Day mo physique was second in colonel level!” Zuo Mo said righteously. “From second to third, this is a step back!”

“Idiot!” Pu Yao spat out a word.

“A person like this actually could cultivate the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus … …” Wei’s gaze was also as though he was looking at an idiot.

“I just said so, it was definitely because of the Sun crystal Seed. With a treasure like this, even an idiot can possess Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus.”

“You are right … …”

Pu Yao and Wei’s disdain-filled discussion passed into his ears. Zuo Mo really could not resist. “Hey hey hey, speak clearer!”

After Pu Yao and Wei’s detailed explanation, Zuo Mo had a general understanding.

The leveling up of mo physiques would not have too much of a correlation with the initial rank. For example, while Great Day mo physique was second among colonel level, but there was more than one path it could level up through. The difference between each of the leveled up mo physiques was large, and Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was the best level up path for Great Day mo physique.

According to Pu Yao and Wei, they felt that the reason he had reached Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was directly connected to the Sun Crystal Seed inside of him, and also the Sun shen power he cultivated. Even the Greenvine Mystical Water and the Soul Setting Divine Light were hugely influential. Otherwise, with Zuo Mo’s present power, the best outcome of leveling up would be the Light Manifestation mo physique that ranked seventh in the brigadier level.

After listening carefully, Zuo Mo understood.

However, he did not care if the cause was the Sun Crystal Seed. What he cared about was ranking third in general level!

Having seen the power of the White Fang mo physique that ranked sixteenth in general level, Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus that ranked third should be even stronger!

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus?

Zuo Mo recited inside. His gaze looked unconsciously towards A Gui.

A Gui, I now have the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, I will become even stronger!

Gripping A Gui’s hand, Zuo Mo went back to his cultivation.

He didn’t want to waste one bit of time.

Ranking third in general level, Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, if he could drag out all the power of such a powerful mo physique, the chances of surviving a trip to the Nether Spring Jie should grow much higher!

Zuo Mo pondered this. .

Watching the furiously cultivating Zuo Mo, Pu Yao and Wei were silent.

“He’s working very hard,” Wei suddenly said.

Pu Yao looked at Zuo Mo and seemed to be thinking. His bloody pupil was deep and his emotions were complex.

A moment later, he suddenly spoke, “I’ve decided to help him.”

“In which way?” Wei raised his head.

“Using everything I can do.” Pu Yao raised his head. “You were right last time, we have to settle our accounts!”

———

Gongsun Cha laid on the bed and his thoughts wandered as he stared at the ceiling.

Zuo Mo Shixiong had passed information on everything that happened recently back to Turtle Island. There was nothing concealed. Each of them had read all of it.

No one had ever thought that Shixiong’s history was so wondrous and so tragic!

Even though they didn’t have a complete picture but just the information they had now was enough for them, people who had been through many battles, to smell the thick tang of blood.

Shixiong’s present mood was probably … …

No, he couldn’t let Shixiong fight alone, he had to do something!

Gongsun Cha suddenly sat up straight! A moment later, a smile suddenly rose in the clear eyes of the neighbor’s boy. In the depths, fighting spirit rose like flowers on the wind.

They had always fought side by side!

The Dark of Hundred Savage … … it really was a challenge!

His spirit burned and his blood was nearly boiling, but Lil’ Miss’ mind was unusually calm. He started to ponder how to actualize his intent.

He definitely could come up with the most suitable strategic plan!

“Daren!” The guard outside knocked on the door.

“What is it?” Interrupted, Lil’ Miss frowned.

The guard came in and handed Lil’ Miss a jade scroll. He reported, “Just now, Wei Sheng Daren came and delivered a jade scroll. He said to give it to Daren.”

Eldest Shixiong? Lil’ Miss stilled.

He picked up the jade scroll. A moment later, he wore a grimace.

Eldest Shixiong had gone by himself to search for Zuo Mo Shixiong!

“To  Gongsun Shidi … … brotherhood and friendship, one needs to remain true, I am unable to stand by and watch … … heart of a sort, can safely strike and be safe … … know that this one’s strength is not enough, so I bid farewell! I go to the mo world, using fighting to cultivate,kill mo to temper the sword … … if I am not dead, and reach the Nether Spring … I will lend the strength of one sword!”

In the jade scroll, Wei Sheng’s voice was indifferent and filled with decisiveness.

“Crazy!” Lil’ Miss murmured.

Raising his head, his bangs swayed despite the lack of wind. A bashful smile hung on Lil’ Miss’ face.

“Hah, let’s be crazy together!”

———

Turtle Island’s atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The intensity of Vermillion Bird Camp’s and Guard Camp’s training was increased to unprecedented level. The tense atmosphere allowed everyone to understand, something had happened! It quickly spread in the two camps that Zuo Mo Daren had encountered trouble!

Vermillion Bird Camp and Guard Camp had followed Zuo Mo from Little Mountain Jie and their bond was deep. Hearing that Daren had encountered trouble, and there were no orders to move out, only orders telling them to train, the group understood that their current strength was not enough to resolve the trouble for Daren.

Without needing any urging, the two camps started to cultivate more furiously.

The large families in Cloud Sea Jie quickly received orders. A new camp, Green Dragon Camp, was going to be set up and was requesting each family to send outstanding disciples to the recruitment. The families with disciples selected would receive more benefits.

This order caused a great wave in Cloud Sea Jie. As the Great Thousand Island Formation expanded day by day, every family knew that Turtle Island’s rule of Cloud Sea Jie was unbreakable. Only by responding to Turtle Island’s orders would they receive more benefits in the future.

Countless accomplished youths flooded towards Turtle Island.

———

When Shi Dong received the order, he was slightly puzzled.

His progression speeded far surpassed his own expectations. However, he had not expected that Lil’ Miss Daren was still unsatisfied and ordered him to speed up his advance.

Other than this, he was also shocked that Lil’ Miss Daren allowed him the right to expand Grey Camp.

Something major probably happened!

Shi Dong’s temper was not the best but he was a smart person. The first he thought of was Zuo Mo Daren.

Zuo Mo Daren … … that daren that Ye Ling said could become king … …

He thought for a moment before sending down the order to expand the troops. He then ordered an increase in training intensity.

“Did something happen? Daren!” his subordinate asked suspiciously.

“Zuo Mo Daren might have encountered some trouble,” Shi Dong explained.

“Ah! Our King Daren encountered trouble!” the subordinate paled and asked urgently, “Is it great trouble? Is there danger? Do we need to go reinforce him?”

Shi Dong was surprised by the subordinate’s fierce response, “You are very rushed?”

The subordinate stilled and said unhesitatingly, “Of course, that is our king!”

“You feel that he can become king?” Shi Dong asked something that had puzzled him for a long time.

“Definitely!” the subordinate balled his fist and had a serious expression. “We all believe he can!”

“So it’s like this … …” Shi Dong was thoughtful.

The subordinate charged outside without even bowing to Shi Dong. He had to pass along this news as fast as he could!

All hail the king!

———

“These are the mo matrixes that Daren has sent, as well as some of his own conclusions regarding the topic.” Master Sun Bao looked at the people below and said gravely, “During this period of time, everyone will need to put aside all other work, and work on the mo matrixes!”

Everyone nodded but were slightly astounded. It had to be said that while the missions of Golden Crow Camp were difficult and demanding, the atmosphere was free. The two masters generally allowed everyone to explore their own projects and would only gather everyone’s power during some special missions.

Had something happened?

Everyone was puzzled.

Master Ji Wei’s expression was also very grave. He was handing out jade scrolls.

“Master, did something happen?” someone asked.

Everyone’s gaze gathered on Master Sun Bao.

“Daren encountered some danger,” Master Sun Bao said in a deep voice, “and needs our help.”

It was deathly silent. A second later, it exploded!

“Daren encountered danger?”

“Damn it! Did the other groups go play and not fulfill their responsibilities? Where is Lil’ Miss Daren?”

“Heavens! This isn’t true … …”

These young production xiuzhe were furiously and wanted to charge out.

That was Daren! Daren who all of Golden Crow Camp had sworn an oath to forever follow. No one would forget who had passed on spells and techniques, who had given them Golden Crow Fire, Why they did not have to worry for the clothing on their back, and could even do whatever they wanted. They remembered who gave them all this!

Damn it!

“Shut up!” Master Ji Wei’s shout caused everyone to stop talking.

Master Sun Bao didn’t have any trace of a smile. There seemed to be fire flickering in his gaze. “Everyone, make use of the time and study the jade scrolls. Inside are the conclusion and studies Daren has relating to the mo matrixes. We need to understand all the problems in the shortest amount of time!”

There seemed to be a fire burning in everyone’s eyes.

“And then, we will start engraving mo matrixes!”

“This is a war!”

Chapter 557 - Screw Live And Die Together

Zuo Mo did not know about what was happening on Turtle Island.

He forgot himself in his cultivation. In the past, Zuo Mo had not chased after power. He did not have great ambitions, it was enough to have enough power to live well. But right now, he had an almost absurd desire for power. It was clear that both the matter of  healing A Gui or investigating his birth, success would be based on one foundation, strength, great strength!

Everyday, he was immersed in cultivation as though he did not know exhaustion. He was waiting for Shu Long and the others to arrive. If his investigation was right, Nether Spring Jie wasn’t a place that he could go to alone.

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus.

The physique ranked third in the general level and as expected, it had its unique traits. Wei was familiar with all kinds of mo physiques and this allowed Zuo Mo’s cultivation to be extremely focused. In a few short days, Zuo Mo’s strength had shot forward and he finally had a comprehensive understanding of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus.

The name Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, alluded to the ten suns on different areas of his body. They looked more like carefully carved tattoos, and not mo matrixes.

The most eye-catching was the sun matrix at the center of Zuo Mo’s forehead. The perfect circle was made of complex and beautiful patterns. There was a jagged zig-zagging pattern on the circumference of each deep dark gold sun, representing rays of light.

Zuo Mo’s face was not handsome, but when the sun script symbol appeared there, it added a hint of mysteriousness and nobility.

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, each sun represented a source of power. He needed to accumulate power and activate each sun. Each sun contained a transformation. Ten suns, meant ten transformations.

According to Wei, mo that cultivated Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus were rare, and rarer were those that comprehended all ten transformations.

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, each transformation was extremely powerful and domineering. What was even more frightening was that the power of Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus would be used with finesse and technique, and was not just the application of brute force.

But what was most famous about the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was not the ten transformations, but that it had the title of best domain in general level, [Ten Crow Celestial Domain]!

Hearing this, Zuo Mo hungered for it. It was a pity that Wei didn’t know how to comprehend [Ten Crow Celestial Domain].

[Domain] was a type of power that was accessible to only those yuanying xiuzhe, general mo, and Rahula yao. Ding Zhen’s [Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain] was an example, and Wei Sheng had been able to grasp the beginnings of [Domain] while he was in jindan. Wei Sheng’s talents were astounding.

Having seen Ding Zhen’s [Lantern Fire Buddhist Domain], Zuo Mo yearned for [Domain].

However, Wei did not speak more about how to comprehend [Domain]. That was something far beyond where Zuo Mo was.

Even though Zuo Mo had obtained Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus due to having a precious treasure in his body, he still lacked comprehension. With his body now in a balanced state, having had a breakthrough in his mo physique, ling power, and consciousness. It was the two powers to first have breakthroughs that were now holding  him back. Zuo Mo worked on processing the shen power in his right hand, and then turned it into ling power and spiritual consciousness. He used this method to also strengthen his Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus.

Zuo Mo had originally assumed that this stabilization would take a long time. Unexpectedly, he only needed ten days to raise his ling power to yuanying levels, and his consciousness to yao mansion.

One factor was the abundance of shen power. The increase in the power whirlpool in Zuo Mo’s right hand was still accelerating, and the amount of shen power he draw everyday increased. While overjoyed, Zuo Mo was also slightly worried. Based on this speed, the shen power being produced every day would soon surpass the amount he could process.

The other factor was that while his Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was not very stable, it was at the general level, and higher than both jindan and yin spirit. But Zuo Mo had forcefully crossed the boundary between levels by relying on treasures and his understanding of the power was completely different than others at the level.

All paths of power led to the same destination. Even though the mo physique was different compared to ling power and spirit consciousness, there were many places Zuo Mo could study and copy.

Pu Yao and Wei were not shocked by Zuo Mo entering yuanying. In their eyes, this was natural. However, Pu Yao was slightly excited now that Zuo Mo’s consciousness formed the yao mansion.

Yao that formed their yao mansion were called Rahula yao and could be counted in the ranks of experts in the yao world.

Zuo Mo’s talent in yao arts was actually very good, but compared to the even more amazing mo physique, it was slightly lacking. Leaving Pu Yao to feel that although Zuo Mo was his student, Wei had taken the glory. Now that Zuo Mo had formed his yao mansion, it meant that he could pass more yao arts to Zuo Mo.

Also, Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art was more suited to Rahula yao!

However, Pu Yao did not say this. He was busy doing some other things.

———

Some strange messages appeared in the corners of Ten Finger Prison.

The messages were worded strangely and the sentences incomprehensible. They were also posted in remote places that were not attention-catching. But if those with intentions searched, they would find to their shock that there were similar messages at every level of Ten Finger Prison.

“Will  this work?” Wei asked Pu Yao.

“Don’t know.” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil was deep. “It has been too long. I don’t know if they still remember, let’s just try.”

“I don’t know how many of Master’s supporters still remain,” Wei said calmly, “I have sent out the blood summons.”

Pu Yao’s eyes flashed with a reckless light, a cold smirk at the corner of his mouth. “No matter how powerful time is, it will leave some remnants behind.”

“You plan on having A Zuo inherit all of this?” Wei looked at Pu Yao.

Pu Yao shook his head. “He may not be willing to inherit.”

“Our thoughts are the same.” Wei nodded.

“However, he needs power.” Pu Yao’s robes moved despite the lack of wind, his voice became deep. “He doesn’t understand himself, and we cannot truly understand him. His enemies most likely are far more powerful than even he imagines, he only has one path.”

Wei suddenly gave a small smile. “Very similar to how we were.”

Pu Yao’s memories were stirred by this, a reminiscing expression in his bloody pupil. He quickly calmed down. “Also, it will not be unprofitable for them to follow him. Families that stood guard for thousands of years and did not give up should return to glory!”

Wei sighed. “I do not know how many still remain.”

Pu Yao also became silent. He also did not know.

———

Zuo Mo suddenly stopped his cultivation. He detected someone was approaching. His body turned towards the people approaching and stood between them and A Gui, shielding A Gui behind him.

Two figures appeared like ghosts nearby.

“It’s you!” Zuo Mo’s gaze focused and he was shocked inside.

In the night, Ceng Lian’er’s exquisite and beautiful features looked more mysterious. Her black opal like eyes held an indescribable light. There was also a woman standing next to her. Looking at her attire, it should be Ceng Lian’er’s maid.

She stopped at a distance of five zhang from Zuo Mo.

“You are going to Nether Spring Jie?” the serene voice drifted over with the wind.

Zuo Mo who had not lowered his guard suddenly focused his gaze. He asked in a deep voice, “How do you know?”

“This is Shattered Stone Jie.” Ceng Lian’er did not pay attention to Zuo Mo’s wariness.

Zuo Mo understood. Most likely, his search for Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass had caught Ceng Yi’s attention. This outrageously beautiful woman in front of him gave him a great sense of danger. Even though a part of his breakthrough was owed to this person, and the other’s silver shen power had been one of the main causes of his breakthrough.

But he could not get the measure of this woman’s power or intentions.

“I cultivate moon shen power.” Ceng Lian’er’s seductive face became slightly dazed. She raised her face, and the moon above her head brightened slightly. A ray of moonlight fell on her face, illuminating her delicate features.

The long eyelashes, the warm lips, the flawless face, under the illumination of the moon, it seemed to shake the soul.

“Moon shen power?” Zuo Mo finally understood why the other’s shen power would have power resonance with his shen power.

“I will go with you to Nether Spring Jie,” Ceng Lian’er said serenely.

“You’ll go with me to Nether Spring Jie?” Zuo Mo heard this and stopped for a long time before he reacted. He felt it was humorous. “Haha, what are you saying? You are going with me to Nether Spring JIe? Haha.”

“Yes,” Ceng Lian’er looked at Zuo Mo with her calm eyes.

Zuo Mo heard the determination in the other’s voice and his humor receded. He frowned. “This joke isn’t funny, I’m not familiar with you.”

Ceng Lian’er’s voice was extremely pleasing to hear. “Because you cultivate sun shen power, and I cultivate moon shen power.”

“Don’t understand.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

“If we cultivate together, our shen power will grow even more quickly,” Ceng Lian’er explained.

Zuo Mo finally understood. “You mean power resonance?”

“It is also called paired cultivation,” Ceng Lian’er said lightly, “it is very beneficial to you.”

Zuo Mo was not persuaded. “I do not need it.”

“Because of your right hand?” A hint of mirth rose in Ceng Lian’er’s pupils.

However, Zuo Mo did not find it funny. His heart shook. The other’s familiarity with his secrets surpassed his expectations… to even know about the whirlpool of shen power in his hand.

This woman … …

“I do not have any malicious intentions. The whirlpool in your right hand is growing, and you can only absorb a small amount. When it reaches a certain level, you will lose control of it.”

She stared at Zuo Mo and said, “Paired cultivation can solve this problem.”

Zuo Mo spread his hands. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because when your shen power awakened me, it left an imprint on my body. If you die, I cannot live,” Ceng Lian’er said as though it was nothing. “If I die, your shen power will also crumble.”

“Ha! You are a good liar!” Zuo Mo laughed coldly.

“The paired cultivation… when it began it decided our fate. If I channel shen power, you will be able to feel it.” As she spoke, the moonlight around Ceng Lian’er brightened.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed drastically. His shen power was moving against his will!

“This is the power resonance you speak of. If you channel shen power, my shen power would also resonate.” Ceng Lian’ers words burrowed into Zuo Mo’s ear.

Damn it!

“I think that it is much safer to follow you, so that I do not die mysteriously one day without knowing the cause.”

Ceng Lian’er didn’t look at Zuo Mo as she slowly walked to his side. She sat down, and her maid knelt down next to her. In a blink, a little wooden table appeared, an exquisite tea set, a small stove, and she started to boil tea.

Sea of consciousness.

Zuo Mo urgently asked Pu Yao and Wei, “This woman is truthful?”

The one that explained was Wei. “It is true, the paired cultivators in the ancient era usually lived and died together!”

“Screw live and die together!” Zuo Mo swore with a terrible expression.

“Actually, this isn’t a bad thing … …” Before Wei finished, Zuo Mo angrily turned and left the sea of consciousness.

“Moon shen power?” Pu Yao was thoughtful.

Chapter 558 - Light

Zuo Mo was furious about the situation but Ceng Lian’er didn’t even bat an eyelid. She slowly lifted her teacup and elegantly drank. Under her long eyelashes, her bright black eyes were shrouded in the steam.

A Gui sat disaffected by Zuo Mo’s body. She was like a puppet, wooden and lifeless.

In front of A Gui, Zuo Mo looked warily at Ceng Lian’er, his brow locked in a frown. He didn’t know what to do with this woman that suddenly popped out.

Having recovered his calm, Zuo Mo started to ponder this matter. But no matter which angle he thought about this from, this matter was not anything good for him.

He wasn’t interested in something like paired cultivation at all. Yet he had entered what was going to be a long period of attempting high level power increases. He also found it hard to accept that he had to now live and die together with an unfamiliar woman.

Also, if the other encountered danger, it meant that he would also encounter danger. In an instant, his risk of danger had doubled.

The damned paired cultivation!

Zuo Mo felt especially aggrieved when he saw the other’s calm state.

Zuo Mo shook his head and decided to not waste any more time on this topic. He started his cultivation again, but out of consideration for safety, he shielded A Gui behind him. Even he didn’t notice that he had done this unconsciously.

A faint gold light came out of Zuo Mo’s body and was eye-catching in the darkness.

Almost the moment Zuo Mo started channeling shen power, Ceng Lian’er’s body shook and faint moon essence shrouded her body.

Zuo Mo instantly detected the change in Ceng Lian’er.

The shen power inside his body was unusually active. The shen power that usually delved into his blood and fixed to his flesh seemed to be drawn out instead. The rate that the power whirlpool in Zuo Mo’s right hand was spinning at slowed and the shen power from the whirlpool flowed out of his right hand, and merged with the shen power that floated out of his blood and flesh to circulate around Zuo Mo’s body.

Observing the path that the shen power took in circulation, Zuo Mo unconsciously recalled the contents of the gold leaf and a kind of epiphany occurred.

The golden leaf recorded the cultivation method for the sun shen power, but due to the gap in eras, it was hard to understand the contents. Zuo Mo was confused by many parts. Now that shen power was circulating through his body in this novel manner, he seemed to understand many of the cryptic phrases on the golden leaf.

Immersed in the joy of understanding, Zuo Mo completely forgot the flow of time.

The golden light that Zuo Mo released was restrained but Ceng Lian’er’s moon essence nearby was so thick it was almost tangible.

The moon moved, the night gradually faded. Dawn silently arrived and the sky started to turn white.

The moment the sun came up out of the horizon, Zuo Mo’s body suddenly shook. It gave off blinding golden light as though it was a sun, responding to the sun in the horizon!

Boom!

The Sun Crystal Seed inside Zuo Mo’s body suddenly gave off a great amount of flames. The golden flames criss-crossed and wrapped around the Sun Crystal Seed. Following that, a dash of golden liquid charged forward on the path that Zuo Mo’s shen power took.

The golden liquid did not move quickly, but was extremely hot and felt as though it was burning. What shocked Zuo Mo the most was its domineering nature! It was the utmost domineering! As though nothing could stop it!

As though it was howling, full of dissatisfaction!

Like it had a dream that one day, it could be like the sun that was rising on the horizon, to hang in the sky!

In this moment, strange scene played out in front of him. Inside an empty and black void, a thread of celestial fire formed, and it grew with time, forming a ball of fire. After millions of years, it grew even bigger, so big until it was almost the size of a true sun.

Suddenly, a hand reached into the void, a hand that looked very normal. This hand only grasped lightly, it had a terrifying power that never had been experienced before. The hand squeezed from all directions.

The sun’s enormous body was forcibly compressed to become the Sun Crystal Seed … …

For some unknown reason Zuo Mo suddenly understood. He understood its dissatisfaction, the dissatisfaction of not being able to be in the sky!

The burning golden liquid suddenly passed into Zuo Mo’s heart. Zuo Mo’s body suddenly shuddered and his chest felt as though it was burning. The complex sun mo matrix at his chest slowly lit up.

Boom!

Blinding golden light sprouted from Zuo Mo’s chest.

A domineering and vast power filled Zuo Mo’s body. In this moment, Zuo Mo had a feeling he looking down on the world. Even those massive mountains and endless deserts were specks under his feet.

This feeling came quickly and passed quickly.

The sun mo matrix at Zuo Mo’s chest seemed to come alive and slowly spun. Zuo Mo could clearly feel that the golden liquid turned into a ball of fire when it reached his heart and was spinning endlessly.

A feeling of unprecedented fullness spread through his entire body!

The first sun of Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus had formed!

The moon essence dissipated with the sun, Ceng Lian’er glanced at Zuo Mo. Her face was filled with shock and held none of the ease she had previously! It was as though she was looking at a strange monster!

He had actually had a breakthrough!

Even though she was unable to detect the exact changes inside Zuo Mo’s body, she could clearly feel that Zuo Mo’s power had reached a whole new level.

The moon shen power inside her body also had grown considerably with the paired cultivation but compared to the other, it was an insignificant increase.

Her face surprised, her black onyx eyes were filled with disbelief.

What she cultivated was moon shen power. Unlike Zuo Mo, she had inherited a complete inheritance. In reality, she had guessed long ago that Zuo Mo’s shen power came from a fortuitous encounter. Zuo Mo’s shen power cultivation methods had many areas that were irrational and he didn’t even know about how they had entered paired cultivation.

But a person like this had had another breakthrough in the span of one night!

In reality, when she had come to Zuo Mo, she had been shocked when she first saw him again. It had just been a few days since she had first seen him, but Zuo Mo’s power had clearly increased.

Breaking through the boundary between brigadier and general, her power was also in a period of accelerated growth. She had worked hard on her cultivation in these few days, and her power had leapt ahead. Even when Master had been alive, Master had always praised her outstanding talent and for being the most talented and accomplished disciple of the lineage for more than a thousand years. She had believed in that.

But … …

Looking at this freakish person, her confidence started to waver.

She looked at Zuo Mo as though she was admiring a great masterpiece.

———

“How many more days?” Shu Long asked. Behind him, the hardship guards still moved uncompromisingly in their military formation.

“If it all goes smoothly, then ten days!” Ye Ling tried to stay alert but his voice was filled with tiredness.

In these days, they hadn’t rested at all. They had moved at the fastest speed that was safe. What was most irritating were the occasional battles along the way. Since the war between xiuzhe and yaomo had begun, security in these areas had declined and bandits could be found everywhere.

When they encountered bandits, Shu Long wasn’t soft-hearted. If they encountered any bandits, they would kill all of them.

Later on, Ye Ling thought of an idea. He put up a flag on the caravan with a the character  “Guard” written on it. After winning the next few battles, the name of Butcher Guard Camp spread, especially when someone discovered that Shu Long’s group was the battalion that had killed three thousand bandits in Eminent Mountain Jie with only one hundred people. This bit of information instantly caused waves.

This also caused bandits to disappear from where Guard Camp was passing by. Even the local factions ignored this terrifying hundred person strong battalion. They definitely did not dare to provoke the caravan.

Luckily, Shu Long and the others moved quickly and did not linger. People paid attention to this and secretly speculated that Guard Camp was probably on a special mission.

Consequently, Guard Camp’s travelling speed suddenly increased.

Shu Long was full of praise for Ye Ling’s idea. He didn’t care at all about getting famous. His mind was completely filled with getting to meet Daren as soon as possible.

“Ten days!”

Everyone’s morale rose. This was the longest journey that Guard Camp had ever taken since it was established. They didn’t even know how many jie they had crossed.

Fortunately, Ye Ling had brought along enough mo bei. This meant they could use the blood pools. The blood pools of the mo and the yao doors of the yao, were like the transportation formations of xiuzhe, and similarly there were tolls to be paid.

Otherwise, it would take years to fly to their destination.

Nan Yue, Cang Ze and the others were also exhausted. However, their wills and hearts were more steeled compared to the past. All of them cultivated powerful yao arts to start with, and the fighting had been of great aid to their training. They were completely different people now.

In ten more days, they would be able to see Daren, everyone found themselves filled with energy!

———

Golden Crow Camp was filled with light but unusually silent.

Xiuzhe were lying askew in the enormous room. The snores were like the beats of a drum. Master Sun Bao was also in a corner and drooling as he slept. Master Ji Wei also was robbed of all dignity, his legs spread on the stairs as he laid with his limbs spread out, his mouth wide as his snores roared.

Each of them were sleeping sweetly. Many people had lingering excitement on their faces.

Not one of them was awake.

They were extremely tired. They hadn’t rested for one moment in so many days. When they were tired, they would throw back a ling dan for energy and continue to work! Just by relying on a pile of ling dan, they did not sleep nor rest as they studied the mo matrixes and what Daren had sent back, about engraving, and activating mo matrixes.

Everyone worked as hard as they could. No one complained.

Everyone furiously worked as though they were possessed without any regard!

Everyone understood that this was a war!

But today, they finally saw the light!

Zong Ru entering seclusion did not attract too much attention. Right now, Turtle Island was unified, everyone was focused on getting stronger. Many people were using seclusion as a method.

He lightly covered the stone slab entrance. The last thread of light that crept through the cracks from the outside disappeared as the cloth settled in front of him.

It was completely dark inside the mountain cave but Zong Ru’s mind was unusually calm.

He had told no one else that his seclusion this time was intended as a death seclusion. Death seclusion was an extremely dangerous type of seclusion, death or advancement. In this seclusion, the number of mental demons would be ten times what it usually was. If one was the least bit careless, they would go mad, their minds would collapse.

But Zong Ru didn’t feel any terror. As if it was just like usual, he crossed his legs and sat down, chanting sutras like usual.

In the past, he had sworn the Buddha Abandonment Death Wish that he was to use his vajra body to protect Daren.

Right now, Daren had encountered trouble and his strength was such that he could not help Daren.

In the darkness, Zong Ru’s expression was calm. There was no hesitation, no fear, only calm—because this was the path he chose, oath he gave.

Chapter 559 - Meeting Up

“Shui Yue, how have you been these days?” a friend called out loudly.

“Hah! How has he been? Which one of you have ever seen him go out play?” another friend rolled his eyes and said exasperatedly.

Shui Yue smiled slightly and did not respond.

“Ah, I feel that my question is pretty stupid too.” The friend shrugged. “Alright, we’re going, we just got something on our hands, and it really would be a waste not to go out and have some fun.”

“This guy really wastes his good skill!” The other friend’s words were filled with envy and jealousy.

Shui Yue smiled and waved at his friends as they left. He was not tall and his figure was slim. His short hair was messy and soft, and his complexion was slightly pale and caused him to look prim and delicate. The smile on his face was especially endearing. Along the way, many females glanced at him, and some more daring mo females threw seductive looks in his direction.

Suddenly, Shui Yue’s expression changed slightly and his steps stilled. His expression quickly recovered and he looked just like usual except that he walked at a slightly faster pace.

When he returned to his home, Shui Yue quickly locked his doors. At this time, a thread of excitement flashed through his eyes.

He spread open his palm. A bright blood coloured dragon had clearly appeared on his skin. The blood dragon’s head was raised proudly, that pair of eyes giving off a vicious air as though it could fly out of his hand at any moment.

“It is true! It is actually true!” he said to himself. He was out of his mind in excitement, laughing and crying at the same time.

He recalled both his father and grandfather who had passed away. Their last words had been so similar.

Wait for the blood summons!

He had doubted whether or not the blood summons existed numerous times. Grandfather had waited his entire life and never gotten it, Father had never gotten it either. He did not truly know what the blood summons were. To him, the faint dragon script on his palm was just a memento to remember his father and grandfather by. The blood summons existed only in a tiny part of his mind, a corner that he had long forgotten.

The Water Moon Family, he smiled weakly.  When Grandfather had grown old, he would always tell stories about the past glory of the Water Moon Family, but from youth, Shui Yue only listened to them as stories, because he had never feel the glory of the Water Moon Family. None of his friends had ever heard of the Water Moon Family.

As for Water Moon mo skill, it was just slightly better than the average mo skills. Shui Yue who had been very mature from a young age was extremely hard-working and his talent among those of the same age was among the top half. Grandfather had sighed countless times while saying that if Water Moon mo skill was complete, Shui Yue would far surpass his present skill.

When Shui Yue heard this, he would hurriedly try to comfort his grandfather each time, saying that he could still become very strong with the present mo skill.

He never believed that there was a complete Water Moon mo skill, but he understood Father and Grandfather.

Old people would always live in their memories of their past glory.

Not long after Grandfather passed away, Father also passed as well. Shui Yue had started to learn how to make a living for himself. Fortunately, he had worked hard from a young age, and was much stronger than those of his age cohort. As he was composed and willing to work-hard, people gradually stopped underestimating him because of his age.

He was young, but after hunting mo embryos, his battle experience was high.

Starting from a long time ago, he assumed that he would live his life like this.

Until today when the blood summons appeared!

Shui Yue recovered from his daze, his eyes becoming clear again. He stood up and started to pack.

There was no mental struggle, no resistance. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was that the stories and reminders from his father and grandfather had leached into his blood in his youth, even if he told himself countless times that the blood summons didn’t exist.

For the blood call, his forefathers had struggled and lived.

This youth’s pale face was now full of longing.

———

Ceng Lian’er found it strange. Today, Zuo Mo had not cultivated like he usually did. She smelt something was unusual. In the days since she had come, she had personally seen how crazy Zuo Mo was in his dedication to cultivating. He was crazy, squeezing out every second of time. She had been astounded inside.

He repeated the dull and dry cultivation process over and over as though he did not know exhaustion.

In her eyes, Zuo Mo’s manipulation of shen power was very crude and there were still many flaws. It was not as refined as hers, but if the two of them fought to the death, she felt that the one to survive would be Zuo Mo.

He really was a crazy person!

Every time she thought this, she would unconsciously look at A Gui. Those shattered yet heart-shaking visions would silently creep into her mind and cause her heart to tremble.

She casually pondered and observed as though everything had nothing to do with her.

But today, Zuo Mo was acting out of the ordinary!

He wasn’t cultivating! This was the first time in the many days she had been here, that she saw him stop his cultivation.

Even though Zuo Mo seemed very calm, Ceng Lian’er perceptively noticed the thread of excitement in his eyes.

Was something about to happen?

At this time, Zuo Mo suddenly stood up.

Almost at the same time, a bunch of little dots appeared in the distant horizon.

Those were … …

Ceng Lian’er’s heart shook slightly as she stared at the little black dots. While her expression was calm, her surprise increased. And her maid, Yan’er’s expression showed terror.

A battalion!

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes were very sensitive. There was only a hundred people but she could judge, from the organized formation, that this was a battalion, and it was a battalion that was very strong in combat!

A black flag was held at the front of the troop with a large word “Guard” written on it.

This battalion did not move quickly, but the formation was strict and flawless. The shock it brought was enough for Ceng Lian’er to be stunned, the daughter of a jie master who had seen numerous battalions!

The other also noticed the four of them and the troop suddenly turned in their direction.

Like a shark that smelt blood, the entire battalion accelerated without warning. A wild howl started like hundreds of beasts howling as they charged!

Ceng Lian’s fist unconsciously tightened within her sleeve. She felt as though an invisible rope was strangling her!

“Miss!’ Yan’er’s face was ashen, her scream filled with terror. She pulled hard at Ceng Lian’er’s sleeve trying to pull her to escape.

Even though her face was a pale white,Ceng Lian’er did not move at all because she noticed that Zuo Mo was motionless.

Was it … …

An absurd idea rose in her mind.

Boom!

The battalion had arrived. The dust that rose up from their landing was like a wall of earth that had appeared out of nowhere. It rose up and shrouded everyone’s view!

Two zhang away, Zuo Mo fearlessly stood in front of the earth wall like a spear.

The wall of dirt dissipated and the true appearance of this battalion was exposed to Ceng Lian’er. The first phrase in Ceng Lian’er’s mind was, veterans. This was a troop of just one hundred people, and each person’s individual strength wasn’t worth anything in her eyes. But when this dusty troop appeared in front of her, she was unable to dismiss their existence.

They seemed to be part of one being, the combat formation was intimidating as though it was a killing machine that was prepared to massacre the enemy at any moment.

“Daren!”

Many people’s voices were hoarse but everyone had excitement on their faces. Morale was high as they stared at Zuo Mo, their eyes filled with undisguised admiration and respect.

Looking at their dirt covered uniforms and the exhaustion that could not be hidden, Zuo Mo’s nose felt sore. He suppressed it, and a smile bloomed on his face. “Everyone, you must have worked hard!”

“Have everyone rest.” Zuo Mo said to Shu Long in a soft voice.

Shu Long was hesitant.

Zuo Mo knew what he was worried about and said directly, “I have broken through to yuanying!”

Ecstasy appeared on Shu Long’s voice and then he nodded, giving the order to rest. When the order was given, everyone immediately sat down where they were.

Zuo Mo walked over and inspected every person to see if there were any hidden wounds. They had completed such an astoundingly long journey with many fights big and small along the way by gritting their teeth and holding their breath. Now that they released it, the exhaustion and suppressed wounds would come up like the tide.

Yan’er’s little mouth was wide. Everything that was happening in front of her surpassed her imagination. This battalion … … was that guy’s!

She didn’t understand why Miss had to follow this guy. Was it because he had healed and woken Miss up? It was the first time she had seen a man being carried in a princess carry by a woman. Such a weak man … …

But since Miss had decided to do this, she did not speak. In any case, her duty was only to follow Miss.

This scene stunned her and her mind turned blank.

Ceng Lian’er’s gaze was deep. From beginning to end, she did not speak a word and only looked deeply at Zuo Mo.

It was unknown what she was thinking.

———

“Jie Master! We have identified them, this battalion is Butcher Guard Camp!” Chao Yu reported in haste.

“En?” Ceng Yi caught the thread of fear in Chao Yu’s voice and couldn’t help but feel slightly shocked. He knew his subordinate well who was usually black-hearted and very daring. It couldn’t be anything normal that had caused Chao Yu to lose his composure.

“Butcher Guard Camp … …” Ceng Yi said amusedly, and then asked, “What is their background?”

“Unknown, they are a battalion that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They number just over one hundred people, but some time ago, when they were passing through Eminent Mountain Jie, they were surrounded and attacked by bandits. They massacred three thousand bandits and left unharmed.” When he spoke to here, Chao Yu couldn’t help but think of the blood scene in the mirage he had obtained, and his expression was slightly ugly.

“Eminent Mountain Jie, the jie of bandits!” Ceng Yi’s expression suddenly became grave. “One hundred … … three thousand … … unharmed … …”

He felt deep shock at this news. Eminent Mountain Jie was not far from where they were, and the fame of the jie of bandits was well-known. Even though he did not pay any attention to bandits, but three thousand bandits were not a small number. If the other side had just one hundred people, then it was a very terrifying matter.

If it was his battalion, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Unless he personally lead the troop, and took along all of the brigadiers and colonels under his command, he wouldn’t obtain such a result.

That youth’s face appeared in his mind. He was shocked. This person’s background definitely was not simple.

Thinking of his daughter, he grimaced. There was no use in thinking so much. Other than getting onto good terms with the boy, what else could he do?

After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, “Order the Celestial Planet Guard to follow Miss. No matter where Miss goes, they have to follow. Even if Miss tries to get them to leave, they have to follow.”

“Celestial Planet Guard!” Chao Yu gaped and was stunned.

Chapter 560 - Departure

Zuo Mo glanced at the guards crowded around Ceng Lian’er and was slightly surprised. There wasn’t a large number of guards, but their average skill level was not low. There were seven brigadier mo. The others were colonel, but they were each very close to brigadier level. It was clear that this was an elite force.

Remembering that the other’s father was a jie master, Zuo Mo felt this was very normal.

However, the other guarded Ceng Lian’er constantly and didn’t even move a step away. It looked as though they would not accept his orders. Zuo Mo did not care. He wanted Ceng Lian’er as far away from him as possible. He was strangely wary of this beautiful woman whose personality he could not understand.

A Gui was much better.

Zuo Mo thought this as his gaze landed on A Gui, softening his expression. However, when he recalled how A Gui had not shown any improvement even after consuming the Water Cloud Embryos, Zuo Mo’s mood sank again. The mist people and Turtle Island had set up a transportation formation between Cloud Sea Jie and the mo territories so it was easier to travel through. Shu Long had coincidentally come to reinforce Zuo Mo after the mist people had delivered Water Cloud Embryos to Turtle Island, so he had brought them along. The mist people had special methods to preserve  the harvested Water Cloud Embryos and so they would not lose their effectiveness.

But after A Gui used them, there was nothing else except slightly more vitality in her eyes. The shen power inside her body was strange and malicious, almost completely sealing off A Gui’s soul. It had consumed the Water Cloud Embryo.

A Gui’s shen power actually grew a fraction.

He could not keep dragging this on.

“Have you all recovered?” Zuo Mo asked Shu Long.

“All recovered!” Shu Long’s face held joy. “Six hardship guards leveled up and also a flower yao. Additionally, Miss Nan Yue has leveled up.”

These hardship guards had been the elite of the elite he had picked from Guard Camp. The journey this time had been dangerous but since they made it through, they benefited greatly from their gains. Zuo Mo had taught Nan Yue the longest, and she was the strongest of the group. Adding on that she was stubborn and hardworking, she had only lacked real combat experience before. This long journey and the hundreds of small and large battles along the way had caused her to quickly break through and cultivate beyond yin spirit, stepping in the realm of Rahula yao.

Zuo Mo also had a happy expression. Every bit of strength meant they had a better chance.

In Guard Camp, only Shu Long and A Wen had been in brigadier level. Now there were six more. Ye Ling had originally been a brigadier, adding on the flower yao and Nan Yue that leveled up, there were eleven people of at least the brigadier level in Zuo Mo’s troop.

There were eleven brigadier, and one general level in a troop of one hundred people. The rest were also experienced fighters. This troop could be called a powerful one.

Shou Ping was observing this famed battalion, Butcher Guard Camp, maybe it was more accurate to call them infamous. As the commander of Celestial Planet Guard, Shou Ping was a silver battle general and Ceng Yi’s left and right hand. However, every time, Shou Ping observed this battalion, he couldn’t help but feel a part of his soul tremble.

Before this, he had been very confident in the skill level of the troop he commanded. It had been through his hard effort and energy that they had created the present Celestial Planet Guard. Not just in Shattered Stone Jie, even in the nearby jie, Celestial Planet Guard was considered the top battalion.

But with something to compare to, the top battalion in his eyes were like a group of idiots wearing glittering clothing in front of other people. Previously, he had suspected the truthfulness of the rumors that one hundred had killed three thousand, but after he met this battalion, he didn’t doubt the rumors anymore. With a battalion like this, not just three thousand, even five thousand might be possible.

The other’s regulations were so strict and they were shockingly well trained.

He had never heard of a battalion maintaining their formation even while at rest. They would each cultivate of their own accord when they had any spare time. It was the complete opposite of himself who had to stand guard every day and supervise Celestial Plant Guard’s training.

There were like a pack of insatiable beasts that never knew rest nor exhaustion.

Shou Ping was frightened. He wasn’t the only one. The members of Celestial Planet Guard who were usually very proud were frightened. In the beginning, they had been rebellious when Shou Ping told them to not make any trouble. But after two days they had seen Guard Camp’s group of crazy people that didn’t seem like mo, they didn’t have a temper.

They had a kind of killing energy where even a glance caused fear.

But Ceng Lian’er was extremely calm as she cultivated on a regular schedule. She would idly drink tea, and eat pastries as though she was on a sight-seeing tour.

Shou Ping felt admiration for Miss. As expected as the daughter of Daren. In the future, Daren’s role might have to be passed onto Miss’ hands.

Zuo Mo didn’t pay too much attention to the Celestial Planet Guards. His standards had been raised up high by Lil’ Miss and the others. He really did not think too highly of Celestial Planet Guard’s skill level.

He turned and looked into the distance. That direction was the direction of Shattered Stone Town. He had the considered taking along Ka Zhuo and Dong Zi, but after thinking about it, he ended this notion. One was a simple youth, the other was a matrix awakening master without any skill to protect himself.

“Depart,” Zuo Mo said indifferently.

———

“Fei Lei, are you really going to leave?” The youths looked yearningly at the other.

Fei Lei reached out his hand covered in scars and rubbed the head of one of the youths. He said with a smile, “I have my fate.”

“Fate?” the youths’ tender faces were puzzled.

“En, something that I have to do, that is fate.” Fei Lei explained with a smile. His body was extremely broad and well-built, his features sharp and weathered. His short dense beard was peppered and his eyes were a faint grey that was unusually deep.

“Will you come back and teach me?” the youth spoke in a stuffed voice.

“No.” Fei Lei still smiled as he narrowed his eyes. He showed some hints of age. “You need to work hard on your cultivation, do not slack off. This way, you can enter the battalions early. Everyone, I am leaving.”

Finishing, Fei Lei turned and charged forward taking two steps and shot up into the air. His long windbreaker was like the wings of a bat as he flew into the sky.

He did not turn his head.

His deep light grey eyes looked towards the distance, filled the weariness of having seen the world. A burning flame shot out and silently pulsed.

There was a vicious looking blood dragon script on his tightly clasped palm.

The battle horn that had been sealed for thousands of years seemed to have been blown in his ear.

———

Zuo Mo’s jie map had been obtained from Ceng Yi. The collections of the master of a jie was pretty good. Through this jie map, Zuo Mo was able to easily locate Nether Spring Jie.

This was a journey that was even longer than Shu Long’s journey from Little Savage Jie.

Little Savage Jie and Shattered Stone Jie both belonged to Hundred Savage Realm, but Nether Spring Jie belonged to the deepest part of Dark Realm. The distance between them almost crossed the entire mo territories.

The factions along the way were many and their territories criss-crossed. The the majority of faction territories on their journey were not labelled, barely a tenth were.

Zuo Mo understood upon further thought. Ceng Yi was pretty powerful but he clearly had no ambitions to expand. The jie map only labeled the areas near Shattered Stone Jie.

Zuo Mo knew that this was not going to be an easy matter but he had no thoughts of retreat. He also planned on trying to buy Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass along the way.

Fortunately, the mo had the blood pools.

It was the first time Zuo Mo saw a blood pool. The blood pool was like an enormous pond that was filled with a bubbling liquid that appeared similar to fresh blood. However, Zuo Mo knew that the “blood” was not actual blood, but a solution called Crimson Blood Solution. Its composition was extremely complex.

Just like the xiuzhe that were able to set up transportation formations in the xiuzhe territories, the mo that were capable of making Crimson Blood Solutions had high status.

Shu Long and the others were experienced and jumped into the blood pool in an organized manner.

Zuo Mo picked up A Gui and jumped unhesitatingly into the blood pool.

A Gui would only remain unaffected towards one person’s actions, Zuo Mo.

When Shou Ping saw this, he stole a look at Miss. Miss appeared unaffected. He couldn’t help but release a breath. It seemed that Miss was not attracted to this boy. Then he felt a slight regret. This boy wasn’t tall, handsome, or rich, but he was fierce, influential, and strong!

Our mo traditions value fierce men, Miss!

It is the first time Old Shou has seen such a fierce man … …

Such a pity … … such a pity … …

Shou Ping muttered inside as he daydreamed. How powerful would it be if the two married.

However, none of this could be seen from his face. He calmly followed behind Miss into the blood pool.

When he jumped into the blood pool, Zuo Mo felt his vision turn blood red. A strange sweet scent came into his nose. Strangely, the Crimson Blood Solution would not enter his nose like water, but glued onto his skin like a cool membrane.

Suddenly, an enormous suction force came from underneath them.

Before they could struggle, they were pulled down by this force and disappeared.

When the force disappeared, Zuo Mo opened his eyes. He saw Shu Long and the others floating in the Crimson Blood Solution nearby. The blood red Crimson Blood Solution was clear like a red crystal. Zuo Mo could clearly see everyone’s figures.

Without any orders or being directed, several of the hardship guards floated up.

Moments later, they signalled that it was safe so everyone floated up.

The blood pool was not a always a safe place. It had been alright before the war started. None of the large powers would allow any safety issues to arise at their blood pools. This was related to the stability and infrastructure of their territories, they had maintained their trade routes. However, the war was increasing in intensity, and many places were restricted. Some blood pools, because they were in areas that lacked a ruler, became places that bandits liked to lie in ambush.

Shu Long had encountered this kind of situation along the road so they were very familiar with the safety measures.

Walking out of the blood pool, what entered their eyes was a desolate scene that caused Zuo Mo to show wariness.

Shou Ping became nervous and signaled the Celestial Planet Guard to instantly encircle Ceng Lian’er.

Shou Ping said in a low voice, “Miss, the situation is not right.”

Ceng Lian’er glanced at Zuo Mo and asked, “Not right?”

“En, this subordinate came here a few months ago. Previously, there had been a market here,” Shou Ping said in a low voice as he looked around warily.

Shou Ping did not deliberately keep his voice down. Everyone had good hearing and naturally could hear him clearly.

The mood suddenly became tense.

Chapter 561 - The Beginning Of War

“This is the intelligence we have gathered, we have identified jies with chaos rifts.” Xie Shan’s face was tired but his eyes were unusually bright. “There are three jie in total!”

“East Flow Jie, Middle Granary Jie and Cloud Gate Jie.”

The enormous mirage showed a gigantic jie map.

Gongsun Cha listened closely, fearful he would miss a detail. Ma Fan, Wei Ran, and the others stood in ordered ranks.

“There hasn’t been any action at East Flow Jie’s chaos rift. Cloud Gate Jie’s chaos rift leads to the yao territories, and Earth Universe Sect in Cloud Gate Jie is very powerful and possess six battalions. They control almost half of Cloud Gate Jie.” Xie Shan’s intelligence was very detailed as he steamed on. “Our best target is Middle Granary Jie. It isn’t just the closest to us, its largest local sect was defeated. They are in chaos. It has been confirmed that the attacks are a mo battalion. It is definitely the mo territories behind the chaos rift. Because there have not been any mo hostages, we are unsure at the moment which jie it is.”

“As long as it leads to the mo territories, it is valuable to us.” Gongsun Cha caused everyone to sit up in alertness.

He stood up and slowly scanned the crowd. Everyone sat up straight.

“Everyone should know what is going on with Shixiong.” Gongsun Cha’s tone was very calm but his ruffled bangs could not stop the light of his eyes.

“Our goal is very simple, reinforce Shixiong! But if we enter any mo jie, we will create an endless struggle with the surrounding mo territories.”

“But we must reach into the mo territories so we can reinforce Shixiong.” Gongsun Cha had clearly thought this through. His rationale was clear. “We can create our own mo battalion using Guard Camp and Shi Dong. These mo battalions can enter the mo territories and then reinforce Shixiong. We can even turn Cloud Sea Jie into a place where yao, mo and xiuzhe can coexist. This is hard, but not impossible.

Everyone showed thoughtful expressions. After a few moments of thought, they nodded slightly and fighting spirit started to burn in their eyes.

Lil’ Miss smiled slightly. The bashful smile of the neighbor’s boy appeared. The eyes behind the bangs grew even brighter. His calm tone was filled with an indescribable insanity. “But before this, we need to take over the chaos rift and the territory that can lead into the mo territories! We need more battalions! We need more resources! We need to become stronger!”

Everyone’s eyes flashed crazily. They felt as though their blood was burning.

“Are you ready?”

The demonic slight smile and the furious fighting spirit crossed like light and dark on Gongsun Cha’s raised face.

“Yes!” Everyone stood up and shouted together.

Gongsun Cha walked next to Middle Granary Jie on the mirage. He turned around, his bashful smile filled with cold fighting spirit.

“The war has begun!”

———

Shi Dong’s progress in Little Savage Jie was extremely quick. Right now, he had taken over all of Little Savage Jie. In the past, he had not been trusted but he had fame in Little Savage Jie. Everyone knew that Shi Dong was a very strong battle general.

So when Shi Dong suddenly returned to fight, other than his former leader that called for his head, no other power said anything. In the mo territories, events like this happened everyday. For those noble families, there were things like glory and honor; but for these little factions, the strongest was king. Whomever had the biggest fist was the leader.

Shi Dong faced off against his former boss. Before he could attack, the boss’ subordinates mutinied. Everyone knew that Shi Dong had not to been fully trusted but the boss, but everyone also knew how strong Shi Dong was. Being former allies they also knew better than other people. To stay alive, they directly surrendered.

After the great victory, Shi Dong dissolved the local battalions according to Lil’ Miss’ orders and selected the elite ones to replenish Grey Camp,

In a short period of time, Grey Camp had expanded to three times its former size yet he had only picked the top quality mo troops.

However, he also knew that it would take a certain amount of time for this reformed Grey Camp to be battle-ready.

But with [Great Day Hardship Guard] he had enough confidence he could make Grey Camp into a top-rank battalion!

However, he clearly underestimated Turtle Island’s strength.

He received Lil’ Miss’ orders for Grey Camp to send members in a rotation to go to Turtle Island and undergo special training.

Special training?

He was slightly puzzled. What kind of training was special training?

However, these were orders and he knew what his duties were, instantly arranging it.

———

Zuo Mo did not know that there were countless eyes watching their journey.

The name of Butcher Guard Camp intimidated small forces and attracted the attention of larger forces. Though they were not willing to provoke Guard Camp, it did not stop them from secretly investigating them.

There had clearly been a fierce battle here. The market’s ruins and the burnt black soil all pointed to this.

Everyone’s nerves were tight. They were not worried about encountering bandits, but were very worried about encountering large battalions, especially xiuzhe battalions.

It was a dangerous matter for Shou Ping’s group to fight against xiuzhe, enemies they were unfamiliar with.

Zuo Mo didn’t want to encounter them either because his identity might be exposed. Even though Guard Camp didn’t appear any different than mo after Wei’s teachings, but those large sects were immeasurable in skill. If he was exposed, it definitely would not be fun.

Those people that exterminated mo would exterminate them as well.

Celestial Planet Guard and Guard Camp carefully kept their guard up. From the way they did this, it was possible to see the difference between the two groups. Every person in Celestial Planet Guard seemed to be anxious fearing they would face great enemies as they moved carefully. Everyone in Guard Camp had calm expressions. Only the light that occasionally flashed through their eyes exposed their wariness.

The skill could be instantly judged!

Shou Ping shook his head inside, and was deeply impacted. He quickly threw all stray throughout to the back of his mind. Everything in front of him was unusual.

A black shadow suddenly flashed by and entered the ranks of Guard Camp.

So fast!

Shou Ping was shocked. The speed of this scout surpassed all people in Celestial Planet Guard.

———

“There are two groups fighting up head, both mo, the fighting is fierce.” A Wen reported the situation that was occurring up ahead.

Zuo Mo’s brow creased. This path was one they had to travel, they could not go around it.

“Let’s go see.”

———

The troop moved silently and the intense battlefield quickly appeared in front of them.

The sky was in chaotic. A small group of mo were surrounded by numerous mo that had dark green wings on their backs. These dark green mo were grouped together like packs of wolves that scattered and gathered, covering the sky, and howling.

“They are Green Yaksha!” Wei reminded Zuo Mo. “They are extremely fast and not weak offensively, innately cold-blooded and desirous of slaughter. They are most skilled in attrition battles, you have to be careful.”

“What weaknesses do they have?” Zuo Mo asked. If Lil’ Miss was here, he definitely would not ask this question. Lil’ Miss seemed to know all the yaomo.

“They like to fight, are easily angered, and their tempers are not well-regulated.” Wei said rapidly, “However, you need to be careful, while normal combat mo are not disciplined, it is easy for battle generals to come out of green yaksha. Those above silver are pretty good, and actually, snake mo also easily produces battle generals.”

Zuo Mo’s gaze quickly landed on a mo wearing a bright red cape on the battlefield. This person was well-built and extremely brave. He stood with empty hands at the front of the formation. Every time he attacked, it was a ball of fire. If the green yaksha that charged were not careful, they would be burnt into ash at a visible rate.

The fatalities of the defending battalion was high. The reason they had not been defeated yet was mostly due to this large mo.

“Daren, they seem to be protecting someone,” Ye Ling said in a low voice. He was experienced and instantly detected it.

Zuo Mo made a sound. He had also noticed this. There were only three hundred people left in this battalion but they were still resisting and protecting an old person.

The fatality rate of the green yaksha was also high but they were in a frenzy, wave after wave battering against the other’s battle formation.

With every wave numerous corpses would drop from the sky, but fatalities would also occur in the other’s battle formation.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed. One side did not care about fatalities, the other side did not retreat a step. The battle was intense and fierce. He had heard Wei and Pu Yao say before that the mo were skilled in battle and that their battles were unusually cruel. Having seen it with his own eyes, it really was so. In comparison, the battles between xiuzhe troops were lacking.

When Shou Ping saw the green yaksha, his expression changed.

Especially when he counted that there were seven to eight hundred green yaksha flying in the air. The green yaksha were not rabble like bandits. Seven to eight hundred yaksha were enough to take down a city.

Thinking about the ruins of the market they had walked past, Shou Ping’s heart sank. Had it been these green yaksha that were responsible?

He couldn’t help but turn to look at Zuo Mo. He saw the other had an expression of ease without any visible panic. He felt embarrassed inside. He was a battle general but he hadn’t seen battle yet; he wasn’t comparable to this youth.

Zuo Mo’s expression was calm but he was slightly panicked inside. He was not as freakish as Lil’ Miss, but his judgement had been honed with practical experience and he was much stronger than average silver battle generals.

The fighting most likely would not finish up in a short period of time.

The large man’s side had fewer people but they were resolved and there seemed to be someone directing them. Their defence was very strict. Other than charging at them, the green yaksha didn’t seem to have a good solution.

The battle probably would continue through to tomorrow night, Zuo Mo guessed inside.

But what he did not want to encounter such a delay.

The two sides fighting quickly noticed Zuo Mo’s group.

An old voice suddenly came from the formation behind the large man. “Which friend is this? This one is Tao Xing from Endless City, please, Friend, give this one a hand in aid. After this battle, this one will give heavy thanks!”

The other was asking for help, but he still maintained his mannerism and there was no panic in his tone.

“Tao Xing!” Shou Ping’s pupils suddenly expanded as he exclaimed.

Chapter 562 - Business

Tao Xing?

Zuo Mo beckoned at Shou Ping authoritatively, indicating for him to come over. In his eyes, Ceng Lian’er had come to him, so Shou Ping and the Celestial Planet Guard were like the bonus that one got after buying the main product. He felt nothing at ordering the other about.

Shou Ping’s tendon pulsed. A youth that wasn’t even twenty was ordering him about. If this was any other person, he would have smashed them into pieces! Even if you were a fierce man, even if your subordinates were powerful, even if you had a powerful background, you are not the jie master! But he saw Miss out of the corner of his eyes, and Miss was looking directly at him.

His heart jumped.

… … I’ll endure it!

Shou Ping obediently walked in front of Zuo Mo, “Sir, is there something you need?”

“Who is Tao Xing?” Zuo Mo did not waste words and directly asked.

“The city master of Endless City!” Shou Ping thought and felt that if they encountered any danger, they would not be able to escape so it was best to actually speak seriously of this matter. “Endless City is a very famous and large city in Dark Abyss Jie, which is far from here. Tao Xing is most famous for raising mo embryos. Supposedly, because he had raised dark mo embryo, he was given Endless City by the jie baster of Dark Abyss Jie.”

“Mo embryos?” Zuo Mo noticed the flicker of yearning in Ye Ling’s eyes. He suddenly recalled that Ye Ling cultivated the Mist Hand Seat and needed mo embryos. Being unable to cultivate a mo physique was one of his regrets.

“Yes! Tao Xing is a true mo embryo grandmaster and very famous.” A thread of desire flashed through Shou Ping’s eyes but he knew this was just a futile hope so his gaze quickly regained clarity.

Zuo Mo suddenly turned and shouted towards the battlefield, “Tao Xing, do you have mist mo embryo?”

Shou Ping was stunned. All of Celestial Planet Guard was speechless.

A small indiscernible smile appeared on Ceng Lian’er’s lips.

———

“Grandmaster, will they help?” Tang Fei asked worriedly. Even though Tao Xing was the master of Endless City, but he was familiar with his people and liked being called Grandmaster.

Tao Xing was dressed in loose black robes. His face was wizened but his eyes were alert and gave people the feeling he was a scholar. The situation was urgent but his face was calm and indicated no panic.

He smiled slightly, his tone filled with nonchalance. “This is up to the Heavens.”

Tang Fei bit down on her lips. She was filled with regret and hate. If she had stopped Grandmaster when they departed, Grandmaster would not be in such danger!

Tao Xing knew what Tang Fei was thinking. He said with a smile, “Do not blame yourself. This matter is not your fault, you have done very well. With just five hundred people you were able to stop one thousand and five hundred green yaksha. When word of this gets out, you will be famous.”

Tang Fei was tall and the form fitting armor emphasized her body. The light green hair was up in a simple ponytail. Her right hand was on the mo weapon at her waist as she stood handsomely.

There was no pride on Tang Fei’s face. Her fingers were white as she gripped her mo weapon.

Even though she was speaking to City Master, the majority of her attention was on the battlefield. She noticed that Cha Xiong’s movement had slowed and instantly felt panic.

Tang Fei knew very well that she was able to stop this one thousand and five hundred green yaksha with five hundred people because Cha Xiong was a skilled fighter. Otherwise, they would have been defeated long ago.

If Cha Xiong ran out of energy, the balance would quickly tilt.

Suddenly, a voice rang out over the entire battlefield. “Tao Xing, do you have mist mo embryo?”

Tang Fei’s eyes widened and her expression froze. She felt unspeakably uncomfortable. She had followed Tao Xing for many years, and seen many times that Grandmaster had asked other people for help. But she had never encountered a situation like this. Each of the personages that Grandmaster asked would usually complete the request without a second word. After the matter was dealt with, the Grandmaster would naturally give his thanks, mostly with mo embryos and the two would establish good relations.

She had never met someone who started out by stating conditions. Comparing this, she couldn’t help but have a low opinion.

As expected, those personages were great and prestigious, their mannerisms were not anything that greenhorns could have.

If they saved Grandmaster, would they fear not having mo embryos?

And stating a price at such a crucial time, wasn’t this just blackmail? Tang Fei was unhappy and her expression turned dark.

Tao Xing stilled. It was the first time he met such a direct person. However, he was usually open-minded and did not care too much. He said loudly, “Sir, what kind of mist mo embryo do you want?”

This time, it was Zuo Mo’s turn to pause. What kind of mist mo embryo? He turned around and asked Ye Ling. “What kind of mist mo embryo do you need?”

The rims of Ye Ling’s eyes turned red. When Zuo Mo asked about the mist mo embryos, his heart started beating wildly. When Zuo Mo asked him the direct question, a feeling he had never had before filled him. If Daren asked him to die right now, he would charge unhesitatingly.

My king … …

His lips trembled as he stammered out, “Ash Phase Mist mo embryo … …”

“Oh, it is Ash Phase Mist mo embryo.” Zuo Mo nodded. He turned and shouted, “Old Man, Ash Phase Mist mo embryo!”

Old man!

Tang Fei almost drew the mo weapon at her waist. Her face was full of fury. This was the first time she had encountered someone so disrespectful towards the City Master! She was not the only one. The mo guards around her were also angry.

The Celestial Planet Guard, with Shou Ping as the leader, all looked reverently at Zuo Mo.

Heavens! This person was probably the first one that dared to call Tao Xing Old Man!

Tao Xing chuckled. He felt this person was very interesting. He shouted, “Boy, how many do you want?”

He had originally thought the other would ask a great price. He had not imagined that the other just wanted a Grey Phase Mist mo embryo. This wasn’t anything to him. It seemed the other was truly a greenhorn.

He had made a mistake!

Zuo Mo instantly realized that his opening price was too low. He only knew a bit about mo embryos so it was hard to avoid making mistakes. For Zuo Mo who had greediness engraved into his bones, it was harder for him to accept making a mistaken quote than for him to cut off his own flesh. He wanted ask Ye Ling but when he saw the other’s teary state, Zuo Mo felt it would be a waste of time to ask. He decided to just go in.

“One hundred!”

Shou Ping almost fell to the ground. Ye Ling’s tears froze in his eyes. He opened his mouth and did not know what to say.

Even the green yaksha stilled.

One hundred!

Mo embryos!

When were mo embryos counted in units of one hundred?

Woosh, Tang Fei unsheathed the mo weapon at her waist and prepared to fight to the death. Truthfully, she was more willing to go up and chop up that greenhorn. In her eyes, this person was even more horrid than the ugly green yaksha.

One hundred!

It was Tao Xing’s turn to be stunned. He didn’t know what to say.

Heavens, one hundred mo embryos. Even if it was the Grey Phase Mist mo embryos that were not high level, this number was outrageous. Mo embryos, these were mo embryos!

Was that person really a mo?

This absurd thought rose in Tao Xin’s mind. What he did not know was that his thought was so close to the truth.

“Sorry, I only have three Grey Phase Mist mo embryos with me!” For some reason, when Tao Xing said this, even he felt slightly embarrassed. “Sire, can you consider changing the request to to other mo embryos?”

“Just three … …” Zuo Mo rubbed his chin and pretended to be deep in thought. He hurriedly asked Pu Yao and Wei. “Quick quick quick, what mo embryos should we get?”

Pu Yao’s thin lips were like blades that drew blood with each swipe, “Gold Phase mo embryo, Day mo embryo, Nether Shadow mo embryo, Cold Blade Mantis mo embryo, Hundred Night mo embryo.”

Wei had a warm and harmonious smile as he added, “And Nether Water Clear Moon mo embryo, Magnetism mo embryo, Falling Star mo embryo, Flashing Spirit mo embryo.”

Zuo Mo repeated without missing a word. His voice spread through the entire battlefield.

The entire battlefield was completely silent. Everyone was shocked by this mo embryo list.

The eyes of all the mo gathered on Zuo Mo. In this moment, Zuo Mo was the center of attention of thousands. Even the green yaksha were gaping as they looked at Zuo Mo like they were seeing a ghost.

The eyes of the green yaksha Leader turned red. If it wasn’t an absolute order this time, he wanted to shout, give them to me, give them to me and I will immediately turn around and leave! No, just half, we only want half and we will leave immediately!

He suspected when he returned and reported to his superiors, those daren would also regret not giving him the power to make such a transaction … …

Tao Xing was like a statue. He was completely stunned.

Oh, Heavens, how could I have had such a stupid thought just now. How could this person not be a mo? A mo that could list so many mo physique names, he had never encountered one like this.

The pitiful Tao Xing was still immersed in the other’s familiarity of mo embryos. He had not comprehended the mobei that was represented by this string of mo embryos.

“This is extortion!” Tang Fei shouted, unable to bear it any longer.

Zuo Mo stilled and then said unconcernedly, “This is a transaction done willingly on both sides. It’s fine if you are not willing. I do not feel that there is anything more valuable than life. You will not make a loss on this transaction.”

All the mo admired Zuo Mo’s shamelessness.

Tang Fei was unable to respond. Fire burned in her eyes as she wanted to burn Zuo Mo into dust.

Tao Xing stopped Tang Fei. Even though there was pain on his face, he shouted, “This little brother is right, there is nothing more important than life. Alright, I agree. However, the mo embryos are at Endless City. Sir, you will have to send someone to pick them up.”

“Are we going to pass through Dark Abyss Jie?” Zuo Mo asked Shu Long in a low voice.

Shu Long had been very calm all this time. In reality, other than Ye Ling, Nan Yue and the few others, all of the other people in the troop didn’t feel anything. They actually felt that Daren was correct. What was more valuable than life.

Shu Long nodded. “Daren, we will pass through it.”

Zuo Mo had a happy expression as he shouted, “Alright, agreed!”

The leader of the green yaksha instantly felt his heart was empty. Endless disappointment filled his body. This almost drove him insane.

So many mo embryos … …

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloody red as he shrieked, “Kill them!”

“Kill them!” All the green yaksha had red eyes and vicious expressions.

A troop of just one hundred dared to dismiss them!

Kill them!

Chapter 563 - Fight!

The majority of the green yaksha dove down at them!

A layer of green light appeared on their spread wings. Their wings tore apart the air like knives, and the howling was like a rising tide.

Their eyes were bloody red, their expressions twisted. The black mo matrixes glowed on their exposed dark green skin.

The green energy gathered at the tips of their wings. When each yaksha flew, it created two blinding streaks of light. The lights of the swarm were like a chaotic storm, bright and intimidating!

Suddenly, they quickly organized into formation with astounding speed. The lights that covered the sky seemed to be compressed together by an invisible hand. They became closely packed together!

The green streaks all rose and intercrossed. They spun around each other and attracted each other, pressing towards the center. The light grew in intensity. Looking from afar, they looked like one being, like an enormous green yaksha that was dozens of zhang long. It was like a falling star that crashed down with great force!

“King Yaksha!” Tang Fei shouted, the blood in her face draining out. As a silver battle general, she was familiar with the ultimate killing move of the Green Yaksha Battalions.

No! This group of green yaksha definitely was not a normal group of bandits. This was a green yaksha battalion!

Untrained green yaksha would not be able to perform King Yaksha. King Yaksha was called the ultimate killing move of a green yaksha battalion. It was an extremely difficult maneuver and demanded high coordination from every green yaksha involved.

Tang Fei tightly gripped her mo weapon. Her blood coloured lips had drained to a pale white. If the other had used King Yaksha during their battle, they would not have managed to survive until now. Tang Fei had a high opinion of herself but she never would think that she would be able to stop King Yaksha with just five hundred soldiers.

This made her realize that other’s goal was to capture Grandmaster alive!

In a blink, Tang Fei understood what the green yaksha were planning. But what was the use in knowing? She had never felt so helpless, never!

King Yaksha!

She wouldn’t die a worthless death if it was in the hands of such a battalion, one that could perform King Yaksha.

Tang Fei felt hopeless.

———

The crossing lights from the green yaksha dazzled the eyes. The green rays of light that were dozens of zhang long almost stole the color from the sun.

Shou Ping’s expression changed. He almost shouted at the top of his lungs, “Snake Coil!”

The Celestial Planet Guard’s formation suddenly changed. Like a snake, the guard curled up its body. This was the defense formation that the Celestial Planet Guard was most skilled in. But Shou Ping didn’t feel any confidence.

That was King Yaksha!

It was one of the most famed ultimate techniques of a green yaksha battalion. It was used as one of the standards to measure the strength of a green yaksha battalion. A battalion that could perform King Yaksha was not an average green yaksha battalion!

Shou Ping’s eyes were filled with blood as he bit down hard on his teeth.

Celestial Planet Guard was strong offensively and weak defensively. If this was any other time, he would just charge and fight it out. The Green Yaksha had their King Yaksha, but Celestial Planet Guard had their own ultimate techniques. However, Miss was here! No matter the time and setting, protecting Miss was the most important mission.

Damn it!

He looked urgently towards Miss. However, he found that Miss was looking serenely at Zuo Mo as though she did not see the King Yaksha forming in the air.

Was she … …

His mind shifted and he abruptly turned his head.

And he saw Zuo Mo raise his left hand.

———

Zuo Mo’s left hand was in a fist, his arm drawn back above his waist, his weight on his back foot, his figure slightly twisted to one side.

The howling in the air seemed to suddenly disappear. A strange feeling rose.

This was … … Shou Ping’s eyes suddenly widened!

Dong!

An invisible ripple reverberated like that of a drum and transferred to every person behind him with Zuo Mo as the center.

Boom-boom！

Dong dong!

Every beat was strong and firm, penetrating to the mind. Everyone’s blood and muscles seemed to feel a fatal attraction and pulsed out of their control!

The beats were stirring. With every beat, everyone unconsciously adjusted their power to the rhythm.

Countless ruler-straight dots of light flew from Shu Long and the other Guard Camp members. Like metal attracted to a magnet, they entered Zuo Mo’s raised left fist. In a blink, Zuo Mo’s left fist was covered in an almost tangible black light.

The Sun Script at the center of Zuo Mo’s chest lit up. Threads of golden light extended out of Zuo Mo’s left hand and mixed beautifully within the black energy.

Boom boom boom!

The rhythmic beating speed up like the hurried gallop of a horse. The black energy on Zuo Mo’s hand increased. All the hardship guards behind Zuo Mo that were covered in heavy armor vibrated uncontrollably.

Every beat caused them to feel excitement. Their fighting spirit rose like flames in the wind, and burned the blood in their bodies!

The power in their bodies uncontrollably pulsed with Daren’s pace as though they were communicating to Daren!

When their fighting spirit reached a peak and their blood boiled, a low voice could be heard from the front of the troop.

“Kill!”

Almost unconsciously, all the fighting spirit, all the trembling, all of it found an opening to vent from and burst out!

Everyone roared with all of their strength!

“Kill!”

Every hardship guard punched out hard!

A hundred thick, almost tangible black energies left their hands.

Once these black energies left the fists of the hardship guards, they seemed to be attracted and flew towards Zuo Mo’s fist.

The black energy on Zuo Mo’s fist increased over ten times its size. The black energy wrapped around his wrist, wrapped around his arm, and flowed down following the angle of his arm.

With a spark of inspiration, Zuo Mo did not punch out with that shout of “kill” and forced himself to patiently wait.

Until now!

Like it was restrained with heavy chains, Zuo Mo’s left hand seemed to take great effort to move as he punched towards the sky!

Time seemed to suddenly slow down. Zuo Mo’s actions seemed to be in slow-motion.

The ground underneath him started to tremble. A pebble trembled and was drawn by an attracting force and breaking free of the ground. It slowly rose, and then crumbled under the pressure, turning into dust.

A handful of dust floated upwards. The scene was eerie to see.

Woof!

A deep humming  came out of nowhere and slowly grew in intensity. When the soil crumbed, the sound was a roar.

Boom!

Everyone’s ears were flooded by this sound.

Time seemed to instantly resume its flow and Zuo Mo’s left fist punched out forcefully. The black energy was like a black dragon darting out of a deep abyss. Carrying a deep and domineering killing essence, it crashed into the King Yaksha rushing downwards!

This scene was so domineering almost everyone stopped breathing.

The black and green forces crashed together without any finesse.

Boom!

The opening clash caused an enormous explosion  as though it was the climax of the entire battle. Everyone’s body was numb. Shocked, they were unable to respond when the terrifying explosions shock wave reached them like a tsunami.

Those that were slow in reacting were blown away. Their faces were draped in terror.

Moments later, they struggled to stand up. But when they raised their heads, their terror froze on their faces as they stood petrified.

A black energy rained down over the battlefield. There were golden threads that glittered among the black energy like the sunlight during the darkest storm, bright and unparalleled.

And that intimidatingly loud group of green yaksha had been erased from the air and didn’t leave a trace behind.

———

The rain of energy that carried dots of golden light added an aura of mystery to the sky.

Even though it was daytime, Tang Fei didn’t feel any warmth. Her limbs were cold as though it was the  dark of midnight during the coldest day. Her face was as white as paper, even the last bit of blood had drained away.

That scene, just that short instant, spread inside her like a powerful poison.

Four hundred green yaksha. She had great visual acuity and her eyes were almost never wrong. She could see how many green yaksha had rushed at this group of desipicable people that appeared.

The four hundred yaksha that were performing the King Yaksha were completely destroyed by a troop of one hundred. Not one was left.

The entire battle amounted to just one exchange.

If other people told her about this, Tang Fei would definitely feel it was a joke, but right now, she couldn’t laugh.

No one was able to laugh.

Shou Ping’s limbs also felt cold. His face was raised as he looked dazedly at the sky. His expression was frozen and the other Celestial Planet Guards were even worse. They seemed to be soulless. Even an amateur could see the deep terror in their eyes.

Ceng Lian’er had a look in her eyes. She was also very shocked.

However, while the other people were shocked by the hundred man troop, she was shocked by something else.

———

The remaining three hundred green yaksha’s morale completely crumbled. They scattered as though they were crazy. They were completely robbed of courage, their battalion routed. Many yaksha were flying in unstable patterns and faltered as they fled, as though they would fall over at any moment. There was only terror on their faces. They would probably never forget this battle.

No one laughed at the green yaksha. They believed that no battalion could not crumble under a situation like this.

Even those who were just watching this brief fight had also lost their courage to face this troop.

They looked at Zuo Mo’s group as though they were looking at demons that had crawled out of the nine hells of the underworld.

Respect and fear!

This battle imprinted respect and fear into the bones of these people so deep that they would not forget it in this lifetime.

This youth that didn’t even look twenty years old was a true demon.

Only those noble and evil mo would have such terrifying power.

The yells of the terrified green yaksha faded into the distance. The enormous battlefield became silent.

The other people were still struggling in their terror while Shu Long and the other’s were savoring the attack. Shu Long was full of admiration towards Daren. That move had just been the Little Mo Kill of the Crow Fiend Mo Killing Formation. Daren had just made a small transformation to the attack and the power had increased by more than ten times!

Daren was born to be a battle general!

Zuo Mo did not know what Shu Long was thinking but he was also savoring the move just now. That pause and spark of inspiration.

He felt as though he had touched upon something.

Chapter 564 - New Discovery

General level!

Was this the power of the general level? Zuo Mo thought back to the feeling he just had, that spontaneous pause. The change was not a major one, yet the power had drastically changed. Guiding the influx of power but not immediately attacking with it required a higher level of control. If he had tried this in the past, after the Guard Camp members shouted “kill,” he would not have been able to. If the roaring killing essence was not used immediately in an attack, it would have backlashed against him.

Control, this was the power of control, the control made possible at the general level.

He finally understood somewhat why all the mo battle generals were strong people. Gathering the power of tens of thousands into one point, other than astounding coordination, it also required an astounding ability to control oneself. The influx of power would cause those with weak bodies would have exploded long ago.

Just now, he suddenly found a wondrous use of shen power

—shen power could greatly increase the stress tolerance of his body.

For normal mo, this might not be important, but for a mo battle general, this was crucial!

The manipulation of shen power was Zuo Mo’s weakness all this time. Both  Ceng Lian’er’s and A Gui’s shen power manipulation was exquisite. It was invisible and impossible to defend against, as well as being amazingly strong. But Zuo Mo could not reach their level. His manipulation of shen power was extremely crude. The gold leaf he obtained was like a book of the Heavens, hard to read and harder to understand. He only used shen power to cultivate his three powers. It was faster to cultivate shen power than the three powers individually.

A Gui could not speak, and Zuo Mo didn’t even consider asking Ceng LIan’er for advice. He had decided to explore himself.

Until today!

That pause allowed him to find a completely new channeling method of shen power.

Zuo Mo did not have Eldest Shixiong’s persistence and resolve, his periods of hard work were usually done to allow him to slack off in the future, but he was undoubtedly a smart person.

When he found that shen power would be channeled along with his mo physique, he instantly asked himself, could shen power be added into ling power? Could it merge with his spiritual consciousness?

When these thoughts popped up, he became excited!

Having had a good taste, Zuo Mo wanted to start experimenting immediately. However, he could only think about it at the moment. There were affairs to take care of right now.

Right, there was profitable business.

———

Everyone gradually recovered from the deathly silence and the terror stricken expressions faded. But when their eyes swept across Zuo Mo and the others, they couldn’t help but shudder. Celestial Planet Guard silently distanced themselves from Zuo Mo’s group. If it wasn’t that Miss was here, they would have most likely turned and ran back to Shattered Stone Jie by now. Even Shou Ping started to miss the peaceful environment of Shattered Stone Jie.

However, he noticed that Miss was not shocked by the success of Guard Camp.

“Make some tea,” Ceng Lian’er serenely spoke.

Xian’er seemed to wake up from a dream and started to boil water. However, there was still terror on her face and her hands were trembling.

Ceng Lian’er glanced at her. She faintly said, “Let me do it.”

Purple Charcoal Stove, Black Mud Pot, a little tea table, a bamboo tea place, a sky blue little pot, white cups, and Ceng Lian’er sitting there with her layered dress was like the flower blooming in the night. Her movements were elegant, her expression serene. Her seductive face was peerless. She seemed to be at ease as though she was in her own home.

Sitting amongst the disordered battlefield, she was unusually eye-catching.

The members of Celestial Plant Guard stared at each other and then they felt slight embarrassment. Miss was so composed and calm, but they had felt the urge to flee. This was an embarrassment!

The restless Celestial Plant Guard quickly calmed down.

“This subordinate is useless!” Shou Ping admitted his crime with an ashamed expression.

Ceng Lian’er took a light sip, her long eyelashes blurry among the steam. The beautiful face became more ethereal as she said serenely, “It is good for you to see the power of the general level.”

“General level!” Shou Ping’s eyes widened, his expression disbelieving. “Heavens, he’s so young!”

“Starting from today, you will all obey his orders.” Ceng Lian’er’s voice passed into Shou Ping’s ears through the rising steam of the tea.

“This … …” Shou Ping hesitated. They were Ceng Yi’s personal guard yet Miss was telling them to listen to the orders of another person. Shou Ping naturally could not help but feel resistant.

Ceng Lian’er continued to drink tea and her eyes didn’t even look up as though the person who spoke wasn’t her.

Shou Ping gathered his courage and voiced the puzzlement he felt. “Miss, this subordinate does not understand what Miss wants? This person is of unknown origins and his future vicious and hard to predict … …”

“You are disobeying?” Ceng Lian’er put down her teacup, her serene voice carrying a ice cold tone.

“This subordinate does not dare!” Shou Ping’s broke out in a cold sweat. He knew Miss’ temper very well. If he hesitated at all, Miss would execute him without a second word.

“Go,” Ceng Lian’er said lightly as though nothing had happened.

In the span of time that this word was said, Shou Ping’s back had been soaked. He couldn’t help but sigh inside, Miss had more presence than the Jie Master did at this age.

He didn’t dare to inquire further and retreated.

But when he almost reached Guard Camp, he suddenly recalled. What did Miss mean by “go?”

Shou Ping grimaced.

———

“This one is Tao Xing, many thanks, Little Brother, for your aid,” Tao Xing said politely to Zuo Mo. Just now, the power that Zuo Mo had shown shocked him. He was curious who Zuo Mo was. Such a strong youth could not be unknown.

“No need for thanks, this is just business.” Zuo Mo waved his hand with an unconcerned expression.

Tang Fei’s face turned black. It would have been fine if Zuo Mo didn’t mention it. Now that he did, she recalled this person’s past actions. It made her furious, the other had blackmailed them! Robbed them using threats! In her eyes, a person who acted so at such a crucial time had terrible conduct.

While she was angry, she suppressed it.

Even now, that astounding attack was still lingering in her mind.

“What should I call Little Brother? Where are you from?” Tao Xing smiled and asked. He was able to accept this. Even though the price caused him some pain, but it was worth it to save his life. Also, now the other would go to Endless City with them so their safety during this journey now had a very good guarantee.

“Just call me A Zuo.” Zuo Mo was an old-timer and understood what the other was probing for. He acted as though he did not hear Tao Xing’s second question.

Tao Xing did not care and said with a smile, “A Zuo is so young and has reached general level, your future is limitless!”

On the side, Tang Fei’s expression changed. General level! This person with terrible virtues was actually general level! She then had an expression of realization. No wonder this person was so powerful.

Tang Fei’s strength was pretty good but she was still brigadier level. Among the mo, brigadier mo were usually silver battle generals, and gold battle generals had to be general level and above.

Was this person a gold battle general? Tang Fei shook her head inside. She felt her thought was too absurd. Such a young gold battle general. That would only appear in the most prestigious of mo noble families.

This person in front of her was unrivalled in greed. What mannerisms of a prestigious upbringing did he have?

“How long until we reach Dark Abyss Jie?” Zuo Mo asked Tao Xing.

Tao Xing thought and said, “About a month or so.”

“En, let’s keep hurrying along.” Zuo Mo clearly did not have any interest in talking and ended the conversation.

Tao Xing was slightly shocked. No matter where he went, he was respected and taken care off. It was the first time that he had encountered someone like Zuo Mo that didn’t even have an interest in talking.

A person without manners!

Tang Fei added another criticism of Zuo Mo to her list.

———

Zuo Mo did notice that there were many eyes observing the battle from the shadows. However, due to the intimidation of Zuo Mo’s terrifying attack, those hidden scouts felt fear so they only followed from a distance. They feared that if they approached, the other would crush them to bits.

Immersed in his investigations, Zuo Mo did not detect that the name of Guard Camp was had gained infamy.

This battle had caused some ruckus when news that they had killed four hundred Green Yaksha with one blow. Facing the King Yaksha and still being able to destroy the enemy with one blow, the strength of the battalion was evident. Intelligence on the leader of Guard Camp was quickly gathered by this group.

All kinds of mirages appeared.

Guard Camp’s history was very mysterious. No one knew their origins, nor did they know what faction they belonged to.

But what attracted the attention of most people was Zuo Mo. So young, and in general level, this attracted everyone’s attention. Many people speculated on Zuo Mo’s background but there were no results.

But Zuo Mo did not know that his business deal had also tempted many of the powers hiding in the shadows.

This really was a great big piece of business!

———

Zuo Mo did not pay attention to Tao Xing’s group. He urgently wanted to test out the ideas in his head. He wanted to go into seclusion.

However, that clearly was not realistic. He could only think as he travelled. He quickly managed to come up with some techniques.

“He is a good mo battle general.” Wei had been paying attention to Zuo Mo’s experiments. In this period of time, Zuo Mo had asked him numerous times for advice, especially in the area of battle generals. Zuo Mo was not skilled in yao fighting methods but he would rapidly understand the mo battle methods and come up with new ideas that caused Wei to frequently sigh in amazement.

“Hmph!” Pu Yao’s expression was displeased. Everyday, he was in the Ten Finger Prison, and tormented the yao battalions. The pitiful Nan Yue, Cang Ze, and others, traveled during the day, and spent all of their remaining time in the Ten Finger Prison. It was extremely hard for them.

However, Nan Yue and the others gritted their teeth and managed to endure. This journey had caused them to understand that there was nothing more important than strength in troubled times.

What depressed Pu Yao was that there was nothing happening in his search of yao while Wei’s blood summons had gotten responses.

Damn it!

At this time, Pu Yao abruptly stopped. He suddenly stood up, a light flashing through his bloody pupil as he disappeared.

A yao had responded to the summons!

Chapter 565 - Yao Summons Response

Pu Yao was in a complex mood. He walked very slowly.

Even though he entered the Ten Finger Prison like usual, there seemed to a different power that caused him to feel a rare nervousness. The past few thousands of years were like a vast river that divided the past and present. Some things had blurred in his memory, but some things were as clear as though he had saw them yesterday.

When a rebellious figure entered his vision, his nervous emotions suddenly calmed down.

Thousands of years, the glory had long dissipated and only left behind a sigh.

Already mentally prepared, Pu Yao did not feel demotivated. The light blue crystal that he seemed to recognize caused his thoughts to blur and felt slightly moved.

“You are a child of the Youqin Family?” Pu Yao’s tone was indifferent.

The other examined Pu Yao from top to bottom, his voice filled with suspicion. “You left behind the news?”

He was not tall, and there was a irregular blue crystal on his forehead. His eyes were long and narrow, a rebellious smile at the corner of his mouth. The fiery red hair was like a burning ball of flame and gave people the feeling of disobedience.

“Yes, it was me,” Pu Yao said indifferently.

“So pretentious!” The youth snorted. “Hey, Old Person, who are you really?”

Old Person?

Pu Yao’s eyes narrowed slightly. There had never been a person that dared to call him this. He snorted and without visibly moving, countless chains of light erupted from under the youth and tied him up.

The youth’s expression changed slightly but he did not surrender. “Old Guy, there’s no accomplishment in bullying little children!”

“Are you the only one left in the Youqin family?” Pu Yao asked coldly.

“Just ye is left!” The youth widened his eyes and raised his head. “How about it? Don’t think that you can pretend in front of ye with some conning yao arts!”

Then he seemed to say to himself, “If I knew this long ago, I wouldn’t have listened to the old man. What stupid thing, what daren, is this an evil cult?”

Pu Yao did not seem to hear him. “What is your name?”

“Youqin Lie!” The youth rolled his eyes. The other person’s power was beyond his predictions.

“A good name,” Pu Yao said expressionlessly. He then asked, “Where are you living now?”

“Jail!” The youth snickered. “A Bei Ge Jail, maximum security, how about it? Very strong!”

“Why are you in jail?” Pu Yao asked.

“Ha, I killed a bastard from a prestigious family, motherf***er, I’ll kill his entire family if I see them again!” Youqin Lie said hatefully.

“You have a grudge against him?”

“No!” Youqin Lie’s head moved up, his eyes bloodshot and his hair seemed to burn. “Ha, that bastard raped my friend’s younger sister. Ye spent three months before finding a chance to kill him!”

“Three months? You are really weak!” Pu Yao smirked coldly.

“You can try!” Youqin Lie looked disdainfully at Pu Yao. “He had at least twenty guards , and has two people guarding the door even when he is doing that thing! Please, it is a prestigious family, the yao arts they cultivate is much stronger than ye’s. However, hee hee, got tricked by ye, I almost killed all of them.”

Prestigious family! Pu Yao smirked inside and then asked, “You can come into the Ten Finger Prison from jail?”

“Ha, those idiots, they think putting jinzhi on ye will work, how can they know ye’s skills? Getting into Ten Finger Prison is child’s play!” Youqin Lie said smugly.

A thread of light flashed through Pu Yao’s bloody pupil. He continued, “Has your father has spoken to you of your mission.”

“That old man!” Youqin Lie’s tone was unconcerned but his rebellious gaze suddenly became warmer. He shook his head. “Hey, it’s not that ye wants to miss this, but ye is in jail and cannot help.”

“Just escape the prison.” Pu Yao said coldly.

“Escape the prison?” Youqin Lie seemed to hear the greatest joke and roared with laughter. “This is A Bei Ge Jail, maximum security prison. Haha, I’ve never heard of anyone escaping this prison!”

A ball of light suddenly appeared in Pu Yao’s hand. He pressed his hand against Youqin Lie’s forehead. The ball of light seemed to be soaked up by a sponge and entered Youqin Lie’s head.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Youqin Lie’s voice held a thread of panic. But his eyes suddenly widened as he said disbelievingly, “This is … …”

“You have ten days to escape the prison,” Pu Yao said coldly.

“If you cannot escape, then die inside it.”

Finishing, Pu Yao disappeared.

Youqin Lie didn’t seem to hear him. His mouth was wide, his face shocked and his eyes unfocused as though he was possessed.

———

E De felt his heart was drumming.

He had always lived in Little Savage Jie. After Little Savage Jie changed hands, he entered Shi Dong Daren’s battalion due to Shi Dong Daren’s reputation. At the start, the days had been pretty good. Even though the cultivation was high intensity, no one complained. The more hardship they experienced when training, the easier it would be to survive when they fought on the battlefield.

There was nothing to say about Shi Dong Daren’s skill. [Great Day Hardship Guard] was a mo skill on a level that they used to dream about and it stirred up everyone’s desire to cultivate. There was no need for supervision. Everyone furiously cultivated. On the battlefield, Shi Dong Daren had been undefeated and taken down all of Little Savage Jie.

Everyone was filled with hope about the future.

Yet at this time, they had suddenly received Shi Dong Daren’s order. They needed to go to a place called Turtle Island and receive special training.

Special training?

No one had heard this before. He had asked everyone, including the people that had followed Daren for a long time. Special Training? They all shook their heads and spoke of their ignorance on the matter. Everyone desired to go to Turtle Island because the old-timers of the battalion would tell them how great that place was. Most importantly, the king was there.

Yes, right now, everyone knew that Shi Dong Daren and Ye Ling Daren had sworn allegiance to a daren. This daren was called the one that was most likely to become king.

King, for the mo of Little Mountain Jie was a far away term.

But no one doubted Shi Dong Daren and Ye Ling Daren’s judgment. Almost everyone believed that they were following a powerful person that could possibly become king!

Turtle Island was completely different than what E De had imagined. This place was filled with xiuzhe.

This mo army that entered Turtle Island for the first time almost turned and ran. Fortunately, everyone later found that Turtle Island didn’t just have xiuzhe. There were mo and also yao.

Thinking back to everyone’s expressions at that time, E De found it was humorous. Actually, he hadn’t been much better. He quickly found that no matter if it was yaomo or xiuzhe, they could all coexist peacefully here. Even though there would be unfriendly gazes, but no one would fight you just because you were mo.

Only now did E De completely believe in the power of the king!

Before this, no one was able to do this.

As expected of the man that was most likely to become king!

E De quickly started to like this place, and liked the atmosphere. However, as they became familiar with Turtle Island, the special training that had been spoken of for so long finally arrived.

E De carefully entered the room as instructed, and seven to eight pairs of eyes instantly stared at him.

E De instantly became nervous. What made him even more nervous was that these people were all xiuzhe! Even though there was no fighting between yaomo and xiuzhe on Turtle Island, he couldn’t help but feel unsafe being stared at by a group of xiuzhe.

“Don’t be nervous, a question first, your bloodline?”

“Some of Shell Crocodile mo, but just a little bit,” E De hurriedly said.

“Shell Crocodile, not a bad bloodline, colonel level. We can engrave the Shell Crocodile mo matrix for you and awaken the Shell Crocodile blood inside of you to increase your combat strength about two times. Of course, the specific effects will only be seen afterwards. Also, the choice is in your hands.” The one who was speaking was Master Sun Bao.

“Engrave a mo matrix?” E De’s face was puzzled.

“Do you know matrix awakening masters?”

“Yes.”

“A bit more high level than that.”

E De finally understood some of this. His heart couldn’t help but move. He asked, “I have awakened my mo matrix already? Can I still get a mo matrix engraved?”

“Yes.”

“I’m willing!” E De was afraid the other would withdraw the offer knowing he had already been awakened. He finally understood what special training was.

E De’s quick and decisive responsive surprised Sun Bao and the others. They had originally thought that the other would hesitate. They had even prepared a great deal of methods of persuasion but the other didn’t even think before agreeing.

Xiuzhe could not understand the desire mo had towards strength.

But since E De agreed, then engraving the mo matrix naturally started.

When they learned that Zuo Mo had encountered danger and needed help, Sun Bao and Ji Wei had started to discuss how they could help Daren. Coincidentally, Zuo Mo had sent back some information on the matrix awakening methods he had learned. The duo’s eyes lit up and then found that the mo matrix could help Daren.

Mo were most suited to move in the mo realms.

Therefore, they organized all the power of Golden Crow Camp and started to study the content that Zuo Mo had sent back about mo matrixes.

The present Golden Crow Camp were not the greenhorns of the past. No matter if it was individual strength or collective strength, they had multiplied many times. Adding on that everyone was unprecedentedly united, the entire plan progressed rapidly.

Pu Yao and Wei also helped out in this process.

Zuo Mo had pioneered the process of engraving mo matrixes on Dong Zi. Golden Crow Camp quickly familiarized themselves, and compared to the mo matrix Zuo Mo carved on Dong Zi, Golden Crow Camp had more skill. Their methods were more developed and effective.

But because engraving could not escape the basic requirement of bloodlines, Guard Camp was temporarily unable to undergo the process. The two masters put their focus on the other mo battalion, Grey Camp.

Lil’ Miss approved their mo engraving plan on the spot.

Therefore, there was the special training order.

E De did not hesitate. He never dreamt that something good like this would land on his head. He had once heard that hose matrix awakening masters could activate the blood in people’s bodies to the greatest extent, but there were no outstanding matrix awakening masters in Little Savage Jie. The effects of E De’s matrix awakening had been very terrible.

Otherwise, he believed that he would not just be the strength he had now.

No one had expected that a completely new era had started like this.

In the name of war!

Chapter 566 - Bu Heng

“How was it?” Wei asked Pu Yao.

“A boy from the Youqing Family,” Pu Yao said indifferently.

“Youqing Family,” Wei nodded with a reminiscing expression. “A very powerful family but I think that their tempers are not good.”

“The boy is the same.” Pu Yao’s tone softened greatly. “However, his talent is not bad.”

“How do you plan on using him?” Wei asked.

“Let’s see if he can pass the test.” Pu Yao snorted coldly and suddenly asked, “How are your blood summons?”

“There are two responses,” Wei said with a sigh, “It has been too long. The other families probably have died out.”

“Two is enough,” Pu Yao said indifferently.

“Yes.” Wei smiled slightly. “Adding on the boy from the Youqing Family, three of them. It is time for the seed planted thousands of years ago to sprout.”

———

“Trash is just trash! They cannot even accomplish such a small matter!”

In the hall, Bu Heng’s cold voice echoed. He ignored the ugly expressions of the other people. He was not tall, but standing there, he was full of pride.

“That is Butcher Guard Camp! One hundred slaughtering three thousand, who can guarantee victory?” a green yaksha stood up and tried to defend.

“Trash do not need reasons,” Bu Heng said indifferently. He didn’t even look at this green yaksha as though the other was only air.

“What does A Heng think about this?” the clan leader slowly said. His face was dark.

“Regardless of Tao Xing, we must win this fight,” Bu Heng did not dodge the gaze of the clan leader and said coldly. “The world is in chaos. Our green yaksha clan is not a strong one, and cannot afford to lose. Even this Guard Camp that popped out of nowhere was easily able to defeat us, sooner or later, we will become prey for other people.”

The expressions of the other green yaksha became uglier. They knew that Bu Heng was right. There were many branches of yaksha, and the green yaksha were just one of those. The reason that people were wary of the green yaksha was not because their blood was noble, nor because they were strong, but because of their vicious conduct. People were afraid of being targeted.

“Yes,” the clan leader slowly said, “our green yaksha clan is able to grow and prosper due to the fame of our viciousness. No one dares to offend us. If we do not defend our reputation, we will become a weak target in the eyes of other people. Then it will not be far from the day of our destruction.”

“Bu Heng, you are the strongest battle general in the clan. This time, you will go! I only have one demand, come back with their heads, except for Tao Xing!” The clan leader’s expression was filled with murderousness.

“Yes!” Bu Heng did not waste words. After bowing, he retreated from the hall.

———

“Bu Heng? Now this is interesting!” Ximen Ning played with the wine cup in his hand and said amusedly. His body was heavily-built, he had large eyes and thick bows. There was a necklace of bones hanging from his neck. He was half-naked and the curves of his muscles prominent, as if carved. People would not doubt that his body contained great power.

“Boss, what about us? Should we act first? Bu Heng has some skill!” one subordinate said urgently.

“Some skill? Your tone is so great!” Ximen Ning laughed. “He’s a gold battle general, the strongest battle general of the green yaksha clan. Even in all of Hundred Savage Realm, he can rank in the charts.”

“Boss, you are pushing others up and pushing yourself down. Bu Heng is a gold battle general but so are you! The green yaksha is scary to hear, but our Black Ghost Corps is not weka. In terms of rank, our Black Ghost Corps is in front of Heng Battalion,” another subordinate inserted. He was called A Qing, deeply trusted by Ximen Ning and his right and left hands.

Ximen Ning smiled and said, “You are interested?”

“Boss, none of us have mo physiques,” A Qing said.

Ximin Ning sat up. He was clearly persuaded by A Qing’s words. Because there were no mo embryos, his closest subordinates were unable to obtain a mo physique. He said, “Then we have to plan well. Bu Heng is not easy to deal with. There probably are a lot of people targeting this fat piece of meat.”

The people below had joyous expressions.

———

Tang Fei suppressed the displeasure she felt and walked in front of Zuo Mo. She said coldly, “Sir there are people watching us from the shadows.”

Surprise flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. He nodded and said, “I know.”

Looking at the other’s unconcerned expression, for some reason, the fire burning inside Tang Fei erupted but she managed to suppress it. “Sir, I suggest that it is best for us to increase our speed and pass through this area. It is very dangerous here.”

“Speed up?” Zuo Mo shook his head. “The speed right now is very good.”

It wasn’t that Zuo Mo did not want to speed up. For Guard Camp, speed was their weakness. If they sped up, it would drastically increase the energy expenditure of Guard Camp. If they encountered danger, they would be left in a reactive position. Zuo Mo didn’t dare to use anything like the nimbus clouds in a mo jie.

Tang Fei finally could not suppress herself from mocking, “I think that Sir, you do not understand the habits of the green yaksha. They will send people to attack again and again, they will not rest. The green yahsha will send their trump card, Bu Heng!”

“Bu Heng? Who is that? Are they strong?” Zuo Mo asked interestedly. The people around him were unfamiliar with this area. Even Shou Ping was not familiar.

Tang Fei’s brow creased. “Sir, do not joke! How can you not know the name of Bu Heng?”

“I don’t know.” Zuo Mo spread his hands with an innocent expression.

“You!” Tang Fei’s brows arched. At this time, a light cough came from behind her. It was Tao Xing. “Lil’ Tang, let’s talk. Mister Zuo does not understand the situation around here, so you should give an explanation.”

Tang Fei had opinions about Zuo Mo but since Tao Xing spoke, she could not do a thing. She said irritably, “Bu Heng, the most famous genius of the Green Yaksha Clan. He didn’t just enter general level when he was twenty, he is also a gold battle general.”

“General level, gold battle general!” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but pay attention. These two phrases allowed him to understand how strong this Bu Heng was.

Did he really not know? Tang Fei saw that Zuo Mo did not seem to pretend and was puzzled. She continued, “Bu Heng’s battalion is called the Heng Battalion. It is ranked ninety third of all battalions in Hundred Savage Realm and has never been defeated before!”

“A battalion ranked ninety third in Hundred Savage Realm!” Zuo Mo inhaled sharply and his expression grew grave.

A battalion that ranked ninety third in Hundred Savage Realm was a terrifying ranking. It intimidated Zuo Mo more than the terms of general level and gold battle general.

It had to be said that even Zuo Mo’s Vermillion Bird Camp could not rank in the top one hundred of any realm in the Four Realms. Any battalion that could rank in the top one hundred of any realm was an extremely powerful battalion.

Were there only one hundred jie in one realm? The factions were numerous and the number of battalions were just as innumerable. A battalion that could reach the top hundred of thousands of battalions was definitely a powerful existence.

Even though his own strength had grown recently, the power of a battalion was not something that could be defeated by his individual power.

A strong feeling of danger surrounded Zuo Mo.

“What solution do you have?” Zuo Mo asked directly.

“It will be best for us to hurry to Great Peace City.” Tang Fei’s tone was confident. “No battalion dares to offend Great Peace City.”

“Great Peace City?” Zuo Mo’s expression was blank.

Tang Fei was extremely depressed. Did this strong person in front of her not know anything? He didn’t even know Great Peace City?

“It is a city near us. The biggest primary town in the surrounding nine jie.”

“How do we get there?”

“In the direction we are going,” Tang Fei said. She reminded, “But we need to speed up.”

When Zuo Mo explained why they could not increase their speed, Tang Fei’s expression instantly became strange.

———

In Middle Granary Jie.

Vermillion Bird Camp that had been unstoppable all this time finally met its match. This mo battalion was exceptionally troublesome. After a few hundred rounds of contact, no one had gained the advantage.

The two faced off in the air.

Lil’ Miss examined the other battalion. After fighting for a few days, he had a direct understanding of this mo battalion.

The other’s formation was not organized but their average strength was very strong. A battalion of not even one thousand people had an average of one brigadier per twenty people. Just this number far surpassed Vermillion Bird Camp. The other’s tactics were very nimble and rapid.

This was the strongest battalion that Lil’ Miss had ever encountered!

Just like Lil’ Miss, the battle general of this battalion was examining Vermillion Bird Camp.

A Zha Ge closely examined this xiuzhe battalion. After he led the battalion across the chaos rift, he had been undefeated and had not expended any effort until he encountered this battalion in front of him.

In the three days of fighting, he hadn’t gained any advantage.

This shocked him. The other battalion’s average strength was a whole level lower but they were well-matched in combat.

A Zha Ge was clear that this meant he had actually lost.

The other’s tactical skill was higher than his. This was the only way they could make up for the lack of strength in the battalion.

A Zha Ge couldn’t help but feel respect. He suddenly flew in front of the formation and said loudly, “In these three days, we have had a good fight. Sir’s tactics are high-leveled and A Zha Ge feels admiration! May you tell your name so A Zha Ge can remember it!”

A weak-looking youth walked to the front of the battalion. “Turtle Island, Gongsun Cha.”

A Zha Ge’s face was filled with shock. He hadn’t expected the one that was a match for him was such a weak-looking youth!

“As expected, heroes come from those young! A Zha Ge admires you!” A Zha Ge said sincerely. He suddenly said, “A Zha Ge is willing to retreat from this jie and hopes to become friends with Little Brother Gongsun!”

The other’s words surprised Gongsun Cha. He did not immediately answer and asked, “How shall we be ‘friends’?”

Chapter 567 - The Seeds Sprouting

E De opened his eyes. The world in front of him was clearer than it had ever been. Feeling the swell of strength inside, a heart-moving feeling rose. His tears rolled down silently.

Power!

This was the flavor of power!

The desire of a mo towards power was almost ingrained in their bones. Power that he had dreamed about flowed inside his body. He had never felt such great power before but he almost immediately understood.

Brigadier level!

This was the power of brigadier level!

The light was so bright, the world was so beautiful, the future was so deserving of anticipation!

———

Gongsun Cha’s expression was dark. He was not in a good mood. It was not a bad result to ally with A Zha Ge but for someone like Lil’ Miss that was unusually stubborn about victory, this was not something to be proud of.

The expressions of his soldiers were also terrible. This was the least enjoyable battle that Vermillion Bird Camp had ever fought. The other surpassed them in strength and it had been hard for them to fight. If it hadn’t been that Lil’ Miss had been higher in tactical ability, they would have been defeated long ago.

This was something hard for the proud Vermillion Bird Camp to accept!

Everyone’s eyes flashed with unwillingness as though fire was burning.

When had Vermillion Bird Camp been in left in such a sorry state? When had Vermillion Bird Camp dragged down Lil’ Miss Daren? When had Vermillion Bird Camp ever been forced to accept an alliance?

Lil’ Miss coldly swept everyone and hurried all of them out without any words.

Calming down, he could finally consider the gains and losses from this alliance.

A Zha Ge did not have any ambitions about Middle Granary Jie and it was clear that A Zha Ge had many other considerations. Gongsun Cha felt that this was the reason that A Zha Ge had formed an alliance with them. A Zha Ge probably felt pressures from other quarters and could not spend too much effort on Middle Granary Jie. Adding on that he found Lil’ Miss was harder to defeat than expected, he had decided to offer an alliance.

They had taken over Middle Granary Jie but Gongsun Cha’s goal was not Middle Granary Jie but the chaos rift that went from Middle Granary Jie to the mo territories.

This plan had undoubtedly failed. A Zha Ge might have said good words, but if he really sent forces into the mo jie, the other would instantly break the alliance.

It really was a headache. Lil’ Miss rubbed his head.

How was Shixiong doing? Did he encounter any trouble?

Only when he encountered truly powerful factions did he learn what he lacked. The smoothness in the past had numbed everyone to reality.

He thought of the numerous brigadiers in the others ranks, and then the jindan of Vermillion Bird Camp. In comparison, the number they had was pitiful.

This was a major difference. This kind of difference was not something that could be made up in a short amount of time. How strong a sect was did not depend on how many experts it had, but what the skill of its disciples were. The former could appear due to fortuitous occurrences, but the other could only be reached through the accumulation of resources and time.

Gongsun Cha did not have any good solutions.

He knew that Vermillion Bird Camp was already working very hard on their cultivation. Their cultivation methods were not the most outstanding but it was still better than average sects. Adding on the engraved formations, they could take ling power from jingshi and were much better than normal sects. However, when they encountered a truly strong power, he found that their advantages, in front of other people’s accumulations of hundreds and even thousands of years, was so weak.

A paper crane suddenly landed in Lil’ Miss’ palm.

Lil’ Miss stilled and opened the paper crane.

His pupils contracted and a rare expression of joy appeared on his face.

———

Youqin Lie was racing through the night. This was already the third day since he escaped the prison. The jail had definitely discovered that he had left.

However, he was not worried.

He was full of confidence in his yao arts. Even though he had just comprehended the yao arts that Pu Yao gave him, he had spent only one day in order to comprehend them. He then spent three days to secretly break through the jinzhi on his body and used the yao arts to make a realistic illusion before spending a day to find a path to escape.

He only spent five days before successfully breaking out of the jail.

Free, the first thing he went to do was go to Ten Finger Prison to find Pu. He was rebellious but he was a honorable person. Disregarding the last words of his father before death, it had been the yao arts that Pu Yao gave him that helped him escape.

In his view, this was a favor that saved his life.

As to whether or not the other was using him, he did not care.

Since Pu Yao had saved this life, he could give it back to Pu Yao. Youqin Lie’s thinking was simple.

He did not hesitate and raced towards a yao art house according to Pu Yao’s instructions.

The yao art house in front of him was very normal and there didn’t seem to be anything special. Carefully following Pu Yao’s directions, he found a stele in a nondescript corner of the yao art house.

He cast a strange yao art. The stele silently cracked and revealed the stone coffin underneath.

Just as Pu Yao had said, the stone coffin was empty.

Youqin Lie felt slightly hesitant but he gathered his resolved and laid down in the stone coffin as Pu Yao had instructed.

At the worst, he would give this life back to the other!

Youqin Lie watched as the stone coffin closed.

The darkness covered him.

———

Shui Yue’s face was covered in dust. He looked very tired from days of travelling. There had been fighting occurring all along the trip. Some were fights between mo, and others between mo and xiuzhe. The bandits that were roaming everywhere made every place dangerous.

If it wasn’t that he was very experienced from hunting mo embryos, he would have died long ago.

Did he finally reach his destination?

The dust on his face could not cover this pair of clear and determined eyes. He looked around.

This was a very remote mountain valley. It had been very long since someone had come here. The entire valley was overgrown with a kind of purple vine. Shui Yue was extremely careful. He recognized this purple vine. Its small thorns were extremely poisonous and death was almost instantaneous. No wonder he couldn’t even find wild beasts here.

The thick purple vines sealed this little mountain valley into a desolate patch of death.

Excitement appeared on Shui Yue’s face but he quickly calmed down. His rich hunting experienced told him that maintaining calm was the only way to survive until the end.

He reached out and exposed the blood-colored dragon on his palm.

The blood dragon suddenly lit up.

The purple vines in the valley moved as though they were alive. Shui Yue looked curiously at this scene. A short while later, a small path appeared in front of him.

Shui Yue did not hesitate. He walked deep into the mountain valley along the little path. Behind him, the purple vines moved back together and the little path disappeared.

The end of the little path was a hidden cave.

Shui Yue took a deep breath and duck into the mountain cave.

Inside the mountain cave, a pool appeared in front of him. The pool was filled with an inky black liquid that gave off a special fragrance.

“Dad, Grandfather, please be with me!”

Shui Yui said to himself.

Then he jumped into the pool.

———

In the deep of the desert, Fei Lei looked at the ancient and simple sacrificial altar in front of him. This sacrificial altar that had been buried by the sand for thousands of years finally saw the light of day again.

The ancient patterns on the sacrificial altar seemed to have an unusual power. They seemed to be alive and were responding to something.

Fei Lei dazed out as he stared at the sacrificial altar. He had found this sacrificial altar by following the guidance of the blood summons.

“What is my fate? I’m finally going to learn!”

Fei Lei murmured to himself. His unfocused eyes suddenly became clear and he stepped onto the sacrificial altar without any hesitation.

The sacrificial altar suddenly lit up!

A deep voice murmured as though it came from far in the past. Faint shadows floated above the sacrificial altar and moved around Fei Lei.

Fei Lei’s gaze was unfocused and he lost consciousness.

The sacrificial altar rumbled as it moved.

Inside Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Wei’s body suddenly shook slightly. Pu Yao also raised his head, the light of his bloody pupil brightening.

“The seeds are starting to sprout!”

An anticipation of waiting for thousands of years echoed in the sea of consciousness.

———

Zuo Mo sat on the Sandstorm Insect Carpet and looked around curiously. Tens of thousands of little flying worms were woven into a living carpet that supported Zuo Mo as it flew forward at an astounding speed.

Shu Long and the others each rode a great big blue bird.

Tang Fei looked at Zuo Mo who was looking around like a child and felt even more puzzled. When she heard the reason that Zuo Mo could not speed up, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Did these people not know there were mo steeds?

Out of consideration for safety, Tang Fei paid for the steeds out of her own wallet without another word. She bought a team of blue birds for every member of Guard Camp and almost bought all the blue birds in the local market.

Tang Fei also paid for the Sandstorm Insect Carpet that Zuo Mo wanted. This amount of mobei was insignificant to Endless City. However, she was very puzzled. These people seemed very powerful and didn’t seem to be from a small family but how could they be so ignorant to not even know about mo steeds?

But unconsciously, Tang Fei’s enmity towards Zuo Mo decreased.

In comparison, the Celestial Plant Guards were much better outfitted and summoned their mo steeds.

The Sandstorm Insect Carpet was very large and could hold about ten or so people. Zuo Mo, A Gui, Ceng Lian’er, Yan’er, Tao Xing and Tang Fei were all sitting on the Sandstorm Insect Carpet. Ceng Lian’er took out her tea equipment and started to drink. Tao Xing chucked and also bummed off cups of tea. Tang Fei sat silently at the side.

Zuo Mo studied for a while and quickly grasped the Sandstorm Insect Carpet. These tiny and nimble black insect were very strong and intelligence. They were very interesting. If Chun Yu Cheng Shidi was here, he would be very happy.

When he thought about this, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but miss everyone. However, he then smiled. He looked at A Gui, reached out and rubbed A Gui’s hair.

“We are approaching Great Peace City, it soon appear in front of us.” Tang Fei’s words interrupted Zuo Mo’s actions.

Zuo Mo raised his head and looked forward. He couldn’t help but show shock. An unprecedented city appeared in his view.

Chapter 568 - The Immortal Great Peace

An imposing and vast city floated on top of an endless black sea. The city seemed to be floating on the surface of the sea and stretched out as a thick yellow line across the horizon.

“Let’s head down.” Tang Fei jumped first off the Sandstorm Insect Carpet. “Flying is not allowed in this area.”

Hearing this, everyone dismounted and put away their mo steeds.

They couldn’t help but exclaim at the scenery in front of them. The vast and boundless sea in front of them caused them to feel minuscule.

Walking forward a few steps, Zuo Mo went closer and then said in surprise, “This black sea is not naturally formed?”

“En, it isn’t, this black sea is called the Unsullied Sea. At the time, Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming planned to build a city. The heroes of the world gathered, gifts deliver from seven mo marshals, and forty six mo generals that came from all corners of Hundred Savage Realm to personally participate in the construction. After three years of building, they formed this immortal city of great peace.” Tao Xing sighed and said, “At the time, there was only a pond by Great Peace City. There was an endless flow of people that came to visit. Every pilgrim that had travelled here would bring along a bottle of rootless water from their homeland to pour into the pond. The pond grew and after two hundred years, it formed a sea. One hundred years ago, two mo marshals took this sea and harvested Black Dark Heavy Water from the Nine Nether Ground of the Dark Realm, forged them with secret techniques to form this Unsullied Sea.”

Zuo Mo’s mouth gaped after hearing this. What kind of person was this Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming that he had such terrifying power. Everyone behind him, including Tang Fei, had astounded expressions.

Zuo Mo had been muddled about the strength levels of mo in the past, he knew them now. Every mo marshal was a powerful warlord. Any of them was someone strong enough to alter the power structure of the mo world. Even mo generals were lords of an region.

Forty six mo generals that spent three years building a city for this person. If Tao Xing had not said it, Zuo Mo definitely would not believe it.

Tao Xing’s expression was devout as he stared at Great Peace City with a thread of pride. “My ancestral master also participated in the construction of Great Peace City.”

Zuo Mo finally could not suppress his confusion. He asked, “Who is this Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming? Why does he receive such reverence?”

Tao Xing’s expression became reverent. “Us mo’s pursuit of power is like an instinct, we will do anything. But there are also some virtuous ones in our history who are not strong but have had unrivalled intelligence. They are able to see through everything and point straight to the mo heart. They are selfless and revered by tens of thousands of mo. Shi Zi Ming’s life can be considered a legend. He was found sentient at a very young age and learned better than most people. He himself did not have any martial ability, but his understanding of the core of power is something no one can rival. He roamed all over, and everywhere he went he would give talks to pass what he knew to others without asking anything in return. Those seven mo marshals and forty six mo generals had received his guidance. He resolved countless conflicts and spread his favour all over. He is revered by an innumerable number of people.”

Zuo Mo had to admire this person. Able to teach mo marshals and generals, what level was he at?

“Let’s walk and talk.” Tao Xing looked at everyone’s expressions and said with a smile. He walked first towards the Unsullied Sea. When he stepped on to the surface of the Unsullied sea, a black porpoise came out of the water and supported Tao Xing’s weight.

Zuo Mo saw this and was very interested. He copied Tao Xing. As expected, another black porpoise supported him.

“These are welcoming porpoises. Everyone, there is no need to be nervous,” Tao Xing hurriedly explained.

Everyone stepped onto the surface of the sea and a crowd of porpoises instantly appeared to carry them towards Great Peace City. The black porpoises occasionally let out happy chirps.

Tang Fei said seriously to Zuo Mo. “No matter how powerful Heng Battalion is, they will not dare to attack in Great Peace City. Up until now, no battalion has dared to fight in Great Peace City. However, you need to be careful. While Great Peace City does not permit battalions to fight, they do not stop individual fights. Because of the mo cultivation teachings that Shi Zi Ming passed down in the past, Great Peace City is a combative one. Those that refuse challenges from other people will be laughed at.”

“So it is like that.” Zuo Mo nodded. Even though his battalion could not match others, he did not fear other people if it was one-on-one.

Right now, he and Tao Xing were ants on the same string. Their glory and defeat were tied together. Zuo Mo suddenly asked, “Will there be mo marshals?”

“No.” Tang Fei’s expression was strange.

Did this guy think that the mo marshals were so idle they could lazy about everyday?

She thought inside but she replied seriously, “There will be many general levels. Because the complete contents of what Shi Zi Ming had taught in the past is in the city, many mo generals that are stuck at a bottleneck would come here in search of a breakthrough.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Zuo Mo instantly felt much safer.

Tang Fei did not say anything but she felt extremely awkward. She hadn’t expected Zuo Mo to be so confident that he did not care about the other mo generals.

However, she did not have any intentions of urging Zuo Mo to be careful. She wanted Zuo Mo to trip up. Great Peace City was full of strong people. It had been decades since one faction had dominated.

The black porpoises were very fast but even so, they had swam for four whole hours before they reached the gates of Great Peace City.

Arriving at Great Peace City, the tall soaring walls cast a shadow that covered them like a black cloud. They caused people to feel their own significance. Zuo Mo raised his head. He was uncertain just how tall the walls were.

The porpoise carried Zuo Mo to a group of stone stairs. The stairs moved up towards the gates.

Zuo Mo piggy-backed A Gui and jumped up the stone stairs. The black porpoise chirped happily before diving back down into the Unsullied Sea. The group followed Zuo Mo closely and occasionally sighed, Tang Fei included. It was her first time at Great Peace City.

Stepping up past the stone stairs, the area spread out flat in front of them. A space that was thousands of zhang in radius was flat as though it was cut from one piece of stone. It was extremely smooth and all kinds of complex and beautiful mo matrixes that were carved into the ground were like a grand carpet that spread into the distance. Such vast grandeur astounded everyone. Even Zuo Mo was speechless. Looking at such exquisitely carved mo matrixes, everyone almost didn’t bear to step on them.

So grand! Extremely grand!

Sighing as they walked past the city gates, it was as though they walked into a completely different world. A wave of loud noise came at them.

Everyone’s heart relaxed. The vast acquisitiveness at the gates almost suffocated them and the familiar scenes in front of them jerked them back to their original world. Their minds relaxed.

The streets were very wide, hundreds of zhang wide and could hold large-scale mo steeds. It was possible to see mo riding mo steeds of all kinds of strange appearances. The mo themselves were also had different appearances. Some had horns, others four legs, some had wings. It dazzled Zuo Mo’s eyes and stirred his curiosity.

But Zuo Mo quickly felt scared. In this short amount of time, he had found at least six brigadier mo. Great Peace City was, as said, filled with experts!

Brigadier ranks were the core power of a battalion. Their skill level was directly related to the strength of the battalion. In those more remote jie, brigadiers were even able to rule a small region. Naturally, brigadier level was not something that Zuo Mo would sigh in wonder about, but he had found six brigadiers on the street. Then how great and terrifying was the number of brigadier mo here in the city?

Up until now, he had not noticed even one general rank. But this was enough to raise his wariness.

Tao Xing seemed to noticed Zuo Mo’s shock and said in low voice, “Do not be rash. The structure of powers in Great Peace City is very complex. Any mo here could have a great faction behind it. If you offend too many factions, you might not even know how you died. Even though Great Peace City does not permit assassinations, how is it possible to stop something that occurs in the shadows? Do not be rash!”

Tao Xing had lived in Great Peace City for a time when he was young and was familiar with everything. This time, he felt danger when he had been attacked by the green yaksha on the road. Now that he entered Great Peace City, he felt much safer. There were many experts in Great Peace City and also many factions that would be willing to give him face.

The only thing he worried about was Zuo Mo. He had spent a long time in Great Peace City and seen countless youth that had been left bloodied by Great Peace City. These young geniuses were filled with pride and did not know how deep the waters in Great Peace City flowed.

Right now, he was stuck together with Zuo Mo. If Zuo Mo provoked trouble, he would not be able to avoid it. He also owed Zuo Mo a lot of mo embryos.

Thinking about these mo embryos, he wanted to go back to Endless City immediately and pay back his debts as early as possible.

At this moment, a ruckus sounded.

An enormous troop walked proudly at the center of the road. They were all blue dragon rhinoceros that were three zhang in height. Their bodies were covered in thick, shield-like scales. Their steps were extremely heavy and with every step, the ground trembled.

The entire troop rumbled and caused the ground to shake.

A bald large man sat on top of the blue dragon rhinoceros at the very front. He was extremely well-built and his skin was a strange faint blue that contained black patterns. His face was in a snarl, the small eyes flashing viciously. Sitting on top of the blue dragon rhinoceros, his body sway with the steps of the blue dragon rhinoceros.

Noticing Zuo Mo’s gaze, Tao Xing glanced and quickly recognized the other. “It should be the Lan Family from Luo Jie. They are one of the branches of the dragon mo and natural born fighters. The most outstanding of the younger generation is Lan Tian Long and Lan Rong. This one should be Lan Tian Long … …”

Zuo Mo’s eyes narrowed slightly. He was very familiar with Lan Tian Long’s presence. General level! This was the first general level he encountered in Great Peace City!

This place was filled with experts. Zuo Mo’s heart shuddered. The other did not disguise his presence at all. A vicious and domineering presence spread out without any restraint.

Just that presence was enough for Zuo Mo to judge the other’s power was not weaker than his.

Zuo Mo’s gaze swept past Lan Tian Long and he looked further away. Suddenly, his pupils shrank and his body froze.

He didn’t hear one word of what Tao Xing said next.

Zuo Mo stared hard at the back of a blue dragon rhinoceros, his body as tense as steel!

Chapter 569 - Lan Tian Long

“The Lan Family is a very old family, their history can be traced back thousands of years. They rule three jie, their conduct is in the open yet strict. They are brave and skilled in battle. However, ever since five hundred years ago, their family has not produced a marshal so their power has declined, that is, until Lan Tian Long and Lan Rong appeared. They are the most accomplished members of this generation and have been labeled as geniuses who are likely to enter marshal level, especially Lan Tian Long. He is extremely strong and was able to establish himself securely in Great Peace City. The presence of the Lan Family has grown as well … …”

Tao Xing talked about it as though it was a family affair. He had once lived in Great Peace City and was familiar with this ancient family.

On a roll, Tao Xing did not notice Zuo Mo had put down A Gui.

“The prestigious families are all families where marshals have appeared. Those that do not have marshals, even if they are strong now, cannot withstand the power of history. In the eyes of others, they are just the nouveau riche, they do not have strong foundations, and cannot be truly called large clans. In Great Peace City, families that do not have fundamentals are looked down on … …”

Tao Xing suddenly stopped. His eyes widened, his face full of terror.

Zuo Mo lightly leapt forward under his terrified gaze and landed on the center of the street, blocking the advance of the blue dragon rhinoceros troop.

“En!” Lan Tian Long’s eyes narrowed, and a vicious light flashed. He lightly tapped the blue dragon rhinoceros with his foot and the blue dragon rhinoceros stopped.

The entire rhinoceros troop stopped at the same time. The Lan Family mo on the backs of the rhinoceroses looked viciously at Zuo Mo that was blocking their path.

The noisy street quickly quieted. Everyone looked in surprise at Zuo Mo.

Lan Tian Long had been in Great Peace City for more than three years. In these three years, he had had hundreds of large and small battles but rarely lost. The Lan Family had regained prestige in the eyes of the public due to this.

In Great Peace City, Lan Tian Long was famous. When everyone noticed that someone had dared to stop Lan Tian Long’s rhinoceros troop, they were very shocked.

In a blink, the enormous street emptied.

Shu Long and the others did not move. They did not know what Daren was doing but they were very calm. They were blindly confident in Daren.

Tao Xing opened his mouth, his face shocked. Zuo Mo’s sudden action caused his mind to blank. Tang Fei, Shou Ping and the others changed expression and were terrified.

In the now silent and empty street, an enormous rhinoceros troop and a lone figure faced off.

“Ha, it’s been awhile since I came to Great Peace City, it seems that everyone doesn’t recognize Old Long anymore.” Lan Tian Long smiled darkly. His sharp teeth flashed with frightening light under the sunlight. He raised his head and looked down at Zuo Mo. “Boy, you don’t want to live?”

“I’m asking for a person from you.” Zuo Mo’s tone was deep. Those familiar with him would be able to detect the fierce emotions suppressed under his deep voice. The emotions were like the raging flows under the thin layer of ice that rampaged soundlessly!

“Asking for a person?” Lan Tian Long’s tone was surprised. He narrowed his eyes, “Which  person?”

“The seventh blue dragon rhinoceros, in the cage, the one in the blue robe,” Zuo Mo said coldly.

“Oh?” Lan Tian Long glanced over towards the seventh blue dragon rhinoceros. He quickly found the target. A youth inside the cage with unfocused eyes. The youth looked with a puzzled and slightly shocked gaze at Zuo Mo.

If Wei Sheng was here, he would definitely recognize the youth in the cage

– Luo Li!

Zuo Mo’s second shixiong, Luo Li!

Lan Tian Long chuckled, “This little xiuzhe! He’s pretty handsome, you want him? Haha.”

Crack crack crack, Zuo Mo’s hanging fist gave off a string of crackling noises.

His life on Wu Kong Mountain flashed in front of his eyes. Even though he had separated from Wu Kong Sword Sect due to many reasons, he had deep feelings towards Wu Kong Sword Sect. However, he usually hid these attachments deep inside. Now that he saw Luo Li Shixiong in the cage, his mind exploded.

Something happened to Wu Kong Sword Sect! Something had definitely happened to Wu Kong Sword Sect!

Zuo Mo’s blood seemed to burn. Fierce murderousness was like a fierce beast freed from its cage that charged at his mind. Every part of his body was trembling, uncontrollably trembling!

How was it possible … ..

How could it be possible!

His eyes filled with blood.

However, Zuo Mo was more accomplished than in the past. He had seen more and experienced more. He took a deep breath and suppressed the turmoil inside. He suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes staring at the other. He slowly spoke, his voice deep and hoarse, emphasizing each word.

“According to the rules of Great Peace City, I challenge you.”

Boom, everyone in the surroundings exploded in noise. The rules of challenge in Great Peace City was if both sides accepted the challenge, then it was alright to kill one’s opponent and not get punished. In other words, the challenge must gamble with their own life.

Lan Tian Long’s gaze suddenly became extremely vicious. His murderousness spread without restraint. All sounds of discussion suddenly choked off as though someone gripped their necks. The spectators were both scared and excited. Lan Tian Long’s almost tangible murderousness rushed at Zuo Mo like furious waves smashing against the shore. Even from far away, a person would be affected.

Tang Fei and Shou Ping’s complexions were ashen and bloodless. In front of such raging murderousness, the strength of a brigadier was as minuscule as an ant. Their hearts instantly sank. They could not understand why Zuo Mo would provoke such a scary opponent!

Was he insane?

Tao Xing recovered from his shock at this time, and his face was as white as paper. He felt great regret. Why had he told this person the rules of challenge in Great Peace City just now? He really was an idiot!

Lan Tian Long had not expected the matter would become like this. He was not afraid of battle. How could anyone that came to Great Peace City be afraid of a challenge? However, it depended on what it was for. He felt it was absurd to accept a challenge for a worthless slave.

What made him feel a thread of uncertainty was he detected a twinge of danger.

The youth in front of him looked extremely average but for some reason, he had a premonition of danger like he was being targeted by a poisonous snake.

He had been through hundreds of battles and was extremely experienced. He believed in his intuition. He knew that this intuition was an instinct hardened through battle.

Lan Tian Long narrowed his eyes.

The murderousness grew. Faint blue mist erupted from his body like steam. In this moment, Lan Tian Long’s aura caused even the sun in the sky to lose color.

Suddenly, Lan Tian Long gave a loud roar of laughter and his murderousness disappeared without a trace.

“Such heroic mannerism! Good man! I, Lan Tian Long, like meeting good men like Brother!” Speaking, he waved his hand back, “Come, get that slave!”

A subordinate quickly carried Luo Li over.

“Since Brother likes him, I’ll give him to you!” There wasn’t any brutality on Lan Tian Long’s face, only a face full of sunshine and undisguised admiration. There wasn’t any trace of insincerity.

Zuo Mo was surprised. Lan Tian Long seemed to have switched to a completely different personality. His face changed at a fantastical speed. However, Zuo Mo also felt some admiration. Normal people could not change like Lan Tian Long did.

The rumors that he was a brutal killer were not true. This person had a scheming mind and was not a simple-minded person.

“Many thanks, Brother Lan!” Zuo Mo was not a stupid person. Just now, he was fighting with his back to a cliff. He did not have any certainty he would win.

Lan Tian Long smiled widely. “Just a small matter, nothing to speak about. To be able to meet a hero like Brother, it is alright to give them all to you!” Finishing, he took down a metal token from his waist and threw it to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo caught it.

“Brother, if you are free, come to my rundown compound to drink. There’s nothing else, but there will be enough liquor to make sure Brother gets drunk!” Among the loud laughter, the rhinoceros troop rumbled as it moved. The voice came from far away and was extremely carefree.

At this time, Zuo Mo really did admire this guy that appeared rough yet had a deep mind. From beginning to end, he did not ask Zuo Mo’s name and his conduct was free.

“I’ll definitely visit!” Zuo Mo said in a loud voice.

The street resumed its normal activity. Many people showed admiration. Lan Tian Long’s move didn’t damage his reputation but allowed people to feel his charisma.

As to Zuo Mo’s group, they did not attract too much attention from the people around them, but a lot of attention from those in the shadows.

Zuo Mo helped Luo Li up and turned to the others saying in a deep voice, “Find a quiet place.”

Tao Xing and Tang Fei seemed to wake up from a daydream. Releasing a breath, they hurriedly led people to find a place to rest. Right now, they were startled birds. Zuo Mo had ran up and challenged someone without a second word. If this occurred a few more times, they felt they would be frightened to death.

Luo LI suddenly spoke. His voice was dry and hoarse. “Who are you? Why did you save me?”

He had been surprised just now. The other had pointed right at him so the other must know him. But when he carefully inspected Zuo Mo’s appearance, he was sure that he had never seen this person before. What was even more unbelievable was that he felt something familiar about this person. But no matter how hard he tried to think, he could not remember who the familiarity reminded him of.

Zuo Mo whispered in a low voice by his ear, “Second Shixiong, I’m Zuo Mo.”

Luo Li’s body shook, his expression freezing. A moment later, tears poured down.

He finally understood why he felt the other was familiar.

“Do not say anything. We’ll find a quiet place and speak later.” Zuo Mo’s calm voice caused Luo Li to calm down. In this moment, he was very emotional. The little greedy shidi had grown to such a state!

To Tao Xing who had stayed in Great Peace City before, finding a big compound was naturally easy. As the city master of Endless City, Tao Xing was extremely rich. Without even a change in expression, he rented out a big estate. This estate was so large that it was more than enough to hold everyone.

Guard Camp, Celestial Planet Guard, and Tang Fei’s battalion instantly started to set up defenses.

Zuo Mo hurried everyone other than Luo Li and A Gui out. There were too many mysteries that needed to be answered.

What had happened?

Chapter 570 - Causes And Consequences

Luo Li’s voice was deep as he recollected the events, as though he was sleep-talking.

“The chaos rift appeared and the mo battalions invaded. They came so suddenly we did not have the time to flee. Bright Wave Jie started to gather all the major sects. The ones in charge were some people from Kun Lun and they were very strong. The sect leader and the shishu were all called over and put on the front line!”

Zuo Mo punched the floor and shattered stone flew. His fist became deeply embedded in the flooring. His features were twisted and vicious. Even though everyone had separated, but the shishu had all been good to him and, in their own way, taken care of him. Zuo Mo had command battalions and he knew that the front line was the most dangerous place. It was also where the fighting was most intense. Not many could survive.

There were only two types of people that would be sent to the front lines, one was elite troops, the other was cannon fodder.

“Ever since Eldest Shixiong disappeared from the sword cave, many groups of people from Kun Lun came to ask the sect leader about the sword cave. One time, the argument became intense and Xin Shishu almost drew his sword. After that, our sect’s position started to decline in Bright Wave Jie. Other sects started to antagonize us. The disciples started to leave.”

Luo Li’s gaze was empty and unfocused.

“The sect leader felt very depressed but the other shishu were alright. The disciples from before the expansion did not leave since days would be the same no matter where they spent it. Later on when the nearby sects came to antagonize us, Xin Shishu beat them away. No one cared too much. Was there a place that did not have conflict? It was at this time when the chaos rifts opened and the mo battalion came.”

“Kun Lun came and wanted the shishu to go to the front lines. The sect leader did not agree and said that Fourth Shigu was not strong offensively and wanted her to remain behind. Kun Lun did not agree. They surrounded the sect. Fourth Shigu eventually agreed but requested for the disciples to be kept in the rear. Kun Lun agreed.”

Luo Li’s expression suddenly became twisted.

“But who knew when the sect leader and others left, Kun Lun’s people put jinzhi on us. They said it was to prevent us from betraying them. On the road, we were attacked by a troop of mo. The people from Kun Lun forced us to go to delay the mo, otherwise, they would activate the jinzhi killing us. We could only listen and go, and then the Kun Lun people turned and ran abandoning us. Some of us died and some were wounded, the rest were captured. As a slave, I passed through the hands of several people before this mo.”

“Kun Lun!” Zuo Mo squeezed out the two words from his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. He had never thought that Kun Lun would do something this low.

“After Eldest Shixiong disappeared, Sect Leader was very distraught and his hair turned white overnight. From then on, the sect leader started to talk about many things with me. Second Shixiong, Lin Qian always suspected that you were yaomo and mentioned something about Stars in Daytime. The sect leader had heard some rumors and deliberately did not search and have you come back. Sect Leader said, he had picked you up and brought you back, if you really are … … then this was better than handing you over to Kun Lun … …”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo’s tears could not be suppressed anymore and flowed down his check. The thread of resentment that had been inside disappeared. Indescribable sorrow and regret welled up.

Luo Li was sobbing.

A moment later, Zuo Mo stopped his sorrow. He raised his head and asked, “What about the other shidi and shimei?”

“I only know that  Xiao Guo and Li Shimei are still alive. They were also captured. Shidi, you have to rescue them!” Luo Li grabbed onto Zuo Mo, his grey eyes filled with begging.

Zuo Mo’s heart hurt and he unhesitatingly nodded. He said resolutely, “I will definitely rescue them!”

He then asked, “Second Shixiong, do you know who bought them?”

Luo Li lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, “It is a female mo, she seems to be called Princess Xia.”

“Princess Xia … …” Zuo Mo repeated a few times fearing he would forget.

It seemed he had to go investigate who this Princess Xia was.

Zuo Mo secretly cased a resting spell on Luo Li, causing Luo Li felt his eyelids become heavy and quickly slipped into sleep. Zuo Mo inspected the wounds inside Luo Li’s body and his expression became terrible.

The channels inside Luo Li’s body were shattered. It would be extremely difficult to heal such severe wounds.

“Kun Lun!”

Zuo Mo had never hated a sect so much before, never!

———

Ximen Ning drank his wine and listened to the report from his subordinate.

“Boss, you have great foresight, Guard Camp really entered the Great Peace City!” The subordinate was admiring in his tone.

“Haa haa, there aren’t enough people in Guard Camp. If they had some more people, they might fight Bu Heng. This group is not friendly, and their origins definitely are not simple,” Ximen Ning said with a slight smile.

“A strong dragon cannot suppress the local snake. Even if they are strong, they can only eat dust,” A Qing’s voice came.

“Haha, A Qing is right. Their origins will quickly be found. So many mo embryos, we probably are not the only ones interested. That will be fun to see when the time comes,” Ximen Ning said with a smile.

“Only when the water is cloudy can we take advantage to steal fish,” A Qing inserted at the perfect time.

Ximen Ning laughed.

“When Guard Camp entered the city, they had a standoff with Lan Tian Long.” The subordinate hurriedly narrated the information he had obtained.

“Lan Tian Long!” Ximen Ning’s brow creased.

Ximen Ning was very familiar with Lan Tian Long and naturally knew of the other’s fiery temper. Lan Tian Long had not fought? This didn’t seem like Lan Tian Long’s usual style.

The leader of Guard Camp definitely had some special trait. Otherwise, it was not possible to explain Lan Tian Long’s course of action.

Was it strength? Or background?

Ximen Ning pondered. It would be exaggerated to say that there was an individual’s strength that Lan Tian Long would be wary of. He had researched. The leader of Guard Camp was a youth not yet twenty. Could such a young youth be more powerful than Lan Tian Long?

He didn’t believe it!

So the only way would be background! Lan Tian Long recognized the background of this person so he purposefully retreated. Ximen Ning felt this was the most plausible. He had fought against Lan Tian Long before and knew while this person had a fiery temper, he wasn’t simple-minded as people assumed.

This speculation was supported by many details. For example, the strong Guard Camp was likely be the personal guard the young man’s family had sent to protect him.

Background … … what was his background?

At this time, another subordinate came in to report.

“Boss, Bu Heng has entered the city!”

Ximen Ning came out of his thoughts and laughed. “It has been very long since Great Peace City been so busy!”

———

“Is there some way to heal him?” Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao and Wei.

Pu Yao was silent, Wei did not make a sound.

Zuo Mo instantly felt disappointed. When he agreed to rescue Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng Shijie, he had seen the desire to die in Luo Li Shixiong’s eyes. Zuo Mo was clear. Under these circumstances, many people would lose the will to life. Their hearts were dead.

Zuo Mo didn’t know how to persuade Luo Li. He could only use the resting spell to temporarily force the other to rest.

Suddenly, Pu Yao spoke. “Maybe there is a solution. However, it is almost the same as death.”

“What solution?” Zuo Mo was like a person drowning that grabbed the life-saving reed and hurriedly asked.

Pu Yao slowly spoke, “On the battlefield in the past, I had found an incomplete spell from a xiuzhe. Read it and you will know.”

Finished speaking, he threw a ball of light at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo took the ball. After he read it, he finally understood what Pu Yao meant that it was not much different than death.

This was a spell called [Life-Death Lock] that was incomplete. It was very extreme. Saying it was a spell was not accurate. In Zuo Mo’s view, this was just a daring theory. The spell was not complex, and was actually very simple.

Enter the path through death!

In this speculative chapter, it assumed that a person’s death was a process, like passing through layers of biscuits, one layer after the next. Only when one broke through the last layer was one truly dead.

The person who wrote this assumed that while the upper layers were also death, it was only a fake death. A state of fake death could easily stimulate the instincts of a person. If one was able to slow down the speed at which they passed through these upper layers of death, and stimulate their potential so that their potential counterbalanced death. This required that the rate their potential increased surpassed the speed they passed through the layers of death, doing so they could totter on the edge of life and death, and completely express a person’s complete potential.

After reading this, Zuo Mo had to admire the person who wrote this.

Such a strange idea. It looked so absurd, but the author was able to explain what it meant. This person had also spent great effort to ponder how to stimulate one’s potential in the state of death to twist life and death.

It was just as Pu Yao had said. This was not any different than death. The entire chapter was speculative. In the end, even the author did not believe this spell would work and stopped writing.

Consequently, this spell was incomplete.

Zuo Mo also hesitated. From every angle, [Life-Death Lock] was so absurd, but the phrases in the chapter swirled in his mind. They seemed to hold a strange power. Many of the ideas gave him great inspiration.

He had a faint feeling that this [Life-Death Lock] was a wondrous spell.

At this time, Luo Li slowly woke up.

He opened his eyes. When he saw Zuo Mo, he forced a smile. His eyes were grey and empty, lifeless.

Xiuzhe were powerful, but if their heart was dead, their vitality would flow away faster than normal people. Because their heart was the base of all their power.

When Zuo Mo saw Luo Li’s eyes, he knew it was not good.

“Shixiong wants to die?” Zuo Mo suddenly said.

Luo Li was surprised but he nodded and said honestly, “I am nothing now, my channels are all broken, my dantian destroyed. Even the best ling medicine cannot heal me. I’m satisfied now that I am able to see Shidi. I do not have anything left to connect me to this world. With this broken body, I will drag down Shidi. I will also feel life is boring and painful. Rather than suffering through that, death is an easy matter.”

Zuo Mo stared hard at Luo Li’s eyes. He saw Luo Li’s expression was the same from beginning to end and knew the other was resolved.

“Shixiong, do you not want revenge against Kun Lun? Do you not want to rescue Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng Shijie?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Shidi, do not … …” Luo Li grimaced.

“I have a spell here. It is dangerous, but it may be your only hope.” At this time, Zuo Mo could only hope for the best and took out a jade scroll, [Life-Death Lock].

Luo Li assumed that Zuo Mo was trying to persuade him but did not bear to reject his goodwill so he took it.

After sweeping a glance, he froze!

Chapter 571 - Mo Skill Steles

“Princess Xia?” Tao Xing was slightly shocked. “Why have you asked about Princess Xia?”

“Do you know her?” Zuo Mo instantly became alert.

“No.” Tao Xing shook his head and said in self-mockery. “I might have some skill in mo embryos, but in the eyes of those truly great personages, I’m just someone that raises mo embryos. To them I’m not any different than a person who raises insects.”

Zuo Mo was instantly disappointed but he still hurried to give comfort. “You are still very powerful.”

At the side, Tang Fei’s expression became strange. It was the first time she had heard someone comfort another person like this. Didn’t he know that City Master was just being humble?

Tao Xing laughed and then warned, “Do not provoke Princess Xia. You were very rash today in provoking Lan Tian Long. However, Princess Xia’s background is deeper than Lan Tian Long’s. Look at how arrogant Lan Tian Long was at the city gates today. If Princess Xia was present, he would be docile.”

“Who is Princess Xia?” Zuo Mo was confused, his face puzzled.

“Princess Xia comes from the ancient Anwei family and is  much older than the Lan Family. The Anwei Family is one of the oldest families in Hundred Savage Realm. They have the most noble bloodline called the Anwei Bloodline. In history, they have produced sixteen marshal levels. You can imagine the glory of this family.”

Tang Fei had a desirous expression. Sixteen marshals, such a powerful existence.

Tao Xing could not stop himself from warning again. “You have to be careful and not offend Princess Xia. The Anwei Family is an enormous entity that is truly at the top of the food chain. Right now, the leader of Anwei Family, Anwei Ming, is a mo marshal. They rule over seventy four mo jie!”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo was also frightened. One mo marshal ruling seventy four mo jie. A powerful family like this was really scary.

However, when he thought of Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng, Zuo Mo threw all the fear to the back of his head.

“Where is Princess Xia now?” Zuo Mo asked.

“I do not know this.” Tao Xing spread his hands. He felt more and more admiration towards Zuo Mo. In his view, even though the other was too direct in his conduct, he was a very good young person.

“Anwei Family … …” Zuo Mo murmured.

In his consciousness, Pu Yao’s voice suddenly piped up. “I have a solution.”

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised and looked suspiciously at Pu Yao. “What are you scheming now?”

Pu Yao said with a snicker. “The Anwei Family are old opponents! Hmph hmph, I had wanted to settle the debts from the past. I had not expected them to come to us!”

Murderousness brimmed in the bloody pupil.

Wei also came out and said with a smile. “A Zuo, in the past, we and Anwei Family had a little conflict. Oh, you will help us, right?”

Zuo Mo instantly felt his head swell up. “Can you not fool around at a time like this?”

“Don’t you want to save Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng?” Pu Yao snorted coldly. “We know everything about Anwei Family’ origins. We will help you find and save Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng, in return you will settle our debts with the Anwei Family.”

Zuo Mo turned towards Wei.

Wei nodded crisply. “He is speaking the truth.”

Pu Yao and Wei both nodded. This matter seemed reliable.

Zuo Mo nodded. “Alright! You help me, I’ll help you!”

However, he was gaping inside. It seemed this Anwei Family had seriously offended these two. More than a thousand years had passed, but they did not forget their grudge. Just how serious had this conflict been?

However, as long as he could rescue Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng, Zuo Mo let the two do what they wanted.

———

“Oh, Lan Tian Long really did not act?” Bu Heng asked coldly.

“Yes! This one learned this. Lan Tian Long remained peaceful, he even gave the slave to the leader of Guard Camp as well as a token, and he invited the other to his compound to drink,” the subordinate replied in great detail.

“It seems that this person is not so simple,” Bu Heng murmured to himself and sank into deep thought.

Originally, he had planned to challenge Zuo Mo when he entered Great Peace City and kill the other in the open to wash away the embarrassment on his clan. However, when he heard this news, he immediately realized that the situation was much more complex than he imagined.

Bu Heng was strong but he was more skilled as a battle general. His individual strength was not comparable to Lan Tian Long.

Lan Tian Long had a fiery temper but he was someone with brains. If he did not act in public, then there was something to ponder here.

If it was due to individual power, then it was even more unwise for Bu Heng to challenge the other. If it was any other reason that caused Lan Tian Long’s actions, then Bu Heng had to be even more careful.

If the other had a background that even Lan Tian Long had to worry about. Just the slightest carelessness could bring down a calamity that would destroy his clan.

As a gold battle general, Bu Heng was able to see the important connections.

The embarrassment was related to the morale of the soldiers, but offending those ancient families would bring extinction to his clan!

Not even a scrap would remain!

Familiar with history, Bu Heng knew that countless families had perished like that.

———

Zuo Mo walked along the street, Shu Long and the others a few steps behind him.

“Anwei Family will have a faction established in Great Peace City.” Pu Yao’s tone was very certain. “That old man was right just now. The Anwei Family is full of talents and has produced many mo marshals. However, Anwei Family has never produced a king! Haa, Anwei Family has always had ambitions and this is the greatest thorn in their side. The desire of each generation of the Anwei Family has towards acquiring mo skills is something other families cannot compare too. They desire too much to have a breakthrough! The Mo Skills Steles placed in Great Peace City contain mo arts that can touch the power of the king level. How could they pass up on that?”

The more Zuo Mo heard, the more he felt that Pu Yao had a special understanding of the Anwei Family.

“This Shi Zi Ming is definitely a influential person to be able to teach mo marshals.” Pu Yao who usually had his eyes high up expressed rare respect towards Shi Zi Ming. But then he smirked coldly. “However, it is not so easy to understand what people like him think. Shi Zi Ming’s Mo Skill Steles are real, but it is hard to say if visitors can read and understand their contents. When techniques and skills reach that level, it is very hard to describe them using language.”

“And then?” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but ask.

“The people of Anwei Family are very smart. They cannot understand the steles but there will eventually be someone who can. I suspect that the construction of this Great Peace City was supported by the Anwei Family from the shadows. If this Great Peace City was built, the Mo Skills Steles were put up, many geniuses will gather and eventually someone would understand them. Ha, what is left to do is very simple. Either they pull the person into their Anwei Family, giving them enough mobei and beauties. If the person doesn’t obey, hee hee” Pu Yao laughed coldly.

Zuo Mo’s hairs stood up upon hearing this. “Aren’t there other people that see this?”

“Probably.” Wei continued, “That Shi Zi Ming definitely knew this but he sees clearer than the Anwei Family. He only wants his succession to continue and he definitely did not believe that the Anwei Family would gain complete control because the other families are not stupid. Why have so many factions established themselves in Great Peace City? Because experts and geniuses will be produced here. Which family doesn’t need experts and geniuses? Why were there so many mo generals and marshals that helped out with the construction. Were they really repaying Shi Zi Ming out of gratefulness? No, it is because everyone saw the benefits. But this is where Shi Zi Ming was good. I have to admire how he used the powers!”

Hearing this, Wei sighed.

Zuo Mo finally understood. However, after the two exposed this, much of his admiration and reverence of Great Peace City dissipated. But he felt even more interested in Shi Zi Ming.

“We can use this to our advantage.” Pu Yao snorted coldly and said, “If you go to the Mo Skills Steles and pretend to be intoxicated for a few days and act as though you have comprehended them, you will naturally attract the attention of all the factions, including the Anwei Family. Then you can throw out the information that you do not have any background. At that time, these factions will come to recruit you. You can make a few challenges to prove your strength. The Anwei Family definitely will not be able to sit still. At that time, they will give you whatever you want, not just Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng!”

“Pu, you are so cunning!” Zuo Mo sighed. He then asked, “But this does not guarantee that Princess Xia would come. What if they send someone else?”

“They won’t,” Wei came to explain. “Princess Xia of the Anwei Family is not a name, but a special identity. There will only be one princess in each generation. They hold many duties such as recruiting talents. Their arrival represents the Anwei Family. If you display enough skill, they will definitely come!”

“Do not say it so pleasantly. They are just a socialite,.” Pu Yao inserted coldly.

Zuo Mo gaped on hearing this.

“Well, that’s true,” Wei said and nodded. “Before each generation of princess debuts in society, the family will try to increase her reputation. Making her the object of everyone’s attention and surrounding her with geniuses. After a decade of storms, they will choose a powerful family and marry her off. This is a marriage alliance.”

Zuo Mo listened to this as though they were matters from a different world. He didn’t know what to say.

“Daren, we are at the Mo Skill Steles.”

Shu Long’s voice interrupted Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo refocused and was instantly attracted by the spectacular scene in front of him.

There were rows of tall sword-like steles carved with clear characters. Even after three hundred years of wind and rain, they were pristine and whole as though they were newly carved. The stone steles formed a dense forest. Every stone stele was carved with characters.

These were the famous Great Peace Mo Skill Steles.

There were many mo studying below each mo skill stele. Some were copying down content. The mo that came here were at least colonel level. Brigadiers could be seen everywhere, and Zuo Mo saw several generals.

Gazing at such a spectacular stele forest, for some unknown reason, Zuo Mo felt admiration for Shi Zi Ming.

A person that did not have any mo skill to cultivate dared to carve his knowledge of power onto stone steles for the world to read, examine and judge.

The stone steles that pointed up into the sky suddenly became much taller in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

The mannerisms of the great ones in the past were so!

Chapter 572 - Confidence And Going All Out

“He wanted a servant? The servant is a xiuzhe?” Bie Han asked indifferently.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Fu Feng said respectfully. “Lan Tian Long did not accept the challenge to fight and gave the slave to him.”

There wasn’t any warmth in Bie Han’s cold eyes. The golden jinzhi which had been etched all over his body had been completely erased. What replaced them was a snowy-white mo matrix. On the black skin, the exquisite white mo matrix carried an almost unusual seductive beauty.

“Could this person also be a xiuzhe?” Bie Han suddenly asked.

Fu Feng stilled and reflexively shook his head. “Xiuzhe? Probably not. Lan Tian Long would have recognized that.”

“Like me, can Lan Tian Long recognize this?” Bie Han shook his head.

“Your Highness, you … …” Fu Feng hurriedly said.

Bie Han said indifferently, “In the future, do not call me Your Highness.”

Bie Han’s words called Fu Feng to pale. He hurriedly said, “No! No! Your Highness, your identity is noble … …”

Bie Han raised a hand and stopped Fu Feng from speaking. His expression was cold. “Father’s properties will end up being Elder Brother’s. I have spent so many years on the outside and have not seen Father from a very young age. The clan does not like me, and that is normal. I am already satisfied that we have managed to remove the jinzhi from my body.”

Thinking about the cold treatment that Bie Han had received in this period of time, Fu Feng was sorrowful. “Your Highness … … no matter what identity Your Highness has, in Fu Feng’s heart, you are still the Little Highness that was in Mistress’ arms!”

Bie Han’s gaze softened slightly.

A moment later, he suddenly asked, “Fu Feng, you followed my mother for many years, how old am I now?”

“Your Highness is twenty five this year!” Fu Feng had an expression of remembrance. “If Mistress is in heaven and learned that Your Highness has returned home, she would definitely be happy.”

“Twenty five.” Bie Han murmured. A dazed expression flashed by and his face became cold and indifferent again. “Go tell my brother if he can erase the jinzhi on Sin Battalion, I will make a request to the clan to set up my own household.”

“Your Highness, no!” Fu Feng paled dramatically. Setting up one’s own household meant leaving the clan. One didn’t just lose their place in succession, they would not receive any more help from the family. In the mo territories, this was a very severe punishment.

At this time, his tears flowed. When he thought of the mistress that had passed away long ago, sorrow rose.

“Go.” Bie Han’s expression was indifferent and he did not speak further.

Looking at Bie Han’s cold and stubborn figure, in a flash, it merged with the beautiful figure who had passed. Fu Feng stopped his tears and said firmly, “Yes!”

———

The contents of the Mo Skill Steles were arranged based on difficulty of their contents, from shallow to deep. There were more people huddled around the steles in the outer regions, and fewer as one went deeper.

Zuo Mo started to pretend to read starting from the first stone stele.

How was he to act as though he was immersed? Uh, how could he appear immersed?

Zuo Mo had been worried but after his first glance, he was unconsciously attracted by the content on the mo skill stele.

The content on this stone stele was very simple and was a rough explanation, but for Zuo Mo who had never received a systematic training in mo skills cultivation, it filled in his insufficiencies causing many areas that he was lacking in to instantly become clear.

Zuo Mo’s starting point was very high. He had cultivated the Great Day mo physique very early on. It was enough to show that his talent was outstanding. But he was very unfamiliar with these basic cultivation practices. When he had been in Shattered Stone Town, he had benefited greatly from Uncle An Ya’s teachings. But Uncle An Ya’s skill was limited, and what he cultivated was very crude.

But this Shi Zi Ming was really a great genius. There were hundreds of basic cultivation methods he described, and every basic method would have a corresponding description that was worthy of deep thought.

Zuo Mo read stele by stele like he was possessed.

Shu Long stood guard warily at his side.

What no one had expected was that just like how Zuo Mo was enchanted, A Wen was also enchanted.

———

“I know.” Jiang Zhe’s tone was calm as though he already knew this information.

The shock and fury that was expected did not appear. The subordinate that was reporting was slightly surprised but he released a breath inside. Jiang Zhe Daren was harmonious usually but when he was angry, he was extremely scary. Everyone was afraid of him.

Feng Yu Daren had suddenly left taking one thousand combat xiu with her. Rationally, Jiang Zhe should not tolerate this kind of conduct.

These thoughts flashed through the mind of this xiuzhe before disappearing. Feng Yue Daren was beloved by them. No one wanted Feng Yue Daren to be punished because of this.

After the subordinate left, Jiang Zhe sighed, worry flashing through his eyes.

A moment later, he suddenly raised his head and shouted, “Someone come!”

A guard hurried in. “Daren!”

“Have Gao Xuan come see me!” Jiang Zhe’s expression was calm.

A tall well-built battle general quickly came in and bowed. “Daren!”

“Take five hundred people from the Jiangzi Battalion and go support Feng Yu.”

Gao Xuan was slightly surprised at Jiang Zhe’s order. His expression was filled with surprise. Everyone knew that Feng Yue Daren had secretly taken the battalion to take revenge for Ding Zhen Shishu. Originally, everyone thought that Feng Yue Daren would not be able to escape punishment this time. Daren looked easy-going usually, but his adherence to military law was strict and no one dared to break them.

It seemed that Daren also wanted revenge for Ding Zhen Shishu!

Gao Xuan couldn’t help but feel excited. He was not eye-catching in the temple and his strength was average, but Ding Zhen Shishu had also once taught him. However, he was not as brave as Feng Yue and did not dare disobey orders.

“Yes!” Gao Xuan said loudly.

“I’m not worried with Feng Yue’s skill level,” Jiang Zhe’s expression was stern. “But her personality is rushed and she likes to be risky. You are much steadier, and you can make up for what she lacks.”

Jiang Zhe looked at Gao Xuan and said, ‘You do not have much time. You need to quickly fight and resolve it. The battle for Cold Mountain Jie is not finished. I speculate that after some more time, the mo will mount a counter-attack. It is best for you to come back before then.”

“How long?” Gao Xuan said cautiously.

“Do not go take more than two months!” Jiang Zhe said decisively.

Yes!” Gao Xuan said in a deep voice, his expression filled with confidence.

The battalion under Jiang Zhe’s command had followed Jiang Zhe for many years. Jiang Zhe had almost gathered all of them from all the major sects. There was one jindan among every twenty people.

The Jiangzi Battlion was one of the core battalions of Xuan Kong Temple.

The battle of Cold Mountain Jie had turned this battalion, that Jiang Zhe had spent so long creating, into an even sharper blade. Due to this battle, Jiangzi Battalion had become famous, and became one of the top four battalions in the Four Realms.

Just these five hundred Jiangzhi Battalion soldiers were enough to give Gao Xuan  the confidence he could take over a jie.

Also, the one thousand person battalion that Feng Yue Shijie had taken were not decorative. Their selection was not as stringent as the Jiangzi Battalion but they had also gone through many tests. Each of them were accomplished disciples from the outer sects. In any jie, they were able to become elite. It was just that they were from Xuan Kong Temple and the competition was so fierce that they did qualify for the Jiangzi Battalion.

A Cloud Sea Jie that was an unknown force, how strong could it be?

Even a person as steady as Gao Xuan did not think the other could make any waves. If they were careful and did not fall into traps, the other wouldn’t have a chance.

Jiang Zhe finally got a matter off his mind and smiled slightly. “Go, do not waste time.”

Gao Xuan saluted Jiang Zhe and turned to leave.

A five hundred person battalion quickly left without a sound.

———

Lil’ Miss had been very busy.

Golden Crow Camp’s study of the mo matrixes had been outstanding, especially on those mo with good bloodlines. Their power would frequently increase by a whole level. Little Savage Jie was a small and remote jie but it still had many colonel level mo. Most of them had some special bloodline. It was not pure, but this wasn’t a problem for Golden Crow Camp.

Shi Dong’s reputation in Little Savage Jie was not bad, and the benefits he provided was very good. Adding on that the legend about the king quickly spread in Little Savage Jie, it attracted many mo with potential

These mo with potential were quickly delivered to Golden Crow Camp at Turtle Island for mo matrixes to be engraved.

In this short time, there were sixty brigadier level mo!

The insanity of Golden Crow Camp infected Lil’ Miss. With unprecedented speed, he started to think of how he could use the strength of these mo to their greatest potential. In the end, he decided to merge these brigadier mo into Vermillion Bird Camp.

Mo battalions were not difficult for him. In reality, he was much more familiar with the soldier types and battalions of yaomo than the types of xiuzhe soldiers and their battalions.

He decided to plan out new tactics. The addition of these brigadier mo caused Vermillion Bird Camp to grow more versatile and even stronger. They had the power to finish even more complex and difficult tactics!

Lil’ Miss could not swallow the result of his battle against A Zha Ge.

He was clear if they wanted to help Zuo Shixiong, they had to become stronger!

These brigadier mo were extremely resistant to Vermillion Bird Camp and disdained them, but after Wei Ran led a single troop that was comprised of half jindan and half ningmai to defeat a battalion composed entirely of brigadier mo, these brigadier mo were won over.

Mo emphasized strength the most. The right of speech depended on their strength. If they submitted, they never played tricks. Also, they were not stupid. Even though it was hard for them to accept living together with xiuzhe, as the power of Turtle Island was gradually exposed to them, and Turtle Island treated mo the same as others, they gradually threw away their opinions.

Most importantly, all the mo believed this was the estate that their king had conquered.

Our king, that was a true mo!

The mo that gradually acclimatized to Turtle Island displayed very good control, their persistence and endurance. The sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp felt admiration.

The sword xiu of Vermillion Bird Camp were also unwilling. All of them were working as hard as they could.

Under this kind of atmosphere, a brand new Vermillion Bird Camp with brand new tactics gradually formed.

Chapter 573 - Pang Chen

“Daren, everything has been arranged.” The subordinate reported to Bu Heng.

Bu Heng asked, “Who did you find?”

“Pang Chen, general level, he stepped into general level seven years ago and has a wealth of battle experience. His most famous battle was against Qi Diao Yu. He lost after thirty moves, even though he was defeated, it was a glorious battle, and his reputation rose as a result.”

“Qi Diao Yu!” Bu Heng’s expression shifted. “He really is strong to have fought Qi Diao Yu to thirty moves.”

“Yes! After Pan Cheng lost to Qi Diao Yu, he came to the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles in search of a breakthrough. He has stayed in Great Peace City for more than three years, and has had more than twenty major and minor challenges. His strength has improved over this time.”

“Not bad, not bad.” Bu Heng had a satisfied expression.

A general level that was strong like this could accomplish his goal of probing the unknown youth’s abilities.

“Where is that person from Guard Camp?” Bu Heng then asked.

“He’s at the Mo Skill Steles,” the subordinate instantly responded,” Pang Chen has already gone ahead.”

Bu Heng had an expression of anticipation. “Have you sent someone to observe?”

“It has been arranged.”

———

Zuo Mo was deeply concentrated in reading. The content on the stone steles were the most basic of fundamentals and there were few, if any, mo that would read all of it. They would learn these fundamental concepts from a very young age and were extremely familiar with them. But Zuo Mo read all the paragraphs without skipping any, one stone stele after another.

He did not feel that any of these topics were troublesome. The words that Shi Zi Ming used were simple and easy to understand. The more Zuo Mo read, the clearer his mind was. It was like there had been a painting in his mind shrouded in mist that was now slowly becoming clearer. Many places that he had thought were blank were being added. This painting was becoming more complete.

This was not a strong feeling of pleasure but it still deeply enticed Zuo Mo. That happy feeling of the blanks being filled meant that he was progressing and could not stop his steps.

It was like he was possessed.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao and Wei were also sighing in surprise.

“This Shi Zi Ming is a very powerful person!” A rare expression of shock appeared on Pu Yao’s face. Wei understood more about mo cultivation than Pu Yao. Much of the content here, especially some of Shi Zi Ming’s explanations seemed to hold a special power that enchanted people and caused them to sigh in wonderment.

“Is this guy really comprehending all of this.” Pu Yao was slightly depressed. Zuo Mo’s talent in mo cultivation was scary. It was like if a spark was given to him, he could immediately create a sea of flames.

In comparison, Zuo Mo’s talent at cultivating the yao arts was not bad, but comparing the two… they were not on the same level. No wonder Pu Yao was slightly depressed.

“En?” Wei suddenly turned his face and said, surprised, “A Wen’s talent isn’t bad!”

Pu Yao snorted coldly, “Only he has a spark of talent in all of Guard Camp. The rest are just all poor people.”

A Wen’s talent was the brightest among Guard Camp. His comprehension ability was wondrous and even Shu Long was lacking in comparison. However, Shu Long’s methodical and persistent personality was something people would have to consider when comparing the two. The Mo Skill Steles were in front of him, but Shu Long did not even read one character. He had kept a constant guard by watching the surroundings, and followed closely behind Zuo Mo.

“There’s nothing wrong with being poor.” Wei’s mood was clearly very good. Guard Camp had a good seed in A Wen with his wondrous comprehension and had a reliable leader in Shu Long . Wei was naturally in a good mood.

At this time, a light flashed across Shu Long’s eyes. A figure was walking directly towards them.

Shu Long’s expression changed slightly as he stared closely at the other. His body unconsciously shifted to a defensive posture.

The other’s steps seemed to have a certain mysterious rhythm. Each step seemed to fall on a strange beat. In this moment, Shu Long felt everything else in his view seemed to retreat like the tide. The only thing left in his vision was this male that was walking closer!

Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder. Shu Long’s body shook slightly and the parts of his view that had disappeared suddenly recovered. The strange power of the man that was coming towards them disappeared. Shu Long’s mind suddenly relaxed.

“Daren!” Shu Long was full of shame.

“It’s fine.” Zuo Mo patted Shu Long’s shoulder and said in a low voice, “Protect A Wen, do not let anyone disturb him.”

“Yes.” Shu Long bit down on his lips and felt even more ashamed. They encountered an enemy but they needed Daren to defend them. Shu Long, oh Shu Long, was there anything more shameful than this?

He swore inside that he had to work harder and cultivate!

Zuo Mo walked in front of Shu Long, his eyes flashing with a cold light. Truthfully, it was not a pleasing matter to be interrupted when he was reading in pleasure. The other was clearly targeting him and held enmity.

“It seems that even if you do not to find people to challenge someone has come to find you.”Pu Yao’s tone was that of a spectator.

The other stopped in his walk about three zhang away from Zuo Mo and said politely. “This one is Pang Chen, greetings to Brother!”

Pang Chen was in his thirties and his body had an extremely well-balanced build. The muscles exposed was not in bulky, but were well toned. Each muscle seemed to wrapped around him like coils of wire. People would not doubt the astounding power contained within.

Zuo Mo looked coldly at the other. They had just arrived in Great Peace City and didn’t know anyone in the city. This middle-aged man called Pang Chen had directly approached them and disrupted their comprehension. He clearly did not have any good intentions.

Fortunately, Zuo Mo was only immersed in reading, and was not having an epiphany like A Wen. The state of epiphany was something of luck. If it was disrupted, no one knew when it would be the next time it occurred.

No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, this kind of interruption was something that was almost forbidden.

“Say what you want!” Zuo Mo said coldly. Since the other clearly did not have good intentions, Zuo Mo had no intentions on wasting effort being polite. Also, in Pu Yao’s plan, he had to challenge some people to increase his fame. Since someone had come to him, that was good.

Zuo Mo started to push up his sleeves.

Pang Chen was slightly shocked. It was the first time he had seen someone like Zuo Mo.

He suddenly found it was interesting. Did the other not know this was Great Peace City? In Great Peace City, someone that conducted themselves with this kind of attitude would not survive for long. This really was an arrogant greenhorn!

He should finish this quickly.

Pang Chen thought and did not waste words. “This one wants to spar with Sir.”

“Spar? You are challenging me?” Zuo Mo raised an eyebrow.

The mo in the surroundings instantly started to discuss. Pang Chen had been in Great Peace City for more than three years. Anyone who had spent some time in Great Peace City knew of him. People also quickly recognized that Zuo Mo was the person that had challenged Lan Tian Long at the city gates.

The crowd instantly became excited. What people enjoyed the most in Great Peace City were the challenges. In this place, it was very easy to become famous, they just had to challenge others.

Of course, there were unspoken rules about challenges. For example, if an unknown mo challenged a mo that was well-established, the other could completely dismiss the challenge. Otherwise, those experts would not have time to do anything else.

In the words of Great Peace City, those that just arrived in Great Peace City were nobodies. If new people wanted to become famous, there were battle stadiums where they could gain a little fame. Those that won in the battle stadiums would have the chance to challenge the famous warriors.

For example, no one laughed at Lan Tian Long for refusing to fight Zuo Mo when Zuo Mo directly challenged him. They would feel that Zuo Mo was a new person who didn’t know anything. Lan Tian Long’s actions had people admiring his composure and mannerisms.

But Pang Chen?

Pang Chen was definitely someone of renowned skill in Great Peace City. He was able to withstand thirty moves from Qi Diao Yu. This kind of strength was enough to stun others. And in these years in Great Peace City, he had never lost a challenge. People admired and respected him.

If it wasn’t that Pang Chen did not have any intentions of being recruited into a faction, many families would have sent him an invitations already.

But a famous warrior who had been famous for so long challenged a newcomer.

It was not common to see something like this in Great Peace City.

Pang Chen felt slightly discontent at Zuo Mo’s gaze. He had been famous for a long time. When had a junior ever looked at him with a gaze like that?

He smiled coldly and exposed his white teeth. “Exactly!”

The crowd instantly became excited.  Even the stupidest person could see that something else was causing this challenge but no one cared. They were excited that they could see Pang Chen fight.

A famous warrior!

How long had it been since a famous warrior had fought!

———

The news that Pang Chen challenged Zuo Mo quickly spread throughout Great Peace City.

Due to the Sky-Splitting Calamity, war rose in all areas, and everyone’s attentions turned to the state of the world. Great Peace City had been calm for a long time.

Those families instantly smelled the unusualness of this challenge. Their intelligence gathering was faster and more accurate than the average person. The intelligence about Guard Camp, their conflict with the green yaksha was quickly delivered to their desks.

The name Guard Camp started to enter their eyes starting from this moment.

Connecting this to Bu Heng entering Great Peace City recently, they instantly knew who was behind this. However, the great majority of them just smiled. They felt that Bu Heng was too cautious. He had definitely paid a significant price to have Pang Chen act.

Using Pang Chen to deal with a newcomer, wasn’t that bullying?

Many people felt that Bu Heng’s reputation was overstated and they were even too lazy to go spectate.

Lan Tian Long was one exception.

When he heard his subordinate report the news, light flashed out of his eyes. He recalled that indiscernible feeling of danger that day. A deep meaningful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Famous warrior… … Pang Chen … …

Lan Tian Long unhesitatingly stood and sprinted outside.

“Go! Let’s go watch!”

When he flew onto the street, he saw the people moving like the tide.

A famed warrior was fighting. It caused Great Peace City which had been peaceful for too long to finally get busy.

Hearing the people below excitedly discussing Pang Chen’s ultimate skills, his famous fights, and the rumors about him, Lan Tian Long suddenly felt great anticipation for this fight.

Chapter 574 - Domineering

Great Peace City, Challenge Stadium

The flood of people flowed in and quickly filled up the majority of stands. There had been people fighting inside but when they heard a famous warrior, Pang Chen, was challenging someone, they instantly cleared the challenge stadium arena.

Zuo Mo’s original plan was to beat this dislikeable person until he was on the ground picking up his teeth but no one was allowed to fight near the Mo Skill Steles. Zuo Mo was also worried about interrupting A Wen during his epiphany and agreed to go to the Challenge Stadium.

When he watched as the stands filled up, Zuo Mo recalled attending the Sword Test Conference back at Wu Kong Mountain. This scene was very similar to back then. That was the only combat competition he had ever attended. All the fights since then were battles of life and death. They were harsh and cruel and people would do anything for survival.

He really missed that!

He thought of how he had used formations to defeat his opponents and was scolded by the shishu for embarrassing the sword sect. Thought of the adorable Xiao Guo, thought of Li Ying Feng Shijie. Right, back then, he had relied on Li Ying Feng Shijie. Unconsciously, Zuo Mo’s thoughts led him away. Those were hard but very happy days. Those warm scenes of being scolded were like rays of sunlight passing through the wooded canopy and warming the ground. They carried warmth and a slight breeze that filled his heart.

An indescribable longing and sorrow spread in his heart.

Zuo Mo lowered his head. In his vision the ground was distant and blurry. The noise of his surroundings seemed far from him. There was only the sound of his heartbeat and his breathing. The world was silent, there was only his heart’s murmurs.

Sect Leader, Shishu, I will definitely rescue Xiao Guo and Li Shijie!

There was no gritting of the teeth, no steely determination. He was so calm there was barely a rise and fall to his breathing as he said these words, as though he was just carrying out a normal matter. There was no burning spirit, no cursing or swearing, this was what how Zuo Mo had said this to himself.

In silence, Zuo Mo raised his right hand and started to unwrap the bandages wrapped around his hand. He did not raise his head to glance at Pang Chen standing on the other side.

A discussion started on the surrounding stands.

“Who is this person? He is so arrogant? Is he a newcomer? He dares to posture in front of Pang Chen. Haha, He really is seeking death!”

“Ahahaha, in any case, it’s his death. It’s good for him to show off before he dies!”

“So strange, Pang Chen is challenging a newcomer? Just how bored is this person? What is even more ridiculous is that this newcomer agreed! I cannot understand, I cannot understand it!

“What if Pang Chen is defeated … …”

“Ridiculous! Please, Pang Cheng is a famous warrior! Do you think the name of a famous warrior is worth so little? These newcomers now really do not have good judgment. So young, and he will lose his life.”

“But Pang Chen’s victory will not be a good one, he is lowering himself … …”

The stands were not filled. Even though they could see a famous warrior fight, Pang Chen’s opponent was undoubtedly too weak in the eyes of the public. These people had just come to see Pang Chen fight. As to winning and losing, there wasn’t anything to look at.

“Pang Chen, if you cannot defeat this person within ten moves, don’t try courting me anymore!”

A young female suddenly raised her voice from the stands and shouted into the battlefield. This young female had an outstanding appearance with her bright eyes and her pouting lips that made her seem even more adorable.

The stands instantly exploded.

“Wow wow wow! That is Miss Hua Ning! Now there is something to see now!”

“Haha! I heard long ago that Pang Chen was pursuing Miss Hua Ning. It seems that the rumor is true!”

“Now there is something to see! Ten moves! Miss Hua Ning is really vicious!”

Pang Chen roared in laughter. “Since Little Hua Ning has said it, Pang Chen does not dare to disobey! Ten moves it is!”

This shout was full of bravado and said without any hesitation. The mannerisms and confidence of an expert was displayed! Many mo females showed admiration on the stands. Even though Miss Hua Ning was present, they still shouted and cheered for Pang Chen.

The discussion increased in volume as everyone’s interests were stirred up. Compared to the victory that was undoubted, this promise of victory in ten moves was something more entertaining to see. Everyone started to speculate how many moves Pang Chen would need to win. Many people even started placing bets.

Hua Ning was very satisfied with Pang Chen’s response, her face excited. The guard beside her also looked with a smile at the stage.

Receiving motivation from a beauty, Pang Chen’s morale rose.

Right now, his mind was filled with thoughts of how to win more beautifully. The beauty, Hua Ning, was here. If he did not win beautifully, then he would waste this rare chance to win her favor.

However, when his gaze landed on Zuo Mo, his face suddenly darkened.

The other’s head was lowered as he attended to unraveling his bandage. From beginning to end, the person did not look at him.

Anger flickered through Pang Chen’s eyes. He had had dozens of battles in Great Peace City before and no opponent dared to dismiss him like this. He did not take the opportunity to make a sneak attack. He had enough confidence in his own strength.

Originally, he had only accepted money to do this yet the underestimation that Zuo Mo showed completely infuriated him.

He, Pang Chen, was being dismissed by a newcomer!

A feeling that he was being embarrassed rose. Pang Chen took a deep breath, his murderousness rising.

If he could not kill this person, how could he leave an impression on Hua Ning?

The long bandage was unravelled, and the mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s right hand slowly was exposed to the eyes of the public. The bright blue light flowed along the mo matrix with a dream glow.

Pang Chen’s pupils suddenly shrank!

This was … …

At this time, Zuo Mo raised his head. The scenes from Wu Kong Sword Sect and the Sword Test Conference retreated like the tide and his vision became clear again.

His expression was cool but that pair of eyes held an unusual determination and resolve, among the faint feeling of sorrow and longing.

The other had come to him, then he would start his plan with this battle!

Zuo Mo’s gaze suddenly became hardened. His aura felt like an invisible shroud had been taken off. A shocking presence was like a freed wild beast that shot off his body without any more disguise.

Boom!

The sudden exploding presence was like a tidal wave that spread out in all directions.

The noisy stands suddenly choked on their shouts as though an invisible hand had gripped their throats!

General level!

He was general level!

Pang Chen’s eyes widened, shock and disbelief flashing across his face! He had known that Zuo Mo was general level, from green yaksha’s intelligence report. He had not paid close attention to this detail. Those that dared to make challenges in Great Peace City were all general levels. He had defeated several general levels. In a place like Great Peace City that was filled with experts, general level wasn’t anything special.

Only now, when Zuo Mo released his enormous presence without any restraint did he recognize that the situation was not good!

In the stand, Hua Ning’s eyes widened as she looked dazedly at the field. The expressions of the guards around her turned serious.

Such a powerful presence!

“Let’s start.”

Among the deathly silence, Zuo Mo’s cool voice was like the bell announcing death’s arrival, and entered everyone’s ears.

Before the sound spread, with a lift of his leg, Zuo Mo seemed to appear in front of Pang Chen, leaving behind afterimages.

The serene blue mo matrix drew a twisting ripple like streak of light. The tight fist twisted the air, and carried great presence as it punched straight at Pang Chen’s face.

So fast!

An extreme feeling of danger. Pang Chen’s hairs stood on end!

Under such an emergency, Pang Chen did not dare to hold anything back. With a bellow, his muscles tensed like a chain that suddenly pulled tight. A brown colored mo matrix suddenly appeared!

Twisting Python mo physique!

His arms seemed to snap and then shake as though they did not have bones!

A brown light left his hand and shot at Zuo Mo’s fist. At the same time, a shadow that was hard to notice with the naked eye shot straight at Zuo Mo’s lower body like snake hidden in the shadows!

In this opening attack, Pang Chen unhesitatingly used his strongest attacks!

The serene blue mo matrix carried mind-shaking light as it hit the brown light in a contest of strength!

Pang Chen’s expression suddenly changed. He abandoned the attack and quickly retreated!

Bam!

The thunderous sound of an explosion sounded as though something had broken through something soft. The brown light exploded into a spray of brown mist!

A serene blue fist continued charging out of the brown mist of light and chased Pang Chen.

Pang Chen’s soul almost left his body. That snapping attack had a name called the [Python Twist Flick]. It used softness to dissipate force, and had never failed. Today, it wasn’t even able to stop the other for a moment. This meant that the power of the other’s punch far surpassed the tolerance of the [Python Twist Flick]!

Pew, at the same time, a gold light flashed on the other’s left fist as he blocked the sneak attack.

[Snake Tongue Arrow]!

Even the sharp Snake Tongue Arrow was not able to affect the other at all!

What mo skill was this?

How could it have such terrifying power.

What Zuo Mo used wasn’t a mo skill at all, but the [Sky Wave Fist Scripture] that he had given up a long time ago! For the present Zuo Mo, this fist scripture was too low leveled to display his full power. However, he had just learned some basic techniques from the Mo Skill Steles. When they flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind, he unconsciously adjusted the fist scripture.

The path that the dhyana xiu took was, at the core, not very different than mo skills.

Zuo Mo had the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique that was third ranked in general level. Even though he could not express the full power, but the strength of his physical body was not lacking compared to any general level mo physique! Especially his right hand that was engraved with the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie mo matrix. That was extremely hard and the power of this fist scripture could be completely released.

When Zuo Mo attacked he used [Sky Wave Fist Scripture]’s most powerful killing move, [Sky Glass Wave]! This was the only move that Zuo Mo thought was acceptable out of the entire [Sky Glass Fist Scripture].

However unlike before when the fist energy would leave his hand, Zuo Mo used his strong control to keep the continuously multiplying power inside his right fist to form such a domineering punch!

Even Zuo Mo was surprised at the power of this punch.

But his mind did not relax. His right leg that landed on the ground pushed off again.

The words on the Mo Skill Stele flowed like water across his mind.

The sinews, bones, blood and flesh in his body automatically adjusted as though they were alive. His movements became even more balanced and coordinated, his power even more condensed, and his speed even faster!

Zuo Mo’s body imperceptibly shook and the air around him suddenly exploded!

Pia!

The light sound rang out over the entire field. An intangible ripple spread.

Zuo Mo felt his entire body light up as though all the restraints tying him down had been broken.

Lan Tian Long suddenly stood up from where he was on the stands, his face stunned. He looked hard at the ghostly figure on the field.

That was—sonic boom!

Chapter 575 - Kill

Sonic Boom, it referred to the explosion that occurred when the body broke free of the restraints of air.

Technically, this technique was not difficult and even someone in brigadier level could comprehend it, but in reality there were very few mo that comprehended this technique. This was because sonic booms required a solid foundation in the fundamentals and basic techniques. One had to be very balanced and outstanding at controlling every part of their body.

Yet for these people that started cultivating when they were children, there were rarely any that would cultivate the basic mo skills one by one. Every mo skill had their focus and being balanced meant that no one trait was outstanding. For mo that were highly competitive and lived in cruel environments, not many would choose this.

The mo that could achieve sonic booms may not be very strong but they were well rounded and good at controlling their body.

The benefits of the sonic boom could be seen. Breaking free of the restraint of air meant that one’s movements could become faster and more nimble. The momentum behind their attacks could be stronger. The mo that could achieve sonic booms had the outstanding ability to balance their body and would have each action under their complete control—for example, Zuo Mo at this time!

His back was slightly arched like a cat about to pounce. His right hand that was drawn back at the side of his body and flashed with a serene blue light. His punch drew out a heart-shaking stream of light!

His movements were clearly lightning fast but every action was clear and crisp, perfectly coordinated. It carried a beauty that was pleasing to the eye.

Pang Chen definitely did not feel any sense of this beauty!

A thin layer of sweat had unconsciously appeared on his forehead. After blocking just one attack and retreating one step, he felt as though he had fought for a long time and was extremely exhausted.

His resilient mind that he was proud of started showing signs of instability.

All of this was because of the other’s strong pressure!

A suffocating pressure that could crumble mountains!

It was just one punch … …

There was a gigantic battle arena but for some reason, he felt as though he was trapped with nowhere to escape. At the sonic boom just now, his expression changed. It was not the first time he had seen a sonic boom but now… …

His gaze stared hard at the serene blue light that flowed and flashed in the air!

His body uncontrollably shivered, all the blood inside seemed to freeze, every muscle seemed to disobey. The other’s murderousness seemed to wrap around him. No matter where he tried to flee, he would not be able to escape the other.

Time seemed to slow in his eyes. That mind-blowing serene blue light seemed to slow down.

He seemed to already see the result. He would not be able to dodge it! He would be destroyed!

Blood rose in Pang Chen’s eyes. He was like a wild beast trapped in a cage and furiously fought back! He was a famous warrior who had fought through numerous battles. Fighting free of the terror, his fighting spirit exploded!

Dead … … then he will also die!

Pang Chen’s expression was twisted. He glared angrily and ignored the streak of flowing light that was heading towards him. He charged forward rather than retreat, leaping directly at Zuo Mo!

The brown mo matrix was like the scales of a python, layer upon layer that covered Pang Chen’s body. They seemed to come alive and wandered all over Pang Chen’s body. His body became as flexible as a snake, each muscle like a cord made from numerous thin chains woven together.

Using his left foot as the pivot, his body twisted strangely!

Every piece of muscle tensed and suddenly contracted like a slender iron chain. Shocking power exploded the moment the muscles tensed!

The power was passed on in waves to his right fist!

The brown light seemed to be tangible as it shrouded his right fist. It seemed to be the head of a python, howling and shrieking as it swept the entire field like a galewind!

[Twisting Python Pounce]!

Lan Tian Long’s eyes lit up on the stands. His hands dug into the stone handrails but he did not feel it.

Pang Chen’s [Twisting Python Pounce] was much stronger than in the past!

All the power in his body gathered in Pang chen’s right fist in this instant. This strange technique of gathering power was extremely powerful in its momentum. Even among Great Peace City that was filled with experts, it was an unique attack!

Just as Lan Tian Long was shocked, a change happened.

The brown ball of light that shrouding Pang Chen’s right fist began to crumble from the top like a mold of dirt. The layer outside started to fall off!

A life-like brown python head appeared!

The cold pupils, the triangle-shaped head, the tongue that flickered about. It was still a brown light but it gave people a feeling of being alive!

The eyes of the brown python narrowed slightly. Its great mouth opened and its sharp teeth shot out.

Crack, Lan Tian Long’s hand tensed and he ripped a large piece of stone off the handrails.

Lan Tian Long’s eyes did not move away. He felt his blood boil when he saw Zuo Mo’s punch and he hadn’t expected for Pang Chen to have a breakthrough while standing at the gate of life and death. Seeing this, he wanted to get on the field as well.

Pang Chen was overjoyed. He hadn’t thought he would have a breakthrough at such a crucial moment. A power he never felt before swelled up and filled every muscle in his body. He had never felt so powerful before!

He had confidence that anything, no matter what, would turn to dust in front of his punch! Even if it was a mountain!

“Go die!”

The howl of the brown snake was like a furious wave that covered all sound in the battle stadium!

Suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes, a pair of clear and determined eyes!

He stilled slightly.

The serene blue light rippled as it suddenly jumped into his field of view.

This … … this was … …

The other did not dodge, did not hesitate or pause. It was as though the other did not see anything. That fist that was covered in the serene blue mo matrix collided with the python!

Haha! Idiot!

Pang Chen wanted to laugh out loud. He had not imagined the other to be so confident to such a level. Even seeing that he had had a breakthrough, the other still tried to overpower him!

Such an idiot!

Did he not know that the [Twisting Python Pounce] after his breakthrough was ten times as powerful as before!

Ten times!

Such intoxicating power!

Come, have a taste of ten times the power!

Pang Chen’s smile suddenly became vicious.

Yet his smile suddenly froze on his face. The scene in front of him seemed to play out in slow motion, delayed and crystal clear. He watched as the brown snake started to crumble, from the teeth, and then turn to dust!

Why … … was it like this … …

He did not have the time to think before the python turned to a ball of powder and dissipated. The sharp howl abruptly stopped!

Ten times … …

The blue light filled every corner of his vision.

———

Zuo Mo did not take a second look at the pile of blood and flesh. He panted. The punch just now had used up almost all the power in his body. He took a few deep breaths and he recovered some strength. He raised his right fist. The serene blue mo matrix on his hand  had diminished in intensity.

Zuo Mo was savoring the feeling of that punch just now.

If it was just pure physical power, the attack definitely would not be so destructive. The moment he came into contact with the other’s fist, a thread of shen power inside the right fist suddenly came out. This was what caused such a terrifying [Sky Glass Wave]!

Shen power … …

Zuo Mo was contemplating this occurrence.

Zuo Mo quickly recovered. The stands were completely silent. Everyone was gaping, their faces pale and had terrified expressions.

Among this death like silence, Zuo Mo walked back to his starting position, back straight,picking up his bandage, and started to rewrap his hand.

His movements were slow and his expression serious as though no one else was around.

There was no joy from his victory. Even though he had gain understanding on many things from this fight, even though he had successfully completed a step in Pu Yao’s plan … … but if none of this had ever happened, if he was still on Wu Kong Mountain, then how good would that be … …

This absurd thought flashed in his mind and then disappeared just like the warm memory fragments.

He grimaced inside. His eyes became clear again, and determination set in.

“Hey, what are you called?” On the stands, Hua Ning suddenly shouted loudly. The guards around her instantly became nervous. From Zuo Mo’s display just now, they knew he was a very dangerous person.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Just now, he had heard what Hua Ning had said to Pang Chen.

This woman was really heartless!

He couldn’t help but glance at Pang Chen on the ground in sympathy. He did not stop to respond and continued to walk back outside. My A Gui is so much better!

Shu Long had an expression of relief and hurried over. He had been very nervous just now.

“Hey hey hey, I asked you a question!” Hua Ning still chased after him.

Zuo Mo was too lazy to pay attention to a girl with such a bad heart. He left.

“You you you … …” Hua Ning had not expected that someone would ignore her. She instantly burst into tears and her guards hurried to comfort her.

In the stands, Lan Tian Long did not call out to Zuo Mo. However, his eyes flashed. His intuition that day had not been wrong!

Only when Zuo Mo’s figure disappeared from the battle stadium did the deathly silent stands lose all restraint and explode. The roaring crowd made it so that people could not even hear what the person next to them said.

Everyone’s expressions turned from an ashen white to an excited red.

The fight just now was brief but it was mind-blowing and unexpected. Everyone was immersed in the fight just now. That unparalleled and domineering punch. The promise of ten moves that Pang Chen had declared, his breakthrough at the cusp of life and death.

The famous warrior Pang Chen had been killed in two moves and his opponent was an unknown newcomer. This fight would shake the entire city!

———

Feng Yue hurried with her army. She had disobeyed military orders and had secretly taken an army troop with her but she knew what was most important. She had followed Jiang Zhe for a long time and her judgment was not bad. She knew that this period of time was the prelude to a large battle. After a brief respite, the counterattack from the mo would come.

She had to take revenge for Ding Zhen Shishu before the mo retaliated.

So while travelling, she did not rest for one moment. She desired to reach Cloud Sea Jie at the fastest possible speed.

After they crossed this jie river, they would be in Cloud Sea Jie.

“Everyone is tired. There is just a bit of road left. Everyone, put one last effort in. We will rest when he get to Cloud Sea Jie!” Feng Yue motivated the group.

The subordinates could not disguise their exhaustion but they nodded. Feng Yue held great weight among them and they were well-trained. It was difficult to travel fast like this, but there was still a distance until it reached their limits.

“Let’s cross the river!” Feng Yue gritted out.

Ding Zhen Shishu, I will definitely get revenge for you!

Chapter 576 - Enemy Invasion

The death of Pang Chen shook all of Great Peace City

This was the first famous warrior death in the last half year!

The chaos rifts caused the fighting between the three factions to quickly intensify. People’s attentions naturally were on the increasingly complex state of the world. Many experts had returned to their clans to participate in the war. Great Peace City had been silent for a long time as a result but as the state of some places stabilized, experts, like Lan Tian Long, came back, Great Peace City recovered its usual atmosphere.

Pang Chen had died! The opponent was a newcomer! Two punches!

The mo who had watched the fight in person tried their best to describe the dominance and terrifying nature of the two punches. The promise of ten moves by Pang Chen to Miss Hua Ning became the biggest joke of the challenge.

The mirage of this challenge was a hot seller. The enthusiasm of the Great Peace citizen erupted!

How many years had it been since a newcomer beat  a famous warrior?

As the rules were perfected, challenges that crossed levels in status like this were rarer to see. No one was concerned about why Pang Chen had challenged Zuo Mo. They only knew that Pang Chen had died on the hands of a newcome!

Newcomer!

They quickly found that even now, they did not know what this newcomer was called.

So people started to investigate.

The name of Butcher Guard Camp that killed three thousand bandits with one hundred people, rescued Tao Xing’s group on their way, used one attack to defeat the King Yaksha, and caused hundreds of green yaksha to flee … …

He became even more mysterious!

Now, many factions paid attention this newcomer that had come out of nowhere.

Great Peace City seemed to come alive.

———

“What? Pang Chen is dead?” Bu Heng’s wine cup crumbled to dust in his hands.

“Yes!” The subordinate hurriedly played a mirage.

Bu Heng stared motionlessly at the mirage as though he was paralyzed.

The mirage perfectly captured the entire process. Without any effort, Bu Heng could catch every detail. Even outside the mirage, Bu Heng felt his mind shudder at the other’s domineering punch.

“We underestimated him,” Bu Hen suddenly said. He straightened his back, and his expression became peaceful again.

He had seen the mirage of Pang Chen and Qi Diao Yu’s fight. Qi Diao Yu had not used all of his power, but Pang Chen was definitely on of the top fighters in order to withstand thirty of Qi Diao Yu’s moves. Also, Pang Chen had improved over the years, and even had had a breakthrough at the end, but he was still killed by that one punch.

Just who was this person?

The other seemed to have come out of nowhere. Even now, they had not identified the other’s origins.

This caused Bu Heng to feel anxious.

Bu Heng was not worried about individual strength. From his angle, while that punch was domineering and mind-shaking, if the other did not have a strong background, he still had many ways of eliminating the other.

This was Great Peace City. This place never lacked for experts!

———

“A Zha Ge, I heard you lost a while ago?” a large man laughed, his tone teasing.

A Zha Ge was not angry and said with a smile, “I encountered a very powerful xiuzhe battle general. He isn’t just strong. His battalion is clearly much weaker than mine but he was able to fight me to standstill. If our battalions were the same strength, I probably would not be able to win.”

“So powerful?” The large man was surprised. “A Zha Ge, you are one of the three great battle generals of our Stellar Rahula Clan. Even you are not a match?”

A Zha Ge grimaced and spread his hands. “I’m really not a match.”

The large man’s surprise increased. He knew that A Zha Ge would not joke about a matter like this. After a moment of thought, he said, “How do you think Bi Shan compares to him?”

Bi Shan was the head of the three Stellar Rahula Clan battle generals, and he had never lost in his life.

“Not as good.” A Zha Ge shook his head.

The large man’s expression became serious. “Is he a disciple from the Big Four? Xuan Kong Temple has produced that  Jiang Zhe who recently took over Cold Mountain Jie. Many people are rallying together now in preparation to take back Cold Mountain Jie.”

“He is not a disciple from the Four Sects. I asked him, they are from Cloud Sea Jie. I detected from his tone that they do not like the Big Four very much.” A Zha Ge was an attentive person despite his easy-going nature. “The reason that they attacked Middle Granary Jie seems to be for the chaos rift to this side.”

“Do they want to invade the mo territories?” The large man’s expression changed slightly. Who could not be on their guard when there was a powerful opponent next to them?

“They don’t seem like it.” A Zha Ge thought and the nsaid, “From the discussion I had with them, they are not the same as the Big Four, and they do not seem to be hostile to mo. Also, there are not many of them. They would need to take a long time to stabilize Middle Granary Jie. They seemed to want the chaos rift for a certain goal.”

“What do you plan to do?” The large man’s expression eased.

“Become allies!” A Zha Ge said crisply. “It would be terrifying to have such a strong battle general as an enemy. It is much better to become friends. It will be worth it even if I have to pay a price.”

“En, if he is as strong as you say, this is right,” the large man nodded and said.

“How is the progress on Bi Shan and the other’s end?” A Zha Ge asked.

“Not very smooth.” The large man shook his head, his expression worried. “They encountered trouble. Gongye Xiao Rong’s reputation is not as famous as Jiang Zhe, but he is just lacking a major victory. Bi Shan has lost two times already. Fortunately, the losses were not large. Bi Shan is planning on allying with the yao in the area. However, the battle general of that yao battalion is very young, and it is a female!”

“Female? A Zha Ge stilled.

“Yes, she’s called Mu Xi. She is from a famous family, the Palace Lake Mu Clan but she is too young. I’m slightly worried.” The large man’s expression was slightly displeased. He clearly felt discontent that their ally had sent a little girl.

A Zha Ge was also worried but he still comforted, “Palace Lake Wood Clan is a famed family. If they dare to send this little girl, she definitely is extraordinary in some aspect.”

“I hope it is so!” The large man grimaced and suddenly said, “What do you think about the state of affairs?”

A Zha Ge smiled. “To use a common saying, a new era has arrived.”

“How so?” the large man asked interestedly.

“The Sky-Splitting Calamity has pushed the yaomo and xiuzhe that used to be separated by Blood Sky Metropolis Jie back together. It is unavoidable for yaomo and xiuzhe to mix together.” A Zha Ge’s expression was extremely serious.

The large man shook his head in disagreement. “We and the xiuzhe have generations of blood and hate between us, how can we mix?”

“As there is more and more contact between yaomo and xiuzhe. The mixing cannot be stopped. There are so many chaos rifts, who can seal them all? This whirlpool will increase in size, no one can escape. We will definitely be fighting now, but there will be a day when everyone gets tired of fighting and will naturally come together,” A Zha Ge said with a chuckle.

The large man found it hard to accept what A Zha Ge said. He shook his head and said with a smile, “Your thoughts are always different than everyone else.”

“Time would prove everything.” A Zha Ge raised an eyebrow.

———

Turtle Island.

Ma Fan’s face almost scrunched into a ball. Looking at the busy campsite, he rubbed his head. He really wanted to complain and say “So troublesome,” but when the words reached his mouth, he swallowed them.

Right now, he was the commander of a camp, and he could not be as carefree as before and do as he wished.

Ever since Lil’Miss put Black Turtle Camp into his hands, he put almost all of his mind and heart into it. Like a sponge, he furiously soaked up knowledge about being a battle general and spent all his time on this.

The strength of Black Turtle Camp had continuously increased. As Turtle Island’s status in Cloud Sea Jie continued to stabilize, there were greater numbers of  young and accomplished people that came to participate. The average strength level was much higher.

Other than an occasional inspection, Lil’ Miss did not pay too much attention to Black Turtle Camp. Black Turtle Camp was created entirely based on Ma Fan’s thoughts.

The skeleton of Black Turtle Camp was the Sky Peak Platoon and the other members were local xiuzhe. There were many jindan xiuzhe but in terms of combat ability, they were very lacking compared to the jindan of Vermillion Bird Camp. Even more troublesome was that these xiuzhe were from different  families and had different spells and talismans they used. There were dhyana xiu, roaming xiu, and sword xiu.

Ma Fan knew that his battle general skill level was limited so he changed his usual laid-back personality and paid careful attention to details.

Maybe it was because he had been the tactical center before that Ma Fan was most skilled in micro-tactics. All of Black Turtle Camp followed him in this.

He made up teams, one after the next, and designed small-area tactics for all of them.

Black Turtle Camp was like a smorgasbord. The xiuzhe in each team were of different types and each team’s tactics were different. At many times, Ma Fan felt that his Black Turtle Camp was like the clothing of a beggar, patched together.

He especially longed for the pleasure of Vermillion Bird Camp’s thousand swords moving at once. However, he could only be envious.

Whenever these thoughts occurred, then it was the time that Black Turtle Camp’s training increased drastically.

The training intensity of Black Turtle Camp was based on Vermillion Bird Camp’s standard. The amount of training was so high that many local xiuzhe complained. However, Ma Fan was a cunning person. If someone wanted to slack off under his eyes, that was akin to seeking death.

The sword formations were like cages dripping with blood as they were set up around the training camp. Wanted to slack off? Then in you go!

Ma Fan did not have a high opinion of Black Turtle Camp but what surprised him was that when Lil’ Miss came for an inspection, Lil’ Miss had praised him.

When he saw the red eyes of Wei Ran and the others, Ma Fan felt his entire body lightened. Whenever he went back to think about this, Ma Fan’s mood would become much better.

However, while Black Turtle Camp had also participated in the fight for Middle Granary Jie, they were still overshadowed by Vermillion Bird Camp. He was not very happy.

This time, Ma Fan had come back to Turtle Island with orders for Black Turtle Camp to engrave formations.

Supposedly, Turtle Island’s mo matrixes had had a breakthrough. Golden Crow Camp could engrave even more powerful formations. Lil’ Miss who felt that the camp’s strength was not enough decided to have Black Turtle Camp go back to get formations engraved.

However, they had to wait for a few days. Golden Crow Camp still had a few mo who had not finished.

Ma Fan was not in a hurry. Returning to Turtle Island, he felt very close to this. However, he still spent his time on the training of Black Turtle Camp. He was continuously correcting and adjusting the problems exposed during the battles of Middle Granary Jie.

Suddenly, a paper crane flew in front of Ma Fan.

Before he even unfolded it, Ma Fan’s expression changed. This type of paper crane would only be used for an emergency report!

He unfolded the paper crane.

–Enemy Invasion! Jie river!

Chapter 577 - Please Call Me Xiao Mo Ge

The report had not come from Lil’ Miss Daren but from a town near the jie river.

They had originally been planning to set up the island formation near the town, when a battalion of about a thousand people suddenly appeared. They realized that this battalion was not one from Cloud Sea Jie after the xiuzhe they sent as a messenger had been killed, confirming status as an enemy.

When Ma Fan received the report, he understood the seriousness of the situation. Lil’ Miss was in Middle Granary Jie and in Cloud Sea Jie, the only camp that could fight was Black Turtle Camp.

Fortunately, in order to connect the large cloud islands together, the transportation formations inside Cloud Sea Jie were very well-developed. The area near the jie river was also a place greatly protected and the transportation formations were very convenient.

Ma Fan decided to report the news to Lil’ Miss Daren as he furiously organized his troops to rush towards the jie river.

After going through several transportation formations, Ma Fan’s Black Turtle Camp reached the jie river at their fastest possible speed!

To his surprise, when he arrived, the other side was resting. With a moment of thought, Ma Fan understood. The other probably had travelled  a long-distance and needed to recover.

The xiuzhe that had went to meet them had been killed. There was no need to inquire about their intentions.

“Such a powerful battalion!” Nian Lu said in surprise.

Ma Fan’s expression was slightly grave. He could also see the extraordinary skill  of this battalion, fromtheir outfits equipment and their well-organized troops. They were definitely military.

“What are we afraid of? If we charge, they will fall!” Lei Peng rumbled, his expression unconcerned. Without Lil’ Miss’ control in Black Turtle Camp, Lei Peng’s bravado had grown.

“Can you see their origins?” Ma Fan asked Nian Lu.

Of the three, Nian Lu was the most detail-oriented and was a very good vice commander.

Nian Lu’s eyes narrowed and a moment later, his expression changed slightly. “It is a battalion from Xuan Kong Temple!” The insignia on their bodies flashed with light under the sun. Lil’ Miss had expected Xuan Kong Temple to come seek them long ago and paid special attention to intelligence from Xuan Kong Temple.

“Xuan Kong Temple!” Ma Fan’s expression couldn’t help but change slightly. No wonder he felt the other’s troops were extraordinary, a Xuan Kong Temple Battalion.

Having discovered the other’s origins, the trio knew there was no way to avoid this fight.

But a battalion from Xuan Kong Temple … …

Up until now, Black Turtle Camp had never had a large battle. Ma Fan knew without thinking what the result of facing this Xuan Kong Temple battalion was.

Lil’ Miss Daren had definitely received the news now. Vermillion Bird Camp was most likely on the way!

What they needed to do was delay them and wait for Vermillion Bird Camp to arrive. Ma Fan didn’t even think about facing them in real battle. Cloud Sea Jie was not a large jie, and even the outstanding disciples of local sects were lacking compared to the xiuzhe in the other’s battalion.

But no matter what, they could not let the other advance deep into Cloud Sea Jie!

The Great Thousand Island Formation was not yet complete. There was Turtle Island and Golden Crow Camp. If the other charged onto Turtle Island, than Daren’s great estate would be ruined! He definitely could not accept this!

Ma Fan looked behind him. Black Turtle Camp had departed just as training for the day had started. They were now just warmed up, and they had arrived using the transportation formations so they had not expended a great amount of energy along the way.

In other words, Black Turtle Camp’s energy and alertness were at their peak!

The other might looked disciplined but their expressions could not disguise their tiredness.

Ma Fan gritted his teeth, murderousness flashing through his eyes. This was their best chance! If the other recovered, then it would not be good!

Thinking it through, Ma Fan’s expression calmed down. He pulled over Lei Peng. “Lei Zi, you are first, let’s charge!”

Lei Peng grinned, his expression excited. He liked these words the best!

As to that Xuan Kong Temple, who was that?

———

Feng Yue’s expression darkened. This battalion had clearly come from another place. The other’s quick response almost surpassed her imagination.

She was very knowledgeable and instantly understood Cloud Sea Jie had built a well-developed transportation formation system. She couldn’t help but be surprised. Everyone knew the benefits of a transportation formation system, but each transportation formation was a significant expenditure. They also needed xiuzhe skilled in seal formations to build them and creating a system would take a large amount of jingshi. Not everyone would be willing to spend such a great price.

But when her gaze swept this battalion, the anxiety in her heart settled back down.

The other battalion’s skill level was very lacking compared to her battalion. She did not feel that this was strange. This was an expected situation. The regular battalions of Xuan Kong Temple were not lacking compared to the elite battalions of smaller places.

This was what it meant to be a great sect!

Even more, they were one of the great four.

They were like the titans at the top of the food chain. They could idly look down at the beings living below. With just a pinky, they could crush a whole group of little ants.

In the eyes of Feng Yue, Cloud Sea Jie was a little group of ants!

Ants could chew an elephant to death, but not a dragon!

Suddenly, her expression stilled. Disbelief came onto her face. The other battalion was charging at them!

Feng Yue had followed Jiang Zhe though numerous battles. Other than the mo, no battalion had ever attacked them first.

Where these people crazy?

Feng Yue stood up, her eyes becoming icy. She was going to let these ants know that even the  spark of anger from a dragon was enough to burn them to the point that not even ash would remain!

The other xiuzhe also stood up. The laughable actions of the other side provoke these proud combat xiu!

———

Gao Xuan was feeling panicked. He had not expected Feng Yue to be in such a rush. He had sprinted with five hundred people but he still could not catch up to the other.

The reply that Feng Yue had given him was that she would finish the battle as quickly as possible.

Thinking about this, Gao Xuan couldn’t help but grimace. He was trying his best to hurry and catch up but the girl was not grateful. However, he did not doubt Feng Yue’s confidence. Feng Yue was a better battle general than he was, and the one thousand combat xiu in her command were experienced and had been tempered in battle. Even though they could not compare to the Jiangzi Battalion, they would dominate in any normal jie.

But he still did not dare to linger and sprinted on.

———

“Hem hem hem!” Zuo Mo pretentiously coughed.

Everyone, including Tao Xing, Tang Fei and Shou Ping were pulled over. Everyone looked in puzzlement at Zuo Mo. Looking at him, it seemed he had something to announce.

“Starting from today, everyone, call me Xiao Mo Ge!” Zuo Mo bowed.

The people stared at each other and did not understand what Zuo Mo was doing. Tao Xing was the first to react. His eyes lit up. “Is Mister Zuo worried that someone will figure out your background?”

“It is Mister Xiao!” Zuo Mo seriously corrected Tao Xing.

Tang Fei’s expression shifted. Inside, she thought, was this guy’s background really extraordinary? Otherwise, why would he use an alias?

Zuo Mo’s reaction was evidence for Tao Xing’s speculation. Tao Xing said unconcernedly, “Even though I feel that this will not work, but if you insist, this isn’t a problem.”

“Very good!” Zuo Mo clapped and turned to look at the other people.

Tang Fei nodded. “Alright!”

Shou Ping obediently nodded. “Not a problem, Xiao Daren!” After he had been admonished by Ceng Lian’er, Shou Ping became much more obedient.

Zuo Mo automatically ignored Ceng Lian’er. Zuo Mo was not changing his name due to an impulse. The name Zuo Mo would easily catch the attention of Kun Lun. Who would know if there were Kun Lun spies here?

“Even though you are not part of my battalion, I still have to remind you that the challenge this time is not an accident. Someone is acting against us,” Zuo Mo said calmly.

Tao Xing nodded. “It is Bu Heng!”

He had stayed in Great Peace City before and knew what went on behind the scenes. He explained, “Bu Heng and his battalion have entered Great Peace City. He should be the culprit this time.”

“This guy just won’t go away,” Zuo Mo muttered. He had completely forgotten how he had killed a few hundred of the other’s people. However, when he thought, he instantly became happy.

Bu Heng would not rest and would definitely send more people to test him out.

Wouldn’t they be delivering themselves to him?

He wouldn’t have to go find time to make challenges.

However, before this, he had to make a few more trips to the Mo Skills Steles. The content on the steles were very useful. What he had comprehended from the Mo Skill Steles had been crucial in dealing the fatal strike to Pang Chen.

This filled him with anticipation about the other content on the Mo Skill Steles.

A Wen had been scolded heavily by Shu Long after his epiphany passed, protecting Daren would be his first responsibility. Thinking how Daren had left someone to guard him so he would not be disturbed during his epiphany, A Wen was both moved and ashamed.

Yet what he had not expected was that Daren had given him an unexpected order. Daren requested that he had to read every mo skill stele.

Even if A Wen was stupid, he understood that Daren’s orders were to benefit him. He swore inside he would always follow Daren!

Zuo Mo did not think so much. He was still feeling the longing for the Mo Skill Steles.

Yet what he did not expect was when he walked out of the yard, someone shouted, “He’s come out!”

Woosh, a big group of people surrounded him.

Zuo Mo was shocked and almost attacked but he quickly found that while these people were excited, they did not hold enmity.

“Daren! Please accept me as your student!”

“Daren! Please accept me as your student!”

The tide of people crowded around Zuo Mo and cut off all paths of exit. Zuo Mo’s face was confused and he clearly did not understand what was going on. Only when Tao Xing came out of the compound, squeezing through the crowd to stand next to him and explain, did Zuo Mo finally understand.

They wanted to become his students!

These people had come in search of a teacher. This was caused by Zuo Mo’s victory of Pang Chen.

The crowd was packed and looked extremely spectacular.

After a rough glance, Zuo Mo estimated there were at least one hundred people, all of them looking pleadingly at Zuo Mo.

“Do not agree.” Tao Xing said in a low voice by his year, “These people are not strong enough and do not have any potential. If you agree, they will be a burden.”

Zuo Mo was silent.

Chapter 578 - Qi Diao Yu

Zuo Mo looked back at the pleading eyes. Thinking about his past, he did not feel good about his decision, but he also knew that Tao Xing was right. This was not Cloud Sea Jie. He was surrounded by enemies here, and he would die if he was the least bit careless. At that time, it wouldn’t just be risking his life. If he was in trouble, even these people would not have good endings.

Zuo Mo was about to speak.

Suddenly, a strange sound pierced the noisy street from the distance.

It was like a flute but not a flute, the sound was thin as a hair and just barely discernable.

The loud streets instantly quieted. This sound seemed to have a power that could soothe one’s mind and unconsciously calm them.

A figure slowly walked in from the direction of the city gate. A little black dot slowly grew into a tall figure.

Snowy-white robes, eyes like lacquer, the black hair feel like a waterfall onto a face that was so beautiful it did not seem like one of a man. There seemed to be an indiscernible power that made one unable to move their gaze. Around this figure several drops of transparent water mischievously condensed and scattered like a school of fish.

That strange and bewitching sound was produced by these water droplets.

When this person walked closer, that feeling of serenity grew stronger.

He walked slowly, his eye looking forwards as though he did not see any other people. His movements were graceful and ethereal like that of an immortal.

The sounds produced by the water droplets were extremely pleasing to hear. The more Zuo Mo listened, the more enchanted he became. Some beautiful memories appeared in his mind’s eye. All the worries, all his depression, they all dissipated, A smile unconsciously rose onto his face.

Suddenly, the sun script at Zuo Mo’s chest lit up. A slender burning flow of power circulated automatically around his body. Zuo Mo shook. The scene in front of him changed, the pictures shattering. The voice that reached into his mind was still pleasant to hear, but  had lost its enchanting power.

Zuo Mo was shocked. The people around him all still had dreamy smiles and caused his hairs to stand on end.

Such a powerful mo sound!

He raised his head and stared hard at the figure. Who was this person?

The other seemed to pause slightly in his footsteps, glancing at Zuo Mo out of the corner of his eyes but he did not stop and continued to walk forward.

The entire street was deathly silent. Everyone had that strange smile on their face.

“Hmph!”

A cold snort which was not loud rang over Great Peace City like a roar of thunder. The faintly discernable mo sound seemed to have been pushed and instantly dissipated. The people who had been bewitched seemed to wake up. Their faces became ashen. They looked in respect and terror at the man in the snowy-white robes.

Tao Xing also woke up. When he saw the white-robed male in the center of the street, his expression changed dramatically. Terror rose on his face as he exclaimed, “Qi Diao Yu!”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo also reacted and hurriedly asked, “Qi Diao Yu?”

“Why has he come to Great Peace City?” Tao Xing murmured to himself with a white face.

Qi Diao Yu’s figure had disappeared right as the sound that had enchanted their hearts had also disappeared. The entire street became busy and loud again but there was still a trace of terror that remained on everyone’s faces.

“Qi Diao Yu is one of the most famous experts right now. He reached the peak of general level when he was twenty three. In search of a breakthrough, he came to Great Peace City. In the one year he was here, he challenged and defeated many heroes. Then he disappeared. I had not expected him to return to Great Peace City again!” Tao Xing had a reminiscing expression. “That was about three years ago. Now Great Peace City will be busy!”

“So strong!” Zuo Mo sighed. Even he had been caught just now. The other’s power was immeasurable.

“He really is powerful. He also came out of nowhere and has a mysterious background. Even now, no one knows what family he belongs to. Pang Chen, the person you killed, became famous because he managed to withstand thirty of Qi Diao Yu’s moves before being defeated. You can imagine just how powerful Qi Diao Yu was back then.” An expression of respect came onto Tao Xing’s face.

“He’s even more powerful than before!” Zuo Mo’s expression was grave. He did not know how great Qi Diao Yu’s power was now, but he believed that if Pang Chen once again fought Qi Diao Yu, he would not survive one move!

Even the pressure that the old thieving baldy Ding Zhen had given Zuo Mo was not as strong as Qi Diao Yu.

Qi Diao Yu had not purposely released that sound. That was just the weak ripples of power leaking out from the water droplets. The after-effects were already so strong. If the other used their full power, how terrifying would it be!

Zuo Mo was not sure how many of the other’s moves he would be able to withstand.

This was the strongest mo that Zuo Mo had encountered until now!

“He went to the Mo Skill Steles?” Zuo Mo suddenly said.

“Let’s go to the Mo Skills Steles tomorrow,” Tao Xing hurriedly said.

Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly changed. “Damn it, A Wen is still at the Mo Skils Steles!” As he spoke, he leapt into the air and sprinted towards the Mo Skills Steles.

He was extremely panicked. A Wen, do not provoke this demon!

At a full sprint, he was extremely fast and in a blink, he reached the Mo Skill Steles. When he arrived, he instantly sighed in relief. Demon Qi’s figure had disappeared into the deeper regions of the stele forest. It seemed that his goal should be the Mo Skill Steles at the very end.

A Wen was sitting with a dazed expression under a different stone stele.

This guy was having an epiphany again?

Zuo Mo paused and didn’t know to laugh or cry. He then sighed in wonder. A Wen’s talent was really outstanding! He had sent the other people to copy the contents of what was on the Mo Skill Steles so everyone would have a copy but up until now, the only one who had an epiphany was A Wen.

Even more shocking was that this was his second epiphany!

Zuo Mo was becoming slightly jealous. He had comprehended a lot from the Mo Skill Steles, but he had not entered the state of epiphany. This guy had entered it two times!

Zuo Mo shook his head and smiled. His anxiety settling down, he started to read once again.

His speed of progression was very fast. Even if he encountered a problem, he would understand after some thought. Right now, he had the strength of a general level, and he could examine the problems from a deeper level of power. He naturally solved these problems easily.

The Mo Skill Steles quickly resumed their normal levels of activity. Qi Diao Yu went into the deepest part of the stele forest and did not affect the people reading on the outer regions. The busy flows of people appeared again.

Zuo Mo’s steps gradually slowed. As he went deeper, the content on the stone steles became harder to understand. He needed to slowly think and ponder over their lessons.

As he went deeper, there were fewer people around him.

Zuo Mo’s surprise increased. He found something unique about the Mo Skill Steles.

Starting from the twenty second mo skill stele, the content on the stele was not just limited to mo skills. He found many descriptions on it that were similar to spells and yao arts.

At the beginning, he had thought this was a coincidence but as similarities in the content increased, he found to his shock this was not a coincidence!

Spells, yao arts, mo skills, Zuo Mo had learned all three areas before. Even though his cultivation of spells was not outstanding, he had read many jade scrolls and his fundamental knowledge was deep. As to the yao arts, while they were not as outstanding as his mo skills, he was able to cast the Archaic Wasteland Sacricifial Art and could be called an expert in the yao world.

This meant that he did not face too many barriers when he reached lessons on these areas, but he couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

Had Shi Zi Ming been skilled in the three powers?

As he went deeper, this puzzlement increased. Shi Zi Ming’s theories, no matter if it was spells, yao arts, or mo skills, were accurate and profound. Even a freak like Zuo Mo that was skilled in all three felt it was difficult to understand in many places.

Was there really someone in the world that was born knowing this?

———

At a corner not far from the Mo Skill Steles.

“Which stele he at now?” A pointy-faced man lowered his voice to ask. But his gaze did not leave Zuo Mo who was in front of the stone stele.

“Twenty sixth.” His fellow with purple hair and a black face gave an accurate answer.

“Is this guy just looking around,” the pointy-faced man said hesitantly. “This speed is slightly fast.”

“Slightly fast? It is too fast!” The purple haired man said coldly.

“Yes, to reach and read the twenty sixth mo skill stele, it is not possible!” the pointy-faced man said unconcernedly. “Has he discovered that we are watching him?”

“Who says it is not possible? You forgot that person,” the purple haired man said.

“Who?” the pointy-haired man asked.

“The one in there!” The purple-haired man pushed his lips towards the deepest part of the stele forest. “Did you forget what that person did in the past?”

“Hiss!” The pointy-faced man inhaled sharply and his face paled. “How can I forget? In one day and night, comprehended thirty pieces of the stone stele, that speed had been something no one else achieved before and no one else since!”

“It is true that no one did it before him, but it’s not certain that there is no one else after him.” The purple haired man stared attentively at Zuo Mo and said to himself, “I have a feeling that this Xiao Mo Ge is not an average person.”

“You don’t think he’s just strolling by?” the pointy-faced man said in disbelief.

“No.” the purple haired man said, “Notice how long he is spending in front of every stele. The deeper the stele is, the longer he spends on it. He has spent more than two hours in front of this mo skill stele. He is clearly thinking, and not just glancing at the content!

“Then … … then isn’t he … …” the pointy-faced man stammered.

“Just like how Qi Diao Yu was in the past!” the purple haired man said the second half of his fellow’s sentence. He had been stationed at Great Peace City for more than a decade. His daily task for the family was extremely dull. It was to observe the mo that were studying at the stone steles.

Normal people would not notice these details but they could estimate many things from these details.

In his eyes, the effects of Zuo Mo’s speed in going through the stone steles was more shocking than defeating Pang Chen.

The purple haired man stopped talking. His eyes flashed with a different like as he stared at Zuo Mo that was in deep thought in front of the stele. He had a strong feeling that another powerful person was going to appear in Great Peace City!

Focusing, he said to his fellow, “Quick, report this to the main steward.”

The pointy-faced man did not dare to hesitate and disappeared into the shadows.

The purple haired man’s eyes suddenly turned in another direction of shadow within the stele forest. Right there, just now, another figure had flashed by. His eyes instantly narrowed. Without thinking, he knew who it was. An old opponent. There were also other observers in the other shadows.

All of them had come!

It seemed that everyone had great expectations for this person!

Chapter 579 - Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus

Their battlefield spanned hundreds of li.Blinding balls of light in various colors lit up the sky. The sound of explosions and sharp howls continued constantly.

Sword energies, spells, talismans,, lights of various colors were like rainbows as countless figures in battle formations flashed between the waves of light, chasing, fighting, all kinds of moves.

People were occasionally crushed into dust, or fell from the sky into the Cloud Sea.

This was especially with with the fighting between the jindan of both sides where one full-powered attack could create balls of light that were dozens of mu in size. They were like miniature suns. The rampaging wave of air spreading into all directions.

One side wanted to end as soon as possible. The other pressed the offense as their defense. From the beginning, the fighting was at a high intensity level.

———

Feng Yue quickly felt the pressure of the enemy attack.

They had expected a quick collapse of the other’s forces shortly after initial contact. The other was like a glue that stayed on them. The other’s strength was not high and their fighting methods were not outstanding. In her view, they were scattered and disorganized.

But such a chaotic troop had fought them them here for an hour and were not at a disadvantage.

Why was it like this?

She knew that her combat xiu were exhausted from their trip and knew that the other had more people, but in her view these factors should not have been enough to delay their progress. Their collective strength was a whole level higher, they were better trained, and they had more combat experience. In her experience, they should be cleaning up the battlefield right now rather than fighting at a standstill.

Feng Yue forced herself to calm down. She felt unused to Jiang Zhe’s absence but her training and experience quickly showed itself.

She examined the battlefield.

———

Lei Peng’s eyes were bloodshot from bloodlust. He was the sharpest blade of Black Turtle Camp. That door size gold crystal sword caused all talismans to shatter wherever it passed. In this moment, he seemed undefeatable.

They were like a burning hot rod of metal piercing through a piece of butter.

The two sides had fought to a battle of attrition.

Ma Fan’s eyes were not relaxed like usual but were as sharp as an eagle. The situation right now was very beneficial for them. Black Turtle Camp was at full strength and they had the advantage of numbers. Choosing a battle of attrition was very appropriate for them. The longer they managed to drag out the fight, the more beneficial it would be for them.

Black Turtle Camp had just been created. It was fine when the momentum of the fighting was in their favor. But if the other’s presence was too strong, their morale, in all likelihood, would crumble.

A chaotic battle like this suited their utilization of micro-tactics.

As expected, after the panic of their first battle passed, Black Turtle Camp quickly adjusted. The tactics that Ma Fan had designed had a clear speciality. That is, each little team’s tactic was designed around a core member.

Those that were the core members were either members of Sky Peak Platoon or very experienced combat xiu. As long as the tactical core of each team was not panicked, the entire team would be stabilized.

These cores members did not fail Ma Fan’s trust. They quickly steadied their team, their members found their resolve, and they became even stronger.

On the chaotic battlefield, the xiuzhe of the Black Turtle Camp were becoming more and more at ease.

In the past, the combat xiu of Sky Peak Platoon had been handpicked by Lil’ Miss. The great majority of them were in now jindan, and their daily training regimen was much harder than normal combat xiu.

For a very long time in the past, Sky Peak Platoon had been the sharpest knife in Lil’ Miss’ hand!

Each of them were elite members that had been through many battles. Even when facing the jindan of the other camp, they were not at a disadvantage.

———

Feng Yui quickly discovered Ma Fan’s plan to draw her into a battle of attrition. Her brow creased and she said in a cold voice, “Do not linger in battle! Reorganize for a charge using a battle formation!”

The Xuan Kong Temple combat xiu systematically disengaged from their opponents.

Their speed was extremely fast and the combat xiu of Black Turtle Camp could not keep up. The talismans that Turtle Island combat xiu had were good but that was only in comparison with an average faction. When compared with a great entity like Xuan Kong Temple, they were very lacking.

Feng Yue swept the enemy with a glance. In such a short amount of time, she had lost about a hundred people. Even though the other side’s had definitely suffered more losses, she still felt fury.

She had been forced into a standstill against a troop like this. This could not be forgiven!

Feng Yue’s eyes turned icy.

The combat xiu gathered around her. Everyone looked at her and waited for her orders.

Feng Yue took a deep breath and raised her right hand.

“Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus Battle Formation!”

The eyes of the combat xiu lit up. They moved closer to each other and their low morale quickly rose.

Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus Battle Formation!

One of the classic battle formations of Xuan Kong Temple which possessed shocking power in its charge!

In the battle over Cold Mountain Jie, The formation that Jiang Zhe had used the most was the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus Battle Formation. Under the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus Battle Formation, even the domineering mo had turned to ash!

The fire lotus was unparalleled!

Each of the four great sects had their own unique battle tactics that formed their own systems. But in terms of offensive charge strength, Kun Lun’s Transverse Leap Sword Battle Formation, Tian Huan’s Celestial Wheel Battle Formation, Xi Xuan’s Flowing Gold Battle Formation, and Xuan Kong Temple’s Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus Battle Formation were the strongest!

Red snakes of fire burned and coiled around the arms of every Xuan Kong Temple combat xiu.

The other side was shrinking back. This movement caused them to feel excited.

———

When Ma Fan saw the other side’s combat xiu withdraw from their battles, he knew the other had discovered his intentions. However, he had expected this. He used Lei Peng’s charge to push into the other’s troops in order to force them into a battle of attrition. As long as the other side’s battle general was not stupid, he believed the other would eventually respond to this tactic.

Would a battle general from Xuan Kong Temple be stupid? He did not believe it.

However, he was slightly shocked at the other’s quick response. He knew that the true battle had just begun. The greenhorns of Black Turtle Camp had started to adjust to the rhythm of the battlefield. After this, they would be able to tolerate more pressure and their morale would not crumble so easily.

“They are going to charge. It should be the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus!” Nian Lu’s eyes narrowed as he panted lightly. He had been fighting intensely with a jindan just now.

Ma Fan nodded. He also recognized it. Ever since they had learned they would fight against Xuan Kong Temple, they had collected intelligence on the battle tactics of Xuan Kong Temple. Naturally, Ma Fan had read them.

He licked his lips and a cold light flashed through his eyes.

“Have everyone prepare. I hadn’t thought that this great gift would be for them. They are really lucky!”

Nian Lu snickered and went back to prepare.

Black Turtle Camp quickly formed a circular formation that looked just the same as the average defensive formation.

“Pay attention! All of you, pay attention!”

“Listen! Do not panic! Just do what we usually practice!”

“Don’t look at them, they are trying to scare you, there’s nothing big, didn’t we just kill a hundred of them just now?”

Every experienced combat xiu was trying to raise the morale of their fellows. They had only ever practiced this battle formation in training and had never used it in real battle.

This battle formation was something that Ma Fan had spent great time and effort to create. His initial goal was to be able to stop the three section wave killing charge of Vermillion Bird Camp. Even though it could theoretically stop it, because he never used it outside of practice, Ma Fan was not very confident.

However, since the other was using an offensive formation, then this battle formation was the most suited to be used against it.

All of this is for you!

Ma Fan stared hard at the other side. His expression when he licked his lips was like a wolf in the middle of a hunt! He was slightly anxious but his expression revealed he was more excited!

At this moment, the other moved!

———

In the sky, thousands of lines of fire appeared like a storm of fire!

The howls rumbled and the Cloud Sea shook!

The snakes of fire wrapped around the arms of every Xuan Kong Temple combat xiu suddenly grew multiple times. What was most shocking were those jindan xiuzhe. Their right arms were completely enveloped under the burning flames. The color of their fire was deeper than normal combat xiu and the sound caused by their flames was not loud, but extremely deep and stunning to the mind.

They accelerated, accelerated, accelerated!

The roar increased. The terrifying wave of air was like a huge axe that cleaved apart the Cloud Sea under them, forming an stunning sight as the fire cut an expanding wave through the Cloud Sea!

The jindan xiuzhe at the very front had a completely red face. A long tail streaked off the flames on his arms!

His pupils suddenly contracted as he shouted angrily, “Rage!”

His right fist that was pulled behind his body punched forward with all of his power!

“Rage!”

The combat xiu behind him shouted and punched in unison!

Almost a thousand fiery red fist energies left their hands. Like fire dragons charging out of the cage, they howled and leapt forward!

The closer to the rear the fist energies were, the faster the energies were. Starting from the last fiery fist energy, they continued to collide into the flames ahead of them and then into the ones further ahead.

The layers of collisions formed a bigger and bigger fiery fist energy. It was like a flame monster that continuously cannibalized its fellows to grow larger!

In a flash, the fiery fist energies formed into one enormous fireball!

The surface of the fire ball constantly shifted. It was possible to faintly discern an enormous figure that was trailing a long tail of flame.

Inside the ball of fire, the enormous figure grew clearer. Its features sharpened, the flames on the surface melting like ice. A furious face appeared in front of everyone’s eyes!

There seemed to be an invisible hand that was sculpting these scorching flames!

Bam!

Like the crack of glass, the flames outside the ball of fire dispersed to sparks and dissipated in the wind.

Among the spray of sparks, an angrily bodhisattva thirty zhang tall shot into the air. His right hand was holding a bright red fire lotus that was multiple times larger than his body. Like a meteor, it shot towards Black Turtle Camp that had shrunk into a circle!

In this moment, the sky seemed to turn red from the burning flames.

The Cloud Sea underneath their feet drastically crumbled.

The angry eyes of the flame lotus bodhisattva were indifferent as though he was staring down at ants.

Ma Fan did not dare to breathe. He started hard at the charging fire lotus bodhisattva, a crazy expression rising in his eyes.

Suddenly, his pupils expanded. His flying sword which had already been raised sliced down with all his might.

“Kill!”

Chapter 580 - Arcing Rainbow Battle Formation

There was a ball of light in each member of Black Turtle Camp’s hand. The colors were different and from afar, it seemed that many lanterns of different colors had been lit.

But if one looked closely, they would find to their shock that these lanterns of different colors were arranged in layers, one over the other. There were more than thirty six layers that had formed an irregular curve.

When Ma Fan’s shout of “Kill” sounded!

All the xiuzhe in the outermost layer of troops unhesitatingly threw out the balls of light in their hands in unison.

Woo!

An arc of light that was like a rainbow suddenly flew out of the circular formation and headed towards the bodhisattva’s fire lotus.

Woo woo woo!

The howls sounded, and the arcs of light fit together in layers. They were densely packed and in a tenth of a breath, thirty six arcs of light were released!

The color of each light arc was different. Thirty six colored arcs of different colors folded over each other and formed an even more varied rainbow!

Arcing Rainbow Battle Formation!

This was the defensive formation that Ma Fan had created for Black Turtle Camp. For this formation, he had spent a great deal of time, spending extreme amounts of effort and made countless trips to Golden Crow Camp!

The moment this blinding rainbow arc formed, unprecedented excitement spread into every fibre of Ma Fan’s muscles. His body uncontrollably trembled.

Everyone could not attend to their rest. They unconsciously stopped breathing.

No one would know how much they had suffered to train this battle formation to completion or how much punishment they had endured! Each person, from Ma Fan to the newest combat xiu of the camp had repeatedly practiced!

That blinding beautiful rainbow was just as difficult to form as it was beautiful.

Thirty six arcs of light. If one of them was incorrectly formed, it would mess up the other arcs of light and disperse the light in a burst of fireworks that had no effect.

The bodhisattva seemed to feel danger. It gave a sky-shaking howl, his hands holding up the lotus and smashing it down!

The rainbow was like a wind that swept across the sky and silently appeared in front of the bodhisattva.

The fresh red flame!

The blindingly beautiful rainbow!

The two collided.

The light that was produced pierced the world but none of the jindan xiuzhe blinked. They stared with wide eyes, afraid to miss a single detail!

The first light arc shattered!

The second light arc shattered!

The tenth light arc cracked!

The eleventh light arc cracked!

The eighteen arc of light stopped the fire losuu!

The Rage Lotus Bodhisattva shouted angrily, throwing himself into the fire lotus. The fire lotus exploded!

Breaking the arc of light!

The twenty third arc of light!

The fire lotus seemed to now be planted on this arc of light, as if it was grown there as decoration. No matter now it moved, the arc of light did not budge.

Boom!

The fire lotus suddenly exploded. The blinding red light suddenly lit up in a patch of burning white light. Even the jindan had to close their eyes!

The twenty fourth layer shattered! The twenty fifth layer shattered!

The twenty seventh layer held and did not retreat a sliver. The rampaging waves of hot air flowed along the curved surface of the arcs and vented towards the two sides.

The jindan under Feng Yue’s command had pale faces. The strong backlash from their failed attack had instantly wounded them. Some xiuzhe of lower cultivation spat out blood and fell forward. Their teammates hurriedly grabbed hold of them. However, the faces of these xiuzhe were red from overexertion. They clearly would not be able to survive.

But no one cared about this. Everyone was staring at that arc of light that seemed gossamer thin with dazed expressions!

It had been … … it had been stopped … …

How, how was it possible … …

How could the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus be stopped?

Feng Yue looked dazedly at that beautiful rainbow air, her face filled with disbelief. No one knew better than she did the power of the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus. She believed that even the other three great sects could not so easily stop the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus!

This had been stopped … …

After staring dazedly for a few breaths, Feng Yue suddenly reacted and her face paled. The Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus was powerful, but it had a weakness. It was too fierce. If it was stopped, it easily caused severe backlash.

But because it was usually unstoppable, this flaw was not usually remembered.

Until now!

This weakness exposed. Feng Yue looked around and felt even worse. About half of the combat xiu were wounded. For the first time, she stared at the other side as though she just met them. She almost bit through her lips.

An unknown battalion, from an unknown jie… …

Even now, she did not know what the other battalion was called. But a battalion like this had stopped the Bodhisattva’s Raging Lotus Battle Formation that shook all of the Four Realms!

She stared hard at the other as though she wanted to imprint them in her mind.

———

“Hahahaha! I just knew! I just knew! What’s there to be afraid of!” Lei Peng’s loud voice could be heard from a distance. His expression was tired but he was very excited.

Nian Lu also had a big smile on his face. His handsome face looked now like that of a child.

Excitement was on Ma Fan’s face but he could not manage to say a word. He was too excited, really too excited, unprecedentedly excited!

The Arcing Rainbow Battle Formation was his masterpiece!

He knew that he was not an outstanding battle general, but since Lil’ Miss Daren had given him control of Black Turtle Camp, he could never fail the other’s hopes. The xiuzhe of different types, the various spells, he had used shocking patience to slowly merge them into one.

There were no complex tactics, but an astounding number of micro-tactics.

He might have thought of the Arcing Rainbow Battle Formation but the one who perfected it was Golden Crow Camp.

He knew his own limits.

He knew that Black Turtle Camp, based on their composition, would not be able to fight offensively and dominate like Vermillion Bird Camp; what he had trained Black Turtle Camp for were battles of attrition and defense.

He slowly pulled and pushed this Black Turtle Camp together by the skin of his teeth.

There was nothing that could excite him, the creator, more than having Black Turtle Camp show its power.

But at this time, he suppressed the excitement inside. He observed the other side. When he saw the other side’s low morale and wounded xiuzhe, he instantly sighed in relief.

This was the debut battle of the Arcing Rainbow Battle Formation. Everyone, including him, did not hold anything back in reserve. Right now, they were pretty much at the end of their rope.

Fortunately, both sides were close to exhaustion!

———

The two troops strangely held the standoff.

Both sides had the same plan. They were waiting for the reinforcements from their fellows.

In Ma Fan’s mind, Vermillion Bird Camp was invincible. If Vermillion Bird Camp came, they could kill this battalion even if it was double this size. In Feng Yue’s mind, Gao Xuan was leading five hundred members of the Jiangzi Battalion, the core battalion of Xuan Kong Temple! Even if the enemy battalion was multiple times this size, five hundred Jiangzi Battalion members could kill them all!

Suddenly, Ma Fan and Feng Yue showed expressions of joy at the same time.

Almost at the same time, two battalions appeared behind their respective fellows.

Vermillion Bird Camp!

Jiangzi Battalion!

———

Lil’ Miss’ gaze swept the battlefield and instantly gleaned a general idea of the situation. He gave Ma Fan a look of praise.

But when his gaze landed on the other battalion, his gaze suddenly turned icy and his smile grew.

When he found that there were only five hundred people in the reinforcements, Lil’ Miss’ pride came. “Wei Ran!”

“This subordinate is here!” Wei Ran hurriedly said.

“Pick five hundred and go meet them!” Lil’ Miss’ smile was like a flower, his voice filled with pride and iciness.

“Yes!” Wei Ran’s expression was normal as he responded.

A battalion of five hundred people quickly separated out of Vermillion Bird Camp.

———

When Gao Xuan looked at he unharmed Feng Yue, he instantly sighed in relief. But when he looked closely, he was shocked.

It seemed that Feng Yue had suffered a significant loss!

Their morale was low and almost half of the combat xiu were injured.

Narrowing his eyes, coldness flashed through Gao Xuan’s eyes. When had Xuan Kong Temple ever lost so severely?

He did not say anything. The entire troop flowed into position front of Feng Yue’s battalion like mercury. His expression was normal and steady as he stared at the other side. There was no change in expression.

But when he noticed a battalion of approximately the same size approach their ranks, his gaze suddenly turned sharp!

Even as composed as he was, he couldn’t help but feel slight anger.

When had Jiangzi Battalion been disrespected so?

The Jiangzi Battalion always fought with less against many. They could fly in and out among enemies multiple times their number and they were unstoppable!

When had the enemy used the same number of people to fight Jiangzi Battalion?

Those ignorant had no fear!

Gao Xuan’s heart was cold and murderousness spread.

———

Wei Ran looked calmly at the other side.

He was one of the commanders that had followed Lil’ Miss for the longest time. Unlike Ma Fan, he did not show great talent in the beginning, but following Lil’ Miss he had learned as he fought in battle, his talent as a battle general was like the jade encased in stone that was gradually exposed.

Lil’ Miss’ judgment of him was that he had the style of a great general.

Of course, with Lil’ Miss’ crazy personality, he couldn’t help but feel Wei Ran was slightly gentle, but this did not affect Wei Ran’s position in Vermillion Bird Camp.

Wei Ran had participated from start to finish in establishing the new tactical plan.

Even though he could not compare to Lil’ Miss that understood xiuzhe, yao, and mo, other than Lil’ Miss no one understood the new tactics better than he did.

Also … …

His gaze landed on Ma Fan and he couldn’t help but feel a thread of admiration.

For any battle general, being able to create a battalion based on their own fighting style was an unparalleled temptation.

Wei Ran moved his gaze away.

He looked towards the enemy. He could see that the other’s troop  was the elite of elite but without knowing it, the fighting spirit burning inside him and boiled his blood.

The fighting spirit in his eyes was no disguised any longer!

This battle, he had to

–win!

Chapter 581 - Shifting Star Sand

Zuo Mo was immersed in reading. Shi Zi Ming was an uncanny genius. He had never cultivated but his knowledge of power was exceptionally accurate. In his descriptions, the fundamentals of each system were clearly described and Zuo Mo gained a lot.

It was the first time that the three power systems were so clear in Zuo Mo’s mind. In the past, he had spent a lot of effort training the three powers but had never put them together. The three formed their own systems, and there were many branches in technique to each. Spells, yao arts, mo skills, which one did not have millions of techniques?

Not to mention identifying the roots of all three powers, just identifying the roots of one system was difficult. The variations of each system were like the branching veins of the leaf, there was the primary branch and the secondary branches within that system. Those that could gain perspective and identify the primary branches were the top experts.

And to understand this with all three powers, who could do that?

Looking at the soaring stone steles, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel as though he was staring at a tall mountain. If this was written by someone unparalleled in strength, Zuo Mo would not be so shocked.

But a mo that did not cultivate any mo skill could see all the profound mysteries. This talent, even three hundred years later, was something that was astounding.

Zuo Mo had the deepest impression of Shi Zi Ming’s description of the three powers.

Because he cultivated shen power, the three powers in his body were merged into one and were connected to each other. He already had a slight understanding of the connection between the three.

His understanding was very vague. When he saw Shi Zi Ming’s description of the connection, it was like a great bell and he understood many things.

Great joy came from the bottom of his heart.

He stared at the stone tablet, his mind was unusually clear. The three powers inside his body flowed and moved.

It was midnight now. The firmament above his head was filled with a sea of stars.

In the corner, the purple haired man’s face was filled with incredulity as he murmured to himself. “The thirty second stele! The thirty second stele … …

He turned his face to look at the deepest part of the stele forest. He suddenly had a thought. The two people that had advanced the fasted through the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles had appeared at the same time. Was there fate involved?

That year, he had watched as Qi Diao Yu walked into the Mo Skill Steles. Now, there was another youth that broke Qi Diao Yu’s record. Many memories surged up and he sighed.

But he knew, this was a night without rest for all the powers of Great Peace City!

No faction would not act to try and recruit such a talented genius!

At this time, a ray of starlight suddenly came down from the sea of stars and landed on Xiao Mo Ge in front of the stone stele!

The ray of light was thick and dots of light sand fell down.

Golden light suddenly came from Xiao Mo Ge’s body that flickered like fire. Even from far away, the purple haired man could feel the scorching heat.

The star sand’s light was not blinding, but among the shine of the stars, it was pretty to look at.

The golden light was like a whirlpool that continuously pulled in the star sand.

A worldly apparition!

The purple haired man looked in shock at the sky. The vast number of stars were slowly spinning, threads of light forming a ray of light. Such a spectacular scene caused his mind to almost lose control.

An unfamiliar and distant term jumped into his mind—Shifting Star Sand!

———

In a deep part of the Stele forest, Qi Diao Yu was like an old monk meditating in front of a stone forest. He had maintained this position for more than twelve hours. The indifference on his face had disappeared and what had replaced it was concentration. That proud genius that was unable to be touched had disappeared. Qi Diao Yu at this time was like a normal mo youth, less of the indifference and more of a gentleness.

He suddenly raised his head and his face, one that rarely showed any expression, changed.

A ray of light fell from the vast expanse of stars and landed somewhere nearby in the stele forest.

“Shifting Star Sand … …”

His eyes lit up and he lightly jumped onto the top of the stone stele. He was instantly able to get a clear view.

It was him!

A thread of surprise flashed across Qi Diao Yu’s eyes. He had some impression of Zuo Mo. It was the first one to break free from his sound of enchantment when he had entered the city. It was this youth!

Gazing for a long time, he was silent.

Shifting Star Sand … …

———

When Zuo Mo had reached the twenty sixth mo skill stele, all the major factions in Great Peace City had started to secretly pay attention. As time went on and Zuo Mo advanced, every faction’s nerves tightened.

When Zuo Mo broke Qi Diao Yu’s past record, Great Peace City was deathly silent but the gazes of the major factions all gathered here.

Another peerless genius had appeared!

But when the worldly apparition appeared, the Great Peace City which had been having turbulent underflows instantly turned into chaos.

Countless people flew into the sky and stared in shock at the pillar of light that came from the sky into the stele forest!

A worldly apparition!

The mo that were familiar with this event couldn’t help but shouting the unfamiliar words “Shifting Star Sand.” Excitement, shock, astonishment, puzzlement mixed on the faces of the mo.

Other than the starlight, the sky above Great Peace City was almost completely black. Almost all the mo flew into the sky.

———

Lan Tian Long looked at the ray of starlight with a complex expression. He had more avenues of information than normal people and he knew who was causing the worldly apparition.

He suddenly felt relieved that he had retreated at the city gates. Before this, he had the idea of recruiting the other, but when the news that the other had broken Qi Diao Yu’s record, he sighed inside. A genius of this level was not one that the Lan Family could recruit.

But when he personally saw Zuo Mo cause the Shifting Star Sands, while shocked, he couldn’t help but snicker.

He knew that tomorrow, Great Peace City was going to be busy!

Those factions that wanted to recruit this person, tonight … …

This really was interesting!

———

Ye Ling looked at the stars with an excited expression.

All Hail The King!

Even though he always believed that Daren was someone strong that could become the king, when he personally saw Daren cause a worldly apparition, his body uncontrollably trembled!

He raised his head to look at the vast expanse of stars that was slowly spinning with devoutness on his face.

In the compound, everyone was gaping. And Zuo Mo’s subordinates all had ecstatic expressions and could not suppress their excitement.

Tao Xing, Tang Fei, and the others were stuck dumb where they were with wide gaping mouths.

But if one had to be said to be the most shocked, it would be Ceng Lian’er

No one knew better than she did what the power Zuo Mo cultivated inside his body was, but … …

She looked at the ray of starlight that was coming down from the sky with shock in her eyes.

He clearly cultivated Sun Shen Power, how could he attract the power of the stars?

This was not possible!

She had originally thought she had seen through Zuo Mo. She had even seen all of his memory fragments and she also knew of the chaotic power flows inside his body.

The Sun Shen Power was peerless in its dominance!

But this also meant that Sun Shen power strongly rejected other types of power.

How could he cause an apparition of the stars?

———

The moment that Zuo Mo caused the Shifting Stars Sand, Pu Yao jumped up as though his behind was on fire. And Wei who was usually composed abruptly stood up.

“Shifting Star Sand!”

The two of them exclaimed at the same time.

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil was extremely wide as though he was seeing a ghost. The indifference on Wei’s face had disappeared to be replaced by shock.

“This is not possible!”

“How is he doing it?”

The two exclaimed again. They exchanged a look and found the disbelief in each other’s eyes.

The two raised their faces. In the sea of consciousness, the star sand fell like snow. When a particle of star sand entered their bodies, their figures would grow a sliver more clear.

After a moment of silence, their shock gradually faded from their faces.

Pu Yao suddenly thought of the Stars in Daytime that had appeared in the past. That first worldly apparition had changed Zuo Mo’s fate. If it was not for that first Stars in Daytime, Zuo Mo would have never left Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Wei’s eyes grew brighter like the stars in night. “He really is a genius!”

Looking at Wei’s expression, Pu Yao became wary. He said coldly, “Don’t even think about it! Humph, what your set is, in the end, it is just sending him to die!”

Wei’s expression suddenly changed as he exclaimed, “Not good! The three seeds!”

Pu Yao stilled and then his expression changed drastically!

The master of the three was Zuo Mo!

———

The yao art house was empty of people in the deep of night.

In a corner of the yao art house, there was countless dots of star sand that floated like fireflies around the stele.

The stele suddenly produced a suction force and the star sand entered the stele.

The damaged stele gradually lit up.

A weak presence was like ripples in the water, faintly discernable.

———

In a deep cave in a mountain valley.

The star sand suddenly travelled through the layers of granite and shrouded the entire black pool

The silent black pool seemed to be awakened from a deep sleep and slowly shifted. Droplets of black liquid continuously broke free of the pool, floated up and accurately caught the star sand like little black insects.

The moving black liquid consumed the star sand and dropped back into the black pool.

As time passed, a layer of serene starlight flashed on the black pond.

In the black pond, a figure slowly floated up.

The serene star light was like a thin membrane that tightly covered the surface of this figure.

A presence like that of the water and the moon filled the cave.

———

At a sacrificial altar in the desert.

The star sand seemed to be caught by the fierce wind that continuously spun around the sacrificial altar. Dots of star sand entered the sacrificial altar and the patterns of the sacrificial altar started to slowly shift.

The sacrificial altar flashed with light. In this black and remote desert, it was blindingly bright like an enormous star.

At the center of the sacrificial altar, black figures roiled. Threads of starlight flashed in and out. The star light seemed to melt into the black shadows like threads of ice. The black shadows were dyed with a slight layer of star light.

A deep roar came out of the black shadows.

Chapter 582 - Honing Their Blades

When the stars shifted, they would produce a vast amount of pure star power. This power would turn to star sand and enter the bodies of people. This sand was like the sand that people used to hone blades. Star sand could be used to refine the bodies of these people from the inside to the out to perfect it.

This was the Shifting Star Sands, one of the most famous worldly apparitions. The light of the stars was not as domineering and burning as the light of the sun, nor as soft as the light of the moon. The stars were like sand and were the best power to hone the body.

However, causing this worldly apparition was a matter of chance. In reality, even now, no one understood how to cause a worldly apparition. But everyone knew that if a person caused a worldly apparition during cultivation, they would an extraordinary person.

Zuo Mo did not know that all of Great Peace City was now exploding in excitement because of him!

He was immersed in a wondrous world.

There seemed to countless stars slowly moving around him. A power that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar continuously permeated his body.

Zuo Mo recognized it. That was star sand!

Each particle of star sand was extremely hard. With their sharp edges, they slowly advanced and moved in. Zuo Mo felt there seemed to be sandpaper slowly smoothing out his unrefined flesh and blood.

There was no pain, but an indescribably comfortable feeling.

It was intoxicating.

———

There was a faint smile on Gongsun Cha’s face. No one knew what he was thinking.

Everyone beside him had extremely serious faces. They stared at the battlefield and didn’t dare to move their eyes away.

Because Wei Ran was losing.

The strength of the other’s battle tactics surpassed their imagination. When the dozens of brigadier levels had been merged into Vermillion Bird Camp and they started using the new tactics, everyone had been full of confidence. In the practice spars inside the camp, the power of their new tactics was multiple times as strong as their previous three section wave killing charge!

Many people had been rubbing their hands eagerly, wanting to find A Zha Ge and having another battle.

When Lil’ Miss had Wei Ran decided to face the enemy with equal numbers, no one had objected. They knew that Lil’ Miss wanted to test the new tactics. Everyone was filled with confidence and anticipation. They believed that Wei Ran would definitely win.

Yet the reality was so cruel.

This little battalion of five hundred was unusually powerful.

At the beginning, the two were evenly matched, but as time went on, the balance slowly tilted and Wei Ran was on the losing end.

What caused their expressions to turn serious was that Wei Ran had not made any mistakes. Even so, his advantage was slowly slipping away. This was occurring at an extremely slow rate, but everyone had experienced hundreds of fights and could see this.

There was still a faint small smile on Lil’ Miss’ face that was as bashful as that of the neighbor’s boy. No one knew what he was thinking.

———

Feng Yue looked dazedly at the battlefield. She could see that Gao Xuan was slowly gaining the advantage but she was still shocked.

No, it was amazed!

She had been shocked when her Rage Lotus Bodhisattva had been stopped! But what this scene in front of her gave was shock, was fear!

This was Jiangzhi Battalion!

The battalion that had killed countless mo and just taken over Cold Mountain Jie!

Every Jiangzhi Battalion member had been picked with care. They had outstanding talent, and above-average resolve. The troop had been formed after extremely difficult training. She had seen how this battalion had been created with her own eyes. In her mind, this was the strongest battalion in the world.

The matter had been as she had expected.

This battalion that Jiang Zhe had spent such effort to create came out like a peerless sword that intimidated the world!

The battle of Cold Mountain Jie had pushed this steely battalion to a new level. Even the shishu that came to reinforce them were full of praise. Jiangzi Battalion’s status in the sect had continued to rise.

Everyone believed that unless they encountered the core battalions of the other three great sects or the top battalions of the yaomo, Jiangze Battalion could dominate all other battalions!

Yet the scene in front of them made this thought a joke.

Cloud Sea Jie, was not one of the great four, not one of the great ten, not one of the great one hundred. In this xiuzhe world, this Cloud Sea Jie was unranked.

But in this little remote corner, a battalion appeared that could match the Jiangzi Battalion.This was such a terrifying matter.

Feng Yue suddenly realized to her shock just how little they knew of the world!

She raised her head and looked into the distance. Her heart filled with terror when she looked at the majority of enemy troops that were standing there.

If the remainder also joined … …

Her face became ashen.

———

Gao Xuan’s expression became increasingly grave. He had expected this battalion to be a strong enemy, but he had not expected the other to be so strong as to reach a standstill with him!

The other’s fighting method was very strange, and the composition of the battalion was also very strange!

He actually found mo among them. When he first saw them, he had thought his eyes were deceiving him. But the mo skills the other used, their unreasonable charges, caused him to shake.

In the battle of Cold Mountain Jie, he had seen too many mo and was very familiar with them!

This was definitely a mo, and a brigadier mo!

This wasn’t one of them, but ten! All of them were brigadier level!

He felt this was extremely absurd. A group of mo participating in a xiuzhe battalion? And it was a group of brigadier mo? What kind of joke was this.

What he felt even more impossible to comprehend was that he couldn’t detect any jinzhi on their bodies.

Were these xiuzhe in an alliance with the yaomo?

When this thought appeared, the coldness inside him grew.

It had to be said that Gao Xuan’s abilities were very outstanding for Jiang Zhe to put such responsibilities on him. After the initial probing rounds, Gao Xuan had gradually gotten used to the other’ strange tactics and started to take back the advantage.

His advantage was increasing, but the other was astoundingly hardy. Even though they were at a disadvantage, they did not panic.

Suddenly, Gao Xuan felt the pressure that the other gave him was slowly increasing. He quickly found that the other’s cooperation between tactics was becoming smoother and more natural, the flaws smaller and the power greater!

Gao Xuan stilled. Thinking back to the rawness of the other’s tactics just recently, his heart suddenly sank. He finally understood what the other’s intentions were.

The other was using him to test new battle tactics!

———

“Do you all see and understand?” Lil’ Miss’ warm voice passed into everyone’s ears.

“Yes!” Everyone’s heart shook but what was in their eyes was excitement.

As expected, real combat was better than anything else for training. The stronger the other felt, the more they could test their tactics.

This battalion from Xuan Kong Temple was like a hard whetstone that was slowly honing them. When Wei Ran slowly climbed back from his disadvantage, everyone felt their blood slowly started to burn!

This was a battalion from Xuan Kong Temple!

Vermillion Bird Camp had enough to be proud of to force a battalion from the four great sects to such a position!

Lil’ Miss smiled faintly. The face like that of the neighbor’s boy was filled with bashfulness. He said lightly, “Go, do not like even one escape.”

The people responded in unison. Murderousness spread!

Vermillion Bird Camp was like a flood that lost all restraint and advanced!

———

Jiang Zhe felt unfocused.

He walked out of the room. The night wind blew past his face. He instantly felt his mind clear and laughed silently. Gao Xuan was leading five hundred members of the Jiangzi Battalion. Even though he would not be able to take revenge for Ding Zhen Shishu personally, there definitely would not be a problem keeping Feng Yue safe in her revenge.

He put his attention was focused on the counterattack from the mo that was coming.

According to the information from the their spies, the mo were allying, and forming an enormous troop to take back Cold Mountain Jie.

Thinking about this, Jiang Zhe’s eyes became cold. He had prepared some gifts for the other to come fight them.

He was filled with hope.

Suddenly, a subordinate stumbled as he flew in.

“Da … … Daren! The dhyana tower, the dhyana tower … …”

Jiang Zhe’s heart jumped and his expression suddenly became cold. He said in a deep voice, “What about the dhyana tower?”

Stimulated by Jiang Zhe’s presence, this subordinate’s mind suddenly cleared and his words flowed. But his voice was still trembling. “Feng Yue Daren and Gao Xuan Daren’s candles have gone out!”

The blood inside Jiang Zhe froze and his limbs felt cold.

———

Zuo Mo had never felt so comfortable. The star sand continuously honed every piece of muscle, every piece of bone, every one of his tendons. In this tempering process, a portion of the star sand merged into his blood and flesh, causing them to become perfect.

Other than perfect, Zuo Mo could not find a better word to describe it.

The three powers circulated endlessly inside his body. They all had their own systems but they also affected each other. The content of the Mo Skill Steles flowed across his mind.

The circulating three powers were continuously adjusted. They became even more harmonious and gained even more affinity.

Zuo Mo’s mind was unusually clear. Each thought was carried out as though every piece of muscle and blood in his body was under his control.

Unprecedented confidence filled every corner of his body.

Zuo Mo quickly found that the star sand that entered his body seemed to be attracted and was gathering towards the Sun mo matrix at the center of his chest.

As Zuo Mo’s blood, flesh, bones, and sinews were honed, the speed that the star sand came in increased. In the end, it became streaks of starlight.

These starlight continuously flowed into the Sun mo matrix at the center of Zuo Mo’s chest.

Boom!

Zuo Mo felt that the Sun mo matrix at his chest seemed to be broken open. Someone appeared in his mind.

This was … …

Zuo Mo slowly savored it and did not detect that there was no more star sand entering his body.

A long time later.

A golden light flashed and disappeared from the sun mo matrix at his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes.

When Zuo Mo recovered clarity, the scene in front of him left him dumbstruck where he stood.

Under the vast sky of stars, mo filled the the sky above Great Peace City like an endless black cloud.

But … …

Why are they all staring at me?

Chapter 583 - Ripples

Silence.

A deathly silence…

Countless pairs of eyes moved to stare at Zuo Mo who opened his eyes. The enormous Great Peace City was so silent the drop of a pin on the ground could be heard.

The sky was deep and dark, the chilling night wind blew.

Zuo Mo felt slightly uncertain at being stared by so many pairs of eyes. The scene was strangely silent. Zuo Mo, who already did not know what was going on, did not dare to speak rashly.

However, Zuo Mo, who felt uncomfortable at being stared at, really could not suppress it. He coughed. “This… the time isn’t early, everyone, go to sleep early.”

Finishing, he waved his hand and pulled Shu Long and the others over in a flash to prepare to flee.

These people had such  … … strange expressions … …

Glancing his eyes across Shu Long and the others, Zuo Mo felt very weird. But at this time, there was no time to think carefully as he sprinted.

The mo along his way automatically moved to give him a path.

The expressions of these people were … … so strange … …

Zuo Mo felt even worse. He unconsciously swallowed and didn’t dare to stop.

“Mister Xiao Mo Ge, will you be free tomorrow. This one represents the Botelin Family, and sincerely invite Sir to attend the evening party tomorrow night … …”

In the silent night, this voice was unusually clear. It was like a spark thrown into a pot of hot oil. Great Peace City that had been deathly silent exploded. The representatives from all the other families seemed to wake up and extended branches of friendship.

“Mister Xiao Mo Ge! This one represents the Whirlica Family, this one is wondering if there is the good fortune to invite Mister Xiao Mo Ge to a gathering at the compound … …”

“This one represents the Almon Family … …”

“Mister Xiao Mo Ge … … Auburn Family … …”

The wave of sounds caused Zuo Mo’s mind which had been puzzled in the first place to blank. His expression became even more dazed.

The pitiful Little Mo Ge did not have any of his usual dominance. He was like a frightened lamb that started to sprint even faster!

Even now, he did not understand. What was going on with these people?

What had happened?

———

Lan Tian Long, who had been watching the spectacle and saw Zuo Mo’s sorry state, instantly roared in laughter. He felt the scene occurring in front of him was extremely amusing.

This Xiao Mo Ge was a funny person!

Just like him, many people grinned but more people sank into deep thought. In the night, the lights glowing from their eyes were like bright stars.

Qi Diao Yu’s figure was standing on the stone stele like a sword. He stared with a cold gaze at Zuo Mo’s figure in thoughtfulness.

As Zuo Mo left, the crowd slowly dissipated but heated discussion filled every corner of Great Peace City. It was a fresh experience for the majority of people to personally see a worldly apparition. They discussed the turning stars, the vast star power, and speculated about Zuo Mo’s mo physique … …

This was a busy night.

If killing Pang Chen had caused Zuo Mo to appear in the view of the public, then the Shifting Star Sand worldly apparition caused everyone to remember the name of Xiao Mo Ge.

Another genius had appeared!

———

Jiang Zhe stood in front of the dhyana tower and looked in a daze at two extinguished oil lamps inside the tower.

His warm eyes were full of sorrow and he felt as though someone was carving out his heart. That beautiful figure that always thought herself the big sister and was never polite to him would never be seen again.

Starting from when he decided to create a battalion that belonged to him, Feng Yue had accompanied him and helped him take care of those tedious but necessary matters. After so many years, he was used to having her by his side.

But he would never see her again.

“Daren, the mo alliance army has started to gather,” the subordinate reported from outside the door.

Jiang Zhi’s fist balled tightly, the joints turning white. His usually warm pupils were as vicious and brutal as a wild beast.

He stared hard at the two extinguished lanterns.

A moment later, he relaxed his fists and the savagery in his eyes disappeared. His gaze became warm again.

“Have everyone start to prepare. We will proceed according to the original plan.”

The warm voice was just the same as usual.

The subordinate at the door sighed in relief and his expression became alert as though he found support again. He hurriedly responded, “Yes!”

Hearing the sounds of the subordinate going away, Jiang Zhe raised his eyes and murmured gently.

“It will not be long before I flatten Cloud Sea Jie.”

———

In Cloud Sea Jie, almost no one knew about the battle that had killed Xuan Kong Temple’s battalion. Scouts only reported that a battalion had suddenly appeared near the jie river but was quickly exterminated.

This matter did not cause any ripples. Everyone found that it was matter-of-fact.

Even the mo battalions fell at the foot of Lil’ Miss Daren, which battalion could stop Vermillion Bird Camp? Right now, Turtle Island’s rule of Cloud Sea Jie was rock solid. Even though Turtle Island’s forces that remained were not strong, these little factions also did not have great ambitions.

Lil’ Miss had not given up his plan of going to reinforce Zuo Mo.

Even though his plan had reached a roadblock when he encountered A Zha Ge, but a person like Lil’ Miss that was unusually stubborn of regarding victory would not easily give up.

The state of Middle Granary Jie had stabilized.

As Golden Crow Camp’s success with mo matrices and formations increased, they would continue to grow stronger. In this battle, the hate between them and Xuan Kong Temple would only increase. There would not be any possibility that this could be resolved peacefully. However, Gongsun Cha had never thought that there was a possibility of a peaceful resolution.

Would an elephant try to reach a resolution with an ant? That was a joke.

There was insanity flowing in Gongsun Cha’s blood. He was not afraid. Fighting against Xuan Kong Temple would only make him excited.

Compared to Xuan Kong Temple, what he cared about more was Zuo Mo Shixiong.

Right now, he was considering if he should fight A Zha Ge again or find another jie had that a chaos rift.

He quickly threw the idea of finding another jie to the back of his mind. This was not very plausible. It was already good fortune to find Middle Granary Jie.

It was more realistic to go find A Zha Ge.

Lil’ Miss decided to first go find A Zha Ge and have a discussion. If that did not work, then he would just fight.

Gongsun Cha, whose mind was full of ideas on how to reach Zuo Mo as fast as possible, forgot that he had just reached an alliance with A Zha Ge not long ago.

———

What happened in Cloud Sea Jie did not caused a ripple in the Four Realms.

Everyone’s gaze was attracted by another string of events.

Kun Lun’s Xue Dong had conquered Fortune Wood Jie!

This was the second mo jie the xiuzhe had taken over. Even though it was not as momentous as Jiang Zhe, Kun Lun also displayed their strength to the world.

Just a few days later, two explosive pieces of news appeared.

Tian Huan’s Gongye Xiao Rong had taken over Black Rock Jie!

Xi Xuan’s Gu Liang Dao conquered  North Gauze Jie!

Gongye Xiao Rong was a famed battle general from Tian Huan but the name Gu Liang Dao was unfamiliar to everyone and he appeared out of nowhere.

However, this not did not stop the celebrations of the people of the Four Realms. Everyone was filled with hope about the war now that the four great sects had all advanced. Everyone dreamed that the four great sects could continue their victory over the yaomo after the thousand year war.

The development of the state of affairs appeared natural as people had predicted this.

———

Zuo Mo gaped as he listened with astonishment to Shu Long and the others’ narration.

Thinking that he had been the cause of that terrifying scene, Zuo Mo felt even worse.

However, Zuo Mo’s first response was to run into the sea of consciousness and hurriedly asked Pu Yao and Wei, “Would today affect our plan?”

Pu Yao and Wei did not speak and looked at Zuo Mo as though they were looking at a freak.

Zuo Mo became impatient. “Talk!”

According to their previous plan, Zuo Mo needed to attract the attention of the large families. However, even Zuo Mo felt he had gone overboard with today’s display. What he was worried about was that if this affected the plan, he would not be able to attract the arrival of Princess Xia. That would be bad.

“Do not worry.” The one who spoke was Pu Yao. Even though his expression was strange, he still spoke, “This display of yours can definitely attract Princess Xia.”

“That’s good!” Zuo Mo seemed to be relieved of a great burden.

“A Zuo, you are very talented!” Wei said with a smile. These words caused Pu Yao to instantly have a wary expression.

“You only noticed now?” In a good mood, Zuo Mo lazily replied. Then he suddenly looked with a heated gaze at Wei, his thumb and index finger rubbing together. He asked with begging eyes, “Is there a reward? Such a genius is in front of you, will you not express something?”

Seeing Wei’s shocked expression, Zuo Mo felt very disappointed. He looked disdainfully at Wei and muttered, “So this is just empty praise? Ha, are people that only give empty praise in this era? The honored gravestone armor … … such a lowering of status … …”

Finishing, he left  without another glance at Wei.

Looking at Wei frozen in his spot, Pu Yao gave a roaring and carefree laugh.

Coming out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo saw Ceng Lian’er’s serene eyes.

“How come you are able to cause a movement in the stars?” Ceng Lian’er’s voice seemed to become ethereal in the night.

“Because…” Zuo Mo who had not been rewarded looked at her bewitching face with a serious expression as he said with emphasis, “…I am a genius!”

Finishing, he disregarded Ceng Lian’er’s wide eyes and walked towards his rooms.

In reality, even he didn’t know why he would cause the Shifting Star Sand.

After being awake for a night, he didn’t feel tired at all. He felt as though his body contained endless power. Entering the room, he quickly sank into meditation.

He needed to have a good study of his breakthrough today.

Also, he remembered that something seemed to float out when those starlight charged into the sun mo matrix at the center of his chest.

In meditation, Zuo Mo did not have joy nor sorrow on his face. Every piece of muscle, blood and bone inside his body was perfectly visualized. The completely new three power system was so enchanting.

Countless images flowed across his mind.

He suddenly opened his eyes and his expression seemed slightly excited!

He finally knew what had came into his mind the moment the sun mo matrix had been flooded—the first transformation of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

Chapter 584 - Low Opinion

Bu Heng’s expression was extremely dark.

He had been deeply impacted when he saw Zuo Mo cause the Shifting Stars Sands. More accurately, he had a strong feeling of danger!

It was not a wise course of action to be enemies with a genius that could cause worldly apparitions. However, their grudge was already set in stone. It was too late to peacefully resolve this.

Bu Heng was still calm. The mind of a gold battle general was as strong and hard as stone. Viciousness flashed across his face.

The best way to deal with a genius youth was to kill it in its cradle before they grew up. Genius youths before they became stronger did not have more lives than anyone else.

He decided to personally get in contact with a person.

———

Zuo Mo flipped through the mountain of invitations but his face fell. “There isn’t one from the An Wei Family!”

Not just Anwei Family, there wasn’t an invitation from the top families. These were all invitations from small families. Zuo Mo who had been extremely interested and filled with pride seemed to have been hit over the head and felt very depressed.

“Is it because my performance is not eye-catching enough?” Zuo Mo pondered.

“It is not that you are not eye-catching.” Pu Yao was experienced and explained. “You have displayed great potential but one, your origins are unknown, and two, you have not been tested in real combat. Pang Chen is a famous warrior but in Great Peace City, he is not ranked. The bigger the family, the more cautious and strict their tests.”

Zuo Mo understood. His eyebrow raised, “So they don’t feel that I am strong enough?”

“You can understand it this way.” There was a careless smile on Pu Yao’s face. “You have showed strong potential but if that potential cannot become strength, it is forever potential. The internal competition in those families isn’t something you can imagine. They have many youths with potential. What they need are experts, not youths with potential!”

“I understand!” Zuo Mo stood up. “It seems that I need to defeat some strong people before I can attract their attention.”

Without another word, he went to find Tao Xing.

Tao Xing’s attitude towards Zuo Mo had completely changed now. He had been astounded by the worldly apparition that night. Originally, he had felt somewhat proud because he was a city master. Wherever he went, people respected him. However, that bit of ego had dissipated. Shifting Star Sand, a worldly apparition that only existed in the legends actually occurred in front of him.

Compared to the other, Tao Xing didn’t feel that he was really worth something.

Tao Xing’s attitude was respectful. “Daren, for what have you found me for?”

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised at Tao Xing’s attitude but he did not inquire about it. He asked directly, “Tell me about the experts of Great Peace City.”

“The experts of Great Peace City?” Tao Xing paused. Inside, he thought, was this young man going to make a challenge again? In his mind, Zuo Mo was someone that was restless.

But since Zuo Mo asked, Tao Xing decided to give him a good explanation so that Zuo Mo would understand who he could provoke and who he could not.

“There are many experts in Great Peace City and they are all called famous warriors. However, there are ranks among these famous people. Pang Chen who you defeated is only a normal Famous Person, and was unranked. These famous warriors are general level and have mo physiques. The experts among the famous warrior have a ranking called the Great Peace Mo Ranking. It records the twenty most powerful experts in Great Peace City. The three strongest are Chang Yuan Hao, Yu Shuang and Nanmeng Xue. There are just a step away from marshal rank. Qi Diao Yu is also at this level, but it has been many years since he appeared in Great Peace City so his name is not on the Great Peace Mo Ranking.”

Zuo Mo listened carefully.

“The second tier is the fourth to twelfth spots. The experts of this level have been in general level for many years and are experts that have comprehended [Boundary]. The third tier is the thirteenth to the twentieth positions. The experts of this level have not comprehend [Boundary] but if they are not cultivating an unique mo physique, they use a powerful mo skill in order to reach this spot on the Great Peace Mo Ranking. Lan Tian Long is this level. He is eighteenth.”

“Under them is the Famous Warrior Ranking. The people on the Great Peace Mo Ranking are not ones that we can challenge. Most of them have come for the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles, and do not attend to outside matters. In comparison ,the changes in the Famous Warrior Rankings is more intense. The possibility of victory is also greater. If you are interested, you can try the Famous Person Rankings.”

Tao Xing said probingly to Zuo Mo. If this one had to make a challenge, then it would be best if he went to the Famous Warrior Ranking. It was alright for him to try the Famous Warrior Ranking since he had killed Pang Chen in two moves and Pang Chen’s ranking on the Famous Warrior Ranking was not low.

Zuo Mo glanced at him, asking, “What is the twentieth person on the Great Peace Mo Ranking called?”

Tao Xing’s face instantly turned ashen, his heart beating rapidly. He said timidly, “Daren, you can start from the Famous Warrior Ranking, this also has many experts … …”

Famous Warrior Ranking?

Zuo Mo’s head shook like a rattle drum. Just by listening to it, he knew the weight of the Famous Warrior Ranking was not enough. In order to move an ancient family like the An Wei Family which had high standards, if he could not reach the Great Peace Mo Ranking, the other wouldn’t even look at him properly.

Thinking about the pile of stupid invitations, Zuo Mo’s eyes twitched

–He was being underestimated!

“The twentieth of Great Peace Mo Ranking!” Zuo Mo’s attitude was determined.

Tao Xing shrunk back under Zuo Mo’s pressuring gaze. He said with a startled heart, “Miao Jun!”

“Miao Jun!” Zuo Mo repeated, his gaze murderous.

Tao Xing looked at Zuo Mo’s vicious expression. His legs softened and he sat down on the ground.

———

A Zha Ge was slightly shocked. Gongsun Cha had come to find him again. He did not know why. The two of them had just entered an alliance. Did Gongsun Cha had some new ideas?

“Brother Gongsun, is there something that you come to find this one with?” A Zha Ge was not afraid and directly asked.

A Zha Ge’s straightforward attitude suited Gongsun Cha’s appetites. He said seriously, “This one wants Brother A Zha Ge to give up the chaos rift.”

A Zha Ge’s expression suddenly changed and his eyes darkened. “What does Brother Gongsun mean?”

Gongsun Cha knew that he was the one asking something outrageous but there was no reasoning that could be spoken of in this matter. He was silent for a moment before saying, “This one is compelled by the circumstances. This one is willing to make this up to Brother A Zha Ge in other places.”

A Zha Ge smiled coldly. “This one wants to hear the circumstances!”

Gongsun Cha was very honest and narrated the situation. Other than not saying Zuo Mo’s name, he did not conceal anything else.

After A Zha Ge heard this, his anger dissipated. He was a person that was attuned to details and he naturally could hear the truthfulness of Gongsun Cha’s words.

He still shook his head. “Brother Gongsun is a good friend and this one is moved. However, Orchid Home Jie is an important part of my clan and definitely cannot be given up. If Brother wants to go though, that is fine.”

Lil’ Miss shook his head. “We will successively send out battalions. We also need more mo experts in order to increase our reinforcements.”

A Zha Ge suddenly laughed. “Brother Gongsun is really fantasizing. The yaomo have deep hate with xiuzhe, how can they work for you?”

Gongsun Cha glanced at A Zha Ge, saying, “Brother A Zha Ge, please wait for a moment.”

A short while later, a large crowd of mo suddenly appeared in front of Lil’ Miss and bowed to him.

A Zha Ge suddenly stood up. He stared at the mo in front of him and almost didn’t believe his eyes!

Mo! True mo! What surprised him even more was that they were all brigadier mo! Even within his battalion, these would be elite members.

There were dozens of them in front of him.

“I believe that Brother A Zha Ge can see that they are truly mo and we have not put jinzhi in them.” Gongsun Cha’s words came.

A Zha Ge stared hard at this mo. He suddenly asked in a deep voice, “Why are you working for xiuzhe?”

E De’s brow furrowed. “Who is working for xiu? We are in the service of our king!”

“King!” A Zha Ge almost froze where he stood. He was sure that his smart mind wasn’t enough to use today. He saw a group of brigadier mo within a xiuzhe battalion and then these mo were saying they were in the service of King.

Then what were these xiuzhe?

Just like he did not believe that mo would stay in the service of xiuzhe, he also did not believe that xiuzhe would work for a mo, even if he was King!

E De was very displeased at the other’s gaze. However, he still narrated how their King had been lost to the xiuzhe world, how he had cultivated the Great Day mo physique by himself, how he had created a xiuzhe battalion, how he had fought against Ye Ling Daren and received everyone’s loyalty.

These absurd words were being spoken by a brigadier mo, and when this was said a she stood with several dozen mo, it became extremely convincing.

But A Zha Ge felt it was incomprehensible. Looking at E De’s troops, he was motionless for a long time.

Gongsun Cha glanced over. This was possible!

He hurriedly pulled A Zha Ge to watch Vermillion Bird Camp’s new tactics.

A Zha Ge’s mind which had been dizzy suddenly cleared up. His eyes widened as he stared hard at this battalion!

He could see that the skeleton of this battalion was still the battalion that he had fought against before but that the brigadier mo had been added.

This was the first battalion he had ever seen that was composed of xiuzhe and mo mixed together. This kind of heterogeneous battalion had extremely unique tactics. Even though he was only seeing the foot of the mountain, he still inhaled sharply.

Such a transformation!

In this short time, this battalion had completely transformed. Their present strength caused A Zha Ge’s heart to beat wildly.

His gaze turned to that bashful youth that had the face of an innocent neighbors boy. For some reason, coldness continuously corroded his bravery and was unable to be suppressed. His limbs felt cold.

As one of the three great battle generals of the Stellar Rahula Clan, A Zha Ge never lacked for bravery.

But his face was ashen as though he had just been defeated in a battle.

He knew that if the two fought again, he had no chance of victory.

The faint smile on Gongsun Cha’s face was so profound. A Zha Ge did not know what had happened in these days that a battalion could transform so completely!

This youth … …

He saw the insanity and stubbornness in the depths of Gongsun Cha and suddenly understood –he’s a madman!

Chapter 585 - Gamble

“Yes, he caused the Shifting Star Sands, all of Great Peace City saw it, and he also broke Qi Diao Yu’s record. Many families are starting to pay attention to him.”

“Continue to monitor the situation.”

“Should we make contact? There are many people noticing him … …”

“Do not worry too much. With his present fame, no major family would offer him a high price. As for those small families, even if they recruit him, it would not be hard for us to pull him over.”

“But … …”

“No one is stupid. The Shifting Star Sands are very powerful and show that he has potential. However, those that are worth us acting are geniuses that can grow and live to become experts.”

“Yes, Bu Heng is acting against him… should we make contact?”

“Why should we? You have to understand those that cannot survive are of no value to us.”

“Yes … …”

“Go and help Bu Heng. However, do not leave any clues behind. It is the Shifting Star Sands, you have to give him some special treatment! I feel some anticipation!”

“Yes, this subordinate understands.”

“Go.”

———

The Shifting Star Sands worldly manifestation only remained in the minds of the people of Great Peace City for a few days before it was quickly replaced by major news of the Four Realms victories on all fronts.

The power of the Four Great Sects caused both the yao and the mo to become nervous, especially the mo.

The in the battles of Blood Sky Metropolis Jie the yao had suffered heavy casualties but the mo had been largely unharmed and not really felt any pain. However, of the four jie which had been conquered, three belonged to the mo.

A strong feeling of danger seemed to press down on them.

Fortunately, the three jie that were taken were all very far from Great Peace City. But terror and nervousness still uncontrollably spread.

Something like this was not something that could be reversed by one expert unless a king personally acted. But while the mo would have King level experts, the xiuzhe also had people in the dacheng realm.

The fighting between experts of this level were on a strategic level. Unless it was a crucial time, neither side  would act as the risks were too high.

As long as there were enough people and resources, a battalion could be reconstructed again in a few years and were naturally restored. But experts of such a high level, if one died, there would not be one to replace them. Not just king, even a mo marshal was very difficult to nurture. This could be seen from how many general levels were stuck at the very edge of marshall level in Great Peace City.

A string of defeats suddenly caused all of Great Peace City to become more solemn.

Everyone lost interest in chatting and were all worried.

“Brother Miao, what do you think?” An extremely elegant mo looked with worry at Miao Jun.

Miao Jun did not have a large figure. He had a square face with sharply defined features that slightly showed his age. His eyes were a crisp green, his figure stocky and he sat there casually but with presence.

Miao Jun thought and then said gravely. “This is not a strange development.”

“Not strange?” his friend’s interest was stirred by this and he hurriedly asked, “How is this not strange?”

Miao Jun said in a low voice, “No matter if people verbally agree or not, the xiuzhe are stronger than the yaomo, this is the truth. This is caused by the results of the thousand year war, and no one can change this. In the past, we had the Blood Sky Metropolis Jie as a barrier but now without it to serve as a border we are all mixed together. We lost the buffer between us and now have to face them and fight. At this time, what matters is strength. So it is not strange that we have lost.”

“So according to Brother Miao, doesn’t this mean that we will definitely lose in the end?” another person asked in disagreement.

“Losing in the beginning is already set in stone, but it is hard to say what is going to happen later on.” Miao Jun’s tone was calm and his thoughts clear. “The xiuzhe have started to gain victories so they will keep on advancing, and we will keep retreating. Many things will change in this cycle of advances and retreats. The other will be fighting on foreign land, and once the battle lines are drawn out, they will be tired out in maintaining it. We look to be retreating but we have an advantage in fighting on home territory. Also, with the calamity and battles  many clans will be destroyed, and we will not have any more places to retreat to. When we are fighting with our backs to the precipice, we will be determined!”

The speech was rational and clear. All of them sighed in agreement.

At this time, Miao Jun’s gaze suddenly focused and he shouted in a deep voice, “Which friend has come here, why do you not come forward?”

Clap clap clap!

As Zuo Mo walked in, he clapped. He was not pretending, he truly felt that the other had spoken well. The complex state of matters was simplified by the other into clear and concise points. Just this foresight alone was unusual.

Little Mo Ge was someone that had seen great things!

“Xiao Mo Ge!” Miao Jun’s expression was surprised. He was not the only one. The expressions of the people around him instantly became strange.

Everyone recognized the youth in front of them.

Was this that Xiao Mo Ge that just a while ago had caused the Shifting Star Sands?

Zuo Mo was examining Miao Jun, Miao Jun was also examining Xiao Mo Ge.

Miao Jun had been astounded by the Shifting Star Sands that night, but what he felt more of was admiration. In terms of talent, he and the other people of the Great Peace Mo Rankings did not lack for it. Otherwise, they would not have gotten on the Great Peace Mo Ranking. However, compared to a freak that could have Shifting Star Sand, their presence instantly became dim in the light of that person.

Miao Jun sometimes would think if he could have the Shifting Star Sand once, even if he could not enter marshal level, he would not have a problem comprehending [Boundary].

But no matter how jealous he was, after being shocked for two days, the matter had settled. So when Miao Jun saw Zuo Mo, he was just slightly surprised.

“I had originally come to challenge Brother Miao.”

When Zuo Mo spoke, the room instantly became silent. Everyone was shocked by his words.

“But when I heard Brother Miao’s speech just now, this one is in great admiration of Brother Miao’s foresight and suddenly changed ideas.” Zuo Mo spoke smoothly as though he thought himself a very strong person and did not show any timidity.

Miao Jun suddenly felt it was very humorous and asked interestedly, “Oh, how did you change your opinion?”

When he was young, wasn’t he also as green as this?

The other people could not suppress their amused expressions, especially when they saw Zuo Mo’s serious expression. Some even laughed. In their eyes, Zuo Mo was a complete greenhorn while Miao Jun was someone who had been famed for a long time.

Right now, the greenhorn was swaying his head and lecturing in front of someone famous, wasn’t this funny?

Zuo Mo did not seem to feel the others laughing at him. He said with a serious expression, “I believe that Brother Miao is an exceptional battle general.”

Miao Jun was slightly surprised. He would occasionally speak about matters of the world but no one had ever connected him to being a battle general.

It seemed that this youth had very sensitive perception!

Miao Jun’s heart shook slightly.

“So I hope that Brother Miao can come help me!” Zuo Mo said with a serious expression.

Everyone’s smiles seemed to freeze on their faces. Their eyes were wide as they looked at Zuo Mo, their expressions strange.

A moment later.

“Haha!”

One person finally could not stop himself and slammed the floor in laughter as though he heard the funniest joke in the world. The laughter seemed to be infectious and quickly spread. All the people in the room roared with laughter.

“Haha! He wants to recruit Brother Miao! He actually wants to recruit Brother Miao … …”

“Hahahaha! Did I hear it right? What day is it today?”

“I’m going to die from laughing!”

A little child actually ran over and serious wanted to recruit Miao Jun. This was the funniest matter in the history of Great Peace City.

Even Miao Jun couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m very sorry, my present life is already very good.”

Zuo Mo suddenly said, “You wouldn’t even consider it for [Celestial Azure Essence]?”

Miao Jun’s smile suddenly froze and he abruptly stood up. “You have [Celestial Azure Essence]?”

He unconsciously stepped forward and grabbed at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo did not dodge. A light flashed in his eyes and his presence was suddenly released!

———

Luo Li shut himself off in the room.

His complexion had recovered from its previous pale tone. The content of [Life-Death Lock] flashed through his mind. He had spent the last days studying this art that was completely irrational without any rest.

For him, death was not a difficult matter.

Sometimes, it would take more bravery to live than to die.

This bravery might just be a reason or a thread of hope.

Luo Li did not have anything to hesitate about.

His heart that had returned to life was grasping at a hope so small it was almost nonexistent.

Entering the state of death could stimulate the greatest potential of a person. Then it could reconstruct Wo Li, right?

Even if this only allowed him to just see her one last time … …

Luo Li slowly closed his eyes. He let the darkness take over his world but his lips were curled in a smile.

———

Zuo Mo’s explosive presence was like a tsunami that lost its restraints and flowed in all directions.

Miao Jun’s eyes suddenly lit up. They were like suns and unable to be stared at directly.

The other people changed expression. All laughter was choked off. They panicked fled outside. This presence made them feel suffocated!

The presence that Xiao Mo Ge gave off was not weaker than Miao Jun at all!

“Are you going to come?” Zuo Mo’s voice was deep.

Miao Jun smiled coldly. “Depends on whether you have the skill!”

“Defeating you?” Zuo Mo did not dodge Miao Jun’s blinding gaze and continued to ask.

“You have [Celestial Azure Essence]?” Miao Jun asked in response.

“Yes!” Zuo Mo was crisp.

Miao Jun’s expression changed. He clearly was conflicted inside.

Wei, you are so evil … …

Zuo Mo thought inside but his expression was proper. “Why don’t we have a bet?”

“Bet?” Miao Jun’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes, let’s have a fight. You lose, then you follow me, you win, the [Celestial Azure Essence] is yours,” Zuo Mo threw out the bait.

“How do I know that you have the [Celestial Azure Essence]?” Miao Jun said, unconvinced.

“You can gamble whether or not I have it.” Zuo Mo was not affected.

Miao Jun’s eyes narrowed even more, and the light grew brighter. He said coldly, “If you lose, I will not let you die so easily.”

“When I lose, you will have a lot of time to do as you wish.” Zuo Mo said coldly. Inside, he looked with sympathy at Miao Jun.

Wei, you are so devious … …

As expected, the more of a fortuneteller one was, the worse they were … …

Chapter 586 - A Strong Presence

After their discussion A Zha Ge worriedly returned to the clan and did not even have the time to report about this matter with Gongsun Cha before he was stunned by the bad news—Gongye Xiao Rong had taken over Black Stone Jie, Bi Shan and De Lei both were killed in battle.

He almost thought he was hearing it wrong! After asking three times and still getting the same answer, he froze where he stood.

In a flash, only A Zha Ge was left of the three great Stellar Rahula battle generals.

A grieving atmosphere covered all of Orchid Home Jie. Bi Shan and De Lei had been the elite of the Strellar Rahula Clan. Now that their entire army had been killed, the Stellar Rahula Clan was greatly impacted.

A Zha Ge who had froze for a long time felt cold, his face was pale.

If Crow Stone Jie was taken over, the other could point their attack at Orchid Home Jie at any time. Crow Stone Jie and Orchid Home Jie had many jie rivers connecting them. It was easy to attack but hard to defend. The other could easily enter Orchid Home Jie. This meant that the enemy could appear at any time.

A grieving A Zha Ge knew that the situation was running out of time. If the battalions of Tian Huan reached Orchid Home Jie, they would not be able to escape in time!

With only A Zha Ge’s one battalion left, the Strellar Rahula Clan was not the other’s match.

“Abandon anything heavy! Retreat from Orchid Home Jie at the fastest speed! Go towards White Stone Jie… …” A Zha Ge’s hurried voice echoed.

Before he could finish, the alarmed voice of a scout interrupted A Zha Ge.

“Daren! Enemy scouts have appeared near the jie river!”

A Zha Ge’s face instantly turned grey. So fast! Looking at the old, weak, ill and crippled, A Zha Ge’s heart felt cold. Was today the day that the Stellar Rahula Clan would die?

There was no time!

The speed of the weak clan members would not outrun the enemy battalion. What also was hopeless was that Orchid Home Jie was completely flat and had no defensive structures. The other had greater numbers and he could not even delay them for any significant amount of time!

Would he only be able to watch his clanspeople be killed? The hopeless and terrified gazes of his clan people deeply pierced and pained A Zha Ge’s heart.

Just as the last thread inside almost faded, he suddenly thought of a person!

A daring idea appeared in his mind.

The time did not allow him to think. At this time, he was like a man drowning that grabbed at a life-saving reed!

He didn’t hesitate, turning and flying furiously towards the chaos rift!

———

Gongsun Cha saw A Zha Ge return  not long after he had left. He felt slightly surprised. When he had interacted with A Zha Ge these few times, he had a general understanding of the other’s personality. The other was decisive and resolute, someone that would not easily waver.

When A Zha Ge saw Lil’ Miss, a conflicted expression came onto his face. But he gritted his teeth and knelt down with a bang. “My Stellar Rahula Clan is willing to serve under our king!”

A Zha Ge’s words were very measured. What he submitted to was not Gongsun Cha but the king’s service. This way, no one could say anything.

Gongsun Cha was slightly stunned. A Zha Ge’s move was too sudden. He didn’t believe a domineering presence could shock the other and have them submit. He naturally noticed what meaning the words “submitting to the king’s” service meant. But he did not care. What he wanted was Orchid Home Jie and this chaos rift.

“A Zha Ge is willing to gift  Orchid Home Jie and asks for nothing else except for Daren to protect the lineage of my Strellar Rahula Clan!” A Zha Ge said sorrowfully.

Gongsun Cha did not immediately respond and asked in curiosity, “What is going on?”

A Zha Ge was pressed for time but he knew if he did not clearly explain, the other definitely would not believe him. He pushed down his urgency and rapidly narrated the situation.

Lil’ Miss was a smart person. When he finished listening to the situation, he knew what was going on.

Orchid Home Jie was the best starting place they had found up until now. For this opportunity, Lil’ Miss had even fought with A Zha Ge. While Tian Huan’s Gongye Xiao Rong was famous, at this time Lil’ Miss showed his shocking decisiveness.

He did not hesitate. “Depart!”

Vermillion Bird Camp passed through the chaos rift at full speed and left for Orchid Home Jie.

Flying at full speed, the wind blew across the bangs on Lil’ Miss’ forehead. The bashful and harmless face was now like a sword that was unsheathed, full of edges and murderousness!

He did not fear Xuan Kong Temple, he also did not fear Tian Huan!

They wanted to take food from his mouth?

No one could do it!

When Vermillion Bird Camp flew into the city of Stellar Rahula, they instantly caused a furor. Gongsun Cha did not hesitate and said to A Zha Ge. “Have them retreat towards the chaos rift!”

A Zha Ge had a moved expression. He knew that Gongsun Cha’s words would save many members of his clan. He hurriedly sent a subordinate to give the order while he led his battalion to follow Vermillion Bird Camp.

Gongsun Cha sent a message to the battalion that was standing guard in Middle Granary Jie and for them to settle these Stellar Rahula Clan members.

At this time, A Zha Ge’s scout reported back.

“The Tian Huan battalion has already crossed the jie river!”

A Zha Ge looked at Lil’ Miss. Since he had submitted, he would naturally follow Lil’ Miss’ orders. Looking at the members of his clan that were retreating towards the chaos rift, A Zha Ge was content. Even if he were to die in battle today, he would not have any regrets!

Since Gongsun Cha could tolerate the mo in Vermillion Bird Camp, he could naturally tolerate the Stellar Rahula Clan! Even if Lil’ Miss had him launch a suicide attack on the Tian Huan battalion, he would not hesitate.

He looked at Lil’ Miss and waited for his order.

A flash of insanity passed through Gongsun Cha’s eyes but his expression was indifferent as he said, “Go welcome them!”

Vermillion Bird Camp and A Zha Ge’s battalion were like two floods that flew towards the jie river.

Six hours later, they met the Tian Huan battalion.

———

Gongye Xiao Rong’s appearance was extremely average, one that would be hard to find in a crowd of people. He was wearing a nondescript light blue cloth robe. There was no ephemeral presence, no sharp killing energy. He was someone that was extremely plain and not like a cultivator at all.

However, a group of battle generals that flashed with treasure light swarmed around him, and so his plain cloth robe became an unusual contrast.

Yet it was this person that looked average and normal that took over Black Stone Jie and also killed two elite armies of the Stellar Rahula Clan.

In terms of beauty, Gongye Xiao Rong’s fighting style was even better than Jiang Zhe taking over Cold Mountain Jie!

“Hm, there are xiuzhe battalions here?” Gongye Xiao Rong was slightly surprised.

He was not the only one. All the battle generals around him had shocked expressions but more of their expressions darkened. In their eyes, Orchid Home Jie was like a mature peach. They had waited for a long time but now someone else had suddenly taken over it. Their mood could be imagined.

“Send someone to ask where they are from,” Gongye Xiao Rong said interestedly.

He could see that the Strellar Rahula Clan seemed to have surrendered to this xiuzhe battalion. Another battalion had taken over another jie? This was very unexpected. Up until now, only the four great sects had achieved victories. Now a battalion of unknown origins had come out halfway. How could he not be interested?

A combat xiu flew out of the Tian Huan battalion.

This combat xiu’s body flashed with all kinds of light and it could be seen from the talismans he had that they were of extraordinary grade. Tian Huan was skilled in seals, formations, and forging. In the field of talismans, they were the top of the four Realms.

Under the shine of the treasure light, the combat xiu seemed of great bearing. Facing the two battalions, he did not show any fear. He looked down and said coldly, “Someone who can make decisions, come out and respond!”

The other’s careless tone cause the people around Lil’ Miss to become angry. The other was so proud and rude.

Gongsun Cha’s bashful face like that of the neighbor’s boy had a faint smile. That pair of eyes that were as warm as sunlight flashed with killing intent and craziness. “Xie Shan, take his head!”

Xie Shan had been waiting for this. He instantly turned into a sword light and shot at the other!

He was very fast. A golden sword light suddenly appeared in front of the other!

This combat xiuzhe just felt a dot of golden light suddenly show up in front of him and blinded him. Instantly, a cold sword essence locked onto him and his face immediately changed. He shouted loudly, “You dare … …”

Panicked, the ling armor of the Tian Huan combat xiu lit up. Countless transparent seal scripts protected him.

The gold light heavily hit the seal scripts!

Bam!

A crisp sound, the Tian Huan combat xiu’s expression changed slightly. The ling armor on his body had shattered with one blow! However, what reassured him was that the other’s blow had still been stopped!

Yet before he could celebrate, a little tiny golden light flew out of the exploding ball of golden light and flashed directly across his neck!

Like a knife cutting tofu!

The head shot up and blood sprayed out in a pillar!

That tiny golden light flashed and disappeared. Along with the bigger golden light, they returned to Xie Shan’s hands.

Everyone finally saw that the flying swords in Xie Shan’s hands were a pair of golden flying swords, one big and one small.

Paired Mirage Sword!

The Tian Huan combat xiu were first stunned and then infuriated. The battle formation shifted and many combat xiu wanted to charge immediately out of anger.

The smile on Lil’ Miss’ face grew, and his tone was as sharp as a blade, “Formation!”

Vermillion Bird Camp’s battle formation silently changed. The combat xiu on the two flanks slid back multiple steps and the entire combat formation changed. Sharp killing intent radiated. It was like a wild beast whose body was arced forward slightly, waiting to pounce in a lightning attack!

The Tian Huan battalion that had been shifting instantly quieted. They were an elite battalion that had been through many battles and were very sensitive to killing intent. They instantly detected the other battalion had locked onto them!

If they continued to be restless, the battle formation would show flaws which the other would immediately attack!

The restless combat xiu instantly calmed down. All of them started to prepare for battle.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s face became dark. He narrowed his eyes. Only now did the presence he gave off turn into something that could not be concealed by this plain cloth robe.

A strong feeling of suppression caused Gongye Xiao Rong to feel pressure.

Professionals could detect if others had talent. The other just changed his formation slightly and Gongye Xiao Rong knew he had encountered a strong enemy.

However, he still felt surprised by the other’s strong attitude and viciousness!

There was no buffer in the entire process. It was so clean and crisp he smelled the scent of danger.

Who were they?

Chapter 587 - Tit For Tat

“This one is Tian Huan’s Gongye Xiao Rong,” Gongye Xiao Rong smiled and bowed in the direction of Gongsun Cha.

The generals under his command were all shocked. They had not expected Daren to be the first to show weakness to the other. The enemy had killed their combat xiu in front of them without even asking for a reason yet Daren proactively showed weakness first?

Many people had rebellious expressions.

They were Tian Huan! When had Tian Huan been humiliated so? Yes! This was a humiliation! Almost everyone had prepared to fight, wanting to charge and kill all of them.

None of them had expected Daren to show weakness!

If Gongye Xiao Rong’s authority was not as secure as it was, the rebellious battle generals would have started to talk already.

“This one is Gongsun Cha.” Lil’ Miss still had a sunny smile. In the eyes of the Tian Huan battle generals, this was an extreme eyesore.

Gongsun Cha?

Never heard of this person!

Gongye Xiao Rong thought carefully and was certain that he really had not heard the name before. He noticed the other only gave his name but not his origins. There was something to ponder here.

Also, a battalion like this should not be unknown!

Gongye Xiao Rong’s eyes flashed and were meaningful. It was not so easy to form a strong battalion. Gongye Xiao Rong had went through the process of building one and knew very well how difficult it was.

Was there a faction that had targeted a position among the great four from the shadows?

This was the first thought that flashed through his mind. But when he thought, he couldn’t help but laugh soundlessly. This thought was nonsense.

“As expected, heroes come from the youth! Brother Gongsun is so young and in charge of a battalion, Xiao Rong was just whiling away the days in the past.” Gongye Xiao Rong had a smile. But then his tone changed. “But why is Brother Gongsun in cahoots with the mo?”

Gongsun Cha’s smile was like a flower. His tone was warm but his words were very sharp. “In cahoots with the mo? Brother Gongye’s words are strange! This sect has taken over Orchid Home Jie. The Stellar Rahula Clan admires our sect’s conduct and is willing to submit, turning from evil towards the right path. Isn’t such an action something our generation pursues?”

Then his tone changed. “But your battalion still sent your big army after our sect has taken Orchid Home Jie. Is Tian Huan so unreasonable? Are you bullying little sects like us?”

Lil’ Miss smiled as he spoke, sometimes full of gentleness and then his tone turned murderous. But while he was uttering complete falsehoods, he was extremely composed. At the side A Zha Ge felt cold inside. What take over Orchid Home Jie? In just a few words, Lil’ Miss established his position. Truth and falsehood, it was hard for the other to pick out which was which.

A Zha Ge decided he did not want to be enemies with Lil’ Miss in this life.

If he had an enemy like this, he probably wouldn’t even know how he died.

Gongye Xiao Rong did not know what to say.

Just a step late, and his judgment had made a great mistake. He was not the only one. Even his soldiers really thought that Lil’ Miss had really taken over Orchid Home Jie.

But those soldiers did not care. So what if the other got here first? They could take it!

They were yearning to go and wanted to charge. The other was not weak, but they were full of confidence and completely did not have a good opinion of the enemy.

Gongye Xiao Rong stared at the other. He did not believe what Gongsun Cha said but he could not pick out any holes in the story. As to the problem of the mo, the xiuzhe had always been divided into two sides on the issue. One group wanted to kill all the mo, and not leave any living. The other would allow the mo to submit to them and advocated for gentle treatment.

Both groups had their support in the xiuzhe world so regarding the problem of the mo, Gongye Xiao Rong could not pick any faults.

What he considered was far more than his soldiers.

This war would probably continue for a very long time. Tian Huan was one of the great four and they had to take care of their reputation and image. If they stole whenever they encountered someone weaker than them, how could they ally with other sects?

He did not care about Orchid Home Jie. Orchid Home Jie was easy to attack but hard to defend. In terms of value, it was worth far less than Black Stone Jie.

However … …

A cold light flashed through Gongye Xiao Rong’s eyes.

They had to give something in response to his subordinate being killed!

“However, the one that is killed is one of this one’s people. This is still an issue.” Gongye Xiao Rong slowly spoke.

“This one expresses deep apology for that, and is willing to pay reparations,” Gongsun Cha said with an innocent expression.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s soldiers became furious, their eyes sprouting blood.

“There is no need for reparations. Blades are blind. The xiuzhe that go onto the battlefield need to understand they can die on the battlefield. This one’s brothers have been proud for many years, and are very competitive upon seeing Brother Gongsun’s brothers today. Please, Brother Gongsun, help me teach my brothers.” Finishing, he did not wait for Lil’ Miss to speak. He turned around and said, “Di Li, pick fifty brothers and ask for guidance from this Gongsun Daren.”

“Yes!” A black faced man stood up and accepted the order.

The smile on Gongsun Cha’s face was still the same. “Since Brother Gongye has such interest, this little brother will naturally go along. E De, take your team, go.”

E De had an excited expression. He shot out of the ranks and said seriously, “I will not fail Daren’s expectations!”

“Relax, relax.” Lil’ Miss smiled.

But E De’s expression was determined. To be able to be picked by Daren at such an important time, Daren’s intentions of nurturing him was evident.

No matter what, he had to win!

He stared murderously at the enemy.

Di Li stared back hard at E De.

E De suddenly grinned like a wild beast staring at its prey and bared its sharp teeth!

———

The challenge stadium was filled with crowds.

The bet and challenge between Zuo Mo and Miao Jun spread through all of Great Peace City like a wind. Countless people flowed towards the challenge stadium.

The challenge stadium in Great Peace City had been set down with jinzhi by the two mo marshals. If people under marshal level fought inside, the backlash would not break through the jinzhi.

General level had the power to upend seas. When the two yuanying had fought in Xu Ling City, all of Xu Ling City had been destroyed. If these general levels could fight where they wished, Great Peace City would have been turned to ash a long time ago.

Compared to the fight between Zuo Mo and Pang Cheng, this fight attracted more attention. One was an youth that caused the Shifting Star Sand, the other was someone from the Great Peace Mo Ranking. The challenge between these two could naturally attract the eyes of people.

The Great Peace Mo Ranking represented the top twenty experts in Great Peace City. Those that could get onto the ranking had undoubted power. Xiao Mo Ge who had caused the Shifting Star Sands was also seen by the entire city.

A challenge of such significance was something that caused people’s blood to boil just thinking about it.

The bet between Miao Jun and Xiao Mo Ge also added light to this significant challenge. Xiao Mo Ge’s attention-catching style and his domineering nature did not match his age at all!

More people felt surprised that Xiao Mo Ge had found Miao Jun. Was it because Xiao Mo Ge had such great confidence or did he know something that no one else knew?

But these thoughts were just the footnotes of this challenge. Everyone’s gaze was completely drawn to the two people in the field.

———

Miao Jun did not move at all. His presence was steady and condensed like a great mountain. He stared closely at Zuo Mo but he was not as calm inside as he appeared. When he heard the name [Celestial Azure Essence] from Xiao Mo Ge’s mouth, he was unable to keep his composure.

He had never expected to hear these words from the mouth of someone else, especially a youth.

Celestial Azure Essence … …

Just based on these words, no matter what, he would fight. What he was even more curious about was where Xiao Mo Ge had heard about this, and how had he discovered it?

He found that he was unable to get the measure of this youth.

Zuo Mo did not think too much. Inside, there was only the desire to obtain victory. He did not care about that [Celestial Azure Essence]. That was just bait that Wei threw out. He might admire Miao Jun but he didn’t really need the other in his service.

There was only one thing that was essential in his mind, victory!

Zuo Mo’s presence continued to increase. The waves of sound quickly distanced themselves. The burning intent to fight was like fire in his eyes.

This was the first time he circulated the three newly changed powers inside his body since the Shifting Star Sands incident.

Endless power came from inside his body. A pleasure he never felt before made him feel so comfortable he almost roared to the sky. Every piece of muscle, every sinew was so lively and so strong!

He did not take off the bandage on his right hand. The Sky Glass Wave was adequate to face Pang Cheng but it was not enough for Miao Jun!

Every piece of muscle in his body was tensed like the string of a bow, the sun mo matrix at the center of his chest suddenly lit up.

The golden mo matrix was like a seed that awakened and quickly spread on the surface of Zuo Mo’s body.

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

Miao Jun’s expression changed slightly as he exclaimed, “Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!”

The jinzhi in the battlefield were effective against power but did not affect sound. This shout of “Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus” instantly spread through the entire battle stadium.

The stands that had been silencing their breathing and watching in silence suddenly erupted.

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

Who that cultivated in Great Peace City would not know of Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus?

A mo physique ranked third in general level!

Zuo Mo did not know the significance and weight of a mo physique ranking third in general level. But this was a great blow to those that were truly mo!

Why did Ye Ling think that Zuo Mo could become king when he discovered that Zuo Mo cultivated the Great Day mo physique? That was because there was always a legend among the mo.

Only those with noble blood could cultivate noble mo physiques!

No one had proven this saying but among the mo, especially low level mo, this was something that they all believed in. The Great Day mo physique that was second among colonel mo physiques undoubtedly provide proof of the nobility of Zuo Mo’s blood in Ye Ling’s eyes.

And Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus that ranked third in general level caused many people’s eyes to light up. The experts naturally snorted at the rationale about the noble blood but they were still full of anticipation.

It had been very long since such a powerful mo physique appeared. Everyone was filled with curiosity. What was the power of a mo physique ranked third in general level?

The Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus had a great reputation. Those that came before who cultivated it all were lords of one area. But that was just a legend. Right now, no one had heard of anyone cultivating Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus in the present mo world.

Sonic Boom, Shifting Star Sand, Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, everyone suddenly found that this youth was more eye-catching and brighter than they expected.

Zuo Mo felt the three powers that had been renewed inside his body. They were like three pieces of magnets that simultaneously attracted and repelled each other and maintained a dynamic equilibrium.

When his Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was released without any restraint, his ling power and consciousness seemed like the shadow that his mo physique cast and continuously permeated his body.

Such a strange feeling!

A strange expression suddenly came onto Zuo Mo’s face.

Chapter 588 - The Azure Air Kill

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

Many people’s eyes brightened. There were not many chances to see a legendary mo physique from such a close distance. There were many mo physiques, but the mo physiques that ranked in the top three of each level were extremely rare and were usually not even seen once every hundred years.

In the stands, some people hurriedly sent messages. They only discovered something so important today. When they returned, they would definitely be lectured.

“He has just achieved it,” a black-robed man said in a low voice in the corner.

“Yes, however, Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus is very rare. It has been many years since it appeared!” An ethereal voice came out of a shadow.

The mo in the surroundings did not seem to see there were two people beside them. A mo was loudly talking a few hand-spans away from them but he did not detect that there were two experts right next to him.

“Qi Diao Yu has also come to watch.” The black robed man said with a light laugh, “The others also have come. It has been very long since we all got together.”

“If he sees you, then no one will be able to peacefully watch this.” In the dark shadow, that ethereal voice was slightly teasing.

“Hm!” The black robed man suddenly seemed to detect something, a shocked expression on his face.

“What is it?” the shadow asked.

“Look over there, that beautiful woman in black clothing. She isn’t simple.” The black robed man indicated with a pursing of the lips. “One beauty and one ugly. It is a very unique combination!”

“En?” The shadow also stilled slightly. “As expected, she is not simple! There seems to be a problem with the other woman.”

The black robed man seemed to savor it with his eyes. The surprise on his face grew. “Such a strange power!”

The dark shadow suddenly said, “I remember now. These two women were with Xiao Mo Ge. Xiao Mo Ge’s origins are probably not simple as well.”

The black robed man laughed. “Let’s watch, let’s watch, this matter isn’t our headache!”

“Yes.”

———

Bie Han appeared in the stands. Fu Feng stood behind him but Fu Feng’s expression was extremely angry.

“Your Highness, the Eldest Highness has said that he does not have a solution.” Fu Feng did not dare to look at Bie Han’s expression. He knew the depth of what His Highness felt towards Sin Battalion. Fu Feng had not thought that Eldest Highness would be so ruthless that he was even unaffected by His Highness’ promise to set up his own household.

He was very worried that His Highness would not be able to accept the news.

He waited for a response to the news in silence, a deathly silence.

A moment later, Bie Han coldly spoke, “En, let’s think of other ways.”

His Highness’ tones seemed normal and the same as usual but Fu Feng knew just how cruel the matter was to His Highness! He felt extremely sorrowful. If Mistress was still alive, who would dare to be so disrespectful of His Highness!

If the master was humiliated, the subject should die in loyalty. Thinking about the humiliation and pain that His Highness was receiving, Fu Feng’s heart twisted.

Bie Han suddenly said, “Uncle Bo, do not worry. This bit of trouble isn’t anything. Let’s watch the fight.”

The tone was still as indifferent as usual but Fu Feng could hear the concern in His Highness’ tone. He was even more moved. He did not waste words and secretly decided that he would definitely fulfill His Highness’ wish for him.

As Fu Feng thought about this, he unconsciously looked towards the field.

Suddenly, he stilled.

For some reason, he felt as though he knew the youth on the field.

But when he examined that face, he found it was a very unfamiliar face.

But that feeling of familiarity could not be erased!

So strange. Why would he feel familiarity towards Xiao Mo Ge?

Fu Feng was very puzzled.

———

Ling power and spiritual consciousness continuously permeated deeper into Zuo Mo’s body. A cool wave seemed to form inside his body. Yet the domineering flame of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique caused him to feel a layer of fire was flowing on his body.

He did not have the time to slowly experience the changes in his body. He looked attentively at Miao Jun.

Not one opening!

Miao Jun’s body was like a great and tall mountain that caused Zuo Mo to feel as though he did not know where to attack!

So strong!

Zuo Mo’s heart trembled but the fighting spirit inside did not decrease but increased instead!

A faint layer of gold appeared on his eyes. There were exquisite and complex mo matrixes that floated in his eyes. The sun mo matrix at the center of his chest was like a burning sun that caused even Zuo Mo felt a burning pain.

The Sun Crystal Seed inside his body was unusually lively. Waves of heat flowed like lava from the Sun Crystal Seed. They circulated once around his body and then entered the Sun mo matrix at his chest.

The burning pain increased but at the same time, a feeling of coolness in the deeper part of his body became even clearer!

It was a conflicting feeling.

The gold in his eyes became more dense and his presence suddenly increased again!

Miao Jun, who had been calm all this time, shifted expression slightly. Xiao Mo Ge was like a ball of burning fire that had increased in ferocity and became even more dangerous!

Miao Jun decided to attack!

The words [Celestial Azure Essence] flashed through his mind. The killing intent in his eyes increased.

A strange azure color quickly spread over his entire body. Having been unmoving as a mountain, Miao Jun suddenly turned into a gust of wind and impossible to catch!

Azure Air mo physique!

His body suddenly disappeared into the air!

Zuo Mo’s pupils shrank into pinpoints. He had disappeared, Miao Jun had completely disappeared! He lost all perception of Miao Jun!

———

“Miao Jun is really vicious. First move is [Azure Air Kill]!” A male that looked similar to Lan Tian Long said with a smile. His body was not as well-built as Lan Tian Long. However, the two were so similar in looks that people could easily recognize him as Lan Tian Long’s brother, Lan Rong.

Lan Rong then sighed in praise, “I have to say that Miao Jun’s [Azure Air Kill] is really unique. I don’t know how he comprehended his move. The Air Azure mo physique is not a very powerful physique. It probably is the worst mo physique on the Great Peace Mo Rankings!”

Lan Tian Long’s eyes did not move away. There was a bit of shock on his face. It was unexpected  that Miao Jun would use his ultimate attack right at the start of the fight!

[Azure Air Kill] was the move that made Miao Jun famous. He could completely disappear leaving the enemy bewildered as to how they had died.

An unknown number of experts had fallen under this move. Miao Jun had stepped onto the Great Peace Mo Ranking relying on this [Azure Air Kill]!

Up until now, no one had been able to defeat this move.

So when everyone found that Miao Jun had used his ultimate move from the start, they were stunned.

Lan Tian Long also nodded and praised Miao Jun’s ultimate move, “It’s true. Even I cannot think of a way to defeat this move.”

“One move for every use!” Lan Rong shook his head and smiled, “This is what is not good about watching Miao Jun’s fights. If he uses this move, then there is no need to watch.”

“Maybe there will be something unexpected today,” Lan Tian Long suddenly said. He remembered the faint sense of danger that had appeared that day at the city gates.

Lan Rong was slightly shocked. He turned his face and examined his brother for a while. “It seems you have a high opinion of this Xiao Mo Ge!”

“We will see soon!” Lan Tian Long shook his head and said.

Hearing this, Lan Rong could only curiously look towards Zuo Mo in the field by himself.

———

Ceng Lian’er stared at Zuo Mo on the field. She carefully maintained her distance with Zuo Mo. Even though there was the jinzhi barrier, the power resonance between them still existed.

She still did not understand how Zuo Mo was able to cause the Shifting Star Sand that day.

In terms of likelihood, her chances of causing the Shifting Star Sand were much higher than Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo cultivated sun shen power, his mo physique was the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, it was a hard and yang power. It almost was impossible for him to cause Shifting Star Sand!

But the reality was completely the opposite of what she predicted.

She had originally thought that she knew everything about Zuo Mo but found that Zuo Mo was a ball of mystery shrouded in mist.

A Gui silently stood next to Ceng Lian’er. Her expression was still wooden and she was unaffected by anything in the surroundings. Her empty eyes would only stare at Zuo Mo.

Ceng Lian’er glanced at A Gui and suddenly recalled the heart-shaking memory fragments in Zuo Mo’s mind. Her gaze became even deeper.

“Hey, Miss, what is your name?” a young master came over.

Ceng Lian’er had a flawless face, and a seductive glance. She was like an orchid in a mountain valley that stood alone. For these young masters, she was a fatal attraction! A group of young masters crowded over.

Ceng Lian’er seemed to not hear them. Her gaze fixed on Zuo Mo in the field.

“There is nothing to see there. Miao Jun is using his Azure Air Kill, Xiao Mo Ge is definitely dead! So boring. After so many years, Miao Jun still only has this move. I had thought there would be something new, ye has come for nothing,” the young master muttered. Then his expression became alert. “But I really need to thank him since I now have the chance to encounter you, Miss!”

Ceng Lian’er ignored him. She stared at the field and she could feel Zuo Mo’s predicament!

———

The enormous battlefield appeared empty. He was the only person standing there!

Miao Jun had completely disappeared into thin air from in front of him.

He used all his skill but still could not find the other. However, a strong sense of danger caused his scalp to prickle. There seemed to be an invisible chain that was wrapped around his neck. If the other wanted to, he could tighten the noose at any moment!

The other was definitely still in the battlefield!

Zuo Mo’s right hand suddenly flipped. A string of little yao arts shot out of his hand and flashed past the entire battlefield.

But they did not hit anything at all.

The stands became even hearted and the discussion became hotter. Zuo Mo’s little yao arts were just little yao arts but they still astounded many people.

The systems of yao and mo cultivation were completely different. Mo that understood yao arts were very rare.

Xiao Mo Ge actually knew yao arts!

Zuo Mo’s little yao arts stunned many people in the stands.

The waves of noise that heightened in the stands did not affect Zuo Mo at all. His nerves were tense and he was secretly on his guard as he searched every inch of space in the battlefield.

The feeling of danger increased like the noose around his neck had already tightened.

Cold sweat dripped down the tip of Zuo Mo’s nose.

Chapter 589 - A Domineering Fire Of The First Heavenly Stem

Zuo Mo’s eyes were wide as he furiously searched the battlefield. But no matter which method he used, he could not find Miao Jun’s figure. However, the strong feeling of danger rose.

Cold sweat soaked Zuo Mo’s back. He had not expected that Miao Jun’s attack would be so strange and unusual!

Only now did he realize the strength of the Great Peace Mo Ranking!

Miao Jun who was ranked last was already so strong, then the other nineteen would be even stronger than Miao Jun! He had underestimated the people in the world. His recent successive breakthroughs had caused him to overestimate himself. A thread of regret flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes.

However, those distant memories suddenly flashed across his eyes like a tide. Those scenes filled with sunlight and warmth. Xiao Guo’s timid and innocent face that was smiling, Li Ying Feng Shijie’s valiant figure, they all appeared in his mind.

For some unknown reason, the terror that had taken over his body suddenly subsided greatly.

Courage returned to his body. His eyes became determined again. Fighting spirit filled his sweat-covered face!

Like sunlight breaking through the layers of dark clouds, the smile that rose on his face was just as bright.

“En?” on the stand, the black robed man was slightly shocked. He had seen the change in Xiao Mo Ge’s expression and presence.

Had he found a solution to use against Miao Jun?

“Can you guess what method he will use?” the dark shadow asked.

“I do not know!” The black robed male shook his head. “I’ve never fought against Miao Jun. I also do not know how to defeat his Azure Air Kill.”

“Then what would you do?” the dark shadow asked.

“Restrict his opportunities for attack by remaining motionless,” the black robed male said without hesitation.

The two did not speak more. Their attention turned back to the battlefield because Xiao Mo Ge had moved!

Zuo Mo slowly retreated back step by step until he reached the edge of the battlefield. If he retreated one more step back, he would leave the battlefield and lose.

He stopped walking and faced towards the empty battlefield. His body crouched like a wild beast about to pounce. His right fist that was covered in bandages was set by his side and his entire body was leaning forward.

This extremely offensive posture had caused all the people on the stands stop breathing. Was Xiao Mo Ge going to attack?

Zuo Mo’s eyes were like balls of burning flame. He stared at the empty battlefield, full of determined fighting spirit and motivation. It burned his skin.

His mind was unusually calm.

No matter what Miao Jun had done, he was definitely inside the battlefield!

Since the other could not be found, he would attack until the other was hit!

The flames burning in Zuo Mo’s eyes pushed. The furious fighting intent was like a flash of a blade in the air. The cold light appeared and a cold shout shocked the entire stadium. “Kill!”

The sun mo matrix at the center of his chest suddenly sprouted a burning flood of energy!

At the same time, the right fist at his side twisted and punched out at full power like an arrow shooting out of a bow!

At the exact same time, the flood of power that came from the sun mo matrix in his chest flashed like lightning into his fist!

Boom!

It might have been that his fist created enough friction against the air or that flames had shot out of his fist, but the bandages that wrapped around his fist had started to burn. The golden flames fluttered wildly in the high-speed air flow and quickly spread. His arm seemed to be layered in dancing gold flames, the long tongues of flame were flickering wildly!

Hmmm hmmm hmmm!

A deep and trembling roar that seemed to come from deep within the ground.

The rapidly spinning right fist carried the wild dancing gold flames as it punched out at the empty battlefield!

The first transformation of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus [Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem]!

In the stands, everyone’s pupils suddenly expanded. They were unable to look directly at the fist, one that seemed to be a meteor crashing down from the sky with a long tail!

Boom!

A ball of gold light crashed into the center of the battlefield and suddenly exploded. The blinding golden light filled the entire battlefield!

Everyone on the stands felt the earth tremble beneath their feet and were unable to remain standing. The stands were full of shouts but these shouts quickly disappeared—they looked in disbelief at the field.

The dust settled on the battlefield that was now a complete mess. Shattered stone rained down and at the very center of the battlefield, a sorry figure appeared.

Miao Jun!

The stones continued to rain down. When the last stone landed, the people found to their shock that the flat battlefield had completely disappeared. What replaced it as a scattered layer of stone with blocks one zhang thick!

Miao Jun looked at Zuo Mo who was still in his posture of punching, disbelief on his face. His complexion was ashen. His Azure Air Kill had been defeated by this youth like this!

How was it possible?

How was it possible!

———

“Such a domineering punch!” Shock flashed through Lan Rong’s eyes as he murmured to himself.

Lan Tian Long did not speak. He looked at the battlefield with shock on his face.

“He actually used such a dumb method to defeat Miao Jun’s Azure Air Kill!” Lan Rong shook his head as though it was in praise but also in disbelief. “It really is … … really is … …”

He stopped. He did not know how to describe it.

“Could you stop this punch?” Lan Tian Long turned his face and suddenly asked.

Lan Rong’s expression changed slightly. He closed his eyes and a faint flush came onto his face. A moment later, he opened his eyes and shook his head. “I cannot!”

“Is the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus this strong?” Lan Tian Long stared at Xiao Mo Ge on the field and murmured to himself.

———

“How can the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus be this powerful?” The black robed male stared at Xiao Mo Ge on the battlefield as if he was seeing a ghost.

“The Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus is not this powerful!” The dark shadow picked up the topic, his tone unusually certain. “He used some other technique! His body is very strong and this should be a benefit of the Shifting Star sands. Adding on that the way he manipulates power is very unique, this punch has been created.”

“But this is outrageously domineering.” The black robed male found it hard to accept. “I cannot guarantee that I would be able to stop this punch.”

“But you are able to prevent him from having a chance to punch,” the dark shadow said.

“Of course.” The black robed male did not pretend to be humble. However, he was slightly surprised. “But how old is he? Is there anyone so young who can be this talented?”

“The heavens are jealous of geniuses. This may not be good for him,” the dark shadow said indifferently.

The black robed male stilled. “You want to act against him? No way!”

“No, but someone wants to.” The dark shadow looked into the distance.

The black robed man followed the dark shadows gaze and his eyes focused.

———

The stands were completely silent. Everyone was stunned by such a powerful punch.

The seemingly normal flooring on the battle stadium was made from the best granite and was extremely hard. In order to make it even stronger, there were many jinzhi placed on it. Even though the surface had become pitted due to the years of challenge, but in general, it was still intact and very flat.

Xiao Mo Ge’s punch had smashed the entire battle stadium’s flooring!

Just how powerful this fist was!

Even if it was a mountain, he would be able to shatter it!

People stared in shock at the youth in the field that did not seem very strong. All faces were pale and weak in front of such a scene. The enormous challenge stadium was deathly silent.

When they saw Miao Jun use the Azure Air Kill they had thought that there would not be any meaning in watching this battle. Who would have thought the situation would reverse. People’s eyes could not keep up with the quickness the situation changed.

In a flash, the one at a disadvantage was Miao Jun!

———

Miao Jun’s expression was very complex. He stared at Zuo Mo with a changing expression.

It was not that he had never thought that the Azure Air Kill would one day be defeated but he had never thought that it would be such a young person that would defeat it. And in such a crude and savage method!

But when it really did happen, Miao Jun had to complement the other’s unique thinking.

In front of such peerlessly domineering power, any concealment technique was like a trap made of paper. It was useless no matter how exquisite it was. Even if his Azure Air Kill had reached the border of Boundary!

There was a helpless smile on Miao Jun’s face. Even if it was the completed Azure Air Boundary, it might not be something that could escape unharmed in front of such terrifying and domineering power, much less an Azure Air Kill that was just touching the boundary.

Too strong!

It was so strong it almost surpassed the limits of general level!

Miao Jun could see that this punch had been a great burden to Xiao Mo Ge. This could be seen from Xiao Mo Ge’s panting and slightly trembling body.

But when his eyes met Zuo Mo’s eyes, he stilled.

The gold energy in that pair of eyes had become much dimmer but what surprised Miao Jun was the burning fighting spirit was even higher than before, burning even more passionately!

Under the bellow-like panting, the burning fighting spirit was so eye-catching and was unable to be dismissed. Even if he was extremely tired, that dangerous presence did not decrease in strength at all.

No one detected that he had already lost the ability to fight back. Everyone felt that the battle was just starting.

Miao Jun stood up and silently looked at Zuo Mo.

“I admit defeat.”

Miao Jun’s sudden words caused the entire battle stadium to sink into silence.

But not a moment after the silence, waves of roaring sound seemed to break apart the battle stadium.

How was it possible?

How was it possible!

Zuo Mo was stunned where he stood and looked dazedly at Miao Jun.

Miao Jun looked interestedly at Zuo Mo’s expression as though he was not the person who forfeited. He was clearly very smug about the words he said.

“Do not think that you can fool me!”

Zuo Mo’s hateful words caused the smugness on Miao Jun’s face to freeze.

“You don’t believe me?” Miao Jun looked strangely at Zuo Mo.

“Now I believe you.” Zuo Mo threw down this phrase and then straightened his posture. He instantly shouted in pain. “It hurts.”

He had not used the traditional Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem with that punch but used it with all of his power, including a thread of shen power to create such a terrifying effect.

But this punch was also a great burden on his body that had surpassed his imagination. Right now, there wasn’t one part of him that wasn’t in pain.

However … … he won!

Even though he was very surprised that Miao Jun admitted defeat, it was good that he reached the result he wanted. He did not care what Miao Jun thought.

At this time, something suddenly changed.

Chapter 590 - Waiting

A streak of green light flew out of the stands and straight down at Zuo Mo!

At this time, the jinzhi in the battle stadium had been deactivated. Nothing was blocking this green energy. Just as the green energy appeared to strike Zuo Mo, a black figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

The black billowing sleeve was like the hissing tongue of a snake that suddenly flickered and stopped the green energy.

Ceng Lian’er!

Faint murderousness rose on that seductive face. The deep black opal eyes flashed with a strange light.

Bam!

The green energy exploded. The sleeve billowed and then suddenly grew, stopping all the green energy fragments of the explosion.

The sleeve dropped and Ceng Lian’er’s eyes flashed across the stands. The deep gaze caused people to feel cold from the bottom of their hearts.

This had occurred without any warning. Ceng Lian’er’s movements had been as fast as lightning. Many people had not understood what happened. However, everyone was stunned by such an enchanting woman. Those that noticed her sleeve had stopped the green energy shifted expression.

This woman was very strong!

Ceng Lian’er moved her eyes but did not locate the attacker. Without a word, she grabbed Zuo Mo and A Gui. In a few leaps, they had disappeared.

No one dared to follow.

———

Black Stone Jie.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s expression was black. Beside him, Duo Li’s expression was ashamed as though he wanted to find a crack in the earth and bury himself.

Duo Li had been defeated.

The battle generals around them did not dare to even breathe heavily.

Gongye Xiao Rong took a deep breathe. He did not vent his anger. He knew that the defeat could not be blamed on Duo Li. He had seen the entire battle and while the other had been strong, their strength was evenly matched to his side. The reason that Duo Li had been defeated was mostly due to the other’s battle tactics.

Strange battle tactics.

When Gongye Xiao Rong thought about it, he couldn’t help but feel slight incredulity. That was a kind of battle tactic he had never seen before. It could use the strength of the mo in the battalion to their greatest effect.

A xiuzhe battalion that used tactics based around mo, he had never heard of such a thing!

But these strange tactics was extremely powerful. Duo Li’s performance was good but he was quickly picked apart by the other’s domineering charge.

Even if it was himself, he did not have the confidence he could beat the other if he was encountering this battle tactic for the first time.

“Reflect well. You guys really have face to be defeated by an unorthodox battalion,” Gongye Xiao Rong said coolly.

His subordinates all flushed bright red.

Gongye Xiao Rong glanced at them. “Go down, pay more attention to what is happening on the other side.”

The battle generals under his command hurriedly left as though they were being pardoned.

When there was no one left in the room, Gongye Xiao Rong’s expression suddenly darkened.

This time, he really tripped up!

He had not suspected anything when Gongsun Cha said they had just taken Orchid Home Jie. Thinking about it now that he had time to think, the situation was definitely not as Gongsun Cha had claimed. The other’s tactics had clearly been trained for a period of time. In other words, those mo had been a part of the battalion for some period of time.

How could mo enter a xiuzhe battalion?

What was strangest was that the tactics of this battalion were designed around a group of mo.

Gongye Xiao Rong was muddled. Was this a xiuzhe faction or a mo faction?

Gongye Xiao Rong did not care about who ruled Orchid Home Jie. That place was extremely easy to attack and unable to be properly defended . For the present Tian Huan, it had no value.

However, when had he, Gongye Xiao Rong, ever lost so?

Thinking about this, he suddenly smiled.

So interesting!

———

Taking down Orchid Home Jie was a great encouragement to Gongsun Cha. What made him even happier was that the Orchid Hill Jie was at the intersection of Hundred Savage Realm and Dark Realm. Going from here to Dark Realm was very convenient.

According to the jie maps he had obtained, Zuo Mo would go to the Dark Realm by passing through the Orchid Hill Jie.

In other words, right now, Gongsun Cha and the others only had to hold Orchid Home Jie and could wait here for Zuo Mo.

However, Orchid Hill Jie was unable to be properly fortified. Gongsun Cha was extremely decisive. With a wave of his hand, he decided to give up on the other regions and only set up defenses around the chaos rift.

He concentrated all of his strength around the chaos rift. Anyone that wanted to take over it would have to pay a great price. Also, Golden Crow Camp was hurrying to come. When they got here, this place would be built into a highly defended fort.

The people of the Rahula Clan were all sent towards Middle Granary Jie while A Zha Ge’s battalion was settled around the outer perimeter of Vermillion Bird Camp acting as a barrier and meat shield. Lil’ Miss did not have any sympathy for them.

A Zha Ge knew this was a hard task but he was smart. Since he had submitted to the other, if he did not integrate into this group now and earn their trust, then his clansmen would not have good days in the future.

So he did not hesitate to carry out any of Lil’ Miss’ orders.

Scouts from Tian Huan frequently appeared near the jie river but Lil’ Miss ignored them. He allowed them to investigate freely. He thought clearly. What was most valuable in Orchid Home Jie was this chaos rift. He would not feel pain if the other places were invaded and taken over.

A short while later, the number of scouts decreased and almost disappeared.

Gongsun Cha realized that Gongye Xiao Rong was planning a new approach.

———

Mu Xi patrolled the camp repeatedly. Her calm expression affected the combat yao below her. Their morale had not changed greatly after the defeat of their allies.

Of the alliance army, Mu Xi Battalion was the only battalion that survived.

Originally, she was to command the entirety of the allied army, but she had actually received great resistance from Bi Shan and the other generals. She was yao so she was naturally not welcomed as the leader of this allied army, one that was primarily comprised of mo.

The allied army quickly elected to have Bi Shan as the lead commander and in the following battles, Mu Xi perceptively detected Tian Huan’s strategy. It was a pity that Mu Xi was unable to persuade Bi Shan and the others to change their strategy.

Seeing that it could not be stopped, Mu Xi instead found an excuse to delay her battalion’s participation for a few days and so they did not land in Tian Huan’s ambush. They managed to successfully survive. Mu Xi’s astounding perceptiveness earned her the trust of her subordinates and everyone followed her faithfully.

Mu Xi recognized from the troop movements of the Tian Huan battalion that the other did not know about the existence of her battalion.

So she led the battalion to hide in the jie river of Cross pond Jie near Black Stone Jie.

She judged that Gongye Xiao Rong’s first choice of attack would be Clear Daybreak Jie and not Cross Pond Jie. She was like a patient hunter and she was just waiting for a chance to take back Black Stone Jie in order to return home!

Suddenly, a scout reported back with an excited expression. “Daren, Tian Huan has moved. As you expected, they went to Clear Daybreak Jie!”

Mu Xi’s eyes suddenly lit up. She said in a deep voice, “Gather!”

Such a good chance!

———

The attack had occurred in public and Ceng Lian’er coming out added on a spectacular brushstroke to Xiao Mo Ge and Miao Jun’s fight. The Xiao-Miao fight that had been a hot topic became even more popular.

This challenge was full of wonder.

The peerlessly domineering punch that Xiao Mo Ge used shocked everyone. And Miao Jun’s forfeit was something that every person did not understand. The strange green light and the weird Ceng Lian’er caused even more questions to arise.

Why had they tried to assassinate Xiao Mo Ge?

What was the origins of the beautiful woman next to Xiao Mo Ge? How was her true strength?

Those that cared also noticed that there was an extremely ugly woman next to Xiao Mo Ge as well but Xiao Mo Ge treated this woman much better than the beauty.

These all became topics of discussion.

Zuo Mo was not surprised that Ceng Lian’er had lent a hand. Just based on their paired cultivation, Ceng Lian’er had to save him. However, he was very angry that Ceng Lian’er had taken A Gui to the battle stadium and placed her in danger.

However, Ceng Lian’er ignored him and just drank tea in an easy and relaxed state.

Shu Long charged in. “Daren, Miao Jun has come.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. This guy really came?

Truthfully, Zuo Mo was very shocked that Miao Jun had forfeited the match. Even he himself, did not feel that the other really forfeited. He was almost out of strength at that time, and while Miao Jun’s Azure Air Kill had been defeated, but he still had power to fight.

The situation was advantageous towards Miao Jun but Miao Jun had forfeited in that situation.

When Miao Jun walked in, he bowed properly to Zuo Mo, “Daren!”

Zuo Mo instantly felt uncomfortable. However, if he didn’t take advantage, he wasn’t Little Mo Ge. He tested, “You have really decided to work for me?”

“Yes! Daren!” Miao Jun’s expression was calm and there was no deception that he could detect.

Zuo Mo thought and then said, “I’m telling you now that I do not have Celestial Azure Essence.”

“This subordinate has guessed this.” Miao Jun’s expression was still calm. “It is not important if Daren has Celestial Azure Essence or not. This subordinate has admitted defeat, and will follow through with our bet.”

His expression was honest as though he was just stating a simple fact.

But Zuo Mo still felt it was slightly strange. But the other’s expression did not seem insincere. He could not think of a reason the other submitted no matter how he tried so Zuo Mo decided not to think. “You can find a room and settle in.”

“Yes, Daren!” Miao Jun nodded.

What did this person mean? Zuo Mo rubbed his chin. Looking at Miao Jun’s figure, he felt puzzled.

Was there someone this strong that was really willing to be someone’s subordinate? Zuo Mo did not believe it.

But if the other had some unforeseen goal, Zuo Mo felt there was nothing about him that was worthy of being targeted.

In any case, those that were barefoot were not afraid of those wearing shoes!

Zuo Mo comforted himself.

Shu Long quickly reported back with news.

One of the news items was that Zuo Mo had replaced Miao Jun and entered the Great Peace Mo Rankings and was in the twentieth position. Zuo Mo probably was the youngest genius that had entered the Great Peace Mo Rankings.

The other bit of news was that the princesses of three great families were coming together and would reach Great Peace City a fortnight later!

Princess Xia was among them!

This news caused Great Peace City to explode!

Chapter 591 - Old Acquaintances

“Oooh oooh oooh oooh! Spectacular! As expected of Great Peace City!” The one who spoke had an eye-catching head of orange hair that was flickering like a fire. He looked around as he walked, his face in an astounded expression as he kept on chattering.

His fellow was shrouded in a ball of black smoke that flickered uncertainly.

“Old Black, your wish is being fulfilled! However, I really cannot understand why you admire Shi Zi Ming!” The orange-haired yao twisted his mouth but then he puffed out his chest and hit it three time. He said righteously, “However, brothers have to be loyal, you said to come, and I have come here with you!”

The black smoke yao seemed to not hear the orange-haired yao’s words. He looked at the vast and soaring Great Peace City with devoutness on his face.

“Old Black, this is not good of you! Yao have to have resolved. Idolizing a mo, this does not make you seem like you have good taste.” The orange-haired yao urged him.

The orange-haired yao’s words caused the people that passed by to glare at him but he did not seem to detect it.

The black smoke yao refocused and knew that this wasn’t good. He hurriedly changed the topic. “Go, let’s go inside and see.”

The orange-haired yao’s attention was once again attracted by the novel sights on the street and he occasionally shouted and yelled.

The black smoke yao also could not control his excitement. Shi Zi Ming was legendary among the mo and even more there were few people that knew he had once travelled the yao world, and even made a dangerous trip to the xiuzhe world. By coincidence, he had obtained a record left behind by one of Shi Zi Ming’s followers.

He and the orange haired yao both cultivated according to these records but the yao arts that they comprehended were completely different.

The orange-haired yao was not a persistent person and after cultivating it, he threw it to the side. He didn’t even know who Shi Zi Ming was. However, the black smoke yao was extremely attentive to the records and followed the clues, he ultimately found the legendary Shi Zi Ming.

He then started to ask around about Shi Zi Ming’s history.

Fortunately, there was a lot of inter-mixing between yao and mo and the era of Shi Zi Ming was historically recent. So the black smoke yao learned of Great Peace City and of the Mo Skill Steles.

His biggest wish was to enter Great Peace City to pay his respects to Elder Shi Zi Ming, to study his Mo Skill Steles. Inside those records, the person had mentioned that Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming had once sworn an oath to pass on all the methods he had comprehended to everyone.

When he learned about Great Peace City and the Mo Skill Steles, the black smoke yao started to pay attention.

Recently, the state of affairs was chaotic and the yao art houses had stopped their classes. What was even more unexpected was that a chaos rift had appeared near them and was connected to the mo world. The alliance between yao and mo caused this chaos rift to become a crucial transportation route that was now frequently travelled. The black smoke yao therefore pulled the orange-haired  along with him on the long journey to Great Peace City.

“Three princesses are coming! Holy, this is frightening! This is going to be fun! I just wonder how many powerful people are going to come over!”

“Yes, it has been so long since Great Peace City has been so busy. Look at those businesses. Their smiles are almost scary and they are furiously buying inventory!”

“Devastating beauties, the gathering of heroes, it will be a great regret of a lifetime to miss an opportunity like this!”

“Haha, there is also a Xiao Mo Ge that likes to cause trouble! This cannot be a peaceful event!”

“Yes, yes! Xiao Mo Ge has never rested since he arrived, with him present, it will never be boring … …”

The orange-haired yao that had been looking around suddenly stopped and crowded next to the passer-by that were talking. He abruptly asked, “Xiao Mo Ge is in Great Peace City?”

The passersby glanced at him .”Yes, he has been in Great Peace City for a long time!”

“Haha! That’s great! Xiao Mo Ge also came! Fun fun!” The orange-haired yao’s eyes lit up, and the bright hair on his head became even more dazzling as though it would burst into fire.

The passer-by immediately became interested. “You know Xiao Mo Ge?”

“We are brothers!” The orange-haired yao slapped his chest and said in a proud and loud voice.

The black smoke yao muttered under his breath. “It would be strange if the other even remembered you.”

But the orange-haired yao’s hearing was very good. He waved his hand carelessly. “That would not happen, he is a good brother, and loyal!”

The black smoke yao rolled his eyes and muttered, “Idiot.”

The orange-haired yao quickly got Xiao Mo Ge’s address. As Xiao Mo Ge increased in popularity, all kinds of discussions arose around him. All of the information of him became common knowledge, including the location of the large compound he was staying at.

The black smoke yao did not want to be embarrassed and have the door shut in their faces but he could not convince the orange-haired yao so he could only follow behind the orange-haired yao.

The orange-haired yao quickly arrived at the gates of the large compound.

The guards at the gates glanced at the two people. One guard came forward. “Is there some matter you have come with?”

“We have come to find Xiao Mo Ge!” The orange-haired yao said loudly. “Go tell him that his brothers have come!”

“Brothers of Daren?” Hearing this, the guard was slightly shocked. He glanced at the two and then said, “Please wait for a moment.”

Finishing, he furiously sprinted inside.

“My brothers?” Zuo Mo was confused. When he heard the guard describe the arrival’s appearance, he instantly understood and a smile came onto his face. He had good feelings about that orange-haired that spoke of loyalty, liked to fight, liked being the center of attention, and had a great opinion of himself.

In front of the door.

“The peerlessly loyal orange-haired yao!” Zuo Mo’s lips unconsciously grinned.

The orange-haired yao liked hearing people compliment his loyalty the most and hearing this, his face bloomed. His orange hair was like a bright ball of flame but he tried to make a serious expression. “Yao need to be loyal! Haha, you are also very good, you have loyalty!”

The black smoke yao curiously observed Xiao Mo Ge from the side. Xiao Mo Ge in the real world was completely different than in Ten Finger Prison. He had even more presence, and even more edges. Also, he was well-guarded.

He finally understood why other people could not find Xiao Mo Ge’s identity. Even after he defeated Corps Commander Yu Heng, the origins of Xiao Mo Ge were still a mystery.

So Xiao Mo Ge had been in the mo world!

Zuo Mo exchanged greetings with the black smoke yao, he remembered this best friend of the orange-haired yao.

The two followed Zuo Mo into the compound. The black smoke yao’s heart beat rapidly as he saw the well-guarded passageways. The careless orange-haired yao did not detect these things at all. He excitedly boasted about the glorious fights he had been in since last seeing Zuo Mo.

Nan Yue, Cang Ze, and the others quickly came. When the familiar people met, the atmosphere became even rowdier.

The black smoke yao did not speak many words. He was observing from the side. If the news that Xiao Mo Ge was in the mo world passed back into the yao world, it would probably cause a great ruckus.

The other was younger than he had imagined and had become a gold battle general that could shake the world. The snowflake formation that he had used to defeat Corps Commander Yu Heng in the last battle had caused people to study the ancient battle tactics again and caused a great reaction.

Someone with a deep background had once said the higher-ups intended to give Xiao Mo Ge the position of a corps commander. However, they could not find Xiao Mo Ge so the matter was never resolved.

If Xiao Mo Ge truly became a corps commander, he would probably be the youngest corps commander ever!

The black smoke yao shook his head inside. He had to work harder!

He suddenly felt some admiration for the muddle-headed orange haired yao that easily integrated with the group.

This person was undefeatable!

———

Liang Wei wiped his face. His face was almost numb. He turned around and saw that his subordinates all had tired expressions. A month of concealed travel was an extreme test to any battalion.

However, they were not far from their goal.

“The blood mist has become thin.” Liang Wei reached out and pointed, his hoarse voice filled with indescribable excitement.

The combat yao with tired expressions instantly had bright eyes. Everyone knew what this meant. The blood mist becoming thin meant that they were very close to the xiuzhe world.

Ever since the Sky-Splitting Calamity, all kinds of chaos rifts had caused the Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie to become meaningless. But this terrible endless environment had always been a natural barrier.

No matter if it was xiuzhe or yaomo, they had withdrawn the armies they had once been stationed in Blood Sky Metropolis Jie. The inner areas of the realms became the site of their battles.

The battlefield that had once seen great fighting was empty and desolate, the smoke and fire having faded.

Those defense lines that had been built with such effort and care were empty of people. This place had lost all meaning.

Liang Wei licked his dry lips, his eyes as sharp as a wolf. They had not encountered even one person along the way but they still travelled under concealment to prevent being found by the other’s alarm seals and formations.

The strategic meaning of the chaos rifts naturally surpassed Blood Sky Metropolis Jie but the fighting over the chaos rifts were intense. Both sides diverted a great number of troops to these locations. When everyone’s gazes were focused on the chaos rifts, Liang Wei targeted the empty Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie

If they could cross Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie and enter the xiuzhe world, it would be like a dragon entering the sea. They could upend the other. Also, if they could capture a chaos rift that lead to the yao world, then this lonely army of theirs would truly come to life!

Many people opposed this risky plan but Liang Wei still decided to carry it out!

They were very close to their goal!

Liang Wei sent an order to rest. He smelt the scent of xiuzhe. This caused his blood to boil.

After the battalion recovered their fighting capability and started to travel again, they travelled for multiple days until the blood mist was so thin it disappeared.

A xiuzhe town appeared on the horizon.

Liang Wei’s eyes narrowed. He raised his right hand, killing intent filling his face.

“Kill!”

———

Wei Sheng slowly advanced. Corpses littered the ground behind him.

He could not remember how many bandit groups he had encountered but if he encountered any, he did not let them go. The black sword in his hand seemed to have drank its fill of fresh blood and now had a dark red hue.

Wei Sheng’ gaze was resolute and clear. His body was as upright as a sword, and his tired expression could not reduce his heightened mental state.

He shook his head. The strength of these bandits could not help him to improve. He needed stronger opponents. He hoped that stronger enemies would appear in the future. The black sword in his hand seemed to understand what he thought and gave a clear hum.

The sound rang into the surroundings!

Wei Sheng tenderly caressed the black sword in his hand. The power of the black sword was continuously increasing. It was becoming stronger. The killing essence inside the black sword was like a vicious beast that was slowly being woken up from a deep slumber.

A peerlessly vicious sword was showing its first edge!

Comparing his jie map to the one that he had taken from the corpse of a bandit, Wei Sheng raised his head. He checked his direction and walked forward!

A sword and a figure walked forward together.

Chapter 592 - Giving  A Helping Hand

In the darkness, Ceng Lian’er stood in front of a mo skill stele like a ghost.

The stars above her head were as vast as a sea.

She could feel traces of star power lingering around this mo skill stele. This as the mo skill stele where Zuo Mo had caused the Shifting Star Sands. Her gaze swept across the mo skill stele. She had repeatedly read the content on there but still could not find any clues as to why Zuo Mo could cause the Shifting Star Sand.

Suddenly, Ceng Lian’er turned around.

A male dressed in snowy-white robes silently appeared behind her. It was Qi Diao Yu.

There was a hint of killing intent that suddenly appeared in Qi Diao Yu’s eyes. The water droplet that circled around him suddenly shifted and gave off a strange sound.

Ceng Lian’er felt the scenery in her vision change and suddenly became blurry. Her black opal eyes suddenly lit up. A serene light came like a deep night. The black sleeve spread with a strange and invisible ripple.

The water droplet that orbited Qi Diao Yu suddenly stopped making the sound.

“As expected shen power,” Qi Diao Yu coolly spoke, a light that was hard to describe flashing through his eyes.

Ceng Lian’er’s expression quickly became enchanting, and her beautiful face even more seductive as she breathed softly. “Qi Diao Yu, so your aim is shen power.”

“Yes.” Qi Diao Yu’s eyes flashed. His snowy-white robes moved despite the lack of wind. A thread of yearning appeared on his indifferent face. “When I came here the past, I understood what Shi Zi Ming wanted to speak of was shen power.”

“However, he did not state the most important part.” Qi Diao Yu said coolly, “I have searched around and have not found any clues. I had not expected to encounter people that cultivated shen power, and three at once!”

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes became even more bewitching, her cherry-red lips slightly curved and her voice warm permeated one’s mind. “You are really someone that pays attention.”

Zing!

The sound was like a sword humming!

A crescent ripple suddenly shot out and accurately hit the water sleeve that had appeared at some unknown time.

The soft water sleeve shook lightly and rippled like water. The crescent shaped ripple was dispersed.

“If the news spread, how many people would be interested? Haven’t these families stood guard here waiting for someone to understand shen power?” Qi Diao Yu’s voice was indifferent as though he was narrating something that was unrelated to him.

“Yes.” Ceng Lian’er’s tone was soft and with a thread of laziness. It was like a cat kneading on the heart of a person. “But that has nothing to do with you, Qi Diao Yu. You will not have any connection with this banquet.”

Qi Diao Yu’s eyes suddenly became cold and his killing intent rose. “But since you have come, I will accept.”

Ceng Lian’er smiled seductively. “Then that will depend on if you are strong enough! I like strong men!”

The sound rippled and before it dissipated into the air, Ceng Lian’er’s body flashed with a layer of moonlight. Then she quickly became faint at a visible rate in front of Qi Diao Yu.

Ceng Lian’er that almost became transparent blinked her eyes at Qi Diao Yu.

“I’m coming!”

The voice that was filled with seductiveness spread and echoed in the empty air. In front of Qi Diao Yu, Ceng Lian’er slowly disappeared.

Qi Diao Yu’s eyes flashed with thoughtfulness.

———

Zuo Mo did not know that something was happening with Ceng Lian’er in this night but even if he did, he would not care. The other was not his subordinate, and it had nothing to do with him.

After learning that Princess Xia was going to arrive in Great Peace City soon, Zuo Mo’s restless heart instantly settled. Every day, if he was not keeping A Gui company, he was immersed in cultivation. The orange-haired yao, the black smoke yao, and A Wen were spending their days at the Mo Skill Steles. It was strange to speak of. The orange-haired yao who was such a careless person was extremely talented at cultivation. He was also extremely interested in the Mo Skill Steles that were mostly focused on mo skills. This caused the black smoke yao to rest some of his worries.

If this guy felt that it was boring, then he would not rest. Then no one would be able to accomplish anything.

It had to be said that the content in the Mo Skill Steles were profound and vast. Shi Zi Ming was a legendary genius and  had profound insights on even the most ordinary topics. Every time he studied it, Zuo Mo would obtain something.

Zuo Mo’s body that had been tempered by the Shifting Star Sand was unusually powerful. In his hands, many of the detailed methods mentioned on the Mo Skill Steles were executed with shocking power. Zuo Mo had comprehended a lot of the Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem. The Sun Crystal Seed had become unusually active after that and continuously released burning sun essence into Zuo Mo’s Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo matrix.

The Sun Crystal Seed had a great preference for Zuo Mo’s shen power. Whenever Zuo Mo drew shen power out of his right hand, a part of the shen power would be swallowed by the Sun Crystal Seed. With every thread of shen power it consumed, the Sun Crystal Seed would spin quicker.

Just like normal, a portion of the shen power was consumed by the Sun Crystal Seed. Suddenly, Zuo Mo felt some shifting!

The surface of the Sun Crystal Seed suddenly erupted in flame. Threads of fire turned into a burning that flowed along the gold threads of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus and suddenly entered a sun mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s back!

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s body shook and his mind was completely blank.

This flood was like ten thousand rushing horses galloping at once. They followed along the gold threads of the Sun mo matrix and rampaged.

A sun had become bright!

The flood that had not lost any of its momentum followed the golden tracks coming out of this sun and continued to advance.

Another sun became bright!

In a blink, the third and last sun on his back was lit up by the flood!

A moment later, Zuo Mo finally recovered from his daze. He felt that something else had appeared on his back but he could not say what it was.

He made a close examination. The Sun Crystal Seed at the center of his chest’s mo matrix was slightly smaller than before but its color was darker. As it spun, it occasionally spat out tongues of flame that looked very powerful.

A break through?

It appeared so, but … …

Zuo Mo tried to move. The Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique did not appear to change. The second transformation did not activate.

However, Zuo Mo was not impatient. He knew, for the general level, what was important was not advancing the mo physique but comprehending [Domain]!

[Domain] was the most powerful power that a general level could grasp.

He thought of that thieving baldy’s, Ding Zhen, Lantern Fire Buddhist World. That power had been astonishing. Zuo Mo was extremely tempted by the [Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus Domain] that was unique to Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

Advancing the mo physique was a matter of time. His right hand would endlessly provide shen power. If he was given enough time, he would reach it. However, he did not have any ideas about [Domain.]

But he knew this was something he could not force. Just like comprehending sword essence, this required luck and epiphanies.

Zuo Mo could not influence luck  but he could always work on his foundation. He hoped that his foundation would become deeper and sturdier so that was why he had studied the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles so hard.

But his cultivation was still disrupted.

Because Shu Long had come back and he had picked up a person.

———

Shu Long saw Zuo Mo and hurriedly bowed. “Daren!”

A mo was by his feet. His face was completely black and he was only breathing faintly. Seeing this, Zuo Mo hurriedly crouched down to look.

“Daren, I found him when I went looking for A Wen and the others near the Mo Skill Steles. I noticed that he wasn’t quite right so I brought him back,” Shu Long hurriedly said.

“Hm!” Zuo Mo made a sound of surprise. He pulled aside the sleeve of this mo. What appeared on the arm was a dense layer of golden mo matrixes, no, it was seal matrixes!

These were jinzhi!

The corners of Zuo Mo’s eyes twitched. He hurriedly inspected the other body parts of this mo. As expected, they were all covered in jinzhi!

When Zuo Mo took the clothing off the upper half of this mo, the dense layers of jinzhi caused everyone to inhale sharply.

Miao Jun was furious and gritted out, “Who did this? They should be killed!”

“It is jinzhi from Xuan Kong Temple.” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao appeared like a ghost. He said in a cold voice, “Xuan Kong Temple has a very famous battalion called the Sin Battalion. The members are all yaomo that have been captured. They would set jinzhi on these captives, and extract a part of their soul forging them into puppets of slaughter.”

Hiss, when Zuo Mo heard Pu Yao’s words, for some reason, his scalp prickled.

This was extremely cruel.

Seeing people’s eyes gather on him, he repeated what Pu Yao had said. Everyone who heard this changed expression. As a mo, Miao Jun’s face was filled with murderousness as he kept on cursing, “Damn it! Damn it!”

“This state is caused by the backlash of the jinzhi.” Pu Yao was slightly shocked. “He has stayed away from Xuan Kong Temple for too long. The jinzhi they put on these bodies are in numerous layers and extremely hard to solve. There are many places that are tricky and dangerous. The most common backlash is this here. If they have not taken a certain kind of ling medicine after some time, a backlash would occur. This is one of the methods Xuan Kong Temple uses to keep Sin Battalion under their control.”

“The thieving baldies of Xuan Kong Temple! As expected, they are evil!” Zuo Mo said hatefully. He had a deathly hate of Xuan Kong Temple.

Looking closely at the jinzhi on this mo, Zuo Mo could see many things. Right now, his skill in seals and mo matrixes was very deep, especially after he came into contact with mo matrix awakening. He had a much deeper understanding of these now.

“Maybe I can try to save him?” Zuo Mo murmured to himself.

Hearing this, Miao Jun’s eyes suddenly lit up and he said gravely, “Please, Daren save his life! This person is definitely an elder of our mo, he has been greatly humiliated by Xuan Kong Temple and cannot escape even in death. How can we, the juniors, sit idly and watch this?”

When the words left his mouth, Zuo Mo regretted it. It was easy to speak of, but hard to do. Not speaking of the mo bei that would be used, it would take great time and mental effort. It really was an unprofitable business.

Seeing the righteous anger on Miao Jun’s face, Tao Xing angrily spoke from the side, “Yes! The elders of us are being humiliated so, it really is … … really is … …”

Tao Xing was so angry he could not speak. He paused and then said grandly, “Daren, tell me if you need anything, I, Tao Xing, do not have any great ability but do not lack mo bei! In a few more days, the people I have told to deliver the mo embryos will reach Great Peace City. Other than the ones for Daren, I will sell all of the rest! Please, Daren, no matter what, rescue this person! No matter how great the price is, this one is willing!”

Zuo Mo was still focused on Princess Xia and wanted to furiously increase his strength. He did not want to split his attention. However, since they had already said this, and he also felt great sympathy for the mo, he agreed thinking this would also adversely affect Xuan Kong Temple. “Alright!”

Chapter 593 - The Sin Battalion’s Jinzhi

Bie Han’s face was pale.

A member of Sin Battalion had disappeared and they hadn’t found them even after searching all night. Sunlight crept in through the window into the silent room and across his body. But he did not feel any warmth at all. Under the sunlight, the lonely figure seemed desolate.

What he had been most worried about had finally occurred!

The time of the jinzhi backlash had come, and once it arrived, Sin Battalion would completely lose control and die, each in a gory explosion. Because he was worried about this, he didn’t dare to use Sin Battalion because this would cause a backlash from the jinzhi to occur sooner.

The sunlight could not warm the sorrow he felt inside.

He did not care about the attitudes of his father and brothers, he did not care about the cold treatment he received. He did not care about any of that. The only thing he cared about was Sin Battalion, a group of mo puppets that he had interacted with for more than a decade.

He only had one wish: to take this battalion that was soulless and kill his way back to Xuan Kong Temple!

But he wasn’t even able to do that!

Unconsciously, his knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists tighter, he buried his head deep in his arms.

He was a mo, but he did not know any of the mo fighting methods. What he knew, what had been taught to him was what the xiuzhe did. He knew that he was the same as Sin Battalion, something that should not appear in the world, even if the jinzhi on his body were removed.

They were like monsters, monsters that should not appear. Their best ending was to turn into dust in the sunlight and not leave a smidge of dust behind.

He did not care.

The only thing in his heart and in his countless dreams was a vision of him leading Sin Battalion back to Xuan Kong Temple, and torching it, leaving only a sea of flames!

But he could not even do that … …

He, who only knew xiuzhe fighting methods, was left in difficult straits in the mo world. If he did not have Fu  Feng, his situation would be even worse.

He had never hated himself like this, hated his uselessness!

No, there had to be a way!

He suddenly raised his head. The light of his eyes was peerlessly vicious like a wild beast that had no way to escape.

At this time, Fu Feng suddenly charged in.

“Your Highness! Your Highness! I found them! It is Xiao Mo Ge! Xiao Mo Ge’s subordinate had picked up our person today at the Mo Skill Steles! Many people saw this!”

Xiao Mo Ge?

Bie Han’s gaze softened. He suddenly stood up. “Go! We’re going to find Xiao Mo Ge!”

Fu Feng had a hesitant expression.

“What is it?” Bie Han asked.

“Your Highness, it is strange to speak of it. This Xiao Mo Ge is very similar to someone this subordinate saw in the xiuzhe world. Even though his figure and appearance are completely different, but his actions and bearing is very similar,” Fu Feng explained.

“En?” Bie Han was slightly surprised.

“This person is called Zuo Mo, a disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect and he is skilled in formations. This subordinate first saw him at a Sword Test Conference, and then interacted with him at Desolate Wood Reef. He left a deep impression on me. Your Highness will definitely remember how he had stopped Lan Tian Long at the gates that day and took away a xiuzhe. In here … …” Fu Feng said hesitantly.

A light suddenly burst into Bie Han’s eyes. He murmured, “Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo. Xiao Mo Ge, Xiao Mo Ge … … Little Mo Ge!”

Fu Feng stilled and then his eyes also lit up. He exclaimed in shock, “It’s him! Is it really him?”

“We’ll know when we go see.”

Bie Han walked outside.

———

Zuo Mo felt that Miao Jun should be a pretty good battle general but when Miao Jun displayed his battle general abilities, he shocked everyone. He was a gold battle general!

A gold battle general that not many in Great Peace City knew about.

In a spar against Ye Ling, Ye Ling had lost after a few rounds. Shu Long was not a match either but Miao Jun was full of praise. He thought that while Shu Long lacked flexibility in his tactics, he was methodical in his preparations and after more experience, he could be a great general.

But right now, their group was only these hundred or so people. There wasn’t much use in having a gold battle general.

Miao Jun spent his time teaching Shu Long. He was a true mo battle general. He was not as versatile as Lil’ Miss, but he had solid fundamentals and he was perfect for teaching Shu Long.

After a few lessons, Shu Long gained greatly.

At this time, the orange-haired yao and the black smoke yao came back from the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles. The orange-haired yao looked at Guard Camp that was cultivating and instantly became interested. He crowded over.

After watching for a while, the orange-haired yao was confused. He asked, “Old Miao, who is stronger, you or Xiao Mo Ge?”

It was the first time Miao Jun heard someone call him “Old Miao.” He couldn’t help but glance over. Inside, he thought the other was someone that was a very open person. He said, “Of course, Daren is stronger.”

“I also feel this way.” The orange-haired yao nodded. “Xiao Mo Ge even defeated Corps Commander Yu Heng. Even I have to admit he is a genius on the same level as me.”

At the side, the black smoke yao rolled his eyes and couldn’t help but say, “He is more of a genius than you!”

The orange-haired yao turned around and said to the black smoke yao in a serious tone. “I will not admit this.”

Corps Commander Yu Heng? He was unfamiliar with the name, but those that were  corps commanders had to have some skill. Miao Jun was very confident in his skill but he was not sure that he could defeat a corps commander.

He instantly became interested. “Oh, I have not heard of this, tell me more.”

The orange-haired yao instantly became excited and boasted about all the glorious results that Zuo Mo had achieved in the Ten Finger Prison. However, he was an amateur when it came to strategy and his recounting was full of mistakes. At the side, the black smoke yao could not bear it and constantly corrected him.

The more Miao Jun heard, the more shocked he was, and the more puzzled he was.

The orange-haired yao and the black smoke yao clearly were not lying. Their expressions were serious and they were full of details.

Miao Jun had some knowledge about the Ten Finger Prison of the yao. To be able to defeat a corps commander of a regular corps in war chess. How great the strength!

Definitely the strength of a gold battle general!

But … …

He had personally experienced Daren’s mo skills. If someone said that Daren was a yao, he would not believe it on pain of death. A yao could cultivate Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus? But he suddenly remembered that in Daren’s fight against him, he had used little yao arts.

The more Miao Jun thought, the more puzzled he was.

———

Zuo Mo carefully inspected the jinzhi on the Sin Battalion mo.

“The Sin Battalion is a battalion that existed since long ago. There is a complete set of jinzhi and methods to control them. The battle general for each generation of Sin Battalion is very strong. You need to be careful.” Pu Yao gave a rare warning to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo made a sound of acknowledgement and threw himself into studying the interlocking jinzhi.

The jinzhi were set up in a tricky fashion and Zuo Mo found that some of the jinzhi clearly mimicked the style of mo matrixes. However, the mimicry in Zuo Mo’s eyes was at a very low level.

Not all the jinzhi on the Sin Battalion mo were harmful. It was actually the opposite. Most of the jinzhi were beneficial and could increase their combat abilities. Zuo Mo’s world was broadened by many of the methods and he was greatly inspired.

It could be seen that Xuan Kong Temple had started to study how to engrave formations a long time ago. They had many methods that were very mature and unique.

Zuo Mo became even more excited as he studied. He could copy many of these methods right now.

He already thought of several ways that could perfect the effects of the mo matrixes that he gave to Golden Crow Camp. These would be worth thousands of jingshi.

Gradually, the jinzhi of Xuan Kong Temple were slowly exposed in front of him and peeled off.

But when the core jinzhi appeared in front of him, Zuo Mo inhaled sharply.

The innermost jinzhi was actually connected directly to the soul!

A fantastical method!

Zuo Mo almost did not believe his own eyes. The soul was intangible. The difficulty of connecting the soul to the jinzhi was so high he was stunned where he stood.

But he quickly refocused and his gaze became clear. He started to examine this last jinzhi.

A long time later, he shook his head and stood up again.

It was not possible to solve this last jinzhi and he did not have a solution. The incompleteness of the souls of Sin Battalion were directly related to this jinzhi.

Fortunately, while this jinzhi could not be solved, it was not a damaging jinzhi.

After completely investigating these jinzhi, Zuo Mo could not simply remove those dangerous jinzhi and used an even more daring plan—he was going to use the original jinzhi as a foundation to engrave new mo matrices!

———

“I heard that there is a great genius that appeared in Great Peace City. He didn’t just cause the Shifting Star Sand, he also stepped onto the Great Peace Mo Ranking. It has been so long since such an exceptional person appeared,” Princess Xin said with a smile.

Princess Xin was sitting up ruler-straight. Her long and slender neck would make people unconsciously of a swan. In truth, she possessed the noble blood of the Moon Lake Swan Clan. Her figure was tall and her appearance outstanding.

Princess Wan sat silently with a faint smile on her face like she was an exquisite doll. Of the three princesses, she was the youngest, her personality quiet and bashful.

Princess Xia said with a smile, “Yes, he is called Xiao Mo Ge. There have been people muttering his name into my ear all day. I’m getting callouses just from hearing it. I don’t know if he is even that strong.”

Princess Xia’s skin was fine and white, and her lips warm and seductive. Her eyes were an enchanting pink. Of the three, her looks were undoubtedly the most outstanding and her movements were bewitching.

“Now, even I am curious!” A handsome youth clapped and said with a smile, “It has been very long since someone strong appeared in Great Peace City. In the past, only that Qi Diao Yu could not be considered powerful. The other people are not up to our standards or they are old and have not hope of entering the marshal level.”

The youth’s tone was grandiose but did not cause people to think he was proud because he had the qualifications to say this.

Shen Yu, the most outstanding expert of the youngest generation of the Shen Family. Supposedly, he had stepped into general level when he was sixteen and was the most likely member of the Shen Family to reach marshal level.

In these years, he had travelled around to challenge famous experts and had never been defeated.

It was only when he encountered Princess Xia that he was enchanted by her becoming her defender. He stood by her side and did not have any complaints.

When he heard Princess Xia praise Xiao Mo Ge, he instantly felt discontent. He decided inside that when the time came, he would definitely challenge Xiao Mo Ge to show Princess Xia who was the true genius.

The pitiful Zuo Mo did not know that a jealous someone was already targeting him.

Chapter 594 - Underhanded

“Cheng Shidi!” Gongsun Cha went over and gave Chun Yu Cheng a great hug. Chun Yu Cheng was usually immersed in his own husbandry activities and never left his place. It had been a long time since Gongsun Cha had seen him.

The two of them had followed Zuo Mo all the way from Desolate Wood Reef and their relationship was naturally intimate.

Gongsun Cha had been slightly surprised when he had received Chun Yu Cheng’s paper crane. Cheng Shidi wanted to come to the mo world. He said that it was best to raise animals here. Gongsun Cha knew just how interested in animal husbandry Cheng Shidi was and was not surprised. Little Savage Jie was a pretty good place and was almost completely under Shi Dong’s control. However, out of consideration of safety, Gongsun Cha felt it would be better to keep Cheng Shidi with him so he had Cheng Shidi come to Orchid Home Jie.

The seal formation fort here had been constructed and with Vermillion Bird Camp standing guard and he himself present, he was not afraid even if Tian Huan came to attack.

Chun Yu Cheng looked around curiously, “This is a mo jie?”

“Yes, it is called Orchid Home Jie, the nearby jie is called Black Stone Jie and has been taken over by Tian Huan. However, we do not interfere in their business and they do not dare to come make trouble,” Gongsun Cha introduced casually.

The xiuzhe along the way continuously sent out greetings to them.

“Then do you have mo steeds?” Chun Yu Cheng looked around and then moved his gaze away to ask the main point.

Gongsun Cha had wanted to reminisce about good times and was left with a helpless expression. However, he knew that Cheng Shidi was like this. He had already prepared for this question and called over A Zha Ge.

A Zha Ge was a mo that was born here and was very familiar with mo steeds. He would be a very good guide.

The Stellar Rahula Clan did have mo steeds that they raised. When they heard Lil’ Miss call Chun Yu Cheng by shidi, A Zha Ge instantly understood the status of this youth that looked absentminded and simple. He did not dare to slight the other.

He found all kinds of mo steeds that the people in his battalion used and then gave detailed introductions to all of them.

When he saw the mo steeds, Chun Yu Cheng could not pull himself away. He did not look at Lil’ Miss even one more time. Lil’ Miss knew his personality and was not angry. After saying a few words to A Zha Ge, he prepared to work on his own things.

Suddenly, a scout hurried over.

Lil’ Miss stopped walking. Seeing the expression of the scout, he knew something had happened.

“Daren! Black Stone Jie is being attacked by a yao battalion!”

Black Stone Jie was being attacked by yao!

Lil’ Miss suddenly smiled. A few days ago, the Tian Huan battalion had boldly and publicly left Black Stone Jie to go attack somewhere else. Now, someone had come to take their old nest.

He could imagine that Gongye Xiao Rong’s expression when he heard the news would be spectacular!

Lil’ Miss was slightly interested in this yao battalion that had suddenly appeared. This was mo territory and it was not normal for a yao battalion to appear here. Also, this yao battalion appeared at the perfect time. From every angle, this was a planned and very successful sneak attack.

Gongye Xiao Rong was too careless!

Chun Yu Cheng did not even raised his head. He did not react at all to the news.

A Zha Ge was very shocked. He suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, “Daren! This subordinate knows the identity of this battalion!”

“You know?” Gongsun Cha was slightly surprised.

“Daren! There is a chaos rift in Black Stone Jie that leads into the yao world. It is the territory of the Palace Lake Wood Clan. This time, our clan had allied with all the clans to form an allied army to face Gongye Xiao Rong. Of the clans we contacted, we sent an invitation to the Palace Lake Wood Clan. They sent a little girl called Mu Xi. If it is a yao battalion, it could most likely be this one! They have not died yet?” A Zha Ge’s face was full of disbelief.

“Palace Lake Wood Clan?” Gongsun Cha murmured and then threw the question to one side.

Suddenly, another scout hurriedly flew in. Before he landed, he said in a rush, ”Daren, Tian Huan has suffered a strong attack and sent someone to ask for aid. We stopped their people! They are asking to meet Daren! They say they will repay us after this!”

Gongsun Cha stilled and then felt it was amusing. “Asking us for help? They have really panicked!”

Seeing the scout waiting for his order, he waved his hand. “Say that I am not here.”

At the side, A Zha Ge sighed in relief. There was deep hate between the Stellar Rahula Clan and Tian Huan. Inside, he naturally was not willing to go help.

Gongsun Cha murmured to himself, “Tian Huan? I would be more willing to have Black Stone Jie in the hands of the yao!”

A while later, a scout came to report again.

“Daren! Tian Huan has lost Black Stone Jie! The remnants of their people are heading towards us!”

A Zha Ge almost jumped up. “They want to lure the yao battalion over here!”

Gongsun Cha smiled coldly. “There is no need to pay attention to them. It is good for us to see this yao battalion. They have lost so quickly, this yao battalion is not simple!”

Many hours later, a panicked-looking battalion appeared in the sky. Behind them were the orderly ranks of a yao battalion. They were completely at ease and switched between charging and following at a leisurely pace.

“It’s an expert!” Lil’ Miss narrowed his eyes. The yao battalion had a good rhythm. They kept up the pressure on the Tian Huan battalion who had to constantly keep their guard up and flee. It would be easy for them to crumble now.

A Zha Ge showed a joyous expression. He could also see the strength of Mu Xi. He wanted this Tian Huan battalion to be completely killed.

When the Tian Huan battalion saw the formation belt on this fortress, they were like people drowning that saw the last life-saving reed and flew over in a rush.

Before they could fly close, the large formations under their feet started to light up.

Hundreds of large formations lit up at the same time and illuminated the entire mountain valley as though it was daytime. Looking down from the sky, these one hundred large scale formations spread from the chaos rift and formed a semicircle that spread for dozens of li. There were seven layers to the formation belt, seven defense lines!

When the yao battalion saw such strong defenses, their troops paused. Charging into this kind of defense line was akin to suicide.

The combat xiu of Tian Huan had shock mixed with fear. How long had it been since they took over and the other was able to silently construct a formation fortress here!

The amount of manpower, materials, and wealth that such an enormous formation belt consumed was humongous!

Which power did Gongsun Cha belong to?

The remnants of the Tian Huan battalion stared at each other. They all saw the deep shock in each other’s eyes.

“What to do?” a person hesitantly asked.

“We’ll talk after we charge! Do they dare to kill all of us?” another person gritted out.

“If they offend our Tian Huan, they would not have good days in the future! They would not dare! Charge!” someone else agreed.

They quickly reached a consensus and ordered the people to charge at the formation belt. The normal combat xiu did not think so much. The terror on their faces instantly turn to joy. Those formation belts gave them a feeling of safety they never had before.

Many people thought inside, if the sect also built formation belts like this, how could a yao battalion defeat them?

“Do not attack! Do not attack!”

“Sire, if you lend a hand in aid, my Tian Huan will repay you grandly … …”

Looking at the remnants of the battalion that was charging disorderly towards them, Gongsun Cha’s eyes suddenly became cold and sharp as a blade. He said in a cold voice, “Kill those that intrude the defensive line!”

Almost as his voice sounded, the formation defense line at the very front suddenly lit up brightly!

The battle generals of the Tian Huan battalion all paled. “Quick, retreat!”

Their exclamations were quickly drowned out in a roaring rain of light.

The blinding rain light was like a swarm of locusts that shot towards the sky from the ground and blocked out the sun!

Pew pew pew!

The combat xiu that had leapt towards the defense line felt their vision turn completely white. An enormous pain came from their bodies and they quickly lost all sensation.

Even in death, their expressions were filled with disbelief.

The other really dared to attack … …

They were Tian Huan … …

The battle generals that had sent the order stared with wide eyes in disbelief at the sky that was completely empty. Their eyes filled with blood.

A battle general shouted grievously, “Gongsun Cha! You are so vicious! Tian Huan will not spare you … …”

On the ground, Gongsun Cha gave a small smile and spat out, “Idiot!”

The formations at the very front lit up again and the enormous ling power vibrations caused people’s hearts to beat rapidly.

The battle general saw this. Gritting his teeth, his face was filled with hate as he led the remnants of the battalion to flee in another direction.

“Now we have offended Tian Huan again.” Chun Yu Cheng who was disturbed gazed up and said.

“It will be fine once you are used to the idea,” Gongsun Cha said casually.

They had become at odds with Gongye Xiao Rong once before this. If one had a score with a large sect like Tian Huan, one could only wait to be destroyed. Except if in Tian Huan’s eyes, you were as strong as they were. For example, it restrained itself when it came to the other three great sects.

But Gongsun Cha clearly understood Tian Huan did not think of them as an opponent of equal standing. If they waited for Gongye Xiao Rong to sweep this area clean, he would eventually find the time and energy to sweep them away as well.

Could one tolerate someone else sleeping by their bed?

Rather than that, it was better to go on the offensive first and trip them up slightly. Lil’ Miss had great anticipation about how Gongye Xiao Rong would respond next.

Just thinking about it put him in a good mood!

———

Mu Xi watched the entire process. She couldn’t help but show slightly shock and she sank into thought.

This battalion clearly was not from the same faction as Tian Huan. There probably was also enmity between them. The Tian Huan battalion had lured her here with malicious intentions. However, they clearly underestimated how vicious the other side’s leader was. Even Mu Xi couldn’t help but feel astounded when she saw the formation belts below unleash their powerful attacks.

The danger level of the other instantly skyrocketed in her mind.

One had to be careful to have such a vicious wolf for a neighbor. She carefully inspected the other’s formation belts. The setup was nearly perfect and did not have any dead angles. She would need a battalion of at least eight thousand to attack such a formation belt and would have to pay an extremely heavy price.

She sent out a little team to pursue the remnants of the Tian Huan battalion that had fled. The battalion’s morale was extremely low. As long as the harassment was kept up, the other would crumble.

What was most important now was not destroying the remnants of the enemy battalion but take control of  Black Stone Jie. Originally, she had planned on going back to the yao world but when she saw the conflict between the two factions just now, she changed her mind and decided to hold Black Stone Jie.

Just now, this battalion had openly become enemies with Tian Huan. In other words, they were Tian Huan’s enemy. Gongye Xiao Rong would definitely be wary of them and would not dare to attack Black Stone Jie with all of his might.

In such a case, the possibility of holding Black Stone Jie was much higher.

After thinking for a while, she made a decision. She needed to immediately return to Black Stone Jie and she need reinforcements from her family. Gongye Xiao Rong definitely would have gotten word of this and was most likely coming back.

Time was tight.

Chapter 595 - Smooth Talker

Bu Heng said to the shadowed corner. “You failed.”

“The woman next to him is very powerful,” an ancient voice passed out from the pitch black corner. His voice paused slightly and then he said, “I will not act again. Both of the women beside him are very powerful!”

Bu Heng was not surprised. He said, “You are afraid.”

A moment later, the old voice in the corner said, “Yes, I am afraid.”

“Do you know why you cannot get vengeance?” Bu Heng raised an eyebrow with disdain on his face, “Because you try to attend to everything and do not dare to gamble your life to fight.”

A cold and dark killing intent tightly restrained Bu Heng. Bu Heng’s face turned pale from the killing intent but he did not retreat at all. The mocking smile on his face grew. “Just like right now. You do not dare to kill me because you are afraid of my battalion! You are afraid that my battalion will destroy your family!”

“You are weak, you cannot let go of your revenge but you are also afraid of death. You hope to break into marshal level. If you cannot enter marshal level, you will be a worm crawling in the dark, trying to scrape out a living. Marshal level? Stop dreaming! Which marshal is a weak willed man?” Bu Heng’s cold words were like a metal hammer breaking through the ice and shattering the other’s mental defenses.

A moment later, the killing intent disappeared without a trace. A tired figure walked out of the corner. The old voice carried deep exhaustion. “You are right, I cannot get to marshal level.”

“I can exact your revenge for you,” Bu Heng suddenly said.

The other was silent.

“However, in return I want your life.” Bu Heng stood up and walked away without another glance back. “When you have thought it through, come find me.”

Before Bu Heng reached the door, a hoarse voice came from behind him, “How can you exact my revenge for me?”

Bu Heng stopped and said coldly, “You forget my Heng Battalion. A battalion in the top one hundred of Hundred Savage Realm, can I not get your revenge?”

“What do you want me to do?” the voice came from behind him.

“At an appropriate time, kill him.”

“What is an appropriate time?”

“You will know when it is time.”

When he finished saying this, Bu Heng opened the door and left without a look back.

———

“Bu Heng left with his battalion?” Lan Tian Long was slightly shocked.

Lan Rong shrugged. “Maybe he feels that there is no hope. No matter how strong his battalion is, there is no use for it in Great Peace City. As for individual strength, he does not have anyone that can be used against Xiao Mo Ge.”

“This does not fit Bu Heng’s personality,” Lan Tian Long said as he shook his head.

“He’s left, and even took his battalion with him.” Lang Rong said unconcernedly, “What else can he do?”

“Alright, let’s not think about him further.” Lan Tian Long did not understand the situation and then threw it to one side. Suddenly, he looked with a smile at Lan Rong. “Don’t you like princess Xin? How about it? Are you unable to sleep from anticipation?”

A thread of embarrassment appeared on Lan Rong’s face but he quickly recovered. He shook his head, “She will not be attracted to me.”

Lan Tian Long became silent. He knew that his brother was right. The Lan Family had some power and the two brothers were exceptional, but in front of the ocean of suitors for the three princesses, they were not special.

He patted his brother’s shoulder and comforted, “There are opportunities everywhere. You have a better appearance than me, and you can definitely win hearts!”

The two brothers exchanged a look and then laughed.

A moment later, the two stopped. Lan Rong said with a smile, “Ha, however, they might not end up well this time. I feel that this Xiao Mo Ge is aiming for these three princesses.”

Lan Tian Long thought a moment and then said, “After you say this, I feel very similarly. He has been so flamboyant in his conduct, so high that he is almost flying. It is so coincidental. The more I think, the more I feel the same.”

“I just don’t know which princess he likes. Ha, I wonder which person will be the unlucky one!” Lan Rong had some schadenfreude. “This Xiao Mo Ge is one that does not act according to convention. Those that he targets would probably have a headache! Haha!”

Hearing this, Lan Rong couldn’t help but grin.

The departure of Bu Heng and his battalion did not cause great ripples. Everyone felt that Bu Heng did not have any ways to deal with Xiao Mo Ge. Rather than keep fighting, it was better to save face and leave.

Also, as the date of arrival of the three princesses approached, and all of Great Peace City was like a great stove that kept on receiving fuel. People’s emotions became heightened and almost all topics of discussion circled around the three princesses.

———

Bie Han and Fu Feng were waiting silently. Tao Xing and Shu Long were at the side.

They had come to find Zuo Mo and Shu Long had received them but refused to disturb Zuo Mo. When Bie Han heard from Shu Long that Zuo Mo was saving that Sin Battalion mo, he quieted down.

He had enough confidence.

The room door suddenly opened and Zuo Mo came out.

“Zuo Mo!” Fu Feng suddenly said.

Zuo Mo had noticed long ago that there were two unfamiliar presences at the door. When he walked out and heard this name, he clearly stopped. However, when he saw Fu Feng’s face, he was very shocked. “Fu Feng!”

The two had interacted multiple times and he had a deep impression of the other.

“How is he?” Bie Han suddenly asked.

Zuo Mo glanced at Bie Han. He did not know the person so he turned towards Fu Feng.

After Fu Feng had the confirmation that Xiao Mo Ge was Zuo Mo, he was slightly excited. When he saw Zuo Mo’s inquiring gaze, he made a quick introduction, “This is His Highness Bie Han, the Sin Battalion member that was lost is His Highness’ subordinate.”

He then explained the past events.

Zuo Mo finally realized and increasingly felt that Xuan Kong Temple was peaceful in appearance but was cruel in their bones. He instantly said in a hateful tone, “Yes! The thieving baldies of Xuan Kong Temple should die!”

When he heard that Bie Han had escaped to the mo world upon being sent to attack Cloud Sea Jie, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but roar in laughter.

Fu Feng was slightly puzzled and hurriedly asked. Zuo Mo waved his hand and did not mention that he was the master of Cloud Sea Jie.

Even though he did not receive an answer, Fu Feng’s heart relaxed. It seemed that Zuo Mo and Xuan Kong Temple were at odds. The common saying was applicable. The enemy of the enemy was a friend. Adding on their past interactions, they felt even closer.

“How is he?” Bie Han was worried about the Sin Battalion member and couldn’t help asking again.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. The Sin Battalion’s soul was not complete and was like a mo puppet. In the hands of Xuan Kong Temple, they were expendable. Bie Han was concerned for the Sin Battalion member who had an incomplete soul so Zuo Mo instantly had a better impression of him.

He said with a smile, “You’ll know when you go in and see.”

As he spoke, he walked into the room first. Bie Han and Fu Feng hurriedly followed after.

When they saw the Sin Battalion member standing silently as a puppet, light flashed through Bie Han’s eyes. He did not seem to move but the Sin Battalion member reappeared like a ghost behind his body.

A light came out of Bie Han’s eyes, his expression was shocked. “You erased the jinzhi?”

Zuo Mo was very proud. “The problematic jinzhi have to be removed, and I also perfected all the jinzhi. I made them into mo matrixes. This guy’s power should have risen two times over! Aren’t I strong!”

Bie Han’s face was filled with disbelief. His thoughts suddenly moved and the Sin Battalion member started to spin at increasing speed. When his figure was a blur, he was still accelerating!

The entire room was swept up in the gusts of wind. Everyone was caught up in the wind while Zuo Mo and a few others remained nailed to the ground.

Suddenly, the Sin Battalion member stopped moving!

There was no transition between extreme movement and extreme calm. It was so strange it was nauseating.

Bie Han’s eyes lit up even more. Zuo Mo’s words were not wrong at all. The power of the Sin Battalion member had increased by more than two times! If the entirety of Sin Battalion could improve like this, the battalion would be terrifying!

Bie Han suddenly bowed towards Zuo Mo. “I have something to ask!”

Zuo Mo paused and hurriedly pulled Bie Han up. “Just say it.”

“I am sincerely asking Sir to remove the jinzhi from my Sin Battalion brothers and engraving mo matrixes,” Bie Han said with a serious expression.

“How many people do you have?” Zuo Mo asked suspiciously.

“Two thousand six hundred and twenty three!” Bie Han said.

Zuo Mo’s head swelled up. He hurriedly shook his head. “No way, no way! This is going to tire me to death!”

“Please, sire, agree. No matter the conditions, I am willing to agree to them!” Bie Han said without hesitation.

When Fu Feng heard this, he knew it was bad! He had interacted with Zuo Mo before and this guy had carried the nickname of the Scalping Zombie in the past. Everywhere he passed, he had even dug up the ground for three chi. Would this guy have any reason to give up the opportunity His Highness had delivered up himself like this?

As expected, Zuo Mo who had been seriously refusing just a moment ago immediately started to rub his chin. “Hem hem, friendship and business should be separated. Look at how much energy it takes, this takes great mental effort to solve the layers of jinzhi, and also to use my novel mo matrix method. It has not just solving all weaknesses for your Sin Battalion, it is increasing their power up a level! How difficult this is! Brother Bie, you are a professional, you should definitely understand the difficulty involved in such a task!”

The pitiful Bie Han had never seen something like this before. He was instantly swept up in the speech. Even the experienced Fu Feng’s heart was beating rapidly. But he was unable to object because the initiative was in the other’s hands. He could only pray the other would not ask a too great of a price.

Zuo Mo’s spittle flew as he went on, “More than three thousand members! Such a vast amount of labour! I’m the only one who can do this, I will have to do all the work from beginning to end. But who am I, Xiao Mo Ge? A general level, gold battle general, genius that caused the Shifting Star Sands, an expert ranked twentieth on the Great Peace Mo Rankings! I ask you, how can my fee be low?”

Tao Xing gaped on hearing this.

The more Bie Han heard, the more insecure he felt. He thought that Zuo Mo was right. He swallowed. “No, no! Go on, go on!”

“Yes! I believe that you who is logical and knowledgeable would understand!” Zuo Mo was very satisfied with Bie Han’s cooperation. He paused, and asked, “Do you have many mo bei?”

Bie Han shook his head and obediently answered, “Not much.”

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed and then asked, “Do you have some rare treasures?”

Bie Han shook his head. “No!”

Zuo Mo’s face was filled with disappointment as he sighed. He said, “Look, you do not have mo bei, you do not have treasures, then you can only sell yourself. Normally, even signing away your life would be considered a cheap price but Brother Fu and I are old acquaintances, so I will give you a discount. I admire Brother Bie’s moral conduct and will give you a further discount. So my friend I will give you the best friendship discount!”

Everyone looked at Zuo Mo and waited for him to name his price.

Chapter 596 - Great Peace Treasure Pavilion

Zuo Mo coughed lightly. “I hear that mo have long lifespans … …”

Hearing this beginning, Fu Feng instantly panicked, “Little Mo Ge, you cannot do this! His Highness … …”

“One hundred years!” Zuo Mo interrupted Fu Feng.

“Take it or leave it, there is no second offer! As for Xuan Kong Temple, do not worry. I will destroy those thieving baldies sooner or later! I will not stop you from having your revenge.”

Zuo Mo’s price scared everyone. Tao Xing’s face was slightly pale, much less Fu Feng. He was completely white in fright.

Bie Han was silent.

Zuo Mo counted on his fingers. “It is only one hundred years, you will not lose out. Think about it. You are mo, your life is long to begin with, one hundred years, that’s a flick of the finger, a brief moment of life! What is that worth? Think about it, this Sin Battalion, other than the things I’ve already talked about, I have to be responsible for after-sale services, equipping them, and also providing food and shelter, that’s a huge expense. Think again, can you really charge into Xuan Kong Temple the way your are now? Not just one Sin Battalion, even if you had ten battalions, you will not manage to make it far. They are one of the great four! Even a hair of their back is thicker than you! Your thinking is very naïve!”

Bie Han was silent. He knew that what Zuo Mo said was correct. No matter how strong he was, he could not destroy Xuan Kong Temple with just Sin Battalion alone. They would not even be able to step onto Xuan Kong Temple. The other had enough battalions to wear him down and also had defensive formations everywhere.

“If you do not care about revenge and are just seeking a way to die, then I have nothing further to say. But if it was me who had such great hate with Xuan Kong Temple, it would be strange if I don’t upend them. I want them to cry when they hear the name of Little Mo Ge, and then I will flatten Xuan Kong Temple and burn it to the ground. Oh, that will be good!”

Bie Han’s expression shifted, his fists unconsciously tightened.

“Brother, that is what pleasurable revenge is! What you want to do is called seeking your own death. You are providing Xuan Kong Temple with a benefit, making it so they have one less thing to worry about! That’s not how you take revenge, we need to consider strategy, timing, we need to strengthen ourselves, and weaken the other. Even if we cannot destroy them, we have to at least be like a fish bone stuck in their throat and make them uncomfortable, so that they cannot rest in peace!”

Zuo Mo’s tone turned.

“Your skill in fighting is pretty good but not in this. However, I can do it!”

Zuo Mo patted his chest loudly, and said with a serious expression, “I am the master of Cloud Sea Jie, I have many armies, and a specialized forging camp. I have xiuzhe, yao, mo in my service. If you work with me for a hundred years, we strengthen our forces, then can’t we step on Xuan Kong Temple like stepping on a worm?”

“Brother!” Zuo Mo persuaded. “Just one hundred years, a slight faction of your life. Compared to your deep hatred, what is that worth? Such a profitable transaction!”

“Alright! I agree!” Bie Han suddenly raised his head, his face filled with murderousness. “You are right, I want them to be unable to eat and rest in peace! Each day that we are alive, they will not rest in peace for that day!”

Fu Feng looked dazedly at His HIghness. He had not expected His Highness to agree like this. He wanted to cry. What kind of person did not bargain when doing business?

“Great!” Zuo Mo clapped his hand and said to Bie Han with an admiring expression. “A true man has to be decisive like this!”

Tao Xing’s face was slightly pale. He was completely frightened by this business deal that occurred right in front of him. One hundred years! Such light words for one hundred years of servitude!

Now that he thought about it, the mo embryos that he had to pay that day were really a cheap price! He looked in sympathy at Bie Han. Pitiful child, you are so pitiful to have to asked this person for help.

Zuo Mo suddenly turned around and faced Tao Xing. “Old Tao, the materials … …”

Tao Xing who was in a frightened state almost jumped up. “Ah ah ah ah! Materials … … oh oh oh, the materials, … … no problem! I will provide all of it, freely!”

Zuo Mo was very happy and patted Tao Xing’s shoulder warmly. “Old Tao, I just knew that you are the one that understands me the best!”

Tao Xing’s expression almost froze on his face as he nodded frantically. “This is something that I should do!”

He really was frightened … …

So scary … …

———

In the sea of consciousness.

“One hundred years is too short!” Pu Yao was unsatisfied.

“You should have signed him for a lifetime. He would still agree,” Wei said with a smile, “if you will let him have his revenge.”

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. “I, Little Mo Ge, care about holding to my morals when doing business.”

His tone suddenly changed as he said seriously. “I used shen power.”

Pu Yao and Wei simultaneously stilled.

Zuo Mo’s face was grave. “The last jinzhi on the Sin Battalion member that was connected to the soul was created with shen power.”

“Shen power?” Pu Yao and Wei’s expressions became greve.

“Xuan Kong Temple has grasped shen power?” Wei was slightly surprised.

“I don’t know, it should be a kind of shen power that is not fully developed.” Zuo Mo thought and then said, “But it definitely is a kind of shen power. I cannot describe it. The ling power I used was consumed and because there was no other way, I was forced to use shen power in order to complete the mo matrix.”

Pu Yao’s expression recovered as he smiled coldly. “Xuan Kong Temple is not dumb. How can they not have any ambitions for obtaining shen power? It probably isn’t just them. The other sects probably are also studying it in secret.”

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted. “So the truth is that the four great sects pursue the descendants of ancient tribes for shen power?”

“Clearly!” Pu Yao’s cold smile remained. “They were not good people before.”

“Be careful, do not let anyone else know that you cultivate shen power,” Wei said gravely.

“En, don’t worry, it is not easy even for me to manipulate this shen power,” Zuo Mo said helplessly. However, then his mood went up as he snickered. “However, it is very beneficial for my shen power when I remake the mo matrices for Sin Battalion. Especially those jinzhi. There are many places where I need to use shen power. I can profit and I can also cultivate shen power, I’m really a genius! Haha!”

“Oh, then there less of a loss.” Wei said neutrally.

“It is better than nothing.” Pu Yao said lazily.

———

Ceng Lian’er was not in a good mood. It had been a few days since Zuo Mo had cultivated. He was working on the Sin Battalion. If Zuo Mo did not cultivate, she could not use paired cultivation. She had already detected the increase of shen power inside her body had slowed down.

Her teacher had once told her that the cultivation method she used was not complete and there were many chapters that had been lost. Even though the previous generations had spent great effort to try to repair it, but it still could not reach the effects they hoped for.

There were rarely those of her teacher’s lineage that could cultivate shen power.

For example, her teacher’s teacher never obtained shen power. There were many details in a profound method like shen power that could not be described in words alone.

She had finally managed to cultivate shen power and found someone to perform paired cultivation with. Her good fortune was many times that of her teacher.

Yet what she felt helpless about was that Zuo Mo was not currently cultivating!

If Zuo Mo did not cultivate, she could not use paired cultivation and her shen power growth was unusually slow. She had tried to copy Zuo Mo and went to read the Mo Skill Steles but she found she was quickly unable to keep reading. The things the Mo Skill Steles talked about were too simple. The final goal of the Mo Skill Stele was shen power but that was just one section of the content and was extremely hidden. There was nothing mentioned about the things past obtaining shen power.

After reading through it, she threw it to the side.

That time, she had only fought briefly with Qi Diao Yu but she felt great wariness of the other’s power. Her shen power was still too weak and Qi Diao Yu had managed to discover it. This really was too dangerous.

If the news spread, she would have to run for her life.

In the last few days, she did not leave the residence and stayed inside the courtyard. The compound was heavily guarded and even Qi Diao Yu would not dare to carelessly charge in.

But Zuo Mo actually was not cultivating shen power!

Thinking about this, she was so angry she wanted to throw the teacup in her hand.

He was not focusing on his actual work!

She decided to think of a solution.

———

“Public safety is very chaotic recently,” Princess Xin’s brow creased, “bandits have kept appearing along the way. I heard that there are more bandits gathering to target us.”

A youth smiled and said, “Princess, do not worry, with us guarding you, no matter how many they come, we just have a few more opponents to practice against.”

Princess Xin did not like the other’s frivolous tone. “There may be experts among the bandits.”

The youths neither shook their head or smiled. Most of them were strong even among their families and naturally looked down on the bandits.

Princess Xia smiled. “Elder Sister does not need to worry. After a few more days, we will reach Great Peace City and have some peace.”

Princess Xin’s expression eased slightly. “Younger Sister is right.”

There wasn’t any battalion that dared to fight in Great Peace City. This was also applicable to the bandits. There had never been any bandits that dared to rampage in Great Peace City.

“Which of you have heard of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” a youth suddenly spoke.

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion? What is that?” The other youths heard this and crowded over.

The youth had a proud expression. “The news that just recently spread. Supposedly, Shi Zi Ming had collected innumerable treasures so he built Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. In the first three years of the Great Peace City, this Great Peace Treasure Pavilion always existed and it was mentioned in many records. But later, due to unknown reasons, the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion disappeared, and Shi Zi Ming never talked about it again as though it never existed.”

All of the people’s interests were stirred and they asked, “And then?”

“News spread just a while ago that the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion is going to appear again. We can have a good look when we go this time!”

“Stop gossiping! Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, I’ve gone to Great Peace City many times and never heard of some Great Peace Treasure Pavilion!”

“That might not be the case! I have seen records about the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, I think on the [Great Peace Travel Records.]”

“I’ve also read about it!”

“Is there really a Great Peace Treasure Pavilion? We need to go search! If we find it, we’ll be rich!”

“Dream on!”

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Princess Xin seemed to think of something and an indecipherable light flashed through her eyes.

Chapter 597 - Shen Power Breathing

While people waited for the three princesses to reach Great Peace City, Zuo Mo was in a disheveled state engraving mo matrixes for the Sin Battalion. Helping more than three thousand members of Sin Battalion was like an ocean that he could not see the end of! They were the same mo matrixes that he repeated made and then awakened. After repeating hundreds of them, he knew what to do even if did so with his eyes closed. After doing more than five hundred, he wanted to throw up!

However, he quickly found a miraculous method. He remembered that when he used the Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem, his mo physique would burn while his ling power and spiritual consciousness would continue to permeate into his body.

He had found that when this state was maintained  for a while, his shen power would silently enter his head. He would enter a wondrous state where his mind was clear and without any emotion. All of his emotions seemed separate from him while his body and consciousness attained a very terrifying level of control.

In this state, Zuo Mo’s every movement was flawless. Even his shen power that he usually struggled to manipulate was able to be manipulated to do tasks of great difficulty.

In this state, Zuo Mo was like the perfect mo puppet and his efficiency was several times higher than previously.

He processed the Sin Battalion members one after the other, sending out of his room with their jinzhi removed. All the people watching were shocked by his speed. They seemed to have a feeling that Zuo Mo was completing the process as easily as drinking water.

In a short span of ten days, Zuo Mo had finished all the work!

More than three thousand Sin Battalion members! He sent them all out of the room!

When Zuo Mo exited from this wondrous state, exhaustion hit him like the tide and swallowed him in an instant. He felt his vision black out and he fell unconsciousness hitting  the ground with a thud.

Shu Long and the others heard the noise inside the room. They paled and pushed open the room. When they went to go examine Zuo Mo, Ceng Lian’er suddenly appeared. “It would be best if you do not touch him!”

Seeing the untrusting gazes of Shu Long and the others. She did not explain and said, “Wait for a moment and you will see.”

As expected, just as she finished speaking, faint golden light came out of Zuo Mo’s body. This layer of golden light was very faint. If it was not that the light in the room was very dim, this layer of light would be very hard to detect.

The weak light seemed to brighten and dim in turn as though it was breathing.

Shu Long and the others carefully and quietly moved about afraid they would disturb Zuo Mo. After Ceng Lian’er stopped them even the stupidest person understood that what was happening was not a bad thing.

Ceng Lian’er looked at Zuo Mo and a complex expression flashed across her face.

She could not understand why this youth that appeared foolish, and did not possess an inheritance technique as complete as hers was both ahead and advancing faster than her?

Shen power. These two words had buried mountains of bones. How many geniuses had fallen under these two words and never obtained anything?

Even an astounding genius like Qi Diao Yu was stuck outside the entryway and was unable to enter.

Yet Zuo Mo had already reached the level of “Shen Power Breathing!”

Zuo Mo probably did not know what “Shen Power Breathing” was but Ceng Lian’er who had a more complete inheritance knew that “Shen Power Breathing” was the sign that his shen power had had an initial breakthrough.

There had only been two ancestors in her lineage of teachers that had completed ”Shen Power Breathing.” This was also why she had received such complete inheritance of knowledge.

She had not yet solved the mystery of the Shifting Star Sands and now he had achieved shen power breathing in front of her.

Ceng Lian’er could not help but feel slightly demotivated. Maybe this youth that did not look very unique contained a monster inside!

It would be good if she could explore his body again. Ceng Lian’er sighed inside. A situation like the previous one would occur once in a thousand years and would not likely appear again.

No one noticed that when the golden layer of light on Zuo Mo’s body brightened and dimmed, the light in A Gui’s eyes seemed to respond, brightening and dimming in turn.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.

Ceng Lian’er hearing was keen. When she focused, the sounds outside flooded into her ears.

“Look!”

“What is that?”

“Heavens! It is the Mo Skill Steles!”

Ceng Lian’er’s pupils suddenly contracted. Her figure flashed and she flew into the sky. When she got to a high height and looked in the direction of the Mo Skill Steles, she was instantly stunned freezing where she was.

The soaring steles seemed even more ancient in the night, like statues standing guard in the dark. They stood in rows and formed a forest.

Yet at this time, the black stele forest was releasing faint aura a sea of light.

It brightened and dimmed as though it was breathing.

Many mo furiously flew towards the stele forest. There was joy on their faces, shock, and faint terror. After so many years had past and nothing like this had ever occurred to the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles.

Ceng Lian’er seemed to be suddenly struck by lightning as she abruptly turned her head to look down—in the room below, the light flowing on Zuo Mo’s body brightened and dimmed at the same rhythm!

———

“Finally, we are going to reach Great Peace City.” Princess Xia stretched. The light gossamer silk was unable to conceal her fine figure. The exaggerated curves, the lazy and seductive expression on her face. It could cause any man to unconsciously swallow.

Princess Xin smiled slightly. She was used to the scene in front of her. Even she couldn’t help but admire Princess Xia’s attractiveness sometimes. She said with a light laugh, “Yes, we have travelled for so many days. I just want to find a place to rest  for a while. This Smoke Cloud Beast is very good but it is not comfortable enough.”

The Smoke Cloud Beast was enormous and light. Its body was like a cloud or mist, and its stomach formed its own world and could hold thousands of people. It had a warm personality. While it was fast when it flew, it was very steady. Due to this, it was widely preferred by the prestigious families.

The young masters that were seated all nodded in agreement. If it wasn’t for the three princess here, none of them would be willing to stay inside for this long.

Suddenly, everyone felt their bodies become heavy. One person said with a smile, “We’re here, it is starting to descend.”

Just at this time, someone suddenly shouted in shock, “Quick, look! All of you, look!”

People heard this exclamation. Surprised, they stood and flew into the sky.

When their gazes turned to Great Peace City, they were all astounded by the scene in front of them.

The Mo Skill Steles that were the most eye-catching structure in the Great Peace City were shrouded in bright white light that pulsed like the breathing of a giant beast.

———

Gongye Xiao Rong rescued the remnants of the battalion. When he turned and saw the yao battalion that had fled, he did not chase after them.

His face was dark as he listened to his subordinate narrate what had happened. When he heard that Gongsun Cha did not hesitate in attacking them, a thick burst of killing intent flashed through his eyes.

He decided to have the sect investigate where this Gongsun Cha really came from. Thinking about it now, Gongsun Cha did not seem to have any fear of Tian Huan and his attitude could not be said to be friendly but it did not seem to be hateful. After thinking about it, he felt that Gongsun Cha’s attitude could be called fearlessness.

It was clear that Gongsun Cha had great confidence in their power. Even facing Tian Huan, they did not have any fear.

This was definitely the attitude of a great faction!

Actually, when he received the news that the yao battalion was attacking Black Stone Jie, he knew that he had made a fatal mistake. This yao battalion had hidden by the side and waited for the best chance for a sneak attack. The leader’s skill could not be underestimated.

Gongye Xiao Rong rescued the remnants of the battalions but he did not head for Black Stone Jie. He sent the order to turn around.

His subordinates paled and came to ask why did they not attack Black Stone Jie? Gongye Xiao Rong forcibly suppressed all the questions. He did not explain himself and instead sent an order to travel at the fastest possible speed.

He instantly understood Gongsun Cha’s attitude from his response.

The other would not object to attacking him from behind at a crucial moment.

Was this person really a xiuzhe?

Gongye Xiao Rong shook his head and removed all of the stray thoughts from his mind. His eyes became determined again. They only had one road left!

———

A yao battalion had suddenly crossed Blood Sky Metropolis Jie and charged into the Four Realms.

In a short twenty days, this yao battalion seemed to be invincible and crossed six jie. Before any battalion could react, they suddenly appeared in Ten Thousand Fortune Jie of Xi Xuan Realm.

The chaos rift of Ten Thousand Fortune Jie was connected with the yao realm. The two sides were in a fierce fight for control of the chaos rift.

At such a crucial time the Liang Wei Battalion suddenly appeared a ghost behind the xiuzhe lines and easily took control of the chaos rift!

Ten Thousand Fortune Jie landed in the hands of the yao!

Then Liang Wei left the arrangements for the defense line to his allies and advanced deeper into xiuzhe territory alone. Before the xiuzhe could react, he had defeated four jie. Along the way, he slaughtered everything and everyone, shocking people with his viciousness and ruthlessness! The xiuzhe along the way all fled in panic. In a few short days, the four jie that had been prosperous days before were now empty of all people.

Liang Wei’s infamy quickly spread through the world!

And on the same day.

The female battle general, Mu Xi, of the Palace Lake Wood Clan suddenly attacked Black Stone Jie and took over. She also successfully cut of the retreat path between Gongye Xiao Rong and Tian Huan. This meant that Gongye Xiao Rong was now isolated and in a dangerous situation!

In a short span of one day, the winds had suddenly shifted.

In the previous conflicts the yao had been at a disadvantage, but this sudden shift was without warning and Tian Huan and Xi Xuan both suffered great losses.

Xi Xuan lost four jie but that did not harm their core strength. In comparison, Tian Huan’s hearts were burning. The loss of Gongye Xiao Rong would be a great loss for them.

In response, Tian Huan immediately put pressure on multiple battle fronts.

When an enormous entity like Tian Huan moved at full power, the forces it could gather was terrifying. In a short six days, it defeated six jie. Six passages suddenly appeared between Tian Huan and the mo realm but each was still very far from Gongye Xiao Rong.

Xi Xuan was also furious about the loss of the four jie. On one front, they sent famous generals to kill Liang Wei Battalion and on the other, they sent supplies and reinforcements to Gu Liang Dao.

Gu Liang Dao, whose forces expanded in power, did not disappoint Xi Xuan. He instantly surrounded the mo that he had been facing and then ambushed the mo battalion reinforcements that had come.

Instantly, all barriers to Gu Liang Do’s advancement disappeared.

Gu Liang Dao Battalion moved in and captured four jie!

The battle situation suddenly reached a climax without anyone prepared for it!

Chapter 598 - Highest Priority Order

When Zuo Mo woke up, he felt unspeakably comfortable, refreshed and rid of all exhaustion.

“Daren!” Shu Long who had been waiting at the side had a joyous expression.

Zuo Mo smiled. When his gaze landed on A Gui sitting at the side, he showed surprise. He grabbed A Gui’s hand and his brow furrowed. The shen power inside A Gui’s body had multiplied!

What had happened?

An increase in shen power was good for other people, but for A Gui, it would only restrain her soul even more tightly! Damn it! What had happened? Zuo Mo’s expression instantly became terrible. He wanted more than ever for the shen power inside A Gui’s body to completely disappear in exchange for her soul’s freedom. The iciness of being restrained was the cruelest torture in the world!

“What happened last night?” Zuo Mo asked in a deep voice.

Shu Long was preparing to speak when a serene voice came from behind him. “Shen power breathing.”

It was Ceng Lian’er. Zuo Mo stilled. “Shen power breathing? What is that?”

“Every person’s body is like a cup of water and shen power is like the salt in the water. When your shen power cultivation reaches a certain level, your body and your shen power would reach an equilibrium and then shen power breathing will occur. That means the your body’s potential is unlocked. You achieved shen power breathing last night.”

Zuo Mo was confused but he knew that Ceng Lian’er knew much more about shen power than he did. After pondering it for a while, he shook his head and said, “I do feel that I’ve recovered my energy, but I don’t detect any change in my body.”

“You just opened the lock, you still need to push open the door,” Ceng Lian’er said serenely.

“What does this have to do with the shen power inside A Gui’s body?” Zuo Mo asked.

A strange light flashed though Ceng Lian’er’s eyes. She glanced at Zuo Mo and said, “I do not know, but I know that she definitely has a connection to you achieving shen power breathing last night.”

Zuo Mo’s brow creased even tighter. Suddenly, his hand was tightly gripped. It was A Gui that was holding his hand. Zuo Mo stilled and then showed joy. It had been very long since A Gui had made movements like this, since she had used her shen power outside the mist village. He turned around. A Gui’s expression was still wooden but that hand was tightly gripping his hand.

Zuo Mo was instantly put in a good mood.

“Daren, there was a strange situation at the Mo Skill Steles last night, and the three princesses have also reached Great Peace City,” Shu Long reported.

Zuo Mo was instantly distracted by the news of the three princesses and automatically dismissed the news about the Mo Skill Steles. He hurriedly asked, “They have already arrived? Remember to go ask where they are staying.”

Shu Long was slightly puzzled but he still nodded and noted it down.

Zuo Mo then asked, “How is Ye Ling doing?”

Tao Xing’s mo embryos had finally been delivered. He was fearful of being late. The transaction between Zuo Mo and Bie Han scared him half to death. As a result, Zuo Mo was put onto the list of people he would pay off for peace of mind.

Shu Long had a joyous expression again. “His mo embryo processing has been very smooth. He is cultivating. Should I call him over?”

“Do not disturb him.” Zuo Mo asked another question “Where is A Wen?”

“He, the orange and black yao, Nan Yue, and the others are all at the Mo Skill Steles.” Shu Long said, “Bie Han has been in seclusion as he and Sin Battalion are cultivating.”

Zuo Mo nodded. When he had been studying the jinzhi on Sin Battalion, he discovered that Sin Battalion could cultivate. However, the cultivation method was very strange. After he engraved the mo matrices, Bie Han also needed to adjust. For a battle general, any tiny change in the battalion was something that could be crucial to victory.

“How are you processing the mo embryos?” Zuo Mo asked.

Of the mo embryos from Tao Xing, the Day mo embryo was given to Shu Long and the Nether Shadow mo embryo to A Wen.

The other people did not have enough talent and the effects of using mo embryos would not be very good.

“I have been guarding Daren, and A Wen has been at the Mo Skill Steles these days. We did not have the time to use them.” Shu Long was slightly embarrassed.

Zuo Mo was moved and said, “Hand the administrative matters to someone else for a few days and focus on processing the mo embryo. As for A Wen, do not disturb him.” Even though processing the mo embryo could lead to a short term increase in strength, A Wen was currently enchanted with the Mo Skill Steles. Adding on the epiphanies he had, he should make great gains.

The content on the Mo Skill Steles was detailed and expansive. Once one started to study it, it would be beneficial for the rest of their life. In comparison, the mo embryo boost came fast, but it did not have long-lasting effects as studying the Mo Skill Steles.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised that Nan Yue and the others also went to the Mo Skill Steles but he decided not to interfere in this. Stopping his thought, he also realized that while Pu Yao seemed strict with these people, he was also very attentive. He would not let them go down the wrong path.

If they were not yao, he probably would not be able to keep these mo embryos from Pu Yao.

Right now, Princess Xia had reached Great Peace City. He also had enough people. Zuo Mo’s confidence grew!

He decided to go tonight to take a look. If he could directly save Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng, that would be the best.

———

Miao Jun was directing Tang Fei.

Without the Celestial Azure Essence, the possibility that he could break through to the next level was not high. Even though Azure Air Kill had allowed him to touch the doorway to understanding Domain, it had been many years Azure Air Kill was still stuck as the Azure Air Kill. He had not advanced from this level for many years.

Losing to Zuo Mo this time, he seemed to have let go of something on his mind and he became lighter. His days became easy and idle. He was the most relaxed and leisurely of all the people in the compound.

He did not have any ambitions about cultivation so his other great love started to show. After teaching Shu Long, he quickly found a new target, Tang Fei.

In his eyes, this young female with the ponytail was a piece of raw jade. When Tang Fei learned that Miao Jun was a gold battle general, she was overjoyed and hurriedly asked for guidance. One was willing to teach and the other was willing to learn, the compound quickly became busy.

Miao Jun frequently used the Celestial Plant Guard and the Guard Camp as subjects for demonstrations. Guard Camp was alright with this. Their strict regulations and their persistent attitudes did not make them resistant to training and they learned with all of their attention. On the other hand, Shou Ping’s Celestial Planet Guard was worse off. These people that were usually provided with good food and drink were so exhausted by the training that they felt their bones would come apart.

Many people ran over to Shou Ping to complain. Shou Ping could only go to Ceng Lian’er in search of help. But Ceng Lian’er said lightly, “Other people can manage it, but you cannot? How can my father’s Celestial Planet Guard be so useless?”

Shou Ping’s face flushed red and he wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in. He was one of Ceng Yi’s closest confidants. When had he been spoken to with such a demeaning tone? Without a sound, he turned and left. Returning to the campsite, he grabbed all the ones that were complaining and beat them up. Instantly, all of Celestial Planet Guard was silenced.

Shou Ping was like a lion released from the cage. He would lead the troops personally in cultivation. Anything that Guard Camp could do, he had to do it as well.

Tang Fei’s battalion was not willing to be left behind and also worked hard.

Miao Jun did not feel anything regarding this. He did not consider Celestial Planet Guard was Zuo Mo’s troop. There were not many people from Guard Camp and their combat style had already formed. Shu Long was more suited to lead them than he was. Sin Battalion was Bie Han’s group. Coming from Xuan Kong Temple, he had the qualifications to lead this famous Sin Battalion. With their compatibility, under Bie Han’s command Sin Battalion’s strength would be stronger than under Miao Jun. Tang Fei’s battalion was the weakest of all the battalions. Even though Tang Fei was willing to give the battalion to Miao Jun to train, Miao Jun was not willing.

This battalion was one that Tang Fei could use to realize her own ideals.

“Teacher, they all say that Xiao Mo Ge is a gold battle general, is it true?” Tang Fei’s eyes were wide and filled with curiosity.

Miao Jun thought for a moment and then shook his head in helplessness. “Even now, Daren is someone I cannot understand clearly. I would not find it strange for anything to occur to him.”

He looked at Tang Fei’s doubtful expression and said with a smile, “I know that you have objections about Daren, but in reality, he is a very good person. Look at the people in the compound, especially his subordinates, they all trust him greatly and are very loyal! Also, have you noticed that his battalion is different than other battalions?”

“Different?” Tang Fei stilled and sank into thought.

“His battalion has a very unique attitude, they are persistent, and will always pursue becoming stronger.” Miao Jun’s expression started to turn serious. “You are also a battle general and you should know how difficult it is to influence a battalion to be like this. You should also know just how terrifying a battalion like this will be.”

Tang Fei pondered Miao Jun’s words.

“You cannot just look at the surface of a person,” Miao Jun said meaningfully.

———

“Haha! Did you hear? Tian Huan lost in front of our formations? So what if it is Tian Huan? Competing against our Golden Crow Camp in formations, they don’t want to live!”

“Che, you are celebrating over such a small matter? So useless! It is a pity that the yao battalion did not charge. I wanted to see the power of the formations I set up.”

“I’m really not used to being relaxed recently! I wonder how Daren is doing?”

Recently there were fewer and fewer mo that needed to have mo matrices inscribed. Other than the fact they needed to meet the threshold percentage of a bloodline, there was also the problem of loyalty. Shi Dong had only taken over Little Savage Jie recently and his control was not firm.

“Daren is so strong, there definitely isn’t a problem! Shu Long and the others have reached Daren, don’t worry.”

“Ah, I really hope that Daren can come back soon.”

“Yes … …”

Suddenly, Master Ji Wei and Sun Bao appeared in front of everyone. They all stopped talking and some people’s eyes started to turn bright.

The last time the two masters had appeared like this, they had led them in the study of the mo matrices, it had been like a battle. Even though it was unusually hard, it still excited them when they thought back.

It was also this last time that they finally realized the power they possessed!

As the number of mo matrices that needed to be engrave had decreased, they felt restless from the relaxation after the tense times. Many people were dispirited and lazy.

So when the two masters appeared together, their excitement was woken up again. Everyone quieted down and looked at the two masters.

Ji Wei’s expression was stern. He did not waste and directly said, “Just now, we received an emergency order from Gongsun Daren!”

Rumbles of noise sounded. People had nervous expressions. Had the state of affairs changed again?

Sun Bao did not stop the discussion below and said in a deep voice, “Please note, this is the highest priority order!”

The crowd instantly quieted and everyone’s faces became grave. There was only one circumstance where a highest priority order would be sent out, when the situation was extremely dangerous!

Everyone understood something had happened!

In the silent lecture hall, Sun Bao’s deep yet unusually determined voice echoed.

“We need to think of all ways in the shortest amount of time to help Guard Camp increase their combat abilities! All methods are to be considered!”

Master Sun Bao looked around and met each pair of eyes.

“This is not a request, this is an order!”

Chapter 599 - Night Visit

Gongsun Cha stared at the jie map, a thread of darkness flashing through his eyes. Everyone else stared at the jie map with similarly terrible expressions.

“We do not have enough battalions,” Wei Ran said gravely. “Based on Gu Liang Dao’s speed and the path of his advance, our path to Daren will soon be cut off!”

Everyone was silent. What Wei Ran said was what they were most worried about.

Orchid Home Jie was at the border of Hundred Savage Realm and Dark Realm. Theoretically, it was the best meeting point. Zuo Mo could first reach Orchid Home Jie to meet up with everybody before heading to Dark Realm.

Yet no one had expected for Gu Liang Dao to pop out of nowhere. He coincidentally appeared on the path that Zuo Mo would take to Orchid Home Jie. Xi Xuan had been putting in great effort recently, and caused there to be a higher risk that this path would be cut off.

But Lil’ Miss did not have enough battalions on his hands. Orchid Home Jie was not safe. With the yao as their neighbours, he needed a strong battalion to defend it. If they lost control of the chaos rift, everyone understood what that meant.

“I have already sent the highest priority order to Golden Crow Camp,” Gongsun Cha said gravely. “If it really comes down to it, we will position Black Turtle Camp here, and Vermillion Bird Camp would be responsible for advancing.”

The mood inside the hall was pressuring. Gongsun Cha’s idea was extremely risky. Black Turtle Camp was strong, but no one knew if they could hold this chaos rift.

The yao battalion in the neighboring Black Stone Jie was strong. Gongye Xiao Rong had disappeared, but if there was a chance, he would definitely pop out to take a bite.

If Lil’ Miss was not here in person, in such serious circumstances, even with Vermillion Bird Camp, no one dared to claim absolute confidence in defending the chaos rift.

But even if Black Turtle Camp could hold this place, it was even more difficult for Vermillion Bird Camp to carve open a path.

Gu Liang Dao’s appearance completely disrupted all of Lil’ Miss’ plans.

If the path was cut off, then there was no meaning to holding Orchid Home Jie. They would need to take a long detour before they could meet up with Zuo Mo. Wei Ran and the others had already calculated this alternative route. If the path was cut off, the nearest point they could meet up with Zuo Mo was one where they had to pass through sixty two jie!

One battalion passing through sixty two jie! Just the number of fights they would encounter was enough to make their scalp feel numb.

In comparison, it was more realistic to fight for control of the path against Gu Liang Dao. Gongsun Cha did not feel any fear towards Gu Liang Dao and Xi Xuan.

But he did not have enough forces in his hands. There was nothing to do if he did not have the manpower. Right now, all these jie needed people standing guard.

Compared to those large sects, their foundations were still too thin.

Lil’ Miss stood there silent.

———

In the night, three figures landed and flashed through the air like three ghosts.

Zuo Mo and A Gui were next to each other with Ceng Lian’er half a step behind. Zuo Mo originally didn’t want A Gui to come but A Gui whose shen power had increased seemed to have her own ideas now. She did not make a sound, but she would always stay within a step of Zuo Mo. It was useless no matter what Zuo Mo said to her. Ceng Lian’er following them left Zuo Mo puzzled  but he did not stop her. She was a very good assistant, and since she wanted to follow, he would let her.

Ceng Lian’er was like a wisp of smoke in the night. Her movements were elegant and held a thread of eeriness.

A Gui was like a puppet that was completely void of life. She was completely silent. Her bare feet moved in her usual pace . But there was no flow of air, no sound, and no vibrations.

Zuo Mo’s movements were like that of a cat, relaxed and agile. His movements were balanced as though he was sliding through the air.

All three were wearing masks. These were masks that Zuo Mo had just made and did not have any other use except to stop people from seeing their true faces. The three had even changed the shape of their figures. If they did not take off their mask, no one would think it was them.

Looking at the sumptuous palace in front of them, a light flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Xiao Guo! Li Ying Feng!

I’m coming!

———

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion … …” Princess Xin sighed lightly. She seemed to be murmuring to herself and that pair of eyes that enchanted countless people showed bewilderment and helplessness. She murmured in light voice, “Is this fate?”

She thought of the shocking scene from last night. At that time, the entire Mo Skill Stele forest had seemed to breathe. She almost cried.

In the corner, a warrior covered in thick armor stood with a sword the size of a door. There was no opening on his entire body. Even his face was securely covered. No one knew of his true features.

Everyone knew that Princess Xin had a heavily armored guard with her, but no one had ever seen him fight. He never spoke and only stood behind Princess Xia with that sword of his as he ignored the suitors.

Princess Xin rubbed the chain ornament on her forehead, something that she never took off,  and sighed. Her expression was extremely lonely. She curled up like a cat afraid of the cold.

There was none of the confidence and elegance that she usually had.

Suddenly, the statue-like armored guard suddenly moved with an unusual agileness that was not clumsy at all.

He appeared next to the door.

Princess Xin’s eyes were wide as she looked at the heavy armor guard in shock. It was the first time she had seen him react so strongly.

What had happened?

———

“Princess, sleep early.” Zhu Ke whose hair and beard were white looked benevolently at Princess Wan as though she was his own grandchild. As Princess Wan was someone he had watched grow up since she was little, she was like his granddaughter.

“Grandpa Zhu, is there really a Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Princess Wan’s eyes were wide and her expression curious.

Zhu Ke couldn’t help but give a smile. His wrinkle-covered face crinkled. “Does Princess like treasure pavilion?”

“Yes yes! It seems very interesting. Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming is so strong, there must be many treasures.” Princess Wan’s eyes were full of longing.

“Haha!” Zhu Ke couldn’t help but laugh. He affectionately caressed Princess Wan’s hair. “If Princess wants it, this old servant will go search and see if there are any when the time comes.”

“Really?” Princess Wan exclaimed happily. “That’s great! Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, it makes people excited just thinking about it! It is much more interesting than eating with those people!”

“It has been hard for Princess these past few days!” Zhu Ke said caringly.

Princess Wan shook her head. “I can help Daddy like this, it is not a hardship!”

“Princess is really mature!” Zhu Ke praised. Suddenly, his hand imperceptibly stilled. He said in a gentle voice, “Princess, go to sleep, it is late.”

An indistinguishable presence spread. Princess Wan’s eyelids became heavy. She yawned and said, “Grandpa Zhu … … I’m sleeping … …”

Before she could finish, she entered her dreams. Zhu Ke carefully tucked the blanket around her. When he slowly turned around, a thread of harshness flashed through his eyes.

———

“Has the matter of the Mo Skill Steles been resolved?” There was no smile on Princess Xia’s smile like there usually was and her tone was harsh.

“Princess, no!” the subordinate trembled and said.

“You trash!” Princess Xia’s face was cold. “How many years has the family stationed you here for? You are unable to solve such a minor matter? And Great Peace Treasure Pavilion! Such a great matter and you did not hear a thing!”

The subordinate did not dare to even breath. Everyone knew if they argued with the princess now, it would end terribly for them!

“What clues are there about the rumors of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Princess Xia continued to ask severely. “After so many years and no one knows a thing, yet suddenly the whole world knows! There is definitely something going on!”

“This subordinate is useless … …”

Pia, a incense pot landed on this mo’s face and blood instantly flowed. This mo did not dare to move and allowed the blood to drip down his face onto the ground.

“Trash! A group of trash!” Princess Xia panted angrily. Her flushed chest seemed to almost pop out but no one dared to look.

A moment later, Princess Xia’s anger settled. She said coldly, “Xiao Mo Ge? If you say you are still not able to tell me anything, then you can die in front of me.”

This mo hurriedly said, “This subordinate has made a thorough investigation of Xiao Mo Ge! He first appeared in Shattered Stone Jie. One of the women with him is the daughter of the jie master Ceng Yi. Ceng Yi is a white fang snake mo and has cultivated the White Fang mo physique. He had once refused the invitation of Marshal Yu. He also killed one of Marshal Yu’s subordinates. Xiao Mo Ge’s subordinates are Guard Camp who came from a very distant place. Right now, their earliest appearance that we have tracked is in Little Savage Jie which is now in the hands of someone called Shi Dong. This person is not very strong but is a pretty good battle general.”

Princess Xia showed some interest. The subordinate’s investigation was very detailed but it held many strange details. She understood the subordinates well. They might be useless, but if they did not investigate thoroughly, they would not dare to speak.

“What do you think of Xiao Mo Ge?” she suddenly asked.

The subordinate stilled. He hesitated and then gritted out, “This subordinate thinks that Xiao Mo Ge is the most outstanding genius that this subordinate has seen in all these years! He can rank with Qi Diao Yu!”

“Rank with Qi Diao Yu … …” Princess Xia had an amused expression. She waved her hand and said lazily. “Wipe up the blood and leave!”

“Yes!” The subordinates hurriedly retreated as though they were pardoned.

“What do you think?” Princess Xia suddenly asked. The person the question was directed to was her maid. This maid was about forty years old with an average appearance. There wasn’t any presence to her.

The middle-aged maid said, “The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion is real.”

“I know!” Princess Xia raised an eyebrow. “And then?”

At this time, the middle-aged maid’s expression changed. She turned to look towards the window.

At this time, a clear voice came from a distance, “Which coward dares to break into the princess’ residence in the middle of the night? Come out! Beg for forgiveness from the princesses! Do not dirty ye’s hands!”

Chapter 600 - The Intuition Of A Woman

Zuo Mo had not thought that he would be discovered even before he popped up.

He gestured to A Gui and Ceng Lian’er to not move and then he slowly walked forward. He did not believe  the other had detected A Gui and Ceng Lian’er. Truthfully, if he himself did not know they were there, he would have been unable to detect their presence even if they were beside him.

As expected, Zuo Mo’s gamble paid off. He really was the only one that was discovered.

Compared to the other two, he really was lacking!

Zuo Mo felt slightly embarrassed. He was very skilled in single combat and large scale battles, but it seemed that he didn’t have enough experience in sneaking around.

Since he was not able to sneak in, then he would have to change his approach and use himself to test the other’s forces.

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, Princess Xia was his enemy. He understood that he had to learn about his enemy.

“Who are you?” Zuo Mo’s voice became unusually hoarse through the mask.

“As expected, a coward! A mouse!” Shen Yu said dismissively. His appearance was handsome, as he stood on the roof; he appeared as a celestial looking down from on high.

In comparison, Zuo Mo who had changed the shape of his body looked wretched. He wore an extremely ugly mask on his face and his voice was grating.

“I admire Princess Xia and have come to make a night visit. Who are you? Why are you stopping me?” Zuo Mo was righteous. However, when combined with his lowly state, he seemed extremely perverted.

“A person like you dares to ask to see Princess Xia!” It would have been fine if it was any other princess but when Shen Yu heard it was Princess Xia, the one he was in love with, he instantly felt uncomfortable looking at this person. He couldn’t help but speak with disdain.

“I’m very ugly but I’m very gentle.” Zuo Mo said righteously. Then his voice became strange, “Who are you! Princess Xia decides who she sees, what is the meaning in you stopping me? Are you afraid that Princess will fall in love with me? Hey, Brother, we have to compete fairly … …”

Bursts of laughter came from the surroundings. Someone even said in an audible voice, “Brother Shen, he is right!”

The Shen Family had some strength, but which one of these young masters did not have a background? There were still some that could rival Shen Yu. However, it was just that no one was as strong as him, so he dominated all of them. Now that they had a chance to throw stones while he was unable to strike back, they would not pass on this chance.

“Hem hem, this virtuous brother, your true heart is known since you took such a great risk and climbed the compound walls this late at night! We need to give him a chance!”

Someone else praised loudly, “Yes, yes! He is ugly but very gentle! Very ugly! Very gentle!”

The crowd continued to jeer. Zuo Mo pretentiously bowed in all directions and said loudly, “Everyone, you are all gentlemen!”

Shen Yu’s face turned green.

Zuo Mo was speaking but inside, he was carefully inspecting the surroundings. He discovered several barely discernable presences that gave him a great feeling of danger.

As expected, the guards of the three princesses were outrageously powerful!

Zuo Mo knew that their plan tonight had failed. The guards of the three princesses were stronger than he imagined. What was most depressing was that the three princesses even slept in connecting residences. He clearly had disturbed several experts.

The others were hard on Shen Yu but he was not a stupid person. He knew that one could not win in a verbal contest against hundreds. His expression recovered its calm and a hint of murderousness flashed through his eyes. He said cooly, “The princess is of noble status, and nothing is allowed to happen to her. Since this brother is not willing to introduce yourself, then this one will test you!”

Before he finished speaking, he leapt at Zuo Mo!

“Do not make too much noise, the princess is sleeping.” A wizened voice lightly sounded in everyone’s ears.

Midair, Shen Yu’s presence suddenly decreased.

Behind the mask, Zuo Mo’s face changed slightly. This voice that abruptly appeared was not loud. It was actually very soft as though it was a whisper by his ear but caused Zuo Mo to feel cold inside.

However, at the beginning, he had felt several faint presences lock onto him. He knew that experts were present so he was shocked but not panicked.

As for Shen Yu who was currently charging, at him, in Zuo Mo’s eyes, he was strong in appearance but weak inside!

Such a stupid thing to become timid during a fight just because of some words. If this was a real fight, this person would already be dead!

Zuo Mo did not have anything to consider because those presences had been locked onto him from the beginning.

Tonight, the other side would not easily let him leave.

Fighting could not be avoided.

So when he saw Shen Yu decrease his power because of the voice, he smiled behind the mask!

But soon, Zuo Mo was unable to smile because he didn’t know what move to use!

Actually, both Sky Glass Wave and the Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem were suited to this situation and definitely would break the other’s face! But if he used those moves, it would be equivalent to telling all of Great Peace City that he did it.

If it was yao arts, he could use the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art, but he remembered that he had used little yao arts when he fought Miao Jun. Zuo Mo was full of regret! There weren’t many mo that used yao arts in the first place.

Ling power … … should he use the [Li Water Sword Scripture]?

Shen power … … he wasn’t A Gui or Ceng Lian’er!

Zuo Mo found to his grief and fury that he did not have any moves to use.

As expected, he had not done enough sneaking around and was inexperienced!

Without another word, Zuo Mo turned and ran.

“You want to run!” Shen Yu smiled coldly. As the others had mocked him, he had been full of rage but he had suppressed it. Now that he found the other did not dare to fight, the rage shot back up.

He suddenly accelerated, his presence locking onto Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo laughed and said loudly, “Princess Xia, I will not give up!”

Finishing, his body suddenly broke free from Shen Yu’s grip. Right after, the previously faint presence suddenly increased and the air around Zuo Mo became as strong as iron!

Zuo Mo was prepared and he suddenly used all the power in his body with threads of shen power mixed in. A gold light flashed through his eyes. Like a pickaxe, he smashed against the rock hard barrier of air in front of him.

Bam!

An explosion!

The air around Zuo Mo exploded and in the cloud of white mist, someone seemed to run through.

Shen Yu’s expression changed. His right hand struck at empty air. The mist dissipated. There wasn’t anything left.

———

Returning to the compound, Zuo Mo did not have a good expression. Especially when he saw the undisguised mirth in Ceng Lian’er’s eyes, he felt even worse.

However, Little Mo Ge was not one that would be defeated by a minor setback like this. Once to try and twice to be familiar, he reviewed what he had learned. His concealing technique was not good enough. Of the three, he was the only one that was discovered. This clearly indicated a problem. Otherwise, he lacked combat moves that could be used while disguised. Otherwise, that person’s face would have bloomed into a flower already.

He had also gained a lot today. He was now sure that all the princesses had strong experts with them. This was not unexpected, but it was troublesome for him.

Experts were always willing to serve prestigious families and not battalions.

In reality, there were not many experts in battalions that had reached general level. To reach general level, one had to have an exceptional obsession with cultivation to achieve such a high level. Those people usually did not like strict regulations, such as those battalions followed. Most of the general levels in battalions were battle generals. They were general level but they were not strong in single combat.

It was the same with xiuzhe and yao.

The other reason was that in battle, the death rate of general level was very high. In a conflict between battalions, any general level or yuanying xiuzhe would be targeted first.

However, it was very difficult to nurture a yuanying xiuzhe while battalions were comparatively cheap. Other than a life or death battle, no sect would take the risk and let its yuanying xiuzhe come out to fight.

As to those in marshal level and above, nothing needed to be said about them.

So, sometimes, it was much more of a headache to encounter experts like this than a powerful battalion.

Zuo Mo had a great headache now.

Those experts stopped any possibility of him sneaking in to investigate. In comparison, Pu Yao and Wei’s plan was much more plausible.

Receive the admiration of the princess, get close to the princess, have the princess try to recruit him, and then state his conditions.

His reputation in Great Peace City was known, and he wondered if Princess Xia would admire him.

Pu Yao’s method was good but it was too passive. All the initiative was in the hands of Princess Xia. This caused Zuo Mo to feel very discomforted.

Maybe he could use a more proactive method?

Zuo Mo’s eyes grew brighter!

———

“The person just now?” Princess Xia noticed the expression on the middle-aged maid’s face and couldn’t help asking.

“Very strong!” the middle-aged maid said, “He might have purposefully made himself look ugly. His strength is above average and there is nothing that I could discover.

“Above average?” Princess Xia had an interested expression. “How much above average?”

“We used our presences to lock onto him but he was still able to escape,” the middle-aged maid said coolly.

“Then that is really above average.” Princess Xia was thoughtful. She suddenly asked, “Is he here for the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?”

“Hard to say,” the middle-aged maid said grave, “the matter is very fishy this time. The news spread so suddenly. Someone is working in the shadows.”

“Do other people know about the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Princess Xia looked at the middle-aged maid.

“Impossible!” The middle-aged maid said with a cold smile, “I spent so many years to uncover this secret.”

“Does Shi Zi Ming have any descendants?” Princess Xia said gravely.

“None.” The middle-aged maid shook her head. “My mother served him for many years, and never saw him with any woman.”

“He was an old man with a pure heart!” Princess Xia laughed. “I hope that the people of Great Peace City won’t be as dull as Shi Zi Ming.”

“You are not interested in Xiao Mo Ge?” The middle-aged maid was slightly puzzled.

“The timing of when he appeared is too coincidental.” Princess Xia had a smile. “Don’t you feel that he seems to be waiting for us? Even though I do not know which one of us is his target, my intuition keeps telling me this.”

Chapter 601 - The Intolerant Lil’ Miss

Zuo Mo did not know that Princess Xia already had suspicions about him, but even if he did, he did not have an avenue of retreat. Actually, in his mind, there was still one final plan. Bie Han would take Sin Battalion and capture Princess Xia.

This would be the last alternative because he knew if he really did that, it would be the same as poking a hornet’s nest. They would then have a difficult time moving about in the mo jie. So Zuo Mo did not want to use such an extreme method. However, if the other methods were not effective, he did not object to using this final hand.

Of course, there was also another reason. Bie Han still needed time to adjust to the new Sin Battalion.

Zuo Mo’s mind was completely focused on Princess Xia and did not care about something like the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.

He decided to be more proactive and hadn’t expected an opportunity to come to him.

“Inviting me?” Zuo Mo looked at the invitation in his hand. After scanning through it, he was slightly puzzled. “Who is this Shi Yue Yi?”

“Shi Yue Yi is the present master of Great Peace City!” Tao Xing had an admiring expression when he saw Zuo Mo was puzzled. The fact he had received an invitation from the Master of Great Peace City indicated that Zuo Mo’s strength had received acknowledgment from Great Peace City.

“Shi Yue Yi … …” Zuo Mo murmured and then he suddenly raised his head. “What is the connection between this guy and Shi Zi Ming?”

Tao Xing felt very helpless about Zuo Mo’s slow wit. “He is Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming’s student. Ever since Grandmaster passed on, he became responsible for managing Great Peace City.”

“Shi Zi Ming’s student!” Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly became respectful. He respected Shi Zi Ming a lot. Even now, he had not finished reading the Mo Skill Steles but just the content he had read so far was enough for him to benefit greatly. Also, the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles were open to everyone to read. It really lived up to the reputation of the great master to be so generous.

“Shi Yue Yi is like his teacher and has never cultivated a mo skill. However, he is truly a wise person!” Tao Xing showed a respectful expression. “His gaze can penetrate the mists and see the heart of a person. After the grandmaster passed, Great Peace City’s reputation did not decline due to Shi Yue Yi’s efforts.”

Then he warned gravely, “Do not be disrespectful to City Master Shi Yue Yi. You cannot imagine how much he is respected in Great Peace City. If you offend City Master Shi Yue Yi, you will become the enemy of the entire city!”

“This serious?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked.

“He has helped many people, including the top ranked individuals on the Great Peace Mo Rankings. Every one of them has received his guidance. The experts that have received the generosity of City Master Shi Yue Yi would unconsciously protect him and Great Peace City. For example, Chang Yuan Hao, Yu Shuang, Nanmen Xue, they all stay in Great Peace City with the intentions of helping City Master Shi Yue Yi. Remember the person that broke Qi Diao Yu’s mo sound when he entered the city? That was Nanmen Xue!”

Zuo Mo instantly remembered that Qi Diao Yu’s mo sound had affected the entire street. However, a single cold snort had broken the mo sound. He had been shocked at Qi Diao Yu’s strength and had not thought further. Now that he thought back, he was startled!

As expected of the third ranked on the Great Peace Mo Ranking. The strength of Nanmen Xue was unfathomable!

If Nanmen Xue who was ranked third was already so strong, then how powerful was Chang Yuan Hao and Yu Shuang that were ranked first and second respectively?

Thinking about the three indiscernible presences last night, Zuo Mo felt his head swell. There were so many experts!

The fight with Miao Jun made him understand that anyone that was able to enter the Great Peace Mo Ranking was someone strong. No one was weak. So many experts meant that his plans had many hidden flaws.

Zuo Mo now felt that it wasn’t plausible to use Sin Battalion to capture Princess Xia. To say of nothing else, if twenty general level individuals decided to charge at once, there were definitely no battalions that would be able to withstand it.

This was a terrifying power.

Zuo Mo finally saw the power of Great Peace City. When the number of experts reached a certain level, the amount of strength it represented exponentially increased.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed. In the past, he had been confident, but now he found that the matter was more troublesome than he had imagined.

Right now, he had to plan one step at a time.

———

“This is the Ice Mist Mo Embryo, a kind of mo embryo produced in our Cloud Sea Jie. We found this through the mist people.” Master Ji Wei pointed at something that looked like a ball of cotton. It was faintly blue and slowly moved on the table.

“The greatest use of the mo embryo is to help mo cultivate their mo physique.” Master Jie Wei said slowly and the other people listened to him with concentration.

“The Ice Mist mo embryo is very suited to the mo that can cultivate the Ice Mist mo physique. We have discovered that once a person achieves the mo physique, their strength would multiply. The reason is that the mo embryos have complete mo matrixes. These mo matrixes are transferred to the mo through consumption; the mo matrixes of the mo embryos are absorbed and refined. They would grow alongside the mo matrixes of the user, and form a new set of complete mo matrixes.”

“During this time, through the efforts of everyone, we have continuously analyzed the mo matrix of the mo embryos. We have finally gained some understanding of the mo embryo and mo physique. Mo matrixes are good things, but very rare. Up until now, the ice mist clan has only found three mo matrixes.

“The goal of our next stage is to create objects similar to mo embryos. We do not need them to be as complex as true mo embryos, they only need a few mo matrixes as the core. Also, we needto find mo matrixes which can be outlines for the growth of the mo embryo.”

“Form teams of three ! Every three days, we will have a collective discussion session! All raw materials are available for use and we will try to find any materials you require. You can freely test any ideas you have.”

Everyone’s eyes grew brighter. They felt excited about this goal!

They were not the ignorant country bumpkins of the past. Every person present here was skilled in mo matrixes and seal formations. In any other place, they would be talents that all the factions would fight over.

Of all the camps on Turtle Island, Golden Crow Camp grew in size the slowest. The two masters had strict tests for every xiuzhe that applied to enter Golden Crow Camp. However, Golden Crow Camp’s good atmosphere and the benefits that were unimaginably good earned the favor of all production xiuzhe in Cloud Sea Jie.

For them, this was a difficult and enormous challenge.

But here, no one disliked challenges!

Everyone seated here all knew that if they completed this mission, it would be a great upheaval for the entire world!

———

“Daren! This subordinate is willing to guard Orchid Home Jie!”

Ma Fan ran to Orchid Home Jie and asked.

“Not possible!” Gongsun Cha shook his head without even thinking. If this chaos rift was lost, the consequences were unimaginable. While Black Turtle Camp had performed well in  their last battle, Gongsun Cha was still not reassured.

“Daren! Today, Gu Liang Dao has taken another jie!” Ma Fan’s words caused Gongsun Cha’s expression to immediately darken. No one had expected that Gu Liang Dao, who only days before had been an unknown name, was so ferocious!

“Daren, this subordinate will guard this place and will not attack. Even though Black Turtle Camp is not as strong as Vermillion Bird Camp, with the formations as defense it will not be easy for others to take this place if we do not leave the formation. Also, with Middle Granary Jie at our back, Black Turtle Camp can receive reinforcements at any time. This subordinate has confidence in fighting a defensive battle!”

Ma Fan’s words streamed and he did not retreat. “Also, there is Guard Camp! Even though Shu Long and the strongest members are not present, but there is a significant number of people left. No matter if it is Black Turtle Camp or Guard Camp, they are both battalions skilled in defense. This subordinate does not believe that with these two battalions and the formation defenses, we cannot hold this place!”

Gongsun Cha was slightly persuaded. Ma Fan was right, Shu Long was not here but Guard Camp should not have a problem fighting a defensive battle. With Cloud Sea Jie’s present wealth, they might be able to afford a battle of attrition.

Everyone looked at Gongsun Cha. Everyone knew that Gongsun Cha’s next orders were crucial for all of Cloud Sea Jie!

Gongsun Cha’s gaze landed on the jie map. On the jie map, the jie that Gu Liang Dao had just taken was dyed red.

There were several red jie that had formed a shape. The shape’s outline was like the edge of a blade dyed in blood that pointed directly at the faint blue path as though it would cut the path at any moment!

Gu Liang Dao who had come out of nowhere now rivaled Jiang Zhe in reputation. The title of Xi Xuan Tiger General rang over the entire world!

Lil’ Miss’ gaze suddenly calmed down.

For him, there was nothing more important than Zuo Mo’s safety. If the situation was so extreme that it required using the lives of all the people under his command to exchange for Zuo Mo, Gongsun Cha would not hesitate at all.

This was Gongsun Cha: crazy, obsessive, and at times unreasonable! Maybe his actions would be understood by other people or maybe not, he did not care. He only cared about two things: Zuo Mo and victory!

When Zuo Mo was present, Lil’ Miss’ decisions always looked gentle and harmless.

But when Zuo Mo was not present, Lil’ Miss’ harsh and intolerant style was reflected in every one of his decisions.

Everyone knew that Lil’ Miss had made a decision. They stopped breathing and waited for Lil’ Miss’ decision.

“Orders!”

Woosh, everyone suddenly stood up.

In their eyes, Lil’ Miss had a calm expression. His tone was calm but it was one that could not be disobeyed. He said with a decisiveness that was as sharp as a blade.

“Black Turtle Camp and Guard Camp will hold Orchid Home Jie together, Ma Fan has command. Green Dragon Camp will guard Middle Granary Jie and listen to Ma Fan’s orders!”

Ma Fan bowed solemnly to Gongsun Cha and said with a rare expression of graveness, “I will not fail!”

Lil’ Miss nodded and did not speak. He turned and looked at the other people.

“Vermillion Bird Camp and A Zha Ge Battalion, immediately gather. We will depart in three days!”

The cold order was full of fighting spirit.

“Yes!” The commanders accepted. Everyone’s faces flashed with excitement. Vermillion Bird Camp was a group of battle maniacs to start with and Gongsun Cha’s style was deeply imprinted on this battalion. They were like caged beasts after fighting defensively in the past while. The blood inside them had been restless.

Now that they received the order to depart, the fighting spirit could not be suppressed any longer.

Gongsun Cha suddenly smiled like a blooming flower. The light of his eyes were so bright that no one could look at it directly. The smile at the corner of his mouth was as bashful as ever but the words that came out softly caused everyone’s blood to boil!

“We are going to meet Xi Xuan’s Tiger General.”

Chapter 602 - The Drunken Little Mo Ge

Inside Great Peace Palace, laughter and conversations could be heard, beauties were plentiful and people filled all the seats! The servants weaved between the crowds of people offering food and drink as they occasionally stopped and paid their respects.

Zuo Mo gazed at the scene in front of him with a dazed face.

The streams of people caused him to feel overwhelmed. A pleasing tune, a tempting fragrance of wine, and a delicious smell of food floated through the air.

He had not expected the busy scene in front of him at all. In his imagination, Shi Yue Yi’s banquet should be dignified and elegant, and even slightly solemn. Who had expected it would be like this?

In the eyes of Zuo Mo, this was chaos! Little Mo Ge who could kill his way through the battlefield didn’t know how to react when faced with this scene.

“Hey, Brother Xiao Mo Ge!” A familiar voice came from behind him.

Zuo Mo turned to look and instantly had an expression of joy. “Haha, Brother Lan!” The one that had greeted him was Lan Tian Long and his brother Lan Rong was beside him.

“Brother, you didn’t come find me to drink! Since we have met today, I won’t spare you! We won’t leave until we are drunk!” Lan Tian Long laughed vigorously.

Zuo Mo had a pretty good impression of Lan Tian Long. At this time, Lan Tian Long’s appearance was a life saver. He said, “Then I will follow Brother Lan around!”

“No problem! In this Great Peace City, this little brother is at least familiar with the people!” Lan Tian Long easily agreed. He then introduced Lan Rong beside him. “This is my younger brother Lan Rong.”

Zuo Mo and Lan Rong exchanged greetings. Lan Rong’s presence was completely different compared to Lan Tian Long, appearing delicate and serene.

Lan Rong was filled with curiosity about Zuo Mo. He had been observing Zuo Mo in secret all this time.

With someone leading the way, Zuo Mo felt assured he would not embarrass himself. He followed Lan Tian Long as they chatted about random things. Lan Tian Long was holding a jar of wine in his hand that was about the height of his knee. When he met someone, he would raise the jar of wine, and toss his head back to drink. He did not care about the liquid that wetted his clothing and it seemed full of bravado.

Zuo Mo was charmed when he saw this. He copied Lan Tian Long and held a wine jar as well. He did not refuse anyone that came to him and allowed the alcohol to spill over his body. He felt that this was an unspeakably free and pleasurable manner to enjoy himself.

Lan Tian Long’s way of drinking was very unique and it was rare that he encountered someone that drank like him. His interest was stirred and he and Zuo Mo roamed around to find people to drink with!

Lan Rong followed the two with a grimace and occasionally apologized to the people in the surroundings for the two of them.

“I’m telling you, Old Man Shi’s wine … … it is all good wine.” Lan Tian Long’s tongue was starting to twist and slur his words, his eyes were unfocused. One of his hands was on Zuo Mo’s shoulder, the other holding the wine jar, as he said indistinctly, “You have to drink more … … if you drink more, then it is profitable … … good wine … …”

“You are … … too right!” Zuo Mo’s face was flushed. He pointed a finger and waved it. His head waved along with his finger as he said, “If one does not take the bargain … …then they are a bastard.”

“Hahahaha! Good! Come, drink!” Lan Tian Long grabbed the wine jar and gulped down with his head back.

Zuo Mo also grabbed a wine jar and copied Lan Tian Long to drink in large mouthfuls.

When the wine entered his throat, it turned to a wave of heat that rolled through his chest. He did not know what this wine was made from. Inside Zuo Mo’s body, it was like a ball of hot fire that moved restlessly. The Sun Crystal Seed in Zuo Mo’s body seemed to be stimulated and furiously spun.

Zuo Mo felt the burning ball of flame in his chest grow and his throat burned with thirst. He wanted to drink more. Uncontrollably, he raised the wine jar and poured into his mouth.

The moment it entered his throat, the liquid was a wave of coolness, but immediately afterward the ball of fire in his body seemed to grow hotter.

Lan Rong looked helplessly at the duo. In the past, it had only been Lan Tian Long that would drink like this, and he had cleaned up the messes countless times. Today, it was two drunkards. The two were drinking so recklessly like this and he could only shake his head.

Shi Yue Yi’s Granny Meng Ghost Wine was famous as one of the strongest spirits in the mo world. Looking at the surroundings, everyone only sipped it. Only the two dumbasses in front of him were drinking so violently. Lan Rong knew what his brother was like. But he had not expected that Xiao Mo Ge, who did not look very ferocious, to be so vicious when he drank.

As expected, one could not judge a book by its cover! Lan Rong shook his head.

“Brother Tian Long, after so many years you are still like this?”

A clear voice came.

Lan Rong’s face instantly cooled. Without needing to look, he knew who it was. He couldn’t help but smile coldly, “Compared to Brother Shen, my brother has enough to be proud of. I heard that last night, under the eyes of everyone, Brother Shen was tricked by a very ugly and very gentle brother? Princess Xia probably saw it? I’m very curious. What did Princess Xia think about it all?”

Lan Rong’s retaliation directly hit Shen Yu’s weak point. What had occurred last night was a great humiliation for Shen Yu. Everyone had watched him, and he had allowed the other to escape. This was like using his face to sweep the floor.

Lan Rong did not hesitate in poking at his wound. A hint of murderousness flashed through Shen Yu’s eyes.

Shen Yu smiled coldly. “Little Brother Lan Rong’s tongue is still as fast and sharp as in the past. But are Brother Lan’s moves half as quick?”

Shen Yu suddenly increased his volume. “It is such a good occasion today, how can there be no battle to arouse the spirits? What do you think, Little Brother Lan Rong, should we go up on stage and have a round?”

The noisy hall instantly quieted. Everyone looked over, many of the people had interested expressions on their faces. The Shen Family had always been at odds with the Lan Family. How could Shen Yu miss a chance to damage the other’s reputation?

Lan Rong’s expression changed slightly. If he showed weakness in public, his and the Lan Family’s reputation would be damaged. But Lan Rong knew his own abilities. His strength was not bad, but compared to Shen Yu, he was much weaker. Even Lan Tian Long was slightly weaker than Shen Yu.

But at this time, he could not retreat … …

Just as he was going to reply, an indistinct voice came from beside him, “Hey, you are that ‘very ugly and very gentle’?”

It was Zuo Mo that spoke, he swayed as he stood up. His mind was a complete mess at this point but he felt that Shen Yu seemed slightly familiar, yet being drunk he did not know why he felt displeasure when he saw this person. Just now, he felt that the phrase “very ugly and very gentle” sounded familiar. Dizzy from the drinks, Zuo Mo pushed the label onto someone else. He completely forgot the connection he had to the matter.

The hall that had become completely silent because Shen Yu had challenged Lan Rong, now roared with laughter.

The ones seated where either noble or wealthy and all had methods of gathering intelligence. The phrase “very ugly and very gentle” from last night had spread through all of Great Peace City. So when they heard Zuo Mo ask Shen Yu this, they laughed without exception.

Shen Yu’s expression became the color of a beet. Zuo Mo was exposing his scars in public.

The young masters urged on and whistled. They were happy to see anything that made Shen Yu look bad. Shouts came from the crowd, “Wow, so ugly, so gentle!” “So ugly! So gentle!”

When had Shen Yu been embarrassed like this. His face turned from red to back, viciousness appearing in his brows. Light flashed through his eyes and his tone was icy.

“Sir is?”

Still in a daze, when Zuo Mo heard that the other did not recognize him, he instantly became discontent as he said loudly, “You don’t even know me? You still want to live in Great Peace City?” He pulled over Lan Rong and then muttered. “Didn’t you say that the drinking party this time is supposed to be very high-end? How can a person like him come in?”

Roars of laughter rose up again. Zuo Mo seemed extremely charming at this time. Many beautiful matrons covered their mouths and laughed. The daring ones coquettishly oogled Zuo Mo’s body. The people of Great Peace City recognized Zuo Mo because Shifting Stars Sand was too shocking of an event.

Seeing Shen Yu’s almost twisted face, Lan Rong had never found a person so charming before. He felt very good and so happy he almost shouted.

Brother, drink a bit more … …

He wanted to shove another jar of wine in Zuo Mo’s hand.

At this time, Shen Yu actually calmed down. He knew that he had been embarrassed greatly today but … …

As long as these idiotic people saw his strength, they would naturally close their mouths and have fearful gazes again! What was something that could cause people to submit other than power?

All of the mockery, in front of power, was so insignificant. With a light blow, it would disappear like bubbles.

A smile came back onto his face. “This one is ignorant and really does not know. Please teach me.”

The smile on Lan Rong’s face disappeared. He understood Shen Yu very well. Every time Shen Yu had this expression, it meant that he really felt murderousness. He would use any trick to kill the other!

Xiao Mo Ge … …

He turned and looked worriedly at Xiao Mo Ge.

Zuo Mo’s brow rose as he said humorously, “Teach?” He reached out his right hand with the palm up and open.

Lan Rong’s expression was puzzled. What did this hand gesture mean?

Shen Yu also did not understand. He was unaffected and said, “This is?”

“You aren’t just ugly, you are also stupid.” The drunkenness rising, Zuo Mo said impatiently, “Do you understand the rules of the word? If you ask for a lesson, don’t you need to pay?”

The hall was completely silent. Everyone present, including Lan Rong, was gaping. They were so shocked by Zuo Mo’s unique move they were speechless.

“Fifty mo bei, thank you.”

Shen Yu gaped with wide eyes in dumbstruckness. When he reacted, his face became flushed red again. Searching for a few moments, he could not produce anything. Shen Yu had such high status, when had he ever needed to personally bring mo bei along to attend a banquet?

If Little Mo Ge had to identify a type of person he did not like, it would definitely be someone that did not have mo bei. This meant that he could not squeeze anything out of the other.

What was more hateful than this?

“Doesn’t even have fifty mo bei … …” Zuo Mo muttered. He looked with a pair of drunken eyes at Shen Yu which were filled with disdain.

Many people’s expression became strange. Zuo Mo’s voice was not loud but those seated all had great hearing. They all heard it clearly.

“I will pay for him.” A seductive and lazy voice came. Before Zuo Mo finished his comment, a string of mo bei landed on Zuo Mo’s hand. Seeing who it was, Shen Yu’s  expression changed and he was moved by Princess Xia’s actions.

Zuo Mo instantly smiled. He tossed the string and then shoved it at Lan Rong. “Remember to buy more of this wine for me.”

Finishing, he completely ignored Lan Rong’s awkward expression. He turned and said seriously to Shen Yu, “I will only say it once, do not forget it, I am called Xiao Mo Ge!”

A strange look flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes and Shen Yu smiled.

Seeing Shen Yu’s smile, Zuo Mo also smiled.

Chapter 603 - Granny Meng Ghost WIne

Obtaining this match had taken no effort.

This was the first thought that Shen Yu had. On the road here, he had listened to Princess Xia and the others continuously praise Xiao Mo Ge and had long placed him on the list of people he had to stomp down.

He had not expected this drunkard to be Xiao Mo Ge!

Were the heavens looking favorably upon him?

Shen Yu felt as though his blood was boiling. Due to being too excited, his body actually shook slightly. Under the eyes of the public, in front of Princess Xia, the exhilaration of crushing a genius that could cause the Shifting Star Stand.

Shen Yu’s smile was like a predator that had found its prey. He licked his lips, the light deep in his eyes filled with murderousness, bloodthirst, savagery and anticipation!

It made him excited just thinking about it!

“So you are Xiao Mo Ge, do you dare to go up and spar?”

He forcibly suppressed the excitement and urge to fight inside. Like an experienced hunter, he tossed out his lure that had been prepared long before.

———

Zuo Mo’s mind was a blur. The drunkenness roiled in his chest like a ball of fire!

This ball of fire seemed to want to combust in his body. He felt as though each muscle was burning, like firewood soaked in oil!

There seemed to be several fireballs on his chest and back!

So hot! So thirsty!

Shen Yu’s figure seemed to be both near and far, clear one moment and blurry the next. Zuo Mo’s eyes were drunken and his mind unfocused.

This wine … … really was strong … …

“Shen Yu, you really do not have face. You are bullying Xiao Mo Ge while he is drunk! What? You want to play? This one will accompany you!” Lan Rong said coldly.

Today, Xiao Mo Ge had humiliated Shen Yu. If the two fought, Xiao Mo Ge definitely would not end up well. As for himself, while it would be slightly embarrassing, but unless the Shen Family wanted to start a open feud with the Lan Family, Shen Yu would not dare to take his life.

So at this time, Lan Rong unhesitatingly stood up.

A strange smile floated on Shen Yu’s face. “Lan Rong, don’t think too highly of yourself. This is Xiao Mo Ge’s matter, when was it your turn to decide?” He then shouted, “Xiao Mo Ge, do you dare?”

Shen Yu’s eyes were dark and cold. People who were drunk were the most impulsive and easiest to provoke. He did not believe that Xiao Mo Ge would be unaffected at this time!

In a daze, Zuo Mo suddenly heard a “Little Mo Ge, do you dare?”

A thread of clarity suddenly returned among the burning fire. So thirsty! So hot! He suddenly raised the wine jar in his hand and gulped down, uncaring of the wine that spilled down his neck.

The cool feeling of the wine sliding across his skin caused him to feel a thread of pleasure!

In one go, he drank the remaining wine. Then he glared at Shen Yu and smashed the wine jar onto the ground.

———

When Shen Yu saw Zuo Mo drink furiously out of the wine jar, he was overjoyed inside.

When he saw Zuo Mo finish all the remaining wine in one go and stare hatefully at him, he wanted to laugh. He had seen drunkards before. Those that drank would all look like this! They would be clumsy in tongue and move roughly. Such a group of idiots!

He had succeeded!

As expected, he heard Zuo Mo smash the wine jar onto the ground. A shout rang through the entire hall!

“What are we betting?”

Shen Yu’s expression froze on his face. This … … was not the same … … as he had imagined.

He reflexively asked, “What do you mean betting?”

The surroundings became silent again. Their thinking was just like Shen Yu. They had all thought that Zuo Mo would say “Dare? I dare!” Who knew that Zuo Mo had skipped that and moved on to the gamble.

Those with slow responses did not manage to react.

“Country bumpkin!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were filled with disdain. His speech was slurred and drunken. He really looked down at Shen Yu now. No wonder he didn’t even have fifty mo bei. He used the last thread of kindness he had and advised Shen Yu, “Without any benefit, it is very stupid to fight!”

Country bumpkin … …

Tendons bulged in Shen Yu’s forehead. He had never been scorned like this by someone right to his face. He saw Lan Rong forcing back a smile out of the corner of his eye. The other was almost unable to hold it, and his expression was twisted strangely.

He could imagine the expressions of the people behind him that were watching … …

Princess Xia … …

I will tolerate! Xiao Mo Ge already entered his trap. If he added some more pressure, Xiao Mo Ge would not be able to escape death today!

“What do you want?”

Shen Yu suppressed the anger inside and asked, stopping after each word.

Zuo Mo could still see Princess Xia’s face. He remembered that he needed to find this woman for a matter. But what matter was it? He couldn’t remember. He hit his head. Fine, it was fine if he did not remember, but he did have something to ask her about. He pointed at Princess Xia and said, “I want her!”

When the three words came out, the entire hall was so silent that the sound of a needle dropping to the ground could be heard.

Everyone was shocked by these three words. Their mouths gaped and their faces were full of disbelief. Who dared to say in front of Princess Xia that he wanted her!

Heavens! This was too impolite! Too impolite!

The young masters that were in love with Princess Xia shifted. Someone swore, “You dare! You dare to be so impolite to Princess Xia, are you tired of living?”

“Don’t lose your senses after drinking a few mouthfuls of wine!”

Hearing the enraged words behind his back, Shen Yu had an increasingly smug expression. He spread his hands and acted apologetic.

Zuo Mo finally realized. “So she isn’t your woman. No wonder … … you do not even have fifty mo bei to put down as a starting bet … … don’t bully me for being drunk … … you think that I am as stupid as you … … so stupid … …”

Shen Yu felt his head swell up. He had not expected the development of the matter to progress outside conventional pathways. Also, the anger inside could not be suppressed after Zuo Mo kept on saying he was “so stupid.”

An amused look flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes. She suddenly spoke, “If you win, I will promise to accompany you for one day.”

When the words came out, the people descended into noise.

Shen Yu was overjoyed. It seemed that Princess Xia felt something for him. Otherwise, she would not be lending a helping hand twice in succession. He decided inside, he would not fail Princess Xia’s good intentions!

Zuo Mo could not remember what matter he had to find Princess Xia about. He just felt that his body was intensely burning!

His eyes were red and seemed to be glimmering with blood.

Shen Yu wanted to crush Zuo Mo into powder immediately. He asked in a murderous voice, “Are you satisfied now?”

Zuo Mo felt as though his entire body was filled with flames and a strong viciousness filled his body.

“Come!”

His voice seemed to come through the thick fire and carried an indescribable restlessness.

Shen Yu did not waste words. “To the challenge area!”

As this was the residence of the Great Peace City Master, there naturally was a stadium. Though it was not as large as the stadium outside the palace, the jinzhi placed on it were not lacking.

One was the genius Shen Yu who had been famous for many years and was considered the Shen Family’s most outstanding genius in the last two hundred years.

The other was Xiao Mo Ge who had come out of nowhere, caused the Shifting Star Sands, and placed on the Great Peace Mo Ranking.

Adding on Princess Xia’s tempting prize, this fight attracted the attention of everyone at the party.

“Should we stop them?” a servant asked.

Shi Yue Yi smiled and waved his hand. “No need, just watch, it is rare to have such a heated atmosphere.”

Because Shi Yue Yi never cultivated a mo spell, his face already seemed old. His hair was grey and white and it hung down naturally. The wrinkles on his face were faint but clear. He smiled from beginning to end as though everything was under his control. What was most attractive about him was his eyes that flashed with an intelligent and wise light. It would cause people to unconsciously submit.

Suddenly, a black robed male, and a dark shadow appeared next to Shi Yue Yi. They sat down without any courtesy and then started to eat and drink. The one in the black robe was Yu Shuang and the dark shadow was Chang Yuan Hao.

“Who does City Master favor?” the black robed male asked Shi Yue Yi.

Shi Yue Yi asked softly, “What about you?”

Yu Shuang thought and then responded, “Shen Yu, the Peacock King mo bloodline of the Shen Family has its unique aspects. Shen Yu has also been in general level for a long time and has the Peacock King mo physique. After so many years, he should have progressed.”

Shi Yue Yi turned to look at Chang Yuan Hao in the shadow. Chang Yuan Hao said, “Xiao Mo Ge!”

“Hm!” Yu Shuang was slightly shocked. “You actually favour Xiao Mo Ge? Why?”

“Intuition.” Chang Yuan Hao did not stop. The food on the table disappeared at a visible rate into the dark shadow.

“You are not a woman,” Yu Shuang said, unconvinced. However, he thought inside, this good friend of his did not speak much but he was usually right.

Shi Yue Yi smiled slightly and said, “Let’s watch, I feel great anticipation about the power of the Granny Meng Ghost Wine.”

Granny Meng Ghost Wine … …

Yu Shuang and the dark shadow paused simultaneously.

Yu Shuang asked in a stammer, “How much has he drank?”

Shi Yue Yi had his usual smile. “Sixteen jars.”

Yu Shuang gaped, his expression frozen on his face as though he had seen a ghost.

In the corner, Lan Tian Long who had drunk three jars of Granny Meng Ghost Wine was completely drunk.

Zuo Mo felt his entire body was burning and he was inside a ball of fire. Even the things he saw seemed to twist in the waves of heat.

It really was strong … …

That country bumpkin … …

Zuo Mo looked with drunken eyes at Shen Yu. His body was filled with hot fire that was on the verge of overflowing.

Within this terrifying fire, Zuo Mo felt a thread of mad exhilaration.

There seemed to be something that was being dissolved by the flames and flowed out of the fire. This thing flowed into his head. However, his consciousness was almost completely clouded now. He wanted to examine and see what those things were but he could not seem to find the energy.

The murderousness on Shen Yu’s face was undisguised now. When they were on the battlefield, the power of life and death would be on his hands.

He didn’t just have to win, he had to win beautifully!

Only so, would he leave a deeper impression on Princess Xia.

He slowly walked towards Zuo Mo, step by step, unhurried, and composed. The five colored mo matrix on his body was like feathers that appeared and grew. When the crown of the peacock appeared on his forehead, his eyes were completely icy.

Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head. His blood-filled eyes were like that of a wild beast that flashed with a bloodthirsty light.

He raised his right hand.

Chapter 604 - Peacock Eyespot Domain

As Zuo Mo raised his right hand, the vast fire inside his body flowed like lava. Any kind of collision of the flows of energy would create bright sparks.

A strong pain burned every one of Zuo Mo’s nerves.

The world twisted in his vision as though there were waves of heat. Shen Yu’s body became unstable.

His position looked extremely strange. His right hand was raised, his body leaning slightly forward as though he was preparing to run. He grinned, raised his right leg and then suddenly stomped on the ground.

Like an arrow leaving the bow, he charged.

His body was off balance as he was leaning forward to the point that he was almost parallel to the ground. His two legs rapidly alternating as he accelerated.

Bang!

On the seventh step, with a sound like that of a whip, a white spherical ball of air suddenly exploded around him.

Sonic boom!

Zuo Mo’s body suddenly became blurry.

Other than the screams of some females, many in the audience hardly reacted as they had seen Zuo Mo’s fight with Miao Jun. They all knew that Zuo Mo could create a sonic boom, and the sonic boom was not a powerful move. It was only rare because it required a high degree of balance in all aspects.

In reality, many experts were shaking their heads inside. Using such an ordinary and uncreative attacking method was not enough against Shen Yu.

Zuo Mo did not know the thoughts of the audience. He only felt that his body was burning fiercely, and he was going to melt.

His legs moved even more quickly as though he wanted to vent the rampaging flood inside his body. With every step, he used all of his strength. His mind dazed, what was left was only his fighting instincts!

At this time, another clear bang sounded out!

Pia!

A spherical ball of white mist suddenly exploded around Zuo Mo’s body!

This was the twelfth step!

There were five steps between the two spherical balls of mist!

Bam bam bam, many chairs fell to the floor. Many people who had been shaking their heads suddenly stood up with shocked expressions.

A second sonic boom!

It was a double sonic boom!

Achieving a sonic boom was very rare already, but a double sonic boom was so rare that it was the first time many people were seeing it. The first sonic boom meant that the body had broken free of the restraint of the air. The second sonic boom came from  the body vibrating at such a rapid rate that they caused an implosion of the air around them.

A double sonic boom would form an area of empty space around the person’s body.

All movements would be at their fastest and not face any resistance.

Other than needing the balance of their entire body to create a sonic boom, it required a great power in the body in order to form the second.

In other words, every one of Zuo Mo’s muscles were quivering at an imperceptible rate.

So hot!

Within the crimson eyes, the scenery that passed seemed to slow down. He could not hear the noise from the outside. The rampaging fire seemed to roar inside and spread across his body.

He was like a wounded wild beast sprinting at full strength!

The mo matrix of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was extremely bright at this moment. The three suns on his back and the sun at his chest were furiously absorbing the hot fire inside his body. But the vast fire seemed to be an endless ocean. Even if the four suns were like four enormous whirlpools and absorbed the hot fire, the raging fire did not lessen.

The Sun Crystal Seed spun even faster.

The entire sea of fire started to become restless, as it sensed a threat from the spinning Sun Crystal Seed!

Boooom!

The restlessness of the fire sea spread to every bone of Zuo Mo’s body, every muscle fibre. They vibrated simultaneously!

Suddenly, something indistinct seemed to float out in his mind!

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened suddenly like a wild beast.

———

Shen Yu looked coldly at Xiao Mo Ge that was charging at him. He was surprised at the double sonic boom but was only surprised.

For general level, the ultimate technique was Domain!

With the peacock crown materialized on his forehead, he looked like a legendary king whose authority looked down on the world.

The peacock king mo bloodline was noble just like how the five colored mo matrix on his body was grandiose and brilliant.

At this time, Shen Yu’s eyes were cold and dignified. His already handsome face now seemed like a mo god from the legends. The five colored feathers that were extremely beautiful were like a cape or a five colored waterfall that fell from his shoulders onto the ground.

He stood there silently. His presence was so noble that people could not move their gazes away.

All the females in the room could not stop themselves from staring at the prince-like Shen Yu. Even Princess Xia showed a thread of dazedness. However, she quickly regained her mental clarity and was very shocked.

Shen Yu had always tried to show off in front of her, but he had never used all his ability like he was today!

Shen Yu looked coldly at Zuo Mo that was rushing frantically at him and elegantly raised his right hand.

The bright five colored light was like paint. With him as the center, the colors spread into the surroundings. In a moment, the entire battlefield turned into a multicolored world.

“Domain!”

“He actually reached Domain!”

People seemed to see something that was impossible to believe. If Zuo Mo’s double sonic boom had shocked them, then Shen Yu’s Domain that he created with a wave of his hand made them suspect that something was wrong with their eyes. Even Chang Yuan Hao and Yu Shuang had surprised expressions.

“It is a pity for Xiao Mo Ge. Shen Yu has cultivated a Domain … … the young people now really are … …” Yu Shuang shook his head emotionally.

They had heard the reputation of the genius of Shen Yu a long time ago. People had to sigh and praise him for entering general level in his teens.

But all the praise was so insignificant in front of the multicolored world in front of them.

Domain!

This was a line that separated the experts from the masses, and a dividing line for whether one could level up further.

He was so young yet he had crossed this benchmark. His future was unlimited and he had a great hope of entering marshal level.

Many people were adjusting their judgment of the Shen Family.

Lan Rong’s face was ashen as he watched from outside the battlefield.

Shen Yu had actually obtained Domain! Xiao Mo Ge was in danger!

There was no change of expression on Shen Yu’s face which was as cold and indifferent like the peacock crown that was on his forehead.

[Peacock Eyespot Domain’!

———

As the other seemed to come closer, Zuo Mo suddenly felt the surroundings became difficult to move as though he had entered a quagmire.

Shen Yu seemed to grow distant in his vision.

The distance between the two increased. In a blink, Shen Yu was a hundred zhang away.

He did not notice that dashes of circular marks like the eyespots on peacock feathers appeared on the ground. They were like strange eyes, or slowly spinning whirlpools.

The sticky feeling caused Zuo Mo to feel unusually uncomfortable.

He was like a wild beast that had charged into a net and was instinctively thrashing about! At this time, something slid across his head and caused him to give a shocking roar. He was like a wounded beast. His body suddenly jumped up, and when he reached the apex, his body shook and became blurry!

At the same time, a burning streak of fire pierced the ground from the sky.

Zuo Mo’s fist punched out, causing a long flickering fist of fire to smash into a peacock eyespot on the ground.

Boom!

The ground shook and the eyes instantly shattered into countless flows of color. But quickly, they flowed back together from all directions like water and reformed back into the eyespots.

Shen Yu looked indifferently at Zuo Mo and was not affected.

This kind of damage was ineffective against his [Peacock Eyespot Domain].

———

When Zuo Mo’s fist hit the ground, the sea of fire inside his body suddenly roared. Already savage, Zuo Mo felt very good.

He did not feel the resistance that came from striking with his fist.

He did not hesitate and lifted his fist again. As though he was mad, he punched again and again!

Boom boom boom!

The ground continued to tremble, the eyespots shattering under the punches and then reforming.

Zuo Mo did not seem to realize it. He was immersed in an indescribable feeling of pleasure. With every punch, the fire inside seemed to vent into the ground from his body. Everything in his body seemed to be burning furiously.

In the stands, Yu Shuang could not stop himself. “This guy really is drunk!”

“Sixteen jars of Ghost Wine.” Chang Yuan Hao was of few words, but the meaning did not need to be said.

“This guy is a freak as well. He drank sixteen jars of Granny Meng Ghost Wine and can still fight. How come I wasn’t this strong when I was young?” Yu Shuang sighed.

“He will give us a surprise.” Shen Yue Yi suddenly laughed lightly.

Yu Shuang and Chang Yuan Hao stilled simultaneously. Shi Yue Yi who had always been indifferent seemed to have eyes which were now flashing with another kind of light as he stared at Xiao Mo Ge.

The two exchanged a look and could see the shock in each other’s eyes.

City Master never spoke without basis. Did this little guy really have something special?

Both felt some anticipation.

Their gazes moved towards the battlefield landing on Xiao Mo Ge who was punching the ground in rapid succession.

“En?” Chang Yuan Hao seemed to have noticed something.

Hm?” Yu Shuang couldn’t help but give a slight sound of surprise.

———

Zuo Mo furiously punched the ground. He seemed to not know exhaustion and he used full power in every punch. The ground of the battlefield continued to tremble and even the guests in the stands could feel it.

He completely forgot about Shen Yu.

In his eyes, there were only the peacock eye spots that repeatedly shattered and reformed.

The spinning of the Sun Crystal Seed inside his body reached a shocking rate. It gave off threads of magnetism and even the three suns on his back were slowly pulling at the rampaging sea of fire inside Zuo Mo’s body.

The thing that appeared in Zuo Mo’s mind slowly became clear.

Zuo Mo who had lost the ability to think a long time ago did not think at all. He instinctively changed according to what the thing in his mind said.

He punched again and again!

But without knowing it, each punch had started to vary in minute changes.

The speed that Zuo Mo punched was very quick. It was a storm that was so rapid, people could not catch it.

The tiny changes accumulated under this shocking speed. In a blink, people detected the change in his punches!

Chapter 605 - Peacock King Plume

Shen Yu gazed indifferently at Zuo Mo.

There wasn’t any hint of change in his expression. The Peacock Eyespot Domain was full of variations, and using brute force against it would be of no use at all. Smug satisfaction flashed through his indifferent eyes.

Everything within the Peacock Eyespot Domain was within his grasp. He was like a mo god of the ancient era standing on top of the highest of peaks and looking at his enemies who were like minuscule ants beneath him. This feeling was so intoxicating.

Watching as his opponent smash the ground like an idiot, a hint of scorn flashed at Shen Yu’s lips.

How about adding to the fire?

A mocking smile hung upon Shen Yu’s lips, he raised his right hand again.

Suddenly, his gaze landed on Zuo Mo’s right fist, and his smile froze.

What … … what was that?

———

Zuo Mo felt as though a sea of fire was roaring inside of him! The entire sea of fire was being agitated and pulled upon. The little Sun Crystal Seed and the other three suns were like an invisible hand that pulled on the entire sea of fire!

The blurry scenes that floated in his mind were like silent murmurs that urged Zuo Mo on.

Savagery and restlessness caused Zuo Mo to be unhesitating with his attacks. He punched down with his right hand like the scene in his mind!

Boom!

A spark formed between his fist and the ground before floating in the air.

None noticed this spark which was the size of a pin.

Even  Zuo Mo did not notice. The sea of fire that was shifting inside his body was like a heavy block of wood  being hoisted into the air. Every time he punched, the wood would fall down. The feeling was pleasurable and free; it was as though he could smash through anything!

One punch after another!

Dots of sparks flew from his fist and floated in the air. No matter how the waves of air moved, they seemed to be suspended motionlessly in the air.

The sparks increased in number, and soon everyone noticed it!

Still, Zuo Mo did not notice. The three suns on his back seemed to come alive and were revolving at a very slow rate. The golden lines that connected them changed as well.

The fiery pillar smashed into Zuo Mo’s right arm every time he punched and stopped when it reached his wrist.

Zuo Mo did not know what this technique this was, but its name suddenly appeared in his mind.

Sun Hammer!

What was that … …

Zuo Mo was in an unclear state of mind, but he did not care and followed accordingly.

A thread of shen power exploded into sparks when it encountered the pillar of fire!

Drunk, Zuo Mo felt that the power of this technique wasn’t satisfying enough. He tried all he could to layer all kinds of power into his fist.

Sky Glass Wave! Shen Power! Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem! Sun Hammer!

Each punch was changing, becoming heavier!

Boom!

The ground shook.

Boom!

The trembling of the earth became even more evident.

Soon after, all the tables and chairs started to rattle . The beautiful matrons on the stands screamed and they could feel the stands vibrating!

No one paid attention to the screams. They all stared closely at the battlefield. They stopped breathing and didn’t dare to blink.

The trembling of the earth increased, and the plates on the table clinked.

How heavy was Xiao Mo Ge’s fist!

In order to guarantee that those outside the field were not affected, there had been layers of jinzhi set around the battlefield. Yet the vibrations outside the field were so strong. People could not imagine just how powerful Xiao Mo Ge’s punches were!

———

“Such terrifying power.” Yu Shuang murmured to himself. His expression changed slightly. “This kind of brute force probably rivals those of the Iron-mountain Elephant Clan.”

Shi Yue Yi’s gaze was deep and his tone slightly reminiscent. “My master once said that people that could drink more than ten jars of Granny Meng Ghost Wine were all special people.”

“Special people?” Chang Yuan Hao instantly grasped the most important part of the sentence.

“My master did not explain what he meant.” Shi Yue Yi shook his head. “I’ve never changed the recipe for this Granny Meng Ghost Wine. I also want to know what kind of person that my master would deem special is like.”

When he finished speaking, his tone carried a thread of anticipation and excitement.

Chang Yuan Hao was slightly shocked. The City Master was usually composed and at ease, as though he was confident no matter the situation. It was the first time he saw such an expression on City Master’s face.

Yu Shuang’s gaze did not move away from the battlefield. “Now it is time to see how far Shen Yu’s Peacock Eyespot Domain has progressed and if he can withstand this.”

The three closed their mouths and gazed at the battlefield among the strong vibrations.

———

Shen Yu’s expression changed slightly.

He seemed to be standing on the surface of a drum as someone continued to bang on it. With every beat, the ground trembled and the vibration increased in strength.

The peacock eyespots were still maintaining themselves on the ground, but Shen Yu could feel that they were being shaken and becoming unstable!

What kind of freak was this person?

He almost did not believe his own eyes. The other was able to express such power within the Peacock Eyespot Domain. This guy … …

Within the Peacock Eyespot Domain, every eyespot was a whirlpool. He had just managed to cultivate the Peacock Eyespot Domain two years ago, but there were already nine hundred and ninety eyespots in his Peacock Eyespot Domain!

With nine hundred and ninety eyespots moving simultaneously, someone weaker would have been torn apart immediately. Even if their body was strong, under the power of nine hundred and ninety peacock eyespots, they would be like a fly that had flown into a spiderweb and would tangle themselves up even as they struggled.

And finally, when the power entangled the enemy till they were unable to move, Shen Yu could easily go in for the kill under the other’s terrified gaze.

However … …

He looked hard at Zuo Mo. For some unknown reason, he felt a wave of coldness. He knew that Xiao Mo Ge felt the effects of the Peacock Eyespot Domain. Xiao Mo Ge’s body had visibly paused when he entered the Peacock Eyespot Domain.

Yet, Xiao Mo Ge was raining down punches on the ground like he was mad!

These actions that had seemed extremely idiotic to him, now caused Shen Yu to feel a sense of danger.

He could not just sit and wait!

Shen Yu seemed to wake up and viciousness flashed through his eyes.

He decided to use that move!

———

Zuo Mo felt unprecedentedly good. The drunkenness rose to his mind and he was even more excited. The peacock eyespot in front of him did not have the time to reform before it was smashed apart again. As Zuo Mo’s punches became heavier, the terrifying power spread out and produced wave after wave of rainbow ripples.

So good!

Zuo Mo laughed madly into the air as he continued to punch!

Punching at a rate that was so fast that robbed people of their breath, the strong fire shifted restlessly inside Zuo Mo’s body. He was like a person that was dying of thirst and furiously searching for water. What he was trying to find were ways that could get the power of his punches to be stronger.

The more power that came from the collision of the fire, the more shen power would come out of his body!

The mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s right fist was blindingly bright and drew out streaks of light in the air as he moved it rapidly.

Now under the blinding streaks of light, no one could see the scattered sparks that floated in the air.

At this time, the peacock eyespots under his feet seemed to be attracted by a magnet and started to gather in one direction.

With his eyes blurred in drunkenness, Zuo Mo stopped moving and watched as the eyespots moved past his foot. He slowly moved his head and looked in the direction the peacock eyespots had disappeared into.

The peacock eyespots on the ground and in the air were gathering on Shen Yu’s body.

Shen Yu was completely transformed at this moment. Peacock feathers had crawled up his body and entered his mo matrix. The peacock crown on Shen Yu’s forehead seemed to come alive, the wings spreading. In a flash, its spread wings covered Shen Yu’s head. It transformed into an exquisite helmet that only showed Shen Yu’s eyes; a peacock feather that was about half a chi long appeared in Shen Yu’s hand!

Zuo Mo stilled, remembering that he had made a bet with the person in front of him.

But he could not remember what the bet was about.

How could Little Mo Ge lose a bet?

Zuo Mo swayed as he moved to face Shen Yu.

———

No one dared to underestimate this drunken youth any longer. Every one of his punches seemed to land upon their minds.

However, when Shen Yu’s transformation was revealed, especially that five-colored peacock feather, exclamations rang out in the crowd.

“Peacock King Plume!”

Even Yu Shuang could not keep his composure from where he was in the stands. He suddenly stood up and stared hard at the battlefield with a stunned expression. “This guy even managed to cultivate the Peacock King Plume; the Shen Family really produced someone amazing!”

Peacock King Plume, the famed killing move of the Shen Family, and one of the top killing moves even among the many prestigious families of Hundred Savage Realm. There were numerous foes in the history of the Shen Family that had fallen to this move.

The founder of the Shen Family had used this move to kill seventy-nine generals, astounding the world and then founding the Shen Family.

The Peacock King Plume was very powerful, but it was just as difficult to cultivate as it was strong. Even now, the number of those who had cultivated the Peacock King Plume in the Shen Family lineage could be counted on one hand. Those that wanted to cultivate the Peacock King Plume had to have a deep understanding of the Peacock Eyespot Domain.

The difficulty in achieving the Peacock Eyespot Domain was high to start with. There was just a handful of Shen Family descendants that could comprehend the Peacock Eyespot Domain in each generation and even fewer among those that could comprehend the Peacock King Plume.

So when Yu Shuang saw the peacock feather in Shen Yu’s hand, the shock he felt could be imagined.

“Incomplete.” Chang Yuan Hao suddenly spoke.

“It is enough,” Yu Shuang sighed lightly. “He is so young and able to cultivate the Peacock King Plume. That kind of talent is probably not any less than the founder of the Shen Family.”

Chang Yuan Hao was silent. Yu Shuang was right.

Shen Yu’s talent was so high that it was shocking.

He looked at the swaying and drunken youth. He felt pity inside. This youth was also talented, but he probably had not expected to encounter a genius of the century like Shen Yu.

Such a pity.

Feeling pity, Chang Yuan Hao suddenly looked across Zuo Mo’s feet and his gaze focused abruptly.

That was … …

A single ball of sparks floated silently next to Zuo Mo’s feet.

Chapter 606 - Reversed Stellar Revolution

A hint of fear flashed through Shen Yu’s eyes as he stared at his opponent. For some reason, the Peacock King Plume in his hand was not as reassuring to him as he had expected. The person standing in front of him was struggling with his domain and didn’t have the presence of an expert. He was a flailing drunkard that could be found on any street corner.

But this drunkard caused him to feel a hint of fear.

He didn’t know why. Was it because those punches just now that had been unusually powerful? Or was it Xiao Mo Ge’s mad laughter?

Shen Yu’s gaze quickly cleared up. The strong power that came from the Peacock King Plume in his hand completely suppressed the thread of terror.

He laughed lightly. The fear had come without any reason. It should be the other that felt fear.

Just now, Xiao Mo Ge’s display should have shocked everyone. However, wasn’t that what he wanted? If such a powerful opponent fell under his Peacock King Plume, it would be a great chapter in his legend.

This was a person that could cause the Shifting Star Sands!

Let’s end it everything finish!

Shen Yu thought. His eyes flashed with a cold light as he raised his right hand.

The Peacock King Plume turned into a multi-colored light that shot at Xiao Mo Ge!

———

An expression of pain appeared on Zuo Mo’s face.

After the repeated punches, the fire inside his body was like a heavy weight. Each heavy punch caused the fire inside his body to shudder. The fire was suppressed by the Sun Crystal Seed and the power of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, yet in reality, it was still extremely restless.

He did not feel it when he was punching but after he stopped, the ball of fire expanded into countless streams that entered Zuo Mo’s limbs and organs.

In this instant, Zuo Mo felt his head ring. His already muddled mind went blank.

Almost at the same time, the three suns that had been slowly revolving on his back stopped.

A light moved from the sun mo matrix at the center of his chest along the golden lines and quickly through the three suns on his back!

The four suns suddenly gave off a blinding light.

The ball of sparks next to Zuo Mo’s feet suddenly lit up. These sparks were like stars. They suddenly became attracted to Zuo Mo’s right hand.

Hiss!

It was an extremely light sound.

In a blink, the sun mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s right palm abruptly gave off a blinding light. The fifth sun of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus moved!

Boom!

This fifth sun that wasn’t any different than the other four activated suns, was causing a string of unexpected occurrences!

It’s position was too distinct. Zuo Mo’s right hand was where the power whirlpool was contained by the Ten Thousand Layer Iron Cowrie mo matrix!

A burst of savage power furiously followed towards the sun on Zuo Mo’s right palm. In a blink, Zuo Mo’s sun mo matrix almost burst as it restrained the flows of power which contained a significant amount of shen power.

It suddenly dimmed and a presence that was divergent to the other suns appeared on Zuo Mo’s right hand.

Many sparks and dots appeared next to this sun script like the marks of the stars.

The cloud of sparks began to circle around his hands and spin endlessly like a tiny stream of red stars.

The red light suddenly spread outwards from under Zuo Mo  and fought back against the darkness of Shen Yu’s domain.

“Domain!” An exclamation rang out among the crowd.

This exclamation caused Zuo Mo’s mind to shudder. The drunkenness that accompanied the ball of fire seemed to have retreated, and his vision suddenly cleared.

Consequently, he saw a streak of five colored light shooting at him.

In this moment, the feeling of extreme danger caused the hairs on his body to stand on end!

Without even thinking, he raised his right hand.

The handful of sparks that shrouded his palm shot at the streak of light.

———

Shi Yue Yi suddenly stood up. He looked at the handful of sparks with an excited expression.

At this time, no one was paying attention to him. Everyone was looking closely at the battlefield. They all had a feeling that after this round of attacks, someone would definitely fall!

The speed of the sparks was not fast and in front of the lightning fast Peacock King Plume, it was like a turtle.

The Peacock King Plume shot into the cloud of sparks.

And a stunning scene occurred!

The moment the unstoppable Peacock King Plume came into contact with the sparks, it slowed down. When it was halfway into the sparks, it was as slow as a snail.

Hiss!

A wisp of fire suddenly appeared at the tip of the Peacock King Plume. The fire quickly spread along the Peacock King Plume.

Woosh!

In a blink, the Peacock King Plume turned into a ball of ash and disappeared.

Just at the same moment the first wisp of fire appeared on the Peacock King Plume, Shen Yu’s eyes suddenly widened. He was stunned and motionless as though he had been struck by lightning.

No one noticed a wisp of fire appear from under his feet and climb onto his feet.

When Shen Yu noticed this wisp of fire, it was too late. The wisp suddenly grew and engulfed him in a flash. A horrid scream came from inside the flames.

“Ahhh … Ahhh …”

The hair-raising scream was suddenly choked off. The fire disappeared and with a pop, there was nothing left in its place.

The handful of sparks flew back and wrapped around Zuo Mo’s right hand. It gradually changed form and in the blink of an eye, it appeared like a red bracelet around Zuo Mo’s wrist. The bracelet slowly spun around Zuo Mo’s right hand. If one looked closely, they would be able to distinguish a scene similar to a revolving red galaxy.

The change came so fast. The entire situation had flipped on its head, and Shen Yu had been turned to ash.

It was deathly silent.

———

On the stands, Shi Yue Yi had a disbelieving expression as he murmured to himself, “Reversed Stellar Revolution … … Reversed Stellar Revolution … …”

Chang Yuan Hao froze when he heard this. A moment later, he slowly said, “Isn’t he cultivating Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus? How can he obtain the Reversed Stellar Revolution?”

“Reversed Stellar Revolution? It isn’t possible!” Yu Shuang recovered from his shock. “That is a killing move only those with star-type mo physiques can achieve!”

“I do not know how.” Shi Yue Yi quickly recovered his calmness and shook his head as he said, “Usually, those practicing the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus cannot produce the Reversed Stellar Revolution, but that is the Reversed Stellar Revolution. His Reversed Stellar Revolution is not the normal Reversed Stellar Revolution. His stars are crimson red, and clearly have a fire attribute. This deviation should be related to the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus that he cultivates.”

“Impossible! Impossible!” Yu Shuang’s head shook like a rattledrum. “How can someone with Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus cultivate the Reversed Stellar Revolution? This is absurd!”

If it wasn’t the city master that was in front of him, he would have scorned this comment.

“He also caused the Shifting Star Sands,” Chang Yuan Hao suddenly said.

“Is it really the Reversed Stellar Revolution?” Yu Shuang stared at the crimson bracelet that was spinning in the air. It was unknown what he was thinking.

———

Zuo Mo regained clarity of mind and the jinzhi on the battlefield were turned off. Lan Rong excitedly jumped onto the field and threw an arm around Zuo Mo’s shoulder. He was so excited he almost couldn’t speak coherently. “Brother, you are too powerful! Too powerful! You could even defeat the Peacock King Plume, you really are powerful!”

The surrounding people looked at Zuo Mo with eyes filled with respect and fear.

Any person that could defeat the Peacock King Plume was certainly deserving of this much.

Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled. He was muddled about everything that had occurred when he was drunk. He was also slightly surprised at Lan Rong’s closeness but he did not push the other away. He asked cluelessly, “What happened? What happened here? Why am I unable to recall anything?”

Lan Rong paused. He stared at Zuo Mo for a long while. Seeing the other did not seem to be faking, he hurriedly narrated what had occurred just now.

When he got to the dangerous and exciting parts, Lan Rong’s arms gestured excitedly and he was even more spirited than Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. He did not have any recollection at all. He had killed Shen Yu! The other had comprehended domain and had that Peacock King Plume. The other sounded very strong.

He noticed the crimson bracelet on his wrist. Stopping, his mind inspected the bracelet, and then an indescribable feeling came to him.

“Hey hey hey! Are you dumb from excitement?” Lan Rong saw Zuo Mo was in a daze and hurriedly shouted.

Zuo Mo refocused. He knew that this was not the place to investigate so he moved his mind back and looked around. “Where is Brother Tian Long?”

After this event, the three of them had gone through their own battles and the relationship had naturally changed.

“He is not as good a drinker as you, and is lying down over there in a corner. You are really ferocious. I’ve never seen anyone drink so much Granny Meng Ghost Wine, and you were even able to kill Shen Yu after that. Monster! Too freakish!”

Lan Rong shook his head as he reflected.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

“You won! Three days later, I will find you and accompany you for a day.”

Zuo Mo turned around. What entered his vision was a beautiful, seductive face that held a hint of indolence. That pair of eyes that seemed to be able to speak, examined Zuo Mo curiously.

Princess Xia!

Zuo Mo suddenly became nervous. Wasn’t this his goal?

He forcibly suppressed the impulse to act immediately and forced out a smile. “Princess Xia is one to keep your word! Good! In three days, I will wait for Princess’ arrival!”

Princess Xia smiled like a blooming flower. The surroundings seemed to brighten, and the sound of swallowing sounded in the surroundings. This dissipated much of the tension in the air.

“This is a reward you deserve!”

Finished speaking, Princess Xia turned and left.

“Such a beauty!” Lan Rong looked at the back of Princess Xia and couldn’t help but praise. However, he quickly had a mischievous smile on his face as he poked Zuo Mo. “Hee hee, don’t you feel it difficult to get through these three days?”

Zuo Mo instantly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Lan Rong was so lively it was almost overboard. However, this feeling was pretty good.

He cooperated. “Three days, it will go by quickly.”

Lan Rong’s tone suddenly turned serious and he said to Zuo Mo in a low voice. “You need to be careful. You might have defeated Shen Yu in a challenge which is lawful so no one can openly protest. However, the Shen Family placed great importance on Shen Yu and they will not let the matter end here. You have to be careful of them acting from the shadows.”

Zuo Mo gratefully patted the other. “Do not worry, I will be careful.”

After saving Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng, he would quickly leave. Why would he stay in Great Peace City?

But Lan Rong’s reminder was sincere and Zuo Mo could feel that.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo noticed several people walking towards them.

Chapter 607 - “Special”

“Congratulations, congratulations! Little Brother Xiao Mo Ge has stepped onto a new level with this battle, it really is an occasion to celebrate.”

The one that spoke was an old man that Zuo Mo did not recognize. Zuo Mo started to act humble when he heard Lan Rong bow and say, “Lan Rong greets City Master!”

City Master! Shi Yue Yi?

The average-looking old man in Zuo Mo’s eyes instantly appeared to be more scholarly and deep. As expected, reputation made the person. Zuo Mo felt great admiration towards people that were knowledgeable. This time, he was sincerely humble. “City Master is too generous!”

Shi Yue Yi smiled slightly, the faint wrinkles on his face clear to the eye. He looked at Lan Rong, and said warmly, “You are a child of the Lan Family, right? Not bad, you have some sense of honor.”

He turned his face to look at Zuo Mo, introducing, “Let me introduce these two to Little Brother.”

“Chang Yuan Hao.” A deep voice came from the shadows.

“This one is Yu Shuang.” There was a slight smile on Yu Shuang’s face. He bowed slightly and was warm and elegant.

Without needing Lan Rong’s introduction, he knew who these two were, first and second ranked on the Great Peace Mo Ranking! Even though Xiao Mo Ge was full of confidence in himself, he was still shocked that these two personages had come. He returned a bow. “I am Xiao Mo Ge! Please take care of me!”

At the side, Lan Rong was so excited he wasn’t able to speak. He had attended the banquet of the City Master many times but it was the first time he met these three major personages. He felt as though he was dreaming to have been complimented by the City Master.

Shi Yue Yi smiled slightly at Lan Rong. “I’m sorry, we have come to find Little Brother Xiao to discuss some matters, please accept my apologies!”

Lan Rong seemed to wake up and immediately recovered. He said perceptively, “This junior needs to go search for my Brother! Goodbye, City Master, goodbye, Elders!”

He bowed respectfully and then retreated.

Matters to discuss? Zuo Mo was puzzled. It was the first time he met these three. What was there to discuss?

Shi Yue Yi did not clarify and motioned with a hand. “Little Brother, let us go over there.”

“Alright!”

The four of them entered a quiet room. When they entered the room, the noise from the outside instantly disappeared. Zuo Mo noticed that there were jinzhi set up in the room that could prevent eavesdroppers.

“I had not expected Little Brother to cultivate the Reversed Stellar Revolution.” The one who spoke first was Shi Yue Yi. With those initial words, he attracted Zuo Mo’s attention.

“Reversed Stellar Revolution? This?” Zuo Mo raised his right wrist and the crimson bracelet that slowly spun around.

“Yes.” Shi Yue Yi glanced at Zuo Mo. “It appears that Little Brother does not know much about it.”

“Yes, I do not understand, City Master, please give me guidance,” Zuo Mo said obediently.

Shi Yue Yi smiled slightly. “Reversed Stellar Revolution is a kind of killing move. However, killing moves of this kind are usually only obtained after those with star-type mo physiques comprehend Domain.”

“Star type mo physiques?” Zuo Mo shook his head. “I cultivate the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus.”

Shi Yue Yi nodded and said, “This is where Little Brother is special. It is true that Little Brother cultivates the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus that is ranked third among general rank physiques, and I also noticed that while the [Domain] that Little Brother has comprehended has not fully taken form, it is already crimson red. If I am right, Little Brother has already reached the doorway to the [Ten Crow Celestial Domain.]”

“I’ve reached the doorway to Domain?” This time, it was Zuo Mo’s turn to be shocked. His mind shifted and the suns suddenly gave off a strange power. A crimson ring of light appeared under his feet.

“As expected, it is the Ten Crow Celestial Domain!” Yu Shaung couldn’t help but speak. “As expected of the top ranked Domain among the general ranks. Even though it has not taken form, it is so strong and domineering.”

His voice was filled with admiration.

Zuo Mo felt increasingly puzzled. However, he knew that the other would explain the cause since the other had come to find him.

As he expected, Shi Yue Yi continued. “It is the first time that I saw a situation like Little Brother’s. Little Brother, you clearly cultivate the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique, and the Domain you comprehend is the Ten Crow Celestial Domain, how could you cultivate the Reversed Stellar Revolution?”

“Star type mo physique? What is the mo physique you cultivated previously?” Yu Shuang couldn’t help but ask.

“Great Day mo physique,” Zuo Mo said.

“Second among colonel level mo physiques!” Yu Shuang couldn’t help himself. “A strong mo physique as well. And before that?”

“Jade Metal Head.”

This time, even Shi Yue Yi was slightly surprised. Yu Shuang looked at Zuo Mo as though he was looking at a freak. “Ranking fifth among captain level, are you from an ancient family?”

“I don’t know.” Zuo Mo gave an embarrassed grimace. “I know nothing about my birth.”

Shi Yue Yi and Yu Shuang both showed slight surprise but they quickly recovered.

“There is also another possible cause.” Chang Yuan Hao suddenly spoke from within the shadows.

The three turned their gazes onto him.

“If one cultivates yao arts to a certain level, they can also cultivate the Reversed Stellar Revolution.” Chang Yuan Hao’s words were a surprise to hear.

Yu Shuang stilled and then slapped his forehead with his palm. “How could I forget that? Stars and yao, star power is one of the powers that yao favor the most. There is probably more yao than mo that have the Reversed Stellar Revolution. Oh, I remember, you seem to know yao arts.”

“A bit,” Zuo Mo said as he nodded his head. When he had fought against Miao Jun, he had used little yao arts so he openly admitted it.

The gazes of the trio turned strange when they looked at him.

“It seems that this is the cause.” Shi Yue Yi nodded and said, “There have been those in the past that cultivate mo and yao together, but I haven’t ever heard of anyone that cultivates Reversed Stellar Revolution and the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus together. As expected of what my master said, people that can drink more than ten jars of Granny Meng Ghost Wine are all special people.”

“What is your yao art Domain?” Yu Shuang asked curiously.

“Yao art Domain? I do not have one.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

“You did not cultivate a yao art Domain, but you comprehended the killing move. This … … this is too … …” Yu Shuang didn’t know what to say.

Shi Yue Yi saw his deeply impacted state and comforted. “If your [Thousand Coil Threads] is complete, you can definitely break through to marshal level.”

Yu Shuang rolled his eyes and said in a negative tone. “[Ten Crow Celestial Domain] is my bane.”

“[Ten Crow Celestial Domain] is everyone’s bane.” Shi Yue Yi comforted skillfully. “Look at Yuan Hao, he is even worse off than you are. He is completely subdued by it in every way.”

The shadow stilled when he heard this.

Yu Shuang’s expression turned from depressed to sunny. He clapped and said with a smile, “Haha! Yes, in any case, anyone else that comes to fight will be worse off.”

Zuo Mo listened to Shu Yue Yi and Yu Shuang’s conversation. His heart jumped wildly. He was worried the other would decide to kill the threat in its infancy. Then it would be over for him. The two old mo were not people that Shen Yu could compare to. Added that, even now, Zuo Mo did not understand how he had defeated Shen Yu.

Shi Yue Yi saw Zuo Mo’s uneasiness and couldn’t help but laugh. “I can see that Little Brother doesn’t have such intentions. You should reinforce this perception after just having a breakthrough. Little Brother, at your leisure, let us gather in a few days.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo immediately fled as though he was being pardoned.

After Zuo Mo’s figure left, the room became quiet again.

“His birth is not simple.” The one that spoke first was actually Chang Yuan Hao.

“He’s not bad.” Yu Shuang said with a smile, “Not a bad boy, I hope that Princess Xia won’t tempt him away.”

Shi Yue Yi shook his head and said, “Little Xia will probably fail this time.”

“Why? Such a young boy, it wouldn’t be simple for him to resist the power of Princess Xia.” Yu Shuang looked gossipy.

“How long has it been since Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus appeared last?” Shi Yue Yi suddenly asked.

“Very long ago.” Yu Shuang wasn’t sure. Thinking about what Zuo Mo had said just now, he couldn’t help but gape. “Jade Metal Head, Great Day, Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, this is the best evolution path! If this was made public, how many would be jealous! Even I am jealous hearing that. It is infuriating to compare myself to him!”

Shi Yue Yi automatically ignored Yu Shuang’s mutterings. He had a thoughtful expression.

“Is something wrong?” Chang Yuan Hao suddenly spoke.

Shi Yue Yi slowly said, “I am thinking about that specialness that my master talked about. I wonder if the specialness refers to this.”

“Of course it refers to this!” Yu Shuang’s tone was certain. “If this isn’t what’s special, then there isn’t anything else that is special. This boy is definitely a freak among the freaks, the greatest freak of them all!”

Shi Yue Yi said gravely, “I have always persisted in making the Granny Meng Ghost Wine because of the words that my master said. In my memories, my master rarely used the word ‘special’ to refer to anyone. Every word that my master said was carefully selected and had its own profound meaning. In these years, I have always pondered what the ‘specialness’ that my master spoke of referred to.”

Shi Yue Yi caused Yu Shuang to quiet down. For everyone in Great Peace City, Shi Zi Ming was like an all-powerful god.

“Since the time has not arrived, let us first observe,” Yu Shuang said.

Shi Yue Yi nodded and the three sank into silence.

———

“Pu, is this really the Reversed Stellar Revolution?” On the road back to the compound, Zuo Mo couldn’t resist asking.

“It really is the Reversed Stellar Revolution.” Pu Yao’s expression was slightly grave. “However, your Reversed Stellar Revolution is not the same as the normal Reversed Stellar Revolution, you have sun shen power inside it.”

He then warned, “You should spend some time now on practicing your yao arts. Without a yao art Domain, you will not be able to express much of the power of the Reversed Stellar Revolution.”

Wei slowly spoke, “A Zuo, you have just reached the doorway to the Ten Crow Celestial Domain, you cannot let it lie. This is the first ranked Domain of the general level, it is not something that Reversed Stellar Revolution can compare to.”

Hearing this, Pu Yao smirked coldly and said, “You are ignorant! You really think that the Ten Crow Celestial Domain is invincible? The Reversed Stellar Revolution is full of variations and this one contains shen power. The Ten Crow Celestial Domain might not be a match.”

Wei was not angry and said with a smile, “It cannot be called invincible, but it is not me that gave it the title of the top Domain in general level.”

Zuo Mo looked at the duo that was arguing and said helplessly, “Don’t you two find it very strange? I practice the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, but what developed was the Reversed Stellar Revolution?”

“Is it strange?” Pu Yao asked in response.

“It’s alright.” Wei’s expression was matter of fact.

Zuo Mo was speechless.

Chapter 608 - Insider Information

Zuo Mo did not know what effects the events at this banquet had had on all of Great Peace City. When he returned home, he instantly settled down and started to ponder on his [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] and the Reversed Stellar Revolution.

Right now, five of ten suns of his Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique had turned bright. In other words, it meant that half of the suns were lit up. Other than this, he had an unexpected gain in the second transformation of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus: the Sun Hammer. However, what was most attractive to Zuo Mo was the [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] and the Reversed Stellar Revolution.

The Ten Crow Celestial Domain was called the top domain of general level, and unparalleled in its dominance. If he could comprehend it, it meant that he would ascend to the top ranks of general level experts in one leap. However, he quickly discovered that it was not as simple as it seemed. Right now, he had just reached the doorway towards domain, and his own domain had not formed yet.

There was still a long path to walk, but Zuo Mo now had a general notion of what a domain was. There was a profound power between the five suns. This kind of power formed a domain.

These powers were like chaotic streams that had to be slowly organized. When they were better organized and perfected, the domain would also be perfected.

This was something that would take time and there were no shortcuts to take.

What had surprised Zuo Mo the most was the Reversed Stellar Revolution. After he had returned home and examined it in detail, he found the parts of it that were sparks of fire were made from shen power!

Their structure was unique and complex. Zuo Mo wanted to study the structure, but when he reached out with his mind, he felt dizzy. He immediately understood that this was out of his reach at the moment.

Zuo Mo understood that the reason the sparks were powerful was not because they were the Reversed Stellar Revolution but because they contained shen power.

This seemed more like a method of channeling shen power.

He understood little about shen power. He thought about asking Ceng Lian Er but then gave up.

As to the Reversed Stellar Revolution, Zuo Mo had thrown it to the back of his mind. When would he have the time to cultivate a yao art domain? In any case, he did not have the time now!

So Zuo Mo focused on organizing his newly formed Ten Crow Celestial Domain under Pu Yao’s icy smile.

Then he thought about how he could inquire about Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng with Princess Xia when he met with her in three days.

For some reason, that woman gave him a feeling she was not an easy one to deal with.

———

“What do you think of Xiao Mo Ge?” Princess Xin suddenly asked.

“His power is very strange.” The sound of the heavy armored guard came from inside the armor.

“Very strange?” Princess Xin did not understand.

“En.” The heavy armor guard treasured his words as though they were gold.

Princess Xin’s delicate brow furrowed; but even in irritation, Princess Xin was dignified. Her finger unconsciously tapped the tabletop. “In that case, he is a very good choice.”

The heavy armor guard was silent.

A moment later, Princess Xin made a decision. “Come in!”

A servant pushed open the door and entered. “Princess!”

“Send someone to deliver an invitation to Mister Xiao Mo Ge to attend an evening banquet. The time will be in four days,” Princess Xin said lightly.

“Yes.” The servant acknowledged and left.

Princess Xin suddenly smiled. “A Xia might have some objections about me now.”

The heavy armor guard was silent.

Princess Xin’s mind wandered as she gazed out of the window.

———

“Grandpa Zhu, are we inviting Xiao Mo Ge?” Princess Wan asked curiously with wide eyes.

“Yes.” Zhu Ke smiled slightly. “His future is limitless, it would be a pity to give up on a talent like this. Also … …”

He suddenly stopped speaking.

“Oh.” Princess Wan nodded, but not in full understanding. She asked with a tilted head, “Then what are we inviting him over to do?”

“Just to eat a meal,” Zhu Ke said with a smile.

“Will Elder Sister Xia blame us?” Princess Wan said anxiously.

Zhu Ke said with a smile, “Your Elder Sister Xia is a very strong person. However, her biggest mistake this time is aiming for too much.”

“Aiming? What is Elder Sister Xia aiming for?” Princess Wan asked curiously.

“Princess will know when it is time.” Zhu Ke put down the pen in his hand. After closely reading over the invitation, he made a satisfied expression. He handed the invitation to a servant that had been waiting at the side as he penned the letter. The servant immediately left upon receiving the invitation.

———

Adhering to his nomral routine, Zuo Mo went to Luo Li Shixiong’s room. Luo Li Shixiong did not have any signs of energy but his body had not become rigid as was usual for death and was soft as was usual.

Zuo Mo’s worries eased slightly. No one had cultivated the Life-Death Lock before, and he had been worried. If it wasn’t that Luo Li Shixiong had been seeking death, he never would have taken it out.

A Gui’s shen power was increasing rapidly, but what made him happy was that, while the increase in shen power was astounding, the light in A Gui’s eyes seemed to be increasing similarly.

Her eyes were more lively than in the past, and she had more responses.

This made Zuo Mo very happy, even happier than when he had the breakthrough.

But when he received the two invitations, he was stunned where he stood.

———

“Did you hear, Princess Xin and Princess Wan could not resist! They each sent an invitation to Xiao Mo Ge at the same time!”

“Tsk tsk, this time, Xiao Mo Ge has something to posture about! Three princesses extending invitations at the same time, how long has it been since this occurred?”

“Ha, Princess Xin and Princess Wan are not stupid. It would be strange if they did not try to recruit such a powerful person! Also, the matter of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion has made such a ruckus, one more expert is one more bit of power.”

“Where did this Xiao Mo Ge really come from … …”

The sounds on the street all fell into Nanmen Xue’s ears. Nanmen Xue had an arm around a beautiful woman as he shook his head and smiled. “This really disrupts one’s dreams.”

“Please! Right now, the entire city is crazy.” The male opposite Nanmen Xue also had a displeased expression. He then smiled strangely and said, “In the past, even Qi Diao Yu did not get this kind of attention!”

Hearing the name Qi Diao Yu, Nanmen Xue glanced at the other. “Do you not want me to have a good day today?”

The other laughed. “I just think that you have sunk and do not have any spirit. I find it strange, why you didn’t try to find trouble with Qi Diao Yu?”

“I’m too lazy to pay attention to him,” Nanmen Xue said unconcernedly. He hugged the beauty at his side, kissed her and said with pleasure on his face, “With a beauty in hand, idleness is the best of life. You guys fight and kill all day, don’t you find it bothersome?”

“That’s true.” The other seemed to agree. “In this world, the strong eat the weak. Right now, you are in Great Peace City and no one dares to target you. However, a dragon is not a part of the scenery. You are accompanied by beauties every day, you look to be carefree, but in truth, you must find it boring.”

The other did not look at Nanmen Xue and said directly, “Those say, drunken and lying in the lap of a beauty, wake with the power of the world in hand, are you someone to submit?”

Nanmen Xue roared with laughed. “No matter how clever your tongue is, what does it have to do with me?”

The other was not angry and said with a smile, “I heard that Shi Yue Yi has been searching for a person all this time.” Then he said meaningfully, “The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion has been sleeping for such a long time, it is time for it to see the light of day again.”

Nanmen Xue did not seem to hear it.

“In the past, Brother Nanmen dominated the Little Sparrow Water’s twelve jie. With one call, the heroes all submitted. But right now, you have lost your spirit and immersed yourself in drunkenness; you are a completely different person.”

Nanmen Xue smiled.

“Other people do not know the reason and laugh at Brother Nanmen for falling off the path. However, I know of Brother Nanmen’s love and your unchanging heart!” This male stared at Nanmen Xue, emphasizing each word.

Nanmen Xue’s smile suddenly faded, his expression turning cold as his presence locked tightly onto the other!

“You investigated me!”

The light words were like the clang of bells and shot to the bottom of the other’s heart. The other felt his blood and energies roil, his breathing becoming difficult. He was shocked. Such terrifying power!

He gritted his teeth and persisted. “Nanmen Xue, do you not want to rescue the person you love?”

Murderousness flashed in Nanmen Xue’s eyes as his hand shot up.

“I have Fire Heart Gall!”

The other’s words caused Nanmen Xue’s expression to suddenly change. He grabbed the other. “Say that again!”

Looking at Nanmen Xue’s handsome features that were twisted, and his undisguised murderousness as well as the presence that was securely locked onto him; the other began to suffocate.

He gritted out, “I have Fire Heart Gall!”

Nanmen Xue’s hand opened and the male collapsed on the ground. He was unable to climb up and the beauty beside Nanmen Xue was unconscious.

“Name your terms,” Nanmen Xue said coldly.

This male panted and his mind was filled with terror as though death was right in front of him.

After panting for a while, this male struggled out, “You have to exchange for it with an item from the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.”

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion? You believe rumors like that,” Nanmen Xue said with a cold smile. “I have been in Great Peace City for this long and never heard of a Great Peace Treasure Pavilion before.”

“It is true.” The male finally managed to struggle back up into a standing position. “You do not need to know where I learned of the information. I’m also working for someone else.”

Nanmen Xue glanced at the other and asked icily, “What do you want?”

“There are three items in the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.” The male recovered and so did his expression. “Right now, we know that there is a stone stele inside.”

“Stone stele?” A look flashed through Nanmen Xue’s eyes.

“Yes, you have studied the steles of the Great Peace Mo Steles, so you should have already guessed that they are missing one piece!” The male said gravely, “The most important piece. When Shi Zi Ming created the stele forest, he hid the most important piece. Qi Diao Yu is also looking for this stele.”

Nanmen Xue was silent. He was starting to believe the other’s words.

“Our condition is very simple. Use that stele to trade for the Fire Heart Gall.” The male said gravely, “You help us obtain that stele, and the Fire Heart Gall is yours. With the Fire Heart Gall, not just Ten Thousand Year Mystical ice, even the strongest ice energy can be dissipated!”

Nanmen Xue stared at the other. “How can I trust you?”

“Look at this.” The other took out an object and flashed it at Nanmen Xue.

Nanmen Xue’s pupils shrank into pinpoints.

Chapter 609 - Princess Xia

“How can we stand by and watch! Everyone, even though Xiao Mo Ge is strong, if we surrender so easily, after this, all three princess will end up in the claws of this man. They will cry for the rest of their lives, just how tragic would it be! We all admire the princesses, how can we stand by and watch?”

A youth talked fervently facing the other youths.

However, while he was fervent, the other people were silent. The fight between Xiao Mo Ge and Shen Yu had stunned them, and planted the seed of terror in their minds.

This person was not demotivated and continued to talk.

“I know what everyone is worried about. This man is vicious and doesn’t bat an eye when he kills. If we face him head on, it is easy for us to be defeated. Therefore, we can only use cunning and not brute force.”

He stated what everyone thought and the crowd raised their heads.

A voice sounded, “Does Brother Wang have a good solution?”

The person that was so fervently speaking to the crowd was Wang Kun. He was a faithful follower of Princess Xin. When he learned that Princess Xin had invited Xiao Mo Ge, he had been furious. In a blink, Princess Wan had also sent an invitation to Xiao Mo Ge and this group of people exploded.

Shen Yu was dislikable but he only had intentions on Princess Xia. The suitors of the other two princess only watched. Shen Yu had been killed, but an even more vicious competitor had appeared, Xiao Mo Ge, and he had received the favor of all three princesses!

Something like this had never happened before! Never!

But everyone had watched the battle between Shen Yu and Xiao Mo Ge. Even the bravest of them did not have the bravery to openly fight back. Also, Shen Yu had been the strongest of them. Xiao Mo Ge had turned Shen Yu into ashes, and none of them were a match.

So their morale was low until Wang Kun revealed his idea and they raised their heads.

Wang Kun became more excited and said, “Xiao Mo Ge is powerful, and we naturally are not opponents in martial power. However, we have our own advantages. Xiao Mo Ge is just a brutish fighter. Would his fist be enough to break through the sky? We are of noble birth, well mannered and cultured, and have mobei, what does he have? His fists? When did we ever have to fight other people with our own fists?”

These young masters were all smart people and their eyes brightened.

Right!

When were they ever forced into a situation where they had to fight against other people themselves?

They competed in terms of their father’s status, wealth, servants, and family prestige, when did they ever compare based on their strengths?

Wang Kun said with a cold smile, “Shen Yu thought too highly of himself. The heir to the Shen Family was stupid he went to fight against Xiao Mo Ge! A body that is worth a thousand gold should not put themselves into danger! We are all worth our weight in gold, very valuable. Isn’t it stupid to smash ourselves against trash clay pots?”

“Brother Wang is right!” The people praised. This spoke to their hearts.

“This little brother has just realized this and has come to discuss with everyone,” Wang Kun said modestly. His tone changed and he said, “Since we understand our advantage, then it is easy. The three princesses want to recruit Xiao Mo Ge but he is just one expert. However, if all of us unite, the power that we represent is not something that Xiao Mo Ge can compare to. I believe with the intelligence of the three princesses, it will not take them any effort to realize this!”

“Yes, yes!”

“Yes!, What is Xiao Mo Ge, can he compare to us?”

The people started to grumble.

Wang Kun waited for the noise to die down slightly before immediately following up with, “But we cannot just speak and not act, who will believe us? We need to show our muscle. Everyone, return and send letters home! It is easy to find an excuse. Just say that we are pursuing the princess, and the princess is show slight favor. However, there is a strong enemy and we need the family to send strong reinforcements. Everyone should be very skilled at this, and I do not need to waste my energy speaking on the specifics.”

When the people heard this, their eyes were aglow.

“Brother Wang is peerless in intelligence! This idea is very good!”

“Brother Wang has a clear plan. This one admires you! And once the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion appears, the old people in the family will not be able to sit still!”

“Yes, even more importantly, we did not lie! Haha!”

A thread of smugness flashed through Wang Kun’s eyes. “When the experts from everyone’s families gather, I believe that we can exterminate Xiao Mo Ge with a little finger!”

Everyone roared with laughter. When they imagined that scene, they felt extremely good.

Suddenly, someone suggested, “Why don’t we ally together and swear to kill Xiao Mo Ge!”

The people agreed.

Wang Kun was overjoyed inside and said gravely. “We are all the young masters of our families, and have come for the princess. Why don’t we call ourselves the Gentleman’s Flower Protecting Alliance, what does everyone think?”

Everyone nodded. This name was accurate.

With this The Gentleman’s Flower Protecting Alliance was formed.

———

“I need to know your plan,” Nanmen Xue said.

“Naturally,” the mystery male said, “according to our information, there is a set of conditions to open the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. Even now, we do not know what the conditions are, but Shi Yue Yi should know. Therefore, we have been observing Shi Yue Yi. However, he has Yu Shuang and Chang Yuan Hao with him and increased the difficult of this task. We have still managed to obtain some information.”

“What did you learn?” Nanmen Xue asked in a deep voice.

“Shi Yue Yi seems to be very interested in Xiao Mo Ge.”

“That is normal.” Nanmen Xue had a scornful smile on his face. “Xiao Mo Ge was able to defeat the Peacock King Plume and there are many people interested in him.”

“No!” The mystery male was not angry. He shook his head and said, “Xiao Mo Ge was able to cause the Shifting Star Sands but what most people did not notice was that the place where he caused it was the Mo Skill Steles.”

“This does not mean anything,” Nanmen Xue said.

“Qi Diao Yu noticed,” the mystery male said, “and the woman next to Xiao Mo Ge also noticed. The two met at the stele where Xiao Mo Ge had caused the Shifting Star Sands and had a fight. It is a pity that we were not able to hear what they said.”

“So you feel that Xiao Mo Ge is the key to entering the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Nanmen Xue said.

“He is the most likely Shi Yue Yi’s target,” the mystery male said.

“What do you want me to do?” Nanmen Xue was straightforward.

“You will go challenge Xiao Mo Ge,” the mystery male said.

———

Zuo Mo’s brow creased. In the past few days, he had been pondering how to obtain information from Princess Xia about Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng, but even now, he did not have any good ideas. He shook his head. He could only act according to the situation.

When the servant of Princess Xia saw Zuo Mo, they came forward to welcome him and said respectfully, “The princess has been waiting a long time for Sir.”

Finishing, the servant led the way.

Following behind the servant, Zuo Mo secretly asked Pu Yao and Wei.

“What solutions do you have?”

Pu Yao said coldly, “It would be best if you do not think of trying to hold her hostage. The An Wei family will have arranged for a very powerful expert to guard every generation of princess.”

“Then what?” Zuo Mo asked helplessly.

“Think of a way to move her,” Wei suddenly said.

“Move her?” Zuo Mo was stunned by this way of thinking.

Wei did not reply and Zuo Mo looked at Princess Xia.

Princess Xia was lazily reclining on the sedan. There was only a light layer of silk on her body and what was underneath could be barely made out. Her left hand was propping up her chin, her waist and behind drawing out an arousing curve that caused people to uncontrollably swallow.

When had the innocent Little Mo Ge ever seen such a scene. His face immediately turned red and he stopped in his steps.

However, he quickly composed himself and repeated in his mind

–This was war!

Raising his head, his eyes imperceptibly flickered across the surroundings. As expected, in the shadows close to the sedan, there was a female attendant standing silently.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. This middle-aged female attendant was most likely the expert that Pu Yao had spoken off. When he paid attention, Zuo Mo noticed that the middle aged attendant did not have any presence. If Zuo Mo’s gaze did not see her, then he would have been unable to detect her.

An expert!

Zuo Mo did not dare to move rashly.

“Sit.”

The lips parted and soft words that softened one’s bones came out.

This was war! Zuo Mo recited to himself as he sat down.

“You are very nervous.” Princess Xia looked amusedly at Zuo Mo. The plump and white wrist was propping up an extremely beautiful face whose eyes were full of feeling.

“Hahaha, no no,” Zuo Mo laughed. His mind turned furiously. Move her, how could he move her?

Princess Xia smiled and looked interestedly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo did not know what to say and remained silent.

The room suddenly quieted and the atmosphere became awkward.

In his sea of consciousness, Pu Yao and Wei heartlessly bombarded him.

“You need to speak, speak more, form a connection, do you understand?”

“A Zuo, you cannot move women by doing this! You need to speak more.”

“So embarrassing! Too embarrassing! How can I have such a student as useless as you? You aren’t even able to talk to a woman!” Pu Yao was furious.

“A Zuo, this is a one in a thousand chance!” Wei led on.

“Say what?” Zuo Mo said helplessly.

Pu Yao and Wei’s voices stopped.

A moment later, Pu Yao raised his head and said with a furrowed brow, “Weather? Hobbies? Outlook on life? What do women like? Right, Corps Commander was a woman, what did she like?”

Wei also had a pondering expression. “What did Master like the most … … let me think … … wait! I remember!”

“What?” Zuo Mo and Pu Yao spoke at the same time.

“Fighting!” Wei’s face was excited. “What Master liked the most was fighting! Fighting, endless fighting! Master once said that only fighting could cause her to become excited, only by fighting would she feel that she is different from the common rogue! Oh, but what is a common rogue?”

“It describes women that are unacceptable.” Pu Yao explained with a profound expression.

“Is Princess Xia one of the common rogue?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Of course not!” Pu Yao and Wei answered at the same time.

Zuo Mo immediately realized and nodded vehemently. He said murderously, “I understand!”

Chapter 610 - Drink Wine

Princess Xia looked at Xiao Mo Ge who had a nervous expression on his face. Surprised, she felt interested. The people around her were all young masters, and which one of them wasn’t experienced with women? How long had it been since she had met such a virgin?

Thinking about when she was a child and about the innocent faces around her that did not have fierce desire and thoughts of consuming her. Back when there was only the innocence of childhood, and they were her playmates.

But then, everything changed … …

A certain soft place in Princess Xia’s heart seemed to be lightly touched.

“Are you afraid of me?” she asked lightly.

Zuo Mo who had just opened his eyes and was preparing to utter a challenge had his words forced back by the other’s soft words.

His eyes widened. “Afraid of you?” Zuo Mo did not understand why Princess Xia would have such a strange idea. Did Little Mo Ge look like a cowardly person?

“You are not afraid of me, why don’t you look at me?”

Princess Xia’s words caused Zuo Mo’s prepared words of, “Come, let’s have a fight!” to be swallowed back.

Zuo Mo found that he could not keep up with the other’s thoughts. Oh, why couldn’t he look at her?

He opened his eyes wide and then stared at Princess Xia.

So beautiful … … that … … this feeling … … why would he think of swallowing … …

An illusory spell!

Zuo Mo shook.

Princess Xia saw Zuo Mo’s change and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. In that moment, she was very attractive and her smile seemed to light up the room.

Zuo Mo was almost unable to move his eyes away and his breathing rate increased.

Just … … just an illusory spell … … you want to defeat Little Mo Ge … … but … … so powerful … …

“Come taste this Night Draw Wine, this is a  famous vintage in the mo world, and can rival the Granny Meng Ghost Wine. It is a pity that I only have one bottle. After drinking this, you cannot ask for more from me.” Princess Xia poured wine for Zuo Mo with a smile. Her skin was as white as snow, and as fine as porcelain. Her body was slightly tilted towards Zuo Mo and the deep valley in front of her chest seemed to have an unusual power that caused people to unconsciously sink into it.

Zuo Mo felt a wave of heat rise from his lower half. His mouth was dry and he had a strange feeling.

Such a powerful illusory spell!

It was even more powerful that the illusory spells that the paper crane girl had cast in Wu Kong Mountains in the past!

Was this her attack?

Determination flashed across Zuo Mo’s eyes.

How could a true man not receive the move?

Without another word, Zuo Mo secretly cast a [Bone-Crushing Obscuring Flash] with his left hand as he picked up the Night Draw Wine with his right hand and drank all of it.

When the wine entered his throat, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but pause. The taste of this wine was completely different compared to the Granny Meng Ghost Wine. The Granny Meng Ghost Wine was as hot as fire, and burned like a ball of flame when it entered his throat. This Night Draw Wine was cool and light, reaching directly into his mind and making him unspeakably comfortable.

The taste wasn’t bad?

The illusory spell hadn’t been broken?

Princess Xia laughed lightly, “Your rough gulping is suited to drinking the Granny Meng Ghost Wine but not to the Night Draw Wine. Sip, and let the wine swirl around your mouth before slowly swallowing it. Try it, the feeling of the wine will be different.”

Finishing, Princess Xia picked up the wine cup. Her eyes were slightly closed, and her gentle and seductive red lips contrasted against the snowy white porcelain.

Zuo Mo lost focus slightly.

But he quickly raised his alertness and focused. He copied princess Xia and took small sips. When the Night Draw Wine swished a few rounds around his mouth, an unique fragrance spread into his body. In this moment, it was as though he was soaking in cool water, so comfortable that he almost groaned.

“So comfortable!” Princess Xia closed her eyes and said as though she was talking in her sleep, “When I was young, I liked to drink Night Draw Wine the most. Daddy didn’t like me drinking so I sneaked into Daddy’s wine cellar. One time, I accidentally drank too much and fell asleep in the wine cellar. When Daddy caught me with the goods…”

She poked out her tongue like a child that had been caught doing bad things by her parents.

“… he sealed the wine cellar. Even now, it hasn’t been re-opened. Now, no one knows that there is a wine cellar there.”

“I really miss the time when Daddy was here.”

There seemed to be something flashing through Princess Xia’s eyes. She suddenly raised her face and threw back all of the wine.

Putting down the wine cup, her cheeks were blushed and her eyes were dazed.

“What bad things did you do when you were little?”

Zuo Mo could feel the sorrow and longing in Princess Xia’s words. It was like when he thought of the sect leader and the shishu. But it was not something that he could state aloud here. Hearing her question, he shook his head, “In childhood? I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Princess Xia was surprised by this answer.

“My memory was erased and my appearance has been changed, I don’t know anything about my past.” Zuo Mo replied truthfully. Originally, he hadn’t wanted to say it. While this was something that did not have to be kept a secret, he did not want to casually tell other people. However, Princess Xia’s reminiscing seemed sincere to him, so he spoke of it.

“Ah!” princess Xia covered her mouth, her expression shocked. She hadn’t expected it to be such a terrifying answer.

“Sorry!” she said, full of apology.

“It’s nothing.” Zuo Mo shook his head unconcernedly. “In any case, I don’t remember it.”

“It is not a bad thing to not remember.” Princess Xia smiled slightly and then poured a cup for Zuo Mo. “Sometimes, it is cruel to remember.”

Zuo Mo drank the wine all in one gulp. Even though it was better to sip it slowly, he liked drinking it in one gulp better. This made him feel it was very exhilarating. Princess Xia’s words touched him. He thought of the phrase  “do not forget” that frequently appeared in his dreams and a hint of bitterness rose.

“However, it is crueler to forget things that one doesn’t want to forget.”

Zuo Mo poured a cup for himself and drained it.

Princess Xia stilled. She almost couldn’t believe that this was something that this innocent youth said. She slowly pondered this and her thoughts wandered. Her mind wandered in this moment.

Moments later, she smiled brightly and raised her wine cup. “For this phrase, drink!”

Then she copied Zuo Mo to drained the cup in one gulp. When she put down the wine cup, her cheeks were flushed red, and her eyes blurred. Her appearance was slightly disheveled and it added even more attractiveness.

Her eyes moved and it became a flirtatious look. Princess Xia looked at Zuo Mo and said lightly, “I’m very curious what you have come to find me for?”

Zuo Mo was slightly tipsy at this time and had long thrown Pu Yao and Wei’s words to the back of his mind. When he heard Princess Xia’s words, he did not avoid it and said directly, “I have come to beg Princess for two people.”

“Which two  people are worth you coming to make a request?” Princess Xia looked wryly at Zuo Mo.

“Two of my xiuzhe friends. I heard that Princess Xia saved them so I come to request them from Princess.” Zuo Mo did not avoid Princess Xia’s gaze and said seriously.

“Xiuzhe friends?” Princess Xia was slightly astounded. “I hadn’t thought that you actually had xiuzhe friends. Yes, I had picked two female xiuzhe previously, you have good information sources.”

The last word carried some flirtatiousness, and the eyes were glimmering.

“I coincidentally saved another friend,” Zuo Mo said honestly.

“So you wanted to lure me here?” Princess Xia had amusement on her face when she looked at Zuo Mo.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo docilely admitted.

“Are these two female xiuzhe very important to you?” Princess Xia asked.

“Very important,” Zuo Mo nodded and said without hesitation.

Princess Xia covered her mouth and giggled, “So you like female xiuzhe. If this news goes public, many female mo’s hearts will be heartbroken.”

Zuo Mo choked on the words.

“Haha, let’s continue.” A hint of mischievousness flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes. “I can give them to you but I had planned on using them as maids. Now that I give them to you, what benefit can you give me?”

“Speak!” Zuo Mo’s expression was serious. Even though he was greedy in personality and liked to bargain, he did not have any thought of bargaining on this matter.

“Can I first think about it? Have you owe me a favor? When I think of something then, I will tell you?” Princess Xia had a sly expression.

Zuo Mo was startled and then he reacted after a moment. He said cautiously, “After finding them, I planned to leave Great Peace City.”

“Leave Great Peace City?” Princess Xia stilled slightly and a hint of disappointment flashed through her eyes. She quickly recovered and said with a smile, “So you have come especially for them.”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded.

“I really don’t want to give them to you,” Princess Xia said with a light laugh. “It is not very easy to find a good person to drinking with.”

But when she saw Zuo Mo’s nervous expression, she burst into laugher and said to herself, “It is rare that I am kind, I have to maintain this. Don’t worry, don’t worry, I will give them to you.”

Finishing, she turned and gave orders in a low tone. The middle aged attendant in the corner glanced at Zuo Mo. She did not seem to move but moments later, a servant came in with two other female attendants.

Xiao Guo! Li Ying Feng!

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly widened. It was hard to control his expression of joy but he suppressed it and did not call out to the two of them.”

“Here, from today onwards, they belong to you,” Princess Xia said to Zuo Mo with a smile.

Zuo Mo hadn’t expected that the matter would proceed so smoothly. Looking at Princess Xia, he gravely bowed. “If Princess thinks of something you need, please request it as long as I have not left Great Peace City!”

Xiao Guo’s eyes suddenly widened and became disbelieving. Li Ying Feng looked at Zuo Mo anxiously.

“Then you will owe me for now.” Princess Xia’s beautiful eyes stared at Zuo Mo as she said with as smile, “I like it best when people owe me. When I think of something, you cannot fail to uphold your word.”

“Never!” Zuo Mo said seriously.

“Take your friends and leave, they had significant hardship on the road,” Princess Xia said with a light laugh.

Zuo Mo also desired to return. He raised his folded hands to Princess Xia. “Farewell!”

He stood with one hand pulling Xiao Guo and the other pulling Li Ying Feng as he prepared to rise into the air.

Suddenly a bright voice sounded in the sky.

“Where is Xiao Mo Ge? Nanmen Xue asks for a fight!”

Princess Xia looked at Zuo Mo’s frozen expression. Her hand covered her mouth as she laughed, “This is not my fault!”

A hint of joy flashed imperceptibly through her eyes.

Chapter 611 - Ambush

Who was Nanmen Xue?

Of course, Zuo Mo knew, the person ranked third on the Great Peace Mo Rankings. After the battle with Shen Yu, Zuo Mo’s ranking had shot up. And in a flash, he went from the bottom of the ranking to the seventh rank.

But why would the other challenge him?

This shouldn’t be happening!

If the third ranked challenged the seventh ranked, the victory would not be fair and there were no benefits to winning.

Zuo Mo found it bewildering. He walked into the yard and raised his head to see Nanmen Xue with his black robes flapping in the wind.

“You are not going to accept the challenge?” Princess Xia suddenly crowded over. The beautiful face was mischievous.

“This person’s mind is faulty.” Zuo Mo stared at Nanmen Xue in the air as he muttered, “I did not offend him … … so strange!” He thought and then shook his head, “I won’t accept.”

“Why do you not accept?” A hint of confusion flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes. “If you do not accept, your reputation will drop. People in Great Peace City that do not accept challenges will be laughed at.”

“I can’t win.” Zuo Mo threw up his hands with a helpless expression.

Princess Xia was stunned. It was the first time she had met someone who would admit their weakness in front of her. The other men would try to show off their strength in front of her, show off their wealth, show off all kinds of qualities, each of them like peacocks with their tail feathers spread out.

There was someone who actually admitted in front of her that he could not win … …

“Then … …” After a long while, Princess Xia did not know what to say.

“Let him cool himself up there, the wind is pretty strong.” Zuo Mo shook his head and moved his gaze away. He prepared to take Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng to leave.

Princess Xia couldn’t help but laugh at these words. The person in front of her didn’t have any of his previous seriousness and was like a little hoodlum. Princess Xia’s eyes moved as she said, “What if he were to pursue you outside the city?”

Zuo Mo turned around and said with a serious expression, “Actually, I never told you before, but what I am most skilled at is fighting using many against few.”

“Fighting with many against few… …” After repeating it once, Princess Xia finally reacted. Her body trembled as she laughed. Pointing at Zuo Mo’s nose, she said, “You are a rascal!”

Zuo Mo’s eyes accidentally saw the motions at Princess Xia’s bosom. It was like he was struck with lightning and he froze immediately where he stood.

Illusory spell … … it came again … … was this kind of illusory spell something that was automatically cast?

Princess Xia was a perceptive person and immediately noticed Zuo Mo’s state. She was not bashful, and she blinked her eyes at Zuo Mo as she covered her mouth and laughed lightly.

“Hem!” Zuo Mo awkwardly coughed and then said, “Is there a back door? One that I can sneak out of.”

Seeing Zuo Mo act like this, Princess Xia felt like laughing. She summoned a servant and said a few words before she said to Zuo Mo, “You can follow her.”

“Thank you!” Zuo Mo’s words were sincere. He bowed to Princess Xia. Princess Xia was completely different compared to what Pu Yao and Wei had spoken of. He didn’t not know how Princess Xia appeared in other people’s eyes, but in his eyes, she was a good person. Waving a hand at Princess Xia, he took Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng as he moved away with the servant.

Watching Zuo Mo’s figure disappear, a hint of dispiritedness flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes. But it faded in a blink. The smile on her face faded, and her gaze became sharp again. Confidence and ease came back onto her face.

She suddenly glanced at Nanmen Xue in the air and said faintly, “Force him down, it is an eyesore to look at.”

The middle aged female attendant was about to act when her expression changed. “Someone has come.”

As she finished speaking, a strange demonic sound seemed to burrow out of the deep of the earth. A man dressed in snowy white robes appeared near Nanmen Xue. The crowd that was watching, shifted.

Qi Diao Yu.

Nanmen Xue’s gaze slowly became cold. “Qi Diao Yu!”

“I have come to challenge you.” Qi Diao Yu’s indifferent voice immediately caused a furor.

The sudden appearance of Qi Diao Yu at this time attracted speculations from many people—was he helping out Xiao Mo Ge?

With an icy expression, Nanmen Xue suddenly smiled, “As I expected … …”

Even though the other did not say what was expected, Qi Diao Yu’s expression suddenly changed. Not good, he had fallen for a trap! His body suddenly flashed.

Almost at the same time, Nanmen Xue appeared in front and blocked his path.

Nanmen Xue smiled, showing his teeth. “Since Brother Qi wants to challenge me, then let’s have a good fight.”

The two top experts were at a standoff and the fight could be set off by anything!

———

Zuo Mo snuck out the back door after following the servant. In order to disguise himself, Zuo Mo put on a little illusory art on his face. He felt grateful to Qi Diao Yu who had appeared. This was a good person!

Just after coming out of the door, he heard Xiao Guo who was under his arm say in a trembling voice, “Shixiong, is it you?”

Zuo Mo stopped walking and lightly rubbed Xiao Guo’s head with his hand. “Xiao Guo is really smart.”

Xiao Guo couldn’t hold it back any longer and started to cry as she hugged Zuo Mo. Like a child, she hugged Zuo Mo tightly, tears and snot flowing down.

Zuo Mo sighed inside as he lightly patted Xiao Guo. Li Ying Feng also reacted at this time, and there was a disbelieving joy on her face. “Zuo Shixiong, are you really Zuo Shixiong?”

Zuo Mo said with a smile, “Li Shijie, I’m still used to you calling me Zuo Shidi.”

Li Ying Feng also could not hold it back and cried from joy.

Zuo Mo did not know how to comfort them and could only pat the two of them lightly.

There were not many people on the streets, as all of them were focused on the faceoff between Qi Diao Yu and Nanmen Xue in the air.

Zuo Mo abruptly stopped walking and said lightly, “An enemy is present.” He warily scanned the surroundings as he slowly put Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng down. Hearing this, the two immediately stopped crying.

The scenery around him suddenly twisted. The trees on the road seemed to be kneaded into a ball by an invisible hand.

In a flash, the surroundings around the three of them were completely transformed.

Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng had ashen faces. However, they did not make a sound in fear they would disturb Zuo Mo.

Domain!

Zuo Mo’s gaze suddenly became icy. This was an ambush that had been planned. By the time he had detected that something was wrong, he had already fallen for the enemy’s trap.

They had actually sent an expert that comprehended Domain to ambush him!

A golem of mud slowly rose from the ground. His body was covered in wet mud and only the general shape of a person could be seen.

“Who are you?” Zuo Mo thought of Nanmen Xue who had just challenged him. He felt there was a connection between the two of them. He suddenly said, “So Nanmen Xue has given his allegiance to you people.”

“You are actually smart.” The other reflexively responded, but he immediately realized that he had fallen for a trap. He smiled darkly. “Your realization has come too late. If you want someone to blame, blame Qi Diao Yu for being too dumb.”

“Qi Diao Yu?” Shock flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind. How was this matter related to Qi Diao Yu? However, no matter how hard he thought, he could not think what connection he had to Qi Diao Yu.

“Haha, it is useless no matter how much you think about it, submit peacefully.” The mud golem smiled darkly.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt his feet become heavy and his body sank down slowly. At some unknown time, the hard ground under his feet became soft mud like that of a bog.

There was a strong attraction force that came from within the bog that pulled the bodies of the three of them downwards.

This was strange!

The strange presence of corrosiveness were in wisps that burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body like insects. Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng’s expressions were ashen. Their cultivation was too low and they were fragile in front of a Domain.

Zuo Mo plucked the two of them from the bog and put them on his back. With his strength, the mass of the two women was negligible.

But when he did this, his body suddenly sank further.

The bog reached past his calves. The dark and cold presences were like a group of strange and mad insects that continuously burrowed into his body. But the Sun Crystal Seed in Zuo Mo’s body would not tolerate its territory being invaded. It immediately sent out a few streams of fire that swept out, clearing out the dark and cold energies.

He had the Sun Crystal Seed and he cultivated the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus. While he could not be invaded by anything evil no matter how Zuo Mo struggled, he could not break free of the force that was pulling him down. Watching as he continued to sink, Zuo Mo could not care for anything else and activated his still incomplete Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

A dash of red light spread from Zuo Mo’s feet. Zuo Mo felt his feet lighten and his body rose up slightly.

“Oh, I had assumed that you would use the Reversed Stellar Revolution first, not your incomplete Ten Crow Celestial Domain.” The mud golem smiled darkly. “The Ten Crow Celestial Domain is powerful, but that is only after you achieve it. It is naïve to think you can stop me with what it is now.”

The bog suddenly spread from under Zuo Mo’s feet. In a blink, what Zuo Mo could see was just a bog as vast as the ocean.

The strong force pulling his feet had multiplied. It was like there was a monster hiding under the bog that was pulling him down. The power was so strong that Zuo Mo almost couldn’t raise his arm. In a blink, the mud reached his knees.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo had not expected that he wouldn’t have any power to fight back!

His gaze landed on the Reversed Stellar Revolution. His mind shifted and the handful of sparks shot at the mud golem.

The mud golem laughed and suddenly entered the bog. His body disappeared and the sparks missed.

“Slightly interesting.” The voice came from behind Zuo Mo. The mud golem appeared behind Zuo Mo like a ghost. His tone carried a hint of smugness. “I heard that it was your Reversed Stellar Revolution that defeated the Peacock King Plume? It seems that the Peacock King Plume isn’t anything special after all. So disappointing.”

Zuo Mo was silent. The handful of sparks turned into a stream of light and shot behind him.

Almost at the same time, a mud golem suddenly rose from the bog in front of him.

“Is this the extent of your abilities?” The mud golem was slightly disappointed. “If this is all you can do, then your life will end here today.”

As he finished speaking, one mud golem after another slowly rose up from the bog.

In a flash, there were an endless amount of mud golems.

Chapter 612 - The Mud Golem Mo Visitor

Why had the other ambushed him?

This thought flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind before disappearing. He closely watched the mud golems that rose from the bog of mud. A strong feeling of danger caused all the hairs on his body to stand on end.

This person’s domain was not as bright and colorful as Shen Yu’s Peacock Eyespot Domain but Zuo Mo could feel that the other’s domain was more complete than Shen Yu’s.

This person was more experienced than Shen Yu. From the ambush in the beginning, to even this action, they were not slow or rushed, he controlled the pace of battle.

This was very terrifying!

Expert! A definite expert!

The Reversed Stellar Revolution returned to Zuo Mo’s hand. The strong power pulling down on his feet constantly disrupted Zuo Mo’s focus.

There was no leverage in the bog. Regardless of how strong Zuo Mo was, he could not use his strength. The mud domain of the ambusher was the perfect counter to Zuo Mo. This was an ambush that had been planned for a long time and the enemy found his weakness.

After this short contact, he landed in a well-planned net.

However, how could he admit defeat so easily?

Waves of heat came from the Reversed Stellar Revolution. The muddy water that flew at him was stopped.

Every spark in the Reversed Stellar Revolution was formed from sun shen power!

The other definitely would not have thought of this.

Zuo Mo smirked coldly and the hand with Reversed Stellar Revolution suddenly pushed into the muddy bog under his feet!

Boom!

The bog under his feet trembled violently, followed by a sudden scream so loud, it almost ruptured Zuo Mo’s eardrums. Streams of steam rose up, and his vision was shrouded in white.

The strongest quality of a bog was its flexibility. This was something given to it by water.

Water was the greatest bane of fire, but the opposite was also true. If the fire was strong enough, it could subdue water! Zuo Mo’s Reversed Stellar Revolution was made from sun shen power and unparalleled in its fire attribute. There had been many tribal heroes that had been turned to ash under the power of the sun shen power!

When the sparks entered the bog, the domineering fire attribute of sun shen power was completely stimulated.

In a flash, every spark expanded and turned into a ball of fire. Like a flood of fire, the Reversed Stellar Revolution rampaged under the bog. Everywhere it passed, the moisture in the bog dried up. When the dried soil was passed over by the wave of fire, it melted and turned into beads of glass.

If one looked down from the sky, they could see that heat wave was spreading rapidly with Zuo Mo at the epicenter. Everywhere it passed, the mud golems seemed to be paralyzed and immediately lost their moisture as they stood.

The mud golem was stunned and wanted to escape. But the sun shen power was too strong. Before his feet could leave the bog, the sun shen power spread to him.

The mud golem lost moisture in front of Zuo Mo at a visible rate and turned into a statue.

Then the statue started to crumble as though it was weathered by sand. The pieces of mud dropped to the ground and smashed into dust. The speed of crumbling increased and it finally could not stand under its own weight and turned into a pile of dust.

Boom!

On the dry bog, the numerous mud golems seemed to have received an order and collapsed at the same time.

The scene was spectacular.

On Zuo Mo’s back, Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng were dumbstruck with wide eyes.

Zuo Shixiong … … was this powerful … …

The Reversed Stellar Revolution once again returned to Zuo Mo’s hand. Once it back came to him, Zuo Mo found that the color of the Reversed Stellar Revolution was much dimmer than before.

The scenery around them resumed to normal.

The streets were normal. Those that were walking nearby didn’t even detect that a battle of life and death had occurred here just now.

There was only a pile of mud specks in front of Zuo Mo. Coincidentally, a gust of wind blew, and the powder was caught up. It dissipated into the air.

He did not have a smug expression. Zuo Mo cautiously inspected the surroundings, and without a word, started to sprint.

———

Moments later, two figures appeared at where Zuo Mo had been fighting.

“We underestimated him.”

“Yes, never thought that even the Mud Golem Mo Guest would not be a match for him. The appearance of Qi Diao Yu has proven our speculation. Xiao Mo Ge is that person.”

“Nanmen Xue has been exposed.”

“His original use was to be exposed. He can help attract attention from us when we act.”

“What do we do now?”

“Do not be impatient. One throws a rock to test the road. As the rock is thrown, there naturally are people that cannot bear the loneliness.”

“En.”

———

Zuo Mo sprinted back to the compound without any other trouble.

When he reached the compound and saw Shu Long and the others, he finally sighed in relief. Everyone saw Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng who Zuo Mo was holding and perceptively did not ask.

When they returned to the inner compound, Zuo Mo’s mind finally relaxed.

Xiao Guo asked timidly, “Shixiong … …”

Zuo Mo turned his head and smiled at Xiao Guo. “Were you frightened?”

“A little bit.” Xiao Guo timidly nodded. She seemed to have returned to the time of Wu Kong Sword Sect, with that shixiong that kept supporting her having returned to her side. She felt as though she was dreaming. For some reason, the rims of her eyes reddened and her voice went deeper. “Shixiong is very strong … …”

Li Ying Feng’s eyes were also red. The experiences she had were like a nightmare. However, she was trying to be strong and forced it back. She said, “Shixiong, if you have matters at hand, you can attend to them first.”

She saw the people in the yard continuously bowing to Zuo Mo. Even though she was filled with surprise, she understood that Zuo Mo was the leader of this group. The ambush on the road just now had been unusual and Zuo Shixiong definitely had matters to take care off.

“You should prepare. We might leave this place immediately,” Zuo Mo said gravely. Then he turned and walked towards the outside.

Shu Long saw Zuo Mo come out of the yard and moved towards him. “Daren!”

Zuo Mo asked directly, “Is everyone here?”

Shu Long stilled but then immediately understood. Something had happened. He said after a moment of thought, “A Wen, Nan Yue, Cang Ze, Ming Jue Zi, the black and orange yao are all at the Mo Skill Steles.”

“Send someone immediately to call them back,” Zuo Mo said gravely. “Have everyone else pack up. When they come back, we will leave here immediately.”

“Yes!” Shu Long heard the urgency of the commands. Without another word, he turned and left.

Zuo Mo’s face was dark. He had a feeling that a large whirlpool that he could not see was coming closer to him.

———

The black smoke yao devoutly studied the characters on the stele in front of him. He had an eidetic memory and did not forget what he saw. In these past days, he had visited almost every one of the mo skill steles.

But … .…

His gaze landed on A Wen and Big Orange. A Wen did not pay attention to anything in the environment. His hands subconsciously moved. Even the black smoke yao could feel the hint of profoundness in those normal movements. Big Orange was completely different. He paced in front of the stele like an ant on top of a fire, and then grabbed at his hair. Sometimes, he would talk to the sky. His orange hair now looked like a bird’s nest. He could not just hold still. The lightning, hail, and flames that erupted around his body was frightening which caused the mo skill steles around him to be empty.

These two freaks!

The black smoke yao felt great admiration. These two had the best talent out of the group.

He did not know A Wen well, but he felt deep admiration for how Big Orange, someone with such an unusual mind, had great talent. While he admired it, he felt even happier for Big Orange. Truthfully, when he had first found those cultivation notes, he had discovered that Big Orange had much greater talent than he did. This was also why he had pulled Big Orange along on this journey.

However, the black smoke yao also found that with every mo skill stele imprinted in his mind, he quickly noticed something that was overlooked by all the others. There were some descriptive phrases that would appear on some steles. These phrases were not long, and appeared normal. Some were related to philosophy and others that were hard to understand.

But the black smoke yao was an attentive person. When he found these phrases, he thought of the notes he had found.

Phrases like these had also appeared in the notes. The notes had said that Shi Zi Ming had always been searching for something. He had roamed the three realms of yao, mo and xiu in search of this thing. The followers did not know what Shi Zi Ming was searching for, but he had faithfully copied down what Shi Zi Ming had said.

Those words and the phrases that appeared on the steles were in the same style.

Was there a secret contained in these?

That was the first thought that flashed through the black smoke yao’s mind. He felt very excited by this idea. His cultivation talent was not as great as the oranged haired yao but his intelligence was outstanding.

These phrases scattered on the steles, that did not attract much attention, were like an unknown secret that deeply attracted him.

He started to organize all the stone steles in his mind. His powerful memory was extremely useful. He quickly picked out those phrases that were unrelated to cultivation from all the stone steles.

Consequently, he quickly found that several of the phrases had appeared in the notes as well.

This result caused the black smoke yao to become even more excited. The time of the notes should have been the time that Shi Zi Ming had been roaming. Shi Zi Ming had said these words during that time he traveled, and Shi Zi Ming had only built Great Peace City many years later. He had engraved these exact words onto the Mo Skill Steles.

It was not a coincidence!

There definitely was a deeper meaning contained in these phrases that other people did not know!

Thinking about the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion that everyone was talking about, the black smoke yao’s mind moved. Were these phrases related to the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?

When he had first heard the rumors, he had researched the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. It  had existed at the beginning of Great Peace City, but Shi Zi Ming had eventually sealed it and it gradually faded from people’s minds.

Why had Shi Zi Ming sealed the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion? What was really inside the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?

This was a riddle that had never been solved.

When the black smoke yao carefully pondered the phrases he copied from the steles, he seemed to see an almost indiscernible line connecting the puzzle pieces.

Chapter 613 - Conspiracy

Looking at the enemy battalion crumbling in front of him, Gongsun Cha’s expression was as calm as usual.

Beside him, a thread of fearful respect flashed through A Zha Ge’s eyes. The battalion that was falling apart in front of them was the ninth battalion that they had defeated.

Lil’ Miss Daren was really too powerful! He could not describe his respect and reverence of Lil’ Miss Daren. A Zha Ge had been one of the three great battle generals of the Rahula Clan and held a high opinion of himself. But after he personally saw Lil’ Miss Daren’s terrifying control of the battlefield, he was left with deep respect. He never believed that a battle general could be so powerful!

Winning every battle with undefeatable attacks!

All nine battalions had crumbled in engagement round!

Vermillion Bird Camp was like a peerlessly sharp blade. Nothing could stop its advance.

As a battle general that was here due to surrendering, A Zha Ge knew that he needed to do more than other people in order to earn his place in this faction. Right now, he was full of confidence in this faction. He was full of confidence in its strength and vitality. Their battalion’s performance would directly affect the well-being of his clansmen. A Zha Ge and his battalion worked very hard.

However, he quickly discovered that Lil’ Miss Daren did not think of them as cannon fodder. Whenever they encountered a powerful battalion, Vermillion Bird Camp always charged at the very front.

A Zha Ge was left feeling of grateful.

In the mo realm where the strong ate the weak, surrendered battalions like theirs were usually used at the frontline and given the most dangerous positions. The rate of death was very high, and they received the worst supplies. No one cared about their life or death.

But here, Lil’ Miss Daren did not have any negative opinions about them. He frequently took care of them and taught them. They did not need to worry that they would be used as cannon fodder and no one would hate them because they were mo.

Everyone held an account of favours and grievances in their heart.

A Zha He held one, and so did his soldiers. What they could do in reponse was fight as hard as they could.

Even though Vermillion Bird Camp took the lead in the majority of battles, A Zha Ge Battalion also experienced several hard battles. As the state of affairs in the mo world continued to escalate, the skill level of battalions in each area continuously rose. The leader of every faction understood that without a powerful battalion, they would not be able to survive in such chaotic times.

Every battle they experienced was not easy. Compared to Vermillion Bird Camp that was unstoppable, A Zha Ge Battalion had a much harder time. Almost a sixth of the battalion had died.

But the overall strength of the battalion skyrocketed.

Every elite force was forged in countless difficult battles. This was not a lie. After several battles, A Zha Ge Battalion had gained the morale of an elite force. Everyone had steadier presences, and their teamwork rose. The fatality rate decreased drastically. In the battle just now, only nine people had died.

Even though they had only just gone a quarter of the journey, everyone was filled with confidence.

“Rest for the night. We will advance in the morning.”

As the sun set, Lil’ Miss’ orders echoed in the silent battlefield.

———

“What did you say?” yelled the Sound Fall Jie master, he could be heard from far away.

“Daren! This is true! The East Lu Battalion of East Lu Jie only managed to resist for one hour!” The subordinate’s voice trembled. “This subordinate saw it, it is true!”

“One hour?” The jie master’s expression almost froze on his face.

A moment later, he murmured in disbelief, “How is it possible? The strength of East Lu Battalion … …”

He knew very well that East Lu Battalion was on par with the strongest battalion under his command. This battalion that came out of nowhere was this strong? One hour!

“Daren!” the subordinate hurriedly said, “this battalion of unknown origins did not occupy  East Lu Jie!”

“Did not occupy it East Lu Jie?” the jie master focused and was very curious. “Why didn’t they take over East Lu Jie?”

“This subordinate also did not understand. According to what this subordinate heard, they did not take over any of the jie that they passed. This subordinate speculates that they are travelling! This subordinate caught some of the survivors from East Lu Battalion and discovered after interrogating  them that this battalion had requested for East Lu Battalion to let them pass. They were refused by East Lu Battalion and then they attacked East Lu Battalion!”

“Are they only just passing through?” The jie master felt that this was a joke.

“This subordinate thinks so.”

“I don’t believe … …”

“Daren! This battalion has defeated nine battalions along their way! They are so strong they can rank within the top fifty battalion of Hundred Savage Realm! If they want to attack Sound Fall Jie, this subordinate fears … …” The subordinate did not continue but the words did not have to be spoken.

The jie master hesitated for a while before gritting his teeth and saying, “Allow them to pass, and prepare our forces in case you are wrong. But do not attack first!”

———

Zuo Mo’s expression was terrible.

A Wen and the others had suddenly disappeared. The people of Guard Camp searched through all of the stele forest and did not find a shadow of A Wen and the others. Having just experienced the ambush, Zuo Mo’s first conclusion and reaction was: was someone conspiring against them?

But he quickly shook his head. A Wen’s group was six people. If they were attacked, there wasn’t any way that it would have gone completely unnoticed. Guard Camp who had gone to search for them had asked the other people in the stele forest. Those people had all nodded and said the group had been there just a while ago. The orange haired yao was too eye-catching to forget.

But no one knew how they had disappeared.

If someone wanted to steal away these six people without any disturbance, it was only possible if the kidnappers were all experts, attacked before they could react, and had attacked with equal numbers was it then possible.

There was no trace of Nan Yue and the others in the Ten Finger Prison.

“Someone is targeting you,” Pu Yao said coldly.

“Starting with Nanmen Xue, this string of events is not quite right,” Wei followed.

“I’ll go find Nanmen Xue!” Zuo Mo thought and then said.

“There is no use.” Pu Yao shook his head. “Nanmen Xue is clearly a pawn thrown out as a distraction. He probably acted because of a transaction he made. He probably doesn’t know anything at all.”

“What solutions do you have?” Zuo Mo suppressed the murderousness inside his chest and asked Pu Yao.

Pu Yao said, “The best way is to remain calm and not do anything.”

Wei explained, “If they were really kidnapped, the culprit’s true target is you. No matter what aims the other have, they will come find you. You need to wait and be calm.”

Zuo Mo thought and then felt the two of them were right. He forced himself to calm down.

He suddenly felt he was very stupid. In terms of scheming, there wasn’t anyone more skilled than these two old bandits. What was he doing thinking by himself?

“You say that they are targeting me? Why?” Zuo Mo decided to throw the problem to the two old bandits.

A bloody light danced in Pu Yao’s bloody pupil. He felt slightly excited. It had been too long since such an exciting event. His mind worked quickly as he said, “First, it definitely isn’t a grudge. The ambusher today did not try and assassinate you, they wanted to capture you alive.”

Zuo Mo thought back and immediately found it reasonable. “Yes, after you mention this, I have also noticed it. He did not use a killing move.”

“He wanted to capture you but not kill you so the possibility that this was motivated by a grudge is not high. Then it must be that you have something that they want, or they want you to do something.”

As expected from old bandits. After a few sentences, Zuo Mo immediately felt his thoughts clear up.

“What do I have? What can I do?”

“You have many things. Like shen power, the Sun Crystal Seed, these are all objects that people would want,” Wei said slowly. “There are even more things you can do. For example, seduce Princess Xia!”

“Haha!” Pu Yao heartlessly roared with laughter.

Zuo Mo was slightly angry. “You are in the mood to make a joke at this time?”

“Relax.” Wei said with a smile, “The more normal you appear now, the less the other will be able to keep calm.”

“You do you mean?” Zuo Mo wasn’t able to react.

“Do what you had planned to do before, like the two invitations the princesses sent you. Why don’t you go? It is good if you listen to what they say!” Wei urged. “You are not the local snakehead, you do not have any spies. If you want to lure others out, you will have to act as bait. The more people you come into contact with, the more panicked the other will be because they cannot guess what you will think of doing next, and what you plan.”

A cold smile rose at the corner of Pu Yao’s lip. “What a schemer is most afraid of is not knowing.”

———

With the two old bandits supporting him, Zuo Mo felt reassured.

He did not make any ruckus over the disappearances but he quickly received a letter from Lan Tian Long. The letter said that they were thinking of ways to help him search for his missing subordinates and told him to be careful of his own safety.

Moved, Zuo Mo immediately realized that the entire city probably knew that A Wen and the others had disappeared.

This was not strange. Guard Camp had not concealed themselves when they were searching and had asked many other people. The news would not be able to be concealed.

Princess Xia also quickly sent someone with a letter. The contents were generally the same. It said that she would help ask around for him and tell him if she had news.

Princess Xia’s letter caused Pu Yao and Wei to become excited again.

The two said that Princess Xia was purusing Zuo Mo and urged Zuo Mo to worker harder to get this pretty flower.

Inside, Zuo Mo thought that the two old bandits wanted to retaliate against Princess Xia. Also, in his mind, Princess Xia was his friend to whom he also owed her a favor. How could he harm her? He completely disregarded the suggestions from the two fogies.

The letters from all the families quickly followed. Right now, Xiao Mo Ge was a personage and had a limitless future. There were many that wanted to establish relationships with him.

But there was no information about A Wen and the others at all in these letters. There was also no news from the Ten Finger Prison.

The guard around Zuo Mo’s yard became even heavier.

Patiently waiting for news, Zuo Mo cultivated like usual. Suddenly, he felt a strange ripple come from his ring.

En, what was this?

Zuo Mo’s mind moved and then immediately, he had a joyful expression.

Chapter 614 - The Awoken Black Gold Seal Soldier

A lazy yawn floated out of the ring.

Then a figure flashed and a dark gold figure appeared in front of Zuo Mo. The black gold seal soldier! The face that was a mirror-image of Zuo Mo’s instantly smiled and then he rushed over.

“Big Brow, I’m hungry, is there something to eat?”

Zuo Mo’s brow twitched. Eat? This glutton! He had already eaten all two hundred ling beasts in one go and then had slept until now. Once he opened his eyes, what he wanted to do first was eat.

“No!” Zuo Mo’s face was stern as he stared with unfriendliness at the glutton in front of him.

The black gold seal soldier suddenly sniffed. His eyes lit up and then his body disappeared.

Wails from mo steeds came from outside the room.

Zuo Mo smacked his forehead with his hand. He looked upwards and was speechless. Little Mo Ge had always been clever and rarely got involved in unprofitable business. However, he tripped up on this glutton.

A ball of wind blew by and the black gold seal soldier appeared in front of Zuo Mo. He licked his lips and said with discontent, “There wasn’t much flavor.”

Zuo Mo’s already unfriendly glance immediately became even more unfriendly.

He decided to have a good talk with the black gold seal soldier. It was best to adjust the incorrect perspectives of a delinquent youth now from just knowing to eat and sleep.

“You want to eat well?” Zuo Mo had a pure smile.

“Of course!” The black gold seal soldier’s eyes lit up. “Big Bro, where, where?”

“If you want to eat well, you have to work hard. Those that work can eat, those that don’t work can’t, the more you work, the more you can eat.” Zuo Mo said with a smile. His expression was very similar to Wei.

Bam bam bam!

The black gold seal soldier beat his chest and it rang out metallically. He said with bravado, “Big Bro, I’ll do what you say!”

Good, good, this delinquent youth was not at a level that was unsavable.

Zuo Mo rejoiced inside and his eyes moved. “Do you know how to fight?”

“Born to Battle.” The black gold seal soldier paused slightly and then said seriously, “I will fight if there is food, but I will not fight if there is no food. I will fight more if there is more food!”

Zuo Mo’s smile froze on his face.

So other than looking the same as him, this guy was as cunning as he was.

Zuo Mo felt a headache.

Just at this time, Ceng Lian’Er suddenly walked in. She saw the black gold seal soldier with his familiar appearance and had a curious expression.

“What is this?” She pointed at the black gold seal soldier and asked Zuo Mo.

“Miss! Please do not use terms casually!” The black gold seal soldier said seriously, “I am not a thing, I am Black Gold. Oh, Big Bro, who is she? This girl is pretty beautifully, Big Bro, your tastes finally leveled up. However, you abandoned A Gui? Big Bro, how can you do that? You abandoned the first wife, I had a wrong opinion of you! As expected of my big bro, a cruel rake, a libertine, I need to learn from you … …”

Zuo Mo wanted to die.

Other than being a glutton and a sleeper, this was a chatterbox! Heavens, so many valuable materials wasted on creating him, all of it for nothing, truly no profit at all!

Ceng Lian’er looked with interest at the black gold seal soldier.

The black gold seal soldier had keen eyes and rushed to A Gui’s side like a gust of wind when he saw her. “A Gui, A Gui! Big Brother didn’t abandon you! I was just saying, Big Bro is such an honorable person, how could he abandon A Gui. A Gui, A Gui, is there something to eat? I’m so hungry!”

A Gui suddenly turned around and walked outside. The black gold seal soldier immediately followed behind her and started to flatter her.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck.

“He is?” There was a smile at the corner of Ceng Lian’er’s mouth. This caused her eyes to become even more alluring.

“A terrible accident.” Zuo Mo spread his hands with an expression of distaste.

“There are many xiuzhe that have come to Great Peace City.” Ceng Lian’er suddenly said.

“Xiuzhe?” Zuo Mo stilled. After staying for so long in the mo world, even he felt slightly unfamiliar when he heard the word xiuzhe.

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes curved slightly as she said, “It is the four great sects. At least twenty people, and some are very strong. Their disguise is very good, no one has discovered them yet.”

“The four great?” Zuo Mo was surprised and his expression immediately turned grave. “How come the four have come?”

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.” Ceng Lian’er spat out the four words.

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe it. What kind of sects were the four great sects. When the Sun Shen Temple in Cloud Sea Jie had opened, only Tian Huan had come. And even then they had sent just one yuanying xiuzhe. For sects like the great four that had a long history, there were very few treasure hoards that they would target.

Zuo Mo didn’t quite believe that the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion would attract the great four.

“I fought against them.” When Ceng Lian’er threw the words out, she scared Zuo Mo half to death.

“You’re crazy!”

Now he believed it and immediately felt a headache. On this side, A Wen and the others had suddenly disappeared and there were undercurrents swirling in Great Peace City. Now, even the xiuzhe had come to participate. Even as dumb as he was, he knew the situation would become even more complex.

He suddenly thought of a question. “What is in the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion? Why would even the four great sects of the xiuzhe come?”

Ceng Lian’er was silent.

Zuo Mo stared directly at her.

A moment later, she said serenely, “Inside the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, there are three treasures. The other two are unidentified but there is one that many people know of. It is a stele.”

“A stele?” There was a disbelieving expression on Zuo Mo’s face.

“The most crucial stele of the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles.” Ceng Lian’er’s eyes were blurry. Her voice was ethereal. “Ever since the ancient era and after the era of shen power, the xiuzhe, yao, and mo have rose to power. Yao arts, mo skills, xiuzhe spells, these three cultivation methods have been the most popular. The method of shen power cultivation has been lost, but as the cultivation realms increased, the experts of the three races found that they encountered a block in their cultivation. They tried many ways to surpass this blockade  but they could not break through this barrier.”

Zuo Mo listened quietly. Ceng Lian’er’s ethereal voice added a faint mysteriousness to these secrets.

“These ancestors traced back to the origins of cultivation for multiple generations and found that the only method of breaking through this barrier is to cultivate shen power. All three powers are derived from shen power but because of this they are all also incomplete. When the three powers are cultivated to their limits, if one wants to increase further in power, they have to return to shen power. However, the way to cultivate shen power was lost long ago. They started to search for all kinds of shen power inheritances, but they are all unable to be connected with the present cultivation systems. The legends say that Shi Zi Ming found the solution. This mo skill stele records his knowledge but Shi Zi Ming did not dare to release the contents so he sealed it in the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.”

“You also have come for this stele?” Zuo Mo stared at Ceng Lian’er.

“I didn’t consider it in the beginning,” Ceng Lian’er said serenely, “but since I am here, why not?”

“You already cultivate shen power, what is the use in having that?” Zuo Mo asked in bewilderment.

“My shen power inheritance is more complete than yours but it has also lost sections over generations. This stele is very important to me, and can supplement my [Moon Shen Records.]” Ceng Lian’er looked at Zuo Mo and said, “You are the most talented person I ever saw in cultivating shen power. Other than you, I have never seen anyone perform shen power breathing. However, you understanding of shen power is not as good as mine, even with your talent you are still only knocking on the door of shen power. Only by obtaining this stele can you finally step through the doorway to shen power.”

Only now did Zuo Mo understand why the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion was causing so many to be obsessed.

“What does all this have to do with me?” Zuo Mo smirked coldly. “I was pulled in. Don’t tell me this is a coincidence.”

“It really isn’t a coincidence.” Ceng Lian’er’s gaze was unfocused as she said serenely. “The rumors are that two keys are required to open the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. No one knows what the first key is, but the second key is supposed to be a special person.”

“Special person?” Zuo Mo stilled. He had never thought it would be such an absurd reason. He pointed at his nose and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he said, “Is this special person me?”

“Right now, you are the most likely.” Ceng Lian’er’s eyes curved with mirth.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. “Why is it me?”

“Causing Shifting Star Sands at the Mo Skill Steles. You were the first to cause a worldly apparition there.” Ceng Lian’er’s eyes curled even more. Her flawless face was like a picure. “Shi Yue Yi also seems to have an interest in you. Qi Diao Yu discovered that you cultivate shen power. He also discovered that I and A Gui do too.”

It was such an absurd reason.

“There is something else you missed. When you achieved shen power breathing, the Mo Skill Steles responded to you. The city only suspects that you are that person, but I am the only one certain that you are.”

Ceng Lian’er looked deeply at Zuo Mo and then disappeared.

Zuo Mo was stunned by Ceng Lian’er’s words.

———

The black gold seal soldier followed behind A Gui and looked around occasionally. He appeared sneaky and his nose moved with hunger on his face.

A Gui did not make a sound as she walked and jumped past the wall, it was as though she was walking on flat ground. She didn’t attract any attention as she walked. The black gold seal soldier sneakily followed behind her with excitement and anticipation.

With a few jumps, A Gui led the black gold seal soldier into a yard.

This was the yard of the Celestial Planet Guards.

A Gui suddenly appeared behind a Celestial Planet Guard like a ghost. With a light touch, this Celestial Planet Guard immediately fell unconscious and dropped to the ground.

Then A Gui pushed open the wooden door that this Celestial Planet guard had been guarding. There were all kinds of mo steeds inside. This was the stable where the Celestial Planet Guard kept their mo steeds. The Celestial Planet Guard was the personal guard of Ceng Yi and their outfitted equipment was topnotch. Their mo steeds were not an exception to this. None of the mo steeds were of a low grade.

The black gold seal soldier’s eyes immediately lit up and started to drool.

He opened his mouth and sucked. Hundreds of mo steeds were unable to react before they drastically shrank and fell into his mouth like a flood of dumplings. In a blink, the full pens were empty.

The black gold seal soldier burped with a contented expression. He went to fawn over A Gui.

A Gui was the best!

At this moment, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared as he turned around.

Murderousness flashed across the dark gold face that was a replica of Zuo Mo’s face.

Someone was sneaking in!

Chapter 615 - Each With Their Plan

Fei Fei’s expression was extremely nervous. The security around this compound was so heavy that he found it hard to imagine. He seemed to have come to a very scary place. There were not many at his  cultivation level that could rival his concealment and stealth movement. But even so, he almost fell for some of the traps along the way.

If it wasn’t that the woman’s intentions were really strange, he would have immediately turned around and left.

His intuition told him that this place was too dangerous!

For the mission this time, the sect had used a hidden chaos rift. This chaos rift had been one that they had originally planned to use for an ambush at a crucial time.

Even with these precautions they had been attacked after just entering Great Peace City. A woman of unknown origins attacked without any warning. This woman was very strong and even with the people from the sect fighting together, they were unable to capture her. She also seemed very certain they didn’t dare to make too much of a ruckus.

Had their identities been exposed? Everyone’s hearts sank. All of them knew very well what it meant if their identities were exposed in the mo territories.

When that mysterious woman left, Fei Fei hid himself and followed her from afar.

The other was even warier than he had expected and took a winding path to shake of any tail. Fei Fei had almost lost track of her several times. In the end, this woman entered this estate. Fei Fei had originally decided to leave but he had found a flaw in the defenses. He could not resist and sneaked in.

A guard of this calibre was full of holes in his eyes.

But after he entered, he found that the situation inside was the reverse of what he had imagined.

The estate was better protected than he had imaged. That flaw he had seen seemed more like a trap. As he continued inwards, his wish to retreat increased.

At this time, he suddenly saw a woman and a completely dark person walk over.

He hurriedly hid and didn’t dare to breathe.

This woman was not like the woman that had attacked them. There weren’t any energy ripples coming from her body. The dark gold person beside her seemed to be a mo puppet.

However … …

Was that really a mo puppet?

The flattery was varied as it came out of the mo puppet’s mouth. In the shadows, Fei Fei felt ashamed. If he had this level of skill in the sect, his status in the sect would not be what it was now.

He was shocked as well. It was rare to see such a lifelike mo puppet.

But the next scene caused his jaw to drop.

Hundreds of mo steeds were swallowed up by the mo puppet.

In Fei Fei’s eyes, the small mouth of the dark gold mo puppet suddenly became a gaping maw that could consume anything. A mo puppet that swallowed mo steeds probably would also be interested in swallowing xiuzhe. Thinking about how the mo puppet would consume him, Fei Fei trembled.

Suddenly, the dark gold mo puppet turned his face and looked towards the corner he was in.

Fei Fei’s mind blanked. He was discovered!

He was very experienced in battle and calmed down. He decisively activated his spell. His body blurred and he appeared on the verge of turning into a ball of mist.

Fei Fei started with his life-saving ultimate technique [Smoke Travel Spell]!

[Smoke Travel Spell] was a sixth grade spell. It could turn a person’s body into a ball of smoke that would dissipate. Once one turned to smoke, they could not attack the enemy but the majority of attacks were ineffective against them. It was a top spell for escaping.

This technique had save Fei Fei an unknown number of times.

So when he detected that the situation was not right, he immediately used the [Smoke Travel Spell]. He could detect the threat from the dark gold mo puppet. If he turned to light smoke, he could return to Shixiong’s side. His Smoke Return Pillar was on Shixiong’s body.

Yet just as he was about to successfully escape, the mo puppet appeared in front of him.

———

The black gold seal soldier stared at Fei Fei whose body was becoming faint. His eyes were indifferent without any of the cheer that was just there. He reached out and an ancient character on his palm lit up.

Fei Fei’s eyes widened and terror showed on his face.

The black gold seal soldier’s hand already pressed onto Fei Fei whose body was blurring and then he quickly moved his palm away.

The bright character was imprinted on Fei Fei’s almost transparent body . Fei Fei’s body melted at a visible rate like a snowman under a bright sun.

Fei Fei’s features twisted as he furiously screamed but he couldn’t make any sounds.

The black gold seal soldier looked indifferently at him.

Not five minutes later, Fei Fei completely disappeared.

Clink.

A light sound. It was a ring that dropped to the ground from the smoke.

The black gold seal soldier picked up the ring. The indifference on his face disappeared. He was full of smiles like before as he presented the ring to A Gui.

———

“Fei Fei is dead.” A hint of grief flashed through Lin Qian’s eyes but his tone was very cold.

The other people stared at each other with sadness and terror in their eyes. Even though they all knew that the mission this time would be dangerous no one had thought they would lose someone just after arriving in Great Peace City.

Their start was not a good one!

“What that woman used was shen power.” Lin Qian’s expression was calm as he said, “She should have come for the Great Peace Stele as well. Everyone, be careful. Do not expose your identities before the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion appears.”

“Yes!” Everyone answered simultaneously but it was apparent their morale had suffered.

Lin Qian did not look at them and said to himself, “The mission is very hard and dangerous this time. Even I do not have the confidence of victory. But our Kun Lun’s thousands of years of prosperity was won by our forebearers through life and death struggles. Now, the world is uncertain, and these next few decades will determine the next thousand years!”

His gaze landed on the other people and his authority came through in his indifference.

“On matters related to the fate of Kun Lun, how can we retreat?”

Everyone’s expressions steadied. Most of them were born in Kun Lun and had deep feelings towards Kun Lun. Their families were also at Kun Lun and their lives were deeply connected to Kun LUn.

One person said in a deep voice, “Eldest Shixiong is right, even if we die, we will have a place in the Kun Lun’s Sword Home!”

“How can we, the people of Kun Lun, fear those yaomo?”

“At most, it is just another thousand year battle!”

Lin Qian did not speak. Morale rose and everyone’s gazes became more determined. This time, those that were selected were all yuanying experts. All of them had strong sword hearts and their spirits rose.

When the noise faded, Lin Qian said with a small smile, “Even if that person recognized us, that is alright. Great Peace City is a gathering of many mo factions and the complexity of the situation is almost unimaginable. These mo all have their own plans and are suspicious about those around them. There are also people making waves from the shadows to muddy the waters. We are just one of the factors in Great Peace City. Some people will care about our identities, but there are also people that hope we have come to disrupt the situation and provide them with an opportunity.”

Everyone nodded and agreed when they heard this.

“So the plan will not change.”

———

The Celestial Planet Guard was in a furor. All the mo steeds in the beast pens had disappeared. What was even more crazy was that there wasn’t any signs of fighting near the beast pens.

Shou Ping’s face was black. Someone had come and stolen all the mo steeds. This had actually occurred under his leadership.

Miss hadn’t said anything but Shou Ping was so ashamed he wanted to burrow into a crack in the ground. Nothing had happened to the other yards, only his steeds had been stolen from!

Embarrassing! Too embarrassing!

The Celestial Planet Guard had been at the bottom of the pack in cultivation. How could the proud Shou Ping tolerate something like this happening?

The pitiful Celestial Planet Guards were tormented to death because of a glutton.

But the culprit had forgotten about this matter.

———

“This is part of your plan?” Nanmen Xue stared coldly at the person in front of him.

This male shook his head. “We did not do this.”

“I do not believe it.” Nanmen Xue said coldly, “Our partnership ends now. I have great doubts about your sincerity.”

The male’s expression was normal. He still shook his head. “We did not do this. We had sent people to capture Xiao Mo Ge, but he killed them. The disappearance of his subordinates has nothing to do with us. We are also investigating but there hasn’t been any clues yet.”

Nanmen Xue stared at the other. Seeing that the other’s expression did not change, he believed that the other had not lied.

“Now all clues point towards me,” Nanmen Xue said coldly. “Don’t tell me you do not have other plans.”

“We do,” the male said gravely. “We are now sure that Xiao Mo Ge is that crucial person. However, we are not the only ones to realize this, the other people probably also have as well.”

Nanmen Xue listened silently and did not speak.

“Right now, everyone is looking at Xiao Mo Ge. As long as we are not targeting Xiao Mo Ge, no one would care about us,” the male said calmly, “the waters of Great Peace City have started to muddy.”

He suddenly smiled. “They are all staring at Xiao Mo Ge so we will go find the other key to Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.”

“You know who has the key?” Nanemn Xue was shocked.

“No.” The male smiled slightly. “We have a few targets.”

Nanmen Xue started at the other and suddenly said, “Is there anything I need to do?”

“Of course!” The male had a satisfied expression. “You are an integral part of our plan.”

Then he told Nanmen Xue his plan in a lowered voice.

Nanmen Xue’s eyes were bright as he listened and nodded occasionally. The other’s plan was outstanding.

However … …

When the other finished telling him the plan, Nanmen Xue looked at the other and smiled. “It is an outstanding plan! However, I want the Fire Heart Gall.”

The other’s brow furrowed. “As long as you complete … …”

Nanmen Xue shook his head. “I want it now.”

The other’s expression changed slightly. “That is not possible!”

“Really?” Namen Xue smiled and said, “Your plan is so exquisite and detailed. If one part goes wrong, the whole plan falls apart. So many steps are related to me, I am a very important pawn.”

“There is no benefit if you go back on your word! You will regret it!” The other’s face was dark as he gritted out.

“Fire Heart Gall or you lose, choose one.” Nanmen Xue still smiled. “Oh, right, I believe that you can also see that it is not a very easy matter if you want to withdraw from our partnership now.”

The other’s complexion was ashen.

Chapter 616 - Tattletale

Zuo Mo played with the ring, thoughts of murder spreading in his eyes.

Kun Lun!

He hadn’t expected that it was Kun Lun!

The ring was given to him by A Gui. While rummaging through it Zuo Mo was shocked to discover that its owner had been a Kun Lun xiuzhe. He asked A Gui and naturally did not receive a response. Only when he asked that glutton, Black Gold, did he understand what had happened.

Kun Lun had come to their doorstep!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were dark. Kun Lun was their mortal enemy!

There were a lot of things in the ring, but for the present Little Mo Gei, it wasn’t that much wealth.

Kun Lun!

Zuo Mo smirked coldly. Since they had run into Great Peace City, then he couldn’t be blamed for informing others of their presence.

———

Zuo Mo sat in front of Princess Xin.

Princess Xin’s and Princess Xia’s auras were of completely different. Princess Xia was seductive and attractive, Princess Xin was elegant and understanding.

“Has there been news of your subordinates?”

Princess Xin’s first words earned good feelings from Zuo Mo. The concern in her tone caused people to feel her kindness.

“Not yet.” Zuo Mo shook his head and thanked her, “Many thanks for the concern.”

Princess Xin said seriously, “If there is some place Xin can help, please speak. Xin might be limited in ability but will not refuse if Xin can help.”

Hearing the sincerity in the other’s tone, Zuo Mo’s heart warmed slightly. “Alright!”

In the sea of consciousness, Wei who was usually calm was filled with disbelief. His expression was as though he had seen a ghost as he exclaimed in shock, “Gravestone Armor!”

Gravestone Armor?

Zuo Mo stilled. A moment later, he suddenly reacted and almost shouted out loud.

But he quickly realized where he was and suppressed the shock in his heart. He asked the other, “Wei, where is the Gravestone Armor?”

There was deep shock in Pu Yao’s bloody pupil.

“In the corner, that armored guard, the armor he is wearing is Gravestone Armor!” Wei’s voice had lost all sense of calm and had begun to tremble slightly.

Armored guard?

Zuo Mo’s gaze immediately moved towards the armored guard in the corner behind Princess Xin.

Gravestone Armor … …

———

Princess Xin noticed the thread of unnaturalness on Xiao Mo Ge’s face and then watched his gaze move to her guard behind her.

“Does Mister Xiao know Xia?” Princess Xin suddenly asked.

“Xia?” Zuo Mo reflexively answered. He quickly focused and hurriedly shook his head. “No, no.”

Princess Xin smiled. “I see that Mister Xiao is very interested in Xia.”

Having refocused, Zuo Mo’s reaction was quick. He said with a smile, “Yes, heavy armor mo are very rare nowadays.”

“Oh.” Princess Xin nodded and changed the subject. “Mister Xiao is so young and accomplished so much. You must be from a famed house.”

“This will probably disappoint Princess, but even now, this one does not know what family this one comes from,” Zuo Mo said helplessly. Almost everyone would ask him this question. He glanced at the guard dressed in Gravestone Armor in the corner and suppressed his curiosity.

Princess Xin was slightly shocked. She saw that Xiao Mo Ge’s expression did not seem to be an act.

But this was good news to her. Experts without a family were easier to recruit. She was about to speak when Zuo Mo spoke up first, “Does Princess know of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion that is causing such a fuss recently?”

Princess Xin’s back unconsciously straightened. “I’ve heard of it. Is Mister Xiao also interested in it?”

Zuo Mo grimaced. “It is not that I have an interest in it, but it has an interest in me.” Then he counted on his fingertips. “Princess, you have to say there is no reason in this world. I did not provoke anyone, but trouble finds me.”

Not waiting for Princess Xin to speak, he started to complain, “I went to Princess Xia’s to drink a bit of wine, and then Nanmen Xue chased me there. I managed to sneak away but was ambushed on the road. I almost lost my life. When I just managed to return home, my subordinates disappeared. I still don’t know who did it. Not to mention that just yesterday, even people from Kun Lun tried to sneak into my estate!”

Princess Xin finally showed a truly shocked expression. “Kun Lun?”

Zuo Mo’s expression was bitter. “Yes, Princess! Kun Lun also came, I don’t even know what to say!” His tone changed and he said with righteous fury. “I don’t care who has aims on the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, but I am mo, and it is better for this event to benefit us rather than Kun Lun. What is Kun Lun? What rights do they have to target the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?”

“Yes!” Princess Xin’s expression was grave. “I hadn’t thought that Kun Lun would scheme against the treasure of us mo! They have gone too far!”

“Yes, Princess!” Zuo Mo added on. “ The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion is the ultimate treasure that Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming left. Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming is an elder of us mo, what is the rationale in having xiuzhe touch his estate?”

He then said righteously, “I know that everyone is keeping a close eye on me. Even though I do not know the reason, for the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, it is nothing even if I have to make a personal sacrifice. But if I land on the hands of xiuzhe, I will resist to the death!”

Princess Xin hurriedly comforted, “Mister Xiao, do not worry. Great Peace City is the territory of us mo and definitely not somewhere where xiuzhe can step! I think that this is the attitude from everyone in Great Peace City! Mister Xiao, do not be worried. Everyone is on the same side against xiuzhe!”

Beside him, Ceng Lian’er slowly drank tea as though she did not hear. Mirth flashed through her eyes.

“Princess needs to act quickly!” Zuo Mo had a crying expression. “Look at me, I need an escort when I go out now, I’m afraid!”

Princess Xin comforted him some more.

After a while later, Zuo Mo left with Ceng Lian’er.

Princess Xin’s gaze landed on Zuo Mo’s figure as he walked away. She suddenly spoke, “Xia, he is very interested in you.”

“En.” Xia’s voice came out of the thick armor.

“What do you feel?” Princess Xin asked nonsensically.

Xia was quiet for a moment before speaking, “Truth and lies.”

“Just as I thought.” Princess Xin smiled slightly. “I just don’t know why the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion has landed on this person who is so much like a hoodlum.”

Xia was silent and did not respond.

Princess Xin said to herself, “However, this Kun Lun is too daring!”

When she said this, murderousness flashed through her eyes.

———

“Wei, you said he was wearing Gravestone Armor?” When Zuo Mo left, he immediately asked Wei.

“En.” Wei’s expression was normal and showed none of his former loss of composure.

“Weren’t the Gravestone Armors lost?” Zuo Mo asked curiously, “I had thought that there were no other Gravestone Armors except for you. So there actually are others!”

“I had also thought that there weren’t any left.” Wei glanced at Zuo Mo. “You need to be careful. The inheritance of the Gravestone Armor is very powerful.”

“How powerful?” Zuo Mo thought and then asked.

“The core of the Gravestone Armor is self-sacrifice,” Wei said calmly. “Every Gravestone Armor has an armor soul that had once been a sacrifice. In the ancient times, this was one type of sacrificial worship and also the most difficult kind because it used only one sacrifice, the sacrifice of the self. But the benefits it brings is also great. The Gravestone Armor either has great power, or something unique to it. However, its greatest advantage is the armor spirit. Armor spirits can exist for a very long time. Over the ages it will continuously learn, become stronger, and the amount of knowledge that it can pass down would increase.”

Zuo Mo was silent. He knew what this meant.

“But every thousand years, there is an ordeal for the Gravestone Armor’s armor soul. If they can pass it, they can continue to survive, if they do not, they dissipate,” Wei said lightly. “Meaning the armor spirits that have survived until now are all powerful armor spirits. In other words, only very powerful Gravestone Armors still exist.”

“Even stronger than you?” Zuo Mo didn’t believe it.

“He accepted the Gravestone Armor, you did not.” Wei glanced at Zuo Mo. “In the succession rite, other than knowledge, there is also power granted, the power of the Gravestone Armor! It is greater than you can imagine!”

Pu Yao snorted coldly, “There are always tradeoffs. The power of the succession is not so easy to take. What Gravestone Armor, it is a con that uses easy power as the bait!”

“That is not an incorrect way of putting it,” Wei said with a smile. “It is a con, but it is a con that people are willing to enter into.”

Seeing the two about to fight, Zuo Mo hurriedly interrupted, “Then how powerful is that person?”

“It is best if you do not provoke him,” Pu Yao warned.

“You’ll know after trying,” Wei said with a smile.

The two completely opposite answers allowed Zuo Mo to immediately understand that the person’s power was not something he could match.

He was just curious about the Gravestone Armor. He and Princess Xin were not enemies. Also, Princess Xin was of noble status and it really was normal for her to have a powerful expert.

Thinking about how he had tattled on Kun Lun today, Zuo Mo felt very good.

The matter of Kun Lun targeting Great Peace Treasure Pavilion was something that Zuo Mo thought many people would close their eyes to if no one made it public. But if something was pushed to the open, then every faction would express the same attitude.

After Zuo Mo came out of Princess Xin’s residence, he sprinted for Princess Wan’s residence. Then he also narrated the matter of Kun Lun there. Princess Wan’s response was the same as Princess Xin.

Then Zuo Mo met with Shi Yue Yi and Lan Tian Long.

Very quickly, all the major powers in the city knew that Xiao Mo Ge had been attacked by Kun Lun.

Atnight, Shi Yue Yi invited the major factions of Great Peace City to discuss how to deal with Kun Lun.

Kun Lun’s reputation was so great that no one in the mo world did not know of them. The major factions, with Shu Yue Yi as the leader, knew that Kun Lun was their greatest enemy right now.

Kun Lun was very powerful, and those they dared to sent to Great Peace City would all be experts.

Great Peace City was full of experts, but the true experts of each faction were not here. Facing an existence as terrible as Kun Lun, no one had the confidence. Everyone firmly believed that if they did not eliminate Kun Lun, no mo faction would be able to benefit from the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.

Lin Qian would have never thought that Zuo Mo was arranging such a great surprise for them.

Chapter 617 - Little Landlord

Great Peace Palace

Shi Yue Yi’s expression was stern. It was very rare to see such an expression on the normally gentle city master. The atmosphere inside the hall was tense.

“I know that many people have come to the city for the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion and I do not care in whose hands it ends up. My teacher once said that everything is up to fate. However, I never thought that even the sword xiu of Kun Lun would infiltrate into Great Peace City. This is a shock to me.”

Shi Yue Yi’s voice echoed in the large hall. Everyone had focused expressions and many showed expressions of shock. Shi Yue Yi was Shi Zi Ming’s student and technically the successor of Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. So, it was a shock to many to hear him be so indifferent about it.

“Great Peace Treasure Pavilion holds the product of my teacher’s life long labor. I believe that no one can accept it ending up in the hands of xiuzhe. I have invited everyone here today to discuss how to eliminate these xiuzhe that have sneaked into Great Peace City. Here, I have to tell everyone that it isn’t just Kun Lun that has come into Great Peace City, but all four great sects!”

When the words came out, there was a furor. Everyone had shocked expressions.

“Great Peace City, it is us mo’s Great Peace City! Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, it is us mo’s Great Peace Treasure Pavilion!”

Shi Yue Yi’s words were like steel.

The people agreed and the crowd was furious.

The decision was quickly made that the large factions would eliminate the xiuzhe led by Kun Lun and the one in command would be Princess Xia.

Shi Yue Yi had recommended her and she received support from everyone else. Princess Xia was intelligent and cunning. She herself also represented the Anwei Family, and was the most suitable commander.

An unprecedented mission quietly started.

———

They still hadn’t received any news about A Wen and the others. This made Zuo Mo very restless.

“Daren, Qi Diao Yu asks for a meeting!” a subordinate reported.

Zuo Mo stilled. Qi Diao Yu? This guy had come to visit him?

He turned to look at Ceng Lian’er. Ceng Lian’er shook her head. “I don’t know.”

He thought and then said, “Invite him in.”

Taking this opportunity, Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao in the sea of consciousness, “Pu, what is this guy coming for?”

“Possibly for an alliance,” Pu Yao said gravely. “No matter what, you do not need to worry.”

Zuo Mo thought and found that the words were right. Even if Qi Diao Yu wanted to use force, Zuo Mo could completely suppress him while in this compound. With A Gui and Ceng Lian’er, the two assistants present, adding on himself, there were three people. Zuo Mo did not believe they could not defeat Qi Diao Yu.

He glanced at Wei. Ever since Wei saw the gravestone armor last time, he had sunk into silence. Zuo Mo speculated that Wei was thinking of past events. Or maybe he felt something after encountering one of his kind?

Zuo Mo did not know how to comfort Wei.

There was something that Pu Yao was right about. He really didn’t have any interest in the gravestone armor. Even though he wasn’t clear about what restraints the gravestone armor would place on him, but he was sure that there would be many restraints.

He disliked being restricted.

He quickly saw Qi Diao Yu. It had to be said that Qi Diao Yu had a very good appearance. With his snowy white robes and extraordinary beauty, his presence was stunning.

“Brother Qi hasn’t changed at all!” Zuo Mo insincerely gave a greeting.

“I want to make a deal.” Qi Diao Yu did not waste a word and headed for the topic.

“What deal?” Zuo Mo also didn’t mince words and asked straight out.

Qi Diao Yu looked at Zuo Mo with star-like eyes. He said briskly, “I will help you, and you will give me a copy of the stele inside the treasure pavilion.”

Now Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. He looked at the other and asked amusedly, “How do you know that I can enter the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.”

“It is not that you can, but you are the one most likely to,” Qi Diao Yu explained.

Zuo Mo understood a bit. He smiled and said, “Then what can you help me with?”

“I can protect your life,” Qi Diao Yu said.

Zuo Mo stared at Qi Diao Yu for a moment and then roared with laughter. “Are you joking? Protect me? Can you beat her?” He pointed at Ceng Lian’er who was idly drinking tea by the side. Ceng Lian’er focused on her tea and didn’t even blink as though there was only empty air in front of her.

Qi Diao Yu glanced at Ceng Lian’er. “We are evenly matched.”

Zuo Mo then pointed at A Gui. “Her?”

A Gui was also unaffected. At the side, the black gold seal soldier, that glutton, lazily opened his eyes, examined Qi Diao Yu and then closed his eyes with a relaxed expression.

Qi Diao Yu’s gaze swept the black gold seal soldier. His eyelids flickered. “We will be evenly matched.”

“That’s it, if you were very powerful, it would be fine if you make such a deal with me. But you don’t even have the confidence to beat either of them. Even if I wanted to do business with you, I won’t be able to get a good price.” Zuo Mo said with an expression of regret. “I already have two experts. If one more is added, it can increase my strength, but won’t bring me up another level. Also, it is very hard for me to trust you. You are asking for too much, but giving too little. I, Xiao Mo Ge, won’t do such unprofitable business.”

“I have information.” Qi Diao Yu forced himself to remain calm.

Zuo Mo spread his hands. “But you are not the only one with that information, while I am the only one.”

Zuo Mo said the last phrase meaningfully. Originally, he had wanted to take leave of the brewing storm as quickly as possible. He hadn’t expected A Wen and the others to disappear and force him to stay in this storm. Ever since he understood he became a key to entering the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, he perceptively recognized the business potential here.

What kind of business was the easiest to profit from? Of course it was the business where you had a monopoly!

Zuo Mo did not have any ambitions about the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. He knew that with so many eyes on them, whoever got the treasures would not be able to live.

But he could take the chance to get rich. For those families, they wouldn’t have any trouble paying a price to gain some advantages in this fight.

So Zuo Mo unhesitatingly refused Qi Diao Yu’s  initial offer.

What kind of joke was this!

If his first transaction was so cheap, then the next customers definitely wouldn’t give higher offers.

Zuo Mo seemed to have an instinctive obsession towards the pursuit of profit.

Qi Diao Yu was silent. The reason he had come to find Zuo Mo today was that he detected this fight was becoming more cruel. He was just one person and couldn’t affect the overall situation, so he thought of finding Zuo Mo to work together. He hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo was more clever than he expected.

There was a gentle and harmless smile on Zuo Mo’s face. “When you have a suitable offer, you can come find me.”

Qi Diao Yu glanced at Zuo Mo and left without a word.

Zuo Mo smiled as he watched Qi Diao Yu leave.

He knew that the news that Qi Diao Yu came here would spread over Great Peace City very soon.

By that time, there would be even more customers.

He really anticipated it.

———

Zuo Mo looked at the beautiful Princess Xia in front of him and grimaced. “How come it is you?”

“Why can’t it be me?” Princess Xia rolled her eyes. The unconscious flirtatious look would cause people’s hearts to speed up.

As Zuo Mo resisted the illusory art, he continued to grimace and said, “I was waiting for the others to come … … and bleed them for a lot.”

Ha, Princess Xia laughed so hard her shoulders curled. Her finger pointed at Zuo Mo. “You are so bad … … so bad!”

Zuo Mo said with a serious expression. “This is such a good chance. If I miss it, the heavens will strike me with lightning!”

Princess Xia laughed so much her hair dislodged from her hairdo. She panted slightly which added a hint of mature seductiveness. She brushed the hair that had fallen down on her forehead and said with a smile, “Don’t you have any ideas about the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?”

“That is a matter for the big landlords to play with, I can’t afford to play.” Zuo Mo said with a matter-of-fact expression. “It is not worth it to lose my little life over that.”

A strange look flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes. “You see it clearly.”

Zuo Mo said smugly, “Of course. It would be unprofitable if I don’t take the chance to make some more.” But then his expression dropped. “But since you came, I cannot do that. I owe you a favor from last time, I can’t do that to you.”

Princess Xia smiled mischievously.  “I can’t bear to use the favor for something like this.” Then she copied Zuo Mo’s tone. “It would be unprofitable!”

Zuo Mo laughed.

“Why did you recommend me?” Princess Xia suddenly asked something completely unrelated.

“Recommend you?” Zuo Mo stilled.

“Don’t play dumb,” Princess Xia said, “City Master told me that you recommended me to him.”

“Oh, that!” Zuo Mo realized. “Because you are very strong!”

He added inside: especially in illusory arts … …

“Strong?” Princess Xia smiled. “In your mind, I am such a schemer?”

Zuo Mo scratched. “I just felt that you are relatively smart.” Then he couldn’t help say, “You definitely have to take those Kun Lun people down, don’t let them escape.”

“With your personality, you wouldn’t chase after them like this. It seems that they have offended you greatly, there definitely is something else.” Princess Xia looked smilingly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. This woman was too smart. He had to be careful!

He could only play dumb.

The two talked about various topics. Princess Xia had extraordinary knowledge. Other than the illusory arts that were automatically cast which made it difficult, it was very pleasurable to talk with her.

However, Zuo Mo didn’t dare to drink this time.

“The Anwei Family is very interested in you.” Finishing, she took out a mo weapon and placed it in front of Zuo Mo.

This mo weapon was a short dagger-axe. It was completely red and at the horizontal blade, there was a black eye. It caused the entire weapon to seem eerie.

“This Crow Eye Dagger-Axe was forged from the beak of a black fire crow mo through hundreds of years of refining. It is very powerful and a top notch mo weapon. Your mo skill is fire-type and this is suitable for you. How about it, are you satisfied?”

Zuo Mo picked up the Crow Eye Dagger-axe. Immediately, a vicious and vast presence passed from the dagger-axe to his hand. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “A good mo weapon!”

“This is a meeting gift from the Anwei Family, you do not need to return it.” Princess Xia blinked her eyes at Zuo Mo and giggled. “With it as a good starting point, don’t be kind when you bargain.”

Finishing, she waved at Zuo Mo and left.

Zuo Mo was speechless.

Chapter 618 - Activation

Zuo Mo’s business was open.

Ever since Princess Xia’s visit, Zuo Mo’s estate had become a popular place. The families that thought themselves possessing some power, all offered olive branches to Zuo Mo. All kinds of mo weapons, all kinds of rare treasures, and some families were so generous as to even give jie to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo accepted them all. He was profusely grateful in words but did not mention anything else.

These factions did not mention it either. This was just them feeling out the road. Zuo Mo was something rare but nothing had started at this time. It was not the time for them to truly give their prices.

As to these things, they were nothing to these large and powerful factions.

Inside the estate, the gifts piled up in a mountain. There were many precious treasures but Zuo Mo was not very happy. There was no news yet of A Wen and the others. They seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Zuo Mo had practically asked all the factions in Great Peace City but hadn’t found anything.

Luo Li Shidi was still in seclusion. Zuo Mo was very worried about his condition. Sometimes, there would be a thread of life, but most of the time, there wasn’t any vitality.

The state of affairs in Great Peace City was complex. Even Zuo Mo could not predict which way it would develop.

He was something rare and desired. In other words, everyone knew him.

There were countless pairs of eyes staring at him openly and from the shadows. With the slightest misstep, he would die. What he was most worried about were A Wen and the others. This mastermind was able to remain so composed and it put great pressure on Zuo Mo.

He could only wait patiently. Other than waiting, there wasn’t anything more he could do. Everyday, he had to suppress the restlessness he felt, be patient, and cultivate.

Yet at this time, an invitation from City Master Shi was delivered to him.

———

When Zuo Mo arrived at a room hidden deep in the Great Peace Palace, there were already eight people inside.

The people greeted him when they saw him. Right now, everyone in Great Peace City knew that Zuo Mo was a person important to the opening of Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. All the families hoped to develop a closer relationship with him and had friendlier smiles.

Shi Yue Yi, Chang Yuan Hao, Yu Shuang, Princess Xia and the others were among those present.

Moments later, more people came in. About an hour later, the room closed up. Zuo Mo looked around and inhaled in shock. This room contained almost all the important personages in Great Peace City.

What was happening?

Zuo Mo thought inside.

The first to speak was Shi Yue Yi. “I have invited everyone today because we have intelligence on the xiuzhe in Great Peace City.”

Then Princess Xia stood and bowed to the crowd. She said, “Those xiuzhe are very well disguised. If it wasn’t that they first lost to Mister Xiao, it would really have been difficult to detect them. We secretly sent people to investigate all recent newcomers to the city and finally had a result today. However, there is trouble. Many of them are still hidden, and our investigations have already attracted their attention.”

The room was very quiet. The people present were all leaders and naturally could hold their composure.

Princess Xia wasn’t timid at all. She was at ease and her seductive eyes now flashed with an intelligent light. “I suspect that xiuzhe sects like Kun Lun probably had spies in Great Peace City a long time ago. Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence that they knew that the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion is about to appear?”

“Hmph! These xiuzhe still won’t give up on eliminating us mo!” Yu Shuang shorted coldly, his expression frosty.

Princess Xia smiled and brimmed with strong confidence. “Elder Yu is right, and we shall give them a memorable lesson.”

“Princess, tell us what arrangements you have. On this matter, there is no reason for us to refuse!” one person shouted.

The others all agreed.

Princess Xia’s eyes turned. “This plan requires the support of Mister Xiao in order to proceed.”

“Me?” Zuo Mo pointed at his nose and looked dazedly at Princess Xia.

“Yes!” Princess Xia blinked her eyes at him.

———

“You are not kind to drag me into this!”

Inside Princess Xia’s residence, Zuo Mo waved his arms around in displeasure. Princess Xia was smiling in front of him.

“However, aren’t you the person with the greatest grievance against Kun Lun? How can this be called pulling you under the water?” Princess Xia said innocently. Mirth flowed deep in her eyes.

Zuo Mo was unable to form words. He had been the one urging this matter. Princess Xia was correct. But this completely disrupted his previous plans. He had originally wanted to help urge this matter forward and strike at Kun Lun using the mo.

But now, it became him going forward to give Kun Lun a blow. How could he remain calm?

Yes, he had a grievance against Kun Lun. But if he went to make trouble for the other before he was strong enough, that was just throwing meat buns at the dogs. Zuo Mo knew just how vicious Kun Lun would be.

Great Peace City was full of experts but no one had the certainty of victory when facing Kun Lun’s experts.

The xiuzhe were stronger than the yaomo and Kun Lun was the most powerful sect in the xiuzhe realm. In other words, Kun Lun was the strongest sect in the world. The other three great sects were also terrifying titans. Facing the experts sent by the four great sects, other than having an advantage in numbers and being in their territory, the mo didn’t have any other advantages.

This would be a hard battle!

Zuo Mo was able to imagine the ferocity of this battle, he could feel it even in his toes. If he wasn’t careful, his little life would end. This was also why he wanted to borrow a blade to kill someone rather than going for it himself.

Yet what he had never expected was that Princess Xia had put the most important step of the plan onto his shoulders.

This almost caused him to spit blood!

If this was someone else, Zuo Mo would want to kill them.

Almost as though she saw Zuo Mo’s concerns, Princess Xia comforted, “Do not worry, no one would let you die. You are very valuable right now. You did not see those people. They wanted to shove all their guards at you.”

Zuo Mo’s expression almost seemed to cry. “Don’t force me in like this, I only have one life!”

Princess Xia burst into laughter. “As expected, you are cowardly and afraid of death. Adding on your shamelessness, you cannot be saved!”

“Yes, yes!” Zuo Mo’s head bobbed like a chick eating rice. “I’m afraid of death! Very afraid! Princess Daren, please spare me!”

“You truly want to pass upon a chance to capture them all in one go?” Princess Xia looked wryly at Zuo Mo. “For you, I borrowed Xin and Wan’s guards. They are all very powerful experts. Even Qi Diao Yu agreed to help.

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted upon hearing this. He thought of Princess Xin’s guard, Xia, and Princess Wan’s Butler, Zhu Ke. These two were of unfathomable power.

Nothing had to be said more of Qi Diao Yu’s power. He was a top power in Great Peace City. Adding on Chang Yuan Hao and Yu Shuang, the team was pretty terrifying and it should be enough to deal with Kun Lun.

If this was another time, it would not be an easy matter to gather so many experts together!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. “Fine!”

Princess Xia said smilingly, “You really have a deep grudge against Kun Lun!”

Zuo Mo was silent. He had to be even more careful when he spoke to this woman. However, he could feel that Princess Xia did not have malicious intentions so he said honestly, “Yes, deep bloody grudge!”

Princess Xia was a little shocked, before smiling. She said gently, “Then you won’t regret it.”

“I hope so!” Zuo Mo turned his face around. “How should I start?”

———

Entering the Great Peace Mo Skill Steles again, for some unknown reason, Zuo Mo felt slightly emotional. This period of time had been like a dream and too many things had happened. He didn’t even have the time to sort out his thoughts. The events came one after the next, and he  didn’t even have a chance to breathe.

How were A Wen and the others now?

Zuo Mo’s mind was heavy as he slowly walked between the steles. He was in a dispirited mood. Today, there were many people visiting the Great Peace Mo Steles. Ever since the news of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion had spread, the number of people that were headed towards Great Peace Mo Steles had multiplied. Everyone wanted to find clues to the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion from these stone steles.

As he thought, without realizing it, Zuo Mo went deep into the stele forest.

There were not many roaming around here. This was the deepest part of the stele forest. Every stele here was cryptic and profound. If one did not reach the stage, it would be indecipherable. Even the people that copied down the Great Peace Mo Steles were too lazy to copy down all the contents here because for most people, they would never need such profound content their entire life.

Ever since having an epiphany here, Zuo Mo had never come to the stele forest again. Walking here today, he started to browse these stone steles.

The content on the stone steles was not unfamiliar to him. He had a complete copy of the Great Peace Mo Stele Writings, and had memorized the content. He did not understand all of it. He was just at the edge of [Domain] and there was still a long way off from reaching the peak of general. A lot of the content was very profound to him.

Seeing the time was still early, he found a random stone stele and started to read phrase by phrase. Unconsciously, he immersed himself.

What this stone stele was talking about was [Domain]. Shi Zi Ming had his own understanding of [Domain]. Zuo Mo seemed to see an old man talking enthusiastically in front of him. His body was so weak and withered that a wind could blow him over, but those eyes were unusually dark and bright.

A moment later, Zuo Mo gradually recovered and everything returned to normal.

The stone stele was silent. Where was the old man?

Zuo Mo laughed. He had been too immersed, so much that he was seeing illusions.

However, when he noticed the darkened sky in the surroundings, he found it was terrible.

Not good!

He had been too focused and forgot what he had come to do!

A round silver ball appeared on his hand. There seemed to be a layer of light flowing around the silver ball. This silver ball was the most important part of the mission this time.

He was about to crush the silver ball on his hand when he saw a row of characters on a stone stele out of the corner of his eye. He froze as though someone cast a body paralysis curse on him.

He stood there motionless!

Chapter 619 - “World”

“What is he doing over there?” Lan Rong couldn’t help asking.

Lan Tian Long was also slightly confused. He looked at Zuo Mo that was in a daze between the steles and said uncertainly, “Did he drink today?”

“He probably wouldn’t have. Such an important event today … …” Lan Rong’s expression was slightly ugly. He suddenly recalled what had happened after Zuo Mo had got drunk at the Great Peace Palace last time and the rest of his words faded.

The two Lan brothers looked at each other with strange expressions.

Behind them, a smile came onto Princess Xia’s face. She turned and ordered, “Tell them, pay attention to what is happening.”

A servant silently left.

“Xiao Mo Ge is young but he can keep his composure.” Yu Shuang couldn’t resist praising.

Princess Xia brushed away some locks of hair on her forehead and smiled, “One that isn’t composed cannot lure out those xiuzhe. They have come in alone and it is shocking how long they have prepared for this. There probably are many of them in Great Peace City. If we are not careful, our plan will fail.”

Yu Shuang smiled and said, “Princess Xia is peerless. Even I would fall for this. City Master Shi is probably stirring them into an uproar right now!”

In Princess Xia’s plan, Shi Yue Yi would gather the major factions inside the city today, to discuss how to deal with the xiuzhe. He would make a big furor and gather all the factions inside Great Peace City. However, the true experts would be hidden near the Great Peace Mo Steles.

The bait for the entire plan was Zuo Mo.

Any faction with some power knew that Zuo Mo was a crucial piece of how to get into the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. Even though no one knew the reason, there were countless eyes that stared at every action Zuo Mo made. The xiuzhe would definitely be paying attention as well.

He quietly appeared at the stele forest and pretended to appear as though he was searching. If these experts did not know Princess Xia’s plan beforehand, they would definitely think that Zuo Mo was searching for the entrance to the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. He also lingered for a whole afternoon and had waited long enough for the xiuzhe to gather.

Zuo Mo had a Star Luring Mo Ball. This Star Luring Mo Ball was one personally made by Shi Yue Yi. It only had one use, it could cause one star to fall from the sky. There would be great noise, and the mo matrixes inside the Great Peace Mo Stele would activate at the same time to create an illusion

–The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion was about to appear!

This was the bait to lure the xiuzhe.

Princess Xia gave the xiuzhe a dilemma. If they were slightly hesitant, they would lose the opportunity. Even if the xiuzhe knew this was a trap, would they gamble on it?

This was actually a psychological battle. What Princess Xia gambled was that even though the xiuzhe had sent people in before this, the spies of the xiuzhe would not be able to penetrate the upper ranks of major mo families! Only a few knew of this plan. Those that knew were the leaders of each clan. It was very unlikely for people like this to be spies for the xiuzhe.

They were coming in alone, and without sufficient intelligence. Facing such a realistic trap, there wasn’t much room for the xiuzhe to choose.

Princess Xia wanted to use this plan to get all the xiuzhe in one swoop. The place that they were hiding was very hidden and at the edge of the stele forest. This was the place where the Anwei Family usually spied from. For this mission, Princess Xia really paid a great price.

The plan was not complex but all the elders praised it. If it was them, there was a high possibility that they would also be fooled.

“This is because of the support from all the elders.,” Princess Xia said with a smile.

Chang Yuan Hao suddenly moved forward a few steps. At the same time, a strange look flashed across Yu Shuang’s eyes. “En.”

Everyone’s gaze moved towards Zuo Mo inside the stele forest.

Qi Diao Yu’s expression changed slightly as his eyes lit up. He stared hard at Zuo Mo.

The blurry figure in the distance suddenly emanated an indescribable feeling of danger.

This guy … … what was going on?

———

“When consciousness and ling power reach an extreme depth of the body, the world will reappear.”

The short phrase placed in the corner of the stele was not eye catching at all. This stone stele was discussing the three powers, and this phrase was not something attention-catching among the text. However, what attracted Zuo Mo’s attention was the word “world” in this phrase. This word was in a different writing than all the other stele text as though someone had written it on the stele with a finger.

Zuo Mo had browsed through almost all the mo skill steles. All of the content on the steles had used the same style of writing and were exquisitely carved. If one did not notice the word “world,” they would have missed it. Even if one noticed, they would have thought that someone had made a mistake when engraving this stele and then corrected it.

But when Zuo Mo noticed the strangeness of this part, he froze where he stood.

Because he understood this phrase.

“When consciousness and ling power reach an extreme depth of the body … …”

He had used this technique when he had modified the mo matrixes for Bie Han’s Sin Battalion. When consciousness and ling power reached deep into the body, the world would truly become different. He would enter a wondrous state where he was calm and emotionless.

Truthfully, Zuo Mo did not like this state but this state gave him the feeling of being inhuman. He was like a puppet that did not have life or emotion. He would be precise, but without any spirit.

When “world” was put into this phrase, it caused his mind to shift.

Did … … this world have another meaning?

Zuo Mo thought for a moment and then decided to try it. He channeled and the suns of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus lit up. His consciousness and ling power continuously moved deeper into his body.

His mind started to become cold, his emotions seemed to be bared in an extreme environment without any warmth.

His eyes became cold and indifferent, his emotions quickly disappearing. A thin layer of gold light appeared but there was also a hint of white.

A new world appeared in front of him.

Countless half-transparent lines criss-crossed between the stone steles. The entire stele forest was like a cage made from countless lines of light.

The stunning scene in front of Zuo Mo did not cause any change in emotions. He moved his head, his eyes were emotionless, as he looked at the surroundings.

A faint handprint appeared on some of the stone steles.

The stone steles which had handprints were the stone steles where the most threads intersected.

He did not pause. He walked in front of a stone stele and pressed his hand on the faint handprint on the stone stele.

An extremely light tremor came to his hand as though there was a tremble very deep in the earth. It was unusually small. If Zuo Mo wasn’t in this state, he definitely would not have detected it.

Zuo Mo could accurately capture every ripple. The ripples had an unique rhythm.

In this state, Zuo Mo’s mo skill was at its maximum. Without even thinking about it, the muscles in his hands trembled and responded to the stone stele with the same rhythm.

The trembling of the stone stele suddenly stopped. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, it suddenly became bright.

Countless streaks of light flowed into the other steles along the half-transparent lines like water flowing outwards.

Zuo Mo’s expression was indifferent as he appeared in front of another stone stele which had a handprint.

———

“Those inside cannot send anything out.” A shidi next to Lin Qian shook his head. He tried his best to communicate with “Eyes” but there hadn’t been any results.

“Eyes” had been summoned to Great Peace City to discuss how to deal with the xiuzhe. But the Great Peace Palace was blocked off from all communication with the outside. They could not pass any messages out.

“It seems that these mo are not stupid,” another shidi said with a smile. He smirked coldly and said, “Trying to redirect our attention so crudely like this, they really underestimate us.”

Lin Qian’s eyes were suspicious. He suspected this could possibly be a trap. All of their information was supposedly broadcast by Xiao Mo Ge. They had learned that the mysterious woman they had fought with when they entered the city had been Xiao Mo Ge’s personal maid. Fei Fei probably lost his life when he entered the other’s residence.

No matter from what angle, Xiao Mo Ge had enough reasons to want to deal with them. It wasn’t as though it was unlikely for him to plan such a trap.

But what surprised Lin Qian was what happened when he saw Xiao Mo Ge the first time.

This was the first time he saw Xiao Mo Ge. Even though he had heard this name countless times before. In the report from “Eyes,” Xiao Mo Ge was a crucial part of opening the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. He had caused the Shifting Star Sands, defeated Shen Yu who had comprehended the Peacock King Plume, obtained the Reversed Stellar Revolution, reached the edge of Domain, and was a genius youth that had recently attracted attention in Great Peace City.

Lin Qin was the first ranked disciple among the third generation disciples of Kun Lun. He knew more than most people. He noticed that Xiao Mo Ge’s name had also appeared in the intelligence reports from the yao. It had also been a youth called Xiao Mo Ge who was a young battle general that defeated gold battle general Corps Commander Yu Heng, completed a prison-breaking battle, and astounded the yao realm.

He suspected that these two were the same person.

If they really were the same person, then it was frightening!

Such a monstrous person would be rare even in Kun Lun which was full of geniuses.

So the moment that he saw Xiao Mo Ge’s name from “Eye’s” report, Lin Qian decided, no matter what, he had to kill this person. When he thought about the consequences a person with such potential in the yaomo camp would bring, he couldn’t restrain his murderousness.

But when he saw Xiao Mo Ge, he was very shocked.

Because he felt a strange sense of familiarity from Xiao Mo Ge.

He was sure he had never seen this face before, but this sense of familiarity was so clear.

He had definitely interacted with Xiao Mo Ge before!

When a person reached cultivation of his level, a wrong feeling would almost never appear. The sword essence he cultivated was profound and he knew that his sword heart would not lie to him.

Yet when he thought it over in his mind, he could not understand where he had seen Xiao Mo Ge before.

It was a pity there was no time. Lin Qian sighed inwardly. If he was meditating, and his sword heart was clear, he would definitely identify the other.

He quickly threw the stray thoughts  to the back of his mind. He looked at Zuo Mo with a sword-sharp gaze. Suddenly, his expression changed. In his eyes, Xiao Mo Ge’s presence suddenly changed dramatically.

In Lin Qian’s eyes, Xiao Mo Ge was like a mo puppet, empty and cold.

This was … …

Lin Qian was shocked and suspicious.

Then he saw Xiao Mo Ge reach for a stone stele.

A moment later, Lin Qian’s expression changed drastically!

There was movement deep within the earth!

Chapter 620 - Lie Becoming Truth

“This place is quite ghastly!” Ming Jue Zi muttered. They had been trapped for so many days and still hadn’t found the exit.

The black smoke yao said with self-recrimination, “It is all my fault! If it wasn’t for me … …”

“Old Black, that’s alright, this might be our good fortune.” Nan Yue hurriedly comforted the black smoke yao. “There are many people outside that want to come in, they wouldn’t expect that we got ahead of them.”

Cang Ze added with a smile, “Old Black, think hard. We are putting our hopes on you to find the treasures.”

A Wen was slightly worried, “There is no way to enter the Ten Finger Prison from here. Daren would definitely have gone there to look for us.”

Everyone was silent.

The orange-haired yao spoke up, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, he is loyal, he won’t abandon us. Worst case, we will find a few more treasures and give him a few.”

“Where are there any treasures?” Ming Jue Zi looked around and said dispiritedly. “This place is dark, and I doubt we are even in the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. We’ve been searching around for so long and still haven’t found the exit!”

That day, the black smoke yao had made a discovery and came excitedly to find them. They had gone in search following the clues, and hadn’t expected to fall into a maze that was pitch black. The maze was dark and didn’t have anything. However, the paths were complex and intercrossed like a spider web. They had been searching for the exit for the past few days but hadn’t made any progress.

“We are below the Mo Skill Steles, is there another place here except the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” Cang Ze’s expression was puzzled.

“Who knows!” the orange-haired yao said carelessly. “That old man has been dead for so many years!”

“Do not be disrespectful to Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming!” A Wen glared at the orange-haired yao. “We have benefited from him these past days! If not for the grandmaster, where would these mo skill steles come from!”

The orange-haired yao was not angry and muttered, “I didn’t say that he wasn’t good, but if he is a good person, he should be good to the end. He engraved the mo skill steles, and he should give us some treasures as well. Then he would be a good person! A very good person! Oh, don’t worry, I won’t take them all.”

The other people were used to the orange-haired yao’s casual and thoughtless words. Everyone laughed.

The black smoke yao’s brow was tightly furrowed. Ever since they had dropped into this pitch black maze, he had been thinking of ways to get out. It was because of him that everyone had ended up in this predicament. Even though no one blamed him, he could not forgive himself.

Fortunately, there weren’t any dangers in the maze so they were not very nervous.

Ever since they entered the maze, the black smoke yao had been pondering why there would be a maze under the mo skill steles. He believed that a person like Shi Zi Ming would have his own reasons for doing every single thing.

This maze would definitely have another purpose. If that was the case, it should have an exit.

His spirit consciousness spread out as he carefully searched the surroundings. In such a dark environment, the consciousness was much more useful than the eyes. Suddenly, his consciousness swept a rock and he abruptly stopped moving. “Wait!”

Everyone stopped warily.

“What is it?” Nan Yue asked.

“We passed by this rock yesterday!” The black smoke yao crouched down and picked up a rock by his foot. His tone was unusually certain. “It is this one, I remember it clearly!”

“Have we been going in circles all this time?” Nan Yue was slightly shocked.

“Very possible.” The black smoke yao raised his head to look up. “We might just be wandering in circles below the mo skill steles.”

Then he said to himself, “So this is a recursive maze. The path we pick each time is different but we are still going in circles. All paths lead to one, oh, I understand … …”

He suddenly moved his gaze and said to the orange-haired yao. “Big Orange, hit the ground a few times!”

The orange haired yao immediately became energized. He had been suffocated these past few days. He rolled up his sleeves. “No problem! How big of a hole? How deep? I will show you guys a new yao art that I comprehended recently. It is the best at making holes. If you want a circle, I won’t give you a square. If you want three zhang, I won’t make it five zhang. Ooh, do you want something slightly more difficult? Flower shape? Too common! Or maybe a portrait?”

Nan Yue and the others were speechless.

But A Wen was excited. “Such a powerful yao art? How about we compete? I recently comprehended some things as well.”

The orange-haired yao was excited and hurriedly ran in front of A Wen. “Alright, let’s compete! Let’s make a portrait!”

“Alright!” A Wen was excited as well.

“Five zhang deep is good.” But everyone disregarded the black smoke yao’s weak voice. Everyone’s attentions were put on these two that were going to make portraits.

Nothing more had to be said about A Wen’s talent. The orange-haired yao appeared absent-minded and slightly odd, but his talent in the yao arts was usually unexpected. He could always make some strange and weird yao arts.

“Who do you think will win?” Ming Jue Zi was full of interest.

Nan Yue said, “A Wen.”

Cang Ze hesitated and said, “Big Orange!”

Ming Jue Zi looked at the black smoke yao. The black smoke yao said helplessly, “Big Orange.”

Ming Jue Zi snickered. “I favor A Wen, two on two!”

The orange-haired yao postured as though he was an expert, hand palm up, he beckoned at A Wen. “Young man, I will not go easy on you! However, Young man, your life will become more complete after losing to this loyal orange-haired yao.”

A Wen stared back, not backing down. “Come on! Red haired monster, let me show you what the first expert of Guard Camp is like!”

———

Looking at Zuo Mo’s ghostly figure and indifferent expression, everyone felt danger that could not be pushed away. Every one of them had grave expressions. Those present were all experts and naturally could see the change in Zuo Mo.

Princess Xia’s lips were tightly pressed together and her expression changed slightly. Xiao Mo Ge in the distance seemed to have changed into a completely new person that she felt extremely unfamiliar with.

However, she quickly suppressed the stray thoughts in her mind. Xiao Mo Ge was the crucial part of the entire plan. His change would affect the plan hugely. Up until now, Xiao Mo Ge had not used the Star Luring Mo Bead in his hand, and he was moving in ways that people did not understand.

Princess Xia suddenly had a realization, Xiao Mo Ge had found the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion!

Once this thought appeared, her expression became ashen!

Her previous plan had been to create an illusion that the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion was about to appear in order to lure the xiuzhe out. She had never thought the act would become truth! Once the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion appeared, the entire plan would be full of flaws. The morale of the xiuzhe would be at their highest and their counter-attack would be unusually fierce. On the opposite side, the mo experts would be targeting the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion so they would each have their own plans. The alliance would fall apart.

Under such circumstances, the plan that had been flawless would become a mess!

At that time, this place would become a melee battle. Melee battles were the most advantageous for the xiuzhe!

What worried her even more was Xiao Mo Ge who would be at the center of the melee battle would be placed in the most dangerous situation.

Her expression quickly recovered and she said indifferently, “The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion is about to open. The plan has changed. Everyone, charge in, and keep the xiuzhe out!”

Princess Xia’s words caused everyone to shake. They looked in disbelief at Princess Xia. Their attention had been on Xiao Mo Ge’s transformation. While they had felt that his actions were slightly strange, no one had connected them to the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.

Princess Xia’s gaze flashed across the pairs of eyes that had started to burn. She combed her hair and smiled, “Everyone, be careful of Xiao Mo Ge’s safety. If those xiuzhe want to act against Xiao Mo Ge because they are unable to get the treasures, they might ruin this for all of us and then we won’t have anything. He is still useful now, and at such an important time, I hope that the elders present will not hold anything back.”

Everyone’s gazes met and then moved away.

Yu Shuang stood up and said with a smile, “We need to show something to these xiuzhe. Otherwise, they will think that there are none capable among us mo. They dare to come and go as they wish, do they think this is their backyard?”

The other people also rose.

Chang Yuan Hao and Yu Shuang walked together. The guards led by Xia protected Princess Xin and the guards led by Zhu Ke protected Princess Wan. Qi Diao Yu was moving by himself … …

In a flash, the alliance fell apart and each camp was clearly divided.

“You have intentions about him? The middle-aged attendant beside Princess Xia suddenly spoke.

Princess Xia glanced at her and asked back, “What do you feel?”

“Then why are you helping him?” The middle-aged attendant stared at Princess Xia and said coldly, “You know very well that if you enter this conflict, you will have nothing to do with him anymore!”

Princess Xia smiled slyly. “Don’t you feel that it is to our advantage to direct their attention towards Xiao Mo Ge?”

The middle-aged attendant’s expression eased slightly. She said coldly, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Princess Xia seemed to not hear it. She raised her head to look at Xiao Mo Ge that was reaching towards a stone stele and suddenly said, “You just couldn’t wait.”

The middle-aged attendant’s expression froze.

———

The stele in front of him was the last mo skill stele that had a handprint.

The half-transparent thin threads in his vision were as bright as rays of light. Ripples moved along these criss-crossing lines like waves against the shore that came from all directions towards this stone stele.

The moment that Zuo Mo’s palm came into contact with this stele, a strong vibration pulsed from the stone stele. Even the ground under his feet seemed to be violently shaking. There seemed to be an ancient being which was suppressed here that seemed to shift.

Zuo Mo’s expression was cold and indifferent, void of all expression.

In response to the enormous tremors that came from the stone stele, the muscles on Zuo Mo’s plan were quickly vibration at an astounding rate.

At this moment, all light stopped at the simultaneously.

But in the next second, the lights that had paused seemed to be startled away and then redirected towards the stele from all directions!

Boom!

A ray of white light suddenly came out of the stone stele. Like a ruler-straight sword of light, it pierced the sky and entered the void.

The white light was like a burning flame that moved towards all directions. In a flash, all of the mo skill steles released a fierce white light.

The ground was trembling fiercely, all of Great Peace City was trembling!

Great fissures started to appear on the ground around the stele forest. Then the stele forest started to slowly rise.

Boom boom boom!

The stele forest that was covered in rays of light slowly rose. There seemed to be an enormous beast underneath it that was pushing it up.

That blinding ray of white light was like a rope that was pulling the stele forest up!

And beside that ray of light, a cold and indifferent figure gazed down at the ground under the white light.

Chapter 621 - One Sword Strike From Lin Qian!

“Start!”

“Start!”

A Wen and the orange haired yao shouted at the same time and moved simultaneously.

A Wen’s eyes were widened, the black plumes on his armor stood on end and vibrated in unison. He was slightly crouched, his arms pushed out as though he was about to hug someone, as he breathed and suddenly pushed down.

The ground under his feet soundlessly sank. A deep hole with smooth walls was formed. It was as though there was a diagram on the ground made with a tool, the outline was clear and sharp.

The orange haired yao shouted strangely. Lightning flashed across his body and crackled. His orange hair exploded into a poof. It was hilarious to watch because he was still shaking and swaying his head.

The ground underneath him was crumbling and disappearing at a visible rate underneath his feet. The hole’s outline traced out a picture; a picture of woman appeared in front of everyone.

Nan Yue and the others were stunned. They all had admiration in their eyes. These two were clearly a level above the rest of them.

These were two freaks!

When A Wen had acted, they hadn’t detected one vibration at all. The outline was so clear, the lines looked as sharp as if cut by a blade. It showed just how stunning A Wen’s control of power was.

They found that they understood even less about the orange haired yao’s yao art. It had actually caused the dirt to crumble from the inside. Even though it was lightning, it was corrosive and uncanny.

“Hey, youth, you aren’t too bad!” The orange haired yao was slightly shocked.

“Hmph! Next time, I will defeat you!” A Wen said, undaunted.

Under the shocked gazes of everyone else, the two started to compete fiercely again. Each working on their portrait.

“Hm, isn’t this A Gui? Young person, so you have been secretly pining for A Gui?” The orange haired yao pointed at the portrait under A Wen’s feet as he shouted.

“Idiot! You need to call her A Gui Daren!” A Wen glared angrily and then snorted coldly. “A Gui Daren’s beauty isn’t something that a common person like you can understand!”

“A Gui is a good girl, but not a beauty.” The orange haired yao shook his head and said smugly, “What I drew is a beauty!”

A Wen stared for a long time at the drawing under the orange haired yao’s feet. His expression suddenly became slightly strange as he muttered, “Why does your portrait seem a bit like Old Black … …”

The black smoke yao’s body trembled and then he charged over.

The orange haired yao had a smug expression. “Haha, young person, you are right! In the past, Old Black frequently cross dressed in the yao art house, and bewitched many men … …”

The black smoke yao’s eye twitched continuously. What had happened in the past was something he was unwilling to mention. This damned person! He was on the edge of losing his temper. The other people retreated perceptively and looked sympathetically at the black smoke yao.

Just as the black smoke yao was going to explode, there were violent tremors from the ground. Almost everyone was unable to stay standing up.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Did we dig through the maze?” The orange haired yao had an excited expression.

“Idiot!” The other people whose expressions had changed couldn’t help but curse at him simultaneously.

The shaking of the ground increased in intensity. A great noise came from deep within the ground like an ancient beast that was waking up from its slumber.

“Damn it! The ground is rising up!” The black smoke yao’s expression changed dramatically.

Everyone’s expressions abruptly changed!

———

With the mo appearing, Lin Qian no longer doubt that the stunning scene in front of him was a trap! That ray of light that shot straight into the sky and the vibrations that came with it was enough to show the terrifying power it contained. This power was so strong that even Lin Qian felt his heart tremble slightly. In this moment, he felt some respect for Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming who he had never met before.

In a blink, his gaze became clear again and that ripple in his mind disappeared without a trace. He did not think further on who Xiao Mo Ge was. At this moment, that was not important!

Crack!

The air around him suddenly exploded. The dense sword essence spread into the surroundings without any more concealment! In this moment, he was like a treasure sword that was drawn from its sheathe; no longer concealed its sharp edge!

Around him, every person showed excitement as their fighting spirit rose. The sword essences gave off different colors of light. Each person was like a sword wanting to drink the blood of their enemies!

“Does everyone remember the plan?” Lin Qian looked around and asked.

“Yes!” All of them were solemn.

“This mission is related to the glory and decline of our Kun Lun. We may break our bones and our bodies, but we will not retreat!” Lin Qian’s expression was determined. No one could look directly at his burning eyes. He slowly drew out his flying sword.

“Will not retreat!” The group responded in unison with serious expressions. Fanatic flames flashed through their eyes as their flying swords appeared in their hands.

Lin Qian turned around and suddenly raised the flying sword in his hand. He shouted, “For Kun Lun!”

All of his ling power suddenly boiled and his presence rose to a peak. In the night, his sword essence was like a tangible burning flame. Within the darkness, in this land of the mo, he displayed his power without any fear.

Lin Qian’s fighting spirit and enthusiasm infected every Kun Lun sword xiu. The fiery passion they felt caused their ling power to boil. All of their terror and timidness disappeared. Fighting spirit burned every inch of their skin and they reflexively shook.

At this moment, for Kun Lun, even if they were to die, they would not frown one bit.

They raised their flying swords in unison and shouted, “For Kun Lun!”

Before the sound dissipated, Lin Qian flew into the sky first. He turned into a sword light that tore the night sky as he shot towards the stele forest that was rising up!

The other people saw this and moved without hesitation!

In this moment, the sword howls were like a tide and the lights were like rain!

———

The force that the pillar of light  gave off as it rose disturbed the air. The turbulence caused Zuo Mo’s clothing to flap in the wind.

He looked down.

He saw the mo experts that were flying over, and the blinding sword lights. He saw the experts from the other sects that had sneaked into the city. That pair of emotionless eyes looked indifferently at all of this.

His mo skill had been channeled to an extreme, while his consciousness and ling power were still streaming deep into his body.

This icy world became increasingly clear in front of him.

The rest of the stele forest was continuously rising and the spot he was standing in had started to sink.

The stele in front of him was the entrance to the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.

“Treasure Pavilion’s entrance!”

Someone shouted and this caused a ruckus. The area that was sinking was very small and not even two zhang in radius.

Watching as Zuo Mo slowly sank down, the experts that were rushing forwards felt even more urgent. Even the sword lights from Kun Lun sped up and the howl from the swords increased in volume.

“Take control of the entrance!” Yu Shuang shouted.

The other mo hesitated slightly and then made their decision. They gritted their teeth and leapt at the incoming sword lights.

If Kun Lun gained control of the entrance, no one would be able to enter.

The disciples of the other three great sects moved at the same time, but their presence was lacking compared to Kun Lun. Almost all the mo targeted Kun Lun.

———

Facing the mo that was charging at him, Lin Qian was fearless. With a clear hum, the sword light grew. The high pitched howl suddenly became low and deep. Like a meteor crashing down from the sky, it smashed towards its enemies.

“Protect Eldest Shixiong!”

The sword xiu that had been following behind Lin QIan suddenly increased in speed. Like a flower blooming, they drew out elegant curves as they moved to intercept the other mo experts.

They did not pay any attention to the enemy in front of Lin Qian.

Everyone had absolute confidence in Eldest Shixiong.

The person in front of Lin Qian was Yu Shuang.

Yu Shuang’s pupils contracted into pinpoints. The other did not have any room to retreat, and his sword essence was determined. He shouted, “Come!”

His body was immediately covered in green mo matrixes. The green mo matrixes were unusually beautiful, the lines thin and complex. The entire mo matrix looked like a blooming green flower.

With Yu Shuang as the center, the complex and fine blue flower matrix spread into the surroundings. Bright pink roses bloomed from these green matrixes and it was beautiful to see.

This was Yu Shuang’s [Rose Greenery Domain]!

Suddenly, all the roses shook slightly. The petals crumbled soundlessly. In a moment, the pink roses around Yu Shuang turned into a sea of flower petals.

The pink rose petals were torn into pieces and slowly became green at a visible rate.

Woosh!

The green rose petal pieces seemed to be caught in a wind. It turned into a green flower wind that headed towards Lin Qian.

The mo that noticed this all felt their hearts shake.

Yu Shuang’s first move was his famed killing move, [Green Flower Rain]!

There was a strange energy field between every green flower petal. The innumerable flowers that appeared in the flurry of petals was the result of the countless fields overlapping on each other. It formed a terrifyingly powerful bog. Once one was trapped inside it, even the strongest power would be restrained by the energy fields. It was like being trapped in a bog. The person would move slower and slower until they were unable to move.

Countless numbers of people had fallen to the [Green Flower Rain].

As Yu Shuang’s power increased, and his fame spread, it was rare for people to see this Green Flower Rain.

So when the mo saw Yu Shuang’s [Green Flower Rain], they became excited. The unique and strange power of [Green Flower Rain] was the bane of the sharp sword essences.

They seemed to see this sword xiu being tangled up like an insect in a spider web!

———

The fighting spirit in Lin Qian’s eyes heated up.

The flying sword in his hand seemed to feel his excitement and uncontrollably hummed to respond to its master.

The flying sword in Lin Qian’s hand was not an ordinary one. It was the famed sword, Tai’a. The body of the sword was like a clear spring and exceptionally nimble.

Facing the rain of green flowers coming at him, a burning light lit up at the tip of Tai’a. It seemed to be a spark created by Tai’a scraping against the air. What was strange was that the sword did not turn red, but became even clearer and transparent as though it was made of ice.

Lin Qian’s left eye was as red as fire, and his right eyes as blue as ice.

Hiss!

Like a sharp blade slicing through cotton cloth.

The resilient and sticky Green Flower Rain was cleaved apart by this single sword blow!

Yu Shuang gave a muffled grunt. His eyes were filled with shock and fear. A thread of blood slipped from the corner of his mouth.

One move! He was defeated in one move by Lin Qian!

Who was this person?

His one strike shook all of the Great Peace City!

Zuo Mo was unaffected, as he slowly sunk into the ground looking indifferently at Lin Qian’s stunning blow.

Chapter 622 - Anti Dragon Claw

Lin Qian’s single sword strike had intimidated the entire battlefield!

Yu Shuang was ranked second on the Great Peace Mo Ranking. In Hundred Savage Realm, he was a top-ranked expert but he was wounded by a single blow.

Lin Qian was still midair as he held Tai’a. The light at the tip of Tai’a was as bright as the sun. There wasn’t any of his usual gentleness. His red and blue eyes were filled with pride, arrogance, and disdain as he slowly glanced over everyone.

His movements were extremely slow but it held a suffocating pressure. No one dared to meet his gaze.

The entire battlefield was silent.

The mo of Great Peace city lost their nerve aftering seeing Lin Qian’s sword strike.

All of the Kun Lun disciples looked with heated gazes at Eldest Shixiong, who in turn was looking down at all present. They felt excited and wanted to roar.

Kun Lun!

We are Kun Lun!

Eldest Shixiong’s peerless stature as though he ruled the world was deeply imprinted in their minds.

“I have not asked for Sir’s name?” Chang Yuan Hao’s voice broke the silence.

Everyone finally woke up from their shock and looked at this youth holding the sword. Even the disciples of the other three sects had ashen complexions as they looked at Lin Qian who was like a god of the sword in the air.

Floating in the air, Lin Qian did not seem to hear this. He descended step by step with his sword drawn, walking as though there were invisible stairs under his feet. He was at ease but no one dared to block him.

Suddenly, three figures appeared before Lin Qian and stopped him in his steps.

Zhu Ke, Xia, and the middle-aged attendant.

“Ah, these old bones of mine are going to get damaged today!” Zhu Ke said to himself smilingly.

Xia did not say a word but the long spear in his hand suddenly flicked up!

The middle-aged attendant looked at Lin Qian with a dark face.

Lin Qian did not pause. He walked down from the sky as though he didn’t see the three at all.

———

As Zuo Mo’s figure slowly sank into the ground, the sound outside was blocked off.

He entered a new world.

Half-transparent threads crossed in the air. Other than these threads, there was nothing else in the surroundings. Some of the threads formed a path that seemed to be made out of spider-webs Zuo Mo’s field of vision. Zuo Mo advanced following the path.

With every step, a mo matrix would appear out of the emptiness and support his foot.

The spider-web path spread into the distance and it was possible to see thin threads along the way.

Zuo Mo noticed these thin threads seemed to be gathering in one direction and the same direction as the spider-web path.

As he moved forward, this became even more evident.

Even now, Zuo Mo did not know what these thin threads were, and why he could only see them in this state.

The thin threads increased in density.

Zuo Mo suddenly stopped in his steps. He lifted his head. The scene in front of him cause a ripple even in his present state of mind.

A claw was tangled up by countless threads in the air.

This claw was enormous. It was like a high mountain peak reaching into the clouds. Even looking from a distance, he could feel its peerless enormity!

In front of this enormous claw, Zuo Mo was as minuscule as an ant.

But what truly had caused a stir in Zuo Mo’s mind was not the enormity of this enormous claw but that a he had seen this enormous claw before!

“Anti Dragon Claw!”

“This is impossible!”

Wei and Pu Yao’s exclamations sounded at the same time.

Zuo Mo had seen this dragon claw before. When Wei he had disguised himself as his previous master  he held a claw that was identical to this, except it was smaller then.

“The Anti Dragon Claw had landed in Shi Zi Ming’s possession… …” Pu Yao murmured. He looked dazedly at the mountainous Anti Dragon Claw and a glimmer of tears appeared in his eye.

Many distant scene appeared in front of him. That peerless beautiful face that had changed his entire life was so clear. Even the years which could corrode anything didn’t seem to have left any mark on it.

Wei was silent, his face sorrowful and reminiscing.

Zuo Mo suddenly stepped towards the Anti Dragon Claw.

“Stop! Quick, stop!”

“Don’t go near it!”

Pu Yao and Wei were frightened by Zuo Mo’s action. Their expressions changed and they warned him.

But Zuo Mo seemed to be possessed and didn’t hear their shouts. His steps did not falter at all as he continued to walk towards the mountainous Anti Dragon Claw.

Boom… … Boom… … Boom… …

The rhythmic beating grew clearer until it shook people’s minds. As Zuo Mo went closer, the power of the beating increased.

The source was the Anti Dragon Claw. It seemed to have a heart that was continuously beating.

When Zuo Mo walked under the Anti Dragon Claw and raised his head, he truly felt the colossal nature of it. That peerless pressure caused his mind to waver.

But Zuo Mo’s eyes were tranquil, cold and indifferent.

It was alive.

When Zuo Mo’s hand touched the Anti Dragon Claw, he could clearly feel the terrifying power and strong vitality contained underneath the scales harder than metal, as well as deep unwillingness!

“Don’t move it, it is not something you can use now!” Pu Yao’s voice was so urgent it changed in pitch.

Zuo Mo did not seem to hear Pu Yao. The half-transparent threads in his vision seemed fragile but securely restrained the Anti Dragon Claw so that it was unable to move at all.

Wei said rapidly, “The Anti Dragon Claw is one of the ten celestial mo weapons, it is not something that you can subdue now. Only marshals are able to subdue them. Master had been a marshal and almost lost her life when subduing this!”

The Anti Dragon Claw seemed to hear Pu Yao and Wei’s words. Zuo Mo could feel the claw laughing at him for reaching far beyond his limits. Its heart was beating even more heavily. Vast power spread from it and the thick strands were unable to block off all of it.

he thin threads that reached into the dark void would shake with every pulse, every beat. This power would reach into distant places. However, no matter how strong the Anti Dragon Claw was, it could not break free of the tens of thousands of slender threads.

Zuo Mo’s expression did not change at all.

His upraised face was cold and indifferent, and his eyes were icy.

His gaze landed on a part of the Anti Dragon Claw. Within his vision, that was the place where there was the most threads.

He suddenly flew up and gazed at the layers of thin threads. He suddenly reached out and pushed into this ball of thin threads.

Pu Yao and Wei’s faces became ashen!

Suddenly, the Anti Dragon Claw stopped beating. The entire space sank into a silence. All vibrations, all sound, even the light on the thin strands stopped moving.

A moment later, the entire space started to shake violently.

Boom boom boom!

All of the thin threads were violently trembling, every single thread!

In this instant, even the Anti Dragon Claw gave off a nervous vibration!

Suddenly, a legend that Pu Yao had almost forgotten flashed through his mind. A disbelieving look suddenly came out of his eyes as he blurted, “This is … …”

Boooom!

The space started to crumble.

———

Lin Qian’s hair was disarrayed and the light of the Tai’a sword in his hand was dim.

The three experts had worked together to successfully stop his advance. All three of the experts were unfathomable in their power. They were not famous, but they were the strongest within their respective families.

“You should be proud to be able to force the three of us together.” Zhu Ke’s tone carried a thread of admiration. Before today, he had never thought that he would work with the two beside him to attack a young sword xiu that was in his twenties.

It had been more than a decade since he had fought, much less with the other two by his side.

Such a great genius, even he had never seen one like this before.

Kun Lun, as expected of Kun Lun!

So terrifying!

Xia did not speak but his upraised long spear didn’t dare to move away from Lin Qian.

The most shocked among them was the middle-aged attendant. Her expression changed constantly and she was shocked. Her mother had served Shi Zi Ming and she had been very knowledgeable from a very young age. After working hard on her cultivation in these years, she had reached the cusp of shen power. She was also just one step away from marshal level.

Even so, she had to work together with other people to subdue this Kun Lun youth.

He really was terrifying!

The other sword xiu were also entangled up. Qi Diao Yu and the others were lacking compared to Lin Qian, but they were evenly matched to the other Kun Lun disciples.

The fighting between the two was extremely intense.

The other three sect disciples also were fighting hard. The mo were on home territory and they had the advantage of numbers. At this time, they were fighting in a fury, and they did not care about fatalities.

There were xiuzhe constantly dying and the situation was becoming increasingly disadvantageous towards them.

———

Lin Qian appeared disheveled, but his left eye that was completely red became even more heated as his blue eye became even colder. His usually gentle smile was as sharp as a sword edge.

He had predicted how difficult this trip to the Great Peace was but he had not expected that he would encounter three opponents that were this powerful.

These three people were extremely strong.

The old man’s mo physique was also eerie and hard to predict. Even Lin Qian did not recognize it. [Soul Mo Lure] was one of the top mo skills among the mo and supposedly had been passed down from the ancient times.

He was even more shocked by the male in heavy armor. That was gravestone armor!

The middle-aged female had a strange power, and Lin Qian even detected a thread of shen power from her.

These three, any one of them, should be a top expert in the world.

He was meeting three at once!

Fighting three against one!

Lin Qian’s fighting spirit burned. He did not have any timidness or fear. The Tai’a sword in his hand seemed to come alive again.

He suddenly raised the Tai’a sword!

The blue Tai’a sword was like a sword of ice as a tiny light lit up at its tip.,

Holding the Tai’a sword, Lin Qian drew with the sword in the air.

The light of the sword drew out streaks of light in the air. They seemed to be lines drawn on paper and did not dissipate.

With every stroke of the Tai’a sword, a roar of thunder would sound.

The three people facing him changed expressions. They recognized the power. All the power in the surroundings were vibrating uncontrollably with the strokes of the Tai’a sword!

They were just about to attack when their bodies froze. They abruptly turned around to look at the stele forest behind them!

In this moment, their faces were filled with shock.

Chapter 623 - The Dragon Claw Coming Into The World

“Is there really a Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?” the subordinate asked curiously.

“Of course,” Bu Heng replied without turning his head. He gazed at the ray of light that reached into the sky and was slightly absent-minded as he thought of other matters.

“Haha! Brother Bu is peerless in your intelligence and has set up a gigantic trap. This little brother has never respected a person but has to say I respect Brother Bu!” The one who spoke was a large man that looked to be in his forties. He had a pair of bright eyes.

“Brother Ming is too complimentary.” Bu Heng bowed slightly and said with a smile, “If it wasn’t for Brother Ming, this one would not dare to act so dangerously.”

“Going with the flow, Brother Bu is a true genius!” Ming Hui clapped his hand sand praised, “You have such an elite battalion. If you can take this jie, the power of the Yaksha clan will increase exponentially! The Yaksha clan’s prosperity is in sight.”

“I do not think so.” A beautiful female next to Ming Hui couldn’t resist smiling coldly and said, “The world respects the authority of Great Peace. We have already broken unspoken rules by preparing to attack them. If Bu Daren leads the Yaksha clan in taking this territory, people will most likely come to attack you!”

Ming Hui hurriedly said in apology, “Brother Bu, please forgive. This one has spoiled Sister very much. Do not keep her nonsense on your mind.”

Bu Heng shook his head. “Brother Ming does not have to be so. Miss Yu Wei is right.” He suddenly raised his head and gazed at  Great Peace City in the distance. He said lightly, “However, how can there be a perfect solution in such troubled times? If one does not advance and retreats, they will die without a fight.”

Ming Yu Wei was startled when Bu Heng said such harsh words in such a light tone.

“If one does not want their clan to have to submit to others, then one needs to have a place of their own. My Green Yaksha clan has roamed for too long, the clanspeople have a hard life, and the branch families mostly live as marauders, living off banditry. Bu’s wish is to conquer a place for my clan to rest. These are troubled times, but even if this was a peaceful time, Bu might still fight.”

Ming Yu Wei was stunned by the speech while Ming Hui showed admiration. He said with a laugh, “Brother Bu’s words are great. A man should be like this in life! However, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong in raiding. It is an exciting life!”

Bu Heng’s subordinates looked with respectful and reverent expressions at Bu Heng from behind him.

“This little brother can only envy the freedom of Brother Ming. However, there is nothing to be done about ties to the family. As for the future attacks that Miss Yu Wei speaks about, it is possible, but there is nothing to worry about in the short-term,” Bu Heng said confidently. “The major factions that are close to Great Peace are too busy fighting against the xiuzhe now and do not have attention to spare. If Brother Ming cleans up all the traces, and not leave anything behind, no one can find an excuse to attack us. Also, if I have a buffer time, I will definitely be able to create an even stronger battalion!”

The last words were steely and strong confidence was evident.

“This little sister has worried too much! Brother Bu, please forgive my rudeness just now!” Ming Yu Wei suddenly bowed with a serious expression.

Bu Heng hurriedly returned the bow. “Miss Yu Wei is too polite.”

“Brother Bu seems to be very familiar with the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion, can you tell us more,” Ming Hui said. “I only know that there is a stone stele within it.”

Bu Heng said gravely, “I do not know much. It was just coincidence that I learned some things. There are three treasures in the Great Peace Treasure pavilion. I know of one of the others but not of the last.”

“What is the other treasure?” Ming Hui was very curious.

Bu Heng slowly said, “Anti Dragon Claw!”

Ming Hui and his sister’s expression changed dramatically. Ming Hui exclaimed, “Sky mo weapon Anti Dragon Claw! Impossible!”

A hint of desire flashed across Bu Heng’s eyes but it quickly cleared up. “It really is one of the ten great sky mo weapons, the Anti Dragon Claw. I was also very surprised when I learned this. Brother Ming, you must know of the history of the Anti Dragon Claw. While I do not know how Grandmaster Shi Zi Ming obtained it, but since it was hidden for so many years, it seems that even the Grandmaster had been afraid of the inauspicious history of the weapon.”

Ming Hui recovered from his shock and said when he heard this, “Inauspiciousness? If a mo weapon is auspicious, is it even a mo weapon? Something used to kill, it is best for it to be inauspicious!”

His gaze was burning hot. “I am even more curious about the last treasure!”

“No matter what, it is Brother Ming’s.” Bu Heng’s expression was normal. “However, Brother Ming, do not let any of them escape.”

“Ha, Brother Bu, don’t worry. My Ming Bandits have a nasty reputation but we do not break our word.” Ming Hui laughed viciously and said, “Those young masters are the top notch fat sheep! As to the three princesses, they can be maids for Sister.”

“Brother Ming needs to be careful. The three princesses all have experts with them,” Bu Heng reminded.

“Brother Bu, many thanks for the reminder!” Ming Hui said laughingly, “Against an army, the experts are just so. Ha, it wasn’t a waste to come, we will definitely make a profit!”

Suddenly, Ming Yu Wei’s gaze moved and her expression changed slightly. She pointed at Great Peace City in the distance and shouted in shock, “Look!”

Everyone followed her finger and looked.

Their expressions all changed!

———

The pillar of light that connected the earth to the sky suddenly disappeared.

At this time, the stele forest was pulled up hundreds of zhang from the ground. Looking from afar, they were like a lonely pillar of stone, but nearby, people unconsciously stopped breathing when they looked at them.

The sides of the stone pillar were smooth as though they had been cut and polished. The black material was as warm as jade. The area taken over by the stele forest was over hundreds of mu and when they were all pulled up, the thick stone pillar covered with exquisite mo matrixes was a wondrous sight!

The black sea outside Great Peace had been restless starting when the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion had come out of the ground, and wailed like ghosts.

Yet at this moment, the sea quieted.

All of Great Peace City sank into a strange silence.

Crack!

A stone stele dropped from above the stone pillars and shattered when it hit the ground.

This was … …

Everyone had shocked expressions and a strong feeling, it was coming!

Crack! Crack … …

The stone steles continuously fell down.

Following that was a string of cracks. Countless lines quickly spread across the thick black pillar.

In a blink, the cracks covered all of the stone pillar.

The sudden changed shocked everyone. They unconsciously stopped fighting and looked at the stone pillar that was about to transform.

Woosh!

It was not a loud sound but it was like a signal. The stone pillar covered in cracks began crumbling apart. Fragments of various sizes came down like a rockslide.

The people close by paled and hurriedly flew into the air to retreat.

As they flew and looked back, their pupils contracted. They couldn’t help but stop breathing.

Oh, Heavens!

Above that pile of rock, an enormous dragon claw that was hundreds of zhang large was floating in the air.

The Anti Dragon Claw that was seeing the light of day again seemed unusually excited and the five digits lightly tensed.

Boom!

A vast vicious energy suddenly ripped into the surroundings like a violent tide!

“Careful!”

Zhu Ke and the other two disengaged from Lin Qian and appeared immediately in front of their respective princesses.

Boom!

Light lit up on the bodies of the three as they managed to stop the vicious energy that reached them. Every one of them had a serious expression. The guards around them were blown away by the violent wave of energy like dried grass in the wind.

Lin Qian’s expression was shocked as the Tai’a sword was braced in front of him. When the vicious energy swept past, the Tai’a sword hummed and shook violently!

Qi Diao Yu, Chang Yuan Hao, and the others managed to withstand this vicious energy.

But those that were weaker were wounded if they tried to resist.

After the wave passed, it was completely silent and everyone had ashen faces. This item was so vicious it was shocking. Just its energy was so powerful. How terrifying would it be if it was used at full power?

At this time, the ones that were still standing were either experts from Great Peace City or from the four major sects. But when these experts raised their heads to look at the enormous dragon claw, their minds wavered.

“Anti Dragon Claw!”

Someone shouted and everyone shook. Even Lin Qian couldn’t help the expression of shock that appeared on his face. As the eldest disciple of Kun Lun, he naturally knew of this name.

“Anti Dragon Claw … …” Zhu Ke’s gaze became unfocused for a quick moment before he quickly recovered. However, the heat in his eyes could not be disguised.

The other people also had burning gazes.

Anti Dragon Claw, one of the ten great sky mo weapons!

No wonder it was so powerful and vicious!

Sky mo weapon, the strongest mo weapons. Every sky mo weapon was a legend. Of the ten great sky mo weapons, there were only three whose locations were known and the people who possessed them were the strongest in the mo realm.

It was the mo weapon that everyone mo dreamed of!

Wait!

That was … …

Everyone’s gazes focused and landed on the shadow cast by the lower half of the Anti Dragon Claw.

It was Xiao Mo Ge that had just went underground!

One of his hands was touching the Anti Dragon Claw. His eyes were closed as he silently floated in the air. Compared to the enormous size of the Anti Dragon Claw, Xiao Mo Ge was as small as an ant. Adding on that he was in the shadow of the Anti Dragon Claw, no one had initially noticed him.

But when people noticed his existence, their expressions changed.

He was … …

Lin Qian’s expression changed slightly. Even he had felt pressured by the power of that vicious energy but Xiao Mo Ge hadn’t reacted at all.

He was trying to claim the Anti Dragon Claw!

When this thought flashed through Lin Qian’s mind, the next thought was –stop him!

He still did not remember who Xiao Mo Ge was but his intuition told him this was someone dangerous!

Lin Qian’s murderousness was burning but he did not act. He was searching for the stone stele of legend. He did not understand why he felt such strong murderousness towards Xiao Mo Ge but at this moment, the stone stele was more important!

With the stone stele, Kun Lun would find the key to cultivating shen power!

His gaze suddenly focused.

There!

In the pile of stones under the Anti Dragon Claw, there was a small section of a grey and nondescript stone stele showing.

Without hesitation, Lin Qian shot at that stele like lightning.

Also at this time, Zuo Mo’s tightly closed eyes opened. That pair of indifferent and icy eyes reflected everything. He was like a god in the air coldly gazing down at the figure moving so fast it was near impossible to spot.

Chapter 624 - Attack!

The other people present might not have spotted Lin Qian’s charge, but Zhu Ke and the two others who had fought against him had been keeping an eye on him.

They were extremely wary of Lin Qian!

When Lin Qian moved, the three moved in tandem.

Murderousness filled their minds. Previously, the situation had been unclear and they had other considerations. Now with the Anti Dragon Claw in the air, the mo skill stele below, the treasure pavilion reappearing, they had no other considerations. Their murderousness could not be suppressed!

Midair, light flowed through the red and blue eyes. His long hair danced in the wind. Lin Qian knew that this was the time when victory was to be decided. He suddenly shouted, “Kun Lun!”

“Kun Lun!”

The sword xiu of Kun Lun responded. Almost at the same time, they threw their flying swords at Lin Qian.

Light rose in the air as the swords flew across the sky.

The seven flying swords had seven different sword essences. Cool and dim, or blinding and bright, or pressuring, or heavy, they were all from Kun Lun. While they were different, they were all passed over to Lin Qian at the same moment the three people moved, the seven sword lights flashed and had gathered in front of Lin Qian.

At some time, Lin Qian had turned around and faced the three people. His expression was grave, his right eye cold as ice, his left burning as fire. The seven sword essences criss-crossed in front of him and formed a seven colored wheel.

His upraised Tai’a sword tip was the center where the seven swords spun.

A dot of light suddenly was emitted from the sword tip!

“Kill!”

A sound came from Lin Qian’s tongue. The air in front of him seemed to be heavily impacted and exploded!

The seven swords revolved in counter-clockwise direction like a flower blooming. The seven colored wheel of light expanded to about ten mu in size in a flash. It was like an enormous net that came crashing down on the trio.

Inside the sword wheel, sword essence roiled like the enormous maw of a gaping beast about to consume the people.

Zhu Ke’s expression changed slightly as he shouted, “You want to die!”

The middle-aged attendant’s gaze was cold and she was clearly angry. Xia’s right leg braced against the ground, the long spear raised as his presence increased continuously.

Pew pew!

Two water droplets shot through the chest of a Kun Lun sword xiu and created two blooms of blood. The pupils of this Kun Lun sword xiu suddenly expanded as he dropped down.

Bam, he fell onto the ground like a block of wood. On the face covered by the billowing dust, a slightly difficult smile slowly froze.

Qi Diao Yu’s expression changed slightly. He had made a successful sneak attack but he had intended to disturb these Kun Lun sword xiu.

That killing move was clearly a battle formation technique. It was powerful but it required a high level of teamwork. Qi Diao Yu had originally thought that when these sword xiu were threatened, they would recall their flying swords. But this Kun Lun sword xiu would die rather than call his flying sword!

Kun Lun!

For some reason, Qi Diao Yu felt a chill.

———

Other people saw that in Zuo Mo’s hand was on the Anti Dragon Claw but they didn’t know that the Anti Dragon Claw was covered in invisible threads. Zuo Mo’s hand was among these threads.

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Pu dazedly murmured, “Three Thousand Threads of Worry … … there really are Three Thousand Threads of Worry in this world … …”

When Wei heard Pu Yao’s words, his body shook. Shock climbed onto his face. He exclaimed, “Three Thousand Threads of Worry!”

Three Thousand Threads of Worry!

Knowing the name of the threads wasn’t of any help to Zuo Mo.

The other ends of these threads had originally been tied to those skill steles but now that the stele forest was destroyed and the steles shattered, these thin threads lost their anchors and floated in the air.

They floated in the air like sea grasses and rippled with the wind.

No one noticed their existence except for Zuo Mo.

The area that Zuo Mo had reached into was where the threads were thickest, and the central part of the threads.

He was touching a small bead, no, more accurately, it was a clear ball of something like mist. If it wasn’t that his vision was modified by his state, and his hand was directly touching it, he would not have noticed it.

But in his gaze, he could see that it was a bead.

All the slender threads extended from this bead.

When Zuo Mo touched this bead, all the thin threads that floated in the air and wrapped around the Anti Dragon Claw suddenly froze.

The Anti Dragon Claw that had been so vicious and pressuring also froze!

That transparent ball of mist suddenly became burning hot like molten metal. If Zuo Mo was in his usual state, his first reaction would be to release his grip and throw away the object.

But at this time, in an inhuman state, Zuo Mo was unaffected. It was as though what was being burned was not his hand. He looked coldly at the bead without any change.

The feeling of burning increased. Even though Zuo Mo had superior strength from cultivating the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus, he felt it was slightly burdensome now, and his hand started to tremble.

In his vision, the threads floating and waving in the sky suddenly moved to wrap around him as though they encountered danger.

The thin threads wrapped around the Anti Dragon Claw reflexively tightened. The Anti Dragon Claw started to tremble violently. The vicious Anti Dragon Claw didn’t have any power to resist these thin threads.

Facing the incoming threads, Zuo Mo did not dodge and reached out his left hand.

The threads were unusually quick and tightly wrapped around Zuo Mo in a flash.

Zuo Mo finally felt the suppression that the Anti Dragon Claw did. These threads were terrifyingly strong. Once he was tied, he felt as though he was unable to breathe. Even if his Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique was the third ranking mo physique in general level, it was as fragile as paper in front of such power.

At this time, a light suddenly flashed across Zuo Mo’s cold and emotionless eyes.

He was an experienced hunter and had patiently waited for a chance. When the chance appeared in front of him, he did not hesitate.

He suddenly acted!

———

The death of his shidi did not affect Lin Qian at all. But in the depths of his icy right eye, an emotion that was hard to describe flashed and disappeared. His movements did not pause at all. As the sword wheel moved towards the three that were the greatest threat to him, he had already turned around.

Like a large bird spreading its wings, he charged at the stone stele.

The area in front of him was flat and without any obstructions.

In the sky, the Anti Dragon Claw violently trembled. Xiao Mo Ge seemed to be taming it. Lin Qian forced his murderousness down and still aimed for the stone stele.

With Xiao Mo Ge’s present strength, it was akin to death to seek to tame the Anti Dragon Claw. It would be impossible to subdue such a vicious object without being marshal level or having a special method. This was not something that could be solved by talent. Treasures like sky mo weapons had to go through tribulations to form. There were too many chance occurrences required to tame it!

Lin Qian didn’t have any thoughts of taming the Anti Dragon Claw.

As to the third treasure of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion in legend, he was curious but it was just curiosity. Up until now, he still hadn’t seen it.

However, even if he saw it, he would not act even if it was tempting.

He only had one goal. The mo skill stele.

He was extremely quick. At this time, there were no other people in his field of view. Even with his composure, his heart couldn’t help but beat faster. If he could obtain the Great Peace Mo Skill Stele, he had absolute confidence no one could take it from him!

Even if he was the only one left, he had the confidence he could take the stone stele and kill his way back to Kun Lun!

Closer!

Almost in his hand!

Just as a hint of irrepressible joy flashed through Lin Qian’s eyes, a figure suddenly shot out of the stone debris.

Lin Qian’s pupils contracted!

His reaction was rapid. The Tai’a sword in his right hand stabbed at the figure!

A blinding spark lit up on the sword tip of the Tai’a sword!

———

A Wen was covered in dust as he climbed out of the rubble. When the maze had suddenly collapsed, they had almost been buried alive. However, they reacted quickly. The moment the maze collapsed, they had cast yao arts to protect themselves.

Otherwise, with the yao’s relatively weak bodies, they would have turned to meat paste.

At this time, the benefits of cultivating a mo physique like A Wen did was clear. He fought his way out of the pile of stones relying just on his strong body.

However, the moment he came out and without knowing the situation, a terrifying sword essence locked onto him!

His expression immediately turned pale!

The sword essence was so strong it was almost unimaginable. His soul almost left his body.

But the harsh training of Guard Camp showed their results. His mind was completely blank but his body instinctively reacted.

The armored plumes on his body vibrated in unison as his mo skill was channeled to its maximum. The mo spear in his hand, he instinctively took a step forward, and a text-book stab was completed like lightning.

Without any thinking, he breathed and shouted, “Kill!”

At the tip of the mo spear, a thick black spear energy flashed and shot out of the void just in front of the Tai’a sword!

Under the pile of stone debris, a purple arrow light suddenly flew out. It drew out a rule-straight streak of light in the air and aimed at Lin Qian. It was Nan Yue’s [South Sky Arrow Art]!

A layer of faint green-grey mist that rippled strangely spread towards Lin Qian’s feet in a blink. Cang Ze’s [Grey Scar Art]!

Both the purple energy and the green-grey mist had a watery tinge that was hard to see with the eye. Ming Jue Zi’s [Water Wood Light Art]!

The ground under Lin Qian’s feet suddenly crumbled. A strange field suddenly surrounded him. It was like an invisible rope that caught him!

“Haha!  A man that can lasso a horse is strong and masculine!” The orange-haired yao’s heartless laugh came from the pile of stones.

The black smoke yao did not attack but leapt straight for the stone stele. He knew that he was the weakest but he was extremely smart. He immediately found the best way to disrupt the other’s thoughts.

Everyone had been working together for a long time and had built up their teamwork. In this attack, their cooperation and timing had been perfect. And this was the first fight after their power had increased. Every attack contained all of their strength. It was definitely their strongest ever attack!

The killing intent filled the air!

Chapter 625 - Assimilation

Surprise flickered across Lin Qian’s mind.

He was not threatened by the power of these attacks but what he was surprised at was that the mo skills and yao arts these people cultivated were not normal!

It was just because they were not strong enough yet to express the power of their mo skills and yao arts that he was able to deal with them.

Who were these people?

Lin Qian was slightly shocked but with the stone stele within reach, he did not plan on wasting time on these questions.

The Tai’a sword did not waver as it stabbed forward!

The spear energy, the purple arrow energy, the green-grey ripples, they all seemed to sink into a bog and suddenly slowed down.

The Tai’a sword also shook once.

Pia!

The lights shattered. A Wen and the others were sent flying as though they were hit with hammers!

Lin Qian’s body wavered slightly.

His expression changed slightly. When the Tai’a sword had come into contact with the energies, he found that there was a layer of a faint and strange power covering them. Even so, he had the power to defeat them but he hadn’t expected that the restraining power that came from under him was acting one wave after another, in the form of three waves!

With the two other waves interfering, he had lost slightly.

His mind shook. He knew that he had underestimated these people. These few were not strong but their teamwork was good. He also had let down his guard after the hard fight just now.

Damn it!

Lin Qian’s retaliation was unusually strong. Including the black smoke yao, everyone was thrown far away as though they were hit by charging wild beasts.

Attacking in anger, Lin Qian’s attack was very exquisite. Killing them was not as important as getting the stone stele!

But when two figures suddenly appeared in front of him.

Lin Qian’s pupils abruptly contracted!

For the first time, he stopped moving.

———

A strong suction force suddenly formed from the spirit consciousness and ling power inside Zuo Mo’s body. The slender threads were immediately pulled into his body without any warning.

There was no change in his cold thinking. Like a puppet, Zuo Mo controlled his body.

There were three treasures in the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion.

When Zuo Mo saw the thin strands covering the Anti Dragon Claw, he realized that these slender threads restraining the Anti Dragon Claw was the third treasure!

In an icy state, Zuo Mo was unusually sensitive.

The stone stele had reminded him that he could only find the “world” in this icy state. When he confirmed that these slender threads were the third treasure, he thought that obtaining these threads would be related to his icy state.

The icy state was produced because his spiritual consciousness and his ling power continuously went into his body. These slender threads definitely had something to do with spiritual consciousness and ling power.

The slender threads continued to burrow into Zuo Mo’s body. His thoughts were still calm.

Zuo Mo’s daring surpassed Pu Yao and Wei’s expectations. They gaped with wide eyes as they looked at Zuo Mo’s mad action. They almost didn’t believe their eyes. Zuo Mo was slightly fickle but it was rare to see him do such a crazy thing.

Was this the influence of his present state?

The two did not know but their hearts were in the air.

“This guy is crazy!” Pu Yao’s voice trembled. It wasn’t that he had never seen treasures before. He had been a sky yao. But because he had seen many treasures, he felt that Zuo Mo was insane!

The more powerful the treasure, other than chance encounters, the more strength one needed. The top treasures all had intelligence and chose their masters. Those without strength would not be able to even tolerate the power of the treasure and would die immediately.

Seeing a good treasure and charging up to grab it was the best way of dying immediately.

Thinking how Zuo Mo was just in general rank now, his heart trembled.

“This guy is greedy to the bone! He doesn’t want to live!” Pu Yao gritted his teeth and shouted. He and Wei were both in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. If Zuo Mo died, they would naturally turn to dust with him.

Wei was silent for a moment and then said with a smile, “Don’t you feel that he has the same mannerisms as Master?”

Pu Yao stilled. That face appeared in front of his eyes. He blinked, and a thread of pain in his heart dissipated. He said coldly, “She was marshal level!”

“The Anti Dragon Claw should not end up in the hands of anyone else.” Wei raised his head and murmured as he looked at the enormous Anti Dragon Claw.

The words voiced what Pu Yao thought. He was silent.

“It is definitely impossible for a general to subdue the Anti Dragon Claw,” Wei said directly. “I experienced the entire process of Master subduing the Anti Dragon Claw. With her marshal strength, she still almost lost her life. The key to subduing is on the Three Thousand Threads of Worry!”

Pu Yao was still silent.

Wei raised his head to gaze at the Anti Dragon Claw and said, “Shi Zi Ming is a true genius and found something that is a bane to the Anti Dragon Claw. Three Thousand Threads of Worry, it really is true to the name, even the most brutal power cannot hold against threads of worry!”

Pu Yao said solemnly, “I do not know much about the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. I just know that it is one of the most mysterious yao star cores. There are some rare mentions of it in history but just a few mentions. It is said only those that cultivate both spiritual consciousness and ling power can see it.”

Wei nodded. “A Zuo’s strategy appears to be correct.”

“This boy is filled with strangeness.” Pu Yao’s tone became normal. After some thought, he suddenly said, “There is a stupid method to taking a yao star core, it is to assimilate it.”

Just as his words came out, a light flashed across Zuo Mo’s cold eyes.

Assimilation!

At this time, countless thin strands headed into the depths of his body. They were just like Zuo Mo’s consciousness and ling power. Following the rush of threads, Zuo Mo suddenly felt a thread of thought that was slightly timid.

The yao star core!

Zuo Mo didn’t hesitate and the Soul Setting Divine Light inside his body flowed like a fish along Zuo Mo’s arm into the yao star core in Zuo Mo’s hand.

The yao star core suddenly froze!

Three Thousand Threads of Worry was suddenly filled with terror and panic. It was like a child that was scared and didn’t dare to move. Even the slender threads that were moving into Zuo Mo’s body froze.

The Soul Setting Divine Light pulled the yao star core slowly into Zuo Mo’s palm.

“Soul Setting Divine Light … …” Wei looked dazedly at this scene. The Soul Setting Divine Light’s inheritance had always been with him but he had never comprehended it and didn’t know that it was so powerful.

Pu Yao was also slightly dumbstruck.

Even the Three Thousand Threads of Worry was so docile in front of it!

The yao star core merged into Zuo Mo’s left palm.

When it completely merged into Zuo Mo’s palm, Zuo Mo felt all the pressure restraining his body disappear. A handful of slender threads came out of his body and connected to the Anti Dragon Claw.

At the center of the sun script on Zuo Mo’s left hand, there was a little star. It would be extremely hard to notice if one did not pay attention.

Zuo Mo was not content. Taking advantage of the chance, he raised his head and his cold gaze swept across the mountainous Anti Dragon Claw.

The Anti Dragon Claw shook!

———

Zuo Mo had accepted Princess Xia’s arrangements but out of consideration of safety, he still decided to bring A Gui and Ceng Lian’er along.

At this most important time, the two appeared.

Ceng Lian’er was dressed in black as she stood. Her gaze was blurred as she said serenely, “Kun Lun sword xiu, why come to our mo territories to steal our treasures?”

A Gui did not speak and looked expressionlessly at Lin Qian.

Lin Qian’s expression was grave and he did not seem to hear it. All of his ling power was channeled. The Tai’a sword was held horizontally in front of him. A thread of blue appeared in his right red eye and a flicker of fire appeared in his blue left eye. His expression was devout.

“Kun Lun!”

As though he used all the power in his body, the shout that came from his chest was forceful.

Ceng Lian’ers onyx eyes suddenly became as bright as stars. Her serene voice was uncertain in the air, “Kun Lun sword xiu, so vicious, are you not afraid of karma?”

Her sleeve seemed to flow weakly towards Lin Qian.

Just as Ceng Lian’er acted, purple energy flashed across A Gui’s eyes. Her hand suddenly flicked at Lin Qian.

The moment the two attacked, under the sword wheel, Zhu Ke and the middle-aged attendant’s expressions changed. Xia’s body shook slightly. None of them had expected the two females with Xiao Mo Ge to be so powerful!

For the first time, they felt wary of Xiao Mo Ge. What was the origin of this youth?

Lin Qian ignored the attack from the two. His gaze focused on the Tai’a sword as he cut down without hesitation!

Under this chop, all the air within ten li seemed to solidify!

In the world, there was only the Tai’a sword!

The power from the three collided in a show of strength.

Boom!

The deep explosion exploded in people’s minds.

In this moment, everyone seemed to lose control of their body. Their blood and muscles shook. When the sound dissipated and they recovered, their expressions changed.

On the battlefield, Ceng Lian’ers sleeve had exploded up to her elbows. A large hole that was fifty zhang was under A Gui’s feet. Other than the stone stele, everything else had been torn to pieces!

A thread of blood flowed out of Lin Qian’s mouth as he stared with his red and blue eyes at the two.

He reached up to wipe the blood from his mouth. With his right hand holding the dimmed Tai’a sword, he said coolly, “I hadn’t expected to encounter two experts that cultivate shen power.”

When these words came out, all the mo present were shocked.

Shen power! These two females cultivated shen power!

Ceng Lian’er was intimidated. Lin Qian stated the two of them cultivated shen power because he wanted to make them the targets. If the other mo had other desires, the situation would turn to chaos again.

She detected the gazes that had all focused on her. Everyone’s gazes became suspicious and hesitant.

This man was really powerful and cunning!

She knew that nothing she could say now could help. Once the seed of suspicion was planted, it could not be killed.

“So Kun Lun sword xiu make a living based on their mouth!” Ceng Lian’er said cooly. Her hands moved into a strange position.

The purple energy in A Gui’s eyes increased.

Lin Qian did not fear her and said with a smile, “You might cultivate shen power but it is a pity. One has just started and the other’s soul is corroded. You do not qualify to stop me.”

At this time, a cold voice suddenly came from the sky.

“Qualifications? What qualifications are needed to kill the people of Kun Lun?”

Chapter 626 - A Sword Strike And A Block

The one who spoke was Zuo Mo.

One of his hands was pulling the Three Thousand Threads of Worry as his body hung from the Anti Dragon Claw. However, in the eyes of everyone else, his posture was very strange because they could not see the Three Thousand Threads of Worry in his hand.

Everyone on the battlefield turned to look at Zuo Mo.

Even Zhu Ke and the other two inside the sword wheel couldn’t help but slow down.

But the one most shocked was Lin Qian. His heart jumped. Had Xiao Mo Ge tamed the Anti Dragon Claw?

Impossible!

Mo weapons like the Anti Dragon Claw were not something that general level mo could tame. However, why didn’t the Anti Dragon Claw respond? The Anti Dragon Claw was famed for its savagery and viciousness, how could it tolerate someone close to it?

Lin Qian’ expression was normal but he was shocked inside. His murderousness towards Xiao Mo Ge was so strong, even he was surprised about it. But he had forcibly suppressed the murderousness. The stone stele was the priority, and  he had thought Xiao Mo Ge would turn to ash under the backlash of the Anti Dragon Claw.

But Xiao Mo Ge was untouched!

This was unexpected to him. He suddenly found that there were too many unexpected occurrences today. The group of people emerging from the pile of rubble was unexpected, the two women who cultivated shen power were unexpected.

Almost everything unexpected was related to Xiao Mo Ge.

Thinking about his thoughts of killing Xiao Mo Ge, Lin Qian grimaced. Had this been Heaven’s will?

This thought only flashed through his mind and his eyes lit up again.

The dim Tai’a sword rose again. His blue and red eyes were unfathomably deep. The situation was disadvantageous to him. He was already uncertain he could defeat the two women in front of him. Now add on Xiao Mo Ge!

The sword wheel would not last for much longer, he did not have a lot of time left.

He took a deep breath. At this time, all words were a waste to him. Only two words could awaken his fighting spirits and motivation!

“Kun Lun!”

The light words were full of determination as it echoed.

The other Kun Lun sword xiu changed expression. Eldest Shixiong was going all out!

The dimmed Tai’a sword shook and suddenly released a blinding and burning light. The sparks flew off as the blade moved.

Lin Qian stood up straight. His usually gentle brow was fierce and determined, and his face pale.

He was like an unsheathed sword!

The ground continued to tremble. The vast sword essence was like a lead cloud that weighed down on people. The ground underneath Lin Qian cracked, split and crumbled to form a perfectly round pit. The edges of the round hole was rapidly spreading outwards.

It was unable to be stopped!

At the same time, the Tai’a sword that was like a firework sparkler; it gave off a grievous hum as it melted. A hint of sorrow flashed across Lin Qian’s face but his movement did not stop. His sword arm decisively chopped into the air!

The grieving hum of the Tai’a sword echoed through Great Peace City.

The blinding light suddenly expanded and a terrifying sword essence immediately covered all of Great Peace City!

As though a sun was rising at Great Peace City!

Roar!

A savage and vicious roar was like thunder. The ground shook as though it was being hammered, all of Great Peace City shook. The vast wave of air was like a hard wall that swept outwards. Those that were weak were thrown into the air as though they were hit by something! Even Zhu Ke and the other were almost unable to stay standing. All of them stumbled and had to use all their strength to steady themselves. The blood drained from their faces.

Even they couldn’t help but feel fear in the face of such a terrifying sword essence.

The terrifying wave of air that was like a metal wall rolled through Great Peace City.

When the light dissipated and the scene appeared in front of them, all of them had ashen complexions. More than half of the soaring structures in Great Peace City had been been cut down.

But when they recovered from their shock, they immediately looked towards the stele forest.

Lin Qian stood upright like a sword.

Between himself and Xiao Mo Ge stood a dragon claw. Near the two, the ground had been erased. Only the ground under Xiao Mo Ge had not disappeared. It was like a slice of cake had been cut from the earth and stretched out behind him.

Zuo Mo used the Anti Dragon Claw to block this blow.

At the crucial moment, he channeled the Three Thousand Threads of Worry and pushed the Anti Dragon Claw in front of him to stop Lin Qian’s sword strike!

The Anti Dragon Claw had shrank after enduring this blow and became Zuo Mo’s height.

Zhu Ke and the others stared with wide eyes and looked in disbelief at Zuo Mo. Even they didn’t dare to touch the power of that blow just now and Xiao Mo Ge had managed to stop it!

Xiao Mo Ge had really tamed the Anti Dragon Claw!

They had no more doubts. If he had not done so, Xiao Mo Ge would not be able to stop the power of that sword strike with his own power!

Lin Qian’s strength shocked them but Xiao Mo Ge’s display was even more unexpected.

A general level was able to subdue the Anti Dragon Claw. It was absurd to hear but it happened in front of them.

From the moment Xiao Mo Ge had appeared in Great Peace City, a string of impossible events had continued to occur. The worldly apparition Shifting Star Stands, surpassing Qi Diao Yu’s record, defeating Shen Yu who had comprehended the [Peacock King Plume], causing the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion to appear, and now subduing the Anti Dragon Claw and blocking that stunning blow.

He was not favored each time but he would always achieve victory.

Xiao Mo Ge seemed like a freak and there seemed to be a group of freaks around him.

This guy … …

———

Lin Qian’s eyes were stunned and his complexion was ashen white.

He had not expected that Xiao Mo Ge could stop his blow!

He had gambled everything on this blow. At a cost of wounding himself, and the Tai’a sword being destroyed, he had used a secret method to temporarily increase his cultivation in order to use such great power.

He had never fought so hard, never.

In past battles, he had always been untouched and at ease. He had never lost before, he was always full of confidence in himself. From a very long time ago, he did not participate in the tournaments between the third generation disciples because his strength had even surpassed majority of elders in the sect.

At his age, he stood as one of the most outstanding geniuses in Kun Lun’s history.

Even deep in the mo territories, he was not afraid. He had absolute confidence in himself.

The sect leader had also been full of confidence in their mission. Everyone believed that Lin Qian would not have a match below marshal level.

Yet the reality in front of him allowed him to discover that his pride was laughable.

A general rank youth that was younger than him had easily stopped his most powerful sword strike.

Anti Dragon Claw!

Looking at the almost-living dragon claw, for a moment, Lin Qian’s eyes were dazed.

The power of the mo weapon?

The Tai’a sword was lacking greatly compared to the Anti Dragon Claw. He knew this well. It was not that Kun Lun did not have better flying swords but the Tai’a sword was the most powerful sword that he could currently use. He did not have enough cultivation for the ancient and great flying swords sealed in the Sword Pavilion.

But this guy who was just general level had tamed the Anti Dragon Claw.

This completely upended his knowledge of the world.

No wonder he felt murderousness towards the other, was this a fated enemy?

Lin Qian smiled. He was not an ordinary person and quickly recovered his calm. But he knew that he did not have any more power to fight. He had truly failed in his mission.

He quickly recovered his confidence and the red and blue retreated from his eyes. He looked at Zuo Mo and suddenly said in a loud voice, “This one is the first seated disciple of Kun Lun, Lin Qian. Xiao Mo Ge, if you and I ever meet, let us fight again!”

Finishing, Lin Qian turned and walked away.

Pew, the stone stele behind Zuo Mo turned to powder.

Yet at this time, no one dared to speak. Everyone was deeply attracted to this figure of extraordinary presence. Many people showed realization. The first seated disciple of Kun Lun, no wonder he was so extraordinary!

No one dared to stop him.

The remaining Kun Lun sword xiu silently flew next to Lin Qian and formed a defensive perimeter around him.

Everyone in Great Peace City would remember the name Lin Qian.

But then everyone turned to look at Zuo Mo. If it wasn’t for Xiao Mo Ge, all of the mo in Great Peace City would have ended up as side-acts to Lin Qian. Many people felt great pity that the Mo Skill Stele had been destroyed but compared to it being stolen by Lin Qian, everyone could accept the present result.

This battle was fated to shake all of the mo territories. They were undoubtedly a minor accompaniment in a battle like this, and it was a humiliation for them.

In the eyes of the world, Xiao Mo Ge who had stopped Lin Qian was the hero of the mo.

This youth that had come out of nowhere and was of unknown origins.

Along with this battle, his name would spread throughout the mo territories!

Yet no one realized that an even greater danger was silently marching towards them.

———

Zuo Mo was completely void of strength and unable to move. His eyes were filled with shock and fear.

Lin Qian’s blow had managed to force himself out of his icy state. If he hadn’t used the Three Thousand Threads of Worry to pull the Anti Dragon Claw in front of him at the crucial moment, he wouldn’t have been able to survive.

Terrifying and unparalleled strength!

Even if Zuo Mo had a deep hatred of Kun Lun, he couldn’t help but feel terror at Lin Qian’s power. He was unable to imagine how this person had cultivated.

He had never underestimated Kun Lun’s power but when he truly fought against Kun Lun, he found that Kun Lun’s strength was even greater than he had predicted!

Just one Lin Qian was so powerful … …

He really couldn’t imagine it!

Zuo Mo laughed. His thoughts of finding Kun Lun and getting revenge seemed so laughable and out of his reach.

But no matter how laughable and distant it was, so what?

Who made it so that we had a grievance to settle?

Fighting spirit flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes and he became motivated again! His expression suddenly changed and he wailed, “A Gui, A Gui, help me, my feet are trembling, I can’t stand up, can’t stand up!”

When his gaze casually looked into the sky, he froze.

There was a dense group of black dots in the air like a black cloud coming at a rapid speed.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were keen and his expression changed. That was a charging formation!

He suddenly used all the strength he had and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Shu Long!”

Chapter 627 - The Ming Bandits

The estate that Shu Long and the others lived in was not left unscathed under Lin Qian’s blow and collapsed. But because they had been preparing to leave, all of them were unharmed.

When Zuo Mo’s shout howled out, all of Guard Camp suddenly shot into the air like a drawn bow string. With a few jumps, they appeared next to Zuo Mo.

They had finished forming a battle formation in the air. When they landed next to Zuo Mo, they surrounded him in the middle. The movements was so dazzling that all those who noticed this scene had strange looks on their faces.

“Find A Wen and the others!” Zuo Mo asked gravely, “Is everyone else here?”

“All here!” Shu Long nodded reliably. Behind him, several figures flew out and quickly found A Wen and the others.

Zuo Mo noticed Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng among the group and Li Ying Feng was carrying Luo Li on her back. His nerves immediately relaxed. When he saw Bie Han and Sin Battalion, his expression eased further.

But his brow quickly furrowed again.

The black dots in the sky became increasingly clear. The battalion that was flying towards them was astoundingly large. From the scale, it probably had more than ten thousand people!

“Bie Han, prepare to fight!” Zuo Mo lost his politeness at this time and briskly ordered.

Bie Han’s cold face remained motionless. He nodded and turned to leave.

“Miss Ceng! Please give the command of the Celestial Planet Guards to me!” Zuo Mo said with a serious expression.

Ceng Lian’er did not waste words and shouted, “Shou Ping!”

“Present!” Shou Ping immediately came out of the ranks. Miss’ battle just now had frightened him half to death and the reveal of Miss’ strength had shocked him.

“From now, you will be under Xiao Mo Ge Daren’s command. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!” Ceng Lian’er swept Shou Ping with a glance and said in a light tone.

Shou Ping’s heart shook and he responded respectfully, “Yes!”

“The Ming Bandits! The Ming Bandits have come!” In the sky, many mo stumbled as they landed. Their faces were ashen and their expressions filled with terror.

“Ming Bandits!”

Great Peace City exploded.

Even Zhu Ke and the others suddenly changed expression.

Zuo Mo saw Tao Xing’s bloodless face. His lips were trembling and he was clearly extremely terrified.   Zuo Mo asked, “Who are the Ming Bandits?”

Tao Xing’s throat was dry and his expression as grey as it could be. “We are definitely going to die now! Ming Bandits … … Ming Bandits, they are a group of lawless bandits … …”

“Lawless bandits?” Zuo Mo paused. At his side, some members of the Guard Camp had expressions of scorn. They had killed many bandits on their journey here.

“The strongest bandits!” The one who spoke was Tang Fei. At this moment, this handsome young woman with a ponytail had a trace of fear on her face. “They come like the wind, kill people and are extremely cruel. Their leader is called Ming Hui. This person is an astounding genius. Even though he is young, he is only a step away from marshal level. He has many experts under his command. They are all the elites of the other bandit groups that he has taken over. This person is extremely ambitious and is as sly as a wolf. He is someone no one wants to provoke!”

Zuo Mo understood some of this. After a moment of thought, he said to Tang Fei, “Starting from now, I’m going to command your battalion!”

Tang Fei opened her mouth but did not speak. Tao Xing heard this and his expression relaxed slightly. He nodded repeatedly and said, “Good good good! Tang Fei, listen well to Daren’s orders!”

Tang Fei lowered her head and accepted the order. “Yes!”

At this time, Zuo Mo did not have the attention to spare for Tang Fei’s willingness or the lack thereof. The Ming Bandits were coming quick and a hard battle would not be able to be avoided.

Right now, anything he could get was something that he could use.

———

“Ming Bandits!” The middle-aged attendant’s expression changed slightly. She raised her head to look at the incoming black cloud in the sky and gritted through her teeth, “I will take you and break through.”

“You can escape. With your strength, you should be able to break out on your own. If you take me, you will not be able to escape.” Princess Xia glanced at her.

The middle-aged attendant said lightly, “We have been mistress and servant for so many years. I had my own intentions when I started, but I watched you grow up into a young woman. No matter what, I will not abandon you.”

She looked deeply at Princess Xia and said, “You have done enough for the Anwei Family, you do not owe them anymore. If you want to take the opportunity to go into hiding, this may be a good chance.”

A thread of warmth flashed across Princess Xia’s eyes. With her hand she combed her slightly ruffled hair. “You are giving up?”

“This is probably fate,” the middle-aged attendant said lightly. However, her expression seemed to be relieved of a burden.

“You have given up, but I do not want to surrender like this to fate.” Princess Xia’s smile blossomed and a differently light flashed through her eyes.

The middle-aged attendant showed a hint of shock.

“It is crueler to forget the things that one does not want to forget. Compared to him, I am much luckier.” Princess Xia raised her face and her eyes seemed to be shrouded in mist. She murmured to herself, “In these years, I have muddled through and accepted the arrangements of the family. It was not for the Anwei Family, but for Father. Every time, I would think that the Anwei Family was the blood and tears of my father, and I was unable to refuse their requests. Now, I have thought it through. Since I do not want to forget, I will not forget. In the past, I was struggling in my memories and was moved by others like a puppet. When I think about it now, that me was really lacking.”

Her beautiful face slowly lit up. She stared into the sky and seemed to say to herself, “I have to become brave. The Anwei Family is the work of my father, and the best way to pay respect to him is to inherit his last wishes and make the Anwei Family prosperous. I need to stand up, and not remain down, I will not be a puppet, I want to become the master of the Anwei Family!”

The middle-aged attendant’s gazed softened. She had seen how depressed Princess Xia had become after her father had passed away.

She was silent for a moment before she said, “I will lead you out of here!”

Her tone held determination rare to her.

Princess Xia took her gaze back and smiled mischievously. “I have a way.”

“You have a way?” The middle-aged attendant stilled.

———

“They are surrounding us.” Miao Jun’s expression was grave.

He was a gold battle general and had a broader view than other people. He quickly noticed the Ming Bandit Battalion that appeared at their flanks and rear. The other was trying to corral them in.

This was the first time that he had seen the legendary Ming Bandits. His mood was as dark as his expression was. As expected of the Ming Bandits that were publicly recognized as the strongest bandits. From the initial charge to the maneuver to surround them, the transformation of the formation flowed like water. It was shockingly smooth. The troops looked unorganized but the murderousness that came with battle experience caused Miao Jun’s heart to tremble.

After seeing this group of terrifying bandits with his own eyes, Miao Jun finally understood why no faction was willing to provoke the Ming Bandits.

Zuo Mo grimaced. He could also see what Miao Jun saw. But his strength was completely drained and he had not recovered. He swept a look across Shu Long and the others. Their expression was normal but everyone had been affected by that sword strike that swept through all of Great Peace City. Their offensive capabilities were also affected.

The Ming Bandit did not form a wall to surround them. Instead they were strategically dispersed maintaining appropriate distances between the groups of troops and did not expose any openings.

Seeing this, Zuo Mo knew that the enemy was an expert!

However, the Ming Bandits did not target Lin Qian’s group.

They were those who only bullied the weak!

Zuo Mo cursed them as he threw lingdan into his mouth. He ordered Shu Long and the others to take the time to recover and receive the hard battle that was going to come.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo noticed Princess Xia’s group coming over.

“I know you have a way out so I came to side with you.” Princess Xia had a mischievous smile.

Zuo Mo grimaced. “What way do I have?”

“Then what do we do?” Princess Xia’s brow furrowed as she looked pleadingly at Zuo Mo.

“Even if you look at me, I can’t create a way.” Zuo Mo’s expression was one of helplessness, but the next words that came from his mouth was completely the opposite. “However, no matter if there is a way or not, we have to fight.”

His tone was not resolute, nor arousing but a strong fighting spirit permeated from it.

For some reason, Princess Xia immediately felt reassured. She smiled beautifully. “I will let you take command of my guards. If I really die, it isn’t much. We will live and die together!”

“Cough cough cough!” When Miao Jun heard this, he burst into coughing. Princess Xia was a beauty, and he felt he was unable to withstand her presence in that moment.

Zuo Mo was not affected by the “illusory spell.” His mind was filled with potential ways of breaking through the encirclement.

He did not refuse Princess Xia’s submission. In his mind, Princess Xia was his friend and he also owed her a favor. He thought and then asked, “How many guards do you have?”

“About three hundred.”

“Give their command to me.” Zuo Mo did not waste words.

“Alright!” Princess Xia agreed without another word.

A hint of admiration flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes at Princess Xia’s decisiveness.

Princess Xia’s guards were quickly gathered and they were put under Zuo Mo’s command. Zuo Mo immediately gave these guards to Miao Jun to lead.

A gold battle general could not be wasted.

The events that occurred after far surpassed Zuo Mo’s expectations. It may have been that Bie Han’s battalion had the advantage of numbers but many other people came to throw their lot in with him.

Given their familiarity Zuo Mo could understand when the Lan Brothers came to him but he didn’t understand why Princess Xin and Princess Wan also came.

But at this time, he needed more manpower and did not refuse any of them. His request to all of them was the same, hand command of their guards to him. The people also knew the urgency of the situation and cooperated.

Zuo Mo had Miao Jun take command of all these guards.

At this time, the Ming Bandits had finished their encirclement. It was strictly enforced and any mo that tried to break through were killed on the spot.

The pressure created by the army circling the city was suffocating.

Zuo Mo felt extremely urgency. If the Ming Bandits attacked the city at this moment, then they wouldn’t have any power to resist. What he could trust the most right now was only Bie Han’s Sin Battalion. There weren’t enough of Guard Camp’s members here. A Wen and the others were lightly wounded and their strength was affected.

Time! They needed time!

Just as Zuo Mo was praying that the Ming Bandits would not attack the city so quickly, woosh, the Ming Bandit battle battalion suddenly pushed forward.

The tangible murderousness filled the air and swept them like an enormous wave. Everyone’s expression changed!

Were they about to attack the city?

At this time, something suddenly happened!

Chapter 628 - Water Curtain

“We are not far from Gu Liang Dao’s forces.”

Gongsun Cha was off in a daze as he stared at the jie map.

They had been very fast. The string of hard battles at the start had cause their reputation to spread. The major factions along the way had learned to fear them. Also, with A Zha Ge Battalion at the front and many mo members in Vermillion Bird Camp, no one suspected that they were xiuzhe. The resistance they encountered was much less than Gu Liang Dao.

Also, as the people in front of them moved to clear out the way, the factions further up ahead copied them. As Gongsun Cha’s battalion continued to advance, their goal gradually became clear.

The factions all noticed that if Gongsun Cha’s battalions continued to advance on this path, there was a high possibility that they would end up fighting Gu Liang Dao!

Was this unknown elite force targeting Gu Liang Dao?

Many people felt excited at this speculation! The power of Gu Liang Dao had caused fear in the mo in this area. Some factions that were daring and were closer to Gu Liang Dao’s forces had their entire families flee.

Gu Liang Dao’s advance was so persistent it robbed people of hope.

If this elite battalion’s target was really Gu Liang Dao … …

When the mo factions along the way let out the path, they kept a close watch on Gongsun Cha Battalion with anticipation.

It had to be said that Gu Liang Dao was extremely lucky. The entry point he had picked was very good and there were no powerful factions in the area.

Just as everyone felt hopeless, suddenly a powerful battalion appeared and had went on a long journey heading straight for Gu Liang Dao. How could these mo in the area not feel hope?

What really made Gongsun Cha wanted to laugh was that some factions even sent messengers to ask and say that they were willing to offer reinforcements and supplies!

Gongsun Cha also felt wonderment at having becoming the savior that the mo looked towards. He naturally refused them.

But these mo thought that Gongsun Cha had refused because this elite battalion was too proud. They deliberately left out supplies along the road without anyone guarded them and permitted Gongsun Cha and the others to take as they pleased. The factions further along the way copied them in unspoken agreement.

This incorrect speculation didn’t just increase the speed of the advance, it also greatly decreased the battalion’s exhaustion.

Gongsun Cha’s group was like a sharp dagger that flashed through one jie after another.

Until they were almost at the destination!

What they were about to face was Gu Liang Dao’s battalion!

Gu Liang Dao might have encountered more resistance but he had more manpower than Lil’ Miss. With the colossus that was Xi Xuan behind him, he slowly pushed forward. His method was slow but no one could stop his momentum.

Old Field Jie, this little unknown jie was Lil’ Miss’ goal this time.

According to the path that Gu Liang Dao’s advance was taking, Old Field Jie was to be his next target.

Gongsun Cha raised his head and his gaze swept across his commanders. Even though they had undergone a long journey, did not rest at all along the way, and exhaustion could be seen, their morale was high and they were brimming with fighting spirit!

Xi Xuan’s Tiger General Gu Liang Dao!

Gongsun Cha suddenly smiled. That pair of clear eyes like that of the neighbor’s boy burned with fire.

The commanders became alert. They knew that the true battle was about to begin.

“We need to win this battle.” Lil’ Miss’ tone was gentle as though he was describing something ordinary but every word caused the people to tremble as though electricity was sparking across their skin. Everyone stopped breathing and stood up straight!

“Only victory!”

———

The damaged Great Peace City was filled with rubble. The flat ground was now pitted and looked like a ruin.

From the center of Great Peace Palace, a bright mo matrix lit up under Shi Yue Yi’s feet.

Shi Yue Yi’s wrinkled face carried deep sorrow. Starting slowly greyish-white spread from the roots of his hair and eyebrows turned a dull greyish-white.

He did not speak. The mo matrix that lit up under his feet was like a creeper vine that had woken from a hundred year deep sleep and started to spread into the surroundings.

Soon, all of the Great Peace Palace was as brightly lit by this mo matrix, as though it was day.

The light of the mo matrix did not stop. It spread along the damaged walls, and continued to spread outwards.

The mo matrixes on the streets lit up, the mo matrixes at the corners of walls lit up, the mo matrixes of the buildings lit up.

In a blink, all of Great Peace City was covered in the bright mo matrixes.

People suddenly found to their amazement that every corner of Great Peace City was engraved with mo matrixes!

Zuo Mo also jumped in surprise. He looked at the mo matrixes that almost covered all of Great Peace City and gaped. He could not imagine how they had carved so many mo matrixes when they had constructed the city.

Such a vast undertaking!

The Ming Bandits in the air were also surprised and scared by this scene. They retreated.

“Teacher!”

Shi Yue Yi cried, the tears falling on the mo matrixes below him. The mo matrixes seemed to hear his sorrow. The light shook and then spread.

He looked at the ruins of Great Peace City, looked at the Ming Bandits at its borders. In a flash, the glorious Great Peace City had reached its end.

His wrinkles became visibly deeper and he was rapidly ageing at a visible rate.

“Teacher, this student is useless!”

The teary eyes suddenly became determined. He raised his arms as though he was about to embrace the sky.

Boom!

The mo matrix light that covered Great Peace City suddenly brightened. The blinding light shot into the sky.

This Great Peace City that Shi Zi Ming had constructed himself opened its eyes like a monster that woke from its slumber.

The black sea surrounding Great Peace City started to rise at an astounding rate. It furiously rippled like there was something shaking deep down.

The black curtain of water quickly rose from the black sea to form an enormous black water shield in the air which covered all of Great Peace City.

The Ming Bandits were shocked by this suddenly retreated. Everyone was experienced and sensitive to danger. This water curtain looked thin but they could smell the scent of danger.

The people inside Great Peace City sighed in relief. Many people even cheer. At least they were safe for now.

“City Master! City Master!”

The alarmed shout startled everyone. When they looked towards City Master, all of them were stunned.

Shi Yue Yi stood motionless. His entire body was a pale grey-white, he seemed to be made out of rock and was entirely lifeless.

He had turned into a statue!

Princess Xia and the others were frightened by this scene. They covered their mouths with tears in their eyes. Many of the Great Peace City mo started to sob. Shi Yue Yi had been intelligent and gentle, authoritative and was deeply loved by the people of Great Peace City.

Zuo Mo looked deeply at Shi Yue Yi and sighed inside. He had gotten a good feeling from Shi Yue Yi.

But he was not sad. The two had not had a deep relationship and this was not the time to grieve.

He flowed the mo matrix and looked around. He immediately had a grasp on the situation.

Of the people present, he was not the most powerful but he definitely understood the most about mo matrixes.

Shi Zi Ming was as powerful as expected!

Zuo Mo was full of admiration. When he returned, he called everyone over.

“The water curtain will stand for three days.” Zuo Mo lowered his voice and everyone’s hearts shook.

But the people seated here were not normal people. Even though they were afraid, they still maintained calmness on their faces. For them, this was good. Three days was a precious time to breathe and rest. It was enough for them to recover the strength to fight.

Even though in the eyes of some people, their combined fighting strength was still nothing in front of the Ming Bandits.

“Everyone, take the time to recover.” Zuo Mo turned to Miao Jun, “Miao Jun, spend some time to organize these guards and train them.”

Miao Jun wanted to speak.

“Tempering before the fight, even if it isn’t sharp, it looks good.” Zuo Mo glanced at Miao Jun and then said, “If someone disobeys, execute them!”

“I understand!” Miao Jun nodded and turned to leave.

Zuo Mo called over the Lan Brothers.

Lan Tian Long looked at Zuo Mo and said, “Brother Xiao, if there is something you need us brothers to do, tell us. Even if I have to put my life on the line, it is alright!”

Lan Rong also nodded. “Brother Xiao, speak!”

Zuo Mo said in a low voice, “Three days, we can’t just sit around and wait. There are so many people in Great Peace City and they can fight. Even though there is no time to train a battle formation, having more people is useful.”

The Lan Brothers were thoughtful.

“We need to recruit more people before everyone else can react. The more people, the better!” Zuo Mo said.

The Lan Brothers were smart people and immediately understood when they heard this. When the other factions started to react, it would not be so easy to recruit people.

The two exchanged a look and nodded in unison, “Alright!”

Finishing, the two did not waste words and silently left.

The three princesses looked at Zuo Mo and felt admiration. When everyone else was dazed and clueless, Xiao Mo Ge had sent out a string of orders. His way of thinking was clear, his attitude decisive and without hesitation.

The people around were infected by Zuo Mo’s composure and they recovered from their panic. Without detecting it, they seemed to have gained some confidence.

Even Zhu Ke and the others looked at Zuo Mo under a new light. They had originally thought that Zuo Mo was only talented in cultivation and hadn’t expected that he was also outstanding as a battle general.

Zuo Mo did not know what these people were thinking. He was in a mess on the inside.

Three days!

Three days, what could he do?

Zuo Mo thought hard. The possibility of breaking through just with the manpower he had now was not high.

He had to think of a solution!

———

“Your Highness!” Fu Feng’s expression was worried.

“En?” BIe Han turned his head slightly.

“No matter what, you have to break through!” Fu FEng suddenly said.

Bie Han was silent until he suddenly asked, “Are the Ming Bandits very strong?”

Fu Feng stilled and reflexively answered, “Very strong, they are the strongest bandits!”

“Oh.” Bie Han nodded and became silent again.

“Your Highness!” Fu Feng was urgent. “You have to promise this subordinate! No matter what, you have … …”

Bie Han raised his hand as he turned around, he interrupted Fu Feng’s words.

“I will show them why they are only bandits.”

Chapter 629 - Fight!

Zuo Mo stared dazedly at the crowd in front of him.

Looking out, almost half of all the mo in Great Peace City were gathered  in front of him. One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?

When the numbers reached a certain level, the atmosphere it produced was shocking. Zuo Mo was shocked by this ocean of people in front of him.

“How come there are so many people?” Zuo Mo pulled Lan Tian Long over and asked in a low voice.

Lan Tian Long’s expression was slightly smug. “Ha, we were stupid, not many paid attention to us when we first tried to recruit people. Then someone asked if we were in the same group as you, and then I realized why we are failing. So I used your reputation and it became like this!”

“My reputation?” Zuo Mo gaped and was speechless.

“Brother, everyone saw how you stopped Lin Qian’s sword strike.  Now that the city master is gone, the one with the most reputation is you. Ha, well, everyone believes in you!” Lan Tian Long patted Zuo Mo’s shoulder and said seriously, “Brother, everyone’s lives are now in your hands. No matter what, try to save as many of them as possible!”

Having reported in, he jumped away.

Looking blankly at the sea of eyes filled with anticipation, Zuo Mo felt his throat getting dry and was at loss at what to do.

He had told Lan Tian Long to call some people over as a way to increase his presence. At an important time, they could also act as cannon fodder.

He had not thought of saving other people.

But now, when he saw the dense sea of people and the faces that were looking at him, for some reason, his heart felt suffocated!

Why was it like this … …

Zuo Mo lost his concentration.

He was not a saint and he did not uphold the precept of justice nor did he believe he was a hero. He even felt that he was a scoundrel.

He was selfish, greedy, cold hearted. He could do anything for victory, sacrifice people unconnected to him to save his people. He didn’t feel any pressure or guilt when he did that.

When the world was like this, who could be responsible for others?

But looking out at the the sea of quiet people, with hopeful eyes and faces covered in dust, he could not bring himself to say those words.

Completely silent.

The crowd was so large that they had to  stand on the ruins and at the corners. Some people were alone, some were hugging each other. They were looking up. Tens of thousands of people were looking at Zuo Mo.

They were waiting, waiting for a miracle to occur.

In their minds, Xiao Mo Ge was another term for miracle. On him, the light of miracles repeatedly flashed. People hoped that a miracle would occur, just like in the past.

They were waiting, waiting for Xiao Mo Ge to say something.

———

Princess Xia and the others looked at the densely packed crowd, and then at the tiny figure in the sky above the crowd. Their expressions were filled with shock.

They were astounded by the scene in front of them.

They had also underestimated Zuo Mo’s influence.

“The times create heroes!” Zhu Ke couldn’t help but murmur.

No one could take their gaze away from that youth carrying the Anti Dragon Claw on his back.

A strange look flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes. She seemed to murmur to herself, “You can always bring hope and bravery to others … …”

Xiao Mo Ge’s figure in the sky suddenly moved.

Everyone unconsciously stopped breathing. They had a feeling that a scene that they would never forget was about to begin.

———

Zuo Mo moved, and the Anti Dragon Claw on his back also moved.

He faced the gazes of the people and slowly spoke. His voice was hoarse and deep as it passed through the air.

“You have surprised me, I am shocked and speechless. I do not know why you have chosen me. I do not understand.”

He shook his head as though he was narrating or speaking to himself.

“You leave me not knowing what to do. Truthfully, it is very rare for that to occur to me. You do not know me, we are not personally connected nor have we interacted before. I’m very shocked that you have chosen to put your trust in me. But I have to tell you I don’t have a good solution.”

Many people showed disappointment but they were still silent.

“Outside the curtain are the Ming Bandits. You know better than I do how cruel and vicious they are. If I had a battalion of the same scale on my hands, maybe I would have some confidence, but I do not. I am just like all of you; afraid, terrified, and hopeless. I know that the possibility of breaking through is not high. They have never taken hostages. I will die, just like all of you.”

Some people started to tremble, some had hopeless expression and some started to cry and sob. The pairs of eyes that had been bright with hope gradually dimmed.

“Yes, they are the Ming Bandits. In front of them, we are weak like newborn lambs. In their eyes, we are newborn lambs. They are waiting for the curtain of water to disappear and then have a full meal. We will definitely die.”

Zuo Mo’s last sentence was like the call of death. Many people were unable to bear it any longer. They fell to the ground and sobbed.

“We are definitely going to die.”

Zuo Mo seemed to repeat this like he was speaking to himself but his words caused many people to raise up their heads and look at the youth in the air.

“But I do not plan to stop resisting. I do not plan on delivering myself under the butcher’s knife like a weak lamb, and let them swallow me down. Yes, they are strong! Yes, they are savage! Yes, we don’t have any chance at all! Yes, we will die! But so what?”

With the last words, Zuo Mo’s tone suddenly became excited. He glared, his expression twisted, the tendons in his neck bulging. He was like a wolf forced to the corner.

“But so what!”

He suddenly increased his volume. His angry shout echoed in Great Peace City like thunder.

Everyone was shocked by his words. They stopped crying, they raised their heads again and they held their breaths.

Zuo Mo’s gaze swept across the crowd. His face was twisted and his voice seemed to come from his chest, deep and with all the power he could muster, trembling.

“Yes! But so what! Yes! We don’t have a solution but so what! We are too weak, but so what! I don’t want to sit here and wait! I don’t want to wait to be captured! Other than fighting, do we have any other choice!?”

Zuo Mo looked at them and then shouted harshly, “Do we have any other choice?”

The mo below stopped crying. They wiped away the tears, those on the ground stood up and gripped their mo weapons. They raised their faces. The terror and hopelessness on their faces slowly faded. The light of determination crept onto their faces.

Yes, did they have any other choice?

When people find that they don’t have any other choices but to stand and fight, their terror would fade.

“We don’t have any other choice! Nothing! I don’t know why you have chosen me, I don’t know why you believe in me, I don’t have a good solution, I don’t have a miracle, I can only lead you to do one thing!”

The light in people’s eyes grew brighter like there was a flame flashing deep inside.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were burning, his features twisted as he forced the words out between his teeth slowly, “To fight!”

“Fight! Continue to fight! A fight that will end in death! A fight that will not end until death! We will fight to declare to those bastards ‘so what if they are the Ming Bandits!’ So what if they are stronger than us!”

He looked crazy, his tone was crazy, he was like a burning ball of flame that illuminated the surroundings.

Fire burned in the eyes of everyone in the crowd. The fire burned fanatically. They felt that their blood was boiling. Among the hopelessness, an excitement they never had before exploded from deep within their hearts!

“We can still fight! We can still fight! We can still mother***ing fight!”

Zuo Mo suddenly grabbed the Anti Dragon Claw and raised it high up. He shouted angrily, “Fight!”

“Fight!”

What answered him was an exploding volcano, a tsunami of angry shouts, fists raised in the air like a forest of fists!

“Kill’em!” Zuo Mo shouted angrily!

“Kill’em!” Countless voices shouted at the top of their lungs!

The ground was tremblings, angry waves formed on the ocean, the most minute power was burning!

———

“Quick quick quick, faster!”

“One thousand people to a unit, faster!”

“Remember who your unit commander is, what you need to do is follow him. You will attack in whatever direction that he attacks!”

“During the fight, no matter the reason, do not retreat! Even if you are wounded, even if you are about to die! If you retreat, your unit commander will execute you immediately!”

All of Great Peace City became busy than ever before. Everyone was furiously learning, trying their best to learn how to listen to the orders of their commander and go through the most basic training.

The power that the hundred members of Guard Camp could produce in this fight was too small. Zuo Mo decided to use them as the skeleton of their group and made them troop commanders.

One thousand people per troop, this was the largest unit ever.

But even so, there were not enough unit commanders. Zuo Mo had to pick some experienced mo to act as commanders.

Regardless of how chaotic or busy it was, his expression was calm from beginning to end. If he had the time to spare, he would patrol with the Anti Dragon Claw on his back to raise morale.

Even though everything was still a mess, the morale was high.

After realizing their hopes of survival were non-existent, people were not left in terror any more. The residents of Great Peace City had mostly come here for the Mo Skill Steles. They each had some power and backbone. When they realized that they would undoubtedly die, their spirits were aroused.

Since they were going to die, they would pull some down along with them!

Fire burned in their chests.

All of Great Peace City was like a burning furnace that accumulated power under the black curtain of water.

The Ming Bandits were waiting. But they were also waiting!

Chapter 630 - The Eve

The third night came.

Great Peace City was silent. People were resting and waiting for tomorrow’s battle. Today was the last day the water curtain would remain. During these three days, the Ming Bandits had tried to attack twice but did not break through the curtain of water.

In the darkness, the light of the mo matrixes rippled.

Zuo Mo was not as cheerful as he usually was. His expression was stern and his gaze that flashed occasionally was so sharp, it seemed to penetrate people’s hearts.

“What are you thinking about?” Princess Xia’s voice came from behind him. She walked next to Zuo Mo and sat down.

“Don’t know.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

“You have times that you don’t know?” Princess Xia was slightly surprised. She smiled and said, “I had thought that you always have a solution, always have confidence!”

Looking at the silent Zuo Mo and a face that seemed thinner due to the labors of these past days, Princess Xia asked probingly, “Do you have any confidence in the battle tomorrow?”

“No,” Zuo Mo shook his head, “I asked many people in order to learn how powerful the Ming Bandits really were. Their battalion can rank in the top thirty of Hundred Savage Realm. All of them are lawless killers. Their combat style is vicious and powerful, and they are bloodthirsty. Most importantly, they have many people!”

“Many people?” Princess Xia went along and asked.

“En.” Zuo Mo’s gaze flashed as he said lightly, “They have twenty thousand people, and of that, about fifteen percent are brigadier level and above. More importantly, they have twenty generals.”

In these two days, he had spent great effort to get specific intelligence on the Ming Bandits.

Princess Xia inhaled sharply and her face was slightly pale. She was not a flower vase that was clueless about the world, this number shocked her. More than fifteen percent were brigadier level or above, that meant there were three thousand brigadier levels. Adding on the twenty general levels, this battalion was terrifying!

The Great Peace City had many experts and if it was a one on one battle, twenty general levels was nothing. But if it was in a battalion with twenty general levels leading three thousand brigadier levels, then the Great Peace City experts who were like a disorderly rabble didn’t have any chance at victory.

“After every raid, if a hostage can defeat a member of them, they can join and survive. The members that are defeated would be eliminated, and the only path left to them is to die.” Zuo Mo’s gaze turned into the darkness as he said calmly, “They used this method to become stronger. Ming Hui is talented, and what he is most talented at is a kind of jinzhi. With this jinzhi, he created and controls this beastly herd of bandits.”

The more she heard, the paler Princess Xia got. She had heard of the reputation of the Ming Bandits before, but never thought they would be so powerful!

She forced herself to calm down. “Is there no way at all?”

Zuo Mo’s expression was normal as he said, “It is not that we do not have any advantages. We have more experts than they do. They have more general levels but in terms of combat power, they cannot compare to us. If the experts on our side can work together, there may be a chance for a break through.”

Princess Xia did not speak. She understood that the situation was worse than she had imagined.

“But while everyone is strong individually, they all have complex histories and relationships, it is hard for them to trust each other. They are wary and if they encounter danger, who will trust their backs to these other people? They will definitely split apart. Unless it is a marshal, individual power is not useful on a battlefield like this.”

Zuo Mo’s voice was slightly low. “There are so many people, really beyond my expectations.”

“That shows that people trust you deeply,” Princess Xia comforted.

Zuo Mo grimaced. “Even though I was nervous before, I thought I had some chance of breaking through. But now, there is no way, I can only fight head on.”

“We have more people,” Princess Xia said with a forced smile.

“This really is a bunch of rabble. If there was more time, I wouldn’t fear these Ming Bandits, it is a pity there is only three days!” Zuo Mo grimaced. “We can only prepare as best as possible and wait for our fates!”

Princess Xia sighed lightly. “I saw that you were composed these last few days and thought you were confident. So you don’t have any confidence either!”

“You think that what I said that day was to motivate them?” Zuo Mo shook his head. “I only said what I thought. It’s not that I haven’t encountered dangerous and near hopeless situations but it is the first time I have encountered such a dangerous situation. There is almost no hope of victory to be seen!”

Princess Xia was silent and the shock on her face disappeared. She suddenly smiled. “Your words are frightening but why do I not feel afraid? Thinking about it, it is because you are not someone that will sit and wait to be captured.”

“Of course!” Zuo Mo snickered and murderousness appeared on his face. “I have never had the habit of quietly taking abuse!”

Princess Xia covered her smile as she heard this and then sank into silence.

Zuo Mo was also silent as though he was thinking of something.

———

“This time, we have aimed too high.” Ming Yu Wei’s brow was creased. A hint of worry flashed through her eyes. The Ming Bandits had progressed smoothly these past years, but without a doubt, after this fight, they would be known everywhere.

Ming Hui looked at the black water curtain and his usual bright smile disappeared. His presence was calm and grave and he seemed a completely different person than when he had been speaking to Bu Heng. He smiled slightly and said confidently, “This opportunity is perfect in timing and situation, we have no reason to fail. Even if it is for just the Anti Dragon Claw, we have to do this! If our strength is damaged, there are chances to replenish it, but if we miss this chance, it will be hard to come by one again.”

He floated in the air against the wind. His expression was confident as he said proudly, “With the Anti Dragon Claw, my chances of breaking into marshal level would increase greatly. We have lots of manpower and experts. If I can break into marshal level, we have a chance at the world.”

Ming Yu Wei felt that her brother’s ambitions were too grand. At this time, she did not want to pour cold water on his hopes but she still gritted out, “But after this battle, we will have offended too many factions!”

Ming Hui laughed. “It looks so from the surface but for them, these losses are not fatal. Adding on how sensitive the world’s situation is, they do not have the attention to spare on us. Who would dare to offend us? Also, with the Anti Dragon Claw, even those factions that have marshals will not dare to underestimate us.”

“The Anti Dragon Claw is just a mo weapon … …” Ming Yu Wei’s brow furrowed.

“It isn’t just a mo weapon.” Ming Hui shook his head and his expression was full of yearning. “If I had the Anti Dragon Claw, even facing a marshal, I would have a chance.”

“But a weapon as vicious as the Anti Dragon Claw can only be subdued by a marshal,” Ming Yu Wei asked.

“Yes, a general touching the Anti Dragon Claw would be to seek death. However, I have a solution.” Ming Hui smiled mysteriously. “If I did not have confidence, would I have made such bold moves? This opportunity fell to us because other people are still wary of the reputation of Great Peace City. No one dared to act so it has benefited us.”

He then said, “Bu Heng is special. He pushed from the shadows and he expected that I will be unable to refuse the Anti Dragon Claw and the Mo Skill Stele. It is a pity that he has no hopes of breaking into marshal level. Otherwise, the Green Yaksha Clan would probably be completely different.”

Ming Yu Wei thought of Bu Heng’s conduct and speech. A hint of admiration flashed through her eyes. “Yes, Bu Heng is probably one of the most outstanding individuals that I have met in these recent years. However, from his tone, it seems that he is very wary of Xiao Mo Ge. We should be careful.”

“In front of a battalion, a group of so-called experts can’t do anything,” Ming Hui said unconcernedly.

Ming Yu Wei was just mentioning it and did not keep Xiao Mo Ge on her mind. She had followed her brother for so many years and saw countless geniuses fall under the mo weapons of their battalion.

This was a era of battalions!

Maybe she was worrying too much.

Looking at her confident brother, she felt that she really was too anxious.

This bandit troupe that Brother had worked so hard to develop had never been defeated before.

Great Peace City had many experts but no battalion. The Ming Bandits were well experienced in facing the so-called experts. This time, there were a lot more of the experts but other than the scale, there was nothing different. What she was worried about was that there would be many more fatalities than previously.

———

Not everyone in Great Peace City had ran over to Zuo Mo’s side. There was another group gathered in a corner. They were the Young Master Flower Protecting Alliance. They had gathered with their guards.

“The curtain of water is going to disappear tomorrow.” The one who spoke was a young man. His face was ashen.

The other people paled.

“Impossible!”

“Really? Where did you hear it from?”

The people spoke over each other.

“From the other side.” Wang Shen continued. His expression was grave. “It will be difficult tomorrow.” He suddenly asked, “Where have all your reinforcements travelled to?”

“They should be here soon!”

“Still too early!”

“They will arrive in a week or so!”

At this time, one young master suddenly raised his arm and said, “My uncle sent a message to me three days ago. He said that he might arrive the day after tomorrow.”

Wang Shen became alert. “How many people does he have?”

“He has a battalion but I don’t know the numbers.” This young master said docilely. His surname was Wu and his family background was deep.

Wang Shen couldn’t help but show joy. “Great! The Wu Family Battalion is elite and strong. We will be saved!”

Then some of the other young masters reported that the reinforcements their families sent were not far from Great Peace City and that they had mostly sent battalions.

The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion was a fatal temptation for these families. Their determination could be seen from the fact they had sent battalions.

“But what to do tomorrow?” one person suddenly asked. Everyone became silent and turned to look at Wang Shen.

Wang Shen smiled and said, “Did you forget the other side? They have more people and are a bigger target. The Ming Bandits will first pay attention to them. The harder they fight, the more time they buy us.” He then said sternly, “Everyone, hide well and do not venture out. If you offend the Ming Bandits, we all die!”

Everyone agreed.

Wang Shen did not forget to increase morale. “After a few days, our battalions will arrive and that will be when both sides will be wounded. That is the best situation for us!”

The morale of the group rose and they all became excited. They discussed how to kill the Ming Bandits and Xiao Mo Ge to win the favor of the three princesses.

No one noticed that two people were discussing in a dark corner.

“What do we do now?” Nanmen Xue asked in a deep voice, “The Mo Skill Stele was destroyed by Lin Qian but that Anti Dragon Claw is not ordinary. I don’t believe that Marshal Yu will not be moved.”

The other smiled slightly. “You will know when the time comes.”

Chapter 631 - Charge

When the light of the sun started to peek above the horizon, the silent Great Peace City seemed to awaken from its slumber.

The silence was quickly broken by shouting. The unit commanders were shouting at the top of their lungs, and the drum of footsteps filled the Great Peace City. The expressions on people’s faces were quickly changing; from solemn silence to excitement and terror. Some people were trembling but every person gritted their teeth and entered the battle formations based on the short practice they had previously.

The unit commanders made their way back and forth as they tried to rouse the spirits of their soldiers.

Even though they had never practiced a battle formation before, this formation that was made of tens of thousand of people caused every person that was participating to feel excitement!

Even Zuo Mo had never directed so many people before. Tens of thousands of people were divided into formations that were arranged in one corner of Great Peace City.

Both Zuo Mo and Miao Jun knew that while they had lot of people, they could not withstand a charge from the enemy. All of their preparations were for these greenhorns that had never experienced such circumstances to require them to survive the first charge of the enemy.

If they managed to survive the first charge and not scatter, these greenhorns might get accustomed to the atmosphere of the battlefield, and their advantage in numbers would slowly be realized.

However, Zuo Mo grimaced when he looked at these people with terror on their faces. His heart filled with worry.

Taking these greenhorns into a  battle to the death against the wolfish Ming Bandits was something that Zuo Mo considered the most unprofitable business he had conducted in his life.

But, Zuo Mo did not regret it.

Since he was going to fight anyway, he would make it a grand one!

Looking over, the little formations were so packed that Zuo Mo felt his scalp prickle .There seemed to be a bone-rattling hot flow in his body.

It wasn’t often that anyone would get to command a battle of such scale.

The water curtain was thinning at a visible rate. The noise started to died down. The moment the water curtain finally disappeared, all of Great Peace City became completely silent.

The water curtain shattered with a snap and a mist formed.

The murderous Ming Bandits appeared in people’s view. The crowd shifted, and their terrified expressions increased.

When the scenery of Great Peace City appeared in front of the Ming Bandits, the Ming Bandits stilled.

Along the edge of Great Peace City’s ruins, small and big battle of interlocking battle formations spread out like a dense patchwork that covered over half of Great Peace City.

“Oh, they are planning to fight back!” A vicious smile appeared on Ming Hui’s face. “But they want to fight back with such a group of rabble, it really is … …”

He shook his head as he spoke to himself, as though he did not know what to say. It caused his commanders to laugh around him.

“It’s good, it will provide amusement for us. Otherwise, it will be very dull,” one of the commanders said loudly, “I heard that there are many personages in there!”

He emphasized “personages” and desirous expression appeared on many people’s faces.

Those personages were usually high status and now they were about to cry and groan under the hooves of their steeds. An excitement they never had experienced before began to rise from within. Their expressions became uncontrollably savage.

“I heard that all three princesses are great beauties!” Another commander licked his slightly dry lips and said with a snicker, “How about it Boss? Give them to us!”

Ming Hui’s laughter suddenly stopped. He said in a deep voice, “Yes! Three princesses, will be given to the three with the most merit. It will be up to you to win yourself a beauty!”

Ming Yu Wei frowned slightly but didn’t speak.

The other commanders had savage gazes, heated desire and greed exposed without disguise.

“Boss! I will go first!” A man with a hard face jumped out.

He was Bao Xiong, one of the mid-ranked commanders among the Ming Bandits and a very strong individually. If it wasn’t that he lacked skill in command, he would definitely have become a gold battle general. However, while he had not become a gold battle general, based on his outstanding individual power, bravery, and bloodthirst, he liked to charge in the first wave. His subordinates were all battle-crazy, brave and vicious. They were one of the most powerful vanguards in the Ming Bandits.

Ming Hui nodded. “Alright! Charge and test them out! Also, Tie Lang, Da Hu, cover their flanks and shield Bao Xiong.”

Bao Xiong acknowledged the order with a vicious light flashing in his eyes. He was extremely excited. The other two battle generals also stood up with equal excitement on their faces.

In a few moments, the three battalions had finished their preparations.

There were one thousand people in each troop. Looking down at the densely packed mo below them, they were filled with fighting spirit.

Bao Xiong raised the large axe in his hand and shouted, “Kill!”

Without another word, he led the troop and dove down!

The other two troops were not willing to fall behind. They drew out two crescents as they headed to the two sides of the enormous wall of formations below them.

———

The Ming Bandits came thunderously, their ear-piercing howls like the wails of ghosts coming to take people’s spirits.

The air suddenly seemed to boil.

Bao Xiong Battalion continued to accelerate like a black storm cloud forming and suddenly arriving.

Zoom zoom zoom!

The high howl gradually became deeper. A shock that was hard to describe flashed across people’s minds!

Terror uncontrollably spread. The formations on the ground shifted. Most of them had never seen such a terrifying charge before.

“Do not panic! Do not panic!”

“Whoever flees will be killed!”

The unit commands yelled and tried to control the situation. But there were still people that lost control of their emotions, turned and tried to flee.

Pew pew pew!

A drop of water pierced through their chests. Qi Diao Yu who was nearby had a frosty expression and he did not even turn to look.

Anyone that turned to flee did not survive.

The other people immediately ended their own thoughts of escape.

At this moment, the shouts of the unit commanders rose in waves, “Prepare!” “Prepare!”

They seemed to wake up. Looking around as dots of light slowly lit up in the surroundings, they unconsciously followed, The light of the battalion continued to spread.

———

Bao Xiong enjoyed the feeling of a charge. He was immersed in an extreme excitement, his eyes were completely red as his mo skill continued to gather.

He could see the restlessness below, especially the idiots that turned to run. He couldn’t help but show disdain. They were really rabble!

When he neared, he saw the terror on the people’s faces, their trembling legs. This caused him to feel great pleasure which flowed through his entire body like lightning.

Truly a herd of white and tender lambs!

He suddenly raised the large axe in his hand. The black axe flickered with a cold light. The roiling black mist shrouded his body, and killing intent was like the light that rose in the dark night!

Almost at the same time, the combat mo behind him raised the mo weapons in their hands.

Balls of white light rose from the battle formations. They were like fish that smelt blood that gathered towards the black axe shrouded in black mist.

The large black axe seemed to have a long five-colored tail as it drew out a dazzling streak in the air!

The distance between the two sides was decreasing quickly!

Seeing the time had arrived, the axe in Bao Xiong’s hand suddenly chopped down as he shouted, “Kill!”

“Kill!”

The people behind him howled angrily and struck down with the mo weapons in their hands.

The light suddenly increased!

Countless rays of light formed an enormous five-colored axe energy that was hundreds of zhang long. It came from the sky at the battalion below.

The moment the axe energy formed, hair-raising killing intent suddenly swept towards the ground like a twister!

Seeing the blood drain out of the faces of the people below, Bao Xiong felt unspeakably good.

Just as he was imagining all the people below being destroyed in this blow, the rising shouts interrupted his fantasies.

“Kill!”

“Release!”

Bao Xiong’s snarl froze upon his face. His field of view was immediately taken over by a tide of energy!

There wasn’t any room to dodge!

A strong feeling of danger made him feel he had dropped into an icy crevasse. His burning blood instantly became icy cold!

Everything in front of him was white,  and he could not see anything else. His mind was astounded, how was this possible … …

“Dodg- … …”

Before he could shout anymore, he was swallowed by this furious wave of light!

He did not have the time to wail before he lost consciousness.

———

When a battalion of thirty two thousand people attacked together, when over thirty thousand attacks merged together, the light that was created was as bright as the sun and had caused the entire sky to turn white!

Bao Xiong Battalion were like the dry branches struggling in the flood and was immediately swallowed.

The enormous axe that Bao Xiong Battalion had formed with all their power cut through the angry wave and crashed into the battalions on the ground!

Boom!

An enormous explosion, rock flew everywhere, and an astounding shockwave of air rushed into the surroundings.

A pit that formed was astounding to see among the battle formation, it was like one piece had been erased!

Bao Xiong’s blow had struck five battle formations and a battle formation of two thousand people had been completely erased!

They had lost over three thousand people!

And almost at the same moment, the two battalions on the sides acted and the same attacks appeared.

Two enormous explosions!

Two enormous holes appeared on the ground but the two other Ming Bandit battalions were not as strong as Bao Xiong. The damage they caused was much smaller but even so, the wounds and deaths at both locations had reached more than four thousand!

Wails and cries rang out.

Those mo had never seen such a scene before, many panicked, especially the battle formations that were closest to the attacks!

Screams seemed to spread among the crowd like a plague. No matter how the unit commanders shouted, it was useless and the troops looked like they were about to break apart.

Zuo Mo was expressionless. A hit of sharpness flashed through his eyes as he waved his hand at the side.

He had predicted this situation before.

“Those that lower army morale, kill!”

“Those that lower army morale, kill!”

The loud shouts rang out over Great Peace City in unison.

In this moment, countless pillars of blood shot up in the battle formations. Hundreds of mo that had lost courage and fled were killed where they stood!

Such powerful and bloody tactics immediately stunned every person!

All of Great Peace City was silent, so silent the drop of a pin could be heard.

Many people had ashen faces but no one dared to move. They were quiet and silent.

Princess Xia and the others had their faces turn white, and their extremities felt cold. None of them had expected Xiao Mo Ge who was usually cheerful and smiling to have such a vicious decisiveness!

Chapter 632 - Weakness

Zuo Mo slowly floated off the ground. His expression was cold, his eyes as sharp as a sword, and he gave off a pressuring aura.

The ashen-faced people unconsciously raised their heads. The blank and terrified gazes gathered on Zuo Mo’s body.

“Those that retreat, kill! Those that do not follow orders, kill! Those that lower morale, kill!”

The three “kill” were a gust of cold wind that blew across Great Peace City. The slightly thin figure in the air was reflected in the terrified eyes of the people.

“Hold on to your mo weapons. The following clash will be even more cruel, even more intense, and even more people will die.”

Zuo Mo’s tone was cool. He did not comfort the crowd, and treated them like his subordinates, having to remind them that the battle was about to begin as though this was a usual affair. The battle was just beginning and what would occur later was even more intense. But for some reason, his words carried an unusual power and caused the terror on the faces of the people to decrease.

In their eyes, Xiao Mo Ge appeared calm and composed, unpanicked. The people here who had lost courage immediately found something to hold onto and gradually calmed.

“Just now, we killed three thousand Ming bandits!”

The crowd shifted. The great majority of people were still anxious but some of the more daring people became excited. Three thousand! The Ming Bandits only had twenty thousand people in total! For them, three thousand could be considered to be a heavy blow.

“They will be afraid, terrified, and angry. The following attacks will be even stronger.” Zuo Mo’s voice was flat and cool.

More and more people started to understand. Their gazes slowly became bright and the terror was replaced by excitement. They suddenly found that the Ming Bandits were still made from flesh, they were mortal – they could die!

They suddenly felt that victory was not so impossible.

If a few more clashes like this occurred, wouldn’t the Ming Bandits be defeated?

The people who had found hope again had slightly excited expressions.

“Hold on, and we will win!”

Zuo Mo’s voice was not arousing, nor sorrowful. His calm yet confident voice echoed above Great Peace City.

The crowd quieted again as they unconsciously gripped the mo weapons in their hands. Everyone’s eyes had brightened and they were filled with hope.

———

Ming Hui’s gaze was dark.

He had heard all of Zuo Mo’s speech and did not attack again. The other Ming Bandits also showed slight fear. In one exchange, all three thousand bandits had died and not one had manage to escape. They had never encountered something like this before.

Just now, that tsunami-like attack had caused even the sun to appear dim in comparison. The lambs had suddenly showed their fangs and surprised them.

“This person must be Xiao Mo Ge. As expected, he is brave and cunning.” Ming Hui looked at the Anti Dragon Claw on Zuo Mo’s back, and his pupils contracted.

Ming Yu Wei’s face was also astounded but her attention was not on the Anti Dragon Claw but Zuo Mo’s words. She had heard Zuo Mo’s cool, murderous and calming words, she had seen the terrified people gradually settle down, and their determination to resist grow even stronger.

The collapse of morale they had predicted did not occur.

Such a charismatic person!

“Their battle formation setup is very unique.” Suddenly, Ming Yu Wei spoke up with a serious expression. She was the most outstanding battle general of the Ming Bandits. Her judgement always received attention from Ming Hui.

Everyone finally noticed the patchwork of battle formations.

They were all experienced. Before, they had not paid attention. Now that Ming Yu Wei pointed it out and they looked closely, they immediately noticed what was there.

“Xiao Mo Ge is cunning!”

Among the exclamations came sharp inhales.

The Ming Bandits were in the sky and could see the setup below clearly. They finally noticed that Xiao Mo Ge had spent great effort on the arrangement of the battle formations.

The dense patchwork of battle formations was like a hedgehog. No matter which direction they approached from, they would face attacks from at least twenty battle formations.

Even if the other did not have a battalion, did not have a battle general to direct all the power, but a simultaneous attack from over twenty thousand people was enough to cause a headache for any battle general.

A battle through numbers!

This phrase flashed across everyone’s minds. The commanders looked at each other and did not know what to do. This wasn’t the first time they had encountered a situation like this, but their past experiences told them that any group of civilians, no matter how large,were a herd of lambs when they faced a battalion. If they took a few losses and charged at the enemy, the rabble would scatter and then the enemy would be easy prey.

But what was in front of them was not the same as any of their experiences.

They had lost three thousand people but the enemy had lost seven to eight thousand. Rationally, the enemy ranks should have started to flee and collapse now!

But they did not flee. Xiao Mo Ge’s vicious and decisive act hadn’t just stunned all of Great Peace City, but also astounded the Ming Bandits. What surprised them even more was that Xiao Mo Ge had soothed the anxiety and fear of Great Peace City with just a few words.

When had these normal people gained such strong and resilient minds?

Even the Ming Bandits that had killed their way from mountains of corpses could not understand what was occurring in front of them!

Then Ming Yu Wei pointed out what was special about the other’s setup. This caused them to all become more wary of Xiao Mo Ge.

“Is there a solution?” Ming Hui spoke. He knew that his younger sister was very smart and always relied on her for battle tactics.

Ming Yu Wei’s gaze stared at the enormous battle formation battle under them without a word.

They all knew that she was pondering how to break the formation. They didn’t dare to breathe in fear of disturbing her.

A moment later, her eyes suddenly lit up and she said, “This battle formation belt is unique, but it is not invincible!”

Everyone became alert and perked up to listen.

“They have many people, but they are not a true battalion. They do have some cooperation, but when pressured they cannot fight for long. We only need to use the smaller battalions to harass their formation at range and force them to expend their strength. Over time, they wouldn’t be able to maintain this. At that moment, we will charge straight at the center. If we can take down Xiao Mo Ge, their ranks will definitely collapse and flee!”

“That is right!”

“Yes, yes! We will dart in and out of range, they won’t know whether to fight or not, they will be frustrated!”

“Good method!”

The commanders gave their praise. Ming Hui also showed joy. Ming Yu Wei’s plan was directed straight at the other’s weakness. While fighting with numbers was effective, but the weakness of the enemy being untrained civilians was something that could not changed.

“Alright! Let’s do this!” Ming Hui ordered.

The commanders were aching to start.

———

Looking on as the enemy harassed their formation from the edge of their range, and how their attacks kept missing the enemy, many people had ugly expressions.

“The Ming Bandits definitely are not ordinary people!” Princess Xin’s expression was terrible.

Princess Xia also showed a thread of worry. “They are forcing us to waste our power.”

Almost everyone could see what the Ming Bandits intended. But there was no use in that. No one had a good solution. The Ming Bandits saw their weakness and did not disguise their intentions.

Everyone unconsciously looked at Xiao Mo Ge nearby.

When they saw Xiao Mo Ge had a calm face, their mood immediately calmed down as well.

He would definitely have a way!

Almost at the same time, many people had the same thought.

———

“We cannot continue like this!” Standing next to Zuo Mo, Zhu Ke couldn’t help but speak. Worry floated onto their faces. If this continued, the outer battle formations would not be able to continue and collapse.

Once the collapse began, all of the army would collapse.

If this was a well-trained battalion, the troops could be rotated out, but right now, they only had these greenhorns that had been trained for two days. If they tried to rotate out at troops this time, it would lead to chaos.

But if they did not switch at this time, collapse was just a matter of time.

Zuo Mo nodded. He didn’t speak and indicated to Miao Jun.

Soon, the outermost battle formations slowly moved back, and the battle formations on the inside slowly advanced.

Changing formations for the well-trained battalions was not an easy matter, but for people with two days of training, it was impossible.

Chaos spread.

The Ming Bandits perceptively noticed their chance. They dove down howling. The killing intent flooded the air as they charged!

The battle formations on the outside became even more panicked.

The panic spread. The already unstable battle formations became even more chaotic.

At this time, a Ming Bandit commander’s eyes suddenly lit up. His heart beat rapidly! He noticed that at some time, a faintly discernable path of attack appeared in front of him.

The path led straight to Xiao Mo Ge! He then looked at the crowd around Xiao Mo Ge. The princesses and other high status people were among them!

He was so excited he almost stopped breathing. The Heavens had blessed them with a good opportunity!

If he could capture this group, the battle would be finished!

What was in front of him was the fattest piece of meat. If he could swallow it, it would be the biggest accomplishment in this battle.

His gaze burned!

Without another word, he ordered, “Charge there!”

His battalion was well trained and did not hesitate to charge towards where their battle general had pointed!

As the Ming Bandits charged into their battle formations, it caused the people of Great Peace City to be wary the coming attack. But the people closest to the battalion were not a match for these wolfish Ming Bandits

Blood and flesh flew and wails rang out endlessly!

This Ming Bandit Battalion was like a sharp and red hot knife cutting through butter. It immediately penetrated the ranks and went straight at Xiao Mo Ge!

In the air, Ming Hui’s eyes suddenly lit up. His cheeks flushed and he pointed at the crack that was growing. He shouted, “Everyone, attack!”

The Ming Bandits who were barely able to hold themselves back immediately complied!

Killing intent filled the sky!

Chapter 633 - Center Formation

“Protect Daren!” Shu Long’s angry shout exploded like lightning among the panicked screaming. The other people around Zuo Mo seemed to wake up. They found to their shock that danger had snuck so close to them, and without realizing it, the Ming Bandits had charged and had arrived in front of them!

The Ming Bandits had gotten so close vicious and savage expressions of the Ming Bandits could be clearly seen. They could even see the pulsing muscles on these faces and the trembling whiskers

And that animalistic and bloodthirsty murderousness!

Zhu Ke’s head rang and his expression changed. He suddenly reacted and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Protect the Princess!”

The personal guards of each faction sprinted from where they had been. Leaving the formation belt a mess, in disarray with people falling back on every side. People turned and ran like crazy.

These people had been held together by Zuo Mo. Now that the enemy was heading straight for Zuo Mo, their weak cooperation was immediately exposed.

Terror and hopelessness furiously spread throughout their ranks!

The enormous battle formation belt immediately collapsed.

The guards of the princesses uncaringly abandoned all the other people. Their eyes were red as they sprinted to where the princess were! Guard Camp, and Celestial Plant Guard were also sprinting against the fleeing flood of people to fly to where Zuo Mo was!

Princess Xia’s face was covered in terror. Her complexion was white. The panicked crowds were running everywhere, the snarls of the Ming Bandits entered her eyes. All she could hear was the sound of killing, shouts and screams!

She was bewildered. How had it come to this?

Her gaze moved around blankly. Her gaze stopped on a thin figure.

Slowly, her eyes became focused and a thread of hope rose in her heart.

As usual his face was still indifferent and wore a cold expression but this time, inside the indifference, she noticed something that made her mind tremble.

He was not panicking.

———

Zuo Mo stood upright with an indifferent expression as though he did not see what was happening around him.

The Ming Bandits rushed forward extremely quickly. The first battalion that fell had shown the skill of the Ming Bandits. In only a blink, they breached the outer formations and reached the center formation!

Almost all the general levels and important personages were gathered in the center formation.

This Ming Bandit troop seemed to poke the hornet’s nest.

The battle immediately reached a high!

Mo that could cultivate to colonel and general level were experienced in battle. When they realized that it was their lives were on the line, the power they could produce was astounding.

They were not as well-trained as the Ming Bandits, nor could they work together like them. But the chaotic situation and the extremely short distance between them made it perfect for them to fight.

Zhu Ke, Xia, and the middle-aged attendant who were all near marshal level were unstoppable in this moment!

Zhu Ke moved like a ghost. Once he entered the Ming Bandit ranks, everywhere he passed, bloody mist sprouted up behind him. Xia was persistent and his steps were as heavy as mountains. No one could stop his advance. The long spear in his hand seemed to weigh three thousand catties. Blood and flesh flew when it came into contact with his spear. The middle-aged attendant formed a claw with her hands and grabbed at the air. Those Ming Bandits that were targeted were ripped into pieces like puppets and died before they could make a sound.

The other experts were also in a killing furry. Like countless roaming fish, they passed through the formation and engaged in close combat!

Almost eighty percent of the experts on the Great Peace Mo Rankings were here. Yu Shuang had not recovered from his wounds, but Chang Yuan Hao was still healthy. Adding on Qi Diao Yu and the others, this place held the elite of Great Peace City!

In almost a flash, this Ming Bandit troop died. Even its battle general was killed in five moves when Zhu Ke and Xia working together.

This result caused people to cheer and dance.

Ming Hui’s expression was normal. In his eyes, these people at the center formation were just fighting within a cage. Those experts were troublesome, but if he was willing to spend the time and effort, he had many ways to deal with them.

Even the strongest expert could not beat overwhelming numbers!

Battle generals focused the attacks of the entire battalion. Even though their attacks were not as varied as individual attacks, they were powerful and not something that an individual person could stop!

Even experts were unable to withstand the charge of a battalion, especially experts that could not work together.

A cold light flashed through Ming Hui’s eyes. “Old Tu, Da Hong, go scatter them!”

The two battle generals acknowledged the order. At this time, Great Peace City’s battle formation belt had scattered as people fled. The barriers defending the center formation had decreased greatly.

The two had burning gazes. The center formation that had lost its shielding was like a beauty who was undressed and perfectly displayed in front of them.

Looking at the determination and spirit on the faces of their subordinates, the two didn’t feel afraid at all.

They did not feel sorrow about the deaths of their compatriots. It was the opposite. When the battalion had scattered the crowds previously, and expended the power of the experts, it made the situation advantageous to them.

A group that could not work together was delusional to think it could withstand a battalion’s charge!

The two exchanged a look and found the fighting spirit in each other’s eyes.

“You go left, I’ll go right!”

“Alright!”

Without any delay, the two left on their own.

———

Guard Camp had assembled the quickest even though they were not skilled in speed. Before the charging Ming Bandit battalion had been exterminated, they had finished gathering and stood silently around Zuo Mo.

They were fully alert. The battle just now had not expended their power.

Guard Camp with calm expressions surrounded Zuo Mo, who wore an indifferent expression. People couldn’t resist looking again. In the middle of the chaotic battlefield, they were so eye-catching.

“Haha! The Ming Bandits are only worth this much!” In the middle formation, a brawny man couldn’t help but say.

“Yes, someone really exaggerated their abilities. What was the use in making such a fuss, I thought that they really had some skill!” Another man who had a hard face said disdainfully with narrowed eyes.

Shu Long and the others glared angrily.

Crack!

The neck of the man who had just spoken suddenly bent at a strange angle. His eyes were wide, his face like a balloon!

Ceng Lian’er serenely spoke, “I do not like hearing this kind of posturing.”

Everyone inhaled and looked in shock at Ceng Lian’er. This mo female had fought Lin Qian head on and her power was deep and hard to predict!

Having finished gathering, the Celestial Planet Guards had slightly ashen faces. Miss’ power, skill, and thoughts were all hard to predict.

Zhu Ke was slightly displeased by Ceng Lian’er action. He was about to speak when his sleeve was pulled. Princess Wan was pulling him as she shook her head.

Zhu Ke stilled and became silent.

The center formation became silent.

“They are about to attack.”

Suddenly, Xiao Mo Ge’s cool voice interrupted this silence.

He seemed to not have noticed the movements behind him. He nodded at Shu Long who immediately understood. Guard Camp started to move.

Zuo Mo then turned and said to Miao Jun, “Go.”

Miao Jun did not speak and looked deeply at Zuo Mo before turning. A short while later, the Celestial Planet Guards and Tang Fei Battalion finished gathering.

“Do you need help?” Princess Xia asked worriedly.

Zuo Mo shook his head. “No, be careful, the other is about to attack.”

His voice was not loud but everyone heard it clearly. The crowd immediately shifted. They had all seen the power of the Ming Bandit’s charge. They might have just killed one thousand of the Ming Bandits, but everyone understood if all of the Ming Bandits all charged, they would be in danger!

Zhu Ke and the others were the strongest among this group, but even an expert of his level could not directly face the charge of a thousand-member battalion.

Two battalions separated from the the ranks of the Ming Bandits. They even reorganized themselves to guarantee that their charge would be powerful.

At this time, the crowds had not completely dissipated. However, there was no one in one li of the center formation.

This distance was enough for them to prepare a charge!

“Kill!”

The two battle generals shouted angrily. The two battalions were like two floods bursting through the dam!

“Kill!”

The unified shouts of two thousand people shook the surroundings. The sky full of killing intent rushed down at Zuo Mo and the others!

The two battalions worked well together, one on the right and one on the left. The enemy would not know whether to protect the head or the tail.

A howl that was soul-shaking once again filled the air.

At this moment, in the center formation where Zuo Mo was, a ball of grey mist suddenly rose. Almost at the same time, Shu Long and Miao Jun who were in the grey mist shouted at the same time, “Kill!”

“[Mist Hand Seat]!”

The people who were surrounded by the grey mist exclaimed. Even Zhu Ke, Yu Shuang and the others showed astonishment. They were knowledgeable and knew that such a practiced [Mist Hand Seat] would only come from a person with a mo physique!

However, their attention quickly shifted to the incoming collision between the two forces.

Zhu Ke and the others wondered. Xiao Mo Ge seemed to have prepared for this situation beforehand. Had he planned this? But no matter what, they did not have a chance at a breakthrough.

Did he have something else up his sleeve?

———

The two Ming Bandit troops clearly had absorbed the lesson of the battalion which had fallen before them. They made a loud ruckus but they held some strength back.

When the grey mist appeared without warning and covered the entire center formation, the two felt slightly wary.

From where Miao Jun was, an enormous blue blade energy broke through the mist and headed for the battalion opposite it!

“Good move!” Da Hong’s eyes flashed viciously. He was overjoyed as he attacked.

A faintly red wheel of light flew straight at the blade energy!

Boom!

A great explosion occurred between the two battalions!

The battle generals on both sides had no intentions of holding back. In this moment, they also attacked!

No matter how strong the shock wave from the explosion was, the strange grey mist was not affected at all. Almost at the same time the explosion happened, from the grey mist, countless arm-length blue blade energies shot out like rain.

They zipped through the air and covered the sky.

Going against the air wave of the explosion, the blade energies were affected. Their paths became chaotic and hard to predict!

Da Hong’s expression suddenly changed. A phrase suddenly jumped out of his mind. Gold battle general! The other was definitely a gold battle general!

Such a practiced charge was something only a gold battle general could perform!

Chapter 634 - Cut Off

Gold battle general!

There were many that saw this attack. Those that were gathered here were the best experts of Great Peace City, who wasn’t knowledgeable? But no one had thought it would be Miao Jun. In a flash, people finally recalled Xiao Mo Ge and Miao Jun’s battle. In the past, people had only known that Miao Jun had lost to Xiao Mo Ge. Many people had seen the battle in person but no one had thought that Miao Jun was also a gold battle general.

Many people showed expressions of vexation. It had to be said that in this present chaotic state of affairs, a gold battle general was much more valuable than an expert.

There were also many people that had thoughtful expressions. They found to their shock that Xiao Mo Ge had experts among his subordinates, and strong generals! Some other people were pondering had Xiao Mo Ge realized that Miao Jun was a gold battle general back then?

The intense battle quickly caused everyone to suppress their puzzlement and turn back to observe the battlefield.

The ongoing battle was important to them.

Ye Ling’s [Mist Hand Seat] covered all of the center formation. With the help of the mo embryo, Ye Ling had managed to cultivate his mo physique. If his Grey Camp was present, his offensive capabilities would be multiple of what it was before. Right now, he could only squander his talents doing what he had.

But the grey mist gave the best concealment to the middle formation.

Including the position where Shu Long was.

Shu Long’s Guard Camp was just one hundred people, yet these one hundred people were much stronger than they had been previously. Shu Long had also processed a mo embryo. A Wen, Nan Yue, and the other core members had also exploded in power.

But after Shu Long’s shout of “Kill,” they became a silent beast hidden in the mist.

Several of the enemy attacks entered the grey mist and didn’t even cause a stir.

Under the grey mist, Guard Camp was like a black hole that could swallow everything.

The Ming Bandit commander’s expressions became grave. At this time, they had the advantage of offensive capability. They did not fear Xiao Mo Ge and the other fighting back but they feared that there would be ambushes and traps inside the mist.

The waves of attacks were swallowed and didn’t cause any response. The damned grey mist made it impossible to see what was happening inside.

Old Tu hesitated slightly before he quickly made a decision. Charge!

He understood Ming Hui very well. Ming Hui appeared as though he was a very relaxed commander, but at such a crucial time, if they did not do their best, Ming Hui would execute them without even a frown.

But Old Tu was careful and not as rash as Bao Xiong. He only had one hundred mo soldiers leave the ranks and leap into the grey mist.

Old Tu’s eyes were cold. Even if these one hundred mo soldiers were the elite of his subordinates, his expression didn’t change at all.

He stared closely at the grey mist and waited for the moment his subordinates charged into the grey mist.

The other nine hundred people silently waited.

One hundred mo soldiers howled angrily as they charged crazily at the grey mist. Their faces were twisted, madness, hopelessness, and bloodthirst mixed together in their reddened eyes.

It was just one hundred people charging but there was suddenly a suffocating presence.

The grey mist remained strangely quiet.

———

The strange blue blade energies shrieked as they viciously pierced Da Hong’s battalion.

Pew pew pew!

Countless bloody flowers blossomed in the air. The sharp blade energies easily penetrated the bodies of the Ming Bandits.

Wails sounded, and seventy to eighty figures lost control and fell down.

Da Hong’s battalion was left missing a piece as though it had been bitten off.

A blue energy suddenly flashed pass Da Hong’s face, and caused a small bloody mark. His expression was dark. The other was stronger than he had imagined!

Gold battle general. As expected of a gold battle general!

The other’s moves were much more skilled than his. Both sides had attacked at the same time and the other’s second attack wave had come so fast that they were unable to react. His subordinates didn’t have the time to dodge or fight back before they were hit!

Other than some that had high level mo skills and managed to stop the attack, almost all the other mo soldiers died where they were.

The other’s ability as a battle general far surpassed him!

Watching from afar, Ming Hui’s eyes moved. These people fighting back were much hardier and stronger than he had predicted. When Miao Jun acted, all the commanders in the Ming Bandits changed expression. Ming Yu Wei’s expression also became serious. They only had one thought, it was lucky this person did not have many people in his battalion!

If this gold battle general had two to three thousand people in his battalion, then the Ming Bandits would suffer great losses this time.

Fortunately, everyone had clearly saw that Miao Jun only had seven hundred or so people.

Even the cleverest wife could not make a meal without any rice. No matter how strong a gold battle general was, if he did not have a matching battalion, his threat level was much lower.

“Gui San, go help Da Hong.” Ming Yu Wei did not hesitate and ordered.

“Yes!” A man with stark features came out and acknowledged.

Everyone finally sighed in relief. Ming Hui’s expression cleared up slightly. With a nod, he said, “Da Hong is good on the front lines, and there is nothing more to be said of his individual bravery. However, he is slightly lacking as a battle general. It is normal for him to lose slightly against an expert like this.”

The expressions of other people eased when they heard this.

They had also been slightly scared by Xiao Mo Ge’s endless bag of tricks, their confidence unconsciously being damaged. Only when Ming Hui said this did they manage to realize it.

Yes, no matter how many tricks the other had, he didn’t have an outstanding battalion. With only commanders and no soldiers, he was just struggling for nothing.

“Yes! No matter how many tricks they have, when our army charges, everyone will turn to ashes!” a subordinate shouted.

Everyone’s expressions eased and they nodded in agreement.

Just at this time, wails suddenly came from the grey mist. Everyone tensed.

Supported with just his own power, Ye Ling’s Mist Hand Seat finally could not tolerate the charge of Old Tu’s battalion and crumbled. The scene inside the mist was displayed in front of all the people.

Yet everyone was stunned by this scene!

Countless dismembered limbs were scattered near the center formation. Shu Long’s troop had set up a very strange battle formation. At some unknown time, many strange pillars -carved in script had appeared around them.

Old Tu seemed crazy as he charged at the battle formation. However, this battle formation that was just made up of one hundred people was like a meat grinder. No matter the number of people, they would be ground to paste as they charged in.

Bloody mist exploded and then rained to the ground successively.

Under the feet of Shu Long’s battle formation, blood flowed like a river and the soil was dyed red. The fishy tang of blood spread. The ground covered in broken and cut limbs made this place seem like hell!

Old Tu had gone crazy due to the scene. He continuously charged the other’s battle formation as though he didn’t want to live!

Yet the other’s battle formation was as steady as rock, unmovable.

Ming Yu Wei’s expression really changed this time as she exclaimed, “Mo Grinding Disk!”

She paused and it appeared as though she didn’t dare to believe her eyes for three whole breaths! But she was had extraordinary composure and quickly recovered. She shouted harshly, “He Lang, reinforce Old Tu from the side!”

“Yes!” A man with a cold expression affirmed.

Ming Yu Wei suddenly gritted her teeth and raised her head. She said with determination, “Big Brother, we should charge!”

She had a bad feeling.

Ming Hui stilled. The situation was not clear yet. Even he felt slightly scared at the other’s endless tricks. His original intention had been for his subordinates to test the waters and after the enemy strategy was clear, then he would crush them in one go.

But he was a ruthless and formidable person. He knew that if his younger sister recommended this, then it really was a pivotal moment. He knew that he was not his younger sister’s equal at directing battle and he usually followed what his sister said.

Hearing this, his gaze became stern and murderousness flashed. He nodded without hesitation and shouted, “Prepare to charge!”

Everyone’s hearts shook, and they roared their acknowledgement!

At this moment, Shu Long and Miao Jun’s battalions surged with power; unleashing  powerful attacks. In that moment, they actually suppressed the Ming Bandits that were now twice their number!

All the Ming Bandit generals paused with disbelief. No matter how many tricks they had, they could not do something like this!

Ming Yu Wei reacted the fastest. “Careful, they are about to flee!”

As expected, the two troops at the center formation dropped everything and charged towards a group of fleeing Great Peace City citizens.

They wanted to use the chaos to escape!

A cold smile floated on Ming Hui’s lips. He suddenly shouted, “Kill!”

The Ming Bandits responded and all of them accelerated. Like a thundering flooded, they headed to Xiao Mo Ge’s group.

The two sides were extremely fast. Ming Hui’s fighting spirit boiled and only Xiao Mo Ge was inside his view!

His gaze was tightly focused on the  dragon claw shaped object on Xiao Mo Ge’s back. The Anti Dragon Claw! Starting from today, the Anti Dragon Claw was his!

With this thought, his body felt heated, and his gaze also burned.

Xiao Mo Ge and the others were also fleeing very quickly and had almost reached the crowd.

They wanted to flee?

A dark and cold smile floated on Ming Hui’s mouth. He seemed to not see the panicked crowds along the way and his gaze was closely locked onto Xiao Mo Ge! The Ming Bandits also ignored the crowds that they flew by.

Xiao Mo Ge and the others were clearly slowed down by the speed of the princesses. The distance between them quickly decreased.

The Ming Bandits charged at Xiao Mo Ge and the others with a destructive presence.

Every battle general gave their all at this time. Their gazes were excited as fighting spirit burned. The attacks on their hands were waiting to be let out. When the distance grew closer, their attacks would drown Xiao Mo Ge and the others.

Under such an attack, no one would manage to survive!

Xiao Mo Ge and the others had entered their range of attack but Ming Hui did not give the order to attack. He licked his lips like a cunning wolf waiting for a chance to give a fatal strike.

A bit closer, just a bit more, and their attacks would manage to completely cover all of them!

At this time a vast cold killing essence suddenly covered the Ming Bandits, like the icy wind that rushed upwards from the ground!

This wave came very suddenly without any warning. The killing essence was so cold that in one instant, the Ming Bandits found that a layer of frost had appeared on their bodies.

An enemy attack!

Ming Hui’s mind rang out.

“Kill!” The cold voice seemed to be filled with a strange power. Everyone’s hearts jumped.

Before the sound dissipated, the unrestrained killing essence was like an exploding volcano that shot at them.

The next scene caused their souls to almost leave their bodies!

Chapter 635 - The Blade Unsheathed

Numerous figure suddenly leapt out from the panicked crowded under the Ming Bandits. In a flash, the dark figures covered the sky.

The black shadows were extremely quick. The sound they produced was like a blade slicing through air, humming deeply in waves with a mind-stunning power.

Those that heard it all changed expression and their scalp prickled.

Yet before they could react at all, an enormous wave of power condensed and smashed heavily into the middle of the Ming Bandits’ ranks.

Boom!

The shockwaves twisted everything in view.

The middle-section of the Ming Bandits’ ranks did not have the time to make a sound when the ripples passed through and their bodies were disintegrated from the attack. The powerful mo physiques of the Ming Bandits turned to ash like a snowman in the sun.

Ming Yu Wei’s expression was ashen. A battalion! They had been ambushed by a battalion! The enemy had actually had a battalion!

However, the Ming Bandits were highly experienced, and vicious on top of that. Even though they were surprised at the suddenly appearance of a battalion, they quickly calmed down after the initial panic. The Ming Bandits that were closest to the middle sect unhesitatingly charged forward in hopes they could slow down this battalion. If this attacking battalion was dragged to a stop, then it would definitely die!

From every angle, there was nothing to criticize about the Ming Bandits’ response. Only true elite mo with rich combat experience could react so quickly right after being attacked.

But all of the Ming Bandits underestimated the strength of this unknown battalion!

They also underestimated the strength of Bie Han, who led Sin Battalion!

Bie Han’s face was icy but his gaze was full of spirit. There was a small flush on his face. He had been waiting too long for this battle!

He had waited from the moment he learned to be a battle general, from the moment he commanded the Sin Battalion, from the moment he was imprisoned on mountain, from the moment he had returned to the mo territories. From having no place to go, to finding a place. Jiang Zhe, who he had been said to rival, was dominating and was attracting the attention of the world. Jiang Zhe seemed to be the premier battle general of the Four Realms. Yet his own journey was full of setbacks and detours. He met a obstacles everywhere he went, and after so much hardship, he had never even had his first battle!

He had waited for far too long!

The large axe in his hand was hungry, and the sword was wailing sorrowfully and discontentedly from the sheathe.

This battle was fated to be renowned throughout the world! The light of an ultimate battle general would shine over the world!

A kind of light called confidence flashed in Bie Han’s cold eyes.

The xiuzhe were most skilled in “divination.” This was a very broad concept. It included judging and predicting the actions of the enemy, searching for and exploiting weaknesses in the enemy’s formation and how to express the full power of their battalion. It was a field that every xiuzhe battle general had to learn. Bie Han who had learned the battle methods of the xiuzhe from his childhood was skilled in this.

But Bie Han’s command style was completely different than Jiang Zhe who was of the same sect. Jiang Zhe was balanced in all aspects, meticulous and rarely showed weaknesses. When Bie Han had been at the mountain, everyone who saw him compete would say the same phrase.

“This blade is inauspicious!”

His command style was vicious and harsh. Compounded by his cold personality, he would do anything for victory, including sacrificing his own troops. He was someone that people were wary of.

A mistake, such as underestimating your opponent, was an opportunity that could change the entire battle for a battle general of Bie Han’s calibre!

Even now, the Ming Bandits did not understand the skill level of the battle general they were facing and the skill of the battalion.

Just as the Ming Bandits near the middle section started to ready themselves to charge, the next attacks from Sin Battalion arrived.

In Bie Han’s hands, Sin Battalion which had undergone an increase in power had demon-like powers. They were like ghosts but their strikes were as impactful as heavy broadswords. The several hundred members of Sin Battalion moved past each other in criss-cross patterns. An extremely strange scene occurred! The Ming Bandits who were about to charge suddenly stared with wide eyes. Several lines of blood criss-crossed on their bodies as though they had been sliced with sharp thin threads.

Pew!

Blood sprayed from the blood lines and turned to a blood mist in the air. The bodies of these Ming Bandits fell apart into seven to eight pieces. Every cut and wound was as smooth as glass!

Even those as cruel as the Ming Bandits were astounded when they saw such a scene and lost their concentration for a moment.

Bie Han was unaffected, and only his eyes were as sharp as a blade. In front of him, all other obstacles were swept away, and the exposed backs of the Ming Bandits appeared in front of him.

All of this happened in just one moment.

Before the dismembered limbs and the bloody mist could land, before anyone could react and move, Bie Han released his long-prepared charge!

The Ming Bandits at the front turned and their faces immediately filled with terror and hopelessness.

Boom!

Like a blade entering flesh, wherever it passed, flesh and bone separated.

The Sin Battalion still cultivated mo skills and the modified jinzhi on their bodies caused their mo skills to increase greatly. After undergoing Zuo Mo’s engraving of new mo matrices, these battle monsters with incomplete souls had become even stronger!

Their speed was extremely fast making their movements hard to predict. When they attacked, their strength was domineering, and also hard to predict.

What was scariest was that they did not hold one shred of fear. They would meticulously and faithfully carry out Bie Han’s orders. They did not seem to feel it even when the attacks of the enemy landed on their bodies. Sometimes, they didn’t even dodge. They were like a group of monsters.

The experienced Ming Bandits had never seen such a determined charge before!

The Ming Bandits at the front panicked. They tried to fly forward to avoid the charge behind them. Some of the smarter Ming Bandits sprinted in other directions. The formation of the Ming Bandits immediately dissolved.

The Sin Battalion was unstoppable where it passed. Blood and flesh. The power of an individual was as minuscule as an ant in front of the vast power created by a charge like this. Just being brushed lightly was a heavy blow that would cause one to be thrown into the air, their bones completely shattered, and they would be dead where they landed.

This all happened in a flash!

The Ming Bandits in the rear were still charging forward, the middle section of their formation had fled, and in a blink, the Ming Bandits at the front had crumbled as the blood of their companions flowed in rivers.

This change had come too quickly that many people didn’t even understand what was happening.

Even the Ming Bandits were stuck dumb by this crazy ambush.

They watched as the Sin Battalion hunted and killed the fleeing Ming Bandits. Sin Battalion never attacked lone Ming Bandits. They would moved around each other as though they were creating a great net. No matter how Ming Bandits struggled in the net, they would but cut into pieces by this sharp net.

Sin Battalion coldly harvested lives. Dismembered limbs flew in the air as sprays of blood sprouted.

The scene was so bloody it was intimidating. It was so cruel that even the Ming Bandits could not suppress their disgust. Many people started to vomit.

Ming Hui’ expression was ashen. He looked in disbelief at this scene in front of him. Just a moment ago, everything had been within his grasp, and the Anti Dragon Claw was right by his hand. In a blink, half of his Ming Bandits were gone.

His gaze was blank and unfocused. The remainder of the battalion were intimidated by the cold presence and unconsciously retreated hundreds of zhang!

How could it be like this?

Ming Yu Wei’s expression was ashen as well. Her eyes were terrified as she said in a trembling voice, “Brother, we cannot win against this person!”

Cannot win?

Ming Hui’s expression suddenly changed from blank to crazed. He shouted harshly, “Cannot win! What do you mean cannot win! We are the Ming Bandits! We are the invincible Ming Bandits! Sister! I believe in you … …”

“Brother, it will not work.” Ming Yu Wei’s voice still trembled slightly but her expression had recovered greatly. She shook her head and said, “I am not a match for him. Since the ambush in the beginning, he had planned this entire string of events. He was still at such ease in such a chaotic situation. He is too scary, I am not a match. Also, this battalion is stronger than ours. This person can rival those famed generals.”

“Sister is better than those famous generals … …”

“Brother, he might be able to step into Glory Hall!”

Hss, the commanders in the surroundings inhaled sharply and each of them had an expression of great shock.

Glory Hall!

The mo territories were not as large as the xiuzhe territories but it was still vast. The Hundred Savage and Nether Realms[1] had as many battle generals as the stars, innumerable. But there was a place that was the holy ground of all battle generals, Glory Hall.

Glory Hall was open to all visitors, and there was an endless stream of people that came to visit. Glory Hall was not vast, it was just a little stone hall that was a few dozen mu in size.

Glory Hall recorded every battle general in the past that could be identified. It was founded by historians. At the start, it was not famed. They carved the name of the strongest battle generals of each generation on the halls of Glory Hall. What really made it famous was that the results of multiple wars were the exactly same as their predictions. As time went on, the successive masters of Glory Hall continued fairly. The names that were carved into Glory Hall underwent even stricter requirements, and all of them were battle generals that were publicly known as the strongest in their generation.

Over time, Glory Hall became the holiest place for battle generals. Many battle generals when they first started to learn how to be a general would dream that, one day, their names would be carved into Glory Hall.

That represented unparalleled achievement and glory!

So the shock that Ming Yu Wei’s words caused could be imagined. The last time that Glory Hall had engraved a name had been twenty years ago. Ming Yue Wei thought that this person had a chance to step into Glory Hall. How could they not be shocked?

But they knew Ming Yu Wei very well. She was intelligent and strategic. She was the strongest battle general of the Ming Bandits. Her words were fantastical but half of the group believed.

Ming Hui looked dazedly at his younger sister who had a serious expression. The fury on his face unconsciously disappeared.

He suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself multiple times.

“Brother!” Ming Yu Wei was frightened by Ming Hui’s action. The other commanders all paled greatly.

Ming Hui had hit himself hard, and his face was covered with bright red hand prints. His gaze became calm once again. He looked at the slaughter occurring in the distance and said gravely, “I, Ming Hui, will remember the humiliation of today! Sister, do not be demotivated, so what if he can step into Glory Hall? From childhood, I believed that Sister will definitely enter Glory Hall! I have confidence in you!”

Ming Yu Wei bit her lips. Tears rose in her eyes, and her hands unconsciously balled.

Chapter 636 - A Sudden Appearance

“Today’s battle has awakened me! Today, I finally understood that, with these lowly tactics, I cannot create a true army.” Ming Hui’s gaze was determined as he said, “I will release the jinzhi on your bodies now. If you want to leave, leave at your will! I have decided to remake the battalion, not as bandits, but as the Ming Battalion! If you are willing to stay with this Ming Hui, I will not fail you!”

As he spoke, the commanders shook and their expressions were disbelieving. Ming Hui had released the jinzhi in their bodies just as he said.

Some people raised their hands in a bow towards Ming Hui before turning and leave. Ming Hui did not stop them. In a blink, there were only about three thousand people left.

The Ming Bandits who found that their jinzhi had been taken off immediately lost the courage to fight and fled.

Ming Yu Wei said in a very low voice, “Brother, it is not good to release the jinzhi at this time … …”

If the jinzhi were not released, they could buy more time for their escape.

Ming Hui smiled darkly and said in an even lower voice. “Do not worry, I have my own plans. I have been exceptionally kind in not killing the people who left, it will be their fate if they die in the hands of others … …”

Ming Yu Wei felt a chill rise from her back. Brother seemed to have left them a road to life, but was actually pushing them towards death.

Even if the disorganized Ming Bandits could flee the mysterious battalion, they would not be able to escape the experts of Great Peace City.

“Brother, you are waiting for Bu Heng?” Ming Yu Wei suddenly asked.

Ming Hui smiled coldly. “Not just Bu Heng! This battalion is strong but there are countless others who desire something as great as the Anti Dragon Claw! Bu Hen is a smart person. He obtained the information and then spread it. From the beginning, he knew that the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion was not something that he could touch.”

The coldness in Ming Hui’s eyes grew. He snorted coldly, “The chaos will not end as easily as this!”

Finishing, he ordered the battalion to retreat. Ming Yu Wei was silent. She was skilled at being a battle general, but her grasp of grander schemes was not as good as her elder brother.

She didn’t know if this defeat was good or bad for Elder Brother … …

Ming Yu Wei felt slightly worried.

———

The abrupt collapse of the Ming Bandits was unexpected to everyone.

In a blink, Miao Jun and Shu Long felt the pressure on them lessen. They did not understand what had happened but in order to help Sin Battalion, they had faced enemies numbering multiple times their own. They were exhausted.

Even though the enemy crumbled now, they didn’t even have the energy to chase them.

Shu Long and the others sat down and started to recover. Miao Jun also ordered those in his command to rest immediately but his gaze unconsciously looked towards Bie Han in the sky.

Bie Han had stayed for a long length of time in Great Peace City. All the major powers knew of this person, and also that he had a battalion called Sin Battalion under his command. But no one had thought this cold and proud person was so powerful, that this unknown battalion was so terrifying!

Miao Jun had paled when he saw the series of attacks just now.

As a gold battle general, he knew more than others and even he had never seen such a vicious style of fighting before!

Bie Han was definitely at the level of the top battle generals!

When he thought of this, his gaze reflexively landed on Zuo Mo thoughtfully. Shu Long and the others had not concealed anything from Miao Jun and Miao Jun had heard long ago that Xiao Mo Ge Daren also had an invincible battle general called Gongsun Cha and an invincible battalion called Vermillion Bird Camp.

After Miao Jun became familiar with Shu Long’s personality, he didn’t doubt the ability of Gongsun Lil’ Miss.

Adding on Bie Han, Xiao Mo Ge Daren possessed two top tier battle generals!

In the enormous mo territories, the number of factions who were at this level could be counted on the fingers.

Adding on A Gui and Ceng Lian’er with their unfathomable strength, as well as Xiao Mo Ge’s own great power, Miao Jun suddenly realized that a faction like this probably qualified to start spreading their own influence in the chaotic and war-torn state of the world.

His gaze flickered as he thought.

———

Princess Xia and the others gaped with wide eyes. The situation had reversed so suddenly that they could not keep up. Many people still didn’t understand what had happened.

Xiao Mo Ge had told them to retreat in this direction and received everyone’s consent.

But when the majority of the Ming Bandits locked onto them, they had all paled. They thought that they would not have any way left to escape. But in a blink, Sin Battalion had erupted and cut the Ming Bandits into pieces.

Those with clear minds couldn’t help but look at Zuo Mo with a thread of terror.

He had such a powerful battalion in his command but he had managed to keep it a secret. He had gathered the people to set up an enormous battle formation belt, all for the purpose of misleading the Ming Bandits. In order to create a chance for Sin Battalion to strike a fatal blow, he even threw everyone, including himself, out as bait.

“Such deep cunning!” the middle-aged attendant sighed with suppressed astonishment.

Princess Xia’s gaze had not left Zuo Mo’s face. When she noticed the hint of shock in Zuo Mo’s eyes, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Maybe this is an accident.”

“An accident?” The middle-aged attendant looked with slight surprise at Princess Xia. Princess Xia who was usually peerless in intelligence seemed to have become dumber. She shook her head and said, “It cannot be a coincident. The actions were all related and the setup perfect in timing and action! We were unknowingly used by him to be bait. This boy might actually reach high heights!”

Princess Xia smiled brightly.

———

What no one knew was that Zuo Mo’s shock wasn’t any less than theirs.

Bie Han was so ferocious!

He was dumbstruck!

He had carved the mo matrices for Sin Battalion and knew Sin Battalion’s strength. But the power that Sin Battalion had in Bie Han’s hand surpassed his predictions.

If he knew that Sin Battalion was so powerful before, did he need to set up so many things?

His initial plan was to continuously weaken the Ming Bandits to give Sin Battalion a chance to carry out an ambush. That would create a short period of chaos. However, the fatal attack would be him leading all the general levels to charge straight into the core of the Ming Bandits and taking down their leader!

He even prepared to take the princesses and the leaders as hostages if Zhu Ke and the others did not agree.

Yet the changes of the battle completely was out of his expectations. The Sin Battalion led by Bie Han was unstoppable and beat the Ming Bandits into submission!

Zuo Mo grimaced inside. If he knew this before, wouldn’t everything have been resolved if he let Bie Han out?

Watching as the danger was resolved, Zuo Mo’s tense nerves unconsciously relaxed and he exhaled deeply.

But when he looked at the chaotic crowds, he sighed again.

Truthfully, he had purposefully left an opening in the battle formation belt he had set up because he knew, no matter how many people there were, these normal people who had never been trained could not stop the Ming Bandits.

Of his preparations, some were cruel, some were useless. Many people had died, but they had won in the end.

The majority were able to survive.

“Haha! Brother! I just knew that you could do it!” Lan Tian Long’s loud laugh came from behind him. The people behind him also couldn’t suppress the expression of happiness.

Zuo Mo turned around. He wanted to smile but wasn’t able to.

He didn’t feel any great sadness, but there wasn’t much joy neither.

Lan Tian Long darted forward to give Zuo Mo a big hug. The other people took turns to come forward and hug him.

Just as one of the people was preparing to hug him, the Anti Dragon Claw on Zuo Mo’s back suddenly shook and Zuo Mo was startled.

Almost at the same time, he felt a stirring of danger!

Without thinking, the [Reversed Stellar Revolution] on his hand was thrown forward as he darted back.

An extremely dark and cold black energy brushed past Zuo Mo’s chest from bottom to top. The dark and strange aura caused Zuo Mo’s hairs to stand on end.

The ambusher hadn’t expected that Zuo Mo could react so quickly after he had relaxed!

The two were very close and he had thought there would be no reason for him to miss at such a close distance. But the other had detected his intentions.

When his attack missed, and before he could escape, the [Reversed Stellar Revolution] appeared in from of him like a spray of sparks.

His expression changed. Could he not recognize the killing move that Xiao Mo Ge had used to defeat the [Peacock King Plume]?

But the two were too close, so close that he didn’t have any time to react!

Under his terrified gaze, the Reversed Stellar Revolution turned to sparks and landed on the assassin’s body. He didn’t even have the time to scream before he was burned into dust!

The sparks returned to Zuo Mo’s hand and became a slowly spinning star bracelet again.

Lan Tian Long and the others paled. This had occurred so suddenly. In a flash, the ambusher had been burned to dust!

“He is An Qi Gong, why would he try to assassinate you?” Lan Tian Long reacted and a hint of anger flashed through his eyes. An Qi Gong had clearly intermingled among them in order to take advantage of his relationship with Xiao Mo Ge. Someone had schemed against Old Long! Lan Tian Long suddenly lowered his voice and said, “Do you want me to go investigate?”

In that moment, Zuo Mo had been frightened but at this time, he quickly calmed down. He shook his head. “There’s no need.”

After a moment of thought, he said to Lan Tian Long, “Go find a few people and help maintain the order. Prevent people from taking advantage of the chaos.”

Lan Tian Long said heavily, “Alright! If Old Long finds the person responsible, I’ll make him wish for death!”

Finishing, he turned with a dark expression.

———

Bie Han narrowed his eyes and looked at the remaining three thousand Ming Bandits in front of him. Behind him, Sin Battalion was still harvesting the lives of the Ming Bandits at an astounding rate. A light flashed through his narrowed eyes. He was like a tiger that had been caged for a long time. The brief battle that had just finished could not satisfy him.

However, the Ming Bandits who had fled suddenly ran back in panic.

“Boss! Not good! Not good! Marshal Yu! Marshal Yu has come!”

Marshal Yu!

Marshal Yu!

This name which caused the Ming Bandits to panic caused cheers to rise among the crowd. Many people even cried from joy. The reputation of Marshal Yu was completely the opposite of the Ming Bandits. No matter what, Marshal Yu would not act against them.

Zhu Ke and the others also relaxed. Their families were on good terms with Marshal Yu and there would not be any problems to their own safety.

Only Princess Xia’ expression changed slightly and she looked worriedly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s face suddenly darkened. The incoming forces were not allies!

Murderousness flashed through Ceng Lian’er eyes. When it had been her crucial time of breakthrough, the people that Marshal Yu had sent tried to use her to threaten her father. There was a chance to settle accounts today!

Bie Han did not feel any fear. He was still hungry after the fight with the Ming Bandits. He gaze with narrowed eyes at the horizon, fighting spirit rampaging through his body!

Don’t be too weak!

Chapter 637 - Arrival Of Marshal Yu

Ma Fan wiped his face and took a look at the packed group of xiuzhe outside. He shook his head. “It seems that they don’t plan on leaving in the short term.”

The xiuzhe outside was the Tian Huan Battalion that Gongye Xiao Rong was leading. As predicted by Gongsun Cha, they had appeared in Orchid Home Jie and started to attack the chaos rift defended by Black Turtle Camp.

Luckily, Ma Fan had been careful and didn’t dare to relax. He had constantly sent out patrols. His caution was useful. The patrols had discovered the enemy and sounded an early alarm.

Ma Fan who received the warning immediately went on full defense.

Due to the worry that they would not be able to hold the chaos rift, the construction of defensive formations had never stopped. Compared to when Lil’ Miss had been here, the formation belt was two times larger. Even right before the fighting started, the formation belt was still being expanded.

This caused Ma Fan’s confidence to increase.

Truthfully, the fighting had never stopped in Orchid Home Jie. Ma Fan’s scouts and the yao scouts would frequently have skirmishes. Overall, though, the two sides were restrained and maintained an unspoken agreement.

When Gongye Xiao Rong saw the ambush did not succeed, he changed to a frontal assault.

But facing such an enormous formation belt, Gongye Xiao Rong didn’t have any good solutions. However, Gongye Xiao Rong knew that this chaos rift was their closest path to returning to the xiuzhe realms.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s attacks were extremely ferocious and uncaring of fatalities. The fighting was unusually intense, and almost half of the fort’s formation belt had been destroyed. Corpses littered the surroundings.

The grand talismans that Tian Huan Battalion had were enormously effective. This allowed them to withstand two rounds of attack.

Ma Fan’s Black Turtle Camp had had a difficult time. The fort was almost lost until Guard Camp arrived and steadied the defense line.

Yet these Tian Huan xiuzhe did not know weariness nor cared about the fatalities. They furiously attacked like waves crashing onto the shore.

Ma Fan could not count how many rounds of attack they had fought off.

Almost half of Black Turtle Camp was lost. Ma Fan had to replenish his forces with members of Green Dragon Camp which had been acting as reinforcement to Black Turtle Camp.

The rate of deaths for the greenhorns was extremely high in intense battles like this. Azure Dragon Camp only existed in name now. Those able to survive were all xiuzhe that were able to quickly adapt to battle.

The defense line became even stronger, and everyone started to adjust to fighting of such high intensity.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of!” Lei Peng’s voice was hoarse and rough but his eyes were even brighter than before. He said nonchalantly, “We can be said to be experienced now. Ha, Tian Huan is just so, we can kill as many as they send!”

“They have no reinforcements, and cannot afford continuous fatalities. We will definitely win this fight. I just wonder what good reward I can get from Lil’ Miss Daren.” Nian Lu drawled. His handsome face was covered in dust. However, just like Lei Peng, his eyes were unusually bright and he was surrounded by sword essence.

This battle had been hard, but after going through it, all of them had improved greatly.

Nothing could cause someone improve faster than fighting.

———

Gongye Xiao Rong looked with concentration at the damaged fort expressionlessly.

The other’s primary commander had left with their main forces. Technically, this should be a great opportunity. This was the main reason that he decided to attack the fort.

No battle general had a good method of attacking forts like this. Gongye Xiao Rong had been mentally prepared that many people would die but, fighting until now, he was unable to calm down.

The other’s hardiness was almost unimaginable!

He had learned Gongsun Cha’s strength already. He knew that he was a battle general that rivaled him! But even now, he could not figure now which faction Gongsun Cha belonged to.

When Gongsun Cha left with the main forces, the biggest obstacle for Gongye Xiao Rong had been removed. Even though he knew fatalities would be high in a full-frontal assault like this, he had still been filled with confidence – if he was willing to pay the price, he could take the fort!

Yet this mysterious faction gave him a heavy blow again!

The unknown battle general inside the fort was the hardiest battle general that he probably ever met!

This battle general’s battalion was not outstanding, and far from being comparable to Gongsun Cha’s battalion. Gongye Xiao Rong had not thought much of them, dismissing them as a threat, but this unknown battle general and this unknown battalion had cost his side a heavy price, and he was unable to advance one more step

They were as steady as rock!

And the detail-oriented Gongye Xiao Rong discovered that the enemy battalion was becoming even more resilient.

After this battle, this unknown battalion would completely transform and become a true elite force.

Their Tian Huan Battalion had became the enemy’s whetstone.

There was no hope of victory. If they kept on fighting, the fatalities would only increase.

Gongye Xiao Rong was silent.

He had been talented from childhood and had smoothly advanced even in a large sect like Tian Huan. He had been respected by his fellow disciples and protected by the elders.

He had never thought that he would end up in a situation like this one day.

Defeat after defeat!

Looking at his battalion of which only slightly more than a third remained, looking at the faces that were looking in bewilderment at him, his heart suddenly hurt.

His face was slightly ashen but he knew that everyone was waiting for his decision.

“We will leave!”

He used almost all the strength in his body to say these three words.

———

When Mu Xi finished listening to the report from her subordinate, she was thoughtful.

“Daren, should we go take that chaos rift? The enemy is tired from fighting. Now that Gongye Xiao Rong has retreated, they would be relaxed and off-guard. This is a good chance!” the subordinate couldn’t resist saying.

The successive victories had established and secured Mu Xi’s position in the Palace Lake Wood Clan. Right now, she was undoubted as the top ranked battle general of the Palace Lake Wood Clan, and was qualified to decide on the major discussions of the clan.

There had never been one that was so young in the history of the yao able to achieve such a level.

Mu Xi shook her head. “What is the use if we take it? It is already very good that we are able to hold this jie. Do not underestimate the other. They were able to stop Gongye Xiao Rong. It is hard to say for certain but just in defense, there are probably few that can compare.”

Seeing the subordinate’s disagreement, she said, “Don’t be proud because Gongye Xiao Rong lost a few skirmishes to us. We have never fought Gongye Xiao Rong head on. Gongye Xiao Rong is very strong to have defeated the allied army.”

After some thought, she ordered, “We need good relations with this faction. They have great ambitions if they dare to become enemies with Tian Huan. Naturally, they will need allies.”

“But they are xiuzhe!”

“You need to see the flow of history. The world is in turmoil, chaos rifts connect xiuzhe, yao, and mo territories. Within the decade, the barriers between xiuzhe, yao, and mo will be broken,” Mu Xi said solemnly.

The subordinate wanted to say more, but he acknowledged the order when he saw Mu Xi’s stern gaze.

Mu Xi looked at the back of the subordinate as he left with flashing eyes. She knew that she was too young. Even though she had been winning all this time, there were many in the clan that did not accept her.

Maybe she should build her own battalion.

When this thought appeared, the urge was unable to be removed.

———

The black crowds of people in the horizon seemed to be moving slowly but in a flash, they appeared. The battalion stretched like a cloud silently.

There was indifference on the face of every mo soldier. From a glance, it could be seen that they were experienced mo soldiers. The banners of the clans were raised and flew in the wind. There wasn’t any stray sound from the battalion.

In the center of the battalion, an enormous chariot procession was the most eye-catching. Blue silk flew in the wind, and the copper tassels that hung from the eaves of the chariot roof chimed from far away. The four beasts that pulled the chariot were unusually ugly but they were extremely submissive standing the front of the chariot.

Beside the chariot, four large men with stern expressions had a wooden rack on their shoulders where a blue sword was placed.

As the ranks spread out, a tangible killing essence spread.

Great Peace City was silent. No one dared to speak loudly.

Zuo Mo wasn’t frightened by the pomp at all. He looked around. Marshal Yu’s battalion was not as large as he imagined and was just about ten thousand people.

This was a much lower number than he imagined.

In his imaginations, the battalion of a marshal should cover the sky. Each marshal usually had more than a hundred jie under their command.

Princess Xia suddenly said in a low voice, “Marshal Yu has been busy expanding his territories and his battalions have been mostly sent out. His own territories haven’t been peaceful. But you have to be careful. This Yu Frontier Guard is the most elite battalion that Marshal Yu has. I have no way to help, be careful.”

From these sparse words, Zuo Mo understood many things. He could hear the concern in the other’s tone and comforted, “That’s alright, I have my own measures!”

Princess Xia gritted her teeth and said, “If it cannot be helped, give the Anti Dragon Claw to him.”

Zuo Mo’s heart felt warm but when he thought of the Three Thousand Threads of Worry that had merged into his body, he grimaced inwardly. The Three Thousand Threes of Worry were wrapped around the Anti Dragon Claw. No matter how he tried, they would not unwind and leave the Anti Dragon Claw.

Even if he wanted to give the Anti Dragon Claw to someone else, he couldn’t do it.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Zuo Mo comforted with a smile.

Shu Long and the others had returned to Zuo Mo’s side and were on full alert.

The presence of this battalion intimidated all. Even Ming Hui and the others couldn’t help but change expression. The Ming Bandits that he had built had not been afraid of anything but they had just suffered heavy losses. Now, after he personally saw the most elite force of Marshal Yu, he finally felt what true elite was!

His Ming Bandits, in front of this strictly organized battalion, could only be called “bandits”!

He had thought previously that with many people fighting over the Anti Dragon Claw, he would have a chance during the chaos. But when Marshal Yu came with his Yu Frontier Guards, he knew that the Anti Dragon Claw would land in Marshal Yu’s hands.

Marshal Yu would probably not let people of terrible reputation like his Ming Bandits escape.

Ming Hui’s expression became uncertain.

Chapter 638 - Mister Tong

The ferocious presence of the Yu Frontier Guards intimidated everyone.

The chariot with its billowing curtains felt like a great and ancient beast looking down at the world. The commanders surrounded it and the mo soldiers stood in formation like a dense forest. It was a murderous silence and the invisible pressure was like a lead cloud that made the air suffocating.

Zuo Mo’s gaze was as sharp as a sword and fearless.

“Present the Anti Dragon Claw to me, and you will be spared death!”

An authoritative voice came from within the chariot. The voice seemed to have a power to reach deep into the mind of a person.

“You will be spared death!”

The Yu Frontier Guards shouted deafeningly in unison. It was like everyone was struck on the head. At the same time, a great wave of murderous intent came like an avalanche that swept the entire region!

Even experts of Zhu Ke’s level changed expression. Ming Hui and the others were ashen-faced.

Zuo Mo’s gaze was bright and his expression indifferent as though he had not heard that great shout.

Silent. It became deathly silent.

Everyone couldn’t help but turn to look at Zuo Mo. Many people had expressions of schadenfreude. The Anti Dragon Claw was a sky mo weapon and a mo weapon that all mo dreamed of. Countless mo were jealous that Zuo Mo had obtained the Anti Dragon Claw.

Right now, Marshal Yu had come in person with the Yu Frontier Guards. No one believed that Xiao Mo Ge could make any more waves.

“Really?” Zuo Mo seemed to say to himself. His voice resonated all around even though it was not loud.

When the word came out, the other people stilled. Then expressions of disbelief came onto many people’s eyes. Was Xiao Mo Ge thinking of resisting?

Resist? Marshal Yu had come in person yet Xiao Mo Ge dared to resist?

Did this person not want to live?

Many members of the Yu Frontier Guard were shocked by Zuo Mo’s words as well but soon, their faces filled with anger.

Such daring!

He dared to disobey Marshal Yu!

Marshal Yu did not speak but those under his command could not resist. One person said coldly, “What? Even sparing your insignificant life is because Marshal Yu treasures talent! Be good and present the Anti Dragon Claw, swear your loyalty to Marshal Yu. Someone as lowly as you does not deserve a treasure like the Anti Dragon Claw!”

Anger rose on the faces of Shu Long and the others.

Zuo Mo was unaffected. His lips curled slightly in a disdainful smile as he spat out, “You want to die!”

Everyone was shocked.

Was Xiao Mo Ge mad? He dared to call Marshal Yu’s man the one who wanted to die!

Princess Xia paled. She pressed her lips together as her eyes became deeply worried.

Almost at the same time, a purple energy flashed through A Gui’s eyes. Her right hand suddenly moved towards that mo.

Crack!

A crisp sound of a bone snapping was eerily clear against the deathly silence.

The eyes of the mo who had just spoken bulged suddenly and his neck tilted at a strange angle. Before he could make a sound, he fell from the sky like a rock.

Hiss!

Sharp inhales sounded. Everyone look in terror at A Gui who was standing next to Zuo Mo. This person who appeared extremely ugly and had been following Xiao Mo Ge all this time but it was rare to see her act. The only time she had fought was when she and Ceng Lian’er had defended Zou Mo from Lin Qian’s blow.

But this attack was even more powerful than the strike she blocked from Lin Qian.

Had she not used her full power previously?

Zhu Ke and the others also had uncertain expressions. They were astounded inside.

But what most people found even harder to understand was that Xiao Mo Ge didn’t seem to have any fear at all when facing Marshal Yu. He even dared to talk back to Marshal Yu. Did this person have some major power behind him?

This thought flashed through people’s minds but then they shook their heads. No matter what support they had, it was useless at the moment.

Marshal Yu had come with ten thousand Yu Frontier Guards. It was useless unless another marshal came with their own personal guard.

The death of their fellow enraged the Yu Frontier Guard. Even the calmest person was unable to maintain their calm.

A large full bearded man stepped out and bowed towards the chariot. He said angrily, “Lord! This subordinate is willing to go and fight this arrogant peon!”

Another person came out and shouted at the same time, “This subordinate is also willing to fight!”

Several others also came out to request to fight.

Zuo Mo’s arrogance and A Gui’s attack had completely enraged the people of Yu Frontier Guard who usually had their eyes looking at the sky.

“If one really has talent, there is nothing wrong in being proud.” Marshal Yu’s voice came from the chariot. “What is not good is when one doesn’t have the talent to match their arrogance. This seat has no patience for people like that. Since you have requested to fight, then go. You will be rewarded if you win. If you lose, you will belong under his command.”

When the words came out, the commanders stared at each other. They had requested to fight out of indignation, but they were not confident. They were still very wary of A Gui’s unfathomable attacks.

But if they were really defeated and had to swear allegiance to Xiao Mo Ge, the consequences would be too severe. Also, they could hear that Master’s fondness for talent had been stirred. In the end, Xiao Mo Ge might end up under the command of Master.

They knew Master’s fondness for talent. He liked to recruit young talents. If Xiao Mo Ge really had some talent, Master would not care about a few slight offenses.

If they really had to swear allegiance to him, then it would be worse than being killed.

Their gazes unconsciously moved towards a man beside the chariot in a plea for help.

This large man was very tall and had short hair. There was nothing outstanding about his appearance but his gaze was serene and his presence steady. Under the pleading gazes of the crowd, he smiled helplessly. Then he turned and bowed towards the carriage. He said in a respectful voice, “Master, this subordinate feels an itch to see Xiao Mo Ge’s skill. Please, Master, allow this subordinate to fight.”

“Oh, Mister Tong is rarely interested in the ability of others. Interesting, interesting.” Light laughter came from the chariot. This Mister Tong was someone that Marshal Yu trusted highly and so Marshal Yu said, “Then this seat will wait and see.”

“Thanks, Master.” Mister Tong bowed slightly towards the chariot.

He turned around. Noticing the joy on the faces of the commanders, he shook his head helplessly. He had a good reputation among the commanders and could not refuse their request for help. When he turned to face Xiao Mo Ge, and saw the Anti Dragon Claw on his back, heat suddenly flashed through his eyes.

He raised his right leg and lightly stepped forward. Under the eyes of everyone present, his figure disappeared as though he was teleporting through space.

Woosh. He appeared out of thin air.

With this light jump, inhales sounded.

One could see the skill of an expert when they acted.

No one had detected any vibrations from the seemingly simple step that Mister Tong took. There were those that cultivated mo eyes among the people present but no one had managed to observe his step.

Zhu Ke, Chang Yuan Hao, and the others changed expression. Only experts who had reached [Domain] could faintly discern that Mister Tong’s step was closely related to [Domain].

Zuo Mo’s pupils contracted.

He did not understand the mysteries behind this step.

But Zuo Mo did not feel fear as he faced the challenging gaze.

His nerves had been highly tense after the battles of the past few days. The pairs of anticipating eyes were on him. He felt that he was like a rope that was being pulled apart and would snap at any moment. He had silently planned and calculated everything, holding up under the pressure these people placed on him.

He was silent, his mind was tired, he was struggling to remain upright.

But he finally made it through. Actually, ever since the battle with the Ming Bandits started, his mind calmed down and he entered new state.

The test of the past few days was like whetstone that had polished him. However, this time, what was being polished was not his mo physique, but his mind and his heart!

Unknowingly, his mind had completely transformed, become even stronger and resilient!

He did not have any stray thoughts, confusion, or terror. Even if he was facing an enemy he could not get the measure of, his mind was not affected at all.

Zuo Mo’s Three Thousand Threads of Worry tightened. He was about to step out when a figure suddenly disappeared like a ghost from beside him.

Ceng Lian’er!

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Ceng Lian’er seemed to be unusually eager for a fight today.

The two faced off in the air.

Mister Tong’s step was ethereal and Ceng Lian’er’s figure was seductive. Two completely different styles but both were filled with danger.

Mister Tong smiled. “Miss is very good. However, this one wants to fight Xiao Mo Ge, can Miss make way?”

Even though he said it politely, the meaning of his words were clear: you aren’t my match, have Xiao Mo Ge come.

Ceng Lian’er stood her ground, her long red dress was like a rose blooming in the air. Her features were exquisite and her gaze dazzling while her presence was misty and ghostly. When the two distinct traits mixed together, it was a beauty that did not seem realistic.

Her opal black eyes were deep. Her lips moved and her voice was as light as smoke, “That is not up to you.”

Finishing her statement, her wrists moved and turned slightly. Her long sleeves rippled in waves.

Seriousness came onto Mister Tong’s face. He raised his right hand and directed a blow at Ceng Lian’er!

Both had movements that seemed slow and without any killing intent as though they were dancing.

Yet the sky between the combatants suddenly twisted. Then, ripples formed and started to move into the surroundings.

Ceng Lian’ers gaze became even more blurry. Under her long red dress, the white mo matrix was like flowers upon her beautiful smooth skin as it expanded. Her body was soft and flexible like a snake as she danced to a strange rhythm.

There was no ease on Mister Tong’s face. His hair stood up on end, energy brimming from all parts of his body. His right palm seemed to be holding something extremely heavy. The edge of his palm was disappearing at a very slow rate as though his hand was slowly sinking into a void.

The sky which had been rippling in waves suddenly started to boil. The vibrations became even more violent.

Bubbles of various sizes appear out of the thin air.

In a flash, the space between the combatants was filled with these bubbles. The largest of these bubbles were the size of a fist, and the smallest the size of a pinhead. Once they came out, they floated motionlessly in the air.

They were like the most normal bubbles. Under the sunlight, they reflected the world.

Chapter 639 - Divine Moon

Moonlight flashed through those bewitching eyes.

Pia!

The bubbles around the two exploded in unison.

Gusts of sharp air rushed out and covered the two.

Yet such powerful gusts were unable to harm the two at all. There seemed to be an invisible barrier two zhang around Mister Tong which stopped the gust. While Ceng Lian’er seemed to be intangible. The gusts easily passed through her. Her figure was like a reflection in the water. It wavered, became blurry and seemed almost unreal.

Mister Tong’s gaze focused.

His hand grabbed at Ceng Lian’er

A black palmprint left his hand and turned into a black ball of mist that headed towards Ceng Lian’er. There seemed to be countless monsters howling from within the black mist. The roars filled the air and everyone who heard it felt their hairs stand up.

Ceng Lian’ers gaze was bewitching. Her lips parted slightly and she breathed.

“Moon!”

Her long sleeve moved lightly like silk in water.

The air around her suddenly became dark. A crescent moon floated behind her. This crescent moon was slightly taller than her, and gave off a cool light.

Ceng Lian’er was extremely excited. The divine moon had finally appeared!

The moon shen power succession technique she had inherited was relatively complete but some of the crucial parts had been lost. The heir of each generation had tried to do all they could to perfect the cultivation method but the restoration effects were minute. Even their own cultivation had progressed at a difficult rate.

Divine Moon, the crux of the later stages of cultivation, had been lost long before.

Now it was restored in Ceng Lian’ers hands.

Ceng Lian’er’s talent was outstanding and she had worked hard on her cultivation from a young age. In this period of time, her frequent battles, especially the one with Lin Qian, had benefited her greatly.

The powerful Mister Tong pressured her greatly and was also the cause of her epiphany of the Divine Moon.

“Divine Moon!” A cool voice came from behind the silk curtains. Marshal Yu said, “So Ceng Lian’er cultivates shen power, it was this seat that made a wrong guess.”

The commanders around the chariot shook with astonishment on their faces.

Shen power!

So this was shen power!

The crescent moon in the sky seemed to have passed through time from the ancient era!

“Lord!” some of the commanders called.

“Do not let her escape,” Marshal Yu quietly commanded.

The middle-aged attendant next to Princess Xia had an unfocused gaze as she murmured to herself, “Divine Moon! So this is what shen power truly is like!”

She had been searching hard for decades and schemed to just reach the edge. Previously, she had detected that Ceng Lian’er cultivated shen power, but when she saw the crescent moon in the sky, her mouth felt bitter.

The Divine Moon’s appearance meant that Ceng Lian’er’s shen power was finally on the right path!

A look flashed through Princess Xia’s eyes and she reflexively looked towards Xiao Mo Ge.

Her eyes flickered. She noticed that Zuo Mo’s body imperceptibly shook and his expression change slightly.

Noticing Princess Xia’s gaze, Zuo Mo turned around. The two’s gazes met.

Princess Xia found a flash of joy in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

———

Bie Han was not interested in the fight ongoing in the sky. For battle generals like him who focused on battle command, struggles through individual power were not interesting. His Sin Battalion was almost all equal in power, and there were no strong experts. Almost all his energy was spent on how to squeeze the most power out of Sin Battalion.

Over a long period of time, this also became a habit, or rather, his combat style.

Regardless of the intensity of the battle in the air, it could not attract his gaze. He constantly swept the Yu Frontier Guards warily like a cunning wolf looking for an opening to attack.

He was not frightened by the Yu Frontier Guards.

Even though his days in the past had been the same as being in prison, Xuan Kong Temple was one of the four great sects. Even the opponents the sect sent against him were on par with Jiang Zhe. Growing up in an environment like this, Bie Han could not fear a battalion he had not even heard of, even if the other’s leader was at marshal level.

After decades of being icy and stoic, his heart was as hard as stone.

The other people were intimidated by Marshal Yu’s reputation and didn’t dare to move. However, Bie Han constantly looked at this enormous battalion in search of a weakness he could use to break through.

His spirit had not calmed down from his battle with the Ming Bandits. He was like a lion that had been caged for too long. He had charged out of the cage and was yearning to find any fight!

Light flashed in his narrowed eyes.

When he saw a small troop of the Yu Frontier Guards move towards the flank when people were not paying attention, his eyes turned cold.

After a moment of thought, he understood what the other intended—the other was surrounding Ceng Lian’er and preventing her from running away.

Even though this guess was slightly ridiculous because from every angle, it seemed impossible that Ceng Lian’er could escape, Bie Han did not hesitate. His narrowed eyes slowly swept across where the troop was situated and he believed even more in his own judgement.

The movement of this little troupe did not attract anyone’s attention. Among the dense ranks, it was hard to detect a change in position. Even if the Yu Frontier Guard battle generals noticed this shift in position, they would soon look elsewhere. In such a large army, the change in position of a thousand people was not something of particular note.

Bie Han’s eyes narrowed even more. The killing energy and light in his eyes was almost hidden by his eyelids.

This seemed like a change in position of no value, but Bie Han paid attention.

He quickly calculated the changes that would occur as a result of this little change in position.

Xiuzhe battle generals were the most skilled at divination. As one of the best, Bie Han’s divination skill could be called terrifying. In his mind, the motionless Yu Frontier Guards were shifting around.

The movement of the little troop would cause the middle of the army to thin by ten percent.

Noticing the experts near the chariot that were nervously staring at the two fighting in the air, Bie Han seemed to smell prey.

He became slightly excited, but his gaze became even deeper and his attention even more focused.

He had a strong feeling

–the opportunity was slowly coming towards him!

———

The fight in the air reached a climax.

Mister Tong’s black mist that seemed to be made of numerous monsters howling dissipated quickly under the light of Ceng Lian’er’s moon like the heat from boiling water after being poured onto ice.

Mister Tong’s expression suddenly changed!

A drop of blood suddenly came out between his brows and flew into his hand.

Even though it was only one drop of blood, his palm looked as though it was covered in blood. This bloodied palm was raised up, and Mister Tong’s expression became grave.

“Palm Eye Cliff!”

The sky above Ceng Lian’er darkened. She raised her head to look and saw a cliff hundreds of zhang tall dropping down quickly!

Hiss!

The people below saw it clearly and inhaled.

A mountain that was shaped like a hand had red channels on it like the patterns of a palmprint. What was most frightening was that on the palm there was an enormous bloody eye.

Anyone that was swept by this eye froze and their blood almost solidified!

Even the middle-aged attendant and the others showed some astonishment. They didn’t know the powers of this blood eye, but just the presence of the falling mountain was enough to make people feel that they could not win.

“Such a powerful Palm Eye Domain!” Zhu Ke murmured, shocked inside.

The Palm Eye Domain originated from the Palm Eye mo skill. This was a very rare and obscure mo skill. The person would only cultivate one palm and one eye. Even Zhu Ke who was very knowledgeable had only heard rumors. But this unknown Mister Tong had clearly cultivated this extremely obscure mo art to a very deep level. His understanding of [Domain] seemed almost unimaginable.

Even from afar, Zhu Ke felt his heart speed up as he saw that Palm Eye Cliff and its cold presence.

“In the history of the Palm Eye mo skill, there probably isn’t anyone who can surpass Mister Tong. This non-descript mo skill has blossomed in his hand, and one has to admire him!” A one-horned mo standing next to the chariot praised .

This person was called Ding Dong. His large body was covered in thick armor. What was most curious was that the armor was growing out of his body.

“Those without persistence cannot do this!” another person praised. This person’s eyes were long and narrow, his gaze cold. There was a transparent pair of wings on his back that were as clear as glass. This person was called Qian Qing and was one of the more famous experts in Marshal Yu’s command.

“I hope that this woman can manage to survive a while longer,” Ding Dong said with a smile, “I really anticipate examining shen power!”

Qian Qing snorted coldly and said, “Shen power is just a myth.”

However, the two did not look away. It was rare for Mister Tong to fight, and he was very low-key under Marshal Yu’s command. He was had very good relations with everyone and there were not many chances to see him fight.

There were many experts in Marshal Yu’s command. Even as strong as they were, there was still competition.

The Palm Eye Cliff was Mister Tong’s ultimate move. They had only heard the name but never seen it before. Now, they focused their attention to see its power!

Countless eyes gathered on her, but Ceng Lian’er did not panic.

At some time, the crescent moon had moved in front of her.

Mist blurred her eyes, her long sleeves danced and her serene and ethereal voice flashed across everyone’s minds.

“Moon, moon, open!”

The crescent moon spun in a circle around her and then struck at the Palm Eye Cliff that was crashing down.

There was no sound or ripple.

The terrifying Palm Eye Cliff was split open down the middle like tofu!

Mister Tong’s expression changed drastically and his hand froze.

“Moon, moon, shatter!”

The crescent moon spun quickly and turned into a flash of light. Ceng Lian’er beautiful figure flickered under the light of the moon.

Countless ruler-straight marks covered the Palm Eye Cliff in a flash.

Mister Tong’s face turned from red to while. His pupils expanded in disbelief.

Pew!

Face ashen, Mister Tong sprayed out blood and fell face down from the sky.

At the same time, the Palm Eye Cliff crumbled. The pieces rained down and each cut on every piece was as smooth as a mirror.

The entire battlefield was left silent!

Chapter 640 - The Black Gold Seal Solder VS Qian Qing

The long sleeves blew in the air and rippled in waves. Ceng Lian’er stood serenely.

There wasn’t a sound on the battlefield.

The Palm Eye Cliff was defeated as simply as this!?

Everyone’s expression was shocked and they were left speechless. Even though they did not personally experience Mister Tong’s Palm Eye Cliff, but the cold killing intent and cold presence that radiated off it was felt.

The ones who knew about the Palm Eye mo skill were shocked speechless.

Ceng Lian’er gaze moved around and she smiled under everyone’s shocked gaze.

At this time, her beautiful face bleached white. She could not control her body and suddenly dropped out of the sky!

Several figures leapt out of the Yu Frontier Guards. They were extremely fast as they shot towards Ceng Lian’er!

Zuo Mo’s eyes gave off a sharp light as he snorted coldly. His figure flashed disappearing from where he was. Almost at the same time, A Gui’s body also disappeared.

Bam!

A figure grunted as though he was hit by something heavy and flew away.

A Gui appeared in front of this group of Yu Frontier Guard experts like a ghost. There seemed to be an unspeakable presence on A Gui’s wooden and lifeless face. The purple energy in her eyes was clear as she looked indifferently at the experts flying towards her.

Her posture was extremely strange, one foot was placed high and one was placed low as though she was stepping on a stair.

That pair of flawless feet held an eerie beauty.

The remaining people were intimidated by A Gui’s uncanny attack and didn’t dare to charge forward.

———

Zuo Mo grabbed the unconscious Ceng Lian’er. He then sighed a moment later. She was just tired. Even though he didn’t have a good impression of Ceng Lian’er, they had known each other for some time. Additionally, Ceng Lian’er was so cooperative and listened to his requests to the extent that he couldn’t even complain.

A few strands of the Three Thousand Threads of Worry nimbly wrapped around Ceng Lian’er  freeing up both of his hands.

Looking at the people facing A Gui, murderousness boiled in his eyes.

The moment that Ceng Lian’er had her breakthrough, the shen power in his body had been stimulated. It had started to circulate on its own. Many of the things that had been difficult for him to understand flowed easily through his mind and it was a joy.

However, want he hadn’t expected was that the change in his shen power had not benefited his shen power, but his mo physique instead!

Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

If his body was completely naked now, people would clearly see that all ten suns on his body were brightly lit up.

The brightest was the sun script between his brows. The dark gold script which was complex and exquisite glimmered like there was gold flowing through it.

With the Anti Dragon Claw on his back, Zuo Mo already gave people the feeling of being domineering. Adding on the blinding Sun script on his forehead, he seemed even more like a god descended to the mortal realm. He was someone that people could not directly stare at.

The active and restless shen power flowed from his right hand into his body. The ten sun matrices were like whirlpools that continuously absorbed shen power.

Zuo Mo did not know what would result from this change.

Shen power and the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus were silently merging together.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. This was not the best moment for a breakthrough. That would wait until he finished taking care of these people!

At this time, a ripple suddenly came from his ring.

The black gold seal soldier appeared next to A Gui. He looked around sneakily and drawled, “Born To Battle.”

When he saw the mo steeds of the Yu Frontier Guards, his eyes lit up. His expression immediately became excited. He licked his lips and puffed out his chest. He said with a righteous tone, “Sister A Gui, I’ll help you!”

A Gui did not turn back to look at him.

The black gold seal soldier had one hand placed on his hip and one hand pointing as he started to swear, “Hey! You insignificant peons, move to the side, don’t waste ye’s time. Ye has been hungry for a long time … … cough cough … … ye’s hand has been itching for a long time!”

Qian Qing and Ding Dong were the two in front of A Gui.

The two looked with shock and uncertainty at A Gui. Just now, they had seen their other fellow die to A Gui’s sudden attack. A Gui’s attack had come without any warning or movement. Just like Ceng Lian’er, it was uncanny and unpredictable.

Was this another person that cultivated shen power?

They two didn’t even look at the black gold seal soldier.

Mo puppets existed in the mo territories but most of them were nothing special. Mo puppets couldn’t influence a battle at this level. It was much harder to create a mo puppet that could fight against top generals than it was to cultivate to become a top general.

While the black gold seal soldier seemed lively, the two did not place any importance on him.

But clearly, the black gold seal soldier was very displeased with how they dismissed his presence.

The dark face that mirrored Zuo Mo’s face bared its teeth viciously. “You dare to dismiss ye? I’ll eat you!”

Finishing, he charged at the two!

———

A figure returned next to the chariot and reported in a low voice, “Mister Tong is dead.”

“It really is a pity. Mister Tong was a rare expert to have been able to cultivate the Palm Eye mo skill to such a level.” The voice from the chariot was slightly regretful.

“Shen power is as dominant as expected!” This person was called Wu Yu. He was the most powerful expert under Marshal Yu’s command and highly trusted.

There were many experts in Marshal Yu’s service and there were ten that were called the Ten Yu Frontier Guards. Qian Qing, and Ding Dong were among them. Wu Yu was the first of the Ten Frontier Guards and let them. Mister Tong had ranked sixth out of ten. Qian Qing ranked seventh, Ding Dong fifth. The person that A Gui had killed had been called Song Long and ranked tenth.

The Ten Yu Frontier Guards had an elevated status. Each one of them had been experts that were regional commanders and Marshal Yu had spent great effort to gather them.

“I had not expected that Xiao Mo Ge would also have many experts in his command,” Marshal Yu said slowly. “So young, yet so able. As expected, an accomplished youth!”

Wu Yu smiled and said, “When this subordinate was at his age, my time was spent in the pleasure quarters and bars. Compared to Xiao Mo Ge, that was a total waste.”

Hearing Wu Yu speak so roughly, Marshal Yu chuckled. “If Ding Dong and the others hear you say this, wouldn’t they be ashamed?”

Wu Yu smiled.

Marshal Yu suddenly said, “You seem to be entering marshal level soon.”

Wu Yu grimaced. “The time has not arrived.”

Marshal Yu said lightly, “I will make a copy of the shen power for you. It will be up to you if you can break through or not.”

“Thanks, Lord!” Wu Yu suddenly became excited. He had been stuck at the peak of general level for a long time but had been unable to find a solution to break through to marshal level. He knew that if he kept on going like this, his chances of a breakthrough to marshal level would decrease.

“Helping you is also helping me. When you are in marshal level, I will be able to relax.” The voice inside the chariot held tiredness.

Wu Yu’s expression was solemn. “This one will not fail what Lord has given!”

“Qian Qing is about to lose.” Marshal Yu was slightly surprised. “Xiao Mo Ge has such a powerful mo puppet?”

Wu Yu stilled and his mind turned back to the battlefield.

———

Qian Qing had never been in such a sorry state. He had never thought there would be a day when he was being beaten by a mo puppet and by such a large margin!

This mo puppet was extremely strange. When it fought, strange characters would appear on its body. Even Qian Qing who was knowledgeable didn’t recognize any of them.

But it was extremely dangerous!

He didn’t dare to touch them.

After a few rounds, he was suppressed by the black gold seal soldier.

Qian Qing was of high birth. The bloodline of the Bright Void Cicada Mo gave him unparalleled speed. He was also able to tear apart space at will. [Space Tear] could enable a weak mo to become an expert that killed without a trace.

He would appear out of nowhere and out maneuver his opponent. But no matter how he tore and jumped through space, the black gold seal soldier seemed to be able to predict his movements and those two fists were waiting for him.

Damn it!

He didn’t know what the characters on the fists of the black gold seal soldier were. Every time Qian Qing looked at them, he was unable to suppress a thread of terror.

Qian Qing was talented and experienced. He knew what this thread of unknown terror meant.

Only something extremely dangerous could make him instinctively feel danger!

How was it possible?

Wasn’t this black guy in front of him a mo puppet?

Had he met a peerless mo puppet?

Qian Qing was both shocked and furious!

However, if he left the battlefield now, his situation would become extremely terrible. His ranking among the Ten Yu Frontier Guards would quickly fall and most importantly, the Lord would lose faith in him.

There was nothing scarier than that!

The bloodline of the Bright Void Cicada Mo was noble but they were no longer had the great numbers of the past. The reason that the clan had prospered in these past few years was because he had managed to find shade under the great tree that was Marshal Yu.

He was a smart person and he understood Lord’s like and dislikes very well.

If he died in battle, his family would still receive the care of Marshal Yu and would not fall into decline. If he ran from battle, he would lose everything he possessed now!

In a short moment, Qian Qing made his decision.

He stopped. The wind blew past his face as his panicked eyes calmed down.

[Space Tear] was the talent that all Bright Void Cicada mo experts had, and the most famous ability of the Bright Void Cicada mo clan. He was very familiar with the technique, but this was not his only offensive attack.

Relying on only just [Space Tear] he entered the top ten of the Yu Frontier Guards.

There were not many that knew of the mo physique he cultivated or the [Domain] formed by his mo physique.

This was his secret!

Compared to their current low numbers, the Bright Void Cicada mo had once existed in great numbers and produced many experts. They were natural-born assassins, and served many factions. But in secret, they had gathered mo skills from every place they served.

The experts of each generation would use these mo skills and the Bright Void Cicada mo bloodline as the foundation to created many mo physiques.

These mo physiques were endlessly varied and each had their own attributes.

Even within the Bright Void Cicada mo family, there would rarely be people who would cultivated the same mo physique. Because of the decline of the Bright Void Cicada mo, the mo physiques that the clanspeople cultivated were not kept secret like in the past. But no one knew the mo physique of one person, Qian Qing, the most accomplished Bright Void Cicada mo of the present!

He hadn’t thought that the first time his mo physique was seen in public that it would be to face a mo puppet.

The terror on Qian Qing’s face disappeared. What replaced it was strong confidence!

Chapter 641 - Together

Luo Li seemed to be in a lucid dream.

Note: In Chinese, Luo Li called the chain [Bu Li]. Bu is no, or a negative prefix so the literal translation would be never apart or never separated. It also fits the pattern with Luo Li, Wo Li, and Bu Li.

It was a very strange dream, he knew that he was dreaming, but everything in the real world was so clear. He could hear the breathing of Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng Shimei. He could feel the small molecules floating in the air. He could feel the flows of air from tens of miles away that were almost imperceptible as though they passed next to him. He could feel the vitality hidden inside the ground … …

His senses felt outside world in such detail with his mind’s eye.

Yet what was in front of him was only darkness, a darkness filled with the presence of death.

He was already dead!

This piece of knowledge remained on his mind for an unknown number of days.

At the beginning, he had been immersed in that rich and detailed world. He had explored it, and everything that happened in the surroundings did not escape his “eyes” though he could not see it. But when he gradually mastered this technique, or rather, this unique method, the black deathly dream did not change at all.

He did not forget the reason he was here.

That beautiful figure that haunted his mind entered his dream.

He tried to do all he could to add color to this dream of darkness and death. He created colors that he used to draw out that figure he could not forget.

When the last bit of color entered Wo Li’s eyes, the wooden Wo Li suddenly came to life.

The elegant and serene figure was like a lotus bud in bloom. The clear eyes added a hint of murderousness. She looked at Luo Li with a complicated gaze. Her lips moved and she suddenly sang, “I live, thou die, this is separation!”

Boom!

It was as though something struck Luo Li’s head.

The black world started to crumble. He felt his body become transparent as Wo Li’s body became tangible. The blackness gathered between the two of them and formed a black chain with one end connected to Luo Li’s body and the other to Wo Li’s body.

An understanding came to Luo Li and his mind was filled with happiness.

Life-Death Lock, so this was the Life-Death Lock!

No, he felt that the name [Life-Death Lock] was not appropriate. The person who had created this technique had never predicted the changes that would occur in the future.

His mind moved. He suddenly pointed at the black chain and said firmly, “This chain is called [Together]!”

When Wo Li heard this, her body shook slightly. Her cool gaze softened. Shrouded in sword essence, her lips moved again as she sang, “Separated in life and death, two hearts chained together, never to be apart even in reincarnation.”

When her words ended, countless complex characters flew out of their bodies and spread along the chain. The characters that came out of Luo Li’s body flashed with a black light while the scripts that came out of Wo Li flashed with a white light. The two energies connected in the middle of the chain.

Ding!

The chain shook and suddenly turned bright red. Those metal links transformed into love knots tied from red string that connected the two.

The red string gradually became faint until it disappeared.

But Luo Li could easily feel the red string. He knew that from today onwards, his fate would be forever tied to Wo Li’s fate. Even death would not be able to separate them.

He also knew that he was not a living person any longer.

But joy filled his heart.

It was worth anything to see her again.

———

The transparent wings on Qian Qing’s back vibrated at a rapid rate. Transparent ripples spread into the surroundings with Qian Qing as the center.

When the first wave of ripples came close, Ding Dong who was next to Qian Qing recognized the power and retreated rapidly!

These transparent ripples seemed weak like hair floating in the air.

When the first ripple met the black gold seal soldier, his body suddenly lit up. The formation scripts seemed to be stimulated and floated onto his skin.

The careless smile on the black gold seal soldier’s face disappeared and his gaze immediately became cold.

A sound skill!

Those seemingly harmless ripples were an extremely powerful kind of sound attack!

[Cicada Silk Block]!

That was the name of the mo physique he cultivated. Other than himself, no one knew of this. In the bright Void Cicada mo family, sound skilling were a minor technique. However, this [Cicada Silk Block] was extremely powerful. It was very hard to cultivate so there were not many that had successfully done so.

Beside the chariot, Wu Yu was slightly surprised, “Qian Qing actually had a trick like this up his sleeve, it seems that he has some hope of victory.”

“The Bright Void Cicada mo bloodline is noble. In the past, it had been very strong. Even though it has declined greatly, they still have some assets. This sound mo skill isn’t bad. It seems that there is still value in nurturing him,” Marshal Yu said lightly.

Wu Yu nodded and said, “I will take care of this. This mo puppet is really extraordinary. If Lord can get Xiao Mo Ge into your service, he is worth nine of the guards!”

Marshal Yu was also moved by this but remained slight.

The fighting in the sky was intense.

The ancient character on the black gold seal soldier’s palm was very sturdy. The sound skill ripples that were even sharper than flying swords would be fended off by a sweep of his hand.

But the Cicada Silk Block came endlessly from all directions.

Qian Qing was channeling his mo physique to its limits. He did not keep anything back. The transparent wings on his back moved and blurred until it turned into a patch of light.

The Cicada Silk Blocks increased and became even more densely packed.

A strange smile suddenly appeared on the black gold seal soldier’s lips.

When this strange smile appeared on a cold and indifferent face, it became even more eerie.

He suddenly puffed out his mouth and inhaled!

Hiss!

Like a whale sucking in water, the Cicada Silk Blocks that filled the air flew into the black gold seal soldier’s mouth!

In a blink, all the Cicada Silk Blocks in the air were gone as though someone had diligently cleaned all of them.

Burp!

The black gold seal soldier burped in satisfaction. He grinned, baring his teeth, as he waggled his eyebrows at Qian Qing. “Bro, you got more?”

Qian Qing was left dumbstruck.

———

Ding Dong hadn’t expected that his action of retreating would cause A Gui to attack.

A Gui suddenly appeared like a ghost next to him and started the fight. His reaction was quick. He knew how powerful A Gui was and he pointed towards A Gui.

A crisp green light suddenly shot out of his finger towards A Gui!

A Gui’s bare feet stepped on the empty air and her figure suddenly disappeared.

Bam!

Ding Dong seemed to be struck by a heavy hammer. His body shook and he was forced multiple steps backwards.

His expression was ugly. He knew that A Gui would be even more troublesome than the black gold seal soldier but only when they actually fought did he truly understand how difficult A Gui was to deal with.

The other’s attacks never showed any warning signs and were strangely powerful.

A crack appeared on a piece of armor on his back.

Ding Dong was a Green Turtle mo from Eastern Sea Jie. The turtle shell he grew was difficult to damage with flying swords and was almost the strongest armor that could be found. It was by relying on this impenetrable armor that he could survive countless battles, grow, and reach the status he had today.

But … …

He looked at A Gui with terror. A Gui’s attack just now had caused a crack to appear on his armor, something which had never cracked before!

Damn it!

Yet A Gui did not show any mercy. Her hands continued to move.

Bam bam bam!

The string of powerful attacks hit Ding Dong like raindrops.

With every blow, Ding Dong’s body would shake. After a string of successive attacks, his body flew and shook like dice. No matter which direction he fled in, A Gui’s attacks would not miss.

The purple energy in A Gui’s eyes was burning as she slapped at the air yet her gaze was not on Ding Dong but on Zuo Mo.

Her gaze was filled with concern!

———

Zuo Mo detected A Gui’s gaze but at this time, he was unable to respond. There was a complete transformation occurring inside his body. Shen power and the mo physique were merging.

Each tiny tendril of power that flowed through his body burned like lava.

The ten sun scripts were like ten suns and gave off astounding power and heat.

What shocked Zuo Mo was that they were slowly revolving in unique paths.

But Zuo Mo did not have the time for admiration and shock because he found the true method to use the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus!

Revolutions!

When the ten suns revolved, a vast and strong power filled his body.

This power was unlike the power of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus he had discovered before. It was both yang and strong, but it was not domineering. It was as vast as the ocean and warm as the sun.

Zuo Mo reflexively channeled the [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] that he was still unfamiliar with. That vast yang power furiously flowed into his [Ten Crow Celestial Domain].

The revolutions of the ten suns suddenly accelerated!

Even more power flowed into the [Ten Crow Celestial Domain].

Zuo Mo seemed to have entered another world. The [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] quickly inflated like a balloon. When it reached a certain size, it did not grow anymore but the revolutions of the ten suns did not stop. Power was still flowing into the Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

A hint of understanding came.

The sun was domineering in one aspect but its heat created life for all beings.

The sun was the beginning of all life!

When these words appeared in his mind, his body suddenly shook at the same time!

The Ten Crow Celestial Domain that was filled with power transformed again.

Vitality erupted. Green grasses sprouted. They grew at an astounding rate and formed a sea of grass in a blink in front of Zuo Mo. Then, little trees grew out of the grass. They grew up into the sky and formed a dense forest.

Animals started to appear in the forest.

Zuo Mo seemed to gain an understanding. He raised his head and looked at the sky.

There was a sun hanging high up.

But as power flowed in, another sun formed.

A third one, a fourth one … …

The trees and grasses started to wither, the earth started to crack, and the animals died!

When the tenth sun appeared in the sky.

Fire erupted from the burnt earth. The sky was dark red. Streams of fire flowed and burned, and it seemed like hell!

Ten Crow Celestial Domain, the hell domain!

Chapter 642 - Wu Yu

When Bie Han saw Zuo Mo and A Gui move to act, his eyes narrowed into thin blades.

He perceptively realized that the Yu Frontier Guards were unable to control themselves. While their ranks still looked orderly on the surface and unchanged, Bie Han could feel the urges under this calm.

This was an intuition difficult to describe.

Bie Han’s mind gradually calmed and his gaze deepened.

When the enemy could not resist from acting, it usually meant an opportunity would appear.

He did not have as much manpower as the enemy and he needed to capitalize on an opportunity.

———

Wu Yu decided to act.

If he did not act, Qian Qing and Ding Dong would both die on the battlefield. The Ten Yu Frontier Guards had already lost Mister Tong today. If Qian Qing and Ding Dong were also lost, then it really would be a heavy blow.

It was not so easy to recruit experts of this level.

“Miss, have mercy!”

Wu Yu was very fast and suddenly appeared near A Gui to try and rescue Ding Dong.

A Gui and the black gold seal soldier were strong and each had their skills but he did not fear them. He was halfway into marshal level, and could be called a quasi-marshal. He would be considered a top tier expert in the Hundred Savage of the Dark.

When he stepped into the air, a feeling of extreme danger rose.

His heart shuddered and his right hand reflexively struck out from his side.

Bam!

His hand shook and he had to channel his mo skill to suppress this strange burst of energy.

Was this shen power?

Before he could think further, A Gui’s attacks came in succession.

A Gui’s hands slapped at the air but did not make a sound or any light. However, Wu Yu felt like a mouse caught in the stare of a cat. His hairs stood on end and there was a feeling of extreme danger on his mind.

Wu Yu recognized the severity of the situation and his expression turned grave. His right eye suddenly lit up and a cool blue light shot out.

The air in front of him became as hard as iron.

Bam!

The air exploded. Cold flows of air gusted out in all directions.

Wu Yu was shocked but his gaze became even hotter. As expected of shen power! His move just now was called [Ice Blue]. It was extremely cold and could even freeze air until it was as hard as iron. If one was caught by it, they would most likely die immediately.

A Gui’s attacks were hard to predict and wondrously powerful. He hadn’t thought that [Ice Blue] would be defeated so easily!

But even so, Wu Yu was happy. His hopes of stepping into marshal level finally showed hope. If he could comprehend shen power, he would benefit greatly and entering marshal level would only be a matter of time.

Wu Yu was very experienced in battle and his power was great. With Ice Blue blocking the attacks for a moment, he managed to steady himself.

On his back, a pair of pitch black bat wings spread. The edges of his wings were covered in blood red bone spikes. Light flowed like fire. He also held a string of copper coins that were round on the outside and had square holes on the inside. There were seven coins that were strung together with a black string.

He snickered and threw the copper coins into the air.

“Black Heart Treasure Coins!” Zhu Ke’s pupils shrunk and his expression changed slightly.

When the words were spoken, many people immediately changed expression.

The sky mo weapons were the top tier of mo weapon and up until now, there were only twenty articles that qualified for this rank. Some mo weapons were wondrous and powerful. While they were not as mysterious and incomprehensible as the sky mo weapons, they were still top grade mo weapons. The owners of those articles were all powerful people or the lord of a territory. These top tier mo weapons that were ranked just slightly below sky mo weapons were called earth mo weapons. They were treasures that countless people in the mo territories dreamed of.

There were twenty sky mo weapons and one hundred and eight of the earth mo weapons.

The Blackheart Treasure Coins were one of those earth mo weapons.

No one had thought that the common-looking copper coins on Wu Yu’s hands were the infamous Blackheart Treasure Coins!

There were seven blackheart treasure coins. No one knew who had made them, but this mo weapon could form its own domain called the Ineffectiveness Domain. Inside this domain, the five elements would be thrown into chaos, even yin and yang would be reversed.

The seven treasure coins that flew into the air suddenly disappeared.

The scene in front of A Gui changed. What was under her feet was the blue sky and above her head was the great earth.

Wu Yu smiled. Shen power was strong but it was direct. In his eyes, shen power lacked transformations. He had ways of dealing with it.

Once the Ineffectiveness Domain formed, even gods would have a hard time escaping.

Yet just then, a crack came from nearby. Wu Yu stopped and then reacted. His expression changed and he had a bad thought.

As expected, when he turned around, he saw Qian Qing with his neck twisted.

The black gold seal soldier snickered at him.

Wu Yu’s face darkened. Marshal Yu was here, and they had lost so many people. With so many people as an audience, it would not be good if the news spread. He knew that Lord wanted to recruit Xiao Mo Ge’s group, but if it became too ugly, then it would not be beneficial for anyone.

A pity!

This mo puppet was very intelligent to have defeated Qian Qing. It was rare to see mo puppets of this level. However, while he felt regret, Wu Yu did not have any intentions of holding back. He needed someone to make an example of!

This would stop now!

He snorted coldly. The bat wings on his back flapped.

The smile on the black gold seal soldier’s face suddenly froze. He seemed to be restrained by something and was unable to move.

No matter how he struggled, he was unable to break free.

The black gold seal soldier panicked and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Big Bro, save me! Save me!”

Wu Yu laughed when he heard this. This mo puppet was really interesting. But his expression turned heavy. “No one can save you!”

He suddenly laughed. He was explaining this to a mo puppet, how stupid!

The black gold seal soldier was like a still pillar of gold, unable to move, and could only shout at the top of his lungs.

Then a slightly hoarse voice came from behind Wu Yu. “Really?”

Wu Yu was startled. Before he could react, the scene in front of him suddenly changed.

A dark red sky with ten suns suspended high up, a cracked earth desolate and endless as fire erupted from it. There was nothing that lived here. White bones piled up everywhere. A feeling of this being the end of the world rose.

Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

Wu Yu’s expression turned stern.

Xiao Mo Ge!

As he expected, a thin figure with the enormous Anti Dragon Claw on his back appeared nearby.

Wu Yu’s expression quickly recovered as he examined Zuo Mo curiously. “Oh, you just had a breakthrough? As expected, you are very talented! I noticed that you were at the threshold to completing your Ten Crow Celestial Domain. Now you are able to create this, that wasn’t easy!”

He smiled calmly as the black bat wings on his back slowly flapped.

Small flows of air blocked the burning air.

“You are a talented person.” Wu Yu said to himself as he flapped his wings. “Young yet having accomplished so much. It is the first time I have seen someone like you.”

It seemed to be praise. His expression was filled with disbelief.

“You also cultivate shen power. Something that many people dream of. You are very lucky.” He shook his head and said seriously, “But today, you only have one path. Obey and surrender, swear fealty to my Lord. In the future, we will not treat you unfairly. If you persist in resisting, do not blame me for being vicious. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I am also skilled in the secret technique of searching souls.”

Wu Yu suddenly smiled lightly. “Isn’t it very hard?”

Zuo Mo’s body imperceptibly shook.

“This Ten Crow Celestial Domain far surpasses what your power can support. You are very talented to have comprehended to this level. But it is a pity that your body cannot tolerate it.”

Wu Yu said lightly, “I am only giving you this chance because you are talented. If your Ten Crow Celestial Domain is complete, you might be able to restrain me. But right now, you are not a match for me. Surrender, you don’t have a chance.”

“You really are too mother***ing chatty!” Zuo Mo forced himself to snort. His right hand shook slightly behind his back and he suppressed it.

Wu Yu shook his head. “The smarter the person, the more likely they do not know when to give up.”

Finishing, his wings suddenly flapped.

A whirlwind appeared in front of him.

The wind spun rapidly and the pillar of wind became thicker. It started to suck up the sand and stone on the ground. In a blink, this pillar of wind became dozens of zhang tall and was still increasing in size!

Zuo Mo did not speak. The ten suns in the sky slowly revolved.

Boom!

Suddenly, dozens of fire pillars erupted and swallowed Wu Yu.

“It is useless.”

Wu Yu’s voice came from behind Zuo Mo.

He appeared behind Zuo Mo, untouched by the flames. That pillar of wind also absorbed much of the flames and formed an enormous pillar of wind that was over five li in diameter. It was like a pillar continuously reaching into the sky. Even the suns in the sky lost color in its presence.

Sand and stone moved. The earth shook like dice.

Zuo Mo’s expression became uglier but he still put all his power into the revolution of the ten suns.

The suns were burning!

The earth started to melt. The stones started to melt. Lava erupted from the cracks. In a blink, the lava flowed into countless rivers that crossed each other.

“You disappoint me,” Wu Yu said indifferently. Almost at the same time, a cold light flashed across his eyes.

He had discovered Xiao Mo Ge’s position.

Ever since Wu Yu stepped into the range of Xiao Mo Ge’s domain, Xiao Mo Ge’s position had been uncertain. The Ten Crow Celestial Domain was Xiao Mo Ge’s domain and his presence had always been hidden well. Wu Yu had been using his speech to disturb the other so he would expose his position.

While his words were easy going, he was actually very wary of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. It was the first ranking domain in general level and it was very powerful. If he faced it head on, even if he won, it would take great effort.

And if he could find Xiao Mo Ge’s position, then he would definitely win!

When he discovered Zuo Mo’s position, he did not hesitate in attacking. While he had said those words, he did not spare anything and used a killing move!

He did not have any intentions of leaving Xiao Mo Ge alive!

[Bat Sickle!]

Zuo Mo felt his body freeze. His body was restrained by a strong power around him. This power was very strange. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to break free.

Woosh, Wu Yu suddenly appeared behind Zuo Mo. His bat wings were like two great swords that sliced towards Zuo Mo with green light.

Wu Yu had the confidence that he could cut Zuo Mo in half.

At this time, Zuo Mo did not seem to notice of the danger from behind him. A smile suddenly came onto his face.

Chapter 643 - Deadlock

Wu Yu could not see the smile when it appeared on Zuo Mo’s face but for some reason, he had a feeling. His heart jumped. Did Xiao Mo Ge have something up his sleeve?

Yet his wings had already moved at full power. He did not hold anything back in this blow! His pair of wings almost disappeared into the air. Even the howl of movement could not catch up! Even if there was a mountain in front of him, he had the confidence he could cut through it.

Suddenly, great pain came from his wings.

Blood suddenly sprayed from Wu Yu’s pair of indestructible wings!

An indescribable pain came from his wings. Wu Yu immediately changed color.

The wings seemed to have been cut up by very thin knives and fell into dozens of pieces in the air!

In the air, dozens of strands that were as thin as hair flickered in and out of view. If it wasn’t that there was blood on some of them, Wu Yu would not have detected them at all.

What was this?

Wu Yu felt terror.

But before he could react, his body suddenly became restrained. Countless invisible threads tightly wrapped around him. These invisible thin threads were extremely strong. They started to tighten. Because they were very thin and strong, they were as sharp as knives! Wu Yu’s strong mo physique was forcibly cut open by these tiny strands.

Pew!

Tiny sprays of blood seeped out from all parts of Wu Yu’s body. The thin strands sank deeply and terrifyingly into his flesh.

Three Thousand Threads of Worry!

The Three Thousand Threads of Worry could restrain even the Anti Dragon Claw. Wu Yu didn’t have the power to resist them.

The black sickle on Zuo Mo’s body had not yet disappeared. He was tightly bound but his smile became even brighter. From the beginning he knew that his chances of success at defeating Wu Yu with just the Ten Crow Celesetial Domain was not high.

He put his hopes on the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. The Three Thousand Threads of Worry was something that could subdue something as vicious as the Anti Dragon Claw. It shouldn’t have a problem against Wu Yu.

He really had used great effort to bait Wu Yu to come close.

Showing weakness, showing pride …. …

Luckily, the outcome was as he had expected. The Three Thousand Threads of Worry could shift from being tangible and intangible.

The two of them were both restrained but one could not forget that they were still inside Zuo Mo’s Ten crow Celestial Domain.

Zuo Mo had expended great effort to lock down Wu Yu. He did not hesitate and the killing moves came right after.

The ten suns in the sky suddenly spun.

Woosh!

An extremely faint flame suddenly sprouted from under Wu Yu.

A blue light rose on Wu Yu’s body that stopped the flame.

Inside the blue energy, Wu Yu’s expression was terrifying. His body was soaked in blood. A furiously murderousness flashed through his eyes as he bit his tongue.

The blood on his body suddenly moved as though it was alive. Mo insects the size of a thumb climbed out of his blood.

These mo insects were completely covered in Wu Yu’s blood and mo matrices could be seen on them. They quickly moved on Wu Yu’s body.

As the blood mo insects moved, a thick layer of blood coloured light was released from them which shrouded all of Wu Yu’s body.

At this time, the blue light could not withstand the faint gold flame and crumbled.

Zuo Mo had a bad feeling. This blood coloured light was very hardy. Even though it hissed as it was being burned and slowly decreased in size, the speed was very slow.

The faint gold flame was one of Zuo Mo’s last tricks.

The Sun Crystal Seed was inside his body, and the shen power he cultivated had merged into the Ten Crow Celestial Domain which caused unexpected changes to happen to this Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

The Sun Shen fire was one of those.

Originally, the flame of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain should have been the seventh-grade Golden Crow Feet Fire. The legend had it that the golden crow was covered in fire, and the three wisps on its feet were the most powerful. Those were called the Golden Crow Feet Fire.

But Zuo Mo had an immature sun in his body. This Sun Crystal Seed formed the crux of Zuo Mo’s Ten Crow Celestial Domain which caused it to rise in power.

But what really caused this change was Zuo Mo’s shen power merging into the mo physique. When the Golden Crow Feet Fire was touched by shen power, it underwent an innate change which caused this newborn fire to be peerless in its dominance.

This kind of fire had never been recorded before so Zuo Mo called it the Sun Shen fire.

The Sun Shen Fire was more domineering than all fires that Zuo Mo had ever seen. If Zuo Mo hadn’t formed this fire, he would not dare to touch this fire at all.

The Golden Crow Feet Fire was already seventh-grade. This Sun Shen Fire far surpassed it so it probably was eighth-grade. Even with its uniqueness, it was still being stopped by this layer of bloody light. How could Zuo Mo not be shocked?

What was this ghastly thing?

Behind the curtain of blood, Wu Yu was even more astonished. These blood mo insects were his ultimate life-saving measure. They were called bat blood insects. He usually fed them with all kinds of poisons, and varieties of bat blood, including his own blood.

These bat blood insects were considered immortal. Unless it was a marshal, normal mo weapons and flames were ineffective against them. These bat blood insects could also travel through space at will and were hard to predict and defend against. If it burrowed into the body of the enemy, it would suck the other’s blood and energies.

Wu Yu’s cultivation had grown in these years and rarely fought. However, he had carefully raised these bat blood insects.

In this emergency, he released these bat blood insects. But he had not expected that the blood layer formed by the bat blood worms could not stop the advance of Ten Crow Celestial Domain’s fire!

His first reaction was, ‘this was impossible!’

While the Ten Crow Celestial Domain was the first domain in general level, Xiao Mo Ge definitely had not reached its complete form. The power of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain resided in its ability to channel the power of the world, not in its fire. How could it have such a powerful flame?

What he found even harder to believe was that the thin invisible strands on his body actually restrained the bat blood insects!

All of the bat blood insects were tightly restrained and could not break free and move through space!

Watching as the blood barrier was slowly burned away, his hopelessness grew.

“Someone, come! Quick, help!”

A wail echoed through the Ten Crow Celestial Domain but it could not pass out of the domain.

Zuo Mo also felt extremely panicked. Right now, all of his power was focused on powering the Sun Shen Power and he did not have any attention to spare. If someone really came to help, then it would not be good!

———

Ding Dong had stopped and fled once Wu Yu had thrown out the Blackheart Treasure Coins and set up the Ineffectiveness Realm. He had been unable to breathe under A Gui’s storm of attacks and he finally managed to calm his mind slightly.

Watching as Wu Yu easily restrained that terrifying and ugly woman, Ding Dong felt excited.

Wu Yu Daren, as expected of the first seat of the Ten Yu Frontier Guards!

His power was really unfathomable!

He felt even more anticipation when he saw Wu Yu Daren easily playing with Xiao Mo Ge inside the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. Due to the fright and humiliation he had received, he wanted to kill this group with his own hands.

Yet he was left gaping at the following events.

In a flash, Wu Yu Daren was heavily wounded and unable to move?

Watching as Wu Yu Daren was swallowed by the flames, Ding Dong was so frightened he almost turned and fled. Fortunately, the blood light that came after stopped the flames.

Ding Dong was a very smart person. He quickly saw that while Xiao Mo Ge’s Ten Crow Celestial Domain suppressed Wu Yu Daren, the two were in a deadlock.

A daring thought flashed through his mind.

If he could save Wu Yu Daren, in the future, he could do what he wanted under the command of Marshal Yu! Wu Yu Daren was the first expert in Marshal Yu’s command and the person most trusted.

Finding riches in danger!

When he thought of this, Ding Dong gritted his teeth. He turned and charged towards Zuo Mo.

“Ha, you want to do something sneaky?” The black gold seal soldier had a disdainful expression. Because Wu Yu did not have the attention to spare, he had used a way to break free of the [Bat Sickle] on his body.

He looked at Ding Dong with a malicious smile.

Ding Dong’s heart went cold. How could he have forgotten this calamity?

Qian Qing had died by the hands of this strange mo puppet. Even he had been shocked at the power that Qian Qing had concealed. But even so, he had died terribly at the hands of this dark gold mo puppet.

Damn it!

The black gold seal soldier’s grin was terrifying in Ding Dong’s eyes.

———

Woosh woosh woosh!

Dozens of figures flew out of the Yu Frontier Guards. They saw that Wu Yu Daren was in danger and came to help.

Shu Long and the others also flew out when they saw this.

The two sides started to fight in the sky.

Shu Long and the others could be considered of above average power in the mo territories, but they had just fought and this was the moment they were most exhausted. At this time, they were just fighting by risking their lives. Adding on that they were skilled in cooperating, they managed to block this wave of attacks.

The intensity of the battle in the air was almost unimaginable.

The other people were watching entranced. Everyone was shocked at the hardiness of Xiao Mo Ge’s subordinates. They had thought that these subordinates were tired after a hard battle but they were still unrelenting when facing the famous Yu Frontier Guards.

Where had Xiao Mo Ge recruited such strong subordinates from?

Many people found this hard to comprehend. They had all personally experienced that hard battle against the Ming Bandits. Other than Zhu Ke and a few other powerful people, all of them were tired and completely drained of strength.

Suddenly, a strange sound in the air rang over the entire battlefield.

The Ineffectiveness Domain set up by the Blackheart Treasure Coins was divided in two from the middle as though two enormous hands had ripped it apart. The scenes inside the Ineffectiveness Domain disappeared. With a whine, the seven blackheart treasure coins landed with dimmed lustre on the ground.

A Gui stood silently in the air.

This sudden event immediately changed the situation on the battlefield.

Shu Long’s side was naturally cheering while the Yu Frontier Guards had ashen expressions. They had seen how powerful the woman was just now!

The Yu Frontier Guards immediately retreated.

At this time, a sigh sounded across the entire battlefield.

“This marshal is very disappointed in your performance. Does this marshal have to personally fight?”

The Yu Frontier Guards who had been demotivated immediately flushed. Their eyes filled with blood as they moved forward to engage in battle again. The elite soldiers of the Yu Frontier Guards back in the ranks could not stop themselves from entering the fray.

In a blink, the Yu Frontier Guards had the advantage.

Yet just at this time, no one noticed a sharp light flash across Bie Han’s eyes.

Chapter 644 - The Golden Crow Battering Ram

Bie Han had felt that the Yu Frontier Guards showed signs of relaxing and becoming disorganized, now with the rush of seemingly random individuals, the previously strong defense was starting to fall apart.

The elite Yu Frontier Guards that were stirred by Marshal Yu had started to fly out of the ranks.

Empty spaces appeared among the organized ranks. These spaces appeared random and did not seem to be of great weakness to the Yu Frontier Guard’s thick ranks. Even Marshal Yu dismissed it. For a troop that was ten thousand strong, the departure of several hundred people did not affect the overall strength of the battalion.

However, Bie Han did not think the same.

The Yu Frontier Guards that had charged out were the elite members. They were not great in number but they were all core members of their little teams. They had a direct effect on the overall combat abilities of the Yu Frontier Guards. This effects of this would be hard to detect normally, but if the troops encountered a strong opponent, it would show.

Looking at the Yu Frontier guards that were flying out, Bie Han suppressed his urges to fight.

The weakness was slowly appearing but there was no change in the core formation of Marshal Yu’s troops. Even if he charged in now, he would not be able to threaten the core formation.

He continued to wait patiently.

———

The Yu Frontier Guards who had been emboldened into battle were astoundingly strong in battle. Shu Long and the others immediately felt the pressure increase.

However, as A Gui and the black gold seal soldier joined the battle, the pressure on them decreased quickly. Experts like A Gui and the black gold seal soldier could be of great effect in small-scale battles like this.

The two did not have any match. Everywhere they passed, the elite Yu Frontier guards would fall from the sky. They were like ghosts and hard to catch, not giving the enemy a chance to surround them.

But the number of people in the sky increased.

The usually proud Yu Frontier Guards were truly angry now. They crazily flew out of their ranks, and entered the battlefield.

Beside the chariot, a subordinate could not resist urging, “Lord, we need to charge!”

“Charge?” Marshal Yu said slightly.

“Yes!” the subordinate said urgently, “Only one charge would be needed! If this continues, the fatalities will be too high!”

A piece of the sky suddenly became dark red with ten suns fixed at positions inside. They were slowly spinning at an indescribable and profound rhythm. They were like ten magnets that attracted and repelled each other.

Under the ten balls of flame, a figure carrying a dragon claw stood proudly.

Zuo Mo’s face was cold and golden scripts flickered through his eyes. A serene gold light lit up from the sun script at his forehead and he appeared like a god descending to mortal realms.

“Kill!”

The voice was like thunder and rang over the entire battlefield.

The dark red sky suddenly expanded and quickly spread outwards from Zuo Mo.

This transformation came so quickly that more than a hundred of the Yu Frontier Guards were unable to react before they were sucked in. The ten suns suddenly released a powerful golden light that criss-crossed on the dark red sky, and flames flowed on the ground below.

Among the golden flows of fire, the brigadier level Yu Frontier Guard wailed and started to burn with a boom. They burned to ashes like dry wood in an instant.

Inside the dark red Ten Crow Celestial Domain, the ten suns started to revolve slowly again.

“Such a powerful Ten Crow Celestial Domain!” Zhu Ke couldn’t resist saying in shock.

The [Soul Mo Lure] that he cultivated was one of the top mo skills in the mo world but it focused more on being unpredictable. He could not kill one hundred brigadiers like this.

Ten Crow Celestial Domain, as expected of the first domain in general level!

Unparalleled in its dominance!

This move astounded the entire field!

A brief pause even appeared on the heated battlefield. Everyone was shocked by such a dominating blow.

The Yu Frontier Guards changed expression and unconsciously showed a thread of fear.

Even though there was an enormous gap between brigadier and general, every one of the general levels present were silent and shocked at seeing one move kill a hundred brigadiers.

Zhu Ke and the others were even more astonished. They knew that Zuo Mo’s Ten Crow Celestial Domain had been at an elementary level at the start of battle. But now Ten Crow Celestial Domain was domineering and held a vast presence!

Many people were also puzzled. The [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] was very rare and most of them had never seen it before but Xiao Mo Ge’s [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] seemed even more powerful than the records of [Ten Crow Celestial Domain]!

Shock and uncertainty mixed on people’s faces.

With a long shout, Zuo Mo shot up. When he was several hundred zhang in the air, he suddenly turned and like a spear, he dove down.

The light of the sun shone at his brow. The air rushed past his face and his hair rippled in the wind. But his face was as hard as stone and did not change. The dark red space around him flickered like a flame. However, it spread across the sky like it did before but was closely held against Zuo Mo’s body. Those ten domineering and burning suns turned to ten fist-sized golden balls of flame that revolved rhythmically around Zuo Mo’s body.

Having just killed Wu Yu, Zuo Mo was at his peak. His mind was completely clear, the [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] seemed to be a part of his body and moved to his thoughts.

Looking at the fierce battlefield under him, fighting spirit burned inside Zuo Mo and rampaged.

The Anti Dragon Claw on his back seemed to detect his raised spirits and vibrated lightly.

A layer of gold overlaid over Zuo Mo’s vision.

The air rushing past him cut like knives but he was unaffected.

Looking at the ground coming towards him, he suddenly spread his arms wide!

Boom!

The ten suns revolving around his body sounded at the same time!

They spun rapidly and increased in speed. The dark red space expanded outwards, pulled by the revolutions of the ten suns. In a blink, Zuo Mo seemed to be smashing towards the ground like a ball of furious dark red flames.

The Yu Frontier Guards paled!

Xiao Mo Ge’s target was the Yu Frontier Guard ranks!

“Protect the Lord!”

Panicked voices sounded in waves. The Yu Frontier Guards immediately panicked.

The boom in the air seemed to sound inside their minds. The ground under their feet shook. They looked over in shock. The dark red flow that roared had rushed towards them seeming to increase in size.

They almost suffocated from the pressure!

“Hmph!”

A faint sound came from the chariot and a tall figure appeared in front of the Yu Frontier Guards. No one knew how he came to appear there, but when this figure entered the field of view, everyone had the same two words appear on their minds.

Marshal Yu!

Marshal Yu was finally personally taking action!

Faint blue long hair swayed in the wind. His features seemed to be carved from stone. His eyes were a faint blue. There was a faint smile on his lips and he seemed to exude a strange charisma.

This was Marshal Yu!

Having already reached marshal level, he was one of the strongest in the Hundred Savage Realm, someone that countless people revered and respected!

Marshal Yu raised his head and his expression was normal as though that terrifying dark red ball of flame did not exist.

Just as everyone’s attention was focused on this great battle, no one noticed that Luo Li who had been lying beside Xiao Guo and Li Ying Feng had silently stood up.

There was a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.

Then his figure started to fade as though he was disappearing into the void.

Beside him, a beautiful figure seemed to materialize.

A peerlessly beautiful face slowly became clear.

She opened her eyes.

———

Marshal Yu!

Zuo Mo’s pupils contracted but at this time, he was at his peak. He did not feel any terror. That great and motionless figure below stimulated his fighting spirit to burn brighter.

Come!

The ten suns moved even faster and Zuo Mo’s mind became even clearer.

His eyes were tightly locked onto Marshal Yu and did not move away.

As the distance between them closed, an imperceptible look of shock flashed through Marshal Yu’s eyes.

Now was the time!

Zuo Mo’s figure seemed to oppose the rules of the world and suddenly came to a complete halt in the air. There was no buffer between the extreme high speed movement and the extreme stillness. His position was extremely strange, his chest and abdomen sucked in, his body bowed like a bow. His spread arms were brought together in front of his body.

“Kill!”

His forehead suddenly lit up. A golden energy rippled across his face.

The golden flames suddenly shrunk into the center like they were grabbed by an invisible hand!

A golden pillar that was about seven zhang thick smashed towards Marshal Yu at an astounding speed. The ten golden crows on the pillar were all at different positions.

The [Golden Crow Battering Ram]!

Unlike the loud noise just now, the golden pillar was silent when it moved as though it was intangible.

Marshal Yu’s pupils suddenly contracted. A thread of a smile appeared on his lips. “Good attack!”

He reached out with his right hand and pushed towards the golden pillar descending from the sky!

Hiss!

A strange howl filled the air.

The people on the ground feel a strong suction force come from the sky that caused them to almost trip and fall. All of them jumped in fright and steadied themselves. Air flashed across their bodies and gathered in the sky. They almost thought they were inside a windstorm.

If they were watching from the sky, they could see it more clearly.

The air from a radius of one hundred li around Marshal Yu’s raised right hand was gathering. If one looked from afar, they would see it was a great funnel.

The power of one marshal level attack was this powerful!

Zhu Ke and the others had pale faces. They had been shocked by Lin Qian’s sword strike but right now, they found that the distance between general and marshal level was unable to be crossed! Compared to Marshal Yu’s blow, Lin Qian’s sword strike was like a firefly compared to the moon.

There was an innate difference between the two’s power!

Those that were less brave felt their knees weaken and almost sank to the ground.

Zuo Mo did not know what other people were thinking. At this moment, his mind was completely clear and unaffected. He also saw the power of Marshal Yu’s attack but he wasn’t afraid at all. He felt excited! Unusually excited!

Marshal level!

So this was marshal level!

His calm eyes was filled with the light of excitement and determination.

His hands pressed together and mo matrices lit up on the golden pillar. The ten golden crows became even brighter in color and the golden pillar seemed to slow down as though it was moving through water.

Marshal Yu had not thought that Zuo Mo would have transformation to the attack at this time!

He could not disguise his shock this time!

Zuo Mo could not maintain his calm. This was his strongest move. His mind was excited and he could not help but shout soundlessly.

Go, Golden Crow Battering Ram!

Chapter 645 - Death Lock Separation Sword

Clang!

A thick deep sound seemed to burst in people’s minds. With a deep rumbling, it passed through their bodies and numbed their extremities. The hair on their bodies stood on end.

Time seemed to stop in this moment.

The Golden Crow Battering Ram stopped twenty zhang away from Marshal Yu’s head.

Pia, a crack suddenly appeared on the glittering surface of the Golden Crow Battering Ram. Then several more appeared, crack crack crack, cracks quickly spread across the surface of the Golden Crow Battering Ram.

Boom!

The Golden Crow Battering Ram suddenly gave off a blinding light. As it exploded, a domineering and burning presence exploded.

At the same time, a sharp light flashed across Marshal Yu’s eyes.

His upraised right hand pushed up again!

The collision of two great powers was like two meteors crashing together. The light was as bright as that of a sun!

The air within hundreds of li roared and raged with turbulent gales.

Everyone staring at the clash only saw a blinding white light. . The thundering explosion caused their ears to ring, and the world seemed silent. However, they could not hear anything clearly. Many people reflexively gaped in horror. Those that were more powerful and skilled forced themselves to calm down. They detected the incoming danger.

A shock wave rushed at them like a steel wall!

Bam bam bam!

The mo that met it first were unable to react before they seemed to be launched with a heavy hammer. They threw up blood as their bodies were thrown back.

The terrifying wave of air was unstoppable. The elite Yu Frontier Guard Forces were like dry branches tossed in the wind and unable to resist at all.

Zhu Ke and the others changed expression. They shielded the princesses as they retreated.

Those that were slower to react and were swept away by the wave of air.

It was alright if they escaped with the momentum of the terrifying power. Some people wanted to use their strength to steady themselves. Cracks sounded. For these people the bones inside their body could not withstand such a strong power and shattered!

It was like the apocalypse had come!

Everyone was stunned. Their minds were shook and their faces ashen.

The power of one attack left all of them were stunned!

No one noticed that a light ethereal figure marched against the gust of air, against the flow of people.

The steely wave of air was like tofu in front of this beautiful figure. It did not cause any obstruction for her. Like a nimble fish, her body shook and she burrowed into the wave of air.

———

Marshal Yu narrowed his eyes. His right hand that was now placed behind his back was trembling slightly.

He was extremely shocked.

Ever since he had reached marshal level he had not fought, no one dared to. In the Hundred Savage of the Dark, marshal level existences were the apex. Even though he focused more time on other affairs, he had not neglected his own cultivation.

He actually felt a thread of pressure from Xiao Mo Ge’s attack!

If it wasn’t that his right hand was still uncontrollably trembling, he would not believe this reality.

Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

Was it really that powerful?

He felt uncertain. In front of a marshal, the domain of a general level should not be a threat at all! But why did Xiao Mo Ge’s [Ten Crow Celestial Domain] make him feel pressured?

Was it because of shen power?

As the thought flashed through Marshal Yu’s mind. His eyes lit up.

It definitely was shen power.

The light and the gusts of air did not affect him at all. He remained motionless in the air like rock. He raised his head to look at the black dot in the sky. A smile came to the corner of his mouth.

———

Compared to Marshal Yu’s barely ruffled appearance, Zuo Mo was left in a much sorrier state after the clash.

Smoke wafted off of him and his clothing was in tatters. Large and small wounds covered his body. The dark red light around him was dim and the ten suns seemed to have lost their glow. The attack just now didn’t just drain all of his power, it had caused him significant injuries.

His face was pale and the sun script on his forehead was dim. The light from the other nine sun scripts were also gone. Without the ten suns absorbing the shen power, the shen power was left completely unchecked. It now rampaged through his body.

Zuo Mo forced down the blood that rose to his throat and stared coldly at Marshal Yu.

“You are the only one I have ever seen to have such presence at general level,” Marshal Yu said idly. His tone was filled with praise.

Zuo Mo did not speak. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he was unable to. His body seemed to be boiling right now. The shen power rampaged through his body, and the attack just now had actually caused a crack to appear in the seal on the Sun Crystal Seed.

At the Battlefield of Sealed Extinction, the ancient corpse had said that Zuo Mo wasn’t able to absorb the power of the Sun Crystal Seed because it was too powerful, and he would even be wounded so the corpse had sealed the seed’s power.

Zuo Mo had never expected the attack just now would cause a crack to appear in the Sun Crystal Seed’s seal.

A hot flow that almost melted him slowly escaped from the Sun Crystal Seed. This hot flow was minuscule but once it appeared, the messy shen power inside Zuo Mo’s body suddenly quieted.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had ever encountered a situation where his shen power would stop moving. A strange feeling rose.

At this time, an extremely vicious and icy flow suddenly flowed along his back and into his body.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly and his heart skipped a beat.

Anti Dragon Claw!

Damn it, at such an important time, the rebellious Anti Dragon Claw actually came out to meddle!

The Three Thousand Threads of worry did not move at all. No matter how Zuo Mo tried, it didn’t seem to be able to do anything against this icy flow.

Marshal Yu slowly flew up until he was at the same height as Zuo Mo.

He looked wryly at the motionless Zuo Mo and said idly, “What? You only have the power for one attack? It is not realistic to think that you can defeat me with this one attack.”

His eyes were sharp and he could see that it was a mess inside Zuo Mo’s body. Not just fighting, Zuo Mo didn’t even have the power to move a finger right now.

Marshal Yu smiled faintly. His hand spread and he grasped at Zuo Mo.

The air around Zuo Mo suddenly solidified. Zuo Mo was unable to move.

Having captured the other alive, Marshal Yu was in a much better mood. Xiao Mo Ge cultivated shen power but he was far weaker in terms of power. He only had the power for one attack. Thinking of the gains this time, he disregarded his losses.

With the shen power cultivation method in hand, he would have a chance at a breakthrough. More importantly, with shen power, he would have the hope of breaking into king level!

King Level!

These two words caused his mind to heat up.

He wanted to return immediately and study shen power. But he was a marshal and he had strong self-control, so he repressed the impulse. He smiled and then pulled his hand back.

Zuo Mo’s figure flew towards Marshal Yu.

Zuo Mo immediately panicked.

At this time, a serene singing voice seemed to come from the unseen ground.

“Why is life a joy, why is death a sorrow, two hearts separated by yin and yang, bound together by a chain!”

Countless sword lights blossomed. In a flash, there was a sea of them. They seemed to materialize out of nowhere. They budded, bloomed, and then withered at a stunning rate.

A beautiful and cool figure stood like a sword in the sea of flowers.

———

When Zuo Mo saw the newcomer, he was startled. And then he reacted, it was Wo Li, Luo Li Shidi’s sword spirit!

Had Luo Li Shidi woken up?

In this moment, Zuo Mo was filled with joy!

Luo Li’s awakening meant that he had comprehended the [Life-Death Lock]!

In the sea of flowers, Wu Li’s figure was as cool as a sword but that added to her  charisma.

Where was Luo Li Shidi?

Zuo Mo could not see Luo Li anywhere and was slightly puzzled. But then he started to panic. Even if Luo LI Shidi had comprehended the [Life-Death Lock], he definitely was not a match for Marshal Yu.

Damn it!

He was going to suffer great losses in business this time!

Zuo Mo did not have any of the fighting spirit he had previously. He wanted to gather his power to tell Luo Li Shidi to run. But his body did not move. It was completely out of his control and he couldn’t make a sound.

Marshal Yu was slightly shocked. “You have some skill.”

These beautiful flowers were made from countless sword essences. Layered together, it was like a beautiful sea of flowers.

Flower Sea Sword Domain?

He smiled dismissively. Inside, he pondered the origins of this Xiao Mo Ge. The his subordinates were astounding. But then he realized a thought. Xiao Mo Ge was in his hands. If he did not willingly submit, then he could set a jinzhi in the other. Marshal Yu did not fear that Xiao Mo Ge would rebel.

As to these powerful subordinates of Xiao Mo Ge, they would naturally now belong to him.

When he thought of this, his mood became even better. The sword essence sea in front of him became even more joyful to look at.

Wo Li floated in the middle of the sword sea and looked at Marshal Yu with a cool and clear gaze.

She suddenly closed her eyes and her lips moved. “Life-Death Lock Separation Sword!”

Marshal Yu’s heart jumped and a feeling of danger rose.

Pia, a flower suddenly shattered. As the petals fell, a tiny red chain was pulled out of the flower and each of the petals and lengthened.

The sea of flowers shattered.

The red chains criss-crossed and layered over one another. In a flash, countless red chains of varying thickness winded back and forth like a sea of red snakes.

The red chains shot at Marshal Yu at a stunning speed.

What was strangest was that these chains were completely made from sword essence! And this strange sword essence that was not living or dead, nor yin or yang. Even Marshal Yu who had seen many things had never seen such a strange sword essence before!

What sword essence was this?

The underestimation and dismissal that Marshal Yu held before was swept away. His expression became grave.

This sword essence was extremely strange. He had a strong feeling if he came into contact with these sword essences, the outcome would not be good. He could not say why this was. This presence that was not living nor dead, and between yin and yang was a strange existence that seemed to waver between life and death.

He detected danger.

Chapter 646 - Chained Together

It really was strange!

How long had it been since he had felt danger?

Danger, ever since he stepped into marshal level, this word seemed to be unconnected to him. When the presence of danger came at him, even he blanked for a moment.

However, Marshal Yu quickly reacted. With a high hum, a sharp green sword light penetrated the sea of flowers and flew into his hands.

The long green sword was narrow and carved with ancient scripts.

This was not a flying sword that xiuzhe used, but a mo weapon, a mo sword!

With the sword in his hand, all of Marshal Yu’s hesitation and uncertainty was swept away. The sword in his hand was called the Green Carp Tongue Sword, and was one of his mo weapons. It was ranked above the Black Heart Treasure Coins.

The Green Carp Tongue Sword had been obtained after he had killed an enemy back when he was a general. At the beginning, its quality was average, and paled in comparison from its power today. He had tried all the ways he could think off, refining it with all kinds of methods available to him. Its power continued to increase, and it jumped into the ranks of earth mo weapons to become one of the most famous mo weapons of the present era.

The Green Carp Tongue Sword was forged from the tongue of a rotten carp mo. The rotten carp mo was a kind of mo that lived deep in the sea. Their strongest organ was their green tongues which were hard and sharp, able to pierce through any object. After their death, the only part that would not rot was their green tongue. That was how the name of their clan came to be.

The Green Carp Tongue Sword slashed at the flower sea split into.

The sky full of red chains decayed when touched by the green light! The green light flashed, and a deep and black fissure appeared in the sky!

A sword that could rend space!

A dark and rotten presence came from the crack. The flora that still remained on the ground quickly withered.

The sea of flowers quickly wilted and withered. In a flash, the endless sea of flowers became dried and withered branches.

The most important reason the Green Carp Tongue Sword was able to rank among the earth mo weapons was that it could rend apart space. Marshal Yu had found an ancient jinzhi from the remnants of a record. It was able to rend space and connect to Rotten Jie, and the most important material to forge this jinzhi was the tongue of a rotten carp mo.

For an expert like Marshal Yu, once the crux was identified, everything else wasn’t a problem to figure out.

The Green Carp Tongue sword was forged according to this method.

The Rotten Jie was a strange land. It wasn’t large, but was filled with monsters. What was most famous was the unique miasma there, it had yin and corrosive properties. It was one of the greatest poisons in the world. It was even troublesome for marshals if they came into contact with it. If one was weaker than marshal level, they would be immediately killed.

As the corrosive miasma flooded out of the crack in space, Wo Li’s sword essence flower sea quickly withered. Those tiny red chain links quickly melted like snow under the sun.

Wo Li’s calm gaze didn’t change, as though what was happening was within her predictions.

She bent down to touch the withered flowers, and sang in a clear voice, “Life not life, death not death, my heart will not separate.”

The dried flower sea on the ground suddenly started to absorb the rotten miasma. In a flash, it seemed to have taken in nutrients and bloomed again. The flowers that had absorbed the corrosive miasma became even brighter and the red chains that had melted took form again, this time with rainbow colored marks scattered throughout.

A sweet taste filled the air.

“Interesting!” Marshal Yu said with a change in his expression. In his view, this astounding change was extraordinary.

As a marshal, he had better judgement than other experts. With a glance, he saw that Wo Li’s cultivation was a strange one related to life and death. This surprised him. Life and death was one of the most profound and eternal questions. A method with life and death as the core principle was always cryptic and difficult to cultivate. But any method that dared to use the principle of life and death was always a powerful one.

He recognized the danger and became cautious.

The other’s presence was very strange. She brimmed with life, but it seemed to have been drawn and transformed from death energy. There were two completely opposite presences, life and death, on her. This strange state meant that he was unable to accurately gauge the other’s strength.

Marshal Yu understood. The corrosive miasma would not threaten this mysterious woman, it would only become fertilizer for the sea of flowers. The corrosive miasma was a kind of death energy formed after decaying. The other had the ability to turn life to death, and change death to life.

The sea of flowers rippled and sword essence moved.

Suddenly, many slender chains appeared at Marshal Yu’s feet and wrapped tightly around him.

“Hm!” Marshal Yu snorted coldly. The chain around his legs immediately flew apart.

Yet at this time, the sea of flowers started to slowly spin with Wo Li as the center.

The sea of flowers was becoming an enormous whirlpool!

Clank!

The sound of an enormous chain sounded. A great chain slowly rose from under her feet. With every movement upwards, there was the sound of the chain trembling.

The chain was thicker than an adult arm. It was completely black and covered with red mo matrices.

Marshal Yu’s expression was grave and he threw the Green Carp Tongue Sword into the air.

When the Green Carp Tongue Sword flew into the sky, it turned into a slender green carp. Suddenly, a burst of thunder sounded, and electrical snakes danced. Rain droplets poured down.

The curtain of rain covered the world as mist spread.

These droplets of rain seemed gentle, yet the sea of flowers suddenly slowed under the great rain.

Marshal Yu’s [Rain Domain of No Return]!

Each rain droplet contained great power, and was so sharp it could penetrate armor. The ground immediately became riddled in holes.

However, while the sea of flowers slowed in its spinning under the Rain Domain of No Return, it was still blooming brightly.

Wo Li looked indifferently at Marshal Yu as the chain slowly rose from behind her back.

If Marshal Yu could enter the sea of flowers, he would find that under Wo Li’s feet, at the other end of the sea of flowers, there was a transparent figure, Luo li. He was standing at the other end of the sea of flowers, the chain moving down from his back.

Chained Together.

This move was called [Chained Together]!

———

Zuo Mo didn’t have the time to pay attention to the fight. The situation inside his body was the strangest at this time.

That thread of hot flow from the Sun Crystal Seed immediately intimidated the shen power that had messed up his body like a king conquering the world. Yet when the dark and vicious energy of the Anti Dragon Claw also burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body, it was like a furious lion that leapt over.

The cold and vicious energy of the Anti Dragon Claw did not show weakness and welcomed the confrontation.

It was like a storm. The two powers were evenly matched as they fought.

The Zuo Mo’s body became the battlefield for these two presences. For a while, the left side of Zuo Mo’s body would be extremely cold while his right side was burning. These two powers were like two monsters inside Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo’s shen power didn’t dare to move, like a frightened child.

Everywhere they passed, his body would be left extremely damaged. Fortunately, Zuo Mo still had the Greenvine Mystical Water. This droplet of Greenvine Mystical Water was intelligent and it continued to heal Zuo Mo’s body.

But the next event caused Zuo Mo’s soul to almost fly out of his body.

As though it was stimulated by the Anti Dragon Claw more hot flows came from the Sun Crystal Seed, and in response the Anti Dragon Claw, the peerless mo weapon, did not back off. Threads of cold and vicious energy continued to burrow into his body from his back.

The two sides started to fight intensely again.

Zuo Mo’s face was white!

Heavens, if they continued, ge wouldn’t have enough Greenvine Mystical Water no matter how much ge had!

If this continued, his body would definitely be ripped apart by these two presences.

But what Zuo Mo hadn’t expected was that the hot flows from the Sun Crystal seed quickly gained the upper hand. It clearly was stronger. Zuo Mo sighed in relief. If the two continued to fight, he would most likely die quickly.

But the following developments cause Zuo Mo to panic again.

The hot flows of the Sun Crystal Seed that had the upper hand left scorched dust behind in its path. Even the Greenvine Mystical Water was unable to repair it.

Zuo Mo understood. The hot flows from the Sun Crystal Seed were not something his body could tolerate right now. Compared to the present situation, the previous situation when the two sides had been evenly matched was much better.

Little Anti, give a bit more cold energy, a little bit more!

Zuo Mo furiously thought of ways to help. But the cold energy didn’t increase, and were being destroyed by the Sun Crystal Seed.

Zuo Mo who had been praying furiously saw this and was enraged.

Useless person!

You couldn’t even defeat an immature fireball, you sky mo weapon, sky mo weapon my ass!

Zuo Mo swore inside.

When he thought this, the Anti Dragon Claw on his back suddenly vibrated furiously. It seemed to have heard Zuo Mo’s curses. A vast vicious presence that was many times stronger than before furiously charged into Zuo Mo’s body as though it was furious!

The Three Thousand Threads Of Worry seemed to detect that this was a crucial time, and had loosened its restraint on the Anti Dragon Claw.

This burst of energy from the Anti Dragon Claw was extremely strong. When it charged into Zuo Mo’s body, it scattered the hot flows from the Sun Crystal Seed. Zuo Mo felt the Anti Dragon Claw continue to tremble on his back. Zuo Mo seemed to have a feeling that the Anti Dragon Claw was a brawny large man that was now roaring smugly with laughter.

But Zuo Mo didn’t cheer and almost wailed. The presence of the Anti Dragon Claw had scattered the hot flows of the Sun Crystal Seed and was now rampaging through his body.

The vicious killing intent was now also rapidly destroying his body!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo wanted to cry. Luckily, the Sun Crystal Seed was unable to tolerate defeat and another burning flow of heat came out of the crack and leap towards the vicious energies of the Anti Dragon Claw.

The two forces teetered back and forth. Zuo Mo’s body became the battlefield were the two forces fought a tug-of-war.

All kinds of great pain tortured Zuo Mo’s nerves but he was unable to move or cry out. In front of these two great vicious things, Zuo Mo was so minuscule he was an infant.

But he did not give up.

Even if it was painful to his bones, he gritted his teeth and maintained his calm to focus his attention.

He knew that if he was to find a way to survive the battle of these two great and viscous forces, he had to be calm!

He didn’t remember what time it was, just as Zuo Mo was becoming numb … …

A chance arrived!

Chapter 647 - Transformation

Nothing could rival the brutal presence of the Anti Dragon Claw, not even the wasteland beast that Zuo Mo could summon using the Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art. But this brutal presence was nothing compared to its power in the past.  According to Pu Yao and Wei, the Anti Dragon Claw had  been weakened for thousands of years by the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. This caused Zuo Mo to desire and admire what presence the Anti Dragon Claw had in the past.

The brutal energies of the Anti Dragon Claw furiously flooded into Zuo Mo’s body.

The Sun Crystal Seed was stimulated by this. A thick, almost tangible, flow of heat poured out from the crack as it slowly advanced.

One was an unparalleled ancient and vicious object, the other was a great treasure of the world, one cold, one hot. When the two forces came into contact, it was like cold water poured into hot oil.

In front of these two terrifying powers, Zuo Mo’s steel hard mo physique was fragile as paper. In a flash, it was covered in holes. If it wasn’t for the Greenvine Mystical Water’s healing properties, he would have already turned to dust long ago.

But as the battle heated up, the positions of the two sides steadied and they gathered near each of the ten sun matrices on Zuo Mo’s body.

These ten sun matrices of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique were naturally attuned to the Sun Crystal Seed and acted as wells where shen power naturally gathered. The Sun Crystal Seed’s power flowed into the ten mo matrices as a result.

Taking advantage of this the cold and brutal energies of the Anti Dragon Claw quickly took over all of Zuo Mo’s body and started to furiously attack these ten sun mo matrices.

If someone was to touch Zuo Mo’s body now, they would find to their shock that his entire body was freezing but the ten sun mo matrices burned like hot metal.

As the battle intensified, even the shen power in Zuo Mo’s sealed right hand was attracted and entered this great battle.

Zuo Mo himself was left extremely weak.

The powers inside his body rampaged out of control. His body was a mess and heavily injured.

Yet at this moment, Zuo Mo found a chance.

There was another power in Zuo Mo’s body that he had always forgot—the Soul Setting Divine Light!

This divine light came from Wei’s succession. Other than placing jinzhi in Gu Ming Gong, Zuo Mo had never used it again. It was not that Zuo Mo had a low opinion of its power, but the succession of the Soul Setting Divine Light was too ancient and too difficult to understand. Even Wei could not speak of the specifics. The divine light itself was strange and Zuo Mo didn’t even know where to begin studying it.

What he had not expected was that the Soul Setting Divine Light slowly emerged out of the Three Thousand Threads of Worry during this moment of great danger. These two terrifying powers, Three Thousand Threads of Worry and the Soul Setting Divine Light, had not destroyed each other. Zuo Mo was not surprised about the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. Something that could restrain the Anti  Dragon Claw had to be a treasure on par with the Anti Dragon Claw. This divine light that originated from the dawn of the world also was unaffected. Zuo Mo immediately realized that the Soul Setting Divine Light was a treasure on the same level as the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed!

When the Soul Setting Divine Light burrowed out of the Three Thousand Threads of Worry, it slowly swam like a rainbow fish in Zuo Mo’s torn up body.

Forced to desperate straits, Zuo Mo’s heart jumped when he discovered the Soul Setting Divine Light.

Opportunity!

Right now, all other powers in his body were completely suppressed by the Sun Crystal Seed and the Anti Dragon Claw so he could not use them. The Three Thousand Threads of Worry were not suppressed but because of the uniqueness of its power, it was of no help in this battle.

The sudden discovery of the Soul Setting Divine Light was akin to a life-saving herb to Zuo Mo!

Zuo Mo immediately controlled his emotions and pushed down the joy and excitement he felt. He thought back to how he had previously activated the Soul Setting Divine Light.

As expected, when his thoughts shifted, the Soul Setting Divine Light immediately stopped where it was.

Zuo Mo was joyed. It seemed that he could control the Soul Setting Divine Light. Given his present helplessness, a power that he could control was what he needed the most! Even if this power was tiny, he would not give it up. A power that he could control meant that he did not have to wait for his fate to be determined by others.

He carefully controlled the Soul Setting Divine Light. Because it had been too long since he had used it, and he wasn’t familiar to start with, his control was extremely crude at first. Zuo Mo was not demotivated. He usually seemed to be uncaring, but the more dangerous the moment, the clearer his mind was and the more patience he had.

The conflict between the Sun Crystal Seed and the Anti Dragon Claw reached a white-hot level.

The burning flow that poured out from the Sun Crystal Seed continued to flood into the ten sun mo matrices. The ten sun mo matrices were quickly filled up. They were filled with power like ten balls of flame. Because the power that was added was too strong, the mo matrices were completely awakened. The awakened mo matrix actually concealed its light. The burning heat turned to darkness.

Light and dark, they were twins!

Zuo Mo seemed to understand when he saw this scene!

The power in every sun mo matrix far surpassed the limits of what the mo matrix could tolerate. If there was no outside force that reduced the power, the Sun mo matix would not be able to tolerate the overflow and would explode. It would only end up in one way for Zuo Mo, dying in an explosion of blood and gore.

Fortunately, there was the Anti Dragon Claw!

The cold and brutal energy of the Anti Dragon Claw surrounded the ten sun matrices from all directions. The stimulated Sun Crystal Seed realized that the sun matrices was a battlefield where it held the advantage. There, held the home ground advantage! If it caused these sun matrices to explode, then it would undoubtedly lose this advantage!

Therefore, the sun matrices were simulated on a path that Zuo Mo never thought about.

—Evolution!

The power of the Sun Crystal Seed flooded every part of the Sun Matrix. The power that was several levels above the sun mo matrix repeatedly cleansed the  mo matrix causing it to change.

Like grass sprouting, the complex mo matrix silently grew.

It was the first time Zuo Mo observed the growth of a mo matrix.

The Anti Dragon Claw was also intelligent. It responded to the transformation of the Sun mo matrix.

A layer of frost appeared on Zuo Mo in the areas around the sun matrix. This layer of frost was not white or blue, but a faint grey. A portion of the Anti Dragon Claw’s brutal energy started to heal Zuo Mo’s almost ground up flesh.

Yet the Anti Dragon Claw’s icy power was too brutal. Even if it was trying to heal, it felt like thousands of little icy knives cutting repeatedly into Zuo Mo’s flesh.

Zuo Mo endured the heart-boring pain as he carefully controlled the Soul Setting Divine Light. He hid it in a corner and waited patiently for a chance. He realized that this moment was not the best time to act. The Sun crystal Seed and the Anti Dragon Claw were all accumulating power. The following clash would most likely be even more intense than before.

Zuo Mo’s mo physique was sturdy, but in front of something as vicious as the Anti Dragon Claw, it was not enough. Large amounts of blood and flesh disappeared like melting snow in front of the brutal energies. Leaving only the blood and flesh that could absorb the brutal energy.

This lead to a process in which Zuo Mo’s blood and flesh was completely transformed. The strongest flesh quickly expanded and thrived, the weakest rapidly shrank and died. They continued to struggle in the ocean of brutal energy and gradually stabilized.

No one noticed that a grey mo matrix had appeared inside Zuo Mo’s body and it was slowly growing, creeping across his body like ivy. The grey mo matrixes were completely different than the mo matrices he had before. Some dense scales appeared on the edges of the mo matrix. If one looked closely, they would find that these fine scales were extremely similar in color and shape to the scales of the Anti Dragon Claw, but much smaller.

The heavy brutal energy filled the space one zhang around Zuo Mo and seemed to be one with the Anti Dragon Claw.

But outside of this one zhang, the presence of the energy was completely absent. Not allowing anyone present to detect it.

Everyone’s gaze was deeply attracted to the battle between Marshal Yu and Wo Li.

———

“[Chain Together]!

Wo Li’s slender fingers pointed at Marshal Yu. Her cool gaze contained determination and fighting spirit. Under the sea of flowers, Luo Li was reflected. While his body was transparent, there was a smile at the corner of his mouth.

Almost at the same time, the two of them spoke.

Wo Li’s voice was cool and as hard as a sword, “Together!”

Luo Li’s voice was a murmur and gentle as water, “Together!”

Woosh, A thick chain suddenly flew out from under Wo Li’s feet like an ancient snake that shot at marshal Yu.

The air was filled with the sound of the chain clanking. The whole of the flower sea was trembling.

A strange presence that was hard to describe moved into the surroundings as the chain clanked.

This was … …

Zhu Ke’s expression was uncertain.

“This is … …” the middle-aged attendant exclaimed but she suddenly stopped as her face became completely bloodless.

Xia suddenly raised his head. His breathing was so heavy it could be heard clearly through the thick armor.

———

This was the presence of life and death!

Marshal Yu’s eyes were filled with shock and gravity. This snake-like metal chain was made from two opposing powers, life and death!

If he was not seeing it with his own eyes, he would not believe it!

Life and death, two diametrically opposed powers yet they were merged together so beautifully. It really was fantastical.

What method was this?

Who was that woman?

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind but in a moment, his mind became clear again.

This chain that was woven from life and death was one of the highest powers that he had ever seen. It was so exquisite, so fantastical, it was hard to believe. As a marshal, even Marshal Yu sighed and praised it.

But such an exquisite and creative power still had weaknesses.

It was not condensed enough.

The other should have just comprehended it a short time ago. Even though they had understood to the crux of the ability, they lacked practice and the power was too weak. It was akin to a very powerful seedling. Maybe it would be powerful when it matured, but the seedling that had just germinated was thin and delicate.

Power came from methods, but also from an accumulation of experience.

Compared to this method of life and death that was undoubtedly a top skill, Marshal Yu did not have anything like that. But in terms of accumulation, the other was far lacking.

He had never thought that he would be forced to such a state by such a young woman.

Marshal Yu smiled, full of self-scorn. However, someone that could comprehend such a wondrous method was qualified to be his opponent!

The smile on his face gradually faded away. His expression became solemn and devout as he raised the Green Carp Tongue Sword.

The countless hardship and obstacles on his path of cultivation flashed passed his mind’s eye. His mind suddenly broadened!

A figure stood with a sword under a drizzle of rain.

I will let you see the true power of this marshal level’s [Rain Domain of No Return]!

Chapter 648 - No Return

The feeling of extreme hot and cold mixing together made him want to throw up blood.

But Zuo Mo did not have the time to throw up blood. He was furiously learning how to manipulate the Soul Setting Divine Light. Learning as he went was not something that he wanted to do, but he had no choice at this time. The Soul Setting Divine Light was his lifeboat. Other than this, he had nothing else to respond with.

The Soul Setting Divine Light, the light that accompanied the dawn of the world. It was like a little multi-coloured fish, sometimes obedient and sometimes mischievous. Regardless of the urgency Zuo Mo felt, he could only calm down and experience it.

This was a multicoloured world.

All kinds of coloured light were gathered in this extremely slender divine light. The birth of all colours of light when the world had began were included in this little divine light.

It was not of the five elements, nor did it belong to yin or yang, and had nothing to do with yao, mo, and xiuzhe.

When Zuo Mo’s mind was immersed in the Soul Setting Divine Light, an ocean of chaotic information followed him. What was most attention-catching was an ancient presence that struck at his mind.

In this moment, he seemed to see the primordial chaos, the dawn of the world.

He knew that this was an illusion. The Soul Setting Divine Light might have a sliver of an ancient presence, but much of it had disappeared after being passed down for so many years. It would be good if just a tenth of a percent remained. Just how much information was at the dawn of the world. Could a divine light hold all that?

But even this one tenth of a percent was precious enough.

The dawn of the world was the beginning of all methods. Just comprehending a little bit would be of endless benefit. On this, no matter if the person was yao, mo, or xiuzhe, they were all the same.

Zuo Mo did not have any methods of comprehending this presence from the dawn of the world. Even if it was the core of all methods, even if it was the most precious part of the Soul Setting Divine Light.

In such an emergency, wasn’t trying to comprehend it just seeking death? The practical Little Mo Ge was furiously pondering the use of the divine light, and how to manipulate the divine light.

Under the threat of death, a person’s potential would be more easily uncovered. Zuo Mo actually understood a bit more of the Soul Setting Divine Light that usually was so hard to understand.

The most powerful ability of the Soul Setting Divine Light was “setting.” It could “set” everything in the world, and this was the reason for its name. Zuo Mo could not understand the reason, but this was not a time to study the reason. It was fine as long as he knew how to use it.

Zuo Mo used the Soul Setting Divine Light to sweep a tiny bit of the brutal energy of the Anti Dragon Claw. As he had expected, this vicious energy froze where it was.

This caused Zuo Mo’s confidence to rise. He tested it on a tiny hot flow from the Sun Crystal Seed. It also was a success.

He suppressed the impulse he felt and patiently waited for an opportunity.

The Soul Setting Divine Light was a wonder, but this fragment of Soul Setting Divine Light was extremely small. Zuo Mo suspected that it would not be able to set a great deal of power. It could only be used at a critical moment, and important place.

The mo matrix was growing and changing. He knew that this was the mo matrix evolving.

Zuo Mo’s body was being rapidly changed and strengthened by the two enemy powers even if he was not willing. At this time, Zuo Mo was like an experienced hunter. He had already found the weakness, and right now, he only had to wait patiently for a chance to deliver a fatal strike.

The evolution of the mo matrix was very fast.

The Sun scripts were completely changed. Ten life-like suns floated on the surface of Zuo Mo’s body. They were like suns embedded in Zuo Mo’s body, especially the sun at his forehead. It was like a miniature sun that revolved without end. The number of paths between the ten suns had multiplied several times. It was profound and complex as the paths crossed. If someone slightly weaker looked at them, they would find they would become dizzy.

The dense scales that had been near Zuo Mo’s mo matrix had disappeared, and the new mo matrix sank under his skin so that it could not be seen. But someone familiar with Zuo Mo would notice that his figure had changed slightly. Zuo Mo’s original figure could not be considered to be brawny but muscles were clearly defined. Right now, his figure had become much thinner. Only Zuo Mo knew that his body was multiple times as strong now.

His body had been tempered again. The weak blood and flesh had been eliminated by the vicious energies of the Anti Dragon Claw. Each bone, every sinew, every muscle, was now multiple times stronger than before. The refinement was even more complete than the time with the Shifting Star Sands!

If this had occurred at any other time, Zuo Mo would be smiling so wide his eyes would be squinting but right now, he did not feel any joy.

He suspected that the completion of the refinement meant that the final conflict between the two powers was about to start!

Zuo Mo’s guess was correct.

———

Wind blew and there was a fine drizzle of rain..

The curtain of rain seemed endless and covered thousands of li. The red threads were clear and transparent with a springy presence. There was no darkness, it was warm and unspeakably comfortable.

Under the curtain of rain, those that were weak showed intoxicated expressions. They unconsciously released their mo weapons dropping them on the ground. The sound of the weapons merged into this drizzle and the owners did not realize they had done so.

More and more people released the mo weapons in their hands and became intoxicated in the rain.

The mo skill that Qi Diao Yu was most skilled in was illusory sound. He detected the power of this rain and his expression changed. Unconsciously, the water droplets around him sped up. With a sharp howl, it seemed to break through the curtain of rain.

The curtain of rain was these same droplets but the sound of the drizzle was soft and intoxicating.

The sharp howl seemed to burrow into the sticky water and then disappeared. The three droplets of water seemed to have gotten drunk themselves. They slowed down as they flew until they moved at the speed of a turtle.

Qi Diao Yu’s face was ashen. For the first time, he felt helplessness. He didn’t have any power to fight back.

“The Rain Domain of No Return … …” he murmured with a complicated expression. “As expected, there is no return!”

Between the threads of rain, a kind of lazy power unconsciously burrowed into his body.

Qi Diao Yu felt his consciousness seemed to move slower, his body became heavier. It feel very comfortable and he did not wanting to move.

He showed a strange expression of intoxication.

No return, no return!

———

The moment the curtain of rain appeared, the sound of clanking of the chains imperceptibly paused. Then the chain which had charged towards Marshal Yu, like a dragon, seemed to have entered water. An invisible power pressured it from all directions.

The metal chain suddenly lit up with a mix of white and black light. The rain shook and the chain sped up.

Marshal Yu smiled slightly and dismissed it.

The curtain of rain did not change but the chain that had just speed up quickly slowed down as though it was now pulling something heavy. The black and white lights quickly faded within the rain curtain.

In a blink, the black and white lights were consumed.

The metal chain that had been so formidable and unstoppable suddenly became slow like a sleeping babe floating in the air.

The sword essence flower sea seemed to slow down until it appeared to have stopped.

Wo Li’s cool expression finally changed.

The domain of a marshal!

It was this powerful!

This endless rain in front of her was something that could disrupt even the march of life and death!

In terms of profoundness of power, the Rain Domain of No Return was lacking compared to the metal chain. However, the power disparity was too large! Luo Li had just comprehended the Life and Death Lock. The time was too short. Marshal Yu had went from colonel to brigadier, to general, and then into marshal level. Each step had been set on a firm foundation and the amount of power he had accumulated was almost unimaginable.

When power reached a certain level, it would cause an innate change.

No matter how exquisite the Together chain was, it wasn’t a threat to absolute power.

One could defeat ten!

This was a weakness!

No matter how talented they were, they could not take a shortcut on this path of accumulation!

Marshal Yu found their biggest weakness.

He smiled faintly. The other side did have talent to force him to such a point. But, this was the end!

Just at this time, a shocking ripple came from behind him.

His smile froze on his face. Before he could turn around, boom, something seemed to explode behind him. A ripple that almost caused him to lose the urge to fight exploded suddenly from behind him!

He turned back to look in shock.

A bright sun burned in the rain!

———

Having made their final transformations, the collision between the two powers was intense.

The brutal energies of the Anti Dragon Claw had turned into black serpents that roared as they leapt at the ten suns. The Sun Crystal Seed that was in complete control of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain suddenly released a burning light. The serpents that came close turned to dust!

But there were many of the black serpents that were made from the brutal energies. They continued to move without any care.

The battle suddenly entered the most vicious stage.

This was a full-scale head-on clash of power!

The brutal energies of the serpents charged at the ten suns like a relentless tide. The ten suns moved across Zuo Mo’s body. The Sun Crystal Seed had actually activated the Ten Crow Celestial Domain in response!

Boom!

Golden light suddenly came from around Zuo Mo!

It was like sun that suddenly bloomed in the rain!

Before the rain could come near the golden light, it evaporated.

The sun suddenly turned dark.

Marshal Yu reflexively raised his head. He saw the blurry sky that had been covered by the rain was now a dark red as though the sky was aflame.

The entire sky became dark red, and the area was even larger than his curtain of rain!

This was … …

Suddenly, a dot of light flew out of the golden shield on Xiao Mo Ge’s body into the sky. The curtain of rain could not impede the dot of light. It grew as it flew and in a blink, it hung in the sky.

A sun!

Several more dots of light flew from Zuo Mo’s body into the sky.

In a flash, ten suns were spread out in the sky.

Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

This was the Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

Marshal Yu almost didn’t believe his own eyes. No matter how powerful the Ten Crow Celestial Domain was, it was only the top dog in general level. Compared to marshal domains, it was a whole level below. There was an innate difference in level.

How could the Ten Crow Celestial Domain break through his Rain Domain of No Return?

This was impossible!

Before he could understand everything happening in front of him, an unprecedented feeling of danger rose without any warning.

His heart jumped wildly.

Chapter 649 - Sun Crystal Seed’s Ten Crow Celestial Domain

This feeling of danger came without any warning and approached so fast that Marshal Yu wasn’t able to react. In truth, he was unable to react. The pressure that the Ten Crow Celestial Domain gave him was suffocating!

A strange unfamiliar feeling of suffocation!

How long had it been since he felt such pressure? He didn’t remember but he was shocked and intimidated by this strange feeling of pressure.

Zuo Mo did not know of Marshal Yu’s terror and really did not have the attention to spare. He was walking on a tightrope. If he wasn’t careful, one stumble and he would fall to his death. In front of the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed, Marshal Yu wasn’t worth a mention.

He truly felt this.

However, Zuo Mo felt surprised that the Sun Crystal Seed had activated the Ten Crow Celestial Domain but he quickly understood. The Sun Crystal Seed most likely had detected the threat of the Anti Dragon Claw and wanted to use the power of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain to fight against the Anti Dragon Claw!

The power level of the Sun Crystal Seed’s Ten Crow Celestial Domain far surpassed his own. The Ten Crow Celestial Domain it activated was far more powerful than normal! Every transformation of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain was activated, even the higher-level transformations were activated as the higher-level power filled it.

Zuo Mo watched the entire process and didn’t dare to divide his attention at all.

Even if he was in a dangerous situation right now, the scene in front of him attracted his attention. He could see every change in the Ten Crow Celestial Domain with his own eyes. He paid rapt attention to how the Sun Crystal Seed activated the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. If he paid close attention, then he would be able to know all the transformations of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. The Sun Crystal Seed was even pointing out the path of progression for the Ten Crow Celestial Domain as well!

Zuo Mo greedily watched the changes of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain under the control of the Sun Crystal Seed.

At this time, the Sun Crystal Seed was the best teacher.

No matter if it was the Sun Crystal Seed or the Anti Dragon Claw, they seemed to have intelligence on level of a person.

The Anti Dragon Claw detected the Sun Crystal Seed’s intentions. A vast murderousness immediately filled the space.

The rain drizzle of the Rain Domain of No Return suddenly froze under such a heavy murderousness. The Rain Domain of No Return was as fragile as glass.

Countless little grey wisps of killing essence swam between the frozen raindrops.

Cold and vast, brutal and savage, like a vicious beast baring its fangs and glaring at its prey with its crimson red eyes. It easily tore apart the layers of defenses and charged into people’s minds with little to no resistance.

The people affected felt endless terror come as a wave sweeping their legs out from under them and immediately swallowed them.

Bam!

A clear and pleasing shattering sound echoed.

The Rain Domain of No return only lasted for a few breaths under the attack of the Anti Dragon Claw before it collapsed.

Marshal Yu’s face paled. The Rain Domain of No Return had been defeated,and he had been wounded by the a backlash of power.

His eyes were filled with terror. He looked at the wave of murderousness that seemed to be a great grey monster howling and fell into a daze. Anti Dragon Claw! Was this the true power of the sky mo weapon, the Anti Dragon Claw?

Suddenly, he felt he was so minuscule, as tiny and insignificant as dust.

Ambition, pride, it was like a beautiful bubble that popped. His face was ashen and his eyes dim.

However, he was at marshal level. The murderousness had momentarily stunned him but he had the power to fight back. The mo skill in his body detected danger and started to circulate on its own. His body suddenly shook, his face paling even more, but his calm expression gradually fought its way back from terror. Though there was still shock on his face, his eyes had cleared up.

So risky!

The danger just now had been greater than any of his fights. Marshal Yu looked with lingering fear at Xiao Mo Ge, whose figure was shrouded in golden light in the sky. Inside that blinding ball of golden light was a grey pillar of energy that shot into the sky. That was the Anti Dragon Claw.

Anti Dragon Claw, sky mo weapon!

Only now did he truly understand the meaning of these six words. He finally understood only those marshal level and above could tame the Anti Dragon Claw.

Marshal Yu suddenly smiled in self-disdain.

Previously, he had thought of how to subduing the Anti Dragon claw. Now, he finally understood how laughable his thoughts were. There were many sayings about the Anti Dragon Claw but everyone believed one: ‘only marshal level and above could subdue them’.

But after personally seeing the Anti Dragon Claw, Marshal Yu immediately understood that this saying was not complete.

It was not marshal level or above that could tame them, but above marshal level. Other than the power of a marshal, one also had to have the appropriate mo skill. Something as brutal as the Anti Dragon Claw would only be tamed by those bloodthirsty and battle-hungry.

Otherwise, even if one had the power of a marshal, they would be shattered by the killing essence of the Anti Dragon Claw.

Understanding this bewilderment flashed across Marshal Yu’s mind.

Even he was unable to withstand the killing essence of the Anti Dragon Claw. Theoretically, Xiao Mo Ge should have been ground to dust. But Xiao Mo Ge was unharmed in the air. Also, the power contained in the golden light was different but terrifying in the same way. What was that?

Was that another sky mo weapon?

This thought flashed through Marshal Yu’s head but he immediately felt it was absurd. It was the greatest of fortunes to encounter one sky mo weapon like the Anti Dragon Claw. How unlikely would it be for someone to  possess two at once?

Marshal Yu was the strongest person on the battlefield and his perception was also the strongest of all the people. He quickly found that the target of the Anti Dragon Claw’s attack as not him but seemed to be that ball of golden light and the Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

Marshal Yu felt curious and happy, and also a thread of lingering fear.

If the target of the Anti Dragon Claw had been him, then now … …

This guess caused him to shudder.

———

Boom boom boom!

The conflict between the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed became even more intense.

The Ten Crow Celestial Domain had reached its strongest state. The great power created by the revolution of the ten suns had formed a golden pillar of fire in the sky and shot at Zuo Mo and the Anti Dragon Claw.

The Anti Dragon Claw that had possession of nine-tenths of Zuo Mo’s body did not show weakness. The grey mo matrix appeared again on Zuo Mo’s body. A faint grey light suddenly appeared around Zuo Mo and shielded him.

The black shadow of a dragon flickered inside the grey shield of light.

When the pillar of fire came into contact with the grey shield, it struck the surface and was deflected off.

Sparks flew and rained down.

Vrrom!

The ten suns in the air seemed to be infuriated and the light intensified. Countless streams of dark fire appeared in the dark red sky.

The sky was like a river, and the flames like water!

The golden pillar of light became even brighter. The thick pillar of light started to shrink and condense until it almost solidified!

The croaks of crows suddenly resounded in the sky and out of each sun came a crow shrouded in flame.

When the ten golden crows flew out, they turned into ten streams of light that entered the golden pillar!

It was as though cold water was suddenly poured onto the golden pillar and it froze. Ten golden crows appeared on the pillar in different lifelike positions.

From far away, Marshal Yu’s pupils suddenly contracted.

–[Golden Crow Battering Ram]!

He had personally experienced the power of Xiao Mo Ge’s move. This move was extremely powerful killing move, that surpassed the power of the general level.

But the golden pillar in front of him felt completely different than the one that Xiao Mo Ge had used.

Pressure!

Yes, it was pressure this time was a suffocating pressure!

The moment the pillar formed, the sky and earth seemed to moving, time seemed to stop, the dust in the air froze, everything seemed to still.

Marshal Yu knew that this was just a feeling. He knew that this was just a phenomenon that appeared because the power was great enough but uncontrolled shock still rose from the deepest part of his mind.

Clang!

The Gold Crow Battering Ram heavily hit the grey shield.

Marshal Yu’s body shook from the impact. The sound seemed to explode inside his skull. His mind blanked for a brief moment. Those further away with weaker cultivation immediately sprayed out blood. They were seriously wounded.

Under such a strong attack, the grey shield was unable to withstand it, and exploded.

However, the grey shield did not dissipate immediately. It turned to dozens of grey figures that shot at the Golden Crow Battering Ram.

Howls sounded in the air.

Numerous wisps of grey mist suddenly came out of Zuo Mo’s body. When they appeared, they turned into grey shadows that charged towards the Golden Crow Battering Ram. These grey shadows turned into little grey dragons. They howled and roared as they moved along the body of the Golden Crow Battering Ram.

In a blink, many tiny cracks appeared on the surface of the Golden Crow Battering Ram.

The little grey dragons continued to fly out of the grey energy and join in the attack. These little dragons were vicious as they howled and roared. Their bodies were thin and long, they had four limbs, and their heads were triangular-shaped. There were two extremely short horns growing at their foreheads. What was most shocking was that half of their body was a gaping maw and two rows of white teeth that was like two rows of the sharpest knives and chilled people’s hearts.

Boom!

The Golden Crow Battering Ram suddenly fell into pieces and released golden fragments of energy.

Under the dark red sky, the scattered dots of golden energy were beautiful to look at, like fireflies.

An extremely beautiful scene created within extreme danger!

The grey dragons that lost their target roared. Their voices were not loud but they contained a heart-rattling brutality and bloodthirst. Because of their great number, the sound was like a tide and caused listener’s scalps to prickle.

Smelling blood, the grey dragons jumped up like towards the ten suns in the air.

The streams of fire that rampaged in the dark red sky seemed to detect danger and headed for the grey dragons.

The sky immediately became the most vicious battlefield.

The flames and the grey dragons continued to collide and destroy each other. Neither side showed any signs of giving up. Grey dragons continued to fly out of the grey mist and the ten suns continued to send off streams of fire.

To the people watching the scene in front of them seemed like the apocalypse.

The Anti Dragon Claw seemed to be discontent with the fight that was at a deadlock. It suddenly shook and a vast and brutal energy flooded into Zuo Mo’s body. This brutal wave of energy was stronger than any of the previous surges! If Zuo Mo’s body had not been tempered by the Anti Dragon Claw, it would have been destroyed at this moment. But even after being modified by the Anti Dragon Claw’s energies, and having formed the grey mo matrix, the grey energy still caused stabbing pains in his body wherever it passed.

When this brutal energy entered Zuo Mo’s body, the grey mo matrix on the surface of Zuo Mo’s body suddenly brightened.

The mo matrix flashed a strange light and gave people a feeling it seemed to have come alive!

Zuo Mo endured the pain and did not dare to miss any detail.

He had a strong feeling.

Killing move!

The Anti Dragon Claw was about to use its killing move!

Chapter 650 - Rebirth

Zuo Mo’s intuition was accurate.

The grey mo matrix on his body flashed with an unusual light that seemed to flow and slide on the surface of his body. A strong wind formed in Zuo Mo’s surroundings, the fine gusts of wind were like blades that sheared everything around them. The ground, the stones, the pebbles in the vicinity were turned to dust by the gusts of wind!

In an instant, a hole more than fifty zhang deep appeared in the ground under Zuo Mo’s feet.

Zuo Mo’s body floated motionlessly in the air.

Then, a single deep roar seemed to come from within the ground.

The roars of the grey dragons previously had been a multitude of fine roars like a tide, and caused people’s hairs to stand on end and their scalp to prickle. This roar seemed to be a call from the ancient times, with the weight of time as it sounded from deep within the ground.

For the first time, Zuo Mo’s mind was overcome.

For some unknown reason, an indescribable emotion spread through his mind.

He was not the only one. Even Marshal Yu’s face shook and he entered a brief daze.

Just as everyone blanked, the mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s body quickly changed. A shadow silently floated out of the mo matrix on Zuo Mo’s body.

When this blurry shadow appeared, a brutal and vicious presence immediately filled the battlefield. The people who were still unfocused reacted in the most instinctive way, trembling!

Unconsciously trembling! Uncontrollably trembling!

Under this peerlessly brutal energy, their bodies were left cold and they trembled.

Roar!

A wave of anger suddenly exploded and spread through the entire field. Everyone seemed to be hit hard.

The suns in the sky lit up in response to the roar of the shadow. The ten suns revolved in the sky at an extremely slow rate. A great and pure power formed from the revolving suns.

Zuo Mo was the first one to recover. He did not forget that he was dealing with a dangerous situation. If he was the least bit careless, he wouldn’t even get a chance to amend the situation.

Every detail of what was happening in his body clearly flashed across his mind. He knew that every detail had a chance of determining his fate, life or death. He needed to find that minuscule chance from all this.

There were many transformations that he had a hard time understanding. Both the Sun Crystal Seed and the Anti Dragon Claw represented power of a higher level, each beyond his knowledge. But he still memorized it and did not give up.

The terrifying presence released by the blurry shadow caused his soul to tremble instinctively.

Suddenly, he saw a colossal beast. Its rampaging presence and its enormous shadow enveloped his minuscule figure. The strong pressure he felt left him suffocating.

This was … …

The shadow suddenly broke free of Zuo Mo’s body and flew into the sky.

Dragon!

A true dragon!

The blurry figure held the presence of a true dragon. In the moment it flew into the air, the presence of the king of all beasts rippled out wards like a pebble thrown into water.

No one knew that at this time, in this jie, all the animals were prostrated on the ground as they trembled!

But in Zuo Mo’s mind, what it gave off was not the energy of a dragon, but a cold and brutal killing essence. It was as though its sharp thick dragon claws dripped with black blood.

The purest of all killing essences!

In this moment, even the Three Thousand Strands of Worry decided to retreat. Other than the thickest few strands, the other strands of worry released the Anti Dragon Claw.

The Anti Dragon Claw that had a portion of its restraints undone,  unhesitatingly displayed its power and brutality!

This dragon shadow moved like a blur of grey lightning and Zuo Mo was unable to see its path clearly.

As the shadow blurred, a sun at it’s peak intensity fell from the sky. Streaking through the sky like a comet, it howled as it smashed towards the grey shadow!

Roar!

The grey shadow suddenly roared, the killing energy reaching a peak. Rushing upwards, it fearlessly welcomed the sun’s incoming attack!

Pure killing essence was like the sharpest blade essence in the world.

Both sides were peerless in their speed.

Two lights, one gold and one grey, drew across the horizon and collided.

Dong!

An deafening sound. The entire jie shuddered!

There was no explosion, no gust of air, just a terrifying sound of the collision.

Everyone felt the golden light brighten until it was blinding. Their vision went white. But the light quickly faded and their vision recovered. Then they found that flames were raining down.

Every thread of flame was a seed that had been caught in the wind and floated in the air.

But this was just the beginning.

The nine remaining suns in the sky suddenly fell one after another!

Dong dong dong!

With every sound, Zuo Mo’s body reflexively shook. Blood seeped out from his nose, eyes, and mouth. No matter if it was the Ten Crow Celestial Domain or the shadow of the dragon, they were connected to him. When the two were fighting like this without any regard the damage they suffered, Zuo Mo’s body was collateral damage.

If this was in the past, his body would have been unable to endure the backlash from the fight.

Fortunately, his body had been strengthened, but even so, with every impact, his body suffered a heavy blow. The power inside his body was not under his control but it still existed.

Every impact was soul-rattling, and the entire jie trembled in unison!

Ten times in succession, the Sun Crystal Seed and the Anti Dragon Claw clashed and did not leave anything behind. The magnitude of the backlash that Zuo Mo’s body endured reached a shocking intensity.

The grey mo matrix on the surface his body was twisted and tangled in on itself like metal wire.

The rain of fire gathered back into ten suns again. However, they were several times smaller and dimmer than before. They were like ten red beads that entered Zuo Mo’s body again.

The earth-shaking collisions surpassed Zuo Mo’s knowledge.

In front of such great power, Zuo Mo could not react at all.

However, the battle had not ended. The two, now wounded, returned to the old battlefield back in Zuo Mo’s body. The conflict was not as powerful as before but in terms of danger, it was even greater.

The Sun Crystal Seed was much dimmer but it still continued to release hot flows. Zuo Mo discovered that the hot flows released by the Sun Crystal Seed was weaker than before.

The Anti Dragon Claw’s presence was also weaker.

Once again, the battlefield was where the ten sun matrices were located.

The power of the two sides  weakened as they continued to destroy each other. Zuo Mo found to his joy that the suppression of his power seemed to show signs of weakening.

But the damage his body endured became greater. As the two powers continued to weaken each other, they did not have any power to spare to heal Zuo Mo’s body. The Greenvine Mystical Water was still being suppressed. While there was signs of release, it was still unable to move.

Zuo Mo started to feel urgency. He knew that as the two powers weakened, he would regain control of his body, but he was afraid that his body would be damaged beyond repair by that point.

He could not wait until that moment!

As the suppression weakened, Zuo Mo’s mind recovered its usual nimbleness. He did not hesitate and made a decision.

He had to do something!

The only card he had left was the Soul Setting Divine Light. At this time, no matter what, he had to try. His body was pushed to the point where it was going to completely collapse.

His first target was one of the sun matrices, the sun matrix at his forehead.

The sun matrix was much dimmer than before, but there was still much of the hot flows of energy from the Sun Crystal Seed inside. The brutal energies of the Anti Dragon Claw outside were continuously attacking this sun matrix.

The power of the two sides collided and shifted as they fought of dominance.

The Soul Setting Divine Light suddenly appeared.

Without any warning, the two powers were suddenly frozen in place. No, set in place. The sun matrix that had been restless just now was strangely calm.

The following changes were out of Zuo Mo’s expectations.

Zuo Mo had observed that the two powers had been colliding and destroying each other. But now the situation seemed slightly different. When the power of the two apparent mortal enemies was set, Zuo Mo discovered that there was a novel power that glittered like  the stars that was left around the sun matrix.

This power was not like any power that Zuo Mo knew of.

Compared to the brutality and dominance of the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed, these strange fragments of power were unusually peaceful and gentle. As Zuo Mo’s thoughts moved to examine the fragments, they entered Zuo Mo’s blood and flesh.

The next change brought joy to Zuo Mo.

These seemingly peaceful and harmless fragments  had the strong ability to heal and regenerate. Once they entered Zuo Mo’s flesh, the flesh started to miraculously heal.

Yet the healed flesh seemed different than before.

There was no time for Zuo Mo to study it carefully now. There were nine other sun matrices where the battle was raged on.

With his confidence boosted, Zuo Mo urged the Soul Setting Divine Light towards another sun matrix.

The Soul Setting Divine Light was as powerful as expected. Anything that it shined on, regardless of the intensity of the battle, would be immediately set.

Zuo Mo furiously searched for the fragments of power that appeared after the two powers collided. He had them enter his flesh and the effects were great.

As three sun matrices were sealed by the Soul Setting Divine Light, both the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed seemed to have recognized that their control over the situation was quickly unravelling. The two powers immediately retreated.

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s body suddenly shook. He once again had control over his body.

The joy at surviving this hardship rose. In this moment, he had an impulse to cry from joy.

But he quickly calmed his mind. At this time, there were more important things to do.

The strange new power that was floating around the sun matrices!

Zuo Mo greedily merged every drop of this newborn power into his body. He did not waste one bit of it. These dots and particles of power were not strong, and disappeared after being merged with his flesh.

Zuo Mo’s body was healing at a visible rate.

His nearly ruined body was restored in a short period of time. No, not as the same as before, but having changed again.

Shen power, ling power, mo skill, spiritual consciousness, these familiar powers once again returned to his body. Strong confidence rose. Power was the basis of confidence. Without power, his confidence was unrooted.

There was nothing more beautiful than this familiar confidence!

At this time, Zuo Mo suddenly noticed unusual movements in the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. From the beginning, the Three Thousand Threads of Worry seemed to have been neutral. It did not participate in the battle between the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed so its movements now were unusually eye-catching.

Hm!

This was … …

Chapter 651 - When He’s Sick, Take His Life!

Several strands of the Three Thousand Strands of Worry suddenly burrowed into the Anti Dragon Claw.

The Anti Dragon Claw shook but the furious struggle and resistance that Zuo Mo had expected from the Anti Dragon Claw did not come. Was it? Zuo Mo suddenly had a realization. The Anti Dragon Claw had exhausted itself in the conflict with the Sun Crystal Seed just now and was in a weakened state!

The following scene seemed to prove Zuo Mo’s guess. Pew pew pew, the slender Three Thousand Threads of Worry punctured the Anti Dragon Claw like needles. The Anti Dragon Claw shook but did not resist.

Great opportunity!

For natural born opportunists like Little Mo Ge, if he missed an opportunity like this, then he would not be Little Mo Ge.

With his strength, he didn’t know how long it would take him to subdue the Anti Dragon Claw. Previously, he had only managed to hold onto the Anti Dragon Claw by using the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. But holding it and subduing it was not the same. Even though the Anti Dragon Claw could not escape, he could not channel the power of the Anti Dragon Claw.

Right now, this was when the Anti Dragon Claw was weakest and the best opportunity to subdue it.

Take his life when he was sick, this principle was also able to be applied to sky mo weapons. In blink, Zuo Mo threw aside his respect of the Anti Dragon Claw and started to scheme against it. Only now did he find that the Three Thousand Threads of Worry was the most cunning and evil of the three. This guy had pretended to be neutral from the beginning but showed its hand when the Anti Dragon Claw showed weakness!

Very vicious!

But I like it!

Zuo Mo did not wait around watching but reached out as well! Regardless of how the Three Thousand Threads of Worry subdued the Anti Dragon Claw, it could not help him tame this peerless mo weapon. He had to do it himself.

Zuo Mo tried to reach towards the Anti Dragon Claw.

In the moment that his hand touched the Anti Dragon Claw, an extremely brutal energy suddenly burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body.

Extreme fury!

He felt the anger of the Anti Dragon Claw. Thunderous roars echoed in his mind intimidatingly!

Zuo Mo was startled but he quickly calmed down. Compared to the vast brutal energies before, this energy was sharp but weaker, leading Zuo Mo to be more certain that the Anti Dragon Claw was in a weakened state. He found to his joy that his newly tempered body did not feel any discomfort when enduring this brutal energy.

This made Zuo Mo overjoyed.

The Anti Dragon Claw also noticed this quickly. Another gust of brutal energy entered Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo’s body suddenly froze. This energy seemed the same as the one before, but when it entered Zuo Mo’s body, he immediately detected the difference.

Dark and cold!

Extremely dark and cold to the point it almost froze Zuo Mo. At this dangerous moment, Zuo Mo hurriedly activated the Soul Setting Divine Light!

The Soul Setting Divine Light was as wondrous as usual. This extremely cold energy was immediately set.

Zuo Mo finally released a breath.

But this energy was extremely cold and could not be absorbed like the previous brutal energies by Zuo Mo’s mo matrix. This cold energy was extremely pure. Zuo Mo knew his own abilities and that it would not be easy if he wanted to process it with his own power. But if he did not process it, it may lead to great trouble.

An idea sparked. He thought of the remaining sun matrices.

There were still many hot flows from the Sun Crystal Seed inside the sun matrices. Would the hot and cold pair together well? His thoughts moved and Zuo Mo threw the extremely cold energy into a sun matrix.

When this energy was thrown into the sun matrix, it was like cold ice poured into boiling oil and caused a great disturbance.

In moments, the extremely cold energy disappeared and half of the hot flow in the sun script was gone. More of the new power fragments appeared.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. These unfamiliar power fragments were of great benefit to him.

After digesting these power fragments, Zuo Mo continued to focus his attention on the Anti Dragon Claw.

At this time, his hand was tightly gripping the Anti Dragon Claw. This was the first time he touched the Anti Dragon Claw. The dragon claw was covered in icy and hard dragon scales, but the dragon scales where he held the mo weapon were much finer than the scales elsewhere.

More strands of the Three Thousand Strands of Worry burrowed into the Anti Dragon Claw and it trembled even more violently.

At his time, the Anti Dragon Claw grew dim like it had lost all of its light.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and reached into the Anti Dragon Claw along the Three Thousand Threads of Worry.

Boom!

It was like Zuo Mo’s finger had been placed into a glacier. Great cold energies immediately exploded forth and spread into Zuo Mo’s body from his finger. Grey frost headed for Zuo Mo at lightning speed.

Not good!

Zuo Mo paled. He suddenly understood, he had been tricked!

The Anti Dragon Claw purposefully pretended to appeared weak to lure him. Such a cunning mo weapon!

Just as the frost was about to cover Zuo Mo immediately, Zuo Mo unhesitatingly threw out his ultimate card—Soul Setting Divine Light!

The Soul Setting Divine Light seemed small but it was unexpectedly powerful,

Gritting his teeth, Zuo Mo released the cold flows towards the three remaining sun matrices. In moments, the cold energy that invaded his body had disappeared but so had the hot flows.

Zuo Mo felt some pity. He finally understood what these hot flows were. They were the base source of the Sun Crystal Seed’s power. If he could have processed them, it would have been greatly beneficial for his shen power and the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. It was a pity that the cold flow had been too powerful and he could not withstand it on his own.

Fortunately, the two powers had destroyed each other and created those new power fragments.

After this fright, Zuo Mo became even more cautious. The Anti Dragon Claw was valuable, but if he lost his life trying to tame it, then it would not be worth it!

This cold energy seemed to be the last attack the Anti Dragon Claw had. The Anti Dragon Claw became almost lifeless in Zuo Mo’s hand like a withered branch. It was extremely dim and there was none of its awesome presence that it showed before.

Zuo Mo did not encounter any more resistance. His hand reached into the Anti Dragon Claw and easily touched the icy bone at the core.

This bone seemed to be carved from ice. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but shudder when he touched it. It was too cold! But Zuo Mo’s face showed joy. He knew he had found the crux!

The Three Thousand Threads of Worry seemed to understand that Zuo Mo had tamed the Anti Dragon Claw and shrank back out from the body of the Anti Dragon Claw. This was the first time Zuo Mo saw the Three Thousand Threads of Worry release the Anti Dragon Claw completely.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s hand was empty. The thick Anti Dragon Claw had disappeared and was replaced by a grey claw bracelet on his wrist.

This bracelet was dim in color and nondescript.

In this moment, Zuo Mo seemed to be dreaming.

He had succeed?

He had really succeed?

A surreal feeling overwhelmed him. Had he subdued the sky mo weapon Anti Dragon Claw like this? Looking at the grey bracelet on his wrist, Zuo Mo’s expression was slightly dazed. The entire process had been surprising but the attempt was almost unimaginably easy. It had gone so smoothly that Zuo Mo felt that there had been a problem somewhere along the line.

Zuo Mo quickly found that there really was a problem!

No matter how he called out ot it, the grey bracelet did not respond at all. It did not react as though it was dead.

Zuo Mo was stunned. Why was it like this?

The great disparity made him almost throw up blood!

Anti Dragon Claw! Where did my sky mo weapon, Anti Dragon Claw, go?

The bracelet did not move at all and did not shine. No one would connect this dim article to the vicious and peerless Anti Dragon Claw.

Depressed, Zuo Mo quickly sorted out his emotions. Right now, he had not completely escaped the present danger and he could not waste his time on this matter.

He looked around and his gaze immediately landed on Marshal Yu.

Marshal Yu did not look as at ease as he previously had. His face was white and he seemed to be wounded. Thinking about the earth-shaking conflict that had just occurred, Zuo Mo realized that Marshal Yu had probably been suffered a major injury.

Zuo Mo’s guess was very accurate.

Marshal Yu had been greatly affected. It could be said that the blow he had received was much greater than others. One reason was because he had been closest to Zuo Mo when the battle had happened so he naturally received more of the collateral damage. The other reason was because he was the strongest person present and had the deepest understanding of power. Higher level powers affected him more than other people.

However, his gaze flickered. He was wounded, but he was not demoralized. He was filled with confidence. He had been affected the most, but he had gained the most!

If he could successfully recover, and could digest all that he comprehended today, his power would definitely go up a level.

Zuo Mo also understood this and his gaze became vicious.

At this time, Marshal Yu had gone through a hard battle and he was wounded. This was when he was weakest. Zuo Mo’s own power had actually increased and he was at his strongest.

If he waited for Marshal Yu to heal completely, the other was not someone that he could defeat under normal circumstances. He could not reach marshal level any time soon. Zuo Mo did not know what level Marshal Yu would reach after digesting his comprehensions today.

Zuo Mo was disappointed that he could not use the power of the Anti Dragon Claw but it wasn’t as though he didn’t have other tricks in his sleeve. Other than Ceng Lian’er who was unable to fight, Wo Li, A Gui and the black gold seal soldier still had most of their power. With him added on, they might have a chance!

This was the best chance to kill Marshal Yu!

No matter what, he had to keep Marshal Yu from leaving! Otherwise, there would be trouble in the future.

Zuo Mo suddenly showed his viciousness. He gritted his teeth. With a sudden flicker of his body, he dove at Marshal Yu.

“Kill Marshal Yu!”

Almost as his words sounded, A Gui, Wo Li and the others moved!

———

Bie Han had been far away and not been affected too greatly by the shockwaves. But he still felt nauseous. Fortunately, the nightmarish battle had finished and he recovered.

The fight between the Ten Crow Celestial Domain and the grey dragon had been heart-stopping but even then, Bie Han’s gaze had not left the other’s ranks.

He noticed that the ranks of the Yu Frontier Guards had been affected and become messy. Innumerable weaknesses appeared clearly in his eyes.

When Zuo Mo shot at Marshal Yu, Bie Han admired Zuo Mo’s decisiveness.

Almost at the same time, Sin Battalion silently moved towards the Yu Frontier Guards.

Chapter 652 - Struggle

Zuo Mo’s charge was sudden and Marshal Yu was caught off his guard.

Even if his strength had been affected by his injuries, he was still not someone that Xiao Mo Ge could defeat. Didn’t the exchange just now reveal that?

Or did Xiao Mo Ge think that he could be taken down with the aid of the Anti Dragon Claw?

A smile blossomed on Marshal Yu’s face. A hint of disdain and derision flashed through his eyes. The Anti Dragon Claw was powerful and the wounds he had received were not light, the power of any weapon was determined by the wielder. He was sure now that while the Anti Dragon Claw was in Xiao Mo Ge’s possession, he had not subdued it.

Since it was not subdued, the Anti Dragon Claw was ownerless!

A sharp light flashed through his eyes.

Seeing Zuo Mo and the others leap at him, he was not afraid. With a smirk he activated the Rain Domain of No Return again.

Under the peerless brutal energy of the Anti Dragon Claw, the Rain Domain of No Return was fragile. However, without the suppression of the Anti Dragon Claw, the Rain Domain of No Return was soft but fatal.

The thin strands of rain were gentle and lingered in the air.

Yet Marshal Yu who had focused almost all of his attention on Xiao Mo Ge did not notice that the purple light in A Gui’s eyes was much stronger than before.

———

No one noticed the change.

A Gui had been severely wounded. Her shen power had been suppressed by the Rain Domain of No Return. Then she had been caught in the conflict between the Anti Dragon Claw and the Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

Yet at this time, her expression seemed to suggest she was unaffected. Her snowy-white bare feet did not have a speck of dust on them.

She stood in the air like a ghost. The purple energy in her eyes was so thick it was almost tangible. If Zuo Mo saw this, he would be astounded. The purple light in A Gui’s eyes had an additional eerie light, its presence thicker than it had ever been before.

A Gui’s expression was indifferent. She glanced at Zuo Mo. In that moment, the indifference on her face melted like the snow.

She quickly turned away and her expression returned to indifference.

Her bare feet silently stepped on the empty air and her figure disappeared.

———

Zuo Mo did not know of A Gui’s transformation. At this time, he only focused on Marshal Yu!

There was not a stray thought in his mind!

Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

When the sky became dark red again, many people reflexively raised their heads. The Ten Crow Celestial Domain that the Sun Crystal Seed had created had been so powerful it frightened them to their core.

However, they quickly found that Zuo Mo’s Ten Crow Celestial Domain was not as powerful as it was previously.

In the midst of it all, Marshal Yu became even more confident that the one that had been fighting the Anti Dragon Claw was most likely another great treasure and not Xiao Mo Ge. Having thought this through, a disdainful smile rose on his lips. He did not need to be wary of this Ten Crow Celestial Domain, instead he was angered that Xiao Mo Ge dared to use a general level Ten Crow Celestial Domain against him!

It really was an offence!

The mo had strict ranks. In front of marshal levels, generals were like ants.

Marshal Yu had a great army and his strength as a marshal was enough for him to look down on others. Until now he had gone easy on Zuo Mo because of his fondness for talented individuals. But right now, his heart was filled with murderousness and he did not have any benevolence left!

The Ten Crow Celestial Domain moved.

A golden pillar came from the sky.

[Golden Crow Battering Ram]!

The disdain on Marshal Yu’s lips deepened. This Xiao Mo Ge just didn’t know what was good for him, he was as dumb as an ox!

This move clearly was not of any threat to him, yet Xiao Mo Ge dared to use this move. It was laughable.

The Green Carp Tongue Sword pointed into the sky. Rain suddenly gathered, spinning, and funneled to a point.

The strands of rain swam and twisted around the Golden Crow Battering Ram.

———

“Idiot!” Zuo Mo had a similar smile of disdain that flashed across his lips before his expression became focused again.

It was the [Golden Crow Battering Ram] and appeared the same as it did before.

When the swirling rain wrapped around the Golden Crow Battering Ram, a strange field of power surrounded the Golden Crow Battering ram. Immediately, the Golden Crow Battering Ram seemed to have sunk into a bog and slowed down.

There was no panic on Zuo Mo’s face, and his eyes lit up.

He huffed lightly and then shouted, “Scatter!”

Boom!

The Golden Crow Battering Ram suddenly exploded!

Countless needle-like golden lights suddenly spread into the surroundings. The rain that had surrounded the Golden Crow Battering Ram evaporated, and the needles of golden light entered the rain.

Marshal Yu immediately grunted as his body wavered!

He had not expected that Zuo Mo was laying a trap. His expression was both shocked and irritated.

Zuo Mo had seen the entire process of how the Sun Crystal Seed setup the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. He had memorized all of the transformations of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. This was something unimaginable to him in the past. No one could say that they understood the Ten Crow Celestial Domain well. Even Pu Yao and Wei did not know too much about the Ten Crow Celestial Domain, this had meant Zuo Mo needed to explore on his own.

He had not expected that the Sun Crystal Seed would borrow his Ten Crow Celestial Domain and reveal its secrets. The higher level power performed all the transformations of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain and helped even his mo matrix mature to its completion.

This was a benefit to Zuo Mo.

A mature and perfected Ten Crow Celestial Domain. After seeing all the transformations of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain, he knew which direction to cultivate to go up a level.

He still needed time to digest and practice what he had gained today, but undoubtedly, even without the Anti Dragon Claw, Zuo Mo’s strength had completely transformed.

He purposefully used the Golden Crow Battering Ram to trick Marshal Yu.

When he saw Marshal Yu’s figure sway, he knew he had succeeded! However, he did not feel any pride. This was a difficult battle that had just begun!

Would could a marshal be killed so easy?

If this was a different place and time, Zuo Mo definitely would not choose a such a suicidal course of action. But he knew that if he did not kill Marshal Yu, all that waited them was endless pursuit. Marshal Yu wasn’t just powerful individually, he possessed many powerful battalions. After he recovered, it would just be a matter of time before everyone’s died!

Once Zuo Mo made his decision, he did not hesitate one bit.

With the first attack having succeeded, he continued onwards!

———

Bie Han led Sin Battalion and charged into the enemy formation like a sharp knife.

In his eyes, the weaknesses in the Yu Frontier Guards formation were clear. His charge was determined. All in Sin Battalion were mo with incomplete souls. They did not know fear, did not have emotions. They would systematically carryout all of Bie Han’s orders. They were the true killing machines.

Bie Han who was usually reserved was like a fiery blade, boisterous and powerful.

The Yu Frontier Guards had not thought the enemy would dare to charge their formation!

They were caught off guard and immediately suffered a great number of casualties.

The Sin Battalion was like a bolt of lightning that split the Yu Frontier battle formation into two.

If one looked down from the sky right, they could clearly see that the route the Sin Battalion advanced was not straight, but zigzagged.

Bie Han’s path when he charged each time was precise. All the points he passed through were weaknesses he had detected!

The Yu Frontier Guards finally woke up from their shock.

Then they found their thick ranks had been divided in two by the enemy! Corpses were littered everywhere, their battle formation was disheveled mess, the usually proud Yu Frontier Guards were left furious!

When had someone dared to charge at the Yu Frontier Guards?

When had someone else dismissed the battle prowess of the Yu Frontier Guards so?

The foundation of the Yu Frontier Guards showed its depth now. Though Marshal Yu was not present, some general level battle generals started to direct the battalions. The lucky Yu Frontier elite that had survived the earlier battle quickly returned to the ranks. The experts that had been guarding the chariot flew to the very front in the hopes that they would buy some time for the main army to rally.

Yet they underestimated the skill level of battle general they were facing!

A snarl suddenly appeared on Bie Han’s icy face.

He felt that his blood was boiling, desire for battle filling his heart. He wanted to howl into the sky.

“Kill!”

A shout thundered across the sky.

Sin Battalion attacked again!

———

Zuo Mo was extremely cautious about Marshal Yu’s Rain Domain of No Return. He chose close-quarter combat.

He was now familiar with the transformations of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain, but one, he had not mastered all of the transformations, and two, the general level Ten Crow Celestial Domain was not a match for the marshal level Rain Domain of No Return. He was not the Sun Crystal Seed and could not bring out such high level power.

Zuo Mo’s attitude of fighting to the death infuriated Marshal Yu.

Marshal Yu had been of high status for a long time. It had been many years since someone dared to offend him, and not give into his demands!

He was not afraid of close-quarter combat!

The Green Carp Tongue Sword disappeared from his hand. Without seeming to take a stance, his hand flipped and he made a grabbing motion towards Zuo Mo.

Hiss!

Like the hiss of a snake, an enormous clawed shadow left his hand and flew towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt his vision darken. The enormous clawed shadow covered his field of vision. A terrifying gust of wind rushed at him like a snake.

Fighting spirit roiled in Zuo Mo’s eyes. He did not dodge. His hands came together and his body straightened towards the clawed shadow.

A golden light shaped like a spike covered Zuo Mo’s entire body. Decisively he charged at Marshal Yu’s clawed shadow.

[Gold Thread Spike]!

One of the ten transformations of the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus.

The two forces collided in a clash of brute force

Boom!

Zuo Mo vision filled with a blinding light and his body shook. The backlash of power was like being struck by lightning. He couldn’t help but grunt. However, his hand was held steady and did not shift.

His vision cleared up. He had charged through the clawed shadow!

Zuo Mo’s confidence increased. The golden light brightened and its presence became sharper.

Yet at this time, the black gold seal soldier and A Gui had both sneaked near Marshal Yu.

They had surrounded him!

Marshal Yu did not reveal any panic on his face. He was unaffected as though he did not care about the destruction of his clawed shadow.

He stared at Zuo Mo and suddenly smiled.

Then Zuo Mo felt a strange and extremely powerful suction force pull his body to the side.

This was!

Zuo Mo was startled.

“You really think that a domain of a marshal only has such simple capabilities?”

Thirty zhang around Marshal Yu rain started to come down in a drizzle. Through the drizzling rain, Marshal Yu’s disdainful voice clearly passed into Zuo Mo’s ears.

The Rain Domain of No Return!

Chapter 653 - A Gui’s Attack

Rain Domain of No Return!

The smaller Rain Domain of No Return was just thirty zhang in diameter did not span a large range like it had previously. Yet the area it enveloped had a strange and powerful repulsive power. This strange power was not large in expanse but it was frighteningly powerful. Zuo Mo had never thought that even with such a fast attack, he was still forced off his mark.

He was surprised that the domain could be used like this.

It really was wondrous!

The reason he had chosen close-quarter combat was so that he could avoid Marshal Yu’s Rain Domain of No Return. He hadn’t thought that he would end up colliding with the Rain Domain of No Return anyway! Had never expected that Marshal Yu could use the Rain Domain of No Return in close-quarters.

Zuo Mo was too fast. When he was pulled astray by the field of power, he was not able to react in time and could only watch as he darted passed Marshal Yu.

Marshal Yu was prepared and his hand lightly reached towards Zuo Mo.

If his hand landed, Zuo Mo would be seriously injured if not killed! Marshal Yu’s movements were mighty and forceful. Just a glancing blow would result in a serious injury.

Facing at a life and death situation, Zuo Mo’s response was quick.

Woosh, the space around him suddenly became dark red. A wave of hot air spread into the surroundings.

Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

Zuo Mo used what he had just learned and activated the Ten Crow Celestial Domain!

Marshal Yu laughed coldly. His hand did not shift from its path.

The hand seemed to be weak but Zuo Mo felt his breathing stop in his throat. Little Mo Ge’s expression changed drastically. His Ten Crow Celestial Domain was channeled to its limits but he didn’t have any confidence he could stop this blow.

At this time, a figure suddenly charged out.

Pia!

A clear sound of a collision rang out and the figure that rushed forward flew backwards.

Marshal Yu’s blow was forced slightly astray by this figure. The  air pressure of the blow brushed Zuo Mo’s body and passed into the empty space behind him. It created a deep hole over twenty zhang in the ground.

It was the black gold seal soldier that was thrown backwards. He bared his teeth and hissed. His expression indicated the pain he felt and the seal scripts on his body became dimmer.

Zuo Mo was calm. He found that while his Ten Crow Celestial Domain was suppressed by Marshal Yu’s Rain Domain of No Return, he could still cancel out the strange effects the repulsive field had on him. While Marshal Yu was overbearing in his movements and blows, he clearly was not skilled in close physical combat.

This was an opportunity!

Zuo Mo’s body twisted. Like a slippery fish, he followed the path the strange field of power flowed in and suddenly appeared below Marshal Yu’s right.

His right hand formed a fist that suddenly exploded with blinding golden light and furiously dancing golden flames

[Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem]!

Ten transformations, ranking first in dominance, the first fire! [1]

Marshal Yu snorted coldly. His left arm raised the five fingers of his hand extended towards Zuo .

Bam bam bam bam bam!

Like heavy beats of a drum, five terrifying gusts of air hit Zuo Mo’s Fire Fist of the First Heavenly Stem!

Zuo Mo was struck heavily. His body shook and the flames dancing on his right fist were forcibly extinguished. Even more terrifying was that when the five gusts of air hit his fist, one half of his body was left numb and unable to move.

At this time, countless black chains appeared out of the air and burrowed into the Rain Domain of No Return.

Wo Li had attacked!

These chains were like the sharpest of sword essences. In a blink, they pierced the Rain Domain of No Return.

The Rain Domain of No Return had a strange field of power in the thirty zhang  it covered but it was too small of an area. It stopped the great majority of the chains but two still managed to pierce through it!

The two chains twisted in strange positions within the Rain Domain of No Return!

Marshal Yu who had been calm until now changed expression!

The twisting chains caused the invisible field of power to disappear.

Suddenly, a ghostly figure ran alongside the chain and entered the field of power to silently appear behind Marshal Yu.

A Gui!

Her eyes were filled with purple energy. Her hand pressed in the empty air three cun from Marshal Yu’s back!

There was no sound!

Marshal Yu’s body suddenly shook.

His expression froze on his face, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Why was it like this?

… … why was it like this … …

He stood woodenly.

He wanted to turn around but no matter how hard he tried, his body did not listen to him.

The light in his eyes retreated like the tide and in a blink, the light was gone.

———

The Yu Frontier Guards had incurred heavy losses!

Bie Han’s Sin Battalion harvested life with an indifferent attitude. They did not have pity, feel sympathy, or know exhaustion! They continuously charged at the Yu Frontier Guard’s ranks. Even though they were had fewer members, they held the advantage.

They were strong and vicious. They never feared engagements where they were outnumbered. They continuously shifted their positions. Each tactic was unexpected. From the initial charge, they held the advantage.

The Yu Frontier Guards were having a very difficult time and were exhausted. They lacked a powerful battle general to lead them.

In Bie Han’s eyes, a battalion like this was full of holes to exploit.

If it wasn’t for the Yu Frontier Guard’s flexibility, they would have crumbled a long time ago. But if this continued, the defeat of the Yu Frontier Guards would just be a matter of time.

———

“This battle general is too powerful!” Ming Yu Wei was shocked she almost couldn’t speak.

She was not the only one, Ming Hui and the others were stunned. At this time, they finally understood just how powerful this battle general they had fought was!

In the beginning, they had thought of taking advantage of the chaos and to attack Sin Battalion from behind.

But after seeing the entire battle, their lips trembled and their limbs felt cold. They couldn’t muster up those thoughts any longer. They saw with their own eyes how Sin Battalion dismembered the Yu Frontier Guards. The comparatively slow responses of the Yu Frontier Guards could not stop the predation by Sin Battalion at all.

At times they were as sly as wolves, and at others as ferocious as tigers.

The battle general of Sin Battalion was unbelievably powerful. His control of the entire battlefield reached a frightening level.

But what shocked people even more was Bie Han’s unrelenting style of fighting.

They would aim at the enemy’s weakness with strong attacks. A minor weakness would quickly worsen. Then this weakness would become more significant until it affected the entire battle!

And if the enemy managed to surround them, they would find an opening at the most opportune time and fight their way out before turning around and slaughtering the pursuers.

In this short battle, the Yu Frontier Guards had suffered great losses.

Their advantage was slowly growing because the battle formation of the Yu Frontier Guards broke down under their repeated charges!

If they managed to completely destroy the battle formation of the Yu Frontier Guards, then no matter how many people the Yu Frontier Guards had, they would become lambs waiting for slaughter!

It really … … was powerful!

Ming Hui and the others accepted their loss. They had lost for reason!

———

The death of Marshal Yu became the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Many of the Yu Frontier Guards that were fighting saw Marshal Yu’s body fall from the sky and were left dumbstruck. Some had even started to cry.

Terror and hopelessness spread like the plague across the battlefield.

The Yu Frontier Guard’s morale had almost been broken by the charges of Sin Battalion had complete collapsed.

Everywhere Sin Battalion passed, blood and flesh flew. Bie Han was like a bloodthirsty blade as he directed Sin Battalion.

The outcome of the battle was set but Bie Han did not relent. He continued to slaughter the Yu Frontier Guards!

He was like a meat grinder on full power.

A killing machine!

———

There were no words that could describe what everyone felt right now.

They saw the death of Marshal Yu with their own eyes. This was the first marshal to die of unnatural causes in hundreds of years!

There was a saying in the mo territories, only marshals could kill marshals. However, they saw a marshal die at the hands of some unknown people. Among them, the most famous was Xiao Mo Ge. While Xiao Mo Ge seemed to have some fame in Great Peace City, but in the entire Hundred Savage of the Dark, he was a nobody compared to Marshal Yu, someone who had been famed for decades.

What was even harder to accept was that there wasn’t a marshal among them!

Everyone had believed that Marshal Yu would ultimately win in the end. Even when the Anti Dragon Claw had been dominating, no one thought that Marshal Yu would fall in battle.

But Marshal Yu had died.

Felled by the hand of an unknown female.

That female was the maid standing next to Xiao Mo Ge. No one present even knew her name!

The great Marshal Yu fell to a woman like this.

If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, no one would have believed it.

Even now, they did not understand why Marshal Yu died.

———

Zuo Mo panted heavily. His fight with Marshal Yu had been short but it was a dance with death.

Zuo Mo felt very surprised that A Gui had killed Marshal Yu.

But when he saw the burning purple energy in A Gui’s eyes, he suddenly understood why she succeeded and his expression changed.

He didn’t feel any joy. With a flash, he appeared next to A Gui and grabbed her hand.

What he didn’t notice was a thread of warmth flashed through her purple eyes when he grabbed A Gui’s hand.

Zuo Mo’s heart sank.

The purple energy in A Gui’s body was now many times stronger than it had ever been!

This was not good!

The purple energy was a very eerie power. It could make A Gui very powerful but at the same time, it would corrode A Gui’s body, destroy her vitality and seal her six senses.

Zuo Mo understood that A Gui had definitely suffered extremely serious injuries in exchange for the victory just now!

The purple energy was unique in that it would become stronger after injury. But even so, it could not be so strong! Zuo Mo looked at A Gui. He knew that something had happened to her just now.

Zuo Mo didn’t feel the joy of victory.

The purple energy in A Gui’s body was so strong. Her condition  would quickly worsen and her connection with the outside world would be completely blocked.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s expression was dark.

A Gui silently stood next to him as he held her hand. Her eyes filled with purple energy were gentle.

Looking around, Zuo Mo knew he finally won!

However, what he did not know that a similarly intense battle was occurring in another place. .

Chapter 654 - Gu Liang Dao

Gu Liang Dao looked at the mo battalions who had almost been wiped out and praised, “Brother Gongsun’s battalion is peerlessly sharp!”

Gu Liang Dao’s figure was tall, his features rough and his voice boomed like a drum. His face was weathered and he didn’t look anything like the disciples of the four great sects who lived in comfort. His praise attracted agreement from the commanders around him. They all nodded. These battle generals from Xi Xuan were all subordinates of Gu Liang Dao. They had followed him for a long time, and usually had their eyes up in the sky. But right now, they did not disguise the admiration they felt.

This battalion was qualified to be treated this way.

Gongsun Cha smiled bashfully and said, “Brother Gu is too complimentary. If it was not for Brother Gu’s help, we would still be travelling here.”

His tone was sincere.

The battalions of Gongsun Cha and Gu Liang Dao had met in Old Field Jie and the two had immediately started to fight. Gu Liang Dao had been shocked by the power of Vermillion Bird Camp and he immediately ordered his battalion to retreat. Even though Vermillion Bird Camp had some mo among their ranks, the great majority of them were sword xiu. Gu Liang Dao had thought that this was a core battalion from Kun Lun and sent someone to inquire.

When he learned that the other was not a Kun Lun battalion, Gu Liang Dao was even more shocked. If he did not see it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe that any faction other than the four great sects would have such a strong battalion.

Gu Liang Dao appeared rough but he was actually detail-oriented. He immediately began forming a relationship with the unknown faction. A strong battalion, and a top ranked battle general, they were worth the effort to establish amicable relations.

The battalion that Gu Liang Dao led had been undefeated in the mo territories. He hadn’t felt any pain at giving this Old Field Jie up to Gongsun Cha if he had to.

When he learned that Gongsun Cha was doing all this to meet up with a single person, Gu Liang Dao was filled with curiosity. Such a powerful battalion, and such a powerful battalion general, their origins would not be simple. Any person that could have them as an escort would not be simple. And when he heard about how Gongsun Cha and the others were travelling through numerous jie and fought innumerable battles in search of his shixiong, he was moved.

After pondering for a few moments, he decided to help Gongsun Cha.

Gongsun Cha hadn’t thought that the other would be willing to help him. Seeing the other’s sincerity, Gongsun Cha agreed. With Gu Liang Dao as company, their rate of advance accelerated.

The two battalions travelled together and as they continued to fight along the way, their admiration of each other increased. Nothing had to be said of Gu Liang Dao’s status. He was the most famous battle general of Xi Xuan, and one of the top battle generals in the world. But he had not thought that Gongsun Cha could rival himself.

Gongsun Cha’s style was strange and hard to predict.

After spending time with Gongsun Cha,  Gu Liang Dao had gained a better understanding of this person and respect had formed. Gu Liang Dao was an open person and valued friendship highly. Gu Liang Dao came from Xi Xuan but he was not one of the core disciples. He had obtained his present position purely through fighting. Gongsun Cha had never expected that Xi Xuan’s Tiger General, famed through the world, was not a core disciple.

Whenever this was mentioned, Gu Liang Dao’s subordinates had expressions of rage.

Gongsun Cha felt this was hard to believe. Such a famed battle general yet his sect did not value him. Were the higher-ups of Xi Xuan blind?

Later on he learned that Gu Liang Dao’s good friend had died due to the son of one of the higher-ups in the sect. Gu Liang Dao had waited for a chance and heavily injured this disciple. If it wasn’t that the matter eventually blew up, that higher-up would have already taken Gu Liang Dao’s life. But while he managed to live, he had offended the the majority of the higher-ranking members of the sect. This meant he could not safely stay in the sect so he was sent to Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.

He had fought many battles of varying scale, all the while the core disciples of the sect had schemed against him but he managed to survive and accumulate achievements. His victories meant that, in public, the sect had to reward him, but in the shadows they colluded against him. They did so by sending him on ever increasingly dangerous missions.

He had, against the odds, miraculously survived and grew even stronger. Because of his openness and the value he placed on friendship, a group had gradually formed around him. The people he attracted were not valued by the sect, but they were talented and skilled.

Gongsun Cha gaped when he heard this. He had never thought that Xi Xuan’s Tiger General who seemed to be so honored on the surface was forced into such a bad situation.

Gu Liang Dao did not care about these matters and brushed them away with a smile. While his relationship with the sect’s higher-ups was terrible, he was open and willing to help others. This allowed him to make many friends from many places.

Gongsun Cha wondered why Gu Liang Dao did not leave Xi Xuan. With his strength, he would have an easy time no matter where he was. However, Gongsun Cha did not ask. Everyone had core beliefs they held onto and guarded.

With two powerful battalions and two top ranked battle generals, the road forward was smooth. But when they were just about to arrive at Great Peace City, they suddenly encountered a lot of mo. These mo came from different families, and they carried mo weapons. The group seemed to be scheming something.

Once battle started, Gu Liang Dao was a completely different person.

Before the mo could react, he sent the order to charge. He was decisive and did not hesitate at all!

Vermillion Bird Camp was not willing to fall behind and also entered the fray.

The battle was one-sided.

Gu Liang Dao and Gongsun Cha even had the time to idly chat.

The battle quickly finished but during the cleanup phase of the battle, when Gongsun Cha heard the terms “Great Peace City,” “Xiao Mo Ge,” “Great Peace Treasure Pavilion” from the captives, his expression immediately changed.

Especially when he heard that Marshal Yu’s Yu Frontier Guard had arrived ahead of them, Gongsun Cha’s face almost turned completely white. Even Gu Liang Dao’s expression became more serious.

A marshal level!

Gu Liang Dao had interacted with the mo ever since Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. He knew what a marshal level existence represented.

But he still didn’t hesitate to accompany Gongsun Cha to Great Peace City!

Feeling urgency, Gongsun Cha headed for Great Peace City at full speed.

But when they arrived at Great Peace City, they saw Bie Han massacring the Yu Frontier Guards.

———

With the little black dots appearing in the sky, the calm expressions of Great Peace City’s populace immediately changed.

Bie Han who had been excited by the slaughter immediately became calm again. He forced down the murderousness he felt and stopped his slaughter. He carefully retreated back to Zuo Mo’s side. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the battalions flying over at high speed. His gaze suddenly focused.

Two battalions!

His skill was high and he immediately recognized that the two battalions flying at them were two elite battalions.

He felt his heart shudder.

He had had a fun time in the fight just now, but he had also expended great energy.

If a conflict occurred, then it would not end well.

Gongsun Cha and Gu Liang Dao had seen Bie Han’s almost mad style of fighting. Both of them were surprised. But when Gongsun Cha saw Bie Han fly next to Zuo Mo and set up a perimeter, he immediately understood.

As expected of Shixiong!

Gongsun Cha praised inwardly. When he saw Zuo Mo was safe and unharmed, he immediately released a breath. Then he became excited. He had finally found Shixiong after travelling so far!

When Vermillion Bird Camp saw Zuo Mo, they couldn’t help but cheer.

At this time, everyone’s tense nerves relaxed.

So these were Xiao Mo Ge’s people.

But Princess Xia and the others had expressions of shock and surprise. They had already been shocked at Bie Han’s Sin Battalion but now two battalions that could rival Sin Batatlion had arrived!

What was Xiao Mo Ge’s background?

However, once they discovered that the majority of these two battalions were xiuzhe, the crow shifted again. Was Xiao Mo Ge also a xiuzhe?

The fighting between mo and xiuzhe was an everyday occurrence. The mo had a deep hatred of xiuzhe. If it wasn’t for the strength of these two battalions, many people would have attacked already.

When Zhu Ke and the others looked at Zuo Mo, their expressions were complex.

Only Princesss Xia’s expression returned to normal after a momentary pause.

———

The arrival of Vermillion Bird Camp led by Gongsun Cha allowed Shu Long and the others to relax. The suppressed exhaustion crashed into them like a tide and they could only yield to their bodies.

With Gongsun Cha introducing them, Zuo Mo and Gu Liang Dao met each other and thanked each other for the help.

Gu Liang Dao examined Zuo Mo and was filled with shock. He hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo could be so young. When he heard Vermillion Bird Camp’s cheers just now, he knew that Zuo Mo was extremely well-liked by these people. It was not easy to accomplish that. Also, observing what he had from this journey alongside Vermillion Bird Camp, he knew just how proud this battalion was.

This person was impressive to have received such affection from Vermillion Bird Camp!

Gu Liang Dao’s gaze then landed on Bie Han. At this moment, Bie Han was like sword that had been resheathed. There wasn’t any edge to him and it was the exact opposite of his bloodthirsty battle state just now. Detecting Gu Liang Dao’s gaze, Bie Han didn’t even flick an eyelid and stood silently at the side. The icy blue mo matrix made him appear like an icecube giving off cold air.

Gu Liang Dao suddenly spoke, “Are you Bie Han of Sin Battalion?”

Bie Han stilled. He hadn’t thought that the other would recognize him. He nodded. “That’s me.”

Gu Liang Dao’s eyes lit up. He smiled and said pointedly, “The rumors say much about the most accomplished battle generals of Xuan Kong Temple: Jiang Zhe is flexible, and Bie Han is fearless. Seeing you today, the rumors are not false!”

Bie Han frowned. “I am not of Xuan Kong Temple.”

Gu Liang Dao wasn’t surprised at all and nodded. He said, “I have also heard of the matter of Brother Bie.” He couldn’t help but glance at Zuo Mo. The news that Bie Han had fled Xuan Kong Temple wasn’t a secret among the higher-ups in the xiuzhe world and the information had been spread far. Sin Battalion had always been one of the core battalions of Xuan Kong Temple. The defection and betrayal of a battle general and a core battalion from the four great sects had never happened before.

What he also had never expected was that Bie Han would pledge his allegiance to this unknown Xiao Mo Ge.

“Who are you?” Bie Han hadn’t expected the other to know so much about him and was slightly surprised. When he had been in Xuan Kong Temple, he never went out. There were only a rare few that knew so much about him, yet the other had managed to easily identify him.

“Xi Xuan’s Gu Liang Dao.” Gu Liang Dao smiled.

“I have heard of you.” Bie Han nodded and understood. No wonder the other knew of him, he was a disciple of the four great sects. The competition between the four great sects had been ongoing for thousands of years. The factions had a thorough knowledge of their rivals.

“Your days aren’t easy, why don’t you join us?” Bie Han said directly.

Gu Liang Dao’s smile froze on his face.

Chapter 655 - Relations

Gu Liang Dao had not expected Bie Han to be so direct but he also felt puzzled. Put generously people like Bie Han were proud. They usually  looked down on everyone and thought highly of themselves as the center of the world. Gu Liang Dao had only known that Bie Han had led Sin Battalion and left Xuan Kong Temple. But he still felt it incomprehensible that he had decided to follow this youth.

He then looked at Gongsun Cha standing at the side and Vermillion Bird Camp.  Zuo Mo already had two top battalions. While this kind of strength could not rival the four great sects, it was much greater than the normal intermediate and small sects.

Puzzlement, shock, confusion, these emotions mixed in his mind.

“With the two of you here, there’s no need for me.” Gu Liang Dao said with disdain directed at himself. While this was just a courtesy response, it reflected Gu Liang Dao’s attitude. He did not know how big Zuo Mo’s factions was, but he had two top battle generals. If he joined them, he would only be gilding the lily and it would be difficult for him to earn a position in the inner circle.

His intelligence and cunning were greater than pure battle generals such as Gongsun Cha and Bie Han to have been able to gather such a group of people in such difficult circumstances.

While Bie Han was not skilled in scheming, he was perceptive. When he heard Gu Liang Dao say this, he did not try to persuade any further, and said coolly, “But in the future, Xi Xuan will not be  tolerant of you.”

The words hit the sore spot in Gu Liang Dao’s heart.

While to outsiders he looked to have a great reputation in the xiuzhe world and he was the top battle general from Xi Xuan, the higher-ups from Xian Xuan would not support him. Ultimately he was someone who had been categorized as something to be abandoned. To them he was an eyesore.

The greater his reputation was, the more terrified the Xi Xuan higher-ups became of him.

While the higher-ups were spoke good words on the surface and appeared understanding, Gu Liang Dao knew that it was just to lull him into a false sense of security. Because of this, he was willing to fight in the mo territories which carried great danger rather than return to the sect.

It was most likely that if he returned to the sect, what awaited him was loss of his command.

Gu Liang Dao was someone who was pragmatic. After a moment of silence, he smiled freely and his expression was not disguised at all. He said openly, “The matters of the future will wait until the future. No one can have smooth sailing all the time. It is enough to have gained something from this trip!”

Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha couldn’t help but admire this. Even the icy look in Bie Han’s eyes melted slightly.

“This little brother heard that a marshal came, is he … …” Gu Liang Dao had a questioning look in his eyes.

“We accidentally killed him.” Zuo Mo tried to keep his face normal and said with slight embarrassment—actually, it had been A Gui that had killed him.

Gu Liang Dao was struck dumb by Zuo Mo’s expression and even more so by the words. He stammered out, “Accidentally ki … … killed … …”

He was not the only one affected, The commanders around him gaped as though they were seeing ghosts.

“En en en.” Zuo Mo nodded repeatedly.

Gu Liang Dao’s expression froze for a moment before he said, “Brother Xiao, as expected … … as expected … … the youth become heroes!”

He said “as expected” twice. He didn’t know what words to use to describe his mood right now. He couldn’t see any indications that the other was joking. He also knew that Xiao Mo Ge would not lie to him about this matter. The event would have just occurred and there were also many people present. He would only need to briefly investigate to find the truth of the matter.

And when he connected this to the scene of Bie Han had been slaughtering mo, this answer seemed reasonable. If it wasn’t that the marshal had been killed, would the marshal would have tolerated his battalion being culled like sheep?

All the evidence seemed to indicate that Xiao Mo Ge’s words were not false.

But that was a marshal, not a dog, a marshal!

He was equivalent to a fanxu xiuzhe!

Even in Xi Xuan, one of the four great sects of the xiuzhe world, fanxu xiuzhe were rare. They either spent their years in seclusion, or they were out travelling the world. But any fanxu xiuzhe was a strategic power for a sect.

Gu Liang Dao had fought against the mo and he had a deeper understanding of the mo than normal xiuzhe. In the mo world, the marshal level was the top power. They were the mo’s strongest battle generals and strongest experts. Each of them was a person that could affect the state of the Hundred Savage Realm.

The fall of any marshal would be news that would cause all of the mo world to shake. This was even more of a bomb than any jie getting taken over.

Zuo Mo suddenly became even more mysterious and unfathomable in his eyes.

Gu Liang Dao kept his calm but the commanders around him couldn’t help but become cautious. Up until now, while the four major sects had obtained some gains, the yaomo had not been seriously harmed.

For the mo, the fall of Marshal Yu would be greatest loss up until now!

Gu Liang Dao quickly recovered from his shock. He was filled with curiosity and puzzlement but he forced these feelings down. It would be impolite to pry so deeply. He changed the topic, “Where is everyone planning to go now?”

“To Nether Springs Jie.” Zuo Mo did not conceal this. The other had come to help. No matter what the reason for that was, it was a debt. Also, he could see that Gu Liang Dao was a open-minded and generous person.

“Nether Springs Jie?” Gu Liang Dao was slightly shocked but he did not ask why Zuo Mo and the others were going to Nether Springs Jie. He said after some thought, “Nether Springs Jie is in an extremely deep region of the Nether Realm. It is far away, and there are many powers along the way, it will not be an easy journey!”

Zuo Mo nodded, feeling the same. “Yes.”

Gu Liang Dao took something out of his ring and handed it to Zuo Mo. He said with a hint of self-mockery, “While I am just pretending to follow orders, this little brother has to still conquer a few jie in order to satisfy my sect. I cannot go with Brother Xiao. This jie map is something that this little brother gained as a spoil from a fight. It does not belong to my sect. The information about the Hundred Savage Nether Realms and all of its jie are marked on this map, I hope this will be of some help to Brother Xiao.”

Zuo Mo’s expression changed. The other’s expression was sincere. It was a small item but its value was several thousand jingshi and was even more valuable to Zuo Mo!

This person was cunning but open and generous in how he treated people, he really is a hero.

Zuo Mo’s expression became stern and he put away the mirth in his expression. He bowed towards Gu Liang Dao. “Many thanks, Big Brother Gu! This little brother’s true name is Zuo Mo and I have used the pseudonym Xiao Mo Ge while moving around in the mo territories! Big Brother Gu, call me Xiao Mo!”

Gu Liang Dao laughed and said, “Names are small matters and not worth a mention. Brother, be careful! The mo never lack for vicious people and have a deep seeded hatred for us xiuzhe. Brother Zuo has to be careful on this journey. You also killed a marshal and your identity as a xiuzhe will now most likely  revealed. Now that you have become well known, the trip will no longer be a peaceful one.”

“Big Brother Gu is right.” Zuo Mo’s expression also became grave.

After the fight today, his identity as a xiuzhe would most likely be unable to be concealed. The interested could be detected from the gazes of the survivors of Great Peace City. Their gazes were complex, filled with hate and gratefulness, but the most common emotion was fear.

He suddenly said, “This little brother has a matter, please, Big Brother Gu, help.”

“What is it?” Gu Liang Dao asked directly.

“These mo have some relations to this little brother. Big Brother Gu, please allow them to live.” Zuo Mo said.

Gu Liang Dao nodded without thinking. “Alright!”

“Many thanks, Big Brother Gu!” Zuo Mo said gratefully.

Gu Liang Dao shook his head and said, “Do not think of this brother as a bloodthirsty person. Fighting wars is a matter for battalions, what does it have to do with civilians? This brother has not fallen to such a low level. Also, after this Sky-Splitting Calamity, the intermingling of xiuzhe, yao, and mo will not be able to be stopped. The heavens will it. There is no need for unnecessary killing.”

A hint of shock flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. This Big Brother Gu of his was a very strong person as he had expected. It wasn’t that Zuo Mo hadn’t met people who recognized this, but it was not easy for the great four to admit this.

Then they started chatting about other matters.

Gu Liang Dao quickly found that while Zuo Mo was young, his vision of larger events was clear. Even though he had accomplished so much at such a young age, he did not let his ego interfere.

Gu Liang Dao’s judgment of the state of affairs was a keen and experienced, something that a beginner like Zuo Mo could not match. Just a few sentences would be enough to enlighten Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo finally understood why Big Brother Gu hadn’t died under the pressure of the sect and had grown even more powerful.

The two were very compatible and talked through the night.

When the first thread of sunlight rose from the horizon, they seemed to wake up from a dream.

Everyone knew that this was the time of separation. Zuo Mo and the others had to go to Nether Springs Jie, and Gu Liang Dao and his group had to return back to reinforce their battle lines. They received news that there were enemies harassing their front line.

But the two sides were not picky people. They exchanged methods of contact and bid farewell.

When he saw the figures of Gu Liang Dao and the others disappear, Zuo Mo finally turned his gaze away.

The departure of Gu Liang Dao’s group caused the mo survivors of Great Peace City to sigh in relief. When they heard that one of the newcomer battalions had been lead by Gu Liang Dao, they had been frightened half to death. In the eyes of many, Gu Liang Dao was a god of slaughter. They hadn’t expected Gu Liang Dao to leave without even looking at them.

Many people speculated that it had been Xiao Mo Ge who had spoken on their behalf.

Their emotions were more complex. Xiao Mo Ge, was a xiuzhe and was their enemy. But if it wasn’t for Xiao Mo Ge, the great majority of the people in Great Peace City would have died. Regardless of whether they admitted it aloud, they all knew this inside. Xiao Mo Ge had saved their lives.

But why was a person like this a xiuzhe?

Many people had this conflicted thought.

Zuo Mo did not care. He did not have any bias for or against the mo. He understood the hatred between the mo and the xiuzhe. He could also guess what they were feeling but he did not care.

It did not matter to him whether they felt grateful or hated him. He had done these things not for them, but to stay true to himself.

He did not pay attention to them, and ordered his subordinates to clean up the battlefield.

With Zuo Mo’s personality, he naturally would not watch and allow so many of the spoils to slip by him. That wasn’t Little Mo Ge’s style. Due to Xiao Mo Ge’s presence, no one had dared to scavenge the spoils in the night.

At this time, Princess Xia left the crowd.

Chapter 656 – Gu Liang Dao’s choice

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised as he looked at that alluringly beautiful face.

“Are you not afraid of me?” Zuo Mo was puzzled. The other people looked at him with wariness and fear in their eyes, yet Princess Xia approached him as usual.

Princess Xia smiled alluringly, “Why should I be afraid of you? Will you eat me?”

Zuo Mo was left speechless.

Princess Xia’s eyes moved and seemed mischievous. “I hadn’t thought that you would know Gu Liang Dao! But it is fortunate for us that you know him. Otherwise, this place wouldn’t even have ruins left. However, you have to be careful. It is not good for your reputation as a mo to be associated with xiuzhe. Which family are you really from? Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus is a very noble bloodline! Are you a descendant of the ancient families?”

Her words were not spoken quietly and she blinked playfully at Zuo Mo.

Listening to Princess Xia’s words, many people showed expressions of relief. Princess Xia was right. How could someone that cultivated the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique be a xiuzhe?

They had never heard of a xiuzhe that was able to cultivate the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique, much less reach the completion stage of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. Thinking about it this way, everyone found the thought that Xiao Mo Ge was a xiuzhe was absurd.

All of the mo present exhaled in relief. Everything would be alright if Xiao Mo Ge was a mo. As to his relations with xiuzhe, while it was something that was frowned upon, no one cared too much.

Look at those xiuzhe, among them was the famed Gu Liang Dao!

They didn’t feel that anything was wrong. Xiao Mo Ge was extraordinary, being familiar with other extraordinary people was expected. The common saying was birds of a feather, flock together. Someone that the Tiger General of Xi Xuan treated so respectfully, how could Xiao Mo Ge be a normal person?

Unconsciously, the terror in their eyes weakened and transformed into respect.

No matter where you were, people would respect the strong.

Zuo Mo’s expression froze on his body. He now understood what it meant to make black into white. Princess Xia’s silver tongue could make dead people become alive. Her speech was meant to help remove the suspicion people had of him. Even though it could not make everyone believe it. People such as Zhu Ke and a few others still had suspicion in their eyes, it was enough to fool the normal people.

To them, the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was absolute proof!

As to the xiuzhe under Xiao Mo Ge’s command, those were even easier to explain away. Xiao Mo Ge and Gu Liang Dao had a good relationship, it would therefore be normal to have some xiuzhe under his command. Looking at this battalion, the mo were the primary core!

Looking at Princess Xia smiling as she spoke, Zuo Mo knew that this woman had guessed his identity. However, he was still surprised that she had stepped out to help him.

Zuo Mo smiled but did not speak.

In the eyes of everyone else, his silence and  expression caused them to feel even more mystery from him. Xiao Mo Ge’s origins were probably extraordinary as Princess Xia had said!

Zuo Mo set up jinzhi and blocked off all sound.

“Thanks!” he said seriously.

Princess Xia smiled beautifully. “How will you thank me?”

Zuo Mo scratched his head. “Speak.”

Princess Xia looked deeply at Zuo Mo as though she wanted to say something but when the words reached her mouth, it became, “Where are you preparing to go next?”

“Nether Springs Jie.” Zuo Mo did not conceal it.

“Nether Springs Jie?” Princess Xia had a shocked expression. “That place will not be easy to get to!”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded.

Looking at the determination on Zuo Mo’s face, Princess Xia did not try to persuade him from his journey. She smiled and said, “Remember to visit me if you have the time, don’t forget that you still owe me a favor!”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo responded with a serious expression.

Detecting the seriousness in Zuo Mo’s tone, Princess Xia felt strangely happy. She suddenly asked, “Will you tell me your true name now?”

As expected, she had seen through him … …

But for some reason, Zuo Mo felt his mind relax. “Zuo Mo!”

“Zuo Mo … … Zuo Mo … …” Princess Xia murmured and then she suddenly burst into laughter, “Xiao Mo Ge … … Xiao Mo Ge, you’re really a little hoodlum! Even your fake name is so stylish!”

Looking at Princess Xia arching back as she laughed, Zuo Mo’s mouth curled up.

The laughter faded. Calm and a distance separated them.

The two of them knew that after their farewells, it was unknown if or when they would meet again.

Looking at this face that could not be said to be handsome, in this moment, Princess Xia suddenly had an impulse to throw away everything and run away with him to Nether Springs Jie!

This impulse caused her determination to waver but she quickly hid the thought deep inside. She thought of the wish she had made that night and her gaze became determined.

She raised her face and smiled brightly like sunlight. “Hug me goodbye.”

Zuo Mo stilled. He opened his arms and lightly embraced this woman that was so smart and he could not understand.

“Have a peaceful journey.”

The murmur was like a breeze. She released her arms and her smile was bright.

———

As one of the most popular topics in the xiuzhe world at present, Gu Liang Dao’s every move attracted attention. In a short few days, the news of Gu Liang Dao’s interaction with a mo called Xiao Mo Ge had spread.

The information on this Xiao Mo Ge was quickly discovered.

This Xiao Mo Ge was not an unknown mo!

However, what puzzled people was that this Xiao Mo Ge had first become famous in the yao territories. The prison-breaking battle and defeating Corps Commander Yu Heng. All those events had happened in the Ten Finger Prison. Yet the Xiao Mo Ge in these rumors was mo, and this puzzled many people.

Was this guy a yao or a mo?

Some even suspected that there were two people with the same name but as Xiao Mo Ge’s almost unbelievable escapades came to light this suspicion weakened. It was very unlikely that two experts who were both called Xiao Mo Ge had appeared at the same time. And when the xiuzhe thought of the possibility there were two such talented yaomo, they were more willing to believe that it was one person.

Of all the incidents, what was most eye-catching was Xiao Mo Ge had killed Marshal Yu! When many people read this, their first response was that their eyes had seen it wrong. Then, all kinds of information corroborated  the accuracy of this news and it caused a great furor.

But what was most controversial was that Gu Liang Dao had helped Xiao Mo Ge.

The rumor that the Tiger General of Xi Xuan was in cahoots with the mo spread and once it did, it caused a wave of discussion. All kinds of insider information and speculation flew about.

What was even more interesting was that Xi Xuan was silent and did not publicly clarify the situation.

Xi Xuan’s attitude caused those speculations to seem to be the truth.

Was Gu Liang Dao truly in cahoots with the mo?

Furious discussion filled the world.

In a matter of days, the great hero of fell off the pedestal and was spat upon by the world.

———

Gu Liang Dao’s face was dark. The development of the situation had surpassed his expectations. In the shadows, there seemed to be a hand moving everything. Actually, he didn’t need to guess to know who was doing this. The attitude of the sect told him everything. What he hadn’t expected was that the sect would be in such a hurry to act against him during a time of war.

Suddenly, he thought of what Bie Han had said.

He hadn’t thought that it would come so quickly.

“Daren, should we make a public statement to clarify?” the subordinate couldn’t help but speak.

“Clarify? How to would we clarify?” Gu Liang Dao said coolly.

“Xiao Mo Ge is clearly a xiuzhe … …”

Gu Liang Dao interrupted his subordinate. “This will make Brother Zuo’s situation even more dangerous. He currently needs his identity as a mo.” He had felt kinship with Zuo Mo and he was not willing to use this to clear his name. Also, he did not say it, but even if he told them, no one would believe him.

Because the people acting against him were the people from the sect.

This subordinate was panicked. “Daren, we cannot sit around and wait for them to act against us!”

At this time, a guard suddenly ran in with a terrible expression. “Daren, Elder Jin Wu Ming has come!”

The tent went completely silent. All of the commanders had terrible expressions.

“Ask Elder Jin to come in.” Gu Liang Dao’s expression was normal.

Moments later, a middle-aged person wearing golden clothing with a sharp presence walked in.

Gu Liang Dao stood up and bowed. “Greetings to Elder Jin!”

Elder Jin’s old voice was heavy but his tone was slow. “Gu Liang Dao, the sect leader orders you to return to the mountain. Your actions this time were too rash and has brought too much trouble to the sect. When you return to the sect, you will need to give a good explanation. The sect believes that you are innocent, but the damage to the sect’s reputation was too great. The sect needs you to cooperate.”

Gu Liang Dao was silent while his commanders all had angry expressions.

Elder Jin’s wizened tone became even slower. “Liang Dao, there won’t be any trouble if you just explain. If it wasn’t that the discussion was too fierce, I wouldn’t have come to get you. You need to understand the hardships of the sect. Cooperate with the sect and eliminate the doubts we have.”

Gu Liang Dao shook his head. “Elder, your pardon, the war is a busy time and this disciple does not have the spare time to return to the sect at the moment. Elder, please return to the sect and tell the sect leader that when this war is finished, this disciple will return to the sect and ask for forgiveness.”

Elder Jin’s gaze suddenly became as sharp as a sword as he shouted angrily, “Gu Liang Dao, you dare to disobey the sect leader!”

“The reality is so, there is nothing I can do,” Gu Liang Dao said deeply.

“Good good good!” Elder Jin said three goods and then said coldly, “There is nothing I can do! If Gu Shidi knew his most beloved disciple was so disobedient, I only wonder what he thinks in the afterworld!”

A deep grief flashed across Gu Liang Dao’s eyes. He slowly stood up and looked directly at Elder Jing. “If it was not to repay Master’s grace of raising me, would I stay at Xi Xuan? I have fought countless times for the sect, almost died multiple times, and have rendered great service to the sect. I don’t owe the sect! If Master knew what the Xi Xuan he had always defended has become like this now … …”

Gu Liang Dao allowed the tears to fall down his face.

Elder Jing’s face turned into a mix of colors as he shouted angrily. “Good good good! You have become proud due to your achievements! You dare to not listen to the orders of the sect leader. This is treason!” He turned looked around and said coldly to the commanders, “Are you all going to follow Gu Liang Dao and betray Xi Xuan?”

“What’s the use in staying in such a ruthless sect?”

“We’ll betray you!”

“I’ve long given up on this corrupt sect. This is very good, end it all!”

The commanders stood up one after the next and looked with fury and disdain at Elder Jin.

Elder Jin’s old face became ashen and his extremities felt cold.

Over the next few days, Xi Xuan’s Tiger General Gu Liang Dao led his battalion in leaving Xi Xuan. The world was left astounded.

Chapter 657 – Tang Battalion

It had been a month since the incident by the time Zuo Mo learned that Gu Liang Dao had left Xi Xuan. Zuo Mo was filled with guilt. From beginning to end, Gu Liang Dao had not stepped forward to defend himself. There was much speculation about Zuo Mo’s identity but most of it focused on his identity as a yaomo. He believed this was the reason for Gu Liang Dao’s silence.

The two had exchanged imprints. Zuo Mo thought for a moment and then wrote a letter to Gu Liang Dao thanking him for keeping the secret and asking what he could do to help.

A paper crane quickly flew back into Zuo Mo’s hand.

Gu Liang Dao’s letter was very short. He had just finished a battle when he wrote this letter. In the letter, Gu Liang Dao wrote that he had already sealed the chaos rift connecting to Xi Xian territory and they would no longer receive any supplies in the future. He had taken over fifteen mo jie and was planning to manage them so he could be self-sufficient. Right now, everything was good and there was no immediate  worries.

Zuo Mo was relieved after reading this.

Fifteen jie, even if it was only fifteen small jie, was enough to support Gu Liang Dao’s battalion. However, these fifteen jie they occupied were mo territories and the mo had a deep hatred of xiuzhe. It would not be simple for Gu Liang Dao to govern these fifteen jie.

However, Gu Liang Dao shouldn’t have any problems in the short term.

Zuo Mo decided that after he went to Nether Springs Jie and returned to Cloud Sea Jie, he would set up a transportation formation to Gu Liang Dao’s territories. They could then travel freely and help each other.

Zuo Mo threw away his worries about Gu Liang Dao and started to ponder his present situation.

In this past month, they had been travelling at full speed. It had to be said that the name of Xiao Mo Ge was famous in all of the mo territories. Defeating the Yu Frontier Guards, killing Marshal Yu, having a good friendship with Gu Liang Dao, and so on. This made the name of Xiao Mo Ge an intimidating one.

Zuo Mo had previously thought he should travel in a low-key manner. But there had been too many battles along the way. Seeing this, Zuo Mo decided to announce his presence, relying on the fame of the name Xiao Mo Ge to avoid trouble.

As expected, this move was immediately effective.

Those factions that previously did not know their background immediately shuddered when they learned that the incomers were Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion. They even consciously restrained their own battalions. There had been a mo general who hadn’t believed that Xiao Mo Ge was as strong as the rumors and wanted to test their skill. In the end, all of his commanders had opposed him, and he had been assassinated in his bedroom that night.

Having raised his banner, Zuo Mo’s path could be said to be free of any blockades.

However, Zuo Mo was not happy. While their speed had accelerated, they had exposed their movements to the public.

Where had Xiao Mo Ge reached today?

This was one of the hottest topics of the present mo world. Other problems came with this. At the beginning, they had been deeply afraid of Zuo Mo and the others. However, they quickly found that Xiao Mo Ge was not as brutal and vicious as the rumors said. As long as they did not provoke him, he would not attack. He did not have any interest in their territories.

Many people wanted to establish relations with such a strong and reasonable battalion . Even if they could not form a relationship, it would be good to curry favor. Consequently, many messengers came every day with gifts and invitations for Zuo Mo’s group to be guests.

Zuo Mo didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. He still accepted the gifts but he refused all invitations.

Yet what he hadn’t expected was that there were large numbers of mo that came due to his reputation with hopes of entering his battalion!

At the beginning, there hadn’t been many people, but when the first group of mo who had come had seen the powerful soldiers of Vermillion Bird Camp and Sin Battalion, they had been stunned, and their desire had grown even hotter. When these people spread the mirages, it caused a great wave.

All the large families started to study these inaccurate mirages. The conclusion they reached was the same, a powerful battalion!

Defeating the Ming Bandits and defeating the Yu Frontier Guards; these two battalions had now been ranked high among the many battalions in the Hundred Savage of the Dark. Looking at these mirages, the last bit of doubt disappeared. They suddenly realized. No wonder they could defeat the Ming Bandits and the Yu Frontier Guards!

Mo always ranked themselves based on power. The strong were revered, and many mo that thought themselves more than ordinary furiously rushed over.

Xiao Mo Ge being able to kill Marshal Yu meant that Xiao Mo Ge possessed an ability to fight at a high level. Adding on the two top battalions, he had formed his own group. For those mo which came from minor families but were talented, entering Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion was undoubtedly a very good path.

As more and more mo came due to his name, and a long tail of people formed behind Zuo Mo’s group. They did not dare to go too close to the battalions but they were not willing to leave. They prepared their own food and followed the battalion.

This was something novel to the mo and it stirred everyone’s interest. All kinds of reports spread. Every time Xiao Mo Ge did something, the world would immediately know. This was a very popular topic at meals and during tea with lots to discuss.

All of Hundred Savage Realm was watching the spectacle and Zuo Mo felt frustrated.

“This cannot continue!”

Zuo Mo’s expression was one of helplessness. The people around him were giggling. These people were all from grassroots and minor families. While they did not say it, they still felt very good about being famous.

They made faces at each other and smiled deviously.

Other than Bie Han.

Bie Han was of noble birth and had grown up in Xuan Kong Temple. He had become immune to the reverent gazes from others a long time ago. His icy face was eye-catching. However, everyone knew his personality and did not care about his icy face.

“I’m being serious.” Zuo Mo said with a serious expression, “We don’t know how many spies are mixed with these people. Each of our movements is being monitored. This is very dangerous!”

Everyone put away the mirth on their faces. They had all fought their way out of death on the battlefield and understood the danger more than the average person.

“En, very dangerous.” Gongsun Cha smiled bashfully.

Seeing Lil’ Miss Daren’s smiling face, everyone’s heart shook.

“Everyone think of a solution, what would be good?” Zuo Mo had an expression of hardship.

“Kill them all,” Bie Han said coolly.

The entire tent was silent. Everyone was frightened by Bie Han’s crisp and brisk words.

There were a few among them for whom it was the first time that they were attending a meeting: A Zha Ge, Bie Han, Miao Jun, and Tang Fei. Among them, A Zha Ge was the most cautious. He had decided to follow Gongsun Cha a while ago, but it was the first time he was seeing Zuo Mo. Miao Jun and Tang Fei also chose to remain silent. Only Bie Han had not done that.

A Zha Ge jumped in fright. Mo were fond of killing, but he had never seen someone with such disregard for life. Miao Jun’s pupils shrank. Tang Fei’s expression became furious. She was a righteous person and disliked Bie Han who behaved like a serial killer.

Before Tang Fei spoke in opposition, Zuo Mo shook his head. “It is not suitable.”

Zuo Mo was not a madman like Bie Han. While he was not soft when fighting an enemy, but he would not be able to do something like killing all these mo that came due to his reputation without a cause.

Gongsun Cha said, “Since they have come for you, then why don’t we recruit the outstanding ones. We just have to be careful and not let in spies.”

Zuo Mo thought, yes, they were coming to him, why shouldn’t he take them? He did not need to worry about the spies mixed within. Pu Yao and Wei could see with a glance those with other intentions.

His gaze swept across everyone’s faces. When his gaze landed on Miao Jun, he paused.

There was  no question regarding Miao Jun’s strength. A gold battle general was a talent no matter what faction he was in. It would be waste if Zuo Mo had him sitting idle all the time. But while Miao Jun had come along, his intentions were unclear. Miao Jun had never disguised this but he did not speak the reveal the reason he followed Zuo Mo. Because of this, Zuo Mo had some hesitations about him.

When his gaze swept across Tang Fei who stood beside Miao Jun, his eyes lit up. This little girl had a strong sense of justice, was stubborn and focused. She would not accept any flaws. Since she had agreed to Tao Xing’s suggestion to follow him, she would not ever regret it. Even though she never had a good face for Zuo Mo, she would meticulously finish any orders Zuo Mo gave her. Zuo Mo trusted her.

Before this, she had the skill of a silver battle general. After this period of being taught by Miao Jun, she had started to have some of a presence of a great battle general.

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a clever idea.

“That’s right! If that’s so, then let’s create a new battalion. Oh, let’s call it the Tangzi Battalion. Tang Fei will be the main commander, with Miao Jun as second in command.”

Everyone had surprised expressions and they turned to look at Tang Fei. This young girl with her hair in a ponytail was not eye-catching but at this time, she became the focus of the entire group. While not many had seen her skill and were curious about her, no one spoke up against Zuo Mo’s decision.

Tang Fei also was surprised but she quickly calmed down. She looked at Zuo Mo and then at Miao Jun. Technically, Miao Jun was more suitable to being the main commander than she was as Miao Jun was much more skilled.

Miao Jun smiled at her. He understood what Zuo Mo thought but this plan suited his own thoughts. While the two sides had not explicitly said this, but in truth, Tang Fei was his student and he liked his student very much.

If this was somewhere else, Tang Fei’s strength would be enough to be a main commander but he hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would have so many skilled battle generals!

Nothing had to be said about Gongsun Cha and Bie Han. The two were of the same level as Gu Liang Dao. Miao Jun could only look up to these top battle generals. It really was rare to see two top battle generals in one faction.

It was the first time Miao Jun had met A Zha Ge but he had heard of this name before. Gold battle general, one of the three great battle generals of the Stellar Rahula Clan. He hadn’t thought the other would also enter Xiao Mo Ge’s service.

One could not forget that Xiao Mo Ge himself was a also gold battle general!

Even those others such as Shu Long and the people under Gongsun Cha were not lacking compared to Tang Fei. It completely surpassed his imagination just how fierce the competition in this faction was.

Tang Fei was very talented but if she did not gain experience, it was hard to say what she could accomplish in the future. Right now, a political structure had taken form under Xiao Mo Ge and it would not be so easy to become of the main commanders. He understood his student very well. With her personality, since she agreed to follow Zuo Mo, she would not regret it no matter how underutilized she was.

The other who he also taught was Shu Long. He was one of Zuo Mo’s inner circle and he did not have to worry about the other’s future. Only Tang Fei had been in an awkward position.

He hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would throw out such a plan. He immediately recognized that this was a one in a thousand chance for Tang Fei.

Before Tang Fei could speak, Miao Jun stood unhesitatingly. “Yes, we will not fail!”

Chapter 658 – The Black Smoke Yao’s Memory Piecing Art

The establishment of the Tangzi Battalion went smoothly.

Miao Jun knew what needed to be done and clearly had experience in this area. Many people noticed this and, were curious about his past. Miao Jun’s skill wasn’t just theoretical, he was experienced, the kind of experiences that could not be obtained by just studying to be a battle general.

Pu Yao had specialized lie-detecting yao arts and quickly identified the spies mixed within the crowd, techniques that broadened Zuo Mo’s experiences.

The Tangzi Battalion quickly formed its basic combat structure. The ones that had joined were mostly from small families and had some ability. Following Miao Jun’s suggestions, Tang Fei did not recruit a large number of people but picked only the most outstanding.

Compared with the other battalions, the Tangzi Battalion could only be said to be a small battalion of about eight hundred people.

These eight hundred people were picked out from approximately a hundred thousand people.

In terms of average individual power, they were much stronger than Ceng Lian’er’s Celestial Planet Guards. Xiao Mo Ge’s present reputation was much more attractive to the experts than Ceng Yi’s.

What shocked Zuo Mo even more was that more than twenty general level mo had come to join him as well.

This caused Zuo Mo to feel a bout of pride. Ge is now a major figure that could recruit general levels!

There were seven battle generals among the twenty general levels and all of them were silver battle generals. This made Zuo Mo overjoyed. Right now, he did not lack for gold battle generals. Gongsun Cha, Bie Han, Miao Jun, and A Zha Ge, all of them could act by themselves. Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were top battle generals.

But in a whole battalion, other than a powerful main commander, the intermediate level commanders were also very important. Especially when the battalions grew larger, more and more outstanding intermediate level battle generals were needed. Yet Zuo Mo lacked these intermediate level battle generals.

When the additional manpower was accepted into the combat structure, Zuo Mo’s power would undoubtedly go up another level.

The stringent criteria for recruitment quickly spread between people.

The people who had been watching were surprised.

Who did this guy think he was? Even those marshal levels most likely couldn’t compare to him! The people who had not passed the selection started to mock and furiously slandered Xiao Mo Ge. They all thought that they had strength, and it would be easy to be selected. However, they had been eliminated and they were filled with discontent.

Xiao Mo Ge was so full of himself and so proud … …

Zuo Mo did not pay attention to this. Since he had given the Tang Fei and Miao Jun permission to create the battalion, he did not interfere. He would never question the employed, and never employ the questionable. Every commander’s style was different, their way of fighting and their way of cultivation. The systematic teamwork that was required would be directed by Gongsun Cha.

Zuo Mo focused his time on his cultivation. He was progressing rapidly. He had benefited greatly from that hard battle against Marshal Yu. He needed a long time to digest these things. But once he did, his power would skyrocket.

Luo Li and Ceng Lian’er were also in the same state.

The purple energy inside A Gui’s body was growing daily at an astounding rate. It seemed as though that battle had suddenly opened a door in A Gui’s body. Purple energy flooded out and right now, there was three times more purple energy inside A Gui’s body compared to before!

A Gui had become even stronger but Zuo Mo’s worries increased.

This strange shen power was a double-edged sword, harming the enemy meant harming oneself. However, Zuo Mo wasn’t able to do anything. He could only suppress the urgency inside and focused even more on his cultivation. Maybe when he became stronger he could find the key to resolving the purple energy inside A Gui’s body.

His greatest improvement had come from the Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

He had seen every detail of the completed Ten Crow Celestial Domain. Many areas that had been unclear before were now engraved in his mind so his improvement naturally sped up. Right now, he was just one step away from the completed state of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain. Other than his comprehension of the Ten Crow Celestial Domain, there was the great degree of maturation in his mo physique.

The strange fragments of energy that had been formed from the creation and destruction of the Anti Dragon Claw’s and Sun Shen Crystal’s powers were the most primal power. They had strengthened Zuo Mo in all areas. Mo physique, spiritual consciousness, ling power, even his shen power, all of them had increased greatly.

This was the most wondrous power that Zuo Mo had ever seen but when he thought of it, he found that it really was lucky. Both the Sun Crystal Seed and the Anti Dragon Claw were ultimate treasures of the world. Obtaining one would mean a person had great luck. Having obtained two at once, even Zuo Mo sighed in shock at his own luck.

The mo matrix that had formed with the Anti Dragon Claw had become dim as the Anti Dragon Claw became silent and seemed to have gone into hibernation.

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed by the slumber of the Anti Dragon Claw. He had originally thought that he could carry this weapon around and dominate in all directions. Now his wish had gone up in smoke. However, it was good that he didn’t need to carry such an enormous thing on his back. In Zuo Mo’s sense of beauty, that thing was really ugly!

The Three Thousand Threads of Worry did not change and now became the strongest weapon that Zuo Mo had.

Zuo Mo felt that he really didn’t have enough time. There were all types of cultivation he could work on, but each one would take up a large amount of time.

Just as Zuo Mo wanted to cut himself in half to get more work done, the black smoke yao ran over while appearing secretive.

“What is it?” Zuo Mo looked at the other’s cunning face and muttered inside, did this guy do something bad again?

Then he felt slightly puzzled. Zuo Mo would feel it was normal if it was the orange-haired yao doing this. But in his mind, the black smoke yao was usually calm, steady, and well behaved!

“Boss, let me show you something.” The black smoke yao lowered his voice and looked around.

Had this guy really stolen something?

Zuo Mo felt even more puzzled. He took what the black smoke yao handed over. It was a little paper card with some words written on it. Zuo Mo looked with bewilderment at the black smoke yao and then skimmed through.

When he saw the first phrase, he was stunned where he stood.

There wasn’t much content on the paper card and he quickly finished reading it. Zuo Mo finally came out of his daze. Two spots of red made their way onto his cheeks. This expression would only occur in one circumstance –Xiao Mo Ge had struck it rich!

“The stele’s text?” Zuo Mo forced himself to be calm but his voice still went off-tune.

“En.” The black smoke yao lowered his volume and said carefully, “Boss, you know that I am weak. In order to stop Lin Qian and to create an opportunity for Big Orange and the others, I charged for the stele.”

“Then you remembered it?” Zuo Mo’s voice was excited.

“It is not so simple.” The black smoke yao grimaced. “I have a rare skill that not many know of, I have an eidetic memory. However, I only had a cursory glance as Lin Qian reacted too quickly.”

“I recalled this event a while ago, and then I noticed I could recall some of the text on the stele. But it was all very blurry and I had to use [Memory Piecing Art] to slowly piece it together.”

“Memory piercing art?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. He had never heard of this yao art before.

Pu Yao suddenly spoke, “It is a type of support yao art. It can replay past events in the mind like a puzzle coming together. It has the benefit of improving memory. When one reaches a high level, they will gain an eidetic memory and can browse their memories at any time. However, this kind of yao art is easy to learn but hard to master. It doesn’t have any big uses. Only those old researchers would spend energy on things like this.”

Zuo Mo was very shocked. So there were yao arts like this.

The black smoke yao was slightly embarrassed. “My talent is average. In order to help my cultivation, I cultivated the [Memory Piecing Art]. My eidetic memory only came about after I started cultivating this.”

“But the time has been short and I only got a short glance at the stele’s text. My impression is very fuzzy but I still decided to try with the memory piecing art. This is the content that I have pieced together using the memory piecing art. It is not very complete and I’m not sure if the content is accurate.”

When he talked about this, the black smoke yao was slightly embarrassed. He had gathered his courage for a long time before he had come to find Zuo Mo. He knew that the stele text was important but what he had pieced together was incomplete, and he didn’t even dare to say that it was accurate.

In cultivation methods, the difference of one character could cause a great misunderstanding. He didn’t know if this thing he had was accurate and therefore have any value.

“Boss, just take a look, don’t cultivate it!” When the black smoke yao finished saying this, he felt his face flush. Before Zuo Mo could speak, he had run away.

Zuo Mo laughed. This black smoke yao seemed calm usually but he was truly adorable.

His gaze landed quickly on the little card in his hand.

“There are some mistakes but the general parts seem correct.” Pu Yao’s voice was filled with excitement. “So that is how it is! So that is how it is!”

In comparison, Wei was much calmer. “Not bad!”

The two quickly picked out the mistakes on the paper. Of the two, one was an old yao that was thousands of years old, the other came from an ancient tribe, and their knowledge was not something that Zuo Mo could rival.

As expected, Zuo Mo found that the places in the content where he had felt that it was rough were now much clearer.

Shi Zi Ming had not tried to shroud this in mystery.

The few phrases caused Zuo Mo to see a whole new world.

Almost unconsciously, the shen power in Zuo Mo’s body started to move!

This time, there was no delay. When his thought formed, his shen power would follow.

A strange feeling formed!

His spiritual consciousness spread from the dantian in his head, while the dantian in his abdomen was unusually active. Threads of ling power spread happily from his abdomen  and flowed endlessly along his channels. The power grew like branches from the main channels and innervated every inch of blood and flesh.

Ling power, spiritual consciousness, and mo physique formed a complex and gigantic system.

A phrase from the paper card flowed across Zuo Mo’s mind and he suddenly had an epiphany.

He finally understood what the key to the loss of shen power was!

The origin of spiritual consciousness was the head. The power was formed from the inside, from the soul and then released. The mo physique was the exact opposite. Power originated from the physical body and the power went from the outside to the inside. Ling power was the bridge between the two. It was formed in the dantian and spread throughout the body by the channels. It permeated the blood and flesh, but also into the soul.

When this system became clear in Zuo Mo’s mind, his body suddenly shook.

The three powers began circulated unconsciously. They joined together but they were also clearly divided.

As they continued to circulate, shen power formed.

Zuo Mo’s body reached a state of harmony. Each power went about their own duties but they were of one mind, one existence. He felt he was stronger than he had ever been!

His body was like the universe!

Full of life, and immortal!

A strange emotion filled his mind.

It was not the strength of his power, but the harmony of his body and soul was powerful as one!

Chapter 659 – Li Xian Er

“You have worked hard these past few years!” The sect leader’s voice was heard from above, the tone was filled with gratification and affection.

The disciples looked at their little shimei standing in the hall like a goddess. Many people had expressions of love but there was also a bit of respect and fear in this love.

Compared to her flighty and mischievousness attitude  in the past, the present Li Xian Er looked much more steady and even more beautiful. Once she had only been a playful little girl, now there was maturity, and a presence that was hard to describe.

Looking at the calm and steady figure in the center, many of the disciples couldn’t help but feel emotional.

Their little shimei that had been favored for so many years had grown up to become a leader!

There was a faint friendly smile on her face that caused people to feel good. When people were not paying attention, she blinked her eyes playfully at the sect leader and the sect leader returned an affectionate smile from the corner of his mouth.

He was filled with pride. His granddaughter had lived up to his hopes!

However, he quickly hid away the mirth on his lips and said in a stern voice, “I have gathered you all here today to assign missions to each of you.”

“Yes!” the disciple said in unison.

“One month ago, Heavy Wood Jie was taken over by the mo. The mo were cunning and sealed off all methods of communication so we didn’t discover this until five days ago, when they had took over three nearby jie, including Bright Jing Jie!”

The disciples were astounded, their faces full of disbelief.

They didn’t know where Heavy Wood Jie was, but every disciple knew where Bright Jing Jie was located. Bright Jing Jie was only an intermediate-sized jie but it was an important producer of Tian Huan’s jingshi; Including a special kind of jingshi called bright jingshi which was only produced in Heavy Wood Jie. Bright Jing Jie provided large amounts of both jingshi and bright jingshi for Tian Huan, an important resource jie for Tian Huan.

But the noisy hall quickly quieted down.

Tian Huan was one of the four great sect and their disciples were all disciplined. After the initial shock, they quickly recovered their calm.

The sect leader was very satisfied with the performance of the disciples.

“The importance of Bright Jing Jie to us does not need to be stated, I believe that you all know,” the sect leader said coolly. “The elders in the sect all have important missions and cannot go. So the mission will be given to you this time. Tian Man!”

“This disciple is here!” Shi Tian Man stood out.

“Do you have the confidence if this matter is handed to you?” the sect leader said.

“I will not fail,” Shi Tian Man said seriously.

“En, you can select the personnel and battalions that you want. I only have one condition, take back Bright Jing Jie in a month,” the sect leader said coolly.

“This disciple understands!” Shi Tian Man responded with a calm expression and no panic at all.

The sect leader showed a satisfied expression.

———

“Grandfather!” Li Xian Er shook the sect leader’s arm with a pout.

“Alright, alright! If you keep shaking, Grandfather will break apart.” The sect leader said with a smile. His eyes were narrowed and he had a relaxed expression. “You have done well. Even your Gui Shishu praised you. Not bad, not bad!”

He said “not bad” twice which showed just how proud he was. Gui Shidi was a strict trainer who did not spare people due to their relationships. It was extremely difficult to earn praise from his mouth. He felt very proud that his granddaughter had received praises from Gui Shidi who was famed for his strictness.

“Haha, of course, look whose granddaughter I am!” Li Xian Er giggled.

The sect leader was very pleased by the flattery but he still pretended to be stern and coughed lightly. “But do not be too proud, you must know … …”

Seeing that her grandfather was about to start lecturing her again, Li Xian Er felt her head about to swell. She hurriedly changed the topic. “Grandfather, you summoned me back with such urgency, is there something important?”

The sect leader was distracted and the smile on his face disappeared. He showed slightly worry. “Your Xiao Rong Shixiong is not in a good situation!”

“What about Xiao Rong Shixiong?” The smile on Li Xian Er’s face disappeared and she asked urgently.

“He first suffered a loss to Mu Xi and then again to a person called Gongsun Cha. While his situation is not good, there is no danger temporarily.”

“Mu Xi of the Palace Lake Wood Clan?” Li Xian Er’s response was quick.

“Yes, I hadn’t thought that the Palace Lake Wood Clan would have such an outstanding member in their younger generation!” the sect leader said emotionally.

“Then who is Gongsun Cha?” Li Xian Er’s brow furrowed. She tilted her head and looked with an expression of curiosity. At this time, she finally looked as playful as she did in the past.

“This person is not well-known and it isn’t known where he came from but he is very strong.” The sect leader’s expression was grave. “It has been some time since the battle. Gongsun Cha is very mysterious and we only recently identified which faction he belonged to.”

“Which faction?” Li Xian Er blinked her eyes curiously. She was surprised that Mu Xi had defeated Xiao Rong Shixiong but that was within the range of normality. Palace Lake Wood Clan was one of the famed families in the yao world and had a long history of producing outstanding battle generals. But this something Cha was able to defeat Xiao Rong Shixiong as well. She was shocked.

She knew just how strong Xiao Rong Shixiong was. Among the younger disciples in the sect, only Tian Man Shixiong could rival him.

“Xiao Mo Ge!” the sect leader said three words.

Li Xian Er’s face was puzzled. “Who is he?”

“This person is very mysterious.” The sect leader’s expression was grave. “You have just returned and there are some things you do not know. First Xiao Mo Ge and Gu Liang Dao are good friends. Just a while ago, Gu Liang Dao suddenly left Xi Xuan! The cause of this was this Xiao Mo Ge!”

“Ah!” Li Xian Er exclaimed and wasn’t able to maintain her calm. Of course she knew who Gu Liang Dao was. Xi Xuan’s Tiger General, the undoubted top battle general of the younger generation! Such a person had betrayed their sect!

If it wasn’t that the person who was telling her this was her grandfather, she would have had a hard time believing it.

The sect leader seemed to not see his granddaughter’s shock and continued. “No one can say what Xiao Mo Ge’s background is. Even now, we are uncertain about whether he is a yao or a mo. He had gone into the Ten Finger Prison and activated a prison-breaking battle. This person isn’t just strong, he is an outstanding battle general. He defeated Corps Commander Yu Heng of the Regular Corps, a gold battle general!”

Li Xian Er’s mouth was open wide. Her face that was usually filled with smiles was full of shock.

The sect leader did not stop and continued, “Xiao Mo Ge then appeared in the mo’s Great Peace City.”

Li Xian Er recovered and hurriedly asked, “The Great Peace City with the Great Peace Mo Steles?”

“Yes.” The sect leader said sternly, “Do you know about the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion?”

“I know.” Li Xian ER nodded obediently. “I have read about it in the records.”

The sect leader nodded. “We have always had our people in Great Peace City because of the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion. That is also why we know such much about what happened at Great Peace City.”

Li Xian Er did not interrupt and listened curiously.

“Xiao Mo Ge suddenly appeared at Great Peace City. When he appeared, he made a flamboyant appearance. He caused the worldly apparition Shifting Star Sands, killed Shen Yu who had comprehended the [Peacock King Plume]. The mo physique he cultivates is the pure [Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus]. When the Great Peace Treasure Pavilion appeared, we also sent people but we hadn’t expected Kun Lun to send Lin Qian!”

“Lin Qian!” Li Xian Er jumped in fright. Lin Qian was the eldest disciple of Kun Lun, and undoubtedly the first person of the younger generation!

“Lin Qian is really powerful and managed to intimidate all of the mo. He almost managed to achieve his aim, but at the most crucial moment, Xiao Mo Ge used the Anti Dragon Claw to block his sword strike!”

“Anti Dragon Claw!” Li Xian Er felt slightly dizzy. Each of the sky mo weapons of the mo were famed. Normal xiuzhe may not know of them but how could the core disciples of a major sect be ignorant?

Even the sect leader grimaced. “This boy can be called a freak! With power of a general level, he tamed the sky mo weapon. This has never happened before in the history of the mo. Then when Great Peace City was surrounded by Hundred Savage Realm’s strongest bandits, the Ming Bandits, he defeated them. Reports said fighting was extreme and that the battalion that defeated the Ming Bandits is one that you know!”

“A battalion that I know? Which one?” Li Xian Er asked dazedly.

“Xuan Kong Temple’s Sin Battalion!”

“Sin Battalion!” Li Xian Er’s eyes were dumbstruck. Of course she knew Sin Battalion. The four great sects had exchanges and knew each other very well. The famed Sin Battalion, how could she not know. She murmured, “Isn’t the commander of Sin Battalion someone called Bie Han … …”

“Yes.” The sect leader nodded. “You came back late and don’t know yet. The first time Bie Han was sent to fight, he took Sin Battalion and betrayed Xuan Kong Temple.”

Li Xian Er was completely stunned. Was this Xiao Mo Ge a specialist in getting people to leave and betray their factions? Xuan Kong Temple’s Bie Han left, Xi Xuan’s Tiger General Gu Liang Dao left, the disciples that betrayed their sects were all core disciples … …

What kind of power did this guy have?

A hint of curiosity suddenly rose. Once it formed, it couldn’t be erased.

Looking at his granddaughter’s wide mouth and stunned expression, the sect leader then said, “Then they encountered Marshal Yu who came with ten thousand Yu Frontier Guards. Marshal Yu wanted the Anti Dragon Claw that Xiao Mo Ge had. The two fought. Xiao Mo Ge’s group killed Marshal Yu and defeated the Yu Frontier Guards.

Li Xian Er felt that she was completely numb.

He had even killed a marshal. This person could not be described any longer as freakish … …

‘”When the battle finished, two battalions came to reinforce him. One was Gongsun Cha, the other was Gu Liang Dao.” The sect leader spoke meaningfully, “This was also the reason that Gu Liang Dao left Xi Xuan.”

Freak! A definite freak!

Li Xian Er swallowed hard. She had always felt that she was a mischievous  person but, today, she discovered that she actually was very good!

This Xiao Mo Ge caused a storm of blood wherever he went. The people he met would betray their sects. Compared to him, she really was obedient and quiet!

She suddenly had an impulse to meet this person, this Xiao Mo Ge who could not settle down and always created a storm!

The sect leader glanced at his granddaughter and showed an imperceptible smile. However, he quickly resumed his solemn expression.

“This time, you have to go on behalf of Grandfather to the mo territories.”

Chapter 660 – Destiny

Finally having guidance on how to comprehend shen power, Zuo Mo’s control over the shen power inside his body greatly increased.

Zuo Mo had to admire Shi Zi Ming. He was a great person indeed. Having never cultivated any power in his life but he was still able to understand the secrets of power. This kind of talent only appeared once in a thousand years!

Having found the key, Zuo Mo’s shen power growth did not increase but his manipulation of shen power reached a whole new level. The power of shen techniques were far more powerful than the other three powers at the same stage. However, the shen power inside Zuo Mo was very weak and shen techniques required a lot of shen power.

The cryptic text on the golden leaf had become much easier to understand. He quickly mastered some of the shen techniques. In the past, when he had used shen techniques his three powers had to be individually moved and coordinated, Zuo Mo had found it difficult. Now when he cast a shen technique, almost as his thought had formed, the three powers would circulate together and the shen technique would form in that instant.

It seemed to flow smoothly and occur naturally.

There wasn’t any blockade.

After his success, Zuo Mo’s first thought was to share this method with A Gui but he didn’t know if A Gui could understand this. The other person he could share this with was Ceng Lian’er but Zuo Mo hesitated. In his mind, Ceng Lian’er’s importance could not compare to A Gui. However, she had never retreated from any of his battles and had even been wounded last time. Zuo Mo felt that she could be considered one of his people.

He pulled A Gui and Ceng Lian’er over before starting to talk.

A Gui’s face was wooden as though she did not hear it but Ceng Lian’ers expression was overjoyed. She kept her ears open in fear she would miss a word.

Zuo Mo narrated everything he had experienced before stopping.

But A Gui still looked the same and didn’t react at all. Zuo Mo sighed inside and then rubbed A Gui’s head. Seeing Ceng Lian’er in a trance, he did not make a sound and left, pulling  A Gui along.

Having left, Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a question and called the black smoke yao over.

Zuo Mo said with a serious expression. “The thing you gave me is very useful. Tell me what you want!”

The black smoke yao understood Zuo Mo’s meaning. Zuo Mo wanted to thank him. He thought for a moment and then said calmly, “My talent is average but Big Orange’s talent is very good. Boss, teach him more!”

Seeing the black smoke yao calmly giving his chance to Big Orange, Zuo Mo was moved. He said with a smile, “Everyone here are brothers. Even if you don’t ask that, I won’t hide anything from him. This is me thanking you. If you have something you want, or some wish, as long as it is possible!”

The black some yao shook his head calmly. “Boss, you also say that everyone here are brothers. Since we are brothers, isn’t this something that should be done? Boss, if you go around thanking us for this and for that, aren’t you making us outsiders?”

Zuo Mo stilled at the black smoke yao’s words. The black smoke yao had a calm expression that seemed to be full of sincerity in Zuo Mo’s eyes. He couldn’t help but be moved. He nodded and said, “You are right, I’m treating you like an outsider!”

Zuo Mo decided secretly to find a set of suitable yao arts for the black smoke yao.

If he didn’t have any, then he would make one.

While Zuo Mo’s present strength had not reached marshal level, his understanding of power may not be less than that of a marshal. He knew the mysteries of shen power and had experienced even higher-level power. He had an understanding of the quality and direction of power that surpassed his strength.

———

“Daren, they are going to Nether Springs Jie!”  a scout respectfully reported. Xiao Mo Ge’s destination wasn’t a secret and many knew.

“Nether Springs Jie … …” Jiang Zhe’s eyes flickered across the jie map and quickly landed on a faraway place.

His expression was calm and serene.

The scout lowered his head and didn’t dare to breath. Ever since Feng Yue Shijie had been killed, Daren had become even more silent and cold. The commanders’ fear of him grew by the day.

“You are dismissed.” Jiang Zhe waved his hand.

“Yes!” the scout released a breath and hurriedly responded respectfully before carefully retreating.

After the scout left, Jiang Zhe’s eyes did not leave the jie map. A moment later, he seemed to sigh and murmur, “Bie Han … …”

On the desk beside him, a paper that had crease marks had the newest orders from the sect.

Kill the traitor Bie Han!

Exterminate Sin Battalion!

He was not shocked when he received this order. Xuan Kong Temple’s inner core had always been tight knit and the sect leader wouldn’t tolerate betrayal. Gu Liang Dao’s betrayal had shocked all of the xiuzhe world. Xi Xuan’s reputation had been greatly damage. While the betrayal of Sin Battalion had not been spread far and wide like Gu Liang Dao, the higher-ups in the bigger sect all knew.

The sect definitely would not permit Bie Han to live.

In order to kill Bie Han and Sin battalion, large numbers of reinforcements were being funneled towards the mission.

The battalions that had been ordered to come surpassed any of his previous missions. Jiang Zhe felt complicated feelings. Who could have thought that the biggest action of Xuan Kong Temple in the last thousand years was to kill a traitor!

Sin Battalion and Jiangzi Batatlion, Bie Han and Jiang Zhe. Two core battalions, two young battle generals that had rivaled each other since childhood. They were about to welcome a destined battle of life and death.

Even people like Jiang Zhe who had a strong mind couldn’t help but sigh.

Xiao Mo Ge. This unfamiliar name entered Jiang Zhe’s vision. Unbelievable fights, each could almost be called miraculous. Jiang Zhe was filled with curiosity towards Xiao Mo Ge. Even someone as proud as Bie Han had entered his service.

If he didn’t have confidence in the abilities of the sect, he would snort at the news.

Bie Han was usually of few words, but when he fought, he was fiery, brutal and bloodthirsty. He would actually swear allegiance to someone else!

However, someone that could kill a marshal level. This strength was enough to stun people.

He shook his head and his gaze landed on another name.

Gongsun Cha.

This name that was unknown had been labeled as “extremely dangerous.” His danger level was the same as “Bie Han.”

He had to be careful. If this Gongsun Cha really had the same level of skill of BIe Han, then he did not have confidence in this fight.

Jiang Zhe was more willing to believe this was due to the importance the sect placed on this fight.

At the same level as Bie Han. If that was true, then it would be terrifying!

Jiang Zhe threw the stray thoughts to the back of his mind. No matter how strong his opponents were, this battle could not be avoided! He didn’t just have to win, he had to make it beautiful!

Because this battle wasn’t just related to the reputation of the sect, it was also needed to intimidate the stupid people that were considering shifting allegiances in the sect! Gu Liang Dao’s betrayal of Xi Xuan had had major effects with the factions within the sect. Right now, Xi Xuan was divided and its people were not united.

This kind of matter could not happen to Xuan Kong Temple.

Jiang Zhe was to use reality to tell them there was only one outcome in betraying the sect

–Die without any chance of burial!

———

Lin Qian was naked as he soaked in a crystal clear pool. There were numerous complex seal scripts that criss-crossed around the border of the pool.

His expression was serene as though he was a sleeping baby.

There were eight or so sword xiu around the pool. Their faces were wizened but when their eyes moved, sharp sword-like lights would flash.

Suddenly, Lin Qian’s body gave off a faint light.

The light was not blinding and was comfortable to see.

The old people around the pool shifted with excited expressions on their faces. This warm energy was not like any power they had seen before.

“Shen power! This is shen power!”

“The Heavens bless our Kun Lun!”

“Little Lin Qian is definitely the pillar of our sect!”

Lin Qian slowly opened his eyes from within the pool. The light disappeared from his cool eyes. He did not move but the water in the pool suddenly flooded towards him.

It came in layers and moved like smoke.

In a blink, Lin Qian was dressed and the water in the pool had turned into a blue robe.

“This disciple greets Sect Leader, Shishu!”

Lin Qian respectfully bowed.

“Is it shen power?” a Kun Lu elder couldn’t resist asking.

“Yes!” Lin Qian said respectfully. “But it is not complete. This disciple is just mimicking shen power from memory.”

“Try and see.” The one who spoke was the Kun Lun sect leader. His brow was straight and his eyes had been half-lldded all this time. The pair of eyes were deep, aged and seemed to see through everything.

“Yes!” Lin Qian raised his right hand. Faint blue shen power turned into a flying sword that appeared in his hand.

“It really is shen power! The power is above shen power!” an elder couldn’t help but say.

The sect leader came forward and reached out to grip the blue flying sword made from shen power.

Pia pia pia!

Countless blue lights exploded in the sect leader’s hand but the sect leader did not seem to be affected and his hand did not move.

Pia!

A sound that was louder than the ones before it. The shen power blue sword suddenly exploded!

The sect leader’s hand did not move at all.

The blue energy that had exploded seemed to be imprisoned in his palm, like an invisible cage. The lights flashed but they were unable to break free.

The sect leader only took away his hand after the light faded. He said coolly, “It is more domineering than ling power and about twice as strong. However, if one wants to cultivate shen power, they will have to cultivate all three powers.”

Lin Qian was floored by the sect leader’s deduction. As expected of the sect leader. He saw it at a glance. Lin Qian said respectfully, “Yes!”

“All three powers?” the other elders frowned.

Kun Lun had yearned after shen power for a long time, but they had never gotten it. If it wasn’t that Lin Qian had fought against Xiao Mo Ge and the others and experienced shen power, they still wouldn’t know anything about it. They hadn’t expected Lin Qian to have such high comprehension that he could create the initial form of shen power after one battle.

These Kun Lun elders had been at the height of their joy and thought that shen power could be taught widely. But when they heard that the sect leader say that all three powers were required, they all frowned.

In Kun Lun, there were very rarely those that could cultivate three powers together.

In other words, the great majority of disciples were not qualified to cultivate shen power. In this case, the utility of shen power would be deeply underscored.

If a new disciple started training now, they wouldn’t know how long it would take until they were able to fight.

The state of affairs was so chaotic now they could not afford to wait.

The sect leader’s eyes that seemed to see through everything opened slightly. He looked towards Lin Qian and changed the topic. “Tell us about the impression those people cultivating shen power gave you.”

Lin Qian closed his eyes and thought back. Then he opened them. “They cultivate different shen power. Xiao Mo Ge’s shen power is domineering and burning, the two women next to him have an eerie and a cold power. That middle-aged woman’s shen power is lacking compared to Xiao Mo Ge’s trio and is just in its infancy.”

The sect leader nodded. “Go down now and rest. The elders and I will perfect the cultivation method for shen power. Come back and in a few days to try the new method.”

Lin Qian was about to leave when the sect leader suddenly called him.

“Go investigate all the records of ancient tribe descendants being killed in the last two hundred years.”

Lin Qian stilled and then quickly reacted. “Yes!”

Chapter 661

The orange-haired yao learned the yao arts that Zuo Mo taught on the first try.

The orange-haired yao laughed into the sky. His bright orange hair floated around like a ball of fire. He was very smug. “Things like yao arts cannot satisfy a genius like me!”

A Wen felt this guy was an eyesore no matter how he looked. He said disdainfully, “With just the amount of ability you have, ye can beat your teeth out with just a finger.”

The orange-haired yao was furious. “Come come come! Let us fight three hundred rounds. The first one to flee is a dog!”

A Wen glared back angrily. “I’m just afraid you are the son of a turtle!”

Bam bam bam bam!

“They started again!” Nan Yue covered her forehead and said with an expression of helplessness.

“It will be fine once you are accustomed.” The black smoke yao did not change expression.

Ming Jue Zi and Cang Ze raised their heads at the same time and looked at each other before lowering their heads to go back, concentrating on their own cultivation.

Zuo Mo had taught them new yao arts but what was most valuable was that he had taught them about the lessons in the Great Peace Mo Steles.

Each of them had been given a copy of the text from the Great Peace Mo Stele. The great skill that Zuo Mo had displayed with all kinds of yao arts had immediately attracted their attention.

There was also a group of flower yao that listened to his lesson with them.

Only A Wen who cultivated mo skills was an aberration. The two who had progressed the most was the orange haired yao and, unexpectedly, the other was A Wen.

There was nothing to be said of the orange haired yao’s improvement. While he was forgetful and easily distracted, his talent was just as unfathomable as his changes in subject.

A Wen was even weirder. Zuo Mo clearly was talking about yao arts but A Wen’s mo skills were what improved.

But the two who had improved the most did not like each other. They had to fight a few times each day, especially when Zuo Mo was not present.

However, this time, Zuo Mo caught them in the act.

A Wen stood with lowered eyes in front of Zuo Mo. The orange haired yao continued to make faces at Zuo Mo. The other people had expressions of anticipation. Was Daren going to punish these two people who didn’t have bottom lines?

“Hem, why are you two fighting each day?” Zuo Mo asked.

“He is jealous of my astounding talent and handsome face!” the orange haired yao said seriously.

A Wen was furious. “You! Come, let us fight three hundred rounds!”

“Do not run!” The orange haired yao’s eyes lit up.

“The first to run is a son of a turtle!”

“You’re the sun of a turtle!”

‘”I’ll kill you!”

Zuo Mo could only interfere and hold down the two people. However, even restrained the two still glared angrily at each other.

“I have a way for the two of you to decide who is better.” Zuo Mo raised his hand.

“What method?”

“One of you cultivates the mo physique, the other yao arts, it is naturally you cannot compare against each other.”

“Yes, yes!” The two nodded. They disliked each other but the two were cultivating completely different things so they could not see who was better except by fighting.

“If this is the case, why don’t the two of you cultivate the same thing. Then wouldn’t it be easy to see who is better?” Zuo Mo baited.

“Haha! Boss is Boss, just as good as I am, able to think of such a good idea!” The orange haired yao laughed.

“Hmph! I want you to accept your loss!” A Wen snorted.

Zuo Mo smiled cunningly, “I have a method here that requires cultivating ling power, spiritual consciousness, and the mo physique together. However, let me tell you first off that it is very difficult to cultivate this method.”

“Is it hard, if it isn’t hard, then I cannot show my genius!” the orange haired yao said loudly.

“Hmph, the harder the better, this way, a certain someone will finally accept their defeat!” A Wen snorted coldly.

“You idiot, just wait to lick Genius Orange’s toes!” the orange haired yao raised his head proudly to gaze at the sky.

“I’ll kill you son of a turtle!” A Wen’s eyes burned with fire.

“Oh oh oh! You really have spirit! Motivation! Good good! One copy of the method for each of you.” Zuo Mo took out two jade scrolls with a smile.

Each of them took one.

Zuo Mo patted the orange haired yao’s shoulder. “Big Orange, do not fail the name of a genius!”

“Boss, don’t worry!” The orange haired yao had a proud expression. “There isn’t any method created yet that can pose a problem to Genius Orange!”

Zuo Mo walked in front of A Wen and patted A Wen’s shoulder with a smile. “A Wen, you will have to defend the reputation of Guard Camp!”

“Boss, don’t worry! I’ll kill the son of a turtle!” A Wen gritted out.

“Crude!” The orange haired yao had a disdainful expression.

“Idiot!” A Wen glared back.

“Work hard!” Zuo Mo smiled as he waved at the two and left.

———

“This Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion is too difficult to enter! I heard that only eight were admitted today!”

“It’s normal. Think about it, haven’t you seen that they don’t lack for people! If it wasn’t that there were too many people coming, why would they form a new battalion?”

“Ah, it really is frustrating. Did you see the factions nearby, all of them are jealous. I heard my brother say that they have sent people around to recruit people as well. Ha, even if you don’t make it, if you can pass the first round of selection, you don’t have to worry about finding your next job. If you can go through two rounds, there will be at least twenty places you can pick with good benefits!”

“Even the best cannot compare to Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion. He is so young and able, to even kill a marshal. His future is not something that these little factions can have. Maybe he can becoming king!”

“King? You are exaggerating … …”

Discussion of Xiao Mo Ge was everywhere in the hotel. As the hottest topic of discussion, there was new news about him everyday. Also, Xiao Mo Ge was just over twenty and had created such a string of miracles. His influence among the younger generation had reach a stunning level.

This was the age when people were most spirited and ambitious. A living role model motivated them.

No one noticed that, in the corner, the dim and muddy eyes of an old person suddenly flashed when he heard that Xiao Mo Ge had killed a marshal.

The old man was bald, his face full of wrinkles, his clothing in rags and looked very poor.

He finished drinking the poor wine before standing and walking out of the hotel.

He silently walked on the street. When the wind blew by, his figure looked desolate.

“Customer, customer, take a look! The newest mirages about the battle where Xiao Mo Ge killed Marshal Yu. Completely new mirages. Only here. Recorded by those present. You have to watch … …”

When the shouts of the store on the side entered the old man’s eyes, he stopped walking.

“How much?”

“Fifteen mobei!”

“Give me one.”

“Alright!”

The old man walked to the corner and played the mirage.

The store was not lying and it was a first hand recording. However, the recorder was not very powerful and the interference from the power released during the fight had been great so the image was not very clear.

The old man watched carefully.

When he saw Zuo Mo and Marshal Yu fight, light flashed across the dull eyes. At this time, the old man was like a vicious weapon with sharp edges and filled with a dangerous presence.

But he quickly noticed his change and recovered his previous state.

But when he saw A Gui, his body shook. Especially when the purple light in A Gui’s eyes flashed from within the mirage, the old man became motionless.

Two lines of hot tears suddenly rolled from his dull eyes.

The mirage in front of him shattered into dots of light without any warning.

———

“A sword xiu?”

A cold voice came from above the large hall and the commanders below shivered.

“Yes!” The person who spoke was prostrated on the ground and didn’t dare to move. His expression was terrified as large beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. The drops made clear sounds as they hit the floor.

The commanders looked with sympathy at him.

“A sword xiu dares to move around on my territory. Ha!” The cold voice was emotionless as though it was narrating a simple thing.

The mo that was on the ground sweated even more. The other commanders also changed expression. Anyone could hear that Lord was angered!”

“Good, very good!”

The mo who was on the ground had an ashen face. He suddenly kowtowed furiously. Then he raised his blood-covered face and said with a trembling voice, “This subordinate is useless! I have disappointed Lord! This subordinate will pay for the crime with death and is not angry! This subordinate’s child is young. Lord, Brothers, please look after him!”

Finishing, his right hand suddenly hit his own head and his head shattered. His body fell to the floor lifelessly!

The commanders had expression of pain but no one dared to speak. It would be bad to ask for mercy at this time. Lord was brutal but he still cared about those that had been with him for along time.

As expected, the person in the hall was silent for moment before speaking. “Give a spot in the child camp this year to his son. Tell him not to shame the name of his father. Bury him with honors.”

“Yes!” The commanders acknowledged.

“I heard that sword xiu said that he did not fear any fight, yes?”

The commanders’ hearts shook and they looked at each other. They hadn’t thought that even this had reached the ears of their lord and they immediately knew it wasn’t good.

They knew Lord’s temper. He always wanted to be the best. Since the words the other had said reached Lord’s ears, Lord would not be able to tolerate this. If they continued to be silent, everyone was going to end up bad. They exchanged looks.

One battle general stood out and said, “This subordinate requests to fight!”

“This subordinate requests to fight!”

“This subordinate also requests to fight!”

The mo started to come out and request to fight.

“You are not allowed to use battalions. In my territory, I cannot lose face. And if you have to use battalions to deal with a single sword xiu…”

The cold voice echoed in the large hall. Everyone felt bitter inside. If they knew beforehand how the situation would devolve, then they would have already used battalions to already to kill this sword xiu. Then nothing would have happened.

But since Lord had said this, they couldn’t do anything.

“I give you five days. If you have not killed that sword xiu, you can end your own lives. You do not have to come see me.”

Everyone felt their scalp prickle. The corpse on the ground entered their view. Their expressions changed but they gritted their teeth and acknowledged. “Yes!”

Chapter 662

Leaving the hall, everyone had serious expressions.

One of the more reputable clan leaders said, “Everyone, we have no method of retreat. If we cannot complete this task, the Lord will be angry and it will be a calamity to our clans!”

The other people nodded.

“Lord is right. A sword xiu dares to be so arrogant under our eyes, if we left him alive we would  have no face left!”

“You are right!”

The people all agreed.

They quickly discussed for the clans to send out the strongest experts of their clan to kill this sword xiu!

No one thought that this battle that was fated to shake the world would be started by their hands.

———

The youth looked at the person in front of him. He was startled and then shot forward to grab the other’s collar. He lowered his voice and cried, “You dared to come back! You aren’t afraid of being killed?”

His lowered voice was filled with suppressed excitement.

The newcomer chucked. “Since I dare to come, I am not afraid.”

If someone saw this, they would definitely scream. This person was Gu Liang Dao!

In Xi Xuan! Gu Liang Dao had sneaked back into Xi Xuan. Who could have thought of this?

The white-robed youth released him and set up a jinzhi to stop people from eavesdropping before he smiled. “I forgot that you are actually a detail-minded person and would leave yourself an escape route. You had conquered those mo jie for so long, how could you not do something? You knew that this day would come.”

Gu Liang Dao’s smile was slightly bitter.

The youth saw this and couldn’t help but sigh inside. He smiled and said, “You are pretty good now, at least you are free and don’t need to be ordered around by those young masters. Come, let’s drink some tea.”

Gu Liang Dao did not speak and drained the cup.

“Come and help me!”

Gu Liang Dao suddenly said in a muffled voice.

The youth holding the teacup suddenly stilled. His expression was unchanged as he said with a smile, “Your situation is not very good right now. While the people under you are loyal, but many of them have families over here. As time progresses, they will change. Also, you only have mo jie under your command and they are not friendly to you xiuzhe.”

Gu Liang Dao laughed and there was no fear on his face. “You are right, so you come help me. No one knows your talents better than me. It would be very boring for you to die of old age on this mountain.”

The youth suddenly smiled and rose. “Let’s go.”

Gu Liang Dao stilled.

“What? You have other things to do?” the youth asked.

“Nothing.” Gu Liang Dao instinctively answered. Then he laughed. “I spent so much time trying to think of many ways to persuade you but I didn’t even use one of them.”

The youth shrugged. “I’m just an accountant in Xi Xuan and the amount of jingshi I get every month is pitiful. I don’t have any family or relationships. At least, with you, I will get to eat meat.”

“Haha!” Gu Liang Dao laughed freely.

Their departure did not attract any attention.

For Xi Xuan, he was just an insignificant person.

———

Li Xian Er looked around curiously. This was the first time she was in the mo territories. The guards around her were careful and looked warily at the surroundings.

When they saw the group of mo in the distance, they became even more nervous.

A youth flew out of the troop and landed near Li Xian Er.

“Is this Tian Huan’s Miss Xian Er?” The mo youth bowed and greeted without any timidity.

“I am Li Xian Er.” Li Xian Er came forward and bowed. “Sir is?”

The mo youth’s gaze landed on Li Xian Er and immediately showed shock. He said with a smile, “This one is the son of Marshal Di. Miss Xian Er can call me Xi. Xi has come with orders from Marshal Miao to welcome Miss Xian Er.”

“Thanks, Master Xi!” Li Xian Er smiled slightly.

“Please!” Xi turned his body slightly and reached out to usher her.

On the road, the two had a good conversation. Xi was a good conversationalist, and easy to talk to. He had exceptional knowledge and it was undoubtedly a pleasure to chat with him.

Li Xian Er glanced at Xi’s guards out of the corners of her eyes and was intimidated. These mo guards had heavy killing intent around them and clearly were experienced. This Marshal Di really had considerable power.

She had been very shocked when Grandfather had told her to come see the mo. She had gaped when she learned that Tian Huan had deep relationship with the mo. She had never been so naïve to think that xiuzhe should exterminate yaomo but she had never thought that Tian Huan and the mo had such a close relationship.

Later, she learned that it wasn’t just Tian Huan. The other three great sects also had allies among the mo.

Li Xian Er suspected that there would be allies of the sects in the yao world as well.

After the initial shock, Li Xian Er quickly calmed down. It was normal when she thought about it. The four great sects had existed for thousands of years and the mo were not a unified and monolithic group.

Her mission was to be an envoy to the mo on behalf of Tian Huan.

This was the first time that Tian Huan and Marshal Di would meet for negotiations.

The troop that welcomed them was very large. Someone of Xi’s stature acting as the messenger reflected the importance that Marshal Di placed on Lian Xian Er’s group. Li Xian Er looked around excitedly at the novel scenery along the way.

Xi’s gaze occasionally landed on Li Xian Er’sr face and a hint of heat flashed across his eyes.

———

“This is Xiao Mo Ge’s information.” Ming Yue Ye’s eyes were bright like stars.

Ji Li Yu carefully browsed it.

“He was able to enter the Ten Finger Prison and cultivate the Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus. He should have the blood of both mo and yao. This person is of unknown background and is very powerful. His yao arts and mo skills are very outstanding; he is also a gold battle general.”

Ming Yue Ye’s voice was clear and pleasing to hear

“What he cultivates is shen power.”

Ji Li Yu’s expression was shocked. “Shen power? Shen power actually exists?”

“He is not the only one, there are two women with him that also cultivate shen power. We suspect that he is a descendant of an ancient tribe and that he has a complete shen power inheritance.”

“Is shen power really that powerful?” Ji Li Yu didn’t believe it.

“The three of them together killed a marshal,” Ming Yue Ye said lightly.

Ji Li Yu’s expression moved.

Ming Yue Ye’s beautiful eyes looked at her and she said, “Your mission is to get close to him.”

“Get close to him? To steal the method?” Ji LI Yu asked.

“If there is a chance.”

Ji Li Yu looked with puzzlement at Ming Yue Ye. It seemed that the other’s main target was not the method.

“I think he has a good future.” Ming Yue Ye looked into the distance.

“You think he has a good future?” Ji Li Yu’s voice was puzzled. She did not understand.

“Maybe he will vie for the world!”

Ming Yue Ye’s last four words exploded in Ji Li Yu’s ear’s like lightning. She looked with an ashen expression at Ming Yue Ye.

“For you, and also for the Ji Family, this person is a very good choice.”

Ming Yue Ye looked at her with a smile.

Ji LI Yu’s face was pale and her hands and feet felt cold.

“You will thank me.”

Ming Yue Ye went close to Ji Li Yu and and whispered..

———

Zuo Mo and the others had encountered trouble.

There were small groups of scouts that appeared occasionally. It was clear that this was not a sign of friendliness.

Very quickly, the mo that had come to join Zuo Mo disappeared. The factions along the way who had been polite suddenly became hard to talk to. What made it even more difficult were the battalions that came to harass them.

These little battalions were not a threat but they had numbers on their side. They seriously delayed Zuo Mo’s travelling speed.

“Someone is targeting us!” Bie Han said coldly.

Gongsun Cha agreed with Bie Han. “Yes, someone is manipulating the situation in secret, and they aren’t average people.”

An average person would not be able to command so many little factions. Xiao Mo Ge’s reputation was at its highest right now, meaning the reputation of this person that could give these little factions the courage to attack them was probably even more frightening.

“Are there any clues?” Zuo Mo asked.

“I caught many scouts but these people don’t know,” Gongsun Cha shook his head as he said.

“Why is the other targeting us?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Don’t know.” Gongsun Cha shook his head.

“It seems that we need to start with a few factions.” Zuo Mo’s expression became icy.

The harassment seemed to be worsening. These little battalions were as bothersome as flies. If they allowed this to continue, they would have a hard time moving forward.

It was very easy to learn the origins of these scouts.

In the night, Bie Han lead Sin Battalion to destroy three local factions.

But unexpectedly, these little factions had seemed to know that there would be a reprisal. The clansmen had moved away and what was left was almost empty ground.

Zuo Mo smelled a conspiracy.

———

It was the deep of the night. Jiang Zhe’s thoughts wandered as he stared at the jie map.

He had maintained this position for a whole day.

“Daren, report. Xiao Mo Ge has encountered harassment from many groups.”

Jiang Zhe looked up. He exhaled. He understood that the sect had acted. The sect’s power was really unfathomable!

In the message he sent the sect, he stated that he hoped that the sect could buy some time for him.

He needed more time to set up.

Jiang Zhe felt much more relaxed. This battle had been a huge pressure on him. He had fought against Bie Han since childhood and the two were very familiar with each other. He knew how terrifying Bie Han was. They had sparred in the sect but he had never thought there would be a day that he and Bie Han would meet on the battlefield.

There was no retreat from this battle!

He had not thought of escaping but his personality was cautious and he was even more careful against Bie Han.This was a battle that they could not lose.

No matter what, they could not lose!

Facing such astounding pressure, he was still composed. If there was enough time to prepare, he had the confidence to defeat Bie Han!

More time, meant he would be able to make more preparations.

Jiang Zhe stared at the jie map.

After fighting this battle, he would go to Cloud Sea Jie to get revenge for Feng Shijie.

Jiang Zhe said to himself.

Chapter 663

Wei Sheng opened his eyes. His mind had recovered to its best state and he had a feeling that he was at the cusp of a breakthrough.

His clothing was ragged and shredded as though he was a beggar. However, looking at him no one would feel that Wei Sheng was a beggar. He stood with his back straight, head held high, and his presence was like a sharp and oppressive such that no one could look at directly at him.

He stood up, picked up the black sword and walked barefoot out of the valley.

A group of mo had gathered outside the mountain valley. When they saw him, they shifted. Everyone had complicated stares full of terror, hate, admiration, and other various emotions. But no one was disdainful.

This was an enemy that could not be dismissed.

“Who’s next?”

Wei Sheng’s gaze was determined.

The mo shifted again. This was the fourth day. In these four days, over thirty people had died under the sword of this sword xiu. Up until now, no one had even been able to exchange three blows. The great majority of people hadn’t been able to survive the first strike before dying.

He really was terrifying!

So xiuzhe also had people that were like mo gods!

In this moment, everyone’s mind stopped and a short silence appeared.

But thinking about the order they had received from their superiors, their hearts shook again.

If they could not kill him, they were all going to die!

Red rose up in these people’s eyes. They were like wild beasts forced to the precipice. Someone howled, “Everyone, let’s go together!”

Everyone’s eyes lit up. Daren had only said they could not use battalions, but not that they couldn’t fight together!

Looking at their numbers and the lonely Wei Sheng, their morale rose! With so many people attacking one person, no matter how powerful the sword xiu was, he could not kill all of them.

“Kill!”

They cheered as they charged at Wei Sheng.

Looking at the noisy mo, Wei Sheng’s sword-like gaze did not shake at all. His face seemed to be carved from granite, and completely emotionless. He tightened his grip on the black sword and moved forward!

In his heart, there was only sword essence!

The black sword in his hand seemed to respond to the sword essence in his chest and shook lightly.

It was hungry and wanted to drink fresh blood!

———

“It probably is a mo marshal behind this,” Pu Yao said with a calm expression. He had spent a long time in the mo territories with the Corps Command in the past and was very familiar with the mo.

“Yes.” Wei also nodded.

When Pu Yao and Wei agreed on something, it meant that their conclusion was pretty reliable.

But, mo marshal!

Zuo Mo felt pressure at this answer. Any mo marshal was the ruler of an entire region. They might have defeated Marshal Yu but that didn’t mean marshal’s were easy to deal with. If Marshal Yu’s battalions hadn’t been busy and unable to come to help, if Marshal Yu had actually fought them seriously, Zuo Mo wouldn’t have had a chance at all.

The power that a mo marshal possess was really too great!

Enormous battalions, vast lands, countless experts.

Each mo marshal represented a titan. The power possessed by those top marshals rivaled the four great sects.

If everything here was being manipulated by a mo marshal, then it really was great trouble!

Zuo Mo knew that Pu Yao and Wei’s guess was probably correct.

With his present reputation, unless there was a mo marshal supporting them, these little factions would not dare to fight against him.

When he had clues, it was easier to investigate.

Zuo Mo and the other quickly found out which mo marshal was acting against them.

Marshal Hao, the fifth strongest mo marshal in the Hundred Savage Realm. The mo jie that Zuo Mo’s group were in now was very close to the area ruled by Marshal Hao.

Marshal Hao was the most likely suspect!

After investigating, Zuo Mo had a clear understanding of Marshal Hao.

Compared to Marshal Yu, Marshal Hao could be said to be an old marshal. The number of jie he ruled was three times larger than that of Marshal Yu! He had became a marshal hundreds of years before Marshal Yu.

Just the little bit of information that they found was enough for Zuo Mo to end all thoughts of fighting the other.

However, what was puzzling was that if Marshal Hao really had enmity towards them, then they had the power to completely exterminate them. Marshal Hao had more than one hundred battalions under his command. To say of nothing else, just the sheer number would be enough to drown them.

But why did the other only send little battalions to harass them and slow down their speed.

Drag down their speed … …

What goal did the other have?

Zuo Mo suddenly jumped up.

Was there something waiting up ahead for them?

———

“Father!” a middle-aged man said respectfully. “According to your orders, Xiao Mo Ge’s speed has slowed down.”

“Not bad.” Marshal Hao had a satisfied expression. His figure was slightly short and stock and he always had a smile on his face. He looked like a normal shopkeeper. He saw the puzzlement on his son’s face and said with a smile, “You are puzzled?”

“Yes!” The middle-aged person nodded. “If we really want to slow them, we only need to invite Xiao Mo Ge’s group to be guests here. With Father’s reputation, they definitely would not refuse. That way, we won’t create bad relations with them, and we can still realize our goal. Wouldn’t that be better?”

“It is very good you can use your head.” Marshal Hao looked at his son and said, “However, you need to look further. What do you feel is a greater danger to us, Xiao Mo Ge or Xuan Kong Temple?”

“Xuan Kong Temple!” The middle-aged man said after thinking. “While they are our allies in secret , they also have the power to vie for the world and is the greater threat to us.”

“Right.” Marshal Hao smiled coolly. “While Xuan Kong Temple appears to have a good relationship with us now, there will be fighting in the future. Xiao Mo Ge has potential but he has a weak foundation. It will not be easy for him to establish himself.”

The middle-aged person was thoughtful.

Marshal Hao then said, “However, while Xiao Mo Ge doesn’t have strong support, he still has a strong group of subordinates. In this battle between Xiao Mo Ge and Xuan Kong Temple, it will be Xuan Kong Temple’s victory. However, Xiao Mo Ge has a chance to seriously injure Xuan Kong Temple. The best result for us is that Xiao Mo Ge will greatly injure Xuan Kong Temple before dying.”

The middle-aged person had an expression of realization. “So Father is using this method to fulfill Xuan Kong Temple’s request and also warn Xiao Mo Ge.”

“Haha, do not underestimate Xiao Mo Ge. Even I feel jealous of the people he has. Bie Han is a top battle general that can rival Jiang Zhe. They have the ability to make trouble for Xuan Kong Temple!” Marshal Hao smiled darkly. “If Xuan Kong Temple loses too much in this battle, then Xuan Kong Temple’s reliance on us will grow and our bargaining position improves!”

“What if Xuan Kong Temple loses?” The middle-aged man instinctively asked. But when the words left his mouth, he felt what he said was a waste of words.

How could Xuan Kong Temple lose? That wasn’t possible!

How could Xuan Kong Temple that was even stronger than themselves not be able to take down a Xiao Mo Ge’s small forces? That wasn’t possible.

Marshal Hao stilled upon hearing this. His expression became strange. He was silent as though he was deep in thought.

The middle-aged person regretted saying his words of garbage but suddenly heard Marshal Hao slowly speak, “If Xuan Kong Temple loses, then it will not be good for them.”

The middle-aged man shook his head. “Xuan Kong Temple will not lose. Even if they do, it will not be a heavy blow to them.”

“You do not understand.” Marshal Hao shook his head with a serious expression. “They must win this battle and they must do it in a beautiful manner! If they truly lose, then Xuan Kong Temple will be in danger. They will have been defeated by their own traitor. The reputation and trust of their top battle general Jiang Zhe will be damaged. Xuan Kong Temple’s secret humiliation will become a weakness exposed to the world. At that time, no matter how large Xuan Kong Temple is, it is just a pile of meat to lure in more wolves.”

The middle-aged person gaped.

———

Tang Fei’s mind was burdened. She had paid attention to the harassment they had recently faced and she had a strong feeling of danger. But on the surface, she maintained her calm and was even more strict in supervising Tangzi Battalion’s cultivation.

The individual skill level of the members of Tangzi Battalion was outstanding and even better than the city guard she had previously led.

But their skills in tactics were terrible. It would take a long time before they could reach a satisfactory level. However, that required time and there were no shortcuts.

Without the tactics binding them together, this was just a group of rabble.

She hoped to shorten the time needed. If a battle really occurred, Tangzi Battalion that were not well trained in their tactics would become a target the enemy would focus on.

“Tang Daren, Daren is asking for you to come.”

Tang Fei’s heart jumped. She knew that it was a meeting about the enemy harassment that had been occurring. She unhesitatingly went with the colonel to Zuo Mo’s tent.

When Tang Fei arrived, almost all the core members in Zuo Mo’s service were present.

Zuo Mo’s expression was grave. He did not waste words and narrated the results of the investigation as well as his own speculations.

Everyone’s expressions became serious.

Gongsun Cha was the first to speak. “If it really is Marshal Hao, then they do not have good intentions to harass us like this. They definitely want us to fight and weaken each other. Their relationship to the enemy up ahead is strange.”

“Yes.” Bie Han’s tone was murderous and the temperature around him dropped.

Zuo Mo nodded but what he asked was another question. “More importantly, who is up ahead?”

This was the most crucial puzzle piece. If they didn’t even know who the enemy was, then they didn’t have any chance of victory.

Gongsun Cha stared at the jie map and said, “We are going to Nether Spring Jie. There are many that know this, and the enemy definitely knows. That means that they will only chose to attack us at a location that we have to pass through!”

Gongsun Cha’s words attracted everyone’s attention. Their gazes all moved to the jie map.

“On the path that we must pass, having had past interactions with us, knowing our strength, and still daring to fight us … …”

Everyone’s gazes moved along the paths on the jie map following Gongsun Cha’s words.

Suddenly, everyone’s gazes stopped on one place.

Bie Han’s breathing suddenly became heavy.

Chapter 664 – Danger

“It seems that Xuan Kong Temple is determined to exterminate Xiao Mo Ge . However, they really think highly of Xiao Mo Ge!” Xue Dong said with a laugh.

Xue Dong had thick brows and large eyes. His appearance was fine and he had a bloodthirsty presence from battling for long periods of time. He had come to find Lin Qian immediately after he returned from the front lines.

While Lin Qian was the shixiong, Xue Dong was older. The two had a close relationship.

Withdrawing his consciousness from the jade scroll, Lin Qian was slightly distracted. In order to guarantee their victory this time, Xuan Kong Temple had sent out two of their fanxu xiuzhe to kill Xiao Mo Ge. Xuan Kong Temple’s action was well concealed but Kun Lun’s spy was placed high enough in their ranks that they were able to pass this on.

“What?” Xue Dong sensitively detected Lin Qian’s state.

Lin Qian came back and said with a smile, “This Xiao Mo Ge is really a extraordinary person. It is a pity he will die.”

“Oh.” Xue Dong was slightly shocked. “I’m curious to know more about this person that you think so highly of.”

“I fought against him when I went to the mo territories this time. He seems slightly unfathomable.” Lin Qian lightly described.

Xue Dong changed expression. He knew how strong Lin Qian was. When Lin Qian said something like this, it meant that their battle had ended in a stalemate.

Lin Qian’s brow creased. “This person’s origins are very strange. He seems to have both yao and mo blood. Both his yao arts and mo skills are strong and he also cultivates shen power.”

“Shen power?” Xue Dong’s eyes widened and his face was shocked.

“Yes, I only comprehended shen power because I fought against him this time.” Lin Qian thought of something and frown again. “He most likely has a complete inheritance. It would not be good if that lands in the hands of Xuan Kong Temple!”

Kun Lun wasn’t the only one that was studying shen power. Any sect that had history had ambitions about this. But in terms of who spent the most effort, it was undoubtedly the four great sects.

Xue Dong’s eyes narrowed. “Yes! We cannot have the shen power inheritance land in Xuan Kong Temple’s hand. Why don’t we send a few people as well?”

“That will not be appropriate!” Lin Qian shook his head and his expression was grave. “Xuan Kong Temple has a legitimate reason to fight. No one can nitpick about their excuse of executing Bie Han. If we send someone, then we will be publicly dissolving our relationship with Xuan Kong Temple.”

Xue Dong also frowned. Lin Qian was right. They could not directly send people for this matter.

“We can still notify Xiao Mo Ge and have him hide.” Lin Qian felt the matter was slightly troublesome. He had never thought that Xuan Kong Temple would send two fanxu xiuzhe for Xiao Mo Ge.

Fanxu experts were strategic resources. If it was not a matter of life and death to the sect, the sect would not use them.

It seemed that Xuan Kong Temple also understood the importance of this battle for them.

———

“It is really troublesome this time.” Zuo Mo’s expression was very ugly. “Xuan Kong Temple really has a high impression of ge. Tsk tsk, fanxu, and two of them!”

The other commanders had terrible expressions.

Zuo Mo received a letter today that said Xuan Kong Temple had sent out two fanxu experts to assassinate him. Xuan Kong Temple clearly was wary of Zuo Mo after he killed Marshal Yu so they were even willing to use such dishonorable tactics to completely eliminate this threat.

While no one knew who the sender was but everyone understood that this letter was probably true.

Two fanxu. This completely exposed the magnitude of Xuan Kong Temple’s great power. To kill a person by sending two fanxu, only the four greats would have the resources to do this.

This was power.

Even with someone notifying him, Zuo Mo and the others had no solutions.

“How about we return to Cloud Sea Jie.” Gongsun Cha looked at Zuo Mo with worry in his eyes. Two fanxu would have the ability to cut through their battalion. If they were working with battalions, their power would be even greater.

Zuo Mo grimaced. “Not enough time! I’m afraid that these two fanxu old thieving baldies are not far from us.”

Bie Han was silent. He hadn’t thought that the sect would actually send two fanxu to kill Zuo Mo. He had been with the sect for many years and knew that experts on fanxu level were the ultimate power for the sect.

Had Xuan Kong Temple felt that they were a threat to the existence of the temple?

He felt slightly conflicted. He desired to fight against Xuan Kong Temple but he knew that the two fanxu were a big trouble.

Zuo Mo’s gaze suddenly landed on Bie Han. “How many fanxu does Xuan Kong Temple have?”

Bie Han stilled but quickly reacted. “Five, one left to travel thirty years ago and has not returned. One is still in death seclusion. One was on a mission by the sect leader ten years ago and has not return. There are only these two left.”

Zuo Mo’s expression eased and he said, “In other words, they can only send these two fanxu.”

Thinking, Zuo Mo asked, “If I flee, will these two fanxu meet up with Jiang Zhe?”

Bie Han shook his head. “No.”

Zuo Mo was very surprised at the certainty in Bie Han’s answer. “Why? If they meet up with Jiang Zhe, wouldn’t their chance of victory increase?”

“Fanxu can also die,” Bie Han said coolly.

Zuo Mo immediately understood. Yes, while a fanxu was powerful, they could still die. If a powerful battalion did not care about losses, they might be able to kill a fanxu xiuzhe. Xuan Kong Temple did not lack battalions, and would not risk their fanxu experts on the battlefield.

So the mission this time was an assassination.

Zuo Mo also understood why Xuan Kong Temple would send two fanxu. He had killed Marshal Yu. In the eyes of Xuan Kong Temple, he was someone that could threaten fanxu.

Xuan Kong temple could not afford to lose any fanxu.

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. He suddenly found that there might be a chance.

Xuan Kong Temple would not know that someone would have warned him about their assassination mission.

After thinking for a long time, Zuo Mo raised his head and confidence came back to his face. “I have an idea.”

———

Under the ground, Wei Sheng gripped the hilt of the black sword and stopped his breathing. He quickly became like a piece of rock and all signs of life faded from him.

“Damn it, we lost him again!” one person swore.

“Are we going to keep chasing?” another asked weakly with a thread of fear in his voice.

“Of course, if we don’t, we will all die!”

“But if we catch up to him, we will also die … …”

The group became silent.

“No, if this continues, we will all die!”

“Then what do we do?”

“Wait!”

“Wait?”

“Wait for Lord to send out a kill warrant!”

Just as he finished speaking, one person said joyfully, “Kill warrant, the Lord sent out a kill warrant!”

“This time, he’s done for!” The person speaking sighed in relief.

“Yes, he’s over.” The other people also sighed.

When the footsteps vanished, Wei Sheng emerged out of the soil and a hint of confusion flashed through his eyes.

A kill warrant?

He shook his head and didn’t think about it. He found a hidden cave, set up some alarm jinzhi and entered meditation.

Ten continuous days of battle had exhausted his ling power and mind, both were on the verge of collapse. If it wasn’t that his mentality was as strong as steel, he would have fallen a long time ago.

On the second day, he opened his eyes, and a hint of joy flashed across them.

He had a breakthrough!

After recuperating a few more days in the cave and his energies recovered to peak condition, he stood up. Taking out the jie map jade scroll, he found his bearing and then flew in a direction.

He didn’t know what the kill warrant was. He didn’t know that that kill warrant was causing a storm in the Hundred Savage Realm.

———

“What? They suddenly sped up?” Marshal Hao was slightly surprised. “They didn’t change their destination?”

“No,” the middle-aged man said. “It seems that they have already detected it.

Marshal Hao did not speak. He was deep in thought. A moment later, he raised his head. “It seems that Xiao Mo Ge already knows who their enemy is. Oh, have our people stop the harassment.”

“Stop the harassment?” The middle-aged person was surprised. “Isn’t that just…?”

“It’s nothing.” Marshal Hao sneered. “We aren’t Xuan Kong Temple’s subordinates, we don’t need to give them too much face. Xuan Kong Temple probably won’t have an easy time in this fight.”

The middle-aged man didn’t understand why Father would say such a thing.

“Xiao Mo Ge is really daring!” A hint of admiration flashed through Marshal Hao’s eyes.

———

“Why this direction?” Zuo Mo asked in confusion to Pu Yao and Wei.

He, Ceng Lian’er, and A Gui, were furiously flying forward. In order to avoid the scouts along the way, they did not ride mo steeds but flew on their own.

Zuo Mo had designed and extremely daring plan.

He decided to lure the two old fanxu thieving baldies away in a huge circle. Just like how Xuan Kong Temple were not willing to put their fanxu in danger, Zuo Mo was not willing to have these two thieving baldies enter the battlefield and affect their chances of victory.

Zuo Mo was full of confidence in Bie Han and Gongsun Cha. As long as these two old thieving baldies did not attend the battle, Zuo Mo believed they would win.

If Gongsun Cha and Bie Han defeated Jiang Zhe, it would be enough to cause Xuan Kong Temple to descend into chaos.

If he could delay until that time, the two old thieving baldies would no longer have the time to chase him. They would have to go back to steady the sect and his predicament would be resolved.

The crux of this strategy was a race of time.

On his end, the longer that he could drag this out, the more beneficial it would be. The other side with Gongsun Cha and Bie Han, the faster they defeated Jiang Zhe, the safer he would be.

If he had to face the two old fanxu thieving baldies head on, Zuo Mo definitely did not have a chance.

But if he was playing hide-and-seek, Zuo Mo did not fear it. With Pu Yao and Wei present, these two cunning people, Zuo Mo thought that the two old thieving baldies wouldn’t stand  a chance.

In order to lure the two old thieving baldies to take the bait, Zuo Mo had deliberately left behind a trace of shen power. Last time, the four great sects with Lin Qian as the leader had made such a big ruckus for the Great Peace Mo Stele. Zuo Mo knew that these people had an obsession with shen power.

He hadn’t thought that having just stepped out of the camp, Pu Yao and Wei had Zuo Mo flying in this direction.

Zuo Mo muttered inside, there was a conspiracy!

Chapter 665 – Pu Yao And Wei’s Conspiracy

For fanxu xiuzhe, sneaking into the guarded camp was slightly troublesome, but if the other was not on guard, the chance of success was very high.

The other had not been on guard.

The two entered the camp without any resistance.

A moment later, Dai Tao’s expression became strange. “He’s not here.”

Ji Zheng did not show any expression.

Dai Tao’s attire was like that of an average xiu. People would find it hard to deduce what kind of xiuzhe he was based on his attire. Ji Zheng was the exact opposite. Bald head, prayer beads, monk robes, he looked like a stereotypical dhynana xiu at first glance. The only thing that would cause people to take notice was that granite and icy face. It didn’t have the harmonious air of dhyana xiu. Instead it was cold and murderous, inspiring fear in the onlooker.

Dai Tao was not from Xuan Kong Temple. He was a roaming xiu. In order to break through to fanxu, he had joined Xuan Kong Temple. Xuan Kong Temple’s enormous resources and the great and famed collection of records had been of great help to him. He had successfully entered fanxu, and became one of the elders of Xuan Kong Temple.

Ji Zheng was a true disciple of Xuan Kong Temple. His parents had been disciples of Xuan Kong Temple. He had grown up from birth in the temple. Outstandingly talented, he had been one of the disciples that the sect had focused their resources in raising. He himself was a cultivation fanatic and didn’t have any interest in other matters. His mind was pure, and his cultivation path could be said to have been a smooth one without facing any major obstacles.

Ji Zheng suddenly turned his head and walked into a corner.

When he stepped onto the grass, that emotionless face changed for the first time. His eyes lit up. “Shen power!”

“Shen power?” Dai Tao paused. When he walked to this place, his expression also changed to shock. “Such pure shen power! Does this boy have a complete shen power inheritance?”

“We chase him!” Ji Zheng said decisively.

Dai Tao hesitated. If they took the chance to kill Bie Han, it would be a destructive blow against the enemy. However, he quickly suppressed this thought. In comparison, Xiao Mo Ge’s shen power inheritance was more attractive to him.

Shen power inheritance!

His mind heated slightly. If he was able to obtain the shen power inheritance, maybe he could enter dasheng level!

Dasheng!

The highest level of cultivation and representing the strongest power in the world.

How many years had it been since a dasheng expert appeared!

Dai Tao was actually satisfied with having reached fanxu. However, he understood that without Xuan Kong Temple, he would not have been able to do it. Consequently, he hadn’t had any thoughts about the distant dasheng stage. But this shen power inheritance that suddenly appeared now gave him a thread of hope.

Xuan Kong Temple had studied shen power for a long time. Dai Tao was one of the most powerful in the temple and had participated in the process. While Xuan Kong Temple had not produced any results up until now, shen power had been found to be a higher power than ling power.

For normal xiuzhe, this was nothing. The cultivation of ling power itself was already an endeavor vast as the ocean and endless as the sky.

But for xiuzhe like them that had almost reached the top level of the xiuzhe system, it was tempting!

The two quickly disappeared.

Multiple breaths later, a figure slowly formed from empty space near where the two had been. It was Luo Li.

Two hours later.

Xiao Mo Ge’s battalions started to mobilize.

Full speed ahead!

———

“Now tell me why we are going in this direction!” Zuo Mo glowered at Pu Yao and Wei. “Ah-huh, ge isn’t so easy to fool! You two lowly cunning, shady, and shameless people. Do not think you can do such unspeakable things behind my back!”

Zuo Mo’s speech was both urgent and fast.

However, the two in front of him clearly would not be defeated by words of this degree.

“It is a good thing.” Wei smiled harmlessly.

“It is not so easy to avoid fanxu!”

Threat! Pu Yao was definitely threatening him!

However, the thick-skinned and black-hearted Xiao Mo Ge was immune to threats like this. He sneered. “Everyone’s on the same boat, what’s the use in scaring me? You guys can escape if I don’t?”

“This time, it really is a good thing.” Wei still had a friendly smile.

Zuo Mo glanced at Pu Yao. He wondered inside, this guy hadn’t argued with him today, it wasn’t normal!

“What?” Zuo Mo responded.

“Actually, in the past, we did leave behind some things.” Wei hesitated but still spoke.

Zuo Mo stilled but then his eyes flashed like jingshi. “Whoa whoa whoa! JIngshi? Oh, mobei? Or the legendary thousand year treasure hoard? You were so strong in the past, the riches you gathered … … oh oh oh ! Rich rich! Haha … …”

In the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo danced excitedly.

“Riches … …” Wei’s expression was dazed.

“I knew he would be like this,” Pu Yao said expressionlessly.

After being calm for a moment, Pu Yao’s tendons visibly bulged up. His forced expression of calm became twisted. There seemed to be an angry fire burning in his bloody pupil that increased. His teeth ground like millstones. He was clearly angry to his limit.

“It isn’t riches?” Zuo Mo stopped. His face was full of disappointment as he muttered, “Not riches, that really disappoints me! Ah, you two were famous people in the past, to be poor to this point, tsk tsk … …”

“Shut up!” Pu Yao’s anger that he had been suppressing immediately erupted as he shouted, “You idiot! Dumbass! You stupid idiot that only knows to laze about, eating and waiting to die! Such humiliation! I actually have a student like you! This is such a great humiliation! What do you understand? Ah! The world! We were fighting for the world, dominating in all directions! Our desires, wishes, how can you who only knows money money money understand … …”

The furious Pu Yao ignited the flames in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. The dark red fires filled the sky and Pu Yao was like a furious god.

Zuo Mo’s face was puzzled. He looked at Pu Yao in the sky that was pointing down and swearing at him. He murmured unconsciously, “What is this … …”

The light words caused the flames to completely still and Pu Yao’s shouts to be choked off.

Pu Yao was like a deflated ball that flew down without a sound. The fires that burned disappeared.

Pu Yao and Wei abandoned the puzzled Zuo Mo and went to whisper to each other.

Wei said calmly, “I just knew that this occasion would be like the rest … …”

Pu Yao’s anger roiled. “A waste of all this. To have encountered such a master without any ambition. They are really pitiful, the most pitiful in history … …”

Wei hit the target with one sentence. “Ambition? It isn’t the first time that he was just eating and waiting for death.”

Pu Yao was discontent. “All the things that we had done, so much preparation to leave for … …”

Wei said calmly, “We do not have any other choices.”

Pu Yao gritted. “The great … … I’m going to die of anger! No! Hmph, how can he benefit without paying a price?”

Wei looked at Pu Yao who was about to go off again and said calmly, “He probably doesn’t want this benefit.”

Pu Yao seemed to think of something and snickered. “Ha, that isn’t up to him.”

Wei heard something. “What do you plan on doing?”

Pu Yao didn’t answer and asked in response, “What kind of person do you think he is?”

Wei did not hesitate. “Lazy, eats and waits for death, dislikes work, greedy, thick-skinned, and black-hearted.”

Pu Yao thought as he asked, “When will he ever actually put effort into doing something?”

Wei said directly, “When there is no other choice and he has to do it.”

“Oh, in other words, if we want him to do something, this matter has to leave him no avenue of retreat, no choice left and he has to do it.” Pu Yao concluded.

“You mean … …”

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil flashed with an unusual light. “Hee hee… …”

Wei nodded. “Understood.”

“How about it?” Pu Yao glanced at Wei.

“Do it.” Wei was brisk.

“Are you now unfamiliar with what has to be done?”

“I have to familiarize myself.”

“It really makes one’s blood boil!”

“En.”

Suddenly, Zuo Mo had a bad feeling.

Then he saw Pu Yao and Wei who had been whispering off to the side turn to look at him and grin darkly.

Zuo Mo shuddered.

Were those two planning something else?

Zuo Mo thought. The two had already turned around and did not seem to intent to pay any more attention to him. Zuo Mo suppressed the impulse to ask and left his sea of consciousness.

He would not get any answers. It would be safer to stay away from these two.

Of course, most importantly, it wasn’t riches!

After hearing that it wasn’t riches, Zuo Mo immediately lost interest in what Pu Yao was talking out. He was very wealthy now: Anti Dragon Claw, Three Thousand Threads of Worry, these two were top treasures. He had also been enriched after killing Marshal Yu’s group.

The Black-Hearted Treasure Coins, the Blue Carp Sword, all of them were powerful mo weapons.

There were numerous materials, dozens of mo skills that were all first-tier.

So Zuo Mo didn’t have any interest in the property that Pu Yao and Wei spoke of. Also, he knew that the things these two offered were not easy to take.

Right now, he only wanted to go to Nether Springs Jie, investigate his origins, and settle his scores. After doing that, he would manage his own territories, make jingshi and live a carefree existence.

Since he now had an enormous territory that was enough for people to have pretty good days, he had not failed them, Zuo Mo thought happily.

Zuo Mo quickly shrugged off the scenes of the beautiful future and recovered his calmness.

The fight right now was directly related to their future. If they won, they would jump into the position as one of the strongest battalions in the world. No one would easily start a fight with them. They would have an open road and they would push Xuan Kong Temple down into a place where they would not be able to get back up from.

But if they lost … ..

No, they definitely could not lose!

For Xuan Kong Temple, this was a battle they could not lose. For Zuo Mo’s group, this was also a battle they could not lose!

This was a battle that they could not retreat from nor avoid!

Zuo Mo became alert and started to ponder if his plans had any weaknesses.

At this time, Zuo Mo was focusing all his effort and gave off endless spirit!

His belly full of black water was not willing to stay hidden.

He had to make some trouble for Xuan Kong Temple!

Chapter 666 – The World Stunned

“Really, what xiuzhe dares to be so arrogant? They have come to our mo territories to show off?”

“It is a sword xiu, a vicious one that has killed more than a thousand people?!”

“More than a thousand? They are just boasting, do you think that killing mo is like killing chickens?”

“You don’t understand. For an expert, it is easier to kill people than to kill chickens!”

“Che, even the strongest expert is nothing in front of a battalion.”

“True, but think about it. A sword xiu has come to our territories, if we have to mobilize a battalion to deal with just one sword xiu, tell me, isn’t it embarrassing?”

“Ah, a little bit. What about our mo experts? Have they all died? How can they let the xiuzhe show off on our land?”

“He won’t be able to do it for much longer. The kill order has been sent down. It is really a tragedy about that jie master. He had surrounded the other, yet the other had managed to flee, especially after his subordinates were mostly killed. This guy is a joke now!”

“Haha! He surrounded the other yet let the other run away? This bad? It really is embarrassing! Ha! That sword xiu better not come here, otherwise … …”

The mo that spoke suddenly stopped. He was looking straight ahead and stood motionless.

“What?” His partner was slightly puzzled and instinctively looked in that direction was well. He was immediately stunned.

A figure holding a sword slowly approached in the horizon.

Wei Sheng looked at the city in front of him. He gripped the black sword in his hand. There was no fear on his face. He ignored the gazes filled with hatred and enmity as he walked straight towards the city gates.

———

“Did you hear? That sword xiu has come here! He wants to challenge the experts of this jie in search of a defeat! Tsk tsk, look how dominant his words are, in search of a defeat!”

“Is this guy crazy!”

“Crazy? He’s very smart. He made a big fuss and will only fight with you in the open. What, you don’t dare to accept this? He has offended everyone with this action but who can swallow the anger if someone challenged them directly? If they cannot defeat this guy in honest open combat, they won’t have any face. It would be extremely shameful for anyone to do something from the shadows now. However, this sword xiu won’t be able to escape now. He can only keep winning. If he loses, he will die! His courage to force such a situation is admirable!”

“Tsk tsk, this is going to attract attention. I hadn’t thought that even xiuzhe would have heroes like this!”

The news that a sword xiu was challenging the mo experts spread like wildfire.

Those who heard it for the first time almost didn’t dare to believe the years. The history of hatred between xiuzhe and mo could not be narrated in ten whole days. Now a sword xiu had run into the mo territories and publicly challenged mo experts.

It wasn’t that xiuzhe never sneaked into the mo territories but that every person who did so would disguise themselves as mo and be careful in fear they would be discovered.

Something like a person publicly entering the mo territories along and challenging all experts had never happened before.

Mad, arrogant, doesn’t have a measure of himself … …

All kinds of judgments, the most evil curses, they came from the mouths of people. Everyone was waiting to mock him and see how the mo experts would tear this horrid sword xiu into pieces!

In the first match, the sword xiu won!

The mo watching were slightly shocked.

In the second match, the sword xiu won!

The mo almost didn’t believe their eyes.

In The third match. The sword xiu won!

The mo started to quiet.

Ten matches with no defeats. Wei Sheng stood on the stage and  gazing down proudly as he gripped his sword. The mo that were below the stage had ashen faces. It was completely silent. No mo had the bravery to get onto the stage.

Wei Sheng became famous!

On the second day, the result of this battle spread into every corner of the Hundred Savage Realm as though it had wings.

Hundred Savage Realm was in a furor.

In the history of the mo, they had never appeared so disheveled.

Facing the gazes of enmity in the surroundings, Wei Sheng’s sword heart was unaffected. He knew that this was the start. The further he went, the stronger the experts would be.

However, he had finally escaped the endless pursuit of enemies. He had thought for a long time before deciding on his plan of action, publicly exposing himself in such an attention-catching manner. Wei Sheng was not cunning but he was not a stupid person. He knew that his arrogant actions would infuriate the mo but this was also his goal.

When all gazes of the Hundred Savage Realm gathered on him, those methods in the dark could not be used. The mo would not accept that. There was only one way that would not cause them to lose face, defeating him opening and fairly.

The more influence this matter had, the safer he was. But at the same time, his opponents would become stronger and he would be in more danger.

However, he did not fear it at all. In his view, the stronger the opponent, the more it could refine his sword essence.

He walked step by step towards Nether Springs Jie, and refined his sword essence.

No matter how far he walked, it was like he always had his back against a precipice.

A situation with no hope!

When Wei Sheng used this kind of decisiveness to challenge all of the mo territories!

How could the world not be stunned?

———

Zuo Mo, A Gui, and Ceng Lian’er were carefully hiding.

Pu Yao really was skilled in committing devious acts. He had given over several methods to hide and conceal their tracks. Along the way, he had occasionally pointed out to Zuo Mo what they needed to pay attention to. Pu Yao’s great experience was completely shown. Zuo Mo suspected that this guy had frequently done things that could not be seen in the light of day.

Zuo Mo and the others constantly changed directions and would purposefully leave behind some marks to confuse their pursuers along the way.

Dai Tao and Ji Zheng were to be pitied for the hardship they encountered. The two had high cultivation but they were not skilled in this field. Dai Tao was a roaming xiu to start but his luck had been good and he had entered an outer sect of Xuan Kong Temple very early on. He usually taught sect disciples. Ji Zheng’s experience in this area was almost zero. The number of times he had stepped outside of the gates of Xuan Kong Temple could be counted on the fingers. His experience with the world was almost nothing.

After Zuo Mo had led them in circles for three days, the two finally understood that cultivation strength could not solve all problems.

The two immediately sent a message back to the sect but the two had not discovered that Zuo Mo knew of their presence. Zuo Mo’s actions seemed very suspect but could also mean that he had some secret aim. If there wasn’t a secret goal, why would Zuo Mo leave the battalion at this time.

The news that the two of them had come was a well kept secret. Not many knew. In their minds, there was no possibility of this matter having leaked.

When Xuan Kong Temple received the information, they quickly acted.

A middle-aged person that was short and of a lowly appearance stood respectfully in front of the two and didn’t dare to even breathe. Behind the middle-aged person were five young disciples. However, these young disciple were slightly excited. These two in front of them were of ancestor level in Xuan Kong Temple. If they served the two well, the elder was happy and might bestow them something that would be enough for them to live off for their entire life.

This kind of chance was something that could not be found by chance!

“What are you called? Are you skilled in tracking?” Dai Tao asked.

“This one is called Hui Bao, and knows some tracking spells.” The middle-aged man answered nervously.

Dai Tao saw Hui Bao’s nervousness and nodded. “Do you know the mission this time?”

“This one does not know, the sect only said for this one to attend to the instructions of the two elders,” Hui Bao carefully answered.

“En, we are pursuing a great criminal of the sect. However, this person is extremely cunning. Your mission is to find him,” Dai Tao said.

“Yes!” Hui Bao hurried to acknowledge.

“This place has tracks he left behind. Start here.” Finishing, Dao Tai went to the side and closed his eyes to rest.

Hui Bao laid on the ground. He sniffed and then closed his eyes. His right hand suddenly lit up. The light quickly scanned the ground. He took a handful of powder from his Hundred Treasures Pouch. Moments later, the powder disappeared into the air and three pairs of faint footprints appeared on the previously blank ground.

Dai Tao was slightly surprised but he did not interrupt. Hui Bao who had been extremely subservient before seemed to be a completely different person now with a calm expression and confidence.

Hui Bao carefully inspected the footprints and concluded after a few moments, “There are three people, one is male, the other two are female.”

Dai Tao thought a moment, and the intelligence dossier the sect had given them before they came to mind. He quickly deduced who the other two women were.

Xiao Mo Ge had two women with him, one with an ugly appearance and one that was beautiful. The ugly one was of mysterious origins but the beautiful one was the daughter of a little jie master in a remote part of the territories.

Dai Tao nodded. This Hui Bao had some skill as expected.

“Do you know which direction then went in?” Dai Tao couldn’t resist asking.

“Daren, please wait for a moment.” Hui Bao beckoned at a disciple. The disciple hurried forward and handed over a beast service card.

This beast service card was just half the size of a palm and engraved with a small beast.

Moments later, a strange beast appeared, a fluffy furred puppy. What was most attention-catching was its pair of glass like eyes were unusually bright.

Dai Tao’s eyes lit up. “Is it a Glass Eyed Canine?”

Glass eyed Caines were just fourth-grade ling beast but it was not easy to raise them. What was most unique about the glass eyed canines were that its eyes were extremely powerful and it could see many things that normal people could not. It was also highly intelligent and liked by hunters. Dai Tao had seen it mentioned before in a record and so recognized it with a glance.

“Daren is wise!” Hui Bao hurriedly flattered.

The glass eyed canine just out of Hui Bao’s arms. The glass-like eyes suddenly lit up. It looked around and then suddenly shot in one direction.

“Daren, that direction!” Hui Bao hurriedly shouted. He then chased after the glass eyed canine.

Dai Tao was overjoyed and followed tightly after.

Ji Zheng followed expressionlessly but his movements were not slow.

The two only thought of one thing at this moment, obtaining the shen power inheritance!

Even though they did not communicate, both of them decided that they couldn’t have the shen power inheritance land in other people’s hands.

At this time, something suddenly happened.

Chapter 667 – Nasty

The glass eyed canine running ahead of them suddenly wailed. He faltered and tumbled on the ground.

Hui Bao was shocked and hurried next to the glass eyed canine.

The glass eyed canine was laying lifelessly on the ground. Hui Bao’s face immediately turned white and a word flashed through his mind, trap!

The other had set up traps along the road!

Hui Bao immediately felt this was troublesome. People would rarely set up traps when they were trying to escape. Only those experienced, cunning, and malicious experts would be so careful and so nasty.

Expert!

Hui Bao did not make a sound but he straightened. Fighting spirit emanated from his short and low body.

While his status in the temple was not high, he was still very proud of his skills. In these years, he had never failed before.

“What is it?” Dai Tao looked at the glass eyed canine and asked.

“The other has set a trap,” Hui Bao said gravely. A hint of pain flashed through his eyes. It was not easy to raise a glass eyed canine and this was his only one.

“A trap?” Dai Tao was shocked. “Do they know that someone is following them?”

“I’m not sure!” Hui Bao shook his head. “The power of a trap like this is not high. They are mostly used against ling beasts. Experienced experts usually will set up traps like this behind them just in case. If they were actually prepared for pursuers, the trap would be more powerful.”

Dai Tao understood. What Hui Bao said was rational.

But what he didn’t know was that Zuo Mo knew that it would be fanxu xiuzhe that were chasing him. What traps could be effective against fanxu? He gave up on those unrealistic ideas and targeted the ling beasts that would appear. This was also Pu Yao’s suggestion.

Hui Bao’s expression was serious as he beckoned to another disciple, “Give me the [Ten Thousand Lure Disk].”

The disciple carefully presented a disk to Hui Bao. The disk was completely back and had been carved from an unknown black stone. It was covered in strange seal scripts.

Hui Bao took the disk, bit his finger and drew a seal script on the disk. His expression was stern as he chanted.

The motionlessly needle on the disk slowly started to move. Moments later, it stopped and pointed in a direction.

A direction that was the complete opposite of the one before!

As expected of an expert!

Hui Bao’s eyes became even brighter.

———

Xiao Mo Ge and Jiang Zhe, the famed battle general of Xuan Kong Temple, were going to fight to the death!

Such explosive news created a great wave in the Hundred Savage Realm in a flash.

While Jiang Zhe was not as powerful as Gu Liang Dao, he had been the first battle general to defeat and conquer a mo jie. Xiao Mo Ge’s fame had skyrocketed up in this past while, defeating the Ming Bandits and the Yu Frontier Guards. He also had a glorious record.

This was truly a match of the strong against the strong.

After the Sky-Splitting Calamity, the xiuzhe camp had successively achieved victories with many battle generals. On the other hand, the mo had been unable to muster an appropriate response. The major factions of mo maintained their silence. They naturally had their own considerations, but for the mo people, they felt shamed. But they could not argue against the truth.

The battle between Xiao Mo Ge and Jiang Zhe immediately attracted the eyes of all of the Hundred Savage Realm.

Xiao Mo Ge’s reputation had grown and he was clearly the representative of the new generation of battle generals. However, in the eyes of the public, he still lacked a major victory!

Defeating the Ming Bandits and Marshal Yu was enough to make a splash in the mo territories. But a victory against those outsider was even more important in the eyes of the mo people.

A long sequence of defeats and retreats caused the mo people to have a longing desire for victory!

Almost all of the Hundred Savage of the Dark was hoping that Xiao Mo Ge could defeat Jiang Zhe.

Victory, only victory would count!

The gaze of the Hundred Savage of the Dark gathered on Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion.

When the news spread, the route that Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion took immediately became free of obstacles. The major factions along the route moved out of the way. They even enthusiastically offered all kinds of help: free supplies, resources to recruit more soldiers … …

This battle was exaggerated to the point that it became, in many people’s eyes, a battle of life and death that could decide the fates of mo and xiuzhe.

After the repeated losses, the desire of the mo toward victory started to burn under the influence of the spark that Zuo Mo threw ut.

Mo innately liked to fight. Their desire to fight was something that xiuzhe found hard to understand.

Many mo warriors rushed in from all directions in hope that they could participate in this battle. The number was tens of times greater than the previous wave that had come.

Multiple mo marshals publicly expressed their support of Xiao Mo Ge. Intelligence of all kinds flowed and gathered on Gongsun Cha and Bie Han’s hands. At the same time, Jiang Zhe who had wanted to focus on preparing for the battle found that the number of scouts in the surroundings had suddenly increased and small-scale skirmishes also increased.

The mo in his surroundings had seen the chance to make things difficult for Xuan Kong Temple. We cannot defeat you, but we could harass you and not give Jiang Zhe the chance to prepare in peace.

Many little factions teamed up and went to harass Jiang Zhe’s forces. Many people started to talk about how the xiuzhe had hunted yaomo in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. They called on the mo to hunt xiu. Some mo even called on yao to ally together to fight Xuan Kong Temple. The Hundred Savage of the Dark was extremely busy.

The affair turned into a wildfire in a flash.

The pressure of Xuan Kong Temple increased greatly.

———

Zuo Mo, A Gui, and Ceng Lian’er were walking on the street. They had completely changed their appearances and no one could recognize them on the street.

The mirage of Xiao Mo Ge and Marshal Yu’s fight had spread through the entire Hundred Savage of the Dark, and it would be trouble if they were recognized.

But at this time, Zuo Mo was feeling smug.

As the mastermind behind this string of events, he naturally felt smug about the situation. He had been the one to spread the news about so-called fight between Xiao Mo Ge and Jiang Zhe.

But he hadn’t thought that the mo would react so fiercely and the response was beyond  his expectations.

His original intention was to make things difficult for Xuan Kong Temple.

The present situation was very beneficial for Gongsun Cha and the others. They now had popular support, the advantage of home territory. This fight attracted the attention of all mo. No one would dare to act against them in fear of the world’s anger.

Just how much support Xiao Mo Ge had could be seen by Marshal Hao’s public action, he had been the first to publicly support Xiao Mo Ge!

Even more detailed and accurate jie maps, guides that were willing to fight, those were all advantageous to Gongsun Cha. The mo jie occupied by Jiang Zhe’s forces would also rebel when they heard the news. While all this could not overwhelm Jiang Zhe, it would take up a bit of his strength.

An advantage was built up slowly like this.

At this time, no one doubted Xiao Mo Ge’s identity. Was it a joke? How could a xiuzhe fight against Jiang Zhe?

Of course he is a mo, a pure male mo, only they would have this daring!

What? He knows yao arts? Yao?

You dare to fight for Xiao ye with us?

You don’t want to live?

Hearing this, Zuo Mo smiled. He asked Pu Yao, “Would those two old thieving baldies have lost our trail?”

Thinking about what he had set up along the way, even he felt uncertain. Nasty, too nasty!

Pu Yao’s endless tricks really broadened his knowledge.

He was now worried that the two old thieving baldies had lost his trail and would return to make trouble for Gongsun Cha and the others. That would not good. One of the key points of this battle was that he would be able to keep the two old thieving baldies occupied.

“Do not underestimate Xuan Kong Temple.” Pu Yao snorted at Zuo Mo’s words.

———

Hui Bao’s face was covered in dust and had a terrible expression.

Up until now, he had lost six ling beasts! The number of ling beasts he lost in the past five years was not as many as what he lost in this one day. The other’s moves were not mainstream measures. There were some primitive and nasty setups that he could not guard against and he had continuously fallen for.

If he wasn’t experienced and unusually sensitive, he would have lost the trail a long time ago.

But even so, he didn’t have any confidence.

The other definitely was more experienced than he was. Even more importantly, the other was nastier and more cunning than he was! The other had used uncanny traps, one interlocking with another, and every time, it was different.

If the other’s targets were people, he would have died long ago.

In dealing with traps, what people fought with was not just technique but mental strength. Hui Bao knew that he had completely lost on that level.

The only confidence he had was the two elders beside him. The two elders definitely would not watch as he was killed.

Dai Tao’s expression was also unwell. He saw Hui Bao’s disheveled state. He had actually been pushed into such a panic by a junior. He was not in a good mood. On the other hand, Ji Zheng had been expressionless from beginning to end as though he was not affected by the incidents at all.

Hui Bao suddenly exhaled. His gaze landed on the distant city.

“It’s here?” Dai Tao turned to ask Hui Bao.

“Yes! Daren!” Hui bao said respectfully. “They are inside this city. But … …”

“But what?”

“There are many people in the city and it is hard to pinpoint them… …” Hui Bao trailed off.

“There is no need for such trouble.” Dai Tao smiled. Finishing, he looked towards Ji Zheng. “Please, Shixiong, force them out.”

Ji Zheng nodded expressionlessly and suddenly flew into the sky.

He looked down at the sky from the sky. People were as small as ants.

Ji Zheng raised a palm upright and shouted clearly, “Muh!”

In this moment, the air within hundreds of li suddenly froze. A terrifying presence pressed down towards the city below.

The entire city seemed to freeze in that moment. People instinctively looked towards the figure in the sky. Terror uncontrollably possessed every corner of their body. Their hands and feet felt cold and their minds were blank.

A dhyana light swept the entire city like a wave.

When the dhyana light lit up, Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly changed.

Damn it!

He hadn’t expected the other would not care at all and challenge the entire city!

The dhyana light gave him a feeling of extreme danger.

Chapter 668 – Ji Zheng

The dhyana light was soundless and serene like a ripple in the water.

Detecting danger, Zuo Mo shouted, “Scatter!”

Finishing, he shot up and hurriedly flew out of the city. Ceng Lian’er understood and immediately flew in another direction.

Zuo Mo turned around and found A Gui following tightly behind him. He suddenly panicked. “A Gui, we need to run in different directions!”

A Gui did not seem to hear and continued to follow him closely.

Zuo Mo felt both moved and panicked. If they split up, the two would chase after him. A Gui and Ceng Lian’er would then have a chance to escape. But he hadn’t thought that A Gui would be so stubborn that she would not listen to his words. That caused his plan to fail completely.

He then saw a smear of red out of the corner of his eye. It was Ceng Lian’er coming back.

Ceng Lian’er was coming back!

Motherf***er!

Zuo Mo was both panicked and angry. These people that did not listen to direction! He felt slightly moved by their loyalty. Zuo Mo was not surprised that A Gui had followed him but Zuo Mo was very surprised that Ceng Lian’er had also turned around. He was the enemy’s target. Ceng Lian’er had given up her best chance to escape and chose to fight alongside them. This required great courage.

“All in!”

At this time, any other words were extraneous.

Zuo Mo’s spirits rose to a peak. He suddenly grabbed his legs and turned into a ball. He somersaulted in the air and his legs suddenly kicked into the air.

Bam!

It was as though he had pushed against a tangible but invisible block in the air. The wind gusted past him and the sound was explosive and clear.

A thread of pain suddenly appeared on Zuo Mo’s face. Even though his mo physique was stronger now, it could not endure such a high-speed change in momentum.

He had pushed off with enormous force. Using this enormous power, Zuo Mo’s body shot out in the opposite direction at an even faster speed to head towards Ji Zheng!

His gaze was tightly locked onto Ji Zheng’s eye-catching shiny bald head.

He disliked thieving baldies the most!

Zuo Mo threw away all stray thoughts. Golden light flashed across his body and shen power rippled.

A Gui’s body eerily disappeared and then she suddenly appeared in the air next to Zuo Mo.

Ceng Lian’er was like a red gust of smoke. She wavered uncertainly and faint after images formed.

The three’s target was Ji Zheng!

It had been a brief moment from the time they had made the decision to run away to the decision to turn back and attack.

In the eyes of Dai Tao and the others, Zuo Mo and the others running away was the normal response. They did not find it strange but when the three suddenly switched to a counter-attack, they were caught off guard.

Xiuzhe of fanxu level were of high status in any sect. They either roamed the world in search of rare and precious things, or they were in seclusion in search of a higher level. If a situation was not forced to the very end, the sect would not rely on such great power, much less in a top sect like Xuan Kong Temple that had so many experts.

It had been decades since the two had fought.

Due to this, they were unprepared for the trio’s escape turning suddenly into an attack.

If this was a usual time, facing such a great difference in power, this bit of unpreparedness would not be of any effect.

The two fanxu’s minds were not affected by this. Their minds had been hardened and their confidence in their power had been engraved into their bones.

They were overjoyed rather than shocked. If Zuo Mo and the others chose to flee, they could only choose to chase Zuo Mo and the risk the other two escaping. Now the three had decided to stay. In the eyes of these two, it was like moths heading for the flame, seeking death!

Ji Zheng snorted coldly. His upraised hand moved towards his other hand, his palms pressed together in a prayer position.

His expression was solemn as he chanted.

A golden lotus blossomed under his feet. Countless petals fell. A peaceful and serene presence that could permeate people’s minds formed and an imperceptible murmur of chanting disturbed people’s concentration.

Zuo Mo felt his rippling shen power suddenly stop. Without being conscious of it, his fighting spirit weakened.

He immediately felt fear. The old thieving baldy wasn’t simple to have a weapon that could subdue people without a fight!

If this was in the past, Zuo Mo would have been greatly affected by the disturbance of the dhyana chanting. But ever since he comprehended the stele text,, his control over his shen power was much greater even if it had not grown by much.

Zuo Mo protected his mind. The pure and burning shen power furiously circulated through his body. When the flower petals that fell came near him, they would explode into fragments!

At the same time, the Soul Setting Divine Light that was sleeping in Zuo Mo’s body suddenly spun. Zuo Mo immediately felt his body lighten and his mind relax.

He hadn’t thought that the Soul Setting Divine Light would have such a use!

Zuo Mo was overjoyed and his spirits rose!

That bald head in his field of view grew closer. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but howl. His arms reached outwards as though to embrace the shiny head. Countless golden lights flashed in the air and flooded towards his hands.

In this moment, a thick and vast golden pillar suddenly formed in Zuo Mo’s curved arms at an astounding speed.

On the golden pillar, there were golden crows that seemed to be alive as they cawed and flapped their wings.

Hiss!

A streak of crimson shot up along the golden pillar.

[Golden Crow Battering Ram]!

At the same time, a cool crescent moon formed behind Ceng Lian’er’s body. Compared to the small crescent of before, the moon was much broader this time.

The crescent moon pointed directly at Ji Zheng as though it was a blade.

“Moon, moon, strike!”

The purple light in A Gui’s eyes grew and her body eerily disappeared into the air.

Ji Zheng’s expression changed slightly. The attacks of the three surpassed his expectations. His dhyana heart that was still like that of a deep well detected danger and ripples formed.

But the disturbed dhyana heart immediately calmed.

Ji Zheng looked down as he chanted!

Blinding golden light emanated from his body. In a flash, he was like those intimidating buddhas covered in golden paint.

[Great Authority Vajrapani Dhyana Body]!

At the same time, the sutra characters on his kasaya seemed to come alive. Sounds of countless people chanting came from the kasaya and gathered into a vast ocean of dhyana chanting. Golden characters flooded out of Ji Zheng’s body and formed a sea of characters!

Xuan Kong Temple’s eighth-grade talisman [Sutra Sea Kasaya]!

Zuo Mo felt his vision blur. The sutra characters around Ji Zheng changed constantly.

But Zuo Mo was experienced in battle. While he was shocked, he was not panicked. The [Golden Crow Battering Ram] did not change direction and headed powerfully towards that golden sea!

Ceng Lian’er immediately understood Zuo Mo’s intentions. She controlled the moon crescent to follow behind the Golden Crow Battering Ram and struck!

When the Golden Crow Battering Ram hit the sea of sutra characters, the burning red flow along the pillar suddenly exploded. Everywhere it passed, the sutra characters started to burn as though they were made of paper.

And having overcome the resistance, the Golden Crow Battering Ram smashed down!

Dong!

A deep sound exploded in people’s minds. In the hundreds of li, everyone’s minds shook. Those that were weaker felt restless and wanted to throw up.

Zuo Mo’s Golden Crow Battering Ram was like a great and heavy object that smashed through this sea of sutra characters!

At this time, Ji Zheng suddenly raised his head and opened his eyes. It was like a Buddha opening his eyes, without joy nor sorrow, the aura of authority as great as the ocean. His hands moved apart and slowly slapped towards the Golden Crown Battering Ram coming towards him.

The unstoppable Golden Crow Battering Ram was stopped by this seemingly normal movement!

The palm that seemed to be smelted from golden liquid stopped that enormous Golden Crow Battering Ram completely.

This all happened in a flash. Dai Tao hadn’t thought that the trio’s attacks would all be focused on Ji Zheng. But he did not panic. He had absolute confidence in Ji Zheng’s strength. Ji Zheng Shixiong usually was secluded and only thought of dhynana cultivation. Outsiders would not know but as another fanxu of Xuan Kong temple, Dai Tao knew Ji Zheng Shixiong’s strength better than other people.

Ji Zheng Shixiong was stronger than he was!

Ji Zheng Shixiong that was raised in Xuan Kong Temple had a sturdier foundation from when he began cultivating. His accumulation at each level was much better. When this reached fanxu, this advantage became evident.

Dai Tao always held some admiration about this.

Looking at Xiao Mo Ge’s group concentrating their attacks on Ji Zheng Shixiong, he was not panicked and smiled coldly inside. They were seeking their own deaths!

“Shen power! Is only so!” A thread of disappointment flashed across Ji Zheng’s eyes.

This Golden Crow Battering Ram was powerful but it was far from the power that he thought it would have. Was the power of shen power only so much?

If that was the case, then this shen power did not live up to its reputation … …

Just as this thought formed in Ji Zheng’s mind, his eyes suddenly flickered. A cool light flashed along the Golden Crow Battering Ram and suddenly struck right in front of him.

The light had been following tightly behind the Golden Crow Battering Ram and was hidden from view, concealed by the blinding golden light.

Ji Zheng’s dhyana heart was steady and when his thoughts shifted, he was able to respond.

A handful of grey mist suddenly flew out of the beads hanging on his chest. When the cool moon light struck the grey mist, it suddenly stilled. Among the grey mist, the cool crescent moon essence was left motionless.

Eighth-grade talisman [Mortal Thought Bead]!

This string of beads was forged from the common thoughts that he had excised from his mind through cultivation of his dhyana heart. It was connected to his mind and had great abilities. When he sat and chanted everyday over decades, he would stroke them to prove his heart.

Dai Tao looked interestedly at the fight between the two sides and showed no intentions of joining in. Up until now, Ji Zheng Shixiong was at ease and the enemy had not managed to truly threaten him.

Ji Zheng Shixiong was usually proud. He was at the peak of his interest in fighting. If Dai Tao joined in, it would displease Ji Zheng.

Suddenly, the motionless Golden Crow Battering Ram started to shatter.

Black crows suddenly flapped their wings and flew out of the Golden Crow Battering Ram.

These completely black crows had wisps of flame on their toes. Their eyes were dark red, and there were three thin golden feathers on their foreheads that trembled slightly.

Their wings spread and their dark red eyes were locked onto Ji Zheng.

For some reason Ji Zheng suddenly felt slightly anxious.

His attention was completely absorbed by these black crows and did not notice the strange dance like movements that Zuo Mo was making at this time.

From his vantage point Dai Tao could see the strange movements Zuo Mo was making. His arms were dancing like snakes, his body moving in a strange rhythm. These movements seemed senseless, but for some unknown reason, Dai Tao felt a chill rise from his feet.

His expression changed and he blurted out.

“Shixiong, careful!”

Chapter 669 – Shen Technique!

Shen technique!

A term that was so ancient that people had almost forgot it. A term that had suddenly come into Dai Tao’s mind. His face immediately turned pale white.

The black crows’ dark red eyes flashed with eerie light. They seemed to be looking down from on high, their expressions indifferent as though they were gazing at ants.

The moment Dai Tao met the eyes of the black crows, his mind turned completely blank.

A desolate, cold, and vast presence came at him. His mind was actually stolen for a moment.

Zuo Mo’s expression was focused and his eyes completely void of emotion. This was the first time he was using a shen technique and it took all of the shen power in his body.

From the beginning, he knew that the Ten Crow Celestial Domain would not be an actual threat to fanxu xiuzhe.

He was counting on the shen technique.

The shen techniques that had been lost by the passage of time had astounding power. Compared to the complex and exquisite methods of the three major systems at this time, shen techniques could be called simple. But this word ‘simple’ only applied to Zuo Mo now that he had finally set foot into the doorway to shen power. Before he had comprehended the Great Peeace Mo Stele, he had never successfully completed a shen technique.

But after comprehending it, the manipulation of shen power came naturally.

The ancient shen techniques were simple and ancient but held great power. Even in this era where cultivation was so developed, it was enough for the top xiuzhe to feel jealousy.

The power of shen techniques originated from shen power.

Zuo Mo had two shen power inheritances. One was the Greenvine Tribe’s inheritance that Qing Lin had given him. The other was the Sun Tribe’s shen power inheritance. Zuo Mo had studied the shen power inheritance of the Sun Tribe.

The Ten Crow Celestial Domain and the sun shen power could be used together. After the fight against Marshal Yu, Zuo Mo had spent a lot of effort to merge shen power into the transformations of his Ten Crow Celestial Domain.

With his present amount of shen power, he could not use shen power to fight a full battle like the totems in the ancient era.

Even using the most elementary shen techniques, the shen power inside him would be quickly used up.

For the present Zuo Mo, the shen techniques were his trump card!

Ji Zheng hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would use a killing move immediately.

Because when one looked at the situation, Ji Zheng was the one at a disadvantage. However, after the fight against Marshal Yu, Zuo Mo understood the great gap between him and fanxu or marshals.

If it hadn’t been for the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed acting up during that fight, he definitely did not qualify to fight against Marshal Yu. He had advanced greatly in the period of time since, but there was still a large gap between him and a fanxu, much less fanxu like Ji Zheng who had been at this level for so many years.

Zuo Mo had judged his own abilities correctly from the start.

His strategy was effective!

Shen technique, [Crow Eye]!

The legends said in the ancient Sun Tribe, what they liked to raise the most were black fire crows with red eyes. These fire crows were vicious and wary, and when they flew, it was like an arrow. Their wings would cut the air causing a high pitched and piercing sound. The sound acted  as an alarm for the tribe.

The ten black crows in the air suddenly spread their wings and the light in their dark red eyes brightened. An extremely dissonant sound pierced the eardrums and penetrated people’s heads.

Under the strange piercing sound, the ling power around him uncontrollably froze for a moment!

Ji Zheng’s expression on that golden face finally changed.

After entering fanxu, the ling power inside his body had become one with him and he had rid himself of all mortal thoughts. His dhyana heart was clear and open without any distractions. He had almost reached the limit of dhyana cultivation. Even if he was swarmed by ten thousand ghosts and had to enter the cycle of rebirth, the ling power inside his body would not separate at all from his physical body and mind.

In such a case, how could his ling power go out of control?

While Ji Zheng’s mind was stunned, the ten black crows in the air suddenly flapped their wings and dove down at Ji Zheng.

Woosh woosh woosh!

Balls of dark red flames suddenly appeared from their toes and quickly covered their bodies. The three slender golden feathers on their foreheads dropped off and floated around them.

The ten dark red streams of light were like ten arrowheads pointing directly at Ji Zheng.

Shen technique!

Ji Zheng’s pupils suddenly contracted. When he realized what this was, the ten flows of dark red light almost reached him!

The eerie dark red of the black crows’ eyes captured people’s minds and caused a chill to run through their minds.

A feeling of danger that almost consumed him caused every thread of ling power in Ji Zheng’s body to respond unconsciously.

The power of a fanxu finally was shown at the moment of death!

The [Mortal Thought Beads] that had been hanging from Ji Zheng’s neck exploded. Grey mist fell down towards the ten dark red streams of fire.

At this moment of life and death, Ji Zheng did not hesitate to sacrifice the treasure he had forged through many decades!

When the first flowing fire black crow blurred, into the grey mist, it seemed to land in a bog and its speed quickly decreased.

Pew pew pew!

The ten crows all entered the grey mist.

When the grey mist came into contact with the flames around the crows, it was like adding cold water to boiling oil and exploded!

Pia pia pia!

The force from the rattle and pops, like that of fireworks, rushed towards people so quickly they couldn’t breathe.

The grey mist immediately disappeared.

Ji Zheng’s expression was grave but without any pain. His eyes were bright as his hands moved. In a moment, he went from the angrily glaring vajrapani to a venerable one holding a flower!

His brow was gentle, his smile as warm as the spring wind. The murderousness immediately dissipated.

The lotus flower in his hand was tender and beautiful.

Petals fell off the flower and floated towards those fast-approaching black crows.

But these seemingly slow flower petals managed to stop these black crows.

At this time, the cool moon essence that had been motionless, as if it had been waiting, broke free of the heavily damaged grey mist without any warning and shot at Ji Zheng.

This came in a flash!

The slowly revolving sea of sutra characters around Ji Zheng suddenly formed a wave of sutra characters that stopped this cool moon essence.

Almost at the same time, a light flashed through Ceng Lian’er’s eyes.

Under the crescent moon, her long sleeves danced!

Pia, the moon essence that had been stopped by the sutra characters suddenly exploded!

The cool moon essence started from within the sutra character sea and spread at a rapid rate!

In a moment, the sutra character sea was covered in frost!

[Moon Frost Essence]!

Shen technique!

Another shen technique!

Ji Zheng’s heart jumped and his expression changed again.

How was it possible?

How was it possible!

When Zuo Mo had cast his shen technique, Ji Zheng had been shocked but was able to face it calmly. But when he discovered that Ceng Lian’er could also use shen techniques, he was completely stunned.

How was it possible!

While the four great sects were still trying to recover shen power, there were two people here that were able to use shen techniques!

What he didn’t know was that Ceng Lian’er’s shen power inheritance was more complete than Zuo Mo’s. After restoring the most important part, Ceng Lian’er’s Moon Shen power inheritance was complete.

She also had cultivated shen techniques!

His mind became unfocused, Ji Zheng showed a weakness!

The frost was like a poison that infected the sutra characters. All of the sutra characters were destroyed and became countless cool moon energies.

The [Sutra Sea Kasaya] that Ji Zheng wore also dimmed. It became as grey as withered leaves and slowly crumbled.

In an instant, two eighth-grade treasures were lost but Ji Zheng could not attend to them.

At this crucial moment, a five colored treasure wheel appeared and managed to stop the moon frost. On the treasure wheel, five colors cycled endlessly as it stopped the frost essence. This was Dai Tao coming to the rescue in time.

Eighth-grade talisman [Five Element Manifestation Wheel]!

This talisman had been originally crafted when Dai Tao had still been a roaming xiu. After he entered Xuan Kong Temple, he studied the sutras and reforged it.

The treasure wheels had five colors that belonged to the five elements. There was a different venerable one within each of the elements.

The Five Element Manifestation Wheel stopped the frost essence. The five elements circulated and dissipated the power of the moon frost.

Ji Zheng relaxed slightly. If they could endure the enemy’s attack, they could take back the initiative! He had never expected that they could cultivate shen techniques. Caught off guard, he had been unprepared. But now, countless records flashed across his mind.

Shen techniques were dominant but they also require great expenditure of shen power. The other would not have the endurance.

Wait … …

An eerie shadow suddenly flashed across Ji Zheng’s mind. He was alarmed. There was one other person … …

Not good!

Suddenly, a strange power silently entered his body from his back!

Ji Zheng’s expression changed!

Dai Tao’s expression also changed!

A Gui appeared behind Ji Zheng like a ghost. Purple energy was visible on her right palm as she pressed it to his back.

From the beginning when A Gui had disappeared, she had not appeared until now. Only appearing to deliver a fatal attack.

Ji Zheng’s body shook and the golden color on his face faded at a visible rate.

At this time, the flower petals stopping the black crow burned up and turned to ash.

There were three black crows left!

Red light flashed through the three black crows. They turned into three streams of light that accurately hit Ji Zheng who had lost the protection of the sutra sea.

Ji Zheng’s body abruptly started to burn. No one noticed that the nine slender golden feathers around the black crows entered Ji Zheng’s body like needles.

“Shixiong!” Dai Tao frantically shouted.

After the successful attack, Zuo Mo did not linger and shouted, “Run!”

Before he finished, a hand appeared behind his neck. A Gui had appeared like a ghost behind him and grabbed his neck.

He felt his eyes blur and then found someone beside him. Ceng Lian’er was grabbed by the neck like he was by A Gui’s other hand.

Ceng Lian’er’s face was slightly pale. Using that shen technique had taken all of her power.

The two smiled at each other.

Detecting the sincerity in Zuo Mo’s smile, an emotion that was not there in the past, Ceng Lian’er felt happier.

Boom!

An intimidating ling power vibration came from behind them.

Shocked, Zuo Mo turned to look back.

A faint Buddha figure that was hundreds of zhang tall appeared where they had been.

The authoritative Buddha glittered with golden light. A vast ling power vibration caused Zuo Mo’s expression to change drastically!

That Buddha figure stared at Zuo Mo with an indifferent gaze.

Zuo Mo felt his heart seize. Suddenly, A Gui increased in speed. The purple energy flashed and Zuo Mo finally felt the pressure decrease.

Ji Zheng was covered by the Buddha figure. The golden feathers that had entered his body were forced out and turned to powder. The Buddha’s figure also disappeared. Ji Zheng’s complexion was pale. Looking at the rock that had shattered into multiple pieces and lost all light, aftering having been unaffected by losing so many other talismans, he finally showed pain for the first time.

The ultimate treasure of Xuan Kong Temple, Buddha Relic, had saved his life.

He suddenly raised his head and said to Dai Tao, “Do not give chase.”

Dai Tao was shocked. While Ji Zheng Shixiong was injured, the enemy had no power to fight back. Even if he was alone, he could capture the three.

Ji Zheng said coolly, “The shen power that last woman cultivates is famed.”

Chapter 670 – Twenty Six Years Ago

A Gui was extremely fast.

But what surprised Zuo Mo was that the two old thieving bandits did not chase after them. The last attack by the Buddha manifestation had scared Little Mo Ge to the point his little heart stopped beating. It had also killed the little bit of hope that he felt.

If they managed to kill one, then escaping would be much easier.

Even when Zuo Mo thought of it now, their attacks had been flawless. No matter if it was individual performance or their teamwork, it was the best they could do. But that cold-faced old thieving baldy was so powerful it almost surpassed the imagination and he was even harder to deal with than Marshal Yu.

The three of them were much stronger than when they had fought Marshal Yu. He and Ceng Lian’er had both used a shen technique, and A Gui’s ambush had been wondrous. But even so, the three of them working together could not finish off the cold-faced old thieving baldy.

The old thieving baldy’s great talismans were much more powerful than Marshal Yu’s.

The great wealth of Xuan Kong Temple could be seen.

Zuo Mo had become used to seeing the dominance that came with incontestable power. But this battle reminded Zuo Mo of the importance of talismans.

Thinking about the endless chase that would be coming, Zuo Mo decided. Wasn’t it just competing with riches? While we aren’t as wealthy as Xuan Kong Temple, we are not poor!

He started to search his ring.

Zuo Mo had to say after digging around that he did have a lot of good things.

The broken arrow from the Archer Tribe, the fragments of Eastern Water Tribe’s treasure, Heaven Summoning Bell, the Nether Ghost Core of the Nether Ghost Tribe, the golden leaf, the Jade Hook Tree, the Yinyang Null Polarity Bead, the Corpse Sea Bamboo, the tears of the Mist People, the Black-heart Treasure Coins, the Green Carp Tongue Sword … …

Zuo Mo’s confidence increased and he immediately felt his spine straighten.

The spring wind blew, the battle drums beat, who’s afraid of who’s talismans?

Having found a safe place, A Gui stopped fleeing. Zuo Mo carefully set up jinzhi and hid their traces. The three began meditating to recover their energy. Four hours later, Zuo Mo was the first to recover. His right hand could constantly provide shen power. At this time, the small amount of shen power it provided greatly increased his recovery speed.

After a while, A Gui and Ceng Lian’er also opened their eyes.

Zuo Mo took out all kinds of materials, talismans, and mo weapons, and arranged then in rows.

“See what can be used, pick what you want.”

Ceng Lian’er’s exquisite face showed shock. The ground was covered in materials, talismans, and mo weapons that all gave off different lights. It dazzled the eyes. The cave’s walls reflected rainbow light.

A Gui grabbed the Nether Ghost Core and the Corpse Sea Bamboo. Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. He hadn’t thought that A Gui would pick these two. Even Qing Lin hadn’t known how to use the Nether Ghost Core. The Corpse Sea Bamboo was an extremely dark talisman.

Ceng Lian’er was not polite and picked the Green Carp Tongue Sword and some blood thunder beads. The blood thunder beads had been taken from Wu Yu’s personal items and there were sixteen beads.

Unlike the xiuzhe who would usually possess all kinds of talismans, mo would usually only have one or two mo weapons. But when Zuo Mo saw the blood thunder beads, his eyes lit up. He reached out a hand. “Give me a blood thunder bead.”

Ceng Lian’er handed a blood thunder bead as he requested.

The blood thunder bead was about the size of a thumb, the colour of wine-red, its surface reflective but the bead was translucent. A line of silver slowly curving over the surface of the bead as though it was alive and gave people a feeling of extreme evilness.

Feeling the blood thunder bead in his hand, Zuo Mo managed to discern the general method to make these beads. In the extremely yin blood pools, plant thunder plasma, after five years, blood thunder beads would be produced. It was not easy to obtain blood thunder beads and they were extremely valuable. General level mo would do almost anything to obtain a few to use as life saving measures.

Some of the content from the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] floated into Zuo Mo’s mind. His thoughts shifted, his hand flipped, and a thread of fire appeared in the middle of his palm.

The Sun Shen Fire immediately wrapped around the blood thunder bead.

Zuo Mo’s hands moved and all kinds of spells flowed into the fire.

Moments later, the new blood thunder bead flew into Zuo Mo’s hand. The new bead was slightly smaller than before, the silver line was even brighter, and there were dots of gold energy on the bead.

“Let’s call this bead the Gold Star Silver Thread Bead.” Zuo Mo threw the bead over to Ceng Lian’er and then focused on reforging the other fifteen blood thunder beads.

The [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] was a method that Zuo Mo had gotten from Pu Yao a long time ago, and was extremely familiar with the contents. As a xiuzhe, he was skilled in forging, after his time in the Ten Finger Prison, he became skilled in yao arts. His pure Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus was enough for him to dominate in body cultivation. He was also skilled in mo matrices. Without realizing it, Zuo Mo could be said to be “learned in the methods of all three territories.”

Even though his strength could not enter the ranks in the three fields, Zuo Mo could definitely be called a freak in terms of how many different things he learned.

What Zuo Mo did wouldn’t be permitted in large sects. People had limited energy and time, so if what they learned was varied and unfocused, it would be hard to accomplish anything in the future. Due to this, after sect disciples went through the initial recruitment tests, the sect would send experienced elders to give them suggestions which area to focus on. From then on, the disciple would focus on only one field.

How could Zuo Mo learn so many tricks? The two old spirits each wanted to pull him into their own camps.

If he hadn’t stumbled on to shen power, Zuo Mo would truly have been lost in the heterogeneous mix of skills. The three major systems were each unto themselves, with thousands of methods, and each with their own wonders.

But Zuo Mo managed to obtain the shen power inheritance. He comprehended the shen power. The three powers started to merge and he ended up with new shen power! A new system formed like this.

This caused Zuo Mo to look at the heterogeneous mix of content from a higher level and merge them into a single system.

So when Zuo Mo saw the blood thunder bead, he thought of the [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]. If this was any other person, they would have probably ponder for a long time about how to use yao forging methods to forge mo beads. But Zuo Mo didn’t hesitate at all. He felt this was natural and there were no obstacles.

From very early on, his understanding of cultivation had been diverted far from the orthodox.

The [Yin Fire Bead Chapter] naturally had its own uniqueness in order to have been famed for a time. The yin fire beads that Zuo Mo had forged before had become something he kept up his sleeve. But under Zuo Mo’s present understanding and unorthodox methods, this spell that had passed from thousands of years ago was completely transformed.

If the great mind that created the [Yin Fire Bead Chater] knew that his spell was changed into something strange like this, he would probably cry from under the ground and climb back up.

For someone that only thought of practical benefits like Zuo Mo, tradition was nothing.

As long as the [Gold Star Silver Thread Bead] was powerful enough, then it was enough!

After forging the fifteen [Gold Star Silver Thread Bead], Zuo Mo looked towards the talismans and mo weapons covering the ground. A Gui and Ceng LIan’er had both picked a few things but what should he pick?

The broken arrow of the Archer Tribe? That was a good item. The Archer Tribe had been a powerful tribe that was able to threaten the dominant Sun Tribe. This broken arrow wasn’t ordinary,

The golden leaf also had methods of using shen power to make items but after pondering it for a moment, Zuo Mo gave up. The reason was simple, he did not have enough shen power.

With his pitifully small amount of shen power, it was delusion to think he could melt and reforge a treasure like the broken arrow.

Another item with the same problem was the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. While Zuo Mo had pulled it into his body and they could be said to have listen to his orders, but Zuo Mo could not do a thing at the moment. Ever since the Anti Dragon Claw became a bracelet, the Three Thousand Threads of Worry seemed to have entered a deep sleep. No matter how Zuo Mo called to it, there was no response.

Little Mo Ge cried inside. After fighting for thousands of years, did you fall in love?

The Jade Hook Wood was a sixth-grade item and it required just a bit of nurturing before l it could turn into the Celestial Green Jade Hook Wood. If this was a normal time, sixth-grade was definitely a good item, but it would not be enough to face fanxu. The Yinyang Null Polarity Bead’s drawback was that the user would die after using it. It was something to used to die along with the enemy.

After looking around, Zuo Mo’s gaze finally ended on the Black-hearted Treasure Coins.

The Black-heart Treasure Coins, one of the one hundred and eight earth mo weapons. They could become their own domain where yin and yang were reversed, and the five elements were mixed.

For any other person, it was a top mo weapon!

But for Zuo Mo who had the Anti Dragon Claw and the Sun Crystal Seed, he was not satisfied with the power of the Black-heart Treasure Coins.

But what if he reforge it?

When this thought appeared, it could not be erased. In this moment, Zuo Mo made a decision, do it! At most, this ‘subpar’ weapon would be ruined! The rich Little Mo Ge folded his legs and started to fiddle.

———

Xuan Kong temple.

The sect leader’s harmonious face was dark. The entire hall had a suffocating atmosphere. The elders looked at each other and knew that something bad had probably happened.

“Everyone should already know about the fight with Xiao Mo Ge,” the sect leader slowly drawled.

The elders were silent and nodded. Some with nimbler minds felt their hearts jump. Had Jiang Zhe lost?

“This upcoming battle is not insignificant. We have asked Elder Ji Zheng and Elder Dai Tao to go into the mo territories to bring back Xiao Mo Ge’s head.”

When these words were spoken, the elders were shocked. They hadn’t thought that the sect would be so heavy in their action. Two fanxu elders, this battle was as good as finished!

After the shock, all of them showed joy.

The sect leader’s expression returned to normal. Seeing the joy on the people’s faces, he said coolly, “Elder Ji Zheng was injured fighting with Xiao Mo Ge.”

The words were like lightning on a clear day. The entire place was silent and everyone was stunned.

Elder Ji Zheng … … was wounded?

“Does everyone still remember the events of twenty six years ago?” Suddenly, the sect leader seemed to speak of something completely unrelated.

“Twenty six years ago … …”

Suddenly, multiple elders changed expression.

“The one that wounded Elder Ji Zheng was the little girl from back then,” the sect leader said indifferently.

This stirred memories for many people, and even more changed expression.

“Has she achieved … …” an elder couldn’t help but ask with slight terror on his face.

“She wounded Elder Ji Zheng,” the sect leader said coolly.

The elders became silent again and the terror on their faces increased.

“Elder, no matter if it is this fight, or against the little girl, we cannot lose.” The sect leader’s half-lidded eyes brightened and that harmonious and kind face became twisted. “What slipped from our hands in the past, this time, we have to take it back!”

Everyone thought of the past events. Their terrified faces suddenly became excited.

“No matter what we have to do, we cannot lose this time! We cannot give anyone else a chance!” The sect leader stood up with heat in his eyes.

“Victory or defeat, it will all be decided in this one move!”

The elders had excited expressions, their gazes burning and greedy. They stood and responded in unison, “By the sect leader’s orders!”

All of Xuan Kong Temple was filled with killing intent.

Chapter 671 – Creation Of The Talisman

Bie Han’s eyes were dry and burned like fire.

They had sprinted for ten days at top speed!

Not drinking and eating during this time, and not resting for more than four hours a day, his body was pushed to its limits but his mind was unbelievably excited.

Zuo Mo’s actions had been very successful. The mo had continued to join them in the hopes of participating in this battle against the xiuzhe. But those that were most useful to Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were those mo that were familiar with Cold Mountain Jie. They had lived in the area for a long time and were familiar with the terrain like the back of their hands.

Especially the guide with him right now, someone who had told them of this secret and hidden path.

This path traversed caverns hidden deep within the earth, ten li  below the surface. There were countless caverns that spanned tens of thousands of li and were interconnected like spiderwebs. They were filled with dark and cold energy, earth fire, beasts, and were extremely dangerous. If someone unfamiliar with the tunnels ventured into them, then they would most likely become lost and die in there.

But their risk was worth it. Hidden deep within the caverns was a chaos rift unknown to the majority of people, one that led to an underground cavern in Cold Mountain Jie.

Bie Han and Gongsun Cha both understood the value of this hidden path. They had deep admiration for what Zuo Mo had done. What had originally seemed to just be propaganda and was carried out without any technique had increased the chance of their victory.

Cold Mountain Jie was the mo jie that Jiang Zhe had first conquered and right now functioned as the central forward base for Xuan Kong Temple’s invasion. There were large amounts of supplies stored there but most importantly was the chaos rift that led to Xuan Kong Temple.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s fortunes had immediately changed when Mu Xi closed the chaos rift that lead to Xuan Kong Temple, leaving  Gongye Xiao Rong a homeless dog.

The chaos rift was of the utmost importance!

Especially when one was attacking deep into the mo territories. If the chaos rift was lost, it meant losing their path home.

Compared to Gongye Xiao Rong’s prideful actions, Jiang Zhe was more cautious. How could he ignore such an important place? He had set up layers of seal formations at the jie rivers of Cold Mountain Jie and made Cold Mountain Jie impenetrable.

Before this revelation, Gongsun Cha and Bie Han had never considered of attacking Cold Mountain Jie.

With the small amount of forces they had, the best choice was to search for openings as they moved. Trying to attack such a well-fortified position was the same as seeking death.

Gongye Xiao Rong had had so many people but facing Ma Fan who only defended and did not strike out from his base, Gongye Xiao Rong couldn’t do a thing and left in defeat. Any battalion wouldn’t have any good ways to deal with a fort that was sealed off and had complete defensive seal formations.

Presented with such a good chance, if they could not grab it, then Gongsun Cha was not Gongsun Cha, and Bie Han was not Bie Han!

Originally, the two had planned for Bie Han to attract Jiang Zhe’s attention while Gongsun Cha sneaked to Cold Mountain Jie but after discussion, they decided that this fatal blow would be delivered by Bie Han. One reason was because of the hate between Bie Han and Xuan Kong Temple, another was that Bie Han knew more about the battle generals of Xuan Kong Temple than Gongsun Cha.

Bie Han knew how strong Jiang Zhe was. He warned Gongsun Cha that they could not change how fast they were travelling. Jiang Zhe was extremely perceptive. If Gongsun Cha delayed the movement of the troops, Jiang Zhe would definitely detect it.

Gongsun Cha kept a steady pace as Bie Han suggested.

On Bie Han’s side, they moved at full speed.

Even Bie Han felt exhausted down to his bones after advancing at a forced march for so long. But when he thought of the hardship he had endured under Xuan Kong Temple over the years, and the state of the wooden and unresponsive Sin Battalion members, his exhausted body was revitalized and the thoughts supported him to keep advancing.

“It’s this cavern!” the guide said joyfully. He was extremely excited. He felt his entire body was tremble at the thought of being able to participate in this battle and deal the decisive blow.

“Go!” Bie Han spat out with a heated expression.

The guide looked with respect at Bie Han. In order to not attract any attention, they did not use mo steeds. After marching for a few days, his endurance had all been used up. Sin Battalion had carried him for the rest of the trip.

This battalion was like mo puppets. They did not know exhaustion, too scary!

But when he thought of the battle that was coming, he couldn’t help but feel his spirits rise.

He led Bie Han’s Sin Battalion through winding twists and turns as they quickly disappeared into the rift in the valley.

———

Slicing through the air!

Any mo that saw Xiao Mo Ge’s Battalion would think these four words. The organized battle formation and the almost tangible killing energy left deep impressions on people.

Especially when this battalion was moving at full speed, the hums and shrills when they moved caused people’s scalps to prickle.

When this terrifying battalion started to accelerate, the flood of sound immediately informed people that this battle that was watched by the world would start at any moment.

No faction along the way delayed them. They were silently watching and waiting for this battle to begin.

Jiang Zhe looked at the information the scout had sent and sighed lightly. “They have come so fast!”

In Jiang Zhe’s view, this was because Bie Han had detected their intentions to delay them. Advancing at full speed was to not allow Jiang Zhe enough time to prepare. But Jiang Zhe was not nervous. He had already finished his preparations.

These additional preparations were just to increase their chance of victory against Bie Han.

But in a battle against someone like Bie Han, there were too many uncontrollable factors. These preparations might not be used. He was only repairing the opening in their defences. They had taken over many of the mo jie and Bie Han had many targets to choose from.

He knew that his fellow disciples that were guarding the other jie were not Bie Han’s match. Of the entire defense line, only he could stop Bie Han.

That was also his strategy. He would face Bie Han and leave Gongsun Cha to the others of his sect. If he could stop Bie Han, the others could work together to take down Gongsun Cha and then turn around to surround Sin Battalion.

Jiang Zhe knew of Bie han’s temper. Bie Han definitely would not give up a chance to face him!

Suddenly, a golden paper crane flew into his hand.

Jiang Zhe’s heart jumped. The golden paper crane represented the most urgent order of the sect. Had something happened in the sect?

He opened the paper crane and read the lines inside. His brow furrowed.

When he saw the name of Ji Zhen Shishuzu, Jiang Zhe’s surprise could not be suppressed and it was as though a tsunami formed inside of him! Two fanxu experts, and now another batch of experts were about to enter Cold Mountain Jie!

师叔祖: ancestral shishu, most likely of several generations

What had happened?

But Jiang Zhe also had a bad feeling. For any sect, it was dangerous for all of their elite forces to leave the sect and not leave anyone for defence.

While he did not believe that anyone would dare to act against the sect, but he innately resisted a risky action like this that did not leave any room to spare.

But he was not the sect leader!

He smiled helplessly and tried to explain to himself, if it isn’t an extremely important matter, the sect leader would not be so impulsive!

But … …

———

Zuo Mo’s expression was solemn. The Black Heart Treasure Coins in his hand were completely transformed. The Black Heart Treasure Coins had square openings that seemed to be filled with blood. It would be more accurate to call them the Red-Heart Treasure Coins now.

The seven Red Heart Treasure Coins were scattered on a turtle shell.

Originally, Zuo Mo had not thought of this turtle shell that had been thrown into a corner of his ring. When he had been reforging the Black Heart Treasure Coins, he had felt that the talisman’s abilities were wondrous but they lacked the power to deal a fatal blow.

Zuo Mo looked down on the Black Heart Treasure Coin for this weakness. Since he was going to reforge it, he naturally had to take the chance this so he searched for suitable materials in the ring.

When his gaze landed on this turtle shell, his eyes lit up.

The turtle shell gave off extremely weak shen power vibrations. This was something Zuo Mo had previously had a hard time detecting but now Zuo Mo immediately detected the extraordinary nature of the turtle shell. The thread of shen power was extremely weak but it was pure.

After thinking for a while, he remembered that he had gotten this turtle shell when he had been looting the Sun Shen Temple. He hurriedly went to the gold leaf to search for the origins of this turtle shell and was given a fright. This was the turtle shell that the Sun Crystal Tribe used for divination during ceremonies. It had been the turtle shell of the Sea Turtle Tribe’s totem. After the Sun Tribe had destroyed the Sea Turtle Tribe and their totem, this turtle shell had been given to the shen temple. .

The only damage on it were scorch marks caused by the shen fire of the sacrificial altar. Even though tens of thousands of years had passed, this turtle shell was otherwise undamaged. The Sea Turtle Tribe cultivated water-type shen power and after being forged in shen fire for countless years, the sun shen power had permeated every bit of it.

Water and fire had merged together in an unique fashion.

If he could have seen this strange method of fire and water together, Zuo Mo’s [Li Water Sword Scripture] would have advanced several grades!

Each treasure coin was now blue with red on the inside, each textured with the pattern of the turtle shell. They dotted the turtle shell. The scorch marks on the turtle shell had disappeared and the shell itself had become as white as jade without any flaw.

Inside the turtle shell was a shallow puddle of crystal clear water that was like a mirror.

The tears of the mist people had been used here.

What was most unique was that there was a ring of sparks around each turtle coin. They were a miniaturized version of the Reversed Stellar Revolution.

Each of the turtle coins had a ring of sparks that revolved prettily on the surface of the turtle shell.

This was the first top tier talisman that Zuo Mo had gained!

It was not suitable to categorize this talisman using the normal grade ranking system. With the earth mo weapon as the starting point, the holy relict of an ancient tribe as the foundation, with yao arts used as adornment, with the mist people’s tears as the lake, and forged using the forging methods of the xiuzhe. A talisman like this surpassed everything that Zuo Mo knew.

The moment that the talisman took form, Zuo Mo felt joyed.

At this time, black cloud gathered over head and lightning flashed.

Lightning struck down and the mountain above Zuo Mo’s head turned to powder.

Another bolt of lightning came at Zuo Mo. A turtle coin suddenly flew from the water to the top of Zuo Mo’s head. A suction force suddenly came from the red square hole.

The lightning immediately entered the square hole.

The turtle coin did not move at all, as though the lightning had just been an illusion.

The black clouds overhead seemed to be infuriated. Lightning roared and came down towards the turtle coin above Zuo Mo’s head.

As the thunder roared, the tortoiseshell patterns on the turtle shell slowly turned silver.

They were absorbing the lightning!

Chapter 672 – Return And Kill

Ji Zheng opened his eyes. His pale face had finally recovered some colour. The power of the lingdan circulated in his body. He had not wasted these few days of rest. However, he knew that the injury would not heal in this little time. The destructive ability of the shen techniques surpassed his imagination. Even when he thought of it now, he felt a thread of fear. If it wasn’t for the Buddha Relic, it was very likely he would have died.

Shen power, as expected of shen power!

The events of the past suddenly floated into his mind. He couldn’t help but sigh lightly.

But his dhyana heart was strong and knew of the importance of this information to the sect so the stray thoughts disappeared.

He turned and asked Hui Bao, “Can we catch them?”

Hui Bao said cautiously, “This one will try!”

The fight from ten days ago had frightened him half to death. He had not thought the fanxu level shishizu would be wounded. The power of the enemy was this unimaginable. He did not understand why such a powerful expert would still spend time and effort on learning unorthodox skills like concealment and fleeing.

Ji Zheng knew that Hui Bao did not have a full grasp of the situation and did not lecture him. He nodded. “Try your best.”

After the elders of the sect came, even if Xiao Mo Ge could run to the ends of the world, they would have ways of finding him.

At this time, the black clouds that were gathering in the distance disturbed them.

“Someone is forging talismans?” Dai Tao looked at the inky black clouds in the distance and the dancing lightning with shock. Such a powerful presence meant that this talisman would be extraordinary.

Ji Zheng raised his head to look. “It’s them!”

Having fought against Zuo Mo, Ji Zheng immediately detected that familiar presence.

The direction where the black clouds were gathering was the same as where Xiao Mo Ge and the others had fled.

“This guy is so daring!” Dai Tao showed anger. He hadn’t thought that Xiao Mo Ge hadn’t just stayed rather than fled, and even had the gall to forge talismans near them!

So daring!

So daring!

Dai Tao was so angry he was trembling. It was the first time he had seen someone so arrogant. He didn’t even try to flee when being chased by two fanxu and was publicly forging talismans nearby.

Talismans?

Under the pressure of absolute power, even the top talismans were of no use, much less talismans that were forged in a hurry. In his eyes, this was Xiao Mo Ge underestimating them!

Dai Tao turned to look at Ji Zheng.

Ji Zheng could see the Dai Tao’s fury. His face was still as unaffected as granite. “Let’s go see.”

Dai Tao flew off first without another word.

Ji Zheng did not speak and followed closely behind. The two were wary of the trio but not afraid. In their view, Xiao Mo Ge and his group were able to wound Ji Zheng was just because the two of them had been careless.

If they were serious, Xiao Mo Ge’s group wouldn’t have had any chance at all!

Dai Tao held a low opinion of Ji Zheng requesting more support from the sect. He did not think that Xiao Mo Ge could escape from their hands. Ji Zheng was wounded but Dai Tao who thought that he had seen what Xiao Mo Ge’s group could do, he did not fear them.

If it wasn’t that this was a great matter … …

Dai Tao actually did not want to attract too much attention. He was in fanxu but he wasn’t from Xuan Kong Temple. The people in the sect could have their own thoughts about him. But, Xiao Mo Ge’s dismissive attitude completely infuriated him.

———

If Little Mo Ge knew Dai Tao’s thoughts, he would feel he was unjustly blamed.

When the last bolt of lightning entered the turtle coin, the clouds in the sky dissipated. The blue sky was clear and was left without any of the killing energy from just moments ago.

The turtle coin flew back into the pond. The seven turtle coins floated and moved on the surface of the water, creating sparks.

Having seen the shocking forging process, Ceng Lian’er looked curiously at the turtle coin talisman in Zuo Mo’s hand and asked, “What talisman is this?”

Zuo Mo remembered that he hadn’t given it a name. After some thought, he decided. “Oh, it’s called the Little Mo Treasure Cup!”

He did not have to expend any effort to give such a simple and descriptive name. It could also satisfy his little sense of pride.

Ceng Lian’er’s surprise and anticipation was completely destroyed by this name.

Neither Zuo Mo or Ceng Lian’er would think of how much amazement [Xiao Mo Treasure Cup] would cause the world. Few people would ever learn of this name, its true name of [Little Mo Treasure Cup.]

The cheerful Zuo Mo did not know that the name he had just given the talisman would be changed by people in the future.

At this time, he was filled with joy and confidence. While he had not tested the power of the Little Mo Treasure Cup, he knew it would be extraordinary. However, the feeling of being connected to Little Mo Treasure Cup caused him to think of Lil’ Pagoda and lowered his mood.

But he quickly sorted out his emotions.

“Let’s go back and kill them!” Zuo Mo raised his head and said something frightening.

A Gui naturally would not object but unexpectedly, Ceng Lian’er did not object.

The cunning and clever Little Mo Ge naturally would not seek his own death. He had his own plans. While he had not seen the result of the battle that day, seeing that the enemy had not made a move these past few days, Zuo Mo immediately realized that Ji Zheng was wounded, and it was not a light injury.

Otherwise, they would not have remained silent in these last ten days.

Ji Zheng’s injury caused Zuo Mo’s thoughts to become active. The three of them had recovered, and a powerful talisman had been forged. It could be called their strongest moment. The enemy was at their weakest and this was a good chance.

While the result of the battle ten days ago was caused by the other underestimating them, it also showed that the three of them had a chance.

Zuo Mo knew as time went on and Ji Zheng’s wounds healed their situation would turn for the worse!

If they retaliated now, while it was risky, there was also an opportunity!

A Gui would listen to Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er did not object so the three turned back towards Ji Zheng to kill.

But after they had flown out only a short distance, they saw Dai Tao’s group.

Dai Tao’s eyes were keen. When he saw the trio, he first froze and then became furious. If he had felt that Xiao Mo Ge had dismissed them by forging talismans rather than fleeing, then Dai Tao was so angry he could only smile as he saw Xiao Mo Ge had returned!

When had fanxu xiuzhe been underestimated so?

Without a another word, he sped up and shot towards the trio. He was going to make the three understand the anger of a fanxu could burn anything!

The Five Element Manifestation Wheel came out!

———

“Xuan Kong Temple is still like this. They would make a fuss over any little matter.” Xue Dong’s tone was slightly mocking. In this time, Xuan Kong Temple had attracted the gaze of the entire xiuzhe world. The battle between Xiao Mo Ge and Jiang Zhe was also watched in the xiuzhe world.

However, what Xue Dong was talking about was not that.

Kun Lun’s spies were high in the ranks and Xuan Kong Temple did not intend to conceal the matter so Kun Lun had received the information quickly.

“I know a bit about this.” Lin Qian felt slightly heavy. He had previously reviewed the cases of ancient tribe descendants being exterminated in the last few hundred years, and knew more than Xue Dong.

Xue Dong turned in curiosity. Lin Qian was about to speak when a disciple sudden came in. “Eldest Shixiong, the sect leader is looking for you!”

Xue Dong immediately understood that the matter was not as simple as he thought.

Lin Qian nodded at Xue Dong before leaving with this disciple

When he stepped into the large hall, Lin Qian stopped breathing. Inside the large hall, almost all the sect elders were present. Even the elders that had not shown themselves for many years were in attendance.

It was the first time Lin Qian had seen a scene like this in his lifetime.

The gazes of the elders landed on Lin Qian’s person as he entered. Many elders gave small smiles of acknowledgement. Lin Qian was humble, talented, and well-liked by the elders. Everyone understood the next sect leader would definitely be Lin Qian.

These elders had great status, but their descendants and disciples would need to rely on Lin Qian’s care. No one was willing to be at odds with Lin Qian.

The sect leader seemed to know that Lin Qian had arrived though his eyes were closed. His strong eyebrows twitched and he opened his eyes. He said slowly, “Everyone knows the situation. I have called everyone here to discuss Kun Lun sect’s stance on this issue.”

The sect leader’s authority in Kun Lun was unquestionable.

In front of the sect leader, those rebellious elders didn’t dare to breathe loudly.

Moments later, an elder started the discussion, “In the past, our reputation was left in disgrace and we didn’t obtain a thing. Our development  of shen power has been pretty good and if we spend some more time, we will definitely learn some mysteries of shen power … …”

An elder objected at this time, “Shen power has developed but it is not something we can complete in a day. Right now, we are searching blindly and only have limited examples. If we can obtain … …”

The two were like sparks that were thrown into a barrel of dynamite. The hall descended into noise.

The sect leader kept his eyes down and half-lidded. He allowed everyone to argue as though he had fallen asleep.

Gradually, the camps between the crowd became clear. The majority of elders  supported interfering in Xuan Kong Temple’s affair.

Seeing the clear attitudes, they closed their mouths. The hall became silent again.

Only after the group finished did the sect leader seem to wake up and open his eyes. He said coolly, “Since you have reached a consensus , then do this. However, we cannot copy Xuan Kong Temple. We will only send one fanxu elder, and five yuanying elders. It would be good to bring along more disciples. If young people do not get experience, they cannot become accomplished.”

“By the sect leader’s order!’ The elders bowed.

The way the sect leader handled the discussion and made a decision today had broadened Lin Qian’s vision. The sect leader had only said two sentences today but no one was able to object.

Lin Qian seemed to understand.

After the meeting ended, the sect leader did not find Lin Qian for a private discussion. It looked like a minor meeting but Lin Qian had learned a lot. A sect leader needed to unite the benefits of the majority and not use his status to force others.

Having just walked out, Lin Qian saw a person hurry over.

Lin Qian stopped walking. The incomer was the vice hall master Zhong Bao of Listening Wind Hall. He definitely had news. Listening Wind Hall was the intelligence division of Kun Lun. It held a reputation and status in the xiuzhe world as one of the best intelligence groups. The number of tentacles it had in all areas of the three territories far surpassed people’s imaginations.

“What is it?” Lin Qian asked.

Zhong Bao respectfully reported, “It is about Wei Sheng.”

“Wei Sheng!” Lin Qian’s eyes flickered. A figure that was as determined and steely as a sword appeared in his mind. His eyes brightened!

Chapter 673 – Do Not Touch

Ceng Lian’er was the first to act against the quick Five Element Manifestation Wheel.

With one toss, she threw out three Gold Star Silver Thread Beads!

The thumb-sized Golden Star Silver Thread Beads transformed into balls of blood when they left her hand. The sticky blood twisted as it flew through the air and a strong tang of blood immediately filled the area. Inside the each ball of blood, there was blood coloured lightning that floated and flickered and little golden flame lotuses.

Dai Tai snorted coldly and his eyes became more murderous.

In his eyes, he wouldn’t need any power to deal with a few Blood Thunder Beads.

Dhyana spells were the natural bane of blood type mo skills. While Dai Tao was not a traditionally trained Xuan Kong Temple disciple, but he had been with the temple very long and almost all the temple records in the were available to him. How could he not know dhyana spells?

He chanted solemnly as his hands moved to activate a dhyana spell.

The shadowy figure of a buddha flew out of the Five Element Manifestation Wheel and took form. She was dressed in white robes, a red mole between her brows, and held a willow branch, as she descended her feet landed on a white lotus. She smiled and lifted the willow branch in her hand. Several drops of dew from the willow branch flew into a ball of blood.

The blood ball roiled violently like a furious wild beast and continued flying forward.

Dai Tao was slightly shocked. It had not been defeated?

The white buddha raised the willow branch in her hand again. Several more drops of dew flowed along the tender branch and shot off towards the balls of blood.

Boom-oom-oom!

The balls of blood hadn’t dissolved like Dai Tao had expected, instead the three balls of blood in the air exploded!

Caught off guard, Dai Tao was immediately swallowed by the bloody mist.

Boom boom boom!

The lightning balls that floated inside the wave of blood flew towards Dai Tao like sharks that had smelled blood. The lightning balls exploded in the air and formed an electrical net that went to envelope him. Those nondescript little golden flames were masked by the blinding light of the lightning.

The fast beating of thunder in the blood mist sounded like fireworks.

Dai Tao was left extremely disheveled.

But lightning of this degree was unable to harm him. But the sheer amount of plasma lightning  had surprised him. He hurriedly moved, the Five Element Manifestation Wheel and released a light that covered him. While the lightning caused the light shield to shake, it was unable to cause him actual harm.

Such an embarrassment!

Dai Tao’s face was flushed red. A fanxu was forced to such a degree by a general level, such a humiliation! And the other hadn’t even used shen power!

The angry Dai Tao directed the white-robed Buddha to deflect the lightning.

Counter-attack! He had to retaliate!

He decided that he would not hold back and immediately use a killing move, not giving them any chance at all!

Yet Dai Tao did not notice those hidden little lotus flowers of flame until the flowers of fire had actually burned through the light shield cast by the Five Element Manifestation Wheel!

Dai Tao’s expression froze on his face.

How was it possible?

The Five Element Manifestation Wheel was an eighth-grade talisman! What kind of fire was this?

Gritting his teeth, the Five Element Manifestation Wheel above Dai Tao’s head moved again. A dignifiedly figure of a buddha appeared, this time they were sitting on a red lotus. The red lotus Buddha pointed, and all of the gold flames flew towards the red lotus under him like birds returning to the nest.

In a blink, the red lotus was covered in the gold flames.

Such a malicious flame!

Dai Tao immediately discovered that these gold flames were difficult to absorb. His red lotus buddha had the ability to absorb all kinds of fire but this time, it was unable to absorb the gold flames.

Was this … … shen fire?

When the thought appeared in his mind, his pupils contracted. These silent gold flames should be shen fire!

Dai Tao felt as though he was going to go crazy soon!

The two buddhas summoned by the Five Element Manifestation Wheel were unable to defeat the other’s blood thunder beads.

The enemy was more difficult to handle than he had imagined. Dai Tao calmed down after encountering such a hindrance. It seemed that Ji Zheng Shixiong’s injury had not been an accident. These three were stronger than he had expected. If he was careless, he might actually lose.

He held his hand up into the air.

The Five Element Manifestation Wheel slowly spun and under the five colored light, the flames and lightning lights suddenly stilled. The five colored light flowed, the flames and lightning immediately divided, one into two, two into four … …

They became smaller and smaller until they shattered and disappeared.

Zuo Mo had not hoped that he could defeat Dai Tao with three Gold Star Silver Thread Beads. While Dai Tao was still feeling troubled by the Sun Shen Fire, the second wave of attack by the trio arrived!

The second to attack was A Gui. Purple energy flashed through her eyes and she slammed her hand towards Dai Tao.

At this time, the five colored light of the Five Element Manifestation Wheel was covering Dai Tao.

The five colored lights moved constantly. A Gui’s blow which never had never missed was deflected and brushed against the five colored pillar of light. It shot off and entered the ground below Dai Tao, silently creating a ten zhang hole.

Dai Tao’s expression was calm but he was astounded inside. While A Gui’s blow had been deflected, his Five Element Manifestation Realm still shook.

At this time, he did not dare to be careless. His Five Element Manifestation Wheel was being pushed to its limits. Within the five colored pillar of light, five buddhas of different colors gradually appeared and slowly moved with the pillar of light.

The trio felt a strong suction force come from the Five Element Manifestation Wheel. A sticky power was furiously pulling them towards the five colored light.

The air seemed to become solidified and the three seemed to be trapped in a bog.

When a fanxu xiuzhe attacked at full power, the trio immediately felt the pressure increase, pressure that came from all directions and was unable to be blocked.

That time they had fought Ji Zheng, Ji Zheng had been the reactive party the entire time and was suppressed by the three. Ji Zheng’s attention had been focused on how to resolve the three’s attacks.

But Dai Tao had rapidly calmed down from his rage and attacked at full power, the three immediately felt the difference.

Terrifying pressure came from all directions and caused them to feel it was inescapable.

Absolute power!

Zuo Mo quickly reacted and knew that this could not continue. The power in the air around them was increasing. If they did not act, in the end, just the twisting power in the air would tear them to pieces!

Taking a deep breath, Zuo Mo brought out the Little Mo Treasure Cup.

His expression was solemn and when he was about to attempt to activate it, the shen power inside his body suddenly flooded uncontrollably into the Little Mo Treasure Cup. Zuo Mo’s mind went blank from surprise.

Ding!

A turtle coin on the shell suddenly became bright.

It jumped off the water’s surface, turned into a silver light, and flew towards Dai Tao’s figure inside the five colored pillar of light.

“Good attack!” Dai Tao’s hairs suddenly stood on end. Without even thinking, he shouted and channeled the ling power in his body to its limits.

The Five Element Manifestation Wheel above his head suddenly accelerated in its rotation. The space within ten li of this place started to twist!

The buddhas within the pillar were all chanting, each took up different positions and expressions: glaring angrily, smiling, dignified, or solemn … …

Numerous bright sutra characters floated on the surface of the pillar of light.

The silver light was like a silver arrow.

The silver arrow did not seem to be affected by the twisting of space. In the moment it touched the surface of the pillar, all of the sutra characters turned bright. The five buddhas acted at the same time and singing rang out over the land!

Yet this silver light seemed to have shot into glass.

Cling!

The clear sound was unusually dissonant when heard with the buddhist song.

The song suddenly stopped.

The silver light that entered the pillar seemed to have entered sticky glue and drastically slowed down.

Dai Tao finally saw that this silver light was a treasure coin that was round on the outside, and square on the inside, covered in silver etchings.

Sparks would come out of the treasure coin and then extinguish within the pillar of light.

Strange!

Dai Tao’s expression changed. The sparks were being destroyed but the pillar of light from the Five Element Manifestation Wheel was also dimming. At this time, the clear water inside the cup that Zuo Mo held shook slightly and it rippled.

As the ripple travelled through the air it caused the five colored pillar of light rippled as though it was water. The buddhas within the pillar of light wavered and showed signs of instability.

Dai Tao’s heart jumped!

In an instant, the ripples had caused their positions to be reversed.

What kind of talisman was this?

A hint of terror flashed through Dai Tao’s eyes.

Ji Zheng who had been at the back changed expression. Not good!

If terror rose in Dai Tao’s mind it would disrupt his dhyana heart, and would create a weakness in the pillar of light. Ji Zheng had not thought that the power of these three would have increased so much in just ten days. He finally realized that they had still underestimated the three!

Ji Zheng disregarded the wounds on his body. A gold colour rose on his face. His fingers flickered and pointed towards the turtle coin in the pillar of light.

Boom!

This minute action caused a great thunderous sound!

[Dhyana Sound Thunder Finger]!

Yet the moment a weakness appeared in Dai Tao’s mind, the turtle coin in the pillar of light disappeared.

Dai Tao’s right arm suddenly exploded.

The bright lightning immediately covered Dai Tao.

Almost at the same time that the terrifying power brushed against Dai Tao’s body it had collided with a nearby mountain peak. The little mountain exploded.

Zuo Mo woke up from his stupor. The shen power inside his body had all been wrung out. He suddenly thought of an object and shoved a Sun seed into his mouth. Immediately, the  pure and burning shen power turned into a flow into his body.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. The Sun Fruit seed was as powerful as expected!

He was about to activate the Little Mo Treasure Cup when his expression changed drastically and he shouted, “Run!”

The three were in sync and before he finished shouting, A Gui and Ceng Lian’er had retreated dozens of zhang.

“I will kill you! I will kill you!”

Dai Tao shouted madly. What came from behind them was a tsunami of terrifying ling power vibrations!

Rocks and rivers floated up into the air, leaving gravity and ground behind.

Zuo Mo sprinted as he glanced back. Dai Tai’s entire body was burnt black and gave off black smoke. His hair was loose and his right shoulder was a mangled mess of blood and flesh. But at this time, Dai Tai’s eyes were full of murderousness!

He raised his left hand. Astounding ling power continued to gather towards his left hand!

The terrifying ling power vibrations were like a wall of wind. The terrifying power that induced hopelessness continued to gather.

Zuo Mo’s scalp felt numb .He hated that he didn’t have two more legs. All the power he had, including his shen power, was used to flee for his life!

A Gui and Ceng Lian’er also recognized the danger and furiously flew forward!

Zuo Mo flew so hard that his tendons bulged and his face was twisted.

The behind of a fanxu should not be touched! Should not be touched!

Chapter 674 – Wei Sheng’s Sword Oath

“Shidi!” Ji Zheng’s shout was like spring thunder. He used a secret Xuan Kong Temple technique, [Nirvana Shout]. Ji Zheng had seen something was not right. Dai Tao was not originally from Xuan Kong Temple and his foundation was much weaker compared to Ji Zheng. His dhyana heart was not as stable, and if Ji Zheng had allowed him to lose control any further, his mind would be damaged. It would definitely cause a permanent weakness and he would have greater difficulty progressing in his cultivation in the future.

The enraged Dai Tao’s figure suddenly stilled. His bloodshot eyes recovered some clarity.

Moments later, Dai Tao became completely calm and the blood in his eyes retreated.

“Many thanks, Shixiong!” Dai Tao said gratefully. If he had fallen to his mental demon then, then it would cause great trouble in the future.

Ji Zheng shook his head. “We are of the same sect, there’s no need to be polite.”

His gaze turned in the direction the three had disappeared into. His tone was unprecedentedly grave. “These three are powerful and each of them is almost comparable to a fanxu. They work together well, are cunning, and also have a great treasure. They will not be easy to deal with.”

Dai Tao felt fear. “That talisman Xiao Mo Ge had was very powerful! My Five Element Manifestation Wheel could not stop it at all!”

That turtle coin had passed through his body, disappeared into the distance, and returned to the treasure cup.

Dai Tao was an unlucky one. With his history as a roaming xiu, his Five Element Manifestation Wheel was based in the five elements. If he had encountered another talisman, it would definitely not have been this unfavorable.The seven turtle coins had been made using the Black-heart Treasure Coins, which already had the ability to reverse yinyang and the five elements and was a bane of the Five Element Manifestation Wheel, a natural counter.

Ji Zheng nodded. “It really is a great treasure.”

Dai Tao grimaced. “Our boat upturned in shallow water this time. We have been pushed so far by these three younger ones.”

Ji Zheng did not feel anything and said solemnly, “It is just the strength of shen power. I have gained some understanding of shen power after fighting these few days.”

Dai Tao paused and then he pondered it. He said, “After Shixiong mentioned this, I feel that shen power is not as incomprehensible as before but I still lacks understanding about several key parts. If we can solve them, then it will naturally come.”

Dai Tao’s tone was slightly excited. The fight these past days had allowed him to experience the power of shen power. It was stronger than ling power.

Those that could enter fanxu were all extremely intelligent. The four great sects had studied shen power for thousands of years, and they had accumulated far more than what normal sect disciples could imagine.

After fighting with Zuo Mo several times, both had begun to grasp a few things.

Their low morale suddenly rose. If they could comprehend shen power, any price was worth it. They had spent a long time at the fanxu level and every bit of progression was difficult. If they could comprehend shen power, their strength would skyrocket.

There was nothing more attractive than this.

“But we are both wounded and our power is hampered.” JI Zheng’s tone was calm.

Dai Tao gritted, “Those three are too cunning! However, after all the sect elders arrive, they won’t be able to escape!”

“There may not be enough time.” A hint of worry flashed across Ji Zheng’s eyes.

“Why does Shixiong say this?” Dai Tao stilled.

“The effects of that past incident was significant and the other three sects will not ignore this incident,” Ji Zheng said gravely. “I’m afraid that their people have already started to move.”

“Then … …” Dai Tao was astounded. If the other three also came in, the situation would immediately become complex.

“We cannot wait for the sect elders,” Ji Zheng said decisively. “Even if our cultivations will be affected, we cannot let these three escape.”

Dai Tao thought for a moment and then suddenly said, “I have an idea.”

Seeing Ji Zheng turn to look at him, Dai Tao said, “These three are troublesome, but if we are careful, they will not be able to injure us.”

Dai Tao’s words were right. Ji Zheng did not speak and waited for his next words.

“What we want is just the method of shen power cultivation. If that’s the case, then why don’t we spar with them?” Dai Tao said what he thought.

“Spar?” Ji Zheng stilled.

“Every day we challenge them to battle, do not aim to win or lose. Using fighting to comprehend shen power and comprehend it before the other sects arrive. That way, even if our sect is not the winner in the end, we will already understand the mysteries of shen power.” Dai Tao had an excited expression.

When he thought about comprehending shen power, his heart burned hotter.

Ji Zheng was silent for a moment before raising his head. “Good!”

Dai Tao’s suggestion was plausible.

The two were both people that were extremely confident in themselves. They were confident they could comprehend shen power.

The two exchanged a look and chased in the direction that Zuo Mo and the others had disappeared in.

———

Almost all the people of the mo territories were interested in the xuizhe-mo battle that was about to occur. The attention that Wei Sheng received was reduced compared to before.

However, Wei Sheng seemed to not have heard the news. He still cultivated diligently everyday and in his spare time, he would continue to challenge mo experts.

While the mo did not like Wei Sheng and everyone wanted a mo expert to tear him to pieces, he was not harassed in any way.

Wei Sheng used his sword to win the respect of mo.

In the eyes of mo, only a honest victory would be a victory against such a honorable and respected opponent.

Many businesses even came forward. They were willing to provide Wei Sheng with the best rooms and the best food. Every place that Wei Sheng stayed would quickly become famous. This was all about mobei!

If Little Mo Ge was here, he would definitely take the chance to make it rich. Was it so easy to win Eldest Shixiong’s patronage? There should be a few auctions so that he could wring out every last mobei!

Of course, Wei Sheng did not have such entrepreneurial abilities. In truth, if it was not for the convenience, he would have rather stayed in the empty and vast mountain valleys.

The evening came. There was a challenge in three days. His opponent was a famed expert in this jie.

Wei Sheng was meditating with his legs folded up in the lotus position, the black sword by his side. There was no joy or sorrow on his face. He almost never relaxed. Almost every drip and drop of time was used on his cultivation as though he was a diligent dhyana xiu.

Suddenly, Wei Sheng opened his eyes in the dark.

“Since you have come, why hide?” Wei Sheng said coolly.

“As expected of Brother Wei Sheng that even Eldest Shixiong praises!” A figure appeared in a ripple from the space in front of Wei Sheng.

The newcomer was a woman dressed in silk and feathers. Her eyes were bright, her teeth white but Wei Sheng’s gaze landed on a little row of swords at her waist.

Wei Sheng’s gaze focused. “Kun Lun!”

The female bowed. “Kun Lun’s Da Ling Feng greets Brother Wei Sheng! Brother Wei Sheng is peerless in courage and this female admires you for entering the mo territories and winning.”

Wei Sheng’ expression became normal. “Why has Miss Da come to see me?”

There was a small smile on Da Ling Feng’s face. “Your sect is related to the fall of Bright Wave Jie. Brother Wei, please come with me to explain the misunderstanding.”

Bright Wave Jie had fallen!

Wei Sheng’s heart shook but after all the fighting in this recent while, his sword heart had become even stronger. There was no expression on his face. “Oh, you should speak to the sect leader regarding matters of the sect. Why did Miss Da come so far to ask Wei?”

When he said this, Wei Sheng realized, his eyes lit up and became as sharp as a sword. He looked directly at Da Ling Feng, “Are the sect leader and the shishu no longer present?”

Da Ling Feng shook her head. “This female does not know of that. Brother Wei will naturally know when you return to the sect with me.”

Wei Sheng was not as cunning as Zuo Mo but he was not stupid. He was not sure about Wu Kong Sword Sect but in a few seconds, he had completely understood why Da Ling Feng was here. There was only one possibility when Kun Lun would come to the mo territories to “invite” him back!

The sect had split from Kun Lun!

Thinking about what Da Ling Feng had just said, Bright Wave Jie had fallen, was it … …

Sect Leader, Shibo, Shishu … … they most likely … …

Wei Sheng’s body shook. A wave of sorrow and grief rose. His eyes immediately turned red.

What did their sect have to do with the fall of Bright Wave Jie? These words gave off a thick scent of conspiracy. Kun Lun’s enmity was evident! Wei Sheng understood that Da Ling Feng had not come to “invite” him but capture him.

Wei Sheng slowly stood. His reddened eyes stared at Da Ling Feng. His voice was hoarse as he said, emphasizing each word.

“If my sect’s elders met misfortune because of Kun Lun then I, Wei Sheng, swear by the sword to destroy Kun Lun!”

The great sorrow mixed with hatred hit Da Ling Feng’s mind like a hammer. Da Ling Feng’s presence was stolen, her face paled, and she reflexively took a step back.

But she immediately reacted and raged, “Wei Sheng, you dare! Dare to slight my Kun Lun! It seems that you have been secretly colluding with the yao!”

Colluding with the yaomo!

That was Kun Lun’s excuse … …

Wei Sheng’s sorrow increased.

Da Ling Feng’s eyes were dismissive as she said proudly, “My Kun Lun is a rightrous and good sect, is it one that a lowly fighter like you can slander? Hmph! Don’t think that because you can show off in the mo territories that you can challenge my Kun Lun. Today, I will let you see why my Kun Lun … …”

Da Ling Feng’s words suddenly stopped.

Because the edge of Wei Sheng’s sword was against her throat.

While she was speaking, Wei Sheng’s void sword essence had permeated the entire room. Every inch of space was under the control of his void sword essence.

Da Ling Feng’s body was paralyzed and her face was ashen. There was only one thought in her mind.

He actually attacked her!

He dared to actually attack!

He dared to attack Kun Lun!

The iciness and brutality of the black sword caused her hairs to stand on end and fear to move.

“I usually do not like to fight women.” Wei Sheng’s deep voice echoed in the room.

Da Ling Feng relaxed slightly. A hand suddenly removed the row of little swords at her waist.

“For people like you to use the sword, it is a humiliation to the sword.”

The bone-aching coldness at her neck disappeared. Da Ling Feng relaxed. Before she could speak, an extremely thin sword essence burrowed into her body. This sword essence was extremely strange. Once it entered her body, it disappeared.

Her face suddenly turned white. Her ling power seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

Her mind blanked.

Her cultivation had been destroyed!

“Return and tell Lin Qian that I will come find him.”

In the darkness, Da Ling Feng could not see Wei Sheng’s face but every one of Wei Sheng’s words were clear on her mind as though they were carved by his sword.

Da Ling Feng stumbled into the darkness.

In the room, Wei Sheng gripped the black sword until his fingers turned white.

The tears could not be suppressed and continued to flow.

Chapter 675 – “Disheveled”

Zuo Mo felt it was strange.

The two old thieving baldies kept coming to challenge, no, they were fanxu experts, you could not use the term challenge for fights with little fish like Zuo Mo.

The two old thieving baldies became glue and would not let them rest. They would fight three to five rounds every day, it was as though Zuo Mo owed them mo bei.

Zuo Mo did not know what these two old thieving baldies intended but this was also to his own aims. His goal was to lure the two old thieving baldies away to create opportunities for Gongsun Cha and Bie Han. Zuo Mo had been worried that these two would not fall for it and return to help Jiang Zhe.

Since they wanted to fight, then he would oblige!

The more he fought, the stranger Zuo Mo felt. He found free time and went into the sea of consciousness to as Pu Yao.

“They want to use you to comprehend shen power.” With how cunning Pu Yao was, he saw the two’s intentions with a glance.

Zuo Mo finally realized and then laughed darkly.

Little Mo Ge didn’t just know shen power. Of the trio, only A Gui was limited to shen power. Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er both knew mo skills, and if this was any other time, they would not dare to use mo skills to face the two fanxu thieving baldies. However, at present, the enemy was wounded and their power was reduced. They could manage it.

For a greedy person like Little Mo that would wring out benefits even when there weren’t any. Little Mo Ge wouldn’t be Little Mo Ge If he didn’t take advantage of those that came to him!

Heavenly, where would he go to find two fanxu to spar with him for free!

If he pass on such a good opportunity, he would be struck by lightning!

Therefore, Ji Zheng and Dai Tao quickly found that the number of times Xiao Mo Ge came to challenge them increased.

The two were overjoyed. Of the trio, Xiao Mo Ge’s shen power was the strongest and the purest. Fight? The two accepted happily.

But they quickly detected something was wrong.

Both Ceng Lian’er and Xiao Mo Ge did not use shen power no matter what happened. It would have been okay if that was just it. Those that were in fanxu did not lack patience.

The two quickly changed their strategy and started to drag out the fights.

After you finish are using your mo skills, I don’t believe you won’t use shen power!

Consequently, a tragedy occurred.

After fighting for an hour, and seeing Xiao Mo Ge’s Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus showed signs of fatigue, the two were slightly tired but they were filled with joy.

Boy! You’re done! Shen power, let it out!

Then Little Mo Ge showed them two rows of his snowy white teeth.

Yao arts!

From little yao arts to [Little Thousand Leaf Hands] to the [Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art]. He seemed to fire off fireworks that dazzled the duo. He even brought out his half-learned [South Sky Arrow Art] and [Grey Scar Art] for a spin.

The two suddenly seemed to remember that the sect’s dossier on Xiao Mo Ge had said this guy knew some yao arts.

However, was this really considered only knowing some?

The two were unprepared. Zuo Mo took advantage of this rare moment and he outperformed himself. He continued for several hours until he used almost all the yao arts he knew before he stopped.

Even though the two were fanxu, they had started to pant!

Dai Tao wiped the sweat off his forehead and said breathily, “Keep him here, we cannot let him escape, otherwise, all that effort would be for nothing!”

Ji Zheng’s breathing was heavy. He was intending to nod when Xiao Mo Ge unexpectedly charged again.

The two forced themselves to be alert and was filled with anticipation!

Shen power!

Was it about to start?

Zuo Mo threw out a handful of yin fire beads and then it was followed by a dozen [Sky Glass Wave], then sound type spells that came like the rain.

The two were completely stunned!

Then Xiao Mo Ge drew a flying sword from somewhere and started to perform sword scriptures. Holy, there was also sword essence!

Ji Zheng and Dai Tao were completely stupefied. Their eyes were dazed and unfocused.

They could understand him knowing yao arts. In the minds of xiuzhe, yao and mo were one and the same. It was not strange for a mo to know yao arts. But when did mo know xiuzhe spells? From dhyana xiu to seal xiu to sword xiu, and even more exaggerated, sword essence!

A pure sword essence!

Are you a spy from Kun Lun?

At the start, Zuo Mo had been slightly rusty and clumsy. It had been too long since he used a flying sword. But he quickly familiarized himself and the, now, unfamiliar sword scriptures he had used  floated into his mind.

With Zuo Mo’s present knowledge and experience, of course it was different when he thought of these spells again.

The power of [Li Water Sword Scripture] skyrocketed. On a high, Zuo Mo forgot himself. At the start, he still followed the moves, and then he started to move as he pleased.

[Li Water Sword Scripture] was just a third-grade sword scripture, and no matter what, it could not threaten fanxu. But as Zuo Mo swung as he wished, it surpassed the limits of [Li Water Sword Scripture]. His sword essence changed and became even deeper.

Yet no matter how Zuo Mo transformed, his cultivation of sword scriptures was too shallow and he could not advance and comprehend much in a day. The pressure he could put on the duo was limited.

He could not pose a real danger to Ji Zheng and Dai Tao, but they  also could not threaten Zuo Mo.

The two felt this was a torture. They almost counted the seconds as they forced themselves to endure.

As the power of Zuo Mo’s spells weakened, and his ling power showed clear signs of being drained, the two almost cried from joy.

Without needed to talk, the two went forward in preparing to keep Xiao Mo Ge here. If you don’t use shen power, what do you use?

Little Mo Ge showed his snowy-white teeth in a grin again. At the same time, he threw a Sun seed into his mouth!

A rush of shen power circulated in his body. The shen power quickly turned into the three powers!

Before, it would take Zuo Mo time to turn shen power into the three powers but as his understanding of shen power had increased, this process became so brief it was almost instant.

His three powers became full again!

Little Mo Ge attacked again.

Again!

———

Li Xian Er finished looking at the paper crane that the sect had sent and great waves formed inside.

Much of the content on the paper cranes was astounding. Li Xian Er could be said to have experienced much but the contents of the paper crane still brought her great shock. At the end of the message, Grandfather had used a very stern tone to tell her to take the people with her. She alone was responsible for catching Xiao Mo Ge and his group, at any cost.

She had enough people. In order to protect her on this trip, Grandfather had selected elite guards. While there were no fanxu, there were many yuanying.

She knew the importance of this matter to Tian Huan so she immediately made a decision.

———

“You have to leave?” Xi was extremely shocked. He did not disguise the strong reluctance on his face.

“Yes, because of a very important matter. My apologies! Please bid farewell to Marshal Di on my behalf, I thank Marshal Di’s for his great hospitality these recent days.” Li Xian Er’s expression was sincere. “Also, thank you to, Big Brother Xi, without Big Brother Xi taking this little sister to play, this little sister would have been unable to see much of the scenery. Big Brother Xi, if you have spare time in the future, remember to come visit Tian Huan and this little sister will also have a chance to enjoy being the guide.”

Xi was disappointed but he quickly recovered. A warm smile came back to his face. “I will definitely visit in the future. Sister Xian Er, are you returning to Tian Huan?”

Li Xian Er shook her head. “This matter is in the mo territories.”

Xi’s eyes lit up. “Oh, mo territories? Then this brother has to take responsibility! The present mo territories are chaotic and unsafe. Sister Xian Er, give this one a chance to enjoy acting as protector!”

Xi’s tone was half serious and half joking.

Li Xian Er pondered this and then said with a wide smile, “Then this little sister will thank Big Brother Xi. As long as it doesn’t disrupt Big Brother Xi’s work!”

“I don’t have any work!” Xi smiled and said.

Seeing Li Xian Er was in a hurry, Xi did not dither. He reported this to Marshal Di. Marshal Di did not stop him and picked several experts to go along which caused Xi great joy.

———

“Idiot!” Lin Qian showed rare anger. His expression was dark. The disciples in the surroundings did not dare to breathe.

“Why did you act on your own rather than wait for orders from the sect?” Lin Qian’s tone was murderous and his eyes as sharp as a sword. “And using such a stupid method! Do you not have brains? You startled him, stupid!”

The disciples trembled, especially the disciple that was responsible for the matters in the mo territories now had an ashen face. It was the first time they had seen Eldest Shixiong so angry. Eldest Shixiong was usually gentlemanly and warm to others, and almost never spoke heavily. This time, he was extremely angry!

Da Ling Feng’s face was ashen white, her eyes filled with terror and hopelessness.

She had originally wanted to return the sect to cry and ask for help. But who knew that when she returned, Eldest Shixiong gave her a scolding. She looked dazedly at the eldest shixiong she revered and couldn’t believe her eyes.

Lin Qian was unaffected by the terror and hopelessness in Da Ling Feng’s eyes. He said coldly, “Tell me everything that happened and do not hide anything.”

Da Ling Feng trembled and narrated everything, even the message that Wei Sheng had told her to tell Lin Qian. Lin Qian asked about a few details but she was unable to answer them.

After hearing this, Lin Qian did not speak and reached out to touch Da Ling Feng’s wrist.

Moments later, he stood and ordered, “Send her to Han Shigu and ask Han Shigu to see if there are any solutions.”

At this time, Da Ling Feng who was on the verge of a breakdown started to cry. The disciples in the surroundings all were sad.

Two disciples carried Da Ling Feng away. Lin Qian looked around and said loudly, “I know that some of you think I was unsympathetic but listen well. We must treat the orders of the sect with the utmost attention. I will pursue anyone that disobeys orders and acts on their own!”

The disciples all shook. “Yes!”

After the disciples left, Xue Dong couldn’t help but shake his head. “Stupid to the utmost! Extremely stupid! This group is used to be being arrogant. I hadn’t thought that they would also be the same when they went out into the world. Did she think that she was in Kun Lun Realm!”

Lin Qian grimaced. “It has been peaceful for too long. It is expected that the sect has become proud.”

“That’s true.” Xue Dong clearly had no interest to discuss this matter deeply. He then asked, “You seem to be very wary of that Wei Sheng!”

“Not very, extremely wary!” Lin Qian corrected seriously.

Xue Dong was slightly surprised. “I really am interested in seeing this person you respect so much. Xiao Mo Ge and Wei Sheng, two strong people have appeared. This world is more and more interesting!”

Lin Qian’s expression was grave. “Wei Sheng cannot be left alive!”

Xue Dong jumped in fright and asked in surprise. “You don’t have to exaggerate!”

“I have a feeling that if Wei Sheng does not die, he will become a great threat to our Kun Lun.” Lin Qian’s eyes were murderous as he said, “I do not want to leave loose ends.”

Xue Dong tsked. “It is a pity that there will be one less thing that I want to see. Because of you people, this world is becoming less interesting.”

“Being bored is better than losing your life.” Lin Qian glanced at Xue Dong and said.

Chapter 676 – Cunning Killing Move

Gongsun Cha looked at the battalion in the distance and smiled like usual. Beside him, the gazes of the other commanders were not as friendly and their expressions were murderous.

Jiang Zhe!

This name had become famed in the world. If this was any other person, they would be nervous and intimidated as though it was a great enemy. But Gongsun Cha did not feel very much. The only thought that Gongsun Cha could connect to Jiang Zhe was Feng Yue’s battalion, that Xuan Kong battalion they had killed many battles ago.

In his eyes, Xuan Kong Temple had been their enemy since long ago. The difference of facing Feng Yue or Jiang Zhe was not large. In any case, they were people he had to defeat. Even though he knew that the enemy would be hard to defeat, he was not nervous.

Unlike other battle generals his journey of growth was marred in blood and death, a cruel history of battle!

Little Miss who had created a path of survival with slaughter had a steel will under that bashful appearance.

There was only excitement.

That excitement of being able to find a equal to fight with rippled through his body.

In this fight, what kind of surprise will his opponent give him?

In the eyes that were as clear as that of a neighbor’s boy, a eerie light that was called insanity flashed.

The defense line that Jiang Zhe had set up was almost perfect. While some places appeared rush, the entire defensive line had been established. Even the incomplete parts looked more like traps than openings. They did not affect the overall state at all.

Of course, absolute perfection did not really exist in the world.

Both Jiang Zhe and Gongsun Cha knew this.

Gongsun Cha knew his advantages and disadvantages. They had low manpower but their mobility was high. Vermillion Bird Camp’s equipment had always been the best of all those under Zuo Mo’s command.

Jiang Zhe had more people and a secure defense line, but the defense line was vast. This meant that their forces were spread thin and that Gongsun Cha had many places to target for an attack.

Jiang Zhe was strong but the battle generals under him were likely less capable. How well they could follow Jiang Zhe’s plan was something that had to be tested.

Also, Jiang Zhe had a great disadvantage. They were fighting on enemy territory. The unfamiliar environment and the rebellious mo were all factors that were enough to be fatal.

The hidden road to Cold Mountain Jie was just example of this!

Gongsun Cha did not object to using the same advantage twice.

He did not hurry to attack but started to search for guides that were familiar with the local terrain.

———

Jiang Zhe listened to the reports from his subordinates with an unchanging expression.

Ever since the enemy had orchestrated the wave of attacks from the shadows, Jiang Zhe knew that this fight would be harder than he had imagined. The mastermind had caught their greatest weakness, and it was a weakness that could not be avoided.

If there was ten more years, this weakness would not exist.

But there was no maybes in war.

He did not agree with the enmity Xuan Kong Temple held towards the mo but he did not have any power to speak against this. While he had status in the sect, his status was not enough for him to influence the decision of the sect on a question like this.

What he could do was fulfill his duties.

“Send the order down, every battalion has to hold their position and not act without orders.” Jiang Zhe ordered without hesitation.

Regardless of whether if the other was purposefully misleading them or if things were really as they appeared, Jiang Zhe would not change because he had confidence in the defense line he had set up.

When Jiang Zhe had been setting up the defense line, many of Xuan Kong Temple had opposed it. It was hard for them to accept acting defensively. what did the great Xuan Kong Temple acting defensively against a little mo faction? While they had Bie Han and Sin Battalion, Jiang Zhe and the Jiangzi Battalion should still be stronger.

But Jiang Zhe still persisted in setting up a defense line.

Fortunately, Jiang Zhe had a reputation and status that was unrivaled here on the frontline. No one would disobey his orders. While they did not understand, all of the battalions had complied with Jiang Zhe’s orders to the letter.

Gongsun Cha publicly recruiting guides did not cause them any shock and panic.

When planning this defense line, they had gone over the plans repeatedly any areas that could be problematic had been reinforced. They didn’t miss any hidden places.

They believed that this defense line did not have any weakness.

This battle that attracted the attention of all did not begin with a fierce collision like people had expected and was slightly silent.

———

Zuo Mo repeatedly teased the two fanxu experts. He was low, cunning, shameless and not polite in the slightest.

After a few times, Ji Zheng and Dai Tao realized that the other had detected their intentions.

The two discussed and then still continued to follow the three. But they had given up on their thoughts of comprehending shen power through battle and were waiting for the reinforcements from the sect.

Once the sect experts arrived, they would be enough to capture these three damned people at once!

The two decided that if the trio landed in their hands, they would retaliate for this humiliation by giving these three the internal injuries. The same ones that they had almost suffered these past days, especially that thrice-damned Xiao Mo Ge!

They did not focus on sparring and started to slack off on responding to Zuo Mo’s teasing.

Yet what hey didn’t know was that Zuo Mo had already started to scheme against them.

Fanxu were terrifying but two injuried fanxu, in the eyes of a toad like Zuo Mo, were swans with broken wings. After teasing them repeatedly, he had gotten a general understanding of the two.

Toads that did not want to eat swans were not good toads. A toad that would pass on a swan with broken wings was not a toad but an idiot.

Zuo Mo had been scheming inside all this time.

If they could kill one, the other one would definitely flee. The danger would be resolved and Zuo Mo was moved just thinking about the riches one fanxu would have.

Zuo Mo’s teasing was also intentional. He was like an experienced hunter repeating his actions that were not dangerous to numb the other.

His plan had been successful up until now. Ji Zheng and Dai Tao were clearly not as wary as they had been.

Just like usual, Zuo Mo started his daily teasing.

The one that responded to fight was Ji Zheng. However, he was not motivated as he had been a few days ago. Because he had been acting as a sparring partner in these recent days, his injuries had been suppressed but he hadn’t recovered.

Ji Zheng was just going along. As long as Xiao Mo Ge did not use shen power, the other three powers were not of any danger to him.

Would Xiao Mo Ge use shen power?

No!

He had given up a long time ago.

Once they fought, Ji Zheng’s mind shook. His dull eyes suddenly lit up. Shen power!

Having been tormented greatly, Ji Zheng almost cried from joy!

The heavens had eyes!

Overjoyed, Ji Zheng focused. He did not keep anything back. Changing from his slacking attitude, he attacked first.

Shen power as expected!

Xiao Mo Ge seemed to be fighting at full power and brimmed with shen power.

Ji Zheng did not feel fear and was overjoyed. He only paid attention to Xiao Mo Ge’s powerful talisman. If Xiao Mo Ge would take out that powerful talisman, he would immediately move far away.

He was wary of Zuo Mo’s Little Mo Treasure Cup. Without the little Mo Treasure Cup, Xiao Mo Ge was just a tiger without claws and not a threat.

The fighting was intense.

One side had fanxu cultivation. He was wounded but his movements were still imbued with power. The other side had domineering shen power. While his cultivation was lower, but with the wondrously powerful shen power, he was evenly matched to Ji Zheng.

Dai Tao was both shocked and happy.

He was shocked that Xiao Mo Ge had changed what he usually did. Was there something else going on? He was joyed because if Xiao Mo Ge used shen power, then their previous plans could possibly succeed!

But before he could think, an eerie figure flashed. Dai Tao was startled and got on his guard.

A Gui!

Dai Tao could recognize danger. This ugly woman had a strange shen power and was also a target of the sect. Dai Tao’s mind moved. If he could capture her … …

Xiao Mo Ge had a powerful talisman. Dai Tao did not feel he had any hopes of capturing him. This woman had a strange shen power, but she did not show any powerful talismans. Dai Tao felt that he had some chance of success!

His thoughts moving, he unhesitatingly moved towards her.

The two immediately felt into a fierce fight.

A Gui’s shen power was eerie and hard to predict. Unfamiliar with this, Dai Tao almost suffered a great loss in the first clash but using the Five Element Manifestation Wheel, he quickly steadied himself. As he became familiar with this strange shen power, the power of the Five Element Manifestation Wheel started to show.

He started to gain the advantage.

At the beginning, Dai Tao kept a part of his attention focused on Ceng Lian’er but as the battle progressed, he had to focus all his attention on facing A Gui. Otherwise, if he was the least bit careless, danger could appear.

While A Gui’s shen power was strange, he could still gain understanding from it.

Ji Zheng had completely forgotten himself in the fight. After anticipating for so many days, he finally saw value in battle. The excitement and joy he felt could be imagined. His desire towards shen power caused him to focus.

He didn’t even detect that A Gui and Dai Tao were fighting.

His attention was focused on each of Zuo Mo’s blows.

Every collision with shen power would increase his understanding. How long has it been since he had a feeling of a new comprehension since he had stepped into fanxu?

He didn’t remember!

But this beautiful feeling was so intoxicating that he did not want to stop and he forgot himself in the ecstasy.

He wanted this battle to never end.

Yet at this time, a feeling of extreme danger suddenly rose. In this moment, all the hairs on his body stood at end!

A streak of silver light flew to his nose. He wasn’t able to react at all.

He could clearly feel the intimidating presence of that silver light. It was like a pin had pierced his nose and created pain!

The silver light filled his vision!

An extremely thin wound appeared on Ji Zheng’s forehead.

And then exploding lightning covered his entire head.

Nearby, Ceng Lian’er held the Little Mo Treasure Cup. Her face was ashen, her body wavering, her shen power used up.

Chapter 677 – Seeds Of Conspiracy

Shui Yue was nervous.

Shui Yue – Mo from the Water Moon Family. First appearing in chapter 559, he receives a blood summons from Wei. He is an experienced hunter, but has lived an impoverished life.

He had hunted beasts for a living since his youth and his mind had been trained, but at this moment, his heart could not help but beat furiously.

He was many times as stronger than before but this did not give him any assurances because what he faced was authority, intangible but powerful!

“Who are you?” The guard looked warily at him. The fingers of the other guard were spread. If Shui Yue showed any enmity, he would be killed immediately on the spot.

Shui Yue’s experience was completely displayed. His furiously beating heart slowed. His expression appeared calm and reassured. He reached out a hand. “I come from Silver Catalpa Cavern, this is the token, please report my arrival.”

The guard examined Shui Yue with a suspicious glance. The guard did not feel any untruth from Shui Yue’s calm and delicate appearance. He took the token and inspected it. When he felt there was no danger, he nodded at Shui Yue. “Wait here.”

Finishing, he turned and entered the hall.

Shui Yue was extremely nervous. He knew that the so-called token was just faked and had been made from a piece of silver thread wood. While Daren’s plan was intricate and detailed, there were too many places that were fantastical.

Shui Yue did not doubt Daren. The blood summons could explain everything. He himself was one of the fantastical parts, specifically it was the vast power in his body and the sea of knowledge in his mind. The knowledge was vast and varied, including many ancient secrets. However, what it contained the most of were techniques used to interact with people.

This was the wealth that the ancestors had left.

The blood summon represented an enormous plan. This plan was so great that even he, having grown in power and knowledge, needed to spend a large amount of time to understand it.

When he read the plan from beginning to end, he was completely won over by this daring and unorthodox plan.

Large numbers of techniques used for scheming had been shoved into his mind. But compared to the plan laid out in front of him those great tales of conspiracies were not worth a mention.

A grandmaster schemer!

This was definitely a plan made by a great schemer!

This enormity of the plan exposed the great ambitions of the daren that he served. He suddenly recalled how his grandfather had always liked to mention things like “the past glory of the family.” Maybe Grandfather’s wish could be realized.

This thought flashed through Shui Yue’s mind.

An innately calm person, Shui Yue started to examine this plan in more detail. The more he studied, the more he felt that the great schemer in the shadows was unfathomable. He found that many parts of the plan were related to the knowledge that was provided to him. That grandmaster schemer clearly had considered every aspect.

He repeatedly pondered every detail and memorized the entire plan. He speculated on all the accidents that could occur and how he should respond.

Closing his eyes, Shui Yue tried to erase the nervousness inside. He told himself that with his present strength, even if a problem occurred, he could fight his way out.

When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were once again completely calm.

A while later, the guard jogged back with an expression that was more respectful. “Please come in, Daren is waiting in the main hall for you!”

The main hall meant the greatest of receptions.

Shui Yue politely nodded in acknowledgement and followed the guard towards the main hall.

It seemed that this mo general did have a connection to the Silver Catalpa Cavern. Otherwise, he would not be so nervous. The Silver Catalpa Calver was an ancient inheritance ground. As time passed, there were very few that knew of it.

Shui Yue had secretly investigated this mo general but the information he had gathered was not clear. But in the plan, the mo skill the mo general practiced and even his daily habits were listed in detail.

Shui Yue increasingly felt the great power of the daren behind him. If he did not have great power, how could he do all this?

———

“Investigate this person.” Hard at work, Wei threw a name over to Pu Yao.

Unusually Pu Yao did not protest. He took a glance and turned to enter the Ten Finger Prison.

Entering the Ten Finger Prison, Pu Yao familiarly entered the tenth prison with a few hops. The core of the Ten Finger Prison, the restricted lands of the elders!

This was an area that was restricted to elders. The elders that were scattered across the major yao jie would come here to regularly meet and discuss all kinds of problems. The orders that decided the fate of all yao would frequently be made here and then be sent to the major yao jie.

Pu Yao seemed to not see the numerous and varied jinzhi; he floated past them like a wisp of smoke.

He quickly entered a black restricted area.

The black restricted area was covered with terrifying jinzhi.

This was the location of the intelligence division, the Shadow Pavilion, that was under the direct command of the Council of Elders. There was an astounding amount of intelligence gathered here. Every day, the Shadow Pavilion members that were scattered all over would send the intelligence they thought was valuable to this place. The intelligence would then be filtered, categorized, and archived.

Pu Yao strolled through the corridors as though he was wandering through his own backyard.

He quickly sneaked into a storage. After taking a few glances, he quickly found the intelligence he needed.

The Dark Pavilion had eyes everywhere. The intelligence here was not limited to the yao but contained dossiers on the mo and xiuzhe. Any person famous from the three races would have a file here.

Without wasting any effort, Pu Yao found the intelligence he needed and disappeared.

Returning to the sea of consciousness, he gave the intelligence he obtained to Wei.

The two then had a heated discussion.

“This is too dangerous … …”

“But if we place our bets right, the profit would be unimaginable … …”

Shui Yue’s speculation about the mastermind was generally correct but his only mistake was that the daring plan was not made by one but two grandmaster schemers.

———

Fei Lei travelled over mountains and water. His face was weathered. There were more than one hundred young people behind him dressed in worn clothing.

Fei Lei – First appears in chapter 560, he leaves his home to respond to the Wei’s blood summons. He is described as an older uncle-like figure, he is teaching children in a village when he receives the blood summons.

In comparison ot the others, his mission was much simpler. He received a list with some clans and their general living location.

The mission the blood summon had given him was very simple. He was to find these clans and convince them to join him and form a battalion. The battalion’s name would be the King’s Horn!

The name of this battalion caused Fei Lei’s heart to beat wildly. Was the daren who sent the blood summons a king?

The King’s Horn!

Fei Lei was not as clever as Shui Yue but he was a reliable person. The inheritance he received included mo skills and knowledge on battle generals. He also had experience in training battalions and this was why Pu Yao and Wei had given him this mission.

He went searching based on the list and the surprise he felt increased.

He didn’t know how the daren behind him had found these clans. These clans all had terrible living conditions. Some of the clans only had twenty to thirty people left. After coming into contact with them, Fei Lei was even more astonished. All of these clans possessed a long history and had been great once upon a time.

Fei Lei knew what this meant.

Noble bloodlines!

While these clans mostly had declined due to losing their mo skill inheritances, the blood that flowed within them had not changed. If they could find their mo skill inheritances, they could once again step onto the world’s stage.

Thinking about this. Fei Lei’s heart moved again because the blood summons had also given him countless mo skills inheritances!

The King’s Horn!

Fei Lei’s turned towards the young people that were dressed in varied attired, some looked like beggars. He suddenly felt great anticipation.

Under their dirty and young appearances, the awakening of the noble bloodlines … …

The King’s Horn would blow away the dust of time, and the past glory of their bloodlines would come once again!

———

“What? You’re crazy!” Youqing Lie’s rebellious face was full of fury as he pointed at Pu Yao’s nose and cursed. “Ye just got out of the jail, and you want ye to go back? Ye tells you, ye won’t do it!”

Youqin Lie – The sole surviving member of the Youqin Family. First appearing in chapter 565, he responds to Pu Yao’s summons. He is described as having an irregular blue crystal on his forehead, eyes long and narrow, and fiery red hair. He escapes a yao prison, A Bei Ge Jail, with Pu’s technique and decides to repay Pu.

Just as he finished speaking, Youqing Lie’s body suddenly tightened and he was unable to move.

Youqing Lie strained his neck upwards and continued to curse loudly, “If you have skill, kill ye! Don’t think ye will go back to the jail!”

“Kill you?” An eerie light flashed across Pu Yao’s bloody pupil. His thin blade-like lips curved slightly. “How can I let you off so easily? You know, I have many ways that to make you unable to live and unable to die.”

Youqing Lie stopped talking.

He knew this.

He had inherited all kinds of eerie yao arts related to stealth, concealment, and assassination. Among these yao arts were many torture methods that could make people beg for death. Even he could do them now.

Pu Yao looked down at him coldly. “Your personality is really not suited to moving in the dark. It is a pity that you are the only yao left so the benefits fall to you. That’s fine with me, but if you ruin my plan, I will take back what I have given you -with interest.”

Pu Yao’s icy words caused Youqing Lie to tremble. He knew what the interest was—his life.

Having received the inheritance, he knew just how cruel and ruthless the people that moved in the darkness were.

“What’s the benefit in going to a crappy place like jail?” Youqing Lie’s throat felt dry. He retreated.

“You have to change your way of thinking.” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil was bottomless. He said in a slightly mocking tone, “For a commander of the dark, jail is where talented individuals gather. There are conmen, schemers, butchers, swindlers, cheats, each full of talent!”

“Those are bad people!” Youqing Lie couldn’t help but say.

“Are you a good person? You were also in jail. It is not important if they are good or bad. What is most important is that they are all enemies of the Council of Elders.” Pu Yao tone was cold. “You better familiarize yourself with the rules of darkness as soon as possible. What I need is a commander of the darkness. If you cannot do it, I will switch to someone else. As regretful as the lost time would be, I lack patience.”

“You want me to recruit them?” Youqing Lie was not stupid and quickly reacted.

“Recruit? Haha!” Pu Yao seemed to have heard something humorous and laughed loudly.

“What’s there to laugh at?” Youqing Lie was angry and embarrassed.

“Those people cannot be recruited.” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil narrowed and he looked at Youqing Lie. He said meaningfully, “This is a test for you, good luck!”

Finishing, Youqing Lie felt his vision turn dark and he was forcibly ejected from the Ten Finger Prison.

He just wanted to curse aloud when the door was suddenly kicked open. A group of people rushed in and forced him to the floor.

“Stay still! You have been captured!”

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Pu Yao’s expression was displeased. He murmured to himself, “Calling yourself ye in front of me, you don’t want to live!”

He couldn’t help but think of another person that frequently did this but he was one who he could not do anything against. His displeasure increased. He immediately decided to increase the tasks related to Youqing Lie’s mission.

Chapter 678 – Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus

Both Ji Zheng and Dai Tao hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would secretly give the Little Mo Treasure Cup to Ceng Lian’er. While the Little Mo Treasure Cup did not have as astounding of power in Ceng Lian’er’s hands as it did in Zuo Mo’s, it was still enough to deliver a fatal blow when Ji Zheng had let his guard down.

If the news of this spread, Little Mo Treasure Cup would be elevated into the top level of talismans in the world after this fight!

The shock that Ji Zheng’s death gave Xuan Kong Temple was peerless.

When they received the news, the elders of Xuan Kong Temple were still on their way. They almost collectively lost the power of speech. Almost none of them believed that this was true.

A fanxu elder could die?

Many elders had blank expressions when they heard the news. In their minds, Elder Ji Zheng was like a god! Many more elders started to waver. While the enemy was only three people, this mission had become more dangerous than it had been in the past!

Of course, the one that had suffered the greatest blow was Dai Tao. He had lost all courage, turned and ran from the scene. This was an instinctive response. It could be seen from this how strong the terror he felt was.

Ji Zheng’s death surpassed Xuan Kong Temple’s expectations and caused the Xuan Kong temple elders to not know what to do.

This was the first fanxu xiuzhe’s death in nearly twenty years.

Coincidentally, the most recent death of a marshal in twenty years in the mo territories had also been caused by Zuo Mo. This was also a Xuan Kong Temple elder of the four great sects.

New of Ji Zheng’s death quickly spread to all the sects through all kinds of avenues and created a great wave.

Some of the sects that had been yearning to join the fray quickly changed tactics and recalled the experts they had sent towards the mo territories. While the loss of a fanxu expert to a large sect like Xuan Kong Temple was painful, it would not lead to their immediate collapse. But for sects outside the four great sects, this kind of loss was enough to wound them to the bone.

And reality proved that fanxu were not as powerful as people had imagined. They could also be killed!

The fanxu experts that had lived in luxury for a long time needed time to adjust to the chaotic world.

The name of Xiao Mo Ge once again entered people’s ears. However, this time, the name contained intimidation it did not have before.

Killing a marshal might be a lucky circumstance, but if he killed a fanxu as well then no one would doubt his strength.

For Zuo Mo, this risk had been a successful gamble!

He had won!

The gains this time were plentiful as he had expected. Ji Zheng was wealthy. While he did not have many talismans, there were rare materials that had Zuo Mo’s eyes lighting up!

Seventeen Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads!

香火 or “fragrant fire” has multiple meanings. One refers to the worship of the Buddha/deity by believers, and the second meaning is the incense and candles used during rituals.

The Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads were forged using a special method unique to dhyana xiu sects. The beads were formed by the power of incense fire. These seventeen ling wish beads were translucent and pure. He didn’t know how many years worth of incense had they had been treated with. Only a great sect like Xuan Kong Temple could produce such high level Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads.

The power of incense fire was similar to wish power. However, the beads were not used for cultivation. It was actually an extremely rare dhyana material.

Based on the number of beads, Zuo Mo speculated that Ji Zheng had wanted to obtain eighteen to make a bracelet. If this bracelet could be completed, it would be a top tier talisman. Zuo Mo did not understand the Incense Fire Ling Wish Bead well. Each of the Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads were given in tribute by the sects under Xuan Kong Temple. Each bead had experienced five hundred years of incense fire. The quality was high and rare. It was only because Ji Zheng had been waiting on the last one that he hadn’t forged his talisman and his plans ended up benefitting Zuo Mo.

However, the forging of Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads required special methods that Zuo Mo was not suited to using. Zuo Mo decide to leave them to Zong Ru, who had wish power and making it more appropriate for him to forge these. It would be even better than talismans using ling power.

The next treasure was more wondrous. There seemed to be a crimson red lotus growing on top of a rotating black piece of wood.

“Nether’s Rotten Reincarnation Lotus!” Pu Yao’s exclamation sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind.

Hearing Pu Yao’s shout, Zuo Mo became alert. Something that Pu Yao would exclaim about would not be an average treasure. He hurried to ask, “What lotus?”

“This is the Nether’s Rotten Reincarnation Lotus!” Pu Yao repeated. His gaze was tightly locked on the tender lotus fire and his tone was filled with shock and wonder. “The rumors say that there are organisms that grow in the Ten Thousand Wasteland in the deepest reaches of the Nether Realm. The Reincarnation Lotus is the most valuable material grown in the region. It uses the most corrosive poison as nutrients, and it gives birth to the purest and most miraculous thing.”

Zuo Mo felt tempted hearing about it. “Then what is the use in such a thing?”

Pu Yao smirked coldly and said, “The best use for dhyana xiu is to preserve their mind during reincarnation. That old thieving baldy definitely planned to use it like that.”

“Reincarnation!” Zuo Mo sighed. He was slightly disappointed. It meant that this could not be used now.

“You do not know the wonders of reincarnation. If someone knows that you possess such an object, your life is over. All those decrepit antiques will come make trouble for you. You can use it to trade for any talisman you want. You can have them do anything you want. Of course, they can also just kill you and steal the treasure.”

Zuo Mo jumped in fright, “It is that powerful?”

So this is that valuable! His mind started to move. He was considering what treasure he could trade with this.

Pu Yao then said, “It is not just for reincarnation. This is a rare object that xiuzhe, yao, and mo can all use. Also … …”

Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao that seemed reluctant to speak. “And what?”

“And it has a wondrous effect.” Pu Yao glanced at Zuo Mo. “It can nurture the soul. It is the tiny bit of vitality that forms in an place of extreme death and corrosion. Nothing can compare to its effects on nurturing the soul!”

“Nurturing the soul?” Zuo Mo immediately stilled.

“Yes.” Pu Yao closed his mouth.

A smile slowly started to form on corner of Zuo Mo’s mouth and continue to grow. He was like a child that received his most beloved wish. “Then this is something A Gui can use?”

“Yes.” Pu Yao said in a certain tone. “While it is the first time I have seen this and I am not entirely sure what its effect are, it is something that will be of great help to A Gui.”

“Great! Great!” Zuo Mo suddenly became excited. He suddenly thought of a problem and hurriedly asked, “Is there anything special method used to consume it?”

“Just eat it,” Pu Yao said.

Zuo Mo licked his lips. Suddenly, he felt nervous. He turned his face to look at A Gui. At this time, he was not in the mood to inspect his other gains. Those treasures that were worth ten thousand jingshi were not things that could hold his gaze at the moment.

A Gui looked silently at him. Like usual, those wooden and grey pupils did not avoid Zuo Mo’s gaze.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt pain in his heart.

That fragmented scene and this calm and wooden face flashed through his mind.

He suddenly understood.

He wasn’t just doing this for an answer.

With his left hand, he grabbed A Gui’s hand tightly. He plucked the reincarnation lotus and moved it next to A Gui’s lips.

The reincarnation lotus turned into a green energy and burrowed into A Gui’s mouth.

Within his hand, A Gui’s hand shook.

———

Luo Da was slightly nervous. Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion had suddenly disappeared. Thinking to how Xiao Mo Ge’s battalion had been publicly searching for guides previously, a thought uncontrollably rose in  Luo Da’s mind.

Had they truly found a secret path?

Originally, it was not his responsibility to worry about such matters. With Jiang Zhe Daren in command of the entire situation, he just had to listen to orders. But the region in which Xiao Mo Ge’s battalions had disappeared was very close to the defense line that he was in charge of.

How could he not have his heart in the air?

He had already sent the information to Jiang Zhe Daren, but up until now, Jiang Zhe Daren had just ordered him to continue to maintain his position.

Out of caution, he sent out several groups of scouts. But the scouts seemed to disappear and not one had returned.

Without any scouts and left ignorant of the situation outside, Luo Dai’s worry increased.

———

Other than battles of coincidence caused by outside factors, there would rarely be final battles where the main battalions on both sides would battle when a conflict first started. The two sides would test each other and it would usually start with groups of scouts.

The fighting between battalion elites was much crueler and intense.

Jiang Zhe did not hesitate in sending out large numbers of scouts. He needed intelligence, he needed to know Bie Han’s movements.

It had been too long since he fought against Bie Han. He did not know what kind of changes Bie Han had gone through in this time. However, there was something else. The importance he placed on Bie Han surpassed anyone else.

Those elders in the sect all said that Bie Han was dangerous, but no one understood how terrifying Bie Han actually was, only Jiang Zhe did!

He also knew of Bie Han’s hate for Xuan Kong Temple.

The two had competed from a young age and were evenly matched. However, Jiang Zhe had been allowed to take sole command of a battalion ever since the age of ten. Later on, he was allowed to form his own battalion, the Jiangze Battalion.

On the other side, Bie Han was forced to copy sutras in the desolate mountain valley. It was supposed to wear away his viciousness. In a break with convention the sect leader had allowed him to take command of Sin Battalion, but it was only after Bie Han had publicly fought him to a stalemate. In the eyes of other disciples, command of Sin Battalion was a punishment.

Sin Battalion was famous but no disciple was willing to be isolated so, to interact all day with a group of silent and unresponsive puppets.

Later, as Bie Han’s identity as a mo was made public, Jiang Zhe finally understood why the sect leader and others treated Bie Han so poorly. But he also knew that Bie Han’s hate of Xuan Kong Temple reached deep into his bones.

Jiang Zhe decided that no matter what, he had to kill Bie Han in this fight.

He could not sit by and watch as a person as dangerous as Bie Han become the greatest threat to Xuan Kong Temple!

Five hundred elite scouts appeared on front of Jiang Zhe. They formed ten little teams.

Jiang Zhe only had one order for them. Hunt the other’s scouts and kill them at any price.

He knew that not many of these five hundred would come back alive. Their expressions were calm and at ease. They did not feel any fear about the upcoming dangerous battles.

They were truly elite.

The fight between scouts meant that this battle that was fated to cause a great number of casualties had formally started!

Chapter 679 – A Gui!

Time seemed to suddenly slow. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, the streak of light that was the Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus was extremely slow. Bam bam bam, the sound of his heartbeat echoed in his ears.

Zuo Mo had never been as nervous as this. He watched A Gui closely.

Suddenly, A Gui gave off purple light. The dark and strange shen power suddenly exploded.

Zuo Mo’s body shook and he reflexively grabbed A Gui’s hand. His shen power shook and deflected A Gui’s shen power. This movement was instinctive and did not come from his mind.

The bright purple light entered Zuo Mo’s eyes and the scene in front of him changed.

In an endless void.

A young girl was sitting silently in the void. Seven purple chains covered her body, each with the thickness of an arm,  and extended into the void.

The young girl was dressed in a white and ethereal robe. There was no pain in her expression as she sat silently.

Zuo Mo’s mind shook as he recognized her, A Gui!

While it was the first time he saw that beautiful and unblemished face, Zuo Mo still recognized A Gui at a glance.

The black waterfall of hair fell to her shoulders, and her trimmed bangs gave her a hint of handsomeness. A delicate and beautiful face, long eyelashes, her face was slightly pale but there was no sorrow or pain. She sat silently and only her pursed lips made people feel her concentration and determination.

Zuo Mo seemed to be struck by lightning!

That  fragmented scene in his mind resurfaced, a figure sprinting while carrying him on her back immediately became clear.

The panicked breathing of the young female and her rushed steps filled Zuo Mo’s mind.

A Gui!

This was A Gui!

“A Gui! A Gui!” Zuo Mo shouted with all his strength.

The young female under the purple chains did not respond at all.

“It is useless,” Wei said.

“Wei! What is this? What is this?” Zuo Mo in his panic had found a life-saver and hurriedly asked Wei for help.

A rare sorrowful expression came onto Wei’s face. “This is the Undying Shen Punishment.”

“Undying Shen Punishment?” Zuo Mo’s body shook. For some reason, his heart hurt fiercely.

“The cruelest shen punishment.” Wei’s tone was sorrowful. “The mind and soul of the punished becomes the source of shen power and creates undying shen power. The undying shen power will continue to corrode the body of the one being punished and cause their vitality to fade. In turn, the damaged body will create more shen power the more it is injured, making it even stronger. It is a cruel punishment as the undying shen power will tear the soul of the one punished from their body, and imprison it in the unconscious void. There, all six senses are sealed, there is no light, no sound, no smell, nothing. The soul  will be left to endure in the unconscious void, isolation is the greatest punishment.”

Zuo Mo’s mind rang out. He suddenly thought of the coldness and emptiness of the shen power inside A Gui’s body. His body uncontrollably trembled, his limbs cold. Enormous pain twisted his heart.

Undying Shen Punishment … …

His voice was trembling, the fury and hate in his voice was unable to be disguised. “Who … … who was the mother***er! Who dares to punish A Gui!”

At the end of the shouting, his voice was a shriek. His anger exploded. The blood in his body ignited, and the burning pain tore at every inch of his skin.

“It is herself.” Wei sighed lightly.

It was as though a basin of cold water was poured over Zuo Mo’s head. He froze where he was.

“There are no flames of hate on her body. If she was unwilling, the endless void would create flames of hate. The flames of hate will not damage her soul but would cause her to feel endless pain.” Wei looked at the young girl sitting silently in the middle of the chains and said with a sigh, “The seven purple chains are the undying shen power.”

It was herself … … it was herself … …

Zuo Mo couldn’t hear anything else. His mind was filled with these three words.

The shadows of the forest, those two bare feet running in the mud, the trembling young shoulders of the girl, the determined and harsh breathing, the panicked shouts … …

Tears took over Zuo Mo’s vision.

———

Bie Han silently returned to the cave.

Cold Mountain Jie was heavily guarded but because it was the rear, Bie Han had found an opening.

No one had thought that Bie Han would sneak into such a heavily guarded Cold Mountain Jie. Due to that, the messenger seals of Cold Mountain Jie were not the special ciphered seals used at the front lines, but the messenger seals that were commonly used inside Xuan Kong Temple.

Bie Han easily disguised himself as a Xuan Kong Temple disciple without any effort and sneaked in. Familiar with the setup of Xuan Kong Temple, Bie Han quickly found the intelligence he needed.

But the arrival of the elder corps disrupted all of his setup.

The members of the elder corps were all yuanying and above, and almost all of them were at the peak of yuanying. They might not understand how to work together like a battalion, but their combined strength was enough to destroy Sin Battalion several times over.

Fortunately, he learned that the elder corps had other matters to deal with and were just passing through.

But out of consideration for safety, Bie Han carefully retreated back to the cavern deep in the ground. He didn’t even dare to venture out to scout for information for fear of being discovered.

His disguises in front of those elders amounted to nothing.

His furious fighting spirit cooled. Bie Han and his Sin Battalion waited for the arrival of spring like hibernating snakes.

———

Cold Mountain Jie!

The elders had received news that Elder Ji Zheng had died stopped their journey at Cold Mountain Jie. Ji Zheng’s death was a fatal blow to their morale.

What to do now became the biggest problem for Xuan Kong Temple.

Worry filled the faces of the elders. The present situation of Xuan Kong Temple was not good.

Of the four great sects, the one worst off was undoubtedly Xi Xuan. Gu Liang Dao’s betrayal had a larger effect on Xi Xuan than their upper ranks had predicted. The situation had quickly become uncontrollable. Outsiders could only speculate about Gu Liang Dao, but among the Xi Xuan disciples, everyone knew what the situation was. This had also caused the great majority of disciples to feel demotivated. Even a disciple who had won such great merit for the sect was treated this way, how could their hearts not feel cold?

It was appropriate to describe Xi Xuan as being abandoned by all close to it now.

But the second worse off was undoubtedly Xuan Kong Temple. Bie Han was not as famous as Xi Xuan’s Gu Liang Dao, but his escape still caused people’s hearts to move. But because there was still the outstanding Jiang Zhe, people’s hearts were moved but nothing else did. But now Ji Zheng’s death was a heavy blow to Xuan Kong Temple. The worth of a fanxu expert could not be calculated in jingshi.

Xuan Kong Temple was on a dangerous cliff. If Jiang Zhe won this battle, they might be able to overcome this obstacle, but if Jiang Zhe lost … …

The elders did not dare to imagine what would happen.

The grim situation caused the elders of Xuan Kong Temple to form two camps. One side thought that the elders should help Jiang Zhe first achieve victory, as a loss would shake the very foundation of Xuan Kong Temple. The other camp wanted to kill Xiao Mo Ge.

The ones that were in support of killing Xiao Mo Ge had very good reasons to do so. They thought that, by killing Xiao Mo Ge, it would get revenge for Elder Ji Zheng and also reestablish  Xuan Kong Temple’s authority. The shen power inheritance that they would obtain would allow Xuan Kong Temple an opportunity to develop again.

Most importantly, they were ahead of the other three sects in this mission and the probability of success was very high. They could accept some losses.

If they passed on such a good opportunity, it would not appear again.

They were full of confidence in Jiang Zhe. Jiang Zhe was going to fight a defensive battle and he had the advantage of numbers. Would Jiang Zhe lose? That was worrying too much!

The arguing was intense. The elders in this corps made up almost half of the elders of Xuan Kong Temple, and was the most powerful battle force in Xuan Kong Temple. Their choices would directly determine Xuan Kong Temple’s direction.

Everyone knew that they must make a decision quickly, regardless of what it was.

The end result was a compromise. The elder corps would leave ten elders to help Jiang Zhe and guarantee the victory in this fight. The remaining elders would continue to pursue Xiao Mo Ge.

———

Dots of light suddenly appeared in the void. They were like snowflakes that were attracted towards A Gui, who was imprisoned in the purple chains. They flew towards A Gui and then into her body.

“The Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus!”

In his sorrow, Zuo Mo suddenly saw this and hope rose inside.

Pu Yao had praised the Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus to the heavens. Zuo Mo had high hopes for it.

Thinking about what A Gui had suffered, Zuo Mo felt extremely uncomfortable and wanted to smash the chains to pieces.

The silent A Gui seemed to detect the change. She suddenly raised her head and opened her eyes.

Zuo Mo could not describe his feeling when he saw those clear eyes. It was like the most precious treasure in the world being unveiled in front of him.

Under the purple chains, A Gui suddenly stood up.

She focused on the dots of light appearing out of the void in front of her. She raised her hand, palm up, and watched as the light merged into her palm. There were threads of pure vitality contained in the threads of coolness.

A flush of colour returned to her pale face. That pure vitality nurtured her soul.

She knew that her body had found Young Master. Before swearing the Undying Shen Punishment, she had left the tiniest bit of her consciousness. That tiny consciousness formed  the deepest instinct of her body.

Find the Young Master.

The Unconscious Void sealed everything but a few years ago, she suddenly had a feeling. At that time, she knew, her body had found Young Master!

From then on, her heart had settled. The Unconscious Void which sealed off everything did not seem to be such a hardship. In these years, the only thing she did was use her soul to nurture the undying shen power.

This was the only way she could help Young Master.

Her expended soul was quickly recovering.

“Young Master … …”

She suddenly stood. That pair of clearly eyes searched in the darkness.

Even though she could not see anything.

Chapter 680 – The Competitive Pair

In the surrounding area several Xuan Kong Temple scouts were roaming around; they warily searched for traces of enemies.

“Can we act now?” The orange haired yao turned as he asked Shu Long.

“Shut up!” A Wen hissed out from between his teeth. He glared angrily at the orange haired yao.

This idiot actually spoke at this time! He was really untrained!

Shu Long looked with slight helplessness at the pleading orange haired yao. He shook his head and said quietly, “Wait a bit longer.”

“Still waiting … …” the orange haired yao muttered with a twist to his mouth.

Shu Long said patiently, “They have not entered our range of attack. This is not advantageous for our ambush.”

The orange haired yao completely disregarded A Wen’s disdainful look. He said with puzzlement, “Why do we need to ambush them?”

A Wen really could not stop himself. “Idiot, it is easier to win in an ambush!”

The orange haired yao oohed and realized. “Ah, I understand. You are afraid you won’t win.”

“You won’t win!” A Wen exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

“If you can win, then why use an ambush?” The orange-haired yao looked strangely at A Wen with an expression of “You are so weird.”

“What do you know! This is tactics!” A Wen felt faint from his anger with the orange haired yao.

“You are just afraid you won’t win!” The orange haired yao said in an  assured tone. He looked sideways at A Wen.

When A Wen met the orange haired yao’s strange gaze, blood rushed to his head. “Come on then, let’s fight!”

The people in the surroundings looked at the two fools acting up at this time.

The orange haired yao shook his head furiously.

“Seems like you’re afraid!” A Wen’s expression was disdainful.

The orange haired yao shook his head again. “I will not fight against people that are afraid they can’t beat the enemy.”

A Wen was furious. “You … …”

Shu Long felt exasperated. He decided that he wouldn’t lead any team with these two again. Looking at the scouts it was clear they had noticed the noises and were moving in this direction, Shu Long said helplessly, “Then fight!”

“Yes, with a genius like me here, there is no need for an ambush.” The orange haired yao was smug. He charged first at the scouts.

“Idiot … …” The furious A Wen gritted his teeth. He shot out like an arrow.

The two charged, flying at the front like angry arrows.

The other people saw this and also charged out.

———

The scouts of Xuan Kong Temple were the elite members of each battalion. They were strictly trained from childhood and had rich battle experience. This group had worked together for more than five years and had great teamwork.

They did not panic and quickly formed a battle formation. The chanting of dhyana xiu caused lights to appear on their bodies.

The dazzling sutra characters spun around their bodies. Their expressions were calm and at ease.

The leader of the team looked at the enemy charging at them and a hint of dismissiveness flashed through his eyes. They were experienced, he had great battle training and quickly judged the enemy. While they looked to have a ferocious aura, they were not in sync and their teamwork was terrible.

Was this Bie Han’s team?

The leader felt relieved. It had to be said that  Bie Han was not famous outside of the sect, but everyone in Xuan Kong temple knew of him and the famous Sin Battalion. It was like there was a rock on their chests, so heavy they could not breathe. Bie Han was a battle general on the same level as Jiang Zhe!

This group that was charging over was not Sin Battalion. They were probably Bie Han’s cannon fodder.

He suddenly recalled there was another battle general with Bie Han called Gongsun something. He did not remember the name of that person clearly. He did not remember most people’s names, but that was of no significance to the leader.

The distance between them decreased.

The leader shouted, “Animitta!”

The lights on their bodies spun rapidly and a strange power formed.

———

The orange haired yao and A Wen felt countless lights collapse towards the center of the enemy formation, spinning and forming a multi-colored whirlpool. The whirlpool created a strong force that pulled them to fly towards the whirlpool.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what is that? I’ve never seen it before! Fireworks? It really is pretty! You have some skill! It is a pity that you encountered this genius, let this genius show you what is the truth of battle … …” He furiously sprouted words and his orange fire-like hair flowed in the wind.

“Shut up! You idiot!” Nearby, A Wen could not stop himself from cursing.

The orange-haired yao turned his face to A Wen and said seriously, “You will never be able to understand the thoughts of geniuses. This is why you cannot become a genius.” He turned away after saying this and he smugly said towards the Xuan Kong Temple xiuzhe. “Mortals, tremble!”

“Shut up!” Tendons bulged in A Wen’s forehead and his expression became more vicious.

The two argued but their actions were also extremely fast.

A layer of faint white flame floated out of the orange haired yaos body. The color of the flames was very light, almost transparent. His expression was exaggerated, waving, his arms spread apart as his mouth moved constantly.

There was a layer of black fire around A Wen’s body that was as black as ink. It pulsed at an unique rhythm. This layer of black flame was thicker and deeper than the killing essence he previously had. It did not have any presence as as though it was harmless.

“The genius’ genius attack, the genius’ invincible body fire bullet!” The orange haired yao shot forward like a cannonball with his white flames, a long tail of fire streaking behind him as he charged towards the enemy’s formation!

“Kill!” A Wen suddenly shouted and stabbed with his spear! His movements were smooth and filled with beauty. The black flames on his body suddenly flowed into the black spear. A silent black energy formed at the tip of the spear and entered the middle of the whirlpool.

Stupid!

The leader sneered. It was too idiotic for the two to think they could defeat the formation!

But his smile quickly froze on his face.

Boom!

All of the dhyana xiu shook. All the lights and sutra characters on their bodies were shattered and turned to dots of light!

How was it possible!

The leader paled. The battle formation had been defeated!

The two enemy opponents had directly defeated their battle formation. Were the two yuanying?

But at this time, there was no time for him to think. His instinct formed from many years of battle allowed him to counterattack the situation quickly. With an angry howl, a sutra character appeared on his forehead. His expression was stern and dignified as his palms pressed together and then pushed forward.

Golden palm prints left his hand and immediately turned into two enormous golden hands that slammed towards the two people in the air.

The two hands became bigger and bigger until they covered the orange haired yao and A Wen.

[Imposing Light Palm]!

The sutra character at his forehead glowing even brighter, but his brow became dotted with grey and white.

———

“Leader!” a Xuan Kong Temple scout called in grief. The [Imposing Light Palm] was a skill beyond the Leader’s ability. This attack was forcefully used by expending at least ten years of his lifeforce.

The other scouts all showed sorrow but they knew that this was not the time to grieve. No matter what, they could not waste Leader’s sacrifice.

All kinds of fist energy, staff shadows, talismans, and sutra characters erupted like a volcano.

Their gazes were locked on Shu Long and the others behind the two enemies at the front. They had to keep Shu Long and the others from helping.

Then they saw the remaining enemy scouts stop in unison without any intentions of forcing their way forward.

Some of those with quicker reactions couldn’t help but feel strange. But then they were full of disdain. As expected, these were untrained troops!

When their teammates needed reinforcements, they didn’t even have the bravery to charge forward.

It was a pity that Leader had … …

[Imposing Light Palm] was one of the ultimate skills of dhyana xiu. It was extremely powerful but also demanded highly of the user’s cultivation. Only those in yuanying could correctly perform it. Leader was a jindan and had used his lifespan to do so. Everyone believed that the two would not be able to escape.

The lights in the sky were dim in comparison to the two enormous hands.

Bam!

The two hands in the air seemed to pop like bubbles and turned into dots of light.

The orange haired yao’s expression was dazed. He was slightly dizzy. The transparent flames around his body were slightly dimmer as he murmured unconsciously, “Hm, slightly dizzy … …”

A Wen’s complexion was slightly pale and there were some wounds on his body. However, his glacial stare was murderous as he stared at the Xuan Kong Temple team leader.

Almost all of the Xuan Kong Temple scouts were stunned in this moment!

The two were unharmed!

———

Shu Long and the others did not have any intentions of going forward.

“I just knew it would be like this,” Ming Jue Zi said with a helpless expression.

“It’s great! We can relax.” Cang Ze twisted his mouth.

“It is not very good … …” Nan Yue had wanted to practice her yao arts .

Listening to the words of the people around him, Shu Long’s decision to lead a different team was reinforced.

At this time, the yells of the orange haired yao rang out over the entire battlefield.

“Hey hey hey, don’t steal what’s mine … …”

Answering him was A Wen’s angry shout. “Kill!”

“Kill!”  “Kill!” “Kill!” “Kill!”  … …

“Mine!” “Mine!” “Mine!”

Nan Yue and the other started to chat on the side.

“Who’s going to win this time?” Ming Jue Zi glanced and then asked.

“Tie.” Cang Ze answered without even looking.

“Tie.” Nan Yue looked towards the battlefield in admiration of the two’s fighting.

“Tie.” The black smoke yao’s voice came out of the black smoke.

Ming Jue Zi sighed. “I also feel it is a tie. However, don’t you feel this is boring?”

Everyone exchanged looks.

“Switch teams,” Cang Ze said.

“Switch teams.” Nan Yue had an expression of agreement.

“Switch teams.” The black smoke yao’s depressed voice came from the black smoke.

Shu Long who had been silent at the side could not resist. “Switch teams!”

Everyone’s tone was crisp but they couldn’t help but show some admiration in their eyes. The orange haired yao and A Wen were outstanding. After the two of them started to cultivate shen power, they had progressed so quickly it was astounding.

No matter what the two were doing, they competed.

Since a few battles ago, there had been no chance for the others to fight when they encountered small scouting teams like this one. The two of them took over the entire battle and there was no chance of anyone else to attack.

The two’s powers had started to become difficult for the others to understand.

Both the orange haired yao’s translucent flame and A Wen’s midnight black flame were both unfamiliar and strange powers in the eyes of everyone else. They were completely different than the three powers and was  slightly similar to Daren.

While they admired the two, their fighting spirit also increased.

Everyone hoped to refine their strength through battle, not to be bystanders.

A battle like this was only a small corner of the entire battlefield.

The fighting in other areas was even more intense.

The intensity of the battle was not outside of Jiang Zhe’s expectations. What surprised him was that, in such intense fighting, they were the ones losing!

Chapter 681 – Zuo Mo’s Transformation

Sitting on the rock, Zuo Mo’s was expressionless and his eyes were vacant. He stared off into the distance as A Gui sat silently by his side.

Ceng Lian’er did not know what had happened, but she had once shared those fragmented memories with Zuo Mo, but she could guess after watching Zuo Mo feed A Gui the Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus.

She did not make a sound.

Zuo Mo had been like this for three days.

Over these three days, he did not move. It was as though he a wooden statue.

———

In his sea of consciousness.

“How can I rescue A Gui?” Zuo Mo looked expressionlessly at Pu Yao and Wei.

“I don’t know. The Undying Shen Punishment was the cruelest punishment in the ancient era. I have not heard of anyone ever breaking the shen punishment.” Wei sighed. At the side, Pu Yao was silent as well.

Zuo Mo became silent again. However, this time, he did not remain silent for long. He raised his face and a light flickered in his eyes, like a candle in raging winds but refused to succumb.

He murmured hoarsely to himself and the words echoed in his sea of consciousness.

“At its core, the Undying Shen Punishment is a kind of shen power.”

“Since it is shen power, there definitely is a solution! If I cannot unlock it now, it is because I understand too little about it. My understanding of shen power is too weak. As long as I continue to grow stronger, become strong enough; as long as my understanding of shen power deepens, I can search for clues. I won’t give up; I will never give up; I will definitely find the solution.”

“Even if no one has broken it before, I will.”

The hoarse voice was not fierce, not spirited, not angry. Zuo Mo’s tone was indifferent as though he was talking about something unimportant. But within the calm, each word was as stern and determined as it was being engraved into steel.

The flames on Pu Yao’s body suddenly exploded. The eerie flames reflected on his eerie face. His thin blade-like lips curved in an eerie smile. “Such a difficult matter really makes one’s blood boil. Oh, it is great to use this to pay rent.”

Wei’s expression was solemn but his eyes were as bright as stars. “The truth of the gravestone armor is to protect! Wei cannot stand idly by and watch A Gui’s sacrifice!”

Zuo Mo looked at the duo. A warmth hard to voice flowed inside.

The hundred and thousands of words he felt turned into one word when they reached his mouth.

———

A dot of light appeared in Zuo Mo’s unfocused eyes. His statue-like body suddenly shook. At the side, Ceng Lian’er noticed immediately. The worry in her eyes decreased greatly and she unconsciously showed slight joy.

Having refocused, Zuo Mo noticed the worry and concern in Ceng Lian’er’s eyes. He said, “I’m fine, do not worry.”

“That’s good.” Ceng Lian’er sighed in relief.

The intelligent Ceng Lian’er perceptively detected the change in Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo turned his face and looked at A Gui beside him. His eyes became even more determined.

A Gui, I will definitely rescue you!

No matter what!

Over the next few days Ceng Lian’er saw the rapid changes in Zuo Mo’s habits.

Cultivation! Furious cultivation!

Zuo Mo seemed to be possessed as he cultivated fanatically. He wasn’t willing to waste even a speck of time. Ceng Lian’er had never seen someone cultivate like this. Every time she wanted to urge him to rest, she swallowed her words when she met Zuo Mo’s steely gaze.

Every bit of time was so valuable in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Every bit of waste time meant that A Gui had to endure more of that great torture. Zuo Mo’s heart hurt.

Pu Yao seemed to have become a completely different person. He brought out all the yao arts, spells and mo skills he collected. Wei also brought out all kinds of ancient sacrificial methods.

Most of the shen power inheritances had been lost over time and it was hard to see the connections. However, the three major systems originated from shen power. While each focused on different aspects, they were developed from the same source.

Pu Yao and Wei thought of a method –reconstruction!

Reconstruct shen power from the three powers!

This was a crude and stupid method but it was a very plausible method, especially since Zuo Mo now had a large part of that Great Peace Mo Stele text which was one of the key points.

Zuo Mo’s sun shen power cultivation was not low, but there were many details that were still unclear. This reconstruction process had clarified many of the details.

But Zuo Mo felt that this wasn’t enough.

There were too many parts missing to this ancient power that made it hard to understand. What he studied wasn’t limited to just sun shen power, but included even greenvine shen power. But the writing was from too long ago, and there was a great barrier between the people now and those ancient records.

Zuo Mo was not skilled in the ancient writing.

Fortunately, Wei was from an ancient tribe. Wei had been from final years of that era, as those ancient tribes declined, but he was still of great help to Zuo Mo.

As the three of them worked together, some of the basic patterns of shen power were clarified.

The division of cultivation levels for shen power was not as complex as the three powers and was much simpler.

Celestial, Earth, Mortal, they represented the three levels of shen power. In ancient times, all of the totem warriors were celestial level. They could move mountains, overturn seas, and destroy stars with their movements. For example, the Sun Crystal Seed inside Zuo Mo’s body was something only those celestial level totem warriors could seal.

But as they organized, Zuo Mo and the others also found some interesting things.

According to this division of power, in Wei’s era, those powerful totem warriors were earth level. The degradation of shen power was evident in that era.

The ancient era was undoubtedly the era that shen power was strongest. Wei’s era was at the end of the shen power era. It was the time that shen power was gradually being destroyed and the three powers started to replace shen power as the mainstream.

Why did shen power degrade?

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of that suffocating Sealed Extinction Battlefield. Was it that too many totem warriors had fallen in that great battle leading to the degradation of shen power?

And that mysterious Shi. Only now did Zuo Mo start to understand the great power of the other. He probably had been a totem warrior.

However, Zuo Mo did not plan on wasting time on uncovering history.

His time was so precious. Any drop of time had to be invested in becoming stronger!

Zuo Mo felt he had never had such a clear goal in life!

Every drop of sweat would not fall for nothing.

Zuo Mo could clearly feel the shen power in his body becoming stronger, especially after he had organized the knowledge of the two shen techniques. His improvement with shen power was clear, but it was clear he had just entered the preliminary stages of mortal level.

The long and distant path did not scare Zuo Mo, who now had a clear goal.

Zuo Mo’s rapid improvement of shen power slowed. This was to be expected. He had only cultivated shen power for a short amount of time and he had not accumulated much. After organizing what he knew, he had understood many details and many of the places he had been stuck at had opened. His shen power had increased due to this, but after this burst of improvement the growth of his shen power could only improve through a process of accumulation.

But Zuo Mo was not satisfied.

“Fighting?” Pu Yao’s eyes flashed with surprise. Zuo Mo never feared fighting before, but he was not one that liked fighting. It was rare for him to have a desire to fight.

“En.” Zuo Mo nodded. His expression was calm. “Fighting can cause my progress to become faster!”

Wei’s brow creased slightly. “It is very dangerous.”

As they sorted out shen power and understood more, they knew that shen power in mortal level was not of great advantage against the three powers in the later stages. Only when one stepped into earth level could they completely suppress the three powers in the later stages.

In other words, with Zuo Mo’s present shen power skill, his chances of victory against a yuanying was high, but if he encountered a fanxu it would be dangerous.

A Gui’s shen power was slightly stronger than Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er was the weakest of the three.

“There will always be danger.” Zuo Mo’s expression was calm but his expression was determined. “But fighting will allow me to grow more quickly. Also, even though it is difficult for us to comprehend shen power, why don’t we search for comprehension in battle?”

“Search for comprehension in battle?”

Pu Yao and Wei stilled.

“The three powers are different from shen power, but they are all derived from shen power at the core. That means then there must be patterns to the way the power is used. Rather than taking stabs in the dark like we are doing now, it would be better to search through battle. Since it is power, it would be more evident during battle.”

Zuo Mo said seriously.

Pu Yao and Wei had thoughtful expressions.

Moments later, Wei nodded. “Theoretically it is true, but too dangerous.”

Pu Yao smiled strangely. “This method is interesting! Are you planning on using Xuan Kong Temple?”

Zuo Mo did not find it strange that Pu Yao could guess his thoughts. Spirit burned in his eyes. “Of those two old thieving baldies, one is dead, the other is injured. Xuan Kong Temple will not give up. I speculate that they will definitely send more people and they aren’t far from here. Bie Han said that Xuan Kong Temple only has two fanxu now. So the people that they have sent this time would be primarily yuanying. We might have a chance.”

Pu Yao snickered darkly. “They definitely will not expect that you dare to look for a fight.”

“En, there is also an additional benefit. We can help relieve the pressure on Gongsun Shidi and Bie Han.”

“That is a good idea.” Even Wei was persuaded by Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo told his idea to Ceng Lian’er. His original intention was to urge Ceng Lian’er to leave. Escalating this war with more battle was a dangerous course of action. In his view, Ceng Lian’er did not have to accompany them in this.

Ceng Lian’er fluffed her hair. Her serene eyes did not avoid Zuo Mo’s gaze. “I stay with you both.”

Zuo Mo was shocked. So he had talked so much for nothing.

“What you say is true, it will be dangerous. However, the world knows that I cultivate shen power. If I am alone, I will definitely be captured and forced to give up the shen power inheritance. Father’s power is not enough to protect me,” Ceng Lian’er looked at Zuo Mo calmly and said.

Zuo Mo was stunned.

Ceng Lian’er was right. The fact that she cultivated shen power was no longer a secret. There were countless pairs of eyes watching her. If she left, she most likely would immediately fall into the hands of someone else.

Her only hope of survival was to stay with them to the end.

Only by staying with Zuo Mo could she reduce the number of people scheming for her shen power inheritance.

No matter how dangerous it was, she had no other choice.

There wasn’t any terror in Ceng Lian’er’s eyes. Her eyes were a deep unfathomable black that made it hard for people to guess her thoughts.

“If that’s the case, then let’s fight together!”

Zuo Mo looked at her and said seriously.

A thread of a smile blossomed at the corner of Ceng Lian’er’s mouth. It was like a beautiful flowering blossoming in the darkness.

Chapter 682 – God-Killing Blood Sword

Wei Sheng walked along the street as the people around him gazed on in awe. Wei Sheng was famed in the mo territories. Up until now, he had not lost once.

There had been over twenty experts that had fallen to his sword.

Many of them were famous and were lords of an area. After his successive victories, Wei Sheng had become famous.

He has started by challenging others but was now challenged by others. This change had only taken him a few months.

The mo did not have too much of a negative attitude towards Wei Sheng. He was quiet, speaking few words, and determined. He also was not pretentious and was frugal. He was obsessed with the pursuit of power, and his passion and devotion to the sword was admirable. Also, he was an honest person. While he had defeated more than twenty experts, it was rare that people died by his sword.

In the eyes of the proud mo, Wei Sheng had almost all the attributes that mo revered.

Even the mo found it difficult to feel dislike for such a person. Many mo sighed inside. It would be wonderful if such a person was born a mo.

He was also so strong!

Having defeated twenty general level experts, many people speculated that he would not have a match below marshal level.

Would it really take a marshal to beat him?

However, many people felt that this was not interesting. Which marshal did not have great power and authority? They were each busy fighting to expanding their holdings. Who had the free time to fight against a sword xiu?

Maybe Wei Sheng’s strength was almost close to marshal level, but even if it was just a sliver away, this kind of difference was unable to be crossed.

The gazes of the leaders were mostly looking at the battle between Jiang Zhe and Xiao Mo Ge. In their view, an expert like Wei Sheng was worthy of praise. But as long as he did not become a fanxu, he would not have any true influence on the state of affairs. However, the results of Xiao Mo Ge’s battle would directly affect the state of the world.

If Xiao Mo Ge won, his reputation would grow, and he would become the first among the new generation of mo generals. Additionally, the decline of Xuan Kong Temple would not be able to be prevented.

If Xuan Kong Temple won, the mo would suffer another loss on the battlefield. Jiang Zhe’s reputation would grow, Xuan Kong Temple would become even stronger, and Xiao Mo Ge would not have any place to hide.

The attention this battle received was far greater than Wei Sheng’s matches.

Wei Sheng was not affected. These factors were never ones that he paid attention to. He stepped onto the battle stage like usual and waited for the arrival of his opponents.

He sat down in lotus position with the black sword floating next to him.

He did not know who his opponent today was. He had never searched for information on any of his opponents. That was meaningless for him. He was trying to refine his sword essence, and was not fighting to win. Pure victory was not of value to him.

His mind was like a void and a little black sword was within it. If one looked closely, they would find that it was a miniature black sword. However, unlike the savagery and bloodthirst of the black sword, this little black sword had the beginnings of majesty.

The sword was like the endless void!

Vast, deep, and boundless!

Void sword sesence!

His void sword essence had already surpassed any of Wu Kong Sword Sect’s forebearers, and reached an unprecedented height. The sixth-grade sword scripture was transforming in his hands.

Suddenly, the little black sword shook lightly.

A faint, almost imperceptible, void sword essence rippled into the surroundings.

Everything nearby appeared in Wei Sheng’s mind.

Among the densely packed crowd, one person was extremely clear.

This person was spying on him!

The little black sword was connected to Wei Sheng’s mind. It seemed to detect something and shook urgently.

Sword essence!

This person was a sword xiu and also a Kun Lun sword xiu!

This person’s eyes were filled with imperceptible enmity but what caused the little black sword to react so was the faint Kun Lun sword presence that he carried. It could not be detected with the naked eye, but in the void of the sword, it was eye-catching.

Wei Sheng knew long ago that Kun Lun would not give up.

But Kun Lun probably had not expected that he would also not give up.

Wei Sheng suddenly opened his eyes. A harsh light flashed across his determined eyes.

Since they had come, then they should not think of leaving!

Wei Sheng stood. The black sword seemed to respond and flashed into his hand.

The mo below the stage were all astounded. It was the first time that they had seen Wei Sheng perform any other actions before a fight. In the past matches, before the opponent came, Wei Sheng would sit motionlessly like a rock with his eyes closed.

What did he want to do?

The mo all showed puzzled expressions.

At this time, they heard Wei Sheng’s clear shout ring in their ears.

“Kun Lun sword xiu, when did you become people that hide in the shadows?”

Wei Sheng’s black sword pointed towards the Kun Lun sword xiu in the crowd.

Kun Lun sword xiu!

The mo below the stage were astounded.

The two words Kun Lun had brought endless pain towards the mo in thousands of years.

In the direction Wei Sheng was pointing people parted like the tide, revealing the Kun Lun sword xiu among the crowd.

His figure was average and so was his appearance. He did not show any differences compared to the average mo and if he was a part of the crowd, he would quickly fade away.

The Kun Lun sword xiu did not move. Wei Sheng’s sword essence had locked onto him.

“I’m very curious how you found me?”

His voice was dry, hoarse, and ugly to hear. There wasn’t any presence on him as though he was a normal person. However, his words confirmed his identity.

“My sword recognizes you.”

Wei Sheng said coolly.

Just as he finished speaking, the space between him and the Kun Lun sword xiu had turned into a patch of endless void.

“They say that Wu Kong Sword Sect had a sixth-grade sword scripture called the Void Sword Scripture. I hadn’t expected that you are able to elevate it. If your sect leader and shishu heard of this in the grave, they would feel gratified,” the Kun Lun sword xiu smiled and said to himself.

Wei Sheng’s body shook.

His steely gaze gradually became pained. He grip on the black sword tightened, his knuckles turned white and trembled slightly.

The endless void shook and showed signs of instability.

There was a faint smile on the face of the Kun Lun sword xiu. He slowly walked forward as though he was taking a stroll.

“It is a pity that you were not able to see them one last time. Even your fellow disciples ended up in the hands of mo and become their prisoners. It really causes one to feel pity that Wu Kong Sword Sect was destroyed after existing for several hundred years.”

Wei Sheng was silent. However, the blood in his face retreated as the other spoke.

The Kun Lun sword xiu looked wryly at Wei Sheng. In the intelligence report, Wei Sheng had a resilient and hardy personality but he cared greatly for his sect, this was his greatest weakness!

Sword essence was eternal and could exist for thousands of lifetimes. Emotions were just common things. If one’s sword essence was infected by their emotions, they would never be able to reach the peak.

Such a pity for this good man!

There was still a smile on the Kun Lun sword xiu’s face. However, his eyes were filled with ice and emotionlessness.

A transparent little sword that was as thin as a cicada’s wings appeared in his hands.

Just as he was about to act, he suddenly became alarmed. His icy eyes suddenly changed.

In front of him, Wei Sheng’s presence suddenly changed.

An ancient and desolate presence filled with deep grief flooded from the endless void and turned into threads that entered the black sword in his hand.

The black sword suddenly hummed!

It was like the howl of ancient wasteland beasts. The savagery and vicious presence filled the air. The thick tang of blood came from the sword and merged into the black void in the surroundings.

Almost in a flash, the dark void became tinged with dark red.

Wei Sheng’s body trembled violently. His face was ashen as though all the blood in his body had been drained. But his hand that held the black sword was like rock and didn’t move a sliver.

The Kun Lun sword xiu suddenly raised his head. He saw an mountainous blood coloured sword floating behind Wei Sheng.

Streams of blood dripped. The savage and bloody presence caused his sword heart to instinctively tremble.

This was … …

Wei Sheng’s slightly red eyes became deep red, then dark red until they became black.

The same deep black like the previous void.

The killing essence and the tang of blood seemed to disappear. The enormous blood sword behind Wei Sheng also disappeared as if it was just a mirage.

However, the blood tinged void in the surroundings informed people that the scene just now had not been an illusion.

The Kun Lun sword xiu’s mouth was wide as he looked behind Wei Sheng. It was as though he had seen a ghost.

“God-Killing Blood Sword … … how is it possible … …”

He murmured to himself with an ashen expression.

Wei Sheng’s expression returned to normal. The black sword in his mind was completely red, and the surrounding void was also dyed red. In the void was a little tiny infant sitting in lotus position on the blood sword. It seemed to be similar to Wei Sheng in features.

Yuanying!

At this time, he broke through to yuanying!

Wei Sheng’s sword essence level was always above his cultivation level. Even the mo that he had defeated never had thought that the person they faced was just a jindan sword xiu.

Today, when he suddenly heard the terrible news about the sect leader and the shishu, he had felt grief and fury. This caused a resonance with the black sword in his soul. The vast killing essence in the black sword had instantly broke through the barrier inside his body.

Previously, he had had a bad feeling about the sect, but there had not been any actual news about the sect leader and the others. He had held some hope. But now that the other had confirmed his suspicions, in great grief Wei Sheng lost the last restraints and calm that he had. The last barrier between him and the black sword was also broken.

The long accumulation and the comprehensions he gained at the border of life and death allowed him to have a successful breakthrough.

The Kun Lun sword xiu wanted Wei Sheng’s mind to show weakness but he had never thought that this would become an opportunity for Wei Sheng to break through.

“God-Killing Blood Sword, so that is what you are called.”

Wei Sheng lightly caressed the black sword in his hand and murmured to himself. The black sword felt the sorrow inside Wei Sheng and the killing essence grew. It violently trembled, the sword producing threads of blood that ran along the blade. In a few moments, the sword was streaked with blood.

The blood on the sword seemed to have an unique presence.

If Zuo Mo was here, he would instantly recognize this presence was shen power! Pure shen power!

The threads of blood were the blood of totem warriors. The blood that the sword had drank tens of thousands of years ago!

The Kun Lun sword xiu’s mind finally cleared up but his face became even paler. He was being completely suppressed by Wei Sheng!

The red void in the surroundings was like an enormous clamp that gripped him.

Impossible!

Even if it was the God-Killing Blood Sword, it could not be so powerful!

Was it … …

A terrifying thought flashed through his mind.

At this time, Wei Sheng raised his head.

In this moment, the Kun Lun sword xiu, Wei Sheng, and the red void in the surroundings had merged into one.

As expected … … he had a breakthrough!

“Master and the Shishu in Heaven, under my Void Sword Domain, this disciple Wei Sheng offers the blood of Kun Lun as tribute!”

These were the last words that the Kun Lun sword xiu heard.

Chapter 683 – Explanations Of Shen Power

Ceng Lian’er had stared at the ball of light in Zuo Mo’s hand for a long time before she couldn’t resist speaking, “Why do you cultivate spells?”

Since a few days ago, Zuo Mo suddenly started to cultivate spells. While Ceng Lian’er did not know much about spells, but she knew that with Zuo Mo’s personality that he would not do useless things.

To go from cultivating shen power to suddenly cultivating ling power, she found this very strange.

Zuo Mo was sweating and it seemed that it took him great effort. However, he did not stop and spoke as he worked, “The three powers are each branches of shen power. Cultivating the three powers can help us advance our shen power.”

Ceng Lian’ers expression was puzzled.

She had the inheritance from the Moon Tribe and her understanding of shen power was completely different than Zuo Mo’s.

Zuo Mo did not explain how he arrived at this conclusion but Pu Yao and Wei had found that there was evidence to support this conclusion. It could not be explained in a sentence or two.

But he still added, “The disappearance of shen power should have another cause other than just the loss of the inheritances.”

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes suddenly it up. “What other reason?”

The disappearance of shen power had always been a mystery. Up until now, no one had been able to explain it. That era was too distant in the past, and there were few records on the matter that had survived the march of time. Most of these were not specific in their wording. The shen power was stronger than the three powers. A Gui, Zuo Mo, and Ceng Lian’er were only in the early stages of mortal level and, when they coordinated, could kill fanxu xiuzhe. The advantages could be seen.

But the powerful shen power had still disappeared and the three powers which were not as powerful had developed and their use had spread until it became the mainstream method. This was something hard for people to understand. No matter if it was xiuzhe, yao, or mo, their pursuit of power was the same.

When Ceng Lian’er heard that Zuo Mo might have found the reason, she became alert.

“Belief.” Zuo Mo said. He didn’t mess up the spell on his hand.

“Belief … … “Ceng Lian’er stilled.

“The warriors of the ancient tribes have another identity. They are the totems of their tribes, they are thought of as the gods of their tribes. They are entities that the tribes sacrifice to and worship. That is why ancient tribes have temples. And now, no matter if it is xiuzhe, or yaomo, we do not have totems nor temples.”

Ceng Lian’er contemplated this idea.

“In other words, cultivating shen power now is not the same as in the past. We have the inheritances, but we cannot be like the entities of the past and become totem warriors. We cannot receive the belief and ceremonial sacrifices of other people. However, we can work on the three powers. The three powers are not as strong as shen power but their cultivation systems are stricter and they developed from shen power so they are of great help to cultivating shen power.”

As Zuo Mo spoke, the light on his hand showed signs of instability and he hurriedly shifted his focus back.

Ceng Lian’er was intelligent and the inheritance she received from the Moon Tribe was complete. After some thought, she understood that what Zuo Mo said was correct. In the Moon Shen Power inheritance she had, much of the content was related to temples. In the past, she had not thought of this. Now, when she thought of Zuo Mo’s explanation, she realized.

The temple was for gathering belief.

“Can you teach me yao arts and spells?” Ceng Lian’er suddenly said.

Zuo Mo stopped. He hadn’t thought that Ceng Lian’er would ask this. It had to be said that for an actual mo, it was a difficult matter to learn spells and yao arts from the start.

He looked at Ceng Lian’er. “It is slightly difficult to start from the beginning.”

Ceng Lian’er smiled. “At the very least, it won’t be as difficult as cultivating shen power.”

Zuo Mo was left speechless. Yes, she was right. The cultivation of the three powers would not be as difficult as cultivating shen power. He did not refuse her. After some thought, he took out two jade scrolls. “Your mo physique is very good. This [Jade Bone Spell] uses ling power to refine the bones and will be of help to your mo physique. This [Nether Jail Bone Sacrificial Art] is also suited to you. You might try to practice this.”

Previously, Pu Yao had given Zuo Mo all of the spells and yao arts he had collected. Wei’s previous master had been a battle maniac and challenged numerous people when she had been young leading Wei to have a deep understanding in mo skills, and all kinds of mo skill styles. Wei had not held anything back.

Those skills that could attract Pu Yao and Wei’s interest were not average things. Other than cultivation, Zuo Mo had spent these days reading the spells, yao arts, and mo skills. While they were lacking greatly compared to shen techniques, because they were not as powerful as shen pechniques, their demands on the control and use of power was finer.

Start from the three powers. This was the result of Zuo Mo, Pu Yao and Wei’s discussion on reconstruction.

They all thought that the path the present shen power had to take was completely different than in the era of the ancient tribes.

Once this direction was confirmed, Zuo Mo burrowed into the “Pu Wei Record Pavilion”, something that could rival those record halls of the four great sects.

He only slept for four hours each day and spent the rest of his time reading or cultivating. Pu Yao and Wei had helped him design an extremely intense cultivation plan. This cultivation plan detailed everything down to ten minute blocks, and was so strict it was like a forging report.

Zuo Mo was perfectly carrying out this cultivation plan.

Whenever he was so tired he wanted to die Zuo Mo’s would look towards A Gui, sitting silently beside him, and he would be filled with strength.

He had never been so focused or worked so hard.

Even Pu Yao and Wei were secretly surprised inside. The cultivation plan they had designed only existed in theory. When they had designed it, they had not thought that Zuo Mo would manage to carry it out.

But when Zuo Mo had perfectly finished the first phase, it gave them a scare.

The Little Mo Ge they saw before them was so unfamiliar they were astounded.

Day after day, Zuo Mo’s cultivation still diligently followed the cultivation plan designed by the two.

Even though Pu Yao and Wei were left shocked to the point they didn’t know what to say, this was still not enough in Zuo Mo’s eyes.

The progress was too slow!

Pu Yao and Wei both thought that the present rate of improvement was at the limit unless there was outside simulation. They were definitely at the forefront when it came to the study of shen power.

If regular methods were useless, then he would use extreme methods.

For example, fighting.

Zuo Mo was waiting for the other people in Xuan Kong Temple to arrive. The enormous Xuan Kong Temple would not give up on such a good chance to obtain shen power. From how Xuan Kong Temple was willing to send out two fanxu, it could be seen that Xuan Kong Temple wanted to capture them.

Zuo Mo suddenly stopped the spell and his expression changed slightly.

They had come!

One, two, three … …

Thirty people, each of them yuanying!

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. Xuan Kong Temple had such a high opinion of him!

Such a grand and enormous group did not scare him. He felt his blood boil, fighting spirit filling his chest. He wanted to immediately have a fight against the crowd of thieving baldies.

He quickly calmed down. A strategy was required to win against thirty Xuan Kong Temple yuanying.

A moment later, Ceng Lian’er stopped cultivating and looked at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo did not speak and nodded at her. Ceng Lian’er understood and moved into the air. Zuo Mo grabbed A Gui and also jumped to fly.

“They are over there!”

The elders of Xuan Kong Temple immediately spotted the trio and pursued them.

But the Xuan Kong Temple eldest found quickly that the three were even faster than they were. In a blink, there was only an extremely thin white mark in the sky and no sign of the trio.

“Such speed!”

Many elders praised. Such speed. It could even compare to the Kun Lun sword xiu.

A widely-read elder had an astounded expression. “This is [Sky Mark]!”

“[Sky Mark]!”

Many elders stilled. They seemed to have heard this name before but they did not remember it clearly.

“It is from before the thousand year battle, the secret skill of Air Travel Sect!”

This elder’s explanation immediately stirred people’s memories. However, not every elder had an interest in the sects from before the thousand year war. One elder said, “Old Lin, explain in more detail.”

Old Lin did not refuse and said, “The Air Travel Sect was an intermediate sect before the thousand year war. They had two powerful spells, one called the [Air Kill Spell] the other [Sky Mark]. [Sky Mark] was the top flying spell at the time. When one flies using it, there will be an extremely thin mark left in the sky so it is called Sky mark. When it was used together with the treacherous [Air Kill Spell], it became famous. However, all of Air Travel Sect had died in the thousand year war. Is this Xiao Mo Ge a descendant of Air Travel Sect?”

When he reached the end, Old Lin was slightly puzzled.

“This boy’s history is strange. Elder Dai Tao said that he cultivates all three ways, that appears to be true. However, we do not need to waste effort on this. When he capture him, all will be revealed,” an elder said with a snort.

“Elder Pang is right!”

The other elders nodded.

It could be seen that Elder Pang held authority among the elders. He turned his head and said, “Elder Xu, Elder Wu, Elder Hao, you three are the fastest in the sect. Please go first. Once you catch up to him, do not fight him head on, just follow behind him and message us the position. This boy is cunning. Be careful.”

The three elders nodded. They did not speak more and moved into the air.

As expected of the three who were skilled in flying spells, with their flying talismans, they immediately turned into three different colored lights and disappeared into the horizon.

The other elders put out their flying talismans, lotuses, lucky clouds, or ling beasts, each using something different.

Xuan Kong Temple was not skilled in flying but as one of the four greats, all of the elders were wealthy. The talismans and ling beasts they used were extraordinary, lights flashing and astounding in presence.

Zuo Mo’s spell really had been [Sky Mark].

When he had first came up with the plan, he had planned every detail. His gamble meant his growth had to be quick in order to survive the fighting, the risk did not need to be stated. If he lost, there would not be a chance to regret it.

What was crucial to this battle was speed. If Xuan Kong Temple’s elders surrounded him, he was dead.

The flying talismans he had were greatly lacking compared to the elders of Xuan Kong Temple. Therefore, when he found [Sky Mark] among the spells that Pu Yao collected, he immediately started to practice it.

[Sky Mark] was peerlessly quick, as expected of a flying spell that was at the top three thousand years ago.

Enjoying the pleasure of high speed flying, Zuo Mo had started the next step in his plan.

Thieving baldies, enjoy ge’s welcome!

Chapter 684 – Ambush

“Here.”

The three stopped. Streaks of light flew out of Zuo Mo’s hands and entered the ground. They soundlessly melted into the ground.

Zuo Mo had a satisfied expression. The three flew ahead a bit further and then turned around waiting for the other to arrive.

———

Soon after, the three dots of light in the distance grew larger and suddenly stopped near the three.

The three elders looked warily at the trio. They had learned from Elder Dai Tao that these three were powerful. Normal yuanying were not a match for them. Even Elder Ji Zheng had died at their hands.

The three did not go further forward and moved into defense positions. In any case, their mission was to follow the trio, and to prevent them from escaping.

A cold light flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. He shot towards the three of them first.

“Kill!”

Ceng Lian’er and A Gui almost disappeared into the air at the same time.

The three elders were shocked. They turned and moved to escape. But unexpectedly several lights appeared under their feet.

Not good!

There was a trap!

The three elder’s expression changed dramatically. The lights layered together and almost took up all of their vision. Seal formations! Even if they did not look down, the three could judge from the light that the other had used seal formations. A seal formation of such scale that it would rival the protective shield of a small lsect.

Xiao Mo Ge was skilled in seal formations!

This discovery caused the three to shudder in fear. It was not a secret that Xiao Mo Ge was skilled in the skills of yao, mo, and xiu. However, the three were still shocked that he was this skilled in seal formations. The field of seal formations was profound and complex. It was such an enormous field that even dedicated seal xiu had a hard time cultivating it. How could it be something that yaomo could learn?

But the skill in formations that Xiao Mo Ge showed was not something to be underestimated.

If Xiao Mo Ge had already secretly set up the trap ahead of time and waited for them to run into the net, then their fates were not looking good!

If Xiao Mo Ge had just set it up now, then Xiao Mo Ge’s skill in seal formations was even more terrifying!

No matter which case it was, it did not bode well for them.

But there was no time to ponder this now. It was most important to escape the trap first.

The figures of the three elders exploded with light. Sutra characters lit up on the body of one of the elders. The sutra characters turned into a wheel of light in the air to pressed towards the seal formation!

The golden lotus lit up under the feet of another elder. In a blink, countless golden lotuses emerged out of the ground. They spread outwards at an astounding place. When the golden lotuses touched the seal formation’s light shield, the golden lotuses started to grow and creep along the shell of light.

The third elder tossed out a string of amber colored Buddhist beads. When the Buddhist beads landed on the ground, it turned into eight buddhas that were twenty five meters tall. Their expressions were different as they shielded him at the center. Three of the buddhas charged forward.

In a blink, the three elders used all they could in hope they could break out of the seal formation as fast as possible.

Zuo Mo knew that the seal formation would not manage to withstand their barrage.

These seal formations were formation disks that he had forged using the materials he had on hand in the last few days. The grade of the materials he had used were high so the formation disks were powerful. But in front of full-powered attacks from three yuanying Xuan Kong Temple elders, they were nothing.

However, Zuo Mo had not hoped that these roughly made formation disks could trap three yuanying elders. His aim was accomplished when they were delayed for a few moments.

Zuo Mo felt surprised when the three elders attacked the formation at the same time. He suddenly understood the three were extremely wary of them!

In front of the three elder’s full-powered attacks, Zuo Mo’s formation disks turned to dust like paper mache.

Boom!

The ground underneath the elder’s feet exploded. The layers of light from the formation all disappeared.

Before the three elders could celebrate, two figures suddenly appeared in front of them.

A Gui and Ceng Lian’er!

Adding on Zuo Mo who was still behind the three, a triangle formed, surrounding them.

However, the three naturally were of extraordinary strength to have become elders.

The sutra characters around the elder at the front suddenly merged into his body. A layer of liquid gold seemed to have been painted onto his body as he rapidly grew larger, stopping only when he was ten meters tall.

[Skanda Golden Body]!

A golden staff appeared on his hand, and he was magnificent to look at.

A cold snort sounded like thunder. He raised the dhyana staff and smashed towards A Gui.

The copper rings on the tip of the staff were suddenly shrouded in fire. There seemed to be countless angry souls wailing inside this fire that caused people’s minds to shake. This was the Avici Hell Fire!

A bamboo staff appeared on A Gui’s hand. This was the Corpse Sea Bamboo. However, the corpse sea bamboo she held was slightly different than before. The Nether Ghost Core had been embedded on the third joint of the bamboo staff. It appeared like an eerie eye. This Nether Ghost Core came from the Nether Ghost Tribe. Zuo Mo did not know how to use it, and hadn’t expected that it would be useful in A Gui’s hands.

As shen power was channeled in, the Nether Ghost Core immediately lit up eerily. A Gui waved the bamboo staff.

A monster with a green face and fangs appeared in front of A Gui. It seemed to be a hybrid of ape and human, and had claws on its feet and hands. What was most eye catching was the line of hard spikes that jutted out from the back of its head all the way down to its tailbone. Its eyes gave off eerie purple energy.

When this great monster appeared, it immediately howled into the sky. A vast and vicious energy exploded outwards into the surroundings, like a volcano!

The flora on the ground under its feet withered into ashes at a visible rate.

The Avici Hell Fire that was crashing towards A Gui rippled. The monster reached out and grabbed the head of the staff.

It allowed the Avici Hell Fire to burn its hand and did not seem to feel the fire.

Purple light suddenly flashed in its eyes. The Avici Hell Fire at the head of the staff suddenly turned into a stream of fire and was absorbed into its palm! A red fire script appeared at its right arm at the same time.

The majestic elder changed expression!

Such a powerful being!

He had naturally recognized the Corpse Sea Bamboo that A Gui’ had. The Corpse Sea Bamboo could nurture vicious beings but it could not create one so vicious. It definitely had to be the eye that was giving off the purple energy!

His guess was right. If the Old Bamboo Staff Man was here, he would definitely not recognize his Corpse Sea Bamboo. The Nether Ghost Core came from the Nether Ghost Tribe and it was a perfect pairing with the Corpse Sea Bamboo. Under the power of A Gui’s Undying shen power, there were new changes.

This monster did not look much different than in the past, but its power had multiplied!

Ceng Lian’er was evenly matched against the other elder. Her movements were hard to predict, and the moon shen power’s transformations were profound. The other’s dhyana skills were strong, and his talismans extraordinary. At this time, no one was able to defeat the other.

Zuo Mo was also fighting against the enemy.

He did not use the Little Mo Treasure Cup. Such a good chance to fight was something that could not be requested.

For him, victory alone had no meaning. The mountainous obstacle in front of him was not something that even a fanxu could move aside.

Resolving the Undying Shen Punishment, this goal was enough to make other people feel hopeless.

Zuo Mo did not stray in his thoughts. He was extremely focused and threw himself into the fight.

All Shen power was one kind of power in the end.

Only fighting would allow him to detect every change in shen power.

He did not use shen techniques, the Little Mo Treasure Cup, mo skills, yao arts, or spells. He just used pure shen power to face the Xuan Kong Temple elder in front of him.

In front of these buddhas twenty five meters tall, Zuo Mo was minuscule.

His figure seemed as though it could be drowned by these enormous figures at any moment.

What he used was the simplest method of attack. His shen power channeled into his fist and he punched.

Every punch that connected with the buddhas, those enormous figures would shake.

This was the power of shen power!

It was the first time that Zuo Mo used shen power like this.

An unprecedented expression flowed across his mind.

The three powers inside his body were like three flexible but separate chains of power. With every one of his blows, the three chains would twist together and form a thicker and more powerful chain!

Comprehension flowed across his mind.

———

“Master!” Lin Qian respectfully bowed.

Kun Lun Sect Leader’s snowy white brows were down. He appeared to be resting with his eyes closed but then said, “I heard that you seem to be focused on the matter with Wei Sheng?”

Lin Qian’s heart shook slightly. He bowed his head and said, “Yes. Wei Sheng is of determined personality and is devoted to the sword. He will become a great enemy of our Kun Lun in the future.”

“Hmph!”

The sect leader’s displeased cold snort was like a heavy hammer that smashed against Lin Qian’s mind.

Lin Qian’s head went even lower.

“You have your priorities in the wrong order!” The sect leader slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were like a vast ocean filled with sword essence. He said indifferently, “You are the eldest disciple of Kun Lun, yet you panic over a little sect disciple from an unknown sect. You have to remember you are the future sect leader. You are Kun Lun. You are a mountain that they will never be able to ascend, and will always look up to!”

“Yes!” Lin Qian responded in a low voice.

The sect leader’s tone eased. “I know that you are taking care of most of the matters of the sect. It has been hard for you.”

Lin Qian shook his head. “This is this disciple’s duty.”

“This is what I want to tell you. We are Kun Lun, sword xiu. The sect leaders must always be the strongest members of the sect! Put everything else aside and focus on your cultivation. You are wary of Wei Sheng because you do not have enough confidence in your own strength. If you are strong enough, wouldn’t Wei Sheng be an ant in your eyes?”

The sect leader looked at Lin Qian and said, emphasizing each word, “Remember, this world is ruled by the sword!”

Lin Qian’s body shook. “This disciple will remember!”

“Go to the Sword Pavilion to find your Wei Shishu. Starting from today you will train under him. You will only leave the Sword Pavilion when your shen power enters earth level.”

Lin Qian suddenly raised his head, his face filled with disbelief. “Shen power? Is it … …”

The sect leader glanced at Lin Qian and said coolly, “Yes, our sect’s shen methodology has taken shape. While some details still need to be perfected, it can be practiced. You were the one that contributed the most in this matter, so you are the first to cultivate it. Other than you, all of the elders will start to practice it in order to perfect this shen methodology together. When it is completely perfected, the other core disciples will cultivate it.”

Lin Qian was so shocked by the new the he was left speechless.

The sect leader saw Lin Qian’s dazed expression and showed a small smile. He liked this disciple very much and couldn’t resist reminding, “Do not spread news of this matter but work hard.”

His voice suddenly became ethereal as though it was coming from very far away.

“After this, it will be the era of shen power.”

Chapter 685 – Becoming Better

Tian Huan.

Countless lights suddenly appeared inside a deep cave behind the mountains. The lights contained great power. The moment that they formed, all of Tian Huan was disturbed.

An old and slightly mad voice echoed out of the cave.

“Haha! Shen glyph! This old man finally succeeded! This old man finally succeeded! Ancient shen glyph. Haha, no, in the future, it will be called the Tian Huan shen glyph!”

The mad laughter of the person that was speaking to himself caused the Tian Huan elders that had flew over to be stunned where they stood.

But in the next moment, ecstasy rose onto their faces.

Shen glyph!

Every disciple of Tian Huan, who had started by using seal formations, knew the meaning of these two words!

———

Shen power flowed through his entire body. Zuo Mo’s gaze was pure and clear.

In his sea of consciousness, Pu Yao paid close attention to every change of shen power inside Zuo Mo’s body. All of these changes were recorded. Pu Yao’s rich experience and vast knowledge would help prevent Zuo Mo from making many mistakes, but what was most important was that Pu Yao was a sky yao. His terrifying ability to create simulations from the torturous sea of yao spells meant that he could help Zuo Mo perfect his shen power cultivation quickly.

Shen power was much more complex than yao arts and the work to reconstruct the method was unprecedentedly vast and complex. Even Pu Yao did not have any spare time for other matters and was forced to leave all of those conspiracy matters to Wei.

Pu Yao and Wei were not in disagreement about this division of labour. Their opinions were unusually in agreement.

In their view, there had to be a pattern that connected the three powers to shen power, a pattern that could be used to evolve into shen power. That was because the development of the three powers had reached a peak a long time ago. No matter if one was yao, mo, or xiuzhe, their pursuit of power was not different; the final stages of each power were highly similar.

From the general trend, the arrival of the era of shen power was inevitable.

The shen power that would develop would be very different from the shen power of the ancient era. While the two had the same name, the shen power of the present would be reconstructed from the three powers.

Therefore, in Pu Yao’s view, the one that managed to stay ahead of the others would have the greatest advantage in this era of shen power.

Zuo Mo’s luck was unspeakably good. Even Pu Yao and Wei sighed about it.

But they could not just rest on their laurels. The inheritance of the Sun Tribe was able to dominate the ancient world but there were great differences between the ancient world and the present world. This inheritance was just a crude beginning, and there was still a great distance until it developed into a perfected cultivation method.

For Zuo Mo, the content that Pu Yao was considering was too far in the future.

Resolving the Undying Shen power was his only goal.

“Alright, finish the battle,” Pu Yao said to Zuo Mo. There were numerous bright lines spinning furiously in the ball of light in front of him. If a normal person looked for a bit too long at the ball of light, they would feel dizzy.

Each moving light represented a recording of a certain trait of shen power.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo did not hesitate and immediately took out the Little Mo Treasure Cup.

Clink!

The treasure coin immediately penetrated through the chest of the Xuan Kong Temple elder and created a spurt of blood.

Zuo Mo’s shen power was completely used up but, having experienced this before, he did not panic. He threw a sun seed into his mouth. When the sun seed entered his mouth, it turned into a warm flow and shen power filled his body again.

The Little Mo Treasure Cup was powerful, but it consumed a great amount of shen power. The Little Mo Treasure Cup surpassed the limits of normal talismans. It could only be activated by shen power. It probably could be said to be the first shen power talisman in the world.

The monster that A Gui had summon was extremely powerful. But what surprised Zuo Mo was by was that the shen power from this human-ape hybrid that wasn’t weak at all!

The monster’s body was as hard as steel and unable to be damaged by flying swords. The spells of dhyana xiu were not as effective as it should have been against monster. Theoretically, the spells of dhyana xiu were most effect against dark and evil monsters. Zuo Mo felt that shen power might be the reason that the spells were not effective.

The monster was unusually valiant, charging at the front, and A Gui’s figure was unpredictable. The Undying shen power killed people silently. The enemy was dodging right and left. If A Gui quickly found a weakness and then she only needed one attack!

Of the three, the one having the hardest time was Ceng Lian’er.

She had the advantage. However, the other’s talismans were endless and their cultivation was higher. Her shen techniques were powerful but it took time to use them. She had destroyed a few of the enemy’s talismans but hadn’t wounded the other.

But she was smart. When she saw she could not do anything, she stopped using shen power. She managed to keep the enemy suppressed and didn’t give them the chance to run away.

When this elder saw Zuo Mo and A Gui leap at him, a shocked expression came onto his face.

Pew.

The one who had delivered the killing blow was A Gui.

The Undying shen power had sealed A Gui’s soul but her fighting instinct was the most terrifying in the trio.

The three did not linger. They cleaned the corpses of the valuables and turned to leave.

A while later, when the elder corps of Xuan Kong Temple arrived, they saw the three stripped corpses on the ground and their expressions were extremely ugly.

———

“Here, here, here, here … …”

Pu Yao pointed out seven things in one go. In front of him, Zuo Mo’s expression was focused and serious. The places that Pu Yao had pointed out where the areas that needed to be redeveloped and practiced again.

These seven places were the result of Pu Yao spending three days studying the battle and modeling shen power.

Even in Pu Yao’s time, he was not the most powerful sky yao. However, with the name of [Encyclopedia of Yao Arts], no one could rival his ability to understand and analyse yao arts.

After working for three days, he showed signs of tiredness. However, the light in his eyes showed that he was extremely excited at this time.

Perfecting shen methodology was something extremely difficult that there were only a rare few in the world who could do it.

A new era was about to sprout from his hand. Oh oh oh, what was more exciting than this?

Such great work!

Maybe he could leave behind a great mark on history!

He thought about his teacher having told him go to the First Yao Art House to leave behind his name. Compared to what he was doing now, that wasn’t worth a mention.

He started to dream what great nickname would appear in front of his name.

Oh, the father of new shen methodology. This nickname wasn’t bad!

However, when his gaze landed on Zuo Mo’s focused face, he immediately refocused. He coughed lightly and continued, “Try out the changes in these seven places. I based the changes off some methods from spells and yao arts. From the models, it should increase efficiency by about three percent and would decrease the activation delay by five percent.”

Zuo Mo carefully noted down the seven places that had been improved. A few percent of improvement seemed to be a very small number but Zuo Mo knew that the accumulation of these tiny numbers over time would be astounding.

“You are still in the preliminary stages of mortal level. Accumulating shen power is the most important thing. There is no source of belief now, the increase in shen power will need to come from advancing the three powers. The greater your cultivation in the three powers are, the more shen power you will get every day. What is most important here is balance. How much shen power you can produce is decided by your lowest cultivation.”

Pu Yao snickered. His expression was smug. “There aren’t many freaks are like you? Who cultivates three powers? For ones like Kun Lun, even if they now understand what shen power is, they need to start from the beginning in cultivating the three powers. Also, your right hand is a great boon of fortune.”

Then his expression turned stern. “However, do not slack off. A great sect like Kun Lun had all kinds of methods once they understand the design. The resources they can invest are great!”

Zuo Mo shook his head. “I will not slack off even one day until I resolve the Undying Shen Punishment.”

Pu Yao stilled. After a moment of silence, he looked at Zuo Mo and nodded. He said, “That is good. You are someone with a foundation now. You might want to have the people at Cloud Sea Jie start to cultivate the other powers and prepare for cultivating shen power in the future.”

Zuo Mo said, “You are right.”

He had been cultivating shen power for a while and increasingly felt that shen power was much more powerful than the three powers. While it was more difficult to practice, the difficulty was being resolved gradually.

Now, Zuo Mo could clearly feel that shen power was something that other people could cultivate.

“Give me  all the spells, yao arts, and mo skills you two have collected. ‘Pu Wei Library’ Access will be divided according to their service.” Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao and Wei.

Pu Yao said carelessly. “Alright.”

Right now, Pu Yao was only interested in shen power. He did place any importance on what he had collected over the years. Maybe by doing this he could collect a copy of the Moon shen power inheritance.

Wei nodded and said, “Alright.”

Zuo Mo gave a smile. With Pu Yao and Wei’s collection, Cloud Sea Jie’s power would skyrocket in the short time. Also, with that, Cloud Sea Jie’s foundation would become more secure. The reason that the large sects had survived for thousands of years and not fallen was because, other than possessing a great amount of resources they had numerous spell inheritances.

Adding on shen power in the future, Cloud Sea Jie would grow stronger.

Having reached an agreement with Pu Yao and Wei, the remaining matters could be handled by Pu Yao through the Ten Finger Prison. He did not have to worry as he cultivated.

Coming out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo did not immediately cultivate. He still had to face the Xuan Kong Temple elder corps behind him. In his eyes, the enormous elder corps was a group of sparring partners. With every one that he killed, his shen power would grow.

———

The situation for the elder corps was very bad.

Xiao Mo Ge was clearly more cunning than they had imagined. The death of the three elders reminded them that while the other was unable to face their combined might, the enemy had the power to kill them individually.

Possessing astounding speed, great individual power, cunning, and devious. From every angle, Xiao Mo Ge seemed to be the one in the role of the hunter.

The elder corps was already starting to regret this mission.

Chapter 686 – The Mo Gods Emerge, The World Is Left Astounded

“Oh.” A tall, large mo suddenly turned. There were two sickle shaped red marks on his thin face. His faint blue eyes were slightly narrowed as he sat on a throne carved with exquisite designs.

There was a smile on his face, but no one was able to feel any warmth from it.

“Xuan Kong Temple is really a failure, even now, they have not reached the gate to shen power yet they dare to target our mo. Have the xiuzhe declined so much in the thousand years?”

His smile became slightly disdainful and cold.

“Itis  probably because they were the winners in that war.” A voice came from the corner. The one that spoke was covered in thick armor. His body was brawny and there was a horn growing out of his forehead. He was imposing and his voice was deep and thick.

“There is no way around it, we were the losers, losers will also scheme to take back what was lost in the past.”

A mo youth that was lying in midair had an unconcerned expression as he spoke. As he spoke, he threw a bloody red grape into his mouth. He was relaxed and said unclearly, “Don’t think about sending me, ah’ve been in a lazy mood, don’t want to go anywhere, sweep, ah just want to sweep … …”

The mo sitting on the throne had an exasperated expression and could only turn to the horned mo in the corner.

“I will go.” The rhinoceros mo said with a grave expression. “This year is coincidentally the two hundredth year of the shen temple’s founding. I can use those people as a sacrifice, the shen temple will grow in authority and will be able to attract more clans. It is time to show our shen temple to the world!”

More belief meant more shen power.

“That’s right.” The mo sitting on the throne narrowed his eyes and said with a light laugh. “Since the others are not willing to act, then let the era of shen power start with us.”

The brawny figure disappeared.

———

Jiang Zhe had been defeated!

The news spread as though it had wings, flying to every corner of the three realms. If it Bie Han’s sneak attack of Cold Mountain Jie was a dagger shoved into Jiang Zhe’s soft belly, then Gongsun Cha had accurately grabbed Jiang Zhe’s weaknesses and tore at Jiang Zhe until he bleed to death.

Learning that his retreat had been cut off, Jiang Zhe had tried to lead his main forces to break out of the encirclement.

But Gongsun Cha did not give Jiang Zhe any chances to retreat peacefully. Some people said that Gongsun Cha was like a cunning wolf that tightly clung to Jiang Zhe’s battalion. Whenever he saw a chance, he would leap and take a bite.

All the people who saw the battle described it like this.

In their eyes, Gongsun Cha’s forces were sharp demonic blades. They would be hidden. But every time they appeared, they would slice off a thin layer of flesh from Jiang Zhe’s battalions and draw blood. It would cause the enemy to feel great pain yet each cut was not fatal.

Jiang Zhe’s battalions gradually grew weaker.

The disadvantage of fighting in foreign territory was completely apparent now. No mo along the way would help Jiang Zhe. Actually it was the opposite. Small mo troops along the way would attack any Xuan Kong Temple xiuzhe that had fallen behind. They weren’t even afraid to attack small battalions.

Jiang Zhe’s forces seemed to have landed in an endless bog. There were also terrifying demonic blades hidden in this horrific bog.

Eventually Jiang Zhe died by Bie Han’s hand.

This battle that was enough to change the world’s state of affairs finally ended now. The effects of this event were still deeply affecting the world.

Yet no one had expected after just one day, the world’s attention was attracted by another matter.

Something called the Mo ShenTemple had suddenly appeared.

A mo god of the Mo Shen Temple with seven mo temple guards had killed the twenty seven Xuan Kong Temple elders.

But even more astounding was that this mo god immediately announced that he would sacrifice these twenty seven Xuan Kong Temple elders would be sacrificed to the shen temple.

Then this mo god announced that Black Cloud Jie was under the protection of the shen temple. Any action that would cause fighting in Black Cloud Jie would be taken as a provocation and a challenge to the Mo God Temple.

All of the world was shocked speechless by the Mo God that had appeared out of nowhere.

Their first response was to suspect the truthfulness about death of the twenty seven Xuan Kong Temple elders. However, the mirages of the twenty seven elder’s corpses and their talismans were made public by the Mo Shen Temple.

People now discovered that this was true.

Xuan Kong Temple was finished!

While they still had fanxu elders, they had lost Jiang Zhe, their main battalions, and their elder corps were destroyed. No one could save it from the fate of death.

Those with any sense of logic would be able to conclude this. However, no one paid attention to Xuan Kong Temple now. Losers would always be immediately forgotten by people. Even if it was a colossus like the four greats, when it crashed to the ground, people would reminiscence about how great it had been. They would say that while things had changed, people were the same and such. But in a blink, their gazes would gather on the victors. The losers would become a footnote in history to memorialize the strength of the winners. And the past identity as one of the four greats would just cause this contrast to become even grander and eye-catching.

Everyone was deeply astounded by the Mo God Temple.

Twenty seven Xuan Kong Temple elders. Such a grand group was one that no factions in the mo realms would guarantee that they could defeat.

All killed by the Mo Gods of Mo Shen Temple!

There was a lot of information in these last two words.

Normal people might have been astounded by the power that the Mo Shen Temple displayed. But among the major factions, their attention was on last two words–

— Shen temple!

They knew very well what the phrase that had been lost in time meant.

Shen power!

It definitely was shen power that allowed the Mo Shen Temple to kill all twenty seven Xuan Kong Temple elders.

All of them believed this.

No matter if it was yao, mo, or xiuzhe, any sect or clan that had some history desired shen power. However, up until now, they had not heard of anyone that found the way to cultivating shen power. The Great Peace Treasure Pavilion had been hotly contested  and what people wanted was that nameless mo stele said to be the key to shen power.

The attraction of shen power could be seen.

Shen temple, so the crux of shen power was at the shen temple!

Many mo suddenly realized.

As more and more intelligence about the Mo Shen Temple was gathered, people found to their shock that the Mo Shen Temple had existed for two hundred years in the remote Black Cloud Jie. Even in Black Cloud Jie, there were not many that knew of the shen temple.

Before this, who knew the name of Black Cloud Jie?

Having worked for two hundred years before suddenly walking onto the world’s stage. There were many questions behind all this.

After the sacrificial ceremony, the Mo Shen Temple suddenly announced that the recruits of the mo shen guard that passed the exams were able to learn shen power.

These words were like throwing a spark into a pot of boiling oil.

Shen power!

The Mo Shen Temple announced for the first time that they had mastered the method to cultivate shen power.

Black Cloud Jie immediately became a new holy ground. Countless mo seemed to be possessed as they moved towards Black Cloud Jie.

This was just the beginning.

Very quickly, the defense lines of the xiuzhe almost all moved back. Almost overnight, the xiuzhe who had had held the advantage all this time had lost all of their power. The positions of the two sides flipped and this increased the reputation of the Mo Shen Temple.

A sorrowful mood spread among the xiuzhe.

Shen power, the mo had found the way to cultivate shen power!

———

Pu Yao’s dream about being the “Father of New Shen power” was destroyed. The Mo Shen Temple had started two hundred years already. Even Wei praised their determination and endurance.

Zuo Mo had seen the fight between the mo god and the elder corps with his own eyes and saw the strength of that mo god.

He really was too powerful!

Zuo Mo suspected the other had earth level shen power.

Few understood better than Zuo Mo what earth level shen power meant. When shen power reached earth level, it would change to something that the three powers could not match.

Even if one was a marshal, they would not have any power to fight back in front of earth level shen power.

He had seen how the mo god had easily killed the twenty seven Xuan Kong Temple elders. The talismans and spells that hit the mo god were like smoke and could not harm him. Zuo Mo’s hands and feet felt cold.

When the mo gold had glanced in his direction before leaving, he almost suffocated.

In that moment, his mind was completely blank.

He gradually recovered long after the mo god had disappeared.

A chill ran from his feet to his scalp. All the hairs on his body were standing up.

So terrifying!

Was this earth level shen power?

It was terrifying!

Even Pu Yao was silent for a long time. That kind of power surpassed his imagination. The other clearly was further along than they were. This caused Pu Yao to feel demotivated and dispirited.

Yet what Pu Yao hadn’t expected that when Zuo Mo recovered from his initial shock, the first thing he did was to start cultivating shen power like usual.

Pu Yao couldn’t help but say, “They are using the shen temple!”

“Oh.” Zuo Mo did not stop and continued to cultivate.

“Their method is more effective their ours. They have recreated belief, their cultivation speed is faster than ours,” Pu Yao continued.

“Oh.” Zuo Mo did not show any intentions of stopping.

“Oh? Can you be normal? Their method is simpler and more effective than ours, they … …”

Zuo Mo stopped what he was doing and interrupted Pu Yao, “No matter how good their method is, it is not suited for me. I cannot make a shen temple. We are on a different paths so we will continue on ours. It is not important who is better.”

“Not important?” Pu Yao widened his eyes as though he heard something incomprehensible.

“I do not cultivate shen power to defeat them.” Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao and said to himself, “I am doing it for A Gui, to release A Gui from the Undying Shen Punishment, and for myself.”

Pu Yao stilled.

“Also, seeing his power fills me with confidence. Earth level is so powerful. When I reach earth level, I might be able to release A Gui’s Undying Shen Punishment!” Zuo Mo’s eyes were as bright as stars. He unconsciously tightened his fists.

Zuo Mo suddenly turned his face, his smile sunny.

“Also, I believe that the shen methodology that you, Pu, has perfected will not be lacking to any one else’s! You are Pu!”

Chapter 687 – The Hero And The Beauty

After the string of events, the Mo Shen Temple quieted down but the effects of its appearance on the world had not stopped at all. The present state of affairs became even more unpredictable. Even those that studied the situation did not dare to guarantee they could grasp the direction matters would develop.

However, this did not have too much to do with Zuo Mo.

He was heading towards Nether Spring Jie. Since he already learned that A Gui’s soul was being restrained by the Undying Shen Punishment, Zuo Mo still hoped that the Reverse Shadow Spirit Silkgrass would provide some him some clues.

However, this time, Zuo Mo planned for Gongsun Cha and Bie Han to return to Cloud Sea Jie.

In the past, Zuo Mo’s individual strength was not enough so he had to get the aid of the battalions. But now his shen power had developed, he also had A Gui and Ceng Lian’er who were also strong. Even if they were facing marshals, they had the ability to fight and it was not a problem to flee.

Also, the collapse of Xuan Kong Temple and the appearance of the Mo Shen Temple caused Zuo Mo to have a feeling they were at a turning point of the era.

This was a chance for Cloud Sea Jie.

Xuan Kong Temple, one of the four greats, had been defeated at the front lines and lost its experts. Its decline could not be stopped. However, its enormous body was the richest banquet and caused countless factions to drool.

For a very long time, the xiuzhe world would be in a turbulent state. The old equilibrium had been broken, and a new equilibrium will only start forming from fighting and rivers of blood. Zuo Mo hoped that Cloud Sea Jie would be able to get a share of this great banquet.

The present Cloud Sea Jie possessed two powerful battalions and the [Pu Wei Library]. What it lacked was resources.

This was not apparent because Cloud Sea Jie was always on the defensive and it was hidden. But there would be a day that Cloud Sea Jie would come to prominence and the enemies they would face then would be titans like Kun Lun. The resources the two sides would be able to move would not be on the same level.

Their enmity with Kun Lun could not be resolved.

Other than this, Cloud Sea Jie needed to establish deeper foundations.

This meant that Cloud Sea Jie needed to expand its territory. Only by expansion could it possess more resources and establish itself.

In Zuo Mo’s view, this was the best opportunity for an expansion.

Once the new equilibrium was formed, expansion would antagonize all of the surrounding factions. The best way was to take advantage of the chaos. If they missed such a great opportunity, it would never come again. With a terrifying enemy like Kun Lun, if they did not strengthen themselves early, then they might not even qualify for a final battle.

In Zuo Mo’s view, resolving the Undying Shen power for A Gui, and solving the riddle of his origins were his personal matters.

As the leader of Cloud Sea Jie, he could not allow his personal matters to affect the future of Cloud Sea Jie and lose the best chance to develop. The present him had enough strength to reach Nether Springs Jie.

So he ordered Gongsun Cha and Bie Han to return to Cloud Sea Jie.

Gongsun Cha and Bie Han had strongly opposed this but Zuo Mo did not waver at all. Out of helplessness, Gongsun Cha and Bie Han could only lead their battalions back to Cloud Sea Jie and prepare for the expansion.

However, Gongsun Cha told Zuo Mo before he returned that Wei Sheng had entered the mo territories with only his sword in order to help Zuo Mo. He was going to use battle to refine his sword essence. Before this moment, Gongsun Cha and the others had concealed this matter from Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck upon hearing this.

His chest was filled with warmth, but more was the worry for Eldest Shixiong. The danger of a sword xiu moving in the mo territories alone was scalp-numbing to think about.

Zuo Mo immediately listened for word about a sword xiu that was in the mo territories.

He hadn’t expected that he would obtain the information without any effort. Wei Sheng’s name had been spread far and wide. There were details about each of his fights. Zuo Mo was overjoyed. He hadn’t thought that Eldest Shixiong would have made such a great reputation for himself in the mo territories. He wasn’t just undefeated, he had won the respect of the mo. When he had been searching for news, he found that all the mo spoke with reverence and respect when they talked about Wei Sheng. The declarations the major personages gave also showed this.

Zuo Mo immediately stopped worrying.

He had absolute confidence in Wei Sheng. Unless a marshal came, no one would be able to defeat Eldest Shixiong in a fight unless they did something underhanded.

But then the report of Eldest Shixiong killing a Kun Lun assassin caused murderousness to boil inside Zuo Mo’s chest.

Kun Lun!

Zuo Mo quickly calmed down. Xuan Kong Temple was about to crumble. Kun Lun would not let such a chance past. At this time, Kun Lun definitely would not focus their attention on Eldest Shixiong.

Thinking about this, Zuo Mo took out a snowy piece of paper. This was fifth-grade natural snow paper. It was one of the top types of paper. Zuo Mo carefully drew out seal formations on this paper. The seal formation that he was drawing was completely different and more complex  than the normal seal formations on messenger paper cranes. A while later, Zuo Mo put down the brush. His fingers moved and spells shot into the paper crane.

Only now did Zuo Mo show a satisfied expression. He blew at the paper crane. The paper crane seemed to be folded by an invisible hand and took form.

Once the paper crane formed, it disappeared.

It was as though a rock lifted off Zuo Mo’s chest. Zuo Mo naturally had an imprint from Eldest Shixiong. However, there was such a great distance that normal paper cranes could not reach him. Therefore, he forged this sixth-grade paper crane. The other reason was that the contents of the paper crane were extremely important. Zuo Mo had written down the shen methodology that he had been perfecting recently into the paper crane.

The shen power system was about to replace the three powers and become the newest and highest power system.

With Shixiong’s personality, he would not make a shen temple. Therefore, he could only walk the same path as Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo felt some anticipation about what Eldest Shixiong, that focused on the sword, would become when he cultivated shen power.

However, Zuo Mo had warned Eldest Shixiong not to expose the fact that he was cultivating shen power. The appearance of the Mo Shen Temple had made shen power the most attractive thing at the moment. If people knew that Eldest Shixiong had a shen methodology, those marshals would not continue to sit still.

When the paper carne disappeared, the last thread of worry in Zuo Mo’s mind disappeared with it.

He, with A Gui and Ceng Lian’er, changed their appearances. They departed for Nether Springs Jie.

———

Ji Li Yu’s expression was dejected. Her thoughts wandered as she looked at the sky.

Qing Hua Xue was sitting thoughtfully in the corner. She knew of Ji Li Yu’s unwillingness. This was not hard to understand. Ji Li Yu had become famous very early on, and the Ji Family was a powerful family. In these years, she had become the fantasy lover for countless youths. While Ming Yue Ye’s order could not be disobeyed, she still was unwilling.

However, Ji Li Yu cultivated the [Charm Clothing] and was the most suitable person.

The importance that Ming Yue Ye placed on this matter far surpassed other people’s expectations. Other than Ji Li Yu, there were more than thirty people that had come along. These beauties were of different kinds, seductive, dignified, elegant, friendly, it was enough to dazzle the eyes.

The Blue Flower Family had also been selected.

Qinghua Xue was from a branch family of the Blue Flower Family and had an outstanding appearance. She was extremely suitable. Her elder brother had opposed it strongly but she had agreed because she heard the target of this mission was Xiao Mo Ge.

These three words seemed to have an unusual attraction towards her and would always unconsciously attract her mind.

Of the group, Ji Li Yu was undoubtedly the brightest pearl. The other beauties lost color under her light. Qinghua Xue calmly stayed in the corner. She did not attract attention and secretly observed this group.

The creator of this plan was Ming Yue Ye, but without the support of the council of elders, the Ji Family would not have made such a great sacrifice as to send Ji Li Yu.

Qinghua Xue was intelligent and had great perception. She felt that the goal of this mission was not as simple as the rumors said.

The leader of the guards for this group was Feng Xin Zi. This man gave her great pressure. She needed to be very careful in order for him not to discover her actual strength. The other experts were only just slightly weaker than Feng Xin Zi.

What surprised Qinghua Xue was that the group did not disguise their journey. They made a fuss along the way. Ji Li Yu’s charisma worked on both yao and mo. Her natural seductiveness caused the [Charm Clothing] to be used to its limits. Seductiveness formed as she moved.

Ji Li Yu’s talent in music was extremely high and she immediately won over the hearts of countless mo.

There was great mixing between yao and mo. Ji Li Yu was one of the most famous beauties among the yao and her popularity in the mo territories was not low. When she appeared in the vision of the people, they found that she was even more beautiful than the rumors. Countless mo was enchanted by her. They accompanied and protected the group. Even the three princesses’ limelight could not compare.

Ji Li Yu unintentionally stated the goal of their mission in public. It was Xiao Mo Ge who was extremely well-known at this time. She seemed to be admiring and loving in her tone.

Xiao Mo Ge’s prison-breaking battle and his interactions with Ji Li Yu were quickly dug up. People found to their surprise that Xiao Mo Ge and Ji Li Yu had entanglements before.

Many people realized. So this was how it was!

In the past, with that astounding battle, Xiao Mo Ge had completely won over Miss Ji li Yu’s proud heart. In these years, Miss Ji Li Yu had thought of him day and night, unable to sleep, and tortured by love. She finally gathered her courage and came to the mo territories to search for Xiao Mo Ge … …

Rumors like this quickly spread through the mo territories and sounded extremely convincing.

The people who spread this had expressions of certainty and those that listened were interested.

Xiao Mo Ge was, expected, a good male mo!

Only a peerless beauty like Ji Li Yu could pair with such a heroic youth like Xiao Mo Ge.

The rumors spread wider and wider and convinced many people. Busybodies even started to search for Xiao Mo Ge’s tracks.

Naturally, no one found Zuo Mo that had changed his appearance.

But when he heard the rumors, he didn’t know to laugh or cry. He almost didn’t remember the name Ji Li Yu. When he finally thought of it, he shook his head.

He didn’t have any good impressions of that woman.

He quickly threw this matter to the back of his mind. Other than cultivating, what they did everyday was travel.

He only had one goal, Nether Springs Jie!

Chapter 688 – Rock

In order to spend more time cultivating, Zuo Mo and the others chose to ride a large mo steed.

Fully grown Sky Sharks were about nine hundred zhang long. Their bodies were strong and was able to resist the harsh wind in the sky. In some regions, it was also used as a combat unit. Its vicious personality made it suited for battle. It was a mo beast that lived in the sky, the void, and the chaotic turbulence. There were rarely things that were a threat for them.

Its enormous body meant that the inside of its body was large enough to be used as accommodations. It was a good choice for long journeys.

Zuo Mo did not lack money so they had rented a whole courtyard to themselves.

Rather than say it was a yard, it was a residence made from three little houses. In order to make it easy for travellers to cultivate, there were blood pools that were used for cultivating mo physiques inside the yard.

It was a pity that the blood pool was not of any use to Zuo Mo now. He only hoped that no one would disturb him.

If Ceng Lian’er was alone, she definitely would not cultivate so madly. However, she was alongside Zuo Mo. Whenever Zuo Mo started to cultivate sun shen power, the energies in her body would uncontrollably move and her moon shen power would also circulate. She had to follow Zuo Mo’s rhythm in cultivating or risk suffering side-effects.

Only at this time did she truly understand how freakish Zuo Mo was.

He seemed to never know exhaustion. He used any time he had to cultivate. It was fortunate that Zuo Mo had many things he needed to practice such as the three powers so it gave her time to breathe, but even so she still felt that she couldn’t keep up.

Yet when she finally had a day of rest and inspected herself, she found to her shock that in a few short days her shen power had grown by a tenth!

In this whole day of rest, she was immersed in deep shock.

Her deep eyes were full of emotion.

Zuo Mo did not have the time to dwell on his emotions. He squeezed everything he could out of his time. He needed to face each battle with all of his power.

Zuo Mo panted, his body was soaked with sweat. His fingers that dangled at his side were convulsing.

He had just finished a practicing high difficulty finger movements. The ling power he had was almost completely used up. Right now, he was able to control the change between shen power and the three powers.

Of the three powers, his weakest was ling power and this was the main focus of his practice.

In the cultivation plan that Pu Yao had given him, the practice of spells was a very important part.

[Bowstring Finger Spell] [Five Element Communication] [Mist Raindrop Sword Scripture] [Hundred Dhyana Sutra Records] … …

All of these spells focused on transformation. Zuo Mo had originally thought that his finger motions were pretty good, but when he saw the requirements for the [Bowstring Finger Spell], his scalp turned numb and his face went ashen.

Cultivating this each time was alike being tortured.

But Zuo Mo managed to persist. His ling power had grown greatly and become even more pure, easier to control, and more powerful.

Even though it was still far from satisfying Pu Yao, Zuo Mo still felt a clear improvement, especially in the advance of his shen power.

His shen power became more malleable and directing it was like moving a part of his body. Some blurry details seemed to resolve themselves and he could now unconsciously carry out some actions.

Zuo Mo, Pu Yao, and Wei were all very motivated. This quick advancement showed that their thoughts were in the right direction.

In exploring unknown cultivation, what was most important was direction. If the direction was wrong and ran counter to the answer, the consequences were not just detrimental but could easily cause injury. If the general direction was right, then the details was just a matter of hard work and experience.

After about ten breaths, Zuo Mo’s breathing finally recovered. The sweat on his face disappeared. Zuo Mo’s recovery abilities were very strong due to his powerful mo physique. This was an important reason that he had managed to persist.

Turning his face, he saw A Gui sitting silently beside him. Zuo Mo’s gaze became much gentler.

At this time, a ruckus sounded outside the door.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but frown.

It had to be said that the mo’s sound blocking techniques were lacking compared to the xiuzhe. The use of mo matrices was far behind seal scripts, and there were not many that understood the use of mo matrices.

Zuo Mo’s gaze flickered to the room on the left. His gaze focused. Ceng Lian’er was at an crucial time in her cultivation!

The sound outside did not show signs of quieting down and became even louder.

Zuo Mo sent a sound-blocking spell towards Ceng Lian’ers room and then stood to walk out.

Opening the gates, he saw a circle of people outside.

“I said that I’m not selling to you!” The youth that was speaking had an angry expression as he tightly gripped a stone in his hand.

“Hahaha, you won’t sell? Ye doesn’t have the patience to quibble with you. Even if you don’t want to sell it, you have to!” The one who poke was a youth dressed grandly. His expression was proud as he played with a short staff in his hand. The short staff was inlaid with all kinds of precious stones and it could be seen to be extremely valuable at a glance.

There was a group of guards surrounding the youth that was selling stones with maliciousness in their eyes.

Zuo Mo did not have any sense of justice. If this was another time, he wouldn’t even look twice. But now, Ceng Lian’er was at a crucial juncture. It would be troublesome if she was disturbed now.

When his gaze flashed across the stone, Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrank.

The stone was about the size of a basket, completely blue, and threaded with lines of blood red. It seemed slightly eerie.

That stone … … was interesting!

He felt a ripple of shen power from it. This was extremely weak. If it wasn’t that Zuo Mo’s shen power had become purer recently, he probably would have had a difficult time detecting it.

This was the first time Zuo Mo had encountered something that contained natural shen power. Was there things that contained shen power like how jingshi contained ling power?

———

At this time, a guard said darkly, “Buddy, for one stupid stone, we’re giving you twenty thousand mobei! Know your limits, if you anger our master, you won’t get even one mobei!”

The youth with the stone had a flushed face. “I only said I’ll trade, not sell, I’m only trading for mo weapons! Brigadier mo weapon!”

“Brigadier mo weapon? Ha, you’re dreaming! You dare to ask so much of ye, you don’t want to live … …” the young master snorted coldly.

At this time, a voice suddenly interrupted. “I’ll trade with you.”

Everyone immediately quieted.

The stone-selling youth was not very excited. He looked suspiciously. “Brigadier mo weapon, only brigadier mo weapons!”

This person was dressed normally and was not attention catching. A person like this did not look like one that would have a brigadier mo weapon. Even the lowest of the brigadier mo weapons cost over thirty thousand mobei on the market.

Zuo Mo did not waste words and took out several mo weapons.

“This black sickle is brigadier level, it is formed from killing energy. With every person killed, the killing energy will increase. When the killing energy accumulates to a certain level, it can form fiendish souls. This Heaven Azure Dagger-Ax is brigadier level. It is as light as a feather, suited to fast attacks. It can rip through the void. This blood fiend axe is one hundred and eighty thousand catties heavy. It is suited to power-type mo physiques. When it is swung, an axe fiend will form. Which one do you want?”

When Zuo Mo introduced each mo weapon, he would wave it and show it. He had many mo weapons. They were all taken from the mo experts that he had defeated before.

The crowd around immediately shifted. Many people’s eyes became burning hot. Even the guards were moved. All of them had expressions of greed.

Each of these three brigadier level mo weapons were all fine ones that were above fifty thousand mobei. The three articles together were one hundred and fifty thousand mobei. The shock they gave could be imagined.

The stone-selling youth stilled. From when he got the stone, he wanted to trade for a brigadier mo weapon but it had been over half a year, and he still hadn’t managed to trade for one. At many times, he had thought that his price was too high. When there were really three mo weapons in front of him, he didn’t know what to do.

Seeing the other dumbstruck, Zuo Mo could only remind the other, “Which one do you want?”

The stone-selling youth seemed to wake up and rushed out, “I want the Sky Azure Dagger-Axe!”

Zuo Mo did not waste words. He waved his hand and the Sky Azure Dagger-Axe flew in front of the youth. With a wave of his hand, that stone came out of the youth’s arms and flew into his hands.

“Where did you get the stone?” Zuo Mo asked.

“The deep abyss of Hundred Energy Jie.” The youth hugged the Sky Azure Dagger-axe after saying this with an excited expression.

A brigadier level mo weapon! It really was a brigadier level mo weapon!

Having gotten the mo weapon of his dreams, the youth felt as though he was dreaming.

Hundred Energy Jie!

Zuo Mo knew the name. It was one of the jie on the way to Nether Spring Jie. He had remembered all of them and this Hundred Energy Jie was among them.

At this time, a dark voice sounded.

“Young Master, this one remembers that the compound was robbed a few days ago and lost many mo weapons. This Sky Azure Dagger-axe is among them!”

The one that spoke was one of the young master’s guards. His eyes showed greed that he wasn’t able to disguise.

The furious young master immediately understood and snorted coldly. “No wonder I find these mo weapons so familiar, they are from my compound! Come, capture this thief!”

The guards immediately surrounded Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s expression was calm but he was slightly surprised. He hadn’t thought that he would encounter such an absurd matter. At this time, he detected movement from the yard. Ceng Lian’er had finished cultivating.

Zuo Mo immediately lost the last qualm he had.

He grinned and showed snowy-white teeth. He smiled and said, “A few days ago, some thieves sneaked into my residence, and stole many things from me. So it was you!”

The guards had shocked expressions. They had done things like planting evidence and accusing others many times but it was the first time they were accused.

Before they could react, the figure in front of them disappeared.

A guard was hit with a slap on his face before he could react. Pia. His body seemed to be hit by a rampaging rhinoceros and was sent flying. He fell to the ground unconscious.

Zuo Mo’s control of the three powers in his body had increased and so had his control of his mo physique.

His figure flashed and he appeared like a ghost in front of another guard. His left hand shook and the shadow of his hand was like whip that accurately hit that shocked face.

Another figure was sent flying!

Zuo Mo’s figure was lightning fast.

In a flash, none of the guards were left standing. The entire area was silent. Everyone was shocked by the chaotic attacks.

The young master’s face was as white as paper. “I … … I am from Horizontal Jie’s Ji Family … …. You … … you … …”

“Do you know ye’s nickname?” Zuo Mo walked towards the young master.

“What … … what name?” The young master was like a frightened rabbit.

“Scalping Zombie!” Zuo Mo snarled

Ooh!

The young master fainted from too much fear.

The other really had no resistance to fear. Zuo Mo shook his head. He walked next to the young master and, with practiced motions, stripped them of their possessions.

Scalping always made him feel good.

Chapter 689 – Shen Crystal

In truth, Zuo Mo did not find the things these people had particularly valuable. What he wanted was to re-experience that feeling from his days at Wu Kong Mountain. Of course, he had to pretentiously sigh over the passing of time. He had once been satisfied for a long time by a few jingshi. That pure joy had become a beautiful memory long ago.

Zuo Mo prepared to leave but someone called him.

“Daren, is that Blood Fiend Axe for sale?”

A man stepped out of the crowd and looked heatedly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo stopped walking and turned around. He examined the other and immediately understood. This person was a brigadier and was perfectly suited for the mo weapon. The mo weapons that Zuo Mo had were mostly taken from the elite members under Marshal Yu’s command. They were mostly mo weapons that the general levels had wielded and were of extraordinary quality for brigadier level mo weapons.

Zuo Mo did not have much use for these brigadier level mo weapons but he also had lots of mobei. Therefore, he said, “Trade only.”

The other immediately had an expression of difficulty, but when he saw the rock in Zuo Mo’s hand, he was inspired. Maybe this daren liked strange things?

He had went to been to places. While he didn’t have treasures, he had several strange articles.

He took out everything he had and put them in front of him. He said respectfully, “Daren, all this one has is here.”

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised by the other’s briskness. This person’s reaction was quick.

While he admired the other, with Little Mo Ge’s caution in doing business, he naturally examined the articles in front of him seriously.

The man was not rich and the pile of items were almost all fragments of things. There wasn’t one complete mo weapon. Zuo Mo’s eyes, however, suddenly it up.

A piece of broken sword that was rusted all over.

When he touched the broken sword fragment, the shen power inside was stimulated.

An ancient item!

Zuo Mo immediately understood. He picked up the broken sword. Unexpectedly, the sword was light as though it was a feather. There was something here! No wonder the man had kept it with him. The man had not recognize the origins of this item, but just the weight of the item would have been enough to pique his curiosity.

“I’ll trade for this.”

Zuo Mo did not hesitate. He waved his hand. The Blood Fiend Axe turned into a streak of red light that embedded itself in the ground in front of the man.

The man was overjoyed. “Many thanks, Daren!”

After saying this, he was afraid Zuo Mo would regret the trade. He hurriedly picked up the Blood Fiend Axe, put away everything, and disappeared. He had picked up the broken sword by chance. Other than being unexpectedly light, it wasn’t special at all. In the beginning, he had searched for people to examine it, but other than marveling at its light weight, no one was able to identify it.

It really was worth it to use a useless  broken sword to him to trade for a brigadier mo weapon!

With this mo weapon, his power would skyrocket!

The other people saw the man had used a rusty broken sword to trade for a fine brigadier level mo weapon. Their eyes turned red.

“Daren, Daren, please look here, do you have anything you want?”

“Daren, look here!”

They took out what they had and hoped that Zuo Mo would trade for one of their items. Then they could also trade for a brigadier level mo weapon. There wasn’t another place with bargains like this!

An unknown stone, a rusty broken sword, these were actually traded for two high quality brigadier level mo weapons.

The other passengers on the Sky Shark heard the news and all ran in this direction.

How could they miss such a good event?

Such a noisy affair naturally disturbed the guards on the Sky Shark. The price of riding the Sky Shark wasn’t low so there was a full guard on board for security on the trip.

But when they arrived, they coincidentally saw the heated scene.

The price to travel on a sky shark was high and consequently, the guests here definitely had some wealth. They quickly found that this daren was not interested in the things that they thought were pretty good. It was usually a knick-knack of unknown origins that easily attracted his favor.

After some more people successfully traded for mo weapons, the crowd immediately became even more restless.

It seemed that this daren had strange taste.

Zuo Mo had a whole bunch of brigadier level mo weapons on him. Since he had no use for them, it was worth it to trade them for useful things. Also, Little Mo Ge had good eyes, and knew the ways of doing business. Of course he only profited and did not lose.

When the leader of the guards walked over, he saw the scene of the trades. There seemed to be an endless number of mo weapons behind that guest, each was of extraordinary quality.

Even though he had entered general level a long time ago and brigadier level mo weapons were not of great use to him, he still pondered if he should trade for one or two. It would be a great present to give to his juniors. The next few mo weapons traded away were all of outstanding quality. No wonder even the guards were moved.

Fortunately the leader of the guards did not forget his duties. He forced down his impulse. What he needed to do was to maintain order and prevent chaos.

“Boss, there!” a subordinate suddenly shouted.

The leader of the guards stilled and turned his face. Following the finger of his subordinate, he saw the almost naked people lying on the ground. Wait, wasn’t that Young Master Ji?

The leader of the guards broke out in a cold sweat.

It was over!

He had a deep understanding of Young Master Ji’s arrogance. However, the Ji Family of the Horizontal Jie was powerful and protective. Other people did not dare to resist. But Young Master Ji was stripped so cleanly … …

The leader of the guard did not plan on thinking further about what would happen next. Inside, he grimaced. This had occurred on his sky shark and he would most likely be affected as well.

However, he did not immediately try to get justice for Young Master Ji. He was experienced and he knew that if the person who dared to act so against Young Master Ji of Horizontal Jie and his people was either powerful or had his own backing. No matter which, they would not be someone he could offend.

But it was not good for Young Master Ji’s group to be left lying naked in the street. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Put clothing over them.”

Some shark guards took off their outer robe and put them over the bodies of the Ji Family members.

Seeing no one step out, the leader of the guards sighed in relief. Putting clothes on Young Master Ji was a test of this daren’s intentions. No one stopped him so he said, “Help them back to their own rooms.”

No one paid attention to the movements of the shark guards. Everyone was excitedly attempting to trade with Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo of course detected it, but he ignored it. For him, this was just a small punishment. If the other still did not recognize what was good for him and came back to look for trouble, he did not mind giving that Horizontal Jie Ji Family a memorable lesson.

The shark guard leader quickly learned of what had happened and his gaze as he looked at Zuo Mo became respectful and awed.

Zuo Mo’s business was quickly finished.

His eyes were skilled and his consciousness swept across the items almost as soon as other people took them out. He immediately spotted if there was anything he was interested in.

Today, he had obtained some good things. He was in a good mood.

However, it was not worth it to waste his cultivation time for these things. He stopped his transactions and returned to his yard, ignoring the calls of the other passengers behind him.

The shark guard leader opened his mouth but did not say anything in the end.

Returning to the yard, Zuo Mo immediately set up a large number of jinzhi.

Then he took out the stone streaked with blood. He raised his head and said to Ceng Lian’er who was looking at him with a curious expression, “Give me the Green Carp Tongue Sword to use.”

Ceng Liane’r handed over the Green Carp Sword.

Zuo Mo held the Green Carp Tongue Sword and started to strike at the surface of the stone.

The stone was cut piece by piece like a piece of dough. Ceng Lian’er had a shocked expression. As the stone became smaller, her surprise increased. A Gui felt shen power and unconsciously moved closer to inspect the stone.

Shen power!

This stone actually contained shen power!

Zuo Mo’s cutting movements became slower, and it was evident that it was taking effort to wield the Green Carp Sword in his hand. As he continued to slice off layers, the concentration of  shen power contained in the rock layers became denser. The stone also became stronger. Zuo Mo had to channel shen power in order to continue to slice off layers.

As he cut deeper, the blood color became more apparent.

Zuo Mo cut off the last piece of the surface. A pure and clear red cube appeared in front of the trio.

Shen crystal!

In that moment, Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er stopped breathing at the same time.

The shen crystal was about the size of a walnut. It was completely red, clear and glowing, beautiful. What was even more enchanting was that the wave of shen power it exuded was pure and gentle. It filled the entire yard. If not for the jinzhi that Zuo Mo had cast before, everyone on the Sky Shark would have been alerted to this wave of shen power.

“There are actually shen crystals in this world … …” Zuo Mo murmured to himself. His expression was grave. He naturally knew what this meant.

In the xiuzhe world, jingshi mines were the core of the income for every sect. It was the most important resource of all resources, and the life of every sect.

A crack had been opened in the gates to the shen power era. At the time, the value in the discovery of shen crystals was peerless!

Holding the shen crystal in his hand, Zuo Mo’s shen power seemed to be simulated. It became unprecedentedly active. Almost as his mind moved, a thread of shen power came out of the shen crystal and burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body along his palm.

When this shen power entered Zuo Mo’s body, it immediately merged with the shen power inside Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo felt refreshed and comfortable.

The light of the shen crystal in his hand dimmed slightly.

As expected, then shen crystal could help him cultivate shen power!

Zuo Mo suddenly opened his eyes, the light in his eyes bright. He handed the shen crystal to Ceng Lian’er. Moments later, Ceng Lian’er’s expression changed.

Ceng Lian’er’s shen power was of a completely opposite attribute to his but she could also use the shen crystal. This showed that the shen crystal’s shen power did not have any attribute.

This would be of great aid to shen power cultivation of any kind.

If he had the help of shen crystals, his cultivation would be even faster. If he could find enough shen crystals, then his cultivation speed would multiply!

This meant that the time he needed to advance would be greatly decreased.

A Gui’s Undying Shen Power!

Almost without hesitation, Zuo Mo made his decision.

“We need to go to the abyss of Hundred Energy Jie!”

Chapter 690 – The Gravestone Oath

“They really are trash!” Anger flashed through the eyes of the middle-aged person. “They have lost the face of the Ji Family! If he wasn’t my son, humph!”

The last word was spat out murderously. The temperature in the room suddenly dropped.

Ji Heng, the present patriarch of the Ji Family. He was not the eldest son of his family but his marshal level power had allowed him to become the patriarch without any opposition. In the decades that he had been the patriarch, the power of Horizontal Jie’s Ji Family had expanded quickly.

“Young Master has five general level guards. This person having defeated them in a flash is not weak.” The one who spoke was a middle-aged man with a goatee. He was Ji Xi, a member of the Ji Family’s branch family. However, he had the position of chief steward and was deeply trusted by Ji Heng.

“Have A Heng go and pick up that trash. Every time he goes out, he embarrasses us! After he returns, throw him into the Deep Mo Hole,” Ji Heng said coolly.

Ji Xi’s heart shook. The Deep Mo Hole was the cruelest training ground the Ji Family had. It was filled with demonic monsters and it had been many years since someone dared to go down. Being sent there had now become a form of punishment in the clan. Those that had committed great wrongs were thrown in there. If they were able to come out of there alive, they were spared their death sentence.

“Young Master is slightly proud, but he has not committed any major mistakes … …” Ji Xi couldn’t help but urge. He knew that if Young Master was thrown into the Deep Mo Hole, he wouldn’t be able to come out alive with his power.

Ji Heng smiled coldly, his white teeth cruel. “If he cannot climb out, he is not qualified to be my son.”

Ji Xi was silent. He knew that Master had already made his decision and any further attempts at persuading him was futile.

Ji Heng did not look at Ji Xi and said to himself. “As to that person who acted against us, have A Heng take care of him.”

Ji Xi nodded to indicated his understanding. He changed the topic. “Master, we haven’t heard  any news from the people we sent to the Mo Shen Temple. They most likely have all died.”

A shadow flashed through Ji Heng’s eyes. He sneered coldly and said, “The Mo Shen Temple does have some skill to have formed shen power. Is there any news of Xiao Mo Ge?”

The Mo Shen Temple gave him great pressure. Marshal level had only days ago been the greatest power in the mo territories but now they were not.

The Mo Shen Temple was now the strongest existence!

“No.” Ji Xi shook his head. “He seems to have suddenly disappeared. According to our investigation, the elder corps of Xuan Kong Temple came to capture Xiao Mo Ge. Three of the elders died in the hands of Xiao Mo Ge’s group. The Mo Shen Temple’s people appeared along the way. Strangely, Mo Shen Temple and Xiao Mo Ge did not have a conflict.”

Ji Heng had a thoughtful expression. A moment later, he raised his head. “Pay attention to Xiao Mo Ge. His shen power is not as powerful as the Mo Shen Temple but he does not have a shen temple, he should be cultivating it some other way.”

“Yes!” Ji Xi responded and then left the room.

Ji Heng sank into deep thought. Moments later, he suddenly rose, left the room, and flew into the air.

———

A short while later, he came to a well-concealed valley. The surroundings were heavily guarded.

He was very familiar with this place. Entering the mountain valley, there was a shen temple.

While the shen temple was still incomplete, but there was a sacrificial altar and the main temple. It could be seen that the shen temple hadn’t been constructed recently. It was at least a decade old. He slowly walked to the center of the sacrificial altar and spread his arms. A strange feeling rose.

No one knew that ten years ago, he had started to study shen power.

But ten years had passed, and progress had been slow. Shen power was a sensitive matter. Out of consideration for secrecy, he had never publicized the shen temple.

The sudden appearance of the Mo Shen Temple was a great blow for him.

So belief was the most important thing!

A hint of decisiveness flashed across his eyes.

———

As he continued to cultivate, Zuo Mo’s spell skill level rose rapidlly. His ling power was the weakest of the three powers. Every improvement in that would directly increase Zuo Mo’s skill at controlling shen power.

According to Pu Yao’s new categorization method, his mo physique skill level barely reached first-class, his yao arts were second-class, and his spell skill level, even after his furious cultivation spree, had just reached third-class.

Pu Yao judged that Zuo Mo’s shen power control was third-class. The most important cause was that his skill with spells was dragging him down.

There was someone to compare to. That rhinoceros mo god. Pu Yao’s judgement of him was earth level in power, first-class in technique!

It could be seen just how great the difference between them was. It wasn’t just the difference in shen power, even the difference in technique was great.

However, Zuo Mo was not dispirited. He was filled with fighting spirit.

The shen power inside his body was growing everyday, and his technique was growing better by the day. His right hand could endlessly provide him with shen power as though he had a natural shen crystal inside his body. This was an advantage that no one else had.

As for techniques, Pu Yao had already made a list for him. If he could master those frightening spells, he believed that he could conquer shen power.

In Pu Yao’s model, if Zuo Mo’s shen power methodology could reach first-class, and his shen power level reached intermediate mortal level, or if his methodology was second-class and his shen power was late mortal level, he would be able to match a marshal level without the Little Mo Treasure Cup.

Zuo Mo did not have any interest in marshal level.

But he was enchanted with the study of shen power methodology.  It would allow him to more easily discover the mysteries of shen power and could help him understand the underlying principles of shen power.

For other people, fighting was the most important.

But for Zuo Mo, what he needed to discover was the essence of shen power.

If he could understand the principles of shen power then he would have a way to resolve the Undying Shen Punishment.

When a certain technique was practiced to a very high level, its power could allow you to hold an advantageous position in battle. This was the common saying “one novel move to make a living.” Once one had several of these moves, the chances of victory would greatly increase.

But if you wanted to discover the roots of power, you needed to understand as many methods of use as possible. Each method represented utilization of a certain quality of that power.

The more qualities of the power you mastered, the closer you were to the true essence of the power.

This path he chose was the more difficult path.

Also, the practice of methodology was something that one could not take a short-cut with. It was completely a labor of effort. One had to tirelessly practice it over and over until it became instinct.

Only then would this method, or rather, this quality of power became something that you understood at a fundamental level rather than just cursory understanding.

This was what Zuo Mo was pursuing. His right hand that could continuously form shen power enabled him to invest more time into the dull and vast practice of methods.

Zuo Mo had finished using the shen crystal. He made a general estimate. The shen power contained in the shen crystal was about twenty days worth of shen power produced by Zuo Mo’s right hand. This amount was significant.

Undoubtedly, if he could possess enough shen crystals, it would greatly increase the progress of his shen power cultivation.

There was still a while before reaching Hundred Energy Jie. He decided to temporarily put this matter aside until he reached there.

He had carefully recorded what he had experienced in during his study. Then he passed these reflections back to Cloud Sea Jie through Pu Yao. These reflections would be organized and then added to the Pu Wei Library.

Zuo Mo did not hide anything on how to cultivate shen power. He did not have the time to go back to Cloud Sea Jie so he could only use this method to make a minor contribution to Cloud Sea Jie.

But Zuo Mo had never thought that this action, one he felt minor, would directly push Cloud Sea Jie into the era of shen power.

Pu Wei Library had a strict entrance policy. Those that were able to enter at the present were those that had followed him for a long time. Zuo Mo’s subordinates had a nearly blind trust in him. The cultivation reflections among the great number of jade scrolls were always the most welcome content.

In the present Cloud Sea Jie, cultivating three powers at the same time was a new fad.

Due to their isolated location, they did not have much information coming in from the outside world. However, their trust in Zuo Mo allowed them to unhesitatingly choose to cultivate the three powers.

Zuo Mo did not know of all this.

In the sea of consciousness, the three were in discussion.

“Progress is too slow.” Pu Yao frowned. He was not satisfied with Zuo Mo’s progress. “Based on this speed, it would take at least five years for your spells to reach first-class alone! You also have to elevate your yao arts to first-class.”

Zuo Mo also didn’t know what to do. His talent on spells was the weakest of the three powers. He had diligently followed Pu Yao’s cultivation plan but Pu Yao was still dissatisfied with his rate of progress. The difficulty of moving from third-class to second-class was far great difficulty, and moving from second to first class was multiple times more difficult than that.

Pu Yao also didn’t have a solution. Zuo Mo was hardworking almost beyond Pu Yao’s imagination, but his lack of skill and talent in spells was almost beyond Pu Yao’s imagination. Zuo Mo was, however, unusually outstanding in the mo skills and yao arts.

Damn it, spells were about to become Zuo Mo’s shortcoming!

Pu Yao’s expression was slightly ugly. If Zuo Mo’s spell skill level really wasted too much time, then it meant that the path that he had modeled had a fatal weakness.

At this time, Wei suddenly spoke, “Maybe you can try the Gravestone Oath.”

“Gravestone Oath?” Zuo Mo stilled. “What is that?”

He hadn’t thought that Pu Yao who usually looked down on Wei and had repeated objected to this to say, “Maybe you can try it.”

Zuo Mo looked in confusion at the duo.

Wei slowly spoke, “The Gravestone Oath is a method of using the Gravestone Armor.”

“Gravestone Armor?” Zuo Mo’s expression was blank. He could not connect the topic at hand to the Gravestone Armor.

“The use of the Gravestone Armor is actually a kind of self-sacrifice. In essence, it is a trade. Sacrifice oneself in trade for power to protect.” Wei’s expression was solemn and carried an indescribable devoutness.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright. “You are saying for me to turn into the Gravestone Armor?”

“It can be said to be something like that, but also not.” Wei said calmly, “In the past, in order to obtain the power for me to protect my tribe, I chose to make the greatest sacrifice in order to gain the greatest amount of power. But you do not need this kind of power. Similarly, you do not have make such a large sacrifice. This is the rule of the gravestone.”

Zuo Mo seemed to understand slightly.

“The Gravestone Oath is frequently used by the inheritors of the Gravestone Armor. In order to pursue greater cultivation, they would frequently swear certain directed oaths.”

Zuo Mo inquired, “You mean that I need to accept your inheritance?”

Chapter 691 – Bu Zhou City

“The power to protect comes at a price,” Wei said meaningfully. His deep gaze flashed with a light that was stubborn and determined.

Zuo Mo stilled, looking away, he thought of A Gui.

In terms of protection, there was probably none that was more determined than A Gui’s protection. But at the same time, there was no protection that carried such a cruel price.

Was this what it meant to protect someone?

Zuo Mo’s thoughts swirled.

Wei did not speak. Pu Yao also maintained his silence. There was only the crackling of the eerie flames in the sea of consciousness.

Moments later, Zuo Mo looked up and grinned to show an unconcerned smile. “You want to frighten me? Ha! From every angle, this seems to be a profitable business, why wouldn’t I do it? Tell me, tell me, how do I do this?”

Wei looked deeply at Zuo Mo. “You are sure.”

“So chatty, it is best to be quick. Ge is in a hurry to cultivate. Can you afford to waste ge’s time?” Zuo Mo glared.

Wei smiled. “It is very simple.”

As he finished saying this, the gravestone in Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness suddenly shattered into pieces. It turned to black energy that became snakes that burrowed into Zuo Mo’s body.

Then the black energy formed into a little gravestone inside Zuo Mo’s body.

There were many complex grey patterns on the surface of the new formed gravestone. If one did not not closely, it would be hard to detect them.

In this moment, Zuo Mo seemed to understand something.

“To abide by your ceremony, to execute your wishes, to swear your oath, will you?”

An ancient voice echoed in Zuo Mo’s mind. This scene summoned many memories. But Zuo Mo immediately detected a difference. Hm, the lines were not right!

He remembered the first time it had been “To abide by my ceremony, to execute my wishes, to swear my oath.” How come it changed?

But Zuo Mo did not hesitate for long. When he made his decision, his mind was filled with Wei’s words, the power to protect comes at a price.

Taking a deep breath, the uncaring smile on Zuo Mo’s face faded. His expression became solemn and he said, “I’m willing!”

When the words escaped his lips, the complex patterns on the surface of the gravestone suddenly lit up like a web of light.

Zuo Mo’s mind blanked.

Moments later, when he recovered from his daze and his eyes refocused, his first action was to touch his chest.

A strange feeling came.

When the gravestone had entered his heart in the past, it had felt rootless and intangible. But now, while the gravestone was still the gravestone, it seemed to have grown many roots in his heart.

“This is it?” Zuo Mo asked Wei in puzzlement.

Wei’s expression was slightly tired. But he still smiled and said, “Yes, you did not require much so the price you paid was not large. From now on, the effect of practicing your spells will be three times what it was before, and the price you need to pay is … …”

“En?” Zuo Mo looked at Wei.

“It is … …” Wei trailed off.

The tendons in Zuo Mo’s forehead started to throb.

“It is … …” Wei was smiling.

“It is your mom!” Zuo Mo erupted. His temples throbbed as he howled angrily at Wei’s face.

Wei had a faint smile as he calmly waved a finger. His expression was dignified. “Not my mom.”

Zuo Mo almost went crazy. “I will kill you! I will kill you!”

The most crucial information being withheld left Zuo Mo’s anger burning. If the heavens bestowed a metal rod to him right now, he would skewer this horrid person and burn him over a fire! Also, he would put on enough hot chili!

Wei looked at Zuo Mo with a smile. That smile, that expression, it was like there was “come beg me, come beg me” written on his face.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. To deal with a lowly person like this, it seemed he had to use his ultimate move!

The anger on Zuo Mo’s face faded as he said darkly, “Wei, we should calculate rent. You have lived here a long time, but you haven’t paid rent! Right, ge only accepts jingshi and no other currency. Also, don’t think of using spells, mo skills, or other things to make up your debt, ge only wants jingshi!”

Wei’s smile froze on his face.

Pu Yao who had been watching silently stepped back and hid in the flames. It would not be good to appear in front of Zuo Mo at this time.

If the city gates were burning, it would still affect the fish in the moats.

Rent was a great problem … …

“Oh, that, actually, your gravestone oath is very simple. There will be a day in every month that you will lose all power until your shen power can resolve the Undying Shen Power. How about it, this price isn’t too great, I had to work hard to obtain this for you. Choosing gravestone oaths is a highly technical matter and demands great experience, it isn’t something normal people … …”

Wei nattered on as though he had done great favor by completing a hard task.

“Humph!” Zuo Mo snorted coldly. He turned and then swaggered out of the sea of consciousness.

Behind him, Wei wiped away his cold sweat. As expected, it was easy to forget himself … …

Pu Yao stepped out of the flames with an expression of scorn.

Coming out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo was thinking.

Losing all of his abilities for one day of the month in exchange for three times the effect when practicing spells, this was a very profitable transaction. However, this was a hidden weakness. If he encountered danger on the day that he lost all of his powers, then it was over for him.

It seemed that he needed to make preparations.

While this created a hidden weaknesses, Zuo Mo was still very satisfied with the gravestone oath. Three times the effect meant that his training time could shrink by two thirds.

In the yard, Zuo Mo started to practice spells.

He was using the [Bowstring Finger Spell]. This was a very complex and profound finger spell that was primarily based on finger movements. It belonged to a sect from before the thousand year war, and it was the sect’s founding spell. There were pitifully few high level finger spells in the present. There were only some crude spells such as the [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] that used finger movements.

Xiuzhe currently believed that when the control of ling power reached a  certain level, they could leave behind finger movements.

Theoretically, this was completely correct.

But this finger spell was completely different. Its intentions was to use finger movements to allow xiuzhe with low cultivation to use higher level spells.

From the moment he started to practice the finger spell, Zuo Mo immediately detected differences.

His ling power seemed to have become more sensitive. Some parts that he did not understand before were much clearer. After practicing a few times, Zuo Mo’s finger movements became smoother and unlike the clumsiness of the past.

As expected, it was effective!

Zuo Mo became alert. Cultivating ling power had always been a painful matter for him. Zuo Mo was enchanted with the ease when he cultivated mo skills and yao arts. But today, the pain had flown away. Zuo Mo finally found that familiar yet unfamiliar feeling of ease.

After practicing furiously for twelve hours, Zuo Mo had not slowed down, still hungry for more.

This feeling was great!

Based on this speed, Zuo Mo had enough confidence that he could raise his spell level to first-class in a short amount of time.

He suddenly felt the Sky Shark descending.

Someone knocked on the door.

Zuo Mo’s consciousness spread and he saw the person who came. It was the leader of the sky shark guards.

He waved his hand and the door opened on its own.

“Honored Daren, our shark has reached Bu Zhou City. According to the original schedule, we will stay here for three days. If Daren finds staying on board boring, you may want to go explore,” the leader said respectfully.

There were ways to inform all guests but the shark guard leader still decided to make the trip personally to show respect.

Someone as strong as this was qualified to receive this respect.

Zuo Mo nodded. “I understand.”

The guard leader saw this and did not talk any more. He bowed and then left.

“I have heard that Bu Zhou City produces White Ridge Snake Bones. It is of use to me,” Ceng Lian’er suddenly spoke up.

“White Ridge Snake Bones?” Zuo Mo’s reaction was quick. “Your mo physique?”

“En.” Ceng Lian’er nodded and explained. “A secret of our White Fang Clan. I learned from my father. The White Ridge Snake Bones can improve our White Fang mo physique. However, the White Ridge Snake Bones are only produced in a few places, Bu Zhou City being one of them.”

Hearing this, Zuo Mo nodded and said, “Let’s go and see. I hope that you have enough luck to find some this time.”

Ceng Lian’er smiled. While she had changed her appearance to a normal one, this smile was still filled with beauty.

“A Heng, you have to help me kill him!” The young master of the Ji family gritted out. He had never been humiliated so. Being beaten and stripped naked had actually happened to him. Whenever he thought of what had happened that day, he wanted to find a crack in the ground and bury himself.

It was too embarrassing!

A Heng was not tall. His body was thin, his skin dark, his hair short and bristly. He was dressed in short robes and looked like a manual laborer without any presence of an expert.

But a person like this was an existence that people in the Ji Family feared.

A Heng looked with slightly pity at the Young Master. This idiot didn’t know what fate was awaiting him when he returned. However, he did not show any disrespect on the surface. He laughed lightly. “Young Master, do not worry. It is not so easy for someone to get away with shaming our Ji Family.”

The Ji Family young master had an excited expression. “Haha, right! I will want to be present that day. I want to personally see how this guy will die!”

When he finished, his tone was bloodthirsty and hateful.

A Heng smiled dismissively. In his eyes, this kind of cruelty was just an expression of being useless.

“He’s exiting the sky shark now,” a subordinate reported.

Suddenly, a light flashed across A Heng’s eyes. He stood and walked outside.

The young master of the Ji Family seemed to become excited. His eyes were red as he hurried behind A Heng.

A Heng did not pay attention the young master. His body moved like lightning towards the place his subordinate had reported. People along the way were alarmed and moved aside.

Almost at the same time, Zuo Mo seemed to feel something. However, his gaze moved towards the other side of the street. His expression couldn’t help but show a thread of shock.

Hm, that was … …

Chapter 692 – Feng Xin Zi

Yao!

An enormous group of yao were slowly heading in this direction. It was common to see yao in the mo territories, but it was rare to see such a large group of yao. There were also many high level mo guards around the group. Zuo Mo muttered inside, was this a yao envoy?

The society structure of the yao and mo were completely different.

The yao had many large clans, but the Council of Elders were the highest power of the yao. Among the mo, the fractions divided everything up, heroes leading their families to rule over an area.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen a group of yao receive such a level of welcome. Bu Zhou City was part of the land of the Tang Family. The Tang Family’s most famous expert, Tang Chen, ruled multiple jie with his marshal level power. The Tang Family was also a family with a long history. It could be traced back to the thousand year war.

The Tang Family’s style was a peaceful one, and they paid attention to the development of their lands. Due to this, they were respected by the people.

Was the Tang Family going to ally with the yao?

This thought flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind but he quickly threw it to the back of his mind. The Tang Family allying with the yao had nothing to do with him. He was just making a short stop in Bu Zhou City and naturally would not worry too much about this matter.

At this time, a sharp presence filled the entire street around him.

Zuo Mo raised his head in surprise. Had someone recognized them?

His upper body did not move as he pulled A Gui. They both seemed to slide backwards like he was on ice. His movements were relaxed and free. Ceng Lian’er followed silently behind him. Her movements seemed more ethereal and eerie. There seemed to be a shadow moving constantly.

“Hm!” A hint of shock flashed across A Heng’s face.

The other’s movement was unusually smooth. They were able to immediately break free of his lock .It was rare for him to encounter such an event.

But then he snorted. His body suddenly became blurred and divided into six copies. The copies turned to six grey shadows that leapt at the trio from different directions.

It was the first time that Zuo Mo had encountered such an unique mo physique and he couldn’t help but feel slight interest.

His hand opened slightly, and his five fingers danced at an unique rhythm. A strong suction formed at his palm. One of the grey shadows was trapped by the suction force and was immediately became unable to move.

[Collection Art] was not a high level yao art but it had other abilities when used in this situation.

Zuo Mo’s mo skills were first class, his yao arts second class, and his spells third-class. His spells were too weak to face enemies. His mo skills were the best and was enough to win this fight but he would lose a chance to train. The gains received from battle was more effective and clearer than usual practice.

His yao arts could be used to fight and also needed to be improved. It was perfect to use now.

Seeing Zuo Mo unexpectedly use yao arts, Ceng Lian’er immediately understood and perceptively did not act. A Gui also seemed to understand the situation. She silently allowed Zuo Mo to pull her and did not attack.

For Zuo Mo, it took almost no thought for a low level yao art like [Collection Art] to form.

The grey shadow that he had caught seemed to be made from a ball of mist. Its figure was very similar to that person but the features were blurry. While they were lightning fast, Zuo Mo found that their movements were still slightly stiff.

Seeing the [Collection Art] was effective, Zuo Mo’s fingers moved. A few more Collection Arts locked onto the other grey shadows.

Once Zuo Mo’s [Collection Art] appeared, A Heng frowned. Yao!

If this was any other situation, he would not have any misgivings and would directly kill the other. However, the news of Ji Li Yu’s group arriving in mo territory was a hot topic. Old news such as the alliance of yao and mo were once again mentioned.

The mo were close to the yao, and it was common for the two races to marry. However, compared to the frequently interchange between the people, the attitudes of the governments were not so harmonious. It was just because the two had a common enemy that they could stand on the same side regarding major issues. Of course, this was also related to the fact that the mo were made up of many fractions and lacked a true king.

But the furor caused by Ji Li Yu’s group caused the relationship between yao and mo to once again be in the public spotlight. A Heng immediately felt wary at the sudden appearance of a yao expert at such a sensitive time.

The Ji Family and the Tang Family were usually at peace. The two even encouraged marriages between the families. However, it was frowned upon to kill people in another’s jie. If one wasn’t careful, it was possible to strain relations between the two sides.

In this span of time, the other grey figures had charged. Their movements were slightly stiff but the murderousness they gave off was not false.

At this time, Zuo Mo’s other hand rose and drew out a circle.

A silver blinding hoop of light!

Hiss-crack!

The grey shadows seemed to hit a wall of lightning. Countless electrical arcs released, and lightning snakes walked. The lightning immediately swallowed the grey shadows and did not leave anything behind.

A Heng’s pupils suddenly contracted. Such a powerful yao art!

“Hm! [Sky Pole Lightning Hoop]!”

A bright voice suddenly spoke. A Heng’s heart shook even more. He hadn’t even detected this person coming so close. He turned his face and when the other’s appearance entered his field of view, he was shocked again, yao!

“Who are you?” The incomer asked as he looked at Zuo Mo with curiosity, “They say that the Sky Pole Lightning Hoop had been lost long ago. I hadn’t thought that someone would still know it. So interesting.”

Zuo Mo raised his eyes to look at the other and was astounded inside. This person had been silent when approaching, like a ghost. If it wasn’t that Zuo Mo’s sixth sense was much stronger than the average person, he would have had a difficult time detecting them.

This person was not old. His clothing was tasteful and it could be seen at a glance that he had status. The other had a sunny smile and seemed friendly.

However, Zuo Mo did not answer. While the other looked harmonious, Zuo Mo could feel a thread of a chilling presence from the other. This presence was extremely faint and hidden deeply. However, Zuo Mo’s sixth sense was above normal. He was unusually sensitive to dangerous presences. This cold presence gave him an extreme feeling of danger. It was like a snake coiled in the darkness, cold and cruel.

Also, this kind of cold cruelty was hidden in that sunny and warm smile. It caused Zuo Mo’s hairs to stand up.

“Sir is?” A Heng showed a smile as he looked thoughtfully at the other.

“I am Feng Xin Zi.” The youth smiled.

A Heng’s expression changed. “So Sir is Feng Xin Zi, my apologies for my manners! I hear that among the younger generation, Brother Feng is a leader!”

His heart was filled with helplessness. The more he didn’t want to encounter something, he encountered it. Feng Xin Zi was the guard leader of Ji Li Yu’s group and also an expert among the yao. His power was unfathomable and A Heng did not have any confidence he would win in a fight.

Feng Xin Zi smiled and said, “Minuscule abilities like mine cannot be seen in public. What are you two fighting about, how about everyone take a step back for my sake?”

A Heng’s face was smiling. “Since Brother Feng said this, this little brother is no problems.”

At this time, Zuo Mo saw the Ji Family young master hurrying over and understood what had happened. An imperceptible smile came to the corner of his mouth. “This one doesn’t have any objections.”

Feng Xin Zi was overjoyed. “Great! Why don’t I have a drink with you two, since we have resolved matters peacefully?”

The Ji Family young master was about to speak when A Heng glanced at him. His cold gaze caused the young master’s curses to shrink back into his mouth. A smile once again hung on A Heng’s face. “Naturally.”

Feng Xin Zi turned to look at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo shook his head. “My apologies, this one still has matters and not the time. Please pardon me.”

Finishing, he left with A Gui and Ceng Lian’er.

Feng Xin Zi’s gaze immediately darkened. A Heng saw this, and an imperceptible smile flashed across his lips before disappearing. “Brother Feng, let’s go and drink until we are drunk!”

A sunny smile came back onto Feng Xin Zi’s smile. “Alright!”

Feng Xin Zi. Zuo Mo was sure that he had heard this name somewhere. But no matter how hard he thought about it, he could not remember.

He gave up, but he was sure that Feng Xin Zi was extremely powerful. Zuo Mo noticed that Feng Xin Zi had come from that yao group. Right now, Zuo Mo only wanted to cultivate and not get dragged into other matters. Consequently, he had not hesitated in refusing Feng Xin Zi’s invitation.

“Let’s go and see where we can buy White Ridge Snake Bones,” Zuo Mo pushed his thoughts aside and said to Ceng Lian’er.

Zuo Mo’s group went into a few shops and did not have any discoveries. A kind-hearted storekeeper told them honestly that what they sold would not reach the level of the White Ridge Snake Bones and suggested for them to go the Rare Articles Hall to look.

The three followed the shopkeeper’s suggestion and went to the Rare Articles Hall.

The entrance to the Rare Articles Hall was normal and almost in disrepair. It seemed like an average little store and did not show any of the presence of the best store in Bu Zhou City.

Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er exchanged a look. Both of them were slightly surprised.

But since they had come, Zuo Mo decided to go in to look. When they stepped across the doorway, the scene in front of them changed.

Mo weapons of strange shapes hung in the void in front of them. Each mo weapon had a completely different presence, some warm, some explosive, some cold … …

These mo weapons of various styles were arranged in parallel to form a staircase made completely of mo weapons.

Stepping on the stairs, they could clearly feel the unique presence of the mo weapons under their feet. This feeling was extremely strange.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but sigh in shock. Such extravagance.

Each of these mo weapons were general level mo weapons. Any of them, if put on the market, would be good things. But in this place, they were just used as stairs for people to step on.

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes immediately lit up. With this staircase, it could be seen just how powerful Rare Articles Hall was.

When they walked to the end of the staircase, an old person was already waiting there.

Chapter 693 – A Complete Set Of White Ridge Snake Bones

“Welcome, please, are you here to sell or purchase treasures?” the old person asked respectfully.

Zuo Mo nodded and said directly, “Does your store have White Ridge Snake Bones?”

“White Ridge Snake Bones?”  A hint of surprise flashed across the unclear eyes of the old person. He raised his head and said, “Our store does have White Ridge Snake Bones. Please come with me.”

Finishing, he turned and walked inside.

The trio followed behind the old man. The ceiling above their head was like the night sky. Light streaked across like meteors, reflecting on mo matrices. There were mo weapons floating in the sky above them like innumerable stars.

Threads of various colors fell from the mo weapons and swayed like a sea of grass.

Zuo Mo’s thoughts shifted. He reached out a hand to grab a green thread in front of him. When his hand touched the thread of light, one of the mo weapons above his head lit up and then it appeared in Zuo Mo’s palm.

Ceng Lian’er was extremely interested. She pulled on a silver thread of light. A pair of sickles appeared in her hands.

The old person did not hurry them and explained with a smile. “This is the Mo Weapon Firmament of the store. The mo weapons you are holding are not the real ones, but the presence is the exact same as the real article. You can examine them at your leisure. If you want one of them, you only need to pay the corresponding mobei and it will fly into your hands.”

Zuo Mo was skilled in mo matrices. After standing and observing the Mo Weapon Firmament for a while, he had a general understanding of the mechanism. He smiled slightly and opened his hand. The mo weapon in his hand turned into a light that flew into the firmament above them.

He naturally did not have a desire for the mo weapons here.

A short time later, the old person took the trio to an elegant tea room. In the tea room, a white-faced and beardless middle-aged mo was idly drinking tea.

The middle-aged mo saw the trio and showed a smile. He motioned with his hand. “Please sit.”

Then he filled three cups and handed them over. A pleasing fragrance spread in the tea room. The old person had an intoxicated expression. Seeing this, the middle-aged mo also handed the old person a cup.

The old person was overjoyed and carefully took the teacup. He said hurriedly, “Many thanks, Chief Steward!”

Ceng Lian’er suddenly spoke, “A pretty good tea, stone sprout.”

The middle-aged mo showed surprise and joy. “I hadn’t thought that Miss is also enjoys tea like me! Greetings!”

Ceng Lian’er took a sip. After savouring it for a moment, she said serenely, “I hear that your store has White Ridge Snake Bones?”

The middle-aged mo gave a small smile. “Yes, this small store has a complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones.”

“Complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones?” Ceng Lian’er was unable to keep her composure or disguise her joy. The White Ridge Snake Bones were hard to find, and a complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones was much rarer.

The middle-aged mo smiled slightly and said, “Yes, this set of White Ridge Snake Bones is complete and flawless. Truthfully, it is the first time the store has encountered such a perfect set of White Ridge Snake Bones since it was founded.”

“Name your price,” Little Mo Ge said with bravado.

“Trade only.” The middle-aged mo took a sip of tea before saying. “Materials of the same level. If it is a mo weapon, it has to be an earth mo weapon.”

Earth mo weapon!

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. A earth mo weapon was just one level below sky mo weapon. In all of the mo territories, there were just one hundred and eight of those. Ceng Lian’er’s Green Cicada Sword and the previous Black-hearted Treasure Coins had all been earth mo weapons.

Zuo Mo had forged the Black-hearted Treasure Coins into the Little Mo Treasure Cup. If they brought out the Green Cicada Sword, it would undoubtedly expose their identities.

Ceng Lian’er put down the teacup without changing her expression. She shook her head and said, “It is too expensive.”

“It is very expensive,” the middle-aged mo nodded his head and said, “but it is worth this price.”

Ceng Lian’er was silent. The other was right. A complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones was also a priceless treasure.

She stood and said to Zuo Mo. “Let’s go.”

Little Mo Ge didn’t stand. He turned towards the middle-aged mo. “Does your store want earth mo weapons, or earth level mo weapons?”

The middle-aged mo was slightly surprised. He understood what Little Mo Ge was saying. Did the other have mo weapons that could match earth mo weapons?

There were one hundred and eight earth mo weapons and all of them had been observed and their characteristics recorded. It was possible to find information on everyone.

Mo weapons that could rival earth mo weapons.

Had some mo weapon grandmaster made a new work recently?

The middle-aged mo was puzzled but he still said with a smile, “If the level of the mo weapon can reach the level of an earth mo weapon, it is possible.”

An earth level mo weapon that was not among the ranking of earth mo weapons could undoubtedly be sold for a higher price.

No one wanted their mo weapon to be one that other people knew everything about.

Zuo Mo stood. “Alright, we will return after a few days.”

Seeing the certainty on Zuo Mo’s face, the middle-aged mo felt some trust. He stood to see them off. “This one will respectfully wait for your visit.”

Leaving the Rare Artifacts Hall, the trio walked on the street.

Ceng Lian’er serenely spoke, “Other than the Green Cicada Sword, we do not have any other earth mo weapons.”

“We’ll just forge one.” Zuo Mo’s words were filled with great confidence.

“Forge one?” Ceng Lian’er was astonished.

She had not expected such words.

Zuo Mo had not been joking.

For a person who was knowledgeable in mo matrices, skilled in forging, that possessed the Sun Shen Fire, and was wealthy, it was not very difficult to forge a mo weapon.

However, Zuo Mo would have to do all he could to make an earth mo weapon. But it wasn’t that Zuo Mo didn’t have any confidence. He had studied the Black-heart Treasure Coins and the Green Carp Tongue Sword.

Naturally, they could not trade the Green Carp Tongue Sword. All of the mo territories knew that Marshal Yu had died by Zuo Mo’s hand. If this thing was made public, it would definitely draw a tsunami of attention.

The next problem was that Zuo Mo needed to forge an earth mo weapon using the materials he had on hand.

He had a lot of good things. As the quality of materials increased, their uses became more general. In terms of low level materials, talismans and mo weapons used completely different materials. But when it came to the higher grades, the two overlapped.

Zuo Mo had a lot of high level materials, especially what he had taken from Ji Zheng’s body. Those were all top materials.

Zuo Mo also had an advantage. He had large numbers of general level mo weapons. In that fight against Marshal Yu, almost all the general level mo under Marshal Yu’s command had been killed. Their mo weapons naturally landed in Zuo Mo’s hand. Other than the mo weapons he had given his soldiers, Zuo Mo still had a large number of mo weapons.

These remaining mo weapons were not of great use to the present Zuo Mo. He didn’t lack mobei at this time so there was no point in selling them. Also, the materials that he had to use now were all precious treasures that almost couldn’t be bought with mobei.

Zuo Mo’s idea was based on these mo weapons.

Before the thousand year war, there had been many mo weapon forging methods but  that were now lost. In Wei’s words, it was called “craftsmanship.” Wei was experienced and the ultimate authority in this area. He could trace any kind of mo weapon forging method back to the ancient era.

Ever since Zuo Mo took the gravestone oath, Wei’s attitude was so good it was frightening. He was completely different from his previous half-living state. After enjoying the meticulous concern, Zuo Mo quickly found a nightmare had begun.

–Wei was actually a chatterbox!

Heavens! After knowing this guy for so long, Zuo Mo only now found that Wei was a chatterbox. Even Pu Yao, who ghosts and monsters avoided, chose the path of avoidance when facing the maddening nattering.

Zuo Mo finally understood what it was like to be haunted.

“A Zuo, you want to use the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship? This idea is good. However, I’m not sure about many of the details. It has been too long. You need to try it yourself. Oh, I remember. I’ve never introduced the history of the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship to you. Aiyaya, I’ve actually missed such an important matter. I’m old, my memory is failing. Oh oh oh, speaking of the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship, I have to start from thirty five thousand years ago. At that time … …”

Zuo Mo felt as though a bunch of flies were buzzing around him.

So terrifying!

“Stop!” Zuo Mo yelled at Wei.

Wei immediately closed his mouth. His eyes were wide and his expression innocent.

Zuo Mo reflexively rubbed his head. He knew that ever since he had swore the gravestone oath, there was a connection between him and wei. All of Wei’s hidden personality was now exposed.

Calmed down, Zuo Mo started to think.

He did plan on using the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship. This was the best choice at the moment. The Weapon Layering Craftsmanship was to layer many mo weapons to forge one mo weapon. Zuo Mo had learned of craftsmanship methods that had been lost after the thousand year war from Wei.

The quality of the mo weapons he had was very good. If he used the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship, and he was lucky, he might obtain an earth mo weapon.

However, while Wei had done some mo weapon forging, he was not a proper mo weapon forger. Zuo Mo had to explore many things by himself.

Fortunately, there were mo weapon pools in Bu Zhou City specifically for forging mo weapons.

The forging of talismans mostly used fire, so what resulted were all kinds of cauldrons.

Forging mo weapons occurred in mo weapon pools.

Bu Zhou City had an Underground Nether River that was very suitable for forging mo weapons. Most of the mo weapon pools were constructed by the Underground Nether River.

The Underground Nether River was silent. It was about twenty li wide and spectacular to see. The river water of the Underground Nether River was as sticky as glue, black yet clear, and silent as it flowed.

When one walked along the river, there were mo weapon pools of various sizes along the banks that seemed to stretch out endlessly.

There were also countless caverns that had been dug out along the banks. People frequently used mo skills to guide the water into their caves. The lower the cave was, the more mo weapon pool water there was, and the better the quality. It was also more expensive. The caverns higher up were much cheaper and it required people to get their own water.

There were two kinds of mo weapon pools here. One kind was the mo weapon pools owned by the local prominent families. These mo weapon pools were not open to the outside and were private property of these families. The other kind of mo weapon pools were open to everyone. Anyone that could pay the mobei could use them. These mo weapon pools were managed by the Tang Family.

An old male mo came up. He was wearing the insignia of the Tang Family.

“Is there something you need?”

“I need a mo weapon pool,” Zuo Mo said.

“What quality?” the other asked.

“The highest quality,” Zuo Mo said without hesitation.

The old man was slightly surprised. The highest quality mo weapon pools wasn’t just very expensive to use, the water was turbulent and abundant. If one did not have enough power, they would not be able to control the power.

Was this person a famous mo weapon master?

Chapter 694 – Weapon Layering Craftsmanship

“He rented a mo weapon pool?” The chief steward was slightly surprised. The trio that visited the other day had attracted his interest and he had ordered his subordinates to pay attention to their movements.

“Yes, they rented the Heaven tier mo weapon pool.” The subordinate had investigated thoroughly and hurried back to report.

“Heaven tier!” The middle-aged mo stilled. Of course he knew what this meant. Only those with some skill would dare to rent a heaven tier mo weapon pool. As the highest grade of mo weapon pool in Bu Zhou City, it was expensive to rent. The volume of water was astounding, and it was so difficult to control that almost nobody used it.

Was there a mo weapon master among them?

The face of the average-looking youth flashed across the mind of the middle-aged mo but he suddenly realized that, no matter how hard he thought back, he could not remember the details of the youth’s appearance. The other two females were also so ordinary that he could not remember them.

He was experienced and he immediately realized the trio had probably disguised themselves.

But his thoughts did not linger on the question. There were many people in these chaotic times that did not like others knowing their identities. Those with power always had their own eccentricities. What he cared about were mo weapon masters, especially powerful mo weapon masters. Any strong mo weapon master meant an endless and steady profit for a business.

Mo weapon masters were a kind of resource, and a powerful mo weapon master was a resource that had to be fought over.

Thinking about the youth’s cool and confident expression, the middle-aged mo’s heart reflexively jumped.

Earth level mo weapon!

If he could really forge one … …

The mind of the middle-aged mo which he always prided himself on being unaffected by anything was immediately disturbed.

“Pay close attention, I need to know all the details! Do not be afraid of spending money, understand?” It was rare that the middle-aged mo tone was so serious.

“Yes! This subordinate understands!”

In Zuo Mo’s view, of the three great cultivation systems, for forging, he had to admit that the xiuzhe far surpassed the other two races. Seal scripts were a vast and complex field that yao and mo could not compare to.

In comparison, while mo matrices were their own system, they were not as well-developed as seal scripts. But even so, those in the mo territories that understood mo matrices were considered well-learned and were few in number.

This was related to the attitude of mo towards their mo weapons.

The forging methods of mo weapons were usually simple and crude but there was something that the xiuzhe could not rival them in, materials. The materials that were used in mo weapons were usually a part of the mo themselves, for example, a feather, or nails. So while mo weapons were crudely made, but after being tempered daily and affinity granted by having come from a part of the owner’s body, they were as a literal extension of their own bodies.

However, those were just average mo weapons.

Top level mo weapons such as the earth mo weapons were not so easy to make.

Of the one hundred and eight earth mo weapons, other than the extremely rare few that had been forged by the user, the great majority were forged by mo weapon masters.

For mo weapon masters, forging an earth level mo weapon was the highest goal of their lifetime. The makers of the twelve sky mo weapons were the most accomplished mo weapon masters of their era, and the best mo weapon masters in mo history. Each of their names represented a legend.

In Zuo Mo’s view, forging earth level mo weapons were not a very difficult matter. He only needed the necessary materials. Even if he didn’t have any, he could still accomplish it through unorthodox methods such as using weapon layering. But the creation of sky mo weapons was out of the range of his abilities.

There were many mo weapon masters gathered around the mo weapon pools of Bu Zhou City. Many people stayed here for many years to forge mo weapons. This city quarter had, long ago, developed into an area for mo weapon masters and provided a large group of residents a way to make a living. Meaning it was possible to buy most common materials from these suppliers.

This saved Zuo Mo a lot of time.

After spending two million mo bei on all kinds of materials, Zuo Mo had finished his preparations.

The monthly rent for the heaven tier mo weapon pool was about five hundred thousand mo bei. In other words, without even starting, Zuo Mo had paid two and a half million in mobei. The wealthy Zuo Mo did not feel anything regarding the expense.

Two and a half million mo bei was just the price of an above average general level mo weapon.

He had a whole pile of general level mo weapons in his ring. This relatively small expenditure was not enough to make him feel pain.

But while he did not feel pain, it did not mean that other people did not feel pain. The mo weapon masters around the Underground Nether River quickly learned that there was someone who had come and spent two  million on materials in one go.

When they heard that this person had also rented the heaven teir mo weapon pool, it attracted their attention.

There were two guesses about this person. Either this person was a wastrel or he was someone accomplished!

Zuo Mo did not have the idle time to listen to the gossip. His time was tight. The sky shark would only stay here for a few days.

If he didn’t have the weapon layering craftsmanship up his sleeve, and that the complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones being so important to Ceng Lian’er, Zuo Mo definitely would not waste his time on this.

But since he had started, he would naturally do his best!

‘Waste’ was not a word in Little Mo Ge’s vocabulary.

Ceng Lian’er and A Gui stood guard outside the mo weapon pool to prevent others from disturbing Zuo Mo.

The heaven tier mo weapon pool was about half a mu large. The thick and black pool water flowed in from the Underground Nether River and formed a natural whirlpool in the pool .The whirlpool spun at a stunning speed like thousands of horses racing. A thick, dark, and cold presence emanated from it. Those with slightly weaker constitutions would feel cold all over, and would suffer internal injuries if exposed for long periods of time.

But Zuo Mo’s mo physique was yang and domineering so he didn’t feel any discomfort at all.

He made a circle around the mo weapon pool and nodded in satisfaction. The riverwater of the Underground Nether River was pure and yin in attribute. There were large amounts of mo matrices set up around the heaven tier mo weapon pool. The vast amount of water would be able to completely wash and temper the materials.

When he thought of this, Zuo Mo added many new mo matrices on the foundation of the original mo matrices. The roaring whirlpool suddenly became quiet. However, the center of the whirlpool deepened and ripples spread from the center of the whirlpool.

Zuo Mo started to throw materials into the mo weapon pool.

The black yet clear water started to become opaque. The whirlpool seemed to be able to swallow everything. The materials he threw in disappeared without a trace.

When the last article was thrown into the water, the pool water actually became a dark red.

The dark red whirlpool was like an enormous blood eye continuously spinning and would cause people to focus their attention on it.

Zuo Mo closed his eyes. A general level mo weapon appeared on his hand. This was a copper spear that flashed with a blue light that would shock people’s souls.

Zuo Mo threw the little copper spear into the dark red whirlpool.

Eleven general level mo weapons were thrown in a stream into the mo weapon pool.  The dark red whirlpool became even more red until it became the color of blood.

When the last general level mo weapon was thrown into the mo weapon pool, the moving whirlpool suddenly stopped.

Zuo Mo did not dare to be careless. Multicolored lights flashed on his hands. As his fingers changed, lights shot into the mo weapon pool.

If xiuzhe skilled in forging saw this, they would gape at everything that was happening here!

Zuo Mo was actually using the methods of talisman forging!

Yes, Zuo Mo was using the methods for forging talismans. However, what he used was different from the average talisman forging methods. The lights that lit up on his hands were not spells but mo matrices!

In other words, he was using methods of seal formations on mo matrices.

This took twelve hours.

Even a person as resilient as Zuo Mo showed slight exhaustion.

Twelve hours passed.

Pop-splish, pop-splish!

The blood like mo weapon pool seemed to be boiling and bubbles surfaced and popped.

Zuo Mo’s attention was focused and he did not dare to relax at all. The blood red mo weapon pool by his feet was quickly becoming orange, and he could see the mo weapons at the bottom of the pool. However, each mo weapon was now a size smaller than it had been before while the light they gave off was even brighter than before. After the cleansing and tempering of the mo weapon pool, all of the impurities had been washed away and they were even higher in quality.

The bright mo matrices flowed on the surface of these objects.

Zuo Mo released a breath. Up until now, he had not made a mistake.

There were twelve general level mo weapons in the pool. They stood upright in the water.

Zuo Mo did not immediately start the next step but instead sat down in the lotus position to meditate.

Six hours later, he opened his eyes. The exhaustion on his face had disappeared. His eyes flashed. He had recovered to his peak condition.

He suddenly raised his hands.

One of the mo weapons at the bottom of the mo weapon pool shook. An extremely minuscule ripple appeared on the smooth mirror-like surface of the pool.

That mo weapon slowly melted. One hour later, it had turned into a pile of metal liquid with countless mo matrices flowing on the surface.

Then another mo weapon flew over. This metal liquid seemed to come alive and wrapped around the incoming mo weapon. Then the bright red metal water seemed to slowly and persistently swallow the other mo weapon like a monster.

A hour later, the metal water was twice as big and the mo matrices on its surface had turned brighter and even more complex.

Then it started to consume another mo weapon!

Time slowly flowed by like this.

The pool water of the mo weapon pool slowly became clear and glittering. Any small speck of water seemed to be attracted by an invisible force. It rose up from the mo weapon pool.

Then, mist started to form on top of the pool. The mist seemed to be alive and started to merge together.

The combined mist ball slowly danced on top of the pool like a dragon.

It became more and more nimble and its presence continued to increase.

What Zuo Mo did not know was that an astounding transformation was happening to the Underground Nether River outside of his mo weapon pool.

Mo weapon master after mo weapon master continued to fly out of their mo weapon pools. There were numerous mo weapon masters that were floating above the banks of the Underground Nether River.

They were staring in shock at the vast surface of the Underground Nether River!

Chapter 695 – The Presence Of Earth Level Mo Weapon

Streaks of blood coloured water rose in the vast and serene surface of the river. In a flash, the clear black color was completely overtaken by blood red. The calm surface also became restless and turbulent as though there was a terrifying monster hidden underneath surface of the river. The waves that rose gradually became higher and higher, and crashed against the shores.

The mo weapon masters floating above the river had never seen the Underground Nether River like this. All of them had panicked expressions.

“Look! Over there!”

Suddenly, a mo weapon master with keen eyes pointed at a mo weapon pool and shouted in shock. He attracted the attention of everyone else. They all turned to look in the direction he was pointing.

Hiss!

Simultaneous inhales sounded above the river.

Thick black clouds had gathered above a mo weapon pool. The Underground Nether River was thirty li under the ground. How could clouds form from the forging?

But the thick clouds truly appeared in front of them.

Boom-om-om!

Suddenly, deep thunder sounded from within the clouds.

The mo weapon masters above the river stared at each other. There was nothing dangerous from the sound of the thunder but they all knew what this meant. Tales of it had been passed down from a long time ago that when a great mo weapon appeared, it would cause a worldly apparition.

What was happening right now was undoubtedly … …

“It’s the heaven tier pool! It’s the heaven tier pool!” another mo weapon master shouted.

“It’s him!”

“So it’s him!”

The mo weapon masters all descended into noise. That mysterious person who had spent two and a half million mo bei and rented the heaven tier mo weapon pool. He had been the topic of discussion before. How could they not be shocked when they saw that the mo weapon pool was causing all this noise was the heaven tier pool?

Boom-om-om!

The roars of thunder became more frequent. It was possible to see lightning flash among the thick cloud layer.

At this time, beads of blood slowly rose from the Underground Nether Pool. Each blood bead was glowing and perfect.

It was extremely stunning to see the dense layer of blood beads floating above the vast surface of the river. These blood beads were of various sizes but all of them were perfectly round. Detail-minded mo weapon masters immediately noticed that as the beads of blood rose, the Underground Nether River that had become blood-colored was recovering its original color.

Gradually the surface of the river recovered to its usual calm until there was no tinge of blood in the water.

These blood beads … …

Just as everyone was both puzzled and shocked, the blood beads floating above the river suddenly flew together towards the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

Almost at the same time, a great blinding bolt of lightning lit up the cloud and illuminated the Underground Nether River.

An unforgettable scene feel into everyone’s field of view. In this moment, they unconsciously stopped breathing.

The sky full of blood beads drew out bright bloody arrows in the air!

The bloody arrows were like water and carved up the air above the river!

All of the blood arrows pointed towards the heaven tier mo weapon pool!

There were so many it stole their breath!

When the last blood bead entered the heaven tier mo weapon pool, a blood colored pillar of light thrust through the clouds like a sword.

Boom-om-om!

The earth seemed to be trembling and vibrating violently.

All of them gaped at this blood colored light pierced the sky like a sword dozens of zhang thick.

Heavens!

The sword of light … … actually thrust through the rock and pierced the sky above their heads!

Thirty li! That pool was thirty li under the ground!

The spectacular soul-shaking scene caused all of the Underground Nether Pool to lose their power of speech and become completely silent.

And at this time, Bu Zhou City was in a furor.

The enormous blood colored sword of light suddenly erupted from the earth and charged into the clouds. It could be seen from far away.

Only someone that was blind could not see it.

———

Ji LI Yu looked at Feng Xin Zi who appeared idle and relaxed. She said coolly, “You seem to have free time. What, you didn’t go out to drink today?”

Feng Xin Zi roared with laughter. “I have to rest occasionally.”

“Just don’t forget our mission.” Ji Li Yu smiled coldly. “We still haven’t found Xiao Mo Ge yet!”

“Don’t be impatient.” Feng Xin Zi waved his hand.

“Don’t be impatient?” Ji Li Yu’s voice suddenly rose. Anger showed on her peerlessly beautiful face. “You’re telling me not to be impatient? How many days has it been? Didn’t the intelligence say that Xiao Mo Ge is definitely taking this route? How come we haven’t encountered him until now?”

Feng Xin Zi felt a slight headache. He knew that Ji Li Yu disliked this mission very much. He could only comfort, “There is no use in being impatient. This is the mo territories, not the yao realms.”

“So we are just waiting like this?” Ji Li Yu looked hard to Feng Xin Zi and said.

Feng Xin Zi was slightly displeased but did not show it in his expression. “It would be best if you had a solution.”

“What about those three? Weren’t you suspicious of them?” Ji Li Yu changed the topic.

Feng Xin Zi did suspect that Zuo Mo’s trio was Xiao Mo Ge’s group. While the appearance was different, but the two women traveled with the man and fit the descriptions. That day, Zuo Mo had also used yao arts. Feng Xin Zi knew that Xiao Mo Ge was skilled in yao arts. Was a person that could beat a prison-breaking battle someone that could only be described as “skilled in yao arts?”

How could Feng Xin Zi not suspect someone that fit the description so well at such a critical time?

Yet what had happened later surprised Feng Xin Zi.

The trio first went to the Rare Artifacts Hall and then to the Underground Nether River. Feng Xin Zi even knew that they had rented the heaven tier mo weapon pool and spent two and a half million mo bei.

All the signs indicated that this person was a mo weapon master, and a skilled one at that.

Feng Xin Zi was slightly depressed but did not show it. “He is a probable suspect. His yao art skill is very high. While he is making mo weapons, it might be a kind of disguise.”

“Disguise?” Ji LI Yu snorted. “Why does he have to disguise himself?”

Feng Xin Zi was silent.

This was also something that Feng Xin Zi did not understand. Xiao Mo Ge had a great reputation in the mo territories and had two top level generals in his command. The mo territories factions didn’t dare to offend him and even the Council of Elder’s opinion was that Xiao Mo Ge’s faction was one of the strongest.

In a situation like this, Xiao Mo Ge didn’t need to hide himself. No one would dare to provoke him.

Just at this time, a vast and intimidating presence suddenly shot into the sky suddenly.

Feng Xin Zi’s expression changed slightly. Such a powerful presence. His mind moved and his figure disappeared!

In the next moment, he appeared in the sky. He saw the straight pillar of blood light that pierced the sky and inhaled suddenly. His eyes even became dazed for a brief moment.

Earth mo weapon!

These three words flashed through his mind.

Feng Xin Zi was one of the most accomplished geniuses among the younger yao generation. He had been educated by an orthodox yao art house and his knowledge was something that the average yao did not have. Without any hesitation, he judged the origin of this terrifying presence!

Only earth mo weapons could have such a terrifying presence!

He had once heard that Xiao Mo Ge had a sky mo weapon, the infamous Anti Dragon Claw. However, that was just a rumor and he had not seen it with his own eyes. But he had experienced the presence of an earth mo weapon before. The unique presence of an earth mo weapon that filled the air and seemed to take over the world was suffocating.

Earth mo weapon, it really was an earth mo weapon!

Had someone forged an earth mo weapon?

Feng Xin Zi  looked in disbelief at the blood colored pillar of light that connected earth and sky.

———

When the bloody pillar of light erupted out of the earth, the expression of the middle-aged mo that was idly drinking tea inside the Rare Artifacts Hall changed. His body suddenly disappeared from his spot.

“Earth mo weapon!”

When he saw the bloody pillar of light that thrust into the sky, he shouted in shock.

From his experience of interacting with countless mo weapons, he recognized it at first glance of the bloody pillar of light. He was thoroughly familiar with all one hundred and eight earth mo weapons. While he had not seen them all in person, he knew the unique traits and presence of each earth mo weapon.

The strange presence given off by this thick blood colored pillar of light was completely different than any earth mo weapon he knew of.

He had lived for twenty years in Bu Zhou City and was familiar with everything here. When he noticed the position of the bloody pillar of light, he immediately stilled.

Wasn’t it the Underground Nether River there?

Suddenly, he thought of that normal looking youth with that confident expression. A thought flashed through his mind. He gaped with an expression of disbelief.

Had … … had that guy really forged an earth level mo weapon?

———

As the masters of Bu Zhou City, the Tang Family was also alerted.

That bloody pillar of light was truly too eye-catching, too stunning! Almost all the experts of the Tang Family flew into the air. Each person paled in shock when they saw the spectacular color of blood.

“Earth mo weapon! Such a presence can only be an earth mo weapon!” A Tang Family elder was so excited his lips were trembling. “Is there an earth mo weapon buried under our Tang Family land?”

“Someone has forged an earth mo weapon!” Tang Chen suddenly spoke. His figure was tall and broad but his eyes were long and narrow. His eyes were bright as he narrowed them.

“Forged an earth mo weapon?”

All of the Tang Family elders were shocked.

The Tang Family were not country bumpkins. The Tang Family had their own earth mo weapon, [Fire Rain Meteor Hammer] ranked forty first! This great mo weapon was owned by the family patriarch Tang Chen. In Tang Chen’s most famous battle, he had used the [Fire Rain Meteor Hammer] to defeat the famed patriarch of the Ma Family, Ma Yuan Qi who had also been marshal level.

It had been that battle that established Tang Chen’s fame. It was also that battle that had caused the great Ma Family to quickly decline. They had almost died out now.

No one knew better than they did the value of an earth mo weapon!

Earth mo weapons were the weapons most suited to marshals. Only earth mo weapons could completely tolerate the terrifying power of a marshal!

One hundred and eight earth mo weapons existed, although this number did not refering to all the mo weapons that still existed, but from the past to present. These were all the earth mo weapons that had ever existed. Many of the one hundred and eight had disappeared a long time ago. No one knew where they were. Right now, there were just about twenty or so that people knew of.

Sky mo weapons were things of myths and legends, and many people even though they were fanciful tales.

Earth mo weapons were the best mo weapons that almost all the mo recognized!

Someone had actually created an earth mo weapon!

Everyone’s eyes turned covetous.

Chapter 696 – Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike

The appearance of the blood colored pillar of light lasted for an hour.

Bu Zhou City was completely overturned. It was possible to see the eye-catching pillar of light from any corner of the city. The pillar of light that reached into the sky, and the terrifying presence it emanated all showed the power of its source!

The great majority people suspected that it was a mo weapon appearing. Only the most well-informed people knew that someone had created an earth level mo weapon!

This news was much more of a shock than the previous guess and more valuable!

A mo weapon master that could forge an earth level mo weapon was definitely among the top mo weapon masters of this era. Every one of them had a significant position in the mo territories, and they were targets that all the factions pursued with all of their power.

Earth mo weapons were in practice the top level of mo weapons. The sky mo weapons might be more powerful, but that did not mean that the craftsmanship techniques were more advanced, but that there was a difference in the materials used.

Take the Anti-Dragon Claw as an example. The Anti Dragon Claw was made from the foreclaw of a vicious dragon. This dragon was savage and vicious, and had killed innumerable number of people. Supposedly, its foreclaw had turned red because it had been dyed in the blood of its victims. But this was not enough to make it possible to forge it into a sky mo weapon. What caused it to qualify to become a sky mo weapon was that in the dragon’s final battle, this foreclaw had penetrated the heart of another powerful dragon.

A mo weapon master had coincidentally passed by and cut down this foreclaw. When they had done this, the other dragon’s heart had been hanging from the foreclaw. Supposedly, this heart had been beating at that time.

That had created the materials for the Anti-Dragon Claw.

Putting aside the requirement of rare materials seen once in a millennium, earth mo weapons were the peak of mo weapons.

Each earth mo weapon forged represented the true and great skill of a mo weapon master.

They were truly grandmasters. Grandmaster, this great and honored appellation.

Their value was not because they might be able to forge a second earth mo weapon. In truth, the great majority of grandmaster were never able to forge a second earth mo weapon. However, they were still respected and the targets of every faction.

That was because they could greatly increase the skill of other mo weapon masters.

This kind of improvement was decisive and fundament to any faction.

Therefore, Bu Zhou City was in a frenzy!

———

Ceng Lian’er was standing guard by the door. She was filled with shock. That stunning blood colored pillar of light had astounded everyone at the Underground Nether River and also caused her to gape in shock.

Earth mo weapon!

He had actually forged an earth mo weapon!

Up until now, Ceng Lian’er’s expression was slightly dazed. This was an earth mo weapon! She possessed the Green Carp Tongue Sword. She was not skilled with swords so she had been surprised when Zuo Mo had given the Green Carp Tongue Sword to her so easily. She treasured the Green Carp Tongue Sword.

Because this was an earth mo weapon!

Only one hundred and eight earth mo weapons had ever existed in the mo territories!

When she heard the quote from the Rare Artifacts Hall, she had given up. It was not because the complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones was not worth so much but because it was too expensive.

The value of an earth mo weapon could not be accounted for using mo bei because there had never been an earth mo weapon on the market.

When the pillar of light had erupted, her mind turned blank.

She looked with slight admiration at A Gui. From beginning to end, A Gui had been unusually calm. The noise hadn’t caused her expression to change at all.

Suddenly, A Gui suddenly raised her head. Her lifeless eyes suddenly lit up with purple energy.

Ceng Lian’er paused but she reacted quickly. A sharp light flashed across her eyes as she shouted, “Come out!”

A figure appeared like a ghost.

“Haha, the little girl is very strong … …”

Before the other finished speaking, A Gui’s figure disappeared from her spot. She did not hesitate to attack.

Ceng Lian’er grimaced. A Gui had attacked too quickly! While she was pretty, she was not a hesitant person. Her eyes flashed and she attacked as well!

They had been together for some time. She knew that A Gui was very sensitive to enmity. If the other had attacked immediately, she definitely had detected the other’s enmity!

However, she did not forget that they could not expose their identities. She did not use shen power but mo skills.

Her mo skills were not weak, and had improved greatly after cultivating with Zuo Mo in recent days.

Her right hand raised slightly. White mo matrices appeared on her arm like tattoos. They quickly covered her entire arm. Her fingers were slightly spread as she grabbed at the other.

Hiss!

A thin but sharp sound of the air breaking was like the hisses of a group of snakes that caused hairs to stand on end.

The air rippled.

White shadows lashed out like coiled white snakes.

The enemy clearly was wary of these white shadows. His figure twisted strangely in the air and he managed to break free of these shadows.

But before he could rejoice, he felt a strong feeling of danger. His expression changed slightly. His arms were suddenly shrouded in green light. His body twisted like a braid and his arms went behind his back.

Snap!

A small sound of a crash. However, it was like he was whipped. His body shook, and an astounding power pierced through the green light on his hand.

Before he could react, his vision blurred and his body smashed into the ground!

The instant of enormous pain caused his mind to turn blank.

An unknown amount of time later, he recovered from his daze. His bones felt like they were about to fall apart and he had no strength.

They hadn’t killed him!

This caused his mind to scatter and be filled with disbelief. The other’s attack was strong, and unpredictable. He hadn’t even managed to survive one move before he lost the ability to fight.

When he thought of this, his face flushed. He had always been proud of his own strength, and had never thought … …

He struggled to climb out of the hole. The attack had crushed him into the ground.

If his mo physique was not strong, he would have died just now.

Ceng Lian’er looked with interest at the other. She had stopped attacking because A Gui had stepped back. This surprised her. A Gui was usually as wooden as a puppet but when she started to kill, she never had mercy.

It was rare to see her not kill the enemy. Had the other’s enmity disappeared?

Since A Gui had moved back, she was happy to do the same. She knew of Zuo Mo’s intentions. It would be a troublesome matter to kill someone here.

This male here was slightly interesting.

———

Zuo Mo looked at the mo weapon on his hand with excitement.

This was a long pike. More accurately, this was a double-bladed pike. The body of the pike seemed to be made from multicolored snakes winding around each other. The body of the snakes were clearly divided into different color patterns. If one counted closely, they would find ten completely different colors and patterns on the pike. There was a spot of red in the middle of the snake heads that was extremely eye-catching. What was most unique was the two snake heads at the ends could become ten different weapons.

Zuo Mo had used ten different mo weapons. These ten transformations were the true expression of Zuo Mo’s skill.

The Weapon Layering Craftsmanship could forge earth mo weapons but their original attributes would be erase. However, Zuo Mo had melded together some seal script and mo matrix techniques to successfully keep the unique traits of the ten mo weapons.

He decided to name this the [Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike]

The Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike was the first earth level mo weapon that he had forged. There hadn’t been any flaws in the entire process. It was so perfect it surpassed his expectations. The power of the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike also surpassed his predictions.

Even among the earth mo weapons, the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike was higher quality.

For a moment, he could not bear to sell it.

But Zuo Mo quickly calmed down. He shook his head and laughed. He had gained greatly in this process. He hadn’t just learned the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship, he had gained an even greater understanding of forging mo weapons. He also had many new understandings of mo matrices. In the future, he would be able to forge even more powerful mo weapons.

Also, he had peerless weapons like the Anti Dragon Claw and the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. He was coveting everything, and may, as a result, lose everything.

After thinking, he reorganized what he learned and passed the information back to Cloud Sea Jie through Pu Yao. This was habit he had now developed. Whenever he had new understandings, he would organize them and share them with Golden Crow Camp.

He only wanted to make his paltry contribution to Cloud Sea Jie.

After doing all this, he walked out of the mo weapon pool with the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike.

When he walked out, he saw Hua Ru Hai who was furiously trying to ingratiate himself with Ceng Lian’er.

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes lit up when she saw Zuo Mo. A figure flashed out of the corner of the eye. It was A Gui suddenly appearing beside Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo lovingly rubbed A Gui’s head and said gently, “A Gui worked hard.”

A Gui’s expression was wooden.

Zuo Mo turned to look at Ceng Lian’er and Hua Ru Hai with a questioning gaze.

“This guy was sneaking around, we found him.” Ceng Lian’er gave a small smile. Her gaze lingered on the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike.

Zuo Mo handed the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike to her.

When it entered her hand, Ceng Lian’er uncontrollably burst out, “Earth mo weapon!”

She had the Green Carp Tongue Sword and was familiar with earth mo weapons. When this entered her hand, she made an accurate estimate. While she knew that it would be an earth mo weapon from the apparition alone, but she still felt excited when she saw it. She waved it a few times and praised, “A good mo weapon! What is its name?”

Hua Ru Hai looked with bright eyes at the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike in Ceng Lian’er’s hand. He was almost drooling.

“Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike,” Zuo Mo said with a smile. His body relaxed.

“A good name!” Ceng Lian’er smiled and handed the mo weapon to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo suddenly detected countless gazes gathered on him and was slightly surprised. He raised his head and saw there were many people floating in the air above the Underground Nether River and the surrounding mo weapon pools.

This was … …

Before he could react, the entire sky exploded.

These people suddenly flew madly in his direction. They fought to be first with excited expressions, shouts coming like a tsunami.

“Grandmaster! Grandmaster!”

“Grandmaster, accept me! Accept me as a student!”

The scene became chaotic.

Chapter 697 – The Domineering Tang Chen

Zuo Mo was used to scenes like this.

He did not speak and only gave a small smile. A short time later, the noisy crowd quickly quieted. The mo weapon masters looked in reverence and respect at Zuo Mo.

At this time, silence was more effective than speech.

But he still felt a small headache. He would only stay in Bu Zhou City for a short while and forging the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Piek was just to trade for the White Ridge Snake Bones for Ceng Lian’er. He hadn’t thought that forging an earth mo weapon would create such a ruckus.

The reason that he had changed his appearance was because he did not want to draw attention to himself and he could reach Nether Springs Jie as fast as possible.

It would not be easy to leave after making such a spectacle.

These mo weapon masters that were looking him with fear and reverence were just a small problem. It would not be so easy to get rid of the prestigious families of Bu Zhou City. Zuo Mo had experienced the conduct of the prestigious families before.

If he revealed his identity, the other would not dare to do anything, but that way, his tracks would be exposed. What would occur would be endless trouble. It was not a secret that he had shen power. If people had doubted that shen power existed before, the mo gods that had killed the Xuan Kong Temple corps had displayed the great force of shen power.

Being in possession of a great treasure was a crime.

Zuo Mo knew this. The trio was not weak. If they secretly moved, they would not encounter any great trouble. The only strong enemies they would likely encounter would be lone experts. If their tracks were exposed, there would be prestigious clans that would use all of the power at this disposal to try to get the shen power inheritance from him.

It definitely would not be a good idea to reveal his identity.

Calming down, Zuo Mo’s mind started to turn furiously. He pushed his voice low to say to Ceng Lian’er. “How many people know of the use of the White Ridge Snake Bones?”

Ceng LIan’er stilled but she was smart and immediately understood what Zuo Mo meant. She replied in an imperceptible voice, “Few. Even in the clan only my father and I know.”

Zuo Mo was slightly relieved. Their only possible flaw was the White Ridge Snake Bones. If other people knew the use of the White Ridge Snake Bones for the White Fang Snake mo, it would be easy to suspect their identities. It was not a secret that he had a female companion that was a White Fang Snake mo.

He could only deal with the events as they came.

Zuo Mo decided as he smiled as usual.

Suddenly, the crowd behind shifted.

“Congratulations! Congratulations! I had not thought that Honored Sir would actually forge an earth level mo weapon!” The middle-aged mo had a joyous expression and there was a group of guards behind him.

Zuo Mo hadn’t expected the chief steward of the Rare Artifacts Hall to come directly to the mo weapon pool. He was slightly surprised but his expression did not change. He said coolly, “All due to Sir’s good luck, everything proceeded smoothly. This earth mo weapon is called the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike, it can turn into ten different mo weapons, each with their own abilities.”

Finishing, he took out the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike and performed some of the transformations.

The mo weapon masters in the surroundings had never seen a true earth level mo weapon before. They stretched out their necks, their eyes wide in fear they would miss a single detail. When they saw the ten transformations of the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike, they gave gasps of shock.

The middle-aged mo’s gaze was burning hot as he started at the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Spear in Zuo Mo’s hand. He wanted to take it immediately. As the main steward of Rare Artifacts Hall, he had better judgement than normal people. He had also touched a true earth mo weapon before.

With just a glance, her realized that this Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike was better than the earth mo weapon he had touched in the past.

His gaze became even hotter. However, he was a smart person. He said with a smile, “I have brought the White Ridge Snake Bones.”

According to Little Mo Ge’s personality, he would not be himself if he did not take the chance to profit enormously. However, this time, he was in a hurry to leave so he did not haggle. He nodded. “It is yours.”

The joy on the middle-aged mo’s face increased.

The complete set of White Ridge Snake Bones appeared in front of Zuo Mo. Sighs of shock rose in the surroundings again. It was extremely rare to see such a perfect set of White Ridge Snake Bones.

“Please wait!” A voice suddenly interrupted. It was Hua Ru Hai. The urgency on his face had disappeared and was replaced by calmness. “This one is Hua Ru Hai of North Bay’s Hua family. I wish to purchase this earth mo weapon … …”

Before he finished speaking, Zuo Mo grabbed the White Ridge Snake Bones and shoved the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike into the hand of the middle-aged mo. Hua Ru Hai’s expression froze on his face.

Was something wrong with this person’s heard? Did he not understand this was chance to raise the price?

Hua Ru Hai’s blood rushed to his head and he glared angrily at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo ignored him. With the White Ridge Snake Bones in his hand, he gave a look to Ceng Lian’er He grabbed A Gui’s hand and quickly proceeded to leave.

The middle-aged mo was still immersed in the joy of obtaining the earth level mo weapon and did not notice the actions of the trio.

“Valued Guests, you leave in such a hurry. My Tang Family has not treated you properly, and slighted such valued guests. This is our crime. This one is Tang Chen and ask for forgiveness from you!”

A deep and pleasant voice echoed in everyone’s ears. The noisy scene suddenly became silent. Everyone had speculated that the Tang Family would not stop and watch with a mo weapon grandmaster represent, but when Tang Chen asked for forgiveness, it caused everyone to be speechless.

Then sound spread in a wave.

Tang Chen was the present patriarch of the Tang Family. He rarely was seen in public. They hadn’t thought that he would personally come. This really was giving a great honor to this grandmaster!

Zuo Mo’s expression was the same but he grimaced. Now it would not be easy to leave.

The other was polite in speech but his position perfectly blocked off their path. Zuo Mo stopped walking and then casually bowed. He said, “I do not dare to accept this. We have matters to attend to and are in a hurry to travel. Mister Tang, please forgive us.”

Tang Chen smiled when he heard this. He drawled, “Grandmaster is too polite. Please tell us what the matter is. The Tang Family will be honoured to serve Grandmaster. It is the good fortunate of Bu Zhou City that Grandmaster has come here. Please, Grandmaster, stay for a few days, and let us act as good hosts.”

As expected, a difficult person!

Zuo Mo cursed this Tang Chen a few hundred times. He wanted to take out Little Mo Treasure Cup and let it go. It seemed from Tang Chen’s posture that Zuo Mo definitely would not be able to leave today. The other most likely would force them to stay.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved rapidly and decided to pretend to agree. Later, he would find a chance to sneak away.

Having decided this, he pretended to be reluctant and replied, “Then we will disturb Patriarch Tang for a few days.”

Tang Chen gave a satisfied smile. “Grandmaster, please!”

Tang Chen’s gaze swept across the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike in the hand of the Rare Artifact Hall Chief Steward. He praised, “A good earth mo weapon!”

The middle-aged mo did not avoid Tang Chen’s gaze. He smiled calmly and said, “The mo weapon is good, the grandmaster is even better.”

Tang Chen naturally understood the other’s double meaning but pretended not to hear it. He smiled slightly and said, “The Tang Family coincidentally needs an earth mo weapon, please, state a price.”

His tone was cool but an aura of dominance formed.

The middle-aged mo was not frightened and said slyly, “This one does not dare to overstep this one’s authority. If Daren wants to ask about the price, this one will report to the owner.”

“You’re pretty good.” Tang Chen turned and left after saying this.

Zuo Mo showed a thoughtful expression.

It seemed that the support behind this Rare Artifacts Hall wasn’t weak.

———

The trio were set up in one compound. This was a very large compound in a great environment. It had all the equipment needed and there were more than a hundreds of servants. There was only the trio living in this enormous compound.

The compound was heavily guard on the outside. There were more than twenty of the Tang Family elite general level and above acting as guards and sentries. There also many mo matrices set up in the surroundings. It was impossible to set up seal formations like transportation formations.

This caused Zuo Mo to grimace. The other was clearly more experienced. After “inviting” them to the Tang Family, they were put under house arrest. The present situation was no different than house arrest even though the other did not restrict their movement.

Zuo Mo had also learned the domineering style of this Tang Family patriarch.

It was impossible to sneak away without being detected while under such heavy guard. If they tried to force their way, then all of their secrets would be exposed and the Tang Family would pay any price to keep them here.

There was great apology and guilt on Ceng Lian’er’s face. “If it wasn’t for the White Ridge Snake Bones … …”

Zuo Mo shook his head and interrupted her. “This isn’t your fault. Who would think that the earth level mo weapon would  cause such a great disturbance.”

Zuo Mo looked at A Gui and felt urgency. If they were trapped here, when would they be able to reach Nether Springs Jie.

At this time, his mind suddenly moved.

He thought of a great idea.

———

“He is going to forge earth mo weapons?” Tang Chen asked gravely.

“Yes! He said that he wants to forge a new earth mo weapon.” The subordinate’s tone was filled with joyful surprise.

“Earth mo weapon!” Tang Chen’s expression changed but then he frowned. He naturally knew of the difficulty in forging an earth mo weapon. This grandmaster had just finished forging an earth mo weapon and now wanted to forge a second one. He felt incredulous at this.

Any earth mo weapon could be said to be the masterpiece of a mo weapon master’s life.

The great majority of mo weapon grandmasters only ever forged one earth mo weapon and those that had forged two could be counted on the fingers. He had never heard of one that had forged three.

Tang Chen had not captured Zuo Mo forcibly because of the earth mo weapon but was in hope that he would be willing to help take the role of the teacher for the Mo Weapon Camp.

Bu Zhou City was rich in resources, but the skill level of the mo weapon masters was not high. If the level of these mo weapon masters could be increased, the resources could be turned into an endless flow of fine mo weapons. The Tang Family’s power would increase another level in a short period of time.

Had he gotten new ideas from forging the earth mo weapon last time?

While he did not believe that Zuo Mo could forge a second earth mo weapon, Tang Cheng was naturally happy for Zuo Mo to throw himself into the forging of mo weapons.

“En, cooperate fully with him,” Tang Chen said without hesitation. “Satisfy his needs to the best of our abilities.”

“Yes!” The subordinate acknowledges. However, his expression turned strange. “But Grandmaster had a strange request … …”

“Strange request … … “ Tang Chen stilled.

Chapter 698 – The Unexpected Guest

Bu Zhou City, Tang Wen Hall.

This was Bu Zhou City’s grandest banquet in the past few years. It was popular and filled with people. There were many beauties, the fragrance of wine spread around the air, and those that were conversing would exchange greetings with smiles.

Anyone of slight fame in and around Bu Zhou City had received an invitation from the Tang Family. There were famed experts from surrounding towns that had rushed over.

Other than the Tang Family’s unrivaled power in this area, many people had come for another person, Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai[1]. It was not strange for a grandmaster that had just forged an earth level mo weapon to be pursued to this degree.

Then they heard that it had been Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai’s request to hold this banquet, many people had thoughts about the situation.

While the Tang Family had forcefully stolen Grandmaster away, many people still desired to meet him and form friendly relationships, especially the experts that were strong and lacked mo weapons. They were like flies that smelt meat and all ran over.

Feng Xin Zi had a sunny smile on his face. He had refused the advances of countless beautiful young female mo. He was holding a cup of wine as he sat beside Ji Li Yu.

“You were wrong.” Ji Li Yu’s tone was slightly mocking. “He’s the new mo weapon grandmaster.”

Feng Xin Zi shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe Xiao Mo Ge also knows to forge mo weapons/”

While he teased this, inside, he did not believe his own words. Xiao Mo Ge was a genius. Even Feng Xin Zi who was called a genius by others had to admit the other’s astounding talent. But even the most talented person could not be good in all areas. Mo weapon creation was a profound and cryptic field. In order to have accomplishments in this area, one needed to accumulate skill and experience. The former was related to talent, and the latter to time.

“Also, don’t you feel it is strange? A mo weapon master that can make an earth mo weapon should have at least some fame and reputation before this, but no one has heard of his name before?” Feng Xin Zi looked at Zuo Mo in the distance and said to himself.

“There are many people who leap into fame from obscurity. There is nothing strange about that.” Ji Li Yu’s tone was dismissive.

“Maybe.” Feng Xin Zi did not continue on the topic.

One person forced their way over and said enthusiastically, “Ha, I am so fortunate to encounter such a beautiful miss today! Miss who is so beautiful that my heart has almost stopped beating, can you tell me your name?”

Ji Li Yu felt slight disdain but she did not snow it in her expression. She smiled brightly. “Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first before asking for someone’s name?”

Ji Li Yu was devastatingly beautiful to start with. When she did not smile, she was the brightest jewel at the banquet. When she smiled, the entire banquet hall seemed to light up. The nearby guests were dumbstruck.

The young person who stepped forward to speak with her was also stunned. After a while, he recovered. His expression was intoxicated. He appeared as though he would be willing to die if Ji Li Yu told him to do so.

“Oh oh oh! I should die for this! I was so impolite. Heavens, this is unforgivable! Please forgive my rudeness, I am Hua Ru Hai from the South Bay’s Hua Family. It is a little place, a little place.”

Hua Ru Hai smiled fawningly. Shocked inhales sounded in the surroundings. South Bay Hua Family was a faction that rivaled the Tang Family.

“I am very happy to meet you, Mister Hua Ru Hai! I am Ji Li Yu of the yao!” Ji Li Yu’s smile blossomed and drew the eyes of the males present.

“Happy, happy, truly happy!” Hua Ru Hai was so excited he could not speak rationally.

“Has Mister Hua Ru Hai also come for Grandmaster?” Ji Li Yu asked curiously.

Hua Ru Hai nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, I was coincidentally around the mo weapon pool when Grandmaster completed forging the mo weapon. I saw with my own eyes the worldly apparition when the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike was created.”

“Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike?”

“Yes, it is an outstanding earth mo weapon, and can change into ten different mo weapons. It is the first time I have seen such a wondrous earth mo weapon. It is a pity it ended up in the hands of Rare Artifacts Hall. It will not be easy to buy it from them.” Hua Ru Hai shook his head and said with regret.

Ji Li Yu suddenly said, “Grandmaster is really young. Are all mo weapon masters so young?”

Hua Ru Hai smiled and said, “Actually, I was stunned when I met the Grandmaster for the first time. I hadn’t expected him to be about the same age as me. However, people at the grandmaster level are probably not the same as us mere mortals.”

“That is true.” Ji Li Yu smiled faintly. Her gaze turned to the mo weapon placed at the center of the large hall. “That is the Sky Snake Ten Manifestations Pike?”

“En!” Hua Ru Hai looked with intoxication at the Sky Snake Ten Manifestations Pike and murmured, “Perfect! It is absolutely perfect! I haven never heard of this level of craftsmanship. It is great!”

Ji Li Yu stared at the Sky Snake Ten Manifestations Pike. An intimidating yet almost imperceptible presence emanated from the pike and shrouded the entire hall. It would occasionally cause sighs of awe.

———

“It really is a perfect masterpiece,” the chief steward of Rare Artifacts Hall praised.

“Many thanks to you for your support!” Zuo Mo offered his thanks to the other. He had sold the Sky Snake Ten Manifestations Pike to the Rare Artifacts hall already. They had only brought it out for display because it was Zuo Mo’s request.

“It is nothing,” the middle-aged mo smiled and said. Then he said subtly, “No matter the occasion, Rare Artifacts Hall is a friend of Grandmaster.”

He had felt great shock when he had received Zuo Mo’s request but he quickly made his decision. While he did not know what the Grandmaster’s intentions were, it was undoubtedly the best choice to build a good relationship with the other.

Zuo Mo raised the winecup in his hand and toasted the other. “Please!”

“Please!” The middle-aged mo responded with a raise of his glass in satisfaction. It was not common to have a grandmaster owe you a favor.

There was an imperceptible smile on Tang Chen’s face. Suddenly, a servant said a few words in a low voice by his ear and he nodded.

He suddenly stood and raised both of his hands. He said in a loud voice, “Everyone!”

The hall immediately quieted down. All gazes turned to focus on Tang Chen. Tang Chen had absolute authority in Bu Zhou City. Just a few of his words could have great effects on Bu Zhou City.

Tang Chen had a big smile. “Today is really a good day, with friends filling the seats, and honored guests that have come.”

Just as he was speaking, a procession walked in from the door to the hall. The one leading the way was a youth with a faint smile on his face. His handsome face was filled with confidence as he walked with his head high at the front.

The crowd unconsciously made way for him.

“Uncle Tang!” The youth bowed towards Tang Chen.

Tang Chen laughed and said, “Come here, come here, let Uncle have a look at you. Heroes really come from youth! I really admire A Di for having such a son!”

A Di? Low discussion rose in the crowd. Everyone was speculating who this A Di was.

“Father frequently mentions you, but there has been many matters. He feels very guilty for being unable to visit Uncle Tang these years,” Gongzi Xi said respectfully. [2]

“Oh!” A reminiscing expression came onto Tang Chen’s face. He said emotionally, “The years  have passed so quickly!”

He then laughed. “It is not good to be too emotional on such a good day.” Finishing, he turned to face the hall with a hand on the youth. He said in a loud voice, “Everyone, let me introduce you. This is Marshal Di’s son, and my nephew, Xi!”

The crowd exploded.

Everyone knew who Marshal Di was. Oh, of course this meant every other than Zuo Mo. Marshal Di was much more famous than Tang Chen and was one of the most famous marshals in the mo territories.

Many people had uncertain expressions. While Tang Chen’s authority in Bu Zhou City was unrivalled, the Tang Family was usually low-key and seemed content to be in their area without any ambitions to vie for the world.

Due to this, many people thought of the Tang Family as just a strong local faction. However, Marshal Di was one of the competitors fighting for domination of the world and one of the strongest marshals.

Because of the difference in status of the families, many people were surprised the son of Marshal Di was so respectful towards Tang Chen. To even bow like a junior suggested that the two marshals had a close relationship.

———

Xi’s arrival caused the entire banquet to have a turbulent underflow. Many people thought inside that they needed to reassess the strength of the Tang Family.

This included the Ji Family.

In the corner, A Heng’s eyes flashed and he was uncertain. The Tang Family had been a faction that the Ji Family had been trying form relations with for a long time. The Ji Family had even hoped that they could use a marriage to ally the two families together.

He immediately detected something unusual nearby when Marshal Di’s son Xi had arrived.

The young master of the Ji Family looked with hate and viciousness at Zuo Mo.

Refocusing, A Heng noticed the expression of his young master and frowned inwardly. The newly arrived Gongzi Xi appeared handsome and accomplished, his family’s young master in comparison was not acceptable to be seen in public. A Heng shook his head inside.

That Xiao Yun Hai was an honored guest of the Tang Family now. They did not have any more chances to act. Not speaking of how they wanted to form an alliance with the Tang Family, even if they did not care about how the Tang Family felt, they could not act against a valued guest of the Tang Family while in Bu Zhou City.

He reminded, “Young Master, you cannot be rash!”

“So this will be the end of it?” the young master gritted his teeth and his voice seemed to bellow out from his chest.

A Heng said coolly. “Master will not be happy if you offend the Tang Family.”

The Ji Family young master’s face paled. When he thought of his father’s anger, a chill rose from the bottom of his feet. All of his anger immediately disappeared.

After A Heng reminded him of this, he didn’t look at his young master again but focused on Gongzi Xi. He decided to stay a while longer and find out why Gongzi Xi had suddenly come to Bu Zhou City.

The Tang Family was low-key but their strength could not be underestimated. They would be of great aid to any family they allied with.

A Heng knew that the Horizontal Jie’s Ji Family did not have as much influence compared to Marshal Di. However, he hadn’t expected that Tang Chen had concealed this relationship so deeply.  They had investigated for so long and hadn’t even heard a hint of it.

The Ji Family had started to try to ally with the Tang Family from a very long time ago. Tang Chen’s attitude had always been ambiguous. So this was the reason behind it.

No matter what, he could not let the Tang Family and Marshal Di form an alliance.

A cold light flashed across A Heng’s eyes.

With the arrival of the new guests, no one noticed the two people from the Ji Family in the corner.

———

Tang Chen’s gaze flashed across Gongzi Xi’s retinue. When his gaze landed on Li Xian’er, he was slightly surprised. However, he did not change expression and brought Gongzi Xi in front of Zuo Mo.

“Virtuous nephew, come, this is Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai! Grandmaster has just forged an earth mo weapon, the Sky Snake Ten Manifestations Pike, it is extraordinarily powerful!”

At this time, the corner of Zuo Mo’s eye imperceptibly twitched.

Chapter 699 – Zuo Mo’s Goal

His gaze unconsciously moved, and swept across Gongzi Xi’s group. His gaze suddenly stopped on a female.

For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo had an eerie sense of familiarity.

This female … …

Zuo Mo dared to guarantee that he had definitely never seen this female before. He wasn’t able to identify anything familiar about her. This included her appearance, her speech and presence. They were all very unfamiliar and Zuo Mo was sure that he had never seen her before.

But that eerie sense of familiarity haunted his mind and could not be swept away.

It really was strange.

Zuo Mo suppressed the strange feeling he had. His expression was normal as he gave a small smile and exchanged greetings with Gongzi Xi. “I’m very happy to meet you.”

Gongzi Xi also had a smile. “On the way here, I heard that Grandmaster had forged an earth mo weapon. Xi itches to see it, and has travelled day and night. This journey was not a waste after meeting Grandmaster!”

Tang Chen pretended to be angry. “So Virtuous Nephew has not come to see this old man, this old man thought too highly of himself!”

The people around laughed when they heard this.

Tang Chen also had a small smile as he said, “You and Grandmaster are of similar age, and must be able to converse better. Virtuous Nephew, you should ask for guidance from Grandmaster, you will definitely benefit.”

“Uncle is right,” Gongzi Xi said respectfully.

Zuo Mo smiled. “Patriarch Tang is too complimentary.” He felt strange. This Tang Chen seemed to treat Gongzi Xi like his own nephew. The relationship between the two families was not simple.

Gongzi Xi’s gaze turned to the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike in the middle of the large hall. He couldn’t resist saying, “This is Grandmaster’s new work?”

“This is called the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike,” the middle-aged mo elegantly took over. “Does Master Xi want to try?”

“I can?” Xi showed joy.

“Of course!” The middle-aged mo made an ushering motion. “Our hall received the favor of Grandmaster and this Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike. Master can do as you please.”

Even a blind person could see that the middle-aged mo was showing goodwill to Gongzi Xi.

Gongzi Xi’s expression was excited and he was desiring to try.

———

Li Xian’er secretly examined Zuo Mo. She was unusually sensitive. Zuo Mo had done his best to make his gaze appear casual, but Li Xian’er still detected Zuo Mo’s attention focused on her.

Her appearance had been disguised. While she still looked pretty, it was several levels below her true appearance. Which of the servants around Gongzi Xi were not beautiful due to his position? Theoretically, she should be very non-descript and mediocre among the group.

She hadn’t thought that Tang Chen and Xiao Yun Hai would notice her.

However, she was very curious about Xiao Yun Hai.

It was not common to see such a young mo weapon grandmaster. Being from Tian Huan, Li Xian’er had seen many kinds of geniuses, but there were only just a rare few that were so accomplished at such an age.

As though he noticed her gaze, the young grandmaster gave a small smile at her.

This guy … … was slightly strange!

Li Xian’er thought inside.

———

Qinghua Xue looked closely at Zuo Mo within the crowd. Her eyes were as bright as stars and she was struggling to keep her calm.

It was him!

Yes, it was him!

Qinghua Xue could not suppress the excitement inside.

Almost at first glance, she had recognized Zuo Mo. While the appearance and the name were unfamiliar, Qinghua Xue’s eyes had not missed his familiar patterns of speech and movement. She was too familiar with Xiao Mo Ge. She hadn’t just fought against him, she had collected almost all the mirages on the market concerning him.

This was him!

Xiao Mo Ge!

The gathering that would have normally found unpleasant and noisy was so beautiful right now. Qinghua Xue’s eyes did not move away one bit.

“What are you looking at?” one of her fellows poked her. Her friend was called Ning Xin’er. She was the most beautiful female of the cadet branch of the Ning Family, and due to this, she had been selected.

Qinghua Xue seemed to wake up. Her face was aflame.

“Oh, you like Xiao Yun Hai?” Ning Xin’er teased her. “While he doesn’t look handsome, his future is unlimited as he was able to become a grandmaster at such a young age. Haha, if you can get him, the Qinghua Family probably would be overjoyed.”

Qinghua Xue quickly recovered her calm. She slanted a look at Ning Xin’er and said pointedly, “Weren’t you pining after Xiao Mo Ge?”

“Xiao Mo Ge?” Ning Xin’er said self-mockingly. “I want him. However, with the yao’s greatest beauty standing at the front, we can just rest our hearts and act as secondary characters.”

The words were tinged with jealousy and some disappointment.

Qinghua xue was silent. She could understand Ning Xin’er’s feelings. Of the group of people that had come, there was no one other than her that had been willing. In front of Ji Li Yu, all of them lost in comparison. Everyone felt that if Xiao Mo Ge was going to fall in love, it would be with Ji Li Yu. They were from the cadet branches of their families, but they had many suitors, including sons of main branches. Who was willing to travel thousands of miles to act as accompaniment?

“I feel that Xiao Mo Ge might not fall in love with Miss Ji,” Qinghua Xue suddenly said.

“Maybe.” Ning Xin’er twisted her mouth. “If he doesn’t fall in love with the most beautiful woman, then there is no hope for us.”

Qinghua Xue was silent.

Ning Xin’er tilted her head and suddenly became excited. “This Xiao Yun Hai is a good target. I feel that the higher-ups will definitely agree to recruit a mo weapon master of such potential on our side. Nice, nice!”

“Then you can go try.” Qinhua Xue said sardonically.

“No, he isn’t handsome enough.” Ning Xin’er pouted. “But that Gongzi Xi is both generous and has presence! His family background is also very good!”

Qinghua Xue smiled upon hearing this.

At this time, Xiao Yun Hai suddenly spoke up, “Everyone.”

The entire place quieted. People looked over curiously. Everyone present was filled with curiosity about this newly titled mo weapon grandmaster, especially since he was so young.

Xiao Yun Hai had a small smile on his face without any timidity. His voice was clear and loud.

“First, I would like to thank Patriarch Tang for agreeing to my unreasonable request and hosting such a grand banquet for me. I also must thank the Rare Artifact Hall for their support with today’s event. I won’t waste words. This time, I have invited everyone because I have something to ask!”

“Grandmaster, please say. If our Rare Artifact Hall can do it, we will not refuse.” There was an elegant smile on the middle-aged mo’s face. His voice was not loud but could be heard over the entire hall.

Displeasure flashed across Tang Chen’s eyes. He was very displeased that Rare Artifacts Hall had taken this opportunity before him. He knew that this was Xiao Yun Hai’s retaliation for being forced to come to the Tang Family.

Grandmasters, it was normal for them to have a temper.

The smile on his face remained the same. “Grandmaster, please say it. The Tang Family is not some prestigious family, but there are not many things that we cannot do.”

His words were said indifferently but the dominance showed. The other people had planned on saying a few words but then perceptively closed their mouths.

The entire place was unusually silent.

Zuo Mo was not affected at all. He looked around solemnly. “This one needs something called the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. One plant can be traded for an earth mo weapon.”

Woosh!

The crowd exploded!

Someone couldn’t resist asking, “Grandmaster, you are serious?”

Zuo Mo said without hesitation. “Yes!”

“Is the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike for trade?” someone else couldn’t resist asking, “Wasn’t it sold to the Rare Artifacts Hall?”

The middle-aged mo also had a surprised expression. He had expected that Xiao Yun Hai would have a goal but he had not expected that  to be publicly announcing that he was buying Reversal Shadow Soul Silkgrass. The price he gave was also an earth mo weapon.

He knew of the Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass. However, it was produced in Nether Spring Jie. While the production of it was not high, it was not so rare. This price was one that no one would be able to resist. He immediately decided that he would send an order to search for Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass the moment he left the venue.

When he heard people ask about the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike, his reaction was quick. “Rare Artifacts Hall is willing to put the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike as a guarantee.”

An earth mo weapon was valuable, but it was definitely not a loss to use an earth mo weapon to trade for the friendship of a grandmaster!

Zuo Mo was very surprised. He nodded at the middle-aged mo with a friendly gaze.

The middle-aged mo immediately felt good, especially when he noticed that Tang Chen beside him had a black face. He was proud of how beautiful his move had been. Tang Chen was too overbearing in his action. Was something wrong with this person’s brains to force a grandmaster of unlimited potential? The middle-aged mo looked down on this.

But he stilled at Xiao Yun Hai’s next words.

“Thanks for Rare Artifact Hall’s support, but I have already sold this mo weapon to Rare Artifact Hall. This belongs to Rare Artifacts Hall, how can this one trade using that.”

Zuo Mo’s expression was confident as he looked around. His voice was not loud but it stunned the entire place. Each word was filled with power.

“Three days later, I will start to forge another earth mo weapon!”

Zuo Mo’s expression was determined.

“If my luck is good, and I forge an earth mo weapon, I will leave the article at Rare Artifact Hall. Anyone can trade for this mo weapon with a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass! I will trouble your hall for this!”

The middle-age mo’s mouth was open, his expression stunned. He quickly reacted and nodded hurriedly, “No problem, no problem!”

Tang Chen’s expression was dark. He had been completely unprepared for the bomb that Xiao Yun Hai had thrown out.

But he quickly recovered. The corners of his mouth were smiling and full of disdain.

As expected, this was the rashness of a young person!

He had a little bit of accomplishment and he didn’t know his own limit anymore. Did he really think that he could achieve anything?

However, this was beneficial for the Tang Family. He wanted to see how Xiao Yun Hai would clean up this mess when he could not forge an earth mo weapon!

At Bu Zhou City, no one except the Tang Family could help him! Not even Rare Artifacts Hall!

Tang Chen’s gaze was dark and cold.

Everyone was stunned where they stood. Zuo Mo’s words had caused them to lose the ability of speech.

Forge an earth mo weapon? What joke was this? What did he think an earth mo weapon was? He could make one whenever he felt like it?

Xiao Yun Hai was crazy!

Chapter 700 – Old And Cunning

An earth mo weapon! Xiao Yun Hai!

This was the hottest topic of the moment, all of the mo territories were paying attention to the news. Theoretically, while earth mo weapons were rare and valuable, it was not enough to create such a great wave. But the extravagant promise that Xiao Yun Hai had thrown out was too astounding.

They did not know Xiao Yun Hai’s exact age but he definitely was among the ranks of the youngest mo weapon grandmasters. His future could be said to be unlimited. Yet a mo weapon grandmaster of such potential had suddenly stated that he would trade an earth mo weapon for a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. The entire mo territories were scorched by the bomb.

Some were dismissive and snorted. The majority of people considered this a joke, and were simply watching the dubious spectacle.

While shen power was starting to appear in their visions, and mo skills were not considered the top tier of the powers now, earth mo weapons were still one of the strongest weapons. Their limited number, the difficulty of creating them, the great power they contained, were all reasons it was valuable.

Before Xiao Yun Hai, no mo weapon grandmaster dared to announce that he would definitely forge another earth mo weapon.

In the history of the mo, the number of earth mo weapons never surpassed two hundred articles.

But someone had suddenly ran out and stated that he was able to forge earth mo weapons again. Even if he was a mo weapon master that had just become a grandmaster, it caused shock among the mo.

The Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass was valuable, but its value could not rival earth mo weapons. Its rarity was just because it was produced in Nether Spring Jie, the location was far and it was difficult to harvest.

But this wasn’t a problem to those prestigious families and large businesses that had far reaching influence.

However, the great majority of people only maintained the attitude of spectators. They didn’t believe at all that Xiao Yun Hai would be able to forge another earth mo weapon.

However a small number of factions started to search for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass with the aim of establishing friendly relations with the grandmaster. They didn’t have any hopes about the earth mo weapon. In their view, while the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass was valuable, it was still profitable if one used it to create relations with a mo weapon grandmaster.

Events like this were undoubted ones that people liked to see and hear about.

People were all waiting to see the young person who had just become a grandmaster and didn’t know his own limits make a joke of himself. Some even started to take bets on whether Xiao Yun Hai could forge a new earth mo weapon.

It had been so long since there had been such an entertaining event. The people of the mo territories were extremely interested.

Such an interesting event!

———

In the study.

“Virtuous Nephew, what do you think?” Tang Chen asked Gongzi Xi in interest.

Gongi Xi had a thoughtful expression. He grimaced and shook his head. “This nephew doesn’t know. This Xiao Yun Hai is too hard to predict, he actually promised this in public, it really … … really … …”

He didn’t know how to describe it.

Tang Chen gave a smile. “Virtuous Nephew, do not be thrown by this. He must have disliked the treatment he received in these days and is not willing to stay in the tang Family. He purposefully acted in public to attract people’s gazes.”

“But if he doesn’t have any confidence, would he dare to say this?” Gongzi Xi’s expression was puzzled.

“It is a terrible move made in panic,” Tang Chen said coolly. “Young people are always rash. This event is beneficial for us. This boy doesn’t know his limits, but he does have some true skill. If we are able to use him, he would be of great benefit.”

“Uncle is right,” Gongzi Xi nodded and said.

Tang Chen did not linger on this subject and changed the topic. “I noticed that some of the people in your group do not look like mo.”

Seeing the wry expression on Tang Chen’s face, Gongzi Xi flushed slightly and reported the truth. “Uncle may not know. They are the envoys from Tian Huan.”

Tang Chen’s expression changed. “Your father plans to ally with Tian Huan?”

“Yes.” Gongzi Xi nodded and said.

Tang Chen was silently for a moment before speaking, “It is good for you two families to ally together based on Tian Huan’s power. One should always establish relations with those far away and attack those close by. Your two families do not have any conflicts of interest, and it is beneficial for both sides for you to help each other in secret. However, the two sides are far from each other. If there is alliance, it must be marriage!”

As he spoke, Tang Chen smiled. “That female’s identity must not be simple.”

Gongzi Xi said, “She is the granddaughter of Tian Huan’s sect leader!”

Tang Chen nodded. “The families are matched in status! I see that you seem to like her. I will send a letter to your father and speak of this matter on your behalf.”

Gongzi Xi was overjoyed and made a deep bow. “Nephew thanks Uncle!”

Tang Chen held Gongzi Xi up. “You father and I’s relationship was forged through life and death experiences, I think of you as my own nephew. There is no need for these courtesies.” Then his tone became stern. “There is something you need to remind your father.”

Gongzi Xi hurriedly said, “Uncle, please speak.”

After a moment of silence, Tang Chen said gravely, “Your father must already know about the Mo Shen Temple. I see that your father is busy organizing his faction. If this was the past, this is the right choice, but it is not appropriate now.”

Gongzi Xi had a pondering expression. “Uncle means to pay more attention to shen power?”

“Yes!” Tang Chen nodded. “You have also seen the power of shen power. This is a power even stronger than mo skill, ling power, and yao arts. One mo god was enough to destroy all of Xuan Kong Temple’s elder corps. This kind of strategic power is enough to change the state of world. Do you know how many military corps Xuan Kong Temple’s elder corps is equal to?”

Without giving Gongzi Xi the time to think, Tang Chen continued to speak.

“You cannot fall behind at this time! The person who walks at the front in this field has the advantage. The Mo Shen Temple the greatest enemy of everyone.”

Gongzi Xi was not a wastrel. While he was a rake, he understood matters of war. He agreed with Tang Chen but he grimaced, “It is not that Father doesn’t want, but he has not been able to get a foot in the door. Nephew knows that Father has already started to build a shen temple but the effect is not very good.”

“The Mo Shen Temple had hid and developed for two hundred years. Of course it is not simple,” Tang Chen said, “you may want to find a breakthrough in another place.”

Gongzi Xi was intelligence. After a moment of thought, he understood. “Uncle speaks of Xiao Mo Ge?”

“Yes!” Tang Chen praised. “Xiao Mo Ge’s trio all have shen power inheritances. While they are not weak, they are lacking in comparison to the Mo Shen Temple. If we gather our power, it is very likely we will gain what we desire.”

“Xiao Mo Ge is a ghost and there is no trace of him now.” Gongzi Xi looked at Tang Chen. When he noticed the imperceptible smile at the corner of Tang Chen’s mouth, his body trembled, “Unless … …”

Tang chen had a proud expression. “I have been keeping an eye on Xiao Mo Ge all this time. A while ago, the trio suddenly disappeared. I went to Yanmen Ocean to beg Great Shaman Sang Ming Yu to divine. The Great Shaman owed me a favor in the past, and used five years of his life force to divine. He learned that the trio is near Bu Zhou City.”

Gongzi Xi’s eyes immediately lit up. “Near Bu Zhou City!”

“Yes, at the start, I suspected Xiao Yun Hai was Xiao Mo Ge. He has two female servants with fit with the description of Xiao Mo Ge. However, I had never heard that Xiao Mo Ge knows how to forge mo weapons, much less earth mo weapons. I purposefully was domineering in my conduct, one reason was to test him. But from his response, he doesn’t seem to be the one.”

Gongi Xi listened carefully in fear he would miss a detail. He thought back to Xiao Yun Hai’s actions and he agreed with Uncle’s judgment. That Xiao Yun Hai didn’t have the presence of a hero. While he was also powerful, his actions were rash. He was far from the uncanny Xiao Mo Ge.

Tang Chen’s gaze was deep. “While he isn’t Xiao Mo Ge, he is suitable to be bait. I heard that the Anti Dragon Claw Xiao Mo Ge obtained seemed to be heavily damaged. Xiao Yun Hai is a mo weapon grandmaster and one of the most likely to be able to fix the Anti Dragon Claw. If Xiao Mo Ge knows of this, he definitely would not miss this chance. I had been thinking of how to spread the news. I hadn’t expected Xiao Yun Hai to attract so much attention and help us.”

Gongzi Xi had an admiring expression. “No wonder Uncle is supporting Xiao Yun Hai. Uncle is wise and cunning. You really are the oriole behind the mantis stalking the cicada!”

Tang Chen’s expression was normal. “We only need to focus on Xiao Yun Hai and wait! However, when Xiao Mo Ge shows up, we need enough experts in order to trap him.”

Gongzi Xi knew this was a rare opportunity and nodded without hesitation. “Uncle, don’t worry. I will send a message right now. Uncle Qin and Uncle Zhong are both present!”

Tang Chen’s expression became relieved. “I won’t worry if Old Qin and Old Zhong can come. This matter is a great secret. Virtuous Nephew, you cannot speak of this to anyone, including your future Tian Huan wife.”

The last words were teasing.

Gongzi Xi’s face turned red but then he became serious. “Uncle, do not worry. Nephew knows the importance of this and will not mention a word of it.”

Tang Chen nodded. “I have spoken to you for so long. Go, don’t like Tian Huan’s little princess wait for too long.”

———

Unlike the other people that were waiting to see Xiao Yun Hai become a joke, Qinghua Xue was full of confidence in Zuo Mo. Only she knew that Xiao Yun Hai was Xiao Mo Ge. With her understanding of Xiao Mo Ge, if Xiao Mo Ge dared to say the words, he had great confidence in the matter.

Returning from the banquet, Qinghua Xue completely calmed down and descended into her thoughts.

She had found Xiao Mo Ge, then what should she do next?

Get close to him?

But how to get close to him?

Qinghua Xue was frustrated.

———

No one would have thought that Zuo Mo who had just announced that he would trade earth mo weapons for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass was being troubled by a completely unrelated matter.

That average looking female and that strange feeling of familiarity.

Zuo Mo trusted his sixth sense highly. He knew this eerie feeling of familiarity would not appear without cause.

He definitely had had some interaction with this person.

But no matter how hard he thought, he could not find any information related to this female.

In the sea of consciousness, the three discussed this matter. However, Pu Yao and Wei were sure they had never seen this female before.

It really was strange … …

At this time, Zuo Mo’s body froze. A daring thought appeared. Once this thought appeared, it took over every corner of his body.

Even Pu Yao and Wei didn’t have an impression of her. Then this female definitely appeared before he encountered Pu Yao and Wei.

Could it be … …

She appeared before his memories had been erased and his features changed?

Chapter 701 – The City Market

When Zuo Mo thought about how the average looking woman could have possibly been from before when his memories had been erased and his appearance changed, his mind could not remain calm.

Because he was going to start forging mo weaons three days later, the Tang Family’s “protection” eased off greatly. Other than a few guards, Zuo Mo only had A Gui with him most of the time.

Zuo Mo was someone all of Bu Zhou City knew, especially when he had announced in such a flamboyant fashion that he was about to forge mo weapons. He was the population topic of discussion.

Consequently, when Zuo Mo walked on the street, people continued to greet him. Of course, there were also people that were pointing at him in secret.

Zuo Mo’s mind was full of his own thoughts.

Maybe he could find a chance to probe this woman’s origins?

Suddenly, a guard said, “Daren, this is the biggest materials market in Bu Zhou City. However, the majority of the items here are normal materials.” He was puzzled. It was mostly low level mo weapon masters that came to these markets for normal materials. They did not have enough mobei to buy rare and expensive materials.

Good mo weapons usually required good materials.

Even the best mo weapon master could not forge an earth mo weapon with normal materials. He felt very puzzled when Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai had requested for them to take him to visit a market for normal materials. In his view, what the Grandmaster needed was the top kind of materials. Didn’t he want to forge earth mo weapons?

But the higher-ups had ordered for them to unconditionally cooperate with Grandmaster’s request if it was possible.

Zuo Mo’s stray thoughts faded. He nodded. “Let’s go in.”

When they walked into the market, a wave of noise came at them. The stalls were organized neatly with large amounts of materials on display. The sound of bargaining, arguing, and cursing filled the air. It was possible to see the flushed faces everywhere.

The guard couldn’t help but freeze. As one of the best among the Tang Family guards, the places he visited were usually elegant ones. It had been a long time since he had come to such a dirty and chaotic place.

He glanced at Grandmaster out of the corner of his eyes. He saw that Grandmaster’s expression was composed and without any unease.

In reality, Zuo Mo wasn’t just at ease, he was slightly excited when he saw such a familiar scene. His stray thoughts were thrown away.

It was like he was fired up, his eyes red, and his fighting spirit rose.

The surroundings were filled with the sound of bargaining! Again! Bargain bargain bargain!

“One hundred and eighty mobei? Are you joking? The quality is normal, oh, and there are three flaws. The quality can only be considered above average, you dare to ask for one hundred and eighty mobei? One hundred? Don’t joke, I’ll give you eighty at most … …”

“Fifteen mobei, I want one hundred, are you going to sell? No? Let’s go!”

“I just said so. You still make a profit, don’t think that I don’t know … …”

The guard leader gaped. Grandmaster was invincible as he bargained his way down.He felt that everything that was happening in front of him was incomprehensible. A great grandmaster was arguing furiously with other people for just a few mobei, this this this … …

Shouldn’t grandmasters sit in the private rooms, drink the best wine, and elegantly pick the treasures surrounded by beautiful females?

Zuo Mo forgot himself in bargaining and felt great pleasure.

But gradually, he found the situation wasn’t quite right.

“Ten mobei, sell?”

“Sell sell sell!”

Zuo Mo looked with puzzlement at the shop owner. The shop owner’s expression was excited as though he wanted to sell immediately. This wasn’t right, ten mobei was definitely just above cost. He had given the other one mobei above. He hadn’t expected the shop owner to agree immediately. Something was strange!

Was there something wrong with the wares?

Zuo Mo flipped it over and inspected it for a long time. He was even more puzzled. There were no problems!

Suppressing the bewilderment he felt, he took two hundred of the material. His gaze landed on another kind of material. “Will you sell for seven mobei?”

“Sell sell sell!” The shop owner nodded repeatedly.

Zuo Mo raised his head and couldn’t help but curse, “How can you do business like this? Sell for seven mobei? Are you crazy? This costs at least ten mobei, is something wrong with your head?”

The shop owner nodded with a dumb smile.

Zuo Mo stilled. Was this person really stupid? He raised his head and the excitement quickly receded. He immediately discovered the strangeness in the surroundings. The noisy market was silent.

What was this … …

Zuo Mo hurriedly looked around. When he saw everyone’s gazes were on him, he understood. Cough cough cough, he hurriedly raised his head and puffed out his chest. He pointed at the things he had bought and said to the guard, “Oh, put these away.”

“Yes!” The guard leader’s face was burning. Today was really a great embarrassment! He raised his head and glanced at Grandmaster. Grandmaster’s expression was normal as though nothing had happened. As expected of Grandmaster, his face was thicker than normal people!

Suddenly, a middle-aged person walked forward with an excited expression. “Respected Grandmaster! Welcome! We feel honored by your arrival!”

“Hello hello!” Zuo Mo smiled.

“Please give us a list for what Grandmaster requires. We do not have anything good, but the quality of our low- level materials is not bad!” the middle-aged person said respectfully.

Zuo Mo had come because he needed to use low-level materials. He had prepared a list before coming but hadn’t expected that he would use it at this time. While he could not experience the pleasure of bargaining, it would save him effort. Zuo Mo handed the list to the middle-aged person.

The middle-aged person seemed to have a reputation here. He handed the list to the servant behind him and the servant went away to gather materials.

“Does Grandmaster need assistants?” the middle-aged person inquired.

The guard leader spoke in displeasure, “Are you qualified to be Grandmaster’s assistant? Hmph!”

The mo weapon masters in the surroundings were silent. While the guard leader’s words were harsh and not easy to hear, but it was the truth. The mo weapon masters that were in this place were not very good.

But Zuo Mo was moved. “If they have talent, they may be able to learn from me.”

His words were pretentious but the effect was excellent.

The mo weapon masters in the surroundings became excited. Many of them had desirous expression. Even the middle-aged person was slightly excited. But he was experienced and did not lose his calm. “How do we judge for the talent that Grandmaster speaks of?”

After thinking, Zuo Mo said, “Use mo weapons, the grade doesn’t matter, just let me have a look.”

The guard leader felt disdain but he could not speak now, otherwise his actions would mean not giving Grandmaster face. The mo weapon masters here were not good ones. The mo weapon masters at Bu Zhou City who had talent were almost all part of the Tang Family.

These toads wanted to eat the meat of a swan?

They were delusional!

He didn’t understand. Grandmaster actually agreed to such a boring and meaningless matter?

There were countless mo weapon masters in the Tang Family that wanted to be Grandmaster’s assistant. While this grandmaster liked to boast, he was still a grandmaster!

He could not understand Zuo Mo’s way of thinking.

A pile of mo weapons were quickly laid out and presented in front of Zuo Mo. The guard leader took a glance and then snorted. There wasn’t even a single colonel level mo weapon here.

Zuo Mo ignored the sneer of the guard leader. His gaze swept across the mo weapons.

His gaze suddenly stopped on a dagger mo weapon.

He took out the dagger, raised it up and asked, “Who made this mo weapon?”

A youth with a slightly pale complexion walked out of the crowd. His face was flushed and he was excited. “Grandmaster, I made it!”

Zuo Mo then asked him a few questions. The youth responded smoothly and Zuo Mo confirmed that he was the one to forge the dagger.

Zuo Mo nodded. “Starting today, you are my assistant.”

Gasp!

The people around shouted in shock. Disbelief and joy floated into the youth’s face. The middle-aged person was also very excited. He went forward and hugged the youth. Then he said solemnly, “Sproutling, be good and learn from Grandmaster!”

His fellows came up to congratulate him. Everyone knew that this opportunity would alter Sproutling’s fate.

The guard leader’s face was not very good. He hadn’t thought that Grandmaster would really select an assistant from here. As a guard of the Tang Family, he naturally put the Tang Family first. There were so many Tang Family mo weapon masters waiting for the opportunity but an outsider had gotten there first. While it was not his mistake, he could not escape being connected to this.

“Grandmaster, shouldn’t this … …” he couldn’t help but speak.

Zuo Mo’s expression darkened. “Do I need to report my actions to you?”

Hearing this, the guard leader’s heart jumped and he hurriedly said, “Grandmaster is joking, this one doesn’t dare. But Grandmaster is of high status, and your safety should be prioritized. This person is unknown … …”

Sproutling’s face paled.

Zuo Mo impatiently interrupted the guard leader. “I have my own way of conduct!”

The guard leader gritted his teeth and persisted. “If something happens to Grandmaster, and the patriarch assigns blame, this one … …”

“A Gui, throw him out,” Zuo Mo said coolly.

A Gui who had been silently standing next to Zuo Mo suddenly disappeared.

The guard leader was shocked .Before he could react, his neck was gripped and he wasn’t able to use his own strength. Woosh, he flew out of the market. He smashed onto the ground, and wasn’t able to get up for a while.

The faces of the other guards changed. They were about to move but when they saw that A Gui didn’t seem to have moved at all, their faces were ashen white. Their fighting spirit that had just started to burn immediately disappeared.

A Gui’s undying shen power had a great qualities. It had no color and was extremely deceptive.

“What’s your name?” Zuo Mo asked Sproutling in a gentle gone.

Sproutling gathered his courage. “Grandmaster, I don’t have a name, they all call me Bean Sprout or Sproutling.”

“No name, your parents?” Zuo Mo asked.

“They are dead.” Sproutling said in a low voice.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. He suddenly thought of himself and felt emotional. But he quickly raised his head and patted Sproutling’s thin shoulder. “Your way of thinking is good but there are some mistakes. Is there a small mo weapon pool here?”

The middle-aged person knew that Zuo Mo was going to teach Sproutling and was overjoyed. He hurriedly said, “Yes yes yes!”

Zuo Mo looked at the mo weapon masters in the surroundings with desire on their faces and smiled. “You can all come watch.”

All of the mo weapon masters cheered!

Zuo Mo definitely would not have thought that his accidental action would … …

Chapter 702 – The Snow Of The Blue Flower

The little mo pool in the market was  low grade and usually used by the low level mo weapon masters who were short on money. Naturally, the results were never very good.

The middle-aged person was slightly embarrassed, and all the mo weapon masters all had expressions of embarrassment. It really was lowering Grandmaster’s status to have him use such a low grade mo weapon pool.

It was not acceptable, but they did not have any better mo weapon pools. They looked uncertainly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo did not care. He looked at the mo weapon pool and then moved his gaze away.

He turned around and faced the crowd with the dagger that Sproutling had made in his hand.

“The concept behind this dagger is very interesting. It has three primary materials, White Wood Bone, Ice Blue Stone, and Concerted Shine Crystal.”

Everyone perked their ears up and focused in fear of missing a single a word.

“I believe that everyone knows these three materials. Most people would use the White Wood Bone as the base material, the Ice Blue Stone to give it the trait of iciness, and then use the Concerted Shine Crystal in order to merge the two together.”

Some of the mo weapon masters nodded. This was the basic method, and even the most ignorant mo weapon master knew it. They were curious. The more basic the materials were, the harder it was to do something new with it. They could not think how these three basic materials could be put together any other way.

“But Sproutling’s thinking is unorthodox. He used the Concerted Shine Crystal as the base, and then used the white wood bone and the ice blue stone as materials to strengthen it.”

Gasps rang out. Everyone felt this recipe was impossible and unconventional.

“Speaking from the view of traditional mo weapon forging, this is completely against the rules. The Concerted Shine Crystal is a very good low level material but it is not a material that can act as the base for a weapon because it is too soft.”

The mo weapon masters almost unconsciously nodded.

“As a result, Sproutling treated the Concerted Shine Crystal with the sap of the Fragrant Leaf Tree to merge Gold Thread Amber, and hardened Concerted Shine Crystal after the White Wood Bone and Ice Blue Stone was merged.”

Some mo weapon masters had thoughtful expressions.

“This is a creative idea.” Zuo Mo’s words caused Bean Sprout to flush. Bean Sprout knew just how terribly his dagger was made.

Zuo Mo changed subject. “But in order to finish this line of creative thought, good forging technique is required. White Wood Bone is rarely used as a base and people will rarely remember that it has a trait, [Wood Thread].”

The entire crowd was silent, and everyone had expressions of respect. If people had a thread of doubt about Zuo Mo’s skill due to the rumors before this, then the doubt now disappeared.

Even the basic materials in Grandmaster’s mouth had all kinds of transformations.

“In the eyes of many people, [Wood Thread] is a trait that isn’t useful, but if it is used well, it will have unusual effects.”

Finishing his analysis, he started to throw materials towards the mo weapon pool.

With each item, he would say the name of the material, and then explain why he was using this material as well as the details that one needed to pay attention to. The mo weapon masters didn’t dare to make a sound. They were like Zuo Mo’s students and listened with a tinge of devoutness.

Low level mo weapon masters did not have any status in society. Their income was low, and making a living was difficult. Their skill was crude which meant they were unable to make fine mo weapons. Their income was limited which in turn caused them to lose the possibility of improving.

They knew just how rare this chance was.

A grandmaster was giving them a lecture. This was the only and the most important class in their life.

Their gazes as they looked at Zuo Mo were filled with sincere respect and gratefulness.

They memorized Zuo Mo’s practiced skill and the contents he spoke casually off. The usually noisy market was completely silent. Zuo Mo’s voice was the only sound that echoed.

All of the shop owners did not make a sound. They knew the difficulties of these low level mo masters. Many of them were friends.

They did not understand deep principles, but they were infected by this devoutness, yearning and passion.

In this moment, in this place that only recognized mobei, there was no low and high status of society.

Afterwards a completely new style of mo weapon masters would form from here.

They preferred simple and practical materials. They aimed to be creative, they were enthusiastic about the spread of mo weapon skills.

They had a special name, they were the Market Mo Weapon Masters.

———

“Those damned bastards!” The guard leader gritted his teeth. A Gui was never light handed when she attacked. While he wasn’t wounded, he was left disheveled and there was a large green bruise on his face.

He quickly noticed the burning gazes in the surroundings and wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in.

One of the guard leaders of the Tang Family was left in such a sorry state!

At this time, a familiar, grave and murderousness voice sounded. “Old Three, what happened?”

Head!

He climbed up from the ground with embarrassment. “Head!”

“What happened?” Boss’s face was murderousness and his gaze vicious. He was sitting on top of his mo steed that seemed to be a small mountain. The steed’s four limbs seemed to be made from iron, the long tail spiked. There was an arm-thick horn at its forehead that flashed with a blue light.

This was a Sword Tail Blue Hone Rhinoceros. It was vicious and battle-hungry, a powerful offensive mo steed.

“The Grandmaster … …”

Head immediately understood and his face abruptly changed. His eyes flashed with a cold light as he said, “Even a grandmaster doesn’t qualify to run rampant on our Tang Family’s land.”

He had disliked Xiao Yun Hai’s proud attitude a long time ago. The Tang Family treated him as an honored guest yet he was so proud! Even if he might be punished by the patriarch today, he would teach that person who did not know his limits whose land he was on.

“Big Brother, be careful of that servant of his!” the guard leader gritted out.

“Yes, I will cripple her,” Head said coolly.

When he finished speaking, he picked up a long spear hanging from the mo steed. He looked towards the depth of the market. Xiao Yun Hai’s voice was coming faintly from it. It was unusually silent inside. He did not care. He had absolute confidence in his own power.

He nudged the Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros under his body. With every step, the ground trembled slightly.

Clip-boom, clip-boom!

The head of the Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros started to lower. The blue horn flashed with a soul-shaking light. A low howl came from its mouth. Its heavy breathing showed that it was gathering its strength.

The Head had a secure grip on the long spear in his hand. His cold face seemed to be carved from stone.

The battle spirit that came from the mo steed under him caused his eyes to rapidly turn red.

The icy feeling from the long spear in his hand removed the last stray thought in his mind.

———

Qinghua Xue was enchanted as she listened. There was a knowing smile on her lips.

Actually, she didn’t understand what Zuo Mo was saying at all. For a yao, mo weapon forging was so cryptic it was like trying to read the heavens. But she could feel the unique atmosphere of the market. She did not realize that there was a respectful expression on her face.

The Xiao Mo Ge in front of her was so unfamiliar. It was unlike the Xiao Mo Ge that Qinghua Xue had seen in the mirages. There was  natural and indescribable presence emanating from his body.

She had been paying attention to Zuo Mo all this time. Zuo Mo had not concealed his tracks and she had quickly followed him as he left the Tang manor.

Ning Xin’er couldn’t help but tease. But had agreed to help cover her for. They were not like Ji Li Yu who could come and go as she wished.

Qinghua Xue had seen the entire course of events.

She had never thought that Xiao Mo Ge would pay attention to the lowest level of mo weapon masters. Compared to the strict class structure of the mo, the yao were slightly better but even for the yao no grandmaster would be like this.

Definitely not.

The grandmasters were of great status, far above these mo weapon masters of the lowest class. But such a scene was happening in front of her, and the reason was Xiao Mo Ge that she had been searching all this time.

When her gaze swept across the respect and devoutness on the aces of these low level mo weapon masters, she suddenly was moved.

For some unknown reason.

An enormous figure suddenly blocked the entrance to the market.

A strong killing energy was like a cold and snowy wind that blew in. The temperature inside the market immediately dropped.

“Hmph!”

A cold snort exploded like thunder. The mo weapon masters that had weak mo skills changed expression in unison.

Qinghua Zue’s pupils suddenly contracted.

An enormous figure charged like a strong wind.

Qinghua Xue’s body reacted immediately. Like a blue bolt of lightning, she suddenly appeared in front of the other’s path.

When she blocked the other, she suddenly realized what she had done.

“Unrelated people, move!”

The thunderous and furious howl, along with the roar of the wind and the rumble of the ground shaking echoed through the entire market.

Several serene blue flowers floated up from her hand.

[Blue Flower]!

What was she doing?

Having suddenly realized this, Qinghua Xue’s face burned but at this time, she did not have the attention to question her reaction.

While she was from a branch family, she possessed the greatest talent among the youngest generation of the Qinghua Family. All of this was displayed now. In the eyes of everyone else, Qinghua Xue’s gaze was as sharp as a sword. At this time, she was like an unsheathed sword.

She was fearless!

She had discovered her weakness in the fight against Zuo Mo. Her talent was outstanding, but she had lacked combat experience. She had strength, but there was not much of it she could express. But now, after resolving that, her power had skyrocketed.

The present her was not the same as in the past!

The moment the blue flowers floated up, she detected a pause from Xiao Mo Ge behind her. While that pause was imperceptible, it caused her fighting spirit to rise to the peak.

All of her terror and timidity disappeared.

In this moment, she only had one thought, she was going to show her power in front of Xiao Mo Ge!

Show all of it!

Chapter 703 – Interference

The beautiful yet fragile blue flowers caused the leader of the Tang Family guards to feel a trembling in his heart.

He immediately threw away all of his underestimation and condescension. His narrowed eyes were now full of wariness.

Who was this woman?

The blue flowers floating in his view brimmed with hidden killing intent.

The head’s gaze turned grave. His legs squeezed, and the Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros under him accelerated in response. Its enormous body was like an arrow leaving the bow. It left afterimages in the air, and the deep roar immediately disappeared.

A point of blinding cold light seemed to come out of the air, and quickly spread among the blue flowers.

The space around the blue flowers seemed to solidify. The point of blinding cold energy was like a whirlpool that sucked countless blue flowers towards the dot like moths to a flame.

[Something from Nothingness Spear]!

The head’s stone-like cold face appeared after the point of cold energy faded.

He detected the power of the blue flowers and his first move was a killing move!

A light flashed across Zuo Mo who was beside the mo weapon pool. He was shocked inside. This strike contained laws of [Domain]. With just this strike, this person could be counted among the ranks of experts.

“It’s [Something from Nothingness Spear!]” Wei was slightly surprised.

“Such a strange name,” Zuo Mo couldn’t resist saying.

Wei chatted, “The [Something from Nothingness Spear] is the peak work for spear type mo skills. Ever since it was created, it was one of the most powerful spear type mo skills. However, it is extremely difficult to cultivate. I had thought it was lost, and had not expected to see it today.”

Zuo Mo found it easy to multi-task.

He had no difficulty splitting his attention when forging a low level mo weapon. Most of his attention was on the two people fighting. He recognized Qinghua Xue. He had a deep impression of her from that fight against in the Ten Finger Prison. Pu Yao and Wei also recognized her.

“This girl seems much stronger than last time!” Pu Yao was slightly shocked.

“It is definitely because our strong little Mo Mo stole her heart. She worked hard, and see, she chased him all the way to the mo territories! Such a good girl!” Wei was like a gossiping old woman.

Zuo Mo was so disgusted by that “little Mo Mo” he almost ruined the mo weapon in the mo weapon pool.

He was furious. “Wei, I said that you aren’t allowed to call me Little Mo Mo!”

Pu Yao nodded and said, “This girl’s [Blue Flower] is pretty good. However, is there something wrong with the minds of the Qinghua Family? They have let such a talent out without any protection? Aren’t they afraid that something will happen?”

“Maybe she sneaked out of her home and has come in search of our Little Mo Mo … …” Wei inserted.

Zuo Mo gritted through his teeth, “Wei, I said not to call me Little Mo Mo … …”

At this time, Pu Yao rubbed his chin and said seriously, “A Zuo, how about you seduce her? Recruit her. Give me half a year, I definitely can create an expert.”

Zuo Mo realized that it was a dead end to talk to these two heartless people.

He decided to ignore the two scoundrels and put his attention on the fight occurring.

———

The space around the two fighting was now twisting and crumbling. That point of cold energy was as bright as a star. The blue flowers flew towards the dot of cold energy as though they were being sucked into a whirlpool.

Qinghua Xue felt slight shock at the other’s spear thrust but she didn’t feel any fear. Her mind was focused.

She spread her arms. Her straight back, her full chest, her tight waist and pert behind formed a soul-stealing curving figure.

In this moment, the painting seemed to be set. A beautiful curve, a young face with the eyes slightly closed, one had to sigh at the wonder of creation. Qinghua Xue had a small confident smile on her face that was tinged with piousness. It was like the last stroke that made the drawing come to life.

Her long and white fingers were wrapped in threads of blue energy.

Zing!

A high metallic sound spread across the entire field. The cold energy lit up and the blue flowers that were pulled in were torn into pieces.

Qinghua Xue opened her eyes at this moment!

Each of her eyes had a blue flower floating in them. The two blue flowers slowly spun.

Blue sprouts suddenly appeared on her hands. These sprout grew at an astounding rate. In a blink, the blue vines almost completely took over the space between the two fighters.

When these blue vines were furiously grown, the head had a strong feeling of danger. When they had just came into contact, he did not know what these blue flowers were. However, when he destroyed these dangerous blue flowers, he knew that these were yao arts.

This fragile female in front of him was a yao!

The head immediately started to hesitate. Such a powerful yao was definitely part of the yao envoy. The patriarch had ordered them not to offend the yao envoys!

This yao envoy was the first one that the government of the yao had sent in the last decade. Behind them was the highest authority of the yao, the council of elders.

This caused the head to have second thoughts yet when he found that the surrounding space was almost completely taken over by the blue vines, his expression changed. All of his hesitations were thrown away. The strong murderousness from the young woman caused his hairs to stand on end.

Such a vicious girl!

The other was trying to kill him!

Experienced in battle, the head immediately understood that if he did not fight with his full power, his life would probably end here. The Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros under him also detected danger and gave a low growl.

The head patted the restless Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros and it immediately calmed down. In his field of view, the packed blue vines were like an enormous cage. The blue flowers were blossoming on the vine and the number was astounding.

[Domain]!

The other was a yao expert that had also comprehended [Domain]!

The head bowed his body slightly and tightened his grip on the long spear.

———

“Hm, A Zuo, this is a bit like your yao art cages!” Pu Yao was the first to discover this.

Wei was immediately excited. “Proof! Proof! This is proof! Little Mo Mo, she clearly has been in love with you for a long time!”

Zuo Mo was also slightly surprised. Qinghua Xue’s blue flower cage was very similar to the yao art cages he had once used in the Ten Finger Prison. This similarity wasn’t just in shape, but in many crucial parts of its structure.

However, Zuo Mo snorted at Wei’s clearly one-sided thinking.

It most likely was that the other was not willing to accept her past defeat. She had searched for his mirages to search for his weakness and incorporated what she learned in her own style!

Zuo Mo felt that his line of thinking was more reliable.

The other had stopped this attack for him probably with the intention that she could have a fair battle with him after!

While the other’s powerful blue flowers had grown in power and caused Zuo Mo’s blood to heat slightly, when he thought of the trouble that would be caused if his identity was exposed, Zuo Mo’s fighting spirit quickly disappeared.

It really was troublesome!

Zuo Mo started to ponder another important question. Had this woman recognized him already?

She definitely had! For some reason, Zuo Mo had this strong feeling. Maybe it was Qinghua Xue’s strong fighting spirit that stimulated him. He had a high confidence that the other had recognized him!

Damn it!

When Zuo Mo realized this, he had a headache. He had to think of what to do next.

What to do about it?

“Sacrifice yourself! Little Mo Mo!” Wei excitedly suggested.

“Sacrifice yourself! A Zuo!” Pu Yao was serious. But then dark snickered echoed in the sea of consciousness.

Zuo Mo had no more hopes for these two.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Zuo Mo’s thoughts.

“Fighting and killing is not good, if there is time, everyone should drink together!”

A cold wind energy suddenly appeared in front of Qinghua Xue and the head.

This wind appeared suddenly without any warning. A thread of shock flickered through Qinghua Xue’s eyes. She didn’t even know how the wind that broken through her [Blue Flower Cage].

The head that had just been about to attack suddenly froze. He could not suppressed the shock in his eyes. The wind was at his side but he hadn’t detected it at all!

Unfathomable power!

The beautiful [Blue Flower Cage] shattered into fragments of energy. Qinghua Xue released her yao art. The restless Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros was docile and the head’s terrifying presence had disappeared.

A figure slowly walked out. It was Feng Xin Zi.

When she found that the person was Feng Xin Zi, Qinghua Xue’s expression recovered as though nothing had happened. She went forward and bowed, “Daren.”

“It seems that the Blue Flower Family made a wrong judgment.” Feng Xin Zi smiled and said, “I remember that you are from a branch family.”

“Yes, Daren,” Qinghua Xue replied with an indifferent expression.

“Good, good.” Feng Xin Zi nodded and then said coolly, “No matter what ideas you have, since you are a member of the envoys, you have to consider and not make trouble for everyone.”

“Daren is right, Xue was rash,” Qinghua Xue said apologetically.

Feng Xin Zi saw her good attitude and nodded. He turned and said to the head, “This one’s subordinate is young and ignorant to offend Sire. Sire, please have tolerance!”

The head looked deeply at Feng Xin Zi, who had a gentle smile on his face without any unease.

Then he left without a word.

When the Swordtail Blue Horn Rhinoceros left the market, the mo weapon masters in the market finally relaxed. They had been at Bu Zhou City for a long time and knew how bad the temper of the Tang Family Head guard was. Killing was a simple matter for him. Even the guards of the Tang Family feared their head and that they would be killed if they angered him.

The gazes of the mo weapon masters landed on Feng Xin Zi, all of them with respect and awe, especially the women. Some even have infatuated eyes.

Feng Xin Zi’s appearance was handsome, and his smile friendly. He had a sunny aura, and his power great. No matter where, this kind of person would shine like the sun.

Feng Xin Zi looked in interest at the mo weapon pool as though he had never seen a mo weapon being forged before.

When another figure walked out, the crowd immediately shifted.

When the peerlessly beautiful Ji Li Yu arrived, all the light of the market seemed to gather on her. She walked next to Feng Xin Zi and thoughtfully glanced at the indifferent Qinghua Xue before moving her gaze to Zuo Mo.

Something strange suddenly was occurring at the mo weapon pool.

Chapter 704 – Take Into Control

The black pool water gradually became clear. It was possible to see to the bottom. There wasn’t any impurity.

A blue dagger silently laid at the bottom of the pool. The surrounding mo weapon masters stretched out their necks in hope they could see the newly forged mo weapon. Everyone was very curious what the low-level materials could do in the hands of a mo weapon grandmaster.

Zuo Mo’s hand shook slightly. The dagger suddenly flew out of the pool and landed in his hand.

People found to their shock that there was an extremely thin grey shadow at the end of the dagger that was difficult to see with the naked eye. The smarter people immediately thought of the trait of the white wood bone that was easily missed – [Wood Thread]!

Zuo Mo had perfectly and carefully modified all the details of the dagger. The mo matrices on the surface of the dagger were exquisite and elegant. The dagger was as thin as a piece of paper. It was covered in blue mo matrices which made it seem like a work of art rather than a weapon to kill.

Zuo Mo did not use mo matrices of high level. These low level materials could not tolerate high level mo matrices. The mo weapon masters present almost all recognized every mo matrix on the dagger but Zuo Mo had spent some effort on choosing and matching the mo matrices.

The unique trait of the ice blue stone was completely expressed and gave the dagger the attribute of “ice.” However, Zuo Mo used a mo matrix that would conceal its energy to hide the “ice”. When the dagger left the user’s hand, it wouldn’t be possible to detect any icy presence.

The white wood bone increased the dagger’s flexibility. Its [Wood Thread] trait was the attribute that Zuo Mo had strengthened the most. The strong [Wood Threads] were treated with shadow fluid to make it even stronger and harder to detect.

The Concerted Shine Crystal was a material that was usually used during changes. It was used as the base to make the base even more suitable for transformation. The main body of the base was covered in shadow mo matrices that could cause it to turn to shadow. Zuo Mo had set down armor breaking mo matrices at the blade edge of the dagger. The armor breaking mo matrices and the ice mo matrices were connected, and they would touch the hand together. The mo matrix at the handle of the dagger was called [Interlink]. It could increase the synchronization between the mo weapon and the user.

When this dagger passed among the hands of the mo weapon masters, everyone was stunned by this work.

Brigadier level mo weapon!

This was a mo weapon suited for assassination. If it was sold at any auction, it could easily be sold for two million mobei yet the cost of the materials was just six hundred mobei.

As expected of the grandmaster!

These mo weapon masters were completely stunned by Zuo Mo’s ability to turn trash into treasure. Low level materials just worth six hundred mobei was able to forge a brigadier level mo weapon that was over two million mobei in value. Such skill was uncanny!

Yet they were able to understand the entire process and Zuo Mo had not hidden any of his thoughts. They even recognized the mo matrices, but they would still be unable to make one.

Even some intermediate and high level mo weapon masters would not be able to put so many mo matrices on the little dagger, much less these low level mo weapon masters.

But this little mo weapon gave them great inspiration. Zuo Mo’s way of thinking and his use of mo matrices were different than the traditional mo weapon masters.

“Good mo weapon!” Ji Li Yu suddenly gave a compliment. Her voice was soft and pleasing to hear.

“Miss Ji is too complimentary.” Zuo Mo nodded politely at the other. He still remembered Tang Chen’s introduction at the banquet.

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao asked Zuo Mo, “Do you still remember her?”

“Have we met before?” Zuo Mo stilled and asked.

“Then why do you remember the Qinghua Family female?” Pu Yao asked.

“Because of love!” Wei came over to say.

Zuo Mo rolled his eyes. “Of course I remember her after fighting her.”

Pu Yao was slightly excited. “Just like me in the past, not enchanted by beauty … …”

Wei interrupted with a sympathetic expression. “Now I know why you still yearned after Boss, and can’t forget her after thousands of years. How hard did Boss beat you up in the past! Haha!”

Pu Yao’s expression froze on his face, and quickly became twisted … …

These two were really lively now!

Zuo Mo came out of the sea of consciousness. However, he didn’t have any impression of Ji Li Yu.

Ji Li Yu was slightly discontent. From the start, this Xiao Yun Hai didn’t seem to have any patience for her. Even if she took the initiative, the other still had an indifferent wooden face. She questioned, did this person even have any other expression?

Her beauty that never failed didn’t seem to have any use on him. Ji Li Yu was very perceptive. While Zuo Mo did not say anything to Qinghua Xue but she detected that Zuo Mo had more of an interest in Qinghua Xue than in her!

She was not in a good mood. While she did not feel that Xiao Yun Hai was great, and there was nothing about him that attracted her, the other’s dismissal of her stirred her desire to win.

Did that Qinghua Xue qualify to steal the limelight from her?

“This mo weapon is very beautiful, can Mister give it to Li Yu?” Ji Li Yu controlled her performance to the perfect degree and looked hopefully at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo almost said, “Two million mobei, thanks for your patronage,” but managed to react. He forced a smile, and said, “My apologies, this mo weapon is an example for the public and will be placed at the market.”

“That really is a regret!” Ji Li Yu’s enchanting smile did not fade. “Does Mister Xiao have time tonight?”

“Very sorry, this one has other matters to attend to tonight.” Zuo Mo shook his head and refused directly.

Disappointment finally appeared on Ji Li Yu’s face. Her brow creased and she looked pitifully at Zuo Mo. The surrounding people all had expressions of conflict. They all felt that Grandmaster treating Ji Li Yu like this was cruel. They didn’t dare to speak up because of Grandmaster’s high status. If this was any other person, they would have rushed in to beat the person up.

Zuo Mo’s mo skill was high and his mind strong. Unless it was against freaks like Eldest Shixiong, Zuo Mo thought he would not be weaker than anyone.

Ji Li Yu’s [Charm Clothing] had negligible effects on Zuo Mo.

Ji Li Yu was now actually slightly angry. She had almost never begged like this, and hadn’t thought that she would encounter resistance today.

The proud Ji Li Yu said coldly, “Then this one will not delay Grandmaster!”

Finished, she turned to leave. Feng Xin Zi had a grimace on his face as he raised his hand in farewell to Zuo Mo. “Grandmaster, do not be angry, her temper is like this. This one will bid farewell, if there is time, let’s go drinking together.”

Then he turned to say to Qinghua Xue, “There is nothing going on recently. If you are interest in mo weapons, why don’t you assist Grandmaster. You have to listen to Grandmaster’s orders.”

Qinghua Xue’s expression was not too surprised or joyed. She coolly bowed and said, “Yes.”

Feng Xin Zi looked deeply at Qinghua Xue. For the first time, he felt as though he could not see through this little girl from the branch family of the Blue Flower Family.

This was not a woman that would follow the herd.

However, it fit into Feng Xin Zi’s aims that she was interested in Xiao Yun Hai. Feng Xin Zi had been frustrated over being unable to get close to Xiao Yun Hai. While there were no clues that Xiao Yun Hai and Xiao Mo Ge were related, Feng Xin Zi had a feeling that the two definitely had a connection.

When Zuo Mo heard Feng Xin Zi’s words, he frowned.

In his view, Qinghua Xue was big trouble. This person who knew his identity was a bomb that could explode at any time.

He hadn’t expected Feng Xin Zi to have her follow him around. He was just about to speak but Feng Xin Zi did not give him a chance to speak and disappeared.

“Qinghua Xue greets Grandmaster. Grandmaster, please tell me if there is something to be done,” Qinghua Xue said with a faint smile. For some unknown reason, she felt as though the dark clouds had dissipated, and the sun was so bright!

Qinghua Xue, … … so she was called Qinghua Xue!

The more he looked at her, the more Zuo Mo felt that the words “The scheme was successful” was written on her face. He immediately had a headache.

But he could not kill her!

“What do you think we should do?” Zuo Mo could only find Pu Yao and Wei to discuss.

“Sacrifice yourself, Little Mo Mo! This will take care of everything!” Wei said determinedly.

If Zuo Mo had a knife in his hand, he would throw it towards Wei.

“Hm, A Zuo, you have to think of a way to get her on your side!” Pu Yao said seriously.

“It seems that we have to first discuss the problem of rent!” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth.

Wei immediately slipped away. Pu Yao’s expression froze but then he said with concern as though nothing had happened, “You know that it is very likely she will expose you. The best way to deal with such a threat is to kill such a dangerous woman. Dead people cannot speak. However, you cannot do this now, but you can go for the alternative. Bring her on your side, let her say within your control, this will lower the risk that you will be exposed!”

This … … seemed reasonable!

Zuo Mo thought. He had to admit that Pu Yao’s words were reasonable.

“Then how can I get her on my side?” Zuo Mo asked.

Pu Yao thought and said, “Two ways, I see that Qinghua Xue has intentions of coming to your side, this shouldn’t be a big problem. However, you have to consider the yao envoy. She is a member of the envoy and you need the agreement of the envoy.”

“The agreement of the envoy?” Zuo Mo felt the matter was far more troublesome than he had imagined. He was full of regret. Why did he fight Qinghua Xue in the past?

“On the surface, the leader of the envoy is Ji Li Yu but I think the true commander is Feng Xin Zi!” Pu Yao said solemnly. “You have to be careful, this person is cunning, and powerful. He is not easy to deal with.”

“We’ll deal with Feng Xin Zi later.” Zuo Mo also felt that Feng Xin Zi would be difficult to deal with. He decided to put this problem to the side and asked a more practical question. “What can I do to get her completely in my control?”

“Have her look after your daily matters.” Pu Yao darkly said.

This idea was pretty good … …

“Looking at Qinghua Xue that was waiting for him to speak, Zuo Mo threw away his thoughts of getting her as far away as possible. His tone changed, “Then from today, you can take of my daily matters. Bean Sprout is responsible for the duties related for mo weapon forging.”

A smile appeared at the corner of Qinghua Xue’s mouth. “Many thanks, Grandmaster!”

Bean Sprout also bowed. “I will definitely work hard!”

He had to get her in his control!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and reminded himself!

Chapter 705 – All Sides

Feng Xin Zi listened to the sound of dishes being smashed inside the room and smiled dismissively before turning and leaving.

In his eyes, Ji Li Yu might be beautiful, but she was proud like a peacock displaying himself. Other than those few grand feathers, her intelligence was not enough to rival her beauty. In comparison, Feng Xin Zi admired Qinghua Xue’s coldness and composure more.

He was not sure if it was a good move to arrange for Qinghua Xue to be with Xiao Yun Hai.

He couldn’t see through this girl.

If he hadn’t seen the fight with his own eyes, Feng Xin Zi definitely would have never expected that the silent Qinghua Xue would possess such great power. Feng Xin Zi who had always prided himself on his eyes had to admit that his judgment had been wrong this time.

However, he did not worry that Qinghua Xue would do anything stupid. The Blue Flower Family had some political power, but they could not oppose the Council of Elders. Qinghua Xue would not disregard the rest of the Blue Flower Family.

He actually hoped that Qinghua Xue would give an even better performance. The yao did not need a mo weapon grandmaster, but if they had one, the council of elders would undoubtedly have a bargaining chip on their side during negotiations with the mo. This would be a very effective bargaining chip as it had a fatal attraction to any mo faction.

Feng Xin Zi entered the Ten Finger Prison like usual.

When he saw Ming Yue Ye’s back, he unconsciously lightened his steps. It was her peerlessly beautiful figure that caused Feng Xin Zi to willingly serve her.

Ming Yue Yi turned around. That heavenly beautiful face  entered Feng Xin Zi’s vision. Feng Xin Zi’s heart imperceptibly quickened.

“Thank you.” Ming Yue Ye smiled slightly.

Feng Xin Zi tried to let himself relax. He said teasingly, “It’s actually relaxing. We have good food and beautiful women on this journey. It would have been wonderful if my journey in the past were so comfortable.”

Ming Yue Ye’s lips curved slightly as a smile flashed. Her finger flickered and a ball of light left her hand.

“Oh, it seems that there have been new developments.” Feng Xin Zi muttered as he received the ball of light. The information flowed across his mind.

Moments later, his expression became surprised. “Xiao Mo Ge is at Bu Zhou City? This is confirmed?”

“Confirmed.” Ming Yue Ye nodded and was unusually sure.

Feng Xin Zi did not ask any more questions. Ming Yue Ye Daren was sure. Then this was definitely true. He continued to read. When he saw the next line, he exclaimed in shock. “Xiao Yun Hai?”

“Yes, we have not discovered Xiao Yun Hai’s origins now, but his identity as a mo weapon grandmaster can be used. If Xiao Mo Ge is at Bu Zhou City, he would definitely find Xiao Yun Hai to repair the Anti Dragon Claw. The Anti Dragon Claw is a sky mo weapon. If there is even the slightest possibility of repairing it, there is no reason that Xiao Mo Ge would pass up this chance.”

When Ming Yue Ye spoke of these matters, she would give off an intimidating and authoritative presence. Her eyes were as bright as stars.

Some people were born to be leaders.

Countless experts had submitted to Ming Yue Ye’s powerful presence. There were already rumors in the higher levels that it was likely she would replace the Chief Elder and become the next leader of the council of elders.

Her intelligence had won the praise of the great majority of elders. No one in her generation could compare to her.

“Speaking of this, I have just become interested with Xiao Yun Hai today,” Feng Xin Zi said solemnly.

“Oh, how is this person?” Ming Yue Ye’s beautiful eyes flashed in interest.

“I cannot see through him,” Feng Xin Zi said with a smile, “Li Yu was rejected by him. However, what was really surprising today was the girl from the Blue Flower Family.”

“Blue Flower Family? I remember she is called Qinghua Xue.” Ming Yue Ye had an eidetic memory and quickly found a match after some thought.

“Yes, her. I really felt ashamed, even I made a wrong judgement regarding her. This female is secretive, and her [Blue Flower] is definitely the strongest of the younger generation of the Blue Flower Family. I speculate that the Blue Flower Family also have not realized her potential. Otherwise, they definitely would not have sent her on this trip.” Feng Xin Zi had an expression of self-mockery.

“I was the one who failed to fulfill my duties and did not discover this before.” Ming Yue Ye honestly admitted her mistake.

“Who could have thought of this? She was hidden very well. If it wasn’t that she fought today, I wouldn’t have seen it.” Feng Xin Zi hurriedly said, “This female is daring and careful, calm and composed. However, she seems to have good feelings towards Xiao Yun Hai and tried to do all she could to get near him. I had her follow Xiao Yun Hai for now.  This may be a blessing in disguise.”

“You need to pay more attention to Xiao Yun Hai. Ii suspect that Tang Chen may also know that Xiao Yun Hai is the best way to find Xiao Mo Ge,” Ming Yue Ye warned. “Your safety is first, do not pursue Xiao Mo Ge too hard. The Mo Shen Temple has given us great inspiration. We have some hints of understanding shen power. When you return, there should be results.”

Feng Xin Zi’s heart warmed but it was overtaken by joy. “Congratulations, Daren!”

He knew that Ming Yue Ye had an extremely secretive team of powerful elders who did not care for politics. The goal of this small team was to solve the mysteries of shen power. It seemed now that there were tangible developments.

This was a deed that no one could shake!

Ming Yue Ye who now had the mysteries of shen power had another strong bargaining chip on her side. This greatly increased the chance of her coming to power.

Feng Xin Zi decided inside that even if he had to kidnap Xiao Mo Ge and bring him back to the yao, he would do it.

As though she could read Feng Xin Zi’s mind, Ming Yue Ye said with a smile, “Do not feel urgent, the situation is very advantageous to us. The Mo Shen Temple is powerful, but their cultivation method has flaws.”

“Ah!” Feng Xin Zi was shocked but then he had a realization. “I was wondering why they didn’t take the chance to expand after killing the elders of Xuan Kong temple. So it is because their cultivation method has flaws! No wonder!”

Ming Yue Ye’s eyes flashed. She was like the crescent moon in the sky whose light caused the surrounding stars to lose color.

“Our cultivation method will not have this kind of flaw.”

Ming Yue Ye’s voice was filled with unquestionable confidence.

“We have time!”

———

Li Xian Er’s expression was filled with shock. The paper crane in her hand seemed to burn her hand.

A long time later, her shock slowly faded. She recovered her usual calm. A thread of fire came out of her hand and swallowed the paper crane.

Watching as the paper crane in her hand turn to ash, Li Xian Er’s mind was not as calm as her expression.

It was just that the news that paper crane had delivered was too astonishing!

Kun Lun had already mastered shen power!

This was a great blow to her. When Xiao Mo Ge had used shen power, everyone had marveled as spectators. However, when the mo gods had massacred the elder corps of Xuan Kong Temple, people were shocked, and also realized a new era had arrived.

But when she learned that Kun Lun had already obtained shen power, Li Xian Er felt as though there was a sword pointed at her back. She could clearly feel the cold bite.

Only three of Tian Huan’s shen glyphs had been solved.

The stable equilibrium of the Four Realms had turned to only Kun Lun and Tian Huan with the collapse of Xuan Kong Temple and the decline of Xi Xuan.

Always in history, an equilibrium could only be reached with three factions or more. If there were two factions, there was only one result, one would eventually swallow the other.

What was terrible was that Kun Lun was one step ahead!

Grandpa’s paper crane had been full of worry. He told her to do all she could to find a complete shen power inheritance.

Tian Huan was retreating on almost all fronts, all of their power put into the comprehension of shen scripts.

Shen power inheritance!

Li Xian Er took a deep breath. Her mind was filled with these three words. The first thing she thought about was Xiao Mo Ge. She did not dare to provoke the Mo Shen Temple. They had easily killed the elite of Xuan Kong Temple, and they would be able to do the same to Tian Huan.

Up until now, the three people that everyone knew who had shen power inheritances were all related to Xiao Mo Ge.

Where did this damned Xiao Mo Ge run to?

———

Zuo Mo hid under the eaves and watched Li Xian Er in her room. His mind became alert. The other was a xiuzhe!

While he had felt that the other’s presence was one that he had once knew, he had never thought the other was a xiuzhe. It had to be said that Li Xian Er’s disguise was very good. Because Zuo Mo had not even thought about the possibility of xiuzhe, he hadn’t detected her at all.

However, the flame in Li Xian Er’s hand had revealed her identity.

Tian Huan?

Zuo Mo was even more puzzled.

Had he had some entanglement with Tian Huan before his memories had been erased and his appearance changed?

Zuo Mo shook his head. He felt that this was not as likely as Tian Huan using some secret method to spy on him. He and Tian Huan had been on bad terms for a long time. Maybe this girl had been hidden in some corner as an observer during his conflict against Tian Huan.

That fight in the Sun Shen Temple had been so chaotic that Zuo Mo wasn’t sure if this girl had been present. If she was, then this feeling of familiarity could be explained.

Li Xian Er’s face was disguised and Zuo Mo could not see her true face. This seemed to make his speculation more likely.

Zuo Mo did not stay and left silently. He carefully avoided the defenses and did not cause any trouble.

He only sighed when he returned to his room. He had used everything he had recently learned in his sneaking just now, spells, mo skills, and yao arts. All of them had been techniques in concealment. The effects were unimaginably good. Even Qinghua Xue outside the door hadn’t detected anything.

How come people from Tian Huan were together with Gongzi Xi?

Zuo Mo did not believe this was a coincidence at all. Was it, a daring idea rose out of his mind.

The two were going to ally together!

Once this idea came out, Zuo Mo was almost certain he was right.

Marshal Di did qualify to ally with Tian Huan. This woman probably wasn’t a normal Tian Huan disciple.

Thinking about the feud he had with Tian Huan, Zuo Mo smirked coldly inside.

How could he pass on such a good chance to con Tian Huan?

Chapter 706 – The Mysterious Old Man

“Put this matter to the side,” Tang Chen said coolly after listening to the guard head’s report.

“Patriarch … …” the guard leader could not stop himself from saying. Head’s expression was indifferent as though this matter had nothing  todo with him.

Tang Chen glanced at his subordinate and said casually, “After this is over, it is alright for you to kill everyone in the market, but before this, no one is allowed to offend Xiao Yun Hai. Remember, no one!”

The guard leader’s heart shook. Patriarch was an authoritative person, but he never spoke gravely. However, his authority was unquestionable. It was the first time he had such a harsh expression! The guard leader was both shocked and scared. There was also a thread of relief. It was fortunate that he had been the one hit. Otherwise, his head … …

“Leave,” Tang Chen said.

“Yes!” The guard leader shrunk his head and retreated.

When there were only two people left in the room, Tang Chen spoke with a frown, “How did the yao envoys get involved?”

Head shook his head and said gravely, “It does not seem intentional.”

“Unintentional?” Tang Chen thought for a moment before saying, “We cannot be careless. It is a pity that we were not able to discover the strength of Xiao Yun Hai’s mute servant.”

“Unfathomable.” A look flashed through Head’s eyes. “He wasn’t able to fight back at all.”

If the guard leader was here, he would be gaping in shock. When he had been thrown out by A Gui, Head hadn’t just been passing by in coincidence, but had seen the entire process.

“Were you able to discover their origins?” Tang Chen asked, “Is she similar to one of the two women with Xiao Mo Ge?”

“I could not see it.” Head said, “She is similar in style to the purple energy woman with Xiao Mo Ge, but she does not have purple energies. Also … …”

He stopped.

“Also what?” Tang Chen’s eyes flashed as he asked urgently.

“The feeling she gives me is even more dangerous!” When Head said this, he unconsciously balled his fists, tendons bulging.

Tang Chen’s expression changed.

Head was his faithful and strongest expert. What Tang Chen trusted the most was his strength. Head cultivated the [Something from Nothing Spear], a top spear type mo skill. If it wasn’t for the chance encounter where Tang Chen had saved Head’s life, he definitely would not have been able to recruit such an expert.

Head’s strength could rival those top experts that had just risen to marshal level.

He was one of the trump cards in his hand.

Tang Chen had deliberately arranged what had happened today. He was still full of suspicion about Xiao Yun Hai’s identity, but he hadn’t expected the conclusion they reached to be so surprising.

Head looked like a rough man, but being capable of cultivating the [Something From Nothingness Spear] meant his intuition was unusually sharp. If he said it was more dangerous, there was only one cause. The mute servant of Xiao Yun Hai was even stronger than the Xiao Mo Ge’s purple energy female!

That wasn’t possible!

All of the mo territories knew that Xiao Mo Ge’s purple energy woman cultivated shen power.

A daring idea suddenly rose in Tang Chen’s mind.

–Did Xiao Yun Hai’s mute servant also cultivate shen power?

He shook his head. Shen power was not so easy to obtain. He changed the subject. “Have you found the use of the White Ridge Snake Bones?”

“The White Ridge Snake Bones can be used to forge mo weapons.”

“That’s not right!” Tang Chen shook his head. “Xiao Yun Hai’s other female servant has been in seclusion ever since they obtained the White Ridge Snake Bones. The news we found from Rare Artifacts Hall was that Xiao Yun Hai only decided to buy the White Ridge Snake Bones because of this female servant in seclusion. The White Ridge Snake Bones definitely has an unknown use and is related to the seclusion of his female servant. Keep investigating!”

———

In the void, A Gui sat silently. The purple chains passed through her body. These purple chains were much thicker than the last time that had Zuo Mo saw them, and the light had become more understated.

Exquisite black patterns had grown on the chains that were closest to her.

Her eyes were closed, and there was a serene and content smile on her face.

The Nether Reincarnation Lotus was extraordinary in effect. Her soul had not withered and grown even more condensed.

In this last while, she had continued to use her soul to nurture the Undying Shen power. The Undying Shen power was even stronger than before, and had changed as a result. The most visible effect was that the energy was not bright, and was now contained inside.

The stronger Undying Shen power restrained her even more completely.

There was no light, no sound, no smell in this void of nothingness.

This hopeless and insane void did not defeat this seemingly fragile young female.

Since the time that her soul received nurturing, she knew that it was definitely Young Master that had helped her. Her serene heart had told her long ago that she was with Young Master. But the dots of light in the void made her suddenly realize–

–She wasn’t just with Young Master. Young Master was working hard to save her.

There was nothing that would motivate this young female more than this.

Ever since then, there was always a warm sunny smile on her face.

Maybe Young Master could see her.

She wanted to use her smile to tell Young Master it wasn’t painful at all, wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

Every bit of pain was the growth of shen power! Shen power growing stronger meant she was able to protect Young master!

She was very happy.

Under the bright smile, something was imperceptibly taking form inside her soul.

———

A Heng woke up from his meditation and his restless heart finally stilled.

Just as he had expected, the Tang Family had a close relationship with Marshal Di. Every time he requested to meet with Tang Chen, the servants would politely tell him the patriarch was busy and not present.

A Heng understood what this meant.

Before this, while Tang Chen had been ambiguous about an alliance, he had been polite to the Ji Family. But his attitude was clear now.

A Heng knew the alliance would not occur.

The new orders from his family patriarch also came to him.

There were two orders: Damage the alliance between the Tang Family and Marshal Di, assassinate Xiao Yun Hai but do not let the Tang Family suspect the Ji Family!

Looking at the orders from the patriarch, A Heng grimaced. Any of the two was almost impossible to complete. The Tang Family and Marshal Di probably had allied together a long time ago, but people just didn’t know about it. It also wasn’t simple to kill Xiao Yun Hai. The fight that had occurred at the market during the day had reached his ears a long time ago.

Xiao Yun Hai’s mute servant’s strength was unfathomable, and an extremely powerful young female yao had also came out along the way. She had been able to fight to a tie with the head guard of the Tang Family, her strength … …

Where female sidekicks starting come into style in the world?

Xiao Mo Ge was like that, Xiao Yun Hai was the same, but had even more, three of them!

Suddenly, A Heng’s mind moved. His expression darkened. “Who!”

Before he finished speaking, his figure slowly became faint.

At the same time, A Heng appeared outside his room. There was a paper gripped in his hand. His face was dark. Even now, his afterimage in the room had not disappeared.

So fast!

A Heng was astounded. From discovery to attack, the other had disappeared without a trace. The understood that the only reason he had sensed the intruder was that deliberate on the other’s part.

This thought caused his bones to shiver.

This also meant that if the other tried to sneak an attack on him, he probably would not be able to avoid it.

The person was incomprehensibly strong.

Also, what did the other want? He looked in puzzlement at the paper and a joyful light quickly came into his eyes.

Tian Huan!

He hadn’t thought that there would be disciples from Tian Huan in Gongzi Xi’s group! He hadn’t thought that Marshal Di had a secret relationship with Tian Huan!

A Heng almost wanted to roar with laughter.

Ever since Xiao Mo Ge appeared, the general trend of events suggested that the yao, mo, and xiu were merging together. Xiao Mo Ge was a mo, and no one thought there was anything wrong for him to have xiuzhe under his command. They would feel proud that Xiao Mo Ge were able to conquer xiuzhe.

Some of the wiser factions could see that the merging of the three would be unstoppable, but among the people, this was not common. The hatred between yaomo, and xiuzhe would not be resolved so easily.

In A Heng’s view, the alliance of Marshal Di and Tian Huan was a great move.

But things like this could not be made public. Everyone could only have unspoken agreements in secret. Otherwise when people discovered this, just the spit was enough to drown Marshal Di.

A cruel smile floated onto A Heng’s lips.

What he held in his hand was a fatal weapon!

———

Zuo Mo in disguise felt proud as he sneaked through the darkness.

The Ji Family wasn’t a good one, but they had the power to make things difficult for Tian Huan. Even if they used just their toes, Zuo Mo knew that the Ji Family could destroy the alliance with what they had now.

Let the dogs fight themselves!

Zuo Mo lacked good feelings about these people.

After doing this devious thing, Zuo Mo felt unspeakably comfortable. In such a good state, forging mo weapons would be easy!

At this time, Zuo Mo suddenly stilled and his smugness disappeared. He was like a wild beast that felt danger and immediately entered his battle state.

In the corner of the street, a figure slowly appeared.

“Your wariness isn’t bad.”

The incomer praised. His figure was revealed in front of Zuo Mo. An old man dressed in rags like a homeless man. His face was heavily wrinkled, his eyes muddy, and he had no presence.

But Zuo Mo did not dare to underestimate the other.

The old man stood there casually but he seemed to be one with the darkness around him.

Zuo Mo had never seen such a synchrony from other people, even in those so called concealment experts.

“Who are you?” Zuo Mo asked.

The old man looked with interest in Zuo Mo. He grinned. “You can call me Old Man.” Then he said in a familiar tone, “Your disguise isn’t bad. Oh, your sun shen power isn’t bad. You really have good luck to have obtained the inheritance from the Sun Shen Tribe. Not bad at all.”

“Who are you?” Zuo Mo was astounded. The other clearly knew that he was Xiao Mo Ge, and even discovered the shen power he cultivated with a glance!

The old man grinned to show a mouth of yellowed and missing teeth. “Haha, young person, you have to be patient. Hm, where’s your maid?”

The murderousness in Zuo Mo’s eyes were as sharp as swords!

Chapter 707 – Mysteries

“Don’t be so fierce!” The old man seemed to not be affected by Zuo Mo’s killing intent at all. The wave of killing intent rushed at him and then would quickly dissipate.

Zuo Mo’s gaze focused and his heart shook.

The old man suddenly seemed to detect something and threw out, “You have to be careful, many people have their eyes on you.”

In the next moment, his figure disappeared.

Zuo Mo stilled but his expression changed slightly. At this time, he found that someone was coming close.

This old man … … was really strong!

He thought back to what the old man had just said. The other didn’t seem to have malicious intent.

As he thought, he silently left. He had scouted out the nearby area a few times before entering and was familiar with it. Pu Yao and Wei’s specialized cultivation was clearly effective. Even though Zuo Mo was not a master at moving under concealment, he didn’t have problems fooling average experts.

When he returned to his residence, he was still thinking about that old man. Such a strong old man definitely wasn’t someone unknown figure. Yet what shocked Zuo Mo was that he didn’t even know what power the old man cultivated.

What did the old man mean in his words?

Many people had their eyes on him? This was clearly a reminder!

Had he exposed himself somehow? Zuo Mo shook his head. While he did not know the old man’s intentions, the other’s reminder did not seem to be baseless.

The old man said “many people.” That meant more than one. Why were those people keeping an eye on him?

Earth mo weapons? This was the most likely guess. Earth mo weapons were the top mo weapon in the present mo territories and there were naturally numerous people that wanted them.

But Zuo Mo who had struggled on the border of life and death had an unusually sensitive sense for danger. This most plausible cause was rejected first.

Other than the earth mo weapons, what could most likely attract attention was his identity as Xiao Mo Ge and the shen power inheritance. If other people knew this, then it would be trouble!

Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed and then he put the problem to one side. He would not panic just because of some words from a strange old man. What he needed to do now was to forge a new earth mo weapon.

It was not an accidental idea when he thought of using earth mo weapons to trade for the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. But now, he felt that this plan was far easier to realize than going to Nether Spring Jie himself.

He was not an unknown person. No matter if it was Xiao Mo Ge or Xiao Yun Hai, both had status.

If he could make a new earth mo weapon, there would be countless people that would search for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. The earth mo weapon that was peerless in value in the eyes of many people was just an object to Zuo Mo. It was profitable to trade it for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

If he, who had just forged the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Spear, could forge a new earth mo weapon, his fame would reach an unprecedented height. At that time, his promise would be enough to drive people mad.

After organizing his thoughts, the shadow over Zuo Mo’s mind dissipated.

Regardless if it was the old man or other people, his goal was the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. Other matters had nothing to do with him. He did not fear people finding him.

———

In the dark of night, Ceng Lian’er was dressed in bright red robes like a rose blooming in the night. Her movements were silent and she didn’t even cause a ripple in the air as she appeared like a ghost in front of Qinghua Xue.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Ceng Lian’er who saw Qinghua Xue and asked serenely.

Qinghua Xue felt her vision blur and then a figure appeared without warning in front of her.

Her expression changed slightly. She was astounded but kept her expression calm. She asked back, “Who are you?”

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes became blurry like a mist that floated in.

“Come in to talk!” Zuo Mo’s voice suddenly came from the room.

Ceng Lian’er’s figure immediately disappeared from her spot.

Shock finally came onto Qinghua Xue’s face.

———

“This is Qinghua Xue, I defeated her in the past. She was in the yao envoy and she recognized me so I decided to have her follow me to prevent her from going out and talking,” Zuo Mo explained. Other people would not know but he was clear that Ceng Lian’er really intended to kill her just now. If he had been a moment later in speaking, Qinghua Xue would probably be a corpse right now.

“I would not squabble with a little girl.” An imperceptible smile flashed across Ceng Lian’er’s mouth.

She spun, the long red dress blossoming as she elegantly sat in front of Zuo Mo.

Ceng Lian’er was elegant and graceful in everything she did as though it was innate to her. A country bumpkin like himself could not copy it. Zuo Mo shook his head and threw this hilarious thought away. He then asked in concern, “How is it?”

“Success!” Ceng Lian’er said without any modesty. Her smile was like a flower, bright and eye-catching. “My bloodline has been perfected, and this would be of great benefit to my future cultivation. My shen power has grown by half!”

Zuo Mo’s expression changed. For mo, their bloodline was the core of their power, and the spring of all their power. Reinforcing their core was tempting for every cultivator, and Zuo Mo gaped at her shen power growing by half.

Even with his right hand that seemed to be a little shen crystal, he he would need about a year to grow half of his shen power without any other assistance.

“Worth! So worth it!” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but say excitedly.

Ceng Lian’er gave a small smile. Her eyes that seemed to forever be shrouded in mist flashed with emotion. Of course it was worth it. But what had been traded was an earth mo weapon!

When she had heard that it would take an earth mo weapon, Ceng Lian’er had given up on that set of White Ridge Snake Bones. That price was not something that she could afford. Even her father Ceng Yi, who was a jie master, would not be able to pay such a price.

The person in front of her did not hesitate.

This had nothing to do with love between man and woman. She suddenly understood why there would always be astounding geniuses gathered around Zuo Mo.

Wei Sheng, Gongsun Cha, Bie Han … …

Any of these people alone was a star, a blinding existence, but these outstanding geniuses were gathered closely around Zuo Mo. And for him, they were willing to die.

Zuo Mo did not notice Ceng Lian’er’s emotions. It was hard to disguise the joy on his face. “Great! You have come out of seclusion so I can rest my worries and forge earth mo weapons.”

“Forge earth mo weapons?” Ceng Lian’er had been in seclusion ever since she had gotten the White Ridge Snake Bones. She didn’t know anything about what had happened. When she heard that Zuo Mo said he was going to forge earth mo weapons again, she couldn’t help but be shocked.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded. He grinned and said, “I thought of a wonderful idea. Use earth mo weapons to trade for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. This way, we don’t have to go to Nether Springs Jie.”

“Trade earth mo weapons for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass?” Ceng Lian’er was stunned. She suspected that something was wrong with her hearing. “Do we have other earth mo weapons?”

Looking at the shock on Ceng Lian’er’s face, Zuo Mo was proud. He said with a snicker, “We can make more!”

Ceng Lian’er was speechless. A moment later, her mouth turned into a smile. Zuo Mo’s tone was casual when he spoke about forging earth mo weapons. While she was shocked, she did not doubt that Zuo Mo could accomplish this.

Her gaze silently landed on A Gui. For some reason, a serene sigh sounded inside her, like a wisp of mist rising up and covering her eyes.

“When are you going to start?” She smiled.

“Since you are out of seclusion, then there is no time to day.” Zuo Mo’s smile disappeared. His expression was solemn as he said, “Tomorrow!”

———

“I’m very disappointed that the brutish bull didn’t dare to fight me last time I visited.” The old man grinned, his gaping mouth full of yellow teeth hard to look at.

An youth appeared nearby, his tight clothing emphasizing the tall figure of the youth. He was lying in the air as though there was an invisible chair behind him. Half of his body was curled up in this invisible chair and his position looked strange.

One hand was holding a plate piled high with blood grapes. The other hand was throwing blood grapes idly into his mouth.

“I wouldn’t dare to fight Elder. I have come to eat and play.” The youth said through a full mouth, “However, Second Brother failed since Elder protected Xiao Mo Ge last time. This time, you seem to be interested in Xiao Yun Hai. Elder, leave us a path … …”

“Xiao Yun Hai? Haven’t you come for Xiao Mo Ge?” The old man picked at his ear. “While I am old, and my hearing isn’t as good, I am not immune to the nagging. Xiao Yun Hai is the crux to finding Xiao Mo Ge. My ears are getting callouses from hearing this.”

“Hey hey, Elder, don’t speak so straightforwardly. Let’s discuss. Why are you squabbling with us juniors. Elders, name a price … …” the youth’s tone was fast but his hands were even quicker yet the grapes on the plate seemed to be endless.

The old man looked dryly at the youth. “The Mo Shen Temple have really set their hearts this time.”

“So so.” The youth laughed. “Elder, you know that we are poor, don’t have anything good. Don’t ask too high of a price!”

“Don’t be modest. If I remember correctly, that Scab Fragrance Tree in your temple should be starting to scab now. This old man doesn’t want a lot, five!” The old man showed his yellowed teeth again with unscrupulousness.

The youth’s body imperceptibly froze. A cold rush rose. The scab fragrance was one of the core secrets in the Mo Shen Temple. It was planted in a restricted part of the temple. Even the guards of the temple did not know of it. But this dirty old man knew it!

“Elder, you really are wise and powerful! However, only five were produced, if you take all of them … …”

The old man snickered. “Tsk tsk, five? How come I heard it was eleven?”

The youth’s back immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He stared at the old man with a sharp gaze and said in a cold voice, “Elder, who are you?”

Chapter 708 – Explosive Weapon Style (1)

“It is not important who I am.” The old man gave an honest-looking smile.

The youth was like a coiled snake ready to strike. His muscles were tensed for him to leap at any moment, and was filled with danger. The smile on the old man’s face did not change. A moment later, the youth suddenly relaxed and then lazily curled back into the empty space.

“Two, at most twenty,” the youth picked up a blood grape and threw it into his mouth. He said around the grape, “If you can give Xiao Mo Ge to us, we can give you all of them … …”

The old man chuckled. “Two is fine. However, before Xiao Mo Ge appears, you have to protect Xiao Yun Hai.”

“Elder, you care a lot about Xiao Yun Hai.” The youth said meaningfully.

“Of course, he is someone that can forge sky mo weapons. This old man still hopes to get a sky mo weapon to play with in this lifetime,” the old man said directly.

“Sky mo weapon?” The youth stilled with a doubtful face. “Really? He just managed an earth mo weapon.”

“Just watch.” The old man waved his hand with confidence on his face.

The doubt on the youth’s face did not fade. He felt that the old man’s goal was not so simple but he couldn’t see it from the other’s face.

———

Zuo Mo did not know the situation outside. He was staying in the mo weapon pool and was focused on forging earth mo weapons.

Looking at the scraps of  mo weapons in the pool, he shook his head and grimaced, “This Weapon Layering Craftsmanship doesn’t succeed every time. I really had good luck last time.”

Each failure would waste ten general level mo weapons. After a few failures, the number of general level mo weapons Zuo Mo possess had dramatically decreased. Zuo Mo’s heart bled at such a terrible waste.

Zuo Mo thought that he had already mastered the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship, but with every mo weapon layer, the difficulty would multiply. When the time for the fifth weapon to be merged together, the mo weapon would become extremely unstable and the possibility of failure would suddenly increased. Even a skilled mo weapon master like Zuo Mo didn’t have a solution.

Earth mo weapons required at least ten general level mo weapons, and not one less.

After losing dozens of general mo weapons, Zuo Mo couldn’t tolerate this kind of loss. Each general mo weapon was over three million mobei. In other words, Zuo Mo’s losses had reached upwards of a billion mobei.

If it was one of the great families, they may not care but Zuo Mo felt great pain.

“Of course, what do you think earth mo weapons are.” Pu Yao said dismissively.

Zuo Mo stilled. He sank into thought. Ever since he forged the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike, he thought he had grasped the secrets of earth mo weapon. He had been filled with confidence about forging new earth mo weapons, but the results were completely different than what he had predicted.

After losing nearly a billion mobei, Zuo Mo had to rethink.

The Weapon Layering Craftsmanship was a simple method but it was not one that could reliably produce weapons. Zuo Mo suddenly found that he had entered a wrong path, and had relied too much on the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship.

Mo weapons and talismans were completely different in the minds of other people, but in Zuo Mo’s eyes, there were no innate differences. One was just mo matrices, and the other seal scripts.

Earth mo weapons that were the top of mo weapons had a common trait. They could completely express some hidden power of bloodlines. This was also why earth mo weapons were so valuable.

Its core was mo matrices!

Thinking back to what he had learned, countless mo matrices flashed across his mind.

Zuo Mo’s gaze slowly became bright. His eyes were like stars in the night.

Mo matrices that could awaken the bloodline were all powerful. They were usually mo matrices that were already formed as part of top level materials. Normal mo weapon masters just activated these hidden mo matrices.

But Zuo Mo had a deeper understanding of mo matrices. He knew that mo matrices could be inscribed like seal scripts. Inscribing mo matrices had been one of his old jobs.

Then the next question was what could be used to hold the mo matrices. Only strong materials could tolerate such powerful mo matrices.

Normal mo weapon masters could only use those worldly treasures but Zuo Mo had a wonderful idea.

Weapon Layering Craftsmanship!

The stability of the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship would drastically decrease after the fifth mo weapon but before this, Zuo Mo’s precise control would guarantee that it would not feel. Zuo Mo’s Weapon Layering Craftsmanship had all failed after the sixth merge.

A mo weapon after five merges would not have the power of an earth mo weapon but it could act to hold the mo matrices.

General level mo weapons were valuable, but they were extremely cheap compared to those worldly treasures.

Even more importantly, this method would allow Zuo Mo could endlessly produce earth mo weapons.

Inspiration flooded him. He thought of the water forging method, thought of how to unite seal scripts, thought of … …

Zuo Mo sat next to the mo weapon pool, day after day, and completely lost in himself in thought like a statue.

Zuo Mo did not move for five whole days.

On the sixth day, his body suddenly shook and he seemed to wake from a deep sleep.

Awake, Zuo Mo’s eyes were as bright as stars. He walked around in the mo weapon pool in circles.

On the fifth circuit, he suddenly stopped. He took out a pile of materials from his ring and started to forge using the sun shen fire. The black ore quickly turned to metal liquid in the sun shen fire. The fire flickered as though it was alive.

Zuo Mo’s fingers flew. Streaks of light entered the liquid metal in the fire like birds returning to the nest.

Clink clink clink!

Small black nails dropped from the flame and landed on the ground, giving off ringing sounds.

The black nails were about three cun long and covered in mo matrices.

A smile appeared on Zuo Mo’s face. This was the first time he used the ways of forging talismans to set up mo matrices. The results were better than he had expected.

This method was possible!

Zuo Mo’s face flushed in excitement.

He flew into the air above the mo weapon pool. The black nails in the air entered the empty space around the mo weapon pool accurately. Then lights of different colors fell from his hands. These lights disappeared when they reached the ground, but there would be faint lines left in the earth.

As the lights continued to land, the lines around the mo weapon pool increased. If mo weapon masters were present, they would find to their surprise that these lines seemed to resemble mo matrices that they knew.

However, these mo matrices were modified from the ones they usually saw.

No one would think that Zuo Mo would use the structure of seal scripts to set up mo matrices.

The lines increased in number and the mo matrices became even more complex. The silent mo weapon pool started to grow restless, boiling and roiling.

Countless icy underflows deep in the Underground Nether River were like sharks that smelt blood and furiously flooded towards the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

These icy undercurrents were the best for forging mo weapons. However, they mostly existed deep in the river and were hard to obtain. They were also extremely icy. Disregarding how hard they were to control, those that were weak in mo skills would turn to ice statues if the cold energy entered their bodies.

Due to this, even though people knew that these icy undercurrents were very suited to forging mo weapons, no one dared to use them.

Zuo Mo did not fear them. He continued to cast light energies.

As the cold flows entered, the restless mo weapon pool quickly calmed down. Threads of cold energy rose from the surface of the pool. Icy frost spread on the ground in all directions. But when the frost went near the mo matrices, they would quickly melt and evaporate.

The mo weapon pool that had originally been black was now a transparent blue.

There wasn’t any impurities.

The undercurrents were like tiny little nimble fish that swam around the pool and caused ripples on the surface. Countless undercurrents moved around. Countless ripples were produced in the clear pool which was dazzling to see.

Zuo Mo finally showed satisfaction.

He had used a water seal formation and mo matrices on the mo weapon pool to take the icy undercurrents of the river and create a mo weapon pool of an unprecedented level!

The icy energy of the mo weapon pool did not affect Zuo Mo at all.

Zuo Mo took out a general level mo weapon, and then another, and then more. Moments later, there was a pile of general level mo weapons in front of him. If the chief steward of Rare Artifacts Hall saw this, his eyes would probably drop to the floor. Even the Rare Artifacts Hall would definitely be unable to produce so many general level mo weapons immediately.

He did any inventor. There were more than sixty articles.

Zuo Mo picked and choose sixty.

His expression was excited, and inspiration swirled in his mind. Countless strange plans floated in his mind, and he wanted to immediately try all of them.

Looking at the sixty general level mo weapons in front of him, an unprecedented and made idea suddenly rose.

Once this idea came out, he could not suppress it.

Just having had made a breakthrough, Zuo Mo’s entire mind was completely taken over by his inspiration. He felt as though his mind had never been so clear and sensitive. Once a thought rose, his mind seemed to be able to automatically perfect the plan. There wasn’t any hardship or delay. The pleasure from this made him so excited he almost wanted to groan!

Without any hesitation, he listed all the materials he needed at an astounding efficiency and threw it to Bean Sprout that had been standing by the door.

He did not stop. He started to forge.

Mo weapons were being thrown into the pool

———

Bean Sprout had been standing by the door and was so bored that he almost fell asleep. He was standing by the door and waiting in the case Grandmaster had any errands for him to run.

He had been very excited to have gotten this duty. He had tried to be alert and waited for Grandmaster to order him at any moment.

Yet his mo physique was very weak and he was not mentally strong. After waiting for three days, he was unable to hold up. He had withered like a tomato after the frost and yawned continuously.

Suddenly, a light flew from inside and landed in his arms.

Bean Sprout immediately shook and hurriedly climbed up.

Grandmaster definitely had work for him.

When he saw it was a list that had flown into his arms, he understood immediately that Grandmaster required some materials.

He became alert. Grandmaster had already spoken with Rare Artifacts Hall. He could go and take any materials that were needed. If it was low level materials, he would go to the city market.

But when Bean Sprout’s gaze swept across the list, he turned to stone, his mouth wide open and gaping.

Chapter 709 – Explosive Weapon Style (Two)

Rare Artifacts hall

The middle-aged mo looked at the list in his hand as though he wanted to find something. He was speechless momentarily. Bean Sprout was urgently waiting for his response. It would be terrible if he was unable to complete the first task that Grandmaster had given to him!

However, he also knew the shock that this list gave people. There was an astounding number requested of each item on the packed list. It was enough to cause people’s hearts to beat rapidly. He had delivered the list anxiously. He felt it was very unlikely that Rare Artifacts hall would agree.

There were many valuable materials on the list, and when they were gathered together, it was a great number.

No one would be able to easily maintain their composure at such a list.

“You are sure Grandmaster requested this?” The middle-aged mo looked with slight suspicion at Bean Sprout. If it wasn’t for the fact that they had reached an agreement with Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai before this, he would have suspected that Bean Sprout fabricated the list and wanted to take these materials and run.

It was not that the materials themselves were too valuable and rare, but there were too many of each material requested. There weren’t just a variety of types, the amount of each material was astoundingly large.

As the chief steward of Rare Artifacts Hall, the middle-aged mo was not skilled in forging mo weapons, but he had basic knowledge of the field. The materials on this list was enough to forge enough mo weapons for a troop of over one hundred.

What did Grandmaster want to do?

Was so much material needed to forge one earth mo weapon?

This was so strange! So unconventional!

The amount of materials used far surpassed his knowledge.

Maybe Grandmaster was doing an experiment? This thought caused the middle-aged mo to relax. Mo weapon masters would frequently try out different forging methods, and some mo weapon masters preferred to test their new inspirations.

This was undoubtedly a course of action that would burn through the most resources, but this kind of mobei-wasting action was appropriate for their status and identity.

Grandmaster definitely had some new inspiration!

All of the materials were the preparations in order to test out his new ideas. It was definitely that!

The middle-aged mo sighed in relief. He was a decisive person. After the initial shock, he quickly found a realistic explanation for Xiao Yun Hai’s request.

Once he found this reason, this list seemed reasonable.

While the materials listed represented a great number, a grandmaster would qualify to guarantee this. Also, the middle-aged mo thought that if a mo weapon grandmaster had new ideas, this meant that the possibility of forging a new earth mo weapon was higher.

After thinking for a moment, the middle-aged mo quickly made a decision.

“There are many materials here that this store doesn’t have and I will need to request them from other branch stores. It will take a few days. Three days from now, the materials will be delivered to Grandmaster’s mo weapon pool.”

Bean Sprout actually stilled. The other had really agreed!

For the first time, Bean Sprout had experienced the power of the word “grandmaster.”

———

Without the residents of Bu Zhou City realizing it, many unfamiliar outsiders had appeared around the city. These people did not look friendly. They gave off a feeling of danger, and their gazes were always wary.

The arrival of these people tested the public peace of Bu Zhou City,

Small scale fights occurred on successively days. Yet what shocked people was that the Tang Family that was responsible for order in Bu Zhou City was left on the losing side. This caused the state of Bu Zhou City’s peace to worsen.

The Tang Family patriarch was furious after learning this, and moved the strongest battalion of the Tang Family, the Tang Wen Battalion, near Bu Zhou City. They quickly captured more than a dozen of the culprits and the heads of these people were hung above the city gates as a warning.

Such vicious moves immediately intimidated many of those with devious intentions.

But as more and more experts came, the Tang Family’s nerves became tense. If they were careless, and caused a conflict, it could cause much of  Bu Zhou City to be destroyed in fighting. This loss was not something the Tang Family could afford.

Soon, a strange rumor gradually spread.

The rumor said that Marshal Di was about to ally with Tian Huan by marriage with Gongzi Xi. There was even a rumor that Gongzi Xi already had an important Tian Huan female serving him.

In a short few days, the rumors spread quickly. By the time Tang Chen learned of this, the entire city knew.

“Someone is spreading this from the shadows.” Gongzi Xi’s handsome face was dark. He said coldly, “This rumor did not come early or late, but at such a sensitive time, their intentions are not friendly!”

“Who also knows the identity of Miss Xian Er?” Tang Chen’s expression was normal and no emotion could be seen.

“Only my personal guards.” Gongzi Xi’s tone was bitter as he said awkwardly. Other than his personal guards, no one knew Li Xian Er’s identity.

There definitely was a traitor!

Murderousness flashed through Gongzi Xi’s eyes!

Tang Chen noticed the murderousness that flickered through Gongzi Xi’s eyes and did not say more. He said after a moment, “Virtuous Nephew, do not pay attention to the gossip. Try to not go out. The people outside the city are suspect, and have other aims. We need to deal with them carefully.”

Gongzi Xi said respectfully. “Uncle, do not worry, this nephew knows what is important. Uncle Zhong and Uncle Qin will come in the next few days. With them are two hundred general elite, and they are all guards that have followed my father marshal for many years.”

Tang Chen became alert when he heard this. “They have come at a good time! We’ll let these people be free for a few more days.”

The two exchanged a smile, and their worried expressions disappeared.

———

The situation of Bu Zhou City became even stranger. The rumors still spread, but Gongzi Xi who was the focus of the rumor did not come out in public. No faction had expressed any opinion about this matter. The rumor seemed to lose steam. People’s eyes turned more towards the heaven tier mo weapon pool in the Underground Nether River.

Countless eyes stared at the heaven tier mo weapon pool. In the past, only mo weapon masters would come to the Underground Nether River. Now, there were mo everywhere. They would glance occasionally across the heaven tier mo weapon pool and then casually chat.

“There isn’t any noise, it really is boring to watch.”

“Yes, yes! What earth mo weapon, he can really boast! He conned us all here, but he hasn’t made a peep!”

“Ah, let’s wait a bit more, is an earth mo weapon so easy to forge?”

“We can only wait … …”

Suddenly, they noticed the sound of chatting around them quieted. They stopped their discussion, instinctively raised their heads and were stunned.

An enormous mo steed troop appeared in their field of view in the sky.

The riders of these mo steeds were all tired and dirty. They clearly had just endured a long journey. However, what was most attention catching was the astoundingly large number of boxes on the mo steeds’ backs. Each box was more than one zhang in all three of its dimensions.

People who had stayed for a long time in Bu Zhou City immediately recognized the origins of these mo steeds.

“It’s Rare Artifacts Hall!”

“Heavens! Rare Artifacts Hall!”

Gasps rose. People’s gazes were filled with shock.

There were more than five hundred mo steeds in this troop and more than three hundred guards. They were travel-worn, but their presence was controlled. Their casual glances would give people great pressure

Elite!

Three hundred elite!

Hiss, many people inhaled in shock. Anyone with a small amount of knowledge would know that the things that were protected by such elite guards were definitely astounding in value.

They then looked at the enormous boxes on the backs of the two hundred or so mo steeds. Many people’s gazes heated up. But those with more knowledge looked at the boxes of different colors mixed within the two hundred large boxes. These metal boxes of different colors took up one third of the total number. They knew that these boxes were of the highest value. The boxes possessed special characteristics, such as thermal regulation, and were used to hold materials with special qualities.

Such an astounding amount of materials was a great amount of wealth!

Heavy breathing rose in the corners. The gazes that crossed in the air burned with greed!

The captain of the mo steed guards was like a metal tower. His expression was cold, his upper body was bare and covered in criss-crossing scars. He noticed the greedy gazes in the surroundings. His expression turned cold and he snorted.

It was like thunder rolling across the air. Countless people seemed to be struck by lightning, showed shock and all of their desires were swept away.

The other guards acted as though nothing had happened.

The troop stopped outside the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

A steward got off the mo steed and bowed towards Bean Sprout. He said as though relieved of a great burden. “The road was long, but we did not fail. Rare Artifacts Hall has brought all that Grandmaster requested, please inspect and accept.”

The guards took the metal boxes off the mo steeds and put them onto the empty ground in front of Bean Sprout. The boxes were opened.

When the materials of two hundred large metal boxes were put together, it was like an enormous mountain. The rare materials released all kinds of colored light. The scene was spectacular!

The power that the materials had even formed a small twister.

Countless people were stunned by this scene. The Underground Nether River was deathly silent.

Bean Sprout swallowed. He was also greatly shocked by the mountain of materials in front of him but he was mentally prepared. He still remembered his own mission. He started to inventory the materials. The list that Grandmaster had given had precise numbers, and he did not want any mistakes on his part.

The crowd seemed to wake up and then exploded.

Heavens!

So material materials!

They didn’t all understand earth mo weapon crafting but this was the Underground Nether River. There were many mo weapon masters. Some experienced mo weapon masters quickly made precise estimates. These materials would be enough to forge two hundred top level colonel level mo weapons, or twenty good quality general level mo weapons!

Just the estimated value of the materials was two billion mobei!

Some people finally recalled that the rumor was that Xiao Yun Hai had reached an agreement with Rare Artifacts Hall for them to supply materials. But no one had expected that Xiao Yun Hai would demand such an amount of materials, and Rare Artifacts Hall would actually give them to him!

Two billion mobei!

What did Xiao Yun Hai want to do? Was Rare Artifacts Hall insane as well?

Chapter 710 – Explosive Weapon Style (Three)

The mountain of materials that was worth a substantial amount was piled outside the heaven tier mo weapon pool. The light that they gave off illuminated the entire Underground Nether River. Every person who saw this spectacular scene would unconsciously stop breathing.

All of Bu Zhou City was left stunned!

Countless people fought to enter the Underground Nether River to see this rare sight. The Underground Nether River that was usually quiet and sparsely populated was filled with people.

The light given off by two billion mobei caused gasps.

There were also those that tried to sneak their way in among the chaotic crowds but the three hundred guards of Rare Artifacts Hall were on their guard. These guards had cold expressions, and gave off dangerous auras. Those with some experience were all able to see that they were all elite forces. Also, when Tang Chen heard the news, he also sent a troop out to help with security.

Facing such a tight guard, those with greedy desires could only stare.

News of this event quickly spread, and caused a heated discussion in the mo territories.

The great majority of people saw this and treated it as a joke. In the eyes of the majority, Xiao Yun Hai announcing in a flamboyant manner that he was going to forge a new earth mo weapon was because he didn’t know his own limits. Now, he had made such a great ruckus. Many people who had been neutral before didn’t have a good impression of him now.

Yet no one had expected that the participation of two people caused the matter to reach a new climax!

Mo Weapon Grandmaster Bo Qing An, Mo Weapon Grandmaster Yan Man!

Unlike Xiao Yun Hai who had just become famous, these two grandmasters had a great amount of experience. They were some of the top grandmasters of the present era, and the idols of countless mo weapon masters, especially Grandmaster Bo Qing An. He was one of the only three grandmasters who had forged two earth mo weapons among all the mo weapon grandmasters!

He had absolute authority in the field of mo weapon forging. The two grandmasters were the founders of the Mo Weapon Master Association, and their statuses were high.

“I have never thought that there would be a mo weapon grandmaster that would dare claim something so shocking. Yes, he forged an earth mo weapon. When considering his age, this is a proud accomplishment, but I want to say that young people have to keep their feet on the ground. Earth mo weapons are the pinnacle of mo weapons, their worth far surpasses your imagination. Do not think that just because you were lucky to forge one earth mo weapon that you have reached the end of that world. Also, as a mo weapon master, you are clownish in your actions to attract attention, and humiliate the prestige of mo weapon master.”

Grandmaster Yan Man’s tone was strong, his expression filled with dislike, and his words were not polite.

Grandmaster Bo Qing An’s tone was much calmer, but his words were also more careful.

“I saw this list of materials he requested, and there are many materials that are unexpected to me. He may have some novel ideas, but I have to say that with just these materials, he cannot forge an earth mo weapon. A skilled mo weapon grandmaster can turn normal materials into great mo weapons, but this does not mean that all materials can be used to forge earth mo weapons.”

The words of the two mo weapon masters quickly spread.

There had been arguments but it immediately became one-sided. In the attacks, Xiao Yun Hai was like a clown. The only result would be humiliating himself.

People even started to suspect that the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike was not an earth mo weapon. That was just a con that Rare Artifacts Hall and Xiao Yun Hai had made up.

———

“The situation is not very good.” The manager’s expression was calm, but his eyes were panicked.

“Oh.” The middle-aged mo idly savored his tea with a calm expression. “How bad is it?”

“There are many guests that have sent messages inquiring about this matter. There were a few large orders about to be confirmed, but the customers have stopped. They clearly are doubtful,” the manager reported in a small voice.

“Oh, what else is there, report it all together,” the middle-aged mo said with a small smile.

“As of last night, fifteen mo weapon masters have quit. The Mo Weapon Master Association has called them into question.” The manager’s tone started to turn panicked.

The smile on the middle-aged mo’s face disappeared. He straightened and said in a deep voice, “Why is the Mo Weapon Master Association interfering?”

“It probably due to Bo Qing An and Yan Man’s attitudes. The other mo weapon masters are not resolute, and if it wasn’t for the fact that we treated them well over the years, more of them would have left.” The manager looked carefully at the middle-aged mo.

The middle-aged mo was silent.

In their infancy, the Mo Weapon Master Association had just been a loose network that was started by a few mo weapon grandmasters. With grandmasters leading the way, they constructed a complete and detailed categorization system for weapons and provided numerous services. They would exchange ideas at regular intervals and hold classes. They would provide members with a variety of materials at low prices, help the members sell the mo weapons they had forged and so on.

With these actions, the Mo Weapon Master Association quickly grew and recruited more members. The evaluations of the association were highly trusted and accepted by all factions. The association quickly grew into a powerful organization. They now controlled almost half of the high level mo weapon market.

This was a terrifying number, and even more terrifying was their unparalleled influence on mo weapon masters.

For a business, the loss of a few orders wasn’t a big problem. However, the loss of large numbers of mo weapon masters was enough to hurt their foundation. If a business did not have a steady source of wares, it would greatly affect their reputation and credit.

So the middle-aged mo was unable to sit still when he heard about the loss of the mo weapon masters.

The middle-aged mo’s expression changed. He hadn’t thought the Mo Weapon Master Association would interfere. The departure of these mo weapon masters was clearly due to the machinations of the Mo Weapon Master Association.

He knew why this was.

They attacked Xiao Yun Hai because Xiao Yun Hai wasn’t a member of the Mo Weapon Master Association. The way that the Mo Weapon Master Association acted now was different than at the beginning. Because of the great profits they enjoyed, they tried to do all they could to recruit  more mo weapon masters, and the mo weapon masters with talent but were not willing to enter the association would be suppressed both openly and in secret. This wasn’t news.

All the factions were increasingly wary of the Mo Weapon Master Association. However, those with power would nurture their own mo weapon masters. However, not every faction had a mo weapon grandmaster.

If Xiao Yun Hai really could forge a new earth mo weapon, he would immediately enter the ranks of the greatest mo weapon masters. If one considered his age, his potential was unlimited!

His fame would immediately surpass the grandmasters of the association.

It had been many years since a new mo weapon grandmaster had appeared. This Xiao Yun Hai who suddenly came out probably caused the grandmasters of the Mo Weapon Master Association to feel threatened.

A cold smirk rose on the middle-aged mo’s lips.

Rare Artifacts Hall never skimped on their dues to the Mo Weapon Master Association, and he hadn’t thought that the association wouldn’t even speak to them before directly attacking them!

Those grandmasters have fallen due to the temptation of the mobei!

In just a few moments, the middle-aged mo calculated the losses and gains. If he submitted to the Mo Weapon Master Association, while he could gain some short-time benefit, but he would be controlled by the other in the future.

Rather than so, it was better to gamble on Xiao Yun Hai!

“Go, send another portion of items on that list to Xiao Yun Hai,” the middle-aged mo said coldly.

The manager jumped. “But Grandmaster Xiao probably doesn’t need … …”

“Then just add it to the pile there!” The middle-aged mo said coldly, “Go tell the child that Grandmaster Xiao took in, he’s called Bean Sprout, have him tell Grandmaster to request whatever materials he needs. If our Rare Artifacts Hall have them, then we will give them to him!”

The manager just prepared to acknowledge with a wildly beating heart when the middle-aged mo’s tone changed. “No, wait!”

The manager relaxed slightly. Daren had not lost his mind yet!

“Also tell the branch stores. Every store will pick three of their top materials and send it with their best guards. When they arrive, pile them in front of the heaven tier mo weapon pool! Tell Grandmaster he can use them as he pleases. I only have one request, he has to forge an earth mo weapon!”

The middle-aged mo gritted his teeth. That composed face was filled with murderousness!

———

Due to the matters of Rare Artifacts Hall, the rumors about Gongzi Xi in Bu Zhou City cooled down.

“Old Zhong! Old Qin!” Tang Chen was overjoyed when he saw the people who had come.

“You are still like before!” Zhong Wen Tian looked at Tang Chen and a hint of excitement flashed through his eyes. No one knew that they had met each other in youth, travelled together and fought together. They had formed a close relationship.

Qing Min was also smiling as he said happily, “Other than Marshal Di, everyone is here.” His voice was soft, and he was also very handsome.

The reunion of old friends stirred emotions and nostalgia.

Moments later, they sat down. Gongzi Xi respectfully sat at the end. Zhong Wen Tian and Qin Ming were subordinates of Marshal Di but Marshal Di treated them like brothers. Gongzi Xi also grew up under their eyes, and they were even closer than normal uncles and nephews.

Suddenly, the chief steward of the Tang Family walked hurriedly in and whispered at Tang Chen’s ear.

A look flashed across Tang Chen’s face. Seeing the other people look at him, he explained, “Rare Artifacts Hall and the Mo Weapon Master Association have started to fight.”

“Mo Weapon Master Association!” Qin Ming’s eyes turned icy, and his soft voice was murderousness. “They aren’t good.”

Tang Chen stilled. “What? Did you have a fight with them?”

“It isn’t anything major.” Qin Ming waved his hand and said unconcernedly. “Once, we urgently needed some mo weapons. They asked for a great price, and wanted us to trade using mo weapon masters. We naturally were not willing. Then they tried to sabotage us in secret forcing no other families to dare to sell to us.”

“And then?” Tang Chen asked curiously.

“Haha. Then Old Zhong went to them and killed twelve general levels before they were frightened and sold the mo weapons to us,” Qin Ming said with a smile.

Zhong Wen Tian laughed.

Tang Chen’s expression changed.

At this time, there was a ruckus outside.

Chapter 711 – The Continuation Of The Explosive Weapon Style (One)

“Idiot, you dare to fight against our mo weapon master association, you don’t want to live!” A blue-eyed male within the crowd hatefully spat out.

“He doesn’t know what is good for him. If he works with us, he gets what he wants. It is a pity that our people didn’t even manage to meet with him. It would have been fine if he was low-key, but he had to say that he was going to forge a second earth mo weapon. We would be completely stupid not to use such an opportunity that was gifted to us,” a golden-haired male said.

“I really want to see the expression of Rare Artifacts Hall Tomorrow.” The blue-eyed male laughed darkly. “The big ship is about to sink, who is willing to go down with it? When Rare Artifacts Hall find that they have less than half of its mo weapon masters, wouldn’t they regret it?”

“Haha! A harsh punishment will show our power,” the golden-haired male said with a smug laugh.

Suddenly, gasp rang out along the street. The duo heard the shouts of “Rare Artifacts Hall”. The two exchanged a look and flew into the sky without any hesitation.

In the sky, a troop of about fifty mo steeds was coming towards Bu Zhou City at top speed.

Under the gates, the manager of Rare Artifacts Hall who had been waiting for a long time immediately flew into the sky. He bowed towards the mo steed troop and his expression was solemn. “This one is the local manager, Qian Duo. Everyone, you have worked hard, which store are you from?”

“From Flower Mile Jie.” The large man at the front bowed slightly with a cool expression. He was carrying a dark gold box on his back that was adorned with exquisite mo matrices.

While the group of fifty had travelled a long way, and were covered in dust, their power could not be disguised.

Qian Duo did not waste words. He said with a solemn expression, “Please come with me.”

The large man did not hesitate and followed first. The group silently followed Qian Duo. They moved in the direction of the entrance to the Underground Nether River.

Discussion rose in the surroundings. People’s gazes were fixed on the dark gold box on the back of the troop leader. Those with some experience knew that boxes of this kind were expensive to make, and were usually used to hold some peerlessly rare materials.

Had Xiao Yun Hai requested some special materials again?

People discussed in curiosity. Everyone had a feeling that this matter was going to change again. In the crowd, the two from the mo weapon master association looked at each other. They also had a bad feeling.

Some people were preparing to see what was happening at the Underground Nether River while others prepared to leave. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Look!”

Another small group appeared over the horizon.

A similarly strong group of guards, the same dark gold box. They entered the Underground Nether River just like the previous one.

In the following time, people gaped. Small groups from Rare Artifact Hall continued to arrive over the horizon.

Elite guards, dark gold boxes!

These little groups from Rare Artifact Hall all had solemn expressions. They flowed into the city, and their target was the Underground Nether River.

Even the stupidest person knew that something amazing was happening right now! Many people immediately ran for the Underground Nether River to see.

When people arrive at the Underground Nether River, they were dumbstruck by what they saw.

Dozens of dark gold boxes were neatly placed on the ground. All of the boxes were opened, each flashed with bright light like fire burning in the darkness. They illuminated the dim Underground Nether River as though it was daylight.

It was the blinding light that belonged to the top materials, the unique ripples were like the heartbeat of wild beasts that filled the entire Underground Nether River.

The two billion mobei of materials had only caused people to sigh over the enormous amount of wealth.

But every dark gold box and any of the materials in them caused people to become breathless. The great majority of people didn’t recognize even one, but they knew that these were all top materials—the top materials that existed in legends.

Yes, in legends, this word caused these lights and vibrations to become untouchable.

People were not as excited, they fell silent.

The light and vibrations that these materials gave off were like those solemn and powerful elite guards. They emanated their power without any disguise!

People were always greedy and hungry for wealth, but they were always filled with respect and awe towards great power.

The people who had been restless seeing the growing number of elite guards were completely calmed down now. The desire in their eyes suddenly disappeared.

Rare Artifact Hall dared to put these materials that were worth entire cities in public view. This meant that they had absolute confidence they would be able to protect them.

Those that knew more finally remembered at this time that Rare Artifacts Hall had a history of millennia.

The number of dark gold boxes continued to increase!

The light continued to grow brighter!

Even the slowest person now understood that Rare Artifacts Hall was showing its power. By why would Rare Artifacts Hall show their power without any reservation at such a sensitive time?

No matter what was going on behind the scene at this time, it was the first time that top materials had been displayed like this in all of the mo territories.

Large numbers of mo weapon masters came. Each of these top materials were worth cities, and it was rare for them to see them as well.

The Underground Nether River of Bu Zhou City attracted the eyes of the entire mo world

———

Bean Sprout felt as though his breathing was slightly difficult. These lights were so close to him it was like a dream. The vibrations that these materials released came in waves. He felt as though he was the little boat in the middle of a storm and would be upturned at any time.

All of the top materials were worldly treasures. They usually were formed naturally over eras, and contained great power!

The power that dissipated out was still too strong for Bean Sprout.

Suddenly, a red figure appeared in front of him. The astounding vibrations immediately disappeared.

Bean Sprout knew the other had blocked the vibrations for him. He said gratefully, “Thanks!”

Ceng Lian’er did not seem to hear it. Her eyes were looking in the distance. A hint of worry flashed through her eyes.

In her eyes, the dark gold boxes covered in light was a pile of trouble.

And big trouble!

Rare Artifacts Hall’s attitude was clear. Ceng Lian’er was perceptive and she immediately realized that something had happened outside! Otherwise, Rare Artifacts Hall’s attitude would not be so strong.

It really was great trouble!

———

Zuo Mo didn’t know what was happening outside at all. He didn’t have any knowledge of the Mo Weapon Master Association. Regardless of whether he knew the person or not, he had refused to see any of them in this recent while. He didn’t care who had been stopped by.

The new heaven tier mo weapon pool was good, but it demanded more of the user. Even Zuo Mo had to focus all his attention to reach a satisfactory level.

In order to stop others from disturbing him, Zuo Mo set up jinzhi around the mo weapon pool. The present heaven tier mo weapon pool was completely cut off from the outside.

Zuo Mo released a breath. Ten mo weapon rudiments of different colors were floating in the clear blue pond. The cold energy of the pool had lessened greatly.

The sixty general level mo weapons had formed ten mo weapon rudiments. Two mistakes had occurred in the process, and these were the only two mistakes that Zuo Mo had committed. Working at full concentration easily tired people out. Even Zuo Mo could not avoid having made mistakes with two of them.

Zuo Mo was still satisfied with this result.

He sat in lotus position and quickly entered meditation. He was really too tired, and he quickly entered a meditation state.

Ten balls of different colored lights suddenly appeared in the mo weapon pool. Each light shrouded one mo weapon rudiment. The ten lights flashed as though they were breathing.

In the depths of the Underground Nether River, countless minuscule cold currents were like sharks that smelt blood and flooded towards the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

The same situation was also occurring in the depths of the Underground Nether River hundreds of li  away from the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

No one would think that an astounding change was occurring in the Underground Nether River that was so calm on the surface.

The mo weapon pool water in front of Zuo Mo started to rise. Deep in his meditative state, Zuo Mo did not know.

A short while later, the height of the water in the pool was the same as the ground in the surroundings yet the currents that flowed in showed no signs of stopping. They continued to come in.

The water continued to rise but they did not spread into the surroundings.

There seemed to be an invisible hand that was pulling water up like a pillar of water.

The light of the ten mo weapon rudiments grew even brighter. They slowly spun in the water. The water was pulled along and the pillar of water continued to spin.

The small currents deep in the Underground Nether River moved even more quickly. They were like a school of fish that dove to the bottom of the river as they swam towards the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

The currents contained power, and when tens of thousands of them gathered togethered, even the steely bed of the river started to tremble!

Boom boom boom!

The ground around the Underground Nether River started to tremble as though tens of thousands of horse were galloping underground.

The people in the surroundings had terrified expressions.

What was happening?

An earthquake?

The Underground Nether River was located dozens of miles underground. As the riverbed started to shake, it caused a string of effects. The rock above people’s heads started to fall.

Everyone started to panick. Screams filled the air as people sprinted furiously towards the entrance.

This was deep down in the ground. If they were buried alive, even the most powerful mo skill couldn’t save them!

At this time, they didn’t care about any worldly treasures. Everyone only had one thought in their mind, get out as fast as possible!

Yet the passage was not wide to begin with, and there were too many people gathered here. People fought to get ahead and the scene was chaotic.

The falling of rocks caused the scene to become even worse.

Outside the mo weapon pool, Bean Sprout had a panicked expression. “This place is about to collapse, we … …”

Ceng Lian’er cultivated shen power and she had a feeling that the present situation was related to the mo weapon pool. When she thought of the worldly apparition when the Little Mo Treasure Cut had been forged, she didn’t feel any urgency. “It’s fine.”

Bean Sprout was extremely panicked but Ceng Lian’er did not care. A Gui was completely unresponsive. The only one that seemed slightly normal was Qing Hua Xue. However, Qinghua Xue’s expression only changed slightly at the start before she quickly recovered.

Ceng Lian’er glanced at Qinghua Xue and felt slightly surprised by her calmness.

While she was weak, her mental fortitude was pretty good.

At this time, inside the heaven tier mo weapon pool, it was a completely different scene!

Chapter 712 – The Continuation Of The Explosive Weapon Style (Two)

When Zuo Mo opened his eyes, he jumped in fright at the scene in front of him.

The mo weapon pool was now a water pillar that was hundreds of zhang tall like a twister! The pillar of water was spinning rapidly, ice and frigid air spreading outwards. The ground around the mo weapon pool was covered in a thick layer of ice.

Within the pillar of water, ten lights of different colors floated up and down like ten fairies.

When he looked, Zuo Mo was astounded. This water pillar was formed from hundreds of thousands of tiny water currents. These currents contained great power, and when they gathered together like now, they were like hundreds of thousands of little ice flies that tightly  swarmed around the ten balls of light and ground against them.

The ten mo weapon rudiments were completely different than before Zuo Mo had entered his meditation.

What was most evident was that they had shrunk by about one third their size, and the light around them had become purer. It was clear that their quality had increased.

Zuo Mo had used the cold flows in the Underground Nether River to refine the mo weapon rudiments, but he hadn’t expected that refining the ten mo weapon rudiments in one mo weapon pool would create such a disturbance.

He focused on the ten mo weapon rudiments. It was the first time he had encountered such an astounding scene and he didn’t dare to be inattentive at all.

When the light from the ten balls within the pillar of water started to turn softer, Zuo Mo knew that it was almost time. The impurities in the mo weapon rudiments were almost all cleaned out, and so the mo weapon rudiments’ response to the icy currents were gradually getting weaker.

He glanced away from the water pillar and then Zuo Mo flashed to appear outside the mo weapon pool.

“Have the materials been prepared?”

Coming out of the mo weapon pool, he found the chaotic scene outside and was startled. But the quickly understood what had happened. He looked towards the Underground Nether River. As he expected, the water height of the Underground Nether River was dozens of zhang lower than when he entered.

The ten mo weapon rudiments had taken almost all of the power of the Underground Nether River. It was not strange for such a disturbance to occur.

But he didn’t have the time to attend to that. All of his attention was on the ten mo weapon rudiments he was crafting.

The ten mo weapon rudiments had taken in the great majority of the Underground Nether River’s power, and they were starting to take form. If he could succeed, the level of these ten mo weapons would reach an astounding level! But if he wasn’t careful, all of his work would be for nothing and these ten mo weapons would be ruined.

Even Zuo Mo didn’t dare to slack off at this time.

When Bean Sprout suddenly heard Zuo Mo’s voice. He shook and jumped up from the ground. “They have been prepared!”

When Zuo Mo finished asking, he had noticed the mountain of materials piled up and those extra materials, ones worth entire cities as well. He was slightly surprised, but at such an urgent time, he did not inquire further.

His figure flashed and then he appeared around the pile of materials. In a blink, the small mountain disappeared, and so did Zuo Mo.

———

Many people had seen Zuo Mo’s sudden appearance. Their minds moved and then they looked at the guards around the mo weapon pool. None of them had moved. Then they looked at the chaotic passageway. Some people’s courage momentarily grew, but they quickly regained their senses.

The chaotic situation was lessened slightly.

Zuo Mo’s appearance eased much of Bean Sprout’s worries. He was full of awe towards Zuo Mo. As expected of Grandmaster. He wouldn’t lose his composure even if the mountains were crashing down on top of them. Grandmaster once again went back to his mo weapon forging. Just this mentality far surpassed many mo weapon masters. This was probably the reason that Grandmaster was able to become a grandmaster!

Bean Sprout motivated himself inside.

In comparison, the guards from Rare Artifacts Hall changed expression minutely, especially the more powerful guard captains. They all had hints of shock in their eyes.

Xiao Yun Hai had appeared without warning and none of them had even detected it.

Also, none of them had been able to lock onto the disappearance of that pile of materials and the departure of Xiao Yun Hai.

The words floated unconsciously into everyone’s mind: unfathomable power!

These guards were a close part of Rare Artifacts Hall, and some had even been raised by Rare Artifacts Hall. Their loyalty to Rare Artifacts Hall was unquestionable. Many of them had dissenting opinions when Rare Artifact Hall’s higher ups had been so flamboyant, especially as the mo weapon masters had continued to leave. This had increased their worries.

But their loyalty towards Rare Artifacts Hall meant that they faithfully completed the orders, even ones that they did not agree with.

Just like everyone else, they were worried that if Xiao Yun Hai failed in such a public way, then Rare Artifacts hall would become the biggest joke.

All of their impressions of Xiao Yun Hai were from the mirages and the rumors.

Yet when they truly faced Xiao Yun Hai, Xiao Yun Hai’s cool gaze and the almost tangible pressure he gave off caused them to stop breathing. Shocked, their mood became much better.

Such a person would not just be a boaster.

“So strong!” A guard of Rare Artifacts hall couldn’t help but gasp in a low voice. Every person around him had shocked expressions.

The guard captains exchanged looks ,and saw the shock in each other’s eyes. The power that Zuo Mo showed far surpassed their imaginations.

Was this guy really a mo weapon master?

Some imperceptible hums sounded among the chaotic crowds.

Qin Ming’s gaze focused slightly as he said in a surprised voice, “I can’t seem to get the exact measure of this Xiao Yun Hai’s strength.”

Beside him, Zhong Wen Tian and Tang Chen’s expression were also slightly grave. Qin Ming, a marshal, couldn’t see the scope of the other’s power, this itself was a problem.

Xiao Yun Hai was not simple!

Zhong Wen Tian suddenly closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them suddenly. “The Underground Nether River!”

The other two heard this, and they turned to look at the Underground Nether River. Surprise rose in the eyes of the duo. The Underground Nether River that was usually vast was now so depleted of water that the river floor could be seen!

“This is … … “Tang Chen murmured. Bu Zhou City was his territory, and he was extremely familiar with the Underground Nether River. The water was always plentiful, and there had never been a situation where the water level would drop.

“Earth mo weapon!” Tang Chen seemed to think of something, and his pupils contracted as he gasped.

Qin Ming and Zhong Wen Tian’s bodies shook slightly and expressions of disbelief rose onto their faces.

———

“Such a powerful Xiao Yun Hai! Such terrifying vibrations!” Feng Xing Zi stood high up on a protruding rock, as he looked down. His expression changed.

Ji Li Yu was deeply astounded by the scene in front of her. She had seen the enormous change in the Underground Nether River just now. The Underground Nether River that was dozens of li wide was like a silent beast. When it moved, you would be able to feel its terrifying power!

“It may not be Xiao Yun Hai!” Ji LI Yu couldn’t help but argue. She really lacked any good feelings about that person.

“I feel its presence,” Feng Xin Zi did not turn his face and said coolly.

“What presence?” Ji Li Yu stilled.

“The presence of a powerful mo weapon! It is taking form!” Eyes closed, Feng Xin Zi seemed to be speaking to himself.

He was not as calm inside as he appeared. Xiao Yun Hai had given him too many surprises!

Opening his eyes, his gaze suddenly swept across Qing Hua Xue outside the mo weapon pool with a nervous expression. A thoughtful smile came onto his lips.

It was time for Daren to have a discussion with the Blue Flower Family.

Yet what flashed through his mind was Xiao Yun Hai’s ghostly way of movement.

———

At a shaded spot high up beside the Underground Nether River, the youth raised his head and stopped eating the blood grapes. He said thoughtfully, “Now I seem to believe somewhat that this person can forge a sky mo weapon.”

“You believe even more that he is the crux for finding Xiao Mo Ge.” A wizened voice suddenly came. It was that old man dressed in rags.

The youth seemed to have known the old man was there already. He was not surprised and giggled, “Yes, if he can forge sky mo weapons, he can repair them.”

“However, there are many people targeting him.” The old man grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth with missing gaps.

“I don’t know about the future, but right now, the Mo Shen Temple possesses the strongest shen power,” the youth said casually. Then his tone changed, and he said mirthfully, “Of course, that is except for you, Elder!”

“This old man can’t deal with the three of you.” The old man waved his hand. “However, Kun Lun and Tian Huan have found some ways. With their foundation, it would be fast for them to catch up. You have to be careful.”

The youth said with an easy expression. “It is not so easy, we worked for many generations and have just reached the doorway. There are still many shortcomings with our method. Kun Lun, Tian Huan, the others, they will quickly find, tsk tsk, that it is not so easy!”

“That’s true,” the old man nodded when he heard this and said.

The youth’s tone changed. “Of course, there are exceptions, like Xiao Mo Ge! This guy is a shen power cultivation genius! Haha, they will quickly find Xiao Mo Ge’s value. But at that time, I want to see how much regret they feel, haha!”

“Xiao Mo Ge?” An imperceptible light flashed through the old man’s eyes. “How so?”

“There are no detrimental effects. We found that this guy doesn’t just progress rapidly, there are no side effects.” The youth put down the blood grapes again, tilted his head, and said gravely. “If Elder works with us, we can share everything.”

“No side effects? Really?” The old man had an expression of disbelief.

‘When Xiao Mo Ge next appears, Elder, you will know.” The youth laughed and then said pointedly, “For Xiao Mo Ge, the Mo Shen Temple is willing to pay everything.”

“While this old man was there last time, you didn’t have such determination last time.” The old man was puzzled.

The youth spread his hands. “At that time, we still hadn’t discovered Xiao Mo Ge’s benefit!”

Suddenly, the two seemed to detect something at the same time. They stopped their discussion and looked at the mo weapon pool.

The youth instinctively straightened. He held the blood grapes in his hand but forgot to move them to his mouth. He murmured, “It’s starting!”

Chapter 713 – The Continuation Of The Explosive Weapon Style (Three)

When a material was tossed into the pillar of water, it would be ground to powder by the rapidly spinning water pillar and then disappear without a trace.

Zuo Mo’s expression was solemn and his gaze was focused. Every material would light up on his hand. This was what would occur after the unique traits of the material were activated. If any other mo weapon masters were present, they would find to their surprise that even the lowest grade materials would light up dimly on Zuo Mo’s hands.

In the common knowledge of mo weapon masters, materials like this could not light up.

The pillar of water was like a roaring dragon that twisted its enormous body and caused people to feel the astounding power it contained.

The ten balls of light floated and sank in the water pillar. But Zuo Mo’s eyes could see countless currents of different colors burrowing into the ten lights.

Every rainbow flow that was hard to see with the naked light was the essence of the material!

As they flowed into the balls of light, the lights would become brighter.

Zuo Mo carefully controlled the rhythm of adding materials. The mountain of materials next to him was vanishing at an astounding rate. The light in the pillar of water was more than ten times as intense as before.

Even the jinzhi that Zuo Mo had set up were unable to completely block these lights.

———

Bean Sprout’s mouth was gaping as he looked at the mo weapon pool. Five colored rays of light were like a beam that stabbed out of the mo weapon pool.

Ceng Lian’er’s reaction was fast. Her expression changed slightly, she grabbed hold of Bean Sprout as she pushed off and then moved ten zhang back.

When the light from the mo weapon pool touched the ground, a six zhang gap was cut like the ground was tofu!

A Gui, Ceng Lian’er, and Qinghua Xue had all simultaneously retreated in unspoken agreement. The guards also managed to react. Their expression changed. They hurriedly put the gold boxes on their backs and moved back.

Pew pew pew!

The mo weapon pool surroundings were immediately covered in countless gullies. These deep furrows criss-crossed and were heart-stopping to see.

The crowd that had seen this immediately became restless. These people looked with shock at these scar-like furrows. These furrows were not of the same length nor the same depth. Some were covered in frost, others with their edges melted smooth as glass, and others seemed to be chewed up by countless mice. All of them were different.

What mo weapon would possess so many characteristics?

People were both shocked and speculative. The heaven tier mo weapon pool that was giving off light at this time seemed to predict the extraordinary nature of the mo weapon that was about to form!

Some with nimble thoughts thought of the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike that Xiao Yun Hai had forged previously. Was this a mo weapon similar to that?

The mo that were strong were even more shocked and anxious. They could feel the destructive power continued in those seemingly beautiful lights even more clearly!

If the light was already also so domineering and powerful, then the mo weapons … …

They didn’t dare to imagine it!

The most excited and expectant were the guards from Rare Artifacts Hall. While shocked, all of them had joyful expressions. Based on the noise that was occurring now, the mo weapon that was taking form would definitely be extraordinary!

It could possibly be an earth mo weapon!

This earth mo weapon was for Rare Artifact Hall, who had been forced to the precipice and gamble everything, a sword of light that tore apart the darkness!

Tang Chen looked at the light. After his shock, his expression became more complicated. The disturbance and noise in front of him all proved Xiao Yun Hai’s extraordinariness! If Xiao Yun Hai once again made an earth mo weapon, then his reputation was enough to push him to become one of the top people of the mo territories.

Xiao Yun Hai’s potential surpassed Tang Chen’s predictions.

He had not hesitated to use a mo weapon grandmaster as a lure for Xiao Mo Ge. But at this time, he felt a thread of regret.

Qin Ming glanced at him and knew what he was thinking. Qin Ming comforted, “Even if it is an earth mo weapon, it is not much. Shen power is the most important!”

Tang Chen became alert. He took a deep breath, nodded and said, “You are right, shen power is the most important!”

The hesitation in his eyes was swept away and they became determined again. He was a marshal, and his mind was strong. It could not be so easily swayed. He looked hard at the heaven tier mo weapon pool. This Xiao Yun Hai was able to cause his mind to waver, his abilities were great.

Zhong Wen Tian suddenly spoke, “Why do I feel it doesn’t seem like one mo weapon?”

“Not like one mo weapon?” Qin Ming stilled. Zhong Wen Tian looked like a rough man, but in terms of sensitivity, he was the strongest of the three.

“Maybe it is another earth mo weapon like the Sky Snake Ten Manifestation Pike?” Tang Chen said.

Zhong Wen Tian did not speak, but his eyes were filled with shock and puzzlement.

———

“This Xiao Yun Hai is a genius.” The Mo Shen Temple youth’s gaze changed as he looked closely at the heaven tier mo weapon pool in the distance.

The old man said dryly, “Now you have a fondness for talent?” The old man couldn’t resist looking back, and he was shocked inside.

“The era of shen power is about to come, that means the era of shen device is about to also come.” The youth lost all of his casualness, and he seemed to murmur to himself. “Don’t you feel that this Xiao Yun Hai might be able to forge a shen device?”

An imperceptible contempt flashed at the corner of the old man’s lips before disappearing. “Shen device? Haha! You are thinking too much! To regain shen power, just how many years have we spent? The era of shen power, no one knows when we will enter it. As for shen devices, who has even seen one before? We haven’t ever seen one, how can we make one!”

The Mo Shen Temple youth immediately recovered his usual cheer. “Then, Elder, don’t compete with us at that time!”

The old man gave a cunning smile. “I can’t do that. This old man still understands the value of buying low and then selling high later. I will definitely participate. At that time, this old man will give it to whoever gives the highest price!”

The Mo Shen Temple youth felt a headache. This old man wasn’t moved by anything, but his origins were mysterious and he was almost ridiculously powerful.

But the change in the heaven tier mo weapon pool quickly interrupted his random thoughts.

———

When the last material was placed into the pool, the pillar of water suddenly stopped spinning.

The ten balls of light suddenly released blinding light like ten suns that people could not easily look at.

The clothing Zuo Mo wore melted like snow under a strong sun. Zuo Mo was astounded. He had picked the clothing casually in order to disguise himself, but because he had enough mobei, and he had the label of grandmaster, the clothing he had picked were all expensive and their defensive abilities were outstanding.

Yet the clothing couldn’t stop the lights for a moment. It was possible to see the power of these lights.

When the lights shone on Zuo Mo, he only felt warm and lazy, and nothing else. This was enough for him to marvel, but this time wasn’t the time to marvel.

Zuo Mo refocused, and walked in a circle around the pillar of water to activate the mo matrices he had already prepared.

Dark green mo matrices lit up around the pool. These mo matrices were extremely complex. Each mo matrix was thin and exquisite, complex, and layered as they spread out.

The still pillar of water suddenly shook.

Immediately after, a roar came from under the ground.

At the same time, six spots on the ground around the pool collapsed to form six holes that were about six zhang in diameter. They were so deep the bottom couldn’t be seen.

The roar had come from the six deep holes.

The vibrations of the ground grew even stronger as though some monster was about to erupt.

Even Zuo Mo had a grave expression. The spells on his hands flowed towards the pillar of water. When the light of these spells touched the pillar of water, they would disappear.

With every spell, a mo weapon within the pillar of water would gain an extra seal script.

Zuo Mo’s expression was solemn. There were countless tiny currents around him that seemed to form spheres of energy that spun rapidly. At this time, Zuo Mo did not hold anything back and all of his powerful presence was exposed.

Suddenly, six crimson dragons of fire flew into the air from the six holes and leapt for the pillar of water! This was the scorching hot lava from deep underground, and it was the fire method of the xiuzhe that Zuo Mo had merged in!

Six Yang Cauldron Method!

In this moment, Zuo Mo’s eyes seemed to light up. The dark gold sun matrices floated into his eyes!

There was no emotion on his face as though he was a deity!

Without any hesitation, light spun on his hands. The sun shen power suddenly gathered. His fingers drew in the air, and the gold streaks followed his fingers and stopped in the air!

Zuo Mo’s fingers moved extremely slowly and it looked as though it took great effort. He was like a bow that had been pulled to its limits!

A profound and hard to describe ancient seal script slowly formed. This seal script had been recorded in the golden leaf, and Zuo Mo was just barely able to use it.

When the last stroke formed, the seal script disappeared into a handful of golden lights that entered the pillar of water.

When the golden lights entered the pillar of water, it started to spin rapidly, and the suction of the water pillar suddenly increased.

Boom boom boom!

The Underground Nether River shook again, and the underwater currents moved. The water height was decreasing at an astounding rate.

As the six fire pillars exploded, the crimson lava became dark red, and the heat was multiple times what it was before. Very soon, the dark red lava became a burning white.

Zuo Mo showed slight joy.

The burning white lava was the earth core lava at the core of the earth. It was hundreds of times as strong as normal lava!

The pillars of fire were like dragons and intertwined to become a cauldron!

The six pillars of white fire were like six dragons that coiled around the pillar of water and crept up.

The energy of the ice and the energy of the earth fire were like countless tentacles criss-crossing. In the sky, they formed a complex blue and white pattern!

If one looked closely, they found find that there were mo matrices in this complete pattern and also seal scripts!

The white and blue pattern seemed to have put a woven net around the pillar of water and fire. It caused it to appear beautiful.

Yet even Zuo Mo who had created it underestimated its power!

Chapter 714 – A God’s Descent

The entire underground complex was trembling, large pieces of rock dislodging from the cave walls above them. It seemed to be like the apocalypse yet all those people that choose to remain were experts. They skillfully sidestepped the falling debris  as they watched everything. Everyone’s gazes were locked onto the heaven tier mo weapon pool.

While they could not see the situation inside due to the layers of jinzhi, they could clearly feel how great and terrifying the power being created was inside! It was like an ancient monster slowly awakening from its deep slumber.

The guard leader of Rare Artifacts Hall felt his heart shudder. He was standing very close to the mo weapon pool, and this feeling of power grew even stronger. He had a strong feeling that the mo weapon taking form in the mo weapon pool was filled with danger!

“Retreat! Everyone, retreat!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The other guards stared at each other, and hesitated. The guard leader’s orders were in opposition to the orders from the higher-ups, but the status of the guard leader was extremely high in Rare Artifacts Hall and he had the final say on outside matters.

“All of you, retreat!” The guard leader shouted angrily.

The hesitation on the faces of the other guards swept away. They packed up the dark gold boxes on the ground and retreated like the tide.

Just as they retreated out fifty zhang, the mo weapon pool rang out, and a thick blue and white pillar of light shot into the sky!

Boom boom boom!

The pillar of light was ten zhang thick, and when it touched the rock overhead, the mo matrices that covered the rock layer disappeared like paper mache. The hard rock was cut like soft tofu in by the pillar of light. The pillar of light penetrated the thick rock layer without any effort.

———

Boom boom boom!

The ground shook. The crowds on the streets had astounded expressions as they flew into the sky.

“What happened?”

“Is it an earthquake?”

Just as they started a discussion, a thick blue and white pillar of light suddenly erupted from the ground and entered the sky.

The pillar of light stabbed into the cloud layer.

Boom boom boom!

The cloud layer seemed to be moved by an invisible hand. The clouds from all directions started to gather rapidly towards the pillar of light.

In a flash, the cloud layer became black and heavy. The sky started to darken at a visible rate. Only that thick pillar of blue and white light became even brighter and eye-catching!

The thick inky black clouds were so heavy they were suffocating. A wild wind rose, and swept up sand and rock.

People looked at the sky in fear .

Suddenly, a bright and thick bolt of lightning exploded in the sky!

Boom-om-om!

The thunder seemed to explode in people’s minds. Those that were less courageous almost dropped out of the sky.

Plop plop, thick bean-sized droplets of rain poured down. In this moment, a wild wind and storm suddenly started gusting. The sky and earth was deluged in a heavy rain that impeded their vision!

Silver snakes danced above their heads, and the power of the world was displayed.

The terrified crowd did not have any attention to spare to marvel at the power of the world. Their gazes were all fixed in fear at the blinding blue and white pillar of light!

———

Inside the blue and white pillar of white, Zuo Mo was disheveled.

This was the first time he had merged mo matrices and seal scripts together so perfectly yet the power of the two together surpassed his imagination. When the blue and white mo matrices lit up, he had a bad feeling, but the light that charged upwards had immediately swallowed him.

The remnants of his clothing turned to ash. As his expression changed drastically, the grey dragon claw bracelet on his wrist suddenly lit up with a faint blood colored tinge.

This layer of blood suddenly shot out and wrapped around Zuo Mo like a ball of fire. The blue and white pillar of light was vicious but it could not defeat the thin layer of blood.

The Anti Dragon Claw!

Zuo Mo was astounded. Ever since the Anti Dragon Claw had been heavily damaged the last time he used it, it had lost its shine and its power. Its unusual state at this time caused Zuo Mo’s heart to beat uncontrollably.

Zuo Mo looked down. There seemed to be even brighter threads of blood mist wrapped around his hand.  They were like tiny blood dragons that wrapped around him. Suddenly, a handful of the blood mist rose, and the dragon raised its head.

“Roar!”

A dragon’s roar sounded in Zuo Mo’s mind without warning. The blood mist opened, like a dragon stretching its great maw and howling angrily!

The ball of light that was closest to Zuo Mo immediately shook and then started to fly shakily towards Zuo Mo.

This was … …

Zuo Mo gaped at this scene. Before he could react, the blood mist on his wrist acted like a real dragon and accurately struck the ball of light floating over.

When the blood mist hit the light ball, it turned into a ball of bloody mist and tightly surrounded the ball of light.

The ball of light continued to struggle in the bloody mist, but its struggles quickly weakened until it became motionless.

The blood mist roiled as it swallowed the ball of light. The blood mist soon became denser, and there was some more light on the dragon claw bracelet on Zuo Mo’s wrist.

After feeding, the blood mist became multiple times stronger and immediately headed to another ball of light.

The interior of the pillar of light turned to chaos. The remaining nine balls of light flew frantically to avoid this terrifying ball of blood mist. These balls of light were intelligent, and nimble in movement. The blood mist leapt around for a while but didn’t manage to get even one.

Suddenly, the blood mist stopped and formed into a blurry dragon’s head. It suddenly opened its mouth and gave a furious roar.

“Roar!”

The dragon’s roar exploded in Zuo Mo’s mind. His mind immediately blanked. The nine balls of light that had been fleeing all simultaneously froze. The blood mist immediately took this chance and swallowed another ball of light.

The dragon claw bracelet on Zuo Mo’s hand became even brighter.

At this time, a dark gold little figure suddenly appeared within the pillar of light. A mirror image of Zuo Mo, it was the Black Gold Seal Soldier! He greedily licked his lips. He suddenly lunged at a ball of light and tried to chomp on it with his mouth. His body was small to begin with, and when he consumed the ball of light, his hands were locked around the ball of light as his legs kicked in the air. He clearly was using all of his strength.

The blood mist acted just as it had before. It swallowed three balls of light in total before contently flicking its tail and burrowing back into the dragon claw bracelet. The dragon claw on Zuo Mo’s wrist had changed from its withered state. It became lifelike, its flesh and muscles filled out, and its claws crimson red.

A feeling rose in Zuo Mo’s mind. He was able to discern the thoughts that the dragon claw was passing to him.

The efficiency of the Black Gold Seal Soldier was much lower. He only had time to chew on two balls of light. He looked yearningly at the remaining balls of light. He then carefully looked at Zuo Mo. Taking advantage of the fact that Zuo Mo was distracted, he escaped burrowing back into the ring.

Zuo Mo gaped at everything that had occurred.

He hadn’t expected that the Anti Dragon Claw and the Black Gold Seal Soldier would come out midway during crafting and before he could get a grasp of the situation, he lost half of his balls of light.

The Anti Dragon Claw looked more energetic, but it had not recovered to its past state. The Black Gold Seal Soldier started to sleep again … …

Each ball of light was an earth mo weapon … …

In a flash, there were five fewer earth mo weapons … …

Five earth mo weapons!

Realizing this after the fact, Zuo Mo’s mind exploded. How many mobei was that? He seemed to see an ocean of mobei disappearing in a flash. Anger rose!

There was nothing more hateful than stealing jingshi and mobei from ge!

Zuo Mo’s eyes filled with blood, an extremely dangerous presence coming off him. The remaining five balls of light trembled like the sheep trembling under the claws and fangs of a demon king.

Yet the last bit of remaining reason suppressed Zuo Mo’s anger. After losing five of the balls of light, the concentration of power in the blue pillar of light skyrocketed!

The forging of the mo weapons had reached the most important step. If he was the least bit careless, it would all be for nothing.

The blue pillar of light was a dan cauldron made from the earth fire and the cold currents!

Zuo Mo took a deep breath and, with the anger suppressed inside, he furiously shot mo matrices into the five mo weapons. With every mo matrix that was put into the balls of light, there would be a thread of pure earth fire and cold current that would burrow into the ball of light.

Yet, stimulated by the disappearance of an astounding amount of mobei, Zuo Mo clearly was sent into a rage, and the mo matrices that left his hands became more and more ridiculous!

With the first ball of light, he was still trying to control himself, and the mo matrices he had used were within the range of normality.

By the last ball of light, his restraint was completely gone. The mo matrices rained down like a waterfall, and there were numerous complex seal scripts mixed within them.

On this last mo weapon, he smashed mo matrices and seal scripts for two hours. He seemed to vent his anger into this ball of light.

The balls of light trembled, the Anti Dragon Claw was docile, and the Black Gold Seal Soldier was silent.

When an astounding amount of cold currents and earth fire flooded into the last ball of light, the ball of light seemed as though it would burst at any moment.

Only now did Zuo Mo suddenly recover his calm and jumped in fright.

The last ball of light was twice the size of the other four balls of light. It was like an over-inflated balloon that swayed.

Zuo Mo immediately felt his scalp prickle!

If this guy exploded … …

The result caused him to shudder. He saw this and hurriedly stopped.

The rudiments within the five balls of light were like five balls of metal liquid. They started to take shape. Zuo Mo widened his eyes and didn’t dare to miss even a detail. Seeing the growth of these rudiments was very beneficial for him.

A three part weapon: sword, sabre, and shield combo; a blood coloured spear with an icicle tassel; a sun and moon chakram; a pair of thirteen-chain linked whips … …

Only the largest ball constantly changed but did not fully take form. It was like a ball of liquid metal with mo matrices and seal scripts constantly flowing on it. Zuo Mo widened his eyes to look closely but felt dizzy. He was astounded, and his anticipation of this mo weapon grew slightly higher.

Twelve whole hours!

An unexpected mo weapon finally took form–

–a set of battle armor!

The icy blue battle armor had beautiful curves. Its dark red helm was had a murderous appearance. Every armor piece were thin and ice blue. If one looked closely, they would see that every scale was covered in countless complex and beautiful lines. There was a pair of snowy white wings attached to the back that gave it an aura of holiness.

Even Zuo Mo who had forged countless treasures couldn’t help but be enchanted by this set of battle armor.

When the battle armor took form, the entire pillar of light suddenly grew.

Zuo Mo felt a great power suddenly erupt from under the ground.

Before he could react, he was like a little stone that was shot out. He shot upwards and when he passed by the five mo weapons, the five mo weapons turned into five streaks of light that tightly spun around him.

When he passed through the dozens of li of rock and flew out of the earth into the sky, everyone in Bu Zhou City couldn’t help but raise their heads.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Zuo Mo left a long cry tailing after him. He had never flown so high before!

Through the cloud layer, through the atmosphere, Zuo Mo was above the clouds and didn’t know how long he flew for.

Suddenly, he felt his body start to fall. He panicked even more, and an even more piteous wail started. “Ahhhh … …”

In a panic, Zuo Mo grabbed the battle armor spinning around him!

Zuo Mo only had one though in his mind.

The armor had wings!

At this time, the black clouds that filled the sky suddenly dissipated. A blinding light suddenly shone out from the thick cloud layer!

Within this great beam of light, under the upraised gazes from all of Bu Zhou City, an glittering perfect figure with large snowy wings and radiating sparks, surrounded by four glowing mo weapons, dove down like a meteor.

A shocking hum filled the air.

Boom!

The legs wrapped in icy blue armor were slightly bent as they heavily stepped onto the ground. Air currents on the ground carried dust and soil as they moved outwards. The snowy white wings moved fanned upwards and outwards, and Zuo Mo seemed to be a statue.

Pew pew pew pew!

Four streaks of light heavily embedded themselves into the ground around him. The four mo weapons showed their true appearance with a murderous air.

Everyone suddenly felt the same words appear in their minds–

A god’s descent to earth!

Chapter 715 – The Monarch Of Mo Weapons

Cui An looked warily around. He found there were four people close in strength to him in this group of people. Those flickering gazes were filled with faint danger and great wariness.

It was crowded inside the sky shark. The sky shark that used to transport only a few hundred people now was forced to hold over two thousand and twenty people. The overcrowding could be imagined.

However, no one dared to complain. This was a sky shark that had been temporarily added to the route. There were more than three hundred sky sharks like this. All of them had one destination, Bu Zhou City. Yet even with the addition of three hundred sky sharks and their massive carrying capacity was not able to satisfy the crazy flow of people.

Each sky shark was filled to capacity with people. All the privileges of the private yards and first class residences were revoked. Each corner was filled with people. But even in such terrible conditions, people still paid twice the usual cost for a ticket.

Cui An had good luck. He had bought a shark ticket using a connection from his friend to board this sky shark.

Many more people had to travel day and night, on small mo steeds, over mountains and rivers to head to Bu Zhou City. They formed groups like herds of ants that moved towards Bu Zhou City tirelessly.

The present mo territories was boiling because of a miracle.

Four earth mo weapons and a super mo weapon of unclear grade had been created, Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai had astounded the world!

News of this incomprehensible miracle immediately spread to every corner of the mo territories. Before this, no mo weapon grandmaster had been able to forge two earth mo weapons at once, never!

Four earth mo weapons!

Yes, four earth mo weapons. All four of them had been examined by Rare Artifacts Hall and they were all earth mo weapons of great quality. After obtaining the agreement of the grandmaster, Rare Artifacts Hall immediately publicized the detailed descriptions of these four earth mo weapons. In a brief amount of time, the information spread to the rest of the world like lightning.

The information on these four earth mo weapons were made public was like pouring hot water into a pot of boiling oil.

[Iceblood Three Hound Seat] was comprised of three mo weapons: a sabre, a sword, and a shield. This was a very rare set. The sabre and the sword were both long and narrow. The sabre was dark red, and its channels flowed like rivers. The sword was icy blue, sharp, and transparent like a sword made from crystalline ice. The shield was an buckler shield. It was completely black and had five  irregularly placed stars on it.

[Blue Horsefly] was the only long range weapon among the four mo weapons. It was a blood spear, and had a tassel made from twelve ice blue crystals. What was even more wondrous was the body of the spear. The crimson red spear seemed to be soaked in fresh blood, yet when one gripped the spear, they would find that the body was made from countless minuscule flows of blood. These blood colored flows would shift slightly as though they were alive.

[Dark Clear Li Chakrams] were a pair of larger and smaller chakrams. The large one was dark gold, and had a fiery pattern. When it was held in the hand, it was like holding a ball of fire. The smaller chakram was snowy white and covered in faint patterns of the moon, almost weightless in the hand. When the two chakrams were placed close together, they would attract each other and slowly spin.

[Thirteen Pillars] was a pair of whips, each with thirteen links. The pair of whips were extremely heavy. With every flick of the whip, thunder and wind would sound. When the two whips danced together, it could cause thunder to manifest in the sky. If one was to nurture them in storm clouds, they would become even more powerful. This was an extremely rare earth mo weapon with great power.

All four earth mo weapons were first class. When Rare Artifacts Hall publicized them, the other mo weapon masters started to judge them, but everyone of them placed them in the top fifty of earth mo weapons.

Other than the Mo Weapon Master association which put all four earth mo weapons at the very bottom.

However, no one paid attention to the Mo Weapon Master Association’s assessment. Everyone thought of the promise that Xiao Yun Hai had given before. One Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass could be used to trade for an earth mo weapon!

Many people beat their chests and stomped their feet. Why didn’t they believe this before? Right now, on the black market, the price of a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass had risen to a ridiculous level, and there was no supply.

Cui An had Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass!

He was just a half-step away from marshal level. Owning an earth mo weapon was something that he had dreamed about. Even if he became a marshal, obtaining one would take a very long time. But no matter which method he tried, he hadn’t managed to obtain an earth mo weapon. Every earth mo weapon was treasured by their master, and would not be easily given to others.

So when he had heard Xiao Yun Hai’s promise, he didn’t believe it, but he had held some hope. He tried his best to get a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

When the four earth mo weapons came into the world, he became excited and immediately started to head for Bu Zhou City.

On the road, he was extremely careful especially when he found there were others that were close in power to him. These people were mostly mo like Cui An that were on their own. They were not dragged down by their families nor did they rely on any faction.

They had strong desires for earth mo weapons. Usually, earth mo weapons were bought out by the major factions, and they would not go onto the market. They never had any chances.

For them, Bu Zhou City was a one in a thousand chance!

Cui An couldn’t help but become nervous. Among those travelling with him, would the four that were close in power to him also have Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass?

For experts of his level, other than earth mo weapons, they would be able to obtain other treasures if they tried, like the Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass.

Cui An laughed inwardly. He hadn’t thought that there would be a day that he would feel nervous. He had always felt that he would be able to calmly face whatever happened. He hadn’t thought that he would lose his calm today.

But, in the end, he was a strong mo. His mind was strong and he quickly adjusted.

Having quieted the restlessness in his heart, Cui An was immediately listened in on the exchange between the surrounding mo weapon masters.

“Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai is definitely the best grandmaster of this era! No, he is the best grandmaster of all time!” A mo weapon master dressed in blue robes said with an excited expression.

Strangely, no one objected to his words.

“It really … … is really too astounding!” another mo weapon master couldn’t help but say. When he said this, there was incredulity mixed on his face with shock and reverence. It was a complicated expression.

Everyone had discussed this title many times in the recent while. They were not the only ones. Right now, all of the mo territories couldn’t wait to present the title of best mo weapon grandmaster to Xiao Yun Hai.

Other than the strong objections from the Mo Weapon Master Association, no one else felt that this was sudden and inappropriate. Even many people inside the Mo Weapon Master Association agreed, but due to the stern attitudes of the grandmasters leading them, they didn’t dare to publicly state their opinions.

But more and more factions supported this, thusly more and more commentary would use appellations of respect such as “the greatest mo weapon grandmaster” or “the grandmaster of grandmasters” when they discussed Xiao Yun Hai.

They no longer said that he didn’t know his limits, they no longer said that he was arrogant, they no longer said that he was boasting.

Countless people departed for Bu Zhou City to see this grandmaster that had come out of nowhere and was so strong he could defeat any grandmaster in history, the strongest grandmaster!

He was like the undoubted monarch of mo weapon masters!

All the mo weapon masters in each mo jie moved as the news spread. They came from all areas to see this mo weapon monarch that had never appeared in history before.

“And that super mo weapon, why didn’t Rare Artifacts Hall publicize its information?” The blue-robed mo weapon master had a heated gaze of reverence. He said heatedly, “Surpassing earth mo weapons, then isn’t it a sky mo weapon?”

“It’s not a sky mo weapon.” A grey-robed youth with a grave expression suddenly spoke. When he spoke, everyone else quieted. He said calmly, “I studied the mirage of the mo weapons coming out. That super mo weapon should be the complete set of body armor with wings that Grandmaster was wearing.”

The grey-robed youth was the most knowledgeable and skilled mo weapon master among this group, the others deeply respected them.

Even the enthusiastic blue-robed youth believed the grey-robed youth’s judgement. He said in puzzlement, “What is it if it is not a sky mo weapon?”

“I don’t know either,” the grey-robed youth shook his head and said, “I am going to the Mo Weapon Holy Pool to look. I might be able to find some clues.”

“Yes, yes! We have to see the Mo Weapon Holy Pool!” Everyone nodded.

Cui An heard this and couldn’t resist saying, “Sorry to disturb everyone, what is this Mo Weapon Holy Pool?” He had never heard of a mo weapon holy pool.

The blue-robed youth replied first, “The mo weapon pool where Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai forged the mo weapons! You don’t know? This mo weapon pool has given birth to four earth mo weapons and that super mo weapon. For some unknown reason, the mo weapon pool has completely crystallized, and all of Grandmaster’s preparations have been perfectly preserved. A few days ago, Grandmaster had ordered to allow the public to view the holy pool.”

Cui An finally understood.

Another mo weapon master said emotionally, “I would even crawl to Bu Zhou City for the opportunity to see the holy pool!”

Cui An immediately recognize a serious problem. “Doesn’t this mean that more and more people will come to Bu Zhou City?”

The grey-robed youth glanced at Cui An and said coolly, “No mo weapon master will pass on this chance. Barring any accidents, the holy pool will become the holy ground for mo weapon masters!”

The other people nodded with similar expressions.

Cui An’s grimace became even more bitter.

———

In a tightly guarded secret room underground.

“This is still unable to be assessed.” The middle-aged mo shook his head. He had a grimace. His tone was admiring and amazed. This was the sixth time he had gathered various appraisers to judge this unique mo armor. But none were able to determine or guess at its level. These appraisers were all experienced. Each of them had at least twenty years of working experience.

But even with so many assessors, they were unable to determine the general level. For this, they had fought countless times, slapped the table, swore at each other, and even fought. However, they were still unable to give an assessment.

But they were strangely in agreement on one point, it definitely wasn’t a sky mo weapon!

Or rather, it was completely different than any other sky mo weapon in history.

Every appraiser  couldn’t bear to allow their gaze to leave this breathtakingly beautiful set of mo armor. It really was too beautiful! It had many wondrous and incomprehensible parts. These wondrous traits were different than any mo weapon that these appraisers had seen before.

What really was this?

All of their puzzled gazes focused on Zuo Mo.

Chapter 716 – Angel Device Raiment

Zuo Mo was also slightly uncertain.

The appraisers were not the only ones puzzled, Zuo Mo was also very puzzled. The formation of this mo raiment had been accidental. At the time, the black gold seal soldier and the Anti Dragon Claw had consumed five earth mo weapons which had caused his anger to shoot to his head. He had thrown everything he prepared for those five weapons into the last ball. It had wondrously not exploded and formed this strange thing.

In reality, the earth fire and cold current that this freak rudiment had absorbed surpassed the sum of the other four earth mo weapons.

Even if it was strange, it was a powerfully strange one.

Zuo Mo tried to manipulate it using normal mo weapon methods, but there was always a feeling of being blocked. This  puzzled him. While mo weapons might have slightly different methods of use, they were not different at the core. Mo’s strongest power was their physical body, their body was the source they derived their power from. The mo weapons were formed from this unique trait of the mo.

But no matter how Zuo Mo channeled his mo art, while he was able to use it, there was always a feeling of being hampered.

Zuo Mo thought of the seal scripts that he had sent out during the forging process. Was it more like a talisman? Zuo Mo tried to use ling power to activate it. Strangely, it was also able to be used, but there were still places where it was sluggish.

It really was strange!

Zuo Mo had seen so many talismans and mo weapons, but had never seen such a strange item before. This strange thing was also something that he had forged.

Yet while this mo raiment seemed to be a thin layer, it was impervious to  damage by water and fire. Even Zuo Mo’s sun shen fire didn’t affect it at all. This astounded Zuo Mo. He knew the power of the sun shen fire. It was able to melt almost everything.

When this mo raiment was put on, it would automatically tighten around the body to become a thin skin. That pair of wings would move according to one’s thoughts. They looked soft but they were difficult to damage with mo weapons. Strangely, when Zuo Mo used the sabre of the [Iceblood Three Hound Seat] to chop out a cut, after one night, it managed to heal itself and not leave a mark behind.

Everyone gaped at this.

Zuo Mo could only grimace and spread his hand. “I don’t know either.”

The middle-aged mo’s gaze was hot. He couldn’t resist saying, “Grandmaster, no matter what the price is, please state it, this mo raiment … …”

Zuo Mo waved his hand. “There’s no need to say more, I won’t sell this mo raiment.”

Even if he knew this would be the answer, the middle-aged mo was still slightly disappointed. He quickly adjusted his mood and said with a smile, “Then, Grandmaster, give it a name. The only thing left is that it doesn’t have a name.”

“This thing is slightly strange.” Zuo Mo thought for a moment before saying, “Then it will be the [Angel Device Raiment].”

“A good name!” the middle-aged mo praised but his expression was slightly strange.

Zuo Mo glanced at the middle-aged mo. The other had done everything to help him. While there were other reasons, it was clear the two were in alliance at the moment. He said, “Pick one of the four earth mo weapons. The remaining three will be traded for the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.”

The middle-aged mo was overjoyed and hurriedly said, “I want [Blue Horsefly]!”

Zuo Mo smiled and said, “You have good eyes.”

[Blue Horsefly] was the only long-range weapon among all four earth mo weapons. These four mo weapons all had a unique characteristic, they all had two attributes. This was because they had been forged using earth fire and the cold currents of the Underground Nether River. [Blue Horsefly] was the only single piece mo weapon of the group. While it was a single item, it had both fire and ice attributes, and was the best among the four mo weapons.

The middle-aged mo smiled freely, “However, I will not take this from you for free. That batch of materials was valued at just two billion mobei, it is far below the worth of this. Since the materials in the dark gold boxes have been delivered, it will be troublesome to return them, so I will gift them all to Grandmaster. If Grandmaster has any new works, please give one or two to my Rare Artifacts Hall.”

Zuo Mo changed expression. Every one of the materials in the dark gold boxes were rare, and each was of equivalent value to cities. The other was so generous to give all of them to him. This present was astounding.

Zuo Mo thought and then said, “If I have new works in the future, you can have the first choice of two for free.”

The middle-aged mo smiled brightly. “Many thanks, Grandmaster, many thanks!”

The materials had been accumulated by Rare Artifacts Hall over time, and he also felt heartache at giving them out. However, it was still profitable exchange if it cemented their relationship with the strongest mo weapon master. He had not thought that Zuo Mo would actually give two more earth mo weapons. These two earth mo weapons were more than enough to trade for these materials!

Zuo Mo smiled and said, “If I have a need for the help of your hall, Boss Yi, please take care of me.”

Zuo Mo had only learned the middle-aged mo name not long ago, Yi An.

Yi An hurriedly said, “Grandmaster is too courteous! Grandmaster’s reputation is so great right now that no one would dare to offend you!”

Yi An’s words were pointed. He had seen the attitude of the Tang Family to Zuo Mo. However, with Zuo Mo’s present fame, the Tang family would not dare to treat him like they did before. Even as a marshal, Tang Chen would not dare to commit such a great crime.

With Zuo Mo’s present status, even Tang Chen would have to call him “Grandmaster” if they met.

Tang Chen was a marshal but he was not the strongest marshal, much less ranking in history. Yet the name Xiao Yun Hai had reached an unprecedented height that left all others looking up to him.

This was Zuo Mo’s present status!

Zuo Mo smiled unconcernedly. He was wary of Tang Chen but he did not fear the other. In terms of strength, Ji Zheng who he killed was even more powerful. Right now, he just didn’t want to cause any waves, and everything could wait until he got the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

“Put everything aside, Boss Yi, please spend more effort on the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass!” Zuo Mo said.

“Of course! Of course!” Yi An hurriedly said.

His face was filled with joy. This time, he had gambled rightly! This mo weapon miracle would leave a great mark on history. And Rare Artifacts Hall that had played such a great role in this event would benefit for many years from this!

The four earth mo weapons were placed in Rare Artifacts Hall and he would be in complete charge of exchanging the earth mo weapons for Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass. Not long in the future, the name of Rare Artifacts Hall would pass into all of the mo territories.

Yet Zuo Mo who was only focused on obtaining the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass didn’t know what kind of whirlwind he had created!

———

Mo Shen Temple.

The eyes of the two mo gods were locked onto the mirage on the table, it was the [Angel Device Raiment]!

They had gotten the mirage from other avenues and the fidelity of the image to the event was high. Every single detail was clear. There was also a segment after on Zuo Mo landing from the sky.

Their expressions were filled with surprise. Without blinking, they had stared at the mirage for a whole night.

“It is not a sky mo weapon,” the rhinoceros mo god rumbled out. There was a rare blush on his calm face, and his excitement could be seen.

“It is a shen device!” The eldest mo god’s gaze didn’t move at all. It was possible to hear a thread of insuppressible excitement from his cold tone. On his thin face, the sickle shaped mark was completely exposed.

“Shen device?” The rhinoceros mo stilled. While that [Angel Device Raiment] was unlike any mo weapon he had seen before, he hadn’t thought that it would be a shen weapon.

“Old Three said that the mysterious old man said that Xiao Yun Hai might be able to forge shen devices. I hadn’t thought that he would actually forge something so close to a shen device,” The eldest mo god slowly said. The sickle red mark on his face moved and appeared unspeakably terrifying.

“Close to shen device, I understand.” The rhinoceros mo god’s shock lessened slightly and nodded. He could accept this.

“It is very close.” There was surprise and admiration on the eldest mo god’s face. He stood and drawled, “If a shen device appears, the era of shen power will come even more quickly.”

The rhinoceros mo said gravely, “We do not need to change anything.”

“No!” The eldest mo god narrowed his eyes and his tone was sharp. “We need to quickly resolve our fatal weakness, expand even more quickly to get the most advantage before our enemies have grown up. While their relative power has fallen, they have strong foundations and this means that they will be stronger in the long run.”

“What should we do?” The rhinoceros mo gold’s expression did not change as he rumbled out a question.

“We need the [Angel Device Raiment], this is the mo weapon that is closest to a shen device right now. We need to study this.” The eldest mo god narrowed his eyes and said methodically, “Also, if Xiao yun Hai is on our hands, we do not have to worry that Xiao Mo Ge will not come.”

“But this way, wouldn’t we make too much of a fuss?” The rhinoceros mo god looked at the eldest mo god. His tone was calm. “Xiao Yun Hai is a star right now, it will be troublesome if we move against him.”

“In the end, we can only have a say in this world based on power,” the eldest mo god said coolly. “In front of absolute power, everything else is as fragile as paper.”

“The Tang Family will have qualms, but we do not need to worry.”

The eldest mo god said proudly.

———

Zuo Mo did not go out and show off. While he would receive numerous exquisitely crafted invitations everyday, he ignored them all. He had gained much this time. Other than his mo weapons crafting ability, he felt as though his spell level had also skyrocketed.

Forging was able to increase control of ling power so the xiuzhe that were skilled in forging would usually have outstanding control of ling power. This could be seen from how many sects mandated forging as an essential class to take.

The control of ling power had always been Zuo Mo’s shortcoming, but after forging in this time, and with the gravestone oath’s boost, he had progressed rapidly.

Other than the earth mo weapon he gave Rare Artifacts Hall, according to the promise he had given before, he would only be able to get three Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses.

He didn’t know if three Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses would be enough but he decided to use the time to forge some more earth mo weapons to change for more Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

Also, he had gained greatly from forging earth mo weapons. If he did it again, his ling power control would go up a level, and his strength would grow stronger.

The rare thousand year old collection of Rare Artifacts Hall was on his hand right now. These materials stimulated him, and he kept on having new ideas.

The previous forging process had also given him many inspirations, especially that strange [Angel Device Raiment].

He had a strong impulse to forge new mo weapons.

Chapter 717 – The Mysterious Old Man

Zuo Mo was optimistic about forging, but the reality of the situation was not so sunny. The water level of the Underground Nether River had been drastically lowered, and for the first time, it was lowered almost to the riverbed. The heaven tier mo weapon pool had completely crystallized and it was unusable for forging mo weapons.

On this matter, the party who lost was the Tang Family. Zuo Mo had almost dried up the entirety of the Underground Nether River, and it would be many years for the mo weapon pools to recover to their previous state. However, there was no way they could ask for reparations from Zuo Mo. In the eyes of other people, the Tang Family had benefited greatly.

An endless stream of visitors had caused the Underground Nether River to become a tourist spot.

It was not so easy for Zuo Mo to find another high level mo weapon pool.

Also, before he found a new mo weapon pool, he needed to deal with another problem—the [Angle Device Raiment]! There were many people who had used all kinds of methods and connections to inform him that they hoped to see the [Angel Device Raiment].

Look at the background of these people.

The Tang Family patriarch Tang Cheng, Gongzi Xi, Feng Xin Zi of the yao envoys, Ji Li Yu, Mo God Youxi Ya Ke of the Mo Shen Temple.

Any of them were influential on their own, and what was most unexpected to Zuo Mo was that the Mo Shen Temple would send in such a request.

Zuo Mo had a deep impression of the great power of the rhinoceros mo god of the Mo Shen Temple. At that time, Zuo Mo finally saw the power of shen power. Even though he had cultivated shen power for such a long time, he had never seen such astounding shen power.

It would not be easy for Zuo Mo to refuse any of the requests.

Their demand was not outrageous. They only wanted to see the mysterious [Angel Device Raiment].

After some thought, Zuo Mo decided to hold a small public demonstration to show off the [Angel Device Raiment]. There were many parts to the [Angel Device Raiment] that Zuo Mo had a hard time understanding, and he also hoped that these experts would give him some ideas.

Numerous invitations were sent out.

Yet what followed surprised Zuo Mo. More requests and inquiries came in. He had to increase the number of invitations.

———

The Underground Nether River wasn’t the only spot filled with people. All of Bu Zhou City was filled with people in every corner. It was the first time so many people were visiting Bu Zhou City since it was built. Unlike the Tang Family who was worried about maintaining their control, the other factions were excited. This was such a good opportunity to make money.

The busiest and most populous place in Bu Zhou City was still the Rare Artifacts Hall.

If Zuo Mo came to visit the Rare Artifacts Hall again, his jaw would drop in shock. The outer wall of Rare Artifact Hall had been taken down. Other than the heavy jinzhi that were kept, everything else was cleared out, and there were only four crystal shelves inside.

There was an earth mo weapon floating inside each crystal case.

The four newly created earth mo weapons were like four vicious beasts silently hibernating as they showed off their beauty and power.

Every mo that came to visit showed intoxication when they saw these four top mo weapons. The perfect merging of beauty and power. The mo who revered strength didn’t have any immunity towards them.

It was the lifelong wish of many people to see the grandeur of the legendary earth mo weapons at a close distance.

If it wasn’t for the heavy jinzhi on the crystal cases, and the great jinzhi that curved to cover the entire place, many people would have instinctively reach out. Inhales, swallows, and gasps of shock rang out. Every shopkeeper of Rare Artifacts Hall straightened their backs, their faces covered in professional smiles. They felt peerlessly proud and excited at the scene in front of them.

Cui An was among the crowd.

His gaze was burning and desirous as it fixated on the four earth mo weapons. However, what he felt more of was anxiousness. One Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass to trade for an earth mo weapon, was this true?

Gritting his teeth, he walked in front of a shopkeeper, “May I ask if it is possible to trade a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass for an earth mo weapon now?”

The shopkeeper who had a small smile on his face all this time immediately turned grave. “Yes, it can be traded! Sir has a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass?”

The words were heaven to Cui An’s ears. He was overjoyed but kept his expression calm. “Yes.”

The shopkeeper did not dare to slight him and hurriedly said, “Please come with me.”

The shopkeeper quickly guided Cui An towards a heavily guarded inner room. The shops surrounding Rare Artifacts Hall had been bought, borrowed, or rented at a high price by Rare Artifacts Hall.

An experienced appraiser had been waiting in the room.

Cui An took a deep breath and carefully took out the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

The assessor carefully made his assessment. About fifteen minutes later, he wiped the fine sweat off his forehead, nodded, and said, “It is Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass, the quality is good, it can be traded.”

Cui An’s heart uncontrollably jumped, and a feeling of great fortune flooded his body and mind.

The shopkeeper was also slightly excited when he heard this but he kept his composure. He said, “Congratulations, Sir! Other than [Blue Horsefly], you can choose any of the other three.”

It was not a surprise that [Blue Horsefly] belonged to Rare Artifacts Hall. [Blue Horsefly] had been the only weapon marked with the insignia of Rare Artifacts Hall among the four earth mo weapons displayed.

Cui An inhaled deeply, and calmed his excitement. “I want the [Yin Clear Li Chakrams]!”

When the [Yin Clear Li Chakrams] disappeared suddenly from the crystal cases, the people who had been looking at it immediately gasped. Nearby shopkeepers hurriedly explained. The news that someone had used Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass to trade for the [Yin Clear Li Chakrams] spread through the entire city.

Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass could be traded for earth mo weapons!

This was true!

The world immediately went crazy!

———

Zuo Mo looked warily at the old man in front of him. A Gui stood woodenly by his side. Ceng Lian’er narrowed her eyes as her long sleeve that touched the floor remained still as though she was prepared to attack at any moment.

Zuo Mo was astounded when the old man had materialized like a ghost. The guard outside was tight yet the old man had managed to make his way in without being detected.

Yet what surprised him was that the old man was looking at A Gui. His gaze was complex, mixed with pity, tenderness, and guilt.

Zuo Mo unconsciously shielded A Gui and face the old man guardedly.

“She has the Undying Shen Punishment,” the old man suddenly asked. His eyes were full of a complicated emotion.

Zuo Mo’s body suddenly shook and he abruptly raised his head. He asked gravely as his murderousness came out, “Who are you?”

The old man ignored Zuo Mo. His brow creased with slight dissatisfaction. “Haven’t you found that her Undying Shen Power has a problem?”

“The Undying Shen power has a problem?” Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly as he rushed to hold A Gui’s wrist.

The purple chain had become even thicker. There seemed to be something that was barely taking form inside A Gui’s soul.

“What is going on?” Zuo Mo’s tone changed. No matter how he tried, he could not see what was being formed inside A Gui’s soul. He was slightly terrified. He could not do anything to the Undying shen power and his greatest fear was a problem occurring.

And as expected, his greatest fear was occurring.

“The Undying Shen Punishment has not changed much,” the old man mused to himself, “other than … …”

“Other than what?” Zuo Mo unconsciously blurted out.

“Unless she formed the Undying Shen Seal.” The old man suddenly raised his head. “Yes, it definitely is the Undying Shen Seal!”

Seeing the blankness on Zuo Mo’s face, the old man explained in a cold voice, “The Undying Shen Punishment is the cruelest shen punishment but it is not without hope. The only solution in legend is to form the Undying Shen Seal and search for life in death! I had not thought the legends were true. The Undying Shen Seal, it definitely is the Undying Shen Seal!”

“So this means that A Gui can break free of the Undying Shen Punishment?” Zuo Mo said joyfully.

“It is not so easy.” The old man smiled coldly. He looked at Zuo Mo, narrowed his eyes that dimmed and brightened. His gaze caused Zuo Mo’s hairs to stand on end. He felt a strong feeling of danger and he was on his guard.

Suddenly, the old man’s expression returned to normal as though the enmity he had just exuded was an illusion. He said lightly, “The Undying Shen Seal is the one in ten thousand chance of life in death. While there is the legend, no one knows how it can formed. It is difficult to say whether she has  the Undying Shen Power or not. Even if she does, the danger she faces far surpasses your imagination.”

“If you have Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass, you may want to try.” The old man looked deeply at Zuo Mo. “You want to know your origins, but it will also help her. Those memories can help her understand her own heart and not get lost in the pain of the Undying Shen Punishment.”

Zuo Mo seemed to understand. He thought of the peaceful A Gui within the purple chains and shook his head. “A Gui will not lose herself.”

The old man stilled slightly when he heard this. His expression quickly recovered and he threw a small bag to Zuo Mo.

“This is Scab Fragrance, feed it to her, it is also of benefit,” the old man said coolly. “Don’t keep your [Angel Device Raiment], it will only bring calamity.”

Zuo Mo received the little bag but noticed the old man’s words. He asked in response, “Bring calamity?”

“You poked the hornet’s nest,” the old man said impatiently. “Also, no matter what, do not expose your identity as Xiao Mo Ge.”

Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically. Even Ceng Lian’er’s expression changed and she almost attacked from the side.

The other knew his identity as Xiao Mo Ge!

Zuo Mo’s expression wavered and he was shocked inside.

The old man glanced at Ceng Lian’er and then he was clearly unfriendly when he looked at Zuo Mo. “Hmph, so young, but you have many women.”

Ceng Lian’er was like a cat who had its tail that was stepped on. Her narrowed eyes immediately froze over.

The old man didn’t even look at Zuo Mo. He said, “The yao are a good partner to trade with; ask for [Reincarnation Feather], [Soul Execution Yao Light], [Death Thought Bead].  They are all beneficial for her. If it is Tian Huan, trade for the [Tian Huan Case]. If it is Kun Lun, trade for the [Kun Lun Sword Soul], jade level, and get three! Xi Xuan’s [Five Element Soul Dan], Xuan Kong’s [Great Compassion Great Sorrow Life Sutra]. The mo don’t have anything good for healing the soul.”

Zuo Mo was confused but he had a general grasp. He was even more puzzled and couldn’t help but ask, “What is the [Angel Device Raiment?”

“Shen device.”

“Shen device!” Zuo Mo’s eyes widened.

“Just close to it.” The old man added, “Do your best.”

Finishing, the old man disappeared right in front of Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er changed expression. Zuo Mo suddenly thought of a shen method from the ancient era called the [Shen Void Pass]!

Shen power!

The old man cultivated shen power!

Who was he?

Chapter 718 – Pseudo-Shen Device The Angel Device Raiment

“It really is a shen device!”

Zuo Mo sighed in praise. He looked down at the blue armor that tightly wrapped around him and the layer of faint but dense flames. The serene blue flames burned soundlessly. When he channeled shen power, the [Angel Device Raiment] would automatically form this kind of water blue flame. This caused the armor that appeared to have been made from layers of clear blue crystal to become even more beautiful.

When Zuo Mo channeled a little over half of his sun shen power capacity, the snowy white wings would give off golden flames. When they moved, sparks would fall. These sparks were miniature shen fire. If one came into contact with it, they would adhere, and burn until everything was ash.

The serene blue and the gold flames intersected and shined, yet they did not give off any presence. Their ability to conceal themselves was greater than any yao art or spell that Zuo Mo knew of.

There was a faint tinge of blood over Zuo Mo’s vision. He could easily see the see through over three zhang of thick rock. Even deeply hidden jinzhi were clear to his eyes.

The more he used it, the more Zuo Mo liked it. There was no hindrance when he channeled shen power into it, and when he wore the [Angel Device Raiment] he could activate a shen technique using less than eight-tenths of the shen power it normally took.

Zuo Mo had Ceng Lian’er try as well.

When Ceng Lian’er channeled moon shen power, the [Angel Device Raiment] would flash with a faint moonlight. What was most fantastical was that when the wings danced, a crescent moon would occasionally appear and the shen power shedding off it was sharp instead.

A Gui was the eeriest. When she wore the [Angel Device Raiment], the dark red mask would become purple, and the snowy white wings would become as black as ink and give off faint black mist. The blue armor would also become pitch black. If she stood there and did not move for over three breaths, she would disappear into the darkness like smoke.

As expected of a shen device!

Before this, Zuo Mo had not thought that the [Angel Device Raiment] would be a shen device. Now that the old man pointed it out, he immediately tried and many places that had puzzled him were now clear.

He reluctantly took the [Angel Device Raiment] off. He now understood its value. The old man was right. The [Angel Device Raiment] was something he desired, but also a hot potato. Also, Zuo Mo was willing to trade it for something useful for A Gui.

The [Angel Device Raiment] was good but Zuo Mo had confidence that he would be able to forge even better shen devices in the future. Strictly speaking, the [Angel Device Raiment] was only a pseudo-shen device, and not a true one.

What worried Zuo Mo more was the Undying Shen power in A Gui that had started to change. Neither Pu Yao nor Wei had heard of the Undying Shen Seal but the two did not feel the old man had been lying.

Zuo Mo moved his gaze away from the [Angel Device Raiment] and asked, “What do you think of the old man?”

“The old man cultivates shen power,” Pu Yao said coldly. His eyes were narrowed. A cold light moved through the blood pupil like a blade revolving in the sunlight.

All the signs indicated that Pu Yao was not in a good mood.

He had always been the strongest support behind Zuo Mo. No matter if it was yao arts, spells, mo skills, he had guided Zuo Mo. Yet in the blink of an eye, as though it was a dream, he found that the world seemed to change. People that cultivated shen power, and were stronger than him had appeared. The strong return of shen power had caused this world to become unfamiliar, and this tide was not something that an individual’s power could reverse.

This made Zuo Mo feel dispirited, and Pu Yao who was extremely competitive disliked this feeling.

“He is very strong. Even in my era, he would be strong!” Wei’s expression was unusually grave. He had existed for longer than Pu Yao, from the last stages of the ancient era to now, and to the era of shen power returning. Those memories that had almost disappeared gradually started to become clear again.

Yet, while he seemed to have known them, the memories felt completely different.

This was going to be a new era.

Pu Yao quickly calmed down, and he buried the cold glint in his eyes. As one of the strongest in the world at his time, Pu Yao possessed a strong mind and unparalleled calmness. “He feels enmity towards you, but it seems that he isn’t your enemy. He is very friendly towards A Gui, and should have a deep connection to her!”

“Yes, even in our era, the Scab Fragrance is a very rare treasure and has unique effects to calm the soul. I hadn’t thought there would be Scab Fragrance here. They definitely have a deep relationship. Otherwise, he would not freely give such a valuable treasure.” Wei nodded and agreed with Pu Yao’s speculation. Wei would only not be a nag when he was discussing serious matters now.

Zuo Mo nodded as well. His thoughts were about the same as the other two.

“He knows my identity, that means that he has paid attention to me for a long time. He has a deep relationship to A Gui, so it is very likely he knows my origins. Next time, I have to learn this!” Zuo Mo had a thoughtful expression. “When the [Angel Device Raiment] is being sold, he will definitely be observing from the shadows. There will be a chance to meet with him again. But the [Angel Device Raiment] is a big problem!”

When he spoke of this, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but grimace. Actually, before the old man’s reminder, he had detected something from the tsunami of invitations. Yet when the secret of the [Angel Device Raiment] being a pseudo-shen device was revealed, he knew that trouble was still ahead of him. It was a good idea to trade the [Angel Device Raiment] for those treasures, but if he was the least bit careless, the situation would spiral out of control.

This was the first pseudo-shen device that had appeared in so many years. There were many people that were willing to risk anything to get it!

“It is slightly troublesome,” Pu Yao said coldly, “If they scheme, your identity is a sensitive one, you cannot expose shen power, Ceng Lian’er and A Gui cannot fight.”

Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed. “Have Rare Artifacts Hall come protect us?”

Pu Yao snorted. “They don’t know that the [Angel Device Raiment] is a pseudo-shen device. If they knew, the first ones with devious ideas will be them. Also, this time, the ones that are coming are the big names, Rare Artifacts Hall cannot stop them.”

Zuo Mo found this was very troublesome.

Pu Yao was right. This time, the ones who had come were big names. Mo Shen Temple, Tian Huan, Kun Lun, the Yao Council of Elders, all the mo marshals, and hidden experts like the old man who were of unknown origins but had unfathomable power … …

If those people tried to do something to him, Rare Artifacts Hall could not stop him. Yet he could not expose his identity and fight.

“Use jinzhi,” Wei suddenly said, “before they react. Set up a large jinzhi, the seal formations and mo matrices jinzhi that Golden Crow Camp have studied are already mature.”

Golden Crow Camp. Zuo Mo stilled. It had been very long since he had communicated with them. The communication was usually one way, where he would send the results of his own studies back to Golden Crow Camp for them to study at regular intervals.

The idea of setting up jinzhi was a good one. If the jinzhi he set was powerful enough, and he was in control, he would not have to worry about anything happening.

But then he thought of the people coming. If they were not marshals, they were terrifying experts like the mo gods. What level of jinzhi could do that?

Zuo Mo did not have jinzhi that could suppress people at the level of marshals and mo gods. If he had a year or more, he might be able to create one, but there was no time for him to think.

Would Golden Crow Camp have such a powerful large scale jinzhi?

Zuo Mo muttered inside.

———

The present Golden Crow Camp was hundreds of times as large as in the past. Because of their rapid expansion, their original site was unable to hold so many people. The two masters found an intermediate-sized cloud island to be the base for Golden Crow Camp. This island was renamed Golden Crow Cloud Island.

Golden Crow Cloud Island was the most famous center for seals, forging, and mo weapons in Cloud Sea Jie.

Along with the return of Lil’ Miss and Bie Han, Cloud Sea Jie’s rate of expansion rapidly increased. With almost an unstoppable presence, they took dozens of jie in one push. Among those were xiuzhe, mo, and yao jies. Collectively, this was called Mo Cloud Sea.

Mo from Zuo Mo, Cloud Sea for their origin of Cloud Sea Jie

The environment of Golden Crow Cloud Island was outstanding. There was an active volcano was tamed by the Golden Crow Camp using a fire formation that was hundreds of li long. They had also asked the Mist People to find some astounding high quality cold caves under the mountain range of the thick cloud sea.

The previous low level members of Golden Crow Camp were now all in high positions and were influential people.

Wei Cheng Bin started his daily task like usual. His composed face did not have the past wariness and youth. Wei Cheng Bin who had been skilled in making miniature jinzhi was deeply trusted by the two masters. In these years, he had worked tirelessly. Adding to the seal formations and mo matrices in the Pu Wei Library, his present skill level would be that of a grandmaster if he was outside Golden Crow Camp.

But he was willing to stay in the heavily guarded Golden Crow Camp. Other than his research on the topics that interested him every day, the time that he anticipated the most was the reflections that Daren would send through the Ten Finger Prison occasionally.

What Daren sent was the greatest secret in Golden Crow Camp. Other than the core members that could read them, they were not open to outsiders. And Wei Cheng Bin was responsible for receiving them and immediately organizing them.

Wei Cheng Bin liked staying here, mostly because he could see the reflections first. For this duty, he had defeated some strong competitors to obtain this coveted position.

Just like usual, what Daren had learned was passed over.

He methodically imprinted the contents using high level jade scrolls. Like he was savoring delicious food, he read word by word and didn’t bear to finish reading. However, even the longest content would be finished at some point. But when Wei Cheng Bin reached the end, he froze.

Daren required a large scale jinzhi?

He only reacted after a long few moments. Without a second word, he sent out two paper cranes to inform the two masters.

In a short amount of time, all the core members of Golden Crow Camp were gathered in one hall.

Everyone was discussing the meaning of Daren’s words. Of course, Daren’s meaning was very simple. Everyone was just very curious, was Daren going to build a city again?

In the preliminary battle strategies of Cloud Sea Jie, defense had been the most important, so Golden Crow Camp had invested great amounts of energy and resources into that.

The two masters saw more from Zuo Mo’s words – the stronger, the better!

This was Daren’s focus.

The strongest … …

The two exchanged a look. Sun Bao said gravely, “How about that set?”

The entire place immediately became silent. Everyone knew which set Master Sun Bao was talking about. Many people acted to speak but everyone still remained silent.

That set … …

Chapter 719 – That Set Of Jinzhi

Everyone in Golden Crow Camp knew of the set of jinzhi that Master Sun Bao spoke of.

Influenced by their initial expansion strategy, the study of jinzhi had always been popular on the island. At that time Guard Camp had been having their mo matrices engraved and activating bloodlines, meaning this was the time when the study of mo matrices had been the most popular as well.

A person who usually was not very eye-catching suddenly suggested a crazy idea.

–Use seal scripts as the structure and fill it with mo matrices.

Many people had been studying the jinzhi of the mo, especially the large amounts of valuable jinzhi that Pu Yao and Wei had provided. That had broadened the vision of Golden Crow Camp. However, no one had thought of merging the two together.

This person had actually found an outstanding seal script framework.

So when he threw out his idea, it had attracted almost everyone in the camp. Interested, they had started to help him perfect this extra large jinzhi.

The creation of large scale jinzhi was an extremely complex and vast work. It was made from countless little seal formations. This number might be a hundred thousand, it might be a million. A person alone, even if it was an expert like Zuo Mo, would need many years to create something like this.

Yet when all of Golden Crow Camp started to work with the two masters managing, their progress was rapid. After spending two months of time, a super jinzhi of unprecedented complexity and size finally took form.

Because it had been created by everyone, and their preferences and skills had been different, it was possible to see the influence of a number of styles. However, its main framework was outstanding, and it was balanced.

After the jinzhi was finished, all of the camp was stunned by this jinzhi.

Theoretically, its power surpassed any kind of jinzhi they knew of.

This astounding conclusion excited the entire camp. Everyone agreed to actually create this jinzhi yet and at that time.

There were many places that needed jinzhi that they could use this at, but they quickly reached an obstacle. The found that the difficulty in forging the core seal formation far surpassed their abilities. No matter what they tried, they could not realize this fanciful dream.

After working multiple months on it, and not having success, this jinzhi was naturally placed to the side.

Daren wanted the most powerful jinzhi. Sun Bao’s first thought was this jinzhi.

“This basically is not realistic,” someone objected.

But when they finished speaking, someone argued, “We can’t do it, but it doesn’t mean that Daren cannot!”

People thought, yes, Daren was a freak that built a city with only his own power. Maybe this thing could finally be realized on Daren’s hands.

“Pass this to Daren, and let Daren decide if he will use it or not.” In the end, it was Master Ji Wei that made the decision.

Master Sun Bao nodded and agreed. “This set of jinzhi doesn’t have a name, everyone, give it a name.”

“Monkey Ming, you thought of the concept for the jinzhi, give it a name,” someone shouted from within the crowd. It caused a roar of laughter. Monkey Ming’s true name was Ming Guan Shan, but because he was short and thin, people called him Monkey Ming and he did not object.

Monkey Ming’s face flushed bright red. He stood up and said, “Everyone created this together … …”

“Ho, Brother Ming is trying to deflect the responsibility, as long as you don’t call it Ming Ge Jinzhi, it’s all fine … …” another person teased and everyone laughed.

Even Master Ji Wei smiled. “This jinzhi came from your creativity, you should name it, do not refuse.”

Then someone shouted, “But it has to be domineering and impressive!”

Monkey Ming did not refuse. He tilted his head and thought for a while before he said embarrassedly, “Then it will be called the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]!”

[King’s Forbidden Firmament]!

———

“How is it? Have you enjoyed your days?” Feng Xin Zi had a friendly smile on his face.

Qinghua Xue bowed slightly. “Many thanks, Daren, for indulging me!”

Feng Xin Zi looked at the composed Qinghua Xue. A hint of admiration couldn’t help but flash though his eyes. This really was a woman that could keep calm.

Yet this type of woman was usually hard to deal with. Feng Xin Zi grimaced inside.

“After some more time, the Council of Elders will send people over. Do you know why?” Feng Xin Zi said.

“[Angel Device Raiment].” Qinghua Xue was not stupid. She was also around Zuo Mo and understood the general situation.

“Yes.” Feng Xin Zi took a deep breath. He decided to be honest. “The [Angel Device Raiment] is a pseudo shen device, and in this era, up until now it is the first creation that is so close to a shen device. It is very important to us.”

Looking at Qinghua Xue who only smiled and didn’t respond, Feng Xin Zi felt a headache coming.

“I hope that you can help us. If you can give us aid, the Blue Flower Family will receive a higher status among the yao, and your brother will be able to receive the later stages of the yao art he is studying,” Feng Xin Zi said.

Feng Xin Zi smiled slightly. “My brother’s talents are limited, even if he has the knowledge, it will be difficult for him to advance. With his personality, this kind of calm and ordinary life is the best for him. As to the Qinghua Family, my family is a branch family, and have never refused our duty to the main family. I have heard a saying, the power that one enjoys should be paired with the appropriate responsibilities.”

Feng Xin Zi’s admiration rose.

“Yes, power and responsibility should be equal. Then have the other people of the Blue Flower worry about that. However, I hope that, when it does not harm Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai, you can give us some conveniences.”

Qinghua Xue bowed and said, “Many thanks for your understanding.”

“Pay attention to your safety. It will not be peaceful in the next while,” Feng Xin Zi reminded.

Qinghua Xue nodded. “I will, I need to return.” Finishing, she bid farewell to Feng Xin Zi, turned and walked inside.

Returning to the inner compound, worry finally came up into her eyes. She knew Xiao Yun Hai’s identity, and knew that if his identity was exposed, it would be terrible.

Focused on her thoughts, she did not notice her surroundings. When she noticed there was someone in front of her, she seemed to wake up from a dream. She lifted her head and saw Xiao Mo Ge gazing at her.

Qinghua Xue was strangely alarmed but she quickly recovered her calm. She bowed and said, “Daren!”

Zuo Mo waved his hand and set up jinzhi around to stop people from eavesdropping. After doing this, he finally spoke.

“Hey, we only fought once in the past, you don’t have to chase me all the way here.”

Qinghua Xue stilled. She knew that Xiao Mo Ge recognized her. She smiled. “I’m just curious about you.”

“Curious?” Zuo Mo felt this explanation was too … … he didn’t know how to describe it. He asked helplessly, “Because of curiosity, you ran to the mo territories?”

“I had nothing else to do,” Qinghua Xue said in a deliberately relaxed tone.

Zuo Mo covered his forehead and sighed sorrowfully. He was completely defeated by this invincible reason. “Aren’t you afraid that I will kill you? Don’t you know how dangerous … …”

“Will you?”

Zuo Mo’s expression froze on his face. A moment later, he snorted coldly and said, “Maybe! Do you know ge’s nickname in the past? They called me the Bloody Hand Butcher, if I haven’t killed ten thousand, I’ve killed at least eight thousand … …”

Qinghua Xue listened with a small smile and didn’t interrupt.

Was this woman’s mind rusty? Zuo Mo felt for the first time that he didn’t know how to keep talking. He shook his head and decided to put this problem to the side. From his observations in the past few days, this woman’s mind wasn’t normal, but she was still a reliable person.

“Since you have come, ge will not waste labor.” Zuo Mo muttered, “Go to the Ten Finger Prison, someone will find you.”

Ten Finger Prison? Someone will find her?

Qinghua Xue was slightly puzzled but she didn’t ask. She nodded briskly. “Alright!”

Zuo Mo was completely defeated. This girl was not normal, she didn’t even ask.

———

If the [Angel Device Raiment] caused the entire world to have currents flowing under the surface, then the hot tide caused by the earth mo weapons was something that every person could feel.

If one had to say who was in the worst mood right now, it was the merchants of Nether Spring Jie. For them, the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass was rare, but they had one or two in stock. But Bu Zhou City was many jie away and they could only stare.

Those were earth mo weapons!

When Cui An traded for the [Yin Clear Li Chakrams], people felt even more regret.

At this time, inside a sky shark, a yellow- faced man stood silently in the corner. His appearance was ordinary, and his presence was not very strong, but his back was straight and his spirit could not be disguised.

If Zuo Mo was here and saw this figure, he would definitely blurt out “Eldest Shixiong!”

Wei Sheng!

When the news that one could use Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass to trade for earth mo weapons spread, Wei Sheng instantly concluded that Xiao Yun Hai was Zuo Mo. He did not hesitate. After disguising himself, he started to travel day and night towards Bu Zhou City.

Fighting in order to elevate himself had caused him to become a pond brimming with water. The content concerning shen power that Zuo Mo had sent him using paper cranes was the hand that brushed away the clouds and mist to show him a completely new path of the sword.

On his journey, he had synthesized Zuo Mo’s knowledge, and comprehended a new method to use his mind to refine the God-Killing Blood Sword.

His presence became even more concealed, his sword essence more ethereal and his past sharp edges had dissipated.

He had gotten onto a sky shark. This way, he had more time to comprehend and meditate! While he could only just stand and there wasn’t a place to sit, he quickly adjusted. If people in the surroundings noticed him, they would find to their surprise that Wei Sheng’s presence was becoming even more ordinary. Even his spirit became fainter.

This sky shark passed through many stops with people getting on and off. However, there were more getting on than getting off. The already tight quarters became even more crowded. While there were mo matrices that filtered the air, it was still crowded and humid inside.

Sound of complains occasionally sounded. Wei Sheng leaned against the way, his eyes half-lidded as though he was asleep.

Suddenly, an imperceptible light flashed across his half-lidded eyes but then disappeared.

Several sharp gazes swept across him and he didn’t seem to detect them.

The other’s’ gaze quickly moved away from him.

Chapter 720 – Trembling In Fear

[King’s Forbidden Firmament]!

Zuo Mo was astounded when he received it. He was skilled and was immediately sucked into the unique framework. His skill was far beyond those of Golden Crow Camp and he quickly concluded that constructing this jinzhi was plausible and extremely powerful.

Even he didn’t know how strong it would be!

Zuo Mo swept across, reading multiple lines at once. Just at a glance, he could know where there were mistakes in the details. Other than several extremely small flaws, there were actually no major mistakes in such a complex jinzhi. This astounded Zuo Mo.

It had to be said that even those famous jinzhi would usually have several weaknesses, but these weaknesses were just unknown.

From Zuo Mo’s perspective, [King’s Forbidden Firmament] was a super jinzhi that was almost close to perfect. However, he could only know how powerful this novel structure that merged seal scripts and mo matrices together once he made the jinzhi.

An obstacle that was unsurpassable to Golden Crow Camp was not a problem at all for Zuo Mo who had the Sun Shen Fire.

The [King’s Forbidden Firmament] deeply attracted him. He was extremely curious about its power.

Without almost any hesitation, Zuo Mo started to forge. After making the [Angel Device Raiment] and the four earth mo weapons, Zuo Mo’s skill had almost reached the point of perfection. Not just in the mo territories, even in the xiuzhe realms, his forging skill would not be lacking in comparison to those forging masters.

He had enough materials and countless treasures.

The strong feeling of danger caused Zuo Mo to forget to rest and eat.

———

Yi An felt his heart beat wildly.

Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai suddenly requested a terrifying list of materials. The types of materials on it were ten times greater than last time!

What did Grandmaster want to do?

Did he want to forge earth mo weapons again?

Even a person as experienced as Yi An couldn’t help but inhale when he thought of this. When the four earth mo weapons had appeared, Yi An had been extremely excited. The amount of attention from all of the mo territories had caused him to see the glorious future of Rare Artifacts Hall. However, he smelt strong danger from the undercurrents caused by the [Angel Device Raiment].

As more and more people came to Bu Zhou City, he became even more anxious. Even the arrogant Tang Family was docilely curled up by the side. Their battalion was stationed outside the city, but they didn’t dare to send them inside.

Even he knew that there were at least three marshal levels in the city, and this number was increasing.

Any marshal would be enough to wipe all of Bu Zhou City from the map. In a fight between two marshals, everything within a thousand li would be flattened.

If marshals were in melee battle … …

Yi An shook!

He had put away [Blue Horsefly] a long time ago. Right now, he only hoped to get Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass from the two mo weapons and have the gradually uncontrollably situation cool down.

Worried that the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass would excite Grandmaster, he had concealed the news that they had gotten one Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. He was waiting for the last two earth mo weapons to be exchanged before he presented them to Grandmaster together.

If Grandmaster saw the Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass, was excited, and started to forge earth mo weapons again … …

When the worried Yi An saw the materials list that Zuo Mo had handed, his expression changed!

Ten times the previous amount of materials!

With Grandmaster’s skill, how many earth mo weapons would it be? Was Grandmaster Crazy? Did he want to become a wholesale supplier of earth mo weapons?

Yi An who had hurried to persuade Zuo Mo to do otherwise was stopped by Ceng LIan’er. Zuo Mo was forging the core parts of the [King’s Forbidden Firmament] and could not be disturbed.

Yi An immediately felt his head swell and didn’t know whether to advance or flee. If he did not see Grandmaster, he could not persuade him otherwise. Also, Grandmaster had told him to prepare the materials at the fastest possible speed.

If Grandmaster came out, and saw that the materials were not be prepared, it would be terrible!

No matter what, Yi An did not dare to offend Zuo Mo now.

Yi An decided to not care. If the sky fell, it would crush the tallest first. It was correct to first pander to Grandmaster. Returning to Rare Artifacts Hall, he had his subordinates start to prepare materials.

There were no walls without holes in the world. Rare Artifacts Hall was the focus of attention by many and the movement of so much materials could not be concealed.

Grandmaster was going to forge earth mo weapons again!

The news quickly spread as though it had wings.

———

After flying for three days and nights, the sky shark finally stopped. It needed to rest for an entire day. The passengers who had been suffocated inside the sky shark charged out like a flood and breathed in the fresh air outside.

The merchants that had been waiting by the side immediately came over and warmly called at the customers.

Wei Sheng unnoticeably moved away from the merchants. He carefully followed behind that group of people along with the flow of people moving. There was no expression on his face, and there was only an occasional flash of cold that would flash through his eyes.

Kun Lun sword xiu!

Those people were Kun Lun sword xiu!

Wei Sheng was almost unusually sensitive to sword essence. While the others were disguised, there wasn’t any slip-up, and their presences were concealed, they would not expect someone would be able to see sword essence so clearly.

Detecting the unique Kun Lun sword essence on their bodies, Wei Sheng’s murderousness rose.

The individuals were strong, and should be inner sect members of Kun Lun. Kun Lun inner sect members on this sky shark that was only going to Bu Zhou City. Then their target was definitely Zuo Mo Shidi.

Wei Sheng suppressed the murderousness he felt and decided to first investigate thoroughly.

Kun Lun definitely wouldn’t make such a major move for a few earth mo weapons, they definitely had a goal unknown to others.

———

“They really are country bumpkins, just a few earth mo weapons is enough to excite them to this!” Hua Shan couldn’t resist complaining. “There are too many people inside, it is smelly and stuffy, so irritating!”

Jin Ran comforted her, “Shimei, hold on for a few more days, when we meet up with Xu Shishu at Bu Zhou City, it will not be so difficult.”

“Why didn’t Eldest Shixiong come this time?” When Hua Shan mentioned Lin Qian, her eyes became full of admiration. “If Eldest Shixiong had come, that would be great, it has been so long since we saw Eldest Shixiong!”

Jin Ran grimaced inside. He liked Hua Shan but Hua Shan admired Eldest Shixiong Lin Qian. It was difficult to feel jealous of Eldest Shixiong who was also his idol. In the sect, the great majority of female xiu admired Eldest Shixiong.

The heavily bearded middle-aged person who had been silent all this time suddenly spoke, “Your Eldest Shixiong has other duties, he is working much harder.”

The two immediately closed their mouths. The middle-aged person was their shishu Lei Yi. Lei Yi Shishu was one step into fanxu. And if it wasn’t that the mission this time was too important, the sect definitely would not have sent Lei Yi Shishu.

While Jin Ran and Hua Shan also had yunaying cultivation, Lei Yi Shishu was multiple times stronger than them.

“More important than our mission this time?” Hua Shan couldn’t resist asking.

Jin Ran was also curious. He knew that for this mission, the sect had sent out two fanxu shishu, and seven shishu that were close to fanxu.

However, the death of the Xuan Kong Temple Elder Corps meant that Kun Lun did not dare to slack off in this mission.

Lei Yi glanced at her and said coldly, “You have forgotten the sect rules? What you can ask, and what you cannot ask, don’t you know?”

Hua Shan’s face immediately paled and she trembled.

Jin Ran at the side also felt intimidated.

Suddenly, Lei Yi’s eyes widened. “Friend, stop sneaking and introduce yourself.”

Wei Sheng who was in the shadows grimaced inside. He was devout towards the sword and the sword oath he had taken was deeply engraved into his mind. When he saw the sword xiu of Kun Lun, the sword oath would appear in his mind and his murderousness would unconsciously leak out.

However, since the other had found him, he would not hide. He held the blood sword as he walked out of the shadows.

“Wei Sheng!”

Jin Ran’s expression changed dramatically as he exclaimed. Hua Shan heard this and paled. Among those wanted by Kun Lun, Wei Sheng was among the top. His name among the younger generation was extremely well-known as Eldest Shixiong Lin Qian praised him. Many disciples did not accept this.

Wu Kong Sword Sect?

That obscure primitive sect? They had never even heard of it!

But no matter if it was out of wariness or competitiveness, Wei Sheng’s reputation was known among the younger Kun Lun disciples.

Lei Yi slowly said, “So you are Wei Sheng?”

His expression was cold. As though he was looking down at an ant, he said indifferently, “Since we encountered you, today is the day you die.”

Hearing this, Wei Sheng raised the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand and bared his teeth. He said loudly, “This is what I want to say to you! All of you, come at me together!”

Jin Ran and Hua Shan stilled. They hadn’t thought that Wei Sheng would be so arrogant!

Lei Yi’s murderousness burned in his eyes. He snorted coldly, “You don’t know your limits!”

He didn’t take out his sword and just pointed his fingers at Wei Sheng.

Hiss-crack!

In a flash, countless dancing electrical snakes erupted from his hands. The blinding light caused one’s vision to turn white for a moment. Almost in a blink, the lightning reached a terrifying level. The ground underneath his feet silently turned to dust.

“Lightning!”

A shout with a unique rhythm, the light suddenly exploded. The silver bright light caused Wei Sheng’s vision to turn white.

An irregularly shaped lightning bolt that was the thickness of an arm suddenly shot out of his finger, tore apart the air, and headed straight at Wei Sheng!

Boom!

The deep thunder spread.

The air between the two was taken over by the lightning in that moment.

There was nothing faster than lightning!

Before Wei Sheng could block, the curving lightning was almost a hand length from his hand. He could clearly feel the destructive power contained in this lightning sword energy.

If he was struck, he would immediately turn to dust.

At this moment of life and death, Wei Sheng’s mind was unusually clear. The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand felt a threat and the blood light erupted!

Wei Sheng swung it almost without any thought!

The small amount of shen power that he had managed to form inside his body furiously flooded towards the God-Killing Blood Sword with all of his ling power.

Chapter 721 – Swear By The Sword

Wei Sheng’s body shook

The air around him immediately turned blood red, marks of blood appearing on the body of the God-Killing Blood Sword. A thick killing presence swept out!

A blood red curtain materialized with the sword swing.

The thick lightning sword energy smashed against the blood curtain with the destructive power of nature.

The blood curtain lit up. Howls of wild beasts roared from within, and threads of blood appeared on the blood red curtain.

Lei Yi’s expression changed slightly!

Both the blood curtain and the blood sword emanated a strong and savage presence! Lei Yi knew that people who cultivated sword scriptures like this would have their minds corroded over time to become bloodthirsty and cruel. This kind of sword xiu was extremely dangerous. They didn’t need any reason to kill people, and were true killing madman. However, those that cultivated a killing sword would have difficulty advancing the further they got. They easily got lost in the bloodlust of killing and would walk to their own destruction in the end.

Yet when he saw Wei Sheng clearly just now…

…under that terrifying curtain of blood, Wei Sheng’s eyes were filled with devotion to the sword, and his attachment to his belief. Even his presence was clear and honest without any hint of the insanity! With just a glance, Lei Yi detected Wei Sheng’s stone hard determination. In a flash, he thought of Lin Qian, and unconsciously compared the two.

Lin Qian was much better than this boy … …

Lei Yi instinctively thought this but at this moment, his gaze met Wei Sheng’s gaze. Behind the curtain of blood, there seemed to be something burning in that pair of eyes. Was it belief? Or stubbornness? It burned so hot, so determined, without any qualms, or concerns. Even the thick blood curtain could not hide it!

Lin Qian was much better than this boy, but in terms of attachment to the sword, he was slightly lacking … …

Lei Yi jumped in fright at the conclusion he had just made. How was it possible? The two shouldn’t be able to be compared at all! Who was Lin Qian? He was the disciple with the most outstanding in talent and personality from hundreds of thousands of Kun Lun disciples. He received the best mentorship, he was hardworking and never slacked off, he was born noble … …

Wei Sheng was from a rural little sect, starting as a low sword servant but … …

All of these thoughts flashed by like lightning. Lei Yi was paralyzed in shock at his own thoughts.

This boy could not be left alive!

This thought exploded lie thunder in his mind.

Killing intent immediately filled his entire body. Countless little bolts of lightning swam around his eyes. His hair danced in the wind. Lightning shrouded his body, and his presence reached a peak!

At this moment, he didn’t have any cares about exposing his identity. There was only one person in Lei Yi’s eyes, only one thought!

No matter how, no matter the price he had to pay, this boy had to die!

Blocking the other’s strike, the God-Killing Blood sword in Wei Sheng’s hand immediately became excited. It rang and hummed in Wei Sheng’s hand and tried to break free of his grip!

Wei Sheng’s hand seemed to be forged from steel and didn’t move a sliver. The battle spirit in his eyes burned even hotter.

Gripping the God-Killing Blood Sword, Wei Sheng’s body bowed slightly, curling inward into a ball. However, his slightly raised face was unparalleled in its determination.

“Swear… … by the … … sword!”

The words came from deep within his chest, spoken with great confidence and a steely determination. It was like a hammer smashing against their minds.

The ringing of the God-Killing Blood Sword in Wei Sheng’s hand suddenly stopped.

As the last word was said, Wei Sheng’s sword was slowly swung as though it was thousands of catties heavy!

The marks of blood on the sword seemed to be attracted by a great force, floating up from the sword and slowly spinning around the blade.

Lei Yi felt extreme danger. The lightning energy in his eyes grew. A silver and uniquely shaped flying sword appeared in front of him. This flying sword seemed to be a section of a lightning bolt, about one zhang long and irregularly shaped. There were many splits like branches of a tree, it twisted and turned. It was completely silver, and the material that it was made from was unknown.

Lei Yi’s famed flying sword [Sky Lightning Branch]!

When the [Sky Lightning Branch] was pointed to the sky, the cloud layer within hundreds of li suddenly gathered towards the space above his head like an avalanche. In a moment, there were black clouds gathered above Lei Yi’s head that stretched endlessly. The sky immediately became as dark as night.

Hiss-crack!

The sky suddenly lit up with a twisted and burning bolt of lightning. The lightning landed on the [Sky Lightning Branch], and the sword lit up.

This was just a start. As the lightning continued to strike the Sky Lightning Branch, it became almost as bright as the sun. An astounding amount of lightning surrounded it. The lightning accumulated in the cloud layer within hundreds of li all gathered on it.

The Sky Lightning Branch seemed to be alive as it moved within a thick ball of lightning!

The entire city was disturbed by such a great noise.

“Stop!” a mo shouted angrily, “Are you crazy!”

“Careful, they are xiuzhe!”

Lei Yi ignored them. A cold smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. His eyes that flashed with lightning were icy.

Some mo tried to come closer. Several bolts of lightning suddenly shot out of the gathering ball of lightning and struck them. The lightning flashed, and there was nothing left where the people had been floating there. The other mo all changed expression. No one dared to come close!

Jin Ran and Hua Shan looked excitedly at Lei Yi Shixhu. While they had known that Lei Yi Shishu was unfathomably powerful, they were still greatly amazed when they saw it with their own eyes.

Lei Yi was like a lightning god on earth. He looked on coolly, his index and middle finger pointing out together. His eyes were wide as he shouted, “Die!”

The Sky Lightning Branch within the ball of lightning suddenly turned into an unusually thick bolt of lightning that dove towards Wei Sheng with an unstoppable presence!

The lightning was like a great enormous silver sword with a terrifying presence as it split the sky!

The blinding silver light illuminated the world, reflected in countless pairs of terrified eyes. The power of nature amazed everyone.

This sword strike contained the power of the lightning in the world!

People were unable to make out if it was lightning or sword essence.

Yet in this patch of silver white lightning, a blood curtain seemed to slowly, yet determinedly spread.

The deep voice from within the blood curtain was so clear, and so determined. Even in front of the power of nature, it did not submit at all, and did not tremble.

“By the offering of Kun Lun blood!”

By the offering of Kun Lun blood?

Lei Yi’s eyes turned even colder. All the ling power in his blood flooded out without any regard for consequences.

The Sky Lightning Branch at the tip of that curving twisted lightning bolt trembled. The surrounding lightning became even denser. It pierced the air, and shot at Wei Sheng at a speed hard to detect with the naked eye

A hint of joy flashed across Lei Yi’s cold eyes. An indescribable understanding appeared in his mind. With this sword strike, he had touched fanxu, and touched the fundamental rules of the world.

His cultivation that had not improved for a long time broke through at this time!

He was so happy he wanted to howl at the sky!

At this time, he suddenly saw out of the corner of his eyes an unusually bright and thin blood line follow the path of Wei Sheng’s sword strike. It penetrated the blood curtain and headed straight for the lightning striking down out of the sky!

The blood line wasn’t any slower than Lei Yi’s strike.

Lei Yi’s eyes widened. How was that possible?

Compared to the thick lightning created by the Sky Lightning Branch, the blood line was so thin it was almost overlooked. Compared to the astoundingly destructive presence of the Sky Lightning Branch, the thin line of blood didn’t have any presence.

It appeared in front of the sky lightning branch seemingly without any warning.

Both attacks were extremely fast, so fast that both sides could not react at all.

Hiss!

A strange dissonant howl rang out.

The blood line was like an extremely sharp knife that cut across tofu. The strangely shaped and seemingly alive flying sword, Sky Lightning Branch, which caused the thick lightning and changed the color of the sky was split apart by this nondescript thin line of blood!

Split into two!

The blood line that sliced through the lightning disappeared from Lei Yi’s vision.

Before he could react, he suddenly felt as though a slippery thing flashed through his mind. He had never felt something so strange.

A ruler-straight mark appeared on the small embryo that had started to form in his body. An embryo that now faded into nothingness.

Lei Yi’s eyes went wide. His expression was slightly puzzled. An extremely small and straight mark of blood slowly appeared on his face and body.

This … … this … …

The puzzlement in Lei Yi’s eyes gradually turned into great terror

–This was shen power!

The blood which contained ling power sprouted from that blood mark that traversed his body. His vision turned bloody red.

His remaining ling power could feel the presence of his two nearby disciples who were now just like him.

Bewildered, endless darkness came at him. He seemed to hear a noise and then he lost consciousness. What he didn’t know was that their fresh blood had turned into three blood arrows that was absorbed by the God-Killing Blood Sword.

The world was covered by silver light!

The lightning that lost control was a savage power. It exploded!

The bright light forced people’s eyes closed. All of their senses were useless in front of such a savage explosion. Everyone’s minds were blank and they were like branches swept up in a flood.

Wei Sheng’s face was pale and bloodless. He held the God-Killing Blood Sword with a death grip and allowed it to carry him among the turbulence.

In the moment he touched ground, his legs gave out and he almost fell over.

After killing such a strong enemy, there was no joy on his face. There was faint sorrow in his mind.

However, his mind was strong and he quickly broke free of his sorrow. There was a bitter smile on his face. This God-Killing Blood Sword was powerful, but with his power, he only had enough for one strike. After that one strike, he would be exhausted and wouldn’t have any power to fight back.

That strike just now didn’t just take all the ling and shen power in his body, it had also used almost one fifth of the blood in his body.

Wei Sheng had never cultivated a mo physique. His body was not on a level comparable with Zuo Mo.

One fifth of all his blood was enough to almost kill him.

Right now, he had no power, and he didn’t know when he could recover. For xiuhe, the blood in their bodies was their purest source of power. If it was used it, it was difficult to recover.

Shaking his head, Wei Sheng did not feel any regret. The sword oath he had vowed was set in his heart!

Not just one fifth of his blood, even if he lost his life, he would not regret it at all.

However, he could not go on like this to Bu Zhou City. Wouldn’t he become a burden to Shidi?

At this time, the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand suddenly moved and started to pull him down into the ground. Wei Sheng was shocked. He felt as though he was sinking into water without any sluggishness, and quickly sank down into the earth.

The God-Killing Blood Sword continued to pull him downwards!

Chapter 722 – Progress

Deep underground.

Wei Sheng’s eyes were tightly closed and his face was as white as paper. Suddenly, a thread of blood came out of the body of the God-Killing Blood Sword. The blood flow quickly increased. With the streams of blood coming off the sword, it appeared as though it was just pulled out of a pool of blood. The viscous blood seemed to be alive as it inched along the sword, climbing onto Wei Sheng’s sword hand, and up onto his arm.

Blood continued to come out of the God-Killing Blood Sword, and then visibly seeped into Wei Sheng’s body. Colour began returning to Wei Sheng’s white face .

In the earth, Wei Sheng did not give off any presence.

———

There were thousands of parts piled up in mountains around Zuo Mo, each one a different shape and design. He didn’t rest, eat, or drink for five whole days; one part after another forming in his hand and then being thrown onto the mountainous pile next to him.

Even with Zuo Mo’s strong mo physique, his body showed clear signs of weariness and exhaustion. However, the sun shen fire in front of him was unusually steady and didn’t tremble at all. Zuo Mo’s astounding forging skill was perfectly displayed.

Another part was finished. He stopped and shoved a handful of lingdan into his mouth. He carefully felt ling power surge into his dried channels. The sun seed was best for recovering shen power but Zuo Mo couldn’t bear to use them. But he had a huge pile of lingdan in his ring, and he could waste them as he wished. With every sun seed used of his finite supply, there would be one less.

Taking the time while his ling power was recovering, he examined the [King’s Forbidden Firmament] again.

The jinzhi that Golden Crow Camp had designed naturally leaned more towards seal formations and the [King’s Forbidden Firmament] was not an exception. While it used mo matrices, it was still mostly seal scripts. The seal scripts made up seven-tenths and the mo matrices three tenths of the jinzhi.

Zuo Mo’s spell level had been exercised greatly by the astounding number of things forged and adding on the aid of the gravestone oath, Zuo Mo’s weakest skill, spells, had improved rapidly. Right now, it had reached the second-class and was the same as his yao arts.

After his greatest shortcoming was amended, his power had quickly increased.

According to Pu’s system, Zuo Mo’s present shen power level was intermediate earth level, and his shen technique was second-class. However, it was far behind the Rhinoceros Mo God. The Rhinoceros Mo God’s shen power level was late earth level, and his shen technique was first class.

If he didn’t have the Little Mo Treasure Cup, Zuo Mo could not even hope to match the Rhinoceros Mo God.

But after his shen technique reached second-class, Zuo Mo’s forging speed became even faster. His control of Sun shen fire reached an astounding level. This meant that he would almost never make mistakes.

The quality of the parts that he forged using shen power far surpassed the level that Golden Crow Camp had required in their design.

All together, there were eighteen thousand parts.

Each part was a work of art, the perfect merging of mo matrices and seal scripts giving off an unique beauty. Zuo Mo found after forging these parts that the effect of shen power in forging was even more outstanding. Shen power and shen fire could almost completely purify the impurities in materials, and inscribe mo matrices and seal scripts into the material. This kind of inscription was completely different from ling power and was closer to a natural growth.

Other than the astounding rate of shen power expenditure, Zuo Mo was overjoyed at its effects.

Zuo Mo used a new forging method for all the core parts, he called it the shen forging method.

Of the eighteen thousand parts, he forged eighty one using the shen forging method. What was another happy surprise to Zuo Mo was that he found the shen forging method could greatly increase the skill of shen techniques.

The skill level of shen techniques was determined by the control level of shen power.

Previously, Zuo Mo was only able to increase his shen technique power through increasing his three powers. With the shen forging method, he could use it to increase his shen technique and control for multiplied effects.

However, Zuo Mo had tested. Not all materials could be used with the shen forging method.

Materials under sixth-grade would turn to ash when the shen forging method was used.

Zuo Mo found several kinds of patterns from the gold leaf that were close to mo matrices and seal scripts. He called them shen glyphs. He had used one on the [Angel Device Raiment] and it had been the simplest one. Zuo Mo had now mastered two shen glyphs. Other than the one he had used on the [Angel Device Raiment], he had one other shen glyph.

Materials that could support shen glyphs had to be at least eighth-grade!

The reason for ‘at least’ was because Zuo Mo had tried with a seventh-grade material and then watched as it turned into a pile of ash. He had some eighth-grade materials but he didn’t bear to use it to experiment.

Only now did Zuo Mo feel shocked by the grade of the mo weapon rudiments he had created with the Weapon Layer Craftsmanship. They were able to tolerate shen glyphs, didn’t mean they were at least eighth-grade?

This caused Zuo Mo to be filled with interest about the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship.

While general-level mo weapons were expensive, but as long it was a mo weapon, it could be bought. But eighth-grade materials were not things that could be bought with mobei.

It definitely was a profitable business to use general level mo weapons to convert to eighth-grade materials!

Little Mo Ge suppressed his urges to do business. He felt the recovering shen power turn into the three powers and then slowly into shen power. He once again went back to forging.

Ten whole days.

When the last part was finished, Zuo Mo looked at the mountain of parts in front of him with a feeling of accomplishment.

Eighteen thousand parts!

He had finished in ten days!

While he had finished all the required parts, he did not set up the jinzhi immediately. He shoved a great number of lingdan into his mouth and entered meditation.

Only he would dare to use so many lingdan at onces. If it was a xiuzhe, their ling channels would rupture and explode. Zuo Mo’s mo physique was powerful, and his channels were much stronger than other xiuzhe. His ling power could also turn into other powers and reduce the stress on his channels.

Three days later, he opened his eyes again. The faint great day matrices appeared on his eyes with an indescribable aura.

All of the power in his body, and his tired mind had recovered to peak condition!

Standing up, he waved his hand lightly and the mountain of parts in front of him disappeared into the air.

———

Yi An was very happen when Grandmaster summoned him immediately after leaving seclusion. This showed that Grandmaster trusted him, but when he learned that Grandmaster had not forged earth mo weapons, Yi An was slightly disappointed. If Grandmaster forged earth mo weapons, he could pick two for free. However, he was more relieved. As long as there were no more earth mo weapons, the situation which was already so tense that a spark could ignite it would not be further exacerbated.

Yi An felt fear at the dangerous situation of Bu Zhou City.

But Grandmaster’s next words caused him to pale and almost jump up.

“Grandmaster! Please do not! The present Bu Zhou City is a barrel of dynamite, it might explode at any movement! If you leave the city now, if … …”

Yi An wanted to persuade Zuo Mo away.

Zuo Mo knew his worry and comforted, “It’s fine, we will be careful and no one will know. You are familiar with the region, do you know any place nearby that has a river, mountain, and earth fire?”

Yi An’s expression was frantic as he opened his mouth to speak. Zuo Mo saw his expression and waved his hand to stop the other. He said, “Don’t persuade me otherwise, I also know it is not safe outside. However, if something happens, can you keep me safe?”

“This is relatively safe … …” Yi An said.

“Relatively safe?” Zuo Mo smirked coldly. “If the a marshal comes, is it still safe? If it is two marshals, is it still safe? Three? There are at least five marshals in the city!”

Yi An broke out in a cold sweat and couldn’t think of any counterarguments.

Zuo Mo waved his hand and said gently, “This cannot be blamed on you. I have to consider the worst case situation. Is there any place nearby that satisfies my needs?”

Yi An did not argue further. Since Grandmaster knew, then he definitely had some move that Yi An didn’t know. He thought for a moment and then his eyes lit up. He said, “About seven hundred li northwest of Bu Zhou City, there is a place called the Grave Ghost Mound. It has a river, mountain, and earth fire. However, that place is heavy with yin energy and ghost fiends frequently appear. It is also not a populous place.”

Zuo Mo heard this and didn’t hesitate. “Then we’ll go to the Grave Ghost Mound!”

Yi An gritted his teeth and nodded. “Grandmaster, please wait for a moment.”

A short while later, the elite guards of Rare Artifacts Hall finished gathering. Zuo Mo’s gaze swept the seventy guards in front of him and nodded inwardly. Rare Artifact Hall was really an old faction with a long history. Just these seventy people represented a considerable amount of power.

Especially that guard leader with the indifferent expression, he was marshal level!

Zuo Mo could not imagine a marshal willing to act as a guard leader for a business. No wonder Rare Artifacts Hall was so confident. They had such an expert, and naturally did not fear.

Zuo Mo’s gaze swept around. A Gui, Ceng Lian’er, and Bean Sprout were all here, and only Qinghua Xue was missing.

What was that woman doing?

Zuo Mo was puzzled and was about to ask Pu Yao when his vision blurred and Qinghua Xue appeared and bowed. “Sorry for the wait!”

The moment that Qinghua Xue appeared, the guard leader’s expression changed, and his pupils contracted!

Zuo Mo examined Qinghua Xue. His expression did not change but he was shocked inside.

“Pu, what did you do to her?” Zuo Mo immediately asked Pu Yao in secret. He remembered that Pu Yao had Qinghua Xue go to the Ten Finger Prison and most likely had passed something to her.

However, the increase in her power was so great it was slightly terrifying!

Pu Yao was lazy. “Nothing major, I coincidentally had a completed [Blue Flower] on my hands so I gave it to her.”

“Just that?” Zuo Mo didn’t believe it.

Pu Yao said amusedly, “The Blue Flower Family are a bunch of idiots and wasted such a good seed. Her calmness is shocking, and she is the calmest person I have ever seen. She is born to cultivate the [Blue Flower]. Her accumulation is so great you cannot imagine it. However, she didn’t have the following parts of the art so she was stuck at her previous level. Can you imagine it, the previous her compared to when she was thirteen hasn’t changed much. The Blue Flower Family has no eyes! However, if she was not so calm, after being stuck for so many years, she would have exploded a long time ago.”

“That … … that is too exaggerated.”

Looking at Qinghua Xue, Zuo Mo was still amazed.

There was such a freak in the world … …

Chapter  723 – A Snowy Blue Flower

Taking advantage of the cover of darkness, under the protection of the Rare Artifacts Hall Guards, the group secretly left the city that night.

A journey of seven hundred li was not far for them. Out of consideration for safety, when they left the city, they suddenly sped up. They did not spare the endurance of their mo steeds and flew at top speed.

The moon and stars were bright, the night wind howled, and the group all had extremely grave expressions.

If one had to say who was under the most surveillance in Bu Zhou City, it was undoubtedly Zuo Mo. While there was a blood pool deep in the compound that led out the city, this did not guarantee that they would not attract any attention.

As expected, when they were just thirty li outside of the city, they noticed people trailing them.

The guard leader of Rare Artifacts Hall’s expression did not change as he said coldly, “Team Two, stop them!”

Seven guards quickly left the ranks and charged towards the enemies following them. Their mission was not to kill the enemy but delay them.

The guard leader glanced at Zuo Mo. Seeing Zuo Mo’s calm expression, a hint of praise flashed through his eyes. He moved his gaze away and ordered, “Burning Fire Medicine.”

The other guards heard this and each took out a bright red medicinal pellet then shoved it into the mouths of the mo steeds under them.

The eyes of the mo steeds immediately filled with blood and their speed doubled.

Faint sorrow flashed through the eyes of many guards. These mo steeds had mostly followed them for many years, and were their companions. The Burning Blood Medicine could activate their greatest potential, but when the effects passed, they would die.

The effects of the Burning Blood Medicine was clear. The mo steeds were of extraordinary quality to start, and fast. Now that their speed doubled, they instantly left the people behind in the dust.

Some guards released a breath. The pressure of the mission this time surpassed any of their previous missions.

Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er exchanged a look of seriousness. Even with their increased speed they had not managed to throw everyone off. There were at least three people still following closely behind!

Qinghua Xue seemed to detect it as well. She looked at Zuo Mo. Other people thought that Xiao Yun Hai was just a mo weapon master but she knew that Xiao Yun Hai was Xiao Mo Ge. She knew Xiao Mo Ge was strong.

Detecting Qinghua Xue’s gaze, Zuo Mo’s mouth did not move but his voice passed clearly into her mind.

[Mind Speech Art]!

Qinghua Xue was slightly shocked. She hadn’t thought that Xiao Mo Ge would even know such an obscure yao art.

“There are three behind us, and when something happens, you will be the first to attack. Pay attention and try to lead them to a place without people.”

Qinghua Xue imperceptibly nodded. She was intelligent and immediately understood what Zuo Mo intended. Of all of them, only she could fight without any reservations, so she naturally became the main fighting force.

Her mind was calm and restful. She was not excited at all about the battle about to come. If this was any other person, and their power had just skyrocketed, their fighting spirit would most likely be high now.

Suddenly, a dangerous shadow appeared in the calm lake of her mind.

Qinghua Xue’s expression was calm as the fingers on her right hand pointed behind her. The yao art that had been prepared left her hand was revealed. A blue ray of light flew out of her hand and, like a soft ribbon, circled around and then shot behind her!

[Blue Flower Fulfillment Wrapping Technique]!

If the Blue Family patriarch was here, he would be greatly surprised. The [Blue Flower Fulfillment Wrapping Technique] was a secret of the Blue Family that only the main branch could learn. Even in the present family, there were less than five members that could use this technique, and all of them were elders older than forty years!

Qinghua Xue had a clear understanding of her power and her position. With Zuo Mo and the others as support behind her, she did not need to hold anything back. At the same time, her left hand rose. There was a blue bat on her wrist. This blue bat looked adorable without any hint of killing energy like a pet.

[Blue Flower Bat]!

The blue bat opened its mouth and gave off a few squeaks.

A faint handful of blue light shot out of the blue bat’s mouth. Within the area covered by the blue light, a figure appeared.

The other hadn’t thought that Qinghua Xue’s yao art was so strong. Caught off-guard, he was struck. When the blue light touched the body, it turned into a dense blue fire that clung onto the person’s body and burned.

The other’s disguise immediately disappeared and revealed  his true appearance.

A bright red ling armor with many places covered in a layer of blue flowers. He looked disheveled.

Xiuzhe!

The other guards were astounded. While they knew that xiuzhe had managed to sneak into the mo territories for the [Angel Device Raiment], they hadn’t thought that the xiuzhe would be so daring.

Between experts, a misstep in one moment would mean losing the advantage. Just as this xiuzhe was forced to show himself by the blue light, the [Blue Flower Fulfillment Wrapping Technique] silently wrapped onto the other’s legs. The thin blue ribbon was unusually strong. Pia, the other’s ling armor at his legs immediately shattered!

A furious howl.

A blue sword light shot into the sky like a hailstorm. Countless shards of ice spread. The blue light of the blue bat was actually blocked by these shards of ice.

The blue flower fulfillment technique that had wrapped around the other was cut into multiple lengths by the sword energy.

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly shrank, and a strong murderousness spread!

Kun Lun sword xiu!

What the other cultivated was Kun Lun’s famous [Glacier Sword]. It used the ancient and ever frozen glacier as sword essence, and could freeze all!

This person’s cultivation was close to fanxu and extremely powerful. While he had lost the advantage at the start, when he attacked, the presence was as different as expected!

Qinghua Xue did not think that much. She was not so innocent to think that her two yao arts just now were enough to kill the other. After her two yao arts left her hand, she had begun preparing new yao arts.

Her wrist turned, the blue bat spread its wings and flew into the sky. Countless rays of blue light fell from the body of the blue bat. In the next moment, these thin rays of light formed a blue tower. The blue tower was covered in exquisite patterns. A blue bat stood guard at the top of the tower.

[Bat Tower]!

The blue tower moved quickly. Like an enormous metal cage, it even enveloped the shards of ice.

The iciness immediately dissipated, and the ice shards inside the tower disappeared at an astounding rate.

Lu Han was both shocked and angry. He hadn’t though a single moment of inattention would cause him to end up in such a disadvantageous state. He usually was proud, when had he been left so disheveled before? Also, the enemy was just a little girl. If news of this spread, wouldn’t his reputation fall to the floor?

For the mission this time, the sect had really bled and sent out numerous experts.

When the [Angel Device Raiment] had appeared in the mo territories, it meant that Kun Lun would not be able to obtain it through conventional methods. If they couldn’t trade for it, they could only steal it. In order to not attract attention, the sword xiu of Kun Lun split into groups to sneak into the mo territories.

Lu Han’s group arrived the earliest and had been hidden near Bu Zhou City all this time to search for an opportunity. Out of wariness, he had set up several secret scouting bases outside the city. Tonight, these secret scouts finally became useful.

However, he wasn’t the only one to set up secret scouts outside of the city.

During the pursuit, they had encountered many factions with the same goal. A melee battle had started, a short yet intense one.

In the span of a few dozen breaths, almost all of the elite sword xiu around him had died. In the mo territories, Kun Lun didn’t just lack advantages they also were in enemy territory. If their identities were exposed, they would be surrounded and attacked by other mo factions.

Lu Han was powerful and didn’t lose the target.

There were also two people who didn’t get left behind like himself. His original intentions had been to sneak close to Xiao Yun Hai, capture him, and then use him to control the situation.

He hadn’t expected that he would be found by Qinghua Xue just as he neared.

In the intelligence he received, Qinghua Xue was an insignificant person. While she had fought against the head of the Tang Family guards, but in the eyes of pseudo-fanxu level xiuzhe, strength of that level wasn’t worth a mention. Yet they quickly found the details on Qinghua Xue.

Qinghua Xue was born from a branch family of the Blue Flower Family. The fact that she had been sent to join the envoy proved that the Blue Flower did not place any importance on her. Everyone had thought that she had appeared by Xiao Yun Hai’s side because Feng Xin Zi had gifted her as a maid to Xiao Yun Hai. This speculation was appropriate to her status and identity.

However, this woman that was thought to be a maid had put him in a sorry state.

His first conclusion was that she was a secret piece that Feng Xin Zi had set down!

Yet the time did not allow him to think on this further. The other’s yao arts came constantly like a  noose continuously tightening around his neck.

The blue light inside the blue tower was multiple times thicker than before. He seemed to have fallen into a bog. Each movement was difficult. Even stranger was that the speed of his ling power circulation inside his body had started to slow as well.

At this time, Lu Han didn’t dare to underestimate Qinghua Xue at all. He moved all the ling power in his body and shouted. The Ice Soul Sword in his body was suddenly thrust into the ground!

Snowy white icy frost quickly spread into the surroundings.

Then immediately after, the ground around Lu Han started to tremble violently as though something was about to break out.

Crack crack!

Cracks appeared on the ground. Countless snowy white and icy sword essences flooded out of the ice cracks.

[Ten Thousand Sword Glacier]!

The ice swords that erupted from the ground could be counted in the tens of thousands. It was like a ferocious flood of ice swords. The cold edges almost tore the exquisite blue tower to pieces in the blink of an eye!

The guard leader’s expression changed slightly. Even he couldn’t help but reach for his mo weapon at such a vast and furious sword essence.

As expected of a Kun Lun sword xiu!

Yet Qinghua Xue reacted a step ahead of him. She seemed to have expected that the blue tower would not be able to stop the enemy. The blue flowers that were torn up in the ice sword flood suddenly lit up faintly.

It was like a group of fireflies flying in the night. The dots were beautiful mixed in the enemy’s ice sword flood.

[Blue Firefly Pounce]!

Lu Han suddenly found that the ice sword flood was raging out of his control. He was stunned. There were dots of blue light within the ice sword flood. No matter what method he used, he was unable to remove them.

It was these dots of blue light that caused his control of sword essence to falter.

He had never seen such a strange yao art before.

He had never heard of the Blue Flower Family having such a move before. Lu Han was astounded. The Blue Flower had some fame among the yao, and Kun Lun had relatively detailed records of the [Blue Flower] technique.

After being defeated continuously, Lu Han felt fear. Then he looked at the Rare Artifacts Hall guard leader waiting at the side. He knew that his plan had failed. If they continued to fight, the ambush would become a frontal assault that would not be advantageous to him.

He was decisive and did not hesitate to move away and retreat.

Qinghua Xue’s inexperience in battle showed at this time. She hadn’t expected that Lu Han would retreat without any warning. She was a step late in reacting.

Just at this time, something suddenly happened!

Chapter 724 – An Unexpected Occurrence

Zuo Mo’s murderous intent was great but he forced it down. It was not a good time to enter the fray now.

Yet at this moment, a grey shadow suddenly flashed across his vision, and Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically!

A Gui!

A Gui seemed to appear out of thin air behind Lu Han. Her hand that flashed with purple energy soundlessly pressed against Lu Han’s back.

Lu Han did not seem to detect it and continued to sprint forward. The purple handprint on his back created an eerie purple streak of light in the night.

He went just three more zhang and the purple light continued to corrode Lu Han’s body. But Lu Han didn’t seem to detect it and flew forward. Patches of purple energy disappeared in the air like leaves swept up by the wind. What disappeared with them was Lu Han’s body.

Everyone who saw this felt as though an icy wind swept across their hearts and their hairs stood up.

The stony-faced Rare Artifact Hall head guard’s expression changed.

Zuo Mo also changed expression at the same time. He thought, this was bad. He didn’t know why A Gui suddenly attacked Lu Han. A Gui was functioning on pure instinct, and she definitely had felt something! Had Lu Han in the past  … …

Zuo Mo shook his head. This was not the time to think about this. It definitely wasn’t possible to conceal A Gui’s unexpected attack. There were two more people hiding in the shadows that would have seen her.

Their identities would be soon exposed.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath and calmed the shock inside. His mind was peerlessly calm. There wasn’t much time left to him. He needed to finish the setup before these people managed to react.

Right now, there wasn’t enough time to run away. Those that were gathering were the strongest experts in the world. The probability of running away from these people was almost zero. Also, the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass was almost here. If he ran away now, all of his efforts would have been for waste.

Zuo Mo said gravely, “Go, hurry to Grave Ghost Mound!”

At this time, he did not hide his strength and flew with all his power.

A Gui, Ceng Lian’er and Qinghua Xue heard this, didn’t hesitate and flew at full power.

A hint of shock flashed across the face of the Rare Artifact Hall head guard before his expression became indifferent again. “All of you, return first.”

“Daren!” The other guards said panickedly.

“You will not be able to participate in the upcoming battles.” Then he leapt off the mo steed to chase after Zuo Mo and the others.

The other guards looked at each other. One person quickly said, “We need to hurry back to report to Boss!”

The group did not hesitate and hurriedly returned.

———

Zuo Mo looked at the head guard that had caught up to them. He was slightly surprised and said, “You don’t have to enter this mess!”

“I will naturally finish what Boss has ordered,” the head guard said gravely.

A hint of admiration flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. “What is Sir’s name?”

“Kuai An,” the head guard said coolly.

Zuo Mo nodded and didn’t speak further. The group focused on travelling.

———

Flying at top speed, they managed to cover seven hundred li in less than two hours.

“This is the Grave Ghost Mound,” Kuai An said.

Without Kuai An’s words, Zuo Mo would still know they reached their destination. This place was so heavy with yin energy that he could feel it from far away. Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Such thick yin energy would not have naturally formed. He could feel the thick death energy mixed within it.

He couldn’t help but ask, “What is the history of this place?”

“Supposedly, during the ancient era, a great battle of over ten tribes occurred here. Countless warriors fell on this place, and their ghosts were difficult to dissipate and turned into spectres and yin fiends. However, that is just a rumor, and there is no evidence,” Kuai An said expressionlessly.

Zuo Mo looked down and murmured to himself, “It probably isn’t just a rumor.”

Kuai An’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Zuo Mo did not look at Kuai An. His gaze swept across the Grave Ghost Mound. This place fulfilled all of his needs. It had mountains, water, and there was the smell of sulphur in the air which meant that this place had earth fire. The yin river here had been corroded by the yin energy for a lengthy amount of time and really was a river of yin energy now.

Speaking just in terms of environment, this place was very suited to setting up the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]. The yin river was an unexpected surprise and could greatly increase the power of the jinzhi.

But for some reason, Zuo Mo felt a thread of anxiousness.

Zuo Mo shook his head and threw the thread of uncertainly behind him. Even if there was something strange here, it could not compare to the immediate and apparent threat from the experts that would soon arrive.

Mo Shen Temple, Kun Lun, all the mo marshals, the Yao Council of Elders … …

There was no need to count all of them, just these few was enough to rob people of courage.

Zuo Mo did not feel any fear at all. Even though A Gui’s sudden attack had messed up all of his preparations, he felt relieved of a heavy burden. He no longer needed to be careful, did not need to conceal himself. It was as though he had thrown away all of the chains and qualms weighing him down, and he felt unspeakably relaxed.

Thinking about how he was about to fight against the top experts famed in the world, fighting spirit filled his heart and his body with endless strength.

To contend against the heroes of the world with just his own power!

Just thinking about it caused his blood to boil!

———

“So Elder, you knew that Xiao Yun Hai was Xiao Mo Ge already.” The young mo god had an enchanting smile on his face. He stood there lazily as though he was about to lay down and sleep.

The old man that was in front of him grinned to show his missing and yellow teeth. “I would never admit that.”

“I’m really curious, Elder, what is the relationship between you and Xiao Mo Ge? Relatives?” the young mo god asked with a smile.

The old man shook his head, “You are wrong, I don’t have a good relation with him.”

“Then you are enemies?” the young mo god shook his head. “It doesn’t appear so!”

“Ha, stop guessing, you won’t be able to get it right,” the old man said unconcernedly.

“The Scab Fragrance isn’t something normal. While I don’t hope that you will return it to me, but, Elder, you have to give an explanation. Otherwise, it will be a great embarrassment to me.” The young mo god spread his hands.

The old man grinned and said, “This old man didn’t break any promise. I said that he was able to forge shen devices. While the [Angel Device Raiment] isn’t a true shen device, if you get it and study a bit, you may possibly be able to forge your own shen device.”

The young mo god sighed and said, “It seems that we will have to fight today.”

The old man urged, “Why? Everyone knows each other’s power. You alone cannot beat me, if there are two of you, then I definitely cannot win. But only if there are three of you would I  be unable to escape.”

“That’s true. It seems that I can only bear the humiliation until they come,” the young mo god tiled his head and said.

“But we will have to fight no matter what.” The old man smiled.

“You want me to help you delay. While I am very lazy, what can I do? What I won’t be able to get, I’m displeased that the turtles behind me still aim for them.” The young mo god’s expression was pained.

“Yes, yes.” The old man nodded repeatedly with agreement on his face.

“Also, you say that I cannot defeat you, I’m also displeased by this!” The young mo god raised his face and looked directly at the old man.

His shen power rippled. The usual laziness on the handsome face had disappeared and what replaced it was unusual focus. This cased his face to have a light that was eerie and almost something that people could not directly look at. The stone around him seemed to be attracted by an invisible force and slowly floated upwards.

Boom!

A strong shen pressure spun around him, and grew stronger as it revolved. It pulled all of the power within dozens of li!

It was like a twister that reached directly into the sky.

His smile was still enchanting but unusually sharp.

“There’s no way about it. There are many matters in the world that are displeasing,” the old man grinned and said.

He shook his head and stepped forward.

His steps were not heavy, but in the moment he stepped onto the ground, boom, a deep rumble like that of a drum sounded. The ground within a hundred li seemed to be stuck, and shook once!

A spiderweb of cracks spread more than seven li with his right foot as the center.

The cracks that appeared seemed to reach into the underworld, deep and bottomless.

The young mo god’s twister shook. The top part of it suddenly lost control, turned into chaotic turbulence and scattered.

The young mo god’s eyes narrowed slightly. The light that came from his narrowed eyes were sharp as blades.

A smile spread on his mouth. “There are many people that have come!”

The old man sighed. “It seems that we need to show some actual skill. Otherwise, we aren’t able to intimidate these people.”

“I dislike doing hard labor.” The young mo god seemed to say to himself. His eyes lit up with a burning light.

The gazes of the two collided in the air and sparks flew.

———

The strength of the power vibrations produced by the fighting of two shen power experts was like the sun in the dark of the night. Not just the nearby Bu Zhou City, even Zuo Mo a few hundred li away clearly felt it.

Everyone in Bu Zhou City was startled away.

In this period of time, the undercurrents and the continuously intensifying conflicts had been detected by many of the locals who left Bu Zhou City long ago.

Right now, the majority of people in Bu Zhou City were outsiders. The remaining were large families such as the Tang Family who thought they had the ability to protect themselves. But at such a time, the Tang Family were on full guard.

How could they not have detected such a great ruckus.

Tang Chen’s face was pale. The vibrations from the collision outside the city made even he, a marshal, feel his heart jump. Beside him was another middle-aged male. Beside the male was Qin Ming, Zhong Wen Tian, and Gongzi Xi who were all standing solemnly. He was Marshal Di who had secretly arrived this night!

Marshal Di’s expression was grave, “Both are using shen power.”

The shock on Qin Ming’s face was difficult to disguise. All of them were marshal experts. Even though they had earth mo weapons, they would have to use their full power to reach such a level.

Yet the two seemed to be strolling in the park. The power ripples given off as they moved were able to upend an ocean!

“The youth is one of the three great mo gods of the Mo Shen Temple, he is called Youxi Ya Ke, the old man’s origins are unknown,” Qin Ming said gravely.

Marshal Di’s gaze swept across the people. Seeing the expression on their faces and how they were clearly intimidated, he suddenly smield and said, “Wen Tian, if you and Old Qin work together, do you have the confidence to fight Youxi Ya Ke?”

Zhong Wen Tian’s eyes lit up as he rumbled, “We can fight!”

The other two people’s expressions eased.

“Yes!” Marshal Di’s voice was strong and powerful, “Adding on Old Tang and I, we have four marshals, and four earth mo weapons. If we count this way, that will be two mo gods. We just have one less than the Mo Shen Temple. In this chaotic situation, we may have a chance!”

Everyone’s confidence increased greatly.

“Then what do we do now?” Tang Chen asked.

“Wait!” Marshal Di’s expression was at ease. “We are not the strongest, and the timing of our action is most crucial. We must be successful on our first attempt! Old Tang, investigate and see what really happened when Xiao Yun Hai left the city at night before the shen power expert conflict. We need to keep our eye on Xiao Yun Hai, he’s the crux of this.”

Tang Chen did not hesitate. He nodded and said, “Alright!”

Chapter 725 – Shen Power Warrior

The Grave Ghost Mound was completely dark.

Flying down, everyone felt the air was icy. Even Zuo Mo was slightly intimidated. The thickness of the yin energy in the Grave Ghost Mountain was on a completely different level than what he had felt from when flying. It far surpassed his predictions.

“Stay guard and protect me,” Zuo Mo said, “I probably need about three days of time.”

He had already finished forging all the parts of the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]. While the setup was slightly troublesome, it would not be difficult for Zuo Mo. However, he had to first survey the land to prevent an accident from happening in the middle of setup. If any one of the eighteen thousand parts was damaged, it would damage the power of the jinzhi. Even more importantly, he did not have the time to reforge these parts.

Kuai An nodded. Ceng Lian’er and Qinghua Xue also stopped. Only A Gui followed beside Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo didn’t know what to do. Sometimes, A Gui would be very obedient, but would sometimes act in surprising ways.

It was likely that A Gui’s instincts that detected something.

Zuo Mo realized this and didn’t waste words. He pulled A Gui along as he went deeper into the Grave Ghost Mound.

His expression became increasingly grave. The yin energy was even heavier here, almost tangible. The air was a faint grey. The coldness of the surroundings bit into his skin like thorns and Zuo Mo had to channel his Ten Crow Celestial Apparatus mo physique to counteract the yin energy.

A thin layer of gold quickly appeared on his skin. The sun matrix on his forehead started to slowly revolve. Threads of warmth spread through his body and removed the coldness. Zuo Mo reached out and grabbed A Gui’s hand. The warmth of his hand passed into A Gui’s body. A Gui’s body tensed and her hand gripped Zuo Mo’s hand even more tightly.

Zuo Mo turned and smiled slightly at A Gui. Then he moved his gaze to pull A Gui along deep inside.

He was on full alert. The yin energy was so heavy here, that there definitely would be many spectres and yin fiends.

Unexpectedly, after going twenty li deep, they hadn’t encountered a single yin fiend. Such an unreasonable phenomenon caused Zuo Mo’s wariness to rise.

Zuo Mo pulled A Gui to inspect a range of fifty li and hadn’t found a thing. Other than the unusually strong yin power, there was nothing suspicious or dangerous.

He did not continue to investigate. Fifty li was enough to satisfy the requirements for setting up the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]. More importantly, he didn’t have the time to investigate further.

The sky was starting to lighten.

Zuo Mo knew that those people in Bu Zhou City most likely had received the news of his escape.

He had to effectively use his time!

Zuo Mo ignored the anxiousness he felt and started to set up the [King’s Forbidden Firmament].

———

Zuo Mo’s guess was right. At dawn, the powerful factions at Bu Zhou City quickly received the information. Shocked, they quickly recognized the importance of this news.

Yet the two shen power warriors that were fighting outside the city blocked the route off completely.

Unless one was a marshal or general expert, they would immediately die due to the lingering shockwaves of the collision between the two shen power warriors. Many factions had already tried. However, no one had managed to get through the area where the two were fighting alive.

“So Xiao Yun Hai is Xiao Mo Ge!” The news that Lu Han wanted to send back yesterday should be this.” Hou Feng said gravely. He was a large figure, his limbs long, and there was a thick and broad sword on his back.

“Lei Yi’s team is dead, Lu Han’s team is dead.” Bei Xiang’s expression was grave and her tone low. She was Hou Feng’s second in command. The two worked together on long-term missions and had good teamwork.

“I remember that the sect has information regarding Xiao Mo Ge?” Hou Feng asked.

Bei Xiang was familiar with all kinds of intelligence. She said without a hint of hesitation, “Yes, Xiao Mo Ge is one of our primary targets and our investigation of him has never stopped. Looking from the present information, Xiao Mo Ge is very likely to be Zuo Mo.”

“Zuo Mo?” Hou Feng’s brow creased. This name was unfamiliar.

“Zuo Mo, a disciple of Wu Kong Sword Sect, an orphan that their sect leader took in. He lost his memory, and his origins are unknown. He is skilled in seal formations and ling farming. He was promoted from an outer sect disciple to inner sect disciple. His talent isn’t bad. This is the earliest information we have found,” Bei Xiang said smoothly.

“Wu Kong Sword Sect?” Hou FEng’s brow creased even deeper. “I remember that all of Wu Kong Sword Sect everyone except Wei Sheng should be dead.”

“Because Zuo Mo was sent to a remote location before the invasion of the yao, he and Wu Kong Sword Sect lost contact. Together with him are Gongsun Cha and one other disciple,” Bei Xiang responded.

Hou Feng changed expression. “Gongsun Lil’ Miss?”

“Yes!” Bei Xiang nodded.

“Wu Kong Sword Sect really has many talented people. I still remember that there is a Wei Sheng, that one is also strong. Xue Dong greatly praised Gongsun Cha, I hadn’t thought that he would also be from Wu Kong Sword Sect.”

“Yes, actually, we only found Xiao Mo Ge’s true identity due to Gongsun Cha,” Bei Xiang said.

“This means that Xiao Mo Ge and Xiao Yun Hai were his fake identities?” Hou Feng’s brow was creased. “In other words, he knows mo skills, yao arts, and spells?”

“And shen power and shen techniques!” Bei Xiang added. “His origins is highly likely to be related to that storm twenty six years ago.”

Hou Feng’s eyes suddenly lit up as he murmured, “No wonder … …”

Bei Xiang’s expression suddenly changed. “Something has happened to Xia Li’s team.”

Hou Feng’s expression was slightly ugly and silent. Ever since the matter of Lin Qian fighting for the stele, managing Kun Lun’s activity in the mo territories started to become difficult. Almost all the mo were secretly fighting against Kun Lun. This time, it was also true. If they were the least bit careless and their identity as Kun Lun was leaked, they would be attacked from all sides.

They had traveled far to arrive here, and fighting on foreign territory, their losses had been heavy. The sword xiu that had been sent this time to the mo territories were all elite from the sect, almost all of them fanxu. Such losses were ones that even Kun Lun couldn’t shrug off.

At this time, an extremely thin sword light appeared in front of Hou Feng.

Hou Feng’s reaction was quick. His hand beckoned and the sword light flew into his hand. The flying sword message of the sect!

His expression showed joy. “Return to the sect!”

“Return to the sect?” Bei Xiang stilled.

“The elders have come out of seclusion.” Hou Feng’s voice was low but the joy on his face could not be suppressed.

Bei Xiang also had a joyous expression as she said excitedly, “Great! We also have shen power warriors! Now we don’t need to fear the Mo Shen Temple!”

Hou Feng said proudly, “Our Kun Lun has lead the xiuzhe world for thousands of years. Can a little temple like the Mo Shen Temple compare to the depth of our foundation?”

“Then the [Angel Device Raiment]?” Bei Xiang said hesitantly.

“It is just a pseudo-shen device,” Hou Feng said with a smile. “The sect has spent great time and energy and found some places that are possibly ancient ruins. The next step in the sect’s plan is to go to these ruins to search for true shen devices. Searching the xiuzhe world, will we need to risk so much or waste so much effort?”

“This is a good idea! I believe that there would be at least one or two shen devices in so many ancient ruins.” Bei Xiang was in agreement. Then she asked excitedly, “Then where have we been sent to?”

“Return to the sect.”

“Return to the sect?” Bei Xian was puzzled.

Hou Feng’s smile could not be suppressed. “We are in the second cohort to be taught shen power. Once we return to the sect, we will start cultivating shen power.”

“Cultivate shen power … …” Bei Xiang stilled but then her eyes were full of longing.

Hou Feng said, “The era of shen power is fated to be the era of Kun Lun!”

———

The retreat of Kun Lun was silent and didn’t cause any waves. Other than those with good intelligence teams and those with high perceptiveness, everyone else was ignorant.

Almost everyone’s eyes were glued to the fight between the two shen power warriors outside the city.

Personally seeing the fight between shen power users was completely different than seeing it through mirages. The power as they moved which could destroy the world, a feeling of suffocation that never seemed to end. Each person felt they were so minuscule and insignificant like ants.

Even marshal experts had to remain alert to break free of such a terrifying feeling.

There wasn’t any land left untouched within two hundred li of Bu Zhou City. The ground seemed to have been ploughed over and over. It was possible to see fissures forming webs that curved and twisted for dozens of li.

The land was completely fragmented!

No one dared to charge in. Even Marshal Di and the other three maintained their silence as the fighting between the two intensified. The astounding power turbulence was something that even they were wary of. If someone charged in now, they would most likely become the target of the two and would receive destructive attacks immediately.

The two fought for a day and night without any hint of exhaustion.

The young mo god Youxi Ya Ke was not surprising. What surprised people was that old man dressed in rags, of an unknown background, was an even match.

But no matter who, if they saw this battle, they would make one conclusion.

The power of shen power was much stronger than those top mo skills. Shen power would soon become the peak power once again. A new era had already started.

If there had been many people who had recognized this point previously, then after this public battle of the shen power experts, this point was driven deep into people’s minds.

———

Kuai An’s expression was wary. He was astounded by the intense fighting that was happening in the distance. For the first time, he was filled with desire towards shen power.

He had cultivated to the marshal level. It would be extremely difficult to take another step up. Other than the king level that only existed in the legends, marshal level was the highest level that all mo could reach. Ever since the first day he reached marshal level, he was filled with confidence about his power. Yet the continuous appearances of shen power warriors caused him to feel he was weak for the first time.

He did not forget his duty. His gaze suddenly focused.

Near the horizon on the opposite side of Bu Zhou City, several black dots suddenly appeared.

There were people!

Before he could give a warning, these little black dots grew large. They were so fast that they had appeared in front of him in a blink.

These people were surrounding a beautiful female!

Kuai An’s gaze met the female’s gaze. An unspeakable feeling suddenly rose. He was slightly dazed but his reaction was quick. With a shake, he immediately became clear of it.

Such a terrifying woman!

When his gaze landed on the insignias on their clothing, his pupils immediately contracted and his expression changed!

The Yao Council of Elders!

Chapter 726 – The Entrance Of The Yin Energy Cave

“This one is Ming Yue Ye, is Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai here?” The divinely beautiful female said with a small smile. While her attitude was friendly, it was filled with great presence, and was difficult for people to resist.

A serene voice seemed to come out of the black night. “Grandmaster doesn’t have the time, how about coming back after three days?”

Light rose at the horizon and the black of night was pushed back as dawn neared. However, Ceng Lian’er was in a place that seemed to be a bottomless void. She stood with her long red dress touching the ground. Her presence was different from Ming Yue Ye’s strong presence, ethereal and hard to grasp.

Kuai An’s face was slightly burning. He was a marshal yet at just first contact, he was intimidated by the other’s presence. He felt embarrassed.

“I have heard long ago that Miss Ceng is a lady of a famous family. You are just as the rumors say.” Ming Yue Ye smiled. Her eyes and teeth were bright and she was stunning.

Ceng Lian’er smiled. “I cannot compare to Elder Sister, below one person and above hundreds of thousands, power in your hands. With just a word, there are countless heroes willing to do your bidding.”

Ming Yue Ye smiled. She turned and examined Qinghua Xue. A look flashed through her eyes. “Are you Qinghua Xue?”

“Qinghua Xue greets Elder Ming.” Qinghua Xue bobbed slightly.

“The Blue Flower family did not have eyes, it is a pity.” Ming Yue Ye sighed lightly before staring at Qinghua Xue. “I coincidentally lack an assistant. If you are willing, you can follow and work for me in the future.”

Qinghua Xue said composedly, “Elder, many thanks for your attention. Qinghua Xue is of low ability and cannot accept such a great duty.”

“Hm! You do not have good judgement!” An old person of proud attitude said from beside Ming Yue Ye. “No wonder that the Blue Flower Family has declined, you deserve it!”

Qinghua Xue smiled gently as though she did not hear this.

Suddenly, a shadow flashed through the air!

That old person felt his vision blur. Something suddenly appeared in front of him. Startled, he shouted angrily, “You dare!”

The old man’s hair spread in anger, the fingers on his right hand flickering. Numerous green lights shot out! At the same time, a glass-like layer of light protected him.

Pew!

When the green light hit the shadow, it immediately turned into fragments.

The old person’s expression changed drastically. Just as he wanted to move again, the shadow suddenly disappeared. He couldn’t help but still. The next moment, the shadow suddenly came out of the air right in front of the green light shield.

Before he could react, he had to watch as the shadow hit the light shield.

Bam!

A crisp cracking sound was like thunder in his ears. Power came at him like a mountain and he was sent flying dozens of zhang like a kite with its strings cut!

Ceng Lian’er’s wrist turned and she withdrew her sleeve as though nothing had happened. She said serenely, “Grandmaster is in seclusion, everyone, please be quieter.”

Kuai An’s eyes widened disbelievingly!

She actually darted to directly attack an elder of the yao … …

Qinghua Xue stilled slightly. However, her expression remained the same and her mind was undisturbed.

A deathly silence!

“Shen power!” another yao elder’s voice was deep and hoarse. He gazed hard at Ceng Lian’er. “The rumors say that Miss Ceng cultivates moon shen power which is hard to predict. You have broadened my view today. However, it is unexpected to us that Miss Ceng is so hostile to us.”

Ceng Lian’er’s smile bloomed like a flower. “Have you come to drink tea?”

This yao elder suddenly stopped breathing. Kuai An seemed to wake up from his dream, his expression serious. He slowly took out his mo weapon, the [Blue Horsefly] that Zuo Mo had just forged!

Ming Yue Ye ignored the faceoff and said meaningfully, “No matter if it is Xiao Yun Hai or Xiao Mo Ge, our goal is the [Angel Device Raiment]. According to what I know, many people are also scheming for your shen power inheritances.”

Ceng Lian’er smiled serenely and said, “It will depend on whether they have the ability.”

“That’s true.” Ming Yue Ye did not argue. She suddenly reached out a hand. Several rays of light that appeared like seagrass suddenly grew from her palm and moved.

Ceng Lian’er’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears. “I understand, you have already mastered shen power.”

“If Grandmaster is willing to sell [Angel Device Raiment], we will guarantee Grandmaster’s safety. We only need the [Angel Device Raiment].” Ming Yue Ye glanced at her.

Ceng Lian’er brushed her bangs in front of her forehead and said softly. “It probably isn’t enough just based on the few of you.”

“I dare to say this because I have some confidence.” Ming Yue Ye did not avoid Ceng Lian’er’s doubtful gaze. Her tone was not spirited but it was filled with strong confidence that made people feel that she would be able to do it.

“Who can we not sell to?” Ceng Lian’er smiled. “However, with Grandmaster’s temper, the pseudo-shen device will not be cheap.”

Pseudo-shen weapon!

These three words clearly touched the nerves of the yao elders. Their expressions were normal but the changes in their gazes could not escape Ceng Lian’er’s gaze.

“Pseudo-shen device, shen device, there has to be a price.” Ming Yue Ye’s expression was normal. “Are you able to give a price on behalf of Grandmaster?”

“No.” Ceng LIan’er smiled serenely.

“Then let Grandmaster give a price,” Ming Yue Ye said directly.

“Apologies, Grandmaster is in seclusion, and will take three days. Everyone, please come back after three days,” Ceng Lian’er said.

“Three days?” Ming Yue Ye shook her head. “We cannot wait so long.”

“Then there is no other option.” Ceng Lian’er shook her head.

A smile blossomed on Ming Yue Ye’s face. “Then let us experience Miss Ceng’s moon shen power. Elder Xu, please.”

The deep-voiced elder nodded and slowly came out of the ranks. He said seriously, “The Moon Tribe was a famed tribe even in the ancient era, and the moon shen power they used stood at the peak. It is an honor to experience it today.”

Ceng Lian’er was about to speak when a voice suddenly sounded, “There is no need to trouble Miss Ceng, I will start.”

Kuai An held [Blue Horsefly]. His cool face had a murderous expression.

———

Zuo Mo’s movements were fast and he was but a shadow as he flew around. Rays of dazzling light flowed from his hands shooting into the ground.

There were great demands for setting up such a complex jinzhi. There were numerous seal scripts and mo matrices. Even Zuo Mo had to focus all of his attention.

If other people saw him now, they would be dumbstruck and gaping in shock.

The ground was completely transformed and covered in seal scripts and mo matrices all over. The yin energy in the surroundings was starting to be affected, and occasionally would form small twisters.

Zuo Mo’s expression was focused and he didn’t dare to split his attention. He knew time was precious. The [King’s Forbidden Firmament] was their greatest ace against those experts. The faster he could finish preparing this ace, the better it was.

[King’s Forbidden Firmament] was five hundred li in diameter in the original design but Zuo Mo had compressed it to fifty li. This way, it would greatly increase its power, but the difficulty of setting it up would also increase dramatically.

A fine sweat covered Zuo Mo’s forehead.

But he didn’t feel tired at all. His eyes flashed with a stunning light. The great pressure made him unprecedentedly focused. He was completely immersed, filled with bravery. He was in a trance.

His thoughts were livelier than ever before, and his mind was clear as it never had been.

His hand movements started to change, and the jinzhi he set up gradually started to change.

Too absorbed in his work, Zuo Mo did not realize this. His hand movements were almost the same speed as his thoughts and like instinct.

The jinzhi started to form a preliminary shape.

The yin energy was affected even more. Large amounts of yin energy flooded out from the deeper parts of the Grave Ghost Mound and filled the area where Zuo Mo was setting up the jinzhi.

Zuo Mo perceptively noticed this, but at this time, all of his attention was on the jinzhi. The first reaction in his mind was how to use the stunningly dense yin energy.

His hand movement instinctively changed.

More and more yin energy flooded out of the Grave Ghost Mound. They came in a flow, one wave after another as though there was no end.

The drastic increase in yin energy made Zuo Mo even more excited.

The thick yin energy was a power that could be used, and yin energy of such concentration was usually difficult to find.

An imperceptible ripple formed deep in the Grave Ghost Mound.

Zuo Mo did not detect it. A Gui suddenly raised her head, purple energy flashed in her eyes as she silently disappeared into the yin energy.

———

A Gui flew about twenty li before stopping.

There was a deep hole in the ground near her. The thick yin energy was pouring out from that place. The yin energy at this entrance was so thick it was almost inky black.

The trembling of the ground was even more evident here.

The shaking would coming in bursts every ten breaths or so.

A Gui’s eyes suddenly flashed with purple energy as she threw herself forward.

A malicious ghost came out of the hole. Its body was shrouded in black smoke and was extremely difficult to detect in the thick yin energy. A Gui suddenly appeared behind it. Her hand covered in purple energy entered the body of the malicious ghost.

The inky black yin energy did not affect A Gui at all.

The malicious ghost froze where it was. The purple energy was like a fire that spread quickly along its body. In a flash, the malicious ghost was covered in the purple fire.

The purple was ferocious and the malicious ghost wasn’t even able to wail before it turned to ash.

After being burned up, it left behind only an extremely pure strand of yin energy. A Gui opened her mouth and inhaled. The yin energy burrowed into her body. Moments later, A Gui opened her eyes, and the purple energy in her eyes was slightly brighter.

Another malicious ghost came out of the yin energy.

A Gui repeated the process.

A Gui was like a ghost, her movements lightning fast. She wasn’t affected by the yin energy at all. Usually, before the malicious ghosts detected anything, they would be attacked.

Each malicious ghost would be burned by the Undying Shen power to leave behind that thread of pure yin energy. A Gui would absorb it. After consuming dozens of threads, the purple energy on A Gui’s hand gradually turned into purple flames.

Just like before, A Gui’s body once again disappeared, and her hand covered in purple fire entered the yin energy.

Yet the next moment, the purple fire in A Gui’s eyes flashed.

Bam!

A great power came from her hand. A Gui’s figure flashed, and she moved backward. Her eyes that flashed with purple fire was locked on the entrance.

A burst of air swept away the yin energy at the entrance to reveal the true appearance of the incomer.

Chapter 727 – Ghost Soldier

A ghost soldier dressed in armor and shrouded by yin energy appeared at the cave entrance. Its empty eye sockets were filled with two balls of black flame.

If Zuo Mo was here, he would be surprised to find that this ghost soldier actually gave off faint shen power ripples.

The ghost soldier suddenly opened his mouth. Like a whale inhaling, the yin energy was sucked in. The black fire in its eye sockets more than doubled in size with a snap. The yin energy around the ghost soldier turned into thin wisps of black flame on its armor.

To A Gui, other than the black fire the ghost soldier didn’t seem to be any different than the ghosts before it.

The purple fire in A Gui’s eyes jumped and her body suddenly disappeared from her spot.

The black fire in the ghost soldier’s eyes also jumped and its body also disappeared at the same time.

Bam!

A black and a purple hand hit in the air.

The black and purple flames shot in all directions but the two did not seem to detect it. Their hands continued to collide. Bam bam bam! It was only possible to see two shadows in the air, and light that would occasionally illuminate the environment. The black and purple flames were everywhere. Once it came into contact with something, it would be burned to ash.

Such enormous noise finally disturbed Zuo Mo who had been in a trance.

After focusing slightly, Zuo Mo immediately understood the situation. At this time, the jinzhi was more than halfway finished. He did not immediately interfere and observed in the shadows for a few moments.

This ghost soldier was strong, and what Zuo Mo hadn’t expected was that it gave off evident shen power. This was the reason that it had been able to fight A Gui for so long. The other reason was that while it looked wooden, it was experienced in combat. Zuo Mo was shocked and intimidated by many of its moves and reactions. It must have been a very powerful expert before its death.

After observing for a few more moments, Zuo Mo understood even more. The ghost soldier was actually slightly weaker than A Gui. The reason that it was evenly matched with A Gui was because of its greater battle experience.

However, A Gui who relied on her instincts to fight was not controlled by her emotions. In a short amount of time, she started to copy the other’s fighting style. A Gui quickly gained the upper hand.

Zuo Mo’s curiosity was piqued by the shen power vibrations of the ghost soldier. Its shen power was filled with thick death energy. It was different from any shen power that Zuo Mo had ever seen before. There wasn’t any record of this shen power on the gold leaf.

A completely new kind of shen power!

Zuo Mo’s mind moved. At present, he knew the value of a completely new kind of shen power.

His fingers flickered and numerous lights entered the ground.

The ghost soldier that was gradually being suppressed by A Gui detected that it was losing and tried to turn and run into the cave. Suddenly, the surrounding yin energy became chaotic. The ghost soldier was surprised. The dense yin energy in the surroundings that he relied on for power, had turned chaotic without any warning. It panicked.

For A Gui whose battle tactics had improved greatly, how could she pass on such a good opening?

Her body flickered, and two images of A Gui suddenly appeared in front of the ghost soldier. The ghost soldier stilled.

Suddenly, it felt a grip on its neck. Its vision blurred, and a hand covered in purple fire raised it up and smashed it hard against the ground!

A Gui had used shen power and the power of the strike was great. The ghost soldier’s entire body was deeply embedded into the ground. The black fire in its eye sockets wavered from the smash.

Before it could regain clarity and struggle to stand up, two fingers covered in purple flames pointed at the two balls of black fire in its eye sockets.

The ghost soldier immediately became docile. That face covered in yin energy showed fear.

Zuo Mo quickly appeared next to A Gui, crouched down and looked curiously at the ghost soldier.

Zuo Mo had killed things like ghosts and fiends before but he hadn’t studied them greatly. Even in the xiuzhe world, xiuzhe of this kind were rare. Because of the yin energy, they were not welcomed by other people.

This ghost soldier’s power was extraordinary to have been able to fight for so long against A Gui. Zuo Mo was even more curious about the shen power it had. Zuo Mo’s fingers flickered. Several streaks of light entered the ghost soldier. The ghost soldier’s body froze and was unable to move.

A Gui moved her hand away and stood at the side. The ghost soldier stared at Zuo Mo with unusual terror. Zuo Mo’s presence was its bane. The sun shen power was the utmost yang and masculine, the natural enemy to ghosts that were born from yin energy.

This was also why while this place was dense in yin energy, Zuo Mo didn’t fear it at all.

After a momentary inspection, Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. The shen power the ghost soldier had was from before its death. Due to some reason, while it was dead, its shen power had not completely dissipated, and been kept. This portion of shen power that had been kept continued to merge with the yin energy to form a new kind of shen power that had never appeared before.

The ghost soldier’s intelligence was not high and it fought based on instinct.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved and he turned to look at A Gui. A Gui’s usually expressionless face showed a rare desire. In a moment, Zuo Mo understood. This kind of shen power filled with the energy of death was very beneficial to A Gui.

A Gui’s shen power was the Undying shen power, and came from the Undying Shen punishment. While it was called Undying, it originated from the same source as death although its expression was of the complete opposite.

In the traditional understanding of death, death was the final destination but also the start. A beginning and ending, they were twins.

The Undying Shen Punishment was to be forever unable to escape, an imprisonment that would be trapped them in an endless, hopeless, and painful death. It was a death of the undying. The endless pain, suffering, hopelessness, those were the sources of the Undying shen power and also were powers that belonged to death. Yet if one could break free of the hopeless death, then it was undying life!

Life forever needed to come from death!

This was the foundation of the Undying shen seal!

Suddenly, Zuo Mo had a great understanding. Yet his emotions were complex. This path was dangerous, and multiple times harder than the system of traditional death.

Life was forever harder than death!

Zuo Mo did not show his emotions. He moved to the side and left the ghost soldier to A Gui.

A Gui did not hesitate. Her hand slapped down and the yin energy shrouding the ghost soldier immediately crumbled to expose the two purest balls of black fire. A Gui opened her mouth and sucked in. The black fires were immediately sucked into A Gui’s mouth and the purple fire in A Gui’s eyes grew.

Zuo Mo immediately took A Gui’s hand for an inspection.

What was being nurtured in A Gui’s body became slightly clearer. The pure shen power that contained death energy was greatly beneficial for A Gui.

Zuo Mo was slightly relieved.

While he was curious what the cave held, time was tight, and this was not a good moment to explore under the ground. But this cave entrance that was continuously spewing out yin energy would give his jinzhi great help.

A Gui was standing guard outside the entrance. She appeared like a hungry child. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but grin. He set up several jinzhi near the entrance in case A Gui encountered some danger.

Who knew what else was inside the cavern.

After setting this up, Zuo Mo continued to set up his jinzhi.

The [King’s Forbidden Firmament] which was taking shape started to give off an intimidating power.

———

Kuai An’s face was covered in wounds. His eyes were like two burning balls of flame. He gripped the Blue Horsefly tightly with its head pointed up.

“It’s useless,” Elder Xu looked down expressionlessly. The crystal at his forehead was a pure blue and there seemed to be a faintly discernible ripple of a vast ocean, and the sound of waves coming from it.

Elder Xu’s shen power was not strong but it had a presence as vast as that of an ocean.

He raised his hand. The faint sound of the waves suddenly grew stronger like a storm forming above the ocean.

Kuai An’s vision blurred. He was suddenly surrounded by the angry waves of the ocean. Terrifying power came from all directions, pulling, twisting, and tearing. He had a hard time to keep his position.

An ocean, it was truly an ocean!

Kuai An was shocked. This wasn’t an yao art!

Shen technique!

The two words exploded in Kuai An’s mind.

A light flashed through Ceng Lian’er’s eyes. The other was very strong but his shen power wasn’t pure. This was related to the path the other had taken. The merging of shen power and yao arts had formed a completely new kind of shen technique!

As expected of a member of the Yao Council of Elders, he was able to create such an unique shen technique. It really was powerful. Yao arts were full of transformations to start with, and after shen power was added, its flexibility was maintained while its power was dramatically increased.

However, this new kind of shen technique was not without its weaknesses. It impurity was its greatest weakness!

Ceng Lian’er had cultivated shen power for a long time, and knew that the purest shen techniques did not have many complex transformations. Pure shen power could make the simplest moves extremely powerful.

However, this new kind of shen technique was easier for yao to learn. It was possible to see that the yao had a breakthrough in the study of shen power.

If these people all cultivated shen power, then there was great trouble!

Ceng Lian’er was secretly shocked. Looking at Kuai An struggling in the shen art, her eyes flashed with light and she was about to attack.

Kuai An suddenly shouted!

The Blue Horsefly in his hand suddenly lit up. The serene blue light illuminated all of the ocean.

Pew pew pew!

Sharp bone spikes broke out of Kuai An’s body. The bone spikes were about five cun long and the thickness of chopsticks. In a blink, bone spikes covered Kuai An’s entire body.

Then the bone spikes left Kuai An’s body and floated around him. There was a point of white energy at the tip of every bone spike, so many that people’s scalps prickled.

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes flashed and she suppressed the urge to attack.

Spear Hedgehog Mo Physique!

She hadn’t thought that Kuai An who had a non-descript appearance was one of the Spear Hedgehog clan. The Spear Hedgehogs were natural experts in spears and other polearm weapons. What they were most famous for was the Spear Hedgehog mo physique.

One of the top mo physiques that could use spear type mo skills to their true potential.

And the Blue Horsefly in his hand was one of the top spear type mo weapons!

Ceng Lian’er’s curiosity was immediately aroused.

Woosh!

The Blue Horsefly flashed with blue light suddenly exploded into tens of thousands of blue fragments. These blue energy fragments were like an enormous school of tiny blue fish that swam in the ocean.

The terrifying power of the ocean did not pose any difficulty for them.

In the opposite side of the fish, the bone spikes that floated around Kuai An gathered towards his hand at a rapid rate. A bone spike spear that was formed from the bone spikes appeared in Kuai An’s hand.

The ferocious waves and the great pressure that came from all directions could not stop this from forming.

The moment that the bone spike spear formed, the deep blue school of fish suddenly stilled.

Kuai Ai widened his eyes. He ignored the water around him, following his intuition, and made a textbook and perfect spear stab with a twist of his waist!

Chapter 728 – Threats

The young mo god and the old man simultaneously stopped and turned to look in the direction of the Grave Ghost Mound.

“It seems that someone wants to get there ahead of us,” the old man shook his head and said.

“Let’s go, let’s go, our warm up is finished after fighting for so long, we cannot let the yao come to the mo territories and reap the benefits!” the young mo god said lazily.

The old man shook his head rapidly. “Your Mo Shen Temple is great and bright, those old yao have many people, only I am alone.”

“Who are you trying to fool? You clearly are on the same side as Xiao Mo Ge’s group.” The young mo god rolled his eyes. “Are you in or out?”

“Oh, alright, those that try to steal benefits ahead of others are the worst!” The old man thought to himself for a moment and then immediately put on a murderous expression.

The young mo god clapped his hands and said righteously in agreement, “Exactly!”

The two immediately disappeared.

The frightened people of Bu Zhou City sighed in relief but then some of the experts who were sensitive immediately discovered the noise far away.

“Grave Ghost Mound!”

“It’s the Grave Ghost Mound!”

The crowd shifted. Some of the more daring people immediately flew into the sky towards the Grave Ghost Mound.

———

The bone spike spear immediately created a great suction force like a whirlpool that gathered the blue fish-like energy fragments! Ripples radiated from the tip of the spear. The ripples had sharp thorny edges.

The blue energy followed the ripples and gathered at the tip of the spear.

The tip of the spear became so bright that people were unable to look directly at it. Those that saw the blue energy felt their soul shake.

Hiss hiss hiss!

A tsunami of hissing, each ripple with a frequency higher than the last. The blue energies seemed to be alive as they followed towards the lit up spearpoint.

Elder Xu’s expression changed. His gaze was focused on that bit of blue light.

Earth mo weapon!

The other actually wielded an earth mo weapon. Suddenly, he recalled that Xiao Mo Ge had also forged four earth mo weapons in addition to the [Angel Device Raiment].

If this was in the past, the creation of new earth mo weapons would attract much attention. But for the yao elders that had successfully reached the doorway to shen power, they had unconsciously dismissed the value of the four earth mo weapons and set their sights on the pseudo-shen device.

Yet when they directly faced the soul stealing bright blue energy, a strong feeling of danger rose.

Elder Xu suddenly woke up, an earth mo weapon was still enough to be a threat to him!

His clothing swayed despite the lack of wind. Elder Xu’s face suddenly flushed as though he was drunk. His hands pressed down, and his shout was like thunder, “Set!”

The ocean that had been full of ferocious waves suddenly became clear. The surface of the water was motionless crystal clear like a sapphire.

Within the enormous jewel, that blue light moved unusually slow.

The pressure coming from all directions increased dramatically. Kuai An almost suffocated. His strong mo physique was cracking under such pressure. He was experienced in battle, and had fought his way from the border of life and death innumerable times. He knew that this was the crucial moment.

He unexpectedly closed his eyes, his mind completely serene. His right hand that gripped the bone spike spear now slid along the shaft to the end of the spear and then abruptly twisted!

Snap!

The bone spike spear suddenly exploded. The furiously spinning bone spikes were full of destructive power.

Boom boom boom!

The explosion of bone spikes tore a gap in the ocean water.

A flow of blood came from Kuai An’s mouth. He opened his eyes which were unusually calm and bright.

That bit of blue light had flown out through the opening created by the explosion.

There was a thread of amusement at the corner of his mouth. Ever since he discovered the other cultivated shen power, he had gambled on [Blue Horsefly]. What he gambled on was that the other had not cultivated shen power for a long time! He gambled that [Blue Horsefly] was able to hurt the other!

A dot of blue light flew out of the ocean water, and Elder Xu’s face turned ashen white.

Pressed, he also used his full power!

Countless walls of water rose from the ocean to try to block this blue energy. However, this blue energy did not seem to be tangible and was not obstructed at all.

The blue light flashed and arrived in front of Elder Xu.

Elder Xu’s gaze met the blue light, and found a great suction come from the blue energy. He was unable to move, shocked and hopeless he shouted, “Save me!”

Before he finished speaking, the blue energy pierced Elder Xu’s forehead.

Countless blue lights exploded from Elder Xu’s head. Elder Xu’s body melted like snow.

Pop!

[Blue Horsefly] resumed its original appearance. Its light was dim and the body was covered in cracks. It fell from the sky and smashed to the ground into countless pieces.

Kuai An also fell from the sky, his face paper white, and his breathing almost undetectable.

A shout suddenly sounded in the air. A thread of fire suddenly flew out from the group of the yao elders targeting the unconscious Kuai An.

Snap!

The thread of fire suddenly exploded midair.

A long sleeve wrapped around Kuai An.

Ceng Lian’er’s serene voice sounded in everyone’s ears. “It’s the first time I have seen a honoured elder of the yao this shameless.”

“You dare! You girl … …” an elder pointed at Ceng Lian’er and shouted angry.

Before he finished speaking, a crescent moon suddenly lit up behind his head. The crescent moon spun and his head separated from his body, and dropped down with a roll.

Ceng Lian’er said serenely, “You are so old, yet your temper is so fiery, why?”

Ceng Lian’ers attack came without any warning. Her attack intimidated all those present. Everyone felt a cold wind at their necks, and were shocked inside. Ceng Lian’er’s moves surpassed their imagination. Ever since they stepped into shen power, everyone’s power had grown immensely and all of them had been confident. They looked down on normal sky yao, marshals, and fanxu. The only people they were wary of were the three mo gods of the Mo Shen Temple.

Who would have thought that a marshal with an earth mo weapon would take Elder Xu’s life.

Ceng Lian’er’s moves were even more uncanny and unpredictable. Elder Wang had died where he was. None of them had confidence that they would be able to dodge this move.

Ming Yue Ye’s expression was grave as her shen power rippled. Her presence continued to rise. She was like a blinding sun in the sky, giving off light that no one could look directly at. Her eyes were frosty as she said coldly, “This is how Xiao Mo Ge treats his guests?”

Ceng Lian’er’s expression was composed but her heart sank slightly. That move just now had been a shen technique she had comprehended not long ago, it was called the [First Moon Strike]. She saw the other’s overbearing attitude and had wanted to intimidate them so she had used this move. The [First Moon Strike] was powerful, but it also expended a great amount of shen power. More than half of her shen power was gone.

What she had not expected was that while the other elders showed fear, Ming Yue Ye did not have any fear at all.

Ceng Lian’er was surprised by the shen power vibrations that Ming Yue Ye gave off. It was much stronger than that Elder Xu. If she was at full power, she was confident she would be a match, but right now, if she fought, her bluff would be exposed.

Qinghua Xue had improved greatly, but hadn’t cultivated shen power. She was lacking too much compared to these elders, and could not help.

Just as Ceng Lian’er was becoming panicked, a cool voice sounded in the sky.

“This is how I treat my guests!”

Ming Yue Ye’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Just as the words sounded, a golden flame suddenly shot out of the ground and rapidly spread between Ceng Lian’er and Ming Yue Ye.

A ruler-straight golden thread of fire was like a sharp knife that completely separated the two.

“All those that cross the line will be killed!”

The cool voice was like a murderous autumn wind that blew into the hearts of the elders. Each of them felt a chill.

Yet no one dared to take the words as a joke. This golden line of fire burned silently yet the purity of the shen power it contained shocked them!

There was such pure shen power in the world!

Even Ming Yue Ye stopped breathing for a moment. She was intimidated. Her expression changed slightly. She knew now that she had underestimated Xiao Mo Ge. The other’s skill in shen power far surpassed her predictions.

In a moment, her expression recovered. Xiao Mo Ge was stronger than she had imagined, but she had the absolute advantage in terms of numbers.

All of the elder around her cultivated shen power. While each one individually was not as strong as Xiao Mo Ge, their collective power meant they had the upper hand.

In a few moments, she considered the gains and losses.

She secretly added Xiao Mo Ge’s shen power inheritance to their goals this time, other than the [Angel Device Raiment]. If they could obtain Xiao Mo Ge’s shen power inheritance, she could completely perfect the elder council’s shen power.

“Xiao Mo Ge, you want to become enemies with the Council of Elders?” Ming Yue Ye didn’t give up an inch and asked in a cold voice.

Behind the line of fire, it was completely silent. At some unknown time, Ceng Lian’er and Qinghua Xue had disappeared.

“Xiao Mo Ge, while you are of unknown origins, you must have the blood of a yao.” Ming Yue Ye was not demotivated, her tone determined and firm. “Right now is the time of great change in the world. Don’t you want to accomplish something? The Council of Elders desires those with skill, and you are one that we need! If you are willing to enter the Council of Elders, I am willing to give up my own position, and be your second in command! The Council of Elders has numerous corps, resources, and people. The help they can give you is unimaginable. The faction that you have now will be completely in your command, and the Council of Elders will not interfere!”

The other elders heard this and all changed expression. Their gazes as they looked at Ming Yue Ye were filled with shock and admiration!

Inside the Grave Ghost Mound, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but admire Ming Yue Ye as well. This woman was strong! If this was any other person, they would be moved by hearing these conditions. The power of the Council of Elders was so enormous it could not be matched. All of the yao were under its rule. The only one that might be comparable was Kun Lun. Tian Huan and the others were lacking slightly, and as for the mo that were divided under the rule of warlords, no one could compare.

Clap clap clap!

Clapping suddenly sounded in appropriate at this time. A handsome and upright youth slowly entered people’s view. It was the young mo god, Youxi Ya Ke.

He glanced at the line of fire on the ground, and his heart jumped. He did not show anything on his face except a lazy smile. “I have heard long ago that Miss Ming is a great woman and a rarity among the yao. You are just as the rumours say! So great! However, how can us mo endure you yao coming to our territory and allow you to dig at our foundations?”

“Are you Mo God Youxi Ya Ke? It is an honor to meet you!” A light flashed through Ming Yue Ye’s eyes as she elegantly gave a bow.

“Aiyaya, I would rather not meet such a powerful woman as you.” Youxi Ya Ke said impolitely and immediately caused anger to appear on the faces of the elders around Ming Yue Ye.

“Hey, Xiao Mo Ge, how about coming to the Mo Shen Temple? I’ll give my position to you. Oh, right, our Mo Shen Temple doesn’t have those rules, you can do whatever you want, come whenever you want. It is such a good place to waste away the time and wait for death, there’s no other place like this!”

Qinghua Xue and Ceng Lian’er looked strangely at Zuo Mo. Kuai An who had just woken up gaped with shock on his face.

Chapter 729 – The Prologue To The Feast

Zuo Mo was also slightly stunned but then became slightly smug. So ge was in such high demand!

However, he wasn’t the greenhorn ge from the past that had just started out in the world. His smugness did not show one bit on his face, and his tone was filled with conflict and agitation as though he was making a greatly difficult choice. “I need to consider this.”

Ceng Lian’er and Qinghua Xue looked at Zuo Mo’s strange expression. They heard this sincere voice and gaped. Actor! Definitely an actor!

Kuai An’s expression was puzzled. He didn’t quite understand. There was nothing more that had to be said of the Council of Elders, and the Mo Shen Temple had leapt to become one of the factions in the mo territories with the greatest potential. While it was unable to compare to the Council of Elders at present, the potential it displayed definitely would allow it to become a titan in the mo territories.

Invitations from two top factions, and he seemed to be joking around?

Under Kuai An’s stunned gaze, Zuo Mo hurried to keep setting up the jinzhi.

If he had been anxious before, than Zuo Mo was filled with confidence about the [King’s Forbidden Firmament] now. The [King’s Forbidden Firmament] had such power just in its beginning form. He greatly anticipated the completed [King’s Forbidden Firmament.]

Golden Crow Camp had created something powerful!

Thinking about that group of low ranking forging xiuzhe who lived at the bottom and did not have any ambition to being able to create such powerful jinzhi now, Zuo Mo was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

———

At this time, Mo Cloud Sea, and Golden Crow Camp was extremely busy and moving at full speed.

The battalions had finished assembling, and the atmosphere of Mo Cloud Sea was grave and murderous.

An enormous jie map was in front of them.

Gongsun Cha had a smile of a neighbour’s boy on his face.

In front of him, Shu Long, Ma Fan, A Zha Ge, Shi Dong, Wei Ran, Ye Ling, and others were gathered and sitting in a row. Any of these people if placed into another faction would be able to be a main commander, but here, they did not dare to even slack off. Each of them had the unique murderousness of a battle general on their face. Their orderly clothing and their stern expressions had became the unique traits for Mo Cloud Sea battle generals.

Bie Han only managed his Sin Battalion, and the entire battle general system of Mo Cloud Sea was managed by Gongsun Cha alone. Gongsun Cha liked a clean style and this influenced everyone under him. Even people like Lei Peng would carefully groom themselves when they went to see Gongsun Cha.

The astounding victories had caused Gongsun Cha and Bie Han’s fame to grow. They had made their way into the top ranks of battle generals in the world. The commanders present either had been promoted by Gongsun Cha, or taken hostage by him after being defeated. They in turn would not doubt his orders.

It had been a long time since Mo Cloud Sea has made any big moves. Everyone’s eyes burned with spirit. Other than Bie Han, all of the battle generals were present.

“Just now, we have received information that Kun Lun is participating in the fight over Xuan Kong’s territories!” Gongsun Cha said with a smile.

Boom!

The conference room shifted. Everyone had undisguised excitement on their faces. All of them understood what this meant.

“Daren! Let us also fight!” Lei Peng who always feared the world wasn’t chaotic enough was the first to jump out.

The eyes of Shi Dong who was famed for his calmness flashed with a burning fighting spirit. He murmured to himself, “A good chance!”

The conference room was heated and noisy. Gongsun Cha did not stop them. He knew that these people had been anticipating this opportunity for a long time.

Two hours ago, Kun Lun finally could not resist and started their attack against Xuan Kong Temple! This was a strong signal, a signal that all of the Four Realms had been waiting

The feast to divide Xuan Kong Temple had started!

They had all been waiting for this signal. Everyone knew that Xuan Kong Temple was weak now. There had been more skirmishes in the past while around Xuan Kong Temple’s borders than over the past one thousand years!

But Gongsun Cha did not act. He had worked hard to plan out how to gain the most benefit out of this great feast.

Looking at the excited group, his lips couldn’t help but curve into a small smile. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Shixiong. How was Shixiong right now? He didn’t know. If Shixiong was here right now, these problems would not even be problems!

Gongsun Cha dazed off. He always admired how Shixiong would be at ease dealing with any matter, and then show a smug expression off afterwards.

He gathered his thoughts and his gaze once again focused on these strong commanders. He took a deep breath. No matter what, he had to help Shixiong construct a good foundation!

A strong foundation that could help Shixiong complete what he wanted!

Burning fighting spirit was like a flame that was suddenly ignited and burned crazily. It spread through his calm eyes!

The commanders felt Lil’ Miss’s fighting spirit. The noisy conference room immediately quieted. All of their postures straightened, and looked hungrily at Gongsun Cha for the orders!

“The plan has already been given to you, I believe that you have already read it over many times so I won’t go over it again.”

Gongsun Cha’s voice that was sharp and held a thread of craziness echoed in the conference room, and caused everyone’s burning fighting spirit to become even more fanatical.

“This time, our target is fifty six jie! They have all been marked! Not one more, not one less! Any faction that obstructs you is an enemy! No matter what you do, defeat them, massacre them, take them hostage, I only have one demand, speed! With the fastest possible speed, conquer the fifty six jie!”

Gongsun Cha almost shouted at the end.

“Yes, Daren!” Everyone shouted in response.

———

Golden Crow Cloud Island had never been so busy before. It was filled with people, all of the core members of Golden Crow Camp gathered together. Other than this core group, there were also many outer organizations that made their expansion so enormous.

There were many outer organizations in Mo Cloud Sea. They were mostly led by one or two core members and their composition were the normal strength xiuzhe that specialized in daily skills. Some simple talisman, ling dan and ling food creation was done by these outer organizations. As Mo Cloud Sea’s strength increased, the amount of items they needed also increased by an enormous amount. Golden Crow Camp alone was not enough, and so these outer organizations were born.

The young people with outstanding talent had to pass through these outer organization to increase their experience and master their respective field.

Because experts taught spells and techniques, and they could find work easily in a relatively fair competitive environment, the number of these outer organizations increased drastically.

Looking at the noisy crowd, the two masters’ brows were tightly locked. Worry flashed across both pair of eyes. Compared to the well-trained and organized Golden Crow Camp, these outer organizations were almost unbearable to look at, with their chaotic management.

Thinking about Gongsun Cha Daren’s astounding plan, the two masters felt the pressure increase greatly. Behind them, more than one thousand treasure ships were floating in the air, creating a spectacular scene! These treasure ships had been gathered by collecting all of the treasure ships that the businesses in Mo Cloud Sea used for transportation.

This time, they really made a great investment!

Suddenly, a paper crane flew in front of Master Sun Bao. Master Sun Bao took the paper crane and read. An excited blush came onto his face.

He handed the paper crane to Ji Wei. Ji Wei was also similarly excited.

The Golden Crow Camp members that had been waiting below looked with wide eyes at the two.

Master Sun Bao said gravely, “The battalions have already departed!”

Everyone’s eyes lit up, and they shifted restlessly.

Master Sun Bao used all of his strength to shout, his voice passing through the seal formations to every corner of the cloud island.

“Everyone, take your teams, and board the treasure ships according to the order. We will follow behind the battalions. All of the jinzhi forts that we build have their locations designated already. Once the battalions conquer the region, we need to use the fastest possible speed to set up jinzhi forts!”

“All of you, listen up! The fastest! Fastest! One hundred and sixty nine jinzhi fort! Not one less!”

“Get ready to board! We depart immediately!”

The crowd started to move, it was a stampede of bodies.

———

Many people were floating outside the Grave Ghost Mound.

All of their gazes were focused that ruler-straight golden line of fire on the ground. No one dared to cross it. Those with power could smell the strong scent of danger, and those even stronger were more astounded by the purity of the shen power in the golden line.

The news that the Yao Council of Elders had broken the secret of shen power had been spread far and wide. The battle that had occurred just before had not escape investigation. Shen power, this ancient and unfamiliar power was like that ruler-straight golden line of fire, it became a new dividing line.

The difficulty of obtaining the secrets of shen power could be imagined.

But a marshal level had an earth mo weapon could threaten a shen power expert. This was the information taken from the battle just now.

Maybe it wasn’t all earth mo weapons, but Grandmaster Xiao Yun Hai’s earth mo weapons had proven this!

[Blue Horsefly] had been destroyed, the [Yin Clear Li Chakrams] had been exchanged, the value of the remaining two earth mo weapons suddenly increased. For those marshals, the [Angel Device Raiment] wasn’t something they could aspire to own. The only thing that could give them a feeling of safety were the last two mo weapons.

In a flash, the last two earth mo weapons were traded for.

Yi An looked at the three Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses on his hands and was in a dilemma.

The development of events had surpassed his imagination. Xiao Yun Hai was actually Xiao Mo Ge! This unexpected result immediately caused him to end up on a train he could not get off.

He didn’t have the courage to swallow the three Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass. He wasn’t so stupid to provoke such a terrifying enemy for just three Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses.

But Xiao Mo Ge’s situation was terrible, and surrounded by enemies!

No matter how powerful the jinzhi was, Xiao Mo Ge could not stay inside for his entire life. Once he left, he would face a situation where he was surrounded and attacked on all sides unless he threw his lot into a powerful faction.

The three strands of Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass immediately became a hot potato. If he gave them to Xiao Mo Ge, he would offend either the Mo Shen Temple or the Yao Council of Elders. If he didn’t give them to Xiao Mo Ge, and if Xiao Mo Ge didn’t die, then he could not afford the risk that the other would come back and settle his debts.

“Daren! Daren!” His subordinate charged in with a pale face.

Looking at his subordinate’s expression, Yi An’s heart turned cold.

“Kuai An Daren used Blue Horsefly to kill a yao elder. Kuai An Daren is heavily wounded, and Blue Horsefly was destroyed.” The subordinate’s voice was trembling.

Yi An felt his head ring.

Great trouble!

A long time later, Yi An’s expression recovered from ashen white. He gritted his teeth. “Go! To the Grave Ghost Mound!”

Since they had already offended the Yao Council of Elders greatly, and didn’t have any relationship with the Mo Shen Temple, the only hope they had left was Xiao Mo Ge.

Chapter 730 – Silent Arrival

Zuo Mo furiously continued to set down the jinzhi, the light of spells on his hands flooding downwards. The complex mo matrices and seal formations appeared on the ground with intimidating glows, blossoming and spread!

In a trance, Zuo Mo threw everything happening on the outside to the back of his mind. His eyes were focused, and his mind was clear.

All kinds of seal scripts, and mo matrices flashed across his mind, and then flew out of his fingers.

The geography of the land, the river flows, the earth fire, the movement of the yin energy, everything with fifty li was within his fingertips.

Ceng Lian’er woke up from her recovery meditation. While she had the sun seeds that Zuo Mo had given her, she couldn’t bear to use them. Things that could be used to replenish shen power were treasures among treasures right now.

She raised her head to look at Zuo Mo in the sky with a serene expression.

That figure gave off strong confidence. There was no pause or hesitation as he threw down the lights. Without realizing it, Ceng Lian’er’s gaze became even deeper. There seemed to be mist overlaid over her eyes. No one knew what she was thinking inside.

Qinghua Xue’s gaze was much simpler. Reverence and shock, but these feelings did not make her gaze heat up. It was still as serene as water.

Kuai An’s face was pale. He was the most shocked of the group. Xiao Mo Ge, Xiao Yun Hai, these two identities were not secrets now. But even if he was seeing the spectacular scene in front of him with his own eyes, he could not reconcile the two completely different personages and identities as the same person.

Suddenly, he shook from a chill.

It was slightly cold.

This unfamiliar feeling stunned him. Moments later, he reacted. He was heavily wounded, and his mo physique was weak.

He couldn’t help but glance behind him out of the corner of his eyes. His eyes suddenly widened.

At some unknown time, it had started to snow. Grey snowflakes fell and the world was completely grey.

This was … …

He opened his hand and a grey snowflake landed in his hand. The bone-aching cold caused him to shudder, but then the grey snowflake quickly melted on his palm. A pure strand of yin energy dissipated in the air.

Yin energy!

Kuai An’s gaze turned shocked as he suddenly turned his head to look closely at the figure in the sky, that person that was in his own world.

He, he was able to make yin energy into snowflakes!

Kuai An tried to quickly calm himself down. More puzzlement surged. It started to snow within a fifty li area, large patches of feathery grey snowflakes slowly fell down.

These snowflakes … … what was their use?

———

Just as everyone was shocked by Zuo Mo’s uncanny moves, no one noticed that A Gui had disappeared.

A Gui appeared at the entrance to the yin energy cave, where the ghost soldier had appeared at. Beside her was the Black Gold Seal Soldier that had come out at an unknown time. He was using his metal fists to bang on his metal chest.

The black Gold Seal Soldier had an expression of bravery. “A Gui, don’t worry about those ghost soldiers, if one comes, I’ll kill one, and then eat it!”

Noticing A Gui turning to look at him, his tone changed and he said fawningly, “I mean I will kill one, and have A Gui eat one! After A Gui is full, I will just take some.” When he finished, he hugged his stomach with a grieved expression. He looked pitifully at A Gui, tears welling up, “Sister A Gui, Lil’ Black is so hungry … …”

A Gui turned around, unaffected, and completely ignored him.

Seeing that trying to be adorable was ineffective, the Black Gold Seal Soldier could only turn to face the cave entrance. He immediately became murderous, and hungry. “The cowardly will die from hunger, the brave will die from overeating, in order to die from overeating … …”

Pia, a bare foot stepped onto his back, throwing him off balance. The Black Gold Seal Soldier fell face first into the cave, and a string of wails came from the cavern.

A Gui jumped down.

———

Experts gathered on a cloud outside the Grave Ghost Mound.

Marshal Di looked at the Grave Ghost Mound in the distance and said emotionally, “This Xiao Mo Ge is really an influential person. No matter where he goes, he creates a storm.”

Qin Ming nodded and said, “Yes, but it is unwise to become known everywhere. A hero would not stand under a collapsing wall. The situation right now is not a dead end, but it is a closed one. It is difficult to resolve.”

Tang Chen grimaced hearing this, “You really are all idle. Let’s first think about how to obtain shen power.”

The smile on the others’ faces faded, and their expressions became serious.

They had received news that the other two mo gods of the Mo Shen Temple were rushing over at full speed and would arrive tomorrow at the earliest. The Yao Council of Elders was another mountain in front of them, and this mountain was even bigger than the Mo Shen Temple.

They looked at the yao elders, each of them didn’t bear to tear their gazes away from the ruler-straight line of fire. Ming Yue Ye’s public announcement had revealed their aims for Xiao Mo Ge’s shen power inheritance.

“What is Xiao Mo Ge doing inside the Grave Ghost Mound?” Zhong Wen Tian asked.

Qin Ming was thoughtful. “Yes, what is he doing inside? Old Tang, what do you you know about the Grave Ghost Mound?”

Tang Chen shook his head. “Not much.”

Qin Ming was slightly surprised. Everyone had fought together once and were familiar with each other’s personalities. Tang Chen had left their group and returned to his family for familial reasons, but Qin Ming thought Tang Chen was a detail-minded and cautious person. This Grave Ghost Mound was just a few hundred li from Bu Zhou City. It was so close that he was shocked that Tang Chen did not know it well!

Tang Chen grimaced. “It is not that I do not want to know, but this place is slightly strange.”

“Strange?” Everyone’s attention was attracted. A place that a marshal called strange was most likely a bit strange.

“I’ve sent many people to explore the area, but not many have returned. I eventually made a trip personally.” Tang Chen’s expression was grave. “The yin energy inside is extremely dense with soul fiends and malicious ghosts. As I went deeper, the yin energy increased in concentration, and would suddenly boil. If one doesn’t personally experience it, it is difficult to imagine the scene. All the yin energy in the surroundings would boil at the same time. If you use mo skills in the slightest, it would cause the yin energy to explode. I almost didn’t make out that time.”

When he spoke of this, Tang Chen had an expression of fear.

Everyone looked at each other with shocked expressions.

“Is there someone else powerful living in hiding here?” Qin Ming couldn’t resist asking.

Tang Chen shook his head. “I don’t know, but ever since that time, I never went there again. I didn’t expect that Xiao Mo Ge would run in, and I don’t know what he is doing inside.”

At this time, a strong wave of vibrations came from the Grave Ghost Mound.

Everyone was startled and hurriedly turned.

The Grave Ghost Mound seemed to turn alive, the mountains and rivers moving. The rumbling could be heard from a distance, and the dark red earth fire formed pillars of fire.

Even stranger was that the sky above the Grave Ghost Mound was filled with grey snowflakes.

A vibration that was hard to describe flashed across everyone’s minds.

———

The main peak of Xuan Kong Temple looked the same as before, but the fear and alarm on the faces of the disciples could not be disguised. The complete destruction of the elder corps was a fatal blow to Xuan Kong temple.

If the world was not in chaos, they could in act a policy of isolation for decades, and Xuan Kong Temple might be able to recover. But right now, the world was in turmoil, and the balance between factions was changing. People saw the weakness of Xuan Kong Temple. There were continuous skirmishes at the borders of Xuan Kong temple and all kinds of conflicts were escalating in intensity. Those factions were like cunning wolves that were tearing off flesh from the enormous body of Xuan Kong Temple.

All of the Xuan Kong Temple disciples realized that the sect was at the time of life and death!

“Kun Lun has entered the fight!”

When the news came back, all of them had ashen expression. They all knew what this meant. The participation of Kun Lun would be the straw that broke the camel’s back, figuratively speaking. In reality,  Kun Lun was not a straw but a great mountain.

As expected, on the afternoon of that day, Tian Huan who had maintained their control took over four jie of Xuan Kong Temple at lightning speed!

Kun Lun, Tian Huan, these two former allies of Xuan Kong Temple showed their bright butcher knives.

All of the factions understood that the climax of the feast was about to arrive! Almost all the factions moved at the same time, their eyes red as they furiously attacked.

The fighting was intense and ferocious.

At the moment of life and death, many of the Xuan Kong Temple battalions had the thought of dragging their enemies into death with them. There were battles to the death everywhere. Their fierce and hopeless counterattack exploded. It displayed Xuan Kong Temple’s thousands of years worth of foundation and bravery, but also showed its weakness and lack of future.

At the main peak right now, there were only the disciples that were in charge of chores. Any disciple with fighting ability had been sent to the front lines to stop the attacks of the enemy.

People were afraid. Any disciple with any knowledge knew that the present dilemma of Xuan Kong Temple would not be resolved even if there were a few more fanxu experts.

When the entire world came to divide Xuan Kong Temple, it was fated for this sect that was thousands of year old to die.

No one could stop the entire world, not even Kun Lun.

Once the situation formed, the momentum had given their fate a life of its own!

The participation of Kun Lun and Tian Huan extinguished the last bit of hope in the hearts of the Xuan Kong Temple disciples. What was most fatal was that they hadn’t thought that Kun Lun and Tian Huan would be so impatient!

These two fatal butcher knives came so quickly!

Ming Xin’s mood was terrible. He did not want to die with the sect. The best choice right now was to follow another leader. Other than Xuan Kong Temple, Xuan Kong Realm had nine other great temples, and they were all good choices.

However, it was not possible to go throw himself with another sect with empty hands at this time.

He thought of the Sutra Pavilion and the Dhyana Treasure Pavilion. A daring idea was unable to be suppressed. A harsh look flashed through his eyes. He needed to be fast. There probably were many that had the same idea. If he could get one or two treasures, he would naturally have a place to live in the future.

After arriving at the decision, Ming Xin did not hesitate. Taking advantage of the dark, he sneaked to the Sutra Pavilion.

The Sutra Pavilion was unusually silent today.

A hint of anxiousness flashed across Ming Xin’s mind. But he gritted his teeth and sneaked in.  Usually, the shishu would guard this place but they had all been summoned away. There were only jinzhi left but he was familiar with them.

Carefully avoiding the jinzhi, he finally entered the Sutra Pavilion and was extremely excited.

But when he saw what was in front of him, he was struck dumb.

Chapter 731 – Act

The night was as dark as ink, thick clouds blocking the sun, and one couldn’t even see their fingers.

There was a blurry figure at the highest point on the main mountain peak of Xuan Kong Temple.

The mountain wind was strong, and caused Bie Han’s cape to flap loudly in the wind. His frosty and cold face held a complex expression. He was familiar with every blade of grass and every tree here. In this place, he had grown up, learned to be a battle general, was held captive, and was humiliated. He was filled with hatred for this place. Countless times in his dreams, he had personally lit a great fire and burned this damned place into ash.

But when this day truly arrived, when he stepped onto the main peak again, when the scene of his dreams was about to be realized, he didn’t feel that pleasure at getting his revenge but an indescribable mix of feelings as he stared at the dark night and this familiar place.

No one could save Xuan Kong Temple. Even if Jiang Zhe came back from the dead, he would not be able to save Xuan Kong Temple.

Bie Han and Gongsun Cha had both felt that Kun Lun would soon make their move, and a daring plan had appeared. Gongsun Cha’s sharpness and insanity combined with Bie Han’s fiery tactics caused this plan to receive full support.

Bie Han lead Sin Battalion and sneaked through the night to get close to the main peak without being detected. Almost all of the forces of Xuan Kong Temple were positioned on their borders to resist the invasion of other forces. Their center was left comparatively empty and undefended.

For Bie Han who had lived in Xuan Kong Temple since his childhood, it as was though there were no defenses at all.

Once Kun Lun entered the battle, all of Xuan Kong Temple would panick, and this was also when Xuan Kong Temple’s main peak defenses would be at its weakest. Bie Han who had been hiding nearby unhesitatingly bared his fangs!

Bie Han who was familiar with every tree and flower didn’t even give the disciples of Xuan Kong Temple any chance to send a message before taking down all of Xuan Kong Temple’s main peak.

There wasn’t anything left alive on the main peak of Xuan Kong Temple.

Bie Han’s gaze cleared quickly of its daze and became cold again. He looked up at the sky and knew he could not afford to delay. He was not the only one that was hiding in the dark.

The Sutra Pavilion and Dhyana Treasure Pavilion of Xuan Kong Temple’s main peak held the wealth of Xuan Kong Temple accumulated through thousands of years. It was the most tempting and delicious part of this feast! The situation had developed so quickly that Xuan Kong Temple hadn’t had the time to move this wealth away. All of the sects were targeting this fat piece of meat.

Among the Xuan Kong Temple disciples that he had just killed, there were six that were spies from other factions.

Soon, the elite experts of other factions would arrive and it would not be so easy to leave then.

Bie Han looked deeply at this dhyana holy ground that had stood for thousands of years. A jade box covered in seal scripts appeared on his hand. He did not hesitate and threw the jade box out.

The jade box drew out a curve as it flew through the night sky, bam, and landed halfway up the mountain.

The jade box immediately cracked.

A dot of fire lit up from the jade box. The fire quickly spread at a mad speed towards the surroundings. In a flash, the middle of the mountain was covered in flames.

The dark red flames danced furiously and consumed everything.

This was a work from the two masters of Golden Crow Camp. Samadhi Fire Box. This kind of sixth grade fire was stunningly power. Harvesting high level fires from fire formations was one of Golden Crow Camp’s best skills. The flames of the core members in Golden Crow Camp had all been upgraded a long time ago. Fourth-grade golden crow fire was too low grade for their present needs.

Many sects had Samadhi Fire and using it here would not expose their identity.

In a flash, the flames consumed the entire peak. The crimson red tongues of fire shot up and licked the sky. The entire sky was dyed red, and even the clouds were unable to the lashing tongues of flame the sky was penetrated by the hot flows of air.

Among the flames, Bie Han led the silent and puppet-like Sin Battalion to a soundless withdrawal.

———

The yin energy underground was thick and a passageway stretched forward. The concentration of yin energy inside the cave was multiple times that of above. Waves of yin energy came out of the deep hole.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s eyes flashed with eerie light. He banged on his chest as he comforted A Gui, shamelessly complimenting himself, “Sister A Gui, don’t worry, Lil’ Black is very strong now, and can easily capture those ghost soldiers … …”

“En.” He suddenly stopped and his eyes lit up.

A Gui silently stopped walking.

Suddenly, the Black Gold Seal Soldier gave a sly smile and his body smashed towards the right abruptly.

Bam!

His smash was extremely strong and something immediately flew out!

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s hands and feet were on the ground like a wild beast as he shout out. He stretched out his neck, his face twisted as he howled at the top of his lungs, “Oh oh oh, singing to the sky with a curved neck … …”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier mangled the poem the “Song of the Goose.” The proper translation is more along the lines of “Goose, goose, goose, she is singing towards the sky, with her neck bending in such a lovely curve”

He was lightning fast and didn’t’ even leave behind an afterimage in the air.

Woosh, he appeared behind that thing. Bam, his right leg was like a whip that viciously struck the grey shadow. The great power whipped the grey shadow into the air.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s eyes were bright as he shot out again.

He suddenly appeared in the air, meeting the incoming grey shadow and struck another blow with his leg.

Bam bam bam!

There was a fast rattle of bone-aching sound that would cause people’s scalps to prickle.

Suddenly, his figure flashed again and he appeared next to the grey shadow. His right hand was like metal pincers that clasped around the thing’s neck.

The series of movements had been lightning fast. The Black Gold Seal Soldier gripped the other’s throat and pulled it in front of him. After examining it for a while, he was slightly puzzled. “This is the ghost soldier?”

The flames in the eyes of the ghost soldier were dim as though it had been greatly affected by the storm of attacks and hadn’t recovered yet. The bones of the ghost soldier were covered in cracks and it was breathing faintly.

Suddenly, the Black Gold Seal Soldier’s nose jerked and his eyes lit up. “Shen power!”

But his face quickly fell. He dragged the ghost soldier in front of A Gui and said reluctantly, “Sister A Gui, here.”

A Gui quickly sucked all of the shen power from the ghost soldier’s body.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s power had grown greatly after he swallowed two balls of light while  Zuo Mo had forged the earth mo weapons. He rampaged around underground. All of the ghost soldiers that he met were unable to fight back. The two advanced more than a dozen li and killed six ghost soldiers.

A Gui absorbed three threads of shen power and the Black Gold Seal Soldier also absorbed three.

After absorbing the threads of shen power, the Black Gold Seal Soldier became even more powerful. He was also able to automatically take in yin energy from the surroundings and could hide perfectly in it.

After absorbing shen power, the purple fire in her eyes was brighter. The yin energy in the surroundings continuously flowed into her body and then permeated out of her body. The yin energy that came out would carry away threads of black energy.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier suddenly exclaimed in shock, “Sister A Gui, you seem to have become more beautiful! That’s great! I have to ask for a reward from Big Bro! If I don’t ask for a reward for such a good thing, I really can’t live up to my name… …”

The scars on A Gui’s face were much fainter and her exposed skin much smoother.

What was most attractive was still her perfect pair of feet. Her bare feet at present had an additional lustre like that of jade or porcelain. They were untouched by dust despite stepping on the ground.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier touched his face and then his head. He muttered, “Why didn’t I become more handsome? It’s not fair, this really isn’t fair! Ahahah, I want to become handsome! I want to become the handsomest seal soldier, and then pursue the tastiest ling beasts … …”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s wails echoed underground.

The purple fire in A Gui’s eyes became less heated and more gentle.

“I really lost out, lost out! I have to get something out of Big Bro to comfort my wounded soul!” The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s mouth constantly ran. Suddenly, his gaze met his own hand and he stilled. “En?”

The script on his hand was peerlessly clear.

This pattern was very powerful. It was not like a seal script, nor a mo matrix, it seemed extremely old. Even Big Brother was unable to tell what it was. In the past, it had been very blurry, but now it was extremely clear. Each stroke was clear.

However … …

He clearly remembered that this pattern didn’t have any black parts!

One line of the pattern on his hand had turned black. He inspected it a few times and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He could only give up. However, he immediately became excited. This hand’s pattern had always been his strongest killing move. While he didn’t understand what pattern this was, he could feel the great power contained in the hand pattern.

Have a strong one come! Have a strong one come!

Let ge try this out!

The Black Gold Seal Soldier yearned to try.

At this time, deep in the cavern, a deep growl came.

The yin energy in the cave suddenly became ferocious and turbulent as it twisted and headed at the duo.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier was aching for a fight and was overjoyed. He changed forward into the furious wave, heading in headfirst like an arrow! The purple fire in A Gui’s eyes suddenly lit up. The wave of air blew away the sand and rocks around her yet A Gui didn’t move at all.

A Gui’s bare feet lightly danced on the ground before she disappeared.

Bam bam bam!

Loud sounds of collisions entered A Gui’s ears. When A Gui arrived, she only saw the Black Gold Seal Soldier fighting intensely against a skeleton covered in flames.

The air vibrated with the exclamations of the Black Gold Seal Soldier and the angry howls of the fire skeleton.

If Zuo Mo was here, he would definitely recognize that it was a sacrificial altar under the Black Gold Seal Soldier and the fire skeleton. At the edge of the sacrificial altar, there were ten totem pillars carved with ghosts and monsters. They were continuously spouting pure and thick yin energy out.

The yin energy followed the passages of the sacrificial altar to gather at a bulge at the center. The yin energy climbed up the steps.

There were four stone statues with grotesque fasts and fangs guarding the four corners of the platform. The statue on the west was already shattered to leave behind a pile of rubble. From the fragments, it was possible to see that this was a statue of a skeleton.

At the center of the statues where the yin energy gathered, a grey set of armor stood silently. The feet of the armor continuously absorbed yin energy that was then spat out through its mouth.

All of the yin energy underground came from here.

The bone armor was like jade. After being permeated for countless years by the yin energy, it was astoundingly fine to touch. Small pieces of bones were layered together and held an unique beauty.

The empty eyes of the bone armor carried the weight of the ages as they soundlessly stared at A Gui.

[1]

Translator Ramblings: Bie Han finally burns down Xuan Kong Temple. Revenge is served burning hot in this case.

Chapter 732 – King’s Forbidden Firmament!

“He is setting up jinzhi,” the chief mo god said coolly.

The rhinoceros mo god stood silently next to him. The two did not have any attendants with them. After changing their appearance, no one recognized them. Having disguised themselves and ordering subordinates to act as body doubles to mislead their enemies, no one knew that they had secretly arrived.

“I already told Third to delay the old man and the Yao Council of Elders when we make our move,” the rhinoceros mo god said gravely.

“We need to be fast and capture Xiao Mo Ge before they can react!” The chief mo god’s eyes were cold. “The [Angel Device Raiment] is definitely on him. As long as Xiao Mo Ge is in our hands, we have the upper hand.”

The rhinoceros mo god nodded. He glanced at the Grave Ghost Mound. “I will break the jinzhi.”

His voice was hushed but his tone was filled with confidence. In his view, Xiao Mo Ge’s idea of setting up jinzhi was laughable. The jinzhi might be strong, but it definitely could not stop them.

Only shen power jinzhi could stop shen power experts.

“Ceng Lian’er’s shen power has not yet recovered, and she is not a threat,” the chief mo god schemed, “Xiao Mo Ge is setting up jinzhi and has definitely used a great amount of energy. The only worry is that ugly servant of his.”

The rhinoceros listened silently with a composed expression.

“Do not hold anything back.” The chief mo god’s gaze did not leave the Grave Ghost Mound. “This battle will determine the future of our Mo Shen Temple. If we succeed, we will not need to fear the Yao Council of Elders!

“I know,” the rhinoceros mo god said gravely.

“Act now!” Before the words finished, the chief mo god’s figure disappeared.

The figure of the rhinoceros mo god flashed and he silently appeared high above the periphery of the Grave Ghost Mound.

He took a deep breath. All the shen power in his body vibrated. He knew that with this attack, his identity would be exposed to everyone.

Victory and defeat was all in this blow!

He eliminated the stray thoughts in his mind, his hands slowly raised up high, and his eyes widened.

Boom!

A stunning presence erupted like a volcano, and was no longer concealed!

It was as bright as the sun!

The powerful shen presence spread across all of the Grave Ghost Mound and the surrounding hundred li like a storm. The suffocating presence was like a roaring wasteland beast from the ancient era. Those mo of average power felt their legs weaken and almost give out.

Blood red hoops suddenly wrapped around the right arm of the rhinoceros mo god.

The rhinoceros mo god opened his eyes, the five fingers on his right hand spread out as he pressed his open palm downwards.

———

The yin energy that multiplied suddenly in ferocity had nearly caught Zuo Mo off-guard. However, his reaction was fast and he immediately adjusted, his hand movements changing.

The yin energy was like a coiling grey dragon that silently moved along the mo matrices and seal scripts already set up. Everywhere it passed, the mo matrices and seal scripts lit up. The yin energy was absorbed by the mo matrices and seal scripts and then turned into grey snowflakes.

The snow grew even heavier.

Even someone as strong as Zuo Mo couldn’t help but show weariness after setting up jinzhi for such a long time. He threw a sun seed into his mouth and felt as the pure shen power continuously rejuvenated his body. When his strength returned, the light in his eyes grew brighter.

Looking at the mountains, rivers, and flowing earth fire within fifty li and the packed seal scripts and mo matrices, a smug expression appeared on his face.

Ge is really a genius!

However, he would only know the effect of the jinzhi after activating them.

The strange and heavy grey snow had already been noticed by the experts gathered outside. Numerous pairs of eyes focused on the Grave Ghost Mound behind the line of fire.

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. He looked down at the jinzhi below and his eyes flashed with a stunning light.

Since this was the case, then let it be activated!

———

At the sudden appearance of the rhinoceros mo god, the old man, Ming Yue Ye and the other people all changed expression.

The old man’s hair flew up as his shen power reached a peak. His body was covered in a layer of terrifying black light, his muscles bulging. He suddenly grew in height, his figure multiplying in size, his body seemingly made from metal as it turned black. He stepped forward, his back arched as he threw a punch layered in black light at the rhinoceros mo god in the sky. He shouted thunderously, “Get down here!”

A cold light flashed through Ming Yue Ye’s eyes. The light blue reeds in her hand danced at an unique rhythm and snapped. A blue butterfly flew out. Its beautiful wings flapped in the air and it disappeared.

“Old Elder, you really have a temper!” The young mo god giggled. Yet there was no humor on his face, only a stern expression at the gravity of the situation.

The bloody light on his body was thick, and his shen power was clearly being channeled to its limits. Within the bloody light, blood thorny vines flew out.

The bloody vines danced in the air like snakes with thorns. They criss-crossed in the air and covered the sky.

Dozens of blood vines twisted eerily as they gathered in one direction. They immediately formed a wall of vines that blocked the punch from the old man.

Boom!

The blood vine wall immediately was penetrated.

The young mo god seemed to have expected this. A second and a third vine wall appeared at almost the same time.

The punch passed through the second blood vine wall, and smashed into the third, but it was halted.

At the same time, the blood vines suddenly bloomed with bright flowers. The flowers withered at a visible rate, the petals falling and dancing in the wind to form a mist surrounding the figure of the blue butterfly.

The blue butterfly lightly flapped its wings. The bright blood mist was unable to move forward. Yet the blood mist thickened and surrounded the blue butterfly.

Pop pop pop!

A rattle of explosions came from within the bloody mist and, abruptly, the bloody mist exploded.

Ming Yue Ye’s expression changed slightly. She unhesitatingly cut off her connection to the butterfly. The blood mist in the air exploded, a ring of bloody light spreading ferociously into the surroundings like a storm!

All of the people who had approached were caught off guard and were thrown into the air as though they were hit by a rampaging bull.

Eerie blood colored patterns suddenly appeared on the face of the young mo god. Blood seeped out of these beautiful patterns. He looked both eerie and terrifying. His face was pale, his clothing tattered, and his figure wavering and about to fall. He had managed to stop these two users of shen power but it had cost him greatly.

“Aiyaya, being cannon fodder isn’t a great feeling.”

He muttered to himself as his thin body floated weakly in the air.

At the same time, a stunning yet familiar wave of air came towards his back.

An accomplished smile appeared at the corner of his lips. Of the three, the chief mo god was the strongest, but in terms of how domineering one’s power was, the rhinoceros mo god was the best.

Nothing could stand to the [Mo God’s Brute Hand]!

He had completed his mission… …

The young mo god seemed relieved of a great burden. He relaxed his body and allowed it to drift with the furious flow shockwaves power like a falling leaf. He did not care about the blood that was seeping out of the patterns on his face.

Yet his relaxed body suddenly froze.

In the next moment, the young mo god forcibly twisted his body and turned back to gaze at the Grave Ghost Mound.

His eyes widened and he paled!

———

The Grave Ghost Mound that had been dark and shrouded in grey snow suddenly lit up as though there were ten thousand lanterns. The mo matrices and seal scripts continuously lit up at a stunning rate as though water was flowing through them.

In a flash, the Grave Ghost Mound seemed to appear illuminated as though it was day. The exquisite and complex seal scripts and mo matrices lit up in succession. The land within fifty li seemed to be covered with a bright and fine spider-web. The endless bright seal scripts illuminated the curves of the landscape.

The grey snowflakes floating in the air were dissonant to the beauty below but no one could ignore them.

Yet at this time, no one was attracted by the beauty of the Grave Ghost Mound. Everyone’s gaze could not move away from the godly figure in the air as they unconsciously stopped breathing.

[Mo God’s Brute Hand]!

Everyone seemed to see a great mountain crashing down from the sky! A brutal and suffocating power that smashed down as it robbed people of hope!

Under the suffocating pressure of the [Mo God Brute Hand], the beautiful Grave Ghost Mound was like a beautiful but fragile work of art.

This hand was enough to flatten all of the Grave Ghost Mound!

Among the grey snowflakes, Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head. He only just detected the approaching furious and intimidating power after he activated the jinzhi!

Zuo Mo had jumped in fright.

This attack had given up on all technique and skill, it was just pure power! This was the first time he saw such an unique shen technique. While most shen techniques were simple and utilized little skill, he had never heard of such a simple and direct method!

He had once seen the rhinoceros mo god during the fight against the Xuan Kong Temple elder corps. He had estimates of the rhinoceros mo god’s power, but his mind still wavered at the power of this hand.

But in the next moment, he suddenly reacted and knew the other’s intentions

–the other wanted to break his jinzhi!

Zuo Mo’s little heart immediately stopped wavering, and his expression became vicious. The gaze he threw up was one of scorn, as he spat out a disdainful sound. It was as though he was displeased that he was being challenged in his most accomplished field.

Ever since ge started learning seal formation, the Turtle Formation Defense style had never been defeated. It had great accomplishments, and you definitely hadn’t lived in Sky Moon Jie before … …

If there were people inside the Grave Ghost Mound, people would be shocked to find that the scene inside was completely different than what they saw outside. The seal scripts and mo matrices on the ground were not stationary but moved as though they were alive.

The light from the ground suddenly grew. Zuo Mo’s eyes grew brighter, all of the humor on his face disappearing and leaving behind only focus and concentration.

Floating in the air, Zuo Mo’s face that was not handsome flashed with an indescribable light.

Even the suffocating pressure [Mo God Brute Hand] that was howling down at the ground could not steal his glory at this moment!

Come!

He suddenly spread his arms!

The light under his feet brightened. The flowing seal scripts and mo matrices stilled. And then they seemed to have received a summons, each of them leaving the ground and floating in the air.

There were eighteen thousand parts, and more than tens of thousands of seal scripts and mo matrices involved.

The combined seal scripts and mo matrices that numbered in the hundreds of thousands and of various colors and shapes all flew into the sky.

Looking from afar, in that moment, there were millions of dots of light above the Grave Ghost Mound. They were bright and like a mist. The scene was so spectacular that words could only describe a tiny part of it!

Some stopped and floating in the air, others continued to rise, moving up and down in a staggered fashion.

The grey snowflakes did not continue to fall but floated silently.

Time seemed to be frozen by this indescribable beauty.

What also stopped was the sky of the Grave Ghost Mound.

[King’s Forbidden Firmament]!

Chapter 733 – Battlefield!

In the middle of the night, the sky above the Grave Ghost Mound was illuminated by a deluge of light. Zuo Mo’s figure with his arms spread wide seemed to be a ruler looking down at his realm. The pride and an ease in his manner spoke of absolute control was clear to all those below him in that frozen moment.

Even the bright lights could not mask his grandeur.

When time seemed to freeze, a blood colored handprint was frozen soundlessly in the air.

Even while it was bound motionlessly in the air, that bright red handprint would still make people feel the powerful, vicious, and brutal presence!

[Mo God’s Brute Hand]!

No one had thought that the [Mo God’s Brute Hand] that had drew at the energies of the universe and overwhelmed the world and caused a tsunami of ferocious power was a bright red handprint no larger than their own!

When the mo matrices below lit up, the rhinoceros mo god felt danger. Yet everything that happened next surpassed his imagination.

The destructive power, the furious wave of power he had released, stopped without any delay.

Seeing the [Mo God’s Brute Hand] silently stopped in the air, he even stilled.

How was it possible?

Even if his [Mo God’s Brute Hand] was stopped, even if the [Mo God’s Brute Hand] was destroyed by the other’s shen technique, he would not be so surprised. But this strange stillness in front of him surpassed the bounds of his knowledge.

Arms spread, Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up.

His right arm swayed slightly as his hand swept out. He shouted clearly, “Turn.”

The surrounding crowds woke up as Zuo Mo’s voice seemed to reverberate inside their minds.

The bright rain of light above the Grave Ghost Mound slowly revolved with Zuo Mo as the center. The seal scripts and mo matrices floating in the air woke up and moved around.

When hundreds of thousands of bright patterns moved, everyone changed expressions. Streaks of light formed and were destroyed. Even those that were skilled in mo matrices could not identify any pattern!

It was too complex!

Yet at this time, no one was able to shout in time, and those that were stronger found a faintly discernable figure within the vortex of light.

The chief mo god!

Even the stupidest person could guess this person’s identity at this time.

The chief mo god was in a dilemma. The jinzhi in front of him was eerie and strange. The seal scripts and mo matrices around him each gave off different kinds of power. When these powers mixed together, it was like a power bog. He wasn’t able to move!

No matter what shen technique he used, it would be consumed and merge with this strange power bog!

Damn it!

The sickle mo matrix on the chief mo god’s face was bright and clear, showing the fury he felt at this moment. However, he was a decisive person, and knew that he could not succeed even with the help of the others. It was more important to save himself in this moment. He immediately channeled shen power through his entire body to protect it.

At this time, the surrounding mo matrices and seal scripts suddenly spun. His felt his breathing choke off and his body was restrained.

Innumerable power flows spun around him, cutting, twisting, and grinding at him. This caused the shen power inside him to be quickly expended. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free of the restraint!

Only now did he understand the true meaning of this jinzhi.

It used an abnormal amount of turbulent power flows to turn the entire jinzhi area into a power graveyard. Any kind of power when put in this power graveyard would be broken up and assimilated.

Just as though it was trying to prove his prediction, the blood colored fingerprint that was motionless above his head quickly melted, grew smaller, and then disappeared.

Which monster thought of such a monstrous method!

The fury in the chief mo god’s eyes disappeared and a thread of terror replaced it. He knew the true meaning of the jinzhi but he still did not know how Xiao Mo Ge controlled the astounding number of power flows.

The pressure of the jinzhi against him grew even greater, and his shen power was used up at an even faster rate. The chief mo god knew that if he did not make a decision now, he would most likely be forever restrained in this freakish jinzhi.

Viciousness flashed through his eyes. He suddenly bit his tongue. The sickle mo matrix on his face turned from bright red to grey-white. His full face thinned eerily.

He stared viciously at Zuo Mo and gritted out, “Xiao Mo Ge, either you will die or I will die!”

Before he finished, his figure slowly faded at a visible rate until he disappeared.

The rhinoceros mo god detected the chief mo god going all in immediately. Shocked, he also reacted quickly. He knew that the mission had failed this time.

Xiao Mo Ge was stronger than they had imagined!

He looked with lingering fear at the youth in the middle of the bright glittering rain. A hint of relief rose. Fortunately, he had not been trapped in that fatal jinzhi.

Taking advantage of the other people not having recovered from the shock, he suddenly appeared behind to Youxi Ya Ke and grabbed him. His left hand suddenly exploded into a bloody mist and covered the pair.

When the bloody mist dissipated, the figure of the two were gone.

———

The fighting on the ground did not affect what occurred underground.

The fighting underground was similarly intense. The Black Gold Seal Soldier and the fire skeleton were fighting intensely. His strength having grown, the Black Gold Seal Soldier had the upper hand yet the fire skeleton had the advantage of home territory and used special abilities that forced the battle into a stalemate.

This displeased the Black Gold Seal Soldier. The screams and nattering of the Black Gold Seal Soldier echoed over the entire sacrificial altar.

“You trash bones, ye can smell the rot coming off you. You still can’t give up after being buried for so many years? Be obedient and let ye help you move on, you can earn some good karma. It is your greatest fortune to come to ye’s stomach. So many beautiful beasts beg for it but cannot get it, come come come … …”

In his eyes, the fire skeleton that possessed pure shen power was like an extremely high quality slab of braised ribs. Interspersed among the endless nattering was the sound of slurping and swallowing.

The fire skeleton was not of low intelligence and would occasionally give out furious howls.

Suddenly, the fire skeleton froze. A hand covered in purple energy passed through its forehead. All of the flames suddenly disappeared. The bones immediately lost their light.

Bam!

The skeleton immediately turned to bone powder and landed on the ground.

The purple fire in A Gui’s eyes were shockingly bright now and seemed to want to emerge from her body. The death shen power inside the fire skeleton was multiple times stronger and purer than the ghost soldier they encountered outside. The shen power of the ghost soldier was like a thin stream, and the fire skeleton’s shen power was a raging river.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier was about to cry.

The braised ribs had flown away!

“Ahahaha! All of you come, ye wants you to come out … …” The grieving Black Gold Seal Soldier shouted as he charged to the highest level of the sacrificial altar.

Snap snap snap!

The other three status immediately shattered. Three monsters appeared in front of him. One was a monster with a sheep head, one had a bullhead, and one with a hawk head.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier wasn’t afraid. His eyes bright as he shouted, “Mine, mine, all mine!”

Hearing this Zuo Mo who had just arrived at the entrance almost tripped. He sweated inside, why does this sound slightly like ge?

Having eliminated the threat of the Mo Shen Temple, Zuo Mo’s mind relaxed. He was confident in the power of the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]. Only just now had he found that A Gui was missing, his face paled, and then hurriedly came in search of her.

Seeing A Gui safe and unharmed, a rock in his mind landed.

When his gaze turned towards the highest level of the sacrificial altar, his body shook, and his eyes gave off light!

———

The shadow of the fight that had occurred a few days ago faded from people’s memories. One side of the fight had been proven to be Kun Lun sword xiu, and had cultivations near fanxu level. This new cast a shadow over this peaceful city.

Kun Lun!

Even in the mo territories, all knew of them. No matter how the mo disliked Kun Lun, they could not refute its great power. In these chaotic times, Kun Lun had become even more powerful unlike Xuan Kong Temple who had collapsed, and Xi Xuan who was declining, and Kun Lun’s name caused even more fear in their enemies.

Lin Qian had astounding talent and was an outstanding successor. The sect’s inner circle was unusually closeknit. When compared to other sects, this made Kun Lun even more terrifying.

Even the mo that were far from the front lines had expressions of anxiety and fear when they discussed Kun Lun.

Yet there were many pieces of popular news recently that attracted people’s attention. The Mo Shen Temple had been defeated at the Grave Ghost Mound, this was the hottest topic of the moment. The Mo Shen Temple had once been thought of one of the factions most likely to unite all of the mo.

However, no one paid attention to the losers.

All of the mo territories were discussing one name, Xiao Mo Ge!

Xiao Yun Hai was Xiao Mo Ge. Even though the major factions had remained silent on this topic in an unspoken agreement, the angry shout of the chief mo god had informed everyone when he retreated. If Xiao Mo Ge in the past was thought of one of the strongest in the younger generation and an upcoming talent, then no one thought that now.

No one paid any more attention to the fight that had occurred a few days ago.

But what no one knew was that there was a great battle occurring deep underground outside the city.

Thirty li under the ground, there was a cocoon of blood about the height of a person.

Blood seeped out from the God-Killing Blood Sword and flowed towards the blood cocoon. It flowed along the passages of the blood cocoon and entered Wei Sheng’s body. Wei Sheng’s own blood flowed out through another passage and permeated the God-Killing Blood Sword.

There wasn’t even one drop of Wei Sheng’s own blood in his body.

Every droplet of blood was replaced by the blood of the warriors and great fighters that the God-Killing Blood Sword had drank as it had killed them. Through the ages, it had drank the blood of countless warriors.

The blood was truly the blood of heroes. It contained the power, belief, and hate of these warriors before death, and also pure and stunning power.

Each droplet was like a great poison.

If this was any other person, each and every droplet would be fatal. These warrior’s belief were so strong that any normal soul would be rendered into dust. In the end, there would only be one result, the destruction of the body.

Wei Sheng did not die even though all of his blood had been exchanged for this poisonous heroes’ blood.

Because he was Wei Sheng. His power might not be strong enough, but his resolve was not lacking compared to any other person!

His body became a battlefield

A battlefield where intense fighting was occurring on every inch, a battlefield where he either would either win or die.

Chapter 734 – Ancient Shen Device

Zuo Mo was quick.

Just having gained comprehension of a new attack in the [King’s Forbidden Firmament], Zuo Mo attacked with a killing move. A golden light suddenly appeared on his hand. He slightly reached out and pushed at the cow head monster.

A golden handprint left his hand.

If the rhinoceros mo god saw this handprint, he would be so stunned his eyes would bulge out in surprise. Other than being made out of gold coloured light and not blood coloured light, it was the exact same as his.

[Mo God’s Brute Hand]!

No matter if it was the chief mo god or the rhinoceros mo god they would not expect that the core and the strongest part of the [King’s Forbidden Firmament] was not the restraining aspect but the “king.” Inside the jinzhi, Zuo Mo was the “king” of all. He was the strongest and the central part of the jinzhi.

All the changes of the jinzhi, every minuscule change or minute action would pass into his mind.

Zuo Mo had a general understanding of the restrained  [Mo God Brute Hand]. His attack was at least eighty percent similar. However, he cultivated the sun shen power and what left his hand was a golden handprint. The vicious presence was lesser, but a strong and fierce presence was greater.

The yin energy underground was astoundingly thick, and Zuo Mo’s sun shen power was both yang and strong. With this attack, it was like hot water in snow.

A hint of fear flashed through the eyes of the bull-headed monster. The terrifying power contained in the little golden handprint made him feel great shock. He retreated. But a purple hand suddenly penetrated through his head.

Zuo Mo and A Gui were in perfect coordination. Zuo Mo’s attack was astounding and thunderous to shock the other’s mind. A Gui was ghostly, and her one hit one kill, preference for attacking vital areas, was perfectly suited to coordinate with Zuo Mo.

Just like the previous bull-headed monster, Zuo Mo and A Gui finished the hawk-headed monster with a combo of gold and purple energy. After absorbing the shen power of the two monsters, the brutal purple energy in A Gui’s eyes gradually dimmed, but a faint mark appeared on her forehead.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved. Was this the Undying Shen Seal?

Thinking of the old man’s words, Zuo Mo hurriedly took out the Scab Fragrance. A Gui seemed to smell the scent of the Scab Fragrance. And a hint of desire appeared in her eyes. Zuo Mo handed the Scab Fragrance to A Gui.

Each scab fragrance was about the size of a bean, each a different shape, and grey-white in color. When it was taken out, the entire place was filled with its fragrance. This was an unique and indescribable fragrance. Even Zuo Mo couldn’t help but swallow.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier stretched out his neck and stared at the Scab Fragrance in A Gui’s hand. He appeared as though he forgot about the sheep-headed monster in front of him, and it was possible to see drool glittering at the corner of his mouth.

The sheep-headed monster also stopped and stared at the Scab Fragrance in A Gui’s hand.

A Gui directly swallowed the scab fragrance.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier wailed grievously with a pained expression. He turned and stared hatefully at the sheep-headed monster as he blasted out, “Mine, mine, mine, mine … …”

Not having recovered from the distraction, the sheep-headed monster was beaten down by the Black Gold Seal Soldier.

Zuo Mo watched for a while. He felt that the Black Gold Seal Soldier didn’t need any help so he moved his gaze away. After A Gui swallowed the Scab Fragrance, she immediately sat down in lotus position, and her body occasionally flashed with purple light.

A Gui’s expression was calm, and Zuo Mo’s worries eased slightly. His gaze once again focused on the bone armor on the platform.

With a flash, he appeared above the bone armor.

Examining it up from close, he increasingly felt the extraordinary nature of the bone armor. This sacrificial altar was located at a special place. There was the mouth to a yin vein under the sacrificial altar. Even normal bone armor would be completely transformed after being immersed in yin energy for tens of thousands of years like this, and become outstanding.

The material of this armor itself was extraordinary, even though Zuo Mo could not recognize what kind of bone it was made from.

The sacrificial altar was a product of the ancient era and it was at least ten thousand years old. According to the golden leaf, the grade of a sacrificial altar was related to its size, but it was not an absolute rule. Many unique tribal sacrificial altars would not pursue grandness and vastness. However, there was one point that was always true, the guardian statues.

A sacrificial altar that had guardian statues meant that this altar was extremely important to its tribe.

The ancient era was too far removed from the present, and Zuo Mo’s knowledge of the time mostly came from the gold leaf and the memories that Qing Lin had left him. The gold leaf was cryptic and many of Qing Ling’s memories had become blurred through the passage of thousands of years.

The materials of the ancient era were very different from the present. That was the era where wasteland beasts rampaged, and rare materials littered the ground. This material that was able to remain until the present would be even more extraordinary.

Each bone was like a grey crystal, clear and glowing. This yin vein was clearly enormous and the amount of yin energy it contained was stunning. The sprouting yin energy was a flow that continuously washed the bone armor.

Zuo Mo was slightly unused to the dense yin energy.

Unlike the other objects of that time, the bone armor’s design as unusually fine. The small bone pieces were ground thin, and layered together like feathers. What was most attention grabbing was the two short daggers inserted at the arms.

Unlike the crystal-like texture of the other bone pieces, the short bone knives were completely snowy white without any flaw. Even Zuo Mo felt a chill staring at the strange and eerie curves.

Zuo Mo reached out to the bone armor. Just as he was about to touch the armor, there was a woosh, and a great pain came from his fingertip.

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened and his expression was shocked. He put his finger in front of his eyes. There was an extremely thin wound at the tip of his finger. Zuo Mo’s shock increased. He knew just how strong his current body was. Even normal flying swords would shatter if they stuck him, and they wouldn’t even manage to wound him.

It was an energy blade made from yin energy.

Yet what shocked Zuo Mo was not the yin energy blade but he realized  why the bone armor was placed at the sacrificial altar.

It was a Shen device!

This was a shen device left behind from the ancient era!

This was a true shen device!

Zuo Mo could not suppress the joy on his face. He actually had managed to encounter such a fortuitous matter. The bone armor was pure yin in quality and not suited to him, but very suited to A Gui. The Undying shen power that A Gui had was a kind of death energy. The bone armor also contained death energy, and the two were a match for each other.

Having woken up, A Gui silently appeared next to Zuo Mo, her eyes focused on the bone armor.

Zuo Mo felt her move and turned around. The mark on A Gui’s forehead had become clearer. It was a knotted mark. The faint purple chains formed an unique knot.

Hmm … …

A Gui seemed to have become prettier!

Zuo Mo stilled and examined her seriously. Upon close inspection, it was as he had thought. The marks on A Gui’s face were almost gone, and the new skin on her face was fine and white. She had a delicate and gentle face with a pointed chin. Zuo Mo could see the young female that was restrained in the voice. Instinctively, Zuo Mo reached out towards A Gui’s face.

A Gui stood motionless and did not avoid his hand.

A strange and fine feeling came from his fingertips. Zuo Mo’s heart jumped. A Gui’s face suddenly leaned towards Zuo Mo’s hand, and she buried her face in Zuo Mo’s hand.

Zuo Mo’s heart beat even faster but he didn’t bear to pull his hand away.

Compared to the stopping of time by the [King’s Forbidden Firmament], time really did stop in this moment.

“Haha! This taste! This is the taste! It is wonderful!”

The laughter of the Black Gold Seal Soldier came over. He had just killed the sheep-headed monster and sucked in its shen power. Zuo Mo was startled and pulled his hand away. His face immediately burned red. He hurriedly dropped his hand, grabbed A Gui’s hand and pretended to inspect her.

However, he quickly stopped pretending. Zuo Mo’s expression became serious.

Compared to previously, A Gui’s shen power was multiple times stronger. The vastness of the shen power caused Zuo Mo’s heart to beat rapidly. Fortunately, the shen power inside A Gui’s body seemed to recognize Zuo Mo and did not try to hinder his sun shen power, happily welcoming him instead.

Yet Zuo Mo’s expression became even more serious.

The purple chains that restrained A Gui had become thinner, but the patterns on the chains became even more dense and fine. There were purple flames that would occasionally rise from the chains.

The stronger Undying shen power restrained A Gui’s soul even more. However, what eased Zuo Mo’s worries slightly was that A Gui’s soul seemed to have become much more solid. The Nether Reincarnation Lotus and the Scab Fragrance had helped her greatly. The young female dressed in white robes had a calm expression, and there was a similar purple knotted mark on her forehead.

This time, A Gui’s soul did not detect Zuo Mo.

Yet when his gaze saw the slightly bashful smile on the white-robed A Gui’s face, Zuo Mo’s heart jumped strangely.

At this time, his brow suddenly moved.

Yi An had come!

———

On the other side of the line of fire, Yi An had never felt like this. Behind him, countless gazes focused on him. He felt as though there was a blade pointed at his back, but right now, he had to persist.

He had seen the Mo Shen Temple being rebuffed. The last bit of hope he felt dissipated. Yi An did not fear powers such as the Mo Weapon Master Association, however, the Rare Artifact Hall wouldn’t have a chance against a titan like the Yao Council of Elder.

The only chance was grab onto Xiao Yun Hai, oh no, it was Xiao Mo Ge!

These two names meant two completely different things. Xiao Yun Hai was a mo weapon grandmaster, and represented profit! Xiao Mo Ge was a shen power expert, a warlord, and represented survival.

No matter when, survival was far more valuable than profit.

Yi An was a businessperson. He knew that he had to prove his own value for the other to accept him, prove the value of Rare Artifact Hall. Kuai An now was at odds with the Yao Council of Elders because of Xiao Mo Ge, but if the Xiao Mo Ge didn’t want to cause trouble with the Yao Council, he could always ignore their plight.

Right now, the only thing that Xiao Mo Ge would pay attention to was the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass!

Xiao Mo Ge was willing to use earth mo weapons to trade for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass. This was enough to show the importance that Xiao Mo Ge placed on the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

He stood silently outside the line of fire and waited for Xiao Mo Ge’s summons.

Expressing himself like this under the eyes of everyone meant that he left himself no other paths to take. The unfriendly gazes of the Yao Council Elders behind him caused him to grit his teeth and persist.

Yet he had stood for so long outside the line of fire and the yao elders hadn’t done a thing. This was enough to show how wary they were of Xiao Mo Ge.

This increased Yi An’s confidence.

However, more of his confidence was in the contents of the box in his hand.

Chapter 735 – Kun Lun’s Spirit

A perfect body slowly floated up from the medicine pool.

On the tall figure, every muscle was clearly defined and balanced. The eyes on the handsome face were lightly closed. As his eyelids slowly opened they revealed eyes that were deep like the vast stars, and would cause people to get lost in.

He sat up and the water droplets on his body were like the dew on the lily pads, rolling off.

He was flawless, a work of the heavens. All of the elders had satisfied expressions.

“How do you feel?” the snowy-haired sect leader asked. Lin Qian could hear the concern in the sect leader’s words.

He did not immediately answer. He tried to move his body and his expression was slightly puzzled.

The sect leader saw this and unhesitatingly said, “To the Sword Testing Field.”

Sword Testing Field.

When Lin Qian effortlessly cut a sword testing stone with a single blow as thought it was tofu, all of the elders inhaled sharply.

The sword testing shone was one of the hardest stones in the world. This sword testing stone was Kun Lun’s largest piece and was over a zhang tall. Even the sect leader, using all his ling power, would be unable to cut this sword testing stone into two.

Lin Qian did not notice the expressions of the elders. He was immersed in a wondrous state.

This slightly unfamiliar body contained astounding power. As he moved, shen power would naturally flow, and it moved to his thoughts. He tried to merge sword essence into it. There was no obstruction and its power skyrocketed.

Yet the flying sword in his hand could not tolerate the great shen power, melting into liquid metal that dripped down.

This caused Lin Qian to show a surprised expression. The flying sword in his hand was one of the famed swords of Kun Lun, called [Heaven’s Death]. It was seventh-grade, and he hadn’t thought it would be unable to tolerate shen power.

All of the elders frowned. Shen power was powerful, but if even seventh-grade flying swords could not withstand it, then it was slightly troublesome.

“It seems that we need to carry out our journeys to the ancient ruins earlier,” an elder said gravely.

“Yes, a seventh-grade flying sword actually melted, it is most likely that even an eighth-grade sword would be unable to express the power of shen power,” another elder said with a sigh. “It would be great if we had the [Angel Device Raiment]. I don’t know how powerful the two of them combined would be.”

“Why should we sacrifice what is near for what is far? There are so many ruins, there definitely would be one or two shen devices. It is just that we did not pay such attention to them in the past.”

The sect leader’s gaze was thoughtful. He suddenly said, “Elder Ming, you try.”

“Alright!” An elder with snowy-white hair nodded. He went in front of the bisected sword testing stone. He channeled his shen power and made a slice. The sword went halfway into the stone.

All of the elders were intelligent and immediately showed thoughtful expressions.

“As I expected!” The sect leader’s authoritative eyes flashed as he said gravely, “If one is in fanxu and starts to cultivate shen power, their power will increase, but it will be much weaker compared to those who are not in fanxu.”

Elder Ming’s expression turned stern upon hearing this. He closed his eyes and thought for a while. “The sect leader is right. After entering fanxu, one can communicate with the world and be one with them. It is hard to change paths, and the increase in power is limited.”

He looked at the flying sword in his hand and his expression was slightly dim. The flying sword in his hand was also seventh grade yet it was unharmed. It could be seen from this that his shen power was much weaker than Lin Qian’s shen power.

“Is it better to cultivate this shen power as early as possible?” an elder couldn’t resist saying.

“Lin Qian, say what you think,” the sect leader suddenly said.

Lin Qian thought for a moment before slowly speaking, “This disciple does not feel that. Our shen power is actually too different from the shen power of the ancient ear. Our shen power comes from ling power, and it is possible to see it as a new power with ling power and sword essence as the foundation. It is its own system. Ling power is the foundation. Before jindan, ling power will be unstable. After entering fanxu, it will be completed. This disciple thinks that it should be the disciples that are in jindan and yuanying that study shen power first. It is likely that those at the peak of yuanying will be affected. However, we will only know the result after trying.”

“This is reasonable.”

All of the elders nodded. Each of them was profound in cultivation and had a deeper understanding of cultivation than Lin Qian. After Lin Qian pointed this out, each of them realized it. Many elders had dim expressions. Those that were able to become elders were either fanxu, or pseudo-fanxu that were at the peak of yuanying.

The shen power they cultivated could not transform as purely as the young disciples. It meant that their potential in shen power was fated to be limited. They had never thought that the cultivation they had worked so hard for became the obstacle in stopping them from progressing.

The mood became slightly low.

“Lin Qian!” the sect leader suddenly spoke.

“This disciple is listening!” Lin Qian hurriedly went forward and acknowledged.

“You comprehended shen power. While the other shishu have helped you perfect it, you cannot slack off. You need to study it everyday.”

“Starting from today, you are the Pavilion Master of Sword Pavilion, and can form the Sword Pavilion.”

Lin Qian’s body shook. The entire place was silent.

All of the elders couldn’t help but show surprise. The Sword Pavilion was an unique existence in Kun Lun. Every pavilion master of Sword Pavilion was the next sect leader. He needed to create his own Sword Pavilion. Including the pavilion master, there would be nine members of the Sword Pavilion. These would be his support after he ascended to the role of sect leader.

The positions of the Sword Pavilion were left vacant most of the time and would only be activated when the sect leader thought that there was a need for a clear successor.

Almost everyone knew that the next sect leader of Kun Lun was Lin Qian, but no one had expected that the day would come so soon. The sect leader’s cultivation was unfathomably deep, his authority great, and he was trusted widely.

“Elders, are there any objections?” The sect leader look around at the elders.

“No objections!”

“No objections!”

All of the elders had solemn expressions and the same attitude. Everyone knew that Lin Qian becoming the Sword Pavilion Master was the hope of all and could not be stopped.

“This disciple will not fail Master.” Lin Qian did not refuse. His expression became calm again without any excitement. However, the sect leader heard the determination in his voice, and a hint of comfort flashed through his eyes.

The sect leader’s expression was authoritative, his eyes so bright people could not look directly at him. His snowy-white hair moved despite the lack of wind, his voice as strong as the sword.

“The old balance has been broken, the new era has started. The future of our Kun Lun is the hands in youths like them. If they can grasp victory in this chaotic world, Kun Lun will win! We will not use the lives of the disciples to conquer those ancient ruins, every disciple is the hope of Kun Lun. It is time for us old people to create paths for them. Everyone, our light is about to dim, our era has passed, the only thing we can do now is to use our still-sharp swords, use our remaining light, our remaining life to increase the probability of success of their future!”

The wind blew past. Above the Sword Testing Field, the sect leader’s voice echoed. Every elder listened with concentration. They instinctively straightened, a holy and excited expression on their faces. Their low spirits due to not being able to advance their shen power disappeared.

“We are Kun Lun, this is our responsibility, this is our destiny. We are bound by duty. If this new era demands there be sacrifices, it should be us, the old people! Starting from today, all materials for the [Body Cultivation Pool] and for core formation will not be provided to elders and the sect leader. We have found clues to seven ancient ruins. Three elders will explore each ruin. My sword should move once again. All the remaining elders will go to the front lines to replace all disciples jindan and above. All jindan disciples are to be summoned back to the sect to cultivate shen power! We need to find those that are talented among them and groom them.”

“We will trade our lives for the time they need to grow! When they have grown up, Kun Lun’s future will be bright!”

The authoritative voice was filled with focused presence.

“Everyone, please! For Kun Lun!” the sect leader bowed, his own brows and hair touching the ground.

All the elders had stern yet heated expressions. They all bowed with great respect, and hard to suppress excitement. They shouted together, “We will abide by Sect Leader’s orders! For Kun Lun!”

Lin Qian’s nose felt sore, his eyes blurring. He hurriedly bowed his head, both his hands unconsciously balling into fists.

For Kun Lun!

———

Shu Long had a tired expression. At his side, the hardship guards were lying askew as they slept. The camp was silent and there was only the sound was the rising and fall of of breaths. With the hardship guard’s strong bodies, a scene like this would only occur when they were completely exhausted. He raised his head to look at the sky that was gradually growing brighter. The ruins and rubble around them indicated that an intense fight had just occurred here.

The travelling speed of Guard Camp had always been a problem. Even though Golden Crow Camp thought of all the ways they could and used all kinds of talismans on them, the effects were not great. They cultivated mo skills, and were not skilled in using talismans. In the end, it was the ling beasts that Chun Yu Cheng Daren raised that had solved this problem.

However, they were still lacking compared to Vermillion Bird Camp.

Therefore, the mission that Gongsun Cha had given him was to protect the flank, an important resource jie, Sand Jie. It had not taken much effort to conquer Sand Jie. At this time, Xuan Kong Temple did not have much power left to defend Sand Jie.

However, many factions desired the resource rich Sand Jie. Up until now, Shu Long had led Guard Camp in defeating eight battalions from different powers!

After the successive hard-fought battles, even the determined Guard Camp felt deathly exhausted.

Suddenly, a paper crane flew over and landed in Shu Long’s hand. Shu Long became alert. When he opened the paper crane, an expression of joy came onto his face.

The people from Golden Crow Camp were finally arriving!

Soon, every soldier in Guard Camp was woken up. Large numbers of scouts and patrols were sent out to prevent small groups of enemies from penetrating their defensive line and harming Golden Crow Camp.

Soon after, a vast fleet of boats appeared. Numerous black dots appeared on the horizon, each dot a treasure ship.

As the treasure ship fleet neared, it was possible to hear the urgent shouts, and howls coming from the sound amplifying seal formation. It was extremely hectic on board the treasure ships.

“Quick quick quick! Prepare the material boxes! Prepare to unload the ship! Each time, remain organized, be quick!”

“Everyone pay attention, if any one of you dares to make a mistake, don’t blame me for being impolite!”

“Find the marked sites, set up the main seal formation, we have to finish before evening!”

Just as the fleet stopped, a numerous crowd and innumerable boxes burst out of each treasure ship like numerous floods. The hardship guards on the ground felt the sky darken. In a flash, it was as if the sky and the rising sun’s light was blocked out!

Chapter 736 – Won’t Forget Even In Death

Zuo Mo opened the box and was slightly surprised. “Why are there five Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses?”

Yi An said carefully and respectfully, “The two extra are a gift, Rare Artifacts Hall hopes to receive Daren’s protection.”

“Protection?” Zuo Mo immediately react and said after a moment of thought. “You do not have to do this, Kuai An killed the yao elder to help me, I will not stand by and ignore the consequences.”

Yi An grimaced. “There naturally will not be any problems while Daren is here. If Daren leaves, then Rare Artifact Hall will  immediately face a calamity.”

Zuo Mo thought and found that Yi An’s analysis was correct. The Yao Council of Elders was a great power. If they wanted to do something from the shadows, then Rare Artifact Hall would be unable to stop them. He would also not stay for a long time at Bu Zhou City.

“You may say what you think,” Zuo Mo asked.

Yi An said in a respectful voice that was filled with confidence. “Daren is must deal with many great matters, and does not have the time for minor matters. While Rare Artifact Hall is not one of the biggest businesses in the mo territories, we have a stable foundation. We can become Daren’s hand in gathering and distributing materials, transporting resources and selling items.”

Zuo Mo was truly surprised now. He hadn’t thought that Yi An’s plan was to fully submit to him. Deeply established family businesses like Rare Artifacts Hall were factions in their own right and would not easily submit to other factions.

“I will agree this to this.” Zuo Mo thought and then said, “But you need to think it through. Once you pick a side, you will not be as idle and free as you are now.”

Yi An’s expression was joyful as he unhesitatingly bowed. “This subordinate has thought this through and this is not an impulse.”

Zuo Mo was very satisfied. Yi An’s Rare Artifacts Hall was an unexpected hall. No matter if it was Yi An’s great experience in managing a business, or Rare Artifacts Hall’s enormous mercantile network, they were all things that the present Mo Cloud Sea desperately needed now.

This was free food dropping down from the sky!

“Do not spread the news right now.” Zuo Mo paused and thought.

Yi An immediately understood. “Yes!”

Zuo Mo said, “It is too dangerous outside. Stay here now, and prepare an auction for the [Angel Device Raiment].”

“Daren is planning to sell the [Angel Device Raiment]?” Yi An was stunned.

“Yes, sell it, it is just a pseudo-shen device.” Zuo Mo nodded and did not expand further. He said casually, “Just some simple preparations.”

Finishing, he disappeared.

He left behind a shocked Yi An. Only now did Yi An realize why even the Yao Council of Elders had come to participate in this event. Pseudo-shen device, the [Angel Device Raiment] was a pseudo-shen device.

Yi An had never seen a shen device and could not make a professional evaluation but just the name was enough to make countless people crazy.

‘Just a pseudo-shen device.’

Daren was probably the only one that dared to say it like that. The shock on Yi An’s face turned into a grimace.

———

Staring at the five Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses in the box.

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but become excited. For this he had almost traversed through the greater portion of Hundred Savage Realm. In order to not be disturbed, Zuo Mo came to the underground sacrificial altar.

A Gui and the Black Gold Seal Solder were both standing guard underground. The yin energy was of benefit to A Gui, and the Black Gold Seal Soldier liked yin energy. He copied the bone armor, swallowing yin energy and then spitting it out. He played about happily.

Staring at the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrasses in the box, for some reason, Zuo Mo’s heartbeat suddenly sped up.

Strangely, he was slightly nervous.

Those riddles that circled his mind, the voice that repeatedly appeared in his dreams, they would all be answered soon. His birth, his previous memories … …

Zuo Mo stared dazedly at the Reverse Shadow Soul SIlkgrass. He didn’t move at all.

A moment later, his body trembled. His dazed eyes finally recovered a thread of clarity. His practiced wooden face became alive and his eyes focused.

He exhaled deeply and turned to look at A Gui who was stand guard silently. For some reason, the bewilderment and nervousness he felt immediately disappeared.

He laughed mockingly at his own weakness. Determination and bravery returned to his eyes.

He threw a Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass into his mouth.

Something seemed to explode in his mind. Countless streaks of light and sound came at him from all directions.

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s mind was completely bland and he was in a daze.

There seemed to be countless people speaking at his ear. He couldn’t make out what they were saying. Countless scenes flashed across his eyes but he could not see anything clearly.

Too much information suddenly sprouted out of his memories and surrounded him.

Even with such a strong consciousness, Zuo Mo could not tolerate so many scenes and voices.

The blurry scenes and the noisy sounds seemed to drift far away.

Zuo Mo’s world became calm again.

———

Hiding in a corner filled with rubble, a boy trembled.

“We definitely have to get it!” On the other side of the damaged wall, the boy could hear the viciousness in the man’s voice.

“Really?”A woman’s light laugh sounded. “Kun Lun is really Kun Lun, this present, tsk tsk, different from everyone else! However, before the old woman died, why didn’t I hear Kun Lun act so domineering?”

“Hmph! Go to the side, I feel irritated when I see your Xuan Kong Temple’s falseness!” the man said disdainfully.

“You really wound me, I want to ally with you. If that thing ends up in the hands of Tian Huan and Xi Xian … …” The woman pretended to be wounded and said.

“No need,” the man said proudly, “We, Kun Lun, never need to ally with anyone.”

———

“Don’t waste effort, it cannot be used, the jinzhi cannot be opened.”

“Motherf***er, we spent so much energy to get this pile of scrap metal?”

“They may have detected something. However, they would not bear for it to become scrap metal, they would definitely have something else up their sleeve.”

“Did someone manage to escape?”

“There seems to be one child that we have not found.”

“Dumbass! How can such a mistake happen?”

“He is trash. He doesn’t like cultivating, and I heard that the old woman did not like him … …”

“Who is he to the old woman?”

“The old woman’s grandson … …”

“You idiot! Go find him! No matter what, find him! I want to see him alive or dead!”

———

In a dark and damp secret room, the small boy looked with intoxication at the mysterious patterns in front of him. For some reason he felt strangely close to these mysterious patterns. Especially those from the many jade scrolls, these would cause him to feel intimacy and warmth.

“Who let you in?” A cold and shrill voice suddenly came from behind him.

The young boy’s hand shook and the jade scroll dropped to the ground. He turned around. An old woman with an icy expression was looking at him expressionlessly.

“I … … I … …” The young boy’s face was ashen white.

“Speak!” the old woman shouted harshly.

“I, I solved, I solved the jinzhi … …” Terror filled the young boy’s mind and he stammered.

The old woman was silent.

“You like these things very much?”

A moment later, the old woman suddenly spoke. Her expression was still cold but for some reason, she did not seem to be as intimidating as before.

“Yes.” The young boy’s terror decreased greatly as he bowed his head and spoke.

The old woman’s gaze was piercing and the young boy didn’t dare to raise his head.

“These are the things that your father left you. I do not agree, but you have still found your way in. Starting from today, this place belongs to you.”

The old woman finished speaking expressionlessly and turned to leave.

———

“Starting today, she is your ghost.”

There was a young girl with a timid expression dressed in white robes standing next to the old woman.

“What is a Ghost?” The little boy asked fearfully.

“A person to protect you.” The old woman was expressionlessly.

“A person to protect me?” The young boy didn’t seem to understand. “Why does she have to protect me?”

“Because I will die,” the old woman said coldly.

———

“Gui Gui, this name is not pleasing to hear,” the young boy muttered. His hands didn’t slow at all.

The young girl tilted her head. “Gui Gui feels it is very good!”

“How come you work so hard at such a boring thing like cultivating?” The young boy was puzzled as he carefully treated the wounds on the young girl’s feet.

The young girl was teary due to the pain and her voice contained a sob. However, it was unusually determined. “Because only when I become strong will I be able to protect Young Master.”

“It is very safe here. There is no need to protect me. I don’t like to go outside.” The little boy’s head shook like a rattledrum.

“What happens if that day comes?” The young girl tilted her head.

“You are thinking too much!” The little boy pretended to be an adult and tapped the young girl’s head.

“Ah!” The young girl covered her head.

“What is the old woman teaching you? Why are you wounded every time?” the little boy said furiously, “Is she beating you?”

“Don’t talk about Grandma like that!” The young girl pushed out her cheeks in anger.

“Alright, alright, I won’t say anything. She doesn’t like me anyways.” The little boy was slightly dispirited.

“Grandma is very concerned about you,” the little girl hurriedly comforted.

“No, I know, she doesn’t like me,” the little boy’s voice was low, “because she doesn’t like my mother, I know.”

“You are right.” A cold voice came from behind him. The old woman was expressionless but hate flashed across her eyes.

———

The tree branches whipped painfully against his face but the little boy gritted his teeth. A Gui had carried him and ran for many days, so many that he had lost count.

A Gui’s steps faltered.

Bam.

He fell off her back, hitting the ground he became dizzy.

A stream of blood spilled out the corner of A Gui’s mouth. She crawled next to him and said with a sob, “Young Master, Young Master, are you hurt?”

He tried to make his smile easy. “No, I’m fine!”

“Young Master, I really am useless!” A Gui bit her lips, tears in her eyes.

“It’s Young Master who is useless.” He reached out and rubbed A Gui’s hair like usual. “Gui Gui, run.”

“No!” A Gui shook her head stubbornly/

He sighed. “They used a secret spell and left behind a mark in my consciousness. No matter how we run, we will not be able to escape.”

“No!” A Gui stilled and then screamed heartbreakingly, her tears spilling out.

He smiled and rubbed A Gui’s head. “Run, Gui Gui, and live for me as well.”

A Gui reached out her dirty hand and wiped away her tears. She suddenly picked him up and put him on his back and started to run frantically without a word.

“Gui Gui, it is useless. Put me down.” He urged many times on the road.

After running for an unknown number of days, the last bit of A Gui’s energy ran out. The two of them fell to the ground. A Gui’s face was ashen. Her power had been used up.

She struggled and crawled next to him. A Gui’s face was as white as paper. She touched his face and murmured, “Young Master, will you forget A Gui?”

“Of course not.” He smiled weakly. He was also at the end of his energy.

“Young Master, you definitely cannot forget A Gui!” A Gui’s face was suddenly covered in tears.

The hot tears fell on his face. His consciousness started to fade as he murmured.

“Yes, even in death, I won’t forget … …”

Chapter 737 – Entering The City

He didn’t know how much time had passed. Maybe it was just a moment, or it had been a very long time.

When Zuo Mo opened his eyes, something seemed to silently slide down his face. Many things had been shoved into his mind, so many that he needed to time to organize them. But his blurry gaze only looked at the figure that stood silently as she guarding him.

His blurry vision gradually cleared as though he returned from a dream to reality. Zuo Mo’s emotions gradually steadied.

He suddenly reached out and rubbed A Gui’s hair.

Gazing at A Gui’s wooden face, Zuo Mo’s gaze was warm but determined. A smile spread on his lips as he said lightly, “Gui Gui, now it is Young Master’s turn to protect you!”

Zuo Mo stood up. His presence became even deeper. Most of the memory fragments that he had recovered were sad, cold, and filled with helplessness yet the present Zuo Mo was far from that gentle and helpless little boy.

He had been tempered in countless battles and tests of life and death, he was the man that built Mo Cloud Sea with his own power!

The pain, sadness, and hopelessness in his memories caused him to mature even more.

He would still feel terror but he would not retreat. He would stand up straight and dare to advance even if was seas of flame or mountains of blade up ahead. He would still feel lost, but he would not lose himself to it. He would reach out his hands to explore, even if his hands would be torn bloody by the thorns in the mist. He would still be just as greedy, but he knew what was most precious and worthy of protection. He would never give up protecting, even if he needed to pay with his life.

He started to understand his fate.

There were still many questions. He needed to organize all of these memories. It probably would take a few more attempts to regain all of his memories. And he would have to find some of the parts he lost from A Gui. Zuo Mo remembered the old man said that it would be very beneficial for A Gui to consume the Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass.

That old man definitely had a great connections with his family.

However, this was not the time to take care of these matters.

The riddle of his birth was unexpectedly enormous, so large that he needed to time to dig.

———

Yi An was panicked.

Zuo Mo had told him to organize an auction and he had immediately started. He was familiar with doing this and the beginning had been smooth. In order to raise the status of the [Angel Device Raiment], he spread the information that the [Angel Device Raiment] was a pseudo-shen device.

A weapon that was the closest to a shen device.

This immediately caused a great commotion in the mo territories. Under the unspoken agreement of the major factions the news that the [Angel Device Raiment] was a pseudo-shen weapon had not spread. Yi An broke this, and people finally realized why those major personages that rarely showed themselves were so interested in this single matter.

Shen device!

This was such a distant and unfamiliar term. Even if many people were not unfamiliar with shen power now, no one had mentioned shen devices before.

No one knew what a shen device was like. Its era was so ancient that it was difficult to find any records of it. On the other hand, all of the sky mo weapons were recorded in detail. While people would not see them, they would still know something about them.

The [Angel Device Raiment] caused the already frenzied Bu Zhou City to boil over.

All the factions and experts that had not intended to participate could not stop themselves. They knew even better than normal people the arrival of the shen power era could not be stopped.

At this time, the [Angel Device Raiment] was peerless in value.

For those experts that were laboring to explore shen power, the [Angel Device Raiment] could give them inspiration and act as an example. It would be of great help for them to comprehend shen power. For those factions that already possessed shen power, they hoped to reverse engineer the method to forge shen devices through studying the [Angel Device Raiment.]

Shen power was great in power, and not something that talismans or mo weapons could tolerate.

Shen devices would be the future direction that forging would develop in.

Yi An was very satisfied with the effects of his arrangements. Watching as the entire mo territories became mad due to the [Angel Device Raiment], he was filled with a sense of accomplishment. The most famed time of Rare Artifacts Hall started from when they met Daren.

Yet, as the popularity of the [Angel Device Raiment] increased, and Daren was still missing, Yi An’s sense of panic increased.

Even the yao elders had to control themselves because there were too many experts from many factions here. It had reached a terrifying level. The yao elders cultivated shen power but a marshal level mo was still a threat to them. If a marshal had an earth mo weapon, and if they were careless this threat was enough to be fatal.

Almost half of all the experts in the mo territories had rushed here. No matter how prideful Ming Yue Ye was, she would not think that they could match this enormous gathering of experts.

It was the opposite. They needed to be on their guard constantly. If someone manipulated the situation from the shadows, and these mo experts attacked them, then they would be in a dangerous situation. Even the most arrogant elder restrained themselves when they saw the increasing number of marshals around them.

Yet the gathering of so many experts by itself was filled with danger.

One conflict, one spar could likely cause a large scale melee fight. The situation would become something unable to be control. That result was something no one could tolerate.

However, Daren had not shown himself. Yi An could clearly feel that the experts that had travelled a long way to be here were rapidly losing their patience.

The situation was worsening, and if Daren didn’t come out … …

Thinking about the situation that could appear, his scalp prickled.

When Yi An saw Zuo Mo, he immediately became overcome with excitement. “Daren … … Daren … …”

“Have you arranged the auction?” Zuo Mo thought of what he had arranged before he left.

Yi An nodded repeatedly and reported the recent situation in detail. He also spoke of his worries.

Zuo Mo smiled and praised, “You did good, I think we will be able to sell it for a high price.”

Yi An grimaced. Daren was still able to smile at this time … …

Zuo Mo thought and then said, “If this is the case, then let’s wait a while more.”

“Wait even more?” Yi An’s expression became even more bitter.

Zuo Mo smiled, and didn’t waste words. He took out a pile of materials from his ring and started to forge right in front of Yi An.

Yi An perceptively closed his mouth.

The flames pulsed in Zuo Mo’s hand as though they were alive. The materials that were added to the flames continuously melted into metal liquid of various colors as they flowed.

Zuo Mo’s gaze was calm. The blurry and fragmented shadows that flashed across his mind started to become clear.

Other than A Gui, what he remembered the most clearly were those jinzhi of different styles and types, and learning from his father’s legacy.

Time seemed to return to those days from many years ago.

A square city the size of his palm formed in his hand.

Yi An’s mouth was wide as he stared in shock at the city that took form in Zuo Mo’s hand. The little city was exquisite. The buildings were connected, and there were small copper bells on the towers that rose up, and it was possible to see each distinct brick on the city wall.

“This is as close I can get.” Zuo Mo sighed with a thread of regret in his eyes.

He had created this based on his memories of the place he had lived in during his childhood.

From the jade scrolls that his father had left him, he had learned that his father had built the city. He had not understood when he was small, but when he thought back now, he found to his shock that the jinzhi, seal scripts, and content of his father’s jade scrolls were profound and hard to understand even now.

His father’s jade scroll had every jinzhi in the city labeled clearly. That was one of the pastimes of his childhood. He would follow his father’s markings and find secret rooms that were hidden and not known by others. Then he would break the jinzhi and there would be many things that his father had left behind. Those were the toys of his childhood.

But even if he had gotten back the memories related to those jinzhi, he was still unable to forge a city that was exactly the same as that in his memory.

However, this was already enough to use.

Zuo Mo focused his mind, and threw the city lightly into the air.

The bright seal scripts that had been floating in the sky above the Grave Ghost Mound suddenly rippled. Then they flew like moths to a flames towards the little green city in the air.

The millions of bright lights flew simultaneously towards the palm-sized city. The scene was spectacular.

The streaks of light were like rain, bright and glorious!

The experts that had been standing outside the Grave Ghost Mound were disturbed and numerous people flew into the air.

The palm-sized green city was like a bottomless pit that sucked in the lights in the sky.

In the span of a few dozen breaths, all of the multi-colored lights within fifty li vanished. Only the little city was left floating in the sky. Multi-colored mist floated like a nebula round it, beautiful and mysterious.

The crowd shifted.

Suddenly, the city expanded at an astounding rate.

This change attracted everyone’s attention. Each of them stared with wide eyes in fear of missing a single detail.

When the city was more than one li in size, and was still growing, the restless crowd started to become silent.

Five li … … ten li … …

A green city that was fifty li in diameter appeared in front of the crowd. The crowd was silent. They had seen talismans before, and they had seen jinzhi before. A city that was fifty li was only the smallest of cities. But when it appeared in front of everyone in such a spectacular fashion, people couldn’t help but be amazed.

The green city was shrouded in a rainbow mist that glittered prettily.

It slowly descended and landed on the ground of the Grave Ghost Mound.

Astounding yin energy was continuously absorbed by the city from the underground. Water started to appear in the rivers and lakes of the city. The water that was formed from yin energy flowed as it filled the river and lakes of the city.

At the central hall of the city, Zuo Mo pushed open the door.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar scene in front of him, countless scenes flashed through his mind. An emotion hard to describe rose. He instinctively reached out to rub A Gui’s hair.

A feeling of hardness under his hand caused him to still and turned to look at A Gui.

The bone armor from the underground sacrificial altar had made its way onto A Gui at some unknown time. The bone armor seemed to have been made specifically for A Gui. It fit her tightly and showed off her perfect stature. The bone armor that was like a layer of grey crystal covered A Gui well, and added hints of mystery.

Zuo Mo smiled and rubbed A Gui’s helmet. The Black Gold Seal Soldier was hiding. He had sneaked out to fill his stomach, and he was now afraid that Zuo Mo was going to punish him. Ceng Lian’er, Qinghua Xue, and Yi An gaped at the scene in front of him.

The deepness in Zuo Mo’s eyes was put away. He recovered his usual smugness as his voice spread out.

“Everyone, welcome to the King’s Forbidden City!”

Chapter 738 – Auction

Every person that entered King’s Forbidden City was filled with shock and amazement, especially since this city had appeared in such an implausible fashion in front of them. Many people’s opinion of Zuo Mo’s power increased.

It was not news that Xiao Mo Ge was strong, but for these experts that had their eyes on the top of their head, they were filled with confidence in themselves. Defeating a marshal might be a great matter in the eyes of the average person, but what was that to these people?

They stood at the top of the mo territories, marshal level was just the basic requirement to be on their level. Some people had even started to reach shen power.

They were more wary of Zuo Mo’s jinzhi.

The defeat of the Mo Shen Temple proved the power of the jinzhi. Otherwise, with Xiao Mo Ge’s power, he definitely could not have faced the two mo gods alone and even wounded the chief mo god.

King’s Forbidden City presence was stronger than the dots of light they had seen before. There were many places that people could not understand. However, most of the people had come here to see the [Angel Device Raiment] and controlled their curiosity.

The old man stood in front of the city. His face was upraised as he look at the tall green city walls with a complex expression.

Yi An was the first to recover from his shock. The Rare Artifacts Hall managers that had been waiting outside hurriedly entered the palace with dishes, dried fruit, and other things to set up the auction.

The auction would be occurring in the central palace in King’s Forbidden City.

The managers of Rare Artifact Hall were quick in their movements and the location was soon prepared.

The experts that entered the auction all had wary gazes. Even the most confident person would not dare to relax when there were so many experts in the surroundings. The yao council elders silently stayed in a corner.

“What do you see?” Ming Yue Ye asked in a small voice.

A grey-robed elder beside her had an astounded gaze. He said in a low voice, “There are mo matrices, seal scripts, and some others I do not understand, they seem to be ancient totem glyphs.”

“Ancient totem glyphs?” Feng Xin Zi on the other side of Ming Yue Ye stilled when he heard this.

“Shen glyphs,” the grey-robed elder explained. He lowered his voice, “I hear that Tian Huan has already created a complete shen glyph but they are on a different path, and not the original totem glyphs. Their totem glyphs here are not complete.”

“How is their power?” Ming Yue Ye asked.

The grey-robed elder grimaced. “Very strong, may be even stronger than we imagine. See the water in the lakes? That is composed of yin energy. If I am not wrong, there must be a yin vein of extremely high grade under here, he really found a good place!”

“It seems that we will have to bleed a bit.” Ming Yue Ye laughed lightly and her tone was not dispirited.

The surrounding elders all had matter-of-fact expressions on Ming Yue Ye’s confidence. In this world, there were not many factions that were richer than the Yao Council of Elders. The Council of Elders had already passed a resolution on the [Angel Device Raiment] and their order to Ming Yue Ye was to pay any price.

When Zuo Mo appeared, all of the discussion immediately disappeared. Every person’s gaze gathered on Zuo Mo.

“Everyone, welcome. If there is anything lacking, please have forgiveness!” Zuo Mo smiled slightly and greeted the people. He ignored the wariness on their faces. In his eyes, they were all customers!

“Don’t waste words, ye is tight on time!”

Someone in the crowd muttered.

Zuo Mo smiled and said with a nod, “Then, skipping pleasantries, I will move directly to the main topic!”

His hand turned slightly, and then, suddenly, a rainbow-colored light carried a blue set of armor to slowly descend next to Zuo Mo.

[Angel Device Raiment]!

Sighs of shock immediately sounded inside the place. Many people couldn’t help but stand up with excited expressions.

In the corner, the grey-robed elder was excited and kept on exclaiming, “Too beautiful! It really is too beautiful! It is the work of a genius, so beautiful … …”

“Is it a pseudo-shen device?” Ming Yue Ye interrupted him to ask. She was deeply attracted to this beautiful raiment.

“Definitely!” The grey-robed elder’s response was certain. His gaze didn’t bear to move away an inch as he murmured, “I smell the presence of shen power … …”

Ming Yue Ye did not speak, but her gaze locked  onto the Angel Device Raiment was unusually hot.

Zuo Mo could feel the passion, greed, and desire in the eyes of the people. This caused Little Mo Ge to be excited because it meant that the Angel Device Raiment did not lack for buyers.

This was good for increasing the price!

However, Zuo Mo decided to add more fire.

“I believe that everyone has knowledge about the Angel Device Raiment. I won’t waste words and will demonstrate its use for everyone.”

There was a faint smile on Zuo Mo’s face as though he was a polite gentleman. His hand was placed lightly on the Angel Device Raiment.

As he finished speaking, a blue light rapidly coiled around his hand and covered his entire body.

When the light dissipated, Zuo Mo appeared in in front of the crowd fully covered in the Angel Device Raiment.

The icy blue battle armor, the dark red mask. An icy killing energy suddenly filled the entire venue. Gasps immediately rang out in the crowd, many people unconsciously got on their guard.

The icy blue scaled armor was covered in exquisite and complex patterns layered together beautifully. The pure white pair of wings on the back added some holiness to the presence.

Suddenly, a layer of dense blue flame floated on the surface of the Angel Device Raiment and burned silently. The flames quickly surrounded the wings on the back, and dots of blue energy started to fall.

The moment the blue flames appeared, everyone’s expressions changed slightly. An extremely dangerous presence was faintly detectable, but hard to capture! What shocked them even more was that Xiao Mo Ge was standing in front of them but they were unable to detect his presence.

Rumble, many people unconsciously stood up and stared hard at Xiao Mo Ge in front of them.

They were unable to detect Xiao Mo Ge!

It was like there was no one where he was standing!

Those that were in marshal level were all people that had fought hundreds of times. They knew very well what it meant if one could completely hide their presence like this.

Yet Xiao Mo Ge gave them even more surprises.

The snowy-white wings lightly trembled.

His body suddenly disappeared from his spot.

So fast!

Many people’s pupils suddenly contracted. They were unable to capture Xiao Mo Ge’s figure. Such speed was astounding!

“Above!”

One person shouted, and everyone suddenly raised their heads.

A blue figure stood in the sky above their heads. The two white wings were upraised, and formed a scissor shape. Zuo Mo’s body curved at a strange angle like an eagle waiting to dive.

The wings trembled, and Zuo Mo’s figure disappeared again.

Boom!

When the blue figure once again appeared in people’s vision, the blue flames that covered his body suddenly grew. He was like a meteor that was falling down!

In a moment, the blurry figure that was shrouded in blue flames took over their vision! In that moment, their extremities felt cold, and they felt as though he was unstoppable.

Shocked, some experts instinctively prepared to resist.

The blue figure suddenly disappeared again.

Clap clap clap, the light sound of clapping caused the people with their tense nervous to suddenly wake up.

“Good thing! Good thing!” The old man clapped, his expression praising and intoxicated.

Xiao Mo Ge had returned to his original spot. Beside his hand, the icy blue Angel Device Raiment had resumed its original state and gave off an indescribably beauty.

Everyone immediately recognized the old man. This old man had shaken the world in his fight with Youxi Ya Ke. This old man of unknown origins had become one of the main targets that all the major factions paid attention to.

Zuo Mo felt irritated. This damned old man ruined the mood he had worked to create.

The old man’s origins was a mystery. No one was able to find him, even Zuo Mo didn’t see any sign of the old man in the memories he had gotten back. But from all the signs, the old man had a very close connection to his family.

Refocusing, no one spoke, the venue was deathly silent.

Zuo Mo’s gaze stabbed towards the old man as though he wanted to create countless holes in the damned old man. The old man met Zuo Mo’s gaze, grinning and showing his yellow and missing teeth.

A moment later, there still wasn’t a sound.

Had his act been bad?

Zuo Mo muttered inside. He could only force himself to say, “Everyone, what do you feel?”

No one spoke.

Zuo Mo was really stunned this time. Ge had worked so hard, shouldn’t these people be showing hungry expressions? Why weren’t they reacting at all?

Deathly silence.

Suddenly, someone muttered, “Name your price.”

“How many mobei? Give a number! I’ll take it!” A large man stood up.

“You’ll take it? Your tone is really presumptuous! Mobei?! Is a shen device like this something that can be bought with mobei?” Someone said sarcastically from the crowd.

Another middle aged person stood up. “I will use a jie to trade. You can pick any jie under my command.”

“What the good is jie, resources are the most valuable,” another said coolly. “I will give ten ore veins, large ones, that produce sixth grade or above.”

“When does Grandmaster have the time to waste on mining?” A female spoke, “I will offer one tenth-grade material, and ten ninth-grade materials.”

This caused the place to quiet.

Even Zuo Mo was shocked by this price. This price was definitely a high one. Each ninth-grade material was a great price, and it was the first time Zuo Mo heard someone offer a two-digit number for ninth-grade materials. Even after Rare Artifact Hall’s accumulation over thousands of years, they only had three ninth-grade materials, and not even one tenth-grade.

Zuo Mo had never seen a tenth-grade material. Ten-grade, that was the highest grade for materials!

But Zuo Mo reacted quickly. He recalled the old man’s warning and hurriedly said, “I need things that will nurture souls. Treasures of this kind will be given priority, and don’t offer anything average.”

The female hurriedly said, “These materials are enough for Grandmaster to trade for many treasures that can nurture the soul!”

Zuo Mo shook his head, his expression determined.

“I have Living Soul Lure!” A person stood up with an excited expression. Many people had expressions of envy. A lot of auctions were like this, only trading and not selling. This depended on luck. This person clearly had good luck. The Living Soul Lure was a rare treasure that could nurture the soul.

Zuo Mo continued to shake his head, “Not high grade enough.”

Many people inhaled in sharply. Even the Living Soul Lure wasn’t high grade enough!

Ming Yue Ye showed a confidence expression. Ever since Xiao Mo Ge used mo weapons to trade for Reverse Shadow Soul Silkgrass, she guessed that Xiao Mo Ge required treasures of this kind and had prepared a few.

Her gamble was right.

At this time, a voice suddenly sounded, “Xi Xuan’s [Five Element Soul Dan]!

Ming Yue Ye’s expression froze on her face.

Chapter 739 – Someone From The Past

A large man with rough features stood up. He had a dry smile and his presence spread.

Gu Liang Dao!

Gasps immediately ran out among the crowd. As one of the best battle generals of the present, era the reputation of Xi Xuan’s Tiger General Gu Liang Dao was known far and wide. Many people had wary expressions but their enmity decreased. Gu Liang Dao had left Xi Xuan and controlled a region. In the eyes of these people, he was just a small local power. Without the titan that was Xi Xuan behind him, the resources that Gu Liang Dao could muster were limited. He was not as much a threat as he had been when he had been acting as the vanguard for Xi Xuan.

Zuo Mo saw Gu Liang Dao and a expression of joyful surprise appeared on his face. “Brother Gu!”

Gu Liang Dao raised his folded hands in a smile and laughed brightly. “Brother, do not blame me for not notifying you I would be coming. It really is that we have come in a hurry, and I only recently discovered that it was you, Brother.”

It was the first time the great majority of people here saw this past Xi Xuan Tiger. They instantly felt that he was as the rumors said. Gu Liang Dao’s voice was like a bell, and his actions as fierce as that of a tiger. His presence naturally formed and caused people to unconsciously submit.

Zuo Mo said apologetically, “If it isn’t that this young brother needs treasures that can nurture the soul urgently, I should gift this to Brother Gu.”

Last time, Gu Liang Dao had and fought alongside Gongsun Cha to hold Great Peace City. Zuo Mo remembered this favor.

Hearing the sincerity in Zuo Mo’s voice, Gu Liang Dao laughed. “We are brothers, there’s no need to be so courteous. Old Gu is satisfied that Brother is willing to sell it to me. If Brother gives this to me, Old Gu doesn’t dare to accept it.” Finishing, he raised his hand, and a jade box flew towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo took the jade box. The jade box was of extremely high grade, and was thin and transparent as cicada wings. It was possible to clearly see a five colored lingdan within that was the size of a longan. The five colored light swirled.

Zuo Mo didn’t waste words. With a raise of his hand, the rainbow mist carried the [Angel Device Raiment] to fly towards Gu Liang Dao.

Gu Liang Dao’s expression became joyed as he took it. At this time, a voice suddenly interrupted. “Wait!”

Ming Yue Ye stood out. “Can Mister Gu let go of this item, this one is Ming Yue Ye.”

Gu Liang Dao turned around and his expression was slightly affected. “So it is Elder Ming, this one has heard of you. However, sorry, this item is extremely important to Old Gu.”

Ming Yue Ye said coolly, “If Brother Gu is willing to part with them, the yao is willing to ally with Brother Gu and fully support Brother Gu. With Brother Gu’s abilities, and the abilities of the yao, I believe that you will accomplish great things.”

The expressions of some people present immediately changed, especially the factions that were close to Gu Liang Dao’s territory. If the yao really did ally with Gu Liang Dao, they would be the first to suffer.

Gu Liang Dao only smiled upon hearing this. His weathered face carried a thread of pride and disdain. “Many thanks, Miss Ming, for you good intentions. Old Gu is a rough person, but knows that while one is poor, they must not lack ambitions. I, Gu Liang Dao, will take for myself what I want. Hm, I will not sell myself to become a slave!”

“You dare!” An elder was furious upon hearing this. He leapt out and shouted as he pointed at Gu Liang Dao.

A sharp ripple shot out his finger.

Zuo Mo’s expression suddenly changed. He hadn’t thought that the people from the Yao Council of Elders dared to commit a sneak attack under the eyes of so many people. Gu Liang Dao was a battle general and not skilled for his individual power. He would not be able to dodge such a sudden attack from a shen power expert.

Damn it!

There wasn’t enough time!

Zuo Mo was extremely frustrated, and his killing intent rose. The entire King’s Forbidden City suddenly shook. If one was outside the palace, they would be able to see the rainbow clouds that hung over the city suddenly move. The water formed from yin energy in the lakes suddenly boiled.

In this moment, Zuo Mo decided that if something happened to Gu Liang Dao, he would have all of these yao accompany his burial!

In a flash, a person standing beside Gu Liang Dao silently appeared in front of Gu Liang Dao.

The person’s right hand was slightly open, five different kinds of light suddenly lighting up on his hands. Gold, wood, water, fire, and earth; the light seemed to ripple like water.

The yao council elder suddenly changed expression. Before he was able to react, the sharp needle-like ripple he had just released suddenly turned and appeared a handwidth from his face.

Pew!

He spat out blood and fell forward. His expression was as white as paper, and his breathing weak.

All of the yao council elders changed expression. Another elder hurriedly took out a pill and shoved it into the injured elder’s mouth.

“Sir is?” Ming Yue Ye’s pupils shrank slightly.

Everyone finally saw the person who had acted. This was a delicate and quiet youth. He had an average expression and his present wasn’t special in any way.  From the start, he had silently stay by Gu Liang Dao’s side, Including Zuo Mo, everyone had missed his existence.

“I am Shuang Yu.”

Everyone was puzzled at this unfamiliar name. It was clearly the first time they heard this name.

Ming Yue Ye had a thoughtful expression. Moments later, her pupils contracted again, “Shuang Yu who eight years ago went into seclusion in the Five Element Universe.”

“Oh, you even know  that?” Shuang Yu stilled. Many people in Xi Xuan didn’t know his name, yet the other was able to point him out immediately.

Ming Yue Ye was intimidated. If her memory wasn’t so good, she definitely would not have remembered. Out of the talented disciples in Xi Xuan, Shuang Yue was not outstanding, considered to be somewhere in the upper quartile. His birth was ordinary, and the sect did not pay great attention to him. The only thing that Ming Yue Ye remembered about him was because he had chosen to seclude himself in the Five Element Universe.

The Five Element Universe was a place that almost everyone in Xi Xuan had forgotten. It was a marvelous place that the Xi Xuan Founding Ancestor had found. It was a location where an extremely small jie was beginning to form, the five elements slowly manifesting inside. The Xi Xuan Founding Ancestor used great powers to seal it, and left only an entrance behind. He also said that only those that came out of the Five Element Universe would be the ones that had truly comprehended the true meaning of the five elements.

It seemed to be a great place to gain experience. When Xi Xuan had first been founded, many disciples chose to enter there to cultivate. Yet the reality was much crueler than they had imagined. If they could not comprehend the true meaning of the five elements, they could not come out. In history, there wasn’t more than five disciples that had managed to come out.

As Xi Xuan gradually turned to enjoyment and luxury, the disciples forgot about the Five Element Universe. Shuang Yu was the only disciple that entered the Five Element Universe in the last thirty years, and it was only due to this that Ming Yue Ye had some impression of the name.

She hadn’t thought that Shuang Yue had managed to come out of the Five Element Universe! And he had also thrown his lot in with Gu Liang Dao!

Sharp inhales sounded in the crowd, Many people had shocked expressions.

They had never heard the name Shuang Yu before, but all of them knew of Xi Xuan’s Five Element Universe. Including Shuang Yu, there had been five disciples that had come out of the Five Element Universe. The previous four had all been the strongest of their era!

Those that came out of the Five Element Universe were qualified to stand at the peak of their era.

No one dared to dismiss him any longer, even if this youth appeared normal.

Their gazes towards Gu Liang Dao became filled with wariness as well. No matter what, the upper level of Xi Xuan would not be so stupid to push away a disciple that had survived the Five Element Universe. But Shuang Yu had still chosen to support Gu Liang Dao.

Gu Liang Dao himself was a fierce tiger, and this was giving him a pair of wings.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. However, after he asked Pu Yao about the origins of the Five Element Universe, he was filled with admiration towards Shuang Yu and felt happy on Gu Liang Dao’s behalf. Gu Liang Dao was a top battle general. Adding on a top expert like Shuang Yu, his power could be said to have completely transformed.

Gu Liang Dao ignored the wary and hostile gazes of the other people. He patted Shuang Yu’s shoulder and shoved the [Angel Device Raiment] into Shuang Yu’s hands. His movements were natural as he was doing something normal.

Everyone finally realized. So the Angel Device Raiment was for Shuang Yu.

Shuang Yu stilled. “Big Brother … …”

“I originally planned to give it to you, but I am poor, and only had one lingdan that was acceptable. I was afraid that you would be disappointed if we didn’t get it so I didn’t tell you beforehand.” Gu Liang Dao explained unconcernedly.

Shuang Yu felt his nose turn sour. He knew how poor Gu Liang Dao was. That [Five Element Soul Dan] was the only top level treasure Gu Liang Dao had.

Everyone was solemn and their gazes when they looked at Gu Liang Dao were filled with respect. Anyone that could do this was worth of respect. People finally understood that Gu Liang Dao’s accomplishment had not been due to luck.

“Big Brother … …” Shuang Yu’s eyes turned red.

Gu Liang Dao frowned and scolded impatiently, “After so many years, why are still you such a nag?”

Shuang Yu had a sheepish expression as he caressed the [Angel Device Raiment] in his hand. His expression was like that of a child that had received the toy of his dreams.

Ming Yue Ye saw this and was even more intimidated inside. She felt deeply wary at Gu Liang Dao’s actions, no matter if it really was sincere or an act.

If this person was not a hero, he was an ambitious person!

Just now, she had felt a thread of shen power from Shuang Yu’s attack, even if it had not fully taken form … …

With the [Angel Device Raiment] in Shuang Yu’s possession, Shuang Yu’s power would probably advance and become completed.

It was safest to kill people like Gu Liang Dao who could grow to become an enemy of the Yao Council of Elders! Ming Yue Ye felt murderous. Shuang Yu was strong, but if they did not care about the price, they would be able to kill him on the way.

If he perfected his shen power, he would become a great threat!

In Ming Yue Ye’s mind, only Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and the Mo Shen Temple could become enemies of the Yao Council of Elders. The declining and rotting Xi Xuan was of benefit to the elders. Yet Gu Liang Dao was the person most likely to inherit Xi Xuan’s wealth! If he inherited Xi Xuan’s wealth, then his strength would grow to a terrifying level!

She had to eliminated a hidden and dangerous enemy like this.

Her expression did not change as though nothing had happened. The wounded elder was helped up. His face was pale white as he glared poisonously at Shuang Yu.

Yet Ming Yue Ye forgot that there was still a person here, and this person was the true master of this place!

“Little Girl, you wound my guests in front of ge, did you forget whose territory this is?”

Zuo Mo’s low-class tone was murderous and glacial. The temperature in the palace suddenly dropped.

Chapter 740 – Rage

Ming Yue Ye was of high status, and had entered the Genius Alliance from a young age. Then she had become the youngest elder, and now she was the most likely candidate to become the next head of the Yao Council of Elders. No matter at what time in her life, she had numerous protectors. She was like the bright moon in the sky. When she appeared, her radiance would cause everyone else around her to lose color.

When had she ever been called “Little Girl”?

When Ming Yue Ye heard the worlds, she stilled. Even the other people around her didn’t immediately react.

The first one to react was Feng Xin Zi!

Feng Xin Zi was infuriated. In his mind, Miss Ming Yue Ye was the goddess of his heart with an unrivaled position. Xiao Mo Ge dared to call her “Little Girl.” This was clearly blaspheming and insulting Miss Ming Yue Ye!

He could not endure this!

Even if he had some positive feelings about Xiao Mo Ge previously, all of the good feelings dissipated in this moment. What replaced it was deep hate and dislike.

He looked at Xiao Mo Ge unflinchingly and said coldly, “Mister Xiao, do not speak rashly and cause a calamity to come to you!”

“A calamity?” Zuo Mo grinned and showed two rows of snowy white teeth.

Before he finished speaking, a rainbow coloured cloud suddenly came out of the ground and wrapped around Feng Xin Zi’s legs.

Everyone’s understanding of Feng Xin Zi was limited to him completing a prison-breaking battle. Even among the Yao Council of Elders, there was only a rare few that knew that Feng Xin Zi had been one of the major players in solving shen power!

There was also no one that knew that Feng Xin Zi was the second member of this core group that was not a sky yao. However, he was an intellectual at heart, and did not show off so no one had discovered it.

Feng Xin Zi huffed. Pop pop pop, snowy white flowers suddenly bloomed around him.

The fragile flowers contained astounding power, pushing away the rainbow mist cloud that had wrapped around his feet. He was just about to take the opportunity to retreat when the rainbow clouds suddenly appeared around him.

He felt his body tighten and a strange field surrounded him.

Feng Xin Zi’s eyes suddenly lit up. With a clear shout, the snowy white hyacinths suddenly exploded. Countless snowy white flower petals shrouded his figure.

These hyacinth flower petals composed of shen power froze in the air as though a paralyzing spell had been cast.

In the midst of it all, Feng Xin Zi felt the pressure on him decrease. These hyacinth petals seemed to form an enormous net. This was a field of power that belonged to Feng Xin Zi!

Because he was being suppressed by the rainbow mist, the area covered by Feng Xin Zi’s field of power was compressed to its limits but this also made it as strong as possible!

The strange rainbow mist was blocked off by these tender snow white petals.

Zuo Mo had not expected Feng Xin Zi’s strength but he did not care. In the King’s Forbidden City, in this city, he was the true king!

They did not understand this, but Zuo Mo decided to make them understand.

Just how great the difference between them was in this city!

The palace disappeared like mist. In a flash, everyone seemed to be situation on a vast wildness. The endless rainbow colored mist caused fear.

Feng Xin Zi’s expression changed slightly. The pressure from the rainbow mists multiplied.

The outermost layer of white flowers could not tolerate such great power, pop pop pop, they exploded into pieces!

The elders around Ming Yue Ye saw this and their expressions changed slightly. As they began to move forward. A cold smile appeared at the corner of Zuo Mo’s mouth, his left hand moving slightly. The rainbow mists around the yao elders suddenly grew. The mists that were like specks of dust became seal scripts and mo matrices of various sizes that covered the space around them.

In front of the tsunami of power, the yao elders all changed expression and frantically reacted!

Looking at the panicked elders, Zuo Mo’s expression was vicious, tendons bulging as he swore, “You little people, just you bunch of failures dare to throw a tantrum on ge’s territory? You don’t want to live? So what if I called her Little Girl? Let me tell you, in front of ge, all of you are little girls! Ah-ha? You disagree? You bunch of little girls! Ah-ha, a calamity? Have a taste of a true calamity!”

The experts that were watching the battle gaped at what they heard. Even a hero such as Gu Liang Dao that did not care for courtesy had a gaping mouth as he looked, in shock, at the raging Zuo Mo. Shuang Yu, like an innocent boy, was so scared by Zuo Mo acting like a street hoodlum that his body was froze in fear.

At some time, water drops containing yin energy rose from the lakes and floated in the air.

Zuo Mo’s grin showed two rows of white teeth that appeared like two rows of fangs.

The water drops made from pure yin energy might be something that other mo only used in medicine pools or to forge mo weapons, but for Zuo Mo, it was a terrifying killing weapon!

Yin fire beads!

The killing move that Zuo Mo had first used when he stepped into the wider world. While it had been some time since he used it, but he had memorized the entire [Yin Fire Bead Chapter]! Additionally, the fire seed he had now was the Sun Shen Fire.

His arms spread out, Zuo Mo made a grabbing motion, and dozens of pure yin beads flew towards him. Golden fire suddenly came out of his hand, erupting and wrapping around the pure yin fire beads that came.

When the flames dissipated, dozens of round balls with  golden patterns appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand.

These round balls could not be called yin fire beads, but were yin fire shen beads!

Zuo Mo snickered coldly and threw the yin fire shen beads at Feng Xin Zi!

The moment the yin fire shen beads met with Feng Xin Zi’s white flower petals, a golden light flashed and suddenly exploded! The unparalleled and domineering power of the sun shen power spread, carrying golden flames. Once the white flower petals were touched by the golden shen fire, they would be cleanly burned away.

Feng Xin Zi seemed to be struck by lightning and his body shook!

The dozens of yin fire shen beads immediately exploded in the area.

With the explosion of each one, Feng Xin Zi’s body shook. Moments later, his complexion was pale white, and flower petals around him were scattered and had almost all vanished.

Under the domineering and ferocious attack of the yin fire shen beads, Feng Xin Zi was heavily injured.

Even the chief mo god had been defeated by the [King’s Forbidden Firmament], much less the weaker Feng Xin Zi.

Everyone else was shocked. The power of the golden yin fire shen beads surpassed their imagination. The mo prided themselves in their physical abilities, yet what Zuo Mo used was definitely not a mo move.

But it really was powerful … …

The explosion of each yin fire shen bead was like thunder and lightning. People’s hearts trembled. Many people thought ‘what if it was them that was being bombed?’ After thinking for a while, they found that there was no other solution than dodging. If they tried to fight back, there was no survival. Their expressions became ugly.

Zuo Mo also jumped in fright at the power of the yin fire shen beads but he quickly hid his reaction. The yin energy here was extremely thick and pure, and the yin fire shen beads he forged would be even stronger.

Having thought it through, Zuo Mo was even more excited.

He knew that such a fortuitous event such as this was a matter of luck. He could take the King’s Forbidden City with him, but not this yin vien. Zuo Mo immediately decided that he had to enjoy himself to the fullest.

His hands beckoned. Woosh, another hundred pure yin beads appeared.

The yin fire shen beads were powerful but they did have weaknesses. If this was a normal battle, which user of shen power was not as fast as lightning? Before the yin fire shen bead could come into contact, the opponent would have disappeared.

But in the King’s Forbidden City, this was the best killing move. The rainbow mist made from seal scripts and mo matrices were like a bog. They trapped Feng Xin Zi inside and he was unable to escape. From that, the yin fire shen beads could be used to maximum effect.

To use their physical body to stand up to the yin fire shen beads was not something even the mo famed for their powerful bodies could do, much less Feng Xin Zi, a yao.

“You’re shameless!” Feng Xin Zi howled angrily, the tendons in his face showing. He also saw through Zuo Mo’s move but the mist in the surroundings were like strong chains that wrapped around him to stop him from moving.

“Haha, you are right!” Zuo Mo was smug and did not disguise the savagery on his face. He said hatefully, “If I am not more shameless than you, how can ge sort you out?”

As he spoke, he forged yin fire shen beads. In the blink of an eyes, a few dozen yin fire shen beads took form.

Feng Xin Zi’s face turned ashen.

He had received some serious internal injuries from the last attack. More importantly, his hyacinth flower net had already been destroyed.

“Xiao Mo Ge! Do you really want to become enemies against the Yao Council of Elders?” Ming Yue Ye could not attend to anything else and shouted harshly.

Zuo Mo was infuriated. “Ge will spit on you. Little Girl, from the start, it was you making trouble for ge, ah-ha, now that you see you aren’t a match for ge, you say that ge will become enemies with your council of elders?”

Ming Yue Ye was stuck for words.

Zuo Mo said dismissively. ”Ge is attacking your council of elders, so what? You don’t agree? If you don’t agree, bite me? Come on!”

At the side, Shuang Yu was dumbstruck. He weakly poked Gu Liang Dao, “Big Brother, this is the Xiao Mo Ge you said was peerless in heroism … …”

Gu Liang Dao could not keep his expression. He coughed and weakly defended, “Even a rabbit will bite when cornered… … also, one has to be ruthless like the autumn wind to the tree’s leaves when facing the enemy … … heroism, oh, let us not discuss this now … …”

Shuang Yu swallowed and clearly had received a bit of a fright.

He was of common birth but had never worried about clothing or food. From a young age, he had entered Xi Xuan and worked hard on his cultivation without pay attention to matters of the world. The education he received taught him to first offer diplomacy before war, maintain rationality, and to not lose his poise. When had he ever seen someone like Zuo Mo that was so unreasonable and didn’t care about poise at all?

But this guy was astounding powerful … …

Zuo Mo’s words angered the yao elders to howl.

“Xiao Mo Ge, you go too far!”

“I will kill you!”

“Xiao Mo Ge, you are dead, you will not be able to escape no matter where you go!”

“Curse, keep on cursing!” Zuo Mo’s teeth were like two rows of knives. He snarled, “You guys, you think you will be able to escape? Ge wanted to sort you out a long time ago!”

Without another words, the hundred yin fire shen beads on his hands were thrown in a ferocious barrage at the yao elders!

Chapter 741 – Fire Battle

The hundreds of yin fire shen beads came like a rainstorm, with a rumble, turning into a black cloud that flew at the elders.

The yao elders trapped in the rainbow mists were immediately alarmed but they could not break free of the cloud mist. All kinds of complex powers formed a field that was hard to break free of. No matter how hard they fought, they could not break away from this terrifying invisible net.

Yet the yin fire shen beads that flew through the air were not affected by the strange restrictive power at all.

The yin fire shen beads grew closer, and all the yao elders felt their hairs stand on end. Just now, they had clearly seen the power of the yin fire shen beads.

There was an immediate panic as all kinds of defensive yao arts were released.

Light shields, banana leaves, wheels of flowers … ..

All kinds of colors and lights that layered together to completely surround them.

The golden yin fire shen bead hit the defensive yao arts.

Boom boom boom!

As hundreds of yin fire shen beads exploded simultaneously, golden flames shot out and covered the figures of the yao elders.

The yao eldest felt their vision turn bright, their ears ringing. A tsunami of power crashed into their defensive yao art. Many people seemed to be hit by something large, their body shaking, and their faces slightly pale.

The Council of Elders had only recently solved shen power and they had only created a few shen techniques, and defensive shen techniques made up a rather small portion of this. What the yao elders used in their panic were mostly defensive yao arts.

Defensive yao arts that encountered the yin fire shen beads forged in sun shen fire immediately wavered.

Zuo Mo did not care about that. The supply of yin beads was endless here. He could use the jinzhi here as easily as he could think. Here, he had the advantage of home territory. Even he did not understand that these people who clearly knew that they were within his jinzhi still dared to challenge him. How idiotic were they!

“You dare to be so arrogant on ge’s territory? You don’t want to live! Let me tell you, on ge’s territory, if you are a dragon, coil up, if you are a tiger, stay on the ground!”

Zuo Mo’s furious and aggressive shouts echoed in the King’s Forbidden City. Everyone else watching perceptively closed their mouths. They had heard of Xiao Mo Ge’s reputation before but they hadn’t ever thought the rumored hero was really just a gangster.

Anyone present would not easily dare offend the Yao Council of Elders, much less fight them.

That was the Yao Council of Elders!

They ruled all of the yao, they had numerous battalions under their command. Countless prestigious families worked for them. All of the manpower and resources of the yao were in their hands.

This was a terrifying titan!

But … … but … …

Seeing their faces become covered in ash from the yin fire shen beads, and unable to keep their faces up, everyone felt as though this was an illusion. They could not imagine just how rash a person needed to be to act this way!

None of them would chose to do such a thing. They would even feel that Xiao Mo Ge was an idiot. However, they all admired Xiao Mo Ge’s bravery. Those experts that had been restless were now silent. They were all intelligent people, and knew that they could not easily provoke a rash person like Xiao Mo Ge.

He was someone that would beat and kill yao elders, and he didn’t have any qualms … …

The yao elders were furious when they heard this, but when they looked at the hundreds of yin fire shen beads behind a snarling Zuo Mo’s body, their faces turned green!

“Die! Idiots!”

Zuo Mo’s hands moved, and a new batch of yin fire shen beads headed for the yao elders like a fatal black cloud.

A hint of irrepressible anger flashed through Ming Yue Ye’s eyes. She suddenly bowed towards a green-robed elder beside her and said respectfully, “Elder Ye, please!”

The green-robed elder was thin and tall, his expression was indifferent. He seemed to not see Ming Yue Ye’s respectful bow and just responded with a light, “Oh.”

He was extremely eye-catching among the disheveled yao elders. There wasn’t any speck of dust on him, and his expression seemed to be unaffected by everything that was happening around him.

He slowly walked towards the front of the group. The rainbow mists did not seem to affect him at all. Deep respect and awe flashed across the eyes of the other yao elders. They perceptively made a path and each of them seemed relieved of a burden.

Zuo Mo had noticed this person with the cool expression a long time ago.

Usually, a person with this kind of expression was usually a true expert.

Expert?

A hint of excitement flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes, and his fighting spirit rose!

Elder Ye looked indifferently at the yin fire shen beads that flew towards him. He raised his right hand and grabbed at the yin fire shen beads in the air.

A scene that was almost difficult to imagine occurred.

The yin fire shen beads seemed to lose control and flew towards him like birds returning to the nest. When they flew to within arms-length of him, they stopped in the air.

Gasps rang out among the crowd. No one understood this move.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed.

Elder Ye casually picked up a yin fire shen bead. He examined it and then slowly said, “It is slightly interesting. Yin fire bead forged with shen fire. I hadn’t thought that someone still knew such an ancient skill.”

“Idiot!” Zuo Mo squeezed out between his teeth with a cunning smile on his face.

Elder Ye’s eye suddenly twitched and his expression changed slightly. Before he could react, boom, the yin fire shen bead on his fingers suddenly exploded and his figure was enveloped in golden flames.

Boom boom boom!

The scene of hundreds of yin fire shen beads exploding in such a narrow area was spectacular.

Within the golden flames were even spots of white flame, the terrifying power pushing the golden and white flames up dozens of zhang. The terrifying wave of heat swept outwards in all directions.

The defensive yao arts of the other yao elders collapsed under this great wave of air. Some of the weaker yao arts were thrown about as though they were struck with a hammer.

All of the King’s Forbidden City shook. The people watching the battle were almost unable to stay standing as they stared in shock at the pillar of fire that shot into the sky!

Experts such as Shuang Yu who were at the edge of shen power changed expression. The shen power dense vibrations so  roared within that pillar of fire, and he almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

So there really was a freak in the world that had cultivated shen power to such a level … …

The pride hidden deep in Shuang Yu’s heart couldn’t help but waver at this time.

Feng Xin Zi looked dazedly and wordlessly at the pillar of fire. If this was him … …

This thought could not be excised from his mind. His extremities grew cold and his heart continued to sink.

Ming Yue Ye’s expression changed drastically and she could not maintain her calmness. Elder Ye was the strongest person of this group! If even he wasn’t a match, then the result would be terrible … …

Zuo Mo’s expression was smug. Yin fire beads were hard to control, but these yin fire shen beads were forged in his sun shen power. He could make simple manipulations of the sun shen fire inside the yin fire shen beads.

“You should die!”

A deep roar like that of a wounded animal came out of the pillar of fire.

In the corner, the old man who had been idling away relaxedly suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp cold light flashing through them.

Woosh!

The pressuring flames extinguished without warning. A figure with an astounding presence slowly walked out of the remnants of the pillar of fire.

Everyone was stunned by this scene.

How was it possible … … how was it possible that someone could survive that kind of explosion … … that was shen power … …

Zuo Mo was also stunned. Even he would not survive the power of the hundreds of yin fire shen beads exploding together. But the other was still alive!

But when he saw Elder Ye’s appearance, after blinking, he suddenly fell over on the ground and roared with laughter. “Hahaha, you look too … … so special!”

The people who had been stunned speechless by Elder Ye’s terrifying power were startled awake by Zuo Mo’s sudden laughter. When they looked at Elder Ye, muffled laughter rang through the entire venue. They did not dare to be as careless as Zuo Mo. They hurriedly covered their mouths to stop the sound of laughter from coming out. But their expressions became strange.

Elder Ye’s hair was a mess as it gave off smoke. His eyes were two black circles like that of a panda. But what really set them off was that his almost naked body had been scorched and looked  like that of a zebra. It was unknown what method he had used in the end to block the pillar of fire but his body was scorched black in regularly spaced streaks. The black and white parts made him look like a zebra.

A zebra panda … …

“You should die!”

Elder Ye was murderous, his eyes filled with blood. That pair of eyes were ravenous. Vast shen power was like a monster that was twisting its enormous body. With every movement, it let people feel the great power it contained.

The expression of the old man in the corner became serious. A hint of surprised flashed through his eyes. This person’s shen power … …

An almost tangible pressure filled every corner and made people unable to breathe. Even those marshal experts changed expression now. In their eyes, Elder Ye that was slowly walking out of the aftermath was like a hope-robbing figure of legend. He only needed to reach out with a hand to crush them into powder.

Shock flashed through Shuang Yu’s eyes.

Zuo Mo snorted, stopped his jovial attitude and stood up. Facing Elder Ye, he raised his head and stared rebelliously at Elder Ye. “Still not admitting defeat? Then I will beat you until you accept it!”

He almost spat out the last sentence, pausing between each word. His presence reached another level.

Each word was like a hammer hitting people in their minds.

As his presence increased, the rainbow mists floating in the air seeming to receive a summons to gather rapidly where Zuo Mo was. Inside the underground cavern, the yin energy that had been slowly flowing was being drained out of the yin vein at an astounding rate, and taken up by the King’s Forbidden City.

The earth started to tremble.

In this moment, almost everyone had a feeling that the King’s Forbidden City was waking up.

Chapter 742 – Intensify

Zuo Mo completely entered a rage. Ceng Lian’er and the people familiar with him automatically moved far away. They had seen how terrifying and vicious a berserk Zuo Mo was. The only one that did not move was A Gui. Dressed in the bone armor, A Gui stood there motionlessly like a statue.

Ming Yue Ye had never expected that the event would proceed like this.

Xiao Mo Ge would definitely become a great threat to the Council of Elders. When this thought popped out, she jumped in fright at her own thought. Gu Liang Dao should be a bigger threat. Gu Liang Dao who came from Xi Xuan and had the aid of a top expert like Shuang Yu was very likely to take control of Xi Xuan.

But Xiao Mo Ge?

A few battalions, a few small territories, he was individually brave, but in front of the Council of Elders, this was a joke. Then look at Xiao Mo Ge’s actions, rash, idiotic, without any intelligence. How could such a person threaten the Council of Elders?

But this thought was so strong that Ming Yue Ye could not dismiss it.

However, the present situation did not allow her to think carefully why she would have such an absurd thought. The two sides would go off at any moment, and she was worried that Elder Ye could not win.

She suddenly asked the grey-robed elder in a low voice, “Is there any method that can affect the jinzhi?”

The grey-robed elder was called Elder Lin and was one of the rare elders among the council skilled in jinzhi. The reason that Ming Yue Ye had brought him along this time was for him to evaluate whether the [Angel Device Raiment] was real or not.

Elder Lin also knew the situation right now was urgent. That wave of yin fire shen beads had been stopped, but all of the people on their side had been affected. His scalp prickled at the thought of another wave.

“It is possible to affect it. But it will be very short, only about twenty breaths.”

“That’s enough.” Ming Yue Ye said decisively. At this time, she didn’t care about fairness or dueling decorum.

Elder Lin understood and a black yao core appeared on his hand. His expression was pained, but he didn’t hesitate to throw the black core out.

When the black core landed on the ground, it turned into a ball of black mist.

The black mist quickly spread and dyed the seal scripts and mo matrices floating in the air like a great toxin. The black energy then flowed along the seal scripts and mo matrices to spread quickly.

In a flash, the rainbow mist made out of seal scripts and mo matrices became inky black.

Several black threads had even appeared on the yin beads in the air. They were frozen in the air, unable to move.

A hint of joy appeared on Ming Yue Ye’s eyes, and her tone was slightly reproachful. “What is this? Why didn’t you take out something like this before?”

Elder Lin grimaced. “This is [Black Blunting Smoke], a kind of yao core. It can slow jinzhi, but its effects are limited, only twenty breaths of time. Once it is used, it needs to be soaked in special medicinal liquid for a month before it can be used again.”

“Twenty breaths is enough!” Ming Yue Ye’s words were filled with confidence in Elder Ye.

The other elders had overjoyed expressions as though they had already won the battle.

———

Zuo Mo immediately detected the effects of the [Black Blunting Smoke]. The King’s Forbidden City seemed to be a machine that suddenly rusted, and felt difficult to use.

There was something this strange? A hint of astonishment flashed across his mind.

“Haha, how’s that? You can’t do a thing! Boy, you cannot escape, I will kill you!”

Elder Ye immediately detected the change in the King’s Forbidden City. His voice was filled with murderousness and savagery. He walked slowly towards Zuo Mo. With each step, his presence rose and became stronger like a fire!

Zuo Mo did not have the time to get rid of this strange black energy as Elder Ye was walking towards him with a snarl.

He did not panic. A cold smirk appeared on his face as he spat out, “Idiot!”

With a wave of his hand, a strange talisman appeared, it was the Little Mo Treasure Cup.

This was the only top talisman Zuo Mo had. The seven turtle-patterned treasure coins spun rapidly on the surface of the water and sparked occasionally.

The Little Mo Treasure Cup was slightly less powerful compared to the [Angel Device Raiment] but that was only a difference in how they were forged. The quality of Little Mo Treasure Cup’s materials were actually better.

The Little Mo Treasure Cup’s materials could rival the Anti Dragon Claw and the Three Thousand Threads of Worry now.

When the Little Mo Treasure Cup appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand, Elder Ye suddenly felt a great sense of danger. His expression changed, and he shot backwards. At the same time, he pointed with his fingers which lit up with a bright light.

He rapidly drew out a triangle in the air, shen technique!

At this time, a lightning-like light suddenly flew out of Zuo Mo’s hands.

The Little Mo Treasure Cup that had consumed an astonishing amount of lightning and now contained that terrifying lightning. With Zuo Mo using its full power and not keeping anything back, all of the lightning and thunder that the Little Mo Treasure Cup had absorbed on the day of its creation blasted out with his shen power!

The treasure coin that was covered with lightning and shen power could not endure such terrifying power and was reduced into a liquid ball of metal.

The silver energy was bright and burning as it charged straight into Elder Ye’s triangle.

Boom!

The silver light was so blinding that no one could keep their eyes open.

Shen power turbulence were like little razors that scattered about. Everyone was shocked and threw up their defenses. However, any mo skill or yao art was unimaginably fragile in front of this shock wave, they all shattered.

In that moment, almost every person had small wounds on their body.

Many people changed expression immediately. When was the last time they had been wounded? Many people couldn’t even remember. There was nothing better than this experience to let them understand the greatness of shen power!

Shen power era!

A person that did not cultivate shen power would be abandoned by this era. Even if they once stood at the top, it was the same for them.

Zuo Mo and Elder Ye would not have thought that the fight between them would strengthen the determination of all those present to find shen power. The pride of the experts at the peak of this era did not allow them to tolerate being killed in the future and be left unable to fight back like insects.

The light dissipated and the two figures once again appeared.

Elder Ye’s left arm was limply hanging, a burnt black hole penetrating his right arm. Zuo Mo was not much better. The Little Mo Treasure Cup in his hand was completely dim, covered in cracks, and his expression was slightly pale.

In order to use the strongest attack, Zuo Mo had furiously channeled shen power into the Little Mo Treasure Cup. This attack was powerful, but Little Mo Treasure Cup had been overloaded with shen power and damaged irreparably.

Most importantly, Zuo Mo had used a great amount of shen power.

Elder Ye gazed at Zuo Mo poisonously as though he wanted to consume the other alive. He was filled with fury. His shen power was stronger than Xiao Mo Ge’s, but he had been suppressed by Xiao Mo Ge. The other’s moves were endless and hard to predict. The more he fought, the worse he felt.

Ming Yue Ye’s face was ashen. She looked in shock at Xiao Mo Ge.

All of the Yao Council elders looked at Xiao Mo Ge as though they were looking at a ghost.

Elder Ye was one of the Ten Yao of the Council of Elders!

Unlike what normal people understood, the Yao Council of Elders was an extremely large organization with all elders each having their own roles. But the Ten Yao were the special existence in the council because they were the strongest ten yao of the council! They were given prestigious positions, yet they did not have to work. However, all the elders were in awe of and respected them. The power of the ten elders determined the status of the ten yao. Even someone with power in the council like Ming Yue Ye was respectful to them.

Elder Ye was the tenth yao of the Council of Elders!

How could someone like this be wounded?

“Haha, come ! Let’s see what else you have!” Elder Ye roared with laughter.

Before he finished, a suddenly presence suddenly exploded nearby.

“No!” A wild howl carried out with the burst of air.

Elder Yao’s smile suddenly froze. Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed coldly. They turned their face and their eyes widened.

A strange and borderless field of power was released within a figure covered in white flames at the center.

Feng Xin Zi!

———

Feng Xin Zi felt the restrictions on him were much weaker. The Black Blunting Smoke was like a great toxin that infected all of the mo matrices and seal scripts. The rainbow mist around him were dyed black.

Feng Xin Zi felt joy. This was the best chance to break free!

If he could break free … …

He raised his head and accidentally saw Ming Yue Ye’s pale face and that flash of fear in her eyes. In that moment, he seemed to be struck by lightning, his mind completely blank.

She had always been so calm and at ease, she had always been determined, she had always been so proud … …

Recovering from his daze, Feng Xin Zi felt as though his heart was being cut by a knife. There seemed to be a knife stabbing again and again at his heart as it bled.

Feng Xin Zi bit down on his lips. The crimson blood dripped off the corner of his mouth yet he did not feel it.

That ashen and scared face entered his vision, and stabbed his eyes to the point he couldn’t keep them open. That helpless and frightened figure was the person he had sworn to protect!

Feng Xin ZI’s handsome and sunny face twisted suddenly. He lowered his eyes filled with pain and deep self-blame.

He really was useless … …

Useless!

He was filled with fury, fury at his own uselessness. His halo as a genius was completely torn off. The tendons in his face bulged, his body uncontrollably trembling due to fury.

He had never hated himself so much, never!

Suddenly, something seemed to be ignited inside his body. Boom, a strong burning feeling filled his body, his blood seemed to be boiling, he felt as though he was burning!

Before his consciousness blanked out, he instinctively shouted out, “No … …”

The white and tender hyacinths that surrounded him were swallowed by the white flames that erupted.

Chapter 743 – Strategy

Feng Xin Zi’s explosion of power was unexpected to all.

His shen power had shot up several levels immediately and caused his presence to become intimidating. Terrifying shen pressure caused the suffocating black clouds to once again press on everyone’s minds.

A hint of joy flashed across Ming Yue Ye’s eyes. She had seen Feng Xin Zi’s potential. In the Council of Elders that was full of experts, other than his potential and youth, supporting Feng Xin Zi did not have any advantages. Even so, she hadn’t expected Feng Xin Zi would surprise her so soon.

Zuo Mo also was slightly surprised. The shen power that Feng Xin Zi just displayed was not strong, but it was the most detailed of everyone he had seen.

The records had mentioned this kind of situation before. It was rare, like an epiphany. However, the difference was that Feng Xin Zi had achieved this in an excited state, and the one in the records was in a calm state.

However … …

He turned his gaze back to Elder Ye in front of him.

The old man was currently more of a threat than Feng Xin Zi. As for Feng Xin Zi, there would be people to deal with him. As he expected, he saw Ceng Lian’er appear like a ghost near Feng Xin Zi.

Listening to the hateful old man howling about killing him, Zuo Mo’s murderousness rose.

You want to kill ge on ge’s territory?

You’re tired of living!

Little Mo Ge had disliked the overbearing Yao Council of Elders for a long time, they were endlessly arrogant. The small-minded Little Mo Ge could not tolerate someone more arrogant than he was.

You think that without the King’s Forbidden City, ge can’t do anything to you? Zuo Mo smirked darkly inside. He put away the dim Little Mo Treasure Cup, and then pulled out something black. It was the happily sleeping Black Gold Seal Soldier.

“Glutton! Come out!”

Bam bam bam bam bam!

Zuo Mo kicked repeatedly, the sound of his foot hitting metal hard causing people’s hearts to feel cold. The Black Gold Seal Soldier opened his eyes in bewilderment and seemed to sleep-talk. “Big Bro, is it meal time?”

“Meal time?” Zuo Mo smiled temptingly. “Yes, we were preparing to eat! But this old man has come to interrupt and won’t let us leave!”

“He’s interrupting our meal time?” The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s eyes turned red, his expression murderous and snarling. He suddenly turned around and his howl echoed in people’s ears as though he had seen his archenemy. “He! Dares! To! Interrupt! Mealtime!”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier murderously climbed up, his four limbs on the ground, his body slightly crouched like a panther as he shot out!

Little Mo Ge showed a smile at his plan’s success. Pia, he snapped his fingers and shouted smugly at A Gui. “A Gui, let’s go!”

A Gui’s figure suddenly disappeared.

At the same time, Zuo Mo shot at the shocked Elder Ye!

———

“Big Brother, he really is the peerlessly heroic Xiao Mo Ge that you spoke of?” Shuang Yu had to turn his face to not look and weakly asked Gu Liang Dao.

Three against one, so shameless, so devious, so low … …

This completely upended Shuang Yu’s innocent view of the world. Wasn’t this things that bad people would do?

Even more shameless because Xiao Mo Ge was actually of equivalent strength to Elder Ye, yet he still ganged up … …

Shuang Yu suddenly felt that the yao elder was pitiful … … really pitiful … …

Gu Liang Dao also couldn’t bear to look. He was a heroic person and never did something like bully the old or the young. He coughed to disguise the awkwardness on his face as he thought furiously. “Ah ah ah, this really is a kind of strategy, many fighting few, this is a law of battle. Right right right, it definitely is like that … … look, the yao have more people, in terms of total number, Xiao Mo Ge is the few fighting the many. He is attacking the crowd alone, such outstanding combat instincts … …”

“But … … but … …” Shuang Yu felt that Big Brother was right but also felt that it wasn’t right somewhere.

“No matter the time, do not miss the importance of strategy!” Gu Liang Dao sternly warned Shuang Yu.

“Oh.” Shuang Yu said in semi-understanding.

The other yao elders, upon finding that Elder Ye was about to be attacked by multiple people, could not suppress themselves also acted in hopes of helping Elder Ye.

Gu Liang Dao was relieved of a great burden. He said, “See, fighting with few against many!”

Shuang Yu’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Should we help him?”

Gu Liang Dao coughed. “Do not underestimate Xiao Mo Ge. With my understanding of him, he definitely has other tricks.”

Shuang Yu nodded, and looked with anticipation at the intense battle on the field, excitement on his face.

Gu Liang Dao wiped away the sweat on his forehead with lingering trepidation.

———

Of course Zuo Mo noticed the yao elders that wanted to attack. A cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. You underestimate ge’s King’s Forbidden City!

The seal script’s and mo matrices’s effects were greatly influenced by the Black Blunting Smoke.

But this was the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]. This green city possessed great power. While it was currently suppressed, and its power was limited, it still could not be looked down upon.

There at least wasn’t a problem in creating a chance for him to surround and attack the enemy!

His hands moving, the shaking of the King’s Forbidden City suddenly stopped. All the yao elders suddenly felt the scenery change, their surroundings turning misty. All of the sounds and people disappeared.

They seemed to be standing on an endless wilderness, light mist floating ethereally.

Illusory formation?

The two words jumped into everyone’s minds.

Yes, it was an illusory formation!

Many of the yao elders showed expressions of disdain. For people of their level, illusory formations were not an acceptable tactic.

But unexpectedly, they used all they knew but the scene in front of them still didn’t change.

Why was it like this?

Was this not an illusory formation? The elders stared at each other.

Zuo Mo naturally would not let such a good chance slip by. The two people and the seal soldier shot at Elder Ye. The illusions of the city had many jinzhi methods that he had found from his memories, the ones his father had left behind. These illusory spells were not the same as other illusory spells. He believed there would be people here that could resolve them but they would require some time.

This was a chance.

Elder Ye was disheveled as he was attacked by three people. Xiao Mo Ge’s power had shocked him, and he hadn’t expected the female dressed in grey armor to be so terrifying and powerful. Adding on a seal soldier that was fearless and seemed mad, he immediately ended up in great danger.

Elder Ye’s heart continued to sink.

Damn it!

Was he going to die today?

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s eyes were wide as he spread his arms and ran towards Elder Ye. This unconventional action caused Elder Ye’s heart to shake. His left hand struck towards the Black Gold Seal Soldier. But before he finished, the presence of a shen technique on Zuo Mo’s hand caused him to divert his attention to that attack. He put the fingers on his right hand together, his shen technique waiting to be released, shen technique against shen technique!

Yet Xiao Mo Ge suddenly showed the smile of one whose plan had succeeded. Elder Ye’s expression changed and he thought that it was not good. Before he could react, there was a heavy blow to his neck. He immediately lost consciousness.

“Idiot!” Zuo Mo smugly raised his hand that had been faking presence, the light of the shen technique fading.

Boom boom boom!

Among a string of packed explosions, the yao elders showed their disheveled figures yet the scene in front of them caused everyone to turn into the stone.

Zuo Mo had a foot stepping on the unconscious Elder Ye. He smugly grinned and showed his white teeth.

“I think we need to have a talk!”

———

Bie Han had returned.

After coming back, Bie Han and Gongsun Cha exchanged a look but didn’t say a word.

Many people speculated secretly about the silent return of Sin Battalion. But Little Miss and Bie Han did not mention a word about what Sin Battalion had gone to do.

The two biggest heads were silent, and the other people naturally did not dare to talk about this topic.

But the return of Sin Battalion meant that they were at full strength. Everyone was excited. Up until now, all of the battle plans had proceeded smoothly. However, everyone also knew that this was just the beginning. What was next was the true test because the next step was to conquer the resources jies.

Resource jies referred to those jie with great amounts of resources. They were the best part of all of Xuan Kong Temple. Due to this, there were countless eyes staring at them.

There were no tricks to taking down these resource jie. The only way was to steal from the mouth of the tiger. The upcoming battles would be hard and intense. The number of battalions they had encountered in the last few days had increased greatly.

But no one was afraid. All of them were rubbing their hands and yearning to go into battle.

The present Mo Cloud Sea was not famous but had many commanders. Other than the two top battle generals, Gongsun Cha and Bie Han, there were: Miao Jun, Shu Long, Wei Ran, A Zha Ge, Tang Fei and others that were battle generals that could control one area.

It was these people that had continued to advance that gave Gongsun Cha the confidence to plan this astounding campaign.

Behind them, Gongsun Cha’s seal formation forts were being built day and night. They were mostly caught up. This meant that they did not have to worry about the supply lines at the rear.

The conference this time was the last collective conference.

Gongsun Cha did not say much. Up until now, they had not encountered true trouble in the plans they had made. In the following battles, their forces were to be split up, and the battalions would advance on their own.

The time to test these people had arrived. Gongsun Cha had an imperceptible smile.

When he had designed this plan, he had thoughts of giving these people the chance to be independent. If they were always under his shadow, they would not be able to truly grow. For the mission this time, he had even called Ma Fan over.

The best training ground for a battle general was the battlefield. While this campaign was crucial for Mo Cloud Sea, it did not mean that they couldn’t afford to lose even one battle. Gongsun Cha also knew that this campaign would become a crucial campaign that would affect the Four Realms and even the world.

After dividing up Xuan Kong Temple, Kun Lu and Tian Huan would be unprecedentedly large. There would be a period of peace while Kun Lun and Tian Huan consolidated their power and stabilized their new territory, and enjoyed their hard won fruits of victory. Once the two titans finished digesting their meal, the days of the other factions would become hard.

Due to this, their only chance of survival was to strengthen themselves before that day came. Also, having this batch of battle generals truly mature was the crux to having Mo Cloud Sea grow strong. The present situation was not so dangerous. With him and Bie Han, they could afford to lose. When it finally came to that time when they faced the two titans, they could not afford to lose.

He only hoped that Shixiong would return soon.

Gongsun Cha gathered his thoughts and threw out coolly.

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

The commanders roared a response.

Chapter 744 – The Identity Of The Old Man

Seeing Ming Yue Ye and the yao elders leave with their tails between their legs, Zuo Mo was lost in thought and did not seem to notice them. The mo in the surroundings looked at him with awe and respect. Any person that managed to extort a top treasure, the [Death Thought Bead], from the yao elders were worthy of respect.

Ming Yue Ye had been decisive. It was worth it to trade the [Death Thought Bead] for Elder Ye, one of the Ten Yao. Elder Ye now owed her a favor, this was a good thing. Also, she had obtained a much stronger Feng Xin Zi.

As to the [Death Thought Bead], that was the public property of the Council of Elders and she did not care as it was not her personal loss. While her mission had failed this time, her individual strength had grown greatly. The most valuable gain from this trip was their experience in fighting with shen power which would be of great help in helping them perfect shen power.

Both Elder Ye and Feng Xin Zi were the ones that had benefited directly and the most. They had a deeper comprehension of shen power.

Ming Yue Ye knew that these two people were crucial and they were in her camp, and would greatly increase her status in the Council of Elders. If she could advance the yao shen power system, no one would be able to shake her position, and she was likely to ascend to the position of chief elder.

No one knew Ming Yue Ye’s thoughts. All of the yao elders had dispirited expressions. Everything they had endured today in their view was a humiliation.

A grudge had undoubtedly been created between Zuo Mo and the Yao Council of Elders. However, both Ming Yue Ye and Zuo Mo did not care too much about this.

For Ming Yue Ye, her goal was the seat of chief elder. Before she took power, she did not have any direct conflict with Xiao Mo Ge. It was the opposite. After seeing Xiao Mo Ge’s great strength, she had even thought of allying with Xiao Mo Ge.

If she had such a strong helper outside the Council of Elders, it would be beneficial for her faction. There were many rules the Council of Elders had to abide by, she was restrained. Her influence outside the Council of Elders would not be affected and there would be many convenient uses for such an ally.

Ming Yue Ye had smiled as though there had been no conflict at all as she briskly agreed to Zuo Mo’s request. Even Zuo Mo had been surprised.

However, this increased Zuo Mo’s wariness of her.

This woman was very strong!

Little Mo Ge felt that he definitely could not be like her, going from fighting in a life and death battle  in one moment to chatting with a smile the next. She was also decisive and did not hesitate once she made a decision.

While he did not like this type of person, Zuo Mo had to admire Ming Yue Ye’s strength. He also had a feeling. This woman would definitely have great power and influence in the future!

Shaking his head, Zuo Mo turned his head and laughed at himself. That had nothing to do with him.

Zuo Mo decided to ignore Ming Yue Ye’s hidden intention to establish a good relationship at the end. You had to guard against an ally like this, someone who might stab you in the back at any time.

“We also have to go.” Gu Liang Dao came over and had a hug with Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo noticed the gazes that had gathered on them. He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you want us to accompany you?”

Gu Liang Dao laughed brightly. “Haha, no need, there’s Xiao Yu, and now there is the birdman suit, it will crush anyone that comes!”

Birdman suit … …

Zuo Mo’s temple throbbed.

“I will protect Big Brother!” Shuang Yu weakly guarantee from the side.

“Alright, be careful during your travel!” Zuo Mo could only say.

‘”Don’t worry! Work hard! Us brothers will meet again in the future!” Gu Liang Dao took a wineskin from his waist and, after taking a great swallow, handed it to Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo took the wineskin and also took a deep gulp. He felt as though there was a fire burning in his chest. “Yes! Us brothers will meet in the future!”

“Haha! Xiao Yu, let’s go!” Gu Liang Dao laughed and walked out with his head up high. Shuang Yu waved at Zuo Mo and then followed closely.

The two flew out of the King’s Forbidden City.  A troop flew out of the crowd and formed a protective perimeter with them in the middle. It was Gu Liang Dao’s personal guard!

Zuo Mo’s worries were finally put to rest and then he laughed. Gu Liang Dao looked simple-minded but he was a daring and detail-minded person. How could he not have any plans?

“Everyone, the spectacle is over, you may do as you please.”

Zuo Mo glanced over the other people and then ignored them. He was preparing to go back to Cloud Sea Jie, oh, it was now called Mo Cloud Sea. He needed a safe place to have A Gui use the [Five Element Soul Dan] and the [Death Thought Bead]. The mo territories were clearly not a good place. He also needed time to go through his memories in detail. He hoped he would get back to Mo Cloud Sea in time for the fighting and see if there were any places he could help.

But before leaving, he still had some problems to resolve.

He turned to walk towards the old man in the corner. The old man did not seem to be surprised to see him coming.

“Who are you? Why did I not find you in my memories.” Zuo Mo asked directly.

The old man grinned but his gaze was cold. “Of course, how can the Zuo Family’s young master’s memories have an impression of a little person like me?”

Zuo Mo frowned. The old man’s tone showed his friendlessness.

“There is enmity between us?”

“Not really, but your grandmother exiled me,” the old man said coolly.

Zuo Mo was shocked. “Exiled?”

The old man narrowed his eyes and said humorously, “In the Zuo Family, practicing shen power is restricted. However, I had the duty of guarding the shen device, and I managed to get a few hints. A secret will never remain hidden forever. Your grandmother discovered I had learned it. I hadn’t expected the old woman’s shen power to be greater than mine. There was no way about it. But the old woman still thought of my past service, and only excited me to a desolate jie.”

Zuo Mo felt his mind was a mess. There was too much information contained in the old man’s words.

“This old man’s entire life could be said to be in the old woman’s hands. She probably knew that she didn’t have much time left back then, so she brought her to you and nurtured her to be your person. This way, this old man could not stand by and ignore what happened afterwards. She really was cunning!” the old man said coldly.

“You are A Gui’s … …” Zuo Mo’s eyes widened and he threw all his other questions to the back of his head.

“A Gui … …” The old man stilled and his eyes suddenly narrowed and flashed coldly. “She’s your ghost?”

Some memory fragments flashed across Zuo Mo’s mind. He nodded. “En.”

“The old woman really schemed well. Even in death, she does not let others rest!” The old man turned to look at A Gui with pity and guilt. His tone was filled with unfriendliness. “No wonder she is loyal to you, and turned herself into this ghastly state. My pitiful granddaughter.”

Zuo Mo’s body shook. The old man was A Gui’s grandfather!

The old man suddenly lost interest. “Let’s go and talk more on the road.”

When Zuo Mo’s group finished packing up and left Bu Zhou City, a figure carrying a sword covered in dust appeared on the horizon nearby.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed.

Eldest Shixiong!

Wei Sheng smiled as he carried his sword.

———

Liang Wei’s face was dark.

In front of him was an order telling him to stop working and reflect on his actions. The cause of this was very simple. He had captured a Kun Lun scout and managed to extract an extremely valuable piece of information. Kun Lun was busy swallowing Xuan Kong Temple, and most of the battalions on that region’s defense line had been moved towards Xuan Kong Realm except for a few.

He thought this was a rare chance and reported the situation.

Yet his report seemed to have dissolved in the ocean. Nothing came back. This was not unexpected. As the battle on the front lines was in a stalemate, he had been reassigned and was now under the banner of An Shi Corps. Corps Commander An Shi was old and experienced with a great reputation among the yao that normal corp commanders could not rival.

Theoretically, this was not a disservice to him. However Corp Commander An Shi favoured defensive tactics over offensive ones and seemed overly conservative to Liang Wei. No matter what kind of battle plan he suggested, they were never accepted.

Without fighting, Liang Wei’s days passed as though they were years. Corp Commander An Shi was dissatisfied with his restlessness, and moved him to a position of no real power. If he hadn’t had an accomplished record of service, he would probably have been kicked out already.

Unwilling to waste his days, Liang Wei lead a few guards and sneaked into the front lines alone to act as scouts. The secret was hard to keep, especially after Liang Wei had suggested attacking to Corp Commander An Shi based on the gathered intel. The anger of Corp Commander An Shi could be imagined.

So the order to be relieved of his duties and reflect appeared in front of him.

Feeling depressed, Liang Wei rang into the Ten Finger Prison and wanted to vent himself through war chess. With his skill level, he naturally won in war chess.

He quickly found himself bored.

Coming out of war chess, he dazedly roamed about. He suddenly saw someone familiar and he became alert. “A Xiao!”

The person who had a hurried expression immediately stopped. When he saw Liang Wei, a smile bloomed on his face. “Wei Wei! Long time no see. Hm, aren’t you at the front lines, how come you have the time to come to the Ten Finger Prison?”

Hearing the slightly feminine name “Wei Wei,” Liang Wei felt slightly helpless but also warm. A Xiao was a good friend of his from the yao art house but unlike him who entered the military, A Xiao’s marks were not good enough to enter the military.

“Don’t mention it. I did something wrong. I’ve been relieved of my duties and ordered to reflect,” Liang Wei said, pretending to be unconcerned.

A Xiao’s expression was surprised. Liang Wei had been outstanding in the yao art house and been tasked with great responsibility after entering the military corps. His achievements from last time had been broadcast far and wide and he had been called the next upcoming star of the yao.

Why was he relieved of his duties and ordered to reflect?

But A Xiao perceptively did not press. He smiled and said, “Haha, then relax. Come with me to a place.”

Liang Wei who had nothing to do naturally agreed.

The two quickly came to a place with a sign “Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals.”

“What place is this? A battle general club?” Liang Wei looked around curiously.

“You’ll know when you go in.” A Xiao kept it a secret.

They saw several people along the way, but there wasn’t even one silver battle general. Liang Wei felt dismissive of this establishment. This was probably another place for low level battle generals to boast.

“Do you want to become a top battle general? Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals will give you the wings to fly!”

“There will be a famed teacher every week, simulations every day. As long as you persist, you can become a battle general!”

Liang Wei’s disdain grew with the ads. This was the advertising of those training courses that were used to defraud people of money. A Xiao would actually believe something like this.

He was just about to speak when he suddenly saw a phrase out of the corner of his eye. He stopped walking, and lightning seemed to explode in his mind.

“Battle is changing, have you detected it?”

Chapter 745 – New Era!

In this turbulent era, the changes of the world were so rapid they dazzled the eyes. In the span of a night, the world had completely changed.

In this period of time, some major events had occurred.

What was most attention-catching was the division of Xuan Kong Temple’s territory. Countless factions leapt towards them like hungry wolves. The ones that benefited the most were Kun Lun and Tian Huan. The two’s power grew enormously and they became two titans that were so large it was frightening.

The mo territories filled with its heroes entered an era of consolidation. In the Hundred Savage Realm, the Mo Shen Temple was the strongest, then it was the Mo Marshal Alliance led by Marshal Di, and the Heroes Alliance led by Marshal Hao.

In the distant and remote Nether Realm, the first king of the Nether Realm came to power– the Nether King, this shook all of the mo territories! The birth of the Nether King attracted the eyes of the entire world. This meant that the mo now had a faction that could rival Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and the yao.

Compared to the xiuzhe world and the mo territories, the yao were much quieter. Ming Yue Ye entered the highest power ranks of the Council of Elders, becoming the Thirteen Seat Inner Council, and became the youngest inner council elder in history. Already famous, Ming Yue Ye’s prestige reached a whole new level.

Other than this, Gu Liang Dao’s strength grew enormously after he obtained the [Angel Device Raiment]. His strongest expert, Shuang Yu, became famous after killing three mo marshals in a single battle. Many of the people under Gu Liang Dao’s command were unknown before, but the other factions now lusted for them.

Under the talented Xiao who started as an accountant, the development of Gu Liang Dao’s territory was fierce.

Gu Liang Dao, Shuang Yu, Xiao, these three disciples came from Xi Xuan. Their light was enough to make all of Xi Xuan seem dim in comparison. They had the name of the Xi Xuan’s Talented Trio. Of course, Xi Xuan would never admit to this.

Other than this, there was one other faction that attracted attention from different powers: Mo Cloud Sea.

Mo Cloud Sea’s growth had also been fueled by Xuan Kong Temple’s downfall.

In a military blitz, Mo Cloud Sea had quickly taken fifty six jie in just six months. In the six months, they had defeated and forced back dozens of surrounding powers, defeating hundreds of battalions, including two from Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

Such a domineering and fierce power immediately caused the neighboring powers to fear it.

Just as everyone thought that another great power would take form, unexpected, after swallowing the fifty six jie, Mo Cloud Sea stopped expanding without any warning.

At this time, no one had the time to think about this.

The collapse of Xuan Kong Temple was an unparalleled feast. Its enormous size and richness of resources was definitely among the top of the factions who had collapsed in the last few thousand years. The fifty six jie was just a small piece of this great and grand banquet.

The eyes of the factions were on the territories that had not yet been divided.

The one that fought the hardest was Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and the last remaining nine great dhyana sects of the ten great dhyana sects. The powerful Kun Lun and Tian Huan took about one-fifth of Xuan Kong Temple each, the nine great dhyana sects took two-fifths of Xuan Kong Temple, and the last fifth had been split by the other powers.

The great Xuan Kong Temple that had once been one of the four great sects crushed and existed only in the records.

When this banquet gradually came to an end and people started to calculate their spoils, they found to their shock that the fifty six jie that Mo Cloud Sea took over made up some of the best parts of Xuan Kong Temple’s territories.

Numerous factions wanted to move against Mo Cloud Sea. The factions that had been defeated did not dare, but other factions that thought they were strong enough were deeply tempted by the fifty six resource jies.

But when the battalions reached the fifty six jie they found, to their shock, that densely arrayed jinzhi forts had been built up at some unknown time. The layers of densely arranged jinzhi gave off blinding light that caused those to look to feel their scalp prickle and to inhale sharply.

Everyone was shocked by Mo Cloud Sea’s wealth, manpower, and resources. They could not understand how they were able to set up such perfect jinzhi forts in such a short amount of time. They scouted around to probe, and could not find a weak point.

There were more experienced battle generals that spent a lot of time to investigate all the jinzhi on the borders. When they mapped out the positions of the forts, they found that these jinzhi forts connected together in a strong defensive formation.

The jinzhi forts were not simply to designed to guard the jie rivers. They connected to each other and were placed in a carefully planned and orderly fashion. The complexity almost surpassed a person’s imagination. The forts formed layers of defenses that were so exquisitely planned that any factions that attacked it would become off bloody. Mo Cloud sea only needed to use a small number of battalions and the defense line would be stable.

If the enemy wanted to attack, there was no other methods than attacking the forts one by one.

The other’s expansion plan had been planned in great detail! Those that paid attention read a strong desire to expand into the surrounding territories using this defense line.

However, what truly caused people to pay attention to Mo Cloud Sea was the return of Gongye Xiao Rong. When Gongye Xiao Rong returned to Tian Huan with the remnants of his battalion, with not even nine hundred people left, all of Tian Huan was overjoyed.

People quickly learned that Gongye Xiao Rong had been defeated by Gongsun Cha. Gongsun Cha’s reputation moved up a level.

As people paid attention, the secret that the master of Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo, was Xiao Mo Ge also floated up. The other top level battle general, Bie Han, also started appearing.

Thinking about the two top battle generals holding the forts, no one dared to target them.

Even Kun Lun and Tian Hun didn’t dare to move rashly, much less the other factions.

The battle to divide Xuan Kong Temple raged for two years before finally ending. There were many riddles in this time. The biggest riddle was the disappearance of Xuan Kong Temple’s Sutra Library and the Dhyana Treasure Pavilion.

When the invading factions, with Kun Lun in the lead, hurriedly got to the main peak of Xuan Kong Temple, they found that someone else had gotten their first. Xuan Kong Temple’s main peak was a sea of flames, the Sutra Library and the Dhyana Treasure Pavilion completely cleaned out.

The news shocked the world.

The Sutra Library collected all of the spells of Xuan Kong Temple. The Dhyana Treasure Pavilion contained all the treasures that a thousand generations had gathered. If Xuan Kong Temple was a feast, then the Sutra Library and the Dhynana Treasure Pavilion was the main course.

All of the factions that participated in the invasion were enraged. But even after many years, they hadn’t found any clues.

The thieves seemed to have disappeared and not left behind one clue. Many masters skilled in divination tried to search but there was nothing obtained. The thieves had been skilled and used a special method to disguise everyone.

The xiuzhe world, the mo territories, and the yao, the entire world entered a temporary period of fragile peace.

———

The world situation was maintained for five years.

For Mo Cloud Sea, these five years were crucial, especially for development of shen methodologies.

Five years ago, shen power was a mysterious and distant thing for the average person, a field that only the top factions could touch. But right now, after five years of development, all kinds of shen power appeared like bamboo after a rain.

The most famous were the Kun Lun’s Shen Power, the Tian Huan’s Shen Glyphs. Xi Xuan had the Five Element Shen power, but the consensus was that the purer five element shen power was the reverse five element shen power created by Shuang Yu under Gu Liang Dao. This reinforced the belief that Xi Xuan’s power and influence was in decline.

The nine great dhyana sects had many dhyana heart shen power, and dhyana thought shen power. There were many kinds, but not having inherited Xuan Kong Temple’s scripture as well as the shen power they had created, these nine factions had not developed a shen method that could rank at the top shen powers.

Among the top shen powers in the xiuzhe world, Mo Cloud Sea’s Mo Cloud shen power was the most attention-catching.

Unlike the other shen powers, Mo Cloud shen power was unique in cultivating with the three powers as the fundamentals. Of course, the reason for this was the master of Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo.

The rumors among the common people was that Lin Qian had comprehended Kun Lun shen power after a fight against Zuo Mo.

Due to this, the other factions put a great focus on spying on Mo Cloud Sea and investigating their shen power. Many factions that had mastered shen power hoped to use their findings to breakthrough. Even though Zuo Mo and the others had thought of many ways to stop the shen methodology from being leaked, but the most fundamental shen methodology was still inevitably leaked in the end. With such large-scale practice, it was difficult to prevent the spread of the basic shen methodology.

But the people who got the Mo Cloud shen power method quickly found that, compared to the other powers, Mo Cloud shen power was the hardest to cultivate. It required cultivating all three powers and meant that the amount of time one had to spend was at least three times.

People quickly lost interest in Mo Cloud shen power. They turned their attention to the shen powers that had originated from ling power. They were more familiar with ling power and the shen power used  ling power as the base was more fitting to their needs. No matter how good the Mo Cloud shen power was, they could only use it as an example.

The fundament shen methodology of Kun Lun and Tian Huan spread. These basic methods were not enough for people to actually reach shen power but it was of great inspiration to other sects. It allowed them to understand which direction they should develop in. The path that Kun Lun and Tian Huan tread on was what they needed.

Reality proved that not all genius were in the major sects.

All the talents of the major sects secluded themselves to create their own sect’s shen power.

In this period of time, all kinds of shen power had been created. The great majority of them couldn’t even reach the third rank, but there were shen powers that were unique among them.

For everyone, shen power was no longer going to be a term that was mysterious, unknown and distant.

As shen power continued to develop, the difference between the major sects quickly grew smaller. The xiuzhe world seemed to recover to a new equilibrium. However, some sects continued to struggle and many sects managed to capitalize on this opportunity.

There would be a new shen power being created every day. The shen power system of the xiuzhe world was being enriched and perfected. It was an exciting and vibrant era filled with life.

People enthusiastically created, cultivated shen power. Everyone was filled with curiosity and anticipation towards this completely new power.

This was a blooming era, this was an energetic era, this was an era where a hundred flowers bloomed, this was an era where opportunity and danger coexisted, this was an era of geniuses.

This was a completely new era.

The era of shen power.

Chapter 746 – Shen Device

In this five year period, Mo Cloud Sea did not expand.

The jinzhi defense line completely separated Mo Cloud Sea from the outside world. This isolationist stance caused Mo Cloud Sea to seem even more mysterious in the eyes of other factions.

There were only a rare few that knew how much Mo Cloud Sea had developed.

The fighting to divide Xuan Kong Temple had continued for two years, but for Mo Cloud Sea, it had only been six months. Adding on the five years period of peace, the Mo Cloud Sea had was six years and six months of peace, one year and six months more than the other powers.

In this six years and six months of time, Mo Cloud Sea developed at an astounding rate each day.

From a long time ago, Zuo Mo had given the shen methodology to the core members of Mo Cloud Sea. Mo Cloud Sea had started developing in this area many years earlier than everyone else.

According to the knowledge that Zuo Mo supplied, the Mo Cloud Shen Methodology that all of Mo Cloud Sea helped developed was already very mature. Mo Cloud Sea drew inspiration from Zuo Mo’s sun shen methodology, the Greenvine shen methodology, the Mist shen methodology, and the Undying shen methodology that came from the Undying Shen Punishment.

While one still needed to cultivate the three powers, but Mo Cloud Sea which possessed the Pu Wei Library quickly found suitable methods from the yao and mo powers.

Unlike big sects like Kun Lun and Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea didn’t have any fanxu. This past weakness now became a great advantage.

Other than this, the seal inscriptions of Golden Crow Camp developed far beyond what the outer world imagined. Other than the inscription of shen glyphs which was still immature, they had developed the inscription of mo matrices, yao cores, and seal scripts. They even created a completely new cultivation method that merged inscribing and Mo Cloud Sea’s shen methodology.

They even used this to create two new terrifying battalions, the new Guard Camp and Sin Battalion.

However, the accomplishments of Golden Crow Camp were not limited to just this. Even Zuo Mo, the person who had founded Golden Crow Camp, had never thought that Golden Crow Camp would develop to such a level.

The present Golden Crow Cloud Island was heavily guarded. Large and vicious cloud steeds flew through the clouds and continued to land on the cloud island.

Having obtained all kinds of secret husbandry methods from the three races, Chun Yu Cheng continued to breed, research, nurture, and spend. He finally bred a completely new powerful species that was unlike mo steeds, ling beasts, or yao beasts. In the end, he named them cloud steeds.

The cloud steeds had something very unique, they had three beast cores inside their bodies and they possessed the three powers. However, because the numbers were limited, only the core members of Mo Cloud Sea possessed them. In Mo Cloud Sea, cloud steeds were a symbol of status.

It was rare for so many important people to appear at the same time at Golden Crow Cloud island. The disciples on the island were restless but no one dared to ask questions. On Golden Crow Cloud Island, there were too many things to keep secret.

All the upper levels of Mo Cloud Sea, without exception, had come.

Under the guidance of the two masters, they disappeared into the jinzhi.

———

Inside the jinzhi, everyone’s gazes were attracted by two suits of armor. The two sets of armor silently floated in front of them, one as bright as fire, the other silver white like frost.

The two masters wore an expression of pride. Master Sun Boa’s tone was cool but filled with strong confidence. “These are two sets of shen device raiments.”

Shen device raiments!

Boom!

The crowd exploded. No one had thought that Golden Crow Camp were already able to forge shen device raiments!

It had been seven whole years since Zuo Mo had forged the [Angel Device Raiment]. In these seven years, so much had changed. This included shen devices. One year ago, Kun Lun was the first to announce the creation of the first shen device, [Capable Person]. In the next month, Tian Huan also announced Tian Huan’s first shen device called the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]. Then Xi Xuan announced the existence of [Floating Li Fire].

However, almost all of the shen devices used Zuo Mo’s naming pattern, raiment. And almost all of the shen devices had been formed into armor. Even Kun Lun who was famous for its swords were not an exception. This was became they found that this structure, which covered the entire body, could use shen power to its greatest effect and was helpful in controlling shen power.

Everyone had been waiting for Zuo Mo to forge a new shen device. No one had expected Golden Crow Camp to be the first to forge them.

“Actually, we had considered forging shen devices a long time ago because we have the most complete information on the method. We had initial thoughts but we quickly faced a problem, what kind of shen device to forge. Then we asked Daren for his opinion, and Daren suggested for us to forge battle general shen device raiments!”

“Battle general shen device raiments … …”

This answer had been unexpected by all. Gongsun Cha and Bie Han’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Zuo Mo spoke at this time, “Yes, there is one important reason that we have been able to get to where we are, it is because we possess two top battle generals. So we first forged battle general shen devices. Shen power is continuing to level up. From the beginning where only a few cultivated it to now where everyone is cultivating it. Future battalions will be comprised of soldiers that cultivate shen power and what will change is the method of battle. We will only truly be ahead of the others if we are the most advanced in this area.”

Everyone had thoughtful expression. Many people nodded inwardly, especially the battle generals. They felt this even more directly and deeper.

“The silver one is Gongsun Daren’s raiment, it is called [City Destroyer].”

倾城 literally means destroyer of cities but it is usually used as a descriptor of female beauty, as a beauty that can “destroy cities and countries.”

Gongsun Cha’s smile froze on his face. The other people covered their mouths, their facial muscles furiously trembling as they forced themselves to not laugh out loud.

Afraid of being blamed, Master Sun Bao hurriedly added, “Daren personally named it.”

Zuo Mo’s smile froze. He swore at Sun Bao inside, piling a smile on his face. “Shidi, this is a good omen. One smile to destroy cities, in the span of one smile, take down a city, how great is that! Actually … … if it wasn’t … … I feel that one smile to destroy a jie is even better. In one smile, destroy a jie … … hahaha … …”

When he got to the end, Zuo Mo pretended to be cheerful and laughed. The expressions of the other people became even more pained, Their faces under their hands became even more twisted. If they offended Lil’ Miss Daren, then their future days would be dark!

Gongsun Cha smiled slightly and said unaffectedly, “This name is good!”

It was over, he had offended Gongsun Shidi … …

Zuo Mo wiped away the sweat on his brow.

Master Ji Wei quickly changed the topic, “Bie Han Daren’s set is called [Arsonist].”

Bie Han expressionlessly glanced at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo’s hair stood up.

Bie Han gritted his teeth inside. Of course he knew the Daren meant. It referred to the fire that he had set on Xuan Kong Temple’s main peak. Thinking about how he had been kidnapped, sold himself to Daren, and how he had once said to Daren that he was going to set a fire to burn down Xuan Kong Temple, Bie Han felt the past him was so stupid.

Other than Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha, no one else knew that Bie Han had set a fire to burn down Xuan Kong Temple’s main peak.

The other people praised the name [Arsonist]. While Bie Han was cold and reclusive, his fighting style was as a raging fire as he destroyed all those in his way. The name Arsonist matched that.

“The name isn’t bad.” Bie Han was expressionless and his tone was icy.

The two masters wiped away cold sweat. They had wondered for a long time about the two names. If Daren hadn’t personally named them, they definitely would not have agreed.

“Cough!” Zuo Mo pretended to be composed and concluded, “I hope everyone will cooperate with Gongsun Cha Daren and Bie Han Daren to find a new battle method and master it.”

Gongsun Cha had a small smile. Bie Han was expressionless.

The battle generals felt their scalps prickle. Many people had expressions of wanting to cry. Why was it that Daren was the one that made trouble, but they were the ones to pay for it … … why … …

After saying this, Zuo Mo raced off.

———

Deep in the night, the stars filled the sky.

Zuo Mo was reclining on the rooftop with a bottle of wine beside him. He was leaning on his arm as he stared out in a daze at the stars. A Gui was silently sitting next to him and didn’t look any different from seven years ago.

Zuo Mo knew how great the changes of the seven years had been. The entire world was completely different.

The two shen devices today had stirred some of his memories. It was a very rare that anyone knew that the first true shen device after the end of the ancient era was not Kun Lun’s [Capable Person] but an unknown [Ghost].

That had been forged by his deceased father.

This shen device was also one of the fuses that led to the destruction of the Zuo family.

The four sects that had come divided up [Ghost]. This became one of their important articles of study. They determinedly believed that they could find the crux of shen power from it, because before Father had forged [Ghost], no one in the Zuo Family had cultivated shen power.

There was a lot of information in Zuo Mo’s memory fragments that had been obtained from his father’s secret rooms. For example, he knew that his mother had once been Father’s ghost, and this was one of the reasons that Grandmother had not liked Mother.

The death of his parents was a riddle. Even his grandmother had never mentioned it.

He only knew that [Ghost] had always been kept at home even though he had never seen it. The old man who had been guarding it comprehended shen power and been exiled to a desolate ejie. In reality, other than the old man, there had been another person who had also comprehended shen power from it, his grandmother.

While Grandmother had been alive, no one dared to come and make trouble. The only one able to exile a shen power expert could only be another shen power expert.

The matters of his father and mother were very distant, so distant that he could only find some sparse words from those shattered memories. But he knew that Father had forged [Ghost] for Mother.

It was probably because Father understood that one needed power to protect the people and things he held precious.

In these years, Zuo Mo had not stopped cultivating. He knew that he would only be able to protect everything he treasured if he became more powerful.

He looked warmly at A Gui.

There was the entire Mo Cloud Sea, and everyone that needed his protection.

Maybe some people were filled with unrealistic illusions about the future but Zuo Mo knew when the peace ended, it meant an even more desperate era.

But he did not fear it.

Chapter 747 – The Last Straw

The stairs stretched deep down as though there was no end into the darkness. The walls on all sides were engraved with all kinds of seal scripts. Some had already started to crumble. It was clear that they were ancient.

Flying down along the stone stairs, they had been moving for more than four hours but still could not see the end of the stairs.

“Sect Leader … …” the elder at the front murmured anxiously. It was unusually clear in the deathly silence and caused everyone else to jump in fright. Some of the less courageous elders changed expressions minutely and showed slight terror.

“What?” the sect leader did not stop. A hint of disdain floated at the corner of his lips. “You’re afraid?”

The elders were silent. No one made a sound.

“There’s no way around it even if you are afraid. Do you know what the outside says about us? Ha, us Xi Xuan are the second Xuan Kong Temple. The Xi Xuan Trio, tsk tsk, but none of them are in Xi Xuan. The outside says that I am useless, that is right. However, you all know the situation of the sect better than anyone. Who forced Gu Liang Dao into a corner? I said we needed to win over Shuang Yu. Hmph, the result? No one would bear to spit out some meat.”

The sect leader’s cold and sharp words echoed in the passageway. The elders faces turned black and white, no one made a sound.

“The battalions are in your hands. The battle generals are all your sons and nephews. Ha, that’s nothing. I understand letting those close to you get the benefits. But please, pick ones with some talent. Tsk tsk, in one month three battalions were defeated. No wonder other people say we are the second Xuan Kong Temple!”

“We did not receive any information beforehand … …” an elder argued.

“So people have to first notify you before attacking you?” The sect leader smiled coldly. “Look at what factions have defeated us, small factions without any fame. You are all masters at inner conflict. Tsk tsk, if you had half that skill when fighting against the outside, our sect should have conquered the four realms a long time ago.”

Embarrassment and anger mixed on the elder’s faces.

Inside the passageway, they flew for three days and three nights. Tiredness came onto the faces of the sect leader and the elders.

At the end of the stone stairs was a copper door.

“Stand guard outside,” the sect leader said coldly. All the other elders released a breath and nodded. Their expressions when they looked at the copper doors were filled with terror and respect.

The sect leader inhaled, pushed open the door and disappeared inside.

———

“Uncle Zhong, for my father’s sake, please help this nephew this once.” The sect leader’s tone was low, his body bowed as he said sorrowfully, “We were defeated three times in a month, Xi Xuan’s weakness has been exposed. The surrounding factions are looking to make a move. I have investigated our battalions, they are rotten to the core. In this enormous Xi Xuan, there is no battalion that can fight!”

The large man in front of him had an indifferent expression.

The large man sat on the chair. His body was brawny like a tower of metal. Just sitting there, he gave people a strong suffocating pressure. His short hair stood up straight like wires, but was almost completely white. Scars criss-crossed horrifically on his face. His grey pupils did not hold any emotion. Any exposed part of his body was covered in a dense mat of scars that were startling to see.

There were two males standing on either side of the large man. Both of these men were also covered in scars.

“I have already repaid your father’s favor,” the large man said coolly, “I need to guard the Fiend Abyss Jail, find someone else.”

Bam.

The sect leader suddenly knelt on the ground and started to cry. “Uncle Zhong, Xi Xuan is in danger, please, save Xi Xuan! If you do not act, Xi Xuan will be destroyed! Uncle Zhong, if you are willing to come out, this nephew is willing to give up the position of sect leader.”

The large male was indifferent and unaffected. “See the guests out.”

The two men standing solemnly next to him suddenly released a sea of murderousness that hit the sect leader like a tsunami.

The sect leader’s body shook. He resisted the bone-piercing murderousness, and suddenly stopped crying. He gritted his teeth and said, “If Uncle Zhong is willing to come out of the mountain, this nephew is willing to construct the Tomb of Yun Ji!”

Boom!

The sect leader felt as though he was hit with a great hammer, flying out into the air dozens of zhang.

The large man’s grey eyes were bloodshot. For the first time, his face changed.

The sect leader ignored the blood dripping from his mouth and struggled to climb up. “Yun Ji’s contribution to our Xi Xuan is great. When the Tomb of Yun Ji is finished, I will announce as the sect leader for the core disciples and all the elders to come and mourn!”

“Your father told you this story before he died.” The large man became indifferent again.

The sect leader’s face paled. He was shocked. He hadn’t thought that Uncle Zhong had been able to guess this.

“So he knew before that Yun Ji was innocent,” the large man said to himself. His voice was desolate. “I asked to guard the Fiend Abyss Jail. Fifty years, I hadn’t thought that father and son have continued to scheme against me.”

The sect leader’s expression was ashen.

“Where are her bones?” the large man suddenly asked.

The sect leader felt that Uncle Zhong’s gaze was like a pair of pincers that held him. He was almost unable to breathe and unconsciously said, “In … … a secret room. Father had made an altar to her.”

The pressure on him eased. He collapsed on the ground and panted, looking in terror at Uncle Zhong.

A moment later, the large man suddenly said, “I will agree.”

The sect leader stilled and was overjoyed. “Many thanks, Uncle Zhong, many thanks, Uncle Zhong!”

“The Tomb of Yun Ji must be built within two years.”

The large man suddenly looked sardonically at the sect leader. The scar-covered face became unspeakably strange and terrifying. “No matter how much your father schemed, he could not have expected that I only have three years left to live.”

The sect leader was stunned.

———

Zuo Mo was extremely busy. He increasingly felt that he needed a skilled manager. Right now, the main steward of Mo Cloud Sea was A Ming, a local of Cloud Sea Jie that Bao Yi had recommended. Bao Yi had been a small time blackmarket dealer from Little Mountain Jie. He had felt the great pressure once Mo Cloud Sea expanded, his hair almost turning white. He coincidentally found that A Ming had good talent and promoted him. Later, A Ming had became the main steward.

Bao Yi went back to guarding the resource stores, and his days were easy now.

Cloud Sea Jie was organized under A Ming’s management yet the present Mo Cloud Sea was multiple times larger than back then. A Ming was struggling.

The present Mo Cloud Sea was sixty nine jie in size, including the three jie under the rule of Rare Artifact Hall.,

This included a great number of resource jie. The complex flow of materials, battalion supplies, and searches for talent were complex.

After Zuo Mo had returned, A Ming immediately sighed in relief. There were some decisions he did not dare make on his own.

For example, the problem of production. Golden Crow Camp possessed a great ability to produce and was the greatest source of income for Mo Cloud Sea. What to produce was undoubtedly the greatest question, especially in this era of turbulence and rapid change. Other than Zuo Mo, no one dared to make the decision.

Problems like this were all left to Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo had a hard time.

He desperately desired an outstanding manager. At this time, he realized that an outstanding manager’s value was no less than a top battle general. He was jealous of Gu Liang Dao. While Xiao had no offensive abilities, but he was talented at management. Gu Liang Dao did not have to worry about any of this and could focus on training his troops and fighting.

A Ming was talented, but lacking greatly compared to Xiao.

“Management talent?” Pu Yao also frowned. “This kind of skill is not easy to find and recruit.”

“Think of a way! By any means necessary! At any price!” Zuo Mo bared his teeth.

“En, I will pay attention.” Pu Yao nodded.

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, “How about your Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals? How is that going?”

Pu Yao’s expression was smug. “There are some good seeds.”

Zuo Mo was even more interested. Those that Pu Yao said were good probably had great talent. He immediately had a drooling expression. “How about it? Can you pull them over? I can make a few battalions for them to play with!”

With Mo Cloud Sea’s present wealth, Zuo Mo had enough assets to say something like this.

“I have other arrangements.” Pu Yao unhesitatingly refused Zuo Mo’s suggestion.

“You are not good like this … …” Zuo Mo pressed.

Pu Yao glanced at him. “I heard that there a few good ones from the battle general school. One should not bite off more than they can swallow. Good battle generals do not come from being taught, but through fighting.”

Zuo Mo smiled weakly. He knew that Pu Yao was right. His greed had just came up. Fortunately, his face was thick, and this was just a usual matter.

“Lend Nan Yue and the others for me to use for a time,” Pu Yao said.

Zuo Mo modded. “Alright.”

If Pu Yao spoke so formally, then it meant it was a serious matter. If it was something devious, this guy wouldn’t make a sound.

Looking at Wei who was in a meditative state, Zuo Mo asked Pu Yao, “When will Wei wake up?”

“I don’t know.” Pu Yao shook his head. “He needs time to adjust to the changes in your shen power. You really are a freak, your shen power has advanced too quickly!”

Pu Yao was shocked by Zuo Mo’s improvement rate. In seven years, Zuo Mo had always maintained an astounding rate of progress which had not shown any signs of slowing down.

Zuo Mo nodded. “Have you seen those people from Kun Lun? If I’m any slower, I will just be able to eat the ashes when it is over.”

Pu Yao was silent.

While he had fought countless times against Kun Lun in the thousand year war, yet Kun Lun, after such a long time of peace, was still working to advance. Even an enemy like Pu Yao had to admire the present Kun Lun.

In these seven years, the ones that were fighting on the front lines were all elders.

In these seven years, the number of Kun Lun elders that died surpassed the last three hundred years added together. Of the Kun Lun elders, there were less than one third left.

The sacrifices of their fathers, masters, and elders moved the genius youth of Kun Lun. They didn’t need supervision or additional motivation. They furiously and silently cultivated day and night, without rest and regard for their lives.

The sacrifice of two thirds of the elders over seven years finally showed their astounding power.

A large group of young yet powerful youths started to appear out of Kun Lun. These youths that grew up in the time that the elders traded their blood for were filled with a sense of responsibility. They were unprecedented in their unity. They possessed astounding self-control. They were like their elders, not afraid of sacrifice.

This kind of Kun Lun made people feel terror, made the entire world feel terror.

Even Zuo Mo felt the pressure from Kun Lun.

Suddenly, a paper crane flew over.

Zuo Mo’s expression turned serious. He opened the paper crane.

“Xi Xuan’s famous general Zhong De has come back out. He led the Abyss Jail Battalion and blood washed the Central Plains. Thirteen Xi Xuan elders were executed, their bodies left exposed to the elements for ten days. He killed more than seven thousand people, the blood flowing in rivers!”

Refers to the Taoist/Buddhist practice of keeping a small family altar to make offerings to deceased family members. Sometimes referred to as a hall of ancestors in other novels. Here, even though it is suggested Yun Ji was betrayed and publicly humiliated by her uncle and cousin after her death, the sect leader and his father still have a secret altar to give Yun Ji offerings in the afterlife.

Chapter 748 – The Beginning Of Expansion

The re-appearance of Zhong De was akin to an earthquake for all of the Four Realms.

To the young people, this name was unfamiliar. But for those older, they all changed expression when they spoke of him. When people found the life history of this old general from the records, their hearts shook, they stopped breathing, and their lips tasted the thick tang of blood. The heart-shaking battle campaigns, even after fifty years of dust, still caused people’s hearts to beat frantically.

The first thing that Zhong De did after returning was to make a great cleansing of Xi Xuan. He killed so many of the upper ranks that it had never happened before in the history of the Four Realms.

Xi Xuan was dyed in blood, and the central region of Xi Xuan, the Central Plains, was soaked in blood.

Countless Xi Xuan battle generals heard of this, and hurriedly fled in the night.

The outside world learned later that in the span of a short moth, the commanders of thirty nine battalions had disappeared. And in the unprecedented cleansing process, the true number of people from Xi Xuan that were executed was thirty thousand, and not seven thousand as previously believed.

Under Zhong De’s iron fist, not even one rebellion occurred.

Soon, Zhong De whose hands were covered in blood once again showed the world his cruel and vicious style. He did not wait for the sect to finish reorganizing, did not care about the instability of the sect. He suddenly led the Abyss Prison Battalion to appear on the borders of Xi Xuan.

In a lightning fast campaign, he destroyed three factions.

This was a retaliation. The three factions destroyed were the three factions that had recently defeated Xi Xuan’s battalions.

This seemingly normal retaliatory action shocked the world again-

-because the cities were massacred!

Even though fighting had occurred for so many years, massacring everyone was rare, even in battles between the xiuzhe and yaomo.

The seventeen cities of the three jie became a desolate land.

Such cruel actions caused condemnation from the rest of the Four Realms. Crowds of people were furious. They called him cruel, blood-thirsty, savage, and emotionless, butcher and all sorts of other words to describe the old general. But no matter how they criticized, no battalion dared to advance on Xi Xuan. The people were filled with deep terror and fear of this inhuman battle general.

When enough blood had been split, there naturally would be peace.

These became famed words spoken by Zhong De.

All of Xi Xuan trembled. The factions surrounding Xi Xuan trembled.

No one dared to say that Xi Xuan was the second Xuan Kong Temple. Even people who hated Xi Xuan had to admit that Xi Xuan’s rise could not be stopped. Even if its rise was by struggling up from the mud and mired in blood.

Sweeping away its decline, Xi Xuan was at peace again.

However, after five years at rest, the major sects that had focused on their own development had now finished their preparations to fight again.

This time, Kun Lun moved first.

———

Kun Lun had begun to move.

Zuo Mo’s expression was grave. In front of him, everyone else was grave as well. They knew that one day, Kun Lun would become an enemy they had to face. The indescribable pressure of Kun Lun always was a stone weighing on their minds.

“Our present holdings are sixty nine jie,” Gongsun Cha said calmly. “After digesting Xuan Kong Temple, Kun Lun’s dominion is about one thousand and three hundred jie; Tian Huan holds one thousand and one hundred jie; Xi Xuan has not developed much and holds about eight hundred jie; the nine great dhynana sects hold about six hundred jie; Gu Liang Dao’s faction controls one hundred and forty two jie. These are the public numbers and the numbers of those jie controlled secretly are hard to calculate. Also, each faction have always been working to take the surround factions to strengthen themselves. If we face them now, we have no chance of victory. What is fortunate is that between us and Kun Kun there are the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, Tian Huan, and Xi Xuan. While Mo Cloud Sea is slightly remote, there are no strong enemies around, this is our advantage.

The jie map on the wall clearly showed Mo Cloud Sea’s boundaries. Of the entire Four realms, it was a tiny piece.

While everyone was familiar with these numbers, they still inhaled sharply. The enormity of Kun Lun and Tian Huan was suffocating.

He Ming stood up and then said, “In the past few years, our strength has grown quickly. Abundant resources in addition to our great production abilities, as well as our mature trade channels. Our wealth accumulation has been good. The front line battalions have all completely been refitted with the new [Mo Cloud System] shen equipment. It is one of the top battalion shen raiments on the market and the inventory we have is satisfactory.”

When he spoke of this, the battle generals present nodded and were full of confidence.

This was true. While Mo Cloud Sea was not large at present, but its equipment was among the best of the world. As shen power developed, talismans had gradually left the world’s stage to be replaced by shen equipment.

Shen equipment was the lesser version of shen devices. It was not as powerful as shen device raiments but it did not strain the user as much as shen device raiments did. Most importantly, it was not as expensive to create as shen device raiments.

Mo Cloud Sea’s [Mo Cloud System] shen equipment had always been one of the outstanding shen equipment on the market. Together with [Kun Lun System] and [Tian Huan System] it was ranked as the top tier and collectively were called the three great shen equipment. Even Xi Xuan’s [Xi Xuan System] and the nine great dhyana sect’s [Dhyana System] were on a lower level.

The level of the shen equipment required understanding of shen power, skill in forging, and rich resources.

In the short term, no one would be able to shake the status of the three great systems.

In reality, while Mo Cloud Sea’s territory was not large, there were rarely people who would think of them as a small local power. They produced top level shen equipment, had two top battle generals, they did not have a large territory but had abundant resources. No one dared to look down at them. Inside Mo Cloud Sea were strong beings that were full of confidence and didn’t know what fear was.

Everyone turned to look at Zuo Mo. No matter if it was Gongsun Cha’s analysis or He Ming’s words, the one who would make the final decision would be Zuo Mo.

“We need to expand.”

When Zuo Mo spoke, everyone became energized, especially the battle generals. They had fought in the past with Lil’ Miss, and felt rusty after being inactive for so many years.

In truth, everyone knew that in the present situation, expansion was their only option.

While Mo Cloud Sea looked as steady as a rock, that was because there was the Nine Great Dhyana Sects in the between them and their enemies. If they waited for Kun Lun and Tian Huan to grow bigger, when the time arrived, they wouldn’t even be able to protect themselves. While the jinzhi defense line was strong, but if Kun Lun and Tian Huan disregarded the  loss of life, it would not be difficult to overcome.

Mo Cloud Sea could rival them in elite battalions, but was lacking greatly in normal battalions. Just a battle of numbers was enough to destroy Mo Cloud Sea several times over.

Only by expanding Mo Cloud Sea and strengthening itself, could they possess the power to fight back.

Maybe other people were willing to submit to the other powers, but for the core members of Mo Cloud Sea, this was definitely impossible. The first to disagree would be Zuo Mo. He had great grudges to settle with Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and Xi Xuan. He was fated to only have the path of fighting to the end.

The reason they hadn’t chosen to expand before was that their foundation was shallow. It was easy to conquer territories, but they didn’t have the ability to digest it. Blind expansion would cause internal problems and weaken their defense against other factions. However, after the past several years of development, the present Mo Cloud Sea had the ability to expand now.

“The present question is, which direction do we expand in.”

Zuo Mo threw out the problem, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became fiery.

“Nine Great Dhyana Sects! They look like they have a lot of people, but they definitely cannot fight. Other than Yang Yuan Hao, they don’t have anyone else.”

“Yes, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. I heard that they were fighting among themselves, this is a good chance … …”

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects were the fourth greatest power in the xiuzhe world but their inner conflicts were fierce. Their system was similar to the Yao Council of Elders. The nine sect leaders formed a sect leader council to govern the entire region together.

Since the Nine Great Dhyana Sects were about the same in power, internal conflict had never stopped since the day they formed. It was only a loose alliance that was not united enough.

What was most fatal was that they lacked top battle generals.

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects only had one top battle general, Yang Yuan Hao. This was not equal to their status as one of the four great xiuzhe powers. In comparison, Mo Cloud Sea possessed two top battle generals. No one dared to underestimate them.

If Xi Xuan hadn’t been extremely weak before Zhong De had come back, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would be the faction that people had the worst outlook on.

Listening to the people chat, Zuo Mo thought inside. He had been pondering this question a long time ago. This kind of strategic decision would directly affect their future development.

“No, we will not fight against the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.”

Zuo Mo spoke. Everyone immediately closed their mouths to listen carefully.

“The Nine Great Dhyana Sects are like a shield, as long as this shield is not damaged, we do not need to directly face the superpowers like Kun Lun. We should not attack them, rather, we should support them so they do not have to worry about their rear. The best scenario would be for them to fight against Kun Lun and Tian Huan. That is most beneficial for us.”

Gongsun Cha and Bie Han nodded. Zuo Mo’s analysis was reasonable.

“Hadn’t they always wanted to purchase our [Mo Cloud System] shen equipment? Sell to them! We need to support them as much as we can so they will fight with Kun Lun and Tian Huan. Yang Yuan Hao is very strong, and they will likely be fighting a defensive war on home territory, they the advantage. It will not be easy for Kun Lun and the others to win.”

Many people nodded inwardly.

“Then where do we expand?” Someone asked in puzzlement.

Other than the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, the others were all small factions. While it was not costly to fight, the benefits were also small.

After taking down fifty six jie in one go, they did not care about these little pieces. These little factions were small in land and scarce in resources.

“We will expand towards the mo territories.” Zuo Mo’s answer was unexpected.

Everyone stilled but many people’s expressions started to turn existed. The mo territories had vast lands, rich resources. People like A Zha Ge, Shi Dong, and Yi An had desired to expand into the mo territories.

Yet Zuo Mo had always seemed uninterested in the mo territories which had disappointed them.

“Who do we attack first?” Lei Peng’s eyes were bright.

“The Mo Marshal Alliance!” Zuo Mo said unhesitatingly.

Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were slightly surprised. In the Hundred Savage Realm, the Mo Shen Temple was the strongest, followed by the Mo Marshal Alliance led by Marshal Di, then the Heroes Alliance at third. Everyone thought that Zuo Mo would first start with the weakest, the Heroes Alliance, but Zuo Mo unexpectedly targeted the Mo Marshal Alliance.

“Our goal is Hundred Energy Jie.” Zuo Mo’s heated gaze was full of desire.

Chapter 749 – Starting From The Beginning

Zuo Mo had desired Hundred Energy Jie since discovering the shen crystals.

In these past years, Zuo Mo had continued to send in spies to find the general location of the shen crystal mine. However, the shen crystal veins were hidden well and hard to quietly extract. Also, it was blocked off by a layer of fragmented star metal. This was also why the shen crystals hadn’t been found and harvested by others after many years.

Hundred Energy Jie was under the rule of the Mo Marshal Alliance. If he wanted to extract these shen crystals, there was only one way, take Hundred Energy Jie.

The Mo Marshal Alliance had developed rapidly in the recent years. The mo marshals, led by Marshal Di, were wealthy to start with. Each person that could reach marshal level was a strong individual. Ever since they watched the battle between Zuo Mo and the yao elders, they had a new understanding of shen power.

Most of them chose to go into seclusion to cultivate and create a shen power that belonged to their clan.

The mo were varied with subtypes and each clan possessed their unique bloodline. Unlike the shen power of the Mo Shen Temple, the Mo Marshal Alliance focused on upgrading their bloodline, using the mo physique as a base to obtain shen power.

This shen power cultivation method quickly became the mainstream for the mo territories. Its greatest advantage was that it could express the power of the mo physique and one did not need to restart their cultivation from the beginning. The Heroes Alliance also chose to use this cultivation method.

Because of the differences in mo physique, the shen methodologies they each used were different. Each family knew that shen methodologies were crucially important to their clan’s future, and gathered all of their strength to overcome this obstacle.

This kind of shen power was called mo shen power.

The Mo Shen Temple who was advanced in shen power actually became the exception. This, however, did not affect the status of the Mo Shen Temple. The three great mo gods were unstoppable in the recent years, their territory expanding rapidly to become the strongest faction in Hundred Savage Realm.

The strong Mo Marshal Alliance did not cause them to feel fear. Once Zuo Mo determined the target, the battle generals, led by Gongsun Cha and Bie Han, started to move.

A plan around the goal of taking over Hundred Energy Jie secretly took form.

———

Pu Pu’s Home For Battle Generals had some fame among the yao battle generals. The students performed outstandingly in war chess, even defeating several of the military battle generals in succession which had caused its fame to rise.

However, not many people cared. Even the active battle generals that had been defeated did not think too much of the defeat. No matter how realistic war chess was, there were still great differences between war chess and true battle. It was not strange for a battle general strong in war chess to be terrible in real combat.

There were also many loose organizations like this among the yao. The members that Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals took in were those battle generals who were not very strong. These people had average marks in the yao art houses, some of them just barely managing to pass.

Students like this usually had a hard time entering a battalion. If one did not have a strong background, they would need great talent to enter a battalion.

Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals were relaxed in their management of their members. It was easy to enter, and effortless to leave. Naturally, no one would pay attention to an organization like this.

The most famous member of Pu Pu’s Home For Battle Generals was Liang Wei.

But no battalion had thrown a olive branch out to this disgraced battle general. The one who had relieved him of command was Corp Command An Shi. Someone who had real power in the military and his experience among all of the yao was at the top. His background was strong, and no one was willing to risk offending Corp Commander An Shi to recruit Liang Wei into their command.

Liang Wei also liked to fight and had a wild personality. He looked like a troublemaker, and there were rarely people who wanted a troublemaker under their command.

Liang Wei had been idle at home for seven years, and no battalion had made any offer for him.

The laughter and taunts against Liang Wei grew in more unrestrained. The reputation that Pu Pu’s Home For Battle Generals had among the battle general circle of being the “Failure Camp” grew and solidified.

The battle generals that thought themselves strong disdained this place. Ever since some active battle generals were defeated, no one liked to come here. There was nothing worthy of praise if they won, but if they lost, their comrades would laugh at them for a long time.

Affected, many irresolute students left. The students left were all those that were not affected by the rumors outside.

Compared to the mockery outside, the students inside Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals were unusually quiet.

These students, for the most part, had studied for more than three years at Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals.

The great majority of them had their own jobs, and would only have the time to come at night. If they could not enter a battalion, then it was not easy for battle general students to find work.

What interested them the most was the simulation match each week.

Even now, they did not know the identity of Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals’ founder. However, they could clearly feel that the other was strong.

This kind of feeling was especially strong during the simulation match. When this time came, Pu Pu would personally come.

The simulation chess was even more realistic than war chess. Every student who attended the simulation chess match for the first time was astonished but they would be quickly sucked in.

The strange and variable tactical style and the unfathomable power of the person called Pu Pu made them feel hopeless each time. Every week, the hottest topic of discussion was how long someone could survive against Pu Pu’s hand.

The record holder had always been Liang Wei.

Today was the same as usual. Liang Wei still struggled to endure under the other’s barrage of attacks. Even though he was already used to the strength of the opponent, but every match, that unstoppable pressure made him feel suffocated.

The only thing comforting was that he had started to be able to tolerate this feeling of suffocation.

Complete defeat!

He panted furiously and was soaked in sweat. He looked at the time and was slightly happy. Compared to last time, he had survived a half hour longer than before.

He was preparing to leave the simulation chess like usual when Pu Pu, standing on the opposite side, suddenly spoke.

“The simulation chess is unable to help you improve any more.”

Liang Wei stilled. He stopped walking. The thread of joy from his achievement  immediately disappeared without a trace. He suddenly felt empty. In these years, coming to Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals every day had almost become a habit. His mind had only stopped being restless because he could feel he was continuously improving.

If Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals could not make him improve any further and he did not have to come here, then where should he go?

Other than fighting, he didn’t know anything else. If he hadn’t had accumulated savings in the early years, it would be a problem for him to even live.

When Pu Pu said this place could not improve here, in that moment, he felt clueless and bewildered.

But he was a battle general that had been tempered in blood and fire. His resolve was far stronger than normal people.

He focused and asked, “Then what can make me improve?”

“True battle.”

Liang Wei dimmed. Gradually, his lips turned in a grimace. He knew that Pu Pu was right. While he had never seen Pu Pu’s true appearance, he was still filled with respect towards Pu Pu. He was unlike the other students, he had seen the world and had fought against many strong people. Pu Pu was the strongest battle general he had ever seen!

He could not understand what such a great battle general was doing here within a small battle general school.

He concluded that Pu Pu might be in a situation similar to himself. Either he was disliked by his superior officer or he was being isolated by his peers, or there were other reasons that he started this battle general school to waste away time.

“Where is there true battle?” Liang Wei smiled in self-mockery.

“If you are willing, I can think of a way. However, the conditions will be harsh, you need to be mentally prepared,” Pu Pu said.

Liang Wei was really stunned this time. A moment later, he asked suspiciously. “You really have a way?”

“You are very talented, but if you keep on being wasted, you will never have any hope of entering the ranks of the true top battle generals.” Pu Pu’s voice seemed to come from a far away but hit Liang Wei’s fragile heart.

Liang Wei suddenly raised his head. “Who are you really?”

“Do you really care who I am? You only care if you can enter the battlefield again! You only care if you can get revenge! As long as I am not Kun Lun, will you care about anything else?” Pu Yao asked in response.

Liang Wei’s body shook slightly. “You investigated me?”

“You? With your past is it even an investigation?” Pu Yao continued to ask in response.

Liang Wei was silent. While not everyone knew of his history, but there were innumerable people among the battle general circles that knew.

“What do you want me to do?” Liang Wei asked in a deep voice.

“Do what you are most skilled at,” Pu Pu answered.

“Which battalion?” Liang Wei felt as though something was burning inside his body. The flames burned at his heart, and the temperature of his blood continued to rise.

“A group of rabble, they only have completed basic training.” Pu Pu didn’t change at all.

Liang Wei was slightly disappointed.

“Hrmph, did you really think that a trained battalion would be given to you? It seems that you do not have a deep enough understanding of your situation. If you want to return to the battlefield, you have to start over from the beginning.” Pu Pu was not polite.

Liang Wei nodded. “You are right.”

“Also, only a battalion that you built with your own hands will be a battalion that truly belongs to you. All of your ideas can be realized through them. You will be the leader of the battalion.”

Liang Wei felt there was an indescribable temptation in Pu Pu’s words. In a few short sentences, his heart was moved, and he felt that burning once again.

This guy was a true demon!

“Alright!” Liang Wei nodded and then asked, “You are sure we will fight against Kun Lun?”

“Do not worry about this, we are mortal enemies with Kun Lun.” Pu’s voice was also filled with pleasure.

“Starting from the beginning, I need some helpers.” Liang Wei had already started to consider the practicalities.

“You can pick anyone from Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals. You should now their strength. Give a list to me, and I will persuade them,” Pu Pu said.

Liang Wei’s confidence increased. There were some outstanding students. More importantly, everyone was familiar with each other, they had built trust with each other and this would spare a lot of trouble in the future.

A battalion built with these people as the framework, it really made one anticipate!

“Alright, I need to go back and think. I will give the list to you tomorrow.” Liang Wei felt as though he couldn’t wait.

“No problem.” Pu Pu’s response was brisk.

When the other students found Liang Wei as he came out of the simulation chess, they were all shocked. The Liang Wei in front of them seemed to be a completely different person, giving off endless fighting spirit and sharp edges.

Chapter 750 – [Black Fire]

“Boss,  they’ve arrived,” the subordinate respectfully reported. He licked his lips. His gaze when he looked towards the shadow was full of respect and awe.

“Has everything been arranged?” A deep voiced came from within the shadow.

“All arranged,” the subordinate hurriedly responded.

“See them to the evening banquet hall.”

The subordinate was slightly shocked. Boss almost never met other people and the number of people that saw Boss’ true appearance could be counted on the fingers. He now found that he underestimated the importance Boss placed on these guests.

He hurriedly lowered his head and said, “I will go arrange it immediately.”

“En, go.” An indifferent voice came out of the shadow.

The subordinate turned and left.

A red-haired youth stepped out of the shadows. His long and narrow eyes were deep and dark. The blue crystal at his brow occasionally flashed with light. He seemed to be one with the shadow and darkness. He had a thoughtful expression on his face.

The present Youqin Lie was far too changed from that rebellious youth of the past. He was now a famed person in the underworld. He had countless able people under his command and he had amassed great power. Even the local factions had to give him some face. The name of [Black Fire] had some reputation in the underworld.

As his influence increased, Youqin Lie began to hide himself in the shadows and rarely made appearances.

So when Youqin Lie decided to hold a banquet for the guests, his subordinates were all astonished. However, these people were the most skilled at concealment and control. While they were extremely curious they maintained their professionalism and did not show it on their face.

In their eyes, Boss was unfathomable. This unfathomable was not referring to his individual fighting ability. Among [Black Fire], Youqin Lie rarely fought. No one knew how strong he truly was. However, every person was filled with respect and awe towards Boss.

In the underworld, things like betrayal, assassination, and conspiracy would never end. However, no matter how carefully planned or well hidden the other’s plan was, Boss had never failed to counteract it. Even facing a terrifying existence like the Council of Elders, he was still able to organize a withdrawal with all of them remaining unharmed, and without leaving any trace.

Everyone in [Black Fire] was filled with respect and awe towards Boss. His unfathomable and skilled way of acting, his vicious and ruthless style, his fairness to his subordinates and the strictness of the organization. None of their missions had ever failed. Boss had a maturity and viciousness in his command that was beyond his years. In the eyes of the subordinates, Boss was born a king of the underworld.

———

In a hidden estate that was heavily guarded. All the important people in [Black Fire] arrived.

Chai Shan Qing was scholarly in appearance with a faint smile hanging on his face. He wore green robes as though he was a teacher in a yao art house. In actual truth, he taught music in a famed yao art house and was well respected by his students. Who would have those this elegant middle-aged person was the famed and vicious [Black Fire]’s third in command.

“It seems that Boss is going to show himself.” Chai Shan Qing laughed lightly.

The male beside him was completely wrapped up in a black robe. Only a pair of grey eyes showed. If one didn’t see him with their own eyes, normal people would definitely not detect a person was there.

The fourth in command of [Black Fire], Wu Ying. He was skilled in sneaking and assassination. As a testament to his skill, innumerable powerful people had died by his hand.

Wu Ying was silent as though he hadn’t heard these words.

Chai Shan Qing was used to the other being so and said to himself with a laugh, “I’m very curious about Boss’ origins.”

Before he finished saying this, the feeling of cold metal rose against his throat. A sharp murderousness intent reached his neck like an extended dagger. He said with slight helplessness, “Hey hey hey, I’m just talking, aren’t you also curious?”

The murderousness disappeared as though nothing had occurred.

Chai Shan Qing had an expression of helplessness. He knew that Wu Ying was faithfully loyal to Boss. Wu Ying would unhesitatingly kill anyone that would threaten Boss.

He couldn’t help but mutter, “You are so ruthless to treat me so.”

Wu Ying seemed to not hear it.

A wondrous voice came from behind them. “Stop fooling around, the guests are about to arrive.”

Chai Shan Qing heard this voice and shuddered. Even Wu Ying’s body imperceptibly tensed. An astoundingly beautiful woman walked over with a smile.

The tight black evening dress emphasized her hot body, her arms bare, and the snowy dip causing people’s blood to burn. She had curly blond hair and a seductive presence.

Chai Shan Qing and Wu Xing feared her like she was a snake. She was the second in command of [Black Fire], Tao Wei.

Tao Wei threw a flirtatious look at the two before striding next to Youqin Lie and docilely standing to one side.

Youqin Lie’s narrow eyes were deep and his emotions hidden. He seemed to be the same as usual but everyone present had a strong feeling that today was definitely an important day.

Soon, a group of people were lead over under the guidance of a subordinate.

Yet what shocked Tao Wei, Chai Qing Shan and the others was that Boss walked down from the stairs and moved to greet them.

Even though they had been prepared mentally, they were still stunned when they saw this.

“I am Youqin Lie,” A cool voice that one could not hear any emotion from.

“I am Liang Wei.” Liang Wei looked at the other warily. The other was not old, about the same age as him. The feeling of darkness on the other caused him to frown slightly.

As a battle general, Liang Wei lacked any good feelings about people that moved in the shadows.

“A banquet has been prepared, please come with me,” Youqin Lie said coolly. Finishing, he turned and walked away.

Liang Wei hesitated slightly and then followed closely, saying “You are too polite!” The idleness of these past years had caused his interpersonal skills to improve.

Walking into the yard, what he saw was simple and not luxurious as he had imagined. This caused Liang Wei to hold a slightly better opinion of the other. In his impressions, those factions of the darkness usually were usually ostentatious and lived luxurious lives.

If the power he was serving was faction of the dark, Liang Wei would be slightly disappointed. He had always speculated which faction Pu Pu belonged to but had always thought of the major factions. In his view, a small faction could not possess or support such a strong battle general.

Everyone sat in their seats. The other people did not think as much as Liang Wei. Pu Pu had recruited and persuaded them with simple conditions, a generous salary and money to establish a home. For these people, they were satisfied with being able to do what they liked and receiving rich rewards.

Also, they had stayed for a long time at Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals and trusted it’s owner.

Liang Wei was observing Youqin Lie, while Youqin Lie and his group were also observing the guests. Especially, Chai Shan Qing. He was elegant, and his words made people feel comfortable. While Liang Wei was wary, the other people with him quickly spilled the beans.

Battle generals!

These people were all battle generals!

Chai Shan Qing and the others were greatly shocked. In the world of darkness, there was no place for battle generals to exist. The world of darkness was a word filled with deceit, conspiracy and assassination. The battles of the underworld was silent, and the people that lived in the same city as them would not detect anything.

The factions of the dark that possessed battalions died out the fastest. The darkness was their best protection. Enormous battalions would cause them to lose the protection of the darkness and move the organization towards death.

Only those truly public factions could possess battalions, would need battalions!

Boss did have a background!

At this time, the perceptive Chai Shan Qing immediately recalled where he had heard the name Liang Wei before. The dismissal in his eyes disappeared.

This young battle general that had been famed for a time had been recruited by the faction behind boss.

“The higher-ups have a few things they wanted me to tell you,” Youqin Lie said coolly.

Liang Wei unconsciously sat up and said solemnly, “Please speak.”

The other people stopped conversing and perked up their ears. Liang Wei’s commanders showed intent expressions. This was related to their future.

“The base has been prepared. You will go and take the position of the highest commander of the battalion. All of the resources have been transported to the base. You need to finish selection and organization before the twelfth month of this year. In other words, you have six months to build the battalion. At the six month of next year, you need to finish basic training, and find the battle style suited to you. The higher-ups will forge shen equipment according to your selected battle style.”

Liang Wei’s heart shook slightly. The faction was able to forge shen equipment!

As expected, a big faction!

Those that could forge shen equipment right now were definitely big factions!

The other people present inhaled sharply, especially Youqin Lie’s subordinates. They had guessed long ago that Boss had a background but they hadn’t thought that it would be so great.

“The delivery of  equipment is temporarily set at three months. They hope that you can become battle ready as soon as possible. When you are all outfitted, you may be sent out on campaigns.”

Liang Wei frowned. “The time is too tight, a battalion is not so easy to build. The deaths will be great when a new battalions goes to fight.”

Youqin Lie said coolly, “Then this is something you have to consider and prepare for.”

Liang Wei calculated inside. He did not argue. He had been prepared mentally. If the faction did have power and still used him, then the missions he received would not be a normal or easy one.

He had prepared fully to the difficulties he was going to encounter. However, when he thought that this was the only way he could lead a battalion onto the battlefield again, he felt as though he was filled with endless energy.

“How long is the trip to the base?” he asked.

“Thirteen days.”

“Time is tight, let’s move now.” Liang Wei pushed away from the table and stood. They had all heard what Youqin Lie had just said.

“Let’s eat before leaving,” Youqin Lie said.

“We can eat rations on the road,” Liang Wei insisted.

“Alright.” Youqin Lie did not try to keep them.

Quickly, under the ushering of the subordinates, Liang Wei’s group hurriedly left.

Tao Wei and the others stared at each other. They hadn’t expected Liang Wei and the others to leave so quickly.

Youqin Lie sat down again. The other people saw this and knew that Boss definitely had other things to say to them. They hurriedly sat down as well.

“Everyone, prepare, we are going to go to war against [Snapped Red Silk]”

Youqin Lie’s words were like a huge bomb. Tao Wei and the others changed expression. [Snapped Red Silk] was not a small faction. [Black Fire] controlled only thirteen yao jies, and adding on the ones they had infiltrated, they only had twenty six. Yet [Snapped Red Silk] directly controlled over eighteen yao jies.

[Snapped Red Silk] was stronger than they were.

“Boss … …” Tao Wei couldn’t help but say. She knew that this definitely was a mission that Boss’ higher-ups had ordered them to carry out, but in her view, this kind of mission could not be completed.

“Do not worry, we are not fighting alone,” Youqin Lie said coolly.

Everyone else couldn’t help but shake.

Chapter 751 – Zong Ru Leaving Seclusion

“Shixiong! This is Cloud Sea Jie!” Yi Zheng said with a slight tone pride.

Shixiong heard the pride in Yi Zheng’s tone and was slightly surprised. A faint smile appeared on his pale face. This showed that Shidi had been living well these past years.

Along the way, they encountered people who would stop and bow towards Yi Zheng. Each time, Yi Zheng would stop and seriously return the bow.

Shixiong could see that these people’s respect of Yi Zheng came from their hearts. This made him even more happy and comforted. Thinking back to the past, the image of that mischievous and stubborn youth was still in front of him.

Ever since Master had passed away, he had brought up Shidi. After his cultivation had been destroyed, Shidi had seemed to become a completely different person who was hardworking. He had been happy at Shidi’s change but felt guilt and self-blame. When Shidi had disappeared and his fate was unclear, the blame had chewed on his heart.

He could only used meditation everyday to comfort his mind. Even though his cultivation was gone, his Samadhi had grown.

When Shidi had suddenly reappeared in front of him, his dhyana heart had been lost.

“I had passed onto them some dhyana cultivation advice, their power at the time was terrible. At that time, I was an assistant to Master Zong. While I was busy, I was still very happy. Shixiong was on my mind all that time, but I didn’t have a lot of money and I couldn’t save to commission Shixiong’s lingdan.”

Yi Zheng was full of nostalgia and regret. He had gotten the lingdan and given it to Shixiong but there was no effect so they had come to Mo Cloud Sea. In reality, when he saw the state of Shixiong’s old temple where it sat half collapsed, the fury and discomfort he felt almost caused himself to lose control.

Shixiong knew Yi Zheng well. Seeing the guilt on Yi Zheng’s face, he knew, and changed the topic subtly. “Master Zhong? Is he also a dhyana xiu?”

When Master Zong was mentioned, Yi Zheng became alert. “Yes! Master Zong might be of an unorthodox background but no one in Great Buddha Temple can compare to him.”

“Oh, so strong?” Shixiong said with a smile. He could see that Shidi was full of respect towards this Master Zong.

“Yes, Master Zong has reached wish power. There are not many in the temple that have achieved wish power.” Yi Zhen looked around, and then said in a low voice, “It is even the Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish.”

Shixiong shook in shock. Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish. These four words caused him to unconsciously stop breathing.

While ling power had transformed to shen power, with the changing times, the Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish still caused people to change expression.

“Where is he now?” A hopeful light suddenly appeared in Shixiong’s eyes. If he could obtain guidance from this kind of master, maybe his injury would have hope.

Yi Zheng was slightly dispirited. “Eight years ago, Master Zong went into death seclusion and hasn’t come out.”

“Death seclusion!” Shixiong’s eyes were wide and his expression changed. The two phrases, Buddhahood Abandonment Death Wish and death seclusion caused him to imagine a fearless dhyana xiu, stubborn and not willing to give himself any other choices on his path for advancement.

“Yes, it would be good if Master Zong came out. Master Zong would definitely have a solution for Shixiong’s injury. Fortunately, Master Zong’s Buddha Lantern has not extinguished,” Yi Zheng said with slight regret and joy.

Just as he finished speaking, a bright light appeared on the horizon.

Everyone in the sky stopped moving and looked with shock into the distance. The light was blinding but there wasn’t any sound.

A vast presence suddenly exploded!

The cloud sea around the cloud island suddenly roiled and formed cloud waves of dozens of zhang each. The cloud sea roiled, the presence booming like thousands of snowy white monsters howling and snarling as they spread in all directions.

“Not good!” Yi Zhen’s expression changed slightly. In a flash, the cloud wave was coming at them like a collapsing wall, giving off a crushing feeling of being unstoppable.

A light suddenly appeared on Yi Zheng’s body.

Faint golden scaled armor rippled and covered his body. At some time, a Vajra scepter appeared on his hand. The golden mask on his face held imperceptible mirth like that of a Buddha.

Shen equipment!

Shixiong’s pupils suddenly expanded. While the place he had been residing in had been isolated and closed off from the world, he had heard of shen equipment.

Yi Zheng lightly tapped the Vajra scepter towards his feet, his left hand held straight up as he chanted!

Faint golden light rippled from below his feet and began to slowly cover the two of them. In a flash, a golden shield took form. Countless sutra characters swam like tadpoles on the surface of the golden shield.

This was … …

Shixiong was filled with shock. Shidi’s power was extremely strange. He could not name it, but he was certain that it definitely was not something from Great Buddha Temple.

Suddenly, two words flashed in his mind like lightning to illuminate his mind.

—Shen power!

He did not notice that shen equipment had also appeared on the bodies of the people around them because the astounding cloud wave was now right in front of them!

Boom!

The two were instantly drowned by the tall cloud wave.

The golden light shield trembled, the sutra characters swimming even faster. Yi Zheng’s eyes were wide and he was clearly fighting back with all his power.

Shixiong’s mind was roaming. He suddenly thought of how he had protected Shidi in the past. But now Shidi was able to protect him.

It was a short moment of reminiscing but time seemed to stretch as he watched Shidi.

Yi Zheng’s lack of expression showed that he was fighting with all of his power. Shixiong quickly refocused and closed his eyes. He had had high in cultivation before, once being one of the geniuses of Great Buddha Temple’s younger generation. While he had lost his cultivation, he had spent all of his time on his Samadhi, and his perception had become even more sensitive.

Once he focused, he was slightly shocked. Shidi’s present strength was even stronger than he had been in the past.

This astonished him.

He knew Shidi’s talent, he did not have great talent. He himself in the past had been one of the most talented in the temple. Even in the present Great Buddha Temple, there were not many young people that had reached his past skill level.

Shidi had grown to be so strong!

A strange yet powerful power. Suddenly, he was filled with curiosity about Mo Cloud Sea.

The cloud waves came endlessly. The two were like a wooden boat desperately swaying in the tsunami unable to stay still. After making it through several cloud waves, Yi Zheng’s body started to tremble, dense sweat appearing on Yi Zheng’s forehead.

Shixiong’s expression became stern as he started to chant a sutra.

His chanting was not loud, but each word was clear among the roaring of the cloud waves. Shixiong’s chanting seemed to have an unique power to calm people’s minds. Yi Zheng felt his mind calm down, his body stopped trembling. Threads of power suddenly appeared from deep within his body, and he became re-energized.

At this time, a voice suddenly sounded in the sky.

The howling roaring immediately disappeared.

“Scatter!”

The white cloud sea in the surroundings seemed to collapse and disappear like snow. In a flash, a figure with their palms together appeared in the sky.

Behind him, there was the figure of a bald Buddha hundreds of zhang tall who also had their hands in a praying position with a solemn expression.

Seeing that familiar figure, Yi Zheng’s body shook, uncontrollable joy appearing on his face, “Master Zong!”

Shixiong raised his face to look dazedly at the giant Buddha true form behind Zong Ru, his mind completely blank.

When his gaze met with the gaze of the Buddha’s true form, his body couldn’t help but tremble.

The pupils of the Buddha were grey!

Zong Ru had came out of seclusion, the cloud sea shook!

———

“It has been so long since we came back to the yao world, I really miss it,” Cang Ze said wistfully. Most of the youthfulness on his face had disappeared, and he had become a much calmer person.

Ming Jue Zi shook his head. “I still feel that Cloud Sea Jie is better.”

“I’m just remarking.” Cang Ze laughed at himself. “Of course Cloud Sea Jie is better. I heard that the yao are in chaos right now, the infighting among the Council of Elders is great. While everyone is polite on the surface, it is a mess down in the lower ranks.”

Nan Yue did not make a sound. Listening to the conversation of the pair, her thoughts wandered. Were her friends from the yao art house still alright?

However, her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the noise coming from behind her.

“I’m telling you all, this time, you cannot block this genius’ road! Finally get a mission, whoahaha, it is time for this genius’ light to shine on the bodies of minuscule beings like you!”

The orange-haired yao laughed heartlessly.

A Wen shot back with a cold expression, “Idiot!”

The black smoke yao perceptively took two steps back to get further from the two.

“Trash, who are you calling an idiot?” The orange-haired yao glared angrily at A Wen but then smiled smugly. “I know this is because you are jealous. You lost to me last time, whoahaha, your small and fragile heart received a destructive blow, I’m too strong!”

“You only caught up and evened the score.” A Wen smiled coldly. “If you don’t believe me, ask Old Smoke.”

The orange-haired yao stilled and then turned to ask the black smoke yao. “Old Yao, did I only catch up?”

The black smoke yao gave a prepared answer. “En, before, he had won six hundred and twenty two times, you had won six hundred and twenty one times.”

The orange-haired yao immediately howled, “Ahahah! How can it be so! How can it be so! Come, trash, let’s fight now and see who is stronger!”

“Let’s go! Who’s afraid of who!” A Wen did not retreat and stared back angrily.

Nan Yue felt exasperated. How many times was it now on this trip alone?

She turned her head. “Boss said if you fight during the mission, you will be put under house arrest for three months.”

The two froze.

The orange-haired yao muttered. “I’ll let you off this time. If Boss didn’t protect you, I would let you taste your six hundred and twenty third defeat!”

A Wen responded, “If Boss didn’t protect you, I will take your small life as easily as reaching into my pocket!”

The orange-haired yao stilled. “Who did you learn that line from? It seems very strong!”

A Wen forced himself to not show his smugness but his tone still exposed it. “Old Smoke!”

The black smoke yao immediately knew it was not good. As expected, before he could react, the orange-haired yao shot in front of him like a gust of wind. “Old Yao, Old Yao, quick, think of a line better than that one … …”

Suddenly, the group stopped and stared warily at the group in front of them.

At the head was a youth that gave off a dark and cold presence. He stood silently.

“I have been eagerly waiting for your arrival, I am Youqin Lie.”

Chapter 752 – The Little Ones

Mo Cloud Sea started to secretly move.

This kind of movement was concealed from the outside world. Even in these years of peace, people had become used to the movements of battalions and the unusual focus on cultivation.

Silently,  several battalions appeared at Black Wood Jie which was under the control of Rare Artifacts Hall.

Ever since Rare Artifacts Hall threw their lot in with Zuo Mo, they attracted the enmity of other mo factions. Out of consideration for safety, Mo Cloud Sea built large numbers of seal formation forts at their borders.

But Rare Artifacts Hall was founded in business, and the transportation of their inventory was not affected greatly. The events of Bu Zhou City had caused them to become famous. After that, with the support of Mo Cloud Sea, the quality of their wares increased greatly and their wares were welcomed on the market.

Even the Mo Marshal Alliance bought large amounts of mo weapons and supplies from Rare Artifacts Hall. Benefiting from this, their business avenues had always been smooth. Other than this, they continued to build blood pools to make the travel between the three jies of Rare Artifacts Hall and the other factions even more convenient.

Transporting through blood pools was expensive, especially with large volumes, but it could greatly shorten the time spent and was much safer. Adding on that Rare Artifacts Hall was wealthy, they did not care about the expense of building blood pools. In one go, they built dozens of blood pools connecting them to the outside world. This meant that the Mo Marshal Alliance was unable to cut off Rare Artifacts Hall from the outside, even if they wanted to.

Yi An, naturally, had to be present for such a great event, as the arrival of their battalions.

But when he saw Bie Han was in the lead, he was still shocked. He immediately understood the importance that the higher-ups placed on this battle campaign. Among Mo Cloud Sea’s battle generals, Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were of the same in status. While Bie Han never managed any matters, his status was not something that other people could shake.

Bie Han was personally here, it definitely would not be a small fight.

“Daren!” Yi An immediately went forward to give a greeting. He was a core member but he could not compare in status to Bie Han.

On the newest battle general ranking from the xiuzhe world, Bie Han was ranked tenth, an undoubted top battle general of the xiuzhe world.

The descriptions on the battle general ranking were detailed. The evaluators thought that Bie Han’s fighting abilities were astounding, his battle style dominant and fiery. He was strong offensively. The reason that he was ranked tenth was that his shortcomings in other areas were clear. For example, his soft skills were lacking and he did not take care or maintain relationships with his allies, or his reclusive personality.

In the conclusion, Bie Han was said to be a battle general with clear skills and shortcomings. He was strong offensively and weak defensively, and also, he was a battle general that needed strong support from the rear.

This was also the reason that many people thought that Gongsun Cha was better than Bie Han. Gongsun Cha’s overall strength was more outstanding. He wasn’t just strong at command, he was outstanding both offensively and defensively as well as having taught a group of talented battle generals. There was no argument about his position on the battle general ranking. Almost all of the people in the battle general circles found it reasonable.

But when the battle general ranking came out, the fact that Mo Cloud Sea possessed two top battle generals still caused a furor. However, when more of the details about Gongsun Cha and Bie Han’s battles were made public, the voices of dissent gradually dissipated. On the newest battle general ranking, Zhong De from Xi Xuan who had come back out of nowhere had directly stepped into second place, just under Kun Lun’s Xue Dong. The rankings which had not changed for a few years finally changed for the first time.

But even so, Bie Han still held on to the position of tenth.

Along with Bie Han’s Sin Battalion came:, Shi Dong and Ye Ling’s Grey Camp, Ma Fan and his Green Dragon Camp, A Zha Ge Battalion, and Tangzi Battalion.

Shi Dong and Ye Ling had been partnered together for a long time and worked well together . Shi Dong who had once had a difficult time progressing in cultivation due to his birth had been selected by Gongsun Cha to the first group of battle generals to cultivate shen power. He had treasured this chance. The strength and diligence he had shown won admiration from all the people around him. He had also improved rapidly and shockingly had moved into the ranks of gold battle generals.

And a battle general like Ye Ling who was skilled in understanding the larger picture was a person that all the camps wanted.

There was nothing to be said of the trio of Ma Fan, Lei Peng, and Nian Lu. They were also people that Gongsun Cha had paid great attention to grooming. The three that had come from Vermillion Bird Camp did not fail Gongsun Cha’s efforts. Ma Fan was skilled in directing battle and successively advanced to become a gold battle general. Lei Peng was strong, and was the one that lead troops from the front. Nian Lu was detail-oriented, and full of cunning. The three of them worked well together. Every time they fought in mock combat, they caused other people headaches.

A Zha Ge had been a gold battle general to start with, and he was experienced in leading troops. As his clan set down roots in Mo Cloud Sea, and their lives continued to change, he could finally throw himself completely into matters of war. The style that A Zha Ge showed was frequently praised by Lil’ Miss.

The main commander of Tangzi Battalion was Tang Fei with Miao Jun as the vice commander. Tang Fei was talented and Miao Jun taught her all he knew. Adding on Gongsun Cha’s occasional guidance, she grew up extremely quickly as she fought against other battle generals to become a gold battle general herself. While she was female, her fighting style was strong and tenacious. Influenced by her the battle style of Tangzi Battalion was also very steadfast, and they never feared going toe-to-toe with the enemy.

After the nurturing and training of these years, all of the battalions with names in Mo Cloud Sea had good strength.

Bie Han was not skilled in being the commander-in-chief but his insight into strategy and his perception when fighting was unrivalled by all in Mo Cloud Sea, except by Gongsun Cha. He had thought deeply about the battalions he had picked to come with him this time.

Grey Camp, A Zha Ge Battalion, and Tangzi Battalion were all battalions who had originated from the mo territories. This was advantageous for their optics if they had them to attack the mo territories.

Green Dragon Camp was skilled in defense. They were selected in preparation for after taking down Hundred Energy Jie and having to turn to defense.

Such a large number of battalions entering Black Wood Jie could not be disguised from people. All kinds of news quickly spread. Many factions were like alarmed birds. They shut their blood pools that were connected with Black Wood Jie. Rare Artifact Hall’s business was greatly affected.

All the major factions of the mo territories went on their guard.

Yet what they hadn’t expected was that Bie Han was faster than they had imagined.

Before the news even reached the Mo Marshal Alliance, Bie Han’s group of battalions had already stepped onto the border of the Mo Marshal Alliance.

———

The heavy iron door was pushed open a crack. Lil’ Pagoda leaned against the door and panted heavily. It was clearly exhausted. Lil’ Fire flew around its head as though it was trying to motivate the other. Lil’ Black stood up on its hind legs, its antenna waving furiously as it tried to cheer on Lil’ Pagod. However, Lil’ Black clearly was staying back. As it waved its antennae, it turned around to look. If something happened, it would immediately flee.

Lil’ Pagoda rested for a moment and recovered. It climbed up and sneakily looked inside. Seeing that no one was inside, it immediately became happy, its eaves opening and closing like an umbrella. Then it sucked in its belly and tried to squeeze through the crack.

Lil’ Pagoda’s body was even rounder than before. Its body which had been five colored before was now black and white. Adding on its round and soft body, it appeared very much like a panda crouching there.

This change had occurred the first time that Zuo Mo’s shen power had made a great advancement.

Yet Zuo Mo found to his chagrin that this guy became even fatter and more gluttonous after that. The things it liked to eat were far beyond the scope of the five elements. It ate everything and liked things that were rare and strange.

Zuo Mo found, after inspection, that Lil’ Pagoda’s attributes had shifted from the five elements to the dual attribute of yin and yang. The scope covered by yinyang was much greater than the five elements. This was an unique progression.

Pew!

Lil’ Pagoda was like a rubber ball that squeezed through the crack in the door. The moment it did so, its soft and bouncy body bounced through the air. It flipped over a few times in the air before it managed to steady itself.

Lil’ Fire happily flew a few circles in celebration before it followed. It turned into a thread of flame and then turned back to its round figure after burrowing through the crack.

Lil’ Black also sneaked in.

The three Lil’ Ones formed a triangle as they tiptoed like thieves.

Suddenly, the light of a jinzhi appeared under the feet of the trio.

The three little bodies immediately froze.

A figure walked out of the jinzhi’s light. It was Zuo Mo.

“I finally caught you in the act!” Zuo Mo had a vicious expression. These three little guys liked to eat the most and would never learn! Thinking about the jingshi he had lost, Zuo Mo felt great pain.

“Arrrrow!” Lil’ Pagoda raised its chubby eaves to cover its face.

Lil’ Fire shook. It turned and wanted to feel but was caught by Zuo Mo. Then Zuo Mo started to squeeze it. It could only spit out threads of fire in humiliation and grievous anger according to Zuo Mo’s rhythm.

With one hand gripping Lil’ Fire, a snarling Zuo Mo was like a demon king in the eyes of Lil’ Black.

Its antennae trembled. Pia, it fell back on the ground and pretended to be dead.

Having caught the three little ones at the scene of the act, Zuo Mo was smug. He took the three little ones over to Chun Yu Cheng’s place.

“Chun Shidi, here, help me take a look and see if there are any ways to help them get stronger.”

Chun Yu Cheng’s eyes were bright and he was interested by the idea. The three little ones all had different abilities and were much more interesting than his cloud steeds.

Under Chun Yu Cheng’s strange gaze, the three little ones had ashen expressions. The least courageous one, Lil’ Black trembled as though it was about to face torture.

“Let’s go in and see,” Chun Yu Chen said briskly.

Chun Yu Cheng’s place to study husbandry was astounding in scale now. He took over a large sized cloud island. Other than him, there were also his assistants that were also interested in husbandry. Some of them were xiuzhe and some were yaomo.

They quickly came to a twin pool.

The two pools were set up together and connected in the middle. The liquid in one pool was white and the other black. Mist floated off the white pool and turned into a cloud that supported a little white person. It was Sunshine. There was a black lotus growing out of the black pool. On the inky black lotus. Tenth Grade dressed in black robes was sitting with his legs in lotus position, his little face solemn.

They went deeper and flew to the entrance of a volcano.

Inside the volcano, a large bird was completely immersed in the lava within. Silly Bird seemed to detect people coming in and opened her eyelids. Seeing Zuo Mo, she closed her eyes with a safe and relaxed expression.

Silly Bird!

“She was originally a Grey Beak Goose and then evolved into a Blue Beaked Snow Goose. Theoretically, the probability of her evolution is not high but I found there is an unique power inside her. This power had been continuously strengthening her body. She is already completely different from normal Blue Beak Snow Geese. She is fierce, and much more savage in personality than before. This allowed her to have more room to improve.

When speaking of his field, Chun Yu Cheng immediately became energized and would endlessly talk.

“The quality of the earth fire here isn’t bad, but it wasn’t enough. I asked the people from Golden Crow Camp to come and remake the fire formation. The earth fire here is over eighth grade and contains shen power. If it could finish its nirvana regeneration, uh, while that is only for phoenixes, but I don’t feel that only phoenixes can regenerate, you know that all birds … …”

Seeing Chun Yu Cheng wasn’t going to stop, Zuo Mo’s head swelled. He handed the three little ones to Shidi. “Here, they are in your care.”

“No problem!” Chun Yu Chen’s eyes lit up.

Translator Ramblings: We see the little ones, finally. Just as gluttonous as always.

Chapter 753 – Commander-In-Chief Bie Han

The first battle occurred suddenly.

The Mo Marshal Alliance had just been notified of Bie Han’s arrival and the order to be on guard had not reached the front line yet when the first fight between the two sides had finished. Bie Han’s full speed attack had caught the enemy off guard.

The battalion to make the sudden attack was Grey Camp. Shi Dong’s style was sharp and swift to being with, and after the improvement of these past years, Grey Camp under his command was like a sharp and thin knife that sliced through the not-so-tight defense of the other.

This place was the border, but there were no importance resources nor transportation routes so the battalions stationed here were not strong.

Facing Grey Camp that was outfitted with shen equipment and well trained, the defences were quickly torn down after fighting for a few more moments.

The battalions behind Grey Camp did not hesitate and moved at full speed according to the battle plan. Grey Camp who had defeated the enemy battalion divided into many smaller groups that started to sweep the area at the opening they had created and kill the scattered soldiers to guarantee the safety of their rear.

When the battalions belonging to Rare Artifacts Hall arrived, they switched. Shi Dong took Grey Camp and hurriedly marched to catch up to the main army.

At this time, the resistance that Bie Han encountered suddenly increased.

One reason was because the Mo Marshal Alliance now caught up and started to set down defenses. The other was related to the location of Hundred Energy Jie. There was a jie one had to pass through to get to Hundred Energy Jie, Bright Mountain Jie.

Unlike the barrenness of Hundred Energy Jie, Bright Mountain Jie was a prosperous intermediate jie. It was the place where many jie rivers passed through. It had a large population, and was rich in resources. Due to its unique location, the Mo Marshal Alliance had stations large numbers of battalions there to guarantee its safety.

If one wanted to take Hundred Energy Jie, Bright Mountain Jie was unavoidable.

Therefore, the Mo Marshal Alliance set up a complete defense line around Bright Mountain Jie.

A little Bright Mountain Jie possessed two mo marshals. The power it had could be imagined.

Among the mo, a battle general’s strength was directly connected to their individual strength. Mo marshals were almost always both battle generals and individual experts. This was related to their method of fighting. Mo marshals cultivated shen power, and were limited in their accomplishments just like the fanxu of the xiuzhe and the sky yao of the yao.

As young people talented in shen power continuously appeared among the yao and the xiuzhe, the mo’s upper levels were still held by the mo marshals. Because they could not progress greatly cultivating shen power, their individual power continued to slip among the rankings of the three races. However, their command skill was not affected. Actually, while the effects of their shen power on individual strength was limited, it was of significant help to one’s ability direct in battle.

As more and more mo cultivated shen power, the construction of battalions silently changed.

Of the two mo marshal battalions that guarded Bright Mountain Jie, almost half of their members were strong in mo shen power.

In the mo territories, these two battalions were considered strong ones.

Bright Mountain Jie was a hard bone to chew.

The news the front lines had been defeated were passed back to Bright Mountain Jie and all of Bright Mountain Jie went on their guard.

When the identity of the commander-in-chief of this enormous Mo Cloud Sea battalion group was revealed, all of the Mo Marshal Alliance inhaled in shock! Bie Han. The tenth ranked battle general, a battle general the mo were familiar with.

They were unfamiliar with the majority of commanders under Bie Han’s command but just the name Bie Han was enough for them to feel strong danger.

Sin Battalion Bie Han!

The two mo marshals of Bright Mountain Jie seemed to be facing a great enemy and did not dare to attack first.

A person’s name, a tree’s shadow, the infamy of Bie Han was something that people did not dare dismiss. The two mo marshals thought highly of themselves, but facing Bie Han, they still lacked confidence.

Fortunately, Bright Mountain Jie’s defenses were outstanding, and they had both soldiers and supplies. If they persisted in not going out, the other would not have any other choice other than to attack.

The two planned. They carefully set up defenses to increase morale as they asked for help from the rear.

Bie Han who was leading multiple battalions had more than just Sin Battalion. If he did not care about the price and attacked, the two did not have the confidence to know how long they would last.

Fortunately, Bright Mountain Jie was very important to the alliance and they believed the higher-ups would not ignore this attack.

———

In the conference room.

Shi Dong’s battalion had caught up and he arrived just in time for the strategy meeting.

The conference room was unusually silent. No one made a sound. Everyone had been used to Lil’ Miss being at the front to lead the discussion. Now that it was Bie Han, people were slightly used to it. Also, Bie Han usually did not talk at all during discussions, like air, he didn’t seem to exist at all.

There was also another layer of thinking that everyone had.

It had to be said that Lil’ Miss had been the one to teach and train them. Many of them didn’t have any fame before this. Usually, Lil’ Miss had been in command at the center, and their trust of Lil’ Miss was unconditional.

Bie Han was a reclusive person, and usually did not converse with them. He never said anything during a meeting. While they knew that Bie Han was strong, but was he as strong as Lil’ Miss? Many people did not accept this.

However, under Lil’ Miss’ command, what was most important was following regulations. Bie Han had been personally appointed by Zuo Mo. While they had opinions, no one dared speak them.

They did not speak, and the discussion room was silent.

Who among them didn’t have a bit of a temper?

Some people thought inside, if this was Lil’ Miss, the atmosphere would be heated … …

At this time, Bie Han spoke, his voice just as icy as usual!

“A Zha Ge.”

A Zha Ge whose thoughts had been wandering hurriedly stood up and said gravely, “This subordinate is here!”

“Your battalion will go to the area of East Nation Jie, Bright Home Jie, and West Mountain Jie. If you encounter battalions, you can either chose to fight or not.”

“This subordinate’s goal is?” A Zha Ge was confused. Before the campaign, he had familiarized himself with the jie map of this area. He knew where the three jie were but he didn’t understand Bie Han Daren’s intentions at all. That area was far from Hundred Energy Jie with many jie between them.

“Let them feel pressure.” Bie Han treasured his words like gold.

“Yes!” While he did not understand, A Zha Ge still took his orders.

“Tang Fei.” Bie Han turned around.

“Here!” Tang Fei stood up. Her expression was solemn. She had seen Bie Han fight before and was probably the one that trusted Bie Han’s abilities the most.

“The goal of your battalion is East Spring Jie!”

The commanders present all had surprised expressions.

East Springs Jie was far from Hundred Energy Jie and they didn’t seem to be related at all from the jie map. However, the people present were not normal people. They all frowned and thought hard to find Bie Han’s intentions.

Bie Han did not seem to see the puzzlement on the commander’s’ faces. He had no intentions of explaining and continued to give out orders.

“Shi Dong.”

Shi Dong hurriedly stood up. “Here!”

“Hide in the area of Puluo Jie and Mighty Moon Jie. Do not let anyone detect you, and wait for orders.”

As the orders were given out, the commanders stared at the jie map trying to find clues and were frowning in thought.

Bie Han ignored them. He said, “Ma Fan Battalion will move with me. End of meeting, every battalion will move according to their orders.”

They refocused and stood to acknowledge. “Yes!”

Finished, Bie Han walked out of the conference room first.

Once Bie Han walked out, the conference room immediately became noisy.

“Who sees something? Make speak up!”

“I can’t’ see it, this setup is very strange!”

“Yes! It isn’t reasonable at all!”

Tang Fei did not make a sound. She suddenly lowered her head to ask Miao Jun. “Teacher, have you seen something?”

“I see a bit, but I cannot guess many of the steps.” Miao Jun’s expression was shocked as he said in a low voice. “As expected of a top battle general. Bie Han Daren doesn’t usually show himself but when he does, it isn’t ordinary! The Mo Marshal Alliance is going to have a huge defeat this time. Even we who know the goal cannot see through this plan, ha!”

The commanders here were not stupid and could find some hints. But even so, they found it bewildering. They could not determine what Bie Han Daren was going to do next.

This discovery caused everyone to become silent.

Bie Han Daren who was usually reclusive and did not have anything worthy of people to remark upon except his fierce offensive intimidated them with one move.

They finally understood that the difference in skill between them and top battle generals was bigger than they imagined!

———

Mo Cloud Sea was moving and Zuo Mo was not idle.

Someone had come from Xi Xuan!

In truth, Zuo Mo had not expected Xi Xuan to send an envoy. He was Gu Liang Dao’s most faithful ally. What was Xi Xuan sending people here for?

To cause a discord between himself and  Gu Liang Dao?

Zuo Mo did not understand but he still decided to meet the other.

The leader of the envoy was a middle-aged person called Jian Jun. He was of average power, but he was elegant and had presence.

“Mister Zuo is really accomplished at a young age. Having conquered so much at such a young age, it makes those like me sweat!” Jian Jun praised.

“Mister Jian is too complimentary. What have you come for?” Zuo Mo did not want to waste words and said directly.”

Jian Jun stilled at Zuo Mo’s directness but he was a person who could adapt. Seeing this, he said directly, “We have come to visit Mister Zuo this time for two matters.”

Seeing Zuo Mo show a listening expression, he said, “The first is that we hope to order some shen equipment from you.”

“Order shen equipment?” Zuo Mo stilled for a moment. He hadn’t thought that Xi Xuan would order shen equipment from them.

“Yes. The Mo Cloud System shen equipment is stronger than any other,” Jian Jun said with a friendly smile, “It will be best if you can design new shen equipment around our shen power. We are willing to pay the corresponding expenses.”

“Design shen equipment?” Zuo Mo was seven more stunned. He looked suspiciously at the other. “Tailored shen equipment, you will need to provide your shen power cultivation method … …”

“This is not a problem.” Jian Jun’s expression was normal as though he was talking about a simple matter. “Other than the day of completion, everything else can be negotiated.”

Zuo Mo felt as though he didn’t have enough brainpower to use. Xi Xuan had come to order shen equipment, and were willing to provide their shen power cultivation method? This was clearly the secret of each sect that should not be told to anyone else!

What was going on with Xi Xuan?

Chapter 754 – Alliance With Xi Xuan

Jian Jun seemed to be speaking of a common everyday matter, and smiled naturally. He said, “Before we left, Zhong Daren said that Xi Xuan is weak now. Kun Lun and Tian Huan are greedily watching from the sides. The nine great dhyana sects look numerous, but they are divided and their power is scattered, only appearing strong but will scatter when they face pressure. Only Mo Cloud Sea is a viable ally, while they do not have many soldiers they have strong commanders. They do not have a great amount of land, but they are wealthy, their potential can be anticipated and are a possible ally.”

“Zhong Daren is too complimentary,” Zuo Mo politely responded.

Jian Jun smiled slightly. “My Xi Xuan has been weak for a long time, our elite have left us. If there is no help from outside forces, then we will not be able to fight off Kun Lun and Tian Huan. Mo Cloud Sea is in a remote location. With the nine great dhyana sects as barrier, there are no worries in the short term. Yet once Kun Lun and Tian Huan swallow Xi Xuan, each will possess almost two realms of power and be unstoppable. Daren predicted that if it gets to that point, with the two sects sending soldiers, the nine great dhyana sects will collapse with little resistance. At that time, Mo Cloud Sea will have no place to retreat. The nine great dhyana sects can surrender, but Mo Cloud Sea cannot.”

Zuo Mo changed expression. He had to admit that Zhong De’s prediction was accurate. The nine great dhyana sects were a group of rabble if they could not unify under one banner. If Kun Lun and Tian Huan had just average abilities, they might try to fight back. If the two big sects really ate Xi Xuan, just their presence would be enough for the nine great dhyana sects to surrender without even fighting.

The hate between Mo Cloud Sea and Kun Lun had been spread far and wide a long time ago. Everyone knew of the great hate between Mo Cloud Sea and Kun Lun.

The crux to stopping Kun Lun and Tian Huan was not the nine great dhyana sects but Xi Xuan!

Zuo Mo had thought of this before, but that that time, there was no hope to be seen in Xi Xuan. The sudden appearance of Zhong De had given new blood to the rotting Xi Xuan.

Jian Jun continued to speak, “I heard some things about Mister Zuo’s birth. Daren feels great sympathy and has executed everyone involved in that incident. Also, Daren has given me the duty of returning this item to Mister Zuo. This item that belongs to the Zuo Family is today returned to Mister Zuo, to its owner!”

As he spoke, he took out a strangely shaped item.

This item was extremely unique in shape. It was about the height of a person, and was like a tree branch cut off from a tree. The main trunk was curved and there were five forks that criss-crossed. The item was made completely from metal. Even after a few decades, it was still shiny like it was new.

“This is the part that we obtained in the past. The other three are in the hands of Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and Xuan Kong Temple. While returning this cannot undo the past, we have already taken care off the elders involved in the matter. However, we do not hope to receive your forgiveness with this, we only wish to sincerely express our apologies, and to show that Xi Xuan is willing to take responsibility for this matter.”

Jian Jun’s expression was stern and his tone solemn.

Zuo Mo looked at this shen device part and was in a daze. Xi Xuan had not faked this item. When Jian Jun had taken this out, Zuo Mo had felt the presence of a shen device.

In his few memories, this strangely shaped thing had appeared a few times.

“Thank Zhong De Daren for me!” Zuo Mo refocused, his expression normal. The scenes that had flashed through his mind caused his emotions to shift but he quickly calmed his mind. As the leader of the entire Mo Cloud Sea, every decision could influence the future development of Mo Cloud Sea.

“There are no problems about the alliance and ordering shen equipment. But both understanding your shen power and designing shen equipment will take time,” Zuo Mo said.

A hint of joy flashed across Jian Jun’s eyes. He unhesitatingly took out a jade scroll. “This is the shen power of our sect, I will give this to you now!”

Zuo Mo speedily read through it. After thinking for a moment, he had a general grasp of their method. “The work to design the shen equipment will take about two months. The price will only be known after the first ones are made.”

Jian Jun then asked, “Is it possible to finish thirty thousand shen equipment before the eighth month of next year?”

Zuo Mo said after a moment of thought. “It is difficult to produce thirty thousand in one year, but there should be no problems for twenty thousand!”

Jian Jun said unhesitatingly, “Good! At least twenty thousand, no matter how many you will produce, we will take all of them!”

“No problem!” Zuo Mo said crisply.

This was a very profitable transaction. If they had twenty thousand shen equipment, Xi Xuan’s power would increase greatly. Zuo Mo was happy to see this. Also, such a large order would cause Mo Cloud Sea’s forging skills to go up another level.

This was killing multiple birds with one stone.

Jian Jun suddenly spoke, “There is one matter we will request of Mister Zuo.”

“Please speak.” Zuo Mo had to admit that while Jian Jun was not strong, but his style and his way of speech made people feel pleased.

“Ah.” Jian Jun sighed lightly. “We want to ask Mister Zuo to pass on a message.”

“A message?” Zuo Mo stilled and then understood. Gu Liang Dao!

“Yes, Mister Zuo, please give this letter to Gu Liang Dao. This letter was personally written by Zhong De Daren.” Jian Jun passed over a jade scroll, but his expression was slightly awkward.

Zuo Mo seriously received the jade scroll. He said with a nod, “I will definitely give this to Brother Gu.”

“Thank you, Mister Zuo.” Jian Jun’s smile was slightly forced. A talent of the sect had betrayed and left the sect due to being forced by the sect, this was not something to be proud of.

“Mister Jian is too polite,” Zuo Mo said.

The two then discussed the problem of setting up transportation formations.

After setting up transportation formations, they would be able to travel freely. While it was expensive to move large volumes, it was the safest method at present.

Both of them knew this.

Once they opened the transportation formations, the wards of Mo Cloud Sea would flood into Xi Xuan. This would affect Xi Xuan greatly but the present Xi Xuan had no power to manage this. What was in front of them was an even more dangerous and cruel future. Organizing their combat forces was their most urgent need at this moment.

Before leaving Jian Jun said with a serious expression, “Mister Zuo, you need to pay attention to Kun Lun and Tian Huan. While Mo Cloud Sea is the best at forging, Kun Lun and Tian Huan are not lacking. Recently, Kun Lun and Tian Huan having been seeking ancient ruins and Kun Lun found the remnants of an ancient shen device. They have started to plan forging a new shen device.”

This information immediately attracted Zuo Mo’s attention. “Is there anything more specific?”

“No.” Jian Jun shook his head. “We only know that for this device piece, three of Kun Lun’s elders lost their lives and the sect leader was heavily wounded.”

Zuo Mo was startled. This price was great even for Kun Lun.

“Shen devices have developed quickly. Maybe in a year or two, everyone will have distanced themselves again,” Jian Jun said concernedly. “Taking from the past is better than closing the doors and creating from within. You will need to pay more attention. If we have information of ancient ruins, we will notify you.”

‘’Alright!” Zuo Mo nodded. Jian Jun’s words made him have nothing to say.

The beginning of a new era was usually when development occurred the fastest. Slacking off for a time meant that some people might be forever pulled down. Unlike the completeness and maturity of the ling power system, shen power had just been reborn. While the general picture could be seen, the details were still crude.

Kun Lun was willing to spend such an astounding price. This meant that what they obtained surpassed this price.

Zuo Mo felt strong danger.

———

Gu Liang Dao was silent after reading the letter.

“Big Brother, did that old man Zhong De say something ugly?” Shuang Yu couldn’t resist asking.

Gu Liang Dao shook his head and handed the jade scroll to Shuang Yu. “Read.”

Shuang Yu took the jade scroll. His expression was spectacular after he finished reading and then he handed the jade scroll to Xiao.

Gu Liang Dao laughed self-mocking. “He’s inviting us back, he will give up his position, and will clean out all opposing factions.”

“Is … … is this fake?” Shuang Yu hesitated to say. No matter what, the contents of the letter were not something he could believe.

“It’s true.” Gu Liang Dao’s gaze was slightly dazed. The internal conflict and pain appeared in his eyes.

“Then should we return?” Shuang Yu asked excitedly. He believed that if Big Brother returned to Xi Xuan to take power, Xi Xuan will definitely come back from the dead!

“A Xiao, what do you think?” Gu Liang Dao suddenly asked.

Xiao was silent for a moment and then said, “It is hard to say. Zhong De says he only has three years left, it probably is not a lie. It is also not a lie that he will abdicate the power because only we can save Xi Xuan. So up until now, he killed so many people but didn’t touch any of those close to us.”

Gu Liang Dao continued to be silent.

“But after?” Xiao said calmly, “Once Zhong De is dead, Big Brother has the power, and then? The sect leader can tolerate Zhong De, but can he tolerate Big Brother?”

Shuang Yu’s expression froze. He became silent.

“The sect leader is skilled in enduring. The elders have held  power and controlled Xi Xuan for so many years yet the sect leader did not make a sound. Looking back now, the sect leader may have let them. The sect leader might have moved in the shadows for Big Brother to be forced out of the sect.”

“No way?” Shuang Yu’s eyes were wide, his expression disbelieving.

Xiao smiled coldly, “The sect leader was young when he took the position, and could not stand up to the elders. He was forced by the situation. Think of what the sect leader has done all these years, free and taking pleasure, not asking about the matters of the sect. Look at what the sect leader did this time. While he is not a murderous person, he is a cunning one. Zhong De was gone for more than fifty years, yet he was able to uproot the elders and their support in the span of one night. This cannot be accomplished by just killing people.”

“You mean to say … …” Shuang Yu was not stupid and understood.

“Without someone familiar with the situation, he definitely could not have done it. The sect leader had probably started to investigate the elders from a long time ago. Supposedly, half of the sect leader’s guards were killed. It is terrifying that he managed to endure for so long!”

Xiao’s voice was cold and emotionless. “It would be fine if this letter came from the sect leader, but it came from Zhong De! Zhong De has great power, and the sect leader will go along with him. What about after Zhong De is dead, what do we have that will let us fight against the sect leader?”

“So what, we aren’t afraid of him,” Shuang Yu muttered.

Xiao smiled. “Why should we? Right now, our situation is not bad. Our land is not large but our foundation is not bad, why should we go back to endure?”

“Xiao is right!” The shadows in Gu Liang Dao’s eyes were swept away. “We only knew freedom after coming out. I am not willing to turn back! How can we believe him? But our relatives are in Zhong De’s hands, how can we get them back?”

When they had fled, the relatives of most of his subordinates had been arrested. Getting these relatives back was a great problem that was related to their foundation.

Xiao smiled confidently. “This matter is not difficult. Zhong De has not killed them so he will not make things difficult for us by using them as hostages. However, we need to ask Brother Zuo for help on this.”

“Brother Zuo?” Gu Liang Dao’s eyes lit up and then his praise left his mouth. “Yes!”

Chapter 755 – Shen Device Part

Zuo Mo was surprised by the attitude that Xi Xuan showed but he quickly understood what Xi Xuan intended. Just like how Xi Xuan was the crux to restraining Kun Lun and Tian Huan for Mo Cloud Sea, Xi Xuan’s only ally in the xiuzhe world was Mo Cloud Sea.

After reading through Xi Xuan’s shen methodology, Zuo Mo understood why Xi Xuan hadn’t kept it a secret. No wonder people said that the true ancestor of the five element shen power was the [Reverse Five Element Shen Methodology] that Shuang Yu had created. In Zuo Mo’s view, Xi Xuan’s [Five Element Shen Power] was middling, and lacked any exceptional qualities. If a normal sect had created this shen methodology, it naturally would be outstanding, but with Xi Xuan’s status as one of the four great sects, it could be seen how sparse its talent was, to have created this mediocre shen methodology.

However, Zuo Mo did not help them advance the shen methodology. He did not dare to underestimate a foundation thousands of years old. Even a rotten boat had three tenths of its weight in nails. If they had the time, who knew if they could recover?

A powerful Xi Xuan definitely would not be willing to be Mo Cloud Sea’s ally.

After thinking for a moment, he called the two masters and gave the jade scroll to them.

Disdainful expressions appeared on the two master’s faces. They naturally looked down on a shen methodology of this level. There were not many that knew that Mo Cloud Sea had more than one shen methodology. Every person’s cultivation base were different, because Zuo Mo’s camp had a lot of xiuzhe, yao, and mo.

With Zuo Mo’s [Mo Cloud Shen Methodology] as the basis, there were many methodologies that branched off. Zuo Mo himself encouraged the creation of these, and would even help them perfect these shen methodologies. He didn’t hide a thing.

In this kind of an environment, the two masters were knowledgeable about shen power and looked down on normal shen methodologies.

“Xi Xuan has declined as expected. This shen methodology is just worth so much,” Master Sun Bao said without any courtesy.

Ji Wei smacked his lips and said, “It would be good if we can get a hold of Kun Lun’s and Tian Huan’s shen methodologies, those two might have some good insights.”

Hearing the two masters’ tone as though they were looking down on the world, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but smile. He then said, “Using Xi Xuan’s shen power to design shen equipment, is two months enough?”

“Two months?” Sun Bao dismissively snorted. “Half a month, only half a month!”

“Half a month!” Zuo Mo had a doubtful expression.

Sun Bao met Zuo Mo’s doubtful gaze and jumped as though he had been slighted. “Daren, if you don’t believe me, Old Sun is willing to be punished according to military law!”

Ji Wei’s face and neck was flushed as though he had been greatly humiliated.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright at the two’s reactions. These people were so proud. However, his attention quickly was attracted by the promise of half a month. “If that’s the case, how many sets can we make before the eighth month of next year?”

Sun Bao thought and said, “It depends on how we make them. If we use all of our power, fifty to sixty thousand will not be a problem. However, that is only if we give up on all other missions.”

“Without affecting the other missions?” Zuo Mo continued to ask.

“Twenty to thirty thousand,” Master Sun Bao sighed in relief. He didn’t want to waste his time on forging these shen equipment. There were countless mysteries in the world of shen power waiting for him to explore.

“Is this a large order?” Ji Wei suddenly said.

“En, for the eighth month of next year, Xi Xuan will take as much as we make.” Zuo Mo nodded.

Sun Bao immediately asked, “What’s the price?”

Ji Wei’s attention was also pulled over. The two’s eyes flashed with light. While Gongsun Cha was the main economic force of Mo Cloud Sea, they also spent the most. Zuo Mo never spared what he invested into Golden Crow Camp. All kinds of high level materials, all kinds of trials, he allowed them to do what they wanted.

It was only Zuo Mo’s unlimited investment that caused Golden Crow Camp to become so powerful. This could be seen from the flames they used to forge. In the past, only core members would have fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire. Now, this had been spread to become the standard flame for the outer members of Golden Crow Camp.

If they were willing to enter the cadet organizations, they would be gifted Golden Crow Fire.

The Golden Crow Fire was harvested from the Golden Crow Macro Formation. While it was not as expensive as it was in the past, it still was significant. Distributing it so widely meant it cost a great amount but Zuo Mo never complained about this kind of investment.

This directly caused the forgers from many places to furiously flood Mo Cloud Sea.

Later, in order to stop this outflow of talents, Kun Lun and Tian Huan had to increase their benefits for production xiuzhe. However, Mo Cloud Sea had already gathered a great number of production xiuzhe. Fourth-grade Golden Crow Fire. So many people would save for their entire lives but not be able to buy it.

Golden Crow Camp was literally a monster that ate gold. The two masters were extremely sensitive to price and profit.

“The price will be dependent on your design, the profit margin will be initially set at two hundred percent.” Once Zuo Mo opened his mouth, he was immediately exposed as an evil businessman.

Master Sun Bao was familiar with forging and said rapidly, “A set of shen equipment’s basic cost is around fifty seventh-grade jingshi. Two hundred percent profit margin, that is one hundred and fifty seventh-grade jingshi. On, that’s about right, the power of the shen equipment will reach about eighty percent of our Mo Cloud System.

Ji Wei’s eyes were bright and his breathing slightly rushed. “Big business! If it is twenty thousand sets, that is two million seventh-grade jingshi. No, we have to make at least thirty thousand sets!”

“There are ways to increase production.” Sun Bao thought as he spoke, “Right now, there are many low-level forgers with Golden Crow Fire. We can have them first forge the ingots for the shen equipment. That way, it will save us a lot of effort. Our shen fire pool is about to be completed. It will be able to be used to improve our efficiency. We can reduce production time. This way, we should be able to produce forty thousand sets!”

“Four million seventh-grade jinghsi!” Even Ji Wei who had seen great amounts before couldn’t help but exclaim and inhale sharply.

That was a terrifying number!

If this spread, it would make all of the xiuzhe world boil.

Zuo Mo’s face was flushed but he did not let the enormous number go to his head. He said with a snicker, “We will not take jingshi, we will take materials. Jingshi is being depreciated now, and the prices of materials is increasing. This way, we will get everything out of Xi Xuan.”

Sun Bao and Ji Wei furiously nodded.

Ever since they entered the era of shen power, the use and value of jingshi continued to decrease. It was not something essential for people to cultivate. The biggest value of jingshi came from the ling power it contained. Yet in the era of shen power, the greatest pursuit was of shen power, not ling power.

Conversely, as a result of the fighting, the prices of materials had risen greatly.

Especially high grade materials. The prices grew so fast it seemed they had a new price everyday. If Zuo Mo and the others hadn’t secretly moved everything out of Xuan Kong Temple’s Dhyana Treasure Pavilion, and all of the high grade materials that Xuan Kong Temple had accumulated over thousands of years had ended up in his hands. He would not have been able to support Golden Crow Camp’s terrifying expenses.

Most of the high level materials in Gongsun Cha’s [City Destroyer] and Bie Han’s [Arsonist] came from that.

The reason that Zuo Mo had not forged shen devices was not because he didn’t have the ability, but he did not have the resources. Each shen device required a piled of high grade materials each that were worth cities.

After forging two shen device raiments, almost all of Mo Cloud Sea’s high grade materials had been used up.

Even Kun Lun and Tian Huan did not dare to casually forge shen device raiments.

Shen device raiments were the ultimate weapon of this era. It represented the peak of forging for this era.

Zuo Mo had thought deeply about forging [City Destroyer] and [Arsonist]. A Gui already had a shen device raiment, that grey set of armor that Zuo Mo named the [Undying Ghost]. Zuo Mo also had the Anti Dragon Claw and the Three Thousand Thread of Worry. While the sum of them together could not equal a shen device raiment, they could compare to pseudo-shen weapons.

Also, Zuo Mo thought that [City Destroyer] and [Arsonist] were of greater use to Mo Cloud Sea.

However, four million seventh-grade jingshi was enough to forge a true shen device raiment!

The excitement the three felt when facing this number could be imagined.

“I will leave this matter to your care,” Zuo Mo said.

Sun Bao jumped up and said excitedly, “Daren, do not worry, this subordinated definitely will not let even one of these four million pieces of jingshi walk away!”

Ji Wei nodded.

“En, en. I’m confident in your work. However, pay attention to keeping this a secret. Don’t let people find out too early,” Zuo Mo ordered.

The two hurriedly acknowledged this, and then impatiently bid farewell to leave.

It was impossible for others to be completely unalerted to a project of such scale. Mo Cloud Sea was filled with spies from all factions. While extermination was occurring constantly, these spies were like weeds that would never stop growing.

As long as this matter was not exposed too early, there was no great worry.

Watching the two leave, Zuo Mo’s face unconsciously turned to that shen device part shaped like a tree branch.

His eyes flashed with emotion. As though she detected his emotions, A Gui silently appeared behind Zuo Mo.

The scars on A Gui’s faces had disappeared. Her face was like the one that Zuo Mo had once seen in his memories. Her face was still expressionless and the mark on her brow was unusually clear.

Her undying shen power had become even more unfathomable.

“I’m fine.” Zuo Mo turned to smile at A Gui and then rubbed her hair.

A Gui’s empty eyes became gentler.

“Let’s go to see.” Zuo Mo pulled A Gui to walk towards the corner. The empty corner suddenly pit up and Zuo Mo and A Gui disappeared in the light.

Zuo Mo and A Gui appeared in a secret room.

There were many things stored in these secret room. Many of the items showed marks of being burned and damaged. They also looked old.

There was a helmet placed at the end of the room.

The helmet was dim. Dozens of thin and long bone spikes fanned out in rows behind the helmet. At the top of the helmet, there was a crescent thin blade coming out of the forehead that  arched over top and wrapped around to the back of the helmet.

This was another part of the shen device raiment that his father had forged. It had been placed in Xuan Kong Temple’s Dhyana Treasure Pavilion and then landed in Zuo Mo’s hands. The things in this secret room were all things that Xuan Kong Temple had taken from his home in the past.

When Zuo Mo came near, the dim helmet suddenly lit up with a gentle light.

Zuo Mo stilled, and his mind moved. He took out that tree-shaped shen device part.

The helmet suddenly shook, the dozens of spikes trembling as it gave off a hotter light.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt pain on his hand and he instinctively let go.

The tree branch turned into a streak of light and flew to the bright helmet like a bird return to the nest.

Chapter 756 – The Uninhibited Chao Xin

Zuo Mo looked at the strange thing in front of him and was greatly interested.

The forked tree branch part of the devices was now pointed downwards and the main trunk was connected to the back of the helmet.

It looked … …

Zuo Mo examined it for a while and found it increasingly familiar. He thought hard before he finally recalled what this was like. If the helmet was a person’s head, then the main branch that led down from the back of the head, wasn’t it a person’s spine? And the forked branches that split off, weren’t they like the small blood vessels and channels?

The more Zuo Mo looked, the more he felt it was like that.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo was extremely curious about his father. This kind of design was definitely unique. Even in this era where shen devices were constantly appearing, it still was unique. He was even more curious what the other two parts looked like.

What would the complete shen weapon look like?

What kind of power would the complete shen weapon have?

Zuo Mo suddenly had a feeling that his father was a great person. This shen device was too unique. Even though Zuo Mo had forged the [Angle Device Raiment], a pseudo-shen device, he still felt stunned by the incomplete two-part product in front of him.

There were no indications of how it was forged on its body. There were no shen glyphs or seal scripts. The tree like structure seemed to have grown naturally. The helmet was tightly melded and didn’t show any signs of being forged. Those long strange antennae-like things were something that Zuo Mo still didn’t know the use of.

He tried to pick up the newly merged shen weapon. It was unexpectedly light as though there was nothing.

A ball of light suddenly lit up at the end of the antenna. The light flashed to a certain rhythm that was hard to understand. The level of this shen weapon far surpassed the level of the present shen weapons that had appeared.

To an innocent man, wealth is a crime!

How could the Zuo Family which possessed such a shen device not be targeted by other people?

Zuo Mo sighed. He focused on the half shen weapon in front of him. After the two parts merged together, they seemed to come alive, and occasionally released light.

Zuo Mo tried to channel in shen power.

Boom!

He felt the surrounding scenery change. Information flooded into his mind.

Off guard, Zuo Mo’s body froze, his vision turning black. He only recovered after an unknown length of time.

Pew!

He tasted sweetness and then spat out a mouthful of blood before his chest felt less congested.

He couldn’t help but show a shocked expression.

In Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness, Wei would had been motionless all this time suddenly opened his eyes. Pu Yao also felt something and suddenly stood up.

“Don’t try that again!”

Wei’s words stopped Zuo Mo.

With the warning, Zuo Mo put the incomplete shen weapon down with lingering fear. He didn’t dare to try again. With his previous attempt, he had been lightly wounded, and almost seven-tenths of his shen power had been used up. His scalp pricked at this result. He hadn’t even detected the loss of his shen power at all, and it was seven-tenths.

There was too much information inside the shen device, so much that it surpassed his tolerance and injured him. But no matter how he thought back, he could not remember a word.

This thing … …

However, Zuo Mo quickly noticed that Wei had woken up. He entered the sea of consciousness with a grimace, “Wei, you finally woke up.”

When Wei opened his mouth,and started nagging. “A Zuo, I said that you have to be careful, why don’t you listen? You’re a leader now, how can you be so rash? You have to know, if your shen power was just a little bit weaker, you would have been sucked dry, your life would be finished … …”

Listening to Wei’s nattering, Zuo Mo felt warm and a smile came onto his face.

Pu Yao impatiently interrupted him. “Enough, how come I didn’t feel that you were an old woman before? You are the great gravestone armor, you have dignity, show your presence, don’t be like an old woman!”

Wei stilled and then instinctively nodded. “That seems right.” But he quickly reacted, “What about an aura like yours that isn’t male or female?”

Pu Yao was furious. “Who are you saying isn’t male or female?”

Wei said deviously, “Not me.”

“I’ll kill you!” Pu Yao smiled in anger, the black flames on his body shooting into the air. The black flames in the sea of consciousness exploded as well, Pu Yao rampaging in the sky.

Wei didn’t have any fear at all, his expression was sunny but his mouth poisonous. “If you can’t kill me, you are a renyao.”

Zuo Mo almost fell onto his face. He wiped the cold sweat on his forehead. As expected, Wei was the more devious one.

Two tigers fighting would affect the bystander!

Without a second word, Zuo Mo silently slipped away.

Not long after he came out of the sea of consciousness, Zuo Mo received Gu Liang Dao’s letter. After reading it, he guessed what the issue was but it was not for him to express opinions on this matter. Also, the favor Gu Liang Dao requested of him was a simple matter for him.

Gu Liang Dao wasn’t willing to return to Xi Xuan and this was most likely because he saw that Xi Xuan was in difficult straits, the situation was not something that one person could change.

He shook his head and his attention turned back to Mo Cloud Sea.

The present situation was also a great pressure on Mo Cloud Sea.

With Xi Xuan’s massive order, Mo Cloud Sea could enter a time of fast development. As long as they overcame the obstacle of materials, the powerful production abilities of Mo Cloud Sea would be able to be expressed.

For the present Mo Cloud Sea, if they worked steadily, if they finished accumulating in this time, their power would change.

While Zuo Mo had a good plan, other people would likely hamper is efforts.

———

“Xi Xuan and Mo Cloud Sea have established an alliance.”

The report of the subordinate caused Lin Qian to raise his head. His expression was normal. “Is the information true?”

“This is intelligence from the spy inside Xi Xuan,” the subordinate said respectfully. “We cannot get close to Zhong De and does not have direct evidence of this, but Zhong De took out the Zuo Family shen device part from Xi Xuan’s stores. We detected traces of its movement.”

“They are willing to pay a great price.” The one that spoke was an elegant youth with red lips, white teeth, and ethereal long robes. His voice when he spoke carried an unique slowness. He was called Chao Xin and one of the members of Lin Qian’s inner Sword Pavilion.

In the Sword Pavilion that Lin Qian had built, every position was coveted. Countless elders used their connections in hopes that they could arrange for their disciples to enter. Everyone knew that the Sword Pavilion would become the true core of power in Kun Lun’s future. If they could enter, they would undoubtedly enter the true core of Kun Lun.

Yet Lin Qian had resisted the suggestions of the masses and picked an unknown disciple, Chao Xin. Chao Xin was born into poverty. While his parents were Kun Lun disciples, they were outer disciples. He appeared very poor in the eyes of the public. Also, Chao Xin’s individual cultivation was stunningly weak. He entered the Sword Pavilion with zhuji cultivation. This was the first in Kun Lun’s history.

What was also unexpected was that Chao XIn’s ranking was high. The first person that Lin Qian picked was Xue Dong, the second was Chao XIn.

This unknown outer sect disciple immediately multiplied in value and was watched by countless.

Rather than shining like people had expected, Chao Xin gradually faded out of view and didn’t seem to have any existence to speak off. Only the true higher levels of Kun Lun knew the great power this youth controlled.

“Yes,” the subordinate hurriedly said, “this time, the envoy was Jian Jun. This person is not strong but skilled in diplomacy. He was promoted by Zhong De. It was the people from Abyss Jail that protected him on his journey. We could not discover what they discussed.”

Chao Xin said casually, “Pay attention to the movement of their resources. Zhong De is careful, but he just came out of seclusion, and the power he wields in the sect is limited. These tasks are ones that he has to rely on the people below to do.”

“Yes!” the subordinate acknowledged and then left.

Lin Qian didn’t feel any displeasure at Chao Xin giving orders. He frowned and said, “If Xi Xuan and Mo Cloud Sea have allied together, it will affect us greatly.”

Chao Xin took a sip of wine, and savoured it for a moment before speaking. “The most correct move that Xi Xuan has made up until now was to get Zhong De to come out. However, one cannot stand alone. Zhong De is strong but he is just a battle general. Our entry point should be Xi Xuan’s sect leader. I looked at the reports on him. He became sect leader at a young age, but Xi Xuan has been controlled by the elders. One can imagine just how discontent he felt. A person like this will desire power far more than other people. Look at this move, he almost cleaned out all of the elders.”

Lin Qian listened carefully. As he listened, he poured wine for Chao Xin. His movements were practiced. This was clearly not the first time he was doing so.

Chao Xin sipped happily, his expression uninhibited as he drawled, “Right now, Xi Xuan’s power is concentrated in Zhong De’s hands. He can tolerate this because the situation is severe. Only Zhong De can control the situation. He needs this knife. This is the common speculation. However, I feel that it is not so simple. It is not possible that Zhong De would not have thought of this. I investigated this person especially.”

“This person is very interesting. On one hand, he values promises and friendship, on the other, he can do anything, be cruel and kill easily. Fifty years ago, his woman was pulled into an incident and died. He lost his passion and asked to guard the Abyss Jail. He grew up in Xi Xuan from a young age and owed the past sect leader. However, the past sect leader of Xi Xuan did not help him with that case. Therefore, Zhong De’s emotions about the sect leader are slightly complex. However, no matter what, the matter of his woman is still something he thinks about. This can be seen from him immediately building a tomb after coming out. He cannot be loyal to the present sect leader but he still decided to come out, still helped the Xi Xuan sect leader finish the purging, this caused me to come up with a new theory.”

“What theory?” Lin Qian was interested.

“He knows what the present sect leader is like, yet he still helped the other complete the purge, still came out of isolation, still had himself become a blade for the other, and take full control without any qualms. There are two possibilities. One, he wants to kill the sect leader and become the ruler of Xi Xuan. Or, he knows that he will not be a threat to the sect leader even if he does this.”

Chao Xin’s eyes were bright, his tone slightly excited. “If he wants to kill the sect leader, the best time would have been when purging the upper ranks, with the loss of half of the sect leader’s personal guard. The counterattack from the elders was enough for the sect leader, lacking protection, to die. And it would be something accepted and his reputation would not be stained. But he didn’t do that. This is matching to his personality, while bloodthirsty, he has his bottom line. The other possibility is something worthy of discussing. He has such great power yet he is not a threat to the sect leader. That only occurs in one possibility, he knows he won’t live long! A dead person will be of no threat to anyone.”

Lin Qian changed expression.

Chapter 757 – Danger

Leaving in the night, they avoided the armies stationed along the way, making a long detour, the Tangzi Battalion appeared near Eastern Spring Jie like ghosts. Because Zuo Mo had to have Hundred Energy Jie, they had spent more effort gathering information on the surroundings here than in other places. This allowed Tang Fei to easily avoid the enemies troops stationed here.

The Mo Marshal Alliance would never think that Bie Han would target Eastern Spring Jie. Unlike the other jie that were heavily guarded near Hundred Energy Jie, Eastern Spring Jie was just as guarded as usual.

“How long until we arrive in Eastern Spring Jie?” Tang Fei asked gravely. The long hair of the female blew in the sharp cold air. Her stern face was filled with determination and her tone firm and strong.

“According to our present speed, we will arrive at the outer defense line of Eastern Spring Jie at approximately tomorrow afternoon,” the subordinate calculated before answering.

Tang Fei looked around. Seeing that everyone’s energy was good, she nodded inside. The rest last night had been important. The recovery of the battalion’s energy was in preparation for the battle tomorrow. Every soldier had been outfitted with a high grade mo steed . The cloud steeds that Chun Yu Cheng had bred were better, but their production was limited and not available to be distributed to the mo soldiers. The wealthy Zuo Mo decided to give them high grade mo steeds.

All of them were seventh-grade Fire-Stepping Hell Horses. They were tall, their hides completely black and their eyes dark red. Their hooves were wrapped up bright red flames. The Fire-Stepping Hell Horses were outstanding for their endurance, suited for long journeys. They were vicious and not afraid of battle. They were a good fighting mo steed species.

“Increase the scouts by thirty teams, pay special care as to not alert the enemy.” Tang Fei ordered.

The subordinate hurriedly passed on her orders.

Miao Jun looked on with a smile at his student. The past Tang Fei caused people’s eyes to light up, but she had not been so methodical and calm like now. In these past years, he had spent almost all of his energy to teach Tang Fei. He was extremely satisfied with Tang Fei. Even in Mo Cloud Sea that had many geniuses, Tang Fei was still exceptional.

When he thought of this, he couldn’t help but feel emotional. If he wasn’t part of Mo Cloud Sea’s inner core, he could not imagine the strength Mo Cloud Sea had in their battle generals. Any of them would be a person that could take control of a region if they were of another faction. What he felt even harder to believe that the great majority of these talented young battle generals had been unknown before joining Mo Cloud Sea, and many were not even battle generals before.

Tang Fei’s strong voice interrupted his pondering.

“Eastern Spring Jie is not an important jie, and stationed there are four battalions lead by mo generals. It is not difficult to take it and then we can threaten the Sun Mountain and Eastern Might defense line. There are many important jie concentrated in the region, all of them resource jie for the Mo Marshal Alliance. They have stationed many soldiers there. We will encounter attacks from multiple fronts.”

Miao Jun listened to Tang Fei’s analysis.

“Bie Han Daren’s goal is naturally not those places. The most likely reason he has us attacking Eastern Spring Jie is to diminish the other’s ability to reinforce Bright Mountain Jie. A Zha Ge’s task should be similar to us. From the position, it seems that A Zha Ge, us and BIe Han Daren form a triangle. Bie Han Daren is the corner at the front. Shi Dong’s use is the hardest the guess. That place is a target that has no value!”

Tang Fei had a puzzled expression in her eyes. Seeing this, Miao Jun smiled and said, “Let’s continue this talk after taking down Eastern Spring Jie.”

Tang Fei still and said embarrassedly, “Teacher is right.”

Her expression turned stern, coldness rising on her determined face. She silently raised her right hand.

The scouts had encountered enemy battalions!

The commanders around her immediately turned serious. Orders were quickly sent down. The team leaders became alert, shouting rising in waves. They urged on the mo steeds under them, moving into formation. The mo soldiers behind them quickly adjusted as well.

The troops which had been swiftly moving quickly changed. Within ten breaths, the shape of the troops turned from a marching formation to an offensive battle formation!

Tang Fei urged the cloud steed under her forward. Her cloud seed was a silver Thunder Cloud Steed. Compared to the large brawny and vicious Fire-Stepping Hell Horses, the Thunder Cloud Steed seemed much thinner. It moved elegantly at a measured pace, its entire body covered in dark blue cloud patterns.

Tang Fei appeared at the front of the entire battalion. After seven years, the Tangzi Battalion had expanded to three thousand people.

The crowd of dots in the horizon became clearer as the enemy approached closer at a rapid rate.

Tang Fei’s face seemed to be made from granite and was unmoving. However, that pair of calm eyes burned with fighting spirit. She lightly tapped the Thunder Cloud Steed under her. The Thunder Cloud Steed knew its master’s intention. It whinnied, lightning exploding off its body as it suddenly accelerated.

Without any hesitation, the entire battalion accelerated in unison!

The shen equipment on each mo soldier suddenly lit up. Mo Cloud shen power moved at the same time, gathering through the levels, from the mo soldiers to the mo captains, from the mo captains to the mo colonels. After being tempered, they gathered to Tang Fei.

The Tangzi Battalion seemed to be one being, a ball of furious shen power, like a great axe being swung in the hand of a giant!

And Tang Fei, shrouded in lightning at the front of the troops was the silver edge of the axe’s bright blade!

The opposing mo general paled but the two sides were too close to order a change. There was no time for them to turn back. The mo general knew that this was not the time to hesitate. If he did, they would perish. Charging forward would be their only chance of living. He gritted his teeth and then suddenly shouted, “Kill!”

The power gathered on his body yet it could not give him the usual feeling of safety and confidence.

The two floods of bodies neared at an astounding speed.

The Tangzi Battalion was like a sharp and powerful axe that cut into the other’s battalion!

The enemy’s power was as fragile as paper in front of this heavy axe, not able to withstand even one attack. Everywhere it passed, blood and flesh flew. Anyone that was even touched would be torn apart!

In a blink, Tang Fei saw a sliver of light. She knew that she was about to penetrate through the other’s battalion!

Without any hesitation, Tang Fei released her control of the power gathered on her.

The savage power suddenly exploded with the Tangzi Battalion as the center!

She had timed it perfectly. The power that suddenly lost its restraints was like a bomb exploding inside the enemy battalion’s ranks. It threw up blood and limbs, and the other’s ranks were completely thrown into chaos!

The disorganization of the troops meant that power could not be effectively gathered and controlled.

If its enemy still maintained their battle formation, then what waited for it was the fate of being slaughtered.

In comparison, Tang Fei was clearly more skilled. After finishing such a strong charge, her battalion ranks were not disordered in the slightest. She didn’t need to reorganize her battle formation before she started a second charge!

This battle was determined already.

———

Lin Qian was stunned by Chao Xin’s daring speculation. A long time later, he slowly spoke, “If this is true, then it is a piece of significant news!”

“Xi Xuan will not continue.” Chao Xin’s expression was relaxed. “No matter if Zhong De lives or dies. If he lives, a conflict will occur between the sect leader and his best battle general, Zhong De, who is not of one mind as him. If he’s dead, without Zhong De, Xi Xuan will lose its greatest shield. How will the sect leader prop up Xi Xuan? I don’t believe it. Unless Gu Liang Dao’s trio is willing to return to Xi Xuan. However, I do not think that the Xi Xuan sect leader is willing to tolerate them. A person who has lost power for decades has a far greater possessiveness about power than normal people. Gu Liang Dao, he is a strong and proud person, is he willing to bow his head? These few years are the strongest years of Xi Xuan, the light of the sunset will always intoxicate people.”

Lin Qian was thoughtful. He nodded. “Yes, Mo Cloud Sea is the one more worthy of wariness.”

“Yes!” Chao Xin put away his frivolous expression and turned serious. “The one truly worthy of guarding against is Mo Cloud Sea. Mo Cloud Sea is filled with life and it is progressing. This is not something that Xi Xuan, a sinking ship, can compare to. If the two ally, the one that benefits the most is not Xi Xuan but Mo Cloud Sea.”

“Mo Cloud Sea … …” Lin Qian murmured to himself and then smiled helplessly. He said, “I had not thought that Mo Cloud Sea would grow to something that we would have a headache about.”

“Mo Cloud Sea does have weaknesses.” Chao Xin’s eyes flashed with light. He said with a cold smile, “From the surface, Mo Cloud Sea is small but strong. It possessed the two great battle generals ranking top four and top ten. It has strong battalions, many experts. It is strong in forging, and wealthy. Yet it has a great weakness, it lacks a person who can manage its internal affairs.”

Lin Qian thought.  He really could not find anyone in Mo Cloud Sea that was famous for managing affairs.

“This weakness will not be evident when their territory is small. But if their possessions expand ten times, no, only five more times, they will be a mess.” Chao Xin was filled with great intelligence. “Sixty something jie and three hundred something jie has several levels of difference in the difficulty in management.”

Lin Qian’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

Chao XIn had clearly worked hard. “This is a hidden weakness if they do not resolve it. Once they start to expand, this weakness will become fatal. We are expanding, if they do not follow, they will fall even further behind us. At that time, they wouldn’t even have the chance to fight back. If we increase our expansion speed, they only have one choice, expand! Haha, a snake that gorged itself to death. They know they will die from overeating but have no other choice.”

Lin Qian smiled. “It seems that we need to give them a bit of pressure.

“Also, they have another weakness.” A cold light flashed through Chao Xin’s eyes. “They rely too much on transportation formations!”

———

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects sent people to sneak to the transportation formations to take control. Fortunately, Eldest Shixiong Wei Sheng was nearby and quickly arrived. He killed more than a dozen dhyana xiu before they retreated.

The other’s infiltration had been planned for a long time. Even the jinzhi around the transportation formations were unable to stop them. It could be seen how strong the enemy was.

Looking at the corpses on the ground, Zuo Mo who hurried here inhaled in shock.

Most of Mo Cloud Sea’s connections to the outside world were through transportation formations. While they were expensive, they were convenient and fast to build. For the wealthy Mo Cloud Sea, this was not a great problem.

In the past, nothing had ever happened to the transportation spots. How come someone had sneaked through this time?

After walking around the transportation spot, Zuo Mo finally understood the reason. There was a complete set of jinzhi set up around each transportation formation. In the past, when everyone cultivated shen power, the jinzhi was enough to guarantee the safety of these transportation formations. After entering the era of shen power, everyone’s power had grown tremendously, but the jinzhi had not changed much. This imbalance caused the previously safe transportation formations to become extremely dangerous.

Zuo Mo immediately recognized the severity of the problem.

Golden Crow Camp had focused almost all of its power into the shen devices and the shen equipment. He had not thought that there would be a weakness in the jinzhi. This had caused the development of jinzhi to fall behind. The only one that could be used was the [King’s Forbidden Firmament]. However, this set of jinzhi was so expensive to set up, so difficult, that it was not realistic for the many transportation formations that Mo Cloud Sea had.

Zuo Mo’s first thought was to close the transportation formations.

But he quickly rejected this idea. The transportation formations were Mo Cloud Sea’s only connection to the outside world. If they closed the transportation formations, then all of Mo Cloud Sea’s products would be unable to be transported out, and they would be isolated from the world.

That would be a fatal blow to Mo Cloud Sea.

Chapter 758 – Cutting One’s Flesh, And Inspiration

Zuo Mo carefully inspected the corpses on the ground.

“They aren’t bad.” Wei Sheng’s words rang an alarm for Zuo Mo. Those that could be called not bad by Wei Sheng Shixiong were definitely not weak.

“It is Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect,” a guard carefully reported. Daren rarely had a dark expression like this.

“Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect?” Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed with a cold light.

“Yes! These people are not wearing shen equipment but they cultivate heart leaf shen power. Daren, take a look.” Finishing, the subordinate forced open the hand of a corpse. There was the mark of a tree branch with a leaf on the palm.

“Daren, this is the mark of heart leaf shen power. They have reached the level of one branch one leaf.”

“One branch one leaf?” Zuo Mo asked.

“When heart leaf shen power reaches a new level, their mark will grow and add another leaf,” the person said respectfully.

“You know a lot.” Zuo Mo asked in surprise, “What’s your name?”

“This subordinate is Jin De Wei,” the guard was slightly embarrassed. “This one’s duty is to inspect the merchant caravans that travel through here, and I have heard some things in the process.”

“Oh, then speak, what other information is there on Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect?” Zuo Mo stood and asked interestedly.

Jin De Wei had a hesitant expression.

Zuo Mo smiled and said, “It’s just chatter, and I’m just listening.”

Jin De Wei finally spoke, “This subordinate coincidentally heard the manager of a merchant caravan mention that Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect secretly consorts with Tian Huan. This subordinate felt they were slightly suspicious and paid attention to them secretly. I heard this from their members.”

“Why did you find them suspicious?” Zuo Mo seemed to be more interested in Jin De Wei.

“This subordinate found that they were going around and asking questions, especially about shen equipment and shen power. They also asked about the general location of Golden Crow Island. The range of items they brought was wide, they bought a few of everything but not many of any particular item, they did not seem like business people,” Jin De Wei explained.

The admiration in Zuo Mo’s eyes grew. This person did not have an attention-catching appearance, but he was perceptive and he was a careful person. This was a talent.

He then asked, “What do you think of this matter?”

Jin De Wei knew that Daren was testing him and immediately focused. After a moment of thought, he said gravely, “They are very familiar with the jinzhi and probably have come before to study them. There were not many people in this attack, just twenty, they did not have any reinforcements. It seems more like a probing mission.”

After he said this, Jin De Wei’s expression turned ashen. He was frightened by his own conclusion.

Zuo Mo’s expression turned dark.

———

“There are about ninety eight transportation formations to the outside world, in twenty or so jie, these outer border jie have been labeled.” There was a jie map in front of Gongsun Cha. Almost all of out the outermost jie were labeled in red.

Because Mo Cloud Sea’s connection to the outside was almost completely reliant on the transportation formations. Ninety eight transportation formations, twenty two of the outermost jie, on average, each jie had more than four transportation formations connected to the outside.

“Of these ninety eight transportation formations that go to different jie, forty two of them are to xiuzhe jie that are not connected to Tian Huan and Kun Lun. These forty two jie are mostly from the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and some smaller powers. These factions are easy to infiltrate and the transportation formations have become a fatal weakness for us right now.”

Gongsun Cha raised his head to look around. “The most secure method right now is to relocate the transportation formations. The best option is to gather the transportation formations, and designate specific business jie where we will station troops to guarantee their safety. However, there are also problems with this plan. The expenses in setting up new transportation formations will be huge, and this way, the cost of many of products will increase as well as reduce our offensive abilities.”

Zuo Mo had a grimace. Gongsun Cha’s method was possible, but just as he had said, the investment would be enormous.

Transportation formations that could move large volumes for long distances were expensive. Even with Zuo Mo’s wealth, he had only accumulated these ninety eight transportation formations after seven years of development. If he had to rebuild so many transportation formations, the amount of money he had to spend was a great sum.

This was a relatively safe plan but it was too expensive.

“The price is too great!” Zuo Mo shook his head. “We do not have the capital.”

Everyone nodded. This plan cost too much. In their view, even if they took over all these jie, they didn’t need to spend so many jingshi.

Gongsun Cha also knew that this plan was not realistic and continued, “We do not need to guess what will happen next. Kun Lun and Tian Huan will use our weakness by infiltrating the other powers and harass our transportation formations, even destroying them to destroy our connections to the outside world.”

Inhales sounded in the conference room. Those with the slightest bit of knowledge understood how great a blow it would be to Mo Cloud Sea if the situation came to that step!

“The problem is that even though we know what they will do next, we do not have many solutions.”

Lil’ Miss’ expression was black. He had originally thought that they built Mo Cloud Sea to be impenetrable and hadn’t expected that they had left such a fatal weakness.

At this time, a paper crane suddenly appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand. After Zuo Mo unfolded it and read through, he said coolly, “Three transportation formations were attacked at once, and one was destroyed.”

The conference room was deathly silent. Everyone had black expressions.

Zuo Mo knew that Mo Cloud Sea was in a dangerous situation. At this time, he had to make a decision.

“Other than the crucial transportation formations, close all others,” Zuo Mo said deeply. Angry flames burned in his eyes.

His heart dripped blood. The closure of each transportation formation meant the loss of large amounts of jingshi.

Mo Cloud Sea’s economy was about to receive a great blow. For Little Mo Ge whose wealth was his life, this was like cutting his flesh.

Breaking someone’s path to riches was akin to killing one’s parents.

Zuo Mo’s face twisted in pain. He was completely infuriated by the enemy’s actions.

“If we have to suffer losses, then everyone will suffer with us. How can we be the only to lose?” Zuo Mo gritted out. “Our transportation formation jinzhi have problems, their transportation formation jinzhi will also have similar problems. They can infiltrate and destroy, we can do the same.”

When had Mo Cloud Sea ever been defeated like this? Hearing Zuo Mo’s words, flames of anger rose in the eyes of the people who had been feeling frustrated.

Zuo Mo was unusually angry. His eyes flashed with burning light like a wolf in the darkness. “They will regret starting this.”

“Yes!” Lil’ Miss’ black expression returned to normal and a smile like that of the neighbor’s boy came back. “This kind of small scale infiltration is actually more advantageous for us. We have a smaller territory and is easier to defend. They are larger and there are openings everywhere. It will be difficult to prevent infiltration. Also, we do not need to limit ourselves to transportation formations. Attack any storage depots, any resource jie, if we get to their rear, we can cause pandemonium.”

Lil’ Miss’ words immediately opened a door. All kinds of inspiration rose.

“Yes, we can assassinate important people.”

“It is more profitable to assassinate those people who are not in high positions but are very important. For example, the masters in charge of managing production. Their guards will not be strong, the danger is low, and the benefit is high.”

“Disrupt the peace … …”

“Ambush transportation boats … …”

“There’s a place that you all forget, the place that teaches battle generals. If we get that, ha, that place is rich! Maybe we can end a future genius battle general, that would be profitable!”

“We need to plan for escape … …”

“We need to divide and conquer … …”

The conference room that had just been deathly silent was now in heated discussion.

As he listened, even Zuo Mo, the start of all this, felt a cold wave up his back. How could these people be so devious … …

———

Bie Han looked at the paper crane that came from the rear and then crushed it before throwing it to the side. “Have the jinzhi been built?”

“The construction has finished,” Ma Fan responded. He was filled with puzzlement. Daren had acted the opposite of his usual strategy and built large amounts of jinzhi here as though he was building a great defense line.

“Report on the progress of the battalions.” Bie Han’s voice was icy.

Ma Fan shook and then hurried to report. “The Tangzi Battalion have already taken Eastern Spring Jie, finished reorganizing, and are waiting for next orders. A Zha Ge Battalion need three more days to reach their destination. However, they have already been detected by the scouts from the Mo Marshal Alliance. The Grey Camp have arrived at the ambush spot without attracting any attention.”

“Is there any movement from the reinforcements at Bright Mountain Jie?”

“There are two mo marshal battalions, one of them is seven days away, the other further away, and will most likely arrive in twenty days,” Ma Fan reported.

Ma Fan had fought alongside Lil’ Miss since a long time ago, and always admired Lil’ Miss’ powerful calculation. This time, when he followed Bie Han, he found to his shock that Bie Han was also precise and accurate in this field.

“Tangzi Battalion will keep resting, A Zha Ge Battalion will follow the original plan.” Bie Han’s orders were clean and brisk.

“Yes!” Ma Fan hurriedly answered.

“You are stationed here. Your mission is to stop the enemy battalion from making any sudden attacks,” Bie Han said.

“Yes!” Ma Fan crisply acknowledged. Then he carefully asked, “Daren, you … …”

“I will attack the reinforcements.” Bie Han treasured words like gold.

Ma Fan’s face turned white. “Bright Mountain Jie has two mo marshal battalions … …”

“Just guard the defense line.” Bie Han was expressionless.

Ma Fan finally understood why Daren had built this defense line that seemed completely unnecessary. However, even with the defensive line, when Ma Fan thought of the two mo marshal battalions they were facing, he still felt a great pressure.

Even though Ma Fan’s battalion was one of the best in defense from Mo Cloud Sea, he had never fought against a mo marshal battalion before. Any battalion led by a mo marshal was astoundingly powerful.

However, Bie Han clearly did not intend to explain more to him. He led Sin Battalion to disappear in the darkness.

Chapter 759 – Wolf-Head Thousand Monster Camp

“I’m Fei Lei.” Fei Lei was surprised by Liang Wei’s youth but he quickly disguised the surprise in his eyes.

“I am Liang Wei.” Liang Wei could see the other’s surprise but he did not care. No matter who it was, they mostly reacted the same way when they saw his youthful face.

Fei Lei’s weathered face was filled with an experienced and steady presence. This caused Liang Wei to be filled with anticipation towards his battalion.

Fei Lei did not like to waste his words. He said directly, “Please come with me.”

The group entered a concealed mountain valley. Through the narrow mouth of the valley, the space suddenly broadened out. A wave of noise came, the shouts of youths, and Liang Wei’s heart beat uncontrollably.

Entering his view were thousands of youths furiously cultivating. The white mist from the evaporation of sweat, dirt flying into the air, angry shouts and curses, constant explosions, the activity assaulted Liang Wei’s senses.

Liang Wei entered a daze, and Fei Lei’s voice sounded distant to his ear.

“They are all individually outstanding. At the beginning, they cultivated mo skills and then changed to shen power. Each of them has a unique bloodline, and they do not have any barriers in the area of cultivation. They have progressed quickly. Up until now, they are still in the stage of rapid advancement. The length of this stage will be based on their age and talent, from about three to ten years.”

Fei Lei was completely familiar with these youths that he had travelled over mountains and oceans to find and teach.

“They are outstanding in power compared to those of their age cohort. They can even match the disciples of those large sects and the prestigious families. We have excavated the power they possess in their blood. This is also the help that I can give them. However, regretfully, they are very immature as a battalion, and can only create a basic formation.”

Liang Wei refocused and was surprised. From his observation, these youths were as Fei Lei said, outstanding individually and a match for the elite battalions that he had seen before. So many good talents, how could their higher-ups missed them? He didn’t know the power of his higher-ups but he knew that the mysterious faction would not lack for battle generals. At least Pu Pu himself was very powerful, and he would not be ignorant of the value of these strong outstanding youths.

It did not require a strong battle general to carry out normal battalion training.

However, his idleness in these years had sharpened his self-control. He asked without a change in expression, “Do they lack a battle general to guide them?”

A grimace flashed across Fei Lei’s weathered features. He shook his head, “That’s not so.”

As expected, there was a problem! Liang Wei showed an intent expression.

Fei Lei said coolly, “Their bloodlines were activated which caused their individual power to skyrocket. Their shen power cultivation benefited even more. However, the activated bloodlines caused there hidden personalities to take over, and they are very strange now.”

“Strange?” Liang Wei had a puzzled expression.

Fei Lei glanced at Liang Wei, a hint of sympathy flashing through the depths of his eyes. “Yes, very strange.”

He pointed randomly to a youth sitting in meditation in the corner. “He is Ying Rong, he will meditate for fourteen hours each day without exception. Anyone that goes within ten zhang of him would receive his unconscious and indiscriminate attack.”

“Unconscious and indiscriminate … …” Liang Wei gaped, his expression shocked.

“Yes.” Fei Lei seemed to not see Liang Wei’s expression and said, “That’s his instinct. While he will sincerely apologize to you after the matter, you may not be able to hear it then.”

“Why?” Liang Wei stilled.

“Because if you are not seriously injured and unconscious, you are likely dead,” Fei Lei said expressionlessly. “Look.”

As he spoke, he picked up a stone and threw at Ying Rong.

The rock drew out a crescent in the air and flew within ten zhang of Ying Rong.

Ying Rong who was in a meditative trance shook and then opened his eyes. Shockingly, his eyes were completely white with no pupils. He jumped up and gave a strange snarl. Midair, his body suddenly gave off countless blade-like red energies.

Hundreds of red energies headed like a storm towards the rock flying at him.

Poof!

The fist-sized rock was immediately turned into powder.

Ying Rong’s body bounced and flew back to his original spot back in meditation.

The powder drifted down. Liang Wei’s mouth was open, his expression dazed.

“Ying Rong’s problem is not that bad because other than the fourteen hours in meditation, there is ten hours where he is in a normal state.” Fei Lei pointed at a half-naked large man. “He is Guang Long, he has the rare dragon bloodline that causes him to enter a berserker state. Once his battlelust is stirred, he will tear apart everything around him. It is very dangerous to spar with him.”

Guang Long’s body was like a metal tower, his muscles bulging and giving off a great pressure. His blood red eyes moved around as though he was hunting for prey to fill his stomach.

After a moment, Liang Wei said in a rusty voice, “Is … … are all of them like this?”

Fei Lei nodded. “Give or take. They are born with the power of the bloodline, and the dangers come as well. However, there is one thing you can be certain of. They listen to orders. Of course, that’s when they are normal.”

The battle generals around Liang Wei that had accompanied him had ashen expressions. In their eyes, these youths were dangerous monsters that would consume them at any time.

We wanted to be battle generals, not beast trainers … …

They cried tears inside.

They greatly regretted agreeing to taking this job. Many people had the impulse to chop off their hands. Why hadn’t they resisted the temptation of the rewards? They should have thought of this, anyone that pays a wage has a black heart … …

Liang Wei’s expression gradually recovered from being pale. Then a vicious look flashed through his eyes.

The wolf battle general who had once gone alone into the enemy released that blood-stained killing intent and determined presence once he made his decision.

A look flashed through Fei Lei’s eyes. He was shocked. It seemed this person that the higher ups sent this time was someone good.

The other battle generals were stimulated by that sharp and vicious killing intent. They finally remembered that Liang Wei was not the same as them, he was a battle general who had truly experienced the cruelest of fighting!

The youths that were training were all sensitive and immediately noticed the astounding killing intent. They stopped and looked over.

Who was this person … … he clearly looked so weak but he possessed such a murderous presence … …

Liang Wei smiled, and showed his wolf-like teeth that seemed to have blood on them.

“This battalion will be called the Wolf-head Thousand Monster Camp!”

———

“What’s Bie Han’s goal?” Quan Pei tried to make his voice sound normal but people familiar with him could still hear the anxiety contained within.

His second-in-command had been with him for many years and could hear this in his voice. He couldn’t help but be shocked. This was the first time he had seen Daren so unconfident. Was Bie Han so strong?

He thought and then asked, “What is Daren worried about?”

Quan Pei was tall, and his hair was white in places. He was not young, but his presence was elegant and gave people an endearing feeling.

He was not young when he became a marshal, and didn’t have the desire to compete with others. Due to this, he did not hesitate when he was invited to join the Mo Marshal Alliance. He was not outstanding among the mo marshals of the alliance but he was a steady person with a good and gentle nature. Due to his popularity, and his familiarity with the military, he was assigned to an important position.

Quan Pei knew his abilities. He knew that he wasn’t some great general and so he did not compete. Even in these turbulent times, he hoped that he could peacefully live out his remaining days and benefit his descendants.

He had never thought that there would be a day that he would be forced to face a top battle general like Bie Han.

In these past years, the mo territories had completely changed. Many of the old great names continued to disappear and many unheard of names shone and ascended in this new era.

Quan Pei knew he was old in age, and could not keep up with this changing era.

Just as he knew that nothing good would come of this mission.

Bie Han was a person that was ranked as a top ten battle general in the xiuzhe world . This showed his power. This was a true top battle general. Battle generals of this level were not ones that he could win against. In the Mo Marshal Alliance, probably only the young battle generals of the new era, like Xi, Shang Yu Sheng, and Hai Jin Yun who would match him.

Quan Pei grimaced inside. Seven years, a change in era. Marshal Di and the others were still the leaders but they all knew that with each passing day, they got closer to the passing of the torch -the death of an era. Shen power was the root cause pushing all this.

It could be seen from the inner structure of the alliance. The higher-ups started to deliberately set up a path for the new generation that cultivated shen power. More and more young people started to take up important positions.

The Mo Marshal Alliance was not the only one, most of the mo powers were doing the same, the only exception was the Mo Shen Temple.

Shang Yu Sheng Battalion, and Hai Jin Yun Battalion were racing to reinforce this area. The alliance also knew that Quan Pei alone could not stop Bie Han.

“Nothing, I am worried about nothing. have everyone stay alert and be on their guard.” Quan Pei exhaled deeply, his voice finally returning to normal. He was an experienced battle general. He knew how great the damage to the battalion’s morale was if the main commander did not appear calm.

He only needed to delay Bie Han and fight for the time needed for the reinforcements to arrive.

When he thought of this, he felt slightly more confident. Shang Yu Sheng and Hai Jin Yun were the genius battle generals that had appeared in the Mo Marshal Alliance in these past years. They were young but possessed unparalleled talent. They had proven their strength in cruel battles. If it wasn’t for them, the expansion of the Mo Shen Temple would be even more difficult to restrain.

The two of them were top battle generals as well!

If he could delay Bie Han … … two top battle generals were about to arrive. Bie Han definitely would not have it easy. Maybe, they could kill Bie Han! Quan Pei was filled with confidence in the two genius youths of the alliance.

Suddenly, Quan Pei who felt slightly more reassured looked into the distance and his pupils contracted!

An intimidating battalion had silently appeared on his right flank.

Bie Han!

Chapter 760 – Zong Ru and Yi Qing

Yi Zheng’s expression was nervous and concerned. He didn’t dare to look away from Zong Ru’s face.

Zong Ru’s appearance had changed greatly. While Zong Ru had been of average appearance before, he had a strong body like most dhyana xiu. Yet now Zong Ru’s body was thin, his cheeks sunken. Only his eyes were bright as though he could see through everything. There was always a small warm and friendly smile on his face.

The red lotus on his forehead was like holy fire.

Zong Ru’s withered fingers moved away from Yi Zheng’s Shixiong’s body.

“Master Zong, how is my shixiong? Are there any solutions?” Yi Zheng’s heart was in his throat.

Yi Zheng’s Shixiong also opened his eyes which flashed with shock. Actually, he had been greatly shocked when he saw Zong Ru. The other’s thin body had clearly been caused by the constant corrosion of wish power, but that pair of shining eyes seemed to pierce straight into his heart.

It was the first time that he had the feeling that someone was unfathomable in power.

And when Zong Ru’s two fingers touched his wrist, the gentle and pure shen power caused him to feel a rare comfort and made him relax.

“There are no big problems.” Zong Ru smiled, his voice filled with a comforting power. Yi Zheng’s heart immediately calmed.

Joy came onto Yi Zheng’s face. “I just knew that Master Zong could heal Shixiong!”

Zong Ru smiled slightly. A jade scroll appeared on his hand that he handed to Yi Zheng’s shixiong.

“This is a record of some of the things I learned during my seclusion and a method to cultivate shen power. As long as you cultivate according to this, in a short time, you will heal. Your skill in Samadhi is rare and will be beneficial to your cultivation.”

Zong Ru then turned and said to Yi Zheng. “Cultivate together with your shixiong. If you have any questions, ask your shixiong.”

“Many thanks, Master Zong!”

The two gratefully thanked him.

Zong Ru waved his hands. “There’s no need to be so courteous, but you will not be able to tell others of this cultivation method.”

The two gravely acknowledged with solemn expressions.

A moment later, Zong Ru suddenly raised his head and with a deep gaze said, “In a few months, your wounds will start to recover. There is something that I want to ask of you.”

Yi Zheng hurriedly said, “Master Zong please speak of any matter!”

Yi Zheng’s shixiong also said, “Master Zong, please tell us!”

“In our Mo Cloud Sea, the dhyana xiu branch is weak. Other than myself, there are no others with significant achievements,” Zong Ru said with a smile. “My path as a dhyana xiu was rocky, and only received good fortune after meeting Daren. I only managed to develop this after seclusion. If I hide this method, it will be a great pity. Daren also wishes to increase the number of dhyana xiu in Mo Cloud Sea. However, I have no mind for this matter and so will ask the two of you to carry it out.”

Yi Zheng scratched his head. “There are too few dhyana xiu in Mo Cloud Sea, and the ones here are not strong. Everyone isn’t willing to be a dhyana xiu.”

Yi Zheng was right. In Mo Cloud Sea, dhyana xiu was a rare occupation. This was related to the fact that Mo Cloud Sea lacked a top ranked dhyana xiu. In the past, the strongest had been Zong Ru. Even though he was powerful, he was still weak when compared to others in Mo Cloud Sea.

Most in Mo Cloud Sea cultivated the sword. Wei Sheng’s terrifyingly unparalleled power was revered by countless followers. The famed Vermillion Bird Camp was also mostly comprised of sword xiu. Most importantly, Mo Cloud Sea had created an unique sword cultivation method, such as the sword essence comprehending formation.

Then it was the seal xiu. A seal xiu with a good foundation could find a relatively good job in Mo Cloud Sea. Also, Golden Crow Camp possessed a complete set of seal cultivation jade scrolls that could teach seal xiu to cultivate.

There were not many roaming xiu and dhyana xiu in Mo Cloud Sea.

Yet what people did not know was that Xuan Kong Temple’s Sutra Pavilion had landed in Zuo Mo’s hands. That was the biggest factor in Zong Ru being able to come out of seclusion. It was these profound dhyana xiu records and Zuo Mo’s shen power jade scrolls that had formed the foundation for Zong Ru to comprehend another kind of shen power.

After stealing Xuan Kong Temple’s succession, Zuo Mo felt it really was a waste to leave it lying unused.

Then there was the matter of Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect’s attack. While Mo Cloud Sea had pressed the Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect, the other had presented documents and said that these people had been exiled from Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect half a year ago.

Angered, Zuo Mo started to think of other solutions.

The two biggest powers that held back Kun Lun and Tian Huan were Xi Xuan and the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. While the Nine Great Dhyana Sect also possessed a top battle general in Yang Yuan Hao, they had many inner conflicts to deal with.

Zuo Mo had originally thought of selling shen equipment to increase the power of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects to fight against Kun Lun and Tian Huan. The matter of Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect caused Zuo Mo to smell danger. Kun Lun’s and Tian Huan’s infiltration of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect had progressed far more than he had predicted. If a conflict did erupt, there probably would not be many sects that would really fight back.

Since Kun Lun and Tian Huan could infiltrate the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, why couldn’t they do the same?

Zong Ru asked, “What do you think of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects?”

Yi Zheng was slightly puzzled. He didn’t understand what Master Zong was talking about but Yi Zheng’s shixiong did. After a moment of thought, he said, “Too many people, too many desires, a group of rabble.”

“Would you be willing to go to the Nine Great Dhyana Sects?” Zong Ru asked.

Yi Zheng’s shixiong suddenly understood, his eyes brightening. “Does Mo Cloud Sea plan to infiltrate the Nine Great Dhyana Sects?”

“Yes.” Zong Ru did not refute it. It was better to speak of this matter clearly. He continued, “The present Nine Great Dhyana Sects cannot stop Kun Lun and Tian Huan. I do not know about the Great Buddha Temple, but sects like the Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect have been completely infiltrated.”

Yi Zheng’s shixiong was silent.

“If Kun Lun and Tian Huan take down the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, Mo Cloud Sea will not have a barrier any longer. This is why we came up with this idea,” Zong Ru said.

“Mo Cloud Sea does not want to swallow the Nine Great Dhyana Sects?” Yi Zheng’s shixiong suddenly asked.

“It is not that we do not want to, but we cannot,” Zong Ru said honestly. “We need a barrier more than increasing our territory.”

“You want to turn the Nine Great Dhyana Sects into a bog to delay Kun Lun and Tian Huan?” Yi Zheng’s shixiong had a sharp gaze.

“You overestimate the Nine Great Dhyana Sects,” Zong Ru said coolly.

Yi Zheng’s shixiong was silent. Zong Ru was right. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects did not have this power unless someone could unite the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. However, this was impossible, even Xuan Kong Temple had not been able to do it.

“No matter if it is Kun Lun or Tian Huan, if they win, the dhyana xiu will become subordinates. If Mo Cloud Sea luckily wins, you will not have to worry about this. Please do not worry. No matter if you are willing to complete this task or not, I will not take away this jade scroll.” Zong Ru looked at Yi Zheng’s shixiong.

A moment later, Yi Zhengi’s shixiong said, “What do I need to do?”

“First, you need to recover, cultivate shen power and increase your strength.” Zong Ru’s eyes flashed with intelligence. “Only when you are strong will you have the right to speak.”

“Then, we will give you more support, including money and resources to help you obtain a higher status in the sect.”

“You know the situation of Great Buddha Temple better than I do. Based on my knowledge, the Great Buddha Temple is not ranked high among the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. For you, this is a chance. If you can increase the influence of Great Buddha Temple, you will receive more support from inside the temple.”

Yi Zheng twisted his mouth, his face unwilling. He was very displeased about returning to Great Buddha Temple. He had felt the cold-heartedness of the world there, and what had been left were not good memories.

His shixiong listened carefully.

“Our personnel support will be very limited, Mo Cloud Sea has too few dhyana xiu.” Zong Ru was helpless but he quickly gave other suggestions. “However, we will help you investigate the other sects for disciples that are strong but overlooked. It will be up to you to recruit them.”

Yi Zheng’s shixiong nodded. “I understand. Yi Zheng’s personality is not suited to this, I can go alone.”

Yi Zheng was panicked upon hearing this and jumped up. “No! Shixiong … …”

Shixiong looked sternly at Yi Zheng. Yi Zheng respected his shixiong greatly and immediately quieted down.

“You have a straightforward personality and cannot disguise your emotions. You are not suited to doing this,” Shixiong said in a gentle voice. “You are also at a good time for cultivating, do not waste that. Do not waste the good fortune of being with Master Zong.”

“But … …” Yi Zheng started.

“Also, while there are many things wrong with the temple, I grew up in the temple since childhood, how can I watch as it declines? Great Buddha Temple’s situation is already terrible.” Shixiong had a nostalgic expression as he said emotionally.

Yi Zheng could not find anything to say.

“Both for the common good and for me personally, Yi Qing needs to thank Zong Ru and Zuo Mo Daren.” Yi Qing bowed to Zong Ru. “If there is a day that the Nine Great Dhyana Sects are defeated, Yi Qin requests to enter Mo Cloud Sea for protection.”

Zong Ru looked deeply at Yi Qing and thought inside, these large sects were full of geniuses. In his view, Yi Zheng was a good talent, and he hadn’t expected the other’s shixiong to be even better. The other had good vision, and if it wasn’t for being hampered by his injury for a long time, he would not have declined to such a state.

After being reborn now, this person would soar in the sky.

“I can promise you this. Mo Cloud Sea will accept even the yao, how can we not accept the dhyana xiu?” Zong Ru said gravely.

“Yi Qing is willing to do this!” Yi Qing bowed the bow of a subordinate.

Zong Ru’s expression was slightly happy. Yi Qing’s bow expressed that he accepted his status with Mo Cloud Sea. He reached out and helped Yi Qing’s up. “This matter is greatly dangerous, be careful. If it cannot be accomplished, prioritize your safety, you are more important than anything else.”

Yi Qing’s heart felt warmed. “Yi Qing understands.”

Zong Ru said in a deep voice, “I have not named this shen power. Starting from today, you will be its creator.” Seeing Yi Qing about to speak, Zong Ru waved his hand to stopped the other and said, “Reputation is meaningless to me. However, it can help up accumulate fame. Reputation is a kind of power. If you can use it appropriately, it can save you great effort in your mission.”

Yi Qing was full of admiration. He had never heard of Zong Ru before yet the personality and strength that Master Zong displayed were all that of a great dhyana xiu.

“But I need to speak to you of the origins of this shen power,” Zong Ru said gravely. “This shen power has been greatly influenced by Daren’s [Mo Cloud Shen Power] but its origin is Xuan Kong Temple’s secret [Empty Meditation]!”

Yi Qing and Yi Zheng seemed to be struck by lightning, motionless like statues, when they heard this.

Chapter 761 – The Changes of the Little Ones

There were all kinds of strange scents floating off Chun Yu Cheng’s cloud island. Zuo Mo was reminded about this each time he came, especially the small of fresh ling grasses mixed with all kinds of waste. It was torture.

Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was intoxicated. “Such a fresh and healthy smell!”

Zuo Mo smiled helplessly. Chun Shidi was more and more enchanted with animal husbandry and his temper had become strange. The other was alright with him, but was not friendly to others, especially disliking people coming onto his cloud island.

There were many kinds of ling and mo grasses planted on the island to feed the cloud seeds. Zuo Mo had not seen many of these ling grasses before. They flashed with enchanting lights which meant that their grade was not low. In the present Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo’s half-assed ling plant farmer skill was laughable.

The ling plant farmers of Mo Cloud Sea were unlike the ling plant farmers anywhere else. They were skilled in using seal formations and their effectiveness was higher. This was an unique system that Mo Cloud Sea’s strong forging abilities provided the support for.

Cloud Sea Jie did not have many ling fields and the ling plant farmers were mostly gathered in the jie with large tracts of ling fields. The ling grasses on Chun Shidi’s island were relatively high grade, and the skill of the ling plant farmers were relatively high as well.

“How are they?” Zuo Mo asked in concern.

“You should have sent them a long time ago.” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was pained as he chatted, “If you sent them in a bit later, they would have been wasted! Oh, it wouldn’t have been useful if you sent them over earlier, I hadn’t found out how to raise cloud steeds then, en en, you picked a good opportunity … …”

Zuo Mo felt tormented by Chun Shidi’s excessive chatter. He tried to endure. People like Chun Shidi had unusual enthusiasm and obsession with their own field and didn’t care about anything else. They did not understand how to interact with people, and rarely conversed with other people. Most of them had strange personalities. On the other hand, they had outstanding talent and they worked furiously, unaffected by anything else. They usually achieved more in their own field than other people.

Zuo Mo could understand them.

Chattering endlessly on the way, they finally came to the beast pool from last time.

Chun Yu Cheng became alert and didn’t waste words. “Tenth Grade and Sunshine are good, especially Tenth Grade. His killing energy is thick and he is a rare vicious being. I used the [Hunt Blood Pool] to nurture his body. This will increasing his killing energy. He uses the sword and I asked Eldest Shixiong to find the most vicious sword scripture for him.”

“Most vicious scripture … …” Zuo Mo felt a cold sweat. If it was the most vicious sword scripture that Chun shidi could find, he would just smile and dismiss it. But if it was Eldest Shixiong, then it definitely was the most vicious sword scripture.

Chun Yu Cheng had a smug expression. “I don’t really understand sword scriptures, but since Eldest Shixiong said it was the most vicious, then it definitely is. [Hundred Sacrificed Souls Killing Sword]. How about it, just this name seems very powerful.”

Zuo Mo’s body couldn’t help but shake. He knew this sword scripture. This had been from Pu’s collection. Pu had said back then that the [Hundred Sacrificed Souls Killing Sword] was not the strongest sword scripture, but could be said to be one of the most vicious.

At this time, Zuo Mo had not been affected by Pu Yao’s emotional opinion. He didn’t have much interest in cultivating sword scriptures.

Zuo Mo thought of another problem and couldn’t help but ask, “Can Tenth Grade cultivate?”

Tenth Grade was not like Eldest Shixiong. He originated from a ling beast and was not like a xiuzhe. He had never heard of a ling beast cultivating a sword scripture.

“I had worried about this before, but I found later on that Tenth Grade is very intelligent and matched well with this sword scripture. There isn’t a problem at all.” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression of pride grew as he seemed to ask for praise. “Shixiong, when the time comes, you will have a super sidekick! Tenth Grade’s name was really chosen with great foresight. Shixiong, did you predict a long time ago that he could reach tenth grade?”

Zuo Mo’s expression was righteous. “Of course! Otherwise, how can I be your shixiong?”

“That’s true!” Chun Yu Cheng nodded seriously. “As expected, those that are shixiong are all strong. Shixiong, you are strong, Gongsun Shixiong is also strong, but Eldest Shixiong is the strongest.”

“Why?” Zuo Mo thought, had Chun Shidi grown powerful enough that he could see people’s power?

“Because he’s Gongsun Shixiong’s shixiong’s shixiong.” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was matter-of-fact. “Of course he is the strongest!”

Zuo Mo was speechless. He quickly changed the topic. “Sunshine?”

Chun Yu Cheng fell for it as expected. “Sunshine’s attributes are the opposite of Tenth Grade. His specialities are healing, protection, and assistance. If Tenth Grade is yin, then Sunshine is yang. Therefore, the beast pool that I picked is the [Water Flesh Wood Bone Pool]. For Sunshine I did not choose spells, but yao arts.”

Looking at the excitement on Chun Yu Cheng’s face, Zuo Mo perceptively asked, “Oh, what great yao art is it?”

“Haha! Shixiong, you understand me the best!” Chun Yu Cheng laughed proudly. Increasing his volume, he said joyfully, “It is the [Universal Life] that has been said to be the essential art for super-nannies. Oh, the yao like to call the people who cultivate this yao art nannies. I feel it is very accurate. Other than this, he also cultivates [Ward Breaking Art]. Shixiong, don’t worry. Under my great care, Sunshine can definitely move into the ranks of the top nannies! Such an adorable nanny!”

Looking at the snowy white and handsome Sunshine, Zuo Mo seemed to see him wearing an apron and holding a bottle in his hand. He couldn’t help but shudder.

He immediately felt sympathy for Sunshine, but when his words reached his mouth, it became, “Shidi’s results are masterworks!”

Chun Yu Cheng became more excited upon receiving Zuo Mo’s praise. He pulled Zuo Mo over and said excitedly, “As expected, Shixiong understands me best. Those people do not understand the greatness and holiness of husbandry. This is a kind of creation, a novel creation! I am fated to be the man that will create the strongest ling beasts!”

Zuo Mo wiped the cold sweat away from his face as he nodded. “Shidi is ambitious! I admire this!”

Chun Yu Cheng smiled and pulled Zuo Mo to a tall dan cauldron.

“I asked Golden Crow Camp to forge this dan cauldron. I also got Sun Bao and Ji Wei to operate it for a few days. It is a pity that I couldn’t find them later on. The other people said that they went out.” Chun Yu Cheng’s tone was full of regret. “If they are here, this fire will definitely be stronger.”

Zuo Mo who knew about the entire matter sighed again. He was filled with sympathy towards Sun Bao and Ji Wei. Chun Yu Cheng usually did not show himself in public but he was Zuo Mo’s shidi. His status in Mo Cloud Sea was high. If his requests were not ridiculous, no one would dare refuse him. Due to this, when they received a request for help, Sun Bao and Ji Wei had hurried over despite their heavy workload.

But Chun Yu Cheng had the two of them act as cauldron workers. Heavens, the two masters of Golden Crow Camp, the two top people in charge of all the seal xiu in Mo Cloud Sea acting as manual laborers, and for three days!

When they reached three days, they did not relent to Chun Yu Cheng’s invitation, and fled with their ash-covered faces.

“I couldn’t find them no matter what I tried. I could only hire some of the experienced people from Golden Crow Camp. However, they are lacking compared to Sun Bao and Ji Wei, but still acceptable.” Chun Yu Cheng was clearly slightly displeased.

“It’s fine if it is about the same!” Zuo Mo hurriedly comforted.

“That’s true.” Chun Yu Cheng thought and said with a tilted head, “This dan cauldron is good and the people later on worked hard. The results aren’t bad. Shixiong’s shen fire was also crucial and beneficial to Lil’ Fire’s growth. However, Lil’ Fire is slightly less intelligent compared to Tenth Grade and Sunshine. But it is an yao beast to begin with and has no trouble cultivating yao arts. I found a fire yao art in the Pu Wei Library called the [Fire Heart Bone Refining Art] for it.”

Zuo Mo stilled and instinctively asked, “Lil’ Fire has bones?”

Lil’ Fire had ended up in Zuo Mo’s demonic hands many times and he had squeezed the other countless times. In Zuo Mo’s memories, Lil’ Fire was like a rubber ball, and didn’t have any bones.

“It does!” When it came to his profession, Chun Yu Cheng’s expression immediately became serious. “There are many small bones inside its body similar to sea sponges. These bones are very small and flexible. Their structure is very flexible and resilient so Lil’ Fire appears as though it is boneless.”

“Oh, so this cultivation will thicken its bones and have it become more powerful?” Zuo Mo asked with anticipation.

“Powerful?” Chun Yu Cheng shook his head with bewilderment. “I don’t know that. I only felt that these kind of bones were rare and wanted to try cultivating it.”

Zuo Mo’s face was black as a pot. “Even you don’t know the result?”

“No, this is normal. It is hard to predict the results of many husbandry trials.” Chun Yu Cheng said with a righteous tone.

But when Chun Yu Cheng turned and saw Zuo Mo’s black face, he knew it was not good. He was so friendly this time because he had a goal. If he ruined the matter, it would be terrible.

He hurriedly pulled Zuo Mo to another place.

Unlike the other beast pools, there was a kind of vine growing here that Zuo Mo had never seen. It grew over multiple mu of fields and under the thick vines, there was a transparent bubble that hung below.

Lil’ Black seemed to see Zuo Mo from within the bubble. It furiously moved its legs, but no matter how it moved, it only spun around in the water bubble.

“Shixiong, look, this is the Water Bubble Vine,” Chun Yu Cheng hurriedly introduced. “It can grow this a special kind of water bubble, and is a natural beast pool. Also, Shixiong, take a look.”

As he spoke, he pulled away the thick leaves covering the ground and showed a beast pool. Zuo Mo found that the roots of the water bubble vine grew into the beast pool.

“The medicine in the beast pool is absorbed by the root system and then gathers in the water bubbles. This process is even more wondrous than the seal formations we engrave. All kinds of medicines can merge together in the water bubble and form a natural beast pool.”

Zuo Mo was also attracted by such a wondrous beast pool.

Chun Yu Cheng saw the interest on Zuo Mo’s face and continued, “The medicine absorbed will change slightly through the vine’s roots and leaves. This is also the source of its great ability. However, because the water bubbles are not very big, it can only be used on those relatively small beasts. I saw Lil’ Black and immediately thought of the water bubble vine.”

“What is its use to Lil’ Black?” Zuo Mo went directly for the core of the matter.

“Hee hee, Shixiong, don’t be shocked when you hear this!” Chun Yu Cheng was both smug and mysterious.

Chapter 762 – The Bird with the Domineering Presence

“Speak!” Zuo Mo glared at Chun Yu Cheng.

The smugness on Chun Yu Cheng’s face did not decrease. He lowered his voice and spoke softly as if revealing the greatest secret, “Lil’ Black is sensitive to ling energy. This is why it can find treasures. However, I discovered after studying that its ability lies with its pair of antennae. Also, it isn’t just able to detect to ling energy, it is able to detect to many things such as killing energy, warmth, and presence. However, in reality, what it is sensitive to is vibration.”

“Vibration?” Zuo Mo’s expression was shocked. This answer was unexpected.

“Yes, vibration.” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression became grave. “This is the true reason it can find treasures. Ling veins and talismans have unique ling power vibrations and it would find these treasures through these vibrations. The usual husbandry method would strengthen its antennae to make it more sensitive, use ling medicine filled with ling power to stimulate its antennae, so it becomes familiar to the vibrations of ling power and become more sensitive to that energy. However, ling power is already being retired, and shen power is more powerful. But shen power has vibrations. At the core, there is no difference, they are all different kinds of power. I thought that if it could remember vibrations of shen power, couldn’t it be able to find treasures with shen power?”

The more he spoke, the more excited Chun Yu Cheng got. “Therefore, I found all kinds of materials with shen power. However, these materials are really expensive and there are too few! Speaking of this, Bao Yi is a penny-pincher! Every time I go to get materials from him, that person looks like a miser, I get so angry!”

Chun Yu Cheng gritted his teeth when he spoke of Bao Yi but Zuo Mo did not care. Bao Yi’s personality was so, and, as a result, he was the best choice of personnel to manage the stores. Otherwise, Zuo Mo’s little bit of wealth would not be enough for these people to madly waste.

“Did it succeed?” Zuo Mo was more concerned with this.

Chun Yu Cheng was angry about Bao Yi but that was because of the conflict over the materials. The two didn’t have any actual personal conflict and so Zuo Mo’s question immediately shifted the topic of conversation away.

He hesitated, and then said haltingly, “Theoretically, it should be a success.”

“In reality?” Zuo Mo immediately saw through his little trick.

“I don’t know.” Chun Yu Cheng might use some simple and clumsy moves, but he would not lie, especially when it came to his field. “The entire process was very smooth but I have no confidence in the result. No one has ever done this before, and I cannot find any examples. Therefore, I will only know what level it reached when it all pans out.”

Chun Yu Cheng was afraid that Zuo Mo would have high hopes and be greatly disappointed so he poured cold water. “However, we cannot rush this. Even if it recognizes shen power vibrations, there is a problem of sensitivity. If it is not sensitive towards shen power, then there is no value. However, I am certain that this is definitely the direction that ling beasts, yao beasts and mo steeds will develop in, shen power is the best path!”

“You did good!” Zuo Mo was certain about Chen Shidi’s results. He was not someone who did not have foresight. He knew that what looked like it to run a business, anything that was unable to produce value today could still be an important step.

“Will anything happen to Lil’ Black?” Zuo Mo looked at Lil’ Black who was spinning in the water bubble and couldn’t help but ask.

“What do you mean?” Chun Yu Cheng stilled.

“Things like life-threatening danger,” Zuo Mo explained. The little ones had followed him for many years, and Zuo Mo didn’t really care if they were strong or not. However, he definitely would not like any accidents happening to them.

“Life-threatening danger?” Chun Yu Cheng’s face flushed red, and so did his neck as though he was being humiliated greatly. He said loudly, “So in Shixiong’s eyes, my skill is so low?”

Zuo Mo had not expected that his mindless words would cause such a great response from Cheng Shidi. He hurriedly bowed, apologized, and comforted with gentle words to pacify the fires of Cheng Shidi’s anger.

Fortunately, Chun Yu Cheng’s temper left as fast as it came. When the two reached Lil’ Pagoda’s beast pool, he had completely forgotten about the incident, and became excited again.

“Lil’ Pagoda is actually different from the other little ones, he’s a talisman, and also Shixiong’s soulbond talisman. Theoretically, husbandry methods cannot be used on him, but he actually is the most intelligent of the little ones after Silly Bird. Its body forms a complete system, from the five element attribute to the dual attributes of yin and yang. I don’t know anything about forging, but I understand ling beasts. Lil’ Pagoda’s highly intelligent and not very different from ling beasts. It knows best about what it needs.”

Zuo Mo listened carefully. Of the little ones, he liked the cute Lil’ Pagoda the most.

“It can consume all kinds of materials and then deconstruct them into pure yin and yang base essence. Its body is filled with the base essence of yin and yang, however, these two base essence powers are clearly divided and repel each other. This situation has occurred in many ling beasts that have dual attributes, such as fire and water. If they come into conflict, the ling beast will feel great pain and the power of the ling beast will be greatly reduced. The crux to solving this problem is to merge these two completely opposite powers so they will subdue and augment each other like the [Fire Lotus In Water] that is frequently seen. Yin and yang is even easier to balance, they have a perfect merging method, the yinyang fish.”

Once in his zone, Chun Yu Cheng seemed to be a completely different person. His body gave off a presence of great self-confidence. He waved his arms, his voice strong, “The most important requirement to forming the yinyang fish is that yin and yang have to reach an absolute equilibrium. When the two reach a true equilibrium, the yinyang fish will naturally form. Therefore, I continued to feed yin and yang materials to it to adjust the strength of the yin and yang powers. Hee hee, just as I expected, Shixiong look … …’

Before Chun Yu Cheng finished, Li’ Pagoda in the medicine pool had detected Zuo Mo’s arrival and happily dove into Zuo Mo’s arm.s

Zuo Mo picked it up by the tip of the power and held it in front of him.

Lil’ Pagoda happily waved its black eaves.

This guy was even fatter!

Zuo Mo thought hatefully. No matter if it was the top of the tower, the body, or the eaves, they were even rounder than before. What had changed the most was the level just underneath the tip of the tower. There were two little yinyang fish that looked like two eyes. What made Zuo Mo speechless was that Lil’ Pagoda could use its fat body to squeeze the yinyang fish. It appeared as though its eyes were blinking.

“This guy’s truly intelligent!”

Zuo Mo muttered in joy. Feeling Zuo Mo’s happiness, Lil’ Pagoda used its round body to snuggle in Zuo Mo’s hand.

“Don’t snuggle, you idiot, you swallowed so much materials, you’ll have to sell yourself to pay back!” Zuo Mo said harshly. But his hand was gentle as he put this growing glutton onto his shoulder.

Lil’ Pagoda’s little eave hands flapped even more happily. It jumped from Zuo Mo’s right shoulder to his left and back again as it played happily.

“It really is intelligent!” Chun Yu Cheng couldn’t help but say. “It is the first time I have seen such an intelligent talisman.”

“How about Silly Bird?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Ha, that’s another one.” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression became even more spectacular. He then said, “Shixiong, come with me, and see.”

Coming to the lava pool from last time, Silly Bird still had an expression of idle enjoyment.

“This bird is no ordinary bird!” Chun Yu Cheng couldn’t help but say. “Its intelligence is fantastical. Look at its feathers.”

Following Chun Yu Cheng’s finger, Zuo Mo looked and immediately found that Silly Bird’s feathers were bright red and unusually grand. What was the most difficult to comprehend was that the feathers would give off threads of flame.

Zuo Mo’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “Phoenix feathers!”

“You recognized it!” Chun Yu Cheng sounded as though he was sleep-talking, even though he had seen this numerous times before. “The legends say the feathers of the phoenix are as red as blood and can give off unique flames. With one flap of their wing can create a sea of fire. Phoenixes regenerate, are born accompanied by fire, and will die accompanied by fire.”

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck.

“It doesn’t have any bloodline of a phoenix, I hadn’t expected that it could become a phoenix. Truthfully, I’m not sure if a phoenix is something like this. I’ve never seen one before. But even if Silly Bird isn’t a phoenix, it is not much lesser in comparison. Also, this isn’t its strongest trait.”

Refocusing, Zuo Mo blurted out, “Then what?”

“Her physical body!” Chun Yu Cheng’s expression was grave. “Her body is astounding powerful and resilient, stronger than those mo physiques. I threw many yao arts and spells at her and she ignored them all. I found a mo skill to throw at her. She took a glance but then threw it away. I finally understood that she desired to cultivate mo skills.”

“She wanted to cultivate mo skills?” Zuo Mo stammered out a question. This matter clearly was beyond the limits of his imagination.

“Yes!” Chun Yu Cheng nodded seriously and then said, “So I started to search for mo skills that were suitable. I hadn’t thought that she would be extremely picky. I found more than a dozen mo skills but she wasn’t satisfied. You know that I’m very busy and I don’t have the time to search through them. I threw all the high level mo skills we had at her for her to choose.”

Chun Yu Cheng had a conflicted expression. “I hadn’t expected for this one to actually chose one.”

Zuo Mo’s expression also became strange. “Which one did she chose?”

“Solitary Dance of the Great Dark Wheel Phoenix!” Chun Yu Cheng said. “Only after that did I think, is she actually a phoenix. However, I’ve never heard of a mortal bird ascending to become a phoenix! It is not rational! It is not rational at all!”

Chun Yu Cheng shook his head furiously as though he wanted to throw this thought out of his head.

“[Solitary Dance of the Great Dark Wheel Phoenix] … …” Zuo Mo was so shocked he was speechless.

If his memory was correct, this mo skill was one that Pu Yao said could not be successfully cultivated!

This bird … …

Did she really get possessed by a phoenix!

Zuo Mo dazedly looked at Silly Bird who was soaking in the lava with an expression of enjoyment.

As he looked, Zuo Mo suddenly felt that Silly Bird’s half-lidded eyes and expression of enjoyment did have a certain style. After thinking for a moment, he recalled the phrase … …

–A domineering presence!

Chapter 763 – Chao Xin’s Plan

“What what does the report from Thunder Sound Temple say?” Lin Qian asked.

Chao Xin shook his head. “Nothing, they have been very low-key recently. Yang Yuan Hao is training his battalion, his Thunder Sound Battalion has been expand three-fold. It probably will take some time to finish training.”

The name Yang Yuan Hao caused Lin Qian’s gaze to unnoticeably focus. He asked, “Have we found Yang Yuan Hao’s origins?”

“Yes. He is originally the disciple of the second elder of Thunder Sound Temple but he was not thought of highly before. When the Thunder Sound Shen Methodology appeared, he was spectacular and rose up to quickly become the best battle general of Thunder Sound Temple, and the best of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. However, this is already related to his master. The second elder is the younger brother of the sect leader.”

Chao Xin was unbridled in nature but he was careful and attentive when doing his work and was deeply relied upon by Lin Qian.

“Other than Thunder Sound Temple, is our progress in the other temples going well?” Lin Qian asked.

“Thunder Sound Temple,  Splendid Buddha Temple, Venerable Lotus Temple, Laughing Maitreya Temple, it has not been smooth in these four temples. Heart Leaf Temple has been heavily infiltrated by Tian Huan. The one that we have made the most progress is Skanda Sect. We are fighting with Tian Huan for the others: Great Buddha Sect, Karma Temple, Surangama Heart Sect.” Chao Xin knew all this like the back of his hand.

“It is not easy to infiltrate the great temples!” Lin Qian smiled helplessly.

“Of course.” Chao Xin took a sip of wine and said unconcernedly. “We first aim for the borders, it is easy at first and then becomes difficult later, this is the right way. However, Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect’s attack on Mo Cloud Sea’s seal formations is detrimental to our actions.”

“Yes, it inadvertently alerted them.” Lin Qian frowned. “They are a group of idiots!”

“Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect wants to show fealty towards Tian Huan and were impatient. I don’t know who it was that found this weakness, but the skill of the mission was really terrible. No wonder Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect is ranked last among the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.” Chao Xin shook his head and then said, “But for Mo Cloud Sea, not being able to use the transportation formations is a noose around their throat. We also need to guard against this movement as we also have the same weakness of the transportation formations.”

Lin Qian nodded. “Go do this.”

Chao Xin acknowledged. “Alright.”

However, none of them thought much of this as a great matter. The transportation formations were a weakness, but unlike Mo Cloud Sea who were overly reliant on the formations, Kun Lun’s transportation were mostly by jie rivers. While they had to spend more time travelling, it was much cheaper. If Kun Lun used transportation formations over all of its vast realm, then the expenses in this area would be enough to kill Kun Lun.

Due to this, most of Kun Lun’s transportation formations were set up in important places and these places almost all had battalions stationed there to guarantee safety. They only needed to increase the security level of the battalions stationed there.

“After Xue Shidi’s battalion has finished expanding, why don’t we use the Nine Great Dhyana Sects as an opening?” Lin Qian asked Chao Xin.

Chao Xin said unrestrainedly, “That is not good!”

Lin Qian smiled, and poured another cup of wine for Chao Xin. He asked sincerely for guidance, “Then what should be done?”

“The Nine Great Dhyana Sects have many people with different intentions. If they feel an outside threat, they would abandon their own aims, unite, and  face the invaders. Thunder Sound Temple is the strongest, and once they unite, with a top battle general like Yang Yuan Hao, they would be a hard bone to swallow.”

Lin Qian was thoughtful. Chao Xin raised his wine cup and threw his head back to drink. He was full of enthusiasm. “But if we treat them peacefully, without threatening their existence, the inner conflicts will gradually become evident. We can scheme and recruit a portion of them, moving in the shadows. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects will be defeated without any attack over time, this is the best plan!”

“You are right!” Lin Qian was full of admiration and then turned to another problem. “Then in which direction should we expand?”

“Hundred Savage Realm!” Chao Xin’s voice was loud, a blush on his face. “The Nether Realms produced a king, and is an enemy on the same level as us. We should not really fight them. Also, we know little about the nether realms, and it is not wise to enter. But Hundred Savage Realm is full of warlords, and the best place to begin.”

As his interests were stirred, Chao Xin became half-dressed as he drank multiple cups. His gaze was intoxicated as he said slowly, “Looking at the world right now, Tian Huan, the Nether King and the yao are enemies of the same level as us, they all possess one realm of land, have any experts and generals. But if one looks closely, there are differences. Kun Lun, Tian Huan, and the Nether Realm were integrally united. The Yao Elder Council constantly fights internally for power. The new generation as led by Ming Yue Ye and the older generation led by the Chief Elder are fighting in secret. This is an opportunity for our Kun Lun.”

Lin Qian’s eyes lit up. “We will secretly support Ming Yue Ye?”

Chao Xin smiled and then shook his head. “No! Ming Yue Ye’s wings are not grown yet. Our benefit from supporting her will be limited, and once she is in power, the first thing that she will do is to reorganize the Council of Elders in order to get them to be of one mind, and then bite us.”

“Then we will suppress Ming Yue Ye?” Lin Qian asked in response.

“We will support a third faction.” Chao Xin was bright with light. “Three factions fighting is a state of equilibrium, and the one able to cause sustained infighting. Also, both the Chief Elder and Ming Yue Ye will need to fight to gain support of the new faction. Most importantly, the third faction would be the weakest faction, and cannot break free of our control.”

“Great plan!” Lin Qian sighed.

Chao Xin’s excitement settled slightly and he said with a light laugh, “We cannot rush this, and need to plan this slowly. It will probably take five to ten years for it to be effective.”

Lin Qian laughed out loud. “I am still young. Ten years, I can even wait even if it is twenty years!”

Chao Xin nodded. “It is not easy for Daren to have such a state of mind.”

“Mo Cloud Sea has challenged the Mo Marshal Alliance, Mister, what do you feel they desire?’ Lin Qian mentioned another topic.

For some reason, he felt danger from Mo Cloud Sea. He always had a feeling that this little power that was just a few dozen jie would one day become his archenemy. This indescribable feeling of danger always made him extremely wary of Mo Cloud Sea’s every move.

It was unexpected to many that Mo Cloud Sea had suddenly started to attack Mo Marshal Alliance.

Chao Xin’s brow also furrowed. “It is slightly puzzling. This time, the main commander is Bie Han. This shows how much importance they place on this campaign, it means that it is a big one. Also, it is Bie Han and not Gongsun Chao. This also implies that their aim in the campaign this time is not to attack cities and take over territory, but more akin to rapidly destroying or capturing something. Bie Han’s battalions are also puzzling in their movements. Bie Han is definitely disguising their intentions. We most likely will know the aim of a battle general of Bie Han’s level only when the battle is finished.

Lin Qian was silent.

———

“Intentions! We need to find their intentions!

Inside the conference hall, Hai Jin Yun’s voice echoed. His figure was tall yet thin, his complexion faintly gold, his eyes narrow and long. His cheeks were sunken inwards, his gaze as sharp as a sword and seemed able to penetrate people.

His voice was thin and high pitched, giving people a feeling of metal grinding. At this time, it was filled with great fury.

Hao Jin Yun’s temper was easy to set off and he quickly became violent. The subordinates trembled, and the conference room was deathly silent.

Hai Jin Yun forced down the fury inside. He rubbed his forehead. His anger was not directed against his subordinates. He knew their skill level. He was angry at himself as he could not identify Bie Han’s intentions.

When he learned that the enemy this time was Bie Han, an unprecedented pressure filled him. However, this had not caused him to collapse but rather stimulated his strong fighting spirit. He felt his blood boil at the thought of fighting against such a top level battle general.

Yet as time went on, the movements of Bie Han’s campaigns became even harder to understand.

If they could not find Bie Han’s true intentions, he would end up the reactive party. Facing a battle general of Bie Han’s level, it was enormously dangerous to be the reactive party.

Several hours passed, and he received an insect message from an old general, Quan Pei. They had encountered Bie Han!

This was not of great surprise to him. He would not be surprised at any action that a battle general like Bie Han would do. Also, from the location of the encounter, Bie Han seemed to just be attacking the reinforcements.

Was Bie Han’s goal really Bright Mountain Jie?

He didn’t believe it!

But what reassured him slightly was that old general Quan Pei said in the insect message that they were delaying the other by using guerilla tactics against them in order to drag on the battle for them to arrive.

General Quan Pei’s seemingly conservative strategy was actually the best in his view. They were fighting on home territory. If they could take up enough time, their advantage would increase like a snowball rolling off the mountain.

Yet eight hours passed, and Hai Jin Yun did not receive any more insect letters from old general Quan Pei.

This unusual situation caused Hai Jin Yun to have a bad feeling. If the situation was normal, Quan Pei’s second in command would send an insect message every four hours to report on the state of the battle. There were only two possibilities when there were no messages after eight hours. One was that the battle was so intense that they didn’t even have the time to send insect letters. The other possibility was that they had been completely eradicated.

Based on convention, the first possibility was most likely.

Quan Pei was skilled in battle formations. If he decided to enter a battle of attrition by relying on guerilla fighting, he definitely would not be destroyed so easily. It was extremely difficult to exterminate a battalion that had decided to fight in a guerilla fashion, much less finish it in eight hours.

However, as time advanced, Hai Jin Yun’s bad feeling increased.

His emotions started to become restless. He tried to put his attention on searching for Bie Han’s target. So many dazzling and spectacular actions proved that Bie Han had a clear goal in mind. He was only disguising it.

“Where is Shang Daren?” He suddenly stopped walking and asked.

“Shang Daren has already reached Bright Home Jie, and is about three days away from us,” the subordinate hurriedly said.

Hai Jin Yun suddenly stopped walking. There wasn’t any restlessness to be seen in his eyes. He said in a deep voice, “Set up base here, and wait for Shang Daren!”

Ten hours had already passed … …

Hai Jun Yun knew that the situation he had thought most unlikely probably already became reality.

Chapter 764 – Nine Great Dhyana Sects

“Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect!” Zuo Mo’s expression was full of unfriendliness. He didn’t have any good feelings about this sect who had suddenly attacked them and was said to be completely infiltrated by Tian Huan.

While Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect had taken out a great amount of evidence to prove that the dozen people who had attacked had been expelled from the sect long ago, anyone with eyes could see that this was just an excuse.

“Our goal his time is Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect! It is mission is to settle the accounts from last time. No matter the time, Mo Cloud Sea is not one that would swallow and remain silent when someone bullies us.”

Zuo Mo’s words immediately aroused similar feelings in the group.

“Motherf***er! A little Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect dare to target us? They don’t want to live!”

“We will beat them up! Beat the up completely! Beat them until they kneel and beg for mercy!”

The large hall was immediately full of fury. People from Mo Cloud Sea never feared anything. They had fought against Kun Lun and Tian Huan. They were proud and found it hard to tolerate a little faction like Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect attacking them.

“However, since they dare scheme against us, then we will play with them. Everyone, prepare, we will depart tomorrow. We will make them understand why we dare to challenge Kun Lun and Tian Huan while they can only play with mud in the corner!’

Zuo Mo’s domineering announcement caused everyone’s blood to boil.

Soon, Zuo Mo started to pick people. The ones chosen were happy and the ones that weren’t had displeased expressions. Soon, Zuo Mo picked out an elite team of about fifty people.

It was not an exaggeration to say they were elite. Just looking at the membership of the team, it was possible to see how grand the composition was.

Zuo Mo, A Gui, Wei Sheng, Zong Ru, Luo Li, Ceng Lian’er … …

He had picked almost all of the top experts of Mo Cloud Sea. The other people were also ones that had followed Zuo Mo for many years. They were loyal to the point they could use their bodies to block a blow for Zuo Mo. Other than this, Zuo Mo also took along the Lil’ Ones that had just finished levelling up.

Zuo Mo did not worry about the safety of Mo Cloud Sea at all. Lil’ Miss was in charge of Cloud Sea Jie, and the great majority of the transportation formations were closed. While it had affected their business activities, it also caused Mo Cloud Sea’s security to reach an unprecedented level. Right now, Mo Cloud Sea was truly a turtle hiding in its hard shell.

The ambush from Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect caused Zuo Mo to be full of anger.

On the surface, Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect’s attitude was very friendly. They apologized and also agreed to recompense them. If he led battalions to attack Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect when they had this kind of attitude, it was easy to cause all of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects to start fighting with Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo was still hoping that the Nine Great Dhyana Sect would be Mo Clous Sea’s shield. It was not profitable to start fighting due to one Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect. Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect was fearless because they knew this. There was nothing to criticize on the surface.

Little Mo Ge was never one that was generous. His style was to always retaliate for any slights.

Since they could not fight in the open, they would fight in the shadows.

For the leaders of the other factions, they could not avoid feeling slightly repulsed by these types of schemes. But for Zuo Mo, this was what he was truly skilled in.

Purely based on power, Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect was not a match for Zuo Mo, but this time, they were playing in the dark. Wei Sheng, Zong Ru, Luo Li, they were all astoundingly powerful, and each of them could do things like kill people and defeat cities, but it was difficult for them to scheme.

The one that was most skilled in scheming was undoubtedly Zuo Mo. Without his direction, this would not succeed.

The Nine Great Dhyana Sect had always had a close relationship to Mo Cloud Sea and the two sides had active business activity. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects had vast territories, and were abundant in resources. Mo Cloud Sea’s shen equipment was something that the Nine Great Dhyana Sects needed.

The transportation formations between Mo Cloud Sea and the Nine Great Dhyana Sect were one of the few transportation formations that were still in use.

The inspection at the transportation formation was strict, but for Zuo Mo and the others, people that could see through their disguises would definitely not appear at the transportation formation.

Without needing any great effort, they successfully entered the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

When they entered the land of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, the scenery was completely different than that of Mo Cloud Sea. Both the buildings and the people around gave them a different feeling.

Dhyana xiu revered secret paradises and little islands could be seen floating everywhere. They were also some Dhyana xiu that built the temples on top of lucky clouds. There were many temples, and the sound of bells and chanting were everywhere. In the streets, what was most common were the Dhyana xiu dressed in robes of all colors, walking about barefoot and bald. They held staffs, wooden fishes, had peaceful expressions. Some were half-naked, their bodies like metal. These people usually had stern expressions, and their steps were powerful.

Dhyana xiu were rare in Mo Cloud Sea. It was the first time that everyone had seen so many Dhyana xiu and all of them found it interesting.

The group disguised themselves as a merchant group. In order to not attract any attention, the manager and attendants were all real and experienced ones. They frequently entered the Nine Great Dhyana Sect and were experienced.

“When Xuan Kong Temple had been here, this place was even more prosperous.” The steward next to Zuo Mo said emotionally, “In that period of time when Xuan Kong Temple fell, all of Xuan Kong Realm was quiet. They have just recovered some vitality after development in these years. This place only became prosperous again because it has a transportation formation that is connected to Mo Cloud Sea.”

“Which sect does this place belong to?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Thunder Sound Temple,” The steward hurriedly responded. He knew that Zuo Mo did not know much about the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and introduced in detail, “The Thunder Sound Sect is first among the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. The best battle general of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects is Yang Yuan Hao, also of Thunder Sound Sect. The development in its territory is the best, and it is the safest.”

“Yang Yuan Hao!” Zuo Mo couldn’t help but still when he heard this name. Yang Yuan Hao was the strongest battle general that the Nine Great Dhyana Sect created in recent years, and was the true pillar holding up the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

The reason that Zuo Mo thought that the Nine Great Dhyana Sect qualified to be the barrier that could stop Kun Lun was the existence of Yang Yuan Hao. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects that had Yang Yuan Hao was not at the same level as a Nine Great Dhyana Sects that did not have a Yang Yuan Hao. If they did not have Yang Yuan Hao, Zuo Mo would be the first to attack the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and swallow it before Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

Zuo Mo suddenly had a thought. If there was a chance, he wanted to meet this person that was one of the most important pillars of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

He did not worry about Yang Yuan Hao’s enmity and wariness of Mo Cloud Sea. That could not be avoided. Yet Zuo Mo believed that Yang Yuan Hao could see the dilemma that the Nine Great Dhyana Sects were under. Compared to Kun Lun and Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea was undoubtedly a better ally.

The Nine Great Dhyana Sect did not have many choices.

“Where is Yang Yuan Hao now?” Zuo Mo asked.

The steward had a strained expression. “This one does not know. We do not dare to search for information like this.”

Zuo Mo smiled. The steward was right. He had assumed too much. He changed the topic. “How much longer until we can reach Heat Leaf Dhyana Sect’s territories?”

The steward said respectfully, “If we use transportation formations, it will be about twenty or more days.”

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but gape. More than twenty days even with transportation formations, that was really far. Zuo Mo decided that before they got to Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect, they would not make any trouble.

But after flying for two days, Zuo Mo and the others detected people keeping watch over them.

The observers were well concealed, and they had switched people in the process. If it wasn’t that the people present were all experts, it most likely would be difficult to detect it.

Zuo Mo did not attack. He pointed at the secret observers and asked the steward, “Do you know where they are from?”

The steward made a careful examination. His expression changed slightly and he said in a low voice, “They are from Thunder Sound Sect!”

“Thunder Sound Sect!” Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Had they exposed themselves somewhere? Otherwise, Thunder Sound Sect would not have found them no matter how strong they were. Zuo Mo was very confident in his disguises.

“Definitely! Daren, notice the thunder scripts at their wrists, that is a trait unique to Thunder Sound Sects. Only those that cultivate the Thunder Sound Shen Methodology will have this kind of thunder script.” The steward introduced in a low voice, and then asked, “Daren, what do you want to do?”

Zuo Mo thought and then said, “Pretend not to have found them, we will continue to do what we do.”

“Yes!” The steward responded. Then a hint of worry rose in his eyes. He had travelled this path countless times and it was the first time he encountered a situation like this.

The observers changed shifts several times. Zuo Mo and the others pretended to be ignorant, and travelled as usual.

Only five days later, when Zuo Mo and the others were about to leave the territories of Thunder Sound Temple were they stopped. They were not the only ones. Many ships had been stopped at the border.

“Disciples of Thunder Sound Temple are here on orders to do an inspection. Many thanks for your cooperation.”

The voice of a Thunder Sound disciples spread.

Dozens of Thunder Sound disciples danced in the air. They wore shen equipment and seemed as though they were facing a great enemy. Some of the disciples had staffs that flashed with light and could attack at any moment.

“Big Brother, what has happened here, this has never occurred before!” The steward was smart and immediately went over to inquire.

“Who knows! It started a few days ago, I heard that thing was lost. That person’s really daring to dare to steal from Thunder Sound Temple.” The one that spoke was a middle-aged person who had a weathered face.

“Yeah, but we are the ones that lose out, this delays us,” another person said.

The middle-aged person shook his head and said, “Just cooperate and it will be fine. The disciples of Thunder Sound Sect are slightly domineering but they are disciplined. They won’t take anything or delay us unnecessarily. If this is on Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect’s territory, don’t think about getting out unless you bleed a bit.”

“Oh, the disciples of Thunder Sound Temple are this disciplined?” Zuo Mo inserted.

“The bigger sects like Thunder Sound Sect, Lotus Sutra Temple, they are all disciplined. Those little sects are not,” the middle-aged person explained.

At this time, the Thunder Sound Temple disciple that stared at Zuo Mo flew towards another disciple in the air and whispered.

That disciple immediately turned to look at Zuo Mo’s group. He beckoned to a few others that landed around Zuo Mo, and surrounded his group.

The surrounding people immediately ran away in fear.

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought that the other was truly coming for him. Their luck was really bad to encounter such a thing.

“This one is Thunder Sound Temple disciple Liao Yu, greetings.” The leading Thunder Sound Temple disciple bowed with a solemn expression. “Our sect is conducting a routine inspection. Please cooperate and forgive us for our disturbance.”

The surroundings immediately became quiet. The eyes of everyone in the group turned towards Zuo Mo.

Chapter 765 – Lil’ Black ‘s Achievement

“Let them inspect.” Zuo Mo said baldly.

For one, he was curious about the goal of these Thunder Sound Temple disciples. They had been targeted from the start, and it did not appear to be a coincidence. Secondly, Zuo Mo also wanted to see if their disguise could pass the test. If they could not even work on some Thunder Sound Temple disciples, it would be embarrassing if they went to Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and were discovered.

Little Mo Ge wanted face. Since he decided to go the devious way, they naturally could not show any slip-ups.

Tian Huan had heavily infiltrated Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and there definitely were experts that Tian Huan had sent hiding among them. Zuo Mo had made a decision to declaw Heart Leaf Dhyana Set. These Tian Huan xiuzhe in hiding were on Zuo Mo’s black list.

It had to be said that the disguises of Zuo Mo’s group were very good.

They were dressed plainly without any decoration. Other than Zuo Mo who was dressed slightly better due to acting as the boss of the merchant group, the other people were attired normally. Their shen equipment and other things were stored in their rings, and their rings were also disguised to appear like normal rings.

The ling steeds that they rode were also appropriate to their identity, all of them ling horned horses. They were cheap, had high endurance, and were easy to feed. Any inn could supply the appropriate ling grasses to feed them. For merchant groups who cared about overhead costs, they liked the ling horned horses.

Several Thunder Sound Temple disciples immediately encircled them, and there were some other disciples that were warily staring at them.

Zuo Mo and the others were experienced fighters and unaffected by these Thunder Sound Temple disciples.

The Thunder Sound Temple disciple who had gone in to inspect quickly came out and shook his head.

The disciple leader hadn’t expected that they wouldn’t find anything at all. He hesitated and then said as though nothing has happened, “Great apologies for the disturbance, you may go.”

Just as the steward was about to say thanks and leave, Zuo Mo suddenly spoke, “Are you looking for something?”

The leading disciple stilled. He clearly had not been prepared for Zuo Mo’s question. He probably had not thought that someone would ask in a situation like this. However, the other’s expression was normal and there was nothing fishy.

He hesitated before nodding and saying, “Yes! A treasure of our sect was stolen, and we are looking for it.” Thinking about how the mission was incomplete, his mood immediately became terrible. He waved his hand impatiently. “You may go!”

The other merchant groups immediately started as though they had been pardoned.

Seeing the merchant groups hurriedly leaving, the leading disciple had a thoughtful expression. He quickly realized what had been wrong. The other had been too calm, and didn’t show any reverence because of his identity.

“That group is suspicious.” A tall disciple came over and said in a low voice, “Lao Jiu said that he felt unusual vibrations coming from them.”

“Unusual vibrations?” The leading disciple frowned.

“Yes, it was short, but Lao Jiu said that it definitely isn’t an illusion.”

“Unusual vibrations does not mean they are hiding the thing.” The leading disciple shook his head.

“But it is very likely. You know that Lao Jiu’s sense is unusual.”

“Then what do you think we should do?” The leading disciple was persuaded.

“Looking at their direction, it seems that they are heading towards Lotus Sutra Temple. Let’s first close the transportation formation towards Lotus Sutra Temple,” the tall disciple said coldly, “then they will only have one path.”

The leading disciple’s expression changed slightly. “Black Sea Flying Route!”

———

Zuo Mo was extremely bored. Everyone around him was a cultivation maniac. Other than the stewards that could chat with him, the other people either cultivated, or cultivated.

Wei Sheng’s eyes were closed and he was in meditation, Zong Ru was in meditation, Luo Li was in meditation, even the ones he picked out were in meditation. A Gui’s eyes were not closed, but Zuo Mo knew that she did not need to meditate. She could cultivate like this.

The boring long journey was just like normal.

The only one that did not cultivate was Ceng Lian’er but this horrid person made tea, and idly enjoyed the scenery. She didn’t show any intentions of sharing a cup with Zuo Mo.

Who really was the boss!

Zuo Mo was furious but he had to admit that some people’s presences could not be copied. Zuo Mo tried Ceng Lian’er’s idle and serene style but it was not right when he did it.

The strength of the stewards could not compare to Zuo Mo. They were tired by the long travel and didn’t have much energy to speak.

The Zuo Mo, bored, could only let the Little Ones out and started to play with them. Silly Bird naturally ignored him. She was usually proud, and now that her strength had grown immensely, she became even prouder. That imperious gaze was still so domineering.

Tenth Grade was a cultivation fanatic, Sunshine was slightly bashful, Lil’ Pagoda, Lil’ Fire, and Lil’ Black were the best at flattering him. They flew in circles around Zuo Mo and fawned over him. Zuo Mo was very comforted.

Zuo Mo’s hand felt a point of pain. He bent down and saw that it was Lil’ Black on his hand using its short legs to pull Zuo Mo, its antennae furiously waving.

Seeing Lil’ black like this, Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up, the bored expression on his face sweeping away.

Lil’ Black had been a good treasure-hunter in the past, and after spending some time on Cheng Shidi’s hands, it should have improved. Thinking about the valuable materials and jingshi that Cheng Shidi had exploited out of him, Zuo Mo felt his heart ache.

“Lil’ Black. Good Lil’ Black, you have to make me proud. If you can find some great treasure trove for your old man, your old man will give you some meat to eat! What? You don’t want meat? That’s alright, your old man will eat meat, you can drink soup!”

Did the Heavens see the ge was in poverty now, and wanted to make it up to ge?

Zuo Mo put down Lil’ Black from his hand with anticipation.

Lil’ Black climbed off Zuo Mo’s hand and flew towards the rear of the convoy. Zuo Mo’s mind became alert and he followed closely.

Lil’ Black landed on the last transport boat. Zuo Mo stilled and then had a suspicious expression. This transportation boat carried wares that were used as part of their identities. They were items from Mo Cloud Sea that were very welcome. If they were sold to Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the surroundings, they could make a significant profit. The journey was relatively hard but there were many people that this alone  would arouse suspicion.

This ship had come with them from Mo Cloud Sea, there shouldn’t be a problem!

Zuo Mo’s pupil suddenly contracted.

Had someone sneaked onto the ship?

The guards on the ship saw Zuo Mo arrive and were startled awake. When they saw Zuo Mo’s hand move to signal to be on their guard, their expressions changed. The other must be powerful to have managed to sneak onto the ship under such a heavy guard.

Noticing Zuo Mo’s unusual actions, all of the merchant group were alerted.

They were all experienced and worked well together. They didn’t make a sound at all. They soundlessly flowed and spread into a net that had no weakness.

Lil’ Black stopped outside the storage deck, its antennae waving furiously. But in the next moment, its body suddenly streaked back rapidly, and hid behind Silly Bird’s back.

When he got to hear, Zuo Mo finally discovered an almost imperceptible presence.

He was shocked, his body trembling. This presence was extremely weak. Even though he was so close, if it wasn’t for Lil’ Black’s warning, he may have missed it.

Someone had really sneaked onto the ship!

Zuo Mo felt a chill but he was also angry. They had just entered the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and such a great oversight had been made. Zuo Mo felt he was embarrassed, especially when there were so many experts around.

“The friend inside, do not hide! Come out!” Zuo Mo’s tone was icy, the shen technique on his hand ready to be cast.

The entire net gave off a suffocating presence.

There wasn’t any movement inside. That almost intangible presence became even weaker as though it almost disappeared. Zuo Mo was shocked. The other seemed to disappear into thin air.

But he knew that the other had not truly disappeared but had just hid away all of their presence to become one with the surroundings. This caused the illusion that the other had disappeared.

An expert!

Zuo Mo quickly made his decision, his tone even icier. “If Sir does not come out by the count of three, then be crushed with this ship!”

“Three … … “

Just as Zuo Mo shouted this, a grey shadow suddenly charged in front of him.

Zuo Mo was astounded but he reacted quickly. The shen technique that he had prepared accurately hit the grey shadow. Zuo Mo did not keep anything back with this attack and the grey shadow crumpled!

At the same time, he heard Wei Sheng Shixiong shout, “Go back!”

A dazzling red sword light broke through the air.

A faint, almost intangible presence, twisted strangely in the air, and suddenly appeared in another corner.

“Return!” Ceng Lian’Er’s expression turned dark. Her afternoon tea had been interrupted and she was not in a good mood. Dozens of moon crescents appeared around her, the sharp edges criss-crossing as though she wanted to dismember the shadow.

The almost intangible shadow took a turn again.

He charged directly towards A Gui.

Everyone else had expressions as they did not bear to look.

A Gui’s figure flashed as though she disappeared in the air. The shadow felt the surrounding net open and was overjoyed. They gathered all the strength in their body in an attempt to charge through the opening.

Yet before he could act, he felt a grip around his neck. He lost control of his body, and the world around him spun.

Bam!

Holding his neck, A Gui swung her arm as though she was swinging a great hammer to hit the ship.

The strong force caused the boards on the ship that were as hard as rock and covered in seal scripts to crack. The fragments shot into the surroundings.

The shadow felt a great pain, and then fell unconscious.

Before he lost consciousness, he saw blurry faces. The expressions on the faces of these people were really strange… …

It seems to be sympathy, or pity, or seemed to say: just as expected … …

Chapter 766 – [Bird] Mission

[Snapped Red Silk] had been uprooted!

This stunning news spread in the yao underground world like a plague.

The underground world was not as large as people imagined. While the influence of the underground had silently grown in recent years, every leader with a clear head knew that this golden age of prosperity was a temporary by-product of the inner conflict in the council of elders.

But the collapse of [Snapped Red Silk] still caused an earthquake in the underground world.

In truth, [Snapped Red Silk] did not have large territories, but their skilled management made the faction a firmly established one. Their feelers reached into every corner of their territory.

Unless it was a matter of life and death, there were not many factions that would touch them.

They were strong for their size, and one would have to pay a significant price to defeat them. Also, [Snapped Red Silk]’s base was like an impenetrable barrel of metal. Even if one won, it was a complex and troublesome matter to digest a territory.

[Snapped Red Silk] was strong because they were wealthy. The reason that they were wealthy was because they had a monopoly over the local low level materials business.

The profit in low material business was not high. But because the majority of powerful factions were not willing to waste manpower on controlling this business it was left to the underground factions. [Snapped Red Silk] was like all other underground powers. They usually were greatly connected to the lowest rungs of society. They had abundant manpower and no competition from large factions. [Snapped Red Silk] had quickly taken over almost seven tenths of the low level materials business in their territory.

Any business if it was a monopoly would gain great profits even if the profit margin was slim. Low level materials were not eye-catching but they were traded in great volume.

The [Snapped Red Silk] that had a monopoly over the market started to manipulate the market to obtain even more profit.

They were skilled and the prices they gave the large factions were far lower than market price. With this method, they hadn’t affected the benefits of the major factions, and even built a terrifying web of connections.

Yet a faction like this had been exterminated.

The faction that had destroyed it was called [Black Fire]

[Black Fire] was a relatively unknown name in the underground world but this unknown little faction had defeated [Snapped Red Silk] that everyone had been unable to deal with. It really was fantastical.

The tentacles of the underground factions were like an invisible spider-web. Any gust of wind or movement would be felt. Soon, all kinds of intelligence about [Black Fire] ended up on the desks of leaders everywhere.

———

Youqin Lie’s recent days were extremely comfortable, and there was a joyful expression on his dark face that could not be disguised.

He had a few more powerful fighters under his command. The struggles of [Snapped Red Silk] were like that of a wild beast at the end of its life. After their last struggle had been blocked, they completely fell apart.

Compared to the difficulty of the battles before, the battles after the added personnel were so easy it was like sightseeing.

However, eliminating the remaining of [Snapped Red Silk]’s power was slightly troublesome. While Youqin Lie was young, he was skilled and cunning. The secret pieces that he had set up before were now coming into use.

“Many thanks everyone.” Youqin Lie expressionlessly stated his thanks. Next to him, Tao Wei and the others looked with complicated expressions as Nan Yue and the others.

The underground world did not lack for experts like Wu Ying who were strong. But the people in front of them were so strong they felt fear and awe. Experts of this level could only be supported by those large factions.

Boss’ support was really unfathomable!

Tao Wei and the others could see that while Nan Yue’s group was strong, they were definitely not people that worked in the shadows. They did not have any presence of darkness, and their personalities were honest and straightforward like their way of fighting.

“No problem.” Wariness flashed across Nan Yue’s eyes. She had an instinctive wariness of these people of the shadows. If she did not see it with her own eyes, she would not believe that Daren would have this kind of faction that worked in the shadows.

She asked directly, “What do we need to do next? If possible, we hope to finish as soon as possible.”

The gazes of everyone behind her gathered on Youqin Lie. They were extremely wary of this young but extremely vicious and cunning youth. They had watched as Youqin Lie expressionlessly executed more than thirty people. This guy was a demon. They only hoped now to finish their mission as soon as possible and then leave this place.

They liked sunlight and not darkness.

Youqin Lie jerked the corners of his lips. It could have been in mirth or disdain.

But he turned and nodded at Tao Wei. Tao Wei understood and took out a jade scroll to hand to Nan Yue. Nan Yue took the jade scroll with some puzzlement and then started to read

“This person is one of Daren’s targets.”

Youqin Lie’s voice carried a darkness that would make people feel cold.

Nan Yue finished reading and handed the jade scroll to others. She raised her head, “I cannot see what is special about this person.:

Tao Wei smiled slightly. Her lips moved and an enchanting voice spread. “Cang Ling Xue, female, twenty six, a member of the Grey Family.”

“Grey Family?” Cang Ze couldn’t help but say. He was curious at encountering someone with the same surname as him.

Tao Wei did not know why Cang Ze was shocked. She continued to give a detailed explanation, “The Cang Family of Nu Flat Jie. It is a local faction. Her parents passed away when she was eleven and she became the family head, the youngest family head in the history of the Grey Family.”

Nan Yue immediately had a feeling of empathy. This was a situation similar to the one she experienced in the past. She knew just how difficult it was for a child of eleven to become the family head.

“Nu Flat Jie’s other factions all assumed that the Grey Family’s decline was certain, and this included factions that were enemies of the Grey Family. Therefore, three local factions allied together and attacked the Grey Family. Yet no one expected was that the Grey Family defeated the three families under the leadership of Cang Ling Xue. This battle made the Grey Family and Cang Ling Xue famous in the Nu Flat Jie.”

Everyone listened, enchanted. Many people had astonished expressions. This would have been so difficult for an eleven year old girl.

“After that, the Grey Family quickly grew in power under the leadership of Cang Ling Xue. Three years later, the Grey Family became one of the five biggest factions in Nu Flat Jie. Under her initiative, the five strongest families of Nu Flat formed the Nu Flat Merchant Association. The chair was Cang Ling Xue. That year, she was fifteen.”

Everone gaped as they heard this.

“The Nu Flat Merchant Association developed quickly and in the following years, their business expanded to more than thirty of the surrounding jie. Oh, I forgot to tell everyone, Cang Ling Xue is seventeen this year.”

“So there are really geniuses in the world!” Nan Yue couldn’t help but sigh in astonishment.

The orange haired yao crowded over and said shamelessly, “Is Sister Nan talking about me?”

A Wen coldly said, “Idiot!”

Nan Yue’s eyebrow twitched. These two were starting again! She brought out her killing move. “Shut up! Don’t forget what Boss said before you left.”

The orange haired yao shrunk his head back, and said, “Good brothers are loyal, I am peerlessly loyal!”

A Wen was silent.

A look flashed through Tao Wei’s eyes. She looked at Boss. Boss’ eyes were closed.

“Please continue,” Nan Yue said.

“Cang Ling Xue is skilled in management. Under her reins, the Cang Family is not just organized, it has quickly grown. Her talent and skill also aroused the attention of many factions. The Nu Flat Merchant Association has some power, but compared to the larger factions, it isn’t worth a mention. I heard that even the Council of Elders is interested in her.”

Tao Wei’s eyes moved. “Do you know what is the best way to recruit a young female?”

Nan Yue said coolly, “Force a marriage!”

Tao Wei laughed lightly. “Miss Nan Yue is really smart. There are many ways of dealing with Cang Ling Xue. Cang Ling Xue does not have much to bargain with. The most effective method is a marriage proposal. Cang Ling Xue is beautiful, she is rich, and skilled in management. It will be greatly profitable if one could marry this kind of woman! Up until now, Cang Ling Xue has received over ten marriage proposals. None of these factions are ones that she, or the Nu Flat Merchant Association can afford to offend.”

“These people should be killed!” A Wen who hated being forced to do anything said in fury.

The orange haired yao said righteously, “Only a genius can save a beautiful maiden … …”

Nan Yue ignored the two of them. “What does she have to do with us.”

Youqin Lie who had been resting with his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes. “This is one of the targets from the higher ups. Do not ask me the reason. You only need to know that she is your target and I will help you complete the mission.”

“What do we have to do?” Ming Jue Zi asked. Of the group, he had the most ideas.

“I lean towards kidnapping her.” Youqin Lie shrugged and seemed cunning like a fox. “However, this is your mission. You will decide how to carry out your mission. The higher-ups want to recruit a talent that is skilled at internal management. Of course, if you accidentally damage her, we have other targets.”

Such a cold and emotionless person. Nan Yue’s dislike increased. However, Ming Jue Zi answered before she did, “You mean that after completing this, we have other targets to reach?”

“Yes.” Youqin Lie said coolly, “The preliminary list to investigate was one hundred and three people. After investigation and selection based on the higher up’s criteria, there are sixteen in left.”

“Sixteen people!”

Nan Yue and the others gaped. This number surprised their imagination.

“These sixteen are all talented, each of them is not from strong faction and are easy to get to.” Youqin Lie looked at the group and jerked the corners of his mouth. “You should thank me, I helped you finish a ;large part of the work. There are eight that are already taken care of through terror, kidnapping and bribery, and another one we just got from [Snapped Red Silk].”

“You mean we have seven left?” Ming Jue Zi immediately caught the point.

“Yes,” Youqin Lie said expressionlessly, “I suggest you first go after Cang Ling Xue. In the ranking from the higher-ups, she has the highest score. While the final result will only be known after they fight it out, I favor her. Also, the level of this mission is [Bird]. I believe that you know what this means.”

Nan Yue and the others were shocked.

Chapter 767 – Bronze Hoop Remnant

[Bird] was the highest level of mission for Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo had set up Mo Cloud Sea’s mission structure using the Lil’ Ones rankings. From highest to lowest, it was [Bird], [Pagoda], [Butterfly], [Fire] and [Worm]. [Bird] level missions were the highest priority and most important missions of Mo Cloud Sea. It meant that this mission was a crucial mission that would determine life and death for Mo Cloud Sea.

[Bird] level missions were not easily announced but once they were, every person of Mo Cloud Sea had a duty and responsibility to serve for the [Bird] level mission. For any [Bird] level mission, if it was necessary, all the power of Mo Cloud Sea could be mobilized to complete it and they were obligated to do so.

There were not many that knew of this compulsory rule. Normal citizens would almost never encounter missions above [Fire] level. But Nan Yue and the others had followed Zuo Mo for many years and knew about the inner workings. So when Youqin Lie stated the mission ranking, they could not keep their composure.

“What do we need to do?” Nan Yue asked gravely. Her expression was stern and focused. Everyone else, even the orange haired yao, put away their cheer and became focused.

The temperature of the conference room suddenly dipped, the atmosphere becoming heavy and solemn.

Tao Wei and the others felt slightly uneasy. They felt surprised at this suddenly transformation, but more of what they felt was shock. They were experienced, and they could see the great importance that Nan Yue and the others placed on this mission. It came from their hearts. The level of the mission changed their attitude. A scene like this would only appear if the other had strict organization and they strongly identified with the organization.

This was a strict, regulated, and united organization.

They could not see the organization behind Boss but this was the tip of the iceberg and made them feel great awe and terror.

Youqin Lie seemed to not feel the suddenly murderous atmosphere. He was still expressionless. “This is a problem you will need to consider. From my position, using tactics like kidnapping and such is the most convenient. But considering that they will become your co-workers in the future, I suggest using gentler tactics.”

“For example?” Nan Yue found that she could not treat this lord of the darkness using a normal view. The other was not as strong as them, but in terms of viciousness, and cunning, all of them added up were not a match for him.

“No matter how strong a seventeen year old female is, she is still seventeen.” Youqin Lie glanced at Nan Yue. “There is a common saying. You give her what she needs.”

Ming Jue Zi had a thoughtful expression.

Nan Yue was even more direct. “What does she need?”

While she had never seen Youqin Lie, and the aura of darkness on the other made her uncomfortable. But since the higher-ups had given the [Bird] level mission to him, it showed that this youth of the underground was trustworthy. Youqin Lie had clearly been investigating and working on this for a long time, and he definitely knew more than they did as well as being more experienced. In this kind of situation, it was more reliable to listen to the suggestions of a professional.

A look flashed across Youqin Lie’s expressionless face but then it disappeared. He turned to Chai Shan Qing, “Speak.”

Chai Shan Qing was not surprised. He elegantly nodded at each person. His voice was clear as though it contained a power that would make people unconsciously trust him. “First, we will analyze Cang Ling Xue’s personality. She was able to save the Grey Family from a dangerous situation, and created the Nu Flat Business Association. Other than her outstanding abilities, she has unique personality traits. She is determined to the point of stubbornness, decisive, and filled with confidence and a strong sense of responsibility.”

Everyone felt this was reasonable and nodded.

Chai Shan Qing smiled elegantly. At this time, he was like a wise and educated teacher without any aura of darkness.

“She is extremely confident. This kind of confidence has helped her overcome many obstacles. Due to this, even though she seems surrounded on all sides, her stubbornness and confidence keep her believing that she can find a way out. This will make her try all kinds of methods to resolve the danger present. Even though all the factions are pressuring her, she will not surrender immediately. She will struggle for a time.”

“But let us first analyze her situation. We will find that the probability that she can break free of the situation is low. The enemies can obtain both the person and wealth, who would let her go? Those greedy people would not do so. According to our investigation, the ones behind those acting now are mighty. So mighty that even Ming Yue Ye is wary.”

“Ming Yue Ye is Cang Ling Xue’s best person to side with, but Ming Yue Ye is busy consolidating her power and obtaining the support of other elders. She would only interfere with the plans of other elders in one situation, when the benefits surpasses her losses. But it is clear that the current seventeen year old Cang Ling Xue and the Nu Flat Merchant Association do not possess such high value.”

Nan Yue and the others unconsciously stopped breathing. They listened, entranced. In a few words, the complex situation became clear.

“Consequently, in my predictions, the possibility that Cang Ling Xue can break free is very low. What determines this is her other trait, her strong sense of responsibility. It is not good to act against Cang Ling Xue openly, but there are many ways to deal with the Grey Family and the Nu Flat Merchant Association. For the future of the Grey Family, I think the probability that Cang Ling Xue will make a compromise is high. Of course, I have to admit that Cang Ling Xue may be able to get out due to her great talents. Therefore, we need to work in the shadows to stop any chance that she can get out.”

“Why?” Nan Yue frowned. She innately did not like these machinations in the shadows.

Chai Shan Qing smiled as though he was not discussing a conspiracy but a theoretical problem. “No matter how hardy, how determined she is, do not forget her age. A hopeless situation, the feeling of defeat and hopelessness created by failure of her struggles, that is enough to take her to her most fragile state. She will struggle in a darkness where she cannot see any hope. At this time, we only need to give her one thread of hope and we can recruit her. This is our only chance.”

Nan Yue and the others shuddered, their bodies cold.

Cang Ze couldn’t help saying, “Why don’t we find her now? If we offer her enough, we may be able to persuade her.”

Chai Shan Qing laughed lightly, “We will never be able to offer as much as the others. Once we appear, Cang Lin Xue will not give up on the chance to use us to strengthen her bargaining position. She will then sell us off to the highest bidder and together they will become enemy. Then they will use all kinds of schemes to push us out of the game. We can only hide in the darkness, but they can work in the light. This means that what we can give cannot be more than what they can. Do not ever underestimate the cunning and greed of these families. They are blood-suckers. What they are most skilled in is using their background and power to push others out of business.”

He then smiled coldly and said, “Cang Ling Xue is still waiting for a better offer yet she does not understand these people well enough. They will not give her a chance. They are a like a pack of wolves, cunning and cooperative. They can compromise among themselves, but they cannot accept prey bargaining with them. This is an advantage that their power gives them. They have used this advantage for thousands of years. They are familiar with everything that can be used, and are used to using it to get the most benefits.”

Everyone was silent.

Youqin Lie’s cool voice interrupted their thoughts. “He is an expert in this field. If you are willing to listen to his opinion, he will become your helper.”

A long time later, Nan Yue spoke, “Many thanks, Mister Chai!”

Chai Shan Qing elegantly bowed, “It is my honor to work for you.”

———

Zuo Mo examined this guy who had been stripped until he only had one piece of cloth left and was locked up by numerous jinzhi. The people around him looked predatorily at this tender-looking person with unfriendliness. Someone had managed to get onto the ship without being detected, and this happened in front of Daren. All of them felt ashamed and were not in good moods.

The captive was short and the disguise on his face had been cleaned off to show an ordinary face. But there were many faint scripts carved on his body that seemed like the mo matrices that Mo Cloud Sea carved.

It was the first time Zuo Mo had seen similar things in other places. After inspecting them, Zuo Mo found that what was inscribed on the person were not mo matrices but a kind of unique seal script.

This kind of seal script already had some of the traits of shen glyphs. It was these seal scripts that were close shen glyphs which allowed his presence to be hidden to such an astounding degree that none of the numerous experts present detected him. The effects of these seal scripts broadened Zuo Mo’s view.

After making a copy of all the seal scripts on this guy’s body, Zuo Mo’s attention moved onto another item.

A half section of a bronze hoop.

Zuo Mo knew with a glance that this bronze hoop was the remnant of an ancient shen device. The simple and almost crude patterns on the bronze hoop were the signature of that era. Also, there was a very faint yet unique shen power vibration from the bronze hoop.

This was probably what Thunder Sound Temple had been searching for. Zuo Mo played with it before handing it off to the others.

This thing probably wasn’t simple as it appeared, being the remnant of a shen device and to cause Thunder Sound Temple to make such a great fuss over it. He motioned to the guard next to him. The guard kicked the unconscious captive.

The captive slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he looked dazedly at the unfamiliar faces. When his gaze encountered A Gui, he shook and immediately woke up. Some terrifying memories flashed through his mind, and his body unconsciously shook.

At this time, he heard someone speak.

“Speak, who are you?”

Chapter 768 – A Fatal Temptation

The captive’s mind was stunned but he quickly realized his situation. The people around him had unfriendly expressions and the murderous presences they gave off caused his heart to instinctively tremble. Relating them to the terrifying experts he had fought against before his unconsciousness, he knew that he had been caught this time.

“I am Lao De Guang.”

Zuo Mo and the others exchanged a look. No one heard of this name before.

“Don’t use this kind of name to fool people. How can someone with your skills be unknown?” Zuo Mo looked sardonically at Lao De Guang.

Lao De Guang knew that there was no chance today, and briskly confessed, “Other people call me the Shadowless Ghost Hand.”

“Shadowless Ghost Hand!” The eyes of the steward next to Zuo Mo widened, his expression changing as he shouted. He saw Zuo Mo turn around and hurriedly explained, “The Shadowless Ghost Hand is a famous thief around the Nine Great Dhyana Sect territories. They say that he has never failed. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects has a great bounty but no one was able to catch him. We captured a big fish this time!”

Lao De Guang listened to the narration of the steward and a proud expression rose.

Zuo Mo saw the expression on his face and smiled. “Oh? I didn’t see it, you are a famous character!”

Lao De Guang’s expression stilled. Thinking about his captive situation, the pride on his face immediately disappeared.

“What is this?” Zuo Mo picked up the bronze hoop remnant that had been returned to him and waved it. “Do not try to fool us. The Thunder Sound Temple seems to be searching for this. If we give this thing and you to them, other than the bounty, we might get even more benefits from Thunder Sound Temple.”

Lao De Guang’s expression tensed. He thought about how his fate would be worse than death if he was handed to Thunder Sound Temple. The other’s unfriendly gaze was vicious and experienced. He quickly stopped his other plans, and obediently answered, “Yes, Thunder Sound Temple is searching for this. This is a token for an ancient ruin.”

“A token for an ancient ruin?” Zuo Mo narrowed his eyes. Everyone familiar with him knew that this expression was when he was interested.

Since he had confessed, Lao De Guang decided to do it to the end. “Yes! An ancient ruin was found in the Nine Great Dhyana Sects but the ruin is shrouded in a strange power field. It is impossible to enter without the token. There are thirteen tokens in total, all of them remnants of shen devices. Not long after the ruins were discovered, divination masters identified the time that the ruin will open, it is in one month.”

“Thirteen tokens? How come there are so many tokens?” Zuo Mo smiled ambiguously at Lao De Guang.

For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo’s smile caused Lao De Guang’s bones to shiver. He forced himself to remain calm. “I do not know. These shen device remnants were found around the ruin, thirteen total. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects each have one, and the remaining four are in the hands of unknown people.”

“A token for an ancient ruin is enough to make the Thunder Sound Temple so desperate? I don’t believe it.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

Lao De Guang immediately panicked. “Some of the information on the ancient ruin has been uncovered. It has other things but there is a treasure that no one is able to refuse. That is why the Thunder Sound Temple is so desperate.”

“What treasure?” Zuo Mo smiled enchantingly.

Treasure … … oh, this word make one so excited!”

Lao De Guang had a solemn expression. “A completely preserved ancient shen device nucleus!”

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up, the smile on his face completely disappearing. He asked in a deep voice, “What did you say?”

Lao De Guang’s face turned ashen pale. He finally knew why this person made him feel an indescribable danger. This person’s power was greater than he had imagined. He was like a deep and unfathomable lake!

The strong pressure and feeling of suffocation rushed at him like a ferocious lion that touched his face. He could even see the threads of blood lingering on the fangs and claws.

“It is a completely preserved ancient shen device nucleus.” Lao De Guang’s voice trembled. “While I don’t know how it was preserved, this is certain.”

He instinctively swallowed and forced out, “Each token can only take five people inside. Other than the Nine Great Dhyana Sects who each have a token, four of the tokens have disappeared. They most likely are in the hands of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. One more token means they can take in five more people. The hopes of getting the treasure is greater.”

“Why can only five people be taken in?’ Zuo Mo asked in a cold voice.

“I don’t know. Supposedly, it is an ancient jinzhi. Everyone is saying this.” Lao De Guang shook his head. He was afraid of angering Zuo Mo and hurriedly said, “But this is likely reliable. Otherwise, those large sects would not be so desperately searching for extra tokens. Thunder Sound Temple took this token from someone else, it has passed through the hands of seven owners, they are all dead … …”

He suddenly realized what he was saying, his face turning a few shades whiter. He hurriedly elaborated, “I’m not talking about you … …”

Zuo Mo did not care. From the words that Lao De Guang said, he knew that the other was not speaking lies. Originally, he did not intend to interfere in this matter. Others might be curious in ancient ruins but Zuo Mo had experienced many already.

However, a completely preserved ancient shen device nucleus caused his little heart to jump.

Shen device raiment, the top and best of the world right now!

[City Destroyer] and [Arsonist] had almost bankrupted Mo Cloud Sea, especially when those top ranked materials were all used up. These materials could not be bought with jingshi. Even if Mo Cloud Sea was rich right now, they did not have other avenues to get so many top materials.

Also, most of the top materials were used to forge shen device nuclei. The shen device nuclei made using the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship could be called shen device nuclei but they was still a impassable chasm between those and the true shen device nuclei.

Due to this, no matter how many creative and novel ideas Zuo Mo and the Golden Crow Camp had, they could not forge new shen device raiments. Zuo Mo, the leader of Mo Cloud Sea, didn’t even have a shen device raiment. Little Mo Ge was displeased by this.

Searching for top materials almost became a long-term mission of Mo Cloud Sea. The rewards were high, but the progress at present was still far from the goal.

Little Mo Ge’s shen device raiment naturally was also far away.

Hearing that there was a complete shen device raiment in the ruin, Zuo Mo’s mind immediately became lively. This shen device raiment was a fatal temptation for Zuo Mo.

Even more advantageous was that one token could only take along five people. This meant that those that were able to enter the ruin must be the high level personnel of every faction.

In terms of high level power, Little Mo Ge was full of confidence when he looked at the people around him!

Zuo Mo turned to look at the other people. Everyone had excited expressions. It was clear that everyone knew the value of the shen device nucleus. Just this shen device nucleus would mean that they had not made a wasted trip.

“Where is the ruin?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Territory controlled by the Lotus Sutra Temple, it is called Calm Brightness Jie,” Lao De Guang said obediently.

Zuo Mo turned around. The steward understood and hurriedly said, “The Lotus Sutra Temple does have a Calm brightness Jie. If we go there, we need to hurry. If Thunder Sound Temple closes the transportation information, it will be troublesome.”

“Close the transportation formation?” Zuo Mo frowned.

The steward explained, “If we go to Lotus Sutra Temple now, we have to pass through a transportation formation. If that transportation formation is closed, we can get there through other paths but it will take far longer than a month, unless … …”

Zuo Mo directly asked, “Unless what?”

“Unless we go the Black Sea Flight Route!” When he said this, the steward had a terrified expression.

Zuo Mo stilled. He noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Lao De Guang also had a similar expression of terror.

“Is there something dangerous about that place?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

The steward unconsciously showed his terror on his face as though he thought of some scary memory. He said in almost a dream-like fashion, “About a decade ago, I went through the Black Sea Flight Route. At that time, Thunder Sound Temple was in conflict with other sects and closed the transportation formation. Our ship had the Hundred Leaf Heart Cloud that we needed to deliver within a month. No matter what, it only blooms for a month. On the thirty first day, it will wither and have no value at all. In order to buy this Hundred Leaf Heart Cloud, the group had spent almost half of our assets. Our journey had to succeed. Seeing the transportation formation closed, we could only choose the Black Sea Flight Route.”

“And then?” Ceng Lian’Er asked curiously.

The steward smiled tragically, “At the start, the fleet had more than two hundred people. There were only nineteen alive at the end.”

Everyone was astounded. No one had expected that less than a tenth had survived.

“We knew that the Black Sea Flight Route is too dangerous but that business was a matter of life and death for the group. Boss spent a great amount to invite a fanxu experts to guard us.”

The steward’s flat narration caused everyone’s heart to beat rapidly.

“Were even fanxu experts unable to protect you?” Ceng Lian’Er could not resist speaking again. Fanxu was akin to the marshal level of the mo. With a marshal’s protection, the fatality rate was still so astounding, the dangers could be imagined.

“That fanxu expert did not come out alive,” the steward gritted his teeth. His face twisted. The terrifying memories came at him again. His face was ashen pale and his body trembled.

Now, no one was able to maintain their calm, their expressions changing.

A place that could kill fanxu experts was also a great threat to them as well.

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “Speed up! Reach the transportation formation at top speed!”

No one dared to slack off and sped up. The entire group accelerated.

After flying for multiple days, when they reached the transportation formation, the formation was being guarded by battalions. The formation was also dark. It was clearly closed.

Thunder Sound Temple had predicted that they would go on this path and had prepared.

Everyone’s face became ugly!

Damn it!

Chapter 769 – Test

Everyone’s eyes gathered on Zuo Mo.

“How about we move a battalion and destroy them?” Eldest Shixiong’s tone suddenly became domineering.

Lao De Guang shuddered. It really was intimidating to hear these words! That was Thunder Sound Temple, the first of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects!

Where were these people from?

Lao De Guang felt more and more anxious.

Zuo Mo thought and then said, “It is not difficult to defeat Thunder Sound Temple, and only that Yang Yuan Hao will be slightly troublesome. But it will not be easy for us after doing that.”

Eldest Shixiong was just casually mentioning it. He usually did not participate in Mo Cloud Sea’s strategy meetings. He was not interested in these matters, and was obsessed with his sword path. Also, he trusted Zuo Mo’s abilities in this area, not to mention that Zuo Mo also had a freak like Lil’ Miss.

The reason that he had even spoken up was out of worry for Zuo Mo’s safety.

He naturally did not think much of the Black Sea Flight Route. He believed that as long as he had his sword nothing could impede him. But Zuo Mo was not the same as him. While he knew that Zuo Mo was not weaker than himself, and was even stronger in shen power, he still did not want to see Shidi be placed in danger.

Zuo Mo’s gaze swept across the Thunder Sound Battalions around the transportation formations. Just like Eldest Shixiong had said, other than getting a battalion to come, there really was no good solution. It was not difficult to publicly break through the battalion, but opening a closed transportation formation was a difficult matter.

There were only some things that could only be carried out in secret. They could not be seen breaking their ties in public.

If they really broke ties publicly with Thunder Sound Temple, then Zuo Mo’s strategy of the relying on the Nine Great Dhyana Sect resisting Tian Huan and Kun Lun would be over. While a shen device raiment was something rare, but Mo Cloud Sea already possessed three shen device raiments, and having one more did not affect Mo Cloud Sea’s development and strategy. Thunder Sound Temple was the head of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect and had great influence amongst them. It could sway the decisions of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

In a few moments, Zuo Mo made a decision.

The group was quickly noticed by the disciples of Thunder Sound Temple. They had received orders to close the transportation formation and search for suspicious people. This group in front of them was suspicious!

Zuo Mo saw the others about to surround them. He did not want to strain relations with the Thunder Sound Temple and said in a low voice, “Head for the Black Sea Flight Route!”

The steward’s face paled but he did not make a sound. He gritted his teeth and flew in the direction of the Black Sea Flight Route. Lao De Guang’s face was completely void of color as he said in a trembling voice, “We … … we really have to go the Black Sea Flight Route? Please no, that is a path to death, that … …”

Lao De Guang’s voice trailed off in a sob.

Everyone ignored him. Wei Sheng smiled and said, “After your warning, I’m more interested in this Black Sea Flight Route.”

Wei Sheng had been worried about any threat to Zuo Mo’s life, but since Zuo Mo had decided, he stopped all other thoughts. He only decided that all he had to do was protect Shidi.

Everyone else had anticipatory expressions. For elites like them that had slaughtered their way out of mountains of corpses, not even the most dangerous path could cause their minds to waver. It aroused their fighting spirit.

“Fanxu! Even fanxu will die!” Lao De Guang wailed.

Fanxu!

Everyone exchanged looks and smiled. Even a person as calm and silent as Zong Ru couldn’t help but grin.

“What are you crying about!” Ceng Lian’er gave the other a kic, “You are a man, have some courage!”

The competition among the mo was fierce and mo females mostly liked masculine and dominant men. So when Ceng Lian’er saw Lao De Guang act like this, she immediately felt displeased.

Seeing the people around him, Zuo Mo felt some spirit rise. Some of his worry disappeared. He said with a smile, “We will explore this Black Sea Flight Route that is said to be peerlessly dangerous, and see just how dangerous it is!”

The disciples of Thunder Sound Temple gaped.

This troop actually … … flew in the direction of the Black Sea Flight Route … …

———

East Spring Jie was lost, all of Quan Pei’s troops were lost!

These two events shook the Mo Marshal Alliance. If people had just felt threatened before, then the two successive defeats caused them to feel as though there was a blade pointing at their hearts. Bone-aching coldness caused them to have goosebumps.

Hai Jin Yun finally saw Shang Yu sheng arrive. This news caused the higher ups in the Mo Marshal Alliance to feel uplifted.

The meet up of the two great battle generals was like an anchor. It caused them to be filled with hope about the victory of the fight.

This war had come so suddenly without any warning. Even the Mo Marshal Alliance did not know even now why Mo Cloud Sea had started this war.

Theoretically, the two sides did not have any conflicts. In truth, before the war started, the two had many business ties.

Why had Mo Cloud Sea started this fight? What was their goal?

These riddles caused them to become the reactive party during decision-making. Bie Han was also cunning and he did not expose their goal.

They could only constantly send more battalions to the front lines. What was fortunate was that Mo Cloud Sea had not started an all-out war. Many battalions had come, but for the Mo Marshal Alliance, the only advantage they were sure of was the number of battalions.

Also, when they studied carefully, they quickly found that Bie Han did have weaknesses.

The battalions under his command had been sent to different places. Other than the Tangzi Battalion which had been sent to take Eastern Spring Jie, the goals of the others were unknown. However, everyone in the Mo Marshal Alliance believed that the other battalions were not as strong as Sin Battalion.

Without realizing it, Bie Han was now alone.

No matter how strong he was, he was alone.

If a lone army like this was surrounded, it was a death sentence. Without the ability to move, without reinforcement, the lone army was like a fish on the chopping block.

The Mo Marshal Alliance had many battalions. Just with sheer numbers, they could grind Bie Han to death.

This sudden discovery caused all of the higher ups in the Mo Marshal Alliance to become excited. Compared to killing a top battle general like Bie Han, losing Eastern Spring and the death of Quan Pei battalion was nothing.

Everyone believed that if Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng managed to grapple with Bie Han, then what waited for Bie Han was death on the battlefield!

The disappearance of Bie Han after defeating Quan Pei did not caused them to be at a loss. Almost everyone thought that after Bie Han struck opening blow, he would have to attack them one by one. The merging of forces between the two battle generals allowed the Mo Marshal Alliance to gain the strategic initiative, they could force Bei Han to fight them together.

Right now, they only had to advance step by step. They could not give Bie Han the chance to make an ambush and they would not lose this initiative.

Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng were also full of confidence.

Bie Han’s disappearance in their view implied that Bie Han was not confident enough to fight them openly. He wanted to avoid their forces, and search for opportunities. They would immediately attack Ma Fan Battalion when Bie Han appeared somewhere else to completely cut off Bie Han’s retreat.

If Bie Han’s retreat was cut off, he would truly become a trapped beast. Any of his struggles would be futile. In front of an ocean of cannon fodder, the elite Sin Battalion would be like a lion tied up and would fall to a pack of wolves.

Yet Bie Han was more composed and patient than they imagined.

Up until now, they still hadn’t found any traces of Bie Han and Sin Battalion.

Hai Jin Yun had a fiery temper but he was not in a rush right now. Shang Yu Sheng was methodically eating the delicious food in front of him with a serious expression. Shang Yue Sheng had pale skin. Supposedly, he had always been laughed at by the mo battalions that admired strength for this trait. He had been called a boy-toy. He was also a slow speaker. This was because he had a stuttering ailment in childhood. He had also been laughed at due to this.

But no one dared to laugh at him now.

Unlike Hai Jin Yun’s fiery temple, Shang Yu Sheng was slow and gentle in personality, methodical in everything he did, and appeared as though he would not care if the sky was falling.

Due to this, Hai Jin Yun would never had a temper when he encountered Shang Yu Sheng. Because no matter how he raged, Shang Yu Sheng would only smile at him, never argue, and then occasionally say a few words.

The two had a good relationship. Unlike Gongzi Xi, they were not famous before shen power’s appearance, and had not been content. Their similar backgrounds and their experiences caused them to be close friends.

“I don’t believe that Bie Han cannot see his weakness,” Hai Jin Yun said gravely. His faint gold face was slightly serious. “He definitely has other plans. He should not have made a mistake like this.”

Even though they appeared to have the strategic initiative, they were not as excited as the higher ups. The other was not a normal battle general. They were the ones directly feeling the pressure of Bie Han, and they were more careful.

Shang Yu Sheng had finished eating this time. He used a cloth to wipe the corner of his mouth before speaking. “Of course he would not make a mistake like this.”

“Then what are his intentions?” Hai Jin Yun asked in a deep voice.

“I don’t know.” Shang Yu Sheng was docile like a goldfish blowing bubbles. “Maybe he will head directly for the center, or he is trying to confuse us. Who knows?”

Hai Jin Yun immediately glared and increased his volume. “Can you not take this seriously?”

“I am taking this serious.” Shang Yu Sheng spoke so slow that Hai Jin Yun almost went crazy. He was slow that every word was said by itself. “But there is no use in just taking it serious. He is Bie Han. If we try to guess his thoughts, we will lose.”

Hai Jin Yun’s furious expression quickly dissipated. The two were close and he immediately understood Shang Yu Sheng’s meaning. “You mean that we will be unchanging to face all changes?”

“Yes.” Shang Yu Sheng said. He paused. A cunning light flashed through his eyes before he said slowly. “However, we can test him.”

“How?” Hai Jin Yun’s eyes lit up. He felt as though he didn’t have any place to expend his energy since he could not find Bie Hnan.

“Ma Fan Battalion.” Shang Yu Sheng slowly said.

Hai Jin Yun immediately reacted, a smile on his face. “Yes! How can Bie Han not know the danger of his retreat being cut off? He will definitely have other intentions. Then we will go test him. There are two people who are idle. We can let them try.”

Chapter 770 – Green Silk

“They’ve come.” Nian Lu said with a depressed expression, “Two mo marshals, a great army. Aiya, I suddenly feel the pressure is great!”

Laying on his back, head cushioned on his arms, Ma Fan chewed on a stalk of grass as he stared in a daze at the sky. He seemed to not hear what Nian Lu had said.

Lei Peng rumbled out, “Do you know why you feel like this?”

Nian Lu stilled and asked curiously, “Why?”

Lei Peng used his large fists to beat his steel-like chest and said proudly, “Because you are too small! Only a man of steel like myself can remain composed even if Mount Tai collapses!”

“So we can use the words big-chested and brainless to describe you!” Nian Lu retaliated.

Lei Peng said proudly, “The greatest tragedy is to look like a female but be flat-chested.”

Nian Lu was furious. “You look like a female! I am handsome! You have no taste and accuse others, I think that you don’t want to leave!”

Lei Peng curled his pinky and said with a snicker, “Come! Let’s fight! If you don’t, you’re a girl!”

The furious Nian Lu howled, “You’re a girl!”

The two started to fight without another word.

Ma Fan chewed his grass and ignored the two fighting furiously around him. He looked idly at the sky with an expression of pleasure.

Moments later, he stood up and spat out the grass in his mouth. He dusted off his clothes and said lazily, “Let’s go, stop playing around, we need to work. Two mo marshals have come a long way, we need to give them some face, we cannot let them leave disappointed!”

The surrounding battalion members puffed out their chests. Each of them had excited expressions.

There were many people among them that had followed Ma Fan to fight Xu Kong Temple, but Ma Fan Battalion was much stronger than they were in the past.

Looking at his members, Ma Fan smiled freely. He was full of confidence.

Brring, brring, brring!

Sharp alarms constantly started to sound. This meant that the enemy were within three hundred li of them. In the sky, scouts were flying at high speed, some of them landing and others taking off.

The defense line made from seal formations started to light up and the battalion members started to move at high speed

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.

The battle was about to start at any moment!

———

The roiling black sea was endless

The inky black sea water gave off an unique odor that was noxious. Even weirder was that the odor was extremely permeable. Even though they stayed inside the transportation ships, that faint odor could not be avoided.

The black sea moved relentlessly as though there were monsters moving beneath. The strong wind on the surface was as sharp as blades. Those that were slightly weaker could not leave the ship’s cabin.

Zuo Mo and the others stood at the front of the boat, ignoring the howling wind.

“Such a strong wind!” Ceng Lian’er sighed in surprise. Her long hair danced in the wind like black snakes. Her floor-length red dress did not move at all and made her seem weirdly beautiful.

“It really is rare.” Wei Sheng nodded. When the wind came near him, it would silently disappear.

Zuo Mo rubbed his chin and looked around. He murmured to himself, “If we can find astral fiends in here, they would be high grade!”

He motioned towards the sea, and a dragon of water rose out. It flew in front of Zuo Mo and turned into a black ball of water.

After inspecting the black ball of water, Zuo Mo said thoughtfully, “This black water is very strange and is full of yin energy. There is nothing in the water, but why is it black?”

He handed the water ball to Lil’ Pagoda. Lil’ Pagoda’s head shook like a rattledrum. It clearly disliked the black water. Zuo Mo was even more puzzled. Lil’ Pagoda had digest yinyang and the five elements, meaning it could digest almost everything. Theoretically, no matter what kind of water it was and because water was within the five element,s it should be within the boundaries of what Lil’ Pagoda could absorb.

But Lil’ Pagoda expressed a rare repulsion.

This guy was not a picky eater. Something that even a glutton who ate everything did not like, this was interesting!

Suddenly, Zong Ru opened his eyes, his dried-out finger pointing in a direction. “What is that?”

Everyone looked along Zong Ru’s finger and all showed surprise.

Not far away in the sky, a thin green strand floating in the air. This green strand was extremely thin and difficult to detect if one did not look closely. The strong wind did not damage it at all. The green strand moved along the wind.

No one could name it. Even a fanatic about treasure like Zuo Mo could not recognize what that green strand really was.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo felt a slight pain on his hand. He looked down and saw Lil’ Black on his hand furiously waving its antennae.

Zuo Mo stilled and then had an expression of ecstasy.

Treasure!

It definitely was some treasure!

“Fly in that direction!” Zuo Mo promptly shouted at the top of his lungs.

Hearing his command, the transportation ship immediately turned and flew in the direction of the green strand. Wei Sheng and the others knew Little Mo Ge well. Something that could make Little Mo Ge this excited was definitely outstanding. Anticipation flashed across their faces.

It did not seem far yet the ship flew for a full two hours.

When they flew closer, everyone found that the green strand was even longer than they had imagined, about seven or eight li long. It waved in the air like a stalk of seagrass.

Just as they were about to go near, the green strand seemed to feel danger. Its slowly swaying body suddenly shook.

Everyone felt a green light crescent suddenly released by the green strand and flash towards the ship.

Wei Sheng’s eyes lit up from where he was at the front of the ship. The God-Killing Blood Sword appeared in his hand.

“Great attack!”

The God-Killing Blood Sword shook and a red sword energy charged towards the green light crescent at an even faster speed!

The green and red energies accurately collided.

Boom!

It was like the roar of thunder, and a great gust of air spread. The ship shook and was pushed multiple zhang back.

“Hm!” Wei Sheng showed slight surprise. He knew just how powerful his sword strike was. That green energy rivalled it.

The green string trembled fiercely. Green energies rained down!

Wei Sheng’s eyes suddenly became the color of blood. Marks of blood formed on the surface of the God-Killing Blood Sword. He raised his face to look at the storm of green energies and howled!

A dot of red light expanded, and the sword energy came out of nowhere!

The red light was like the leader of a flock of birds. Threads of blood red sword essence came behind it like a cloud of red birds. In a blink, the pitch of the howl suddenly increased, the flocks of birds turning into an angry tide. The hissing turned into a scalp-numbing roar!

The red and the green tides collided!

In the sky, countless blinding dots of light lit up like stars shining.

It was a beautiful and spectacular scene that made people unconsciously hold their breath. It was even more beautiful in this deathly serenity!

A breath later, the enormous wave of sound and air finally swallowed the group.

The deck under Wei Sheng’s feet turned into powder but he did not move at all. He seemed to be fixed in the air. On his upraised face, that pair of glowing blood red eyes were so sharp they seemed to stab through the sky!

Zong Ru’s palms were pressed together. A soft Dhyana chant sounded in everyone’s minds.

The fleet that had been swaying in the angry black waves seemed to be paralyzed and then became motionless. What was weirdest was that the roiling black water seemed to have been softly flattened by an invisible hand.

The surface of the sea that had been full of furious waves was now as flat as a mirror.

Eldest Shixiong’s strike caused Zuo Mo’s blood to heat up. He had a desire to fight. Seeing Zong Ru also attack, he was not willing to fall behind. Just as he was about to act, he suddenly saw a blurry figure appear next to the green stand and was astounded.

A Gui!

Unusually, A Gui was completely armored with the [Undying Ghost]. The grey crystal bone armor covered all of her body and made her seem like a grey shadow.

She appeared like a ghost near the green strand. Yet what she did next made Zuo Mo jump in fight. She reached towards the green strand!

“Careful!” Zuo Mo’s expression changed drastically. While he did not know what the green strand was, but its malevolent nature had already been displayed.

This was something that could rival Eldest Shixiong.They had only gone one round, it was still extremely dangerous!

A Gui’s action was too rash!

In a panic, Zuo Mo shot towards the green strand and A Gui in the sky!

The green strand seemed to also detect danger, and trembled fiercely. Several green lights shot towards A Gui.

A Gui’s body disappeared again and all of the green energies missed.

Immediately after, A Gui’s hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grasped the green thread.

The green strand froze!

Grey mist flowed out of A Gui’s hand and the grey color quickly spread along the green strand at a visible rate towards both ends.

In a blink, the green strand became half green, half grey!

The presence of death seemed to have leaked out of hell. Even from far away, everyone still felt as though they were in a graveyard. The grey energy of death caused everything living in the surroundings to quickly wither.

“This is … …” Zuo Mo was astounded. It was the first time that he had seen this attack from A Gui.

The Undying Shen Power should not have such a thick grey and corroding presence, it was A Gui’s [Undying Ghost]! Zuo Mo had studied the [Undying Ghost] for a long time, but it was difficult for him to understand many parts. He had never found this death energy before.

Grey, death, dissipating, void … …

The feelings that this presence gave Zuo Mo caused his heart to beat wildly.

He was an experienced person. There had been countless fiend souls on the Sealed Extinction Battlefield but they did not give such a strong feeling of danger like this grey death energy. Zuo Mo believed that even if it was just a brush of the grey mist, everything below eighth grade would immediately turn to dust and completely dissipate.

At this time, a grieving consciousness begging for mercy suddenly appeared in everyone’s minds.

Everyone was surprised.

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly expanded!

Chapter 771 – Treasure Seeking

“Sect Leader, these are three of my good friends, Fairy Lin Ying, Long Guang, Ruan You Xian. With their help, I believe that there will be no problems with our trip to the ruins this time!” Elder Xu said respectfully.

The sect leader’s gaze swept across the trio.

In front of him, the female and two males stood together. The female was beautiful with bright eyes, white teeth, and fine pale skin. One of the males was brawny, and had skin as black as coal with bright eyes. The other was dressed like a middle-aged scholar. His hand held a fan, and his eyes flashed with light.

The sect leader nodded inwardly. These three were strong, especially that middle-aged scholar who was the strongest of the trio. The other was probably just a sliver weaker than himself. Heart Leaf Dhyana Temple had pitifully few experts. Other than himself and Elder Xu, the others were not of any renowned. But with these three strong reinforcements, he couldn’t help but have more hope about the trip to the ruins this time.

“We will trouble you on this trip! If there are any gains on this trip, our sect will have other methods of compensation!” the sect leader said seriously.

“Sect Leader is too polite.” The one that spoke was Ruan You Xian. He waved his fan. His voice was light as he said, “Brother Xu and I have been friends for decades and are like brothers. We will not refuse Brother Xu’s request. Also, we cannot turn down the offer that Sect Leader has made!”

Lin Ying smiled. Long Guang was motionless like granite.

The sect leader laughed upon hearing this. He had a good impression of Ruan You Xian. He said, “Brother Yuan is charming! We are early, your residences have been arranged. If you have anything you need, please speak. If I am absent, find Elder Xu. You are good friends, do not be courteous.”

Ruan You Xian and the others stated their thanks.

A disciple quickly ushered the three away.

When there was only the sect leader and Elder Xu left in the hall, the sect leader nodded in praise. “You did good regarding this matter. With the help of these three people. Maybe we can come back with one or two treasures.”

Elder Xu said respectfully, “This is because Sect Leader is decisive that this matter is successful. These three usually are proud. If they did not see Sect Leader’s courage and wisdom, would they have agreed?”

The sect leader was in a good mood. He said with a smile, “I know how hard you worked.” Then his expression became stern. He said in a grave voice, “This time is an opportunity to us. This will decide if our Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect can rise! We must keep this a secret.”

An imperceptible light flashed through Elder Xu’s eyes. He hurriedly said, “Sect Leader is wise!”

———

Zuo Mo curiously played with the green strand in his hand. The green strand was extremely thin. When the seven li strand was wrapped around his wrist, it was just a thin line, and appeared like a green bracelet.

After the green strand begged for mercy, A Gui’s grey mist retreated back into the [Undying Ghost].

The green strand docilely landed in Zuo Mo’s hand. After playing with it for a long time, Zuo Mo still didn’t know what it was. It was extremely thin and light, but strong. No matter how hard he pulled, it would not snap. What was most unique was the green crescent energy it could release.

This kind of green crescent energy was powerful and unstoppable. It could match Wei Sheng’s sword energy.

While he did not know what it really was, it was clear that this was a rare treasure.

Its consciousness which begged for mercy shocked Zuo Mo. This immediately caused him to think of another thing he had, the Three Thousand Threads of Worry. The Three Thousand Threads of Worry could also communicate mentally.

Zuo Mo tried to use his consciousness to communicate but the effect was not visible.

Yet when he switched to using shen power, he seemed to see countless miniscule characters. This scene only happened once. Afterwards, no matter how much shen power he channeled, it never appeared again.

Even though it was just an instant, Zuo Mo still was able to memorize those characters.

Zuo Mo then found that the green strand contained faint shen power that allowed it to channel shen power. Zuo Mo tried. The green strand could tolerate as much shen power as he could put in.

It had to be said that anything that could hold up under such pure shen power was a treasure at present. This kind of treasure was suitable to forging shen device raiments.

Zuo Mo also suspected that this green strand was something from the ancient era.

Zuo Mo’s thoughts moved. A thread of shen power was channeled in, and the green strand bracelet on his wrist suddenly released a string of green energies. They flew into the black sea.

The green energy was an offensive shen technique. While it was not a perfect shen technique, Zuo Mo was certain of this.

When the green strand was completely uncoiled to its seven li length and its body floated in the air, an unique feeling came from the green strand on his hand. As its body continued to tremble, it was like an invisible hand that constantly absorbed power from the surroundings. Then through an unique transformation, the power was released as the green energy.

Such a strange thing!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but tsk in wonder. It was the first time he saw something so unique.

The Black Sea Flight Route had such a dangerous thing. No wonder even fanxu xiuzhe would die. It was not hard to understand how a fanxu xiuzhe of the past that cultivated ling power would be killed if they were the least bit careless.

Zuo Mo’s interest in the Black Sea grew.

This unique and unfathomable black colored sea was endless. Its environment was terrible and filled with danger. But from the opposite viewpoint, if it wasn’t for this dangerous environment and those mysterious dangerous beings, this place would have been searched from top to bottom by those large sects.

Dangerous things like the green strand that could release shen techniques were an impossible obstacle to the xiuzhe of the ling power era. In other words, this meant that the Black Sea was a treasure trove that had not yet been opened. It was likely that other things like the green strand still existed.

Those were all treasures!

He also had a treasure-seeker like Lil’ Black, a group of powerful sidekicks. If he missed this chance, it would be a great pity.

———

Lao De Guang who was restrained by jinzhi was completely docile.

There was only one question rolling around in his mind: What were the origins of this terrifying group?

He gaped when seeing the power of these people when they fought the green strand. He who had been able to earn the moniker [Shadowless Ghost Hand] and was definitely not a country bumpkin.

But he only had one feeling now as he watched these people, he truly was an ignorant country bumpkin.

When Wei Sheng’s sword strike appeared, his mind became completely blank. He almost suffocated under the pressure. Even now, when he thought of that astounding blow, his heart couldn’t help but tremble.

Kun Lun!

The first thought through his mind was that only Kun Lun had such terrifying sword xiu!

Yet what puzzled him was Zong Ru’s shout. He lived in the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and was as familiar as one could be with the Dhyana cultivation. He knew the name of every Dhyana xiu that was slightly famous.

When did such a great Dhyana xiu appear?

After living so long in the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, just his shout was enough to prove that this withered man was unfathomably powerful!

No matter how hard he thought, he could not find this person. Had such a great Dhyana xiu just appeared out of nowhere?

As to that brute-force woman that had knocked him unconscious … ..

He only had one thought: How fortunate he had not struggled back then!

Lao De Guang carefully inspected the fleet. He found that all of the people who had not participated had calm expressions and maintained their calm from beginning to end during the encounter.

They appeared to be experts. Thinking about his prideful expression when he had given his nickname, Lao De Guang felt embarrassed.

Any of the people who had fought was enough to make the Nine Great Dhyana Sects shake. Now a whole group had appeared. He didn’t know to describe them … … in any case, his thoughts of fleeing immediately dissipated. He did not feel that he could escape from this group of freaks with his measly skills.

Alright … … he had never thought there would be a day that he would admit his skills were measly … …

Crying on the inside, Lao De Guang had to consider an even more pragmatic question. How could he keep himself life while in the hands of these freaks.

A person who could receive the name [Shadowless Ghost Hand] might not be strong, but his mind was not lacking.

Did these people come for the ruins from the start?

The idea flashed through his mind, and he grabbed it. Such a group of freakishly powerful people was enough to destroy smaller sects. They would not appear at the Nine Great Dhyana Sects without any reason.

The more he thought, he more he felt this was right. This definitely was the reason!

He felt slightly reassured. To speak of nothing else, he believed not many could compare to him in terms of information. He was still valuable to this group.

As long as he was valuable, he would have a chance of staying alive.

Lao De Guang decided to find a chance to display his value. He had been secretly gathering intelligence on the ruins. They had not questioned him in detail last time and he had kept many secrets.

Come ask me! Come ask me! I have a lot of information!

Lao De Guang screamed inside.

One day passed, two days … … three days … ..

This group of people seemed to forget him. No one payed any attention to him. Lao De Guang felt puzzled. Had these people not come for the ruins?

He found that Zuo Mo seemed to be search for something on the Black Sea every day. Was their goal the Black Sea Flying Route?

The pitiful Lao De Guang would never expect that the fleet with Zuo Mo as its leader had entered a state of treasure-hunting.

Zuo Mo’s greedy and desirous gaze wanted to sweep through all of the Black Sea.

If he could find a few more treasures like the green strand, maybe he could gather the materials to forge a shen device raiment.

Lil’ Black’s antennae finally started to wave furiously in one direction.

Cheers immediately sounded through the entire fleet. Everyone was spirited. Even a person as calm as Zong Ru became excited.

The fleet quickly flew in the direction pointed out by Lil’ Black.

Chapter 772 – Glittering

The dark night was illuminated by the lights of the spells and shen techniques. They collided in the air like fireworks, giving off great explosions that made people’s ears hurt. Waves of air twisted the night, and everything in view seemed to be twisted.

Inside the jinzhi, everyone had an excited expression. Their faces were twisted, tendons bulging as they focused.

“Pay attention! Pay attention! First Group, pay attention to cutting off the enemy’s left flank!”

“Second Group, control your shen power, do not fight too strongly, pay attention to shifts!”

“Fourth and Fifth Jinzhi Group, did you eat? Why are your attacks so weak? Attack at full power! I won’t forgive you if you let even one escape … …”

Ma Fan calmly observed the battlefield. His orders flowed into every corner of the jinzhi defense line.

Among Mo Cloud Sea’s battle generals, there were several that were skilled in defense such as Shu Long’s Guard Camp and Tang Fei’s Tangzi Battalion. Yet Ma Fan was a strangest one among them.

He was the battle general most skilled in jinzhi battle defense.

Because he had successfully stopped Xu Kong Temple’s battalions in the past which unearthed Ma Fan’s talent in defense, he had then been sent to Orchid Home Jie where he defended against Tian Huan’s Gongye Xiao Rong by relying on the jinzhi forts. He had developed a great interest in how to use the seal formations and jinzhi.

Formations and jinzhi were one of Mo Cloud Sea’s developmental focuses. Zuo Mo’s turtle style had influenced them deeply. The interested Ma Fan spent a great amount of time in Golden Crow Cloud Island to study jinzhi and formations.

Any formation defense line in his hands would have astounding power.

He was familiar with the weakness and strengths of every kind of seal formation and could use them. Also, his experiences as part of the offensive core gave him a good understanding on the large-scale strategy of how to use seals and jinzhi.

His second-in-command, Nian Lu, was skilled in calculation and aided him greatly. Lei Peng was the head of the ax hidden in the turtle shell.

The battlefield was silently changing.

This kind of change was subtle and almost no one detected it among the chaotic battlefield. But Ma Fan detected it.

The two enemy battalions were not in sync and an opening in their formation had begun to appear.

Ma Fan’s eyes suddenly lit up. His voice unconsciously increased, and his orders became brisk.

“First Crux, attack at full power!”

“Third Group, delay your enemies.”

“Seventh Group, weaken your attacks, draw them in.”

“Third Group, Sixth Group, pay attention, prepare to kill!”

The members under his command were familiar with his change. Everyone knew that when Daren’s orders became short, it meant that the crucial moment in the battle had come.

Everyone felt their minds become alert, and the formation defense line immediately changed. However, it was also difficult to detect this change among the storm of spells.

Waiting for his orders, Lei Peng was completely armored. The Mo Cloud shen equipment covering all of his large and brawny body. He had a golden crystal sword in his hand. He appeared like a giant stepping out of a legend as he gave off a bloodthirsty and savage presence. Beside him, two hundred elites were also fully armored and stood silently.

He was prepared to fight!

“They’ve been drawn in!”

“Big Peng, kill!”

Lei Peng’s eyes suddenly grew bight, his presence increasing. He lifted the heavy gold crystal sword as though it was nothing and changed towards the formation defense line like a furious rhino.

“Kill!”

The two hundred elite moved at the same time and howled together, “Kill!”

The troops were like a sharp and heavy axe that was swung in an overhead blow at the prey that was caught in a net.

The battalion that had been allowed in had never expected enemies to come charging out of the enemy defense line. Caught off guard, blood and flesh flew. Lei Peng was like an ancient monster, unstoppable as he charged every which way.

The shen equipment he wore had been designed and forged according to his strengths. It only had one use, to increase Lei Peng’s power fivefold!

Lei Peng was naturally endowed with astounding strength, and it became even greater after mo matrices were engraved. Zuo Mo had switched out the spell he cultivated into a mo skill a long time ago. After he used a mo embryo, he managed to cultivate a power-type mo physique that increased his strength by multiple times again. Zuo Mo was determined for him to become a power-type. The Lei Peng of the past had a terrifying amount of strength but after he cultivated the Mo Cloud Shen Methodology, Lei Peng’s strength went up another level.

Lei Peng’s shen power was the simplest, most direct, crudest, roughest, and purest of power!

He had a door-sized golden crystal sword in his hand. When he started to swing it, no one was able to stop his attack. He did not like using stabs. In his hand, the golden crystal sword was like a thick horse-chopping sabre. What he liked to do most was chop.

Usually, when his blow fell, the enemy, rider and steed, would be split in two.

When he was really in his state, he would even use the sword like a metal staff, slapping and whipping. Anyone that was touched would fly out as though they were hit by a rhino, a large part of their body strangely caved in, as they bled for all orifices.

Clang!

Lei Peng’s hand shook. For the first time since the battle started, someone stopped his sword!

His eyes bled red. He saw the person that stopped him, it was one of the mo marshals.

This time was when Lei Peng’s fighting spirit was at its height. Even if the other was a mo marshal, he did not feel fear. With an angry howl, he swung the golden crystal sword up, and swung at the other, throwing himself behind the sword!

“Good attack!”

The mo marshal snorted. The spear in his hand suddenly turned bright silver, an extremely blinding point of light suddenly appearing in front of Lei Peng’s eyes.

This dot of silver energy came quickly like lightning.

Everyone who was within ten li was pulled towards this spear. Lei Peng’s surrounding soldiers seemed to have a feeling that this dot of silver light had a strange magnetic force. Their bodies seemed to be flying uncontrollably towards the dot of silver like moths to a flame.

A feeling of extreme danger suddenly took over their minds. They paled in shock.

At this time, a wild angry shout exploded in their ears.

Lei Peng’s eyes were wide in anger, his shen equipment flashing with bright red light. Every drop of power in every mo matrix on his body, every muscle, bone and sinew, gathered on the golden crystal sword in his hand.

It was a power pure and without any finesse!

Only power!

Boom!

A thick drum-like sound echoed, like muffled thunder deep within the clouds. This could be heard by everyone within a hundred li!

A shocking unstoppable wave of air swept in all directions like a wall of iron. All of the seal formations and jinzhi within five li were destroyed. Those with slower reactions had to face the shockwave of air head on and were immediately wounded. Those smarter let themselves fly out with the wave of air.

There was nothing left within five li.

The golden crystal sword was completely shattered, Lei Peng was thrown out like a sandbag. His shen equipment was cracked all over, blood streaming out. He was covered in blood.

At the place where the fight had been, the mo marshal stood holding the spear, motionless.

The entire battlefield was silent. Everyone was stunned by this astounding collision.

Suddenly, with a snap, a fragment fell from the long spear to the ground.

This seemed to be a signal. Crack, the entire spear crumbled.

The mo marshal was motionless as though he was made from stone.

Everyone looked uncertainly at the mo marshal, their hearts in their throat.

At this time, the mo marshal fell and crashing with a boom.

“Daren!” Countless mo soldiers wailed in sorrow and disbelief.

Yet the mo marshal who had fallen down did not respond.

“Hahahaha! Cough … …”

Lei Peng struggled up as he laughed wildly. He suddenly tore off the shattered shen equipment he wore. People found out their shock that Lei Peng was covered in blood. They were even able to see the wounds that were seeping blood all over his body.

Lei Peng seemed to not notice them. He took out a new set of shen equipment, and put it on, ignoring the blood flowing out of him.

Then he took out a large axe from his ring that was the size of a door.

Holding the large axe, blood pooling under his feet, Lei Peng walked forward. He suddenly raised the axe in his hand and shouted like a wild beast, “Kil!”

Inside the seal formation, Nian Lu wiped away cold sweat, “This guy’s gone crazy today!”

Ma Fan frowned. He was the strongest and he saw the most. The mo marshal had been over-confident and hadn’t expected that someone would take the path of only pursuing strength and even managed to reach such a level. Lei peng’s attack had gathered all of his strength. Even Boss who was famed for his strength would not choose to face it head on.

Power defeating all methods, Lei Peng was what the phrase referred to.

In terms of cultivation and skill, the mo marshal was much greater than Lei Peng. Yet he chose to fight Lei Peng in strength, wasn’t that just looking for death?

Ma Fan shook his head. He knew what the mo marshal had intended. The mo marshal had thought to increase morale through this action, but hadn’t expected to meet such an unreasonable person like Lei Peng.

“Have him withdraw,” Ma Fan said unquestionably.

There was a five li opening in the seal formation jinzhi. This meant that the previous arrangements had to be adjusted. A damaged defense line meant more weaknesses but there was nothing to be done about it. High level experts  were enough to affect the state of a battle. Also, the enemy had lost a mo marshal. In terms of damage inflicted, they had benefited greatly.

The enemy had not just lost a mo marshal. With the way that the mo fought this meant that when the mo marshal died, the offensive ability of the battalion would decrease precipitously.

The death of a mo marshal was like losing a flank, but in addition what it shook was morale.

Morale was something intangible but of crucial importance to victory or defeat. The more intense the battle, the greater its effects.

Even if the enemy still had one more mo marshal!

Ma Fan perceptively detected that the enemy morale was now low and the other mo marshal was stunned by the results of this battle. He did not respond immediately.

The enemy was in a short burst of chaos.

Opportunity!

Ma Fan unhesitatingly adjusted his orders.

———

The chaotic mo battalions immediately were inundated with strong attacks. When the remaining mo marshal reacted, he found that the enemy had grabbed hold of his battalion. If they wanted to retreat, the fatalities would be terrifying.

Damn it!

How could it be like this!

His complexion turned grey.

Chapter 773 – Enemy Encounter

After flying for a while, sounds of intense fighting could be heard from in front of them. Everyone was experienced in battle and could clearly recognize the sound of talisman attacks within. The entire fleet went on their guard.

Were other people like them, coming to explore this treasure trove?

From the distance of the sound, the other was hundreds of li away. If it wasn’t for the vast and open sea surface, the direction of the wind, and their sensitive hearing, they might not have detected it.

The fleet was fast and the hundreds of li would be travelled in a few moments.

The guards in the fleet were on their high alert and prepared to fight.

When Zuo Mo and the others arrived and saw the situation, they were astonished.

An mountainous one-eyed octopus was half exposed in the water. Several xiuzhe were furiously attacking the octopus.

“Is this really an octopus?” Zuo Mo waved at the enormous body of the octopus and swallowed. Just the portion of the octopus that was out of the water was over two hundred zhang. Those xiuzhe around it were small like flies in comparison.

Just the part of the body that was exposed to the air was already so large. The enormity of its entire body could be imagined.

Anyone who faced such an enormous monster couldn’t help but inhale and feel as though it was an unwinnable battle.

“How long has it lived to grow so large?” Ceng Lian’er had an expression of awe. Having growing up in the mo territories, she had seen countless dangerous beings, but it was the first time she was seeing one so large.

“A Zuo, be careful, this octopus is at least tens of thousand years old!” Wei’s warning caused Zuo Mo’s to shudder.

“Tens of thousands years old? Thousand year tortoises, ten thousand year old turtles. How come it is older than a turtle?” Zuo Mo’s little heart shook. Any kind of being, if they lived for thousands of years, would become powerful. Those that lived for tens of thousands of years, and in such a terrible environment like the Black Sea, this guy’s strength … …

“Leave before it takes notice of you. Any being that has survived for tens of thousands of years will match you in intelligence.” Pu Yao also warned.

Pu and Wei’s opinions were in rare agreement and Zuo Mo immediately felt the urge to retreat. He liked treasure, but he would not gamble with his life.

Also, the chances of victory appeared pitiful.

The attacks of the xiuzhe did not cause any reaction when they landed on the octopus. The octopus had a layer of gleaming sticky fluid. When talismans hit it, they were deflected or they would glance off. Some would even be destroyed against it.

Such a dangerous being should not be provoked!

Suddenly, Wei Sheng lowered his voice and said murderously, “Shidi, those seem like Kun Lun sword xiu.”

“Kun Lun!” Zuo Mo’s body shook. His attention had all been on the octopus and, upon close inspection, he found that those people were Kun Lun sword xiui!

Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly became tinged with blood. Their grudge with Kun Lun was irreconcilable!

———

“Shixiong, this octopus is too strong! We cannot do anything to it!” He Zi’s voice was panicked. They had attacked this octopus for a full two hours and just left a few minor wounds on its body.

Xiao Ru Jian was also slightly panicked inside but he knew that he could not panic. He forced his expression to remain calm. “Everyone, do not panic, let’s try other things. This is Soul Luring Fragrance, a treasure that I begged Master for a long time in order to obtain. Even the strongest monster, if it is afflicted with the Soul Luring Fragrance, will not recover its senses for six hours.”

Yu Ming said helplessly, “I tried everything that could be done, they are useless!”

Xiao Ru Jian gritted his teeth. He turned to say to another shi, “An Hai, didn’t your master leave you a Hundred Fiend Soul Destroying Sword Pill, use that!”

An Hai had a pained expression. However, he had already done everything else that he could. Xiao Shixiong’s Soul Luring Fragrance was extremely valuable, and if they wasted this opportunity, they would definitely regret it. This octopus was at least ten thousand years old, and its entire body was treasure!

“Alright!” Once An Hai made a decision, he did not hesitate. A yellow bead the size of a bean appeared on his hand. The bead flashed with color, and a faint layer of mist surrounded it when it was taken out. Xiao Ru Hai and the others became alert. They were knowledgeable. The Hundred Fiend Soul Destroying Sword Pill of their sect was a secret method. The number of elders with the power to forge this could be counted using the fingers. That faint layer of mist was actually the movement of countless ice cold sword essences.

An Hai’s face flushed, the spell on his hand changing. He shouted clearly, “Go!”

The sword pill turned into an imperceptible light that entered the body of the octopus.

The octopus who had remained unresponsive until now finally reacted. It furiously twisted its body, shaking the water. Its enormous body contained endless power.

Xiao Ru Jian and the other had expressions of joy. They knew that this was the Hundred Fiend Soul Destroying Sword Pill destroying the life inside the octopus. The forging process of the Hundred Fiend Soul Destroying Sword Pill was extremely cruel. It needed to take the savage and hateful thoughts of ling beasts raised, then using an yin method it was forged into sword essence and sealed within the pill.

It would destroy the soul of the enemy when used, a terrifying weapon.

Xiao Ru Jian and the others hurriedly flew away to avoid being struck by the octopus. If they were whipped by such a large body, their bones might be crushed.

After a whole hour, the octopus’s thrashing quieted.

Xiao Ru Hai and the others had joyful expressions. Then they quickly found that they were still unable to cut open the body of the octopus. Also, the attacks they had used previously had used up much of their power.

“That sticky fluid on it is strange!” He Zi warned.

At this time, An Hai suddenly noticed the fleet in the distance. His expression changed slightly and he said, “Shixiong! Other people have come!”

Xiao Ru Jian and the others stilled. The dangerous reputation of the Black Sea Flight Route was known far and wide that there was basically none who dared to come. If it was not for their wealth of talismans, and the increase in their strength in the last recent while, Xiao Ru Jian and the others would not dare to rashly go into the Black Sea.

Xiao Ru Jian was the leader and organizer of this Black Sea Trip. He had read in the memoirs of a Kun Lun elder about the dangers in the Black Sea Flight Route. It had mentioned that the other had encountered an octopus that had survived for at least tens of thousands of years.

Xiao Ru Jian was a smart and attentive person. He noted down the information and then started to gather and investigate the materials available on the Black Sea Flight Route.

When he started to cultivate shen power, and thought back to the records, he had a daring idea. That octopus might be a being from the ancient era! Ancient and dangerous beings cultivated shen power which was so powerful it was not something that ling power and sword xiu could defeat.

He continued to research which seemed to support his finding.

There were some dangerous beings with shen power which lived in the Black Sea.

As his shen power increased, Xiao Ru Jian realized that the chance of this was great. For sword xiu that cultivated ling power, it was a place of certain death, but for the present group that cultivated shen power, it was a land of treasure!

He slowly prepared, found fellow disciples with the same intentions as him, and arranged the trip as well as the supplies they needed to advance another level in power.

After preparing all of this, Xiao Ru Jian finally embarked on the trip to the Black Sea.

According to information in the memoirs of the elder, Xiao Ru Jian’s group quickly found that terrifying octopus tens of thousands of years. Everything after had proceeded smoothly and Xiao Ru Jian’s Soul Luring Fragrance was especially effective

Yet what happened next was like throwing a bucket of cold water on the happy faces of everyone there. They were unable to do anything against this octopus that had stopped fighting back. They could not do anything to it or fatally injure it.

The Soul Luring Crystal was only effective for six hours. After the six hours passed, they could only flee.

The Fiend Soul Destroying Sword Pill made them happy for a moment but then they found that they were no better off than before.

At this time, they found Zuo Mo’s group.

Xiao Ru Jian’s mind moved. He lowered his voice. “This is an opportunity. We will trick them into helping us deal with the octopus.”

He then asked in a low voice, “Is Shimei’s Circular Fiend Sword Formation still here?”

He Zi imperceptibly nodded. “Here.”

“Later, pay attention to my finger. If my pinky curls, Shimei, immediately activate the Circular Fiend Sword Formation to trap them. The Circular Fiend Sword Formation is the masterpiece of He Shishu, ha!”

That last “ha” came from Xiao Ru Jian’s mouth murderously.

An Wei said after a moment of silent. “That is not very good.”

Xiao Ru Jian knew if he could not persuade everyone, this would fail. He thought and then said, “Then let’s trap them first. After we finish, we will let them out and give them something in return.”

The other people’s expressions eased and they nodded in agreement.

“Everyone knows the state of our Kun Lun right now, this octopus is of crucial importance to the sect, do not be soft-hearted at this time! Do not underestimate them, to be able to travel the Black Sea Flight Route they must be capable.” Xiao Ru Jian warned them.

“Shixiong is right!”

“We will listen to Shixiong!”

Everyone thought of the recent sacrifices that countless elders had made with their lives, and felt ashamed. They had been soft-hearted about such an important matter.

Seeing everyone in consensus, Xiao Ru Jian sighed in relief. He turned around, and there was a friendly smile on his face. He raised his voice to shout, “Friend, where are you from? Kun Lun disciple Xiao Ru Jian greets you! This one has encountered some trouble here, will you be able to help? Kun Lun will give you great thanks!”

Xiao Ru Jian was friendly but not servile. He believed that most people would give him some face based on the name of Kun Lun.

They also believed that anyone that dared to go against Kun Lun had not been born yet!

As expected, the other immediately responded. “We have admired Kun Lun for many years! Seeing everyone today, you really have the mannerisms of a famed sect. It is our honor to make your acquaintance. You are too polite, do not mention any thanks!”

As they spoke, the fleet flew near Xiao Ru Jian’s group.

Xiao Ru Jian’s gaze swept the people on the ships and found that there was a heterogeneous group of people. He relaxed slightly and his smile grew.

Chapter 774 – Shock

“What?” Hai Jin Yun abruptly stood up with shock and fury on his face. His voice became sharp and ear-piercing. “Defeated? You say they were defeated? Two mo marshals fighting a guy that no one even knew the name of before, and they were defeated?”

Hai Jin Yun became more excited as he spoke, his gold face full of murderousness. His eyes were cold and his tone became cruel and emotionless. “Where are they? Have them come see me!”

Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng were responsible for leading this campaign. They could order anyone on the front lines of the Mo Marshal Alliance, and they could also punish anyone.

Two mo marshals leading two full battalions to fight a single battalion that didn’t even have a top battle general. Even if the other had the seal formation defense line, their advantage was absolute.

Hai Jin Yun was filled with murderousness. The two mo marshals had no reason to be defeated!

In his view, there were only two reasons that they would lose with such a great advantage. One was because their forces were cowardly, the other because they were useless. Neither  was a reason he could tolerate.

The mo colonel bent his head and said with a hint of grief, “The two daren died in battle.”

Hai Jin Yun’s expression froze on his face. At the side, Shang Yu Sheng also had a surprised expression.

While the times had changed, and mo marshals were not as valuable as before, it was still rare for mo marshals to die in battle. The shen era had just started, and there were just a rare few outstanding geniuses that had caught up to the last era’s power. The great majority of people were still struggling at the lower levels. A thin camel was still bigger than a horse. While mo marshals position had fallen from being the best fighters to being first-class fighters, they were still strong.

Died in combat, that meant they had not retreated!

The death of any mo marshal in combat could not be dismissed. They were not surprised by Quan Pei’s death because his opponent had been Bie Han. Mo marshals did not have the ability to fight back a top battle general.

But Ma Fan, who was he?

This person was not among the ten great generals of the xiuzhe world, and the amount of intelligence they had about this person was pitifully small. They only knew he was skilled in defense and had followed Zuo Mo for a long time. They didn’t know anything else.

Was the Ma Fan Battalion a decoy? And the one in charge was actually Gongsun Cha?

Even now, Hai Jin Yun could not believe this.

Shang Yu Sheng suddenly spoke, his tone as slow as usual, “Describe the events in detail.”

“Yes! They formed a seal formation defense line, and Ma Fan Battalion went on the defensive relying on that. The two daren discussed and thought that we had the advantage so they attacked. Because the enemy battalion did not have many people, the two daren chose six positions to attack. Each good for breakthroughs to put pressure on the enemy. When the battle started, we quickly gained the upper hand. However, the enemy was hardy and the fighting was intense.”

This lucky survivor showed sorrow, his tone deep. “After about an hour, the battle proceeded about the same as any offensive on a city. The two daren thought that the enemy might have used up its energy and decided to put on more pressure. At this time, the other finally showed a weakness.”

Yue Daren is the strongest in breakthrough and he did not hesitate to lead his elites to charge in. No one expected that it was the enemy’s trap! There were demons here! They were truly demons … …”

The mo colonel’s tone became excited, his lips trembling, his body shuddering and his eyes filled with shock.

Hai Jin Yu and Shang Yu Sheng exchanged a look. Both of them felt intimidated.

“Calm down!” Hai Jin Yun shouted sternly.

The mo colonel seemed to wake up and had an ashamed expression. However, his voice still trembled. “There was an elite troop waiting in the trap. When Yue Daren and the others charged in, this elite force suddenly charged out. The soldier at the front could not be stopped, he was ferocious, and no one could stop even one of his attacks. Yue Daren found the situation was dangerous and went out to intercept him. The two met in a single clash.”

The mo colonel’s body trembled even more violently.

“And then?” Hai Jin Yun couldn’t help asking.

“And then … … and then Yue Daren died!” Two streams of tears fell from the mo colonel’s eyes.

Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng changed expression. The two exchanged a look and saw the shock in each other’s eyes. To kill a mo marshal with one attack, what kind strength would it take … …

They had never thought that someone would cultivate such a freakish path.

“Was that person wounded?” Shang Yu Sheng couldn’t resist asking.

The mo colonel worked through his sorrow and tried to think back. “That person was also injured, and covered in blood. However, this person was courageous and strong, he did not retreat. He changed his shen equipment and continued to fight! When Daren died, everyone’s morale plummeted. The battlefield was chaotic, and most of us were quickly killed.”

“Then He Daren? How did he die?” Hai Jin Yun asked urgently.

“The death of Yue Daren was a great shock to He Daren. The enemy was very strong and stuck themselves to He Daren’s battalion. He Daren’s battalion seemed to be stuck in a bog and could not escape. The situation was chaotic at the time, and our battalion was scattered. No one fully knows what happened. I heard an enormous explosion, and then realized that He Daren most likely … …”

Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng sank into silence.

The hall was so quiet that the drop of a pin on the ground could be heard. What the mo colonel had described was an unparalleled shock to the two.

The two of them were in great turmoil!

One Ma Fan was so strong. Then what about the other battalions in Bie Han’s command?

They found now that they had made a grave mistake. They had kept their eyes on Bie Han and dismissed the other battalions under his command! A person’s reputation, a tree’s shadow, the halo of Bie Han being a top battle general had masked the strength of the other people. Psychologically and strategically, the Mo Marshal Alliance had focused all of their power on Bie Han.

If … … if Bie Han’s other battalions had such power, then … …

The two of them had a bad feeling.

———

Hai Jin Yun, Shang Yu Sheng, and Bie Han as well as others probably would never have thought that their battle was being observed by so many important people. Mo Cloud Sea was small but it was strong. They had not made any great moves in the last few years and their suddenly move this time naturally attracted the attention of many factions.

The intelligence on Ma Fan’s battle immediately ended up in the hands of the major factions through a number of channels.

Gongye Xiao Rong carefully read the report. His calm expression changed slightly.

“Shixiong, what do you think?” Li Xian Er had been paying attention all this time to Gongye Xiao Rong’s expression. Gongye Xiao Rong’s return had caused a significant ripple, but compared to his glory days of the past, no one had much interest in someone that had been defeated.

But inside Tian Huan, Gongye Xiao Rong’s status had not changed at all. Both the sect leader, and Li Xian Er, the future sect leader, could see that the setback this time had caused Gongye Xiao Rong to transform.

When Gongye Xiao Rong led the remains of his battalion across mountains and oceans, through countless difficult obstacles to return to Tian Huan, the sect leader only said, “Xiao Rong’s accomplishment will be limitless.”

Gongye Xiao Rong seemed to be a completely different person. There was none of his past pride, arrogance, and imperiousness. He was low-key and tolerant, uncaring of the gossip within the sect. He also became unprecedentedly hard-working. He mastered shen power at an astounding speed and adjusted to fighting with shen power.

The sect leader’s trust in him did not decrease at all. He still had great authority.

He usually stayed in the sect, and silently started to rebuild his battalion. With the remains of his past battalion as the skeleton, a completely new battalion took form as he cultivated daily.

Li Xian Er saw everything.

She knew that Xiao Rong Shixiong only needed a chance for the world to see him again, a chance for him to make his way back into the top battle general rankings!

He was already prepared!

So when he saw the slight surprise on Xiao Rong Shixiong’s face, she was slightly surprised. Xiao Rong Shixiong had become low-key and humble in these years, and was a composed person, giving the impression nothing could cause him to change expression.

The surprise flashed across Gongye Xiao Rong’s face before his expression recovered. “He has become stronger.”

“Stronger?” Li Xian Er paused.

“I fought against him in the past.” Gongye Xiao Rong’s voice was still calk. “He is much stronger now.”

“Compared to Shixiong?” Li Xian Er deliberately asked.

Gongye Xiao Rong smiled, but did not speak.

“Shixiong, tell me, tell me!” Li Xiao Er grabbed Gongye Xiao Rong’s sleeve and furiously shook it. The two had grown up together and were like siblings.

Affection and helplessness flashed across Gongye Xiao Rong’s face. At the same time, a burning fighting spirit flashed through his eyes. He said calmly, “Gongsun Cha is really strong.”

Li Xian Er was puzzled. They were clearly talking about Ma Fan, why was Shixiong talking about Gongsun Cha.

“Ma Fan and the other battle generals were taught by Gongsun Cha. This is why I say that Gongsun Cha is strong,” Gongye Xiao Rong explained. “No one can compare to Gongsun Cha in this, not even Xue Dong. Gongsun Cha is equal to two top battle generals.”

Li Xian Er saw Shixiong admired Gongsun Cha so much and pouted, “Then why is his ranking lower than Xue Dong?”

“At this level, the difference between the two is miniscule. Unless they fight, no one knows who will win. Even if they fight, there are many factors affecting victory and defeat that are beyond the control of people. There is no meaning in stronger or weaker. Battle generals are of strategic value. However, Gongsun Cha is strong in that he is skilled in training battle generals. These battle generals might not become top battle generals, but they can become first-class battle generals. For example, this Ma Fan. With this strength, he is definitely first-class. First class battle generals are not so attention-catching as top battle generals, but for a top battle general, the one with more first class battle generals under their command will have more of an advantage, and have more tactics to choose from. Look, other than Ma Fan, he has trained many others, for example, Shu Long, Tang Fei, Shi Dong, and A Zha Ge. These are all first-class battle generals. This is like playing with cards. As you play, without realizing it, his hand of bad cards has become a hand of good cards. This is what is terrifying about him!”

Gongye Xiao Rong said meaningfully.

Chapter 775 – Act!

The fleet quickly flew next to the big octopus under  Zuo Mo’s orders.

“Hey, is this guy asleep?” Zuo Mo pretended to be curious and drooled as he came close.

A hint of dislike flashed through the eyes of He Zi and the others. They were from large sects, and instinctively disliked the common presence that Zuo Mo had.

Xiao Ru Jian did not show any of disdain and said with a smile, “We have stunned it, and its senses are blocked. However, this guy has thick skin, please help us. We will thank you well after this. We, Kun Lun, are honest, do not worry!”

“Stunned?” Zuo Mo’s expression was curious but slightly worried. “Will it suddenly wake up? Such a big guy, if it wakes up, none of us will be able to escape.”

Xiao Ru Hai felt pressed for time, but did not show it. He knew that he had to ease these people’s worries for them to work hard. He explained, “Our sect’s Soul Luring Fragrance can seal the senses any monster no matter how strong it is, much less this octopus. We have at least four more hours. In these four hours, it definitely will not wake up.”

“So powerful!” Zuo Mo had a shocked expression.

“It’s Soul Luring Fragrance!” Pu Yao was familiar with his past opponent. “Maybe not four hours, but definitely two.”

Receiving the information he wanted, Zuo Mo’s smile became even warmer. “Alright, let’s start!’

Xiao Ru Jian was overjoyed and said loudly “Everyone, let’s go together. After this, no one will leave with empty hands!”

Zuo Mo pushed up his sleeves, and raised his arms as he shouted like a hoodlum, “Brother, it’s our honor that a large sect like Kun Lun is paying attention to us. If we don’t work our hardest, we will disappoint these friends from Kun Lun!”

Xiao Ru Jian and the others had small smiles. This person had a low-class presence, but he was perceptive and knew his own measure. He was filled with respect towards Kun Lun!

Xiao Ru Jian elegantly bowed. “This one will first thank you brothers. If you need our aid in the future, please speak!”

Zuo Mo laughed. “Haha! Kun Lun friends give us so much face, we cannot falter! Brothers! Start!”

Xiao Ru Jian finally sighed in relief. They were finally going to start.

Yet before he could react, a sharp coldness locked him in place without any warning.

What was going on?

He was astounded. The sharp killing intent burned as though he was within a smelting cauldron.

The person who had looked like a low-class hoodlum seemed to completely change. His hand flashed with a golden energy that brimmed with murderousness!

Damn it!

They had been fooled!

His head rang, but he reacted quickly. He was furious, “You dare!”

The flying sword in his hand stabbed towards the other like lightning.

In such an emergency, he did not spare any energy. A green sword energy lit up, and the space around him rippled and twisted.

Shen power!

The green sword energy contained pure shen power. The Kun Lun sword essence with shen power was even more powerful, more varied, and harder to predict!

Xiao Ru Jian was like an unpredictable shadow that almost broke free of Zuo Mo’s presence lock.

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up with threads of golden scripts. His sun shen power erupted, and the shen technique was immediately completed in his hand!

[Sun Shen Thorn]!

A blinding spike of light like a ray of the sun flew out of his hand and shot at Xiao Ru Jian.

The golden light accurately collided with Xiao Ru Jian’s sword energy.

Bam!

The green sword energy was shattered like glass and turned into blue fragments. The fine fragments formed a little twister in the air, but did not affect the spike of light at all.

The light spike was a bit dimmer but it still flew at an astounding pace towards Xiao Ru Jian.

Xiao Ru Jian paled. How was it possible?

How was it possible!

Everyone that happened in front of him made him almost unable to believe his eyes. His sword energy had been so easily shattered by the enemy. In Kun Lun that was full of geniuses, Xiao Ru Jian had always been one of the top. He had a glorious history in the sect competitions.

But … …

There was no time to think in this situation. He was a decisive person. He knew that this was a time of life and death, and bit into his tongue.

Blood that contained shen power spread through his mouth.

His eye flashed with a layer of green energy. The sword scripture he cultivated was Kun Lun’s [Three Pure Sword Scripture]. This sword scripture had not been important in the past, but in the process of being adapted for shen power, the elders found to their shock that this minor sword scripture was actually very suited to shen power.

The status of [Three Pure Sword Scripture] rose. Many of Kun Lun’s disciples now cultivated this sword scripture.

Xiao Ru Hai was one of the leaders. He spent large amounts of time and energy on cultivating this sword scripture. He became the disciple that was publicly thought of having the most skill with [Three Pure Sword Scripture].

Vast shen power flooded through his body. He felt he was unprecedentedly powerful.

This technique risked his life but was able to increase his power in the short term, but the harm would be significant. Even if he won, he would have to rest and recuperate for at least half a year. Xiao Ru Jian had learned this move long ago, but had never used it.

Resting for half a year versus losing his life, without needing to think, he knew what to choose.

His mind was unprecedentedly focused. He pushed away all stray thoughts. He did not ask who these people really were, or why they had suddenly attacked. There was only that golden thorn in his eyes, the Sun Shen Thorn.

The lightning-fast Sun Shen Thorn became extremely slow in his eyes. He could see every detail.

The Sun Shen Thorn was unlike their sword energies. It was so dense it was tangible, seeming to be made from gold. The thorn was covered in fine exquisite patterns, and the ancient sun diagrams could be seen.

The clearer he saw it, the more he could feel the great power it contained!

How was the other able to do this?

He lost some of his focus. Making shen power tangible was one of the more common skills right now, but this Sun Shen Thorn that seemed to be masterfully carved showed that the enemy’s level at manifestation was far greater than he could imagine!

His mind was clear. In just an instant, he knew that there was an uncrossable gap between himself and the enemy.

Yet the vast power in his body broke free like a vicious beast!

Strong fighting spirit rose from deep within. His death would not be a waste if he fought such a strong opponent!

The terror deep in his eyes disappeared. Xiao Ru Jian suddenly shouted angrily. He released his restraint over the shen power in his body. The unrestrained shen power rampaged left and right in his body, like a caged tiger.

Xiao Ru Jian’s body seemed to be on fire.

The shen power that existed in every inch of his body was ignited and furiously burned.

A layer of angry green energy appeared on the flying sword on his hand. It flickered like a green flame. Xiao Ru Jian’s eyes were deep like the ocean. He raised the flying sword covered in green flames and stabbed!

The green shen power flaring around the sword undulated in ripples as it travelled from the hilt to the tip of the sword!

When the flames reached the tip of the sword, the green energy that had finished preparing reached its greatest strength. It broke free of the sword tip, and at an astounding speed, flew towards Zuo Mo. Snap, the flying sword in Xiao Ru Jian’s hand cracked.

Xiao Ru Jian’s killing move had not finished, a stab! Another stab!

His movements were peerlessly fast!

In a blink, three successive stabs were completed!

The killing move of the [Three Pure Sword Scripture], [One Sword Transforming to Three Pure]!

———

The three green sword energies flew towards Zuo Mo in a straight line. The flying sword in Xiao Ru Jian’s hand lost all of its light. When the last stroke was finished, the sword shattered into countless pieces.

The first green sword energy crashed onto the Sun Shen Thorn. Bam, a burst of gold and green energies appeared in the air.

Zuo Mo’s expression became serious. A beast fought the hardest when it was trapped. Even with his strength, he did not dare to be careless.

At this time, the sword energies changed again. The third sword energy suddenly sped up and thrust into the second sword energy. The two sword energies merged into one.

If Xiao Ru Jian’s sword energies could be described as crystal-like before, then the sword energies now were like a furious wave of green sword essence!

Countless sword essences were gathered within in layers that moved restlessly in waves. With every wave, it became stronger. What surprised Zuo Mo was the rate it rose in power was very high.

In a blink, this sword energy had multiplied in strength like a monster revealing its figure.

Compared to Xiao Ru Jian’s previous sword energy, this was tens of times stronger!

Zuo Mo shouted, his sun shen power vibrating. His expression was serious, golden scripts rising off his body and making him appear domineering.

When the golden scripts appeared, Zuo Mo’s presence suddenly changed. A vicious and primitive presence covered the entire battlefield as though there was an ancient monster descending to the mortal realm.

Xiao Ru Jian looked in disbelief at Zuo Mo.

This was … …

A skill from the ancient era!

The ancient’s way of fighting had simple moves without too many flourishes. Their bodies were even stronger than those wasteland beasts. They had endless power, they could pluck suns and moons from the sky, they were the strongest of that era!

That was an era which was like a riddle, one that countless people yearned for.

Zuo Mo was like a hero walking straight out of an ancient myth, like the totem warrior that the Sun Tribe worshiped. An irresistible dominance, and a masculine and strong energy that was like the light of the sun which people could not avoid.

Zuo Mo’s right hand flashed with bright golden energy. The golden scripts on his body slowly circulated, the light on his right hand flickering, and forming a simple axe.

Zuo Mo raised the golden axe of light high up. His entire body leaned forward slightly. He seemed to channel all of his strength into the simple axe he had raised. His eyes were wide, every muscle in his body was tense.

A power to uproot mountains and an unrivalled presence!

Just like the Sun Tribe totem warrior of tens of thousands of years ago swinging the [Sun Shen Axe]! Just as domineering like the Sun Tribe totem warrior of tens of thousands of years ago! Looking down on all beings like the Sun Tribe totem warrior of tens of thousands of years ago!

The only difference was that this was his era!

Strong belief and furious power was channeled into the [Sun Shen Axe] in his hand.

It swung downward!

Chapter 776 – Wei Sheng’s Sword

The green sword essence wave and the sun shen axe collided together in a show of brute force.

Boom!

Terrifying power exploded. The light was blinding like the sun and illuminated the world.

When the light faded, Zuo Mo’s great figure appeared. He held the axe of light in his hand, his pressuring gaze was almost tangible as he slowly swept his gaze across the battlefield.

He held Xiao Ru Jian’s body in his left hand. Xiao Ru Jian had no signs of life.

The light in Zuo Mo’s eyes gradually faded, the axe of light disappearing. The powerful presence he gave off also disappeared. He once again appeared like a common person. He breathed out lightly and shook his head. The [Sun Shen Axe] was still a struggle for him. It was not as easy to use as the [Sun Shen Thorn].

He could manifest the [Sun Shen Thorn] to the point that it seemed to be engraved with scripts, but he could only form the basic shape of the [Sun Shen Axe]. Even the shape was lacking, not to mention the sun scripts.

The shen techniques of the ancient era were so simple. The more complete the technique, the more exquisite their shape was, and the more powerful they were.

He was just starting out. Shaking his head, he looked towards everyone else.

An ambush. Those prepared against those unprepared, He Zi, An Hai and the others were just normal Kun Lun disciples. They didn’t have any ability to fight against Wei Sheng and Zong Ru. An Hai’s killing move, the Hundred Fiend Soul Destroying Pill, had been used already. Zong Ru’s wish power wrapped around him and An Hai immediately lost his soul. He Zi’s Circular Fiend Sword Formation just been activated as it was easily defeated by Wei Sheng’s sword strike.

Before they acted, Zuo Mo had decided to not leave even one alive.

Naturally, the Kun Lun disciple’s things were cleaned out. However, Zuo Mo did not have the time to inspect them now. His attention was all on this ancient octopus.

“Eldest Shixiong, you try.”

Wei Sheng nodded. The fight just now couldn’t even be considered a warm-up to him. This mountainous octopus monster made him feel pressure and excited his fighting spirit.

The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand, he flew in front of the octopus, and stood gravely.

Lightly raising the blood-red sword, Wei Sheng’s expression was solemn. His presence changed, and the air around him seemed to ripple in an indescribable manner.

Marks of blood appeared on the sword. Wei Sheng’s presence continued to rise. He narrowed his eyes. He was like an unsheathed sword, full of edges, and soul-shaking.

Thick sword essence gathered around him. The sky above his head quickly became dark. The black sea under his feet rippled outwards, as if escaping from the danger, . A deep hole formed in the water underneath Wei Sheng.

Standing as straight as a sword, Wei Sheng suddenly opened his eyes.

Hiss!

An indescribable hiss, the void sword essence around Wei Sheng gathered quickly towards him. He seemed to be the eye of the storm.

Hiss hiss hiss!

The sharp sword essence was like countless little swords that flew and howled around Wei Sheng’s body. The humming rose in volume and surged like the tide.

Wei Sheng lightly flicked the sword in his hand.

Vroom!

Like streams and rivers flowing into the ocean, the sword essence flooded towards Wei Sheng’s blood sword furiously.

The blood sword hummed in excitement, the marks of blood suddenly growing bright, and filled with an eerie power.

Wei Sheng did not seem to detect the excitement of his blood sword. His expression was determined, and his eyes like bloodied pure glass. He inherited the power of the God-Killing Blood Sword, but he had not been assimilated by the God-Killing Blood Sword.

His steel-like resolve allowed him to control this terrifyingly large power.

A strange layer of red tinged Wei Sheng’s view. In his eyes, the blood sword in his hand was like an unwilling beast that constantly struggled.

Sword!

Feeling the world spread, Wei Sheng’s expression was devout and focused. No matter how the blood sword in his hand struggled, he did not seem to feel it. The eerie and frantic power battered him along the sword hilt. Its bloodthirst and madness made it unusually powerful. Wei Sheng knew that if he let go at this time, the blood sword would definitely release an astounding strike.

It had drank the blood of countless warriors, it had consumed innumerable fiend souls, it had grown through tens of thousands of years, it was powerful on its own!

The frantic power battered Wei Sheng’s mind in waves. Wei Sheng’s blood and shen power came from the blood sword, and was restless as well.

It was a terrifying monster. If it was discontent, it would cause a backlash.

Wei Sheng did not let go. His expression was still devout and focused. Under the increased mental battering and emotional assault that came with each wave, he guarded his sword heart!

Countless scenes flashed through his eyes. He saw the motivating gazes of Sect Leader and the shishu, he saw the Wu Kong Mountain of the past, he saw his own hardship as a sword servant, he saw himself drinking under the moon with Zuo Mo … …

He moved through the scenes, they became dimmer and dimmer and he seemed to be walking in a dark empty space.

Alone, without direction, without any light.

Was that his future?

A strong feeling of loneliness rose. His mind became puzzled and blank. Yet when his gaze landed on the sword that the figure held, all of the emptiness, loneliness, and bewilderment immediately disappeared. His body filled with power.

The figure moving forward in the darkness used his sword to strike apart the darkness and void, used his sword to cut out a path. The darkness and empty space retreated like the tide. Friendly and warm figures appeared around him.

Wei Sheng seemed to wake up. A warm smile unconsciously rose on his mouth. The mental assault of the blood sword seemed to instantly became much weaker. No matter how it struggled, Wei Sheng’s sword heart was like an unmoving rock.

Just like that figure in the dream state, Wei Sheng raised the blood sword in his hand and moved it downwards.

A red sword energy flashed.

Vast sword essence charged!

Boom!

The sky seemed to shake. The water in front of Wei Sheng immediately disappeared, and a ruler-straight passage that was dozens of li long appeared.

In the five zhang wide chasm, there wasn’t a drop of water. The black rock at the bottom of the ocean was exposed to the air. The walls of water on the two sides of the passageway were five hundred zhang tall and as smooth as glass.

The chasm stretched into the distance. The octopus was fully exposed. There was a straight red blood line through the middle of its body.

Pia!

The enormous body of the octopus fell from the air to the bottom of the chasm in two pieces. Poof, the blood that should have gushed and sprayed instead exploded into a mist.

Wei Sheng’s blood sword shook. The blood mist was drawn into the blood sword and turned into a pillar of blood as it was absorbed.

There wasn’t a drop of blood left in the octopus.

At this time, the walls of water started to crumble. The ruckus was like tens of thousands of horses galloping at once.

Everyone, including Zuo Mo, was stunned by Wei Sheng’s strike!

Eldest Shixiong … … really … … really … … was too much of a freak!

Suddenly, Zuo Mo shook, the octopus!

Little Mo Ge’s eyes were immediately taken over by countless jingshi. He appeared like lightning next to the octopus corpse. Without a second word, each of his hands pulled on one half of the octopus. Golden scripts appeared on his body, his shen power rippling, his eyes wide, his muscles tensing, he breathed and shouted, “Ah ah ah aaaaaaaaah! Rise!”

Under the motivation of jingshi, the power that Zuo Mo displayed far surpassed his power when he had been fighting Xiao Ru Jian. Zuo Mo seemed to be possessed by a god, an ancient monster. His tendons bulged, he panted as he pulled the two enormous pieces and slowly rose. He finally pulled them up onto the transportation ship before the water passageway collapsed.

Wei Sheng who had just finished his strike saw this, and the devoutness and concentration on his face disappeared. His mouth was open wide, the muscles in his face frozen, he looked dazedly at Zuo Mo’s superhuman action.

The blood sword in his hand couldn’t help but tremble.

Everyone was stunned.

In this moment, the entire place was silent. There was only the sound of Zuo Mo panting like the bellows of a furnace. He collapsed and leaned against the two mountains of meat, completely out of energy, with a dumb smile on his face.

———

“Did you find their origins?” The sect leader of Thunder Sound Temple said.

“We are not sure.” The disciple responsible sweated. Looking at the unhappy expression of the sect leader, the disciple hurriedly added, “From the present clues, it is very likely they come from Mo Cloud Sea.”

“Mo Cloud Sea!” The sect leader’s expression turned grave.

“But it is not easy to determine their true identity. They did not fight, and we could not prove that Lao De Guang was on their ships. We searched through their fleet and did not find him. But then when we closed the transportation formation, they flew into the Black Sea Flying Route, they are highly suspicious.”

The sect leader remained silent.

A long time later, the sect leader spoke, “This matter will end here.”

The disciple responsible stilled, and then had a surprised expression. The sect leader seemed to not see it and said, “You may leave.”

The disciple shook and reacted, bowing hurriedly. “This disciple bids farewell!”

After the disciple left the hall, a youth with an impressive presence walked out from behind the drapes. If the disciple that had been here before saw this, they would have been greatly surprised.

Yang Yuan Hao!

The best battle general of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, Yang Yuan Hao!

No one knew that Yang Yuan Hao had sneaked back to the sect without anyone’s knowledge.

“Sect Leader, are you worried about Mo Cloud Sea?” Yang Yuan Hao also had some surprise on his face and asked.

The sect leader’s gaze was deep. Seeing Yang Yuan Hao, he had a small smile. “Yuan Hao, you do not understand?”

Yang Yuan Hao shook his head. “Mo Cloud Sea will be our ally for a long time. However, we have not discovered if they are from Mo Cloud Sea or not … …”

“They could go through the Black Sea Flight Route, ha!” The sect leader huffed a laugh. “They aren’t just Mo Cloud Sea, they are most likely Wei Sheng’s group.”

Yang Yuan Hao thought of another problem. He frowned. “Mo Cloud Sea knows our situation very well, how long has it been since the ruins appeared? They have already learned the news!”

For any battle general, it was a taboo for one’s enemies to know too much about one’s situation.

The sect leader shook his head. “It may not be the case. Do not forget the matter regarding Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect, Mo Cloud Sea are not timid people.”

Yang Yuan Hao nodded. “Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect did a stupid thing.”

The sect leader said, “What is the situation on the front lines?”

“Kun Lun has been very silent recently, it is slightly unusual.” A hint of worry flashed through Yang Yuan Hao’s eyes.

A hint of cold flashed through the sect leader’s eyes. “Silent? It probably was them in the shadows creating the storm right now. Some people are always short-sighted. When they see that there is nothing to be worried about at the moment, they will want to make a fuss. I summoned you back here because I wanted to ask your opinion.”

Yang Yuan Hao had been thinking on the way back. The sects had been very active recently which had affect the unity of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. A divided Nine Great Dhyana Sects would not even hold against one enemy attack.

He suddenly thought of Mo Cloud Sea that was just mentioned. His eyes lit up. “Maybe we could borrow some power.”

Chapter 777 – Mountain of Meat

They had really profited this time!

Looking at the two mountains of meat in front of him, Zuo Mo felt as though he was in dream. This gift from Kun Lun really was too valuable. Ancient beasts like this were rare and irreplaceable!

If the Kun Lun disciples hadn’t used the Soul Luring Fragrance, Zuo Mo guessed that even all of them working together would not have been able to defeat this terrifying large thing. It would be a problem if they would be even able to escape alive.

He had really not expected this profit. Kun Lun were really good people!

Everyone moved around the two mountains of meat in curiosity. It was rare to see such a large ancient beast. They basically only existed in legends.

Because they were worried about encountering other strong beasts on the Black Sea Flight Line, the fleet did not dare to move around randomly on the route, but quickly flew towards their destination according to the steward’s instructions.

Only Zuo Mo could butcher the monster. He was the only one here skilled in forging. Only he knew what was useful or not.

If the conditions allowed for it, Zuo Mo wanted to put the two mountains of meat into his ring and then take it back to Mo Cloud Sea. That would allow it to express its greatest value.

However, even though Zuo Mo’s ring was top tier, it could not hold two such enormous mountains of meat.

Zuo Mo worked hard for three days.

The one responsible for guiding his hand was Wei. While it had been many many years since he had last dismembered an ancient beast, he was the only one that was familiar.

This octopus was treasure, profit, great profit … …

Zuo Mo hummed a tune, his movements happy and rapid. The octopus was made up of treasure. Zuo Mo carefully gathered its slime. This was a rare treasure that could absorb enemy shen attacks.

What was greatest about it was that it could absorb shen power attacks upto a certain degree. Zuo Mo tested it, and it was so. Only when the shen power reached a certain level of purity and the shen technique reached a certain level of skill would the effect be overcome.

In reality, it was the first time Zuo Mo had heard of a material with this property. Just this one trait determined its value. In the entire process, Zuo Mo was on high alert and fearful that he would miss a drop.

He decided when he would forged his new shen raiment, he would brush on this astounding shen liquid, one coat after another, one hundred times!

Kun Lun shen power? Tian Huan shen power? What of it? They wouldn’t even create sparks when they hit his armor. The more he thought, the happier Zuo Mo felt.

Kun Lun was a good child, a good good child … …

Zuo Mo started to hum again.

Other than this, the octopus’ eyes were dried and turned into two black beads. However, these two beads were a bit large, about the same height as Zuo Mo. He didn’t know the use of the black beads but he had tested it with shen power. Zuo Mo found that when shen power entered, it seemed to disappear.

It could absorb shen power!

This was the only attribute that Zuo Mo had discovered up until now. The time did not allow for him to slowly examine it. He could only throw it into his ring. He had a feeling that this definitely was something good.

The skin of the octopus was hard. Normal flying swords could only leave behind a faint mark. In the end, it had been Wei Sheng with his God-Killing Blood Sword that was able to cut it.

Undoubtedly, the grade of this octopus skin was astounding. Zuo Mo guessed that it should be top level. For the great majority of shen device raiments, high level hide was essential. A Gui’s [Undying Ghost] was a rarity in its composition.

Most importantly, the surface area of this hide was almost unimaginable.

Even if it was not able to be all used in shen device raiments, if it was used to forge shen equipment, they would be higher in grade than normal. Thinking about if he gave every one of the core members a pseudo-shen device, and they were all outfitted, the offensive ability of Mo Cloud Sea would skyrocket!

The teeth and bones of the octopus were all of extraordinary quality and could be used to forge shen equipment.

What made Zuo Mo feel was unique was the dense suckers on the tentacles. The largest of these suckers were the size of a person, the smallest just the size of a thumb. There were twelve hundred thousand of them.

Zuo Mo was very interested in the suckers. They had an unique effect. Once they came into contact with something, they would instinctively absorb the power and life-force of the target.

It was very devious and terrifying.

The bigger the sucker, the stronger its absorption ability. Zuo Mo knew that the suckers only had a lingering effect because the octopus was dead. If the octopus was alive, this ability would be much stronger. He thought about the many suckers. Everywhere they passed, all life was stolen, all of the blood, flesh, and energy was sucked into the octopus.

This octopus had lived for tens of thousands of years. He didn’t know how many lives it had consumed.

So terrifying!

Zuo Mo rejoiced. If there wasn’t Kun Lun’s Soul Luring Fragrance, the possibility that the fleet would have survived would have been low.

There was a kind of pattern that Zuo Mo had never seen before on the suckers. Zuo Mo suspected that it was this pattern that allowed the suckers to have such an unique ability.

Zuo Mo decided to spend some time to study it. He put all the suckers away in the ring. They piled together into a little mountain. Zuo Mo knew that this was something good but he didn’t have a complete idea on how to use it.

Everything that was useful was harvested and put away.

But there was still a mountain of meat left in front of them. This was truly a mountain of meat, all of it was left behind after cutting up the octopus. The blood of the octopus seemed to have been completely sucked dry by Wei Sheng’s God-Killing Blood Sword. There wasn’t even a drop of blood left, all of it was clean meat. Piled up there, it did not reek of blood.

What to do with the meat? Zuo Mo felt stuck. There was just too much!

“Eat it!” Wei suggested. “In the ancient era, if such a monster was killed, the entire tribe would divide it up and eat it. Each piece of flesh of such a monster that has lived for tens of thousands of years has been refined for countless years by shen power. They contain astounding power and will be of great help to you if you use it!”

“Really?” Zuo Mo had a suspicious expression.

“Won’t you know after eating?” Wei was discontent.

Zuo Mo tried to use fire to roast a piece of meat. When he took a bite, his eyes widened. He felt an extremely faint thread of shen power spread into his body.

Good thing!

He pointed at the mountain and said through a full mouth, “Eat eat eat!”

The other people saw this and started to act. They used different methods but when the meat entered their mouth, they all became alert!

Shen power!

The meat actually contained shen power and they could absorb a portion of the shen power. This discovery caused everyone to turn crazy.

Right now, other than Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and A Gui who were special exceptions, the other people only had one path to increase shen power – cultivation!

This was the first time they encountered another way to increase shen power.

The meat mountain in front of them caused everyone to have a feeling they were smashed by happiness.

Without needing Zuo Mo to call them over, everyone started to eat furiously.

Yet they found quickly that while they ate at as fast as possible, it was nothing compared to the three hundred zhang mountain of meat in front of them.

They could not eat all of it!

The greatest tragedy in life was when you find that eating meat could increase shen power, and there was a lot of meat like this in front of you, but you could not finish it!

Most of the people with Zuo Mo had grassroot origins, of impoverished backgrounds, they had endured many great hardships and hated wasting anything. How could they allow such a tragedy to occur?

The group cursed the world. All of them had the same thought. No matter what, before they reached Lotus Sutra Temple, they had to finish consuming this meat mountain!

Therefore, they started to think of solutions.

In order to increase their appetite, they started to expend their shen power, fighting, furiously cultivating, practicing … …

They invented all kinds of methods. If other people saw this, they would feel as though “people’s intelligence was limitless.”

For example, Wei Sheng quickly created a highly efficient method. He used the God-Killing Blood Sword to absorb the shen power inside the meat, and then pass it into his body. The speed of absorption was high. However, the God-Killing Blood Sword was only interested in blood, and not at all in the meat. This caused Wei Sheng to have to search for beast to feed it blood and coerce its cooperation.

Zong Ru’s method seemed much gentler. He summoned all kinds of buddhas to absorb shen power and then merged it in his body.

Zuo Mo was undoubtedly the brightest superstar of eating meat. All the little ones around him had extraordinary appetites, and there was still the glutton Black Gold Seal Soldier. Zuo Mo was inspired by the suckers and his rate increased greatly. When the meat entered his stomach, the energies and shen power would spread in threads into his body.

Yet even so, when they flew out of the Black Sea Flight Route, they just barely managed to consume this enormous mountain of meat.

All of them felt as though they had finished a difficult mission. Even composed people like Wei Sheng and Zong Ru smiled. More of them felt lingering trepidation.

In a very long time after, when any person mentioned the words “eat meat,” they would be attacked unanimously by everyone around them.

It was like a war.

Even a glutton like the Black Gold Seal Soldier felt fear at hearing “eating meat”.

Yet everyone’s strength had increased enormously.

The shen power contained in an octopus that had lived for tens of thousands of years was enormous and terrifying! While they could not absorb all of it, and it was divided among so many people, for these people that had just started cultivating shen power, this increase was still astounding.

Nothing excited people more than strength.

They were full of anticipation about the upcoming trip to the ruins. Even though they knew that they would likely face experts from Kun Lun and Tian Huan, they did not feel any fear.

As expected, they would have meat if they followed Boss!

They looked at Zuo Mo with admiration. Some of the more honest people looked around as they travelled, muttering, “Another one … … another one … …”

As the fleet came closer to the ruins, they could clearly feel the number of xiuzhe increasing in the surroundings, including experts.

Yet what no one know was that Zuo Mo who was hiding in the ship had made a new discovery.

Chapter 778 – Bie Han! Madman!

“Ma Fan’s battle was beautiful!” Shi Dong said with admiration. Winning a difficult battle was a great aspiration for any battle general.

Also, this victory raised  Ma Fan’s fame and place him in the ranks of the first-class battle generals.

There was competition among the battalions of Mo Cloud Sea as well. Shi Dong and Ye Ling’s Grey Camp was not the top ranked among the many battalions. Shi Dong was exceptional, but in Mo Cloud Sea, which was full of talented people, he was not the strongest.

There was a handful of people with comparable strength.

However, he did not feel any jealousy towards Ma Fan. Ma Fan deserved this. They had fought many times before, so many times it was innumerable. He knew Ma Fan’s strength well.

If Ma Fan was given a defense line, his strength would double.

This was Lil’ Miss Daren’s words, without any exaggeration. Ma Fan’s achievements in other areas could only be said to be average, but once he gained control of a formation defense line, his win rate would become terrifying.

No one liked to fight a defensive battle against Ma Fan.

However, Shi Dong was full of confidence in himself. Ma Fan had a field he was skilled in, and he had his own specialization.

“Bie Han Daren’s order is really strange!” Ye Ling saw Bie Han’s orders and couldn’t resist commenting.

Shi Dong looked into the distance and said softly, “I think I have guessed Bie Han Daren’s general goal.” He tried to make himself look calm as normal but the anxiousness in his eyes exposed his true thoughts.

Bie Han Daren … … was too daring!

Was this the confidence of a top battle general?

What kind of confidence was this!

“You have guessed Daren’s thoughts?” Ye Ling was slightly shocked. However, he was not surprised. He knew that his strategic vision was lacking compared to Shi Dong.

Shi Dong shook his head. “Not just me, everyone else should understand by now.”

“Why is that even this conversation like a riddle … …” Ye Ling said helplessly.

“Look at our position, then Tang Fei and A Zha Ge.” Shi Dong’s hand moved above the jie map, and an invisible line caused Ye Ling’s eyes to light up. He was still slightly puzzled. “I cannot see anything … …”

Shi Dong did not waste words and continued, “Us, Tangzi Battalion, A Zha Ge battalion, appear as though we have no connection to Bright Mountain Jie, but look here.”

On the jie map, he found where Grey Camp was, and with it as the center, drew out a circle. Then he found the two other battalions and drew out circles around them.

“Now look,” Shi Dong said calmly, “While we are not directly connected to Bright Mountain Jie, but the area that we are active in, and the position that we guard are like three signal flares. They will attract the battalions around us, and we have blockaded the path of the enemy attempting to reinforce Bright Mountain Jie.”

“I seem to understand after you say this.” Ye Ling’s expression was puzzled. “However, what is the use to stopping the reinforcements? Bright Mountain Jie still has Hai Jin Yu and Shang Yu Sheng. Ma Fan defeated the two mo generals but he definitely took great losses and will not have forces to and help Bie Han Daren. You should also know of Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng, they are rare talents that have risen recently. Bie Han Daren alone … … wait! You mean … …”

Ye Ling’s eyes widened. He looked in disbelief at Shi Dong as though he saw a ghost.

“Yes! We were wrong about Bie Han Daren’s intentions from the start.” Shi Dong tried to make his voice calm, but it was still filled with emotion. “From the start, he decided to fight one on two! We all were wrong!”

Then he said self-mockingly, “This probably is the difference between us and top battle generals. We have to bow to his self confidence.”

Ye Ling’s eyes were wide, and he was unable to speak for a moment.

“This this this … …”

He stammered for a while but could not continue.

Shi Dong shook his head, the shock in his eyes gradually disappearing. He recovered his usual calmness and composure. “Since Bie Han Daren dares to plan this, he must have some assurances. We will first carry out our own mission well, we cannot drag down Bie Han Daren.”

A moment later, Ye Ling finally inhaled out a long breath. “This is mad! Too mad!”

It was rare for Shi Dong to see Ye Ling lose his composure. He couldn’t help but flash a grin before he resumed his usual coolness. “Don’t worry for Bie Han Daren, let’s first think of a way to finish our mission. Ma Fan gave a beautiful performance, if we do not finish our mission, we will be laughed at when we return.”

Ye Ling heard this and nodded seriously. “All Hail the King! We will do all we can in service for our king! Eh, we cannot be laughed at. Lei Peng and Nian Lu have the worst mouths! How do you think we should fight?”

“I have an idea.” Shi Dong’s eyes flashed with a cold light.

———

“Bie Han Daren’s idea is too dangerous!” Tang Fei frowned. When Bie Han’s new orders were delivered to her hands, Bie Han’s intentions finally became clear. She had to admit that Bie Han Daren’s goal was completely unexpected.

Miao Jun also jumped in fright at Bie Han’s intention. “So mad! One against two … … I don’t know what to say! He doesn’t need to risk this at all. We are strong. While we are low in numbers, we are all elite battalions, there will not be much of a problem to take down Hundred Energy Jie, unless … …”

“Unless Daren has bigger ambitions!” Tang Fei continued. She said in an uncertain tone, “What will be even bigger?”

Miao Jun frowned and thought hard. He was thinking of what reason would cause Bie Han to use such a dangerous plan.

Suddenly, the two of them raised their heads and looked at each other at the same time, seeing the disbelief in the other’s eyes.

Bie Han … …

———

“Too dangerous!” A Zha Ge looked at the order on his hand and murmured to himself.

Bie Han Daren’s intentions had completely been made apparent, there was nothing hard to guess. However, A Zha Ge found it hard to understand why Bie Han would plan such a  risky battle plan.

A Zha Ge did not know Bie Han’s strength well but he knew that Bie Han Daren was much stronger than him. He was also a gold battle general but he was nothing compared to a top battle general.

Bie Han Daren’s idea … …

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. A daring idea that was also impossible flashed through his mind!

Was it … …

———

“His target is us,” Shang Yu Sheng said slowly. His speaking speed was slow, almost pausing between each word.

Hai Jin Yun did not have any impatience. He smiled coldly, “He really is ambitious! Tsk tsk, as expected of a top battle general, look, his boldness is something that we cannot match.”

“His goal is not Bright Mountain Jie, it was us, from the beginning,” Shang Yu Sheng said. “Xi cannot be mobilized, the only ones that the alliance can move to match him are the two of us.”

“He’s too proud! If he used the time difference and attack us separately, he might have a chance! But we have met up. He wants to use his one battalion against us, ha! He’s too naïve!” Hai Jin Yun’s voice was full of scorn.

The two of them were new talents of the alliance. Among the new generation, they were strong and major figures. The two of them were thought of genius youths that would possibly become top battle generals. No one doubted this. People believed that if they had a few more years, the duo would definitely become top battle generals.

Right now, they were not top ranked battle generals, but the difference was minuscule.

One of them alone might not be able to beat Bie Han, but the two of them together, they had the advantage of numbers and  they worked well together, they could only be stronger than Bie Han.

Hai Jin Yun’s scorn was not just due to arrogance.

Shang Yu Sheng’s expression was still serious. He said in his uniquely slow manner, “If this is not the case, will we fight him?”

Hai Jin Yun stilled. He thought and then he shook his head. “No, if I encounter him alone, I will definitely avoid him, wait to meet up with you, before searching him out for a fight.”

“Maybe this is what he wants,” Shang Yu Sheng said.

Hai Jin Yun was not stupid and reacted quickly. He said suspiciously, “You mean that he definitely has created a situation to make us feel as though we have the upper hand?”

“Isn’t that the case?” Shang Yu Sheng asked in return.

Hai Jin Yun was silent. Bie Han had been the one that had arranged the present situation. If Bie Han had deliberately done this, there was only one possibility. Bie Han had absolute confidence in himself!

“This is not possible!” Hai Jin Yun couldn’t help but say, “I will admit that Bie Han is strong but I don’t believe that he can fight against the two of us in an open battle! Not even Xue Dong can! Do you feel that the two of us cannot win against him?”

“I also do not believe it.” Shang Yu Sheng shook his head. “But I believe that Bie Han definitely has powerful moves that we do not know of.”

Hai Jin Yun nodded. “You are right, we need to be careful of his schemes.” His expression became grave. “But I believe even more that strength is the most important in open battle! We need to keep an eye on the soldiers, maybe spies have made their way into the battalions?”

“En, you are right, use inactivity to deal with all changes. Keep an eye on the ranks, we will not panic, and there will not be any problems.” Shang Yu Sheng also threw away his worries. The two of them were among the strongest battle generals of the Mo Marshal Alliance. Even though there were some areas of Bei Han’s plan that they did not understand, they would not become timid because of the other’s feints.

What any famed battle general believed in was himself and the battalion behind him.

Shang Yu Sheng laughed, fighting spirit in his expression and his tone excited as he said, “Yes, as long as we do not panic, he will not have a chance! Who’s afraid of who! A top battle general is nothing, that’s just because we have not shown our might. I want to see just how much water there is in this top battle general!”

Suddenly, a wave of urgent alarms sounded. The two exchanged a look, their expressions serious.

Bie Han had come!

Chapter 779 – Cang Ling Xue

In the darkness of the night, Cang Ling Xue was silent and motionless like a puppet. Her pretty face showed faint sorrow. She threw herself into the darkness, she lost her usual aura of authority and restraint. She sat there like a normal seventeen year old girl and stared at the distant mountains.

The string of lantern lights were like the stars in the sky. She thought of the past years, their troubles, and how sparse the lights had been then. The present Cang Family was much more prosperous than before.

She did not feel much pride, only exhaustion.

At this time, she had shed her determination. She was like a helpless kitten curled in the corner.

“Daren.” The hoarse voice of a male sounded in the darkness.

She did not raise her head. She was too familiar with this voice, so familiar that she did not need to pretend in front of him. She gave a light sound of acknowledgement.

“Yesterday, someone visited Second Elder, and Second Elder saw them off at the gates,” the male said in a low voice. His usually calm voice was filled with indescribable fury. “Third Elder’s son was accepted into the first yao art house.”

Cang Ling Xue’s lips moved. She said indifferently, “Isn’t that what he hoped for? His prodigal son has always been a sickness on his mind.”

“Chief Elder most likely cannot withstand the pressure for long,” the male said in a low voice, “I heard Chief Elder’s steward say that they received a threat from an unknown person yesterday, the target is Chief Elder’s granddaughter. Chief Elder may likely remain quiet on this matter.”

“All of them betray me, haha,” Cang Ling Xue laughed. At this time, her cold laugh showed age that did not match her real age.

The male was silent for a moment before he suddenly spoke, “Daren flee!”

“Flee? Flee where?” Cang Ling Xue was bewildered. “What about the Cang Family? What about the merchant association?”

“How can we care about that now?” The male’s tone became panicked. “If Daren does not flee, it is likely … …”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Cang Ling Xue smiled desolately. “Do not worry, I am worth more to them alive than dead. No matter if it is to take over the business association and the Cang Family or to become a tool to earn them money, they all need me alive.”

The male was silent.

Cang Ling Xue murmured to herself, “The elders are too timid, if they could harden their resolves, the business association would be able to bargain with these people … …”

“Daren, what if we throw away the business association?” the male suddenly asked.

“Throw away the association?” Cang Ling Xue stilled. Then her brow furrowed and she sat up. “Who told you this?”

“Yesterday night when I was spying on Second Elder, I was caught by someone when returning,” the male said calmly.

“Ah!” Cang Ling Xue was astounded, the sternness and authority on her face disappearing. She asked urgently, “Were you wounded?”

The male’s heart warmed. He shook his head and said, “No, the other only asked me to tell you this message.”

Cang Ling Xue’s expression eased slightly but her heart trembled. Uncle Yan’s strength was unfathomable in her eyes. No matter how difficult the mission was, Uncle Yan would finish it perfectly. Uncle Yan was the last support that her father had left her. If it wasn’t for Uncle Yan, she would not have taken charge of the Cang Family so quickly. While Uncle Yan had never said how powerful he was, she could hear from between his words that Uncle Yan had been a powerful expert in the past.

“What is their background?” Cang Ling Xue asked curiously. Her mind moved quickly. She did not fear the addition of a new power. In truth, any change for her in this hopeless situation was good news.

Because the situation would not be any worse than now.

“I could not see.” Uncle Yan’s tone was low, and filled with a rare wariness. “The other is familiar with the underground world. I encountered at least three people that match me in strength. Those in the underground world that have such strength will not be unknown yet I cannot identify these people’s origins.”

Cang Ling Xue became alert. She was intelligent and Uncle Yan’s words contained a great amount of information. The other was strong, and with so many experts, it would not be a minor faction. The other wanted her to give up on the business association, they clearly wanted her ability at management. Giving up on the association but not the Cang Family showed that the other had confidence they could guarantee the safety of the Cang Family.

This astounded her. If this message had not been carried to her by her most trusted Uncle Yan, she definitely would not believe it. Uncle Yan had watched her grow up and the two of them were like father and daughter. He definitely would not betray her.

Who was the other?

She knew the reason that she felt hopeless at the families pressuring her because they had the support of the Council of Elders!

They were not people that she, the Cang Family or the business association could fight.

This mysterious faction was so confident. She felt it hard to believe.

“Are there any underground factions so strong?” she murmured to herself.

“No.” Unexpectedly, Uncle Yan answered. His tone was filled with certainly. “The underground world is not large, and not as mysterious as the rumors say. The relatively major underground powers are closely connected to the Council of Elders.”

“Then where do they find the confidence to make this offer?” Cang Ling Xue was puzzled.

Uncle Yan hesitated for a while before saying, “They may not be an underground power.”

Cang Ling Xue stilled. “How so?”

Uncle Yan explained, “In truth, underground factions are fangs and teeth. Some major factions use them for convenience in spying and dealing with matters hard to openly resolve. If someone does it in the shadows, it is much easier to handle some matters. Most of the yao underground powers have great backgrounds and support. Sometimes, they are responsible for establishing contact. If I am right, and this develops, the faction behind them will be revealed.”

“No wonder the underground factions can do as they wish.” Cang Ling Xue finally realized and said.

“That is a misunderstanding. Actually, they are restrained in many aspects,” Uncle Yan said. “They cannot go too far in many matters. The higher ups will turn a blind eye to some matters and not pursue them in order for them to survive. If the higher ups order something, they have to complete it. The competition between the underground factions is cruel.”

The other wasn’t an underground faction. Cang Ling Xue became excited. Even though the situation was already like this, she still did not hope to fall to being on the side of an underground faction. The darkness was a road of no return, especially to a clan.

“Can Uncle Yan find out the origins of this underground factions?” she asked in anticipation.

If they could find the origins of these people, maybe they would find a clue to the people behind them.

This was a deadlock. If someone disturbed it, maybe it would offer them a chance.

Cang Ling Xue’s spirit rose again.

Uncle Yan looked at Cang Ling Xue whose fighting spirit had come back and nodded seriously, “I will try.”

———

Zuo Mo’s finger constantly moved through the air like a pen. He would occasionally stop and think for a while.

He had been in this crazed state for a few days. He constantly swiped and drew. Other people knew that he was considering a problem and did not disturb him.

Zuo Mo who had ate meat until he almost went insane originally prepared to refine the shen power he had just absorbed. Yet when he was in the cabin and preparing to refine the power, that unique pattern from the green strand reappeared once again in his mind.

This time, he saw it more clearly.

He discovered many places he had not seen clearly last time. He was overjoyed at these discoveries.

Zuo Mo was sure now that this pattern was a shen glyph!

For people now, shen glyphs were not something far away. Tian Huan had been the first to study shen glyphs and they were the ones with the most understanding of shen glyphs. Tian Huan’s shen power was based in shen glyphs. As shen power developed and more and more people cultivated shen power, people’s understanding of shen glyphs increased.

If one said that the core of ling power was seal scripts, then the core of shen power was shen glyphs.

Shen glyphs were not as mysterious as people imagined, but it was still the most profound and attractive mystery.

Even Tian Huan who had learned the most about shen glyphs, had only mastered no more than five complete shen glyphs up until now.

So when Zuo Mo realized what this pattern he could not understand was, he immediately became excited.

Zuo Mo knew a bit more than other people about shen glyphs. In ancient tribes, each tribe would have their own shen glyph. For example, the Sun glyph of the Sun Tribe and the Greenvine glyph of the Greenvine Tribe. These shen glyphs weren’t just related to their shen power, they were also related to something else, ancient shen devices!

Ancient shen devices were not the same as the present shen device raiments. The forging of ancient shen devices were done by the greatest members of each tribe imprinting the shen glyph into the device. The present shen device raiments was something that Zuo Mo had based more on forging methods before he had comprehended a complete shen glyph.

Almost all of the shen device raiments followed Zuo Mo’s example.

Zuo Mo had mastery of two shen glyphs. One was the Sun glyph, the other the Greenvine glyph.

Of the two, he was more skilled on the Sun glyph and less skilled with the Greenvine glyph. However, even though he mastered the Sun glyph, there were still many places he did not understand. The difference between shen glyphs and seal scripts was that every part of the shen glyph had to be comprehended. If one could not comprehend it, they could not use it, or draw it.

A completely new shen glyph immediately caused Zuo Mo to become excited.

While he could not comprehend it right now, the value in a new shen glyph still excited Zuo Mo.

As these years passed, and people pursued shen power by exploring ancient ruins, all kinds of shen glyph fragments appeared.

On the black market, a rubbing of a shen glyph part was worth cities.

Only those that comprehend shen glyphs could make imprints, and it was a great burden to the imprinter to make an imprint. Due to this, the number of shen glyph imprints on the market was very small.

Zuo Mo quickly was immersed in the comprehension of a new shen glyph. He tried to draw it according to the image in his mind.

Suddenly, his fingertip felt heavy and gave him a different feeling.

Chapter 780 – Confidence

The dense ranks of the battalion were like a silent black cloud that pressed forward with great pressure. It was the first time Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng saw this famous battalion. They were silent. The battalion in front of them was like a group of lifeless killing machines. A deathly silence that was filled with indescribable murderousness.

“Top battle general, just as the rumors say!” Hai Jin Yun couldn’t help but praise. His heart trembled. Sin Battalion, this was the legendary Sin Battalion, one of Mo Cloud Sea’s two strongest battalions. The most famous battalion left behind by the fallen titan Xuan Kong Temple. Who would have thought that Jiang Zhe who had appeared on the world stage and astounded the world would have died, yet Bie Han who had been guarded against became one of the greatest and top battle generals of all of the xiuzhe world.

There were no signs of life to be seen from the organized ranks. The almost mechanical meticulousness was expressed in every detail. The ghost-like seal scripts on the faces of the Sin battalion members as well as the indifference on their faces made people’s hearts feel cold.

The advance of the battalion was like ghosts travelling silently in the night.

They could not see Bie Han. Bie Han was hiding within Sin Battalion. From the information they had, Bie Han’s fighting method still followed Xuan Kong Temple’s style. He was also a rare battle general that used xiuzhe methods while being a mo.

Shang Yu Sheng also had a serious solemn expression. He felt unprecedented pressure from Bie Han.

But there seemed to be a fire burning in his heart. His voice was as slow as usual but filled with spirit, “We defeat him we will become top battle generals!”

Hai Jin Yun laughed. His faint golden face also flashed with fighting spirit. “Yes, we defeat him and we will become top battle generals! Hmph, Bie Han is too arrogant! In a frontal battle, power is everything! Kill him!”

He was filled with confidence in his battalion, and also in Shang Yu Sheng beside him.

They would definitely win this battle!

———

Bie Han looked indifferently at the two battalions in front of him. The two battalions were well-organized and it could be seen they were well trained. The mo soldiers also gazed over at his side with spirit and no fear. Some even licked their lips with anticipation on their faces. Bie Han was experienced in war. This kind of soldier were battle-hardened elites.

The expense to recruit and train this kind of elite was astounding. Also, there was no fear or caution on the faces of these soldiers. This proved that they were filled with confidence towards their leader.

Bie Han’s heart was not stirred at all.

Everyone thought Bie Han was mad and extreme, but no one knew was that under his madness was an icy cold resolve.

That fire at Xuan Kong Temple had swept away all of Bie Han’s savagery and hatred. He had buried that sect thousands of years old with his own hands, stolen its treasure. His last mental barrier had been overcome.

Without his demons, Bie Han was still mad, extreme, proud and hard to approach. He still attacked like a raging fire, still was stronger offensively than defensively yet what no one knew was that he was silently changing.

His changes were like Sin battalion, forever silent.

When one reached his level, they could only rely on themselves to advance. Without hatred, his excitement towards battle came from his own affection for it as well as some emotions he could not verbalize. He liked his present life, he liked Mo Cloud Sea, he did not want this to be disrupted by others.

At first no one knew of his improvement. Only Zuo Mo and Gongsun Cha detected something.

Without hatred, Bie Han whose mind had been freed threw himself into thinking and studying. He was more terrifying than a hateful Bie Han. He was a recluse, an outsider, he did not like to converse with others, he was stoic and spoke few words, he was like his Sin Battalion, unable to merge with the world, but he was a genius!

He was a genius that grew up under the suppression of Xuan Kong Temple. While he was twisted, he was still a genius, a genius that was not any less that Jiang Zhe who had shone so brightly!

The first to notice his change was Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo stared to help improve and change Bie Han’s Sin Battalion to strengthen them. The first strengthening at Great Peace City had improved Sin Battalion’s fighting abilities. After that, Sin Battalion, this nightmarish name, finally became a nightmare battalion!

The modifications this time were greater than last time. The present Zuo Mo was much stronger in all aspects compared to that time.

Zuo Mo might not know as much as Gongsun Cha and Bie Han about tactics, but his sense in strategy was admirable. It was under his efforts that Sin Battalion became the first true shen power battalion of Mo Cloud Sea.

In Zuo Mo’s view, the shen power era would become the era of shen power battalions.

Sin Battalion’s mo puppets that were like seal soldiers gave Zuo Mo enormous room to work. He was the creator of the first pseudo-shen device. Zuo Mo’s skill in this area might not be the best in the world, but he was among the best.

The completely new Sin Battalion excited Bie Han.

The second to notice Bie Han’s change was Lil’ Miss. As a top battle general himself, Lil’ Miss perceptively detected Bie Han’s transformation. In order to help Bie Han go a step further, he quietly invited Bie Han to temporarily take his duties as the principal of the battle general house.

As expected by Gongsun Cha, Bie Han as the principal was crude in his methods. He practiced battle through battle, using real combat rather than lecturing. He beat the young battle generals of the battle general school until they spat blood.

Yet in this kind of combat simulation, Bie Han’s new fighting method gradually formed, and details were perfected.

Bie Han was slightly strange in personality, but he was not one that did not know good and bad. He remembered Gongsun Cha’s care.

Until [Arsonist]!

He had never thought that he would possess a shen device raiment so quickly. Even Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng , Zong Ru, and Ceng Lian’er didn’t have their own. The first and second shen device raiments of Mo Cloud Sea were both battle general types.

And one of them was his [Arsonist].

When he learned that [Arsonist] was his, Bie Han who was not skilled in using his speech to express his emotions became even quieter. No one could say anything about Gongsun Cha recieving [City Destroyer]. He was Zuo Mo’s shidi, Zuo Mo’s first and most loyal follower. Yet him and outsider, he had been conned by Zuo Mo over to Mo Cloud Sea when he didn’t have anywhere else to go. In terms of closeness, he definitely ranked very low.

He had been restrained in Xuan Kong Temple, suppressed, disowned by his father and brother, and then exiled. Bie Han had tasted all the warmth and coldness life had to offer.

The [Arsonist] was the first time he felt that if he was to die for Daren, to die for Mo Cloud Sea, it would be worth it!

So when Zuo Mo gave him the important duty of taking down Hundred Energy Jie, he set down this seemingly mad target.

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects could not be attacked, it was not the time to attack the yao. The most likely route of expansion was the Mo Marshal Alliance. It was not hard to conquer Hundred Energy Jie, but after doing so, the Mo Marshal Alliance would be extremely wary of Mo Cloud Sea, and would be prepared to resist when further expansion occurred later.

Bie Han’s true goal was, at the same time as conquering Hundred Energy Jie, he would try to decrease Mo Marshal Alliance’s strength as much as possible.

The mad plan had formed like that.

Right now, it was the most crucial battle!

If he won this battle, killed Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng, the Mo Marshal Alliance’s strength would be greatly hampered. The weakened Mo Marshal Alliance would cause the factions around it to stir. This was even more beneficial for Mo Cloud Sea.

No matter what, he had to win this battle!

He touched the shen device raiment he wore, [Arsonist]. A cold feeling came from his fingertip. Bie Han’s eyes were icy and murderousness.

Sin Battalion advanced.

The Bright Mountain Jie battle that was being watched by the world entered its climax.

———

“That person is investigating our origins.” Chai Shan Qing laughed softly. The other, the Cang Family’s Uncle Yan, had clearly left the world of darkness for a long time, and many of his moves were now rusty and unpractised. Usually, this would not attract attention, but for people like Chai Shan Qing, experts that lived all this time in the world of the darkness, this bit of shortcoming immediately attracted their attention.

“Oh, it seems that Cang Ling Xue still hasn’t given up.” Youqin Lie had a cruel smile. While he said that these were missions for Nan Yue and the others, he still followed and aided them.

He felt exasperated. He wondered why the higher-ups had sent a bunch of greenhorns on such a mission of high difficulty. While Nan Yue and the others were strong, they were clearly not experienced enough and beginners in all areas.

After thinking about the importance of a [Bird] level mission, Youqin Lie followed them for good measure.

Youqin Lie knew that the value of all of [Black Fire] could not compare to this mission. For the higher-ups, supporting a underground faction like [Black Fire] was nothing. The reason that he had been chosen most likely was related to his family.

The Youqin Family … …

The first time they met, that person had mentioned this family name that had almost faded in his memory and would occasionally cause a ripple in his heart.

That person had given him great care in these past years. But after living for these years in the underground, he knew that the so-called friendships of the ancestors was never more useful than at present.

Nan Yue and the others sighed in relief at the presence of Youqin Lie. They knew themselves. They could manage to do things like kill people and set fires, but in terms of scheming, they were incompetent.

Youqin Lie immediately became the core of this mission. As he took command, all of [Black Fire] started to turn around him. The core members of [Black Fire] all knew that the support behind Boss was very strong, and the faithfulness of the entire group increased greatly. Most of the people that lived in the underground world always had reasons that they had to do so.

There were rarely people that choose to live the darkness, most were forced into this life due to various circumstances. Darkness mean falling and light meant a future.

They had families, they hoped to have a bright future. This was a trait of all people. They bet on this opportunity.

“Why don’t we give them a warning?” Tao Wei smiled, sharpness flashing through her eyes.

A cruel smile rose on Youqin Lie’s lips that did not match his age. “Go, let her understand that she is just a lamb. Lambs do not qualify to negotiate with wolves.”

Chapter 781 – Opportunity

“Xiao Ru Jian, He Zi, and An Hai are dead, killed by others.” Tan Xu’s voice was indifferent as though he was speaking about a matter not related to him at all.

“What happened? They seemed to have been planning something, did something happen?” Nie Chen frowned.

“They had been scheming about an ancient octopus on the Black Sea Flight Route.” The female xiu who spoke had a beautiful appearance, but her expression was frosty. She was the famous ice queen of Kun Lun, Zhen Meng Ling. Many of Kun Lun’s male disciples were in love with her. She wasn’t just an outstanding beauty, she was exceptionally talented, and hardworking on her cultivation. Her progress was so rapid it caused countless males to feel ashamed, and no one dared to confess to her.

Tan Xu’s brow didn’t even flicker. He said coolly, “They died on the hands of others, hmph, they did not have enough skill. Die if they want to, but do not shame Kun Lun!”

Nie Cheng frowned slightly. He was displeased with Tan Xu’s attitude, but he also knew Tan Xu’s personality.

Tan Xu was reclusive and strange, not welcomed among the disciples. Nie Cheng was the opposite. His appearance could not be said to be handsome, yet he had a lively presence. While he was strong, he was friendly towards the other disciples and deeply popular with them. Also, he was on good terms with Lin Qian. As Lin Qian was in charge of Kun Lun at present, his status had risen as well.

He said, “Ru Jian Shidi is not bad in strength, and has a cautious personality. If he acts, he most likely has properly prepared. He Zi and An Hai are average in strength, but they are definitely experts in the outside world. He Shimei also has the Circular Fiend Sword Formation from Xu Shishu. An Hai has Wu Shishu’s Hundred Yin Soul Destroying Sword Pill. Unless the enemy is too strong, how can they die at the hands of others?”

He saw that Zhen Ling Ming and Tan Xu were not interested in this matter and did not bring it up again. Their mission this time was difficult, and everyone was under great pressure.

They had to obtain the shen device nucleus of the ancient ruins. Kun Lun had many eyes and ears everywhere. When the ruins were just discovered, Kun Lun received the news. After that, Kun Lun started to use its power to divine, and search for clues.

When other people were still uncertain about what was inside the ruins, Kun Lun had already divined that there was a shen device nucleus there. All kinds of high level forces continued to infiltrate the Nine Great Dhyana Sect territories. Their intelligence network was also activated, and they schemed to obtain a token.

Nie Chen and the other two were some of the most accomplished disciples of the newest generation of Kun Lun. They had not been talented before, but after cultivating shen power, they had risen up and became stronger by the day.

In the last few years, as they cultivated the new shen power, under the full support of the older generation, Kun Lun had a wave of disciples that were outstandingly talented and had strong shen power. This batch of disciples were all talented. In order to create a wave of experts, Kun Lun had invested greatly in them. They were also hardworking and determined, not failing to live up to Kun Lun’s hopes and grew up quickly.

This group of disciples had a name inside of Kun Lun, they were called the Children of Kun Lun.

Each Child of Kun Lun had unique power within Kun Lun. They had the best support, the best treatment, they were directly under Kun Lun’s command.

Every Child of Kun Lun had unfathomable power.

Outstanding power and great resources combined with Kun Lun’s determined and persistent attitude had created this new wave of powerful disciples. Child of Kun Lun was synonymous with strength. They were the top fighting force in all of Kun Lun. They were unquestionably loyal to Kun Lun. They had self-control and worked hard, they were emotionless and cold. They appeared at the most dangerous missions. They were the idols that all Kun Lun disciples revered.

Ever since the Children of Kun Lun were founded, this mission was the first time three Children of Kun Lun were sent out together. From this, Kun Lun’s desire for the shen device nucleus could be seen.

“I’m going to cultivate.” Tan Xu threw down before leaving.

Zhen Ling Meng also left without a word. Nie Chen was left alone to grimace helplessly to himself.

———

“Lotus Sutra Temple is up ahead.” The steward had an expression of joy. It really was a blessing from the heavens that they had safely survived the Black Sea Flight Route.

The Lotus Sutra Temple honored the lotus flower and all kinds of lotus flowers could be seen all along the route. They were exquisite and elegant. However, other than Zong Ru who would admire them, the other people didn’t even look at them. Everyone looked warily at the surroundings.

They had already detected several groups of dangerous presences, they were brushing shoulders with powerful enemies.

To make them feel danger like this meant they were strong.

At the beginning of any new era, there were always many geniuses. Mo Cloud Sea improved by the day, and the others were not willing to fall behind. Even Wei Sheng felt slightly wary of the power of the people just now.

It seemed that the temptation of the shen device nucleus surpassed his imagination.

Zuo Mo stood at the front of the ship as his heart trembled. His eyes were experienced. Just now, he even saw mo and yao. This surprised him.

However, when he thought about it, he understood. The shen device raiment was a great weapon of strategic value to any power. If there was even the slightest chance, no one would be willing to give it up.

Suddenly, a Dhyana xiu dressed in white robes with lotus flowers on the sleeve flew towards them.

The entire fleet went on guard.

The other seemed to not see their wary gazes and bowed. Then he said, “Guest from Mo Cloud Sea, my master invites you.”

Zuo Mo’s eyelid flickered. The other knew their origins!

He did not admit or refute it. He examined the other for a while before speaking, “You are from Lotus Sutra Temple?”

The other smiled. “This one is the White Lotus Reverend of Lotus Sutra Temple.”

The steward’s expression changed. Lao De Guang’s face turned ashen. He carefully made his way beside Zuo Mo and said in a low voice, “There are four reverends in Lotus Sutra Temple: Blue, Red, White, Black. The four lotus reverends have a high position in the sect just below the sect leader.”

The master of the White Lotus Reverend? Then that referred to the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple.

Zuo Mo immediately realized that his journey had been exposed. He did not try to hide it and said with a smile, “Please lead the way.”

Under the guidance of the White Lotus Reverend, they came to a non-descript place.

As expected, it was the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple!

The Nine Great Dhyana Sect had always been targets that Mo Cloud Sea paid attention to. Zuo Mo could recognize the sect leaders of all of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

When Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on a young person next to the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple, his gaze suddenly focused.

Yang Yuan Hao!

The best battle general of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, Yang Yuan Hao!

What was he doing here?

Zuo Mo’s expression was calm, but his mind was a storm. He suddenly realized the meeting this time was probably an opportunity.

———

Boom boom boom!

Ear-splitting explosions occurred constantly. The lights flashed across the sky like rain and illuminated Bie Han’s cold and emotionless features.

The battalions from both sides were tangled into a ball, truly mixed together.

Bie Han abandoning technique to charge had been unexpected to Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng. They hadn’t thought that Bie Han would dare to make a full frontal assault when he did not have the advantage of numbers.

But the two were not ordinary people and quickly responded.

A charge against a charge!

Hai Jin Yun’s battalion was like a roaring lion that welcomed Sin Battalion that came at them, and collided head on. Shang Yu Sheng’s battalion maintained their distance from Hai Jin Yun. He was like a dagger hidden in the shadows waiting for a chance to land a fatal blow!

The two flows smashed together, creating dazzling sparks!

“Kill!” Hai Jin Yun charged at the very front, his faint golden face twisted and ferocious. He gave off golden light like a sun that could not be directly looked at. He was the most eye-catching existence on the battlefield!

He felt no fear. He held the large black blade in front of him horizontally. The mo steed under him roared and he was like a god of war.

Elite guards kept close to him in order to prevent Hai Jin Yun from being trapped. Hai Jin Yun remained fixed. The mo steed under him suddenly jumped forward, the large black blade in his hand suddenly lighting up with a blinding golden light as he cut down!

A golden blade energy dozens of zhang wide came with a destructive and unstoppable presence forward!

The golden energy flashed and reflected on the faces of the Sin Battalion soldiers, dimming and brightening. They still had cold expressions that did not change at all at this sight of this astounding blade energy.

The grey-white eyes were lifeless, their cold faces expressionless. They seemed to come from another world.

Just as the blade energy was about to hit their bodies, the shen equipment of the Sin Battalion soldiers suddenly lit up with marks of light. These marks of light that were like seal scripts caused a thread of pain to appear on the expressionless faces of the Sin Battalion members.

They seemed to be enduring a pain. Yet in reverse to the pain on their faces, their grey-white and lifeless eyes suddenly became as clear and bright as though they were eyes of a baby.

They seemed to open their eyes for the first time to see the world.

Facing the astounding blade energy, fifty Sin battalion soldiers moved at once. Countless energies flew out from their hands. In this moment, the rays of light formed a net in the air.

Zzt zzt zzt!

Every energy that hit the blade energy would give off a soul-shaking explosion. The explosions continued at a rapid rate that caused people’s scalps to go numb. The Sin Battalion soldiers were unaffected. Their movements were lightning fast and their attacks were constant.

The lights were like a rainstorm that hit the blade energy.

With every hit from the light energies, the blade energy would shake.

In an instant, thousands of light energies hit the blade energy like thousands of spiderwebs entangling the blade energy. After being hit thousands of times, the astounding blade energy dozens of zhang long collapsed!

As expected of Sin Battalion!

Just a few dozen members of Sin Battalion were able to block Hai Jin Yun’s full-on attack. Elite! Before the era of shen power had arrived, Hai Jin Yun had just been a normal mo general. However, after cultivating shen power, he had became a powerful battle general that surpassed mo marshals!

The blade energy being destroyed simulated Hai Jin Yun’s fighting spirit. With an angry shout, the golden light on his body intensified.

His presence suddenly exploded and increased. Hai Jin Yun was like a golden ball of fire that burned brightly, giving off so much light people were unable to look directly at him!

Hearing the angry shout of their commander, the surrounding mo soldiers also shouted in unision. Which of them were not proud? When had they ever had such a setback? The presence of the battalion rose, and the morale rose rather than be impacted!

Boom!

Thousands of mo soldier shouted at the same time, golden and angry flames erupting from their bodies. They were like thousands of fires that burned fiercely.

The entire mo battalion was like one being.  They could communicate with each other, and their presence seemed to be one without any weakness.

The golden light seemed to be alive. It gathered towards Hai Jin Yun at an astounding rate.

The golden light on Hai Jin Yun increased by more than ten times!

He was like a blinding sun that people could not look at!

An angry shout came from the ball of light and rang out over the entire battlefield.

Hundreds of long golden blade energies exploded from within the sun. Each blade energy was several li long and came at Sin Battalion like a storm!

Chapter 782 – A Battle of Charges

The fighting method of the mo was to gather all the power of the battalion onto the battle general and then have it activated by the battle generals. As a result, mo fighting methods had strict requirements for battle generals. Other than combat sense and a grasp of the battlefield, one had to be strong as an individual. Otherwise, they would not be able to tolerate the concentrated power from the entire battalion.

Hai Jin Yun had been an unknown before but after cultivating shen power, his strength had skyrocketed and he quickly became one of the three major battle generals for the Mo Marshal Alliance.

His combat method followed the style of mo battle generals. His body which had been refined with shen power allowed him to tolerate more power. Also, his own shen power allowed him to easily manipulate the great power he gathered from the battalion.

Boom!

The power of the entire battalion gathered towards him as if attracted to a magnet, causing a release of blade energies.

Each blade energy was several li long, like enormous sickles that cleaved through the entire battlefield.

Howls and wails filled the battlefield.

A normal battle general would probably fall apart facing such an astounding attack, and be robbed of all of their spirit.

Yet Hai Jin Yun’s enemy was Bie Han, a top battle general that could enter the top ten of the xiuzhe world. It was not easy to shake him with such an attack.

The members of Sin Battalion silently changed position. Some people disappeared into space and then appeared in another place in the same moment.

In a blink, a battle formation formed.

Arrive!

A spiraling Dhyana chant was unusually clear among the waves of wails and howls, reaching directly into the mind.

Mo that were slightly weaker heard this and the golden lights on their body trembled. Their minds almost went out of control.

Sin Battalion originated from Xuan Kong Temple. Even now, it was possible to see many traces of Xuan Kong Temple’s influence.

Dark red light bloomed from beneath the feet of Sin Battalion. The red light flowed and flew up into the sky. Enormous dark red seals formed in the sky.

Boom boom boom!

The intimidating blade energies struck the red seals. Enormous explosions drowned every person on the battlefield.

When the light dissipated, the red seals were mostly dim. There was only one red seal that had been destroyed. What had also disappeared at the same time were ten Sin Battalion members. However, all the blade energies had disappeared from the sky.

Bie Han was expressionless. His face seemed to be carved from stone, and did not show any ripples from the intense fighting in front of him.

However, defense was never Bie Han’s style.

For Bie Han who was said to “attack like fire,” how could he only fight a defensive battle?

Sin Battalion once again shifted and finished a transition from the [Ghost King Seal Formation] to the [Skanda Demon Defeating Formation], an offensive formation!

The red energy coming off Sin Battalion grew even brighter. Their grey-white eyes were still unaffected and lifeless which gave people a strange feeling of pressure.

Countless threads of red light wrapped around the fighters of Sin Battalion. The Sin Battalion soldiers slowly floated into the sky.

Under their feet, red sutra characters appeared.

The sutra characters moved, and it felt as though the sounds of numerous people were chanting in synchrony. Thousands of sutra characters spun and a terrifying presence gathered above the formation.

In the span of three short breaths, an enormous figure formed from nothingness.

A vast mountainous figure floated above the combat formation. The Skanda was authoritative and a terrifying presence spread from him in waves.

The skanda’s eyes were a faint gold and emotionless. His gaze covered all of Hai Jin Yun’s battalion. He reached out his enormous hand and slapped down on Hai Jin Yun!

Boom!

Like waves crashing into the short, like a furious tide receding!

An astounding wave of air gusted in all directions.

“Good move!”

An angry shout spread through the sky. Hai Jin Yun’s excited voice was filled with spirit. Nothing would make him more excited than such a direct battle.

The skanda’s mountainous body gave off a heavy feeling of pressure. All of Hai Jin Yun Battalion was covered in the shadow of this figure. Hai Jin Yun did not feel any fear. He held the large black blade, and his eyes burned with fighting spirit. He suddenly jumped and shot towards the enormous hand coming down with a stroke of his blade!

Blinding golden light glimmered from his blade. Countless golden lights immediately gathered on his great blade. The entire blade seemed to flow with golden liquid and gave off light.

Shen technique—[Golden Split Chop]!

The shen power inside his body was furiously channeled into the large blade in his hand. The furious power that came from the battalion quickly was tamed by his shen power.

A blade light that seemed able to tear apart the sky lit up.

The skanda’s enormous hand immediately shattered into pieces. The skanda roared angrily, and its other hand came down.

Yet in front of this world-shocking blade of light, the skanda’s enormous hands seemed to be paper mache and easily crumbled.

The blade light hit the skanda’s body with its remaining power. The skanda suddenly froze and then disappeared into the sky.

Hai Jin Yun’s fighting spirit almost reached a peak. There was nothing that made him more excited than destroying Bie Han’s move!

Bie Han’s skill was just so!

The last bit of fear in his mind disappeared along with this strike.

Yet at this time, he detected something, and his expression changed slightly.

At some unknown time, a red seal formation that spun endlessly appeared under the feet of his battalion. In a blink, the mo soldiers that were covered by the red seal formation quickly turned into bloody puddles of liquid.

[Death Whirlpool]!

This was an unique and obscure combat formation. It had to start from death, it would activate quickly and with great power. This battle tactic was one of Sin Battalion’s common tactics. However, in Xuan Kong Temple’s book, the life of a Sin Battalion member or multiple members were used to initiate this formation. However, Bie Han took an original approach and first used a combat formation to summon a skanda buddha and then used the life of the skanda buddha to activate this formation!

The skanda buddha was very powerful. With it as the starting material, the [Death Whirlpool] was unprecedentedly powerful.

In an instantly, more than three hundred mo soldiers turned to bloody puddles of goop without time to even wail in pain.

Hai Jin Yun’s eyes turned red. He hadn’t thought that he would fall for Bie Han’s trap!

“Go die!”

He shouted, the great blade in his hand slicing towards Bie Han’s position!

[Golden Split Chop – Angry Wave]!

Boom!

A golden wave roared towards Bie Han.

The range of this move was so great it made people feel it was unable to be avoided. Bie Han’s expression changed slightly. He could clearly feel the terrifying strength of this move.

However, was Bie Han someone that feared battle?

His face became expressionless again and his figure suddenly disappeared from his spot.

Almost at the same time, it seemed that there were no people left in front of the golden wave.

[Hundred Ghost Thread Shadow Formation]!

Sin Battalion was special. There were countless jinzhi on their bodies. These jinzhi could increase their strength, bring them endless pain, and also restrain their souls.

These jinzhi were not a secret of Xuan Kong Temple, but obscure techniques that Xuan Kong Temple had gathered over thousands of years. The [Hundred Ghost Thread Shadow Formation] was one of those. It could allow Sin Battalion to quickly move through space much faster than normal methods!

A thread of a smile flashed on Hai Jin Yun’s lips. While Bie Han had all kinds of moves, in his eyes, this supported the fact that Bie Han was just a paper tiger.

A true battle general did not need to use these low grade moves!

He suddenly spun the blade in his hand. That golden wave suddenly exploded, turning into bolts of golden light that entered the Sin Battalion battle formation.

Before Sin Battalion that just came out of the void could react, they were drowned by the golden light.

Bie Han was expressionless and was not moved by the deaths.

The fighting was growing more intense, and in a full frontal assault like this, the difference between the two sides would decrease. Both sides were experienced battle generals and charging into the enemy formation was a tactic that every battle general was familiar with.

It was not possible to make a mistake with battle formations of this level.

Both sides were battle generals that were stronger offensively. As the battle quickly moved from intense to horrific, the fatalities piled up.

———

Shang Yu Sheng carefully observed the battlefield. No detail escaped his eyes.

Hai Jin Yun was the strongest offensive battle general of the Mo Marshal Alliance. Full-on charges like this was the best for him. He hadn’t expected that Bie Han was able to suppress Hai Jin Yun and still have the upper hand.

While the advantage was not so great it surpassed the limits of imagination, he did have the upper hand. Charges were a basic technique for every battle general, they could not make mistakes. This meant that Bie Han’s fundamental skills were higher than Hai Jin Yun.

However … …

This advantage was not so great that he could fight one-on-two. Yet why had Bie Han turned the situation into this? Bie Han had been the one to create the present situation.

Why had Bie Han done this?

Shang Yu Sheng could only think of one explanation: Bie Han believed that, even one-on-two, he could win.

Did Bie Han have some great move up his sleeve?

Shang Yu Sheng was puzzled. He did not start fighting immediately. The more intense the fighting, the more beneficial it was for them. A hard battle would greatly decrease Bie Han’s strength. Hai Jin Yun could afford to do it because he had Shang Yu Sheng but Bie Han could not afford it as he did not have reinforcements.

The battle continued, and the slaughter still continued.

Shang Yu Sheng could not help but feel a thread of respect. As expected of Bie Han who came from Xuan Kong Temple. His tactics were exquisite, and he used all kinds of battle and seal formations expertly. He did not have any delay when he changed formations, and many of the variations were almost wondrous.

However, while he admired the other, Shang Yu Sheng felt more assured.

While Bie Han’s upper hand on the battlefield against Hai Jin Yun grew larger, Shan Yu Sheng knew that victory was growing closer for himself.

Hai Jin Yun’s battalion only had half of its members left after these exchanges, but these high losses were worth it because they were in exchange for the death of one-third of Sin Battalion.

If a normal battalion lost one-third of its members, the battalion would not be far from collapsing. [1]

Yet the two battalions were unusually hardy.

Hai Jin Yun was almost mad from the fight, while Bie Han was cold-blooded in his coolness.

Shang Yu Sheng sighed inside. Such a powerful battle general was about to fall today.

A cold light flashed through his eyes. It was time to attack!

Chapter 783 – Youqin Lie’s Skills

The meeting with Yang Yuan Hao remained a secret to everyone else.

Only Zuo Mo and Yang Yuan Hao attended this meeting. Even the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Sect excused himself.

Zuo Mo gained greatly in this meeting. For Mo Cloud Sea, they needed the Nine Great Dhyana Sects to stop Kun Lun and Tian Huan. For the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, they also needed Mo Cloud Sea’s support. The two had common interests and demands so all that was left, dividing the benefits, was easy.

Zuo Mo was the boss of Mo Cloud Sea, Yang Yuan Hao was the first ranked battle general of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect, a person with true power in the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. Both were decision-makers for their factions. Adding on that the two both had strong strategic vision and knew where the other’s bottom line was at, the process went smoothly.

Through Yang Yuan Hao, Zuo Mo learned that the bigger sects in the Nine Great Dhyana Sects were closer than outsiders thought.

For example, the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple was Yang Yuan Hao’s paternal aunt. This kind of tangled relation caused Zuo Mo to gape. However, this also eased the majority of his worries. As long as the five larger sects did not turn on each other and creating chaos, then the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would not easily fall to Kun Lun and Tian Huan. Zuo Mo expressed his worries and fury about the sects that had been infiltrated the most heavily. Yang Yuan Hao subtly implied to him that Mo Cloud Sea could use some methods in secret.

Zuo Mo quickly realized that Yang Yuan Hao wanted to use him to eliminate these troubles. Yang Yuan Hao himself had boundaries to his influence and he could not do many things.

Zuo Mo acknowledged and confirmed. While it would be troublesome, this was also an opportunity for Zuo Mo.

However, what surprised Zuo Mo the most was that Yang Yuan Hao was willing to support Zuo Mo to compete for the shen device nucleus inside the ancient ruins! Zuo Mo had never thought that there would be a sect that did not desire a shen device raiment.

Little Mo Ge was a smart person and he immediately had a higher opinion of Yang Yuan Hao. This person wasn’t just an exceptional person.

Yang Yuan Hao knew the status of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. While a shen device raiment was of use to the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, it was not so important. If the Nine Great Dhyana Sects were threatened by top factions like Kun Lun and Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea would definitely not sit by.

Also, the location of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect meant it was fated to be a territory where there would be constant skirmishes. Rather than have the shen device raiment that would not be of great use to their problems, it was better to trade it for shen equipment which would increase the collective ability of their battalions.

As expected, Yang Yuan Hao raised this as his request. He wanted to use their support to trade for a shipment of Mo Cloud shen equipment.

Zuo Mo agreed without hesitation. Mo Cloud Sea was the exact opposite of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. The battalions had long ago been outfitted with shen equipment. For them, shen device raiments that were valuable strategic weapons that they desired the most. A shipment of shen equipment for the rich Mo Cloud Sea was not a problem at all.

The conversation was pleasurable. Yang Yuan Hao was a person with great personal charisma

Zuo Mo noticed that Yang Yuan Hao’s power within the Nine Great Dhyana Sects was stronger than he imagined.

Yang Yuan Hao warned him that there was an extremely high number of experts this time. Almost all of the strongest of the world had gathered, especially the yao and mo experts. After cultivating shen power, the mo and the yao also saw the rise of a group of exceptionally powerful shen power users. Compared to the fame of Kun Lun and Tian Huan’s members, no one really knew where these people came from.

Any shen device raiment was an irresistible temptation for any top shen power user or any faction with ambition.

Zuo Mo nodded seriously. He suddenly found that the exploration of the ruins this time would not be as easy as he had imagined.

With the local power Lotus Sutra Temple leading the way, the traces of Zuo Mo’s group were concealed. They had good intelligence, they did not attract any attention as they arrived at the border of the ruins.

While there was still a few days until the ruins opened, it was possible to see people scattered in this area exploring the geography or trying to search for clues.

“There aren’t many people.” Zuo Mo was slightly happy. Naturally, the fewer people here the better. Competition would not be as fierce if there were fewer participants.

The White Lotus Reverend imperceptibly glanced at him and said with a calm expression, “At the start, there were many people, but fights kept on breaking out. Some people tried to use the chaos to steal the artifacts. In one night, over three hundred people died and then the population here decreased.”

Zuo Mo’s smile froze on his face. The expressions of other people also became serious. More than three hundred people dying in one night. Just these few words were enough for people to imagine the chaos and cruelty of that night.

“Don’t you maintain order?” Lao De Guang couldn’t resist asking. It had to be said that all people had their own ways. Lao De Guang, this famed thief, had many unorthodox channels of information. He was likely more informed than Lotus Sutra Temple in some aspects.

“How can we control it?” An expression of helplessness appeared on White Lotus Reverend’s face. He said coolly, “Right now, the shen power experts in this area could destroy the sect if they decided to work together.”

Lao De Guang became silent.

Zuo Mo was not surprised by this. He only rejoiced that Mo Cloud Sea did not have a ruin of this kind. Otherwise, regardless of whether he could get the treasure, safety would be a problem.

Even in Mo Cloud Sea where there were many top experts, they were insignificant against all of the shen power experts in the world. If these madmen went on a rampage, no one could survive them.

“Hmph! Anyone who stops us from getting rich will die!” Little Mo Ge said viciously.

The White Lotus Reverend smiled and handed over a jade scroll. “Inside is the geography of this area. We have already explored this area. This was prepared for us originally, but we can only give it to you now.”

At this time, Wei Sheng suddenly turned his head.

———

“It is best for you not to fight back. I do not mind killing you.” A cold voice came from the darkness. It was ethereal and one was unable to pin their position from the voice.

Assassin!

Only those assassins that moved in the darkness would give him a feeling like this. He also knew from his days as a member of the underground what level of assassin he was facing.

Uncle Yan’s expression was normal, and he was motionless like a statue. His expression was still calm as though he did not feel the murderous intent at his back.

“Why are you doing this, Miss has not refused you.” Uncle Yan’s voice did not tremble at all. He seemed to be describing a simple truth.

“Our time is precious.” Another voice came from another direction in the darkness. This voice was light, and filled with warmth and friendliness as though they were talking with an old friend.

Yet Uncle Yan’s eyelid flicked. He was still composed. “We need time to consider. You also know that this is a significant decision.”

“Actually, I don’t mind kidnapping her.” The soft female voice in the darkness seemed to say in a teasing tone. “Or send her to the bed of Elder Yi’s grand-nephew.”

Uncle Yan’s heart suddenly dropped.

“We did not do so because she is an outstanding candidates.” The voice in the darkness was still cheerful. “However, you know that people in our profession never put our eggs in one basket. She is outstanding, but not irreplaceable.”

Uncle Yan was silent but he also knew that there was no chance now. “What do you want?”

“That’s right, don’t make it difficult for me. Everyone’s out to make a living, why make ourselves unhappy? We only need her talent, not her body. We will protect her clan, our offer is very sincere. Other than me, I believe that no one will offer such a deal.” The voice cheerfully added from the darkness, “A condition like this should not be refused.”

Uncle Yan was a person who lived life on the edge of his blade. He could hear the other’s decisiveness and strong presence. His side and their side were not on the same level.

He was silent for a moment before he said, “I will persuade Miss.”

“Great, I give you my thanks.” The voice in the darkness was still so warm and friendly yet the next sentence they said was as cruel and ruthless as a blade’s edge. “Boss said one thing that may make you unhappy, but for our beautiful partnership, I have decided to be honest.”

“What words?” Uncle Yan’s cold sweat dripped down his back. The murderous intent from the other direction became even stronger as though it was going to pierce into his bones. He even suspected that the other would suddenly attack in the next moment.

“Lambs do not qualify to negotiate with wolves.”

The phrase swirled like smoke.

The sharp murderousness at his back slowly retreated. However, Uncle Yan was motionless like a statue. A long time later, he shifted his body. His body was completely covered in sweat.

Yet his face was ashen right now. The other’s words right before they left hit him at his weak point like a hammer.

At this time, whines suddenly came from the darkness.

Uncle Yan’s expression changed slightly. He shot like lightning into the darkness.

In the darkness, he found Cang Ling Xue pale faced, tied up and gagged.

———

“I do not like this,” Nan Yue said calmly. At her side, the other people also had gazes full of unfriendliness and enmity. In their view, it was too cruel of Youqin Lie to use such terrible actions against a girl of only seventeen.

Youqin Lie glanced at her. “It’s fine if the result is the same.”

“Are you even a person! Do you even have any kindness! You are a demon, you are a bastard!” Nan Yue suddenly shouted furiously at Youqin Lie. She suddenly reached out and gripped Youqin Lie’s neck, her eyes sprouting fire.

She appeared as though she wanted to snap Youqin Lie’s neck.

Snap!

No one saw the movement. Youqin Lie seemed to turn into a shadow and then the two switched positions. He had grabbed Nan Yue’s neck.

The orange-haired yao and the others suddenly stood up.

“If anyone moves, she’s dead.” Youqin Lie’s cold voice echoed in the hall.

The orange-haired yao and the others stopped where they were. They could hear that the other was honest, he would really kill Nan Yue!

Youqin Lie expressionlessly looked over the group, intimidating them all.

Chapter 784 – Trump Card

Shang Yu Sheng’s battalion was like a sharp dagger that cut through the night sky. Shang Yu Sheng’s strategic ability was on full display. He cut in through Sin Battalion at a good angle and immediately cut a great wound in Bie Han’s Sin Battalion.

Sin Battalion which had been fighting for a long time was not able to hold up against Shang Yu Sheng Battalion who were well-rested.

Shang Yu Sheng’s battle style was unlike Hai Jin Yun’s ferociousness. His style was more detailed. He was a rare mo battle general that was a control-type.

He led the battalion with ease. His body brimmed with power yet he never attacked with great momentum but used small moves that did not seem to be strong. Yet these seemingly weak moves were unique in that they came rapidly and endlessly like the rain.

These sustained attacks were more troublesome than Hai Jin Yun’s attacks.

Shang Yu Sheng’s exceptional foresight and sense of strategy always allowed him to find the greatest weakness in the enemy formation. He seemed to be leading a group of ants that constantly chewed. If one was the least bit careless, they would find that, without realizing it, Shang Yu Sheng had destroyed a large portion of their forces.

Bie Han naturally was not a weak person. Now that Shang Yu Sheng joined the battle it decreased his advantage greatly but he immediately adjusted.

Sin Battalion’s movements became even harder to predict, and the rate that the battle formation changed was shocking. Shang Yu Sheng immediately felt pressure.

As expected of Bie Han!

Shang Yu Sheng was shocked inside. He was not a beginner at battle, but it was the first time he felt such a great pressure. What roused his admiration was that Bie Han was fighting one against two!

In this kind of situation, Bie Han was still able to give him such great pressure. This meant that Bie Han’s control of battle was great.

Shang Yu Sheng’s spirit rose. What an honor it was to fight such a powerful opponent!

His gaze became even more determined, his steps more graceful. He felt that he had never been in such a great state. The entire battlefield appeared in his mind in every detail. The attacks that left his hand increased in rate. The attacks that had been like a rainstorm before were now a flood that sprouted from his hand.

With the support of his entire battalion, Shang Yu Sheng didn’t feel any tiredness.

Hai Jin Yun would occasionally give a shuddering howl. He was in a frenzy, the remainders of his battalion was also fighting in a frenzy. They were fearless and seemed mad.

With the two battle generals working together, the pressure on Bie Han increased drastically.

Bie Han’s cold face seemed to be carved from granite. He seemed to not notice the sudden increase in pressure and the increasing rate of battle.

The remaining two-thirds of Sin battalion managed to hold off the furious attack of the two large battalions.

———

The battle became unprecedentedly horrific.

The two sides were fighting for control over the rhythm of the battle.

The rhythm of the battle could not be seen or touched but both sides knew that the side which controlled the rhythm of the battle would be closest to victory.

The attacks from the two sides constantly changed. In the sky, the multi-colored lights criss-crossed like rain.

The scouts spying on this battle were stunned. They unconsciously held their breath, spells such as mirage formations sending back this scene to every corner of the xiuzhe world.

This was the first significant conflict after several years of peace. It naturally attracted the eyes of the world. After the two sides started to fight, all the factions sent out strong scouts to infiltrate this area in order to see and understand this battle better.

The amount of manpower the two sides, Mo Cloud Sea and the Mo Marshal Alliance, had was limited. They could block out large battalions but could not stop these small scout teams. Due to this, as the state of the conflict grew clearer, the location of the final battle was gradually discovered. The scouts of almost every power in the world gathered around Bright Mountain Jie. These outstanding scouts hid in the darkness and used methods such as mirage formations and thousand li water mirrors to send recordings of the battle to their territories.

Innumerable eyes were watching this important battle.

When the battle reached this state, everyone unconsciously held their breath. The two side’s were at a rhythm that was astounding. The battle generals that were watching all had grave expressions and were silent as their eyes were locked onto the images.

“The situation is disadvantageous to Bie Han,” Xue Dong said in a deep voice. However, he was already stunned that Bie Han had managed to draw out the battle until now.

Mo Cloud Sea was Kun Lun’s greatest worry. The two were sworn enemies so Kun Lun paid more attention to this fight. However, up until now, what shocked Xue Dong the most was Shang Yu Sheng and Hai Jin Yun’s strength. They were stronger than he predicted.

He suddenly turned his head and ordered, “Send someone to investigate Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng, especially Shang Yu Sheng.”

In his eyes, Shang Yu Sheng was undoubtedly a bigger threat and had more potential. Shang Yu Sheng’s strategic vision was outstanding, and he was experienced in focused attacks. He had more room to grow.

Lin Qian’s gaze did not move away from the screen. He said softly, “Bie Han still has other moves.”

Before he finished, the situation on the battlefield changed again.

———

At this time, only half of Bie Han’s Sin Battalion was left. His fatality rate was fifty percent and the situation was greatly disadvantageous to Bie Han. Hai Jin Yun at this time did not care about fatalities, his intentions were clear, a life for a life!

Shang Yu Sheng’s constant barrage quickly showed their result. As Sin Battalion’s fatalities increased, Shang Yu Sheng and Hai Jin Yun’s advantage in manpower became even more evident.

Bie Han’s Sin Battalion was outnumbered by the two other battalions to start with. If he wanted to win, he had to preserve his forces and reduce the number of losses. Shang Yu Sheng and Hai Jin Yun both knew this. Hai Jin Yun was using a suicidal method to increase Bie Han’s Sin Battalion losses.

Up until now, their goal had been realized well.

A fatality rate of fifty percent was the highest fatality rate in the history of Sin Battalion. The remaining Sin Battalion soldiers were not completely uninjured. Most of their shen equipment was in pieces. This mean that they could be more easily wounded, and killed.

Yet Bie Han’s expression was still cold and immovable.

Just as many people thought that Bie Han’s defeat was certain, a dark light suddenly came from the bodies of the remaining Sin Battalion members. Countless dark red seal scripts were like a crowd of earthworms that swam around their body.

The grey-white eyes of Sin Battalion soldiers were still empty and grey, yet their presence exploded.

“It’s here!” Gongye Xiao Rong who had been silent all this time couldn’t help but say.

Li Xian Er turned around and looked with surprise at Xiao Rong Shixiong. It seemed that Shixiong cared very much about Mo Cloud Sea!

The bodies of the Sin Battalion soldiers inflated like balloons. Their muscles became thick and strong at a stunning rate, their bodies multiplying in size, their shen equipment broken apart. Scales grew out of their hands, some had horns growing out of their heads, some had sickled tails, some had spines growing from their backs… …

Everyone who saw this inhaled in shock.

Mo physique!

Each member of Sin Battalion had a mo physique!

Only now did people remember Sin Battalion’s origins. They had been mo hostages that Xuan Kong Temple had captured from all places and made from the elite among them.

The blow of this scene was even greater to mo battle generals. This was the first time they saw everyone in a battalion have mo physiques.

Seeing the flowing light on the bodies of Sin Battalion, they were stunned.

While they had entered the era of shen power and a mo physique was not as valuable as in the past, it was still a shock when every person in a battalion had a mo physique.

Those smarter found that the mo physiques of Sin Battalion soldiers clearly had traces of shen power. The inscription skill of Mo Cloud Sea was famed in the world. Adding on Mo Cloud Sea’s study of shen power, this was actually normal.

Trap!

This was a trap!

The personages that watched this fight felt cold creep up their backs. Bie Han was so devious! So cold blooded!

———

To lure Shang Yu Sheng into the battle, he had sacrificed half of Sin Battalion. This was a person who could do anything for victory, this was a terrifying battle general that was cold and ruthless.

The strong pressure came like a mountain to cover the entire battlefield.

The balance immediately had tilted to Bie Han’s side.

Sin Battalion’s mo physiques were not just mo physique. Their attacks became even stronger. The battle formation with shen power added was unstoppable. The Sin Battalion soldiers started to fight head on. In their attacks became ferocious. In a blink, almost all of Hai Jin Yun’s battalion was gone.

Is this your trump card?

Shang Yu Sheng’s eyes flashed and a cold smile floated at the corner of his lips. He had expected long ago that Bie Han definitely had other cards up his sleeve. Otherwise, planning to fight one against two was a joke.

Looking at Sin Battalion that had immediately multiplied in their ferocity, Shang Yu Sheng’s gaze was admiring. Mo Cloud Sea’s inscription skill lived up to the rumors!

However, this stopped here!

Shang Yu Sheng’s gaze locked onto Bie Han that flickered in and out of view among the Sin Battalion fighters. He was like an experienced hunter that stared at his prey that was about to fall into the trap.

He had always felt great confidence in this battle because he found long ago that Bie Han’s Sin Battalion that caused people to lose their guts at the name had a nondescript weakness.

This nondescript weakness would not show up usually, but in battles of this level, it was enough to be fatal.

–Sin Battalion did not have a top level fighter!

Usually, the powerful Sin Battalion was enough to protect Bie Han. Yet now, Sin Battalion only had half of its members left. The strong defensive net was filled with holes even though the Sin Battalion soldiers had become more powerful.

Shang Yu Sheng had been constantly searching for a time to give a fatal blow. When Bie Han’s last trump card was revealed, he didn’t hesitate any longer.

With a long roar, the space around him suddenly boiled, his hair dancing like a swarm of snakes!

Power gathered towards him like a tide. The boiling space around him was like a bottomless monster that greedily sucked in the flood of power the battalion channeled towards him.

Everyone was stunned by this sudden change. Even Hai Jin Yun who had been fighting hard was stunned.

Almost everyone thought that Shang Yu Sheng was a rare control-type mo battle general. Even Hai Jin Yun thought this. Who would have thought that Shang Yu Sheng had hid his strength. He was also a classical mo battle general with outstanding individual strength!

Shang Yu Sheng’s face flashed with eerie light, his eyes flashing. He found a hidden pathway criss-crossing through Sin Battalion’s ranks.

His presence reached a peak. With a roar of laughter, he headed straight towards Bie Han like a blade!

Sin Battalion members along the way leapt at Shang Yu Sheng. Yet before they could go near, they were thrown back out into the air!

Everyone knew. Bie Han was finished!

At this time, a red colored raiment appeared on Bie Han’s body. He turned his face as though he felt it. In the grey-white eyes of every Sin Battalion member, a thread of furious dark red flame jumped at the same time!

Chapter 785 – Bie Han

Shang Yu Sheng felt a stirring suddenly rise. He raised his head in shock and saw a scene that he would never forget.

Ball of flame flew out of the bodies of Sin Battalion to rise into the sky like blooming flowers. In this moment, thousands of balls of flame filled his vision.

They seemed to slowly fly towards Bie Han dressed in red armor.

The red armor on Bie Han suddenly lit up with profound and complex scripts. In a blink, the flames in the sky entered Bie Han’s red armor. An angry red mark appeared on Bie Han’s forehead. The red armor moved as though it was alive, feathers shaped like tongues of flame growing at a stunning rate on the red armor.

Bie Han’s face, neck and other exposed body parts were filled with many icy blue scripts. Those were the jinzhi that had been placed back at Xuan Kong Temple.

The icy blue and the furious red formed a breathtaking scene filled with stunning beauty.

Some with keener eyes noticed the changes in Bie Han under the red armor. While Bie Han’s figure had not changed greatly, there were some tiny changes.

Shang Yu Sheng also found these changes. Suddenly, he thought of Sin Battalion’s change just now and his expression changed drastically.

———

Xue Dong did not disguise the shock he felt. He stared hard at the flaming red armor that Bie Han wore, uncontrollable desire showing in his eyes. He murmured to himself, “Shen device raiment! A battle general shen device raiment!”

Lin Qian was similarly shocked. “I hadn’t thought that Mo Cloud Sea would give their first shen device raiment to Bie Han! Great courage! Great vision!”

He had to admit Zuo Mo’s strength. Mo Cloud Sea’s first shen device was given to Bie Han. A battle general shen device raiment, this was the first one! Zuo Mo’s choices were always unlike other people. When all the other powers chose to forge shen device raiments for the strongest member of their faction, he gave the shen device to outfit a battle general.

A seemingly daring choice was of great and crucial effect at this moment.

People could not understand Zuo Mo.

Lin Qian had a strong feeling of danger. The Mo Cloud Sea led by Zuo Mo was definitely the biggest enemy to Kun Lun other than Tian Huan!

Wait!

Lin Qian suddenly thought of something and his expression changed slightly. “Bie Han is a mo!”

Xua Dong stilled. When he reacted, his expression changed minutely as well.

Bie Han was mo!

No one would have thought that this information that everyone knew was now the deciding factor in this battle. Bie Han was a mo. He grew up in Xuan Kong Temple, and due to his outstanding talent, he was put in charge of Sin Battalion.

Bie Han was a rare mo who used xiuzhe methods as a battle general.

At this time, everyone understood this detail they had missed was so crucial!

Sin Battalion could be modified to have mo physiques, what about Bie Han? From a famed family, Bie Han had an outstanding bloodline. Mo Cloud Sea’s inscription art had the power to express the power in his bloodline.

Bie Han whose bloodline power had been uncovered would skyrocket in individual power. His individual strength could probably match those of normal gold mo battle generals.

Yet this was not the most terrifying thing.

More terrifying was that this meant Bie Han could learn mo fighting tactics!

Bie Han would become a battle general that could use mo and xiuzhe methods!

For a battle general of Bie Han’s level, any extra variation in tactics meant that he was that much more adaptable. His strength and the danger he posed would increase drastically.

And a whole other method of fighting?

No one knew!

Because this had never happened before!

There had never been a battle general of Bie Han’s level that had skill in two styles. Sin Battalion, this wondrous battalion, gave Bie Han great help because Sin Battalion was made out of mo.

Bie Han and Sin Battalion were perfectly matched. This meant that Bie Han could command Sin Battalion to realize two completely different ways of fighting. It would be a headache even if it was a normal battle general that could do this.

And if it was a top battle general like Bie Han, how great would the advantage be?

Many people didn’t even dare to think.

Lin Qian knew that with Zuo Mo’s personality, he definitely would not ignore Bie Han’s advantage. Bie Han’s shen device raiment would have been forged with this in mind … …

This shen device raiment … …

———

The suddenly change caught Shang Yu Sheng off guard. However, after the initial panic, he quickly calmed down. His expression became calm again even though the presence that Bie Han gave off now immediately suppressed his!

Yet Shang Yu Sheng’s mind was unusually calm.

He was patient. He had cultivated his individual strength yet never showed it for many years. He practiced control-type tactics but he still did all he could to make up for his shortcoming.

He never stopped perfecting himself.

The hard practice and sweat of many days and months caused his mind to be as strong as stone.

He knew that at this point, it was proven that Bie Han was more outstanding him. Both sides had played their cards and Bie Han’s hand was better. He had been mistaken.

Yet he could not retreat now.

Other than fighting with his back to the wall, he did not have any other choice. Their battalions were entangled together and if he retreated at this time, there would only be one result—they would all be killed.

Shang Yu Sheng’s gaze burned with fighting spirit. The pride and bravery all mo battle generals had made him fearless.

Since everyone’s trump card was played, then what was left was to fight!

The possibility that he could win this fight was very small, but even if not for victory, he had enough reason to fight—for his pride! For his battalion!

He was Shang Yu Sheng!

Shang Yu Sheng’s expression was calm as he fearless burned the power inside. No one knew that his tongue had been bitten to pieces in his mouth. Vast shen power accompanied by the thick tang of blood flowed like lava through his body.

Standing with his hands by his side, Shang Yu Sheng’s presence skyrocketed!

The rising presence and his fearless intent to fight to the death filled every corner of the battlefield. Even the people watching from the mirages changed expression.

The mo under Shang Yu Sheng’s command seemed to be struck by lightning. These men that seemed to be made from steel looked dazedly at the sky, at that proud and decisive Shang Yu Sheng shining.

That was their commander that gave them glory and hope!

Tears rolled down the upraised faces.

“Daren!”

Numerous angry shouts and grieving wails sounded from the battlefield. They knew that Daren intended to fight to the death.

Suddenly, a mo marshal wiped away his tears and shouted. “Fight with Daren!”

Suddenly, blood sprouted out of his body in a dozen places, the light surrounding him multiplying in intensity. Frantic power raged inside his body. He grunted, but did not waver. In order to create the image that he was a control-type, Shang Yu Sheng had a mo marshal in his battalion that had lead the attacks in his place.

“Fight with Daren!”

“Fight with Daren!”

Blood spurted, shouts and blinding balls of light rising. Each ball of light was like a furious flame that burning with anything left behind, life burned to create shen power!

Burning their lives for that commander in the sky that gave them glory and hope!

Light rose from the burning mo soldiers and flew towards Shang Yu Sheng in the sky.

The power inside Shang Yu Sheng increased at a stunning rate.

He looked down at the quickly dimming balls of light under him. The figure of the mo soldiers that fell to their deaths after offering him all of their power. Tears blurred his vision.

Suddenly, an angry shout rang over the battlefield.

It was Hai Jin Yun!

Countless furious flows of air spun rapidly around his body. He was like a blinding meteor that howled as he shot towards Bie Han like a moth to a flame!

Shang Yu Sheng’s heart felt a stab of pain.

———

Bie Han opened his eyes again. Facing Hai Jin Yun charging at him, he was expressionless. Yet the armor he wore, [Arsonist], was like a burning flame!

The two opposite presences of coolness and fire wondrously merged into one.

He was like a piece of ice wrapped in furious flames.

He coolly pointed and stabbed towards Hai Jin Yun flying towards him.

Pop!

A deep beat seemed to explode in people’s minds. The ground also shook.

The space in front of Bie Han seemed to be an invisible wall that rippled.

Hai Jin Yun seemed to be hit by an invisible hammer head on.

Before he could make any adjustments, Hai Jin Yu exploded like a ball of fire. The light around him was shattered, turning into fragments that disappeared into the air.

Hai Jin Yun fell from the sky without any signs of life.

Everyone in watching the mirages was intimidated. Their expressions changed.

The hard battle before had proved that Hai Jin Yun had the strength of a top battle general. Yet the death of a top battle general was so simple. How could people not be intimidated?

Kun Lun and Tian Huan felt as though there was a dagger at their backs.

Bie Han was so powerful!

———

Bie Han did not have any joy on his expression. Hai Jin Yun was at the end of his rope, his battalion completely gone, his energy spent. For mo battle generals, the battalion was the source of their strength. If the battalion was strong, the battle general would be stronger.

There wasn’t even twenty percent of Hai Jin Yun’ Battalion left. All of them were tired and void of power. The power that they could gather on Hai Jin Yun was almost insignificant.

In order to realize this goal, Sin Battalion had made a great sacrifice.

Using up Hai Jin Yun’s power, producing the illusion of a hard fought battle, luring Shang Yu Sheng into the fight, all of that had come at the expense of Sin Battalion’s sacrifices.

Bie Han had not expected that Shang Yu Sheng was also skilled in traditional mo fighting methods. He had originally planned to use his individual strength to make a surprise move and ambush him. If he could kill Shang Yu Sheng, he would win.

He hadn’t expected Shang Yu Sheng to be so strong. More importantly, Shang Yu Sheng’s battalion was almost completely untouched.

Yet Shang Yu Sheng was able to immediately understand the situation after detecting Bie Han’s threat, advancing instead of retreating for a fight to the death!

Such a powerful opponent!

Bie Han’s cold eyes filled with fighting spirit.

Chapter 786 – Arsonist

The two burning balls of light, the two battle generals faced off in the sky.

Bie Han’s aura gave off furious red flames, Shang Yu Sheng’s aura gave off deep blue waves.

This battle had progressed unexpectedly to all, Bie Han and Shang Yu Sheng being the greatest surprises. Bie Han was ranked tenth of the top battle generals in the xiuzhe world. No one would underestimate his strength. Yet Sin Battalion’s changes, and Bie Han’s mo fighting method, as well as the angry flaming [Arsonist] he wore was a great shock to people. Just as people thought that Bie Han’s last trump card was played, Bie Han would then play another, each a better card.

Shang Yu Sheng’s strength had been underestimated until now. His display up to this point was outstanding. He definitely had the strength of a top battle general. The reason that he was in such a sorry state was just because he fought Bie Han.

He was in a sorry state, but it did not mean that he did not have a chance.

Bie Han had the advantage but this did not mean that he had victory in his grasp.

The final battle!

Shang Yu Sheng was the first to act. His figure flashed and he appeared near Bie Han. Blinding blue energies vented out and seemed as though they were about to drown Bie Han.

Bie Han seemed to have expected this and reached out with a swat of his hand.

The red energy of his hand formed an enormous flaming hand that slammed against the blue flood.

Boom!

Countless fragments of energy swirled and fell from the sky, raining down to the ground.

The two were fast like bolts of lightning, red and blue. They continued to collide at a speed hard to follow with the naked eye. They would immediately separate after each collision.

Boom boom boom!

The ear-deafening explosions were like thunder.

Sparks would fly each time the two met. Sprays of dazzling red and blue energies shot into the sky.

———

“Such great power!” Li Xian Er couldn’t resist sighing in shock. The two people in the mirage were inhuman. They were like two meteors crashing into each other repeatedly.

The mo battle generals that gathered the power of the entire battalion were so strong they outshone all experts.

She had seen mo battle generals before, and mo fighting was like this. However, the power coming from these two people still shocked her.

As one of the strongest of Tian Huan, she was individually strong but she still felt intimidated by the strength the two displayed.

So battle generals could be this strong!

Gongye Xiao Rong’s expression was grave. “In terms of savagery, the fighting of the mo is first. However, the strength of these two is rare even among the mo.”

In the mirage, the attacking rhythm of the two accelerated. It was so fast one could only see a red and blue bolt of lightning flashing across the sky.

Li Xian Er made a soft sound of surprise. “They are improving.”

“Improving?” Gongye Xiao Rong stilled.

“Yes, both of them are improving.” Li Xian Er was powerful and she could see the changes in this level of battle more clearly.

Gongye Xiao Rong quickly understood. “They are adjusting to this kind of fighting. Both Bie Han and Shang Yu Sheng do not usually fight like this. After this battle, Bie Han will be more terrifying. The Mo Marshal Alliance has suffered great losses this time with the death of two top battle generals at once. Even we would not be able to afford such a price.”

Tian Huan and the Mo Marshal Alliance were on good terms. While there was no open relations , there was close contact in secret. Gongzi Xi still felt great affection for Li Xian Er but the present Li Xian Er was not the Li Xian Er from when they had first met.

Li Xian Er was now one of the core members of Tian Huan. She didn’t need to help Tian Huan through a method like a marriage alliance.

Li Xian Er thought and then said, “Mo Cloud Sea’s losses this time are also heavy. After this fight, Sin Battalion loses at least half their numbers.”

“It is worth it to use half of Sin Battalion in exchange for two top battle generals,” Gongye Xiao Rong said without hesitation.

Li Xian Er suddenly thought of a problem. “Sin Battalion is a strange battalion. If there are losses, how is it supposed to be replenished?”

Gongye Xiao Rong stilled and then had an expression of joy. “Yes! Sin Battalion cannot be replenished, it is pretty much crippled now. Even if Bie Han has the shen device raiment, he cannot make another Sin Battalion! Without Sin Battalion, Bie Han’s strength is greatly reduced. Bie Han’s fighting method means that only a strange battalion like Sin Battalion is suitable for him.”

“In other words, does this meant that Mo Cloud Sea did not have any gains?” Li Xian Er’s expression was puzzled. “Then why did they start this campaign? Also, wouldn’t Bie Han think of this problem?”

Gongye Xiao Rong’s smile froze on his face.

———

“They definitely have ways to replenish Sin Battalion.” Lin Qian’s tone was full of confidence. The attention he paid towards Zuo Mo and his understanding of the other far surpassed other people. In his impression, Zuo Mo definitely would not approve a plan that resulted in such a loss.

Xue Dong frowned. “Would they dare to capture mo to reforge Sin Battalion? That is something taboo. If it is discovered, there will be endless consequences. Mo Cloud Sea has so many mo, they definitely cannot accept such a matter.”

“Not that.” Lin Qian shook his head. “In my understanding, Zuo Mo definitely would not make such a fatal mistake. He definitely has other methods.”

“Other methods?” Xue Dong had a curious expression. He was strong in war, but he understood very little of these things.

“I don’t know.” Lin Qian shook his head honestly. “But I know that they definitely have a way.”

“If that’s true, then Bie Han is terrifying!” Xue Dong looked at the mirage, brimming with fighting spirit. It was so enjoyable to watch a battle of this level. How great would it be if he was participating in this battle?

———

Bei Han and Shang Yu Sheng’s fighting reached a white-hot level.

The two maintained their furious pace as though they did not know exhaustion. They abandoned all finesse, and would collide fully each time.

They had continued to attack at such a mad tempo for four whole hours!

People could not see their figures clearly.

There was only the endless explosion and eruptions of light. The scouts watching from far had ashen expressions. For safety, they had already retreated far away but they could still feel the tremors of the ground and the shockwaves of air.

Two freaks!

Everyone was filled with terror.

It was the first time Bie Han was using this fighting method in actual battle. The enjoyable feeling made his blood almost boil.

Without any technique, without any thoughts, only the simplest and crudest collisions!

The [Arsonist] was like a burning flame that continue to stimulate the shen power inside him. His shen power became even hotter. It turned into explosive flames when it was channeled into the [Arsonist]. It flowed along the armor and became even hotter. Then it would gather on Bie Han’s hands and turn into attacks.

This was the [Arsonist] that Zuo Mo had designed for Bie Han.

Zuo Mo’s thinking had been simple. The abilities of [Arsonist] were also simple. It would burn Bie Han’s shen power and amplify it to be even more furious, increasing its strength.

Bie Han was not truly a top expert. His power came from his battalion. Exquisite shen techniques were not of great value to Bie Han. He only needed to use the simplest and most straightforward attacking methods. There was only one aim. For him to have enough power to deal a fatal attack at the crucial moment.

The burning shen power was unusually savage and most suited for such simple and straightforward attacks.

Yet furious shen power demanded greatly of one’s mental resilience. Bie Han’s almost obsessive absolute calm was the best for using [Arsonist].

When equipment was at the shen device raiment level, even the simplest of abilities would become unusually terrifying in strength.

[Arsonist] was like its name, furious and rebellious. Only Bie Han could control it.

Bie Han’s almost obsessive calm showed its power. Even in such a high attacking tempo, and when his body felt as though it was burning, he still detected that Shang Yu Sheng’s attacks were slowly weakening.

Without any hesitation, Bie Han increased his attacking rhythm again.

In this kind of battle, there was no room to dodge. Other than attack, there was no other choice. When Bie Han sped up his attack rate, Shang Yu Sheng had to increase as well.

The collisions of the two became even stronger.

There were already experts watching the mirages that detected the battle was reaching its end. They unconsciously straightened.

The collisions that abandoned all technique were crude and direct. If one side could not keep up, the momentum would quickly tilt.

Shang Yu Sheng’s speed clearly slowed down. The light around him grew much dimmer. His shen equipment was already in pieces. The skin exposed to the air was filled with small wounds.

Bie Han’s attacks became even stronger.

He bombarded Shang Yu Sheng from different angles and Shang Yu Sheng quickly seemed to be wavering.

With every collision, Shang Yu Sheng’s ball of light would tremble and grow a fraction dimmer.

When it reach this moment, anyone with eyes could see that victory and defeat had been determined.

A cold light flashed through Bie Han’s eyes, and his speed increased again!

Completely unable to keep up with the rhythm, Shang Yu Sheng seemed to be hit head on by a meteor.

Boom!

The blue energies flew!

Shang Yu Sheng smashed into the ground and created a large crater in the ground.

Bie Han flew into the large crater like a streak of fire.

When Bie Han’s fiery figure appeared in the sky again, there was a person gripped in his hand.

Shang Yu Sheng was dead. His expression before death was calm.

In front of the mirages, everyone lost the interest in talking. Seeing two top battle generals fall in such a short span of time was a great blow to everyone.

Bi Han silently floated in the air. The bright red flames wrapped around his body, but his eyes were so cold they were still.

After making sure that Shang Yu Sheng was dead, he once again landed beside the crater and placed Shang Yu Sheng’s body into the crater. His hands waved lightly towards the sides of the crater and the earth on the two sides of the crater exploded. Soil rained down and buried Shang Yu Sheng.

After doing all this, Bie Han stood and looked towards the battlefield.

There was less than half of Sin Battalion standing on the battlefield.

Bie Han suddenly reached out with his right hand. Countless wisps of flame flew out and landed on the corpses of Sin Battalion members on the ground. In a flash, the corpses turned to dust. There was a red bead within each mound of dust.

Bie Han beckoned with his hand. The red beads in the mounds of ash seemed to receive a summons, flying into his hands and disappearing.

After cleaning up, Bie Han suddenly looked around to the edge of the battlefield. His cold eyes caused everyone in front of the mirages to feel great killing intent.

He suddenly made a gesture that no one had expected.

Looking coldly into the mirage, he raised his hand and drew a finger lightly over his neck.

A throat slash!

Chapter 787 – The Anger of Lotus Sutra Temple

Bie Han fought one against two and had killed top two battle generals, Hai Jin Yun and Shang Yu Sheng, by trading for the lives of half of Sin Battalion.

The world shook!

Even Xue Dong that was ranked first among xiuzhe battle generals had never had such glorious results. Bie Han’s last cold and domineering gesture caused numerous hot-blooded youths to copy him.

Mo Cloud Sea’s powerful strength once again attracted the attention of the world.

Bie Han could only be considered second in Mo Cloud Sea. People’s opinions of him were far lower than Gongsun Cha. This could be seen from the rankings. Yet after this battle, everyone saw Bie Han in a completely new light.

His moves had become more varied and well-rounded. He had two fighting styles. This kind of Bie Han posed a much greater threat. Bie Han had commanded the entire campaign. From the starting set up to the final battle with its layers, Bie Han displayed his stunning talent.

In people’s previous opinions, Bie Han was strong but he was lacking greatly compared to Gongsun Cha, especially in his planning.

Right now, no one would think this.

What people feared even more was Bie Han’s coldness, a cold-blooded ruthlessness. For victory, he could do anything. In the minds of many people, Bie Han had become a cold-blooded battle general.

His challenging throat-slash at the end made people feel a wave of murderousness.

Mo Cloud Sea’s enemies felt a blade at their backs.

However, unexpectedly, Bie Han’s ranking did not rise greatly.

This was because of Sin Battalion’s large number of casualties. This number of fatalities was a great injury to any battalion, much less a battalion like Sin Battalion that could not be replenished.

Through this battle, Bie Han proved his great individual strength. The shen device raiment also was revealed. The infamy of [Arsonist] spread through the world.

Just by the results of this battle was enough for him to go forward a few places in the rankings.

Yet everyone also knew that Bie Han’s strength had weakened rather than increased. Bie Han was skilled in two fighting styles, and Sin Battalion was the only one that could channel his full power.

But Sin Battalion could not be replenished!

If there was fighting, there would be fatalities. With result of not having any replenishment meant that Sin Battalion fighters would grow fewer in number, and the battalion was weaker. Bie Han would become weaker as a result.

Right now was Bie Han’s weakest moment.

But even so, Mo Cloud Sea’s great power alarmed people. The second strongest battle general of Mo Cloud Sea, Bie Han, was already so terrifying. Then the one called the top battle general, Gongsun Cha, how strong was he?

This shocking campaign had too many things worthy of discussion, and many people forgot about identifying why Mo Cloud Sea had started this campaign.

But inside Mo Cloud Sea, the higher ranks understood with Hundred Energy Jie in hand, they now had wings.

———

News of Bie Han’s victory quickly reached Zuo Mo. Little Mo Ge was excited and wanted to howl into the sky. Hundred Energy Jie! Shen Crystals!

They were rich!

Thinking about returning and laying in the mountains of shen crystals, that would definitely be the best experience in life!

Tycoons!

You are still playing with jingshi, ge has started playing shen crystals!

Unusually content, Zuo Mo’s spirit rose. He was filled with anticipation towards the trip to the ancient ruins about to begin.

At this time, the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple hurriedly rushed in.

When Zuo Mo noticed the grief on the face of the Lotus Sutra Temple sect leader, and on the faces of the disciples around her, he knew that something happened. He hurriedly asked, “What happened?”

“Just now, Yuan Tong Shixiong of Surangama Heart Sect perished.” The eyes of Lotus Sutra Temple’s sect leader was slightly swollen. She had clearly cried just now.

The White Lotus Reverend explained, “Yuan Tong Shishu and Master had a good relationship. However, just now, someone attempted an assassination and he unfortunately was killed.” He glanced at Zuo Mo and said, “The token of Surangama Heart Sect was with Yuan Tong Shishu.”

Zuo Mo’s heart sank. “Did they come for the token?”

“The token is gone.” The White Lotus Reverend nodded with murderousness on his face. “Only a small few knew that the token of Surangama Heart Sect was with Shishu. Even Master did not know. There definitely are spies in Surangama Heart Sect!”

“Did you find who did it?” Zuo Mo asked. The situation was more complex than he had imagined. The ruins had not opened yet the killing had started.

“It’s Kun Lun!” The eyes of the Lotus Sutra Temple sect leader flashed. She said hatefully, “While they have disguised it well, but they did not know that Shixiong has an ability called [Empty Heart Thought]. Usually, he would leave behind a thread of his consciousness in the Dhyana tower when he cultivates. If not for this thread of consciousness, we would not have discovered it.”

“Kun Lun!” Zuo Mo’s expression became serious. He hadn’t thought that Kun Lun wanted the shen device nucleus so desperately.

Zuo Mo immediately recognized the severity of the situation. It probably wasn’t just one Kun Lun xiuzhe that would enter the ancient ruins, and these people were well concealed. If they were the least bit careless, they would easily fall for the trap.

At this moment, the lotus flower at the forehead of the sect leader lit up minutely. Her expression changed. She closed her eyes and focused while breathing calmly. When she opened her eyes again, her face was murderousness. “Yuan Hao was attacked on his return trip! Good, very good!”

The sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple was clearly angered greatly. If she could maintain her calm at Yuan Tong’s death, then Yang Yuan Hao being ambushed enraged her! Yang Yuan Hao wasn’t just related to the future of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, he was also her nephew. The location where he had been ambushed was in her territory. The other was arrogant and unscrupulous to the limit!

“They really think that Lotus Sutra Temple is easy to bully!” She was a sect leader however, and quickly calmed down. However, the darkness in her eyes grew. She bowed and warned Zuo Mo and the others, “I have come to remind everyone to pay attention to your safety and be careful.”

Finishing, she turned and left with her disciples.

This was Lotus Sutra Temple’s territory. They had lived here for thousands of years, and the depth of their foundation far surpassed people’s imagination. When all of Lotus Sutra Temple moved, several groups of suspicious people quickly came to the surface.

Truly angered, Lotus Sutra Temple clearly did not intend to maintain the illusion of peace. Also, the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple knew that her one sect did not have the power to fight against these disciples of Tian Huan and Kun Lun.

The death of Yuan Tong stirred the Nine Great Dhyana Sects into facing a common enemy. Under the leadership of Lotus Sutra Temple’s sect leader, Thunder Sound Temple, Karma Temple, Surangama Temple, Laughing Maitreya Temple and the others sent their outstanding disciples to reinforce Lotus Sutra Temple.

Troops made from three hundred elite disciples carried out ambushes during the night.

These Kun Lun and Tian Huan disciples hidden in the shadows hadn’t expected that the others would dare to come to their door. They hurried to respond. The disciples of Kun Lun and Tian Huan were stronger, but the disciples of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects had the advantage of numbers.

The fighting was intense.

Both sides suffered great losses. Of the four reverends of Lotus Sutra Temple, one was killed and two wounded. The other sects also received heavy losses. More than half of the three hundred disciples were dead or wounded.

Kun Lun and Tian Huan also had heavy losses. Many of the hidden disciples were plucked out. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects had the advantage. Even though the Kun Lun and Tian Huan disciples were stronger, there was no advantage when they were out numbered in melee combat.

Other than several powerful disciples that broke through, the other disciples were all killed.

In the end, they found more than sixty corpses of people from Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

The restless area around the ruins immediately became much quieter.

———

Chao Xin had an expression of pain. “Stupid! One shen device nucleus ruined this great situation! Now, our previous plan cannot be used. The Nine Great Dhyana Sect is going to be more united after this fight!”

Lin Qian had a grimace. “This matter is my mistake.”

Previously, the value of one shen device raiment could not compare to a greatly beneficial strategy against the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. But since Bie Han’s [Arsonist] appeared, a completely new concept of battle general shen device raiment, every sect increased their value of the nucleus.

Suddenly, every faction’s desire towards shen device raiments increased drastically.

Lin Qian regretted greatly that the first shen device raiment of Kun Lun had been given to him. With his strength and status, there was nothing to criticize that he possess a shen device raiment. However, he would not fight on the front lines, and the shen device raiment was not of much strategic value.

For Kun Lun and the others, shen device raiments were strategic treasures. Since they were of strategic value, they actually would not be easily used. For example, Lin Qian. He had the shen device raiment. While he would rarely meet someone that was a match for him, he was not invulnerable. If he was swarmed by many, he would also die.

Kun Lun could not tolerate this kind of loss.

Yet Mo Cloud Sea’s battle general shen device raiment was designed around a completely different concept. Battle generals of Bie Han’s level were heavily protected and had many experts around him. After being outfitted with the shen device raiment, he was even stronger, and he was able to increase the strength of the entire battalion.

Both were shen device raiments, yet it was clear which had greater use.

Kun Lun and Tian Huan were inspired and had an even greater desire for shen device raiments. However, even with their wealth, it was not an easy matter to forge a new shen device raiment.

The attraction of a complete shen device nucleus for Kun Lun could be imagined.

Also, Kun Lun did not think anything of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. That was not just the sects within the lower ranks. Actually, Lin Qian knew that he thought the same inside. In his eyes, the biggest enemy was Tian Huan, the most dangerous enemy was Mo Cloud Sea. Other than Yang Yuan Hao, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects were not worth a mention.

This was the same with the other Kun Lun discples. They might be wary of Xuan Kong Temple, but Lotus Sutra Temple, what was that?

Lin Qian was a responsible person. He knew that he held great blame this time, and immediately admitted his mistake.

Chao Xin sighed inside. Lin Qian had already given him enough face by admitting to his mistake. He thought and said, “This may not be a bad thing.”

“How so?” Lin Qian was an open-minded and humble person.

“Lotus Sutra Temple led the way, then we will make an example of Lotus Sutra Temple.” Chao Xin’s eyes flashed. “There are many conflicts between the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, and they all want different things. We can use this matter to single out Lotus Sutra Temple, and no other sects.”

Lin Qian’s eyes lit up. “Great plan!”

This matter was a great excuse. If they put out a strong attitude of only making trouble for Lotus Sutra Temple, what would the other sects do? This was something to think over!

Within the Nine Great Dhyana Sects there were numerous conflicts between themselves. No one was willing to provoke an enemy like Kun Lun. Adding on the spies fanning the flames from the shadows … …

Chapter 788 – Divide

“Congratulations for finishing the exam.”

Cang Ling Xue looked at Youqin Lie who stood in front of her with an expressionless face. She was filled with terror. This youth that was just a bit older than she was was the manifestation of a demon.

Beside her was another female about thirty years old. Her appearance was ordinary and her attire simple. If she was not standing beside Cang Ling Xue, Cang Ling Xue would think that she was a servant girl.

Youqin Lie looked at the two and said to himself expressionlessly, “You two had the best results. Starting from today, you will each become responsible for them.”

“Each?” Cang Ling Xue perceptively caught the crux of Youqin Lie’s words.

Youqin Lie nodded. “Yes, twenty people in total. They will be divided to two teams, ten on each team. You will each be responsible for a team. Cang Ling Xue, Hong Xiao, you will be competitors. Your status will be determined by your results.”

Cang Ling Xue and Hong Xiao turned their faces at the same moment and their gazes met.

With a short glance, Cang Ling Xue could see experience flashing in Hong Xiao’s eyes. Her heart trembled. However, she was filled with confidence in herself and did not fear competition.

“You will be sent to a completely new place. There, you will start your work. Your family, clansmen, they will meet up with you in three months.”

“Good luck.”

———

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects was in chaos.

Kun Lun’s force pointed directly at Lotus Sutra Temple and they informed all the sects that their target was only Lotus Sutra Temple. They requested that Lotus Sutra Temple produce the criminals that killed the Kun Lun disciples and for the other sects to remain neutral.

Thunder Sound Temple, Karma Temple, Laughing Maitreya Temple, and Surangama Temple immediately expressed their support for Lotus Sutra Temple. They started to move their battalions. Yang Yuan Hai announced that he had been the subject of an ambush and accused Kun Lun of planning it.

The situation immediately became a powder keg.

Great Buddha Temple, Karma Temple, Skanda Temple and Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect did not make a sound. Inside the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, all kinds of rumors quickly spread. Many people thought that Lotus Sutra Temple had caused this incident and should resolve it themselves rather than drag everyone down.

The divides in the Nine Great Dhyana Sect finally appeared in public.

Kun Lun’s immediately response seemed to say that Lotus Sutra Temple’s actions this time truly angered them.

Xue Dong Battalion moved out and pointed straight at Thunder Sound Temple. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects became nervous. Yang Yuan Hao’s battalion completely moved, and guarded against Xue Dong Battalion’s advance.

In the time of a day, the situation changed so quickly people could not keep up.

The faceoff between the two top battle generals immediately attracted the eyes of the world. Xue Dong was the best battle general in the world. He was well-rounded, had strategic vision, and had never lost. Xue Dong who was born in Kun Lun had always been the most accomplished battle general among the Kun Lun disciples from childhood.

Yang Yuan Hao was a new talent but his strength was also stunning. He was ranked fifth, just below Gongsun Cha. In the great banquet to divide Xuan Kong Temple, Yang Yuan Hao showed his outstanding talent. If not for him, the present Nine Great Dhyana Sect probably could not stop the advance of Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

Just now, Bie Han had killed two top battle generals by himself and stunned the world. The importance of the conflict in front of them rivalled Bie Han’s battle.

Kun Lun seemed determined to destroy Lotus Sutra Temple. Then Mu Xuan Battalion started to advance towards Lotus Sutra Temple.

Mu Xuan was the only female battle general in the top ten of the xiuzhe battle generals. She was ranked eighth. She was much older than Xue Dong, and experienced. Even in Kun Lun, not many dared to provoke her.

Compared to Xue Dong’s light, Mu Xuan was much more low-key and people rarely knew of her accomplishments.

No one knew why her ranking was so high. However, no one doubted her abilities but she was one of the rare elders that did not decrease in status after Lin Qian ascended and had become even more important.

Lin Qian’s eyes were usually very accurate.

It was a shock to people that the usually low-key Mu Xuan moved.

Yang Yuan Hao could not divide himself. Xue Dong was enough to keep him engaged and he did not dare to move. He could only watch as Mu Xuan moved closer to Lotus Sutra Temple.

Two top battle generals attacked at the same time. In this time, Lotus Sutra Temple was in great danger.

Yet another battalion suddenly appeared at Lotus Sutra Temple and shocked the world.

Gongsun Cha! Vermillion Bird Camp!

The top battle general of Mo Cloud Sea with the strongest battalion of Mo Cloud Sea appeared in Lotus Sutra Temple’s territory without any warning. When the news came out, everyone that paid attention to this battle finally understood.

No wonder Lotus Sutra Temple dared to challenge Kun Lun. So Mo Cloud Sea was supporting them!

However, no one dared to dismiss the name of Gongsun Lil’ Miss.

Almost the moment Gongsun Lil’ Miss’ Vermillion Bird Camp arrived at Lotus Sutra Temple, Mu Xuan’s battalion stopped advancing.

The situation seemed to enter a standoff again, Yang Yuan Hao against Xue Dong, Gongsun Cha against Mu Xian. Four top battle generals ranked in the top ten facing off gave off a suffocating pressure.

The entire world became nervous.

If the conflict between Kun Lun and Lotus Sutra Temple was a simple conflict before, then Mo Cloud Sea with the five sects of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect had even strength to fight Kun Lun.

If the two sides really fought, the scale of the conflict would be so great it would most likely affect the entire world.

Tian Huan seemed unwilling to be silent. The battalions at the borders shifted as though they wanted to fan the flames. However, they never expected that Zhong De’s battalion would suddenly appear at the border of Xi Xuan and Tian Huan.

All of Tian Huan became nervous!

What did Zhong De want to do?

In terms of power, Xi Xuan could not compare to Tian Huan now. However, Zhong De was not a reasonable person. He was powerful, among the top one or two of the top ten battle generals.

The situation came to a standstill again.

———

Zuo Mo had been paying close attention to the situation. He had ordered Gongsun Cha to reinforce Lotus Sutra Temple. Lotus Sutra Temple was his ally. If it was killed by Kun Lun, it would be a detriment to him.

Zuo Mo didn’t believe that Kun Lun would truly fight after Gongsun Cha appeared.

If a war of such scale started, it would not end so easily. Even if Kun Lun could defeat them, they would suffer heavy losses that would benefit Tian Huan.

Kun Lun just wanted to cause a rift between the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and had achieved their goal. Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the other three sect’s silence had planted the seeds of the divide.

Fighting now was not of any benefit to Kun Lun.

It was not good for Zuo Mo to interfere too deeply into the matters of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. However, after this matter, the relationship between Lotus Sutra Temple and Mo Cloud Sea would grow much closer.

The sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple was a vicious person. Since they had burned their ties to Kun Lun, without another word, she sent a battalion into the region of the ruins and repeatedly made sweeps. Any person that was the least bit suspicious would be asked to leave.

While Lotus Sutra Temple’s battalion was lacking in comparison to a top battalion such as Vermillion Bird Camp, it was much stronger than an average sect’s battalion.

The enormous battalion swept through the region of the ruins like comb. If any person resisted, they would be killed.

After this, the number of people around the ruins decreased immediately.

Everyone saw Lotus Sutra Temple’s determination!

Did Lotus Sutra Temple want to take the ruins for themselves? This kind of rumor spread through the Nine Great Dhyana Sects but Lotus Sutra Temple still did as they wished. Thunder Sound Temple and other allies strangely did not have any opinions.

Heart Leave Dhyana Sect and the others were talkative but Lotus Sutra Temple was determined and didn’t even listen.

After this matter, the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple finally saw that the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would not be a successful. Yang Yuan Hao was strong in battle but he did not have the ability to sort out the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. Without a strong person coming up, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects that was made from many factions would fall to infighting.

A divided Nine Great Dhyana Sect would die quickly.

Since that was the case, why didn’t they prepare?

Lotus Sutra Temple’s only choice was Mo Cloud Sea.

This time, they had completely burned ties to Kun Lun and Tian Huan. Xi Xuan was in its old age, and only Mo Cloud Sea was filled with life and signs that it was growing stronger.

She had a good outlook for Mo Cloud Sea’s prospects.

Everyone had already agreed to using the shen device nucleus in exchange for shen equipment. What she was doing now was within the limits of the agreement. She was just acting a bit more vicious.

Also, the safety of Lotus Sutra Temple was reliant on Gongsun Cha’s Vermillion Bird Camp.,

“There are no more factions in this area,” Lotus Sutra Temple’s sect leader introduced. “We have eliminated some suspicious people. Please accept these tokens.”

“This is?” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked.

“The tokens of Thunder Sound Temple, my sect, Laughing Maitreya Temple, and Splendid Buddha Temple are all here. Four in total. We had originally planned to send experts to help you but we are worried that spies will ruin the matter. So we are giving this to you. You can take in more subordinates. We have not managed to get back Surangama Sect’s token. It must already be in Kun Lun’s hands. The other four sects … …”

She sighed softly, her expression dispirited.

The Nine Great Dhyana Sects were of different minds and values. They had already divided into two factions. Yang Yuan Hao’s transaction with Mo Cloud Sea had been objected to by Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect, Karma Sect, Skanda Sect, and Great Buddha Sect. The two sides had fought fiercely numerous times over this.

Zuo Mo understood when he heard this. He bowed seriously. “Many thanks for your trust! The shen equipment will be delivered as soon as possible!”

The sect leader quickly sorted out her emotions. She knew that the situation could not be fought against. The alliance of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects had fatal weaknesses from the start. She had just always anticipated a charismatic leader would appear. However, while Yang Yuan Hao was a top battle general, he did not have the traits to be a leader.

Yet she found those traits in Zuo Mo.

To be able to command a sect as a female, she naturally had her attributes. Seeing the situation clearly, she did not hesitate. She could not save the Nine Great Dhyana Sects but she had to consider the lives of those in the Lotus Sutra Temple.

“Sir, please be careful and take along more people,” she cautioned.

“I understand.” Zuo Mo nodded gravely.

Translator Rambling: Once you get to a certain level, individuals start to become powerless. The momentum of the factions behind them is so great it’s hard to shift course.

Chapter 789 – Sin Battalion

The situation had changed.

Zuo Mo now had five tokens in his possession. In other words, including himself, twenty five people could enter the ruin. It seemed that their numbers had increased, but their probability of success did not increase. Previously, no one knew their identity and there was a possibility they could sneak in and obtain the treasure. However, Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the others knew of the transaction between himself and Yang Yuan Hao.

Lotus Sutra Temple and the others could not stop Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the other three temples. Everyone knew this. However, they had not broken their ties in public. If Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and the others really did split with the rest of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects at this time, then the present equilibrium would be immediately disrupted.

Zuo Mo and his group had been revealed, and became public targets. They were the strongest group going into the ruins, but they were also everyone’s enemy. No matter who, if they wanted to get the shen device nucleus, they had to kill Zuo Mo’s group.

They were now everyone’s enemy and surrounded by wolves.

Zuo Mo and the others only had one path, step over the corpses of their competitors. However, while it was more dangerous, there were also benefits. The sides were clearly defined. Other than the twenty five people, everyone else was an enemy. They did not need to worry about exposing their identity and harming potential allies.

Zuo Mo quickly concluded that the main issue would be that once they entered the ruins, everyone would become their enemy. If they wanted the shen device nucleus, there was only one way, kill everyone else.

The people accompanying Zuo Mo were all the elite of Mo Cloud Sea. Individually they were outstanding, but they were also trained and skilled in battle formations.

The power of a battle formation was directly linked to the number of people in it. Usually, the smaller the number of people, the lower the threat of the battle formation posed. A battle formation composed of twenty people definitely surpassed a battle formation of five people.

While the enemy had the advantage of numbers, they belonged to different factions. They were unlikely to cooperate, and even if they did they would not trust each other so battle formations of larger scale were not feasible.

Zuo Mo did not need to worry about himself. Other than himself, A Gui, Wei Sheng, Ceng Lian’er, Luo Li and the others, everyone else could advance as a part of a battle formation. Their strength might not match the carefully selected experts of other factions, but they had been trained by Lil’ Miss. Once they formed a battle formation, they were not so easily defeated.

When the ancient ruins opened, if one had the token, they would be sucked into the ruins if they were close by.

Zuo Mo and the other entered the ruins through the mountain valley that Lotus Sutra Temple had arranged before. This mountain valley was heavily guarded by Lotus Sutra Temple to leave behind only one safe passageway.

Zuo Mo and the others felt their vision blur and the surrounding scenery changed.

Everything in front of him was white, and shrouded in mist. Under his feet were slate stones carved with ancient beasts. The mist here was strange. The mist seemed to contain all kinds of colours and a kind of indescribable power.

Yet when he saw the surroundings clearly, Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly.

They had been split up!

He only had A Gui with him.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo immediately recognized the seriousness of the situation. They were known by everyone else and once their forces were split up, they would be in danger! He had originally planned on using their numbers to fight their way through. The plan was unusable now. They had been split up. Undoubtedly, the people from Mo Cloud Sea were the first targets people would want to eliminate.

He hurriedly used a spell unique to Mo Cloud Sea to try to communicate with the others. Yet the spell seemed to fizzle out. There was no response.

His heart continued to sink.

He turned to look at A Gui. Without a second word, he took out two sets of normal shen equipment to put them on himself and A Gui, a disguise so they did not appear so eye-catching.

While Zuo Mo had confidence in his strength, it would be dangerous if they were attacked from all sides.

“Let’s go!”

Zuo Mo charged out first. The urgent matter now was to find everyone else. It was alright for he and the other shen power experts. They should not be in too much danger. But those guards were not individually strong enough in here. Without the use of a battle formation, they were in great danger.

While Zuo Mo desired the shen device raiment, he did not want to trade for it with the lives of his comrades.

These people had followed him the longest and were the group he was closest to.

Zuo Mo and A Gui quickly disappeared into the white mist.

———

Resting Island, it was situated in a remote and unpopulated corner of Cloud Sea Jie. The island was just three hundred li wide and less than seven hundred li long. It was a very average island among the Cloud Sea Jie islands.

Before this, this little island did not have a name. After Bie Han built his residence here he named this island Resting Island.

Resting Island was surrounded by jinzhi. No one would be able to force their way in. There was only one way to enter Resting Island, transportation formations. There was a transportation formation on Resting Island. The other end of the transportation formation was Bie Han’s bedroom.

Only Bie Han would come to Resting Island. There was only a memorial hall on the island.

Bie Han had built the seven story memorial hall himself. There were memorial tablets placed in the hall. The drapes swayed with the cold wind and caused this place to look eerie.

Bie Han held a blank memorial tablet on his left hand and held a brush on his right. He carefully wrote the names in strokes.

He silently wrote. Behind him stood less than half of Sin Battalion. The ranks with their empty spaces stood silently like they were dead.

When the last name was written, Bie Han carefully put the memorial tablets onto their places before lightning incense.

He did not bow, but stood there silently as though he was inspecting his battalion like usual. He inspected the clean ranks of memorial tablets.

His expression was cold as he stared for a long. Suddenly, he said to himself facing the memorial tablets.

“I don’t know if your spirits will return. You are tired, sleep, I’m going ahead.”

He turned, and walked to the transportation formation with the remains of Sin Battalion.

He returned to his residence and then to Chun Yu Cheng’s cloud island to find Chun Yu Cheng.

Chun Yu Cheng might be muddle-headed sometimes but that depended on the person he was speaking to. In front of a killing god like Bie Han, he was cooperative. Also, Bie Han never asked him for complex tasks. Moreso, Zuo Shixiong had been the one to forge those blood beads. Chun Yu Cheng was also very curious what the results were.

“Here, they are growing well.” Chun Yu Cheng pointed to a ball of blood in the blood pool and said with a small frown, “They have started to have some of the mo steed traits, but very preliminary.”

Bie Han stared at the ball of blood in the blood pool without a word.

The blood pools here stretched out. Inside every blood pool, a ball of blood was growing.

“The blood beads retained their instincts to fight so they are aggressive. If there are two blood balls in a blood pool, they will fight until one dies. I had to build  this many blood pools. I have to tell you first that you have to pay the expenses.” Chun Yu Cheng chattered on.

“Alright.” Short and terse Bie Han treated his words like gold.

“I don’t know what the growth and maturation is like? I’m curious.” Chun Yu Cheng looked around and seeing no one was around, he lowered his voice and said, “I got some shen crystals and put them in as well. Those things are very useful. However, you know, shen crystals are rare, and I only have so many pieces. You have to repay me double … …”

“Alright.” Bie Han suddenly asked, “Shen crystals are useful?”

“Yes, very useful. They can absorb shen crystals. Look at these ones, the ones that have consumed shen crystals are clearly bigger in size. Later, at Golden Crow Camp, they will be easier to forge. Let’s agree, you have to pay me back double, otherwise, I will really suffer a loss … … hey hey hey, don’t leave.”

Before Chun Yu Cheng finished his explanation , Bie Han turned and left.

“I didn’t say I wanted them now … … hm, why are you so murderous?” Chun Yu Cheng looked at Bie Han’s back with puzzlement.

A few hours later, Bie Han once again appeared in front of Chun Yu Cheng.

Woosh, he poured out a pile of shen crystals.

Chun Yu Cheng’s eyes went straight. “My heavens … …”

———

Zuo Mo and A Gui changed their appearances to be less eye-catching. However, the mist in front of them was very strange. Whenever Zuo Mo decided to search the surroundings, his shen power would encounter great resistance.

This kind of situation was rare. He shen power he cultivated was the sun shen power from the Sun Tribe. It was so dominant that it had been one of the strongest shen methodologies even in the ancient era.

Even sun shen power was encountering resistance. This ruin was not simple.

At this time, Silly Bird suddenly came out of Zuo Mo’s ring. Then Lil’ Pagoda, Lil’ Fire, Lil’ Black, and the Black Gold Seal Soldier also streamed out of the ring.

The group immediately multiplied in number and seemed much bigger.

Once Silly Bird came out, her eyes glared. Red flames shot out of her body, her feathers raising up as though there was something dangerous in the surrounding white mist.

Lil’ Pagoda looked around curiously and suddenly opened its mouth to suck in the mist.

The white mist was quickly sucked into Lil’ Pagoda’s mouth like a whale inhaling.

The white and black body of Lil’ Pagoda became even more defined as it contrasted against the mist. It even became shinier. Was this mist something good?

Zuo Mo knew how picky Lil Pagoda was. If it was not something good, this guy would not open his mouth. Also, Lil’ Pagoda seemed to be enjoying this. This mist probably was not ordinary.

Did this mist have something?

Without a word, Zuo Mo took out a jade bottle and started to move his hands in a spell. The mouth of the bottle pointed at the mist, and the mist seemed to be pulled by an strong force. It shook, but it did not fly over.

Strange!

Zuo Mo felt even stranger. The jade bottle in his hand was a magnetic bottle forced specially to take in materials of this kind. Yet it could not suck this in?

Zuo Mo channeled in shen power.

The white mist finally could not resist the strong magnetism of the magnetic bottle and immediately flowed into the bottle.

In a flash, a space appeared around them. The white mist in the surroundings seemed to be constrained by a power and did not move in this direction. It was like a piece of the cake had been cut and Zuo Mo and the others were standing in the empty space.

Zuo Mo’s attention quickly moved away from the mist.

A strange thing appeared in the empty space in front of them.

Chapter 790 – Totem Coliseum

A round disk covered in a spiralling pattern appeared in front of the group. There was a hole at the center of the disk and the white mist came from there. The disk was very small and the white mist flowed slowly. The mist did not dissipate but gathered in the air.

Did all the mist here flow out of this disk?

“I know where this is.” Pu Yao suddenly spoke gravely.

“What place is this?” Zuo Mo could here that something was wrong in Pu Yao’s tone. He felt strange. A daring person like Pu Yao actually had a place he was afraid of.

“Totem Coliseum!” Pu Yao said coldly.

Hearing the name, Wei first still and then his expression changed. He gasps, “Impossible!”

“Totem Coliseum? Such a strange name, what is this place?” Zuo Mo was even more curious. Wei’s response proved that this name was not ordinary.

“The Totem Coliseum is the place where the totem warriors of the ancient tribes would compete.” Pu Yao introduced in a deep voice, “In the ancient era, they would host a tournament once in awhile. The totem warriors of each tribe would gather and fight to become the chief.”

“Oh, it sounds like the Sword Test Conference,” Zuo Mo said thoughtfully.

“The chief tournament is much more crueler than the Sword Test Conference,” Wei couldn’t help but say, “It is a fight to death! Few people come out alive. The strongest totem warrior would be called the chief. Its tribe would have great power, and the other tribes had to give it tribute. This tribute would continue until the new chief appeared. Usually, a conference would be hosted every decade.”

Wei said gravely, “There is no evidence that proves this is the Totem Coliseum. I might have not gone to the Totem Coliseum, but the ruins here do not show any indication of it.”

Pu Yao said coldly, “The five front halls of the Totem Coliseum are wind, rain, thunder, mist, and snow. If I am not wrong, this is the Mist Hall. That round disk should be the Mist Eye Tablet.”

Wei was silent. He hadn’t been the totem warrior in his time. In the tribe, he had been weak and matters like the Totem Coliseum would not involve him. However, he had heard of the five halls, wind, rain, thunder, mist, and snow of the Totem Coliseum.

Zuo Mo already half-believed it. When Pu Yao said the name of the Mist Eye Tablet, Zuo Mo believed it. That described the round disk exactly. No wonder his shen power was being suppressed everywhere. If this was the Totem Coliseum, then it would make sense. This was a place for totem warriors to fight.

“Pu Yao, you know a lot!”

Zuo Mo was surprised by this. If Wei had been the one to say this, Zuo Mo would feel it was normal since Wei had lived in that era. He hadn’t expected the one to know of this place would be Pu Yao.

Pu Yao did not show any pride but had a normal expression. “My teacher once studied the Totem Coliseum for a very long time.”

Zuo Mo finally understood. However, he was even more curious. Pu Yao’s teacher seemed very strong!

“Then what do we do now?” Zuo Mo asked with anticipation. Then he pointed enthusiastically at the Mist Eye Tablet. “This is a good thing, it definitely is a treasure, can we take it?”

Pu Yao said seriously, “The Wind, Rain, Thunder, Mist, and Snow Halls of the Totem Coliseum are the first tests. The number of people eliminated here is the highest. Only those that can survive will enter the next round. The Mist Eye Tablet is a treasure, but it guards the Mist Hall. If you are able to take it, the Mist Hall will be defeated. However, I do not suggest for you to do this.”

When he heard the Mist Eye Tablet was a treasure, Zuo Mo immediately rubbed his hands and was yearning to go when Pu Yao poured down cold water on him. He asked in bewilderment, “Why not?”

“The totem warriors of the ancient era were much stronger than you are now. Why did no one else think of taking the Mist Eye Tablet that has stayed here for so long?” Pu Yao asked in response.

Zuo Mo froze. True, so many years, and this thing was still here. So many totem warriors, not one had managed to take it. This thing definitely was not easy to deal with. Little Mo Ge was a money-grubber, but he knew his limits. He might be a major player in the world now, but he was not comparable to those inhuman freaks in the ancient era that could pick stars from the sky and hold moons in their palms.

But … … they could only stare at the treasure they encountered … … and then leave … …

If they couldn’t take it, why tell ge!

Zuo Mo’s heart dripped blood but he maintained his calm. “How do we get out?”

Pu Yao shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know?” Zuo Mo stilled.

“Don’t know.” Pu Yao continued to shake his head.

Zuo Mo wanted to cry. He knew that this was the Mist Hall, knew that the Mist Eye Tablet was a treasure, but he didn’t know how to leave … … he didn’t know the most important thing.

Looking at Zuo Mo’s disdainful gaze. Pu Yao said helplessly, “Many things from the ancient era were lost in history. It is not easy to even dig up this much information.”

Wei who had been thinking hard all this time suddenly spoke, “I remember a book from the tribe said … …”

Zuo Mo became alert. “What did they say?”

“It’s too long ago, I don’t quite remember it, let me think.” Wei was slightly embarrassed. He only had a faint impression. It seemed that there had been one from the tribe that had been wounded after the first round that left the tournament which was why he had left what he learned behind.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo didn’t know what to do.

At this time, suddenly, Silly Bird who had been glaring suddenly pecked at the hole in the Mist Eye Tablet!

Hiss-crack!

A burst of sparks erupted at Silly Bird’s bead.

Vrroom!

The Mist Eye tablet shook and then a suddenly suction came from the eye.

The surrounding mist that looked like cotton candy started to move towards Zuo Mo and the others. The seemingly tangible white mist seemed to be balls of cotton that pressed at them from all areas.

Rumbles came from deep within the mist.

Zuo Mo was stunned by the change. He had never thought that Silly Bird would attack!

What was with the bird?

Did it have a grudge against the thing?

However, there was no time for him to think. In a blink, the mist was about three zhang away from them. Unlike the calm mist just now, the mist now was thick and restless.

While Zuo Mo didn’t know what mysteries the white mist held, Zuo Mo knew he could not let it continue.

Since they could suck the mist in, then I can too!

Zuo Mo snickered. He flipped his hand, and a magnetic bottle appeared in his hand. He cast a spell to suck in mist.

Yet the suction of the bottle was clearly not as strong as the Mist Eye Tablet. Zuo Mo saw this, and he flipped his hand again, and again, and again … …

A moment later, three rows of magnetic bottles appeared in front of him, nine to a row.

Magnetic Bottle Formation!

Suck!

The power of the twenty seven magnetic bottles immediately showed their effect. Twenty seven flows of white mist entered the magnetic bottles. In a blink, the surroundings were cleared again.

The twenty seven bottles were completely filled.

Zuo Mo sighed in relief and was also shocked. The magnetic bottles he had were not ordinary. If a bottle like this was used to hold water, it could easily suck a river dry, and  that was a river three li wide and ten li long.

He hadn’t thought that they would be filled after taken in the white mist for such a short time.

The white mist condensed into water in the bottle. There was only a handful in each bottle. The water flashed with multi-colored light and he could not see what was special about it.

Yet before Zuo Mo could study what this white mist really was, the surrounding white mist started to move towards them again.

When the white mist was two zhang away from them, the white mist twisted and roiled. At the same time, Zuo Mo had a suddenly feeling of danger. There seemed to be something dangerous about to come out of the white mist.

At this time, a wave of hissing sounded within the white mist. It was a group of white bats! The swarm of white bats numbered in the hundreds. They came quickly, their wings like blades as they broke through the mist!

“Careful!”

A tiny black shadow next to him suddenly flew out, and in the air, the black shadow exploded into tiny rays of light.

Every ray of light was an miniscule sword energy. The sword energies looked like fireworks as they exploded.

The white bats hit the bright sword energies head on.

Pop pop pop!

The bats struck by the sword energies immediately turned into puffs of white mist.

A small shadow dressed in black robes stood with a crescent blade. He floated in front of Zuo Mo with a cold expression. It was the aggressive Tenth Grade!

Tenth Grade had a proud expression as though he had not used his full power in the attack just now.

“Not bad, not bad, Lil’ Ten, good job. This strike has some of Eldest Shixiong’s style.” Of course Zuo Mo would not be frugal in praise. While Tenth Grade used a crescent blade, he cultivated a sword scripture.

Tenth Grade’s expression did not change, but he clearly felt good at Zuo Mo’s praise.

Lil’ Pagoda flew happily to rub Tenth Grade, and waved his fleshy eaves as though he was saying, you worked hard, you worked hard. He seemed to be fawning.

Lil’ Fire also moved over and rolled its round body around Tenth Grade.

Tenth Grade’s proud expression immediately turned into one of helplessness. He clearly did not know what to do with these two.

“Careful!” Zuo Mo was alarmed.

Soft hissing suddenly sounded in the mist. If Zuo Mo was not focused, he would not have detected it. He reacted quickly, his fingers flickering. The green strand on his wrist shot into the mist like a viper.

Hn?

Zuo Mo was startled as the green stand on his wrist suddenly tensed.

Zuo Mo reacted quickly. With a flip of his hand, a thread of sun shen fire appeared on his right hand. The shen fire grew along the green strand to spread at a quick rate towards the other end.

A stream of fire flashed by.

Boom!

A deep roar came from within the white mist. The white mist was very strange. The explosion had been strong, but the mist was not affected by the explosion at all.

An angry roar suddenly sounded from within the white mist. The sun shen power had wounded it.

Zuo Mo snorted. His hand pulled and shook the green strand.

Ripples of energy were released from the green stand and rained into the white mist.

Pew pew pew!

A string of deep impacts rattled out.

How could Zuo Mo’s attacks end so easily? He immediately braced himself and pulled abruptly on the green strand.

A mist ball the height of a person was forcibly pulled out of the mist by Zuo Mo.

The mist ball was thicker than the normal white mist. Something seemed to be moving inside it in an eerie manner.

At this time, something suddenly occurred!

Chapter 791 – The Power of Gluttons

The mist ball suddenly exploded!

Howling waves enveloped everyone, countless tiny white figures leaping at the group.

Zuo Mo’s scalp pricked, the green strand in his hand vibrating relentlessly. When the white shadows were struck by the green strand, they immediately exploded.

Bam bam bam!

With every explosion, a strange power would pass to Zuo Mo’s wrist from the green strand. The frequent and eerie power battered at Zuo Mo like waves.

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. His physical body was so strong yet he felt as though he couldn’t keep a grip on the green strand!

These white shadows were the size of a thumb and shaped like tadpoles with unusually large heads. When they opened their mouths, they revealed two dense rows of scary teeth.

There were tens of thousands of them that furiously charged at the group.

Tenth Grade’s expression turned cold. The crescent blade around him suddenly attacked!

The flash from before was absent, but an indescribable bloodthirst replaced it!

[Hundred Sacrifice Soul Killing Sword]!

The sword scripture known to be the most vicious in the world lived up to the name. With this attack, a vicious and bloodthirsty energy formed as the sword moved! The little crescent blade suddenly lit up with a dark red color.

The crescent moon attacked!

After turning dark red, the crescent seemed to be a bloody shadow, that  moved relentlessly. These grey shadows changed constantly as though they were moving about, forming and dissipating. Each shadow was filled with great killing energy.

As the shadows formed and dissipated, the vicious energy of the dark red crescent blade reached a peak.

Woo woo woo!

Like the cries of hundreds of ghosts, like the howls of tens of thousands of beasts!

In front of Tenth Grade the white shadows seemed to be frightened by such vicious energy. They screamed even more frequently, so sharp and high pitched it almost ruptured eardrums as they furiously fled in all directions.

The dark red crescent blade easily passed through the layers of white shadow as though they were intangible.

The silky blood shadow would turn the white figures into a water droplets upon contact, so quickly the white shadow didn’t even have time to shout.

In a flash, all the white shadows in front of Tenth Grade were swept clean, and only droplets of water fell down.

Lil’ Pagoda stretched out its head from behind Tenth Grade. It sucked in all the raindrops into its body.

Zuo Mo finally cleared out the white figures in front of him. His wrist gave off pangs of soreness and his heart was intimidated.

The white mist in the surroundings were still the same as though what had happened just now was just a dream.

Yet before Zuo Mo would sigh in relief, dozens of white arrows suddenly shot out of the white mist. Zuo Mo’s wrist instinctively shook, and the green strand shot towards the white arrows.

The green strand accurately hit the white arrows yet the explosions that Zuo Mo predicted did not occur. The straight arrows suddenly opened their mouths and bit the green strand!

Zuo Mo discovered that these were not white arrows but snakes!

The mist snakes held onto the green strands and would not let go.

At this time, the tails of the snake suddenly exploded. Starting from the tail, the snake exploded inch by inch! When the snake head exploded, an astounding power passed to Zuo Mo through the green strand.

Zuo Mo’s entire hand turned numb!

Such strong power!

Zuo Mo’s expression turned grave. Following this power, the green strand shook lightly. Woosh woosh, dozens of crescent energies immediately shot towards the other white snakes.

Half of the crescent energies hit a target. Seven white snakes nimbly dodged and then exploded in unison!

Zuo Mo’s expression changed dramatically.

The explosion of one white snake had been so strong just now. The power of these seven snakes would release when they exploded in unison, the power … …

He reacted quickly, his shen power rippling and gathering in his right hand.

Booom!

A great power smashed out through the green strand in a furious wave.

Zuo Mo’s body lit up with bright golden light and he couldn’t help but take a step back.

Hiss hiss hiss!

The hissing within the white mist echoed in his ears.

Zuo Mo was astounded!

The monsters inside the white mist was so strong and they seemed to be endless. The white mist still moved slowly towards them. Zuo Mo knew if the white mist completely shrouded him, their situation would worsen.

What should he do?

The monsters made from the white mist seemed to be unable to go too far from the white mist. At most, they would fly two zhang from the white mist.

Zuo Mo thought of how he had used the magnetic bottles before to carve out this zone of safety. If he could expand the area….

He hurriedly searched in his ring. He had used most of the bottles already, and the remaining few were futile.

No, there had to be a way!

Zuo Mo turned his face and saw the Black Gold Seal Soldier. He couldn’t help but slap his forehead. How did he forget this guy?

Zuo Mo pulled over the Black Gold Seal Soldier and said emotionally, “Blacky, look, our situation is not very good!”

Hearing this, the Black Gold Seal Soldier excitedly made a fist and patted his chest. “Big Brother, should I go? No problem! Watch me beat them to pieces!”

“Beat them to pieces?” Zuo Mo shook his head and said mysteriously. “There is a way that you can easily defeat them!”

“What way?” The Black Gold Seal Soldier asked with a curious expression.

Zuo Mo patted the Black Gold Seal Soldier’s stomach. “Hei, eat them! Just like how you usually eat food. If you eat all of the white mist, wouldn’t they be defeated?”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier had a dumbstruck gaze. A moment later, he stammered out, “Big Brother, the white mist isn’t tasty … …”

“Blacky! Look, this is the best time for you to display our talents. As long as you show your talents, we will all look at you differently. Your A Gui sister will bring you good things to eat. Didn’t you want to eat some cloud steeds? If you suck dry all of the white mist, this might be considered … …” Zuo Mo had a deep expression.

“Really?” The simple-minded Black Gold Seal Soldier immediately widened his eyes and was excited and spirited. “Alright! See how I suck them dry!”

He opened his mouth. As expected, the white mist burrowed into his mouth like a whale inhaling.

Zuo Mo’s eyes turned. Just one wasn’t enough. His eyes swept across the other little ones. The little ones retreated in fright. Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on Lil’ Pagoda and his eyes lit up.

He felt very proud. Fortunately, ge had taken along enough gluttons!

“Lil’ Pagoda, come here!”

Lil’ Pagoda came over with a timid expression.

“Good son, go suck in. This mist is a good thing! Think about it, the mist of the ancient era, with just a mouthful, you will be immune to all ills. With two mouthfuls, you will have your youth forever, with three mouthfuls … … oh. In conclusion, this is something good! Ancient era mist that could trouble even those totem warriors. At present, they would be sold in by the drop or as single strands! Good son, you cannot miss this opportunity, it will never come again!”

Zuo Mo spoke cleverly.

Lil’ Pagoda’s eyes were down, its expression hurt as it slowly moved its fleshy body forward.

The yinyang fish at its forehead started to spin. Hiss, the surrounding white mist started to stream into the yinyang fish at an even faster rate than the Black Gold Seal Soldier.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier glanced sneakily at Lil’ Pagoda and gave out a rebellious snort. His mouth widened, his eyes widening, and his inhalation rate of the white mist suddenly increased

Zuo Mo looked around in pride.

People were short-sighted and could not understand that it would always be the gluttons that would conquer the world!

With two great gluttons in his hand, he could vie for the world!

———

Rain Hall.

Tan Xu coldly inspected the corpses on the ground. Without raising his head, he said, “It is people from Karma Temple, they didn’t even put up a good fight.”

His tone was filled with dismissiveness. He had enough cause for this. From the moment he discovered them to killing them, he had only used two moves. He felt slightly disappointed. In his view, Karma Temple’s shen power was not acceptable. This kind of shen power was actually able to become the cornerstone of a big sect.

Tan Xu had been full of anticipation towards the mission. Other than the importance of the mission itself, he was excited about the opponents he would encounter.

Tan Xu was outstanding among the Kun Lun disciples. Otherwise, he would not have been chosen to become a Child of Kun Lun. There were other disciples in Kun Lun that were about the same as him in strength. For example, Nie Chen and Zhen Meng Ling were not weaker than he was. However, sect competitions could not compare to true fighting outside.

However, up until now, he had not encountered an opponent that could last for three moves. He felt bored by this.

Nie Chen held an exquisite disk in his hand. If experts saw this, they would exclaim—[Determination Compass]!

[Determination Compass] was one of the most famous Kun Lun talismans. It was ninth-grade, and it had been high up on the treasure rankings for a long time.

While shen devices were stronger and better treasures now, ninth-grade talismans were still rare and had wondrous abilities.

Nie Chen raised his head. “Left side, three people.”

Tan Xu’s expression became murderous. Snap snap, he cracked his joints. “Don’t interfere!”

Nie Chen ignored him and said directly, “Ling Meng, attack as well. Finish as fast as possible, we do not have much time.” He raised his head to look at the endless rain coming down the sky. He murmured to himself, “Totem Coliseum, interesting.”

Tan Xu’s expression became displeased but he did not make a sound. It was alright that he spoke towards Nie Chen in an defiant manner on a daily basis, but this time, Nie Chen was the leader for this mission. Tan Xu was a rebellious person but he cared about discipline. This was the conduct of Kun Lun at present. As Lin Qian continued to govern, Kun Lun’s discipline tightened. What people usually did was not controlled, but once they entered battle, they had to be disciplined.

Tan Xu only thought inside that he had to be faster in attacking than last time.

The three silently hid in the curtain of the rain without any presence.

Their understanding of this ruin far surpassed everyone else. People had to admit defeat to Kun Lun’s great wealth. Kun Lun had quickly found the previous incarnation of the ruins from its ocean of records, the Totem Coliseum.

Kun Lun truly had too many records. Their dominant status for thousands of years allowed them to collect innumerable precious records. The number of secrets unknown to people could not be counted.

They found many details concerning the Totem Coliseum and prepared well. They knew each obstacle, they had taken along talismans to counter each obstacle. For example, the [Rain Disguise Cape] that could hide them in the curtain of rain.

Adding on three strong Children of Kun Lun, it was clear how much Kun Lun wanted the shen device nucleus.

In the curtain of rain, the three figures appeared. They were careful yet they did not detect that there were people hiding in the rain already.

Chapter 792 – Mist Eye Tablet

The Black Gold Seal Soldier and Lil’ Pagoda sat together on the ground. The two gluttons had blank stares, their bellies swollen. All of their symptoms pointed to one thing—they had ate too much~

Zuo Mo looked at the Mist Hall that was now empty of mist and felt proud.

Never underestimate the power of gluttons.

This mist energy was clearly strange. Fortunately, it was now in the bellies of these two gluttons. The only thing Zuo Mo worried about now was that these two would have indigestion. However, after inspecting them, there didn’t seem to be any problems. Other than the Black Gold Seal Soldier’s face that was slightly green and Lil’ Pagoda’s eyes swirling the two appeared fine.

It was unexpected to Zuo Mo that the danger had been resolved like this. However, Zuo Mo immediately put his attention onto the Mist Eye Tablet when he relaxed.

This thing was still slowly producing mist. The mist floated in the air and did not dissipate.

He thought of Silly Bird’s peck. Had she found it an eyesore?

With Zuo Mo’s understanding of Silly Bird, it probably wasn’t so simple. Silly Bird was a bit proud usually but never rash in her actions.

Many thoughts swirled through his head. He stared at the Mist Eye Tablet for a while and then suddenly reached out towards it.

“Careful!”

Pu Yao and Wei’s alarmed shouts sounded at the same time.

Yet Zuo Mo did not encounter any attacks. The Mist Eye Tablet that had been unusually frightening just now was easily picked up.

Pu Yao and Wei were stunned.

Zuo Mo was also slightly surprised. He had been prepared to be attacked just now yet the Mist Eye Tablet did not react at all and allowed him to move it. The Mist Eye Tablet was light in his hand as though it was nothing. It did not seem to be carved from a stone. Zuo Mo realized that it was a treasure. It would be strange if it really was just a stone carving.

He tried to channel shen power into it. Suddenly, the Mist Eye Tablet gave off a warm and gentle light. A great suction force came from the mist eye, and Zuo Mo was unable to dodge in time and was sucked into the mist eye.

A Gui reacted the fastest. She moved with the suction and fell into the mist eye.

Silly Bird was a step late in her reaction. The light of the Mist Eye Tablet dissipated and it fell to the ground. Silly Bird stared at the Mist Eye Tablet by her feet and her eyes started to narrow. Her expression gradually became vicious and savage. She clearly was angry.

The other Little ones were puzzled.

Silly Bird suddenly pecked at the tablet. Its sharp bird beak thrust through the air and created blinding red energy. A burning wisp of fire lit up at the tip of the beak.

She pecked viciously on the mist eye!

———

It was an endless mist sea.

So the inside of the Mist Eye Tablet was like this!

Zuo Mo thought carelessly. He raised his head to look at the sky. The sky was grey and did not have a sun. the mist under his feet was endless like a white ocean. Zuo Mo felt that the scenery was a bit like Cloud Sea Jie.

A Gui was standing silently by his side.

Suddenly, the mist sea under his feet twisted, and an astounding presence covered Zuo Mo and A Gui.

Zuo Mo felt his body freeze and was unable to move. He was shocked. A Gui’s eyes lit up with purple fire, but before she could move, she was also paralyzed.

At this time, the mist sea under their feet slowly rose.

The mist rose and changed to form a mountainous figure. The giant’s body was completely made from mist. It was hundreds of zhang tall and its face was blurred and indistinct.

The mist giant’s shadow covered Zuo Mo and A Gui. A strong feeling of pressure formed. In front of the mist giant, Zuo Mo and A Gui were as small as ants.

“Who are ye? Why have ye disturbed my sleep?”

The voice of the Mist Eye Tablet was like thunder and rumbled through the mist sea magnificently. The presence he gave off was dangerous and vast. Even a person as fearless as Zuo Mo felt it was dangerous.

Just as the mist giant finished speaking, suddenly, boom, an enormous sound exploded in the mist sea without any forewarning.

The mist sea shook, and the body of the mist giant also shook.

“Damned phoenix! Damned stupid bird! The archenemy of my race! I swear to fight thee to the death!” The mist giant’s furious bellow echoed in the mist sea. The mist sea seemed to turn into a storm and roiled.

Affected, Zuo Mo felt the power restraining him seemed to ease off slightly. With a shout, his sun shen power activated, light emitting from his body. He twisted abruptly and managed to break free.

A Gui was not slower than Zuo Mo to respond. Purple energy flashed through her eyes and she also broke free of the restraining power.

Without hesitation, Zuo Mo gathered all of his shen power. The gold axe of light appeared in his hand with a shout. His body seemed to be made from god, a domineering and masculine presence spreading. He was like a god coming down to earth!

[Sun Shen Axe]!

A Gui and Zuo Mo were in sync. [Undying Ghost] activated, and she suddenly disappeared. In the next moment, she appeared behind the mist giant. A wisp of grey mist was sent into the body of the mist giant.

The mist giant suddenly gave out a sky-shaking roar!

“Sun Tribe! I will kill you!”

The mist giant waved his hand and a thick ball of mist the size of a small hill shot towards Zuo Mo like a cannon.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were wide, all of his shen power rippling. The light axe in his hand was almost tangible. The bright sun shen glyph appeared on the axe. In this moment, Zuo Mo’s body gave off bright light like an enormous sun.

Zuo Mo did not feel any fear towards the mist coming towards him. He was like the ancient hero walking out of the epics and sagas, brave and peerless!

“Kill!”

The strong furious shout exploded in the mist sea.

The almost-tangible mist was cut open by Zuo Mo effortlessly from the middle!

The two halves of the mist ball started to burn and turned into two balls of fire.

Zuo Mo charged towards the mist giant, like a fiery meteor, with his remaining momentum. The sun shen axe in his hand created countless dazzling sparks as it brushed through the air. The bright glow made it seem as though it had just been taken out of the forge.

Of course, the attack of the mist giant was not so simple. It suddenly slapped at the mist sea, and a wall of mist headed towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s vision darkened. The mist wall covered his vision, and the power was suffocating!

At this time, Zuo Mo didn’t have one stray thought in his mind. His spirit boiled, all of the fire and dominance of the Sun Shen Methodology stimulating every part of his muscles and blood. He was like a scorching sun that burned fearlessly!

“Open!”

A blinding golden axe energy came from the sky and smashed onto the incoming mist wall.

Without any sound, the mist wall was as fragile was paper, easily cut apart by the axe energy.

The fast axe energy was like a flash of light that entered the enormous body of the mist giant. The mist giant’s body froze, and all of the mist sea seemed to freeze for a moment.

Boom boom boom!

Balls of blinding light exploded from inside the mist giant. The body formed from mist energy was completely destroyed by the terrifying force of the explosions.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”

The furious shouts of the mist giant caused the entire mist sea to twist furiously and shift!

Now there was only half of the the mist giant left. Suddenly, the endless mist sea gathered towards the mist giant at an astounding rate.

In a flash, the damaged body of the mist giant recovered.

“I will kill you!”

The howls of the mist giant echoed. The entire mist sea moved like a colossal monster. A power as vast as an ocean immediately surrounded Zuo Mo.

The mist giant continued to rage!

Balls the size of mountains flew out of the mist sea. Each mist ball seemed to have all the features for a face. However, that face was twisted as though it was enduring some great pain.

“This is Mist Ghost Head from the Ghost Mist Tribe!” Wei suddenly explained.

These enormous mist ghost heads headed for Zuo Mo and A Gui like meteors. A Gui was flickering in and out of view, moving easily as it danced between the sky filled with mist ghost heads.

Zuo Mo was not as agile as A Gui when moving. He decided not to dodge, the sun shen axe in his hand cutting down the mist ghost heads in front of him.

Boom boom boom!

After twenty continuous blows, Zuo Mo’s arm felt sore, his energies twisting, and the sun shen axe in his hand showing signs of collapse.

Zuo Mo was shocked. These mist ghost heads were hundreds of times stronger than the previous mist balls!

He could see them everywhere he looked. The mist ghost heads were endless, and smashed towards him from all over.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo was forced to start dodging. However, Zuo Mo was left much more disheveled than A Gui.

Zuo Mo quickly ended up in dire straits. Continuing like this was not an option. He had to find this guy’s weakness! Otherwise, dragging this out was not of benefit to him.

As he dodged, he urgently asked Wei, “What weakness does it have?”

Wei had started to think about this problem early on. He heard this and said, “The Sun Tribe is the bane of the Ghost Mist Tribe to start with. It’s just that you are not strong enough. If you were able to practice the [Sun Shen Beam], you should be able to kill him.”

Zuo Mo felt depressed hearing this. Wasn’t this a waste of words? Not to mention the [Sun Shen Beam] other than the [Sun Shen Thorn] and the [Sun Shen Axe], Zuo Mo hadn’t learned  anything else.

“Then what other options do I have?”

Wei’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Delay him for a while, maybe A Gui can do it!”

“Really?” Zuo Mo was suspicious.

“You can only try.” Wei wasn’t too sure.

Zuo Mo suddenly saw A Gui who was appearing and disappearing. He felt that Wei’s idea was not reliable. He knew A Gui’s strength. There was a great gulf between her and the guy in front of them. He had to admit that the big guy in front of them was much stronger. He was one of the strongest shen users he met, weaker  than Shi but stronger than Big Brother Qing Lin!

And they were fighting on the other’s home territory.

There was nothing to do except try their hardest!

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. He thought of the shen glyph remanent that he had comprehended while travelling to Calm Brightness Jie, and the green strand wrapped around his wrist suddenly unwound.

The hair-thin green strand was like a nimble snake. It stretched its body along the rippling waves of air.

While dodging, Zuo Mo forced himself to calm down. A dot of light suddenly lit up on his fingertip.

The light was not dazzling, and did not attract the attention of the mist giant.

Zuo Mo started to draw in empty space with difficulty.

Chapter 793 – Ghost Mist Child

It was the first time Zuo Mo fought someone so strong.

The other seemed to possess an undying body. The endless mist sea would heal his injuries. Compared to him, the mist monsters that Zuo Mo and the others encountered in the Mist Hall weren’t worth a mention. Every Ghost Mist Head was like a heavy little mountain. Their shifting faces were filled with an eerie power.

It the sun shen power wasn’t their bane, Zuo Mo doubted that he could have managed to survive until now.

However, at this time, Zuo Mo didn’t have any stray thoughts in his head.

The green strand in his hand floated uncontrollably. The light at the tip of Zuo Mo’s finger suddenly gave off an ancient and desolate power. It was like the vast primal plain where everything grew naturally. There were no signs of civilization, only the vitality of nature.

This shen glyph he did not know the name of, this shen glyph that he had not yet completely comprehended flooded into his mind as Zuo Mo was forced to a precipice.

The green strand suddenly rolled back as though it was summoned.

The hair-thin strand tore through the air with a piercing shriek.

Zuo Mo’s attention was completely focused as he searched for the feeling from that day. The light at his fingertip gradually grew brighter.

Suddenly, his fingertip felt heavy. Joy flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. This was the feeling!

Vroom!

A heart-shaking low roar came as though it was like a tide coming closer.

The dancing green strand started to give off eerie light. It was like a luminescent seagrass dancing in the air.

Any ghost mist head that was touched by the green strand would pop. The hair-thin green strand seemed to contain astounding power. With just light blows, even the largest ghost mist heads would turn to dust!

This scene was amazing to see.

Pop pop pop!

The ghost mist heads rushing towards Zuo Mo were destroyed. Before their destruction, the sorrowful wails of the ghost mist heads would send chills to anyone listening.

Yet Zuo Mo who was immersed in the shen glyph did not seem to feel it. In a blink, the space in front of Zuo Mo was clear.

The mist giant saw the glowing green strand and exclaimed after a moment of stillness, “Green Pulse String!”

Green Pulse String?

Zuo Mo did not have time to think. The feeling coming from his fingertips was not one of heaviness but a dull burning pain as though he had rubbed the skin on his finger raw.

Zuo Mo gave a muffled grunt but ignored the pain. He continued to draw the shen glyph that appeared in his mind.

———

The green strand suddenly untied itself from Zuo Mo’s wrist.

The green stand danced in front of Zuo Mo, one end flying into the sky, and the other end under Zuo Mo.

In a flash, the green strand was pulled tight like a piano wire made from light connecting the sky and earth!

The mist giant was clearly panicked. His body sank and he was about to flee into the mist sea. As long as he fled into the mist sea, he would be safe.

Suddenly, his figure froze. The lower half of his body did not listen to him.

Watching as the light of the green strand grew, he panicked even more.

What was going on?

He bent his neck and found to his shock that the lower half of his body had, at some time, become a dull grey.

Only now he did suddenly recall the woman who had dodged before had channeled something into his body. His body could change at will, was immune to all toxins. As long as he was in the mist sea, he was immortal!

Ever since he began guarding the Mist Eye Tablet, after fighting so many totem warriors, there was only a handful of warriors that he felt threatened by.

How could these two worms threaten him, an entity who had lived for tens of thousands of years and was peerlessly powerful?

But … ..

The initial spread of the grey color hadn’t attracted his attention. In the moments before this, he had dismissed it.

What was this?

The mist giant was slightly shocked but he did not lose his composure. This was probably a great poison! He pondered. This was not a challenge to him. He was experienced.

Poison was useless against him!

The mist giant recovered his calm and smirked inside. This endless mist sea was his greatest support. He had experience in dealing with poisons. If he collapsed his body and then reconstructed it again, even the greatest poison was useless.

Just like usual, he prepared to destroy his body.

Yet, in the next moment, his expression changed. He was unable to break down his body!

How was this possible!

How was this possible!

The mist giant was both shocked and angry. Suddenly, an eerie green light entered his vision.

He couldn’t help but turn his head. His soul was scared out of him.

The ruler-straight green thread energy was so thick it was almost tangible from afar. This piano string that connected the earth to the sky was giving off a blinding and intense light.

When the mist giant’s eyes landed on Zuo Mo’s finger that was drawing in the air, he was motionless as though he had been struck by lightning!

Impossible!

———

The burning sensation from his fingertip grew stronger. Zuo Mo had reached the end of what he could draw. His attention was focused and tense, so focused he had no other thoughts. He feared that if he slacked off slightly, all of this work would go to waste.

As Zuo Mo drew the shen glyph, the green strand that was like a chord of light in front of him seemed to be drawn back by invisible hands.

As the green thread was drawn out, the green lights quickly gathered at the point where the green strand was being pulled.

The light marks increased. In a flash, a small green twister of light formed on the green strand.

The enormous body of the mist giant was the best target at this time.

Brrng!

The string twanged!

The twisting green light drew out a blinding green streak in the air before striking the mist giant.

The green light easily entered the body of the mist giant.

The mist giant’s body was frozen as though it was a statue. Suddenly, blinding green light came from inside the mist giant. Immediately after, rays of light broke through the mist giant like swords. The mist giant seemed like a hedgehog.

Woosh!

Green tongues of flame suddenly shot out of the mist giant. Moments later, the mist giant was completely enveloped in flames and burned.

Zuo Mo finally came out of his strange state. There was nothing under his feet, and his body twisted as it instinctively maintained his position in the air. He finally found to his shock that all of his shen power had been used up.

Looking at the enormous ball of fire in the distance, Zuo Mo finally sighed in relief. His gaze landed on the green strand that had lost all of its light.

With a wave of his hand, the green strand flew back into his hands.

Green Pulse String. That seemed to be the three words that the mist giant had just said.

Suddenly, a tiny white shadow flew out of the flames and was attempting to break into the air. Zuo Mo could clearly see that the white shadow was a snowy white child.

What was that?

Seeing him about to flee, a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his neck.

The child’s body froze. He didn’t dare to move, but he grimaced inside.

Holding the naked child, A Gui flew next to Zuo Mo.

“Ghost Mist Child! He’s the Ghost Mist Child of the Ghost Mist Tribe!” Wei said with wonder.

“Ghost Mist Child?” Zuo Mo was clueless.

“They say that when the totem warriors of the Ghost Mist Tribe reach the end of their cultivation, they would rejuvenate back to a child, with their bodies becoming completely white. That is a ghost mist child,” Wei explained.

“It seems very powerful.” Zuo Mo muttered.

“I am very powerful!” The child on A Gui’s hand couldn’t resist speaking.

Zuo Mo, Wei and Pu Yao were completely stunned. The Ghost Mist Child could hear them talking?

“I’m telling you, this old man was the strongest in the tribe in the past!” The Ghost Mist Child said in a wizened tone. However, when paired with his young voice, it was strange to hear.

Pu Yao’s bloody pupil suddenly flashed. “You can hear us talk?”

“Of course!” The Ghost Mist Child said impatiently. “You two are souls, here in my territory, how can I not hear you? You are very weak to not know such a minor skill. You definitely cannot even leave the body of this boy.”

“You know how to make your soul manifest outside your body?” Pu Yao’s bloody pupil flashed again.

“Soul manifest outside the body? I haven’t heard of that. However, it is very simple to walk out of this boy’s body,” the ghost mist child said offhandedly.

“How?” Pu Yao asked shamelessly.

The ghost mist child suddenly stopped talking, knowing he had something of value now. He wasn’t dumb. He had talked so much because he wanted to bargain with Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was experienced. Seeing the other like this, he knew what the other’s plan was. He smirked and said, “Cooperate, and save yourself some physical pain.”

The ghost mist child said dismissively, “What can you do to this old man? If you kill this old man, you will never be able to leave the mist eye tablet.”

“Do I need to kill you?” Zuo Mo was a vicious person and the ghost mist child couldn’t compare to him. He said coolly, “I only need to put a wisp of sun shen fire into your body, hmph hmph!”

He remembered what Wei said. The sun shen power he cultivated was the bane of the Ghost Mist Tribe. The sun shen fire should also be effective against the ghost mist child.

The ghost mist child’s expression immediately turned ill as he shrieked, “You are so evil!”

“Scared by just this?” Zuo Mo continued to smile coldly. “Ge has all kinds of ways, this is nothing. Resist, keep resisting, ge is waiting. You brought ge in here, we need to settle this debt. Otherwise, heh, this is only the start?”

The ghost mist child was about to cry. He had slept for tens of thousands of years and encountered such a freakish guy after waking up.

Pu Yao said coldly, “Careful, do not let him near the mist sea below.”

The ghost mist child wanted to kill himself by hitting his head on the wall. How come every one of the enemy was so cunning? The mist hall that he had guarded for so many years. He really missed it. The people of the ancient era were so honest … …

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” The ghost mist child could not care for anything else now that the situation was like this. These people were clearly not friendly, and he could only be unfortunate to have landed in the hands of these people.

The ghost mist child presented a chant.

A black and white figure quickly broke free of Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

“Hahahaha!” Pu Yao laughed into the sky with pleasure. He had been searching all this time for a way to leave Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. Only today was his wish fulfilled.

This feeling was too good!

Wei also had an expression of joy and novelty. No one could imagine the desire a person who was trapped for so many years felt towards freedom.

A Gui was unaffected by Pu Yao and Wei’s suddenly appearances.

Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao and Wei who were flying back and forth in the sky. He couldn’t help but gave a sincere smile.

These two antiques … …

The ghost mist child saw no one was paying attention to him and was about to attempt to break free. However, the girl who was grabbing his neck seemed to detect his intentions and her grip tightened.

The ghost mist child’s neck felt a burst of pain.

He immediately became docile.

Chapter 794 – Encountering Tian Huan

Wind Hall

Ruan You Xian looked on at the battle occurring without a word.

Long Yan held the advantage, even while fighting one against three, but Ruan You Xian didn’t have any happiness in his expression.

His gaze landed on the three that were struggling to survive.

Mo Cloud Sea!

These three were from Mo Cloud Sea!

Ruan You Xian recognized the identities of the three at first glance and they were Mo Cloud Sea’s elite. Mo Cloud Sea was Tian Huan’s enemy, and Ruan You Xian wanted to test them to see what was the strength of Mo Cloud Sea’s elite forces. He had Long Yan attack.

Long Yan quickly gained the advantage. This was not a surprise to Ruan You Xian. Yet the following fighting caused Ruan You Xian to become serious.

The three from Mo Cloud Sea were at a disadvantage but they were hardy. Even now, they were not defeated. The trio’s battle formation was practiced, and they were in sync. Even if they were at a disadvantage, they were resilient. Long Yan was not using his full power, but Ruan You Xian was still surprised by the three’s strength.

If Mo Cloud Sea’s elite were all of such a skill level, then it would be terrifying!

Ruan You Xian could see a lot of things. These three were average in strength, they had not cultivated shen power for long, their talent was average, and they wore Mo Cloud Sea’s shen equipment. From every perspective, they did not have any outstanding traits. However, the trio used the power of the battle formations, shen equipment, and their skills to their limits.

This was what truly shocked Ruan You Xian.

For any faction, individual strength was not scary. Up until now, no one had appeared who had the power to destroy a sect on their own. No one knew how powerful the top level experts really were, their offensive power, and their influence on the state of the conflict. Ever since they entered the era of shen power, there had not been one battle between battalions that top level experts had participated in.

There were many factors that determined the war, such as the battle generals, the collective skill of the battalion, equipment and others.

What these three showed were the crucial aspects.

Mo Cloud Sea had experts!

Mo Cloud Sea was not weak, and the Mo Cloud shen equipment was one of the strongest shen equipment. Compared to Kun Lun and Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea’s greatest weakness was their battalion. There was still a gap between their soldiers compared to Kun Lun and Tian Huan. This difference was a difference accumulated through thousands of years. It could not be made up in a few short years.

Before today, Ruan You Xian firmly believed that Mo Cloud Sea’s abilities could not compare to Tian Huan. While Mo Cloud Sea had Gongsun Cha and Bie Han, Tian Huan definitely led Mo Cloud Sea by a large margin. However, he did not think that now.

These three were definitely not the exception.

Mo Cloud Sea likely knew their weaknesses and due to this, they carved their own path. They used battle formations and shen equipment to unearth every thread of potential in their battalion.

These things were not in the open, they could not be seen or held, but they could truly increase the collective strength of the battalion!

Ruan You Xian noted it down. When he returned, he would definitely report this to the sect leader. Tian Huan’s shen equipment was comparable to Mo Cloud Sea, and their battalions were higher in quality. However, they had not completely uncovered all of the advantages.

If the two sides met, Ruan You Xian was not sure how much of an advantage the battalions on his side would have.

“Finish this. Do not waste too much time on these pawns.” Ruan You Xian felt as though he had understood the mysteries and did not need to waste too much time on this.

Long Yan’s attacks grew in power as he heard this. The trio that had been in danger seemed as though they would be killed.

Suddenly, a thick and gentle voice came, “Wouldn’t it be a pity if you leave now!”

The trio suddenly became alert and managed to stop Long Yan’s attack.

Among the furious winds, a withered body slowly walked out. His steps were slow yet his movement was fast. While his voice sounded as though he was coming from far away, he had already reached them.

“Yes, when did it become that anyone could bully Mo Cloud Sea?”

A lazy voice carried soul-stealing seductiveness. A female like a rose elegantly came. The furiously wind did not cause any ripples on her dark red dress.

Zong Ru! Ceng Lian’er!

Ruan You Xian’s pupils suddenly contracted. Long Yan retreated from the fight and moved back to Ruan You Xian’s side.

It was no wonder that the two were wary. The experts of Mo Cloud Sea were people that all the major sects had investigated. Nothing more need to be said of Ceng Lian’er. This female that cultivated moon shen power had mysteriously appeared around Zuo Mo. Just as everyone was searching for shen power, she had already made small accomplishments in shen power. No one knew how strong she was now.

In the past, Zong Ru was an unknown name. Yet when Zong Ru came out of his death seclusion, the worldly apparition shook all of Mo Cloud Sea. The news was naturally passed back to the sects by the scouts. When the sects put more effort into the investigation, the information on Zong Ru was filled in and everyone marveled.

Zong Ru was from low birth, and was an unorthodox xiu. He followed Zuo Mo from very early on and was extremely loyal to him. In order to help Zuo Mo, he swore the Buddha Abandonment Death Wish, and obtained wish power. Then he entered death seclusion, and he actually came out! Due to this, he immediately became known as one of the shen power experts under Zuo Mo’s command.

When Ruan You Xian saw Zong Ru, he knew the rumors had not exaggerated. The methods that Dhyana xiu used to cultivate were different, and so the signs when they had reached each higher level varied. However, while Zong Ru had an emaciated body, his eyes were clear and penetrating. Ruan You Xian felt even more fearful.

While Dhyana methods paid great attention to tempering the body, there were also dhyana xiu that focused on the mind. Those methods thought of the body as a shell that was an obstacle to transcend.

Zong Ru was probably on that path.

“Daren said before that we will encounter Tian Huan experts here. I hadn’t through it would be so soon,” Ceng Lian’er said serenely.

Ruan You Xian’s heart shook. The other recognized them? He forced a smile, “Tian Huan? Miss Ceng, you think we are Tian Huan? Tian Huan is a great sect, it is not something that roaming xiu like us can claim connections with.”

Ceng Lian’er looked amusedly at Ruan You Xian. She did not speak but caused Ruan You Xian to become anxious.

“We’ll know after fighting.” Zong Ru’s tone was still gentle and ethereal.

The trio that had almost lost their lives became excited. These people had followed Zuo Mo for a long time, and could not avoid being infected with some of Little Mo Ge’s poisonous tongue.

One of them muttered, “Ho, they are terrified already?”

Another person followed, “Of course, Tian Huan is nothing. If they encounter Grandmaster and Big Sister, they will be beaten like a dog!”

The third person coldly said, “We are cursing Tian Huan, please do not put yourselves in.”

Ruan You Xian felt anger rise in his throat. It was the first time in his life he had such a strong impulse. He wanted to tear apart the mouths of the trio.

Long Yan was provoked, and his figure flashed as he shot towards the three!

The killing energy was tangible and like a wind that swept towards the three!

This time, he did not keep anything back in his attack.

Suddenly, a thin hand appeared in front of him.

So fast!

Long Yan’s eyes narrowed, and his fighting spirit grew. He continued forward rather than retreating. His presence increased again. With an angry shout, a bright shen glyph suddenly lit up from his fist and reached his forearm.

Shen power wildly circulated in the shen glyph. Threads of light formed from the shen glyph and rapidly gathered towards his fist.

Long Yan’s fist transformed into a manifestation that seemed similar to a dragon. It roared suddenly and everyone’s minds shook.

Zong Ru’s expression did not change. The thin hand waved slightly and formed a patch of void.

Long Yan’s ferocious punch seemed to attack empty space and didn’t make a sound.

In the eyes of everyone else, it seemed as though Long Yan’s punch was swallowed by Zong Ru’s hand. The raging power, and the tangible killing intent immediately disappeared.

Just now, it had been furious waves, and now the ocean was calm in a blink.

Even more eerie was that Long Yan’s fist and Zong Ru’s thin palm seemed to be stuck together.

———

The ghost mist child had never thought that there would be day he would also become a captive. This day had also come so quickly he hadn’t prepared mentally at all. And the first time he tripped up in over ten thousand years was on such a malicious and cunning person.

Listening to the names of those cruel tortures, the ghost mist child felt a chill just hearing the names. There was only one thought left in his mind. How could there be such devious and evil people in the world!

The pitiful guy’s last bit of hope finally disappeared under Zuo Mo’s endless threats.

He was obedient. He answered whatever Zuo Mo asked.

Zuo Mo finally learned many things. The ghost mist child had been a strong person in the past, the strongest of that generation in the Ghost Mist Tribe. He had been a powerful and influential person. However, people would encounter unpredicted fortune and misfortune. When he had been refining the Mist Eye Tablet, he had been careless and his soul was sucked in.

Losing his physical body, he comprehended the mist sea method. From then on, he was immortal.

The Mist Eye Tablet naturally grew in power. He was furious and sorrowful. He was not willing to accept a master. Any person that wanted to take the Mist Eye Tablet would be heavily wounded by him.

Yet he hadn’t thought that he ended up in the hands of the person who created the Totem Coliseum. That time, it had been he himself that had been beaten into submission.

In the end, his master had assigned him to guard the mist hall.

After his master died, and the Totem Coliseum was closed, he was locked in the Totem Coliseum, unable to see the light of the day. He finally saw people come in, he immediately became alert. In the past, the mist hall had always been thought as the hardest first hall to pass.

He hadn’t thought that he would end up in the hands of scoundrels … …

He was sad and indignant.

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. He finally learned the origins of the green strand from the ghost mist child. Green Pulse String, an unique item from the ancient era. It was formed by the universe, and no one knew of its origins or what it was. They only knew that it could grow. Every thousand years, it would grow half a li. This seven li long Green Pulse String had grown for at least fourteen thousand years.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo caressed the item.

Good treasure!

Chapter 795 – Yield

Other than the Green Pulse String, Zuo Mo naturally asked about other things such as the setup of the Totem Coliseum and where the dangers were. Regretfully, the Ghost Mist Child was clearly a recluse, and a super recluse that stayed inside for more than ten thousand years. Except for the small area of the Mist Hall, he had never stepped into any other hall.

Of course, to show off that he had some connections, the guy said that he was friends with the other Totem Coliseum guardians in spirit.

Friends in spirit for a long time … …

Zuo Mo almost cursed out loud. From the words, he knew there was no relationship.

“Most of this guy’s knowledge has been wrung out, how should we deal with him?” Zuo Mo looked at Pu Yao and Wei, saying, “He’s a troublesome fellow to keep. He might secretly trip us. It is more convenient to kill him!”

The Ghost Mist Child bellowed, his snowy white face turning even whiter. “Don’t kill me! If you kill me, you will not be able to leave!”

“Hm, was the spell you just gave us a fake?” Zuo Mo’s face turned murderous immediately.

The Ghost Mist Child frozen and his face was ashen. Had he given them the true spell just now? He thought about how Zuo Mo had threatened him repeatedly, and he didn’t remember at all what he had confessed in his daze.

“It is better to kill him!” Pu Yao did not look at the Ghost Mist Child but the mist sea with admiration. “This Mist Eye Tablet is a good place.”

His intentions of taking over the place was clear.

Wei said with a smile, “Good!”

The Ghost Mist Child was struck dumb in fear. “No! Don’t kill me!”

Zuo Mo looked down at him and said, “Mo Cloud Sea never supports wastrels, if you don’t have any value, why should we keep you alive?”

“Value?” The Ghost Mist child seemed to grab onto the last bit of hope. He shook and said, “Value! Value! I have value!”

“Oh, then speak.” Zuo Mo saw the other entering his trap and rejoiced inside. However, he showed an uncaring expression on the surface.

“I’m willing to give you the Mist Shen Methodology of the Ghost Mist Tribe,” The Ghost Mist child said hurriedly.

“Mist Shen Methodology?” Zuo Mo made a sound and then asked, “How does it compare to the Sun Shen Methodology?”

He thought inside, this could be given to Ye Ling, it would be useful.

The Ghost Mist Child stilled. A moment later, he shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“See, you want to use just the Ghost Mist Shen Methodology to persuade ye, you underestimate ye.” Zuo Mo had a disdainful expression.

The Ghost Mist Child gritted his teeth. “This lowly one is willing to be in Daren’s command!”

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up.

The ghost mist child continued, “While these two can take over the Mist Eye Tablet, this is an object that this lowly one forged. While the two can use some of its power, the methods are different, and they cannot use the Mist Eye Tablet’s true power.”

Zuo Mo had been waiting for this. He deliberately pretended to be thoughtful and said, “You say this, and I do feel that the power of this Mist Eye Tablet is acceptable. However, if you flee into the mist sea, wouldn’t ye lose both wealth and manpower?”

The Ghost Mist Child felt sweat roll at Little Mo Ge’s “lose both wealth and manpower.” He hurriedly said, “This lowly one is willing to have Daren’s imprint. If Daren uses this shen methodology to leave behind jinzhi, this small one will have no place to flee.”

Zuo Mo took the shen methodology from the Ghost Mist Child and quickly scanned it. Then he looked amusedly at the Ghost Mist Child.

The Ghost Mist Child’s heart beat rapidly as Zuo Mo stared at him.

“One should treasure life. Since you are willing to yield, a good person like ye will naturally follow the will of heaven.” Zuo Mo smiled as he looked at the Ghost Mist Child. “However, this method of yours is too complex. Ye doesn’t need it, ye’s Soul Setting Divine Light is simpler.”

When the Ghost Mist child heard the words Soul Setting Divine Light, he was stunned.

“What? You are not willing?” Little Mo Ge said darkly.

The Ghost Mist child wanted to cry but he knew that the situation did not allow for him to hesitate. This little man in front of him was definitely a vicious person whho wouldn’t blink at killing.

“I am willing to yield to Daren’s command!” He bent his head and bowed.

Once he said it, he felt better. In the past, hadn’t his previous master also been so eerie and hard to predict? Also, Master had many experts with him, cultivated the sun shen power, and had a treasure like the Green Pulse String.

Such a person even ten thousand years ago was outstanding!

If he was able to work under such a person, he might be able to recover his true body … …

The Ghost Mist Child immediately felt his heart light up.

———

Thunder boomed overhead. Dazzling electric eels split the sky. They formed and dissipated constantly.

Wei Sheng walked forward step by step. His gaze looked directly forward, his steps were determined. His eyes that were like bloody glass were filled with fighting spirit. Behind him, five guards followed closely. They looked at the straight figure in front of them, their eyes filled with respect and reverence.

The five of them had been sent to the Thunder Hall together.

The five carefully traveled. They hadn’t expected to encounter Wei Sheng and immediately sighed in relief.

Zuo Mo’s plan was completely ruined. The guards without the advantage of numbers could not channel the power of the combat formation. The situation of the guards in the Totem Coliseum became very dangerous.

Fortunately, they encountered Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng had a transcendent status in Mo Cloud Sea. It wasn’t just because he was Zuo Mo’s eldest Shixiong. Wei Sheng’s reputation had been built by using his sword.

The present Wei Sheng was far from the unknown person of the past.

He was thought of as one of the sword xiu in the world with the most potential. Even someone like Lin Qian praised him endlessly.

Wu Kong Sword Sect had become a legend.

It had created a lord that had the ability to vie for the world, a great battle general that could rank fourth among the ten great xiuzhe battle generals, a peerless sword xiu that could reach the peak of the sword path, adding on Chun Yu Cheng, and Luo Li … …

No one would have thought that an unknown little backwater sect would be so strong.

Wei Sheng used his sword to create his reputation.

This status was one that even the holy ground of sword xiu, Kun Lun, had to admit.

Wei Sheng suddenly stopped in his steps.

A brawny figure appeared in front of him.

“You are Wei Sheng?” the incomer said in a deep voice. He did not disguise his status as a mo at all. His body that seemed to be smelted from copper was filled with a wild power. His head was bare and his upper half was naked. There was a red mark on his forehead. Round copper hoops the thickness of fingers hung from his ears. He wore short leather pants, and stood with bare feet.

“I am Wei Sheng.” Wei Sheng did not avoid the other’s gaze and asked politely, “You are?”

Wei Sheng could see that when he admitted that he was Wei Sheng, the other’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Wei Sheng was greatly familiar with that kind of gaze. That was a gaze filled with fighting spirit.

The other grinned and showed two rows of white teeth.

“The fifth mo god of the Mo Shen Temple, Wu Le.”

———

Zong Ru and Long Yan fought intensely.

Ruan You Xian and Ceng Lian’er were not idle. The two were fighting. However, the more they fought, the more shocked Ruan You Xian was. He had thought highly of Ceng Lian’er but hadn’t expected that the other’s strength surpassed his predictions.

Ceng Lian’ers shen power was not vast, but stable and enduring. From beginning to end, it did not show any signs of drying up. The other’s shen techniques became unpredictable.

Who said that ancient shen methodologies did not have variations and won based on strength?

Ruan You Xian became irritated as he fought. The shen technique of Tian Huan focused on variation yet he was suppressed in this field by Ceng Lian’er.

That crescent moon of Ceng Lian’er’s was full of variation.

What irritated Ruan You Xian even more was that the other didn’t just have endless variation, her attacks were unusually sharp, especially the Moon Essence Chop. No matter what shen technique he used, it would be bisected. The attack was wondrously sharp.

What Ruan You Xian did not know that the moon shen power that Ceng Lian’er cultivated was not from some minor shen temple. The Moon Shen Temple had not been as strong as the Sun Shen Temple, but that was only because the Moon Shen Temple attacks were not as offensively powerful. The power of the Moon Shen Temple was great, and the Moon Shen Methodology it passed down was not an ordinary one.

Ceng Lian’er had improved every day in the years she had stayed with Zuo Mo. However, there were no opportunities for her to fight, so no one knew her strength.

The only one that knew her strength was Zuo Mo.

Ruan You Xian naturally was exceptional fighter in order to be given such an important duty by Tian Huan.

Tian Huan Shen Power was centered on the shen glyph. The magnitude of their strength depended on their comprehension of shen glyphs. In terms of ferocity, Ruan You Xian fell behind Long Yan, but in terms of shen glyph comprehension, he was the strongest of the trio.

In other words, he was the strongest of the three!

The shen glyph at his chest suddenly lit up. His presence abruptly changed. In a flash, he seemed to change into a completely different person. An indescribably pressuring presence covered Ceng Lian’er.

Compared to Long Yan’s shen glyph, Ruan You Xian’s shen glyph was more complete.

Unlike Mo Cloud Sea’s inscription technique, the shen glyphs of Tian Huan grew naturally as they comprehended the shen glyphs. The deeper the understanding of the shen glyph, the more complete the shen glyph was, the stronger the shen power produced by the shen glyph was, and the number of shen techniques that one could use was also greater.

The shen glyph that Ruan You Xian had was the [Mountain] shen glyph of Tian Huan.

This shen glyph had been used by the great ones of the ancient era to understand mountains. It contained some of the wonders of mountains and was peerlessly powerful.

It was the first complete shen glyph that Tian Huan had discovered, and was the top choice for the disciples to cultivate.

While the [Mountain] shen glyph was not hard to start learn, it was hard to master. There were countless Tian Huan disciples, but the number of them that could cultivate it to a deep level was only a handful.

Ruan You Xian was the best among them.

He had his own interpretation of [Mountain]. This caused his [Mountain] shen glyph to be different from other sect disciple’s [Mountain] shen glyph.

Even the elders and powers in the sect praised his [Mountain] shen glyph.

He was filled with confidence in his own power. Even if he could not win against Ceng Lian’er, there were no problems in protecting himself. He thought of the orders from his sect before he had left, and his fighting spirit grew even more!

Chapter 796 – Rain Commanding Banner

Ruan You Xian’s presence suddenly changed. He seemed to become a tall mountain, vast and unmoving.

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes lit up. Naturally, she could see Ruan You Xian’s change. It had been so long since she encountered such an interesting opponent!

As a mo, Ceng Lian’er liked to fight. However, she usually suppressed the urge. It was rare to encounter such a strong opponent. This ignited her fighting spirit.

So what if it was a mountain!

Ceng Lian’er’s hands were spread open. The crescent moon behind her that was larger than she was tall spun in front of her. It twisted nimbly around her body.

“Moon, moon, strike!”

Ceng Lian’er’s unique voice that was both seductive and serene entered Ruan You Xian’s ears.

The moon was like a blade!

A sharp and icy presence came at Ruan You Xian’s head. Ruan You Xian did not have time to think, and chanted, “A mountain seen is not a mountain!”

The vast presence immediately changed to becoming something unpredictable like a mountain shrouded in the mist.

The moon accurately struck Ruan You Xian.

Hm!

Ceng Lian’er’s eyebrow jumped up. She could see that the moon had hit its target but Ceng Lian’er could feel that the attack had hit empty space!

This was a masterful technique!

Ruan You Xian’s counterattack immediately came, his right hand grabbing for Ceng Lian’er

Ceng Lian’er felt her view darken as though a mountain was crashing down on her. She had the feeling that she could not dodge it. However, Ceng Lian’er shattered the feeling in an instant. So what if it was a mountain?

Her fingertip drew a curve along the inside crescent of the moon, and the inner curve of the crescent moon in front of her suddenly lit up.

She moved her hand, and a string of light appeared in her hand. The crescent moon was a bow!

Her hand pulling the bow open, the were small crescent moons on the bowstring. They were icy and glowing like wind chimes that gave off clear sounds.

“Ding ding ding … …”

The pleasing sounds of the bells were like an enchanting tune that caused people to sink into it.

Dozens of little moon crescents drew out dozens of eerie and cold curves as they flew towards Ruan You Xian.

Ruan You Xian’s expression was grave. The moment that Ceng Lian’er pulled the bowstring, dozens of waves of killing intent locked onto him. There was a strong feeling of danger. His hand that was in the air immediately moved away from Ceng Lian’er and slapped towards the little crescent moon flying in the air.

Yet these palm-sized crescent moon were strange. Their flight paths did not have any pattern to speak of!

Ruan You Xian’s blow landed on empty air.

However, Ruan You Xian was not so easily defeated. With a cold snort, his blow changed. It became a steep peak with precipitous cliffs that once again headed for Ceng Lian’er.

Ceng Lian’er ignored it. She raised her arm, her fingers spread.

The crescent moon in front of her started to spin like a fan. It spun faster and faster, turning into a curtain of light that covered Ceng Lian’er.

The curtain flew towards Ruan You Xian’s blow.

Ruan You Xian was overjoyed. This was a chance! He could not attend to anything else. All of his shen power was gathered, the shen glyph at his chest growing like young tendrils that spread along his arm.

The bright light followed the shen glyph into his right hand.

A hand imprint left his hand!

The hand imprint did not move fast, yet the entire space seemed to be moved by this hand. No matter how it struggled, it could not break free!

All of space was being pulled. It headed for Ceng Lian’er with an indescribable pressure!

From the start of the battle to now, Ruan You Xian’s presence reached its peak!

At this time, he was like a tall mountain unable to be moved by the power of mortals!

Ceng Lian’er’s eyes grew brighter. She did not retreat, the light covering her growing as she moved forward and bravely charged straight up. Her speed was like a meteor, the crescent moon spinning rapidly appearing as a curved shield of light that covered her.

The little crescent moons flying in the air hummed in unison. They drew out strange paths and seemed to be attracted to Ceng Lian’er.

From far away, Ceng Lian’er appeared like a meteor followed by dozens of streams of light.

With a soul-shaking roar, Ceng Lian’er charged at Ruan You Xian without any finesse!

The two collided face on!

Boom!

Blinding light was released from where the two collided and immediately swallowed the two of them!

The rippling air currents were like sharp arrows that could not be stopped.

———

Having taken in the Ghost Mist Child, Zuo Mo felt very proud.

The Mist Eye Tablet was also a very good treasure. Zuo Mo had personally tasted its power. If not for the help of A Gui, him alone was definitely not a match.

However, the Mist Eye Tablet was seriously damaged by Zuo Mo and A Gui, and needed time to regain the significant power it lost.

It was dangerous to fight in as the weak side against strong opponents, but if they succeeded, then they could eat until they were full.

The Mist Eye Tablet immediately became one of the strongest weapons in Zuo Mo’s hands. Even though it was damaged to some degree, it was still powerful.

After taking the Mist Eye Tablet, the Mist Hall was like Zuo Mo’s backyard.

The pitiful Lil’ Pagoda and Black Gold Seal Soldier were still in the middle of their indigestion. However, according to the Ghost Mist Child, the mist that the two had consumed were not detrimental to them, and would be of benefit.

Zuo Mo finally put down his worries.

They did not encounter anyone in the entire Mist Hall. Was his luck so good? Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel happy.

“After the Wind, Rain, Thunder, Mist and Snow Halls are the four palaces: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.” While the Ghost Mist Child was not acquainted with other people, he was from here, and knew more than Zuo Mo who came in blind.

“Then we will enter now? Which palace is the easiest to pass?” Zuo Mo rubbed his hands.

“They are all difficult.” The Ghost Mist Child shook his head. “The four palaces are for the four seasons. The sun tribe warrior that defeated me in the past was defeated in the Winter Palace. I had thought that he would be able to make it, and it was unexpected he failed at the last step. He was the strongest I’ve ever seen.”

The Ghost Mist Child couldn’t help but lament.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo immediately put away the smile on his face. Zuo Mo knew very well how strong the Sun Tribe had been in the past. The other was able to defeat the Ghost Mist Child in a true battle, the other’s strength would definitely be great. Yet such a strong person was defeated in the four palaces. The dangers of the four palaces could be imagined.

“I have other comrades that came in with me, can we find them?” Zuo Mo thought of his guards and couldn’t help but worry.

The Ghost Mist child said, “It is not difficult to find them. I guard the Mist Hall, I can still use some of the Totem Coliseum’s abilities. However, there is no way to get to them. The five halls are not connected. However, if they pass through the five halls, Daren will be able to see them before they enter the four palaces.”

Zuo Mo was worried and hurriedly described everyone’s appearances.

The Ghost Mist Child had some abilities. With a wave of his hand, a mist mirror appeared with everyone’s surroundings.

Zuo Mo saw that while everyone was fighting, they were not in danger. His worries were eased.

After watching a while, Zuo Mo suddenly asked, “Why are there no hall masters to be seen in the other halls?”

The Ghost Mild Child sighed. “The other four hall masters existed before, and they were all very strong. But who can last through tens of thousands of years? If I was not a yin soul, and had the Mist Eye Tablet that forms its own world, I would have dissipated as well.”

Zuo Mo thought about it and found it was right. Those that could survive from the ancient era were basically not the normal ones. He suddenly thought of an important question. “I heard there is a shen device nucleus here, do you know where it is?”

The Ghost Mist Child stilled and then understood. “So Master has come for that!”

Zuo Mo was full of anticipation. “You know where it is?”

The Ghost Mist Child nodded. “The item exists. The previous master gathered treasures from all over, desiring to forge a shen device. This was something that the previous master was preparing to leave behind for those later. But before it could be forged, the previous master disappeared, and the Totem Coliseum was closed.”

“Where is it?” Zuo Mo’s eyes were bright as he listened. A thing from such a powerful person that was to be left behind for those after them, it definitely was something good!

The Ghost Mist Child thought. “It should be at the previous master’s residence. We need to pass through the four palaces.”

Zuo Mo did not find that strange when he heard it. “Where do we go now?”

“We will wait for your comrades outside the gates of the four palaces,” The Ghost Mist Child said.

Under the Ghost Mist Child’s guidance, Zuo Mo’s group quickly left the Mist Hall. The Ghost Mist Child’s original jinzhi had disappeared long ago. Adding on the jinzhi that Zuo Mo put in using the Soul Setting Divine Light, he actually benefited and the ghost mist changed again. He was familiar with the Totem Coliseum, and the group quickly came to the gates of the four palaces of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

Four bronze gates stood, carved with diagrams representing the four seasons.

———

“The rumors say the five halls of the coliseum each have their own wonders!” Nie Chen said emotionally. “Even after being sealed for more than ten thousand years, it is still so magnificent. How great would have the scene back then!”

A few hints of yearning flashed through Zhen Ling Meng’s eyes but she quickly recovered. “The records say that the five halls of the Totem Coliseum all have a hall master. We did not encounter a hall master on our way, it must have died already.”

“What does Shimei mean?” Nie Chen said thoughtfully.

“While the hall master of the Rain Hall is dead, the presence of the hall has not decreased. There should be a treasure sustaining the area here,” Zhen Ling Meng said.

“Then what are we chattering about, go find it!” Tan Xu said impatiently. “I had thought that those yao would have some skill, who knew they were so weak. We haven’t encountered one hard fight up until now. I think that the reputation of this Totem Coliseum is exaggerated.”

The three had encountered three yao experts just now, but the difference in power had been clear. They had quickly won.

Nie Chen was not as battle-thirsty as Tan Xu. He shook his head and said, “Getting the item is the right thing. As to killing, other than Tian Huan and Mo Cloud Sea, the others are not interesting.”

Tan Xu’s eyes suddenly lit up. “I wonder if Mo Cloud Sea’s Wei Sheng has come. Eldest Shixiong always praises this person. Hmph, if I encounter him, I will kill him.”

“Let’s see when we meet him.” Nie Chen agreed with Tan Xu’s words. If they had to choose the person that Kun Lun disliked the most, it was definitely Wei Sheng. Kun Lun was the holy ground of sword xiu. Every Kun Lun disciple was proud of this. Yet Wei Sheng now showed signs of surpassing this, and every Kun Lun disciple disliked it.

“There!” Zhen Ling Meng suddenly pointed in a direction.

The other two hurriedly looked over and saw a corpse. There was a cloth banner swaying in the wind next to the corpse. Written on the banner was an ancient “Rain” character.

Zhen Ling Meng was widely read and joyfully surprised. “The Rain Commanding Banner!”

Chapter 797 – Kun Lun Soul

Lin Qian carefully pushed open the door. The blinding light from the seal formations in the room caused his heart to hurt. A hunched figure sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. If people saw this scene, they would be astonished. This hunched figure was the sect leader of Kun Lun.

Yet his arms had disappeared, and only half of his snowy white brows were light. He would occasionally cough and with every cough, his hunched figure would heave and shudder.

Lin Qian’s nose felt sore. Thinking about Master’s presence in the past, his heart twisted.

“Master!”

He called lightly.

The sect leader heard him and he straightened in difficulty. He said gently, “Qian’er has come.”

His face was covered in wrinkles, his eyes blurry, his voice hoarse like an elderly person at the last days of his life.

“Yes.” Lin Qian was afraid that he would be overwhelmed and cry, he only answered with one word. He quickly walked next to master and started to take Master’s pulse to check his wounds.

Master had been injured when he had been exploring the ancient ruins. His arms were cut off, his body completely void of ling power, his organs null of all life. Lin Qian thought of all the ways he could but he could just barely manage to keep Master breathing.

This grey presence didn’t have any life at all.

Lin Qian’s heart twisted in pain. He knew that Master had wanted to forge a shen device that truly belonged to him. Kun Lun’s [Capable Person] was the first shen device of Kun Lun yet there were many parts about it that were not perfect. Master had not been content.

“You do not need to worry for me.” The sect leader knew that his disciple was sad and comforted him, “I have lived for so long, I’ve lived enough.”

“Master … …” Lin Qian heard this and his tears could not be held back any longer.

“Child, you are a sect leader, you cannot be childish like this,” the sect leader smiled. His grey-white face was lifeless. “You have done well. I’m not worried handing Kun Lun to you.”

Lin Qian sobbed soundlessly.

“I only reached a clear mind a few days ago, and realized many things. Mo Cloud Sea’s shen power is unique, and completely different from Kun Lun. We cannot just copy it. What Kun Lun cultivates is the sword, the sword is the truth. What we need is a shen sword, not a raiment. The shen device is good, but it is not suited to Kun Lun. One sword defeats all, that is the way of Kun Lun!”

The sect leader’s hoarse voice echoed in the room.

Lin Qian could hear that Master was warning him, and felt even more pained.

“I am satisfied at completing my greatest wish before death. You should not feel sad for me,” the sect leader said gently. “The sword that I found for you has great origins, it is one of the strongest shen swords in the ancient era. While it has been sealed for a long time, it still has its power. Do not fail to live up to its reputation.”

“This disciple will not fail you!” Lin Qian stopped his tears and gave a sword oath.

The sect leader nodded. “I only have one wish left.”

“Master, please speak!” Lin Qian’s gaze was determined. He decided inside that no matter what, he had to complete Master’s wish!

The sect leader raised his head. “My arms and ling power are gone, my life is gone, the only thing left is my soul. I wish to throw my soul into the Immemorial Shen Sword, and strengthen the sword soul.”

Lin Qian’s tears that had just stopped began streaming down again. He shook his head. “Master, no!”

Nurturing the sword with the soul was a cruel affair. The soul would experience endless pain and hardship, unable to ever reincarnate!

“This is Master’s last wish.” The sect leader’s blurred eyes suddenly became sharp. “We have been raised by Kun Lun. I, as the sect leader, will use my blood and soul to repay Kun Lun. If you do not promise, I will not die in peace!”

“Master!” Lin Qian lost his voice as he sobbed.

“I have decided!” the sect leader said steely. He closed his eyes and did not speak.

———

The light of the formation flashed, shen power flooding outwards. In the center, an ancient sword floated in the air.

All of the Kun Lun elders, all of the core disciples were gathered here. Everyone had sorrowful expressions.

When Lin Qian appeared carrying the sect leader on his back, everyone knelt in unspoken agreement. The sect leader had great authority in the sect, and was revered by everyone. Seeing the sect leader wither to this state, everyone felt a great pain.

“Kun Lun is now in your hands.” The sect leader’s voice was hoarse and quiet.

Those that heard cried. Someone said sorrowfully, “We do not dare to begrudge our bodies.”

The sect leader nodded, comforted.

Lin Qian’s tears rained down and he could not speak. He could only carry the sect leader forward.

The sect leader did not say much. His soul came out of his body and he stepped into the seal formation. The sect leader had great cultivation, and his sword soul was pure.

The Immemorial Sword in the center of the seal formation suddenly pulled at him. The sword soul of the sect leader turned into a stream of light and entered the sword.

The surrounding Kun Lun elders and disciples stared to cry.

Inside the sword, a soul endured astounding pain as it murmured.

“Qian’er, Master can only guide you up to here.”

———

Inside Kun Lun Realm, a sword essence pierced the sky, and all swords hummed together!

The world was astounded.

———

Wei Sheng was completely covered in blood, his clothing torn. He held the blood sword in his hand. In front of him, Wu Le’s expression was ashen.

“There is such a strong person in the world!” Wu Le murmured to himself. After saying this, he fell face forward without any presence left.

Wei Sheng looked disheveled but his expression was normal The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand had just finished drinking blood and was unusually eerie.

Suddenly, Wei Sheng seemed to feel something and raised his head. Almost at the same moment, the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand seemed to be excited. The blood light erupted and shot into the sky.

A blood pillar dozens of zhang thick erupted!

Inside the pillar of light, Wei Sheng was like a gold of killing ascending!

Wei Sheng raised his head and gazed at the sky. He felt the furious fighting spirit coming from the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand. He took a deep breath and pushed down the almost boiling fighting spirit he felt. His clear glassy eyes of blood were filled with shock.

–There was such a strong and powerful sword essence in the world!

A sword essence that ruled the world!

His excitement at beating his opponent just now completely disappeared. Wei Sheng looked dazedly at the sky, his shock slowly disappearing from his eyes. What replaced it was strong fighting spirit and murderousness!

“Kun Lun!”

Wei Sheng murmured to himself as his hand unconsciously gripped the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand.

Only one place would have such a strong sword essence that it would cause hopelessness. That was Kun Lun!

Wei Sheng felt his spirit rise in his chest.

Suddenly, nearby, the lightning was astoundingly thick as though something was stimulated by the sword essence that came down.

Wei Sheng’s mind moved and he hurriedly flew towards where the lightning was gathered.

The closer he flew, the more surprised he was. The lightning was shooting into the sky from the ground.

Was there some treasure here?

He quickly flew to the origin of the lightning.

There was a bronze mirror laying on the ground. The word “Thunder” was engraved on the bronze mirror. The copper mirror flashed with light and electrical snakes swam over it.

Hiss- crack!

A lightning snake suddenly shot into the sky.

When the lightning snake left the bronze mirror, it would grow rapidly until it was the thickness of an arm and tear apart the sky.

———

Zuo Mo raised his head and looked into the sky.

The Ghost Mist Child also looked in shock at the sky. He murmured to himself, “Such strong sword essence! So there is such a strong person in the present era?” He had yielded to Zuo Mo yet he could still see that the strongest of this era was much weaker compared to the ancient era.

Yet this sword essence that seemed to conquer the world and was undefeatable shocked him.

How could such a strong sword essence appear in this era.

Suddenly, he felt something familiar within the sword essence that caused him to shake and unconsciously blurt out, “Immemorial!”

“Immemorial?” Zuo Mo moved his gaze to look at the Ghost Mist Child.

The Ghost Mist Child said in a dream-like fashion, “Immemorial is the most famous shen sword in the our legends. They say that the wielder of this sword will become an Emperor Sky.”

Familiar with the sun gold leaf, Zuo Mo knew what Emperor Sky meant. In the ancient era, the strongest of each era would become the leader of all the tribes, and be called Emperor Sky.

“Emperor Sky?” Zuo Mo showed a cold smirk, murder undisguised in his eyes. “If he wants to be Emperor Sky, he needs to see if I agree or not!”

The Ghost Mist Child stilled and then suddenly reacted. He stammered out, “Is this Master’s enemy … …”

Zuo Mo glanced at him and said uncaringly, “Yes, enemies to the death! What, you’re afraid?”

The ghost mist child quickly reacted. He looked at Zuo Mo’s unfriendly face and hurriedly expressed his attitude. “Master, what are you saying, Master’s enemies are my enemies!”

Zuo Mo moved his gaze away but his face turned dark.

Such a strong sword essence that could be felt even hear. It was most likely because of the Immemorial Shen Sword that the Ghost Mist Child spoke of.

Lin Qian’s individual strength was unparalleled. In the past, Zuo Mo and a few others had to work together to stop one of his blows.

Supposedly, Lin Qian had been the one to create Kun Lun’s shen methodology. No one knew what level his strength was at but Zuo Mo knew that it was definitely strong, very strong!

If Zuo Mo had to pick another person in the world that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Wei Sheng Shixiong, he would definitely pick Lin Qian.

And now, with this Immemorial Shen Sword, Lin Qian’s strength probably reached a terrifying level.

It could possibly be a height that no one in the world could reach!

While Zuo Mo did not fear the other, when he thought that his worst enemy had obtained such a shen device, Zuo Mo felt as uncomfortable as he had swallowed a fly.

Kun Lun!

Let’s wait and see!

———

Swow Hall.

Luo Li had an expression of helplessness.

There was a group of guards behind him. The great majority of the guards were with him.

However, when he encountered the people from Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect, they had charged forward without a second world. The sect leader of Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect hadn’t thought that the enemy would fight without even a greeting. He lost the round.

There were many guards in this group, a dozen that formed a battle formation. They were an even match for the elders of Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect.

The sect leader had some skill, and the two sides were at a deadlock.

The Heart Leaf Dhyana sect leader’s shen power was vast while Luo Li’s fighting method was eerie. Wo Li was skilled in strange and unorthodox methods that made great trouble for the other.

The peerless sword essence of the Immemorial came from the sky without any warning.

Wo Li opened her breath-stealing beautiful eyes.

Chapter 798 – Comprehension

Wo Li’s cold eyes showed a rare ripple of emotion.

Peerless sword essence covered the sky above them. She raised her face, her crystal-like eyes quietly changed.

Luo Li’s heart stilled. A strange feeling rose. He and Wo Li were two sides of one body. The connection between them was the most unique existence in the world. Both Luo Li and Wo Li existed between life and death.

The two’s minds were connected and were like one.

However, there were slight differences between them

Wo Li was a sword spirit manifested from Luo Li’s sword essence, from intangible to tangible. Luo Li had comprehended [Life-Death Lock], from life going into death, from tangible to intangible.

These slight changes caused the two of them to have different abilities.

Detecting Wo Li’s change, Luo Li became slightly nervous.

Wo Li’s personality was cold and distant. When she had been a sword spirit, Luo Li had known her strength well. Yet the present Wo Li was like a completely new lifeform. While the two were of the same mind and from the same origin, two aspects of one body.

Luo Li did not know what abilities that Wo Li had. Wo Li’s personality was cold and she would never speak of her own accord.

Luo Li was not as sensitive to sword essence as Wo Li. His skill was his unique understanding of life and death. This was a comprehension that [Life-Death Lock] gave him.

Sword essence … …

Luo Li looked into the sky and then turned to stare nervously at Wo Li.

Suddenly, Luo Li’s expression changed slightly.

Wo Lil’s presence was changing!

How come it was like this?

Luo Li was astounded. A strange feeling rose. He knew that this was because Wo Li’s changes were reflected on him.

Wo Li … …

He became slightly dazed.

———

In order to become a sect leader, he naturally was strong. Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect was not a top sect like Kun Lun and Tian Huan but it was still not something that any little sect could compare to.

The Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect leader immediately detected Wo Li’s change.

He saw this seemingly beautiful, icy, and lifeless female changing in front of him. It was as though she was shedding her soft and gentle appearance to reveal a cold sword edge!

The edges were like water!

A vast blue body of water.

Yet the edges disappeared after appearing. The female suddenly became ethereal and unpredictable. She was clearly in front of him, but in his perception, the space seemed empty.

This strange feeling was so uncomfortable that he wanted to spit blood.

It felt as though suddenly, the feeling of having everything within his grasp disappeared.

Having fought innumerable times, this was the first time the leader of Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect had such a strange feeling.

This woman was strange!

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind but the sect leader could not attend to them. While he did not understand what was going on with the changes of the female, this kind of change was not something good for him.

Murderousness rose.

Any person that cultivated the Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect’s shen power would have a leaf-shaped mark on their palm that indicated their strength. The Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect leader was the only one in the sect that had reached a level of seven branches and seven leaves.

Without any hesitation, the sect leader attacked with a killing move.

His expression devout and serious, seven verdant tree leaves flew out of his palm. They danced softly in the air with concealed murderousness. The seven green lives drew out seven green streaks of light that criss-crossed.

[Seven Leaf Dhyana Heart]!

Wo Li did not seem to see it. Her gaze was still looking into the distance but her presence became increasingly ethereal.

Luo Li’s eyes became disbelieving.

She was comprehending sword essence!

———

“It’s Kun Lun.” The sect leader of Tian Huan said. His face was filled with shock and anxiousness. In the history of the xiuzhe world, such strong sword essence had never appeared, and he had never even heard of it.

Kun Lun and Tian Huan seemed to be comparable in strength, but all this time, Kun Lun had been suppressing Tian Huan. If Tian Huan and Kun Lun could be said to have been on good terms during the era of the Four Realms, then Kun Lun was Tian Huan’s strongest enemy and most important opponent.

Now, this great enemy suddenly possessed a terrifyingly powerful secret weapon. Tian Huan was alarmed.

There was a old person sitting in front of the sect leader. This old person was the mysterious chief elder of Tian Huan who had found the secret of the shen glyphs.

The chief elder’s expression was serious. The sword essence just now had been too powerful, so powerful it almost surpassed the limits of their imagination. He asked gravely, “We need to investigate this matter. Kun Lun … … Kun Lun!”

The sect leader said, “Shizhi will remember!”

The chief elder’s status was above everyone in the sect. He was a generation older than the sect leader. Adding on that he had found the secret of the shen glyph and pushed Tian Huan into the era of shen power with just his power. His achievement and service was so great that even the sect leader was willing to be commanded by him.

Chief Elder was obsessed with shen glyphs and didn’t like to interfere with sect matters. However, Kun Lun’s sword essence was too astounding. Chief Elder had seen worldly apparitions before, yet being able to detect it from Kun Lun meant that it was an almost unimaginably powerful existence. For Kun Lun, this was the worst news.

He was worried but he stilled maintained a calm expression. Suddenly, the bracelet on his hand suddenly lit up.

He thought of something, and hurriedly activated a spell.

A mirage cloud came out of the bracelet. The cloud changed and the scene of an intense fight appeared in front of them.

“It’s You Xian.” The sect leader was slightly shocked. He recognized Ruan You Xian at a glance. Ruan You Xian was the leader of the mission this time. The sect leader did not look away. The fighting was intense and it could seen that Rou Xian was losing.

“Hm, you recognize this person?” The Chief Elder pointed at Ruan You Xian’s opponent and asked.

The sect leader thought for a moment and found the answer. “It’s Mo Cloud Sea’s Ceng Lian’er. She cultivates moon shen power, supposedly, it is a complete inheritance.”

Hearing this, Chief Elder’s eyes became brighter and he murmured to himself, “No wonder, no wonder!”

The sect leader was curious yet he did not dare to disturb the Chief Elder in fear of interrupting his thinking. His gaze landed on the mirage. After watching for a while, his expression became grave.

Ruan You Xian could maintain his composure in an emergency, far more than the other disciples, which was why he had been given such an important task. However, he was not weak. Even though he only cultivated one shen glyph, his skill was solid.

Tian Huan had not paid great attention to the mission this time. The ruins were in Lotus Sutra Temple’s territory and it was not easy to move there. Li Xian Er and the other disciples were all at important points in their cultivation and could not travel. Through different methods, Tian Huan had divined that the journey of the ruins would be dangerous this time.

However, under the suggestion of Chief Elder, he still sent Ruan You Xian and a few others to sneak in.

He had originally thought that Chief Elder had other considerations until Chief Elder told him directly and he realized. Chief Elder had reached a bottleneck on his comprehension of shen glyphs, and he wanted to obtain inspiration from the other paths.

The opening of the ancient ruins would attract many experts. Chief Elder only had do a few things in order to see the fights of the disciples. He had not concealed this from Ruan You Xian and the others. The sect leader also said that if they could not win, they did not need to fight to the death.

Ruan You Xian and the others were not opposed to this arrangement. The benefit to Tian Huan, if they could help Chief Elder, was clear.

Chief Elder’s setup was effective.

After watching for a while, the sect leader’s face became ugly.

Ceng Lian’er was strong as they said!

He knew long ago about Ceng Lian’ers strength. However, he was still surprised at how easily Ceng Lian’er suppressed Ruan You Xian. He unconsciously compared Ceng Lian’er and Li Xian Er but he quickly found that he could not come to any specific conclusions.

This caused his expression to turn uglier.

According to the intelligence reports, Cen Lian’er was not the strongest fighter under Zuo Mo’s command. All of the reports showed that Ceng Lian’er was ranked third among Zuo Mo’s various fighters.

The first was Wei Sheng, the second was A Gui. They were even more terrifyingly strong existences.

Yet Xian Er was the most accomplished of the younger generation of Tian Huan disciples.

When comparing the best genius of Tian Huan and the third ranked fighter of Mo Cloud Sea there was an inconclusive comparison. This indicated many problems already.

When he thought of Kun Lun’s peerless sword essence just now, the sect leader felt even more worried. Tian Huan was falling behind in terms of top experts.

“Do not worry.” The chief elder seemed to know what the sect leader thought and said, “Tian Huan is on a different path from Kun Lun and we are slightly similar to Mo Cloud Sea. An individual fights using their individual methods, a battalion fights with a battalions methods. If we can advance a step on the shen glyphs, our shen equipment would grow in strength. At that time, our battalions would become unprecedentedly powerful.”

Chief Elder’s words were filled with confidence.

The sect leader felt better and his thoughts turned. He had to admit that Chief Elder was right. Before Mo Cloud Sea appeared, Tian Huan had been the strongest faction in forging. Tian Huan’s battalions had been the best outfitted of all the factions.

However, Mo Cloud Sea’s sudden rise had caused them to surpass Tian Huan in shen equipment.

Chief Elder’s gaze was clear. “Mo Cloud Sea is extraordinary and Ceng Lian’er is strong. However, she has allowed me to see some ancient secrets! At most a few months, at minimum one or two, new shen glyphs will take form. Tian Huan’s new shen equipment will show their light!”

The sect leader said joyfully, “Great! What does this shizhi have to prepare?”

Chief Elder glanced at the sect leader before saying, “I do not want to interfere in some matters. However, as the sect leader of Tian Huan, you have to see clearly. The greatest enemy to us is not Kun Lun but Mo Cloud Sea!”

The sect leader stilled.

“What is Tian Huan strongest in? Seal formations, forging! In the past, anyone that wanted to buy a talisman will chose Tian Huan first. But right now, even Xi Xuan went to Mo Cloud Sea to order shen equipment.” Chief Elder’s tone suddenly became harsh. “I should not need to say more of Tian Huan’s business. One more piece of shen equipment sold is one more portion of jingshi we make and one more friend. But right now, even I know that the best on the market is not our Tian Huan’s shen equipment. You are the sect leader, you need to see this clearly.”

The sect leader broke out in a cold sweat.

“Mo Cloud Sea is the biggest enemy to Tian Huan! Remember!” Chief Elder shouted. “The era is different! Stop your posturing as Tian Huan! Go compete with them, steal back the lost business and allies! Only then will Tian Huan prosper! Understand?”

The sect leader kowtowed sincerely. “Yes! Mo Cloud Sea is the greatest enemy to Tian Huan!”

His last words were murderous.

Chapter 799 – Ambush

Zuo Mo was not in a good mood.

The sword essence just now had been too great of a blow to his confidence. Kun Lun was so far away from this place, yet that sword essence was able to reach this place. Even the jinzhi of the Totem Coliseum were unable to block it. How terrifying it was!

Zuo Mo suddenly realized that when individual strength reached a certain level, it could also change the state of the world.

In reality, Zuo Mo did not place great importance on the training of experts. Mo Cloud Sea developed using forging. This was similar to Tian Huan’s development path. There were no direct benefits in this path to develop experts, but it was beneficial for increasing their overall strength.

The reason that Mo Cloud Sea had so many strong fighters was just because it had been slightly ahead in this crucial time of the ling power era switching to the shen power era.

But as Kun Lun and Tian Huan reacted, the opportunity from being early was not as large as they imagined.

But even so, Mo Cloud Sea was still positioned well.

Top experts were stronger than before, but the average strength level had also increased greatly. The difference between the two did not increase, but decreased. Top experts could affect the results of a battle but could not become strategic assets. As shen equipment became mainstream and shen device raiments were rare, the difference shrunk even more.

Even the strongest expert could not win against an elite battalion.

That situation was just destroyed right now.

Such terrifying sword essence was not something the sword xiu of this era could possess. It definitely was a peerless shen sword left over from the ancient era. The Ghost Mist Child said it was the Immemorial Sword. Zuo Mo was still slightly in doubt. Even an ancient shen device could not have such an astounding presence.

Zuo Mo was not blind. Wei Sheng’s God-Killing Blood Sword was also an ancient shen sword yet the two’s swords presence was not on the same level. There was something else going on here.

While he did not understand, Zuo Mo perceptively realized that something important had occurred.

Even if Kun Lun could only use ten percent of such power, it would be enough to erase a battalion. If they were stronger and could use all of that power, Zuo Mo would not be surprised if they could destroy a jie.

This meant that a new kind of war had formed.

Think about it, if Lin Qian sneaked into Cloud Sea Jie and then destroyed Cloud Sea Jie with a single strike, it would be a true catastrophe for Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo felt a chill rise from his feet.

It was too terrifying!

But this was not solvable. The movement of large battalions could not be concealed, but no faction would be able to stop few people from sneaking in.

What do they do then?

Zuo Mo compartmentalized the terror he felt and his mind started to turn, thinking of a solution. His mind was nimble, cunning, and intelligence but this time, he had no plans. When the difference in power between the two was too great, any scheme was worthless.

He pulled out the Ghost Mist Child and asked, “What method can cause the Immemorial Sword to have this presence?”

The Ghost Mist Child was confused. A moment later, he understood. His little face scrunched together as he thought. He said, “Most likely, they used a peerless soul to nurture the sword in order to reach this level.”

Little Mo Ge’s mind shifted and he suddenly asked, “God-Killing Blood Sword, have you heard of it?”

Slight terror rose on the Ghost Mist Child’s face. “Does Master possess this sword? Not good! The sword is inauspicious! It is the most vicious sword! Every one of the sword’s masters died in violence. Master, do not be greedy about this sword’s power!”

Zuo Mo shook his head. “This sword is my shixiong’s. My shixiong is strong in mind and cannot be defeated. Do not worry. I just want to ask, how does this sword compare to the Immemorial Shen Sword.”

The worry on the Ghost Mist Child’s face did not lessen but he said, “The God-Killing Blood Sword is called the most vicious sword in the world. It has drank the blood of countless warriors, and is not lacking at all compared to Immemorial.”

“If I want this sword to reach the presence that now, what should I do?” Zuo Mo felt as though he found a good solution.

Since Kun Lun has the powerful Immemorial Shen Sword, then we will level up the God-Killing Blood Sword to the same level. That way, I cannot guard against you, you cannot guard against me, we will be on the same level.

The Ghost Milst Child understood what Zuo Mo meant to do but shook his head. “If you want to elevate the God-Killing Blood Sword to such a level, you need the essence blood of countless warriors, and not souls. However, this sword is the most vicious in history. The sword soul is blood-thirsty and savage, primarily inauspicious. If it becomes so strong, no one will be able to control it. It will probably turn into a storm of blood.”

Zuo Mo was silent. What the Ghost Mist Child said was not complex. Zuo Mo had seen Shixiong’s God-Killing Blood Sword, The killing essence of that sword was so strong it was unparalleled in the world. If the God-Killing Blood Sword really became so strong, Zuo Mo felt that even Shixiong would not be able to control it.

There would be only one result if the weapon was stronger than the master, backlash upon the master.

Zuo Mo suddenly thought of an important point and asked, “Wouldn’t the Immemorial Shen Sword also cause backlash?”

The Ghost Mist Child said without thinking, “If one is not strong enough and attempts to control it, then of course it will.”

“How strong? If they are as strong as me, will there be backlash?” Zuo Mo asked.

The Ghost Mist Child was afraid of offending Zuo Mo but he would not dare to lie. Hesitating a while, he nodded and said, “Yes.” Then he added, “If Master is slightly stronger, then no.”

Zuo Mo ignored his last sentence. Lin Qian was stronger than him, but definitely not much stronger. That meant that Lin Qian would also receive backlash!

Zuo Mo’s mind turned. “If one does not want to receive backlash, then now?”

The Ghost Mist Child stilled and blurted out, “Unless it is people like his relatives who are willing to merge their soul into the sword and help him suppress it. However, this is not realistic. Using a soul to nurture the sword, the soul will be placed in great torment and will never be able to be released and reincarnated.”

Zuo Mo was silent. He couldn’t help but look at A Gui next to him.

Wasn’t A Gui’s Undying Shen Punishment just like this?

He had seen Kun Lun’s zeal. For those madmen, they could do something like this. However, he would not be able to do it, and he would never agree to it.

He finally knew what had happened at Kun Lun but even so, he did not have any solution. It was not a pleasurable matter for any person when their enemies were a group of madmen with belief.

At this time, he suddenly saw two figures flash out of the corner of his eyes.

Zuo Mo seemed to wake up. This was not the time to think about such matters. A strong feeling of danger rose. He had an even stronger desire for the shen device nucleus.

A shen device raiment could not change the disadvantage Mo Cloud Sea had in terms of strategically useful experts, but it could decrease the gap between them.

In a few moments, Zuo Mo made a decision. The murderousness in his eyes grew.

The incomers were not from his side!

Zuo Mo’s body flashed and he appeared without any hesitation next to one of the people.

The other hadn’t thought that they would be attacked just after walking out. Zuo Mo had attacked without any warning, no noise. He was like a viper hidden in the shadows before suddenly exploding in a fatal attack.

Layers of sun shen power covered his hand. A small axe of light formed. If the Sun Shen Axe that Zuo Mo had manifested when he had been fighting with the Ghost Mist Child was tens of thousands of catties heavy, then what was on his hand now was a throwing axe.

The dark gold axe was the size of his palm. It was unusually thin and light. The sun glyph on the surface of the axe was fine and exquisite. The markings representing the rays of the sun almost covered the entire surface of the axe.

Zuo Mo’s hand flickered.

The little axe silently turned into a stream of light and struck the waist of the incomer.

When the other managed to react and gathered their shen power, it was too late. The Sun Shen Power was too sharp. This person, caught off guard, had shen power as thin as paper. He was unable to stop the axe entering his body.

The incomer’s body froze.

Moments later, he gave a scream. Blinding golden light suddenly released from his body. A wisp of golden fire shot out of his body and then turned him into flames in that moment.

A Gui’s movements were similarly brisk. Just as Zuo Mo was attacking, A Gui’s hand already gripped the neck of the other person. With a crack, the other person died without even making a sound.

The Ghost Mist Child gaped with wide eyes. By the time he reacted, he felt a wave of cold come up from under him.

Such viciousness!

Killing without blinking!

Zuo Mo crouched on the ground to gather spoils. The corpse that A Gui held was thrown in front of Zuo Mo.

They were people from Skanda Temple.

Zuo Mo’s expression did not change. In just a few moments, he cleared  the two of their possession. The two had only average items, except one damaged skanda staff. It seemed slightly old and was likely an item from the ancient era. Zuo Mo weighed it. The haft-section of the staff was unusually heavy and he could hear the sounds of wind and thunder.

They had some wealth, Zuo Mo thought.

The splitting of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would be difficult to stop. The present Nine Great Dhyana Sects would split into two groups. The group led by Thunder Sound Temple was closer to Mo Cloud Sea. And Skanda Sect, Heart Leaf Dhyana Sect and others were controlled by Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

Therefore, Zuo Mo did not need to have any care towards Skanda Sect.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo realized that this was a wonderful battlefield.

Since everyone had to come through here, then they, who got here first, had a great advantage.

If they repeated what they just did … …

Zuo Mo suddenly became excited. He asked the Ghost Mist Child, “Can you act in here?”

The Ghost Mist Child recovered from his shock and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Zuo Mo motioned. “Use mist to fill this entire place. We need to make a mist formation in here.”

The Ghost Mist Child became alert. This was the first battle he was fighting under his new Master. He had to do well for Master to have a good opinion of him. Without another word, he activated the Mist Eye Tablet.

The Mist Eye Tablet sprouted out thick white mist. Soon, the mist filled the entire hall except in the area within three zhang of the four palace gates. Once the mist went near the palace gates, they would be pushed away.

Zuo Mo did not care. He pulled out the Black Gold Seal Soldier and Lil’ Pagoda from his ring. Lil’ Fire, and Lil’ Black who did not have any offensive capabilities were shoved back into the ring.

Things like ambushes were the most exciting!

Chapter 800 - “Sneak Attack”

Tan Xu and the other two had joyful expressions. That peerless sword essence just now astounded them, and what made them even happier was that the sword essence contained that familiar Kun Lun presence!

Everyone knew what that mean. No matter if it was a shixiong had achieved a supreme level, or the appearance of the shen sword, the powerful sword essence represented great power. This was definitely a good matter for Kun Lun.

The trio were all Children of Kun Lun, the true backbone of Kun Lun. They were connected to the wellbeing of the sect.

“We will definitely obtain the shen device nucleus,” Nie Chen said with a steely resolve. Unusual determination flashed through his eyes, and his usually calm expression was excited.

The other two people nodded at the same time with fanatical expressions.

This peerless sword essence seemed to rule over the world. Even the strongest expert was like an ant in front of such powerful sword essence.

The title of the strongest in the world once again returned to Kun Lun.

Kun Lun had always been thought of the sect strongest in battle. Yet in these past years, they were not as they once were. Even a Mo Cloud Sea dared to fight them.

This was hard for the proud Kun Lun disciples to tolerate.

Now that Kun Lun once again demonstrated its unparalleled power, how could Tan Xu and the others not be excited?

“Everyone, be careful.” Nie Chen did not let the victory go to his head. He was even more careful. He knew that if the other people were only fifty percent sincere in their desire to get the shen device nucleus, now it would be one hundred percent.

The shen device nucleus was not able to match that sword essence right now, but an extra shen device raiment meant that the other factions would have that much more power to fight Kun Lun.

However, Nie Chen did not worry. The three of them were all Children of Kun Lun, true experts picked carefully out of numerous disciples.

There were only fifty of them in all of Kun Lun.

If it was just one person Nie Chen would reconsider, but with the three of them combined with their preparations and knowledge about the Totem Coliseum, Nie Chen was confident in obtaining the nucleus.

Zhen Ling Meng played with the Rain Commanding Banner in her hand and then suddenly said, “The Rain Banner is a good treasure. But if we want to activate it, it needs to be refined using shen power.”

Tan Xu glanced over and shook his head. “I’m not interested in such a soft thing.”

Nie Chen did not compete. “My sword essence leans yang and masculine, it is not suitable. Shimei, use it.”

Zhen Ling Meng did not refuse and nodded. “Alright.”

The Rain Commander Banner was suited to her. Her sword essence was a completely yin. She started to consider the Rain Commanding Banner into a shen sword. She liked the name “Rain Commander.”

With the help of this item, her strength would go up another level.

Right now, not just shen device raiments, they would be even jealous of a shen sword. A shen sword did not refer to how great a sword was, but if it could tolerate shen power or not. Compared to ling power, shen power was multiple times more domineering. Normal flying swords could not withstand the stress of channeling it.

In reality, this situation was not just occurring at Kun Lun but also other sects.

Kun Lun’s thousand years of accumulation was all based on the ling power system. They did not have many advantages with the present shen power. They might have some wealth, but there were too many people. The wealth was only enough to create one or two shen devices. Other people could only look on.

In the last few years, several materials that were suitable for shen power had appeared. These materials were not high in grade, but even so, their prices skyrocketed, and were extremely valuable.

This was also why shen equipment was so expensive.

The lagging development of shen materials caused people to have to endure the limitations caused by the low level weapons they wielded.

Therefore, while Tan Xu and Nie Chen generously passed on the Rain Commanding Banner, they could not help but feel slight jealously. It was possible to forge a shen sword using the Rain Commanding Banner as the primary body. Obtaining an appropriate shen sword was something to be admired.

Looking at Zhen Ming Ling unable to let go of the article, Nie Chen smiled. “Shimei, you can study this after we return. Let’s first complete the mission.”

Zhen Ling Meng’s face blushed red. She was slightly embarrassed. “This one has lost composure.”

Nie Chan smiled understandingly and then reminded with a serious expression. “The path ahead is full of danger, we need to be alert and careful. The people from Mo Cloud Sea are not easy to deal with.”

“Humph! I think the rumors exaggerate!” Tan Xu snorted and said proudly. “It is a pity we did not encounter them now. Otherwise, I will kill them all and hang their heads on Mo Cloud Sea’s transportation formations.

Nie Chen smiled helplessly. Tan Xu Shidi usually looked down on people, and he was too lazy to say otherwise.

But Zhen Ling Meng became alert and her stray thoughts disappeared. Nie Chen nodded inside and said, “Let’s go. After the Rain Hall is the gates of the four palaces. After going through the four palaces, we will be able to find the shen device nucleus.”

“That isn’t interesting!” Tan Xu’s eyes flashed viciously. “How about we set up an ambush in front of the four palace gates and take the wind of Mo Cloud Sea’s sails. Wouldn’t that be more enjoyable?”

Nie Chen’s mind moved. He felt that Tan Xu’s idea was plausible. With their strength, if they wanted to ambush someone, there would be pitifully few that would be able to dodge.

“Would there be people faster than us?” Zhen Ling Meng suddenly asked.

Nie Chen and Tan Xu stilled. The murderousness on Tan Xu’s face disappeared, and he became thoughtful. He was proud but not stupid.

“Most likely not.” Nie Chen said seriously. “We have a good grasp on the situation, and we have not encountered any strong enemies, we had an open path. It probably wouldn’t be easy for people to be faster than us. However, we have to be alert. If the enemy does this, it will not be good if we fall for it.”

The three exchanged looks and all had grave expressions.

“Let’s go, be careful.’ Nie Chen warned again.

———

Zuo Mo’s ambush plan was very successful.

They had successively killed a few people without any real effort. These people had never thought they would be ambushed. Zuo Mo and the others were fast and vicious in their attacks.

However, these people were average in strength and didn’t have anything good on them. This disappointed Zuo Mo slightly. However, thinking from a different angle, they were all his enemies. With each death, his hopes of getting the shen device nucleus would grow. He immediately felt better.

Suddenly, the Ghost Mist Child warned. “Three incoming!”

After a few rounds, everyone worked together well and did not need to call to each other as Ghost Mist child told the positions of the three to Zuo Mo and the others.

Three people!

Due to the positions, the ones that attacked were Zuo Mo, Tenth Grade and Silly Bird.

Little Mo Ge’s little axe faded into the mist and silently sliced to one of the people.

Tenth Grade’s little moon crescent was tiny to begin with. It was impossible to perceive it within the mist. Possibly due to being with Zuo Mo for such a long time, even the battle-hungry Tenth Grade became devious and cunning. This attack came without any sound.

In comparison, the proud Silly Bird naturally disdained Zuo Mo’s devious moves. She stood proudly, and her bird bead suddenly pecked. The sharp bird beak brushed against the air and caused a spray of sparks. The tip of the bead was like boiling iron!

The Ghost Mist Child who was paying attention to the entire situation saw Silly Bird’s peck. He felt sympathy and the mist around him couldn’t help but shake.

Bam!

Zuo Mo’s sneak attack was stopped.

Tenth Grade’s little moon crescent was thrown back with a chiming sound.

Silly Bird’s peck was the most effective. The domineering and sharp power penetrated the other’s shen power defenses. Even the shen equipment was not effective and a little hole was left behind.

None of the three had succeeded!

Zuo Mo immediately understood they met a hard opponent!

He was experienced in battle and knew that at this time, he could not give the enemy any time to think. He unhesitatingly moved forward, the Sun Shen Axe in his hand howling as he sung with a ferocious presence!

Zuo Mo silently released three Sun Shen Thorns.

Ding!

———

The sound of the collision that shook the entire field. The mist in the surroundings was split apart and the two stared at each other.

Nie Chen’s expression changed. The other’s axe swing just now was extremely heavy. His entire right arm was trembling right now, so sore he could not raise it. Yet what caused him to change expression were the three Sun Shen Thorns hiding towards him!

The dark gold Sun Shen Thorns flashed with sharp cold light that iced people’s hearts.

He had blocked the other’s axe just now, and his shen power was surging. With just the shen equipment, he definitely could not stop these three sun shen thorns.

Under the threat of great danger, Nie Chen’s mind was unusually clear. Without thinking, the fingers on his left hand flickered out.

Brrrng brrng brrng!

Seven blinding sword energies suddenly shot out of his left hand.

The sword energies howled as they tore the air.

[Finger Sword Wave]!

This sword scripture was one of the sword scriptures he had been most familiar with in the past. However, it was not among the ones that the elders had modified. After cultivating it for so long, it almost became instinct to rely on it. As a present Child of Kun Lun, Nie chen’s understanding of sword essence now was nothing like what it was when he had been uneducated.

His used shen power to cast [Finger Sword Wave] but did not feel any rawness but unprecedentedly free. In the past, his skill with this sword scripture had been great and he had been able to control it to a fine degree. Now, it seemed as though that paper thin window had been broken and he seemed to comprehend.

The most dangerous and terrible times, people’s potential was the easiest to uncover.

Nie Chen was in an indescribable state.

These seven swords could be said to be so skilled it reached the summit.

They cross, and like rain, they hit the three sun shen thrones from different angles. None of them missed.

Ding ding ding!

With a wave of clean and clear explosions the three sun thorns were deflected and brushed past Nie Chen’s face dangerously as though they had been lightly flicked away by an invisible hand.

The sun shen thorns touched Nie Chen’s face and that intimidating hot presence caused his heart to shudder.

He had missed! Zuo Mo was surprised. The sneak attack that he had thought could not fail had actually missed!

This was an expert!

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up.

Chapter 801 – The Little Tenth Grade

Tenth Grade’s sneak attack was stopped and the little Tenth Grade immediately howled as he charged towards Zhen Ling Meng!

Killing energy swirled in the wind, the mist rippling. Tenth Grade was like a tiny black shadow that flickered in and out of view through the mist. The little crescents were like thousands of bolts of lightning. They rained down on Zhen Ling Meng from all directions.

Sword essence filled the air!

Killing energy boiled!

The sword energies were black bolts of lightning. Sword essence spread. An invisible force wrapped around Zhen Ling Meng like thousands of spiderwebs.

Zhen Ling Meng jumped in fright at being suddenly attacked. If she didn’t have a treasure of the sect protecting her, she would have been injured. The Bagua Heart Protection Mirror that her Master had given her now had a crack on the border.

Zhen Ling Meng was both shocked and angry. She was protected by the elders and shixiong in the sect. Anyone that saw her would yield to her. When had she lost face like this? The talisman that Master had given her had followed her for many years. She treasured it. It was now damaged!

She was strong to begin with. Angered, she used her killing move without any hesitation.

A cold sword energy cut across the mist like lightning to head towards the sword net made from Tenth Grade’s crescent blade!

Ding!

A clear sound rang out of the entire battlefield.

She felt a vicious power pass through the flying sword. Zhen Ling Meng felt the energies inside her roil and instinctively took two steps back.

Tenth Grade’s little body was thrown into the air.

Such strong sword essence!

Zhen Ling Meng was alarmed. It was the first time she encountered such a vicious sword essence. Also, the other’s skill on sword essence matched her.

Was this Wei Sheng?

This thought flashed through Zhen Ling Meng’s mind. She only knew of one person from Mo Cloud Sea that had such skill in sword essence, Wei Sheng!

The rumors said that Wei Sheng wielded a blood-red sword. His sword essence was vicious and bloodthirsty. She felt that she had guessed correctly.

However, her mind quickly calmed down. While the other had not put all of his power into that attack, she had also been reserved in her response. While she was surprised by the viciousness of the other’s sword essence, she would not be surprised if it was Wei Sheng.

As the strongest fighter of Mo Cloud Sea, Wei Sheng was no longer that unknown youth from the past, but an unorthodox top expert that was pointing a sword at the holy land for the sword xiu.

Even the Kun Lun geniuses with their eyes on the top of their heads put away their pride when they faced Wei Sheng.

Zhen Ling Meng quickly calmed down. She swung her sword. In a blink, twelve sword essences formed a twelve-layer barrier in front of her!

Knowing that the enemy could possibly be Wei Sheng, she wisely chose to go on the defensive.

Wei Sheng’s reputation could be seen from this!

The twelve sword energies cross crossed. The sword essence that they gave off made them form a secure article. Anything that came near would be torn into pieces by countless sword energies. Even the mist was not an exception.

All the mist within ten zhang disappeared.

The Ghost Mist Child snorted and was displeased inside. However, he did not attack. It had been a long time since he had participated in the world, but he had been a friendly and understanding henchman. He knew that he was the new person and the right thing to do was to get on good terms with the other brothers.

Tenth Grade had a proud personality. It would not be good if he interfered.

As expected, a furious howl came from the sky. Vicious and savage killing essence roared and echoed like lightning.

Being thrown into the sky to the proud Tenth Grade was undoubtedly an embarrassment.

He felt as though there was a burning flame inside. His black robes moved despite the lack of wind. His hands were raised high above his head. The crescent blade seemed to be attracted and flew into his raised hands.

A tinge of dark red suddenly came onto the crescent blade.

Like an incomplete moon drinking blood!

Tenth Grade’s hairs stood on end. His proud and cold little face was murderous.

From the moment he was born, his greatest wish was to become the strongest ling beast and not fail the name of Tenth Grade.

Yet after seeing Wei Sheng’s strength, Zuo Mo’s dominance, A Gui’s eeriness, Silly Bird’s brutality, Zong Ru’s unfathomableness, and Luo Li’s intangibility, this guy’s eyes looked even higher.

This little body was full of ambition!

He was Tenth Grade!

He was born to be at the top, how could he be mediocre?

The mist below was dissipated by Zhen Ming Ling’s sword essence. Her field of view broadened and the layers of sword energy flashed with beautiful light.

Tenth Grade threw down a disdainful look.

The fighting spirit inside burned and roiled. Tenth Grade showed his innate desire to fight.

Come!

Face Tenth Grade’s ultimate move!

Tenth Grade’s eyes suddenly burning, his power rippling. His still proud face carried disdain that came from his bones. His arms suddenly pressed down.

The dark red crescent suddenly shot down.

Behind the crescent, the bloody afterimages were like silk. Countless vicious shadows flashed. They constantly changed, moving and turning, forming and disappearing!

A peerlessly vicious presence came with an ear-piercing howl like the wails of thousand of ghost that caused people’s minds to  shake.

The blood color of the crescent blade became even deeper and the bloody shadows behind were even redder.

Hundred Sacrificial Soul Killing Sword!

There was no madness on Tenth Grade’s little face. He was still as cold and proud as usual.

He did not know that his expression right now was unconsciously mimicking his idol, Wei Sheng Daren.

This sword scripture that Wei Sheng had picked for him was matched to his taste. He liked to fight, and this sword scripture was full of killing intent. He was Teacher Wei’s fan. Whatever Teacher Wei said was right. From the start, he found that it was unusually enjoyable to cultivate this sword scripture.

But he quickly found a new target.

In his eyes, Teacher Wei was the strongest sword xiu in the world.

Every time Tenth Grade went close to the God-Killing Blood Sword, his blood would uncontrollably boil, and he would feel the thirst for blood. However, Teacher Wei would seem unaffected. Such a vicious God-Killing Blood Sword was docile in his hands.

Teacher Wei’s heart was stronger than the strongest steel!

He revered Teacher Wei.

Correspondingly, his demands of himself increased. Even the God-Killing Blood Sword could not shake Teacher Wei’s mind. Then how could he let the measly Hundred Sacrificial Soul Killing Sword shake his mind?

He started to copy Teacher Wei and tried to keep his mind unaffected by the sword essence.

So this presence scene appeared. The crescent sword essence cross the air, the sharp sword essence like a wild beast out of the cage. However, Tenth Grade’s face was as cold and proud as usual.

Yet the sword essence was so strong it reached an unprecedented level!

———

They had almost fallen for a trap. Tan Xu was both shocked and angry. He had a habit when he cultivated that no one knew of. He would always split a part of his mind to prepare for a battle no matter what the time was. This was because the first time that he had gone a mission, he had almost died from carelessness.

From then on, he had persisted in this cultivation habit.

Today, this habit saved his life again.

A small hole appeared on his shen equipment. The shen power that protected his body had all been dissipated by the attack. If it wasn’t for the shen equipment, his body would have a big bloody hole right now.

Escaping the danger, Tan Xu immediately became enraged, especially when he saw the one that had attacked him was a ling beast. Tan Xu became furious. “Such a daring bastard!”

With a crimson red flying sword in his hand, he flew towards Silly Bird like a flame.

Hearing the word “bastard,” the feathers on Silly Bird’s forehead suddenly exploded and stood on end. Her usually proud and imperious eyes immediately filled with blood and became vicious and savage.

When had Silly Bird ever been cursed like this?

Facing the flame, she pecked again!

This peck was unlike the one before. There seemed to be countless sparks that exploded at the tip of the beak. Every spark was the size of a grain of sand. These sparks did not fly in all directions but formed a spiraling pattern around the bird bead.

A hint of imperceptible smugness flashed through Tan Xu’s eyes.

The fire that he had thrown out appeared normal but was dangerous. It was not fire, but something that appeared like fire made from pure sword essence.

His attack was extremely deceptive and many had fallen to this.

When he saw Silly Bird facing his sword essence “flame” and pecked, Tan Xu couldn’t help but show some smugness in his eyes at the success of his plan.

As expected, in the moment they came into contact, that thread of fire suddenly exploded!

Vrroom!

Countless sword essences exploded and swallowed up Silly Bird.

This seemingly normal “fire” contained three thousand and sixty sword energies that were extremely fine. When they were connected by the sword essence, they formed a flame.

The sight of three thousand and sixty sword energies exploding at once was spectacular!

The burning light caused people to close their eyes. The mist within dozens of zhang was swept away. A hair-raising rattle of the sounds of collision came from the burning ball of light.

Tan Xu’s smugness was on display as he snorted, “Just a feathered bastard dares to attack ye, it doesn’t want to live! Ye will let you taste what it means to be a plucked phoenix!”

These three thousand and six hundred sword energies contained countless variations. Once an enemy was trapped inside, they never managed to come out.

It was an ultimate killing move!

[Sword Flame]!

Even when he fought against other shixiong on Kun Lun, whenever he used this killing move, all the shixiong would avoid this and no one would ever take on this move head on.

Who was so confident they would escape unscathered from three thousand and six hundred sword energies?

Wasn’t it easy to use a killing move that even the other Children of Kun lun feared to deal with a feathered bastard?

Tan Xu looked around warily. At this time, he did not want someone else to sneak an attack on him.

What he didn’t know was that the Black Gold Seal Soldier and Sunshine within the mist were looking with pity at him.

“He’s dead.” The Black Gold Seal Soldier shook his head and sighed.

“No.” Sunshine shook his head. That sunny face was full of pity. “It is not so easy for one who has offended Big Sister Bird to die.”

Big Sister Bird was angry. The consequences were horrifying.

The sword energies dissipated.

And revealed a proud and magnificent bird.

Her feathers were slightly ruffled. Her narrowed eyes were not as angry as before, but they could easily caused people to feel that her anger had reached a peak.

There was a short suffocating calm like the one before a storm.

Chapter 802 – Zuo Mo’s Heart

Seeing the sun thorns miss, Zuo Mo was shocked but reacted quickly. He advanced instead of retreating, and swung the Sun Shen Axe in his hand at the enemy!

His speed was lightning fast.

Nie Chen just saw a blur and golden energies suddenly flashed in front of him.

At this time, Nie Chen was in a wondrous state, and his reaction was fast. His right hand beckoned and the flying sword pointed at Zuo Mo’s waist like a snake.

This move bet on the fact the other would have to save himself!

The Sun Shen Axe’s sharp edge was almost at his face but Nie Chen’s face was calm and his crystal-like eyes did not flicker at all.

It was a long time since Zuo Mo had encountered such a troublesome opponent. The other’s move was vicious. If he cut the other in half, then the other’s sword energy would slice through his waist.

He immediately blocked with the shen axe in his right hand.

Dong!

An enormous sound and then the sparks flew!

Zuo Mo and Nie Chen both retreated at the same time.

Nie Chen finally showed shock. The other’s strength was so strong it almost surpassed his imagination. But what shocked his even more was that he guessed the other’s identity.

“I had not expected to encounter the Master of Mo Cloud Sea here.”

Nie Chen stared at Zuo Mo and said slowly. His mind was in disarray. He had never thought that he would have an opportunity to fight against Zuo Mo! If it wasn’t for the other’s unique sun shen power, Nie Chen would definitely never have guessed it.

Mo Cloud Sea’s territories were not large, but no one dared to underestimate their power. Zuo Mo was presently of high status. Nie Chen found it hard to believe that he would explore a ruin personally.

Yet what shocked him even more was Zuo Mo’s strength.

It had long not been a secret that Zuo Mo cultivated sun shen power.

Yet when people listed the many experts of Mo Cloud Sea, they would, for some reason, exclude Zuo Mo.

In everyone’s view, how could Zuo Mo, now the master of Mo Cloud Sea, fight on the front lines like in the past?

When people judged Zuo Mo, it was usually along the lines of a natural leader, the brain of Mo Cloud Sea.

His talent in seal scripts and mo matrices shocked the world. He had caused Mo Cloud Sea to become a rival for Tian Huan in seal formations and talismans. His unique inscription art could allow xiuzhe to possess the great power of mo matrices. His bloodline-awakening technique caused countless mo experts to be created under his command. Mo physiques were common in the present Mo Cloud Sea. He had forged the first pseudo-shen weapon, and created the concept of shen device raiments, a unique shen device that had never appeared before. Just as everyone had been trying to forge shen device raiments, he forged the first battle general shen device raiment.

He was a person had to grasp. He was filled with the greediness and worldliness of the common folk. Many times, people would feel that he was just a minor character. Yet he possessed astounding charisma and countless geniuses loyally followed him.

Under so many halos, his individual strength was not so eye-catching.

But … …

Having just experienced it personally, Nie Chen was astounded.

He suddenly thought of a person that was so similar to Zuo Mo.

Eldest Shixiong, Lin Qian!

No, now present sect leader Lin Qian!

Lin Qian who also possessed talent in all fields, Lin Qian who as also individual strong, was so similar to Zuo Mo!

Nie Chen unconsciously shook his head. How could this guy compare to the talented eldest shixiong?

He focused and threw out the stray thoughts. The shock disappeared. His mind returned to calmness. His eyes suddenly lit up. He suddenly realized that this was a chance from the heavens!

In front of him was the master of Mo Cloud Sea!

If he killed Zuo Mo, Mo Cloud Sea would end up a headless snake. For Kun Lun, this meant that they would be relieved of a great worry!

His gaze became hot. Strong belief filled his heart. His flying sword seemed to feel his thoughts and secretly flew back into his hand.

He gripped the flying sword and shouted inside

–Kun Lun!

———

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. The guy in front of him suddenly seemed to be burning, all of his power being released!

He was burning without any consideration for the consequences!

In a blink, Zuo Mo understood the other’s intentions. He couldn’t help but feel some respect. Among all the opponents that he had experienced, Kun Lun was the most troublesome and the strongest!

These fanatics were a group of madmen!

Zuo Mo’s expression was solemn, his killing intent undisguised. He thought of the sect leader, thought of the shishu. Pain spread through his heart and his murderousness increased. Everything about the Zuo family past seemed to be scenes he saw through a veil of mist, he always lacked an emotional connection to them.

Except for A Gui.

Yet to him, the years at Wu Kong Sword Sect had been real and he had truly lived them. The care that the sect leader and the shishu had given him flashed in front of his eyes. Those lively figures, those seemingly stern but concerned scolds would never appear again!

Yes, Kun Lun was worthy of respect!

But so what!

When they caused the deaths of the sect leaders and the others, the grudge had been set. No matter if it was him, Eldest Shixiong or Luo Li, there was only one path with Kun Lun, fight to the death!

Destroying Kun Lun was his fate!

The killing intent in Zuo Mo’s body had never been so strong. He finally understood why he never liked Kun Lun, even without the incident of Wu Kong Sword Sect.

Because this Kun Lun that was so worthy of respect, they only had Kun Lun on their minds!

Even in the past, as the head of the xiuzhe, Kun Lun only thought of Kun Lun. Everything else in their eyes were ants. They would be sacrificed, and wounded. Their so-called Kun Lun was only that little group of core Kun Lun disciples on Kun Lun Mountain. For Kun Lun, they could sacrifice their familial feelings, they could sacrifice everything.

They were a group of madmen!

This was a group of madmen, prejudiced madmen that had sank into their glory.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo felt that this Kun Lun was not worthy of being feared.

His gaze suddenly became cold. The fury just now disappeared. An enormous dragon claw appeared in his hand.

Anti Dragon Claw!

The infamous sky mo weapon that had dominated the world was being held in Zuo Mo’s hand and pointed at Nie Chen.

A peerlessly vicious presence slammed in all directions.

The Anti Dragon Claw that had been revitalized, once again recovering the aura of its past and showed its glorious appearance.

It did not have the vast presence of the shen device raiments yet the unique vicious and cruel presence of the Anti Dragon Claw still made it an astounding weapon.

Zuo Mo had thought about reforging the Anti Dragon Claw but he found that the energies of the Anti Dragon Claw were melded together and the difficulty of a re-forge would be great.

The Anti Dragon Claw was still one of the strongest weapons outside of shen deivces.

Zuo Mo did not choose the Green Pulse String but the Anti Dragon Claw because only it suited the killing intent he felt now.

Nie Chen did not retreat, his gaze burning and mad!

The rebellious Anti Dragon Claw was unusually obedient in Zuo Mo’s hands.

The present Zuo Mo was far from the Zuo Mo of the past.

His shen power rippling, Zuo Mo held the leg bone of the Anti Dragon Claw. His body suddenly gave off great golden light. He was like the sun, unable to be looked at directly.

For the first time in several years, Zuo Mo burned his shen power without any reservation!

No one knew how strong his shen power was now.

People only saw him going to Golden Crow Camp and managing the affairs of Mo Cloud Sea. No one knew that his daily cultivation had never stopped.

His right hand could constantly provide shen power to him.

The growth of his shen power was almost unimaginable.

He refined his shen technique again and again. He studied the various skills recorded on the sun gold leaf. He knew how his present accomplishments had come about. He treasured this. He knew that he was not a genius, and if he wanted to get in front of others, he could only work harder than others.

No one knew that the sweat and effort  he put in surpassed normal people.

Under that laughing and cursing face, he had powerful heart.

———

Big Sister Bird was very angry. The consequences would be serious. For the little ones, this was an absolute rule. While Big Sister Bird seemed to be sleeping everyday as though this would continue to the end of time, that undefeatable dominance still showed from her great sleeping posture.

As the big sister of the little ones, Big Sister Bird was magnificent. While the other little ones were trying to gain favor with Zuo Mo, Silly Bird had seen Little Mo Ge’s nouveau-riche behaviour numerous times.

One needed qualifications to be proud.

But what made the little ones really respect her was Silly Bird’s conduct.

Domineering, direct, Big Sister Bird never talked reason, only with strength.

Even a person as proud as Tenth Grade would docilely go up and fawn in front of Big Sister Bird.

But right now, Big Sister Bird’s authority had been challenged.

A feathered bastard!

Killing intent formed a storm in Silly Bird’s narrowed eyes. Raising her head, Silly Bird thought back. How many years had it been since she had encountered such an idiot.

Silly Bird focused on her reminiscing and didn’t even look at the gaping Tan Xu.

Time was really a butcher’s knife!

In the past, I was still at a pure, and tender age … …

Feathered bastard!

Silly Bird’s eyes twitched. Her reminiscing was interrupted by the words. Almost tangible killing energy shrouded her body like mist.

For some reason, Tan Xu suddenly had a feeling that the other’s figure seemed to grow much bigger and looked down on him.

Shrouded in the shadows, the face could not be seen. Only a pair of bloody red eyes lit up in the dark.

An enormous pressure rushed at him and he felt his breathing stop.

Unconsciously, cold sweat soaked his back. Blinking, he forcefully shook his head and the illusion in front of him disappeared.

As expected, it was an illusion!

For some reason, he sighed in relief. He couldn’t help but mock himself. It seemed that he was too nervous. Was it because it as the first time he encountered such a powerful ling beast?

Then he felt ashamed for his timidity. He actually felt afraid of a feathered bastard, it was laughable!

So laughable!

What he did not notice was that spiraling flame mark on Silly Bird’s beak had not disappeared.

Chapter 803 – Solitary Dance of the Great Dark Wheel Phoenix

Silly Bird’s wings spread wide, her figure disappearing. In the next moment, she appeared in front of Tan Xu.

So fast!

Tan Xu’s pupils contracted, the air in front of him twisting as a red shadow charged towards him with a thunderous presence.

The bird beak suddenly released a dot of fire.

A strong feeling of danger suddenly rose.

Tan Xu’s expression changed slightly. Without any hesitation, the flying sword in his hand shot out a ball of fire. Like lightning, it headed towards that incoming  foreboding flame.

Unlike before, the sword flame right now was dark red.

[Sword Flame Death]!

The tip of the flying sword seemed to be ignited. A streak of flame headed for Silly Bird’s beak.

The two dots of fire collided in the air.

The dark red flame suddenly exploded. One hundred and twenty sword energies instantly exploded.

The [Sword Flame Death] was the upgraded version of the [Sword Flame]. It compressed three thousand and six hundred sword energies into one hundred and twenty. Each Sword Flame Death energy was made from thirty sword energies!

Every sword energy of the Sword Flame Death was deadly!

After being compressed, the sword energies of the Sword Flame Death were a dark red and rippled with sword essence.

“Die! Feathered bastard!” Tan Xu roared with laugher.

This killing move was astounding in power, and also astoundingly difficult. With his present strength, he was not able to successfully complete [Sword Flame Death] every time. The joy in his heart at being able to successfully execute it at such a critical moment could be imagined.

Die!

Looking at the dark red sword essences exploding on Silly Bird’s beak, he knew he won!

No one was able to stop this move!

Feeling reassured, Tan Xu looked on with anticipation. One hundred and twenty sword energies of the Sword Death Flame would tear apart this horrid feathered bastard.

Everything was finished!

Suddenly, he saw a swirling pattern suddenly light up on Silly Bird’s beak. His heart couldn’t help but jump. Wait … …

Boom!

The flame mark exploded and turned into a pillar of fire that headed straight towards him.

The blinding fire shot into the air. All of the dark red sword essences were immediately swallowed by the erupting flame.

Tan Xu’s mind was blank. All he could see were red flames that were twisting and turning.

Before he could react, he was swallowed by the spiralling tower of flame.

Damn it!

Tan Xu shook. He was trapped in a world of fire. If he didn’t have shen power protecting him, he would have been burnt to ash long ago. However, even with the support of shen power, he was not safe. His shen power was being expended at an astounding rate. This kind of red flame was unusually hot. Even through the barrier of shen power, he could feel the astounding heat.

A thread of fire rose.

What kind of flame was this?

How could it consume his Sword Flame Death’s sword energies?

That was impossible!

His mind was a complete mess but he knew that this was not the time to consider this. He had to first flee for his life. Tan Xu’s urge to fight disappeared. There was only one thought in his mind. Flee, flee as fast as possible!

Was this feathered bastard an ancient beast?

The flame that had erupted without warning was something that even the sword energies of the Sword Flame Death could not avoid. What was this bird?

The Ghost Mist Child’s originally snowy-white face paled even more as his little heart shook.

Lucky … … lucky … …

He had seen how Silly Bird had spat out a wave of angry red flames that had consumed the other’s sword essence and body. As an ancient warrior, the Ghost Mist Child had seen people spit out flames countless times before. So why was he so shocked?

The Ghost Mist Child was knowledgeable. This completely red flame looked ordinary but it had great origins!

Phoenix Flame!

He had guess before that Silly Bird was a phoenix and now he was even more sure. The Phoenix Flame was unlike any other flame. Its attributes were unique. Even in the ancient era, the Phoenix Flame was something that would cause people to pale upon hearing the name.

More importantly, this was his natural enemy!

So scary!

He was actually on the same side as his bane. Thinking about his future days, the Ghost Mist Child suddenly felt that life was not as good as he imagined.

Silly Bird detected that Tan Xu, trapped in the flame, wanted to escape. Her magnificent eyes became half-lidded as her spread wings lightly flapped.

If other people were watching as bystanders, they would feel that the flapping of the wings was nonchalant and careless. Yet the Ghost Mist Child who had been paying attention all this time watched closely.

Rhythm!

Silly Bird’s wings were flapping at an indescribably unique rhythm.

This was definitely some powerful shen methodology!

When it affected his own situation, the Ghost Mist child watched closely. Silly Bird seemed to just have flapped her wings a few times but in reality, her feet had imperceptibly moved position a few times.

When people reached this level, any seemingly normal movement would contain mysteries.

The Ghost Mist Child thought hard to search his distant memories. He seemed to think of something.

The flames were like a cage. No matter how Tan Xu charged and fought, he could not break out of the flames. An invisible field of force spread as Silly Bird flapped her wings and moved her feet.

Tan Xu’s sweat dripped from his head as he panicked.

Red flames were all around him. He seemed to be situated in an endless sea of fire. No matter which direction he charged in, the flames seemed to be extend without end.

This was strange!

There was something going on!

He knew that he was definitely in the enemy’s trap. That ball of flame had definitely been a trap!

No matter how he channeled shen power, his sword scriptures would enter into the flames and disappear.

His shen power was being used up at an astounding rate. If this continued, he would soon be unable to hold up.

Without the protection of shen power, the flames would burn him to ashes.

Was he going to die today?

Strangely, this thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He couldn’t help but still.

Silly Bird with her half-lidded eyes moved in small steps like that of an old lady out on an after meal stroll. She would occasionally wave her wings a few times nonchalantly.

The bright red flames twisted and moved like a monster. Anyone who watched it felt fear.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier swallowed and said hoarsely, “Is this the [Solitary Dance of the Great Dark Wheel Phoenix]?”

He knew that if he was within this ball of flame, he would have been melted into liquid. He really could not offend Big Sister Bird! The clever Black Gold Seal Soldier wondered if he should give up more food as tribute to gain favor with Big Sister Bird.

Sunshine sighed and said sympathetically, “So pitiful.”

The Phoenix Flame was just a little more than a zhang in diameter, yet no matter how Tan Xu fought, he could not escape.

Too scary!

———

With the Anti Dragon Claw in his hand, the killing intent inside Zuo Mo exploded as though the flames were fanned by wind.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed coldly. Gripping the Anti Dragon Claw with one hand, he leapt into the air and swung downwards at Nie Chen as though he was holding a large axe. A suddenly layer of golden light appeared on the Anti Dragon Claw and the enormous axe of light formed from the tips of the Anti Dragon Claw.

In a blink, the sun shen axe turned from a one-handed axe into a two-handed axe.

The axe was thousands of catties heavy!

Everyone heard the piercing howl. The Anti Dragon Claw was a vicious item to start with, and after being fed with shen power, it was peerless in its viciousness. The wind it created, as it cut through the air, was like the howling of ten thousand ghosts. Even the sky started to darken.

The ghost mist in the surroundings melted like snow in hot water.

Shen power and killing intent mixed inside. Zuo Mo threw all of his strength behind this blow!

Nie Chen’s expression changed but then he recovered his calm. This blow was the perfect melding of dominance and killing intent. The world changed. It was just one axe but it seemed to take over the entire sky.

Suddenly, Nie Chen seemed to see a mountainous and ancient hero towering over the world.

Under this axe, all shook!

It was the first time he felt he was as minuscule and insignificant as an ant.

But he was a mentally strong person. His mind shook but then recovered.

In front of such a peerless blow, Nie Chan’s pride was stimulated. The flying sword in his hand suddenly lit up with dazzling light. An astounding amount of shen power was channeled in. The flying sword was unable to tolerate it and started to melt on the surface. The seal scriptures were being damaged.

But he did not seem to mind it. His expression was solemn as he looked at the astounding blow.

The flying sword quickly turned into liquid metal but, for the moment, it stilled maintained the shape of a flying sword. Blinding light quickly dimmed. Nie Chen gripped the long rod of liquefying metal.

Nie Chen’s eyes were wide in anger as he shouted.

“For Kun Lun!’

The liquid metal in his hand hummed and shook. Like a bolt of lightning, it shot out upwards!

Hearing the words [Kun Lun], the anger in Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly erupted. Unprecedented killing intent and anger immediately swallowed him like an erupting volcano.

Every fibre of muscle was shaking, every hair standing on end. Zuo Mo felt as though there was a raging fire inside his body.

Those scenes that he would never see again appeared in fragments through his mind. Wu Kong Mountain, Sect Leader, Shishu, Shidi, Shimei … …

Zuo Mo felt as though there was a stone on his heart.

In the end, this kind of discomfort reached a threshold. All of the anger and killing intent rushed through the threshold and erupted.

“[Kun your mom!]”

A furious bellow thundered out. He did not notice that tears were streaming off his face.

The berserk Zuo Mo was like a god.

“Not good!” The Ghost Mist Child exclaimed as he paled.

Blinding light suddenly lit up in the sky. The energies were like rain droplets that hit Zuo Mo’s body.

Jinzhi! The Totem Coliseum’s jinzhi were activated!

The Ghost Mist Child paled and went to leap towards Zuo Mo in the sky with the intentions of blocking the jinzhi for Zuo Mo!

Daren actually … … actually was strong enough to activate the jinzhi of the Totem Coliseum … …

The stunned Ghost Mist Child’s pupils suddenly contracted and his body froze where he stood!

The energies hit Zuo Mo’s body but Zuo Mo did not seem to feel it. The light coming off his body suddenly grew and formed a ball of light multiple times bigger than Zuo Mo!

How was … … it possible!

The Ghost Mist Child gaped, his mind blank.

More lights appeared in the sky as though stars were being ignited. The light energies rained down on Zuo Mo in the sky from all directions.

The berserk Zuo Mo did not feel it. He glared, his face twisted, every muscle tensed!

An enormous ball of light covered him. Lightning flashed, fire burned, and ice cut within the ball of light … …

In the ball of light, the Anti Dragon Claw was so excited it shook!

In the sky, there was only this figure!

In everyone’s eyes, there was only this shadow!

The shuddering howls of the Anti Dragon Claw could be heard through the entire battlefield. With the terrifying and vast power of the enormous ball of light, Zuo Mo rushed down at an astounding speed!

Crashing down!

The trembling power spread, and the ground of the entire Totem Coliseum uncontrollably vibrated.

Like an enraged ancient beast, Zuo Mo was like a god descending to earth with a vicious and domineering presence conquering all around!

The axe swung down!

Chapter 804 – Victory

Nie Chen was stunned dumb by the terrifying figure in his sight!

Suddenly, he understood why Eldest Shixiong Lin Qian had always said that Mo Cloud Sea would become their greatest enemy! Everyone in Kun Lun had disagreed. Everyone had not said anything, and they had simply dismissed the words.

Based on what?

With what could Mo Cloud Sea rival Kun Lun? How could that poor and rural sect challenge they who were geniuses?

Only today when he saw that figure which was like a god in the sky and that ball of light that contained astounding power did he suddenly understand.

Mo Cloud Sea would definitely become a great enemy of Kun Lun!

This vicious figure would become the nightmare of Kun Lun!

He had never heard of such an attack with such presence. He had never seen such a terrifying xiuzhe. Even the strongest disciples in the sect would not give him such a great impact.

It was not just strength, but that presence, that presence that was completely different from them!

Zuo Mo was like an inhuman monster. On him, all conventions were defied.

Such a terrifying person!

The air around Nie Chen was turbulent. The flow of strong currents of air caused everything he saw to be twisted. He had an understanding that under this blow, he would be reduced to dust.

His expression became calm and grave on his upraised face. Through his twisted vision, he saw that vicious dominance. In this moment, countless thoughts spun through his mind … …

The sect did not place enough attention on Mo Cloud Sea … …

Zuo Mo was the strongest of Mo Cloud Sea … …

To destroy Mo Cloud Sea, they had to first kill Zuo Mo … …

It was a pity … … there was no time … …

He sighed inside. Through his twisted vision, he still could clearly see that the attack he had channeled all of his power into powerlessly smash onto the other’s axe energy. It didn’t even cause a ripple as though it had encountered an unshakable mountain.

The destructive golden axe energy immediately took over his entire field of view.

He was unable to communicate what had happened here back to the sect … … it really was regretful … …

“Kun Lun.”

Nie Chen sighed out the two words. Before he finished, he was drowned by the enormous wave of axe energy.

The light dissipated.

Zuo Mo panted. His entire body was soaked by sweat as though he had just climbed out of a river. Sweat streamed off his body like little streams.

He motionlessly maintained his extended swinging posture.

His bellowing panting could be heard everywhere.

In front of him, a enormous gully five li wide started from under his feet and reached into the distance. A rough estimate would be at least fifty li! The scene was startling to see as though an enormous wound had been torn open on the ground.

The gully was so deep the bottom could not be seen. The two sides of the gully flashed with the light as it reflected off the glass like surface and many places were still giving off smoke.

Everyone was stunned by this blow.

The Ghost Mist Child’s mouth was wide open but he wasn’t able to make a sound. This was the Totem Coliseum … … when was the last time the Totem Coliseum had been damaged?

His mind was completely blank and he couldn’t remember anything. However, he knew that it had been many many many years since he had seen it.

A long time later, he recovered from his daze.

Suddenly, he realized that this young master of his was definitely something.

———

Zuo Mo’s astounding blow attracted everyone’s attention, even Tenth Grade and Zhen Ling Meng in the middle of their fight.

When they saw Zuo Mo’s terrifying presence like that of a god, Tenth Grade and Zhen Ling Meng unconsciously stopped fighting.

Tenth Grade felt his blood heat up as he watched. That dominance, that ferocity, that unstoppable presence, wasn’t that what he had been pursuing?

That was a fight! That was a truly strong person!

Tenth Grade’s morale suddenly increased, his fighting spirit rising. The domineering and unstoppable figure was deeply imprinted in his mind.

Tenth Grade!

Only that domineering presence was suitable for the name Tenth Grade!

Tenth Grade suddenly howled, his shen power rippling as his [Hundred Sacrificial Soul Killing Sword] came out again!

Stimulated, Tenth Grade became even more mad and excited. The power of the [Hundred Sacrificial Soul Killing Sword] suddenly grew!

Zhen Ling Meng’s mind was thrown into disarray by the scene that she had just seen. Especially when she saw that Nie Chen Shixiong’s last attack was ineffective against the other’s vicious axe energy. Nie Chen Shixiong died where he was standing, and the blood drained completely from her face.

That figure like that of a god continued to appear in her mind. She felt her heart was dead.

The other was so strong it surpassed the limits of humans!

With victory decided in that battle, the deadlock between the two sides was immediately changed.

Tenth Grade did not have any thoughts of showing mercy to females. He was vicious, one move coming faster than the last. Once a vicious sword scripture like the [Hundred Sacrificial Soul Killing Sword] gained the upper hand, the enemy would feel that the pressure was slowly suffocating them.

In an excited battle frenzy, Tenth Grade felt that something in his mind broke and an unprecedented feeling of pleasure rose.

His mind turned, and Tenth Grade used his killing move again!

[Hundred Sacrificial Soul Killing Sword]!

The dark red howled as it flew towards Zhen Ling Meng whose mind was not focused.

The bloody figure that was as light as silk disappeared, and shadows appeared and disappeared on the dark red surface of the crescent.

With the appearance of every shadow, the killing energy of the crescent would increase!

Seven shadows!

The killing energy of the crescent had reached an astounding level. Zhen Ling Meng’s sword energies would crumble when they touched the crescent!

A spray of blood into the air.

Zhen Ling Meng lost all signs of life!

When Zhen Ling Meng fell to the ground, Silly Bird slowly withdrew the Phoenix Flame. Where the Phoenix Flame had been, there was nothing, not even a speck of dust.

Silly Bird walked her bird walk with her head high and looking to the side as though nothing had happened.

———

In the Sword Guard Hall, there were countless jade swords hanging. Each jade sword was about the width of a hand had the name of a disciple written on it. The hilt of the swords were tied with red rope to the beams of the hall.

There were countless jade swords hanging in the hall.

Suddenly, pop pop pop, three jade swords shattered without warning.

The disciple standing guard in the hall changed expression. This meant that there were three Kun Lun disciples who had been killed. He hurriedly picked up the fragments. When he saw the three names, his expression turned ashen.

Three Children of Kun Lun!

Three of the Children Kun Lun had been killed!

How was it possible?

Who was able to kill three Children of Kun Lun at once?

There were only fifty Children of Kun Lun in all of Kun Lun. Each child of Kun Lun had glorious status in the sect. They were astoundingly powerful and any one of them could cause a storm on the outside world.

But … …

Three Children of Kun Lun had died at the same time!

This was the first time ever since Kun Lun had been founded. Realizing the severity of the problem, the disciple on duty sprinted out madly.

Not long after, the news that three Children of Kun Lun had been killed spread through all of Kun Lun!

Kun Lun shook!

———

Zuo Mo fell down to the ground on his behind, his arms spread as he fell back. He ignored the flow of sweat and panted like a parched fish.

All of his power had been used up. The exhaustion that came along caused his mind to turn blank.

A long time later, he finally focused.

His accumulated emotions had been vented and his mind was clear. He would always remember the grudge of his sect yet he was not as simple and direct with his emotions as Wei Sheng. Shixiong’s personality was simple and direct, he had used a sword oath to understand his heart. For Zuo Mo who repressed these feelings. after a long time, it became an obstacle affecting his mental progress.

When he used this method to vent all the matters that had accumulated his mind, his mind became clear, and his strength took another step forward.

His body that was void of power, a clear mind, this strange yet beautiful feeling made him feel comfortable.

He knew that after this battle, his strength would go up another level!

———

There were constantly people coming out of the five halls. But anyone that were not on their side were immediately killed!

A Gui was like a ghost. Usually, just as the enemy came out, she would appear like a ghost behind the other’s back and with a snap she would break the other’s neck.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier was not willing to show weakness, especially after he saw Tenth Grade’s display. His mind at disequilibrium, he fought even harder.

The Ghost Mist Child would occasionally participate to remind people he was there.

However, the strongest member of the great Ghost Mist Tribe, the hall master of Mist Hall, now was in a situation where he had to remind people of his existence. It really was a pitiful matter!

However, whenever he saw that Silly Bird out of the corner of his eyes that seemed to be napping, he immediately felt that it would be better to not be too attention-catching … …

Why had he ended up on a team with his natural enemy … …

He cried inside.

Most of the experts were killed. Those that were coming out were average in strength. Facing A Gui and the Black Gold Seal Soldier’s powerful attacks, they usually were killed within one move.

Both of these people were vicious people who killed like cutting grass. It made the good child Sunshine unable to look, unable to look … … and was still unable to look … …

When Wei Sheng, Luo Li, Zong Ru and the others came out of the five halls, their strength immediately grew.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier and A Gui were even more reckless and vicious in their attacks. In any case, if they failed there were still others that would follow-up with another attack.

However, when every person came out, they would first go to look at Zuo Mo’s fifty li long gully created by his axe swing. They all gasped in shock.

The guards looked reverently at Zuo Mo who had collapsed onto the ground. At the side, the Ghost Mist Child occasionally spoke of Master’s heroic bearing, spittle flying as he talked excitedly.

As expected of Daren!

He usually did not act, but once he did, the results were always astounding!

It was a pity that these people staring reverently at Zuo Mo did not know the inner conflict of their idol.

“The gazes of these people … … so good … … now you know your boss is great and bright … …”

“Oh no, my arm seems to be dislocated … … should I tell them this … … that is so embarrassing … … oh … … let me first enjoy this and then say … …”

Chapter 805 – Mo Cloud Sea is Coming!

Kun Lun.

The death of three Children of Kun Lun was a great shock to Kun Lun. Every child of Kun Lun had been picked carefully, passing through numerous tests. All of them possessed astounding strength and talent. Each of them were Kun Lun’s greatest wealth.

Three Children of Kun Lun had died.

“It’s Lotus Sutra Temple’s ancient ruins.” Chao Xin’s expression was serious. The death of three Children of Kun Lun was a great loss to Kun Lun.

In Chao Xin’s view, this kind of loss was even greater than the loss of several jie. The selection of the children of Kun Lun was extremely complex and strict. What was almost certain was that the Children of Kun Lun would become the strongest fighters for Kun Lun. All of them had a bright future.

If a jie was lost, it could be taken back.

But if a child of Kun Lun was killed, it was almost impossible to find a replacement.

The Children of Kun Lun were picked from all Kun Lun disciples. The loss of any of these geniuses was irreplaceable. If they wanted to replenish their numbers, they had to increase the range of selection. However, the loyalty of the genius youths selected from other sects under Kun Lun was doubtful.

Once Kun Lun lost the unity that they relied on, then Kun Lun was no longer Kun Lun.

Chao Xin knew this better than most people and this was why he was worried. Three Children of Kun Lun being killed at the same time, this meant the enemy was very strong.

“It’s Mo Cloud Sea.” Lin Qian spat out. His expression was normal as though he was not affected at all.

“Most likely.” Chao Xin agreed with Lin Qian’s speculation. He said gravely, “Other than Mo Cloud Sea, no one has the strength. Tian Huan is not focused on this ruin and the manpower they sent out is limited.”

“How is everyone?” Lin Qian suddenly asked.

Chao Xin understood what Lin Qian meant. “Everyone is angry, they want to get revenge for Nie Chen and the others! Nie Chen is a friendly person and there are many disciples that liked Zhen Ling Meng.”

Lin Qian nodded. “Send them all out to gain experience.”

Chao Xin paled. “Isn’t that … ..”

Lin Qian waved his hand and said calmly, “Even the best talent, without any tempering, cannot grow into a truly strong tree. They have good talent, but lack experience. Many of them were not outstanding in the past. They need time to adjust to the change in their status.”

Many of the Children of Kun Lun had not been outstanding in the ling power era because their talent in cultivating ling power had been ordinary. Yet after entering the era of shen power, their talents at cultivating shen power had been uncovered and their status had completely transformed.

The changes in their status and identity had come too suddenly. Many people had not adjusted to the change.

Lin Qian was very displeased with this. He felt that the Children of Kun Lun now did not have the spirit or demeanor of the previous core disciples of Kun Lun.

In that era, the core Kun Lun disciples had pride that came from their bones. They could not tolerate other people being stronger than them. This spirit urged them on to demand more of themselves.

Chao Xin understood but he said worriedly, “But this way, the fatalities will be high.”

Lin Qian said coolly, “Fifty Children of Kun Lun, I will be satisfied if five of them become top experts. I do not need flowers growing in the greenhouse, and Kun Lun doesn’t need them.”

“I understand.” Chao Xin did not speak further.

———

Zuo Mo and the other stood guard in front of the palace gates, killing whoever came in.

There wasn’t any faction that could fight against them. Soon, they were the only ones left in the entire ruins.

“Finally, no one is going to compete with us.” Zuo Mo’s sigh was filled with satisfaction, and extremely smug.

The other people laughed. They had taken over the entire place.

“Which palace should we go to?” Zuo Mo asked the Ghost Mist Child.

The Ghost Mist Child said and then thought, “Not the Winter Palace, there once had been a strong warrior from the Sun Tribe that died when he entered the Winter Palace. The other palaces, all of them should be alright … …”

As he spoke, the Ghost Mist Child’s voice became smaller and smaller.

Zuo Mo’s face turned dark and he glared angrily, “You say you were familiar?”

The Ghost Mist Child said timidly, “That … … that … … actually … …”

Zuo Mo rubbed his forehead and said. Alright, it was all the same.

He thought. Among his group, the people who played with fire were the most common so he said, “Let’s go to the Summer Palace!”

The other people naturally did not have any objections.

The bronze doors to the Summer Palace were carved with suns and blooming flowers. When Zuo Mo’s hand touched the bronze doors, the sun and the flowers suddenly lit up and the palace gates soundlessly opened.

Bright sunlight came out of the palace gates. It was completely white, and everything narrowed their eyes.

Moments later, when everyone’s eyes adjusted to the strong light, they finally saw the scene inside.

———

Mo Shen Temple.

A figure slowly rose out of the blood pool. If Wei Sheng saw this figure, he would be astounded. Wu Le! The Wu Le who had fallen at his sword was still alive.

Wu Le’s face was ashen and he wore a grimace.

Youxi Ya Ke laughed lightly. “Who did you encounter that you got beaten so badly?”

“Wei Sheng!” Wu Le had an expression of respect.

Everyone’s expression shifted.

“I almost wasn’t able to come back,” Wu Le said with lingering fear. “Wei Sheng is really one of the strongest sword xiu, so strong!”

“To be able to escape with your life after fighting Wei Sheng, be satisfied,” Youxi Ya Ke said with a twist of his mouth.

Everyone had expressions of agreement.

Wu Le’s complexion was pale but his eyes were bright and flashed with wondrous light. “I have understood a lot in the fight against Wei Sheng. In half a year, I will definitely have a breakthrough.”

The others heard this and all showed expressions of joy.

If Wu Le grew stronger, the Mo Shen Temple would also grow stronger.

The conflicts in the mo territories had continued. All the factions fought and had not stopped. The Mo Shen Temple’s conflicts with the other factions had not stopped but continuous battle would cause the Mo Shen Temple to grow stronger.

The mo gods of the Mo Shen Temple increased from three to five.

And the territory of the Mo Shen Temple had multiplied. The Mo Shen Temple had become one of the strongest factions in the Hundred Savage Realm. The strength of the Mo Shen Temple caused the mo that lived in the area they ruled to have relatively good lives. Their belief grew more steady and the mo gods were even stronger.

However, the battle between the Mo Marshal Alliance and Mo Cloud Sea had shocked them.

The loss of the two top battle generals of the Mo Marshal Alliance caused the Mo Marshal Alliance to start declining. The skirmishes at the borders increased and Gongzi Xi alone could not deal with all of them. In the span of a few months, the territories of the Mo Marshal Alliance had shrank by a fifth.

The mo golds of the Mo Shen Temple watched with rapidly beating hearts.

The Mo Marshal Alliance and the Mo Shen Temple were factions of the same level. However, just due to one defeat, their situation had rapidly worsened.

Everyone knew that the Mo Marshal Alliance was probably going to end up a second-tier faction.

Unless another new top battle general entered the Mo Marshal Alliance, the Mo Marshal Alliance’s fate was sealed. With only one top battle general it could not avoid the fate of its territories shrinking.

The present skirmishes were just the beginning.

The leaders of the Mo Shen Temple watched this and felt the pressure rise. The Mo Shen Temple had three top battle generals. The Chief Mo God, Youxi Ya Ke, and the fourth mo god.

The Rhinoceros Mo God and Wu Le were able to fight and led troops but there was still a great difference in skill from them to be truly top battle generals.

Mo Cloud Sea!

No one had thought that Mo Cloud Sea was so strong!

Bie Han alone had killed two top battle generals. This was terrifying. Also, the Mo Shen Temple had interacted with Zuo Mo before and still had a memorable impression of him. They knew that with Zuo Mo’s personality, he would never do an unprofitable thing.

Bie Han’s Sin Battalion would definitely have a way of being replenished!

Otherwise, Zuo Mo definitely would not agree for Bie Han to make such a sacrifice.

The loss of two top battle generals caused the defense lines of the Mo Marshal Alliance to be in constant retreat.

While Bie Han no longer fought, the Tangzi Battalion, A Zha Ge Battalion, and the Grey Camp were like three sharp daggers that cut up the defense lines of the Mo Marshal Alliance.

Lightning fast, Mo Cloud Sea took down thirteen jie of various sizes!

The Mo Marshal Alliance seemed to be flee when they heard the name Mo Cloud Sea. They could not muster up any resistance. Helpless, the Mo Marshal Alliance could only retreat and give up large amounts of territory.

Mo Cloud Sea seemed even more emboldened.

However, it was not that the other factions were not prowling about. In their view, Bie Han had already returned to Mo Cloud Sea. The three battalions that were roaming about now were not Sin Battalion. They did not think highly of those battalions, and they also had the advantage of being on home territory.

An alliance of more than forty small factions formed a great army intending to take down this piece of meat.

However, Tang Fei and the other battalions let them have a taste of  true power.

On the battlefield, the Tangzi Battalion fought twenty one consecutive battles without sleep or rest. They won all twenty one!

Grey Camp sneaked a long way and suddenly appeared behind the enemy. They took over thirty main towns and burned almost seventy percent of the supply bases.

A Zha Ge Battalion’s movements forced the alliance to split up their forces. Then he met up with Tang Fei and defeated the main forces of the alliance!

Corpses piled in mountains!

Blood flowing in rivers!

The alliance immediately crumpled.

Yet, unexpectedly, the three battalions did not rest at all. Like wolves, they continued to pursue the fleeing soldiers.

The collapsing alliance lost all fighting spirit. They only knew to flee, furiously flee!

Following the defeated forces, the three battalions, without almost any effort, took down one jie after another!

Forty four jie!

When the numbers were finally calculated, the mo territories were shocked again!

The strong fighting ability of Mo Cloud Sea caused the entire world to look at them.

They were not Bie Han. Except for A Zha Ge, everyone else had been unknown before this. Yet in this string of battles, they had displayed strong offensive power, and revealed the high level of their battle general training.

They thought about the previous Ma Fan Battalion who had become famous due to one battle.

None of these four battalions were weak.

These battalions were different in their styles, but they had many traits in common, strong military regulation and a hardy spirit!

The entire mo territories were shouting in shock

–Mo Cloud Sea was coming!

Chapter 806 – Summer Palace

The burning bright sun, the blooming sea of flowers, the vibrantly growing plants, the thunderstorms that came and left suddenly … …

It really was summer!

Zuo Mo and the others tried to find a way out of the sea of flowers and the forest. Occasionally, rain would pour down on them and soak them completely. However, with their strength, this was like taking a sight-seeing tour.

The bright sun, the scent of fragrant flowers, the babbling flow of water … …

There was no danger. They didn’t even encounter one large animal, much less any poison miasma or mist.

Yet after twenty hours had passed and they still hadn’t found a way out, everyone understood that this sea of flowers and trees were not as wonderful as imagined.

“So hot!” someone couldn’t help but complain.

The sun was bright like fire. Even though the branches of the trees, the burning heat still made people feel uncomfortable.

Zuo Mo’s mind moved. He also felt a wave of relentless heat. He had not noticed it and he only realized a problem when he heard someone complain. With their strength, they should not feel cold or heat. Why would they feel hot?

There was something strange!

Raising his head to look at the sun in the sky, Zuo Mo frowned and called everyone to a stop.

“This  is not right. We have walked for twenty hours, covering at least seven hundred li but there are still no signs we are getting out. This sun is also very strange. Everyone feels the heat. Let’s talk and see if we can find anything?” Zuo Mo threw out the problem.

Zong Ru suddenly opened his eyes. “The sun is problematic.”

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned towards Zong Ru. Zong Ru’s sixth sense was unparalleled in its sensitivity. If he said there was a problem, then there was a problem.

Zong Ru’s expression was grave as he slowly said, “Within the light of the sun, there is a kind of power similar to wish power.”

“Wish power!”

Everyone changed expressions in fear. Just the term was enough to make their hairs stand on end. The wish power of the Dhyana xiu had always been a very mysterious power. The descriptions of wish power were usually along the lines of “malicious.” Among the many methods of the Dhyana xiu that admired righteousness and honesty, wish power was special. It was innately a malicious power.

In the understanding of many people, wish power was like a toxin.

Zong Ru cultivated wish power, and the rare “Buddha Abandoning Death Wish” at that. This was not a secret in Mo Cloud Sea, but usually, people did not see Zong Ru use wish power.

When they heard Zong Ru say that the sunlight contained a power similar to wish power, everyone’s expressions changed. No one wanted to touch that strange power.

Zong Ru continued, “However, this power is very weak and hard to detect.”

Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and the others closed their eyes to feel it. Zuo Mo quickly found it. As expected, there was a very weak wisp of a strange power within the strong sunlight. This wisp of power was unique. It could ignore the defenses of shen equipment and permeate the body.

Zuo Mo sank his mind into his body. A short while later, he found that weak wish power inside his body. The wish power was extremely weak. If he was not focused on finding it, it most likely would be hard to discover. And it was this weak wish power that made him feel relentless heat.

So strong!

Zuo Mo was alarmed. The danger of wish power could be seen from how it had penetrated his body without him knowing it. He channeled shen power and tried to force the wish power inside his body out. But unexpectedly, no matter how he channeled shen power, that thin thread did not move. It sat motionlessly in his body.

Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. The sun shen power inside his body wrapped around the wish power. When the sun shen power twisted with the wish power, it was unable to immediately burn away the wish power. The burning process was extremely slow.

It took twenty breaths before that hair-thin strand of wish power in his body was burned away.

Zuo Mo was shocked. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Wei Sheng SHixiong’s expression was similarly grave. A Gui, Ceng Lian’er and Luo Li were alright, the little ones were fine, but the guards were helpless against the wish power.

“Let me try.” Zong Ru’s expression was grave.

His wish power was unlike the wish power from the sun. Zong Ru’s wish power was grey, and the wish power in the sunlight was a flaming red.

Zong Ru’s wish power entered the body of a guard and rapidly charged towards the red wish power to quickly consume it.

Very soon, the wish power in each of the guard’s body was completely eliminated and the red lotus flower on Zong Ru’s forehead became even brighter.

“How do you feel?” Zuo Mo asked in concern.

Zong Ru gave a warm smile. “With the similarities to wish power it is of great benefit to me. Daren, do not worry.”

Zuo Mo’s worries were eased. Since Zong Ru was here, then this wish power was not a problem. He thought and then said, “We will fly rather than walk. This way, it will not be easy to get lost.”

Before, they had been worried that flight would attract powerful monsters so they had walked. After walking for more than twenty hours, they didn’t know where they were anymore. This made Zuo Mo decide to fly.

The group flew into the sky. There was a vibrant forest under them that stretched out endlessly in their view.

What made Zuo Mo feel safe was that they had not encountered any strong monsters. But after flying for more than eighty hours, and travelling for almost ten thousand li, there was still no end to the flowers and forests.

What shocked Zuo Mo and the others was the light of the sun was much more poisonous in the sky. Every four hours, everyone had to land and have Zong Ru help extract the wish power out of them.

The red lotus on Zong Ru’s forehead became even brighter. Accompanied by his caved-in face, it was eerie.

Zong Ru’s pupils became even deeper. Ever since he achieved wish power, his wish power had never grown. Wish power was unlike ling or shen power. It could not be cultivated and was closer to an abhinna. But in the span of these few days, after consuming the wish power in everyone’s bodies, his wish power had more than doubled.

A grey mist twisted in his sea of consciousness.

“What a ghastly place!” Zuo Mo looked around. “We’ve flown for so long and still hasn’t left this forest. Are we in an illusory formation?”

“Illusory formation?” the Ghost Mist Child asked curiously, “What is that?”

“You don’t know what an illusory formation is?” Zuo Mo examined the Ghost Mist Child with slight disbelief.

Pu Yao spoke at this time, “There were no illusory formations in the ancient era.”

“No illusory formations during the ancient era?” This time, it was Zuo Mo’s turn to be shocked. “No way!” For him, illusory formations were one of the most basic skills, a minor skill that everyone should know of. Of course, if it was a powerful illusory formation, it would be a troublesome matter.

“Illusory formations only appeared after ling power, this is common knowledge!” Pu Yao would not pass on any chance to attack Zuo Mo and said this with disdain.

The Ghost Mist Child stood in the middle with puzzlement.

Seeing this, Zuo Mo created an illusory formation as an example. The Ghost Mist Child finally realized it and then said scornfully, “Using tricks like this to fool people are useless!”

Zuo Mo was furious and then he pointed at the forest below. “Then you tell me what this forest is!”

“Ignorant!” Pu Yao couldn’t help but mock. “Your knowledge only extends to illusory formatons. Hmph! The skills of ancient warriors are those you cannot imagine. If I am not wrong, this has formed into a jie. Or, this was originally a jie and it was then modified.”

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. He stammered out, “You are saying … … this is actually a new jie … …”

“Yes!” Pu Yao’s eyes were filled with longing. “The ancient warriors could steal the sky and snatch the sun, pluck stars and change the moon. This jie should have been changed.”

This speculation was a great blow to Zuo Mo’s mind. He had met the strange Shi in the Sealed Extinction Battlefield and thought he had a certain level of understanding of the greatness of the ancient ones. Now, he found that he had underestimated the strength of the ancient great ones.

However, the Ghost Mist Child should have more of a say in this matter. Zuo Mo immediately turned around and looked at the Ghost Mist Child. “The Summer Palace is a jie?”

The Ghost Mist Child nodded. “It should be. The previous master liked creating spectacles, and hated things that fooled others.”

He had been the warrior of a tribe before and was knowledgeable. He raised his head to look at the sun and said uncertainly. “I don’t know where Master got this sun from. If the people from the Sun Tribe saw this, they would be jealous. This forest is probably something special as well.”

Zuo Mo gaped as he listened.

With a jie as a palace, to set up a sun, to create an endless forest. This was inhuman.

In comparison, the so-called restricted grounds of the present large sects were just child’s play.

Suddenly, Lil’ Black who had been hanging of Silly Bird waved its antennae.

Hmm?

Zuo Mo’s eyes immediately lit up. When Lil’ black usually did this, it meant that there was treasure nearby!

As expected, Lil’ Black slid down Silly Bird’s body and then started to fly in a direction.

Zuo Mo called out and then hurriedly followed.

Lil’ Black was very fast and nimble. Zuo Mo and the others had to be alert as they followed closely behind.

After flying about twenty li, Lil’ Black finally stopped and landed on a piece of scorched wood.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised and then curiously examined the piece of wood. This wood was clearly old. Half of it was buried in the ground and half exposed to the air. The wood should have been the trunk of a large tree, about three chi in diameter. It was covered in lichen and looked very normal.

Lil’ Black was holding on tightly to the wood in intoxication.

Was there something special about the wood?

Zuo Mo was even more curious. He walked over and reached out to prepare to brush off the lichen growing on the wood.

Hm!

When Zuo Mo’s hand touched the lichen, suddenly, an arch of electricity flashed and struck out at his fingertips. His hand went numb.

Lightning!

The green lichen contained such a great amount of lightning!

He tried to put his hand on the lichen. As expected, another arc of lightning hit his hand.

Interesting!

It was the first time he had encountered lichen that contained such a great amount of lightning. This was much more than what was in his Sonic Lightning Walnuts. While he did not know the use of the green lichen, he felt that this thing would definitely have wondrous uses.

He took out a jade box, and carefully gathered all the green lichen on the wood.

The wood’s appearance was gradually revealed.

Chapter 807 – Coral Fire Perch

The surface of the wood was black as though it had been scorched by fire. It was black and did not appear special. Zuo Mo looked at Lil’ Black who was the same color and couldn’t help but mutter inside, you’re holding on so tightly, is it because you found something as black as you?

However, when the wood was in his hand, Zuo Mo shook.

A burning presence burrowed into Zuo Mo’s hand.

Even though Zuo Mo possessed the Sun Shen Flame, he couldn’t help but shake. Only when he started to channel shen power did this burning presence only halved. Having learned the lesson, he wrapped shen power around his hand before carefully grabbing the tree trunk.

The section that was buried under was longer than Zuo Mo imagined.

It took Zuo Mo some effort to pull the entire piece of wood out of the soil. The tree trunk was about twice the height of a person and about a third of it was burnt.

The burnt part had most likely been struck by lightning. Zuo Mo could clearly feel a great amount of lightning and fire energy. It was so abundant it was almost unimaginable. Zuo Mo suspected that this part of the trunk was crystallized by lightning and fire energy, containing extremely pure lightning and fire energy that existed in a wondrous balance.

The green lichen had changed into the lightning green lichen as a result of growing on the tree trunk for a long time and absorbing the lightning energy of the trunk.

When Zuo Mo dug out the entire tree and wiped away the surface layer of soil, everyone else watching inhaled sharply.

The part of the trunk that was not burnt was as warm and as transparent as crystal. It was possible to see thick twisted red veins inside that filled the inner space of the wood. It was like a coral. A burning presence emanated from it.

“What is this?” The Black Gold Seal Soldier curiously crowded over.

Zuo Mo shook his head. “I don’t know.” He turned to ask the Ghost Mist Child. “Do you recognize it?”

The Ghost Mist Child said with slight hesitation, “It should be coral wood.”

“Coral wood?” The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s eyes were wide, and something glittering could be seen at the corner of his mouth. “Just that name… it sounds as though it would taste delicious … …I really want to eat … …”

“Coral wood?” Zuo Mo frowned. He remembered that the sun gold leaf had mentioned this.

Coral Wood, jade like material, a coral-like fire inside, it was a rare and precious fire-type material.

Fire … …

Zuo Mo’s shen power was uncontrollably channeled in. Boom, the wood suddenly sprouted red flames that made everyone jump in fright.

Zuo Mo frowned instead. Such a strange flame!

Unlike his sun shen flame, the flame inside the coral wood was as red as coal but silent.

It was a pity that it was not suited to him. His flame was domineering and fierce and completely different from the fire of the coral wood. He remembered that the sun gold leaf had said that this item was most suited for a wasteland beast and could help them grow.

Wasteland beast … …

Zuo Mo’s gaze swept across everyone and then landed in the end on Silly Bird. His eyes lit up. This one could count as a phoenix now. Her flame was unlike his, and coral wood would be a suitable pairing.

Phoenixes perched on parasol trees.

There were no parasol trees, but this coral wood was perfect.

Zuo Mo considered it and then arrived at a decision. His hand was like a knife that cut the coral wood into two. The part that contained lightning energy was split off. The lightning and fire energies in this part of the wood had completely merged together after coexisting for tens of thousands of years.

The other section of the coral wood was about the height of a man. It was jade-like to the touch. A dark red coral grew throughout the transparent tree trunk. People had to marvel at the wonders of creation.

Zuo Mo closed his eyes and thought. A long while later, he opened his eyes. His fingers were like knives that quickly started to carve on the coral wood. Scraps of clear wood flew. The Black Gold Seal Soldier who was watching eagerly did not wait for them to land on the ground before sucking them into his mouth with a content expression.

About an hour later, the round trunk was covered in patterns.

“This is a totem pole?” The Ghost Mist Child asked uncertainly. He had never seen many of the patterns on this totem pole.

“It isn’t.” Zuo Mo shook his head. “I used some of the totem pole methods. What should this be considered as?”

Zuo Mo was slightly uncertain.

The other people did not understand what Zuo Mo intended but Silly Bird’s eyes suddenly lit up. She seemed to feel that was a ball of fire inside the round wood that was resonating with the fire inside her.

Zuo Mo shook his head. It was not important what this thing was, but rather if it was useful or not. He beckoned at Silly Bird. “Silly Bird, stand on it and try!”

If this was another day, Silly Bird would proudly ignore Zuo Mo if he called her Silly Bird or glare angrily. But today, without a word, her wings spread and she flew onto the coral wood.

Once Silly Bird land onto the coral wood, boom, dark red flames suddenly erupted out of the wood pillar. Silly Bird felt indescribably comfortable and sang a high note!

Boom!

The fire expanded!

The red flames shot into the sky!

An astounding wave of air gusted in all directions. Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and a few others were unaffected but the guards were unable to keep their places, bam bam bam, and were forced to retreat a few steps.

However, Wei Sheng, Zong Ru and the others changed expressions slightly.

It seemed as though they saw an enormous ancient phoenix bathing in the fire of the wood. Amongst the raging flames, its proud posture could be seen. “With its high pitched cries, all beasts bowed!”

Silly Bird’s Phoenix Flame and the dark red flames of the coral wood merged perfectly. The seal scripts and shen glphys on the pillar were unusually beautiful in the brightness of the flames.

Other than the seal scripts, the most important thing on the pillar was the sun shen glyph. The sun shen glyph was the one that Zuo Mo was most familiar with. While it was not a perfect match to the attributes of the coral wood, the wood was one of the rare materials that could support shen glyphs. Zuo Mo used a compromise, the sun shen glyph as the core, all kinds of fire formations on the surface to form a completely separate and complete little fire formation group.

This round pillar did not look any different from totem poles but the two were completely different things.

Seal pole?

This name was not glorious enough. Zuo Mo immediately refused it. After thinking for awhile, he decided to call it the [Coral Fire Perch].

It had to be said that Zuo Mo’s design was rational. The fire contained inside the [Coral Fire Perch] was completely uncovered. Silly Bird could absorb the flames while perching on it. When fighting, this would be also of help. Her phoenix flame would at least increase in power by half!

With the [Solitary Dance of the Great Dark Wheel Phoenix] together, Silly Bird had the power to fight against the wasteland beasts of the ancient times!

Thinking that he had another super powered sidekick, Zuo Mo was extremely proud. As expected, regardless of the time, equipment was the most important!

Having had a taste, Zuo Mo started to calculate his other gains.

Rain Banner, Thunder Source Hammer, remnant of a Skanda Staff, Green Pulse String, all the parts of the ancient octopus.

All of these were good materials. The Rain Commanding Banner and the Thunder Source Hammer were also undamaged, but were exhausted of their power so they did not retain their ancient power. However, their construction was extraordinary and just the materials were very good.

There was still a lingering presence of a Dhyana xiu on the remnant of the Skanda Staff. However, what was most useful was the material. It was made from the very rare Ten Thousand Profound Copper Source gilded with Crimson Fire Gold Flow. It was extremely hard but at the same time, the difficulty in forging was high.

However, for Zuo Mo who possessed the sun shen fire, this was not a problem.

The Green Pulse Strand was a powerful talisman, a treasure formed in the world. Zuo Mo had not thought of any ways to forge it. Most importantly was that shen glyph that Zuo Mo called [Green Pulse]. It possessed great power. Only after completely comprehending the [Green Pulse Shen Glyph] could he truly express the power of the Green Pulse String.

Zuo Mo had never had the bad habits of the forgers from the big sects. It was normal for him to adjust his designs to the materials he had on hand.

After some thought, he had a new idea.

He took out all of the good materials from his ring and piled it up in front of him. He called over Zong Ru and had him try to see which kind of material could hold wish power.

Wish power was a very strange power. Zuo Mo’s understanding of it was pitiful so he decided for Zong Ru to try them one by one.

Zong Ru understood that Zuo Mo was planning to forge a talisman for him and was moved. However, his control over his emotions had reached a great level and his expression remained calm.

He did as Zuo Mo said and tried the items. His eyes suddenly lit up when he touched the eyes of the ancient octopus.

“This item is useable!”

Zuo Mo’s worries were immediately eased. In his view, Zong Ru had wish power and shen power, two completely different powers. It would be a pity if he could not enhance any one of the two. He had been worried before since there were no materials suitable for Zong Ru. The Cross Vajra Gada could not express his strength at this point.

The two eyes of the ancient octopus had turned to stone already. They were black and bright on the surface and had shrank by a third of its size. However, for a talisman, it was still too large.

Zuo Mo did not know much about many of Zong Ru’s skills so Zong Ru decided to forge a general talisman nucleus and then have Zong Ru continue to perfect it.

This undoubtedly tested the skill of the forger.

Even Zuo Mo had to seriously considered for a while before he decided to act.

The first step was to forge the two eyes of the octopus. With the sun shen fire and the phoenix flame, it only took half of a day. Zuo Mo forged the two eyes until they were about the size of a fist.

After forging the octopus eyes, they were black and reflective. If one met the eyes, they would unconsciously be attracted and their consciousness sinking into them.

As expected of a guy that had lived for tens of thousands of years!

Zuo Mo’s confidence multiplied.

Thunder Source Hammer, the damaged Skanda Staff, half of the coral wood, the Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads … …

A pile of valuable materials flowed through Zuo Mo’s hands. Zuo Mo had gained the Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads as spoils of victory after killing Ji Zheng. The other treasure, the Nether Reincarnation Lotus had always been used on A Gui.

After forging for three full days, this shen device finally took form.

This was a very strange three-flanged max. Inside one flange was a transparent red bead about the size of a fist that floated peacefully. Inside the bead, there was a hammer that flickered in and out of view among the electricity. In another flange, there were two beautiful black beads that spun constantly like two playing fish. In the last flange, seven Incense Fire Ling Wish Beads floated up and down in the mist of the incense.

Even though Zong Ru’s mind was as still as water, he couldn’t help but stop breathing when he saw this three-flanged staff!

Ji Zheng – Fanxu of Tian Huan Temple. First mentioned in chapter 664, and appearing in chapter 665 where he is on a mission to assassinate Xiao Mo Ge with Dai Tao. Described as a stereotypical dhynana xiu, with a shaved head, prayer beads, and monk robes.

Chapter 808 – Descendant of Greenvine

Zong Ru caressed the three-flanged Skanda Staff and didn’t maintain the mannerisms of a Dhyana expert at all.

Zuo Mo was satisfied with this three-flanged Skanda Staff as well. Among all of his works, this three-flanged Skanda Staff was near the top. Other than the high level materials used in its design, the forging method and the designs were both outstanding.

The most unique part about it was that Zuo Mo had left it partially incomplete. This design could be gradually perfected by Zong Ru so that the item would be better suited to him. This also gave him a new way of thinking. In the past, talismans were completely forged by forgers, and then the user would gradually learn to use it.

But for top experts, their understanding of battle far surpassed forgers.

This new idea, finishing the framework and then let the user perfect it. The talismans that formed would be more fitting to the needs of the user. There was no big meaning in pursuing the power of a talisman above all else. Zuo Mo who was experienced in combat knew that talismans suited to the user were the best talismans, not the ones that were most powerful.

Zuo Mo named this three-flanged Skanda Staff as the Three Manifestations Treasure Staff.

Zuo Mo didn’t have any plans about the remaining materials and of the people here, only Luo Li didn’t have a good talisman. However, when he thought about Luo Li’s eerie [Life-Death Lock] cultivation method, Zuo Mo had a headache.

That spell was truly too eerie and hard to predict. After some methods from the Undying Shen Power had been added, the [Life-Death Lock] became even harder to understand. Even Zuo Mo, who had seen numerous shen methodologies, could not understand.

Much less forge a talisman for Luo Li.

Fortunately, Luo Li did not care about this at all. He stayed close to Wo Li everyday and the world did not exist in his eyes.

A Gui had the [Undying Ghost], Eldest Shixiong had the God-Killing Blood Sword, Luo Li did not need anything. Zong Ru now had the Three Manifestations Treasure Staff. Even Silly Bird now had the [Coral Fire Perch]. In the end, Zuo Mo was the one with nothing.

However, after remember that he had the Green Pulse String and the Anti Dragon Claw, Zuo Mo threw the problem to the back of his mind.

He would first have to think about how to get out of the Summer Palace before anything else.

They had flown for more than a dozen days. According to their travel speed, they should have travelled over ten thousand miles. Yet there was still not an end to the forest. This was not a good sign. However, the Ghost Mist Child dismissed it. He said that it was fast for the people that entered the Four Palaces in the past to come out in two months.

Only then did everyone feel slightly reassured.

The most patient one was Zong Ru. He held the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff in his hand and used the staff to absorb wish power from the sunlight in the past few days. The two black octopus eyes turned blacker like two holes of empty space that floated in the air.

On their way, they did not encounter any more treasures like the coral wood.

The sun was still poisonous. However, with the help of the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff, the wish power in the sunlight was unable to harm them.

After walking for three days, there was still no end to the forest.

Zuo Mo suddenly felt that the scene in front of them seemed to be familiar. He frowned and throughout for a long time. He finally remembered where he had seen this before, the Sun Shen Temple!

The Greenwood Secret Realm that Big Brother Qing Lin guarded, wasn’t that very similar to this scene here?

Was it … …

His mind moved, and during rest time, he carefully reread the jade scroll that Big Brother Qing Lin had left him. There were many things recorded in this jade scroll, including the secret [Greenvine Shen Methodology] of the Greenvine Tribe. Qing Lin had hoped that Zuo Mo could encounter the descendants of the Greenvine Tribe and let them inherit this scroll.

Seeing the item reminded him of the person. Seeing of the warm and welcoming expression of Big Brother Qing Lin, Zuo Mo felt a wave of sadness. As he thought of Big Brother Qing Lin’s last request- searching for the remains of his tribe. But despite his efforts, Zuo Mo felt even more guilty having no success. He had sent many people to the place that Qing Lin had marked on the jie map in search of the Greenvine Tribe. However, that place was now a desert and void of people.

Because he cultivated sun shen power, Zuo Mo did not learn the [Greenvine Shen Methodology]. He only read it occasionally. This time, he read it seriously and many parts he had not noticed before were found. For example, he actually found the Green Pulse String mentioned in the scroll. This strange thing was a treasure that the Greenvine Tribe dreamed about. If they could cultivate the [Greenvine Shen Methodology] to a high degree, they did not need to refine the Green Pulse String in order to use it effectively.

Naturally, Zuo Mo could not cultivate the [Greenvine Shen Methodology] to such a great level.

However, when he saw that one who cultivated the [Greenvine Shen Methodology] could easily move and navigate through forests, he was overjoyed.

He did not hope for many benefits from cultivating the [Greenvine Shen Methodology]. He would thank the heavens if he could get out of this endless forest.

If Qing Lin learned that Zuo Mo began cultivating the [Greenvine Shen Methodology] just for its use in finding his way through a forest, he would climb out of his grave.

While the Greenvine Tribe had not dominated like the Sun Tribe, it had been a large first-class tribe. The [Greenvine Shen Methodology] was something many tribes were jealous of!

It was not difficult for Zuo Mo to cultivate the [Greenvine Shen Methodology]. He had a droplet of Greenvine Mystical Water in his body. This precious mystical water had helped him countless times.

When he had encountered Qing Lin, Zuo Mo’s understanding of shen methodology had been pitifully low. He had been ignorant of many basic details. The present Zuo Mo had progressed far beyond that and knew much more about shen power. There were no obstacles in learning the [Greenvine Shen Methodology].

A green energy floated onto Zuo Mo’s eyes.

Countless feelings came from all directions like the tide through the forest.

Suddenly, a familiar feeling came from deep within the forest.

Was that … …

Zuo Mo’s heart shook. Unhesitatingly, he stood and flew in a direction.

The other people saw this and knew that Zuo Mo definitely had made a discovery. They followed closely behind.

The further he flew, the more the familiar feeling from the forest grew. Zuo Mo’s eyes became even brighter. The vibration from the forest seemed to feel Zuo Mo’s existence and was furiously flying in his direction.

When a green shadow flashed through the forest, Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly became excited and he did not hesitate to give chase.

A thin and weak figure was jumping through the forest nimbly. A head full of verdant green hair reached his waist and danced in the wind.

It was a young boy of about fifteen.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo seemed seem to see that familiar elegant and tall figure with flying green hair in the Sun Shen Temple.

The little boy’s eyes were like black opals. He warily examined Zuo Mo, puzzlement flashing through his eyes. The stranger in front of him gave him a feeling of closeness.

“Who are you?” The young boy was slightly wary but he was not afraid. He stared with his opal black eyes at Zuo Mo. His clothing was woven from the vines of the forest, and the skin exposed to the air was tanned.

“I’m Zuo Mo .” Zuo Mo’s lips couldn’t help but curve. The familiar vibrations coming off the child made him overjoyed. “What are you called?”

“I am Qing Xiao.” The boy seemed to feel Zuo Mo’s friendliness and his wariness eased greatly.

Zuo Mo suppressed the excitement he felt. “You are from the Greenvine Tribe?”

“Ah! You too?” Qing Xiao immediately had an excited expression and he looked with anticipation at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo smiled and flicked his finger. A dot of green flew out of his finger and turned into a green vine.

“I can do that!” Qing Xiao was very happy. He copied Zuo Mo in flicking a finger. A green vine of light uncoiled like a snake.

[Greenvine Shen Methodology]!

Zuo Mo was full of emotion. Was there really fate? In the end, he had not failed to fulfill what Big Brother Qing Lin had requested?

“Take us to your home, alright?” Zuo Mo said in a soft tone.

“Alright!” Qing Xiao said happily. He immediately turned into a green shadow that shot out.

Zuo Mo and the others hurriedly followed.

A short while later, a small treehouse appeared in front of everyone. The treehouse was built on top of a thousand year old tree. There were many old vines hanging down. Qing Xiao was like monkey that grabbed a vine and flipped into the little treehouse. He said happily, “We’re home!”

Zuo Mo looked around and asked in bewilderment, “Where’s everyone else? Don’t you live with your clansmen?”

Qing Xiao’s expression dimmed. “I’m the only one left. Everyone died.”

“Died!” Zuo Mo was stunned.

“The sun is poisonous.” Qing Xiao’s expression recovered as he showed a bright smile and white teeth. “However, I’m not afraid, I will definitely find a solution!”

Zuo Mo felt sorrow but he was used to seeing life and death so he did not lose his composure. After a moment, he recovered.

He rubbed Qing Xiao’s head. “No matter, I have a solution.”

Zong Ru reached out with the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff and tapped lightly on Qing Xiao. Threads of wish power crept out of Qin Xiao’s body like mist and were sucked into the two black balls.

Qing Xiao’s eyes were wide and filled with curiosity. His body felt warm and unspeakably comfortable.

“Aiya, it really worked!” Qing Xiao suddenly sat, touching his head and then his body. His clever and energetic appearance made them want to smile.

Zuo Mo felt even greater affection for the innocent Qing Xiao. He said, “Qing Xiao, how about coming along with Big Brother? The sun outside isn’t poisonous!”

“Alright!” Qing Xiao nodded. “I’m very bored here alone! Big Brother is a good person!”

Zuo Mo heard this and smiled. He was also very happy. “Since you say Big Brother is a good person, Big Brother will have to express this.”

“What is express this?” Qing Xiao looked curiously at Zuo Mo.

“Close your eyes and channel shen power,” Zuo Mo said. Qing Xiao acknowledged this, obediently closing his eyes and channeling his shen power.

Zuo Mo reached out a finger.  A drop of water fell from his fingertip to land on Qing Xiao’s forehead and then disappeared.

“Ah!” Qing Xiao explained. His face soon turned green.

Greenvine Mystical Water!

Zuo Mo was now giving the Greenvine Mystical Water that Big Brother Qing Lin had given him to Qing Xiao. The Greenvine Mystical Water had many benefits but for the present Zuo Mo, there were no great uses. However, for Qing Xiao, it was of great benefit.

Moments later, Qing Xiao opened his eyes joyfully. “Greenvine Mystical Water! I know this! This is Greenvine Mystical Water!”

Zuo Mo was unspeakably happy. He asid with as mile, “Big Brother also has something else to give you.” As he spoke, he took off the Green Pulse String on his wrist and tied it on Qing Xiao’s wrist.

The Ghost Mist Child’s eyes were wide in disbelief!

Green Pulse String!

That was Green Pulse String!

Qing Xiao was both excited and curious as he swung the Green Pulse String. It had to be said that the Green Pulse String was a natural match for the Greenvine Tribe. In just a short while, the Green Pulse String seemed to come alive on Qing Xiao’s hand.

The Green Pulse String was powerful, but in Zuo Mo’s hands, it could not be used to its greatest power. In Zuo Mo’s hands, the greatest value of the Green Pulse String was the [Green Pulse] shen glyph.

Zuo Mo’s heart was unusually calm and he seemed to understand. The last wishes of Big Brother Qing Lin had been a burden on his mind. After this burden was resolved, he felt relaxed as though a great weight had been taken off.

His mentality had went a level further and became even more understanding.

Chapter 809 – Danger

Mo Cloud Sea.

Hong Xiao carefully finished reading the report from her subordinate. She appeared as though she was trying to see something from the report. Her subordinates didn’t dare to make a sound. The higher-ups had directly made Hong Xiao one of the two chief managers. For the subordinates, they only had one choice, submit.

Also, Hong Xiao had been in charge of an underground power, [Red Snapped Silk] before, and naturally could not avoid having an additional viciousness and brutality.

After a short while, she had earned the complete respect of this group of people.

No wonder she could be the chief steward. She wasn’t just a little bit strong!

There had always been rumors between them that the two chief stewards were competing amongst themselves by managing their two separate groups. This rumor was plausible and even Chief Steward Hong Xiao never refuted it. For these people, their own benefits were more important than anything else. Profit and their position were what they were most concerned about. The existence of a competitor greatly increased the unity of their group.

This was to join against a common enemy.

It was the first time Hong Xiao showed such a serious expression!

The subordinates speculated inside and exchanged looks.

Hong Xiao’s gaze was serious. This report, on the surface, did not have any unusual content but the experience Hong Xiao felt a hint of danger.

She was very satisfied with her present days. She was not like Cang Ling Xue. She had lived more than a decade in the darkness. She knew that it was a blessing her family was still alive. The other had too many ways of controlling her. Her hands were drenched with blood and she was familiar with those terrifying methods.

Unlike Cang Ling Xue who resisted, she had unhesitatingly agreed to her captor’s demands.

She had been very unaccustomed to this completely new lease on life. There was no darkness, everything was done in the open. The higher-ups did not restrict her from using any methods. However, unless it was against some truly despicable enemies, she rarely used any methods of the darkness.

This was a completely new life, a completely new world.

She was very satisfied, especially when she saw her son’s innocent smile. When she thought of how he would have a good future, hope formed in her chest.

This gave her new motivation.

She treasured this opportunity, treasured this difficult change and because of it, she was unusually hard-working.

She would definitely not lose to Cang Ling Xue!

Her work had proceeded smoothly. The support behind her was strong so that she had enough advantages in the market when she started. For Hong Xiao who was used to working hard to gather weight in the darkness, her work could be described as easy.

But to her who had been in the darkness for a long time, she had an unusual intuition about danger.

“Give me last month’s supplier prices,” she said coldly.

The subordinates quickly searched. Last month’s accounts quickly appeared on the mirage.

“Green Flower Wood, Sky Star Sand, Rainbow Dew, who is the supplier for these three materials?” she asked rapidly.

The subordinates were busy for a while. Moments later, they reported, “It is Bright Capital Business Association, in the past, it was Lin Fu Business Association.”

“Bright Capital Business Association’s price is fifteen percent higher than Lin Fu Business Association.” Hong Xiao stared at her subordinate’s face.

The subordinate explained, “Lin Fu Business Association has stopped working with us for a month and has refused to communicate with us. In order to avoid our supply chain breaking, we choose Bright Capital Business Association. Bright Capital Business Association is located far away and the cost of transporting is much higher. Also, due to the suddenness of the order, they are not prepared. Our order is large, and the timing is urgent so they had to raise the price in order to complete the purchase.”

“Why did Lin Fu Business Association stop working with us?” Hong Xiao suddenly asked.

“I don’t know.” The subordinate shook their head. “They do not seen to be very stable internally. We cannot interfere in this kind of matter.”

“Go investigate …. …” Hong Xiao said briskly.

“That … … is not very appropriate … …” The subordinate was conflicted. It was an unspoken taboo in the mercantile circles to interfere in the matters of other businesses.

“Alright.” Hong Xiao did not try to force the subordinate and said, “You may leave.”

“Yes!” The subordinate sighed in relief and hurriedly retreated.

Hong Xiao did not leave. She focused and thought for a while before deciding to report the matter, adding on her own speculations and suggestions.

While the conclusion had not yet come out, she knew.

Someone was acting against them!

“Go investigate,” she suddenly said.

In the dark corner, an imperceptible shadow disappeared.

Those subordinates cared too much about convention when working. For an experienced hand like her that had lived for many years in the world of the shadows, she only cared about results.

The methods were not important.

She believed that the higher-ups also thought this.

———

Cang Ling Xue’s delicate brow creased as she listened to the report of the subordinate.

Cang Ling Xue worked hard. After being given a scare, she didn’t dare to play any more tricks. Also, after the initial terror, she gradually adjusted to her new work. She quickly found that the strength of the faction was so great it was unimaginable. Only after a period of time did she realize the new faction she worked for was Mo Cloud Sea.

Of course she knew of Mo Cloud Sea.

In the yao world, everyone knew the name Mo Cloud Sea. This strong power, who did not have a lot of territory, but was strong and produced all kinds of talismans.

The yao did not have a habit of using talismans in the past. They used yao cores. But yao cores were rare and expensive. Yet, just a while ago, large amounts of yao cores that were suitable for yao started to appear on the market. Strangely, these yao cores were not natural, but synthetic.

There were only a rare few that knew that these forged yao cores were produced by Mo Cloud Sea. Cang Ling Xue who had been in business for many years was one of the rare few privy to this.

Mo Cloud Sea was like a riddle, powerful and mysterious.

Talismans, mo weapons, yao cores, their products were sold to all three races.

Even Tian Huan who was famed for their forging did not have the ability to produce three completely different types of weapons.

But Mo Cloud Sea did!

Too strong!

The rumors said the start of the shen power era had been initiated by the master of Mo Cloud Sea. The first pseudo-shen weapon had also been forged by the master of Mo Cloud Sea.

The last hint of unwillingness inside Cang Ling Xue disappeared at being able to be in the service of such a powerful faction. She was only curious. Why had Mo Cloud Sea picked her? She believed she had some talent, but for a large faction like Mo Cloud Sea, they had the ability to find someone better.

Even now, she did not understand this. But she understood that this was a chance for her, a great opportunity.

The business she had before was just a little business in an area. Right now, she managed a powerful faction that had the right to speak in all three realms. If she did well, she would definitely become a core member of Mo Cloud Sea in the near future. Undoubtedly, her family would rise as well.

Even though she had a competitor!

This did not demotivate her. While she did not have such a complex history as Hong Xiao, her growth had not been easy.

She did not fear competition.

Recently, the market had not been right. The price of shen equipment which had been rising constantly slowed in its rise, and in this month, a small drop had occurred.

This was definitely unusual.

Right now, there were only a few parties that had the ability to produce shen equipment. The one that sold best was Mo Cloud Shen Equipment due to the outstanding nature and the relatively low price. The Tian Huan shen equipment was also one of three major shen equipment but it was priced at almost twenty percent higher than Mo Cloud shen equipment. Kun Lun shen equipment was also outstanding in power, but their production was limited. It would take them a long time to just outfit their own forces.

The amount of Mo Cloud shen equipment on the market had greatly increased due to the large order from Xi Xuan.

From all the signs, it meant that in the long term, the price of shen equipment should remain high and not drop.

This unusual phenomenon, the fall in prices, immediately set off Cang Ling Xue’s alarm.

Someone was fighting for the market!

———

Qing Xiao quickly familiarized himself with Zuo Mo and the group.

Gradually, Zuo Mo understood what had happened. The master of the Totem Coliseum had been the good friend of the Greenvine Tribe. When he designed the Totem Coliseum, a branch of the Greenvine Tribe had settled in the Summer Palace to guard the forest for him. Then they started to live here.

At regular intervals, the master of the Totem Coliseum would help draw out the wish power in their bodies.

Yet, unexpectedly, the master of the Totem Coliseum disappeared and the Totem Coliseum closed. The Greenvine Tribe branch that lived in the Summer Palace were trapped inside. Due to this, they managed to avoid the Battle of the Sealed Extinction.

But the wish power in the sunlight became the greatest enemy of the Greenvine Tribe. When the strongest of the tribe were here, everyone could manage to get by. As the strongest among them started to die, the Greenvine Tribe started to decrease in number.

Until  now, where Qing Xiao was the only one left.

Maybe because he had lived in this environment from childhood that Qing Xiao could resist wish power to a certain degree. However, if Zuo Mo and the other had not appeared, in twenty years, Qing Xiao would also die from the corrosion of wish power.

At that time, this vibrant forest would also disappear with Qing Xiao’s death.

Zuo Mo had to rejoice that he had come at this time.

Qing Xiao was lively, clever and innocent. Everyone liked him. This completely preserved forest had given him the best place to cultivate. The greenvine shen power he had was very pure. Other than become a completely deadweight in battle, his power astounded them.

That Green Pulse String that became especially scary in his hands. He seemed to innately know how to use the Green Pulse String. The long Green Pulse String was also unusually obedient. It was uncanny in his hands, unpredictable, and even the Ghost Mist Child was shocked.

With Qing Xiao here, walking out of the forest was very easy. Qing Xiao was familiar with every inch here, and did not find it difficult to lead them out of the forest.

Following Qing Xiao, the group quickly reached the edge of the forest.

An endless ocean and storm appeared in front of them.

Chapter 810 – Awaken

The forest treeline ended abruptly, it was a clear dividing line.

On one side of the line was a dense forest, and on the other a great ocean. On one side was a bright sun and hot day, on the other a furious storm.

The clouds were black, and the curtain of rain carried hail that smashed into the ocean. The seawater was pulled up dozens of li into the air by the furious wind. Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the space between the clouds and the water.

Everyone’s expressions became serious. Everyone could feel the furious power contained within the storm.

Yet, except for charging forward, they had no other choice.

“Form the battle formation! Everyone, pay attention to the positions of those around you.” Zuo Mo ordered. Then he grabbed Qing Xiao and turned to say to Zong Ru. “See if the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff can draw away the lightning.”

Zong Ru nodded to indicate he understood. Everyone was trained and quickly finished the battle formation. Wei Sheng, Ceng Lian’er and the other experts entered the core positions.

In Mo Cloud Sea, no matter your skill level, you had battle formation training. Even Wei Sheng was not an exception. In Zuo Mo’s view, the top experts that could merge into a battle formation were the ones that would be able to express their greatest power in large scale battles.

This was something he copied from the mo fighting methods. Among the mo, the battle general was the strongest. All the power would gather on the battle general who would then attack.

At Wei Sheng’s level, he understood more about battle formations than the average battle generals he was more sensitive towards power and had stronger control.

Seeing the magnificent composition of this battle formation, Zuo Mo had some confidence. He said with bravado, “Go!”

The group headed into the storm.

Even though they had a guess, when they truly charged into the storm, that feeling was completely different!

Once they charged into the storm, they felt their vision darken. Their ears were filled with howling of the win and they could not hear anything else. The furious winds were like blades and caused sparks to fly when they hit the barrier of the battle formation. Rain and hail smashed down. The rain seemed to contain a certain corrosion ability. When the hail hit the light shield of the battle formation, it immediately spread outwards forming a patch of frost.

The power of the storm was endless. The people in the formation were like leaves flying in the wind, unable to stabilize themselves.

Light flashed in the clouds above them. Suddenly, a thick bolt of lightning came out of the cloud layer and hit the battle formation.

Zong Ru who had been prepared raised his Three Manifestation Treasure Staff without any hesitation.

Hiss-crack-crack!

The thick lightning accurately hit the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff.

Zong Ru felt his hand become heavy from numbness. The round clear ball of the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff suddenly lit up with light. The lightning burrowed into the Thunder Source Hammer and the Thunder Source Hammer lit up with silverlight.

Zong Ru sighed in relief. The Three Manifestation Treasure Staff was strong!

At this time, the sky suddenly flickered. Zong Ru’s expression changed slightly. Before he could react, hiss-crack-crack, three successive thick bolts of lightning hit his Three Manifestation Treasure Staff.

Zong Ru felt as though his chest was hit with a heavy hammer and gave a muffled grunt.

The Three Manifestation Treasure Staff was untouched. After swallowing four lightning bolts, the Thunder Source Hammer had an even brighter silver light. There was a layer of snapping electricity around it.

Zuo Mo seemed to be facing a great enemy. There was a strange power inside the raindrops that were battering the light shield of the battle formation.

The power of each rain droplet was small but it was a great storm outside. In every moment, there were uncountable droplets of rain that were hitting the light shield of the battle formation. Everyone’s energies were being expended.

Adding on the hail!

Damn it!

Zuo Mo was anxious but not panicked.

Zong Ru had the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff for the lightning. Then what about the rain and the hail? His eyes suddenly lit up. How had he forgotten this?

With a flip of his hand, a tattered banner appeared on his hand. The Rain Commanding Banner!

Zuo Mo threw it to the Ghost Mist Child. “Do you know how to use this?”

The Ghost Mist Child had been thirsting after the Rain Commanding Banner. He had high affinity with the attributes of rain and this would be a suitable treasure for him. However, he knew that he was the newcomer and had not performed meritoriously. If he spoke up and asked for such a treasure, he would probably be beaten to death by Daren.

Hearing Zuo Mo ask if he could use it, he was overjoyed. He nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes!”

Even in the past, the Rain Commanding Banner had been a top ranked treasure!

Zuo Mo did not waste words and threw the Rain Commanding Banner to the Ghost Mist Child.

The Ghost Mist Child had not lied. When he waved the Rain Commanding Banner, the rain droplets outside seemed to be obedient and opened a path. Everyone felt the pressure on them lessen. The corrosiveness of the rain droplets had been the greatest burden on their endurance. Now that it was gone, they all felt light.

“Nice! You have some skill!” Zuo Mo praised with surprised on his face.

The Ghost Mist Child puffed up his chest and stomach with a proud expression. However, with his child-like appearance, it looked ridiculous. But while he felt proud, he said humbly, “It is this Rain Commanding Banner that is easy to use.”

Zuo Mo said generously, “Oh, not bad, the Rain Commanding Banner belongs to you now, do not waste a treasure like this!”

The Ghost Mist Child was stunned by this free food that fell from the sky. With his daze, the rain droplets started to hit the battle formation’s light shield.

“Work hard!” Zuo Mo swore, glaring. “If you cannot do good work, this will be taken back!”

“Ah!” The Ghost Mist Child seemed to wake up and hugged the Rain Commanding Banner with an expression of panic. He hurriedly said, “I’ll work hard! I will definitely work hard!”

The pressure lessened again.

Zuo Mo sighed softly. He ignored this guy, he didn’t have a good head. The lightning and the storm had both been resolved. The only things left were the hail and the strong wind. Sparks flashed and disappeared on the light shield, circles of frost forming and disappearing.

Resisting this was not a great expenditure for the battle formation.

But who knew how large this ocean was?

There were no problems in maintain the battle formation for five days. Ten days, it would be hard to manage. Fifteen days, it would be at the limits. Over fifteen days … …

Zuo Mo asked Qing Xiao, “Have you come here before?”

“No.” Qing Xiao obediently shook his head. There was no fear on his face as he looked with curiosity at the rain outside.

Zuo Mo was slightly disappointed. He gritted his teeth. There were no solutions. They could only charge forward.

After flying for ten days in the storm, there were no signs they were leaving the storm. They had tried to fly towards the clouds. If they were above the clouds, there would not be a storm. Yet when they went close to the cloud layer, countless lightning and thunder would smash towards them preventing them from ascending.

That scene cared all of them. They did not hesitate to fly down. No one had seen such packed lightning and thunder. Even Zong Ru who held the Three Manifestation Treasures Staff would end up as dust under such terrifying lightning.

Helpless, they could only move through the storm.。

Seeing the undisguised exhaustion on everyone’s faces, Zuo Mo knew that they had to rest.

“Everyone, stop for a while.”

Zuo Mo called for everyone to stop and then took out a palm-sized city from his ring.

[King’s Forbidden City]!

The King’s Forbidden City grew rapidly in the sky and in a blink, covered everyone.

In this moment, everyone felt the world had become quiet. The roaring had stopped. They seemed to be in a completely different world. The furious roars of the wind, the rain, and ice were outside while this place was peaceful. The mysterious and complex seal scripts that flashed in the sky above the city made everyone feel strangely safe.

Their nerves had been tensed for ten days. Everyone was tired. Once they had the chance to breathe, they sat down and started to replenish their shen power.

Zuo Mo’s power was quickly recovering. Inside the King’s Forbidden Firmament, his recovery was faster than any other person.

This chance to breath was really too precious.

Zuo Mo rejoiced that he had not forgotten about the King’s Forbidden Firmament.

In these past years, Zuo Mo had spent time organizing his memories. He had uncovered some memory fragments hidden deep in his mind. The city of his childhood had been filled out in his mind, and he had reforged the King’s Forbidden Firmament.

With his deeper understanding of seal formations and enough materials, the newly forged King’s Forbidden Firmament was more secure than before and stronger.

He had reforged the King’s Forbidden Firmament as a memento of his blurry memories. Even though he had reforged the King’s Forbidden Firmament, a talisman like this could not be of direct help to him like a shen device.

He hadn’t through this memento of his childhood memories could save his life.

Zuo Mo grimaced and a complex emotion rose.

He turned around to look. Most of the places in the city were the exact same as his memories. This was the first time he entered the King’s Forbidden Firmament since it had been reforged.

This familiar yet unfamiliar feeling was unspeakably strange.

He shook his head and laughed self-mockingly. He had actually the spare time to lament.

At this time, he suddenly noticed the strangeness of A Gui next to him.

A Gui suddenly stood up.

“A Gui, what is it?” Zuo Mo was slightly nervous and quickly followed.

A Gui did not seem to hear. She walked along a small path slowly. Her eyes were not empty any longer, but puzzled.

A Gui’s steps were slow and a ripple finally appeared on her forever emotionless face.

Zuo Mo became worried.

A Gui seemed very familiar with this place. She walked silently, and her expression became wooden again.

Zuo Mo seemed to understand. It must be that A Gui still had some memory fragments. The familiar environment of the King’s Forbidden Firmament had awakened a part of her memories.

A Gui seemed to be very familiar with this place and after some twists and turns, she came to a small yard.

Her hand was placed on the door, and she pushed it open.

Zuo Mo stilled. This yard … … this little yard … …

A slightly blurry scene appeared in front of him.

———

“Gui Gui, this name isn’t pleasing to hear,” the little boy muttered, his hands not slowing at all.

The little girl tilted her head. “Gui Gui feels that it is very good!”

“Why do you work so hard on something as boring as cultivation?’ The little boy had an expression of puzzlement as he carefully treated the wounds on the little girl’s feet.

The little girl teared up due to the pain, and her voice carried a sob. However, she was unusually determined. “Because only by getting stronger can I protect Young Mater.”

“This place is very safe. I don’t need to be protect. I don’t like to go out.” The little boy’s head shook like a rattledrum.

“But what if there is a day?’ The little girl tilted her head.

———

“Young Master … …”

A slightly wooden and hoarse voice sounded by his ear, just like when in their childhood, he he … … he was having delusions … …

Zuo Mo felt uncomfortable and gave a short huff to expel the melancholy he felt.

He raised his head and met a pair of purple eyes.

Zuo Mo was dumbstruck where he stood.

Chapter 811 – Tian Huan’s Attack From All Fronts

Tian Huan!

When the results of the investigations came out, both Hong Xiao and Cang Ling Xue recognized the severity of the matter and immediately reported it.

Tian Huan was attacking Mo Cloud Sea on the market from all directions. Many of the materials suppliers that were close with Mo Cloud Sea were forced to stop their partnerships with Mo Cloud Sea under the pressure of Tian Huan.

This caused a break in Mo Cloud Sea’s supply chain of materials.

In terms of shen equipment, Tian Huan started to widely advertise the Tian Huan shen equipment and also lowered their prices. The factions that had placed orders from Mo Cloud Sea all turned to thrown themselves into Tian Huan’s arms due to Tian Huan’s pressure and temptation.

The sale volume of Mo Cloud shen equipment decreased as a direct result, and the cost to make Mo Cloud shen equipment was drastically rising.

One important reason that Mo Cloud Sea’s shen equipment had gotten a good reputation so quickly was Tian Huan’s inaction. For so many years, Tian Huan had become used to people coming begging to their door. In the xiuzhe world, no sect dared to compete with them in forging.

The present Tian Huan, after Chief Elder’s warning, started to reflect on their actions.

If Mo Cloud Sea could only be called nouveau riche, then Tian Huan was definitely the hegemon of the market. For thousands of years, Tian Huan had been at the top of this market. After thousands of years, their tentacles reached into every corner of the xiuzhe market. The reputation they had, their resources, manpower, connections, they were something that Mo Cloud Sea that had just risen up could compare to.

Before this, Tian Huan had never looked properly at Mo Cloud Sea. In their eyes, Mo Cloud Sea was not on the same level as them.

Tian Huan had paid a great price for their pride.

But Tian Huan woke up. They climbed down off their pedestal, and started to be proactive in the market. This kind of Tian Huan was astounding in its strength.

The entire market turned into a storm.

Tian Huan showed their fangs. In this field they had worked in for thousands of years, even Kun Lun could not match them. They were too familiar with what to do. There was no secret in their eyes.

Tian Huan’s attack was even fiercer than Mo Cloud Sea imagined.

In just a fortnight, almost forty percent of material suppliers stopped their partnership with Mo Cloud Sea and sided with Tian Huan.

This happened so quickly that Mo Cloud Sea didn’t even have time to react.

The production of shen equipment was forced to stop.

Mo Cloud Sea was facing unprecedented danger.

———

In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao and Wei had grave expressions.

The danger that Mo Cloud Sea faced had been passed to Pu Yao from the Ten Finger Prison. Pu Yao and Wei were intelligent people and they immediately realized the level of trouble this indicated.

They hadn’t thought that Tian Huan would really lower themselves to fight for market share with Mo Cloud Sea. Also, they were both shocked at Tian Huan’s strength in the market.

Mo Cloud Sea’s transportation formations had been previously affected and there were only a few that were in use. The supply of materials had been a problem. What Tian Huan did pushed Mo Cloud Sea onto a precipice.

Many materials were not high level, but they were used in large amounts. If they could not be replenished, shen equipment was not the only thing that stopped. Xi Xuan could provide materials, but not all materials could be transported from Xi Xuan. Due to internal chaos, many places in Xi Xuan had stopped production.

Tian Huan’s move was both fast and vicious!

The stoppage of shen equipment also affected Xi Xuan because Mo Cloud Sea could not complete the order before the discussed time.

Pu Yao and Wei were both clear-headed. They knew that Tian Huan’s attack would not just be so. If they were Tian Huan, they would definitely be sending people to Xi Xuan right now.

Mo Cloud Sea had shen equipment, Tian Huan also had shen equipment. They had more production capacity than Mo Cloud Sea. Tian Huan was much stronger.

Also, once Tian Huan threw out the lure of an alliance, Xi Xuan wouldn’t have any ability to resist.

Tian Huan was stronger than Mo Cloud Sea. Once Tian Huan gave up on the thought of attacking Xi Xuan, for Xi Xuan, they would be better allies than Mo Cloud Sea.

Tian Huan was more powerful!

At that time, Mo Cloud Sea would be in danger!

Surrounded by three strong factions!

It was really being surrounded in all directions. Even the Nine Great Dhyana Sects with its internal conflict could not stop the alliance of three powers. They would face the danger of being divided up. Even if Mo Cloud Sea and the Nine Great Dhyana Sects allied together, they would not be able to stop the three from advancing.

At that time, the Nine Great Dhyana Sect would have to switch sides in order to survive.

When it came to that step, Mo Cloud Sea would only have the path of death.

Tian Huan really thought highly of Mo Cloud Sea!

Pu Yao and Wei stared at each other, bitterness in their mouths.

Mo Cloud Sea was in danger!

———

Chao Xin took a sip of wine. His expression was relaxed. “Tian Huan’s move is beautiful, an open conspiracy, a truly public conspiracy. They hit Mo Cloud Sea right on their weakness, Mo Cloud Sea is in danger.”

Lin Qian smiled and said, “It seems that we will get peace for a while. Cooperate with Tian Huan and have the battalions on Xi Xuan’s borders move back, let Xi Xuan relax.”

The two were in good moods.

Compared to the declining Xi Xuan, the lively Mo Cloud Sea was the eyesore in Kun Lun’s eyes. Mo Cloud Sea was unstoppable in the mo territories, and showed great offensive power which caused all of Kun Lun to be uneasy.

If Tian Huan’s strategy was completed, then a situation where three strong forces attacking Mo Cloud Sea would form.

Mo Cloud Sea would not be able to escape even if it had wings.

No one had thought that the seemingly powerful Mo Cloud Sea had such a fatal weakness. Tian Huan’s successive attacks exposed Mo Cloud Sea’s weakness to the world.

Mo Cloud Sea was too small!

From the viewpoint of safety, this was more beneficial for defense. However, for a faction with forging at its core, this was undoubtedly fatal. Once the supply of materials was cut off, they would end up in a dangerous position.

Battalions, battle generals, they were all useless at this point.

This was another battlefield.

Chao Xin’s mind shifted and another plan formed. “We can have the people from the Nine Great Dhyana Sects make a fuss, and urge the other five sects. Tian Huan would also do the same, they also have people inside.”

“This idea is good.” Lin Qian’s eyes lit up. “Those people people will be forced to stay neutral at such a time to not offend either side.”

“Neutrality is enough.” A cold light flashed through Chao Xin’s eyes. “Neutrality at this time is making things worse for Mo Cloud Sea!”

“Mo Cloud Sea will not be able to escape this time!” Lin Qian said, and his expression became excited.

Mo Cloud Sea was his great worry!

———

“Tian Huan’s envoy went to see the sect leader,” the subordinate reported in a low voice.

Zhong De’s scar-covered face was like granite. “What did they say?”

The first person that Tian Huan’s envoy came to see was Zhong De. However, Zhong De had refused the meeting. Zhong De was an experienced person. This person came to Xi Xuan yet the first he met with was not the sect leader but Zhong De. Their intentions were malicious, wanting to spark internal discord.

If the sect leader didn’t know that he only had three years left to live, it would be hard for him not to become suspicious at this time.

“They said that Mo Cloud Sea will not be able to finish the remaining shen equipment and they are willing to provide shen equipment.” The subordinate reported in detail, “They said that these shen equipment have been specially designed by them for Xi Xuan. Also, they are willing to sign an alliance agreement with us to not fight. Also, if Kun Lun invades Xi Xuan, Tian Huan will definitely announce war against Kun Lun. This agreement is for ten years.”

Zhong De had people around the sect leader and naturally learned all this.

“And then?” Zhong De is expressionless.

“The sect leader did not respond and said to meet again in a few days,” the subordinate said.

“Sect Leader has been persuaded,” Zhong De said coolly.

As expected by Zhong De, on that night, the sect leader came to Zhong De’s camp.

“What does Uncle Zhong think about Xi Xuan allying with Tian Huan?” the sect leader did not waste words and headed straight into the topic.

The matter of buying shen equipment was a minor matter.

“What does Sect Leader think?” Zhong De asked expressionlessly in response.

The sect leader said, “I feel that this may work. We allied with Mo Cloud Sea to guard against Kun Lun and Tian Huan. If we ally with Tian Huan, it is undoubtedly more beneficial and we can gain ten years of peace.”

Zhong De listened expressionlessly, but he was slightly surprised inside. He had originally thought the other would be bewitched by the envoy and hadn’t thought that the sect leader also foresaw that the alliance would only survive for ten years.

“If we have ten years, our Xi Xuan will be able to recover. This way, we may be able to vie for the world!” A hint of excitement flashed through the sect leader’s eyes.

Ten years!

If he had ten years, the sect leader was confident that Xi Xuan could rise again based on their foundations. At that time, without Zhong De, he would be in power alone … …

A hint of disdain flashed through Zhong De’s eyes. However, the excited sect leader did not notice it.

“I do not agree,” Zhong De said slowly.

It was as though a bucket of cold water had been poured on the sect leader’s head. He was stunned where he stood, looking dazedly at Zhong De. A moment later, he asked in disbelief, “Why does Uncle Zhong not agree?”

He didn’t understand why Uncle Zhong would not agree. He said urgently, “Uncle Zhong, are you afraid that they will break the alliance? They said that they are willing to make a sect leader oath.”

The oath of a sect leader was something that could not be broken for any sect. Because once the sect leader oath was broken, all of the sect would be affected. The xiuzhe of the entire sect would be weakened in power.

In history, there had never been an example of a sect leader oath being broken.

“I do not agree.” Zhong De said expressionlessly and then turned to leave.

The sect leader of Xi Xuan was dumbstruck where he stood.

———

“Daren, why do you not agree?” Zhong De’s subordinate asked in puzzlement. He had helped Zhong De guard the Abyss Fiend Prison for many years, and was highly trusted by Zhong De.

He felt it was strange. From every angle, allying with Tian Huan was beneficial for Xi Xuan.

Zhong De seemed to not hear it. Like stone, he gazed at the distant darkness.

Chapter 812 – The Chief Tower

Zuo Mo and A Gui stared into each other’s eyes.

A Gui’s wooden face moved stiffly. Her misty eyes seemed to focus. The feeling that Zuo Mo felt when he saw A Gui’s eyes recover life under his gaze could not be described!

For some reason, a strong warmth filled his heart, and his nose felt sore.

Was this fate?

Zuo Mo looked dazedly at A Gui, and allowed the tears to fall.

“Young Master … …”

A hand reached towards his face and wiped his tears for him. A Gui’s eyes glowed like the brightest of stars, and her murmurs the most beautiful music in the world

“Young Master, don’t cry … … A Gui will forever protect Young Master … …”

The young female’s voice carried a thread of rawness and clumsiness but it was filled with her innocent heart just like in their childhood.

Zuo Mo felt as though he could not control his emotions. Tears blurred his vision. He tried to grin, to make himself look like he was smiling. He used his hands to roughly wipe away the tears on his face. Looking at the figure of the young female in his sight that was still slightly blurry, he said loudly, “Nonsense! Do not underestimate your young master! Now it is time for Young Master to protect you! I’m telling you, Young Master is very very strong now! Kun Lun, Tian Huan, they will be beaten like dogs by your young master!”

A Gui looked serenely at Zuo Mo, her lively nimble eyes filling with warmth and faint bashfulness.

There was nothing that motivated Zuo Mo more than A Gui’s awakening.

Zuo Mo felt as though he was full of energy and power. If Lin Qian was in front of him, he would carry the Anti Dragon Claw and howl as he beat Lin Qian like a dog.

Having broken free of the Undying Shen Punishment’s restrictions, A Gui’s strength reached an astounding power.

Zuo Mo asked A Gui how she had broken free of the Undying Shen Punishment. A Gui had a puzzled expression. It had been too long since A Gui spoke. As a result, in both expression and speech, she was slightly stiff.

As long as A Gui was free … …

So happy he was about to go insane, Zuo Mo was like a wasteland beast filled with energy and unprecedented motivation. He wanted to tear down this entire ocean.

However, not everyone was  wasteland beast. Everyone needed to meditate to recover shen power.

Three days later, Wei Sheng Shixiong opened his eyes. Following him, Ceng Lian’er, Luo Li and the others also opened their eyes. By the time everyone had recovered, five days had passed.

When everyone saw A Gui smiling and standing bashfully next to Zuo Mo, they were astounded.

Was this the same brutal, ruthless, and cold-blooded A Gui?

The strong reversal in personality shocked them for a long time before they recovered. Only the Little Ones came over without hesitation, still close to A Gui.

The seal scripts in the sky above the King’s Forbidden City were much fainter. After being continuously attacked for five days, their expenditure was astounding.

However, this kind of consumption was worth it. Everyone’s shen power had recovered to their maximum, and this caused them to be full of confidence.

Zuo Mo who had been waiting impatiently waved his arm. “Let’s go!”

Everyone formed the formation again and travelled between the storm.

Everyone had learned from the previous experience and were more skilled at passing through the storm.

They flew for seven days.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. He pointed forward and shouted, “Look, there!”

Through the rain and hail, they saw a small black dot in the distance. Everyone became refreshed and they sped up.

When they flew closer, the blurry shadow became clear. It was a set of bronze gates. The gates stood alone above the ocean. The surroundings were calm winds and bright sun. A ray of sunlight travelled through the dark clouds and shone off the bronze gates.

They were finally about to leave this damned place!

Everyone was excited. Who would have thought that they had suffered for twenty three days in this body of water!

Twenty three days!

When they passed through the storm and flew in front of the copper door, everyone had a smile on their face.

Pushing open the bronze gates, a long passageway appeared in front of them.

Everyone was on alert and carefully entered the passageway. Unexpectedly, there were no defenses in the passageway. However, the passageway was longer than they imagined. They walked for a long time before they saw light up ahead.

Flying out of the passageway, a tall tower that reached the clouds appeared in front of them.

“Up there!” The Ghost Mist Child shouted joyfully, “This is the Chief Tower! The shen device nucleus is up there!”

Hearing this, everyone was energized. Zuo Mo said unhesitatingly, “Let’s go up!”

The group flew upwards.

The Chief Tower was tall, so tall it surpass imagination. They flew through the astral wind and still hadn’t reached the top of the Chief Tower. Flying upwards like this took a great amount of shen power.

None of them had flown so high before.

Everyone’s expression became solemn.

Soon, the weakest guards slowed down. They panted and didn’t have the energy to fly upwards. They were about five to six hundred li from the ground. While they had strong minds, they couldn’t help but pale.

Even flying with a sword, no one would fly so high.

The wind was like knives.

The higher it was, the stronger the wind.

Zuo Mo saw this and said, “Go down, and wait for us below.”

Finishing, they continued to fly up.

The wind high up became even strong. Zuo Mo and the others had to use shen power. The wind created sparks when it hit their protective shields. The wind here was packed. From afar, the group looked like a swarm of meteors flying upwards and drawing a tail of sparks behind them.

The faster they passed through, the sooner they would be safe.

Everyone gathered their power and furiously headed upwards.

Boom!

Everyone suddenly felt the pressure ease. The sparks around them all disappeared. They had passed through the wind layer!

Everyone looked down curiously. The wind layer was extremely thick. Anyone weak would be torn to pieces by the strong wind high up.

Zuo Mo and the others possessed strength but if there was no matter, no one would be so bored as to take a stroll in the strong wind layer.

Void, endless void. In this void, the sun and the stars appeared together. Everyone was attracted by the wondrous scene in front of them. So in the sky up high, it was like this.

Without the wind, everyone’s worries were eased.

They raised their heads. They still could not see the top of the Chief Tower. Everyone inhaled in shock.

“Continue the charge!” Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and flew out along the Chief Tower. The others did not hesitate and followed closely. They continued to fly upwards.

Yet everyone was filled with shock. A tower that was ten thousand li tall!

What great work of labour was this!

How strong had the creator of the Totem Coliseum been?

Fifteen thousand li!

When they flew to a height of fifteen thousand li, everyone finally saw the enormous shadow covering them. That top of the tower was enormous. Everyone became nervous. Even Wei Sheng had a slightly nervous expression. The power represented by a tower fifteen thousand li tall surpassed any sect.

No one knew what was at the top of the tower.

But at this time, no one would retreat.

“Everyone, be careful.” Zuo Mo’s nerves were also tensed.

Everyone slowed down as though they were facing a great enemy. They slowly flew towards the outskirts. The are Ao Feng  the tower was enormous. They had to fly to the edges of the tower top in order to get to the top of the tower.

When everyone flew to the edges of the tower top and then flew upwards, they stretched out their necks.

They were all shocked by the scene in front of them.

This was an enormous and flat stage, a large stage that could hold tens of thousands of people sleeping on the ground. The ground was as smooth as a mirror without any marks. It was smoothly polished as though it was a piece of stone that had been cut open in the middle.

Star lights in the billions gathered on the stage that turned into a thick pillar of light that shot towards the center of the stage.

When they flew up, what they saw was this mirror-smooth stage and a pillar of star light that ung down from the firmament. Star power, counted in the billions, were mostly as thin as hair or invisible to sight. Only a few of the stars formed faint rays of light that came down.

But when these minuscule rays of light gathered in the billions, it was astounding strong!

Zuo Mo was the first to recover from the astounding scene. He could feel the thick power of the stars from far away but his obsession with treasure caused him to quickly refocus!

There was something in the thick pillar of star light!

“There’s something in the pillar!” Zuo Mo shouted. Everyone seemed to wake up and stared at the pillar. There was something flickering in and out of view inside the pillar of star light.

The scene in front of them was so stunning. Every piece represented terrifyingly great power.

Chief Tower, the mirror stage, the pillar of star light!

All of them were masterworks, and needed uncanny skill.

So terrifying.

Seeing their goal in sight, the reverence they felt did not decrease but increased. If someone this powerful set up jinzhi, if they just touched it, they would most likely turn into dust.

Everyone was experienced and knew that at times like this, they had to be even more careful. Looking at the distance, Zuo Mo’s mind shifted, and he turned to ask Qing Xiao for the Green Pulse String.

The Green Pulse String was long enough to reach it without stepping on the stage.

There were too many strange things about this stage. If he didn’t have to step on it, it was better not to.

Zuo Mo’s wrist shook and the Green Pulse String shot towards the central pillar of the stage like a nimble snake.

A strange feeling came from the other end. Zuo Mo was overjoyed.

It worked!

Gritting his teeth, Zuo Mo ignored everything else. The Green Pulse String was pulled, and it shot back at him with what was inside the pillar of light.

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s action seemed to have poked the hornet’s nest.

The pillar of star light responded to the disappearance of the thing inside. It melted like snow from the end of the pillar of light.

Zuo Mo and the others that were afraid of the effects had moved away long ago.

Crack crack crack!

The surface of the mirror started to crack. Terrifying cracks appeared on the stage.

Boom-om-om!

The cracking did not show any signs of stopping. It headed down destructively along the Chief Tower.

Under the wide gazes and open mouths of Zuo Mo’s group, this tall tower that was fifteen thousand li tall cracked inch by inch and collapsed!

Chapter 813 – Allies

When Zuo Mo’s group escaped from the ruins, the ruins behind them had completely collapsed. Shattered fragments of stone flew and floated in air as though they were weightless.

The stones stretched out for thousands of li and looked like a thick and low-hanging cloud.

The Lotus Sutra Temple disciples that had been waiting near the ruins were stunned by the sudden collapse.

Lotus Sutra Temple’s sect leader changed expression. The scene in front of her was too astounding. Had Zuo Mo encountered great danger? The more she thought, the uglier her expression became. At this time, if something happened to Zuo Mo, Mo Cloud Sea was over. Unlike other sects, Lotus Sutra Temple did not have many choices left to them. Lotus Sutra Temple had just burned their ties with Kun Lun and Tian Huan could only live if they sided with Mo Cloud Sea.

She might have regrets, but she was not an ordinary person. She knew that saving the other was her only choice as Mo Cloud Sea was in great danger at thi moment. She was already tied with Mo Cloud Sea, prospering and declining together.

Aftering learning that Mo Cloud Sea lacked materials, she had transported a batch of materials to Mo Cloud Sea.

But Lotus Sutra Temple was too small, and did not have any outstanding abilities to produce materials. The other sects, afraid of Tian Huan, did not sell materials to her.

The sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple was burning in urgency but Zuo Mo and the other had not come out. She waited outside the entrance of the ruins in order to see Zuo Mo as soon as possible.

When the sect leader saw the figures of Zuo Mo and the others, she finally sighed in relief.

“Let’s go!” she said urgently.

Zuo Mo saw the urgency of the sect leader and immediately realized that something must have happened. “What is it?”

“We’ll speak on the way.” The sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple flew out first.

Seeing this, Zuo Mo did not linger and followed immediately. Everyone else knew that something had happened and the mood of the group became heavy.

When Zuo Mo heard the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple explaining the situation, his heart continued to sink. He immediately ran into the sea of consciousness and asked when he found Pu Yao and Wei. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He knew that Pu Yao definitely knew long ago. With Pu Yao’s strength, he was able to connect to the Ten Finger Prison from within the ruins.

“What’s the use in telling you?” Pu Yao snorted.

Zuo Mo was speechless, unable to think of a response. He had been in the ruins surrounded by danger at the time. If he had been distracted even in the slightest, then he would have died in the ruins.

Zuo Mo relaxed his tone, his brow creased, “What solutions do you have?”

“These are the suggestions that Hong Xiao and Cang Ling Xue gave us.” Pu Yao threw over a ball of light.

Zuo Mo received it and countless words flew through his mind.

Hong Xiao and Cang Ling Xue’s suggestions were to the point. First was to push out stronger shen equipment to increase Mo Cloud Sea’s fame. Second was to see if they could advertise shen equipment to the mo and the yao. Mo Cloud shen equipment was most suitable for Mo Cloud system shen power, and was the primary shen equipment of Mo Cloud Sea. However, the mo shen power and the yao shen power were completely different. If they could make shen equipment of these two types, it would definitely be welcomed. Third was to attempt to purchase materials from the mo and yao realms. This way, they could avoid the sanctions of Tian Huan. Fourth was to increase ling farming on the forty four newly conquered jie to increase production of materials.

Zuo Mo read through carefully and was slightly reassured. It had to be said that these suggestions were all good. If they could follow these suggestions, they could break Tian Huan’s monopoly of the xiuzhe world. Right now, Mo Cloud Sea had expanded to one hundred and thirteen jie. While this could not compare to Kun Lun and Tian Huan, it could be considered large.

“Follow these suggestions, have Golden Crow Camp start work.” Zuo Mo thought of Golden Crow Camp and then suddenly thought of Xi Xuan’s astounding large shen equipment order. Based on the present situation, the order was in danger … …

Wait!

Xi Xuan!

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly.

He suddenly realized that the crux of the entire matter was not all the supplies, but Xi Xuan’s alliance! From the breakdowning in the supply chain, stealing their market share, all of this was like a chain tightening on their necks. While they would feel suffocated, it would not be immediately fatal.

What was truly fatal was a change in Xi Xuan’s attitude!

Xi Xuan was the most important point. If Xi Xuan sided with the enemy, they would immediately be surrounded on three sides! The first to fall would be the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. The five sects that were still resisting now would have to submit to Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

Would Xi Xuan change sides!

Zuo Mo’s head was a mess. He was one of the few that knew that Zhong De only had three years left to live! Would Xi Xuan change sides? If Kun Lun and Tian Huan agreed to an alliance, then definitely! If they allied with Kun Lun and Tian Huan, they could follow the two factions and divide the Nine Great Dhyana Sects and Mo Cloud Sea. The declining Xi Xuan might be able to turn the situation around. He could see this, and he didn’t believe that Xi Xuan couldn’t see it.

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s expression became ugly.

Finding a remote location, the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple said, “Yuan Hao said for you to immediately contact him after coming out.”

Zuo Mo took a deep breath. He knew that the more urgent the situation, the more he had to remain calm.

———

“Tian Huan made a great move!” Gu Liang Dao shook his head and said, his expression worried, “This time, Brother Zuo is probably in trouble.”

Shuang Yu’s expression was also serious. He said, “Is there no way of solving this?”

Xiao was at the side with a terrible expression.

“The crux is Xi Xuan.” Gu Liang Dao’s face imperceptibly twitched. These two words would always easily pierce his heart. The twitch was so minute that even Shuang Yu didn’t detect it. Gu Liang Dao’s expression was dark but his tone calmed. “Zhong De only has three years, more accurately, slightly more than two years. Without Zhong De’s support, the death of Xi Xuan is just a matter of time. The people from Xi Xuan can definitely see this. If they ally with Tian Huan, this is a rare chance for Xi Xuan.”

Shuang Yu was slightly puzzled. Mo Cloud Sea who had seemed to be prospering just a few days ago seemed to be suddenly surrounded by enemies, and was also at the end of its tether!

“Send materials to Mo Cloud Sea, as much as we have,” Gu Liang Dao said.

Xiao did not waste words. “Yes!” He said rapidly. “We also have some extra money and can buy some materials.”

“Send them all!” Gu Liang Dao waved his hand.

Xiao nodded. He didn’t speak and turned to leave quickly.

Shuang Yu raised his face to look at Gu Liang Dao.

“While it is minuscule, we should do as much as we are able.” Gu Liang Dao had a determined expression. “No matter if it is for the common good or for ourselves, we cannot watch as Mo Cloud Sea falls.”

A light flashed through Shuang Yu’s eyes. “What are we going to do?”

He was unusually respectful of his brother. Seeing Gu Liang Dao’s spirited expression, he was similarly fearless. This was also why he followed Gu Liang Dao and did not stay at Xi Xuan.

“Kill Tian Huan!” Gu Liang Dao’s gaze was sharp as he said.

———

In the mirage, Yang Yuan Hao had a tired expression. The pressure he had been under in this period of time was unimaginable. The five large sects that had been of one mind began to have differing opinions after seeing Tian Huan’s fierce attacks and Mo Cloud Sea’s dilemma.

Compared to the fighting on the battlefield, internal fighting made his mind feel even more tired.

“Brother Zuo, you have been well since we last met.” Even at this time, Yang Yuan Hao’s speech and conduct was flawless. His handsome face recovered its usual calm.

“It is not well, it is great trouble.” Zuo Mo grimaced.

Yang Yuan Hao grinned but his expression quickly became stern. “The situation is truly terrible. According to the information new got, Tian Huan’s envoys have already reached Xi Xuan. The conditions they set are very detrimental to us.”

“What conditions?” Zuo Mo asked.

“Sect leader oath for a defensive pact. Tian Huan will have a duty to help Xi Xuan fend off other attacks. In other words, if Xi Xuan is attacked, Tian Huan will have to announce war on the other. For ten years!” Yang Yuan Hao’s expression was terrible.

Zuo Mo was not too surprised. Tian Huan had been so fierce in their opening moves, how could their killing move be soft? He laughed. “Tian Huan really thinks highly of Mo Cloud Sea, they are willing to pay the price of not touching Xi Xuan for ten years.”

“Yes! Tian Huan has an expert directing them.” Yang Yuan Hao nodded and a hint of admiration flashed through his eyes. “But I have to admit that their move is beautiful, and we are very discomforted.”

Zuo Mo asked, “How’s the situation on your side?”

“Not very good!” Yang Yuan Hao shook his head. “They are fighting a lot. The majority are remaining neutral, these short-sighted people!”

Having this proven, Zuo Mo was even more calm. This was within his prediction.

“What do you plan on doing?” Yang Yuan Hao looked at Zuo Mo.

He was filled with curiosity. Facing such a situation, what would Zuo Mo, who had produce miracles, do?

From a long time ago, he had paid attention secretly to the master of Mo Cloud Sea who did not seem very outstanding. In his view, the rise of Mo Cloud Sea was a spectacular legend yet was reliant on chance. But there was a person that attracted his attention, the master of Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo.

Examining Zuo Mo’s history, he found to his shock that Zuo Mo had never truly lost. Zuo Mo was like an undying juggernaut. He would also successfully flip the situation when people thought that all hope was lost, and would take a bite of the richest spoils!

One time was luck, but multiple times, that was not luck.

So when Yang Yuan Hao found that Mo Cloud Sea was in an unprecedented situation, he was under pressure but he was also curious.

In such a terrible situation, what would Zuo Mo do?

“What would you choose?” Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head and asked.

“Me?” Yang Yuan Hao had a surprised expression. He perceptively detected the importance of Zuo Mo’s sentence. Zuo Mo said “you” and not “your side.”

“Yes, you!” Zuo Mo emphasized the word “you.” He looked directly at Yang Yuan Hao and said calmly, “Your situation is bad as well. After this matter, discord will have been sown. There will be a divide between the five great sects. Just relying on Thunder Sound Temple and Lotus Sutra Temple, you cannot do a thing. They can side with Tian Huan or Kun Lun, but what will you do?”

“Siding with them is not a bad matter.” Yang Yuan Hao shrugged.

“And then?” Zuo Mo stared at him, each word hitting his heart. “You will be marginalized, then alongside the rest of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, become cannon fodder for Tian Huan and Kun Lun. Don’t say it won’t happen, you understand them as well. Their traditions are deeply rooted, they are strong internally. You will never be able to squeeze into their inner circle. To them are there any cannon fodder better than you?”

The speech caused Yang Yuan Hao’s expression to shift, and the sect leader of Lotus Sutra Temple behind Zuo Mo seemed to make a decision.

“At least, I will live longer.” Yang Yuan Hao raised his head and shot back, “Worry about yourself first and about how to stay alive!”

Zuo Mo did not speak but just a cold and sharp smile.

Chapter 814 – Hostage

“He’s crazy! He wants to pull us all down with him to the grave!” Xi Xuan Sect Leader’s furious shriek echoed in the secret room. He almost could not believe that Zhong De had unexpectedly refused to ally with Tian Huan. He really could not imagine any reason that Zhong De would have!

Didn’t he know that he would only live for two more years?

Or because he knew he would not be living for long, he wanted to have everyone die with him? This madman! Yes, this was definitely it!

The sect leader of Xi Xuan was filled with terror. This madman could do anything now. If he wanted everyone to die with him, then he would definitely do it!

Why?

The sect leader of Xi Xuan could not understand. But in his eyes, Zhong De was a madman, one that could do anything.

Originally, he had hid his strength and bided his time. All of the things he done, he did not conceal from Zhong De because he knew that Zhong De only had three years left to live. Xi Xuan would end up his in the end. Even if the Tian Huan envoys visited Zhong De first, he was displeased but he kept his calm.

Without Zhong De, Xi Xuan would immediately collapse.

What he was most worried about was not Zhong De’s in power, but what would happen to Xi Xuan after Zhong De died? He was furiously searching for young talent. He hoped to find a successor to Zhong De. His fear of death gnawed at his soul day and night, and he woke up countless times from nightmares.

Suddenly, Tian Huan had caused him to see ten years of peace!

A whole ten years!

He did not have to live in fright all the time. Ten years! He would have enough time to slowly search and uncover new geniuses. Xi Xuan was a large sect, how could they not have geniuses? If he had enough time, he could do it.

At that time, he would be the true master of Xi Xuan, the true sect leader of Xi Xuan!

But this hope that came from the hope was smashed ruthlessly by Zhong De, that bloodthirsty madman.

“Sect Leader, this is a rare opportunity!” A confidant of the sect leader, Ban Xia, came forward and said, “Use the death of Mo Cloud Sea to buy ten years of peace for us, what is there to hesitate about? If we form the alliance, we can buy shen equipment from Tian Huan. Tian Huan and us will ally against Kun Lun, this is a true equilibrium of three powers.”

Ban Xia was a true confidant who had grown up with him. He had gone to Ban Xia to plot and commit many schemes.

The sect leader said dispiritedly, “The madman will not agree, what is to be done? If we rebel, he will kill us!”

Ban Xia lowered his voice. “We cannot deal with him, but other people can.”

“You mean?” The sect leader suddenly raised his head and said in a trembling voice.

“Since Zhong De is the biggest problem, then we will eliminate this problem!” Ban Xia’s tone was dark as he made a cutting motion with a vicious expression. “Tian Huan’s intentions are clear, they have finally acted. Mo Cloud Sea is their biggest enemy. For Mo Cloud Sea, they are willing to do anything.”

“This … …” The sect leader’s mind shook and his expression wavered.

“We can imply to Tian Huan, they will naturally think of a way. We only need to give them some secret aid. Once the head is cut off, Sect Leader can step forward to take control of the situation and it will stabilize.” Ban Xia said gravely, “Also, we can push this onto Mo Cloud Sea.”

It had to be said that Ban Xia’s plan had a high possibility of success. If Tian Huan sent out a top expert, and with them working from inside, the possibility of success was high.

Hesitation flashed across the sect leader’s face. “But if Zhong De is dead, what do we do if Kun Lun and Tian Huan go back on their word and attack us?”

A matter like this could not be written down. If this was leaked, he would be overthrown as sect leader! Also, Zhong De was one of his greatest bargaining chips. Tian Huan and Kun Lun were wary because of Zhong De’s existence.

Once Zhong De was gone, Xi Xuan would become a piece of fat meat without any ability to defend itself. It was unknown if Tian Huan would hold to their previous agreement at that time. If Tian Huan did not abide by the agreement, then Xi Xuan would be in danger.

Ban Xia was also flummoxed by this problem. After some thought, his eyes suddenly lit up. “We can have Tian Huan’s Li Xian Er be our hostage! Li Xian Er is the granddaughter of Tian Huan’s sect leader, and the leader of the younger generation of disciples. She is equivalent to Kun Lun’s Lin Qian. Tian Huan will definitely not allow anything to happen to Li Xian Er. If Tian Huan is willing to send us Li Xian Er as a hostage, it means that they are sincere.”

The sect leader’s expression eased. This was a good plan. But he thought of another problem. Shaking his head, he said, “Which of us can match Li Xian Er’s strength? It is too dangerous to have someone like this be a hostage!”

Ban Xia was full of intelligence. He smiled and said, “Sect Leader, you forgot we have a wondrous place.”

“What place?” The sect leader stilled.

“Fiend Abyss Jail!” Ban Xia said a term that had long been forgotten.

The sect leader’s eyes suddenly lit up.

———

Receiving the message that the sect leader of Xi Xuan had secretly sent, the higher levels of Tian Huan were stuck in a dilemma.

Xi Xian’s demand was simple. They wanted a hostage, and they wanted Li Xian Er. This was not something that they could decide. Li Xian Er was the granddaughter of the Sect Leader, and the most talented disciple of the younger generation. Her future was limitless and it was very likely that she would become the next sect leader.

This was not the only factor. Mu Shuang, one of the ten great battle generals and a significant person in the sect, and Gongye Xiao Rong who was also thought to possess top battle general level strength, opposed this fiercely.

This party could not be dismissed.

But there were those that agreed, for example, one of the ten great battle generals, Mi Nan.

Mi Nan was ranked third among the ten great battle generals, under only Xue Dong and Zhong De. He ranked even above Mu Shuang at seventh. He was one with real and great power in Tian Huan. Also, the Mi Family was a traditionally powerful family within Tian Huan. In almost every generation, they had someone in a position of power.

The Mi Family had a near monopoly on Tian Huan’s materials business and was extremely wealthy. Due to this, the Mi Family wanted to kill Mo Cloud Sea more than everyone else. In these years as Mo Cloud Sea had risen, the Mi Family’s business had suffered greatly.

Mi Nan was influential within Tian Huan. He was sixty eight this year, at the prime of his life. The battalion he led was the strongest battalion of Tian Huan, the only battalion with [Tian Huan] in the name, the [Heaven Fate Hoop]!

Mi Nan was extremely skilled and a group of able people gathered around him. He could be considered the sect major power inside Tian Huan.

The biggest faction in Tian Huan was, of course, the Tian Huan’s Sect Leader’s faction. The sect leader was peaceful in personality but fair in his conduct. Everyone respected him. Adding on that he had the support of the Chief Elder, a supreme existence, behind him, no one dared to oppose him.

Mu Shuang was one of the ten great battle generals, but the faction behind him was not as strong as Mi Nan’s. Mu Shuang was usually concerned with battles, and didn’t have any interest in the affairs of the sect.

Gongye Xiao Rong had influence among the disciples. While he was not as respected as he had been before he had been defeated by Gongsun Cha, he was still respected for struggling and returning from the deadly situation.

So when Mu Shuang and Gongye Xiao Rong were united in opposition, their voices could not be ignored.

The two sides fought fiercely.

Mi Nan’s side thought that Xi Xuan would not dare to harm Li Xian Er. Li Xian Er would be a hostage but not in danger. If she could complete Tian Huan’s alliance with Xi Xuan, Tian Huan would be in an undefeatable position. Otherwise, with Mo Cloud Sea competing with them in forging, and being weaker offensively than Kun Lun, Tian Huan’s future was in danger.”

The opposition claimed that Tian Huan had not reached the point that it needed to send a core member of the sect, like Li Xian Er, to act as hostage. It would be good to eliminate Mo Cloud Sea but there was no need to pay such a great price. Also, they thought that Tian Huan was stronger than Mo Cloud Sea and they should not fear competing with Mo Cloud Sea. Like right now, when Tian Huan moved, they had the upper hand. In terms of overall strength, Mo Cloud Sea wasn’t on the same level as Tian Huan.

The two sides fought. Because it was concerning his granddaughter, the sect leader could not express an opinion. The chief elder who could make the decision was resting with his eyes closed in silence.

Suddenly, Li Xian Er stepped out and said calmly, “I am willing to go.”

The hall immediately quieted.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s expression was panicked. He was about to speak when Li Xian Er gave him a comforting expression.

“I’m willing to go. Actually, everyone knows that the risk is not high. Also, even if there is risk, I still think we should agree to Xi Xuan’s demand. Because Mo Cloud Sea was more dangerous than Xi Xuan and filled with more life.”

Li Xian Er’s beautiful face was as calm as water. Her usual mischievousness had disappeared, and her voice echoed in the hall.

“I’ve seen Zuo Mo, I have interacted with them, I know how strong they are. An opponent like this should not be underestimated. This kind of chance is rare. If we can grab it, we can eliminate a great problem forever. Also, do not forget about Kun Lun.”

“We all know that we are a level below Kun Lun in terms of offensive power. If we and Kun Lun are the only ones left, the ones to fall in the end will be us.”

The hall was silent. Everyone was stunned by Li Xian Er’s words. Mi Nan, Mu Shuang, and Gongye Xiao Rong did not have good expressions. What Li Xian Er was saying were things that people usually discussed in secret but no one had ever talked about it publicly.

“What is our advantage? Money! We are richer than Kun Lun! This is our greatest weapon. We should spread our money to buy and recruit other factions. We need allies. If we have to fight against Kun Lun, we need allies. Xi Xuan is the most suitable ally. They have vast territory, and a great population. Once Zhong De is eliminated, there will not be any person in control with any real power. They can only rely on us. We will provide them with shen equipment, with all kinds of fluff. They can outfit enough battalions to help us fight against Kun Lun. An enormous amount of cannon fodder. This is what Tian Huan needs. Also, Mo Cloud Sea’s existence will only weaken us. We have to fight them for materials, for market share. This will make Tian Huan poor. Without money, we cannot recruit other factions. We will lose our greatest weapon, we will be in danger.”

Li Xian Er’s words were firm.

Chief Elder opened his eyes at this time and showed admiration. He slowly said, “All of you do not think as clearly as a little girl. After returning from this mission, you will become the next sect leader.”

The chief elder announced his decision.

Chapter 815 – Yang Yuan Hao’s Dilemma

Zuo Mo was very surprised when he received the message.

Zhong De sent a message inquiring about the shen equipment and also sent along a large shipment of materials.

This message did not mention Tian Huan at all but expressed Zhong De’s thoughts. Zhong De had not agreed to Tian Huan! Zuo Mo had to say that he was very shocked when he received the news. He really could not think of why Zhong De had chosen him.

Even the stupidest person could see that the benefits of choosing Tian Huan were far greater than choosing Mo Cloud Sea.

But Zhong De made an unexpected choice.

Zuo Mo thought hard about why Zhong De had made this choice but after thinking for a long time, he could not think of anything. After asking Pu Yao and confirming that Mo Cloud Sea had received a shipment of materials from Xi Xuan, Zuo Mo’s anxiety finally settled. While he did not know what Zhong De was thinking, but it appeared that Zhong De had refused Tian Huan.

Zhong De’s refusal of Tian Huan was the best news that Zuo Mo had heard in recent days.

Zuo Mo threw away his puzzlement and started to consider the effects of Zhong De’s unexpected choice on Mo Cloud Sea.

Zhong De was the true holder of power in Xi Xuan. His refusal of Tian Huan meant that Tian Huan’s strategic intentions were destroyed. Mo Cloud Sea’s situation was not as bad as it was previously.

But had the danger been resolved?

Zuo Mo had to admit that Tian Huan’s moves had hit Mo Cloud Sea in their weakness. He could feel it, how could Tian Huan not feel it?

Tian Huan’s scheme only had one obstacle Zhong De. Zuo Mo put himself in Tian Huan’s position and thought. If it was him, what would he do?

Go around Zhong De? Impossible. Zhong De was in control of Xi Xuan at the moment and could not be skirted around.

If Zhong De could not be avoided, there was only one solution, eliminate Zhong De!

Eliminating Zhong De would be eliminating the only obstacle.

Zhong De was a great battle general and heavily protected. How could he be eliminated?

Send an army? Zuo Mo shook his head. The price was too high to start a war with the second ranked battle general and was famed for his viciousness and bloodthirstiness. If Tian Huan was not dumb, they would definitely not do such a thing.

Then there was only one choice, assassination!

Zuo Mo was startled, his eyes suddenly widening. It definitely would be an assassination! Tian Huan had top experts, and from the information he obtained, the sect leader of Xi Xuan clearly was in agreement to ally with Tian Huan, and would likely act as a spy.

Zhong De was in danger!

Zuo Mo’s heart beat wildly!

———

Yang Yuan Hao had not had a good rest in the past few days. This was very rare for him. His calm and steadiness were his most outstanding traits. He understood himself. No matter what kind of battle it was, he could maintain his calm and stability. The choices he made would never surpass the limits of his ability. He never tried to do anything outside of his abilities.

He was always measured and unhurried. It was as though nothing could disturb his peace of mind.

His strategic vision was not as good as Xue Dong, he was not as decisive as Zhong De, not as experienced as Mi Nan, not as sharp as Gongsun Cha, and compared to Bie Han, his explosiveness was lacking … …

Of the ten great battle generals, the one that did not have any unique trait was Yang Yuan Hao.

He seemed to not have any trait that was outstanding yet he could always win. His fighting style was just so. All of his skills were strangely equal, and none were better than any other. Of course, being as well-rounded to such a degree was special in itself. He was the only one.

However, only people that studied Yang Yuan Hao’s fighting methods would understand his terrifying nature. What was scariest about Yang Yuan Hao was that he would always make the appropriate choice at the appropriate time.

These choices may not be the best, but they would not be bad. Countless choices formed countless small advantages that would accumulate and, in the end, turn into victory.

Yang Yuan Hao’s victories would cause other people to feel hopeless. People that were trapped would not detect when they had started to lose. Steadiness, a hope-robbing steadiness. He almost didn’t have a weakness.

But such a calm and steady mind was thrown into chaos by Zuo Mo’s words.

What should he do?

He could not disguise his disappointment with the present state of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects. While he knew that this alliance would have a short honeymoon, but he was still disappointed when this day came so quickly.

Zuo Mo’s words caused some things he did not want to face to surface in front of him.

This was really a dislikable person!

He could not refute Zuo Mo’s words. Both Kun Lun and Tian Huan would definitely welcome him. No matter if it was because of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects or himself who was the fifth ranking battle general.

But he also knew that if he sided with Kun Lun or Tian Huan, he could receive good treatment but would definitely be unable to enter the inner circles of the two sects. Kun Lun and Tian Huan were full of talent, and their inner competition was fierce enough. If he, an outsider, tried to squeeze in, he would be unanimously rejected.

The best result would be leading his battalion to guard a base that was not important and live an idle life. The worst case result would be that he and the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would be turned into cannon fodder and sent into the battlefields with the most fighting.

None of these were things that he wanted. For any battle general, a chance to fight all kinds of factions like right now was a rare chance. Who did not want to accomplish something? Also, Yang Yuan Hao had the ability.

As to cannon fodder, no one was willing to be cannon fodder.

Yang Yuan Hao was not dumb. He naturally understood Zuo Mo’s intentions of recruiting him.

Based on the situation, Mo Cloud Sea was actually the most suitable. Mo Cloud Sea had only been founded for a short time, they did not have any well-established local powers. Zuo Mo himself was a reliable person. Also, Mo Cloud Sea was strong but had a small territory. They would definitely expand. This way, he did not need to worry that there would be no wars to fight.

However, Mo Cloud Sea’s situation was dangerous right now. If they were the least bit careless, they would lose it all.

Joining Mo Cloud Sea at this time meant that he needed to take on this danger as well. The future was unknown. Even if he was willing to take on the risk, other people may not.

He was not Zhong De, one person who could decide the fate of all of Xi Xuan. He had power, but the one in charge of Thunder Sound Temple was still the sect leader. Would Sect Leader be willing to ally with Mo Cloud Sea right now?

He shook his head. Everyone would want to avoid at this time.

He decided to go and ask the sect leader.

When Yang Yuan Hao saw the sect leader, he did not conceal any of his thoughts and reported everything to the sect leader.

After the sect leader heard this, he closed his eyes and remained silent.

Yang Yuan Hao was silent. He knew that Sect Leader was thinking.

“If Tian Huan succeeds, what do you think the result is?” The sect leader opened his eyes and asked Yang Yuan Hao.

Yang Yuan Hao thought and said, “If Tian Huan succeeds, Mo Cloud Sea will be danger, they will be surrounded and attacked on three sides … …”

“Mo Cloud Sea’s territory is not connected to them,” the sect leader said coolly.

Yang Yuan Hao stilled and his expression changed slightly. “Then they will first get rid of us!”

“How does our Thunder Sound Temple compare to Kun Lun and Tian Huan?” the sect leader asked.

“As weak as a baby,”Yang Yuan Hao responded.

“In other words, even if we join Tian Huan and Kun Lun, we are not needed, and unimportant,” the sect leader seemed to say to himself.

“Yes.” While he did not want to admit it, Yang Yuan Hao knew that this was the truth.

“How do we compare to Mo Cloud Sea?” the sect leader asked.

“We are greatly inferior,” Yang Yuan Hao’s response was honest.

“How much?” the sect leader asked.

Yang Yuan Hao struggled with this question. After thinking, he said, “Them ten, us three.” After a while, he thought and then added, “Them ten, we two.”

The sect leader did not care and asked directly, “If Lotus Sutra Temple is added?”

“Them ten, us three.”

“In other words, if we join them, our importance is only three out of thirteen.” The sect leader asked, “What if we join Tian Huan and Kun Lun? What is our importance?”

“Not even one in thirteen.” Yang Yuan Hao understood what the sect leader meant but couldn’t resist saying, “However, Mo Cloud Sea is in danger, and can be destroyed at any time!”

“Is it better to give coal in the winter, or give gold to gild the lily?” the sect leader asked.

“But … …”

“Is there really not a solution?” the sect leader said cryptically. “Your mind is better than ours, Think hard. Does Mo Cloud Sea really not have a solution? If we are added, is there still no chance to turn this around? Think, who, like us, is not willing to see Mo Cloud Sea fall?”

Yang Yuan Hao was stunned where he stood, only one sentence in his mind.

Was there really no solution?

———

Zuo Mo was never someone that waited around for others to decide his fate.

Ever since he thought of the possibility that Tian Huan would attempt to assassinate Zhong De, Zuo Mo and the others moved. Undoubtedly, there was nothing else at this time that was more important than protecting Zhong De.

Zhong De’s Abyss Jail Battalion was powerful and his protection would not be a problem. However, there was a great problem. He lacked true top experts. This was usually not a problem, but if there was someone on the inside helping his enemies, Zhong De’s safety would be questionable.

Zuo Mo’s group did not dawdle at all. They travelled day and night at their fastest speed towards Xi Xuan.

They needed to get to Zhong De before the experts of Tian Huan.

If Zhong De did not die, Tian Huan’s strategic aim would not be realized. Then this danger to Mo Cloud Sea was not something that could not be overcome. If they then retreated for two years, then they would have enough power to solve all of these problems. Mo Cloud Sea did not lack ling farmers. The unique formation ling fields of Mo Cloud Sea would be able to be spread used across their territories.

The new forty four jie they took was enough to satisfy Mo Cloud Sea’s demand for materials.

After two years, their situation would be resolved on its own.

But everything was based on the fact that Zhong De would live until then!

Only a living Zhong De could stop Tian Huan!

For safety, Zuo Mo did not split up his subordinates. The people he took on his journey this time were almost all of the high level fighting forces in Mo Cloud Sea. He had enough confidence to fight against the experts of Tian Huan.

This would be an unprecedentedly hard battle!

The two sides fighting all had reasons that they needed to complete!

Chapter 816 – The Change Among The Yao

It was hard to detect the secret battle between Tian Huan and Mo Cloud Sea if one did not pay attention. All of the xiuzhe world was in turbulence, yet on the surface, it appeared peaceful.

At this time, the internal conflict of the Yao Council of Elders attracted the attention of the world.

The cause of the matter was because of a speech that the youngest inner council member, Ming Yue Ye, had made at a yao art house.

Ming Yue Ye had given a fervent speech, criticizing the present yao for their relaxed attitude. She used all kinds of examples to illustrate the terrible lives of the yao jie that had ended up in the hands of the xiuzhe.

When the speech was broadcast, all of the yao realm was moved.

In the war there were victories and defeats between yao and xiuzhe. But overall, the xiuzhe had held the upper hand. There were many yao jies who had been conquered, but up until now, no one had mentioned recovering these lost territories. The Council of Elders seemed to have forgotten them.

Until Ming Yue Ye pointed to this scar.

For the yao, the successive losses had been a humiliating and painful memory. Under the strong suppression of the Council of Elders, the full impact of these realities had been forgotten.

Soon, the news that the Council of Elders had voluntarily given up these jie from the start, and their strategy of accumulating personal armies to guard their own territories was leaked.

The populace was filled with fury!

They could not imagine that the great majority of yao jie which had fallen had been voluntarily surrendered by the Council of Elders! Even now, the Council of Elders did not proactively try to take back the lost territories!

What kind of Council of Elders was this!

At a time when many clans had been forced to move due to the calamities of war, these people only wanted to protect their kinsmen, their wealth, and did not care for the life and death of the people that had been conquered!

No one could accept this cruel reality. The people used all kinds of methods to express their fury, especially those intermediate and small families. Being the first group to be abandoned. They started to move and team up.

Almost all of the yao art houses stopped classes. The young and spirited youths were almost unanimously opposed the Council of Elders.

All of the yao were pulled into an unprecedented whirlpool.

Facing all kinds of accusations, the Council of Elders remained oddly silent. All the major families also maintained their silence. The major families were connected intimately with the Council of Elders. They were beneficiaries so they helped the Council of Elders suppress the chaos occurring locally.

A tragedy occurred.

At a protest event, the battalion responsible for the local public safety had a conflict with the petitioners. Seventy six people were killed!

When this event occurred, all of the yao were shocked.

Even the slowest person realized that a bigger storm was about to come.

When Corps Commander Bing Lan stood up and said the yao should take back the lost yao jie, no matter if it was for the yao that were living there or to make up for past mistakes, it had to be done.

This was the first time the military were expressing their opinion publically!

In reality, the conflict between the military and the Council of Elders had been brewing for a long time. The military had always been discontent with the Council of Elder’s conservative and defensive strategy, especially those young battle generals that hoped the yao could also participate in this fight for the world.

The Council of Elder’s constant and continuous concessions to the xiuzhe made them feel uncomfortable.

Soon after Corps Commander Bing Lan spoke out, other corps commanders followed suit and spoke out in support of taking back lost territories. Some battle generals even mocked the Council of Elders for being useless. They thought that yao battle generals were not any bit inferior to xiuzhe battle generals. The Council of Elders were afraid without even fighting. This was distrusting the abilities of the military, and it also showed that the Council of Elders had not adjusted to this era of great change.

Past debts and grudges were brought out. The complete annihilation of Ice Frost Corps occurred under Kun Lun’s ambush yet the Council of Elders seemed to have forgotten this. More details were uncovered. The only surviving battle general of Ice Frost Corps, the hero Liang Wei who had been honored in the past, had been relieved of his duties and sent back home. The reason for this was that Liang Wei had desired to fight, and take revenge for Ice Frost Corps.

The one who had relieved Liang Wei of his duties was Corps Commander An Shi. Corps Commander An Shi was coincidentally a supporter of the Chief Elder of the Council of Elders.

The Council of Elders received another great blow!

The words of the military became the catalyst of this storm!

The yao world was about to change!

The change among the yao attracted the gaze of the world. Before this, the yao had been thought of the most united faction. The xiuzhe world had been split into the Four Realm Heaven, the mo into even more factions. Only the yao had the Council of Elders that ruled over vast lands. While many people criticized the yao for not having any ambitions to improve, no one dared to look at them.

The Council of Elders had once been seen as a strong existence that would fight Kun Lun and Tian Huan for the world.

However, the actions of the Council of Elders had caused people to lower their expectations of the yao. In terms of shen power, if it wasn’t for Ming Yue Ye, no one knew when the Council of Elders would have created the yao shen power. When Ming Yue Ye found the method to merge shen power and spiritual consciousness, she unexpectedly resisted opposition on the council and publicized the basic method.

Countless clans benefited. This earned Ming Yue Ye a great reputation. Supposedly, the Chief Elder had been shocked and angry at Ming Yue Ye’s actions. For a long time, Elder Ming Yue Ye had been suppressed.

The other reason the Council of Elders was not favored was because of battle generals. The xiuzhe world was full of battle generals, and the mo territories did not lack them. For both the xiuzhe and the yao, their top battle generals were very young. However, the yao were weak in this area. Most of their corps commanders had been promoted based on their experience. It was rare to see young people at the corps commander level.

The promotion and use of young battle generals had always been heavily obstructed.

And Elder Ming Yue Ye who liked to use young battle generals received the support of young generation of battle generals. Elder Ming Yue Ye daringly promoted Mu Xi to become corps commander, and this filled countless young battle generals with hope. Mu Xi had become the youngest corps commander of the yao and attracted attention.

There was not a lot of conflict over Mu Xi’s promotion. Mu Xi’s battle with Gongye Xiao Rong had increased her fame and propelled her to become one of the top yao battle generals. In reality, she had become the idol of countless young battle generals.

She was the first yao battle general that had fought with a top xiuzhe battle general and won.

What was interesting was the clan behind Mu Xi. Palace Lake Wood Clan was not a small clan. This clan had a long history and was famed for being able to make correct choices. Its unexpected support of Ming Yue Ye caused her prospects to rise.

Yet how could the fraction represented by the Chief Elder just give up?

Conflicts started to occur locally.

Tragedies started to occur!

The leaders of the protesters died quietly in their homes, being assassinated on the street, elders being ambushed … …

Public safety was continuously worsening!

Everyone was in danger!

———

The intelligence on the yao was the easiest to obtain for Zuo Mo. Pu Yao’s network was unimaginably strong in this area, and all kinds of intelligence gathered like streams into rivers. After Pu Yao’s organization of the details, the entire frame of the matter became clear.

On the road to Xi Xuan, Zuo Mo learned everything that was happening to the yao.

“This woman is so strong!” Zuo Mo could not help but sigh. He knew from their last meeting that Ming Yue Ye was not a friendly person, but seeing her manipulations like this, he could not help but sigh in shock.

It was clear that this entire string of events had been orchestrated by Ming Yue Ye in secret.

Zuo Mo understood Ming Yue Ye’s intentions. Ming Yue Ye wanted to use this method to break out of the endless stalemate for power.

He had seen before that Ming Yue Ye’s ambitions would not be small!

But he hadn’t thought that her ambitions were so great!

Ming Yue Ye clearly was not willing to slowly wait to be handed power. She clearly could not wait, and the reason that she couldn’t was because she saw that these next few years were the most crucial time for fighting for the world!

If this kept on getting delayed, the yao would most likely have not much to do with this fight.

Kun Lun and Tian Huan were becoming stronger by the day, Mo Cloud Sea and Gu Liang Dao was prospering, the Nether King of the mo had conquered the entire Nether Realm, the Mo Shen Temple was becoming stronger while weaker powers were being constantly destroyed. What was left were the strongest factions.

Battle generals were growing and maturing through these battles.

This caused Ming Yue Ye who had hopes of vying for the world to feel great pressure. The old age of their battle generals, the inactivity of the Council of Elders, their attitudes of enjoyment … …

If everything proceeded normally, she probably would only be able to take power in about a decade. Everyone, including the Chief Elder were in unspoken agreement that she was the successor.

But she could not wait for so long!

Such a vicious, decisive, and ambitious woman!

Zuo Mo knew there would be a great cleansing after a short yet intense full out battle between the two sides. Such an ambitious woman like Ming Yue Ye would not be able to tolerate the existence of a restraint.

She had the upper hand now.

The majority of the military were on her side, the young people were on her side, morality was on her side, fame was on her side, and the so-called righteousness was on her side as well.

After a period of cleansing, the yao would be greatly impacted, but they would be reborn and become a terrifying opponent.

And its leader was such a powerful woman!

A thought could not be suppressed from coming out of Zuo Mo’s mind: This woman had to be stopped!

If she united the yao once more … …

Zuo Mo saw the similarities to Kun Lun on those fanatical yao, a zealotry similar to Kun Lun! The appearance of a new “Kun Lun”, how terrifying would that be!

Wait!

The appearance of a new “Kun Lun” … …

A light suddenly flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind. Who was the most afraid of a “New Kun Lun?” Not Mo Cloud Sea, not Tian Huan, it was Kun Lun!

Kun Lun was the most afraid of a fanatical and united a faction like them forming. No one knew better than Kun Lun themselves just how terrifying a power like them was?

Especially when both sides had large amounts of territory bordering each other. A strong yao would directly threaten Kun Lun. The one that had conquered the majority of yao territories had been Kun Lun.

It seemed that he had to find some things for Kun Lun to do!

Zuo Mo knew that right now, all of Kun Lun was focusing on this secret battle between Tian Huan and Cloud Mo Sea. Zuo Mo felt that Kun Lun would be happy to see Tian Huan kill Mo Cloud Sea.

Kun Lun, how could he let them just watch from the side? While everyone else was so busy!

A devious smirk floated at the corner of Zuo Mo’s lips.

Chapter 817 – Zhong De’s Mad Idea

Soon, all kinds of news about the yao spread in the xiuzhe world.

Ming Yue Ye was described as the strongest woman in yao history. Her actions won her countless praises, and she was thought of as the only hope of the yao prospering again.

The power struggle among the yao immediately became the topic that the people in the xiuzhe world discussed over tea. However, for sects like Kun Lun, what they saw was not just limited to this.

Kun Lun had actually received related intelligence long ago.

Yet the information they had received before had not been so detailed. At the start, they had thought that this was just a normal power struggle. But as more detailed information appeared, their wariness of Ming Yue Ye quickly increased.

If Ming Yue Ye could truly succeed … ..

Then the yao would become even stronger, and would be a great threat to Kun Lun!

Once Kun Lun realized this, they could not sit still. As the strongest in the world, Kun Lun had always thought of the world as their future territory. The yao ruled by Ming Yue Ye was not something that was beneficial for Kun Lun.

The abilities that Ming Yue Ye showed caused Kun Lun to believe that if the yao really came under her leadership, the would quickly transform to become a rival top faction. The present yao, in Kun Lun’s eyes, was only a paper tiger. Their threat was smaller than Mo Cloud Sea. This could be seen from the battalions stationed at the borders. The battalions stationed at the border of the yao were not elite.

But the yao had such a strong foundation. It had always maintained its method of rule though the Council of Elders and never had significant infighting. The accumulation and foundations built over thousands of years was astounding. They were not strong now because the higher ranks lacked ambition. Once someone like Ming Yue Ye took power, then the power the yao would display would be terrifying.

At that time, the threat that Kun Lun needed to face would increase drastically.

They could not sit and watch such a thing occur!

While the higher ups in Kun Lun concluded this, the information had come so suddenly there definitely had been people manipulation this from the shadows. But even though they knew someone else was behind this, Kun Lun had to respond. Of all the factions, the one with the most territory bordering the yao was Kun Lun.

This was an open conspiracy.

But Kun Lun’s hand was forced.

Small group of Kun Lun’s elite started to move towards the yao. At the same time, the secret envoy to meet up with the chief elder also moved.

Kun Lun decided to give Chief Elder their support.

A divided yao Council that was fighting among themselves was one that Kun Lun was happy to see.

———

Zuo Mo threw this problem to one side. For him, the state of the world was something for an overlord like Kun Lun to think about. The urgent problem was to face Tian Huan’s attacks.

They disguised themselves, travelling day and night, and finally arrived at Xi Xuan.

On the way, Zuo Mo had sent a message to Zhong De. Zuo Mo finally sighed in relief when he saw Zhong De with his own eyes. Before he reached the other, the enemies still had a chance.

Now, unless all of the top experts of Kun Lun came, they had no chance to assassinate Zhong De in front of him.

When Zhong De saw Zuo Mo, he was not surprised. His expression was calm. “I thought that you would arrive soon.”

Zuo Mo was shocked but immediately recovered his calm. “Why has Mister Zhong refused Tian Huan?”

Zhong De did not respond. He suddenly said gravely. “Other than Shi Pei, everyone else out.”

No one in the military council made a sound. They all silently left with solemn expressions. Only a youth next to Zhong De did not move. Zuo Mo knew that this person must be the Shi Pei that Zhong De mentioned. It seemed that this was the second-in-command of the Abyss Jail Battalion.

Zuo Mo couldn’t resist but examine Shi Pei.

Shi Pei was not very old, about twenty eight or so. He was tall, had cold features, and his face was covered in criss-crossing scars. It could be seen that his original appearance had been very handsome. He stood expressionlessly behind Zhong De like a statue. From beginning to end, he did not move.

Seeing everyone else leave, Zhong De finally spoke. But when he did, Zuo Mo was given a fright.

“Xi Xian is already beyond cure.” Zhong De seemed to be describing something he was not concerned about. His expression did not change at all. “Even with ten more years, Xi Xuan cannot be saved.”

Zuo Mo hadn’t thought that Zhong De had such a depressing outlook on Xi Xuan. He was puzzled. “While Xi Xuan has many problems, they have the foundation, with time, there may be a chance.”

“No chance.” Zhong De shook his head. “Xi Xuan is rotten to the core. They have been ruined for decades, there is no cure. They had stopped training young talents for a long time. I searched all of Xi Xuan and there is none that can be used! To catch up on a few decades is not so simple. If this was a time of peace, and there are no outside threats, ten years, twenty years, then maybe there would be a chance.”

“Didn’t Tian Huan promise ten years?” Zuo Mo asked curiously. Zhong De’s thoughts were actually not very different from what Zuo Mo and the others thought. The training of the younger disciples could not be completed in one or two years. Without ten to twenty years, there was no real effect to be seen. Xi Xuan’s lack of talent was caused because it had not placed importance on training young disciples for the past few decades.

A cold sneer appeared on Zhong De’s scar-covered face. “Would Tian Huan sincerely want Xi Xuan to grow strong? In their eyes, Xi Xuan is just a great cannon fodder. They will think of all the ways they can for Xi Xuan to be first to use up Kun Lun’s strength. Then they will benefit from standing by the side. The present Tian Huan is much stronger than Xi Xuan. Once you are eliminated, Tian Huan will be even stronger. Under Tian Huan’s control, Xi Xian doesn’t have a chance of fighting back.”

Zuo Mo was not persuaded because the present Xi Xuan did not have a chance. In comparison, allying with Tian Huan was more beneficial for Xi Xuan. He didn’t believe that Zhong De did not see this.

But why had Zhong De said so much?

Zhong De seemed to know that these words could not persuade Zuo Mo. His eyes were half-lidded as he said lightly, “I plan to give Xi Xuan to Gu Liang Dao.”

Zuo Mo shook in surprise and then understood!

So this was why!

All of his confusion was resolved. When he knew had learned that Zhong De only had three years to live, Zuo Mo and the others had speculated who Zhong De would choose as the successor.

The most likely was the present sect leader of Xi Xuan. The present sect leader of Xi Xuan wasn’t just the legitimate choice, he had also been the one to invite Zhong De to come back into the world. Once Zhong De passed away, if there were no accidents, he would undoubtedly take power again.

Zuo Mo had once thought that Zhong De would try to find Gu Liang Dao and he had tried to connect the two. However, Gu Liang Dao seemed to have completely given up on Xi Xuan.

He hadn’t thought, that even in this situation, Zhong De still planned to give Xi Xuan to Gu Liang Dao!

Was Zhong De so disappointed with the sect leader of Xi Xuan?

The biggest obstacle to Gu Liang Dao taking Xi Xuan was the Xi Xuan’s traditional faction led by the sect leader. When Zhong De had first came back, he had once made a great cleansing of Xi Xuan’s ranks. At that time, blood had flowed in rivers. Under the knife, the Xi Xuan’s traditional faction had suffered great losses and had to bow their heads. They had leaned towards siding with Zhong De, but Zhong De had ignored them so they had sided with the sect leader of Xi Xuan.

Only the sect leader speaking up had prevented their deaths.

He hadn’t thought that Zhong De’s butcher knife was only delayed and waiting here. Zuo Mo knew that once Zhong De decided to give Xi Xuan to Gu Liang Dao, he would definitely get rid of all obstacles for Gu Liang Dao.

This time, Zhong De would probably remove the sect leader of Xi Xuan as well.

“Big Brother Gu agreed?” Zuo Mo suppressed his shock and asked. In his view, Big Brother Gu had his own thoughts, and would not be easily persuaded.

“No.” Zhong De was still expressionless. “But he will agree.”

Zuo Mo didn’t believe it but he saw that Zhong De was very certain as though he had a way to make Gu Liang Dao agree.

Zuo Mo still didn’t quite understand why Zhong De would choose Gu Liang Dao. What he needed to consider now was what changes would occur if Xi Xuan was given to Gu Liang Dao.

“Open the jie map,” Zhong De suddenly said to Shi Pei.

Shi Pei expressionlessly opened the jie map of Xi Xuan. On the map, a red line separated Xi Xuan in two.

“I plan to give this part to you.” Zhong De’s words were astounding.

Zuo Mo wasn’t just stunned but completely speechless. Was something wrong with this guy’s head? This area was almost one third of Xi Xuan, and contained some important jie.

But after the initial shock, Zuo Mo looked closely. Zhong De might be mad, but he was a person who was very goal-oriented. He seemed mad but he definitely had his own goals.

Eliminating stray thoughts, Zuo Mo saw some things.

This area was not small, but they were all areas bordering Tian Huan. Once Zuo Mo took these jie, than Xi Xuan would not be threatened by Tian Huan at all. Their only worry was their border with Kun Lun. But after close inspection, Zuo Mo had to sigh at Zhong De’s skill. There was a natural defensive jie at the connection to Kun Lun. If there was an elite battalion stationed there, they could block Kun Lun with little risk.

After cutting off their flesh, Xi Xuan would be rid of a great burden. The area they had to defend would shrink greatly, and their resources could be concentrated. And if it really was Gu Liang Dao that took power, Zuo Mo believed that Kun Lun would not be able to break through Gu Liang Dao’s defense.

This way, Xi Xuan’s torn up defense line would immediately become impenetrable, and their pressure would decrease greatly.

Zhong De was terrifying!

Standing in front of the jie map, Zuo Mo was motionless and deep in thought.

Zhong De closed his eyes in silence.

He had to admit that the lure that Zhong De threw out was too tempting! The present Mo Cloud Sea was only one hundred and thirteen ie, and the area that Zhong De had drawn out was three times bigger than Mo Cloud Sea!

If they could get this area, then the problem of Mo Cloud Sea’s supply of materials could almost be all resolved by themselves. This vast area contained rich ore mines. If they were developed properly, Mo Cloud Sea’s strength would expand.

The small size of their territory had become the bottleneck stopping Mo Cloud Sea from going a step further.

In these past six years, Mo Cloud Sea had secretly trained middle-management talent for their expansion strategy. Due to this, there were no problems in terms of manpower. Mo Cloud Sea had the ability to take these jie in a short time.

But after swallowing this fat piece of meat, the drawbacks were also very clear. Once they took over this area, the long border would increase the pressure on Mo Cloud Sea. Right now, Mo Cloud Sea was a hedgehog with almost no weakness. Any person that attacked would leave bloodied.

This meant that Mo Cloud Sea only needed to maintain a few elite battalions and not enormous numbers of normal battalions.

Such a long border, and it was Tian Huan. This meant that they needed to station large numbers of battalions to deal with the threat of Tian Huan!

Zuo Mo’s expression shifted and wavered.

Chapter 819 – Hidden Trump Card

Mist Tribe

Ever since Lan returned to the tribe, the mist people found to their shock that their cultivation speed had suddenly multiplied.

In this region of the mist sea, there didn’t seem to be any beasts that could threaten them.

After a transportation formation between the main tribe and the cloud island was opened, it was easy to travel outside the mist sea. The mist people gradually stepped out of the cloud sea and started to interact with the outside world. The young mist people entered schools, learning all kinds of interesting knowledge. The great majority of them entered the battle general school, and the most accomplished among them as Bing Yue.

Bing Yue who had once cried mist people tears had unexpectedly chose the battle general school. The calm and composed demeanor that defined the mist people had lead her to have outstanding results in the battle general school. She became one of the top ranked among the young battle generals of Mo Cloud Sea.

Gongsun Cha, who managed the battle general school, was full of praise for her.

Information flowed into this isolated tribe. The mist tribe changed constantly. Many of the products of the mist tribe were in demand outside. High grade cloud mist was a good material to make nimbus clouds, and the use of high grade ice crystals were even more widespread.

Only the mist people had the ability to travel deep into the cloud sea to collect these two materials.

The mist tribe quickly became wealthy and under Lan’s direction, the tribe leader Bing Yao made a trip to the cloud island to find Zuo Mo in hopes that Zuo Mo could help them forge a batch of shen equipment suited for the mist people. They were willing to pay all the expenses.

This batch of shen equipment was called the Mo Mist shen equipment.

The Mist Tribe became even stronger. As their living standards increased, the number of new births among the mist people increased greatly as well. The prosperity of the tribe caused the leader, Bing Yao’s mouth be stretched in a smile everyday.

A great amount of Lan’s power had recovered. As the tribe’s lives got better, the tribe’s belief in Lan grew even stronger. The resolute belief constantly repaired Lan’s damaged body.

Lan’s body was completely renewed as the bones of the body were healed. The now complete set of bones had become ice crystal like with a faint blue. If one looked closely, they would find that there were layers of tiny scripts in the light ice crystals. There were thousands of layers of these scripts.

Lan had spent a whole seven years in the deepest part of the cloud sea, absorbing countless ice mist crystals to strengthen this body!

It was finally finished!

Lan was slightly emotional. For totems, time was just a concept but there was still a sense of urgency for the tribe. The mist people tribe was not strong. Even though the development of the tribe had been good recently, and they had grown in population, they were still a small tribe.

As the totem of the tribe, Lan paid more attention to the outside world more than anyone in the tribe.

The tens of thousands of years allowed him to see through the mists. The mist people tribe was too miniscule, even in Mo Cloud Sea. In the entire world, they were even more insignificant.

Lan knew that no other faction would be like Zuo Mo and give them such good benefits with their power. But if he wanted the tribe to receive more living space, better investment in development, they had to contribute their power to Mo Cloud Sea, and become a more important part of Mo Cloud Sea.

It had been Lan’s order for Bing Yue to enter the battle general school.

It was a pity that the mist people were too few in number. Otherwise, they could form a mist people battalion and fight for Mo Cloud Sea. In this era, there was nothing more valuable than service.

However, Lan had started to prepare all this. Once those young mist people who entered the battle general schools grew up, once the tribe had more people, the mist people would be able to create a mist people battalion. One day.

But until that day, all of the duties of the tribe, all the merit they needed to earn, Lan was the only person who could do it.

This was the responsibility that fell on Lan’s shoulders as the totem warrior of the tribe.

Also, Zuo Mo and Mo Cloud Sea did not seem to be in a good situation recently … …

Lan thought about Gongsun Cha’s request. After thinking, he immediately made a decision.

A thought covered all of the tribe.

A thought spread in ripples. All of the mist people unconsciously stopped what they were doing. Shock flashed across their faces and then they unhesitatingly sprinted towards the shen temple!

Countless figures flashed through the sky.

Everyone had grave expressions and were silent.

Moments later, everyone in the tribe had gathered outside the shen temple. The tribe leader, Bing Yao, stood at the very front with an expression of barely hidden excitement.

“Open the restricted land!”

An authoritative and cold voice sounded from inside the shen temple into the ears of every mist person.

The mist people present all shook. Shock and excitement rose on their grave faces.

The restricted land!

The mist people’s restricted land, a territory they had guarded for more than ten thousand years!

It was it about to be opened!

A blinding blue light suddenly flew out of the shen temple and shot towards the restricted land.

Moments later, the ground trembled and boomed, the ice mist in the air clinking and rattling.

The mist people were prostrated on the ground with devout expressions.

Lan floated in the air above the shen temple. The figure was just a skeleton, but the authoritative presence shrouded the entire region.

Countless hair-thin rays of blue light appeared in the restricted land and flew towards Lan in the air.

Lan did not look at them and slowly floated down to the ground.

The moment that Lan’s feet touched the ground, the blue energies wrapped onto the skeletal body. Starting from the feet, something began to take form. Lan did not seem to feel it and slowly stepped forward, With every step, the endless blue energies took form.

They formed combat boots, greaves, joints … …

The blue energy started from the toes, and then pushed up and grew along the armor as it materialized.

When Lan walked to the front of the crowd, an exquisite battle armor covered in patterns took form. The battle armor covered all of Lan. The ice blue battle armor seemed to be made from layers of ice crystals and was so breathtakingly beautiful.

What shocked everyone was that the battle armor was slender and curved. It was a female warrior’s battle armor!

Lan was actually a female totem warrior!

The blue energy did not stop and continued to take form above Lan’s head. An icy blue and transparent umbrella appeared in Lan’s hand. The handle of the umbrella seemed to be carved from ice. The ribs of the umbrella were deep blue. There were eighteen ice crystals tied with long blue tassels that dangled from the edge of the umbrella and clinked harmoniously as they swayed.

Wearing battle armor, holding an ice umbrella, Lan seemed to have stepped out of a portrait.

“After sleeping for ten thousand years, you and I are able to once again fighting side by side.”

The voice spoke from behind the mask.

All of the mist people were overcome with excitement. The older mist people cried. Everyone recognized the figure in front of them! That legend that was worshiped in their shen temple, the tale that was told to every generation of mist people, the legendary guardian protector of the mist tribe, the strongest totem warrior in the mist people trible’s history!

No one knew her name, but every mist person could recognize her.

Bing Yao’s tears streamed down his face. The god of the mist people, you have never abandoned your clan!

As though she could hear the shout in Bing Yao’s mind, a clear icy voice sounded by everyone’s ears as through it came from the ancient era.

“I, Lan, the totem of mist, worshiped by the mist people for generations, swear if my soul and body is not deceased, will not dishonor the name of totem and protect the mist people!

———

Mo Cloud Sea.

Gongsun Cha walked out of the transportation formation and stepped onto this nondescript cloud island. The cloud island was about two hundred mu and was a pitifully small island in Mo Cloud Sea. There were no seal formations or jinzhi on this little island that was covered in fauna.

There was no need for any jinzhi because living here was a top level shen power expert.

“How come you are here?” the old many looked at Gongsun Cha with surprise and then realized, “You encountered trouble?”

Ever since he was reunited with A Gui, he had decided to stay at Mo Cloud Sea. He liked peace so he found an unpopulated cloud island for himself. Other than going to see A Gui occasionally, he spent all of his time on the island.

“Yes!” Gongsun Cha did not tarry and said briskly. “I have come to ask Mister to fight.”

“Who?” The old man’s eyes widened.

“Tian Huan!” Gongsun Cha responded.

“Oh, I heard you are in a sorry state. I was saying, just letting people beat on you and not retaliating, that’s not that boy’s style!” The old man smacked his lips.

Gongsun Cha had a small smile but did not speak. He could hear the old man’s exasperation. A Gui was faithfully loyal to Zuo Mo and no matter how much the old man did not like Zuo Mo, he couldn’t do a thing.

The old many snorted coldly and showed his missing and yellowed teeth. He said to himself, “I need to show the brat what a true shen power expert is!”

———

All of Mo Cloud Sea started to move at high speed.

This was the first time Mo Cloud Sea was moving with other factions. Their allies this time was the elite of Gu Liang Dao’s faction led by Shuang Yu.

Gongsun Cha had been planning their counter-attack on Tian Huan all this time. However, sending a battalion could not change a secret war. Also, they could not rely on guerilla warfare because Zuo Mo had taken too many experts with him.

So when Gu Liang Dao contacted Gongsun Cha, Gongsun Chao became alert.

If Gu Liang Dao and Mo Cloud Sea were allied together, they could deal with the problem of experts. Shuang Yu was a top expert. Adding on the old man, the forces could not be dismissed.

But Gongsun Cha did not rashly attack. He knew that there was only one chance for a surprise gambit like this. If they attacked and alerted the enemy, there would not be a chance like this again in the future.

He started to design a detailed plan. In order to have greater effect, he used all of Mo Cloud Sea’s intelligence network.

In order to increase their military force, Gongsun Cha even send a request for reinforcement from the mist people tribe.

The good news was that Nan Yue’s group had finished their mission and returned. Qinghua Xue and Xie Shan also came out of seclusion almost at the same time.

Gongsun Cha sighed in relief. The manpower was enough to support this battle plan.

When Lan appeared, Gongsun Cha was also stunned where he stood. Then he was overjoyed and his confidence increased! He had never thought that Lan would participate!

Lan’s attention-catching actions caused Gongsun Cha to immediately know her strength—a top shen power expert!

Shuang Yu who had secretly travelled to Mo Cloud Sea was left mouth gaped with eyes wide. Mo Cloud Sea had a hidden top level shen power expert!

The familiar vibrations from Lan’s ice blue battle armor caused Shuang Yu to realize this was a shen device raiment!

Mo Cloud Sea had a secret top level shen power expert with a shen device raiment!

For the first time, Shuang Yu had the feeling that Mo Cloud Sea was unfathomable. Then, Shuang Yu believed that their mission this time would succeed! Even they hadn’t known that Mo Cloud Sea had hidden such a trump card!

Tian Huan was going to be out of luck!

Chapter 819 – Struggle

Zuo Mo stared at the jie map in front of him with bloodshot eyes.

He had been staring motionlessly at the jie map for almost six hours.

Xi Xuan was a little over eight hundred jie and one third of that was two hundred and- almost three hundred jie. How big was Mo Cloud Sea? One hundred and thirteen jie! If they could take down all this, Mo Cloud Sea could expand to almost four hundred jie!

This number was about to almost two thirds of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects total territories.

But that long and tattered border would cause Mo Cloud Sea’s defense to become a big problem

Zhong De was slightly surprised. He had originally thought that when something so great and free was handed to him, Zuo Mo would excitedly agree without hesitation. He hadn’t thought that while Zuo Mo was excited, he did not immediately agree.

A territory of almost three hundred jie yet someone would hesitate for six hours!

Zhong De re-evaluated Zuo Mo. He had not underestimated Mo Cloud Sea, he actually had a high opinion of Mo Cloud Sea. Mo Cloud Sea was the ally that Zhong De chose for Gu Liang Dao. Putting aside Gu Liang Dao’s good friendship with Zuo Mo, Mo Cloud Sea’s strength was what he thought highly of.

He had other deeper considerations for giving almost one third of Xi Xuan to Mo Cloud Sea.

Mo Cloud Sea was stronger than Gu Liang Dao, much stronger. The two would be neighbours. If they were to be allies, they needed to be of similar strength. However, Mo Cloud Sea had a firmer foundation. Once they digested the three hundred jie, they would become even stronger.

A Mo Cloud Sea that was too strong was not beneficial for a developing Xi Xuan.

In Zhong De’s view, Gu Liang Dao was strong, but he clearly was not at the same level as Zuo Mo.

This could be seen from the comparison of the two’s forces. Of Gu Liang Dao’s force, other than himself, only Shuang Yu and Xiao were acceptable. They lacked talents. But Mo Cloud Sea, Wei Sheng, Gongsun Cha, Bie Han, Zong Ru, a list of names that could blind and awe people. Even someone with such a resolute mind as Zhong De was not willing to become enemies against them.

The long border would drag Mo Cloud Sea into a tedious and difficult struggle with Tian Huan and slow Mo Cloud Sea’s development.

Only when the two sides were in balance could a long-lasting alliance form.

Ten years. Zhong De estimated that Xi Xuan would need ten years under Gu Liang Dao in order to recover. If there was not a titan like Tian Huan, Zhong De thought that Mo Cloud Sea would only need five years to become a new titan of the same level as Kun Lun and Tian Huan.

Zhong De felt that he had not underestimated Zuo Mo but at this time, he found that he had still underestimated Zuo Mo’s foresight.

The guy who was said to be peerlessly greedly and only thought of profit was able to maintain his calm in the face of almost three hundred jie!

Such a terrifying person.

Zhong De suddenly suspected whether or not his decision was correct. Could Gu Liang Dao really fight against such a monster? Could he really fight against such a monstrous faction?

But then he grimaced. Other than Gu Liang Dao, he did not have a better choice. Gu Liang Dao was the most outstanding young person from Xi Xuan’s lineage. He understood the present sect leader. If he gave Xi Xuan to the sect leader, the end of the ten year agreement would be the time that Xi Xuan would die.

Zhong De’s heart was like rock. After wavering slightly, he recovered.

A pair of eyes that flashed with excitement and madness entered his field of view. His heart suddenly shuddered but his expression did not change. “What have you decided?”

Zuo Mo looked closely at Zhong De’s eyes and said in a deep voice, “I also want this piece!”

His finger flicked and a curving streak of light appeared on the jie map. A region about thirty jie was outlined at the lower right corner of the area that Zhong De had proposed.

Zhong De’s pupils suddenly contracted!

After Zhong De came out of his seclusion, he had studied repeatedly. As the second-ranking battle general of the ten top battle generals, Zhong De was bloodthirsty and savage, but he was unusually wary in his attitude towards war.

No one knew how many times he had studied this jie map. Every detail of this jie map had been imprinted into his mind long ago. Without any effort, it could be redrawn completely in his mind.

This area where Tian Huan and Xi Xuan borders were shared was a long and flat wedge between Xi Xuan and the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

It was a complex place where three factions intersected. Back in the time when Xuan Kong Temple existed, the three factions had been restrained by the balance between the three forces. That area had become an area that none of the three factions could dominate. Due to this, large numbers of small but complex factions existed there.

The fall of Xuan Kong Temple and the rise of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect caused them to quickly consume these little factions to form this strange area.

On the thirty jie that Zuo Mo drew included the area where Xi Xuan and the Nine Great Dhyana Sects shared borders.

If Zhong De still did not know Zuo Mo’s intentions now, then his reputation as the second-best battle general was false.

Nine Great Dhyana Sects! Mo Cloud Sea had a close relationship with the Nine Great Dhyana Sects, closer than expected!

Zhong De sighed inside. He knew that his intentions of using Tian Huan to restrain Mo Cloud Sea had failed.

Zuo Mo’s intentions in demanding these thirty jie were clear. The territory connected to the Nine Great Dhyana sects and he would open a passage between Cloud Mo Sea and the Nine Great Dhyana sects. This way, Tian Huan’s wedge territory would be facing enemies on two fronts. Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions could attack by travelling through the territory of the Nine Great Sects and easily detour behind Tian Huan to attack.

Mo Cloud Sea that possessed Gongsun Cha and Bie Han could easily cleave this wedge-shaped territory from Tian Huan’s flesh and bring it under Mo Cloud Sea’s control!

The border between Mo Cloud Sea and Tian Huan would drastically shorten.

Zhong De was now in a dilemma. With Mo Cloud Sea’s strength, the possibility they would succeed was a high. That way, rather than restraining Mo Cloud Sea, it was giving Mo Cloud Sea a great opportunity.

But without Mo Cloud Sea, Gu Liang Dao who took over Xi Xuan would not be able to survive. He only had two years left. After two years, Xi Xuan would only have one top battle general left, Gu Liang Dao.

In Zhong De’s view, Gu Liang Dao had good skill but he was too honest, and was not intimidating enough. Zhong De was able to protect Xi Xuan by himself. No one dared to invade. Even Kun Lun and Tian Huan did not dare to easily start a war.

This was because he was ruthless and bloodthirsty!

There was only one result of fighting against him, blood flowing in rivers! In this time where multiple factions were facing off, no one dared to be damaged so much.

“What is your decision?” Zuo Mo’s tone was just like Zhong De’s had been previously.

Zhong De knew that the other saw through his intentions. However, he did not care. Power struggles would always exist between factions and had nothing to do with friendships. He was a decisive person and said, “Then I’ll give you this region as well.”

His finger swiped, and he drew out another twenty jie at the border of the thirty jie that Zuo Mo had just circled. Allying with Mo Cloud Sea was an essential condition to the survival of Xi Xuan. Zhong De did not have a choice, his hand was forced in the matter.

Zuo Mo looked for a while and saw some things.

Zhong De seemed to have casually picked out twenty jie. He seemed to have lost a big part of territory for nothing, but in truth, he had drastically decreased the border between Xi Xuan and Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo was full of admiration towards Zhong De. As expected of the second-best battle general! Zhong De was so calm to the point of cruelty. He did not linger or hesitate over territory. He did not care for reputation or tradition. For his strategic aims, he could give up everything else. Such a terrifying person!

But these twenty jie were free for Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo knew that Zhong De was near the end of his life and knew that Zhong De was also making a path for Gu Liang Dao. Zuo Mo did not worry about Gu Liang Dao’s Xi Xuan. This had nothing to do with friendship, it was a judgement of the situation. The reason that Zhong De was so generous was because he knew Gu Liang Dao would not be able to protect an enormous Xi Xuan alone.

Actually, Zuo Mo was slightly worried. Even the smaller Xi Xuan was more than five hundred jie. All of Nine Great Dhyana Sects was just a little more than six hundred jie.

Looking at the present situation Yang Yuan Hao was in would show just how hard it was to manage such a large territory.

Gu Liang Dao’s path was harder than his own.

“Agreed!” Zuo Mo said solemnly. He was full of spirit. Mo Cloud Sea’s era of being in its turtle shell was about to finally finish!

“Good!” Zhong De nodded expressionlessly. He then said, “Tian Huan’s people have arrived.”

Zuo Mo’s attention was immediately moved. Zhong De was the crux of everything. For Xi Xuan. For Mo Cloud Sea. His safety the most important.

“They came slightly earlier than you. Li Xian Er was escorted to the Abyss Fiend Jail.” A hint of coldness flashed through Zhong De’s eyes. “Let’s go see Tian Huan’s future!”

Finishing, he walked outside.

Zuo Mo was lightly shocked. He knew Li Xian Er’s status in Tian Huan. He asked in puzzlement. “Why would Tian Huan send Li Xian Er?”

“Hostage.” Zhong De said coldly. “Otherwise, the sect leader would not dare to act out this plan. The sect leader is too stupid. I’ve guarded the Abyss Fiend Jail for decades, how can I not have any safeguards? Tian Huan came carefully and my people did not detect them. The sect leader was in too much of a hurry to send Li Xian Er to the Abyss Fiend Jail.”

Zuo Mo heard that while Zhong De said “sect leader,” there was no respect in his tone.

“He is devious and has great patience,” Zhong De said coolly, “but is not decisive or confident enough. His desire for power is too great.”

Zuo Mo was filled with curiosity but he did not want to be dragged into Xi Xuan’s matters. He perceptively did not ask.

The group followed Zhong De towards the Abyss Fiend Jail. In order not to attract attention, they did not fly, but walked along the walls.

Suddenly, Wei Sheng stopped walking, and his gave focused. Zuo Mo motioned for everyone to stop.

Zuo Mo and the others were in sync and spread out, ready to fight. Shi Pei next to Zhong De stepped forward to protect him. The other guards were on their guard.

Wei Sheng’s expression was at ease and unaffected.

The God-Killing Blood Sword slowly rose. Everywhere Wei Sheng passed, there seemed to be a black and bottomless abyss. Wei Sheng’s eyes became like bloody glass, but his expression did not change.

“Kill!”

A thunderous shout and the rock wall in front of them suddenly shattered and rain down on them!

Wei Sheng’s sword drew out!

A blood red sword energy entered the shattered energies!

The sword energy that entered the shattered stone seemed to be hit by something incoming and suddenly gave off bright white light!

The blinding light immediately consumed the group. Everyone’s sight became filled with white. They could not see a thing, and the surrounding presences were in chaos.

Sharp murderousness filled the air.

Zuo Mo didn’t know what this white light was. Under the white light, he could not see a thing. What was strangest was the white light could disrupt the consciousness!

Zuo Mo’s consciousness that was spread out was crushed by the light.

The enemy did not seem to be affected. Eight different murderous presences locked onto him and caused his skin to tremble.

Yet Zuo Mo reacted quickly and his expression changed!

Fishing in muddy waters!

The other’s target was Zhong De!

Damn it!

At this time, a muffled grunt came from the white light.

Zuo Mo’s heart suddenly sank.

It was Shi Pei!

Chapter 820 – Trap

A layer of complex shadowed scripts appeared over Mi Wu’s eyes. The strong white light was filtered by the shadow script, protecting his eyes. He could clearly see every detail.

Mi Wu of the Mi Family was the most talented member of his generation. He had talent that was to be admired, and he did not waste his talent. From childhood, he worked hard. As one of the great families of Tian Huan, the Mi Family naturally raised him in a good environment.

The Mi Family was overjoyed to have produced such a genius. Even the top battle general of Tian Huan, Mi Nan, paid attention to him.

The Mi Family’s teachings, his own hard work, and outstanding talent combined to create a stunningly skilled youth.

Of the top experts in Tian Huan, the most famous were the four seats and the twelve rings.

The four seats were the first four discipels of Tian Huan, Li Xian Er, Mi Wu, Sang Dong, Jin Xiao Yi.

Under every seat were three ring masters. Each ring master controlled an elite force.

The four seats and the twelve rings represented the highest combat force of Tian Huan, especially the four seated disciples. These four seats were the genius youths that Tian Huan had trained over the past few years. They were even stronger than the elders of the previous generation. If Chief Elder was said to be a supreme existence in Tian Huan, then the four seats ranked just below the sect leader, Mi Nan, and Mu Shuang.

Li Xian Er would become the future sect leader, and the other three members would become prominent elders of Tian Huan.

Mi Wu’s fighting method was unpredictable like his name, like the ancient shamans. He had a quiet and thoughtful personality. While he was from a prestigious clan, he did not have excessive pride.

His pure-white robe was untouched by dust.

The blinding white light was Tian Huan’s secret [Silver Light Flashbang]. It did not have any offensive power, but it could blind people with its almost unimaginable brightness. Even if one had shen power, they would not be able to avoid its effects. The most terrifying effect was that it could cause all of the energies in the area to become chaotic.

The seal scripts on Mi Wu’s eyes allowed him to avoid the effects the silver light.

Zhong De!

Mi Wu’s pupils contracted slightly as he cast the shen methodology. The shen glyph on his hand lit up slightly. Suddenly, the shen glyph on his palm seemed to come alive. It became three-dimensional and spun.

Six imperceptible lights suddenly flew out of the energetically spinning shen glyphs. They were like six nimble snakes that silently flew towards Zhong De!

Mi Wu had absolute confidence in this mission because all of Tian Huan put great importance on this mission.

Three of the four seats had come!

Other than Li Xian Er who had come to be the hostage, there was Mi Wu and Jin Xiao Yi. Other than this, there were also other experts, and four ring masters. The composition of their team was so grand that Mi Wu felt there was no reason they would not succeed.

Jin Xiao Yu’s shen glyph flowed. Little arrows floated in a dense group next to him. Every little arrow was made from shen glyphs was astounding in power!

These little arrows vibrated minutely and murderousness filled the battlefield.

Everyone’s attention was attracted by these murderous little arrows.

Zhong De did not have any strong experts with him. There were no experts of their level in Xi Xuan. If they could find Zhong De, and avoid the defense of the battalion, the possibility they would succeed was high!

Creating chaos, Jin Xiao Yu and the other people would attract the attention of the enemy and Mi Wu would deliver the fatal blow.

This was their strategy!

Shi Pei’s expression changed dramatically. He advanced rather than retreating, a ball of bloody energy forming in his hand that he threw forward.

A shen glyph hit the bloody energy.

The shen glyph suddenly lit up with a strange light. In a blink, the blood energy was completely absorbed! The shen glyph turned into an eerie bloody glyph. It trembled and then continued to shoot at Zhong De.

Shi Pei grunted and flew out as though he had been hit with a hammer!

Mi Wu was unaffected. The other was just a battle general and was insignificant compared to a top expert like him!

The six shen glyph snakes were locked onto Zhong De. Without any more obstacles, they shot in front of Zhong De.

Mi Wu’s heart finally stirred. Zhong De was going to die!

Just as he thought Zhong De would die to the six shen glyph snakes, a withered hand appeared without warning in front of Zhong De.

A thin Dhyana xiu with closed eyes appeared in front of Zhong De out of thin air. His withered hand was like a fragile flower.

Impossible!

Mi Wu’s eyes widened as he looked in disbelief at the scene occurring in front of him. No one could see under the [Silver Light Flashbang]! Even they themselves were helpless if they did not prepare beforehand. Even Dhyana xiu could not do it. The consciousness was useless!

Who was this person?

Mi Wu’s heart suddenly sank. How could there be such a strong expert around Zhong De?

Their intelligence was faulty!

The hand formed a seal and six grey sutra characters flew out of Zong Ru’s hands to face the six shen glyph snakes.

Snap!

The sutra characters encountered the shen glyph snakes and exploded like smoke. The grey mist shrouded the shen glyph snakes.

The shen glyph snakes were covered in a layer of grey.

Mi Wu’s expression changed slightly. Wish power! Such strong wish power!

The left half of his body started to feel slightly numb. An ugly grey mark appeared on his left shoulder.

Was this a survivor of Xuan Kong Temple? The Nine Great Dhyana Sects did not have such a strong Dhyana xiu! Countless thoughts flashed thring his mind. He did not dare to slack off. The shen glyph in his hand spinning urgently as his shen power surged.

Pew!

His left shoulder suddenly exploded, and the grey mark was destroyed. The terrifying feeling of numbness finally disappeared. All this happened in flash yet the amount of shen power used surpassed his predictions.

Mi Wu’s expression became grave.

He could detect that the other was just as strong as any of the three ring masters under his command! Adding on the unpredictable and eerie shen power, this was a troublesome person!

However, the other was delusional to think that they could stop him with just this strength!

Mi Wu brimmed with murderousness.

But when his gaze focused on a three flanged Dhyana staff on the other’s hand which had suddenly appeared, his expression froze on his face.

This vibration … …

Shen device!

———

Jin Xiao Yu was acting as planned.

Every little arrow was vibrating violently as though they were hungry and hornets waiting to move and consume. The sword essence just now made him feel a sliver of fear but he quickly recovered.

He was just slightly puzzled. Did Zhong De have someone powerful hidden away?

But he knew his duty. What he needed to do was distract the attention of the enemy and create chances for Mi Wu.

He was very successful!

He was so successful that he poked the hornet’s nest!

Zuo Mo and the others who had been blinded due to the [Silver Light Flashbang] suddenly felt ferocious murderousness. Without even thinking, they threw out attacks in the direction of the source!

Zuo Mo’s hand swiped and the sun axe appeared in his hand. He ignored the white nothingness he saw and threw in the direction of the murderousness with a loud shout.

Almost at the same time, Wei Sheng and Luo Li attacked!

Jin Xiao Yu felt a great sense of danger. He paled and didn’t dare to think carefully. The little arrows around him rained on the group.

He did not look at his results. He put all his power into retreating!

Boom!

An enormous explosion sounded behind him, and then a wave of air as tangible as a wall hit his body.

He reacted quickly. Shen glyphs lit up over his body. He was like an untethered dry leaf that was thrown outwards with the wave of air.

Inside, Jin Xiao Yu’s mind was in uproar, his limbs cold!

If he hadn’t escaped quickly from the attack just now … …

Ambush!

This was an ambush!

He was in the air at present and could see the scene under him. His heart continued to sink.

The four ring masters were also engaged!

One was fighting with a bird, another with a dark gold mo puppet. The third had an even stranger opponent, it was a little person dressed in black that was smaller than a hand.

But the one that was in the worst state had a female opponent! This female’s figure was unpredictable and ethereal. She did not give any signs of attack, and completely dominated this ring master.

Jin Xiao Yu almost didn’t believe his eyes.

How could so many experts pop up? What group of freaks was this?

If he had just a guess before this, he was sure now that this was a planned out  trap!

When he saw the appearances of Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng, his face paled.

Mo Cloud Sea!

No wonder there were so many experts. It was Mo Cloud Sea!

Jin Xiao Yu was decisive. The shen glyph at his forehead flashed and his panicked voice sounded in everyone else’s minds at the same time. “Retreat! It is Mo Cloud Sea! This is a trap!”

Everyone’s’ expression immediately changed!

Mo Cloud Sea!

Ever since Tian Huan targeted as Mo Cloud Sea they had increased their efforts on spying on Mo Cloud Sea. They gradually learned the power of Mo Cloud Sea.

If one had to say what part of Mo Cloud Sea gave the strongest impression, it was not forging, not wealth, not their turtle-like jinzhi, but that list of names that could not be dismissed. That list was one that even a titan like Tian Huan was jealous of!

They had so much talent that it was incomprehensible. That tiny place had so many strong people!

It was a gathering of monsters!

———

When Mi Wu heard Jin Xiao Yu’s shout in his mind, he finally remembered who this emaciated Dhyana xiu was!

Zong Ru!

The strongest Dhyana xiu of Mo Cloud Sea, the one who caused an apparition to appear when he came out of seclusion, Zong Ru!

No one knew how strong Zong Ru was. Mi Wu now had some understanding after the fight today. Zong Ru should be stronger than the ring masters but a step below the four seats.

However … …

Mi Wu stared at the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff in Zong Ru’s hand with red eyes. When was a child of the Mi Family ever jealous of other people’s equipment because it was better than theirs!

Born in luxury, for the first time, Mi Wu felt he was poor.

He could clearly feel the power of this Dhyana staff!

Even if it was not a shen device, it was not far off!

Mi Wu’s heart bled. He was furious and sad. Zong Ru was not among the top ranked experts of Mo Cloud Sea, yet even he could have a Dhyana staff of this level!

Was Mo Cloud Sea rich to such a level!

With the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff, Zong Ru’s strength was increased greatly. The difference between the two smaller. With the staff, Zong Ru was able to keep him engaged, unable to retreat!

Heart dripping blood, Mi Wu took a deep look at Zong Ru. The shen glyph on his body flashed and he disappeared.

Jin Xiao Yu and Mi Wu’s thoughts of retreating were correct.

But sometimes, knowing the right action was not enough.

Chapter 821 – Unexpected

Mi Wu and Jin Xiao Yu were a level stronger than the others and immediately retreated but the four ring masters that had come along were not so lucky.

Wu Zhen was one of the ring masters under Mi Wu’s command. He had a firm foundation, was both skilled and  experienced in battle. He never feared a hard fight. He was just slightly weaker than Mi Wu. Expecting a hard battle, Mi Wu had taken him along this time.

From the start of the fight, they had the initiative on the battlefield.

Everything had gone smoothly according to plan. If the enemy was not prepared, A strange things like the [Silver Light Flashbang] made it likely they had a one in two chance of success on the first strike.

Wu Zhen had sneaked towards someone near Zhong De. He could see that this person was of high status.

In the white silver light, he moved closer like a ghost.

The other was about to enter his attack range. If he went a bit closer, he could strike for the kill!

At this time, he had a feeling and he unconsciously flashed to the side.

Hiss!

A streak of fire brushed past his body.

Wu Zhen’s heart jumped. Did the enemy have people that were not affected by the [Silver Light Flashbang]?”

Before he could think, another dot of fire lit up.

Wu Zhen did not retreat at this time. Shen glyphs appeared on his hand, and he pointed fearlessly at the streak of fire!

Boom!

He felt a burning flame burrow into his body through his finger!

Hiss, he inhaled sharply. The shen glyph lit up, and his shen power expanded dramatically to force this fire out of his body. Then he finally saw the attacker, the ambusher was a bird!

Wu Zhen’s finger had contained the power of Tian Huan’s shen glyph. Silly Bird was also affected and took a few steps back.

These steps looked normal but infuriated the usually proud Silly Bird!

When had Bird-jie ever been defeated like this!

She spread her wings as though she was about to take off. With a bright crow, bright red flames were sprouted from her mouth.

Wu Zhen instinctively felt the danger of the flames. He ignored everything else and retreated.

Silly Bird’s wings flapped even faster. The flame seemed to leapt towards Wu Zhen as though it was alive.

The flames were extremely quick and drew out a blinding streak of fire in the air and caught up with Wu Zhen in a flash.

Wu Zhen took a deep breath. The shen glyph appeared. His hand raised and sliced down suddenly like a knife!

The fire line that was flying towards him was cut in two and flew past him on both sides of his body. Wu Zhen’s worries eased slightly. He didn’t know what kind of yao beast was this strange bird for it to be so strong!

Then, in his peripheral vision he saw that the two lines of flame suddenly arc in two curves and form a circle!

This was … …

Wu Zhen was startled. Before he could react, his body suddenly froze!

He was trapped in a strange force field!

This fire was strange.

Wu Zhen’s heart continued to sink.

At this time, the shouts of Mi Wu Daren came from his mind. “Retreat! This is Mo Cloud Sea! This is a trap!”

Wu Zhen could not maintain his calm and changed expression.

———

The white light dissipated, and Zuo Mo’s vision returned to normal.

But Zuo Mo had never suffered a great loss. Looking at the figures that were growing further away, his heart burned with fire.

Snap!

Lil’ Pagoda appeared in Zuo Mo’s hand.

The blinding golden sun shen power covered Zuo Mo and Lil’ Pagoda

Zuo Mo breathed and his power surged. He seemed to be swinging an axe heavier than himself and his entire body was swung up!

Exhaling, he used all of his strength and threw the chubby Lil’ Pagoda into the air!

“Good son! Your turn!”

Covered in golden light, Lil’ Pagoda was like a blinding golden meteor that roared as it flashed towards the fleeing people like lightning.

“Yi yi ah ah!”

Covered in sun shen power, Lil’ Pagoda appeared mighty as its top pointed forward. Its chubby eaves were tightly pressed to its body as it produced incomprehensible sounds.

Zuo Mo’s throw was so powerful it was almost unimaginable. One could not forget that he had cultivated the Great Day mo physique in the past, and the results of ancient shen power on refining the power was even more outstanding.

Wu Ru heard the sharp howl coming behind him and was astounded.

He was a ringmaster under Jin Xiao Yu. He was a clever person so when he received Mi Wu Daren’s order, he did not hesitate before moving out.

While he was slightly disheveled, he was not wounded. He was slightly reassured.

When he heard the sound of something splitting the air behind him, he turned his head and saw a bright ray of light flying towards him.

So fast!

His pupils suddenly contracted. In a blink, the golden light came close to him and there was no time for him to dodge.

He snorted coldly. He raised his right arm lightning fast. Threads of shen glyphs lit up and covered his right arm.

That ball of golden light grew closer and Wu Ru finally saw what was covered by the golden light. He couldn’t help but freeze slightly. What was that … …

However, he reacted quickly. With a shout, he punched towards the ball of light!

Boom!

A fist energy that was formed from shen power left his hand and headed for the ball of light!

Just as the two were about to collide, Li’ Pagoda suddenly somersaulted.

The ball of light made a strange change in direction and dodged the fist energy!

“Pagoda Pagoda Back Throw Skill!”

An even stranger event occurred. With this somersault, Lil’ Pagoda threw out all of the golden light that covered its body. The golden light that was cast out turned into a sun shen axe!

The sun shen axe flew towards Wu Ru’s face.

Wu Ru’s expression changed. He could not do anything except unconsciously use his right arm to protect his face.

Boom!

The shen glyphs on his right flashed as his arm flew into the air with a spray of blood. Wu Ru flew backwards as though he had been struck by a heavy mallet.

It was a pity that he could not see Lil’ Pagoda swelling up like a balloon, its two small eyes almost disappearing due to the swollen flesh.

“Woosh!”

Mist rushed out of Lil’ Pagoda’s mouth like a herd of horses!

No one could imagine such a great tide flood forth like water from an enormous dam from such a small body.

In a blink, the surroundings became a sea of mist. Not just Wu Ru, even Jin Xiao Yu who was close was swallowed by the mist that surged out.

With this, Lil’ Pagoda spat out all of the mist it had consumed in the Mist Hall.

When he threw Lil’ Pagoda out, Zuo Mo had summoned the Ghost Mist Child.

In the area covered by the ghost mist, the Ghost Mist Child was king!

The Ghost Mist Child waved his hand the mist sea suddenly flew towards Zuo Mo carrying Wu Ru and Jin Xiao Yu.

The Ghost Mist Child who had wanted to give a good display felt heated at such a good opportunity. His figure changed and an ancient mist giant the size of a mountain appeared in people’s views.

“Mortals! Tremble!”

The thunderous bellow of the mist giant caused people to shake.

In this moment, even Zhong De’s, usually expressionless, face twitched when he raised his head to see the astounding big body of the mist giant.

What kind  of monsters did this guy raise?

Jin Xiao Yu recognized the danger and didn’t dare to hesitate. With a muffled grunt, a shen glyph at his chest split. Furious shen power filled his body. His six senses immediately multiplied in sensitivity. He immediately found the heavily wounded Wu Ru.

“Hiss!”

His body disappeared and he appeared almost at the same time next to Wu Ru. He grabbed the nearly unconscious Wu Ru and with a few flashes, he disappeared.

The mist giant that was waiting to attack froze where he stood.

The cooked chicken flew away!

Zuo Mo and the others prepared to give chase when Zhong De suddenly shouted, “Quick, to the Abyss Fiend Jail!”

Zuo Mo’s mind immediately became clear and he shouted, “A Gui, come with me. Everyone else, protect General Zhong! Silly Bird, do not let them escape!”

Then he grabbed Shi Pei, “You, lead the way!”

Shi Pei seemed to be made from the same mold as Zhong De. Even while wounded, he was still expressionless. He pointed towards a direction and said, “There!”

Zuo Mo and A Gui rose into the air and flew at full speed in the direction Shi Pei pointed in.

If they could capture Li Xian Er, they would have an absolute advantage.

Zuo Mo’s despondency was swept away and he was full of spirit.

———

Li Xian Er sat and curiously examined the surroundings. “So this is the famed Abyss Fiend Jail!”

Ban Xia did not dare to underestimate this fragile-looking female. If the Abyss Fiend Jail did not suppress power, the other would be able to kill him with a finger.

Li Xian Er did not seem to be worried for her own safety and was curiously and idly examining the surroundings.

The Abyss Fiend Jail was a restricted land of Xi Xuan and rarely known to outsiders. Even the great majority of normal disciples in Xi Xuan had not heard of it.

It was a great opportunity to come to the restricted land of Xi Xuan and personally study it.

Li Xian Er knew a bit about the Abyss Fiend Jail.

When Xi Xuan found this place, it was filled with dangerous fiend souls. However, because the position of the Central Plains were too good, the Xi Xuan of the past decided to set up their sect here.

This dangerous deep abyss was changed into a jail to imprison their powerful enemies.

In the Abyss Fiend Jail, any person’s power would be suppressed to a very low level. The place was filled with jinzhi and could not be avoided. Even so, because this was an important area of the sect, no one dared to slack off. The Abyss Fiend Jail still had a battalion stationed there.

The battalion that was stationed at the Abyss Fiend Jail were comprised mostly of criminals. They needed to destroy their cultivation and then enter the abyss before starting cultivation from the beginning. Because this place was filled with extremely dense fiend wind, they need to absorb the fiend zephyr into their body and turn it into their power.

This meant that they would not be suppressed by the fiend wind.

Red fiend zephyr floated in the wind. These zephyrs were extremely dangerous like poison. However, Ban Xia had prepared. He had consumed the special lingdan. As to Li Xian Er, that wasn’t for him to worry about.

These red fiend zephyrs shot into the air from the unfathomable abyss.

From far away, it looked like a red waterfall flowing in reverse.

Of the fiend zephyrs that charged out of the abyss, there would occasionally be one or two immature fiend souls that came out. When these fiend souls came out, they would be crushed by the jinzhi.

Li Xian Er imperceptibly frowned. These fiend souls were too weak and this was why the jinzhi were able to destroy them. She had a great understanding of formations and she could see with a glance that these seal formations were not just limited in power, they were old and lacked maintenance. The power they had was not great.

She stayed there silently and waited for the mission to start.

Suddenly, the shen glyph at her forehead lit up and Mi Wu’s urgent voice suddenly sounded. “Xian Er, run! It’s a trap!”

Li Xian Er’s eyes suddenly opened.

Ban Xia detected this and hurriedly opened his eyes. “What is it? Miss Li?”

Li Xian Er did not seem to hear him. A shen glyph suddenly lit up inside her body. A vast presence surged like an unsealed ocean.

She had activated the jinzhi that Chief Elder had set in her body personally!

Li Xian Er was the future sect leader of Tian Huan. For safety, the chief elder had placed protective jinzhi in her body and also told her the shen methodology to activate them. This was adding a lifeline  for her.

The fiend zephyrs in the surroundings were pushed aside by an invisible force. The hampered shen power started to flow, and the familiar power came back inside her body.

Looking at Ban Xiao in front of her, a hint of murderousness flashed through Li Xian Er’s eyes. The shen glyph flashed.

A bloody hole suddenly appeared at Ban Xia’s forehead.

Ban Xiao’s terrified and puzzled expression froze on his face. Before he could make a sound, he fell over face first.

“Hey, again. Funny to see you here!”

A familiar voice came from the exit.

When she saw the incomer, Li Xian Er’s pupils suddenly contracted.

“Zuo Mo!”

Chapter 822 – Ming Yue Ye

On the mountain peak, Gu Liang Dao sat alone as he stared dazedly in the distance.

“What are you thinking?”

A voice came from behind him. Xiao walked over, concern in his calm eyes. He knew just how difficult this decision was for Gu Liang Dao.

“I don’t know.” Gu Liang Dao shook his head, his voice hoarse. “Xiao, what do you think?”

“No matter what you choose,” Xiao calmly shrugged, “even if you want to destroy Xi Xuan, I will not object, as long as you are happy.”

Gu Liang Dao’s eyes recovered some spirit and he laughed. “Why would I destroy Xi Xuan?”

“Then taking over Xi Xuan is a normal thing to do.” Xiao said with a relaxed expression. “Do not put too much pressure on yourself, you are not the savior. Xi Xuan is fated to die, even if you promise Zhong De. In time, there will be no Xi Xuan left, only Gu Liang Dao.”

Gu Liang Dao’s expression eased slightly. His expression was filled with puzzlement. “Why would Zhong De choose me?”

“I don’t know.” Xiao spread his hand and said helplessly, “You know, as one of the lowest ranked accountants in Xi Xuan before, I’m completely ignorant about high level secrets.”

Gu Liang Dao was amused and laughed. Moments later, he calmed down and his spirit had recovered. “I have already talked with Shuang Yu. He is in Mo Cloud Sea, he said that Lil’ Miss is about to do something big.”

“Mo Cloud Sea is not someone that would swallow and bear it.” Xiao said with a smile, “None of them have a good temper. Oh, what did Shuang Yu say about the offer?”

“The same as you.” Gu Liang Dao smiled, a hint of warmth flickering in his eyes.

“That’s what it should be.” Xiao said as a matter-of-fact. “We were minor characters in the past, what does Xi Xuan have to do with us? Why are you thinking so much? He wants to give it to you, if you want it then take it. If you don’t, just refuse. Do you also want to vie for the world?”

“Vie for the world?” Gu Liang Dao was silent for a moment before laughing. “I do not have this ability. My wish is to not fail the brothers that followed me.”

“Everyone knows this.” Xiao comforted Gu Liang Dao. “Everyone’s families have been brought over. We owe Zhong De for that. If you do not want to accept, we can think of another way to pay back Zhong De.”

“Zhong De’s plan is to give a third of the territory, the area near Tian Huan to Brother Zuo for them to block Tian Huan for us.” Gu Liang Dao’s expression became solemn. “And there will be about five hundred jie that will be given to us. He will help cleanse them.”

“Five hundred jie!” Xiao inhaled sharply, and his expression became grave.

“Would we be able to take it?” Gu Liang Dao looked at Xiao. Xiao was his chief steward, and no one knew their wealth better than he did.

“No.” Xiao shook his head and showed a grimace. “Our foundations are too shallow and we lack personnelle.”

Xiao counted on his fingers. “We know the state of Xi Xuan. The management at all levels are basically controlled by those families. Zhong De will definitely eliminate these people. We can promote some people from below, but Xi Xuan has rotted for so many years. It is not so easy to set up the infrastructure again”

Xiao sighed lightly. “I really admire Little Mo Ge right now. He started preparing for expansion a few years ago. While there isn’t any special talents in their ranks, they have a large group of intermediate ranks that will be useful now.”

“That is a group of monsters.” Gu Liang Dao also grimaced. He turned and asked, “How many jie can we accept at maximum?”

“Just by ourselves, one hundred and fifty jie!” Xiao gave a specific number. “This is only because Big Brother still has a high reputation in Xi Xuan and can pull over many people. However, if we add Zhong De’s support, we might be able to do it, but this will leave behind a great weakness.”

Gu Liang Dao grimaced, but his eyes lit up with sprit.

———

Due to Kun Lun’s interference, the inner conflict of the yao became even more intense. From the surface, there were no differences in strength between the two sides.

Most of the experts that Ming Yue Ye had were the shen power experts of the new generation. She also controlled the core secrets of the yao’s shen power. Many people also forgot that she also controlled the Genius Alliance, this association that did not seem to be of any actual use in the eyes of the higher ranks.

She controlled the strongest yao shen methodology and had a large group of talented youths under her. She had managed the Genius Alliance until it was impenetrable. And her motivated philosophy was accepted widely by young people.

After focused attention over seven years, Ming Yue Ye’s strength had quickly expanded.

Just like the mo had a hard time when cultivate shen power after reaching marshal level, the yao shen power methods were the same. The power of the sky yao was already fixed, and they were not suited to further cultivating shen power.

When the council of elders realized this, they were full of regret.

But the council of elders did not lack for experts. They still controlled the strongest existences that represented the traditional yao arts, the sky yao.

Looking from the perspective of future potential, the sky yao were not as talented as the geniuses, but in terms of current strength, there was not such a great difference between the two.

One side was the peak existence of traditional yao arts, the other were the genius youths that cultivated shen power.

With the addition of Kun Lun’s interference, the collision between the two was fierce.

Everyone knew that there was no way the conflict would be resolved peacefully. Intense conflicts occurred and both sides suffered heavy fatalities.

Other than the secret battles between experts, the fighting between the two sides were not limited to one area.

———

Youqin Lie was expressionless. After Nan Yue and the others returned to Mo Cloud Sea, the pressure on him increased.

The Council of Elders and Ming Yue Ye fought and they were also affected.

Everyone looked towards Youqin Lie. Their breathing became rushed. They had a feeling that Boss’ background was about to be revealed.

“We will support Elder Ming Yue Ye.” Youqin Lie said indifferently.

The group all had expressions of realization. So Boss’ background was Elder Ming Yue Ye! Actually, when Ming Yue Ye had mentioned Liang Wei, they had speculated that the power behind Boss was Elder Ming Yue Ye. The arrival Nan Yue and the other shen power experts  seemed to prove this. Weren’t those outrageously young and powerful guys the same as those from the legendary Genius Alliance?

“Hem!” Youqin Lie coughed deliberately. “Everyone remember, we did not do anything before this.”

“Yes yes yes, we did not do anything!”

“Ah! What did we do? We slept and ate every day!”

“I was in seclusion all this time.”

All of the members had expressions saying “I know” “We understand.”

“Hem!” Youqin Lie showed a cruel and ruthless expression. “Our work has been good, the higher ups are satisfied. Everyone needs to work harder in the future.”

Everyone was full of joy. They had managed to launder themselves clean.

Youqin Lie managed to reach out to and form a connection with Ming Yue Ye.

The conflict between the Council of Elders and Ming Yue Ye also affected his territory. He immediately realized that this was a one in a thousand chance, and unhesitatingly sided with Ming Yue Ye, giving up his own territory.

Youqin Lie’s youth and his experienced skills immediately won him praise from the higher-ups.

This was a trait of Ming Yue Ye’s group. They favoured young talents because the majority of them were young. Youqin Lie was so young yet he had conquered such a large territory. It could be seen that he was talented. Adding on that this was a period of time that Ming Yue Ye’s faction was heavily recruiting from other factions, Youqin Lie was immediately deputized as the highest-ranked supervisor in this region.

Youqin Lie took up the burden and immediately started a cleanse the region of the Council of Elder’s influence. With experience from the underground world, Youqin Lie was decisive and skilled in killing. At this time, he was like a sharp knife that fit the hand.

Pu Yao sneaked into the Ten Finger Prison, and faked large amounts of investigation reports on Youqin Lie. His cover was flawless.

The state of the world was turbulent, the yao were all worried. Many people even thought that this inner conflict would continue for a long time, and would even cause the yao into civil war.

Yet no one would have thought that it would finish so quickly.

Ming Yue Ye’s skill that was a step above others and once again showed its effectiveness.

Just as everyone was focused on the inner conflict between the yao, Mu Xi Corps silently started a campaign against Kun Lun!

Yes, Kun Lun, the hegemon of the world, Kun Lun!

With astounding presence, Mu Xi Corps successively took back seven jie that Kun Lun had taken over!

The military was shocked, the yao were shocked, the Council of Elders was shocked, the world was shocked!

That was Kun Lun!

Ming Yue Ye was so daring to attack Kun Lun proactively. She stepped on Kun Lun to display her resolve.

What people felt most incomprehensible was Ming Yue Ye had succeeded!

When the new of this battle was sent back to the yao, everyone went crazy! Ming Yue Ye who had taken back the occupied territory and reached a peak in her reputation. She wasn’t just loved by the people, even the prestigious families that had originally supported the Council of Elders started to lean towards her!

A powerful and united yao benefited everyone!

The situation seemed become one-sided for Ming Yue Ye.

Facing Ming Yue Ye who had won that battle, the Council of Elders shrank back and hid. At this time, fighting against Ming Yue Ye was not wise.

They knew that Ming Yue Ye needed to face Kun Lun’s anger next.

All of Kun Lun was angry!

When did someone dare to attack Kun Lun!

Offense on the dignity of the hegemon could not be tolerated!

Kun Lun did not hesitate. Mu Xuan, the eight ranking battle general of the ten great battle generals, led six battalions as they ferociously pressed towards the yao borders.

A great battle was about to occur!

This great battle between Kun Lun and the yao attracted the eyes of the world.

Everyone wanted to see how Kun Lun, the hegemon of the world, was going to get their honor back. They also wanted to see how Ming Yue Ye, called “the strongest female” would respond.

Kun Lun needed to recover face through battle. Ming Yue Ye also needed continued victories to maintain the support of the people. If she failed, she would be the criminal that started a war. Her reputation would plummet. The situation with the Council of Elders would immediately reverse, and she would receive a destructive blow. People would doubt her. But if she won, she believed that the Council of Elders would not have any chance at all.

Both sides needed victory!

This was fated to be a great and terrible battle!

Chapter 823 – Weaving Girl’s Shuttle

Zuo Mo and Li Xian Er faced off.

“I hadn’t thought that I would encounter Mister Zuo. It is a happy occasion when old friends to meet.” Li Xian Er smiled without any nervousness.

“Yes, yes!” Zuo Mo said with a snicker. He examined Li Xian Er, as though he was seeing a pile, no, a mountain of jingshi

“Last time in the mo territories, I saw Mister Zuo and wanted to experience it myself. How about a battle today?” Li Xian Er’s face was full of spirit.

“Fighting? Of course there has to be a fight, but it is two of us against you!” Zuo Mo said scoundrelly and then moved without any hesitation!

As though she was connected with his mind, almost at the same time, A Gui disappeared from beside him.

Damn it!

Li Xian Er cursed inside. She had originally intended to use words to herd Zuo Mo to get a chance to fight one on one. Usually, in front of a woman, there were rarely any men that were willing to embarrass themselves and gang up on the woman.

If there was a one-on-one fight, Li Xian Er had some confidence that she could handle Zuo Mo. This was her only chance to reverse the situation.

She hadn’t expected Zuo Mo to completely ignore her. She didn’t know if Zuo Mo had seen through her intentions or if he was such a scoundrel.

But she reacted quickly. The Abyss Fiend Jail had a great effect on suppressing power. She had the Chief Elder’s jinzhi to counteract this force, but the enemy didn’t.

She may have a chance!

Her eyes suddenly lit up. If she could kill Zuo Mo, then Mo Cloud Sea was finished!

Tian Huan had studied Mo Cloud Sea in depth. Mo Cloud Sea had many strong people. Wei Sheng, Gongsun Cha, Bie Han and others. All of them were stars in their own right. However, there was one person that was the pillar of the faction, Zuo Mo.

Tian Huan thought hard of to find a to kill Zuo Mo but found in the end it was almost impossible. Zuo Mo’s strength was unfathomable. The only other faction in the xiuzhe world who could reach this level was Lin Qian’s Kun Lun.

But a chance appeared like this!

Li Xian Er’s fighting spirit rose, a hint of determination flashing through her beautiful eyes.

Other than the Chief Elder’s jinzhi, she had something else powerful enough to determine the battle—Weaver Girl’s Shuttle!

Tian Huan’s only shen device raiment!

The shen power inside her body moving, the shen glyphs appeared on her exposed skin like blooming roses. An exquisite pink battle armor appeared on her body. The layers of pink plates were like the petals of pink flowers. No one would think that this beautiful and slightly adorable battle armor was the strongest shen device raiment of Tian Huan, the [Weaver Girl’s Shuttle].

Yet in Zuo Mo’s eyes, Li Xian Er wasn’t adorable at all.

The surging shen power caused Li Xian Er to look like a furious whirlpool. Zuo Mo had to pause. If he charged in now, he would be pulled into the shen power whirlpool.

Zuo Mo knew very well the power of a shen power whirlpool. He, in fact, had a small whirlpool inside his right hand. However, the shen power coming off Li Xian Er was enough to tear him to pieces.

As expected!

Just as Zuo Mo retreated, he heard a “brnng” sound next to his ear.

The seemingly adorable armor plates on Li Xian Er stood on end. A powerful presence immediately rushed outwards like a twister that lost control!

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. He reacted quickly, golden light appeared on his right hand. A small axe appeared in his palm. With a shout, he threw the little axe towards Li Xian Er.

Zuo Mo did not stay idle. Three sun shen thorns glided along the ground like nimble vipers that flew silently towards Li Xian Er.

Li Xian Er flicked out a pink ray of light that hit the sun shen axe. The sun shen axe seemed to be frozen mid-air.

Her pink-clad feet lightly tapped and a pink ripple spread. Pia pia pia, the three sun shen thorns were crushed into powder.

In the entire process, she didn’t even look at Zuo Mo.

Snap snap snap!

A burst of explosions sounded above her heads. She was like a blurry purple mist. A Gui was like a ghost that flashed in and out of view. The two were attacking at a rapid rate.

Zuo Mo was astounded. He knew that as the first seat of Tian Huan Li Xian Er was strong. The only person that ranked above her was the Chief Elder. However, he found after fighting her that Li Xian Er was stronger than he imagined!

She was much stronger than the people he had fought just now!

Zuo Mo took a deep breath, and his spirit burned like fire. No matter what, he had to capture Li Xian Er today! Only if he took down Li Xian Er could he realize his strategy.

Zuo Mo did not hesitate any longer and advanced!

———

Li Xian Er was astounded. The other two was not affected by the fiend souls!

What she did not know was that Zuo Mo and A Gui had spent a long time in the Sealed Extinction Battlefield and they had developed a resistance against corruption from fiend souls. Additionally, Zuo Mo cultivated the sun shen power which was the bane to all things corrupt. A Gui’s Undying Shen Power was the complete opposite, having a strong affinity for fiend souls. She could absorb these yin and corrupt existences. This was the perfect battlefield for A Gui.

Li Xian Er was shocked but not afraid. She was still calm.

The other did not have the upper hand even two against one.

Shen power appeared continuously through the shen glyphs. She didn’t have any feelings of tiredness and was filled with fighting spirit. In the sect, the other shidi were not a match for her, and no one dared to really fight against her.

She had great strength but not a lot of real battle experience.

Of the two enemies, Zuo Mo’s attacks were broad and open, while A Gui’s were unpredictable. The two completely different styles forced her to focus.

However, this caused her to improve quickly. After the initial panic, she gradually calmed down.

The shen glyphs inside her body had an indescribable resonance with the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle. This profound resonance caused her consciousness to be clear and hold every corner of the battlefield in her mind. She could clearly feel the shen glyphs inside her body become more active under the simulation of the Weaving Girl Shuttle. It seemed to be a powerful heart that gave her endless shen power and filled her with strength!

As expected, only strong enemies could cause him to improve faster!

Li Xian Er felt unprecedentedly powerful. Her eyes narrowed sharply!

Some of the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle’s scales started to show exquisite patterns like roses. It was like a sleeping beast gradually waking.

Her attacks immediately became stronger.

As she moved, the pink shen power ripples were filled with fatal danger.

———

Zuo Mo felt the pressure increase.

The techniques of shen power were not as complex as spells. Most of them were simple, and what determined their power was the strength of shen power!

Li Xian Er’s shen power was becoming stronger. This was why he was feeling the pressure increase.

Yet he didn’t feel any fear. Under the stimulation of great danger, the sun shen power inside his body became unusually active. The golden shen power burned like flowing lava and made Zuo Mo feel as though he was about to burn up.

“Kill!”

Zuo Mo’s body flashed dark gold. With a shout, the Anti Dragon Claw he held had a layer of blinding golden energy. He swung towards Li Xian Er as though he was holding a two-handed axe!

At this time, he could not care about something like capturing the enemy live!

The air started to ignite where the Anti Dragon Claw had passed.

The golden axe energy flickered and spat like the tongue of the sun’s flame.

Li Xian Er’s eyes widened. A long pink shuttle flew in front of her. Li Xian Er’s nimble left hand drew in the air lightning fast.

The long pink shuttle moved through the air at astounding speed. In a flash, a pink rose wall took form. Every flower petal could be clearly seen. They were in layers, exquisite and beautiful.

The furious sun shen axe cut hard onto the pink rose wall.

Booom!

The pink rose wall seemed to be weak. It immediately shattered and flew in all directions.

Yet Zuo Mo’s expression changed. The Anti Dragon Claw seemed to have cut into cotton. Invisible power was stopping it, or wrapping around it, or pulling at it.

The sun shen axe that had been unstoppable was halved immediately in presence.

Zuo Mo did not have time to be startled when he felt a stirring of danger.

He saw pink flowers spinning in the air around him. They had not dissipated!

Zuo Mo was experienced in battle. With a look he knew there was a killing move coming!

Immediately, he waved the Anti Dragon Claw around to protect his body.

Brrng!

The delicate pink flower petals dancing in the wind suddenly tensed, becoming hard, and then shot at Zuo Mo!

Ding ding ding!

Zuo Mo’s Anti Dragon Claw moved and securely protected him. The pink flower petals hit the circle of light like raindrops on banana leaves and caused sprays of sparks.

These seemingly delicate flower petals were astoundingly powerful.

Powerful ripples from the collision caused Zuo Mo’s feet to continue to sink into the ground. In a flash, all of Zuo Mo’s calves had sank into the rock.

The storm of attacks forced Zuo Mo to instinctively wave the Anti Dragon Claw!

At this time, Li Xian Er was fighting fiercely with A Gui.

———

Li Xian Er could clearly feel that A Gui was more difficult to deal with than Zuo Mo. Other than the unpredictable and erie attacks, A Gui’s grey crystal battle armor was not ordinary.

The grey crystal armor caused A Gui to merge with her surroundings no matter where she appeared. Adding on A Gui’s eerie and unpredictable movements, even Li Xian Er felt a headache.

What shocked her even more was that A Gui’s shen power contained a great presence of death.

Such a great death energy could only appeared on something dead. Li Xian Er almost didn’t believe her eyes.

A Gui saw Zuo Mo’s situation and a thread of purple flame appeared in her eyes.

Woosh, a layer of purple flames appeared on the surface of the [Undying Ghost]. The flames were extremely thin as they silently burned.

Two short bone daggers appeared on A Gui’s hands. The short bone daggers were shrouded in purple flames. The grey [Undying Ghost] spread like the wings of a bird, the purple flames flowing within.

The silent purple flames seemed to be able to consume everything in the surroundings. At the border of the flames was a circle of deep blackness.

Shock suddenly flashed through Li Xian Er’s eyes.

Shen device raiment!

This was a shen device raiment!

While the attributes of power were completely different, she was familiar with the unique presence of the shen device raiment. She was almost immediately sure that this was a true shen device raiment!

Heavens!

Other than [Arsonist], Mo Cloud Sea had a second shen device raiment!

Chapter 824 – Zuo Mo’s Fury

The appearance of A Gui’s [Undying Ghost] was a great blow to Li Xian Er.

A Gui immediately grabbed the other’s momentary lapse in concentration and her body moved.

Almost at the same time, two purple dagger shaped energies silently appeared behind Li Xian Er like spitting snakes.

Li Xian Er detected the danger, and regretted her distraction. She lacked battle experience to have lost concentration in front of such a powerful opponent.

The Weaving Girl’s Shuttle nimbly curved, and wove shen glyphs to stop A Gui’s attack.

Yet A Gui’s attack was fast. Li Xian Er lost the initiative when she lost concentration. The Weaving Girl’s Shuttle had only woven half of the shen glyph when the two purple daggers hit the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle.

Bam!

Li Xian Er’s heart shook and her inner energies roiled.

The Weaving Girl’s Shuttle was blown back. An extremely thin strand of purple energy permeated the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle. At the same time, a dense shen power with the presence of death silently burrowed into her body.

As Li Xian Er was pulling back the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle she felt a wave of coldness along her neck. She was astounded. Shen glyphs lit up on her pink boots and she suddenly disappeared from her spot.

An eerie purple energy sliced past where she had been standing. If she had been a sliver slower, the dagger energy would have easily cut her neck in half.

Li Xian Er appeared twenty zhang away, her face ashen, and startled. Several strands of hair had been cut by the dagger energy and were dancing in the wind.

In that moment, she seemed to hear the breathing of the death god. The shen glyphs on her combat boots had spiderweb cracks. The only reason she had escaped with her life was because of the life-saving shen glyphs of the shen device raiments.

The [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] had three life-saving shen glyphs, each with different effects. There were only two left.

She was a genius and strong. However, she lacked the tempering through blood and fire, and her resolve was much lower than people like Zuo Mo and A Gui.

She gathered shen power to exterminate the purple energy that had burrowed into her body.

She suddenly felt that today was dangerous.

———

Zuo Mo felt extremely irritated today. He was being suppressed by Li Xian Er!

It was rare for this situation to occur in his battle history. However, the other’s shen power was very powerful, and the shen device raiment she wore was also extraordinary. The two together immediately caused Zuo Mo to be put at a disadvantage.

Zuo Mo had always been confident in his shen power. The shen power whirlpool in his right hand could produce endless shen power. While it was not a lot, the amount was significant when accumulated over time. He was also very hardworking and his shen power had always continued to grow.

In all of Mo Cloud Sea, except for the two freaks A Gui and Eldest Shixiong, no one else’s growth could rival his.

Zuo Mo still didn’t understand A Gui’s situation. But Eldest Shixiong was tempering and absorbing the power of the God-Killing Blood Sword. This ancient shen sword that could rival the Immemorial Shen Sword contained a terrifying ocean of power.

Zuo Mo actually felt sympathy for Eldest Shixiong. Everyday, he had to struggle in that ocean. That would not feel good. Normal people would not be able to endure such pain. Zuo Mo had tried once, and collapsed for three whole days after coming out. Eldest Shixiong received this method of cultivation that was like self-torture everyday. Consequently, Zuo Mo was not jealous of Eldest Shixiong’s strength at all. No one knew better than he did how Eldest Shixiong’s power had come about.

Under the motivation of the powerful and inhuman Eldest Shixiong, lured by a beautiful future full of mountains of jingshi, Zuo Mo also worked unusually hard on his cultivation.

He had cultivated for every drop of his shen power.

The whirlpool in his right hand could only be considered an aid for him at present. He needed to spend more time on cultivation. He had completely memorized the Sun Shen Methodology.

Zuo Mo was a very pragmatic person. His personality was slightly indolent, he had  a bit of talent, but if he didn’t have any pressure, he would be a wastrel. But if he felt pressure and danger, he would furiously move forwards to get away from the danger as fast as possible.

Mo Cloud Sea seemed to be prospering but it was surrounded by wolves. Danger was never far from them, and the pressure never disappeared from him.

There was also A Gui.

The present Zuo Mo had a strong belief he needed to protect A Gui, protect Mo Cloud Sea, and to get revenge for Sect Leader and Shishu!

Zuo Mo who did not waste any time was filled with confidence in his own strength. Yet today, he was being suppressed by someone else, and it was also a woman!

A feeling of suffocation he never had before was like a ball of fire burning inside Zuo Mo.

Blood filled his eyes. His features twisted, and his breathing was like fire!

If … … if he was so weak … … how could he protect A Gui … … how could he protect everyone … …

There seemed to be a voice echoing in his mind.

Countless scenes flashed through his mind.

———

In a dark cave.

A Gui’s pale face gradually became wooden and expressionless, her sad eyes gradually turning dull. Her flawless face started to grow marks, and a dark and grey vitality spread from her body.

The gradually emptying eyes seemed to form tears.

A cold pair of hands lightly touched the face of the unconscious youth.

Everywhere the hands passed, the youth’s face started to transform completely. He seemed to struggle but quickly calmed down.

The void and grey had already taken over half of the young female’s face. The terrifying marks grew from her forehead to her nose.

She suddenly bent and pressed the remaining half of her smooth face to the youth’s face and lightly rubbed.

“A Gui will find Young Master. Definitely!”

The young female’s determined voice echoed in the cavern. A teardrop landed on the face of the unconscious youth.

When she raised her head, the terrifying marks had covered two-thirds of her face, and her eyes were almost completely taken over by the grey dullness.

She did not hesitate and stood. She took a deep look at Zuo Mo and disappeared.

There were no tears in her grey and empty eyes.

———

“We will follow Boss … …”

“Of course we will follow Boss … …”

“We have such a big territory, we need to have a name.”

“Oh, how about using Boss’ name?”

“Good idea! Zuo Mo Cloud Sea?”

“Please, have some skill! There is nothing poetic!”

“Well you do it!”

“Oh, then let it be Mo Cloud Sea!”

“Poetry is just having one word less?”

“It will be Mo Cloud Sea!”

“Agreed!”

“Seriously agree!”

“Woah-oh-oh, great!”

———

“So if he really is a yaomo?”

“Send him away, it will be better than him ending up in the hands of Kun Lun. We watched him grow up … … we cannot rebel against the orders of Kun Lun … … ah … …”

———

Curse it! Damn it! Bastard!

The fire burning inside Zuo Mo grew even hotter, so hot he felt as though he was about to combust. At this time, he was filled with a strong fury, one against himself!

His shen power could not compare to that woman!

How could it be possible!

How could it be possible!

A furious roar reverberated in Zuo Mo’s chest. The burning fire inside his body suddenly exploded and swallowed him.

All of his intelligence turned to ash in this instant. He only had instinct, only dissatisfaction, only fury!

Countless flames erupted from his body and covered him completely.

The sun crystal seed that had been sleeping in his body suddenly woke up. It started to spin slowly. The sun crystal seed seemed to feel Zuo Mo’ s fury. Waves of crimson red heat floated out of the depths of the sun crystal seed.

The crimson red flot turned into deep red flames once they floated out and circulated around Zuo Mo’s body.

When the burning current encountered shen power, boom, golden flames flashed like the enormous solar flares rising from the surface of the sun. Vast surging shen power, like a volcano erupting, filled Zuo Mo’s body in an instant.

The angry golden flames covered Zuo Mo. The snapping of the flames were clear to hear.

As the flames spat, golden ripples formed and extinguished.

———

Li Xian Er was startled. She turned around and was shocked when she saw Zuo Mo within the flames!

A pair of peaceful eyes that did not have any emotion and was indifferent to their surroundings like that of a deity.

Astounding presence spread outwards in waves from the spitting flames. Golden ripples that could be seen with the naked eyes formed and died out.

Each golden ripple was much weaker by the time it reached Li Xian Er.

But even this thin golden ripple caused an explosion and a tongue of flame shot out when it touched her presence.

Li Xian Er felt a burning heat pass to her. Her heart couldn’t help but shake.

The Zuo Mo in front of her seemed to be a completely different person.

But … … he didn’t have shen equipment!

Li Xian Er’s mind was filled with terror. The shen power that Zuo Mo displayed now was so strong it almost surpassed the imagination.

Zuo Mo suddenly disappeared.

Shocked, Li Xian Er’s Weaving Girl’s Shuttle flew in front of her. In an instant, a complex shen glyph took form.

Almost at the same time, a blurry golden figure appeared in front of the shen glyph.

Zuo Mo was so fast that Li Xian Er could not see him with her eyes. She could only see a blurry figure.

The blurry figure quickly became clear.

–Because Zuo Mo stopped in front of the shen glyph.

Without even shifting into an attack posture, his right hand, wrapped in flames, punched the shen glyph.

Crack!

Like glass cracking, the hard shen glyph turned to powder.

The fist that still carried momentum suddenly opened and grabbed the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle!

How was it possible … …

Li Xian Er’s mind was completely blank and she was stunned where she stood. The scene that was occurring in front of her surpassed the limits of her imagination!

The golden flames wrapped around the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle. The Weaving Girl’s Shuttle trembled violently as though it wanted to break free of Zuo Mo’s hand. Yet no matter how it struggled, it was unable to break free.

A Gui’s hand appeared at the back of Li Xian Er’s head.

Li Xian Er shook but before she could react, she felt something tighten around her neck. A hand covered in purple flames seemed to appear out of nowhere and grab her neck.

Chapter 825 – Breakthrough

Mi Wu’s face was black.

Inside Tian Huan the relationship between his family and the group led by the sect leader was tense, but this did not affect the friendship between him and Li Xian Er.

Li Xian Er was mischievous from childhood, but was an honorable and honest person. He had suffered greatly due to her antics in childhood but childhood friendships were so wonderful. The two did not grow apart but became even closer.

In the era of ling power, Mi Wu’s talent was not as outstanding as it was now. However, Li Xian Er dismissed him due to this and always motivated him.

This time, Mi Nan Daren had agreed to send Li Xian Er here. Mi Wu had been very angry, but he could not rebel directly against the true leader of the Mi Family. Consequently, he requested to take part in this risky mission.

Unexpectedly, Mi Nan Daren did not object.

The relationship between the four seats was not bad. Other than Sang Dong who was more of a recluse, the other people had small flaws but were within the limits of normality.

They had grown up together as children and trusted each other.

He and Jin Xiao Yu had led the assassination accompanied by four ring masters. He had thought that they would absolutely succeed with such a powerful team. However, the development of events surpassed their predictions.

In a meditative trance, Jin Xiao Yu’s body shook, and Mi Wu hurriedly threw away his stray thoughts.

Jin Xiao Yu opened his eyes. Seeing Mi Wu’s concerned gaze, he grimaced, “Terrible, the shen glyph has been severely damaged. It will take at least three months to fix. I only have six-tenths of my battle abilities.”

Mi Wu felt bitterness in his mouth. What Tian Huan disciples feared the most was damage to their shen glyphs.

The use of shen glyphs among top disciples like them were completely different from the normal disciples. Their shen glyphs were the spring that their shen power was produced from. If the shen glyph was damaged, both the production and use of shen power would be greatly obstructed.

This was the newest method that Chief Elder had created. Tian Huan’s shen glyph scripture had reached a completely new height.

However … …

“How are Wu Ru’s wounds.”

Jin Xiao Yu’s voice interrupted Mi Wu’s thoughts. Mi Wu comforted, “It has stabilized. But the possibility of the shen glyph recovering is not high.”

Jin Xiao Yu was silent, a flicker of pain flashing through his eyes. He had personally picked Wu Ru to be a ringmaster, and the other had followed him for a long time. He never thought … …

Mi Wu was silent for a moment before he said hoarsely, “Wu Zhen also did not come back.”

Among the twelve ring masters, Wu Zhen definitely ranked in the top three for power. For Mi Wu, the sacrifice of Wu Zhen meant that his strength would be greatly reduced.

Jin Xiao Yu sighed and said, “This trip, we really made a great misstep!” His expression was bitter. The cruel battle had cleared his mind. He asked, “Have you managed to get into contact with Xian Er?”

“No.” Mi Wu bit hard on his lips that looked as though they were about to drip with blood.

Jin Xiao Yu’s mouth was open, but he was speechless. Moments later, his face was dispirited.

Both of them knew they had completely failed the mission this time!”

———

“Why?” The sect leader of Xi Xuan glared at Zhong De like a wild beast at the end of the road, his eyes bloodshot.

Zhong De was expressionless. “You do not have the capabilities.”

“No!” The sect leader of Xi Xuan seemed to be mad as he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Who says that I do not have the capabilities? Based on what? Based on what do you say I am not able! If you consent to Tian Huan’s demands, we would have ten years of time. Ten years! With these ten years, Xi Xuan will rise again in my hands … …”

Zhong De’s eyes did not even move. “Your Xi Xuan and the past Xi Xuan will not be any different.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” The sect leader of Xi Xuan looked in disbelief at Zhong De as he howled. “How strong was the previous Xi Xuan!? One of the four titans, no one dared to go against us, we were high up, and experienced the greatest power of the world … …”

Zhong De said coldly, “Therefore, Yun Ji died, and I was sent to the Abyss Fiend Jail.”

The howls of the Xi Xuan sect leader choked off. He looked dazedly at Zhong De. A moment later, he said furiously. “No! You cannot do this! You madman! You want to ruin Xi Xuan … …”

Zhong De was expressions. “The Xi Xuan of the past should not exist.”

Finishing, he turned and walked away.

“You cannot do this! You cannot do this!” The sect leader was incoherent. He trembled. Terror surrounded him. He suddenly seemed to find a life-saving tether. “You cannot do this! You owe my father! You owe my father!”

Zhong De stopped walking. Without even turning his head, he threw down.

“I said to you before that I already repaid his favor.”

Finishing, he left and did not linger.

“You cannot do this! Sob sob you cannot do this … …”

The loud screams suddenly stopped.

———

When Mi Wu and Jin Xiao Yu’s reports were passed back to Tian Huan, the higher ups of Tian Huan were astounded.

Trap!

This was definitely a trap.

Mo Cloud Sea unexpectedly sent all of their top experts to set up such a trap! Tian Huan suffered great losses, and now Tian Huan was in a state where they had lost the initiative.

They tried to use all kinds of methods to get in contact with Li Xian Er but they all failed. All the signs pointed that Li Xian Er’s situation was not good.

For Tian Huan, this was an unacceptable result.

The upper ranks fought fiercely. One side thought they needed to use all of their power to rescue Li Xian Er. The other side thought they should start negotiations with Mo Cloud Sea to ransom Li Xian Er back.

The side favoring negotiation quickly gained the upper hand.

The reason was very simple. Mi Wu and Jin Xiao Yu’s reports had come back to Tian Huan. There were many problems that had been exposed by the battle this time. For example, Tian Huan disciples lacked combat experience. This was especially evident during battles.

Mo Cloud Sea’s experts all were experienced in battle, and the experts on Tian Huan’s side were mostly youths that had been promoted due to having outstanding talent at cultivating shen glyphs these past years. Many of them had been unknown before the era of shen power had started, and no special attention had been paid to them. After entering the era of shen power, their talent at cultivating shen glyphs were uncovered and attracted the attention of the sect.

They all worked very hard, and with the great investment the sect gave them, it created their strength. However, their experience in battle could not be made up so quickly. These years of time was only enough for them to work on their cultivation.

They were on a completely different level compared to the lawless bandits from Mo Cloud Sea.

The two sides had similar numbers of experts but they were unable to win.

And sending a battalion was not the best plan. If they angered Zuo Mo, Xian Er would be in danger.

After fierce fighting, the Tian Huan envoys travelled day and night to get to Xi Xuan at the fastest possible speed.

———

Zuo Mo slowly opened his eyes. The surging shen power in his body gradually calming like a furious sea becoming peaceful. He exhaled, and a ruler-straight gust of air flecked with gold appeared.

His dark gold eyes were like two small golden suns.

The sun crystal seed in his body slowed down in its revolutions. His shen power also calmed down. Burning flows continued to erupt out of the slowly spinning sun crystal seed. These burning flows were not shen power but it could perfectly meld with shen power.

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, the sun crystal seed had always been a very powerful treasure. When the strange corpse had given it to him, he had said that this was something passed down by the Sun Tribe.

While the strange corpse had sealed it so that Zuo Mo could take it, Zuo Mo had never found the correct way to use the sun crystal seed.

Until today.

Zuo Mo’s shen power suddenly moved, and a sun shen axe appeared on his hand.

Yet this time, the sun shen axe was clearly different than before. On the axe made from golden light, crimson red burning flames wisped. The already domineering sun shen axe became even more savage, and an indescribable burning presence spread.

The sun crystal seed was the seed of a sun. It already contained the power of the sun, and it perfectly matched with sun shen power.

In other worlds, the sun crystal seed was the best amplification device for sun shen power.

Zuo Mo’s hands moved and a sun shen spike appeared in his hand. Unlike in the past, there were crimson red rings around this sun shen spike. The sun flowing flames were segmented on the sun shen spike.

So devious!

If the enemy was inattentive, the sun shen spikes would explode in segments and the sun’s flowing flames inside would spray everywhere. These flowing flames that came from a true sun would burn someone until not even their bones were left.

As Zuo Mo sighed over this, he was overjoyed. Deviousness was great!

The shen power inside his body also had large amounts of sun flowing flames mixed within. With every circulation, they slowly refined his body.

This was not of visible effect in the short term, but over time the accumulation would be astounding.

He shook his head. The revolutions of the sun crystal seed, and the endless sun flowing flames could make his attacks stronger, but they could not increase his shen power.

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly moved. Theoretically, Li Xian Er was unlikely to have cultivated shen power faster than him, but the battle just now showed that Li Xian Er’s shen power was stronger than his.

Had Tian Huan found a special method?

Zuo Mo’s eyes unconsciously landed on his spoils of victory.

A Gui had taken the Weaving Girl Shuttle that Li Xian Er wore. Other than clothing, almost everything else had been stripped off. A Gui had been with Zuo Mo for a long time, and learned all he did.

Coming out of his sudden excitement, Zuo Mo looked at Li Xian Er and immediately had energy.

He unconsciously swallowed.

Li Xian Er’s status in Tian Huan could match Lin Qian’s past status in Kun Lun. Zuo Mo completely ignored Li Xian Er’s beauty, his eyes staring straight at the pile of spoils at Li Xian Er’s feet that A Gui had taken off.

The pink Weaving Girl Shuttle had been placed on the ground. The rose patterns were exquisite.

There were other things such as rings and bracelets. Oh, A Gu, you are too bad, you even took off her boots … …

Ooh, good job!

While the combat boots were slightly damaged, they could be seen from the patterns that they were exceptional.

Little Mo Ge’s breathing suddenly sped up, only one thought in his mind.

They had struck it rich!

Chapter 826 – Familiarity Caused by Inspecting The Spoils

Little Mo Ge needed a long time to calm his excitement before he started to carefully examine his spoils.

Naturally, the first prize he took was the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]. Zuo Mo was curious about the supposed greatest shen device raiment of Tian Huan. While he was the inventor of shen device raiments, he was still very curious about the shen device raiments from other factions.

Tian Huan and Kun Lun were many times richer than he was.

Zuo Mo never thought that he was the most ingenious person in the world. Those as powerful as Lin Qian were the ones that really dazzled the eyes. Even the deceased Shi Zi Ming was someone he could only look up to.

He flipped the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] and looked carefully.

He was a professional. After examining for a few moments, he had to sigh at the cleverness in the design of the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]. The [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] was made from countless formations of various sizes. Tian Huan had pushed seal formations to its limits.

The design reminded Zuo Mo of the formation forts that Mo Cloud Sea frequently used.

They were made from seal formations criss-crossed and interlinked together.

Yet the skill needed to shove the same seals from the forts into the little [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] was astounding. Even someone as skilled in formations as Zuo Mo thought he would not be able to accomplish such a task.

Yet at the core of [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] was a shen glyph.

It was the first time Zuo Mo saw shen glyphs and seal formations merged together so perfectly. One wrapped around another, as exquisite as it could be.

As expected of Tian Huan!

Zuo Mo sighed repeated as he inspected the pseudo shen device. It had been very long since something had shocked him so greatly. The forging skill in the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] was extremely high, and the forger’s understanding of seal formation was almost incomprehensible.

“Who forged the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]?” Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head to ask Li Xian Er.

Li Xian Er cooperatively answered, “Chief Elder.”

She had a clear understanding of her situation. At this time, being proud and uncooperative would only bring her trouble. What eased her worries slightly was that Zuo Mo did not seem to be interested in her.

As expected, Zuo Mo made a sound of acknowledgement and turned his head back to study the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]. Zuo Mo was familiar with the core members of Tian Huan, an enemy of Mo Cloud Sea.

Chief Elder’s status in Tian Huan was unsurpassable. Before he discovered shen glyphs, many disciples didn’t even know he existed. It was rare to see someone enter seclusion for decades in a restless and warring era.

So it was that old guy!

Zuo Mo realized. His eyes became even more heated and he looked even more closely.

Li Xian Er suddenly had a feeling that Zuo Mo was extremely similar to those people from Tian Huan that were obsessed with forging.

Her gaze turned to land on A Gui.

A Gui noticed Li Xian Er’s gaze and only glanced once before shifting back to focus completely on Zuo Mo.

Li Xian Er knew that while A Gui didn’t even look at her, if she tried to make a move at all, A Gui would unhesitatingly kill her where she stood. The rainbow light that Zuo Mo had put into her body had froze almost all of her shen power.

She thought for a long time. This light seemed to be similar to the legendary Soul Setting Divine Light.

She found this was hard to believe. Soul Setting Divine Light, this thing of the legends actually existed and it was in Zuo Mo’s hands.

This guy … …

She remained silent and thought inside. The sect really stumbled this time. They had had too smooth of a journey recently, and this had caused all of the sect to reckless and impatient. The sect’s opinion of Mo Cloud Sea had still been too low. Including her, all of Tian Huan had the same thoughts. All of them thought that the reason that Mo Cloud Sea was so powerful was because Tian Huan had not paid attention to them. If Tian Huan paid attention, Mo Cloud Sea wouldn’t have a chance at all.

The situation developed as everyone had thought. When Tian Huan started to fight back, Mo Cloud Sea was immediately put in a reactive state. Mo Cloud Sea had too many weaknesses.

The alliance with Xi Xuan was the final blow to kill Mo Cloud Sea. If this plan was completed, Mo Cloud Sea would be dead.

Yet this time, they stumbled greatly.

Other than Zhong De’s unexpected choice to side with Mo Cloud Sea, the magnitude of Mo Cloud Sea’s explosive reaction under threat was unimaginable. She could see too many problems. She and the other sect elites were strong on paper but when they actually fought the difference in experience immediately showed.

The enemy was vicious, hardy, and fearless, all of this was beyond her imagination. In comparison, Tian Huan’s elites were like flowers grown in the greenhouse. Beautiful, but could not withstand the harsh wind.

This caused Li Xian Er to feel very uncomfortable, but when she thought of her captive state, she had to admit this was true.

Deep in thought, Zuo Mo was exceptionally focused. He seemed to have forgotten the terrible environment of the Abyss Fiend Jail.

The [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] seemed to have opened a new window for Zuo Mo.

Tian Huan had survived for thousands of years, and naturally had their unique traits. In Zuo Mo’s eyes, Chief Elder was a true grandmaster. If Kun Lun’s shen power was said to be influenced by Zuo Mo, Tian Huan’s shen power was a completely new system.

Chief Elder’s focused study of shen glyphs for decades had developed a completely new system on top of Tian Huan’s original system.

This system was extremely valuable as reference.

A long time later, Zuo Mo finally broke free of the sea of seal formations. His face had a rare expression of tiredness. The packed seal formations, and the core shen glyphs were exquisite and clever. Zuo Mo spent great energy to understand them.

Even as powerful as he was, he felt tired.

However, his eyes were as bright as stars as they flashed with a bright light. He finally understood the secret of the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle].

He was filled with respect towards by the Chief Elder of Tian Huan who he had never met before.

Shen glyph!

Tian Huan cultivated using shen glyphs. He had heard this before, but he had never understood how their system worked. Only after seeing the  Weaving Girl’s Shuttle did he completely understand.

Tian Huan’s shen power came from shen glyphs.

A shen glyph that could produce shen power!

There was such a shen glyph on the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle that would constantly produce shen power. One portion of the shen power was stored, and another seemed to be used for Li Xian Er’s daily cultivation. Li Xian Er definitely had a similar shen glyph inside her body. The two glyphs resonated with each other, and could create wondrous effects.

Of course, the construction of Weaving Girl’s Shuttle was more clever than stated, but there was nothing different in terms of the fundamental principle.

Zuo Mo suddenly went forward and grabbed Li Xian Er’s hand.

Li Xian Er was startled. Her expression changed slightly. Was he … …

A smile suddenly rose on Zuo Mo’s lips. The smile grew and grew until it turned into roaring laughter.

“So it’s like this … … so it’s like this … …”

Hearing Zuo Mo’s words to himself, Li Xian Er’s heart landed back on ground yet she seemed to realize the meaning of Zuo Mo’s words and her expression changed!

No, it was not so simple, Li Xian Er comforted herself.

Gradually, she gradually calmed down. It was not so easy. There were so many disciples in the sect, but how many saw the meaning? Even she who was peerless in talent spent so much time to understand shen glyphs.

When she thought of Chief Elder, she immediately calmed.

Chief Elder would definitely have a solution!

Zuo Mo sank into ecstasy. He didn’t just finally understand why Li Xian Er’s shen power was stronger than his, this completely new system created by Chief Elder gave him sparks of inspiration.

He even had quite a few good ideas that he could use in further forging.

More importantly, he thought of a wondrous idea.

This shen glyph was not something that average materials could withstand. It could be seen from the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle that all of it was made up of valuable materials.

Also, the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle only had this one shen glyph. It could not hold a second one. Also, the reason that a portion of shen power was channeled into Li Xian Er’s body wasn’t just to help Li Xian Er cultivate but because the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle could not tolerate the full amount of shen power that the shen glyph produced.

But Zuo Mo had a perfect medium –the sun crystal seed!

It could definitely hold this shen glyph. Zuo Mo suspected that there could be similar shen glyph inside the sun crystal seed, but he had just not discovered it yet.

But no matter what, Zuo Mo was excited by today’s discoveries.

Coming out of the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle, Zuo Mo did not continue to study it. This was not a good place to study.

He carefully put the Weaving Girl’s Shuttle back into his ring. A treasure like this could not be lost.

He started to inspect his other spoils of war.

Li Xian Er was the first of the four seats and what she had was naturally valuable. Zuo Mo was kept in a state of excitement.

Treasures flowed through his hand, each one causing his eyes to flash with the light of jingshi.

Suddenly, something at the corner of the ring attracted Zuo Mo’s attention.

Zuo Mo curiously picked it up.

It was a very common-looking paper crane, a pink little thousand paper crane. Paper cranes like this were commonly used for wishes, however … …

Zuo Mo suddenly felt that this paper crane seemed familiar to the eye. He was puzzled. Why would he have this strange sense of familiarity?

So strange!

Zuo Mo muttered inside as he unconsciously unfolded the thousand paper crane.

Three twisted words entered his eyes.

“Ye’ll wait for you!”

Zuo Mo immediately turned to stone. He finally remembered why he found this thing familiar.

Little Mo Ge froze where he stood. The three words made him feel unusually awkward. A distant memory floated out of his mind. He had never thought that he, and that horrid paper crane girl would meet once again!

And that malicious and spoiled paper crane girl was Li Xian Er!

His expression became strange.

“Hey! How can you touch other people’s things?” Li Xian Er’s expression became slightly panicked. For the first time, she was not calm.

Seeing Zuo Mo motionless as though he was focused, Li Xian Er suppress her panic and said with deliberate calmness, “It is a private message, there is nothing secret there.”

Private message? Whose private message!

Thinking of what he endured in the past, Zuo Mo was actually not angry. While the paper crane girl had been horrid and he had been very unhappy back then, he had experienced many things since and forgotten this minor matter. It was just the prank of a bored little girl.

If he hadn’t seen this paper crane from the past, he would not have remembered at all.

But it was still very awkward!

Chapter 827 – Yang Yuan Hao’s Decision

Zuo Mo turned around with a serious expression. After a moment of silence, he said a sentence.

“Cough, so my writing was this ugly before!”

Puh, he didn’t say this well, ge’s presence was weak … …

Zuo Mo mocked himself, but his words did cause his awkwardness to reduce greatly.

Li Xian Er suddenly froze. She looked in disbelief at Zuo Mo as though she saw a ghost.

“In the past, you really tormented me terribly. Cough, and now karma turns back to haunt you. I hadn’t ever thought that you would actually end up in ye’s hands, mwhahahaha… …”

After his embarrassment faded, Zuo Mo immediately became smug as though he had achieved a great victory over Li Xian Er. However, he did not have any hateful feelings towards Li Xian Er, but had some warm feelings instead. His time at Wu Kong Sword Mountain was probably one of the most carefree times in his life.

Li Xian Er wa still gaping with wide eyes as she stared at Zuo Mo. She couldn’t speak for a while.

Zuo Mo laughed while gesturing to the crane. “Don’t worry, just based on our past relationship, I will not do anything to you. When your Tian Huan envoys come, I will release you after we negotiate.”

Then he turned and said to A Gui. “A Gui, take her. We’re leaving.”

A Gui nodded and then carried Li Xian Er. Zuo Mo brought Shi Pei as they left the Abyss Fiend Jail.

They met up with Zhong De. Everyone had expressions of joy when they saw Li Xian Er. Now they had more bargaining chips. Their strategic plan had a higher chance of success.

Zhong De’s plan was full of temptation. But there were so many problems it was hair-raising to think about. For Zuo Mo, taking so many jie at once was an enormous task in times of peace, much less times of war.

If they were the slightest bit careless, they could lose it all.

After everyone was happy for a while, Zhong De bid farewell. He had much work to do. The death of the sect leader needed an explanation. At this moment, what was most important was the stability of Xi Xuan. No matter how strong Zhong De was, he just had one battalion. If Xi Xuan fell into chaos, then the situation would become terrible.

And the families that were willing to follow him or Gu Liang Dao had to be arranged for their move into their new boundaries.

This was a vast and complex process.

———

Mo Cloud Sea.

When Zuo Mo’s message was received, all of the higher ranks in Mo Cloud Sea erupted. Heavens, that was three hundred jie! Everyone was astounded by this plan. Everyone was filled with respect towards Zuo Mo.

As expected of Boss!

He went out on a stroll, invested nothing and gained three hundred jie!

Even Bie Han’s expression became slightly discontent. He had dragged Tang Fei, Ma Fan, and many of the others to fight until even Sin Battalion was crippled to just conquer forty five jie. But Zuo Mo, he went out for a trip, and more than three hundred jie came into his possession.

And it was the other side that was begging him to accept it for next to nothing in return!

The difference between people was so great!

Other than Bie Han who started to reflect on the value of being a battle general versus being a black-hearted business person, all of the higher ranks in Mo Cloud Sea were cheering. Soon, under Gongsun Cha’s command, all the departments started to move furiously to prepare to accept more than three hundred jie.

Everyone knew that this would be a mission unprecedented in scale. This would likely be the largest and greatest transfer of territory in the history of the xiuzhe world.

Resources, battalions, manpower, they were quickly gathered.

In a shockingly short amount of time, Mo Cloud Sea had finished its preparations.

———

Other than Zuo Mo and Gu Liang Dao, no one knew of Zhong De’s intentions. No one would think that there would be a madman that would hand over three hundred jie for free.

But the movement inside Zuo Mo and Gu Liang Dao’s territories still set off the wariness of many factions. The gathering of battalions, the preparations of resources. Officials were constantly being summoned to Cloud Sea Jie.

All the signs pointed to the two having some great action coming up.

If someone was ignorant, they would think that the two were preparing to fight each other, but anyone with common knowledge knew that the alliance between Zuo Mo and Gu Liang Dao was unbreakable. They had not heard of any conflict between the two sides so it was not possible the two were about to start fighting.

Then there was only one possibility, the two sides were going to team up!

Who would be the target?

Kun Lun, Tian Huan, Mo Shen Temple and others immediately became nervous.

If Mo Cloud Sea and Gu Liang Dao allied together, to speak of nothing else, their offensive power could not be dismissed. The probability of Bie Han fighting was low, but one could not forget that Mo Cloud Sea still had Gongsun Lil’ Miss that ranked fourth among the ten great battle generals. His Vermillion Bird Camp was also complete and whole. Gu Liang Dao was astounding powerful himself and ranked fifth.

If the two battle generals ranked fourth and fifth teamed up, this would be such a strong pairing that even Kun Lun would feel threatened.

Also nervous was the Nine Great Dhyana Sect. Many people were thinking about whether their recent actions had angered Mo Cloud Sea and now it was time to settle the score.

Yang Yuan Hao was not nervous at all. He was experienced and he had an understanding of Zuo Mo. With this guy’s personality, if he planned to wage war on someone, he would definitely not leak anything beforehand.

This one was faithful sneak attacker!

Fighting openly was not his style at all.

While he did not know what Zuo Mo and Gu Liang Dao wanted to do, he was sure that they were not preparing to start a war with someone.

He did not struggle over this question. He knew clearly that as long as the Nine Great Dhyana Sect did not completely side with Kun Lun or Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea would not act against the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

He had been considering the sect leader’s words these past days.

Previously, he had assumed that Mo Cloud Sea could not stop Tian Huan’s attacks, but now, he suddenly believed that Mo Cloud Sea had reversed the situation.

Something definitely happened.

Yang Yuan Hao perceptively realized Mo Cloud Sea’s silent change. If Mo Cloud Sea reversed the situation, then Mo Cloud Sea would undoubtedly be the best to side with.

It was time to make a decision.

Yang Yuan Hao stood up.

———

When Zuo Mo received the paper crane from the sect leader of Thunder Sound Temple, he was astounded.

The sect leader clearly expressed their willingness to join Mo Cloud Sea’s territory in the paper crane. Other than the message from Thunder Sound Temple, a letter from Lotus Sutra Temple arrived as well. The two had clearly communicated in secret beforehand.

Zuo Mo was not too surprised by Lotus Sutra Temple’s decision. They had burned their bridges with Kun Lun and Tian Huan. If they wanted to survive, they had to side with a large faction.

But Little Mo Ge was very surprised by Thunder Sound Temple’s action. Thunder Sound Temple wasn’t just the head of the Nine Great Dhyana sects, it possessed a powerful battle general Yang Yuan Hao. Their own strength was not something to be dismissed.

Had his words last time been effective? Zuo Mo muttered inside.

Zuo Mo did not immediately reply but started to think carefully.

He was not completely stunned dumb by what had dropped on his head from the sky. Thunder Sound Temple and Lotus Sutra Temple’s allegiance had benefits and detriments.

What was good was that Mo Cloud Sea’s strength would increase again. Mo Cloud Sea’s strength would undoubtedly reach another peak after adding a top battle general like Yang Yuan Hao.

But there were also detriments. If the news that Thunder Sound Temple and Lotus Sutra Temple siding with Mo Cloud Sea became public, the Nine Great Dhyana Sects would immediately collapse and cease to exist. The sects would quickly divide when they felt a threat to their survival, each of them seeking a route to survival. There were only three choices, Mo Cloud Sea, Tian Huan, and Kun Lun.

Zuo Mo had thought of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects as a barrier, a buffer.

If the situation changed, the alliance of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect’s dissolved, then this barrier would also disappear. Mo Cloud Sea would have territory directly bordering Kun Lun and Tian Huan. The pressure would immediately increase.

After thinking for a long time, Zuo Mo replied to the sect leader of Thunder Sound Temple. He expressed that he welcomed them and also promised that Yang Yuan Hao’s battalion would receive the same benefits as Vermillion Bird Camp and Sin Battalion. But he told them to temporarily keep it a secret and for Yang Yuan Hao’s battalion to prepare.

Zuo Mo thought of the plan he formed in Zhong De’s tent.

If Thunder Sound Temple joined Mo Cloud Sea, then it meant that they did not need to find a way to sneak battalions to Tian Huan’s rear. Yang Yuan Hao Battalion would only need to attack at an opportune time, and Tian Huan would immediately panic.

They could easily cleave the wedge-shaped area from Tian Huan’s map.

Also, this was not a good time to split up the Nine Great Dhyana Sects.

Zuo Mo was full of spirit. Thunder Sound Temple that had come to him was a great bargaining chip to add to his hand.

He was even more confident.

After taking care of these matters, he threw himself back into his study of the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]. Tian Huan’s unique system inspired him.

If he could completely study it, it would be of great help to him to perfect Mo Cloud Sea’s system.

Tian Huan’s study of the shen glyphs were more advanced than Mo Cloud Sea.

He did not avoid Li Xian Er when he studied the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]. Right now, Li Xian Er was a treasure in his hand, a crucial piece of his plan, and no accidents were allowed.

Supposedly, Tian Huan’s envoy was about to arrive but Zuo Mo knew that Tian Huan would not give up on trying to rescue Li Xian Er. There were countless pairs of eyes staring at them from the shadows.

In order to stop a cooked duck from flying away, Zuo Mo kept Li Xian Er close by. A Gui, Wei Sheng, Ceng Lian’er, Zong Ru and the others formed a perimeter. Zhong De’s Abyss Fiend Jail Battalion formed a larger encirclement on the outside.

It was so heavily guarded that not even a fly could go in.

Only now could Zuo Mo have the peace of mind to ponder Tian Huan’s shen glyphs.

———

Li Xian Er could not describe her feelings right now.

That paper crane represented her childhood memories. Every time she thought back to it, she would smile. Theoretically, this should have been just a minor incident in her life, however, she always had feelings of reminiscence towards that faraway unknown “victim.”

She had not thrown away that paper crane and left it in the ring as a memento.

Maybe it was the other’s rebelliousness and hardiness that had left a deep imprint on her. When she had grown up, she would frequently reflect that her prank back then had crossed a line.

It was hard to see such an indescribable presence around her.

Those people around here were elegant and gentle, they were full of talent, their conduct and speech were flawless.

But they did not have that spirit.

But that playmate from her youth was actually Zuo Mo!

She was in a daze for a few days.

Chapter 828 – Gap

Li Xian Er looked at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo seemed to be possessed as he caressed the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] with his hands day and night. He completely forgot himself. Li Xian Er felt slightly ashamed. She had the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] for such a long time, but never treated or studied it so seriously.

Everyone else had become used to Zuo Mo when he became like this.

Sometimes, Zuo Mo would suddenly stop, a ball of fire would erupt from his hand, and then he would silently throw things into it. Li Xian Er could see that Zuo Mo definitely had some kind of understanding, and he was experimenting.

Then, accidents would occur.

Explosions, thick smoke, toxic mist … …

Li Xian Er’s heart beat wildly as she watched, but when she looked around, everyone else was calm. They were meditating, practicing the sword, chanting sutras, they looked as though they were used to events like this.

This group of people … …

LI Xian Er suddenly had a strange feeling that this group of people were really a group of freaks. This was not the first time she observed Zuo Mo, but this was the first time she observed the rest of the group from Mo Cloud Sea at such a close distance.

The feeling they gave her was unspeakably strange.

Yet, after a period of exposure, Li Xian Er had a different feeling. This group was hard-working, exceptionally hard-working. They were always cultivating. They never wasted a moment of time. Other than seeing Ceng Lian’er occasionally sipping and savoring tea, everyone else was cultivating except when they were resting. There were even a few that she never saw resting.

This kind of mad cultivation state produced a pressure hard to describe that almost suffocated her.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought appeared in her mind.

If all of Mo Cloud Sea was like this, then it … … would be terrifying!

When a person talked about Mo Cloud Sea, they could not avoid discussing the string of miracles in its short history. This string of miracles created the now prosperous and strong Mo Cloud Sea. Many people though that Mo Cloud Sea’s success could not be copied. They were the blessed of the heavens. Their accomplishments could not be separated from their luck. Li Xian Er had been influenced by this way of thinking. Yes, when one looked back at Mo Cloud Sea’s rise, they had a powerful and wondrous luck.

But when she was in close contact with them for multiple days, her way of thinking was completely upended.

Yes! Mo Cloud Sea’s rise could not be copied but not because of luck, but that it would be impossible to get a group of people like this, each full of talented, and outrageously hard-working!

Before this, Li Xian Er thought that she was hard-working. And in reality, in Tian Huan, she was very hard-working, but today, she learned that there was still a gap when compared to this group of freaks from Mo Cloud Sea.

The luck of Mo Cloud Sea now seemed like an eruption of potential, unearthed by hard work, each time they had been forced to the precipice. The hard work of this group of people reached a harsh level.

It was not strange if it was one person, but a whole crowd being so strict made people feel terror.

This stirred Li Xian Er greatly. She realized for the first time just how terrifying the enemy they were facing was!

Of everyone, the one she paid the most attention to was Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo was the master of Mo Cloud Sea. He decided the present and future of Mo Cloud Sea, and an important enemy of Tian Huan. Also, she had some special emotions towards Zuo Mo.

She really was great. A random little thousand crane had managed to leave the famed master of Mo Cloud Sea so dishevelled.

A smile floated at the corner of Li Xian Er’s mouth.

However, very soon, she was unable to smile because she saw the crude work on Zuo Mo’s hand.

It was a very rough and irregular object. And it was mostly made out of low quality materials like bronze and she had watched him add many other kinds of materials.

For other sects, forging was a production method, but for Tian Huan, it was an important method of cultivation.

Increasing understanding of forging and seal formation to increase one’s control of ling and shen power was a method unique to Tian Huan. This was also why Tian Huan had a near monopoly of the talisman business in the xiuzhe world. Every single member of the sect was skilled in forging. This was what was most scary.

Li Xian Er was one of the best among them and naturally great in skill. She was ranked first or second among the young disciples.

But seeing Zuo Mo forge was a great blow to her.

At the start, the golden colored fire in Zuo Mo’s hand did not attract her attention until Li Xian Er realized that any material that was thrown into the flame would immediately turn to liquid. Then she started to pay attention.

When she did, she found that this extraordinary nature of the golden flames.

Shen flame!

That was a shen flame!

A flame had to surpass tenth grade and also needed shen power to produce it before it  could be called a shen fire. In all of Tian Huan, only Chief Elder had a shen flame. Chief Elder’s shen glyph heaven fire was a shen flame!

Other than this, no one else in the enormous Tian Huan had a shen fire. Even Li Xian Er only had a ninth-grade [Charming Beauty]. This pink beautiful flame was a great treasure that Tian Huan had spent great effort to find.

Shen flame, Zuo Mo possessed a shen flame!

She was stunned speechless, especially when she saw Zuo Mo’s movements were unorthodox and without any kind of elegance or beauty. A strange feeling of unease filled her heart when she saw this. Yet, Zuo Mo’s unique movements, unqualified and lacking in any beauty, did not affect his forging ability!

Zuo Mo’s movements were unusually accurate, so accurate that even Li Xian Er, a Tian Huan disciple, felt embarrassed of herself.

However, Li Xian Er did not have time to feel ashamed at this time. She stared at the rough object on Zuo Mo’s hand.

It was crude, irregular and ugly.

But Li Xian Er’s gaze was fixed on it, and unable to move away. Shock spread through her mind.

[Weaving Girl’s Shuttle]!

She actually felt an aura similar to that of [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] on that ugly object!

The strong blow caused her to lose her mind and she exclaimed, “This is not possible!”

Almost at the same time, everyone opened their eyes and looked in shock at the rough object in Zuo Mo’s hands. They felt any extremely weak vibration of shen power from this crude object that seemed to be breathing.

Zuo Mo once again had a smug expression. “Tian Huan’s shen glyph lives up to its reputation!”

What he had gained in these recent days almost surpassed Zuo Mo’s imagination. The [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] was Tian Huan’s masterwork, and contained large amounts of Tian Huan’s most secret seal formations and a shen glyph.

Zuo Mo knew the value of these things. Once he absorbed these formations and shen glyphs, Mo Cloud Sea’s forging level would tangibly rise a level in a very short amount of time.

Its value could not be measured.

In Zuo Mo’s hand was only a rough work, but it showed Zuo Mo’s understanding of Tian Huan’s shen glyphs.

“It has shen power vibrations,” Wei Sheng asked curiously.

“Yes, copied from Tian Huan’s shen device, this thing can produce shen power, it is very interesting,” Zuo Mo explained.

“It can produce shen power on its own?” Ceng Lian’er immediately became excited. Born a mo, Ceng Lian’er had an obsessive pursuit of power. Once she heard that this could produce shen power, she was like a shark that had found a prey. “Can people use it?”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded. “Tian Huan uses it like that. However, I need more time to completely understand it.”

“Oh, Tian Huan.” Ceng LIan’er turned to look at Li Xian Er. That gaze was filled with meaning and caused Li Xian Er’s hairs to stand.

Soon, everyone moved their attention away. They started to cultivate and meditate again.

The crude object suddenly exploded into powder. The low-level materials could not withstand shen power. Even the tiniest bit of shen power would turn the materials into dust.

Zuo Mo did not care. A jade scroll appeared in his hand and he furiously recorded down what he learned.

After he finished recording, Zuo Mo closed his eyes and finally relaxed. After focusing to study day and night, he was tired. As he rested, he habitually thought back to his arrangements in his mind.

Suddenly, his heart jumped. He opened his eyes. How could he have forgotten such an important thing!?

“There is something important I missed.” Zuo Mo said gravely.

Everyone opened their eyes and they looked at Zuo Mo.

“Zhong De’s safety is related to our victory or defeat. If Tian Huan attacks Zhong De, we will be in a reactive state.” Zuo Mo’s expression was grave.

The joy at capturing Li Xian Er and learning the shen glyph of the [Weaving Girl’s Shuttle] almost caused him to make a fatal mistake.

With their present strength, the Tian Huan experts would not have any hope of capturing Li Xian Er from them. But if they targeted Zhong De, it would not be good!

Zhong De had the protection of his army, but if the other was decisive and ruthless enough and would send enough experts to their deaths, they had the ability to sneak into the base and assassinate Zhong De. Zhong De still lacked the protection of a top expert. While this was not enough to be fatal blow at any other time, but at this crucial moment, this would put them back where they started.

And if something happened to Zhong De, the good situation they had managed to negotiate  would be ruined.

Everyone’s expressions became grave. Wei Sheng stood and said, “I’ll go.”

Zuo Mo sighed in relief. “Please, I’ll trouble Shixiong. Shixiong, no matter what, do not leave Zhong De’s side.”

“Alright.” Wei Sheng did not waste words. He turned and left.

Zuo Mo completely relaxed. Eldest Shixiong was a man of his word. If he made a promise, no matter what happened, he would definitely not leave Zhong De.

With the protection of Eldest Shixiong, and the numerous battalions surrounding Zhong De, Tian Huan would not have a chance.

Li Xian Er’s heart immediately sank.

She had noticed Zuo Mo’s mistake as well. If Tian Huan could take down Zhong De, they could turn defeat into victory. While Zuo Mo had seemed smug, she hadn’t expected him to not forget himself.

Of course she knew of Wei Sheng. The strongest of Mo Cloud Sea, and accepted by the public as a genius that could match Lin Qian. He started as a sword servant and struggled his way up step by step. Wei Sheng was a determined person, his resolve was made of steel. He was the idol of all sword xiu other than Kun Lun.

With a person like this guarding Zhong De, and with the fearless Abyss Jail Battalion to support him, the possibility of taking down Zhong De was minuscule even in theory.

Zuo Mo felt some lingering fear. His mistake had almost cost them everything.

He became wary. For some reason, he kept on feeling a kind of danger.

After a moment thought, he decided to make his move first.

He communicated with Gongsun Cha.

“Start the plan!”

Chapter 829 – Counter-Attack

“Be alert!” Zou Fan scolded the guards. Looking at the sky full of snow and the howling wind, he felt slightly anxious.

The Clear Sea Storehouse that he guarded was an important resource base for Tian Huan. It had countless materials that had been transported from all over. They would be packed onto ships here, and be transported to their destinations. These were mostly mid-level and low-level materials. The types and amounts were astounding and due to this, the scale of the storehouse was also astounding.

This was Tian Huan’s material transportation hub. Its importance to Tian Huan could not be described. Due to this, there was a whole battalion stationed at Clear Sea Storehouse. Other than this, there were also many experts protecting this place. However, a few days ago, the ring master that was guarding Clear Sea Storehouse had left with three of their strongest experts, saying that they had an important mission.

The careful Zou Fan felt slightly anxious. Clear Sea Storehouse was at its weakest.

If the enemy attacked at this time … …

This thought caused his heart to shudder but he then shook his head. It was unlikely. Mo Cloud Sea was being completely suppressed by Tian Huan. They were in a panic and did not have the energy to deal with Tian Huan.

Also, in such terrible weather, it was impossible to travel.

Clear Sea Jie was a world of wind and snow. In a year, about nine-tenths of the days were filled with wind and snow. Also, the wind and snow were so strong that this place was a world of ice and death. Those that could survive here were all powerful ice-type yao beasts.

The transportation fleets also had a hard time travelling in this kind of weather. Normal xiuzhe would not be able to fly and travel in this kind of weather. The wind and snow would tear them to pieces.

But the position of Clear Sea Jie was so important that, without any other jie around, people had to pass through here.

This kind of snowstorm was rare to see, and it really helped him greatly right now.

While he thought this, Zou Fan still increased the guard patrols on the storehouse. His gaze swept across the packed jinzhi. Much of his anxiousness dissipated. There were so many jinzhi here it was a fortress.

Zou Fan was only a silver battle general, but he was careful, reliable and worthy of trust so he had been sent to guard the Clear Sea Storehouse. His battalion was much larger than normal battalions and had been built according to the standards of a gold battle general.

Suddenly, Zou Fan’s gaze focused.

There was a blue figure flickering in and out of view in the wind and snow.

Zuo Fan’s heart suddenly rose into the air. There were three defensive lines in front. How had this person come in? A strong feeling of danger filled his mind. His expression changed as he shouted, “Enemy attack!”

The storehouse immediately descended into chaos, the sounds of alarms going off and jinzhi lighting up. The entire storehouse seemed to wake up from a sleep and was covered in a pressuring light.

The guards moved into the jinzhi, each of them with nervous expressions as though they faced a great enemy!

The blue figure came closer. The furious wind and snow seemed to be nothing.

Among the snowstorm, a blue figure gradually became clear. A beautiful figure that moved with an umbrella and was filled with an ethereal beauty.

A woman!

Zou Fan’s pupils suddenly contracted, and a strong feeling of danger rose. A woman appearing out of such strong snowstorm. This was not a good sign.

The other’s level of danger did not need to be stated.

“All jinzhi, prepare to attack!” Zou Fan decisively ordered.

In the wind and snow, Lan gazed at the distant fortress, the two ice blue crystals at the eyeholes of her face mask lighting up slightly. After ten thousand years, she once again stood on the battlefield!

Her icy heart suddenly became excited.

The totem sleeping among the incense of the shen temple was so lonely.

A totem’s home should be the battlefield!

Born in the tribe, powerful, becoming the totem, experiencing countless years worship and reverence. They led the tribe in times of danger, protected the tribe, foughtfor the tribe, never abandoning the tribe, for the glory of the tribe!

The glory of a totem!

The distant and faded glory would once again spread the name of Lan!

The hand around the ice umbrella tightened and Lan’s figure disappeared from the wind and snow.

“Careful!” Zuo Fan’s pupils shrank again as he roared.

Boom!

An enormous explosion, and the snow that had accumulated on the ground exploded. A wall of snow dozens of zhang tall rose and then swept towards the storehouse!

In this moment, countless beams of light sprouted out of the fortress.

Almost unconsciously, all the guards unhesitatingly activated the jinzhi. All kinds of light rained down on the wall of snow!

The snow wall immediately split into pieces. The wild flows of air and the snow mixing together causing snow to fly into the air.

It was white everywhere they looked.

Not good!

Zuo Fan’s heart jumped. Before he could respond, a blue figure flashed at the corner of his eye.

Bling bling bling!

Like hail raining down and tearing through the leaves of the banana tree, the light shield nearby shattered immediately.

Pew pew pew!

Pillars of blood shot up. Before they could land on the ground, they were frozen into droplets of ice by the cold air and was swept up with the wind and snow.

The guards widened their eyes, a chill spreading through their bodies. In a blink, they turned into people of ice.

They fell down face forward, pia, and shattered!

The wind and snow they had relied on had become the great boon for the enemy. Ice spikes shot out of the wind and snow. These ice spikes possessed astounding power. Even the defensive light shield of Clear Sea Storehouse could not withstand a single blow!

Several figures were rapidly moving to the third defensive position. Zuo Fan was slightly reassured. These people were usually very proud. Fortunately, they did not mess up at important times.

“Third Position!” Zuo Fan shouted. “Prepare the [Sky Lock]!

As he finished, countless seal scripts suddenly flew out of the depths of the storehouse and quickly flew into the sky. In a blink, a circle of light appeared in the sky above the storehouse. The light circle was over ten li in diameter and countless bright seal scripts flowed endlessly.

The [Sky Lock] was one of the Clear Sea Warehouse’s strongest jinzhi. It was for facing experts, especially shen power experts. The enemy’s strength was unfathomable and was definitely a shen power expert.

This definitely was not good news for Zuo Fan.

Right now, the development of jinzhi had fallen behind. The jinzhi that could match shen power experts were rare. However, due to the importance of Clear Sea Storehouse’s location, there were jinzhi set up here that could be used against shen power exerts.

This was [Sky Lock]!

If those people could delay the enemy, the [Sky Lock] would be able to restrain the enemy.

Several figures quickly engaged the enemy in battle. With Zuo Fan’s strength, he could only see several grey figures and one blue figure flashing around.

“The lock is set!” the subordinate said joyfully.

“Attack!” Zuo Fan unhesitatingly ordered.

The circle of light suddenly contracted. It descended from the sky, its target Lan!

The wind and snow seemed to suddenly stop.

———

This was the first time Shuang Yu was working with Gongsun Cha. It was a strange feeling. He had to admit that Gongsun Cha’s preparations had been very detailed, so detailed that it was beyond his imagination.

While they were both among the ten great battle generals, Gongsun Cha and Gu Liang Dao’s styles were completely different. Gu Liang Dao’s moves were big and open, but Gongsun Cha was more detailed. Only battle generals like Gongsun Cha would be able to do preparations to this level.

The accurate and thorough preparations allowed Shuang Yu to feel relaxed. What he needed to do was simple. He only needed to express his strength to successfully complete the mission.

His target was Thousand Sail Sect.

Thousand Sail Sect was not a large sect. Actually, it was only one of Tian Huan’s outer sects. Its status in Tian Huan was not high, but its importance was seriously underestimated.

Tian Huan had many outer sects. There were thousands of sects that had connections to Tian Huan and the Thousand Sail Sect was just one of those.

They were skilled in the forging of treasure ships, especially transportation ships. Almost seven-tenths of transportation ships in Tian Huan came from Thousand Sail Sect. For Tian Huan who made their living on forging and mercantilism, the amount of materials transported was astounding and the demand for transportation ships was high. Transportation ships were not hard to forge, but took time, and the profits were not high. Naturally, Tian Huan was not willing to invest manpower and energy into this.

They were happy that Thousand Sail Sect was willing to take over. Thousand Sail Sect jumped to become one of the relatively strong sects among Tian Huan’s outer sects.

Their transportation ships sold well based on their connection to Tian Huan.

In Gongsun Cha’s intelligence analyses, the importance of this sect was high. If it was destroyed, it would have a great effect on Tian Huan’s transportation abilities.

Transportation ships did not need high level materials or high level methods to be forged, but needed time.

If Thousand Sail Sect was destroyed, Tian Huan would have a difficult time making up their transportation ships in the short-term. Other sects could forge them, but no one could compare to Thousand Sail Sect in scale. There were confirmed reports. An enormous order had come to Thousand Sail Sect, and Tian Huan was currently facing the problem of lacking sufficient transportation ability.

Gongsun Cha’s plan targeted the enemy’s weakness. He had to admit that Gongsun Cha was someone skilled at grabbing a person’s weakness.

What made Thousand Sail Sect a tempting target was that, despite their importance, Thousand Sail Sect did not have the corresponding level of defenses. Thousand Sail Sect was in the core lands of Tian Huan and it was not easy for them to be attacked. Adding on that Tian Huan was supporting them, their competitors did not dare to scheme against them.

The situation formed gradually over time to become like this.

However, Tian Huan did have some measures. They still stationed a battalion near Thousand Sail Sect to guarantee their safety.

Yet a defense of this degree for a super expert like Shuang Yu was like there was nothing.

Especially right now when Tian Huan’s attention was attracted by Zhong De and Zuo Mo. Almost all of the top experts had been moved. This was undoubtedly the time that Tian Huan was weakest in defense. They would not encounter any experts of the same level. For Shuang Yu, this mission was so easy it was like taking a sightseeing trip.

Gongshun Cha’s move was really vicious!

Behind Shuang Yu were a few dozen elites that carried large amounts of explosive talismans.

They only had one mission, flatten Thousand Sail Sect to the ground!

Shuang Yu took a deep breath, his expression becoming cold. “Begin!”

Chapter 830 – Counterattack (Two)

The old man’s mission was the Yao Forging Tower

The Yao Forging Tower had been the place that Pu Yao and wei had been imprisoned in. It was a restricted land that the forebearers of Tian Huan had created using their great power. There were eighteen levels in the Yao Forging Tower. Pu Yao and Wei had been imprisoned in the bottom level. Every level was filled with jinzhi. Unless one attacked from the outside, it was extremely difficult to escape. Pu Yao and Wei’s escape had been the result of Pu Yao spending thousands of years and put his all to think of a solution.

In reality, only Pu Yao and Wei had been left on the eighteenth level. The other yaomo had passed away a long time ago. Pu Yao had seen countless powerful yoamo that could not hold against the wear of time, lose their minds, and then turn into dust. This was what had caused him to resolve himself and escape the Yao Forging Tower.

The Yao Forging Tower did not just imprison yaomo, but a large number of powerful people that could be a threat to Tian Huan’s rule. They were not killed due to many various reasons and were imprisoned in the Yao Forging Tower.

The Yao Forging Tower was heavily guarded.

However, in this era of drastic change, for something as gigantic as Tian Huan, they had countless problems they needed to face, and too many places they could not attend to.

The Yao forging Tower was one of those.

Tian Huan need to face Kun Lun’s expansion, needed to face the threatening Mo Cloud Sea, the exchange of power between generations inside the sect, the change from the ling power to shen power system and so on. There were too many problems they urgently needed to resolve. In a situation like this, the defense of the Yao Forging Tower was not a priority.

Just like the transportation formations of Mo Cloud Sea that were attacked, Tian Huan’s shen glyphs and jinzhi were being developed with full support, but there was still a great distance until they were developed enough for widespread use.

The jinzhi of the Yao Forging Tower were the products of the era of ling power.

For experts that were in the era of shen power, they were lacking power.

For safety, especially the safety of the old man, Xie Shan, Nan Yue, and the others were all sent with the old man’s group. None of the group who qualified to go into the Yao Forging Tower was harmless. Even so the old man alone was enough to intimidate the entire group.

If they only released those imprisoned and caused a small degree of damage to Tian Huan, this was an embarrassing waste in the eyes of Gongsun Cha.

For Lil’ Miss, these vicious brutes that had suffered under Tian Huan were great helpers!

At usual times, other than the battalions stationed at the Yao Forging Tower, there were also experts. However, Li Xian Er had been captured, and almost all of the experts were sent to Xi Xuan to negotiate and rescue Li Xian Er. This was the time that the tower was most empty.

The old man was very satisfied at being put in charge of such an important mission.

“Which of you two will go first?” The old man glanced at the orange-haired yao and A Wen out of the corner of his eye.

The orange-haired yao had an expression of smug pride as he patted his chest. “We need to discuss this? Of course it is the most handsome and genius youth first! Good brothers are loyal, seeing how pitiful you are, I will condescend to help!”

The old man’s face turned green “Who is brothers with you?”

The smug orange-haired yao suddenly recalled the old man was A Gui’s grandfather and immediately froze. He reacted and hurriedly smoothed over, “Haha! A Wen! I’m speaking about A Wen!”

The orange-haired yao thought that the old man could not be offended. If Big Sister A Gui learned of this, and then attacked him, he would not be able to withstand it!

A Wen snorted coldly. “Idiot!”

Before he finished speaking, he shot out.

“Hey hey hey! You bastard! You rule-breaker! Unfair! You shameless being, I had a wrong opinion of you, you are a person without a bottom line, you embarrass the name of Mo Cloud Sea … …”

The orange-haired yao wailed loudly as he turned into a fiery red shadow and charged in.

The old man turned his face. “Are the two of them usually like this?”

Everyone nodded in unison.

Nan Yue and the others were respectful of the old man. The old man’s power was enough that they had to look up in reverence. Also, the old man’s unique status was such that even Gongsun Cha had a high opinion of him, much less juniors like them.

With everyone surrounding him, the old man felt unprecedentedly well, and full of spirit. These juniors were mature, obedient and had sweet tongues. They had smoothed his feathers. With a good mood, he did not skimp on teaching them. Soon, he found to his shock that these juniors were not just exceptionally talented, they were all very hardworking. Even the orange-haired yao that seemed unreliable was focused when he cultivated.

Such good children!

The old man sighed. He decided that he was going to attend more events in the future, and show off the glory of an elder.

He pretentiously pointed at the Yao Forging Tower and said with a serious expression. “The person who gets into the entrance first will be taught a secret technique by this old man!”

Woosh!

Everyone’s eyes turned green.

On the trip here, the old man’s unfathomable power and masterful shen techniques caused reverence in all of the juniors. Such a promise immediately ignited the fighting spirit of all of the juniors.

Nan Yue and the others unhesitatingly charged to the Yao Forging Tower. Behind them, the old man strolled slowly with the presence of a master.

The sharp wails of alarms could be heard in the distance as the light of the jinzhi lit up in twos and threes.

———

It had been too long since Tian Huan itself had been attacked. The guards stationed at the Yao Forging Tower to be dazed for a moment when they heard the alarms.

The enemy came so quickly they hadn’t even entered the jinzhi before the enemy reached them.

The attack lights of the perimeter jinzhi rained down on the enemy but were unable to stop their advance.

Rong Zhi looked in terror at the eerie and dangerous figures, cold rising from his heart.

Ever since that time many years ago when yao had escaped from the Yao Forging Tower, the guards at the Yao Forging Tower and the jinzhi had been improved greatly. However, as war had occurred, the situation became more tense, and almost all of the experts at the Yao Forging Tower had been called away. As the situation calmed, the higher ups seemed to forget about the Yao Forging Tower.

Those left behind to guard the Yao Forging Tower would be transferred immediately when they had a breakthrough in cultivating shen glyphs. Rong Zhi had not improved much in cultivating shen glyphs so he had never left here.

Rong Zhi wanted to leave since a long time ago. Guarding the Yao Forging Tower was thought of as exile, a place with no future. There were no benefits here, and the days were hard. It was also difficult to accomplish something that would attract the attention of the higher-ups. But if they were not careful, it was easy for problems to occur. Naturally, no one was willing to come here. Only those that offended the higher ups would be sent here.

Occasionally in the past, there would be some experts with terrible personalities but were strong that were transferred over. In the recent years, there wasn’t even one such expert. The higher ups had developed a higher tolerance of those with strength than in the past.

Rong Zhi was often too lazy to think about these matters. Guarding the Yao Forging Tower was a hard job, but the benefit was that no one managed them, and they were free. They could occasionally go to the nearby battalion to act as a teacher, and guide the soldiers from the battalion.

The scene of the lights raining down caused Song Zhi to lose focus for a while.

Elite!

It was definitely elite! From what he saw, every figure was multiple times stronger than himself.

Song Zhi immediately knew the enemy’s intentions. The enemy was targeting the prisoners of the Yao Forging Tower!

Suddenly, he was filled with grief. He knew that he would pay the price for the inattentiveness of the higher ups.

———

Seeing the juniors were unstoppable, the old man was slightly shocked. The defenses of the Yao Forging Tower were so weak!

He couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly. Theoretically, a place like this was a restricted land for each sect and should be heavily protected. It was time for Tian Huan to taste its own medicine for missing this.

The battle progressed quickly. The guards were cleared out in a short period of time.

The nearby battalion was disturbed by the noise and were rushing over. They had quickly assembled and were hurrying over at their fastest speed.

“How’s the situation?” the old man asked the black smoke yao. In his view, this person shrouded in black smoke was the smartest of the group.

“The jinzhi here are complete and suitable for facing battalions. If our intelligence reports on this battalion are accurate, we can hold the tower for at least twelve hours. However, you have to be fast,” the black smoke yao said without hesitation.

“Good, I will leave this to you.” The old man was very satisfied. He watched as the black smoke yao directed people into the jinzhi to prepare to stop the battalion outside. The fighting spirit inside his chest started to burn.

“I hope the people inside the Yao Forging Tower, do not disappoint me!”

The old man unhesitatingly flew into the Yao Forging Tower.

———

Lan lightly spun the ice umbrella in her hand and the wind and snow seemed to be disturbed by an invisible hand. The sharp snow and wind were docile and vented in a storm.

Ding ding ding.

Countless blooms of blood appeared at the same time. The enemy that lost the protection of the light shields were fragile. The death of large numbers of their members caused many jinzhi to stop functioning and the light in the sky weakened.

At this time, Lan suddenly raised her face.

In the sky, an enormous seal script ring of light was coming towards her at astounding speed. The sky full of wind and snow seemed to suddenly stop.

Lan’s eyes suddenly lit up with an eerie light.

A reminiscing smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

After sleeping for tens of thousands of years her battle skill had not decreased. As a totem warrior, fighting was a instinct that was engraved deep into her bones!

Ten thousand years ago, the greatest value of any totem warrior was fighting!

She seemed to return to the time ten thousand years ago, in that chaotic and primitive land. Where the ice umbrella passed, it left ice and snow!

She had never lost a fight in the ice and snow!

The ice umbrella in her hand spun rapidly. The tassels that flew up were pleasing to hear with their chimes.

Under the ice umbrella, she lowered her head, her expression was devout and grave.

In the name of Lan, dance!

The wind and snow seemed to hear the summons and spun to gather at the ice umbrella above her head.

With Lan as the center, a whirlwind of ice formed.

The snow that had had built up for tens of thousands of years on the ground crumbled. They flew into the sky and were sucked into the whirlpool of wind and snow above Lan’s head.

Boom-om-om!

The ice and snow gathered like a twister and formed an enormous pillar of icy wind. From far away, it looked like a terrifying dragon of ice twisting and rearing into the air.

There was no longer was any sharp wailing of the wind. What filled the ears were the roars of tens of thousands of horses stampeding towards them at once.

The ground seemed to tremble.

Zuo Fan and the others looked with ashen expressions at the enormous ice dragon in the air that stretched for dozens of li.

The [Sky Lock] could not strike and was stuck in the air. There seemed to be an invisible hand that securely held it.

Under the umbrella, the devout and solemn Lan murmured softly, “In the name of Lan!”

She suddenly raised her face and darkly said four words.

“[Ice Snow Mist Kill]!”

The blue mask flashed with an icy light and cruelty.

The ice umbrella pointed forward.

Chapter 831 – Counterattack (Three)

Looking at the waves of fire and roiling black smoke, Shuang Yu decisively ordered, “Retreat!”

Dozens of figures around him quickly disappeared into the night.

The next day, he successively destroyed a third storehouse of Tian Huan. His mission was different from Lan. Lan’s mission was to destroy Clear Sea Storehouse, an important materials transportation hub . His mission was to damage Thousand Sail Sect, including the supply points along the way.

In this situation when the enemy shen power experts had all been called away, Shuang Yu lacked opponents and was unstoppable.

Shuang Yu had no intentions of hiding his strength.

Gu Liang Dao’s faction did not share any borders with Tian Huan, but Mo Cloud Sea was their greatest ally. If Mo Cloud Sea was in danger, it meant that they were also in danger. Gu Liang Dao had hinted to them of Zhong De’s intentions. If that was the case, then the connection between Gu Liang Dao and Mo Cloud Sea would become even closer.

He had to admire Gongsun Cha’s strategy.

In the hidden battle with Mo Cloud Sea, Tian Huan had the absolute upper hand. This came from their thousands of years of management experience. The newly risen Mo Cloud Sea was not a match.

However, Tian Huan was not invulnerable.

With long borders and enormous territory, it was not hard for them to infiltrate enemy lands. An enormous territory also meant that the difficulty of defense was much greater.

It had been too long since the interior of Tian Huan had experienced battle. This caused the wariness of the battalions stationed in the interior to be very low. They never thought that the safe interior would be attacked.

Tian Huan relied heavily on the seal formations, just like Mo Cloud Sea. They also shared the problem that seal formation development hadn’t caught up with shen power development. While Tian Huan’s upper levels had increased wariness after Mo Cloud Sea’s transportation formations had been attacked, Tian Huan’s territory was too vast. Other than sending battalions to reinforce some extremely important locations, the great majority of areas were left the same as before.

Gu Liang Dao was a decisive person. After he decided to kill Tian Huan, he immediately began planning. Gu Liang Dao knew that they would only have one chance. If they could not strike a heavy blow, they would alert Tian Huan and never be given a chance like this again.

In order to obtain the best effect, he decided to message Mo Cloud Sea.

Because Zuo Mo was absent, the one left in charge was Gongsun Cha. After Gongsun Cha heard the plan, he was in agreement. While this plan could not strike Tian Huan at their foundation, it could buy more time for Mo Cloud Sea. Even though top experts like Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng were not present, Mo Cloud Sea still had Qinghua Xue. Nan Yue and the others had also returned from their mission and managed to arrive in time.

Gongsun Lil’ Miss had been very discontent at being suppressed by Tian Huan for a long time. He decided to do something big. Due to this, he even personally went to persuade A Gui’s grandfather. He had originally thought that the old man would refuse, and hadn’t expected the old man to easily agree.

With the two top experts, the old man and Shuang Yu, leading the way, the power behind this plan exploded. In addition, Lan suddenly stepping out of the mist allowed the entire plan to to choose more targets.

For this plan, Gongsun Cha used almost all of the intelligence that Mo Cloud Sea had.

The targets were quickly selected.

These targets were similar. They were not attention-catching, but each was crucial in the transport of Tian Huan’s materials. If they were damaged, Tian Huan’s material transportation would have problems.

In order to accomplish the goal of damage, Golden Crow Camp specially forged one-use talismans. These talismans were based on the fire box that Bie Han had used to burn the main peak of Xuan Kong Temple. The new fire boxes they forged were more powerful, the fire stronger, and could burn nearly anything. More astounding was the black smoke produced by the flames had the added ability of removing ling power. The more ling power a material had the more effective the fire was. Once a high end material came into contact with the black smoke, it would become impotent.

It was perfect to use in causing indiscriminate damage.

Gongsun Cha was gathering power on his side to give Tian Huan an blow they would remember. No one had expected that Zuo Mo seemed to be of the same mind as Gongsun Cha and actually captured Li Xian Er alive.

The situation had changed from them being reactive to being proactive.

The Tian Huan experts were all lured away by Zuo Mo which gave the mission that Gongsun Cha planned the perfect opening.

This mission went so smoothly that Shuang Yu almost couldn’t believe it.

Was Mo Cloud Sea strong to such a degree?

———

The beautiful and fine ice umbrella pointed.

Boom boom boom!

The enormous dragon of ice and snow broke through the [Sky Lock]. Then, that suffocatingly large body howled as it rammed the jinzhi with its head at a rapid speed.

The great power immediately destroyed all the jinzhi, and an immeasurable amount of snow and ice drowned the fortress.

There was only a mountain of snow in front of Lan, a snowy mountain that completely buried the fortress. Around this three hundred zhang tall mountain that was was an enormous basin that was fifty li in diameter.

Holding the ice umbrella in hand, Lan lightly flew to the top of the snow mountain.

Clear Sea Storehouse was exposed in front of her. Endless rows of storehouses were laid out in neat rows, and mountains of materials were exposed, showing off vast wealth.

A hint of a smile rose on Lan’s lips. This time, Tian Huan would feel pain.

An army of figures flew past land and into the mountains of materials.

Soon, flames danced and licked towards the frozen sky. The flames became so hot even the ice  started to melt. Only the mountain of snow, shrouded in the wind and snow, under Lan’s feet did not show any signs of melting.

The thick smoke quickly disappeared into the wind and snow.

It was not just the loss of the materials. Even Clear Sea Storehouse would not be usable.

Lan looked calmly at the large fire in front of her. Having been through countless battles, her will was as hard as stone.

She turned. Holding the ice umbrella, she disappeared into the wind and snow.

Just like tens of thousands of years ago.

———

“Attack!”

Tian Huan’s battle general shouted angrily. He was forced to the end of his rope. If the Yao Forging Tower was opened, his only outcome would be death. He had never thought that the Yao Forging Tower that had never been attacked before would see this day!

Damn it!

The enemy were an elite force. While they were few in number, each one of them was strong!

Rong Zhi and that group of trash always boasted about their abilities so much. Yet even with the jinzhi, they were unable to withstand the other long enough even with the help of the jinzhi! The battle general couldn’t help but curse inside. If Rong Zhi had managed to delay the enemy, then he would have pincered  the enemy with his battalion. Unless the enemy had the topmost experts, he would be able to wear the other to death with numbers.

Yet Rong Zhi lost control of the jinzhi in the first attack.

The jinzhi of the Yao Forging Tower became a great weapon used against them. Right now, they were being pinned down by the jinzhi and unable to charge close to the enemy.

The battle general had never thought that there would be a day these jinzhi would become the greatest obstacle to stopping his side.

Because of the past incident where yao had escaped, the jinzhi of the Yao Forging Tower had been strengthened. Now, these jinzhi became the nightmare of this Tian Huan battalion.

No one had expected the enemy would use the power of their own jinzhi to strike at them.

In their first charge, unprepared, their fatalities were extremely high! The rain of attacks almost drowned them.

Motherf***er! Whose territory was this?

The battle general couldn’t help but swear. The power that the enemy managed to get out of the jinzhi was even stronger than Rong Zhi’s group.

Were there traitors?

The pitiable battle general couldn’t help but become paranoid.

What he did not know was that in Mo Cloud Sea, learning how to use jinzhi was something that almost every person was required to study. It was rare to have someone like Ma Fan that could use a formation defense line to its limits, but everyone was familiar with seal formations.

The black smoke yao’s photographic memory and his exceptional intelligence helped him refine skills in this area.

Nan Yue was the leader of the orange-haired yao and the others, but the strategic mind was the black smoke yao, this guy was the weakest in the group but had the highest intelligence.

Under the direction of the black smoke yao, the yao Forging Tower was extremely powerful.

Everyone in their squad trusted the black smoke yao’s abilities. All of his orders would be followed completely and without question. This was the classic battle style of Mo Cloud Sea.

The Tian Huan battle general was full of panic. The longer this dragged out, the worse the situation would get. The other was definitely opening the interior jinzhi of the Yao Forging tower to release the prisoners inside!

This could not continue!

“Charge! All of you, charge!”

His angry shout echoed in the air.

However, the effect of his shouting was negligible. The jinzhi attacks of the Yao Forging Tower was too strong, and there were no dead spots. There was almost no possibility of surviving after being attacked by the jinzhi. He also knew that the jinzhi could maintain attacks of this level for a long time.

He thought furiously in search of the almost minuscule possibility of success.

The enemy had the upper hand, and was on defense. Even elite battalions would not have any good solutions stuck in a trench warfare like this, much less a regular battalion like them.

The enemy’s only weakness was their few numbers!

They would do it!

The Tian Huan battle general decided. If the enemy succeeded, he and his men would only have death waiting for him. Rather than that, it was better if he died on the battlefield. At least this way, his family would not be affected.

He gathered the remaining warriors.

“We only have one option left to us. Everyone spread out, scatter, try to spread out as much as possible! We will attack from every angle. The enemy is few in number, if we get close, we will have a chance! Everyone knows our chances. If we die in battle, the higher ups will allow our families to live good days due to our sacrifice. But if we flee, they will be dragged down with us. If the enemy succeeds, and we are still alive, everyone’s families will still be affected!”

Everyone was silent. All of them unconsciously balled their fists. They knew that Boss was right.

“No one pays attention to us, our benefits are lacking, we are just cannon fodder. There is no way about it. This battle isn’t for Tian Huan, just for our families! Everyone, let’s die here!”

The battle general said gravely. His gaze swept across the group with the resolve to die.

There was a deathly silence. No one spoke. Everyone silently prepared. Their presence suddenly changed.

An indescribable pressure covered the battlefield!

Chapter 832 – Counterattack (Four)

The black smoke yao was the first to detect the change in the enemy troops.

His vantage point allowed him to quickly identify the other’s intentions. His heart tightened and he shouted, “Everyone, pay attention. They are about to start an all-out attack! Defend your own areas, do not allow any dead spots to appear! Yue, go high up, I will leave the ones that have slipped through to you!”

“Alright!” Nan Yue acknowledged. She jumped up, and went to the highest point. A bow of light appeared in her hand.

[South Sky Shen Arrow]!

The [South Sky Arrow Art] that had been strengthened by shen power flashed with an eerie purple light. The ruler-straight and thin bowstring was filled with power.

Nan Yue stood in the wind with a cold expression. She was no longer that little girl from the past, one that did not understand anything at all. She had been through hundreds of battles, was experienced, had a strong mentality and was a trusted team leader.

Her attacks had a great attack range.

Everyone had been together for a long time, and worked well together. Hearing the reminder from the black smoke yao, everyone’s nerves tensed. Whenever the black smoke yao was like this, it meant that there was a hard battle to come.

However, the group did not fear this. They were at the age where their spirits were high. They had abundant endurance and strong resolve. After cultivating the many different practises that were unique to Mo Cloud Sea, they had outstanding regulation and iron resolve.

In Mo Cloud Sea, cowards were looked down upon. Gongsun Cha, Wei Sheng, and including Zuo Mo, they were all people with extremely strong resolve. Affected by these leaders, Mo Cloud Sea admired this trait.

Mo Cloud Sea had a saying, you can have no talent, no skill, no high birth, but you cannot be a coward.

Everyone focused and breathed calmly with grave expressions.

The black smoke yao was unprecedentedly nervous. It was the first time he had encountered such a dangerous situation. However, an indescribable excitement rose in his body. He was not afraid.

He repeatedly ran through what he had learned. The group usually had small-scale conflicts and never had experienced a true battle.

Figures started to appear at the edge of his view.

“Attention! The enemy is about to come!” He warned in a loud voice.

His gaze did not waver. When those figures gradually came close, he finally saw the situation clearly. His heart tensed. The other had scattered their forces and they did not seem to be connected to each other.

When he saw the expressions on the enemy faces, he became even more wary.

“They are about to go all out!” The black smoke yao couldn’t help but warn. The black smoke that shrouded his body seemed to reach out tentacles that inserted into the jinzhi around him.

The bodies of the enemy fifty li away paused slightly.

Fifty li was the upper range of the jinzhi’s attack. The enemy knew the jinzhi’s limits.

The black smoke yao blurted unthinkingly, “Kill!”

Almost at the same time, the xiuzhe who had paused slightly gathered their power and charged in unison at an astounding rate!

Almost every person was shrouded in light that drew bright streaks in the sky.

Yet what welcomed them was a rain of attacks. All kinds of light in different colors flooded out of the jinzhi and immediately covered the fifty li range of the jinzhi.

The enemy was clearly fighting to the death. No one retreated, there were no wails or screams.

The people who were hit by the jinzhi attacks were cut to pieces or a disintegrated into dust.

Yet these Tian Huan xiuzhe continued to move forward, furiously dodging and moving their bodies as they faced the rain of attacks. They advanced at the expense of their lives!”

A distance of fifty li was not far for a xiuzhe.

Even though Tian Huan’s battalion was not famed for their charging abilities, a charge like this without any regard for life still gave the black smoke yao and others great pressure.

They were too few in number!

When the enemy’s entire battalion all charged, the scene was spectacular.

Seemingly countless figures wrapped in faint light seemed to pack the sky. There seemed to be no end. Their features were vicious and twisted. You could clearly see their almost crazed and hungry state. They leapt towards you like a swarm of locusts.

When the sky and ground were full of people like this, those with slightly less resolve would have been so frightened they would have turned and fled.

The black smoke yao and the others were completely absorbed in battle!

Each person gave off indistinct howls. Their eyes were wide as they gathered all of their shen power. Their consciousnesses were all pressed to their limits as they controlled all the jinzhi that could be controlled. They opened all of the jinzhi attacks and furiously vented out!

Boom boom boom!

Endless explosions caused people to almost not hear any other sound.

The storm of jinzhi attacks ploughed through the ground within fifty li. The sky was covered by furiously moving figures that moved like moths to a flame.

Standing at the tallest point, Nan Yue changed expression. She was shocked by such a cruel and brutal battle.

Their sneak attack previously had gone unusually smoothly. The Yao Forging Tower’s weaknesses were exposed. However, these seemingly mad people caused her to reconsider Tian Huan.

Fortunately, the shen power of the majority of these people were weak. Most of the lights flashing on their bodies were the lights of ling power.

If this battalion cultivated shen power, if they were a bit stronger, it would not be possible for so few of them to suppress the entire battalion.

Undoubtedly, this was a cannon fodder battalion that no attention was paid for. This could be seen from their weak shen power, and the fact their armor that was still ling armor and not shen equipment. However, the spirit of this cannon fodder battalion was worthy of respect.

Soon, Nan Yue did not have the time to think.

Someone had broken through!

She narrowed her eyes, and her light in her hand that had swung downwards and suddenly disappeared.

In the distance a ruler-straight light penetrated the other’s chest like lightning.

The other’s mouth was wide, they didn’t give any sound as their eyes quickly dimmed and they fell face forward.

Nan Yue was completely immersed in battle. Her attack rate was astounding. Her right hand was a blur of afterimages, long thin arrows of light appearing and disappearing from her hand.

The light arrows were like rain!

None of them missed!

She was like the god of death, ruthlessly and efficiently harvesting lives.

The [South Sky Arrow Art] strengthened by shen power into the [South Sky Shen Arrow] was multiple times as strong as before. The enemy’s ling armor was as fragile as paper in front of it.

The enemy quickly found Nan Yue up high, and they tried their best to dodge.

But no matter how they tried to dodge, the arrows of light never missed. They seemed to be able to pass through space and directly appear in front of them to take their targets.

Pew!

A spray of blood. The battle general felt a pain at his chest. Something seemed to be pulled out of his heart.

His seemingly mad face calmed down. There was no discontent, no fury.

They could only reach this level … …

Bam. He felt down face forwards, the lights that occasionally passed by in the sky reflected in his gradually dimming pupils.

The death of the Tian Huan battle general was the climax of this battle field’s cacophonic symphony of death. The remaining xiuzhe charged even more madly without regard for life or death!

Not one person retreated.

The sky seemed to be dyed red by blood.

When the last figure fell down, the battlefield became calm again.

Everyone was soaked in sweat as though they had just come out of water. They panted heavily, their twisted features gradually relaxing. No one spoke. Even the endlessly chatty orange-haired yao was silent at this moment.

Their gazes were directed to the completely transformed battlefield. Corpses were spread all over. Nothing was alive.

Everyone lost the interest in speaking. This battalion had been a cannon fodder battalion, their battle general had been average, their soldiers skill level was still back in the ear of ling power, their equipment was terrible. But this battalion had displayed an admirable battle spirit, one worthy of respect. No one retreated, no one fled, everyone charged into the jinzhi knowing they would die.

Nan Yue and the others could not describe what they felt now.

“It really is a battalion worthy of respect.” The black smoke yao was full of emotion. His voice was tired.

Everyone couldn’t help but nod.

“Oh, it seems that you have had a hard battle!” The old man’s voice came from behind the group.

Woosh, everyone turned following the voice. Immediately, everyone’s expression froze on their faces as they gaped.

The old man seemed like a barge hauler as he dragged a golden chain the thickness of an arm. He walked towards the group with the mannerism of an expert.

More than twenty unfamiliar people were tied up in a bunch and being dragged on the ground behind him. The old man walked in alone dragging his spoils behind him.

The old man looked at the group that had turned to stone with a smile, feeling smug inside.

“Ah-hah, there were too many people, I didn’t take much care.”

The spoils at his feet all had expressions of anger, their eyes wide as though they wanted to stab through the old man with their stares. However, the jinzhi on them stopped them from making any sound.

The orange-haired yao’s stunned gaze recovered and he blurted out, “Woah, you are so wretched, you are like a prison warden!”

The surroundings immediately became silent.

The old man’s expression froze on his face, and his murderous rose.

The orange-haired yao had an innocent expression as he turned and asked the others, “Don’t you feel that it is similar?”

Everyone else turned their faces away and didn’t bear to look.

“You’re dead!”

The old man gritted as he glared at the orange-haired yao.

———

When Zuo Mo received the message from Gongsun Cha, he relaxed greatly. Gongsun Cha’s victories were significant and could draw away a portion of Tian Huan’s attention.

The battle between Kun Lun and the yao were at the fiercest time. Supposedly, the battle between Mu Xuan and Mu Xi was extremely intense. This caused Zuo Mo to sigh in relief. It was good news for him that Kun Lun was delayed by the situation and could not participate over here.

Gu Liang Dao’s battalion was already on the way to Xi Xuan.

Once Gu Liang Dao met up with Zhong De, the situation would be roughly set.

Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions had finished preparing. Other than Ma Fan’s battalion that guarded the defense line, the other battalions had all been recalled. Vermillion Bird Camp had finished gathering and Lil’ Miss could enter Xi Xuan at any time.

Yang Yuan Hao had also finished preparing.

If they won this battle, Mo Cloud Sea would jump to become one of the titans.

Zuo Mo knew he needed to be more calm and careful at a time like this. He put down the [Weaving Girl Shuttle] and focused completely on preparing to welcome the hard battle about to come.

Tian Huan would not suddenly rest. It was likely they would negotiate as they schemed in the shadows.

Zuo Mo became alert. While he had offensive power on his side, Tian Huan was not weak.

As time moved, the Tian Huan envoys came closer, and the atmosphere became heavier.

This was a battle that could change the state of the xiuzhe world!

Chapter 833 – Intentions

“How are the losses?” the sect leader of Tian Huan asked.

“Extremely serious.” An elder had an ugly expression. “All the materials in Clear Sea Storehouse has been ruined. The value of the materials is not high, but there were too many materials and their loss that it has already affected the market price. The price of low and mid-level materials on the market is madly growing to meet the new demand. The cost of producing our shen equipment is three-tenths higher than before. Only next year when new materials are obtained will this situation ease.”

“Thousand Sail Sect is also badly off.” Another elder walked out. “All of Thousand Sail Sect was destroyed, and almost exterminated. Almost all the materials were burned. We do not have enough transport boats.”

The sect leader of Tian Huan was silent for a moment before asking, “Which other sects can forge them?”

“None.” The elder shook his head. “There used to be many sects like Thousand Sail Sect that were skilled in making transport ships, but in past these years, we have always supported Thousand Sail Sect. Thousand Sail Sect has grown by more than ten times, and swallowed many other sects. Almost all of the forgers of treasure ships had been recruited by them, they were all killed by Mo Cloud Sea … …”

An elder stood out. “Since Thousand Sail Sect has no production ability, we should divide the orders equally among the sects that have the ability to forge transport boats.”

A hint of anger flashed through the sect leader’s eyes. This elder had several sects with production abilities that met their needs under his service which was why this elder was so impatient.

Yet this elder was smart in that he did not want it all to himself, but shared the benefits. Immediately, many elders spoke their agreement.

“Then let us do this,” the sect leader of Tian Huan said after a long moment of silence.

Several elders had expressions of joy. Tian Huan’s order was so large that they would make a good profit.

“What about the Yao Forging Tower?” the sect leader of Tian Huan asked.

The elder that had reported first shook his head and said, “They all ran, not even one was left inside. The battalion and all the guards were killed, the battle was intense, no one retreated.”

The hall immediately became silent.

The sect leader said gravely, “Increase the death gratuity, and reward their families.”

News of these three battles quickly spread through all of the xiuzhe world and caused waves. Tian Huan had received a great blow this time. Mo Cloud Sea had not sent many people, and infiltration of such a small scale could not be defended against.

Mo Cloud Sea had started a completely new method of fighting. People thought that in the era of shen power, high level offensive forces could not dominate like they did before. However, Mo Cloud Sea had showed everyone how to use high level offensive manpower in the new age.

Especially the targets that Mo Cloud Sea had chosen. Each one was worthy of study, and to learn from.

What shocked people even more was the strength of Mo Cloud Sea’s high end forces.

People now found that Mo Cloud Sea didn’t just have two of the ten great battle generals, they had numerous high level forces. Those shen power experts were enough to make any faction anxious!

Never underestimate Mo Cloud Sea!

This phrase quickly spread.

———

“Can you still fight?” the chief elder said coolly.

“Yes!” Mi Wu nodded forcefully. There seemed to be something burning inside of him. Chief Elder had taken along almost all of the experts from in Tian Huan this time. Those familiar faces caused Mi Wu to realize that this would be an important and unprecedented battle.

The chief elder nodded slightly. “You should also know the situation. Mo Cloud Sea has attacked Thousand Sail Sect, Clear Sea Storehorse, and the Yao Forging tower. We have suffered great losses. However, forget all that now.”

Many people unconsciously balled their fists.

Looking at the young faces, the chief elder felt comforted. His expression quickly became serious again. “You all think that the target of this battle is to save Li Xian Er.”

Almost everyone had expressions of surprise. They raised their heads to look at Chief Elder with puzzlement on their faces.

Was this not the case?

“You are wrong!” Chief Elder’s tones was still cool. “This time, our target is Zhong De. Not to save Xian Er but to save Tian Huan!”

The expressions became more puzzled.

“Maybe you feel puzzled right now, but in the future, you will become the new generation of leaders and will have to think independently. Widen your eyes, do not let emotions affect your judgement. Where our strategy failed the greatest was in predicting Zhong De’s choice. Our mistake was not incorrectly guessing that Zhong De will choose us, but in believing Zhong De would choose the Xi Xuan sect leader!”

The chief elder’s words were like a tongue-twister but caused these people to sink into thought. These were the elite of Tian Huan, and none of them were dumb.

“Zhong De did not choose the Xi Xuan sect leader, he killed the sect leader, what does this say? It means that he had another candidate in mind long ago! This mistake is fatal to us! From the start, we were lead on the wrong path. Zhong De does not have many choices, only two, one is himself, the other is Gu Liang Dao. Gu Liang Dao’s battalion has started to travel towards Xi Xuan, meaning he choose Gu Liang Dao. Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions are also gathering. He also chose Mo Cloud Sea as an ally.”

The chief elder’s pair of eyes that seemed to see through the world caused everyone to feel respect. In just a few sentences, the entire situation was clearly spread in front of everyone.

Everyone looked in reverence at Chief Elder, this great power that pushed Tian Huan into the era of shen power by himself! If not for Chief Elder, Tian Huan might not have crumbled quickly like Xi Xuan but their decline would most likely have been inevitable.

This ultimate master that had went into seclusion for decades to comprehend shen glyphs was worthy of their respect, their allegiance!

“Tian Huan is now at a dangerous juncture, if Zhong De and Zuo Mo’s goals are realized, then another titan will undoubtedly appear. All of our actions to restrain Mo Cloud Sea until now will be ineffective. We will face an enemy that is almost the same level as us, but even stronger. For control of the market, we have to have a final battle. Do not forget the monster that is Kun Lun. If we continue to struggle and waste our strength with Mo Cloud Sea whether we win or lose, it will be a failure to us.”

Everyone’s expressions became grave. If it really advanced to such a step, then Tian Huan would really be in danger!

“This is our last chance! The last chance to avoid defeat!” Chief Elder said gravely. His old eyes only held fiery resolve. “We need victory in this battle!”

“Victory!” Everyone shouted in unison.

Looking at the young people full of fighting spirit, he couldn’t help but feel a thread of exhaustion.

Suddenly, he admired Kun Lun. Compared to Tian Huan that was riddled with problems, Kun Lun did not need to be worried about these things. The sacrifice of the older generation didn’t just earn time for the younger generation, it also freed up room in their upper ranks. Kun Lun had almost completely changed. All the old factions had been swept away before the last sect leader of Kun Lun abdicated.

Yet in Tian Huan, new and old factions were mixed together, and the families fought. He knew that the present Tian Huan was at its weakest.

It had not yet handed off power from the old to the new generation. Just like a shedding snake, it was in pain, exposed, and weak.

Kun Lun on the other hand seemed to be reborn, full of energy.

Sacrifice, it was a terrifying power!

———

The aura of a battle grew even closer.

Zuo Mo was strangely calm. He repeatedly went through every detail. For some reason, he kept on feeling a tinge of anxiousness. This anxiousness caused him to be wary.

He trusted his instincts. He knew that he had missed something somewhere.

But where?

As time passed, the anxiousness grew even stronger. He did not panic. If before, it had been more of a feeling, now he was sure that he had missed something!

He was strangely calm, icy calm. He went over every detail in his mind.

But no matter how he speculated, the conclusion he obtained was no different than before. If Tian Huan wanted to save Li Xian Er, they had … …

Wait!

Lightning seemed to flash through Zuo Mo’s mind. A daring idea rose.

Why did Tian Huan have to save Li Xian Er?

Yes, why did Tian Huan have to save Li Xian Er?

Li Xian Er was the granddaughter of the sect leader, Li Xian Er had the shen device [Weaving Girl Shuttle], Li Xian Er … … all of this all proved how important Li Xian Er was!

But was Li Xian Er something that Tian Huan could not lose at the moment?

No!

What was truly related to the life and death of Tian Huan? If Tian Huan lost this battle, Tian Huan could not suppress Mo Cloud Sea, and the new alliance of Mo Cloud Sea and Gu Liang Dao’s Xi Xuan had the ability to fight Tian Huan. Mo Cloud Sea who had vast territories would be fighting for the market with Tian Huan.

All of Tian Huan was in danger!

Zuo Mo’s thoughts became clearer!

If Tian Huan wanted to resolve this, what should it do?

Zhong De!

Only Zhong De!

Tian Huan’s target was Zhong De!

They would not capture Zhong De alive to trade for Li Xian Er. One Li Xian Er could not compare to the fate of Tian Huan. Their target was Zhong De, to kill Zhong De!

If Zhong De died, Tian Huan’s danger would resolve itself. If Zhong De died, Xi Xuan would descend into chaos, and Tian Huan and Kun Lun would take the chance to conquer… …

A cold sweat rose and Zuo Mo’s face turned ashen.

Zhong De was in danger!

He unhesitatingly stood up and called everyone. “Quick! Tian Huan’s target is Zhong De!”

The situation was in a dangerous time. Li Xian Er had no value in his hand. Zuo Mo couldn’t help but hate how his greed had clouded his thoughts. He had kept on thinking of using Li Xian Er to get something from Tian Huan.

Everyone else was surprised but no one asked any questions. They unconditionally trusted Zuo Mo’s judgement.

The group of people furiously charged out of the secret room, their shen power rippling as they charged towards Zhong De’s tent.

The sound of fighting came from the camp in the distance.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly.

The group didn’t dare to hesitate, their speed accelerating as they furiously flew towards the camp!

They had to make it in time!

Chapter 834 – Tian Huan’s Charge

Wei Sheng seemed to feel something

Almost at the same time, the sound of battle sounded at the perimeter of the camp. Abyss Fiend Battalion was heavily guarded. They hadn’t just set up a great amount of jinzhi in the surroundings, everyone slept with their weapons in preparation of battle at any time. The patrols also passed by frequently.

Shi Pei’s expression was calm, and he still had an unaffected expression.

Once a battalion was prepared, it was not easy for the enemy to charge in easily, much less on a hardened battalion like the Abyss Fiend Jail Battalion.

Wei Sheng moved his gaze away and glanced at Shi Pei.

Shi Pei still seemed to be made of stone but he was still courteous towards Wei Sheng. “Mister Wei, do not worry, it is not so easy for the enemy to defeat our boys.”

Wei Sheng saw the other’s politeness. He nodded and said, “If you need me, just ask, no need to be polite.”

Usually, this was the case as long as not many of the enemy had come.

Shi Pei squeezed out a smile, “Alright!”

The two were both people not skilled in speech. After this exchange, the atmosphere cooled again. Wei Sheng closed his eyes and meditated. The God-Killing Blood Sword floated in front of him with a bloody aura.

Shi Pei’s attention moved back to the perimeter.

Soon, a warning came from the front.

Shi Pei was slightly surprised. Abyss Jail Battalion had guarded the worst jail, the Abyss Fiend Jail, they could be called a battalion of iron. Every member thought nothing of life and death, they were powerful. Zhong De had created this iron troop himself. Every soldier would unhesitatingly use their body to take an attack for Zhong De!

All of the army knew that Tian Huan’s target was Zhong De Daren.

The battalion’s morale did not need any urging. Everyone’s spirits burned.

They were fighting on home territory, they had enough time to set up defences, they had the advantage of the land. According to Shi Pei’s predictions, they should have been able to stop all of the enemy attacks.

He hadn’t thought that the front lines would not be able to stop the other’s attacks. It could be seen just how much pressure the front lines were under.

Surprised, Shi Pei immediately realized that the enemy’s experts were probably much stronger than they had predicted! The situation was more severe than they had imagined.

———

Mi Wu moved quickly, two ring masters following him closely to protect his flanks. The three of them charged towards the camp like a drill. Mi Wu felt as though there was a fire burning in his chest. His attacks were fiery, the shen glyph in his body constantly providing him with surging power. He seemed to have endless power that would never be used up.

The surroundings were full of enemies, but he felt no fear.

His body moved like lightning, the light in his hand like a sharp blade that flashed through the air. It had to be said that combat was the best teacher. Last time, he had just fought one round with Zuo Mo yet Mi Wu had learned a lot. He had gradually become experienced.

Clang!

The shen equipment of the enemy flashed and blocked his attack. Yet Mi Wu seemed to have predicted it. Abyss Jail Battalion wore the shen equipment that Mo Cloud Sea had designed for them. Mo Cloud Sea’s shen equipment was not below Tian Huan’s level, and their defense was outstanding.

A succession of attacks came.

A silent light appeared behind the enemy’s neck.

The moment that the light shield of the shen equipment disappeared, that silent light sliced across the other’s neck.

A line of blood appeared on the enemy’s neck, and they froze.

Mi Wu smashed onto this person with his remaining momentum. Bam, the head and the body separated, the sprouting pillar of blood turning into bloody mist in the air. The headless corpse smashed towards the enemy charging at him like a sandbag.

Using the timing of this block, the shen glyph under Mi Wu’s feet lit up. Seven figures that were exactly the same appeared at the same time along with fourteen blade-like lights. Each figure striking at one of the seven new comers.

Yet he had not killed the seven people as he had predicted.

Only one person died, the other two had only been killed with the help of the two ring masters.

Abyss Jail Battalion was as the rumors said!

Mi Wu felt his heart tremble. His strength was multiple times that of these soldiers, but when he charged into the formation, he still felt a great force.

This strong repulsion and pressure was invisible just like air, but it was truly present. Those soldiers did not fear death as though they did not care for their lives. The rivers of blood could not affect them at all. The scar-covered faces were indifferent as they charged towards him. Even when they died, their expressions were aloof. Mi Wu felt chills up his spine.

He had seen elite forces before. The battalion under Mi Nan, the true leader of the Mi Family in this generation, was famed in the world, a top rank elite force. He had entered the camp many times, but they had never given him a feeling like this.

Mi Wu was not attacking at full power. His mission was to draw the attention of the enemy, control the expenditure of his shen power, and prepare to fight for along time.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another small team of seven people charge over. He hurriedly turned and charged in another direction. After charging around for a while, Mi Wu had some experience. Once the enemy gathered more than five people, their offensive power would increase dramatically. The three of them could win, but it was easy for them to be delayed.

The trio was extremely quick and slippery. Even though there were enemies constantly around that would slow them, they were unable to catch the trio.

The jinzhi set up around the camp was simplistic in the eyes of Mi Wu and those who came from Tian Huan. They effortlessly avoided the traps and jinzhi, moving constantly and not giving the enemy a chance to surround them.

The rhythm of battle was astoundingly fast.

In just a hundred breaths, the trio had killed more than forty people. Choosing to attacking in chaos was perfect for Mi Wu, who had a calm mind and a quick reactions.

Yet at such a fast pace, even if Mi Wu had saved his strength, the expenditure of energy was still astounding.

The two ring masters around him were even more tired.

The charge of the trio was evident in their effect. They were like thin and eerie blade that danced through the enemy’s flesh and bone, searching for a lethal strike.

The enemy’s formation couldn’t help but ripple.

———

San Dong was much more magnificent than the calm Mi Wu.

He walked alone. Everywhere he passed, there were broken limbs and bodies, blood flowing in rivers.

His shen glyph was unusual in Tian Huan, but if Zuo Mo was here, he would find to his shock that Sang Dong’s shen glyph was similar to Mo Cloud Sea’s inscription art. There seemed to be a layer of blood over his surging shen power.

He was like a wild beast that charged unreasonably.

His eyes were completely red as he snarled. He seemed to have a tangible shadow of blood. He faced the enemy and then charged into the formation like a mad bull.

Bam bam bam!

Several figures flew out like sandbags, the lights dim. If they did not die, they were wounded.

The blood on the ground was absorbed into the bloody shadow on his body. In a blink, the bloody shadow became even denser.

Sang Dong gave a great howl, his voice even stronger than before!

Sang Dong’s [Blood Devouring Shen Glyph] was the shen glyph most suited to the battlefield. It could absorb blood and turn it into shen power. On the battlefield, he was a true killing machine. He fought in an unreasonable manner, not knowing exhaustion, as long as there was blood, he could continue to fight.

Unlike the other seats, Sang Dong was a battle maniac. It was rare to see him in the sect. What he liked the most was the battlefield.

Tian Huan didn’t have any major battles in these years, but his lively figure could be seen in the small battles at the borders.

If Li Xian Er was said to be Tian Huan’s most talented and theoretically the strongest disciple, then Sang Dong was the most terrifying and damaging person of the four seats.

Sang Dong’s powerful charges gave the Abyss Jail Battalion great pressure.

He was like a tireless bull that continued to charge at the enemy formation.

Even the rock-solid Abyss Jail Battalion started to show cracks.

———

Zuo Mo looked at the chaotic scene and sighed in relief.

If they had come moments later, then they would really be danger.

Abyss Jail Battalion was really a well-trained and determined battalion to not have crumbled in a situation like this. If it was any other battalion facing these experts from Tian Huan, they would have collapsed long ago.

When there were enough experts, unless the battalion also had experts, the one losing would be the battalion. Outstanding individual power allowed these people to charge back and forth in enemy ranks and kill at their leisure. They had the initiative during battle. The battalion could only react. If the enemy were few in number, then if the  battalion had the advantage of numbers and did not care about sacrifices, they could tire the other into death. But if there were many experts, and the battalion lacked experts, then the battalion was dangerous.

That was the situation now.

Almost all of Tian Huan’s experts had come. An elite force like the Abyss Jail Battalion was suppressed to the point that they couldn’t even form a battle formation.

Zuo Mo was shocked as he watched. In the future, he had to send Lil’ Miss and Bie Han some experts. Otherwise, it would really be dangerous if they encountered a situation like this.

The advantage of a battalion was in fighting on a large scale. In a small-scale battle like this, they could not rival the shen power experts that were nimble and had strong attacks.

The tired Abyss Jail Battalion showed an opening.

Zuo Mo’s gaze suddenly contracted!

He saw an old person.

In such a chaotic battlefield, this person advanced like he was strolling. His speed was not fast, yet no one in the surroundings could stop him.

A small group of seven people charged at the old person and the light of the battle formation was dazzling.

The old person did not seem to move and the seven-man team turned into seven balls of fire in the light of the battle formation.

He slowly moved forward, not even looking as he stepped into a jinzhi.

Just as everyone thought that the jinzhi would active, the formation scripts of the jinzhi suddenly lit up. Then, the bright light spread in astounding speed in all directions.

Everywhere it passed, all of the active or secret jinzhi and seal scripts lit up!

Countless seal scripts floated on the ground of the camp!

All of the jinzhi were activated!

Chapter 835 – Tian Huan Chief Elder

Zuo Mo’s pupils suddenly contracted.

An extremely brief pause occurred in the battle. Everyone was stunned by the sudden burst of light that swallowed the camp.

Boom-oom-oom!

Countless balls of fire rose from the camp and shrouded the enormous camp in a sea of fire. Many soldiers were thrown into the air, caught off guard by the shockwave from the explosion. The entire battlefield was in chaos.

Zuo Mo inhaled sharply. He knew who the old man was.

The chief elder of Tian Huan!

Other than that almost mythically old man of Tian Huan that had peerless skill in seal formations, who else could cause all the jinzhi of an enemy camp to explode in one moment?

The chief elder’s move scared Zuo Mo. Xi Xuan was not skilled at seal formations, and the level of jinzhi set up around the camp was not high. However, how terrifying was the skill needed to ignite all the jinzhi at once!

As expected of the foremost shen glyph expert!

Even Zuo Mo admitted that he would not be able to do this.

The Abyss Jail Battalion was not skilled at jinzhi, and the ones they set up were not high level. As a result, there were not many fatalities. If this was Mo Cloud Sea, and the jinzhi of the camp were ignited … …

Zuo Mo shuddered!

The sea of fire caused by the explosion of jinzhi threw the Abyss Jail Battalion into complete chaos. The camp was a sea of fire.

Someone shouted angrily at the top of their lungs from inside the fire, “Protect Daren!”

Soon, shouts rose from every corner of the camp.

“Protect Daren!”

“Protect Daren!”

In the sea of flames, those hardy figures gave off slight light. Their shen equipment stopped the heat from the flames. They did not hesitate as they charged to the center of the camp.

As they sprinted, ran in the flames, their faces became covered in smoke, their hair started to burn, but there was no fear on their scarred faces. They formed ranks quickly. Even at this time, their training showed itself.

The soldiers that had been thrown about by the explosion climbed back up on their feet and did not hesitate to charge into the flames.

Everyone was moved by this scene. Abyss Jail Battalion was truly elite!

At this time, something suddenly happened.

Boom!

Among the flames, a blinding bloody red pillar of light as straight as a sword shot into the sky. The pillar was a zhang thick and reached into the clouds. Even the flames could not disguise its light.

Sword essence!

Such strong sword essence!

Sang Dong stopped moving. He raised his face, and his bestial face couldn’t help but show some threads of fear.

The bloody red pillar of light was like a great sword with all of its edges. It seemed as though it was about to pierce through the sky. A powerful sword essence that caused everything to lose color!

Countless blinding sword energies roamed around the pillar of flight. Even the flames were cut into pieces by the terrifying sharp sword energies.

That person … …

Sang Dong had never thought that someone else would make him feel such a terrifying pressure in this world. He had only experienced pressure of this level from Chief Elder.

Inside the pillar of light, a figure holding a sword floated out.

Wei Sheng!

For the great majority of people, they had heard of this name a long time ago but never met him in person. Mo Cloud Sea’s Wei Sheng, one of the strongest people in the world, the strongest sword xiu outside of Kun Lun! He was a legend.

Only someone as strong as him would have such a presence!

Yet at this time, the members of Tian Huan did not have the time to savor this. They all changed expression. Every person had a feeling that Wei Sheng was looking at them.

Those that were slightly weak thought that they had been locked onto by a mountainous presence.

Only Sang Dong and the others knew that this was an illusory feeling caused by the pressure the other gave off. Yet their expressions were still ugly. This showed just how terrifying a level Wei Sheng’s strength reached!

Among the pillar of bloody light, Wei Sheng slowly lifted the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand.

Almost instantly, the sharp red pillar of light started to gather towards Wei Sheng’s sword. It gave onlookers the feeling that the pillar of light was contracting and collapsing.

When the last bit of light was absorbed into the sword, the bloody sword seemed to glow a fiery red, and gave off eerie bright light.

So bright people could not look directly at it.

The strong killing essence that had been roaming through the air seemed to have been sucked into the sword in Wei Sheng’s hand. However, this did not lessen the pressure people felt. The eerie feeling of emptiness gave people a sense the next attack would be like a storm!

In the air, Wei Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes that were like bloody glass reflected the world.

His wrist shook lightly, and he made a strike.

A blinding bloody red sword energy suddenly lit up in people’s vision.

All the light in the world seemed to be stolen by this stroke.

The flames that were burning fiercely in the camp silently extinguished under this strike. The majority of the Abyss Jail Battalion that were standing in the flames had wide eyes. They were unable to react.

The target of Wei Sheng’s strike was Chief Elder.

Chief Elder raised his head, his expression as aloof as usual. He pointed a finger and drew in the air.

Bright rays of light that were as slender as spider-webs exploded from his fingertip. The packed rays of light grew like vines and expanded rapidly in all directions.

Shen glyph!

Zuo Mo’s pupils couldn’t help but contract again. What was growing from Chief Elder’s fingertip was a shen glyph!

Heavens!

What was this!

It was the first time Zuo Mo saw a person able to draw out a shen glyph in the air. Zuo Mo gaped. It was hard for him to even draw it out in his mind, much less in the air!

A shen glyph manifested in the air.

The moment the shen glyph took form, thunder roared, and black clouds formed as though it was the apocalypse.

The bloody red sword energy that Wei Sheng had created clashed with the shen glyph!

The shen glyph shook lightly with a hum!

Suddenly, light rose. The sword  light penetrated the thick cloud layer above. The lightning that had been moving in the clouds seemed to find a way to vent. Dozens of bolts of lightning the thickness of arms struck Wei Sheng’s sword energy.

The sword energy that flashed with eerie energy struggled for a moment before shattering!

The shen glyph was still growing!

The vine-like rays of light continued to grow. They grew along Chief Elder’s body. Rays of light continued to grow into Chief Elder’s body. There wasn’t any hint of pain on Chief Elder’s face.

In a blink, Chief Elder was wrapped in layers by the shen glyph, his figure indistinct.

The thunder in the sky was even louder, thick lightning striking the shen glyph. However, those thin rays of light seemed to be able to consume lightning and didn’t change at all.

Wei Sheng changed expression. His strike just now had almost been at his peak power after gathering his power yet it could not do anything to the enemy.

So strong!

Wei Sheng looked closely at Chief Elder wrapped up in the shen glyph. He could feel the other’s gaze had landed on him.

Wei Sheng did not feel any fear, but felt as though his spirit was burning inside his body!

How fortunate to encounter such a powerful opponent!

———

Zuo Mo was also greatly shocked.

He had never thought that someone’s skill with shen glyphs could reach such a terrifying level. Eldest Shixiong’s last strike which he had accumulated power for was something he was already stunned by. Yet that astounding blow could not affect the enemy at all.

The difference between the two was immediately seen!

The time did not allow him to think further.

This battle today would determine Mo Cloud Sea’s fate!

Zuo Mo took a deep breath, his fighting spirit reaching a peak. He shouted angrily, “Kill!”

He led the charge towards Chief Elder, A Gui followed close behind. Everyone else flew downwards, each of them searching for an opponent. A battle of this level was not something they could participate in. The seats and ring masters on the ground were their targets.

The battle immediately became a deadlock.

This was the largest battle of experts since the Sky-Splitting Calamity!

On this small battlefield were almost all the experts of Tian Huan and Mo Cloud Sea. The Abyss Jail Battalion were being squeezed out of this battle. Their strength was not effective in a battle of this level. The reverberations of every collision between these experts were unendurable for cultivators of their level.

It had nothing to do with resolve.

The density of experts in this little camp reached an astounding level. The battle was fierce, waves of air that were as hard as steel raking the ground repeatedly like a plough. Any large rocks were shattered and then pulverized to dust.

The constant explosions did not stop.

There was only one place in the entire camp that was so silent there was no sound.

The center of the camp!

In the sky above the camp, three figures formed a triangle that surrounded the chief elder wrapped up in the shen glyph.

The four people faced off like this without a word.

Zuo Mo’s shen power rippled. The shen equipment he worse could not tolerate sun shen power of this intensity. It turned into a drops of fire and fell from Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo’s upper body was bare to the air. There seemed to be a layer of golden liquid over his body. His dark gold muscles were clearly defined and filled with strength. Dark gold sun glyphs floated up in his eyes. He seemed magnificent and indifferent.

The chain mark on A Gui’s forehead gave off faint light. The purple energy in her eyes were so dense it was almost tangible. There was a faint layer of purple flames over the grey crystal-like [Undying Ghost] wrapped around her body. The flames burned silently. She seemed to be hidden in deep darkness. She was floating there, but one was unable to lock onto her actual location.

Wei Sheng still stood just like before. The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand was like beast with its great maw open as it panted.

Breath, hiss, breath, hiss … …

The strange breathing carried soul-shaking power.

Only Wei Sheng could clearly feel the blood sword in his hand had become excited. It was clear that the enemy in front of him made it feel interested.

A powerful bloodthirsty impulse rose from the depths of his mind and attacked Wei Sheng’s mind.

Wei Sheng’s mind did not show any weakness. His hand tightly gripped the excited and restless God-Killing Blood sword.

The great vicious sword in his hand could not affect his mind at all.

His gaze was tightly locked onto Chief Elder shrouded in the impenetrable shen glyph.

Chapter 836 – Lil’ Fire

Chief Elder praised, “Mo Cloud Sea is really full of tigers and dragons, Tian Huan has tens of thousands of disciples yet there is just one that is at Xian Er’s level. I hadn’t expected Mo Cloud Sea to have more than three. Even this old man is jealous.”

Zuo Mo said with a snicker, “Why be jealous. If Chief Elder comes to Mo Cloud Sea, to say of nothing else, you can pick your position. Also, Chief Elder’s shen glyph study will definitely be spread far and wide.”

Zuo Mo’s tone was teasing, yet his expression was still cold and authoritative. It gave people a strange feeling of dissonance.

Chief Elder shook his head and laughed, “Mister Zuo is really funny. After today, Mo Cloud Sea will turn from prosperity into stagnation and decline. The future is not as bright as Tian Huan. If you will join Tian Huan, I am willing to abdicate the position of Chief Elder.”

Zuo Mo sighed softly. “I have always admired people of grandmaster level like Chief Elder, and never thought that I would face one in battle. We really have to sigh at fate. This one was thinking that if Tian Huan lost the Chief Elder, lost Li Xian Er, then what would it be like?”

Both sides were smiling as they spoke as though they were lamenting over fate. Yet their words were blades as they used their speech to put the other under greater pressure.

Chief Elder laughed. “Mister Zuo is right, today’s battle is about the fate of us both. If I die, Tian Huan will decline, and if Mister Zuo dies, Mo Cloud Sea will be defeated without any need to attack. Mister Zuo is too confident, you should not have come yourself! This old man does not think of returning alive today, Mister Zuo, do not have hopes.”

Zuo Mo said amusedly with a dark expression. “Anyone can speak the words, if there aren’t a thousand people that wants ye’s life, there’s at least eight hundred. Old man, if you are able, come! Ye’s waiting!”

The presence on the two sides continued to rise.

At this time, everyone knew that speech was unable to affect their enemy. Both sides had strong resolve. This was fated to be a battle where only one side would be left standing.

Wei Sheng’s gaze was as sharp as a sword. He held the God-Killing Blood Sword, streaks of blood covering it. The air seemed to be filled with the tang of blood.

Fighting spirit burned inside his body. The Chief Elder surpassed everyone he had ever met in strength. If he could survive the battle today, he would be able to advance another step on the path of the sword.

He had reached the border of a breakthrough by struggling in the killing essence sea of the God-Killing Blood Sword.

Suddenly, he knew that the battle in front of him was his chance to have a breakthrough.

The blood in his body seemed to pulse with the bestial breathing of the God-Killing Blood Sword. Wei Sheng’s emotions calmed and he suddenly spoke, “Shidi, let me try!”

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. However, when he saw Eldest Shixiong’s clear gaze, he immediately understood.

Eldest Shixiong wanted to use this battle to prove his sword path!

For some reason, Zuo Mo was filled with emotion. Eldest Shixiong was forever faithful to his heart, he persisted in his sword path, never knowing fear, and not fearing hardship.

”Shixiong, be careful!” Zuo Mo did not waste words. While he knew it was dangers, he knew Shixiong’s resolve when he saw Shixiong’s determined gaze.

This was the devoutness of a man, who had once been a lowly sword servant, to the sword!

There was no heated reverence, only silent persistence. Not immersed in power, not pursuing power above all else, from beginning to end, persisting in pursuing the path of his sword.

To the sword, to the heart!

This was his philosophy, this was his pursuit.

Looking at Eldest Shixiong standing tall, Zuo Mo suddenly thought of the jade scroll that Eldest Shixiong had given him back at Wu Kong Mountain.

The steely words inside, wasn’t that Wei Sheng Shixiong’s belief?

Zuo Mo was full of admiration. In this era where killing was a daily occurrence and people only spoke of benefits, the number of people like SHixiong that only pursued the belief in their hearts was so small it was almost negligible.

Wei Sheng slowly raised the blood sword in his hand.

Chief Elder shook his head. “Little Child, you are not a match for this old man.”

“I know,” Wei Sheng said gravely. “However, if I do not try, I will never know some things.”

Chief Elder was silent for a moment before saying, “It is fortunate that you are not a disciple of Kun Lun.”

Wei Sheng did not ask what Chief Elder meant. His shen power rippled as it was channeled to the limits. His gaze was grave, and the upraised God-Killing Blood Sword stabbed towards Chief Elder!

Without any flourish, no variation, just like a disciple that had just started to learn the sword, a simple and basic stab!

That this most basic and simple stab was filled with unparalleled beauty and balance.

It was as though all the light in the world was attracted by this simple movement.

The God-Killing Blood Sword in Wei Sheng’s hand gave out a seemingly joyful hum.

This unique hum seemed to pass into the depths of the ground. The camp under them started to tremble lightly.

The people that were fighting on the ground looked in shock at Wei Sheng in the sky with astounded gazes. Not just the ground, even the sky was trembling slightly at the same rhythm.

The entire area was shaking.

This light vibration was strange. It could easily permeate the body. Those that were slightly weak felt dizzy, and those that were stronger had expressions of terror.

A blood red sword energy that was not dazzling moved towards Chief Elder at a seemingly slow speed.

Chief Elder’s eyes brightened and he couldn’t resist praising, “Great strike! Without any adornment! On the true path of the sword!”

He had a sufficient prediction of Wei Sheng’s strength and hadn’t expected that this simple male  gave him such a great shock. This strike was not as blinding as Wei Sheng’s previous move but it was a level above.

Facing such a sword strike, he did not dare to be overconfident. He took a deep breath, the minuscule changes of the world passing to his mind through the shen glyph. A feeling of everything in the world was in his control formed.

“Sky open!”

A low shout came from the shen glyph covered figure.

Zuo Mo seemed to feel something. He raised his head to look at the sky and his pupils suddenly contracted. The sky rippled and soon, the ripples became stronger, and the sky seemed to boil.

This was … …

Zuo Mo gaped.

The boiling sky suddenly became dark. A vast starry sky appeared above his head.

The stars were moved!

This great power that only existed in the legends actually occurred in front of him. The two sides that had been fighting below paled and unconsciously stopped fighting.

At this time, several pinpoints of light appeared.

These lights came rapidly and was in front of them in a blink.

Boom!

In the sky, countless bright flames appeared like rain.

“Void Sky Li Fire!” Pu Yao exclaimed from within Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. His next sentence almost caused Zuo Mo to pause. “Quick, throw Lil’ Fire out!”

Throw Lil’ Fire out… …

Zuo Mo was confused by Pu Yao’s nonsensical words, but he reacted quickly. When he heard Pu Yao’s tone, he knew Pu was confident. He knew of the Void Sky Li Fire, a very powerful shen fire. The rumors said it only existed in the depths of the void, floating in the void as it silently burned for tens of thousands of years.

Was this … …

There was no time to think now. Pia, Lil’ Fire appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand.

Of all the little ones, Lil’ Fire and Lil’ Black were all guys that did not have any abilities to fight. Lil’ Black contributed because it had the ability to find treasure. Until now, Lil’ Fire’s only use was to act as Little Mo Ge’s fire sprouting stress ball when he was not in a good mood. The recent travels had been dangerous and Zuo Mo had been afraid of something happening to Lil’ Fire so he had kept Lil’ Fire safe in the ring.

Lil’ Fire ended up having a deep sleep in the ring, and its body became even rounder.

When Lil’ Fire appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand, it was sleeping happily.

Zuo Mo glanced and, snap snap snap, he worked his hand. Lil’ Fire’s body changed shape. It dazedly opened its eyes. Seeing it was Zuo Mo harassing him again, it was about to close its eyes again with an expression of contentment.

It appeared as though it would allow Zuo Mo to do as he pleased. In any case, it could sleep even while Zuo Mo poked and squeezed him like this.

Zuo Mo saw this and shouted, “Good son, wake up, go!”

Finishing, he threw Lil’ Fire towards the Void Sky Li Fire in the air!

The howling flow of air blew Lil’ Fire’s soft and bouncy body in waves.

So bothersome! If you want to squeeze, just squeeze, I was sleeping so well, and finally did not need to spend energy to keep away the demon of sleep, I have given you great face already … … ooh … … ooh … … this is … … ah! Ahah! … … What, what is this?

Lil’ Fire opened its eyes and was stunned.

Why … … after just a nap … … the world became so, so terrifying … …

It was cowardly to start with. The scene in front of it frightened it to almost turning and fleeing.

Yet before it could react, the first wisp of Void Sky Li Fire came in front of it.

Pew!

The Void Sky Li Fire entered Lil’ Fire’s round body, and Lil’ Fire’s round body froze.

An unprecedented feeling of satisfaction rose from its body. A warm flow spread through its entire body. This unparalleled feeling of contentment was like the most delicious food in the world that intoxicated it.

The Void Sky Li Fire that was summoned out of the endless void were like sharks that smelt blood and leapt towards Lil’ Fire.

Pew pew pew!

The Void Sky Li Fire entered Lil’ Fire’s round body like rain. Lil’ Fire seemed to be continuously hit, its body shaking violently like dize.

Its drunken expression froze on its face, oh, on its body.

With every wisp of Void Sky Li Fire that entered Lil’ Fire’s body, Lil’ Fire would grow slightly.

The amount of Void Sky Li Fire that Chief Elder had summoned was in the thousands of wisps. In a blink, Lil’ Fire’s body was ten times as large as before. It was like an inflated balloon. Its color was even brighter, it was red and extremely cute.

Every wisp of Void Sky Li Fire was like a current of warmth that spread through its body.

One wisp after another rushed towards it, Lil’ Fire was unable to react.

Such a beautiful feeling … …

Why did good fortune come so suddenly … … but, so it felt so full … …

Lil’ Fire who had just felt that the world had become terrifying upon opening its eyes was completely knocked senseless by the Void Sky Li Fire that came from the sky.

If it could sleep with this beautiful feeling of being full, everything would be perfect … …

The still dazed Lil’ Fire thought so, completely ignoring the countless upraise faces gaping at it from below.

Chapter 837 – Chief Elder Burning

Zuo Mo gaped as he looked up towards the super-sized Lil’ Fire that had expanded exponentially.

That was Void Sky Li Fire!

The Void Sky Li Fire that was said to burn for tens of thousands of years in the depths of space! Even Zuo Mo didn’t dare to carelessly touch the Void Sky Li Fire.

The shen fire of the sun was powerful and dominant. If one cultivated it to a high level, maybe the shen fire at the heart of the sun could be stronger than the Void Sky Li Fire. After all didn’t the sun burn for longer then tens of thousands of years?

But the sun shen fire inside Zuo Mo’s body at the moment was not as strong as these Void Sky Li flames.

Yet Lil’ Fire was able to consume Void Sky Li Fire!

While Zuo Mo had a feeling after hearing Pu Yao’s words, seeing this with his own eyes still gave him a fright. Goodness, it seemed that none of his sons were lacking!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel proud.

Chief Elder’s gaze became one of disbelief. This balloon like thing was able to swallow Void Sky Li Fire?

Other people may not know the power of the Void Sky Li Fire, but how could he not? When he was able to summon the Void Sky Li Fire out of the depths of space, he spent great energy in the hopes that he could tame the Void Sky Li Fire for his own use.

The Void Sky Li Fire came from the deepest parts of the void and was one of the few shen fires in the universe.

Yet no matter how he tried, he could not tame the Void Sky Li Fire. The Void Sky Li Fire had many traits of the void, yet its fire was extremely fierce. He had tested it. No matter what he used, anything that touched even the tiniest bit of Void Sky Li Fire would be burned into ash and then into emptiness.

Chief Elder thought of all the different ways to tame it, but came up with no solution. He could only use it as a killing move.

So when he saw the round Lil’ Fire was able to consume thousands of wisps of Void Sky Li Fire, he was dumbstruck.

Because Lil’ Fire was too fat, and round, Chief Elder did not recognize what Lil’ Fire was. However, one thing was undoubtedly true, a beast that was able to swallow Void Sky Li Fire was definitely a rare beast!

As expected, Zuo Mo had countless trump cards!

Chief Elder’s gaze landed unconsciously on Zuo Mo. This youth that did not look very special became even harder to measure in his eyes.

Yet he had no time to think. Without the Void Sky Li Fire, Wei Sheng’s strike had now arrived in front of him.

Chief Elder’s study of shen glyphs had reached the peak. While something unexpected had occurred, he was still confident in blocking this attack.

The void on top of his head disappeared to become the thick cloud layer again.

“Lightning!”

Hiss-crack, the entire cloud layer seemed to be woken up. Countless silver snakes danced and the sky became a bright white.

The shen glyphs around the chief elder suddenly lit up.

Boom-om-om!

A bolt of lightning the thickness of an arm came from the sky and accurately landed on Wei Sheng’s sword energy!

Boom-om-om!

In a flash, dozens of bolts of lightning landed on Wei Sheng’s sword energy.

Wei Sheng’s sword energy was destroyed with a snap by the dozen bolts of lightning.

Chief Elder sighed in relief. The sword energy had been a hundred zhang away from him, but it was still extremely dangerous. Truthfully, he had not underestimated Wei Sheng which was why he had started off with Void Sky Li Fire, but he hadn’t expected the move to be defeated so easily.

While the lightning had blocked the sword energy, Chief Elder knew he had lost the initiative.

As expected, Wei Sheng’s second sword energy had already reached him.

A sword energy seemed exactly the same as the one before gave off a heart-shaking light hum. But this was clearly stronger than before, and the blood colored sword energy was even more tangible!

Chief Elder’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his gaze became serious.

There was a thin layer of darkness on the edges of the blood red sword. Those that were slightly careless would have a hard time finding it. However, Chief Elder knew the feeling of this thin layer of darkness too well!

The endless void!

Wei Sheng had manifested the endless void in his sword essence!

He was astounded.

Boom!

The lightning in the clouds landed constantly on the sword energy. Yet these powerful lightning bolts disappeared without a trace when they touched the sword energy. The sword energy was unharmed.

That thin layer of darkness was like a bottomless hole. All of the lightning was sucked inside.

As expected

Chief Elder knew that his guess had been right. This youth shocked him. This was a strong person to reach such a level at such a young age!

Chief Elder was full of emotion. Mo Cloud Sea was so full of vitality that Kun Lun was probably the only one that could rival it.

He felt slight envy.

This thread of envy only swirled in his mind for a moment before disappearing to be replaced by great murderousness!

If these genius youths really grew their wings, it would be the end of Tian Huan. Only now, when these youths had not finished their transformation, killing them would guarantee Tian Huan’s future.

The chief elder did not feel any more affection for that youthful talent, only tangible killing intent!

He grew up in Tian Huan from childhood, and his love for Tian Huan was deep in his bones.

If only opportunities could come from sacrifice, if only the future could come from sacrifice, if only sacrifice could awaken Tian Huan’s resolve and fighting spirit, then use his blood!

For Tian Huan!

Chief Elder raised his head, his gaze becoming steel. Age seemed to be far from him in this moment. In this moment, he thought back to the years where he had been full of spirit, when he had been together with his fellow disciples, recalling the oaths that they had all sworn to each other, to protect Tian Huan … …

Those unfamiliar yet familiar faces were a distant memory now. He was the only one still living.

The oaths of the past seemed to ring in his ear.

In the wild wind, the emaciated chief elder straightened just like when he had been young.

Surging presence spread without restraint like water coming out of a dam.

He was like a burning ball of flame, so bright people could not look straight at him!

Inside the shen glyph, Chief Elder pointed towards the sword energy flying towards him.

Hiss!

Three slender bright rays of light reached out of the shen glyph and furiously grew in the direction of the sword energy. They wove around each other at a lightning fast speed!

Only Zuo Mo could see clearly the structure the three rays of light wove in the air was a certain script!

The three rays of light were too fast, and looked like one ray.

Snap!

The ray of light accurately hit the sword energy. What astounded Zuo Mo even more was that the ray of light quickly wrapped around the sword energy like a vine. They wove in a profound pattern hard to describe.

The endless void that could consume all was securely restrained by those slender rays.

In a blink, the rays of light had bound the sword energy.

Snap!

The sword energy and the rays around the sword energy exploded in unison.

Yet the snapped rays of light did not seem to be affected, and darted towards Wei Sheng!

Wei Sheng was dazzled. Chief Elder’s attacks almost didn’t have any patterns. He used all kinds of shen glyphs and seal scripts to their limits. He had mastery of them, and the variations were profound! Before this, he had never thought that seal scripts and shen glyphs could be used like this. If he was looking at the battle as a bystander, he probably couldn’t help but sigh in praise.

Yet he was fighting the other. If this was a person that had slightly weaker resolve, they probably could not avoid feeling fear at the chief elder’s unpredictable moves.

Wei Sheng didn’t feel any fear. His personality was strong, the greater the hardship, the stronger he became.

Taking a deep breath, he lowered his eyes slightly.

He hadn’t thought that he would use this move so soon … …

He knew that Chief Elder was stronger than him, and he had been prepared for the hardship of this battle. However, he still hadn’t thought that he would have to use his ultimate move so soon.

The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand seemed to feel Wei Sheng’s fighting spirit and became even more restless.

The thick tang of blood spread from the sword. Wei Sheng’s surroundings seemed tinged by blood. The thick and terrifying color of blood spread outwards at a rapid speed.

In a blink, everyone seemed to be inside a bloody hell.

The sky was dyed by blood, the ground was lifeless, bone-aching killing essence was mixed in the wind that completely chilled the bones.

The peerless vicious sword that had existed for tens of thousands of years finally showed its glory!

Wei Sheng’s expression became grave, his bloody glass-like eyes without the ease and calm of before, but was a blood sea that was surging!

Snap snap snap!

The blood colored wave of air exploded outwards with Wei Sheng at the center. All the rays of light that came towards them snapped along their lengths.

Chief Elder’s expression didn’t even shift at such a scene.

When the vicious bloody wave of air came in front of him, he didn’t even move a finger. The wave of air suddenly crumbled and disappeared as though it hits the beach.

Chief Elder’s gaze was burning. He was burning shen power without any regard for the price. The shen glyph around his body was truly perfect for the first time!

A perfection that only existed in theory was actually able to be realized. An unprecedented feeling of strength filled his body!

Everyone in the world was within his grasp!

He could detect the strength of Wei Sheng, he was stronger than before. The presence given off by the blood sword was like the vast and vicious presence of an ancient wasteland beast. If it had been a moment before, he would be shocked, but now, he didn’t feel any surprise.

Because he was even stronger.

Not just the power of Wei Sheng’s blood sword, even if the three fought together, even if everyone else attacked together, he did not fear them.

The entire world was in his grasp!

Shen glyphs, that was the true path of heaven!

If the shen glyph was perfect, it could control a jie, it could form a jie, it was omnipotent, it was invincible!

What he had pursued for a lifetime had finally been realized by his own hands today. A feeling of joy came from the depths of his heart. This perfect shen glyph had reached its tentacles into every corner of this jie. Every miniscule change in this jie appeared in his mind.

In this jie, he was the true master!

The legends said that the strongest of the ancient era could destroy the word, pick moon, and move stars.

At this moment, he finally stepped into that legendary level!

He could not restrain his laughter at the joy in his heart.

“Hahaha … …”

His laughter was not loud, yet it passed into every corner of this jie in a moment. The entire jie could hear it.

Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er’s expression changed at the same time.

The two had complete shen power inheritances. They knew what this was. Even among the ancients, there were not many that had reached this level.

The level of a god!

Chapter 838 – I Am The King of Mo Cloud Sea!

Zuo Mo and Ceng Lian’er exchanged a look and saw the shock in each other’s eyes.

The realm of a deity!

How many years had it been since someone so strong had appeared?

Just the power that Chief Elder showed right now was not something that a person could defeat! The legends said that those who stepped into this level would easily destroy or lock down a jie!

Terrifying!

Zuo Mo who never feared anything couldn’t stop a thread of terror from rising right now. The Chief Elder’s emaciated figure seemed to take over the entire sky and gave people a feeling of great pressure. Even Eldest Shixiong’s presence that increased constantly paled in comparison.

In the opposite of the shock on Zuo Mo’s side, Tian Huan’s members were overjoyed. They looked at Chief Elder in the air and wanted to kneel and worship.

Wei Sheng could also feel the strength of the enemy.

Previously, he was able to lock onto the other’s presence. At present, Chief Elder appeared just the same as before, but he found that no matter how hard he tried, he could not lock onto Chief Elder’s body. Chief Elder seemed to be one with the world and showed no traces.

The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand furiously trembled.

It furiously trembled as though it was trying to break free of Wei Sheng’s hand.

But Wei Sheng’s hand was like rock, motionless.

He could feel that the endless ocean of blood inside the God-Killing Blood Sword was roaring angrily, the entire ocean rippling, the waves thousand of zhang high!

The world inside the sword had completely come alive.

Under the stimulation of a god-level power, the God-Killing Blood Sword was completely infuriated. It was like a bloodthirsty and vicious monster that was provoked.

It had drank the blood of countless great warriors and would not fear a god-level expert!

How could it fear!

Wei Sheng raised the God-Killing Blood Sword and held it across his body. He murmured towards the sword, “Are you also unwilling!”

Vroom!

The light of the sword suddenly exploded!

Wei Sheng’s vision was covered by endless bloody light. The bloody light shot straight into the sky.

Within the blood light, Wei Sheng saw countless scenes.

An ordinary sword was bathed by the blood of the fallen warriors, and started to gain a thread of intelligence.

Fighting, killing, and drinking blood.

The cycle repeated and it became stronger and stronger.

Blood made it greedy, blood made it cruel and savage. It liked the taste of the power in the blood, it like strength, it liked winning and bathing in blood after winning.

It had changed hands many times, it had been sealed, it had faced destruction.

It never knew fear, it never bowed its head, it was savage and blood thirsty, it never cared to be acknowledged by others, it was proud and rebellious!

God-Killing Blood Sword!

This name was its glory, and it also gave it a soul. After that, god killing became its destiny, one god-level warrior after another slain and drained of their blood.

A loneliness of tens of thousands of years, it was like a monster sleeping.

Wei Sheng’s astounding resolve finally received its acceptance. It woke up from its deep sleep, but it looked down on the fights.

When Kun Lun’s Immemorial Sword finally appeared again, it was completely awakened.

The desire to fight once again caused it to show its hidden edges, edges hidden for thousands of years.

Today, it countered the first god-level warrior in ten thousand years, it shook, it was excited, it was furious. The desire and greed after a sleep of ten thousand years completely exploded.

“You are also not willing?”

Wei Sheng’s words suddenly pulled her to that great and magnificent ancient era.

Its glory!

The power that had slept for ten thousand years, it rebelliousness, its fighting spirit, it exploded like a volcano!

Willing?

No!

How could it be willing!

A vicious shout exploded in Wei Sheng’s mind.

God-Killing! Just these two words made it excited!

He felt the bone-aching killing intent from the sword and the desire of the blood sword over ten thousand years.

Wei Sheng said in a deep voice, “If that’s the case, then let us fight together!”

Boiling hot blood flowed from the hilt of the sword into Wei Sheng’s body like burning lava. Wei Sheng did not refuse. He knew the fight this time was a matter of life and death, not just for him, but for Zuo Mo and the others.

Chief Elder that was at the peak of his power definitely had the goal of killing all of Mo Cloud Sea’s experts!

If all the experts here were killed by Chief Elder, Mo Cloud Sea would immediately crumble.

This was not the time to spar, but to fight for life!

The blood that burrowed into his blood contained wild power. This was a mixture of countless god-level experts mixed together. After settling for tens of thousands of years, the power contained did not lessen one bit, but had merged together to become even stronger.

For the present Wei Sheng, the blood that contained savage but terrifying power was a great poison.

But at this time, Wei Sheng did not refuse.

Usually, he was willing to struggle in the blood sea to temper and comprehend his sword essence and was unwilling to accept this power. What he aimed for was the way of the sword, and not strength. He wanted to see the extreme of the sword.

Yet at this time, they were forced to a precipice.

The difference in power between the two sides was too great. He had never thought that the Chief Elder would burn himself without regard for the consequences. There was only one result from doing this, all of his power collapsing.

But Chief Elder would be able to kill all of them before his power disappeared.

He allowed the burning hot blood to circulate furiously through his body. The strong feeling of burning produced in an instant almost destroyed his resolve.

Wei Sheng made a muffled grunt, and his straight body shook.

Beads of blood seeped out of pores all over his body, forming a layer of blood from head to toe.

The sticky blood moved along his body.

———

Zuo Mo’s eyes were filled with shock.

He had expected that this battle would be hard, but hadn’t expected for it to be so hard! Chief Elder’s strength did not shock him, what did shock him was Chief Elder’s resolve.

This was the part where he had guessed wrong.

He hadn’t thought that Chief Elder was willing to die with them!

This was an old man worthy of admiration!

Zuo Mo looked at the thin figure in the sky. In everyone’s eyes, this thin figure was unusually vast now. This person who would give up his life for Tian Huan was worthy of the respect of the world.

No one had thought that when the previous experts of the world had declined due to the renewal of the power system, one had not declined with them. The Chief Elder was the only top expert that stood at the peak of the world in both eras, and he was still at the top in the era of shen power!

He had spent decades in seclusion to create Tian Huan’s shen glyph art.

Even if they were enemies now, Zuo Mo respected Chief Elder.

So powerful!

But right now, Zuo Mo did not have the time to reflect. It was a time of life and death. His gaze as he looked into the sky quickly became twisted! Became vicious!

If they could not stop Chief Elder, everyone would die, die here!

No one would be able to escape!

The strength of the two sides were not on the same level!

Everyone … … would die!

This conclusion battered at Zuo Mo’s mind. His gaze swept across Chief Elder, his body couldn’t help but shake, the blood flooding into his head.

Eldest Shixiong … … was going all out!

No!

No … …

His dazed gaze swept across A Gui, Silly Bird, Ceng Lian’er, Zong Ru … …

He had said he would protect A Gui, he had said he would protect everyone … …

The one putting his life on the line should be him.

This was his duty.

These two sentences echoed in Zuo Mo’s mind. His eyes quickly became bloodshot.

Zuo Mo’s head was lowered as he spoke to himself, as though he was sleeptalking, “The one putting their life on the line should be me! This is my duty!”

He repeated firmly, “Yes, it should be my life, this is my duty!”

“I want to protect A Gui! I want to protect everyone! I want to protect Mo Cloud Sea!”

His voice was like steel.

He raised his head, blood spread through his eyes in spider-webs. He suddenly spread his arms and shouted with all of his strength.

“I am the king of Mo Cloud Sea!”

“I am the king of Mo Cloud Sea!” “I am the king of Mo Cloud Sea!” “I am the king of Mo Cloud Sea!”

The echo of his shout echoed in the clouds and across the battlefield.

Zuo Mo’s bloodshot eyes stared at Chief Elder without any respect or terror. What was there was only burning fighting spirit and resolve. His hidden resolve drowned his mind like a flood.

Come!

Old man!

Zuo Mo bared his teeth. His body gave off countless golden flames. He furiously channeled his shen power and also urged on the sun shen crystal.

The sun shen crystal still revolved slowly, the essence of the sun dripping out of it and entering Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo was filled with power, and his shen power became wild and dangerous!

Old man, you think you’re the only one willing to burn!

Zuo Mo’s shen power started to burn like a fire.

“Come! Old Man!”

Zuo Mo gritted out with a twisted expression. His eyes were filled with blood, he seemed to be mad. The burning shen power was a fire that raged through his body, causing the flames of his body to grow greatly.

The burning sun shen power burned fiercely. He was like the sun in the sky shining down brightly!

No! Not enough! This wasn’t enough!

The shen power in his body was already burning to its limits. The only thing he could get more power from was the sun crystal seed, but no matter how he pushed the sun crystal seed, it still revolved slowly!

You damned ball!

Quicker … …

Damn it!

Zuo Mo’s remaining composure told him that the present him was still not as powerful as Chief Elder!

Not enough! Still not enough!

Urgency caused Zuo Mo to become reckless. He furiously channelled his burning shen power to batter at the sun crystal steed.

He could not let A Gui die! He could not let everyone die!

No!

Not even if he died!

Zuo Mo completely disregarded everything else, these words the only ones in his mind.

The sun crystal seed was still slowly spinning. It had increased in speed but it could not satisfy his need. At the end of his tether, Zuo Mo was like a furious lion. He did not use his shen power to urge on the sun crystal seed but used his burning shen power to furiously attack the sun crystal seed!

Power! I want more power!

The shen power inside his body attacked at an astounding rate. A crack finally appeared on the surface of the sun crystal seed!

Completely berserk, Zuo Mo didn’t stop and attacked the sun crystal seed with his shen power even more crazily.

The crack gradually grew bigger.

Snap!

The sun crystal seed suddenly shattered!

Chapter 839 – A Reason To Fight

“I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea!”

“I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea!”

Chief Elder did not hear the echoing voice.

Chief Elder was extremely excited. He had stepped into the level of a god, it was hard to describe the feeling of mastering everything in the world. This filled his mind.

But what drew his attention was not the joy at stepping into god-level but shen power! Because Chief Elder suddenly found that everything in the world was in his control, even the burning shen power inside his body was in his control

The mysteries that had been hard to comprehend were clear in his mind, countless rules of he world flowed through his mind. Many mysteries he had had been puzzled by were now clear.

A completely new level, a completely new vision.

His mind suddenly shifted and he once again reviewed his body.

Countless new sensations appeared in his mind. His mind moved and the shen glyph inside his body silently changed. The furiously burning shen power stabilized quickly.

Yes, stabilize!

Moments ago his shen power had been uncontrollably burning, it was now stable without any of the previous feeling of being out of control. As the shen glyph stabilized, his wounded body was repaired. At the same time, the impurities in his blood and flesh were quickly refined by his burning shen power. His blood, flesh, sinews were recombined again to form a strange shen glyph.

A glyph using his body!

An unprecedented feeling of strength filled every part of his body.

So this was how it was! So this was how it was!

If Chief Elder didn’t know what was going on now, then he wasn’t the Chief Elder! Great joy spread through his mind. He looked at the world that had completely changed, he cried in joy.

Who would have thought that the key to entering god-level was burning shen power!

He had searched for this crucial step for so many years. He had managed to stumble onto this after deciding to sacrifice himself. Only by burning shen power could he break through the restraints of power and step into god-level.

There had only been fragmented records of god-level. Most of them spoke about how powerful and strong those warriors were, but never anything tangible. Chief Elder didn’t know what god-level was like. As the only remaining top fighter from the era of ling power, the foundations he had accumulated were so deep that few could compare. He was only one step away from god-level.

Yet that step had seemed so far away.

Only when he truly stepped into god-level did he understand the great power of god-level and the feeling of everything in the world in his control.

In this brief while, all of the damage caused by burning his shen power had been repaired. His cultivation quickly stabilized. His body became even stronger. He only needed a bit more time and he would become even more powerful!

Because he knew how to have his shen power grow quickly.

God-level, this was a dividing line.

Only god-level experts could count as the top tier shen power experts!

No wonder Chief Elder cried in joy. He had already prepared himself for sacrifice. He hadn’t expected that he didn’t need to sacrifice himself, he had become the first god-level expert in ten thousand years.

Tian Huan!

Tian Huan was now the top power!

Entering god-level, his longevity would greatly increase and could be more than three thousand years.

He could protect Tian Huan for three thousand years!

For the present, shen power experts were the strongest strategic fighters. As long as he did not die, even Kun Lun would not dare to act against Tian Huan. A god-level expert could restrain and destroy a jie on their own! The difference between god-level and those below god-level was an abyss that was uncrossable. It could not be made up by sheer numbers.

Just he alone could slaughter this group from Mo Cloud Sea.

“Hahaha!”

Even a person as serene as Chief Elder couldn’t help but roar with laughter.

Suddenly, Chief Elder made a surprise sound. His gaze moved from Wei Sheng to Zuo Mo, his pupils expanding.

Zuo Mo’s eyes were empty as though his soul was sucked away.

Not good!

Chief Elder’s expression changed slightly. A strong feeling of danger rose. Before he could react, his vision lit up.

Boom!

A burning pillar of fire shot into the sky from where Zuo Mo stood. The entire sky seemed to light up, the thick black clouds in the sky igniting like cotton and were quickly burned away by the golden fire.

The black night was driven away, and a sun slowly rose.

Birdsong suddenly came from within the golden pillar of light. Nine three-footed golden crows flew around the pillar of fire.

Inside the pillar of fire, Zuo Mo’s clothing was torn, his body that seemed to be made from golden liquid floating in the pillar. That pair of empty eyes stared at Chief Elder.

Astounding fire exploded out of Zuo Mo’s body. All of the fire in this pillar of fire had come from Zuo Mo’s body.

Such a domineering flame!

Such powerful shen power!

Chief Elder’s expression changed. The pillar of fire seemed to be like a sun! If it went out of control, this jie would turn into a sea of fire no one would be able to escape!

But then Chief Elder’s expression recovered. He did not care if this jie existed or not.

His gaze held slight pity, it really was a pity that a genius like this was fated to die at his hands. Burning his shen power  like this was clearly beyond the limits that Zuo Mo could tolerate. There would only be one result, burning into dust. They both burned their shen power, the reason that Chief Elder could enter god-level was because he had a foundation built over centuries. Zuo Mo had not accumulated enough, and burning like this would only lead to his death.

But standing out in a time of danger, as expected of the king of Mo Cloud Sea to have such a sense of responsibility.

Chief Elder admired Zuo Mo greatly. If Tian Huan had a disciple like this, he would definitely nurture the other.

Pity, he was not a disciple of Tian Huan … …

Chief Elder completely relaxed. Zuo Mo was fated to die. The greatest threat to Tian Huan was finally resolved. Having lost Zuo Mo, even if Mo Cloud Sea didn’t have to face Tian Huan, they would still end up collapse due to internal conflicts.

Chief Elder was filled with confidence in his strength.

A faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

———

“Young Master!”

A Gui stared at the flaming figure and her eyes could not move away.

She did not hesitate. Purple flames climbed onto the bone armor.

Silent purple fire gave off astounding presence.

The purple fire grew stronger, the presence even more terrifying. Her gaze was locked on to Zuo Mo, her expression calm, a faint smile on her mouth.

She was not panicking, she was not sad, she was not in pain, her eyes seemed to see through the world and were as still as water.

No matter what would happen today, she would follow Young Master.

Never abandoning!

Even if they died, dying together was still a kind of good fortune.

Snap snap snap!

The purple chains that represented the Undying Shen Punishment snapped from the middle.

The snapped purple chains burrowed out of A Gui’s body and wrapped onto the flame-covered purple armor like snakes.

The space around her was slowly being swallowed by the purple flames.

Endless darkness spread from that small figure restrained and covered in purple flames.

Grey and white slowly took over the eyes, but her gaze did not leave the figure within the flames.

I’m willing to descend into darkness and be chained, just to be with you.

———

Ceng Lian’er looked at the sky. Shock slowly disappeared from her face. The terrifying presence of the four people above almost suffocated her.

The Tian Huan disciples could not tolerate such presence and had almost all left the battlefield.

The presence was too strong, that presence that was like the world pressing down was suffocating.

But Ceng Lian’er and the other Mo Cloud Sea experts did not retreat.

Staring at Zuo Mo within the fire, Ceng Lian’er suddenly smiled. She said to herself, “Why am I still participating? This guy is about to die, in the future, there will no longer be any paired cultivation. This battle is worthless, there is really no reason … …”

Tilting her head and thinking for a while, Ceng Lian’er spoke again, “Oh, as a mo, it is the greatest embarrassment to flee the battle, mo will fight while betting their life. Alright, for the glory of the mo, this reason is pretty good … …”

“There’s no more paired cultivation, this old man should die, oh, this is also a good reason … …”

“Mo Cloud Sea’s people aren’t bad, that guy isn’t bad, this reason is also pretty good … …”

“Oh, so hard, fine, I’m too lazy to think, these reasons are enough!”

Ceng Lian’er raised her head, and straightened her body. Her dark red dress that was slightly damaged flapped without any wind. She was like the rose in winter. Even at such a dangerous time, her beauty that could turn the world upside down was unable to be dismissed.

Ceng Lian’er’s presence continued to rise!

A cool crescent moon appeared behind her back.

Snap!

The crescent moon snapped into countless pieces that flew into Ceng Lian’er’s body.

Ceng Lian’er trembled violently. Her closed eyes and her fluttering long eyelashes showed she was enduring great pain at the moment.

Moments later, her body stopped trembling and she calmed.

A seductive smile appeared on the corner of her mouth like a winter rose blooming.

She opened her eyes, and two crescent moons flashed in them.

———

Zong Ru looked into the sky, his gaze like warm sunlight as he smiled softly.

That voice which had been determined and grave even in the thunder and wind still seemed to echo in his mind.

“Zong Ru wishes, forsaking the path to Buddhahood, to use this body as a vajra to protect Daren.”

A Buddha Abandonment Death Wish

With the body of a vajra, protecting Daren!

This sentence had been carved into his heart.

He could not watch as Daren sacrificed himself to protect him.

Protecting Daren was his duty.

Zong Ru reached out a thin hand.

Circles of sutra characters seemed to wrap onto his arm like bandages. Starting from his fingers, to his arm, to his shoulder, and then his entire body, one circle after another that unravelled and flew out.

With the Three Manifestation Treasure Staff in hand, Zong Ru’s expression was dignified as a great presence erupted.

Chapter 840 – This Is Mo Cloud Sea!

“Wo Li, it’s time to fight for our lives.” Luo Li smiled helplessly.

“Alright,” Wo Li acknowledged, her cold and beautiful face unaffected.

“I might die, you won’t even smile for me? Before death, leave a beautiful memory, this way, the sacrifice will have meaning!” Luo Li complained. It had been a long time since he had seen Wo Li smile.

“If we are dead, one will not have memories,” Wo Li said coolly.

“Uh, you’re right, so sad!” Luo Li spread his hands with a distressed expression.

“Fight!” Wo Li flew up like a sword coming out of its sheath with its naked edges.

“Other than being able to fight side by side with Wo Li which comforts me, there really isn’t anything else that I anticipate. Ah, this way, Shixiong will definitely scold me for putting women before friends!” Luo Li muttered to himself.

Wo Li stopped walking. She turned her face and stared at Luo iI for a long time.

“Before death, do you have anything to say to me?” Luo Li had an expression of anticipation.

“Yes.” Wo Li nodded.

Luo LI was overjoyed. “Quick, speak, speak!”

“Your shixiong is right.” Wo Li said.

Luo Li had a dazed expression as he froze where stood.

Moments later, he reacted and shook his head as he smiled. He raised his head to look towards Zuo Mo in the sky. He couldn’t help but think of the time back at Wu Kong Mountains. He bullied Shixiong and then was beaten like a dog by Shixiong … …

Oh, he was actually missing … … so embarrassing … … oh, actually that time where everyone had been in bedrest after the Sword Test Conference … … those days had been pretty good. He had never seen them in such a sorry state after that… …

He thought of how he had cried when he saw Shixiong after all the hardship and being imprisoned by the mo … … so embarrassing … …

Luo Li gazed at Zuo Mo.

Why do you have to charge at the front?

Really, you are usually such a clever person, ah, really nothing could be done! Alright, since you are charging, then what else can I do?

I can’t really let Wo Li say that I put women above friendship, that would be such a loss of face … …

There seemed to be something burning in his chest. Luo Li suddenly smiled and shouted, “Wo Li!”

“Hm?” Wo Li turned her head.

“Burn!” Luo Li said viciously. There was fire burning in the youth’s eyes.

“Hm.” Wo Li acknowledged.

Another one!

Chief Elder was slightly shocked. It was already unexpected that Zuo Mo was burning shen power this way. To do something so suicidal requires great courage. But he saw many of these people from Mo Cloud Sea burning their shen power one after another.

This gave him an even greater shock!

Don’t these people know that they would die?

They didn’t need to do this. With Wei Sheng and Zuo Mo, there was a large chance they would stop him. The rest had a great possibility of escaping with their lives.

Why were they doing this? Didn’t they know that these actions were meaningless?

Zuo Mo was fated to die. Mo Cloud Sea was fated to crumble. Their actions were like moths flying towards the flame, unable to win any chances for them.

Chief Elder could understand sacrifice, but he thought that sacrifice needed to have value, needed to have meaning. On this, Kun Lun was even more of an extreme. In the eyes of those mad people, they were one part of Kun Lun’s weight, if needed, they would throw themselves onto the scale to make up the balance.

Mo Cloud Sea was an unreasonable group of people!

For some reason, Chief Elder suddenly felt a chill. He felt something else from these Mo Cloud Sea people.

Unlike the mad obsession of Kun Lun.

Kun Lun’s madness came from continuously brainwashing their disciples over a long period of time. Kun Lun was a sect that made people shudder. In Kun Lun, the individual was forever insignificant. For Kun Lun, everyone could be sacrificed, no matter if you were willing or not.

This was a ruthlessness that was terrifying.

But these people here were not fanatics. You could not feel any madness from them usually. Sacrifice had almost never occurred at Mo Cloud Sea. Chief Elder had always thought that Mo Cloud Sea was a smaller version of Tian Huan. They were like Tian Huan, they cared about profit, just like a group of merchants counting on their fingers everyday what they could gain.

The rumors said that Zuo Mo had never done unprofitable business.

In Chief Elder’s view, Mo Cloud Sea’s viciousness was only a method for them to get more profit, just like their cunning.

Only now did Chief Elder understand that he was wrong, and ridiculously so. Mo Cloud Sea’s similarity with Tian Huan was only on the surface. Only when it was truly a time of life and death could one feel the great difference between the two.

Tian Huan were true merchants, Mo Cloud Sea only acted like merchants.

They were like a group of wolves.

When Zuo Mo, the wolf leader, decided to sacrifice himself, no one fled, everyone chose the same path.

Even if they knew that their choice to follow was not worth much, would not change much, even if they knew that this choice would lead them to all of their deaths.

But they still would choose this!

Because they had chosen to follow that figure!

Chief Elder didn’t know how Zuo Mo had done this. Personal charisma? Benefits? Favor?

It was a terrifying ability to unite people!

Chief Elder changed expression. He looked at the youth floating in the flames. He didn’t know how this youth was able to cause so many people to willingly give up their lives to follow him. Just as he didn’t know what gave these people such unity.

But he knew that the strength of this kind of power was so great that it could change many things.

Tian Huan did not have this power. Tian Huan had lost the power they had originally had.

The oaths of his youth, they had scattered in the wind.

Looking at the Tian Huan disciples that were panickedly fleeing, and comparing to these Mo Cloud Sea youths that were furiously burning their lives, a sorrow arose in Chief Elder. Today, he finally knew why Mo Cloud Sea could defeat Tian Huan.

Yes, Tian Huan’s failure was fated!

He finally understood. He didn’t have any joy left inside.

A sigh echoing in his mind, Chief Elder threw away his stray thoughts. His expression became grave. He decided that he would reconstruct Tian Huan’s banner, Tian Huan’s soul after this battle. Just like these Mo Cloud Sea youth in front of him, just like those youths who had sworn oaths alongside him!

For Tian Huan! For belief!

Come! King of Mo Cloud Sea!

Chief Elder bowed gravely towards Zuo Mo in the fire.

In a nondescript corner, many eyes looked at everything happening in the sky.

Their expressions were complex.

There was shock, respect, pity, murderousness, and relief.

Every person around him had some expression of respect on their faces. The people in the sky were worthy of their respect.

“I hadn’t thought that Mo Cloud Sea was so scary! Those people are mad! Fortunately for us Tian Huan old man has taken this for us. Otherwise, even if we are able to defeat Mo Cloud Sea, Mo Cloud Sea would be very strong before death!”

Lin Qian was silent. This battle had given him a great below.

Not just him, the other Kun Lun disciples around him were also astounded.

“Let’s first find Zhong De,” someone said.

“Yes, let them burn, while both sides are preoccupied, we will take the opportunity to kill Zhong De. The day that Kun Lun unites the land is not far away!” another disciple agreed.

Everyone nodded. In a battle as intense as this, it was certain both sides would be wounded. Kun Lun would become the only beneficiary. This was also when Zhong De’s defenses would be weakest. If they could kill Zhong De using this opportunity, Xi Xuan would descend into chaos.

They had planned this action for a long time. They had used almost all of their power to get here undetected. Their goal was the same as Tian Huan. Assassinate Zhong De! To ensure they could kill with one blow, Lin Qian had come.

If Zhong De died, Xi Xuan would fall into chaos!

Kun Lun would take the chance to replace them.

They hadn’t expected the situation to progress better than they had expected. Tian Huan and Mo Cloud Sea were fighting to such great lengths. The astounding unity that Mo Cloud Sea showed made even Kun Lun felt a great pressure.

After this battle, there will be no more Mo Cloud Sea!

These disciples who had their eyes on top of their heads couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

Lin Qian nodded. “Everyone scatter, be careful not to attract the attention of these people. When you find Zhong De, immediately sent a message back! Our target is still Zhong De! This is not the time to relax. Everyone, be alert, do not fail now.”

Everyone nodded and then disappeared.

Lin Qian did not move. He had come because he knew that Zuo Mo had a large number of experts. Right now, Zuo Mo and Mo Cloud Sea’s experts were completely drawn to Tian Huan Chief Elder. Zhong De’s defenses would be at their weakest and they did not need him.

His mind was completely drawn into this battle.

No one knew that the Immemorial Shen Sword in his hand was trembling continuously and seemed to resonate with something.

So this was Mo Cloud Sea … …

Zuo Mo’s mind was blank, everything around him golden. He seemed to be struggling in a sea of fire.

A long time later, he heard an almost imperceptible murmur.

“I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea!”

This murmur was too weak, so weak it could hardly be heard. But Zuo Mo heard it. For some reason, he heard it clearly. Yet his mind was not clear.

This voice was so familiar … …

So hot … … so painful … …

Where was this … …

“I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea!

King of Mo Cloud Sea?

These words seemed to have a certain power. Zuo Mo’s scattered thoughts gathered along with the words.

I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea … …

Zuo Mo could not open his eyes. His eyelids were as heavy as mountains. He felt as though his body was a volcano about to erupt. If he was the least bit careless, he would explode.

“I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea!”

Having recovered some clarity, Zuo Mo finally found the one who had been sleep-talking was himself.

Ha! He had not failed everyone … …

The emotions that came with the words caused him to feel slightly stronger.

Yes! I’m the king of Mo Cloud Sea!

I need to be clear-headed!

I need to forget!

I need to protect A Gui!

I need to protect everyone!

His mind scattered, Zuo Mo chanted repeated to himself.

His voice was weak but unconsciously grew more and more determined.

Power gathered in small streams, his scattered consciousness slowly gathering.

He used all of his strength to open his eyes. A thread of light entered his vision!

He smiled, smiled like a burning flame.

Come! Old Man!

Chapter 841 – Destruction

Chief Elder did not want to keep waiting. Mo Cloud Sea’s strength astounded him. While their reckless burning would lead to their deaths, but they were a great threat to him before their deaths.

Their combined strength when was unable to dismissed.

There were some names among these people that Chief Elder had never heard of before. In truth, before today, he even felt slightly dismissive towards Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng.

But now, all of that underestimation had faded. Everyone person in front of him was an opponent worthy of respect.

To die for their beliefs, they died in their appointed place.

Chief Elder lamented as his presence rose. The black clouds gathered again, thunder roaring as the ground suddenly split open. The great fissures appeared each was like a terrifying wound that split the earth, growing larger and larger.

The earth moved, the mountains shook, the sky changed color!

All of the Central Plains was in his grasp. Every stalk of grass, every tree, mountain rock, they were all weapons in his hands.

The long hair of the chief elder danced in the wind, countless bolts of lightning swimming around his body. His emaciated body was that of a god. A suffocatingly powerful presence was like a surging tide that battered at everything. The world trembled!

“Everything will end!”

Chief Elder murmured lightly as though he was sighing. He had decided to completely destroy this jie!

After today, there would be no more Central Plains!

The cracks on the ground grew bigger, the red lava erupted like the blood of the earth.

Boom boom boom!

Thick lightning flashed across the sky and then shot down to the ground. When they landed among the boiling lava, they lit up a sea of fire.

The scene was like the apocalypse. All the people in the Central Plains were in a panic. Terror quickly spread through the crowds, hopelessness appearing on their faces. The sky was dyed by the glow of lava. The unstoppable lightning destroyed all life.

All of the transportation formations had become ineffective. There was a great power that cut off the entire jie from the outside world.

Chief Elder looked expressionlessly at everything happening.

He had ignited the core of the jie. In ten hours, Central Plains would be completely destroyed, and all of the people in this jie would be destroyed as well.

Time to go!

As he stepped into god-level, he was able to survive in the endless void. He used shen glyphs to seal the Central Plain and ignite the center of the Central Plains. The enemy had to reach the god-level in order to break through. Otherwise, they would definitely be unable to escape this jie. There was only one fate, to die with the Central Plains.

He was not the one to create this move. In the ancient era, sealing a jie that had enemies was something frequently used against enemies that did not have a god-level expert. This move also had something else great about it. Even if the other could break through the restraints, they would be consumed by the endless void.

Those not in god-level could not survive in the endless void.

Even if these people burned themselves, they could not reach god-level.

Chief Elder was skilled in formations. He had left an imprint in Tian Huan. If he could flee into the endless void, he could quickly return to Tian Huan by homing in on the imprint.

He did not search for the disciples that came with him. He was completely disappointed with those disciples. If they could be like the youths of Mo Cloud Sea, he would have some hope.

As long as he was alive, five thousand years was enough for him to rebuild Tian Huan’s soul.

Ten thousand years ago, that world that had been erased by the strongest would rise again from his hands. He didn’t know what people in the future would write about him. However, so what? As long as he was present, Tian Huan would grow stronger. History was forever written by the victors.

History was in his hands!

“Old man, you think you can flee?”

A voice that was gritted through teeth interrupted his thoughts.

Chief Elder raised his head and what entered his eyes was a pair of eyes on fire. In the two balls of fire, what he saw was resistance and rebelliousness!

Chief Elder frowned slightly. Zuo Mo’s gaze was unusually penetrating.

Zuo Mo bore the bone-aching pain. The essence of the sun crystal seed rampaged through his body. The essence of the sun that was overwhelmingly abundant  was the power of the sun. Even if it was just a sun crystal seed, the power contained in it was not something that Zuo Mo could endure.

Even no one in the Sun Tribe dared to use it like this.

The god-level warrior of the Sun Tribe searched for an sun’s embryo in the void, and sealed it into a sun crystal seed. The sun crystal seed was thought of as the relic of the Sun Tribe and passed down through generations. Dozens of successors drew power from it.

No one had never dared to break the sun crystal seed.

Zuo Mo felt as though he was a ball of fire. Every inch of skin was burning.

Fortunately, the great pain made him focus. It made him able to focus more on Chief Elder. The golden flames that erupted out of his body and twisted the chief elder in his view to become twisted. However, in his unprecedented focus, he could clearly lock onto the other!

Want to leave?

Zuo Mo bared his teeth, whether in pain or disdain. His figure disappeared into the air.

A cold light flashed through Chief Elder’s eyes. A shen glyph appeared without warning on his side.

Boom!

A blurry ball of fame viciously hit the shen glyph.

The shen glyph crumbled with an explosion.

Chief Elder’s eye twitched. Then a ball of golden flame hit his waist!

Chief Elder’s figure disappeared in ripples.

Zuo Mo’s fist hit empty air!

Chief Elder’s figure appeared in the sky above and behind Zuo Mo. He pointed at Zuo Mo.

Boom boom boom!

Lightning flashed through the clouds and struck towards Zuo Mo.

Dozens of bolts of lightning gathered together and formed a thick and terrifying bolt of lightning that accurately hit Zuo Mo.

The golden flames around Zuo Mo sprayed out.

Zuo Mo did not seem to feel it, and leapt forward again.

At this time, Zuo Mo was completely in a berserk fury. His consciousness was burned blurry by the sun essence. He seemed to be struggling and floating in an endless sea of fire. There was only one thought in his dazed mind.

Kill the old man!

Kill the damned old man!

Zuo Mo’s eyes burned, the golden flames spitting. He suddenly turned around, his face enveloped in flames without any emotion. His right hand swung a great golden axe, his body bowing as he threw!

Within the flames, a sun shen axe suddenly shot out.

Chief Elder felt a thread of fear. His eyes narrowed. He didn’t seem to move, a shen glyph appeared in front of him, and perfectly blocked the shen axe.

Woosh!

The sun shen axe suddenly turned into many shen axes in the air. They covered the sky and the sun, tens of thousands of them!

Each sun shen axe burned with golden flames, trailing long tails of golden fight like a spectacular meteor shower!

This move was astounding in its presence yet Chief Elder did not feel any fear. With a cold snort, the shen glyph in front of him furiously spread in all directions.

In a blink, the shen glyph turned into an enormous net over fifty li long.

The sun shen axes landed like rain on the shen glyphs.

The shen glyphs trembled, the tens of thousands of blossoms of flame hanging on it burning intensely.

Zuo Mo saw his attack stopped and howled. An orange sun shen axe appeared in his hand and was thrown hard!

Woosh!

The orange sun shen axe was unusually detailed, covered in packed sun glyphs. A thread of golden fire hissed on the blade of the axe.

Such a detailed and well formed sun shen axe was definitely the strongest axe Zuo Mo had ever had created.

It was like burning piece of metal and immediately penetrated the shen glyph net.

Chief Edler’s face changed slightly. He reached towards the sun shen axe flying towards him. A shen glyph took form immediately. Then, the shen glyph split in the middle to form a black crack that quickly grew larger.

It was like a black mouth that swallowed the sun shen axe.

The endless void!

Compared to the Void Sky Li Fire that had been summoned of the endless void before, Chief Elder’s moves were multiple times stronger. He was masterfully using the endless void.

Chief Elder felt slightly relieved. The power inside Zuo Mo was strong, but he clearly did not know how to use it. He could not truly express the power.

Yet at this time, a vicious and sharp sword hum suddenly rose from behind the chief elder.

Chief Elder’s expression became grave!

Blood quickly permeated into Wei Sheng’s body like water sucked into sand. Wei Sheng’s eyes were closed, his determined face an unusual white. Even unconscious, his body was ruler straight.

There was an ancient character carved out of blood on each of his hands. Left hand “god,” right hand “killing”, it was the words “God-Killing”!

Unusually, there wasn’t any hint of blood on the sword in his hand. It was clean as though it had just been wiped down.

There wasn’t any tang of blood.

The unconscious body of Wei Sheng suddenly shuddered.

He slowly opened his eyes.

The eyes which had been like bloody glass now were without any blood. They were clear and transparent, except that the pupils had turned into the shape of the sword.

His eyes were two swords!

He floated in the air, the lava below his feet that had been shooting into the air seemed to be pushed down by an invisible hand.

The sword in his hand hummed lightly.

A vicious and bloodthirsty hum of the sword sounded through the entire jie!

The primitive and ancient presence contained a thick bloody tang that rushed into the surroundings like a flood.

In the air, Wei Sheng’s cold gaze landed on Chief Elder, the sword in his hand flashing with an eerie light. A cruel and cold smile floated at the corner of Wei Sheng’s mouth.

“The scent of a god … …”

The tone was filled with viciousness as though it was a completely different person. Before the sound ended, his body disappeared from the air.

In the next moment, he appeared in space.

The sky behind him seemed to be dyed red by blood. The sword shook, and sword essence fell down like a blood-colored waterfall!

Sword essence that had to be counted in the thousands completely shrouded Chief Elder!

Chief Elder felt his body tighten. His entire body was surrounded by a slight piercing pain. He felt a shudder. Thousands of tiny sword essence didn’t run astray at all!

All of the sword essences were targeted at him!

Such a powerful strike!

The right hand of Lin Qian who was hiding in the shadows trembled around its grip on his sword as a cold light flashed through his eyes.

Chapter 842 – Great Trouble

Wei Sheng’s strike was the blood-colored sword essence flowing like a great river, like a waterfall ten thousand zhang tall as it locked onto Chief Elder.

The thick tang of blood caused Chief Elder to unconsciously frown. His gaze locked onto the spotless sword in Wei Sheng’s hand, his expression grave.

That … … was not ordinary!

It probably was just a step behind Kun Lun’s Immemorial.

Chief Elder was slightly shocked. It was already shocking that Kun Lun had found the Immemorial Shen Sword, but he knew  the price Kun Lun had paid for Lin Qian’s Immemorial Shen Sword. The essence of Wei Sheng’s sword was not as pure as the Immemorial Shen Sword but its murderousness was so great he didn’t know how much blood it had drank to form.

He hadn’ t through such a vicious weapon existed in the world.

The vicious presence around Wei Sheng and the slightly evil expression were an extreme contrast from Wei Sheng’s previous state.

The sword soul had taken possession?

Wei Sheng was a person of such strong resolve. He definitely would not have been overcome so it was likely he had let the sword soul into his body … …

In a blink, Chief Elder understood and his wariness increased. He admired Wei Sheng. In terms of talent, among the young people Chief Elder had seen, Wei Sheng most likely wouldn’t even enter the top fifty. However, Wei Sheng had steel like resolve, a spirit that did not give up, that was what created his accomplishments.

His resolve had spread through his body.

A body like that could tolerate greater power.

In a flash, countless thoughts flashed through Chief Elder’s mind. He did not feel any fear. No matter if it was Zuo Mo or Wei Sheng, they did not have enough of a foundation accumulated. Forcibly raising their cultivation like this seemed powerful, but there was still not enough to compete with a true god-level.

Do not underestimate this hair-thin line. It was the difference of the sky to the earth. Their understanding of the world was not on the same level at all!

The effect of pure power without comprehension was not as great as they imagined.

They underestimated the god-level!

Numerous brown shen glyphs rose out of the ground under Chief Elder’s feet and grew upwards like vines.

A shen glyph wall suddenly rose from under his feet.

The waterfall of sword essence hit the shen glyph wall.

Boom!

A deafening sound.

Sword essence scattered. That thin shen glyph wall was unmoved. No matter how the sword essences charged, it did not move at all. It was the like the strongest rock along the ocean. No matter how strong or fierce the wave, they would turn into beads of water when they hit it and would not damage it at all.

Crack-crack-crack!

A spider-web of cracks rapidly appeared on the ground under the shen glyph. The cracks spread at a rapid rate.

Boom boom boom!

The sword essences continued the ferocious attack, and the shen glyph wall finally shook. Chief Elder’s expression changed slightly, light flashing through his eyes as his body suddenly disappeared from where he stood.

Boom!

The shen glyph wall finally could not withstand the attack and shattered.

The surging sword essence hit the ground hard.

The blood sword river entered the ground without any effort like a knife cutting tofu. Boom boom boom, great vibrations came from deep within the earth.

An enormous bottomless pit over ten li in diameter appeared on the ground.

Chief Elder narrowed his eyes, his heart shuddering.

What sword was that? How could it possess such pure power?

The reason the Immemorial Shen Sword was powerful was because its sword essence was pure, when it dominated the world, all bowed before it!

But this sword … … the sword essence could not be considered top tier, but such a savage and fiercely unreasonable power was really shocking!

Unless… … a name from the legends appeared in his mind.

Chief Elder stared at the sword in Wei Sheng’s hands, his eyes lighting up!

Yet at this time, great murderousness shrouded him. His body felt cold and reflexively a shen glyph appeared behind his back.

Bam!

The shen glyph cracked like glass.

Chief Elder was once again startled. He made another shen glyph and retreated.

Hiss!

The shen glyph was cut easily like it was paper. A purple energy flashed right next to his body, the thick murderousness causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.

Before he could attack in return, a purple energy suddenly shot towards his face.

Chief Elder pointed with a serious expression.

A shen glyph appeared out of the air.

The purple energy did not enter the shen glyph nor cut it. The shen glyph seemed to be a gentle flower that closed and wrapped around the purple shadow!

Chief Elder chanted inside his mind, and the shen glyph started to explode in segments.

A grey armored figure wrapped in chains appeared in front of him.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

Undying Shen Punishment!

Zong Ru changed with a bowed head, his hair turning white at a visible rate. His body was so thin that it would fall if the wind blew. Only his eyes became even clearer and brighter.

Numerous sutra characters the size of a finger spun around him.

The lotus flower mark on his forehead lit up and slowly flew out of his forehead. It landed onto the ground and materialized into a lotus flower bigger than a prayer mat. The lotus flower seemed alive, pink and tender.

Zong Ru raised a foot, and the lotus flower moved under his foot. He stepped onto the lotus flower cross-legged.

A wisp of fire suddenly appeared out of every sutra character, it was the fire of wish power!

Zong Ru had a smile on his face and no pain at all.

What burned was the fire of wish power, his true heart.

Buddha Abandonment Death Wish!

Zong Ru’s harmonious gaze was calm and determined. Even now, when he was close to being known as the strongest Dhyana xiu in the world, his heart was just as it was in the beginning and had never changed at all.

With the body of vajra, protect Daren!

Every sutra character burned wish power. Astounding waves of power entered his body.

The wish power lotus under his body burned like fire at his body. His expression was calm and without any pain. His calm Dhyana heart was like a burning ball of fire!

When all of the sutra characters were burned away.

When the wish power lotus under him had burned into ash.

The power inside Zong Ru’s body reached a peak. There was a smile on the corner of his mouth. It wasn’t the mannerism of that great Dhyana xiu, but that sincere and honest smile of that youth from Little Mountain Jie that only knew a single fist scripture.

Daren, let us fight together!

He took a deep breath, hiss, the air was pulled. A long inhale sounded like the breathing of a monster waking up.

A silent vibration gathered at his right fist.

He gave a thunderous shout.

Zong Ru punched into the sky!

Chief Elder who had been staring at A Gui felt a feeling of danger. His mind moved and he was about to escape when he suddenly found that the air around him was like an thick bog. It had a strange stickiness.

This was … …

His eyebrows jumped. His hands moved and a shen glyph appeared. Pop pop pop, a string of explosions sounded in the space around him. Then, his body felt lighter. Then the shen glyph under his feet flashed and his body disappeared from his spot and appeared in the sky nearby.

Wish power!

How was there such powerful wish power!

Chief Elder was astounded. He suddenly turned his face, and stared at the figure on the ground who had their fist up in the air.

Even in the past Xuan Kong Temple, no one had such powerful wish power! Chief Elder’s expression changed. Tian Huan and Xuan Kong Temple had fought both secretly and in the openly for many years. Everyone knew each other very well. He had never seen such strong wish power even from the oldest generation!

Chief Eider could see with a glance that Zong Ru was burning his wish power.

Wish power was a very special and dangerous power.

Wish power that was hard for ordinary people to understand was not so mysterious in the eyes of people as powerful as Chief Elder. However, this did not mean he was willing to touch it. The wish, it was the base for forming wish power. What it needed was the strongest of wishes, a wish true to one’s heart. The other rule of wish power was sacrifice. It referred to the power that was produced when one was willing to give up everything else to achieve this wish.

There were two reasons why wish power was so powerful. One was the person’s heart, the other was sacrifice. One with a true heart would not go astray. The sacrifice was even more extreme. The person would forgot all of their other worries, their heart even clearer, the more they sacrificed, the stronger the wish power produced.

Even god-level experts were wary of this kind of power.

Because this was not the power of the world, this was the power of a person!

Such strong with power, this person … …

Great trouble!

Wish power was enough trouble to deal with. But this person actually burned wish power, would anyone do this?

Chief Elder suddenly had a strong impulse to swear.

He suddenly found that his situation seemed to have become slightly bad.

Zuo Mo was the strongest in power, but it was clear that he was not in a good state, a confused state between clarity and befuddlement. Wei Sheng was much more of a threat. If he really had the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand, then he would be in great trouble today. Something that had disappeared for tens of thousands of years like the Undying Shen Punishment actually appeared in front of him. Chief Elder almost didn’t believe his eyes. Adding on Zong Ru who was burning wish power, Chief Elder felt a headache just thinking about it.

He suddenly remembered there were two other people!

He couldn’t help but turn his face. His face quickly darkened.

Two crescent moons appeared in Ceng Lian’er’s eyes. There was none of the indolent temptation she usually wore, only a strong feeling of danger. Her two crescent moon earrings clinked.

A strong pressure came with the appearance of her floor-length deep red dress.

A silver crescent moon flowed with light behind her.

When moon shen power burned, it was not flames, but a moon-colored flow that appeared as cool as water. The icy moon flame flow caused every nerve in her to tremble.

However, her expression was normal. Resonating with her, a ray of condensed moon essence shot down from the full moon in the sky and landed on Ceng Lian’er

She could feel the wondrous connection between her and the full moon high above her. The moon essence of the full moon flowed into her body and that cold moon flame flow.

The power grew rapidly inside of her.

She was at her most powerful state.

Suddenly, she felt something and looked towards the moon in the sky.

The moon suddenly lit up, spraying out countless moon essences. Lines of moon essences fell down from the full moon.

In a blink, innumerable threads of moon essence fell like silk and covered all of the Central Plains.

Chapter 843 – God-level!

A wisp of fire suddenly jumped inside of Luo Li’s body that was gradually turning ethereal. His fading body was like cotton soaked in oil and started to burn with a woosh.

The flames followed along the chain between the two and spread towards Wo Li.

Wo Li suddenly turned her head and looked at Luo Li covered in flames.

Her cool eyes became gentle and then became determined.

Ever since she was created, she knew that she was his sword. The sword should be strong, sharp, only then could she protect him.

She knew his thoughts and resolve just like she understood his emotions.

Surviving together, never abandoning each other.

She was his sword, she was here to help him fulfill his duties.

The flames quickly spread to her along the chains. She was born for him, from him, and her heart was unusually calm at being able to turn into dust in his flames.

The flames burrowed into her body. Powerful shen power formed in her body like a roiling volcano.

“Luo Li!”

Her lips parted slightly, her murmured filled with soft emotion. That even fainter figure in the flames seemed to hear her murmur and shook slightly.

The fire became dimmer and dimmer, the chain was burnt into dust. The last wisp of flame entered her body, and she could feel that familiar presence inside her body. He had not left.

“Never to be parted!”

Wo Li’s face became determined again. She was the sword, she had to complete his last wishes!

His wishes were her wishes!

His duty was her duty!

Living and dying together, never apart!

Another figure flew into the air.

Chief Elder made a slight sound of surprise. It was a sword spirit! It was the first time he saw such a life-like sword spirit. What shocked him the most was that the sword spirit did not seem any different compare with a living person.

This was impossible!

Even Kun Lun could not make a sword spirit become like a living person. Sword spirits were created from sword scriptures, no one could create other people, even god-level experts definitely could not!

These people from Mo Cloud Sea … … they were really a group of freaks!

Chief Elder was not very surprised by Ceng Lian’er’s abilities. It had been known a long time ago that Ceng Lian’er had the complete inheritance of the moon shen power. Many sects had secretly desired to capture Ceng Lian’er and get the moon shen power from her. In the end, they had to give up on their desire due to the strength of Mo Cloud Sea.

The Moon Shen Temple had not been as powerful as the Sun Shen Temple but their line of succession had not been broken. In any era, they maintained their own inheritance.  This alone was a proof of their power.

Looking at the sky, Chief Elder’s mind finally was affected.

A sun, a full moon, a bloody sky, combined they formed an eerie picture. Even Chief Elder had never seen such a picture.

This time, it really was troublesome!

He felt slight regret. He should have left a bit earlier.

Now, he was surrounded by six people. While none of them were god-level, but each of them were just a step away from god-level.

Chief Elder would naturally not fear if it was just one or two of them, but six at once, and each of them with eerie and strange powers, Chief Elder immediately felt a great pressure.

Also … …

Chief Elder glanced at a non-descript corner in the distance out of the corner of his eye.

Kun Lun’s people wanted to take advantage of the chaos.

Chief Elder noticed Lin Qian and the people from Kun Lun hiding when he entered god-level. The presence of Lin Qian’s Immemorial Shen Sword was too strong. If he used this opportunity to kill Lin Qian and these people, then no one could stop Tian Huan from dominating.

But Chief Elder was very wary of the sword in Lin Qian’s hands. Normal people might not know about this sword, but how could Chief Elder not? The Immemorial Shen Sword combined with the soul of the previous Kun Lun sect leader allowed the power of this sword to reach a terrifying level. Even if a god-level was touched by this sword, it would be dangerous.

Therefore, Chief Elder’s mind moved and he had thought of a wonderful idea.

If he closed off and then detonated Central Plains Jie, Lin Qian could probably escape using the power of the Immemorial Sword. However, he would definitely pay a significant price, and the other people with him would die.

Wounded, Lin Qian would have to go into seclusion for many years after returning to Kun Lun in order to recover.

Those years would be enough for him to lead Tian Huan to conquer the lands.

But before that, he had to leave this place alive.

Chief Elder remained on alert for Lin Qian who had been in hiding in wait all this time.

Lin Qian with his Immemorial Shen Sword was like a poisonous snake. If he showed any weakness, this poisonous snake would bare its fangs and inject the venom into the body of the enemy.

In Chief Elder’s view, Lin Qian was undoubtedly the greatest threat. These people from Mo Cloud Sea would definitely die, meaning Lin Qian’s goal could only be him!

Consequently, even though he had been fighting the group of Mo Cloud Sea, Chief Elder’s mind was  on guard against Lin Qian attacks. However, these people from Mo Cloud Sea astounded Chief Elder.

He suddenly found that leaving would not be as easy after being surrounded by these six people.

If he could not leave in ten hours, the collapsing Central Plains would bury him as well.

Zuo Mo and the other five people did not know the thoughts of Chief Elder. Their bloodlust had taken over.

Fire coming all over his body, Zuo Mo was like a furious lion that madly attacked. There seemed to be a vast and surging power inside his body like a sea of fire that made him a wild beast that did not know weariness.

If Zuo Mo’s consciousness was clear, then the Chief Elder would probably have trouble just facing Zuo Mo alone.

Zuo Mo was like a sun, there seemed to be endless light and heat inside his body. For some unknown reason, Zuo Mo could resonate with the sun above. A full sun burned above their heads. Under the sunlight, Zuo Mo became even more powerful.

Wei Sheng who had been taken over by the God-Killing Blood Sword swelled with murderousness that had hid for tens of thousands of years. Also, the sword was more experienced than Wei Sheng in battle. The blood of those god-level experts had contained their fighting instincts before death.

He casually swung and every move was astoundingly powerful.

The thick tang of blood contained terrifying power.

Compared to Zuo Mo who was not mentally in control, Wei Sheng was a bigger threat.

Chief Elder had just dodged a sun shen axe when three bloody floods formed by three sword essences howled towards him from three different directions like pythons.

If he was hit by one of them, even with the shen glyph protecting his body, it would not be a good experience.

More importantly, he would lose the initiative.

The shen glyph flashed under his feet and Chief Elder disappeared from where he stood.

He had just appeared three hundred zhang away when the threads falling from the moon imperceptibly shook. Chief Elder seemed to detect it and hurriedly dodged again. Just as he disappeared, a curved blade cut through where he had just been.

When Chief Elder’s figure reappeared, A Gui’s attack silently appeared behind his back.

Chief Elder felt a thread of anger at being forced into such a sorry state. He snorted. Countless shen glyphs appeared behind his back. With a woosh, they swept towards A Gui.

The Undying Shen Punishment was very troublesome, but it was just a little troublesome!

Chief Elder was full of murderousness. He would show  these people what a god-level expert was!

The furiously growing shen glyphs were like vines that immediately wrapped around A Gui. These dark green shen glyphs were peerless in their strength. While the bone daggers in A Gui’s hands could cut them off, they grew quickly! In a blink, A Gui was wrapped up by the shen glyph that was like a furiously growing patch of grass.

Wo Li’s sword essence had reached Chief Elder’s face.

Chief Elder’s expression changed slightly and he retreated.

This sword energy that seemed to be covered in dust was made from dozens of layers of life and death energy! It was the first time Chief Elder had encountered such a strange sword essence. Between life and death, between intangibility and tangibility, layer after layer, there an unique sword essence like this in the world!

Chief Elder pointed with his fingers.

A shen glyphy suddenly appeared and split into two to reveal a thin opening that was black and bottomless. It was a crack into the endless void!

Wo Li’s sword essence disappeared into the endless void.

Chief Elder relaxed slightly. Even if it was between life and death, between intangibility and tangibility, there would be only one fate for it after being sucked into the endless void.

The feeling of stickiness once again appeared which made Chief Elder’s body still. Wei Sheng’s sword essence just barely brushed past him and he had a cold sweat from the shock.

Chief Elder’s eyes flashed with cold light. The ground underneath Zong Ru’s feet split apart without any warning or sound. Boom, large waves of burning red hot lava erupted from the crack and the lava swallowed Zong Ru.

The pillar of lava was more than a hundred zhang tall like an enormous dragon!

The dragon fire then landed heavily and smashed into the lava below. The lava seemed to be alive. It grabbed Zong Ru and pulled him down deeper.

The crack on the ground fused back together.

The sun, moon, and bloody sky above made Chief Elder extremely uncomfortable. He snorted coldly. He did not seem to move but the rivers, lakes, and oceans of the Central Plains started to boil. Steam rose up, and turned into mist that gathered in the sky.

Black clouds covered the sky once again.

The moonlight threads were cut off, the sun’s fire burned at the cloud layer, but the cloud layer became thicker and thick until it completely separated the sun and moon from the land below. The world became dark again.

The lightning snakes danced in the black clouds even more intensely than before.

Chief Elder’s gaze moved to Wei Sheng and he felt a wave of murderousness. So what if it was the God-Killing Blood Sword? It was from tens of thousands of years ago, did you still think it still is that era?

Naïve!

Facing the blood sword essence, he suddenly reached out a hand.

Hiss-crack-crack!

In that moment, thousands of bolts of lightning came from the cloud layer and landed on Chief Elder’s palm. There seemed to be a layer of silver liquid flowing on Chief Elder’s palm that was so bright no one could look directly at it.

Chief Elder’s hand moved slightly. The silver fluids started to retreat from his arm towards his wrist and then from his sword to his finger.

Thousands of bolts of lightning formed a round and scorchingly bright silver ball that appeared in front of Chief Elder’s finger.

Chief Elder flicked, and the silver ball which gave off a terrifying presence flew towards the incoming bloody sword essence!

Chapter 844 – Lin Qian

Pew!

The silver ball immediately penetrated the sword essence. The seemingly powerful sword essence flow was as fragile as paper in front of this silver ball.

The bloody flow collapsed. The silver ball drew out a silver streak in the air as it flew towards Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng’s pale and eerie face showed a hint of fear.

But then an cold and eerie smile appeared on his lips. The power of the God-Killing Blood Sword came from the power in the blood of the ancient warriors but the God-Killing Blood sword had not completely taken over Wei Sheng’s mind. Because only Wei Sheng could truly express his understanding of sword essence.

At this time, the God-Killing Blood Sword returned control to Wei Sheng.

Chief Elder found the difference. The eerie and vicious presence on Wei Sheng’s face suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by the determined and honest presence unique to Wei Sheng. Chief Elder immediately realized what had happened.

Having gained control again, Wei Sheng did not seem to feel the piercing pain in his body. His eyes focused slightly, his wrist shook, and the blood sword in his hand suddenly rose slightly. He executed the simple stab that he had practiced millions of times, stab forward!

Just like last time, the blood colored sword essence exploded out. The ultimate power contained in the blood of those ancient warriors turned into tiny sword essences counted in the hundreds of thousands as they erupted from the sword.

Unexpectedly, these millions of sword essences were filled with the smell of blood did not spread out but were gathering towards the tip of the sword.

Looking from afar, it seemed that the blood colored light that appeared on the sword was contracting and collapsing suddenly towards the sword tip.

A rice-sized dot of light suddenly burned at the tip of the sword.

Wei Sheng’s eyes were as bright as stars as his wrist flicked lightly.

That light made from millions of sword essences flew towards the silver ball and jumped off the tip of the sword.

The sword essence dot of light did not move fast, and its flight path was slightly unstable. However, the silver ball seemed to be attracted to it and flew straight towards the sword essence dot.

The rice-size sword essence dot collided with the silver ball.

Snap!

The silver ball broke apart, a thread of lightning flashing and disappearing in the air without any of the terrifying presence it had before.

The sword essence dot that had shattered the silver ball continued to fly towards Chief Elder.

Chief Elder was slightly shocked. He looked again at Wei Sheng. He hadn’t expected that the God-Killing Blood Sword was even stronger in Wei Sheng’s hands than in the hands of the God-Killing Blood Sword!

It was a pity such an outstanding youth was not from Tian Huan.

Chief Elder felt slight pity. The more he fought with these people, the more he felt just how outstanding they were.

Wei Sheng was powerful, but this was not enough to defeat him.

Chief Elder flicked a finger and a crack to the endless voice appeared in front of the dot of light.

Even the strongest sword essence was meaningless against the vast endless void.

Just as the dot of light was about to be swallowed by the crack into the endless void, the blood swords in Wei Sheng’s eyes suddenly lit up. The sword in his hand trembled and he shouted, “Explode!”

The dot of light suddenly gave off blinding rays of light!

The sword essence that had been compressed to its limits exploded in the crack to the endless void in a spectacular show!

Boom!

All of the Central Plains suddenly shook violently.

Chief Elder’s expression changed drastically for the first time. With a grunt, he disappeared from his position. He was wounded!

There was a certain connection between his mind and the shen glyphs he used. The endless void crack at the center of the shen glyph had exploded, and the great blow had affected his body. His mind was injured.

This person was crazy!

Attacking a crack to the endless void, this person dared to attack a crack to the endless void!

No one would have dared to do this. This was not any different than committing suicide!

The endless void crack was extremely unstable to start with. It was very likely to pull all of the Central Plains in the endless void after being attacked like this. Everyone would die.

Suddenly, Chief Elder realized, these people were going to die anyways!

Damn it!

Chief Edler’s expression changed again.

He had been mistaken! How could he have forgotten this!

If these people were trapped here, if they attacked the cracks to the endless void then he wouldn’t be able to escape!

A dark black crack suddenly floated in the air.

A crack to the endless void!

Lin Qian looked in shock at the great battle occurring in the distance with waves in his heart.

The strength of god-level was deeply imprinted into his mind.

This battle far surpassed his understanding, no matter if it was Chief Elder that controlled all things in the world, or Wei Sheng and the others. All of the powers they showed were from the legends of the ancient warriors.

Originally, he had wanted to watch and see if he could take advantage of the situation. However, when the crack to the endless void was attacked, he realized there wasn’t much time left!

He had been gripping the Immemorial Shen Sword all this time. Everything in the surroundings were clearly reflected in his mind. He could clearly feel that after Wei Sheng attacked the crack to the endless void, all of the Central Plains were affected. Before, it had been a few hours to the collapse, now that time was drastically shorted.

With his strength, he could not accurately calculated when this jie would collapse. The feeling of increasing danger told him that there wasn’t much time left.

Looking at everyone around him, Lin Qian felt terrible and didn’t know how to speak.

There hadn’t been any problems with their plan. Ever since they had received the news about Mo Cloud Sea and Tian Huan, Kun Lun had done a great deal of work, even sending Mu Xuan to fight Mu Xi, creating a great ruckus so that Tian Huan and Mo Cloud Sea would not worry as they fought each other. Lin Qian had personally led this team and had a few different back-up plans including one where they attacked Zhong De, Mo Cloud Sea, or the Chief Elder of Tian Huan. All of them could be targets depending on how the situation developed.

Possessing the Immemorial Sword Lin Qian had the ability to kill in a single blow.

But how could he have imagined that the Chief Elder of Tian Huan would step into god-level. When the other decided to close off and destroy this jie, Lin Qian knew that Chief Elder had definitely noticed them.

This time, the children of Kun Lun that came with him would not be able to escape.

Even he needed to rely on the power of the Immemorial Sword to break through the void and return to Kun Lun. He did not have the ability to take others with him.

“Eldest Shixiong, quick go!” a Kun Lun disciple urged in a trembling voice.

This battle was a great blow to them. They had detected the change to some degree. How could the ones that became Children of Kun Lun be stupid? Their guesses were extremely close to the truth!

“Yes, Eldest Shixiong! Go quickly!” Compared to the Kun Lun disciples, this slightly older disciple urged as well. “If Eldest Shixiong can return, then Kun Lun has won!”

These words immediately lit up their emotions. Their pales faces flashed with a strange excitement.

“Haha! Tian Huan will not have Chief Elder, Mo Cloud Sea’s experts will all be dead, only Kun Lun will be left!”

“Haha! Such a great bargain!”

“Eldest Shixiong, you have to conquer the world!”

Lin Qian’s eyes filled with tears.

He bit his lips, and said slowly, “Kun Lun will not forget any of you!”

Time became even tighter, the feeling of danger increasing. Lin Qian did not hesitate any longer. He wiped the tears and held the Immemorial Shen Sword across his body.

Lin Qian’s expression was devout as he chanted, “Protect Our Kun Lun!”

The Immemorial Shen Sword suddenly gave off astounding light that wrapped around Lin Qian.

Inside the light, a part of Lin Qian’s shen power suddenly started to burn. Enormous pain spread through his body. Lin Qian’s body did not move a hair.

So this was burning shen power … … he hadn’t thought that he would need to burn shen power to escape this place … …

Lin Qian looked deeply at Tian Huan’s Chief Elder in the sky.

Accumulating enough shen power to burn!

That was the crux of becoming a god. Lin Qian noted this. This was the greatest gain this time.

He would definitely become god-level!

Lin Qian gripped the sword hilt tightly.

The burning shen power was sucked dry by the Immemorial Shen Sword in his hand. The light wrapped around him suddenly exploded. A vast sword essence broke through the sky.

Lin Qian’s body disappeared from his spot.

A Kun Lun Child stood up and shouted, “We’re going to die anyways! Brothers! Let’s fight to the death! Mo Cloud Sea’s people are going to die with us, we cannot let that old man from Tian Huan run away!”

“All in!”

“Do it!”

All of the Kun Lun Children had a look of fanaticism on their faces. They seemed to see the scene of Kun Lun conquering the world.

They started to furiously burn shen power!

No!

He had to leave as fast as possible!

Chief Elder knew if this continued, he could not leave. Lin Qian’s departure cleared his mind. Escaping this place was the most important thing!

Otherwise, even if Lin Qian was wounded but could return alive, they won! Lin Qian only needed to spend a few years to recover from his wounds and then Tian Huan would be finished. Without him, Tian Huan could not stop Lin Qian.

Chief Elder ignored those Children of Kun Lun and smirked inside.

Those Children of Kun Lun were too weak. They didn’t know that they didn’t even qualify to burn their shen power!

Idiots!

As expected!

The first  Kun Lun disciple that burned their shen power, turned to ash before they could make any sound. The rest of the disciples were unable to stop. Flames consumed all of them.

Why had Chief Elder never thought that burning was the crux to entering god-level?

Because in the records that had remained from the ancient era, burning was the move used to die with your opponent. Those that burned shen power would die. This was easy to understand. But only after entering god-level did Chief Elder truly understand.

There were three outcomes to burning shen power. Those with weak shen power would be turned to ash on the spot. If their shen power reached a certain level, burning would increase their power temporarily but then they would die in the end. And only when their shen power reached a certain level would burning shen power allow them to break through. They could use the power of the breakthrough to stabilize and become god-level.

There were only a rare few that had become god-level. The important points had disappeared into history.

Dodging Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, and Wo Li’s attacks, Chief Elder searched for a chance to escape.

His eyes glanced at the endless void crack.

Zuo Mo’s mind was a blur. He was relying on his instincts for the great majority of his attacks.

But as he attacked without any regard for the consequences, a small part of the power inside his body was used up and he finally recovered a thread of clarity.

The presence of the Immemorial Shen Sword just now caused him to shudder and his mind immediately became much clearer.

Lin Qian!

This name caused his eyes to turn red.

Clear-minded, Zuo Mo reacted quickly and realized Lin Qian’s intentions. He hadn’t thought that this was the mantis hunting the cicada, while the oriole was waiting behind. The one that benefited in the end was Lin Qian!

But at this time, he quickly moved his gaze back to the battle. Lin Qian had already escaped. If Chief Elder escaped as well, Mo Cloud Sea would be finished.

This thought caused Zuo Mo to glare at Chief Elder.

No! No matter what, Chief Elder could not be allowed to leave this place alive!

Since they would die anyways, they had to fight for a chance for Mo Cloud Sea.

Having recovered clarity of mind, Zuo Mo’s danger level immediately rose.

“Eldest Shixiong, stop him, do not let him escape through the crack!”

Zuo Mo exposed Chief Elder’s intentions and he moved forward before he finished speaking.

The golden flames rushed to gather at his right fist. Zuo Mo’s face was full of viciousness and savagery.

Come, taste ye’s new move!

Chapter 845 – Surging Power

Of everyone here, the one that was the greatest threat to Chief Elder was Wei Sheng and not the God-Killing Blood Sword.

The difference in cultivation meant that the great power of the God-Killing Blood Sword could not be fully expressed. Even then only Wei Sheng could transform the great and savage power of the God-Killing Blood Sword into powerful killing moves.

The God-Killing Blood Sword also recognized this. While it was unwilling, the circumstances of the battle meant that it had to relinquish control to Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng’s skill in the sword was completely brought out.

Having just comprehended how to compress sword essence, he repeatedly released these extremely compressed sword essences. Chief Elder was very wary of them. Unprecedented power flooded into Wei Sheng’s body from the God-Killing Blood Sword and rampaged through his body. Buoyed by this surging power, he stood at an unprecedented level.

His vision immediately broadened.

Countless ideas of the sword path erupted out of his mind. The sword essence in his hand constantly changed, and the sword essence became even harder to predict.

An explosion due to his accumulated knowledge!

His sword cultivation route had never been smooth. He had experienced numerous hardships, countless obstacles, and always persisted. No one as like him. Even with such strength, he still persisted daily in the basic sword training. After continuing for so many years, his fundamentals were astoundingly rooted, and he had accumulated great knowledge and skill. This was truly an explosion!

Wei Sheng’s understanding of Void sword essence broke through a bottleneck and reached an unprecedented height.

The pressure on Chief Elder suddenly increased. The void presence in Wei Sheng’s sword essence became fainter and fainter, the sword energy slimmer, and was now as thin as a strand of hair.

Chief Elder didn’t dare to let these hair-thin sword energies near him. Even he would be cut apart by these sword energies if they touched him!

Each slender sword energy was a tiny crack of the endless void.

Damn it!

Chief Elder felt even more frantic. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a wisp of fire, and his heart jumped.

For Zuo Mo, the Sun Shen Methodology had always been very cryptic. It was an inheritance from an ancient time, after all. The speech and writing from that time had been completely different from now. Many times, Zuo Mo needed to focus to study and understand.

His cultivation path could not be said to be difficult, but Zuo Mo always felt that there was a barrier, and he could not easily proceed.

Until now.

There was peerless power surging in his body. All of the power in the sun crystal seed was unleashed inside his body. Even in the history of the Sun Tribe, no one had dared to do a similar thing. There had never been such great power!

All the places that had been difficult in the past disappeared completely now.

The entire shen methodology flowed through his mind and matched him unusually well as though it had been activated now after hiding in his body all this time.

The Sun Shen Methodology was not as complex as Zuo Mo originally imagined. When he understood and looked back, he found that the Sun Shen Methodolgy was actually very simple.

The ancient warriors emphasized presence as the most important during battle. They were the ultimate power for their tribe. When tribes fought, they were usually fighting at the front lines just like the mo of the present. This was why they admired simplicity the most. Things that were too complex might be beautiful and exquisite, but they definitely were of little help for presence.

The Sun Shen Methodology was modelled after the sun, and the sun crystal seed was a sun. Its power was of the same source as the sun shen power, and the laws involved were the same. While he could not control everything in the world like Chief Elder, but there was no obstacle any longer to understand many things that had been hard to understand.

It could be said that only now did he completely absorb the entire Sun Shen Methodology, how to channel shen power, and much more.

Those furious raging power became Zuo Mo’s best teachers and taught him how to produce and channel the power of the sun.

The great problems that countless Sun Tribe warriors had spent their minds and energy on studying were clearly being displayed inside Zuo Mo’s body. Zuo Mo even found several places where the Sun Shen Methodology was wrong. There never been anyone like him who was able to observe how the burning flows inside the sun moved in such detail.

The burning flows inside the sun crystal seed had manifested after being accumulated through millions of years. It was much more refined compared to Zuo Mo’s sun shen power.

It was a pity … … he didn’t have much time left … …

If he could survive, maybe he could push the sun shen methodology to a higher level … …

At such a time, he was able to have such absurd thoughts in his mind, Zuo Mo grinned in self-mockery.

In his field of view, Chief Elder’s unpredictable figure grew closer. Zuo Mo’s pupils were like two balls of burning flame.

Since this was the case, then let the Sun Shen Methodology shine its brightest light in his hands!

Flames continued to flow and gather at his right fist. At this time, the mo matrix seal on his right hand was destroyed by the burning flows of the sun crystal seed. The skin of his right fist was almost transparent. The deep red burning flows moved underneath slowly like blood.

As the flames continued to gather, the burning sun flows in his right fist started to become more active.

Chief Elder’s figure continued to grow closer. The fire burning in Zuo Mo’s chest became even stronger. As though they felt his fighting spirit, the burning flows inside his body circulated faster. The strong burning brought along great pain, and caused Zuo Mo’s face to twist.

At this time, he saw Chief Elder suddenly jump and the shen glyph under his feet lit up at the same time.

You want to run?

Zuo Mo’s face was unspeakably vicious. The flames on his right fist were compressed to the limit, burning a blinding white. The burning flows in his right fist became more active than they ever had been. His right fist trembled uncontrollably as a feeling of numbness spread.

A blurry figure flashed nearby.

Idiot!

Zuo Mo who was almost pushed to the point of crumbling by the burning flows had a peerlessly savage expression on his twisted face.

“Kill!”

A silent howl exploded in his mind. Using all of his power, he threw his right fist in the direction of Chief Elder.

Boom!

The surging Sun shen flames erupted from Zuo Mo’s right fist without any warning. The flames were so strong they exploded like a volcano. The area they covered was unexpectedly large. Chief Elder who had not stabilized himself was consumed by the sun shen fire!

When an enormous pillar of shen fire five li in diameter appeared in the sky, the entire sky was illuminated. The thick clouds in the sky boiled and a large portion disappeared.

Within the pillar of fire, countless three-legged golden crows that manifested from shen power flapped their wings. Golden arcs of flame formed and extinguished in the pillar of fire.

Everyone was stunned by the astounding scene.

In front of the enormous pillar of flame, Zuo Mo seemed so minuscule.

“Haa … … haa …. …”

Zuo Mo’s panting was interspersed with broken laughter as he floated in the air. His right fist was burnt black, his right arm having completely lost feeling.

His terrifying pillar of fire was not formed from his shen power but by igniting the burning sun flows inside his fist. He had just used an extremely tiny amount of the burning sun flows but he had paid a great price.

His shen power would not be able to injure the Chief Elder, but the burning sun flows could. He didn’t have much shen power but he had a great amount of burning sun flows in his body.

There was a great difference in their cultivation, but so what? Power could not fill the gap in cultivation, but he had enough power to break the gap!

Come, Old Man!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were red. He could not feel if it was his spirit that was burning or if his body was actually burning.

That was not important now!

Chief Elder’s figure appeared in view. He was extremely disheveled, all of his hair burned away. He hadn’t expected that Zuo Mo’s punch had such great range! When he had been consumed by the pillar of fire, he used shen glyphs to protect himself. Yet the pillar of fire formed by igniting the burning sun flows was too great!

What depressed him even more was that there had been a bunch of three-legged golden crows inside the pillar of fire formed from Zuo Mo’s shen power. These three-legged golden crows furiously charged at him so that he could not use any methods except shen glyphs to resist the sun shen fire.

That was sun shen fire!

The life of a sun could be counted in the billions of years. Even an infant sun had lived through millions of years. The power of the sun shen fire it created could be imagined.

The surging sun shen fire had caught the chief elder off guard and he had been injured. What had injured the chief elder was not the sun shen fire’s power but its terrifying volume.

Chief Elder seemed to be hit by a raging river. He was disheveled because he had been caught off guard.

If he was prepared, he would definitely be able to stop the same move. In his eyes, Zuo Mo could not express it true power. The move appeared astounding, but its true power was not as great as imagined.

However, being pushed to such a step by a person not in god-level … …

Chief Elder’s gaze when he looked at Zuo Mo suddenly became dark and murderous.

He glanced at the endless void crack that had been attacked by Wei Sheng but hadn’t disappeared.

This crack of the endless void that he could pass through was surrounded by tiny cracks of void. These tiny cracks were Wei Sheng’s void sword essence!

These void sword energies sealed the crack.

Damn it!

Chief Elder’s gaze landed back on Zuo Mo.

This guy’s body was strange … …

Chief Elder managed to calm his mind. He knew that if he could not take care of these people, he would not have a chance to break the seal and flee into the endless void.

If he received even the slightest disruption when he went into the endless void, even a god-level would die.

When he made the decision, Chief Elder calmed down. The Central Plains were rapidly collapsing, but there wasn’t any panic on his face.

There was enough time.

Suddenly, the shen glyph that had wrapped around A Gui gave off purple flames. The shen glyph was burned away like dry grass and revealed A Gui’s body.

Almost at the same time, a figure suddenly burrowed out of the ground and shot into the sky. It was Zong Ru, who had been dragged underground by the lava.

This group was really troublesome!

Chief Elder sighed in astonishment. Just now, Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng had pressed him hard enough that he had not attention to pay to these two people.This allowed the two to break free of their restraints.

The youths all had different powers, but they had some similar traits such as being hardy.

Chief Elder’s gaze became calm and serene again.

Since this was the case, then he’d take care of them together.

I’ll let you see what the uncrossable chasm between a true god-level and you is!

Chief Elder slowly closed his eyes and spread his arms.

Chapter 846 – Glyph Sea

A shen glyph appeared beside the chief elder, then another one, a third, a fourth … …

All kinds of glyphs grew in the air and spread outwards. In a few moments, there were countless glyphs floating in the end, packed in and endless.

Some were shen glyphs, some were seal scripts, they were of different colors and flashed with different lights.

Chief Elder’s expression was solemn, his spread arms seemed to be embracing the world.

This was like a galaxy, all kinds of stars vast and endless. The shen glyphs were like those enormous and bright stars, the seal scripts like those small and dim stars.

Each glyph spun slowly and released a force field that belonged to themselves.

A sea of glyphs!

A hint of shock flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes but then he recovered. He had to admit that in the field of shen glyphs and seal scripts, Chief Elder was the best at present.

Even around him, there were several glyphs that he did not recognize.

This glyph sea contained billions of glyphs, was this god-level?

A daze entered Zuo Mo’s eyes. Seal scripts and shen glyphs, this was also the field he was skilled in but he was lacking in comparison to Chief Elder.

This was the world of shen glyphs!

A shen glyph grandmaster!

Yet there was no time for Zuo Mo to sigh in astonishment. He quickly found the danger of this world of shen glyphs.

Nearby, a shen glyph suddenly lit up. Seven seal scripts were attracted ot it and released light at the same time.

Suddenly, an arrow of ice shot out of a light blue seal script!

Zuo Mo did not change expression. When the ice arrow reached him, it was turned to steam by the sun shen fire that surrounded Zuo Mo.

Yet this ice arrow seemed to awaken the other seal scripts and shen glyphs.

Woosh!

Ice arrows, waves of wind, lightning, flowing fire … …

They shot at Zuo Mo from all directions, hissing and cracking. Sparks flew around Zuo Mo. The domineering and powerful sun shen fire dealt easily with these normal attacks.

But Zuo Mo did not have a happy expression.

He actually felt the a foreboding sense of unease.

The entire glyph sea started to spun. All of the shen glyphs and seal scripts seemed to be awakened.

All of the seal scripts around Zuo Mo started to attack. Each seal script had a different attack. The lights came in a storm and were so rapid they almost obscured Zuo Mo’s vision.

Zuo Mo immediately felt a slight pressure.

The power of the seal scripts was limited and they could not break through Zuo Mo’s shen fire. However, there were too many of them and too many different kinds of powers. The pressure when tens of thousands of completely different powers attacked together could be imagined.

Woosh!

The flames around Zuo Mo exploded. The burning sun flows inside his body seemed to be angered by the rain of attacks. The sun shen fire became even more ferocious. At this time, Zuo Mo was a ball of fire. The lights released by the seal scripts were like moths flying towards a flame. Once they came close, they would turn into sparks and disappear.

Zuo Mo did not dare to relax. Right now, the seal scripts were the ones attacking, and the shen glyphs had not moved.

Shen glyphs were of a higher level than seal scripts and more powerful.

As expected by Zuo Mo, a shen glyph suddenly lit up with blue light. A blue figure like that of a female slowly rose from the shen glyph.

The blue female seemed like a ball of flowing water. She held a deep blue bottle in her hand.

When it appeared, Zuo Mo had a strong feeling of danger.

She held the blue bottle high up in her hand, the mouth of the bottle was turned to face Zuo Mo.

Splash!

A flow of water poured out of the bottle and landed by her feet, turning into a raging river that swept towards Zuo Mo.

The roar of the river covered all other sounds.

Zuo Mo stared closely at the river in front of him. A strong feeling of danger rose.

Using water to subdue fire?

Zuo Mo was not surprised. Water subduing fire was a basic law. The sun shen fire was domineering but it was not invincible. If there was shen fire, there would be shen water. With a shen fire like the sun shen fire that was the most domineering and masculine, there was naturally the darkest and gentlest shen water.

Shen water!

The river in front of him was made completely of shen water!

Zuo Mo was shocked. He had been shocked when Chief Elder had managed to summon the Void Sky Li Fire, He hadn’t thought the other was able to summon shen water with a wave of his hand.

His guess was right. Chief Elder had summoned a shen water. The Void Spring Shen Water which came from the endless void. There were many void springs in the endless void and the void spring shen water came from that.

Chief Elder desperately wanted to end the battle. He used the power of the shen glyphs to find a void spring and summoned the void spring shen water.

Was this god-level?

The burning sun flows seemed to detect the danger the river posed. They became more active.

The burning sun flow that speed up in its circulation set off golden arcs of flame.

The  golden arcs of flame appeared for only short moments, flashing and then disappearing. But the arcs formed and extinguished each other. With the destruction of each arc, there would be a gold spark that landed in Zuo Mo’s body.

However, Zuo Mo had no time to study what these golden sparks were.

As the burning flow became active again, Zuo Mo seemed to feel as though his mind fell back into a great sea of fire. His consciousness started to blur again!

However, having gained some experience, Zuo Mo took a deep breath. He faced the charging shen water and threw a punch just like previously.

Without needing his consciousness effort, a small burning flow started to burn.

Boom!

A terrifying pillar of fire erupted out of Zuo Mo’s burnt right hand!

The pillar of fire and the flow of water collide heavily in the air. The moment that the shen water and shen fire came into contact, light appeared. Zuo Mo’s vision was blinded and he could not see a thing.

Boom boom boom!

The enormous sounds of the explosion deafened Zuo Mo’s ears.

A faint rings of light quickly spread from where the two had collided.

Everywhere the circle of light passed, the seal scripts immediately shattered!

Zuo Mo was swept by the ring of light. It was like being hammered. The flames around him suddenly lit up. Taking advantage of the moment of clarity, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth and threw another punch!

Boom!

Another pillar of fire!

The shen fire immediately gained the upper hand.

The void spring shen water continued to retreat as the shen fire moved forward. The line of fire was pressing close to the feet of the woman holding the bottle.

The void spring shen water was a level below the sun shen fire. The void spring had not been large and there wasn’t much shen water inside. Zuo Mo had a complete sun crystal seed that contained a great deal more shen fire.

At this time, nearby, another shen glyph suddenly lit up.

This was a white shen glyph. The light it gave off was also white. When the shen glyph lit up, it immediately attracted the surrounding seal scripts to it. In a blink, it became several times bigger.

Roar!

A white dragon of ice flew out of the shen glyph, stretched its body and leapt at the shen fire!

When the ice dragon appeared, the temperature of the surrounding air dropped dramatically.

It was the first time Zuo Mo saw such a condensed and detailed dragon. This snowy white dragon had an elegant body, its scales like crystal that reflected the light beautifully.

Ice Shen Glyph!

The cold air spun as the ice dragon coiled and silently spread to every corner.

The presence of the sun shen fire suddenly stilled.

The void spring shen water took the chance to push the shen fire back in Zuo Mo’s direction.

The icy cold energy caused Zuo Mo’s mind to clear up greatly. Such powerful shen glyph! Zuo Mo had never seen such a strong cold energy. If he didn’t have the burning heat of the sun inside him, he definitely would not last long with just his own shen power.

But in the next moment, Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly.

The cold energy did not cause the burning flow in his body to retreat, it actually enraged the burning flows. They became more active.

Hiss hiss hiss!

The golden arcs of flame became more frequent and more golden sparks fell in Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo managed to detect the pattern. If the burning flow became active, his consciousness would be pulled into the sea of fire and start to blur. If this occurred, the best way was to channel the burning flow out.

The amount of burning sun flow they had used was a drop in a sea.

The amount of sun shen fire contained in one drop of the burning sun flow was astounding.

Without a word, Zuo Mo gritted his teeth. Another punch!

A blinding pillar of light headed for the ice dragon.

The ice dragon was unusually alert. Its body shifted and it easily avoided Zuo Mo’s attack. It roamed around Zuo Mo. With every shift of its body, it would cause a ripple of cold energy. As the ripples of energy came, the temperature continued to fall.

Bone-chilling coldness caused the sun shen fire to quickly wither.

Each complete shen glyph had great abilities. Chief Elder’s skill in shen glyphs was peerless. After stepping into god-level, he managed to complete many of his originally incomplete shen glyphs.

The content that he had found cryptic and hard to understand before were now restored with just a thought.

This ice breath shen dragon glyph was one of those. He had just obtained a small part of it and used it to study. After entering god-level, the mysteries of this shen glyph was completely exposed to him. From that small part, he was able to reconstruct an entire shen glyph.

If he could harvest god-level cold energy and merge it into this shen glyph to summon the true ice breath shen dragon, the power would be much greater than the dragon now.

When the waves of cold energy touched the flames around Zuo Mo, they snapped and popped, creating sparks.

It appeared as though fireworks were being set off around Zuo Mo, the sparks never ceasing.

Seeing the pillar of fire was not effective against the ice dragon, Zuo Mo decided to attack the shen water first.

Boom boom boom!

After several pillars of fire hit the shen water, the shen water was unable to withstand it and retreated.

The ice dragon seemed to understand. It suddenly appeared next to Zuo Mo, and opened its mouth to blow a cold breath on Zuo Mo.

This cold breath was much stronger than the cold energy previously released!

Covered in the flames, Zuo Mo shook from the cold. This cold energy seemed to be able to pass through the sun shen fire and hit his body.

The shen fire immediately weakened.

A dense layer of frost appeared on Zuo Mo’s body. The ice frost was eerie. It did not melt within the flames.

So cold!

Zuo Mo’s brain almost froze. A strange and peerless cold continued to spread through his body.

The sun shen fire seemed to be ineffective against the coldness.

Boom boom boom!

The burning sun flow became enraged. They moved at an unprecedented speed, the arcs of flame almost turning Zuo Mo’s body into gold!

Yet the cold energy was unusually hard. No matter how the sun shen fire burned, it did not change at all.

Zuo Mo was trapped between ice and fire. The surface of his body was bone-chillingly cold, the inside of his body burning like lava.

The ice dragon dragon took the chance to blow out more cold breath.

With every blow, it would wither slightly and become smaller.

After twelve breaths, the body of the ice dragon had halved. A thick layer of ice covered Zuo Mo and his figure could not be seen. There was only a large piece of ice. Zuo Mo was completely sealed by ice.

The ice dragon showed a relieved expression. Its ice breath was peerless in its cold. Twelve of its breaths could seal anything. Even after ten thousand years, it would not melt!

Sleep forever in this piece of sighing ice!

The ice dragon was about to turn and leave…

Crack!

The ice layer shattered. A hand reached out of the thick ice layer without warning and grabbed the ice dragon!

Chapter 847 – Each Person’s Intentions

The hand breaking through the ice grabbed the ice dragon.

The red burning sun flows hissed when they came into contact with the ice dragon. A ball of mist rose. The clear scales started to melt rapidly. The ice dragon struggled fiercely in Zuo Mo’s hand. Yet Zuo Mo’s fingers were a steel trap and did not budge at all.

The ice dragon twisted furiously as it continued to spit out ice breaths at Zuo Mo.

The ice continued to grow thicker but no matter how it struggled, it was unable to break free of his grip.

The sun shen fire in Zuo Mo’s hand became even hotter and more wild. The golden sun shen fire covered the ice dragon. The ice dragon melted at a visible rate. With a wail, it turned into a ball of mist and disappeared into the air.

The ice breath shen dragon glyph turned into a handful of fragments and also dissipated.

A pillar of fire flew out of Zuo Mo’s hand towards the shen water glyph.

The figure standing on top of the shen water glyph had been fighting with the sun shen fire. She had not expected the situation to change abruptly. The pillar of fire brutally crashed onto her body. With a great explosion, the shen glyph shattered.

The surrounding seal scripts seemed to be swept by a wave of air, clearing off a large area.

The pressure on Zuo Mo lessened. The shen fire on his body grew. The ice turned into mist sizzling and turning into vapor.

The shen ice was unique and should have been the one kind of shen ice that could stop the great majority of shen fires. However, the ice dragon and the sun shen fire were not on the same level after all.

The burning sun flows became even more active in Zuo Mo’s body and started to rampage again. The shen ice could not last one blow in front of the rampaging sun shen fire. But Zuo Mo had pretended to be trapped by the ice to lure the ice dragon closer to deliver a killing blow!

That ice dragon was truly too intelligent. When Zuo Mo’s consciousness had been floating in the sea of flame, he thought of this idea.

After defeating two shen glyphs, the burning sun flow seemed to be in an excited state as though it had defeated a great enemy. Consequently, Zuo Mo’s consciousness was pulled into the sea of flame again.

Damn it … …

The extreme temperature caused Zuo Mo’s consciousness to blur again.

The sea of glyphs turned and several shen glyphs appeared.

It was easy to find remains of shen glyphs on the market. Many people would sell them. The price was high for the average person, but they really were not too expensive to a big sect like Tian Huan. If Chief Elder wasn’t peerless in his study of shen glyphs, the remnants of shen glyphs would have only be collected and kept stored in a corner of Tian Huan.

But at this time, these collected shen glyphs all showed their power.

The sun crystal seed was not a common object. Even in the vast, desolate, and empty endless void that was also in its own way rich in all kinds of things, the sun was forever one of the conquerors!

It had a long lifespan, unrivalled light and heat. Accumulated and purified over millions of years, the power inside it was astounding abundant and pure.

When a few more shen glyphs flew close, the burning sun flows in Zuo Mo’s body immediately reacted. With Zuo Mo as the center, the wave of fire spread in all directions.

Buoom!

The burning and bright golden wave of flame caused all the seal scripts it passed through to burn to dust or light aflame.

The shen glyphs that had all caught fire released light to fight against the sun shen fire.

.

The domineering and bright sun shen fire was full of destructive power.

Chief Elder finally was sure what was inside Zuo Mo’s body! A sun crystal seed, it definitely was the sun crystal seed! The legendary relic of the Sun Tribe!

His eyes were wide as he looked at Zuo Mo like he saw a ghost.

Sun crystal seed!

The relic of the Sun Tribe that had dominated the ancient era. Even in the ancient era, it was one of the world’s greatest treasures! The legends said that the sun crystal seed was made from a sealed sun. Was it really a sun … …

Chief Elder felt a chill.

He should have thought of this a long time ago. Such endless sun shen fire. Except for that legendary sun crystal seed, what other thing had such presence?

Looking at Zuo Mo who seemed to be made of fire, Chief Elder had an even stronger feeling of danger.

When his gaze landed on the sun glyph that appeared on Zuo Mo’s body, he sighed slightly. The sun glyph on Zuo Mo’s body was not complete, meaning he could not express all the power of the sun crystal seed.

There was still a chance!

The sun crystal seed was powerful, but it was inanimate and it did have weaknesses.

It was a pity that his shen glyphs were all partially restored from remnants that he found in the xiuzhe world. These shen glyphs were not the top tier. Maybe after this battle, he would go into the endless void to find those even more powerful shen glyphs.

But this was enough to deal with these people!

Chief Elder was full of confidence!

The blood sword trembled in Wei Sheng’s hand. Hiss hiss hiss, several sword energies flashed and disappeared.

Several hair-thin black energies appeared on the shen glyph in front of him. The shen glyph lit up with blinding light. Snap, the shen glyph that just lit up shattered like fireworks.

Wei Sheng did not pause. He flashed and disappeared like a bloody shadow.

He was extremely fast, the sword in his hand moving casually. His sword essence surged and then an area of several dozen zhang would be enclosed within and the seal scripts inside would shatter.

The God-Killing Blood Sword gave a sharp wail. It was extremely excited. How many years had it been since it had fought such an enjoyable battle? It smelt the scent of blood, the scent of a god-level.

Suddenly, a strange howl came from nearby.

The other came quickly. Before the howl ended, a blurry shadow seemed to appeared in front of Wei Sheng out of thin air.

Wei Sheng’s expression was calm. The blood sword in his hand shook and stabbed.

The shadow swung and then disappeared.

So fast!

Wei Sheng’s brow furrowed slightly, his body turning and his right leg following along to take half a step forward. The blood sword swung at the place he had just been.

A burning light formed at the tip of his sword.

Ding!

A clear sound like metal grinding against metal caused Wei Sheng’s ears to tingle.

That shadow also paused.

Wei Sheng finally saw what this was. It was an ape-like creature half a man’s height. Its entire body was covered in a layer of black smoke, its limbs extremely long. At its fingertips were two bloody curved bone daggers that looked like sickles.

Little Double Sickle Ghost!

The Little Double Sickle Ghost were hunters that lived in the endless void. They were wary and vicious and easily moved through the endless void.

Wei Sheng did not hesitate. The sword essence shot towards the other.

Yet what occurred astounded him. The Little Double Sickle Ghost wailed and sucked that hair-thin void sword essence that could cut everything into its stomach.

What Wei Sheng did not know was that the Little Double Sickle Ghost was born knowing how to use the endless void. Using void cracks to cut, slice, and counter it was something it was familiar with.

Wei Sheng’s expression did not change as sword essence erupted!

The Little Double Sickle Ghost had an expression of mockery. It opened its mouth and sucked. The sword essence was sucked into its mouth.

Wei Sheng’s expression was calm as he shook the blood sword. Numerous sword essences sprouted out!

The mockery on the face of the Little Double Sickle Ghost grew even greater. Just like previously, it opened its mouth and the sword essences flew towards its mouth.

Dealing with void cracks was as simple as eating.

Then its expression froze on its face.

A dot of light lit up in its stomach. Suddenly, a rice-sized dot of light exploded in its stomach!

The peerlessly sharp sword essence exploded.

The stomach of the Little Double Sickle Ghost was cut up. The ghost wailed before it turned into mist and dissipated in the air.

Wei Sheng had detected its weakness after observing him a long time ago. When he found the Little Double Sickle Ghost could consume cracks of the endless void, he first used the void sword essence to lure it into consuming more and then mixed in a compressed sword essence among the flood of void sword essences.

The Little Double Sickle Ghost immediately fell for it.

Wei Sheng didn’t look at the Little Double Sickle Ghost’s fading body. His figure flashed like lightning as he travelled through the seal scripts and shen glyphs in search of the chief elder.

He knew that they would win only if they found and defeated the Chief Elder.

Otherwise, the endless glyph sea could exhaust them and lead to their deaths. If Chief Elder dragged it on until the Central Plains collapsed, everyone would die together, that was also a solution.

But Wei Sheng still had a thread of hope.

If they could kill Chief Elder soon enough, maybe they could fight for a chance for Shidi to escape.

Unlike Zuo Mo who was fighting in the sea of flames, everyone else was clear-minded.

Mo Cloud Sea had an unique way to communicate between them. At this time, everyone was stronger than usual. Even in the sea of glyphs, Wei Sheng was still able to communicate his thoughts to everyone else.

Other than A Gui, everyone else immediately responded.

Wei Sheng had no attention to spare as he charged into the center of the glyph sea. He was not skilled in forming plans. He was only skilled in one thing, fighting.

Wei Sheng passed through the glyphs like lightning.

After defeating a few dozen shen glyphs that blocked his path, Wei Sheng finally saw Chief Elder.

At the same time, three figures entered his view. Zong Ru, Ceng Lian Er, and Wo Li. He saw a flash of purple light out of the corner of his eyes, A Gui!

Everyone had arrived!

Chief Elder looked calmly at the five people that had charged over.

Compared to just now, the five had even stronger presences. Chief Elder’s mouth couldn’t help but curve. He could feel that other than Wei Sheng, everyone else had greatly expended their power.

Burning shen power could increase their strength, but it would wring out every thread of potential.

Those that burned shen power would feel that they were more powerful than they ever had been. This feeling of power would numb them so that they would not be sparing with their shen power. Also, burning shen power was for when their lives were on the line, who would hold back?

Of the five, three were at the end of their ropes. Wei Sheng still had most of his abilities, and A Gui the majority of her power.

The shen glyphs in the glyph sea were made from the remnants of shen glyphs he collected. The great majority were not strong. However, even the weakest shen glyph was still a shen glyph. They definitely had expended a great portion of shen power to reach him.

There were six shen glyphs floating around him. These six shen glyphs were the strongest of the shen glyphs he had collected and were his ultimate move.

Wei Sheng and the others did not know that Chief Elder had been preparing these six shen glyphs for escaping the jie’s collapse. The six shen glyphs would protect the chief elder when the Central Plains crumbled. While he could escape with his life, it was not possible to travel through the completely undamaged. He would likely have to recover for ten years. So until he had to, Chief Elder did not want to use these glyphs.

Wei Sheng and the others’ intentions of finishing the battle quickly was also what he wanted.

Confident that the five people could not defeat him, Chief Elder raised his head and glanced at the ball of fire in the distant part of the glyph sea.

If there were any uncertain factors … …

Only that person … …

Chapter 848 – Pu and Wei

Wei Sheng was like an unsheathed sword.

In Mo Cloud Sea, if people were said to be both in fear and awe of Lil’ Miss, then everyone was full of the utmost respect for Teacher Wei. Teacher Wei never got angry, he would only smile gently, and then patiently demonstrate again and again to point out the differences. Wei Sheng had an indescribable presence. People would unconsciously believe every word he said. No one would suspect he would not be able to do something.

Almost no one had seen Teacher Wei angry. Wei Sheng was as vast and heavy as a mountain. He was the idol of all the sword xiu in Mo Cloud Sea.

When Teacher Wei made a decision, he would give up all restrain. At this time, his edges were all displayed. He was like a sword that could not be stopped. People would not doubt that he could cut open the sky.

The six shen glyphs revolved around Chief Elder and Wei Sheng immediately knew the other’s intentions.

His heart was calm, even while the furious power of the blood sword in his hand battered at his mind. The God-Killing Blood Sword was like a beast that just tasted blood. It became frantic, and tried to break free of all restraints.

Yet Wei Sheng’s mind did not have any weakness. The blood sword shaped pupils calmly gazed at Chief Elder.

Wei sheng’s calm caused Chief Elder to feel a thread of trepidation.

Wei Sheng did not recognize the six shen glyphs but he knew that something that Chief Elder who had summoned such a vast sea of glyphs was keeping back as a killing move, it definitely was not normal.

Without any hesitation, he swung his sword releasing sword essence like usual.

The void sword essence was like hair blown into disarray by the wind, floating towards Chief Elder.

Suddenly, a black shen glyph among the six lit up. Then a black whirlpool appeared in the center of the shen glyph.

The void sword essence was sucked into the black whirlpool.

That familiar feeling.

Wei Sheng narrowed his eyes. The center of the whirlpool was the endless void! No wonder he felt it was so familiar!

Wei Sheng was right. Chief Elder’s shen glyph was called the [Endless Whirlpool]. Its greatest ability was to consume everything.

While he knew the ability of the whirlpool, Wei Sheng did not have a good solution. His void sword essence was powerful but the two were from the same source. He could not defeat the whirlpool.

Also the smaller grey spinning whirlpools in the larger whirlpool were clearly not so simple.

Wei Sheng was not shocked. He raised the blood sword in his hand. His face suddenly turned pale. Threads of blood appeared on the sword. The sword moved as though it was alive. An indescribable pressure immediately pressed on the battlefield.

Wei Sheng did not seem to see. His sword flickered and a drop of blood was thrown off the tip of the sword. It slowly flew towards the whirlpool.

The blood bead contained an indescribable pressure. The speed of the black whirlpool was affected and its revolutions slowed.

Chief Elder’s expression became grave as he stared closely at the bad of blood.

The blood bead flew to the center of the whirlpool and suddenly exploded.

A spray of bloody mist landed on the whirlpool.

The whirlpool was dyed with an imperceptible tinge of blood. The thin blood color did not seem to affect the whirlpool but Wei Sheng perceptively felt that the power of the whirlpool was slightly weaker than before. But before Wei Sheng could celebrate, the color was quickly dragged into the grey spinning scripts.

The whirlpool recovered.

Those grey whirlpools were as strange as expected.

Seeing this, a tinge of an imperceptible smile appeared on Chief Elder’s mouth. He turned his gaze to another direction.

The chains around A Gui became even more tangible and tighter. They were tightly embedded into the bone armor. The purple flames burned. Her face was pale, and her eyes flashed with bright purple flame.

The [Undying Ghost] had slightly changed. The chains that had bit into the bone armor started to gradually merge into one with the bone armor.

The bone armor that looked like grey crystal had a few marks of crisscrossing flames. A Gui’s purple flames on the armor gradually receded but the bone dagger in A Gui’s hands were still covered in a layer of purple.

A Gui’s body suddenly disappeared. Almost at the same time, a blue shen glyph lit up.

A ray of blue light came from the shen glyph and covered A Gui.

Hiss!

A thread of blue smoke came out of A Gui’s [Undying Ghost].

A faint layer of grey mist floated out of the surface of the [Undying Ghost].  This seemingly thin layer actually stopped the blue light.

Chief Edler was astounded. Such thick and pure yin energy!

It was the first time he closely examined A Gui’s bone armor. When he looked, he jumped in fright, shen device raiment!

It was a shen device raiment!

The bone armor seemed to have been soaked in yin energy for a long time to the point it didn’t have any impurity. It seemed as clear as grey crystal. However, how many years would it take to gain such purity and clarity?

Forgers always pursued the clearest and purest materials. The purer the material, the higher the grade it was. This bone armor was so high in grade, so pure, that Chief Elder had never seen something like it before.

Even at a level like Chief Elder, he couldn’t help but feel a hint of greed at seeing such quality. But then he smiled self-mockingly. It was not good to divide one’s attention when fighting!

He refocused and urged the blue shen glyph further. The blue ray of light started to spin slowly.

As the ray of blue light spun, the power contained in the ray of light increased greatly. A Gui’s charge slowed to a halt. The blue ray of light seemed to contain a great force. The faint layer of grey mist on her armor quickly disappeared.

A Gui suddenly released the two bone daggers in her hands. Chief Elder now found that there was an exquisite chain connecting the hilts of the two daggers.

The bone daggers with their purple flames were like two bolts of lightning. They dragged the long chain as they flew towards the shen glyph releasing the blue ray of light.

Clink clink!

The bone daggers passed through the ray of light and hit the shen glyph.

The chain was pulled straight and they looked like two long spears.

Woosh!

Two waves of purple flame quickly reached towards the shen glyph from A Gui’s hands along the chain. At the same time, pure yin energy that was wrapped around the chains caused the flames to erupt in power.

The two bone daggers suddenly turned into two claws that grabbed onto the shen glyph.

The ray of blue light seemed to be stimulated. It became extremely bright and the hissing from A Gui’s armor was much stronger.

The layer of grey mist on top of the bone armor was quickly disappearing.

Chief Elder’s gaze focused.

He detected danger from A Gui’s move. However, this [Grinding Blue Light] was one of the strongest shen glyphs he had. This blue ray of light did not look like much, but anything it shone on would be ground into dust by the power it contained.

The [Grinding Blue Light] was not complete when he obtained it, but he saw its strength. Due to this, he had spent a great deal of energy on it. After reaching god-level, the increase in his cultivation allowed him to repair the [Grinding Blue Light] immediately. However, the shen glyph of the [Grinding Blue Light] was extremely complex. He still needed time to complete it.

But even so, the present [Grinding Blue Light]’s power could not be underestimated.

The Grinding Blue Light was also unique in that the longer one resisted, the stronger the blue light became.

As expected, the Grinding Blue Light became even brighter. The grey mist on A Gui became an extremely faint layer.

A Gui’s figure started to tremble like the chains in the blue light. Because of the great force, they were trembling.

However ,A Gui’s figure did not waver. The chain in her hands grew longer. The two chains were like two nimble snakes that started to climb and coil around the shen glyph. They passed through the crevices between the shen glyph.

The purple flame that was usually unstoppable seemed to have lost its power and couldn’t do anything against the shen glyph.

A Gui seemed to be unaffected by this. She only had the chain climb and warp around the shen glyph.

Chief Elder looked in interest at A Gui’s actions.

He had a very limited understanding of the Undying Shen Punishment. This punishment that was called the cruelest of the ancient era had only left behind a few sparse lines. The records he had collected about this was pitifully few.

Maybe, he could take this chance to observe the Undying Shen punishment. He might gain something.

The Undying Shen Punishment and the shen device raiment interested him.

Chief Elder did not think about the other three people. The three had used up too much of their shen power just now. He only needed to use one shen glyph to restrain them.

Up until now, his plan was successful.

As he observed A Gui, he recalculated the time. The entire battle was in his control.

Quickly, a smile appeared on his lips. No matter how he calculated, he had enough time.

This eased his worries.

At this time, he seemed to feel something. He raised his head, his expression shocked. He turned his face to look in another direction!

In a far part of the glyph sea, in the direction of the ball of fire, a presence was furiously growing.

The fire burned fiercely.

The arcs of flame formed sparks of gold that permeated Zuo Mo’s body. In a daze, Zuo Mo did not notice that the sun shen glyph in his body was slowly growing and forming.

If Zuo Mo was clear minded, he would be shocked to find the growth of the shen glyph was not along his skin, but like a tree root that grew out many strands of gold and wrapped around Zuo Mo’s entire body.

As the sun shen glyph grew, the burning flames seemed much dimmer. If one could see through Zuo Mo’s body, they would see the root-like sun shen glyph was drawing from the red burning sun flows to feed Zuo Mo’s body, like a tree taking water from ground.

The sun shen glyph quickly became tinged with red, and became brighter.

Soon, the root-like sun shen glyph became the same color as the burning sun flows.

Zuo Mo’s face showed an expression of pain.

In  Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Pu Yao floated in the air, the eerie black fire dancing in the air.

“Are you prepared?” His voice was as sharp as a knife, so cold there was no emotion.

“Yes.”

A muffled voice came from the armor below. Wei was completely dressed, the armor covered in marks of age and battle. He held a sword and stood next to the black stele, his figure straight like a spear.

Looking at the stele below, Pu Yao expressionlessly pulled aside the hair that covered his left eye.

Chapter 849 – Are You Willing?

A ball of black mist floated in Pu Yao’s left eye. There seemed to be tens of thousands of ghosts giving ear-splitting wails within the mist. Yet both Pu Yao and Wei were unaffected by the wailing.

The black mist flew and entered the stele.

The stele trembled violently. Threads of black mist emerged from under the stele and wrapped around Pu Yao and Wei. The stele slowly rose and revealed an ancient altar.

At this time, Wei who was dressed in armor raised the thick sword in his hand and swung down.

Boom!

Wei split the stele in two.

A ball of black mist slowly rose out of the bisected stele. The roiling mist seemed to show indistinct faces. In this moment, a strange field of power spread.

An ancient voice came out of the mist, as though it had existed forever, with indescribable age and power.

“To abide by my ceremony, to execute my desires, to swear my oath, will thou?”

“Will thou?”

“Will thou?”

The last two words were like thunder.

Yet Pu Yao and Wei seemed to ignore the voice with practice.

Wei lamented, “I don’t know when this boy will be able to get us out? I hadn’t thought that a guy as emotionless as you will sacrifice yourself to save others. Tsk tsk, never thought of it, never thought of it … …”

Pu Yao said coldly, “I have owed rent for too long, and still have to repay it.”

“That’s true,” Wei nodded and said. “This boy isn’t in a good state this time. In any case, it is just death. I feel that it is better to die in there. Not so painful, I always feared pain.”

“Don’t waste words, work,” Pu Yao said coldly.

“Alright!” Wei did not waste words and stood next to Pu Yao.

The two stood gravely next to the ball of mist, the sound of “Will thou” echoing in their eyes.

The two exchanged a look and said at the same time. “Willing!”

The sound of “will thou” suddenly stopped.

Two black lights suddenly flew out of the black mist and entered the body of the pair.

Wei’s damaged armor was suddenly restored. A set of armor appeared on Pu Yao’s body. The armor on Pu Yao’s body was slender and exquisite. Threads of flame appeared from the armor.

There were many red triangle glyphs on the duo’s armor. If it was someone knowledgeable about ancient ceremonies, they would recognize that these triangle glyphs appeared on  sacrificial items.

Pu Yao and Wei had made themselves into sacrifices.

Great power field their bodies. Of all the sacrificial ceremonies, the power obtained from the one that used the person as the sacrifice was the strongest. The two both wore gravestone armor. Because the two were just souls, and did not have a body, once they sacrificed themselves, they would be imprisoned in the gravestone and forever stay there.

Unless someone of the greatest power could break through the gravestone to save them.

“Come!” Wei shouted. He raised the large sword in his hand.

“Come!” Pu Yao’s cold voice was like a blade. A black line of fire extended from his hand.

The black line of fire hit Wei’s raised sword.

The fire immediately adhered itself to the sword and in a flash, shrouded the sword.

Endless flame came from Pu Yao’s hand. When the last wisp of flame left Pu Yao’s hand, Pu Yao stumbled before he steadied himself. The armor he wore was dim and covered in cracks.

Pu Yao was fixed on Wei’s sword.

Wei’s armor gave off great light, the light flowing towards the sword in his hand.

Crack crack crack!

The sound of cracking started from Wei’s armor at his feet and spread upwards. Calf, knee, thigh, waist … … until it reached his wrists that held the sword.

The armor he wore was white and without any light.

Wei gave a great bellow, swinging that great sword flowing with light and fire to shove it into the ground!

Boom!

Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness immediately split apart.

The sun shen glyph that had struggled to absorb the burning sun flow seemed to break free of its last restraints. It started to grow into Zuo Mo’s head.

The threads of sun shen glyph were like roots in soil. They reached into Zuo Mo’s head, and the swollen power caused them to rapidly change.

A golden seedling rapidly grew at a visible rate at the spot where Zuo Mo’s consciousness had been before.

The infant seedling that was growing was a vent for the burning sun flow, the flows rushing into the root system. It caused the burning sun flows that rampaged through Zuo Mo’s body to be sucked up by the shen glyph that covered his body and was transported into Zuo Mo’s mind.

A golden seedling quickly grew.

Under the seedling, a lone gravestone stood silently.

Zuo Mo felt the pressure around him quickly decrease. His mind immediately became clear.

An unknown amount of time later, he opened his eyes.

His body that had been about to erupt had finally calmed down. When Zuo Mo inspected his body, he was astounded. Almost half of the burning sun flows in his body had gone away.

When Zuo Mo saw the golden tree sprout, he was dumbstruck. Sun Tree, wasn’t this the sun tree?

What happened?

Where was his sea of consciousness?

Pu Yao and Wei?

Zuo Mo quickly found the gravestone under the Sun Tree. Two figures appeared on the flat and glossy gravestone, one covered in flames, one dressed in armor.

Zuo Mo was struck by lightning.

Pu Yao and Wei!

He was so familiar with those two people that even if they burnt into ash, he would recognize them. The two figures on the gravestone were not clear but Zuo Mo recognized it was Pu Yao and Wei at a glance.

In a blink, he understood what had happened.

Tears uncontrollably streamed down.

Yet when the tears left his eyes, they turned into steam. They only left behind marks on his face.

Zuo Mo suddenly saw a small ball of fire under the sun tree.

A hint of joy flashed through his eyes. He was familiar with this fire. Pu Yao’s black fire! Pu Yao had left this!

Was this … …

He suppressed the joy he felt and beckoned to the black fire.

When the fire entered his body, his body shook.

“After you become stronger, come save us.”

A few short words, but Zuo Mo was in ecstasy. Pu Yao was not dead, Wei was not dead!

In this moment, hope filled his heart. He balled his fists. He swore, I will save you!

Zuo Mo suddenly turned his head. Over there!

He sprinted in the direction of the battle.

The abundant burning sun flows in his body allowed the sun tree to furiously grow from a seedling into maturity until its branches grew heavy with little tiny suns. It finally stopped absorbing the burning sun flows because it reached its limit.

There was about half of the burning sun flows still in Zuo Mo’s body.

With the sun tree stopping its absorption, Zuo Mo’s body increased in temperature again. The great pain once again came from his body.

Zuo Mo did not lose clarity. He could withstand pain of this level. Even half of the burning sun flows was not something that Zuo Mo could endure. Zuo Mo felt as though his body would explode.

But Zuo Mo still detected a difference. While the pain was still maddening and the feeling of being full was the same as before, Zuo Mo found that there was a portion of power under his control.

This power came from the shen glyph.

Maybe, or more accurately, it came from the little suns on the sun tree. The sun tree was now in the position that had belonged to Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness. The rampaging burning sun flows had passed through the root-like shen glyph to the sun shen tree to those little suns.

These little suns could release pure sun shen power and this power was like Zuo Mo had cultivated it himself, and could be used at his will.

This portion of shen power was not something that the burning sun flows repelled. They were from the same source and could coexist.

The great pain caused Zuo Mo to focus even more. He knew what dangerous state he was in right now. Those that were mentally any weaker would probably still be struggling in the pain. But Zuo Mo did not give up. He searched hard among the pain for any chance.

He knew that any chance he had was something that everyone was using their lives to trade for.

Eldest Shixiong, A Gui, Pu Yao, Wei … …

He couldn’t  waste this, he did not qualify to give up!

He could die, but he could not let everyone’s sacrifices become worthless!

He turned and sprinted towards where the battle was!

Sprinting at top seed, Zuo Mo’s fighting spirit was like the burning flames. His face was calm and determined, his eyes pressingly bright, his hands balled in fists. He moved forward.

Zuo Mo’s full speed was astounding and faster than flying. A long tail of flames pulled behind his body.

The seal scripts in the surroundings flew towards him. He did not stop. His flame-covered fists smashed everything that stopped him into pieces.

A shen glyph appeared in front of him. Sharp red light shot towards him.

Zuo Mo did not stop. He crossed his arms in front of him and continued to charge forward.

Pop pop pop!

The red light rained on his body, and Zuo Mo’s flames suddenly shot forward.

The red light disappeared after being swept away by the sun shen fire.

Almost in a flash, Zuo Mo appeared beside the shen glyph and punched it!

A circle of red light suddenly lit up on Zuo Mo’s hand.

Burning sun flow!

This shen glyph was not high grade to begin with. A tiny bit of burning sun flow was enough to destroy it. Woosh, the shen glyph turned into dust.

Zuo Mo did not stop and continued to charge!

Yet Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on the red circle around his fist.

This was the burning sun flow!

In that punch, he had only channeled shen power into his fist like usual. He hadn’t expected a thread of the burning sun flow would be mixed in the shen power.

Shen power could manipulate small amounts of the burning sun flow!

The power of this punch was multiplied!

Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. The burning sun flow was peerless in its dominance and unstoppable. Wasn’t this the best weapon!

The more Zuo Mo thought, the more excited he became. Every drop of the burning sun flow contained countless sun shen fire. If Chief Elder touched even a bit, he would also be injured.

At this time, another shen glyph appeared in front of him.

Zuo Mo punched just like before!

A dragon of fire howled and charged towards the shen glyph.

The shen glyph suddenly sprouted out countless lights that hit the fire dragon. Yet the golden dragon of fire did not collapse. It seemed to be unaffected and smashed the shen glyph.

A red light in the dragon of fire imperceptibly lit up.

Boom!

The shen glyph shattered immediately.

Zuo Mo howled, the flames growing as he charged forward.

He was like an unreasonable dragon of flame that smashed everything placed in front of him.

Chapter 850 – Nothing To Do With Rationality

The bright light that suddenly lit up the sky from the direction that wild howl came from. Chief Elder’s pupils contracted.

Zuo Mo!

He could clearly feel that Zuo Mo’s presence was continuing to rise. Almost at the same time, a dot of fire spread across his vision.

Not good!

Chief Elder was shocked. Before he could react, the dot of fire charged at him.

Snap!

Behind Zuo Mo’s golden figure, all of the shen glyphs and seal scripts shattered together, and formed a straight path!

Chief Elder’s heart continued to sink. To him those shen glyphs were not strong, but he was surprised that Zuo Mo was able to crush his way through them so easily.

The golden flames were the same as before, but the youth that was within the golden flames had completely transformed.

Chief Elder felt intimidated but his expression was normal. The shen glyph that revolved around him flew lightly towards Zuo Mo.

He didn’t have much confidence this shen glyph could stop Zuo Mo.

He found at this time that his situation had quickly devolved. He had thought that he would easily take care of Ceng Lian’er, Zong Ru, and Wo Li but they were unexpectedly hardy.

The three of them had entangled onto three shen glyphs and this meant that he had nothing to defend himself with.

Only now did Chief Elder find that these three individuals that he had dismissed were the most important!

He couldn’t help but feel a thread of regret. If he had used more power to kill these three earlier, he would have three shen glyphs at his disposal right now. With four shen glyphs, he didn’t believe that Zuo Mo would be able to break through his defences so easily.

Finish the battle quickly!

Only then would he have the possibility of victory!

Murderousness flashed through Chief Elder’s eyes.

Yet Chief Elder who detected danger did not think that the situation was beyond his control.

Seeing the droplet of blood completely consumed by the whirlpool, Wei Sheng did not panic at all. His eyes became even brighter.

He suddenly released the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand.

Under the strong attractive force of the whirlpool, the God-Killing Blood Sword flew towards the whirlpool.

The God-Killing Blood Sword flew to the center of the whirlpool.

Just as the sword was about to be consumed by the whirlpool, thick fresh blood sprouted from the sword and quickly spread through the whirlpool.

In a blink, the whirlpool became a bloody whirlpool.

The sticky blood caused the speed of the whirlpool to slow down, the slower it was, the weaker its attractive force. Soon, the whirlpool became a ball of blood.

Wei Sheng suddenly disappeared from his spot to appeared in front of the God-Killing Blood Sword. His hand touched the God-Killing Blood Sword again.

His eyes flashing, he shouted, “Break!”

The whirlpool dyed with blood immediately fragmented!

The shen glyph shattered.

Wei Sheng swayed. His face was bloodless.

The shen glyph was covered in chains. The chains from A Gui seemed to be endless. At this time, the Grinding Blue Light was at an astounding strength. The grey mist would be used up almost when it appeared.

Crack crack crack!

A Gui’s bone armor started to crack.

A Gui was expressionless.

Without realizing it, the purple flames on the tense chains had disappeared.

A grey presence spread suddenly from A Gui’s body and quickly spread along the chains to the shen glyph. It was strange to see. This grey presence was not affected by the Grinding Blue Light at all.

Soon, the grey presence spread on the shen glyph.

When the grey presence took over the last part of the shen glyph, it disappeared silently in the air.

A Gui’s eyes were also a terrifyingly uniform grey.

In a flash, two shen glyphs were defeated. Chief Elder was astounded.

The other three were astoundingly hardy against the other three shen glyphs. They looked as though they were about to fall but they never did. The three seemed to increase in morale at hearing Zuo Mo’s howl and started to fight back.

For some reason, Chief Elder felt even more fear.

These people were too hardy, so hardy it was terrifying!

He, who had victory within his grasp and held the upper hand the entire time, was in danger!

Without reaching god-level, burning shen power meant burning their potential life. Chief Elder could understand normal people’s explosion. Each person had potential that would erupt when they encountered danger. But these people’s danger had been completely burned away!

Why … … why were they still persisting to now?

Zuo Mo who charged in did not pause as he leapt at Chief Elder.

A shen glyph appeared in front of him.

Yet Zuo Mo seemed to be possessed!

They had paid so much for this chance, sacrificed so much in order to charge here! To charge to Chief Elder!

How could he be stopped by a shen glyph?

How could he!

Zuo Mo’s eyes were like those of a bloodthirsty wild beast. Without any hesitation, he gathered all of his shen power!

Zuo Mo felt as though he was about to burn up!

Then he would burn!

His enemy was in front of him. If he could defeat the shen glyph, he could defeat Chief Elder!

Smash it!

Kill him!

Zuo Mo’s shen power erupted out. The deep red burning sun flows erupted with Zuo Mo’s sun shen power!

The golden and red lights gathered at Zuo Mo’s fist!

His eyes red, Zuo Mo shouted, “Kill!”

A punch!

A blinding light was released.

Boom!

The shen glyph was not able to make any attack before it was swallowed by the burning light and destroyed.

Chief Elder’s expression was shocked!

There was a terrifying presence in the light thrown by Zuo Mo’s punch.

Zuo Mo’s eruption had come so suddenly and with no warning. In the next moment, Zuo Mo appeared in front of him, covered in flames.

He was even able to see Zuo Mo’s teeth in the flames.

How was this possible … …

Chief Elder’s mind was blank. His face was full of disbelief. Zuo Mo had entered god-level!

How was it possible!

God-level!

How could Zuo Mo have entered god-level? His shen power and cultivation was not enough for him to enter god-level? But why … …

Yet Zuo Mo did not give him any time to think. His fist covered in burning sun flow hit Chief Elder’s chest!

Crack!

Chief Elder’s chest collapsed inward. The burning sun flow flowed like water into his body and destroyed his vitality.

The enormous power caused Chief Elder’s figure to be thrown into the ground and left behind a seemingly bottomless hole in the ground.

Chief Elder’s presence dissipated, but Zuo Mo did not feel any joy.

In this battle, they had sacrificed too much!

Without the chief elder’s control, the glyph sea immediately disappeared.

Already at the end of their tether, everyone gave into their fatigue and fell from the sky. Zuo Mo flashed from his spot to appear next to them and catch them.

Of everyone, only Wei Sheng was still conscious. His eyes were filled with joy. He had originally planned to defeat Chief Elder as soon as possible, and before his power dissipated, pass his power to Shidi. Maybe Shidi would have a chance to survive.

Everyone had ran through the glyph sea without any regard for their lives.

When he saw Zuo Mo had entered god-level and would be able to escape from here, Wei Sheng had a comforted smile.

Zuo Mo felt as though there were knives stabbing his heart. Eldest Shixiong who was like steel in his eyes, who was never defeated, didn’t have any blood in his face. It was terrifyingly pale.

“Good job!” Eldest Shixiong patted Zuo Mo’s shoulder as if they were those same youths back at Wu Kong Mountain. Then he urged, “Go now!”

A Gui’s grey presence grew even thicker. She was unconscious.

Ceng Lian’er’s breathing was faint. She did not have her usual indolence and looked like a simple young girl.

Zong Ru was covered in wounds. His face was like gold paper. While he was unconscious, his expression was calm.

Wo Li’s figure was slowly fading.

In that last punch, a large amount of burning sun flow had been channeled out. At this time, Zuo Mo’s body was quickly stabilizing. Chief Elder had been right. Zuo Mo hadn’t had enough foundation. Theoretically, he couldn’t enter god-level. However, Zuo Mo smashing the sun crystal seed had won him a miniscule chance. The burning sun flows contained in the sun crystal seed was far greater than what Chief Elder had accumulated in power.

But it was too strong. So strong that before Zuo Mo could use it to step into god-level, he would be burned to death. However, Pu Yao and Wei cut apart Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness at the crucial moment so that the sun shen glyph would have new room to grow. It had absorbed half of the burning sun flows, strengthening his shen power, and allowing Zuo Mo to escape from death. He had gained from his misfortune and entered god-level.

The sacrifice of Eldest Shixiong and the others had bought Zuo Mo time. Pu Yao and Wei’s sacrifice had saved his life. Wei Sheng and A Gui destroying the shen glyphs, Ceng Lian’er, Zong Ru, and Wo Li who had entangled the other glyphs with the last vestiges of their strength gave Zuo Mo the conditions to deliver a fatal blow.

His chance to survive was one that everyone used their lives to grant.

“Quick, go!” Wei Sheng raised his head to look at the sky and urged.

This jie was about to collapse!

Zuo Mo’s hand touched Wei Sheng’s shoulder. He suddenly grinned at Wei Sheng. “Eldest Shixiong, I’m not listening to you this time.”

Wei Sheng stilled.

A burst of shen power entered Wei Sheng’s body from Zuo Mo’s hand.

Wei Sheng’s vision filled with gold and fell unconscious.

Zuo Mo carefully put Wei Sheng’s body on the ground. Complex golden shen glyphs floated on Wei Sheng’s body.

“Eldset Shixiong, everyone used their lives to save my life, how can I abandon you in return?”

Zuo Mo stood as he talked to himself. He walked over to A Gui and put his hand on A Gui.

“A Gui, Young Master is really useless. Young Master said he would protect you but the result is this. Young Master will definitely save and awaken you, no matter the method!”

The golden shen glyph floated on A Gui’s body. A Gui’s presence was completely sealed up.

Zuo Mo ‘s fire had dimmed greatly.

He did not stop and did the same to Ceng Lian’er, Zong Ru and Wo Li.

After entering god-level, his understanding of shen glyphs was much greater. The jinzhi he put only had one use, to stop time.

The five would always be held in this state.

It was not easy for Zuo Mo to cast this jinzhi.

All of the suns on the sun shen tree had disappeared. The tree trunk had begun to crack. The hair at his temples started to turn white. His lifespan was quickly decreasing.

Zuo Mo did not hesitate. When he finished with all five, the white had spread from the temple to the tips of his hair.

Everyone had used their lives to earn him the chance to live. Now that his life was secure and entered god-level, he would trade his life for theirs.

Maybe they would still all die together. A smile blossomed on Zuo Mo’s face.

It had nothing to do with rationality.

This youth’s snowy white hair fluttered in the wind.

Chapter 851 – The Changes In the World

Silly Bird looked dazedly at the white-haired Zuo Mo. Suddenly, she wailed, the birdsong filled with sorrow!

Her intelligence had formed a long time ago, she grew stronger by the day, she was even stronger than those ring masters.

She still remembered that youth in that old desolate courtyard who counted each jingshi; still remembered carrying the unconscious youth from the gates of Ling Ying Sect and struggling back to the sect; still remembered her peeking through the cracks of her feathers as that naked youth used the Little Art of Cloud and Rain to cover his important parts; still remembered the person who had travelled over mountains and rivers to search for her, but after finding her point and swore at her … …

She had become stronger and thought that she would be able to guard him like she did back at Wu Kong Mountain … …

Tears spilled from her eyes.

She spread her wings, thick fire rising, bright and burning fire erupting into the air!

Zuo Mo was joyfully surprised at Silly Bird transformation at this moment!

At this time, his power had reached an extremely low level. With his present strength, it was not possible to return to Mo Cloud Sea. The most likely outcome was being lost in the endless void.

The endless void was not a safe place.

Also, Zuo Mo had to protect other people so it would be even harder. Silly Bird transforming right now meant that he had help. Zuo Mo swept a gaze across everyone else. He found that only Qing Xiao and the little ones were the only ones left alive. Seeing Zuo Mo fine, they hurried over. Qing Xiao still had hints of fear on his face.

The ground shook violently, volcanoes erupting. The sky seemed to be made out of glass with terrifying cracks spreading across it.

Flowing fire fell from the sky, earth fire erupted as geysers into the air.

This jie was about to collapse!

Zuo Mo did not hesitate any longer. The flames around him rose and wrapped around Qing Xiao and the little ones. He shouted, “Silly Bird!”

Covered in flames, Silly Bird heard Zuo Mo’s shout and suddenly lowered her head.

“Go!” Zuo Mo carried everyone to fly into the sky.

Silly Bird gave a high bark and waved her flame-covered wings to chase after Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo finally saw Silly Bird’s complete appearance. Her long tails were like ribbons, the feathers seemed to be made from flame. When she flew, sparks fell down.

A word flashed through Zuo Mo’s mind.

–Phoenix!

A roar of laughter spread through the sky.

A figure climbed out of a pit. It was Chief Elder.

He raised his head to look at the sky. The sky had shattered into countless fragments and fire rained down. His face was terrible, and a large part of his chest had been caved in.

He laughed bitterly. His life was gone. Zuo Mo’s attack had completely destroyed all of his vitality. The reason he still managed to climb up was just because he was holding on by a single breath.

He could die, but Tian Huan could not!

Gathering the last bit of power, he quickly flew in another direction. The sky fire landed on his body but he did not seem to feel it.

Moments later, he had a joyful expression.

Found it!

There was no one in the yard. Chief Elder quickly flew into the secret room.

In the room, Li Xian Er had a joyful expression when she saw Chief Elder. “Chief Elder!” But when her gaze landed on Chief Elder’s abnormal chest, the joy turned to shock.

“Chief Elder … … you … …”

Who could have injured Chief Elder like this?”

Looking at Li Xian Er, Chief Elder was full of emotion. When he had just entered god-level, he had been full of motivation. He hadn’t expected to end up in such a state. However, he was not the average person. He quickly gathered his thoughts. Time was short.

If he lived, Li Xian Er would just be an accomplished disciple. But if he died, Li Xian Er was crucial to Tian Huan’s survival!

“There is no time,” Chief Elder said gravely, “I cannot return. After you return, meet the sect leader in secret first to stabilize the situation. Especially with Mi Nan, you must be cautious!”

Li Xian Er’s face was pale in fright. If Chief Elder died, Tian Huan …. …

She didn’t dare to think.

Chief Elder rejoiced that he had left a secret escape route when he closed off this jie. This was just his habit. He hadn’t expected this habit to have such an effective use.

“Go.”

Chief Elder couldn’t do anything else. Using the last bit of power, he started the transport.

Li Xian Er disappeared with a shocked expression.

The battle of the Central Plains stunned the world!

It had been more than ten thousand years since the destruction of a jie. Only a god-level expert could create such a terrifying result.

This battle drastically changed the situation of the world.

The destruction of the Central Plains meant that Zhong De and his Abyss Jail Battalion had been completely wiped out. The rumors said that the king of Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo, also died, but Mo Cloud Sea’s movements were not hesitant at all.

Before everyone could react, the battalion led by Gongsun Cha was like a sharp dagger that quickly entered the belly Xi Xuan.

They did not encounter any resistance on their way. Xi Xuan who had lost Zhong De lost their last bit of courage.

When Mo Cloud Sea’s battalion was deep within Xi Xuan, people finally realized.

This was the start of another banquet!

Many people still hungered after the banquet that was Xuan Kong Temple last time. Anyone that had attended that banquet had gained greatly.

The collapse of a titan like Xi Xuan was similarly tempting.

Yet the development of the situation was unexpected to all.

Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions quickly took over and defended many of the important jies. They did not attempt to take all of Xi Xuan. But those with clear eyes could see that if Mo Cloud Sea finished setting up, they would have control of almost two-thirds of Xi Xuan’s territories.

Gu Liang Dao’s battalion also entered Xi Xuan with Mo Cloud Sea.

The other party that moved quickly was Kun Lun. Xue Dong led his battalion to quickly enter Xi Xuan. Mu Xuan who had been at a stalemate with Mu Xi turned quickly and entered Xi Xuan.

People final realized that Kun Lun’s true target wasn’t Mu Xi, their target was Xi Xuan.

Unlike Kun Lun who everyone thought had the better chances of conquering territory, no one thought that Mo Cloud Sea would gain much because of Tian Huan’s many defensive fortresses. Tian Huan would not allow Mo Cloud Sea to finishing setting up.

Yet unexpectedly, Tian Huan did not move at all. They watched as Mo Cloud Sea consolidated their control.

What was going on with Tian Huan?

People immediately realized that something had happened within Tian Huan.

At this time, Tian Huan was having a great inner conflict. Li Xian Er became the target of Mi Nan and the others. Of all of Tian Huan’s forces, only she had escape. These elders wanted to take away her right to succession. The factions led by Gongye Xiao Rong supported Li Xian Er instead.

The two sides had a great conflict.

Mi Nan, one of the ten great battle generals, led many of the families of Tian Huan to divide their rule, and called themselves the orthodox faction of Tian Huan!

Tian Huan split apart!

When the news leaked, the world was astounded.

Only now did the news that Tian Huan’s Chief Elder was dead spread. Only now were many details of the battle of the Central Plains exposed.

Zuo Mo, Wei Sheng, Zong Ru, A Gui, Ceng Lian’er, and Luo Li!

The blow that Mo Cloud Sea received was unparalleled.

Xi Xuan, Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea, this was a battle that all three sides lost.

Everyone thought that Mo Cloud Sea who had lost Zuo Mo and these many experts would quickly crumble like Tian Huan. Unexpectedly, Mo Cloud Sea did not crumble but became even stronger.

The battalions led by Gongsun Cha quickly finished their fortification in Xi Xuan.

At this time, Gun Liang Dao’s battalion encountered Xue Dong Battalion. Gu Liang Dao Battalion was heavily damaged. Just as it looked as though they were about to be defeated, Gongsun Cha came with reinforcements just in time and set up their army at the flank of Xue Dong Battalion. Xue Dong had to withdraw his battalion or risk being pincered, and Gu Liang Dao’s battalion was finally saved.

The two great battle generals worked together to restrain Xue Dong Battalion.

Mu Xuan Battalion who entered Xi Xuan encountered obstruction from Yang Yuan Hao Battalion.

Mu Xuan hadn’t expected Yang Yuan Hao to attack Kun Lun and suffered a minor loss. The two sides quickly entered deadlock. Mu Xuan’s battle style could not be called fierce, and Yang Yuan Hao style was more about being “stable.” The two ended up in a long drawn out  battle of attrition.

Kun Lun saw their attack was not going well and immediately put pressure towards the Nine Great Dhyana Sect who supported Yang Yuan Hao.

Unexpectedly, Yang Yuan Hao managed to hold against the pressure from the sects and did not move a step back against Mu Xuan.

Mu Xuan saw that if this continued, Kun Lun would lose their last chance so she started a strong attack.

Yang Yuan Hao paid a considerable price to stop Mu Xuan’s fierce attack and successfully caught Mu Xuan’s weakness after their fierce attack to heavily injure Mu Xuan Battalion.

Yang Yuan Hao’s face grew greatly after this battle!

But Yang Yuan Hao holding against the pressure to win against Mu Xuan Battalion caused the Nine Great Dhyana Sects that were internally warring to fracture. Thunder Sound Temple, Lotus Sutra Temple, Splendid Buddha Temple, Surangama Heart Sect formed the Lesser Four Dhyana sects. The others all sided with Kun Lun. At this time, no one had a positive outlook on Tian Huan.

Xi Xuan was covered in battlefields. The cruel and fierce battles caused many of the other factions to stop and just watch.

The fighting between Kun Lun and Tian Huan was also fierce.

Mu Shuang and Gongye Xiao Rong were angered by Mi Nan’s betrayal and started an attack on Mi Nan. In the inner conflicts of Tian Huan, Mu Shuang had always kept silent. However, Mi Nan’s action of starting a civil war in Tian Huan infuriated this great battle general.

The fighting between the two sides was intense.

All of the xiuzhe world became an even greater battlefield. No place was spared.

In the yao world, using Mu Xi’s successful campaign, Ming Yue Ye managed to stabilize her power. An unprecedented cleansing of the yao factions started. This yao cleansing was so great it surpassed everyone’s expectations.

Even the one who started it, Ming Yue Ye, never thought of it.

The mo territories were also in chaos. Inside the Hundred Savage Realm, the Mo Shen Temple started to move. They displayed their great power. The Mo Marshal Alliance that Bie Han had beaten down became their first target.

Time passed and advanced, unstoppable, in battle and chaos.

Chapter 852 – Coffin Puller

Just like usual, A Man sat silently as he waited for the appearance of prey.

His body was in the bog with only his head above the mud. His head was hidden by thick branches. In this Cold Nether Bog, there were some strange mo beasts such as the nether-tailed fox that could be sold for a good price. While these mo beasts were not aggressive, they were cunning and it was difficult to catch them.

However, A Man was a skilled hand at this.

He was very familiar with the weather in the Cold Nether Bog. He could enter it, and occasionally harvest some rare nether grasses and flowers.

He did not need to worry that people would steal from him. It was rare to find other people in the Cold Nether Bog. It was surrounded by a dangerous nether mist. If he didn’t have his own methods, he would be unable to enter. Even the mud of the bog he was hiding in contained extremely strong nether energy. This was formed from the corpses of mo beasts buried in the bog.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the distance.

Woo-splash, woo-splash!

A Man frowned. He had never heard a sound like this before.

His heart suddenly jumped. Had a mo beast from deep in the Cold Nether Bog come out? When this thought rose, his blood seemed to freeze. He was able to enter the Cold Nether Bog, but he never dare to actually go deep into this bog, there were many nether beasts beyond his capabilities there.

His ancestors passed down tales that said the Cold Nether Bog’s depths led to the Nine Levels of the Underworld.

A Man thought if there really was an underworld but if there was,then it wasn’t strange if it really was in the depths of the Cold Nether Bog. With every mile one went into the Cold Nether Bog, the danger would increase dramatically.

The depths of the Cold Nether Bog was the paradise of those dangerous and large mo beasts. Once, he had seen an unknown mo beast rampage its way over. Even when he thought of that vicious and powerful presence now, he felt as though it was a nightmare. He was lucky that time and he was completely immersed in the bog, otherwise he probably would have died.

So when A Man heard an unfamiliar sound, he felt his heart rise up to his throat.

The sound grew closer, and he grew more nervous. The sound came from the nearby bushes. He stared the bushes and unconsciously held his breath. Trying to run away now was the stupidest action. Being able to hear the sound meant that the mo beast was very close. Hiding in the bog right now was the correct choice.

Suddenly, when it appeared in his view, he stilled.

A person!

It was a person!

A man with snowy-white hair appeared out of the thick bushes. He had a few thick ropes thrown over his shoulder. Each thick rope was taut  with their ends extending into the bushes.

The male walked over the mud as though he was stepping on flat ground as he pulled the ropes dragging his burden forward.

The whooshing sound came from the bushes.

Suddenly, five wood coffins were pulled out of the bushes. A Man’s face changed in fear. He had never thought that the white-haired man was pulling five coffins!

In this unpopulated place to see a man with white-hair pulling five coffins, even someone as daring as A Man’s blood froze.

Especially when he saw the other suddenly turn towards him.

His mind immediately blanked.

He had been found!

Finally encountered a person!

Zuo Mo was filled with joy. After struggling and wandering in the endless void for so long, he finally escaped and found another person. His joy could be imagined. Behind him, Qing Xiao reacted even faster. With a shocked exclamation, his hand shook, and the Green Pulse String on his wrist shot towards A Man’s hiding place.

Qing Xiao had grown much bigger. He looked about twenty.

After moving through the endless void with Zuo Mo these years, his strength had grown. With the guidance of a god-level like Zuo Mo by his side, and the experiences of the endless void, he was extremely powerful.

Ten years!

Ten whole years!

They had roamed the endless void for ten whole years!

The endless void, the lifeless world without any people, the endless dangers. They had journeyed aimlessly to arrive back to civilization. Even with Zuo Mo’s iron resolve, he couldn’t help but feel excited, much less Qing Xiao.

Hiding in the mud, A Man felt something tighten around his body. Then a great force pulled him, he spun and flew in front of the white-haired man.

The hair-thin Green Pulse String wrapped around A Man and held him up in the air.

Zuo Mo gave a friendly smile to A Man who was frightened speechless. Then he said, “A Xiao, you are scaring him. Let him down.”

“Oh.” Qing Xiao responded. The Green Pulse String seemed to hear and obediently put A Man down, unwrapping from around A Man and retreating back to Qing Xiao’s hand.

A Man refocused and knelt with a bang, shouting ,”Elder, have mercy! Elder, have mercy!”

Zuo Mo didn’t know what to do. With a wave of his hand, an invisible hand propped A Man up. He said gently, “Don’t worry, I don’t want your life, I only want to ask you a few questions.”

A Man’s heart settled slightly. Looking at the other’s friendly face, they really didn’t seem to want to kill him. He hurriedly said, “Elder, ask whatever you need, this lowly one will not dare to conceal anything.”

A Man was not an inexperienced person. In fact, he was very experienced. While he did not know the origins of this elder, the other was clearly powerful. How could a person that walked out of the depths of the Cold Nether Bog be weak?

According to his experience, the stronger the elder, the stranger their tempers were. He had to be careful.

Looking at A Man’s caution and wariness, Zuo Mo did not care. He asked warmly, “Where is this?”

A Man stilled but quickly reacted to respond, “Daren, this is the Cold Nether Bog.”

“Cold Nether Bog?” Zuo Mo had a blank expression. He had not heard of this name before. He had to ask, “Which jie?”

“Deep Fiend Nether Jie,” A Man responded.

Zuo Mo noticed the word “nether” had come up twice and asked, “Belonging to the Nether Realm?”

A Man hurriedly nodded. “Yes, in the Nether Realm!”

Zuo Mo sighed in relief. He hadn’t thought that he would arrive at the Nether Realm. He was filled with joy. While the Nether Realm was mysterious, it was part of the mo territories, and there would be some way of returning to Mo Cloud Sea.

Thinking of everyone in Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but become excited. In these years, Zuo Mo’s own state had not been good. When he sealed the five people, other than the loss of his longevity, Zuo Mo’s unstable cultivation that had just reached god-level had almost collapsed. In the years Zuo Mo spent roaming the endless void, he had been recovering all this time.

But his wounds were to the root, and the endless void was not a good place to heal. He did all he could and had finally stabilized his cultivation. However, his power had not recovered. If it was not for Silly Bird’s transformation, the little ones all levelling up, and Qing Xiao’s increase in power, he would have died long ago in the endless void.

His sea of consciousness had shattered which meant that he could not enter the Ten Finger Prison, and could not communicate with Mo Cloud Sea.

The Nether Realm was far from Mo Cloud Sea, but it was within the three realms. He could think of ways to get back to Mo Cloud Sea.

“It has been a long time since this one entering the world, this one doesn’t know of the changes outside. Will this little brother help us get to the nearest town?” Zuo Mo was very polite.

A Man finally sighed in relief hearing the request. The other having use for him meant they would not kill him. He hurriedly said, “Of course, of course, the closest city to her is Little Serene Town. If we walk, it will take about a day and a half.”

“Many thanks, Little Brother.” A red bead appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand which he threw to A Man. “Little Brother, do not refuse this small token.”

A Man took the red bead and his heart jumped. Joy filled him.

The eye of the red-eyed nether wolf!

Faint warmth came from the ruby like bead. There was the thick presence of fire, a pure and serene nether presence, it might be of high quality!

Just this Nether Wolf Fire Bead was more than what he would make in a month!

“Many thanks,  Elder! Many thanks, Elder!” He was overjoyed. This time, he had great luck to encounter a well-tempered and generous elder.

Zuo Mo smiled as he had been doing. “Little Brother, no need for such courtesy.”

This Nether Wolf Fire Bead was nothing to him. It was something they had kill along the way in the Cold Nether Bog. The little ones wouldn’t even deign to look on something of this level.

The endless void was full of danger, but anything that survived there were all hundreds of thousands of years old. The little ones had gained picky tastes. Even Lil’ Pagoda who had never lacked interest in the lowliest materials scoffed at something like the Nether Wolf Fire Bead, much less anyone else.

A Man’s mood was completely different now. Even his voice carried familiarity as he introduced to Zuo Mo the nearby situation.

Zuo Mo had once ruled over a region and knew how management worked. He asked some seemingly disconnected questions and learned all about the area around Little Serene Town.

Zuo Mo quickly formed his own conclusions.

Little Serene Town was a very remote town without a battalion. The population was small and transportation to and from it was difficult. This place was cut off from the outer world. He could hear from A Man’s voice that the great majority of the residents had never left this little town.

But A Man had a clever mouth and mentioned he had left before.

Little Serene Town made a living by hunting in and around the Cold Nether Bog. The nether energy of the Cold Nether Bog was pure and all kinds of nether materials that grew here were of fair quality. The residents of Little Nether Town mostly lived by hunting and gathering materials.

Zuo Mo did not know much about the Nether Realm and listened interestedly.

The Nether Realm had always been relatively closed off. As one of the two realms of the mo, it rarely communicated with the outside world. Even its interactions with Hundred Savage Realm was rare, much less the xiuzhe world.

The so-called nether energy was a kind of energy very similar to death energy. It was filled with cold and yin, and the scent of death.

It could be seen that this kind of energy similar to death was all over the Nether realm. A Man cultivated shen power, and even this was filled with the presence of this nether energy. However, A Man said what he cultivated was not true nether shen power. True nether shen power came from the nether energy.

He could hear A Man’s yearning when he said this.

A Man was not fast as Zuo Mo, but Zuo Mo did not press him. Pulling the five coffins, he followed behind A Man. A Man spoke of all kinds of things in the Nether Realm and it was not boring.

A day and a half later, Little Serene Town was in sight.

Chapter 853 – Golden Chariot

The residents of Little Serene Town looked with wariness at Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo did not care. There were not many people who came to the little town so there was only one hotel. Zuo Mo stayed in it.

The feeling of returning to society was wonderful  even in a small town like this. However, what was most important was communicating with Mo Cloud Sea.

While the Nether Realm was far from Mo Cloud Sea, Zuo Mo still had ways. After entering god-level, many things that he felt were mysterious before were no longer mysterious. Zuo Mo had also learned a lot from that battle with Chief Elder, especially many of the shen glyphs that Chief Elder had collected. These were all gained by Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s skill at shen glyphs could not compared to Chief Elder, but after entering god-level it was much easier for him to understand. In the years Zuo Mo had wandered in the endless void, Zuo Mo thought back to the many shen glyphs that Chief Elder had in his glyph sea. For a god-level, he only needed to remember a small part and he could reconstruct the complete shen glyph in a very short amount of time.

Zuo Mo slowly folded the paper crane. He was full of excitement.

The last time he communicated with everyone was in the moment before they left the Central Plains. He had gathered his remaining shen power to send out a paper crane of the highest priority.

When this paper crane was folded, he gently sent it flying.

But the paper crane quickly returned to his hands.

“Hm!” Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. It was the first time he encountered a situation like this. He quickly realized what had happened.

The Nether Realm was locked down!

This conclusion surprised Zuo Mo. Even a god-level did not have the power to lock down an entire realm. Then it must be something similar to seal formations. How great was the scale of something that could lock down an entire realm be? Other than the ruler of the Nether Realm, Zuo Mo could not think of anyone that could accomplish this.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo recalled the news that the Nether Realm had been united by a Nether King ten years ago.

At that time, no one had paid too much attention to that. The Nether Realm was far away and mysterious. Zuo Mo’s mind moved. Was this done by that Nether King?

Zuo Mo felt that his speculation was most likely true. However, this meant contacting Mo Cloud Sea was even more troublesome. Even paper cranes could not fly out, transportation formations were even more unlikely to work. At this time, his body had not recovered, and he could not overcome these restraints.

The paper crane could not fly out of the Nether Realm, he could not enter the Ten Finger Prison, then how was he supposed to communicate with Mo Cloud Sea?

After thinking for a while, he found there was only one way—walk out of the Nether Realm!

The enormous Nether Realm could not be completely sealed off. It had to have channels to the outside world. If he tried hard to find it, he definitely would.

He had been able to make it through a decade in the endless void. What was this distance?

Zuo Mo’s gaze was determined.

He started to think about how he could return to Mo Cloud Sea more effectively and faster.

He believed nothing to stop his steps!

“Hey A Man, what does the strange person you brought back really do?” a resident of the town asked in a small voice.

A Man frowned and scolded. “What strange person? Call them Elder! Careful not to offend Elder, you cannot afford to offend them!”

The one who spoke shrank his head back. A Man’s words were persuasive. Someone that dragged five coffins and walked out of the Cold Nether Bog was definitely not someone they could offend.

A Man glanced at the hotel. It had been five days since Elder had last come out.

Originally, this was nothing but when the townspeople thought of the five coffins, they couldn’t help but panic. In the Nether Realm, there were many that forged corpses. Had this elder gone to the Cold Nether Realm to dig up corpses?

There were many that forged corpses, but normal people still disliked those that did so. Many years ago, in a city someone had made a mistake when forging corpses and caused half of the people of that city to become zombies.

It had been a long time since such a powerful corpse-forging mo had appeared. But when they thought of the white-haired person who had came out of the Cold Nether Bog, everyone couldn’t help but be filled with worry.

A Man didn’t feel that Elder forged corpses. Elder didn’t even have a hint of nether energy. He even felt that Elder didn’t seem like a mo. He didn’t know why, but he just had the feeling.

Suddenly, golden light came out of the hotel.

A vast presence rampaged in waves. The hotel shattered like it was made out of paper.

A golden chariot appeared in front of everyone.

The chariot seemed to be made from gold. It was noble and grand. The roof of the chariot curved like the firmament, golden tassels draping down like golden flames. The wheels of the chariot were held up by golden flames to float in the air. The body of the chariot was carved with exquisite sun diagrams. And at the center of each sun was a precious gem that A Man didn’t recognize. They released all kinds of light.

The entire chariot was about twenty zhang, astoundingly large.

All of Little Serene Town was stunned by this chariot. Many people unconsciously knelt. They were completely conquered by this chariot. That vast and deep presence was like an ancient king looking down on the world!

“A Man, are you willing to be my guide?”

A faint voice came from the chariot.

Excitement rose on A man’s face. He said without hesitation, “A Man is willing to follow Daren!”

“Come up!”

A Man felt a cloud pushing him up and he came onto the chariot. A Man was extremely clever and bowed after getting on the chariot. “Elder, where are we going?”

“Where is the most prosperous city in this jie?”

“Wu Ge City,” A Man said respectfully.

“Then I want to go there.”

“Yes!” A Man did not waste words.

The chariot broke through the air and left behind a stream of golden flames as it roared like thunder.

Zuo Mo had thought it through. While his shen power had not recovered, his god-level cultivation was steady. He could easily defeat normal experts. He also had the little ones, and Qing Xiao, as powerful sidekicks. Even if he also met a god-level, he did have the ability to fight.

In other words, he was at the top of the food chain now. He did not want to provoke a strong enemy, but if other people came to provoke him, they should measure themselves first.

Normal experts and battalions were not a threat to people of his level.

What he needed to do now was to return to Mo Cloud Sea at the fastest possible speed. He needed to let Mo Cloud Sea know he was still alive and had returned as soon as possible.

There was no need to hide his identity right now. There was no need, and he should be as loud as possible to attract attention. Only then would the news he was still alive spread more easily.

Also, being ostentatious, arrogant, and looking dangerous meant that it would save him great trouble.

After thinking this through, Zuo Mo forged this showy sun chariot.

With his present level, his forging had reached the peak. Also, he had collected many good materials. Adding on that he deliberately was pursuing grandness and ostentatious, the sun chariot was majestic when it was forged!

The flames covering the wheels were sun shen fire. There were eight shen glyphs on the entire chariot. It could be called Zuo Mo’s masterpiece. When the chariot was used, it roared and wailed. The world seemed to shake. Anyone who heard it was stunned.

The spectators were not able to see the true form of the chariot. They could only see a ball of flowing fire come with the vast presence of a wasteland beast that shook people’s souls.

Such presence, it attracted attention anywhere it passed. No one dared to provoke them.

Zuo Mo’s intention was not just to attract attention. This grand sun chariot had many shen formations that could absorb all kinds of powers and turn them into shen power. He would then use it to repair his body.

Zuo Mo could feel that his body was slowly recovering.

The endless void was the best place to gain experience but not the best place to cultivate. That icy endless void meant that not only was it hard for his shen power to be replenished, he had to always be on his guard for his shen power silently leaking out.

In these ten years, he had thought of all the ways he could to take care of the five people. The five’s vitality was sealed off. In order for them to live, he had to think of ways to replenish their vitality.

There were five nurturing shen formations inside the five coffins.

In this decade, Zuo Mo had not been idle even one day. In order to save these five people, he created the shen formations that had shen glyphs as the core and the seal scripts as the branches. He pulled the five coffins, and moved with Qing Xiao and the little ones like locusts. They dug up everything valuable everywhere they passed to search for the required materials. Zuo Mo did not hesitate to use priceless treasures on Wei Sheng, the other four, and the little ones.

Other than those things, he needed to cultivate every day and stabilize his cultivation.

The shen formations had the ability to steal life from the heavens. He threw in all kinds of treasure without regard for the cost.

After being nursed for ten years, the five were finally starting to get better.

Zuo Mo was able to hear the soft breathing of the five. Their destroyed bodies started to recover vitality.

He had not stopped thinking about this for five years. Zuo Mo’s understanding of power reached a profound level. He knew how he should recover his power. His shen power had not recovered but his cultivation was steady. He had ways.

The chariot passed through thick clouds, thunder and lightning being attracted to the chariot. The chariot was covered by the lightning and it was so blinding it was like an angry god descending.

The thick lightning was absorbed by the shen formations on the chariot and turned into shen power to nurse Zuo Mo’s body.

His body that was a dry as the desert greedily sucked every drop of shen power and slowly returned vitality.

A Man looked at the lightning that was flashing constantly outside. When the first bolt had come, he was half frightened to death. Such a thick bolt of lightning. If he was hit, there probably won’t even be ash left.

The scene that occurred after caused him to lose the ability to think.

Thousands –no tens of thousands– of bolts of lightning came out of the corners of the clouds and furiously hit the chariot.

A moment later, he recovered from his daze. He unconsciously rubbed his face. He was still alive!

He was actually still alive!

Heavens!

He suddenly became excited. That scene he had just witnessed was the most spectacular he ever saw in this life!

Elder was too powerful!

At this time, he wanted to kneel in thanks. He was really fortunate.

“A Man.”

Elder’s voice came from the chariot room. A Man shook and said respectfully, “A Man is here!”

“Let me have a look at the shen methodology you cultivate.”

The clever A Man was overjoyed. The intentions of the elder to teach him was indicated in his tone.

He suppressed his excitement. He took out a bone covered in patterns and handed it over with both hands.

Chapter 854 – Qing Xiao

Wu Ge City was the most prosperous city of the jie and as expected Zuo Mo learned much useful information here.

After ten years, the world had changed significantly. After cultivating for ten years, no matter which faction one spoke of a large amount of experts had rose. These experts mostly were names that Zuo Mo had never heard of.

Zuo Mo found this from A Man. He perceptively recognized the change. If the era of shen power had just begun ten years ago, then after ten years, shen power was facing its spring.

However, what he was most happy was the news of Mo Cloud Sea.

Unlike Tian Huan who descended into civil war and Xi Xuan who had been consumed, Mo Cloud Sea was prospering. Right now, Mo Cloud Sea was the second ranked power in the xiuzhe world only under Kun Lun. Gongsun Cha had been fighting these ten years and won all encounters, defeating all challengers. His ranking rose and he was now the second strongest battle general after Xue Dong. Bie Han had not rested on his laurels. His ranking had risen to sixth.

The two working together had taken almost half of Xi Xuan’s territories.

The one that had benefited the most from the division within Tian Haun was Mo Cloud Sea. Mo Cloud Sea had grabbed the opportunity of the North and South Tian Huan factions war to sell the Mo Cloud Shen equipment and set themselves as the biggest seller of shen equipment.

Kun Lun had become even stronger. While they had been stopped by Gongsun Cha and were unable to accomplish their goal, they still took almost one-third of Xi Xuan’s territory. Adding on the five sects of the Nine Great Dhyana Sects that had sided with them, Kun Lun’s territories were unprecedentedly large.

However, after the battle of the Central Plains, Lin Qian had stayed in seclusion and had not come out.

When he saw this bit of news, Zuo Mo’s pupils unconsciously contracted. Lin Qian had definitely received significant wounds when he fled. With Zuo Mo’s present level, he could accurately judge the amount of damage Lin Qian had received then.

Lin Qian’s wounds had definitely healed long ago.

There was only one possibility why he was in seclusion, Lin Qian was trying to become god-level.

Ten years had passed. The average level of shen power had gone up a few levels since then. With Lin Qian’s abilities, it was possible that he might reach god-level.

Zuo Mo had a general guess of Lin Qian’s intentions.

If Lin Qian successfully became god-level, he would ascend to be the only god-level of the xiuzhe realm and would led the biggest sect in the world Kun Lun. His reputation would reach a level never seen before. At that time, all would want to join him. Even Mo Cloud Sea would not be able to stop him.

This was truly to accomplish all in one stroke!

But Lin Qian definitely would not have thought that Zuo Mo would come back alive.

Zuo Mo’s eyes flashed with cold light. A smile came onto his lips. After ten years of hardship, his resolve was hardened. He was far from the Little Mo Ge of the past.

For Lin Qian who seemed like his fated archenemy, Zuo Mo did not feel any fear. He was filled with confidence. He anticipated the next time they fought.

The only one in the xiuzhe world that could be an match for him was Lin Qian!

Zuo Mo quickly refocused and continued reading.

The xiuzhe world had changed from the three party equilibrium to two fighting for dominance. Tian Huan’s split and decline and Mo Cloud Sea’s rise formed a clear contrast.

Compared to ten years ago, there were many more small factions.

Tian Huan had split into North and South Tian Huan. Both sides thought they were the orthodox one. The long-standing internal conflict had used up their already weak strength.

Other than this, the split of the Nine Great Dhyana Sect was not a surprise. However, the Lesser Four Dhyana Sects had not sided with Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo knew that it was because he was not there and Yang Huan Hao’s confidence in Mo Cloud Sea had wavered. He did not feel that Yang Yuan Hao was wrong. Truthfully, even Zuo Mo was filled with surprise at Mo Cloud Sea’s development.

Time had been tight then, the paper crane he sent out only had five words, “Wait for us to return.”

At that time, he hadn’t been sure if they could survive but he still sent the message. His thoughts then had been simple, to leave behind a hope for everyone.

He didn’t know how much use this hope was. He didn’t know if this hope would come true. But he didn’t want Mo Cloud Sea to split like this. He hoped that everyone would stay united.

Losing him, losing Eldest Shixiong and the other four great experts. This blow was enough to be fatal to Mo Cloud Sea!

At this time, a hope was like a lifesaving stalk of grass.

Zuo Mo knew that for many factions, an intangible hope like this was like an illusion and had no meaning or value. They would still split up and crumble.

But Mo Cloud Sea did not.

Everyone hadn’t given up!

For some reason, Zuo Mo was moved.

An intangible hope in exchange for ten years of standing guard.

This was Mo Cloud Sea!

Qing Xiao’s gaze swept across the mo in front of him. Truthfully, he didn’t know why Daren needed to recruit people. In his view, these people were all average in strength.

However, Qing Xiao did not understand but since Big Brother had told him to do this, he would complete it to the best of his abilities.

Qualification one, youth. Qualification two, strong.

Qing Xiao chanted in his mind as he swept a gaze again. Then he pointed into the crowd, “You, you you … …”

He pointed out ten people in one go.

A Man gaped from the side. Elder had asked him to help Qing Xiao Daren to pick ten servants. Usually, this would be done by going through round after round of competition to pick out the elites.

There were more than one thousand people here!

When Elder’s chariot entered Wu Ge City, all of Wu Ge City had been disrupted. Even the city master had ran to the gates to welcome them. Watching the city master, who was so old he was almost in the ground, bow with a humble mannerisms of a junior, A Man felt it was extremely strange.

Elder was living in the mansion of the city master.

Then countless people came and tried to curry favor with Elder. Someone started, and now a large group ran to the city master’s mansion everyday to ask Elder for guidance.

Hmph, these people were delusional!

Thinking about the shen methodology Elder had bestowed, A Man felt wonderful inside. He felt a clear difference when he cultivated these days. The shen methodology that Elder had given him was as extraordinary as expected!

These people did not scatter and it started to look ugly. There were many sons and nephews of the local powers here. Elder had barely agreed when he said he wanted ten servants.

And then … … it became like this!

More than a thousand people surrounded the gates of the city master’s mansion. The scene was so spectacular A Man gaped.

A Man was proud but he felt slightly uncertain. Any person among these could beat him like a dog. He was only considered strong in Little Serene Town. In Wu Ge City, he was nothing.

Looking at Qing Xiao casually picking ten people, A Man swallowed the words that reached his mouth. Qing Xiao Daren definitely had his own reasons.

The ones that were chosen were overjoyed, those who were not were extremely disappointed.

Suddenly, someone shouted from within the crowd, “Not fair! This is not fair! Why did you choose them?”

A Man felt it was a bad shift in the crowd. There were many lawless people among this group. As mo, if they were chosen by combat, there wouldn’t have been a problem. Qing Xiao picking people by seemingly random choice was something many people could not accept.

After a short pause, many people started to shout as well since there were many that were not chosen. The mob grew rowdy at the gates of the city master’s mansion.

Qing Xiao had not expected he would encounter something like this. He was not stupid and he frowned as he thought. If Big Brother encountered something like this, what would he do?

Big Brother didn’t seem to have encountered this situation before … …

Qing Xiao thought for a while. He felt that these people were as disobedient as Black Gold. Oh, how did Silly Bird deal with Black Gold?

Beat him!

The Black Gold Seal Soldier feared the strong and bullied the weak. He fawned in front of Big Brother, but he liked to posture in front of everyone else. He was also greedy and when he had a conflict with the little ones, he had been beaten up by Silly Bird before he became docile.

Beat them up!

Qing Xiao suddenly realized, so Big Brother wanted to teach me this!

Qing Xiao did not hesitate. He flew into the air, and the Green Pulse String at his wrist spread out.

The long Green Pulse String gave off thick green light and was tensed like a bowstring.

Qing Xiao’s right arm pulled back slightly, and the Green Pulse String moved like a bowstring.

Hiss!

Light started to gather at the bowstring that Qing Xiao pulled. The sky above Wu Ge City immediately turned dark. The light where his hand touched the bowstring became even brighter.

An extremely dangerous presence covered the thousand people below.

It seemed everyone’s neck was put into a stranglehold. The swearing suddenly stopped.

Everyone looked dazedly at Qing Xiao in the air and that outrageously dangerous ball of light in his hand. Blood retreated visibly from their faces.

The thick green light reflected Qing Xiao’s calm expression. The crowd could not see any puzzlement or panic on his face.

He seemed to be doing a simple thing.

The thick shen power covered all of Wu Ge City.

He … … would he destroy Wu Ge City!

Damnit!

The city master of Wu Ge City could not stand by any longer. If he knew, he would have sent a battalion to maintain the peace! These bastards! How dare they anger Elder!

His heart burned in urgency. After being city master for so many years, he was more knowledgeable than normal people. To say of nothing else, just that chariot had blinded him. He was not a country bumpkin, he had associated with many of the so-called prestigious families. But he had never seen such a grand chariot.

Also, this was definitely not a normal chariot!

Even someone blind could see that this was not a normal chariot. Also, someone blind would be able to see that Elder was of extraordinary origins!

He had the impulse to kill the thousand people. You idiots, did you not see that even this city master was full of respect. And you still dare cause trouble!

If you ruin this city master’s matter, I will kill you all myself!

The city master gritted his teeth!

He was currying favor with this daren of unknown origins for his own goals.

The thousand people below were dumbstruck. Did this person want Wu Ge City to bleed in rivers?

Qing Xiao did not think so much. He remembered clearly that Silly Bird had beaten Black Gold like a dog.

Therefore, he released the bowstring.

Chapter 855 – Conflict

An enormous and blinding green ball of light consumed the thousand people!

Boom!

The burning light was like a sun. People’s vision turned white. In that moment, people only saw the light and couldn’t hear a thing. Time seemed to stop in this moment. Their mouths were wide, their faces pale and their minds blank. When the wave of air rushed at them, they seemed to be whipped and thrown into the air.

The wave of air spread in all directions like an unstoppable herd of beasts.

Silence, deathly silence.

In the sky, Qing Xiao had a blank expression as he looked down. His gaze did not show any pride. He seemed to have just carried out an simple action. This really was not anything major. Qing Xiao had roamed with Zuo Mo in the endless void for so many years. What kind of danger had he not encountered?

Oh, they weren’t dead.

Qing Xiao looked around and then showed an expression of satisfaction. While Silly Bird had beaten Black Gold, she hadn’t killed him. This was an important point.

Yet seeing this calm expression, none one present had any thoughts of fighting back.

The space in front of the gates was in ruins.

More than a thousand people were sprawled out on the ground unconscious. Not even one was standing.

“Who still has objections?” Qing Xiao’s young voice echoed in the sky above the city master’s mansion.

He remembered that Black Gold had been beaten repeatedly by Silly Bird. That incident had left a deep impression on Qing Xiao. Even the most rebellious would be good after being beaten a few times.

Complete silence.

People looked in terror at the figure of the youth in the sky. The remaining shen power fluctuations in the air still caused fear. It was not nether shen power! The youth’s shen power did not have vibrations of nether presence. Some started to speculate about the origins of the youth but no one dared to make a sound. No one doubted that this slightly young-looking youth had the power to flatten all of Wu Ge City.

The youth had clearly restrained himself. The people on the ground were all unconscious but no one had died.

Blood had not flowed but the youth’s astounding control of shen power made people feel even colder. Such a large-scale attack, and such precise control. If they did not see it with their own eyes, they would not believe it.

Had he started cultivating from when he was conceived?

People suddenly thought of that mysterious white-haired elder behind the youth. Many people’s thoughts started to turn lively.

Big leg!

This was a thick and big leg!

Zuo Mo did not care at all about what happened outside.

There wasn’t much information he could gather from Wu Ge City but one thing was confirmed. Up until now, no god-level experts had appeared. Right now, the only things that could threaten Zuo Mo were god-level experts.

Zuo Mo did not feel relaxed. In truth, he was pressured. This indescribable pressure came from Lin Qian. Ever since he heard that Lin Qian had been in seclusion for ten years, Zuo Mo knew that Lin Qian could come out at any time.

If Lin Qian came out, he would definitely be god-level.

Zuo Mo’s body needed time to heal.

Zuo Mo measured his shen power progress and shook his head inwardly. If it continued at this rate, it probably will take him three years to completely recover. In order to seal Wei Sheng and the others, Zuo Mo’s body had been fundamentally damaged, and heavily damaged at that. In order to increase their vitality, almost all of the materials he gained in these ten years had been used on the five coffins and the little ones. Zuo Mo had not progressed at all. He had managed to survive by sheer will.

His body was damaged to the point it could not produce shen power on its own.

The greatest difference in shen power after entering god-level was the process of its burn and refinement. When god-levels fought, their shen power burned like fire but was stable. Their shen power was exponentially more condensed than those not in god-level.

Zuo Mo’s body was in a terrible state but his shen power was fifty times more condensed than before.

In other words, the shen power that he absorbed needed to be compressed fifty times after refinement. Shen power was one of the strongest powers. When other powers were turned into shen power, the amount was already small, and after being refined and compressed, the amount was miniscule.

This was also the reason god-level was powerful. Shen power fifty times more condensed, and their power was a hundred times stronger than shen power before. This was a fundamental difference.

The refined shen power was used to repair Zuo Mo’s body. When Zuo Mo’s body recovered, its ability to produce shen power would also recover, and Zuo Mo’s shen power recovery would quickly increase.

God-levels were one of the strongest beings in the world. This strength didn’t just come from their power, even their bodies were powerful. The ability of their bodies to produce shen power surpassed the shen formations on Zuo Mo’s chariot. If Zuo Mo’s body was completely recovered, he could refine shen power to a hundred times. However, if the body of a god-level was damaged, it also needed refined shen power.

Zuo Mo’s body was like that. Shen power that was not compressed fifty times was not of any use to his body.

It was too slow relying just on the power that the chariot absorbed from the world.

He had to think of a way.

At this time, a servant reported that the city master was visiting. The ten servants that Qing Xiao had picked had started to work without needing any orders. Qing Xiao had made good choices. Zuo Mo had even found an ancient bloodline in one of them. However, he did not plan on spending much energy on these people. He gave them to Qing Xiao to train. It was a way for him to gain experience.

Zuo Mo decided to see this city master.

“Junior greets Elder!” The city master bowed respectfully. “We are a little rural town, we do not know manners. If there is something we lack in our care, Elder, please have tolerance.”

Then he took out a grey piece of wood the thickness of an arm and presented it with two hands. He said respectfully. “This is Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, Elder, please accept it.”

Zuo Mo beckoned and that grey wood landed in his hands. This wood was not eye-catching but it was extremely heavy, as hard as steel and filled with nether energy.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. It was the first time he encountered materials of this kind. After studying it for a few moments, he felt that this item was a good treasure.

He put the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood in the ring and said straightforwardly, “This is good and I will accept it. What is your request?”

The city master was overjoyed. “This is just a token of Junior’s sincerity … …”

Zuo Mo waved his hand and interrupted the other’s words. “There’s no need to say such things, it’s just a trade. If it is something I can resolve, speak.”

The city master did not hesitate when he saw this. He knelt and begged sincerely. “Junior only asks for Elder to protect his family!”

Zuo Mo’s brow furrowed slightly. This request was clearly unexpected. But he thought, it may not be a bad thing. Even if he was a god-level now, his individual power was still limited.

After a moment of thought, Zuo Mo spoke, “Stand up and speak.”

Hearing this, the city master was about to speak when an extremely arrogant voice came from outside. “The Yin Tomb Guard has matters here, get out of the way!”

The city master’s expression changed.

Zuo Mo’s mind shifted and he saw the situation outside. A troop of about three hundred people were marching ferociously towards the city master’s mansion.

Looking at the city master whose expression had changed dramatically, Zuo Mo decided to stand by and watch.

The two servants guarding the gates of the mansion changed expression but still stepped out. “Halt … …”

The mo leading the troop had a snarl. With a wave of his hand, the two seemed to be hit and slammed into the city master’s mansion like sandbags.

Zuo Mo’s face suddenly turned cold.

Qing Xiao was yearning to go. He was at a hot-blooded age, and didn’t fear fighting at all.

“A Xiao, break his arms and legs.”

Zuo Mo said coolly.

“Alright!” Qing Xiao was excited. Before he finished speaking, his body had disappeared.

The mo who had charged through the gates suddenly stopped. He was experienced in combat and had exceptional senses towards danger. He shouted in shock, “Form the formation!”

Before he finished, a green shadow appeared in his view like a ghost.

A feeling of extreme danger rose. His hairs stood on end. He didn’t dare to hesitate. All the shen power in his body gathered together, nether shen power wrapping around his right fist as he punched out!

[Nether Tiger Fist]!

A grey fist energy like a roaring nether beast leapt at the green shadow.

Thick killing intent and the dark and cold nether energy wrapped together was unstoppable!

Qing Xiao was interested. He snickered and breathered. A similar green light lighting up on his right fist. The green light layered rapidly and then became clear like glass!

[Sky Glass Wave]!

The Sky Wave Fist was actually a very simple fist scripture. After Zuo Mo modified it, he gave it to Qing Xiao. Zuo Mo taught Qing Xiao everything. Other than the [Greenvine Shen Methodology], he taught many other techniques. After entering god-level, Zuo Mo’s vision reached an unprecedented breadth. All that he had learned in the past were transformed into new things in his hands.

The Sky Wave Fist Scripture was one of those.

Qing Xiao was the descendant of the Greenvine Tribe and had pure ancient blood. His comprehension was exceptional and his shen power cultivation was faster than the average person.

Pew!

The green fist energy effortlessly passed through the Nether Tiger Fist Energy. The Yin Tomb guard was startled. They did not care about their face as they tried to dodge to the side.

The green and glassy fist energy dangerously brushed past where he had just been. He sighed slightly in relief.

Where had Old Man Qin found such a powerful expert?

Boom!

The fist energy exploded without any warning!

The Yin Tomb guard was stunned as though he had been smashed.

Qing Xiao did not hesitate to move up.

Crack crack crack crack!

Briskly breaking this person’s hand and feet, he flashed in front of Zuo Mo and threw the unconscious Yin Tomb guard to the ground. “Big Brother, done.”

He was still hungry for battle. This guy wasn’t hardy at all.

Zuo Mo nodded. “Clean up the people outside.”

“Alright!” Qing Xiao did not waste words. He disappeared with another flash.

Sounds came from outside, and there were wails and muffled grunts. Moments later, Qing Xiao flashed back into the mansion with a relaxed expression.

“Big Brother, all of them are unconscious.”

The city master gaped with wide eyes.

Chapter 856 – Mine

Zuo Mo nodded. He then pointed at the two servants who had been attacked at the gates. “Pick a simple shen methodology and teach them.”

The other servants had expressions of envy. Earning a shen methodology due to being knocked unconscious, it was a great profit! They decided that if they encountered danger in the future, they could not retreat.

Zuo Mo saw the changes in expression of the other servants. He was practiced at leading by example and using fair reward and punishment. While he did not plan on spending too much time on these servants, after establishing Mo Cloud Sea’s rules and motivating culture, he did this out of habit.

Zuo Mo turned and said to the city master. “Speak slowly, do not skip anything, do not hide anything.”

The city master was completely won over. This white-haired youth elder in front of him was not one of the old people whose minds had been turned pedantic by cultivation. He hurriedly started to explain in detail.

Outside the city master’s mansion, countless eyes stared at this scene.

“Old Man Wu Qin’s luck is about to turn around,” a middle-aged person sighed.

“This old guy’s luck is really too good!” A male that looked slightly androgynous couldn’t’ resist saying after a moment of silence. His expression was strange.

These two had thought that the Wu Family would not be able to escape this calamity. They hadn’t expected a terrifyingly powerful expert to appear, and in a blink, reverse the situation.

“Did you discover the origins of that white-haired youth?” the androgynous male said with a frown. “While Old Man Wu says elder, I have a feeling that he is young.”

The middle-aged man said gravely, “He came out of the Cold Nether Bog. He first appeared in Little Serene Town. According to the locals, when this person came to Little Serene Town, he was dragging five coffins!”

The androgynous man jumped in fright. “Five coffins? Is he a corpse-refining mo? Coming out of the Cold Nether Bog … …”

He was truly given a fright. Wu Ge City was not far from Little Serene Town. No one knew better than they did what the Cold Nether Bog was like. Everyone knew that the Cold Nether Bog was filled with countless treasures, but no one ever dared to go in deep. Only some local hunters could exist on the outskirts of the Cold Nether Bog.

The core of the Cold Nether Bog was a forbidden land of death.

A person that came out dragging five coffins from the Cold Nether Bog,  the Forbidden Land of Death, probably breathed poison!

From any angle, this person was one they could not provoke.

The middle-aged person’s throat was slightly dry. When he learned of this news, he had been shocked as well. He suppressed his fear and said gravely, “I don’t know where he came from. I’m afraid that his strength can match Gai Yuan of the Yin Tomb Guards.”

“Gai Yuan!” The androgynous male exclaimed in shock. “How is it possible? Gai Yuan Daren is unfathomable in power. He was the one to built the reputation of the Yin Tomb Guards in the recent years! No matter how strong that white-haired guy is, he cannot be compared to Gai Yuan Daren.”

“Let’s reconsider our plans carefully.” The middle-aged person did not argue and only reminded, “The water here is too deep. If we are not careful, our families will both drown.”

The androgynous male became silent. He knew that the other was right. They had originally thought that Old Man Wu was finished this time. They hadn’t expected someone powerful to disrupt the situation, and the situation to become confusing again.

“How about we watch a bit more?” The androgynous man could not decide and said with a hesitant expression.

The middle-aged man was silent. This matter was too important. It could decide the life and death of his family. He did not dare to rashly decide.

Zuo Mo had never thought that he would be pulled into an internal conflict in the Nether Realm.

Ever since the Nether King had united all of the Nether Realm, he had remained out of view. The last time he had appeared was five years ago. In the last five years, the Nether King never appeared in public again. Even the four Nether Lords had never seen the Nether King.

A recent while ago, the Nether king had appeared in public and suddenly mentioned the matter of selecting a successor.

It had to be stated that the Nether King did not have any children. Up until now, the background of the Nether King was a mystery. No one knew anything. The Nether King had appeared out of nowhere. Everywhere he passed, the factions submitted to him, the experts bowed their heads, and he created his kingdom.

If the Nether King had children, then there was nothing to say about the matter of succession. The Nether King was unparalleled in battle, and healthy. It didn’t seem a problem for him to live a century or more. No one would even dare to have thoughts.

But the Nether King did not have children. Mentioning this matter now seemed to imply that he wanted to decide this matter before his death neared.

After the Nether King made this declaration, the people below naturally became lively.

The most likely to succeed was the four Nether Lords. Each nether lord was a powerful expert. Each of them had been personally defeated by the Nether King in the past. Each of them were skilled in war and accomplished.

The four Nether Lords ruled over an area, and they had great warriors and skilled advisors in their service. Even more importantly, all four Nether Lords were in the prime of their lives. Any one of them would be a good successor to the throne.

The Nether Realm immediately became full of turbulence. The Nether Realm being closed off was a direct consequence of this matter.

Originally, a matter like this wouldn’t have anything to do with the small Wu Ge City yet the ripples of the conflict still touched this jie. Ripples on higher levels meant that those below started to clash between themselves, especially in matters like this where they had to take sides.

Wu Ge City was not large but it had an unique product called black nether metal. Black nether metal was one of the materials used to make nether armor. While it was not used in great amounts, it was important.

For the little Wu Ge City, this caused their situation to become terrible.

The Yin Tomb Guards were the closest to Wu Ge City so they were the first to come and request for Wu Ge City to hand over this mine. Of course Wu Ge City refused, and the two sides did not part amiably. Then a few more factions came to talk with Wu Ge City which displeased the Yin Tomb Guards. The friction between the two sides quickly rose.

Hearing this, Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled. “The Yin Tomb Guards do not have any restraints?”

The city master of Wu Ge City had a grimace. “Elder may not know. The Yin Tomb Guards are not as powerful as the four great Nether Lords, but they are special. The Yin Tomb Guards were one of King’s earliest battalions, deeply trusted by King and were stationed to guard the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld.”

“Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld?” It was the first time Zuo Mo heard this name.

The master of Wu Ge City explained, “The Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld is a land of bones that is endless. Tombs are packed in there, and innumerable. It is where the nether energy is greatest in all of the Nether Realm. While the Yin Tomb Guards are not large, their status is high.”

Zuo Mo finally understood most of it. It was most likely that the Yin Tomb Guards wanted to obtain the black nether mine of Wu Ge City. It would add some chips for the Yin Tomb Guard to deal with the upcoming storm.

A man’s wealth is his own ruin by causing the greed of others. Wu Ge City had such a tempting mine, but no ability to protect it. It was natural for calamity to come.

“Will this not end if you give up the black nether mine?” Zuo Mo asked.

Wu Ge City Master grimaced again. “But Nether Lord Hai Xin Bing has already ordered for us to deliver thirty thousand catties of black nether ore in three months, otherwise … …”

“Otherwise?” Zuo Mo asked interestedly.

“Otherwise my entire clan will be executed!” City Master of Wu Ge City cried. “Junior wants to give up the mine. However, Hai Xin Bing Daren always abides by his declarations. If we do not deliver thirty thousand catties of black nether metal in time, and the Yin Tomb Guard is only willing to accept the mine … …”

Zuo Mo had an expression of sympathy as he thought inside. It was clear that Hai Xin Bing also wanted this mine. The Yin Tomb Guards were no willing to help the city master of Wu Ge City against Hai Xin Bing. The pitiful city master was stuck in the middle, and would naturally be the worst off.

The Yin Tomb Guards and Hai Xing Bing’s battle was clearly at a stage where both sides were probing each other. The tragedy was that Wu Ge City was the target both sides chose to use as the test. The two sides were using Wu Ge City to test the confidence and bottom line of the other side.

“How do you want me to help you?” Zuo Mo asked the city master of Wu Ge City.

The city master knelt on the ground. “Junior is willing to gift the mine to elder, only hoping that Elder can protect the safety of Junior’s family.”

“What do I need your mine for!” Zuo Mo laughed. His mind suddenly moved and he sank into thought.

At this time, the leader of the Yin Tomb Guard woke up. Hearing this, he was furious and he said angrily, “Old Man Wu, you dare! You collude with those outside the race … …”

Zuo Mo waved his hand. Snap, the leader flew out as though he had been whipped. He smashed to the ground and was unconscious again.

“Alright, I will accept the mine.” Zuo Mo raised his head and said to the city master. “As to the safety to your family, you have two choices. One is to follow me, the other is that I will negotiate with them and have them not make trouble for you.”

“Our entire family is willing to follow Daren!” The city master said unhesitatingly.

He could see clearly that he was like a fleshy bone that had been tossed out to the dogs. In the end, someone would eat him. He did not care about the mine any longer, he only hoped to protect his clansmen. He was angry at the Yin Tomb Guards for wanting the mine but not being willing to protect his clansmen.

Rather than that, it was better to give the mine to Elder to trade for the safety of his family.

It was easy to choose between the two options. With his understanding of the Yin Tomb Guards, once Elder left, they would definitely extract revenge.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised at this old man’s decisiveness. A hint of admiration flashed through his eyes.

“Good.” Zuo Mo nodded. “Have Qing Xiao go to your clan to pick ten young people. They will learn from Qing Xiao in the future.”

The city master of Wu Ge City was overjoyed. “Many thanks, Daren!”

He rejoiced that he had not judged wrong. Daren was not a cruel person. With Qing Xiao Daren’s guidance, these ten clansmen would have bright futures. He had seen Qing Xiao Daren’s great strength with his own eyes.

Zuo Mo then said coolly, “Send someone to tell the Yin Tomb Guards and Hai Xin Bing that I have the mine. Have them come talk to me.”

Hearing Zuo Mo’s cool and calm words, for some reason, Old Man Wu’s terror was swept away. He bowed and said, “Yes!”

Chapter 857 – Guidance

“What do you know about his origins?” Gu Yan had a grave face. He was one of Hai Xin Bing’s great generals and responsible for the matter of Wu Ge City. Gu Yan was about forty years old, dressed like a scholar, and his eyes would occasionally flash with cold light.

Each nether lord had the right to build their own mansion. Hai Xin Bing’s Northern Plains Ice Mansion was full of dragons and tigers. Gu Yan was deeply trusted by Hai Xin Bing Daren but he did not dare to slack off. The infighting inside the mansion far surpassed people’s imaginations.

A mere black nether metal mine was not enough to personally disturb Hai Xin Bing.

“Origins unknown, but he walked out of the Cold Nether Bog, just outside Little Serene Town. When he appeared he was dragging five coffins. Then he travelled using an extraordinary chariot. Everywhere it passed, wind and thunder roared.” The intelligence network of Northern Plain Ice Mansion was extensive, they had investigated thoroughly in a short time. “This person has completely white-hair, but his face is young. His true age is hard to estimate. He has a youth with him, about twenty or so, who is extremely powerful. Supposedly, Tuoba Min of the Yin Tomb Guards lost in one exchange. The two hundred guards with Tuoba Min were defeated in a short amount of time.”

“Tuoba Min?” Gu Yan frowned. The name sounded familiar, but he could not recall the individual.

The subordinate hurriedly said, “He is Tuoba Yu’s younger brother but he is not as strong as his older brother. He is a colonel in the Yin Tomb Guards.”

Gu Yan nodded. “Ah, he’s the younger brother of Tuoba Yu.”

He knew Tuoba Yu. This person was a famed expert among the Yin Tomb Guards. The [Three Serene Shen Sword] the other had created was unique. In the Nether Realm, there were only a few that cultivated sword scriptures. This person was outstanding in talent and only in love with sword scriptures. After he created the [Three Serene Shen Sword], his fame rose. He was recruited by the Yin Tomb Guards and he had had great accomplishments in these years.

Thinking about the rumors about Tuoba Yu, Gu Yan laughed, “Tuoba Yu will not let this rest. We will just watch. As for the Wu Ge City envoy, tell him I wish to consider our response and have him wait a few days.”

“Yes!” the subordinate acknowledged.

In the inky black pool, the medicinal fluid moved as though it was alive. A strange field of power covered the entire pool and did not let any presence of the pool escape.

Silly Bird’s eyes were narrowed as she laid by the side of the pool as though she was napping. Lil’ Pagoda, Lil’ Black, and Lil’ Fire played happily by the side.

The three had greatly changed in appearance. Lil’ Pagoda’s Yinyang fish eyes had disappeared. Right now, its body was snowy white with black eaves. It was still round and fleshy. There was a clear pearl at the top that was the size of a thumb and there seemed to be a black mist that roiled inside the bead.

Lil’ Fire had consumed an unknown amount of Void Sky Li Fire in the endless void. Chun Yu Cheng had Lil’ Fire cultivate the [Fire Heart Bone Refining Art]. Having consumed countless Void Sky Li Fire, Lil’ Fire had cultivated the [Fire Heart Bone Refining Art] to a deep level. However, this didn’t seem to be of any use except making Lil’ Fire even rounder and bouncier.

But this did not ruin Lil’ Fire’s mood to play. It bounced like a rubber ball. Its best play partner was Lil’ Pagoda. The game the two liked to play the most was juggling. Lil’ Pagoda would jump up, and then Lil’ Fire would keep bouncing off Lil’ Pagoda from all angles so that Lil’ Pagoda would not fall back to the ground.

Lil’ Black was much larger than in the past. It was now about half a palm large. The two antennae moved constantly. It moved quickly like a wisp of black smoke.

Tenth Grade, Sunshine, the Black Gold Seal Soldier, and the Ghost Mist Child were all in deep slumber.

In the endless void, the little ones had taken turns to protect Zuo Mo. The materials in the endless void were too high in grade for them. They needed a lot of time to absorb each one.

Suddenly, Silly Bird opened her eyes.

The black medicinal pool roiled and a figure slowly floated out of the surface.

The sun shen glyph slid back into Zuo Mo’s body. He slowly exhaled and opened his eyes to show a satisfied expression. Using the medicinal pool to repair his body was much better than just absorbing shen power and other powers. He had used almost all of the high level materials in Wu Ge City’s stores.

For his present level, only those high level materials were useful. The Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood that Old Man Wu had presented had been crucial. It was not of ordinary quality, and was full of nether energy but it also had the ability to create vitality an unexpected property.

Nether energy was death energy. However, this meant that any thread of vitality formed in such thick death energy was pure.

This extremely pure thread of vitality was a great aid to Zuo Mo’s damaged body. In order to completely use the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood to its fullest effect, Zuo Mo had created this medicinal pool.

This thread of vitality could match one month’s effect of the shen glyphs. It astounded Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo rose from the medicinal pool and had a small smile.

The little ones that were playing immediately floated over when they saw Zuo Mo come out. They brushed against Zuo Mo and played with him for a while before leaving the room.

Outside the mansion, Qing Xiao was teaching the ten Wu Clan youths.

“Daren!” Old Man Wu hurriedly came over to welcome him.

Zuo Mo waved his hand and motioned that he wished to watch on his own.

The youths looked at Qing Xiao with gazes full of respect and awe. News of Qing Xiao’s powerful display had spread through Wu Ge City. Everyone knew.

Qing Xiao’s teaching method was simple. He would teach them the shen methodology and then use real combat to explain. A short time later, the youths all had dusty faces. But these Wu Clan youths were not dispirited. They could clearly feel that the shen methodology that Qing Xiao Daren had taught them was much stronger than the shen methodology that they cultivated.

The ten servants that had been selected were staying far away.

In the Nether Realm, eavesdropping and attempting to secretly learn the skills of others was a taboo.

Qing Xiao had never taught before, but he was serious when he did. If he could not explain it clearly, he would just demonstrate. Yet after Zuo Mo watched for a while, he found that even though Qing Xiao taught seriously, and the Wu Clan disciples were concentrating, the effect was not very good.

After some thought, Zuo Mo understood. Qing Xiao was strong, but he did not have a great understanding of nether shen power. These youths were not old, but they had a base in cultivating nether shen power. Being forced to cultivate another shen methodology greatly diminished any effect.

He clapped his hand. “Stop for a second.”

Qing Xiao and the Wu Clan members stopped. Zuo Mo pointed randomly at one of the Wu Clan members. “Demonstrate what you usually cultivate for me.”

When this Wu Family disciple heard this, he started to demonstrate the Wu Clan’s [Wu Ge Shen Methodology]. It could be seen that this disciple worked hard on his cultivation, and he was practiced in his demonstration.

Zuo Mo watched for a while before indicating for the demonstration to stop.

Then he started to move, each action extremely slow and without shen power. However, each move and action was filled with terrifying power. The Wu Clan disciples mouths gaped and eyes wide. They hadn’t thought that the [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] would have such power!

As Zuo Mo demonstrated, he explained.

Every Wu Clan disciple focused with the utmost concentration in fear of missing a word. They found that the [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] that Daren spoke on was not the same as what they were cultivating

Had Daren cultivated [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] in the past?

Old Man Wu was completely stunned where he stood. He had cultivated [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] the longest. The Wu Clan leader who had created this shen methodology had passed away, and Old Man Wu was the person with the greatest skill at [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] in the clan.

The explanations by Daren seemed to clear his mind. Many places he had been puzzled by were cleared up. He was overjoyed, but he did not dare to be careless. He opened his ears and listened carefully.

Zuo Mo spoke for about two hours on the entire [Wu Ge Shen Methodology]. He spoke from beginning to end and changed many places.

The new [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] was completely transformed, their cultivation efficiency and power greatly increasing. Old Man Wu had been immersed in it for many years and knew that this new [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] would be able to make it into the top class of shen methodologies in the Nether Realm!

With this completely new [Wu Ge Shen Methodology], the Wu Family would definitely prosper!

Old Man Wu’s face was covered in tears. He couldn’t help but cry at having his dream of many years come true.

When Zuo Mo finished his lecture, Old Man Wu prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed. He sobbed, “The Wu Family will follow Daren for your grace of recreating us!”

Zuo Mo jumped in fright and helped the other back up. “Just a minor matter, there is no need for this.”

The creator of the [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] had been limited by their own cultivation. The fundamentals of this shen methodology were very weak. Zuo Mo had changed many places, but the core of the shen methodology had not changed.

If even the core was changed, then this shen methodology would not be the [Wu Ge Shen Methodology]. It would then be better to give them a new methodology.

Zuo Mo had just leveled up the [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] to use it to its full potential. Something like this was not a matter that Zuo Mo thought too much of.

Zuo Mo did not conceal this and honestly told all of this to Old Man Wu.

Old Man Wu shook his head and said, “The Wu Clan is not a large clan. If we have an extremely good shen methodology, it will not bring prosperity to the Wu Family but calamity. The [Wu Ge Shen Methodology] that Daren has remade is the best shen methodology for the Wu Family.”

Zuo Mo had a new opinion of Old Man Wu. Old Man Wu was not strong, but his foresight was great, he was perceptive. This was a talented person.

Zuo Mo always desired talent.

“It is good that you can think like this,” Zuo Mo said with a smile. He then thought of another question. “Where can I buy materials like the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood?”

If he could have more of those materials, Zuo Mo’s problem of repairing his body would drastically shorten in time.

Old Man Wu shook his head. “This subordinate accidentally obtained that Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood. It is hard to buy a material like that on the market. If someone has it, they would carefully keep it hidden away.”

“Is there not a market for high level materials?” Zuo Mo asked.

He had a lot of things that were valuable, but these things were not valuable to repairing his body so he did not urgently need them. If he could trade them for things like the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, it would be good for Zuo Mo.

Old Man Wu had a thoughtful expression. “This jie does not have one, but this subordinate heard that in Nether Insect Jie, there is a place called the Peerless Market which only does high level material business. Maybe Daren could go there to see.”

Zuo Mo had a jie map of the Nether Realm. The Nether Insect Jie was not far from Wu Ge City. He noted it down.

Just at this time, the ground under his feet trembled minutely. Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head, a cold smirk at the corner of his mouth.

Chapter 858 – Qing Xiao

“This is Wu Ge City?” Tuoba Yu raised his head to look at the nearby city and asked expressionlessly. He carried a black broadsword on his back. The three-eyed metal spiked beast under him growled. Its three red eyes flashed with a vicious light, the armor that covered it shimmered with a metallic sheen. Its short and strong legs meant it was extremely steady even when it was sprinting.

“Yes!” The subordinate hurriedly said.

Tuoba Yu’s guards were all strong and brave. They had aloof expressions as they sat on moving on the mo steeds. With a glance, it could be seen that they were battle-hardened elites.

Tuoba Yu had personally chosen these five hundred guards. His personality was fiery, bloodthirsty and battle-hungry. These five hundred guards were the same as him. They never feared battle. Whenever the offensive forces encountered a setback, it would be their turn to arrive onto the stage.

“Do not leave even one of the Wu Clan alive,” Tuoba Yu said coldly.

No one spoke but the eyes of the guards immediately flashed a bloodthirsty red. Once Tuoba Daren gave the order for a massacre, it meant that they could start to kill in large numbers.

Tuoba Yu lightly urged on the three-eyed spiked beast under him. The three-eyed spiked beast suddenly bent down low and then sprinted out.

Almost at the same time, five hundred mo steeds advanced.

The three-eyed spike beast was enormous and heavy like a small mountain. The noise it made when it sprinted was astounding. The five hundred mo steeds were all Nightmare Fire Nether Horses. They had strong legs, metal hooves. Their gallop was fast, and when their hooves hit the ground, it was like the rumbling of a thunderstorm.

The earth trembled.

The booming rumble seemed to come from the ground, deep and with a heart-shaking power.

The sharp alarms of Wu Ge City tore through the sky.

The five hundred mo steeds were like an unstoppable iron flood. They were extremely fast and the packed rattle of the hooves seemed to be striking at people’s hearts and minds. It was suffocating!

The battle general at the front suddenly raised the black broadsword.

Great murderousness gathered on that upraised black broadsword. A layer of grey suddenly shrouded the black broadsword. The murderousness suddenly disappeared but the strange feeling of emptiness was the calm before the storm.

The black sword swung down!

Hiss!

A grey sword energy charged in front of the city guards at a speed hard for the naked eye to catch. It reflected on the shocked expressions of the guards.

Boom!

The city gates and walls of Wu Ge City shattered under the sword energy!

An enormous gap the width of twenty zhang suddenly appeared.

The mo steed flood charged in with an unstoppable momentum.

The mo steeds did not slow down when they entered the city. They were like a sharp sword that penetrated directly. The three-eyed spiked beast and the Nightmare Fire Nether Beasts were astoundingly powerful. The hard and regular stone brick paths shattered like a crisp biscuit under their hooves. Rubble flew everywhere.

The ground was ploughed up wherever they passed. All of Wu Ge City trembled.

The killing intent that Tuoba Yu felt reached a peak after continuously accumulating all this time. He suddenly shouted, “Kill!”

“Kill!” The five hundred guards shouted angrily. The tangible killing intent swept outwards like a storm that lost control. In front of such savage killing intent, the residents of Wu Ge City were miniscule. They were pale and trembled as their minds turned blank.

The city master’s mansion entered their view.

That was their goal!

The guards’ presence continued to rise. They hunched over on their mounts, their speed increasing again. They needed to use this unstoppable charge to smash this mansion into dust!

At this time, Tuoba Yu’s pupils suddenly contracted.

A youth stood in front of the gates of the mansion. The youth was surrounded by empty space. He was alone.

For some reason, Tuoba Yu suddenly had a strong feeling of danger. His instincts that had formed through numerous life-and-death battle caused his to instinctively raised the black broadsword.

“Kill!”

His voice like thunder, the sword fell down!

“Kill!”

The guards shouted together, their shen power vibrating at the same time. Countless energies gathered towards Tuoba Yu’s falling black broadsword at a speed impossible to catch with the naked eye!

A strange grey energy appeared on the black broadsword.

Tuoba Yu’s unique [Three Nether Shen Sword]!

The grey sword energy howled as it charged towards the youth standing in front of the gates. A layer of red appeared on the outside of the grey sword-energy as though there were countless wraiths screaming and wailing inside the sword energy.

The people who were watching this battle from the distance paled. This grey sword energy seemed to have an eerie attraction. When one looked, they felt as through their mind was about to be pulled into this sword energy.

Most of them had heard of Tuoba Yu’s name in the past. When they saw him today, their feeling was multiple times as strong!

The middle-aged man and the androgynous male were ashen. The two of them represented the two prominent families of Wu Ge City. They had their plans, but when they saw such an astounding sword strike, they found that their thoughts were so laughable in front of such absolute power!

The Yin Tomb Guards were too strong!

Tuoba Yu with his five hundred soldiers were enough to flatten Wu Ge City.

During their shock, a green light suddenly lit up in their view.

Qing Xiao’s eyes flashed with excitement. He didn’t feel any fear as he stared down the raging flood in front of him. It caused his blood to boil, and his fighting spirit to rise!

Qing Xiao had witnessed the battle between Chief Elder against Big Brother and the others.

That battle could be considered the greatest battle in ten thousand years. Its effect on Qing Xiao would last through his entire life. When he struggled alongside Zuo Mo in the endless void Qing Xiao had progressed astounding fast. Zuo Mo’s unreserved teaching in addition to the harsh conditions of the endless void made for optimal training conditions.

However, in the endless void, Qing Xiao did not have anyone else to spar with or compete with. Qing Xiao was at a spirited age. Adding on that Black Gold, the Ghost Mist Child and the others frequently regaled him of Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng’s accomplishments in their younger days, Qing Xiao yearned to experience something like it.

A newborn calf did not fear the tiger. Qing Xiao was undoubtedly the newborn calf. He didn’t feel any fear at all.

Old Man Wu said Tuoba Yu was a famed expert.

Qing Xiao wanted to be like Big Brother and Teacher Wei, his idols.

Qing Xiao’s thought was simple and modest.

Defeat Tuoba Yu!

The Green Pulse String stretched comfortably in the air. Qing Xiao’s expression was solemn and attentive. He stared closely at the mo steed flood that was racing towards him. His expression was unmoving like granite.

When Tuoba Yu swung his sword with the momentum of five hundred mo steeds, Qing Xiao’s eyes suddenly lit up.

His left leg moved forward, his legs moving into an arch as he sank down, his hands pushing forward slightly.

“Green green thin vine, tens of thousands of hearts united together, protect my clansmen.”

In a light murmur, the song of the Greenvine Clan seemed to revive, stepping out of that ancient era.

The Green Pulse String in the sky seemed to hear a summons and flew rapidly towards Qing Xiao’s hand. The hair-thin Green String Vine immediately wove into a wall of vines.

Green light flowed from Qing Xiao’s hands and quickly shrouded the vine wall. The flowing green light did not stop after completely covering the wall of vines. The wall seemed to be nourished, sprouting new buds. The buds grew and spread.

In a blink, a verdant green wall of vines formed.

Inside the mansion of the city master.

Zuo Mo fell into a slight daze after hearing Qing Xiao’s murmur.

He couldn’t help but think of Big Brother Qing Lin. If Big Brother Qing Lin was still alive, he would be comforted if he saw Qing Xiao today.

The clan of the Greenvine would continue in Qing Xiao.

The sword energy filled with destruction smashed into the wall of vines.

The sword energy suddenly split apart.

Boom!

A burning ball of light rose and covered the wall of vines.

How could a blow that carried the power of five hundred people be stopped so easily?

The blinding light penetrated through the cracks in the wall of vines. Qing Xiao felt his hands grow heavy. The verdant green wall seemed to be in danger of collapsing.

He took a deep breath, green light growing in his eyes as the shen power in his body flooded into the wall of vines!

In the endless void, every battle was extremely difficult. With Qin Xiao’s cultivation he would not have survived in the endless void, if not for Zuo Mo and Silly Bird’s protection. Ten years had passed. While he was still unable to survive in the endless void alone, he could hold his own and participate in the cruel and hard battles.

All of the monsters they encountered in the endless void were stronger than he was. This meant that in every one of his battles, the enemy had the upper hand. He was not the only one that was always at a disadvantage. All of the little ones with the exception of Silly Bird occasionally were at a disadvantage. In these disadvantageous fights, he and the little ones continued to struggle to win. Fighting so hard for so long meant that his ability to resist and endure was astounding.

While he felt enormous pressure, this kind of pressure wasn’t on the same level as the fights he encountered in the endless void.

The green energy lighting his eyes aglow, Qing Xiao did not reserve any of his shen power.

The sword energy that had exploded had been furiously cutting at the wall of vines. Countless branches flew around. Just as the wall of vines appeared as though it was about to be penetrated by the sword energy, countless new buds suddenly sprouted where the wall had been cut. The new buds grew furiously.

The sword energy constantly cut at these newborn leaves but the new buds grew so quickly. When the light of the sword energy had grown dim, the heavily damaged wall of vines was still growing and repairing. The marks grew fainter and fainter. The furious growth was not just to stop the sword energy. The wall of vines was spreading into the surroundings.

When the sword energy dissipated, a large wall of vines about fifty zhang wide and one hundred zhang high stood in front of them.

It cast an enormous shadow over a large part of Wu Ge City, and also covered Tuoba Yu and his five hundred guards that were charging over!

Tuoba Yu only felt the light dimming of the light. The enormous shadow completely covered them.

His expression suddenly changed!

They had kicked a wall this time!

He had never encountered someone that could stop his sword strike which gathered the power of five hundred with just their own power!

He had never encountered such a terrifying wall of vines!

How could an expert of this level appear at the little Wu Ge City?

The enormous shadow covered the sun. He suddenly felt the shadow from above was like a bottomless enormous maw that was about to swallow them.

Almost instinctively, he realized the danger.

At this time, a shout came from ahead, “Go!”

That terrifyingly large and tall wall started to press on them. The shadow covered them. Suddenly, they were unable to move as though they were being restrained by countless vines. They could only watch as the wall of vines pressed closer to them.

Trap!

This definitely was a trap!

This was the only thought in Tuoba Yu’s mind before he was consumed by darkness.

Chapter 859 – Lan Bing

In these tense times, any political shifts would be quickly magnified. The secret struggle between the Yin Tomb Guards and the Northern Plains Ice Mansion seemed motionless but there were countless eyes obsterving from the shadows.

Tuoba Yu could not be considered a top expert in the Nether Realm, he might not even be called a top-tier expert. However, he was a strong fighter, and one of the best of the Yin Tomb Guards. Many people had heard of his name.

But such a famed fighter, leading five hundred riders, was defeated in one move by an unknown youth.

Qing Xiao quickly became famous.

Anyone with some knowledge understood just how powerful this youth was to have defeated Tuoba Yu and his five hundred head on!

The mo were the most skilled at using other people’s power as their own. With the shen power of five hundred people gathered on Tuoba Yu, Tuoba Yu was comparable to a true first class expert.

But Tuoba Yu was still defeated.

What level was someone that could defeat a first class expert? With one move?

This youth that had suddenly appeared was young but had such great power. How could people not be astonished?

The white-haired youth dragging the coffins, the grand gold chariot, a powerful youth with a strange green vine … …

This pair seemed to give off a mysterious aura no matter what aspect you looked at.

Both Zuo Mo and Qing Xiao did not think much of this battle.

For them, an enemy of Tuoba Yu’s level was not enough to disturb them.

Zuo Mo focused his time on repairing his body. That Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood was extremely effective and Zuo Mo began to search for similar materials. Old Man Wu had abilities in this area. If it was something Zuo Mo ordered, he would always complete the order in outstanding fashion. According to the information he gathered, the borders of the Nether Realm had all been locked down. This was an order that all four Nether Lords had sent down together.

Before the successor to the king was chosen, the lockdown would not be lifted.

Zuo Mo could be patient. Since he was unable to communicate with Mo Cloud Sea in the near future, he would first think of ways to recover his shen power. If his shen power recovered, the lockdown would not be a big problem to him.

The effects of Qing Xiao defeating Tuoba Yu were slightly unexpected to Zuo Mo.

Nothing further had to be said of the Wu Clan. Old Man Wu knew very well that if it wasn’t for Daren, the Wu Clan would have been killed off. He was even more faithful now. This battle also intimidated the other factions of Wu Ge City. Qing Xiao’s great fighting ability caused them to become even more wary.

When they heard that Zuo Mo needed high level materials, all of the families sent some materials.

Soon, the materials that were sent were piled into a small mountain.

However, there was only one of these materials that was of use to Zuo Mo. It was also not high in quality. But even the smallest mosquito was still meat. Zuo Mo used it.

It equalled five days of recovery.

Zuo Mo knew how to conduct business. He would give back shen equipment to those that sent him materials. For him, forging shen equipment did not waste any of his energy. All of the shen equipment were suited to channeling nether shen power and were not of low level.

Clever people were everywhere.

Ge Peng had gone along with the crowd and sent some materials. The Ge Family was only a small faction here, and only had some small properties. Ge Peng had not wanted to send anything but seeing everyone else do it, he thought he should send something as well. He had seen that battle with his own eyes. Qing Xiao’s great power struck him with fear.

Ge Peng received a gift in return. This surprised him. It seemed that the elder was an amiable person.

Ge Peng did not care. Usually, gifts sent in return were to represent the other’s friendliness and of little value. The gift itself would not be worth much. Ge Peng’s heart came to rest. Having given out gifts today, at least, it meant that the city master and others would not make trouble for them.

Only after he returned home, finishing dinner, he was bored. Only then did he remember the gift he had received earlier in the day.

He casually opened the box and was stunned.

A grand shen equipment was lying silently in the box.

Ge Peng dazedly picked up the shen equipment.

When it entered his hand a cold feeling came from the shen equipment. Ge Peng was in the business, and his eyes were experienced. Icy Blue Nether Stone that had exquisitely carved flower patterns. These were blue nether glyphs that would only appear when Blue Nether Stone was perfectly forged. The pulped gold that was woven through were hair-thin. Everyone knew how hard it was to forge pulped gold. How great was the skill was needed to forge such thin strands?

There were three nether glyphs on the shen equipment.

Good thing!

This skill was a great deal higher than the present mainstream shen equipment. It was a rare masterwork.

Almost at first glance, Ge Peng judged that the value of this shen equipment far surpassed the materials he had given out today. If the shen equipment wasn’t being held in his hands, Ge Peng would not believe his own eyes.

His business was not large and it was extremely rare to encounter something as fine as this.

They would use such valuable shen equipment as a reciprocal gift?

Ge Peng suspected that the servant had given him the wrong box.

During the night, he tossed and turned as he thought if he should return the shen equipment or not. He did not sleep the entire night. The next morning, he decided to travel towards the mansion of the city master with red eyes.

Yet on the way there, the news he received stunned him. Everyone had received a shen equipment!

How was it possible? This was Ge Peng’s first reaction.

How much money was this!? This was Ge Peng’s second reaction.

Soon, the clever Ge Peng reacted. A daring idea rose in his mind. The white-haired elder was a forger!

He suddenly realized that this might be a chance.

He turned and sprinted towards his home with excitement. He had a high level nether material like the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood in his home!

He was not the only one that realized this.

Zuo Mo’s fishing method was effective.

After throwing out the shen equipment, the amount of materials that were sent to him increased drastically and there was a clear rise in grade of the gifts he received. Zuo Mo was not frugal with the shen equipment. The higher the grade of material, the higher the grade of shen equipment he gave back.

However, not every nether material fulfilled Zuo Mo’s requirements. Other people did not know what Zuo Mo really needed. There was only a rare few among the majority of materials similar to the Nether Ghost Yin Heavey Wood that had a thread of vitality.

Zuo Mo searched through the haystack to finally find two that could be used.

One of them was a bone, the other a rotten piece of wood. Both of them contained a thread of vitality. Zuo Mo put them into the medicinal pool. They equalled fifteen days of effort. He had stayed in Wu Ge City for ten days, and didn’t waste even one day. He used them all to cultivate. He could get fifty days of effort by using nether materials with the medicinal pool. In other words, in these ten days, he had obtained two months of recovery.

His body needed about three years to recover. That was thirty six months. He had completed one-eighteenth. He could clearly feel the recovery of his body.

Zuo Mo immediately realized the best way to recover as fast as possible was to get materials like the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood.

He used all of the other materials to forge shen equipment. His forging skill was great, and he almost didn’t spend anything in forging shen equipment. He also used a very small amount of materials.

But there were also problems. Zuo Mo found that the concentration of nether energy near Wu Ge City had decreased drastically. He had created this problem by himself. The shen formations on the chariot constantly took in the nether energy and ling power from the air to turn into shen power.

This was just the shen formations. If Zuo Mo’s body recovered, he could suck all of the ling power and nether energy, including all vitality, in a breath.

That was god-level!

The amount of power near Wu Ge City greatly decreasing meant that Zuo Mo’s recovery speed would slow down. There was no earth fire near Wu Ge City. Otherwise, Zuo Mo could absorb fire essence to turn into shen power.

Did he have to change locations already?

Zuo Mo frowned. He had been planning to use the Black Nether Ore to trade for a batch of materials from the Yin Tomb Guards.

Suddenly, Old Man Wu hurriedly came in with an excited face. “Daren!”

“What is it?” Zuo Mo asked without raising his head.

“An envoy from Hai Xin Bing Daren asks for an audience!” Old Man Wu hurriedly said.

“Oh.” Zuo Mo had coincidentally finished forging the shen equipment in his hand. He raised his head and said, “Then have him come in.”

Hai Xin Bing’s envoy was a female. The female’s appearance was normal but her figure beautiful, and her presence was clear and ethereal. She bowed towards Zuo Mo. “This lowly female Lan Bing greets Daren!”

She had a smile on her face that had a strange approachability. “The Nether Lord heard that our mansion had been disrespectful to Elder regarding the matter of the Black Nether Mine. We are greatly apologetic. These three Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood are part of the Nether Lord’s collection. She heard that Elder needs them and ordered this attendant to deliver them as fast as possible to express our intentions.”

She opened the metal box next to her.

Three pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood were in there.

Zuo Mo’s eyes immediately lit up. He could clearly feel that each piece of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood had an extremely pure strand of vitality!

One piece of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood equalled one month of effort!

Three pieces were equivalent to three months!

Good things!

Hai Xin Bing… as expected of a Nether Lord, was so grand with her opening move. For other people, even one piece of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood was so hard to obtain. She easily took out three pieces! One had to know that not every Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood could form a thread of vitality. Vitality formed from nether energy was an extremely rare event to start with.

Yet, all  three pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood had formed a thread of vitality. They were of great use to Zuo Mo.

Bing Lan noticed the change in Zuo Mo’s expression and gave a small smile.

As expected … …

Zuo Mo nodded. “Thank Nether Lord Hai Xin Bing for me.” He waved his hand and the three pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood flew into his embrace.

“If the Nether Lord knows that Elder likes these items, she would be overjoyed,” Bing Lan said with a smile and then changed the topic, “I heard that Elder is skilled in forging shen equipment. Could Elder broaden Junior’s vision?”

Zuo Mo knew the real reason for Lan Bing’s visit had come.

Chapter 860 – Transaction

“Yes.” Zuo Mo had an open expression as he said honestly.

Zuo Mo was immediately filled with desire towards the Northern Plains Ice Mansion’s treasures after seeing the three pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood. He even questioned whether or not to rob them if negotiations failed.

But if the request was forging shen equipment, it would be even better. While his shen power was almost non-existent, his god-level was still present, his control of fire was unrivaled. His access ot sun shen fire, Silly Bird’s phoenix flames, Lil’ Fire’s Void Sky Li Fire, meant he had three kinds of shen fire to work with. Such a great setup, with so many types of shen fire, if this was made public, it would frighten people to death.

So Zuo Mo was very calm. With his present condition, he might not succeed in robbing them, but no one would be able to surpass him in forging.

“Could Elder forge shen devices for us?” Lan Bing’s gaze was bright.

As Zuo Mo had expected, the Northern Plains Ice Mansion had given the generous gift in an attempt to obtain shen devices.

“It depends on what materials you have.” Zuo Mo didn’t even move from his sitting position as he glanced at Lan Bing. “Without good materials, no shen device can be forged.”

Lan Bing laughed softly. “Elder, you do not have to worry about materials. The Northern Plains Ice Mansion is not the richest of the Nether Realm, but does have the materials to forge a shen device.”

“Oh,” Zuo Mo suddenly said, “if I remember correctly, the Nether Realm doesn’t have a shen device.”

“ Elder really is not from the Nether Realm.” Lan Bing said pointedly.

Zuo Mo did not dodge Lan Bing’s gaze and said with a snicker, “I’m not, but what does that have to do with anything?”

Lan Bing realized her rashness and hurriedly bowed in apology. “This lowly female was impolite!”

The other was right. If he could forge shen devices, it didn’t matter if he was from the Nether Realm or not. No one would make trouble for him. Even if he couldn’t forge shen devices, just his skill at forging shen equipment meant that no one would make a fuss of his background.

The Nether Realm was remote and even their communication with the jie of the Hundred Savage Realm was limited. Their communication with the yao and xiuzhe realms were even more rare. The mo were not skilled in forging, and the Nether Realm was the same.

The shen equipment of the xiuzhe world could greatly increase offensive strength. They continued to flow to the yaomo. The two races quickly found that the shen equipment was effective for them as well.

The yaomo started to study the forging methods of the xiuzhe but the xiuzhe had accumulated expertise over many millennia. How could it be so easy to learn? The yaomo had found large numbers of forgers with skill to teach them forging, but the shen equipment that they forged was lacking compared to the xiuzhe.

Zuo Mo hadn’t put much thought into forging shen equipment he gave out as gifts. He had only forged casually based on his habits.

The abilities of these shen equipment was a great deal better than the Nether Realm shen equipment on the market.

Zuo Mo didn’t know that the shen equipment that he had given out rose in price every day.

The Northern Plains Ice Mansion was the fastest to act!

Zuo Mo waved his hand and said carelessly, “No matter. Just for these three pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, I will give you some articles of shen equipment if you want. A few dozen is also alright. If you want a shen device, then you need to prepare the materials and pay the price first.”

Lan Bing liked this kind of straightforward style and immediately asked, “How much payment does Elder want?”

“Fifty pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood of this quality.” Zuo Mo had a honest expression.

Lan Bing was slightly surprised. She had heard before that the white-haired elder had been searching for the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood so she had picked three of good quality. She hadn’t thought that this elder would need so much Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood.

The Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood was rare. Even the Northern Plains Ice Mansion didn’t have fifty pieces, much less fifty of such quality.

But honestly, it was not expensive if they traded fifty pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood for the other to forge a shen device. It was only slightly troublesome.

“May other materials be used as substitutes?” Lan Bing asked cautiously.

Zuo Mo heard this. This was plausible. He was joyed but he did not change expression. “Tomb Ghost Bone Crystal, Rotten Life Wood, Yellow Spring Lotus, they all work, but have to also be of high quality.”

Lan Bing calculated inside. With three more types of materials to choose from, it was much easier to gather fifty items.

“Alright! But it will take time to gather these materials. Elder, please wait for a while.” Lan Bing unhesitatingly agreed.

Zuo Mo knew as well that it would not be an easy matter to gather so many materials but Little Mo Ge was a clever person. He said, “That’s fine, bring as much as you can. The forging of a shen device is not so easy, it also requires time.”

Lan Bing did not doubt him. She had never seen a shen device forged and naturally didn’t know the process. But shen devices were rare, and it definitely would be the product of more than a day’s work.

With this assumption, Lan Bing nodded and said, “No problem.”

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. If he could really get these materials, his recovery would be complete in no time.

Lan Bing suddenly said, “It is embarrassing to speak of, but our mansion does not have a forging department. We have more than thirty thousand forgers, but their skill is about the same. The reason is that they always have lacked a master to learn from. If Elder is willing to be the head of the forging department, the payment can be negotiated.”

Lan Bing looked as though she was willing to pay a great price.

Zuo Mo was slightly surprised. Thirty thousand forgers. This was not a small number. Ten years ago, Mo Cloud Sea’s forgers would not have much more than this number.

Zuo Mo knew that the expenses in training forger was high. If Mo Cloud Sea hadn’t just managed catch the market at that time, when Mo Cloud Sea Shen equipment did not lack demand, it would not have been so simple to train so many forgers.

Northern Plains Ice Mansion was willing to train forgers and set up a special department. Hai Xin Bing had foresight.

Zuo Mo suddenly realized that maybe Northern Plains Ice Mansion could possibly become Mo Cloud Sea’s enemy.

His mind moved, and an expression of interest rose on his face. “Oh, a forging department, then let’s go see.”

Seeing Zuo Mo interested, Lan Bing became joyous. Forging a shen device was far from being as profitable as recruiting a forging grandmaster.

Lan Bing decided that no matter what, she had to keep this forging grandmaster at the Northern Plains Ice Mansion.

“That’s great! If the lord knows that Elder is about to come to our mansion, she would be overjoyed,” Lan Bing said happily.

Zuo Mo glanced at Old Man Wu at the side and suddenly asked, “Old Wu, how many people are in the Wu Family?”

“Daren, two hundred and seventy,” Old Man hurriedly answered.

“Then have them pack up and accompany me,” Zuo Mo said.

“Yes!” Old Man Wu became alert. He had been worried that if the clan stayed in Wu Ge City, the Yin Tomb Guard would come find them for revenge.

Zuo Mo then said to Lan Bing. “I will not dance around the matter of the black nether mine. I want to sell it to the Northern Plains Ice Mansion.”

“No problem.” Lan Bing did not hesitate before accepting. “We are willing to purchase it at thirty percent above market price. Elder, what do you think?”

“Alright.” Zuo Mo nodded.

“Elder, do you want nether cash or materials?” Lan Bing then asked.

“Materials,” Zuo Mo said.

Lan Bing was not surprised by this answer. The obsession forgers had with materials was something hard for others to understand.

“Daren, what about Tuoba Yu and the others?” Old Man Wu asked respectfully.

Zuo Mo sank into thought. That group of people was a bother.

Lan Bing saw this and said, “If Elder feels that it is not easy to take care of, how about handing them over to our forces?”

Zuo Mo felt that this suggestion was good and agreed.

After hearing that Zuo Mo was willing to travel to the Northern Plains Ice Mansion, the Northern Plains Ice Mansion immediately sent experts travelling day and night to come and escort Zuo Mo’s group. The number of guards accompanying them increased greatly. The troop was an enormous one with the Wu Clan and the captured Yin Tomb Guards.

With the old and infirm of the Wu Clan, the troop did not move quickly. Zuo Mo was not in a hurry. He stayed in the chariot every day, and absorbed all kinds of powers along the way to repair his body.

Zuo Mo had almost absorbed all the powers near Wu Ge City. If he continued to take from them, the shen formations would start to absorb the vitality of those living near Wu Ge City. At that time, Wu Ge City would become a city of death.

On the way, as he continued to absorb power from the surroundings and the three pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, Zuo Mo’s body recovered significantly.

He had absorbed two of the three Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood. That could make up for two months of effort.

Thirty six months, that was thirty six levels.

Zuo Mo had repaired four levels and he had one pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood left. Adding on what he absorbed on the trip, when he arrived at the Northern Plains Ice Mansion, he would be able to reach level six.

Zuo Mo was satisfied with this progress.

In the remaining time on the road, he taught the Wu Clan youths how to cultivate and battle formations. The Wu Clan did not have any experts. If they wanted to protect themselves at this time, they could only rely on battle formations.

However, what Zuo Mo taught them were not the battle formations that battalions used but what guards would frequently use.

Other than this, he also forged shen equipment for them. Each Wu Clan youth had a shen equipment. They were completely attired and the Northern Plains Ice Manion guards accompanying them were extremely jealous.

“Take a look.” Lan Bing said in a low voice to an armored female next to her and then handed over a piece of shen equipment.

This female dressed in blue ice armor had a beautiful appearance but her expression was icy and unapproachable. She sat on the snowy-white Northern Plains Snow Horse, her body upright and unmoving. She held a large blade that was twice the height of a person in her hand. The blade curved in a crescent and the long handle was covered in blue swirling patterns.

She was one of the six generals of Northern Plains Ice Palace, Zhu Nan Yue.

She had just returned from the front lines and was immediately sent by Hai Xin Bing to protect Zuo Mo’s group. Her guards were all females, each of them with solemn expressions. They didn’t make any sounds as they marched.

Zhu Nan Yue and Lan Bing had a close relationship. She carefully looked at the shen equipment in her hand and her expression became serious. She looked closely, turning it over and over. She looked for a long time before lifting her head.

“How is it?” Lan Bing hurriedly asked.

“If I had such shen equipment, my strength will increase by two-tenths.” Zhu Nan Yue’s tone was certain.

Lan Bing knew that Zhu Nan Yue was a reliable and conservative person. She would not exaggerate. If she said it could increase her strength by two-tenths, it would not be less than two-tenths and was likely more effective.

“Look at this.” Lan Bing handed over another piece of shen equipment. It was the shen equipment of the Wu Clan.

She had used many methods in order to get this shen equipment.

Chapter 861 - Yin Tomb Ghost Lord

This shen equipment was a faded grey and nondescript.

Yet when she held it, Zhu Nan Yue could not keep her calm. Her eyes widened and she said in disbelief, “This shen equipment is another system!”

The two shen equipment were of completely different styles and systems.

Any forger who was able to forge in two completely different styles of shen equipment would have great skill.

“Not just so. I saw those Wu Clan members cultivating. This shen equipment was designed for them.” Lan Bing’s expression was excited. “If a forger like this will work for the Northern Plains Ice Mansion, who can stop us?”

Zhu Nan Yue’s beautiful pupils suddenly lit up like an layer of icy flame. Lan Bing’s words struck at her heart. The difference between the four Nether Lords was very slim. If they could get such a grandmaster forger, than Northern Plains Ice Mansion would immediately leap ahead of the others.

Suddenly, faint rumbling sounded in the sky as though thunder was roiling in the thick clouds.

“Daren! Elder’s chariot charged into the clouds!” the subordinate urgently said.

The two paused and couldn’t resist but raise their heads to look at the thick clouds.

“Not good!” Zhu Nan Yue’s expression changed slightly. The thick clouds were a good spot for an ambush. Hai Xin Bing had sent her just to guard against the retribution of the Yin Tomb Guards.

At this time, the sound of the thunder suddenly rose abruptly.

Zhu Nan Yue, Lan Bing and the others saw a soul-shaking sight.

The thick and endless clouds seemed to suddenly boil. Silver lightning of various sizes streaked through the clouds. The tiny bots of lightning gathered and formed into thick bolts of lightning, and the thick bolts of lightning formed into even brighter lightning.

The wild presence of the lightning and thunder could be clearly felt even from the ground.

That was a power that was able to tear and destroy everything!

Suddenly, the lightning in the cloud suddenly started to contract back towards the center of the clouds. There seemed to be something within the clouds that was absorbing this lightning.

In reality, when Zuo Mo saw such thick clouds, he was unable to stop himself. The thicker the clouds, the more lightning energy it held.

Even Zuo Mo felt such thick clouds were rare. This was a good chance to replenished his body and Zuo Mo naturally would not pass it by. He did not hesitate to drive the sun chariot into the cloud layer.

The shen formations on the chariot suddenly lit up.

Zuo Mo seemed to have thrown a spark into dry tinder, and the abundant lightning energy was ignited.

Lightning of astounding numbers were created in the clouds.

Boom boom boom!

The sound of the thunder echoed in the clouds.

Zuo Mo only saw countless silver snakes fly towards him from all directions to crash onto the chariot. The abundant lightning energy was turned by the shen formations into shen power, and the shen power flowed into his body and the five coffins.

Zuo Mo immediately sat down with his legs crossed. He focused on guiding the shen power into his body. Once the shen power entered Zuo Mo’s body, it was like water draining into dry sand. The shen power sank into his parched flesh and blood.

As Zuo Mo breathed, the brimming shen power in the shen formations was almost immediately sucked dry. The absorption force of the shen formation increased greatly. Even lightning in the distance was attracted.

The thick lightning bolts hit the chariot like sharp and blinding silver swords.

The chariot was surrounded by an astounding amount of lightning and appeared like a silver hedgehog.

With the chariot as the center, the black clouds were collapsing at an astounding rate.

Plat plat!

Bean-sized droplets of rain smashed down from the sky. The world was immediately filled with moisture and mist. Zhu Nan Yue and Lan Bing gaped as they watched the clouds recede like an avalanche from the sky.

And that chariot that flashed with lightning like a hedgehog!

Zuo Mo hadn’t expected to make such a big disturbance this time. The shen power that came from the shen formations were more than usual. Soon, all of the clouds turned into rain. When the last bit of lightning energy was sucked into the chariot, the sky was as clear  and the sunlight was bright.

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly shifted. He turned and looked into the distance. There was someone peeking in from far away! This person was very far away. Zuo Mo could not see their figure but could feel their existence.

He moved his gaze away and controlled the chariot to fly towards the ground.

When the chariot that was shrouded in lightning landed on the ground, the lightning was completely absorbed and the illusion on the chariot broke showing its original appearance.

Hiss!

Inhaled sounded.

Lan Bing gaped at this grand chariot. She was Hai Xin Bing’s right and left hand. She had seen luxury in food and dress from childhood but never seen such a grand chariot before!

Oh, grandness was not enough to describe this chariot. The layers of scripts, like seal scripts and mo matrices. She didn’t recognize any of them. But that was not important. These complex patterns were filled with beauty. She didn’t know what the chariot was made from. There wasn’t any mark of the crafting process on the chariot. The golden flames were domineering and masculine as they flew with the wheels.

Lan Bing did not recognize seal formations or did not know forging methods, but she recognized the gems.

The chariot was inlaid all over with jewels. Those clear and flawless gems flashed with enchanting ripples. If she took these gems, they were enough to buy a jie!

Zhu Nan Yue was also shocked. However, it was not due to the grandness of the chariot, but the strong vibrations it gave off. The lightning had shattered Zuo Mo’s disguise on the chariot and showed its true appearance.

A domineering and heated presence like that of fire which one could not look directly at.

Lan Bing and Zhu Nan Yue were silent.

Lan Bing found that the situation was not as simple as she had imagined. In her transaction with Zuo Mo, she had this feeling that Zuo Mo was very poor. If she gave a good price, it was almost certain to succeed. Yet when this chariot showed its true appearance, she found that she was wrong, and terribly wrong.

The other was not poor. It was the opposite. He was overflowing with wealth!

The value of this chariot alone was hard to estimate.

She suddenly had no confidence in recruiting this white-haired elder.

Zhu Nan Yue’s expression was slightly ugly. She said in a low voice, “We did not bring enough people.”

“Ah!” Lan Bing stilled but then she understood Zhu Nan Yue’s meaning. Her expression changed dramatically, “You mean … …”

“He can forge shen devices!” Zhu Nan Yue’s tone was certain.

Lan Bing’s expression changed again and again. She had been doubting all this time if the white-haired elder could forge a shen device or not. She had decided that their previous welcome had been enough to show the importance they placed on this. Yet when she found that the white-haired elder had the ability to forge shen devices, their escort was too small.

“Then what to do now?” Lan Bing hurriedly asked.

“Ask for help!” Zhu Nan Yue said.

Far away from Zuo Mo’s group, several figures appeared. The one at the front was dressed in black robes. His face was stiff like that of a zombie.

“Such profit. We did not waste our effort,” a person covered in yin energy spoke. His voice was dark and malicious which caused people to feel a cold wave up their backs.

“As expected, this person can forge shen devices.” A completely white skeleton suddenly spoke, the two balls of ghost fire flickering in the two empty eye-sockets.

The black-robed zombie said woodenly, “Let’s go!”

The six figures disappeared in the air like smoke.

“En.” Inside the chariot, Zuo Mo felt something and raised his head.

Almost at the same time, Zhu Nan Yue’s shout came from outside. “Enemy attack! Formations!”

They came so quickly!

Zuo Mo was startled. He had just felt someone observing from far away and hadn’t expected them to come so quickly and so openly. This meant that the arrivals had absolute confidence in their strength.

He stepped out of the chariot and coincidentally saw six figures slowly appear out of mist.

Qing Xiao stood with a wary expression next to Zuo Mo. His expression was solemn. He could feel the incomers were of great power. People like Tuoba Yu could not compare to this.

When Zhu Nan Yue saw these six figures, her pupils suddenly contracted, “Yin Tomb Ghost Lords!”

Hearing these four words, Lan Bing’s face turned white and the guards in their formation shifted.

“Little Child has good eyes,” the black-robed zombie slowly spoke. His voice was dry and dissonant like two plants of wood rubbing together.

Zhu Nan Yue’s gaze moved around and her heart continued to sink.

That completely snowy-white skeleton was Gu Wu Shuang, one of the most famed experts of the Yin Tomb Guards. That figure completely covered in black smoke was called Hei Wu and of unfathomable power. That person covered completely in cloth and gave off great death energy which caused Zhu Nan Yue to feel waves of nausea should be Bu Ru Mian.

The one completely green was Si Du. The one dressed in red and wore a cloak and silk veil was Mo Ru.

All five Yin Tomb Ghosts were present!

The Yin Tomb Five Ghosts were the five strongest members of the Yin Tomb Guards. Each of them could rival Zhu Nan Yue. The Northern Plains Ice Mansion had had friction with the Yin Tomb Guards frequently in the past but they had never had a conflict of this level.

Zuo Mo was also surprised as well. The Yin Tomb Guards were much stronger than he had expected. These six people were stronger than even his group back in the day.

Each of these six were not weaker than Qing Xiao. Zuo Mo could feel that black-robed zombie was not far from reaching god-level.

Zuo Mo did not worry about his own safety but only worried about the five coffins on the chariot being disturbed.

Zhu Nan Yue was shocked but she forced herself to remain calm on the surface. She said gravely, “Ghost Lord, why are you blocking my path? This one, under the orders of the mansion lord, is protecting an honored guest of the Northern Plains Ice Mansion … …”

The black-robed zombie ignored her. His gaze swept across the group and then landed on Zuo Mo. He bowed slightly, “I apologize to Grandmaster on behalf of Tuoba Yu and the others.”

Zuo Mo glanced at the other and said, “Just a minor matter, you are too polite!”

“I head that Sir has been searching for the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood.” The black-robed zombie’s voice was still as dissonant and displeasing to hear. “These five pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood represent our sincere apology. Also, I want to request Grandmaster to forge shen devices for us. Our offer will not be any lower than the Northern Plains Ice Mansion.”

Zhu Nan Yue and Lan Bing’s faces were bloodless.

“I hear that Grandmaster is also interested in corpse-forging. The death energy pools of our Yin Tomb Guards are the best.” When Hei Wu opened his mouth, the temperature of the surroundings dropped greatly and became filled with yin energy.

“Death energy pool!” Zuo Mo’s heart jumped.

Gu (古) is also a homonym for bone (骨) So Gu Wu Shuang古无双 may mean “peerless bones.” Wu(雾) is a homonym for the wu in Hei Wu黑吾. Hei Wu can also mean “black fog/mist.” Bu (布) means cloth but is also a homonym for bu（不） meaning no. Bu Ru Mian could mean “wouldn’t it be better to sleep.” Si Du 司独 is also a homonym for 死毒 or death poison. Mo Ru 墨如 is also a homonym for 没入 which can mean to sink into something (ie. Death).

Chapter 862 – Base Shen Power

“In terms of accumulated wealth, the Yin Tomb Guards could not compete with the other factions, but when it came to  death energy and nether materials none were greater than the Yin Tomb Guards.” Hei Wu’s dark voice was filled with temptation.

“Elder … …” Lan Bing couldn’t help but call. At this time, an extremely dark and cold presence rolled over her and she found to her shock that she was unable to speak.

Zuo Mo did not pay attention to Lan Bing. He did not care who he did business with. What he cared about was healing his body as quickly as possible and awakening everyone.

The death energy pools were very attractive to Zuo Mo.

“Fifty high quality pieces of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood,” Zuo Mo did not hesitate and said directly, “Tomb Ghost Bone Crystal, Rotten Life Wood, Yellow Springs Lotus, they all work but they have to be of similarly high level.”

The black-robed zombie said, “Alright!”

Lan Bing had an expression of anger. Her eyes were wide and her face flushed red as she stared at Zuo Mo but she could not make a sound.

Zuo Mo did not spare her any attention. He had no relationship to the Northern Plains Ice Mansion, the two were just doing business. Zuo Mo did not care who he did business with. What he cared about was repairing his body. In comparison, Zhu Nan Yue was much calmer. Her dispiritedness had been swept away and she recovered her calm.

This girl was pretty good!

A bit like Tang Fei!

Tang Fei was also a person that did not admit defeat like this!

When he thought of this, Zuo Mo couldn’t help but wander into his thoughts. He wondered how Mo Cloud Sea was. The Nether Realm was closed down tightly and there was not much information on the outside world.

Suddenly, Gu Wu Shuang asked, “Is Grandmaster willing to sell this chariot?”

Zuo Mo shook his head. “Apologies, not for sale.”

It did not take much effort to forge this chariot, but he did not want any of the shen formations on the chariot to leak out.

Gu Wu Shuang laughed. It was the first time Zuo Mo saw a skeleton laughing eerily in front of him.

Zuo Mo did not want to waste time. “Since the negotiation has concluded, let’s go.”

He then said to Old Man Wu. “Have everyone prepare.”

Old Man Wu seemed to wake up from a dream and hurriedly nodded. “Yes!” He went to organize the group as he lamented inside, the world changed too quickly! Just now, they had been fighting to the death to the Yin Tomb Guards and now they were working together.

Lan Bing opened her mouth and was about to speak when Zhu Nan Yue pulled her and indicated for her not to. In front of absolute power, speech was never as effective as fists. Unless the Nether Lord arrived with a group of experts at this time, anything said was meaningless.

The black-robed zombie admired Zuo Mo’s briskness. He said expressionlessly, “Good.”

“Boss, should we kill them?” Bu Ru Mia’s voice came from behind the thick cloth wrappings in an unusually muffled manner.

Zhu Nan Yue’s eyes widened. She did not fall back. She gripped the large black in her hand like a panther about to pounce. Lan Bing also displayed great fighting spirit.

The black-robed zombie said woodenly, “Let’s go!”

Then the group was covered in smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the Yin Tomb Guards and Zuo Mo’s group had disappeared.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes. He finally had absorbed all of the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood he had. His body had been repaired to the eleventh level, and was almost one-third recovered. Zuo Mo was content was this level of progress.

Rising, he looked at the dark sky outside.

The sun would never appear in the sky above the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld. This place was filled with death energy and there was not one hint of green to be seen. There were bleached bones everywhere, the rivers were as black as ink. There were countless tombs which covered every visible mountain.

Qing Xiao did not like this place. He liked places that were sunny and bright. The Wu Clan members did not like this place. The nether energy here was filled with the flavor of death.

Zuo Mo liked this place a lot because he found that the death energy here was very useful to Wei Sheng and the others.

He walked out of the room.

Qing Xiao was teaching the Wu Clan members how to cultivate. The Yin Tomb Guards were very polite towards them and fulfilled all their needs. The Yin Tomb Guards, on average, had better temperments than Tuoba Yu and this made everyone feel much better.

Zuo Mo did not disturb Qing Xiao. He walked towards the neighbouring yard along the corridor. In the yard, five little pools roiled with grey mist. These were the death energy pools.

The five coffins were laid out in the death energy pool. It was possible to see grey mist burrow into the coffins at a visible rate.

These five coffins were not ordinary. Zuo Mo had made them of a wondrous tree that grew in the eye of shen spring he had stumbled upon in the endless void. Zuo Mo had never seen something with so much vitality. When he saw it, he immediately decided to turn it into coffins. The benefits of everyone being nourished by such strong vitality did not need to be stated.

But in the process of making the coffins, Zuo Mo encountered great difficulties. This tree was unusually hard and it was also difficult to cut. Another unexpected quality was that its regeneration ability was unimaginable. All the wounds on the tree trunk would heal in almost an instant. While cutting the tree and before he managed to withdraw his blade, a flying sword forged from flowing gold sand had been sucked in by the tree.

Zuo Mo tried all kinds of methods. In the end, he used flame knives formed from sun shen fire to slowly carve away. The process had been as slow as a snail.

To make these five coffins, Zuo Mo had spent a whole year.

With Zuo Mo’s present skill, he wouldn’t need one year to even forge a shen device. The strength of the wood could be seen from this. The shen tree had vitality so thick it almost crystallized. Through the shen formations, it constantly nourished the bodies of Eldest Shixiong, A Gui and the others.

Everyone’s recovery relied on the shen wood coffins.

When Zuo Mo heard the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord speak of the death energy pools, his attention was attracted. The Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood had given him inspiration. The vitality formed from thick death energy was pure.

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord and the others knew Zuo Mo’s thoughts so they specifically arranged for a yard with death energy pools.

There were tens of thousands of years of tombs accumulated under the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld. The legends said that this place had been an enormous mass grave in the ancient era. The layers of tombs caused the death energy in the ground to be so abundant.

Some of the death energy would erupt from the ground and formed earth energy pools.

For mo like those that forged corpses, the death energy pools were the best places. They could endlessly absorb death energy and turn it into shen power.

The shen power that the Yin Tomb Guards cultivated were unlike the others factions. Their shen power was filled with great amounts of nether shen power and was astoundingly destructive.

Zuo Mo had originally wanted to see if he could create vitality out of death energy. The Nether Decay Reincarnation Lotus that Zuo Mo had used on A Gui had been like that. Yet what he hadn’t expected was that the shen wood coffins could directly absorb death energy.

This astonished Zuo Mo.

The shen wood coffins constantly absorbed death energy. After the death energy was absorbed, it would merge with the vitality of the shen wood and form a strange new power.

The merging of life and death naturally matched yet was so unpredictable.

Zuo Mo continued to study and quickly found that the power that had formed was slightly like shen power but it did not have clear leanings of any attribute. Zuo Mo called it base shen power.

It was the first time Zuo Mo encountered shen power that did not have a type. Usually, shen power that was cultivated would have a type. For example, the sun shen power he cultivated was the classic fire type shen power.

The base shen power did not have any type but it was easily absorbed. Even though Eldest Shixiong and the others had almost no ability left in their bodies, the base shen power could easily meld into their bodies.

When the base shen power melded into the bodies of Eldest Shixiong and the others, it was of great help to their recovery.

Zuo Mo was joyfully surprised by this accidental discovery.

Even the dark and cloudy Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld became much better in his eyes. His body was gradually recovering. As long as there were enough Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, he could quickly repair his body. Once recovered, restoring his shen power was just a matter of time.

But Zuo Mo could not resolve the problem afflicting Eldest Shixiong and the others from the root.

He only saw hope when he saw the perfect merging of the death energy pool and the shen wood coffin which lead to the wondrous effects of the base shen power.

After persisting for ten years, Zuo Mo’s excitement could be imagined when he saw the light of hope.

Everyone, wake up as soon as possible!

Zuo Mo silently thought as he carefully inspected every person and then the surrounding jinzhi before he left.

He could not delay the issue of shen devices any longer.

Even Zuo Mo felt that the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord had been very good to them. At least, he had enough patience. From this, it could be seen that the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord had unusual breadth of mind.

Unlike the harmony inside the yard, the outside of the yard was heavily guarded. There was a station every five paces and a scout every ten. There were troops patrolling everywhere. Someone who was ignorant would think that this was a military base.

When Zuo Mo walked out of the yard, the guard outside immediately came over. “Grandmaster!”

Zuo Mo said politely, “Take me to see the Ghost Lord.”

The guard hurriedly said, “Yes!”

Soon, a carriage pulled by four Nightmare Fire Bone Horses appeared in front of Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo did not refuse and made his way onto the carriage.

In the yard.

Old Man Wu said urgently to Qing Xiao, “It is okay for Daren to go out alone?”

Qing Xiao glanced at Old Man Wu and smiled. “What is wrong?”

“Safety!” Old Man Wu had an expression of urgency.

Qing Xiao patted Old Man Wu. “Do you think that Big Brother doesn’t have the ability to protect himself?”

Old Man Wu stilled.

Qing Xiao waved his hand. “Do not worry for Big Brother. Someone that can defeat Big Brother, ha! Hasn’t been born yet!” His confidence was clear from his tone.

Old Man Wu still had a doubtful expression but he accepted this. If Qing Xiao was not usually reliable, he would have cursed back in response.

Qing Xiao scratched his head and said to himself, “Big Brother says that my teaching is not effective, where is it not effective?”

Old Man Wu was drawn out of his thoughts, attacked by Qing Xiao’s words. “Daren says that A Xiao’s teachings are not effective? No! The clan members have improved so much, it is all A Xiao’s work!”

Old Man Wu’s words were not flattery. Even the Wu Clan members and the servants nodded in agreement. They knew just how great their improvement in this span of time had been.

“You do not understand,” Qing Xiao said without even raising his head. “If Big Brother says that it is not effective, then it is not effective.”

“It probably is that these people do not have enough comprehension abilities, and Daren is not satisfied. .. …” Old Man Wu said.

Qing Xiao’s eyes lit up. “Comprehension! Yes! Since I don’t know how to teach, then you can comprehend on your own! Haha! Just like me!”

Old Man Wu thought that Qing Xiao was going give up on them and was going to speak to stop him.

Qing Xiao turned around with a humorous expression. “Starting from today, anyone that escapes from my hands is qualified! Come, all of you together!”

Everyone gaped.

Chapter 863 – Preparations

This really was a land of death!

Zuo Mo couldn’t help but lament as he looked at the scenery outside. The grey mountain peaks in the distance appeared endless. Many of the peaks were shrouded in grey mist. Here the world was grey,  black, and white. There were no other colors.

Seeing Zuo Mo’s interest in the distant mountains, the guard spoke up to introduce, “That is Billion Bone Peaks.”

“Billion Bone Peaks?” Zuo Mo was frightened by this name.

“Yes, that mountain is made entirely of bone, bones everywhere, innumerable. Sometimes, when it rains, the bones will flow down like water. Many of the bones here were washed over from there.” The guard was like a tour guide.

“Where did so many bones come from?” Zuo Mo was extremely interested.

“No one knows!” The guard shook his head. “Before, many people were interested in Billion Bone Peak, but after searching for a long time, they did not find anything. Some people dug into Billion Bone Peak to seek the source but they never came out alive. There are many bones there. Some people are interested in bone materials so they like to go there to harvest and gather. Gu Wu Shuang Daren lives there.”

Gu Wu Shuang, that skeleton that could talk.

Zuo Mo’s mind suddenly shifted. “Where are the best death energy pools?”

“The best death energy pools … …” the guard thought about it. “I’m not clear about that. But there is the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. If Grandmaster is interested, you should take a look.”

“Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools!” Zuo Mo noted that down.

This guard was skilled at talking and discussed many unique locations of the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld. It really broadened Zuo Mo’s view. The Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld were unique even in the Nether Realm. There was a reason why the Yin Tomb Guards were the only ones here. Normal mo could not tolerate such thick death energy.

If one did not cultivate the Yin Tomb Guards’ unique scripture, they would be corroded by the death energy here and die.

Zuo Mo could hear from his tone that this guard was reverent of and faithfully loyal to the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord. Zuo Mo felt that the way the outside world saw the Yin Tomb Guards were not like what he saw.

Soon, they reached the residence of the Ghost Lord.

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord’s residence was simple. If he had not been told, he would not know that one of the top people in the Nether realm was living in a very ordinary building.

There were no guards outside the residence.

The guard came to the door and said respectfully. “Ghost Lord, Grandmaster is here!”

“Come in.” The Ghost Lord’s dissonant voice came from behind the door.

The door opened on its own.

Zuo Mo walked in. The yard was also ordinary and did not have any decorations. The Ghost Lord was sitting at the center of the yard. He slowly stood up and nodded to Zuo Mo. That could be considered a greeting.

“Grandmaster has come, do you have any thoughts about the shen device?” The Ghost Lord was expressionless.

Two chairs and a table of bone rose from the ground. The Ghost Lord sat in one of the bone chairs and gestured to invite Zuo Mo to sit down. After Zuo Mo sat down, two cups of bone appeared on the table. The cups were filled with a bloody red liquid.

“Please.” The Ghost Lord picked up a cup and drained it.

Zuo Mo curiously picked up the bone cup. He smelled it. There was no strong bloody tang he had expected, but an unique fragrance.

The Ghost Lord saw Zuo Mo’s action and gave off dissonant chuckles. “This is one of the products of the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, Vermillion Red Marrow. It looks like blood, but it is actually the milk of a stone.”

Zuo Mo drained it. When it entered his throat, he felt extremely refreshed all the way to his heart.

Good stuff!

Zuo Mo became alert!

A presence slowly revolved around his flesh and blood in a comfortable manner.

The Ghost Lord seemed to be in a good mood. He laughed and said, “Grandmaster likes this. I have a batch here, and will give it to Grandmaster.”

“Many thanks!” Zuo Mo did not refuse. After savoring the taste, he spoke, “I have come this time for the matter of the shen device.”

“Please speak,” the Ghost Lord said.

“The forging of a shen device is both easy and hard. If the materials are good and the effort is there, that’s about all you need. Good materials are top materials. Those that can tolerate shen power, especially strong shen power, they will not be low in grade. Effort, that is the engraving of shen glyphs and seals formations have to be paired appropriately so that they can express the attributes of the materials and benefit the user,” Zuo Mo said casually.

“Good explanation.” The Ghost Lord nodded. “Then what kind of materials does Grandmaster need?”

“I’m not familiar with nether materials.” Zuo Mo said after a moment. “What kind of materials can Ghost Lord not destroy with your shen power?”

The Ghost Lord stilled. He tilted his head to think and said, “Grandmaster, please wait.”

Then he disappeared.

Zuo Mo was not in a panic when the other did not appear for a long time.

The Ghost Master appeared an hour later. Clack clack clack, some materials fell to the ground. The Ghost Lord said, “My shen power cannot destroy these materials.”

Zuo Mo first picked up a bone. This looked to be the femur of a human, but it was an unique dark gold as though it was carved from metal.

When it entered his hand, Zuo Mo suddenly felt a feeling of familiarity. Faint warmth came from the bone.

“Could you give this bone to me, I can trade for this with other things,” Zuo Mo lifted his head and said.

The Ghost Lord was slightly surprised when he heard this. But he shook his head and said, “There is no need to trade, I will give it to Grandmaster.”

Zuo Mo changed expression. He didn’t believe the Ghost Master could not see the extraordinary nature of this bone. He hadn’t expected the other to be so generous to give it to him. Zuo Mo smiled. “Then I will accept it.”

He had no more intentions of skimping. He decided to forge a good shen device for the Ghost Lord. Zuo Mo had a lot of materials to work with as he had the assets.

He put the dark gold bone into his ring. Zuo Mo started to inspect the other materials.

A pale skull. The empty eye sockets seemed bottomless. When Zuo Mo looked, he felt his body being pulled in. He was alarmed and he immediately woke up. He stood motionlessly where he was.

This skull was slightly strange!

The two balls of mist in the empty eye sockets were deep and serene.

Without even looking, Zuo Mo knew that this was a top-tier material. Even with his god-level cultivation, he had been pulled in. The illusory ability of the skull was incomprehensible.

Zuo Mo put down the skull and reached his hand to another material.

This was a black stone. It looked ordinary but when Zuo Mo held it, he was not able to move it.

He tried again. The stone still remained motionless.

“This rock is thirty thousand catties heavy. I accidentally obtained it,” the Ghost Lord said woodenly.

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. This stone the size of his hand was thirty thousand catties heavy! No wonder he could not pick it up! While Zuo Mo’s cultivation was god-level, his body had not recovered and he could not lift such a heavy stone.

The third material was a grey piece of wood. The wood was covered in burnt marks.

The wood was extremely light and seemed like nothing when held in his hands. What surprised Zuo Mo the most was that this stone had a clear wasteland presence.

Zuo Mo had ancient records and he guessed that this was the Grey Feather Wood, one of the shen woods of the world. The Ghost Lord’s shen power naturally would not be able to destroy it.

Zuo Mo passed the Grey Feather Wood to the Ghost Lord and said, “Ghost Lord, please channel shen power.”

The Ghost Lord did not waste words. He picked up the Grey Feather Wood and channeled shen power.

A dark, cold and vicious presence immediately covered the yard. Zuo Mo’s expression was calm and unaffected as he quickly analyzed in his mind. Moments later, he nodded and said, “That’s good.”

The Ghost Lord would never think that in such a short span of time, Zuo Mo had completely analyzed his shen power.

Zuo Mo’s god-level cultivation caused his ability to analyze to reach a terrifying level. While the Ghost Lord had just demonstrated his shen power, it was more than enough for Zuo Mo.

“This stone is not suited for you. The Grey Feather Wood and this skull can be used. But other materials are also needed.” Zuo Mo said in a professional tone of voice.

He was not tricking the other. In terms of forging shen devices, there was no one more professional than him.

“Grey Feather Wood?” The Ghost Lord raised the grey piece of wood in his hand.

“Yes,” Zuo Mo introduced, “this is a very rare kind of shen wood. It is as light as a feather. The ancient tribes frequently used them to make shen arrows. It is rare to see such a big piece of Grey Feather Wood.”

“Grandmaster is knowledgeable.” The Ghost Lord continued to speak in his dissonant voice. “What other materials are needed? Grandmaster can make a list.”

Zuo Mo shook his head. “I’m not familiar with nether materials. It would be better if you have someone take me to the storehouses. After I examine them, I will know if they can be used or not.”

“Alright.” The Ghost Master treasured words like gold.

The guard that had guided Zuo Mo here was summoned and he stood solemnly next to the Ghost Lord.

“Take Grandmaster to the material storehouses. Do whatever he tells you,” the ghost lord said.

“Yes!” the guard acknowledged.

Zuo Mo suddenly said, “I want to go see the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools, and pick some good death energy pools.”

The Ghost Lord nodded. “Alright.”

Turning his face, he said to the guard, “You will be in charge of this as well.”

“Yes!” the guard hurriedly responded.

“This is the storehouse.” The guards looked tiny as he stood in front of the mountains of materials. “What is in this storehouse are materials that are pretty good.”

The manager of the storehouse stood respectfully by the side.

The guard mimicked the tone of the Ghost Lord as he ordered the manage, “Grandmaster is picking materials here. Do whatever he tells you!”

“Yes!” the manager hurriedly said, “This lowly one will do whatever Grandmaster says!”

Zuo Mo saw this and couldn’t help but grin.

There were tens of thousands of materials in the storehouse, piled up in mountains one after another.

Zuo Mo seemed to only stroll passed these little mountains. Occasionally, one or two materials would float out of the little mountains and float behind Zuo Mo.

In about two hours, Zuo Mo had walked through the entire storehouse.

There were hundreds of kinds of materials floating behind him. He stopped and called the storehouse manager. “Come over here and identify these materials.”

The storehouse manager was extremely familiar with the materials. He quickly identified all the materials that Zuo Mo had picked. Zuo Mo then made a list noting down the materials he wanted.

When Zuo Mo identified one, the storehouse manager would nod.

Yet when Zuo Mo came to the final material, the storehouse manager’s expression became conflicted.

Noticing the other’s expression, Zuo Mo asked, “Not enough?”

“This one does not dare to lie to Daren, there is not enough in stock. This is very valuable, and we only one one-tenth of the amount,” the storehouse manager sobbed.

The guard’s face darkened. He went over to look. When he saw the words “crystal bone,” he didn’t speak. When he saw the number behind it, he continued to be silent.

Zuo Mo was slightly puzzled. He beckoned with his hand and a bone flew in front of him. “If you forge this a bit, isn’t this crystal bone?”

The guard and the storehouse manage seemed to be struck by lightning as they were stunned where they stood.

Chapter 864 – Refining the Shen Bone

The storehouse manager stammered out, “This … … this … … can be forged into crystal bone?”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo saw the expressions of the two and knew that they definitely did not know of this. He asked, “What is this called?”

“White bone,” the storehouse manager hurriedly replied. His eyes were locked onto Zuo Mo.

“Alright, white bone,” Zuo Mo responded and then patiently explained, “this white bone is not very different from crystal bone. If one refines it, white bone can be refined into crystal bone.”

“How do you refine it?” When the storehouse manager said this, he recognized it was appropriate. He said uncertainty, “This lowly one had overstepped.”

Zuo Mo did not care. For him, concealing something like this was of no meaning. The Ghost Lord was good to him and Zuo Mo was willing to teach to pay him back.

“First use fire to refine the impurities, and then put it into the death energy pools for about three days, that should do it,” Zuo Mo said.

“So simple?” the storehouse manager unconsciously asked.

The guard’s eyes glared. “You dare to doubt Grandmaster!”

The storehouse manager’s head shrank back in fright.

Zuo Mo smiled, unconcerned. “Simple? Not so simple, just refining away the impurities is not easy. The more the impurities are forged away, the better the quality of the crystal bones.”

Then Zuo Mo said to the storehouse manager, “Alright, I’ve told you how to forge the crystal bone, go prepare these materials.”

“Yes yes yes!” The storehouse manager decided to believe it for now. He decided to immediately get people to test this out.

In the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, the white bones were one of the most worthless materials as they were everywhere. The great majority of what washed down Billion Bone Peak was white bone. The crystal bones were at least three levels above white bone, and their production was rare.

The difference in value between the two was in the thousands.

If Grandmaster was right, then this definitely was a path to getting rich! If the storehouses were filled with crystal bones, the Ghost Lord Daren would reward him!

The storehouse manager was filled with motivation.

The guard suppressed his shock and asked Zuo Mo respectfully, “Grandmaster, where do we go next? Should we go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools?”

Zuo Mo thought for a moment. “Let’s return first. It is not early and we will find another time to go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.”

“Yes!” The guard hurriedly said.

All of Zuo Mo’s attention was focused on the bone in his ring.

Having returned to his residence, Zuo Mo caressed the dark gold bone in his hand. This bone was of a fine quality and heavy as though it was made from metal. Patterns were packed onto the surface of the one and it seemed to have some beauty.

If other people touched this bone, they would only feel coldness. Only when Zuo Mo touched it would a feeling of warmth come.

Zuo Mo was sure now that this was a leg bone that a totem warrior of the Sun Tribe had left.

The totem warriors of that era were some of the strongest existences. The bones that they left behind were also one of the top materials. In the time where totem warriors had been strongest, almost every totem warrior had been god-level. Their bodies were at the peak of what could be reached, their blood, bones, and sinew all reaching a shocking level.

Zuo Mo thought of Lan’s black jade bones that were refined to an almost perfect level.

The packed patterns on the bone was the sun shen glyph. It could be seen from how the other had refined the sun shen glyph onto the bone how powerful this Sun Tribe totem warrior had been!

Even if Zuo Mo recovered to his strongest state, he could not reach such a level.

That era was one that people yearned for!

Zuo Mo lamented. After tens of thousands of years, they finally returned to the era of shen power but there was still a great distance between them and the peak of the ancient era.

Shaking his head, Zuo Mo threw his stray thoughts to the back of his mind and put all of his attention on this dark gold bone. For other people, this might just be a top-tier material but him, it wasn’t just that.

A thread of sun shen fire wrapped around the dark gold femur.

Zuo Mo’s expression was serous.

The shen glyph on the surface of the dark gold femur gradually became brighter. The bone was like a heated metal that flashed with a scorching red light. Zuo Mo’s hands moved and the sun shen fire moved as well.

The sun shen glyph on the surface of the bone dimmed, but because the femur was bright, the shen glyph contrasted even more.

Zuo Mo’s right hand rose slightly.

Hiss!

The sun shen glyph that covered the bone was lifted like it was a net that covered the bone.

Zuo Mo’s eyes became bright. His presence became even stronger. The shen glyphs on the ground and walls released gentle light that hid Zuo Mo’s presence and stopped it from spreading outside.

The presence of a god-level would be too astounding. If it leaked, it would attract other people.

The sun shen fire climbed onto the shen glyph on the bone. Under Zuo Mo’s control, the shen glyph slowly was pulled away from the bone.

Soon, Zuo Mo’s forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat. The bone covered in the fire trembled as though it was fighting to break free. It had experienced tens of thousands of years, and it had some intelligence. Yet it also had absorbed all kinds of power through these tens of thousands of years. The heterogenous power was not of benefit to Zuo Mo, and was damaging like a toxin.

Zuo Mo tried to use the sun shen fire to refine away these impurities but the sun shen glyph layer on top of the bone blocked the sun shen fire.

If he could not break through the sun shen glyph, he could not purify the bone.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo’s body shook. Several small drops of blood shook and gathered into a bigger drop that flowed down Zuo Mo’s body. Soon, Zuo Mo’s body was soaked in sweat that ran down in streams. Zuo Mo did not seem to feel it, his expression unusually focused.

The sun shen glyph that covered the bone was slowly being lifted.

Released of the restraints of the shen glyph, the bone was even brighter. It started to melt.

When the last bit of shen glyph was pulled away from the bone, the bone immediately turned into a puddle of gold liquid. The sun shen glyph strangely did not disappear, but floated in front of Zuo Mo like a spiderweb.

Zuo Mo’s sweat flowed down his back. He had no attention to spare for wiping his sweat. The sun shen fire refined the puddle of gold liquid.

Fortunately, his cultivation was steady. Zuo Mo rejoiced.

While his shen power was lacking, there were benefits to his stable cultivation. Or example, his control of the sun shen fire was much higher than those not in god-level. The sun shen fire was like a part of his body, and could be used like his arm. It was even more nimble than his hands.

The golden liquid grew smaller as he forged and refined the impurities were out.

Its presence quickly changed, from pressuring to gentle. Its presence started to weaken but the feeling of purity increased.

Zuo Mo did not stop.

The sun shen fire continued to burn.

This refinement continued for three whole days.

Only a drop of that ball of gold liquid was left. This droplet of golden liquid was clear and a faint gold without any impurity.

Zuo Mo finally had a satisfied expression. He opened his mouth and that clear golden drop of liquid flew into his mouth.

When the golden liquid entered his mouth, his body couldn’t help but shake.

An indescribable pleasure filled his body. All of his exhaustion disappeared. The countless golden burning flows in Zuo Mo’s body were like sharks that smelt blood and furiously flew towards that droplet of golden liquid from all over Zuo Mo’s body.

These tiny red burning flows were the after-effects from the battle with the chief elder of Tian Huan.

When Zuo Mo had broken the sun crystal seed without any regard for the consequences, he had obtained great power, but the destructive ability of the burning sun flows were too strong. Pu Yao and Wei shattered Zuo Mo’s sea of consciousness and the majority of the burning sun flows formed the sun shen tree. But Zuo Mo’s attempt to save the others used up almost all of the sun shen tree’s power.

The sun shen tree lost the ability to absorb and digest the burning sun flows. The remaining burning sun flows rampaged through Zuo Mo’s body and continued to destroy it.

They were the true culprit for Zuo Mo’s terrible condition. There were not much of the burning sun flows left in Zuo Mo’s body now as the majority had been used up, but because so much of his body had been used up, he had no ability to digest this.

That unknown Sun Tribe totem warrior had been extremely powerful before death. Zuo Mo refined this droplet of golden liquid from the femur. Pure essence and the unique sun presence it had was magnetically attractive to the burning sun flows.

The streams of burning sun flow gathered from all directions and continued to flow into the golden liquid.

The faint golden liquid quickly became covered in red threads. Soon, those red threads dissolved in the golden liquid. The faint gold liquid became a solid gold with a tinge of red.

Having relieved himself of the continuous damage caused by burning sun flows, Zuo Mo’s entire body felt light. Relieved of a burden and relaxed.

This red-tinged golden drop of liquid spun rapidly. A ball of flame rose from its surface and it was about to burrow into Zuo Mo’s flesh. Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth to suck in. The sun shen glyph that floated in front of him entered his mouth.

The sun shen glyph that entered his body flew towards the burning golden liquid.

The flames on the surface of the golden liquid did not affect the shen glyph at all. The sun shen glyph wrapped around the golden liquid. The flames on the surface of the golden liquid dimmed. A red-tinged golden bead floated inside Zuo Mo’s body.

The golden bead was covered in complex patterns.

Only at this time did Zuo Mo completely relax. He had an expression of joy.

Just as he had thought!

Zuo Mo was full of respect towards that unknown Sun Tribe totem warrior. So powerful! While Zuo Mo didn’t have a large amount of burning sun flows left in his body, but the shen glyph from the femur bone was able to seal these burning sun flows. The power of this Sun totem warrior before death was terrifying!

Zuo Mo stood up. He felt as light as a feather!

Ten years!

Ten whole years!

A feeling of lightness that had been gone for a long time made him feel so joyous he wanted to howl into the sky.

Without the damage done by the burning sun flows and with the nourishment from the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, Zuo Mo could repair his body and recover his shen power in an even shorter amount of time.

There was nothing that could make him even more excited and happy.

If his power was recovered, he would be able to return to Mo Cloud Sea, he would be able to awaken everyone, he would be able to save Pu Yao and Wei!

He would succeed!

Zuo Mo balled his fists.

Chapter 865 – Ghost Fire Forging

When Zuo Mo walked out of the room, Qing Xiao’s eyes lit up. In a flash he appeared in front of Zuo Mo and asked concernedly in a low voice, “Big Brother, your wounds are healed?”

Zuo Mo smiled. “No, but the situation is slightly better.”

“Great!” Qing Xiao was happy. “This place is slightly depressing, but if it can make Big Brother’s body better, it is a good place.”

Zuo Mo patted Qing Xiao’s back. “It will be good soon.”

After talking with Qing Xiao, Zuo Mo came to the death energy pool. He inspected the changes of the shen wood coffin. The five were in a slightly better state. However, Zuo Mo’s brow quickly furrowed. The death energy in the death energy pool was much fainter.

It seemed that he really did have to go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools and pick five high quality death energy pools.

He stood and walked towards the outside.

“Grandmaster!” The guard hurriedly bowed towards Zuo Mo.

“We are going to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.”

“Yes!” The guard summoned the bone carriage.

On the carriage, Zuo Mo asked casually, “How has the forging of the crystal bones been? Have you finished preparing?”

The guard hesitated and then said, “It has not gone very well.”

“Oh, what problems occurred?” Zuo Mo was slightly surprised.

“This lowly one is not quite clear,” the guard shook his head.

Zuo Mo thought and said, “Then let’s first go to where they are forging the crystal bones.” Zuo Mo needed large amounts of crystal bones. If there were not enough crystal bones, it would be difficult to proceeded with the following forging. Since he had agreed and had benefited so much from the Ghost Lord, Zuo Mo did not want to skimp.

“Yes!” A thread of respect came into the guard’s voice. He had followed the ghost lord for many years and had seen those so-called grandmasters. Regardless of their skill level, almost all of them had their noses in the sky and had proud expressions. Only this grandmaster had a good temper and was easygoing.

The bone carriage turned and flew into another direction.

The bone carriage moved quickly, the bone mountains flashed by. The smell of sulphur in the air increased. It was possible to see bright red lava slipping out through the valleys. Sparks flew and thick smoke rose into the air.

Bright red flows of lava could be seen everywhere. It was possible to see white bones that bobbed and moved in the lava in a terrifying picture.

Zuo Mo marveled inwardly. It had to be said that the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld was an unique place.

The guard saw Zuo Mo seemed to be very interested and introduced the area, “If we go forward, we will arrive at the Fire Cemetery. That is where we forge. The fire cemetery is abundant in earth fire and there are many that come here to forge. In the past, this place was sparsely populated, then shen equipment came into style on the market. More and more people started to learn to forge shen equipment and more and more people came to the fire cemetery.”

“Oh, how is the skill level of the Yin Tomb Guards in forging shen equipment?” Zuo Mo asked curiously.

“Not very good.” The guard twisted his mouth. He clearly was not satisfied with the skill level of his group. “It is terrible. Lacking compared to the four nether lords. The Nether lords are worse than the xiuzhe realm. In the past, someone purchased a batch of Mo Cloud shen equipment. That level of skill is amazing. It is a pity that the Mo Cloud shen equipment does not match our shen power. The effects are not good. Otherwise, we will definitely will just buy directly from them.”

Zuo Mo was very happy when he heard praise for Mo Cloud Sea from other people. His mind shifted. “Are you not able to communicate with Mo Cloud Sea? Why would they not sell shen equipment?”

“We had been planning to buy from them, but then something happened.” The guard seemed to be wary of this question and did not discuss any further.

Zuo Mo was perceptive. It seemed as though the Nether Realm was not very calm either.

“Daren, the Fire Cemetery is up ahead,” the guard pointed forward and said.

The bone carriage rounded between two hills and the scenery opened in front of them, an extremely large basin surrounded by mountains. Countless flows of lava flowed down from the mountain peaks as they gave off thick plumes of smoke.

Hundreds of streams of lava gathered at the base of the basin.

Thick pillars of fire occasionally erupted out of the center of the basin. Watching from far away, countless pillars rose and fell in a spectacular scene.

“This is the Fire Cemetery?” Even Zuo Mo couldn’t help but be stunned by such a great scene.

“Yes! Grandmaster, this is the Fire Cemetery! One of the best fire regions in the Nether World!” The guard’s voice was filled with pride.

The bone carriage flew swiftly downwards.

There were people waiting on the ground already and they moved over when the bone carriage landed. They bowed and called Grandmaster.

“This is the steward of the Fire Cemetery, Lu Zhuang,” the guard introduced.

Zuo Mo greeted Lu Zhuang who was overwhelmed. Lu Zhuang was of a simple appearance and he was very embarrassed. “Grandmaster, please forgive us. Everyone tried to forge the white bones, but the best is only at this level.”

Lu Zhuang handed over a piece of bone. There were many ugly white marks on the transparent bone.

Zuo Mo frowned. This was caused by leaving too many impurities.

Zuo Mo identified the problem. He had based his predictions using the skill level of Golden Crow Camp. The forging skill level of these people were far below Golden Crow Camp. From this bone, it could be seen the so-called best were about the same skill level as the fringe apprentices of Golden Crow Camp.

He needed a great amount of crystal bone. He could forge them, but he did not want to waste his time on the simple preparation work. He had thought that work like this could be done by other people.

Forging like this that was simple and was needed in great amounts was best for less-skilled forgers to forge.

“Who forged this piece?” Zuo Mo asked.

Lu Zhuang hurriedly summoned the forger. It was a youth in his twenties. Lu Zhuang hurriedly said, “Ming Hong is the best forger here, he is the most skilled.”

“Give him a piece of white bone, I’ll watch as he forges it,” Zuo Mo said.

Ming Hong became alert. He had heard that a great grandmaster had come to the Ying Tomb Guards this time. He hadn’t expected the grandmaster to personally come to the Fire Cemetery and would personally teach him. He could not waste a chance like this.

Ming Hong became as alert as possible as he started to forge the white bone.

Zuo Mo’s mouth gaped at the following actions. Ming Hong was using the fire that erupted from the Fire Cemetery to forge!

Zuo Mo pointed at the focused Ming Hong and asked Lu Zhuang, “You all forge like this?”

“Yes!” Lu Zhuang had an expression of punishment. “Shouldn’t it be so?”

Zuo Mo was completely speechless. He had been mentally prepared before that the Yin Tomb Guards were not skilled, but he had not expected for their skill to be so low.

“Don’t you know that there are many impurities in these pillars of fire? If the flame itself is not pure, how can you forge?” Zuo Mo shouted in a rarely stern tone. “Don’t you have the xiuzhe’s scrolls? How can you not even know this basic knowledge?”

Lu Zhuang had a grimace. “Grandmaster, please do not be angry! It is not that this lowly one does not know that forging needs flames, because we cultivate nether shen power we cannot absorb earth fire.”

Without knowing it, there were more and more mo gathered in the surroundings. They had heard that a grandmaster had arrived and had all ran over.

Zuo Mo stilled. He finally realized. The forging arts of the xiuzhe had gone through tens of thousands of years of development. What flames could be used, which ones were not good, that must have been learned through the contributions of countless people. For the mo, ten years ago, they didn’t need to know how to forge. They had refined their bodies as weapons, and only began forging as they entered the era of shen power. Shen equipment was something unfamiliar to everyone, but to them even forging was unfamiliar.

This fundamental knowledge needed to be accumulated through countless people. There were no shortcuts.

The faces were bitter and dispirited. They had studied for so many years, but they still did not understand.

The mysteries of the forging world were unreachable to them.

Zuo Mo sighed inside. He looked at these faces, and suddenly thought of himself back at Wu Kong Mountain.

“Nether shen power is not suited for absorbing earth fire. You have death energy within your shen power and that is even more unsuited for earth fire. However, other than earth fire, there are other types of fire. The reason that xiuzhe mostly use earth fire is because, for them, earth fire is easy to absorb and control.”

Everyone listened carefully in fear of missing a word.

“But you are suited for yin type fires, like ghost fire,” Zuo Mo continued.

“How can ghost fire be used to forge?” someone shouted from among the crowd.

They were familiar with ghost fire. The shen power that many people cultivated carried small amounts of ghost fire. This as the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, ghost fire and similar fires could be seen everywhere.

Zuo Mo smiled slightly. “For the xiuzhe, ghost fire is not a good fire to forge with. But for you, it is most fitting. Does anyone have ghost fire?”

A weak voice said, “Grandmaster, I do.”

Zuo Mo followed the noise. It was Ming Hong who had just demonstrated for him. Zuo Mo said gently, “Let me see.”

Ming Hong moved his hand, and a pale green ghost fire floated in his hand.

“Other powers are usually mixed in with ghost fire when used in attacks. However, in forging, you have to remember the most important quality about any flame is purity. The purer the flame, the more suited it is for forging.” Zuo Mo’s voice was not loud, but it could be heard all over.

“This ghost fire’s quality is not bad, but it has not been refined enough. It is easy to refine fire. Channel your shen power.” Zuo Mo then said to Ming Hong. “Try.”

Ming Hong hesitated. Hiss, the ghost fire was absorbed into his body. As the ghost fire circulated around his body, Ming Hong’s face became a pale green.

About an hour later, the green tinge on Ming Hong’s face gradually faded. He summoned the flame. The ghost fire was slightly more green than previously.

“Alright, when you refine ghost fire it will be pure when it is colorless.” Zuo Mo suddenly threw a white bone to Ming Hong. “Try forging this with the ghost fire.”

Ming Hong looked helplessly at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo patiently taught, “Control the ghost fire to wrap around the white bone.”

Following the words, Ming Hong used the ghost fire to surround the white bone. Soon, the white bone was covered in a terrifying layer of green and a layer of sweat appeared on Ming Hong’s forehead.

“Do not stop.” Zuo Mo shouted in a low voice, “Focus your mind, pay attention to controlling the fire to permeate into the interior of the bone.”

Ming Hong gritted his teeth and persisted. He forced himself to control the ghost fire. Moments later, he was soaked in sweat.

But he persisted without a sound.

The pale green bone started to change. It gradually became transparent.

Zuo Mo taught Ming Hong and everyone listening how to connect ghost fire and seal scripts, how to control the ghost fire more effectively.

“It’s good!”

Ming Hong sat down on his behind on the ground, unable to move, but had an expression of undisguised joy on his face. A transparent and faintly green bone was in Zuo Mo’s hand.

“The green color is because the ghost fire is not pure enough,” Zuo Mo evaluated.

The people who had been watching this scene became excited. So forging was actually like this.

Zuo Mo saw this and waved his hand. “Those with ghost fire, start refining your ghost fire. Those that don’t, go find ghost fire.”

Then he did not pay any more attention to the crowd. He said to the guard, “Let’s go, to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.”

The guard bowed respectfully. “Yes!”

Chapter 866 – Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools

“Daren, this is the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.”

The guard said respectfully. He had been following Zuo Mo for these past days and observed all of Zuo Mo’s speech and conduct.

Grandmaster treated the Ghost Lord as an equal without any wariness or restraint. Facing those mo of low status, Grandmaster still treated them equally.

There was no pride, no disdain, he was willing to explain and help.

Humbleness when one did not have power was self-protection. Humbleness after possessing power was due to having a noble character and strong self-control.

Of all the people he had seen, only Grandmaster behaved like this.

This was really a person worthy of respect!

Zuo Mo did not know what the guard was thinking. His attention was completely attracted to the scene in front of him.

Death energy pools of various sizes were spread out into the distance, there was no end. The grey death energy that sprouted out of the pools roiled and spread. From far away, it looked like a grey sea. The grey mists roiled as though they were boiling. This was the cause for the name of Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.

“Spectacular!” Zuo Mo murmured.

The thick and boiling death energy was endless, vast and unfathomable. Zuo Mo stood at the border of the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools and suddenly felt he was so small in front of such a vast existence. But Zuo Mo was god-level and his mind was strong. This feeling only lasted for a moment before disappearing.

The feeling of confidence that everything was in his control came back to him.

Zuo Mo was very curious what it was like under this spectacular Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. Where did such a great and vast amount of death energy come from, and why had it formed. Zuo Mo could not imagine it.

Was the legendary Yellow Springs really under here?

When this thought appeared, Zuo Mo shook his head and laughed. He was thinking too much.

Things like the Yellow Springs did not exist. Those were myths invented by other people.

People could be seen all over the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. The shen methodology of the Yin Tomb Guards could absorb death energy and turn it to shen power. The Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools with its vast amount of death energy was undoubtedly one of the best cultivation locations.

“Let’s go in to look around,” Zuo Mo said.

“Yes!” The guard followed bside Zuo Mo with a wary expression and looked around occasionally.

“Is it not safe here?” Zuo Mo saw the guard acting like this and couldn’t resist asking.

The guard’s wariness did not waver. As he maintained his cautiousness, he explained, “The death energy here is abundant, and it is of great help to cultivation. Everyone likes to cultivate here. With more people coming here, small conflicts cannot be avoided. Someone suggested that the Ghost Lord should take over all of the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools so people would have to pay fees. However, the Ghost Lord did not agree. There are no guards here, and it is slightly chaotic. However, Daren, do not worry, the great majority of people cultivating here are people of the Yin Tomb Guards, there will not be any problems.”

The guard was right. Before the two had walked far, they encountered people along the way that bowed to the guard.

“I really didn’t see it, you have good standing with these people,” Zuo Mo said with a smile.

The guard was slightly embarrassed, “I have served the Ghost Lord for a long time, and my face is familiar.” His rank was not low. In a short amount of time, he had gathered many people. The wariness on his face eased.

He said to Zuo Mo with a smile, “Grandmaster, if you find a place, pick it out and I will have people stand guard.”

Zuo Mo smiled but did not speak as he moved through the death energy.

This was the death energy that was sprouted out of the pools. Because there were too many death energy pools packed closely together, this scene was created. It was possible to see faint figures among many death energy pools. The dense death energy was of great help to the cultivation of these mo. Zuo Mo had to sigh at the unpredictability of the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord’s style. Any other power would definitely take control of such a valuable piece of land.

But this Yin Tomb Ghost Lord did not do anything with it.

He really couldn’t understand. Zuo Mo shook his head and suddenly through of  a question he asked the guard, “Aren’t the guards here afraid of being disturbed while cultivating here?”

“They will not be disturbed,” the guards said with a smile, “Grandmaster may not know that once you enter the state of cultivation, these death energy pools will gather large amounts of death energy around you, forming a shield. This death energy shield is very strong, and it will repel all other powers.”

Zuo Mo was surprised when he heard this. These death energy pools did have some wonders.

“Grandmaster? Is this the forging grandmaster?” someone next to the guard asked curiously.

The guard’s expression turned cold and he shouted in displeasure, “Old Wang, do not overstep!”

Old Wang shrank back. He feared the guard.

Zuo Mo waved his hand. “That’s fine. Yes, I’m that forging grandmaster.”

Most people would not call themselves a “forging grandmaster” but Zuo Mo said it so easily as though it was an ordinary matter. However, Zuo Mo’s cool expression made the surrounding people believe his claim immediately.

These people were experienced and seeing Zuo Mo was easy to talk too, they pressed further. Old Wang said respectfully, “Grandmaster, will you forge shen equipment for me? No matter the conditions as long as I can accomplish them…”

The guard glared harshly at Old Wang and was about to start scolding.

Old Wang knew he was about to be scolded but a chance like this was too rare. If he passed it by, it would definitely not come back. He shrank back but he still looked with anticipation at Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo said with a smile, “Shen equipment, I have a lot of. Let me ask you something. If you can answer, I will give you one.”

OId Wang’s eyes lit up and he asked impatiently, “What does Grandmaster wish to know? Ask!”

“In the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools, which place has the highest concentration of death energy? I will give a piece of shen equipment.” Zuo Mo still had a smile.

“I know.” Old Wang was clever and said rapidly, “The place with the highest concentration of death energy in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools is of course the death eye.”

Everyone else had expressions of vexation. They were a step late. They hadn’t expected the grandmaster to ask such a simple question.

Zuo Mo saw the expressions of everyone else and knew what this person said was the truth. He said briskly, “I’m giving you a piece of shen equipment, wait for a moment.”

His hand flipped and a piece of shen equipment appeared on his hand.

He had kept this Mo Cloud shen equipment from the past but it was not suited for nether shen power. Zuo Mo beckoned, hiss, a large wave of death energy flowed suddenly towards the shen equipment in his hand.

Grey spread quickly along the shen equipment.

Where the grey color passed through, complex mo matrices took form at a visible rate. The shen equipment seemed to be alive as it twisted and changed shape. Many long spikes appeared.

No one had seen such a fantastical method of forging. They gaped in speechlessness. Even the guard’s eyes were wide as he stared at the shen equipment in Zuo Mo’s hands.

About fifteen minutes later, Zuo Mo finished modifying the shen equipment. The shen equipment that had been refined with death energy looked completely different than before. It had a cruder appearance, and many spikes. It looked slightly ugly.

Zuo Mo threw the shen equipment to Old Wang. “For you.”

Old Wang could not bear to keep his hands away. He quickly put it on. The ugly grey shen equipment seemed vicious and savage when it was worn. The dense spikes were fearsome.

Old Wang was overjoyed. He channeled shen power and the spikes on the surface of the shen equipment seemed to come alive.

The grey spikes formed into little grey snakes the size of fingers. These grey snakes were nimble and lifelike as they hissed.

“[Nether Snake Shen Methodology]!”

“Weren’t Old Wang’s nether snakes always unable to take form? The shen equipment is so powerful!”

The crowd started to discuss. Their gazes when they stared at Zuo Mo became heated.

Zuo Mo did not plan on wasting time here. He turned and asked the guard, “Do you know where the death eye is?”

The guard had a hesitant expression. “Grandmaster, the death eye is where the death energy is greatest in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools but there is so much death energy there that we cannot get in easily.”

“Oh, take me for a look, just a look from a distance is fine.” Zuo Mo saw the hesitation of the guard and said.

“Alright.” The guard did not hesitate and turned to everyone else. He shouted, “You can all leave, stop watching!” He then said to Old Wang. “Old Wang, you got a bargain this time, lead the way.”

“Alright!” Old Wang said joyfully and lead the way at the front.

The guard turned to explain to Zuo Mo. “Grandmaster, the death energy in the region leading up to the death eye is too dense. We cannot fly and have to travel on foot.”

“Alright,” Zuo Mo nodded and said.

The Nether Realm was composed of mo. While the Yin Nether Guards were slightly strange, the mo here still had strong bodies. They could not learn the shen glyphs of the xiuzhe but it was not difficult for them to use shen power to refine their bodies.

Zuo Mo had found a long time before that the bodies of the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord and the others had strong bodies, ones even stronger than him. Zuo Mo was even sure that if a flying sword cut at the skeleton Gu Wu Shuang, not even a spark would fly.

The shen methodology of the Yin Tomb Guards contained a great amount of death energy. The deeper they cultivated, the stranger their bodies would become, just like the Ghost Lord, Gu Wu Shuang, and the others.

Fortunately, Zuo Mo had eliminated the rampaging burning flows in his body. His body was at its most unburdened state and he was not pressured trying to keep up.

“Grandmaster is Grandmaster, I hadn’t expected your body to be so strong as well!” Old Wang couldn’t help but say.

Everyone else was also surprised. From Zuo Mo’s skill at forging, almost everyone felt that Zuo Mo was a xiuzhe. The Nether Realm did not have anyone that could forge at such a level.

Everyone felt that Grandmaster was mysterious. He was not affected by the death energy, his body did not appear strong yet was filled with strength like a mo, and nothing more had to be said of his forging skill.

Zuo Mo smiled and did not explain. Suddenly, he felt something and his pupils suddenly contracted.

He stopped walking and said coolly, “The friend up front, come out!”

The guard and the others were experienced fighters. Hearing this, their expressions changed slightly and they quickly surrounded Zuo Mo in the middle and turned to face the enemy!

Old Wang had been timidly shrinking back and earlier, now, stood at the front of the group bravely.

A blurry figure appeared out of the grey death energy ahead.

Chapter 867 - Person In The Cloak

Old Wang shouted and to charge at the other, his form turning into a grey shadow.

The other did not dodge as though they had not detected anything worthy of notice.

Old Wang became slightly angry. He snorted, “You want to die!”

The [Nether Snake Shen Methodology] that he cultivated was unlike other people. Other people used it to be unpredictable, but he was on a path of brute force. Threads of grey energy gathered on his right arm. Hiss hiss hiss, the little snakes on his grey shen equipment made from the spikes quickly moved towards his arm.

A grey shadow of a snake appeared behind Old Wang. It coiled with its head upright as it hissed.

Old Wang’s presence reached a peak. Pushing off the ground, he jumped into the air. His body was twisted up strangely like that of an enormous constrictor.

“Kill!”

The shout was like thunder.

Old Wang’s right fist was like a whip!

Boom!

A heart-shaking tremble spread in ripples.

Old Wang’s figure disappeared in the air.

Pia!

A clear sound of collision. A snowy white hand grabbed Old Wang’s fist. The other’s figure did not move a sliver.

A hint of grey appeared on Old Wang’s face. He snickered, his twisted body suddenly producing a powerful force. His fist that was captured by the other suddenly broke free, and he attacked again.

The other had not expected Old Wang to break free of his hold. But the enemy reacted quickly, the grab turning into a slap that headed for Old Wang’s fist.

Old Wang’s expression became even more savage.

In the span of a blink, he punched out twelve times!

The twelve punches were like lightning. Those that were weak were only able to see a blurry figure of a fist.

The other’s attack matched Old Wang.

Snap!

The twelve punches sounded just like one. The sound of the collision was deep and muffled.

The other moved three steps back!

Old Wang’s figure shook. His face was grey and pale. This [Twelve Echos] was his strongest move. Each of the lightning fast twelve punches was stronger than the previous one. He had never failed to injure his opponent with this move. This was able to easily destroy a mountain. Right now, he was wearing shen equipment, and was in the death energy pool, he was at his optimal condition. This [Twelve Echos] was the strongest attack he ever produced!

Such a strong [Twelve Echos] was only able to force the other back three paces!

Old Wang’s expression changed. He was an experienced fighter. Almost instantaneously, he judged that the other was much more powerful than he was!

An expert!

The other’s gaze landed on Old Wang and he praised, “This shen equipment isn’t bad.”

Everyone finally saw the appearance of the intruder. This person was thin and tall. He wore a cloak and his entire body seemed to be enveloped in darkness. This person’s face was almost completely covered by the shadow of the cloak.

The guard’s heart sank.

He knew Old Wang well, and he had experienced Old Wang’s killing move for himself before. He had a hard time withstanding Old Wang’s [Twelve Echos] even at a usual time. That [Twelve Echos] just now was almost three-tenths stronger than what Old Wang could usually produce. He would not be able to withstand it himself.

But this person had done so unharmed and was only forced three steps back.

This kind of power was not one that they could match!

The guard did not panic. This was the territory of the Yin Tomb Guards. The other’s plan would not succeed so easily. The other didn’t have any death energy on him and clearly had not been in the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld for long.

This person definitely did not know why the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools did not forbid battle but no big fight had ever occurred here.

The guard smile coldly inside.

“This one admires Grandmaster’s skill.” An ethereal voice came out of the cloak. “This one sincerely invites Grandmaster to be a guest at our mansion for a few days. Grandmaster, please do us the honor.”

Zuo Mo said coolly, “I do not like interacting with people that do not show their face.”

“Keke, Grandmaster should not just look at the appearance.” The other laughed softly. “Grandmaster, do not worry. As long as Grandmaster is willing to cooperate, anything can be given to you. Beauties, treasure, Grandmaster can have whatever you want. When you come to our place, Grandmaster will know what is heaven. It is much better than this stupid place.”

His tone was enticing.

Zuo Mo looked sarcastically at the other. “Why don’t you ask the opinion of the owner here?”

The other said with the smile, “This one will accomplish this today.”

“Your tone is so great.” A dissonant and muffled voice suddenly sounded.

A figure completely covered in cloth floated slowly out of the death energy. It was one of the Yin Tomb Fire Ghosts, Bu Ru Mian.

The other’s figure suddenly froze.

When Bu Ru Mian appeared, the surrounding death energy seemed to come alive.

Seeing Bu Ru Mian appear, the guard sighed in relief. Gu Wu Shuang Daren lived along at Billion Bone Peak, while Bu Ru Mian Daren usually stayed in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. Anyone that frequented these two places new that the reason there were never big fights in the enormous Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools was because of Bu Ru Mian Daren.

Bu Ru Mian Daren had a savage temper, he was cruel and emotionless. Angering him was a fate worse than death.

“Bu Daren!” The guard hurriedly bowed.

“Little Huo, take Grandmaster to see some other places, doesn’t have to be long. It has been so long since I encountered a fresh body. So exciting!” Bu Ru Mian’s voice was still displeasing to hear but his tone could be considered polite. The guard was one of the ghost lord’s attendants after all.

“Yes!” Little Huo hurriedly retreated with Zuo Mo and disappeared into the death energy.

“Yin Tomb Ghost, Bu Ru Mian?” the cloaked person suddenly spoke.

“Want to ask for mercy? Heh heh, too late!” Bu Ru Mian’s dissonant voice echoed in the air.

“Ask for mercy?” A bloody red curve lit up in the shadow covering the face that was filled with amusement.

“En.” Bu Ru Mian stilled. The other’s reaction wasn’t quite right.

“Daren, just wait for a while, Bu Daren will quickly finished the battle,” Little Huo said to Zuo Mo. He was filled with confidence in Bu Ru Mian.

“No worries, I’m not in a hurry.” Zuo Mo smiled. However, he did not think this inside. His shen power had not recovered but his cultivation was stronger than all those here. In his view, the person in the cloak was at the same power level as Bu Ru Mian.

Also, his perception was more sensitive than everyone else. He noticed that the cloaked person had appeared panicked when Bu Ru Mian appeared but his presence hadn’t been affected at all.

This showed that the other had been pretending to panic.

That meant that there were other plans, Zuo Mo thought amusedly.

Little Huo turned his face and asked Old Wang in concern. “Old Wang, are you alright?”

Old Wang forced a smile and said, “Fine, I just haven’t recovered. That guy is really strong. I am wearing shen equipment and used my ultimate move, but I only forced him back three paces, so embarrassing!”

“Haha, it must be that Old Wang worked too hard last night and your legs are soft today!”

Someone shouted and caused a wave of laughter. The pressure the cloaked person had given them was too strong, and having relaxing now, everyone felt a wave of weakness.

No one noticed a ball of grey mist silently spreading beneath their feet.

“Hm?” Zuo Mo was the first to detect it.

The Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools was grey throughout, and it was extremely difficult to detect the grey mist in the death energy. If Zuo Mo was not already on his guard, he probably would have fallen for it as well.

The grey mist came extremely quickly. Almost in the blink of an eye, it surrounded everyone.

Little Huo seemed to detect something but before he could make a sound, he fell down like a plank of wood.

Bam bam!

The other people fell over on their faces like planks of wood. Their faces were ashen, their bodies as rigid as metal and tense.

Such a strong Bewitching Fragrance!

Even though Zuo Mo had sealed his nose and mouth, his body still felt slightly numb. The grey mist was trying to permeate into his skin. At this time, the golden bead that he had formed detected the invasion of an outside. The sun shen glyph on the surface of the golden bead lit up and a thread of burning sun flow shot through Zuo Mo’s body.

Everywhere it passed, the grey mist was ignited and burned away.

Zuo Mo pretended to also be afflicted and fell down as well. Secretly, he woke up those guys in his ring. Zuo Mo’s ring had been re-forged and many of the materials that they had found in the endless voice had been added. The space inside was now enormous. Also, Zuo Mo had put the scraps of the wood used to make the shen wood coffins in as well. The vitality inside the ring was abundant and suitable for resting and recovery.

Everyone liked to rest inside.

Black Gold dazedly woke up from his sleep. He opened his loose eyes and muttered blearily. “Eeg Burh, ‘m ‘wake. ‘stime to eat?”

Of all the words, the only one that Black Gold said clearly was ‘eat’.

The Ghost Mist Child floated out of the Mist Eye Tablet. He yawned and produced a white mist bubble. He rubbed his eyes as he said, “Master!”

Tenth Grade and Sunshine also flew out. Tenth Grade forever looked murderous and Sunshine always looked bashful and embarrassed.

“Prepare to fight!” Zuo Mo told them mentally.

Tenth Grade immediately became excited. His little eyes were wide as he caressed his blade and was yearning to go.

The Ghost Mist Child also woke up. Sunshine started to prepare.

Only Black Gold didn’t even open his eyes as he muttered, “So sleepy … … you go first … …”

Zuo Mo said coldly, “Then only you three will share the spoils.”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier who had been unable to open his eyes just now immediately jumped up. There was no drowsiness on his face as he beat his chest. He said righteously, “Big Brother, what are you saying! Born to battle! Battle, that is the meaning of my existence! Big Brother, just you watch, watch as I beat them like dogs!”

His face twisted and became savage as he said hatefully, “Disturbing the sleep of the great Black Gold Daren, their outcome will be to be burned to ashes by the fire of Black Gold … …”

The people inside the ring immediately prepared for battle.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier beat his chest and stomped his feet as he howled upwards. The ring was filled with sound of metallic clanging.

The crescent blade jumped back and forth between Tenth Grade’s hands as it gleamed with cold light. It reflected the murderousness of Tenth Grade’s face.

The Ghost Mist Child turned into the mist giant. Boom boom, the enormous body paced through the ring’s space.

A ball of light floated at every one of Sunshine’s fingers. Each ball was of a different color. Ten different colors. He licked his lips.

Their eyes were bloodshot as they waited for Zuo Mo’s orders.

It had been so long since they fought!

Our great axe is hungry!

Chapter 868 – Counterattack

The grey mist started to spread.

Two shadows silently approached the people lying on the ground with a chilling smugness on their faces. This plan had been carefully executed. They had targeted the death energy pools after discovering that the forging grandmaster was interested in the death energy pools. They thought of the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools and speculated that the forging grandmaster would definitely go into the Death Eye.

“So successful,” a male voice sounded near Zuo Mo.

“Ha, our luck is very good this time. This person’s expert guard is not with him today. Otherwise, we will have to put more effort.” This time, the one that spoke was a female.

“That will not take much effort,” the male said unconcernedly. “The rumors are always exaggerated. How powerful can a little child be?”

“Let’s carefully abduct this forging guy, careful, this person is very precious. Do not hurt him. Kill the others,” the female said easily.

“A Leng will probably take a while. That disgusting Bu Ru Mian is still strong. It will not be easy for A Leng to win. Pity that we cannot watch such a spectacular battle,” the male said with regret.

“Stop chatting and work!” the female said impatiently. She bent down and prepared to pick up Zuo Mo.

Just as her hand was about to touch Zuo Mo, she had a feeling of danger. Her expression changed dramatically and she moved back!

A bloody sword light suddenly lit up from under Zuo Mo’s arm!

A bloodthirsty and savage sword essence shot out like a hiding vicious beast. The blood light charged straight at her face.

The female felt as though her head was compressed by the pressure. There seemed to be a sea of blood in front of her. Bloody shadows flew out of the bloody sea. These bloody shadows started to twist, viciously and savagely.

Not good!

The female knew the danger. She suddenly spewed out grey mist. The grey mist looked soft but it managed to stop this bloody sword energy!

The female felt regret as she retreated.

She had been too careless! How could a forging grandmaster not have a treasure up his sleeve!

The dying throes of a forging grandmaster was as powerful as expected!

That grey mist was the Ten Thousand Sand Mist that she had expended great effort to gather and forge. They looked soft and weak, but it was actually made from hundreds of specks of Thousand Nether Sand that looked miniscule but were extremely heavy.

This was her life-saving treasure. She never used this unless it was a matter of life and death.

One hundred and eight beads of Thousand Nether Sand. It had taken her countless amounts of shen power and repeated refining to form this [Nether Sand Breath Mist].

To stop this vicious sword blow at this dangerous moment.

Suddenly, a ray of white light shot through the grey mist.

The grey mist immediately rippled and changed. Shen glyphs flickered in and out of view of the grey mist. The female was almost stunned by the following scene. The lights flashed with grey, red, purple, blue light and other colors like a rainbows as they shot through the grey mist.

The shen glyph light in the grey mist fluctuated and rippled like something had passed through it. The shen glyph became extremely unstable. When the tenth ray of light shot through the grey mist, the shen glyph within the grey mist was unable withstand it and shattered.

The female’s body shook as though she was struck by lightning.

The [Nether Sand Breath Mist] was defeated!

But at this time, she did not have time to grieve. Now free of the grey mist, the blood colored sword essence headed towards her like a wave of blood!

The sound of wails and cries filled her eyes!

The female knew it was time to fight for her life. She gathered her shen power and prepared to counterattack before her death.

However, this sword light was stronger than she had imagined. Countless figures formed and dissipated in front of her. She found to her shock that she was unable to move.

She was experience in combat. All of her shen power exploded. The pressure eased and the bloody shadows immediately disappeared.

She straightened her arms and covered her face.

Hiss!

The sword light flashed through her wrists. Her wrists broke and her two hands flew into the sky.

The female showed a hint of pain, but viciousness flashed through her eyes. Her hands that were in the air suddenly scattered into a handful of sand

The black sand turned into sand arrows that shot towards Zuo Mo on the ground.

Shen glyphs could be seen within every sand arrow.

Her body quickly turned into a puddle of black flowing sand at a visible rate. Her eyes stared hatefully at Zuo Mo.

Snap snap snap!

A small and exquisite shield of light appeared in front of Zuo Mo. The transparent light shield was filled with exquisite and packed shen glyphs. The shield of light was unexpectedly hard. When the black sand arrows hit it, it was like rain hitting banana leaves. Ripples formed on the surface of the light shield.

Sunlight’s body appeared by Zuo Mo’s shoulder.

Tenth Grade howled, his body spinning, and the crescent blade drew out two spinning lights of blood.

The flowing sand on the ground was like water. It started to sink into the soil at a visible rate.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes. Where was signs of his affliction?

Seeing the other intending to flee, Zuo Mo’s expression was cold. He pressed his hand down. The surrounding death energy flowed faster into the ground and the ground became as hard as metal.

Zuo Mo did not have any shen power in his body. He could not fight against the other, but with his god-level cultivation, he could easily make escape difficult for the other.

Tenth Grade flew into the sky had reached his peak state.

His murderous little face became unusually dignified. His eyes suddenly glared as his arms came down towards the sand on the ground. He shouted, “Kill!”

The crescent blade that spun around him suddenly disappeared.

Ding!

A clear metallic ringing sound occurred in the air.

The flowing sand on the ground seemed to detect danger. It suddenly flew out of the ground and went to engulf Zuo Mo like a net!

The crescent blade struck into the flowing sand. The sand shield stilled in the air and was pinned to the ground.

The bloody shadow that trailed behind the crescent blade smashed onto the flowing sand without any finesse!

An extremely harsh scream!

The flowing sand suddenly lit aflame. The figure of the female appeared into the flames. She twisted her body in pain, screams coming out. Gradually, the screams gradually weakened. The body of the female gradually faded until it disappeared.

The female’s figure disappeared. The black flowing sand was dim as they floated around Zuo Mo.

The Ghost Mist Child silently came out of Zuo Mo’s ring. He turned into threads of mist. Hiding within the grey mist, he slowly flowed and crept towards the enemy.

While the two enemies spoke, he sneaked up behind the male.

After being together with Little Mo Ge for so long, even the ferocious and domineering mist giant showed signs of corruption.

The moment Tenth Grade moved, he also unhesitatingly struck.

The mist energy suddenly wrapped around the enemy like chains. At the same time, the mist giant shouted, “Mist!”

The mist suddenly tightened around the male. At the same time, mist erupted out of the Mist Eye Tablet like a dam that was opened. The mist swallowed the male.

The moment the mist tightened, the male detected danger. He shouted. A grey glyph lit up on his right hand. His body suddenly expanded, his skin visibly hardening and turning into grey scales. His body, muscles, and bones continued to move and change.

As his body continued to change, his presence increased in power.

The white mist around him was repelled by an unseen force.

Suddenly, the scream of a female sounded. His body shook but then his presence erupted.

His body was more than a zhang tall, his entire body covered in grey scales. There were packed shen glyphs on every scale. Sharp bone spikes grew out of his hands and feet. His eyes became yellow snake-like pupils, cold and emotionless.

His presence became five times stronger.

Zuo Mo was curious. It was the first time he saw a shen methodology like this. He was not surprised that mo would use shen power to refine their body. However, the transformation still caused Zuo Mo’s eyes to light up.

Zuo Mo’s eyes darted up and down as he studied the other’s body like he was watching a beautiful female.

Such an unique cultivation method!

Such unique shen glyphs!

Under Zuo Mo’s god-level gaze, everything was seen. However, Zuo Mo was still filled with surprise. This world never lacked for intelligent people.

Someone was able to create such an unique shen glyph and unique cultivation method.

The mist giant’s fight with the other was intense.

The mist giant’s roars boomed. Among the flooding mist, its enormous body was like a mountain. While the enemy was only one zhang tall, his presence was a match for the mist giant. He was wrapped in terrifying presence, and his cold eyes stared unyieldingly as he faced the attacks of the mist giant.

The two’s fighting was completely physical, a contest of strength.

The enormous axe of the mist giant was ferocious as though it was cleaving the world open.

The male that had transformed was like a prehistoric mo beast. Its body was stronger than steel. The shen glyph on his scales occasionally flashed, and the power in his movements could upturn mountains.

Boom boom boom!

The sounds echoed in the mist sea. With every collision of savage power, countless ripples spread into the surroundings with every collision.

Zuo Mo quickly found that the mist giant was gradually losing.

The enemy was as fast as lightning, and his ability to dodge was great. Even Zuo Mo was slightly shocked. His body seemed to contain endless power as though he did not know exhaustion.

The mist giant’s rain of mist balls was being suppressed by the other with their greater speed and power!

While Zuo Mo knew that as long as the mist sea was present, the mist giant would be fine, he was still surprised by the present situation.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s blood boiled at his battle and his eyes were bright. “Big Brother, let me go!”

Zuo Mo shook his head. “Let’s wait and see.”

Zuo Mo had never seen this new cultivation method. He was very curious. He wanted to see what the other would do. Bu Ru Miao was fighting intensely with the enemy and all of the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools was shaking. Everyone was attracted by that battle. On Zuo Mo’s side, the mist giant’s mist sea formed a barrier. All of the vibrations of the battle rippled in the mist sea but the noise outside was not large enough to attract attention.

The mist giant was being suppressed but he was not in danger. Also, the mist giant was used to suppressing enemies with brute force. Of all of Zuo Mo’s “sidekicks”, the mist giant was the one-track minded brute.

If it was the Black Gold Seal Soldier, he would have changed tactics a long time ago.

The mist giant watched as his mist balls would be smashed by the other just as it flew up. The rate that the mist balls that flew out could not match the enemy’s rate at smashing them.

At this time, he had to admit the other was stronger than he was.

The suppressed mist giant could only change his style of attacking.

The mist giant’s attacking methods were actually very basic. However, he had some very depraved experts around him. Therefore, he had learned some moves from them.

He disdained using these moves but when he found that his power was being suppressed, he panicked.

When a honest person was forced to panic, they would be devious as well.

He could only use that move!

A thread of embarrassment flashed through the mist giant’s mind, but his movements were not slowed.

Chapter 869 – Change

An unprecedentedly large mist ball formed on the mist giant’s hand. This mist ball that was equal in size to the mist giant had a great visual effect.

The mist giant lifted the mountainous mist ball and threw it at the enemy.

A cold smile appeared on the other’s icy face. He had fought against this move many times. The mist balls didn’t have any other abilities than just power. In terms of power, he didn’t believe that anyone could compare to him.

The mist ball that flew towards him looked astonishing, but in his eyes, the other was just panicking. The more condensed the mist ball, the greater the threat. Such a large mist ball was unlikely to be dense and was a bluff.

He charged towards the incoming giant mist ball.

One punch!

He only needed one punch to completely smash this giant mist ball!

This was the other’s last bit of confidence. If he could smash this, the other would completely collapse.

Closer! Even closer!

Now was the time!

He took a deep breath. His shen power gathered rapidly at his right fist and he threw out a ferocious punch!

Pew!

Unlike the previous mist balls which shattered immediately on impact, this mist ball suddenly produced a strange suction force. His powerful punch seemed to hit empty air. It was so uncomfortable he almost spit out blood.

Hm?

It was strange!

When these words jumped into his mind, the mist ball in front of him suddenly started to look familiar.

An enormous mouth formed without any warning and swallowed him whole.

The mist ball grew out four limbs, and a head. It was the mist giant! The other would never have thought that the mist ball that was thrown over was the disguised mist giant.

He entered a place of darkness.

A trap?

The embarrassment on the mist giant’s face grew. It was really embarrassing!

His thick legs were half bent, his body leaning forward, his brows furrowed into one line. He seemed to be pushing, his body quickly became smaller, and soon, his body reached half of his previous side and could not shrink anymore.

The pain on the mist giant’s expression reached a peak. At this time, his behind suddenly perked up!

Pop pop pop!

Three clear crisp sounds.

A little condensed ball of mist shot out of the mist giant’s behind like a cannonball. Where it passed, it created three mist rings.

The enemy was left sprawled out, unconscious.

“Ohhh!” The Black Gold Seal Soldier who was watching from afar covered his face with his hand. He could not bear to look as though he was feeling this move.

Zuo Mo gaped. He suddenly turned around and said, “Who taught him this?”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier immediately became smug. He patted his chest and said proudly, “Who else! Other than the great Black Gold, who could have thought of such a clever killing move! I said to that idiot a long time ago, no one can match this move … …”

The Black Gold Seal Soldier laughed proudly.

Zuo Mo looked at the guy and then pointed at the unconscious person on the ground. “The spoils on that guy belong to you.”

The laughter choked off. The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s expression froze on his face.

Tenth Grade and Sunshine pretended to not see it. They turned around to pick up the spoils from the female mo.

What occurred at the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools caused Zuo Mo’s trip into the sea to come to an abrupt stop. Zuo Mo handed the unconscious person to the Yin Tomb Guards for them to interrogate him about his origins.

Zuo Mo continued to repair his body. Without the constant damage done by the burning sun flows, the repairing effect of the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood increased. Without realizing it, Zuo Mo’s body had been repaired to the eighteenth level.

The Guard, Little Huo, came to visit. This was the first time that Little Huo had come since the attack in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.

“Grandmaster!” Little Huo’s expression was ashamed, “Last time, this lowly one did not manage to protect you, it really was … …”

Zuo Mo smiled. “If I didn’t have some treasures up my sleeve, I would have been the same in an ambush like this. Have you discovered the origins of these people?”

The captive had been given to the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord and Zuo Mo did not pay any more attention to this matter. The Nether Realm was just a temporary residence for him. Once he repaired his body, he would leave. He had no interest in the factions and battles here.

When the matter was mentioned, Little Huo’s expression immediately darked, “It is Jia Man’s people.”

“Jia Man?”

“Yes, one of the four Nether Lords.” Little Huo realized and said embarrassedly, “I almost forgot. The Ghost Lord invites Grandmaster for a visit.”

Zuo Mo nodded. “Then let’s go.”

Riding the bone carriage, they quickly reached the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord’s residence. When Zuo Mo saw the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord, he was shocked. “Ghost Lord is wounded?”

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord was expressionless but his tone was slightly surprised. “Grandmaster has keen eyes. I fought a few rounds with Jia Man. He did not leave well either. It is my shame for the inconsiderate care we took of you during the ambush in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.”

As he spoke, he opened a jade box. There was a head with angry eyes.

“This is one of Jia Man’s right hand. He is called Yuwen Hong. He planned the abmush and abduction. I have taken his head to apologize to Grandmaster,” the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord said gravely.

When he heard that Zuo Mo had been ambushed, he had been extremely angry. He led the Yin Tomb’s Five Ghost Lords to sneak into Jia Man’s lands to take Yuwen Hong’s head. However, they also paid a heavy price. Including the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord, three of them were wounded.

“There is no need to be so.” Zuo Mo increasingly felt that the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord was a good person. He was quick to repay favors and slights, had honor, and was decisive in his actions.

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord said in a grave voice, “Jia Man is a person of great cunning and endurance. He is an insurgent. King is not in a good state recently. Jia Man is restless. This conflict between Yin Tomb Guards and Eastern Nether Mansion could not be avoided. Fighting is about to start.”

Zuo Mo listened silently.

“The Eastern Nether Mansion has desired the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Netherworld for a long time. However, the King was worried and had me guard this place.”

Zuo Mo asked curiously. “Why does he want the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld?”

“This is the homeland of the King!” the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord explained, “King is of mysterious origins and has always searched for his homeland. Then he found the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld. The rumors say that the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld hides the King’s cultivation inheritance.”

Zuo Mo’s interest in this Nether King immediately grew. The Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld was very mysterious. No matter if it was the Billion Bone Peak, or the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools, they were all mysteries.

“Jia Man is so daring?” Zuo Mo couldn’t resist asking. The Nether King was not in a good state recently, but the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld was the homeland of the Nether King. It was still a taboo to attack the Nether King’s homeland.

“Jia Man is very smart. He will not take it all for himself,” the Ghost Lord shook his head. “An Mo is loyal to King, but a problem occurred during cultivation. The West Jail Mansion cannot protect itself. You Zhe of South Abyss Mansion sways whatever direction the wind blows. Hai Xin Bing of Northern Plains Ice Mansion has always been at odds with the Yin Tomb Guards. Even if she wanted to clean up the situation, she will only act after we fight with Jia Man.”

“Which of you is stronger?” Zuo Mo asked directly.

“Jia Man is stronger,” the Ghost Lord said honestly. “Jia Man’s Eastern Nether Mansion is the strongest of the four Nether Lords. The Yin Tomb Guards are weaker than the four mansions, and we are much weaker than Eastern Nether Mansion. However, Jia Man did not think that I would take precautions against him more than a decade ago.”

“Is there anything I can help with?” Zuo Mo did not want to interfere in the inner conflict of the Nether Realm. However, the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood he needed was still reliant on the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord. He did not want the Yin Tomb Guards to be defeated.

“Many thanks, Grandmaster! If possible, I want to ask Grandmaster to first forge a batch of suitable shen equipment. The matter of the shen device can be put to the side for now.” The Ghost Lord did not mask his intentions regarding this meeting and immediately made his request.

“Alright!” Zuo Mo briskly agreed.

Leaving the Ghost Lord’s residence, Zuo Mo said to Little Huo, “To the Fire Cemetery.”

Ever since Zuo Mo taught the forgers to cultivate ghost fire, the activity in the Fire Cemetery cooled down. There were not many people to be seen and only those pillars of fire were left.

Since Zuo Mo had promised the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord to forge a batch of shen equipment, he decided to complete it as soon as possible.

All kinds of materials flowed towards the Fire Cemetery.

The news that Grandmaster was about forge quickly spread in the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld. Those forgers that were searching for ghost fire or refining ghost fire stopped what they were doing and hurried over.

The surrounding mountains were filled with people. They looked curiously at the Fire Cemetery at the bottom of the valley. It was a rare opportunity to see a grandmaster forge.

Bone carriage after bone carriage filled with materials transported all kinds of materials in a stream. It had not stopped for days.

“Ming Hong, how many carriages?” someone asked.

“One hundred and twelve.” Ming Hing immediately gave an accurate number.

“What does Grandmaster want to do with so much materials? How could he use up so much materials?”

“Shut up! Just keep watching!”

The discussion and speculation did not stop in the crowd. No one understood. What did Grandmaster want to do? Ming Hong did not participate in the discussion. His gaze was locked onto the grandmaster.

Grandmaster’s figure continued to pass through the pillars of fire.

The materials were piled up like a mountain nearby.

When Zuo Mo examined the cemetery, he couldn’t help but sigh. It really was a good place to forge. The earth fire here was a good grade and the earth fire was almost unimaginably abundant. There was an ocean of earth fire under the Fire Cemetery. The only detrimental aspect was that there were too many impurities in it.

However, this was nothing for Zuo Mo.

In his eyes, the Fire Cemetery was a great cauldron that the heavens had created. The abundant earth fire, the numerous fire openings, this could become a great forging place.

However, before that, he needed to set up.

Zuo Mo had a plan. He did not hesitate. With a wave of his hand, many materials floated out of the materials pile.

The materials that flew out formed a line in the air and entered the flame in Zuo Mo’s hand like birds returning to the next.

It almost didn’t take any effort for the sun shen fire to forge these materials. The forging was completed in a blink.

The materials passed rapidly through the sun shen fire. When they did, their appearances changed completely. They were like phoenixes that went through their rebirth. They went from dull to glowing, and flashed with eye-catching light. They drew out bright and grand streaks of light in the air and landed in every corner of the Fire Cemetery.

The flame in Zuo Mo’s hand seemed able to turn something rotten into a wonder.

The rays rained out from his hand.

Trees of fire with silvery flowers stole the gazes!

The people on the mountains in the surrounded were speechless in shock.

Chapter 870 – Fire Cemetery

As the beautiful streaks of light entered every corner, the Fire Cemetery started to change.

“Quick, look at that fire pillar!” someone shouted.

Everyone reacted and they moved their gaze to the fire pillars of the Fire Cemetery.

One of the bright red fire pillars that erupted from the vent was rapidly becoming transparent and deep blue. The surging fire pillar was like a tamed beast. It was much calmer, the pillar was thinner than before, but the flames were clearly more concentrated.

Even from a long ways off, people could clearly feel that the temperature of the deep blue fire pillar had increased greatly.

Soon, another pillar of fire turned deep blue.

One after another, the fire pillars in Fire Cemetery became deep blue and clear. The temperature of the air increased greatly and those that were weaker started to feel sweat flowing down their backs.

However, no one left. They did not dare to move their eyes away. At this time, almost everyone knew Zuo Mo’s intentions.

Grandmaster was purifying the fire pillars of Fire Cemetery!

Materials flowed like water through the flames in Grandmaster’s hand and became bright rays of various colors lit up on Grandmaster’s right hand, as the hand made  all kinds of profound movements. His movements flowed easily, were pleasing to see, and so beautiful that people were unconsciously entranced.

The entire process continued for about two hours.

The Fire Cemetery was now completely transformed. Pillars of blue flame burned silently. The hissing of the flames, the snap and pop, the roar of the lava, all of those sounds disappeared completely.

The ground of the Fire Cemetery was covered in a spiderweb of beautiful glowing lines. The pillars of fire were erupting from the holes in the web.

Zuo Mo looked with satisfaction at the modified Fire Cemetery.

Fire Cemetery was the best fire forging venue he had ever seen. This place was filled with abundant and high level earth fire. It was a pity that this was the Nether Realm. If this was Mo Cloud Sea, Gold Crow Camp would have started to use it a long time ago.

It was really a waste to have this be used by these unskilled people to forge!

A large fire forging venue like the Fire Cemetery was actually best suited for large scale forging. It only needed one expert to be in charge and numerous capable assistants. The efficiency would be high.

Zuo Mo suddenly shook his head and laughed. Why was he worrying for other people? He turned back to look at the Fire Cemetery. He had reforged all of Fire Cemetery. The Fire Cemetery was good, but there were shortcomings. The earth fire here was of high grade but had too many impurities. If he wanted to use it, he first had to purify the earth fire.

Zuo Mo was experienced in this. He had designed a fire element seal formation so that before the earth fire erupted out of the ground, the impurities would be filtered out. He based this seal formation on some shen glyphs and the effects were outstanding.

There were three hundred fire pillars in Fire Cemetery.

Three hundred deep blue pillars of fire stood in rows. While they were not as astoundingly loud as before, they caused people to feel an indescribable power.

The forgers that were watching from the mountains were overcome with excitement. Where had they ever seen such incomprehensible forging before?

Low level forging like this was almost effortless for Zuo Mo.

While he had forged for two hours, he was not tired at all. He did not pause. He waved his hand, and the mountain of materials behind him floated into the air as though they were held by an invisible hand.

Zuo Mo shouted, “Go!”

Woosh!

The materials that had floated up turned into three hundred slender flows, each of which entered a pillar of fire.

Zuo Mo did not stop or hesitate. He waved his hand again. Another pile of materials flew into the air, split into three hundred portions and then entered the three hundred pillars of fire.

When the materials entered the pillar of fire, they would quickly melt and turn into liquid.

Mountain after mountain of materials disappeared into the pillars of fire at astounding speeds.

In a flash, half of the materials around Zuo Mo had disappeared.

The pillars of fire were clear and blue. People could clearly see the liquid floating inside the pillars. Inside every pillar of fire was a ball of liquid that was about the size of a basket. The ones that floated in three hundred pillars were exactly the same.

If people had been entranced before, now they had stopped breathing. Everyone had expressions of disbelief on their faces.

Did … … Grandmaster want to forge three hundred articles at once … …

While they still didn’t know what Grandmaster wanted to forge, but the balls of liquid in each pillar were the same. It was clear that Grandmaster wanted to forge en masse.

This was not possible!

Many people unconsciously stopped breathing. They had never heard of someone that could forge three hundred of the exact same thing in one go. Not even the most powerful forging masters could do it.

They looked at the white-haired figure beside the Fire Cemetery.

What was Grandmaster’s true identity?

Zuo Mo’s attention was focused. While these pillars of fire had been purified, they were not his sun shen fire and was not as easy to control. He did not need great effort to use sun shen fire. He could only use these pillars of fire as cauldrons. Zuo Mo had only used cauldrons a long time ago back on Wu Kong Mountain when he used them to forge dan.

But for Zuo Mo at present, the one method was applicable to all. This was not the problem.

However, he currently had no shen power in his body and was forced to use other methods.

He sat down, coiled his legs and closed his eyes to rest.

Not long after, a figure flew from afar and landed next to Zuo Mo. It was Guard Huo. Little Huo said respectfully, “Grandmaster, I have completed it!”

He held a jade bottle in his hand

Zuo Mo opened his eyes and took the jade bottle. He said with a smile, “Thank you, Guard Huo.”

“This is my duty! Grandmaster is too polite!” Little Guard Huo said respectfully.

Zuo Mo did not waste words. He held the jade bottle and walked to the side of Fire Cemetery. With a shout, a wave of grey energy flew out of the jade bottle.

“Death energy!”

“It really is death energy!”

There were people with keen eyes on the mountains. They immediately recognized this. People in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools were familiar with the grey death energy. Of course they recognized it. However, they were slightly puzzled. Did Grandmaster want to use death energy?

People had tried to forge using death energy in the past, but they found that when death energy was added into earth fire, if there was too little of it, it would quickly disappear, and if there was too much, it would cause an explosion.

Zuo Mo’s expression was grave as he beckoned with his right hand.

What flew out this time was a batch of bones. Ming Hong recognized them. These ashen white bones were Shrieking Bones. The Shrieking Bones were an unique product of the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld. The bones were very unique. If one stepped on them, they would give off dissonant shrieks.

The reason that the shrieking bones made sounds was because they held a remnant of a fiend soul. Over time, it would form something like a bone spirit. However, the bone spirit that was produced was so weak there almost wasn’t any use to them. Due to this, the bones were not worth any money. If one wanted to train it to become a little ghost, the cost would be more than just buying a little ghost.

If this was any other place, people might still buy shrieking bones. But in the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld, bones were the most worthless thing. Shrieking bones were also the same.

Daren was using shrieking bones

Everyone was astounded and their eyes went wide. Did the shrieking bones contain some secret?

No one knew that on the mountain peak, there were also a few pairs of eyes watching all of this.

“Shrieking bones? This person’s method is very strange.” Si Du who was completely green all over had an expression of puzzlement. Shrieking bones were so common. They could be seen all over the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld.

Si Du’s green complexion was slightly fainter. He was one of the three that had been wounded among the six that had went to Eastern Nether Mansion.

“Interesting.” Gu Wu shuang’s eyes flashed with ghost fire. He was extremely curious.

“Death Poison, Sand Woman’s nether sand is in his possession,” Bu Ru Mian rumbled, “But be prepared to  trade for it with your best treasures. Boss said that no one can touch Grandmaster.”

Bu Ru Mian and Si Du were good friends, so he called the other “Death Poison.”

“Sand Woman’s nether sand!” Si Du’s eyes lit up. The sand would be of great help to his recovery. If he could get the nether sand, his wounds wouldn’t just heal, he might grow even stronger.

Suddenly, Mo Ru said, “How did he kill Sand Woman?”

Everyone’s attention was attracted by this question. Everyone had been astounded by that battle. If it was an ambush from Sand Woman and Traveller, any one of them would not have been able to survive it. It was not the first time they fought Eastern Nether Mansion. Sand Woman and Traveller were equal in strength to them.

But the ambush by the two didn’t just fail, one of them died in the battle while one was captured alive. They were in disbelief over the result. In other words, if two of them went to sneak attack Grandmaster, it was likely the same outcome.

Everyone gaze gathered on Bu Ru Mian. He had been the closest to the ambush.

Bu Ru Mian’s muffled voice came through the cloth. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know. I was fighting with Leng Wei at the time. However, I did not feel any vibrations from their fight. Grandmaster might have used an underhanded move.”

The group could accept this explanation. They did not have any doubts that  Grandmaster was a great craftsman. It was be strange if a forging grandmaster did not have some treasures up his sleeve.

“Hmph, if you have energy, focus on recover. We cut off Yuwen Hong’s head, Sand Woman and Traveller are both dead, Leng Wei was heavily injured, Eastern Nether Mansion will not accept this. They will definitely gather their forces quickly and come here,” Hei Wu said coldly.

“Leng Wei’s wounds are not light. He dared to fight against me in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools, he is really tired of living.” Bu Ru Mian’s eyes flashed with vicious light.

“Do you think that if we asked Grandmaster to forge shen equipment for us, he would agree?” Si Du suddenly said. His eyes were murderous. “Who among us doesn’t have some treasures. If we do not use them now, should we keep them to benefit Eastern Nether mansion after they kill us?”

This was what everyone was thinking about. This battle this time would only end with the fall of one side. There was no going back. They did not say it, but they all knew it. Eastern Nether Mansion was stronger than the Yin Tomb Guards. Their chances of victory were not high.

“Let’s do this!” Bu Ru Mian said briskly.

“Alright!” Hei Wu said.

“Yes!” Gu Wu Shuang agreed.

Mo Ru suddenly said, “Look.”

Chapter 871 – Three Hundred Pieces of Shen Equipment

When the shrieking bones were enveloped by the death energies, terrifying shrieks sounded. There seemed to be countless ghouls moving inside. If this scene appeared anywhere else, it would frighten the spectators, but for the Yin Tomb Guards, they were immune to things like ghosts.

They widened their eyes and didn’t dare to divide their attention. They wanted to see what Grandmaster could do with the shrieking bones.

The thick death energy roiled. Zuo Mo’s jade bottle seemed to be bottomless. The death energy showed no signs of slowing.

The grey death energy was like a thick grey mist that wrapped around the shrieking bone and twisted in the air.

The death energy continued to permeate the shrieking bones. The shrieking bones trembled slightly. The shrieks became even higher pitched and dissonant to hear. Mo Ru and the others were astonished. They could clearly feel the evil power contained in the shrieks. Compared to before, the shrieking bones were at least three grades higher. Those in the surroundings that were weaker would easily become irritated by the sound. They would feel nausea, and might even feel as though they would faint.

Everyone was surprised that the death energy’s effect on the shrieking bones was so evident, especially Gu Wu Shuang. The balls of flame flickered wildly in his eye sockets. He was clearly very interested. Such a common material like the shrieking bones had such potential! If they could use it, it would be a great matter to the Yin Tomb Guards.

Zuo Mo did not know what other people were thinking. His expression was focused.

Right now, he had no shen power in his body. The only things he could rely on were his god-level cultivation and his practiced forging skill. Without shen power, he could not use many of the normal methods. He could only think of other ways. Fortunately, he had learn many things. He knew some of the xiuzhe forging, the mo weapons of the mo and even the creation of the yao cores. He even knew some things about the ancient sacrificial altar arts of the ancients which had disappeared long ago.

At this time, countless patterns quickly appeared under the death energy ball and formed a round formation.

No one observing could understand this seal formation.

Even in the xiuzhe world, not many people would understand it.

The round formation was actually a sacrificial altar.

When the the round formation lit up, the death energy also lit up, the death energy suddenly turned black and the wails increased in volume. Evil sound vibrations that could not be seen spread outwards.

The three hundred pieces of shrieking bones had changed appearance dramatically. There were eerie grey marking on the surface of the bones. The markings on each shrieking bone were different. The evil sound vibrations had been released by these grey marks.

Three hundred evil sound vibrations compounded together, the resulting power was terrifying.

“Careful! Evil Sound Ghost Thought!” someone shouted in alarm.

The expressions on every person’s face changed as they retreated.

The entire Fire Cemetery was influenced by the Evil Sound Ghost Thought. Those that were slower to react felt as though someone had hit their heads with a hammer. Their minds were stunned, and were completely blank. Their expressions were dazed as they stood motionlessly where they were.

Zuo Mo had not expected the sound vibrations would be so strong. The area that they covered surpassed his expectations.

But then he became more energized. He had just thought of this method to forge. He hadn’t expected the effects to be better than he had imagined. The Evil Sound Ghost Thoughts would cause people’s thoughts to be disrupted, and they would sink into a daze. However, they did not have any offensive power. The mo that were affected by the Evil Sound Ghost Thoughts would not be in direct danger, but in battle, this would be a great supporting move.

“Such a pure Evil Sound Ghost Thought!” Mo Ru’s voice came from behind the veil as she couldn’t resist but give praise.

The shrieks before had contained evil power, but the power was tens of times greater now that it became Evil Soul Ghost Thoughts!

When the other people heard this, they became alert and their anticipation grew. Mo Ru was the one most skilled in evil sounds among them. Any Evil Sound Ghost Thought that she praised was really something. The purer the Evil Sound Ghost Thought, the better its effect.

Zuo Mo was god-level and immune to the Evil Sound Ghost Thought. His mind was unmoved by the waves of Evil Sound Ghost Thought.

The Evil Sound Ghost Thought was useful, but it was not much in Zuo Mo’s eyes. He paid attention to the three hundred shrieking bones wrapped in death energy. The death energy became blacker and was absorbed by the shrieking bones.

When the death energy was completely absorbed, there were only three hundred shrieking bones left floating in the air

The shrieking bones had become inky black with a faint grey mark on the surface. The marks on each bone was different.

Zuo Mo was filled with joy. His thinking had been correct.

Forge vitality from death energy!

This was the most important part of his forging today. These five words were his greatest gain. Both the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood and the shen wood coffin absorbing death energy had provided him great inspiration.

Life and death were opposites, but they could turn into each other like the yin and yang of the world.

In the past, he had enough power he did not need to extract power from life and death. But right now, facing the problem of the five sealed coffins, he had spent a decade pondering life and death.

The Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood and the shen wood coffins nourished by death energy had given him great inspiration.

In ordinary situations, if one wanted to nourish vitality, they only needed to strengthen the vitality itself. But when vitality was weak and about to die, one could not absorb vitality. At that time, one could seek life from death. When the death energy reached a concentrated level, vitality could be forged out of it.

This was forging vitality from death energy!

The marks on these three hundred shrieking bones were the bits of vitality that Zuo Mo had forged out of death energy!

The bone spirits inside the shrieking bones absorbed the bits of pure vitality and immediately changed.

Success!

After searching for so many years, he finally found the way to awaken Eldest Shixiong, A Gui, and the others.

Zuo Mo forced down his joy. He took a deep breath. There was still a step that needed to be completed.

He pointed into thin air. The three hundred shrieking bones exploded and streamed into liquid in the pillars of fire.

When the shrieking bones entered the liquid, the pillars of fire and the liquid trembled violently. The surfaces of the balls undulated vigorously, there seemed to be countless worms crawling inside them. The Evil Sound Ghost Thought suddenly became excited and shot into the surroundings.

Clear ripples even appeared in the air. The Evil Sound Ghost Thought reached an extremely strong level!

Pain appeared on the face of Little Guard Huo beside Zuo Mo. He was the closest, and inside the range covered by the Evil Sound Ghost Thought. However, he was not willing to retreat and could only endure it.

Nearby, Zuo Mo was not affected by the Evil Sound Ghost Thought at all. His body was upright. Only his snowy-white hair flew in the wind.

The liquid within the pillars constantly moved and changed shape.

“Hm! It’s taking shape!” Si Du exclaimed.

“Seems so!” Bu Ru Mian’s eyes were bright. “It appears as though it’s becoming armor!”

The changing liquid inside the pillars of fire seemed to be pinched into shape by an invisible hand. The beginnings of armor could be seen from their shape.

While it was really rough, they were in the shape of shen equipment

This invisible hand was skillful, and like an expert worksman it carved out the outline, the edges, hollowed places and carved patterns … …

The beginnings of the shen equipment inside the pillars of fire grew at a visible rate. From top to bottom, they completely transformed.

The tide of Evil Sound Ghost Thoughts gradually calmed. Those that were weaker finally felt that the world in front of them recover its original appearance.

Three hundred articles of shen equipment floated in the blue pillars of fire.

The people who had just refocused were stunned when they saw this scene.

And the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts who had seen how these three hundred pieces of shen equipment had formed from beginning to end were even more shocked. They didn’t know what words to use to describe what they had seen, and to describe the unparalleled shock that they felt right now.

Three hundred articles of shen equipment had grown on their own in front of them. Starting from when the shrieking bones entered the pillars of fire, Zuo Mo did not move. He was like a cold observer that planted the seeds and waited for them to grow.

The three hundred articles of shen equipment were all different. Some were simple and crude, others refined and grand, some were covered in spikes, some were hollow and carved, some were as soft as leather, others as hard as steel … …

Incomprehensible, uncanny technique!

The Yin Tomb Five Ghosts that were used to seeing amazing things sank into silence as they looked dazedly at the three hundred shen equipment.

Finally succeeded!

Zuo Mo showed a small smile. Forging at such a large scale had never occurred before. However, he was not excited that he had created a completely new method of forging, but that his hypothesis had been proven. If he continued, it would not be long before he would wake up Eldest Shixiong, A Gui and the others.

“Little Guard Huo,” Zuo Mo turned and said to Little Guard Huo.

Little Guard Huo was looking dazedly at the pillar of fire with a gaping mouth. He did not seem to hear Zuo Mo’s voice. Zuo Mo had to increase his volume.

Little Guard Huo shook and woke up. He stammered, “This this this … … too too too … …”

He stammered for a while but could not find the words to describe it. His face was flushed bright red.

Zuo Mo saw this and said with a smile, “The shen equipment are about done, but there is still one last step.”

Hearing that there was still one step left, Little Guard Huo immediately calmed down. “Grandmaster, please speak!”

“They need to be placed into the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools to be nourished for five days,” Zuo Mo said, “I will leave this matter to Little Guard Huo, is it acceptable?”

Little Guard Huo hurriedly said, “Yes! Is there anything to pay attention to?”

Zuo Mo said, “The greater the death energy the better. There is nothing else to pay attention to. In the five days, the guards need to be careful that the Evil Sound Ghost Thought does not permeate and harm them.”

“Yes!” Little Guard Huo hurriedly said.

Zuo Mo nodded and said, “I will not worry if Little Guard Huo is in charge. Right, these three hundred pieces of shen equipment are all ghosts with wills. They need to choose their owners. If the owners are not acceptable to them, their power would greatly decrease.”

Little Guard Huo’s eyes were bright when he listened to this. Something that was able to choose a master. This was a trait that only high grade treasures would have.

“Grandmaster, do not worry! I will not waste Grandmaster’s efforts!” Little Guard Huo said.

At this time, Gu Wu Shuang and the others flew off the peak and landed next to Zuo Mo.

Chapter 872 – The King’s Horn

“Grandmaster is unparalleled in skill, and amazes us all!” Gu Wu Shuang flattered.

Zuo Mo smiled. “Just some simple moves, nothing to speak of.”

He was not being modest. From beginning to end, Zuo Mo only used some ordinary techniques. Other than the difficulty in controlling so many pillars of fire at once, there were many forgers that could do this.

“Grandmaster is too humble!” Mo Ru spoke up. “Forging three hundred pieces of shen equipment at once is unheard of. Even if we have seen it with our own eyes, we still find it inconceivable when we think of it.”

Zuo Mo realized now that these people were here for a reason. It was not fitting of their status to stand here and flatter him without leaving.

He said directly, “Do you have a matter to discuss?”

The group exchanged a look. Si Du went forward. “Would Grandmaster trade for the nether sand you have?”

“Nether sand?” A handful of black sand floated in Zuo Mo’s hand. “This thing?”

Si Du’s eyes lit up as he nodded repeatedly. “Yes, exactly!”

Zuo Mo nodded. “This can be traded. However, what does Mister Si Du plan on trading for this?” Originally, Zuo Mo had planned to get the Black Gold Seal Soldier to eat this, but the Black Gold Seal Soldier was disgusted by it on that day. In a rare occurrence, his appetite was gone. The person that the Ghost Mist Child had “farted” unconscious was the spoils. When Black Gold thought of this, he didn’t have any appetite at all. He felt great regret. Why had he thought of this move for the Ghost Mist Child?

He had sinned!

Since Black Gold didn’t eat it, Zuo Mo had played with the nether sand for a while and then put it away. This thing was not of any use to him. Hearing that Si Du wanted to  trade for this, he took it out.

Si Du scratched his head and took out a pile of things. “My assets are here. If Grandmaster has something you like, please take it.”

Zuo Mo was not courteous. He swept a look and picked out a five-colored stone. “This marked poison stone.”

Si Du agreed. He liked to collect poisonous things. This marked poison stone was one of his collection. However, it was extremely difficult to extract poison from the marked poison stone. Even with his power, he could only leave it as a paperweight. It was not as practical as the nether sand.

Zuo Mo then said, “The marked poison stone is rare. I will not let you have a loss. You can pick one of these things.”

Zuo Mo took out some of the things he forged out of his ring. Si Du was overjoyed. He picked out a round disk of good quality called the [Mist Disk].

Zuo Mo had copied the Mist Eye Tablet when he forged the Mist Disk. Because this was something he used to practice, the materials used in it were ordinary. However, Zuo Mo’s present skill was unordinary. While the materials were ordinary, the quality was still outstanding, and Si Du picked it at a glance.

With a good beginning to the trades, everyone else became confident.

Bu Ru Mian rumbled. “Could Grandmaster forge a piece of shen equipment for me?” Then he took out all of his wealth, and displayed all of them as though he wanted Zuo Mo to pick as he wished.

Zuo Mo suddenly understood. He did not refuse and he looked in interest at Bu Ru Mian’s collection.

Experts like the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts were in the top tier of experts of Nether Realm. In Nether Realm, the Nether King was undoubtedly the strongest, followed by the four nether lord’s and the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord. These five were of the same level. Then it was the Yin Tomb Five Ghost and the generals of the four mansions. They were at approximately the same skill level.

So the collections of people like the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts were astounding since they were at a relatively high position on the food chain of Nether Realm.

Unlike Si Du who preferred to collect poisonous things, Bu Ru Mian’s collection was comprised of nether items. Strange corpse cloth, ghost fires that flickered, a complete zombie. There were also various kinds of zombies, black furred, green furred, red furred and so on. There were dozens of those and Zuo Mo gaped at them.

The others exchanged a look and then took out their collections.

Gu Wu Shuang’s collection could be called the complete collection of all kinds of skeletons and bones. Ten Thousand Fiend Bones, Snow Flower Bone, Black Marrow Skeleton, Jade Skeleton … …

Hei Wu’s collection was one that could frighten people to faint. A dragon heart that was still bleeding and beating. A tendon that twisted and squirmed like a snake. Strange balls of blood that gave off a strong metallic tang … …

Zuo Mo almost thought that this person was a butcher.

In comparison, Mo Ru’s collection was much more normal. A long horn that would produce low notes on its own, a spiraling stone, tree bark with burnt marks and could float … …

Si Du too a look. Ooh, everyone was serious! Then he hurriedly took out a few more things with pain on his face and put them in front of him. His actions immediately attracted the disdainful gazes of the others.

“Everyone is very wealthy!” Zuo Mo chuckled.

The five smiled as well but they were clearly feeling pained. It had taken them great effort for them to collect these treasures. However, when they thought of the hard battles that were about to occur, the pain faded. What was more important than their lives? If they weren’t alive, these things would naturally belong to other people.

“Grandmaster, please pick as you wish!” The five said in unison.

Zuo Mo laughed. However, he had to admit that this broadened his vision. The nether items that these people collected were the best of the nether items. The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord was probably the only one that would have a better collection.

Naturally, Zuo Mo would not be polite.

His eyes were experienced. He did not know the names of some of these materials, but when it entered his hand, he would know their attributes and uses. The merging of his god-level cultivation and his experience of the top materials in the endless void caused him to be unrivalled in this area.

Zuo Mo chose that jade skeleton from Gu Wu Shuang’s materials. When Zuo Mo picked the jade skeleton, he heard the sound of Gu Wu Shuang grinding his teeth in pain. It took many years for a skeleton to turn into jade, and the special environment that could form this was  rare. This jade skeleton was the best of all the skeletons he collected.

Zuo Mo planned to give this jade skeleton to Lan after he returned to Mo Cloud Sea. That guy’s body was incomplete and this jade skeleton was suitable to replace the lost bones.

Zuo Mo unhesitatingly chose the dragon heart from Hei Wu’s collection. Truthfully, he had picked out the dragon heart at first glance. The dragon heart was extremely strong in vitality, and this dragon heart was still beating. When Zuo Mo touched it, he immediately felt a great abundance of vitality.

Eldest Shixiong!

If he put this dragon heart into Eldest Shixiong’s body, how powerful would Eldest Shixiong’s body become? The dragon heart’s ability to produce blood was unrivalled in the world and it could definitely pair with the God-killing Blood Sword.

Abundant vitality, unrivalled and powerful resolve, an imperishable fighting will, a sword essence that was at the peak!

A powerful warrior that would astound the world!

Zuo Mo was excited just thinking about it.

Eldest Shixiong, Lin Qian will be for you!

Zuo Mo turned to Bu Ru Mian’s collection. His gaze landed on a seemingly ordinary wisp of ghost fire. This ghost fire looked as though there was nothing special about it but he said without hesitation, “I want this ghost fire!”

“Here!” Bu Ru Mian did not hesitate to hand it over. Then he asked curiously, “Could Grandmaster explain to for me what this is? I accidentally obtained this ghost fire and felt that there was something strange. But upon closer examination, I cannot find anything special. Grandmaster must have identified what was special to have picked it. Could you speak of it?”

The others also showed curious expressions. They had all looked at Bu Ru Mian’s ghost fire. They felt the same as Bu Ru Mian. This ghost fire wasn’t quite right. But they could not pinpoint what wasn’t right.

The ghost fire held in his hand, Zuo Mo explained. “There is a soul hiding in this ghost fire. However, it is extremely skilled in hiding, and so you were not able to find it.”

As he spoke, the blurry figure of a female appeared in the ghost fire. This female bowed elegantly to Zuo Mo. Zuo Mo had pointed her out and there was no use in hiding so she could only submit to Zuo Mo.

The five realized and tsked as they marvelled.

Zuo Mo picked the horn that was making sound on its own from Mo Ru’s collection.

Mo Ru handed over the long horn and then asked, “This one has obtained this item for a long time and does not know its origins. Could Grandmaster tell me?”

Zuo Mo took the long horn and nodded. “This item has a great history!”

Everyone perked up their ears. Even Grandmaster said that this item had a great history. It immediately stirred their curiosity.

“The era of the totems ended and it gradually shifted into the era of the yao, mo, and xiu. The first king in history for the mo appeared. Everyone should know this.”

“Is Grandmaster talking about the mo king of the Hundred Wasteland Oxen?” Gu Wu Shuang asked.

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded. “King is a term unique to the mo. The yao and the xiuzhe do not have kings. As the era of shen power declined, the tribes gradually divided into three groups. One of the three was the ancestors of the mo. The term king came from them. However, the king of that era, strictly speaking, is not the same as the present.”

Everyone listened carefully. They had a feeling that what Grandmaster was going to say to them was most likely an astounding matter.

“This mo king’s cultivation had reached a peak, and he was just a thread away from god-level. This was astounding for the time.”

Zuo Mo’s voice was low. He unconsciously thought of Pu Yao and Wei. It had been those two who had narrated these forgotten and ancient histories to him.

Reminiscing on memories was like a black cloud. Some people were covered by darkness, some could see sunlight through the cracks.

Zuo Mo raised his head, his expression having recovered. “In truth, he did become god-level later on, even if it was only for a short while. For those that have the blood of mo, when they enter god-level, the power in their bloodline is completely released. They could cause instinctive fear in other mo. This first mo king used his horn to forge a horn to lead the mo. That is the [King’s Horn].”

The five listened with wide eyes and open mouths.

Of course they had heard of the King’s Horn. This legendary treasure that had briefly appeared gloriously in history. It was the symbol of might and power. The rumor was that one who obtained the [King’s Horn] would unite the mo. However, just like the other treasures of legend, it had disappeared.

“Is this the King’s Horn?” Mo Ru almost shouted.

“No.” Zuo Mo shook his head.

For some unknown reason, the five sighed in relief. The pressure on them decreased. If it really was the King’s Horn, it would be too shocking.

“Good good! So scary! I had thought that this was the King’s Horn! Motherf***er, if a treasure is too good, one cannot endure the consequences!” Si Du still felt lingering fear.

Everyone else nodded.

Zuo Mo glanced at them and said with a calm expression, “This is the other horn of the first mo king.”

Chapter 873 – Forming Beads In The Death Eye

The Yin Tomb Five Ghosts were dumbstruck.

While it was not the King’s Horn, it was still stunning. The first king of the mo. Just this name was enough to cause them to wet themselves.

“Is it really true?” Si Du stammered out.

The other four locked closely at Zuo Mo as though there was a flower growing off his face.

“Of course it’s true.” Zuo Mo smiled. He looked at Mo Ru and held the horn in front of her. “If you regret it, I will pick something else.”

Mo Ru furiously waved her hand. “This thing is a hot potato, only Grandmaster can possess it!”

The other four nodded. Mo Ru’s words were not flattery. The Yin Tomb Guards were about to start fighting with Eastern Nether Mansion. No matter which side won, none of them would dare to offend Grandmaster. In Nether Realm where forgers were rare and valuable, one’s head would definitely be wrong if they went to offend a grandmaster that could forge shen devices. In their view, the four nether lords would not do something so stupid.

If Grandmaster wanted the horn, the four nether lords would not hesitate even if it was the true King’s Horn, and not just the long horn of the first king.

And this long horn had an astounding history but it seemed as though only Grandmaster would have the ability to forge it into a true [King’s Horn].

In these days, people believed in the power of battalions and experts. The Yin Tomb Five Ghost would not believe that one horn would be enough to conquer the world.

The Nether King didn’t have the horn and he still united the Nether Realm!

In other words, it still depended on who had the stronger fist. But Mo Ru and the others did not want to be involved with something as troublesome as this. While they listened with great attention, they had no intentions of taking it for themselves.

If this was in the past, they might get a reward if they gave it as tribute to Nether King. But the king had not been seen for a long time. It was unknown whether he was dead or alive. Having it in their possessing would bring a calamity.

Zuo Mo put away the long horn. He had great interest in it. The [King’s Horn] of legend seemed wondrous. This long horn most likely was extraordinary. He was god-level and he lacked treasures he could use. While the talismans and shen devices he forged before were not bad, they were still lacking for him at present.

The shen power of a god-level expert was not something that normal talismans could withstand.

Lin Qian had the Immemorial Shen Sword, Eldest Shixiong had the God-Killing Blood Sword but he did not have an appropriate shen device. While Zuo Mo had pit Eldest Shixiong against Lin Qian in his mind, he did not have any assurances of when Eldest Shixiong would wake up. If Lin Qian came out of seclusion and Eldest Shixiong had not woken up, he was the only one that was a match.

Zuo Mo noted down this matter and his gaze swept across Si Du’s collection.

Si Du had pulled out a few more things after trading for the black sand. Things that this person kept to the end were good things. Zuo Mo’s gaze swept across a stone figure, and his head jumped. This stone was about the size of his fist, and there were countless black and white rings moved around the surface of the stone. These rings were of various sizes that gathered and spread apart.

Yinyang Ring Stone!

Zuo Mo unhesitatingly chose it.

Si Du felt slight pain but he sighed in relief. The Yinyang Ring Stone was unique, but for Si Du that was primarily focused on poisons, it was not as useful as the other items.

Everyone took what they needed.

“How long will Grandmaster take to forge shen equipment?” Si Du couldn’t resist asking.

Zuo Mo thought. “You five are all different, and the time will be different, but it will be no later than a month.”

Hearing Zuo Mo give the deadline of a month, the five were satisfied. Eastern Nether Mansion would need time to gather the troops to attack the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld. The Yin Tomb Guards were on the defensive and these five did not need to worry about the initial clashes.

“Then we will bid you farewell.” Si Du bid farewell to Zuo Mo. He desperately needed to find a place to refine the nether sand he just obtained. Recovering from his wounds was the right choice at this time.

The others also bid farewell. With a great battle coming, they needed to prepare many things. They each lead a battalion and they were busy.

Zuo Mo did not keep them. He also had many matters to attend to.

He decided to forge pseudo-shen devices for the five that were like the Angel Device Raiment. With his present cultivation, forging pseudo-shen devices were not difficult for him.

His success rate at the Weapon Layering Craftsmanship was astounding high. This was an advantage of his cultivation.

The three hundred items of shen equipment could not satisfy the Ghost Lord’s need. The problem now was that the material supply could not keep up with Zuo Mo’s forging speed. Almost all the warehouses were furiously transporting materials to the Fire Cemetery.

Zuo Mo planned to go to the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.

This time, he went  alone without notifying anyone else.

The Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools were astounding. Zuo Mo sneaked in and followed the direction from last time and walked towards the death eye.

He noticed the three hundred articles of shen equipment had been placed into the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools to be nourished. Each piece of shen equipment was absorbing death energy. Little whirlpools appeared over the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. Each shen equipment was being heavily guarded.

Zuo Mo carefully avoided the crowds and moved silently in the grey death energy.

He soon was able to feel clearly that the death energy ahead was much thicker. He became alert. He was about to reach the death eye soon. After moving forward for about fifteen minutes, Zuo Mo felt the surrounding death energy was eight times as dense as before.

The death energy here was astounding thick. Zuo Mo’s heart trembled.

If he was not god-level, a normal expert would see all kinds of illusions in such thick death energy. The death energy would corrode their bodies. No wonder no one dared to come to the death eye. Even Zuo Mo felt that the death energy was bone-chillingly cold.

Zuo Mo’s speed slowed. After moving about ten li further, the surrounding death energy was so thick it was tangible.

With every step, he felt his vision seemed to shake. Countless evil ghosts and thoughts came at him, and illusions sprouted out.

Zuo Mo’s expression became stern. He felt a great pressure.

Woosh!

The sun shen fire erupted out of his body. The evil ghosts immediately wailed when they touched the sun shen fire. However, the sticky death energy seemed to be enraged by the sun shen fire. They roared and roiled as waves of death energy moved towards Zuo Mo.

Zuo Mo’s expression changed slightly. What kind of place was the death eye that it would have such a great concentration of death energy?

He had never heard of a place with such a great concentration of death energy.

Feeling the great power coming through the roiling death energy, Zuo Mo shook his head. This place was not one he could come to at present. Unless his body completely recovered, and his shen power was replenished, he would not be able to advance.

It seemed that he could only come back after recovering.

However, Zuo Mo did not plan on leaving empty handed. The thick sticky death energy here was a very good material by themselves.

Zuo Mo’s hands grabbed at the air.

Moments later, more than fifty beads formed from death energy appeared in his hands. The beads were grey. If one looked at the surface, they would be unconsciously sucked in.

These death energy beads were of rare quality.

After forming fifty death energy beads in succession, a hint of exhaustion flashed across Zuo Mo’s face. He was startled. The death energy here was so thick it was incomprehensible! Forming the fifty death energy beads took more effort than forging three hundred articles of shen equipment!

It really was a strange place!

Zuo Mo noted it down and put the death energy beads back in his ring. Then he went back along the way he came. This time, he still gained something. The fifty high quality death energy beads were a considerable profit.

Coming out the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools, Zuo Mo returned to his residence.

He sat for a whole day before recovering. Opening his eyes, he played with the death energy beads in his hands. He remembered the thought he had before and stood up to walk towards the back of the yard.

Arriving in front of the five shen wood coffins. As expected, the death energy in five death energy pools were halved.

Zuo Mo thought and then took out a death energy bead to throw into one of the death energy pools.

Boom!

Surging death energy erupted.

The shen wood coffins suddenly lit up and started to absorb the death energy that had come out. Zuo Mo touched a shen wood coffin and closed his eyes. The death energy was quickly permeating inside the coffin. Because the death energy was in high concentration, after it met the vitality of the shen wood coffin, the base shen power produced was three times stronger than before.

Zuo Mo became excited.

The conclusion he made after repeated consideration in these past days was that enough base shen power would allow everyone to wake up. The base shen power was unique. It could permeate all things and nourish people from the root.

Everything was developing in a good direction. The future was filled with hope.

Zuo Mo pulled out what he had gained today. The marked poison stone could only be given to the flower yao after he returned to Mo Cloud Sea. The dragon heart was for Eldest Shixiong. The jade skeleton for Lan.

The ghost fire flickered in his hand. He was silent. When he obtained the ghost fire, he just had the beginnings of a thought, but the idea was still unclear.

At this time, the female within the ghost fire suddenly appeared. She bowed when she saw Zuo Mo. “Grandmaster!”

Zuo Mo stilled and then his thoughts were pulled back. “What is it?”

“Could Grandmaster bestow a death energy bead to this servant?” the female shadow said honestly. “If Grandmaster could bestow a death energy bead, this servant will be able to stabilize my body, and grow stronger. This servant is willing to be controlled by Grandmaster!”

“Oh!” A look flashed through Zuo Mo’s eyes. After a moment of silence, he threw over a death energy bead. “Here!’

The ghost fire female was overjoyed. The ghost fire flickered and wrapped around the death energy bead.

The green ghost fire immediately had a faint tinge of grey.

“This servant needs multiple days to absorb the death energy. Grandmaster, please forgive me.” The female figure wavered.

“Go,” Zuo Mo said.

The female figure bowed again and then disappeared.

Zuo Mo thought to himself and then put the ghost fire back in the ring. He took out something else. The Yinyang Ring Stone! When Zuo Mo saw this item, the first person he thought of was Luo Li. Yin and yang coexisted on this stone. If this stone was forged into a flying sword, the best form would be two swords chained together, and would be most suitable for Luo Li and Wo Li.

As Zuo Mo’s understanding of life and death increased, he saw the connection between Wo Li and Luo Li more clearly. If Wo Li did not die, then Luo Li would not perish. The two were truly a pair that would live and die together. If this stone could be forged into a Yinyang Paired Chain Swords, when the two woke up, their power would go up another level.

Carefully putting the Yinyang Ring Stone away, Zuo Mo picked up his biggest gain of the day. The long horn, the horn of the first mo king.

Zuo Mo’s hand caressed the patterns on the surface of the first mo king’s horn. He took a deep breath and his mind slowly sank into it.

Chapter 874 – Change

Just as Zuo Mo’s mind came into contact with the horn of the first mo king, the horn shook. Zuo Mo felt as though his ears were filled with the sound of the horn.

This moaning horn seemed to have a magical power to reach people’s minds. Zuo Mo’s body uncontrollably trembled and the blood in his body suddenly turned hot.

Zuo Mo jumped in fright!

As expected from the horn of the first mo king. With his god-level cultivation, he was still unable to withstand its power.

At this time, the dark gold bead inside Zuo Mo’s body suddenly lit up. Packed sun shen glyphs appeared on the surface of the ball. It was that drop of golden bone marrow that Zuo Mo had extracted from the dark gold femur of the ancient expert. Stimulated by the horn of the first king, it immediately activated! Its power that was mixed with burning sun shen flow quickly spread into Zuo Mo’s limbs.

Zuo Mo’s mind quickly calmed down.

However, the change just now still frightened Zuo Mo. He found that he was acting far too rash. His body had not recovered. If he encountered danger, there really would not be anyone that could save him.

He had been too rash!

Zuo Mo was still full of fear.

At this time, the light released by the dark golden ball was stopping the horn. Zuo Mo couldn’t resist but examine it.

Zuo Mo had never seen these shen glyphs on the inside the horn. Zuo Mo believed some of the rumors now. The sound of the horn caused the blood inside his body to suddenly heat up. He had the blood of a mo. Did the horn of the first mo king truly possess the ability to use the power of mo blood?

Even though Zuo Mo was used to seeing all kinds of treasures, he still found it incomprehensible.

It was common knowledge that the bloodlines of the mo contained great power. This was something that every mo knew. But what really was the power that existed in their blood? No one understood. People only knew that the families that had ancient blood would have greater power in their blood than ordinary people. Also, the purer the blood, the greater the power of the bloodline.

If there was an item that could directly control or affect the power that existed in the blood, it would be terrifying!

Thinking back carefully, it seemed as though Pu Yao and Wei didn’t know the location of the King’s Horn.

Zuo Mo suppressed his shock and broke his mind free of the King’s Horn. Even though he now had god-level cultivation, there were still so many things to explore in the world.

Zuo Mo opened his eyes. He lowered his head to examine the horn of the first mo king, and he stilled.

The horn which had been blackened and dim before was completely changed. There were fine dark red patterns covering the long horn. It was a ancient and mysterious totem character that was as red as blood.

Zuo Mo recognized this character.

King!

Zuo Mo seemed to be struck by lightning as he looked dazedly at the completely transformed long horn in his hand.

What … … what was this?

Zuo Mo thought dazedly for a long time but still did not understand.

The warm feeling that came from the long horn his hand and the ancient and desolate presence caused it to appear mysterious and magnificent.

Was … … this the true King’s Horn?

When this thought appeared in Zuo Mo’s mind, he could not expel it. This grand and exquisite long horn, and that bloody red king mark inscribed matched the descriptions of the King’s Horn in the legends.

There were faint vibrations that came from the dark red horn that seemed to be the sky that looked down on the world.

King’s Horn!

This was the real King’s Horn!

Zuo Mo was overjoyed. For Little Mo Ge, as long as it was a treasure, he liked it. The more valuable and rare a treasure was, the more he liked it. He could not move his hand away from caressing the King’s Horn. This time, he had really profited!

The King’s Horn. The legendary ultimate treasure that was said to dominate all mo. What was the saying? Oh oh, the symbol of power and might, haha, it was great!

Zuo Mo was overcome with joy.

The King’s Horn of the legends was able to led the mo and conquer the world. Zuo Mo thought that it would not be as powerful as the legends said, but it probably was a treasure that could lead an army.

After some thought, Zuo Mo suppressed his restless heart. He decided to wait for his shen power to recover before he tried.

Alright, he would recover very soon, Zuo Mo comforted himself.

His days became peaceful again. On one hand, he used the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood to repair his body. On the other, he forged shen equipment and the pseudo-shen devices for the five ghosts.

Actually, with the wealth of the five ghosts, shen devices could be forged. However, it was too much for Zuo Mo to forge shen devices, given his injuries and the short time frame. Pseudo-shen devices were much easier.

Zuo Mo did not feel as though he had anything to do with the fighting between Eastern Nether mansion and the Yin Tomb Guards. Yet what he had not expected that he would be affected as well.

“There’s no more Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood?” Zuo Mo frowned. The importance of the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy wood did not have to be said. Without it, the time needed to repair his body would increase greatly.

Little Guard Huo had a distressed expression. “Our business relationships with the outside have been cut off. Eastern Nether Mansion learned that Grandmaster needs Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood and they managed to buy it all first. We have used up all of our stores of Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood.”

This change immediately disrupted Zuo Mo’s plan. He asked gravely, “What about the substitute materials?”

“Eastern Nether Mansion got ahead of us as well,” Little Guard Huo said in a low voice. “Everyone is preparing for war right now. The number of people going out to harvest has been reduced.”

The Yin Tomb Guards were greatly lacking compared to Eastern Nether mansion in terms of doing business. While they had been searching to buy all this time, they did not manage to buy much, and Eastern Nether Mansion got ahead of them.

“I understand.” Zuo Mo nodded.

Little Guard Huo raised his head and opened his mouth to speak. However, he did not manage to say anything and left dispiritedly.

Zuo Mo’s plan was completely ruined. He had healed to the twenty second level of thirty six levels. There were still fourteen levels to go. In terms of progress, this was fast enough. However, Zuo Mo had thought that he would quickly recover, and hadn’t expected to encounter trouble here.

Little Guard Huo had not lied. Materials like the Nether ghost Yin Heavy Wood grew in extreme environments. Only experts would be able to harvest them. But right now, with the battle upcoming, the Yin Tomb Guards could not send experts to harvest Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood.

As expected, the road to happiness was a bumpy one!

Zuo Mo did not feel restless. After wandering the endless void for a decade, he had learned patience.

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord could not be relied on. But when he thought about it, the benefits that Zuo Mo had gotten from them surpassed what he had given.

So even if there was no Nether ghost Yin Heavy Wood, Zuo Mo still did his best to forge shen equipment and pseudo-shen devices for them.

When the war finally started, Zuo Mo had forged about three thousand sets of shen equipment. This number astounded everyone who learned of it. Three thousand sets of shen equipment. This used up most of the Yin Tomb Guard’s materials. The materials could not keep up with the progress, something like this actually happened.

The pseudo-shen weapons of the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts were also successfully completed. Zuo Mo had forged five completely different pseudo-shen weapons according to their specialities.

While ten years had passed, and everyone’s average shen power had risen a level, the number of shen device raiments had not changed greatly, even in the xiuzhe world.

The xiuzhe world was held back by a lack of materials, and the yaomo were held back by a lack of skilled forgers.

The yaomo were not stupid. While they did not have top forgers that could forge shen devices, they still did all they could to gather top level materials. They would never sell them. Therefore, materials that could be used to make shen device raiments would never appear on the market.

This formed a unique situation. The forgers of the xiuzhe world were hampered by a lack of top materials. The yaomo experts held onto their top materials. They were willing to let them rot rather than sell them.

Five pseudo-shen weapons. In the Nether Realm, they were definitely top level. The power of the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts grew with them.

Including the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts, the higher ups of the Yin tomb Guard was filled with confidence in this war. They had three thousand sets of shen equipment that was akin to giving wings to a tiger, the Yin Tomb Guard. Also, the five pseudo-shen weapons increased their confidence.

They were filled with reverence and awe towards Zuo Mo. They had never heard of anyone that could forge three thousand shen equipment of such quickly within one month on their own.

It was terrifying!

The existence of a person could change a war!

Armed to their teeth, the Yin Tomb Guards were filled with hope for the future. The only regret was the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord. His plan to obtain a shen device was ruined due to a lack of materials. At this time, no one was willing to sell top level materials to the Yin Tomb Guards.

However, what comforted him was Zuo Mo still gifted him a pseudo-shen device in thanks for the dark gold femur.

After doing all this, Zuo Mo prepared to explore the death eye of the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.

There was not enough Nether ghost Yin Heavy Wood so Zuo Mo thought of another method. Since the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood was useful because the death energy purified the strands of vitality, then he would try and do the same.

While the effect might be as good as the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood, but sitting around and waiting was not Zuo Mo’s style. Creating life from death was a problem that Zuo Mo had considered for a long time and he had learned some things.

He wanted to try and see if he could forge life out of death.

If he could succeed, no longer relying on the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Good was just one of the benefits. It also meant that his skill in life and death would reach an unprecedented height for him.

Creating life out of death. He needed to find a land of death. The first that Zuo Mo thought of was the death eye in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.

There was no place where death energy was greater than there!

Zuo Mo was a decisive person. After thinking about it, he felt it was plausible and decided to try.

He arranged for Qing Xiao to keep teaching the Wu Clan Members and to wait for him to return. Qing Xiao was unhappy but accepted it. The pitiful Wu Clan members did not know what they were about to face was the ghastly training arranged by a Qing Xiao while he was in a terrible mood.

Zuo Mo informed the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord. The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord tried to persuade him otherwise, but seeing Zuo Mo’s determination, he did not persist. He agreed to look after Qing Xiao and the wu Clan.

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord had no attention to spare for Zuo Mo because the fighting at the front had become intense.

All of Zuo Mo’s attention was focused on this trip to the death eye. He made sufficient preparations.

Silly Bird and all the other assistants were present to guard against the danger that had appeared last time. He was pulling the five shen wood coffins himself. The death eye was the place that was best suited for the shen wood coffins to be nourished. He believed that with the density of death energy at the death eye, Eldest Shixiong and the others might wake up earlier.

Just like this, Zuo Mo dragged the five shen wood coffins and followed his previous path towards the depths of the death eye.

Chapter 875 – Reunion

Dragging the shen wood coffins with the little ones protecting him, Zuo Mo’s little group travelled through the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools.

With the start of the war there were far fewer people in the Sea of Ten Thousand Boiling Pools. The enormous sea was quiet and Zuo Mo did not encounter any people on their way.

As they went deeper, the surrounding death energy became thicker.

The five shen wood coffins that Zuo Mo dragged released faint light. The surrounding death energy was being sucked into the shen wood coffins, turned into base shen power, and channeled into the five people in the coffins.

Zuo Mo was not shocked by the transformation of the shen wood coffins. What shocked Zuo Mo was the change in the King’s Horns.

The King’s Horn was tied to Zuo Mo’s belt. It gave off an extremely low sound. Zuo Mo felt a wave of heat come out of his blood. His entire body seemed to turn warm, fighting off the energy in the air.

This time, the dark golden ball did not move. It seemed as though it knew the vibrations released by the King’s Horn was not an attack.

Zuo Mo marveled inside. The King’s Horn really could directly influence the power in mo blood. After his body warmed up, the illusions in front of him decreased greatly and the bone-chilling cold also lightened.

The King’s Horn trembled slightly at his waist. Zuo Mo felt as though he was filled with power.

As expected of the King’s Horn!

Zuo Mo’s confidence increased. With the help of the King’s Horn, he might be able to reach the death eye this time. He dragged the five shen wood coffins as he continued to advance. Compared to him, the little ones clearly adjusted better. Silly Bird had the body of a phoenix that was immune to all evil and yin forces, Lil’ Black was sitting on Silly Bird’s head as usual as it looked off into the distance. Lil’ Fire had swallowed countless amounts of Void Sky Li Fire in the endless void. This kind of dark and evil energy was ineffective against it. Lil’ Pagoda was next to Lil’ Fire as its eyes blinked.

The Ghost Mist Child had started to refine the death energy into his body. He was made out of mist to start with. If he could incorporate death energy, he would have another attack. If he cultivated too many types, then it would be too heterogeneous. But inspired by the Black Gold Seal Soldier, he thought of a wonderful idea. He turned his body into two parts. His body was pure ghost mist, and his stomach was another space. There were all kinds of mist and poisons floating inside it.

If he encountered a strong enemy and swallowed the other into his stomach … …

The power of “that move” would become stronger over time. The Ghost Mist Child was full of joy. As expected, a scheme was more useful than brute force. Ah, If he was as smart and lowly as Black Gold … …

Black Gold could not understand Ghost Mist Child’s sorrow. He was a seal soldier, and the death energy did not influence on him. However, this death energy had a flavor he did not like and he could not eat it. This caused him to feel slightly hungry. He looked around and wanted a monster to jump out immediately so he could fill his stomach.

Sunshine flew next to Tenth Grade, occasionally sprinkling all kinds of light towards Tenth Grade to ward away the death energy. Tenth Grade still had a cool expression as usual as he stared forward and flew forward murderously. He cultivated sword essence and he wasn’t interested in death energy.

The sidekick troupe moved forward. However, they looked more like a gang that was wandering the streets and waiting to make trouble for someone and not like a well-trained elite military forces.

“Big Brother, we’ve walked for so long, why isn’t there anything?” the Black Gold Seal Soldier couldn’t resist but mutter.

Zuo Mo kept on walking as he said, “What do you want?”

“Something to eat.” The Black Gold Seal Soldier appeared as though he was ravenous.

No one paid attention to him.

Zuo Mo quickly moved past where he had stopped last time. The thick death energy finally became a pressure on everyone

Tenth Grade’s crescent blade came out of its sheath. The eyes in that cool little face flashed with coldness. Black Gold Seal Soldier cracked his fists. The sway of his head lessened  greatly. His eyes narrowed lightly. The other little ones were on their guard.

If a monster jumped out now, they would be cut to death immediately.

Everyone had travelled the endless void for a long time and were very experienced. The death energy here was too thick. It would be abnormal if no monsters formed here.

Lil’ Black’s two antennae waved madly.

“Ha! Finally about to open for business! No one compete with me!” Black Gold Seal Soldier rubbed his fists together in excitement

Tenth Grade didn’t even lift his eyelids as the crescent blade disappeared from his hand.

A bloody sword energy entered the death energy in front of him.

Hm?

Tenth Grade’s eyes flashed as he suddenly pulled and twisted with his hands.

A grey shadow suddenly smashed to the ground in front of them with the crescent blade piercing its body. Tenth Grade’s Hundred Sacrifice Soul Killing Sword had reached a masterful level. The transformation of this move was not complex but it was appropriate. The experience of the endless void caused the motivated Tenth Grade to reach an astounding level.

“Hey hey hey! Tenth Grade! You are terrible! When I was … …” Black Gold Seal Soldier glared angrily at Tenth Grade.

Tenth Grade did not seem to hear it. He beckoned and the crescent blade returned to his hand.

Everyone else walked over and surrounded the grey shadow to examine it.

Its appearance was unique. It did not have limbs and it appeared like a grey ball of flesh. Long dark grey tentacles covered it. The tentacles were thin and floated in the death energy like seagrass.

“This is disgusting!” The Black Gold Seal Soldier had a disdainful expression. This thing could not rouse his appetite.

“Would something born of the death energy not be disgusting?” Zuo Mo said as he flipped the being over to examine it

The monster’s body disappeared at a visible rate. It could be seen that the great majority of its body was made from death energy. In the end, a dark bead was left. Zuo Mo picked it up.

“This bead isn’t bad. It is higher quality than the death energy beads I made.” Zuo Mo was slightly surprised.

His thoughts suddenly moved and Zuo Mo took out the ghost fire from his ring.

The figure of the female appeared in the ghost fire. Her figure was much more solid compared to before. While her features were still unclear, but it was much better than looking as though she would dissipate at any moment.

“Daren!” She bowed elegantly. She did not use the term grandmaster but daren to show that she had submitted.

“Is this useful to you?” Zuo Mo reached out and revealed the black bead that he had just obtained.

The female was slightly shocked. “This death energy bead is extremely high in quality. Is Daren bestowing this to this servant?”

“For you.” Zuo Mo threw it over.

“Thanks, Daren!” The female was overjoyed. The flames flashed, and a tongue of flame wrapped around the death energy bead.

This death energy bead was astounding high in quality. After consuming the death energy bead, her figure became even clearer, and her facial features became clear. She had a beautiful appearance and a calm presence.

Zuo Mo said to the others, “Let’s continue, be careful.”

Without Zuo Mo’s warning, the little ones still knew that what was up ahead would not be peaceful.

Along the way, they encountered a few more monsters like this. These monsters were most skilled in illusions and evil thoughts but they were ineffective against Zuo Mo’s group. Everyone’s resistance towards evil thoughts was high, and with Sunshine who specialized in breaking illusions, the other people could focus on battle. They progressed quickly.

However, they only obtained three death energy beads. Not all monsters had death energy beads. Zuo Mo was not frugal and gave all three of the death energy beads to the ghost fire.

The woman of the ghost fire hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would be so generous and was grateful. She had hidden in the ghost fire for many years, and her soul was about to dissipate. If she did not encounter Zuo Mo, she would have dissipated after twenty to thirty years.

If other people found her hiding among the fire, her outcome would be bad.

Actually, she had  felt slightly anxious. Zuo Mo was a forging grandmaster, how could he not know what her use was? If this was someone else, they would have forged her already. She only understood some when she saw Lil’ Pagoda, Lil’ Fire, and the others.

Zuo Mo did know what her use was, but Zuo Mo had special feelings towards things that had souls. Pu Yao, Wei, the little ones, they were his best friends.

And he was so rich that other people could not imagine it.

He had an extremely large amount of materials, the shen device nucleus that had not been forged, the parts of the shen device that his father had left behind, the King’s Horn, the other materials he had obtained from the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts and rare and valuable materials he obtained from the endless void.

The entire xiuzhe world was furiously searching for peak materials to forge shen devices and Zuo Mo had stocked up on a batch. Once his shen power recovered, he could forge true shen devices.

If he was not forced to, he did not want to forge spirits and souls that were alive. It was not that he respected life, but he treasured his friends.

Ge has enough materials and doesn’t care! Zuo Mo comforted himself like he was a rich tycoon.

The density of death energy in the surroundings dramatically increased. The death beings that appeared became stronger and stronger. Fortunately, the moves of these beings born from death energy were simple. Zuo Mo’s sidekicks were well-rounded and could attack both near or far and against individuals or groups.

They crushed their way through. The quality of the death energy beads became higher and higher. The ghost fire had reached a limit on the death energy beads she ate.

Yet no one was happy. The more they moved forward, the greater the pressure was. The monsters that appeared became stronger and stronger. They encountered a kind of monster whose body was intangible. None of their attacks were effective. In the end it was Sunshine who used a rarely used illusion-breaking spell to kill it.

Everyone stopped. Looking at the scene in front of them, none of them had good expressions.

This place was like a dividing line. There seemed to be a transparent barrier in front of them. On this side of the line was thick grey death energy. On the other side of the line, the color of the death energy was extremely faint but Zuo Mo was not careless. It was not that there was no death energy ahead, but the death energy had become close to transparent.

The almost transparent death energy gave Zuo Mo an even greater feeling of danger. What caused Zuo Mo to feel danger wasn’t just the transparent death energy.

A large number of grey pointed shapes passed through the air like a school of fire. They did not seem to notice the arrival of Zuo Mo and the others.

Countless twisted shadows and colors formed and extinguished in the air. Zuo Mo and the others could make out beautiful song, sobbing, and screams … …

All kinds of sounds mixed together. Even Sunshine who was skilled in breaking illusions had a grave expression.

“These illusions here are top-tier, and very strong!’ Sunshine’s expression was slightly nervous.

Hearing Sunshine’s words, everyone’s faces were slightly stiff. Any kind of method was extremely terrifying when it was top-tier, it was the same with illusions.

The line marked another world

As they got here, even Zuo Mo couldn’t help but feel the urge to retreat. The monster they had encountered just now was as strong as the monsters they encountered in the endless void.

As they went deeper, the monsters would definitely be even stronger.

Top-tier illusory arts were terrifying. Zuo Mo and the others had encountered it once in the endless void and almost died. In top-tier illusions, time and space became blurry. You never knew if the fellows with you were true or false. Your demons and your emotions could become fatal enemies.

It had mostly been luck that they had managed to escape that time. But even so, all of them had been wounded.

So when they heard it was a top illusory art, everyone felt the urge to retreat.

Just as Zuo Mo was hesitating, snap, light flashed and everything disappeared.

A monster with six bone spikes on his back appeared in front of them.

Zuo Mo felt that this monster was slightly familiar. He frowned and thought hard before his eyes widened. “It’s you!”

Shi who they had encountered at the Sealed Extinction battlefield had six subordiantes. This monster was one of them.

Shi was here?

Zuo Mo was slightly stunned and then he was overjoyed. In Zuo Mo’s mind, the strongest person was not Chief Elder or Lin Qian, it was Shi. This old monster that had lived for more than ten thousand years and was of unfathomable power. Zuo Mo felt that no one else would be able to do something like sealing the sun crystal seed.

The monster suddenly spoke, “Master knew that you have come and had me come welcome you.”

It seemed as though the being rarely talked from how raw its voice was. However, its gaze was gentle and without any enmity.

Thinking of Shi’s impossible moves and unfathomable power, Zuo Mo was immediately filled with hope. Shi would definitely have a way to wake Eldest Shixiong and the others. He would definitely have a way to fix Zuo Mo’s body.

Zuo Mo felt as though his mood went through a rollercoaster and quickly became better.

“You are living here?” Zuo Mo asked the bone spike monster curiously.

“Yes.” The bone spike monster nodded.

Zuo Mo tsked in wonder. “You are really strong to find such a strange place!’

The bone spike monster chuckled.

Following the bone spike monster, Zuo Mo’s group did not encounter any obstruction along the way. However, the group was experienced and their hearts trembled when they saw the defenses along the way. They knew that if they had tried to charge in using brute force, they would not be able to make it through.

Zuo Mo finally understood why no one dared to come close to the death eye. But he changed his way of thinking. Such thick death energy was most suited to Shi.

Ever since their parting at the Sealed Extinction Battlefield, he had never seen Shi again. He had not expected to reunite here.

Surprises such as encountering someone familiar in an unfamiliar place was a joy.

The area of the death eye was greater than they imagined. They walked for a long time. On the way, Zuo Mo saw many death energy pools. The death energy pools here were filled with water but Zuo Mo could see that they were not water, but made of extremely pure and dense death energy.

A drop of the clear pool water here could be sold for a great price outside.

This really was a stunning place!

Zuo Mo and the others marveled inwardly.

Yet when Zuo Mo saw Shi, he was shocked.

Chapter 876 - Shi

If it was not for that face, Zuo Mo would definitely not have recognized Shi. When they had parted, Shi’s body had been split apart from the middle with one half being multi-colored. Yet right now, his body was like jade and released astounding vibrations. Only that shrivelled face was still familiar.

Shi seemed even more powerful.

But for some reason, Zuo Mo had a bad feeling. The stronger the person was, the greater their control over their power, and they would not easily leak their power outside. Shi seemed to be a fiercely burning flame. While hot, it gave Zuo Mo the feeling that it could not be maintained.

When Zuo Mo’s gaze accidentally swept across Shi’s legs, he stilled. There was nothing under Shi’s knees.

Zuo Mo stilled and stammered out a question. “Shi, your body … …”

In Zuo Mo’s mind, Shi could do anything. No one was stronger than Shi, not even the Chief Elder of Tian Huan. How could someone so peerlessly strong become like this.

Shi saw Zuo Mo and showed a smile. This caused his grey-white face to look strange and terrifying. “I have lived long enough.”

“But … …”

Zuo Mo opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say. He suddenly realized that after spending ten thousand years in the Sealed Extinction Battlefield, was Shi’s life about to reach an end?

It had been more than ten years since they first met at the Battlefield of Sealed Extinction. The sun crystal seed that Shi had given him back then had saved his life many times. The sun crystal seed was the reason that he had achieved his cultivation.

He remembered when they parted, Shi said he was going to find his homeland.

As though he saw Zuo Mo’s pain, gentleness flashed through Shi’s eyes. He said with a smile, “Even the strongest cannot withstand the march of time. I have lived longer than those of my era, there is nothing I am dissatisfied by, you do not need to be sad for me.”

Zuo Mo was silent. A moment later, he raised his head. “Shi, did you find your homeland?”

“This is my homeland,” Shi said with a laugh.

Zuo Mo stilled. “Ah, this is your homeland?” Moments later, he suddenly realized and his expression froze on his face. He stammered out, “You you you … … are the Nether King?”

Shi saw Zuo Mo’s shocked expression and laughed. “Is this very strange?”

Zuo Mo lost the ability to speak. He had never thought that Shi was the Nether King! But when he recovered from his shock, he felt that it was normal. To be able to silently unite the Nether Realm in such a short amount of time, Zuo Mo felt that no one other than Shi would have managed to accomplish it.

Shi was very happy at shocking Zuo Mo so much. He examined Zuo Mo and said with surprise, “You have progressed very quickly, already god-level. Oh, you are wounded?”

After he said those last words, Shi’s brow furrowed. “Is there someone so strong right now?”

Zuo Mo narrated the matter with the Chief Elder of Tian Huan in detail. Shi listened and nodded as he said, “No wonder, your luck is good. Do not worry, this place is suited for healing. I can see that you have already some understanding of this. The true meaning of nether is not death, but life. This is the shen methodology I cultivated in the past. In my hands, it has been refined and perfected. Take a look. It will be of help to your recovery. However, there is no need to cultivate it. The nether shen power and your sun shen power will conflict.”

Then he swept a look across the shen wood coffins and said, “Your luck is really good to find the Ten Thousand Life Shen wood! I can help you wake them up.”

“Really?” Zuo Mo was overjoyed. He widened his eyes. “You can awaken them?”

“Actually, you have already started on the right path,” Shi explained. “However, your comprehension is shallow. If you want to wake them, you will need ten years if you study the shen methodology I give you.”

“Ten years … …” Zuo Mo faltered and hurriedly said, “Then you do it!”

Shi’s gaze was burning and with a hint of mirth. Then his expression became serious. “Then you have to promise me some things.”

“As long as I can accomplish them, anything!” Zuo Mo patted his chest. Actually, even if Shi did not help him and needed his help, he would do it.

Shi said, “When your wounds heal, you will truly be god-level. While you have just entered god-level, you are now barely acceptable as the successor to my position.”

“Ah!” Zuo Mo was dumbstruck. A moment later, he said slowly, “You mean Nether King?”

“Yes.” Shi nodded and said, “I spent so much power to unite them. I do not want them to divide after I die.”

After saying this, Shi looked wryly at Zuo Mo. “You have gotten a great bargain. Mo Cloud Sea and the Nether Realm, you have the ability to conquer the world.”

Zuo Mo scratched his head. “Theoretically, I did benefit. But, why me?”

“Why?” Shi roared with laughter and then said seriously, “There are several reasons. One, you have the ability, god-level power, and the support of Mo Cloud Sea. You have the ability to establish yourself on the throne. I do not want the Nether Realm to turn into chaos after my death. Secondly, you are not a bad person. Mo Cloud Sea has been good under your rule. You have no bias against the mo, I do not have to worry about that. Third, you have good luck.”

Zuo Mo still felt as though he was in a dream. Good fortunate had come too fast and suddenly.

“Power is meaningless to me. The reason I united the Nether Realm was because this is my homeland,” Shi said coolly.

Zuo Mo’s mind quickly cleared. He said with slight disbelief. “Outside, Eastern Nether Mansion and the Yin Tomb Guards are fighting fiercely. Are you going to sit by and watch?”

“No kind of happiness comes without experiencing pain,” Shi said coolly. He glanced at Zuo Mo. “I have made arrangements.”

Zuo Mo suddenly realized. “I understand. You set this up, you just want to see who is going to meet your expectations, right?”

Shi smiled but did not reply. He said, “Recover first. Once you recover, there might be a need for you to appear.”

“Alright.” Zuo Mo felt the same. If he could recover completely, he would be of greater help to Shi.

He actually had many more things he did not say. Shi’s legs under the kneecap were gradually dissipating as though there was an invisible mouth slowly consuming Shi’s body. Zuo Mo knew that Shi’s life was really at an end. None of this could be stopped.

Even Zuo Mo who had god-level cultivation felt was terrified at this kind of complete and unstoppable destruction.

Zuo Mo felt extremely distressed.

While he knew that even the strongest would die one day; while he knew that Shi who had lived for tens of thousands of years was calm and peaceful, and had already seen to everything.

But why was he still sad? Why was he still feeling pain?

In his last throes, Shi was probably at the strongest he’d ever been in his life because his life was being burned to the end. Shi did not calmly wait for the arrival of death and chose to burn his remaining lifespan at the end.

What did Shi want to do?

He must have some wish he wanted to complete?

Zuo Mo didn’t know but he could clearly feel that Shi had indescribable and deep feelings for this land.

Homeland?

Zuo Mo thought silently. This term was unfamiliar to him.

But no matter what, he would use all of his power to help Shi complete his last wishes.

Shi taught Zuo Mo the important points of creating life out of death. Zuo Mo listened carefully. After just a while, Zuo Mo felt he had gained a lot. Shi’s skill in this level was much greater than Zuo Mo. Every one of his words were to the point and Zuo Mo was entranced.

Shi spoke for three whole days.

In these three days, Shi’s light grew even brighter, his presence even stronger. He was like a burning flame that no one could look directly at.

Yet, Shi’s knees had now disappeared.

Zuo Mo forced down his grief as he worked to repair his body.

The death energy pools had accumulated the pure death energy after countless eons in the death eye. After Shi’s teachings, Zuo Mo quickly found the crux. He quickly found that the vitality that came from the water in the death energy pools was purer than the vitality from the Nether Ghost Yin Heavy Wood.

His wounds would quickly recover.

Shi sat on the throne and was in a daze.

“Are you afraid?’ Shi suddenly asked Sand Puppet.

Sand Puppet rumbled, “Not afraid.”

“If I die, you will also die,” Shi said.

“Then let’s die,” Sand Puppet said.

“Metal Ox, how long have you followed me?” Shi turned his face to ask.

The iron ox tilted his head and thought for a while before saying, “Twelve thousand and forty two years.”

“More than ten thousand years, time has passed so quickly,” Shi lamented. He suddenly said, “If I want you all to live?”

Five gazes suddenly locked onto him. The temperature in the hall suddenly dropped and the hall was filled with murderousness.

Shi roared with laughter. “Alright, you will feel life is dull and become bored if you continue to live. Since that’s the case, then let us do something together.”

The murderousness disappeared.

“He’s come,” Black Mist suddenly said.

“Have him come in,” Shi said coolly. In this moment, he was the authoritative Nether King.

The incomer saw Shi and was overcome with excitement, kneeling to the floor. “King!”

His voice was choked and filled with excitement. “Great! Great! King! King is fine! Fine!”

“Stand up,” Shi said coolly.

He looked at the large man in front of him. This tattooed large man was one of the four nether lords, An Mo who ruled the Western Jail Mansion.

“An Mo, you worked hard recently,” Shi said calmly.

“This subordinate is not burdened,” An Mo shook his head and said with worry, “King, Eastern Nether Mansion and the Yin Tomb Guards are fighting intensely. The fatalities on both sides are high. Should we interfere?”

As he said this, his eyes were bright, and he didn’t look as though he was injured at all.

“I knew of Jia Man’s ambitions a long time ago,” Shi said coolly. “You Zhe was also within my expectations. But Hai Xin Bing has disappointed me.”

An Mo’s heart felt a wave of coldness. He knew that King had announced Jia Man and Hai Xin Bing’s death sentences. As long as King was alive, no one could defeat King, not even the four Nether Lords put together.

“King, give the order! All of Western Jail Mansion is sleeping with their weapons by their beds, and can move at any moment,” An MO said loudly.

“Wait a few more days, you will meet the next Nether King.” Shi was unaffected. He then glanced at An Mo. “I hope that you will assist my successor just like you have assisted me.”

An Mo’s body shook and he exclaimed, “The next Nether King?”

Chapter 877 – New King

Zuo Mo opened his eyes. His starry-like eyes flashed with joy.

He finally recovered!

The feeling of power in his body was so intoxicating, so familiar yet strange. Ten years! Ten whole years! He had finally regained his power, and it was unbelievable power!

Confidence filled every one of Zuo Mo’s cells. All of the problems and obstacles were so insignificant in his eyes.

Power!

This was power!

Zuo Mo roared into the sky. Ten years of struggle, ten years of hardship, ten years of treading on thin ice, all of it was vented in this long howl.

Hearing Zuo Mo’s roar, the little ones and Shi all hurriedly rushed over.

“Big Brother, you’ve recovered?” The Black Gold Seal Solder asked impatiently. His eyes were wide, and his expression was both nervous and anticipatory.

Zuo Mo roared with laughter. “Recovered!”

“Hahahaha! Great! Big Brother has recovered! Big Brother has recovered!” The Black Gold Seal Soldier put his hands on his waist and laughed into the sky. “Haha! My good days are coming! I want to be a wastrel! I want to eat and wait for death, I want … …”

His wild laughter suddenly stopped as Silly Bird kicked him into the air. She clearly felt that it was not the appropriate time for this person to announce such unambitious things. Silly Bird used her wings to wipe away her tears. Her feathers were as bright and deep red as fire. Lil’ Black who was on her head furiously waved its two antennae.

Lil’ Pagoda and Lil’ Fire leapt into Zuo Mo’s arms with a cry and started to nudge and wriggle.

Tenth Grade’s cold face had a rare smile. He didn’t know what to say. Sunshine flew happily around Tenth Grade. Ghost Mist Child’s tears flowed down his face in joy. The tears were endless and sprouted out like a spring.

Shi Looked at the celebrating group and decided to not interrupt them.

A long time later, Zuo Mo and the little ones finally calmed down. Zuo Mo finally noticed Shi beside him and said bashfully, “I was too excited! Sorry!”

“No matter, the feeling is good.” Shi smiled, his gaze reminiscing. Memories so long ago he almost forgot them rose in his mind. The unfamiliar feeling caused his thoughts to wander.

Was he becoming so emotional because he was about to die?

Shi laughed in a self-mocking manner inside and then recovered his calm. “Let’s go, I have some things to tell you.”

“Alright!” Zuo Mo stood up briskly. He knew that every drop of time was valuable to Shi right now.

Following Shi, Zuo Mo came to the large hall. He saw An mo and also the shock in An Mo’s eyes.

“Sit there.” Shi pointed at the elevated throne and turned his face to say to Zuo Mo.

“Okay!” Zuo Mo did not refuse or ask why. He walked to the throne, turned and sat.

“Starting from today, you are not just the king of Mo Cloud Sea, you are also the Nether King!” Shi’s voice was calm but was filled with indescribable power.

An Mo’s mouth was wide and his expression full of disbelief. He guessed that the white-haired youth was the successor had been chosen when he saw Zuo Mo. When he saw Zuo Mo’s white hair he thought of the white-haired grandmaster who was a popular topic of discussion recently.

But this was not enough to shock him so. The greatest shock were the words that King said

–King of Mo Cloud Sea!

He was the king of Mo Cloud Sea! He was Zuo Mo!

He was still alive! He had returned!

Countless thoughts attacked An Mo’s mind and stunned him.

Shi did not seem to notice An Mo’s loss of composure. His tone did not change at all. “An Mo, starting from today, you need to assist the new king.”

An Mo shook and refocused. He could hear that King was making arrangements for after his death. His heart was filled with unvoiced sorrow. He looked seriously at Shi and said, “King’s orders, my mission!”

Then he turned and bowed to Zuo Mo. “This subordinate An Mo greets King!”

He did not know much about Zuo Mo, the most of which were those almost legendary stories. Since King had chosen Zuo Mo, then Zuo Mo was certainly the most suitable choice.

Zuo Mo smiled at An Mo. “Don’t call me king, you can call me Zuo Mo.”

Zuo Mo was at ease and did not show any wariness. An Mo could not see any traces of joy from Zuo Mo’s face. He had accepted the throne as though it was natural. Suddenly, An Mo had more confidence in King’s choice.

“In the past, I hoped to unite the Nether Realm as fast as possible so I left the four Nether Lords. It seems now that the decision was incorrect.” Shi did not avoid admitting his past mistake. “Jia Man and Hai Xin Bing will definitely rebel. You Zhe is not to be relied on. However, I have preparations and you do not need to worry too much.”

Zuo Mo listened carefully and did not interrupt.

“I have told all of Nether Realm that the new king is about to ascend to the throne. The leaders of every faction will go to the Nether King Palace to meet you.” Shi looked directly at Zuo Mo. “You go, accept the Nether Realm, you must receive the acceptance of the majority of them.”

“Alright!” Zuo Mo did not oppose this. He was steady and confident.

Shi gazed at Zuo Mo and suddenly said, “I will leave the Nether Realm to your care. I hope that you will let it recover peace and calm as soon as possible, no matter what you do in order to do so.”

“Alright!” Zuo Mo promised seriously.

“Go prepare, and then leave,” Shi suddenly said, “Leave those five people here. I will wake them. This is the last thing I can help you with. I cannot forge, but leave the dragon heart and the ghost fire, I’ll do it.”

Suddenly, Zuo Mo had a feeling he was going to cry.

Was it the sorrow at such a strong person about to pass away? Or the reminders of what having an elder was like? Or being moved by the deep emotion for one’s homeland?

Zuo Mo wasn’t clear.

He raised his head and tried to make himself show a smile. His tone was solemn as though he was making an oath. “I will treat the Nether Realm like I treat Mo Cloud Sea!”

Shi smiled and said gently, “Go.”

Nan Yue was practicing hard in the Ten Finger Prison.

The present Ten Finger Prison was not as popular as before. Right now, not many just focused on cultivating consciousness. This place was more a place for people to communicate.

However, Mo Cloud Sea’s shen power was built on a foundation of the three powers. Due to this, the yao of Mo Cloud Sea still had the habit of entering the Ten Finger Prison to cultivate.

Right now, the yao in Mo Cloud Sea were more common than when Daren had left. Ming Yue Ye’s purging of the yao  ranks had never stopped. Many families faced calamity. The Blue Flower Family had been affected as well. At that time, they thought of Qinghua Xue. They managed to contact Qinghua Xue after great effort in hopes that their family would be allowed to move to Mo Cloud Sea.

Qinghua Xue reported this to Gongsun Cha. With Gongsun Cha’s agreement, the Blue Flower Family moved into Mo Cloud Sea.

Unexpectedly, the movement of the Blue Flower Family caused many other families to follow suit. They all requested to enter Mo Cloud Sea.

Gongsun Cha did not hesitate in agreeing.

In the past, Mo Cloud Sea’s problem had been that they had too many people but not enough land. As they expanded over the years, Mo Cloud Sea’s territories had broadened greatly. Many places had more land than people. It hadn’t been a problem to settle these families.

Due to the influence of this wave of immigrants, the number of yao in Mo Cloud Sea was much higher than before. The present Mo Cloud Sea had truly become a gathering place for the yao, mo, and xiuzhe.

Just like usual, Nan Yue sat thinking after a day of cultivating was finished. Every time at this moment, she would think of the past when Daren had taught her the South Sky Arrow Art. She had always persisted in cultivating in the place where Daren had first taught her yao arts.

She wondered how Daren was … …

She seemed to be easy-going but she was actually very sensitive.

Daren’s paper crane filled everyone with confidence in the future. Everyone was working hard and waiting for Daren to return.

However, ten years had passed!

While Lil’ Miss Daren was still dutiful, while everyone was still persisting, Nan Yue perceptively realized the change in attitudes in some people.

The lower ranks were in turbulence, especially the families that had joined Mo Cloud Sea later on. They didn’t feel any loyalty to Zuo Mo. They felt that Mo Cloud Sea’s ruler less state could not continue. Rather than waiting meaninglessly like this, it was better to choose a new master of Mo Cloud Sea first.

Lil’ Miss Daren accidentally heard this once and was enraged. He killed that group of people.

No one dared to discuss this topic openly but discussions in private did not calm. Everyone who had been with Daren to start Mo Cloud Sea was extremely angry about discussions like this. A divide gradually appeared between the old and the new factions.

Daren! Return soon!

Nan Yue felt great urgency.

Suddenly, Nan Yue stilled. She rubbed her eyes.

Did she miss Daren so much she was see a delusion? Nan Yue asked herself.

After she finished rubbing her eyes and opening them, that figure still stood there calmly and smiled at her.

Nan Yue was stunned where she was. Suddenly, tears poured down.

“Daren! It is you! Is it really you?” Nan Yue said incoherently and with great excitement.

“Yes, it’s me.” A smile spread on Zuo Mo’s face.

Nan Yue could not stop her sobs as her vision blurred.

Gongsun Cha was working hard on the desk. Of everyone, his burdens were the greatest. He was struggling to manage every day. Every matter of Mo Cloud Sea would gather at his table. He knew that he was alright at war, but he was just acceptable at other fields.

But other than him, no one could take up the position.

In military matters, Bie Han could share the burden. Ma Fan, Tang Fei, and the others had grown up, and he did not need to worry so much. But managing the people was where he wasn’t skilled, it wasn’t just tiring to deal with the matters, it was also painful.

He felt extremely uncomfortable spending everyday on these complex and petty matters.

He really wanted to just focus on leading a battalion and fighting. That would be so pleasurable!

But Shixiong was not here. Other than him, no one else would be accepted by the group. No matter how painful it was, he could only grit his teeth and continue. He could not have Shixiong come back to a mess!

Suddenly, Nan Yue charged in.

Gongsun Cha raised his head and saw Nan Yue’s tear-streaked face. He couldn’t help but laugh. “What is it? Nan Yue, who bullied you?”

“I, I saw Daren!” Nan Yue panted.

Snap!

The brush in Gongsun Cha’s hand snapped landed on the ground. He seemed to be struck by lightning.

Chapter 878 – Ten Years!

After completing his daily cultivation Fei Lei jumped out of the medicinal pool. The muscles of his refined body did not bulge out like before, but each curve was even tighter and well defined.

He put on clothes and walked out of the cultivation room.

There was a large hall outside the cultivation room. People chatted and boasted in here. Their lives were actually very dull. Other than the routine cultivation, everyone would only go out to raid when they lacked resources.

Fortunately, this was a group of not so normal cultivation maniacs. No one felt that there was anything wrong.

“Old Fei, how much money is left in the account? When are we going out again?” someone shouted.

Fei Lei glanced over and snorted, “Did you recently achieve a breakthrough? Bored?”

Fei Lei had great authority among this group, not just because he managed the accounts, but because he had travelled far and wide to find each of them in the past.

“What breakthrough, he’s been a failure recently, I’m far ahead of him!” someone added in.

“You are say I’m a failure? You’re done for! If you have balls, let’s go to the sparring field!”

“Ha! Who is afraid of you! Let’s go!”

The two ferociously walked towards the sparring field and immediately pulled away a large group of people that wanted to watch.

Fei Lei sat down and then listened to the broadcast of the Seven Star Mo Insect on recent major events. Suddenly, he stilled and listened carefully. The Seven Star Mo Insect was similar to the sound tablet of the xiuzhe.

The new Nether King was ascending to the throne!

They were stationed close to the Nether Realm but they rarely went there. Ever since the Nether Kinga appeared and the Nether Realm was united, that place was not suited for bandits to survive.

King!

Fei Lei suddenly became restless. The blood summons of the past had allowed him to find his destiny. He had worked so hard to find these problematic youths. The name he had given them back then was the King’s Horn. He had done everything he could do in the hopes that one day, he could accomplish his mission.

He had been filled with confidence, especially after Liang Wei took over the battalion and showed outstanding talent. Fei Lei had been filled with hope towards the future. He had never seen such a powerful and talented battle general. He had believed that under Liang Wei’s training, these young and rebellious youths would achieve the glory that belonged to them just like their ancestors.

Just like the name he first gave this battalion, King’s Horn!

However, the king was not here now.

Fei Lei was filled with pain. When the news of the battle of the Central Plains reached them, when he and Liang Wei found out, it was like lightning had struck them. They immediately lost their motivation. If even the king didn’t exist, then who was the horn blown for?

As expected, Liang Wei could not find Pu.

While Liang Wei would go to Pu Pu’s Home For Battle Generals every few days, he would return with disappointment each time.

The same events repeated for ten years.

Fei Lei admired Liang Wei greatly. The predicament that this battalion had faced back then was almost unimaginable. Their connection to Mo Cloud Sea had been cut off, their materials and shen equipment cut off. Other than Youqin Lie who was occasionally able to provide them with some help, all other supplies were stopped. However, Youqin Lie was working under Ming Yue Ye and the help he could provide was limited.

Having lost the sense of belonging, the scarcity of funds and resources, the battalion looked as though it was about to collapse.

But they didn’t.

Liang Wei led them to raid like bandits to replenish their supplies. However, Liang Wei always controlled their slaughter. He did not want them to truly descend to become bandits.

They were a battalion, not bandits!

Liang Wei told them that they had received news from Mo Cloud Sea that Daren would come back. Liang Wei changed the name of the battalion back from the Wolf Head Thousand Monster Camp to King’s Horn. But Fei Lei knew that their contact with Mo Cloud Sea had stopped a long time ago.

But Fei Lei was also willing to believe this lie. He also saw a thread of hope when Mo Cloud Sea did not descend into chaos.

Maybe Daren would return!

They struggled to survive like this. Liang Wei’s viciousness allowed each of them to not fear the difficulties. Youqin Lie would occasionally send them intelligence of some rich targets. This had been of great help to them.

Few could imagine that a group of bandits like this had maintained daily battalion training for ten years. Each of their raids was like a battle, and they would design a complete battle plan.

They did not relax at all.

However, Fei Lei knew that they could not wait forever. Time would cause purpose and loyalty to slowly fade. A battalion that lacked loyalty would only fall to become bandits. At that time, they would truly become bandits.

Fei Lei’s heart was full of pain.

But he did not show it. Just like usual, he wandered off in his mind as he thought. One would never detect any worry from his stern face. He always controlled his emotions. He knew his influence on the battalion.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Liang Wei come in. Fei Lei raised his head and was about to call Liang Wei over to discuss their battle plan as Youqin Lei had sent over another message.

But when his gaze landed on Liang Wei’s face, he stilled.

It was the first time Fei Lei had seen Liang Wei with such an expression. Liang Wei’s face was flushed red as though he was drunk. His facial muscles were unconsciously twitching, his steps unsteady, Fei Lei thought he would fall at any moment. His wolf-like eyes were misty.

Had something happened?

Fei Lei’s heart jumped. Suddenly, he recalled that this was usually the time when Liang Wei went to Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals.

Had something … …

Fei Lei’s expression suddenly turned pale and his heart almost stopped beating. His eyes were wide as he started at Liang Wei, unable to make any sound.

“He, he’s come back!” Liang Wei who was as vicious as a wolf murmured.

Fei Lei felt the blood rush to his head, his legs weakening as he fell to the ground. A long time later, like a person who had almost suffocated to death, when the air reached his lungs, his body started to tremble.

Fei Lei sobbed loudly.

Ten years of waiting!

Anticipation, longing, hope, hopelessness, pain, endurance, all of it within these ten years of waiting.

The stern man cried like a child.

Liang Wei’s eyes were rimmed in red, and tears rose but he gritted his teeth and tried to control his tears so that they would not flow down. He used so much force that his face was twitching. He didn’t dare to speak. He was afraid if he relaxed slightly, the tears would fall down.

He was like a wolf, how could he cry?

He crouched down next to Fei Lei and patted Fei Lei’s shoulder. He continued to pat.

They were the best partners!

Right now, and in the future!

He knew the emotion and effort Fei Lei had invested into his battalion. He knew just how difficult and painful this past decade had been for Fei Lei, just like he knew that the pain Fei Lei endured these ten years was far greater than his.

He was only here in order to fight, to create his own battalion. He waited in order to repay the other for giving him the opportunity. However, Fei Lei was not the same. That was his purpose, his lifelong mission. Other than this, Fei Lei had to be responsible for these youths that he had recruited personally. This feeling of responsibility had tormented this man for ten years.

Suddenly, Fei Lei stopped sobbing. He wiped his tears and said in a hoarse voice, “Where is he?”

Liang Wei recovered his calm and his eyes flashed. “In Nether Realm!”

“Nether Realm?” Fei Lei was astounded.

“He’s the new Nether King!” Liang Wei was also astounded, but at this time, he admired Fei Lei’s almost dazed expression.

Fei Lei was in a daze for a long time before he murmured, “King’s Horn! We are the King’s Horn!”

“He instructed that we travel to the Nether Realm as soon as possible, he needs guards.” Liang Wei recovered his calm.

“He’s in danger?” Fei Lei changed expression.

Liang Wei’s expression also became grave. “He did not say, but he said for us to meet up with him immediately.”

“Then what are we waiting for, let’s go!” Fei Lei unhesitatingly stood and moved quickly.

Looking as Fei Lei recovered his vitality and spirit, Liang Wei’s lips curved in a hint of a smile. His wolf-like eyes also flashed with fire and fighting spirit.

Silent for ten years, do you still remember that youth, Liang Wei, that sprinted after the enemy for ten thousand li!

Ten years had passed, the youth had become middle-aged.

And it was time for the horn to be sounded.

Liang Wei balled his fists!

The news that the a new Nether King was ascending to the throne shook the world.

Ever since the Nether King united the Nether Realm ten years ago, the Nether Realm immediately became one of the most important factions in the world. However, this Nether King had always been low-key and never communicated with the outside world. However, no one doubted the power of the Nether King. Up until now, the Nether Realm was the only place that had not been touched by large scale war.

Compared to the chaotic Hundred Savage Realm the reason Nether Realm was strong was because of the appearance of the Nether King.

The Nether Realm that was thought of the most stable suddenly had the news that a new king was ascending to the throne. How could it not be a shock?

The Nether King had just united the Nether Realm ten years ago. Why was the Nether King abdicating?

Was the Nether King’s life at end?

People knew very little about this new king. They just knew that he would be taking the throne in a month at Nether King Palace. The new Nether King was the appointed successor by the old Nether King. Theoretically, there was nothing to argue about his ascension.

However, the upcoming ascension of the new Nether King was filled with uncertainties. Would the other factions submit? The authority of the first Nether King was obtained through war. But the new Nether King lacked this authority. Of the four Nether Lords, only An Mo and You Zhe openly supported the new king. Other than this, the Yin Tomb Ghost Lord also supported the new king but they were fighting fiercely against Eastern Nether Mansion. The silence of Eastern Nether Mansion and Northern Plains Ice Mansion also caused people to have a negative outlook on the new Nether King.

Two of the four nether lords were silent. It was even harder to predict the reactions of other factions of the Nether Realm.

Would the coronation of the new Nether King become the catalyst for the division of Nether Realm? No one knew. The coronation ceremony at Nether King Palace would give the final answer.

Due to this, the coronation ceremony at Nether King Palace attracted the attention of the world.

The rumor was that there were more than ten thousand leaders that were going to attend the coronation of the new king. Adding on the guards that accompanied them, the attendance at this ceremony would surpass three million people.

This was the largest ceremony of Nether Realm in history.

The Nether Realm was one of the largest factions in the world at the moment. Its development would greatly impact the affairs of the world.

All of this, when chased back to the source, gathered on one person.

The new Nether King!

Chapter 879 – Meetup

The troops flew above barren ground. This place was unpopulated and very close to the border between Nether Realm and Hundred Savage Realm.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo said, “Let’s stop here.”

An Mo unhesitatingly ordered the troops to stop. This army was not large, about a thousand people, but they were the strongest of Western Jail Mansion’s people.

Zuo Mo had been secretly observing the troops all this time. In his eyes, An Mo was very skilled. The troops were also elite. While their shen equipment was not the best, they had their unique fighting method.

An Mo was a classic style battle general that did not like fighting for power and was methodical in carrying out his methods. His men followed his style, decisive and quick in carrying out their orders.

“How is the fighting between Eastern Nether Mansion and Yin Tomb Guards?” Zuo Mo asked. Since he had taken on this business, Zuo Mo would not leave it.

“Eastern Nether Mansion has lost, Jia Man has killed himself!” An Mo said cleanly. He lamented inside, he knew that the old Nether King had plans prepared. Otherwise, how could Eastern Nether Mansion lose so quickly, with so many of their forces remaining, and without apparent cause? The Yin Tomb Guards were much weaker than Eastern Nether Mansion, and Eastern Nether Mansion also possessed stronger battle generals than the Yin Tomb Guards. While the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts matched the elite fighters of the four mansions, that was just in individual power. In terms of directing in battle, they were much weaker.

The eastern and western mansion were the two mansions that had the largest number of quality battle generals in Nether Realm.

Zuo Mo made a sound. He knew that Shi would definitely have prepared a killing move that would reverse the situation after planning something like this. He refocused and started to think. Since Shi had given the Nether Realm to him, he would not fail Shi.

He had An Mo gather all the popular topics of discussion about the new Nether King. After he finished reading them, he found that the great majority of people had a cautious attitude about his succession. Primarily because Shi’s authority was still here, there were not many that dared to publicly rebel. In private, they did not have a good outlook on him.

Zuo Mo knew that this was because they doubted his strength. Zuo Mo was familiar with mo. They revered the strong so the past kings had been the absolute strongest. Shi had been the same.

Showing muscle?

A faint smile rose on the corner of Zuo Mo’s lips.

An Mo was also observing the new king at the same time.

The new king was not of many words, experienced in action, and he could not measure the other’s power. This astounded him. An Mo was one of the four Nether Lords. Few knew that he was actually the strongest among the Nether Lords because he was the only one that received the Nether King’s guidance.

He was low-key in conduct and he did not like fighting. Even the other three nether lords did not know his true strength.

But even as strong as he was, he couldn’t see the new king’s strength!

While shocked, it also increased his confidence.

Seeing the king deep in thought, he did not make a sound as he sent out a patrol. They were just a thousand people. He knew the potential threat and many factions that would risk it.

There was no harm in being careful. An Mo ordered the scouts to increase their range.

Suddenly, his expression tense and he shouted, “Prepare to fight!”

The ranks around him immediately entered combat formation.

An Mo’s gaze looked towards the northwest. The scout from that direction had sent back an urgent report. There was a battalion that was coming in at astounding speed!

Soon, the scouts appeared in his field of view. The scout made a hand motion to indicate to prepare for battle before he entered the rear ranks.

A group of black dots appeared in the distant horizon.

The little dots came quickly. Almost in the blink of an eye, the incomers reached them!

An Mo’s gaze turned grave. Elite!

His eyes were keener than everyone else and he saw more clearly. This battalion looked loose in their ranks, but in reality, all of the people maintained an appropriate distance from each other. It was clear that this was a battalion that had been formed for a long time, and the members worked well together. Each member seemed to move positions of their own will, but their comrades would unconsciously move up to take the empty positions. This kind of instinctive movement would pass quickly through the ranks.

This battalion looked like a quicksilver flow!

The flow spilled out!

The battalion at the front had a hard expression. From far away, An mo could feel a strong and vicious presence.

An Mo suddenly felt the pressure increase. His expression turned even more serious.

If he was not seeing it with his own eyes, he would not believe that a mo battle general could create such a refined and variable battalion! The xiuzhe had organized ranks and cared greatly about battle formations. Only yao battalions would have such refined and variable ranks. The mo did not care about the shape of the ranks at all. They only had to gather the power of the men to the battle general. Due to this, mo battalions had the loosest ranks among the races.

But this battalion completely upturned An Mo’s knowledge. When did the Nether Realm have such a strange battalion?

The other did not decrease their speed as they charged over.

The closer they came, the stronger the impact of the other’s rolling ranks made. The members of the battalion that had slightly weaker mentality subconsciously prepared to attack.

An Mo’s expression turned cold. All of his stray thoughts were thrown away. If the incomers came into their attack range, he would unhesitatingly attack!

No one would be able to rampage in front of him!

At this time, this strange battalion seemed to go against his expectations and suddenly stop against the momentum.

That strange feeling was so uncomfortable one wanted to spit blood.

An Mo forced his hand. He had almost started an attack. His heart suddenly jumped. Such a powerful battle general! The other had clearly already estimated his attack range and just stopped at the perimeter of his attack range.

It was An Mo’s first time encountering such a powerful battle general. While the two had not fought yet, he was still amazed.

The wind was murderous, and the groups were silent.

The commander at the front suddenly dismounted his steed. Woosh, the entire battalion dismounted, their movements in unison. The ranks divided, and a yao walked out to reach the side of the general.

The two stood shoulder to should and looked in the direction of An Mo’s battalion.

What was … …

A thought flashed through An Mo’s head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw King step out of the ranks to stand in front of the group.

The two were excited when they saw Zuo Mo but they both bowed first.

“Liang Wei!” Liang Wei took a deep breath. His voice was solemn.

“Fei Lei!” Fei Lei forced down his excitement as he said loudly.

“We have led the King’s Horn to come guard our King!” the two gravely shouted in unison.

The dignified and serious sounds that were like sworn oaths echoed in the vast wilderness.

“All Hail The King!”

The shouts of thousands of people were like thunder that caused the wilderness to tremble. Each person was trembling with excitement. Excitement, ecstasy, and exhilaration flashed through their eyes. Ten years, they could finally proclaim this phrase.

Many people had tears streaming down their faces.

They recalled how Fei Lei had found them in remote and obscure places, and told them of the past glories of their ancestors; recalled how they had travelled to their camp in their beggar-like clothing, but took on the name the King’s Horn which made them look like a joke; recalled how many layers of skin they shed in order to satisfy Liang Wei strict training; recalled the hope that had grown fainter and fainter over the past ten years as they raided to survive; maintained that they were a battalion despite their actions , and declared they were a battalion with a purpose.

They had never seen Zuo Mo before, they didn’t even know what Zuo Mo looked like.

But every one of them, starting from the first day, was told that they would fight for this person!

To fight for the king, to obtain the past glories.

That was their belief.

That illusory figure  that had appeared countless times in their minds finally became clear. All of their belief suddenly became tangible.

They were not idiots, they were not bandits.

They were the King’s Horn, they were a battalion with belief!

They would possess the glory promised to them!

Zuo Mo looked at this battalion with excitement.

All he knew about Pu Yao and Wei’s plans were the names Liang Wei and Fei Lei. Originally, he hadn’t had any hopes for this battalion. Zuo Mo knew just how difficult it would be to wait for ten years without a message.

When he had encountered Liang Wei at Pu Pu’s Home For Battle Generals, his shock and emotions could be imagined.

Looking at these faces, he controlled his doubts and solemnly gave his promise, “You and I together, never abandoned or separated!”

What answered him was a tsunami of shouting, “All Hail The King!”

An Mo’s battalion gaped with wide eyes at this scene.

Suddenly, An Mo realized something that even he had missed before. King was not as powerless as the outside said! Because he wasn’t just the Nether King, he was also the king of Mo Cloud Sea!

King had his own faction that could match the Nether Realm.

An Mo suddenly understood why the old Nether King was not worried about the new king and had been so confident.

If Zuo Mo had led Mo Cloud Sea to take over the Nether Realm, he would naturally encounter resistance from all the factions of Nether Realm. However, if he took over the Nether Realm as its appointed successor, no one could fight against him!

He was too strong! Even stronger than the Nether King back then!

Those objecting to his reign were just insects. He suddenly thought with slight maliciousness how those people would react when they learned that King was also the King of Mo Cloud Sea.

He really wanted to see it.

With the King’s Horn accompanying them, An Mo’s confidence immediately increased. An Mo didn’t believe that there was anyone in the Nether Realm that could face him, Liang Wei and Fei Lei at the same time. However, he was slightly puzzled because he had never heard the names Liang Wei and Fei Lei before. He had only heard of Gongsun Cha’s Vermillion Bird Camp and Bie Han’s Sin Battalion.

Was Mo Cloud Sea so strong?

Were two people and any battalion of Mo Cloud Sea, even those that he had never heard of, this strong?

Even An Mo, as strong as he was, felt slightly shaken.

Zuo Mo did not know what An Mo thoughts were. He, Liang Wei and Fei Lei talked for a long time as he learned how difficult their years had been. With the guards they had, Zuo Mo didn’t have to worry about safety at all.

He decided to resolve another problem that he had thought about for ten years on the road during this time.

–Rescue Pu Yao and Wei!

Chapter 880 – Pu and Wei

Zuo Mo’s mind delved inward.

The black gravestone floated alone in the sky above the sun tree. Looking at the black tombstone, Zuo Mo felt a wave of excitement. He had waited for this day for ten years.

The devious and proud Pu Yao and that chatty but black in hearted Wei, had accompanied him on his path of growth. They did their best to give him their aid, even though Pu Yao liked to laugh and mock him at every step.

Ten years!

In order to earn that single chance for his survival, the two had paid the price of being tortured and imprisoned for ten years.

I’m coming!

Zuo Mo softly said to himself in his mind. His hand reached towards the gravestone.

The gravestone suddenly gave off a strong repelling force. Thick black smoke flooded out and spread rapidly into the surroundings blocking his touch. Zuo Mo’s expression  did not change. The sun tree having already recovered its vitality began released faint golden light.

The golden ray of light looked thin but was unusually powerful. The black smoke dissipated at its touch.

The dark gold bead had disappeared as it had been completely absorbed by Zuo Mo. The sun tree inside his body hadn’t just recovered its vitality, after absorbing the essence blood of the ancient sun tribe warrior, it had formed three suns.

These three suns constantly released shen power. The new shen power was much purer than in the past.

This was true god-level shen power!

In the ten years, Zuo Mo had constantly tried to breakthrough the smoke, but each time, he couldn’t do anything to the eerie black smoke. The black smoke was the manifestation of the oath and sacrifice power. It was hard to deal with. Zuo Mo tried to use the sun shen fire to refine it, but it was ineffective.

Right now, Zuo Mo could easily suppress the black smoke with just shen power.

The black smoke continued to erupt and then dissipate.

The entire process continued for a day and night.

The gravestone finally did not give off any more black smoke. The black color of the gravestone seemed to have faded slightly.

Zuo Mo’s hand finally came into contact with the gravestone.

A cold feeling came from his fingertip. Suddenly, Zuo Mo felt an extremely great power pulling him into the gravestone. Zuo Mo did not resist it. He felt his vision blur and then the surrounding world changed.

A grey wilderness that was endless.

There were sacrificial altars set up all over the wilderness. There was a pillar at the center of each altar, and there was a face carved onto every pillar. Some had wide gaping mouths, some were dignified and grave, some were malicious and cold … …

Each of the faces were carved in detail and was shrouded in an indescribable power. What was even scarier was that these faces were alive. Their eyes moved as Zuo Mo moved, and their expression occasionally changed.

Zuo Mo’s expression was ugly. There was a soul imprisoned in each altar.

Looking over, the altars stretched endlessly.

How many souls was this eerie gravestone imprisoning!

Zuo Mo speed up. He searched around for the vibrations of Pu Yao and Wei. Yet after flying five days and nights, Zuo Mo did not find the vibrations belonging to Pu Yao and Wei.

The sacrificial altars in front of him still stretched out endlessly.

Zuo Mo did not stop. He continued to fly. Only after three more days did he stop.

There were two sacrificial altars together in front of him. There were two faces on two pillars. Zuo Mo immediately recognized that they were Pu Yao and Wei.

“Long time no see.”

Zuo Mo murmured to himself, his eyes slightly red.

The two faces were changing dramatically. They seemed to be experiencing great pain.

Zuo Mo inhaled deeply and did not hesitate. He walked to one of the pillars and put his hand on it.

When his hand touched the pillar, he heard a tsunami of screaming. The screams continued telling of the great pain, hopelessness, and terror. If someone was not as mentally strong as he was, they would be seeing illusions at this time.

Zuo Mo did not seem to hear it. His gaze was determined. A thread of sun shen fire flowed along his finger and wrapped around the sacrificial pillar.

The sacrificial pillar immediately started to burn.

The surface of the pillar quickly melted like a layer of snow, then the second layer, the third layer … …

One layer after another like skinning an onion.

Zuo Mo’s shen power was being used up but the sunlight of the three suns on his sun tree did not change. They seemed to release an endless amount of pure shen power.

Zuo Mo was extremely focused. He did not know the flow of time.

Pew!

The eighty first layer!

The pillar suddenly shattered into dust and disappeared into the air.

A black figure shot into the sky.

“Hahahaha! I, Pu Yao, has returned!”

He was still as flamboyant as before, still as unrestrained, still as proud.

The black fire twisted in the air and Pu Yao appeared next to Zuo Mo. He said with a disdainful expression, “You are so slow! I had thought that you would come after five or six years! As expected, I overestimated you!”

The same disdainful and mocking tone from ten years ago. Zuo Mo almost cried.

Pu Yao walked to the pillar restraining Wei and greeted him with a smile. “Wei, I’m out, it is so good outside! So enjoyable! The air is good, the weather is good, and I’m free, tsk tsk, hahahaha … …”

The face on the pillar in front of him violently contorted. It was clear that Wei was being greatly provoked by Pu Yao.

Zuo Mo gaped at Pu Yao. The warm emotions that had just risen were completely destroyed by Pu Yao’s heartless actions.

Just how bad was this person!

Zuo Mo shook his head and hurriedly ran to the next sacrificial pillar. Wei was most likely enraged by Pu Yao at this time.

Familiar with the process, Zuo Mo was at ease and used even less time than the time before.

Soon, the pillar completely disappeared. A figure charged out. Upon coming out, the figure immediately headed for Pu, the shout causing Zuo Mo’s ears to hurt. “I’ll kill you!”

Zuo Mo saw the situation. If he let these two continue, he didn’t know when they would finish. His figure flashed and he appeared behind Pu Yao. Pia, he grabbed Pu Yao’s collar. Then he flashed and appeared behind Wei to grab his collar.

“Boy, release me! You dare to treat a great sky yao so … …” Pu Yao was enraged.

“A fallen sky yao is not worth as much as a dog!” Wei smirked coldly and then his tone changed as he gritted out, “A Zuo, let me go! I will cut this sky yao into pieces!”

“Che, I will let you have the first move. Hm, the anger of a sky yao will cause the ocean to turn to blood … …”

“My ass … …”

The two glared angrily at each other as spittle flew.

Zuo Mo sweated as he listened. Fortunately, ge’s stronger than the two of you right now. When the two of them were arguing like this in the past, he could only stay far to avoid being caught in the middle. Now he could drag one by each hand.

In this moment, Zuo Mo was extremely satisfied.

Holding Pu Yao and Wei he charged out of the gravestone, Zuo Mo threw the two into the Mist Eye Tablet and then quickly flew away. Not long after, the Ghost Mist Child ran out with shock on his face. The two were fighting intensely in there.

Zuo Mo had an uncontrollable smile at the corner of his mouth.

The five shen wood coffins were put into the death energy ponds full of death water. The pure death water continued to permeate the shen wood coffins and turned into base shen power to enter the bodies of the five.

Shi took out the ghost fire.

The ghost fire floated in front of him. The female of the ghost fire appeared and knelt on the ground. She bowed. This person gave her unparalleled pressure. She felt shock and reverence from the bottom of her heart.

“You are living by relying on the ghost fire, and your last wishes have not been fulfilled. Speak, what are your last wishes?” Shi said coolly.

The ghost fire female’s figure shook. She didn’t dare to raise her head but her face was covered in tears. She choked out, “This servant only wants to know how my son and grandson are doing?”

Shi nodded. His finger curled and a dot flew out of the ghost fire female’s body. Shi murmured softly, his finger drawing in the air in front of him. This light suddenly exploded, and turned into a ball of light. A scene appeared in the light, and the male in the picture had a face similar to that of the ghost fire female.

The ghost fire female was excited. She looked closely at the male in the picture as tears flowed down her face.

The male in the picture looked to be in his forties. He also had a child and they were slowly walking along a street.

The picture was maintained for fifteen minutes before disappearing with a pop.

The ghost fire female wiped her tears. Her face was bright. She knowtowerd again to Shi. “This servant has her wish fulfilled. If Elder wants me to do something, I will not retreat!”

Shi nodded. “It is good you understand. I will gift you a favor. If you are willing, your son, grandson, and family line will not end.”

The ghost fire female said honestly, “Elder, please speak.”

Shi pointed at one of the coffins. “The female lying in that coffin is the beloved of the new nether king. She is under the influence of the Undying Shen Punishment. It will be difficult to wake her. I want to use your soul to take the place of her soul, so that you will take the punishment on her behalf. This way, she would break free of the punishment, be of one mind with you, and can also control the Undying Shen Punishment.  The shen punishment is like a prison, the days will not be easy. However, your contribution will benefit your descendants. Knowing this, I will ask you one more time, are you willing?”

The ghost fire female said without hesitating, “This servant is willing to take the Undying Shen Punishment for Mistress!”

A hint of admiration flashed through Shi’s eyes. “Good!”

Then he did not waste words. He waved his hand and A Gui’s shen wood coffin was opened. Shi pointed into the air, and the ghost fire entered the purple chain mark on A Gui’s forehead.

A Gui’s body shook.

The purple chains that wrapped around her body abruptly burrowed into her body and disappeared.

The scars on A Gui’s face disappeared at a visible rate. Her ashen face recovered colour and blood. A powerful presence suddenly surged. The base shen power produced by the shen wood coffin streamed into A Gui’s body.

A Gui’s presence became even more astounding.

Shi waved his hand and closed the coffin again. A thread of tiredness flashed through his eyes.

But he did not stop. He picked up the dragon heart and floated in front of Wei Sheng’s coffin. The dragon heart beat strongly in his hand.

Looking at Wei Sheng who was in deep sleep, Shi murmured to himself, “The dragon heart combined with the God-Killing Blood Sword, something that is worthy of anticipation! Pity that I will not live to see it!”

As he spoke, he shook his head softly with regret on his face.

His fingertip curled towards the right of Wei Sheng’s chest. A large wound was drawn out on the right side of the chest. Shi lightly put the dragon heart inside, and his hand brushed across the wound. The wound disappeared.

Wei Sheng’s face suddenly became red as though it was dripping blood.

A few drops of light flew out of Shi’s fingertip and entered Wei Sheng’s body. Wei Sheng’s body shook and then became motionless.

Shi closed the coffin again.

Chapter 881 – The Terrible State of Affairs

Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals was desolate. This place had long been forgotten by others. In the past, there would be many low-level battle generals that would come to learn and discuss but following Pu Pu’s disappearance, the popularity of the place faded.

No one came any longer.

Liang Wei was excited. Earlier today, Zuo Mo told  him that Pu Pu was going to meet him. When he heard this, his strong heart couldn’t help but suddenly jump.

Unlike Fei Lei, while Liang Wei obeyed Zuo Mo’s orders, Zuo Mo was not where his loyalty lied. In his heart, two people held special spots. One was the commander of Ice Frost Military Corps, his former commander that had favored him, taught him, and promoted him.

The other person was the mysterious Pu Pu.

He had met Pu Pu at his most dispirited moment. He had been relieved of his duties and was idle at home. At that time, wherever he went, he could hear mockery and disdain. Only days before he had been his most glorious. Charging across ten thousand li to accomplish a great victory and help reclaim the honor for the yao.

To trip and fall from the most glorious and blinding place, so completely…

If he hadn’t had a strong personality, the suddenly change would have completely destroyed him. But even so, he had been demoviated, and at that time, he had found Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals, and he encountered Pu Pu.

An astoundingly powerful battle general!

He still remembered his shock and amazement. He could not understand why such a powerful battle general would appear in such a little corner of the Ten Finger Prison.

But after that, he started to learn how to fight from Pu Pu.

He started to find his own shortcomings. He greatly anticipated each fight with Pu Pu even though he would lose terribly each time.

From the terrible defeats, he quickly grew. He started to become steady, he started to break free from relying on his instincts to fight. He started to learn how to control large military campaigns, he started to learn strategy.

He became stronger and stronger. He could clearly feel it.

When Pu Pu gave him a chance to go back to the battlefield, to lead his own battalion, he still remembered the feeling of his blood suddenly burning up.

For Fei Lei, the reason he waited 10 years was because of his mission and sense of responsibility.

For Liang Wei, his reasons were because he thought of Pu Pu as a teacher. Even though Pu Pu had never admitted Liang Wei as his student, and he had never called Pu Pu Teacher.

When that familiar figure appeared in his view, Liang Wei’s heart suddenly jumped.

Pu Yao detected Liang Wei’s arrival. He turned around and showed a small smile. “Not bad, I did not pick the wrong person in the past.” Then he examined Liang Wei up and down. “It looks as though you are much more steady than before. The hardships of these years were not for nothing.”

Liang Wei’s mind was completely blank. His wolf-like gaze disappeared. He was like a clueless child.

Pu Yao saw Liang Wei’s excitement and said in a gentle voice with a smile, “Tell me about your recent situation.”

His gaze held pickiness, comfort, smugness. Liang Wei was another of his accomplished students. He could see that Liang Wei’s presence had changed compared to in the past. Long ago, he had a high opinion of Liang Wei. In his eyes, as long as the excessive viciousness and impulsiveness was suppressed by his intelligence, the perceptive and eager young battle general would shine with astounding light.

Pu Yao was very satisfied with Liang Wei. He had thought that an outstanding student like Gongsun Cha was once in a lifetime. He hadn’t expected to encounter another one. What made him even more proud was that the two had completely different styles, but they were both strong and had outstanding qualities.

Pu Yao was very comforted

–He had to show off to Wei later!

When he spoke about the experiences of the past years, Liang Wei quickly calmed down. In a low voice, he described what he had experienced.

Pu Yao became silent and the smile on his face disappeared. He hadn’t thought that the days would have been so difficult. Pu Yao said emotionally, “This was really difficult for you!”

Pu Yao’s words came from his heart. He knew that it was a simple matter to rely on  this group of people and not starve to death. However, it was an extremely difficult matter to maintain the regulation and discipline of a proper battalion.

Liang Wei’s heart warmed but he only smiled. “It actually was alright, Fei Lei did much more.”

Pu Yao looked at his accomplished student. After some thought, he said seriously, “You have to be careful, the journey will most likely not be peaceful!”

The smile on Liang Wei’s face disappeared. His expression turned serious. “Will people be against us?”

Suddenly, Sand Puppet rose from the ground and appeared in front of Shi.

“The Hai Xin Bing contingency plan failed. Worse is that Jia Man’s strongest commander, Richard, has sided with Hai Xin Bing. Almost all of Jia Man’s faction has sided with Hai Xin Bing,” Sand Puppet said.

“Oh, that’s normal. At this time, other than Hai Xin Bing, no one would dare to accept them.” Shi did not seem to care.

Sand Puppet looked at Shi’s expression and was slightly puzzled. “You are not worried?”

“Worried about what?” Shi smiled. “Do not underestimate Zuo Mo.”

“I am not underestimating him,” Sand Puppet shook his head. “No one qualifies to underestimate him. He was able to lead us out of the Sealed Extinction battlefield and then enter god-level in such a short amount of time. However, he is not familiar with this area. Hai Xin Bing’s factions is powerful. If he cannot defeat Hai Xin Bing quickly, the Nether Realm may descend into chaos, and your wish will not be completed.”

“No.” Shi shook his head.

“No? You are so sure?” Sand Puppet was shocked.

For some reason, Shi suddenly shook his head and laughed before he raised his head and said, “The strangest thing about this person is that as you fight against him, as you throw out your trump cards, and watch as he throws out his trump cards. Only to find that his hidden cards are better than yours. Even scarier is that the cards he holds are getting better and better.”

“It seems scary to hear,” Sand Puppet rumbled.

“Yes! So scary! Even I feel as though I cannot withstand this.” Shi roared with laughter. “His enemies must be in great pain.”

“Alright. When will the five of them wake up?” Sand Puppet asked.

“Maybe they will catch his coronation.” Shi felt some regret. “Pity that we cannot go to the scene.”

Zuo Mo was in a very good mood. He was very happy about rescuing Pu Yao and Wei. Even listening to the two argue and fight made the journey much more interesting.

From Shi, he learned that Eldest Shixiong, A Gui, and the others were also quickly recovering. His mood became much lighter.

His shen power was recovered, he had established contact with Mo Cloud Sea, he had rescued Pu Yao and Wei, and Eldest Shixiong and the others would wake up any day, Zuo Mo felt that he had almost resolved all the problems that had haunted him in the last ten years.

If he could not be in a good mood now, what could make him have a good mood?

He didn’t have any worries about the journey to the Nether King Palace. In his view, he was just going through the motions. Shi’s authority was still there, and he had plans set up. Zuo Mo only had to daringly accept Nether Realm.

Suddenly, the troops stopped.

Soon after, An Mo flew over with an ugly expression. “King, someone is blocking the road, they do not have good intentions!”

An Mo was experienced in battle and very familiar with the Nether Realm. Someone was daring to openly block the road. This was a terrible sign.

It meant that the factions that opposed the new king didn’t feel any fear.

An Mo who had grown up in the Nether Realm understood the mo of the Nether Realm. In Nether Realm, people only recognized power! In the past, many people were wary of the old Nether King and didn’t dare to step out. If someone came out in public, it meant everyone would feel less cautious. The voices that opposed the new king would increase, and the situation would worsen.

This was extremely detrimental to the new king.

While An Mo knew that Zuo Mo was the king of Mo Cloud Sea, but far waters could not slake  immediate thirst. In the Nether Realm, the only faction truly loyal to the new Nether King was An Mo’s Western Jail Mansion!

To fight against all of Nether Realm with only one mansion’s forces, there would only be one result–death.

But even so, anger rose from his heart. Someone dared to block King’s troops!

Around this time, Zuo Mo had received Shi’s message. He raised his head and his eyes flashed coldly. For some reason, when An Mo’s gaze met Zuo Mo’s icy gaze, his heart tightened and he felt a pressure.

“Oh, Shi sent a message, the Hai Xin Bing contingency plan has failed, we need to take care of Hai Xin Bing on our own.” Zuo Mo’s coldness faceded and an easy smile came back on his face.

“Hai Xin Bing contingency plan failed!” An Mo exclaimed. While he did not know what the old Nether King’s contingency plan was, but it was not difficult to guess that the plan was the old Nether King’s killing move.

The killing move had failed. This meant that they had to face Northern Plains Ice Mansion.

The pressure on An Mo suddenly increased!

“Also, Jia Man’s leaderless subordinates, following that Richar-tch or something, almost all of them sided with Hai Xin Bing,” Zuo Mo said with interest.

An Mo could not control it any longer. His expression changed dramatically. “It is terrible!”

The situation was so worse it could not get any worse!

An Mo finally knew why someone dared to step out and block the new king’s troops!

Originally, people didn’t have enough confidence in the new king, and now their outlook on the new king was even worse. Richard was Jia Man’s strongest commander. While he was weaker than An Mo individually, he was a match for An Mo in terms of skill at commanding battle. Other than Richard, the other people were also exceptional.

Northern Plains Ice Mansion was wealthy and possessed outstanding shen equipment before but lacked numbers. Now that they accepted Jia Man’s Eastern Nether Mansion, their power suddenly expanded and they were now the strongest faction in Nether Realm! Northern Plains Ice Mansion’s shortcoming of not having offensive power was quickly amended. Also, Northern Plains Ice Mansion had outstanding battle generals like Zhu Nan Yue.

Even worse was that Hai Xin Bing had an outstanding reputation for her abilities and fame in Nether Realm.

An Mo guessed that once Hai Xin Bing released the news, large scale changing of sides would occur.

Their situation was now extremely dangerous!

Damn it!

Chapter 882 – Taking The Lead!

An Mo spoke of his worries. The entire camp was silent. Liang Wei frowned. He did not fear strong enemies. In the battles of these past years, they had beat enemies that were better equipped or outnumbered them multiple times. However, the present situation was too terrible. It was not how powerful Hai Xin Bing was, but all of Nether Realm held serious doubts in the succession of the new king. In other words, Zuo Mo did not have enough of a reputation in the Nether Realm.

“If Daren publicizes your identity, maybe … …” An Mo couldn’t help but say.

Liang Wei shook his head. “Not suitable! That way, the enmity may become even stronger. In their eyes, the king is an outsider. More people will oppose an outsider taking the throne!”

Many people couldn’t help but agree. If it was not for the Nether King’s personal appointment, even they were not willing to have an outsider be their king.

Everyone had heavy hearts. When they found that all of the people in Nether Realm opposed them, they found how minuscule their power was.

Hai Xin Bing was truly skilled!

Everyone’s gazes gathered on Zuo Mo. They had no plans left.

Yet what surprised them was that Zuo Mo did not show any panic, and actually had a bemused expression. However, something seemed to be burning in that pair of eyes.

Everyone stilled, King was … …

Before they could understand, they heard Zuo Mo speak, “From where we are, which is the shortest path to Nether King Palace?”

An Mo pointed at a route that had been labelled in red on the jie map. “This one! This was our original plan, but now, the enemy most likely would have set up many obstacles on this path to stop us from reaching Nether King Palace. I suggest that we choose a more hidden … …”

Zuo Mo interrupted An Mo’s words and said decisively, “We will go on this path!”

An Mo panicked. “King! The enemy will have sent large numbers of battalions on this path, even if we can break through, the time spent … …we would miss the coronation”

An Mo’s commanders spoke in agreement to try to stop Zuo Mo. They were more familiar with Nether Realm. They knew that this path would be one that the enemy would heavily defend! Everyone even knew that An Mo saying the path would take time was just to save King’s face. In their view, with the manpower they had now, they could not break through the other’s defense lines!

Liang Wei did not speak, but his expression was also one of disagreement. The rebels would set up great obstacles on the shortest route to stop them from reaching Nether King Palace.

However, Liang Wei had settled down after the hardships of the past years. While he was slightly puzzled, he also knew that Zuo Mo was not a rash person. Also, behind Zuo Mo was a powerful genius like Pu Pu. How could he make such a common mistake?

Liang Wei did not find Pu Pu around Zuo Mo. He guessed that Pu Pu was a hidden advisor that helped Zuo Mo through the Ten Finger Prison.

Had Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions already arrived?

Liang Wei shook his head. It would appear that the arrival of Vermillion Bird Camp or Sin Battalion would greatly increase their manpower, but in Liang Wei’s view, this was not a good move.

Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions were from the outside, but this battle was one internal to the Nether Realm. If Zuo Mo’s identity as the king of Mo Cloud Sea was exposed, Zuo Mo would be considered an outsider in the eyes of most people. Hai Xin Bing only needed to make some waves, and the great majority of the people would side with Hai Xin Bing.

No one liked to be ruled by an outsider, even if Zuo Mo was appointed the successor by the old Nether King. All the factions of Nether Realm would rebel.

While Zuo Mo at present was weak in the eyes of other people, no one doubted his legitimacy as the new nether king. They just had insufficient confidence in him.

Zuo Mo looked around. His gaze flashed with strong confidence. They were no weighty presence but people could feel the great power.

Under this kind of gaze, everyone quieted.

Zuo Mo smiled slightly and suddenly asked a completely unrelated question, “How did Shi unite the Nether Realm?”

An Mo stilled and then had a reminiscing expression. “In the past, King lead us across the Nether Realm and we conquered jie by jie. King was too powerful. No one was able to stop us. Everywhere we passed, all the factions submitted!”

Many of the people present had participated in the war to unite the Nether Realm back then. In that war that was not very long, Shi had been unrivalled. When they thought back to it now, they couldn’t help but tremble from the bottom of their hearts!

In their minds, that was a grand and glorious campaign.

But soon, their thoughts came back. They felt slightly dispirited. Compared to the glory of the past, they were in decline now!

Zuo Mo detected the changes in expression. He smiled but then he quickly put away his smile. The light in his eyes grew stronger as he said seriously, “If that’s the case, then just like Shi in the past, we will fight jie by jie on our path to Nether King Palace.”

All of the noise disappeared. The entire camp was so quiet the drop of a pin could be heard.

Everyone gaped as they looked dazedly at Zuo Mo. They couldn’t speak.

Zuo Mo’s voice clearly passed into the ears of everyone in the camp. His voice was not fast, not excited, not deep, but seemed to carry a power that could reach into their hearts.

“If only by conquering them will I be able to step onto the throne, if only by defeating them will they shut their mouths, if only battle can bring peace, if only power can make Nether Realm submit. So be it.”

Zuo Mo sat straight, his eyes becoming burning bright, but his tone still calm and flat, filled with great confidence. For some reason, the blood in everyone’s bodies started to heat up, and their breathing started to become heavy.

As Zuo Mo’s expression became authoritative, his tone slowly became cold.

“The honor and glory of the King will not be challenged! Since only by washing the throne in their blood will they understand, then we will conquer them, crush them, destroy them! Use battle and death to command them, submit or die!”

The eyes of all of the mo battle generals, including An Mo, turned red, their breathing deepened as their eyes widened!

Among the mo, the king was unparalleled!

Zuo Mo stood up. The lines of his face were so cold they seemed to be carved from the stone. He looked around expressionlessly.

Woosh, everyone stood up. They threw out their chests. They hadn’t expected that King would be so strong and domineering, their fighting spirits were roaring!

“I will lead you, fight jie by jie, to Nether King Palace!”

“Yes!” All of the mo commanders responded. They were excited and wanted to move immediately.

“Liang Wei! Fei Lei!” Zuo Mo said gravely.

“Present!” Liang Wei and Fei Lei responded.

Zuo Mo looked directly at Liang Wei and ordered, “You will lead the King’s Horn to protect the flanks.”

“Yes!” The two unhesitatingly responded. Zuo Mo’s cold and icy gaze was filled with indescribable pressure. Their hearts uncontrollably tensed.

Everyone knew, the king was angry!

The astounding pressure that Zuo Mo released caused every person’s heart to instinctively tremble. For some reason, they also felt an unusual excitement and ecstasy.

The previous Zuo Mo had a good temper and treated people well. Everyone liked him, but in their view, he was not qualified to be the nether king because he lacked the domineering presence of a king!

The mo liked combat. They forever revered those strong. Logic was nothing, and not as enjoyable as fists!

The entire battalion quickly gathered. An Mo’s battalion contained almost all the experts of Western Jail Mansion. While they were not many in number, they were powerful.

When they heard that King was about to lead them personally to fight to Nether King Palace, the entire battalion boiled over! They had heard enough of the rumors in the past few days. They did not fear battle.

It should be like this!

Everyone had the same thoughts.

When they saw Zuo Mo appear at the front of the ranks, the cheers shook the sky. The entire battalion was energized, and everyone was extremely exhilarated.

From now, King would lead them to fight to Nether King Palace!

There seemed to be a ball of fire burning in Zuo Mo’s chest. He was truly angry. Shi did not have much time. If they were constantly delayed like this, he would not be able to ascend to the throne of the Nether King before Shi’s death.

Zuo Mo decided to use the simplest and crudest method to solve the problem.

Since Shi had united the Nether Realm like this back then, then he would do it as well!

At present, he had the ability.

He rode a Copper-Boned Nether Bird King. This Copper-Boned Nether Bird King was about the height of three people added together, the wingspan seven zhang, and enormous in stature. The bird did not have any feathers, and the copper bones were neatly arranged in rows. Its skin was thick, and it was strong, extremely fast, but it had a terrible temper. Usually, it was only willing to let An Mo ride it.

Yet when Zuo Mo rode the bird, it was unusually tame and obedient. The soldiers were extremely surprised.

When An Mo handed over the reins, he was about Zuo Mo’s safety so he stood by Zuo Mo’s side.

Zuo Mo picked out a gold crystal sword from his ring and waved it a few times. His movements looked unprofessional and made An Mo worry slightly.

Directing a battalion was not the same as fighting as an individual. He did not know what King’s skill in this area was. King had never shown it before.

“Are you prepared?” Zuo Mo asked without turning his head back.

An Mo shook. “Prepared!”

He glanced at Zuo Mo and asked carefully, “King, should we ask about the other’s origins?”

Zuo Mo glanced at An Mo and then moved his gaze away. “No need.”

Meeting King’s gaze, An Mo’s heart suddenly jumped. The coldness in King’s gaze was completely undisguised. Even he, a battle general that had been through hundreds of battles, felt completely cold all over.

Zuo Mo stared forward and said coldly, “Anyone that is in front of us is our enemy! Anyone that is our enemy shall surrender or die!”

An Mo suddenly felt a chill.

Sitting on the back of Copper-Boned Nether Bird King, Zuo Mo raised the gold crystal sword in his hand. The golden sword flashing with blinding light under the sun like the king’s banner.

Everyone raised the mo weapons in their hands with enthusiasm.

The mo weapons were like a forest and the killing intent rose into the sky!

Chapter 883 – The First Battle

The enemy clearly hadn’t thought that they would immediately start fighting without even exchanging a greeting. The mission they had received was to harass and delay the speed of Zuo Mo’s troops.

When Zuo Mo appeared at the front of the battalion, it caused a wave of exclamations from the enemy. What did this person want to do? The camp immediately shifted.

Zuo Mo didn’t even bat an eyelash. His upraised sword suddenly swung down!

“Kill!”

Zuo Mo charged out first against the enemy.

The generals shouted in unison, “Kill!”

The battalion that had been gathering their power charged out behind Zuo Mo like a overflowing dam!

The thunderous roars caused the enemy battalion to panic even more.

Zuo Mo’s face was cold and emotionless. Once again, he raised the sword in his hand.

Everyone unconsciously raised the mo weapons in their hands. King was like a power whirlpool. Their shen power was gathering towards King at an astounding rate!

They felt an indescribable sensation. Usually, they were the ones that sent shen power. This time, they felt as though their shen power was being drawn away.

It was this unique attractive force that made them send out their shen power without even thinking.

These experts of Western Jail Mansion were experienced in battle and reacted quickly. Many of them quickly detected a problem and their expressions suddenly changed!

The shen power that each of them had sent out just now was two times the usual amount!

Not good!

They almost jumped in alarm.

The mo fighting method was different from the other two races. In a mo battalion, each member would send shen power towards the battle general, the shen power would gather at the battle general, and then the battle general would release it in an attack. Due to the condensation of power, a mo battalion’s attack was extremely strong.

But the amount of shen power that each mo battalion member would sent out was strictly limited each time. This was the crucial aspect of a mo battalion’s skill. Using a one-thousand member battalion as an example, if every person sent slightly less shen power, the amount of shen power that would gather on the battle general would dramatically decrease. But if everyone sent just a little more shen power, it would be a calamity for the battle general. Shen power that surpassed the tolerance of the battle general’s body would cause the battle general to die.

This battalion had followed An Mo for a long time. An Mo’s powerful body allowed him to withstand an astounding amount of shen power. The amount of shen power they usually sent was already greater than other battalions.

Yet just now, they had seemed to be possessed, and the shen power they sent was twice the usual amount!

Even An Mo Daren would not be able to withstand such a terrifying amount of shen power!

The minds of these experienced Western Jail Mansion experts blanked in terror. They seemed to see King being overwhelmed by the shen power and explode into countless pieces.

The following scene stunned them dumb.

The scene in their eyes would be deeply imprinted in their minds. They would never forget in their lives. When they talked about the past glories with their descendants, this scene would always cause them to lose focus, and their bodies to shake, and lips to tremble.

On the back of the Copper-Boned Nether bird King, a terrifying amount of shen power shrouded King. Because the shen power was so thick, King’s figure even became blurry.

But that seemed to be an illusion. The blurry figure quickly became clear.

The shen power that was so concentrated it was almost tangible furiously flooded into the sword in his hand.

The upraised sword flashed with blinding golden light like a bright sun. They were not able to see the shape of the sword. King held the sun up high, his back straight as he looked down on the world.

Zuo Mo’s face seemed so cold and hardened, as if it was made from granite. His eyes were so bright people could not look directly at them. The eyes were filled with dominance and invasiveness.

As the shen power flooded into the gold flow sword, the sword turned into liquid metal. It could not tolerate shen power. But Zuo Mo did not seem to feel it. His eyes looked unmovingly at the enemies in front of him.

His right hand didn’t even change from how it had gripped the sword.

He could clearly see the terror and panic on the faces of the enemy. He could clearly see the openings in the battalion that had occurred due to chaos. He could see the enemy’s timidity and lack of fighting spirit.

His mind was unaffected.

He was King!

No one could stop him!

“Kill!”

The deep roar exploded in people’s minds like thunder, deep and with soul-shaking power.

The ball of light that was like a blinding sun in his hand moved down!

The ball of light that was a mix of shen power and liquid metal flew towards the enemy battalion.

The enemy battle general finally regained his clarity. His face was bloodless.

Motherf**er!

He swore in hopelessness. All of the information said that the new king was weak. He wanted to say to those people, open your eyes and see, this is weak?

But he knew that if he could not stop this attack, everyone would die here today!

He roared ferociously and charged towards the ball of light.

Just as he was about to collide with the ball of light, the light suddenly exploded.

No one could describe this attack!

The blinding ball of light suddenly exploded. Everyone suddenly felt their field of view turn completely white. When their vision recovered, a golden sea of light had completely consumed the enemy battalion. The liquid metal had turned into countless slender dark red lines that swept through in the golden sea of light piercing enemy ranks.

Everyone was astounded by the scene in front of them. They didn’t even feel their bodies trembling instinctively.

The weaker enemies had been immediately turned to dust by the golden light. The golden light was stunningly powerful, but what was truly frightening were the bright red slender threads. The gold flows of metal liquid had exploded into metal drops that were the size of beans. These metal droplets were expelled astoundingly fast from within the golden light, almost unstoppable, and able to penetrate multiple people in an instant.

The enemy battalion seemed to have been viciously shredded.

When the light dissipated, there were less than three hundred people standing in the enemy battalion. They were scattered around, their expressions blank as though they did not understand what had happened.

Everyone knew that these people were finished. This battalion was finished.

A short silence appeared on the battlefield.

The surviving enemies had not recovered from the first attack, and the Western Jail Mansion experts behind Zuo Mo had been completely stunned by Zuo Mo’s shocking attack.

“An Mo!”

The cold voice broke the battlefield’s deathly silence.

An Mo shook and his thoughts came back. His face still held traces of disbelief. If he had only felt loyal to Zuo Mo before due to loyalty to the king, now, he was completely won over by Zuo Mo.

He bowed on the mo steed as he responded, his voice trembling slightly, “Present!”

“Fifteen minutes, clear the battlefield!”

Zuo Mo’s tone was unquestionable and decisive.

An Mo was not discontent at all. He accepted his orders without hesitation. “Yes!”

He turned and picked a few dozen steeds to charge towards the enemy battalion. When they came in front of the enemy battalion, those remaining survivors seemed to not realize the arrival of death. They stood there soullessly in shock.

An Mo’s heart felt a wave of coldness. He knew that King’s attack just now had completely destroyed these people’s spirits. Even if these people survived, they would never step on to the battlefield again.

Fei Lei’s body shook. His eyes were wide as he stared at the scattered battle formation. He did not know that his face was covered in tears.

King!

This was a king!

He finally saw the birth of the mo’s new king!

Everyone was completely won over by the domineering attack. Such a strong attack, this was King! Even they would not be able to do anything against this attack.

He willingly submitted. He suddenly felt that it was good fortune and glory to be able to participate in this campaign.

Liang Wei’s mouth was wide but he could not make a sound. The blood had completely left his face. His fists were balled tightly, and he didn’t even feel his fingernails biting into his flesh.

While he was humble on the surface, he was still proud inside. This pride came from his strength. His present strength was that of a top battle general. Facing any kind of situation, he would not be left without any solution. This was the source of his confidence.

Yet Zuo Mo’s attack give him an unparalleled blow and shock.

He found that, no matter what method he used, he would not be able to withstand this blow.

In front of absolute power, his plans and tactics were of no use at all. This conclusion was a great blow to him.

How was it possible … …

How could there be such an unreasonable attack in this world?

Yes, unreasonable!

No matter how you responded, no matter what formation you used, no matter how you moved, the other only needed this one attack!

A feeling of helplessness that he never had rose.

Liang Wei had a grimace on his face.

“This is god-level! So strong!” Pu Yao murmured, slightly unfocused.

While Zuo Mo had rescued them, the process of being rescued was not as shocking and spectacular as the attack displayed in front of them.

Wei quickly recovered. He noticed Liang Wei’s grimaced. “Liang Wei has received a great blow to his confidence this time.”

Zuo Mo’s unreasonable attack had completely upended the battle general system that Liang Wei had studied for so long. The blow was unparalleled.

Pu Yao’s thoughts came back and he recovered his calm. “No one can help him on this. If he could overcome this mental barrier, then he can truly elevate himself to the same level as Gongsun Cha and BIe Han.”

“His skill right now isn’t bad,” Wei said.

“A great battle general needs a big heart,” Pu Yao said coolly.

“A Zuo is really strong now!” Wei couldn’t help but praise. His tone was filled with accomplishment. Even they had not thought that Zuo Mo would grow to such a level.

“He is fated to be king!” Pu Yao said seriously.

The battlefield was quickly cleaned up. An Mo’s strength against these defeated soldiers was destructive.

No one was left alive on the enormous battlefield.

Everyone looked towards Zuo Mo with heated gazes. Nothing was more powerful than the truth. Starting from this battle, everyone believe that this was the journey of legend. No one could stop them!

Fight their way to Nether King Palace!

On the back of the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King, Zuo Mo’s expression was still cold as he sat like a statue. His expression had not changed after the victory.

Under everyone’s heated gaze, Zuo Mo once again took out a gold flow sword.

Without any flourish, the sword pointed forward. The cold order was like flame that caused everyone’s fighting spirits to rise.

“Advance!”

Chapter 884 – Advance!

“Advance!”

“All troops, advance!”

The cold order was like the hottest flame in a world of snow, causing every person’s passion to burn. Zuo Mo did not look at the corpse covered battlefield and charged at the front.

A vicious bronze mask hid his face. This emotionless face combined with the cold commands caused him to appear every more terrifying. His black cape flapped in the wind like dancing black flames.

The shouts of the battle generals rose and fell. They were soaked in sweat that evaporated in streams of mist. They waved their strong arms, their eyes wide, as they motivated their troops.

“Pay attention to the rank shape!

“Advance, do not fall behind!”

“Keep up!”

Every member gritted their teeth as they furiously urged on the mo steeds under them. Their gazes were locked onto the figure at the very front of the battalion with passion in their eyes.

The entire army was like a raging metallic flood that push forward at an astounding speed in the sky.

Seeing their shocking presence people would believe that any battalion that dared to stand in their way would be flattened immediately.

Advance! Advance! Advance!

No one can stop us!

Fighting spirit burned in everyone’s eyes. The wind howled in their ears. These battle-hungry and brave mo experts steered their mo steeds and continued to maintain a perfect offensive formation.

Far in the horizon, an enormous battalion entered their field of view. This battalion was more than ten thousand people, it was definitely a big battalion.

The distance between the two quickly decreased. At the front, King had no intentions of slowing down.

Suddenly, a large sword appeared in King’s hand!

Everyone’s spirit suddenly reached a peak. They all knew what King’s action meant.

This was the signal for battle!

King accelerated!

Everyone urged on their mo steeds to keep up with King’s speed. The wind rumbled in their ears, their blood vessels expanded, their blood boiled, the shen power in their bodies was restless.

The enemy hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would not consider the great enemy number and still decided to charge!

This battalion’s presence as it charged was astounding!

Even with the battle generals in command, the subordinate members still instinctively panicked. They had never seen such a furious and focused charge!

Zuo Mo suddenly raised the sword in his hand. The cold and grave shout spread through the entire battlefield.

“Kill!”

The people behind him raised their mo weapons and angrily shouted, “Kill!”

The large sword in Zuo Mo’s hand seemed to immediately light up. Under the blinding golden light, Zuo Mo was like a god of war descending to the mortal world!

Zuo Mo’s sword came down!

The blinding golden light entered the enemy battalion and suddenly exploded!

The golden sea of light consumed a great number of enemies. Countless drops of golden liquid metal ripped through the enemy battalion, and a large part of the enemy battalion immediately fell down.

Another sword appeared on Zuo Mo’s hand.

He raised it again!

“Kill!”

He charged at the front towards the enemy battalion!

“Kill!”

Everyone shouted angrily and followed closely behind him. The metal flood charged furiously and smashed into the enemy battle formation without any finesse!

In that instant, limbs and bodies flew everywhere.

No one could stop one of Zuo Mo’s attacks. Zuo Mo was like a powerful bull that charged back and forth in the enemy ranks. With every ball of light he threw out, an empty are of ground would appear in front of him.

The gold flow swords could not withstand the shen power. Almost the moment they were brought out, they would turn to liquid. Zuo Mo was not frugal. The liquid metal contained terrifying power, there were many of them and so they were the best weapons.

Zuo Mo only felt the surroundings were full of enemies. He did not care. He only threw out the golden balls of light rapidly.

The handfuls of golden metal liquid filled with shen power formed a killing net that was inescapable.

The enemies were cleaved down like wheat. But then they charged over from all directions and were cut down again … …

Zuo Mo’s eyes were filled with blood. The rhythm of his hands increased and he continued to charge.

Charge!

A furious and sudden charge!

The enemy was not able to muster up an effective resistance. Even though countless people threw themselves furiously at Zuo Mo, they were still not able to stop the charge, not even able to delay Zuo Mo for a few seconds!

Zuo Mo’s vision suddenly cleared.

Zuo Mo stilled and then realized. They had penetrated the enemy formation!

They won!

He led the battalion to quickly turn around and faced the enemy battalion’s back. The enemy battle formation was in chaos. They had not managed to turn around. There was a great hole in the battle formation. Inside the hole, corpses were piled up in mountains. That was a path of blood created by Zuo Mo’s charge.

Zuo Mo suddenly raised the sword he had just placed in his hand.

“Kill!”

The people following behind him had bloodshot eyes. They raised their mo weapons and shouted angrily, “Kill!”

Zuo Mo’s sword quickly turned bright and the ball of light expanded!

It was unprecedentedly bright!

The size of the ball of light was two times what it had been before!

The golden ball of light was like a sun that had fallen from the sky and landed in the enemy’s chaotic battle formation.

Boom!

The blinding light illuminated the world!

Terrifying vibrations of power came. Even An Mo and the others felt slight stinging pain.

When the light dissipated, there was nothing left alive on the ground.

“How is it? Are you still managing?” Fei Lei wiped his face as he asked in concern. His entire body had been soaked in sweat a long time ago.

Liang Wei panted furiously as he tried to calm his breathing. His throat burned, his mind completely blank. Moments later, he felt as though he had recovered slightly. He squeezed out a smile, “Still alright!”

Beside him, the other yao battle generals panted like fish out of the water. The bodies of yao could not compare to the mo. Their physical bodies were weak. This shortcoming was evident in such a sustained and rapid pace of battle.

Too fast!

This pace!

Liang Wei did not believe it. Even in his long journey back when he invaded xiuzhe territory, the pace of battle and the intensity was a fraction of this.

The King’s Horn was only responsible for the flanks and their mission responsibility was much lighter. Many times, they only needed to keep up with the pace of the main troop. But even so, almost all of them were exhausted.

The main group that King led was even more terrifying. Their record was destroying twelve battalions in a single day!

This battalion was like lightning. No one could stop them! A battalion of a thousand would not be able to delay them for long. Usually, after the destructive charge, the enemy battalion would have shattered and turned to dust.

Later on, King even stopped wasting time on eliminating the survivors.

Charge!

A furious charge!

This kind of speed had never appeared in this history of war.

It was not reasonable!

Not reasonable at tall!

But this unreasonable charge was one that no battalion was able to stop. Liang Wei gradually moved from the initial shock and disbelief into acceptance.

However … …

Liang Wei’s gaze unconsciously landed on King. King was sitting on the back of the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King as though he had never moved.

Wasn’t King tired?

Could one person’s power reach such a level?

Liang Wei wandered off into his thoughts.

Zuo Mo jumped off the back of the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King. No one had managed to stop them from advancing for seven days and nights. The morale was at a peak, but Zuo Mo knew that their bodies were also completely exhausted.

Even An Mo’s face showed rare traces of exhaustion.

“Rest today, we will depart tomorrow morning, there is no need to arrange for patrols.” Zuo Mo ordered.

No one doubted his orders. Everyone took all the time they could to recover their shen power.

The entire camp was silent.

Sunshine passed through the ranks, spreading green light. When the green light entered the bodies of those injured, their wounds quickly disappeared.

Zuo Mo was not idle. He had not used up a lot of energy. The recovery rate of a god-level expert was something that other people couldn’t imagine. He took out materials from the ring and started to focus on forging shen equipment.

The sun shen fire was extremely tame in his hands.

This was the first time he was forging after his shen power had recovered. The feeling was different once again. In the past, he had the god-level cultivation but he had no shen power. He had been very limited.

The feeling of being unrestrained was so good!

Under his thoughts, shen power manifested into complex and fine patterns that rained into the fire.

Moments later, a grey shen equipment was finished. The shen equipment was not beautiful and refined. It had clean and rough lines as though the item had been casually pieced together from bones. It looked very simple. However, each bone was covered in exquisite patterns that imbued it with beauty.

After the first item was finished, Zuo Mo’s speed started to accelerate.

Later, he was able to forge multiple pieces at the same time.

He didn’t hold back on any of the high level nether materials that he had gotten from Shi. He threw them all into the shen equipment. From fighting in the last few days, he found that the shen equipment of his subordinates were terrible in quality. Soon, the shen equipment piled up into a little mountain in front of him.

He did not rest and continued to forge

When the sun rose from the horizon and the first ray of sunlight broke the darkness.

An Mo and the others woke up. They were stunned by the mountain of shen equipment in front of them!

The morning light fell on Zuo Mo’s body. Even though he wore a mask, they could still feel his focus and effort. Inside the flickering flame, a piece of shen equipment was quickly taking form.

King had not rested, and had been forging shen equipment for them the entire night!

“King … …” An Mo bit his lips. He was filled with emotion. He only had one thought, even if King told him to go die right now, he would not hesitate.

“Have everyone put it on, prepare to depart.” Zuo Mo’s tone was as icy as usual.

If they had only followed and revered King because of his terrifying power before, now, in this moment, everyone swore inside that they would forever follow their king!

They took off their damaged shen equipment. After the continuous battles of seven days and nights, their shen equipment was covered in dents and damage in many places.

After they put on the new shen equipment, the entire battalion was transformed.

These mo experts caressed their shen equipment and grinned dumbly.

High morale, a strong formation, they all gave off great confidence and had strong fighting spirit.

In seven short days, Zuo Mo lead them on a string of victories that seemed like a legend, he had transformed this battalion. They were heated, strong, fearless. They had confidence they could defeat any opponent. Their strong belief meant that they would not surrender even in the most hopeless of situations.

All Hail The King!

Chapter 885 - The Last Chance

Fei Lei looked at the shen equipment of An Mo and the others with a heated gaze. The people around him had similar gazes. When the crude and simple grey shen equipment was completely put on, it gave off a strong feeling of murderousness.

Like a battalion that had stepped out of hell!

Everyone was knowledgeable and they could see the extraordinary nature of the shen equipment. Also, King had created them! Just that alone meant that they were the symbols of glory!

After resting for a night, Liang Wei was much better. He glanced at Fei Lei and said with a smile, “Stop yearning, after we get earn some victories, King will also forge shen equipment for us.”

Fei Lei reluctantly moved his gaze away. He balled his fist and said strongly, “Yes! We have to obtain a great victory! Outcompete these people!”

They were envious but they did not feel it was unjust. They had seen the hardship of the main battle force in these past days, and their own fighting was much less.

But Liang Wei was not discouraged. After resting, he finally digested the shock of the past few days. After adjusting his mentality, Liang Wei started to shine with his own light.

“The big fight is still ahead.” Liang Wei’s eyes narrowed. “Haven’t you noticed that the enemies we encounter in the last few days have grown fewer?”

“Yes! They’re frightened! Who would have expected King to be so strong!” Fei Lei said with humor. He had an expression of pride as though he shared in the glory.

Liang Wei nodded. “Yes! King is strong, and ferocious in the charge, no one can rival him! If I was the enemy, I will not set up obstacles like this again, I will try to gather more battalions, and more power for a final battle with King as soon as possible.”

Fei Lei shook his head. “No one can stop King!”

His voice was filled with strong confidence. In these past days, he had seen how Zuo Mo had led the battalion to rush through the enemy battalions. He believed that no one would be able to withstand such a charge.

“Yes, usually, they will not be able to stop it. However, what if it is one hundred thousand people? Two hundred thousand people?” Liang Wei asked.

Fei Lei stopped breathing. He had never seen one hundred or two hundred thousand people before. He could not imagine it. A ten-thousand strong battalion already covered the sky. One hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, how terrifying would the scene be!

Just thinking about it made his scalp prickle.

“Is Northern Plains Ice Mansion so strong?” Fei Lei asked uncertainty.

Liang Wei’s expression was serious. “That will be their last chance. If they do not do this, they will not even have a last chance. They have been forced to the precipice.”

Liang Wei’s words were correct. Northern Plains Ice Mansion had been forced to the edge of the cliff. Before this, the reason the opposing faction had grown was because people doubted and distrusted the abilities of the new king. The new king was weak, he was not enough to become king. The rumors had been numerous. While people had been secretly fanning the flames from the shadows, it was still the truth that the new king did not have a strong reputation.

However, the sudden advance of seven days and nights had surpassed people’s imagination and completely destroyed the rumors that the new king was weak.

The new king was weak?

No one would think that ever again.

The charge had been furious and powerful, shaking all of Nether Realm! This charge which could be called a miracle could rival the old nether king’s battle to unite the Nether Realm.

The opposing camp quickly collapsed. No matter what, the new king was the appointed successor by the old nether king. His legitimacy was undoubted. As long as the new king showed the power of a king, the great majority of factions would choose to support him.

In this, Northern Plains Ice Mansion was at a absolute disadvantage.

Zuo Mo used this method to prove his strength and defend his status as the Nether King. If Hai Xin Bing did not quickly change this, her situation would grow increasingly worse.

Northern Plains Ice Mansion would become the rebels that tried to challenge the right of the king. This would cause their supporters to quickly abandon them.

The old Nether King had ruled Nether Realm for ten whole years. His influence was enormous. If it wasn’t for the fact that the new king was unfamiliar and no one had heard of him, if the successor had been An Mo, the opposing voices would not have been so strong.

Only by defeating the new king would Northern Plains Ice Mansion reverse the situation.

“Should we notify the king?” Worry appeared on Fei Lei’s face.

Liang Wei shook his head. “No need, this is most likely King’s true intentions.”

Fei Lei was astounded. “Wouldn’t this be too much of a risk?”

“King wants to end this in one battle,” Liang Wei said gravely.

“It’s too risky!” Fei Lei continued to shake his head. “I feel that even if the enemy only has fifty thousand, and the battalions are not too low in quality, we will be in great trouble.”

Liang Wei did not argue. Fei Lei’s speculation was accurate. The two had worked as partners for many years and knew each other well. Fei Lei’s talent as a battle general was not outstanding, but he was experienced. He would not have spectacular displays, but he would not make any low-level mistakes. He would not make a mistake in a judgement like this.

Based on the power that King showed in these past days, if the enemy had fifty thousand, they would have a chance to delay them.

If the enemy had a well-trained battalion of a hundred thousand, it was likely that they would sink into a bog. If the enemy battalion reached one hundred and fifty thousand, they would be at a disadvantage. If the enemy battalion was two hundred thousand, their chances of victory were close to zero.

The question now was, could Hai Xin Bing gather so many?

The battle for the throne of Nether Realm attracted everyone in Nether Realm. This was directly related to their benefits. Under the rule of the old Nether King, they had enjoyed ten years of peace and Nether realm had risen to become one of the strongest powers in the world.

They treasured the lives they had now.

Due to this, when the old Nether King appointed an unknown person as the successor, this was opposed by almost everyone.

Yet a few short days passed, and without realizing it, the tide had turned.

Seven days and nights, without a moment of rest, a lightning fast advance.

Under the hoofs of the new king, countless battalions wailed, struggled and were stomped into the dust!

The new king’s unparalleled individual power and courageous style immediately increased the number of his supported. Even the old nether king had not been so powerful in the past.

A new legend was being formed right in front of them.!

This lightning fast advance that would enter the history books had never occurred in the history of mo before.

The new king was so powerful!

The Nether Realm mo innately respected the strong. Countless people were in awe of the new king. The mo were so simple. If you were strong enough, they would fear you and submit to you!

All of Nether Realm was discussing the legendary lightning advance.

The opposing voices seemed to have disappeared in the span of a night. However, those that were more perceptively warily maintained neutrality.

They knew that Hai Xin Bing had been forced to a precipice, a true precipice!

Everyone shuddered at the terrifying power of the new king. Even inside Northern Plains Ice Mansion, many people were filled with terror. A hopelessness started to spread.

Hai Xin Bing only had one last chance.

If she could not stop the new king, after the new king ascended, the first thing he would target would be Northern Plains Ice Mansion. At that time, the authority of the new king would have stabilized, Nether Realm would have submitted, and Hai Xin Bing would die.

She needed to prove she was stronger than the new king before the new king reached Nether King Palace!

The atmosphere in Northern Plains Ice Mansion was extremely low and tense. In a blink, the situation had reversed. They had originally thought that victory was in their grasp, and suddenly, they were at the end of their road.

No one had thought that the new king had resolved the situation in such a way!

Simple! Brutal! Without any finesse!

A few days ago, they had laughed at the new king for being stupid and not knowing his limits, that he was bashing his head against rocks. When the third day came, no one was able to laugh.

They knew just how many battalions they had sent on this path.

On the seventh day, each of them only felt terror, unparalleled terror!

How could someone be so strong!

How could they!

The mirages of the battles at the front lines were passed back to Northern Plains Ice Mansion. In the images, that inhuman existence caused each person’s soul to tremble!

No one was a match for one of his attacks!

With the power of a single person, he killed an entire battalion!

A battalion of tens of thousands was fragile like paper in front of him. He easily passed through them and defeated them in one blow!

Even Hai Xin Bing was silent when she saw this scene. No one knew her hands that were hidden in her sleeves were imperceptibly trembling.

The shock she felt was even stronger. An Mo who was on the same level as her appeared dim next to the new king. However, she still noticed that An Mo’s attacks were still so sharp and powerful, even more powerful than she had imagined!

Only today did she know that An Mo had hidden his strength.

But no one would look at An Mo. No one would feel An Mo was powerful. Everyone’s gaze would only be attracted by one figure.

That new king who was like demon ascending to the mortal world!

Hai Xin Bing had seen the strength of the old Nether King before. In her eyes, the old Nether King was unfathomable. You never knew if the power he showed was his limit.

What the new king displayed was a completely different kind of presence.

An unprecedented dominance!

He moved like a colossus, flattening everything in his path. In front of him, you would unconsciously feel as small as an ant, and could not muster any fighting spirit.

“We have mobilized all battalions,” Zhu Nan Yue said calmly.

Hai Xin Bing recovered a thread of calmness. She looked with admiration at her trusted general. Of everyone, Zhu Nan Yue was the calmest.

“How many people?” Her tone was calm.

“Two hundred and fifty thousand!” Zhu Nan Yue’s eyes burned.

She was also shocked at the new king’s power, but when she thought of fighting against such a powerful opponent, she didn’t feel any fear, and her blood heated at the idea!

“Where will the location of the final battle be?” Hai Xin Bing’s terror was pushed away. She was not a normal person, and her tone became determined.

“Nether King River!” Zhu Nan Yue said three words.

Viciousness flashed through Hai Xin Bing’s eyes. She suddenly stood and said with steel, “Nether King River! Good! Then let this battle choose the true Nether King!”

Everyone stood in unison, the hesitation and fear in their eyes completely disappearing. What replaced those emotions was the belief to die!

Final battle!

Chapter 886 – Presence

Naturally, Northern Plains Ice Mansion could not conceal such a large-scale mobilization  of its battalions.

Hai Xin Bing had not planned to conceal it. At this point, both sides were fighting based on their pure strength. There wasn’t any subtlety or stratagem to speak of. At this time, there was no meaning in keeping trump cards.

For both sides, at least in this battle, there was no difference between the their positions. They were both fighting with their backs to the wall.

Hai Xin Bing gathered all the battalions that she could move, including all the battalions from Eastern Nether Mansion that had joined her and those factions that had sided with Northern Plains Ice Mansion early on. At this time, many of these factions felt extremely bitter. They had originally thought that the new king would not be able to match Hai Xin Bing. Who knew that the new king was more powerful than they had imagined.

But at this point, they would not be allowed to retreat. If Hai Xin Bing was defeated, they would be killed as well. Due to this, their resolve to fight was unshakable.

They were fighting to survive.

Hai Xin Bing hoped to survive, the remaining members of Eastern Nether Mansion hoped to survive, they hoped to survive.

More and more battalions departed for Nether King River.

In the history of the mo, never had such a large battle occurred, similarly such a powerful and domineering advance had occurred before.

The battalions rushed over from all directions.

The mood of Nether Realm had was tense.

Hai Xin Bing had setup the main command tent on the banks of the Nether River. The battalions hurriedly gathered from all over.

“Nether Lord!” A middle-aged person bowed respectfully to Hai Xin Bing. Behind him was a well-trained battalion. Each member of this battalion had a verdant green leaf at the center of their foreheads. Their expressions were cold, and gave off a powerful presence.

They were the famed Forest Roaming Clan Battalion. The Forest Roaming Clan lived deep in the forest and rarely interacted with the outside world. However, they were great fighters, strong and famous.

Hai Xin Bing had once saved the life of the previous leader of the Forest Roaming Clan and had a great favor owed to her. No one had known of this relationship. She thought of it as a trump card and had been unwilling to use it. But at this time, she did not hesitate in using this trump card.

“Thank you!” Hai Xin Bing showed a gentle smile.

Hai Xin Bing was tall, possessed a pair of blue eyes, and had fine and white skin. She was authoritative and gave people the feeling of being an icy beauty. When she smiled now, it was like a warm spring wind.

This middle-aged person was Man Zhen, and the present leader of the Forest Roaming Clan as well as the son of the past leader. He had the most leaves on his forehead, three, and he gave off a savage presence like that of a wild beast.

Man Zhen was not of many words. After the greeting, he moved to the side. Zhu Nan Yue moved forward and started to arrange where the Forest Roaming Clan would set up camp.

Hai Xin Bing was relieved that the Forest Roaming Clan could arrive in time. Man Zhen had brought along ten thousand of the Forest Roaming Clan elite. This battalion was powerful, and were on par with the strongest battalions of Northern Plains Ice Mansion.

Few knew just how many factions Hai Xin Bing had recruited and maintained good relationship with over the years.

They could only see an endless stream of battalions continue to advance towards Nether King River.

The battalions surroundings Hai Xin Bing’s tent grew in number.

“It’s the seventy-fourth battalion!”

As this was said, the little shop exploded into conversation. This struggle over the control of the Nether Realm had reached the final battle. It attracted the attention of every citizen of Nether Realm. No Nether Realm mo was able to ignore the matter. The word “king” had a holy meaning among the mo.

Without realizing it, people’s acceptance of the new king increased. From the conversations in the little shop, it could be seen that there were more supporters of the new king. Hai Xin Bing was a warlord in everyone’s eyes, but she did not qualify to be king.

If Hai Xin Bing qualified to become king, why hadn’t the old Nether King chosen her?

This was the phrase that many supporters of the new king used. The supporters of the new king increased by the day. That advance over seven days and nights was too domineering! So domineering that the ferocious mo admired it!

It must be very enjoyable to be led by such a domineering king!

This thought could not be pushed from the minds of many people.

In comparison, Hai Xin Bing who had the most support at the start was looked down on. Maybe Hai Xin Bing had a stronger faction, but she definitely could not be so domineering. As to the identity of the new king, oh, who cared about that now? The old nether king had also come out of nowhere. Who knew the origins of the old Nether King?

Yet the problem now was if the new king could not make it through Hai Xin Bing’s challenge, he could not ascend to the throne.

The old Nether King built the Nether King Palace as the symbol of the king’s power.

“Hai Xin Bing hid too deeply! She has so many supporters!’

“Yes! They’ve surpassed two hundred thousand!”

Someone quickly gave a precise answer, “ Two hundred twenty thousand!”

Hiss, everyone inside the little shop inhaled sharply. A battalion of two hundred twenty thousand. That should cover the ground and the sky, appearing endless in view. The people in the little shop found that their poor imaginations were not enough to imagine such a scene.

“It will surpass two hundred fifty hundred thousand. We just received news that nine more battalions are nearing Nether King River.”

The little shop immediately became silent.

A long time later, someone murmured, “Is no one helping the new king?”

An even longer silence.

No one knew.

“Preparations done!” The two balls of flame in Gu Wu Shuang’s empty eye sockets flickered.

The other four turned to look at the Ghost Lord.

The Ghost Lord said expressionlessly, “Then depart!”

“Boss, you will not reconsider?” Si Du couldn’t resist asking. Other people might not understand the present situation, but they saw it clearly.

Hai Xin Bing was prepared to have a final battle with the new king, but in reality, she lost. Even if she won, she could not ascend to the throne! This was strange, but it was true. If she defeated the new king, she would become the most powerful person in Nether Realm, yet she would not be able to become king!

And if the new king beat her, he would become the undoubted king.

Presence, Hai Xin Bing did not have the presence of a king. Or rather, Hai Xin Bing’s presence lost completely to the knew king’s presence.

In the view of the Yin Tomb Five Ghosts, they had no need to participate in this final battle. The chances the new king could win this final battle was pitifully low. All the power that Hai Xin Bing had worked to accumulate over the years had been invested into this life and death battle.

Their intelligence was more accurate. According to their estimates, in the end, Hai Xin Bing would gather a battalion that would surpass three hundred thousand!

Even they shuddered at this number.

Almost half of the elite fighting forces in Nether Realm had been gathered by Hai Xin Bing! Her power surpassed all of their expectations. Now, it seemed that Jia Man who had been called the most ambitious was lacking compared to this woman.

However, Hai Xin Bing would have to pay a great price to win against the terrifying power that the new king showed in battle.

The expected result was great losses on both sides.

This was the best result for the Yin Tomb Guards. They believed that the Nether Lord You Zhe also thought the same. They hadn’t expected the Ghost Lord would give orders to move out and support the new king.

The Yin Tomb Ghost Lord looked expressionlessly at Gu Wu Shuang and spoke in his unique dissonant voice, “Do you know why King trusted me to guard the Ten Thousand Tombs of the Underworld?”

“Because I was born here,” the Ghost Lord said coolly, “and this is the homeland of King.”

The Yin Tomb Five Ghosts were dumbstruck.

“Depart!”

The grey Yin Tomb Guards moved out of their base. Not one person was left.

“It’s been too long since I moved. Even my belly is bigger,” You Zhe lamented. He had gotten a size bigger.

In front of him, his first commander, Ma Wei, stood with a respectful gaze. The entire battalion was prepared to depart.

“Ah, Hai Xin Bing, you’re so worrisome. You have created such a great fuss, even my old bones have to act,” You Zhe muttered his thoughts. “Originally, I hadn’t planned on acting, why fight? When was King’s judgement ever wrong? All right, let’s go. I don’t know if we will make it in time. Hai Xin Bing is insane, does she want the unified Nether Realm to end? If you want to fight to be king, fight, don’t be like this. Do you know why King did not act against me? Because while I go with the wind, I have a bottom line … …”

As he murmured to himself, he struggled to climb onto the chariot. “Let’s go.”

The battalion marched.

The news that Hai Xin Bing had amassed an army of over two hundred thousand was proven. The mood of the troop immediately became grave. Liang Wei and An Mo were all skilled battle generals.They knew what this meant.

No matter how they calculated, their chances of victory in this battle was minuscule, so minuscule it was insignificant.

Regardless of how brave the new king was, how strong his individual power was, he could not win against such a strong army. If King was alone, based on his outstanding individual power, there would be no problems for him to flee safely.

But the problem was that this was a final battle from which he could not retreat.

They had slowed down. King seemed to be purposefully giving the enemy time to gather. But when the enemy army surpassed two hundred thousand, no one was able to remain calm.

They were courageous, but not stupid. The difference in power between the two sides was too great.

The knew that the reason that they had been unstoppable these past days was because of King’s outstanding abilities. A battalion of two hundred thousand, even King would not have a chance of victory.

Liang Wei and An Mo were panicked.

Zuo Mo did not seem to be in a hurry. Since the battalion stopped, he started to forge.

Everyone felt it strange. Why was King forging shen equipment at such an important time? Even the most powerful shen equipment, even if it was a shen device, would be of minimal effect at this time.

Yet King ignored the enemy and completely focused on forging.

Chapter 887 – Facing Off

A golden square box floated silently in the flames and was covered in countless exquisite patterns.

The flames disappeared and the gold box flew into Zuo Mo’s hand. The box was exactly the size of Zuo Mo’s palm. A warmth came from the square box. Zuo Mo felt connected to the box and this made him smile.

“Starting from today, you will be called [King’s Domain]!”

This was the shen equipment Zuo Mo was most satisfied with. Ever since he obtained that shen device nucleus, he had thought about how to forge a shen equipment for himself. At present he could be called the top forger but he didn’t have his own shen device, an odd juxtaposition. Normal talismans would immediately collapse in his hands, like the gold crystal sword.

An Mo and Liang Wei were panicking like ants set on a fire. They could not understand why King was still forging at such an important time. That dark gold box looked ordinary and had no presence.

“King!” An Mo said urgently.

Zuo Mo nodded towards him and flew onto the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King. “We can talk as we travel.”

An Mo was even more panicked. “King! Hai Xin Bing has gathered a great army of over three hundred thousand! If we go now, that will only be death … …”

“Are you afraid of death?” Zuo Mo asked bluntly.

An Mo stilled. He hadn’t thought that King would ask this. He answered seriously, “This subordinate is not afraid of death, but of a death without meaning.”

“Yes.” Zuo Mo nodded. Under the bronze mask, no expression could be seen. He said coolly, “Depart.”

“King!” An Mo panicked.

“King, the Yin Tomb Guards and Nether Lord You Zhe’s battalion is hurrying over. How about waiting for them … …” Liang Wei said.

“We won’t wait. I have limited time,” Zuo Mo said coolly and then flew into the sky.

An Mo and Liang Wei stared at each other. They couldn’t understand what was going on with King! If they went now, they would die without a doubt! Three hundred thousand! They didn’t believe that King would not be able to understand this. But King still insisted on doing so. Did King have some trump card?

They had discussed this before but no matter how hard they thought, they could not think of any way to defeat an army of three hundred thousand!

An Mo gritted his teeth. “At worst, we will die together with King!”

He got onto his mo steed after he spoke and then chased after Zuo Mo.

“It is so curious,” Liang Wei murmured. He was almost sure now that King definitely had other plans. But he could not guess. What were King’s other plans?

The King’s Horn immediately moved as well.

Along the way, they did not encounter any more obstacles. The path was unusually smooth.

Hai Xin Bing had realised the mistake of her previous strategy. Her delay tactic had created the new king’s legendary advance, and pushed the new king’s reputation to an astounding height.

Without any obstacles, Zuo Mo’s group moved quickly.

There were scouts set up along the road. The mission of these scouts was to keep track of the new king’s troops. These scouts were not all Hai Xin Bing’s subordinates. All of Nether Realm was paying close attention to this final battle.

When Zuo Mo once again led his troops to advance like before, countless factions were shocked. Even an ignorant person knew Hai Xin Bing had set up a great net up ahead. An army of three hundred thousand, that was almost half of Nether Realm’s elite battalions.

This was a power that made people tremble.

No one could win!

Using force against force was the stupidest choice. In many people’s opinions, the new king should step back, avoid Hai Xin Bing’s forces and go around them. Such a large army was all the power that Hai Xin Bing had gathered for many years but it could not be maintained for long. The new king had the support of the old nether King. Now that he showed the people of Nether Realm his power and strength, his situation was much better than Hai Xin Bing.

The new king only needed to avoid Hai Xin Bing, delay for a while, and Hai Xin Bing’s army of three hundred thousand would quickly collapse.

That was the strategic method.

But the new king rashly advanced towards Nether King River like a moth to a flame!

Almost everyone saw his predicted outcome. Even more people felt that the new king was a brute with courage but no skill!

The new king would die!

Sorrow spread among the people. After the victorious seven day advance, they had thought that the new king would be like the old Nether King and be an unrivaled hero. But now, they thought he was only a brute. If the new king died, Hai Xin Bing did not qualify to become king, and the Nether Realm would once again become leaderless.

This was the greatest sorrow.

For ten years, they had lived a peaceful life. No battle, their lives were calm, Nether Realm was united. The direction the King’s banner pointed was the direction they advanced in.

Look at Hundred Savage realm. That place was so chaotic and filled with endless battle. The major factions warred with each other, and people died every day.

Low spirits and bewilderment spread in Nether Realm.

Was an era truly about to end?

Was ten years of peace all they would have?.

“He’s charging towards here?” Hai Xin Bing stilled and asked instinctively, “Did the Yin Tomb Guards and You Zhe already arrive?”

“No!” Zhu nan Yue’s eyes flashed with puzzlement.

“Strange!” Hai Xin Bing pondered this. “He doesn’t appear like a person without brains!”

Zhu Nan Yue didn’t speak but she agreed.

How could a person that forced them to such a state, and had grabbed the only chance to resolve the situation when he was surrounded by enemies be a person without brains? It was the opposite. Zhu Nan Yue saw decisiveness, intelligence, bravery and hardiness from that person.

She had followed Hai Xin Bing from childhood and they were like sisters. This bond was the only reason she was willing to be enemies with such a person.

The other definitely had other plans!

“He has to have other plans!” Hai Xin Bing felt uneasy, like an invisible pressure weighing on her mind. She could not understand the enemy’s actions at all.

“Maybe there are spies?’ Zhu Nan Yue reminded.

“You are right!’ Hai Xin Bing was startled. “You have to prepare for that.”

Zhu Nan Yue looked in shock at Hai Xin Bing. She had never seen the Nether Lord so panicked before. In her mind, the Nether Lord was always calm and composed. Now, she was panicking just because of one poorly understood move that the enemy had made.

The pressure the enemy gave the Nether Lord was so strong!

The shock that Zhu Nan Yue felt could be imagined.

The scouts reported at a rapid pace, departing and landing constantly, to report of the enemy’s position.

“Report! The enemy is estimated to be a day’s travel away!”

“Report! The enemy is accelerating! Estimated arrival is in twelve hours!”

“Report! Four hours!”

As the enemy came closer to nether King River, the atmosphere suddenly grew tense. The pressure of the impending battle caused the entire army to tense. Everyone became nervous. Even those battle generals that had been through hundreds of battles had stern faces and threads of worry.

The other was clearly only two battalions, and not even ten thousand people.

But for some reason, an invisible yet great pressure was on each person’s mind.

The other’s unusual action caused each person’s nerves to be on edge. The enemy was not unknown. He had proven his strength.

The more unusual it was, the more people were wary.

The army of three hundred thousand prepared to face a great enemy.

The sounds gradually disappeared. They unconsciously closed their mouths. They instinctively gripped their mo weapons, and the mood was unusually nervous and strict.

When a group of black dots appeared in the distance, everyone’s hearts jumped.

“They’ve come!”

The army shifted and the roar of the battle generals came in waves.

“Be alert!”

“Prepare to fight!”

“Be prepared, do not slack off at the crucial time!”

The little black dots arrived with a strangely quick speed. In a blink, they felt their visions darken and the enemy was already close to them. The enemy were clearly not even ten thousand in number but when they advanced at such a high speed, it made people feel as though there were tens of thousands roaring and charging at them.

Everyone’s hearts uncontrollably shook!

Was this the flood of metal that no one could stop for seven days and nights?

Seeing the enemy about to step into their attack range, every battle generals’ expression became stern and nervous. They waited to attack as the other to stepped into their attack range!

The enemy suddenly stopped!

Stopped without any warning. From a fast charge to a sudden stop. There was no transition between the two states and it was so uncomfortable that people wanted to spit blood.

They finally saw the person at the front of the group!

Zuo Mo looked coldly at the enemies in front of him.

In reality, this was the first time he saw a battalion of three hundred thousand gathered together. The battalions were packed together and stretched into the distance. It caused people to feel weak and powerless.

But Zuo Mo didn’t feel this way.

He sat motionlessly on the back of the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King. Even his gaze didn’t change. It was still cold and emotionless.

“Hai Xin Bing!”

The cold and aloof voice was clear in each person’s ears.

Compared to the previous panic, Hai Xin Bing calmed down now. She walked out fearlessly.

Completely outfitted in armor, Hai Xin Bing seemed to have a martial bearing. At this time, she finally showed the glory and mannerism of a nether lord. She held a long blue sword, her long hair flying in the wind. Her beautiful features did not seem to be of the mortal realm. The decisiveness and intelligence she showed made people trust her.

She did not dodge Zuo Mo’s gaze but she did not want to verbally spar with Zuo Mo. She said, “No need to waste words! Let’s fight!”

Hai Xin Bing’s eyes suddenly gave off a sharp light. She raised the long sword in her hand, her murderous deep shout echoing in the air, “In the name of Nether Realm!”

At this time, Hai Xin Bing shone like a star.

“In the name of Nether Realm!”

Everyone was motivated by her. All of the nervousness disappeared in this moment. Their blood boiled and their spirits rose! The army of three hundred thousand roared together, the waves of sound filling the surroundings!

Hai Xin Bing suddenly had a feeling, the matter was done!

The morale of the battalions had reached a peak. When the morale of three hundred thousand rose, no one would be able to reverse all this.

The person wearing the bronze mask on the other side suddenly stood up.

He stood on the back of the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King as though he was standing above the clouds. He looked down from high up. He seemed to be looking at all life below.

The cold gaze was filled with disdain. The voice was not loud but could be heard over the entire field. The tsunami of cheers and shouts suddenly stopped.

“You, how do you qualify to invoke the name of the Nether Realm?”

Chapter 888 – When Did I Allow You To Use The Name of Nether Realm

The cold words were without any emotion.

Yet these words were like a basin of icy cold water that was poured over the three hundred thousand. The fire that had just started to burn in their minds were immediately extinguished.

The person wearing the mask looked at differently at them as though they were just ants in his eyes.

Terrible!

Many people’s expressions became ugly. Of them, the great majority of them had been famed for many years. When had they been dismissed like this before?

They unconsciously balled their fists, their tendons bulging.

Zuo Mo’s next words caused these experts that felt humiliated to lose their mind.

“When did I allow you to use the name of Nether Realm?”

The cold and aloof tone seemed to be describing an ordinary matter. However, the undisguised dominance and imperiousness was like a wild and sharp cold wind that swept across everyone’s minds!

“Who do you think you are!”

A sudden shout came from the army. A figure like that of a wild beast suddenly charged like lightning towards Zuo Mo in the sky!

A powerful presence that was like a raging wave swept towards Zuo Mo.

Xiahou Zhi!

One of Hai Xin Bing’s commanders, and the strongest of the four commanders of Northern Plains Ice Mansion! Of all the commanders in Northern Plains Ice Mansion, he was an extreme outlier. When people reached such a level of strength, there were rarely any that did not know how to lead battle formations, it was just a matter of skill level. Xiahou Zhi didn’t understand any battle formations.

He was obsessed with personal strength, but due to this, his individual strength was powerful and only second to Hai Xin Bing in Northern Plains Ice Mansion.

He had a fiery temper and wasn’t afraid of anything. Zuo Mo’s words immediately set him off!

Boom!

The furious killing energy swept out. Midair, the air around Xiahou Zhi twisted. His body suddenly swelled and black smoke rose out of his body.

An astounding presence quickly strengthened rapidly in the black spoke.

There seemed to be a terrifying monster that was being formed inside the black smoke.

Soon, an enormous monster appeared in people’s view.

Hiss!

Inhales of shock came in unison from the three hundred thousand.

This monster was too large. It stood in the air like a mountain. Just the pressure from the massive size was enough for people to lose their spirit.

The monster was covered in rich and deep colored tattoos. Its eyes were like two bottomless black holes. Its four limbs were short but strong, its body slightly arched. Its mouth was slightly open, and each fang was shrouded in thick black smoke. Its tail was over ten li long. When it moved in the air, it caused twisters.

An Mo’s expression changed slightly. When this nether beast appeared, it gave him a strong feeling of danger!

Xiahou Zhi was not this strong!

This was An Mo’s first reaction. The power that Xiahou Zhi showed right now matched his. Soon, An Mo’s expression completely changed. The words flashed through his mind.

A kamikaze warrior!

Not good!

If an expert of this level disregarded injury and death, the danger they posed would become terrifying!

He hadn’t thought that Xiahou Zhi was willing to die for Hai Xin Bing. This woman … …

An Mo gritted his teeth and was about to move forward. Of King’s subordinates, he was the only one that was a match for Xiahou Zhi. An Mo’s eyes flashed with fire.

As though he knew what An Mo was thinking, Zuo Mo raised an arm.

An Mo noticed King’s signal and stilled. He had followed King for these few weeks and was familiar with King’s signals. There was only one meaning of this signal. King was indicating that An Mo should not move forward.

What did King want to do?

King was slightly puzzled. Did King want to personally fight?

He trusted that King would not have a problem facing Xiahou Zhi based on the power that King had shown. However, if King took a long time with just Xiahou Zhi, then the presence that King had accumulated would disappear.

What was most important right now was presence.

But An Mo was disciplined and he knew from the experienced of the past days that King was definitely not a rash person. Many of King’s seemingly illogical choices and decisions would create a fantastical result in the end.

An Mo knew that the results that seemed to be miracles could not be just explained by luck.

He stopped moving and suppressed his urgency. He looked curiously at King. He wanted to know how King would defeat this nether beast.

Zhu Nan Yue looked at the enormous beast in the sky and she was in slightly low spirits.

The Nether Lord’s move was extremely tricky. The new king had accumulated his presence from the seven day advance and his presence was at a peak. Using Xiahou Zhi against An Mo or the new king would be able to blunt the enemy presence.

Zhu Nan Yue was almost sure that the nether lord didn’t even hope that Xiahou Zhi would defeat the other. She only asked that Xiahou Zhi would reduce the other’s presence by delaying the new king or An Mo.

If the other’s presence stopped, their momentum would decrease and they could be ground to death by the three hundred thousand army.

For this delay, the Nether King even sacrificed such a strong expert.

This was like playing chess!

While Zhu Nan Yue felt that three hundred thousand was enough, but facing the unfathomable and mysterious new king, the Nether Lord was still cautious. In order to increase the chances of victory, she could pay any price.

The pressure this person gave the Nether Lord was too great!

Zhu Nan Yue and Xiahou Zhi were not close but they were both commanders of Northern Plains Ice Mansion. They were usually on good terms. Thinking that she would never see Xiahou Zhi again, her spirits fell.

But she quickly threw these emotions to the back of her mind and her gaze became calm again.

Xiahou Zhi was enough to make trouble for the enemy!

Zuo Mo’s gaze was as cold as usual. The enormous beast in front of him did not cause his gaze to change. He looked on with indifference. He treated the enormous beast just as he had the three hundred thousand-strong army.

What no one knew was that Zuo Mo’s lips was curved into a cold smile behind his mask.

He was too familiar with the desolate and vast presence that the enormous beast gave off.

A wasteland beast!

This enormous beast wasn’t some nether beast, it was a wasteland beast! While its appearance was completely different compared to the wasteland beast Zuo Mo’s Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art summoned, their presences were similar. What was different was this wasteland beast had a tinge of death to it.

This was a wasteland best that had died.

Such a pity!

Zuo Mo felt great pity. This wasteland beast still had such presence after death. How ferocious would it have been when it was alive.

Roar!

The nether wasteland beast suddenly opened its mouth and howled. A presence that caused people to tremble exploded!

It crouched slightly, its bottomless eyes stared at Zuo Mo and it appeared to prepare to pounce.

Zuo Mo’s gaze turned cold.

He didn’t even fear a true wasteland beast right now, much less a dead wasteland beast!

The other had used nether shen power to refine this wasteland beast. However, Zuo Mo saw with a glance that the refinement was not complete. This was expected. The wasteland beast had been the king of all ancient beasts. Even if it was dead, someone that was not god-level would not be able to refine it completely.

A wasteland beast that was not completely forged still had remnants of their instincts from their life. These instincts were the greatest enemy to those that tried to forge it.

This person that rushed out was burning shen power to suppress the remaining instincts of the wasteland beast.

Pity, he underestimated the instincts of a wasteland beast!

Archaic Wasteland Sacrificial Art moved on his fingertips. However, this time, what flickered on his fingers were threads of shen power!

A dot of dim light flew out of Zuo Mo’s fingertip and entered the body of the wasteland beast.

The wasteland beast’s body was so large. Compared to the enormous body, the speck of light was insignificant and seemed absurd. Did the new Nether King  think to defeat such a powerful and big entity using that little bit of shen power?

Was his mind normal?

In order to face this terrifying monstrosity, one needed to use power that could upend the seas and tear down mountains. What was that rice-sized grain of light?

Many people had dismissive expressions.

However, in the sky, Hai Xin Bing’s heart suddenly rose.

A bad feeling rose from her mind. She was the closest yet she did not understand what the mask-wearing person had constructed.

A move that even she could not understand… …

Her heart sank slightly but she did not act. Xiahou Zhi’s intelligence was not good, but his fighting strength was undoubted!

Yet the next scene caused everyone to lose their ability to speak. They gaped with wide eyes, their expressions frozen on their faces.

The mountainous wasteland beast trembled and spasmed violently. Threads of black smoke rose from its body. It trembled like dice, and ripples visible to the naked eye formed in the air.

Arr arr arr!

Angry howls that carried great pain spread like blasts of wind.

The ripples spread even faster. They contained great power and swept the entire battle formation. The mo who were slightly weaker felt their heads turn dizzy and their bodies wavered.

This awoke them out of their astonishment. They were astounded!

What was happening?

“Ahhh ahhh ahhh!”

Pained screams suddenly came out of the wasteland beast.

The faces of the people of Northern Plains Ice Mansion changed. Xiahou Zhi! This was Xiahou Zhi’s voice!

Xiahou Zhi’s wailing and screaming was filled with pain as though he was enduring great torture.

Soon, the screams weakened and then stopped.

The mountainous beast stopped shaking. Tiny light suddenly glimmered in the bottomless black eyes.

It suddenly roared, its four limbs pushing off to dive towards Zuo Mo.

Boom!

The enormous body was like the attack of thunder. The feeling of momentum it produced was terrifying! It was like a mountain coming down that nothing could stop!

“King, careful!” An Mo exclaimed. His expression changed drastically. This nether beast was faster than he imagined!

Zuo Mo did not seem to hear the warning. His body did not move.

The wasteland beast seemed to appear out of thin air in front of him. Such an enormous thing appearing without any warning caused people’s hearts to stop beating. It was so close to Zuo Mo. Its eyes were only three zhang away from Zuo Mo.

Boom!

The sound of a sonic boom and the savage wind smashed towards Zuo Mo!

The upright figure on the back of the Copper-Boned Nether Bird King did not move. Only that snowy-white hair was blown up by the savage wave of air!

In front of the wasteland beast’s mountainous body, Zuo Mo was minuscule.

Suddenly, the wasteland beast bowed.

That man that seemed to be carved from stone finally moved. He raised his foot and stepped onto the nose of the wasteland beast.

The nose of the wasteland beast was like a wide mountain path leading to its head.

Walking along the wasteland beast’s nose was like walking along a mountain path. He moved upwards.

The battlefield was silent, but communicated an intimidating power.

Complete silence.

When he walked onto the top of the wasteland beast’s head and stopped, he turned and looked towards the battalion of three hundred thousand!

The crouched wasteland beast also stood up at the same time.

The three hundred thousand strong battalion suddenly grew smaller and smaller in his eyes. The wasteland beast took him higher. His vision was vaster than it had ever been. The strong wind in the air blew his snowy-white hair about.

He looked down on the enemies.

The bronze mask was still cold and indifferent just like the voice that echoed in the air.

“When did I permit you to use the name of Nether Realm?”

Chapter 889 – Absolute Power

A deathly silence.

No one spoke. The army of three hundred thousand were like three hundred thousand wooden puppets. They couldn’t make any sound at all. They looked into the sky that that seemingly untouchable figure that stood upright, his white hair blowing in the wind.

Suddenly, people had a feeling. The wasteland beast was tamed under his heel. Was like the world under his heel.

The cold and indifferent voice came from that faraway place and spread through all of Nether Realm.

This final battle would determine the future of Nether Realm and was watched by all of the people in Nether Realm. Countless people were transmitting what was happening here as mirages. Hai Xin Bing who had thought she had victory in her grasp had not removed these people. She wanted these people to watch how the glorious new king would fall. She wanted to defeat the new king in front of all of Nether Realm. Only then could she ascend to the throne!

Hai Xin Bing had no time to regret it.

She was also shocked by everything that had happened. That pair of ocean-blue eyes stared woodenly out of her face.

Only until that imperious voice concluded as though he was giving judgment.

“I am the Nether King. Only I, in all of Nether Realm, can use the name of Nether Realm!”

“Do not qualify!”

The voice held no warmth. Even now, his voice did not rise. There was no anger, no explosiveness, no emotion.

But this emotionless voice caused people to feel terrified.

Compared to the cold voice that did not rise, the presence of the man atop the wasteland beast started to rise.

For some reason, everyone felt relieved. That strange terror they felt lessened greatly.

Were they finally going to start to fight?

Good! At worst, they would die!

They completely didn’t realize the change in their mentality.

Only a few noticed this change. Their expressions became terrible. The presence that the new king had created was so stunning that the confidence and morale of their side had decreased greatly. Originally, no matter what the new king did, it should not have happened. But Xiahou Zhi’s explosive rush seemed to have been planned and had been flipped to built another stage for the new king.

But everyone knew that this had not been planned beforehand.

Even such a terrifying beast was prostrated under the feet of the new king. They had seen the entire process with their own eyes. The unfathomable presence of the king left an indomitable imprint on their minds.

Was this the presence of a king?

In the past, they didn’t believe it. They thought that if they could use amass numbers to challenge and defeat the so-called king. But after seeing this scene, their resolve wavered.

Zhu Nan Yue shouted, “Be alert, we have three hundred thousand people!”

This shout was like a swat to the head that caused many to regain clarity. Yes! They were three hundred thousand! No matter how strong he was! Even if he had the enormous beast!

So what!

Three hundred thousand!

This was a force that was enough to change all of Nether Realm. How could it fail against one person?

How was it possible!

Their faces glowed again, their spirits recovering. The miracle in front of them, this legend, this unfathomably deep new king was only to add to the significance of their achievement.

However, their expressions soon became serious.

Such astounding presence!

The new king’s presence surpassed the presence of Xiahou Zhi back when he had been burning shen power.

This was not strange. In everyone’s minds, the new king’s individual power was just below the old Nether King. He was a man that created the miracle of the seven day charge by his own power!

Yet what shocked them was that his presence was still rising!

Rising at an astounding speed!

He was like a fire burning hotter and brighter.

Ripples swept outwards like surging waves. Everywhere they passed, people’s minds trembled. They could not avoid the terrifying presence.

His presence continued to rise!

Continued to rise!

Seriousness became fear, fear became terror. They looked up at the figure up high. They could not see clearly. The powerful presence that the new king released caused the air around him to twist violently. There seemed to be complex turbulent flows around him surging chaotically.

What was even more astonishing was the area of turbulence was still expanding.

Arr!

The wasteland beast suddenly gave an angry howl. Boom, a muffled sound came through the air. Its mountainous body started to become blurry and twisted.

A wave of air carrying powerful presence spread into the surroundings with the wasteland beast as the center.

As the two presences mixed together, the world seemed to lose color.

The three hundred thousand people paled.

What was even more inconceivable was that the presence of the man on top of the wasteland beast was still rising and showed no signs of slowing.

This was impossible!

Even a person as calm as Zhu Nan Yue could not maintain her composure. She looked in shock at the sky.

“This is impossible!”

She murmured. In the sky, the presence given off by that figure surpassed the limits of a mortal. In this moment, she had a feeling that what was in the sky was not a person, but a burning sun!

Was this his true power?

How could the power of a mortal reach this level?

There were no clouds in the sky, but the sky slowly darkened. Night descended.

Crack crack crack!

The ground cracked. The cracks started to stretch out like wounds in the earth. Even hard granite was like soft biscuits that easily cracked. In a blink, the ground was covered in a spiderweb of cracks.

That person’s presence was still rising!

The terrifying presence weight on people’s minds like a lead cloud. Each person found that they were gradually losing control of their body. Slight numbness was spreading through their bodies.

Terror and hopelessness uncontrollably spread through their minds.

Only the true experts knew that their bodies were not being control. The other’s presence was so powerful that their bodies were instinctively protecting themselves.

This kind of instinctive self-protection was not in their control.

While they understood the cause, they were not relieved at all, but horrified. Just the presence being released was so stunning, then how strong was he?

Was there a person this strong in the world?

An Mo was stunned. Waves rippled through his heart.

King was so powerful!

King hadn’t even used a fraction of his strength in the seven day miracle that people discussed so much! This conclusion caused An Mo to become slightly bewildered. Truthfully, even he was filled with pride at the incomprehensible seven-day advance.

In his opinion, this was a miracle that could not be copied. It would never appear again!

But when he saw King today, he found how laughable his pride was!

He finally learned what King’s trump card was.

King’s trump card was his unimaginable and absolute power!

This was King’s trump card. King had never thought of using any schemes to resolve Hai Xin Bing’s rebellion. From the start, King had decided to use absolute power to crush her!

No one had thought of it. An Mo had not thought of it. No one could imagine that one person’s strength could supresss three hundred thousand.

They had never heard of this before.

But this scene that almost was impossible was happening right in front of them.

An Mo looked dumbly at the man giving off the terrifying presence in the sky.

Was this King?

The ground was vibrating constantly as though there was a terrifying monster underground that was moving.

Suddenly, pop, a stone the size of a fist broke free of the restraints of gravity and slowly floated upwards.

It set off a chain reaction. Pieces of rock broke free of the ground and floated towards the sky.

Everyone looked at the strange and intimidating scene.

The presence of the man on top of the wasteland beast was still rising!

Without any signs of slowing down!

They only felt terror. Other than terror, there was nothing else. Even Hai Xin Bing!

The vast and endless presence were like relentless waves that spread outwards.

A hundred li, a thousand li … …

Until it covered this entire jie!

At this time, the Nether King River that was at the center seemed to be approaching an apocalyptic level event. Fragments of stone floated in the air like stars. The Nether King River had stopped flowing and was completely solidified. The restless air twisted everything as though it was the center of a whirlwind. Everything within a hundred li was completely blurry.

Only that cold bronze mask, those indifferent eyes of a deity, were so clear that they reached people’s minds.

Zuo Mo opened his hand. There was a square golden box lying in his hand.

[King’s Domain]!

Zuo Mo threw [King’s Domain] into the air.

[King’s Domain] exploded in a ball of light.

The world suddenly calmed down.

The whirlwind disappeared, the terrifying presence disappeared, the twisted ripples disappeared.

Everyone was situated in the middle of an endless galaxy shen glyphs. All kinds of shen glyphs of different colors, an ocean that was endless. At the center of this shen glyph sea, an enormous golden sun slowly revolved. The sun’s surface spat out thick golden flames in a spectacular show.

This shen glyph galaxy was so vast that the three hundred thousand people within it were still small.

Silence, a deathly silence.

Hai Xin Bing’s face was ashen and bloodless.

She suddenly thought of the Battle of the Central Plains from the rumors … god-level!

The legendary god-level!

She looked dazedly at this vast and hope-crushing shen glyph galaxy. She suddenly found her ambition was laughable. Her struggles, her plans, all the effort she put in. In front of the other’s absolute power, all of this became the best performance stage, the greatest stepping stone, the magnificent background for the legend of the new king.

Her body trembled violently. Her pride cut at her heart and to her bones.

Since she had already failed, then she would fail completely!

Hai Xin Bing suddenly raised her face and showed a sorrowful smile.

She suddenly leapt towards the figure on top of the wasteland beast.

Chapter 890 – Hai Xin Bing’s Death

Zuo Mo looked indifferently at the charging Hai Xin Bing.

He was in a strange state at the moment. He felt as if he was a completely different person. He seemed to be possessed. His mind was unusually calm as though nothing in the world could affect him.

He did not panic facing Hai Xin Bing’s final attack before her death.

In the ten years he wandered the endless void, he had accumulated ten whole years of ideas and reflection. When his shen power recovered, the accumulation of the ten years was like a volcano that had waited a long time and then erupted!

He was more powerful now than the Tian Huan Chief Elder had been back then.

Also, he had forged a top shen device like [King’s Domain].

The Chief Elder’s shen glyph sea had given Zuo Mo great inspiration. Zuo Mo was also skilled in shen glyphs as well. In the past, Chief Elder had been more skilled than he was, but now, Zuo Mo was undoubtedly the most skilled in shen glyphs. In the tens years of exploring the endless void, he had seen countless shen glyphs, more than Chief Elder had.

This shen glyph galaxy was a step beyond Chief Elder’s shen glyph sea. This place was completely made from shen glyphs, including the Chief Elder’s shen glyphs, and the glyphs from the endless void.

There were no seal scripts.

Also, Zuo Mo had a far more heterogeneous knowledge than Chief Elder. For example, his shen power was the sun shen methodology, one of the strongest shen methodologies of the ancient era.

[King’s Domain] combined the best of all he learned.

Hai Xin Bing was blocked.

The one that stopped her was the Black Gold Seal Soldier.

At this time, the Black Gold Seal Soldier was completely transformed. His body flashed with armor made from shen glyphs, as though he was wearing a grand costume. These shen glyphs flashed with different colors, some deep blue, some burning red, and some golden yellow. All kinds of light mixed. However, it was not chaotic, but indescribably balanced and beautiful.

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of thousands of spectators, the Black Gold Seal Soldier put in great effort.

“Born to battle!”

The authoritative and deep shout was like an ancient war god. His eyes flashed with dark gold light that were intimidating and murderous.

His arms were brought together, his fists crossed. The right fist was wrapped by an icy blue shen glyph while the left fist was wrapped in a burning red shen glyph. When the two smashed together a great and blinding light was created.

The shattered icy blue and burning red fragments smashed together like shards of ice and sparks of fire.

Woosh!

The two streams of fragments twisted together like two dragons of blue and red that twisted together and leapt towards Hai Xin Bing.

Hai Xin Bing did not dodge. Viciousness flashed through her eyes. A layer of blue light lit up on the blue sword in her hand. She opened her hand and the long sword howled towards the red and blue fragments. Her body suddenly disappeared from the air, and immediately appeared at the side of the Black Gold Seal Soldier.

A glint of cunning flashed through the eyes of the Black Gold Seal Soldier.

Four shen glyphs appeared around Hai Xin Bing the moment she had appeared. The light of the four shen glyphs flowed with red, yellow, green, and white rays of light. Each shone on Hai Xin Bing.

Hai Xin Bing felt her body was trapped in a bog.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier was cunning to start with. After facing the hardships of the past ten years, he had become the most sensitive of the little ones towards openings and opportunities in battle.

Without any hesitation, he charged towards Hai Xin Bing.

The shen glyph galaxy was mentally connected to Zuo Mo. The Black Gold Seal Soldier was like a fish in water in this space. The strength of all of his skills multiplied.

He appeared next to Hai Xin Bing, raising his fists to throw towards Hai Xin Bing!

The shen glyphs on his fists and arm suddenly lit up with blinding light. There seemed to be a flowing ball of light that shot towards Hai Xin Bing.

Hai Xin Bing had the resolve to die and did not dodge. The long sword in her hand pointed in the direction of Black Gold Seal Soldier’s fist of light.

A rice-sized grain of icy blue light lit up at the tip of Hai Xin Bing’s sword. The blue light suddenly exploded in front of the Black Gold Seal Soldier!

An extremely cold presence swept out like a windstorm.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier’s expression changed slightly. His charging body twisted without warning and disappeared from his spot.

Across the battlefield blue snowflakes gently floated down. The hexagonal blue snowflakes added a contrasting fragility to the shen glyph galaxy. The icy blue snowflakes spread rapidly through the shen glyph galaxy..

Hai Xin Bing stood with her sword, her long hair blowing in the wind, as the snowflakes fell around her. Her gaze was as determined as iron as she channelled shen power into her sword.

The wind and snow became even stronger. Under her feet, glowing ice silently spread outwards.

In a blink, a thousand li was sealed in ice.

The shen glyphs that were sealed by ice were dim.

The flames of hope once again lit up in the eyes of many people. They saw the hope of victory again from Hai Xin Bing’s display of power.

The Black Gold Seal Soldier was angry!

He had actually made a mistake in front of so many people!

The proud Black Gold Seal Soldier howled. The shen glyph that covered his chest suddenly lit up with red light.

At the center of the shen glyph galaxy, that enormous sun that spat out red tongue of fire which shot out a ruler-straight line of fire. The burning red line of fire was the thickness of an arm and as fast as lightning. It immediately reached the Black Gold Seal Soldier and accurately struck the shen glyph at the center of his chest.

The line of fire entered the shen glyph.

Viciousness flashed through the Black Gold Seal Soldier’s eyes. His body bowed slightly, his eyes extremely wide as his cheeks puffed out.

Woosh!

The Black Gold Seal Soldier spewed forth a stream of red flames.

When the red flames landed on the ground, the glacial ice layer quickly melted.

The fire inside the Black Gold Seal Soldier’s stomach seemed to stream endlessly. He maintained his posture as he continued to breathe fire out of his mouth.

The bright red flames were like a moving snake which moved as it pleased along the ice layer.

The sound of the flames burning masked all other sounds.

The endless black void of the sky, the shen glyph ocean of stars, the wall of red flames that burned along the ice, the icy blue snowflakes that hadn’t even fallen before they were consumed by the flames.

These flowing flames did not show any signs of weakening.

Hai Xing Bing had a calm expression but she was dispirited inside. She, a Nether Lord, couldn’t even defeat a seal soldier?

And she had actually dared to challenge him for the throne, how laughable was this?

That dot of cold light had been the Ice Plains Shen Breath that she had harvest from the depths of the Northern Ice Desolate Plains. That shen breath had been and entity of extreme cold. She had spent great effort in forging it, and had thought it could seal all things.

She hadn’t expected … …

Was the difference between god-level and non god-level so great?

She felt extremely bitter.

The bright red flames were domineering and burning. It was shen fire of higher quality than her Ice Plains Shen Breath.

The other’s seal soldier had only shen fire and the power of the shen glyphs to stop the Ice Plains Ice Breath. An attack that she was had to burn her shen power to release.

She accepted her complete defeat. She was suppressed in all aspects.

The vast and burning presence that mask-wearing man had been exuding disappeared. His presence, the presence of the wasteland beast, they merged into one with this shen glyph galaxy.

He was nowhere, but seemed to be everywhere.

Hai Xin Bing felt unspeakably uncomfortable. His presence before had furiously grown as though there was no end. That had stunned her. Now, this omnipresent feeling did not make her feel terror but defeated.

When there was a large difference, you would be shocked. But when there was such a great difference, it was not so shocking.

The other used countless shen glyphs to transform a jie. The difference in cultivation was exposed in front of her.

The difference in shen power would not have caused her to lose her resolve. She felt hopeless because of the difference in cultivation.

Her burning shen power continued to flow into her sword. However, the rate that the ice plains spread could not keep up with the speed the other’s shen fire flowed. The bright red flames were as unstoppable as a prairie fire.

She really was a failure … …

She didn’t even have the ability to battle with the enemy … …

When her last thread of shen power was used up, the ice plains suddenly stopped expanding and were immediately consumed by the flames. A flower of ice appeared at Hai Xin Bing’s forehead. In a blink, the frost consumed her body.

She turned into a life-like statue of ice.

Crack crack crack!

Countless cracks appeared on the ice statue like a spiderweb.

Snap!

The ice statue completely shattered into pieces of ice and were completely consumed by the burning fire that came.

A Nether Lord, the leader of the three hundred thousand strong army, Hai Xin Bing disappeared completely from the world like this.

So simply, so easily.

From beginning to end, the new king did not act.

Endless darkness, the shen glyph galaxy, the astounding great presence of the enormous sun. The entire jie was taken over.

Everyone that happened was so unrealistic as though it was a dream.

“Surrender or die.”

The cold voice echoed in every person’s minds. There was no pride, no happiness, just the same indifferent calmness.

Bam, someone’s mo weapon landed on the ground. It caused a chain reaction as the sound of mo weapons being thrown away clattered out.

After seeing Hai Xin Bing’s death, their last bit of spirit to resolve was completely shattered.

Zhu Nan Yue’s face was covered in tears but she did not shout something like ‘revenge for the Nether Lord’. She knew that resisting now would have no meaning except for wasting lives.

Beside her, all of the commanders of Northern Plain Ice Mansion had ashen faces.

They knew, everything was finished.

They silently threw away the mo weapons in their hands. No one could stop this person. He alone could kill all of them because he alone, could destroy this jie.

But for some reason, even they, while they felt sad, also felt relieved of a great burden.

–They finally did not have to be enemies against him.

This battle caused the reputation of the new king to reach a peak and surpass the old Nether King. Almost all of Nether Realm had seen this astounding battle. No one doubted the new king’s qualifications to ascend to the throne. Anyone able to defeat an army of three hundred thousand alone qualified.

After a short silence, the Nether Realm boiled and descended into an unprecedented celebration.

God-level!

Their king was god-level!

The only god-level in the world!

Their king was the strongest of the world!

All of their unrest was swept away, all of their fear disappeared. The battle of the Central Plains had show people how powerful god-level was. However, in that battle, the Chief Elder of Tian Huan that had just entered god-level had died, and up until now, no new god-level had appeared.

But now, the Nether King was the first to possess a god-level, their king.

People started to dream. The Nether realm would become more prosperous under the leadership of the new king. All the leaders of Nether Realm’s various factions were travelling day and night towards Nether King Palace to pay homage to the new king, to be present when he ascended to the throne, and to personally swear their fealty.

Countless experts gathered towards Nether King Palace.

In the minds of the people of Nether Realm, King was fated to become a legend!

Was there anything more exciting than following a ruler like this?

The Nether Realm that had been showing signs unrest, internal discord, and approaching civil war was renewed, and filled with vitality.

Chapter 891 – New King, Old King

After finally completely what he had promised Shi, Zuo Mo sighed in relief.

He hadn’t worried too much about succeeding to the throne. With his god-level cultivation, he was already one of the strongest in the world. The matter had gone smoother than he had expected. He had considered what he would do in the worst-case scenario. If he could not get the army of three hundred thousand to submit, he would lock the entire jie.

Of course, that was the worst-case scenario. This was because these three hundred thousand were the elite of Nether Realm. If he killed them all, Nether Realm would be greatly weakened. Zuo Mo did not have anything against killing them, but he did not kill needlessly.

Their surrender was the best result, it left the Nether Realm’s strength intact.

This result was so good it was unexpected. He had to consider the next step.

Other than An Mo, Liang Wei, and the others, no one knew his status as the king of Mo Cloud Sea. He realised that this was a great opportunity.

Right now, he had not thought of how to use this secret.

Suddenly, the cheers outside interrupted his thoughts. His mind moved, and everything happening outside appeared in his mind.

There were numerous people gathered on both sides of the road. The crowd moved along the road and stretched out endlessly.

Where the chariot passed, people fell to their knees. The calls of “All Hail The King” rose up constantly.

An Mo and the battalion that accompanied him stood upright with proud expressions.

Zuo Mo was slightly shocked.

Even in Mo Cloud Sea, he would not be greeted with such a grandiose parade, even as founder of Mo Cloud Sea. This was due to the difference in the two cultures. The main members of Mo Cloud Sea were xiuzhe. Xiuzhe usually gathered in sects and meaning even at the best of times they were not truly united. As a result, xiuzhe did not have a king. For the mo, they were at their most prosperous and strongest when a powerful king appeared. In their hearts, the position of king was sacred. For the majority of mo, a King was their hope, he was the person that they could follow with their life.

The new king’s powerful display caused all of Nether Realm to be filled with optimism towards the future.

Whenever a strong king appeared among the mo, it was usually when the mo were the strongest.

When the troops reached the perimeter of Nether King Palace, the palace was surrounded by an ocean of people. The leaders of all the factions from all over Nether Realm, big or small, had gathered here. They became excited when they saw the troops of the new king.

Zuo Mo stepped off of the chariot. The an endless sea of people that stretched out before him was shocking.

The tsunami of cheers caused every person to uncontrollably tremble. An Mo and the others were extremely excited. They were filled with pride and glory at seeing such a scene.

“All Hail The King!”

Someone shouted. More and more people raised their arms and shouted. The shouts gathered into a flood. Even the ground trembled.

“All Hail The King!”

“All Hail The King!”

People shouted at the top of their lungs as though they didn’t now exhaustion.

Zuo Mo stood on the chariot. Still wearing the bronze mask, he seemed to be the moon surrounded by the stars and brilliant in his light. He looked around. His gaze swept across people’s faces. He saw their hopes towards the future, he saw their reverence of him, he saw the pride and excitement on their faces.

Suddenly, something seemed to weight heavily on his heart.

Starting today, he would lead them, he would become their king.

He took a breath and swore, “In the name of Nether King, I will protect this land!”

Only half of Shi’s body remained. He heard Zuo Mo’s oath. He knew that Zuo Mo was making a promise to him.

Shi showed an ugly smile. He let go of his last worry. There was only half of his body left.

Turning his head, he looked at the empty and large hall. He said to himself, “Let us do one last thing.”

Shi’s presence suddenly erupted.

His body released a starry light. The half of his body that remained quickly disappeared. At the same time, five familiar presences in five corners of Nether Realm shot into the sky.

Shi’s face had a holy light. There was a small smile at the corner of his lips. He said softly, “Thank you all!”

The blinding light quickly consumed his body. The light that shot into the sky covered all of Nether Realm.

His expression was dignified and stern. “We six are willing to use our crippled bodies and incomplete souls to forever guard Nether Realm. Abandoning reincarnation, to return to chaos, to pray for peace!”

Boom!

The blinding light instantly swallowed Shi.

There were only whispers left in the air.

“… … to pray for peace … …”

Six pillars of light in Nether Realm shot into the sky and disappeared.

The large hall was completely empty.

Zuo Mo suddenly raised his head.

He felt Shi’s presence!

“… … to pray for peace … …” He seemed to whisper by Zuo Mo’s ear, but in a blink, Shi’s presence disappeared.

Suddenly, a rice-sized dot of light appeared on Zuo Mo’s face. It was cold, but filled with shen power.

Countless white dots came down from the sky like a beautiful fall of snow.

Someone in the crowd suddenly exclaimed, “This thing can increase shen power!”

People immediately became excited. They flew into the air and chased after these dots of light.

At the same time, the dots of light came like snow in every jie of Nether Realm.

Zuo Mo’s spirits immediately dropped. He had been prepared mentally for Shi’s death, but when it truly occurred, Zuo Mo could not stop grieving.

Shi was a unique existence to Zuo Mo. He had unparalleled power. Of all the experts Zuo Mo ever saw, Shi stood at the very top, but an expert like this was filled with love towards this land.

Zuo Mo had never felt that kind of deep emotion from anyone else.

And in the end … …

In the eyes of many people, a worldly apparition like this appearing as the new king ascended to the throne proved even more just how extraordinary the new king was.

The rain of light continued for three days and nights.

All of Nether Realm partied wildly for these three days and nights.

When the figures of five people appeared in front of Zuo Mo, Zuo Mo could not control his emotions any longer and his vision blurred.

“Young Master!’ A Gui sobbed as she charged into Zuo Mo’s arms just like back when they were small children.

Zuo Mo’s tears flowed down his face. He couldn’t speak. He could only pat A Gui’s back.

After recovering, A Gui lost that wooden face. She was a strong person and she quickly noticed her loss of composure. She was slightly embarrassed and broke free of Zuo Mo’s arms. However, two tracks of tears still remained on her face.

“Shidi!” Wei Sheng looked at Zuo Mo was red-rimmed eyes.

This man who was like steel was also overwhelmed with emotion. When he awoke and saw the five shen wood coffins and thought of how Shidi had dragged the five shen wood coffins to roam the endless void for ten years, he could imagine the hardship!

“Eldest Shixiong!” Zuo Mo was also excited.

The two exchanged a hard hug.

Luo Li stood next to Wo Li, having manifested into tangibility. Right now, he had broken free of the limitation of his technique. Both existing, neither a shadow. He was also excited. “Shixiong!”

Zuo Mo looked at Luo Li and smield. “Now Shidi finally gets his wish and can be together with Wo Li.”

Luo Li hadn’t thought that Zuo Mo would tease him. His face flushed red. Wo Li, on the other hand was not embarrassed. While she still didn’t have a smile on her face, she was not as cold as before.

“Daren!” Zong Ru tried to keep his voice calm but Zuo Mo still heard the trembling and excitement.

Zuo Mo punched Zong Ru and said with a laugh, “Good good good!”

Of everyone, the calmest was Ceng Lian’er. She still looked unaffected. When she found Zuo Mo’s gaze land on her, she blinked her eyes and said, “You have already become Nether King, why don’t you become the Hundred Savage’s King?”

Zuo Mo hadn’t expected that Ceng Lian’er would open with this. He stilled.

“The relationship between our Hundred Savage Realm and you is closer than that of Nether Realm. It is good that you became the Nether King, but you cannot favor one Realm over the other. My father is still in Hundred Savage Realm.” Ceng Lian’er blinked as she spoke.

Zuo Mo’s mind refocused. He said with a snicker, “I was thinking about this.”

Yes, Zuo Mo had thought about this.

Before, Zuo Mo had thought about how to use his status as Nether King. He thought of Hundred Savage Realm. If he used his status as Nether King to attack Hundred Savage Realm, the resistance he would encounter would be far lower than if he attacked Hundred Savage Realm as Mo Cloud Sea.

Because Nether Realm and Hundred Savage Realm were both populated by mo, the people of Hundred Savage Realm would not be as resistant to him as the Nether King. But if he attacked Hundred Savage Realm as Mo Cloud Sea, it would be easy to cause the mo to resist.

In these past few days, he had pondered the situation of Hundred Savage Realm. The Mo Shen Temple was the strongest of Hundred Savage Realm. Both The Mo Marshals Alliance and the Heroes Alliance had declined to ally with the Mo Shen Temple, meaning Mo Shen Temple still had a ways to go to unite Hundred Savage Realm.

For him, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity.

The power of Nether Realm had not been significantly damaged in this fight for the throne. If Nether Realm fought against Mo Shen Temple, the chances of victory were high. Using the authority of the new king to gather all to take down Hundred Savage Realm. Even if they just took the Mo Marshals Alliance and Heroes Alliance to squeeze the Mo Shen Temple’s space, that would be beneficial for Nether Realm.

Once his status as the king of Mo Cloud Sea was exposed, it would not be so easy to do such a thing. No one would sit by and watch as a titan took form and grew stronger. The Mo Shen Temple wouldn’t, Kun Lun wouldn’t, and even the yao wouldn’t.

They would ally together. Then they would be truly surrounded by enemies.

If he fought against Hundred Savage Realm using the status of Nether King, that was an internal conflict among the mo. Kun Lun would be wary but not to the same extent once his identity was revealed, the yao would not interfere. Fighting between yaomo were rare, and so the yao would not interfere.

Also, Ming Yue Ye was still too busy with her own affairs.

If they could take down Hundred Savage Realm, and he became the king of the mo, along with Mo Cloud Sea, his strength would be undefeatable. Even Kun Lun would become the second power.

At worse, he would just take over the Mo Marshal Alliance. That way, the Nether Realm’s territory would be connected to Mo Cloud Sea, and an enormous faction would form.

Also, Zuo Mo still had other contingency plans.

Chapter 892 – Planning and Movement

Compared to the past, Kun Lun was more prosperous and populated.

In these years, Kun Lun had grown much stronger and was the strongest in the world. The battle generals, led by Xue Dong they fought on all fronts, and expanded Kun Lun’s territories greatly.

But Xue Dong was not in a good mood. The shidi were all discussing the battle of Nether King River.

The entire world was astonished by the battle of Nether King River. It was the first time people saw how strong god-level was. Even a top battle general like Xue Dong couldn’t help but feel hopeless when he saw that kind of power. He thought of many methods, but right now, nothing could rival a god-level.

God-level could destroy a jie and easily move away.

Xue Dong could not solve this problem.

He had calculated. If the development of shen power increased by the day, and the average level of battalion members increased by two power ranks, or they had more than five that were pseudo god-level experts, they might be able to match a god-level.

But these two were both implausible. His battalion already had the most accomplished disciples of Kun Lun. They presented the strongest of the disciples. Increasing their cultivation by two levels would take a decade. And five pseudo god-levels were even more implausible. Right now, Kun Lun, after a more than a decade of cultivation, only possessed two pseudo god-levels.

When Lin Qian had fled from the Central Plains and returned to Kun Lun, he had spoken to Xue Dong about the strength of god-level. Xue Dong had not completely believed him back then. How could the power of one person reach such a terrifying level?

Yet after he saw the entire battle of Nether King River, Xue Dong couldn’t rest for a few nights.

He could not think of any method that would match the new Nether King.

They had thought that Nether Realm would fall into chaos for a while, but after seeing the mirage, Xue Dong knew that Nether Realm would not descend into chaos.

In these past years, he had always thought of Mo Cloud Sea as the enemy. Mo Cloud Sea had expanded rapidly in the past decade. While Xue Dong was wary, he was not scared. Kun Lun’s overall power was far greater than Mo Cloud Sea.

The fact that Zuo Mo had disappeared for ten years was fatal for Mo Cloud Sea. From the intelligence the spies passed along, Mo Cloud Sea’s internal politics were becoming more unstable. The conflict between the old and the new factions was increasing by the day.

Lil’ Miss Gongsun was a strong battle general, but he was not an outstanding ruler. As time moved along, Mo Cloud Sea would gradually split. That would be the time when Kun Lun would consume them.

In Xue Dong’s view, Mo Cloud Sea was a fruit that was maturing by the day. When the time came, it would be easily plucked.

Suddenly, a Nether King came out of nowhere and was so strong. Xue Dong felt strong danger. With the new Nether King’s power, he definitely would not be willing to just stay in Nether Realm.

As his mind moved, Xue Dong’s expression immediately became ugly.

Hundred Savage Realm!

If the new Nether King moved, the first would definitely be Hundred Savage Realm! Xue Dong was a top battle general and knew the intelligence on all the factions. He almost immediately judged that the Hundred Savage Realm that was in chaos would not be able to stop the Nether King’s advance.

The Nether King had a high chance of becoming the first king to unite the mo in ten thousand years.

Xue Dong understood the mo well. If that event really occurred, all of the mo would become unprecedentedly powerful. The mo did not like internal conflict. If the old Nether King had not aged, Hai Xin Bing would never rebelled. The mo were the most disciplined of the three races. Their enthusiasm and reverence of the King came from the cultural traditions stretching back to the ancient era.

Damn it!

The Nether King that united the mo would become the greatest obstacle to Kun Lun uniting the world.

At this time, an astounding sword essence suddenly erupted from the back mountain.

Xue Dong stilled and his mind rang.

Eldest Shixiong!

He charged out of the room, and saw the figure releasing stunning sword essence in the sky.

Two words jumped into Xue Dong’s mind

–God-level!

Lin Qian was out of seclusion!

He has god-level!

The information spread through the xiuzhe realm under Kun Lun’s deliberate machination. All of the factions were alarmed. Kun Lun was powerful to begin with. Everyone had just seen the power of god-level, and now Lin Qian came out of seclusion.

Kun Lun’s news immediately overtook the Nether realm.

Unlike Nether Realm, Kun Lun had been the strongest sect in the world in the last thousands of years. Right now, they did not show any signs of decline, but grew even stronger.

Now that Lin Qian came out as a god-level expert, it pushed Kun Lun to an unprecedented level.

Kun Lun once again became the faction most likely to unite the world in people’s eyes.

What was most shocking was Mi Nan announcing that all of South Tian Huan was siding with Kun Lun. After Tian Huan had split into North and South Tian Huan, they had continued to decline. However, South Tian Huan that was ruled by Mi Nan still possessed almost half of the original Tian Huan’s territories.

As Mi Nan joined Kun Lun’s side, Kun Lun’s power increased to a stunning level.

Kun Lun held over two realms.

And Mo Cloud Sea was shy of one realm. Li Xian’er’s North Tian Huan had half a realm. The other factions such as Gu Liang Dao, and the four Minor Dhyana Sects shared half of a realm.

Even if the Nether King took over Hundred Savage Realm, they would just match Kun Lun.

They had the strongest god-level, they had three top battle generals, Xue Dong, Mu Xuan, and Mi Nan, they had a territory of two realms

Kun Lun’s top position had taken form.

Yang Yuan Hao was not in a good mood.

Lin Qian become god-level and Mi Nan siding with Kun Lun immediately caused the situation to become terrible. Kun Lun was truly too powerful, so powerful it was hopeless.

Gu Liang Dao’s spirits could not compare to before his losses to Xue Dong. While he had worked hard, there was not much improvement. Li Xian Er and the others had fought constantly with Mi Nan these years. They most likely had used up most of their wealth.

Mi Nan was most likely in the same situation so when he heard that Lin Qian had advanced to god-level, he did not hesitate in siding with Kun Lun.

Even Yang Yuan Hao had to admit that Mi Nan was a clever character. He had good judgement, and more importantly, he could put his face aside.

Yang Yuan Hao grimed inside. He couldn’t do it. The Nine Great Dhyana Sects had split, with five siding with Kun Lun. And the four Minor Dhyana Sects had not.

Yang Yuan Hao knew that both he, Gu Liang Dao, and Li Xian Er didn’t have the ability to fight Kun Lun.

The only one that could match Kun Lun for a while was Mo Cloud Sea.

The pity was that there still wasn’t any news of Zuo Mo. Mo Cloud Sea had serious problems internally. Lin Qian had also reached god-level. Yang Yuan Hao also concluded in this era that a god-level expert was unstoppable.

This really was a problem!

Yang Yuan Hao rubbed his head with a headache. He could not put his face aside to side with Lin Qian. For some reason, he did not like Kun Lun’s conduct.

If only Zuo Mo was still here. He sighed inside. He suddenly missed that rascally and greedy character.

Suddenly, a paper crane appeared in his room.

Yang Yuan Hao’s eyes landed on the paper crane and he stilled. This paper crane seemed familiar.

Was this someone he knew? He thought as he reached out. The paper crane flew into his hand. He unfolded the paper crane. A ray of light flew out of the paper crane. Inside the light, a figure appeared.

Yang Yuan Hao seemed to be struck by lightning. His eyes were wide as he looked in disbelief at the face in the ball of light.

Zuo Mo!

This person was still alive!

While Zuo Mo’s hair had turned completely white, he still recognized at a glance that this person was Zuo Mo.

“Brother Yuan Hao, long time no see!’

Yang Yuan Hao was completely stunned.

Gu Liang Dao was in a daze. There were streaks of white in his hair. He had been defeated soundly by Xue Dong in the fight for Xi Xuan.

His hopes of taking over Xi Xuan also had failed.

After the war, he had given up a larger portion of the territory than he planed. One was to thank Gongsun Cha for coming to his aid, the other was because he knew he did not have the strength to manage so many jie.

That defeat at Xi Xuan was a far greater blow to him that one could imagine. He had almost completely given up due to that defeat.

When he heard the news that Lin Qian had reached god-level and Mi Nan had sided with Kun Lun came, his mood quickly became terrible.

The situation was worsening.

Kun Lun was now so strong it seemed hopeless. In front of god-level experts, the so called forts and defense lines were a joke. And in terms of top level battle generals, Kun Lun had an astounding team.

The other factions had more battle generals in terms of numbers, but they fought for themselves. They lacked a person who could unite them.

It would be good if Brother Zuo Mo was still alive.

Pity, the heavens envied those with talent.

Gu Liang Dao took a deep breath. He knew that their situation would become worse and worse until even taking a step back would be difficult.

In his view, the final battle for the world would most likely between Lin Qian and the Nether King. Now, it was to see if it was Lin Qian who first united the Four Realms, or the Nether King to first unite the yaomo. In Gu Liang Dao’s eyes, Kun Lun had the advantage.

Without Brother Zuo Mo, Mo Cloud Sea would have a difficult time stopping Kun Lun in their tracks.

Suddenly, he raised his head. A paper crane appeared nearby.

Gu Liang Dao froze where he was as though he had been struck by lightning.

This paper crane … … was from Brother Zuo Mo!

Brother Zuo Mo was still alive!

Gu Liang Dao was filled with joy. In this moment, all of the clouds over his mind were swept away. Even the fight against the colossal Kun Lun did not seem so hopeless.

His hands trembled as he impatiently unfolded the paper crane.

That familiar face appeared in front of him.

“Shidi, don’t worry,” Wei Sheng’s expression was solemn. “With us present, we will not allow Kun Lun to take one step into Mo Cloud Sea.”

Luo Li, Wo Li, Zong Ru, and Ceng Lian’er nodded. They would go back to Mo Cloud Sea as fast as they could. Only A Gui was staying with Zuo Mo.

Lin Qian coming out of seclusion and Mi Nan taking sides immediately caused Mo Cloud Sea to be in a dangerous situation.

Once Kun Lun finished organizing, they would gather their forces and head for Mo Cloud Sea.

“I will act with speed on on my side,’ Zuo Mo said with seriousness.

His preparations had finished, and an enormous net was created.

Zuo Mo new that starting today, they were entering the true final battle.

It was time to make their move.

Chapter 893 – Action

The leaders of the factions of Nether Realm had gathered together in this hall. This was the first time that the Nether King had called a meeting after taking the throne. The ones who came were all the strongest of their region and held important statuses.

This was the largest meeting in the history of Nether Realm. In the era of the old Nether King, there had been no central governance, and a meeting of such scale had never been called.

This was the first time many people attended the king’s meeting.

The large hall of Nether King Palace was completely silent. Everyone sat properly and the Nether King was seated high upon the throne.

They were slightly shocked at being summoned. At the coronation for the Nether King, they had taken turns to swear fealty towards the new king. Everyone was secretly speculating about the content of this meeting.

The most plausible conclusion they reached was that it was time to settle the debts. King was likely going to sentence the rebels of Eastern Nether Mansion and Northern Plains Ice Mansion.

The mood inside the hall was slightly depressed. People’s hearts were in the air. The great majority of them had not publicly supported the new king. If the new king remembered this, then they would not have good days in the future.

At this time, each of them were anxious and afraid for themselves.

Seeing on the throne, Zuo Mo looked down at his subordinates. He could clearly see the panic and fear in their eyes.

Behind the mask, Zuo Mo laughed. He had no intentions of carrying out a great purge of his political enemies. This was a once in a thousand year chance sitting in front of him. How would he waste it on instituting a new political order? The price of a great cleanse would be a long period of instability and internal conflict, resulting in a decrease in power.

He slowly spoke, his voice deep and aloof, “I have summoned everyone for one matter.”

Everyone’s expressions immediately became nervous. Some people unconsciously straightened.

“I’m preparing to invade Hundred Savage Realm.”

After Zuo Mo said this, it was completely silent. Everyone thought that they had heard it incorrectly.

Moments later, the hall exploded.

Everyone was stunned by the topic that King had raised. No one had expected that King would plan to attack Hundred Savage Realm only a few days after ascending to the throne.

This this this … … was so great!

Zuo Mo looked at the people below. Their panicked expression had disappeared and was replaced by joy and excitement.

As expected, the mo liked fighting!

Zuo Mo was slightly startled inside. If this was any other place and he had just ascended to the throne, advisors would urge him to first stabilize his power. However, these people seemed to be even more interested in attacking Hundred Savage Realm than Zuo Mo was. [1]

Actually, this was because Zuo Mo did not understand the previous political situation.

After Shi united Nether Realm, all of Nether Realm had hoped to march on Hundred Savage Realm. However, Shi had refused their petitions. The reason that Shi had united Nether Realm was because this was his homeland. He had no ambitions towards Hundred Savage Realm’s territory.

But the Nether Realm was filled with excitement and hope towards conquest. They thought that Nether Realm was overwhelmingly strong compared to their opponent, and Hundred Savage Realm could not stop them. The time to unite the mo had arrived. But under Shi’s unquestioned authority their ambitions and hopes were suppressed.

So when Zuo Mo threw out the topic, the people exploded.

“King! The Ghost Nether Clan is willing to be the vanguard!” The clan leader of the Ghost Nether clan stood up and said excitedly.

This seemed to poke the hornet’s nest.

“The Daxi Nether Horse Clan is most suitable for being the vanguard!” A tall and thin middle-aged person stood up.

“Please, your Daxi Nether Horse Clan is best used as spies. We, the Vajra Rhino Clan, are the best to be the vanguard!” A large man that was broad-boned and sturdily built came out with a proud expression. The horn on his head flashed with fierce light.

No one would concede to the others, and the fighting did not stop.

In Zuo Mo’s eyes, this group reminded him of a busy scene from the morning market. A beat later, he recovered. He had originally thought that people would be cautious towards such a serious decision, if not outright opposing it. He hadn’t thought it would be a situation like this.

This group of people were fighting to be first as though there was a prize to be earned.

People shouted, their faces flushed, spit flying. Some people pointed at others noses and swore. Others appeared as though they were about to push up their sleeves and start to fight.

An Mo frowned, and then shouted, “You are in front of King!”

His voice was not loud but the entire hall immediately quieted.

An Mo’s status had been high before, and right now, he was both loyal to and deeply trusted by King. His authority was second only to King.

“It seems that people are interested.”

On the throne, Zuo Mo looked at the people below. He nodded and then said, “An Mo, I will let you arrange this. Liang Wei, you will assist An Mo.”

An Mo had the ability, the authority, and the experience moreover  he was extremely loyal. He was the best choice.

“Yes!” An Mo responded.

“Yes!” Liang Wei also responded.

Zuo Mo did not give out direct orders. He didn’t know any of these people and wasn’t familiar with any of the factions. It would be better to leave this to An Mo. In terms of strength, Nether Realm was much stronger than Hundred Savage Realm. As long as they didn’t make a fatal mistake, they would win.

A honest and open attack was the right path of war.

An Mo was an astounding battle general. Maybe he was not as adaptable as Gongsun Cha and Bie Han, but he was reliable and would not make rash decisions. Also, there was Liang Wei. While Zuo Mo had not seen astounding any performances from Liang Wei on their journey, he was the only one other than Gongsun Cha Shidi that had won Pu Yao’s praise.

Zuo Mo was filled with anticipation towards Liang Wei’s abilities.

If Liang Wei had Lil’ Miss’ skill, no, even Bie Han’s skill, Zuo Mo could die happy. Three top level battle generals, they could rival Kun Lun!

Soon, the news that King had decided to invade Hundred Savage Realm spread.

All of Nether Realm boiled.

An Mo did not fail Zuo Mo’s hopes. He quickly finished organizing and gathering supplies and troops at an astounding speed. The army of three hundred thousand that had surrendered to Zuo Mo had been in his control all this time.

These three hundred thousand people were the main force for invading Hundred Savage Realm this time. An Mo announced that this war was how they would atone for their crimes. They needed to use service to trade for the futures of their clansmen.

An army of three hundred thousand.

In An Mo’s view, this army of three hundred thousand elites was enough. No one in Hundred Savage Realm would be able to stop such a large army.

But would the other factions tolerate passing over such a good chance to expand? Their actions would create opportunities for others.

All of Nether Realm believed that this battle would be likely to be the one to unite the mo. This would be a great battle that would leave a great mark on history!

Anyone that missed participating in this would regret it for the rest of their lives.

These people almost broke the gates of An Mo’s resistance. An Mo was bothered by their requests but he knew what these people thought. He immediately spread the word that only the elite of each clan qualified to attend this campaign.

Large clans picked the elite members from inside their clan and formed elite battalions to participate. Those little clans didn’t have so many elites but each clan would have a few experts. These experts left their clan grounds and participated as individuals.

Zuo Mo never thought that his decision would end up like this. His personal reputation had been of great effect.

Such a great movement could not be concealed.

Hundred Savage Realm and all of the world learned that Nether Realm was about to invade Hundred Savage Realm.

Almost all the elite of Nether Realm had gathered under the Nether King’s command. An army of five hundred thousand!

It was the largest battalion to appeared in in thousands of years. All of Hundred Savage Realm shook in fear. All the factions were so shocked by this unprecedented battalion that they lost the ability to speak.

Even Kun Lun received a shock.

The entire world feared the Nether King that made such major moves just after ascending to the throne.

Kun Lun.

After entering god-level, Lin Qian’s presence was even more controlled. At this time, he looked the same as an ordinary person. In front of him, Chao Xin, Xue Dong, Mu Xuan, Mi Nan, and the other higher-ups of Kun Lun were gathered together.

“This Nether King is skilled! An army of five hundred thousand! Hundred Savage Realm is in danger!’ Xue Dong tsked in wonder.

Everyone agreed with this.

Lin Qian said, “What does everyone feel about the Nether King’s chances of winning?”

“A certain win!” Xue Dong did not hesitate. He and Lin Qian were extremely close and so he had no restraints.

Xue Dong was the head battle general of Kun Lun. His words carried great weight.

Lin Qian’s gaze turned towards other people.

Mu Xuan nodded in agreement.

Mi Nan had just joined Kun Lun and wanted to demonstrate his abilities. Seeing Lin Qian’s gaze turn to him, he said in detail, “An army of five hundred thousand. The first faction will attack are the Mo Marshal Alliance and the Heroes Alliance which are both declining. They may even surrender immediately. The only one that is a threat to the Nether King will be the Mo Shen Temple. However, the difference in power between the two is too great. The Mo Shen Temple will be able to hold out for a while, but definitely not for long. The power of a god-level is not for show. The Nether King will not just win, but most likely win quickly!”

Lin Qian’s expression was grave as he sighed, “It seems the mo uniting cannot be avoided. This is not good news for our Kun Lun.”

Chao Xin also had a smiliarly serious expression as he said, “This new Nether King is a great enemy to Kun Lun. It is likely that our final enemy will be them. Right now, we need time. If the Nether King, unites the mo, he won’t just have a territory of two realms, he will be the king of all mo. The mo race is very strange. Once a king appears among them, they will become extremely united.”

Everyone nodded.

Chao Xin continued, “The Nether King that will possess two realms will become the strongest faction alongside with Kun Lun. Right now, we need to consider what will the Nether King do after uniting the mo?”

Xue Dong pondered this. “There are two possible paths. One is attacking Mo Cloud Sea or Gu Liang Dao. While our territories also border the mo territories, the possibility that they attack us is not high. The Nether King might not be prepared to fight to the death against us just yet. The other path is to attack the yao.”

“Yes.” Mi Nan nodded. “Mo Cloud Sea or Gu Liang Dan cannot stop the Nether King. They will be the most likely targets and he will conquer both of them. If this occurs, it will be detrimental to us. The best outcome is if he attacks the yao. Ming Yue Ye is not a easy person to deal with. The best for us is if the two are both wounded.”

“Time!” Chao Xin’s eyes flashed with cold light. “We need to strengthen ourselves during the time the Nether King is uniting the mo. We need to keep our advantage against the Nether king. If we can unite the Four Realm before he completely takes over the Hundred Savage Realm, he can only attack the yao.”

“Then who will we attack first?” Lin Qian said.

“North Tian Huan!” Chao Xin said coldly.

“North Tian Huan!” Xue Dong said gravely.

“North Tian Huan is weak, and is like a bone in our throats that must be plucked first!” Mu Xuan said.

“North Tian Huan!” Mi Nan was in a complex mood.

“Then let us move!” Lin Qian said briskly.

Chapter 894 - Response

The mobilization rate of the mo was astounding. Zuo Mo was very astonished. Even Mo Cloud Sea would take longer to move people on such scale. And in the xiuzhe world, Mo Cloud Sea was considered the best.

Fighting and battle had a special place in the minds of mo. Their enthusiasm towards battle was unlike the xiuzhe and the yao. The xiuzhe did not fear battle, the yao did not like battle, while the mo were enthusiastic towards battle. In Zuo Mo’s view, this attitude was madness and unreasonable.

The decision to leave An Mo in charge had evident effects.

In a short fifteen days, all five hundred thousand Nether Realm troops had finished preparing for war. Nether Realm anticipated the impending war. The morale of the populace was high.

Just before Zuo Mo prepared to depart, the news that Kun Lun had began attacking Tian Huan was passed to Zuo Mo through Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo and Lin Qian had fought for many years and were familiar with each other. Almost instantly, Zuo Mo under what Lin Qian planned.

In these past days, Zuo Mo had been studying the situation of the xiuzhe world. Large amounts of intelligence and information had been passed over from Mo Cloud Sea. The situation of the xiuzhe world gradually became clear.

North Tian Huan who had greatly expended itself was not a match for Kun Lun.

Also, Zuo Mo speculated that Kun Lun would have Mi Nan lead at the front. Mi Nan would know the most about Tian Huan’s territories. After siding with Kun Lun, Mi Nan had been treated very well. He didn’t just lead the battalion he had before, he had received large amounts of jingshi and resources. His soldiers were strong and well-supplied.

In order to avoid suspicion, and to prove his ability, Mi Nan would fight as hard as he could.

Li Xian Er’s commanders were on par with Kun Lun’s. Mu Shuang was one of the ten top battle generals and Gongye Xiao Rong had grown into a top battle general in the past ten years. However, Tian Huan had been greatly wounded by the civil war. The internal conflict of the past years had used up most of their resources. While Mu Shuang and Gongye Xiao Rong were skilled, they were restrained by the lack of resources. The more they fought, the less manpower they had, the more resources they had spent.

Tian Huan would not be able to fight against Kun Lun’s armies.

Once they swallowed Tian Huan, Kun Lun would obtain another half of a realm. They would have a territory the size of three realms. Such a large territory was suffocatingly large.

However, Zuo Mo did not plan to let Kun Lun have it so easily.

His eyes flashed with cold light.

In terms of famous commanders, Kun Lun was nothing!

Gu Liang Dao threw the report that indicated Mu Shuang had been defeated to the table and stood up.

“Big Brother! The preparations are done!” Shuang Yu said gravely. His eyes flashed with light and were filled with fighting spirit.

Ten years ago, they had been defeated by Xue Dong. Over these ten years, Shuang Yuhad never slacked on his cultivation for a moment. Right now, his power was at pseudo god-level.

It was time to repay the enemy for that defeat!

All of the battalions under Gu Liang Dao’s command held a grudge. They had lost so much in that battle! That battle had been a serious blow to Gu Liang Dao especially, and he had been discouraged for a very long time.

Gu Liang Dao held a high place in the hearts of these people. Every person felt extremely discomforted when they saw Boss so discouraged and their hate of Kun Lun increased by the day.

Gu Liang Dao’s hair was peppered with white and his gaze was weary.

However, today he gave off a great presence just like he did in the past, as though he was looking down on the world. There seemed to be fire burning in his eyes.

Gu Liang Dao nodded and walked towards the door.

He pushed open the door.

The organized battalion stood upright in the cold wind outside.

Each person’s face flashed with bright fighting spirit. They did not retreat in the cold wind, their backs straight and their gazes heated.

Gu Liang Dao looked at the battalion that he had created, the faces of his subordinates who had followed him for so many years. He was filled with emotion.

He suppressed his excitement and said, “Ten years ago, we were defeated, ten years later, we fight again.”

Thinking of the terrible defeat ten years ago, everyone’s breathing became heavy and their expressions twisted.

“What we lost ten years ago, we will take back with our hands ten years later.”

Gu Liang Dao’s gaze was like a blade that slowly swept through as he said, emphasizing each word, “We will win!”

“Win!” “Win!” “Win!”

The tsunami of shouts echoed in the cold wind. Everyone within it felt as though their blood suddenly started to burn.

“Depart!” Gu Liang Dao was the first to move.

Yang Yuan Hao looked carefully on the paper crane on his hand as though there was something growing on the paper crane. He had been in sitting this position for the better half of an hour.

This guy making such a great fuss upon his first reappearance.

Lin Qian had terrible luck to encounter an opponent like this, so pitiful … …

Yang Yuan Hao muttered inside. However, he had an expression of schadenfreude. Four hours ago, he had received the news that Kun Lun was unstoppable against Tian Huan.

Alright, the villain will have their own opponents … …

Yang Yuan Hao comforted himself. He knew very well that both he and Gu Liang Dao had lost the ability to remain neutral. The world becoming united could not be stopped. They could only join a side.

Originally, he had thought that Kun Lun’s unification of the four realms was certain. Who would have expected that Zuo Mo, who had disappeared for ten years, would suddenly reappear and disrupt the situation.

If there was no Zuo Mo, then Kun Lun was unstoppable.

Zuo Mo being alive didn’t just meant that the powerful Mo Cloud Sea would not collapse, there was something else more important. Zuo Mo’s existence would form an even stronger alliance.

The alliance of Gu Liang Dao, the Four Minor Dhyana Sects, and Mo Cloud Sea would be a strong alliance.

Even Li Xian Er and the others of North Tian Huan were potential allies for this alliance.

Yang Yuan Hao had formed an unspoken agreement with Zuo Mo all those years ago. He had been prepared to side with Mo Cloud Sea in the past. However, he hadn’t done so after Zuo Mo disappeared. But he still had helped Gongsun Cha conquer Xi Xuan at the crucial moment.

Gu Liang Dao had great ambitions in the past. That defeat ten years ago had crushed his hopes. In Yang Yuan Hao’s opinion, Gu Liang Dao would side with Mo Cloud Sea.

If they sided with Mo Cloud Sea, then Mo Cloud Sea would have four top battle generals, one more than Kun Lun.

Mo Cloud Sea would become the only choice for the factions that could not side with Kun Lun or disliked Kun Lun.

When Yang Yuan Hao had received Zuo Mo’s paper crane, he had started to prepare to lead the Four Minor Dhyana Sects to join Mo Cloud Sea.

However … …

Zuo Mo’s plan … … was really devious … …

A thread of flame rose on Yang Yuan Hao’s hand and consumed the paper crane. Not even ashes were left.

Among the flames, Yang Yuan Hao stood up.

He had not been idle in these ten years!

Li Xian Er’s face was ashen.

Mi Shuang had been defeated!

Defeated by Mi Nan. Li Xian Er knww the difference in skill between Mi Nan and Mu Shuang was not large. In the past years, both of them had exchanged victories and defeats.

Yet Mi Nan who had been resupplied was stronger, and Mu Shuang’s battalion was in remnants. They didn’t even have enough shen equipment.

Mi Nan was familiar with Tian Huan’s tactics. Possessing an absolute advantage, his attacks came in suffocating waves.

Mu Shuang could not stop Mi Nan’s attack and successively lost.

For ten years, the battle between North and South Tian Huan had never stopped. No one in Tian Huan could accept that Tian Huan had split. Even tired to the bone, they still persisted.

Li Xian Er was bewildered.

In these years, she hadn’t given up. She had cultivated day and night. While she had not reached god-level, she had successfully reached pseudo god-level. In another five or six years, she would be able to enter god-level.

If she was god-level, Tian Huan would be able to fight back!

Li Xian Er was filled with self-recrimination.

Gongye Xiao Rong walked in. The handsome youth of the past now had a mature aura. There was no marks of the pride of the past. He noticed Li Xian Er’s expression and sighed inside.

“Little Shimei, do not blame yourself,” he comforted softly, “As long as we have a clear conscience …”

Liang Xian Er raised her head and looked at Gongye Xiao Rong. She said determinedly, “Shixiong, do not comfort me. As long as there is a chance, I will not give up!”

A hint of admiration flashed through Gongye Xiao Rong’s gaze. He nodded and said, “That is right! Little Shimei, it seems that we cannot stop Kun Lun with our own strength.”

“Shixiong means we should recruit some allies?” Li Xian Er reacted quickly.

“Yes! At this time, the only one that has the strength to help us is Mo Cloud Sea,” Gongye Xiao Rong said gravely. “Shimei, please go to Mo Cloud Sea. I believed that Lil’ Miss Gongsun understands that without the lips, the teeth will feel cold.”

“Alright!” Li Xian Er did not hesitate and nodded briskly.

“Elder Mu and I will try to gain time for Shimei to negotiate,” Gongye Xiao Rong said gravely.

Seeing Gongye Xiao Rong’s grave countenance, Li Xian Er suddenly realized. Elder Mu and Xiao Rong Shixiong were prepared to sacrifice themselves. Tears streaming down, Li Xian Er bit her lips to stop the sobs from coming out. She wiped her tears, raised her head and said with determination, “I will persuade Mo Cloud Sea.”

“Then I will rely on Shimei,” Gongye Xiao Rong patted Li Xian Er’s shoulder and turned to leave.

Li Xian Er finally could not stop herself and sobbed!

The army was vast.

The Nether Realm’s campaign had not concealed their actions but was as public as possible.

When the army of five hundred thousand flew through the sky and covered it, the land would darken under their shadows. The troops that seemed endless made people unable to muster up any resistance.

Everywhere they passed, there was only trembling and terror.

Zuo Mo used Shi’s chariot. It had been stored in Nether King Palace and naturally became Zuo Mo’s property now.

This Nether King Chariot that was famed throughout the Nether Realm was enormous and like a small mobile palace. Seeing the Nether King Chariot, Zuo Mo found that while his golden chariot looked grand, it was still lacking in magnificence compared to this chariot.

The Nether King Chariot was extremely stable when it flew.

Inside the chariot, Zuo Mo sat on the throne, and the commanders gathered below him. People noticed that a female mask-wearing guard was next to King, and secretly speculated to her identity and origins.

An Mo was in charge of the strategic meeting.

An Mo and Liang Wei had worked together to make this war plan. Liang Wei knew Hundred Savage Realm better than An Mo. Zuo Mo could not point out any problems in the plan the two had made.

However, unlike the calm they showed, An Mo and Liang Wei were extremely nervous. It was the first time the two commanded such a large scale war and they couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Their first target was the Mo Marshal Alliance.

When the enormous army of the Nether King that seemed to be endless appeared on the horizon at the border, all of Hundred Savage Realm was stunned.

Chapter 895 – An Unexpected Occurrence

The Nether Realm being so overt with their mobilizations meant that it gave the Mo Marshals Alliance time to move their battalions in response. All of the battalions of the Mo Marshal alliance were moved to the border between the Mo Marshals Alliance and Nether Realm. The other factions of Hundred Savage Realm didn’t take the opportunity to attack the Mo Marshals Alliance, but sent their battalions to help. Everyone knew that the Mo Marshal Alliance alone could not stop the army of the Nether King.

The presence of the Nether King’s army caused Hundred Savage Realm that had been filled with conflict to unite for the first time. Everyone had fought for many years and were familiar with each other. No one wanted to become the captives of the Nether King.

The Mo Marshals Alliance, the Heroes Alliance, and the Mo Shen Temple all sent their strongest battalions, gathering over three hundred thousand, to form the Hundred Savage Allied Army.

Beast Cry Jie, Desolate Jie, Sky Wood Jie, First Clear Jie¸ Eastern Snake Jie. These five jies were the gateways for Nether Realm to enter Hundred Savage Realm. Once the army of the Nether King broke the defense line of these five jie, there were more than seven paths to penetrate deep into Hundred Savage Realm. The five hundred thousand strong of the Nether King would be able to sweep Hundred Savage Realm.

This meant that the five jies defense line became the crucial location of the first battle.

The Mo Marshal Alliance led by Gongzi Xi was in charge of Sky Wood Jie, the Heroes Alliance was positioned at First Clear Jie and Eastern Snake Jie. The locations under the most pressure, Beast Cry Jie and Desolate Jie were being held by the strongest faction Mo Shen Temple.

Hundred Savage Realm had good commanders and elite battalions. The army of three hundred thousand gathered at the five jie. These five jie were also were located adjacent to each other and formed a horn. They had the advantage of being on home territory. Meaning the Hundred Savage Allied Army had the the impenetrable defense line of the five jie. The Nether King would not be able to defeat the five jie defense line unless he had an army of a million!

This would be an unprecedentedly large battle.

No one in Nether Realm had thought that Hundred Savage Realm would put aside their grudges and unite. While the Hundred Savage Allied Army had two hundred thousand fewer troops, they had the benefit of the defense line.

This meant that the difference in power between the two sides was not as large as imagined.

If they just attacked head on, the fatalities would be astounding.

An Mo and Liang Wei hadn’t expected that Hundred Savage Realm would unite and create an allied army.

The mood inside the large hall was low, they were discouraged. Everyone was experienced in battle. Seeing the Hundred Savage Allied Army appearing as though they would hold out until the end, their expressions turned grave.

This battle would be crueler than they imagined. There was not much technique to speak of in trench warfare like this. Bravery and decisiveness were most important, and this usually meant large numbers of fatalities.

Their enemies were not short-sighted people

Their army of five hundred thousand were being blocked at the border. This was like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone’s heads. However, they could not retreat. They had been so confident before, if they retreated now, wouldn’t they become a joke? Also, the blow to morale would be fatal.

“First set up camp.” Zuo Mo saw that no one had a solution and helped them out.

Everyone sighed in relief.

If King gave the order to attack now, they would most likely come back bloodied.

An Mo and Liang Wei stayed behind.

“This subordinate … …” An Mo’s face was full of shame. King had given him control of the entire situation at the start. He was filled with frustration at having ruined it.

Zuo Mo waved his hand and interrupted An Mo. He said coolly, “Right now, determining a solution is most important. What do you think?”

An Mo adjusted his emotions and said after a moment of thought, “Attacking head on is not plausible, the fatalities will be too high. We have investigated. The defense line is not very strong, but after constant preparation over the last few days, it is much stronger than before. More importantly, the battalions are large. Almost seventy percent of Hundred Savage’s battalions were conscripted.”

“This is not a bad thing. If we win this battle, then Hundred Savage Realm will be ours,” Zuo Mo said coldly. He glanced at Liang Wei. This person that Pu Yao had praised endlessly hadn’t shown much skill. He asked, “Liang Wei, what do you think?”

Liang Wei had been twisting his mind to ponder the problem. Hearing Zuo Mo ask, he shook his head and said, “I have not thought it through.”

Zuo Mo saw this and said, “Go back and think.”

After the two left, Zuo Mo frowned as well. He hadn’t thought that Hundred Savage Realm would actually unite.What Zuo Mo didn’t know was that it was because his reputation had been too stunning. The mirage of the battle at Nether King River had spread through Hundred Savage Realm. The power of a god-level made everyone feel fear and awe.

In terms of individual fame, Zuo Mo had surpassed Shi. Shi had united Nether Realm but people thought of him more as Nether King. Hundred Savage Realm had not been affected. However, this new Nether King, caused many of the people of Hundred Savage Realm to consider if the Nether King qualified to become the king of all mo.

It was because of Zuo Mo’s strong performance that the factions of Hundred Savage Realm were alarmed. All of them knew that there was only one result if they did not unite, Nether King would unite the mo. This was something that the Mo Shen Temple, the Mo Marshals Alliance, and the Heroes Alliance were not willing to see.

Nether King became the top enemy for all the factions of Hundred Savage Realm.

Zuo Mo did not have a solution.

At this time, Hundred Savage Realm’s rear was empty. If he had Gongsun Cha and Bie Han take the opportunity, they could cause Hundred Savage Allied Army to panic.

But only relying on the forces of half of Tian Huan, Gu Liang Dao, and Yang Yuan Hao was not enough to fight Kun Lun. The situation of the Four Realm mirrored Hundred Savage Realm. Mo Cloud Sea, Tian Huan, the four Minor Dhyana Sects, and Gu Liang Dao had allied together to fight Kun Lun..

Zuo Mo grimace.

However, he was not discouraged. There would be many solutions to any problem. Also, he had the initiative.

He had to think of a good solution.

Li Xian Er’s arrival was not known by many. The one that received her was Gongsun Cha.

Ten years had passed, but Gongsun Cha’s bashful smile was the same as before, the one of the neighbor’s boy. No one could connect him to that world-shocking invincible battle general.

Li Xian Er’s complexion was slightly fragile but her expression was calm. She bowed towards Gongsun Cha. “Greetings to Mister Gongsun Cha!”

Gongsun Cha politely returned the greeting. “Miss Li does not have to be so polite.”

Li Xian Er did not waste words and went directly to the main topic. “I have come to ask for aid from Mo Cloud Sea. If the lips are gone, the teeth will be left exposed to the cold. Mister Gongsun is unparalleled in your intelligence, you should see this more clearly than I do. No matter what Mo Cloud Sea demands, as long as my Tian Huan can achieve it, we will not refuse.”

She then took out a large jade box. The jade box was of fine quality and high grade.

“This is the peice of the shen device that Tian Huan obtained from Mister Zuo Mo in the past. We should have personally returned it to Mister Zuo Mo, the rightful owner. Now at this juncture, we can only give it to Mister Gongsun.”

“Many thanks, Miss Xian Er!” Gongsun Cha took the jade box and returned a bow gravely. A hint of admiration flashed through his eyes. He had to say that Li Xian Er was really wise. She was sincere and decisive. She knew that at this time she had no room to discuss conditions and so allowed Mo Cloud Sea to set the price.

Pity that Kun Lun didn’t give her any time to negotiate. Gongsun Cha saw it clearly. Regardless of whether Kun Lun would succeed this time, North Tian Huan would have a difficult time surviving.

Gongsun Cha nodded and said, “We only have one condition.”

Li Xian Er sighed in relief inside. As long as Mo Cloud Sea was willing to negotiate, that meant that they were willing to send aid. Li Xian Er didn’t care about the conditions now. The things that Tian Huan had left were pitifully few.

They would not be able to hold the half-realm of territory they had left. Rather than give it to Kun Lun, she would rather give it to Mo Cloud Sea.

She focused. “Please speak!”

“We have no ambitions in regards to Tian Huan’s lands.”

Li Xian Er was even more curious. They didn’t want territory, then what did they want? Tian Huan really had no wealth left.

“We want ten thousand managerial-level forgers and seal xiu,” Gongsun Cha said coolly.

Li Xian Er’s body shook. She hadn’t thought that Mo Cloud Sea would desire those forgers and seal xiu. In Tian Huan, any forgers and seal xiu that were on managerial level were skilled and experienced. They would be able to work independents. These people were the most valuable part of Tian Huan and the true wealth that Tian Huan had accumulated over the thousands of years.

Gongsun Cha saw Li Xian Er’s internal struggle. He did not fear that the other wouldn’t agree but he still spoke, “I heard that the forgers and seal xiu of Tian Huan have not forged for several years.”

Gongsun Cha’s words shattered Li Xian Er’s last mental block. Gongsun Cha was right. Due to the long war, the resources had been used up. Right now, Tian Huan lacked materials. Without materials, these forging experts didn’t have any solution. They could only work on repairing shen equipment.

If these forging experts joined, Mo Cloud Sea that was already famed for its forging would receive a great boost in their strength.

Mi Nan had led South Tian Huan to join Kun Lun. Many forgers and seal xiu had entered Kun Lun. It could be predicted that Kun Lun’s shen equipment level would increase greatly in the near future.

Lil’ Miss also saw this. In his view, Tian Huan was poor right now. They only had two treasures. One was these seal xiu skilled in forging, and the other were the two top battle generals, Mu Shuang and Gongye Xiao Rong.

Mu Shuang and Gongye Xiao Rong would not be able to be requested so Lil’ Miss targeted these forging experts. In Lil’ Miss’ view, Li Xian Er would agree. One was because she didn’t have any other choice, the other was because while these forgers were astoundingly valuable, in Tian Huan which lacked materials, they were not of use at all.

“I do not agree.”

Unexpectedly, Li Xian Er shook her head.

Gongsun Cha frowned and looked in surprise at Li Xian Er.

Li Xian Er seemed to have reached some conclusion.

“We will join Mo Cloud Sea!”

Astounding words.

Once Li Xian Er said this, she felt light. That invisible burden that had been weighing on her disappeared. Her face glowed with another kind of light.

When Gongsun Cha mentioned the seal xiu, Li Xian Er realized. Tian Huan was at the end of its path. Even if they managed to survive this time, a Tian Huan that lost their seal xiu wouldn’t be as strong as a normal faction, much less survive sitting between the two titans of Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea.

The Four Realms had reached the era of the titans. The weak Tian Huan was fated to die. Not just Tian Huan, the four Minor Dhyana Sects, and Gu Liang Dao were the same.

Rather than being forced to choose after their defeat, it would be better to join Mo Cloud Sea when they still had value. This way, aid was expected. With Mu Shuang and Gongye Xiao Rong as the supports in the future, the days of Tian Huan’s people would not be bad.

Once Li Xian Er thought through all this, she knew that this was the best chance. So she immediately decided.

Gongsun Cha was stunned.

Chapter 896 – Have To Fight!

Zuo Mo was stunned when he received the message Lil’ Miss sent.

Zuo Mo had interacted with Li Xian Er before. In his impression, while Li Xian Er was determined she would not join Mo Cloud Sea.

After he read the entire message, he lamented.

Even the strongest faction, once it split internally, would decline. Thinking of the previous Tian Huan he sighed. That was an existence that had matched Kun Lun. When the Tian Huan of the past moved against them on the market, Mo Cloud Sea wasn’t even able to buy materials.

Who would have thought that Tian Huan would end up in such dire straits!

After he finished lamenting, Zuo Mo started to scratch his head. His original plan was to use Tian Huan to distract Kun Lun, and then they would carry out a few sneak attacks to delay the other. After he finished uniting the mo, the two sides would meet up and then defeat Kun Lun.

Now he found that his imagination had been too optimistic. He encountered a hardy resistance from Hundred Savage Realm that they had thought would be easily defeated. The five jie defense line was one that would cost countless lives to defeat in open battle.

Li Xian Er joining in also disrupted his plan.

Would they agree for Li Xian Er and North Tian Huan joining? They could only agree. Just for the numerous seal xiu of North Tian Huan and the two top battle generals, Zuo Mo had to agree. But if they agreed, North Tian Huan was then Mo Cloud Sea’s territory. That meant that the battle between Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea would now start on all fronts.

It wouldn’t be possible to hide behind Tian Huan and make sneak attacks like they had planned.

After thinking for a few moments, Zuo Mo found that this problem was not an issue of whether he was willing or not. It was unavoidable.

Since that’s the case, then fight!

Zuo Mo calculated the time. Eldest Shixiong and the others probably would reach Mo Cloud Sea soon.

Liao Lin looked around warily. He was the captain of the scout patrol and was responsible for leading a team of three hundred.

As an old-timer of Vermillion Bird Camp, he could not be considered to have ended up well, but he did not care. He knew how much skill he had. If he hadn’t encountered Boss, he would have just been a store clerk his entire life. He was satisfied now at being in charge of three hundred people, especially since they were an elite scout troop.

Vermillion Bird Camp had become a legendary existence in Mo Cloud Sea. The experiences brought him many benefits. For example, when he first took charge of the scout troop, the rebellious youths were extremely respectful when they heard he was from Vermillion Bird Camp.

Liao Lin’s strength was not outstanding in Vermilions Bird Camp, but he was a clever and cautious person. Also, the people that came from Vermillion Bird Camp had that aura. They had been completely trained through Lil’ Miss’ demon training in the past. They were methodical in everything they did.

He led the scout troop and seemed to roam aimlessly in the air.

Since Kun Lun started to attack North Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea had entered battle mode. The battalions quickly gathered. Liao Lin’s mission was to eliminate the enemy spies and scouts in the area.

The so-called enemy spies were only one kind, Kun Lun’s spies.

Liao Lin’s group had fought with Kun Lun’s spies a few times already. Kun Lun’s scouts were extremely skilled. One-on-one, they could not win. However, this was their territory. Once they found the tracks of the enemy spies, they had ways of dealing with the enemy.

Suddenly, Liao Li raised his head.

“Captain Liao, what?” his subordinate asked curiously. He looked over. There was nothing.

Liao Lin’s expression became grave. He could feel an extremely small wave of vibration. But, quickly, the vibrations was becoming strong at an astounding rate!

No! Not just one wave!

“Enemy attack!” Liao Lin said gravely.

So fast!

In the sky, several black dots were nearing at astounding speed.

At this time, everyone felt the vibrations in the air. The enemy was so fast, it was terrifying!

Experts!

Five figures flew above the clouds at astounding speed. They did not conceal themselves at all. The enormous howl created by high speed flight came from far away.

The thick cloud sea under them seemed to be cut up by scissors.

Everyone was astounded by this scene. They had seen those talismans or movement methods famed for their speed, but it was the first time they saw such speed.

Liao Lin was the first to recover from the shock. His heart rose up and he was about to charge towards them. He still underestimated the others’ speed. In this instant, they reached him.

When Liao Lin saw the appearance of the person at the front, he seemed to be struck by lightning. He exclaimed, “Teacher Wei!”

The person at the front heard Liao Lin’s exclamation and his body curved. He appeared without warning in front of Liao Lin. His action immediately attracted the hostility of the scout troop. The entire troop was about to leap towards him.

“Hold!” Liao Lin seemed to wake up and hurriedly shouted.

The scout troop stopped.

Liao Lin’s gaze didn’t dare to move away from the familiar face. He was afraid that if he moved, he would find that this was just an illusion of his. His lps trembled, “Teacher Wei … … Teacher Wei, is it you?”

Wei Sheng examined Liao Lin and then he had a smile. “You are Little Liao Zi?”

He had taught Vermillion Bird Camp sword scriptures in the past and was familiar with some of them. Liao Lin was one of them.

“Teacher Wei! Teacher Wei! You have really returned!” Liao Lin’s tears could not be stopped and trailed down. He frightened his subordinates. They had never seen Captain Liao like this.

Liao Lin wiped his face. His gaze swept across the others and his heart suddenly trembled. “Teacher Wei, what of Daren? Miss A Gui?”

Wei Sheng had a gentle smile. “They will come back after a while.”

“Daren is still alive? Miss A Gui is still alive?” Liao Lin asked in a trembling voice.

“Yes, still alive!” Wei Sheng could understand Liao lin’s excitement. His deep voice was filled with the power to make people believe.

“Great! Great … …” Liao Lin was so excited he was incoherent.

Wei Sheng had returned!

Zong Ru had returned!

Ceng Lian’er had returned!

Wo Li and Luo Li had returned!

The news swept like a gust of wind. Within the span of night, the news spread all over Mo Cloud Sea.

Mo Cloud Sea shook! The entire world shook!

Zuo Mo was still alive! Miss A Gui was still alive! They would return soon!

Shortly after North Tian Huan announced they were joining Mo Cloud Sea. The day after, the four Minor Dhyana Sects and Gu Liang Dao separately announced they were joining Mo Cloud Sea.

The world was amazed!

Another titan took form. Joining North Tian Huan, the four Minor Dhyana Sects, Gu Liang Dao and Mo Cloud Sea, they possessed over one and a half realms of territory.

In terms of land, Mo Cloud Sea was much smaller than Kun Lun’s two and a half.

But in other areas, Mo Cloud Sea was even stronger, especially in terms of battle generals. At this time, Mo Cloud Sea had six top battle generals under their command, Gongsun Cha, Bie Han, Yang Yuan Hao, Gu Liang Dao, Mu Shuang, and Gongye Xiao Rong.

Such a grand team was enough to outshine even Kun Lun’s three famed battle generals.

After absorbing North Tian Huan’s astounding number of seal xiu, Mo Cloud Sea’s forging strength would increase tangibly. The Mo Cloud Sea which was already extremely rich would become truly strong in their army with the addition of so many battle generals.

In the evaluations by all sides, for the first time, Mo Cloud Sea became a large faction on par with Kun Lun. Everyone thought that the two were evenly matched, with both sides having their advantage and disadvantages.

Kun Lun was both alarmed and angry that North Tian Huan, the four Minor Dhyana Sects, and Yang Yuan Hao joined Mo Cloud Sea at the same time. The return of Wei Sheng and the others didn’t just make up for Mo Cloud Sea’s weakness in terms of high level offensive power, it also stabilized the hearts of Mo Cloud Sea. Now, everyone knew that Zuo Mo was going to return!

The situation changed so quickly that all of Kun Lun felt they were caught off guard.

A cooked duck had just flown away, everyone felt extremely frustrated! Even a person who did not show their emotions easily like Lin Qian had a black expression.

Zuo Mo was still alive!

Lin Qian could not understand how these people had escaped from the Central Plains.

But he knew just how terrible this piece of news was. All of the changes were linked by one fact, Zuo Mo was still alive. Only with Zuo Mo being alive did people have such a hopeful outlook on Mo Cloud Sea, and these people would join Mo Cloud Sea.

Yet he didn’t have time to rage. There was an even more urgent problem to be solved.

Should they still fight North Tian Huan?

Fighting would mean that they would start their battle in full with Mo Cloud Sea. If they didn’t fight, regardless of Kun Lun being made a joke, it would not be so easy to invade North Tian Huan in the future.

Everyone in Kun Lun had dark expressions.

They knew that Kun Lun had not prepared to start a full war against Mo Cloud Sea. Their original plan was to consume and increase their morale. Kun Lun would gradually move their people, and after taking over the other factions, they would ride their wave of victory to have a final battle with Mo Cloud Sea.

This choice would decide Kun Lun’s face.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on Lin Qian. Other than Lin Qian, no one qualified to make the decision at this time.

Lin Qian’s face gradually recovered. His expression was determined. “Fight! We have not prepared, but Mo Cloud Sea has not prepared either. If we wait for them to organize, our situation would become more difficult.”

“Then fight!” Xue Dong stood up first and said, “For Kun Lun!

“For Kun Lun!”

Everyone stood up with decisiveness on their faces.

Gongye Xiao Rong looked at the wreckage on the battlefield with a heavy heart. When Li Xian Er sent him the message that they were preparing to join Mo Cloud Sea, he was silent.

He knew that Li Xian Er’s decision was right. He was not the only one, Elder Mu Shuang also knew. But Elder Mu Shuang still cried in sorrow.

Gongye Xiao Rong did not cry. He felt relieved of a burden. He was still young, and his feelings towards Tian Huan was not as deep as that of Elder Mu Shuang. He had struggled for ten years with no hope. The feeling of helplessness had hung over him for ten years.

Right now, his performance would determine the fates of everyone in the future.

He felt it was good to use his merits to win better lives for everyone. At least, he could accomplish this.

Mo Cloud Sea was stronger and better prepared than he imagined. Their supplies had already reached their destinations.

The following battle would be a cruel bloodbath.

Kun Lun had no option of retreat left.

However, neither did he.

Chapter 897 – Liang Wei’s Plan

Everyone was stunned by Liang Wei’s proposed battle plan.

Inside the large hall, Liang Wei’s voice echoed.

“The enemy possesses a weakness that is not a weakness. They do not have a god-level expert. Additionally, the battalions that guard each jie do not belong to the same faction. When pressed, they will not work so well between themselves. The enemy’s carefully created defense line is strong. If we just charge, we will definitely be defeated, and the fatalities will be high.”

“However, our strongest point is that King is god-level.”

Liang Wei’s wolf-like gaze swept across the entire hall. At this time, his edges were completely displayed.

No one opposed him. Liang Wei was right. In front of a god-level, this defense line could not reach perfection. But even so, each of them was shocked by Liang Wei’s daring plan.

“We will send four hundred thousand to the first engagement and openly attack the five jie defense line. There is only one aim, to put pressure on the entire defense line, enough pressure. That way, they can only fight for themselves, and the cooperation between them will be cut off.”

Liang Wei continued, his expression calm and confident. He did not show any timidity in front of the hall of strong experts.

“When the enemy is completely suppressed, King will lead an elite of fifty thousand to attack Sky Wood Jie guarded by the Mo Marshals Alliance. Sky Wood Jie is the final target of our attack. There are two reasons, one is that the Mo Marshals Alliance is the weakest, and is the best opening. The second is that this defence line is the territory of the Mo Marshals Alliance. Once Gongzi Xi is defeated, Mo Shen Temple and the Heroes Alliance will be fighting on foreign land. They will have a much harder time rallying local help.”

“If we can open a hole, the enemy holding the five jie defense line will be meaningless. They can only retreat. We will move in and successively invade Hundred Savage Realm!”

Liang Wei slowly spoke his conclusion.

The hall was completely silent. No one had recovered from the shock.

In this plan that Liang Wei had designed, the amount of manpower invested into the first attack reached an astounding four hundred thousand. They would sortie eighty percent of their manpower for the first wave of attack. This was something rarely seen in wars, and risking in such a large amount was even rarer.

It as the first time everyone was waging a campaign of such scale. They were extremely cautious.

Someone objected, “Wouldn’t it be too dangerous to invest so many forces the first engagement?”

Liang Wei explained, “The other has the benefit of the defense line, we cannot add to their morale. If we cannot defeat them in the first wave, their confidence will increase, emboldened they will be more likely to fight to the death and their defense will strengthen. Then the five jie defense line will become a meat grinder. We may be pulled in to die.”

Someone else stood up to object, “The plan is good, but the fatalities will be too high!”

Liang Wei did not avoid the topic and said honestly, “Yes, the fatalities in this plan will be high, however, our superior numbers is our advantage. We can accept fatalities of this degree. I think it is worthwhile to use a certain amount of fatalities in exchange for time, space, and morale. Also, breaking any defense line will always have high fatalities, let alone one like this.”

The opposers were silent. No matter who the person was, the fatalities would be high in defeating a defense line.

Liang Wei suddenly looked at Zuo Mo. He hesitated but still gritted out, “The crux of this plan is King. If King wins, we win!”

He actually had something he didn’t say. If King lost, they lost. But he didn’t say it.

Would King lose?

No one dared to make a sound in the hall.

An Mo stood out and shook his head. He said, “The fighting has just begun. There is no need for King to personally go to the front lines. We can first test them and then try to find a weakness in the defense line … …”

Zuo Mo waved his hand and interrupted An Mo. He stood up and looked around. “We’ll use this plan. An Mo, Liang Wei, organize the battalions to attack each jie tonight. The battalions are to follow the plan and be in attack formation.”

Zuo Mo’s words concluded the entire discussion.

He had to admit that Liang Wei’s plan was outstanding. There was no aspect that appeared spectacular but it was honest. Even if the enemy knew their plan, they would not have a solution.

This was the true style of a great general.

No one knew how important time was to Zuo Mo.

No wonder Pu Yao had endless praise for Liang Wei. A plan like this did not have many complex parts, but not everyone would have the resolve. Only when one clearly saw the benefits and shortcomings involved would they have such decisiveness and bravery.

An Mo and Liang Wei responded. An Mo did not agree, but he would still carry out King’s decision seriously.

Zuo Mo looked at the crowd and said coldly, “This King will be fighting at the front! Battalions, remember, this battle has me, we are invincible! We will advance, not retreat! Anyone that disobeys, kill! Anyone that is fearful and does not advance, kill!”

The two “kills” caused the temperature in the room to suddenly decrease.

It was the first time they saw King so cold and decisive. Their hearts shook, they stood and responded, “Yes!”

Countless blinding light swept across the sky. The lights were like rain and illuminated the night sky as bright as day. The enormous explosions were like strong sound attacks that battered at people’s minds and their eardrums.

Gongye Xiao Rong bit down on his lips and almost bit through them. The formation in front of him was almost completely covered by Kun Lun’s attacks. He could see the corpses blown into the air by the explosions and pillars of blood shooting into the sky.

This battalion that he had spent countless efforts, blood, sweat, and tears to create was being killed. That simple and cruel defense line was one that he had rushed to build.

He had expected that Kun Lun would put everything into the attack but he had still underestimated Kun Lun’s offensive strength. The one that attacked his battalion was Mu Xuan Battalion.

This female battalion that was famed for her detailed attacks was so dominant when she attacked!

The battalion at the front was being killed off. With every person’s sacrifice, his heart dripped blood. His hand uncontrollably trembled, but his gaze did not wave at all.

He was waiting. Waiting for the time to retaliate.

Mu Xuan Battalion attacking without any restraint would cause them to use a great amount of shen power. Gongye Xiao Rong used half of his battalion and jinzhi to delay the other for the chance to attack.

He rejoiced that it was Mu Xuan Battalion that attacked him and not Xue Dong Battalion. Just as he expected, Mu Xuan Battalion was strong, but it was clear that they were not skilled in a strong offensive tactics. They did not have good control of how much shen power they used.

This was his only chance, a chance that he used the lives of half his battalion to trade for.

The resilient Gongye Xiao Rong did not forget his sensitive perception due to the pain he was enduring.

The enemy’s attacks still rained down wildly, but Gongye Xiao Rong detected that hint of exhaustion in the storm, the easing of the relentless storm.

It was now!

Gongye Xiao Rong did not hesitate and shouted harshly, “Kill!”

There were less than two thousand people next to him!

These people had watched with glaring eyes as their brothers were killed, and were mad.

Tian Huan’s unique attacking battle formation suddenly lit up with blinding light that no one had expected. At the same time, at the ground to the flank of Mu Xuan’s battalion, the same light lit up. Before Mu Xuan had arrived, Gongye Xiao Rong and set up small-distance transportation formations in the surroundings.

These transportation formations had been concealed with thick layers of earth. Mu Xuan Battalion had not detected them at all.

Woosh!

The battalion disappeared in the air and appeared at the flank of Mu Xuan Battalion.

The presence of the battle formation reached a peak and shot in the air. Hundreds of blinding circles of light flew into the enemy battle formation.

The sudden attack caused Mu Xuan’s battalion to descend into chaos. Blood sprayed out. These blinding circles of light were filled with countless seal scripts. Once they flew into Mu Xuan Battalion, they spun at high speed as they grew in size. Everywhere they passed, blood flew.

However, Mu Xuan Battalion was a famed elite battalion. After the initial panic, they quickly recovered and responded.

A proportion of the xiuzhe quickly cast defensive shen techniques while another group prepared attacking shen techniques.

Yet, quickly, their expressions changed!

Their shen power was almost used up!

Woosh woosh woosh!

Another wave of hundreds of circles flew into Mu Xuan Battalion!

Mu Xuan paled. She finally realized what Gongye Xiao Rong had planned. She was filled with regret. She had been careless!

They had been unstoppable before. Under the attacks of her battalion and Mi Nan’s battalion, Gongye Xiao Rong and Mu Shuang had been repeatedly defeated and left nearly crippled. While North Tian Huan had joined Mo Cloud Sea, far water did not resolve thirst. She had dismissed both Gongye Xiao Rong and Mu Shuang. In her view, taking Tian Huan was just a matter of time.

Because Lin Qian had asked them to conquer North Tian Huan as fast as possible, she had chosen a strong offensive strategy.

Mu Xuan Battalion that had almost no shen power left had the advantage of numbers, but the lively thousand or so people held the upper hand.

Gongye Xiao Rong led his battalion of less than two thousand to furiously attack Mu Xuan Battalion.

She had misstepped!

Mu Xian’s expression quickly recovered and she ordered without hesitation, “Fourth Team, engage them. Everyone else, retreat! Use ling beasts!”

Soon a troop of two thousand flew out of Mu Xuan Battalion and engaged Gongye Xiao Rong.

The other people called out their ling beasts and retreated.

Gongye Xiao Rong saw this and did not chase. He continued to herd and kill the two thousand that were coming towards him. An hour later, none of the two thousand were alive. No one had managed to escape.

Gongye Xiao Rong didn’t feel any joy and only endless bitterness.

This counterattack could not be counted as a victory since he had traded half of his battalion’s lives. When Mu Xuan came back, they would have no chance at all.

Fortunately, they had finally managed to push back this attack and won a few days of time.

He was also going to retreat.

Behind him, all of North Tian Huan was creating a retreat of astounding scale. The people continued to move in the direction of Mo Cloud Sea. Tian Huan’s defense line was completely destroyed. The difficulty of holding this region was high.

In the plan that Gongsun Cha and the others had designed, Kun Lun could take North Tian Huan but they would only leave behind scorched earth. All of Tian Huan would be moved into Mo Cloud Sea.

Mo Cloud Sea’s enormous business network displayed its astounding power at this time.

Countless transportation ships of astounding volume appeared out of nowhere. Forming enormous fleets. Like ants moving, they transported the people of Tian Huan away.

And long lines were forming at all the transportation formations. The pieces of jingshi were being used up like water flowing yet Mo Cloud Sea did not care. They continued to transport over batches of jingshi to the transportation formations. It was the first time that people saw jingshi piled up in literal mountains.

The powerful and rich Mo Cloud Sea entered full war mode. No one could underestimate it.

North Tian Huan and their people had been in a state of war already. The rule Gongsun Cha had set down was only transport people and not resources. As a result, the effectiveness was astounding.

The few days that Gongye Xiao Rong won with his sacrifices was extremely valuable.

At another transportation formation, a strange battalion stepped out. These people were completely expressionless, their pupils grey-white, covered in grand tattoo and showed no signs of life.

When a male with a cold expression and was completely covered in mo matrices walked out of the transportation formation.

“It is Bie Han Daren!

Exclamations rang out among the crowd, The exclamations spread and the crowd started to shift.

“He’s Bie Han Daren?”

“Heavens! This is Sin Battalion!”

After the exclamations passed, joy and smile floated on the faces of these people. Their hearts finally landed. They were safe with Bie Han Daren here!

The people from Mo Cloud Sea straightened and lifted their heads up high with respectful and reverent expressions.

He was Bie Han.

Chapter 898 – Strong Attack

When Bie Han saw the terrible state of Gongye Xiao Rong Battalion, he was astounded. A battalion that suffered this level of casualties could be said to be crippled, but their faces gave him pause. Their faces were filled with sorrow and pain, but also with hate and spirit.

Bie Han nodded inwardly. This battalion was not crippled.

When Bie Han saw Gongye Xiao Rong’s calm expression, it proved the conclusion he reached. . While he looked exhausted and fragile, his gaze was filled with determination.

“Leave this to us, go rest.”

Bie Han’s voice had a hint of respect. This had nothing to do with strength. The kind of spirit and determination it took to still hold on and think of ways to force the enemy back in such a disadvantageous battle was worthy of respect.

“Alright.” Gongye Xiao Rong looked at Bie Han. He felt sadness. Tian Huan had declined and died. Mo Cloud Sea was like the sun in the sky. The change was something that people who were inside Tian Huan felt more deeply.

Bie Han seemed to see what Gongye Xiao Rong was thinking and said, “Your equipment and resources have arrived. Pick your own soldiers. If you are fast, you can still return to this big war.”

Bie Han’s tone was cold, but Gongye Xiao Rong could hear the care inside it.

Gongye Xiao Rong became alert. Bie Han was right. This war had just started. If they finished recovering fast enough, they could still make it in time.

This battle was important to him and Tian Huan.

“Man thanks!” Gongye Xiao Rong bowed solemnly to Bie Han.

Bie Han nodded and then turned around expressionlessly to leave.

Bie Han glanced at the ruined battlefield and didn’t have any intentions of setting up seal formation defense lines. He was not skilled in defense and he didn’t need defense.

“Find the position of Mu Xuan Battalion,” Bie Han said coldly.

Dozens of scouts disappeared into the air.

He did not stay where he was but ordered Sin Battalion to advance. He sent out scouts along the way in search of Mu Xuan’s position.

Soon, the scouts found Mu Xuan.

Mu Xuan Battalion was advancing murderously. After recovering their shen power, how could Mu Xuan Battalion accept their defeat.

However, Mu Xuan had a deep impression from last time. She reflected deeply and had learned her lesson. No top battle general was easy to deal with. Even if the enemy did not have the same manpower, she should never assume the other did not have the ability to retaliate.

Mu Xuan became more wary after she was bitten by Gongye Xiao Rong when she had the advantage of manpower. While she had returned this time, she was not careless.

Large numbers of scouts were sent out.

Soon, the scouts of both sides met in skirmishes.

Mu Xuan quickly learned that there was an unknown battalion that was moving in her direction. She became even more wary. Someone that knew her strength and still dared to come over was not a normal person.

She became even more wary but did not retreat.

Soon, she saw the enemy battalion.

Mu Xuan’s expression became grave.

Bie Han’s Sin Battalion!

They came so quickly!

“What do they want to do?” Youxi Ya Ke looked dazedly at the battalions that were gathering in front of the formation and murmured.

The battalions flowed and gathered.

The troops were coming constantly as though it was endless.

Everyone, including Youxi Ya Ke was stunned by the scene. In a short period of time, over sixty thousand people had gathered in front of them.

What kind of joke was this?

Any average battalion here was just two to three thousand people. Sixty thousand people, that meant the enemy had gathered about thirty battalions here.

Youxi Ya Ke’s eyes were experienced. From the presence that these sixty thousand exuded, they were not normal battalions! They were well trained, they may be lacking compared to his Youxi Battalion but at least comparable to the battalions of his subordinates.

Even more importantly, numbers!

The defense line that Youxi Ya Ke was stationed at was only twenty thousand people. Youxi Battalion was only five thousand strong. The other fifteen thousand were from various elite battalions.

Suddenly, Youxi Ya Ke shook and called over his second in command. He howled, “Go ask what the situation at the other places are like?”

Youxi Ya Ke released his hand. The second in command scrambled to contact the other battalions. Youxi Ya Ke looked dazedly at the terrifying group of battalions with a dark expression. He murmured, “We cannot be this unlucky, is my place the break point?”

If that was the case, then it would be terrible!

Soon, the second in command rushed back and reported with an ashen face of the situations of the other battalions.

Youxi Ya Ke was stunned.

There was an astounding number of enemies gathered at each battalion’s base, all of them elite forces.

When he calculated the number, he suddenly shook. His face turned ashen. The enemy had put more than three hundred thousand elite troops into the first wave of attacks!

It was so … … so terrifying!

No one knew about their own situation better than Youxi Ya Ke. Hundred Savage Realm had fought endlessly for years, and the expenditure of their battalions had been astounding. While they said they had gathered three hundred thousand, about one hundred thousand of this were just normal battalions.

Battalions were not judged just by numbers, their training and skill level was even more important. Usually, battalions were divided into three ranks.

The strongest top battalions were all lead by the famed battle generals. The difference in numbers between these top battalions was great large. For example, Bie Han’s Sin Battalion was always around three thousand people, while at the other end Mu Xuan Battalion was ten thousand. However, at that level, what was important was the collective fighting power, and not numbers.

The second rank was the elite battalions. On average, these battalions were weaker than top battalions, but were stronger than normal battalions. It could be said that the elite battalions relied on numbers. The numbers determined the difference in power between opponents. Elite battalions usually did not vary greatly in their skill. They fought based on numbers.

The third rank was the normal battalions. They were usually the local garrisons, and acted as reserves for elite battalions.

Hundred Savage Realm had fought among itself for ten years, while Nether Realm had rested for ten years. The difference was completely on display now.

Youxi Ya Ke’s heart continued to sink. His battalion was the strongest of the Mo Shen Temple next to Chief Mo God. The Mo Shen Temple had two top battalions. The Chief Mo God lead one, Youxi Ya Ke lead the other, but the difference the number of elite battalions was too high.

Top battalions were trump cards. They either decided the battle or they were used as intimidation. Elite battalions were the main forces in war and were usually the battalions that were exhausted the fastest. In the ten years of internal conflict, Hundred Savage Realm’s elite battalions suffered significant losses. This didn’t just lower the number of elite battalions, it also decreased the skill level of the elite battalions.

Cultivation needed time. The training of an acceptable elite soldier took time.

The enemy knew their weakness!

And used the simplest and most direct method, a strong attack!

And an attack on all fronts!

Fighting with more than three hundred thousand people!

Youxi Ya Ke’s mouth tasted bitter. He could see the problem but he didn’t have a solution.

The battalions’ shadows stretched out like a forest. Each face flashed with heated fighting spirit. There was only one person in their field of view—the unparalleled king wearing the bronze mask.

This battalion was over fifty thousand people. They were lead by ten gold battle generals, each of which was a lord of a region or the leader of a clan. They had been through hundreds of battles, were experienced and reliable. They were shrouded in killing intent and were authoritative.

There was glory in having King personally leading them, the ten gold battle generals were extremely excited. When they learned that their battalions had been picked to be led by King personally, everyone knew how rare a chance this was, and they decided they would fight to the death.

These fifty thousand were the elite of the elite. Each person would be the absolute strongest of an area. Also, each of them had at least ten years of experience in a battalion.

This meant that no matter if it was individual power, or combat training, they were some of the best.

The entire place was silent and filled with killing intent.

These fifty thousand would be led by Zuo Mo. This was the first time Zuo Mo was leading such a large battalion. His gaze was as usual as he swept across the battalion. His mind was unaffected.

“King, they are in their position!”

The second in command next to Zuo Mo reported loudly.

Everyone heard this and their fighting spirits rose!

An Mo and Liang Wei were both participating in this battle. Due to this, they arranged a second in command to communicate with the battalions for Zuo Mo.

It was about to start!

This battle was crucial for Zuo Mo. It as not just important for Zuo Mo’s empire, it would also greatly change the structure of the world. Strangely, Zuo Mo’s heart was calm. It was not affected at all by the great battle about to start.

Without realizing it, he had reached a position of power that he didn’t even dare to think about in the past. But Zuo Mo who was maturing by the day became even more composed.

“Attack!”

Zuo Mo’s icy order was like a spark that immediately ignited this unprecedented campaign.

A defense line of five jie, an army of three hundred and fifty thousand attacking simultaneously!

The defense line exploded. The scene of an army of three hundred and fifty thousand attacking at once was almost unimaginable.

The shen power of three hundred and fifty thousand gathered on the thirty five thousand mo captains, then to the seven thousand mo colonels, and then to the seven hundred silver battle generals.

The shen techniques with their astounding power covered the entire defense line.

The shen technique each silver battle general released was different. Some sprayed fatal nether mist that immediately covered a range of a hundred li, others were bright, grand, and came like a storm that robbed life, some were silent and caused immediate death.

What was even more stunning was the attacks of gold battle generals.

The shen power that could destroy the land allowed them to release the strongest of shen techniques. Their powerful control allowed them to easily control the pace of the battle.

Boom boom boom!

Grey blade energies hundreds of zhang long with long tails trailing behind as they smashed on the light shield of the defense line. The light shield made from jinzhi wavered violently.

Before they recovered, the grey mists dozens of zhang tall turned into skulls, packed rains of candles, and white screaming fist energies and other things that smashed against the light barrier.

The light shield was like a fragile bubble that immediately shattered.

No one had experienced such a terrifying attack, a barrage of such intensity! The shen power of three hundred and fifty thousand was furiously send into the battlefield as though it didn’t cost anything in a spectacular display!

The impenetrable five jie defense line wavered under the fires of battle.

Zuo Mo knew it was time for him to attack.

He unhooked the King’s Horn from his waist.

Chapter 899 – Horn! God-level!

His fingers held the King’s Horn.

Shen power was channeled in, the densely pack bloody shen glyphs on the King’s Horn lit up rapidly. A vast and authoritative presence spread outwards with Zuo Mo at the center.

The ten gold battle generals at the front jumped. Their expressions almost froze on their faces, this was … …

The King’s Horn moved towards his face, and sounded with an exhale.

Woooo!

The ancient horn sounded on the battlefield. The flashes of lights and the ear-deafening explosions could not suppress this long horn that rose out of the dust of time.

Everyone on the battlefield stopped. They seemed to hear something in their body explode. A profound and cryptic glyph lit up in their blood. The power that was hiding in their bloodlines seemed to be awoken by the horn.

Submit!

Instinctive submission!

The invisible presence covered everyone on the battlefield. All the mo on the battlefield instinctively submitted. Their bodies were out of their control. Their spirits were stunned.

The same horn, but the effects on the two sides were different.

This strange power that rose from their bloodline would intimidate the spirits and restrain them if they had the thought to resist. It was unspeakably uncomfortable.

Yet those subordinates under Zuo Mo’s command felt as though a fire had been lit in their bodies. They were filled with endless power, they did not fear any battle!

All Hail The King!

It was the first time Zuo Mo blew the King’s Horn without restraint. Just now, he finally understood what was inside this legendary article of the King. Crafted inside the King’s Horn was the First Mo King’s comprehension about the mo’s bloodline power.

The King’s Horn stimulated the deepest and most basic power of the mo bloodlines.

It was a terrifying power!

Zuo Mo felt a wave of respect. There mo bloodline power had no secrets in the eyes of that First Mo King!

Zuo Mo quickly refocused. He noticed the flames that lit up in the eyes of his commanders!

“Kill!”

The icy order sounded in every corner of the battlefield.

Zuo Mo appeared at the front of the battle formation.

The defense line at Sky Wood Jie wavered under the strong attacks. The battalions of fifty thousand attacked furiously without regard for shen power. Almost all the seal formations and jinzhi collapse in a short amount of time.

Gongzi Xi hadn’t thought that they would encounter such a fierce attack.

The army of fifty thousand people seemed to cover the sky. These attacks filled with the energy of death were grey, black, white and green as they rained down.

It was the first time that Gongzi Xi encountered such a ferocious attack that he even had a short moment of dazedness.

When he recovered, he immediately noticed the subordinates surrounding him were unconsciously resisting. Gongzi Xi immediately recognized the problem. The pace of battle was being dictated by the enemy. His side was fighting back out of instinct and lacked organization. Reactively responding like this was meaningless.

Gongzi Xi was about to shout to stop them when a low horn suddenly sounded over the battlefield.

Gongzi Xi seemed to be struck by lightning. The energies in his bodies roiled and he was astounded. His expression changed dramatically, this was … …

He was a top battle general. Having transformed from a noble young master into a top battle general, his heart was not as fragile as it had once been. He immediately turned to look at his subordinates, and his heart sank.

Everywhere he saw, his commanders were dazed, all soulless.

A legend suddenly appeared in his mind.

King’s Horn!

That was the King’s Horn!

He suddenly turned and looked towards the enemy battalions.

At this time, he saw the enemy battle formation split open from the middle. The battle formation that had been fighting against them parted to the sides and a battalion showed themselves through the split. At the very front of the battalion was a mo wearing a copper mask that looked coldy at him.

“Kill!”

Instantly, Gongzi Xi’s heart almost stopped beating.

But after a short daze, he recovered. And then Gongzi Xi paled.

So fast!

The enemy had almost reached them.

“Defend! Defend!” Gongzi Xi shouted. His handsome face did not have any of his nobility and dignity. He only hoped now that his shout would get his side to focus.

What reassured Gongzi Xi slightly was that this battalion he had spent so much effort to build had not completely collapsed under the pressure. They gathered their remaining morale and started to muster a defense.

The enemies in his field of view released light. The violent shen power vibrations caused Gongzi Xi to feel as though it was a shen power wave heading towards him.

The ten gold battle generals flashed with light that was as thick as fire.

But what was the most blinding was Zuo Mo at the front.

Surging shen power that filled the space around him. The shen power that contained terrifying power slowly flowed around him. The space around him twisted. People could not see his figure clearly, only the surging shen power and a figure like that of a mo god!

A dot of light flew out of that figure.

Gongzi Xi’s pupils suddenly widened, not good!

Yet that dot of white light immediately flew in front of him. At this time, the dot of light had turned into a patch of blinding white light.

As though the sun was thrown at him!

They did not have the time to struggle before they were swallowed by the blinding white light that had expanded rapidly.

The most crucial three hundred li of the entire Sky Wood Jie defense line was consumed by the burning white light. The burning white light silently consumed everything.

Only a breath after the expansion of light did a tsunami of sound swept outwards!

The terrifying flows of energy made even the Nether Realm Battalions feel as though they were in a storm.

Everyone was stunned dumb by this attack, even if this attack had been released from their side.

Before this, no one could draw on the shen power of fifty thousand elite!

So no one knew what it would be like when the shen power of fifty thousand were gathered together into one attack.

Now, they knew.

Ten breaths later, the light finally faded.

What appeared in front of them was an enormous chasm that was three hundred li in wide, an enormous crack that stretched beyond the horizon.

The deep chasm was thirty zhang wide and the surrounding walls were as smooth as glass. There was nothing in the deep hole. The crack was over ten li long and seemed bottomless. The shape cut into the ground in a perfectly rounded edge.

If they could see into the ground, they would find that the structure of this jie had been completely changed.

No one could muster up the bravery to stand against such an attack.

The strongest battle general and the strongest battalion of the Mo Marshals Alliance had turned to dust. The remaining Mo Marshals Alliance forces lost the bravery to fight.

Even Zuo Mo hadn’t expected that the shen power of fifty thousand was so terrifying when gathered together. When the amount of shen power reached a certain level, it would cause a tangible change. The shen power of fifty thousand gathered together was not the same as twenty thousand or thirty thousand.

Even he had almost lost control.

That attack had been risky. He wouldn’t dare to do it again.

However, what comforted Zuo Mo was that this attack had laid the foundation for the victory over Hundred Savage Realm!

No one will be able to stop the steps of their advance!

Victory was unstoppable!

Xue Dong’s battalions stealthily appeared at the borders of the four Minor Dhyana Sects.

Soon, the traces of Xue Dong Battalion were found.

Xue Dong did not fear this. He quickly defeated a few battalions of the four Minor Dhyana Sects. Yet he quickly realized something was not right. Yang Yuan Hao was not at the four Minor Dhyana Sects!

Xue Dong was startled.

Yang Yuan Hao was not at the four Minor Dhyana Sects, then where was he?

Xue Dong had not lingered. He had travelled day and night to the four Minor Dhyana Sects. Xue Dong had wanted to ambush Yang Yuan Hao. One on one, Xue Dong had enough confidence to win.

Mo Cloud Sea had the advantage in the number of generals, and this was not good for Kun Lun. Even though Kun Lun had developed some good young battle generals in the past few years, but there was still a big difference between these young people and the present top battle generals.

Gongye Xiao Rong and Mu Shuang’s battalions would only recover after recuperating for a while. In other words, Mo Cloud Sea’s active troops, other than Gongsun Cha and Bie Han, were Yang Yuan Hao and Gu Liang Dao.

The plan was first defeat Yang Yuan Hao and Gu Liang Dao to create good conditions for the final battle with Mo Cloud Sea.

Xue Dong had headed for Yang Yuan Hao, while Lin Qian had gone alone to deal with Gu Liang Dao.

If Wei Sheng and the others had not returned, Lin Qian’s target would have been Gongsun Cha. However, Wei Sheng and the others did return. Lin Qian was still extremely wary of Wei Sheng.

Kun Lun had the advantage of strength and there was no need to take such a risk. Gu Liang Dao only had a Shuang Yu with him, and he was only pseudo god-level. Alone he was not a threat to Lin Qian.

First grind away the claws and teeth, then fight. That was Kun Lun’s strategy.

However, when Xue Dong found that Yang Yuan Hao was not at the four Minor Dhyana Sects, his expression changed. This meant that Yang Yuan Hao had left the four Minor Dhyana Sects early. Even the higher ups of the four Minor Dhyana Sects were not present. The signs all indicated that when Kun Lun had attacked North Tian Huan, Mo Cloud Sea had started their actions against Kun Lun.

Xue Dong was not an ordinary person. Almost instantly, he guessed Yang Yuan Hao’s goal.

Kun Lun!

However, after guessing the other’s intentions, Xue Dong was not too nervous.

If Yang Yuan Hao thought that Kun Lun’s rear was empty, that would be a great mistake.

The higher ups of the four Minor Dhyana Sects were not here. There was no meaning in sweeping away the four Minor Dhyana Sects. At this time, time was most precious!

Xue Dong did not hesitate and left the four Minor Dhyana Sects. Before leaving, he ordered the five Great Dhyana Sects that had sided with Kun Lun to attack the four Minor Dhyana Sects.

Cannon fodder should be dealt with by cannon fodder. A place of this significance was not worthy of his battalion’s effortstime.

At this time, he received a message from Mu Xuan.

Mu Xuan Battalion encountered Bie Han’s Sin Battalion!

Xue Dong’s eyes lit up. He was not far from Mu Xuan Battalion. As long as Mu Xuan Battalion delayed Bie Han for a few days, he would arrive. At that time, he could complete a pincer strategy with Mu Xuan Battalion against Bie Han. Even if Bie Han had wings, he would not be able to fly away.

He hadn’t thought of this: Yang Yuan Hao had left, and Bie Han came.

Xue Dong immediately realized that this was a perfect opportunity to eliminate Bie Han’s Sin Battalion!

Chapter 900 – Fight To The Death

Mi Nan’s face was black.

He received Xue Dong’s orders asking him to immediately move closer to Mu Xuan to surround Bie Han. If they could destroy Sin Battalion, it would be a heavy blow to Mo Cloud Sea.

Both Yang Yuan Hao and Gu Liang Dao were top battle generals, but in the eyes of Kun Lun, their threat level, and the threat levels of Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were not at the same level.

This difference was like the difference between Mi Nan and Xue Dong.

However, Mi Nan was unable to leave being tied down by Mu Shuang.

A few days ago, he had crippled Mu Shuang Battalion. Only slightly more than a thousand people were left. But this thousand with the support of a few normal battalions were forcing Mi Nan to stay.

The cruelty and harshness of the battle surpassed Mi Nan’s imagination.

The other’s defense line was in shambles but they were steadfast. Mi Nan’s side would bombard them, but once they stopped, the enemy would rush out of somewhere, leapt at them, and dragged them down to die.

Even Mu Shuang was fighting at the front lines. The normal battalions they usually dismissed were fearless.

Everyone was familiar with each other. Mi Nan’s battalion and Mu Shuang’s battalion knew each other well. Some were even relatives.

Mi Nan was also familiar with Mu Shuang. He knew that the old person on the other side had the desire to die with his enemies.

Tian Huan had already died.

Mi Nan knew that this was troublesome.

Mu Shuang was a just person but was deeply respected in Tian Huan. If he decided to sacrifice himself, countless people would follow him to leap like moths to a flame.

As expected, Mi Nan Battalion was scared by the enemy’s furiousness and fearlessness. Their morale was low. Mu Shuang’s side did not have the strength, but they had the will to die so they did not fear death. Mi Nan Battalion actually started to decline back when Mi Nan split up Tian Huan. For a battalion, if they did not have strong core beliefs, they could never become a top battalion.

Usually, it couldn’t be seen, but once it came to a battle like this when they needed to put their lives on the line, it would be exposed.

When he saw the fear in the eyes of the commanders, Mi Nan’s heart turned cold. If Mi Nan did not usually keep strong control on the discipline of the battalion, this battalion would have collapsed already.

A hint of confusion flashed through Mi Nan’s eyes. Sometimes, he would wonder if he was correct in what he did.

But soon, his gaze cleared up.

He took a deep breath. He was also pushed to the precipice as well! If he lost this battle, he would lose everything. All the power and glory would be far from his reach!

Mi Nan’s gaze flashed with vicious light.

He had no choice!

You want to to fight to the death!?

Mu Shuang, I will satisfy you!

Mu Xuan was in a terrible state. She hadn’t expected that she would encounter Bie Han.

She had suffered a small loss against Gongye Xiao Rong. That had been due to carelessness. Carelessness should not occur in a battle general of her level, but fortunately, the loss had not been large.

But when she encountered Bie Han Sin Battalion, the pressure on Mu Shuang suddenly increased.

From a long time ago, Bie Han had entered the ranks of top battle generals but his ranking had always been low. People’s evaluation of Bie Han was never high. Offensively strong and weak defensively, skilled in charges, weak in strategy, however, Bie Han’s Sin Battalion was still one of the few undefeated battalions of the world.

Gongsun Cha’s Vermillion Bird Camp and Bie Han’s Sin Battalion had never lost a fight.

The two were both top battle generals but what they had experienced was completely different. Lil’ Miss Gongsun had been of low birth, but he had what could be considered a smooth path on this road of becoming a battle general. Even as he became a top battle general, almost everyone’s evaluations of Gongsun Cha were strangely similar. This was a great battle general, he had powerful strength, astounding strategic vision, and even more terrifyingly, he had no clear weaknesses.

Bie Han had one been thought of a young genius on the same level as Jiang Zhe but then was buried for many years. He betrayed Xuan Kong Temple, returned to Hundred Savage Realm yet what he encountered was disdain and mockery. He couldn’t even get the jinzhi on his body removed. No one was willing to help him.

These people were probably full of regret now, there had once been a great battle general in front of them … …

Fortunately, he encountered Zuo Mo, and had started to show his great power. But he was still not comparable to Gongsun Cha’s light.

Bie Han only changed people’s impressions of him at the battle of the Mo Marshals Alliance. While the battle had increased people’s opinion of him, Sin Battalion had been heavily injured. People once again had a negative outlook on Bie Han.

An unique genius that endured great hardship was probably the best description of Bie Han.

However, Bie Han still became a famous battle general. Even someone like Mu Xuan felt anxious facing him. Having just suffered a loss, Mu Xuan Battalion had reduced power and their morale was low. Mu Xuan would not care about these things when she was facing other enemies, but this was a terrible matter when she faced Bie Han’s Sin Battalion.

When taking over Xi Xuan, Bie Han had defeated all the factions with the remnants of Sin Battalion until they didn’t know which way was north.

And right now … …

Complete!

They were complete! Sin Battalion had a way of getting reinforcements.

Mu Xuan’s eyes narrowed and swept across Sin Battalion. She did not find any new member of Sin Battalion. They didn’t look any different than before.

Bie Han did not intend to waste words, and immediately set up an offensive formation.

Mu Xuan’s gaze turned cold, and flush rose on her face.

She was wary of Bie Han but didn’t fear him. Any top battle general would never lack confidence and the trust that they would win. Otherwise, they would not have gotten to where they were!

Her eyes flashing with cold light, Mu Xuan shouted, “Teams, Coiling Wind Sword Formation!”

Before she finished speaking, the formation changed. The troops had been in organized ranks before, but now they were like strands of swaying sea grass.

Each “sea grass” was giving off faint light. They gathered their shen power and waited for the incoming attacks.

Bie Han looked expressionlessly at the formation in front of him that was filled with killing intent. It was not unexpected to him that Mu Xuan had used a battle formation designed to grapple. She was famed for her detailed tactics. Sword formations had many variations and could change quickly. No matter what style the opponent used, they could quickly find a method to subdue them.

While his expression was still cold, there seemed to be a ball of fire burning inside Bie Han. His blood boiled at being able to fight against a powerful opponent.

The [Arsonist] seemed to feel his fighting spirit. It flowed with light as though fire was streaming by.

[Arsonist] had been constantly modified and improved by Gold Crow Camp in these tens years. It was slightly different from when Zuo Mo had forged it.

Not just [Arsonist], even Sin Battalion that surrounded him was filled with fighting spirit. They were connected mentally with Bie Han. Bie Han felt as though he was in a sea of fire.

It was the first time he had encountered this.

Come!

Sin Battalion attack!

Sky Wood Jie being lost announced the defeat of the five jie defense line.

There was no meaning in holding the five jie defense line. The soulless Mo Shen Temple and Heroes Alliance retreated in panic almost overnight.

The morale of Nether Realm rose.

All Hail The King!

Unite The Mo!

People finally started to dream of the day that the mo would be united

After defeating the five jie defense line, all of Hundred Savage Realm appeared in front of the Nether King’s great army. Zuo Mo did not hesitate and allowed the army to move in. The factions along the way surrendered as they arrived.

One reason was because the Nether Realm army was truly powerful, and the other was one that Zuo Mo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about, the King’s Horn.

The King’s Horn was something from the legends and these legends all resurfaced now. All the rumors said that the Nether King was likely to be the king to next unite the mo.

It came to the point that whenever they came to a place, An Mo and the others would ask Zuo Mo to blow the King’s Horn.

With Zuo Mo’s shen power, when the King’s Horn was blown, the entire jie would hear it!

Zuo Mo gaped at the effectiveness of this move. If he blew the King’s Horn on the first day, then on the second waves of faction leaders would come in to willingly surrender.

There was nothing more effective than this move!

Zuo Mo used this method to quickly take over the territory of the Mo Marshals Alliance. He had the upper hand, and taking over the territory meant that he was connected to Mo Cloud Sea.

This allowed Zuo Mo to sigh in relief.

What was left was only the Heroes Alliance and the Mo Shen Temple.

The Heroes Alliance was not strong and they were only a loose organization. Zuo Mo placed no importance on it. The one that could be an obstacle to the army was the Mo Shen Temple.

The Mo Shen Temple wasn’t just the largest and the strongest faction, the rule of the Mo Shen Temple was strong.

Zuo Mo’s advance speed was not fast. While he was in a hurry, he did not want any accidents to happen at the rear. Only after taking over all of the Mo Marshals Alliance’s territory did Zuo Mo decided to speed up.

At this time, Liang Wei sent a message back.

An Mo was reliable and had the authority so he was left with Zuo Mo. If he was in charge, it would save great trouble for Zuo Mo. Liang Wei was sensitive and reactive, clever and suitable for being leading the attack.

As expected, Liang Wei’s results were outstanding. Other than leading the King’s Horn, he also led one hundred thousand troops. They were extremely ferocious and headed directly for Heroes Alliance.

At this time, Heroes Alliance had not given up and appeared as though they wanted to fight to the death.

Yet Liang Wei executed a feint maneuver. He left the army camp secretly and led the King’s Horn to move through the night to suddenly appear at the flanks of the enemy’s defense line.

A perfect Liang Wei-style ambush!

The Heroes Alliance was alarmed and panicked. They moved their battalions to surround the King’s Horn.

The astounding capabilities of the King’s Horn were on display in this battle. They fought and moved. They were at ease in front of battalions that outnumbered them by dozens of times. They defeated seven large battalions in succession.

Liang Wei pulling around caused the defense line of the Heroes Alliance to weaken. The one hundred thousand army that had been waiting immediately attacked on all fronts.

The Heroes Alliance defense line immediately crumbled.

Afterwards, Liang Wei seemed to suddenly appear out of the mist heading for the core army of the Heroes Alliance.

The King’s Horn seemed to be untouchable.

Liang Wei captured all the higher ranking members of the Heroes Alliance. Three days later, the Heroes Alliance surrendered.

The battle made Liang Wei famous!

Chapter 901 – How Have You Been?

Youqin Lie stood respectfully.

After being in power for ten years, Ming Yue Ye seemed to be a different person. She was still beautiful, but there was authority at her brow, and that pair of spirited eyes had become as deep as the ocean.

No one cared about her age any longer. Everyone was fearful in front of her and didn’t dare to breathe.

Over the last ten years, Ming Yue Ye had successfully eliminated her political enemies. There was only one voice in the yao. The Council of Elders was had no power. All of the important departments and elite battalions were in her control.

After reading the reports, Ming Yue Ye’s brow furrowed. “Liang Wei?”

She had a reminiscing expression. This name clearly stirred many of her memories. “Liang Wei of the Ice Frost Corps?”

She had some recollection about this name. He was a silver battle general that had accomplished a great victory in the war against Kun Lun. Then he had been relieved of his duties and sent home. This had been an example of corruption she had used to attack the Council of Elders and it had created some big waves.

“Yes!” Youqin Lie said cleanly but certainly.

“How did he get to Nether Realm?”

“Don’t know.” Youqin Lie said calmly, “Should this be investigated?”

There was no flaw to be seen on his face. While he had buried the matter that he had interacted with Liang Wei in the past, he had not relaxed. As he hid in the shadows for long and longer, he became even more careful. He would not leave behind this one opening.

Therefore, Youqin Lie promoted all the subordinates that had participated in that meeting, and gave them more power.

In this past decade, the biggest mission carried out was the cleanse. Youqin Lie was the sharpest blade in Ming Yue Ye’s hands, and his subordinates naturally had to participate in these missions. Promotion meant that they needed to take harder and riskier missions.

Therefore, these people slowly decreased in number.

Liang Wei had been politically silent for ten years, and these people had forgotten him long ago. These people would never have thought that the matter of Liang Wei was the cause of their deaths.

Because they had died for the public good, their families were taken care of. They could enter the best yao arthouses, and they could get steady jobs.

Violent times was the best concealment. No one noticed the systematic sacrifice of these people. Even these people did not detect it.

Too many people had been sacrificed in these ten years. Even Youqin Lie had been heavily wounded multiple times and almost died a few times.

Youqin Lie rejoiced at his past cautiousness. If any of the people were still alive, he would be in trouble. If his past subordinates were still here, and Liang Wei suddenly appeared under the command of the Nether King, everyone would find it strange.

Ming Yue Ye did not respond and sighed in regret, “I misjudged. In the past, I thought that he was just an average silver battle general not worthy of recruitment. I hadn’t thought that his talent would rival Mi Xu. I missed recruiting such a famed general. It is a great mistake! Also, as a yao, he leads a mo battalion. It seems that us yao will also have a battle general like Bie Han!”

Ming Yue Ye was filled with regret. Based on Liang Wei’s status in the past, she only needed to show some attention, and he would be faithful.

A thousand soldiers was easy to obtain, one general was hard to find, especially a general like this.

In this battle, Liang Wei formally made it into the ranks of top battle generals.

Shaking her head, Ming Yue Ye threw away her vexation. “How is the fighting between Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea?”

“The two have started an all-out war.” Youqin Lie paid extra attention to Mo Cloud Sea and knew it well. “From the intelligence reports we have received, the two sides have not prepared for the final battle. Mo Cloud Sea’s intentions at the beginning was to use North Tian Huan as a lure to attract Kun Lun so they could ambush from the back and expend Kun Lun’s military power. Kun Lun wanted to first take Tian Huan and get rid of weaknesses as it strengthen their holdings and then use the four Minor Dhyana Sects or Gu Liang Dao as a target to initiate the final fight with Mo Cloud Sea.”

Ming Yue ye nodded. “Li Xian Er’s move was beautiful. Mo Cloud Sea had to accept her proposal, and Kun Lun had to fight.”

She showed a smile. “The two titans will fight for a long time. We need to take this chance to rest and recover. When both sides are wounded, it will be the time for my yao to rise!”

The yao who had just recovered slightly from the cleanse could not move. No one knew better than Ming Yue Ye how much the yao had exhausted themselves in the ten years of internal conflict. In her view, the internal fighting in the xiuzhe and the mo world was a blessing from the heavens for the yao to recover.

“Daren is wise!” Youqin Lie said with an expression of agreement.

Inside, he smirked coldly.

He had gotten in contact with Pu. While Pu had not said it, he could hear from Pu’s tone that Pu had other plans!

Youqin Lie was extremely smart, and he had worked in the intelligence field for many years. He was skilled in finding the truth from hints. Liang Wei had appeared in the command of the Nether King. Thinking about Pu’s certainty, the return of Wei Sheng and the others to Mo Cloud Sea, and Zuo Mo’s impeding return, he reached an absurd conclusion, the Nether King was possibly Zuo Mo!

In reality, he frightened himself with his conclusion.

But he quickly calmed down. If this was true, then Zuo Mo was unprecedentedly powerful. This was a nightmare to the other factions.

In his view, the Mo Shen Temple could not withstand for long. The difference in power was too great.

The mo uniting could not be stopped.

If his guess was true … …

Once Zuo Mo defeated Mo Shen Temple, he would possess Hundred Savage Realm, Nether Realm, and Mo Cloud Sea. He would become the strongest in the world. The only chance to resist would be for the yao and Kun Lun to ally together.

But now, Ming Yue Ye decided to wait until the two sides finished fighting. Youqin Lie smirked inside.

Once Zuo Mo finished uniting the mo, he would be stronger than Kun Lun. More importantly, Kun Lun would never imagine that the Nether King was the king of Mo Cloud Sea.

With Zuo Mo’s plans, Kun Lun would suffer a great loss!

Youqin Lie understood Pu well. With Pu’s style, he might not move, but if he did, it would be a fatal blow. He would not give Kun Lun a chance to come back.

At that time … …

Would the yao be a match for Zuo Mo?

No one had expected that after all the fighting, the most outstanding general under the Nether King’s command was not An Mo but Liang Wei. In the past, everyone thought that the Nether King’s weakness was that he had the soldiers but lacked capable generals. This lack of generals referred to the top ranked battle generals.

Hundred Savage Realm had always been fighting, and the battalions had been reduced, but they had a group of top battle generals. Mo Shen Temple, the Mo Marshals Alliance and Heroes Alliance all had top battle generals.

While they were much weaker than the xiuzhe alliance, they were much stronger than the Nether Realm. Nether Realm had been relatively peaceful, especially after the Nether Realm had been united, there had been no more fighting.

Without the experience of battle, it was difficult for top battle generals to mature, even for large sects like Kun Lun with their outstanding battle general training systems and enormous number of battle generals. A true top battle general would only come out of battle.

Now, Nether King’s shortcoming was made up. Other than Liang Wei’s appearance out of nowhere there was now Qi Xing, formerly of the Heroes Alliance.

Qi Xing was a large reason why the Heroes Alliance was able to survive while being squeezed between the Mo Shen Temple and the Mo Marshals Alliance. He was the most outstanding battle general of the Heroes Alliance and the only top battle general the Heroes Alliance had.

But Qi Xing had terrible luck. Liang Wei cleverly avoided his position and pushed into the core of Heroes Alliance. He had immediately recognized the situation and hurried back to save the higher-ups but he was a step late. All of the Heroes Alliance higher-ups had surrendered. He didn’t even have the time to fight back, he could only surrender.

Qi Xing was much weaker as a warrior compared to An Mo. This could be seen from the scale of the two battalions. With Qi Xing’s strength, he could only lead six thousand elites. But An Mo could easily lead ten thousand without a problem. While in terms of strategic ability and perception, An Mo was lacking.

Zuo Mo selected the elite of each battalion for Qi Xing to assemble a troop from.

In Zuo Mo’s view, top tier battle generals need top tier battalions. Qi Xing wasn’t bad, but his original battalion wasn’t great. What Zuo Mo had the most of right now were battalions. Liang Wei had accomplished a great victory in capturing all the higher-ups of Heroes Alliance. The collective surrender of Heroes Alliance mean the number of battalions under Zuo Mo swelled again.

So many battalions. There definitely were enough to create a top battalions for Qi Xing.

He did not worry about Qi Xing. He believed that Qi Xing was not so dumb.

Right now, he had the two spears, Liang Wei and Qi Xing. He also had An Mo in charge, the experienced and reliable general. There almost wasn’t anything for him to do.

On the other side, all the jies under the rule of the Mo Sheng Temple moved.

The development of the war robbed people of hope. The advancement of the Nether King’s army was almost unimaginably fast. Once Heroes Alliance had surrendered, it left Mo Shen Temple to fight alone. They had no place to retreat.

The Mo Shen Temple had expanded greatly in the past years, and had conquered almost half of Hundred Savage Realm. It was still the largest faction of Hundred Savage Realm. Of the five mo gods, there were top experts and top battle generals.

However, they were lacking compared to the Nether King.

Especially after the god-level Nether King’s attack on Sky Wood Jie shook the world.

People had seen the strength of a god-level through the battle at Nether King River. However, experiencing it in person was completely different.

An Mo was the main commander, Liang Wei and Qi Xing were the second-in-commands. A three-pronged attack formed. An Mo was not the strongest, but he was reliable and he had the respect of the troops. Zuo Mo did not worry with him in charge of the army. Nothing more needed to be said of Liang Wei. He was the rising star  of the moment. Zuo Mo also put great hopes on Qi Xing. He wanted to see Qi Xing’s abilities.

Zuo Mo was organizing the territories of Hundred Savage Realm they had conquered. He needed to first set up the political structure before he would be able to attack the Mo Shen Temple without any worries. Once they swept the Mo Shen Temple away, it was time for them to turn and pincer Kun Lun.

By that time, there would be no time to deal with all of this.

The battle against Kun Lun might continued for a long time. At that time, a steady rear was important.

Also, managing Hundred Savage Realm was not suitable for the mo of Nether Realm to do. He needed the mo of Hundred Savage Realm. Only then would he stabilize Hundred Savage Realm as quickly as possible.

Zuo Mo had met the higher-ups of Heroes Alliance but he didn’t have a good feeling about them. Those people were too average in ability and would not able to fulfill their duties to his satisfaction.

Others thought that Zuo Mo had no one to use, but didn’t know that Zuo Mo had selected candidates a long time ago.

He thought back to the time at Great Peace City with a reminiscing expression on his face.

Princess Xia. The Lan Brothers, I wonder how have you been?

Chapter 902 – The Final Battle of the Strongest and God-Level

Xue Dong Battalion was ordered to a sudden stop.

There was a battalion waiting silently ahead of them.

Xue Dong’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Vermillion Bird Camp!

After hearing of Bei Han and Sin Battalion’s actions, Xue Dong was not too surprised. It was confirmed the four Minor Dhyana Sects and Mo Cloud Sea had been in cahoots for a long time. His position and been exposed. How could Lil’ Miss, with his abilities, not guess his target?

A hint of smile suddenly appeared on the corner of Xue Dong’s lips. Fighting spirit burned in his eyes. He had been anticipating this battle for a long time!

Gongsun Lil’ Miss! Vermillion Bird Camp!

An undefeated battle general! An undefeated battalion!

Only a person like this qualified to be his opponent. In Xue Dong’s eyes, Gongsun Cha was the only one that could be his opponent. He never thought of Bie Han or people like Yang Yuan Hao and Gu Liang Dao as his equals.

There was only one person that could be discussed together with him, Gongsun Cha. The strongest battle general of Mo Cloud Sea, Lil’ Miss that smiled beautifully as he caused the world to feel terror!

Xue Dong had studied Gongsun Cha before. The more he studied him, the more admiration he felt. Xue Dong thought that he had reached the epitome of what it was to be a battle general. While he had not reached the state that he would be undefeatable, there had never been a battalion that actually made him feel threatened. Even Gu Liang Dao, the Tiger of Xi Xuan, had been crippled by him. If Gongsun Cha had not come with help in time, Gu Liang Dao wouldn’t even had the chance to flee.

Xue Dong’s opinion of Gongsun Cha was extremely high. Gongsun Cha was like him, they didn’t have clear weaknesses. Just like him, Gongsun Cha was skilled in grabbing people’s weaknesses. Just like him, Gongsun Cha could change his style as he willed.

The only thing different was the style of fighting.

Xue Dong’s style was domineering and brutal like a crushing hammer. Gongsun Cha’s style was sharp and flexible like a razor sharp blade that stripped flesh from bone with each strike.

In terms of training new talents, Xue Dong thought that he was far behind Gongsun Cha. Gongsun Cha trained one batch after another of first class battle generals. These battle generals were the core of Mo Cloud Sea’s strength. Internally even Kun Lun thought that the skill level of Kun Lun’s battle generals were not as good as Mo Cloud Sea.

In these last ten years, other than fighting, Xue Dong invested almost all of his extra time into training new people. Once he thought of Gongsun Cha as his rival, the competitive Xue Dong could not allow himself to fall behind Gongsun Cha in any field.

The appearance of new talented generals in Kun Lun these past years were in part due  to Xue Dong’s efforts.

However, Xue Dong still felt they could not compare to Mo Cloud Sea’s Ma Fan and the others. This displeased him.

He always anticipated having a true battle with Gongsun Cha.

He hadn’t thought that the chance to arrange the battle would come so soon!

Xue Dong stepped out. Almost as though they had a prearranged agreement, Gongsun Cha also came to the front of his troops.

He saw the bashful Gongsun Cha. Even though Xue Dong had seen Gongsun Cha in the mirages before, he still stilled. This guy opposite him was like a neighbor’s boy filled with sunshine and warmth. There was no killing energy at all. Xue Dong couldn’t connect him with that undefeatable battle general whose enemies fled at the sound of his name.

“This one is Xue Dong, greetings to Mister Gongsun!” Xue Dong bowed.

“Mister Xue is too polite!” Gongsun Cha’s smile became even more bashful.

Xue Dong would not be fooled by Gongsun Cha’s smile but he still felt a strange sense of conflict. He quickly focused and said loudly, “I had originally thought that the battle between us will occur after Mister Zuo returned. I hadn’t expected to meet so soon. It seems the battle between you and I is fated.”

“It’s not fate.” Gongsun Cha still had the smile but his words were as sharp as knives. “It’s strategy.”

Xue Dong’s heart shook but his expression did not change. He smiled amusedly, “Strategy, I like the term.”

“As long as Mister Xue likes it.” Gongsun Cha gave a harmless smile. “If Mister Xue likes it, I am even more confident. Ah, your shixiong is a great genius, and Mister Xue is also an invincible battle general, it would be a pity if either of you fall.”

“Haha!” Xue Dong roared with laughter. “Who in the world is Eldest Shixiong’s match? Who is my match?”

The words were arrogant but the confidence in the tone caused people to believe the words.

“Really?” Gongsun Cha’s smile was even more bashful. “Does Mister Xue think that god-level is invincible? Does Mister Xue think that there is only a Lin Qian in the world? Mister Xue really underestimates the heroes of the world!”

Xue Dong’s heart jumped and his eyes narrowed. However, he did not feel any fear. He laughed and said, “A great battle is about to start, why play these little mind games. Let’s fight. I’ve been waiting for this fight for a long time.”

“Mister Xue is right.” The corners of Gongsun Cha’s mouth curved up sharply like blades. The warm and bashful smile immediately filled with killing intent. “Pity, war, it is not the same as before.”

Vermillion Bird Camp against Xue Dong Battalion!

The two strongest battle generals of the world, the two strongest battalions, fight!

Wei Sheng was extremely fast. He was urgently flying at full speed.

His target was Lin Qian!

Gongsun Cha was right. War had changed. The appearance of god-level experts changed the state of war. In the past, no matter how strong the strongest was, they could not change the balance of war by themselves.

This situation was transformed as god-level appeared.

It would not be difficult for a god-level to take the head of the enemy leader among the tens of thousands of soldiers. A god-level was strong enough they did not fear stepping deep into the enemy’s territory.

Take the general’s head!

This terrifying tactic could deeply change the state of war.

Kun Lun had also found the power of this tactic.

According to their intelligence, Lin Qian had split up from Xue Dong a long time ago and his whereabouts were unknown.

Lin Qian’s goal was either Gu Liang Dao or Yang Yuan Hao!

Neither Gu Liang Dao nor Yang Yuan Hao could stop Lin Qian. They didn’t have god-level fighters under their command. Also, the loss of either Gu Liang Dao or Yang Yuan Hao and their battalions would be a great loss to Mo Cloud Sea’s faction.

Mo Cloud Sea had repeatedly discuss and studied. The conclusion they reached was that god-levels were unsolvable at this time. This imbalance would only be temporary, lasting about ten years at maximum.

Ten years later, the skill level of the battalions would increase by two levels, and there would be more pseudo god-levels. Five pseudo god-levels would be enough to stop a god-level.

But that time, war would enter a new equilibrium. God-level experts would not be undefeatable and the use of battle generals would once again be viable.

Top battle generals like Gu Liang Dao and Yang Yuan Hao could not be trained during this time.

In these ten years, whoever possessed god-level experts, who possessed the most god-level experts would have the advantage.

On the way, Wei Sheng had been wondering who Lin Qian’s target was. Yang Yuan Hao or Gu Liang Dao?

Thinking while travelling, Wei Sheng thought the probability of Gu Liang Dao was higher.

Gu Liang Dao and Yang Yuan Hao were about the same in strength, but among their factions, Gu Liang Dao clearly had the higher status. Also, Gu Liang Dao’s relationship to Mo Cloud Sea was closer than Yang Yuan Hao.

The benefits to killing Gu Liang Dao was greater than killing Yang Yuan Hao.

Also, Gu Liang Dao had marched deeper into Kun Lun territory. Gu Liang Dao had been filled with the desire for revenge after being defeated by Xue Dong. This meant that he had invaded faster than Yang Yuan Hao had.

This meant that it was easier for Lin Qian to find them.

Lin Qian looked at Gu Liang Dao Battalion before him. In his eyes, those people were like ants.

Shuang Yu was covered in wounds. His face was ashen. His right arm had been severed by Lin Qian yet he had no intentions of stemming the bleeding. He looked upwards at the figure in the sky.

Lin Qian stood holding his sword, the white robes fluttering in the wind. He was outside the reach of the mortal realm.

Gu Liang Dao’s battalion was furiously attacking. The light of countless spells flew into the sky yet Lin Qian did not budge. The light shield around him did not shutter at all. The rain of attacks didn’t even cause a ripple on the surface.

“Surrender, Gu Liang Dao, I find no meaning in needless killing.”

Lin Qian’s cool voice came from the sky.

Gu Liang Dao’s spirits were extinguished. He looked at the sky. Was this a god-level expert?

It was the first time he felt completely powerless. Even when he had lost to Xue Dong last time, he had not been so discouraged. This kind of discouragement was not because of Lin Qian’s strength but because he suddenly found that the battalion was not the strongest power in the world any longer.

What would rule the world would be the god-level.

“Big Brother!” A hoarse voice suddenly called out.

Gu Liang Dao turned around. It was Shuang Yu. His eyes suddenly showed a hint of warmth. As he looked at this brother that had followed him, he suddenly calmed down. “Shuang Yu, do you regret it?”

“Regret?” Shuang Yu suddenly laughed. “Big Brother, why would you ask this? No one regrets this!”

“God-level is really strong!” Gu Liang Dao looked into the sky and lamented.

“Brother Zuo will avenge us.” Shuang Yu had an expression of certainty.

“You are right!” Gu Liang Dao suddenly showed a smile and said with bravado, “Then let us find out today, just how strong a god-level expert is!”

Gu Liang Dao motioned for the battalion to stop attacking.

The sky full of lights disappeared. Everyone looked towards their commander.

The cloud over Gu Liang Dao was swept away. He raised his arm, his expression full of murderousness, his spirit brimming. He shouted, “Fight to the death!”

“To the death!” Everyone shouted.

“To the death!” Gu Liang Dao roared like a tiger, his hair standing on end!

“To the death!” What answered him were the even stronger shouts from the battalion.

“To the death!” Gu Liang Dao shouted with all of his strength. Even his voice had become his hoarse, but each person could clearly feel his intent to die.

“To the death! To the death! To the death!” The soul-shaking shouts caused their fighting spirit to consume them like fire. There was no terror, no retreat, only stepping towards  their deaths!

“Kill!” Gu Liang Dao pointed his long blade into the sky.

“Kill!” The one-armed Shuang Yu’s shen power burned furiously. His usually gentle features were twisted. He was like a ball of fire that charged with the will to die towards that figure in the sky, the one that seemed to be above the world.

“Kill!” The battalion charged like an uncontrolled sea of fire towards Lin Qian in the sky.

Lin Qian changed expression but sighed softly.

The Immemorial Shen Sword shook and a sharp light suddenly formed.

At the very front, Shuang Yu was immediately pieced by the light.

Then this tiny light then cleaved through the raging Gu Liang Dao Battalion!

A hole the size of a fist appeared in Gu Liang Dao’s chest. Lin Qian’s blow penetrated through the entire battalion.

Yet Gu Liang Dao still wore a smile.

Lin Qian’s expression suddenly changed.

Chapter 903 - In the Name of Eldest Shixiong

The entire battalion in front of Lin Qian instantly exploded.

The exploding shen power formed a while sea that swallowed up Lin Qian. One hand holding tightly onto the Immemorial Sword, Lin Qian was protect behind the shield of light. He was filled with regret.

A famed general had died so simply.

Wanting to take him down as well? Pity … …

Suddenly, Lin Qian seemed to detect something. Almost at the same time, a great power collided with his light shield.

The light shield immediately shattered. This was Shuang Yu’s attack before his death.

The moment the shield of light shattered, Lin Qian’s Immemorial shook and formed a round barrier to protect him.

Pop pop pop!

The surging power seemed to find a target and flooded over. Each wave of power was insignificant to Lin Qian, but they came too quickly and there were too many!

The sword circle shattered.

Lin Qian gave a muffled grunt. Using this wave of power, he broke free of the wild ocean of power.

Having gotten free, Lin Qian looked from afar at the ocean of shen power .

He watched as it gradually calmed, and the ripples of power faded in the air.

Such an intense opponent!

Lin Qian sighed inwardly. Gu Liang Dao’s last attack used the entirety of his skill at controlling battle formations. He used the battle formation and astounding technique in control to self-destruct the entire battalion all at once. This kind of thing was never heard of before. Even Lin Qian had to admit that this was an opponent worthy of respect.

It was the first time he was wounded after entering god-level.

The wound was not serious. He would heal after resting for a few days. Lin Qian was not concerned. It was really profitable to pay this small price for destroying a top battle general and a top battalion.

A pity that Yang Yuan Hao was much more cunning and was harder to find. If Gu Liang Dao’s desire for revenge hadn’t been so strong, Kun Lun would not have cornered him so easily.

The impact of Gu Liang Dao’s death would be as a huge one for Mo Cloud Sea. When he thought of this, Lin Qian was satisfied.

At this time, a howling came from afar.

The howling seemed to contain the faint tinge of a dragon’s presence.

Lin Qian looked in the direction of the howl. The horizon seemed to be dyed in red and was unspeakably terrifying. A figure seemed to draw a bloody arc across the sky and was charging over at astonishing speed.

The figure suddenly disappeared from view.

In the next moment, a upright figure carrying a sword appeared in front of Lin Qian.

Lin Qian’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Wei Sheng!

What caused Lin Qian’s heart to sink was that other than the faint presence of dragon, Wei Sheng had the same presence as he did. Lin Qian knew what this meant.

God-level!

Wei Sheng was god-level!

Waves formed inside his mind. In that battle of the Central Plains, he had seen with his own eyes how Wei Sheng had burnined shen power to fight. He knew what the consequences of burning shen power were. Wei Sheng burning shen power back then at his power level should have died. Even if he managed to survive, he would be crippled.

How … … how could he have entered god-level!

A hint of sorrow flashed through Wei Sheng’s eyes!

He had come a step too late!

The remnants of shen power remnants here revealed what that just happened. But when Wei Sheng’s gaze landed on Lin Qian’s face, it turned to steely determination.

“Long time no see, Brother Wei.” Lin Qian was warm and polite. “I hadn’t thought that Brother Wei had entered god-level as well. Brother Wei has finally found the sword path of your heart, as expected of us sword xiu.”

Wei Sheng shook his head. “The sword I practice is not the same as yours.”

“Yes.” Lin Qian nodded. “It is hard to say who is right or wrong on the path of the sword. However, we can determine who is strong or weak. Wei Sheng, do you dare to fight me in the name of the sword?”

Lin Qian pointed his sword at Wei Sheng, his white robes flying, his presence intimidating.

“If it was anyone else, I would give them the chance for a fair fight. But the fight between you and I is not a study of our paths of the sword, it is a matter of vengeance.” Wei Sheng did not avoid Lin Qian’s gaze and said honestly, “I once swore a sword oath to destroy Kun Lun for Wu Kong. Today, one of us will die!”

Wei Sheng’s tone was like the hum of a sword, decisive and intimidating. The God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand shrieked as it pointed at Lin Qian.

Lin Qian knew that his attempted scheme had failed. He had just been lightly wounded. He would not fear the disadvantage if it was any other person. But he hadn’t expected that Wei Sheng was also god-level. This seemingly insignificant wound could prove to be fatal in a battle between god-level experts.

He had originally wanted to arouse Wei Sheng’s devotion to the sword and take advantage attack his psyche. He had thought that Wei Sheng would fall for it. Even if he didn’t, it would leave behind a shadow in his heard because he had won unfairly.

He hadn’t thought that Wei Sheng was honest and true to himself. A person like this could not be affected by simple words.

The unpredictable consequences of his past machinations had created such a great enemy in Mo Cloud Sea. One could only say that fate was fickle.

Lin Qian threw away his stray thoughts. While he was at a disadvantage, he was not scared. He smiled. “Alright! As Kun Lun’s  Eldest Shixiong and Wu Kong Eldest Shixiong, then in the name of Eldest Shixiong, let’s settle this!”

Peerless Kun Lun and that rural little sect Wu Kong Sword Sect were finally placed on equal ground for the first time by the words from Lin Qian’s mouth.

Wei Sheng’s expression was normal but his heart was affected.

Teachers and Sect, this disciples Wei Sheng finally got this chance!

The God-Killing Blood Sword in Wei Sheng’s hand seem to feel Wei Sheng’s fury, sorrow, and excitement. It vibrated, and the entire sky turned bloody red. The sky roiled, and the rampaging killing intent filled the world.

The grass and trees on the ground quickly withered. The rivers ran red. Fissures opened on the ground, and there seemed to be blood flowing out.

The entire jie seemed to become a hellish world of blood.

The Immemorial Sword trembled violently in Lin Qian’s hand. Sharp peerless sword essences met in the air and exploded.

The threads of bloody energy would be torn apart when they got close to Lin Qian.

Feeling the fighting spirit of the Immemorial Sword in his hand, Lin Qian bowed his head and said with unusual determination, “Master, this disciple will not shame the name of Kun Lun!”

Raising his head, Lin Qian’s pupils turned into a metallic blue. The sharp killing intent became slightly more grave.

The red and the blue shen swords faced off like fated enemies.

Bie Han looked indifferently at the dazzling variations of Mu Xuan Battalion’s formations  as though it did not matter.

He could see the other’s intentions. Mu Xuan wanted to delay him until the reinforcements came.

Pity, if Mu Xuan knew that Xue Dong was being delayed by Gongsun Cha and Mi Nan had suffered heavy fatalities, would she still act this way?

Bie Han’s gaze swept across the bodies of Sin Battalion.

Those faces that were so similar. He thought of the memorial tablets placed neatly on the altars in Resting Island. No tablet was missing. All of the Sin Battalion members were represented there.

The present Sin Battalion was not the Sin Battalion of the past. The new Sin Battalion possessed complete souls. From when they were born, they were mentally connected to Bie Han. They were closer to mo steeds than puppets but they kept the battle instincts of the previous Sin Battalion members. Almost all of Mo Cloud Sea’s shen crystals had been spent on recreating Sin Battalion.

This Sin Battalion was most likely the most expensive battalion in the world.

When the last memorial tablet was place, the last chain on Bie Han’s heart was shattered. The new Sin Battalion caused him to feel joy and hope as though he was a child.

The past Sin Battalion had been weighed down by an aura of death. The present Sin Battalion brimmed with life.

He had stepped through the border of grey and hopelessness to touch the warmth of sunshine.

They had watched him study tactics under the dim lantern light in the lonely and cold days at Xuan Kong Temple. They had listened to him mumble to himself. No matter how difficult or hard, they had never left him.

Rest.

Please do not worry about me.

A hint of warmth flashed through Bie Han’s eyes.

He raised his head, his eyes turning icy again. Mu Xuan Battalion changed formations at an astounding rate but it didn’t cause a ripple in his mind.

Mu Xuan Battalion was the most varied battalion he had ever seen. They were like a puddle of water that could change formation to fit the situation as they wished.

If an ordinary battalion encountered an enemy like this, they would find it troublesome.

But for Bie Han, he could see their weakness at a glance. Mu Xuan Battalion pursued variation, but they were much less skilled in terms of both defensive and offensive power.

Complex variations that lacked power were just decorative flourishes at his level.

Bie Han took a deep breath. Wisps of flame flew out of every member of Sin Battalion. Thousands of wisps of flame flew, rising into the sky in a beautiful display.

[Arsonist]  lit up. The flames quickly entered Bie Han’s body. The layers of flames flowed along the surface of the shen device and feathers made of fire grew freely.

The icy blue mo matrix at his neck flashed with eerie light.

Mu Xuan’s expression changed slightly.

Mo fighting methods!

She suddenly remembered that Bie Han was a battle general skilled at fighting in both xiuzhe and mo styles. Sin Battalion was also the only battalion that could fight in both styles.

Mu Xuan also knew the strengths and weaknesses of her battalion.

She did not fear the unreasonable attacks of the mo! In her view, the mo fighting tactics were savage, lacked technique, and ultimately were all the same. She did not fear ordinary mo battle generals. While one person with strength could defeat ten with skill, the battle style that focused on variation relied on softness to subdue hardness.

In terms of battle formation transformations, Mu Xuan believed that her battalion was at the top. No battalion was perfect.

While surrounded by fire, Bie Han’s heart was as cold as ice.

His obsessive cold demeanor meant that he was always clear-minded no matter the situation.

The battle formation changed again. Threads of sword energies were like an enormous whirlpool. Any strong attacks would be skinned by these sword energies until they disappeared.

Pity, many enemies would forgot that before the battle with the Mo Marshal Alliance’s Shang Yu Sheng, Bie Han had never relied on mo fighting tactics to become a top battle general.

Battle formation variations were also one of the weapons that Bie Han was skilled in.

Bie Han’s gaze was completely cold, his lips curving icily. Having let go of his burdens, Bie Han was still obsessive, still mad, but was also calmer.

He reached out and pointed in the air at the center of the sword energy whirlpool

The surging power exploded at his fingertip.

A blinding red light fell like a comet towards the center of Mu Xuan’s battalion. It did not stop there. The other fingers on Bie Han’s hand tapped in the air as though he was playing an instrument.

Four even smaller red dots of light flew towards the corners of the whirlpool, positioning themselves in a formation.

Five Star Formation Break!

Chapter 904 – Bie Han Vs Mu Xuan

Bie Han’s journey of becoming a battle general was more difficult than most stories suggested. People only heard that Xuan Kong Temple had two outstanding geniuses, one called Jiang Zhe and the other Bie Han. However, only a rare few knew of the truth.

Bie Han had displayed his talents very early on, but his sensitive heritage became an obstacle for him learning more. Therefore, he could only learn and model tactics and strategies on his own. He was like a lonely genius that learned through repeated trial and error, discarded in a corner.

His obsessiveness and cold demeanor had formed during that time.

Even later while he was leading Sin Battalion, other than receiving the right to read the battle general jade scrolls, no one taught him, and no one conversed with him.

However, he was like all of the silent and stoic geniuses. He did a simple thing repeatedly.

Battle formations were one of the things he studied the most thoroughly, and one of the few things he could study. He had studied all the battle formations variations in the jade scrolls that Xuan Kong Temple allowed him to read. He was not satisfied with memorizing them, he had started to deconstruct each one, model and try to understand them from the source.

Sin Battalion became his experimental subjects, and the way to test if he was correct.

He had found many solutions to formations that other people did not know.

The Five Star Formation Break was one of those.

This method did not come from any jade scroll. This was a simple and effective way to resolve, developed after reading and synthesizing a large number of battle formations.

This was the first time he used it in combat.

The five dots of light seemed to slowly enter the whirlpool. The constantly moving whirlpool suddenly stilled.

Mu Xuan was astounded. What was this?

This whirlpool sword formation was one of her best sword formations. This had never occurred before in past battles. Even the most powerful attacks would be dissolved in the sword formation.

This was … …

She could feel that there seemed to be an invisible barrier that separated the sword energies from each other. She almost didn’t believe her eyes. How was it possible? The reason that the whirlpool sword formation was powerful was because the sword energies were connected in a special way. They could attract and repel each other. The sword energies formed a sticky field between them.

Water was only powerful when it was flowing.

Once it slowed down, its power greatly decreased.

What were those five dots of light … …

As the sword energies flowed slower and slower, Mu Xuan’s expression became ugly. She immediately decided and shouted, “Three Charge Sword Formation!”

The battle formation that had been in the shape of a whirlpool suddenly scattered. The battle formation rippled as though it was water, each layer rhythmically opening and closing.

Suddenly the sword xiu at the very back of the battle formation released sword energies.

From the back of the battle formation, they started to release sword energies. The waves gathered. When the sword energies appeared at the front of the formation, the sword energies were a furious wave!

Woosh!

The angry wave formed out of thousands of sword energies released a sound that made people tremble.

Bie Han was expressionless. How could he not recognize a foundational formation like the Three Charge Sword Formation? Three Charge Sword Formation, with each wave being stronger than the last, and the waves were connected. When the first wave reached the enemy, the third wave would have been prepared.

One wave after another rushing forth, each wave stronger than the last. Simple, but at Mu Xuan Battalion’s skill level most people would panic at the continuous onslaught.

Each sword xiu in Mu Xuan’s sword battalion was outstanding. The sword energies they released were condensed and powerful. Their actions could be called perfect, and they were accurately controlled.

The gathering of almost ten thousand sword energies was not disorganized at all.

Bie Han knew what Mu Xuan thought. Mu Xuan was preying on the fact that Sin Battalion did not have many people. Three Charge Sword Formation was not a clever sword formation. Its strength relied on the number of people and the training.

Mu Xuan Battalion had the advantage of numbers. As one of Kun Lun’s top battalions, she had been able to easily form a large battalion out of Kun Lun’s powerful sword xiu system. If she did not have a preference for female xiu, the size of her battalion could have been larger. Unlike Xue Dong, Mu Xuan did not pick the strongest sword xiu, but emphasized the sword xiu’s ability to obey orders and their discipline. Her battalion was easy to replenish, and due to this, her numbers were high.

She had suffered a small loss at Gongye Xiao Rong’s hands only a short while ago but she had still easily supplemented her numbers to almost ten thousand people.

Bie Han was not affected. A fight between top battalions did not depend on numbers.

Facing the howling sword energy waves, Bie Han was expressionless. He suddenly moved and charge towards the howling sword energy waves. Sin Battalion spread out silently behind him.

He chopped with his hand.

The red hand energy was like a blade.

Sin Battalion all chopped with their hands in unison.

The thousands of red hand energies flew like birds into the hand energy Bie Han released.

The energy suddenly multiplied exponentially in size and roared intimidatingly as it faced the sword energy waves.

One blue energy, one red energy. One surging powerfully, one razor sharp.

Bie Han’s next move made people jump in fright.

Charging at the formation!

He led Sin Battalion and drew out threads of red energy in the air to follow closely behind the red hand energy and charged.

Was this person crazy?

Mu Xuan stilled and almost exclaimed in shock. If the two waves of power collided head on, it would explode. Wasn’t charging at this time seeking death?

The power of a shen power collision at such a strength was enough to flatten a town. Even Sin Battalion would die if they were in range of the clash.

Bie Han was moving with his back slightly bent. Sin Battalion moved the same way he did. They followed closely behind Bie Han in their battle formation.

If this was at any other place, Mu Xuan would find it clownish and laughable, but right now, she couldn’t laugh.

Because he was Bie Han.

Mu Xuan’s eyes were wide. She didn’t even dare to blink.

When she saw what happened next, she almost didn’t believe her eyes.

Hiss!

Like thick cloth tearing, the reddened blade seemed to slice through butter. The flaming red energy easily cut through the first sword energy wave.

Bam!

When the red energy cut through the sword energy wave, the sword energy wave exploded like a pillow stuffed with feathers. Tens of thousands of sword energies exploding like feathers made a spectacular scene.

That “bam” was not loud but it was akin to thunder in Mu Xuan’s ears.

She looked dazedly at the sword energise shooting into the sky. They were completely out of control, he had disrupted her attack so easily.

How was it possible … … how was it possible … …

The scene in front of her completely upended all of her knowledge. She had never heard of this counter against the Three Charge Sword Formation.

A term jumped into her mind: deconstruction!

Yes, it was deconstruction!

The sword energy wave was deconstructed in moments!

That was why there was no explosion!

The uncontrolled sword energies entered Bie Han’s battalion. Sin Battalion lit up with light. At the center of the battle formation, an enormous white lotus appeared and slowly spun. It gave off faint walls of light. The sword energies only created small ripples when they hit the curtains of light.

Mu Xuan recognized this battle formation. A classic defense battle formation from Xuan Kong Temple, Wood Lotus Protector!

Mu Xuan was astounded but the battle did not pause at all.

The icy blue mo matrix on Bie Han’s face suddenly lit up. The fiery blade in front of him made an extremely small tilt.

Hiss!

Bam!

The sounds were the same as before, and the effects were the same.

The second wave of sword energies were immediately broken down. The sword energies filled the sky.

Hiss! Bam!

The third sword energy wave arrived quickly after and almost reached Bie Han at the same moment the second wave did, however, it was not of any threat to Bie Han.

Mu Xuan’s heart felt a chill. She smelt the scent of danger.

She felt a thread of terror at Bie Han’s skill in battle formations. She had never thought that there would be a day that she would be defeated in the field she was best in.

Bie Han’s understanding of the Three Charge Sword Formation was greater than hers. She could not do what he did.

She knew that Bie Han’s fire blade had to have been aimed at the crucial point of the sword energy wave to have such stunning effects. However, while she understood it, she still felt great fear. That wave was made from almost ten thousand sword energies. They were more than tens of thousands of changes occurring in one instant.

He was able to find the weakness of the sword energy wave among such complex changes!

She could not do it!

However, there was no time for her to think. Bie Han had closed the distance between them.

If this was a few moments ago, she would have been overjoyed. Their most effective move was to use the sword formation to trap the enemy. But now, she lost all confidence. Would the sword formation be able to trap the enemy?

She didn’t dare to think deeply about this question.

She forced herself to calm down. The long sword in her hand waved down. The battalion spread out around her in response.

In the sky, Bie Han saw all this. He was unaffected and continued to follow the hand energy. Sin Battalion silently changed position around him.

The Wood Lotus Protector Formation suddenly shifted into a classic offensive formation, Fearless Charge Formation!

The Fearless Charge Formation came from the Fearless Seal of the Dhyana xiu. It emphasized being fearless in mind, and all minds as one, to attack from the front, and defeat others based on strength.

How could Mu Xuan not recognize the famed Fearless Charge Formation?

She took a deep breath and raised her sword. A round sword energy floated up under her feet.

Inside the flowing battle formation, everyone raised their flying swords like Mu Xuan. Round sword essence appeared below each person’s feet.

Round Hold Formation!

Round shapes rose from under the sword xiu, sliding across their bodies and flying into the sky along their swords.

If one looked down from above, they would see thousands of round sword essences. They looked soft and weak like a group of jellyfish floating out of the ocean.

Round Hold Formation was the counter to Fearless Charge Formation.

Any battle general that had proper training in Kun Lun would not make a mistake in this. The four great sects of the past had competed intensely and were familiar with each other’s battle formations. In the training of battle generals, there were descriptions of the classical battle formations of other sects and how to defeat them.

Kun Lun battle formations focused on offensive power. The Round Hold Formation, however, was the best choice to defeat the Fearless Charge Formation. Even Xuan Kong Temple’s teaching materials in the past emphasized that one could not use the Fearless Charge Formation against Kun Lun’s Round Hold Formation.

Bie Han’s lips were in an imperceptible curve.

Just as he expected!

He had no real intentions of changing. The distance between the two sides was rapidly decreasing.

Sin Battalion suddenly flashed with light. Bie Han’s hands moved like flowers blooming.

A golden giant hand appeared in front of the battle formation.

The hand formed the Fearless Seal!

A fearless and powerful presence suddenly formed.

When the Fearless Seal appeared, it was like a mountain pressing down. The presence was so ferocious people felt as though they could not fight back. That red hand energy seemed insignificant in comparison.

Mu Xuan was puzzled that Bei Han was following through on the attack but she didn’t have time to think. She could only prepare to receive the attack.

Yet unexpectedly, that powerful and enormous Fearless Seal suddenly sank and hit that red hand energy that had been dismissed by others already!

Chapter 905 – Wei Sheng’s Sword

The hand energy did not shatter!

It seemed to disappear into the air propelled by the hand energy. In the next moment, it penetrated deep into the Round Hold Formation!

Mu Xuan’s mind was overwhelmed with fear. That terrifying energy had brushed past her body. The sharpness caused her hairs to stand on end. The sword xiu to the side of her were not so fortunate. The surrounding emptiness caused her to feel as though she was exposed in the air and she had no sense of safety.

There seemed to be an empty street next to her.

When one looked down from the sky, there was a terrifying wound that cut a path through the entire battalion!

Mu Xuan had experienced many battles of various sizes. She had experienced danger before but today was the most dangerous one.

The danger had come so suddenly and without any warning.

When the blade energy had brushed past her, she hadn’t been able to move at all.

In the sky, Bie Han thought it was a pity, his aim was off. If he had killed Mu Xuan with that blow, then this battle would have been finished. However, he quickly threw the thought to the back of his mind and his thoughts returned to the battle occurring right now.

Soon, Bie Han seemed to detect something in the enemy battalion.

The attack just now seemed to have given a greater shock to the enemy than he had imagined. The enemy still appeared as though they had not recovered and their reactions were delayed.

An opportunity!

Bie Han perceptively realized this was a rare opportunity.

Sin Battalion were like opportunistic wolves that roamed around Mu Xuan Battalion. When they found a chance, they would bite.

Bie Han was extremely precise. He would cause a river of blood flow of blood with each attack. He closely circled the perimeter of Mu Xuan Battalion with Sin Battalion and charged a few times. In a few short rounds, Mu Xuan Battalion had suffered heavy fatalities.

Mu Xuan finally recovered. Seeing the battle formation wavering, she felt extremely frustrated.

She had been scared by Bie Han!

That should not happen!

Mu Xuan forced herself to be alert. She knew that if she wasn’t careful today, she might end up dead. She suddenly thought of Xue Dong’s orders. Delay Bie Han and find time for Mi Nan and Xue Dong to perform a pincer movement.

Her eyes immediately lit up.

She recognized that Bie Han’s skill in battle formations were higher than hers, but if she decided to stay on the defense, it would not be easy for Bie Han to win.

Delay!

Having made her decision, Mu Xuan immediately changed tactics.

Bie Han quickly detected the transformation in his enemy. His mind moved and he guess Mu Xuan’s intentions.

Delay?

He was expressionless as he started to slow the pace of battle and slowly roamed around Mu Xuan Battalion.

Given her training Mu Xuan could focus for a long time, but her battalion could not maintain focus as long. They would eventually get tired, get distracted, or relax. But Sin Battalion would not have this problem. As long as Bie Han was focused, Sin Battalion would be focused.

Bie Han had enough patience.

He was also not in a hurry.

Even if the opponent was Xue Dong, he was confident in Gongsun Cha’s abilities.

As to Mi Nan, Bie Han dismissed him. In Bie Han’s opinion, Mi Nan had lost the qualifications to be a top battle general.

Mi Nan looked powerful but in reality the ability of his battalion had decayed a great deal. They had lost the focus in their mind. Mu Shuang had fewer people, but Mu Shuang who fought with the intent to die had the ability to drag Mi Nan into hell.

At this time, with Bie Han holding this region, the pressure on the supply lines decreased greatly and large amounts of resources and people had started to gather towards Mu Shuang.

Also, Bie Han just received news that Gongye Xiao Rong had not gone back to recover but moved towards Mu Shuang’s defense line.

Bie Han knew that Gongye Xiao Rong was not going there to defeat Mi Nan but to prevent Mu Shuang from seeking his death.

Bie Han looked coldly at Mu Xuan Battalion.

Boom-boom-boom!

The blue and red figures in the sky rapidly changed position in the air and collided constantly!

With every collision, terrifying shen power would explode like a volcano. Shen power vibrations that could be seen with the naked eye swept at everything.

Under their feet, the mountains collapsed, the ground cracked, and terrifying cracks and bottomless holes dotted the landscape.

Even the sky started to show cracks.

The red figure was shrouded in blood as though he had just been drenched in a bloody pool. The sword in his hand gave bloodthirsty whines. With every blow, it created mists of blood.

The blue figure was untouched by dust, elegant and dignified. The sharp presence of the his sword reached into the sky. Each blow seemed to slice through the world, and could not be stopped.

This jie started to show signs of collapsing under the blows of the two god-levels.

Wei Sheng was cold like granite, and would put all of his power behind each blow!

The pairing of the powerful dragon heart’s ability to make blood and the God-Killing Blood Sword was a match made in heaven. He was devoted to the sword to start with, and his heart towards the sword had never changed in the many years.

Adding on that he did not have to pay attention to other matters, his sword essence was a fraction purer than Lin Qian.

The savage God-Killing Blood Sword was securely under his control. The bloody mists caused the world to be filled with the tang of blood but it didn’t affect Wei Sheng at all.

Lin Qian was amazed.

He had not underestimated Wei Sheng but he hadn’t expected that Wei Sheng’s accomplishments in the sword were greater than he had imagined. Lin Qian had been the most outstanding genius in Kun Lun’s history. Excelling in every area, he had talent that people envied, including cultivation.

He was the leader of Kun Lun and still no one in Kun Lun could rival the speed of his cultivation.

His skill in the sword surpassed his master and no one in Kun Lun’s history could rival him.

But he had not thought that there would be someone even stronger than him!

The other’s God-Killing Blood Sword was astoundingly powerful. Lin Qian could feel with each crossing of the swords that the Immemorial Sword in his hand would be corroded slightly by the blood.

If this was a normal time, Lin Qian would be able to eliminate the blood’s corrosive taint with a thought. However, the two were in the midst of their fight. They would cross swords hundreds of times in a breath.

He had to focus all of his attention to block, parry, and counter the blows. He had not time to take care of the corrosion.

Fortunately, the Immemorial Sword was not weaker than the God-Killing Blood Sword, and was even a fraction stronger. The other’s God-Killing Blood Sword would also receive wounds from the sharp presence of the Immemorial Shen Sword

Both sides were gritting their teeth and holding on, not even giving up a step.

Lin Qian’s light injury gradually caused him to end up disadvantaged.

Wei Sheng’s expression did not change. He was fighting intensely but his mind had gone far away.

Where was the limits of the sword?

He still hadn’t found the answer.

The limits of the sword were what he had pursued all this time. He suddenly thought of the experiences of his cultivation, of Wu Kong Mountain, the sect leader, the masters, he thought of being with Zuo Mo and the others at the Sealed Extinction Battlefield, the sword oath roared in his ears like thunder.

Countless faces flashed through the blood ocean in front of him.

What was the sword?

He had reached god-level, but his sword still couldn’t bring the sect leader and the others back to life.

A hint of bewilderment flashed through his eyes.

He instinctively waved the God-Killing Blood Sword in his hand.

A great power came and he suddenly refocused. A hint of understanding formed.

What was the limit of the sword? He still didn’t have an answer, but at this time, he understood something else. The river of life was fickle, and people were living in the present. Even the strongest sword could bring back lost happiness. The meaning of the sword was to protect and guard the present happiness.

His brothers, family! The resolve of his oath!

The sword was his life, his heart. Only with the sword in hand could he protect those things he held dearest. He was willing to use his life to guard this happiness!

This was his sword!

Something seemed to silently shatter in Wei Sheng’s body. His mind was completely calm and at peace.

As though it felt Wei Sheng’s thoughts, the God-Killing Blood Sword suddenly exploded with light. The savagery within the bloody light disappeared along with the tang of blood. The bloody light was pure and a soft red like that of a crystal. There was a honest presence that reached people’s hearts.

Lin Qian immediately felt the difference. Originally, there had been a thread of savagery and hate in Wei Sheng’s sword essence. This thread was powerful, but Lin Qian was not affected.

He didn’t feel any regret or feel guilt about what had happened in the past.

He had carried out the plan for Kun Lun. His life and soul only belonged to Kun Lun!

All other things were ants in his eyes.

But right now, Wei Sheng’s sword essence was peaceful and neutral with an open aura. It caused him to feel even more pressure. The enemy’s sword essence seemed to have suddenly multiplied in weight. With each blow, the flow of his shen power was disrupted roiled.

This was … …

His gaze landed on Wei sheng’s face and his eyes narrowed. There was no hate on Wei Sheng’s face. His gaze was as clear as water. Yet Lin Qian could also see the determination in Wei Sheng’s eyes was stronger than before!

Epiphany!

He was having an epiphany at this time!

Lin Qian’s heart sank.

When it came to their level, techniques were not the most important. They fought based on sword essence, mind, shen power, and resolve. Each attack contained their understanding of sword essence and the laws of the world. The first person unable to withstand it would be affected in all areas by the other in mind, vision, and sound.

Each of their attacks were fatal for those not in god-level!

But the two could understand the mysteries of each others sword path. They both knew that trickery was useless against both themselves and the other.

But they did not retreat.

The rate of attack on both sides was astounding. The danger was something those not in god-level could understand.

Their shen power was also used up at an astounding speed. They had absorbed all the shen power of this jie.

The jie started to collapse.

In Lin Qian’s eyes, Wei Sheng became larger and larger. He was like a god of war. Each blow was filled with the power to destroy the world!

Lin Qian knew that this was because his mind was infiltrated by Wei Sheng’s sword essence and had started to waver.

The shen power in his body was almost used up.

Wei Sheng became even stronger as he fought. This did not mean that Wei Sheng’s shen power was stronger than Lin Qian. Wei Sheng had gained a stronger and more sturdy mind. After breaking through the mental barrier, Wei Sheng’s mind was indestructible.

The light injury Lin Qian had received earlier had been a minuscule opening, but now the opening was being gradually enlarged.

Lin Qian knew that he would lose in twenty breaths.

He only had one option.

Leave! Flee!

Lin Qian sighed inwardly. This departure would leave a deep shadow on his mind. He didn’t know how much effort it would take to resolve it.

For Kun Lun!

Resolved flashed through Lin Qian’s mind.

Chapter 906 – The Death of Mi Nan

Princess Xia was nervous.

She had taken leadership of the clan years ago. Under her command, the family had developed very well in these past years. While they needed to thread the razor thin crack between the major factions, she was skilled, soft in appearance but a  spirit of steel. Her resolve was hardened and she was never discouraged. All of the family respected her.

She was still as beautiful as those days in Great Peace City, but her features were more mature.

The sudden summons still caused her anxiety. Mo Shen Temple was already so strong that she needed to look up at them. The Nether King was even stronger made her wary and feel uncertainty. She had paid attention to the war between the Nether King and the Mo Shen Temple in these recent days. The fighting intense, and Mo Shen Temple was on the losing side.

Mo Shen Temple could not find any allies in Hundred Savage Realm. Everyone had determined it was a matter of time before the Nether King united the mo. This person who was very likely to become the ruler of all mo sudden had summoned her. Princess Xia didn’t know whether good fortune or misfortune was waiting for her.

“Please enter, King has been waiting for you.” A high level mo battle general politely ushered Princess Xia in.

An Mo was out on his campaign so he had picked a few from his guard to act as attendants.

These people had followed An Mo during the seven day miracle. They were absolutely loyal. The battle general was dazzled by Princess Xia’s beauty for a moment. Did King like this type?

Princess Xia focused and carefully walked into the large hall.

A white-haired male seemed to be looking off into the distance. He heard Princess Xia’s voice and turned around.

“Long time no see!”

Princess Xia saw that familiar yet strange face and was stunned where she stood.

Her tears streamed down uncontrollably.

Gongye Xiao Rong was carefully hiding with his battalion.

He only a thousand people remained of his battalion. All thousand had followed him here. Everyone knew now that Tian Huan was gone. But no one deserted because Daren told them that they would need to earn a place for their families with their sweat and blood.

Also, Daren had lead them to fight Mi Nan.

If they were asked who they hated the most in the world, there was only one answer, Mi Nan!

This person had been of the highest status in Tian Huan and received countless benefits from the sect was the cause of Tian Huan’s destruction! No one would retreat from a chance to fight Mi Nan!

They silently crept closer to the battlefield. Mi Nan Battalion did not notice them.

The battle between the two sides was extremely harsh. At this point, any significant reinforcements would tip the scale. Mi Nan Battalion had called back most of their scouts to focus on the harsh battle.

Mu Shuang’s battalions were being slowly whittled down but this was North Tian Huan’s territory. It was not difficult to have battalions reinforce them. Also, while Mi Nan’s battalion had more elite forces, they could not receive any reinforcements.

Mu Shuang was a cold-blooded battle general that was sacrificing an endless stream of ordinary battalions to turn this battlefield into a meat grinder.

These average battalions that usually played small roles were fearless because their enemy was Mi Nan, the person Tian Huan hated the most!

Countless people among them had their homes destroyed because of this person. The ten year long war between North and South Tian Huan had caused their hatred to be etched into their bones.

They continued to charge in.

Here, lives were just a number. More than fifty thousand North Tian Huan soldiers had already fallen here.

But when the news passed back to the rear, it did not cause a panic. Instead more and more battalions flooded over. Some battalions had been preparing to leave North Tian Huan, waiting to enter Mo Cloud Sea yet they turned back.

In some battalions where their commanders were not willing to return, many soldiers left their battalions and formed small groups to come back.

If even Mu Shuang Daren was willing to die with Mi Nan, then what did their lives mean in comparison?

Mi Nan was trapped here by the “cannon fodder.” Many times, he  thought he was about to break free, but the crazed and fearless attacks of the enemy caused the chances to be stolen away.

Looking around and seeing the dispirited morale on the faces of his commanders, Mi Nan felt cold inside.

Why was it like this?

He was a top battle general! His battalion was a top battalion!

Why had they reached such a state?

There was less than half of his battalion left. Even scarier was that deserters had started to appear since yesterday night. Mi Nan had been lead the military for so many years and it was the first time desertion had occurred in his battalion!

He knew that this battalion, his pride, was not far from total collapse.

But he did not have a solution. He couldn’t even retreat. If his timing in joining Kun Lun hadn’t been perfect, they would not have received the benefits they did. Kun Lun was full of talent, and they had no room for outsiders. If he did not complete this mission successfully, what would await him upon his return would only be a cold treatment.

Kun Lun would not trust him any longer.

His clansmen would lose everything. They would never see a bright future again.

He could die, but he could not retreat!

While he was willing to fight to the death, his battalion was not willing. A Tian Huan battalion fighting to the death for Kun Lun? What nonsense was that?

Mi Nan was extremely discouraged.

What he didn’t realize was that there were a thousand pairs of hate-filled eyes staring at him from the darkness.

Gongye Xiao Rong’s sneak attack had been timed to perfection.

Mi Nan Battalion had just began falling back to their next defensive position yet Gongye Xiao Rong attacked before they could organize. Mi Nan Battalion that had been already close to the edge of defeat instantly collapsed!

“Kill Mi Nan!

“Kill Mi Nan!”

The shouts rang over the entire camp.

Mi Nan Battalion was like a group of headless flies. Many people even turned in panic and headed into the darkness. Their performance was like that of the most amateur battalion. There were no traces of a elite top battalion left.

Mi Nan seemed to age decades in a moment. He stood dazed in the wind and did not seem to hear the sounds of combat coming closer.

A sharp light sliced towards his neck.

He stood motionlessly like a man made out of wood.

A head flew into the sky.

The expression was still wooden.

Bie Han’s Sin Battalion had circled around Mu Xuan Battalion for hours as though they didn’t know exhaustion.

Mu Xuan did not dare to relax at all. She knew if they were the least bit careless, Bie Han would show his fangs. She continued to motivate her troops to be alert.

As long as they could outlast Bie Han, they would win.

Time slowly passed.

As time passed, Mu Xuan’s heart felt even colder. She could not imagine someone maintaining a random pattern like this for over ten hours. Bie Han’s paths did not ever repeat, and she could not predict his next movement at all

Such a terrifying person!

Mu Xuan had a bad feeling. Even though she constantly reminded them, there were many of her subordinates that couldn’t help but get distracted.

Bie Han’s attack happened suddenly without any warning.

Bie Han was like an épée that instantly pierced into a corner of Mu Xuan Battalion. In that moment, blood sprayed and limbs flew!

Many people hadn’t even managed to refocus when the god of death had snuffed their lives out.

One attack and then a retreat!

Before Mu Xuan could counterattack, Sin Battalion had fled like lightning and returned to their roaming state.

This battalion was all made up of female sword xiu. While each of them were experienced in battle, they were still females. The sudden bloody scene caused their faces to change expression.

They did not fear death or battle, but they were repulsed by such a bloody scene, especially when it happened next to them.

This time, no one dared to relax. All of them were on their guard.

Bie Han once again resumed his seemingly sleepy state. He led Sin Battalion to roam randomly around Mu Xuan Battalion.

Night came.

Mu Xuan’s heart was nervous again. She felt great panic, yet no matter how she tried, she could not get in contact with Mi Nan and Xue Dong.

Had something happened to them?

Mu Xuan suddenly had a bad feeling.

She looked down on people like Mi Nan. If someone had betrayed  Kun Lun, she would be the first to cut their head off. If the sect leader hadn’t asked for them to be polite, Mu Xuan would not have shown Mi Nan any politeness. Mu Xuan was not the only one. All of Kun Lun had a terrible opinion of Mi Nan.

The unity of Kun Lun was something that people found it hard to imagine. Due to this they looked down and disdained a person like Mi Nan that had betrayed his sect after receiving countless privileges.

But Xue Dong?

Who could stop Xue Dong?

She didn’t believe it.

But up until now, she still couldn’t see any sign of Xue Dong Battalion. Even scarier was that she couldn’t get into contact with Xue Dong.

Xue Dong Battalion was Kun Lun’s strongest battalion. Xue Dong’s status in Kun Lun was one unmatched by any other battle general. Due to this, Xue Dong Battalion had recruited almost all of the best of Kun Lun.

The over half of the Children of Kun Lun were in Xue Dong Battalion.

Every sword xiu in the battalion had passed through six rounds of exams and selection. Each one was powerful.

Xue Dong had peerless skill. Adding on the battalion sword xiu that had been chosen though successive rounds of selection, the countless experts, the harsh training, Mu Xuan believed that there was no other battalion like Xue Dong Battalion. Even Gu Liang Dao who was famed in the world had been badly defeated when he encountered Xue Dong.

Who would defeat such a battalion?

Mu Xuan didn’t believe it.

While Bie Han was strong and Sin Battalion was more powerful than expected, she believed if Xue Dong came then Bie Han would not have a chance at all.

But … … what trouble had Xue Dong encountered?

The bad feeling increased. The mission this time had been rocky everywhere.

The conflict between Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea could not be avoided.

It was time for the two to grapple.

Yet unlike the unstoppable victories she had imagined, she felt as though they were encountering obstacles everywhere.

Her defeat to Gongye Xiao Rong’s counterattack had been due to her own carelessness, but she had not held anything back in her battle against Sin Battalion and she was still being suppressed.

Bie Han was stronger than she imagined, and she had a feeling that Bie Han was still not using all of his strength.

Was this Mo Cloud Sea’s true power?

Chapter 907 – The Dawn is Near

Yang Yuan Hao looked at the message on his hand. Frozen like a statue, he stood motionless for a while.

He felt shock that Gu Liang Dao had died in combat. Before they had acted, no one had thought that full-out war between Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea would start like this. Even now, he was slightly dazed.

An arrow that left the bow could not turn back. Even if he could go back, he did not have many choices. He believed that Gu Liang Dao would make the same choices.

Kun Lun … … haha!

Pity. Gu Liang Dai died!

His situation was extremely similar to Gu Liang Dao’s. The only difference was that Gu Liang Dao had been given more responsibilities. While Yang Yuan Hao was the sword and shield for the Four Minor Dhyana Sects, there were still people above him shielding him from the wind and rain of internal politics. But Gu Liang Dao didn’t have anyone to support him. He didn’t from the beginning. He betrayed Xi Xian, afterwards he became the leader of Xi Xian with Zhong De’s  support, but lost that support in the battle of the Central Plains.

But he wasn’t Zuo Mo.

As a battle general, Gu Liang Dao was outstanding. He had both the bravery and the cleverness. His defeat to Xue Dong was more a defeat to Kun Lun than to Xue Dong.

From the start, Gu Liang Dao had been burdened with too many responsibilities. He had no choices and no escape. For example, betraying Xi Xuan. If he was not forced to the precipice, who was willing to betray their sect? Just like that, he became the leader of an area. Yang Yuan Hao felt that those things were the true burden that had crushed this spirit as a top battle general.

Not every person was Zuo Mo. Yang Yuan Hao thought of the phrase again.

Yang Yuan Hao had a clear measure of himself just like his combat style. He would also make the rational choice. It might not be the best, but it would never be the worst.

Yang Yuan Hao did not charge blindly into Kun Lun. While the battalions stationed here were not a match for him, he did not feel it was rational to enter too deeply. He would lack both supplies and reinforcements. The strategic value he could produce here would be limited, but there would be little danger. The present situation was unlike in the past. Mo Cloud Sea and Kun Lun had started an all-out war. He needed to reconsider the situation.

Zuo Mo had not returned, Gongsun Cha and Bie Han were mobilized. Now, he needed to think for himself.

When Wei Sheng’s message came. He almost didn’t believe it. He looked dazedly at it for a long time.

Wei Sheng had defeated Lin Qian!

Lin Qian had ran away!

This this this … …

The result of any battle at the front lines, even Gongsun Cha defeating Xue Dong, would not give Yang Yuan Hao a deeper shock than this news.

Illogical! It was illogical!

That was Lin Qian! The sect leader of Kun Lun, Lin Qian!

After a long daze, Yang Yuan Hao started to recover. He started to think of the effect this matter would produce.

He had to admit that this news was a enormous blow to the morale of Kun Lun. Lin Qian’s status in Kun Lun was unparalleled. He was publicly thought to be the most outstanding of all the sect leaders in Kun Lun’s history. Even in this revolutionary era, he was flawless. Kun Lun had been constantly strengthening themselves.

If one had to talk about his only mistake, it would have been not having stopped Mo Cloud Sea from developing.

But who could have stopped Mo Cloud Sea?

Lin Qian was the manifestation of perfection. He was humble and refined, his loyalty towards Kun Lun deeply engraved into his bones. Even the most rebellious sect disciples listened to his every word. He had ventured deep into the mo realms and defeated them all with his own power. He had been the one to comprehend shen power and lead Kun Lun into the era of shen power. He had brought great change to Kun Lun, using Chao Xin and the other young disciples. Kun Lun became the only one of the four great sects to have not declined and fractured. He had never been defeated, he led the group, he was a born leader.

But a person like this had been defeated!

Yang Yuan Hao suddenly realized that Kun Lun was pushed to the edge of the cliff.

He had never expected Lin Qian’s defeat.

The war between Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea had just started and the situation had changed unexpectedly. In Yang Yuan Hao’s eyes, Lin Qian was undoubtedly Kun Lun’s strongest point, and also the one that could not fail at all. Even though Wei Sheng and the others had returned, Yang Yuan Hao had felt it would be good if they could match Lin Qian.

Defeating Mu Xuan or Xue Dong would not shake the foundations of Kun Lun. Only the defeat of Lin Qian would truly cause Kun Lun to panic.

Lin Qian had been defeated!

Kun Lun was in danger.

Yet the development of events still surprised Yang Yuan Hao’s predictions.

The news that Lin Qian had been defeated by Wei Sheng shook the world!

Yang Yuan Hao had not spread the news. Wei Sheng had not been able to track down Lin Qian and decided to go to Kun Lun.

Wei Sheng raced forth with his sword and attacked Kun Lun.

He did not conceal himself or sneak in. He moved towards the main peak of Tian Huan in broad daylight.

Everywhere he passed, he razed cities when he encountered them, he killed enemies when he encountered them, no one could stop him. Kun Lun’s battalions, and experts flooded towards Wei Sheng yet no one could stop them.

No one withstood even one of his attacks.

Wei Sheng used his sword to tell the world how strong a god-level was.

All of the world was astounded by Wei Sheng’s strength and unreasonableness!

Kun Lun panicked. Just like Yang Yuan Hao had expected, Lin Qian’s defeat caused all of Kun Lun to feel anxious. Wei Sheng’s actions seemed to poke the hornet’s nest. All of Kun Lun’s battalions and experts furiously raced to reinforce the main peak of Kun Lun.

The main mountain peak of Kun Lun was the core of Kun Lun. This was where the core of Kun Lun was at, this was the holy land for the people of Kun Lun.

It held unparalleled status, and it had never experienced the fires of war. It was the greatest pride for all of Kun Lun!

Protect the main peak!

Protect the sect leader!

Like moths to a flame, they fearlessly charged and tried to stop Wei Sheng

Kun Lun went mad.

The world went mad.

Xue Dong’s eyes were bloodshot. He completely ignored Vermillion Bird Camp that was following closely after him.

He did not care so much. Eldest Shixiong had been defeated?

How was it possible?

When he had received the news, he almost laughed. How could Eldest Shixiong be defeated? He had been in the midst of enjoying his battle with Gongsun Cha. The two were evenly matched. Yet, not long after starting, the news that Wei Sheng was making his way to the main peak of Kun Lun arrived, he finally understood. Eldest Shixiong had really been defeated.

Xue Dong did not hesitate. He immediately led his battalion to charge back towards Kun Lun!

He felt as though he was in a nightmare. Suddenly, Kun Lun was placed in such a precarious position.

Protect the main peak!

Protect the sect leader!

It could be seen how badly Kun Lun’s position was from this kind of slogan. Mu Xuan was trapped by Bie Han’s Sin Battalion and was unable to leave. But he still ordered Mu Xuan to return to Kun Lun no matter the price!

Even if she died!

Xue Dong’s mind was unusually clear at the moment. Everyone in Kun Lun could be sacrificed, even himself. Only Eldest Shixiong could not die!

He had already started to consider the problem of defeat. The situation was even more urgent but he became even calmer. Defeat was not something to be scared of. As long as Eldest Shixiong was not dead, even if they lost some territory, they could reverse this situation eventually.

No matter what the price, they had to stop Wei Sheng!

Xue Dong Battalion travelled as though they did not care for their lives. They truly didn’t. They quickly left Vermillion Bird Camp in the dust.

Compared to Kun Lun’s panic, Mo Cloud Sea was overjoyed.

“Teacher Wei is too strong! He was able to defeat Lin Qian! Heavens!”

“Teacher Wei really returned at the best time. I just knew that Teacher Wei was god-level!”

“Please, you only knew after the fact!”

“Just with his own power, he made his way onto the main peak of Kun Lun. I can feel my blood boil just thinking about it!”

Gongsun Cha also had a faint smile on his face. His fight with Xue Dong had been interrupted in the probing stage. Both sides seemed to know that this was not the time for their final fight so they did not use all of their strength.

But in the probing attacks, both sides found the other side troublesome.

Gongsun Cha still gaped when he learned Wei Sheng was making his way in such an astounding and domineering manner to Kun Lun’s main peak.

The terrifying power of a god-level was completely displayed in this battle. Wei Sheng managed to disrupt all of Kun Lun by himself.

Gongsun Cha and the others quickly recovered from their joy. People immediately started to discuss strategies on how to face god-level. After half a day of discussion, the arrived at the same conclusion as before.Only a god-level expert could match a god-level expert. Otherwise, they would need to wait ten more years after everyone’s average strength went up two more ranks, top level battalions might have the power to match a god-level.

The discussion was fruitless and the discussion turned to discussing the good chance in front of them.

If they missed such a great opportunity, they were asking to be struck by lightning.

For these people who were full of deviousness, this topic was like the greatest feast. Everyone immediately started a heated discussion.

Evil malicious plans quickly took form.

When Zuo Mo received the news Wei Sheng defeated Lin Qian, he was also astounded. But soon, the details came and his happiness was diluted.

Gu Liang Dao was dead. Shuang Yu was dead.

The spirited and open Gu Liang Dao, the gentle and pure Shuang Yu. Thinking of how they had met and interacted those years ago, Zuo Mo’s spirits were low. He had thought that everyone would drink together after he returned to Mo Cloud Sea. That would have been a happy occasion.

He hadn’t expected … …

Zuo Mo looked motionlessly at the night sky. A Gui looked with worry at Zuo Mo. She didn’t speak. She knew that Young Master needed silence at this time.

A long time later, Zuo Mo regain his composure and pushed aside his sorrow and grief. There was a line of light on the horizon. Without realizing it, the night had passed, the dawn was near.

The dawn was near … …

The last remnants of grief and sorrow were swept out of Zuo Mo’s eyes. What replaced them was determination.

He turned around and suddenly said to A Gui, “A Gui, we need to end this war as soon as possible!”

A Gui looked at Zuo Mo’s determined face, and her gaze moved across his snowy-white hair. She felt a pain in her heart and then she nodded seriously, “Yes!”

Zuo Mo’s gaze turned gentle and warm as he stared at A Gui.

But soon, he became steely-eyed again as though the mountains of blades and seas of fire in front of him could not stop his steps. The framework for Hundred Savage Realm’s command structure had been built. Princess Xia and the Lan Brothers were familiarizing themselves with their work. The effect of recruiting Princess Xia and the others was outstanding. The regions of Hundred Savage Realm that Zuo Mo had conquered quickly stabilized.

“Everything has been arranged.”

“It’s time to take care of the Mo Shen Temple.”

Chapter 908 – The Chief Mo God’s Madness

The atmosphere inside the Mo Shen Temple was extremely tense.

The front lines had not experienced continuous defeats and they had won a few battles but there was no joy on the faces of the mo gods. An Mo’s army was moving steadily and pushing in to their territory. Liang Wei and Qi Xin had not made any risky moves. They only continued to add pressure and press on their holdings.

Piece by piece, step by step. This phrase described it best.

But the mo gods were not idiots. They new that their situation was becoming more and more dangerous. While the enemy’s advance was slow, it did not give them any chances to fight back. The enemy was wary as though they were the weaker side.

This kind of fighting strategy caused all of the Mo Shen Temple great frustration.

They could only watch as the enemy slowly marched on them yet they couldn’t do a thing. As the enemy army pushed, their defense line was gradually pushed flat.

This was a dangerous sign.

A flattened defense line meant that it was easier for the other to break through and by pass their forces.

Any battle general knew how dangerous this was.

But they had no solutions. They could only watch as they slid towards the cliffedge. Panic and hopelessness spread uncontrollably in their hearts.

The difference in power between them was too great.

“How about we assemble a counterattack?” Youxi Ya Ke glanced at the Chief Mo God and asked probingly.

The Chief Mo God was silent and felt extremely bitter. Counterattack? What could they use to counterattack. The other’s battalions did not have any weaknesses. Reinforcing the defense line was prolonging the inevitable, a slow suicide, but if they charged out, they would not come back.

The Chief Mo God’s eyes swept dazedly across the hall. Compared to the past, the present Mo Shen Temple was magnificent, but it was cold and unpopulated at this time.

Was this the sign of their defeat?

He thought of his hard work over the past years. Through the battles, the Mo Shen Temple had grown and became the strongest factions in the Hundred Savage Realm. This had filled the Chief Mo God with pride. He had once believed that the Mo Shen Temple could not be defeated! Yet when the Nether King’s armies came, he found at the seemingly strong Mo Shen Temple could not stop the other’s advance.

The enemy was too strong!

Compared to the Nether King, the Mo Shen Temple was too weak. The difference between the two was like that of an adult and a child. It was an uncrossable gap.

The Mo Shen Temple had fought back hardily. Even the Chief Mo God could not ask for more from his subordinates. The rule of the Mo Shen Temple had been popular in their lands.

“The Nether King has come?” The Chief Mo God suddenly spoke. His voice was hoarse.

“Yes.” Youxi Ya Ke nodded. “He recruited Princess Xia and the Lan Brothers to manage the his territories in Hundred Savage Realm. This move is beautiful. These two families both have long histories and large networks in Hundred Savage Realm. With them in control, the people’s hearts are reassured.”

He shrugged and spread his hands. He said with an expression of helplessness. “Of course, it is even more detrimental to us.”

“Fourth, what do you think?” The Chief Mo God looked at the fourth mo god that had been silent for a long time.

The Fourth Mo God was not tall, and looked weak in physical. He had slightly messy hair and a pale face. He looked delicate without any of the power of the mo.

No one would underestimate him due to his appearance. He came from a famous family. The successor of the Silver Catalpa Cavern. This had been recorded in the ancient histories. He was even more mysterious in people’s eyes.

His name was Shui Yue.

Chief Elder had spent great effort to recruit Shui Yue to the Mo Shen Temple to become the fourth mo god. He wasn’t just strong, he was an outstanding battle general. This was also why the Chief Mo God thought so greatly of him. In many records, they said that the successors of the Water Moon Family also inherited the knowledge of the ancient battle generals.

Shui Yue had not disappointed the Chief Mo God and he had been responsible in large part for the expansion of the Mo Shen Temple over the past few years.

Shui Yue was quiet, and never made trouble. He also had the skills. No one would dislike a subordinate like him.

“The final battle is here.” Shui Yue was as calm as usual. He said peacefully, “The enemy is about to start a full-out attack.”

The hall was completely silent.

A moment later, the Chief Mo God finally spoke with difficulty, “What is the possibility we can hold out?”

“One tenth.” Shui Yue was still calm.

Youxi Ya Ke sighed. While he did not care as much as the others, he still felt extremely discomforted by the feeling of helplessness due to the difference in power.

“What if we use everyone in the Mo Shen Temple?” The Chief Mo God suddenly gritted out a question.

“We have already mobilized everyone.” Youxi Ya Ke unconsciously answered but then he reacted. He was stunned at the realization. He looked at the Chief Mo God with shock on his face.

A hint of blood rose in the Chief Mo God’s face. His eyes were like twin balls of fire. “No, we will conscript everyone! All the families in the Mo Shen Temple, every mo that cultivates shen power, no matter the gender, they will be on the battlefield! We can make an army that is ten, twenty times bigger than the Nether King’s army … …”

Everyone was frightened by the Chief Mo God’s mad suggestion.

“But … …”

After the war finished, the Mo Shen Temple’s lands would be desolate. A war like that had never occurred before, not even in the wars between the yaomo and the xiu.

This was using bodies to fill the hole!

“Yes! Only that! We will turn the Mo Shen Temple into a hell! A hell that will pull the Nether King down!” The Chief Mo God howled at the top of his lungs. He waved his arms wildly as though his body had been flooded with fighting spirit again.

Everyone became silent.

If the fighting really reached a level, the fatalities would be astounding. All of the mo would be reduced.

“This is only an internal conflict of the mo, we are all mo …. …” Youxi Ya Ke couldn’t help but say. While he came from the Mo Shen Temple and didn’t feel anything for the Nether King, but … … the damage this would do to the mo … …

The Chief Mo God suddenly turned and glared as though his eyes would sprout fire. He shouted, “Shut up! Youxi Ya Ke, Starting today, Youxi Battalion will be led by Second!”

Youxi Ya Ke’s face turned ashen but then uncontrolled fury flooded his face. He laughed coldly, “Ha! You have gone mad!”

Chief Elder’s face filled with murderousness.

“What? You want to kill me?” Youxi Ya Ke held his head proudly but his gaze was icy. “Come on!”

Finishing, he didn’t even look at the Chief Mo God as he turned and left the hall.

The Chief Mo God’s face was black and his temples trobbed. He forced himself to resist. He knew that if he attacked Youxi Ya Ke now, the Mo Shen Temple would split.

“Who else has opinions?” Chief Mo God had a dark expression.

The others were silent.

Chief Mo God’s expression eased slightly. He felt better that the other people did not resist his decision. He relaxed his tone. “I know that the fatalities will be high but this is our only chance at victory. We will have to disregard the cost, we need to let the Nether King feel that the Mo Shen Temple has the determination to fight to the end … …”

The mad voice of the Chief Mo God echoed in the hall.

Shui Yue’s residence.

Wu Le drank back a few swigs of strong liquor. He seemed to be extremely thirsty. He allowed the liquor to flow down his mouth and neck. He only put down the liquor jar when a flush appeared on his face. He murmured to himself, “Youxi Ya Ke is right, Boss has gone mad.”

Shui Yu had a small bottle and cup in front of him. He poured a small amount and slowly sipped it with a leisurely air.

The two were both mo gods who had been promoted after the first three and this made them closer.

“I’m not one to lead troops.” Wu Le gulped another mouthful and shook his head. “But I know that doing this is like drinking poison to satisfy thirst. Right now, we still have the hearts of the people. But if we conscript that time, we will lose the hearts of the people.”

“He has too much pressure on him,” Shui Yu said neutrally.

“No matter what, he cannot do this!” Wu Le showed his disappointment. “Pity, I’m just a step away from god-level. If I was strong as Wei Sheng, our situation will be much better.”

“You have done well,” Shui Yu comforted. Ever since the last battle between Wu Le and Wei Sheng, Wu Le had worked hard. He was the fifth mo god, but he was the strongest of the mo gods in terms of individual power.

Chief Mo God had once urged Wu Le to study to be a battle general. With such strong individual power, even if he was slightly less skilled as a battle general, he would be much stronger than most battle generals.

Yet Wu Le had no interest in becoming a battle general. His entire mind was focused on cultivation.

Wu Le took another mouthful of liquor and lamented, “Ten years ago, I was defeated by Wei Sheng. Ten years later and not only have I not caught  up, I am left even further behind. I can only feel admiration. This kind of man is the one we should model ourselves after. Ten years ago, everyone said Wei Sheng was dead, I laughed at that. How could a man like that die so easily?”

Shui Yue listened silently. He knew that Wu Le only wanted to find someone to vent to.

“Even Lin Qian was defeated by Wei Sheng. I don’t like Lin Qian, but he is a true genius. A Yue, what do you think, why is the world changing so quickly?” Wu Le’s eyes were blurry and filled with bewilderment. “A Nether King suddenly popped up. He made trouble in Nether Ream but that wasn’t enough, so he came over to unite the mo. Ha, how sorry has he made us all! Now Mo Cloud Sea and Kun Lun are fighting. Wei Sheng that wasn’t been seen for ten years is now god-level and managed to frighten Lin Qian to hiding. Kun Lun has lost great face. Lin Qian is really sad. They are both god-level, such a great humiliation … … this world … … what is going on … … don’t understand … …”

As Wu Le spoke, his words became indistinct. He fell forward on his face and started to snore.

He was extremely depressed and only came to Shui Yue’s place to get drunk.

Shui Yue sat as he slowly sipped. The harsh liquor was like fire in his throat.

Flame started to burn in that pair of eyes that seemed to always be calm. He thought of the blood summons from the past, thought of his confusion in the past ten years as he waited, thought of how he had asked himself every night, thought of many things.

He seemed to speak to himself.

“Because a planted seed will grow into a great tree.”

Chapter 909 – Sword God Wei Sheng!

Mu Xuan’s situation was terrible.

She had underestimated Bie Han. Her battalion had received a high number of fatalities. She did not feel any dissatisfaction. Bie Han was stronger than she was. She accepted the losses.

But when she received Xue Dong’s flying sword letter, she was stunned.

Sect Leader had been defeated!

Sect Leader had been defeated?

How was it possible? Mu Xuan’s first reaction was one of disbelief but it was Xue Dong had sent this message. She quickly accepted that this was the truth.

Mu Xuan immediately realized this was an unprecedented danger!

Wei Sheng was fighting his way to the main peak of Kun Lun. If he truly made it onto Kun Lun’s main peak, then a calamity would descend on Kun Lun!

The peerless Kun Lun had never been humiliated like that before.

Damn it!

Mu Xuan wanted to grow wings and fly back to Kun Lun yet Bie Han would not let them escape. If Mu Xuan showed any opening, he would take a bite.

Bie Han was like a wolf, cunning and ruthless.

Mu Xuan Battalion was heavily wounded. In a short span of a few days, more than a thousand people fell under the fangs of Bie Han’s Sin Battalion. Worse was that a similar amount of people were injured. More off, Mu Xuan knew that Bie Han had deliberately left many with just injuries. Injuries had a greater impact on morale and reduced their mobility.

Mu Xuan Battalion’s morale was unprecedentedly low after two successive losses. Mu Xuan knew that she could not beat Bie Han in conditions like this.

Right now, she was considering how to get back to Kun Lun as fast as possible. Kun Lun had been forced into a precarious  predicament. The situation reversed so suddenly that even Mu Xuan felt clueless.

However, Bie han seemed to guess her intentions. He continued to hound and harry them with little fear of retaliation.

For the first time, Mu Xuan felt powerless. What should she do?

“Daren!” Mu Xuan’s second in command interrupted her thoughts.

Mu Xuan raised her head.

“Let this subordinate take command of the rear!” Her second in command spoke. She had a calm expression as though she was just describing a normal matter.

Mu Xuan’s heart shook. She looked at this partner that had followed her for over a decade. The other’s gaze was determined. The two had grown up together from childhood, and were like sisters.

“For Kun Lun!” Her sister-in-arms’ tone was serious and determined.

After staring for a long moment, Mu Xuan suppressed the grief she felt. Closing her eyes, she used her last shred of will to say, “For Kun Lun!”

The second in command showed a gentle smile, turned and then left.

Mu Xuan’s tears flowed down.

The sorrowful atmosphere filled the battalion. Everyone understood the decision of the higher-ups. The one thousand injured members and two thousand sword xiu were selected to stay behind. They would use their lives to to delay Bie Han.

The cold wind cut like a blade.

“For Kun Lun!”

Wei Sheng flew holding his sword. His expression was solemn. Everywhere he passed, the sky and the ground seemed to be dyed by blood.

The God-Killing Blood Sword seemed to have been filled with blood and its killing intent filled the sky.

Wei Sheng’s gaze was clear and determined.

He could not count how many people he had killed in the past days. The sword xiu of Kun Lun leapt fearlessly towards him like a flood.

Their strength was not worth mentioning, but their resolve caused him to change expression.

But it only amounted to this.

Wei Sheng’s heart was like a stone. The sword oath he had given in the past echoed in his mind. He would not rest against Kun Lun, this would only end with death.

To stop him, Kun Lun destroyed all the transportation formations along the way. However, this was not of any effect against Wei Sheng. God-level experts could travel through the void.

When the Kun Lun mountain range entered his view, even Wei Sheng was awed by its vastness and majesty.

Mountain peaks numbering in the tens of thousands like an endless forest of swords that stretched out. Each mountain peak was like a flying sword. They had different appearances and different auras. Some were steep, others vast plateaus, others covered in glaciers, or flowing with lava. Even Wei Sheng who had been to so many places was seeing such a unique place for the first time.

As expected, Kun Lun was blessed.

Wei Sheng lamented inside as his gaze landed on the main peak of Kun Lun.

The main peak of Kun Lun was the most attention-catching of the tens of thousands because of its height and size. Kun Lun’s main peak was unrivalled as it towered over the others. All other mountains were like molehills next to it.It was much higher and wider than the other peaks. It was like an enormous sword pointing towards the firmament.

Peerless Kun Lun!

The layers of jinzhi suddenly appeared. It added a beautiful layer of silk to the main peak that flashed with dazzlingly light under the sunlight.

Was this Kun Lun?

Wei Sheng’s eyes suddenly became bright. While the main peak of Kun Lun had soul-shaking presence, the image in his mind was the little unknown and remote Wu Kong Mountain.

It was not vast, it did not have any astounding power, it was not revered by countless people.

But that mountain was the most important mountain in his heart!

In the name of Wu Kong!

Wei Sheng took a deep breath. His eyes were full of resolve as he raised the God-Killing Blood Sword.

“He’s here!”

“Wei Sheng!”

The main peak of Kun Lun shifted with people. All of the mountain peaks in Kun Lun’s mountain range were full of people.

Countless Kun Lun disciples had came from all over.

“For Kun Lun!”

Someone shouted. Almost everyone raised their flying sword and shouted, “For Kun Lun!”

“For Kun Lun!”

The thunderous shouts echoed in the air, in the mountains, in the hearts of every Kun Lun disciple!

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

Countless shadows flew up from Kun Lun’s mountain range to cover the sky.

They were like a burning sea of flames that wanted to use the fire of their life to burn that terrifying figure. Their faces were filled with fearlessness.

Yet, unexpectedly, that person in the distance did not charge over.

For some unknown reason, many people sighed in relief.

But at this time, Wei Sheng suddenly raised the sword in his hand.

Everyone stilled. Even the Kun Lun disciples that were charging towards Wei Sheng paused.

What did he want to do?

Wei Sheng was over one hundred and fifty li away from the main peak of Kun Lun. If they hadn’t set up seal formation, they would not have been able to see Wei Sheng’s figure.

Was this a challenge?

What was the use in raising the sword from so far away?

Yet before they could understand, a red sword energy flew out of Wei Sheng’s sword.

That red sword energy was not blinding and did not look as though it was astounding in any aspect. But that seemingly ordinary energy cut the space in front of them as though it travelled through the void!

The sword energy brought with it an endless ocean of blood!

The surging waves of blood rose up like monsters opening their mouths and leading at them.

These Kun Lun disciples were swallowed by the surging waves of blood before they could react. The waves of blood did not stop. They became even stronger and charged towards the main peak at an even faster speed.

The vast distance did not seem to matter.

Almost instantly, the surging blood red waves carrying savage power and steel resolve smashed onto the main peak of Kun Lun!

Boom!

The jinzhi of the main peak was like paper. Shattered energies of various colors flew through the air and then were consumed by the bloody waves. The layers of jinzhi that Kun Lun had worked to set up over the generations didn’t even last for a breath before turning into dust.

The waves that crushed all obstruction slammed into the main peak of Kun Lun!

Boom!

Time seemed to stop in this moment. Everyone’s expressions were dazed. Their minds having gone completely blank.

The vast Kun Lun main peak slowly collapsed before their eyes.

Boom-oom-oom!

The main peak was so large that when it fell, shattered stone and dust rose up into an enormous mushroom cloud. The roar caused all of Kun Lun mountain range to shudder.

A deathly silence!

It was completely silent!

Everyone had ashen faces. Their lips trembled. Their expressions were dazed.

The main peak, the main peak had been cut down in one stroke … …

All of the Kun Lun disciples had pale faces. Something seemed to collapse in their minds.

The grieving screams contained the deepest of hopelessness!

Wei Sheng had charged into Kun Lun and cut down Kun Lun’s mountain peak!

This astounding news swept the world like a gust of wind. Nothing was more astounding than this. Kun Lun, the strongest hegemon of the world. Had been defeated by one person, Wei Sheng had  struck down the main peak of Kun Lun!

Everyone that heard the news would be dazed for a while.

People already felt that Lin Qian’s defeat was incomprehensible, this event could not be described.

Kun Lun had been the strongest sect of the world for thousands of years, the strongest faction in the world!

No sect could match Kun Lun.

Peerless Kun Lun!

Kun Lun had not coined the phrase. The authority that Kun Lun had accumulated over thousands of years was imprinted on people’s minds. The disciples of Kun Lun were always proud. Everyone thought they deserved to be proud. This was a pride that was matter-of-fact because they came from Kun Lun.

They were always full of spirit and confidence. They were forever the most outstanding youths, the strongest sword xiu. They were the future rulers of the world both in the eyes of others, and they believed this in their hearts.

Kun Lun was the holy ground of sword xiu.

They created the cultivation path for the powerful sword xiu and developed it. The sword xiu became the strongest offensive fighters of all the xiuzhe.

Yet this holy land for sword xiu was brought to its knees by a sword xiu from a previously unknown sect.

For any sect, this wasn’t just a great humiliation, it wounded them at their foundation.

When a sword xiu heard the news, they could not speak. In their hearts, something seemed to silently collapse in their minds.

Kun Lun would never be the Peerless Kun Lun ever again.

The collapsed main peak and Kun Lun’s peerless reputation became the perfect adornment for one person.

There would be no argument in the future about the name of the Sword God Wei Sheng.

Peerless Sword God!

Chapter 910 – Lin Qian’s Sword

Wei Sheng cutting the main peak of Kun Lun was so astounding at the news that Mo Shen Temple had surrendered to the Nether King paled in comparison.

However, the mo were an exception.

The eyes of all mo were on the army of the Nether King army in Hundred Savage Realm. The enmity the mo of Hundred Savage Realm felt towards the Nether King had been diminished greatly. The power of Wei Sheng’s campaign against Kun Lun caused the mo to reconsider the status of a god-level expert. Even an existence as strong as Kun Lun was forced to such desperate straits by Wei Sheng.

God-level, that as the true peak of this world. A faction that did not a god-level would be fated to be in defeated. Among the mo, there was only one god-level, the Nether King.

This caused the enmity from many of the mo to fade and instead they felt slightly reassured. The mo had their own god-level.

Many people started to hope for the arrival of peace. The Nether King was undoubtedly the one most qualified to unite the mo.

The Mo Shen Temple’s inner conflict and the subsequent coup was supposedly due to the Chief Mo God’s decision to conscript and sacrifice the populace. Not many were too surprised by this. In the eyes of many people, the Mo Shen Temple was already hard pressed to have held until now under such great pressure.

After the initial shock, all of the mo entered celebration.

The mo were united!

After thousands of years, the mo finally been reunited. In the history of the mo, every time the mo were united, that was the beginning of a golden age of prosperity. They had enough reason to believe that the mo were going to welcome a completely new future.

The king of mo!

The Chief Mo God was killed, the rhinoceros mo god was not willing to continue in the new regime. He left the Mo Shen Temple and returned to his homeland to be the clan leader. The Mo Shen Temple still had the Youxi Battalion and Shui Yue Battalion. Wu Le became the a new bodyguard for the king. The other management positions were appointed by the new king.

The top four battalions of the mo quickly took form.

Liang Wei’s King’s Horn became the first of the mo battalions. The other three battalions were: Qi Wei’s Qi Battalion, Youxi Ya Ke’s Youxi Battalion, and Shui Yue’s Shui Yue Battalion.

An Mo was deputized as the first mo commander in command. The only unexpected appointment was Zhu Nan Yue. She became the first advisor to An Mo’s strategic group.

Due to Zuo Mo having already built up the framework with Princess Xia and the Lan brothers, everything progressed smoothly.

“Mu Xi Daren, your residence has been arranged. Please follow me.” A male shadow guard dressed in black respectfully bowed and then led the way at the front.

“Please.” Mu Xi nodded and followed behind with her guards.

“You are too polite!” This shadow guard respectfully answered.

The guards around Mu Xu had unnatural and cautious expressions. These veterans of the battlefield and in death felt uneasy in front of these shadow guards.

The Shadow Guard was an extremely powerful organization and was Ming Yue Ye Daren’s the most trusted and sharpest blade . These two years were better. In the years before that, it was these people hidden in the shadows that had brought down and assassinated Ming Yue Ye Daren’s enemies.

In this unprecedented purge of the yao ranks, the one that had been the most effective was the Shadow Guard.

Mu Xi noticed the uneasiness of her guards. She didn’t like the Shadow Guard either but she didn’t want to offend them. The Shadow Guard wasn’t just the strongest intelligence network, they were also Ming Yue Ye Daren’s most trusted protectors.

Their leader, Youqin Lie, was also very trusted by Ming Yue Ye Daren.

Battle generals innately disliked these assassins hidden in the darkness. People had more than once expressed concerns about the Shadow Guard’s accumulated power. The only thing to rejoice about was that Youqin Lie never entered any power struggles, and maintained respect towards the other daren. However, people were still worried about Youqin Lie’s cruel actions.

Mu Xi refocused and asked, “Has Bin Lan Daren arrived?”

“Bin Lan Daren arrived yesterday night.”

Mu Xi new why Daren had summoned them all back for. The changes in the world affairs had been too drastic in this recent while. Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea had started their war, Lin Qian had lost, the main peak of Kun Lun had been cut down, and Kun Lun had entered unprecedented danger.

Mu Xi and the others were astounded.

They knew just how powerful Kun Lun was.

But before one wave settled, another started. The Mo Shen Temple suddenly had internal conflict and three remaining mo gods surrendered to the Nether King.

The mo had united!

This caused the yao to suddenly feel great danger.

No one would doubt the strength of a united mo race. Each time the mo were united, it was when they were strongest, and also when their desire to expand was greatest.

The two titans of the xiuzhe world were fighting intensely. That Nether King wasn’t stupid and he wouldn’t participate.

The mo only had one direction to expand in.

The yao lands!

In the past thousands of years, the yaomo had maintained a good relationship. Usually, the yao did not need to worry about the fractionalized mo. However, now, the mo had a new king!

This mo king was of mysterious and unknown origins. However, his intentions were revealed immediately after he ascended to the throne. He lead a powerful invasion of Hundred Savage Realm and rapidly united the mo.

The strong expansionist stance that the new Mo King displayed worried the yao.

Mu Xi was not stupid. The yao and the mo were on good relations because the yaomo had the same enemies. But right now that the xiuzhe were fighting among themselves, and the mo were strong while the yao weak. Would the mo overlook this opportunity to swallow the yao?

Mu Xi was also filled with worries.

The meeting was of the highest levels. Almost all the higher ups of the yao were gathered together. The yao were in a nervous atmosphere.

This meeting would decide the fate of the yao.

Bie Han looked at the thick smoke above the burning city and turned to lead Sin Battalion to leave without any hesitation.

This was the ninth major hub city that he had razed.

Other than the battalions on the borders of Kun Lun that didn’t dare to move, almost all the other battalions in Kun Lun had returned to reinforce the main peak of Kun Lun. Lin Qian was not present, Xue Dong was not here, all of Kun Lun was in chaos. They could only respond based on their instincts.

But how could the weakly supported border hold against Gongsun Cha, Bie Han, and Yang Yuan Hao?

The three battalions broke through with little effort. The vast and empty Kun Lun was spread in front of them.

Gongsun Cha and the others did not choose to conquer the territory.

Kun Lun’s rule in these lands was deeply entrenched over thousands of years. The factions of various sizes here were fighting back and once Mo Cloud Sea tried to conquer these places, Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions would be tangled up in intensifying rebellions.

Therefore, the strategy Gongsun Cha and the others planned was simple and brutal.

Damage, constant damage to Kun Lun’s production capabilities and infrastructure!

Everywhere they passed, they didn’t conquer, they destroyed. This kind of destruction would not be immediately fatal for Kun Lun, but it was akin a thousand wounds on Kun Lun’s enormous body.

The bleeding would continue and Kun Lun would only become  weaker with time.

Following behind the three top battalions were the first class battalions like Ma Fan and Tang Fei. Gongsun Cha knew that a chance like this would not occur again. He did not keep anything back. All of the first class battalions and elite battalions were mobilized.

They followed the three top battalions to enter the vast core of Kun Lun.

Time!

What was most important was time!

Gongsun Cha commanded that all battalions had to leave Kun Lun within ten days.

The jinzhi forts were being built day and night on the borders of Mo Cloud Sea. Kun Lun who had suffered so much loss was very likely to retaliate.

In these weeks, Kun Lun’s sky was covered in smoke.

The sect leader had been defeated, the main peak cut down, countless cities burned to ashes… …

Kun Lun seemed to reach the end of the road in the span of one night.

By the time the people of Kun Lun reacted, Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions had disappeared.

Seeing Kun Lun covered in wounds, everyone cried.

Lin Qian wanted to die.

Kun Lun was wailing after being trampled under the hooves of Mo Cloud Sea. Kun Lun had fallen under Wei Sheng’s sword. But at this time, he could not come out, he could not fight for his beloved Kun Lun, he could only stay in this hidden cavern and heal.

Lin Qian held the Immemorial Sword tightly. His handsome face was unusually pale. In just a few dozen days, he had thinned by a size. His bloodless lips moved, tears flowed out of his empty eyes and fell down his face.

“Master, sorry!”

“Sorry … …”

All of his pride had been completely destroyed. Kun Lun was his all, he lived for Kun Lun, he would forever live for Kun Lun!

If he hadn’t been defeated, the state of affairs would not be so bad, the main peak would not have been destroyed, Kun Lun would not have lost so, and Kun Lun would not have been humiliated!

“I am a criminal!”

“The criminal of Kun Lun!”

He said to himself as though he was proclaiming judgement on himself.

He stood up. A light suddenly appeared in his empty eyes. The light grew brighter and filled his eyes.

His wooden head slowly started to turn.

He sat silently. The excitement and madness in his eyes slowly grew. An indescribable determination was in his eyes and flowed in his body.

The Immemorial Shen Sword in his hand hummed and he felt an indescribable understanding.

His sword was Kun Lun!

Not for heaven or earth, not for the laws, not for the people, only for Kun Lun!

This body belonged to Kun Lun, this sword belonged to Kun Lun!

All the laws of the world were below Kun Lun, all the emotions of the world were below Kun Lun.

This was his sword, Kun Lun above all!

The energies in Lin Qian’s body suddenly flowed and circulated. Half of his injuries healed. His sword essence level had once again made another advancement!

In the fight with Wei Sheng that day, Wei Sheng had found his sword path. Today, Lin Qian also found the sword path for him.

Kun Lun had reached its most precarious moment.

Lin Qian did not feel any joy. At this time, his level of sword essence was just matched to Wei Sheng. His wounds had not healed, and he was still at a disadvantage.

But he did not continue to spend time recovering. Kun Lun had reached the edge of a precipice.

He must lead!

He was also below Kun Lun!

Chapter 911 – Lin Qian’s Counterattack

Wei Sheng gazed at Kun Lun behind him and then turned around without looking back.

Gongsun Cha, Bie Han, and Yang Yuan Hao had met up. The three top battalions were the top fighting force of Mo Cloud Sea. He needed to hurry back to prevent Lin Qian from targeting them. That loss would be too great.

While there was no news of a new god-level appearing in Kun Lun’s ranks, Wei Sheng did not dare to be careless. These three top battle generals were the foundation of Mo Cloud Sea.

Gu Liang Dao being killed by Lin Qian taught everyone the partnership of top battle general and god-level was the best strategy right now.

The god-level was unstoppable and could create chaos in an army as well as kill the leader. However, they could not take over and hold an entire region with only their power. A battalion must come in and then consolidate their control.

And if a top battle general didn’t have the protection of a god-level, they would become choice targets for the enemy god-level.

Right now, the three battle generals were together. Wei Sheng didn’t dare to be careless. He had to be the one in charge of protecting them.

Wei Sheng also knew that he could not eliminate all of Kun Lun by himself.

An enormous being like this had such resilience and vitality that normal people couldn’t imagine.

When Lin Qian looked at the remnants of Kun Lun’s main peak, his tears flowed down. His face was pale, he was soulless as he allowed the tears to flow. He was like a stump of wood that did not move for a long time.

Nothing could describe the pain he felt at this time. From a very young age, protecting Kun Lun was his dream. He had grown up, but this goal had never changed.

The sacrifices of the elders, Master sending his soul into the sword, they all caused his belief to deepen.

Ever since he took control of Kun Lun from his master, he did all he could and didn’t dare to slack off. Yet, in his hands, Kun Lun had endured unprecedented humiliation.

Even the main peak of Kun Lun had been cut down.

He looked around. What he saw was the wooden and sorrowful gazes of the disciples and heard their cries.

Lin Qian felt as though there was a knife stabbing his heart.

Xue Dong, Mu Xuan, and the others that hurried back sighed in relief as they saw Lin Qian. All of the higher ups of Kun Lun gathered for the first time after their defeat.

All of their faces were filled with fury and sorrow.

Their gazes all looked towards Lin Qian. This man that had led them to victory again and again. Their eyes had not lost hope. As long as this man was still alive, they had not lost their hope of victory.

All of Kun Lun was looking at their leader, their banner.

“In the history of Kun Lun, we have never been humiliated like this.” Lin Qian’s deep voice was filled with sorrow. It passed through the sound tablets to every corner of Kun Lun.

“This my mistake, my responsibility. After this war, regardless of the result, I will abdicate the position of sect leader.”

Exclamations of disbelief echoed in every corner of Kun Lun. Their eyes were wide and filled with shock. Xue Dong, Mu Xuan and the others changed expression. Lin Qian had not discussed this decision with them.

“A failure like myself does not qualify to be the sect leader of Kun Lun.”

Everyone could hear the guilt in Lin Qian’s voice. Many people’s eyes turned red. Kun Lun’s main peak had been cut down. Many people had felt some anger towards Lin Qian.

But no one blamed him right now.

This was a man that placed Kun Lun’s wellbeing above his own life!

Who would bear to blame him?

“But before that, I still have a battle to finish. No, us, we still have an unfinished battle! In the history of Kun Lun, there has never been a humiliation like this! This is Kun Lun’s humiliation, it is our humiliation! Only the sword, blood, and victory can wash away this humiliation!

“Disciples of Kun Lun, people of Kun Lun, this is our home, this place with our kin. But now, we have been humiliated, our kin massacred, our homes burned! Our Kun Lun has reached a precarious time! We have no place to flee, we have nowhere to retreat, we will not be spared!

“People of Kun Lun, draw your swords!

“For the glory of Kun Lun, for our kin, for our homes!

“As Kun Lun’s Sect Leader, I am ordering complete conscription of all able bodied warriors of Kun Lun!

“No matter the gender, no matter the age, anyone above mortal rank is conscripted!

“All businesses regardless of size are restricted from selling any merchandise. All resources will be directed towards the army.

“All battalions, gather and wait for orders!

“I, Lin Qian, will lead you on the battlefield!

“In the name of Kun Lun, victory or death!

“In the name of Kun Lun, we march to our final battle!

“Battle to the end!”

Listening to Lin Qian’s decisive voice in the sound tablet, the entire tent was silent.

Everyone had extremely ugly expressions. No one had thought that Kun Lun’s counterattack, no, Lin Qian’s counterattack would be so decisive and reckless.

Even Gongsun Cha hadn’t expected Lin Qian’s move. He was like a gambler that had lost greatly, and went all in on the next hand.

The advantage that Gongsun Cha and the others had accumulated had immediately vanished.

Shen power had developed for ten years, how many of Kun Lun’s sword xiu had reached mortal level? No one knew, but everyone knew that this number would be enormous.

Nether King’s five hundred thousand elite astounded the world, but when the enormous being that was Kun Lun sent out all of their members, their potential was something that even Gongsun Cha and the others didn’t dare to imagine! Kun Lun’s battalions were astounding in scale to being with. They had large territories and each of them required battalions stationed there.

Lin Qian’s conscription order didn’t just apply to the battalions, but also to the citizenry. They could easily create an army  of over a million people. Gongsun Cha and the others would not be surprised if they could gather two million people. Even if these people were not trained, even if these people didn’t even have the training of the lowest ranked battalions, this was still a terror-inducing number of people!

No one had ever done this before!

With his back to the wall, Lin Qian had completely messed up Mo Cloud Sea’s plans.

Mo Cloud Sea’s jinzhi forts that they had rushed to built were meaningless in front of such overwhelming numbers.

“He is a mad man!”

Someone said this. Everyone felt agreement. Such an action disregarded all consequences. Even if Kun Lun won, they would be greatly wounded taking years if not decades to recover.

But everyone had to admit that Lin Qian’s move was extremely skilled.

Mo Cloud Sea’s battalions had poked countless holes in Kun Lun’s territory. Kun Lun had suffered great losses. Their plan had been to drag out the fighting and as time went on, Kun Lun would grow weaker. By that time, they wouldn’t even have the ability to fight back.

Lin Qian decided to take out all of his assets and rush their final battle. At this time, Kun Lun had just suffered a great loss and were like a group of grieving soldiers. Lin Qian displayed his zealous attitude. victory or death. The power that they could muster would be great.

Those heroic tales of victory by angry and grieving soldiers were of this situation.

“How about we hold out. If we can hold for long enough, their morale would be blunted and their untrained conscripts would collapse … …” Yang Yuan Hao glanced at Gongsun Cha.

“We cannot hold!!” Gongsun Cha shook his head, his expression solemn. “None of our defense lines can hold.”

Yang Yuan Hao did not feel surprised. Truthfully, even he didn’t believe there would be a defense line like that.

Mo Cloud Sea had always relied on elite soldiers. They didn’t have many battalions but their training and equipment were all of the highest quality. There was no problem with this strategy usually, but in front of Lin Qian’s overwhelming numbers, they immediately became lacking.

“How about we circle to Kun Lun’s rear? Kun Lun’s rear is completely undefended!” Tang Fei frowned as she thought hard.

“Lin Qian is coming at us with everything. Attack the rear? He doesn’t care if the rear is destroyed,” Gongsun Cha refused.

“How about Teacher Wei … …” Ma Fan said with a snicker.

Everyone turned to look at Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng said honestly, “Lin Qian and I are evenly matched. The reason that I was able to win last time was mostly due to Gu Liang Dao and Shuang Yu injuring Lin Qian before they died. Lin Qian was wounded and I had an epiphany. But I hear from his voice that he seemed to also have a breakthrough. If I attack, he will have the advantage of territory. Meaning he will likely have the help of a few pseudo god-level, and he would have the upper hand.”

“We also have pseudo god-level … …” Ma Fan muttered. Mo Cloud Sea had more pseudo god-level than Kun Lun. People heard this and their eyes went bright.

“Pseudo god-level, cannot travel through the void,” Wei Sheng explained.

People finally reacted. Yes, god-level could enter the places no one could, by travelling through the void, but pseudo god-level couldn’t.

People looked at each other with ugly expressions.

When Zuo Mo saw the message that Mo Cloud Sea passed over, he was given a fright. He hadn’t thought that Lin Qian would do the same thing as the Chief Mo God. But he had to admit the strength of this move.

Compared to Lin Qian, the Chief Mo God was lacking.

When Lin Qian did this, and there were no objecting voices in Kun Lun. All of Kun Lun were with him in gambling on this battle! When Chief Mo God tried this, there were many voices within the Mo Shen Temple that objected. Even if Shui Yue didn’t do anything, the Chief Mo God wouldn’t have had an easy time.

Even though Zuo Mo had seen so many powerful opponents, no one was stronger than Lin Qian. This person was top in both strength and skill, and he almost had no weaknesses.

It was troublesome now!

Once a final battle like this was started, the weakness of Mo Cloud Sea’s shallow foundation was exposed. If this was the Mo Cloud Sea of the past, Zuo Mo would have also dared to give a conscription order like this. While Mo Cloud Sea had expanded greatly now, the composition was more complex, and they were not united. This was related to Zuo Mo being missing for ten years. If they didn’t have enough unity, playing a card like this was akin to burning oneself with fire.

In other worlds, Lin Qian could afford to do this, he couldn’t.

But Zuo Mo’s plans had also reached a crucial time. If this side wasn’t resolved, he didn’t dare to announce his identity as Nether King.

Time once again became the deciding factor in victory and defeat.

Zuo Mo thought for a night before sending his conclusion back to Mo Cloud Sea.

Zuo Mo’s order was very simple.

One word, delay, use all methods to delay the enemy.

To delay the final battle!

Chapter 913 – Youqin Lie’s Ten Years of Preparation

The top brass of the yao races were fighting intensely.

Lin Qian’s counterattack had shocked the yao. Thinking about an ocean of several hundred thousand people flooding over caused everyone to feel powerless.

Except for fighting back using the same method, no one had any other solution.

In the final battle between Kun Lun and Mo Cloud Sea, the yao favored Kun Lun. Kun Lun’s great unity was of great effect here. The consequences of Zuo Mo having gone missing for ten years usually couldn’t be seen, but no one could avoid it at this time.

And the mo, the former natural allies of the yao.

They were pressuring the yao at this time.

The intense arguments filled the meeting room. Ming Yue Ye sat at the head of the room, her eyes closed as though she was resting. Feng Xin Zi and Youqin Lie were standing to her left and right.

The yao were on the weaker side. Even worse was that they did not have a god-level expert.

Mu Xi and Bing Lan could not solve this problem. At this present stage, a god-level was undefeatable.

Suddenly, a voice spoke over everyone without any warning.

“Everyone, please do not waste anymore time.”

The voice was not loud but it could be heard over the entire room. All of the arguments and conversations were cut off.

The one who spoke was an unfamiliar male. The male was wearing a copper mask.

“Who are you? Why do I not recognize you?” An elder’s face changed slightly. He glared angrily and shouted, “Who are you! You dare to sneak in … …”

The mask-wearing male completely dismissed the elder’s scolding. He stood up elegantly and bowed towards the crowd. He said softly, “Good day everyone, I am Nether King.”

The room was completely silent. Everyone was stunned by the words. No one spoke.

“Hah, oh, that’s not right.” The mask-wearing male laughed softly and said, “I am the Mo King now.”

Zuo Mo’s unfathomable presence descended on the meeting room like that of a god. Everyone felt as though they were gripped by an invisible hand. The strong feeling of suffocation caused their minds to turn blank.

Feng Xin Zi suddenly gave off strong light as shen power surged inside his body. He didn’t know how the Nether King had gotten into the meeting. But the compound was surrounded by experts. If they made a disturbance, the guards outside would flood in.

Yet a cold gaze penetrated his defense like an arrow. His shen power froze!

Not good!

Feng Xin Zi’s expression changed dramatically.

Was this the power of god-level?

Feng Xin Zi was the strongest expert under Ming Yue Ye’s command. As a pseudo god-level, he had few equals. However, just a gaze from the other had … …

Terror overcame his mind. He had thought he understood the strength of god-level, but the difference in was greater than he had predicted.

This was a gap that could not be crossed!

Feng Xin Zi sank into a short daze. He did not notice a blurry figure appear behind his back.

A purple light flashed.

Feng Xin Zi finally seemed to wake up. The strong feeling of danger made him turn into a berserk beast.

At this time, he felt the restraints around him tighten. He was unable to struggle.

In his wide eyes, that terrifying person wearing the mask moved to grab at him.

God-level … ..

This was the last words in his mind.

How could a pseudo god-level have the chance to fight back against a god-level and a pseudo god-level expert?

Killed in one attack!

Feng Xin ZI’s head flew up, the blood spraying onto the ceiling and dying it red.

Screams sounded inside the meeting room. The face of many elders went pale. They were frightened by this bloody scene. However, the sound in the meeting room was blocked off from the outside. The room was designed so people outside couldn’t hear the conversations inside. Even Feng Xin Zi had been killed in one move. The people who had wanted to attack shuddered.

Even Feng Xin Zi Daren … …

Ming Yue Ye’s gaze turned to Youqin Li and turned icy. “Good! Very good! Youqin Lie! You dare to collude with the Nether King!”

Ming Yue Ye was not stupid. Youqin Lie had been in charge of security for the entire venue. Only Youqin Lie had the ability to sneak a person inside so easily.

Youqin Lie bowed respectfully. “I am doing this for everyone’s good.”

The people present had ashen faces.

They knew the power that Youqin Lie held. The betrayal of such an important person meant that the enemy had already set up plans to deal with them.

Ming Yue Ye did not pay attention to Youqin Lie. She turned and said coldly, “Nether King is really skilled, such scheming.”

Zuo Mo smiled. Inside, he was completely won over by Pu Yao and Wei’s planning. Zuo Mo hadn’t thought much of Pu Yao and Wei’s plan all those years ago when they had told him about the blood summons and the seeds. Yet what he hadn’t expected was that all three seeds had been of momumental importance.

If Youqin Lie hadn’t guided him, he would not be able to find Ming Yue Ye if he came here.

Zuo Mo found a place to sit as though he was the host here.

“Alright, everyone, I believe I don’t need to say any harsh words. Let us now discuss the future of the yao.”

Zuo Mo’s words easily passed into everyone’s ears.

“Do not be delusional!” Ming Yue Ye’s face was frosted over and her tone unusually determined. “Even if everyone dies here today, we will not pass your decisions. If you want to conquer the yao, send your army!”

Ming Yue Ye’s words aroused many people’s agreement. They glared with fury at Zuo Mo.

“Yes! If you want to conquer the yao, send your army!”

“Hmph, you want to use conspiracies that cannot be seen in public to take down the yao, naïve!”

Zuo Mo looked with surprise at Ming Yue Ye. He was not shocked at Ming Yue Ye’s determination but the other’s insight. Under such detrimental conditions, she was able to clearly see his intentions. It could be said that she originally had no chips in her hand but she had found some chips. While they were not many, there was some to bargain with.

She determined that Zuo Mo wanted to quickly and peacefully take care of the yao. Otherwise, he could just kill the people here, and then the army could invade. That would be the easiest method.

The loss of these leads would leave the yao in chaos, preventing a coordinated resistance against the mo army.

Zuo Mo did not do that. Ming Yue Ye immediately realized the crux.

Light laughter came behind the mask.

If he got pressured in such advantageous conditions, then Zuo Mo was not the Scalping Zombie!

Snap, Zuo Mo snapped his fingers and motioned to Youqin Lie.

Youqin Lie understood and stepped forward. He looked calmly at Mu XI.

Mu Xi suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Mu Xi Daren, the development of the Palace Lake Wood Clan is praiseworthy. However, under the prosperous appearance, there are always some fatal dangers. We have investigated all the youths of Palace Lake Wood Clan under the age of thirty. There are only twenty five that have reached silver battle general rank. The Dry Mark Yu Clan and the Mile Sea Xian Clan have more than four youths that are almost gold battle generals. If Mu Xi Daren is not present … …”

Youqin Lie did not continue and Mu Xi’s expression already changed.

She hadn’t thought that Youqin Lie had been investigating the Palace Lake Wood Clan in secret! Under the outward prosperity of the Palace Lake Wood Clan was a hidden weakness. The Dry Mark Yu Clan and the Mile Sea Xian Clan were the archenemies of the Palace Lake Wood Clan. In these past years, due to Mu Xi’s status, these two clans had been suppressed and constantly weakened.

If she died … …

She knew if Youqin Lie just curled his pinky, the two clans would not hesitate to swear loyalty. The fate of the Palace Lake Wood Clan could be imagined.

“Bing Lan Daren!” Youqin Lie bowed respectfully to Bing Lan as usual.

Bing Lan smiled coldly. “What? I want to hear how you will deal with me!”

Bing Lan had been an orphan from childhood and did not have the burden of a clan.

“Bing Lan Daren is not burdened by a clan. In other words, other than your own value as a battle general, Bing Lan Daren’s other value is insignificant.” Youqin Lie said easily, “As to Bing Lan Daren’s corps, you have twelve core commanders that have the same backgrounds as Daren. Of the twelve, nine of them have married. Their husbands, the clan leaders of the nine families, are currently guests of the Shadow Guard. Bing Lan Daren, do not worry, we will take good care of them.”

Bing Lan’s expression finally changed.

If she was not present, the fate of the corps … …

Youqin Lie’s gaze did not stop at Bing Lan. He turned his face and his gaze landed on an elder that was looking on calmly.

“Elder Xu is the one in the best situation of all the families. Elder Xu has managed his clan well, the clan is united, there are no enemies in the surroundings. You have battalions, and they are also exceptional.”

Elder Xu narrowed his eyes and couldn’t help but feel slight pride. What Youqin Lie said what he was most proud of. He was a person with power in the Council of Elders and his reputation was just below Bing Lan, Mu Xi and the others.

“Pity.” Youqin Lie suddenly shook his head and sighed. “In the past, Elder Xu schemed against the Ten Thousand Mile Gang, and had almost destroyed them.The Ten Thousand Mile Gang still alive and still remember Elder Xu’s generosity.”

The words Ten Thousand Mile Gang caused all the elders to change expression. They had heard of this organization before. The Ten Thousand Mile Gang had been vicious and stealthy in their actions. They had ruled with terror. Several decades ago, the Ten Thousand Mile Gang suddenly disappeared. No one had thought that Elder Xu was connected to the mysterious organization.

Elder Xu who had been calm from the start suddenly stood up as though his behind was on fire. He exclaimed in shock, “Impossible!”

Youqin Lie smiled at him. “Elder Xu, do not be in a hurry. We can discuss this in detail later.”

Then he dismissed Elder Xu. He went on discussing secret after secret as he made his way around the room. Youqin Lie recited the information and secrets of almost everyone present as though it was his own.

Suffocating terror and hopelessness spread through the meeting room.

Ming Yue Ye’s eyes were wide, and her face was white. She looked in disbelief at Youqin Lie.

Such detailed information, such careful preparation. She didn’t know how long this had been planned. This was not possible without years of investigation. She had not known at all! She had thought that Youqin Lie had betrayed her to the Nether King . Now, an even more absurd speculation uncontrollably appeared in her mind.

Youqin Lie was a spy of the Nether King!

Her heart continued to sink.

Youqin Lie’s move was vicious. These yao that held power would fall. These people, and the families behind them were the true core of the yao, and were the true ruling class of the yao.

All of her chips disappeared.

Chapter 913 – Response

The change in power among the higher levels of the yao proceeded in secret.

Youqin Lie’s plan spanned far and wide, catching almost all of the yao higher ranks by surprise. The timing he chose was also perfect. Because the meeting was so important, few were absent.

The topic of the meeting became establishing a new council of elders. The higher ranks realized that this was a shuffling of the positions and the discussion and political maneuvering was intense.

Soon, new leadership came into the public’s view. Ming Yue Ye, Bing Lan and Mu Xi kept their original positions.

The meeting this time did not cause any unrest among the people.

Youqin Lie who had ruled the underworld knew how to attack the weaknesses of people, and after ten years of preparation he struck. In one hand the stick and the other the carrot, the prestigious families of the yao were tamed. And the rebellious families were eliminated overnight and did not have a chance to cause a disturbance.

Youqin Lie was vicious and cruel in carrying out his duties. Everyone who knew were frightened.

Fighting between families existed everywhere, but compared to the Shadow Guard uprooting an entire family until not a stalk of grass was left, their tactics were like children fighting over candy.

They shuddered in fear.

The new Council of Elders became the top power structure in the yao.

Bing Lan and Mu Xi were alone in the courtyard.

The Shadow Guard did not make things difficult for the two. They retained their freedom, even their status and position hadn’t changed. The two felt as though they had just had a dream.

The two were very intelligent people. They knew that the Nether King had no fear that they would rebel. All of the higher ups, the prestigious families of the yao had submitted. Even if Ming Yue Ye rose up an called for an insurrection, there was no use.

The ruling caste of the yao were useless meatbags.

The two sat in silence for a long time. The air was heavy.

“We are finished.” Bing Lan’s voice was hoarse and her eyes showed great pain. As a battle general, she instinctively disliked people like the Shadow Guard that worked in secrecy. But she hadn’t thought that she would be defeated so easily by people like them.

“But no one cares.” Bing Lan laughed mockingly. “Everyone is cheering that they do not need to fight the mo.”

Once the new Council of Elders took power, they announced an eternal alliance with the mo. Both sides promised that they would be forever brothers-in-arms and would stand on the same side against enemies.

Also, the Council of Elders was promoting more communication for the yaomo alliance. The yao and mo realms would construct large numbers of transportation formations to increase interrelations between the two races.

Once the news came out, all of the yao cheered and celebrated.

When the mo had first finished uniting, the yao had felt threatened. They had all been worried about the mo invading. The two sides forming the yaomo alliance meant that the mo wouldn’t invade.

A rock in people’s hearts landed.

The alliance of yaomo was not a novel concept. The yaomo were close to begin with due to a long history of fighting together against the xiuzhe. An alliance was not much different. Unlike with the xiuzhe, there hadn’t been much hatred between the yao and the mo in history.

This caused Bing Lan to find it incredibly ironic.

The Nether King was silently taking control of the yao. She was sure that in a few years, the yao would be completely in the Nether King’s grasp.

But she could only watch as it happened and couldn’t do anything.

She had long since learned a truth about people; people didn’t care who ruled them. They only cared if they would have peace. The elders of the prestigious families didn’t care who ruled them. They only cared who gave them benefits and could make them feel fear.

All the corps commanders of the yao were the representatives of the prestigious elders. Each of them had their families behind them.

As long as Nether King held the Palace Lake Wood Clan hostage, Mu Xi could only bow and listen. Each member of a prestigious families was brainwashed with their responsibility to the clan from birth. They would forever place the good of their families ahead of everything else.

The ones truly loyal to Ming Yue Ye had no chance to struggle under Youqin Lie’s knife.

Even Bing Lan had no room to struggle unless she didn’t care at all about the lives of her subordinates. If she did anything, then the sisters who had followed her for many years wouldn’t be spared.

This was Youqin Lie’s style.

“I’m planning to retire as corps commander,” Bing Lan said coolly.

Mu Xi suddenly raised her head.

Bing Lan waved her hand and motioned for Mu Xi to not persuade her. She smiled as though she had been relieved of a burden. “Actually, this result isn’t bad. In terms of breadth of mind and skill, the Nether King will be a good king. After the yaomo alliance is formed, he will not treat the yao unfairly. And once the alliance forms, it will be undefeatable.”

She turned around and looked at Mu Xi. She said solemnly. “You need to uphold the banner of the yao. If I am not wrong, the Nether King will definitely create an alliance council of elders to be managed by the elders of the yaomo. Among the yao, you are the only top battle general, your responsibility is heavy.”

“Where is Daren planning to go?” Mu Xi looked at this elder who had promoted her and felt great sorrow.

“I’m planning to start a battle general house.” Bing Lan sighed. “We yao have too few outstanding battle generals. No matter what the fate of the yao will be, young talents that can prop up the sky are the true future of the yao!”

Mu Xi said without hesitation. “I will take care of the funds!”

Mu Xi knew that Bing Lan Daren had no family to support her. She had limited resources.

Bing Lan smiled. “No need, the Nether King will not be frugal on this. The King already thinks of this place as his and the people here as his people.”

As Bing Lan had expected, Zuo Mo was not frugal at all. Zuo Mo did not hesitate to give enormous resources to Bing Lan and green lit the way.

Bing Lan was truly the titan of the yao battle generals. No one could compare to her experience. When she became the principal of an art house, the battle general house created a great impact before it was even built.

Bing Lan Battle General House would shine with great light in the next thousand years. It would be one of the two most famous battle general houses of the yao.

The other battle general house was called Pu Pu’s Home for Battle Generals.

These two battle general houses trained countless famed generals for the yao in the next thousand years.

From every angle, Zuo Mo’s efficiency was astounding.

But for Gongsun Cha and the others, they still found it hard. It was apt to describe it as though they were passing through each day as a year. All of Kun Lun seemed to be mad as they increased their forces on the borders without regard for the cost.

In front of this vast ocean, the power of an individual battalion was insignificant.

The shadows of the crowds blackened the land like a slow and unstoppable wave. People gazed at it. A strong feeling of powerlessness filled their minds.

The vast ocean was still growing.

Mo Cloud Sea continued using guerilla warfare to slow the enemy. They had good results, but compared to the speed that the other side was gaining as time went on, the results were negligible.

Kun Lun did not seem to notice their harassment.

Increase! Continue increasing!

Gongsun Cha and the others didn’t dare to charge into the core of Kun Lun’s forces. Even though the people were untrained, they didn’t dare. If they stepped in, they might not even have a chance to escape.

The other side had gathered more than one million and two hundred thousand people!

“What do we do?”

The situation was growing worse by the day. People did not doubt that if the attack came, they could only flee for their lives.

“We retreat!” Gongsun Cha’s eyes were bloodshot. The bashful smile on his face had disappeared and was replaced with a sharp coldness. Bie Han and Yang Yuan Hao were not much better. Ever since Kun Lun’s battalions appeared on the borders, they hadn’t slept.

Retreat?

Everyone stilled.

The decision that the three top battle generals had thought of after not resting for several days and nights was to retreat?

Yang Yuan Hao explained. “We cannot stop them, if they break through our defensive line, then their morale will grow and while ours would worsen. Rather than letting that happen, we should retreat of our own accord.”

People started to think.

Gongsun Cha explained. “Kun Lun’s army is so large that supplies will be a problem. We will retreat and give up the space, but scorch the earth, stain the other’s supply line. On one hand, we can blunt their morale, and the other is that their supply lines will be exposed.”

The people present were all experts in war. Their eyes lit up and they started a heated discussion.

“We will destroy all the transportation formations, every one, force them to go through the jie rivers! Hmmph! One million pigs, even those won’t be easy to transport!”

“Every source of water, every mine, destroyed. So they cannot resume production quickly and produce supplies.”

“We need to move every person. Leave an empty jie, we will leave them empty jies!”

“We need to leave behind guide points, but make them hidden. We can leave more, and use them to build small transportation formations. They don’t have to transport many people. This way, we can easily attack their supply lines from the back.”

“Martial law, Mo Cloud Sea must be under martial law! It is important for everyone to be controlled to prevent some people from making a nuisance.”

When there were many people gathered, the power was great. As people started to discuss, many details were fleshed out. They could not underestimate the details. Advantages in battle were accumulated through these details.

Gongsun Cha couldn’t help but sigh. While the expansion of the past few years had lowered the unity of Mo Cloud Sea, it had won strategically for Mo Cloud Sea now. If Mo Cloud Sea was as small as before, no matter how strong its defenses were, it couldn’t hold against such an ocean of people.

“This is the final battle!” Gongsun Cha suddenly said. Everyone else closed their mouths and looked at him.

“If this battle is won, then we will win. Lose, we have nothing.” Gongsun Cha’s gaze burned and his tone was harsh. “Final battle! This is the final battle!”

“Kill them!” Everyone roared in response, their eyes filling with blood and murderousness!

Chapter 914 – Pride

The streets were flooded with people. Everyone’s expressions were reluctant as they occasionally turned their heads back.

“Everyone, please hurry!” A xiuzhe floated through the air, their voice passing to every corner through a sound amplification seal formation. “Please pay attention the vessel number of your ship, please notice the safety of your valuables. Parents with children, please pay attention to your child.”

“Everyone, do not worry, we will repay you for all your losses!”

Large numbers of xiuzhe floated in the air. Under their management, the lines were relatively maintained.

“Mama, will we return?” A child looked pleadingly at his mother.

The mother comfortingly patted the head of the little boy and said gently, “We will.”

“Really?” The little boy had a hopeful expression. “Great! Yun Yun said that she will also return. Then we can play together. Mama, when we will come back?”

“We will come back when we win,” the mother said patiently.

“Then we need to win fast!” The boy blurted out. He turned to look at his home.

The same retreat was happening throughout all the jies of Mo Cloud Sea.

The plan from Gongsun Cha and the others was faithfully carried out. All of Mo Cloud Sea started to move. Like an enormous machine, it started to turn.

All of the treasures ships and transportation ships were conscripted. The fleets covered the sky. Almost all the transportation formations were used at maximum capacity. Jingshi was used up as though it didn’t cost anything.

A movement of people of such scale had never happened before in history.

Mo Cloud Sea’s manpower and wealth was used to its limits.

This was the final battle!

Mu Xi received orders. The order was written by the Council of Elders, but she knew that the Nether King had been the one commanding her.

She was not very surprised. The two most outstanding battle generals of the yao were her and Bing Lan Daren. Bing Lan Daren had retired and gone to create a battle general house. She was the only one left.

As the new orders were announced, the yao had quickly stabilized. This meant that the king had taken control of the situation. What surprised Mu Xi was that the chaos she had imagined taking place hadn’t occurred. As the new orders were spread, the yao quickly walked out of the solemnity of the past purges and showed signs of prosperity.

This new king … … was really strong!

Mu Xi was not the only one who saw this. The other elders also saw this. Not every elder and prestigious family only knew greed. Actually, they hoped the yao would be prosperous more than anyone else because only when the yao were prosperous would they receive the greatest benefits.

Their resistance against the king was decreasing.

That Mo King proved that he could bring them more benefits.

Nothing made them obedient towards him more than this.

The Palace Lake Wood Clan was one of them.

The clever Wood Clan leader immediately detected the opportunity. He did not hesitate to show goodwill towards the Mo King. The Palace Lake Wood Clan had an advantage no other clan had. Their greatest trump card, Mu Xi!

Mu Xi knew the intentions of the clan. She had no objections.

Mu Xi became the commander in chief of the yao battalions. An astounding number of yao battalions that were were mobilized. Over three hundred thousand people. This was almost all of the battalions of the yao. Originally, the yao had more than this number, but Ming Yue Ye’s cleansing in years past had caused the number to decrease dramatically.

Mu Xi was not the young unknown girl of the past. She possessed resources and reputation now. As Bing Lan Daren faded from the limelight, she became the only qualified candidate to be commander in chief.

The movements of the Council of Elder attracted the eyes of the people. The movement of the battalions did not attract much attention as a result.

When Mu Xi reached the departure point, she was astounded. An army of over five hundred thousand mo were waiting with their weapons at ready. She immediately realized it would be a major mission.

An Mo politely received Mu Xi. In terms of position, the two were equal.

For the people below, they only thought this was a normal alliance of mo and yao. But among the higher ups of the mo, everyone was given a fright by the actions of the King. Uniting the yaomo, such an accomplishment had never occurred with the past mo kings.

An Mo, Liang Wei and the others who knew Zuo Mo’s identity were even more shocked and also extremely excited. Uniting the yaomo, leading Mo Cloud Sea- Without a doubt, King was about to unite the world.

Mu Xi’s gaze landed on Liang Wei.

This yao lead the first battalion of the four great mo battalions, the King’s Horn.

She looked at the mo side that was full of famed generals, and her own side with only her. Mu Xi grimaced. If the mo really attacked the yao, the yao most likely would not have held.

Had Ming Yue Ye Daren’s actions been wrong?

An absurd thought flashed through her mind.

She quickly came back.

Liang Wei detected Mu Xi’s gaze but he was not affected.

An Mo nodded in acknowledgement to Liang Wei. “We can start.” An Mo admired Liang Wei greatly. He didn’t know how King had managed to recruit Liang Wei. Once while talking to Liang Wei, they had discussed his experiences, and An Mo found it hard to understand. Such an outstanding battle general couldn’t find a place among the yao. Did the yao have so many outstanding battle generals?

The mo were skilled in attacking, skilled in fighting intensely. Among the four battle generals, no one was better than Liang Wei. Due to this, Liang Wei was in charge of the strategy and the other three his assistants.

Liang Wei understood. He didn’t waste words and said directly, “This time, our plan is to attack from here.”

His hand pointed towards a jie of Kun Lun.

“All battalions have finished gathering!” Xue Dong’s voice was filled with excitement. Excitement appeared on the faces of all the battle generals present.

This was a final battle unprecedented in its size. The number of people Kun Lun had conscripted reached two million and four hundred thousand!

A number that induced hopelessness!

Even they felt themselves shaking at the endless sea of people.

This was a power that could destroy everything!

Everyone stopped breathing and waited for the final order to attack.

Lin Qian stood up and said with a calm expression, “Then let us attack!”

Attack!

The order passed through the ranks and into the army!

The army of two million and four hundred thousand was like a vast ocean that slowly moved forward. Nothing could halt their march.

Advance! Advance! Advance!

In the name of Kun Lun!

Bright Wood Jie!

Meteor Shower Jie!

Fifth Sky Jie!

Kun Lun’s army seemed to be unstoppable. They did not encounter any resistance. Empty jie, after empty jie, after empty jie!

Such an enormous battalion meant that they were unstoppable but it also meant they lost speed. The transportation formations along the way had been destroyed. They had to travel the jie rivers using transportation ships and they could not speed up.

Kun Lun quickly learned Mo Cloud Sea’s intentions.

“They want to delay us to death.” Chao Xin’s expression was slightly ugly. “A scorched earth strategy! This move is very effective!”

The other people had ugly expressions. They hadn’t encountered any fighting along the way as though the other was gifting them the territory. And in every jie, everything was destroyed. They could not scavenge any supplies.

Without realizing it, the morale of the main troops was being ground down. Victory would cause the morale to rise, but the enemy’s proactive surrender of land and scorched earth strategy made people feel as though they were punching into cotton. They couldn’t be happy.

Mo Cloud Sea’s intentions were clear. This was an open scheme.

But they didn’t have the option of retreat left to them.

“We need to speed up. We cannot give them time to retreat. We need to protect the supply lines.” Xue Dong looked at Lin Qian.

Lin Qian shook his head. “We surrender the supply lines.”

“Surrender the supply lines?” Everyone was frightened by Lin Qian’s idea.

The other’s scorched earth strategy meant they could not scavenge supplies. If they surrendered the supply lines… …

“This is the last battle for Kun Lun,” Lin Qian said coldly. “We do not have the ability to fight for long. I have already ordered the rear to transport supplies for three months as quickly as possible. They will be sent over in the next few days. After that, the supplies will move with the troops. The longer it takes, the more detrimental it is for us.”

Xue Dong and the others immediately understood. Their eyes lit up. “This is a good solution!”

Surrendering the supply lies meant that they didn’t need to worry that the enemy would attack their supplies.

“Three months!” Lin Qian’s eyes were sharp and his voice were frosty. “If we do not win, then we die!”

Everyone’s heart shook!

The sect leader’s determination was so strong.

“What methods do we have to increase our speed?” Lin Qian asked Chao Xin.

Chao Xin gritted out, “There is no solution for the larger force. If it is an army less than three hundred thousand, there is a possibility! However, without a god-level for protection, the three hundred thousand is in great danger!”

The other people were silent. A battalion without the protection of a god-level was extremely fragile.

This battalion looked terrifying because it had Lin Qian, the god-level, present. Without the protection of the god-level, this terrifying army would become a piece of fat meat.

In front of a god-level that could destroy a jie, numbers were meaningless.

Any kind of strength was relative.

If they split their forces, it would give the enemy chances.

Lin Qian understood. Only when the enemy god-level was occupied would Kun Lun’s strategy of numbers become truly effective.

Wei Sheng!

He had to occupy Wei Sheng!

“I’ll do it.” Lin Qian stood with a calm expression.

He did not refuse and didn’t even think, as though he was speaking of an ordinary matter.

His gaze swept across the  group and he said calmly, “If I die, the next sect leader is A Xin.”

The youth shook. He suddenly raised his head. But no one looked at him. Everyone looked in disbelief at Lin Qian.

Xue Dong felt as though something was stuck in his throat. He tried to make himself smile. He didn’t know that his smile was uglier than crying. “Do not say such inauspicious things… …”

Lin Qian smiled and then said seriously, “I can die, but Kun Lun can only win.”

Finishing, he turned and walked towards the door to the tent.

The bright sunshine came from the doorway. Lin Qian’s tall figure was silhouetted by the light and people could not see him clearly. Suddenly, his steps paused slightly.

“Starting today, you will not need to worry about Wei Sheng.”

The voice that came from the light was just as proud as usual.

Chapter 915 – The Ending

Wei Sheng and Lin Qian faced off in the sky.

Almost the moment Lin Qian came forward to deliver the challenge, Wei Sheng flew out. For Wei Sheng, his main mission was to guarantee the safety of Gongsun Cha, Bie Han and the others. The only true threat to Gongsun Cha and the others was Lin Qian.

The two faced off in an empty jie.

“This place is suited for our final battle,” Wei Sheng said gravely.

Lin Qian smiled. “There is no need to harm the innocent in the battle between us. An empty place like this is a good battlefield.”

“You care about harming the innocent?” Wei Sheng laughed coldly.

“As long as it has no benefit for Kun Lun, I have no interest in killing people,” Lin Qian said honestly.

Wei Sheng’s eyes lit up. “As expected, you had a breakthrough.”

“A step slower than you.” Lin Qian shook his head. His expression didn’t show any pride. “Kun Lun’s greatest mistake was probably how we handled the Wu Kong Sword Sect.”

Wei Sheng said, “Kun Lun’s greatest mistake is its single-minded focus on itself. Are we the only ones to oppose Kun Lun?”

Lin Qian was silent.

Then he laughed and flicked the Immemorial Shen Sword with a finger.

The clear hum of the sword could be heard all over the jie.

“In the end, there aren’t so many rights and wrongs!” Lin Qian stood up straight, the smile on his face faded as his eyes became sharp. “Only victory and defeat!”

Wei Sheng shook his head. “Many things have nothing to do with victory and defeat.”

“Then what else is there?” Lin Qian smiled dismissively.

Wei Sheng’s eyes held an reminiscent light. His heart was completely serene. “Belief!”

Lin Qian did not argue but nodded. “True, however, you have your beliefs, I have mine! Let’s use the sword to determine victory and defeat!”

Lin Qian raised the shen sword in his hand.

“Yes!” Wei Sheng also raised the shen sword in his hand.

Liang Wei was most skilled in sneak attacks but a sneak attack of such a scale had never occurred before.

Actually, this could not count as a sneak attack.

When the allied yaomo army appeared on the territory of Kun Lun, all of Kun Lun sank in terror.

Liang Wei shook his head inside. If Kun Lun had known the Mo King who had just united the yaomo was Zuo Mo, they wouldn’t have dared to gambled it all.

The power of the two sides were not on the same level.

Compared to Lin Qian, King had much better cards.

When he thought of this, Liang Wei couldn’t help but still. He pondered it but he didn’t understand. When did King’s cards get so good without him realizing it?

He shook his head and pushed away his stray thoughts. They had nothing to do with him.

This battle had no difficulty for him. Lin Qian’s counterattack had required almost all of Kun Lun’s manpower. Along the way, they did not encounter any resistance, only panicked and hopeless crowds.

“Do not stop! Speed up! Push forward at the fastest possible speed!” Liang wei ordered.

The yaomo army swept Kun Lun like a wind.

“What!” Xue Dong’s face was ashen, his extremities cold. He murmured. “An allied yaomo army! They … … weren’t they about to start fighting?”

His voice trembled.

In the tent, everyone had pale expressions. They all knew what this meant.

They did not fear that Mo Cloud Sea would attack their rear. Every xiuzhe faction was against them, no one could escape. But the invasion of the allied yaomo army meant that Kun Lun had powerful enemies their front and back.

Kun Lun’s local defense brigades had little fighting power. They could not stop the advance of the allied yaomo army.

Even worse was that the news the yaomo army invasion would demoralize the army.

This was not a trained or elite army. The great majority of them were conscripts who had never even stepped on the battlefield half a month ago. Once they discovered that their families were in danger, then … …

Thinking of the terrifying consequences, Xue Dong shook. He immediately reacted and said harshly, “Send an order down, take away all sound tablets! No one is allowed to hide sound tablets! No one is allowed to communicate with the outside … …”

Before he finished, a figure stumbled in.

“Not good! Not good … …”

The outside was already a mess.

The already pale faces of the commanders became bloodless.

“The Heavens want Kun Lun dead!” Chao Xin murmured. He threw up a mouthful of blood and sank into unconsciousness.

“People of Kun Lun, if you surrender, if you return home, we promise not to harm your family and guarantee your property… …”

The sound tablet repeated the words that urged for surrender.

The same content was broadcast all over the Four Realms.

Even Mo Cloud Sea was astounded by the sudden occurrence. The secret that Zuo Mo was the Nether King was something only a select few in Mo Cloud Sea knew. The other people only knew that Zuo Mo would return soon.

Zuo Mo’s identity being exposed with an announcement was a fatal blow to Kun Lun’s forces.

Originally, Kun Lun had gathered the last of their strength  to fight Mo Cloud Sea. Because they thought that if Kun Lun went all in, they could kill Mo Cloud Sea before dealing with the yaomo.

But the Nether King had actually been Zuo Mo. When this secret was exposed, all of Kun Lun sank into hopelessness!

All of them understood that they had no chance left.

Not one at all.

Their army had no purpose. Even if they could fight into Mo Cloud Sea, there was no meaning!

The two sides were on completely different levels of power.

The effect of the trump card that Zuo Mo had hidden for so long was great. If Zuo Mo had shown it prematurely, what he would have faced was a Kun Lun that had hidden in its turtle shell.

If Zuo Mo was going to bite through, he would have lost a few teeth.

Yet he kept on leaving Kun Lun hopes of victory, let Kun Lun gather the bravery to gamble everything, and at the last moment, delivered a fatal blow.

Kun Lun didn’t even have the chance to retaliate.

Chaos!

Complete chaos!

The rear was being swept through by the allied yaomo army. The army of two million four hundred thousand turned into a mess. The glory of Kun Lun seemed to completely disappear in this moment. Even if Xue Dong had ordered the patrols to kill deserters, they could not stop everyone.

Entire battalions were fleeing or surrendering.

They only wanted to return home, they only wanted to reunite with their family.

Fear spread like a plague!

This ocean of people that suffocated people’s hope had collapsed like an avalanche of snow.

Inside the tent, the wooden crowd of battle generals slowly recovered their spirits.

Xue Dong’s face was still pale but his gaze was so sharp it could stab through a person. “We have failed, Kun Lun has failed, we have no chance of victory. Let those that want to surrender surrender.”

He stood, and adjusted his shen equipment. His expression was dignified and solemn.

“If surrender becomes the image of Kun Lun’s final moments, it will be a great humiliation.”

“Oh Kun Lun! Even if you disappear, you need to be more brave to live up to your name.”

Mu Xuan stood up. Everyone else silently stood up.

They walked out of the tent. Outside the tent, there were only a few that were still standing outside.

Seeing Xue Dong and the others walk out, these xiuzhe started to organize into their ranks. There was no sound. From beginning to end, it was complete silence.

They stood in neat rows like rows of standing spears.

An enormous troop was moving towards them from the horizon.

The sword energies of the two continued to collide in the air!

The ripples of shen power caused the sky and earth to crack wherever they passed.

They were splitting the earth. Cracks appeared in the sky, and there were countless cracks in the ground. Earth fire sprouted up and rampaged.

The two sides did not hold back.

The two were covered in wounds but they did not seem to feel pain.

They had fought for ten days and nights without a moment of rest.

Suddenly, the two stopped.

The two of them looked into the distance.

People were coming!

Both sides knew whichever side was being reinforced had won. Only the victors would have the spare time to come.

When Lin Qian saw Zuo Mo at the lead, his face turned ashen, and his presence immediately disappeared.

They failed!

Kun Lun had failed!

He forced himself to steady his wavering body. After fighting at full power for ten days and nights, he and Wei Sheng were at the end of their rope.

Both were just being supported by a breath.

There were many people behind Zuo Mo. A Gui, Zong Ru, Ceng Lian’er, Luo Li Wo Li, Lan, the old man. Each of them were pseudo god-level.

Zuo Mo had brought along all of Mo Cloud Sea’s pseudo god-level.

Lin Qian had a powerless grimace.

This meant the battle outside had finished, completely finished. Only then would Zuo Mo dare to bring all the experts.

Kun Lun … … in his hands … …

Lin Qian lowered his head to look dazedly at the Immemorial Shen Sword … …

Plink!

A teardrop landed on the sword and turned into smaller droplets that flew up.

“Master, sorry … …”

The tears dropped onto the sword and fell along the sword.

“Master, sorry … … sorry … …”

He cried like a child.

Sky Moon Jie

Wu Kong Mountain.

The Wu Kong Mountain was covered overrun by weeds and overgrowth covered the ruins.

Zuo Mo and Wei Sheng looked at the weeds that had grown taller than they were. Without a word, they began to cleaning.

Soon, they had cleaned up all of Wu Kong Mountain.

The mountain was still here, but the people were gone.

“Shidi!” Wei Sheng suddenly spoke.

“Hm?” Zuo Mo turned his face.

“I plan to build a house and live here.” Wei Sheng had a reminiscing expression. “Let’s call it Sword House!”

“Alright!” Zuo Mo nodded. “Don’t forget to come my wedding to A Gui.”

“Haha! I want good wine!” Wei Sheng laughed.

The two exchanged a smile.

The end.

Translator Ramblings:

And it’s over! Fang Xiang seems to always build up and then it never pays off. It’s more like a balloon slowly deflating than one that shoots out air and flies around.

I sort of stopped commenting to your comments over the past year as my life became busy. I’ve usually ended up reading all the comments in one go right before scheduling posts. I appreciate all the comments and it always brings a smile to my face when I see a familiar username pop up everyday.

And in reference to WanderingGummi’s note below, I really think the epilogue started when Zuo Mo came back alive in the Nether Realm. The climax was the battle with Chief Elder, the rest was just the denouement.

Editor’s note:

So I imagine people will think this ending was rushed and lacked excitement, but honestly the outcome was more or less set in stone after Zuo Mo became Nether King and conquered the Mo Marshall Alliance. So to me at least, everything after that battle has been a 20 chapter epilogue.

An amazing effort by Wyhcwe: two and a half years, one a day every day and never missed a day. I can’t make the same claim as I joined the team around chapter 70 (?). I also missed 1 chapter because of a silly counting mistake, I fixed it a few hours later but not sure that counts anymore. The experience has been amazing. The community has grown a lot over this time and there have been some big events, but our readers have been great the entire time. I can’t recall any negative interactions with readers. So, thank you for that.

Table of Contents

1. World of Cultivation!
2. Book 01 - Money Grubbing Madman
3. Book 02 - A Problematic Youth
4. Book 3 - Survival On A Desolate Island
5. Book 4 - Zou Mo's Counterattack

6. Book 5 - Charge Out of the Ancient Battlefield

7. Book 6

Landmarks

1. Table of Contents

2. Cover